My Little Pony XXIV: Now About 200% Longer Than Firefly

[Pheehelm]

Holy cow new My Little Pony season why did no one tell me?!

Okay, just now watched the episodes after finding out about them by accident on TVTropes. Quick review:

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Low point: They couldn't shake up the opening? Change things around a little bit? Come on, people, Spike sending Celestia the group photo is so last season.
High point: EVERYTHING.

This has been my quick review.

[Kindablue]

Quick review:

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Low point: They couldn't shake up the opening? Change things around a little bit? Come on, people, Spike sending Celestia the group photo is so last season.

They're changing that next episode, I think.

[Mando Knight]

Holy cow new My Little Pony season why did no one tell me?!

Because we've known for the past two months or so, and we thought everyone knew by now?

[Deadly]

Blarg. Having to resume such an odd shift is tiring. Kris, I know I still owe you a RP post, you'll get it tomorrow. As for now, everypony have a new Excerpt, if the grammar is a little bad, it's because I'm damn exhausted.

How To Care For A Newborn Foal

Excerpt 1

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“TWILIGHT! TWILIGHT!!”

Twilight groaned, and covered her head with her pillow. Trixie had only gotten up a couple of minutes ago, damn it! It was her turn anyways! One thing that the books had never warned her about was how often a parent would need to get up to tend to a newborn foal. Perhaps they didn’t mention it because the authors were afraid that nopony would ever become a parent knowing that. Sleep was becoming a luxury, and other, more enjoyable, nocturnal activites were rapidly becoming the dream of a previous life.

If she didn’t know better, she would have believed that Luna had done something to their daughter to ensure that Midnight would be a night pony. Perhaps they shouldn’t have named her after a time of night, too...

That brought them to tonight. Midnight had been especially fussy, and both of them had been forced to be up with her multiple times already. Finally, finally, it seemed like she had settled down for a couple of hours, only for the peace of the house to be broken by weak crying. But it was Trixie’s turn this time, and she wasn’t going to get up! She was probably only messing up the diaper again anyways. Twilight couldn’t figure out how somepony who was so good with knots, was so terrible with tying up a diaper.

Of course, Twilight had to admit she was jealous on how easily Trixie was able to get Midnight to eat. She supposed that she had an edge in that department anyways.

No, she would just roll over, and pretend to be asl-

“TWILIGHT, SHE’S SICK!”

It was amazing how quickly she could move. She was halfway to the nursery before she knew it. She threw open the door, any trace of sleepiness gone. She nearly tripped over Spike, who, of course, was still asleep. It was truly amazing how deep that dragon could sleep.

For a moment, she thought it was Trixie who was sick. Trixie was paler than Twilight had ever seen her, save for the day of the reunion. The only thing breaking up that pallid look were her red-rimmed eyes. She looked frantically at Twilight, clutching the tiny bundle tightly against her protectively.

“S-she’s b-burning up...” Trixie choaked. Twilight swallowed down her own rising panic, and gently pushed in to check on her daughter. The fact that she wasn’t crying worried her...

She was shivering gently, and Midnight’s normally bright and vivid eyes were dulled with pain. Trembling, Twilight checked beneath her coat, and saw that her skin was bright red. Her tiny horn was glowing, the occasional spark shooting forth from it. Midnight was letting out small little whimpers, her breathing was shallow, but stubborn. Twilight pressed a hoof gently against her forehead, and nearly recoiled. Trixie was right, Midnight was burning up, and it was a higher fever than she had been anticipating.

Those eyes looked up at her, already believing, knowing with all of her tiny heart, that her parents would be able to help her. To make the pain go away.

“W-What’s wrong with her? What do we do?” Trixie immediatly deferred to Twilight. This was not the time for pride, earned or not. Of the two of them, Twilight was most likely to know what to do, know how to help their weeks-old child...

“I...I...” Where was all the knowledge that she had prided herself in? Trixie and her daughter, they needed her, they were looking up at her, secure in the fact that she would think of something. Twilight Sparkle, most knowledagble pony in all of Equestria.

Nothing was coming to mind.

“I...don’t know...”

She never felt so helpless.

Excerpt 2:

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It wasn't what Trixie wanted to hear.

"You don't know? You're telling me Princess Celestia's favorite student can beat an Ursa Minor, but she doesn't know what's wrong with her daughter?!" Trixie's voice raised, as she clutched Midnight tightly. She stared at Twilight accusingly, who flinched.

"I-I don't recognize the symptoms, Trixie! I mean, it's not that, I don't recognize this combination of symptoms! She's feverish, but not sweating! She's in pain, but I don't see where! I don't know why she's breathing so shallowly, there's nothing wrong with her chest, and I don't even know why her horn is glowing! A unicorn's horn shouldn't be glowing at all yet!" Twilight babbled out a defense, her own voice belying her panic. Why was she bringing up old wounds that hadn't been touched now of all times? It had been months since...

"You think you're Great and Powerful, but you can't do anything to help her!" Trixie yelled.

That was why.

Twilight rose up, and embraced Trixie. At the touch of her wife, Trixie immediately broke down, sobbing against Twilight's chest. She kept a tight hold of Midnight, as if sheer contact could heal the pain their daughter was suffering.

