My Little Pony XL: The Plot Thickens!

[Forum Explorer]

Chapter 1

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"What?!" Spike coughed spraying bits of sapphire across the breakfast table. Shooting a look of disbelief at Twilight he continued "You want to do more research on the Want it, Need it Spell? Last time you cast that spell you caused all of Ponyville to riot!" Spike practically shouted at Twilight.

"Exactly Spike" Twilight replied, waving a hoof as if to brush away Spike's concerns. "That spell isn't designed to work like that and I want to figure out what went wrong."

"Uh-uh, no way. I don't want to end up as a love crazed zombie." Spike shook his head adamantly.

"Well how about this? I cast an anti-magic spell on you first so you'll be immune and that way you can supervise and make sure things don't get out of hand." Twilight offered

"I don't know Twilight, it still seems like a bad idea"

"Pleeeeease Spike." Twilight's eyes watered up with fake tears and her lip began to wobble.

"Fine, fine. But one more condition! We tell Princess Celestia what we're doing first, so she can keep an eye on things in case I can't handle."

"Alright Spike, take a note.

Twilight quickly dictated her plans for her new project to her assistant.

"Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

Ok Spike send it, and start grabbing books. Lets start with Clover's Compendium of Classic Castings."

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Twilight hummed in contentment as she finished reading the last page of the book. Getting up she stretched to work out some of the kinks of staying still for so long. Two weeks of studying had wreaked havoc on her posture.

"Spike? Spiiiike?" She called

"Yes Twilight, what is it?" Spike replied hurrying over from where he was sorting his gem collection

"I've figured out what I did wrong last time!" Twilight said humming some more and doing a little victory dance. Spike couldn't help but smile at her antics.

"So what did you find out?" Spike asked after a few moments.

"Oh right! I figured out that last time I cast the spell I did everything right, except that I used a little bit too much power." Twilight said coming back down to reality.

"How much more power?"

"......."

"Sorry what was that?"

"About a hundred times too much." Twilight admitted sheepishly "The spell is only meant to make the selected ponies love whatever the target of the spell is, not turn them into love crazed zombies."

"So you mean you've always been casting that spell wrong but last time was particularly bad? How are they supposed to act?"

"Apparently completely normally, just as if they had naturally fallen in love. Its all supposed to be very subtle."

".... For some reason that actually seems scarier then the love crazed zombies" Spike's scales clicked as he shuddered.

"Oh Spike you worry too much" Twilight rubbed his head affectionately. "Everything is going to be fine, I just need to cast the spell as a trial and we can study something else. All I need now is a test subject."

"What's this about a test subject? Why would you want to test somepony? Tests are Bor-ing! I mean I-"

"Ah! Pinkie Pie! Where did you come from?" Twilight shouted, turning around in surprise.

"Sugercube Corner, duh. I mean where else would I come from? What a silly question Twilight you already know where I live. So maybe you meant where I came from originally? Well when a mare and a stallion love each other really much-"

"N-nevermind Pinkie! Just what do you want?" Twilight reeled back, a little stunned by the sheer velocity of Pinkie's speech.

"I'm throwing a party and you have to be there! And no buts Twilight, you've spent the last two weeks working on this project of yours and we have barely seen you at all. Besides you have to come! Me and Applejack have finally created Sweet Apple Cider Cupcakes! It has almonds in it Twilight! Almonds!" Pinkie's eyes bugged out a little as she pressed her face up to Twilight's for a second. "Anyways its the first official testing and I want my bestest friends to all be there! Though spoiler alert; the cupcakes are delicious." Pinkie started to bounce around Twilight as she kept talking.

"Applejack and I" Twilight corrected automatically before her brain caught up with Pinkie, "An Apple Cider Cupcake? That sounds pretty good, and I've finished the book research anyways, I just need to test the spell. So yes I'll be there Pinkie!" Twilight said with her stomach slightly grumbling.

