My Little Pony XIX: I Emptied Your Thread

[Gamerlord]

Now I have to goooo! *dashes off to internship interview*

Good luck!

[TheAmishPirate]

Now I have to goooo! *dashes off to internship interview*

Good luck! I'll be praying that all goes well!

Phew, lots of good discussion up in this thread. Topical replies ahoy! (That's code for "super-late replies, ahoy!")

@Split-mental-me's: I hadn't given this much thought before, but as soon as Thanqol brought it up, I could see the splits in my own mind as clear as day. There's one me who's a cunning manipulator, completely logical and without feelings of any kind. There's another me who tries his hardest to make sure everypony else is happy, is excellent at reading people, and gives little thought to his own needs (often to his own detriment). And then there's one me who's a completely irreverent goofball who never takes anything seriously.

Conclusion: Thanqol, get your crazy Australian mind-magics out of my head. It's bad enough when I've only got one me to argue with, now I've got to deal with these bickering hoodlums.

@Dreams: Probably the weirdest thing with me and dreams is that sometimes, I dream of the future. A week ago, when we did the thread sprint, I remember looking at the top of one of the pages, and distinctly remember dreaming about looking at that exact page, even down to what was on my desk at the time. The downside? I only seem to be able to nab completely pointless moments. I feel like the Heart guy from Captain Planet, only I think he could whup me but good.

...I think I need to go eat several gallons of ice cream for...self-esteem repair.

[Thanqol]

Jayden: Good luck, Esper!

@Split-mental-me's: I hadn't given this much thought before, but as soon as Thanqol brought it up, I could see the splits in my own mind as clear as day. There's one me who's a cunning manipulator, completely logical and without feelings of any kind. There's another me who tries his hardest to make sure everypony else is happy, is excellent at reading people, and gives little thought to his own needs (often to his own detriment). And then there's one me who's a completely irreverent goofball who never takes anything seriously.

Conclusion: Thanqol, get your crazy Australian mind-magics out of my head. It's bad enough when I've only got one me to argue with, now I've got to deal with these bickering hoodlums.

Jayden: I've lost track of how many people I drove insane today! It's been a good day
Charger: The entire party almost died to brain parasites, and also, the entire planet.
Jayden: Yeah, but I got to throw a grenade.
Mask: Long story involving Jayden's tabletop. We're glad that you see the lines in your own mind. Complete self knowledge is a goal worth striving for, and personalising the worst parts of yourself can make them the best parts.

@Dreams: Probably the weirdest thing with me and dreams is that sometimes, I dream of the future. A week ago, when we did the thread sprint, I remember looking at the top of one of the pages, and distinctly remember dreaming about looking at that exact page, even down to what was on my desk at the time. The downside? I only seem to be able to nab completely pointless moments. I feel like the Heart guy from Captain Planet, only I think he could whup me but good.

...I think I need to go eat several gallons of ice cream for...self-esteem repair.

Jayden: That is not the most useless super power I've heard today.
Mask: Yeah, but you've been reading this thread.
Jayden: And I've never laughed so hard.

[Aotrs Commander]

Fine. Make it an Annihilator instead of a Rust Monster.

After looking that up, I conclude that a) any creature in command of that (it itself appears to be mindless) probably has more important things to worry about aside from a standard issue Aotrs searing shortsword and b) such me my using the communication in my helmet to go "you may fire at will commander" and being messily frozenated, explodinated, sliced-in-half-by-energy-beam-inated, plasma-pulseinated and cored-by-railgun-inated from the orbiting Aotrs fleet.

Assuming any ground forces don't can-opener it with their own railguns and energy weapons. (And, for reference, I am exactly one spell away from being able to summon reinforcements by opening a Gate...) Especially considering it's only defense of note is a high AC, and it's touch AC is dire. And that I can nearly outrun it, let alone any other vehicle (at a 40' speed, it can make, what, under twenty miles an hour, in a straight line on flat ground?) One Hammer of Hatred or Storm Cleaver should do it, staying safely out of range and pummelling it with railguns or coldbeams until it finally falls over.

Threat to adventurers? Considerable.¹Threat to a modern Aotrs army? Negliable.