"We have to help her...I can't lose her already..." Trixie whispered, and Twilight nuzzled at her comfortingly.

They were going to need help. But who? Ponyville didn't have a hospital, they had a clinic, and she doubted Nurse Redheart would be able to help much, she was an expert in Earth Pony health. Zecora was out, it was too dangerous to go through the Everfree Forest during the night, especially with a sick filly in tow. Was there nopony else in Ponyville that could help them at this time of night?

Wait...how could she be so foalish? The answer had always been there.

"The Princesses!" Quill and scroll were already in the air. "Celestia will be asleep, but Luna..."

"Luna?" Trixie said uncertainly, when Twilight trailed off. Twilight had been reminded of a certain event that had happened only weeks ago.

It was still odd to them, Luna's heartfelt, almost desperate, request to be Midnight's parent, her 'third mother'. But then, they had accepted, hadn't they? That made her that third parent. That made this not just a matter of getting a Princesses help. She deserved to know that her daughter was sick, too.

Luna,
Midnight's sick, come quickly!
-Twilight

Not her most eloquent letter, but perhaps her most to-the-point.

"SPIKE!" The small dragon began to stir his his basket. He wearily lifted a head, sleepy eyes blinking.

"Twilight? Why are you-MMPHH!" His eyes widened, as the scroll was stuffed into his mouth. Reflexively, that green flame licked out of his mouth, burning the scroll into magical ashes, which floated out the window, to it's destination. Spike glared at Twilight. "What was that for? Couldn't you have asked like a normal pony?"

"Spike, Midnight's sick, we need Luna as quickly as possible." Twilight quickly explained, and Spike craned his neck, looking at the tiny bundle in Trixie's hooves.

"Oh, geez, the kid's sick? What's wrong with her?" Twilight bit her lip at Spike's question.

"That's what we're trying to figure out." She replied, turning back to her daughter.

Just in time to see Midnight's horn to catch on fire.

Trixie yelped, as green flames licked out from Midnight's forehead, the frightened newborn letting out a tiny little cry. Immediately the showmare's own horn flared, her magic creating a tiny raincloud, which rained down on mother and daughter. It did nothing to staunch the magical green flames.

Twilight rushed forwards, intent to do something, anything to help. Just inches away from them, her hoof outstretched, her magic at the ready, the fire flared brilliantly and consumed their daughter in an instant.

The magical ashes drifted out the window.

Excerpt 3:

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Luna was aware of the irony of her situation.

Things had changed in the thousand years that Luna had been away. The main time that petitioners came to the court to request judgement on their grievances was now in the evening, the time when day and night met, while both sisters were awake. Even in this late hour, Luna was not alone. She had a horde of servants, cooks, guards, and handmaidens ready to attend to her every need. She had even slowly begun to notice that ponies were staying up later than she recalled a thousand years ago, and that they used the night for play and revelry.

That wasn't even getting into the hundreds, if not thousands of works of art, story, and song that had been made about the grace and beauty of the night.

In other words, Luna and the night had the love, companionship, and respect that she had so jealously craved as Nightmare Moon. How funny it seemed that she didn't want any of that now. How much of a burden it was now.

Finally having a moment to herself, she strode on to her balcony and looked out on Equestria. Her gaze focused in the same direction that it had last night, the night before it, and for the past few weeks. She looked far past Canterlot to the small country town in the distance. Such an insignificant little town in all respects.

Save her heart was there.

She entertained a brief fantasy. Descending down on that small town, and spiriting away those three in the night. She would bring them back to the castle, to Canterlot, and make a home there. Twilight would resume her studies in Canterlot, and Trixie would have an even grander audience to perform to. Together, the three would raise their child, the filly that had stolen her heart from her. They would live and laugh together, as a family...

But no. She could not do that.

Ponyville was home to Twilight and Trixie, and they had fought hard to make it their home. She could not take them away from the place they loved most in the world, away from the friends and life they had forged and tempered so painstakingly. It was more than that, though. Her daughter deserved a chance to have a normal life. That she was the only child thus far from the Princesses would ensure that would never happen, could never happen if she were to grow up in the court of Canterlot and be surrounded by it's chaos. She would be seen as a pawn to be used by nobles jockeying for position and favor, and that thought terrified Luna. No, it would be better for her this way. Better for the three of them.

Even if it felt like Luna's heart was torn from it's chest.
Oh yes, Luna was well aware of the irony of her situati-

”Princess?” interrupted one of her handmaidens. “We have lunch prepared for you in the dining room.”

Her thoughts now jumbled by the words of the servant, she nodded and said, “Very well, I will be there in a moment.”

Luna was about to follow, when her keen eyes spotted something. The magical green ashes of a letter inbound.

That was unusual. Even with Trixie's letters to her, she usually woke up to them. Why would they be writing to her-or Celestia, she supposed-at this time of night? She swiftly unrolled the scroll once it manifested.

Luna,
Midnight's sick, come quickly!
-Twilight

Luna felt her throat constrict. Her duty and position meant nothing at that moment. Already she was weaving a spell she hadn't used since she was the Nightmare. Her body dissolved into stars and mist, and she swept away from the palace, shooting towards the important little town at speeds that could rival the fastest pegasus pony.

