My Little Pony XIX: I Emptied Your Thread

[Grif]

I...I don't get it. And that scares me, because this means this will be spectacularly bad when it finally clicks. Half from the bad pun, and half because I don't see it now. Eeep.

Caramel Pie?

[the_druid_droid]

And I want details on some of the other Equestrias.

If there is any justice in the multiverse, one of them is full of cheesy evil twins with facial hair...

Relevant comic is relevant (and slightly saucy):

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Possibly the most awkward Twixie ever. And yet I love this comic...

So run, while you can...
Unless you want to be happy? You will be oh so happy.
So happy when you are compleat.

Happiness is all we've ever wanted, I think.

[EsperDerek]

Are we going to have to have a Crisis to resolve this? I'll crisis infinitely if I have to!

Enh, I just had an identity crisis, and I think we want to avoid a crisis that could be final to the thread, so why don't we call both universes 'Equestra One' and call it good?

[SiuiS]

last post for a spell. Going to spend my evening focusing o. Text wall, texting Braz and maybe doodling.

-

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Zombies! Comes with a bunch of zombies, 2 dice, a stack of map cards, and a stack of card-cards. You start at town square, and are trying to get to the helipad.

Each turn, a player draws a map card. They place that card wherever feasible based on junctions (each card has 2, 3 or 4 open roads, or is a specific building), and you put one zombie on that card for each junction. Player 1 draws a 4-way intersection? Bam. 4 zombies. Player 2 draws another 4-way? 8 total zombies. Player 3 gets the hospital? That's 6 more for 14 zombies. In round 1.

After placing the map tile, you roll 2 dice; you get to move as many spaces as on one die, and move as many zombies as the other die says.

You also draw cards. Some are effects, like send target to town square, control their movement, move X zombies, etc. Some are equipment, like the firebomb (one use, destroys all zombies on a tile) or the fire axe (+1 attacks, until you die). These are picked up at the appropriate area (gas station and fire station respectively). Others are just mean. Fill every square on a tile with zombies. Double the number of zombies on a tile. Steal equipment and bullets from an "ally".

There are tiles all around, including health (hearts) hand size (guts), bullets for modifying combat rolls, and I think one other.

Later expansions added radioactive military zombies (twice as strong, move farther, harder to kill), zombie dogs (faster, weaker, and stackable 2 to a square) and necromantic rituals (whose effects I cannot recall).

It's a fun game, but a big game. Sprawling. We tend to use entire tables, and run out of space pretty fast...

If you all were to come here, and I could get to play boardgames with all the playgrounders and get to meet you all in person, I might, in fact, die with happiness.

So the obvious answer is to shanghai you for boardgames, and then not say anything about the Playground until a couple days later.

E: wait a minute! I've heard the name Sssnrubb before! Bobcat, you were at my house?

B: in my defense, they kidnapped me, too.

T: for litigation purposes, SiuiS is the one who decided on gun point. I wanted to gas you, Joker style.

S: Psh. Throw me under the bus a little harder, why dontcha?

Br: why is my bank account empty? SIUIS!

S: ... Gotta run. If she's posting this then that means she knows more than she's le

E: ... SiuiS? You think she killed him?

Iw: Dibs on his sketchbook! -(grins)-

Jayden: I would want to be in that theoretical game so bad.

Uh, yes. Hypothetical. *shifty eyes*

Jayden: Nothing ever dies
Charger: All right, off to work. I leave you with the worst pun.

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... I don't get it.

Karamel dansen? Maybe?

[darthbobcat]

Enh, I just had an identity crisis, and I think we want to avoid a crisis that could be final to the thread, so why don't we call both universes 'Equestra One' and call it good?

But there has to be a difference or else it'll get confusing.

How about I be Universe B, for Bobcat, you can be Universe A, and we'll just call Bubbles Universe 1? Fair compromise?

[TheAmishPirate]

... I don't get it.

Karamel dansen? Maybe?

Aaaaand there it is.

Ow. My pun organs. >.<

[tonberrian]

But there has to be a difference or else it'll get confusing.