¹If not for the high AC and stamp reflex save, though, my level 22 party could probably take it, especially if they had some warning.

Actually, I'm pretty sure they could, because they can mostly fly, so the wizard and/or cleric could float out of breath range (because those ballistas? Please. I've had NPC kobold archers who deal more damage than that) and start putting holes in the upper hull with stuff like Orb of Force. It might take them frellin' ages, but I reckon they could do it. This, of course, leaves aside the obvious solution of them simply teleporting into knobble the command crew!)

[MCerberus]

DA feed commands me to present this to ponythread:

Spoiler

Show

[TheAmishPirate]

Jayden: I've lost track of how many people I drove insane today! It's been a good day
Charger: The entire party almost died to brain parasites, and also, the entire planet.
Jayden: Yeah, but I got to throw a grenade.

Oooh, "how I almost ended the world" stories. At the risk of derailing a thread that hasn't seen rails in months, may I ask for details? I'd be willing to trade the story of how my party ended about 90% of the world's military with a Spellcraft check.

Mask: Long story involving Jayden's tabletop. We're glad that you see the lines in your own mind. Complete self knowledge is a goal worth striving for, and personalising the worst parts of yourself can make them the best parts.

At this point, I don't think it's a process I can stop. Every time I think of a new or unresolved bit of me, one of them throws up a hand and says, "Ooh! That's me!". They've only been puttering around for a few hours now, and they've already got signature outfits, and their voices are getting distinct. And the one I'm calling "The Counselor" sounds like Fluttershy. Further hilarity: I've realized the logical one handles the Int, the compassionate one handles the Wis, and the nutjob handles the Cha. Somehow, it works beautifully.

I continue cursing what mad Austrailum sorcery spawned this madness.

[Nomar]

Now I have to goooo! *dashes off to internship interview*

I first read that as *dashes off to friendship interview*.

Confound these ponies, they rot my brain!

[Gamerlord]

I first read that as *dashes off to friendship interview*.

Confound these ponies, they rot my brain!

Same here.

[Dexam]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

[Gamerlord]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congratulations!

[Thanqol]

Oooh, "how I almost ended the world" stories. At the risk of derailing a thread that hasn't seen rails in months, may I ask for details? I'd be willing to trade the story of how my party ended about 90% of the world's military with a Spellcraft check.

Mask: Here's the long version.

Spoiler

Show

Mask: First thing you've got to understand about this story is that Jayden's origin was as a character for a game of Mage: The Awakening. It's a beautiful game, can't recommend it highly enough even if the core book is a mess. Anyway, the core theme of Mage is Hubris, and the central struggle is the internal one to find true wisdom. Enter Jayden, a Catholic Schoolgirl who, in her first encounter with Rock and Roll suddenly Awoke to magic. Her life spiralled briefly out of control into realms of "I'm a Wizard, so I'm invincible!"

And then, as Mage goes, she screwed up and one of her spells went horrifyingly wrong. It called down something Wrong; a pattern, a message, a beat. The sound of gigantic wings beating. A twisted angel that existed as an idea. The more you listened to that sound, the more you looked at the shapes it made, the more your brain failed to comprehend it and, as a reaction, started to transform into something that could understand it. Memetic infection. The transfer of an idea, which spread like a virus.

When Jayden got infected with this Pattern, she tried to study it. She wanted to figure out what it was, first believing that it was an Angel, and then believing that understanding it was necessary to stop it. The more she researched the more corrupt her mind became until it began to manifest physically in the form of unnatural brain parasites. It destroyed her language centres, making it so the only sound she was able to make, the only language she was able to talk in, was the sound of enormous wings beating. Anyone who heard it would be infected. Computers that stored it would be infected. It would spread until it was all that anyone ever heard.

And what was worst was that it was the perfect manifestation of what Jayden thought the world should be; a self-replicating technological and mental singularity. The music that could change the world. But it was wrong. Fundamentally wrong.

Her entire cabal was infected as well, and they quarantined themselves in their sanctum and panicked while they tried to figure out how to deal with it. Eventually they decided to take the equivalent of a magical shotgun to Jayden's head and pump her full of mana until it stopped being a problem. They got lucky; she lived, it died, that should have been the end of it.