Closer to the town, her senses picked up something of interest. Apparently they had sent another letter, as a second patch of green mist and ash escaped from the library. Yet, this one was not headed for the castle. In fact, Luna could not figure out for the life of her why they had sent a letter in that direction.

After all, it was towards the Everfree Forest.

Excerpt 4:

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”MIDNIGHT! MIDNIGHT!” Trixie screamed, springing from her chair in hot pursuit of the magic mist that their daughter had become. She pushed past Twilight, who stumbled to the floor, so shocked at what had just happened that her mind freezed up. It was only until she realized that Trixie was about to spring from the window did her brain start working again. Trixie’s hooves were just at the windowsill when Twilight caught her in her magic, stopping her in her tracks.

“Trixie, stop!”

“T-Twilight? Let me go!” Trixie screamed at the betrayal, her legs kicking helplessly in the air, trying to find purchase to dig in. “Our daughter! Our daughter is out there! Let me go!”

“You’re going to leap out the top-floor window! You can’t help Midnight with four broken legs!” Twilight yelled. “Calm down, Trixie! I-I’m sure that if she copied the transit spell, that she’s with Luna right now!”

It was a logical thought, and it was one that Twilight was clinging to, to keep herself from panicing and leaping out the window in pursuit herself. Trixie let out a soft whimper, straining for a moment against Twilight’s magic, but she finally gave in, no longer trying to dash herself to the cold ground below.

“How did she do that anyways, Twilight?” Spike asked, his eyes wide. It was a question that Twilight was trying to puzzle out herself. How did she do that? She had no idea. Perhaps it was some sort of instinctual mimicry? Midnight couldn’t possibly know the complex imagry that the spell required. It must have been some fashion of mimicry, but she shouldn’t of had access to that level of magic to call upon! She was just a little foal! What was...what was....

No! There was no need for panic. There was no need for panic. They would wait for Luna, Midnight would almost certainly be with her, and they would all solve this together. She released Trixie, who pulled herself reluctantly from the window, just in time for a cloud of mist and stars to flow in after her. Twilight inhaled. Luna had responded quickly, no doubt because Midnight was with her. She wouldn’t want her fellow mothers to worry for too long. The stars and mist coalesced, the dark beauty of Princess Luna taking form.

Midnight didn’t.

“Where is she? What’s wrong with her?” Luna immediatly inquired, stepping forwards to meet with her two fellow parents. Her eyes widened as she beheld the mortified looks on Twilight and Trixie’s faces, as reality came crashing down upon them.

Midnight wasn’t with her.

Luna gasped as Trixie immediatly pulled away from them. She galloped down the stairs, crashed through the front doors, and shattered the peace of Ponyville’s night with her cries, as if their child could respond to her. Luna looked at Twilight, who was struggling to refrain from taking off after Trixie to help her. The Princess needed to know what was going on.

“P-Princess...”

“Twilight, what’s going on? Where is Midnight?”

“We thought...We thought she was with you!” She explained to Luna everything that had happened, how sick Midnight had been, and how she somehow mimiced the letter transit spell, only with her body. As Twilight explained, Luna’s face drained of color.

“Oh no...oh no...I saw her, Twilight! I saw the smoke headed into the Everfree Forest!” Luna said, and Twilight staggered. A terrible image exploded into her mind. One of her tiny daughter, sick and helpless, lost in the Everfree Forest. Laying on the cold ground, exposed to the elements, and surrounded by hydras, dragons, and cocaktrice. Easy prey.

Twilight heaved, her hoof going to her mouth, as she nearly lost the contents of her stomach. Luna moved to help her, but Twilight forced it down. She couldn’t afford to be sick.

“SPIKE!” She yelled, and the baby dragon leapt to her call, clearly eager to help in any way he could. “Go get the others, and tell them what happened! Get them to organize search parties, and catch up with us!”

“I’m on it, Twilight! But where are you going?”

“Where do you think? There’s no time to wait for them, we’re going to catch up with Trixie, and get our daughter back!”



Deep in the Everfree,
A tiny voice cried out in need,
The forest heeded the call.

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I liked it a lot. Looking forward to more (there is more coming, right? Or is this simply referring to that incident in one of your stories with the Ursa? Can't remember when it was exactly). Poor little Midnight

I don't think I have much to offer, but there's one tiny suggestion.

Luna was aware of the irony of her situation.

Things had changed in the thousand years that Luna had been away.

I think the second "Luna" should be changed to "she". It just seems to "clash" a little with the first one, if that makes sense.

Found a few spelling/grammar issues, all minor, but I've listed them below anyway.

Excerpt 3

and be surrounded by it's [its] chaos

torn from it's [its] chest

Excerpt 4

to keep herself from panicing [panicking]

couldn’t possibly know the complex imagry [imagery or ...?]

And

but she shouldn’t of had access to that level of magic

I'm not sure if that's meant to be like that, but it seems a little off to me outside dialogue where the speaker is supposed to have an accent.

Also I found myself wondering what the proper plural of "cockatrice" might be. Apparently it simply is "cockatrices"... I'd almost have guessed something Latin-ish

[Lix Lorn]

I still love that picture, I can't wait to see it finished. Aurora is adorable, and Mature Midnight is amazing and graceful.