"Great, see ya at eight!" And with that Pinkie bounced back out of the library.
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Pinkie's party was a smashing success as always. The music was a perfect blend of classic and modern hits, even featuring the latest hit from OctaviaxScratch Productions. 'Guppy's Pick' Punch was as tasty as ever and this time with 100% less gator! But the real hit of the party were the Apple Cider Cupcakes. Pinkie had thought ahead and baked them in such large amounts that they initially had formed a miniature Ponyville in the middle of Surgarcube Corner. Initially, because as soon as the party began Rainbow Dash had begun devouring them. She had already polished her own home off as well as Town Hall and now was working her way through the cupcake bounty of Sweet Apple Acres. The others had eaten their fair share of the cupcake town and were now simply having a good time, either on the dance floor or just talking to each other.

"So what have ya been working on these last few weeks sugarcube?" Applejack asked with a cup of punch balanced on her hat.

"Well remember that Want it Need it spell? I've figured out why it went so horribly wrong last time." Twilight replied.

"An' what's that?"

"I simply used far too much power. Now I'd like to cast it again to see what the effects are when it's working properly. But Spike's already said no and I doubt anypony is willing to let me even try!" Twilight complained.

"Well shucks, can ya blame em? Nopony wants to be a love crazed zombie."

"The spell isn't supposed to do that! It's apparently much more subtle but I don't know what that means." Twilight explained hanging her head low in weariness.

Applejack just stared at Twilight. On one hoof she felt bad for the purple mare. On the other hoof, she didn't exactly want to be a love crazed zombie. But if Twilight got too frustrated she might take it in her head to just cast the spell on some unwitting pony. It was Applejack's duty, no her privilege to bite the bullet for all of Ponyville.

"Shoot, Ah think Ah'll regret this but Ah reckon you can cast the spell on me." Applejack volunteered with a gulp.

"Really?!" Twilight beamed at Applejack

"But you promise me right now that if Ah'm actin the least bit odd you'll stop the spell immediately, got it?"

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye! Thank you Applejack! I promise nothing bad will happen."

Suddenly Pinkie Pie rushed over

"Hi girls! Whatcha talking about? Twilight's smiling so it must be funny or good news! Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me!" She said.

"Applejack volunteered to help me test the new improved Want it Need it Spell. " Twilight explained.

Now all of their friends were crowded around them, talking excitedly.

"Darling are you sure about this? Hearts aren't something you should be trifling with."

"I can't wait! This is going to be so awesome! Seeing Applejack mooning over some object is going to be so funny"

"Good luck, Twilight. Um, do you mind if I watch as well. I-if you don't mind that is.

"This is going to be so much fun! So when are you casting the spell?"

Applejack just facehooved at the attention. Her little favor to Twilight just got turned into a spectacle for all of their friends. At least Applebloom and Big Mac won't be there. She consoled herself.

"I don't see why not. I was thinking of beginning testing first thing tomorrow morning, if that's alright with you Applejack?" Twilight asked.

"Sure, might as well get this over with quickly." Applejack replied, her voice muffled by her hoof.

The girls chatted some more, excited about what the morning would bring. Nopony was paying attention to Spike who decided to sneak out and write an emergency letter to the Princess.

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The sun was just beginning to rise as the Elements of Harmony plus Spike made their way outside of Ponyville. Applejack was dragging her "Thanks for saving Ponyville" award. The award was nearly a foot taller then her and made from solid brass. After reaching the lake they stopped walking and Applejack spit the reward from her mouth. Amazing the award stayed up right.

"Alright Twi, mind tellin me what you wanted with mah award?"

"Well I figured that if anything does go wrong then you'll all fall in love with something that is too big to carry easily. That's also why we are all the way out here so no other pony could be caught by the spell."

"Well why are we out here so early? I mean the sun isn't even up yet!" Rainbow Dash complained.

"Ah didn't ask you to come Rainbow. You could have just slept in!" Applejack retorted.

"Ha! Fat chance AJ! I wouldn't miss this for season tickets to the Wonderbolts." Rainbow Dash grinned at her friend.

"Well lets just get this over with. Ah'd rather not spend all day under this spell."

"Alright, Applejack I want you to focus on the trophy as much as you can, everypony else close your eyes so you don't get caught in the spell."

