My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know

[otakuryoga]

New episode, silly speculation
Obviously Mrs. Cake had an affair with a gender swapped princess! Explains the super powers too.




New Episode, Silly speculation, continued
That "appointment with the mayor" in A Bird in the Hoof? Just an excuse

except it cant be true...she was already pregnant in that episode
based on how she was drawn with a "chubby" body(like snips)
while in this episode she looks to be a normal pony body type

[PrinceAquilaDei]

Oh, by the way, I drew this.

http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/015/a/1/day_242_by_thanqol-d4mep3w.jpg

Since you are spreading pretty pictures around, shameless self promotion! http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228920

On an unrelated note for those lacking all techsav, how do I post a link with any name I want rather than the URL?

[Aotrs Commander]

EDIT: confound it! I second-guessed the initial pronunciation, and assumed I was being dyslexic. Since I can't find/paste, assume every instance of Jaklyr is Jaelyrk, and every instance of Jak is me being dumb and coming up with a pet name...

Ja-lyr-kie-on. Broken into it's components, as cribbed from FiM pony names.

(I actually saw this very late last night, but I looked at your post and thought, "yeah, no... Words are now not making sense. Have to wait until morning and coherent thought...")


I see a discrepancy here, and it's based on language conventions. See, while we are all saying "it would be cool because Nopony else could use them" the real core of the concept is this; after the basic "this end go boom" folks worked on getting the boom end stable. We have butt stocks, weighted barrels, tripods and bipods, magazines and feed which work best with human hands, and ergonomic designs that specifically work with the human distribution of weight in a gun and human hands on a handle. And a lot of this stems from a tradition so deep that "gun" is a universal cultural symbol. Anywhere in the world except deep Australia, you hold out a finger and raise your thumb, and you're 'shooting' at someone. Raise two hands, supine at hip height and slide them together, you've just cocked an invisible shotgun. The L shape is part of how humans conceive of 'gun'.

The unicorn folks whose name I can't pronounce would have one similarity in their guns to ours. A tube shape to funnel the pressure. They could not develop the L shape because they couldn't brace the gun the same. Part of the firing mechanism would have to be on the back of the handle, unless extra 'arms' were dedicated to stabilization (I assume the Jaklyr require what is colloquially known as Line of Effect, up to the point of contact when te mental 'fingers' can slide around walls?). Heavy weapons would probably be a T shape, as two points of stabilization in addition to levitating would be best, giving you a cannon held on either side, with lift coming from the center underneath. Or a bazooka style weapon.

TK tactile feedback is normally very basic - am I holding something, and how hard - but the Jaklyr have functional TK sonar, like Starry. Finding your way into a hole in the outer casing too big for living hands, gripping the area specially tactilely marked for "trigger" (because it is entirely touch based, not visual) and squeezing. This has the benefit of putting load distribution closest to the center, even what others would consider "within" the gun even if the concept is closer to a basket hilt. With ballistic weapons, free floating, and no attached arm the kick is going to be dispersed into the air unless braced, so a heavy weapon will fire slower for a Jaklyr than for a humanoid, unless they are content to allow the weapon to fire without resetting to the ready position. Not sure how to counter that quite well, except...

As weapon kick went up, and need to fire went up, folks started using bursts. A free-floating gun with a burst is going to have a HUGE bloom, because there is no brace; humanoid will lose some accuracy to the sides while riding high, where a Jaklyr is going to send their gun into a death spiral. Having an 'internal' handle apparatus (which works akin to a monkey sticking its fist into a tree and grabbing a bean, really) and then backing the gun into a bracing emplacement attached to the Jak or to a nearby cover thingy, gives them the ability to turn their heavy rifles into shielded turrets, especially since the minor disconnect between Jak and gun gives more ablative safety room.

Some miscommunication at this end as well. I never imagined the weapons as having a stock or being "L" shaped, but more like what a gun would look like if took the handle off completely. Your point about having an internal "handle" - internal, to the shape, but not actually "inside" the centre of the mechanism, i.e. a handle that isn't sealed from the outside (as Jalyrkieon TK shouldn't be so powerful it can reach into stuff - and least not at the modal level or power - as that would be far too powerful).

I really like the idea of a recessed "handle" - I've been wondering what shape it would be - something like a ball on a stick, as it were (as opposed to just a stick) so you could get a solid grip across the whole surface and tilt it around easier, or, even, "the handle" nothing more than a cylindrical hole in the base of the weapon, leading up to a sphereical hole, in which the Jalyrkieon grip by exterting force on the whole surface of, a bit like pressure in a balloon, if you follow my meaning.


The trigger would probably be designed in a way that the entire handle has to be squeezed at once instead of a lever, for the simple fact that Jak TK doesn't have the benefit of a human hand; when firing small arms you're supposed to push forward with the hand and pull back on the trigger. A Jak would use the same TK node to both hold the handle and pull the trigger, fighting itself without bracing, and slow down trigger speed while also throwing off aim. There are similar examples I could cite from human tech, and recreation. With boffed creation, you want nothing between your hand and the core, especially not something squishy. Adding foam to the handle is a rookie mistake because it DOES noticeably affect performance, even at the non-lethal noodlebat level. Today, I am wearing thicker, woolen socks, and they have a noticeable difference in my ability to accelerate and brake while driving, because thy change how much force needs to be exerted to mechanically alter the pedal position. It's slight, it's subtle, and it's the difference between life and death.

The Jalyrkeion TK would be plenty good enough to do anything a human with fingers can do, so holding something and moving another one bit would be within the capabilities. So I'd guess than in the recess there would be a slidey thing, or maybe a lever (it may vary from weapon to weapon of course.) Actually, come to think of it, if you have a button on the INSIDE surface, you could probably get away with it much more than on the surface, so for energy weapons, handle-surface-and-button could arguebly be something like a joystick or a gamepad... Interesting...


One common scifi method of dealing with recoil, especially in single shot weapons like shotguns, is to have a second gun whose recoil counters it. You're even more of an engineer than I, so I'll leave how effective t is to your discretion,

Not heard of anything using the rationalisation (and it is a rationaliseation) myself, I must admit, and the answer is "not very" since recoil kinda doesn't work that way. Two guns - unless they are facing the opposite direction and firing simultaneously - firing is twice the recoil, not negating it. I'm not even sure how the sci-fi writers came to that conclusion, aside from maybe thinking that it would stabilise the.. you know what I don't even know, as they say, RECOIL DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.

The thing about recoil is that the kick is equal and opposite to the direction of fire (the fact it pulls a humanoid hand off target is due to the way that the line of fire is above where it's being held and the resistance force to counter the recoil is being applied). An A-10's gatling, for example (which can't do anything but kick backwards) actually appreciably slows the aircraft down when it fires.

The Jalyrkieon, holding their weapons mostly from the centre, ought to have their grip directly behind the recoil zone. The hole to the handle is not actually contributing to the grip, just allowing the TK to reach. It could arguebly be on any surface; I went with "bottom" rather than "back", as it seemed marginally less likely to get stuff in it, but either would suffice. Maybe back would be more intuitive, actually, come to think about it, because that naturally leads you to mentally brace against the direction of fire - which is probably, now I think about it, important for TK. So handle-hole at the back then. It probably means that, overall, Jalyrkieon weapons are probably longer than humanoid ones, since they handle array is likely to be somewhere in the back, but shallower, since they won't have a grip pointing down.)

Stuff like rifles or heavy weapons that require two "hands" probably have either a big grip to put "both" on, or more likely a second grip, maybe a cylidrical one "around" the barrel, further down... actually you probably don't need a second interior grip; just a thickened bit of the barrel, tough enough to hold onto would do, because that would be enough to help balance and keep in on the firing line, and it's not like you can burn telekinetic hands on the overheated barrel or something.


So I see the ideal weapon evolution being a stress-ball trigger in a recessed knot hole in the gun. Other folks not being able to use them is a symptom not a cause, but it is so very obvious very pony has even saying it.

I'm agreeing with you entirely. That's exactly right. As I said to Kyouhen, it was as much everyone's first thought was "no-one else can use our guns" as the causal critieron that I disagreed with, as opposed to what you did, which I was aiming to do, which was work out what the optimum solution would be (which I probably figured (though didn't outright say, which probably would have helped, now I think about it) would not be usable by hominoids in the event). [/color][/quote]


I'm not sure how this interacts with autofire, and I definitely know zilch about beam weapons, so maybe the Jaklyr themselves are still overcoming their image cultural bias in the development of beam weapons? They are sure to have festival design flaws that are no longer necessary.

Festival... I assume you meant vestigal, and your treacherous phone let you down...!

No different. With your ball-in-hole grip, and a solid TK grip around the barrel, they'd be about as stable - maybe a touch more - than a humanoids. Again, autofire's greater inaccuracy stems mostly from the kick cumulatively knocking your hands off the firing line due to the direction the force gets applied to your hands.

Actually, thinking about it, Jalyrkeion (infantry) weapons should always count as "on road" and "fully stabilised" since they're floating and thus not subject to bumps on the deck when running, even if the Jalyrkeion themselves are.


Yep! But phlebitis, thrombosis, and such are all just different anatomically-oriented 'clots moving around breakin' stuff', so I figure if the circuitry is internal enough, calling it a 'button' seemed wrong, as it is one degree closer to "connect these two open wires" than a button is.
Is it a good idea? No. It was different for the sake of difference to illustrate a possibility, since we knew Jaklyr TK is less than the force (no turning on lightsabers with a mental flick) but more than human manual dexterity (able to go places a human would be awkwardly and unergonomically sticking a finger).

As I say, if you have a button on the inside bit, where it's less likely to get triggered accidently, it's probably fine. (I mean, it's not like some humanoid weapons have buttons anyway - *cough*phasers*cough* - 'course, the optimisation of their ergonomics are a different question...!)


Holy wacamole! That's real fine fluff, Commander.

*tips helmet*

'Course you realise that that won't even be everything, since I've the technology to write up, as well as the government (of whatever type it is...) The Jalyrkieon are towards the upper end of what I tend to write, because their YK takes a lot of explaining, though even then not the most.


My crack at it. Mostly based off what you said about Diego's work:

http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu55/EvenHuman/Jalyrkieon.png

Yeah, that's pretty good!

Actually, if the forward horn was just a touch more curving foward, that'd actually be near-damn perfect! Very nice, very nice indeed!

(Don't know whether I'll get around to drawing something myself today, or if I do (which is reasonable probably), I may not be able to the scanner - it's panto practise day, and my sister's usually off all day, so she may be doing panto-related stuff on her iron idiot (she's director this year), but if not, I'm gonna try tomorrow.)


Hegemonies and Heirarchies don't get used nearly enough.

Ooh, YES. We've not got any of those yet; definately be using one of them!

Heirarchy sounds better, I think. So, yeah, we'll go with that. The Jalyrkieon Hierarchy. Oh yes. Definately.


So, haven't been able to watch the new ep because of travel, but on the flipside, San Fran is a cool place to walk around and look at.

After further thoughts on quadruped weapons, I wonder: does their tech allow for TK feedback? In such a case with beam weapons, I can imagine something like a laser emmissive sphere with targeting linked straight to eye movements via TK/psychic tether to the visual cortex perhaps...

Eeeh... Not really, I don't think, since the TK isn't a mechanical system, like you could link an automated turret to your eye movements, say. The Jalyrkieon are already sort linking their TK to the eyes, in the same way your hands are. As if TK is required to move it around, it's like saying you have a system that slaves your hands to your eyes - you could do it, I suppose, if you had power armour on or something, but then your losing control of your own limbs...

If you mean, could you have a gravitic turret floating around with you, whose targeting is slaved to your eyes, then yes, but TK wouldn't be involved.

I suppose you could have a turret that you just held a "handle" for as it were, whose gun motion was automated and slaved to your eyes. I.e. you carry it, but it does all the moving the gun as an automated system...

Hmm. Could be times where that could be kinda useful, actually (say for something like a local air defence system). A hominoid can't carry a cupola turret very easily, but a Jalyrkieon could float one above their back or head. You maybe wouldn't need to have it slaved to your own eyes, in that case, but the idea certainly has some merit. An energy weapon as a LAD instead of a diposable missile has some advantages: though it probably wouldn't be quite as powerful, it's also reusuable...


[color="#660066"]
New Ep

It's possible it'll turn into the next big joke, though it has enough competition with Berry Punch and Molestia. I just find the entire thing amusing because as you said, magic genetics are required regardless of who the father is. It's just as likely that he really is the father as the possibility that he isn't.


If by "magic genetics", you mean "genetics", then yes. Genetics really does work like that. You sometimes see it - to a slightly lesser extent - in humans, due to recessive traits. One of my English teachers at college was of black Carribean decent - I forget whether her husband was black or white - but she said her little boy was quite asian-looking. Basically it stems from the colonical slavery period, where everything and everyone got a bit mixed up (apparently that sort of thing is uncommon back out that way.)

So it's actually very plausible (which is why both me and Bobcat liked the idea). Especially is one imagines that wings and horns are, as it were magical "additions" later added into the pony DNA when they gained them/were given as opposed to evolved naturally. The fact Discord was able to remove them without too much consequence may be supportive of this fact, though that could just be Discord.


A little late (as always... I still haven't gotten around to making your skull a splode :smallfrown:), but I've attempted a rendition of one of your little critters, with a quick attempt at what weapons would make sense for them. Armor and "saddlebags" to hold replacement power cells pending.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4152380/Jakawargbl.jpg

I think it's still looking too much like a pony. I should've kept your description of them open when drawing.

For the weapons, I figured simple buttons would suffice, but there are four of them, on different sides of the weapon. For a TK user, pushing them all at once is as simple as slightly contracting the holding field - the weapon will not move, but all movable parts on the surface will be pressed in. For anyone with fingers or even tentacles, aiming and firing would be a nontrivial task at best. The same goes for the cell reloading mechanism (six little buttons to release). The folding blade is largely useless, I agree, but it sorta made sense at the time. You can consider it to simply be a holder for the blade rather than a permanent mount.

...Duuuude!

Woah! Awesome!

(I'mma never gonna top that, even on my best day!

I'm going to have to make a concerted effort, though ain't I, what with everyone else doing it!)


Trying to make some armor for the jar-of-kibble things:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4152380/Jakawargbl2.jpg
Replaced "saddlebags" with an armored mini-backpack. On either side of the pack are "holsters" for the weapons.Current thoughts:
- Ponies are a stupid shape.
- Don't try designing stuff while suffering from undersleep headaches.
- Jaerkyleons' (Can I just call them Jägerponies (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com)?) heads are hard to make a helmet for, especially considering the previous point.

...

...

'scuse me while I fetch my jaw from the floor...

(I think I can safely say, that will be significantly better-looking armour than the models are likely to have. ('Cos I can easily create shapes that complicated in 3D.)



Also, I find it utterly hilarious how everyone is pronouncing/spelling their name.

Ja-lyr-kie-on (pronounced Jah-lyre-key-on) and if you're clever you should be able to work out which syllables come from which ponies...

(Is it just a sign of achievement that I have done so many fantasy/sci-i names that despite an utter lack of foreign language talent I manage to make convincingly hard-to-pronounce names...?)

[Kyouhen]

If by "magic genetics", you mean "genetics", then yes. Genetics really does work like that. You sometimes see it - to a slightly lesser extent - in humans, due to recessive traits. One of my English teachers at college was of black Carribean decent - I forget whether her husband was black or white - but she said her little boy was quite asian-looking. Basically it stems from the colonical slavery period, where everything and everyone got a bit mixed up (apparently that sort of thing is uncommon back out that way.)

So it's actually very plausible (which is why both me and Bobcat liked the idea). Especially is one imagines that wings and horns are, as it were magical "additions" later added into the pony DNA when they gained them/were given as opposed to evolved naturally. The fact Discord was able to remove them without too much consequence may be supportive of this fact, though that could just be Discord.



New Ep

Yeah, pretty much what I meant. I just like including the 'magical' part in this case because the odds are slim enough that with two earth pony parents you could end up with two foals who were not earth ponies without including the fact that they're twins who didn't end up being the same race at all. Possible, but still extremely unlikely to happen often.


Old Stuff

http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/263/3/4/lyra_meets_lyra_by_johnjoseco-d4afto4.png (http://johnjoseco.deviantart.com/art/Lyra-meets-Lyra-259399156)

[Deadly]

except it cant be true...she was already pregnant in that episode
based on how she was drawn with a "chubby" body(like snips)
while in this episode she looks to be a normal pony body type

She looks just as chubby to me in this episode as she's always done.

Bird in the Hoof:
http://i.imgur.com/m2pEH.png


New Episode
http://i.imgur.com/KFSVU.png

Looks pretty much the same to me. Here are a few more from the new episode, though not quite the same angle. Still, she doesn't seem to have lost anything to me:

http://i.imgur.com/0y3nR.png
http://i.imgur.com/t7oEc.png

[Draconi Redfir]

Bird in the Hoof:
http://i.imgur.com/m2pEH.png

that tea breaks physics.

[Eakin]

Episode


Just hope Mrs. Cake doesn't meet Big Macintosh before she becomes pregnant with your next child.


Red Velvet Cake, anyone?



Unrelated, still New Ep

So thinking about it I think I know why I like this episode. It's because we get to see a mature Pinkie Pie. Sure, she spends a lot of the episode being goofy and silly, but there's a few points when she stops and starts acting like a proper adult. Even the less obvious parts, like the part immediately after she kicks Twilight out and realizes just how much trouble she's been having. This shows up in the other Pinkie Pie episodes too, and are why I think she's such a great character. Normally I find a character who's just there for comic relief tends to get old fast, but those small moments add some depth to her that most shows don't bother with and keep her interesting.



Agreed, most comic relief characters don't hold up well without someone else to play off of, but Pinkie carried the episode on her own. I'm really glad Twilight showed up to help her but I'm more glad she didn't stick around to fix everything. "Responsible character cleans up Pinkie's mess and lectures her on the importance of responsibility" would not be nearly as satisfying as letting her figure it out and fix it on her own.

[Kyouhen]

that tea breaks physics.

Earth pony magic. She's learned to serve guests in ways that should be physically impossible. It helps when the tables tend to be taller than you are. :smalltongue:

[Aotrs Commander]

Says the Necromancer.

Generally. I said generally! We're the exception, not the rule!

(Don't know how I missed you post earlier... I blame morning.)



Right, prepare yourselves, ponythread!

Here is my attempt...

So steel yourselves for a) unfathomable horror at my ineptitude b) side-splitting hilarity at my ineptitude or c) both at once.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/Jalyrkieon1.png

Excuse the roughness, I've still not mastered the art of scanning pencil into digital! (Sometimes I'll have a go at cleaning up the excess pencil marks, but I've not got reems of time today - I've got some starships to spray while it's still light!)

Not being a cartoonist by any stretch of the imagination, I thus went for a more "realistic" (sic) look, and starting from real horses (and specifically, the aforementioned Welsh Pony section A which is the supposed size. (So if it look a bit elongated in the back, that's probably intentional because they kinda are a bit, if you look at a picture. Legs were troublesome, since getting the perspective on curves right and drawing them right I find quite hard!

Muzzle is supposed be vaguely horse-shaped, and the "ridge" there is the "pinch", which is sharper and more pronounced than a horse, to accomodate sterioscopic vision (i.e., the eyes, like MLP ponies, are foward-facing). Realised the horns have to be fairly stright, else I'm gonna have difficulty modelling them when the time comes...

Not a bad attempt, if I say so myself, considering...!

Obviosuly a sniper/ninja, this one, given the rifle with scope. (Cross-section showing the (slightly exaggerated) back-tube and sphereical "handle" with a vertical slide trigger (probably pull down is fire, and so it snaps up when released.)

Note blade and kunai, which don't have grips, as such, do but have a smooth, unbladed portion at the back, where you can get a solid grip. (Because you want the force at the back, rather than along the whoe surface, to maximise the lever effect, especially when making a sword slash.)


Stop laughing Hopreaver, or I'll show them your attempt.

Ulp.

I know they say "everyone can draw" but really, you are the exception that proves the rule...

You know how Sweetiebelle managed to turn toast into a grey liquid? Hopereaver's like that with drawing.

How you managed to draw a triangle with three and a half sides I am not even going try to fathom...

Shutting up now chief.

Thought so...

[Titanium Fox]

So I haven't read through the recent posts (Read: Since page 7), but I just wanted to throw my thoughts on the new episode. Sorry if it's all been said already. :P

AMAZING REFERENCES:
Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake are totally Pebbles and Bam Bam.

Poundcake crawling on the ceiling? Trainspotted. And jeez, how randomly awesome of a reference can you make.

Overall:
I wasn't that much of a fan of this, mainly for the fact that now I'm horrified that they're going to start releasing the baby doll toys for G4 now. And I think that has the potential to ruin things. Yes, my thoughts on episodes tend to be derived from what I think they mean for the future. Same reason I didn't like lesson zero; it just seems like a bad sign to me.

I will admit though, I laughed my flank off. It's a Pinkie Pie episode, how can you not?


that tea breaks physics.

I get the feeling that the handles is actually angled slightly, however from the side on perspective that we have, we just can't see it. In fact, I would imagine most mouth manipulated instruments would be designed specifically this way, for the simple fact that Earth Pony society would be out and out crippled without it.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Generally. I said generally! We're the exception, not the rule!

(Don't know how I missed you post earlier... I blame morning.)



Right, prepare yourselves, ponythread!

Here is my attempt...

So steel yourselves for a) unfathomable horror at my ineptitude b) side-splitting hilarity at my ineptitude or c) both at once.

http://i168.photobucket.com/albums/u172/AotrsCommander/Jalyrkieon1.png

Excuse the roughness, I've still not mastered the art of scanning pencil into digital! (Sometimes I'll have a go at cleaning up the excess pencil marks, but I've not got reems of time today - I've got some starships to spray while it's still light!)

Not being a cartoonist by any stretch of the imagination, I thus went for a more "realistic" (sic) look, and starting from real horses (and specifically, the aforementioned Welsh Pony section A which is the supposed size. (So if it look a bit elongated in the back, that's probably intentional because they kinda are a bit, if you look at a picture. Legs were troublesome, since getting the perspective on curves right and drawing them right I find quite hard!

Muzzle is supposed be vaguely horse-shaped, and the "ridge" there is the "pinch", which is sharper and more pronounced than a horse, to accomodate sterioscopic vision (i.e., the eyes, like MLP ponies, are foward-facing). Realised the horns have to be fairly stright, else I'm gonna have difficulty modelling them when the time comes...

Not a bad attempt, if I say so myself, considering...!

Obviosuly a sniper/ninja, this one, given the rifle with scope. (Cross-section showing the (slightly exaggerated) back-tube and sphereical "handle" with a vertical slide trigger (probably pull down is fire, and so it snaps up when released.)

Note blade and kunai, which don't have grips, as such, do but have a smooth, unbladed portion at the back, where you can get a solid grip. (Because you want the force at the back, rather than along the whoe surface, to maximise the lever effect, especially when making a sword slash.)


Stop laughing Hopreaver, or I'll show them your attempt.

Ulp.

I know they say "everyone can draw" but really, you are the exception that proves the rule...

You know how Sweetiebelle managed to turn toast into a grey liquid? Hopereaver's like that with drawing.

How you managed to draw a triangle with three and a half sides I am not even going try to fathom...

Shutting up now chief.

Thought so...Actually, that's not half bad. The perspective's odd, but all in all it's not too horrifying. If you want horrifying, please refer to the hypothetical unicorpion (scorpion/unicorn fusion) sketch. Warning, may indeed be utterly horrible and revolting.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4152380/Unicorpion.jpg
Yes, I know I forgot pincers. This thing was scribbled together in under 15 minutes because someone on our forum wanted to see what a "unicorpion" would look like.

[Tectonic Robot]

Unpleasant? What's unpleasant? On the contrary, for a species unused to bifurcated garments harem pants are quite comfy. It's the custom tailoring, I think.

Also there is something wrong with any group of people or ponies where jumping out of a mech suit and assaulting folks violently is considered a strong interview...

So what's up, Candles?[/color]
"I... you guys are fighting about... harem pants? What? And, uh, nothing much, not really, I guess..."

"Oh, this is pleasant. Unpleasant would be much more interesting."

"No, this seems like a pretty belligerent conversation to me..."


"You watch cosmic wonders unfold? You are blind. The worst kind of blind: there are none so blind as those who will not see. Do you know what I am, what I study? What the shape of my soul is? I am a Celestial Master, and I walk the path of the stars. Can't you see them, burning above? Don't you know that the universe expands out infinitely in all directions - all that power, all those patterns? Great storms of energy great enough to wipe out our existence in an eyeblink, shattering space and time and death in the process?

"You think that isn't magic? You think that isn't a cosmic wonder?

"That's Forces. Pure Forces. It scales up, and it scales down, but it's all connected, it's all eternal, all cycling through the same system. You see a pipe bomb and a computer glitch; I see the power of heat and light closing a hole in the world. You think that the real world isn't the plane of magic? I see a world where information travels as fast as thought along currents of electricity. I see a world where voices travel, unheard, through the air. I see a world where every star in the sky is an enormous giant of hydrogen burning hotter than we can ever imagine.

"And if you think real power is in old books, old stones, and glowy ley lines then you're blind, frankly. You're blind and deaf even though the universe is singing to you."

*Deep breath*

"OK, yes, blind and deaf, hooray, but could we, uh, have talk in, I dunno, a somewhat more friendly way?"

[the_druid_droid]

"Ooh, look at me, I'm a magical maaaagic fairy who can do things with magic. I can stop people from doing magic, yay! And I can make crap illusions and hilariously vulgar brute-force solutions to problems!" Jayden dropped into a scowl. "So I'm sorry if I didn't waste my Awakening learning how to beat up other Mages but instead learned practical solutions to real-life problems. But who needs to be happy, or be able to make others happy, when you can be strong, right?"

"Also, Thistle, you're pretty cool."

*twitches violently at the word fairy and almost manages a 180° head spin in searching around for hidden assailants*

[Lix Lorn]

New Episode:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who loved it.

Anyway.... this:
http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/6f9e7ffec2ac15e5cba1f8e0c1c59a09/112165%20-%20human%21%21%21%21%21%21%20pinkie_pie.png
Discuss?
Oh, that's EASY.
Their standard babysitter? Lyra.


Mask: *Is hugged*
*Reflexively steals Lix's wallet*
(Is a pony. Does not have a wallet.)


Oh, and one more thing,
Uncle?


new ep:
Also, Twilight was kind of a jerk when she showed up. Poor choice of words, Twi.
Clearly, she's been taking lessons from celestia. She's trolling pinkie into doing the right thing. :smallwink:


Welp. This sucks. And not a Natalie Portmare in sight.

With any luck, Raz is going to send robots to kidnap me. That's kind of like escape, right?
(KIDNAPS)
(cuddles!)


You can purr? I am jealous beyond all physical capacity. I have simulacra floating around a personal folded space solely to be jealous with me to let off some of the pressure.
I can purr for realz.


I.O.U. One image; subjects Jayden + Thistle, setting blank, action fistbump.

—S

And then this one;

I.O.Thanqol one image; Subject Jayden, setting Blank, action Surprised and possibly Annoyed at finding she has been magicked into harem pants while distracted by Starry.


—S
UOLizie one image: Jayden+thistle, action: MAKEOUTS

[TheAmishPirate]

I can purr for realz.

*adds yet another piece to the growing pile of evidence that Lix = Nepeta*

New episode:
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/014/d/3/cotton_candy_hair_by_johnjoseco-d4me1lt.jpg

[Titanium Fox]

*twitches violently at the word fairy and almost manages a 180° head spin in searching around for hidden assailants*

All druid sees directly behind him is Jade with a manic grin on her face.

Hiiiiii.


*adds yet another piece to the growing pile of evidence that Lix = Nepeta*

New episode:
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/014/d/3/cotton_candy_hair_by_johnjoseco-d4me1lt.jpg

Okay, this is D'awww. Pure, concentrated D'awww.

[Lix Lorn]

*adds yet another piece to the growing pile of evidence that Lix = Nepeta*
:33 'Lixie giggles cutely and cuddles her furrend.' No silly! But I do furrvently wish I was.'

[Pokonic]

:33 'Lixie giggles cutely and cuddles her furrend.' No silly! But I do furrvently wish I was.'

Yeah, guys. There is no way she is a Troll. All the evidence point to a Slannishi Prince(ess?) of terrible power and a small army of minons. You have been warned.:smalltongue:

[otakuryoga]

She looks just as chubby to me in this episode as she's always done.

Bird in the Hoof:
http://i.imgur.com/m2pEH.png


New Episode
http://i.imgur.com/KFSVU.png

Looks pretty much the same to me. Here are a few more from the new episode, though not quite the same angle. Still, she doesn't seem to have lost anything to me:

http://i.imgur.com/0y3nR.png
http://i.imgur.com/t7oEc.png



that bird in the hoof is srtaight from the side so you cant see how wide she is...she used to look like a beach ball viewed from front(like Snips)
now from the front she appears normal

[Lix Lorn]

Yeah, guys. There is no way she is a Troll. All the evidence point to a Slannishi Prince(ess?) of terrible power and a small army of minons. You have been warned.:smalltongue:
My philosophy says why choose 'or' when you can choose 'and'. :smalltongue:

[Pokonic]

My philosophy says why choose 'or' when you can choose 'and'. :smalltongue:

Proof I say, proof!:smalltongue:

[TheAmishPirate]

:33 'Lixie giggles cutely and cuddles her furrend.' No silly! But I do furrvently wish I was.'

But...but...I have evidence! All the evidence!


Yeah, guys. There is no way she is a Troll. All the evidence point to a Slannishi Prince(ess?) of terrible power and a small army of minons. You have been warned.:smalltongue:


My philosophy says why choose 'or' when you can choose 'and'. :smalltongue:

Now all I can picture is one of those Slannishi things giving an inspirational speech to their minions, then retiring to their private chambers to work on their shipping wall, all the while thinking, "NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW".


Additionally, Google-ing Slannishi brings up the ponythread from three threads ago on the first page. At least for me anyhow. We are a magnificently odd bunch, aren't we?

[Pokonic]

Oi, Amish: make sure your not pressing the Submit button for too long, kay?:smalltongue:

[Lix Lorn]

Proof I say, proof!:smalltongue:
Slaaneshi troll. :smallwink:


But...but...I have evidence! All the evidence!

Now all I can picture is one of those Slannishi things giving an inspirational speech to their minions, then retiring to their private chambers to work on their shipping wall, all the while thinking, "NO ONE MUST EVER KNOW".
Pft. I'm not secretive about it.

Anyhoo, I'm not evil enough to be Chaos aligned.

[TheAmishPirate]

Oi, Amish: make sure your not pressing the Submit button for too long, kay?:smalltongue:

Dear sweet pony princesses why did that post four times. D:

Deleted the double posts, get back to your ponies, nothin' to see here.

[Pokonic]

Slaaneshi troll. :smallwink:


Great gods, the prophecy is true! Flee you fools, get that lich to let you on his ship! Head for my cultst bunkers! Flee to the Land of Friendship and Magic! Do something!

[Lord Raziere]

"You watch cosmic wonders unfold? You are blind. The worst kind of blind: there are none so blind as those who will not see. Do you know what I am, what I study? What the shape of my soul is? I am a Celestial Master, and I walk the path of the stars. Can't you see them, burning above? Don't you know that the universe expands out infinitely in all directions - all that power, all those patterns? Great storms of energy great enough to wipe out our existence in an eyeblink, shattering space and time and death in the process?

"You think that isn't magic? You think that isn't a cosmic wonder?

"That's Forces. Pure Forces. It scales up, and it scales down, but it's all connected, it's all eternal, all cycling through the same system. You see a pipe bomb and a computer glitch; I see the power of heat and light closing a hole in the world. You think that the real world isn't the plane of magic? I see a world where information travels as fast as thought along currents of electricity. I see a world where voices travel, unheard, through the air. I see a world where every star in the sky is an enormous giant of hydrogen burning hotter than we can ever imagine.

"And if you think real power is in old books, old stones, and glowy ley lines then you're blind, frankly. You're blind and deaf even though the universe is singing to you."


*listens to universe singing*

So don't call me a moron
I'm super-astute!
There is no conundrum that my core cannot compute
No don't call me a moron
My IQ is equal to the infinite space from here to the moon...

Oh wait sorry, wrong universe, thats Autocthon.

*changes the universe radio*

*Hears Death Notes opening theme*

Whoops sorry, thats the Whispers of the Neverborn :smallbiggrin:

*changes the universe radio again*

*hears the Beginning is the End is the Beginning*

Hmm….I think thats World of Darkness or Watchmen :smallconfused:

Is this working correctly? *whack*

* the universe radio starts playing Dracula from Houston*

Ah! heres our universe! :smallamused:

@ whatever else: nah, I'm not afraid.

[TheAmishPirate]

Great gods, the prophecy is true! Flee you fools, get that lich to let you on his ship! Head for my cultst bunkers! Flee to the Land of Friendship and Magic! Do something!

*does an uplifting jig*

Is that enough of a something? Should I do more things?! AUGH I'M PANICKING TOO IS THAT A THING.

Ooh! I know! I could post ponies!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GglkA2bxO2o/TxH7sBwl2XI/AAAAAAAAbII/Xzs_ueHXeMg/s1600/111743+-+adults+apple_bloom+artist+musapan+Diamond_Tiara+d inky_hooves+future+Pipsqueak+scootaloo+Sweetie_Bel le.png

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AXRyP03tZsI/TxH7hkH_5YI/AAAAAAAAbFo/0nz61b-mHRk/s1600/legend_of_derpy_gorons_by_larrle-d4l0p4u.png.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bu5yTIQPGv4/TxH7iQgO8KI/AAAAAAAAbF4/XzJK7APr_fk/s1600/kindness_by_karzahnii-d4m8gx8.png

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n4U7M2JFcZ8/TxH7jY4vtTI/AAAAAAAAbGI/yM5pme4AqPM/s1600/drop_it_by_foxinshadow-d4maogk.png

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9L4gBcKwb24/TxH7ks--CTI/AAAAAAAAbGY/vy19JJ39IrE/s1600/filly_cheese_steak_thanks_for_the_page_veiws__by_3 0aught6-d4mb6ol.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6jzPUvPSwxM/TxH7pP0yuRI/AAAAAAAAbHg/bJlDTpNLvaU/s1600/111698+-+derpy_hooves+tarot_card.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LWspJaZmQeY/TxH7qByCjbI/AAAAAAAAbHw/aWVW1NIwaMs/s1600/111697+-+I_The_Magician+tarot_card+Trixie.png

All 300 drawfriends in one video? This is where I paused it. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsF2pjFq9Cc&feature=player_embedded#t=15s)


Pft. I'm not secretive about it.

Anyhoo, I'm not evil enough to be Chaos aligned.

My mistake then. That must've been one of your minions in my mental picture. Clearly you're an outstanding influence on the little dears. :smalltongue:

[Pokonic]

*does an uplifting jig*

Is that enough of a something? Should I do more things?! AUGH I'M PANICKING TOO IS THAT A THING.

Ooh! I know! I could post ponies!
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GglkA2bxO2o/TxH7sBwl2XI/AAAAAAAAbII/Xzs_ueHXeMg/s1600/111743+-+adults+apple_bloom+artist+musapan+Diamond_Tiara+d inky_hooves+future+Pipsqueak+scootaloo+Sweetie_Bel le.png



Realy now? Tiara but no Silver Spoon? For shame, drawer.:smallannoyed:

[SiuiS]

*from traction*


I really like the idea of a recessed "handle" - I've been wondering what shape it would be - something like a ball on a stick, as it were (as opposed to just a stick) so you could get a solid grip across the whole surface and tilt it around easier, or, even, "the handle" nothing more than a cylindrical hole in the base of the weapon, leading up to a sphereical hole, in which the Jalyrkieon grip by exterting force on the whole surface of, a bit like pressure in a balloon, if you follow my meaning.

That is what I was fumbling after, yes. The addition of a "cross bar" inside would only be for triggering mechanism maybe, and because it makes more sense for maneuvering the device.


The Jalyrkeion TK would be plenty good enough to do anything a human with fingers can do, so holding something and moving another one bit would be within the capabilities. So I'd guess than in the recess there would be a slidey thing, or maybe a lever


Yeah, I did a poor job explaining that.

So, all things between a Jaegerpony and a human being equal, the human has an advantage in that actual solid meat has inertia and passive resistance, where TK only resists where it is focused. The required energy may be so low, and the strength of output so high, that the difference is entirely mitigated, but it is there.

The rest of this statement has stalled, though because A) you agree with the recessed button bit, and B) any and all responses to anything I say about trigger speed will be a variant of *slap* "autofire, ninny."


The thing about recoil is that the kick is equal and opposite to the direction of fire (the fact it pulls a humanoid hand off target is due to the way that the line of fire is above where it's being held and the resistance force to counter the recoil is being applied). An A-10's gatling, for example (which can't do anything but kick backwards) actually appreciably slows the aircraft down when it fires.


I am aware. I also sort of petered out on it since as I went I realized more and more that it is kind o silly, and silly applied to warfare is just atrociously stupid....

I am also falling for the same bias, as some of my ideas require a hanging point of balance not in line with everything else we have discussed. My apologies.


Stuff like rifles or heavy weapons that require two "hands" probably have either a big grip to put "both" on, or more likely a second grip, maybe a cylidrical one "around" the barrel, further down... actually you probably don't need a second interior grip; just a thickened bit of the barrel, tough enough to hold onto would do, because that would be enough to help balance and keep in on the firing line, and it's not like you can burn telekinetic hands on the overheated barrel or something.

This was my thinking. Near as I can garner, past a certain resistance point, TK cannot effectively both hold the weapon in place, and stabilize it. Since the TK does not have actual mass, I hesitate to think of it as a limb (despite emanation) because it leads to sloppy design habits, but a fluid pseudopod is best analogy. Wrapping a ring around the barrel with one 'limb' or even two for massive weapons, while supporting, firing and doing fine manipulation with the handle 'limb' feels most intuitive.

Though ever since I last responded I cannot help but feel they would be more terrifying with two good rifles, and two shields. Infantry that can reliably carry plates of tank armor and still return fire effectively scares me much more than infantry that outguns me 6-1.


Festival... I assume you meant vestigal, and your treacherous phone let you down...!

... Excuse me a moment.

Alright phone. I like you, I do. Baatorian Wastes, I named you after a principle of unity. But so help me, if you don't get on the ball I'll have my filly do MORE than just stomp you to dust.

Remember, you're a replacement.
Remember what happened to your predecessor.
And do your Water-stopping job.

Ok. You were saying, sir?


Actually, thinking about it, Jalyrkeion (infantry) weapons should always count as "on road" and "fully stabilised" since they're floating and thus not subject to bumps on the deck when running, even if the Jalyrkeion themselves are.

Now see, this I have to question given what I know of he biology behind these things.

Proprioception (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception).

Though apparently they've done a good bit more studying since... I forget I haven't actually gone to school for three years >>;

Anyway. The sense of location is emanating, isn't it? In that a gun wouldn't be held relative to the ground ("3 meters up, can't down by 4 degrees") without a second limb bracing at the ground to give relative feedback; the gun would be relative to the creature, say, 2 meters up, seven degrees of the midsagital line in the one o'clock position (or however the brain processes it; we would probably register it as an X/Y/Z coordinate map with all axises(?) centered at about the sternum). So if something jerks the creature, there will be a delay, but the emanative nature of its holding 'limb' would naturally displace the weapon until conscious thought caught up to it, because the powers would try to maintain the X/Y/Z coordinates in relation to the Jaegerpony, not to the terrain.

There are a lot of mechanics in here I'm not going to bother talking out, and I'll just say its like keeping a full cup level in a speeding automobile. So I would say they suffer no penalties from being in a moving vehicle, but that they would require an extra limb above and beyond what other races do to get stable.