I'm not sure I'll ever feel that graceful, though.

You look it!

Everypony is best pony at some point in the thread. That's what makes the thread wonderful.

Truuuue. ^^

And unless a thread I saw elsewhere on the boards is lying to me...

Happy birthday, Mentor! *lots of naughty, naughty gifts!

Oh my! ^_^

[Kurgan]

Alright Esper, read through #4, did not see too much wrong, but here we go:

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It must have been some fashion of mimicry, but she shouldn’t of had access to that level of magic to call upon!

It think that “of” should be have.

“Oh no...oh no...I saw her, Twilight! I saw the smoke headed into the Everfree Forest!” Luna said

I think it works as is, but my mind keeps thinking it should be "heading".

Alright, apparently the lawn needs to be cut, and I am the only one capable of doing it, so I'll have to get to Lix's thing in a bit.

Wait, Lixie's birthday? Happy birthday!

[Kris Strife]

Happy Birthday Lix! *gives some Ambrosia and a pound of bacon*

[Lix Lorn]

Alright Esper, read through #4, did not see too much wrong, but here we go:

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It think that “of” should be have.



I think it works as is, but my mind keeps thinking it should be "heading".

Alright, apparently the lawn needs to be cut, and I am the only one capable of doing it, so I'll have to get to Lix's thing in a bit.

Wait, Lixie's birthday? Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday Lix! *gives some Ambrosia and a pound of bacon*

Thanks!

(Uses ambrosia to bribe gods to tell me where Venus is...)

[AlterForm]

Season 2 Stuff

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I guess that's the end of Discord...

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[Kindablue]

Lyrics get wonky in places, but I liked it:
Here Today

The same guy redid one of his Beatles parody (I guess?) songs:
Scootaloo (Blackbird) v2

Featuring harmonies this time! But no scat singing.

Fan flash animation:
Pinkie Pie in "Present Prank"

Alright, I'm off to a concert now.

[Kyouhen]

Wait, it's Lix's birthday? Happy birthday Lix!

In unrelated news I'm teaching myself how to play the guitar. Have been working at it for a few weeks now and am using Giggle at the Ghostly and the Parasprite Polka as my starting points as they're pretty simple songs to learn. I think I spent too much time today because now I'm having problems typing because my fingers are so sore. I keep hitting the wrong keys. On the bright side, I've gotten to the point where I've memorized Giggle at the Ghostly. Hooray!

[Beacon of Chaos]

Do what I did and cheat, and get a legit artist to decide on the design for you.

Yeah, but then I'd just start being picky about the colours and style etc.
Better idea: everyday, go to the pony creator app, click random, and that is my pony OC for the day :P

*goes to try it*

...

I take that back. Bleck.

None of the stuff on Equestria Daily is pornographic, but most everything listed as "grimdark" is "mature".

Might wanna steer clear of stuff by Butterscotch Sundae though. Almost everything she does is borderline clop.

*GASP* It's Lixie's Birthday too!? SO MUCH BIRTHDAY! Cake and pony for you too!

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Also, I laughed so hard at this next pic. Season 2 spoilers. It's Rarity and Spike... sorta... Commodore, not sure how you'll feel about this ¬_¬

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[Deadly]

Happy Birthday Lix! Hope you have lots of fun

[Gamerlord]

Happy Birthday Lix!

[Beeskee]

Leave. LEAVE WHILE YOU STILL CAN!

Nuuuuuuuuuuuu!

I pretty much agree with everything you've said. My only wonder is;
Every day they dingbat my money they lose profit. Hotels and airlines are like that; every seat or room unrolled is food out of their mouths.

...

I seem to have stopped addressing your point and started typing while thinking though. Forgive me

No problem, I rambled a bunch too. O.o; I'm sure Hasbro has various accountants and such working on figuring out when exactly the optimal time to have this stuff to market by would be.

This is just a guess, but I would say that by the end of the second season they'll have a bunch of show-related stuff ready to go, at the latest.


I don't want you to be under the false impression that I'm Mr. Super Industrialist though, I've only worked in various retail places and played a bit of Capitalism 2. Well, a lot. Actually, I've had a bunch of multi-billion-dollar companies in that. And Harvard does use it to teach (admittedly, highly abstracted) brick-and-mortar business principles... But I'm just making guesses based on what I've seen in that and what I've experienced on how companies work on the backend. (From the company side of things, RL work experience.)


Hasbro admittedly uses the show just to sell the toys, so I imagine when the toy sales drop they crank out another show to run for a little while. Only this time they hired a super-genius. Whups. They were NOT ready for this, and so everything has to be done from scratch. As opposed to the existing toys, which were packed and already on store shelves before the show even started.


So like I said, I'm guessing they'll have customized stuff by the end of season 2, if not by this coming xmas. The latter would be ideal, if they do it right they could have the next "tickle me elmo" or whatever for this holiday season. Remember the hype over that? ZOMG.

I will keep the off-off-color jokes to a minimum when aimed in your direction then.

Don't worry about jokes, I can handle those. I saw a hilarious one with Trixie and Twilight, I think it said something like "Everyone is gay for the great and powerful Trixie!" (the pic itself was clean) I'm sure ya'll have seen it.