How about I be Universe B, for Bobcat, you can be Universe A, and we'll just call Bubbles Universe 1? Fair compromise?

You guys.

I'm staking claim on Universe Alpha right now. Prime real estate, just spun off from Equestria Prime.

[the_druid_droid]

You guys.

I'm staking claim on Universe Alpha right now. Prime real estate, just spun off from Equestria Prime.

In that case, I'll call mine Equestria Double Prime. Ha.

[EsperDerek]

But there has to be a difference or else it'll get confusing.

How about I be Universe B, for Bobcat, you can be Universe A, and we'll just call Bubbles Universe 1? Fair compromise?

Fair compromise.

And for the record, I am *not* going to make a real chart of various Equestria fandom universes. Not without being bribed an *awful lot* again.

[tonberrian]

Fair compromise.

And for the record, I am *not* going to make a real chart of various Equestria fandom universes. Not without being bribed an *awful lot* again.

A pretty pony like Midnight would make a chart like that.

You are a pretty pony, aren't you?

Aren't you a pony, Midnight?

Aren't you pretty?

[Kairaven]

I think I would like to take up residence universe B, it's full of cute pets, cordial happy relationships, and exciting adventures.

Universe A is nice and charming but you run the risk of being gender-bended and plus you never know when that Midnight would invoke her latent powers and make the world silly.

[AlterForm]

In that case, I'll call mine Equestria Double Prime. Ha.

∫(Equestria)_dpony
I know someone else is up on their fancy mathematics enough to get how that's a proper response.

[tonberrian]

∫(Equestria)_dpony
I know someone else is up on their fancy mathematics enough to get that.

pony(Equestria) + C?

[EsperDerek]

Not relevant to the current conversation, but good lord, I just realized that we're on page 42 of this thread. Once we get through seven-plus-a-bit pages of this thread, we're going to be on thread twenty.

Twenty!

[Grif]

∫(Equestria)_dpony
I know someone else is up on their fancy mathematics enough to get that.

How do you even integrate...

*mind breaks*

Hey, Olympia, we need to glue this brain back again.
*grumble* Why does ponythread come up with the most mindbending things ever?

[Kyouhen]

-Lich vs Annihilator Stuff

*Googles 'D&D 3.5 Annihilator*
...The nine hells is that thing? That's some silly homebrew contraption! Nonono, I'm talking about the Annihilator that lives in the Underdark. It's the Rust Monster's big brother! Largely the same creature, but disintegrates instead of rusts. Also bigger and meaner, like everything else in the Underdark.

...Is the Underdark D&D's Australia?

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"...

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

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Say it with ponies? GOOD IDEA!

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I don't have any congratulations ponies, so have a pair of excited ponies instead.

To complete my bronyhood, I now have pony ringtones. My incoming call ringtone is The Parasprite Polka, text message is Fluttershy's Yay, and Voicemail notification is 'It needs to be about 20% cooler.'. I'm very happy. (Especially because I have a lame Samsung Intensity that doesn't use MP3s for ringtones -unless you buy them from Verizon-, so I had to use a website to send stuff to my phone via multimedia message..)

At least that works with your phone. I had to hack mine to get anything on it! And it still isn't quite working!

Then ponies in socks inside of socks worn by ponies!

Y'know what's awesome? Finding something then immediately finding a reason to use it.

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This reminds me, Bittersweet might be appropriate for what they want as well. Then again, I haven't read Cupcakes &co, so perhaps I'm off the mark.

Here is a short summary, if you want an idea of what it is like. (Assuming they are still here, of course.)

False! That is not a short summary of Bittersweet! You are misleading people into reading something sadder than that comic and you should totally stop that!
*Thinks Pinkie Pie is the best pony*

If you all were to come here, and I could get to play boardgames with all the playgrounders and get to meet you all in person, I might, in fact, die with happiness.

SiuiS, why are you trying to kill Esper? If you kill Esper we lose out on the Midnight madness!