... That may be what you said though, rereading what I quoted, so if so I'm sorry. I'm just stuck on the fact that without mass to provide passive soaking of kinetic force, a Jalyrkeion1\ would require more effort to stabilize a weapon. The greater strength of their TK compared to a humanoid would help, but it seems either devote all that extra strength to stabilizing a standard weapon, or have exaggerated accuracy problems with a larger weapon. My reasoning being a 150# man with a braced shotgun (humanoid) is going to have an easier time than a 250# professional soldier (Jalyr) holding the same gun loosely without properly bracing it.

As you have a more thorough knowledge of how they actually work though, I may be off-base. I'm just trying to cover as broad an array of useful bits as possible.

And if it's not too late, I think they should be a Shogunate. :smallbiggrin:


funny pronunciations

I have an excuse, actually. I get a particular form of dyslexia, where I slide things diagonally. In thick text, I have actually read sentence one, sentence two, sentence three, and slid back up to sentence two before stopping and reformatting.*

Also, initially, you had them written as Jalyrkieon. I-E-O is too convoluted for casual reading because there are no clues on where to parse it. Not only could each vowel be distinct, especially as you watch anime and so are familiar with Japanese, but both IE and EO are diphthongs, giving us a good 5-7 possible variants, on that syllable chunk alone. As soon as you said how to pronounce it, and (mis)spelled it as Jalyrkeion, it became much much easier because 'keion' is a distinct word chunk, the EI diphthong having strong priority over other letter combos - so I say "key on" or "Kay on" at that point and chalk the difference up to you speaking English and speaking American myself.

Hey new guy I haven't been able to respond to yet! Aquila.... Argh. I'm terrible with James (see above).

The code for putting whatever in a URL is
this is going to be the actual text of the link (http://www.urlgoeshere.place)

I'm gonna go get some more bed rest now. get offa my lawn!

[Deadly]

that bird in the hoof is srtaight from the side so you cant see how wide she is...she used to look like a beach ball viewed from front(like Snips)
now from the front she appears normal



Ah, you're thinking of this:

http://i.imgur.com/houzB.png

See, the problem with that is, you've never seen Mrs. Cake from directly in front before. It's always been from an angle, where she's more obviously chubby. I went back and watched every appearance of her in previous episodes, and I couldn't find a single time when she's shown directly from the front like she is above. You've never seen her like that before, therefore she seems different.

But if you look at her in the new episode when she's shown from any other angle than directly in front, she still looks exactly as chubby as always.

Also, here's Pinkie:

http://i.imgur.com/Jnu7R.png

Compare closely with Mrs. Cake above. Pinkie's face (and that of the other mane 6 and most other ponies) is slightly more elongated than Mrs. Cakes, neither is a perfect circle but Mrs. Cake comes quite a bit closer to that.

http://i.imgur.com/Euh1r.png

Look how much of Pinkie's face is outside the circle compared to Mrs. Cake. Also for some reason her ears are way lower than Pinkie's, though I'm not sure what that means :smalltongue:

Conclusion: She's still chubby, you've just never seen her from the front. At least I couldn't find an example where she's shown from the front, if you can find one I'll be happy to compare them. But again, from any other angle she still looks just as chubby as always and really, the place she'd lose most of her size should logically be the tummy if you were right.

[the_druid_droid]

All druid sees directly behind him is Jade with a manic grin on her face.

Hiiiiii.


*sees green talking pony*

*considers*

I won't go back!

*flees*

[Draconi Redfir]

So then! Since the episode has settled down and i like talking biology...

>MLP Ponies have eyes looking in front of them

>RL Ponies (and other horses) have eyes on the sides of their head.

>Forward-looking vision is a common trait of predatory animals, as it allows them to keep an eye on their target during the chase.

>Side-looking vision is a common trait of herbivore animals, as it allows a wider field of vision to spot predators.

Thusly, my question to you.

>MLP Ponies with forward facing eyes, an attempt to make cartoon horses more relatable by making them that much more human-like? Or long-forgotten predatory ancestors that made the transition to vegetarianism for some reason?

Discuss.

[Aotrs Commander]

Actually, that's not half bad. The perspective's odd, but all in all it's not too horrifying.

Yeah, doing the legs was very hard. I do perspective well normally, just not on something that's curved, as my brain has difficulty trying to work out what the curve should look like from an angle. (I could have done a side-on picture, but I thought the head, at least, needed to be seen from an angle, and I decided that trying to do it posed anything more than it was would be beyond my abilities!)

As I say, the body length is actually sorta right, because section A Welsh ponies are apparently quite long-bodied. (Either that, or I've been watching so much pony I don't know what a real horse looks like anymore...!)


If you want horrifying, please refer to the hypothetical unicorpion (scorpion/unicorn fusion) sketch. Warning, may indeed be utterly horrible and revolting.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4152380/Unicorpion.jpg
Yes, I know I forgot pincers. This thing was scribbled together in under 15 minutes because someone on our forum wanted to see what a "unicorpion" would look like.

And yet, still better than most of the rubbish rando-monsters that pop up in D&D (especially in the almost unilaterally dreadful 3.x artwork..!)


Great gods, the prophecy is true! Flee you fools, get that lich to let you on his ship! Head for my cultst bunkers! Flee to the Land of Friendship and Magic! Do something!

Given how often she pops in on the station, exactly how will that help?


Though ever since I last responded I cannot help but feel they would be more terrifying with two good rifles, and two shields. Infantry that can reliably carry plates of tank armor and still return fire effectively scares me much more than infantry that outguns me 6-1.

Trouble is, that would put your target profile up more and, more pertinently, that makes it more likely that someone will shoot you with an anti-armour weapon. (Nowadays, nearly everyone carries some form of light anti-armour, as thay can be smaller enough that the equivalentof an RPG-22 can be part our your standard kit. It's more or less a requirement, actually, since there are that many things out there that are bigger and meaner (Strayvians, Powered Infantry, us, WarDroids, Cybertanks etc etc) that you sort of have to be prepared for it.

(The Aotrs are unusual in that we don't tend to carry a disposable LAW as part of our standard equipment. Though somewhat, this is due to our greater reliance on magic - the standard Lightning Bolt spell in the Aotrs arsenal is quite up to the job, and, of course, the squads all have a dedicated Snake Launcher operator.)




Now see, this I have to question given what I know of he biology behind these things.

Proprioception (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception).

Though apparently they've done a good bit more studying since... I forget I haven't actually gone to school for three years >>;

Anyway. The sense of location is emanating, isn't it? In that a gun wouldn't be held relative to the ground ("3 meters up, can't down by 4 degrees") without a second limb bracing at the ground to give relative feedback; the gun would be relative to the creature, say, 2 meters up, seven degrees of the midsagital line in the one o'clock position (or however the brain processes it; we would probably register it as an X/Y/Z coordinate map with all axises(?) centered at about the sternum). So if something jerks the creature, there will be a delay, but the emanative nature of its holding 'limb' would naturally displace the weapon until conscious thought caught up to it, because the powers would try to maintain the X/Y/Z coordinates in relation to the Jaegerpony, not to the terrain.

There are a lot of mechanics in here I'm not going to bother talking out, and I'll just say its like keeping a full cup level in a speeding automobile. So I would say they suffer no penalties from being in a moving vehicle, but that they would require an extra limb above and beyond what other races do to get stable.

... That may be what you said though, rereading what I quoted, so if so I'm sorry. I'm just stuck on the fact that without mass to provide passive soaking of kinetic force, a Jalyrkeion1\ would require more effort to stabilize a weapon. The greater strength of their TK compared to a humanoid would help, but it seems either devote all that extra strength to stabilizing a standard weapon, or have exaggerated accuracy problems with a larger weapon. My reasoning being a 150# man with a braced shotgun (humanoid) is going to have an easier time than a 250# professional soldier (Jalyr) holding the same gun loosely without properly bracing it.

As you have a more thorough knowledge of how they actually work though, I may be off-base. I'm just trying to cover as broad an array of useful bits as possible.

Ah, that was me falling into Manouvre Group termininology. "Fully stabilised" means that you don't suffer so big a penalty firing off-road (though it applies to vehicles, rather than infantry).

On further consideration, though, I think them being able to run while firing (because unlike humans, they don't need to swing their arms as part of their balance) as if an (unstabilised) vehicle is probably more than good enough - as you rightly say, I was overexaggerating their ability to hold their guns level.


And if it's not too late, I think they should be a Shogunate. :smallbiggrin:

I like heirarchy, but Shogunate is another one to add to my list. (Y'see, the Jalyrkieons are "J" because I had a gap in the alphabet (between the Imperial Japanese, the Imperials (i.e. the Galactic Empire more correctly) and the Kra'Vak). I intend to have at least one fleet for every letter, because, and so we're down to P, Q, WXYZ. So, still six fleets to go... (Though secret project will be one of those.))


Not only could each vowel be distinct, especially as you watch anime and so are familiar with Japanese,

Pffftahahahaha!

Yes, I watch anime - anime English DUBS (like Naruto).

And only limited numbers at that (I'm more of a cartoon, than anime fan). Naruto and Pokemon are the only two I watch in earnest (though I've seen a fair bit of Dragonball Z).

I can just about recognise Japanses when spoken - due to the fairly small numbers of things I've watched subbed (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) or some of my JRPGs, but familiar? Heck no!

No foreign language skills, remember?

(I prefer dubs, generally, since I tend to watch while having supper (what, I like my chocolate and I like my cerial and cheese too! (No, not at the same time...) Unlike Xykon, I can still eat, so damn it if I'm not gonna enjoy myself), which you kinda can't do when watching a sub.)

[Pokonic]

Well, look at Celestia. She might be the oldest pony in the world, and she clearly has eyes farther apart than any other pony so far.
It could be that ponies have interbred with other creatures early in there history, like griffons, and the long-term result of such half-breeds surviving are small changes in the entire race.

[Draconi Redfir]

Well, look at Celestia. She might be the oldest pony in the world, and she clearly has eyes farther apart than any other pony so far.
It could be that ponies have interbred with other creatures early in there history, like griffons, and the long-term result of such half-breeds surviving are small changes in the entire race.

I was thinking more along the lines of "ancestors" as in very very very distant, before the pony species even became self-aware. Like our ancient ancestors that branched off into us and the chimps (or further back.) So long before Celestia and Luna existed (or at least before they took Pony form, And under the assumption the two of them did not just create the Ponies/rest of the world themselves (with possible help from other possible deities))

... Note: You should probably ignore everything i say if you do not believe in evolution.

[Freelancer Jack]

OK, here it goes:
I need help with a Fallout: Equestria story.

If anybody is familiar with that particular branch of the MLP universe, I'd ike some help crafting the setting.

OK, this story takes place in a Place called Oasis. It's in the middle of a Place called the Bad lands. It's farther out side the FO:E version of Appalusa, in a desert area. I'll tell you more if your interested.

If you want to help, give pointers, ETC contact me via AIM or a PM on the forum.

If your interested, contact me on AIM or with a PM.

[Soras Teva Gee]

I've been laughing quite happily thanks to EqD linking this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=FzozSSGETJo). A bunch of teens being introduced to FiM via the intro and a couple of quick brony factoids.

I've never watched this "Teens React" but I found this amusing. While a positively shameful intro to the show proper its got some wonderful reactions. I like that even totally flanderizing the show like that managed to win two converts to the Herd. Several of the others would come around I'm sure with proper introduction.

[Pokonic]

I was thinking more along the lines of "ancestors" as in very very very distant, before the pony species even became self-aware. Like our ancient ancestors that branched off into us and the chimps (or further back.) So long before Celestia and Luna existed (or at least before they took Pony form, And under the assumption the two of them did not just create the Ponies/rest of the world themselves (with possible help from other possible deities))

... Note: You should probably ignore everything i say if you do not believe in evolution.

Thing is, this is a world with magic. We could wonder on the origins of the manticore or the evolution of the draconequis, perhapes even wonder about how dragons can survive on gems,but the end result is the fact almost nothing can be realy made clear unless we accept that magic is involved with everything thats happening in that world.

@Freelancer Jack

Will there be buffalo?

[Freelancer Jack]

@Freelancer Jack

Will there be buffalo?

Yep. If you want more details, message me via PM or AIM.
or steam.

[Draconi Redfir]

Thing is, this is a world with magic. We could wonder on the origins of the manticore or the evolution of the draconequis, perhapes even wonder about how dragons can survive on gems,but the end result is the fact almost nothing can be realy made clear unless we accept that magic is involved with everything thats happening in that world.

MYJIK! Y U RUIN BIOLOGY!?


But seriously, perfectly logical no-magic-needed possibilities for all those things:smalltongue:

[Pokonic]

But seriously, perfectly logical no-magic-needed possibilities for all those things:smalltongue:

Please tell me about the wonders of a massive reptile surviving on minerals with no nutritinal value, please.:smalltongue:

[Aotrs Commander]

So then! Since the episode has settled down and i like talking biology...

>MLP Ponies have eyes looking in front of them

>RL Ponies (and other horses) have eyes on the sides of their head.

>Forward-looking vision is a common trait of predatory animals, as it allows them to keep an eye on their target during the chase.

>Side-looking vision is a common trait of herbivore animals, as it allows a wider field of vision to spot predators.

Thusly, my question to you.

>MLP Ponies with forward facing eyes, an attempt to make cartoon horses more relatable by making them that much more human-like? Or long-forgotten predatory ancestors that made the transition to vegetarianism for some reason?

Discuss.

Sterioscopic vision is also a requirement for anything that requires a good judge of distance (e.g. arborial creatures) - though that suggests tree pony ancesters, which is almost as strange...

Humans have been postulated to have increased brains due to seafood, so ponies may have at one point been fishers (which might have required forward facing vision.)

Though pony herbivorism is rather unsubstantiated. Pinkie one said they were "vegetarian" - which is entirely different from "herbivorous" - in any they also eat things like eggs (in baking, at the very least), and I believe hot dogs have been mentioned at least once - and Applejack does have pigs on the farm; and what use do pigs normally serve? Because unless Applejack does truffle-hunting in her spare time... (Dark, but there you go...) Also, notably, many pure herbivores tend to only eat one sort of vegetation (leaves or grass etc) unless given stuff like fruit by humans.

My guess is therefore ponies are slightly omnivorous - with an emphasis on vegetation of various sorts. Perhaps they were forced by serious enviromental conditions (i.e. lack of suitable food) - or simple exploitation of a vacant ecological niche due to extinction - to move away from their purely herbivorous roots. Thus expanding into more a generalist diet, possibly even hunting - maybe even human style hunting1 - and thus needed better vision (and/or colour vision, as primates have, which is a requirement for judging the ripeness of fruit, for example.)


Please tell me about the wonders of a massive reptile surviving on minerals with no nutritinal value, please.:smalltongue:

Draconic digestion, as in D&D, clearly is robust enough to break down substances at a molecular level. Yes, it is probably magical, but there's no way around that for dragons, like, period, because without magic they are simply too big to fly; doubly so with their armoured skin and proportiontely too-small wings (yes, even the ones with big wings are far too small, look at Quetzacoatalus or Teratornis) and breath weapons. Dragons are simply too big and to everything else to be anything other than magically supported.

Ponies, on the other hand, are perfectly able to be explained without using more magic than is necessary.



1I.e. running a creature until is collapses due to stress and exhaustion, because humans are capable of carrying their own water with them.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Please tell me about the wonders of a massive reptile surviving on minerals with no nutritinal value, please.:smalltongue:Symbiotic nanobot cultures? That's sort of how the Mii'Ari race works in my setting, although in their case the symbiotes were artificially introduced. (Well, that's the general consensus, anyway)

[Pokonic]

Draconic digestion, as in D&D, clearly is robust enough to break down substances at a molecular level. Yes, it is probably magical, but there's no way around that for dragons, like, period, because without magic they are simply too big to fly; doubly so with their armoured skin and proportiontely too-small wings (yes, even the ones with big wings are far too small, look at Quetzacoatalus or Teratornis) and breath weapons. Dragons are simply too big and to everything else to be anything other than magically supported.


It could be that dragons almost have a sort of "air sack" in them, like a fish. Looking at a pic of one of the full-grown ones we have seen so far, its easy to see where one could be around the midsection, for I doubt that half that body is made op of gigantic lungs and miles-long intestines. It would almost always be filled up, and only when one goes into a nap that it ever realy "deflates", which is not the best term, realy, because if it ever realy deflated the dragon would almost immediately die from its own weight crushing itself. Also, dragon magic.

.

[Draconi Redfir]

Please tell me about the wonders of a massive reptile surviving on minerals with no nutritinal value, please.:smalltongue:

It is simple really, A dragons scales, bones, and other bony-parts are all made out of fairly strong minerals, and what else is made out of fairly strong minerals? Correct, Gemstones. BUT! Consider the fact that this world is seemingly LITTERED in gemstones; they must have come from somewhere right?

I propose, that perhaps the crystals are formed in a way much similar to fossilization in our world, that is, dead animals from the past. Except this time, various proteins and other nutrients are preserved within the crystals as they are formed. Perhaps there is a type of bacteria or other small life form which eats things such as stone and rotting corpses and produces crystal minerals as a waste product, keep in mind that Spike said he had been "growing" his heart-gem in his growth-spurt episode. By eating the gemstones, Dragons are also eating the waste of the microscopic creatures, and quite possibly thousands of the creatures themselves (Keep in mind crystals are found deep within stone, perhaps these microbes crawl into small cracks or pockets of stone and being eating the stone itself, leaving crystal-waste behind in the pocket they leave, and as time passes, they reproduce in the thousands, spreading to other small pockets and producing even more gemstones, all while being sealed off from the outside would by the passing creating even more stone via volcanic activity and such.) These microbes provide protein for the dragons to devour, the microbes themselves having produced it using only the base elements they find within the stone they eat, different stone eaten by the microbes produces different gems, and dragons must eat various different gems to provide a balanced diet. (One gem for protein, another for calcium for example.)


Alternatively, the Dragons still-hunt and eat meat, but view gemstones (still providing the minerals for scales bones and teeth and such) as sweets, which they collect many of as they have a really large sweet-tooth.


edit: And/or any of the above examples.

[Pokonic]

Symbiotic nanobot cultures? That's sort of how the Mii'Ari race works in my setting, although in their case the symbiotes were artificially introduced. (Well, that's the general consensus, anyway)

Huh, thats...pretty plausable. Those thousand-year naps? All that smoke is exess organic and inorganic substances that are deadly in large amounts, so a dragon spends a few years purging stuff, such as mercury, in the form of a filthy black haze


propose, that perhaps the crystals are formed in a way much similar to fossilization in our world, that is, dead animals from the past. Except this time, various proteins and other nutrients are preserved within the crystals as they are formed. Perhaps there is a type of bacteria or other small life form which eats things such as stone and rotting corpses and produces crystal minerals as a waste product, keep in mind that Spike said he had been "growing" his heart-gem in his growth-spurt episode. By eating the gemstones, Dragons are also eating the waste of the microscopic creatures, and quite possibly thousands of the creatures themselves (Keep in mind crystals are found deep within stone, perhaps these microbes crawl into small cracks or pockets of stone and being eating the stone itself, leaving crystal-waste behind in the pocket they leave, and as time passes, they reproduce in the thousands, spreading to other small pockets and producing even more gemstones, all while being sealed off from the outside would by the passing creating even more stone via volcanic activity and such.) These microbes provide protein for the dragons to devour, the microbes themselves having produced it using only the base elements they find within the stone they eat, different stone eaten by the microbes produces different gems, and dragons must eat various different gems to provide a balanced diet. (One gem for protein, another for calcium for example.)

Could be that magical creatures actualy promote the growth of gems in the earth, albet in very small amounts. Hence, that gem is growing simply by being near such a large amount of ambient magical energy, AKA Twilight Sparkle. Dragons can prossess raw magic, and as such can live on gems alown. Some gems are formed in specalised conditions, like, say, a nature-based spell can influence the growth of emeralds over a few centruys. Natuarly, with the combonation of a super-powerful being ruling the area for years, along with ponies and the mere existance of the Everfree, equestria is the gem capital of the world.

[Aotrs Commander]

It could be that dragons almost have a sort of "air sack" in them, like a fish. Looking at a pic of one of the full-grown ones we have seen so far, its easy to see where one could be around the midsection, for I doubt that half that body is made op of gigantic lungs and miles-long intestines. It would almost always be filled up, and only when one goes into a nap that it ever realy "deflates", which is not the best term, realy, because if it ever realy deflated the dragon would almost immediately die from its own weight crushing itself. Also, dragon magic.

.

What with their enormously heavy armour, heavy bones, complete lack of balloon shape and enormous muscle mass for crushing rocks...? (Remembering how dense muscle is...)

Nah, you just can't really explain big flying creatures away without some sort of magic, they're just too big and too far away in shape from actual flying physics. It's like you have to assume most giant insects must have lungs, because trachae simply don't work much beyond the sizes of conventional insects, or accepting FTL in sci-fi. It's one of those conventions you simply can't work around with massively changing the subject material. (Because a real flyer of anything approaching size would have to look something like a pterasaur or bird in proportion, and even then wold mostly by a glider.)

[Pokonic]

What with their enormously heavy armour, heavy bones, complete lack of balloon shape and enormous muscle mass for crushing rocks...? (Remembering how dense muscle is...)

Nah, you just can't really explain big flying creatures away without some sort of magic, they're just too big and too far away in shape from actual flying physics. It's like you have to assume most giant insects must have lungs, because trachae simply don't work much beyond the sizes of conventional insects, or accepting FTL in sci-fi. It's one of those conventions you simply can't work around with massively changing the subject material. (Because a real flyer of anything approaching size would have to look something like a pterasaur or bird in proportion, and even then wold mostly by a glider.)

Dragon magic all the way down, man.

[Lord Raziere]

:smallyuk:

People trying to judge fantasy worlds by reality's standards again.

If something is significantly different from our world and is accepted as normal, then it shouldn't be treated as something abnormal, if its abnormal for the world, its abnormal for that world.

if its normal for a world where dragons exist, for dragons to easily fly, therefore it should be treated as normal. its normal for dragons to eat gems, therefore its normal for them. as long as the world keeps being consistent about what we know, then there is no problem with it.

and I personally say that any fantasy world has completely different subatomic particles, and other such building blocks that make everything as different as it can be, even the mathematics of the world, so that to reduce anything down to a scientific explanation, you'd have to reinvent mathematics and physics itself to do so, that cannot interact with our world's physics.

therefore, obviously ponies, dragons and everything are made up of things we don't have names for, using math and processes we wouldn't understand,
using rules that are different from ours. because I find trying to figure out how all this works in the real world strange, because they clearly work on completely different rules that couldn't possibly explain how we exist, because our rules cannot possibly explain how they exist.

[Sean Mirrsen]

:smallyuk:

People trying to judge fantasy worlds by reality's standards again.

If something is significantly different from our world and is accepted as normal, then it shouldn't be treated as something abnormal, if its abnormal for the world, its abnormal for that world.

if its normal for a world where dragons exist, for dragons to easily fly, therefore it should be treated as normal. its normal for dragons to eat gems, therefore its normal for them. as long as the world keeps being consistent about what we know, then there is no problem with it.

and I personally say that any fantasy world has completely different subatomic particles, and other such building blocks that make everything as different as it can be, even the mathematics of the world, so that to reduce anything down to a scientific explanation, you'd have to reinvent mathematics and physics itself to do so, that cannot interact with our world's physics.

therefore, obviously ponies, dragons and everything are made up of things we don't have names for, using math and processes we wouldn't understand,
using rules that are different from ours. because I find trying to figure out how all this works in the real world strange, because they clearly work on completely different rules that couldn't possibly explain how we exist, because our rules cannot possibly explain how they exist.Well, the problem with that line of thinking, for us overly analytical people, is the principle TVTropes calls "Like Reality Unless Noted". That is, given a world where most things are similar to reality, and faced with something strange that isn't given an explanation, unless the show explicitly provides an in-universe explanation for said something, we can infer that said something probably works in a way that is possible, plausible and/or logical in the real world. Since we're not given an explanations for dragons' gemstone digestion and flight capability, we can attempt to extrapolate a possible mode of operation through processes we know to be at least feasible in reality, before resorting to "it's magic".

Of course, in regards to flight it's pretty obviously magic (as in the case of pegasi as well), but as long as there's a somewhat scientific explanation to be found, we will continue searching for it. :smallbiggrin:

[Lord Raziere]

nah, that makes too many assumptions. 1. your assuming that there is indeed an explanation that works. 2. your assuming that they have had time to focus on explaining such things. 3. that the setting is fully developed 4. that the protagonists view things from our perspective of reality.

and so on. to the protagonists that IS reality. if we came up to them and told them about our reality they would answer back with a bunch of questions and similar over-analysis pointing out how a bunch of things we have/do don't make any sense to their rules. therefore we can't assume that its Like Reality Unless Noted, because they are in a separate place where reality is completely different! Like Reality Unless Noted only works in places set in the real world!
if it has its own internal consistency, it has nothing to do with our internal consistency, therefore useless for analyzing.

[Lix Lorn]

People like analyzing. Therefore they will analyze. Their analyzing doesn't hurt anyone. What's more, it's interesting.

[Litewarior]

People will try to dissect anything and everything to understand it by our laws. Read most stories that contain magical theory, they will refer to our laws of physics and how they interact with magic (conservation of energy, friction, etc.). Few stories will just contain an explanation that we can't understand (because that makes readers feel dumb) or just say that it's magic, deal with it (feels like a cop out).

[Aotrs Commander]

Also "it's magic" doesn't mean "has no explanation." I am a great believer in explaining what the magic does when "it's magic" is invoked (magic is, after all, simply another science, despite what technologically and thaumateurgically primative societies often claim. It has it's own rules and laws, complex, not easily understood though they may often be.)

And just because one thing is magical, it also doesn't and never should mean "nothing has any meaning, because everything is different" (Indeed, little annoys me more than "it's magic, I don't have to explain it1" and I actually ferverently disagree with the MST3K mantra when applied injudiciously.

When I say "dragons have to be magical to fly", I should really have said "dragons (and many other creatures/aliens/etc) passively draw on what is best termed as "background magical radiation" with a fairly minimal thaumatergical signature which is in fact a common source of all supernatural special abilities (and the reasons superpowers in general work at all, let alone all magic or psionics etc etc) which enables their physical structure to function in a form that permits them to fly, breath fire (etc etc) and do all the other things they do."

Note "background magical radiation" is virtually impossible to detect even magically, unless you happen to have a very clear understanding of magic science (as in an understanding considerably greater than 21st century Earth has of physics) and you know eactly what you're looking for, unless you happen to be in a region where the "background magical radiation" is in flux (i.e. waxing and waning).

(I mean, I could explain - in reasonable detail - Aotrs thaumatergical theory, though it would make no sense to any of you, as the advancement is on the same level as Aotrs technology, well beyond 21st century science which would require years of study to get your head around the basic principles; it's literally like trying to explain quantum and molecular physics to a Roman - from the Roman Kingdom.)

Reality runs to the lowest energy level. If there's a way to do something non-magically, that should (and generally does) be the first explanation, with magic/sufficiently advanced technology/whatever applied only where absolutely necessary, to expand on what's already there and/or "cover the gaps". (That's a good principle to apply to everything, incidently, from world design to real-world combat applications.)



1Actually, yes, you DO have to explain it - not in detail, not as replicable science - but yes, actually you DO have to show that you've at least thought about it, or your ghost will be explaining it to the nice Lich with the Rocket Launcher and you won't be moving on until he's satisfied...

"It's magic, it [technobabble]" is perfectly fine, however, so long as you at least have put some effort into trying.

Lazy writing makes me angry.

[Litewarior]

I'm not saying technobabble is a bad thing, I actually like it. However, when people watch things that have technobabble, they might start to think to hard about it, head starts to hurt, and they won't watch the show as a result (This probably doesn't happen often but I don't know). If however, they use commonly known physic laws, then the people can understand them better and feel smarter, and want to watch it.

Also, writing technobabble that makes sense is hard. But I do agree with you, lazy writing is a terrible thing and should be a mortal sin (Replace thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods with thou shalt not be lazy, and the world instantly becomes 5x more productive).

[Thanqol]

I smell a ship! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v169/Balthasar_Gelt/trollestia.png
*Flees*


UOLizie one image: Jayden+thistle, action: MAKEOUTS

Harem pants made Jayden angry. This makes her blush.


Since you are spreading pretty pictures around, shameless self promotion! http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=228920

On an unrelated note for those lacking all techsav, how do I post a link with any name I want rather than the URL?

(url=www.yourlink.com)My link! (/url) except with square brackets rather than round ones. Also the blue planet with the chain in the buttons box at the top of the screen.


"I... you guys are fighting about... harem pants? What? And, uh, nothing much, not really, I guess..."

"No, this seems like a pretty belligerent conversation to me..."

"OK, yes, blind and deaf, hooray, but could we, uh, have talk in, I dunno, a somewhat more friendly way?"

Jayden: "Listen up, pansy. You can either assert your opinion too or you can lie down like a coward but what you can't do is get me to lie down too. This stuff is too important for half-measures."


(Is a pony. Does not have a wallet.)

Mask: "Then what did I just steal?" *Looks; it's a Guild of Chains newsletter starring her* "Lix!"


*listens to universe singing*

So don't call me a moron
I'm super-astute!
There is no conundrum that my core cannot compute
No don't call me a moron
My IQ is equal to the infinite space from here to the moon...

Oh wait sorry, wrong universe, thats Autocthon.

I always heard him as 'Master Builder.'


*changes the universe radio*

*Hears Death Notes opening theme*

Whoops sorry, thats the Whispers of the Neverborn :smallbiggrin:

'I'm only happy when it rains.'

[Rebelhero]

Yeah, see.
She is chipper. She is loyal. She likes setting things on fire, possibly with bullets. Those combine so that terrible and interesting things will always be happening, but you'll be spared the bodily harm because she likes you.

Provided nothing she just pulled out is both classifiable as a power tool and a lethal weapon at the same time, I really don't see your objection.




Ponyard is just shy. He wont actually say that hes INTO what i do to him. Trust me, ive talked to Ms. Pierce. She told me what goes down.
*horrified*O.O; SKY! THIS IS NOT THE PLACE.
Says the pony with the catch phrase of "ADVENTURE!!"
You guys are enjoying this aren't you.
Not as much as you enjoyed -Censored-
*Blushes* oh my...
......you better pray no one else heard that.


I am trying so hard no to cross any lines here. But their back stories and adventures are just too funny. Do i roleplay too much? :smalleek:

[SiuiS]

Trouble is, that would put your target profile up more and, more pertinently, that makes it more likely that someone will shoot you with an anti-armour weapon. (Nowadays, nearly everyone carries some form of light anti-armour, as thay can be smaller enough that the equivalentof an RPG-22 can be part our your standard kit. It's more or less a requirement, actually, since there are that many things out there that are bigger and meaner (Strayvians, Powered Infantry, us, WarDroids, Cybertanks etc etc) that you sort of have to be prepared for it.

(The Aotrs are unusual in that we don't tend to carry a disposable LAW as part of our standard equipment. Though somewhat, this is due to our greater reliance on magic - the standard Lightning Bolt spell in the Aotrs arsenal is quite up to the job, and, of course, the squads all have a dedicated Snake Launcher operator.)

I'll have to concede if you press the issue, especially because I have absolutely NO idea of how prevalent artillery or armor piercing weapons would be. No point in a shield of that expense if it's just goin to be immediately targeted by anyone who knows better.

However, all the initial benefits bandied about for heavy weapons would actually apply to shields. Each one could carry a shield waaaaay to big for any other critter to carry as effectively. I cannot say that I know the exact math between expected weapon output versus plausible armor resiliency, but from where I'm currently standing I could see a Jalyrkeion having a shield/wall stron enough that if the enemy can trivialize it, the Jalyrkeion brass are idiots for dropping infantry there anyway.

But I suppose that's as far as I can take that line of reasoning.



Ah, that was me falling into Manouvre Group termininology. "Fully stabilised" means that you don't suffer so big a penalty firing off-road (though it applies to vehicles, rather than infantry).

On further consideration, though, I think them being able to run while firing (because unlike humans, they don't need to swing their arms as part of their balance) as if an (unstabilised) vehicle is probably more than good enough - as you rightly say, I was overexaggerating their ability to hold their guns level.


Aye, I recognized the gamer jargon. My mistake was, upon initial scan, thinking you said they were as stable as, say, a prone rifleman with a bipod, as opposed to always considered on level terrain or whatnot. My knee jerk was "nothing that moves can ever really be that stable!" and I didn't catch it until the end. My faux pas.



Pffftahahahaha!

Yes, I watch anime - anime English DUBS (like Naruto).

And only limited numbers at that (I'm more of a cartoon, than anime fan). Naruto and Pokemon are the only two I watch in earnest (though I've seen a fair bit of Dragonball Z).

I can just about recognise Japanses when spoken - due to the fairly small numbers of things I've watched subbed (Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) or some of my JRPGs, but familiar? Heck no!

No foreign language skills, remember?

(I prefer dubs, generally, since I tend to watch while having supper (what, I like my chocolate and I like my cerial and cheese too! (No, not at the same time...) Unlike Xykon, I can still eat, so damn it if I'm not gonna enjoy myself), which you kinda can't do when watching a sub.)

Honestly, I you say "nah roo tow" instead of "neh rudo" you've got the level of skill I was talking about - the ability to read a character bio and not say "what kind of pansy ninja is named 'Sassook'?"


Please tell me about the wonders of a massive reptile surviving on minerals with no nutritinal value, please.:smalltongue:

nitrtional value

minerals

Dunno about you, but I take in minerals all the time.



and I personally say that any fantasy world has completely different subatomic particles.

I used this exact argument a couple days ago in the IRC, actually. It prompted someone to rant the word "flesh!" at me for a while. Good fun! :smallbiggrin:


Also "it's magic" doesn't mean "has no explanation." I am a great believer in explaining what the magic does when "it's magic" is invoked (magic is, after all, simply another science, despite what technologically and thaumateurgically primative societies often claim. It has it's own rules and laws, complex, not easily understood though they may often be.)

And just because one thing is magical, it also doesn't and never should mean "nothing has any meaning, because everything is different" (Indeed, little annoys me more than "it's magic, I don't have to explain it1" and I actually ferverently disagree with the MST3K mantra when applied injudiciously.

When I say "dragons have to be magical to fly", I should really have said "dragons (and many other creatures/aliens/etc) passively draw on what is best termed as "background magical radiation" with a fairly minimal thaumatergical signature which is in fact a common source of all supernatural special abilities (and the reasons superpowers in general work at all, let alone all magic or psionics etc etc) which enables their physical structure to function in a form that permits them to fly, breath fire (etc etc) and do all the other things they do."

Note "background magical radiation" is virtually impossible to detect even magically, unless you happen to have a very clear understanding of magic science (as in an understanding considerably greater than 21st century Earth has of physics) and you know eactly what you're looking for, unless you happen to be in a region where the "background magical radiation" is in flux (i.e. waxing and waning).

(I mean, I could explain - in reasonable detail - Aotrs thaumatergical theory, though it would make no sense to any of you, as the advancement is on the same level as Aotrs technology, well beyond 21st century science which would require years of study to get your head around the basic principles; it's literally like trying to explain quantum and molecular physics to a Roman - from the Roman Kingdom.)

Reality runs to the lowest energy level. If there's a way to do something non-magically, that should (and generally does) be the first explanation, with magic/sufficiently advanced technology/whatever applied only where absolutely necessary, to expand on what's already there and/or "cover the gaps". (That's a good principle to apply to everything, incidently, from world design to real-world combat applications.)



1Actually, yes, you DO have to explain it - not in detail, not as replicable science - but yes, actually you DO have to show that you've at least thought about it, or your ghost will be explaining it to the nice Lich with the Rocket Launcher and you won't be moving on until he's satisfied...

"It's magic, it [technobabble]" is perfectly fine, however, so long as you at least have put some effort into trying.

Lazy writing makes me angry.

Agreed. I also dislike the characterization of science as a discrete thing which implies legitimacy. Science is "everything that is known". It implies a bit of objectivity, but really, if you can apply the scientific method to magic, then magic IS science. It's just magic, instead of chemistry or geology or physics.

-

Lixie: I may also know how to purr, but it's entirely reflexive. Aeolus be much better if I could do it on command...

[PrinceAquilaDei]

Hey new guy I haven't been able to respond to yet! Aquila.... Argh. I'm terrible with James (see above).

The code for putting whatever in a URL is
this is going to be the actual text of the link (http://www.urlgoeshere.place)

I'm gonna go get some more bed rest now. get offa my lawn!

Smartphones are terrible, but what else is new. Thanks, Hopefully I wont mess that up whenever it becomes relevant.

[Dexam]

My thoughts on the nature of dragon and pegasus flight, as presented in MLP:FiM...

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but my reasoning for dragon and pegasus flight in Equestria can be summed up with one simple explanation: the atmosphere of Equestria is significantly more dense than Earth's atmosphere.

Dragons and pegasi are capable of flight in much the same way that Earth whales and dolphins are capable of swimming. In fact, I would posit that the dragons and pegasi in Equestria are not so much as "flying" as "swimming" through a thick atmosphere.

High atmospheric density also explains why falling ponies seem to take a long time to fall relatively short distances (Rarity in Sonic Rainboom, Fluttershy in Cutie Mark Chronicles); why the butterflies are capable of supporting filly Fluttershy's weight (dense musculature in the butterflies for flying through the dense atmosphere vs the relatively lower density of a pegasus); how a sonic rainboom is possible at "slower than speed of sound" (sound travels much more easily through a denser medium, hence the speed of sound in Equestria is much lower than Earth). It also explains the relative indestructability of ponies - they have evolved with low-density (decreased mass) high-strength skeletal structures to cope best in the thick atmosphere.

Let's take this another step further: a dense atmosphere would be relatively "soupy", limiting the range of vision. Hence ponies have evolved very large, anime-esque eyes to capture the limited light; and brightly coloured coats, manes, and tails to attract the attention of other ponies. The show's light levels looks "normal" to us, because it's presented as if viewed through the eyes of a pony.

That's all I've got for now, but there's a (quasi-)scientific explanation that doesn't rely on "it's magic, I don't have to explain ----". I'm sure someone will come along and poke holes in my theory, but hey - that's how science works!

[Pokonic]

My thoughts on the nature of dragon and pegasus flight, as presented in MLP:FiM...

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but my reasoning for dragon and pegasus flight in Equestria can be summed up with one simple explanation: the atmosphere of Equestria is significantly more dense than Earth's atmosphere.

Dragons and pegasi are capable of flight in much the same way that Earth whales and dolphins are capable of swimming. In fact, I would posit that the dragons and pegasi in Equestria are not so much as "flying" as "swimming" through a thick atmosphere.

High atmospheric density also explains why falling ponies seem to take a long time to fall relatively short distances (Rarity in Sonic Rainboom, Fluttershy in Cutie Mark Chronicles); why the butterflies are capable of supporting filly Fluttershy's weight (dense musculature in the butterflies for flying through the dense atmosphere vs the relatively lower density of a pegasus); how a sonic rainboom is possible at "slower than speed of sound" (sound travels much more easily through a denser medium, hence the speed of sound in Equestria is much lower than Earth). It also explains the relative indestructability of ponies - they have evolved with low-density (decreased mass) high-strength skeletal structures to cope best in the thick atmosphere.

Let's take this another step further: a dense atmosphere would be relatively "soupy", limiting the range of vision. Hence ponies have evolved very large, anime-esque eyes to capture the limited light; and brightly coloured coats, manes, and tails to attract the attention of other ponies. The show's light levels looks "normal" to us, because it's presented as if viewed through the eyes of a pony.

That's all I've got for now, but there's a (quasi-)scientific explanation that doesn't rely on "it's magic, I don't have to explain ----". I'm sure someone will come along and poke holes in my theory, but hey - that's how science works!

Also, clouds are almost as dense as the ground below, and are as such that entire towns can be built on "cloud-stuff."

[Aotrs Commander]

I am trying so hard no to cross any lines here.

Don't worry, if things get too crazy, I've got the new and improved sanityinator ready to restore order!

Wasn't the Sanityinator a cattleprod duct-taped to a Snake warhead?

