My Little Pony XXXV: The Thread Everypony Should Know

[Titanium Fox]

So, the general consensus is that Pancy Pants' special talent was rolling an 18 for Charisma at character creation?

No my friend, he rolled a 19 naturally on 3d6.

[Roninhirox]

Hey was going through my daily webcomics and this came up http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2012/01/...d-riding-pony/ so I figured I would share.

[Tectonic Robot]

I still haven't watched Sweet and Elite. It simply hasn't interested me all that much...

I heard there was an airship in it. That's not true, right?

[Gamerlord]

I still haven't watched Sweet and Elite. It simply hasn't interested me all that much...

I heard there was an airship in it. That's not true, right?

Actually, it's quite true.

[Lix Lorn]

I still haven't watched Sweet and Elite. It simply hasn't interested me all that much...

I heard there was an airship in it. That's not true, right?

YOU ARE NO LONGER MY FRIEND

Okay you are but only just >:(

xD

[BlasTech]

Hey was going through my daily webcomics and this came up http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2012/01/...d-riding-pony/ so I figured I would share.

Ooh, sounds like a pony arc, hope it's good.

Knew that guy was a brony for a while, he's been slipping in small references into the comic and the site for a while now. The first one I noticed was that he'd set up the site's subheading to sometimes change when it was refreshed. And one of those was "Sandra and Woo: Now 20% Cooler".

Also, about a month ago the two "O"'s in Woo sometimes changed to the colours of the Mane6.

Those kind of subtle hints give me a little bit of a kick, it's like decyphering a code or spy signalling or something :P

[Topaz]

I still haven't watched Sweet and Elite. It simply hasn't interested me all that much...

I heard there was an airship in it. That's not true, right?

Screencap under the spoiler:

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[Trixie]

Technically, it's a blimp

And a magical one, at that, seeing how crudely designed the harness is and how small the size to cabin ratio is. In fact, the design alone speaks volumes about money spent on it, being focused on aesthetic (free upper deck). I don't think we saw better example of how much better off the nobles are than the rest of the pony society :P

[Titanium Fox]

Guys.

I am on an E-Mail chain with the likes of JackleApp, Foozogz, Chain Algorithm, Tarby, and Alex S.

...I've never before felt so included.

*Squee*

[Aotrs Commander]

Guys.

I am on an E-Mail chain with the likes of JackleApp, Foozogz, Chain Algorithm, Tarby, and Alex S.

...I've never before felt so included.

*Squee*

I'm sure I'd be very impressed if I had any idea who those people were...!



Besides, you know ME! What could be more awesome than that don't answer that Hopereaver if you want your inerds to stay inside!

[Titanium Fox]

I'm sure I'd be very impressed if I had any idea who those people were...!



Besides, you know ME! What could be more awesome than that don't answer that Hopereaver if you want your inerds to stay inside!

My Good Lich:
Alex S.
Foozogz.
JackleApp.

And nopony is more awesome than Lichy for hopereaver's sake!

[Nameless]

Dear Bronies who are also Black Metal fans,

So, uh... I briefly mentioned once or twice that I was working on a Black Metal cover of the FiM opening theme. It's not quite done yet, but here's the instrumental version. Low-quality distant guitars as standard. Drowned out screaming and hollowing version coming soon.
Look, I even drew a pretty picture of Fluttershy for everyone.

...is this where one goes to announce his newfound brony-ness?

Having watched the series in its entirety for the first time, spent countless hours on memebase's brony section and been judged by my real life D&D group for thinking friendship is magic, I think it's now official for me. I'm a brony.

Anywho, to make this post worthwhile, I'll tell y'all the story that led to this change. I often work at a religious retreat center, and this past summer, almost all the male staffers and a few of the lady ones took on "Pony Names". I helped instigate this trend by declaring I was Rainbow Dash in an attempt to be ironic when a coworker called me effeminate, but the others really made it take off by actually declaring a "Pony Time" and a "Pony Couch" to see what this show was all about. Now it's at the point where, when we were singing a song with the lyric "Envy, strife and discord cease," another brony and I made eye contact, head nodded in unison about Discord and then had a giggle fit for the rest of the spiritual. Further, my protege at the retreat center has been dubbed Scootaloo in honor of our relationship. If you have a large-ish circle of friends who are bronies, I highly recommend the "Pony Names" trend: it makes for hilarious conversations.