But nothing ever dies.

A few sessions ago, while Jayden was doing some risky research, she found that the pattern had survived and had infected one of her computers. Having somewhat learned her lesson her reaction was to pull out a pipe bomb, pull the chord, and then dive dramatically out the window while deleting all of her memories of doing so. A proportionate response. When one of her friends walked into the blown room, they looked at the scorch marks and saw the pattern of wings, and were immediately infected. We locked them in a metal room and sent in our telepath to try and deal with the problem. He botched his mind shield and also got infected. They had to attempt a risky 7 hour ritual to try and erase the memory of that sound from their minds.

The thing about this story is that a single email, a single phone call, a single passerby seeing or hearing any part of it and it would have been out. It would have spread across the entire world like a virus. There was no one they could call for help, there was nothing they could do to research it. They had to pick options at random to remove and delete the idea, with no idea as to the effectiveness. And there's nothing quite as difficult to destroy as an idea.

The ritual succeeded. Barely. We had to paint over the scorched room while blindfolded and earplugged. And Jayden learned that Nothing Ever Dies. The good and the bad. The things we do will last forever.

Jayden: Yeah, yeah, enlightenment and character development. I got to use a grenade. Admittedly I was sliiightly caught in the blast radius and all I got to blow up were my own computers, but I was totally vindicated in carrying that thing around for all that time.

At this point, I don't think it's a process I can stop. Every time I think of a new or unresolved bit of me, one of them throws up a hand and says, "Ooh! That's me!". They've only been puttering around for a few hours now, and they've already got signature outfits, and their voices are getting distinct. And the one I'm calling "The Counselor" sounds like Fluttershy. Further hilarity: I've realized the logical one handles the Int, the compassionate one handles the Wis, and the nutjob handles the Cha. Somehow, it works beautifully.

I continue cursing what mad Austrailum sorcery spawned this madness.

Mask: As we've established, nothing's quite as impossible to stop as an idea!

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Jayden: Congratulations. May he never forget how amazing he is.

[Kindablue]

Congratulations, Dexam!

[Grif]

Now I have to goooo! *dashes off to internship interview*

Good luck mate. May Celestia grant you her blessings.

Good luck! I'll be praying that all goes well!

Phew, lots of good discussion up in this thread. Topical replies ahoy! (That's code for "super-late replies, ahoy!")

@Split-mental-me's: I hadn't given this much thought before, but as soon as Thanqol brought it up, I could see the splits in my own mind as clear as day. There's one me who's a cunning manipulator, completely logical and without feelings of any kind. There's another me who tries his hardest to make sure everypony else is happy, is excellent at reading people, and gives little thought to his own needs (often to his own detriment). And then there's one me who's a completely irreverent goofball who never takes anything seriously.

Conclusion: Thanqol, get your crazy Australian mind-magics out of my head. It's bad enough when I've only got one me to argue with, now I've got to deal with these bickering hoodlums.

Now that you mention it, there are a few indistinct personality I juggle around. Not full-fledged personalities, mind, but they are there. !Lyra is probably the only one that jumped out and graduated to full sentience though, representing the rather obsessive part of me. I tend to not let go of a project until I get bored or the thing dies off on it's own.

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congratulations mate.

[MCerberus]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congrats, teach the little one the ways of love and tolerance!

[Lix Lorn]

Two - which part of Epic-level Lich have you been you missing?

I'm suddenly curious. Why is it that you keep trying to make me stop using words and sneaky plots rather than overwhelming firepower?

I beg to disagree. You can't corrupt Insanity.

So, Lyra here volunteers. Isn't it right Lyra?

Go find yourself another scapegoat. This job ain't worth being jumped on by a goddess.

Sure you can. It becomes sanity, ponysanity, unsanity...

[MCerberus]

Sure you can. It becomes sanity, ponysanity, unsanity...

And anything after that becomes a portal for the Pink One to enter our sphere! DO IT DO IT DO IT

[tonberrian]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congratulations!

[the_druid_droid]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

This is awesome news! Congratulations!