Twilight bent her head till her horn was only a micron away from actually touching the trophy. She felt the magic well up in her and began weaving the spell. She was taking extraordinary care in making sure that everything was right. After all not only was Applejack trusting her, she'd never live it down if she messed up this spell again. She was just finishing up the very last part of the spell when Luna's Royal Canterlot Voice hit her from behind at point blank range.

GREETINGS TWILIGHT SPARKLE! WE ARE PLEASED TO ONCE AGAIN MEET WITH YOU!

and then everything blew up.

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Chapter 2

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Twilight woke up to an annoying beeping noise. Looking around she noticed she was in the hospital, with the beeping coming from a heart rate monitor. Before she could notice anything else she was surrounded by her friends, chattering in concern. Before things could get out of control, Nurse Redheart and Princess Luna entered the room.

"Quiet! Some of the other patients are resting." The nurse hissed. The girls muttered some apologies. Giving them one last glare, Nurse Redheart bowed to her Highness and left the room.

"Oh, Twilight. Are you feeling well? We apologies for startling you, it was not our intent to scare you into miscasting the spell." Luna said softly.... well softly for her anyways, which amounted to a normal indoors volume.

"Ugh, what happen exactly?" Twilight asked, still a little groggy from waking up.

"We're not sure darling." Rarity replied

"Yeah, because we all had our eyes close and Applejack was looking at the award. So we were just standing there with our eyes closed when we heard Luna say hi and then there was a sound like a firework going off too close and when we open our eyes you were lying on the ground and unconscious. But you're awake now and everything is better!" Pinkie answered.

"When you miscast the spell it imploded. The resulting blast knocked you unconscious. We rushed you to the hospital as quickly as we could." Luna said.

"But Princess, why were you here in the first place?" Twilight asked

"Please Twilight, we would like it if you called us Luna. But to answer your question your squire Spike sent our royal sister a letter informing her of an 'attempt to cast an dangerous spell' that you would perform this morning. Rather then wait for our sister to awaken we rushed over as soon as the Night Court had been dismissed."

"Letter? SPIKE?!" Twilight shouted.

"Oh-umm I gotta go clean up the library Twilight! Glad to see you're awake." Spike ran for the door.

"Oh no you don't!" Twilight tried to teleport him back with her horn. However just some weak sparks appeared and a sharp pain shot through her head "OW, what just happened?"

"You should be more careful Twilight, here have some water" Fluttershy said lifting a glass up to her lip.

"Thanks Fluttershy but why did it hurt to use magic?"

"If you don't mind, I'll answer that." The doctor said entering the room. "Now Twilight it appears that as a result of your accident you've sprained you're horn. Its not a big deal but I would recommend not using any heavy duty spells and just sticking to basic levitation and movement spells for the next week."

"A week without magic?" Twilight whined

"Come on Sugarcube, you've spent more time then that just readin before. Ah'm sure a week will pass before you know it."

"Yeah I guess your right. So how long till I can leave the hospital?" Twilight admitted.

"You can leave right now if you'd like. Besides the sprained horn there is nothing wrong with you. Just be sure to come back in a week so I can give you a check up." The doctor replied.

Twilight just nodded in agreement. After a few hours of some tedious paperwork she was free to go.

"We'll have to take our leave of you now Twilight Sparkle. Our sister will be wondering why we missed breakfast. Don't be surprised if she decides to drop in on you sometime this next week." And before anypony could even wish her goodbye the Princess took off, flying back towards Canterlot.

"Well that certainly was-"

"Abrupt?" Rarity suggested.

"Yes, thank you. I guess I'll see you girls later?" Twilight said.

The girls said their goodbyes, each promising to drop by later to check up on her. I'm so lucky to have such caring friends. Twilight thought to herself Now I just need to come up for a fitting punishment for Spike.

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Twilight was just beginning to reread one of her Daring Doo books when Applejack knocked on her front door.

"Come in!"

"Hey Twilight Ah was wondering if Ah could talk to you for a while." Applejack said

"Sure. What's going on?"

"Well, you see I've been feelin a might odd after you woke up."

"What do you mean by odd?"

"Ah can't focus and everytime Ah think of the accident this morning it feels like my stomach is flip-flopping all over the place."

"And you think its because of the spell?"