EDIT: And no, we have not named someone Derpy Hooves. We do have a Dr. Whoof though. And our two directors are Princesses Luna and Celestia, though the guy who is Luna doesn't appreciate his new title.

Now that you are here, you may never leave.

[Aotrs Commander]

My Good Lich:
Alex S.
Foozogz.
JackleApp.

Aha. I may not now be much the wiser, as they say, but I am better informed...

(I did wonder if it was something like that, but one never knows...)

And nopony is more awesome than Lichy for hopereaver's sake!

Damn straight!

Phew. I owe ya one Titanium...

[Lix Lorn]

Besides, you know ME! What could be more awesome than that don't answer that Hopereaver if you want your inerds to stay inside!

*innards

I like being the only person who can get away with that.

[Titanium Fox]

*innards

I like being the only person who can get away with that.

You know, I actively debated it...

[Darthteej]

And a magical one, at that, seeing how crudely designed the harness is and how small the size to cabin ratio is. In fact, the design alone speaks volumes about money spent on it, being focused on aesthetic (free upper deck). I don't think we saw better example of how much better off the nobles are than the rest of the pony society :P

It still amazes me the collective knowledge that bronies have about physics, engineering, and biology.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Now that you are here, you may never leave.

Hey that's what multiple tabs are for. One for here, one for EqD, one for PMVs, etc.... so many tabs full of ponies.

[Eakin]

Hey that's what multiple tabs are for. One for here, one for EqD, one for PMVs, etc.... so many tabs full of ponies.

Ever forget to leave at least one neutral-activity tab so you can bounce to it really quick if a non-brony pops up behind you? Nothing gets the adrenaline going like searching your twelve open tabs for something innocent and realizing they're ALL pony.

No my friend, he rolled a 19 naturally on 3d6.

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I'm sticking with my second answer of noblesse oblige

[Forum Explorer]

Just read the latest update of Long Distance and wow. Didn't see that one coming. Rarity's letters are the best.

By the way a suggestion for a different name could be Letters from Home. Or perhaps Correspondence.

[Aotrs Commander]

*innards

I like being the only person who can get away with that.

...

You realise he's now just gonna take it out on me, right?

*wham*

Correct.

...squeeble...

[Soras Teva Gee]

Ever forget to leave at least one neutral-activity tab so you can bounce to it really quick if a non-brony pops up behind you? Nothing gets the adrenaline going like searching your twelve open tabs for something innocent and realizing they're ALL pony.

I never do, but then again I have a long long standing policy of only sitting with my flank towards the wall. (What I was using laptops before wi-fi foals!)

[Lix Lorn]

...

You realise he's now just gonna take it out on me, right?

*wham*

Correct.

...squeeble...

...darn.
(Starts working on developing a Secret Spell.)

[SiuiS]

Being a Magnificent *******. Or perhaps controlling snobs. Or worth recognition.

Yes. Being a magnificent dubiously-sired stallion.
And Nopony can argue because I called it! Double-tapsies no-quitsies. u.u

...can I have your friends? The religion retreat thing wouldn't suit me, but still

Apologies for the quibble, but spiritual and religious are different enough that I need to point it out.

And now SiuiS realizes why this post looks so odd; the veryfirst thing he [i-2thought[/i] he had quoted isn't there. And then he goes off to look for it, leaving Starry in charge.

HAHAHAHAHA I'M FREE!

On second thought we can greet our new friend later.
... Spoilsport.

I just realized through your signature, of what your name "Geno" is from. You are now automatically awesome. Also, the irony of that with using Smarty Pants as an avatar \o/

I KNOW! It's soooo awesome! /)^3^(\
There is a reason I first greeted Geno999 as an unpronounceable starbeast, after all~

Ason! Welcome aboard! You're just in time to see my latest image dump! :D

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Suddenly I fear for my life and liver <<;
Ah well. If I'm going to die of uisce bhatha it may as well be in a pony-related challenge.