[the_druid_droid]

∫(Equestria)_dpony
I know someone else is up on their fancy mathematics enough to get how that's a proper response.

And now I'm wondering what sort of measure 'pony' is...

[OrchestraHc]

Jayden: Nothing ever dies
Charger: All right, off to work. I leave you with the worst pun.

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I am really proud I got that so quickly.

[MCerberus]

If we have a multi-universe battle royal, can I be ponythread deadpool?
silly poster, that position's been filled.

Well at least I can watch zombie Equestria ponies fight the grimdark RP from the safety of an airship.


also, somepony brought up recursion

[Brazen Shield]

I... Just had a random thought, as I sit here drinking my milkwithtea and waiting for SiuiS to text me back:


When Twilight drank hotsauce, I wonder what she thought she picked up... I mean, it had to be heavier than what she thought it would be... Right?

[the_druid_droid]

So I was watching Fall Weather Friends again for some character insight for WTG stuff, and by looking at background ponies, I can say fairly confidently that we are in fact confirmed for Bon Bon triplets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVXNBLGJBCg

Check out the background and racer ponies from about 9:13 to 9:18 to see what I mean.

[erikun]

Not relevant to the current conversation, but good lord, I just realized that we're on page 42 of this thread. Once we get through seven-plus-a-bit pages of this thread, we're going to be on thread twenty.

Twenty!

That's as many as four fives.
And that's wonderful.

[Vent Reynolt]

I... Just had a random thought, as I sit here drinking my milkwithtea and waiting for SiuiS to text me back:


When Twilight drank hotsauce, I wonder what she thought she picked up... I mean, it had to be heavier than what she thought it would be... Right?

I'd imagine that she thought it was some sort of vegetable juice blend, like V8.

Of course, the real question is why in the world somepony would put the hot sauce with the drinks?

[Grif]

So I was watching Fall Weather Friends again for some character insight for WTG stuff, and by looking at background ponies, I can say fairly confidently that we are in fact confirmed for Bon Bon triplets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVXNBLGJBCg

Check out the background and racer ponies from about 9:13 to 9:18 to see what I mean.

The robot has just conclusively proved Equestria has in fact invented cloning before we did.

SiuiS' scenario suddenly makes a great deal of sense.

[the_druid_droid]

Oh, and I'm 1600 words into my WTG work and I've only just hinted at the conflict. This is supposed to be due tomorrow

[RdMarquis]

I'd imagine that she thought it was some sort of vegetable juice blend, like V8.

Of course, the real question is why in the world somepony would put the hot sauce with the drinks?

Pinkie Pie likes them on her cupcakes, so she brought it. She just left the bottle there. By the way, I'd like to try that one of these days. It sounds kind of good. Maybe with a milder sauce, though.

[EsperDerek]

It's past midnight, everypony, and I've had a *long* day. I'm ditching, you all have a good night from here. Tomorrow, I'm going to sit down, and try to figure out some way of configuring A Midnight Nightmare into googledoc format. (I haven't *quite* figured out the best way to separate the excerpts without making it too annoying for the reader.)

[the_druid_droid]

It's past midnight, everypony, and I've had a *long* day. I'm ditching, you all have a good night from here. Tomorrow, I'm going to sit down, and try to figure out some way of configuring A Midnight Nightmare into googledoc format. (I haven't *quite* figured out the best way to separate the excerpts without making it too annoying for the reader.)

Goodnight! I look forward to checking out the finished product

[SiuiS]

Well there's always Zoroark too. From BW. Illusion Fox pokemon.
Could that also work?
...
My posts are getting shorter and further between every day... x_x

A haha ha. Zorro is Spanish for fox, isn't it? I just caught that.

No, I leave the foxes to the foxes. I have much love for my vulpine kin, but whenever a tricksy trick fails, and the obfuscation falls away, I'm the guy who drags a hunter into the woods so the fox can get away. Let the Soft Serves and the Raz_Foxes be the tricksters. When they need someone who will be there, dependable, somewhat caustic but well intentioned, and hopefully too nice for them to dupe?
Thy'll know who to call.

