My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know

[Pokonic]

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

Proof I say, proof!

[TheAmishPirate]

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

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

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

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

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


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

[Pokonic]

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

[Lix Lorn]

Proof I say, proof!

Slaaneshi troll.

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

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

Pft. I'm not secretive about it.

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

[TheAmishPirate]

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

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

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

[Pokonic]

Slaaneshi troll.

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

[Lord Raziere]

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

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

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

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

*listens to universe singing*

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

Oh wait sorry, wrong universe, thats Autocthon.

*changes the universe radio*

*Hears Death Notes opening theme*

Whoops sorry, thats the Whispers of the Neverborn

*changes the universe radio again*

*hears the Beginning is the End is the Beginning*

Hmm….I think thats World of Darkness or Watchmen

Is this working correctly? *whack*

* the universe radio starts playing Dracula from Houston*

Ah! heres our universe!

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

[TheAmishPirate]

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

*does an uplifting jig*

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

Ooh! I know! I could post ponies!

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All 300 drawfriends in one video? This is where I paused it.

Pft. I'm not secretive about it.

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

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

[Pokonic]

*does an uplifting jig*

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

Ooh! I know! I could post ponies!

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

[SiuiS]

*from traction*

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

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

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

Yeah, I did a poor job explaining that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

... Excuse me a moment.

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

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

Ok. You were saying, sir?

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

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

Proprioception.

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

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

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

... That may be what you said though, rereading what I quoted, so if so I'm sorry. I'm just stuck on the fact that without mass to provide passive soaking of kinetic force, a Jalyrkeion^1\ would require more effort to stabilize a weapon. The greater strength of their TK compared to a humanoid would help, but it seems either devote all that extra strength to stabilizing a standard weapon, or have exaggerated accuracy problems with a larger weapon. My reasoning being a 150# man with a braced shotgun (humanoid) is going to have an easier time than a 250# professional soldier (Jalyr) holding the same gun loosely without properly bracing it.

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

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

funny pronunciations

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

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

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

The code for putting whatever in a URL is

this is going to be the actual text of the link

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

[Deadly]

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

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Ah, you're thinking of this:

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

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

Also, here's Pinkie:

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

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

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

[the_druid_droid]

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

Hiiiiii.

*sees green talking pony*

*considers*

I won't go back!

*flees*

[Draconi Redfir]

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

>MLP Ponies have eyes looking in front of them

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

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

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

Thusly, my question to you.

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

Discuss.

[Aotrs Commander]

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

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

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

If you want horrifying, please refer to the hypothetical unicorpion (scorpion/unicorn fusion) sketch. Warning, may indeed be utterly horrible and revolting.

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Yes, I know I forgot pincers. This thing was scribbled together in under 15 minutes because someone on our forum wanted to see what a "unicorpion" would look like.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Proprioception.

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

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

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

... That may be what you said though, rereading what I quoted, so if so I'm sorry. I'm just stuck on the fact that without mass to provide passive soaking of kinetic force, a Jalyrkeion^1\ would require more effort to stabilize a weapon. The greater strength of their TK compared to a humanoid would help, but it seems either devote all that extra strength to stabilizing a standard weapon, or have exaggerated accuracy problems with a larger weapon. My reasoning being a 150# man with a braced shotgun (humanoid) is going to have an easier time than a 250# professional soldier (Jalyr) holding the same gun loosely without properly bracing it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pffftahahahaha!

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

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

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

No foreign language skills, remember?

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

[Pokonic]

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

[Draconi Redfir]

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

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

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

[Freelancer Jack]

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

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

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

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

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

[Soras Teva Gee]

I've been laughing quite happily thanks to EqD linking this. A bunch of teens being introduced to FiM via the intro and a couple of quick brony factoids.

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

[Pokonic]

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

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

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

@Freelancer Jack

Will there be buffalo?

[Freelancer Jack]

@Freelancer Jack

Will there be buffalo?

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

[Draconi Redfir]

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

MYJIK! Y U RUIN BIOLOGY!?


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

[Pokonic]

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

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

[Aotrs Commander]

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

>MLP Ponies have eyes looking in front of them

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

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

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

Thusly, my question to you.

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

Discuss.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

[Sean Mirrsen]

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

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

[Pokonic]

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

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

.

[Draconi Redfir]

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

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

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


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


edit: And/or any of the above examples.

[Pokonic]

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

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

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

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

[Aotrs Commander]

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

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

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

[Pokonic]

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

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

Dragon magic all the way down, man.

[Lord Raziere]

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

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

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

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

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