And what Beeskee said. (Hello btw )

Hi!

Wait, what? Hasbro not good at making money? They own Monopoly, they can literally print money! Actually, they don't seem to be doing too badly. And they have a BUNCH of brands. They can do things like a MLP Monopoly and not have to worry about license fees.

Keep in mind, from a corporate timescale perspective, this whole MLP thing just happened yesterday. They'll need some time to respond to the market's demand.

I recall hearing an account by a WotC guy of a visit from a Hasbro executive to their offices. They were showing the exec around and they happened to have recently released a new supplement which had done well. They told him about the book and the fact that they had so far made something like 300 thousand in profit on it, the exec reportedly just looked at them and asked "Why did you bother?" The amount of money was so small compared to the profits they see on other lines that to him it wasn't even worth the effort.

I agree with everything you said. Hasbro probably blows their nose with 300k. I've dumped ten times that or more in the trash in my various games because the product was out of date.

They have NO idea when, where, or what the next magic lightning will strike. In theory, they could simply repeat the process they used for their other magic lightning products: making a toy that doesn't seem (too) insipid to adults, send copies to famous people with kids, etc. Once you get the parents talking about it, that helps a lot. Way more than advertising. They succeeded with the show, but that doesn't guarantee automatic success with a toy.


Also, a good thing for everyone to remember is that Hasbro has to spend the money ahead of time. Raw materials, labor, etc, is all spent before the product hits the shelves. If it fails, oops. And with a company this large, "oops" can equal several million dollars.

This is one aspect where smaller subsidiaries are a benefit, they can be more agile and respond to demand faster and get more excited about smaller profit margins.


Where the 'brony market' does come into play is if those folks are parents, who regularly talk to other parents. THEN it's a big deal. There's already a little bit of that going on. I know Stephen Colbert gave a shout-out to his "fellow bronies" and I bet some other famous folks are pony fans. Word of mouth beats advertising by a huge margin, and costs next to nothing. It would cost Hasbro petty cash to send 100-1000 toys to some famous folks with children and get people talking about it. But even regular people talking about the product is a huge boost.

*bows*

I'm glad that you approve. If you feel like continuing your fanfic adventures, be sure to check out the first post, there's a list of amazing fanfics from some wonderful ponyauthors. (And me.)

I think you're definitely included in that category. I will certainly check them out, thank you.

If anyone has any suggestions for other stories I should check out, or story sites, I'm open to them.

Well in this fanbase as long as you don't too far out it's easy to avoid. If you look at Equestria Daily for your fix of ponies, the pre-readers keep out the bad stuff essentially.

lol, right after I said the above... Thank you, I'll check that out.

Also, welcome, Beeskee! I forgot to quote anything by you to welcome you properly, but... welcome anyway!

Edit: On the subject of Ponyconomy: If Hasbro's going to make show-accurate toys, they should hurry up and do it. If they won't, or it's not feasible for them, that's a bit disappointing but I can give my money to the Bronies who make the stuff I want instead. What I really disagree with is that they want us to buy what we've already expressed displeasure in before we get what we really want. Yes, they have the toys they have now to get rid of, but products that the consumers don't want don't sell. And plenty of people are buying them anyway, already.

I do agree, they need to get their horses in gear.

When I list reasons they haven't, it's because I've worked in various places dealing with folks who think every store has magic product trees in "The Back" where employees can just harvest additional items, even ones that don't exist yet. If that's coloring my writing here, I apologize. I'm sure I'm overcompensating.

Personally I think the donation concept is a good way to show support for the show even if you don't necessarily want those specific toys. Get a bunch and donate them to a local children's hospital. Support: shown, without your own shelves being cluttered with toys you don't actually want.

Brony-produced toys are a great idea too, to show support for the community. There's a huge danger in that tho, due to trademark/copyright issues. I'd hate to see some poor brony who made and sold a few plushes get into legal trouble.




I'm way out of order, every time I check a spoilered comment and it's a huge picture, the thread gets re-formatted. (I have my font scaled WAY up, heh)

if by that you mean the excerpts from EsperDerek? yeah..he is awesome(and i should use today to finally read the guide to dating) and you can find the midnight stories over on EQD and the story of how Midnight came about is actually a pretty good example of the level of "action" you get in most fics

Yes that's the one I was referring to. Nice, I'll check them out, definitely, thank you!




I know when it's taking me a long time to reply when there's an additional page while I'm still working through the last one.

This talk about wanting better-designed toys makes me wonder how well I could 3D Print a pony. I mean, I'd have to stick to fan based stuff... And I'd absolutely hate doing fluffy or curly manes and tails... But hey, it's a start.


TNG:

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Isn't there also a method to Q's madness? Like, wasn't Q actually acting with the intention of whatever's best for the multi/universe, on behalf of a whole Q bureaucracy the whole time? I mean, I got the impression Q is less about "random for the sake of random," and more about "random because because it is theatric and he really wants people to pay attention to him."

I saw some papercraft ponies... somewhere. Okay, I realize that isn't actually helpful.