Yes, but that was the prototype. The horribly, painfully unsucessful prototype. The Mark II is purpose built!

Hff! Yeah, right! What did you do, weld a hundred cattle prods to a capital starship missile?

...

...

...No...?

*facepalm*




I'll have to concede if you press the issue, especially because I have absolutely NO idea of how prevalent artillery or armor piercing weapons would be. No point in a shield of that expense if it's just goin to be immediately targeted by anyone who knows better.

However, all the initial benefits bandied about for heavy weapons would actually apply to shields. Each one could carry a shield waaaaay to big for any other critter to carry as effectively. I cannot say that I know the exact math between expected weapon output versus plausible armor resiliency, but from where I'm currently standing I could see a Jalyrkeion having a shield/wall stron enough that if the enemy can trivialize it, the Jalyrkeion brass are idiots for dropping infantry there anyway.

But I suppose that's as far as I can take that line of reasoning.

Physical shields generally all have the same problem, that once you get to firearm level of speed, you can't move them to intercept fast enough (you can't see the shots coming), and generally making them infantry-weapon proof makes them too heavy to be infantry portable, given weapon penetration. (It should be remembered that armour is the last-ditch defense, not something you should rely on). Mainly, though, it's the fact you can't cover enough area against weapons that are much faster and more accurate, and that it tends to give your enemy something more obvious to shoot at.

And, as I can tell you from personal experience, shields are best used with other people in a shield wall. In my youth I did LARPing for a year or two, and my Dad made me a Roman Legionary-sized shield. Not only is it a bugger to cart around (even made of plywood with a (heavily) padded rim), I found it all too easy to get outflanked in the general melee. (Everyone else had "shields", if the had them at all, hat I'd barely qualify as bucklers! They, however, called mine a "table" because it was so big. In fact, it was a little bit undersized, because I wasn't quite full-grown...) Like everything else, shields are not all that easy as you'd think to use, and clearly take a bit of skill or practise to master!

(Shields made of energy, by which I mean historical-style shaped shields made of forcefields or something as opposed to "shields" in the starship sense are occasionally used or sorts... Though the only thing I can bring to mind off the top of my head, is the Herosine Empire's Psiloi Gravitic Orb Scout, which is basically a floating ball of a droid about two foot wide, and has a shield only to it's fore, because of the power contraints. (Shielding all around would have made the defense mostly worthless for the same power output, so they installed emitters only to the front.)





Honestly, I you say "nah roo tow" instead of "neh rudo" you've got the level of skill I was talking about - the ability to read a character bio and not say "what kind of pansy ninja is named 'Sassook'?"

Well, there is that.

Though there might be a bit of cultural in it as well - I vaguely recall reading/hearing (from entirely unsubstantiated sources) that Americans tend to read more phonetically, for some reason. (Which is why you guys spell colour and armour wrong1.) It might even me an immediately local bias, given that there are at least two places names in my immediate area (well, immediately as far as US distances go...!) with non-phoenetic names (Derby itself "Darby" or in local parlance "Daaarby", and Crich ("Cr-eye-ch", and I've heard the latter pronounced wrong at least once on TV...)

Also, I did hear the Naruto dub before I ever read the names, rendering my entire point moot, aside from a humourous anecdote on local placenames.

I can ramble nonsensically with the best of 'em...




Agreed. I also dislike the characterization of science as a discrete thing which implies legitimacy. Science is "everything that is known". It implies a bit of objectivity, but really, if you can apply the scientific method to magic, then magic IS science. It's just magic, instead of chemistry or geology or physics.

Exactly.




My thoughts on the nature of dragon and pegasus flight, as presented in MLP:FiM...

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but my reasoning for dragon and pegasus flight in Equestria can be summed up with one simple explanation: the atmosphere of Equestria is significantly more dense than Earth's atmosphere.

Dragons and pegasi are capable of flight in much the same way that Earth whales and dolphins are capable of swimming. In fact, I would posit that the dragons and pegasi in Equestria are not so much as "flying" as "swimming" through a thick atmosphere.

High atmospheric density also explains why falling ponies seem to take a long time to fall relatively short distances (Rarity in Sonic Rainboom, Fluttershy in Cutie Mark Chronicles); why the butterflies are capable of supporting filly Fluttershy's weight (dense musculature in the butterflies for flying through the dense atmosphere vs the relatively lower density of a pegasus); how a sonic rainboom is possible at "slower than speed of sound" (sound travels much more easily through a denser medium, hence the speed of sound in Equestria is much lower than Earth). It also explains the relative indestructability of ponies - they have evolved with low-density (decreased mass) high-strength skeletal structures to cope best in the thick atmosphere.

Let's take this another step further: a dense atmosphere would be relatively "soupy", limiting the range of vision. Hence ponies have evolved very large, anime-esque eyes to capture the limited light; and brightly coloured coats, manes, and tails to attract the attention of other ponies. The show's light levels looks "normal" to us, because it's presented as if viewed through the eyes of a pony.

That's all I've got for now, but there's a (quasi-)scientific explanation that doesn't rely on "it's magic, I don't have to explain ----". I'm sure someone will come along and poke holes in my theory, but hey - that's how science works!

That's a really interesting theory, actually. I kinda like it. I'm not sure I'd adopt it as my fanon, but it has a certain charm to it, nevertheless!



1Yes, yes, you changed the spelling, but it was to make it more phonetically spelled. (Similar attempts have been made in the past on both sides of the pond. Nun ov them reely eva workt, tho...)

[Mando Knight]

how a sonic rainboom is possible at "slower than speed of sound" (sound travels much more easily through a denser medium, hence the speed of sound in Equestria is much lower than Earth)

The speed of sound would be higher, and there's clearly a Mach cone forming around Rainbow Dash before the Rainboom occurs. (Which, incidentally, points toward it being not due to breaking the sound barrier, but due to some kind of super- or hyper-sonic effect)

[Soras Teva Gee]

Also "it's magic" doesn't mean "has no explanation." I am a great believer in explaining what the magic does when "it's magic" is invoked (magic is, after all, simply another science, despite what technologically and thaumateurgically primative societies often claim. It has it's own rules and laws, complex, not easily understood though they may often be.)

And just because one thing is magical, it also doesn't and never should mean "nothing has any meaning, because everything is different" (Indeed, little annoys me more than "it's magic, I don't have to explain it1" and I actually ferverently disagree with the MST3K mantra when applied injudiciously.

When I say "dragons have to be magical to fly", I should really have said "dragons (and many other creatures/aliens/etc) passively draw on what is best termed as "background magical radiation" with a fairly minimal thaumatergical signature which is in fact a common source of all supernatural special abilities (and the reasons superpowers in general work at all, let alone all magic or psionics etc etc) which enables their physical structure to function in a form that permits them to fly, breath fire (etc etc) and do all the other things they do."


My thoughts as a unicorn wizard are much the same. Magic does not just work because its magic. There is a certain value to having a miraclous occurence that transcends the conditions possible with magical aids available.... but this must be managed with the same utmost care from the point of view of the story.

[Lord Raziere]

I never said that science is only real world stuff. Science is a method.

I'm just saying, that the physics, the product of scientifically examining the world of Equestria, would yield far different results than what we know of. The more we would use science to figure out their world, we would eventually figure out that it would be fundamentally different from ours at the most basic, smallest pieces of reality, so different that our observations would lead is to conclude that they don't even have atoms, they have something similar to atoms, but we wouldn't have name for it. they would forms of energy similar to ours, but behave in different ways that would make us classify it as "not-exactly fire" and "not-exactly sound" but nevertheless they would be like sound, fire, and such, but they wouldn't be sound, fire, water whatever as we know them.

therefore due to your constant analysis and use of science, you would only eventually create a system completely different from that our system, even though the method, science, was the same method to figure out our own. the same can be said of all fantasy worlds. to me this is just logical after sustained analysis, the end that you will eventually always come to because you analyze them and try to figure them out. therefore I think it useless, because you will create a standard that was already there and already different from our own reality.

far faster, to just say "their rules are different from our rules, and I should just accept that" and leave it at that, to my way of thinking. accept that their rules are internally consistent, unless noted that its not internally consistent and that some unusual is happening.

[Dexam]

The speed of sound would be higher, and there's clearly a Mach cone forming around Rainbow Dash before the Rainboom occurs. (Which, incidentally, points toward it being not due to breaking the sound barrier, but due to some kind of super- or hyper-sonic effect)

Argh! *facehoof*

You are quite correct - a denser medium would result in a higher, not lower, speed of sound. I have only my tired and enfeebled brain to blame.

Also, this would mean that Rainbow Dash is even more awesome than previously thought. :smallwink:

[Tectonic Robot]

Jayden: "Listen up, pansy. You can either assert your opinion too or you can lie down like a coward but what you can't do is get me to lie down too. This stuff is too important for half-measures."


"What the heck are you two even arguing about? Seems to me like you're just trying to pick a fight, friend! And besides, half-measures suffice for most things."

[Thanqol]

"What the heck are you two even arguing about? Seems to me like you're just trying to pick a fight, friend! And besides, half-measures suffice for most things."

Jayden: "We were arguing about two Arcanum spheres, Forces - the mastery of heat, light, sound, gravity, electricity, velocity, ecetera - and Prime - the 'magic of magic', which does countermagic and mana manipulation and so on.

"That's what we were doing. Following this, my gracious opponent cast a spell to dress me in this ridiculous getup and fled the area. So we've moved beyond the realm of civilised debate and into the realm of electric megadeath beam cannons. Like I said before," Jayden said, producing a flashlight with an ominous amount of scorch marks around the bulb, "uncivilised would be much more interesting."

[Draconi Redfir]

:smallyuk:

People trying to judge fantasy worlds by reality's standards again.

If something is significantly different from our world and is accepted as normal, then it shouldn't be treated as something abnormal, if its abnormal for the world, its abnormal for that world.

if its normal for a world where dragons exist, for dragons to easily fly, therefore it should be treated as normal. its normal for dragons to eat gems, therefore its normal for them. as long as the world keeps being consistent about what we know, then there is no problem with it.

and I personally say that any fantasy world has completely different subatomic particles, and other such building blocks that make everything as different as it can be, even the mathematics of the world, so that to reduce anything down to a scientific explanation, you'd have to reinvent mathematics and physics itself to do so, that cannot interact with our world's physics.

therefore, obviously ponies, dragons and everything are made up of things we don't have names for, using math and processes we wouldn't understand,
using rules that are different from ours. because I find trying to figure out how all this works in the real world strange, because they clearly work on completely different rules that couldn't possibly explain how we exist, because our rules cannot possibly explain how they exist.

I just like theorizing how things might be possible without the handwave of Magic. I'm not saying this IS how things are in that world", i'm just saying "this COULD" be how things are in that world."

[Kato]

Thought maybe I should put that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzozSSGETJo&feature=g-u&context=G2b53b37FUAAAAAAACAA) here.... er... discuss?

[Soras Teva Gee]

Thought maybe I should put that (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzozSSGETJo&feature=g-u&context=G2b53b37FUAAAAAAACAA) here.... er... discuss?

I linked that last page, but it did get a bit buried. Such is ponythread.

[Kato]

I linked that last page, but it did get a bit buried. Such is ponythread.

Ah, sorry. Missed that.
Well... I guess there are just some types of people who can be bronies and then some who just won't give it a chance... after all what highschool bully could ever be converted to the joy and bliss that is FiM.

[Thanqol]

Ah, sorry. Missed that.
Well... I guess there are just some types of people who can be bronies and then some who just won't give it a chance... after all what highschool bully could ever be converted to the joy and bliss that is FiM.

If you looked at what I was like in high school you'd find it very unlikely that I'd be here today.

[Pendulous]

Ah, sorry. Missed that.
Well... I guess there are just some types of people who can be bronies and then some who just won't give it a chance... after all what highschool bully could ever be converted to the joy and bliss that is FiM.


Or maybe this show needs to force the kids to watch more than the intro?

[otakuryoga]

Hey Amish Pirate

posted this a bit ago but i dont think you saw it since it was a bottom of page post...or i missed your comment on it if you did
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7G4sy7MxvPE/TxClcjt7tgI/AAAAAAAAbA0/5csnR1Gbihs/s1600/good_morning_pipsqueak_by_johnjoseco-d4m7oqd.png

[Tectonic Robot]

Jayden: "We were arguing about two Arcanum spheres, Forces - the mastery of heat, light, sound, gravity, electricity, velocity, ecetera - and Prime - the 'magic of magic', which does countermagic and mana manipulation and so on.

"That's what we were doing. Following this, my gracious opponent cast a spell to dress me in this ridiculous getup and fled the area. So we've moved beyond the realm of civilised debate and into the realm of electric megadeath beam cannons. Like I said before," Jayden said, producing a flashlight with an ominous amount of scorch marks around the bulb, "uncivilised would be much more interesting."

Oh, well, just... don't murder each other, then?"

[SiuiS]

Pony road trip? *Suddenly I want to fly over to California and hit the road on the way to BroNYCon rather than take the shorter route straight there.

Regardless! *Barring any unfortunate incidents you can count me in. *I'll have to pass on the road trip part, but I'll be at the convention.

So I'll put you down as needing space for sleep, but not travel. *Question; what part of Canada do you live in, and if we get other Canadian bronies on line, would you be willing to be picked up with them? I mean, of it's a situation where I'll be nearby anyway, would you change your mind, or is it a matter of bein able to leave when you need to, not when the group does?


@Sius: That is one awesome idea and color me interested if not able to make any firm commitments at the moment. I literally am not even 100% on where I might be on the Eastern Seaboard come this summer. I was already planning on attending though.*

(I'm 25 with a perfect driving record though and made many trips around the NYC area so if availible I would gladly help drive)

Noted. If you're going to be there anyway I'll hall you out for floor space.

If at all possible I do not want to dive around the city though. Plan would be to give some lucky businessman at an outside garage our vehicle, and march to a trainamajig for transit to our locale. The earth ponies among us would naturally help with any excess luggage.


Now that sounds awesome. There are about a million reasons why I can't join in even though this sounds so awesome that I actually want to now. I wish you luck in your grand endeavor though.

Ah, don't take that kinda attitude mate! If its anything other than prior engagements or not wanting to go, we are totally willing to work out how to get you there.


Yes yes it is. *As for the next con I will let you know when things are loser I should have a job or two between then but I also have PAXEast and am planning to do some traveling over the summer so I have a lot of saving to do but I really do want to do another BroNYCon as this last one was the best time I have had in awhile.

Floor space, no transit needed. Gotcha.


Oh goodness, so much I need to post but I'm stuck at a conference with only a phone. So short version: SiuiS and Gaelbert please poke me if I don't post responses at you soon.

Poke, maybe? Can't recall if you said anything, gonna check.


stuff

Argh. I just cannot seem to quote you today...
Starting point is California bay area. Not entirely sure where, just yet. Depending on Brony density, either San Francisco, or the Concord/Wallnut Creek area. I'll mark ya down though.


Well, I am thinking of going, but I if I do I will be traveling there on my own.*

That being said I support this endeavor and so will contribute to alleviate this burden. Probably in monetary form, SiuiS, PM me when you have estimated the logistics and requirements.

Noted. Do you want to be put down for floor space, as it were, or will you be bunking alone?


I didn't want to stick this in a quotepost because I want people to read it:
NorCal/Bay Area bronies willing and able to make it to the Brony Beach Bonfire (http://www.meetup.com/Bronies-of-Northern-California/events/44920712/?value=SF+Ocean+Beach+bonfire) this Friday night in San Francisco, let me know so we can meet up or something. PM, email, smoke signal, homing pigeons, what have you. I want to meet some of y'all.

(Also, the final part of the quote post will be much, much smaller.)

Kinda bummed I missed this. But! It's good to know there is a large group in my area. With luck, we can wrangle things together, start a friendly competitive rivalry with Tink and the east coast con-bronies. Because when ponies try to outdo each other with super big parties?

Everypony wins.


You think that sounds creepy? You're planning on using cartoon ponies to entice people to get in a massive van, and then you're taking them across state borders.
I mean, I'm (hopefully) going to go with you, but still.
It's an awesome idea though, I don't mean to sound critical.

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/examples/70dee385.jpg



;D

One Gaelbert, for van, cargo and floor space. Gotcha.


Nice. I live in San Francisco, and I might be able to make it. I'll get back to you in a couple of months.

Assuming the 'darn I have to work' was about the bonfire two nights ago, good stuff. I'll have you down as a tentative yes.


How do you phone people do this? Posting on an iPod is tough.
Anyway I had another involved pony dream that started with the announcement that MLP was all part of a deal between Hasbro and Celestia to get humanity used to the idea of magical ponies before revealing the actual existence of Equestria to the world, and ended with Topaz attending a Bronycon with Lyra and Bon Bon. Good times.

The only things I got from the last bronycon were black disks about the size of a fifty cent piece, bearing the marks of Celestia, Luna and Nightmare Moon (all on one neck cord, so I can flip 'em around as a mood indicator :smallbiggrin:) and small recalls of Lyra and Bon Bon, laminated on tiny lanyards and hanging from my keychain.

I guess... I guess I'm finally able to come out and say it.

guess who is my favorite pony?Bon Bon :smallredface


[spoiler]Though Lyra is best supporting pony, and a darn good marefriend to boot.



Ok, phone response time is go!*

@SiuiS: So I figure what the hay, Faust will be there and your latest travelogue has me super jealous so I'm going to be crazy here and say that you can count me in for Operation Faust. Send me a PM and I can further coordinate with you!

You got it. Actual planning begins when I get a chance to sit down, calculate miles, gas consumption, routes, room costs, and groceries.

That is, probably Tuesday.


Ponyard is just shy. He wont actually say that hes INTO what i do to him. Trust me, ive talked to Ms. Pierce. She told me what goes down.
*horrified*O.O; SKY! THIS IS NOT THE PLACE.
Says the pony with the catch phrase of "ADVENTURE!!"
You guys are enjoying this aren't you.
Not as much as you enjoyed -Censored-
*Blushes* oh my...
......you better pray no one else heard that.


I am trying so hard no to cross any lines here. But their back stories and *adventures are just too funny. Do i roleplay too much? :smalleek:

RP too much? Nah. We don't want a bunch of posts in a row that are nothin' but RP, but you're doing fine.

Starry looks at Sky Rocket, her eyes widening. For the briefest instant she looks shocked, before her eyes unfocused and she stares past and through the other pony, bells chiming gently*


Smartphones are terrible, but what else is new. Thanks, Hopefully I wont mess that up whenever it becomes relevant.

... Double dagnabbit! Not only did I mess up on the proof reading, but I apparently used the wrong tag. It was supposed to show the tags without engaging their function. I'll have to find how to do that again...

Luckily you quoted me, and got to see the example anyway...


Don't worry, if things get too crazy, I've got the new and improved sanityinator ready to restore order!

Wasn't the Sanityinator a cattleprod duct-taped to a Snake warhead?

Yes, but that was the prototype. The horribly, painfully unsucessful prototype. The Mark II is purpose built!

Hff! Yeah, right! What did you do, weld a hundred cattle prods to a capital starship missile?

...

...

...No...?

*facepalm*

Ugh. Facehoof indeed.
What wasn't that your idea?!



Physical shields generally all have the same problem, that once you get to firearm level of speed, you can't move them to intercept fast enough (you can't see the shots coming), and generally making them infantry-weapon proof makes them too heavy to be infantry portable, given weapon penetration. (It should be remembered that armour is the last-ditch defense, not something you should rely on). Mainly, though, it's the fact you can't cover enough area against weapons that are much faster and more accurate, and that it tends to give your enemy something more obvious to shoot at.

That's the thing. I'm not saying make them carry around cumbersome but useless riot shields; I'm asking if, given technological advances and the full understanding of their Telekinesis, could they carry around bunker walls? Mobile cover? A lot of the encumbrance issue is mitigated because they could not only transport but also wield the device. And it wouldn't be used like a shield, to parry bullets - it would be planted, maybe extra anchored with some TK, and fired around without having to expose the soldier. Metallurgically it is feasible, if expensive. The callibur of weapon that would breach it would be enough that they wouldn't try to hide behind said cover from it anyway.

Your responses make me lean towards no, and I'm only beating this issue because I'm not sure I'm coming across clearly, is all. I say 'shield' and I mean 'as effective as a five foot thick earthen rampart'.


And, as I can tell you from personal experience, shields are best used with other people in a shield wall. In my youth I did LARPing for a year or two, and my Dad made me a Roman Legionary-sized shield. Not only is it a bugger to cart around (even made of plywood with a (heavily) padded rim), I found it all too easy to get outflanked in the general melee. (Everyone else had "shields", if the had them at all, hat I'd barely qualify as bucklers! They, however, called mine a "table" because it was so big. In fact, it was a little bit undersized, because I wasn't quite full-grown...) Like everything else, shields are not all that easy as you'd think to use, and clearly take a bit of skill or practise to master!

I actually have much the same experience, though also with some re-enactment stuff (and stupid stuff with a few close mates. Machete scars on my fingers and all...) which is t
My main reason for being so hesitant - shields aren't designed to be permanent. They save your hide long enough for you to win, and buy a new one.


(Shields made of energy, by which I mean historical-style shaped shields made of forcefields or something as opposed to "shields" in the starship sense are occasionally used or sorts... Though the only thing I can bring to mind off the top of my head, is the Herosine Empire's Psiloi Gravitic Orb Scout, which is basically a floating ball of a droid about two foot wide, and has a shield only to it's fore, because of the power contraints. (Shielding all around would have made the defense mostly worthless for the same power output, so they installed emitters only to the front.)

That was also in the back of my mind. Could these small, mobile walls be technologically reinforced? We are dealing with Yes, because tech limits are obvious and minimal. I am ignoring whether it's cost effective, and trying to see whether it would be likely to protect a soldier rather than get him killed faster.



Well, there is that.*

Though there might be a bit of cultural in it as well - I vaguely recall reading/hearing (from entirely unsubstantiated sources) that Americans tend to read more phonetically, for some reason. (Which is why you guys spell colour and armour wrong1.) It might even me an immediately local bias, given that there are at least two places names in my immediate area (well, immediately as far as US distances go...!) with non-phoenetic names (Derby itself "Darby" or in local parlance "Daaarby", and Crich ("Cr-eye-ch", and I've heard the latter pronounced wrong at least once on TV...)*

Also, I did hear the Naruto dub before I ever read the names, rendering my entire point moot, aside from a humourous anecdote on local placenames.

I can ramble nonsensically with the best of 'em...

Rambling is fun~

And aye. I'm pretty sure Americans read more phonetically. Those of us who can read, at any rate; 12th grade, at around 18 years, students can be divided into those who have been reading at "college level" for years, and those who don't know that then/than, or whether/weather are different words. You know, the ones who call other people "retarted", not realizing I'd have to have been pastry-ified in the fire. Place in order for it to happen again...



1Yes, yes, you changed the spelling, but it was to make it more phonetically spelled. (Similar attempts have been made in the past on both sides of the pond. Nun ov them reely eva workt, tho...)

I am the last bloke who would argue with you about whether americans or the English get to decide what is and is not English. But I'm also the kind of bloke to be perfectly accommodating to the spoils of war and such. So I'm a pretty weird American.


My thoughts as a unicorn wizard are much the same. Magic does not just work because its magic. There is a certain value to having a miraclous occurence that transcends the conditions possible with magical aids available.... but this must be managed with the same utmost care from the point of view of the story.

Magic can be looked at in this regard based on understanding. I know that electricity is the flow of electrons from teeny tiny particles. And that this current acts like electricity. I know electricity can cause movement in physical objects, I can even from how. I know that adding a bunch of on/off gates to a circuit board allows for complicated circuitry, but at this level I start to lose cohesion. Between "electricity make copper open or close" and "this is the Internet" I am baffled.

But if you look closely, you see how it works. Basic basic functions, set up to be controlled by "key strokes". From there, a metacircuit can be set up that is controlled by keystrokes, and only executes when the master control is hit - that is, the command is "sent" by pressing enter.

Nowadays we have folks executing grand programs; robotics, video games, cellphones. And just as a master gamer can make the game behave beautifully, but doesn't necessarily have any idea how the game code works, a master program can design an elegant as all get-out game without understanding how hardware and. Circuitry and electricity work.

Payrolls know what video games are. Hedge wizards and charlatans can play a good game, and wizards can write, compile and execute their own programs. The good ones can even customize the hardware somewhat. When you get tithe point of understanding every layer of functionality, that's Archmage territory.

But circuitry is based on science. Programming isn't quite so much based on science, even though it is scientific.

Magic that is done at the level of "I don't know how it works, but it does" is just the result of over-achieving "Magus Colleges" removing the footwork. And I'm sure you've seen people come up with perfectly reasonable, logical, even functional rationales for why their computer behaves the way it does, even though with basic computer knowledge you know they are dead wrong.

Magic that's just magic means someone doesn't know why it works, just that it does. This ignorance doesn't make their art any less scientific, it just makes it more heuristic as such mages are likely to experiment and find things out, but not using due scientific process. And saying this isn't magic or isn't science is bunk, because computers are basically science AND magic; how by fire does a moving electron abstract upwards into an Xbox game? Magic is the best answer I can give you.

-



MLPFIM Card game design.

[SPOILER]

Set up
In the beginning of each battle, each player draws 6 cards from their deck of 40 cards. *Then each player put pony cards with total levels no greater than 6.*

Game Play:
On a player’s turn, starting with the player with the lowest starting level total, the player draws a card and may put a card into play. Also on their turn, a player may choose Characters card in play and attempt to defeat another player’s Obstacle card. During an attempt, the player plays any number of Support cards from their hand to increase one or more of the Character’s Strength values. Characters can be used as Support cards at a weaker effect. The owner of the obstacle may play Counter cards to increase an Obstacle’s Strength. If the resulting Strength Value is greater than that of the obstacle, the player wins an Element. *Used Support Cards and Discards are discarded.
The game ends after one player wins 6 Elements, each other player has no Characters, or after the final remaining player’s 10th turn, the winner being the player who won the most Elements.

Types of Cards:
Character: Character Cards are used to defeat Obstacle Cards or as level 1 Support cards in a pinch. Each Character has a level between 0 and 6 and three Strength values: Mind, Body, and Heart.

Obstacles: Obstacle Cards are used to draw more cards or remove Characters from play. Obstacle cards have levels between 1 and 6 and three Strength values: Mind, Body, and Heart.

Support: *Support Cards are used to power up Character Cards.*

Counter: *Counter Cards are used to power up Obstacle Cards.

Design ideas:
There are 6 types of factions, one for each Pony.
Twilight Sparkle: Twilight decks will have powerful Support and Counter Cards but her Characters are weak for their level.*
Rarity: *Rarity decks powerful Counters that make their Obstacles hard to defeat.
Fluttershy: *Fluttershy decks will swarm the enemy with many Characters, allowing them to always have a strong Character of each Strength type in play.
Rainbow Dash: *Dash decks will have Character cards with Strengths higher than that expected at their level with the drawback of weak Counters.
Pinkie Pie: Pinkie decks have set themselves up for surprise victory of rounds.
Applejack: Applejack decks will have many ways to draw cards and reuse discarded cards.


Do me a favor, mate. Do a sloppy design of what each card looks like (basically "picture here, numbers here, power here, cost here" etc.) and a bunch of specific card texts, and I'll try and put some together and play test.

[Thanqol]

Oh, well, just... don't murder each other, then?"

"Don't worry, I don't believe in Death,"

*Control Light+Scrying+Transform Energy - launches telefrag deathray at SiuiS*

[Rebelhero]

RP too much? Nah. We don't want a bunch of posts in a row that are nothin' but RP, but you're doing fine.

Starry looks at Sky Rocket, her eyes widening. For the briefest instant she looks shocked, before her eyes unfocused and she stares past and through the other pony, bells chiming gently*





*nightscream nudges Skyrocket and nods over too Starry*
Looks like we have acquired an on looker. *winks*
You may wish to start running now. *looks into her unfocused eyes* Oh man, you did it this time Sky. She went blank.

First Starry was a filly correct? you have to reaquient me with her/him, i might not have been around or missed this pony coming into play.


Also bad memory is bad.

And to keep this pony. how about 1000 pony pictures?
Ponies 1 (http://rebelfury.deviantart.com/favourites/44810030)

ponies 2 (http://rebelfury.deviantart.com/favourites/44993867)

[Forum Explorer]

And, as I can tell you from personal experience, shields are best used with other people in a shield wall. In my youth I did LARPing for a year or two, and my Dad made me a Roman Legionary-sized shield. Not only is it a bugger to cart around (even made of plywood with a (heavily) padded rim), I found it all too easy to get outflanked in the general melee. (Everyone else had "shields", if the had them at all, hat I'd barely qualify as bucklers! They, however, called mine a "table" because it was so big. In fact, it was a little bit undersized, because I wasn't quite full-grown...) Like everything else, shields are not all that easy as you'd think to use, and clearly take a bit of skill or practise to master!


I disagree with that. When I was in a sort of faux medieval fighting club having a shield was very useful even in one on one (or 3 on one) situations. Now granted I was using what I believe to be a kite shield so that changes lots. But I found that the shield allowed me to cover one side of my body as well as my front providing lots of protection from thrown weapons as well as attacks. Would it have been better with a shield wall? Yeah probably. But since we didn't all have identical equipment we couldn't form a proper one and using a shield with a one handed weapon was much easier then duel-wielding, using a two handed weapon, or multiple spears.



As for pony evolution I think their vision is due to a lack of predators. Since they didn't need to watch out for predators selection favored eyes that were closer together for the benefits that depth perception gave them.

As for dragons we've clearly seen that they are at least partially fueled by emotions. Greed can cause a massive growth spurt, so I imagine their flight is fueled by another emotion. Dragons in fact do not need to eat at all (as evidenced by their long naps) and can exist on a purely emotional/magical diet. However gemstones (and other foods) are tasty as well as providing the usual benefits we would expect (increased energy and nutrition) As for the long naps these are generally caused when a dragon becomes more apathetic and use more energy. As they grow bigger they naturally use more energy which causes naps. Similarly apathy means they are taking in less energy and thus need to sleep more as they gather more energy.

[SiuiS]

[FFRP]
"What the heck are you two even arguing about? Seems to me like you're just trying to pick a fight, friend! And besides, half-measures suffice for most things."

*The hunched 'old' bloke pauses for a moment, and then stands tall - impossibly tall - blazing from within with viridian rainbows and silver fire*

This I refute! Half measures are acceptable for No Thing!

*he extends his arm, pointing to Candles' very core* You, pony! You! You are a brilliant, blazing effulgent star! Pregnant with possibilityA, and to say anything else - to settle for mediocrity for the sake of comfort - is a TRAVESTY. You have infinite potential, you have life and limb! Vim and vigor!

*the fires and light fade, perhaps, they never were. Here now is a simple youth, face crumpled with earnest concern. He grabs Candles by the sides of the jaw, pushin back the hat Starry had given him, and looks hard into the colt's face*

You are a beautiful work of the mind and soul, Candles. You are the universe. What separates us is that I know this, and you think these words are just that; hollow, sound, text. You are on a journey of learning, my little pony, of becoming! Infinite becoming, again and again, transcending yourself each time.

I will not beleaguer you about your pace, because each must dance as their rhythm dictates. But to stop, to cease, to say "I have come far enough, I will stay here" is a crime I cannot allow. To give in to this is what the awakened call The Lie; and it is just that, Candles, I promise you. A Lie. Good enough is NEVER good enough, just like there is no lesser evil, there is no greater good. There is being who you are, becoming what you are meant to be, fulfillment! And there is rationalization.

You have come so very far, Candles. You have come from a confused and frightened busybody, shaken a powerful malignancy, won the hearts of the ponychat, and now, when the ball is finally rolling, when momentum is on yor side, now, NOW of all times, you want to take your ball and go? Fold and leave while you're in the black? Every hand is a winner, friend, and every hand is a loser, it's all in how you play.

And at the end of the day, Candles, wounds heal, bones knit and problems sort themselves out. But regret does nothing but eat you alive, and make you waste even more of that precious vitality on frittering your moments in despair.

Half measures are never enough for a full pony. You are so much more than that... Please, if only for yourself, don't let that go out of complacency.

*his momentum having wound down, the Mage curls again with his age, before turning his head, elsewise still as the grave*


Jayden: "We were arguing about two Arcanum spheres, Forces - the mastery of heat, light, sound, gravity, electricity, velocity, ecetera - and Prime - the 'magic of magic', which does countermagic and mana manipulation and so on.

"That's what we were doing. Following this, my gracious opponent cast a spell to dress me in this ridiculous getup and fled the area. So we've moved beyond the realm of civilised debate and into the realm of electric megadeath beam cannons. Like I said before," Jayden said, producing a flashlight with an ominous amount of scorch marks around the bulb, "uncivilised would be much more interesting."

Oh, yes. That.

Come now, Jayden. If you meet every light-hearted prank with electric death salvos, how will you see make any friends?


Oh, well, just... don't murder each other, then?"

*the wizard and the griffon eye each other dramatically at a downward angle, wind blowing through the grass. Is magically between them as in every anime samurai battle ever. There is an audible swallow*
Don't worry, Candles. its amazing what one can live through.


"Don't worry, I don't believe in Death,"

*Control Light+Scrying+Transform Energy - launches telefrag deathray at SiuiS*

EEEEYARRGH I WAS JOKING ABOU THE ELECTRIC DEATH SALVO Gah my face!

Fine! FINE! You know what? You're not that pretty after all!

*SiuiS flings his hand out dramatically, sending transparent violet knives of psychic scorn spiraling towards Jayden's sense of self esteem*

-

Mark II, now with errata!*


ATTENTION EVERYPONY;
[b]OPERATION FAUST
IS NOW IN ITS PLANNING STAGES


Sadly, for those of you not in North America1 this is irrelevant, and maybe even depressing for some of you. So, spoilers.


1. The Basics
BroNYCon is in approximately five months. It will be a two-day event. It will most likely be on a weekend.
Lauren Faust herself will be there, which means most of the globe will be there. It's a con for Pony, so most of the people will be cool, and those that aren't can be loved, tolerated, both, or just ignored. And we want as much of ponythread there as is humanly, equinely, gryphynly and playgrounderly possible.

And for anyone watching at home; lurkers count. if you are in this thread long enough to wonder if this applies to you, IT DOES.

2. The Operation
The plan is to spend that time coordinating everypony who can and will go, and get them there. If we can ignore the time crunch, it will be fiscally and emotionally better to drive.

Starting approximately 5 days before the conventions starts, Brazen Shield and Starry Notions will rent a van or two and make the 4,000+ mile trip along the 3,503 mile route. On the way, we will pick up as many ponies2 as possible, and shuttle them with us. We will then reverse routes, head home, and drop said ponies off. The more ponies we have, the better this trip will be; pick ups will help us foot some of the cost, while also having a cheaper alternative to flight or driving their own way or bussing.

3. Potential Issues
Obviously, this endeavor could fall through big time. If nine out of ten ponies are in southern States, and one is in Canada, we won't be able to swing by for our Canadian friend. If the number of ponies gets to the magical middle ground, we won't be able to fit them in one van, but also won't be able to rent a second van. If a pony backs out at the last second, we may not have enough buffer money to cover the loss (we got lucky, with four jobs providing christmas overtime- not happening until next christmas). If an emergency comes up for me or Braz, we have to drop out and that could mess up EVERYPONY'S plans though one of our goals is redundancy to eliminate this issue.

4. What We Need
Primarily, information. I've been a laypony group organizer for a long time, and the one thing -The. One. Thing! - that is guaranteed to send me into a neurotic fit and tirade, amateur Bleakbane style (possible with more sailor's lingo, to boot) is when EVERYONE responds to "when are you available" with "I dunno, it depends. When is everyone else available?"3

We need to know who wants to come. Who can legally drive in the US. Who handle a bajillion people in their vehicle, all chatting. Who can afford their own trip. Who can afford to be nice and help another pony with their trip, seeing as my previously stated goal was to develop a pool so everypony could go within reason.

This is still conceptual, but the more detail we get the more we can supply. We WILL develop concrete as it happens, so please, feedback! I'll update this regularly, either as a repost or with links to his post as needed (votes on which is preferable are appreciated).

5. REQUIREMENTS
All caps for a reason.

• are you willing AND legal to be a primary or back-up driver?
• money to attend the Con; RSVP with the convention may be a requirement4, see footnote.
• money for gas/snacks.
• legal majority OR Guardian Permission - a big one or I'd have forced enticed Vbob to go last time.
• Location: I don't need an address (yet!) and wouldn't have you post it publicly in any case. But I need a rather good general idea so I can start planning routes IMMEDIATELY.
• idea on comfort zones: if being shoved between two burly hairy bronies is a problem, I need to know before I schedule you for Hairy Man Car 2.*
• PJs, blankets, pillows, comfort objects: think camping. No only might we have to rotate-crash in the vehicles, but odds of having mattress rather than floor space at a con are teensy.

6. The Story So Far
We have ~8 ponyfolk willing to come along. We have 11 ponyfolk who need floor space (though I will endeavor to get mattress under everypony). The route, as of now, looks to be a pick-up in the San Francisco area, swooping down into Texas to grab a fellow, then have brunch with Raz Fox5, and head through the lower states to New York. Using no landmarks other than San Francisco, Ca; San Antonio, Tx; and New York, NY it looks like a 3,560 mile trip. Three days transit, rounded to four, plus two days in the middle for the convention itself, we will be gone about a week.*


ERRATA: first, RSVP Is Now Required according to the official meetup board for Bronies NYC. So there will be no getting in at the door, though tag-team con tags (where you get a badge from someone who doesn't want to hang around anymore) is still possible.

Second, I somehow derp'd and dropped a digit. 400 miles would get me to Arizona. It's looking more like four thousand. Makes you really appreciate super sonic speeds...




1: Am I supposed to Capitalize North America? I mean, it's technically a proper noun, but...
2: Humans can come too. No saddle comments though, that's just awkward in mixed company.
3: Seriously. The level of rage this instilled in me is only trumped by the group's confusion at why nopony knew what was going on. Luna's Lightning, but did it not occur to you that I need bricks before I can build a masterpiece out of Lego? I can't conjure matter from Jack, people! I'm not a Moros!
4: conventions are funny things; all the ponyfolk and merchandise and music and stuff was awesome, but the really cool part? Walking to breakfast, 24 strong, and all eating. Singing random pony snippets. Hanging out. So if push comes to shove, we could rotate badges or something, but I'd prefer we all get together and ignore the con, rather than leave some folks out. So RSVP is nice, but we shall see.

[Tiki Snakes]

A breif observation on the Dragon Gem eating angle;
There is a potentially unsafe assumption here, that the Gemstones so prevalent across equestria don't have any calorific or nutritional content. I don't think we can bank on that, all things considered.

Though judging by Spike's enjoying the 'Baked Bads' I think it's safe to say Equestrian Dragons very much have a D&D style invincible stomach and are similarly ultra-omnivorous.

Sheilds are useful. Heavy sheilds are unwieldy, sure and there's plenty of technique to master I've no doubt. That doesn't mean that they aren't inherantly better than not having a sheild, or anything. Certainly, Halo-Jackal style Energy Sheilds seem incredibly useful even in a futuristic enviroment and are a decent part of what can make that particular faction challenging to fight (especially when pared with fast moving sniper types)
The mobile-barricade style incredibly-heavy metal sheilds in Gears of War can often be life-savers (provided you can find a side-arm worth pulling the trigger of).

And the direction of fire is only really going to be a major problem in an ambush situation, surely? Otherwise you have a decent idea what direction you'll need to be pointing the thing in.

[Thanqol]

In which it is on.


[FFRP]

*The hunched 'old' bloke pauses for a moment, and then stands tall - impossibly tall - blazing from within with viridian rainbows and silver fire*

This I refute! Half measures are acceptable for No Thing!

*he extends his arm, pointing to Candles' very core* You, pony! You! You are a brilliant, blazing effulgent star! Pregnant with possibilityA, and to say anything else - to settle for mediocrity for the sake of comfort - is a TRAVESTY. You have infinite potential, you have life and limb! Vim and vigor!