Also, I highly approve your choice of image to convey the news *brohoof*

[Orzel]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congratulations on your incoming brony suckling

---
Yesterday my cousin told me that Boast Busters could be done as a wrestling house show. But as I think about it, that would be too many matches and too much drama for one show.

Twilight "The Wiz" Sparkle vs Ursa Minor for the Equestria Championship Belt Saddle TONIGHT!


Tempted to fic.

[darthbobcat]

This is awesome news! Congratulations!

Also, I highly approve your choice of image to convey the news *brohoof*

And that's how Trixie was made.

[MCerberus]

Elemental week avatar. Mouser is on fire.

[Gamerlord]

Elemental week avatar. Mouser is on fire.

CHEMICAL REACTION!
Sorry, had to say it.

[Deadly]

Some Derpyshy art related to a story I'm working on. Thought I'd share it here, 'cause I'm pretty happy with it.

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congrats!

[TheAmishPirate]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

There are not enough of these faces to communicate the congratulations. I donate one to the cause anyway:

Mask: Here's the long version.

Spoiler

Show

Mask: First thing you've got to understand about this story is that Jayden's origin was as a character for a game of Mage: The Awakening. It's a beautiful game, can't recommend it highly enough even if the core book is a mess. Anyway, the core theme of Mage is Hubris, and the central struggle is the internal one to find true wisdom. Enter Jayden, a Catholic Schoolgirl who, in her first encounter with Rock and Roll suddenly Awoke to magic. Her life spiralled briefly out of control into realms of "I'm a Wizard, so I'm invincible!"

And then, as Mage goes, she screwed up and one of her spells went horrifyingly wrong. It called down something Wrong; a pattern, a message, a beat. The sound of gigantic wings beating. A twisted angel that existed as an idea. The more you listened to that sound, the more you looked at the shapes it made, the more your brain failed to comprehend it and, as a reaction, started to transform into something that could understand it. Memetic infection. The transfer of an idea, which spread like a virus.

When Jayden got infected with this Pattern, she tried to study it. She wanted to figure out what it was, first believing that it was an Angel, and then believing that understanding it was necessary to stop it. The more she researched the more corrupt her mind became until it began to manifest physically in the form of unnatural brain parasites. It destroyed her language centres, making it so the only sound she was able to make, the only language she was able to talk in, was the sound of enormous wings beating. Anyone who heard it would be infected. Computers that stored it would be infected. It would spread until it was all that anyone ever heard.

And what was worst was that it was the perfect manifestation of what Jayden thought the world should be; a self-replicating technological and mental singularity. The music that could change the world. But it was wrong. Fundamentally wrong.

Her entire cabal was infected as well, and they quarantined themselves in their sanctum and panicked while they tried to figure out how to deal with it. Eventually they decided to take the equivalent of a magical shotgun to Jayden's head and pump her full of mana until it stopped being a problem. They got lucky; she lived, it died, that should have been the end of it.

But nothing ever dies.

A few sessions ago, while Jayden was doing some risky research, she found that the pattern had survived and had infected one of her computers. Having somewhat learned her lesson her reaction was to pull out a pipe bomb, pull the chord, and then dive dramatically out the window while deleting all of her memories of doing so. A proportionate response. When one of her friends walked into the blown room, they looked at the scorch marks and saw the pattern of wings, and were immediately infected. We locked them in a metal room and sent in our telepath to try and deal with the problem. He botched his mind shield and also got infected. They had to attempt a risky 7 hour ritual to try and erase the memory of that sound from their minds.

The thing about this story is that a single email, a single phone call, a single passerby seeing or hearing any part of it and it would have been out. It would have spread across the entire world like a virus. There was no one they could call for help, there was nothing they could do to research it. They had to pick options at random to remove and delete the idea, with no idea as to the effectiveness. And there's nothing quite as difficult to destroy as an idea.

The ritual succeeded. Barely. We had to paint over the scorched room while blindfolded and earplugged. And Jayden learned that Nothing Ever Dies. The good and the bad. The things we do will last forever.