TNG:

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Yes, Q was, in his own crazy way, trying to help the Federation. The Borg were already headed into the neutral zone between the Feds and Romulans. (Remember the colonies that had been "scooped off the planet"?) If the Feds couldn't get over themselves and actually ask for help from not just their allies but also their enemies, then they were toast. One ship getting destroyed wouldn't have mattered much in that case. So while it seemed to the crew like he put them into an incredibly dangerous situation, it was the 'kick in the complacency' that the Federation needed at the time.

After all, if he really wanted to destroy the Enterprise, he could just snap his fingers and trigger a warp core breach.

aaaand a few posts later someone else says almost the exact same thing. I'm not complaining, I just think it's funny.



I'm trying to hurry so I can get through the next page before another new page shows up.



Gamerlord:
(TNG)

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Even before that, the Borg were headed into Federation and Romulan territory. They weren't named, there were just a bunch of destroyed colonies along the neutral zone, on both sides. It was the same episode where Data found 3 frozen people from the 20th century aboard an old cryo satellite. "The Neutral Zone" I believe. I watched all the episodes recently, heh.

But yeah later episodes and movies reinforced this, with First Contact (movie) and Regeneration (Enterprise) plus some others that I've forgotten about.

I think the initial stuff was left vague because they hadn't decided who to make the actual BBEG yet. The ear-burrowing aliens were supposed to be the BBEG but they didn't work out. Then the Ferrengi were supposed to be the BBEG but, oops, they were portrayed as simpering (making them short didn't help) so TNG was kind of struggling at that point to produce a real villain.

Kindablue:

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I check it out. I don't mind grim/dark.



otakuryoga:

lol I heard about Cupcakes. Definitely avoiding that one.



Topaz:

There's another version of that which does wings. I'll try to find it. It's a completely different version tho, not just wings added to that version. It has a new set of poses, etc.

Edit: Here it is: http://www.dolldivine.com/pegasus-maker.php



Whew finally made it to page 49.. wait, the forum isn't responding now.

Done! I think... Here's hoping this goes through.


Edit: WOW this is long.


Happy Birthday Lix!


Edit2: Damn, I killed the thread.

[Titanium Fox]

So, I'm back from BroNYcon! It was absolutely incredible, and I feel that I owe everypony a full report! So you'll now get one! Cutie Mark Crusader convention reporters go! Yay! Also, pictures at the bottom of the post!

So the convention was incredible. Psychoshutin and I got there at 7 AM, because I forgot that there wouldn't be a rush hour on Saturday. Either way, Tinker lets us in and we helped set up. I feel bad for the poor pony, with how much she has to put up with setting up and running one of these. I have to say though, I seriously thought the place looked like the definition of sketchy. Oh well. The big BroNYcon banner when you walk into the room set me at ease. I ended up talking to Nicholas Basch, the creator of Luna Orchestral until ponies started pouring in. Thanks to the lack of sleep, I spent the Vector panel asleep in my chair, directly in front of our own Vent Reynolt. :D

There were some MAJOR technical difficulties with the PMV panel. I honestly don't remember if they ever got it fixed, although I have to say I wasn't a fan of the subject matter of the first two that actually won. The rainboom one looked like it had major potential though before it stopped working, so I guess that would have most likely gotten my vote. However, this heralded the beginning of the showing of Episode 2 of Season 2.

Oh. My. Celestia. I was at an Opeth concert last Monday. THE PONIES WERE LOUDER BY AN ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. There were ONE TENTH as many people, and they were at least TWENTY decibels louder in the cheers! I swear I couldn't hear the speakers playing the theme over everypony else singing along. I was impressed to say the least. I'm not going to review the episode, I'm sure everypony did that just fine in my absence. However, for those who haven't watched it yet, do it now. Easily the funniest and most incredible episode I've seen to date. And then the Q&A. Somepony recorded it and typed it up (SPOILERS WITHIN) here.

So awesome. And then I ended up at the Equestria Series of Poker game that I was signed up for, although we were already running late. I decided that I'd rather forego the possibility at winning and speed up the game for everypony else, so I went in on a 2 of Diamonds and 3 of Spades for 600. And channeled my inner Pinkie. Which almost paid off. Oh well.

Yadda Yadda McDonalds Yadda Yadda.

Neighslayer was great too. I've got some videos I'll have on Youtube later. Although I will say, I never thought I'd see a legitimate mosh pit at a convention. Much less one that security allowed. Much less one that I'd participate in.

YAY GIANT IN THE PLAYGROUND MEETUP. So, Psychoshutin and I hung out in front of the panel room at 5 like we said, and Vent stopped over. We chilled for about 15 minutes holding up a Pizza Box Lid with "Giant in the Playground Ponythread Mini-Meet" written on it in Sharpie, but nopony else came. We had Doctor Whooves take the picture below for us, and then a grand total of five minutes later Orzel finally stopped over. Oh by the way, you two are awesome. The whole hanging out thing was cut short by the auction.