As an aside, I've found the direct method to be terribly, utterly useful. All drama in life is avoided by direct confrontation. Everything out in the open. Potential fights are stopped by direct application of physical and mental force. Potential jobs are acquired by direct inquiry. So a creature who uses primarily distraction just doesn't jive with me.

Hay, all my current life problems are because I've gone slack on being direct. I've gotten soft :/

Here, have some pipecleaner ponies:

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I hadn't really given those a good look until you posted them. But wow- the detail on those is amazing! I can barely fathom how thy would be put together. I've ne'er had that much pipe cleaner in the same room with me before.

Another aside, I think I'm mixing up my hyphens and my semi colons as far as what sound they'd make in regular speech. I'll have to look into that, if any writers want to help me.

Huh, cool. *Never really knew any of that about dreaming. *I always assumed it was your subconscious throws a scenario at you, and then you play it out. *Kind of like a solo game of dnd.

well, maybe it is? Who is to say your consciously choosing to do something isn't part of the script? I used to have dreams where I'd walk my neighborhood at night. Occasionally, the clown from IT, Pennywise, would show up. One night I got tired of it, flew into the night sky, absorbed the moon and stars, and Kamehameha'd the he'll out of the city.
Was it me consciously deciding I had the power, so I'd do it? Yes. But I don't know if knowledge of being in a dream helped or not. I can only surmise it did, because I broke character and genre to so it.

Interesting, interesting, though I see a disturbing lack of Honchkrow there.

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Don't remember when this bad boy was introduced, but it is the evolved form of Murkrow. *Pretty solid attacks if I remember, though lacking in the speed, which you specifically requested there.

Eeeyup. if I recall, they added honchkrow a couple games later to make up for the fact that Dark type's poster monster sucked royally. He's number 400-something, while the original murkrow shows up in the 251 batch.

When dark and steel first made the scene, they had only a couple pokemon each. Steel got skarmory, Steelix and Scizor, Dark had houndour/Houndoom, Tyranitar, and Sneasel. I feel we got the good end of the stick; not only does steel require some complicated trade-while-holding-stuff evolution shenanigans, but Steelix's speed rates up there with continental drift. Normally slow is made up for by high defense and high HP (which Steelix rocks like he's in socks), but there is a limit. My max level Steelix, trained for speed since birth, allowed to only fight against pokemon that give speed EVs, should NOT go after the darn level 3 ratatta.

The Final Excerpt does explain your question:
*

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Remember, Midnight feels Nightmare welling up inside her, trying to speak, and when Nightmare does, it's through her mouth, using her body. Nightmare is a 'voice inside Midnight's head', the shoulder pony idea is just a visual metaphor for that idea.

Thank you so much for your compliments, though, they mean a lot that everypony has liked this so much.

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

I find it funny that in my timezone, you're checking the thread one more time before starting your day - at 4:23 am! You seem to defy timezone convention. You're a rebel.

@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.

The number of people who find this revelation surprising, surprises me. No one can show all of themselves at once. Of course there are a set of related traits which only come out under certain circumstances. That's what being a rounded individual is all about.

@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 hear this a lot. Most folks try to downplay it, even online/among friends, for fear of reprisal... But darn near everyone i've ever spoken to has had these moments.

There are times I wonder if I'm currently dreaming, because the sensation is so strong. Even worse, Deja vu of Deja vu; I'd swear I've told my Friends, at my front gate "wow, I feel like this has already happened" at least a dozen times. They deny it.

Just roll with it. Allow it to creep you out and you'll end up like your avatar o'er there. It could be thought patterns aligning and convincing you you've dreamt this, it could be actual precognitive dreams. Could be both. I have my opinion, but don't let that stop you; no matter what other folks say, you yourself know whether it's actually happening to you or not. Go with that.

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

Aww, don't be sad. You have friends! And ponies! And friends who are ponies (in spirit at least)!

DA feed commands me to present this to ponythread:

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Aww, cute

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"...