*the fires and light fade, perhaps, they never were. Here now is a simple youth, face crumpled with earnest concern. He grabs Candles by the sides of the jaw, pushin back the hat Starry had given him, and looks hard into the colt's face*

You are a beautiful work of the mind and soul, Candles. You are the universe. What separates us is that I know this, and you think these words are just that; hollow, sound, text. You are on a journey of learning, my little pony, of becoming! Infinite becoming, again and again, transcending yourself each time.

I will not beleaguer you about your pace, because each must dance as their rhythm dictates. But to stop, to cease, to say "I have come far enough, I will stay here" is a crime I cannot allow. To give in to this is what the awakened call The Lie; and it is just that, Candles, I promise you. A Lie. Good enough is NEVER good enough, just like there is no lesser evil, there is no greater good. There is being who you are, becoming what you are meant to be, fulfillment! And there is rationalization.

You have come so very far, Candles. You have come from a confused and frightened busybody, shaken a powerful malignancy, won the hearts of the ponychat, and now, when the ball is finally rolling, when momentum is on yor side, now, NOW of all times, you want to take your ball and go? Fold and leave while you're in the black? Every hand is a winner, friend, and every hand is a loser, it's all in how you play.

And at the end of the day, Candles, wounds heal, bones knit and problems sort themselves out. But regret does nothing but eat you alive, and make you waste even more of that precious vitality on frittering your moments in despair.

Half measures are never enough for a full pony. You are so much more than that... Please, if only for yourself, don't let that go out of complacency.

*his momentum having wound down, the Mage curls again with his age, before turning his head, elsewise still as the grave*

In the few moments after the Electric Death Salvo was launched and before it hit, Jayden briefly wonders if she made a mistake, because she agreed fairly comprehensively with that.


Oh, yes. That.

Come now, Jayden. If you meet every light-hearted prank with electric death salvos, how will you see make any friends?

"In retrospect you might be on to something."


*the wizard and the griffon eye each other dramatically at a downward angle, wind blowing through the grass. Is magically between them as in every anime samurai battle ever. There is an audible swallow*
Don't worry, Candles. its amazing what one can live through.

[b]EEEEYARRGH I WAS JOKING ABOU THE ELECTRIC DEATH SALVO Gah my face!

Fine! FINE! You know what? You're not that pretty after all!

*SiuiS flings his hand out dramatically, sending transparent violet knives of psychic scorn spiraling towards Jayden's sense of self esteem*

Jayden, remarkably, is actually trained really well in psychic self-defence. In response to the attack on her mind, her mind breaks into two - one of which immediately starts wallowing in insecure self-pity and the other remains dedicated and focused on the job at hand.

"You think I don't know that?" she chokes out the sob, even as untrembling talons go through the workings of the next spell, "You think I didn't once get that impression growing up? With my mom being who she is?" the voice changes instantly to calm and reasonable, "To the moon."

Jayden releases the torch, and the spell activates - magnetism. The torch flies from her claws and attaches itself to SiuiS' leg.

Then the spells already on it kick in. The amplify light creates a ray of light brighter than the sun, the Transform Energy coverts it into fire - and the end result is a rocket thruster attached unbreakably to SiuiS' leg and aimed at the moon.

Blast off commencing.


-

[SaintRidley]

Bronycon? Possible. I'm in southern Minnesota, so I suppose it would largely depend on whether the route comes up this way in the end.

Also tentative in terms of money.

Mark a maybe? (Maybe for 2, even, if the fiancee is up for coming and we are able).

[Soras Teva Gee]

And the direction of fire is only really going to be a major problem in an ambush situation, surely? Otherwise you have a decent idea what direction you'll need to be pointing the thing in.

Or when you are flanked, or any time the enemy is attacking divided into two or more groups to provide multiple angles of fire. Combatting this puts you into a tight formation which has its disadvantages too depending on what else is in play and how mobile you need to be

Also talking of future/modernish settings no shield is completely safe even if stopping bullets because of ricochets. And the sort of formations you need to stop multiple angles of fire are begging for someone to put a heavy weapon into them.

[Dirtbag]

...after all what highschool bully could ever be converted to the joy and bliss that is FiM.

Ooh~ Me! :3

[Tiki Snakes]

Or when you are flanked, or any time the enemy is attacking divided into two or more groups to provide multiple angles of fire. Combatting this puts you into a tight formation which has its disadvantages too depending on what else is in play and how mobile you need to be

Also talking of future/modernish settings no shield is completely safe even if stopping bullets because of ricochets. And the sort of formations you need to stop multiple angles of fire are begging for someone to put a heavy weapon into them.

If you're being attacked from multiple directions, then it's pretty much over anyway. If it's not that bad yet, I don't see how a sheild would do anything other than help.
But yeah, explosives are a good way of dealing with the sheild using Jackals, too. :smallsmile:

[SiuiS]

Ach. Random glitch ate my post. sorry Thanqoloo, but Siui Belle doesn't have the energy for another go right now. You'll have to check with Razzle Bloom.

-

RebelHero;

Been meaning to write this up proper for a while. Again, time slips by. So you're stuck with this slipshod variant until I get time to buckle down and ART.

[Meta] [FFRP] [stretch]
SiuiS
http://www.brickforge.com/store/images/T/wizardstaff_green_thumb-01.jpg
http://trow.cc/forum/uploads/post-3007-1180014538.jpg

Really, really, really old wizard. Self incarnating entity. Big dang Mary Sue and unashamed of it, though polite. His character has endured so long he has become somewhat plain. Enjoys study, passionate endeavor and challenges. Tries really hard to overcome challenges via cleverness rather than the more obvious brute-force approach. Doesn't always succeed, but has a good enough sense of humor to roll with it when this makes him look silly.

Started as fighter, then paladin, then wizard; enjoyed the metamage kit until 3e kicked in. advanced through Archmage, had some mix ups and is currently a DvR1(technically) bard, of all things.

Starry Notions
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/150c348f.jpg

Pony analogue, with a similar yet different backstory. At the lowest level, goes by the name Stars, and exists entirely in-universe. At top level, Starry Notions is just as meta-inclined as SiuiS, though much more focused, having only Equestria to worry about. As Stars, he travels gypsy-style, occasionally meeting up with folks in Ponyville that he's met over time.

There is some confusion as to whether Stars and Starry are actually different. Ponies or not. Their response is usually a grin, and "I am contractually obligated to give you a misleading response."

Starry
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/2be74de0.jpg
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/57616543.jpg

Starry is an odd duck. Ostensibly she is an essential echo; a perfect simulacra used for multitasking. In reality she is a sliver of thought that ran away and became a discrete personage of her own, via [REDACTED]. And now we're stuck with her.

Starry is enthusiastic and youngly naive. If something is goin down, she will be there with bells on - literally, the bells on a rig on her horn being designed to chime at the right frequency to disable her in case she decided to do anything that would make the rest of us look bad. The sensitivity is a touch high, however, and occasionally hearing stories from other ponies about doing bad things is enough to activate the charm.

Starry is remarkably chipper, unless you bring up the whole "brain shuts down under certain stimulus" thing. Then she gets irate.

And for reference, I'm SiuiS.
I'm stars, and I tend to be quiet because I resemble SiuiS and he has a loud mouth.
And I'm starry! Hi~!

And that should clear up just about nothing. :smallbiggrin:

[Kindablue]

Second, I somehow derp'd and dropped a digit. 400 miles would get me to Arizona. It's looking more like four thousand. Makes you really appreciate super sonic speeds...

... how did I miss that?

[Thanqol]

And that should clear up just about nothing. :smallbiggrin:

I feel like I know less than when I started. Like you have stolen knowledge from me.

EDIT

d.notive is amazing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgpvZUvYW4M&feature=g-u&context=G20f2b9bFUAAAAAAAAAA).


We all know that you know that you can't let it go
It's a pony that you want but the universe says no
it's a brony that you are but not a brony that you'll be
if you ever go so far as to ever love a pony.

[Rebelhero]

RebelHero;

Been meaning to write this up proper for a while. Again, time slips by. So you're stuck with this slipshod variant until I get time to buckle down and ART.

-SNIP-
And for reference, I'm SiuiS.
I'm stars, and I tend to be quiet because I resemble SiuiS and he has a loud mouth.
And I'm starry! Hi~!

And that should clear up just about nothing. :smallbiggrin:

Oh ok! no color difference between SiuiS and Stars then.
Have to keep an Eye on that.


Starry is remarkably chipper, unless you bring up the whole "brain shuts down under certain stimulus" thing. Then she gets irate.
*Grins madly*
Oh dear... oh no.. sky.. dont do it...sky! NO! DONT!
*Wields a Harem outfit* whatttttttt?! i saved one from the those magical traps a while back! Shes locked down, we can do what ever we want to her!
How in celestia's name did i ever get any sleep near you? *backs away from them*





EDIT

d.notive is amazing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgpvZUvYW4M&feature=g-u&context=G20f2b9bFUAAAAAAAAAA).


...This...this is TOO GOOD. All the faves. I dont have enough thumbs.

[Noctemwolf]

Man, it took some hunting to find this..... 0-0******



Ahh, this is a complicated question. I'll try to explain how I do it.

*Snipped due to length. Awesome length.*





Thanquol? Can I just say YOU ARE A GENIUS?!?!

Your ideas on how to flesh out a personality really inspired me. I think I may finally have built a true, living character for
my stories. It even prompted me to go further and flesh out his life, his work, his job... everything.

I just wanted to thank you for that. You, sir, are genius.
You need to take those ideas and put it into a book. You'd make millions.

anyways...
Your idea also helped get me out of this strange funk I was in by really getting me to think about why it was I writing in the first place. I've been in this weird state of worry and panic, and whenever I would sit down to write or compose, I would freeze up. My mind shut down, and I would just sit there and constantly worry and go "I can't do this. What will they think? I'll never be as good as (Insert artist here). I've got to do this now, before the whole thing ends." I finally realized; I'm not writing for anyone but myself. This isn't about whether I'm better than the guy next to me,This isn't about pleasing everyone else... It's about enjoying pushing yourself to do better the next time, to know what you can do, and just enjoy writing for the sake of it, and not because you feel forced to by someone else. I've also been feeling I need to get everything done now, but I know I have such a long life ahead of me, I think I will Have time to work on it. =)
So... once more, have a gracious shower of thanks from me.

Also, Love the song. Thanks for sharing! =D

[Dexam]

I feel like I know less than when I started. Like you have stolen knowledge from me.

EDIT

d.notive is amazing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgpvZUvYW4M&feature=g-u&context=G20f2b9bFUAAAAAAAAAA).


We all know that you know that you can't let it go
It's a pony that you want but the universe says no
it's a brony that you are but not a brony that you'll be
if you ever go so far as to ever love a pony.

Mmmm, funky... but I prefer After Hours with Rarity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FMuKIjC9E) and his Becoming Popular (1987 House Remix) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlbTQBrfgtM) is a guilty nostalgic pleasure.

[Aotrs Commander]

Ugh. Facehoof indeed.
What wasn't that your idea?!

*cough* I don't know what you're talking about. I most certainly did not weld a hundred cattle prods to a capital starship missile!

It was two hundred, wasn't it?

...

...

...no...?

*sigh*


That's the thing. I'm not saying make them carry around cumbersome but useless riot shields; I'm asking if, given technological advances and the full understanding of their Telekinesis, could they carry around bunker walls? Mobile cover? A lot of the encumbrance issue is mitigated because they could not only transport but also wield the device. And it wouldn't be used like a shield, to parry bullets - it would be planted, maybe extra anchored with some TK, and fired around without having to expose the soldier. Metallurgically it is feasible, if expensive. The callibur of weapon that would breach it would be enough that they wouldn't try to hide behind said cover from it anyway.

Your responses make me lean towards no, and I'm only beating this issue because I'm not sure I'm coming across clearly, is all. I say 'shield' and I mean 'as effective as a five foot thick earthen rampart'.

Nah, they're not strong enough. Their TK is about as strong as four human limbs, and considerably stronger when combined (more than the sum of the parts) - however that's "in comparison to humans1," and is probably not much more than five or six arm-equivalent's combined. (Granted, in concert with their physical strength, they've got a lot of carrying capacity strength, way more humans, but that's not the issue). They aren't superhero strength (not even Spider-Man's level), and carrying something that's sturdy enough to do the job is not practical. Their engineering teams might, but then they won't be fighting, and engineering teams are a whole different story.

(I mean, in terms of brute strength, the Strayvians are much stronger. Strayvians are seven-foot tall and almost literally built like the proverbial s...outhouse as they appear to be made of armour-plated lava. (They actually aren't but Strayvian biology is a story for another time...) Strayvians are actually climbers, meaning despite their size, they are very agile, and for another, their fingers and toes have a clamp-lock mechanism that when snaps shut, can literaly crush rock (and it's one of those automatic-lock jobs, which means it's near impossible to break their grip, even if you kill the bugger.) On top of that, the buggers are one of those "Smarter Than You" races - part of their biology is silicone based, meaning they quite literally have organic-computer brains in terms of processing speed. They also have a nervous system that's based on heat transfer, not electricity, so you can't EMP 'em - exept at VERY high levels enough to penetrate the braincase, which is usually fatal - and it means they are also very fast in reaction. About the only good thing about 'em from our perspective is that they are especially vulnerable to cold-based weapons. And if you're wondering, if these guys are all that - and remembering the fact their one of the top tech-level guys too - why they don't rule the galaxy, it's worth remembering they DID. The Strayvian Empire lasted for centuries, and was larger than pretty much all the current major powers combined. Too big, in fact, and eventually collapsed to due corruption and the fact there were too many Strayvians spread too thin and going all Mad Scientist Evil Villain.)

What were that I said about ramblin'?




[color="darkgreen"]That was also in the back of my mind. Could these small, mobile walls be technologically reinforced? We are dealing with Yes, because tech limits are obvious and minimal. I am ignoring whether it's cost effective, and trying to see whether it would be likely to protect a soldier rather than get him killed faster.

It might be feasible at the engineering level (though are often better you slapping a full shield generator down), but the Jalyrkieon can't build shields that small, they just don't have the appropriate technology. Shields are harder to build the smaller the volume to surface area is. It's actually much easier to shield a big ship than a smaller one (to a certain threshold, where the power-output technology to total magnitude of energy required becomes important). Infantry level shields are not very common. We have 'em (on WarDroids and Powered Armour), and the Herosines have 'em (we bought our first WarDroids off the Herosines - they might be a bit lower tech in the starship department, but their ground-force technology is extremely good.)


Rambling is fun~

Yes. Yes it is.


[color="darkgreen"]Magic can be looked at in this regard based on understanding. I know that electricity is the flow of electrons from teeny tiny particles. And that this current acts like electricity. I know electricity can cause movement in physical objects, I can even from how. I know that adding a bunch of on/off gates to a circuit board allows for complicated circuitry, but at this level I start to lose cohesion. Between "electricity make copper open or close" and "this is the Internet" I am baffled.Magic that is done at the level of "I don't know how it works, but it does" is just the result of over-achieving "Magus Colleges" removing the footwork. And I'm sure you've seen people come up with perfectly reasonable, logical, even functional rationales for why their computer behaves the way it does, even though with basic computer knowledge you know they are dead wrong.

Magic that's just magic means someone doesn't know why it works, just that it does. This ignorance doesn't make their art any less scientific, it just makes it more heuristic as such mages are likely to experiment and find things out, but not using due scientific process. And saying this isn't magic or isn't science is bunk, because computers are basically science AND magic; how by fire does a moving electron abstract upwards into an Xbox game? Magic is the best answer I can give you.

Interesing link to an article (http://www.brandonsanderson.com/article/40/Sandersons-First-Law) brought up on another thread on a similar subject.

Short version, this chap (a fantasy author, apparently, though not one I've heard of, thought that means nothing) reckons that the more "magic is not understandable/mysterious" you get, the less you're allowed to rely on it to solve the story problems (he points out Lord of the Rings is a bit like that - we never really know how it works, but at the same time, Gandalf can't just use Teleport and Fly to trivialise the trip to Mordor.) It's an interesting idea, I think.




I disagree with that. When I was in a sort of faux medieval fighting club having a shield was very useful even in one on one (or 3 on one) situations. Now granted I was using what I believe to be a kite shield so that changes lots. But I found that the shield allowed me to cover one side of my body as well as my front providing lots of protection from thrown weapons as well as attacks. Would it have been better with a shield wall? Yeah probably. But since we didn't all have identical equipment we couldn't form a proper one and using a shield with a one handed weapon was much easier then duel-wielding, using a two handed weapon, or multiple spears.

The mob were fantasy LARPers, and didn't use much thrown weaponry (don't think we were allowed, actually). You probably get a lot more out of a shield when dealing with situations that are more appropriate.

And I was using a wall shield (it's wasn't quite a scutum, because it wasn't curved, but it was the same frontage size as one.)


And the direction of fire is only really going to be a major problem in an ambush situation, surely? Otherwise you have a decent idea what direction you'll need to be pointing the thing in.

No, no, so much no. Not in the real world, where you have so much less idea where the bad guys are; heck, half of the battle is usually finding them2.) The real world is so very much bigger than even in computer games, and so much more full of crap, junk and miscellanous stuff ig your way. You need so little to hide a dude. A pavement curb is deep enough to provide some cover for a lying down-human, from certain angles of attack or at a good long distance. Not to mention urban fighting, assaults and so on...

Something worth doing it, when you're next out and about, look around you and think: okay, I'm going to move down this street? Where are the positions the bad guys could shoot me from? Because I doubt even many computer games have hundreds of houses, which you can find in any mid-sized village. Or while out in the countryside, look around you and see how far you can actually see, and you'll quickly realise it's actually not nearly so much as Hollywood would have you believe! (Of course, if you happen to live in the desert or a very flat place, like parts of Germany or Norfolk or something, congratulations - you are probably in one of the few places that bears a resemblence to many wargames tables...!)

This is one of those areas popular media tends to ignore or even gloss over a fair bit, even in a lot of FPS (some of the more modern ones might be a bit better, I don't know, but they still are very different to the real world.) Most of the time, you will barely see the guys you're shooting at.


If you're being attacked from multiple directions, then it's pretty much over anyway. If it's not that bad yet, I don't see how a sheild would do anything other than help.
But yeah, explosives are a good way of dealing with the sheild using Jackals, too. :smallsmile:

Squads covering each other is and setting up multiple avenues of fire is absolutely the basic modern infantry tactics. You set up so wherever the guy goes, you can hit him from several places. Real-world tactics are nothing like say 40K. You don't set up to attack the guy's front, you set up to attack the guy in both sides. They stopped doing frontal attacks (apart from really dozy generals who didn't give a frag about their men's lives) after World War I, when they realised charging into automatic weapons really kinda doesn't work. Getting concentration of fire onto the enemy is one of the basic tennents of warfare (see Sun Tsu). Assuming you're so good that the enemy will never outflank you or surprise you is a very quick way to be really killed dead. (See 18th-19th century Colonial British Army...)

Besides, if you're in one spot long enough, you dig in and entrench, because that's a much better way to ensure the enemy can only get at you from one direction. And there's masking terrain as well (I.e. parking your tank so that there's Stuff - like close copse of trees or a rock, or an undualtion in the ground - hiding one of your sides from both sight and shot.



1When I say things like "considerably" I tned to mean "like within 10-50%, maybe up to 100% at the outside", not an order of magnitude. I mean, you could argue an average Orc in D&D (after racial bonus and modal stat-allocation bias e.g. to Warrior/Fighter) is "considerably stronger" than an average human, but it's about 15-20% stronger (i.e. a +3 to +4 bonus difference (not stat, bonus, the business end) which in the real world, is still a heck of a lot.

2Scanners don't actually help quite as much as popular opinion would have you believe.

[Thanqol]

Thanquol? Can I just say YOU ARE A GENIUS?!?!

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/357/4/6/rainbow_blush_by_empty_10-d35io68.png

I seem to be getting that a lot lately. Really, thank you, it means so much to me that I'm able to help people in any way I can.


Your ideas on how to flesh out a personality really inspired me. I think I may finally have built a true, living character for
my stories. It even prompted me to go further and flesh out his life, his work, his job... everything.

I think that's the beauty of that method. Once you start from the core, everything else writes itself. The only thing that limits you is the number and type of questions you ask.


I just wanted to thank you for that. You, sir, are genius.
You need to take those ideas and put it into a book. You'd make millions.

I've been told that a few times. I've been sketching the outline of Thanqol's Guide To Everything in the back of my head for a while now.


anyways...
Your idea also helped get me out of this strange funk I was in by really getting me to think about why it was I writing in the first place. I've been in this weird state of worry and panic, and whenever I would sit down to write or compose, I would freeze up. My mind shut down, and I would just sit there and constantly worry and go "I can't do this. What will they think? I'll never be as good as (Insert artist here). I've got to do this now, before the whole thing ends." I finally realized; I'm not writing for anyone but myself. This isn't about whether I'm better than the guy next to me,This isn't about pleasing everyone else... It's about enjoying pushing yourself to do better the next time, to know what you can do, and just enjoy writing for the sake of it, and not because you feel forced to by someone else. I've also been feeling I need to get everything done now, but I know I have such a long life ahead of me, I think I will Have time to work on it. =)
So... once more, have a gracious shower of thanks from me.

Also, Love the song. Thanks for sharing! =D

Yes! Yes! This! By writing for yourself and against yourself, you're going to find your own voice, your own balance, your own path to self improvement. Be self reliant. Don't need the external world; don't measure yourself in comparison to it. The external world is flawed; it will let you down, and if you need it, then that will devastate you.

The only thing that is perfect is your own mind. Be content within that and you'll be content no matter what the world throws at you. This isn't to say reject external things; no, embrace them, embrace those people and all they have to offer. But the only approval you should ever need is your own.


Mmmm, funky... but I prefer After Hours with Rarity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35FMuKIjC9E) and his Becoming Popular (1987 House Remix) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlbTQBrfgtM) is a guilty nostalgic pleasure.

Honestly, d.notive is making a serious bid for best active pony musician.

[Lix Lorn]

Harem pants made Jayden angry. This makes her blush.
Victory. ^^
...wait, jayden has feelings beside anger?


Mask: "Then what did I just steal?" *Looks; it's a Guild of Chains newsletter starring her* "Lix!"
It was Raz' idea!
...
Wait...
...
He still has a bounty on you.
If I take you to him I get a hug. :smallamused:
Counter-offer, my dear?


'I'm only happy when it rains.'
My only comfort is the night gone black.


Lixie: I may also know how to purr, but it's entirely reflexive. Aeolus be much better if I could do it on command...
I can purr on command. :smalltongue:


Don't worry, if things get too crazy, I've got the new and improved sanityinator ready to restore order!

Wasn't the Sanityinator a cattleprod duct-taped to a Snake warhead?

Yes, but that was the prototype. The horribly, painfully unsucessful prototype. The Mark II is purpose built!

Hff! Yeah, right! What did you do, weld a hundred cattle prods to a capital starship missile?

...

...

...No...?

*facepalm*
You are my very favourite magical space lich. xD


(Which is why you guys spell colour and armour wrong1.)
(British brohoof)
(Is actually starting to drop the u due to spending too much time on the net ._.)

[Thanqol]

Victory. ^^
...wait, jayden has feelings beside anger?

Oh, yes. She just knows 'Transmute Lame Emotions Into Anger' as a rote. It hasn't exactly done wonders for her life, because the moment she stops doing that seven years of guilt, loneliness and pain will come crashing back all at once.

This just happened in the tabletop she's in. Still waiting to see where that depression's going to take her.


It was Raz' idea!
...
Wait...
...
He still has a bounty on you.
If I take you to him I get a hug. :smallamused:
Counter-offer, my dear?

Mask: *grumble* "I wish I could say being blackmailed into shipping was a new one. Fine. Counter-offer is your pick of a tango or a waltz."


(British brohoof)
(Is actually starting to drop the u due to spending too much time on the net ._.)

Urgh, I caught myself doing that too. This is how it starts. Fortunately, I've trained Spellcheck to flag 'color' as incorrect.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

(British brohoof)
(Is actually starting to drop the u due to spending too much time on the net ._.)




Urgh, I caught myself doing that too. This is how it starts. Fortunately, I've trained Spellcheck to flag 'color' as incorrect.

It the WORST. POSSIBLE. THING.

And I do it too. Makes me feel a like a filthy, filthy traitor every time. When I catch myself I do penance by drinking scalding tea and saying the word 'trousers' over and over.






I can purr on command. :smalltongue:

I can do it on command, but I usually do it reflexively. I've recieved some weird looks, let me tell you :smalltongue:

[Lix Lorn]

Oh, yes. She just knows 'Transmute Lame Emotions Into Anger' as a rote. It hasn't exactly done wonders for her life, because the moment she stops doing that seven years of guilt, loneliness and pain will come crashing back all at once.

This just happened in the tabletop she's in. Still waiting to see where that depression's going to take her.
Huh.
I think I need to hug her now.


Mask: *grumble* "I wish I could say being blackmailed into shipping was a new one. Fine. Counter-offer is your pick of a tango or a waltz."
Oooh, tango. ^_^


Urgh, I caught myself doing that too. This is how it starts. Fortunately, I've trained Spellcheck to flag 'color' as incorrect.
Ha. xD It mostly happens to me when homebrewing for d&d or exalted, cause they use armor a lot and it's easier to try and be consistent.

[Kyouhen]

Nah, you just can't really explain big flying creatures away without some sort of magic, they're just too big and too far away in shape from actual flying physics.

I can! http://i.imgur.com/jaolo.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/ef975798.jpg




So I'll put you down as needing space for sleep, but not travel. *Question; what part of Canada do you live in, and if we get other Canadian bronies on line, would you be willing to be picked up with them? I mean, of it's a situation where I'll be nearby anyway, would you change your mind, or is it a matter of bein able to leave when you need to, not when the group does?


Southern Ontario, Greater Toronto Area. Public transit is easy to reach here and can get me to a good number of cities beyond the GTA, so in terms of people driving out 'near' here I have a pretty good reach. If someone has access to a vehicle and plans on doing some driving I'll happily join them, otherwise I'll just take the bus again. I'll take whatever solution results in maximum pony time. :smalltongue:

[TheAmishPirate]

Hey Amish Pirate

posted this a bit ago but i dont think you saw it since it was a bottom of page post...or i missed your comment on it if you did
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7G4sy7MxvPE/TxClcjt7tgI/AAAAAAAAbA0/5csnR1Gbihs/s1600/good_morning_pipsqueak_by_johnjoseco-d4m7oqd.png

*the Pip has been glomped*

I've seen this before, but daggum if Pip isn't best pony.

[the_druid_droid]

Speaking of variant spellings, I spend so much time reading and chatting with Brits/Aussies that I've got to resist the temptation to add the u in...and for a very long time I've been switching terminal r and e.

[Aotrs Commander]

I can! http://i.imgur.com/jaolo.jpg

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee468/WizardPony/ef975798.jpg


Touché, Kyouhen, Touché.

[TheAmishPirate]

I feel like this is only tangentially relevant to the British variant spelling topic. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fPbhQwjiRps)

[Aotrs Commander]

I feel like this is only tangentially relevant to the British variant spelling topic. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=fPbhQwjiRps)

I say, tally-ho! Jolly good show, that stallion! Spiffing!

[PhantomFox]

I have a hankering for rewatching some episodes, but I don't have anyone on my Trillian who's available right now. What says I set up a synchtube room and get some ponies together and watch a few?

Now... should I just make the room and post it here, or would that be frowned upon by the powers that be?

[Kyouhen]

Touché, Kyouhen, Touché.

I have to ask though. Why is Pinkie Pie wearing Starry's hat in that picture?

[Vorpalbob]

ATTENTION EVERYPONY;
OPERATION FAUST
IS NOW IN ITS PLANNING STAGES


Sadly, for those of you not in North America1 this is irrelevant, and maybe even depressing for some of you. So, spoilers.


1. The Basics
BroNYCon is in approximately five months. It will be a two-day event. It will most likely be on a weekend.
Lauren Faust herself will be there, which means most of the globe will be there. It's a con for Pony, so most of the people will be cool, and those that aren't can be loved, tolerated, both, or just ignored. And we want as much of ponythread there as is humanly, equinely, gryphynly and playgrounderly possible.

And for anyone watching at home; lurkers count. if you are in this thread long enough to wonder if this applies to you, IT DOES.

2. The Operation
The plan is to spend that time coordinating everypony who can and will go, and get them there. If we can ignore the time crunch, it will be fiscally and emotionally better to drive.

Starting approximately 5 days before the conventions starts, Brazen Shield and Starry Notions will rent a van or two and make the 4,000+ mile trip along the 3,503 mile route. On the way, we will pick up as many ponies2 as possible, and shuttle them with us. We will then reverse routes, head home, and drop said ponies off. The more ponies we have, the better this trip will be; pick ups will help us foot some of the cost, while also having a cheaper alternative to flight or driving their own way or bussing.

3. Potential Issues
Obviously, this endeavor could fall through big time. If nine out of ten ponies are in southern States, and one is in Canada, we won't be able to swing by for our Canadian friend. If the number of ponies gets to the magical middle ground, we won't be able to fit them in one van, but also won't be able to rent a second van. If a pony backs out at the last second, we may not have enough buffer money to cover the loss (we got lucky, with four jobs providing christmas overtime- not happening until next christmas). If an emergency comes up for me or Braz, we have to drop out and that could mess up EVERYPONY'S plans though one of our goals is redundancy to eliminate this issue.

4. What We Need
Primarily, information. I've been a laypony group organizer for a long time, and the one thing -The. One. Thing! - that is guaranteed to send me into a neurotic fit and tirade, amateur Bleakbane style (possible with more sailor's lingo, to boot) is when EVERYONE responds to "when are you available" with "I dunno, it depends. When is everyone else available?"3

We need to know who wants to come. Who can legally drive in the US. Who handle a bajillion people in their vehicle, all chatting. Who can afford their own trip. Who can afford to be nice and help another pony with their trip, seeing as my previously stated goal was to develop a pool so everypony could go within reason.

This is still conceptual, but the more detail we get the more we can supply. We WILL develop concrete as it happens, so please, feedback! I'll update this regularly, either as a repost or with links to his post as needed (votes on which is preferable are appreciated).

5. REQUIREMENTS
All caps for a reason.

• are you willing AND legal to be a primary or back-up driver?
• money to attend the Con; RSVP with the convention may be a requirement4, see footnote.
• money for gas/snacks.
• legal majority OR Guardian Permission - a big one or I'd have forced enticed Vbob to go last time.
• Location: I don't need an address (yet!) and wouldn't have you post it publicly in any case. But I need a rather good general idea so I can start planning routes IMMEDIATELY.
• idea on comfort zones: if being shoved between two burly hairy bronies is a problem, I need to know before I schedule you for Hairy Man Car 2.*
• PJs, blankets, pillows, comfort objects: think camping. No only might we have to rotate-crash in the vehicles, but odds of having mattress rather than floor space at a con are teensy.

6. The Story So Far
We have ~8 ponyfolk willing to come along. We have 11 ponyfolk who need floor space (though I will endeavor to get mattress under everypony). The route, as of now, looks to be a pick-up in the San Francisco area, swooping down into Texas to grab a fellow, then have brunch with Raz Fox5, and head through the lower states to New York. Using no landmarks other than San Francisco, Ca; San Antonio, Tx; and New York, NY it looks like a 3,560 mile trip. Three days transit, rounded to four, plus two days in the middle for the convention itself, we will be gone about a week.*


ERRATA: first, RSVP Is Now Required according to the official meetup board for Bronies NYC. So there will be no getting in at the door, though tag-team con tags (where you get a badge from someone who doesn't want to hang around anymore) is still possible.

Second, I somehow derp'd and dropped a digit. 400 miles would get me to Arizona. It's looking more like four thousand. Makes you really appreciate super sonic speeds...




1: Am I supposed to Capitalize North America? I mean, it's technically a proper noun, but...
2: Humans can come too. No saddle comments though, that's just awkward in mixed company.
3: Seriously. The level of rage this instilled in me is only trumped by the group's confusion at why nopony knew what was going on. Luna's Lightning, but did it not occur to you that I need bricks before I can build a masterpiece out of Lego? I can't conjure matter from Jack, people! I'm not a Moros!
4: conventions are funny things; all the ponyfolk and merchandise and music and stuff was awesome, but the really cool part? Walking to breakfast, 24 strong, and all eating. Singing random pony snippets. Hanging out. So if push comes to shove, we could rotate badges or something, but I'd prefer we all get together and ignore the con, rather than leave some folks out. So RSVP is nice, but we shall see.


...
...
...
By that time, I'll be 18. Legally an adult in Canada. And also working. Therefore having money. As much as I'd like to join you guys for the road trip (because road trips are awesome and need to happen more), such a plan might not be feasible considering my geographical location. *points North*

Here's my deal: Even if I'm not working, scraping together the money for a return flight to New York won't be too much of a hassle, especially if my bro Waffles and I start busking here in town. Also, being 18, crossing the border won't be an issue. The clincher is lodgings.

I'm not opposed to floor space, if somepony is willing to provide, it's just my mothe-
*looks at text above*
:smallannoyed:
*Specifically text regarding age*
:smallamused:
Legal adult and paying my own way?
:smallcool:
She can do nothing.
MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

But seriously, if I can get myself a job and/or start busking regularly, this is definitely looking to be a thing that can happen!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

In other news, yesterday I held a brony meetup at my house! It was a sort of jam session, with everypony who played an instrument bringing one. At final count, we had two guitarists, three bassists, two drummers, and a dude banging on the cowbells.

We did a very, very sad punkish rendition of Hush Now Quiet Now before we decided to lay the instruments aside and go watch the new episode.

Now, you see, my local brony community has some... personalities. There's the guy who brings his camera to every meetup and films the goings-on (who sadly could not make it), the guy who put vodka-infused whipped cream on his pizza that one time (he was there), the guy who stuck a cupcake in his eye... The list goes on.

But there's this one girl. She's cosplayed as Pinkie at every meetup I've been to so far. Thing is? She's REALLY GOOD AT IT. Like, creepily good. Also, her character occassionally slips into a more Pinkamina-esque personality.

Particularly when she's holding sharp objects.
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/6097/p120114003.jpg
What you see is my musical saw. You hit it with a mallet, or bow it, and it makes a cool noise. It is also, apparently, quite cuddly.

...

In case you haven't already figured it out, we Vancouver bronies are a bit odd.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One final thing before I return you to your regularly scheduled poni.

My play, which I have been working on for several months now, is premiering tomorrow!

I was originally the director, until my cast asked me to take on a small role, which kept growing in size until it was a lead. And keep in mind, I didn't want to act this year! I wanted to focus on directing! My cast just gave me the role!

So tomorrow, in front of all of my peers, I shall take the stage...

As The Great and Powerful Trixie.

Click "See More" and look at the name of the first show. (http://www.facebook.com/events/173767659390198/) :smallbiggrin:

Don't worry, I'll get somepony to record it. It will make it's way to the internet. I wouldn't let you folks down like that. :smalltongue:

[Lix Lorn]

I have to ask though. Why is Pinkie Pie wearing Starry's hat in that picture?

Aotrs turned Starry into a Pinkie.


But seriously, if I can get myself a job and/or start busking regularly, this is definitely looking to be a thing that can happen!
You keep saying busking.
I keep reading bucking.

Maybe Applejack could use another pair of hooves?

[Kyouhen]

I have a hankering for rewatching some episodes, but I don't have anyone on my Trillian who's available right now. What says I set up a synchtube room and get some ponies together and watch a few?

Now... should I just make the room and post it here, or would that be frowned upon by the powers that be?


I'm totally up for rewatching some ponies. Probably won't actually be watching as I'm working on stuffs, but I'll be at my laptop and background noise poni is always good. If you don't want to post a link here could you PM me a link?

[Beacon of Chaos]

Generally. I said generally! We're the exception, not the rule!
Yeah, I know. Just felt like pointing it out :P


Right, prepare yourselves, ponythread!

Here is my attempt...

So steel yourselves for a) unfathomable horror at my ineptitude b) side-splitting hilarity at my ineptitude or c) both at once.
It's not bad at all! Don't know what you're worried about.


*cough* I don't know what you're talking about. I most certainly did not weld a hundred cattle prods to a capital starship missile!

It was two hundred, wasn't it?

...

...

...no...?
http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i93/DiegoHavoc/AotrsAvatarPLock.jpg



Explanation for those who don't get it. (http://aceattorney.wikia.com/wiki/Psyche-Lock)

Edit: For no apparant reason, have some Scootaloo.

WARNING! EXTREME CUTENESS DETECTED! PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gGNLvZ9DXUc/TxNVDIgmJGI/AAAAAAAAbS4/mNEq4JaUrUk/s1600/112754+-+artist+mazzlebee+bunny_ears+scootaloo.png

[Gaelbert]

Arrrgghhh razzum frazzum. I had a fairly large post typed up, then my net ate it. So I'll get on that and retype it.
Tomorrow.


Speaking of variant spellings, I spend so much time reading and chatting with Brits/Aussies that I've got to resist the temptation to add the u in...and for a very long time I've been switching terminal r and e.

Meh, I had problems learning to write growing up, meaning that by the time I finished learning to write, I was reading folks like John Le Carre and Tolkien. I grew up on a steady diet of British authors, so the "u" just feels a lot more natural in many places. I don't think it really matters though, as long as you stay consistent. Although I have to say, there is something aesthetically pleasing about an "ou" as opposed to a plain and desolate "o."

[PhoeKun]

Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/016/2/5/in_which_vinyl_scratch_proposes_by_dop4min3rgic-d4mk7iv.jpg

[otakuryoga]

a wild PhoeKun has appeared...Glomp it!!

[Kyouhen]

Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/016/2/5/in_which_vinyl_scratch_proposes_by_dop4min3rgic-d4mk7iv.jpg

D'awwwww. And wow, 15 hour marathon? Nice work!

[BlasTech]

Relevant to the IRC, and ponythread in general.

Beware ... the scootaroomba exists now!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0Gs7b3xt_c/TxPsPigIJFI/AAAAAAAAbUs/o0-HXbjKVyw/s1600/1.jpg

[grimbold]

got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!

[vegetalss4]

Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/016/2/5/in_which_vinyl_scratch_proposes_by_dop4min3rgic-d4mk7iv.jpg

Nice! whoever made that did a good job.

[TheAmishPirate]

Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/016/2/5/in_which_vinyl_scratch_proposes_by_dop4min3rgic-d4mk7iv.jpg

Nice! You tell whoever made this that it's beautiful.


Relevant to the IRC, and ponythread in general.

Beware ... the scootaroomba exists now!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0Gs7b3xt_c/TxPsPigIJFI/AAAAAAAAbUs/o0-HXbjKVyw/s1600/1.jpg

ALL MY BITS.

[Athaniar]

Relevant to the IRC, and ponythread in general.

Beware ... the scootaroomba exists now!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0Gs7b3xt_c/TxPsPigIJFI/AAAAAAAAbUs/o0-HXbjKVyw/s1600/1.jpg
I saw that while checking the Roundup this morning. It scared me. :<


got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!
Happy Birthday! ^^

[PhoeKun]

Nice! whoever made that did a good job.


Nice! You tell whoever made this that it's beautiful.

His name is Soda Purple. He and I are a pony media tag team. I can't wait to show you what that means for realsies.

[Topaz]

Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.
That is precious. Thanks to you both!

[Beacon of Chaos]

Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/016/2/5/in_which_vinyl_scratch_proposes_by_dop4min3rgic-d4mk7iv.jpg
Very nice indeed!


got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!
Birthday?

Birthday!