Possibly.
...what are NSFH and NSFS?

It's not safe for work, not safe for home, and not safe for safety, methinks. Implying that it's just not safe. Period. Don't look. No seriously. Don't. Good ghandi, droplet, why did you look. Etc.

No my friend, he rolled a 19 naturally on 3d6.

Oh my stars I've done that! I rolled charisma like eight times and one of the dice kept coming up cocked, between six and four. Like five times. On the fifth roll I said "if it does it again, I'm keeping it."

I have a Gestalt Bard/Cleric of Lastai with a 21 starting charisma who's never seen actual play. Stupid mean DMs...

I still haven't watched Sweet and Elite. It simply hasn't interested me all that much...

I heard there was an airship in it. That's not true, right?

It's technically incorrect.
There is, however, what looks like a luxury yacht attached to a spell stitched moonwhale.

I'm sure I'd be very impressed if I had any idea who those people were...!

Besides, you know ME! What could be more awesome than that don't answer that Hopereaver if you want your inerds to stay inside!

Well, yes, you are correct. Bleakbane is awesome, top-heap.
But we are talking about coolness and radicalness, here. And let's be fair. You have absolutely no interest in being on the wrong side of ownership, so it's not really a problem.
Urge to see Lich in backwards cap and shades, rising

Hush, you're going to get me in trouble.

Dear Bronies who are also Black Metal fans,

So, uh... I briefly mentioned once or twice that I was working on a Black Metal cover of the FiM opening theme. It's not quite done yet, but here's the instrumental version. Low-quality distant guitars as standard. Drowned out screaming and hollowing version coming soon.
Look, I even drew a pretty picture of Fluttershy for everyone.

Yay~!

Also, nice. Much nicer than I expected, actually; my experience with black metal has been needlessly cacophonous, apparently.
I was kinda worried it would stagger me, actually...

... Seriously, Starry, go play or something. No posting doesn't mean slip stuff in when I'm talking.
But I'm RPing a personal space invader!
Ah said, "Git"!

It still amazes me the collective knowledge that bronies have about physics, engineering, and biology.

The Internet exists so that people with obscure, highly focused niche hobbies can network with other highly-focused niche-hobbyists and not be depressed. And according to broadway, also porn.
But more to the point! What's the point in an obscure knowl edge base if you can't bring it up I casual conversation where it shouldn't be appropriate and somehow fits? Why, without that, we wouldn't get a gigging from collapsing wave functions! And that's terrible.

[Anarion]

Best Newspaper correction ever.

...darn.
(Starts working on developing a Secret Spell.)

Have some mercy. Between the evil pikachu and the constant stress relief punching, there will soon be nothing left.


Edit

But more to the point! What's the point in an obscure knowl edge base if you can't bring it up I casual conversation where it shouldn't be appropriate and somehow fits? Why, without that, we wouldn't get a gigging from collapsing wave functions! And that's terrible.

I sum up my experience in law school as follows: If you haven't made your friends laugh with a joke about the no quartering troops clause in the Constitution, you're not trying hard enough.

[Lix Lorn]

Have some mercy. Between the evil pikachu and the constant stress relief punching, there will soon be nothing left.

Oh, it's a spell for Hopereaver. She occasionally takes my side, after all.

[Anarion]

Oh, it's a spell for Hopereaver. She occasionally takes my side, after all.

Forgive my ignorance, but...Hopereaver is a she?!?!

[Lix Lorn]

Forgive my ignorance, but...Hopereaver is a she?!?!

Yeah, that's what we all said too.
Even Aotrs. xD

[TheAmishPirate]

Alright, true to (half) of my promise made at the start of Christmas break, I have the rough draft of the first chapter of Flowers for Twilight. Six months after my last fic, likely going to be at least double the size, more dialogue than I've ever written, still have some bad lessons learned from excessive RP, and a concept what's made writers I consider far above me say "Good gravy, that's going to be hard."

To say that I could use a little help in the prereading department is a bit of an understatement.