Jayden: Yeah, yeah, enlightenment and character development. I got to use a grenade. Admittedly I was sliiightly caught in the blast radius and all I got to blow up were my own computers, but I was totally vindicated in carrying that thing around for all that time.

With such a glowing recommendation and accompanying story, I think I'll have to give this system a proper look.

Anyway, promised story, the system is boring ol' D&D 3.5:

Spoiler

Show

How a Spellcraft Check Ended the World
-or-
Nat 1's Really, Really Stink

To make a short story of the entire campaign, one of our party members (Gnome Wizard) was a dormant version of a demigod created so said demigod could cure an Int-draining disease she had. Once she was cured, she split herself and our wizard into separate beings, and went on her merry way. Which, for her, was resuming a centuries-old battle with a demon, winner becomes a god and then their lieutenants shape the Material Plane in their image.

The solution was obvious: When the time for their duel came, perform the most gutsy killsteal in the history of the universe.

In preparation, the whole party quested and template'd and such so that we'd have a hope of doing damage to these monstrosities. Our wizard contacts another wizard (who turned out to be Raistlin from Dragonlance) for help. He agrees to set up a Soul Splice for her, spicing himself and several other powerful souls he had got his hands on. Of course, he signs a magically-binding contract saying he'll release the Splice when the battle is over.

(An aside: In this campaign, we rolled 3d20s instead of 1, and took the median result. This allowed for more average rolls, but Nat 1s and Nat 20s were especially harmful and helpful, as you had to roll more than one of them at a time.)

Here's where things start going wrong. She Nat 1's a check to see if the contract is magical or not, and she thinks it's the real deal. Of course, it's just a regular piece of paper, and he intends to gain control of her body and power after the battle.

Cut ahead to the duel: Both demon and demigod are giving their all, and neither seems to be gaining ground. The demigod took a nice hit, but started channeling a nasty spell that would even the field. One round into it, and our wizard decides to see what exactly she's casting, and how far away we should safely be. She rolls Spellcraft...

...and triple Nat 1's.

The DM is silent for a few minutes, and then tells us what happened:

At that moment, one of the souls under the Splice broke free. Angry at Raistlin for trapping him, he attacked and managed to kill him. All of a sudden, the extremely powerful wizard maintaining this extremely powerful effect is gone. The Splice breaks down catastrophically...causing the demigod to lose her spell as well. To show how strong this blast was: Our Rogue, who at this point had every form of Evasion and dodging and Reflex-boost in the system, nearly died from a successful save.

Now, far below us, all the forces of the world were battling; the demigod's armies against the demon's, and our own personal army doing mop-up work. In essence, the entirety of the world's military strength is on the field. And in one, disastrous explosion, 90% of the remaining combatants on the field are dead.

Because of a failed Spellcraft check.

Somehow, we managed to eke out a successful, happy ending, but our post-campaign epilogue included decade-long timeskips and several encounters with the god of Death to get our wizard back. Yes, we were Epic-level, why do you ask?

[Grif]

And that's how Trixie was made.

BTW DBC, FFF has gotten /fic/ seal of approval here it seems.



WHERE IS PART 6 BTW?

[Kris Strife]

Congrats Dexam, may your child drop many dissidents into the scorpion pit of happiness.

[Lix Lorn]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congrats!
Name them Twilight. :P
Okay don't do that.
Middle name?

[the_druid_droid]

And that's how Trixie was made.

Is this related to the earlier Trixie and Twilight as sisters thing?

[MCerberus]

CHEMICAL REACTION!
Sorry, had to say it.

V really needs a dictionary for alternate definitions. So does everyone in the comic.

L-E-V-E-L

[Vent Reynolt]

So... I don't normally discuss my personal life in the Ponythread (I barely have enough time to discuss ponies in the Ponythread, but that's another matter), but there is something I wanted to share with everypony.

At first, I didn't know how to say it.

Then I realised: "Say it with ponies"...

Spoiler

Show

Translation: My wife has a B.U.M.P.*

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Congratulations! This is excellent news!

Some Derpyshy art related to a story I'm working on. Thought I'd share it here, 'cause I'm pretty happy with it.

Awesome. I really like how perfectly it emulates the original style of the show.