~HAPPY BIRTHDAY!~
As is tradition, have some cake and pony:
http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/8039c84f09a42729f22025d7ec483d15/110514%20-%20artist%3Ahezaa%20art_nouveau%20cake%20Nouveau%2 0pinkie_pie%20watermarked.png

And now for an image dump to round off the day.
New episode spoilers first
http://equestria.fadri.org/comics/027-PrecociousFoals.jpg

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/5109fc1b47f19007880ec4832a780a48/112015%20-%20spike%20xzibit.JPG

Then the rest.
http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/fd6b2b01466c68af14a87eb5e5da4563/112259%20-%20Alicorn%20artist%3Ababy-bling%20baby%20celestia%20cute%20filly%20Nightmare _Moon%20princess%20sisters.png

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/edca8f1f4e51212ca7fc862cbee710e5/112533%20-%20Alicorn%20artist%3Arelydazed%20luna%20princess. jpg

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/3520b6992a442773642d6353b82d89c8/111947%20-%20animated%20artist%3Asaturnspace%20banana%20Best _Family%20derpy_hooves%20dinky_hooves%20Doctor_Who oves%20Sparklers%20Zap_Apple_Jam.gif

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/e81776344534f8d5efb7e65e017059c6/111978%20-%20artist%3Awhy485%20blushing%20bow%20cute%20rose% 20roseluck.png

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/f11a9ddd275023518093bc67356a9c59/112005%20-%20artist%3Agomigomipomi%20derpy_hooves%20humanize d%20human_ponidox.jpg

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/9af00d3711250c89d0f7632b3b38f558/110729%20-%20artist%3ABuNInA%20bunny_ears%20bunny_rarity%20b unny_suit%20rarity.png

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5Kk9AxzQqB8/TxClIGEfCNI/AAAAAAAAa9o/Hc2eKRO8N4c/s1600/111554+-+artist+saturnspace+clockpunk+Doctor_Whooves+steam punk.png

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/338/4/1/rarity_sketch_by_kp_shadowsquirrel-d4i4zkv.jpg

http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/338/7/3/rarity_sketch_by_kp_shadowsquirrel-d4i4zfp.jpg

http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2012/011/0/f/pony_sketch_392_by_kp_shadowsquirrel-d4m18vp.jpg

Midnight... Is this an alternate dimension version of you?
http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/460662afce5f3933f16d07cf9855fb69/111468%20-%20artist%3Alulubell%20ask_princess_luna%20EVE%20m agical_lesbian_spawn.png

Edit: One more!
http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/b7d387fb1497c2688a4f66bf1843f0e1/112623%20-%20applejack%20artist%3Asiansaar%20bed%20rainbow_d ash%20sick.jpg

[Nameless]

got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!

Happm muhun mumun mm!
http://sadpanda.us/images/461347-SYCGJ9V.png

[Aotrs Commander]

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i93/DiegoHavoc/AotrsAvatarPLock.jpg

Explanation for those who don't get it. (http://aceattorney.wikia.com/wiki/Psyche-Lock)

...

Does immunity to mind-effecting affects work on Psyche-Locks?

I did have to look that one up on the link to get it...




got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!

Happy Birthday!



So, hilarity ensured today.

Party is on an island, facing (unbeknowst to them) a Wastrilith (a sort of obscure snaneky-with arms AD&D demon or devil - I forget which...latter, I think actually - converted to 3.A, obviously...). It summons it's last two Elder Earth Elementals, and sends 'em at the PCs. While they're deployed and distracted, it them Greater Teleports right into the middle of the party, right next to the psion and the sorceress. (The former of whom turned it's first Eldar Elemental summon into a crystal statue last session (I rolled a 1...), and thus it has a bit of a grudge on.)

The psion launches a power, bounces off the SR, and decides that the AoO running away is probably worth it, since it's got a 15' reach and a safe 5' step ain't gonna cut it. AoO - I chose the tailslap, which on a hit stuns. Wastrilith lets her get all of fifteen feet and then makes her look at the preedy birdies... "Well," says one of the players, "that's it's AoO out of the way unless it's got Combat Reflexes." I checked sheet. I laughed loudly. "Bugger," the players think.

Sorceress launches a spell, bounces of the SR (the same player was running both today and he rolled a 4 and a 2 respectively...) and again decides moving out of the way is worth the AoO. One Claw attack later, this time I gets to uses the Improved Grapple. I took the -20 penalty for only using that one limb, because it's on +36... Sorceress tries run away, and the wasitrilith goes "yoink..." and grabs her by the head.

The murderously dangerous Ninja/Rogue/Inivisble blade can only move into position this round (going invisble to avoid the same fate as the casters), as can one of the two NPC rogues the PCs have managed to rescue over the course of the adveneture, who doesn't enter the threat range.

The cleric tried a Disintegrate, and got all the way to the Fort save (which the wastrilith passed.) The paladin and the Astral Constructs and the wizard's earth elemental were busy with the water elementals, but the knife dude put a few holes in the wastrilith. It then bangs off a Blasphemy (which is a Save: Negates under my rules) dazes the cleric, the wizard and the sorceress and then has a good laugh, while the knife guy whittles away at it (it's has a DR which makes his damage output drop quite a lot, as he works on eight attacks a round normally). Not sure what the ninja did that round, whether he missed a lot or we forgot to give him a go (we were short on players, so everyone was running two characters) or what, but anyway, the wastrilith survives to his next action and goes for a full attack.

Bite cleric, tail slap - and stun - knife guy (slow single digit on the save again!) - still taking a -20 on his check, does four attack action's worth of contrict on the sorceress. She fails the first check - no duh - but then I proceded to roll a 1, a 4 or something and another 1, and the player rolled 19, 20 and about 18, and so, amazingly actually passed the three iterative crushes! (as well for her...) Then it's the last claw - on the psion (plus improved grapple, again at the -20 penalty.) Grabbed by the head... Yoink.

Wastrilith now has a psion in one claw and a sorceress in the other. Oh hell yes. I was killing myself laughing.

I so knew what his next action is going to be...

Amazingly, despite the two-hundred-odd damage the ninja deals out (he hit five times and deals 11D6 with each attack...), and the psion whacking him with a Desolate from her grappled position, the Wastrilith actually survives - just about - until his next action.

Bite psion, for some damage. Tail-slap stun the knife guy again... (his eyes had just started to focus again, and the first thing he saw was that &^%$ing tail rapidly decending into his face...)

And now the highlight of the entire combat.

The wastrilith does a brief little puppet show, and then applauds his own cleverness.

His hands are full of caster.

Psion and sorceress are now somewhat... unconcious.

(Then the Wastrilith dies horribly as Mr 66D6 Sneak Attack hits him six times. Prince Khalim was clearly not a fan of puppetry...)

Totally worth it for the chance to bang the caster's heads together.

Literally.

Good times, good times...

[PhoeKun]

It is with a heavy heart and cloaked in veil of darkness that I tell you the following. Hopefully in large enough print that it reaches everypony it concerns.

ATTENTION, BRONYCON HOPEFULS

Don't go. Do NOT go. It's a sunk cost. PM me or find me online in a chat client see this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12543258&postcount=1134) if you really need to know more, but just understand there is a dark shadow hanging around the June convention. You are very seriously risking being taken advantage of and hurt if you attend.

Thank you for your time. :smallfrown:

[Athaniar]

...What? Just... what?

[Mando Knight]

...Will there be a post on Equestria Daily later giving more details, or is this an inside job?

[Topaz]

Pony Trek!
http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/7360862/img/7360862.png

[Beacon of Chaos]

...

Does immunity to mind-effecting affects work on Psyche-Locks?
Well, technically the locks are your mental barrier that protect your secrets. I suppose you'd still be immune to any effects that would break those locks psychicly or magically, but anyone with a magatama would see them.

Good thing those are rare then. ^^


His hands are full of caster.
*applaudes* Amazing! Wish I could've been there.


ATTENTION, BRONYCON HOPEFULS
:( If you could PM me the details, I'd like to know.


Pony Trek!
http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/7360862/img/7360862.png
That's fantastic. I like pony Worf XD

[Soras Teva Gee]

It is with a heavy heart and cloaked in veil of darkness that I tell you the following. Hopefully in large enough print that it reaches everypony it concerns.

ATTENTION, BRONYCON HOPEFULS

Don't go. Do NOT go. It's a sunk cost. PM me or find me online in a chat client if you really need to know more, but just understand there is a dark shadow hanging around the June convention. You are very seriously risking being taken advantage of and hurt if you attend.

Thank you for your time. :smallfrown:

Respectfully, but this post sounds suspicious to me. Bronycon being a major event in pony circles if there is a scam going on then it isn't exactly the sort of thing that should be kept quiet because people stand to loose considerable amounts of money.

[Eakin]

Respectfully, but this post sounds suspicious to me. Bronycon being a major event in pony circles if there is a scam going on then it isn't exactly the sort of thing that should be kept quiet because people stand to loose considerable amounts of money.

I'm going to second this with all the emphasis I can muster over the internet. I don't even GO to Bronycon but it's still of interest to me and I expect everyone else in the thread. If there is something that somebody's told you in confidence and you can't reveal then I don't see why you'd be willing to give out details at all.

Posting just a dire warning like that without any further details is a little passive-aggressive. Inquiring ponies want to know!

[PhoeKun]

Respectfully, but this post sounds suspicious to me. Bronycon being a major event in pony circles if there is a scam going on then it isn't exactly the sort of thing that should be kept quiet because people stand to loose considerable amounts of money.

It has been requested of me that I do not publicly make a big deal of this right now, and I'm going to respect the desires of the ponies who are my superiors, but you are correct in that the information is too important to keep secret for decorum's sake. As a compromise, I will not name names.

There have been warnings handed out to Equestria Daily by the majority of the BroNYcon convention staff that one among their number has not had the public's best interests at heart. There is a wave of scandal and bad blood waiting to break out into the open involving (but not limited to) allegedly missing convention funds, overworked and very upset guests, and something very very very important: despite registration and payments for the June convention being taken, there is no hotel. The one from this past BroNYcon broke off negotiations after over-registration stuffed the 'con so full of ponies that they very nearly had to call in a Fire Marshall to shut it down.

We're on an official 'wait and see' mode right now. Once the convention staff is able to make a formal announcement, the gates will open for more information to begin pouring out. All I want is to make sure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire.

[Eakin]

It has been requested of me that I do not publicly make a big deal of this right now, and I'm going to respect the desires of the ponies who are my superiors, but you are correct in that the information is too important to keep secret for decorum's sake. As a compromise, I will not name names.

There have been warnings handed out to Equestria Daily by the majority of the BroNYcon convention staff that one among their number has not had the public's best interests at heart. There is a wave of scandal and bad blood waiting to break out into the open involving (but not limited to) allegedly missing convention funds, overworked and very upset guests, and something very very very important: despite registration and payments for the June convention being taken, there is no hotel. The one from this past BroNYcon broke off negotiations after over-registration stuffed the 'con so full of ponies that they very nearly had to call in a Fire Marshall to shut it down.

We're on an official 'wait and see' mode right now. Once the convention staff is able to make a formal announcement, the gates will open for more information to begin pouring out. All I want is to make sure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire.

Yikes! I appreciate that you're squeezed pretty tight between a rock and a hard place on this. Hopefully these issues will turn out to be misunderstandings and everything can go ahead as originally planned.

And I'm sorry I implied you were being passive aggressive in your handling of what's clearly a sensitive situation.

Am I the only one who thinks that packing a hotel so tightly with bronies that they HAD TO EVACUATE THE HOTEL would have been just a little bit awesome?

[Soras Teva Gee]

It has been requested of me that I do not publicly make a big deal of this right now, and I'm going to respect the desires of the ponies who are my superiors, but you are correct in that the information is too important to keep secret for decorum's sake. As a compromise, I will not name names.

There have been warnings handed out to Equestria Daily by the majority of the BroNYcon convention staff that one among their number has not had the public's best interests at heart. There is a wave of scandal and bad blood waiting to break out into the open involving (but not limited to) allegedly missing convention funds, overworked and very upset guests, and something very very very important: despite registration and payments for the June convention being taken, there is no hotel. The one from this past BroNYcon broke off negotiations after over-registration stuffed the 'con so full of ponies that they very nearly had to call in a Fire Marshall to shut it down.

We're on an official 'wait and see' mode right now. Once the convention staff is able to make a formal announcement, the gates will open for more information to begin pouring out. All I want is to make sure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire.

Thank you for further detail.

Having an issue with securing a location for the 'con is the sort of information we need to know and a substantial why to answer why we shouldn't make plans.

I will hope the ponies involved will resolve these difficulties so the 'con can still take place.

[otakuryoga]

It has been requested of me that I do not publicly make a big deal of this right now, and I'm going to respect the desires of the ponies who are my superiors, but you are correct in that the information is too important to keep secret for decorum's sake. As a compromise, I will not name names.

There have been warnings handed out to Equestria Daily by the majority of the BroNYcon convention staff that one among their number has not had the public's best interests at heart. There is a wave of scandal and bad blood waiting to break out into the open involving (but not limited to) allegedly missing convention funds, overworked and very upset guests, and something very very very important: despite registration and payments for the June convention being taken, there is no hotel. The one from this past BroNYcon broke off negotiations after over-registration stuffed the 'con so full of ponies that they very nearly had to call in a Fire Marshall to shut it down.

We're on an official 'wait and see' mode right now. Once the convention staff is able to make a formal announcement, the gates will open for more information to begin pouring out. All I want is to make sure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire.

.....flashback to summer trip to Europe in high school....we are at our hotel in the swiss alps and we get a call from the secretary of the tour company..."O Hai, we are bankrupt so you are on your own for the remaining 12 days of your trip"...no more bus...no more hotel reservations...luckily the plane tickets were already paid for and in our hands

[Soras Teva Gee]

.....flashback to summer trip to Europe in high school....we are at our hotel in the swiss alps and we get a call from the secretary of the tour company..."O Hai, we are bankrupt so you are on your own for the remaining 12 days of your trip"...no more bus...no more hotel reservations...luckily the plane tickets were already paid for and in our hands

You beat my own tale that's for sure. I just had a trip to DC with a botched the main event (Whitehouse tour) because our Congressman's office didn't do the proper paperwork.

Having been overseas... yeah I know I would be one crazy pony if something like that happened to me.http://i.imgur.com/ZiOZ1.png

[Eakin]

.....flashback to summer trip to Europe in high school....we are at our hotel in the swiss alps and we get a call from the secretary of the tour company..."O Hai, we are bankrupt so you are on your own for the remaining 12 days of your trip"...no more bus...no more hotel reservations...luckily the plane tickets were already paid for and in our hands

Wow, that sounds awful. What did you do for the next twelve days? Was there a representative of the tour company there with you, or did they sneak out in the dead of night (I totally would have).

Worst foreign travel story I have is being pick pocketed in Quebec. At least I was only carrying cash, not my passport or anything vital.

[Thanqol]

Huh.
I think I need to hug her now.

I may be a tragedy addict.


Oooh, tango. ^_^

Mask: "Fine. I need a rose, a proper shirt, and appropriate music."


Ponies, pony fans, and pony threads, I come to you baring the gift of shipping. It is the latest effort in a long line of efforts to encourage artists to better themselves despite their combination coach/cheerleader having not even a single pone to her name. I'm extremely proud of the artist who put this together for fighting through a 15 hour marathon session to finish this and actually honoring my deadlines instead of letting the piece languish until "perfect". This is why I'm sharing it with you now, in all of its screen stretchy, side scrolly comic goodness. Enjoy.

Awesome. Does this man have a deviantart or anything we can hit up?


His name is Soda Purple. He and I are a pony media tag team. I can't wait to show you what that means for realsies.

I am intrigued. And fascinated. Phoe plots always pay off as best plots - and I just now realised what I just said, goddamn it.

[Titanium Fox]

[FFRP]

*The hunched 'old' bloke pauses for a moment, and then stands tall - impossibly tall - blazing from within with viridian rainbows and silver fire*

This I refute! Half measures are acceptable for No Thing!

*he extends his arm, pointing to Candles' very core* You, pony! You! You are a brilliant, blazing effulgent star! Pregnant with possibilityA, and to say anything else - to settle for mediocrity for the sake of comfort - is a TRAVESTY. You have infinite potential, you have life and limb! Vim and vigor!

*the fires and light fade, perhaps, they never were. Here now is a simple youth, face crumpled with earnest concern. He grabs Candles by the sides of the jaw, pushin back the hat Starry had given him, and looks hard into the colt's face*

You are a beautiful work of the mind and soul, Candles. You are the universe. What separates us is that I know this, and you think these words are just that; hollow, sound, text. You are on a journey of learning, my little pony, of becoming! Infinite becoming, again and again, transcending yourself each time.

I will not beleaguer you about your pace, because each must dance as their rhythm dictates. But to stop, to cease, to say "I have come far enough, I will stay here" is a crime I cannot allow. To give in to this is what the awakened call The Lie; and it is just that, Candles, I promise you. A Lie. Good enough is NEVER good enough, just like there is no lesser evil, there is no greater good. There is being who you are, becoming what you are meant to be, fulfillment! And there is rationalization.

You have come so very far, Candles. You have come from a confused and frightened busybody, shaken a powerful malignancy, won the hearts of the ponychat, and now, when the ball is finally rolling, when momentum is on yor side, now, NOW of all times, you want to take your ball and go? Fold and leave while you're in the black? Every hand is a winner, friend, and every hand is a loser, it's all in how you play.

And at the end of the day, Candles, wounds heal, bones knit and problems sort themselves out. But regret does nothing but eat you alive, and make you waste even more of that precious vitality on frittering your moments in despair.

Half measures are never enough for a full pony. You are so much more than that... Please, if only for yourself, don't let that go out of complacency.

*his momentum having wound down, the Mage curls again with his age, before turning his head, elsewise still as the grave*



Oh, yes. That.

Come now, Jayden. If you meet every light-hearted prank with electric death salvos, how will you see make any friends?



*the wizard and the griffon eye each other dramatically at a downward angle, wind blowing through the grass. Is magically between them as in every anime samurai battle ever. There is an audible swallow*
Don't worry, Candles. its amazing what one can live through.



EEEEYARRGH I WAS JOKING ABOU THE ELECTRIC DEATH SALVO Gah my face!

Fine! FINE! You know what? You're not that pretty after all!

*SiuiS flings his hand out dramatically, sending transparent violet knives of psychic scorn spiraling towards Jayden's sense of self esteem*

-

Mark II, now with errata!*


ATTENTION EVERYPONY;
[b]OPERATION FAUST
IS NOW IN ITS PLANNING STAGES


Sadly, for those of you not in North America1 this is irrelevant, and maybe even depressing for some of you. So, spoilers.


1. The Basics
BroNYCon is in approximately five months. It will be a two-day event. It will most likely be on a weekend.
Lauren Faust herself will be there, which means most of the globe will be there. It's a con for Pony, so most of the people will be cool, and those that aren't can be loved, tolerated, both, or just ignored. And we want as much of ponythread there as is humanly, equinely, gryphynly and playgrounderly possible.

And for anyone watching at home; lurkers count. if you are in this thread long enough to wonder if this applies to you, IT DOES.

2. The Operation
The plan is to spend that time coordinating everypony who can and will go, and get them there. If we can ignore the time crunch, it will be fiscally and emotionally better to drive.

Starting approximately 5 days before the conventions starts, Brazen Shield and Starry Notions will rent a van or two and make the 4,000+ mile trip along the 3,503 mile route. On the way, we will pick up as many ponies2 as possible, and shuttle them with us. We will then reverse routes, head home, and drop said ponies off. The more ponies we have, the better this trip will be; pick ups will help us foot some of the cost, while also having a cheaper alternative to flight or driving their own way or bussing.

3. Potential Issues
Obviously, this endeavor could fall through big time. If nine out of ten ponies are in southern States, and one is in Canada, we won't be able to swing by for our Canadian friend. If the number of ponies gets to the magical middle ground, we won't be able to fit them in one van, but also won't be able to rent a second van. If a pony backs out at the last second, we may not have enough buffer money to cover the loss (we got lucky, with four jobs providing christmas overtime- not happening until next christmas). If an emergency comes up for me or Braz, we have to drop out and that could mess up EVERYPONY'S plans though one of our goals is redundancy to eliminate this issue.

4. What We Need
Primarily, information. I've been a laypony group organizer for a long time, and the one thing -The. One. Thing! - that is guaranteed to send me into a neurotic fit and tirade, amateur Bleakbane style (possible with more sailor's lingo, to boot) is when EVERYONE responds to "when are you available" with "I dunno, it depends. When is everyone else available?"3

We need to know who wants to come. Who can legally drive in the US. Who handle a bajillion people in their vehicle, all chatting. Who can afford their own trip. Who can afford to be nice and help another pony with their trip, seeing as my previously stated goal was to develop a pool so everypony could go within reason.

This is still conceptual, but the more detail we get the more we can supply. We WILL develop concrete as it happens, so please, feedback! I'll update this regularly, either as a repost or with links to his post as needed (votes on which is preferable are appreciated).

5. REQUIREMENTS
All caps for a reason.

• are you willing AND legal to be a primary or back-up driver?
• money to attend the Con; RSVP with the convention may be a requirement4, see footnote.
• money for gas/snacks.
• legal majority OR Guardian Permission - a big one or I'd have forced enticed Vbob to go last time.
• Location: I don't need an address (yet!) and wouldn't have you post it publicly in any case. But I need a rather good general idea so I can start planning routes IMMEDIATELY.
• idea on comfort zones: if being shoved between two burly hairy bronies is a problem, I need to know before I schedule you for Hairy Man Car 2.*
• PJs, blankets, pillows, comfort objects: think camping. No only might we have to rotate-crash in the vehicles, but odds of having mattress rather than floor space at a con are teensy.

6. The Story So Far
We have ~8 ponyfolk willing to come along. We have 11 ponyfolk who need floor space (though I will endeavor to get mattress under everypony). The route, as of now, looks to be a pick-up in the San Francisco area, swooping down into Texas to grab a fellow, then have brunch with Raz Fox5, and head through the lower states to New York. Using no landmarks other than San Francisco, Ca; San Antonio, Tx; and New York, NY it looks like a 3,560 mile trip. Three days transit, rounded to four, plus two days in the middle for the convention itself, we will be gone about a week.*


ERRATA: first, RSVP Is Now Required according to the official meetup board for Bronies NYC. So there will be no getting in at the door, though tag-team con tags (where you get a badge from someone who doesn't want to hang around anymore) is still possible.

Second, I somehow derp'd and dropped a digit. 400 miles would get me to Arizona. It's looking more like four thousand. Makes you really appreciate super sonic speeds...




1: Am I supposed to Capitalize North America? I mean, it's technically a proper noun, but...
2: Humans can come too. No saddle comments though, that's just awkward in mixed company.
3: Seriously. The level of rage this instilled in me is only trumped by the group's confusion at why nopony knew what was going on. Luna's Lightning, but did it not occur to you that I need bricks before I can build a masterpiece out of Lego? I can't conjure matter from Jack, people! I'm not a Moros!
4: conventions are funny things; all the ponyfolk and merchandise and music and stuff was awesome, but the really cool part? Walking to breakfast, 24 strong, and all eating. Singing random pony snippets. Hanging out. So if push comes to shove, we could rotate badges or something, but I'd prefer we all get together and ignore the con, rather than leave some folks out. So RSVP is nice, but we shall see.


Project BroNYcon North East

So, I, on the other hand, will be hosting a caravan from New Hampshire to New York City for the summer convention. I know it's nowhere near as large of a range. However, if anypony is interested anywhere between these two states (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Conecticut, Rhode Island, or Southern New York), I will be doing something quite similar to SiuiS, barring the fact that we will have a van. In fact, we will have cars. All of the cars. Volunteer drivers will be needed. So send me an E-Mail at '[email protected]' and let me know if you just need a ride, or if you want to join up with the derp.


I feel like I know less than when I started. Like you have stolen knowledge from me.

EDIT

d.notive is amazing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgpvZUvYW4M&feature=g-u&context=G20f2b9bFUAAAAAAAAAA).

d.Notive is indeed absolutely amazing.


Relevant to the IRC, and ponythread in general.

Beware ... the scootaroomba exists now!

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Y0Gs7b3xt_c/TxPsPigIJFI/AAAAAAAAbUs/o0-HXbjKVyw/s1600/1.jpg

WHY HAS THIS BEEN CREATE- Actually this is kind of awesome.


got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!

Dude, sweet! I wish I got ponies for my Birthday!


It has been requested of me that I do not publicly make a big deal of this right now, and I'm going to respect the desires of the ponies who are my superiors, but you are correct in that the information is too important to keep secret for decorum's sake. As a compromise, I will not name names.

There have been warnings handed out to Equestria Daily by the majority of the BroNYcon convention staff that one among their number has not had the public's best interests at heart. There is a wave of scandal and bad blood waiting to break out into the open involving (but not limited to) allegedly missing convention funds, overworked and very upset guests, and something very very very important: despite registration and payments for the June convention being taken, there is no hotel. The one from this past BroNYcon broke off negotiations after over-registration stuffed the 'con so full of ponies that they very nearly had to call in a Fire Marshall to shut it down.

We're on an official 'wait and see' mode right now. Once the convention staff is able to make a formal announcement, the gates will open for more information to begin pouring out. All I want is to make sure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire.

I have faith that it will all work out, honestly. I have faith in the convention staff there, I know quite a few of them myself. I have faith that the issue will be rooted out and taken care of. I'm still going to go. Heck, I'm already pre-registered anyways. Worst comes to worst... I'll just have a good weekend in new york with my friends who come, convention or no. And I'd personally be more than happy to take the however many thousand Bronies who have shown up, wayward without a hotel, and bring them a little organization, and try to pick things up a little.

This community is capable of miracles after all.

[TheAmishPirate]

Awesome. Does this man have a deviantart or anything we can hit up?

Google knows! (http://dop4min3rgic.deviantart.com/)



I am intrigued. And fascinated. Phoe plots always pay off as best plots - and I just now realised what I just said, goddamn it.

http://i.imgur.com/XiHXp.png

[Titanium Fox]

Dear sweet pony princesses why did that post four times. D:

Deleted the double posts, get back to your ponies, nothin' to see here.

I saw everythiiiiiing.


*sees green talking pony*

*considers*

I won't go back!

*flees*

Jade chases the robotic pony down. "You can't get away from me!"



http://i.imgur.com/XiHXp.png

Hurr hurr hurr.

[the_druid_droid]

Jade chases the robotic pony down. "You can't get away from me!"


Maybe not, but I have 15 speed before contracts, so you're going to have to work for it!

*seems oddly terrified of the little pony chasing him*

[BlasTech]

His name is Soda Purple. He and I are a pony media tag team. I can't wait to show you what that means for realsies.

Maybe I'm reading too much into this comment ... but I feel all happy for some reason XD


I have faith that it will all work out, honestly. I have faith in the convention staff there, I know quite a few of them myself. I have faith that the issue will be rooted out and taken care of. I'm still going to go. Heck, I'm already pre-registered anyways. Worst comes to worst... I'll just have a good weekend in new york with my friends who come, convention or no. And I'd personally be more than happy to take the however many thousand Bronies who have shown up, wayward without a hotel, and bring them a little organization, and try to pick things up a little.

This community is capable of miracles after all.

Dear Princess Celestia

Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great.

Your faithful student,
Titanium Fox

First one to get the episode this was from gets an e-cookie!

[Titanium Fox]

Maybe not, but I have 15 speed before contracts, so you're going to have to work for it!

*seems oddly terrified of the little pony chasing him*

(15 Squares per round, so... 90 foot move speed? Jade runs at 165 feet, 33 squares. If you're talking about her at epic levels? She moves at 6 times that. AND THIS IS WHY I LOVE 3.5!)

Ohh, you're not getting away from me! *The mare tilts her head down and begins out and out sprinting as fast as she can after the robotic pony.*

[SiuiS]

His name is Soda Purple. He and I are a pony media tag team. I can't wait to show you what that means for realsies.

I am giddy :smallsmile:


Happm muhun mumun mm!
http://sadpanda.us/images/461347-SYCGJ9V.png

I LOVE this picture, and I LOVE that you said it right!


It is with a heavy heart and cloaked in veil of darkness that I tell you the following. Hopefully in large enough print that it reaches everypony it concerns.

ATTENTION, BRONYCON HOPEFULS

Don't go. Do NOT go. It's a sunk cost. PM me or find me online in a chat client see this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12543258&postcount=1134) if you really need to know more, but just understand there is a dark shadow hanging around the June convention. You are very seriously risking being taken advantage of and hurt if you attend.

Thank you for your time. :smallfrown:

This sounds about what I expected; both Jade and I are on record saying multiple times that we would have to run the con ourselves just to make sure everything got done! I spent the afternoon considering correspondence with the con ponies to see if I could help them get stuff set up better... Seems I may have to move to New York to set things right.

Thanks for the heads up, PhoeKun. It will be taken under advisement :smallsmile:


Respectfully, but this post sounds suspicious to me. Bronycon being a major event in pony circles if there is a scam going on then it isn't exactly the sort of thing that should be kept quiet because people stand to loose considerable amounts of money.

I disagree. PhoeKun is beyond reproach, and matters like this always require delicacy, lest somepony accuse another of baseless slander due to a falling-out.


It has been requested of me that I do not publicly make a big deal of this right now, and I'm going to respect the desires of the ponies who are my superiors, but you are correct in that the information is too important to keep secret for decorum's sake. As a compromise, I will not name names.

There have been warnings handed out to Equestria Daily by the majority of the BroNYcon convention staff that one among their number has not had the public's best interests at heart. There is a wave of scandal and bad blood waiting to break out into the open involving (but not limited to) allegedly missing convention funds, overworked and very upset guests, and something very very very important: despite registration and payments for the June convention being taken, there is no hotel. The one from this past BroNYcon broke off negotiations after over-registration stuffed the 'con so full of ponies that they very nearly had to call in a Fire Marshall to shut it down.

We're on an official 'wait and see' mode right now. Once the convention staff is able to make a formal announcement, the gates will open for more information to begin pouring out. All I want is to make sure that nopony gets caught in the crossfire.

I am sad to say that none o this surprises me, and in fact, was self-evident for anyone who actually looked past the guests and the pony at the con itself.

If there is anything I've learned from Winter Wrap Up, it's that the left hoof ABSOLUTELY MUST know what the right hoof is doling. And with what seemed a single head administrator, and disparate branches of convention staff stepping on each others' tails...

Starry Notions wasn't lightly chosen. So.
HEY JADE!

What-say we step up and try to make this con happen, and happen well? I was considering this in any case, I can't even say Phoe is the final nudge... We saw the problems manifested at ground floor, I think that gives us a perspective the more managerial-oriented organizers lack.

And all this being said, bronycon is an excuse to round up cool Internet people and visit under the aegis of pony. So as long as we have food and lodging, I wouldn't consider the travel time poorly spent. A lot of work does need to be put in in the next week or so...


Yikes! I appreciate that you're squeezed pretty tight between a rock and a hard place on this. Hopefully these issues will turn out to be misunderstandings and everything can go ahead as originally planned.

And I'm sorry I implied you were being passive aggressive in your handling of what's clearly a sensitive situation.

Am I the only one who thinks that packing a hotel so tightly with bronies that they HAD TO EVACUATE THE HOTEL would have been just a little bit awesome?

It would have been much less cool for the folks it happened to.
Honestly though, I'm just upset that the hotel being so packed makes the hotel look like the wronged party; Hotel Pennsylvania was straight up TERRIBLE. Any hotel with rampant mold, dirty/used sheets in "fresh" rooms, and chunks of plaster falling onto ponies from gaping holes in the ceiling. I was kind of looking forward to a 700+ strong word-of-mouth campaign.



Mask: "Fine. I need a rose, a proper shirt, and appropriate music."


A black one with frills? Sister's Love man, say black with frills!


Project BroNYcon North East

So, I, on the other hand, will be hosting a caravan from New Hampshire to New York City for the summer convention. I know it's nowhere near as large of a range. However, if anypony is interested anywhere between these two states (Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Conecticut, Rhode Island, or Southern New York), I will be doing something quite similar to SiuiS, barring the fact that we will have a van. In fact, we will have cars. All of the cars. Volunteer drivers will be needed. So send me an E-Mail at '[email protected]' and let me know if you just need a ride, or if you want to join up with the derp.


Oh, I see how it is. I find out when your vacation ends so I don't but you with stuff, and you o and post this stuff now. I see. :smalltongue: :smallwink:

Hm. I am terrible with geography, but it may be easier to ship some of my pony folk over to you than pick em up, If things continue to grow. I also really wanna look into that hostel thing with you guys, once you're willing to run numbers.

And we, too, will be using cars, because apparently rental vans aren't allowed to leave the tristate area :smallsigh:
Allows more cargo space and better mileage, but doubles the number of drivers. Luckily this sort of organizing is fun~



I have faith that it will all work out, honestly. I have faith in the convention staff there, I know quite a few of them myself. I have faith that the issue will be rooted out and taken care of. I'm still going to go. Heck, I'm already pre-registered anyways. Worst comes to worst... I'll just have a good weekend in new york with my friends who come, convention or no. And I'd personally be more than happy to take the however many thousand Bronies who have shown up, wayward without a hotel, and bring them a little organization, and try to pick things up a little.

This community is capable of miracles after all.

This totally sounds like a "yes we should run the convention ourselves" XD
Lemme know~

[PhoeKun]

I will hope the ponies involved will resolve these difficulties so the 'con can still take place.

This is my hope as well. From the tone of the messages we received it sounded like there was a lot going on underneath the surface. But by and large, the group is a good bunch of people who are working hard for very little gain to make people happy. I only hope the issues as they stand don't wind up causing harm in the name of that goal.



Awesome. Does this man have a deviantart or anything we can hit up?

Blam. (http://dop4min3rgic.deviantart.com/) Enjoy, sir. Fun trivia fact: as the recent Sherlock Holmes movie had put it into my head I pointed dear Soda in the direction of your work. He declared A Study in Rainbows to be one of the best things he's ever read. Not fanfiction. Things.

Just blowing some dust off an older work to find what praises may be left.



I am intrigued. And fascinated. Phoe plots always pay off as best plots - and I just now realised what I just said, goddamn it.
You know, for as often as this gets said, there is very little Phoe plot out there. I feel like this needs fixing.



I have faith that it will all work out, honestly. I have faith in the convention staff there, I know quite a few of them myself. I have faith that the issue will be rooted out and taken care of. I'm still going to go. Heck, I'm already pre-registered anyways. Worst comes to worst... I'll just have a good weekend in new york with my friends who come, convention or no. And I'd personally be more than happy to take the however many thousand Bronies who have shown up, wayward without a hotel, and bring them a little organization, and try to pick things up a little.

This community is capable of miracles after all.

I don't share your optimism, I am sorry to say, but I'll be the first to admit I'm an extra 50% mopey today for having all of my summer plans turned on their heads in the span of a single afternoon.

Whatever happens, I hope that you and anypony else who comes with you has a good time, convention or no convention. It's New York; I'm sure there's plenty to do, if you're budgeted for it. But others might not be, hence my warning. I promise to keep Ponythread updated on this as it develops.

[Eakin]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone re watched "Staremaster" since seeing the last episode and done a compare and contrast of the two? Both are ostensibly babysitting episodes covering the same ground, I'd be interested in what The Thread (buck yeah it should be capitalized) thinks are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

I've been meaning to rewatch them both myself but ever since the Everfree Radio Top 100 songs list came out my music backlog has swollen to an unmanageable size and needs to be tamed.

[TheAmishPirate]

Dear Princess Celestia

Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great.

Your faithful student,
Titanium Fox

First one to get the episode this was from gets an e-cookie!

Best Night Ever.


I saw everythiiiiiing.

Hurr hurr hurr.

The only thing you saw was ALL THE NOTHINGS.

And you keep those lowbrow-style chortles out of this!

[BlasTech]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone re watched "Staremaster" since seeing the last episode and done a compare and contrast of the two? Both are ostensibly babysitting episodes covering the same ground, I'd be interested in what The Thread (buck yeah it should be capitalized) thinks are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

I've been meaning to rewatch them both myself but ever since the Everfree Radio Top 100 songs list came out my music backlog has swollen to an unmanageable size and needs to be tamed.

I kind of preferred the pacing and story development in Stare Master more than Baby Cakes, but think both were rather enjoyable episodes.

In Stare Master, I appreciated the more substantive foreshadowing of both the use of the Stare, the foals running away into the Everfree Forest and the Fluttershy-getting-in-over her head thing. That, and the sudden appearance of the Cockatrice was a good twist to the plot.

Baby Cakes, by contrast, relied a bit too heavily on the throwaway lines at the beginning, and consequently the appearance of the Baby Superpowers felt like it came a bit abruptly and didn't feel as organic to the story.


Best Night Ever.


Congratulations! Have a cookie!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwka7hxHXi1qg0isio1_500.png

A Smart Cookie, that is.

[Titanium Fox]

Dear Princess Celestia

Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great.

Your faithful student,
Titanium Fox

First one to get the episode this was from gets an e-cookie!

This made me grin. Thank you BlasTech. :3


I don't share your optimism, I am sorry to say, but I'll be the first to admit I'm an extra 50% mopey today for having all of my summer plans turned on their heads in the span of a single afternoon.

Whatever happens, I hope that you and anypony else who comes with you has a good time, convention or no convention. It's New York; I'm sure there's plenty to do, if you're budgeted for it. But others might not be, hence my warning. I promise to keep Ponythread updated on this as it develops.

Thank you for keeping us in the loop Phoe. I'm just confident that we can make something work, no matter what goes wrong. I feel like this community is a little like Philomena. Even if the worst case happens, and the convention and Bronies-NYC die, from the ashes of the once massive group will rise another convention. Even if I have to do it myself. I ain't never gonna let these ponies down.

And even if ponies haven't budgeted for NYC itself, there's still plenty of free things to do. We can still make it the best night ever.


The only thing you saw was ALL THE NOTHINGS.

And you keep those lowbrow-style chortles out of this!

ALL OF THE NOTHINGS. ALL OF THEM.



This sounds about what I expected; both Jade and I are on record saying multiple times that we would have to run the con ourselves just to make sure everything got done! I spent the afternoon considering correspondence with the con ponies to see if I could help them get stuff set up better... Seems I may have to move to New York to set things right.

Thanks for the heads up, PhoeKun. It will be taken under advisement :smallsmile:


I am sad to say that none o this surprises me, and in fact, was self-evident for anyone who actually looked past the guests and the pony at the con itself.

If there is anything I've learned from Winter Wrap Up, it's that the left hoof ABSOLUTELY MUST know what the right hoof is doling. And with what seemed a single head administrator, and disparate branches of convention staff stepping on each others' tails...

Starry Notions wasn't lightly chosen. So.
HEY JADE!

What-say we step up and try to make this con happen, and happen well? I was considering this in any case, I can't even say Phoe is the final nudge... We saw the problems manifested at ground floor, I think that gives us a perspective the more managerial-oriented organizers lack.

And all this being said, bronycon is an excuse to round up cool Internet people and visit under the aegis of pony. So as long as we have food and lodging, I wouldn't consider the travel time poorly spent. A lot of work does need to be put in in the next week or so...


And it's times like this that I get to use my favorite quote in the history of ever.

**** IT. WE'RE DOING IT LIVE.



It would have been much less cool for the folks it happened to.
Honestly though, I'm just upset that the hotel being so packed makes the hotel look like the wronged party; Hotel Pennsylvania was straight up TERRIBLE. Any hotel with rampant mold, dirty/used sheets in "fresh" rooms, and chunks of plaster falling onto ponies from gaping holes in the ceiling. I was kind of looking forward to a 700+ strong word-of-mouth campaign.

Not to mention the damn place was unclean enough that I managed to step in ringworm. I'm sorry, but even for a cheap place in Manhattan, there is a certain level of maintenance that needs to be kept up. Yes, our group was in the wrong for letting so many people in. But they were very in the wrong for the way we were treated and the accommodations we were provided with.


Oh, I see how it is. I find out when your vacation ends so I don't but you with stuff, and you o and post this stuff now. I see. :smalltongue: :smallwink:

Hm. I am terrible with geography, but it may be easier to ship some of my pony folk over to you than pick em up, If things continue to grow. I also really wanna look into that hostel thing with you guys, once you're willing to run numbers.

Wait... What did I do? O_o


And we, too, will be using cars, because apparently rental vans aren't allowed to leave the tristate area :smallsigh:
Allows more cargo space and better mileage, but doubles the number of drivers. Luckily this sort of organizing is fun~

No, no they are not. Nor are rental cars, for that matter.