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

*= Brony Under Manufacturing Process

Nice acronym. Also, enjoy your free time while it lasts, mate. Cuz soon it's a goner.

Mask: Here's the long version.

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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.

I have to ask, who was Storyteller? And what would have happened had everyone failed?

I always hear these world domination plots, but they are always thwarted. Is the game master prepared to see it play out? Would the world fall to wrongness, and every proceeding game has to be done in a new world because of it?

I have this sick impulse to slog my way through 3/4ths of the plot, then switch sides just to see how far the story teller will take it. If I win, do I really get to command the world? Or is everything back to normal next game, like it was all a dream?

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

I'm surprised no one tried to convert or redirect the idea. All I requires is being stronger than the impulse. You can't stop the unstoppable force, but as part of it, with enough Will you can guide, direct, maybe even control it.

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

You'd make one hay of a god-parent. The other two not so much, but all that rocketed optimism has got to be good for rearin' a sprat.

CHEMICAL *REACTION!
Sorry, had to say it.

It's an elementary chemical reaction

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



WHERE IS PART 6 BTW?

YES, WHERE IS PART SIX BOBCAT. WE DEMAND PART SIX. THE PEOPLE WANT PART SIX!

Okay.
Right.
You know how you don't touch a wizard's hat, you don't call the librarian a non-ape primate, you don't call Chouji Akamichi or Obelix the Gaul fat, you don't touch Sten's sword, you don't steal Naruto Uzimaki's ramen, you don't diss Pinkie's parties and how you don't perform a mime in front of Lord Vetinari?

Good.

Then let me be explictly clear.



Nobody!*

Touches!*

The!*

Rocket!*

Launcher!!!!

*epic-death-void-frost-shadow-flame-hyper-rage-aura*

Gotta side with Bleakbane here. Dynasties have toppled for insulting the hat. And I'm a nice guy. Imagine what this bloke would do?

Considering how seasonal changes are such a big part of life in Equestria, I'd say that the calendar is more seasonal-based than anything. Maybe that translates to a variation of months, maybe it doesn't. As for years, I'd guess since the founding of Equestria. The whole NMM thing seems to have been kept under wraps, or at least isn't mentioned a whole lot. Basing the calendar years off of "Years since NMM was defeated" would kinda ruin that.

That's some dissonance there.
Solstices and equinoxes are caused by planet wobble. Since Equestria is stationary and the sun revolves around it, there is no wobble. But they still have solstices and equinoxes.

So either it's a natural part of the sun moving, which even Celestia can't control, or the calendar is whatever she wants it to be.

But the song starts with "six months of winter coolness" so I think Equestrian calendars only have Summer and Winter, starting at the appropriate equinox. And yes, we had fall weather friends, but that was a show title and never mentioned anywhere.

Oh! Except spring is now here... Hm. Maybe spring is an even and not a time span?

I'm going to assume it's partly my fault and say sorry. :(

Oh, hush you. I can assure you, about 2 days late, it has no possibility of bein your fault

Sneasel was my second favourite pokemon. After Espeon.
Plight the Sneasel and Ebony the Espeon DESTROYED collosseum for me ^^

Ah, yes. Haven't played one of those games since Stadium, but Black Fog the Haunter was all I needed. Can't even remember who his support was...

And Dark got some good critters. Despite all having high attack, and all their attacks using the (usually shoddy) special stat instead, they rocked. And thy were vicious! Especially beat up. Sneasel'd weakest move, but oh so satisfying

Or maybe it was murkrow who had beat up? I kept him for some reason...

But... how would that... xD

Well, I think a lot of pet shops breed their own animals (to a degree). He got confused as to how shipping worked, and mama cat met daddy spaceship in the back room.

The rest was anime history.

Never much liked Umbreon...
...
I hope that's not why my umbreon daughter went evil. ._.

Poor Umbreon. I loved you. Sure, you weren't that fast, or strong, but I always played at night and dang did that moonlight heal come in handy.
And how could you forsake an Umbreon? It became an Umbreon because it liked you. It absorbed the moonlit powers of darkness solely to please you, and yet it is now forlorn, tossed away?!
I say thee, neigh! Come Umbreon to play the Endymion to our trainer, forever longing, forever questing, to prove yourself worthy.