Chapter 1

Specific questions/concerns for pre-readers:

Spoiler

Show

-What do you think of Twilight’s character here? If you knew nothing about the show, is she strong enough to stand as the main character here?
-How is the dialogue? Too wordy? Too short? Awkward wording? Weird jumps in logic?
-Do you think the flashback fits, or should it be paraphrased?
-Are the other characters good enough? Should Twi give a little more introduction to them? Do they need more physical descriptions?

[sellyme]

Hey! Sellyme here, registered to answer a few things I've seen here.

Okay, so question for y'all.

As you might be aware, Everfree Radio made a Top 100 Pony Songs 2011 list. In the comment field to the related post on Equestria Daily, a poster named Hungover asked why Swagberg ft. Maros's Pony Swag was not even on the list (myself, I expected it in top 10, no questions; it was #1 on Celestia Radio's Top 50 Pony Songs list). One of the list compilers replied:

What? Am I missing something, because I see no such implications in that song. Sure, he's using some harsh language, but MicTheMicrophone's One Trick Pony made #12 and that's arguably worse. He's also making some feminist comments which I can't quite decipher, but that's not what they hit on (and besides, I think it's a jab at some feminist who argues that the show has too many girls; yeah, that's a major problem -.-').

I'm just asking. What am I missing?

It is possible you have the "Radio Edit". This radio edit is, to put it bluntly, bad. They didn't re-write the lyrics like they should have, they just looped some of the lyrics so it repeats them twice, and this sounded horrific.

We were going to put Pony Swag Megamix in the list, and cut out the verse we had issues with, however the list ended up being 7 hours without it, and we decided that 20 minute songs would not help this. This is also the same reason Something Broke by Tarby is not in the list.

To zoom in on about "foul" language: We kinda messed up. Instead of airing the Safe For Work version of One Trick Pony, we aired the original. Unfortunately we didn't have a SFW version of Griffin Metropolis, but we figured that we could get away with that because it was rather early on in the countdown when not many people were listening. The radio station actually IS meant to be PG-13. But as I said, we definitely weren't going to use lines like "**** a ****er", because firstly: We were trying to stick to PG-13 as best as possible, and secondly: That is just bad lyric-writing.

What you are missing is the Youtube version of the song differs from the official download version of the song.

Or that.

There are probably more hidden reason there than we know

Not really. We have nothing wrong with rap (hell, Mic is like... 6 of the top 13), and we were going to include Pony Swag Megamix with a verse or two cut out, but in the end we didn't.

Anywho, I think that's about it. Thank you all for your interest, but if you have any more questions please send them to the email visible in this screenshot, as I won't be checking this thread regularly:

http://i.imgur.com/0LUG3.png

(Took a screenshot to avoid spambots, I get enough emails about viagra sales as it is)

[Thanqol]

I still haven't watched Sweet and Elite. It simply hasn't interested me all that much...

I heard there was an airship in it. That's not true, right?

Seriously, what. It's one of my favourite episodes of all time. How have you not watched it. What.

Just read the latest update of Long Distance and wow. Didn't see that one coming. Rarity's letters are the best.

By the way a suggestion for a different name could be Letters from Home. Or perhaps Correspondence.

Thank you, I'm glad to know that worked out.

Hmm, good thoughts for retitling. Nothing I fully want to commit to yet...

Alright, true to (half) of my promise made at the start of Christmas break, I have the rough draft of the first chapter of Flowers for Twilight. Six months after my last fic, likely going to be at least double the size, more dialogue than I've ever written, still have some bad lessons learned from excessive RP, and a concept what's made writers I consider far above me say "Good gravy, that's going to be hard."

To say that I could use a little help in the prereading department is a bit of an understatement.

Chapter 1

Specific questions/concerns for pre-readers:

Spoiler

Show

-What do you think of Twilight’s character here? If you knew nothing about the show, is she strong enough to stand as the main character here?
-How is the dialogue? Too wordy? Too short? Awkward wording? Weird jumps in logic?
-Do you think the flashback fits, or should it be paraphrased?
-Are the other characters good enough? Should Twi give a little more introduction to them? Do they need more physical descriptions?

Spoiler

Show

On top of that, Spike didn’t go to sleep until late tonight, so-*squeak!*” She rubbed her head, glaring at the offending squeaky toy that fell out of nowhere.