This totally sounds like a "yes we should run the convention ourselves" XD
Lemme know~

If it comes down to it, and the cards are down on the table? HELL YES I WILL.

No way in hell I'm letting 1500 ponies travel to New York City for nothing if I have a damn thing to say about it.

[the_druid_droid]

(15 Squares per round, so... 90 foot move speed? Jade runs at 165 feet, 33 squares. If you're talking about her at epic levels? She moves at 6 times that. AND THIS IS WHY I LOVE 3.5!)

Ohh, you're not getting away from me! *The mare tilts her head down and begins out and out sprinting as fast as she can after the robotic pony.*

(Different system actually, but the math falls out the same oddly enough)

*As Jade gets closer it becomes clear that this pony not only doesn't look robotic, but has a rather surprising number of antlers for a pony - two, in fact*

*Turning and seeing Jade close in, the not-a-pony suddenly veers right, into the woods*

Why are you working for Him?! Whatever He promised you is a lie!

[Capt. Ido Nos]

I am a horrible person for loving this:
http://ponypic.com/i/7sye.png

Less so for these:
http://th00.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/016/3/1/applejack_gala_portrait_by_kp_shadowsquirrel-d4mjye0.jpg
http://th06.deviantart.net/fs70/PRE/i/2012/013/5/9/applejack_in_a_straw_hat_by_paulina_ap-d4m6ngl.jpg
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/013/8/8/hand_made_singing_talking_rarity_by_piquipauparro-d4m6ghn.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/3rIdY.jpg

And lastly, this little beauty:
http://i.imgur.com/RsF4i.gif

Non-image related: in d&d, Uial totally got to coup de grace a huge red dragon in vengeance for it nearly killing Spike during the battle. It was awesome, and my only regret (aside from nearly losing spike) was that I couldn't think of a witty one-liner relating to letters at the time. CR 13 encounters at level 7 are SUPER FUN GUYS :applejack:

[Thanqol]

Thanqol just purchased some quality headphones. Thanqol had an ominous moment where he realised he might have just become an audiophile because these are rocking.


A black one with frills? Sister's Love man, say black with frills!

"I don't accept that there are other shirts."


Blam. (http://dop4min3rgic.deviantart.com/) Enjoy, sir. Fun trivia fact: as the recent Sherlock Holmes movie had put it into my head I pointed dear Soda in the direction of your work. He declared A Study in Rainbows to be one of the best things he's ever read. Not fanfiction. Things.

Just blowing some dust off an older work to find what praises may be left.

:smallredface: Thank you very much for that. Having written Study In Rainbows made the Game of Shadows hysterical.


You know, for as often as this gets said, there is very little Phoe plot out there. I feel like this needs fixing.

I have today's topic!

[SiuiS]

Gonna PM all the folks on my "interested" list tonight, and see who is still willing to pile into a vehicle and go.

And you didn't do anything, Jade. I just find it funny I asked about your schedule to avoid maybe irritating you with convention set-up stuff, only to find you were doing convention set up stuff on your own.

So! Where do we sign up? I am afraid I can't actually move to new York, but you seem close enough to help the con folks directly. But the one tho I can be sure of is that the sooner Bronies NYC develops a working administrative infrastructure, the better for every pony.

[Dexam]

I am a horrible person for loving this:
http://ponypic.com/i/7sye.png


Nooo! :smalleek: Poor Fluttersqueak.


Less so for these:
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/013/8/8/hand_made_singing_talking_rarity_by_piquipauparro-d4m6ghn.jpg



You will love it even more: she sings! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqX8bsnxZzA)



Non-image related: in d&d, Uial totally got to coup de grace a huge red dragon in vengeance for it nearly killing Spike during the battle. It was awesome, and my only regret (aside from nearly losing spike) was that I couldn't think of a witty one-liner relating to letters at the time. CR 13 encounters at level 7 are SUPER FUN GUYS :applejack:

Did you at least use the line "You will NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS!" during the battle?

[Capt. Ido Nos]

Nooo! :smalleek: Poor Fluttersqueak.
Fluttersqueak is best squeak, now if you'll excuse me I need to find a new heart, my old one appears to have melted.


You will love it even more: she sings! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqX8bsnxZzA)
...

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/115/988/Spongebob%20Money.jpg


Did you at least use the line "You will NOT. HURT. MY. FRIENDS!" during the battle?
Alas, I did not, but I did almost betray my entire ruse with the phrase "fillyfooler" before I blew its brains out violently.

[Thanqol]

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HFw9GNga8WM/TxTZwvVqvYI/AAAAAAAAARw/nbE-WJ2zNPM/s1600/20120116122214.jpg

hurr hurr hurr

I'm sorry. I just can't stop laughing.

[BlasTech]

Blegh, busy day.

Have some pony.

http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/6644bccf6c5faa12e3ffe73120c0386a/109966%20-%20angry_birds%20luna%20not_safe_for_woona%20photo shop%20running%20woona.jpg
http://img.ponibooru.org/_images/ff3df2fd2596f8535bf04a2b2f64d9f5/113576%20-%20applejack%20apple_bloom%20comic%20filly%20grann y_smith%20plot%20rainbow_dash%20zecora.png

I'ma gonna go collapse now.

[PrinceAquilaDei]

Best of luck with the con, hope it works out for all of you.
got my first ponies for my birthday today
YES!
Happy birthday! Wanna make a drawrequest? Results might not be that good though.

[Eakin]

Damn it, Past Sins, you made me feel bad for NIGHTMARE MOON and DIAMOND BUCKING TIARA. Why?

Part 17 and counting, finishing it tonight or tomorrow morning no question. Probably the best non-comedy fanfic I've ever read (my tastes tend to run more towards the lighthearted stuff). If the author's still lurking here then a major brohoof to them.

Fewer tears than My Little Dashie, at least. But then again I've still got several chapters to go.

[Aotrs Commander]

I am a horrible person for loving this:
http://ponypic.com/i/7sye.png


So I am, but we knew that already...




Damn it, Past Sins, you made me feel bad for NIGHTMARE MOON and DIAMOND BUCKING TIARA. Why?

Part 17 and counting, finishing it tonight or tomorrow morning no question. Probably the best non-comedy fanfic I've ever read (my tastes tend to run more towards the lighthearted stuff). If the author's still lurking here then a major brohoof to them.

Fewer tears than My Little Dashie, at least. But then again I've still got several chapters to go.

Don't think the authors ever were around here, to my knowledge.

Oohh... you're not confusing EsperDerek and Midnight with Nyx are you...? They'll be tears...

But, yes, I quite liked it. (Though Dangerous Business and It Takes a Village are still my favourite though...)

[Deadly]

Synopsis on the Valentines episode (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/01/episode-update-hearts-and-hooves-day.html)
And I bet the lesson will be that you can't make somepony fall in love.


Anyway, I had the strangest Pony Dream

The author of "It Takes a Village" (which I haven't read, shamefully I'm sure) posted here in Ponythread, offering to write someone's fan fic. That's it. That was my dream. Or at any rate all that I remember of it. Maybe it's a hint that I should go read it.

[Lix Lorn]

I may be a tragedy addict.
(Hugs her a lot.)


Mask: "Fine. I need a rose, a proper shirt, and appropriate music."
(Provides black, frilled shirt, a red rose, and is suddenly wearing a pretty dress as The Tango De Roxanne plays :smalltongue: )


I am intrigued. And fascinated. Phoe plots always pay off as best plots - and I just now realised what I just said, goddamn it.
This sentence loses no validity,


Dear Princess Celestia

Friends have a way of making even the worst of times into something pretty great.

Your faithful student,
Titanium Fox

First one to get the episode this was from gets an e-cookie!
Best Night-


Best Night Ever.
DARN YOU SLEEP.

[Kindablue]

SiuiS: I have a car. It's been having some problems recently, and we'll see if it's roadtrip worthy in six months, but I do have a car.


Damn it, Past Sins, you made me feel bad for NIGHTMARE MOON and DIAMOND BUCKING TIARA. Why?

Part 17 and counting, finishing it tonight or tomorrow morning no question. Probably the best non-comedy fanfic I've ever read (my tastes tend to run more towards the lighthearted stuff). If the author's still lurking here then a major brohoof to them.

Fewer tears than My Little Dashie, at least. But then again I've still got several chapters to go.

You might like this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF8pt9nspw0&feature=channel_video_title)

[Gamerlord]

Synopsis on the Valentines episode (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/01/episode-update-hearts-and-hooves-day.html)
And I bet the lesson will be that you can't make somepony fall in love.

So, the CMC playing matchmaker? This should be good. :smalltongue:

[Athaniar]

Synopsis on the Valentines episode (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/01/episode-update-hearts-and-hooves-day.html)
And I bet the lesson will be that you can't make somepony fall in love.

CMC Shippers. Oh Celestia. Must give them credit, though, I can't say I've seen that ship before.

[fizmat]

Jalyrkeion weapon design post. Because I can't think about anything else for 2 days now... Curse you, Lich!

Why design the trigger first?

Human guns are probably not started from the trigger. You design it to be easily held stable while shooting and put the trigger wherever the hands happen to be in the shooting position. So gun position first, trigger position second. With Jalyrkeion it's even simpler, because you can put the trigger wherever, but gun position is still critical.


"Pure" TK and kick.

The problem I have with guns held by pure TK is that TK lacks one important aspect arms do. Bones. When you hold a pistol properly, your arms create a rigid frame that absorbs recoil. Rifles have stocks to project the kick into the (rigid and bony) shoulder. The angular momentum remains, because, as discussed, the gun is off-center, but the momentum itself is absorbed.

Imagine holding a gun in a half-bent arm. The strong, but not rigid, muscles represent TK. You could aim down the sights, but the butt would smack you in the face. I suppose early one-shot pistols could be aimed and fired by Jalyrkeion with no problem, but anything else would need to be braced against something.

NB:One alternative is not aiming down sights. If recoil sends the gun a couple of feet back, but your face isn't there to be hit, and you can easily return the gun in position with TK, you're OK, but you just sacrificed all of your accuracy! Also, rate of fire, because you need time to get the gun into position.

NB: One other way to reduce recoil is to make the gun heavier. Like, a lot heavier. I still imagine holding a heavy rifle in front of you being rather tiring and worsening aim no matter what you hold it with.


Three places to brace the gun:

1) Chest. Creates the problem with aim, as eyes are far from line of fire, but sights can't be far away from the barrel, or they get bent easily. Only in close combat is this position viable. However, after the invention of infrared lasers and hud-style visors I can see this being the standard style for close combat assault teams. Fast reaction time, does not impede movement, best for short barrels, low accuracy unless with a visor.
2) Shoulder. Like humans, with the head lowered to the barrel to see the sights. Not sure if the shoulders are wide enough. Plus, the neck is rather long and makes this position less comfortable than for humanoids. Probably best position for concealed snipers, as they are already down low.
Slow reaction time, need to be stationary to fire, good accuracy. Does not need extra equipment.
3)A special rigid harness built on top of a "saddle". Puts the barrel to the side of the head.
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/fizmat/pony/gun.png
OK reaction time, good accuracy, can be fired on the move. Sticks out like a sore thumb when prone. Probably restricts movement.

I don't know which one would work best.


With energy weapons, the point might be moot (low recoil).However, this all still probably affected the military tradition.

Next post, will discuss my take on how this all affected their army history. Coming soon.

[Thanqol]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

[Litewarior]

I just started reading it, and it looks good. The only thing I can think of is that I feel Applejack's letters shouldn't have her accent, it's not like she's talking.

As Roy put it, you know you don't have to write your accent.

Also, in the shipyard's letter you switch from Sea Horse to Sky Horse seemingly pointlessly.

[Strife Warzeal]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

I really have to thank you for this story you've written. I feel I must congratulate you writing something that made me feel actually sad with those last few letters. At least for me, it's quite a feat to do that since most things I read aren't able to do that. There's really nothing I can say to improve it, wish I could think of something to help but it's just not my forte.

[Lix Lorn]

As Roy put it, you know you don't have to write your accent.
What accent?

[Kyouhen]

It is with a heavy heart and cloaked in veil of darkness that I tell you the following. Hopefully in large enough print that it reaches everypony it concerns.

ATTENTION, BRONYCON HOPEFULS

Don't go. Do NOT go. It's a sunk cost. PM me or find me online in a chat client see this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12543258&postcount=1134) if you really need to know more, but just understand there is a dark shadow hanging around the June convention. You are very seriously risking being taken advantage of and hurt if you attend.

Thank you for your time. :smallfrown:

Awwwww. :smallfrown:
Well I'll just plan on going for now and wait until more information comes to light before I decide to do anything.


Pony Trek!
http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/7360862/img/7360862.png

Oh gods and Pinkie Pie's the first pony they meet. This is going to break poor Picard's mind. :smalltongue: Can't help but wonder how long before Worf finds out just how indestructible the ponies are though. :smalltongue:


Just out of curiosity, has anyone re watched "Staremaster" since seeing the last episode and done a compare and contrast of the two? Both are ostensibly babysitting episodes covering the same ground, I'd be interested in what The Thread (buck yeah it should be capitalized) thinks are the relative strengths and weaknesses of each.

I've been meaning to rewatch them both myself but ever since the Everfree Radio Top 100 songs list came out my music backlog has swollen to an unmanageable size and needs to be tamed.

Actually that's a good point. Looking at the two I think we can all agree that Fluttershy should have done the babysitting and Pinkie Pie should never be left in charge of all three Cutie Mark Crusaders at the same time. :smalltongue:

Though actually she might be able to keep them in check. Fluttershy just wanted them to sit down and be quiet, while Pinkie Pie probably would have had fun games to play with them. Fluttershy would probably have been a better choice for taking care of the babies, which isn't surprising since the Cakes went to her first. So yeah, wrong pony for the wrong job both times. :smalltongue:



If it comes down to it, and the cards are down on the table? HELL YES I WILL.

No way in hell I'm letting 1500 ponies travel to New York City for nothing if I have a damn thing to say about it.

Not to mention, y'know, Lauren Faust. Kind of want to leave a good impression on her.

Also I'd be up for helping if you need it. I'm decent at group management. Not so good at organizing massive trips like what you and SiuiS are trying (I'd probably miss half a dozen things) but when it comes to tracking what people in a group are doing and what needs to be done I function pretty well.

Actually did anyone at the convention have radios or walkie-talkies or something? That alone would be a massive help.



Non-image related: in d&d, Uial totally got to coup de grace a huge red dragon in vengeance for it nearly killing Spike during the battle. It was awesome, and my only regret (aside from nearly losing spike) was that I couldn't think of a witty one-liner relating to letters at the time. CR 13 encounters at level 7 are SUPER FUN GUYS :applejack:

At least your DM hasn't thrown an epic level wizard at you yet. Mine had us fight 2 by level 7. The fun part? We nearly killed the first one and took down the second. Neither was supposed to happen.

You should totally start planning potential witty one-liners now though. Don't miss a single opportunity!

[Deadly]

I made a Scootaloo!
http://i.imgur.com/raukm.jpg

Not terribly great I'm sure, but it's my first time working with clay since I was a kid. I used up exactly all my orange clay, and I wish I had some proper tools for this sort of thing. Also, clay is really sticky.


Attention Everypony

I'll get on it soon, and see what I can do in terms of review.

[Kyouhen]

I made a Scootaloo!
http://i.imgur.com/raukm.jpg

Not terribly great I'm sure, but it's my first time working with clay since I was a kid. I used up exactly all my orange clay, and I wish I had some proper tools for this sort of thing. Also, clay is really sticky.



Actually, that looks pretty good! I think all that really needs fixing with it are the eyes. Pupils should be a little bigger and pony eyes really don't look the same without those little light sparkle things in them. Otherwise nice work!

[Deadly]

Actually, that looks pretty good! I think all that really needs fixing with it are the eyes. Pupils should be a little bigger and pony eyes really don't look the same without those little light sparkle things in them. Otherwise nice work!


Thanks. It's not very big, so I have no idea how I'd ever make those little highlights in the eyes. The irises could have been bigger, though.

[Kyouhen]

Thanks. It's not very big, so I have no idea how I'd ever make those little highlights in the eyes. The irises could have been bigger, though.

How did you do the irises? I'm assuming you painted them, so the highlights aren't too tricky. Just pain them on after you've done the purple for the main part of the eye but before you add the black. (This might not work too well depending on the brushes you have available and the size of the Scootaloo though) The highlights weren't what I meant though, I meant the little white light dot thingies that I've never managed to figure out a name for. I find you can normally get away without the highlights, but they just don't quite hit the right level of cute without the dots.

[Deadly]

How did you do the irises? I'm assuming you painted them, so the highlights aren't too tricky. Just pain them on after you've done the purple for the main part of the eye but before you add the black. (This might not work too well depending on the brushes you have available and the size of the Scootaloo though) The highlights weren't what I meant though, I meant the little white light dot thingies that I've never managed to figure out a name for. I find you can normally get away without the highlights, but they just don't quite hit the right level of cute without the dots.


Ah right, the... reflections? I don't know

Anyway, it's not painted, it's modeling clay. So the eyes are made of three small balls of clay that I mashed into flat discs and put one on top of the other. When I added the black it kinda got a little too big

[Colonel Fedora]

Thanqol, I really liked your story. The letters make an interesting format, and one that you use very well. The character voices come through spot on, and everypony was completely in-character. I particularly enjoyed the Rainbow Dash parts.

Tl;Dr Nice fic. Twijack is underused.

[TheAmishPirate]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

This will be getting a proper review. But for right now, just know that your mastery of the bittersweet is still there. I don't normally review stories like this; I just think too much and it's hard to tell myself it's all just a story. But I'll do the best I can.

One question that springs to mind already:
What happened to Rainbow Dash? I know this isn't really her story, but I don't know if she died in the blizzard or the sun rose in time.

[Aotrs Commander]

Jalyrkeion weapon design post. Because I can't think about anything else for 2 days now... Curse you, Lich!

Why design the trigger first?

Human guns are probably not started from the trigger. You design it to be easily held stable while shooting and put the trigger wherever the hands happen to be in the shooting position. So gun position first, trigger position second. With Jalyrkeion it's even simpler, because you can put the trigger wherever, but gun position is still critical.


"Pure" TK and kick.

The problem I have with guns held by pure TK is that TK lacks one important aspect arms do. Bones. When you hold a pistol properly, your arms create a rigid frame that absorbs recoil. Rifles have stocks to project the kick into the (rigid and bony) shoulder. The angular momentum remains, because, as discussed, the gun is off-center, but the momentum itself is absorbed.

Imagine holding a gun in a half-bent arm. The strong, but not rigid, muscles represent TK. You could aim down the sights, but the butt would smack you in the face. I suppose early one-shot pistols could be aimed and fired by Jalyrkeion with no problem, but anything else would need to be braced against something.

NB:One alternative is not aiming down sights. If recoil sends the gun a couple of feet back, but your face isn't there to be hit, and you can easily return the gun in position with TK, you're OK, but you just sacrificed all of your accuracy! Also, rate of fire, because you need time to get the gun into position.

NB: One other way to reduce recoil is to make the gun heavier. Like, a lot heavier. I still imagine holding a heavy rifle in front of you being rather tiring and worsening aim no matter what you hold it with.


Three places to brace the gun:

1) Chest. Creates the problem with aim, as eyes are far from line of fire, but sights can't be far away from the barrel, or they get bent easily. Only in close combat is this position viable. However, after the invention of infrared lasers and hud-style visors I can see this being the standard style for close combat assault teams. Fast reaction time, does not impede movement, best for short barrels, low accuracy unless with a visor.
2) Shoulder. Like humans, with the head lowered to the barrel to see the sights. Not sure if the shoulders are wide enough. Plus, the neck is rather long and makes this position less comfortable than for humanoids. Probably best position for concealed snipers, as they are already down low.
Slow reaction time, need to be stationary to fire, good accuracy. Does not need extra equipment.
3)A special rigid harness built on top of a "saddle". Puts the barrel to the side of the head.
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/fizmat/pony/gun.png
OK reaction time, good accuracy, can be fired on the move. Sticks out like a sore thumb when prone. Probably restricts movement.

I don't know which one would work best.


With energy weapons, the point might be moot (low recoil).However, this all still probably affected the military tradition.

Next post, will discuss my take on how this all affected their army history. Coming soon.

Your points are well-made.

However, the first design criterion for their TK was that their TK is sufficiently strong to allow for bracing, specifically so they CAN have floating guns. (Indeed, the Jalyrkieons wouldn't have had TK at all if they been envisioned with floating weapons.)

This was, admittedly, a criterion that I had not specified overtly. (I tend to be bad sometimes in that regard... it often takes until someone answers with "x" that I realise I hadn't set the proper boundery conditions... It happens on a semi-regular basis...)

(Note that if their TK couldn't resist something like recoil force like a human can with their whole body, it also would mean that can't HIT people with it - which is also one of thier designated abilites - for precisely the same reasons. If they can exert enough force with on TK burst to exceed what a human's arm (or, for that matter leg) can exert with - which means force equilent to INCLUDING the human's body weight behind the blow, as a proper punch or kick will do, perforce ther TK must be strong enough to counter any force exerted that a human arm can take. Lifting stuff equally often requires you to use your arms as levers and/or frame (which is, as they say, kinda what their deisned purpose is) so if we followed the same logic they couldn't lift anything like as much as a human with TK, because they can't use their backs or legs, either. Actually, if you only allowed them what a human can do with only using their arms and not counting the effect of their body, they would be considerably weaker than humans.)

So, for clarity: Their TK is roughly a little stronger than a human arm in all broad aspects. (If you read the description again, you'll note it was stated that the strength comparison is very rough, because the TK doesn't work the same way as limbs, so it's hard to compare.) Basically, anything a human can do with arms (and I don't mean "just the arms" I mean what they can do "WITH arms"), they can do with their TK, plus a little bit.

In fact, it might be better to say more generally (as the "arms" strength estimate was a very general statement), that whatever the net force a human body can exert to do any particular task, the Jalyrkeions can match and slightly exceed with their TK. Including but not limited to, bracing weapons for shooting, lifting heavy objects, physical attacks - even, extending their capability logically, moving their own weight, come to that (humans can do pull-ups after all). Which would not allow them to fly as such, but certainly, they could float around a bit, within the maximum reach of their TK, like Pumpkin Cake.

(In the latter case, this isn't too much of a problem, because, of course, they can only do this if they have some free TK "limbs" as it were, so it'd be more of an obstacle-clearance ability, rather than hovering, when burdened with equipment.

This is something I'd not given much thought to, but is another interesting extension to their capabilities, so this has been a fruitful discussion!)

(You might also make an arguement that they can "lean" into their TK "limbs" with their body weight like a human would theirs' with the exception the link between the two is of psinoically translated intertia, rather than a physical connection, if one were to prove that giving them the ability to do that with TK alone would make them too strong.)

That is, as they say, the main design criterion, from which their other aspects should calculated. As in, they are designed so that they can shoot their floating guns, without needing to stabilise them physically - and marginally better than humans can - except for very heavy weapons, like (for humans) tripod-mounted HMGs (heavy machine guns) and such, with which they would brace themselves the a manner you suggest - 'cos that's kinda their whole intended schick, and the rest of it is subject to change.

I.e., they can fire two AK-47s perfectly fine (maybe a little better than humans in terms of stabilitiy or accuracy to a point (e.g. the accuracy of the weapon, not the aiming)), but they'd require a shoulder brace to fire a .50 cal Browning. That they fact thay CAN use a .50 cal Browning when not on a tripod shows their greater overall "strength..."



As far as sights go, I think the logical extenstion would be that one weapon is sighted in a conventional manner (with a scope/sights), and their TK fine control is good enough - with practise, importantly, not ever Jalyrkeion in the street could do it - to lock the second weapon's convergeant point to that location.

OR that is actually a very difficult job, and historically, only elite, highly skilled units could do that. Thus the regular Jalyrkieon soldiers would have carried a variety of weapons instead. However, with modern HUD displays and computer sighting (because their infantry will be fully armoured, basicallt all in power armour, as their greater target profile more or less forces them to do1), they can now do it much more easily, allowing the average soldier to do what would have taken years of practise to do in the past. (One can assume that this sort of digital targeting would have been developed earlier and more proficiently than with humans, because the advantage would be much greater.)



@Thanq

As you have now finished (kinda) I shall endeavour at some point to get around to reading it, assuming I don't forget (if I don't get back to your for ages, by all means prod me...); I'll try and put it on my "to read" mental list, at any rate...



1Also because I can get away with modelling sci-fi powered armour...

[Sean Mirrsen]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.Well now, this is certainly an interesting way to tell a story. Unfortunately, can't say I actually enjoyed it - sad stories aren't particularly appealing to me. I've also got this sort of instinctive reaction to material that irritates me, causing me to pay a lot less attention to it than is required for proper analysis, preventing immersion and an emotional reaction - I just call 'em mental shields. So, in the case of this piece I probably can't offer any useful insights. The story itself was interesting, a few good nods to fanon here and there, some good worldbuilding with the descriptions of proceedings in Hoofington, and in general it seemed solid. Nitpicking yields a few oddities, such as writing a letter in heavy blizzard without magic. (even not considering the other circumstances - even a human would find it hard to do under those, perhaps introduce missed letters or unintelligible writing?) All in all, negative bias for story mood disregarded, I think it's quite good. The shields took quite a beating too, going by residual feedback, so I'd say the story does a good job of eliciting its emotional response from the reader. Hope this was helpful in some way.

ninja edit: @TheAmishPirate
I got the impression that she indeed died, given how she is not mentioned afterwards. But it is quite unclear in that regard, so something that could be improved.

[Vorpalbob]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

...

Dude.

*Removes hat*

I...

*HUGZ*

Seriously, bro. That was a very impressive piece of writing. Combine it with all the R.E.M. I was listening too... Really moving. Looking forward to seeing more from you!

I need to go play some sad music now. Where the hay did I leave Flashpoint...

[Kyouhen]

Ah right, the... reflections? I don't know

Anyway, it's not painted, it's modeling clay. So the eyes are made of three small balls of clay that I mashed into flat discs and put one on top of the other. When I added the black it kinda got a little too big


Oh, it is? Huh. The eyes almost look like they were painted with water-colours or something. Note to self: Investigate coloured clay.

In that case I've got no idea how you could get the little reflection things. Maybe put the purple and black together then punch a hole through both of them to let it show the white underneath? If the black was already making it too big I can see why you wouldn't want more layers on top...

Also a tip for getting it to look smoother. Get a half-decent soft bristle paint brush (personally I use an old water colour brush I got back before I knew the thing was horrible for acrylics) and some rubbing alcohol. Using the brush and the alcohol you can smooth down any little cracks and bumps as easily as you could with water, but the alcohol goes away faster and cleaner than water does.

[Athaniar]

Some comments for Thanqol:

Isn't Winona female? I'm pretty sure she is.

That Sky Horse/Sea Horse inconsistency should probably be fixed as well.

Minor typo: in Rarity's response to Fancy Pants on the sock thing, Rarity says she doesn't want to be consulting with Opel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel).

"intelligable" should be "intelligible".

But aside from those minor things? The fic was great. You're an awesome author.

[Deadly]

Oh, it is? Huh. The eyes almost look like they were painted with water-colours or something. Note to self: Investigate coloured clay.

In that case I've got no idea how you could get the little reflection things. Maybe put the purple and black together then punch a hole through both of them to let it show the white underneath? If the black was already making it too big I can see why you wouldn't want more layers on top...

Also a tip for getting it to look smoother. Get a half-decent soft bristle paint brush (personally I use an old water colour brush I got back before I knew the thing was horrible for acrylics) and some rubbing alcohol. Using the brush and the alcohol you can smooth down any little cracks and bumps as easily as you could with water, but the alcohol goes away faster and cleaner than water does.


Thanks for the tip, I'll try the brush and alcohol. I'm not sure about the reflections either, but maybe I'll experiment a little.

[the_druid_droid]

@Thanqol: I have definitely been anticipating the finished (or nearly so) product, and I'll give it a read as soon as I get home, so barring further airline shenanigans will be about 12 hours from now... :smallsigh:

@Rest of thread: getting home also hopefully means a return to the IRC and AIM along with much-delayed uploads to the art thread...

[Topaz]

Oh gods and Pinkie Pie's the first pony they meet. This is going to break poor Picard's mind. :smalltongue: Can't help but wonder how long before Worf finds out just how indestructible the ponies are though. :smalltongue:
I find myself most amused by the fact that Beverly and Geordi have already figured out how to use their pony abilities while Riker is still "wings?".

[vegetalss4]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!



I haven't read through it all yet, but I must say the answer from Sky Horse Shipyards is hilarious.
Also for some reason the "from" in that letter calls them Sky Horse Shipyards

Now I have read the rest, and now I am sad. These kinds of stories always make me so for some reason.
There might have been some more mistakes in it, but if so I didn't notice them.
It's a good story and that is all I really can say on the matter. Sorry for not being able to give some more useful feedback.

[fizmat]

Telekinetic alien carnivorous quadrupeds discussion.


So, for clarity: Their TK is roughly a little stronger than a human arm in all broad aspects. (If you read the description again, you'll note it was stated that the strength comparison is very rough, because the TK doesn't work the same way as limbs, so it's hard to compare.) Basically, anything a human can do with arms (and I don't mean "just the arms" I mean what they can do "WITH arms"), they can do with their TK, plus a little bit.

It's hard to me to think in these terms. As an ex-physics student, I need to quantify this stuff. I was just treating TK as having one parameter: maximum force that can be exerted (and range obviously, but we're dealing with strength now). In any direction, under any circumstances.

Now I see it has more to it. If you can exert enough force to counteract recoil you need limiters. So there's Fact "active" maximum force used for anything (lifting, throwing), a separate Fpass maximum "passive" force for situations when physical work is not being done (E.G. when bracing a gun). Fact is on the scale of human muscle strength, Fpass is on the scale of human bone strength.

Another parameter/ability is storing energy in the TK-field as you "swing" it. Once you hit, the stored energy transfers to the impact. The ability to store energy means there's 1)maximum amount stored Emax. 2)maximum pump-up power Pswing.

Or maybe there's no maximum active force, just maximum power output Pact. In that case, you can lift anything (within reason), but heavy stuff moves very, very slowly.

If strength is limited by power and not force, then Pswing=Pact. Alternatively, again, stored is not energy, but momentum. However, I have trouble visualizing that.



(You might also make an arguement that they can "lean" into their TK "limbs" with their body weight like a human would theirs' with the exception the link between the two is of psinoically translated intertia, rather than a physical connection, if one were to prove that giving them the ability to do that with TK alone would make them too strong.)

I don't see a useful application for that. They already have perfectly good actual limbs to lean on. Well, maybe to cross some hazards. I was going to say "lava" but being a foot above a lava lake is not much better than being on top of it. Electrically charged floors? Pressure plates would still be triggered by TK "limbs" pressure. Can they make a limb very large with small pressure to cross swamps? On the one hand limiting what can be braced against is unrealistic. On the other, if horns are the focal point, leaning on "limbs" would leave them basically hanged by the head. A not very pleasant prospect, I suspect.

Another question. It's assumed that their TK is surface-based. Is that right? I always envisioned TK being more center-of-mass based. You move the entire stone, not push on it's surface. But it seems the "limb" approach works better describing surface TK.

They need time to "grip" stuff. They can't just brace for incoming fire and stop the first bullet with "passive" TK (I imagine getting a passive limb broken is painful and/or exhausting, so only the first bullet can be stopped). Or "brace" against the ground and survive otherwise lethal falls. Or can they?



OR that is actually a very difficult job, and historically, only elite, highly skilled units could do that. Thus the regular Jalyrkieon soldiers would have carried a variety of weapons instead. However, with modern HUD displays and computer sighting (because their infantry will be fully armoured, basicallt all in power armour, as their greater target profile more or less forces them to do1), they can now do it much more easily, allowing the average soldier to do what would have taken years of practise to do in the past. (One can assume that this sort of digital targeting would have been developed earlier and more proficiently than with humans, because the advantage would be much greater.)

The "elite only" approach is probably more realistic.

Another, unrelated to TK, but important question. Speed and endurance. As good as Earth horses? They are not herd herbivores that need to be able to run fast a lot, after all. Carnivores tend to be sprinters... I just need that to imagine how their Middle Ages armies would've looked like. And I know they probably didn't have middle ages because of completely different psychology, sociology and history than humans, but anyway.


Rarity, because Rarity.
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/340/1/b/just_rarity_by_rustydooks-d4idwqv.png

[Mysterious Pony]

Thanqol? I'm likely to embarass myself by saying everything I'm about to but if that's the case then I don't care. So here goes.

I don't post often on this community. Nor on any other of those that I'm a member of for that matter. Maybe I'm just a lurker at heart. But, when I read this story, I had to log on and share my thoughts on it right away.

I must be honest and tell you it was with the faintest curiosity that I clicked on the link for your story. I confess hoof over heart that I was just going to skim it very briefly. And I doubted that I'd give it another thought once I'd hit the back button. I tell you all of this with utmost sincerity.

And it's with just as much sincerity I tell you that this could well go down as one of the best MlPFiM fanfictions of all time.

The effort that was clearly put into making this come to fruition. The care that was taken over each part. The depth of emotions which shine through the text every paragraph, every sentence, every last blinking word of the way to the golden conclusion. There's nothing I can say that can possible come close to describing the meaning of it. The value. Seriously, Princess Celestia's letter to all Equestria about the passing of Twilight and the many kinds of magic she'd brought to everypony's lives was one of the most beautiful and meaningful things I've ever read. That made me feel the same kind of things I did at the conclusions of The Lord Of The Rings, Watership Down and many other professionally written works. You've got talent but, hey, that's just stating the obvious as I'm sure many people here will agree.

When I read this in one sitting, Equestria truly lived. It was that powerful. That enscapsulating of everything that the show is.

Thank for you sharing this with us. I'll never forget this story, this testament to your strong love for the show that's brought so many people together like this regardless of age and gender.

Way to go.

[vegetalss4]

This will be getting a proper review. But for right now, just know that your mastery of the bittersweet is still there. I don't normally review stories like this; I just think too much and it's hard to tell myself it's all just a story. But I'll do the best I can.

One question that springs to mind already:
What happened to Rainbow Dash? I know this isn't really her story, but I don't know if she died in the blizzard or the sun rose in time.

She must have made it, after all at the end Celestia mentions how Twilight gave food to Ponyville in the winter.

[Freelancer Jack]

I find myself most amused by the fact that Beverly and Geordi have already figured out how to use their pony abilities while Riker is still "wings?".

I'm still wondering who two earth ponies produced a Pegasus and a Unicorn. You know there were some awkward conversations about that.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Telekinetic alien carnivorous quadrupeds discussion.

It's hard to me to think in these terms. As an ex-physics student, I need to quantify this stuff. I was just treating TK as having one parameter: maximum force that can be exerted (and range obviously, but we're dealing with strength now). In any direction, under any circumstances.

Now I see it has more to it. If you can exert enough force to counteract recoil you need limiters. So there's Fact "active" maximum force used for anything (lifting, throwing), a separate Fpass maximum "passive" force for situations when physical work is not being done (E.G. when bracing a gun). Fact is on the scale of human muscle strength, Fpass is on the scale of human bone strength.

Another parameter/ability is storing energy in the TK-field as you "swing" it. Once you hit, the stored energy transfers to the impact. The ability to store energy means there's 1)maximum amount stored Emax. 2)maximum pump-up power Pswing.

Or maybe there's no maximum active force, just maximum power output Pact. In that case, you can lift anything (within reason), but heavy stuff moves very, very slowly.

If strength is limited by power and not force, then Pswing=Pact. Alternatively, again, stored is not energy, but momentum. However, I have trouble visualizing that.


I don't see a useful application for that. They already have perfectly good actual limbs to lean on. Well, maybe to cross some hazards. I was going to say "lava" but being a foot above a lava lake is not much better than being on top of it. Electrically charged floors? Pressure plates would still be triggered by TK "limbs" pressure. Can they make a limb very large with small pressure to cross swamps? On the one hand limiting what can be braced against is unrealistic. On the other, if horns are the focal point, leaning on "limbs" would leave them basically hanged by the head. A not very pleasant prospect, I suspect.

Another question. It's assumed that their TK is surface-based. Is that right? I always envisioned TK being more center-of-mass based. You move the entire stone, not push on it's surface. But it seems the "limb" approach works better describing surface TK.

They need time to "grip" stuff. They can't just brace for incoming fire and stop the first bullet with "passive" TK (I imagine getting a passive limb broken is painful and/or exhausting, so only the first bullet can be stopped). Or "brace" against the ground and survive otherwise lethal falls. Or can they?


The "elite only" approach is probably more realistic.

Another, unrelated to TK, but important question. Speed and endurance. As good as Earth horses? They are not herd herbivores that need to be able to run fast a lot, after all. Carnivores tend to be sprinters... I just need that to imagine how their Middle Ages armies would've looked like. And I know they probably didn't have middle ages because of completely different psychology, sociology and history than humans, but anyway.


Just skimming this and certainly haven't been following, but you seem to be over complicating things. Speaking from a physics perspective there is no such thing as a passive force. When a human fires a firearm with a properly braced position they aren't really nullifying the recoil by exerting force, they are absorbing it with a lot of mass and some friction with the ground so the energy just isn't enough to move them very much. Very much being the key there is movement.

Anything with telekinesis is very different, since TK is just a magical exertion of force in vectors. So you have an up vector holding the gun against gravity downward force, two opposing but unequal vectors to fire the trigger. When fired the gun would push back opposite the bullets path with equal energy. So TK would at that moment or immediately after have to push the gun along the path of the bullet to null out the recoil, through likely the same vector they use to over-compensate the force on the trigger. Given the small time scale it would presumably be right after firing to quickly reposition the gun for the next shot.

[fizmat]

Just skimming this and certainly haven't been following, but you seem to be over complicating things. Speaking from a physics perspective there is no such thing as a passive force. When a human fires a firearm with a properly braced position they aren't really nullifying the recoil by exerting force, they are absorbing it with a lot of mass and some friction with the ground so the energy just isn't enough to move them very much. Very much being the key there is movement.

Anything with telekinesis is very different, since TK is just a magical exertion of force in vectors. So you have an up vector holding the gun against gravity downward force, two opposing but unequal vectors to fire the trigger. When fired the gun would push back opposite the bullets path with equal energy. So TK would at that moment or immediately after have to push the gun along the path of the bullet to null out the recoil, through likely the same vector they use to over-compensate the force on the trigger. Given the small time scale it would presumably be right after firing to quickly reposition the gun for the next shot.
Let's see. Example values from Wikipedia. v = 6 m/s, m=1.4 kg, F = 1000 N
a = F/m = 714 m/s^2, T = v/a = 0.0084 s, L = v*T^2 ~ 0.001m = 1mm
Huh.
You're absolutely right. If you can lift 100kg with TK, you can stop a .44 handgun recoiling after it moves less then 1mm. Why the *buy_some_apples* do we need the correct firing stance then? Humans should be able to fire guns from any position no problem. Probably it's more of a timing difficulty.

That'll teach me to assume stuff before doing back-of-the-napkin calculations. And to think every historical figure who had a napkin has already learned that lesson. And written autobiographies about it, that I should be reading instead of embarrassing myself here...

[Aotrs Commander]

Jalyrkieon:



It's hard to me to think in these terms. As an ex-physics student, I need to quantify this stuff. I was just treating TK as having one parameter: maximum force that can be exerted (and range obviously, but we're dealing with strength now). In any direction, under any circumstances.

Now I see it has more to it. If you can exert enough force to counteract recoil you need limiters. So there's Fact "active" maximum force used for anything (lifting, throwing), a separate Fpass maximum "passive" force for situations when physical work is not being done (E.G. when bracing a gun). Fact is on the scale of human muscle strength, Fpass is on the scale of human bone strength.

Another parameter/ability is storing energy in the TK-field as you "swing" it. Once you hit, the stored energy transfers to the impact. The ability to store energy means there's 1)maximum amount stored Emax. 2)maximum pump-up power Pswing.