Also, I'd have to know more about the situation to say anything about the daughter going evil. Buuut, given the type and the move set, I think evil is, to a degree, mandatory for us.

...

Oh.

*rubs head**

For, uhm, what it's worth, I'm really sorry for being on the other end of that, I'm sorry for the role that I played in hurting you.

And you, too!
I'll have none of this guilt stuff. I alone am responsible for me, lads & lasses. I appreciate tryin' te shoulder me burden, but it's mine fer a reason.

... Why does tellin' ye te feel better bring out an accent? Weird.

Anyway, FEEL BETTER. also, Congrats on the jobulating.

Meanwhile, after releasing the young crusaders!

OH GOD I'M ON FIRE
THE HUGS ARE ON FIRE

All the more hysterical
BECAUSE YOUR AVATAR IS ON FIRE

Except that tiny ponies are not safe around me. Like, at all. If anything could ever make me lose my voice in a single squee, it would be tiny ponies. I could not explain to you quite why they have such a profound psychological effect on me (other than simple math: pony = cute, tiny = cute, pony + tiny = cuuuuuuuute), but they do. The mere thought of 2 inch tall ponies running around with squeaky little voices makes me smile a little too broadly. Rest assured, if Shimmer were capable of magic, shrinking spells would be the order of the day, all day every day. With occasional breaks for other things. But she's not, so you're all safe.*

On a related subject, the whole Filly!Shimmer thing is gaining a dangerous amount of ground in my head. Even though I do precious little actual writing for my own characters (I prefer to work with others'), trust me that they are there, and this little pony is threatening to either usurp her older self's place in my head, or take up residence alongside her. The following song played on my iPod on the way home today and I very nearly cracked in half. I wish I understood this. It's honestly becoming frightening.

I do not know what to say, except Welf proved that you are right and tiny ponies strip me of my mental faculties.
Do they have to be animate ponies or can we leave you a gibbering mush by mailing you a teeny tiny pony statue?

(hugs)
Um... thanks for liking me like this but I'm still sorry that you upset you because of me. [/stubbornrefusaltonotbeintrouble]

I owe you at least a fiver in apology!
So...

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And that terrible segue means more cuddles. >_>

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I think I already addressed the base here, so I will leave off with saying
THAT WAS ADORABLE~!

I need to save those for future use. Wow.

Goodnight ponythread! May your ponysanity increase by at least 20%! And hopefully you'll stop ninja-ing me every dang post. I so mad : P

I'm less worried about ninja posts, more concerned with when you'll slip on the everybody/everypony line.
I'm concerned with when any of us will do it, actually.

I myself slipped up just a week ago. Called my kitty a pony.

Have you ever gotten a look from a cat like it is questioning your sanity? I must confess, that's a new one for me. And made all the funnier because he's only got one eye.

These are all pretty decent suggestions. I'm going to need to do *something* to space out the Excerpts, because that's part of the style as well.

...How did I end up writing so avant-garde?

It's how we separate the superwriters from the regular writers.

Power corrupts. Within a day, they'd be shipping with the best of us.

Horsefeathers, she's right. I went from straight-laced "fan fiction is what you call a really crappy sex story" to being a crazy-tolerant, semi-talented drawfriend with a taste for sauce in about a week.

I didn't even come near the thread artifacts, either.*

Anyone who offers themself as a candidate for authority lacks the control to do it responsibly.

Not invariably. I tend to be good at authority positions, but that's because of a twisted sense of duty, which often requires me to step up and apply for the position.

Hey now, I used Totodile! *He wasn't... okay, he was kind of poor back in Silver/Gold. *I'll assume he's a lot better now, that Waterfall/Crunch/Slash and such are more useful to him.

Totodile/Crockognaw/Feraligatr was a champ! Sure, statistically he's a bit meh, but he has a HUGE advantage of Gyarados.