This does not work as an action sequence. Dialogue interruption, results of interruption, explain what interruption is - the sequence is wonked.

She sighed loud enough to catch Rose’s attention. “Fine, you win. Give me an hour or two to get started and I’ll see you there.”

Huh? "You win"? Somehow that doesn't follow from a seemingly legitimate "Oh, that's fine, homework comes first". To win something it must be established as a game.

Twilight didn’t know how Summer Breeze always knew which room would be open, or why the teachers never pushed for stricter locks. Maybe the fact that she could spot her History and Transmutation professors chatting and laughing over by the punch bowl had something to do with it.

I'm noticing a pattern by this point; you make an observation which raises a question, and then you provide an offhand fact that completely redefines the context of the scene. It feels really weird structurally. If two teachers are present at the party, that's a Big Deal and should get way more examination than how Summer secured the room. If you mentioned that piece of information first, the entire question of how she always knew where there were open rooms becomes completely moot and pointless.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “You make it sound like you had to drag me here. I wouldn’t miss one of Summer’s parties.”

This seems out of character for pre-Ponyville Twilight. And I can put together from what you've mentioned to me about this story before that this might be the point, but you have simply not established that this Twilight is different from the show's Twilight. The first time we saw Twilight on screen it was running away from a party to go nerd it up. If you're challenging that, you absolutely must establish that by making the out-of-character cheerfulness consistent.

Twilight must obviously and deliberately act like Not Twilight for us to understand that this is a deliberate decision on your part and not poor writing. This means a major personality change is necessary. There should be some of the Twilight we know there, but it has to be deeply different at the same time. Look at Rainbow's characterisation in Dash Academy for what I mean there.

teleportation lubricant,

hurr hurr hurr

When the unicorn builders finished this room, they had to be dragged off by guards to keep them from playing about in it. A unicorn couldn’t ask for a more perfect playground.

That's a bizarre factoid that doesn't work in this context. A room full of magical stuff, sure, a room to stop magical stuff getting out of hand? For, er, builders? What?

I can see students having crazy spell-offs, perhaps, but... even then I can't see it. Unicorns are limited by more than collateral damage when they want to cut loose. Citation: Twilight's giant spell in Boast Busters didn't look easy. I don't really see what the appeal of a room where you can't accidentally cause a disaster is to a bunch of builders. This does not work on any level, kill it.

Moondancer shrugged and took a sip of punch, nonplussed by their reactions. “Oh, I’ve been here long enough.” Her gaze moved to Twilight, and she unconsciously shifted behind Rose. “So tell me, Sparkle, is it true that this would be your first time with ritual magic?”

Clarify that Twilight's doing the shifting. Also this entire sequence strikes me as really awkward for some reason. Is Moondancer a jerk? Could we... establish that somehow?

Questions for pre-readers:
-What do you think of Twilight’s character here? If you knew nothing about the show, is she strong enough to stand as the main character here?

Twilight's characterisation is a little weak, to be honest. She seems kinda wallflowery in this; she hasn't really demonstrated any big emotions, beliefs or actions. The time she seemed the most alive was in her scene with Celestia. Everywhere else, I'm not sure exactly what you're going for with the character.

-How is the dialogue? Too wordy? Too short? Awkward wording? Weird jumps in logic?

The dialogue doesn't strike me as awkward, as such, but it kind of lacks punch. They're kind of talking about boring things a lot, and nopony's said anything particularly smart or funny. It's small talk. And, again, the one time it really came alive was in Celestia's scene where they're introducing a new, interesting concept that feels like it's about to become really important.

-Do you think the flashback fits, or should it be paraphrased?

I think it was the strongest part of the story.

-Are the other characters good enough? Should Twi give a little more introduction to them? Do they need more physical descriptions?

I have no idea why everypony is so weird around Moondancer.
Rose and Summer, I don't feel like I know enough about. What are their talents? What do they do? What's their Virtue and their Vice? What would their Discorded versions look like? If they had an Element, what would that Element be? What are their favourite colours? If I can't answer questions like these for any given character, I feel like I don't know the character well enough and the author needs to do more.

Overall: Intriguing, but needs stronger characterisation across the board.