Or maybe there's no maximum active force, just maximum power output Pact. In that case, you can lift anything (within reason), but heavy stuff moves very, very slowly.

If strength is limited by power and not force, then Pswing=Pact. Alternatively, again, stored is not energy, but momentum. However, I have trouble visualizing that.

But that's the way TK tends to work in fiction (maybe not so much in D&D specifically) - look at what, say Jean Grey of the X-Men or even Twilight can do with TK, and some of it is more complicated than just lifting and moving stuff.

As I said, I used the comparison to humans as very loose guide for the exact reason that it wasn't a simple case of just exerted force. If it was, they wouldn't be able to do stuff as complicated as all the fine mechanics, because that requires applied force in all sorts of directions and strengths. Remember, with a bit of practise, they can do something like effectively field-strip a rifle with the TK (and techically come close to being able to do four at once.) That's way more complicated in terms of brain power and appliation to holding and "bracing", which require more net energy, but in much simpler applications. (We're talking about, within a short radius, TK that is in the superhuman range - literally, as it can do things with fine manipulation that humans just can't.) Learning how to properly brace a firearm might take a touch more effort than for a human, but it'd still be doable and it'd be at the same subconcius level. Your brain knows how to organise your body to brace something, their especially developed TK brains would be able to do the same thing (even if we assume there is no inertial transfer as mentioned below).

Magneto - though not strictly a TK user, he's close enough for argument - is perhaps a good basis for comparison, though nowhere near the range or power. A good example was in the first X-Men movie, when he swiped all the cop's guns and turned them on them. Now, no Jalyrkieon would have that kind of range or number or targets, but the principle of them being able to use one (or more) guns would be the same.

It's also why I opted for SiuiS' handle being at the back, as that would make for a more naturally mentally logical direction for "bracing", as with TK, something like mentally logical being important (perhaps more so that merely mental, as I'm just coming to.)


I don't see a useful application for that. They already have perfectly good actual limbs to lean on. Well, maybe to cross some hazards. I was going to say "lava" but being a foot above a lava lake is not much better than being on top of it. Electrically charged floors? Pressure plates would still be triggered by TK "limbs" pressure. Can they make a limb very large with small pressure to cross swamps? On the one hand limiting what can be braced against is unrealistic. On the other, if horns are the focal point, leaning on "limbs" would leave them basically hanged by the head. A not very pleasant prospect, I suspect.

Ah, sorry, I meant "leaning" in terms of bracing and such, or leaning into a weight when you lift it - I.e. (some of) the reaction force is applied to the creature's body, as opposed to all being pure TK. (If you're ever read the Belgariad, there's an instance where the lead character tries to lift a giant rock with magic. He fails, and because he didn't know anything about reaction forces, he ended up pushing himself up to his neck into the dirt due to the reaction force of him trying to lift the rock straight up.) Imagine, if you will, that the reaction force is sort of "teleported" to the Jalyrkieon, rather than being completely countered by pure TK, of you follow my meaning.

I suggested it partly as a way to migitate their output strength, if it would be too high; e.g. were anyone to do the maths and prove that being able to hold a gun steady would give them Superman strength or something (I don't think it does, mind, but you get the idea.) (Edit: according to your calculations above, it virtually certainly doesn't.) But the more I think about it, it seems a reasonable explanation for at least the "bracing" portion of their abilities - an natural sunconscious diffusion of reaction forces to their own body mass and inertia. Maybe.

As I say, we're veering rather close to the point where without knowing exactly how it works, we can in the end, only say "black box, and it does this effect", as you have to with superheroes.


Another question. It's assumed that their TK is surface-based. Is that right? I always envisioned TK being more center-of-mass based. You move the entire stone, not push on it's surface. But it seems the "limb" approach works better describing surface TK.

Given that, in this case, we're give a maximum rough volume which they can apply TK to (and four of them at that), I think the Jalyrkieon probably use mostly surface TK (or at least their TK cannot penetrate into matter very easily, it might be able to penetrate a few microcons or more, material densities depending, into the surface of the object, maybe even up to a millimetre or two, but no more than that.) For small objects, they probably just grip the entire surface, though for large ones, they have to have a "grip" of sorts, just like a limb. Again, though, this is probably being a bit oversimplified.

We're getting dangerously close to the point where you're asking me how TK actually works, and I can't answer that (I'm a necromancer not a telekinetic - it's not something I've studied in the Aotrs, so...) - aside from "like it does for superheroes/jedi/unicorns etc etc."


They need time to "grip" stuff. They can't just brace for incoming fire and stop the first bullet with "passive" TK (I imagine getting a passive limb broken is painful and/or exhausting, so only the first bullet can be stopped). Or "brace" against the ground and survive otherwise lethal falls. Or can they?

They have the same problems as humans. To stop a bullet, you have to basically see it coming and have super-fast reactions enough to do something about it; which is well beyond non-superhero Jayrkieon, who react about as fast as humans do. Secondly, despite their decent output, it's not nearly in the same range as bullet-stopping.

I guess they could certainly try breaking their fall, but how successful that would be is a good question. Firstly, there's the time issue, because by the limited range of the maximum reach radius. Which I realise I don't think I defined, in the end, did I? It is intended to be about 1-2m from their horns (call it 1.5, for the sake or argument). So, they only got the last five foot or so to do anything in, which probably isn't enough time to decelrate safely, especially if they do get some transfer of inertia. As they say, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the short, sharp stop at the end...


The "elite only" approach is probably more realistic.

I'm inclinded to agree, not least because it sets some histroical context (multi-gunners, as it were, would be like the English Longbowmen - eventually only replaced because newer weapons required much less skill to use, not because they were necessarily any better. (Fun fact: I'm told a longbow arrow will still cheerfully go through kevlar armour. It's rate of fire and ease of use that put them out of commission in the end, rather than improvements in killing power per shot.)


Another, unrelated to TK, but important question. Speed and endurance. As good as Earth horses? They are not herd herbivores that need to be able to run fast a lot, after all. Carnivores tend to be sprinters... I just need that to imagine how their Middle Ages armies would've looked like. And I know they probably didn't have middle ages because of completely different psychology, sociology and history than humans, but anyway.


Due to the extraordinarily dangerous environments of their homeworld1, the Jalyrkeion have a very robust constitution, and will have considerable endurance (as well as having a digestive system of extreme efficiency - because you don't know when your next meal is coming, and what it'll be - to fuel it). Ah, in fact it says "their endurance is protidgious", which will mean "better than a human2", though how much quantitively better is a good question.

Natural hunting style will be canid, primarily, as opposed to felid, so is more likely literal wolf-pack-tactics (e.g. harrying and wearing the target out, in concert with a group, as Grey Wolves do), rather than the more solitary felid ambush-charge. Can't seem to find any reasonable quantatve data on horse endurance from a quick google search, though if we assume similar behavior to, say hyenas on hunting, and a comparsion of top speeds of hyeanas, horses (zebra, anyway) and grey wolves (which are all fairly close around the 40mph range), we'd get something not far off.

They can probably run (unencumbered in both TK and physically) at top speed for several kilometres (and maybe twenty minutes or so in terms of time). (Grey wolves can make 38mph for anout twenty minutes - hyeanas after a gazelle can reach about the same and chases cover about three miles (5km).)



1When it says, "one of the most dangerous natural environments to be populated by a sentient species", that means it is, like seriously dangerous, given the nature of some of the other environments sentient creatures live in.

2This is not uncommon. I did a head count. I mean, seriously, how many aliens aren't superior to humans in many respects...?

[Freelancer Jack]

Humans should be able to fire guns from any position no problem.

False!

Have you ever tried hip firing a 12. gauge shot gun while running and aiming down the sights? I have, It knocked me over and I almost dislocated my shoulder.

Now, the reason I was knocked off my feet was because almost all men have their center of gravity in their chest, where as woman have it in their hips. Being top heavy, it's harder to absorb recoil without getting knocked over, which is why most of the time you see men who are running while firing a rifle doing so from the hip.

You also have to take into account the terrain and force of the recoil of the weapon your using.

Now, please factor that into your calculation.

[Kyouhen]

I made this and am entirely too happy with it, so I'm putting it here. http://i.imgur.com/jaolo.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/017/0/3/day_4___the_cake_is_a_pie_by_bgkyouhen-d4moe25.png

[Strife Warzeal]

I'm still wondering who two earth ponies produced a Pegasus and a Unicorn. You know there were some awkward conversations about that.

I remember enough genetics from my high school to make me understand how it could work but not enough to explain, so we wouldn't happen to have a geneticist or at the least a biologist(genetics fall under that right?) brony would we?

Or alternatively: (Warning: Joking and blatant adultery)
In the philomena episode (can't remember it's name currently) Celestia says she is going to meet with the mayor leaving philomena their knowing what fluttershy is going to do. After the party we only see Mr. Cake cleaning up. The truth is that while The guards were away Princess Mol... err... Celestia is meeting with "Mayor" Cake. Celestia returns to find Philomena "dying" leaving none the wiser. And that's why they are a pegasus and a unicorn.

Shamelessly stolen from a tumblr reblog I can no longer find.

[Soras Teva Gee]

You're absolutely right. If you can lift 100kg with TK, you can stop a .44 handgun recoiling after it moves less then 1mm. Why the *buy_some_apples* do we need the correct firing stance then? Humans should be able to fire guns from any position no problem. Probably it's more of a timing difficulty.

For true detail that is more of an engineering question.

I know if I fired a rifle in another position I would have to take that force with just my hand, which is attached to three flexible joints before reaching the bulk of my mass. And that hand is starting underneath the bullet, while the force would be going back from the bullet. In position it travels back from the bullet through the stock, into my shoulder directly bringing a lot of mass in.

That said humans can fire a weapon from a lot of ****-a-mamy positions. Anne Oakley I believe did a lot of trick shots like shoot a target behind her with a rifle. Recoil is somewhat over stated in imagination as any gun has a lot more mass then its fired bullet. However this is talking single shots, you want automatic fire and because the gun never quite get back to its original position they add up quickly. Which is why nobody actually sprays and prays.

And also proper firing position is also about being able to aim the weapon. People that shoot from the hip practiced learning to coordinate that way. The majority of us don't have that kind of time and so need to position the gun, its sights, and our dominant eyeball properly.

(Oh sidebar on pistols, they use less energy and are designed to be used with just the hands. Note though they are less accurate as a result. I have trouble with pistols but found a rifles a simple joy to be accurate with)

[Athaniar]

I made this and am entirely too happy with it, so I'm putting it here. http://i.imgur.com/jaolo.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/017/0/3/day_4___the_cake_is_a_pie_by_bgkyouhen-d4moe25.png

That is so very cute. Awesome art. ^^

[PrinceAquilaDei]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!


Honour demands my response on this.


Smarter people have already put together better compliments than I could, but for what it's worth: That thing of yours reveals and celebrates the full emotional spectrum, it's like a dancing rainbow. I cried at at least three different places.

I had only one real criticism and a couple of nitpicks to bring up.

Nit A: English isn't my first language so I might be completely off here, but when Twi wants to give her account on the long winter she uses the word misperceptions. Wouldn't misconceptions work better?

Nit B: In Fluttershy's letter to luna she uses the words "Could you hold the sun a little higher?" and the mythology nerd in me felt this was backwards. When the son of Helios lost control of the sun and scorched the Sahara he was bringing it closer than his father would have allowed. I think "hold the sun closer" fits sounds better. But that might very well just be me.

But finally, I know that some have already said above me that Celestia's letter at the end was a real crowning moment for them, But it wasn't necessary for me. It could have ended with Applejack's long lost letter which had a much harder impact on me. But, once again, might just be me.

You've given me reason to thank my ninja crying skills today. Congratulate yourself. :smallwink:

[Litewarior]

@Thanqol Alright, had to read it twice, it's too powerful to criticize in one runthrough. That said, here we go.

Wherein we criticize a work of art:


I'm looking forwards to Hoofington
Should be forward instead.

Remember that you took me to Hoofington once, when I was just a foal?
I feel there should be a time right after that (remember that time you took me to Hoofington, when I was just a foal?) but I'm not sure about that one.

Applejack Letters
I said this early, I feel that an accent shouldn't be transcribed into writing, such as with dropping g's off the ends of words. Personal preference though.

hoofwriting
It's usually horn or mouth I belive, I don't think ponies write with their hooves.

I expect you'll be seein' it roundabouts Spring.

if they poisoned the tree to not flower when Spring came
Spring shouldn't be capitalized in either of those places.

Rainbow Dash Letter
There's stuff in there that's not capitalized that should be, and other words that are. I understand the reasoning behind the lack of capitals, but consistency is important.

magenta unicorn
Twilight's more of a lavender colour.

worst we seen for eight years
We've is more correct.

Big MacIntosh..... Big McIntosh
Again, keep the consistency, and most people don't capitalize the I when writing his name.

Winona chased a fox into Reichenbach Falls, you know, with the tar pits? An' he got stuck there
Nice reference to your former work. Winona is a female dog though (dem eyelashes)

I think it would be in everypony's best interests if that draft you got sent never arrived
I don't think got is the best word choice, especially for Rarity. It's such an unrefined word. Could be excused as Applejack paraphrasing, except she says "an' I quote,"

I'm at Bay Hill Lookout right now, looking out over the orchids
Did you mean orchards here? It seems like it should be orchards instead.

I'd just make a careless apples pun
I don't think apple should be plural in that case, and I was unaware Applejack made apple puns in the first place.

From: Sea Horse Shipyard, ... Sincerely, Sky Horse Shipyards Incorporated
Incorporated could probably be abbreviated to Inc., and the Sea vs Sky is confusing.

I don't know what happened to you, Applejack, that made you think you're boring.
I think those commas are unnecessary, but I'm not sure about that.

I've been swept off my feet as a Professor
Professor isn't capitalized when talking about the profession, just the title (I'm a professor; Professor Sparkle). This also goes for the other times you say professor.

You know, my short term memory's always been shot?
Either change the punctuation or take out the comma and add that.

first-hoof
The English equivalent would be firsthand, all one word, so it should be firsthoof.

Opel
Should be Opal.

Rarity Letter So did she send it by accident or something?

you’re a scholarly pony who probably writes hundreds of letters every day...
I do go through a lot of letters each day, So Applejack is talking about Twilight writing letters, and Twilight is talking about recieving letters. They should probably agree on that aspect, whether it's sending or recieving.

And the tree story Consistency! Applejack has written An' every other time, why should this one be any different.

Lemonjackಠ_ಠ

Carpenting The profession is called carpentry.

Inseperable It's inseparable.

Applejack showpony letter I just have to say, this letter hit me hard. I have a lot of friends that this has happened to me with, and I had to stop reading here for a while to think about it both times. And that almost never happens to me. Good job.

It's like Winter didn't wrap up here Winter shouldn't be capitalized here.

The bonfires are set in a circle, an’ the center of which gets quite hot. Shouldn't be an an' there, it works fine without it.

Most pairs last ten, twenty minutes? Change the punctuation there.

An’ hammy about it, too
Ehhhh, not a fan of the term hammy in MLP. Hammy comes from the word ham, which is pig cooked as food. I doubt the ponies eat ham, or are even really aware of what ham is. Check TvTropes for the history of the term.

my sister and I.
Should be my sister and me, try reading it without the my sister and see which sounds better.

diamond dogs Diamond Dogs is capitalized, since it's the species. When just saying dogs, it probably can be uncapitalized. Make sure to correct this throughout the entire work.

letter at the end. Now Consistency! Double space all your sentence endings or none please, that kind of thing just bugs me.

Hoity Toity swinging from the ceiling on a rope to rescue you from certain death THIS ART MUST BE DONE

Pinkie swear Should be Pinkie Pie swear, not sure if swear should be capitalized or not though.

I’d leave the ranch. It's more of a farm than a ranch, although I suppose it could be an apple ranch... But for most people, ranch has connotations of primarily raising livestock, and Sweet Apple Acres is mostly crops.

contains more Honesty She's not talking about the Element here, it probably would be better to have that uncapitalized. Not sure about that though, including in the other places in the same letter.

So... I hear you’re a sky pirate these days? How’s that working out for you? HOLY MOOD SWING BATMAN (good execution though)

they were pegasus ponies Could replace that with pegasi, it's shorter and has the same meaning.

said 'Ainz thar tak'sho'; in Equestrian, 'I am going for a walk, and I may be some time.' Is it really necessary to include the other language? It contributes nothing towards the story, and for the rest of the story the ponies talk in modern Equestrian.

but it’s an Old one, Old shouldn't be capitalized there.

We’re on a knife edge Knife's edge.

Unicorns and hatsOoo, Discworld reference!

draw mana out from the Elements of Harmony She only used the Element of Magic though, so wouldn't it just be mana from one element, not multiple?

I am Zecora the Zebra, and not of your lands,
And the all-ending blizzard has foiled all my plans.
The winter is harsh and the snows are too deep
Raise the sun, save my life, and my gratitude you can keep
Not a fan of the rhythm in the second and fourth lines, for the second one you can add of between foiled and plans, but the fourth feels long and I'm not sure what you can cut.

Pinky swear. Again, Pinkie Pie swear.

Pipsqueak Letter How did he write to her from the moon? *Trollestia*

Princess Luna of the Moon took a deep breath.

And she raised the sun.Either capitalize sun, or uncapitalize moon, grammar states that it is more correct to uncapitalize moon, but I feel it would have a bigger impact if you had them capitalized.

the spirit of Winter herselfI'd say to capitalize spirit here.

Speaking of, though, I have some time off during the upcoming teaching break and will be taking a carriage down to Ponyville to see you; if you’ll still have me, that is? I don't think though really belongs there.

Forehenst Not a word, and forenenst is too obscure to really use, and not really appropriate for the context.

privilidged Should be spelled privileged

if the Blizzard couldn’t Did this event go down in history as The Blizzard of XXXX? If so, then blizzard should be capitalized. If not, then leave it uncapitalized.

worrying that I’ve been too forwards, Should be forward here too.


Conclusion thoughts: This was very powerful, even on the second read through. It hit a lot of chords in me, and will probably hit even more in people who have lived through these kinds of events. Most of my suggestions were very nitpicky, because I really couldn't find anything terribly wrong with the story. My only real complaint is that you didn't wrap up the ends of a few plot lines (Pinkie's ship, Rainbow Dash & Fluttershy), but I feel that where you ended was the best place possible, and including some of the other stuff might have made this not work as well. Kudos to you, and when this ends up on EQD (You are submitting it, RIGHT?), it's getting all of my stars.

[Pokonic]

I made this and am entirely too happy with it, so I'm putting it here. http://i.imgur.com/jaolo.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/017/0/3/day_4___the_cake_is_a_pie_by_bgkyouhen-d4moe25.png


Awwwwww.

Ponyception? Ponyception.

[PhoeKun]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

To: Thanqol
From: Phoe

You know, it isn't easy speaking with ponies on the internet these days. Without a hookup in my own home or any unprotected signals to borrow for a little bit, any time I want to connect with friends or share something necessitates a trip to a local cafe or restaurant. The other day I tried eating at a place called the "Interactive Cafe", but I just... couldn't do it. The food, while passable, sat there with the rest of the place putting on airs of pretension. And I sat there, surrounded by Macbooks and would be writers snobbishly riding the train to nowhere, and couldn't find a moment's peace to think. So today for the second time, I'm coming to you from a McDonald's. I saw your story and that you wanted help, and took it home with me to digest. I'm maybe twenty minutes removed from that experience, and sitting next to a hamburger I don't even want. 89 cents to alleviate the guilt of taking up space an sitting here with a laptop that doesn't quite fit in the bag I have to carry it in. The little details we share with beloved friends we haven't really spoken to in a while, you know?

What I mean to say is that, this story I just read pulled at me in so many different directions I don't know which way is up anymore. I'm in pieces. I smiled, laughed, shook my head, cried. I saw so much, felt so much that, as I'm writing to you now, I'm honestly a little numb from the experience. Just as much as the ponies you've captured within the text, this piece is absolutely pulsing with you. You said it was important to you, and I can feel it. I can reach out and touch you through what you've written. It's a matter of opinion what story is your best, and a different sort of discussion which would be your most technically proficient. But this? By far, your most powerful. Others will, I'm sure, present nitpicks for you to fix. Grammatical errors I didn't catch or passe over as unimportant (because they are). But I think that anypony and everypony who reads this and has a single thing in common with it will be shocked by how much they feel at the end. I can't think of higher praises.

I know the temptation with a work of this nature is to want it perfect. Trust me, you don't[i] want that. Perfection is imperfection. What you want is the raw, unfocused scribblings of friends making, unmaking, and remaking connections across great distances. This is largely not about fiddling with your word choice until it's all exacting and beautiful. This is about opening up the channels to emotions, and they're as wide open as they'll go.

With that said, there are two things I think you could be doing better. Firstly, tear your author note to pieces and let it drift away in the winds. You don't need it. Readers read. They'll make the connections if you've painted them strongly enough. If you don't trust your audience to figure out that the letters aren't all one after another in chronological order, then you shouldn't be writing this story. You've decided to take risks just in writing this the way you have. Don't cheapen that.

Moving on. As your letters first start and our ponies are sounding as close to canon as they ever will, while they are still wholly as others have written them and not as they've grown, I've noticed their voices tend to bleed into each other a little bit. It's not the same thing as Applejack's slow mastery of the written word over the years, but little bits and fragments where I'm listening to one pony, and suddenly her voice cracks and another pokes out. Rainbow Dash saying "entirely". Pinkie Pie saying "well in advance". Twilight saying "I reckon". It's not that these words and phrases are outside their vocabularies so much as they are outside of their comfort zones. And in the moments you are depicting, these ponies are retreating well into those zones to find their center and say the things they want to say. So comb over the first 6 or so letters and think very carefully about what needs to be said, and the words each pony would most comfortably be able to say them in. Character growth and development must always be shown, never assumed.

This other thing is both very minor and huge at the same time. Rainbow Dash's story has no closure. I can understand that you may be trying for subtlety or even ambiguity as to her eventual fate, but after she writes that letter to Fluttershy in the blizzard (brief aside: [i]Eff verisimilitude at the expense of emotionality. If I read this later and find you've broken up the language to make it look more like how somepony would actually write when freezing in a blizzard, I will fly straight down to Australia and tickle you until you wish you didn't have nerves. Got it?), there is not a single other mention of her again. Not even from Fluttershy. Rarity's story has closure. Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie Pie (to the extent she has one), Celestia, Luna, and even Lyra have closure. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash do not. It's hanging there, pulling and begging for something, anything to nod and say that it's ok, or it's ok to start hurting now. For Fluttershy to write to Dash or Luna or anypony she thinks needs to hear it and say, "It's not your fault." Do you see what I mean?

There's one last thing I wanted to say. While reading this story, there were several moments where I had to put aside the computer and walk into another room to cry. Or at least, I thought I was crying. You know how you get when you're a touch overwhelmed, and tears start streaking down your cheeks and you can't stop them, and you start sniffling a little bit and feel a need to hug something or somepony and find a moment of release? Well, I was doing that. But that's not crying. Crying is what I did when I hit the final word, and fell off of my couch sobbing uncontrollably. For ten solid minutes I was down there on the floor, choking on stuttered breaths and struggling to so much as see through my tears. And the only other time I've cried like that is on a cold and gray November afternoon in Michigan while I tried to wait out the days and weeks before one SweetRein (now Reinboom over at Riot) came back to me from her latest work trip on the other side of the country. A moment when I was lonely and struggling to cope with the realities of relationships at a distance. So, if you ever wonder if you got things right... well, remember that.

Love,

Phoe

[horngeek]

So! I've been hearing about this show for a while... didn't watch it.

Finally, I have. What did I think of it?

...pretty darn good, actually. For one thing, it actually brings its messages across pretty well. Also... it's not so kiddy that a 20-year old guy can't enjoy it, and for a show targeted at small girls, that's impressive.

So, am I a brony? ...yes. I suppose so.

[Kyouhen]

So! I've been hearing about this show for a while... didn't watch it.

Finally, I have. What did I think of it?

...pretty darn good, actually. For one thing, it actually brings its messages across pretty well. Also... it's not so kiddy that a 20-year old guy can't enjoy it, and for a show targeted at small girls, that's impressive.

So, am I a brony? ...yes. I suppose so.


Greetings, and welcome to the herd! Someone should be along shortly to give you a more proper greeting.
Note to self: Come up with my own proper greeting

[BlasTech]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!


Unfortunately, only got through about half of it on the way in to work this morning. I'll try to polish off the rest of it and come back with a more comprehensive feedback later. Best I put this down here first so I don't forget anything.

The first half is pretty much all the parts I've already read in the story, so I'll skip over the part where I heap praise upon you for writing it so well since I've done that already :smalltongue:

First off, I feel like you're going to get alot of people saying "why is AJ writing her accent" when they read this. GitP followers have already had time to come to terms with that joke from the OOTS comic, but I feel it needs some kind of justification here. Options include either AJ making an offhand comment that "Rarity gave me this diction quill", or my preference which is to have AJ's early letter being the epitome of gramattical correctness, and then having Twilight call her out on that, saying it doesn't sound like her, and AJ undertaking to write more "natural like".

I prefer the latter approach since the theme of considering your words is such a core element of the relationship between the two.

There are some minor gramattical quibbles, improper singulars/tenses that may well have been intentional. Just calling out ones in case they aren't;


"I aint never hear any ghost stories start with that line"

Should be heard.

Others have already ninja'd me on ones like Orchards instead of Orchids and the shipping company changing name from Sky to Sea horse in the space of one letter. I'll go over this with a more fine tooth comb to see what I can find tonight.

Rarity's adventure segment still feels a bit iffy to me, a sudden swirve maybe, but it's not as bad as I think it felt the first time I read it. The only thing still throwing me slightly was Hoity Toity's involvement in the party, maybe forshadowing him earlier in the story, and having him owe Rarity a favour might help explain his presence there.

Finally, some of the dialogue in the letters feels a little bit unlike what the characters might say. Phoe ninja'd me on picking up Twilgiht's "I reckon" (aussiness is slipping in there :smallwink:), there's also Rarity's "Mud levels are way above ..." Feel like she wouldn't say "way" so much as "far" or something similar.

Again, I'll try to find more later on, not to mention finish the story. But, like Twilight, I'll probably forget all this if I don't write it down now.

EDIT: Okay ... I was wrong. The second half of this review might take me a little longer, I kind of need time to digest/settle down after the last bits before I can do more proper criticism. Overall, I think it was pretty great.

[Athaniar]

So! I've been hearing about this show for a while... didn't watch it.

Finally, I have. What did I think of it?

...pretty darn good, actually. For one thing, it actually brings its messages across pretty well. Also... it's not so kiddy that a 20-year old guy can't enjoy it, and for a show targeted at small girls, that's impressive.

So, am I a brony? ...yes. I suppose so.
Welcome, then! I completely agree with you, as I'm sure we all do here. Also, expect more elaborate greetings to follow. ^^

[Kyouhen]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

HA! Take that digital-screen-induced ADD thing! Made it through the entire story, you lose!

Anyway! Thanqol, I just want to say that story was amazing. I fail at words so I'll just say it was really touching and several parts were able to bring a tear to my eye. I love the format for it and thought it worked really well.

You did a great job breaking up some of the more emotional parts before building up again. Pinkie Pie becoming a pirate was kind of random but of course it's Pinkie Pie, so that's fine. Not sure if you'd want to foreshadow her actions a little more before the Blizzard. I found her calling Luna 'Black Snooty' to be extremely out of character for her until I got into her letter and saw that she was actually serious about being a pirate. Maybe it's just me but I didn't quite think she was actually trying to be a pirate the first few times it was mentioned.

The Rarity quest probably should be better foreshadowed. Or at least Hoity being involved should be, there's no sign that Rarity's still in contact with Hoity before that. I thought the entire little part was amusing though and think you should keep it.

And yeah, add me to the group who don't really think Applejack's accent needs to be written.

Also with Rarity's drafts, not sure how well this would work but have you considered changing the font to make it look a little messier? Have some parts crossed out, have her little notes-to-self in red, that type of thing? Not sure if it would actually be an improvement or not, but it's a thought.

Once again, amazing work. I can't wait to see how well it does when you add the final touches and send it in to EqD. I'm sure it'll be a hit!

[SlyGuyMcFly]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.


All right. I'd like to clarify a couple of things before I move on to actual commentary, though. I do not, as a rule, like reading fanfics. Most of them are awkward, and even the well written ones rarely manage to convince me that the characters in the fic are in fact the same characters whose adventures I enjoy reading and/or watching. Furthermore, I don't like shipping unless it's very silly (but then I love it!) and I also dislike when a fic breaks away from the setting's overall tone. Sappy Romance in the grim darkness of 40k, Horror Stories in Equestria, you get the idea. Again, the Rule of Funny provides exemption.

I'm saying all this so you know were I'm coming from and can give due consideration to anything I say (i.e, not much). But you did ask, and nicely, and since you've said plenty of funny and/or insightful things over the months I feel like I owe you at least the courtesy of doing so. So I've read your fic and will give my thoughts on it in the most objective way I can. The rest is behind the spoiler because, well, spoilers.



It's well written. It does exactly what it sets out to do and it does it excellently. Twilight and Applejack's romance is handled sweetly, heartstrings are pulled and they are pulled hard. Which is why I didn't like it. But never mind that. Some people don't like chocolate cake but that doesn't mean it's not good. I'm quite sure this is one tasty cake. Overall, it sets the bittersweet tone from the start and keeps it save for small (highly welcome) breathers. Using the medium of the letters is a great narrative device and I think you did manage to give each fairly distinct voices. So good job on that.

-First big point. Rarity's Adventure. That needs to go. Because it should totally be it's own thing. It feels like you needed to answer "what happens to Rarity", came up with a effing brilliant idea and then realised that it doesn't really fit in the story but sorta left it in anyway. It's pretty much the only bit of the fic I genuinely enjoyed reading, which is a pretty good indicator it has no business being there.

Obviously, you should to cover Rarity's story, but you should do it like you did Pinkie: short snippets here and there. Don't give details. Doing it in one big lump just breaks up the tone too much. The story is about Twilight and Applejack, everyone else is mostly in the background, chopped up in little snippets with occasional glimpses of what they're up to. Rarity should be the same.

And seriously, I would gleefully read 30 pages of the most fabulous adventuring group ever. At least consider it.

-Second big point. SWEET CELESTIA MAN, CLARIFY DASH'S FATE SOONER. Like, seriously. I honestly was unable to pay much attention to Twijack's last letters because I was all AJKSFHALJKSFLAHK WHAT UP WITH RD ASKFJKHALKJSFG OH PLEASE DON'T BE DEAD ASDFGKHAJKDGLFAGSFH. Kudos for making me worry like that, but you don't want that big a cloud hanging on the reader's mind while going over Twijack's last letters.

And I understand that she does, in fact, survive. Because if she doesn't you also need to clarify it and suddenly the story went from bittersweet to 'pretty ****ing tragic'. It'll be hard for the reader to appreciate the poignancy of Applejack's and Twilight's deaths if they're all Y U KILL RD!!!!1! ALL ALONE!!11! IN A ****ING BLIZZARD!!!!1! ALKJSDFGAKLSHGFD!

I do not think this would be a good idea.

-Third main point. Rarity's first letter to Twilight. I'm not seeing it. Rarity is the socially competent one. I don't see why she'd fuss over the letter like that. I seriously thought "oh so it's gonna be TwilightxRarity" for a bit.

I guess it comes down to each one's interpretation of the character (I can see some reasons why it makes sorta-sense), but ultimately, I can't see Rarity not knowing exactly how to say what she wants to say (or, at least, should say) in that situation.

Then there's a couple of minor points that stood out:



Most pairs last ten, twenty minutes? Lyra an’ Bon Bon typically win the event, though. Lyra can tango, you know? She’s really good. An’ hammy about it, too, puts on the mask and hat and rose in her teeth an’ everything. She spends the entire evening in character. My favourite was, “How can you stand the heat that long?” “Ze fires of passion, my friend, are far hotter than mere burning wood”. So they wow us all, as usual, an’ we think that it’s going to be the end of it.

This is hysterically funny, and I'm half tempted to draw it.



But it’s hot in the middle of those fires, and before long they’re both sweating. They keep going, though – Rainbow’s being stubborn an’ Fluttershy’s not complaining. An’ then, Rainbow sweeps her up, stops – an’ she drops her. Fluttershy falls backwards. An’ then there’s the crack of thunder above. Rainbow’s back; she catches Fluttershy just before she hits the ground, an’ they kiss at the exact moment it starts raining. Fires quickly go out.

Rainbow breaks away. Stands straight. Says, “We’re going to dance here all night.”

I didn’t know the girl had such a romantic side.

This on the other hand I find way, way over the top. It's probably on purpose on all but... yeesh. I'd be inclined to think it was parody if it weren't obviously not.



But I’m sorry, I really tried, but your letter had me sniffling and crying all day. I don’t know if any of the crew suspected as to why, and some of them tried a mutiny because they thought I’d gone soft. But I didn’t breathe a word, and I fought them off and made them walk the plank (it’s okay, they were pegasus ponies). But if any hint of it gets out, that’s why.

I think it's funnier (and more Pinkie-ish) if she just mentions the pegasus crew bit offhand later in the letter. Let people stew a bit, you know?


What else? Winona chased a fox into Reichenbach Falls, you know, with the tar pits? An' he got stuck there.

Pret-ty sure Winona is a she (http://www.behindthename.com/name/winona).


And there you have it. A critique of your chocolate cake from the guy who doesn't like chocolate in his cake.

[Bayonet Priest]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!



I'm gonna read this, if not tonight then tomorrow during the day. I haven't been reading as many fanfic as I used to lately and I'm sorry to say I rarely even read over what gets posted here in Ponythread. I will attempt to make myself useful this time though and leave some feedback when I'm done.

[Noctemwolf]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

Oh man... I really want to give this a read though... But I remember the first time I looked at this... It just so heavy! =(
I've been finding reading heavy things is difficult...

(By heavy, I refer to lots of emotion, especially sadness, and truthfully fear).
A lot of stories like this touch on things we'd rather not think about.


Which means I'm going to have to bully my through and read it anyways. =)

[Deadly]

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

First of all, that was truly beautiful. Going into this with critic mode on, it took a little while to pick up a natural reading pace, which probably means most of what I have to say is about the first part. Also, rather minor things, because the story on the whole was great.

Most of it was fun and I laughed quite a bit. That's also probably what helped make the last bit so sad. And it sure was bittersweet, which is a good thing. I like bittersweet, even if at times while reading a story like this I feel like turning my eyes away and stopping. But of course I can't actually do that, I have to carry on. Just like the story says :smalltongue:

Just to note that I haven't read any of the other reviews, so if I'm repeating what others have said, please excuse me.


or look up into the sky and see a rainbow wake

The word "wake" made me stop. I can not decide if it makes sense in this context, or what the meaning is (wake as in waking up, or wake as in the wake of something?), but even if it might make sense it's unusual and causes a pause. At least it did for me. Maybe just because I was in full on critic mode.

****

I noted down something about the very first letter, from Twilight to Celestia. It seemed a little off on my first reading. Rereading it now I think it may just have been because of critic mode, but it might also be a little slow getting into the story.


You shoulda been there, that was the happiest I'd ever seen Rainbow, and no mistake.

That "and" seems off to me. Just ", no mistake" seems nicer and... a teeny bit sharper.


there, there's a picture, and it looks entirely awesome.

"Entirely"... I'm finding it a little hard to imagine that in Rainbow's voice. That said, I love the casual, careless, slightly incoherent writing of that part. Very befitting of RD.


maybe we should celebrate it by getting together in person

"Person" :smallwink: "Pony" doesn't work here, of course, but maybe "I've got a weekend off coming up and I think maybe we should celebrate it by getting together then" or some similar way of avoiding that "person".


Oh yeah, and how are you doing? Personally, I mean. You've talked a lot about everypony else but you haven't said much about yourself. And I'm curious."

I noted this down because it seemed maybe a little... direct of Twilight. Not much, but maybe a little. That makes sense later when AJ doesn't answer the question, but I'm not sure it should be as... forceful here.

Also maybe drop the "and" to just "I'm curious".


Alas! I shall never phrase this accursed letter right!

I believe this was quoted in Pinkie's letter. Anyway... why did I note this down? Hmm... you can see I'm picking on very minor things here, can't you? :smalltongue: I think the word "right" struck me as a tiny bit un-Rarity. It's not dramatic enough. It needs more pomp!


but I'll always consider any time spent with my friends to be a party.

This part struck me as slightly off too. It may be Pinkie's long mildly incoherent writing, though. Which of course fits her. Maybe it's too "thought out" and self aware of Pinkie? I don't know how to describe it.


Your absence lends a feeling that is crawling under my coat; a wound that will not heal (what the hay is this i don't even)

Aside from the mildly odd fact that Rarity apparently writes her every thought down (people in stories often do this, I wonder if anyone actually does it to such degrees in the real world), I find the "I don't even" part very unlike her. I never particularly liked that... meme? Don't know if it's quite a meme... a saying? Whatever, point is, it doesn't fit Rarity. Just "What the hay is this" or maybe better "What the hay am I thinking?"

****

I'm fairly certain Winona is a she


an' next I saw my poor dog he'd been fashioned beyond recognition.

"Fashioned"... is that use meaningful? I couldn't help thinking "fashioned into... wha?" Again, critic mode no doubt made it worse.


I'm at Bay Hill Lookout right now, looking out over the orchids

Orchids? That sounds mighty fancy. Did you mean orchards by any chance?


I need six hundred balloons, a cream cake, 0.35 metric tonnes of confetti, an aerial cruise ship with accommodations for two hundred, and a treasure map. Oh, and some pirates.

Heh, that was awesome. I do wonder why in Equestria Pinkie would order cake, though. Why not just get it from Sugarcube Corner?


That's something, at least, I don't think Applejack will ever leave Sweet Apple Acres.

I don't know why I picked out that particular sentence. Either way, I had some trouble with Fluttershy's letters throughout. All the other letters were pretty spot on, minor things here and there aside, but Fluttershy's consistently seemed off. They're well written and all, nothing like that, but they don't... sound like Fluttershy. And I'm not sure what exactly it is about them.


I don't know what happened to you, Applejack, that made you think you're boring. You're not boring. Being interesting isn't about shiny lights and big magic. Being interesting is about having a fullness of character and honesty of spirit. Being interesting is being able to make things interesting. And that's why you're interesting, because you can make things like farming and finance compelling topics. I envy you; some days I can't even keep all of my students awake. Please, Applejack, don't censor yourself because you think I don't want to hear it. I do.

I took note of this one because it seemed to maybe channel you, the writer, a little more than it should. Like something you might tell someone here on the boards or in person. It's Twilight writing, so it should obviously channel her. It's very... she seems to be in teacher mode just a bit too much, does that make sense?


Hoofington is everything I ever wanted. It already feels like home. The Princesses, both of them, come by regularly to discuss magical theory. And it's amazing what they know, and it's even more amazing what they don't know that they know. I made an offhoof joke about the Great Spirits to Princess Luna, and she mentioned that she knew them. When pressed, she told me where to find their ancient sanctuaries all across Equestria, and seemed astonished when I told her that scholars had searched for the locations of the Spirits for generations. She hadn't known that the knowledge had been lost. Name any moment from history, any, and they'll give you a first-hoof take that is usually wildly at odds with the body of written down information on those events.

Ah, I have to wonder why nopony ever thought to ask the princesses about historical stuff. If they give their knowledge freely and gladly, shouldn't somepony at least once in a great while get the great idea to ask them about the past? I find it hard to imagine all these pony historians gladly going about their work without ever stopping to consider the most obvious source of knowledge.

I think a more logical explanation why they don't do that would be that Celestia and Luna don't give freely of this knowledge, for the simple reason that they don't want to take all the meaning and fun out of the study of history. Or make all historians jobless. Of course maybe they make an exception with Twilight, occasionally, because she's Celestia's personal student.