Everypony at the convention was ****ing crazy. A handpainted Wonderbolts Rainbow Dash went for SIX HUNDRED DOLLARS. The Fighting Pad? TWO HUNDRED AND TEN. Derpybolt? ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE. Custom Big Mac? ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR- Oh wait I pushed that one that high myself. My bad. >>

---

Afterparty:

I said my goodbyes to Vent I went back, and this is when Pinkie took it from Party to Paaaaarrrr-TAY! The lights dropped, the panel room was converted to a "quiet" room (not all that quiet; the bass physically moved Psycho on one occasion while he was trying to sleep), and the spotlights went up. And SO many Pony remixes were played. And so much alcohol was served. And so much fun was had. And then the Discord Shuffle happened. And it was grand. At least fifteen ponies in a line, doin' the shuffle. And I did a tumble in, popped up on my feet, and started shuffling in one fluid motion. I have never had so much Celestia damned fun. I think I danced for something on the order of like three or four hours. They wound down the music when I went out for some air, and we re-watched the entirety of the two-parter episode, and then ended the night with some PMVs and drunken shenanigans.

We were then had to leave at 6 AM today, so I drove allll the way back to New Hampshire on like three hours of sleep. With 15 minutes in the previous two days. How did I survive that?!

Honestly though, it was an INCREDIBLE TIME.

Esper, SiuS, Braz, Trixie, Sweetie, Grif, and literally everypony else, make the trip. It is completely and totally worth it. I know somepony flew from Miami to make this. You will not be disappointed by any stretch of the imagination. We need to bring the entire Ponysanity of this thread to the real world.

Pictures are coming once I actually get my Celestia Damned phone to cooperate.

Home from a brony party. So many pony dance songs.

A certain GitPer is a dance machine.

\m/

[Roninhirox]

Happy Birthday Lix I will party deep into the night in your honor . Which I assure you is entirely for your birthday and not cause I am going to a concert or anything

[Titanium Fox]

Holy cow new My Little Pony season why did no one tell me?!

Okay, just now watched the episodes after finding out about them by accident on TVTropes. Quick review:

Spoiler

Show

Low point: They couldn't shake up the opening? Change things around a little bit? Come on, people, Spike sending Celestia the group photo is so last season.
High point: EVERYTHING.

This has been my quick review.

Equestria Daily is your friend. I check literally every single day. :P

And the opening theme is changing starting with episode 3. Not sure as to the reasoning for this.

---

Happy Birthday Lix!

[Aotrs Commander]

Also, I laughed so hard at this next pic. Season 2 spoilers. It's Rarity and Spike... sorta... Commodore, not sure how you'll feel about this ¬_¬

Spoiler

Show

Eeh, close enough!



I appreciate I'm probaly going to regret this, but Happy Birthday Lix!



And in pony-unrelated news, I'm done with Red Alert 2. (For those of you newer to the thread, I've been working through the entire C&C (RTS) series in order. For no particular reason, other than there's been no decent games out for months; well, aside from Hector: Badge of Carnage...) Notably, RA2 did feel a damn sight shorter and a little les Epic than Tiberian Sun. If the latter might have been a bit too slow at some points, RA2 I think is way too much the other way.

Now my the question is, do I wade through Generals for the umpteeth time, install C&C 3, or have a C&C break...?



Titanium Fox, I must say that this sort of thing never fails to underline the massive gap between (UK) wargames conventions and everybody else's conventions/cons. (Though - and this may completely surprise you - not being a dancer or drinker, and additionally having a natural aversion to the company of people doing the same - I can't say as I think that is necessarily a disadvantage for me, personally...)

[otakuryoga]

If anyone has any suggestions for other stories I should check out, or story sites, I'm open to them.

well...i for one cannot recommend http://www.equestriadaily.com/2011/0...ss-reward.html this one highly enough

[dromer]

None of the stuff on Equestria Daily is pornographic, but most everything listed as "grimdark" is "mature".

The lowdown on tags:
Grimdark: Contains 'grittier' stories. With a grimdark tag, the gloves are off. Blood, gore, and pestilence are allowed. The [Dark] tag is also used, which indicates that there is little to no blood, and only the mood is set to be grimdark.
Normal: Done in the style of the show.
Crossover: Ponies crossed with another piece of fiction
Random: Things that don't fit in any other tag or contain off-the-wall references. Nonsensical fics go here.
Shipping: Pairings of canonical or non-canonical characters that are not explicitly proven in canon.
Sad: Tragedies, and fiction with sad endings.
Comedy: Intended to be funny.
Sci-fi: Contains technology that ponies do not canonically have.

Wait, it's Lix's birthday? Happy birthday Lix!

In unrelated news I'm teaching myself how to play the guitar. Have been working at it for a few weeks now and am using Giggle at the Ghostly and the Parasprite Polka as my starting points as they're pretty simple songs to learn. I think I spent too much time today because now I'm having problems typing because my fingers are so sore. I keep hitting the wrong keys. On the bright side, I've gotten to the point where I've memorized Giggle at the Ghostly. Hooray!

Ironically, my friend's birthday was two days ago. As he was headed to the shop (we're on an engineering team) we use, our team gave him a pony that they all signed. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, happy birthday.

[Aotrs Commander]

Equestria Daily is your friend. I check literally every single day. :P

Only once a day? Hah.

And the opening theme is changing starting with episode 3. Not sure as to the reasoning for this.