He's. Starter.

His defenses are solid, and his HP is good. He survives fights with 1-3 hps spare, where others would faint (even the sturdier Chikorita, due to type issues). By the time his stats come out sub-optimal, he's got bite- good damage, can cause flinching (life saving if you flinch em twice in a row!) and because of the type shift, insanely effective against the weirdest enemies. Then you get slash, and everything is good.
By the time you can actually get a Gyarados, Feraligatr should be twice as strong as said Gyarados.

Still, Meganium comes out heads above the other two, hooves down.

Feraligatr's biggest problem is that anything Feraligatr can do, Gyarados can do better. Plus, thanks to Intimidate, Feraligatr's only advantage of having a higher defense is a moot point. So yeah, Totodile is okay, just a bit lackluster. That doesn't stop him from being one of my favorite starter Pokemon, though. Squirtle is still my favorite starter because of this:

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That is a convincing argument for squirtle...

Also, recall that when Totodile first made the scene, pokemon didn't have special effects. At the time, he was no squirtle, but still a solid choice.

It's one of the many improvements they should have had from the beginning. Another of my favorite mistakes is how all dark type moves use the Special Attack stat, despite being things like bite, crunch, or beat-up. Glad they fixed that...

Same here.

Ya hear that, Gummy? We're distant kin, you an' I.

To complete my bronyhood, I now have pony ringtones. My incoming call ringtone is The Parasprite Polka, text message is Fluttershy's Yay, and Voicemail notification is 'It needs to be about 20% cooler.'. I'm very happy. (Especially because I have a lame Samsung Intensity that doesn't use MP3s for ringtones -unless you buy them from Verizon-, so I had to use a website to send stuff to my phone via multimedia message..)

Aww, I want a fluttershy yay ringtone... *sad face*

And it makes Midnight's brain crash.

If there is anything I've learned from this thread, and especially all the Thanqol inspired mini-memes (), it's that crashing shouldn't happen because the brain isn't designed to compile anyway.

What can I say? I learn from my experiences. You don't get to Epic level by being foolhardy.

I did! But then again, I died.

A lot.

And now my fool-hardiness is a misplaced sense of thrill-seeking...

Hm. Maybe you're right?

You have way to much energy. I carefully consider every breath because it's so exhausting.

I am naturally lazy like that. There have been moments where I notice that I'm breathing, it stops being autonomous, and I had to labor to keep the ol' chest bellows pumping.

But they say the truly lazy do it right the first time so they won't have to do it again. No idea what that has to do with anything, just thought I'd throw it out there. Also, going for more coffee. Brain no worky.

Yeah, I know that feeling. In my case because I sometimes mark a post an answer 10 or 12 hours later. Or mark the wrong post.

... honestly? Except when I'm sleeping, I don't think I could go 10-12 hours without the thread <<;
it tears my heart out to wake up, see a post by someone asking for opinions, and then hours later having come to a decision- and I missed it.

Maybe I need to tone down the thread dependence...

Hey, stop herding the good fillies. I called dips on the drunk one. I like her character or something.

herding all the...?
Fine, you can have Berry Punch, I'll keep Brazen Shield, and we'll play the rest by ear. By which I mean I'm getting Braz's goat ;)

But it was just a little one; a Millilixietrixieship.

wow, that is a hard yet rewarding word to say.

Tiny ponies are cute? Well, say Hello to image dump Wasd99 edition.

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... You win. I surrender. Just don't stop attacking me with adorable, tiny ponies.

Ah, see, I've always been overly fond of Fire types. *Charizard, Ninetails, Arcanine, Houndoom, and so on. *Best typing? *Hell no, but they are so friggin awesome!

Aye, there's that suave, coolness factor going on.
Except with charizard. Charizard is just a beast. I can say with certainty that every generation- no! -every game, charizard gets stronger. He starts with slash, which in red/blue had a higher chance of missing outright than not being a critical hit. Yellow gives Charizard fly, and suddenly, he is the starter of choice. Silver/gold bring in Outrage, and now charizard is taking out dragons. Crystal had something, I think a holdable item. Emerald, ruby and sapphire give new breeding options. Leafgreen, firered, we get specialized growing for an even stronger fire move than before, as strong - maybe stronger than - Hyperbeam.