[wait, why am I consulting with Opel over this? I don't want him to know that I'm a crazy cat lady

Typo: Opal not Opel.

Also "KNOW that I'm a crazy cat lady"? Shouldn't it be "THINK that I'm a crazy cat lady"? Or does Rarity actually consider herself a crazy cat lady?


Yes. That is a thing. That I shall do.

I'm sure I noted this down because it was so hilarious! :smallbiggrin: Also wonderful wording.


I didn’t figure that there’d be somethin’ you’d be worse at me than

"Worse at me than"... slightly off-putting, "worse at than me" sounds better to me. Unless it's an intentional bit of AJ grammar?


but they’re all students asking for extensions, colleagues asking for help, ponies needing things from the Professor and not caring – well, not having time – for the pony

The "ponies needing things" part seems like it should be separated slightly from the previous points. It refers to both "students asking for extensions" and "colleagues asking for help", it's not actually part of the list to which the first two belong. Does that make sense? Maybe a semi-colon rather than a regular colon between "help" and "ponies".


They had reasons for a lot of the strange rules they set down, and breaking them often has unexpected consequences.

I love that Twilight had the mind to see some of these rules for what they were (silly), unlike her colleagues. But while I'm sure she's right that they had good reasons for some of them, it seems to me that Twilight would be the kind of pony who wouldn't just state that with a shrug, but would be very fascinated by it and try to figured out why. Maybe she does, but her letters don't make it clear.

For example, I like to think that Twilight would find Granny Smith's rituals surrounding zap apples very interesting and would like to investigate and learn more, unlike Granny Smith herself who just accepts them because they work. It's the same here.


I ain’t never hear any ghost stories start with that line.

Typo? "Heard" not "hear", or AJ accent?


I went over to stop her, because it was dangerous for a foal to be working with tools like that, but by the time I get closer she’d already sawed all the wood an’ had made it into a wooden wagon, which was stacked high with all the remaining wood. An’ sure as sunlight there was a saw-an’-apple cutie mark on her flank.

Ah, a pet peeve of mine :P Applebloom is no "foal". I suppose given earlier discussions that I won't open up again, you or other readers may not find "filly" fitting here, but perhaps "young pony" is a good, neutral phrase instead.

Also, I'm not sure the comedic action of the show carries over so well to writing. I don't know if it's just me, but I find it hard to accept that she did all that in mere seconds (or was AJ and everyone else very far away?). That kind of thing works in the show because it's a cartoon, but I've always thought it feels off in writing.


We were just foals, though

Foals again. I think "fillies" works here, regardless of your particular view on the terms.


You’re the only pony I talk to. Who I really, truly talk to. I’ve come to love the sight of that grey pegasus landing outside more than anything else, because I know that means I’m about to get a letter from you. I’ve found myself drifting, staring at the sky, waiting for your responses. It’s like my life is being lived in between letters.

This is the point where it dawned on me that this was probably going to be an Applesparkle ship. Just a note.


It’s like it’s something more than friendship at this point.

Do you feel the same way?

This is quite ironic, but I found that rather sudden. I know that's probably intended to some degree (it certainly reminded me of myself when I was young and foolish and made me feel all awkward again :smalltongue:) but I think the problem is the same thing I've been known to do. A lot is left out, many letters aren't included and only towards the end we're given to understand that months passed where AJ had these feelings but didn't say anything... so towards the end we kinda get a feeling that a lot of time did pass and that it wasn't as sudden, but at this particular point in the story that's not clear so it feels very sudden. Maybe more than was intended, I don't know.


I swear by the Element of Honesty that I wrote you a letter.

Swearing by "the Element of Honesty" sounds wrong here. Maybe "I swear by my Honesty"


Lyra can tango, you know? She’s really good. An’ hammy about it, too, puts on the mask and hat and rose in her teeth an’ everything.

I loved this part :smallbiggrin:


Ze fires of passion, my friend, are far hotter than mere burning wood

I can't help but think this could be better phrased, but I'm struggling to come up with an example. "Ze fires of passion, my friend, burn fiercer than any wood", "burn brighter",.... something


Every day, Big McIntosh has to go out into the blizzard to harvest firewood,

I noticed you switch between "Big McIntosh" and "Big MacIntosh" throughout. Tiny thing, just caught it by chance.


when ice froze along the stallion's backs and supplies ran low

Should that be "stallions' " (plural of stallion, since I guess you're not speaking of one particular stallion here). In these cases it probably sounds better to say "along the backs of stallions" or something like that instead.


But walking across the frost, the coldest white fire came two; the young colt and the old mare. As they approached the disbelieving family, the old mare clipped the colt once around the ears and said, "That'll learn you for running off!". As the colt ran back to his family, safe and sound, the spirit of the old mare faded away into the sunlight.

Loved the tale. Just found the passing away of the old mare a little too brief, maybe, or like it could use something. Like maybe she "exhaled one last breath as she lay down in the snow and closed her eyes, her spirit fading away into the sunlight" or something to that effect (that was quickly written, can probably be done way better). Describe it a little more, maybe. Not that her death needs a full paragraph or anything, just... a little more description.


But the struggle of fashion verses survival aside

Typo? "Versus" not "verses"


She’s going to risk her life in the blizzard to get to Hoofington, to get food back her to feed a starving family

Typo. "back here" not "back her"


Storm’s too bad. Can’t see, can’t navigate. Stopped being able to feel my wings days ago. Stopped being able to feel anything else either. This – this is probably the end.

That was so sad. Probably the saddest part aside from the actual ending. Rarity's decision to stay with Spike was also really sad.

Anyway, I do wonder how she got that written and sent. Was it found on her body? Did she stop and sit down in the snow to write it before dying? Did she actually die (seems heavily implied, of course)?


Whew! Took a while to read and write this. Hope you can use some of it, even if a lot of it is really minor or vague.

[TheAmishPirate]

@Thanqol: You're getting my nitpick once you've fixed what everypony's already said. I figured I'd need a fresh read through the whole thing to truly get a handle on this beast, and I was right:

First things first: I read your latest update without reading the rest of the story again. Big mistake. But it's one that speaks to the raw power in this piece. Reading just the ending, it had to have been one of the genuinely saddest things I've read in quite some time; seeing the ponies that were once so full of life at the end of their respective roads. But reading it again, it's not sad. The reaction I'm having is something else entirely (ignoring the fact that I knew the plot before re-starting).

It's...well, the best my poor brain can think of is closure. The ending has such a rich fullness to it that encompasses all that came before in the piece. It's what everybody's been saying; the remarkable thing about this work is just how complete it is. There's happy. There's sad. There's downright hilarious. There's the tragic. There's loss. There's gain.

There's life. It's everything thrown together in a blender and made into a satisfying smoothie. And because of this, it's unimaginably hard to not find something to connect with. I see bits of myself popping up in AJ and Twi's story, with enough of a breather with the other ponies to give me enough time to reflect. And the format...well, Applejack really said it best:


Your letters make me happier than I’ve ever been. An’ more, I get to see what you’re thinkin’, every time. In person, thoughts get diluted behind mundanity, chores, work, confidence. Back like we were in Ponyville, always on the job, never sittin’ down an’ havin’ a real heart-to-heart. But every time we write a letter, we tell each other everythin’. We sit down and pour our heart out onto paper, an’ show the side of ourselves we’ve never shown to anypony else. Every letter we’ve sent contains more Honesty than any conversation we’ve had.

And it's that honesty that really drives home those connections. Everything about this piece has a power about it unlike any work I've seen, and it's no accident. You've crafted something incredible here.

Right; that's (most of) the praise out of the way. Time for minor critques:

"careless apples pun"
-Should be "apple pun"


"My dearest Lady Rarity,

My dear,"
-Consider leaving it in. But it's a mite awkward to use the "My" twice.

"In retrospect, that was kind of a stupid thought."
-This line struck me as incredibly out-of-voice for Rarity.

"She just dropped something in my letterbox. And then she started flying, I didn’t think she could still fly. She flew to that blue box on the other side of the road. I’m going to see what she got me.

...

It’s the letter. The letter that never came. Ah, Celestia, I’m so happy –"
-This scene. Hmmph. This scene.

I got it on my second try. I know it's Hooves and Derpy bringing the letter. But the fact remains that this is an important scene, and I didn't get it on my first go, and I had to stop and puzzle on my second. I suspect it's because I wasn't expecting a fanon reference here, at the end of this thing. The ending has me in this reflective, solemn mood, and completely unprepared for this. Maybe I'm making too much of it, but I'd seriously consider changing this scene from something other than the Doctor.

"I promise I won’t kidnap you again if you raise the sun. Pinky swear."
-I caught the "again" on my second read-through. Pinky is the only pony who I could ever see "kidnapping" the Princess, and now I really want to see what that entailed.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy
-For the love of all that is good and pony, give these two some closure. It's not their story, but they get the short end of the story stick here. Doesn't have to be much, just even a reference that shows she survived or didn't. But if she didn't, give Fluttershy something too. Something to wrap her story up, sad as it may be.

Applebloom's letter
-It did not at all sound like something Applebloom would write. Yes, she's grown up, but she grew up on the farm, same as AJ. Yes, it's a sad occasion, but the letter sounds too stiff. Too formal.

More nitpicks once you're done with the first round of edits.

[Noctemwolf]

First of all, that was truly beautiful. Going into this with critic mode on, it took a little while to pick up a natural reading pace, which probably means most of what I have to say is about the first part. Also, rather minor things, because the story on the whole was great.

Most of it was fun and I laughed quite a bit. That's also probably what helped make the last bit so sad. And it sure was bittersweet, which is a good thing. I like bittersweet, even if at times while reading a story like this I feel like turning my eyes away and stopping. But of course I can't actually do that, I have to carry on. Just like the story says :smalltongue:

Just to note that I haven't read any of the other reviews, so if I'm repeating what others have said, please excuse me.



The word "wake" made me stop. I can not decide if it makes sense in this context, or what the meaning is (wake as in waking up, or wake as in the wake of something?), but even if it might make sense it's unusual and causes a pause. At least it did for me. Maybe just because I was in full on critic mode.

****

I noted down something about the very first letter, from Twilight to Celestia. It seemed a little off on my first reading. Rereading it now I think it may just have been because of critic mode, but it might also be a little slow getting into the story.



That "and" seems off to me. Just ", no mistake" seems nicer and... a teeny bit sharper.



"Entirely"... I'm finding it a little hard to imagine that in Rainbow's voice. That said, I love the casual, careless, slightly incoherent writing of that part. Very befitting of RD.



"Person" :smallwink: "Pony" doesn't work here, of course, but maybe "I've got a weekend off coming up and I think maybe we should celebrate it by getting together then" or some similar way of avoiding that "person".



I noted this down because it seemed maybe a little... direct of Twilight. Not much, but maybe a little. That makes sense later when AJ doesn't answer the question, but I'm not sure it should be as... forceful here.

Also maybe drop the "and" to just "I'm curious".



I believe this was quoted in Pinkie's letter. Anyway... why did I note this down? Hmm... you can see I'm picking on very minor things here, can't you? :smalltongue: I think the word "right" struck me as a tiny bit un-Rarity. It's not dramatic enough. It needs more pomp!



This part struck me as slightly off too. It may be Pinkie's long mildly incoherent writing, though. Which of course fits her. Maybe it's too "thought out" and self aware of Pinkie? I don't know how to describe it.



Aside from the mildly odd fact that Rarity apparently writes her every thought down (people in stories often do this, I wonder if anyone actually does it to such degrees in the real world), I find the "I don't even" part very unlike her. I never particularly liked that... meme? Don't know if it's quite a meme... a saying? Whatever, point is, it doesn't fit Rarity. Just "What the hay is this" or maybe better "What the hay am I thinking?"

****

I'm fairly certain Winona is a she



"Fashioned"... is that use meaningful? I couldn't help thinking "fashioned into... wha?" Again, critic mode no doubt made it worse.



Orchids? That sounds mighty fancy. Did you mean orchards by any chance?



Heh, that was awesome. I do wonder why in Equestria Pinkie would order cake, though. Why not just get it from Sugarcube Corner?



I don't know why I picked out that particular sentence. Either way, I had some trouble with Fluttershy's letters throughout. All the other letters were pretty spot on, minor things here and there aside, but Fluttershy's consistently seemed off. They're well written and all, nothing like that, but they don't... sound like Fluttershy. And I'm not sure what exactly it is about them.



I took note of this one because it seemed to maybe channel you, the writer, a little more than it should. Like something you might tell someone here on the boards or in person. It's Twilight writing, so it should obviously channel her. It's very... she seems to be in teacher mode just a bit too much, does that make sense?



Ah, I have to wonder why nopony ever thought to ask the princesses about historical stuff. If they give their knowledge freely and gladly, shouldn't somepony at least once in a great while get the great idea to ask them about the past? I find it hard to imagine all these pony historians gladly going about their work without ever stopping to consider the most obvious source of knowledge.

I think a more logical explanation why they don't do that would be that Celestia and Luna don't give freely of this knowledge, for the simple reason that they don't want to take all the meaning and fun out of the study of history. Or make all historians jobless. Of course maybe they make an exception with Twilight, occasionally, because she's Celestia's personal student.



Typo: Opal not Opel.

Also "KNOW that I'm a crazy cat lady"? Shouldn't it be "THINK that I'm a crazy cat lady"? Or does Rarity actually consider herself a crazy cat lady?



I'm sure I noted this down because it was so hilarious! :smallbiggrin: Also wonderful wording.



"Worse at me than"... slightly off-putting, "worse at than me" sounds better to me. Unless it's an intentional bit of AJ grammar?



The "ponies needing things" part seems like it should be separated slightly from the previous points. It refers to both "students asking for extensions" and "colleagues asking for help", it's not actually part of the list to which the first two belong. Does that make sense? Maybe a semi-colon rather than a regular colon between "help" and "ponies".



I love that Twilight had the mind to see some of these rules for what they were (silly), unlike her colleagues. But while I'm sure she's right that they had good reasons for some of them, it seems to me that Twilight would be the kind of pony who wouldn't just state that with a shrug, but would be very fascinated by it and try to figured out why. Maybe she does, but her letters don't make it clear.

For example, I like to think that Twilight would find Granny Smith's rituals surrounding zap apples very interesting and would like to investigate and learn more, unlike Granny Smith herself who just accepts them because they work. It's the same here.



Typo? "Heard" not "hear", or AJ accent?



Ah, a pet peeve of mine :P Applebloom is no "foal". I suppose given earlier discussions that I won't open up again, you or other readers may not find "filly" fitting here, but perhaps "young pony" is a good, neutral phrase instead.

Also, I'm not sure the comedic action of the show carries over so well to writing. I don't know if it's just me, but I find it hard to accept that she did all that in mere seconds (or was AJ and everyone else very far away?). That kind of thing works in the show because it's a cartoon, but I've always thought it feels off in writing.



Foals again. I think "fillies" works here, regardless of your particular view on the terms.



This is the point where it dawned on me that this was probably going to be an Applesparkle ship. Just a note.



This is quite ironic, but I found that rather sudden. I know that's probably intended to some degree (it certainly reminded me of myself when I was young and foolish and made me feel all awkward again :smalltongue:) but I think the problem is the same thing I've been known to do. A lot is left out, many letters aren't included and only towards the end we're given to understand that months passed where AJ had these feelings but didn't say anything... so towards the end we kinda get a feeling that a lot of time did pass and that it wasn't as sudden, but at this particular point in the story that's not clear so it feels very sudden. Maybe more than was intended, I don't know.



Swearing by "the Element of Honesty" sounds wrong here. Maybe "I swear by my Honesty"



I loved this part :smallbiggrin:



I can't help but think this could be better phrased, but I'm struggling to come up with an example. "Ze fires of passion, my friend, burn fiercer than any wood", "burn brighter",.... something



I noticed you switch between "Big McIntosh" and "Big MacIntosh" throughout. Tiny thing, just caught it by chance.



Should that be "stallions' " (plural of stallion, since I guess you're not speaking of one particular stallion here). In these cases it probably sounds better to say "along the backs of stallions" or something like that instead.



Loved the tale. Just found the passing away of the old mare a little too brief, maybe, or like it could use something. Like maybe she "exhaled one last breath as she lay down in the snow and closed her eyes, her spirit fading away into the sunlight" or something to that effect (that was quickly written, can probably be done way better). Describe it a little more, maybe. Not that her death needs a full paragraph or anything, just... a little more description.



Typo? "Versus" not "verses"



Typo. "back here" not "back her"



That was so sad. Probably the saddest part aside from the actual ending. Rarity's decision to stay with Spike was also really sad.

Anyway, I do wonder how she got that written and sent. Was it found on her body? Did she stop and sit down in the snow to write it before dying? Did she actually die (seems heavily implied, of course)?


Whew! Took a while to read and write this. Hope you can use some of it, even if a lot of it is really minor or vague.

This reminds me, I have another series to read! *Runs off to continue reading*

[Lix Lorn]

Gah.
I don't normally read fanfic, but the responses for this one is making me thing I should...
Also, Phoe+Rein is a thing? Huh. Awesome?

[TheAmishPirate]

We interrupt this deluge of fanfic reviews for SHEER GENTLEPONY-NESS:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-45HTW8Q7IH0/TxXn6u77WOI/AAAAAAAAbhs/dB3zmonb3nc/s1600/falconerpants.png

Back to you, ponythread!

[Thanqol]

First off, I want to thank everypony for taking the time. Twenty six pages of commentary, 7500 when copied through to a word document; really, thank you. I knew you guys would come through for me.

And above all, I'm glad what I wrote resonated. I think the successful communication of those emotions was one of the greatest challenges I've ever set myself as a writer, and success makes me happier than I can say.


I'm not going to megaquote the responses; I am reading every word of every one and taking them all the perspectives on board.

Just to clarify a repeatedly asked question about Rainbow Dash's story:

She survived, and I was planning to reference that and everything, I just derped out and forgot to include it. Similarly with the closure to the other ponies' stories. I blame Applejack.

EDIT: Oh, with Rarity's letters

In the original word doc forms they were meant to include strikeouts and so forth, but gDocs doesn't have that feature. Does anypony have an idea for how I'd go about communicating that?

Also, does anypony have any suggestions for a cover image?

[Soras Teva Gee]

Thanqol, I don't read fanfiction but I actually read yours completely and even enjoyed it though it did indulge in a lot of my least favorite fanfiction tropes like pairing up the cast the format of letters was great and kept me interested.

[TheAmishPirate]

Also, does anypony have any suggestions for a cover image?

Somepony here will have it, but the only one that comes to mind was the one where it started as a Twilight letter, but then went into scenes from all of Season 1. Maybe a cut down version of that could work, it was pretty big.

[Excession]

Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

Some comments:


Most of what I can comment on usefully is small stuff, spelling and typography mostly:


Inconsistent use of dashes (http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/dashes.asp). More em-dashes, less hyphen-minus for the final version would be good. Even where a hyphen is the right character, unicode has a separate character (U+2010) for it. That got a bit ranty, oops.
Applejack was looking out over the orchids? I think you meant orchards.
Applebloom's talent is carpentry (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/carpentry), not carpenting. I'm fairly sure that's not a word.
Arial sucks. Avoiding a rant, I'll just say I prefer to read other fonts, particular something with serifs for long stuff.


I have less to say about the second half, because once the pace picked up I got thoroughly lost in the story. It was awesome.

[Eakin]

Re: Yours Truly

Well, I'm happy you've completed this. I've been following along with the updates you've been posting and the twists and turns the story's been taking. I can't imagine how much more chaotic this was in your head. In the hands of a less talented author this could have easily spiraled out of control but you shaped it into something really enjoyable.

Now that the good stuff (and there's a LOT of good stuff) is out of the way, my specific critiques:
I'm not going to touch on the Rarity thing since you've already addressed it. I enjoyed the adventures of the world's most fabulous dungeon crawlers but found her ending to be unsatisfying. With all the business developments she's made and her adventuring friendship with new Canterlot friends, her suddenly deciding to abandon them and hibernate with Spike comes out of nowhere and seems like a complete 180 of where her character arc was going.

Like I said above this could have easily spiraled out of control, so I appreciate that you didn't try to shoehorn in all 15 character duos and their relationships. I do wish that Pinkie were in a little more of the story. I don't find it odd for her to become a pirate (well, not un-Pinkie like at least) but it was odd that she STAYED a pirate and had a long, successful career. I figured her next letter would have revealed that she'd spontaneously decided to be, I don't know, an astronaut or something.

Did you actually kill Dash in a blizzard? I thought you did but everyone else here seems to have gotten the opposite idea and that she made it. I'm going to join the chorus of those who demand closure, dammit.

The last letter from Applebloom to Twi: Applebloom sounds like she's still half AJ's age. If 50 years have gone by, they're both little old lady ponies of effectively the same age.

The scene with Derpy delivering the missing letter while Twi's writing to the Princess. It feels a little awkward in the way it handles actions that are happening in the middle of the letter being written. Have you tried it where Twi's writing to Celestia after she's recieved and read the letter instead?

The raising of the sun scene. Great scene, would work great in any other story or as the ending to this one. But you can't break the series-of-letters convention you have going and then go back to it like you do, it's far too jarring. Can you rework it as one of the characters recounting their witnessing of it? Maybe Celestia's new personal student writing to Twi?

Pinkie talks about the upcoming wedding and asks if she can do the catering or marry them as captain of the ship, right before the blizzard letters start. Somewhere between there and the big time skip you have to throw in a wedding invitation for Twi and AJ being sent out to the rest of the Mane 6, you simply must.

Last thing, but also the biggest: Twilight sounds like you. She sounds a LOT like you. When she gets going I stop hearing the pony from the show and hear the tone and ideas that you post here all the time. She's the only voice I'm not sure you've completely nailed down.

[otakuryoga]

So! I've been hearing about this show for a while... didn't watch it.

Finally, I have. What did I think of it?

...pretty darn good, actually. For one thing, it actually brings its messages across pretty well. Also... it's not so kiddy that a 20-year old guy can't enjoy it, and for a show targeted at small girls, that's impressive.

So, am I a brony? ...yes. I suppose so.


welcome...
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/337/a/6/lyra_____surprise____by_sirponylancelot-d4i1evk.gif


you will find we have a wide variety of topics flow through here... but we always find time to talk about the plot
http://th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2011/283/7/3/berry_punch_etiquette_by_mysticalpha-d4cdh8g.jpg

[SlyGuyMcFly]

We interrupt this deluge of fanfic reviews for SHEER GENTLEPONY-NESS:


I say! An outstanding portrait of the modern gentlecolt, and no mistake!

[Topaz]

EDIT: Oh, with Rarity's letters

In the original word doc forms they were meant to include strikeouts and so forth, but gDocs doesn't have that feature. Does anypony have an idea for how I'd go about communicating that?
My Google Docs let me do strikeout; Alt + Shift + 5 or in the Format Menu.

[Thanqol]

My Google Docs let me do strikeout; Alt + Shift + 5 or in the Format Menu.

Ah! Thank you! It didn't copy across from Word and I didn't see a button so I thought it wasn't present.


Somepony here will have it, but the only one that comes to mind was the one where it started as a Twilight letter, but then went into scenes from all of Season 1. Maybe a cut down version of that could work, it was pretty big.

A great idea.

[Gaelbert]

Thanqol: Keep in mind I neither read fanfictions nor do I review them. The only other fic I can think of offhand is Old Stories, which you wrote, so...
I wrote what I thought at the time. I'm not trying to give you technical advice, I'm telling you what a reader thought and felt while reading it. Hope that does something for you.
Applejack's accent: I have a hard with this. On the one hand, it's an integral part of her character. On the other, accents don't translate well onto paper. Despite this problem though, it seems like her accent slips in and out. I personally would lose the accent entirely, but at the very least keep it consistent.

"Sky's red and gold, with some big clouds like some clumsy painter spilled his ink all over his masterpiece."
This doesn't sound like the sort of metaphor Applejack would use. The phrasing sounds like her, but the art metaphor itself? She's a little too much of a materialist for something like that.

Fluttershy's first letter to Rainbow Dash:
Fluttershy sounds broken. Completely and irrevocably destroyed. I assume this was the goal. I don't know if I think Fluttershy would say that "[Dash] is the one I don't want to lose through all this." She might think that, but to write it to a friend? I don't know. And the last two sentences of the letter, while being classic Fluttershy, don't fit here either. She's broken, she's changed, she's expressing her innermost feelings. If she's changed enough to single out Dash as the one friend she doesn't want to lose, then I don't think she'd put a qualification on that.

Rarity's letter to Fancy Pants:
You've managed to hit Rarity's speech right on so far, but one minor quibble. I can't see Rarity ever using the word "fangirlistic," even in some unfinished outline. The connotations just don't fit for me. The next few letters between Fancy Pants are Rarity were perfect, especially the last one from Rarity.

Applejack's next letter to Twilight:
And now Applejack is starting to sound broken too. That last paragraph is something I've never heard from Applejack, nor is it something I've expected. But that's probably what you were trying to do. I have a hard time imagining her saying something like that without mentioning her family at all. Also, wasn't Applejack saying earlier how Fluttershy doesn't have Rainbow Dash, because Dash left? I feel like she would make at least some attempt to spend time with Fluttershy, even if she was immediately rebuffed.

Lemonjack... I don't know if I'd use that name. Applejack works because there's an apple product called Applejack. Lemonjack sounds like a lemon scented cleaning solution.
Also I'm not completely sure, but I've heard the term lemonjack used for some... rather strange sexual practices.

Rarity: I was okay with the change in tone, right up until she wrote the note to Spike. That's what a collection of letters is, conversations from many different people, some happy, some sad. It makes sense. But... I don't at all see where the relationship between Rarity and Spike is coming from. Maybe it's just our different interpretations of the show, but I've never seen Rarity recipricate feelings towards Spike, and certainly not enough to put herself to sleep for however many years that it.

Twilight's Letter to Pinkie:
Oh. Now I think I see the point of that art metaphor earlier.

"kids making out behind the chemistry shed"
That threw me out of the story, big time. Every part of it, kid, making out, and chemistry shed. None of them feel like they fit.

The ending is perfect. For me, it ended on a high note. A happy ending, if you will. I worry much about death, and I'm prepared to meet it when the time comes. Celestia's last letter is perfectly on tone. I don't know if other people would have the same read on the ending, and I'm not trying to suggest this will be the way most people feel. But it's how I do, and that's what I can tell you.

I can also tell you that when I completed it, I felt as if I read something important. Similar to what happened when I finished Old Stories, but stronger. There's a real message, multiple messages, depth, themes, many, many important things hidden behind the superficial pastel pony exterior. This review has been critical, and I still stand by my criticisms. But in the larger picture, all those things I mentioned matter not. You gave us a story with a lasting impact, and that's more than any fanfiction I've ever read has done. It's more than most books I've read have given me, so thank you.

[Lanaya]

Just wanted to announce to the world at large that my next character is going to be a cleric.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h145/squeekenator1337/untitled-5.jpg

[Eakin]

Just wanted to announce to the world at large that my next character is going to be a cleric.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h145/squeekenator1337/untitled-5.jpg

Well no wonder everyone on the show is so intimidated by her all the time.

Also, welcome to the forum.

EDIT: You know, that ability is basically a toned down D&D version of The Stare. And Fluttershy IS pretty cleric-like once you get past the affinity for animals.

[Strife Warzeal]

Just wanted to announce to the world at large that my next character is going to be a cleric.

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h145/squeekenator1337/untitled-5.jpg

Is the domain itself any good? Like having a good spell list, or is it more meant purely off the name Celestia? Do you plan to make a (secretly) pony character? Similar to the Elf!Twilight somebrony here made.

[Pokonic]

Well no wonder everyone on the show is so intimidated by her all the time.

Also, welcome to the forum.

The Sense Motive part of that domain just seals the deal, realy.

[SiuiS]

Thanks for the tip, I'll try the brush and alcohol. I'm not sure about the reflections either, but maybe I'll experiment a little.

Caution!

From memory, colored (fimo, modeling, etc.) clay doesn't operate like the like the stuff Kyouhen uses for his sculptures. And it doesn't do well when wetted. It becomes slimy, and can run. Theoretically, alcohol and a brush would be small enough in fluid dosage to not cause a mess, but it's gotta be done carefully.


Just skimming this and certainly haven't been following, but you seem to be over complicating things. Speaking from a physics perspective there is no such thing as a passive force. When a human fires a firearm with a properly braced position they aren't really nullifying the recoil by exerting force, they are absorbing it with a lot of mass and some friction with the ground so the energy just isn't enough to move them very much. Very much being the key there is movement.

Anything with telekinesis is very different, since TK is just a magical exertion of force in vectors. So you have an up vector holding the gun against gravity downward force, two opposing but unequal vectors to fire the trigger. When fired the gun would push back opposite the bullets path with equal energy. So TK would at that moment or immediately after have to push the gun along the path of the bullet to null out the recoil, through likely the same vector they use to over-compensate the force on the trigger. Given the small time scale it would presumably be right after firing to quickly reposition the gun for the next shot.

That was sort of the point, though. Without exerting ANY force, an object with mass will be able to control a firearm because mass is a sink in the equation; the energy has to overcome the inertia of the arm, and that inertia is what we mean by passive resistance. TK does not have that.


Jalyrkieon:


This is going into a quote post. But I initially considered a handle space in the back but thought it was too much concession to limbs that aren't there.

Also, my bad. I thought each Jalyrkeion limb was equivalent to an infantryman, not an infantryman's arm. And I tried very hard not to reference the boomshield from Gears of War :smallredface:
It's a cool concept, its just not applicable to actual warfare.


So! I've been hearing about this show for a while... didn't watch it.

Finally, I have. What did I think of it?

...pretty darn good, actually. For one thing, it actually brings its messages across pretty well. Also... it's not so kiddy that a 20-year old guy can't enjoy it, and for a show targeted at small girls, that's impressive.

So, am I a brony? ...yes. I suppose so.

Well hello new friend!
This one here is for you.

Go ahead! Open it. You've got time :smallsmile:

http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/06c7d0d2105a1314ea928cadd5a55a09/7961%20-%20animated%20jumping%20scootaloo.gif
http://desmond.imageshack.us/Himg143/scaled.php?server=143&filename=130690582868.jpg&xsize=640&ysize=480
http://arch.413chan.net/1288640640381.png
http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb426/AwesomeHolzy/Welcome-to-the-Herd.gif
http://www.majhost.com/gallery/LordRyu/bronies/index.php.jpg
http://ponibooru.413chan.net/_images/0da1a106ff7923e0fb2630d06310c636/12549%20-%20macro%20scootaloo.jpg

-

Thanqol

I'm sorry. I've had a couple false starts, but... I can't push you to the head of the queue. I can't. One of the principles that makes us all friends here is that no one of us has "seniority".

So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go read New Perspectives. Then I'm going to read Mare in the mirror. Then I'm going to read those three stories by I believe Legomaster. Then I'm going to read this. And I'm going to start it now. So if you see me in between, and I'm not Just taking a dip to recharge my batteries, I want you to ream me.

Sorry, Thanqol, but I couldn't look at myself in the mirror otherwise.

[Thanqol]

Thanqol

I'm sorry. I've had a couple false starts, but... I can't push you to the head of the queue. I can't. One of the principles that makes us all friends here is that no one of us has "seniority".

So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go read New Perspectives. Then I'm going to read Mare in the mirror. Then I'm going to read those three stories by I believe Legomaster. Then I'm going to read this. And I'm going to start it now. So if you see me in between, and I'm not Just taking a dip to recharge my batteries, I want you to ream me.

Sorry, Thanqol, but I couldn't look at myself in the mirror otherwise.

So there's only, what... 70-80 thousand words between you and your next post? :smallwink:

[otakuryoga]

So there's only, what... 70-80 thousand words between you and your next post? :smallwink:

o gawds...it almost sounds like you are challenging him to make his next post 70,000 words

[Thanqol]

o gawds...it almost sounds like you are challenging him to make his next post 70,000 words

That depends on how long he spends reading and then spends on his catchup omniquote.

[TheAmishPirate]

That depends on how long he spends reading and then spends on his catchup omniquote.

Siuis => Limit Break: Omniquote :smallbiggrin:

[PhantomFox]

So.... the description for the Valentines Day episode has been posted...
Episode: Hearts and Hooves Day
Summary: The Cutie Mark Crusaders make Miss Cheerilee and Big Macintosh fall in Love.
Air Date: February 11, 2011

*takes cover*

[Soras Teva Gee]

That was sort of the point, though. Without exerting ANY force, an object with mass will be able to control a firearm because mass is a sink in the equation; the energy has to overcome the inertia of the arm, and that inertia is what we mean by passive resistance. TK does not have that.

Well to actually fire a gun with telekinesis implies the use of multiple opposing unequal vectors of force. You couldn't fire the trigger (or at least would have difficulty) because if you push on a gun say free floating in space with only one vector of force you would exert force on the trigger... and move the entire gun without pushing back the trigger. A gun held by TK against gravity would be much the same, so without some source of resistance to motion you can't fire it.

Most depicted telekinesis does allow fine manipulation though, if only because lazy writers don't think the matter out though. And if you can make the countering forces to fire it you should presumably be able to make them to deal with recoil.

[Dirtbag]

So! I've been hearing about this show for a while... didn't watch it.

Finally, I have. What did I think of it?

...pretty darn good, actually. For one thing, it actually brings its messages across pretty well. Also... it's not so kiddy that a 20-year old guy can't enjoy it, and for a show targeted at small girls, that's impressive.

So, am I a brony? ...yes. I suppose so.

Hi thar! *Waves!*

Welcome to the Ponythread!

I hope to see you here more often, and if you'd like, come join us in the IRC (http://cbe005.chat.mibbit.com/?channel=%23ponythread&server=irc.sorcery.net) for silliness and cake! :D:D:D:D

[Eakin]

So.... the description for the Valentines Day episode has been posted...
Episode: Hearts and Hooves Day
Summary: The Cutie Mark Crusaders make Miss Cheerilee and Big Macintosh fall in Love.
Air Date: February 11, 2011

*takes cover*

Please oh please oh PLEASE say this means a flashback scene to 80s Cheerilee.

Great to see the secondary cast share the spotlight but when are we getting a Fluttershy episode?

[Kindablue]

Thanqol:
Gotta disagree with the people saying Applejack's accent came across too strong in her letters. That was perfect, as far as I'm concerned. Took half a dozen English teachers to train me against transcribing the way I talk while writing formal essays, and it was pretty much exactly like that. One part where I would suggest against using it is when Twilight was dictating to Pinkie what Applejack said when she showed up at Hoofington, as it almost seems like she's mocking her. And even if she's not, it's very odd that she would write it out like that.

----

In the letter in which Twilight describes the tree:

There's a faint blue discolouration on the leaves, which also got a strange, sharp smell to it.
That broke character for me. I'd go with, "which also has a strange..." or "which has also got a strange..."

----

Dancing the Tangential Tango:
Most partner dances have leader and follower roles based on the dancers' genders, the tango being one of the more well known examples. There is a very new movement in tango dancing to get away from that, though, spearheaded by the LGBT community (for obvious reasons), which inverts the gender roles with same or opposite sex partners. A woman leading a man, a man following another man, etc, etc. I guess that would be traditional tango in Equestria, though.

----

I'd use 'single line' quotation marks for the quotes within Granny Smith's story, not "double line."

----

Using mana to create food struck me as kind of funny considering it's original meaning...

----

Out of curiosity, was Rainbow Dash's letter during the blizzard an intentional echo of Pancho Villa's supposed dying words? "Don't let it end like this... Tell them I said something."

----

Overall, beautifully written piece. I loved the imagery and all of the characters had well defined and strong voices. I haven't read all of your stories, and I'm looking forward to correcting that soon.

[horngeek]

welcome...
http://sirponylancelot.deviantart.com/art/Lyra-Surprise-272163728?q=favby%3Afluttershyworshipper%2F4621281 7&qo=56


you will find we have a wide variety of topics flow through here... but we always find time to talk about the plot
http://mysticalpha.deviantart.com/art/Berry-Punch-Etiquette-262648960?q=favby%3Afluttershyworshipper%2F4621281 7&qo=169

<.<
>.>

I can't see either picture...

[Mando Knight]

EDIT: You know, that ability is basically a toned down D&D version of The Stare. And Fluttershy IS pretty cleric-like once you get past the affinity for animals.
Which means she's a druid.

[Thanqol]

Out of curiosity, was Rainbow Dash's letter during the blizzard an intentional echo of Pancho Villa's supposed dying words? "Don't let it end like this... Tell them I said something."

No, but I do love accidentally making cultural references and then pretending I totally meant to do that.

I just did an iteration of the story with the language unaccented. I'm going to look at it for a few days to see which version I prefer, thanks for the perspective on that.

[Dexam]

Synopsis on the Valentines episode (http://www.equestriadaily.com/2012/01/episode-update-hearts-and-hooves-day.html)
And I bet the lesson will be that you can't make somepony fall in love.


...

http://mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/11_medium.jpg

Seriously, the synopsis alone already has me giddy with glee! I really, really hope this episode lives up to my expectations, because it has so much potential for awesomeness and hilarity. The way that Season 2 has progressed so far, I'm expecting that it will meet those expectations. Kudos to the writers and MLP:FiM staff that I'm positively looking forward to a CMC-centric episode!



Attention Everypony

The First Draft of Yours Truly (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Lu-4MmJbfFK4nSPvCQj7paxx_bXKhzvL-h4bp6p0SrY/edit?hl=en_US) is Complete!

And I'd like to make a request.

This story is important to me. I've carried it in my heart and mind for almost an entire year, and it addresses a lot of concepts that run deep in me. As such, I want above all to make sure that it lives up to what I think it should be. I want this to be one of the best things I've ever written, and I can't do that on my own.

If you owe me any debts of any kind, I'm calling them in. If I've ever made you laugh, or inspired you, or reviewed something of yours, or given advice, or in any way brightened your day with my words, or even if you think I'm an okay bloke and want to help me out in my time of need, please give me feedback on this story. I want this to be all it can be before I hand it in to the public, and I'm prepared to spend as long as it takes in edits and rewrites to make it as close to perfect as I can manage.

Rarity's adventure is a known issue in terms of tonal disruption; don't linger overmuch on that. Do let me know if you'd prefer it better foreshadowed beforehand or cut all together or anything else.


One more time, I'd like to say please help me with this. I know firsthand that it's super easy to pass over fanfictions in the mess of this thread, but please don't pass over this one.

Thank you.

Thanqol, I will read and review this eventually. Unfortunately, GoogleDocs is blocked at work, otherwise I'd read and review in my lunch break. It will have to wait until I have the time and energy at home (much like the second drafting of the first part and the second chapter of my own little project)
http://i.imgur.com/4sZHM.png


I made this and am entirely too happy with it, so I'm putting it here. http://i.imgur.com/jaolo.jpg

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/017/0/3/day_4___the_cake_is_a_pie_by_bgkyouhen-d4moe25.png


This a good, neigh, great thing, and you should be proud of it! :smallbiggrin:

Also, Pinkie Pie as a parent? Equestria is not ready! :smalleek:

[erikun]

<.<
>.>

I can't see either picture...
That's because some silly pony used the webpage URLs instead of the ones for the images. Here is what you are looking for.

Welcome:
http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2011/337/a/6/lyra_____surprise____by_sirponylancelot-d4i1evk.gif (http://sirponylancelot.deviantart.com/art/Lyra-Surprise-272163728)

And the plot:
http://th04.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2011/283/7/3/berry_punch_etiquette_by_mysticalpha-d4cdh8g.jpg (http://mysticalpha.deviantart.com/art/Berry-Punch-Etiquette-262648960)

[BlasTech]

No, but I do love accidentally making cultural references and then pretending I totally meant to do that.

I just did an iteration of the story with the language unaccented. I'm going to look at it for a few days to see which version I prefer, thanks for the perspective on that.

I have a feeling that any edition of that story that has unaccented AJ writing just won't sound like her in my head. :smalltongue:

[otakuryoga]

<.<
>.>

I can't see either picture...

fixed...i gotta quit trying to post pic links from work..it just wont let me