Because Harmony was clearly written as the season ender for season 1, and (as someone on the staff said on one the blogs or twitter or something) was actually finished months ago. So they wouldn't have bothered fiddling with the completed episodes just to put the new opener in.

[TheAmishPirate]

Happy Birthday Lix! I got you an image dump!

Spoiler

Show

And I guess S2 stuff as well:

Spoiler

Show

[Titanium Fox]

Only once a day? Hah.

Well it's more like I get notified the instant a new article pops up since I have a permanent RSS feed to the site up on my third out of four monitors.

[Gamerlord]

Because Harmony was clearly written as the season ender for season 1, and (as someone on the staff said on one the blogs or twitter or something) was actually finished months ago. So they wouldn't have bothered fiddling with the completed episodes just to put the new opener in.

According to the Jayson EqD interview, it was never meant to be the finale for s1, from the start it was meant for s2.
Quote from the transcript of that interview:

Tek: Mm-hm. Well, tell you what then. We’ve talked about processes, teams, production. And, we’re all talking about between season 1 and season 2 here, or just the show in general. But... why not just... let’s talk about a bit about season 2 itself. As much as you can without giving specifics. But...
JT: Sure.
Tek: ...general season 2 good stuff.
JT: Alright.
Tek: And all the readers are leaning forwards now, they’re captivated.
Tek: Ok, first of all, the first episode. Was it a postponed season 1 episode, and if so why was it postponed?
JT: Ah, no. It was always part of season 2. We were producing season 1 and 2 back to back, so it wasn’t... Nothing was postponed. We just knew that the premiere episodes were so epic that we wanted to make sure we had extra time to do them.

[Grif]

Esper, SiuS, Braz, Trixie, Sweetie, Grif, and literally everypony else, make the trip. It is completely and totally worth it. I know somepony flew from Miami to make this. You will not be disappointed by any stretch of the imagination. We need to bring the entire Ponysanity of this thread to the real world.

Sounds like you had a great time!

Rassn Fassn, living on the other side of the world shtick.

Eeh, close enough!

I appreciate I'm probaly going to regret this, but Happy Birthday Lix!

And in pony-unrelated news, I'm done with Red Alert 2. (For those of you newer to the thread, I've been working through the entire C&C (RTS) series in order. For no particular reason, other than there's been no decent games out for months; well, aside from Hector: Badge of Carnage...) Notably, RA2 did feel a damn sight shorter and a little les Epic than Tiberian Sun. If the latter might have been a bit too slow at some points, RA2 I think is way too much the other way.

Now my the question is, do I wade through Generals for the umpteeth time, install C&C 3, or have a C&C break...?

C&C 3. Do eeeeeeetttttttttttttttt!

(Speaking of modern RTS, have you tried Men of War? This game is one of the more realistically modelled RTS I seen yet.)

[Beeskee]

And then the Q&A. Somepony recorded it and typed it up (SPOILERS WITHIN) here.

Nice, I read the whole thing. I also read the comment later on from the person who was suggesting OC ponies as background ponies.

I don't think this is as horrible an idea as it might sound.. PLEASE read my whole idea before flaming. (If you still think it sucks, feel free to flame away.)

Hasbro could run a "design a background pony" contest AIMED AT KIDS!!!!1ONE. Obviously with all the legal disclaimers necessary to allow the content to be used in the show, and possibly as toys, etc. There would be nothing stopping adults from entering, but it would be primarily targeted towards the 'intended' audience.

There's a bunch of good pony generators, but an "official" one would not be unwelcome. If they did it as a community rating sort of thing, they would generate more interest in MLP:FIM, it would be another cool "game" for their site, and it would definitely help with the repeating aspect of background ponies. I'm sure everyone's seen the one shot where Derpy shows up 5 times in the same scene.

Again, these would be for background ponies only, no speaking lines, etc. It wouldn't be aimed at getting everyone's personal OC into the show, merely as letting fans design background ponies so there isn't quite so much repetition.

Okay, there it is. If you hate it, and want to print it out just so you can light it on fire, go ahead.

[Trixie]

5 posts to go, eh? Good, almost finished new one, too.

And I'll feel guilty that I slowed this one down too much, too :(

[Lix Lorn]

I appreciate I'm probaly going to regret this, but Happy Birthday Lix!

Hee. (hugs)

And in pony-unrelated news, I'm done with Red Alert 2. (For those of you newer to the thread, I've been working through the entire C&C (RTS) series in order. For no particular reason, other than there's been no decent games out for months; well, aside from Hector: Badge of Carnage...) Notably, RA2 did feel a damn sight shorter and a little les Epic than Tiberian Sun. If the latter might have been a bit too slow at some points, RA2 I think is way too much the other way.

Now my the question is, do I wade through Generals for the umpteeth time, install C&C 3, or have a C&C break...?

Generals is pretty cool. Did you do all four RA2 campaigns?

Happy Birthday Lix! I got you an image dump!

It's what I always wanted!
Thanks, everypony!

[Beeskee]

5 posts to go, eh? Good, almost finished new one, too.

Now I don't feel so bad for making one huge epic post, rather than splitting it into a bunch of smaller posts.

Except, oops, I just pushed the thread one step closer to closing, didn't I?


Currently reading Kindness's Reward, and laughing out loud at parts.