Throughout his career, Charizard has been a King of Beasts. I don't know what diamond/pearl or black/white bring to our saurion master race, but I'm pretty sure the glorious Age of Charizard is still in full swing.

Announcement. After five months, I have finally finished MLP!

WOO! This calls for a PARTY!
also, good to see ya again, mate

OH SWEET CELESTIA WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

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My Little Sockies: Friendship is Laundry?

... That sock monster is sticking it's tongue at me. I should have Thistle go over there and teach it some manners!

Or maybe not, as it's a sock and she's related to cats. That is one 'ship I'm not ready for.

You just don't want to see your little girl dating, we understand.

... You hush, Fluttershy. they grow up so fast T.T

Guys, help?

But we are here to help. Your worries, your cares. They will go away once you are compleat.

Why, weather? You've been so dry all summer, but the one day that I needed you to be dry, because I needed to keep my good clothes looking good, and I had to do some walking to my interview, did you choose torrential downpour?!

It's a subtle "your next character better date my daughter or else" from Rainbow Dash.
Subtle because very little lightning was involved.

As for the interview itself, it was pretty standard. Nothing too special, I'll be starting it in a month or so. It was actually a fifteen minute interview, which was a little shorter than I was expecting, but it had to be done.

But I'm exhausted just from the transit. I won't go into the problems that I had getting to and from the city for my interview.

Hot darn! Go EsperDerek.

Yeah, but I made a chart, and it clearly shows differently.

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So there.

Hm. She has a point, Bobcat. There's a chart and everything. Seems legit.

And I want details on some of the other Equestrias.

Well, you have to consider that, while Equestrian Earth is a nested sphere, the stars that it abuts are also a sphere- this is where the visualization falls apart, but each world shares the same stars.

From a proper launching point - I myself use the Plutonian Shore, but that's mostly divinatory - you can shift your perspective, which shifts the stars. The stars, being tied to Fate and being the interstices of the fabric of creation, reflect a different world each time. By subtly altering your approach. You can generate Equestrian Earths which are all slightly differed from each other. Or incredibly different, at the furthest reaches of the shifting. But since all Equestrian Earth exists on the sphere of Equestria's stars, you will always reach Equestria when using them; that is to say, there is no chance that you can shift the sidereal view so much that you land somewhere other than Equestria.

That may not sound like much, but it's a bit of insurance you come to rely on. Trust me.

Oh! One can also turn back the Heavenly motions, to view Equestrias past, or dial them forward to see what the figure holds. But like all projection models, the accuracy depends on fidelity of the variables, and each viewing is like dropping a stone in water. The ripples blur what you're seeing, and the more you move to see that one thing, the ripply-er everything gets.

So really, they aren't different Equestrias at all. Or they are, but they are all the SAME Equestria. There is Equeatria prime, the canon Equestria, and all of Equestria Omega (or two, or b, or other, or whatnot) are just selectively projected potentialities.

Charger: I cannot emphasise enough about how the core book is a load of tosh that tries it's best to turn the prospective reader off the game of Mage. It emphasises none of the things it should and implies many things that it should not. Yet, it wraps an inspired system and some of the supplementary materials are the best RPG books you will ever read. I recommend Seers of the Throne and Intruders From The Abyss; Intruders especially, even for non-Mage games. It is the best 'monster manual' you will ever read.

you have intrigued me.

Tell me, what should it have played up, and what should it have not played up?

Jayden: What hubris level is chaining half a dozen or so wizard souls to your own soul?
Charger: Given that making a single soul stone is on the 'pretty bad' end of things?
Jayden: Yeah, world ends and paradox everywhere. Cool story

What, really? Boy, hope Hubris isn't a bad thing... <<"

[Kindablue]

First sock comic that I've ever liked:

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