"Ah don't know Twilight, but Ah need to be able to focus on mah work. So Ah was hoping you could help?" Applejack couldn't keep the pleading look out of her eyes, despite her best efforts.

"I don't know how I can help. Without my magic I can't even check if you are being affected by the spell or if those emotions are entirely natural. I couldn't even teach another unicorn to cast the spell due to the complexity of the detection spell. Well I'm sure there are some unicorns in Canterlot who could help but you don't really need my help to contact them." Twilight took a deep breath after she finished.

"Uh huh. Your sure there's nothing you can do to help?"

"I guess I could just come down to Sweet Apple Acres and observe you for a while."

Applejack blushed "A-ah wouldn't want to strain you after the accident. Ah'm sure I can just muddle through this on mah own till you get your magic back."

"Oh it won't be a problem at all. I'll just hang around and see if your acting different. Plus I can help you with your chores, so even if you're distracted we'll be sure to finish them together."

"But ah-" Applejack muttered before being interrupted by Twilight

"Come on lets get started!" Twilight called, already halfway out the door. Applejack just nodded dumbly. Shoot, what's going on with me? Now I'm more shy and distracted then ever. I hope Twilight can think of something to help me. Applejack thought to herself as she followed her friend, never taking her eyes off the purple mare for a second.

Meanwhile outside of Ponyville a certain light blue unicorn was taking a break from hauling her wagon around. She sat in front of her most prized possession, a full length mirror gilded in gold.

"Ok Trixie, we've nearly arrived in Ponyville. Its nearly time to implement the plan. Knock em dead, Trixie." She said to her reflection.

"But what if it goes wrong? This is one gig I can't afford to fail!"

"That's just stage fright talking. The Great and Powerful Trixie can do anything! With these new spells Trixie's learned, Trixie can win over all of Ponyville!"

"I don't need to win over all of Ponyville I just need to- Well I suppose some extra practice can't hurt." Trixie interrupted herself and walked back outside, mentally going over her plan one last time.

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Rainbow Dash was going about her normal weather duties. The weather called for partially cloudy and she was trying to decide just how many clouds that called for and where to put them. The work was tedious and boring so when she heard a loud commotion coming from Ponyville she took the opportunity to investigate and take a break. Flying down she noticed a simple roofed wagon making its way slowly through Ponyville under its own power. Curious ponies surrounded it taking care to stay out of its way as it trudged forward. Rainbow Dash not content with just watching patiently flew up to the carriage and knocked loudly on the wood.

"Hey! Is anypony home?"

There was no response and after a few more tries Rainbow Dash gave up. She headed back up to take a nap instead. Taking one last glance down at the cart she jumped back up when she realized that the cart was headed straight for Twilight's library.

"Oh no you don't." Rainbow Dash flew up to the cart and pushed against it with all her strength. However the cart still made its way towards the library. Soon it had reached its destination and halted a few strides away from the door. Rainbow Dash slowly lowered her hooves, still eyeing the cart suspiciously. The cart suddenly erupted in fireworks and sparklers, the front of it unfolding to form a miniature stage.

"Greetings ponies of Ponyville! The Great and Powerful Trixie has returned!" The mare proclaimed as she appeared in a puff of smoke.

"What the hay do you think you're doing here Trixie!" A singed Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew up to confront Trixie.

"That is no business of yours. The Great and Powerful Trixie is here for one purpose which involves Twilight Sparkle and need not concern anypony else. Now if you'll excuse me." Trixie pushed past Rainbow Dash and knocked on the door to the library. The door was opened almost immediately in response by Spike who had rushed downstairs at the sound of fireworks.

"Trixie! Why are you here?" Spike asked

"Ah you must be Twilight Sparkle's minion Spike. Trixie is here to meet with Twilight Sparkle. Do your mistress a favor and fetch her for Trixie."

"I'm not her minion! And Twilight isn't here anyways, not that she would want to talk to a fraud like you!"

"Yeah that's right! Twilight is ten times the unicorn you are so forget whatever delusional plans you have of challenging her." Rainbow added.

"Trixie will have you know that she has obtained new heights of power that were beyond even her own imagination. Regardless the Great and Powerful Trixie will meet with Twilight Sparkle. If she is not here then Trixie will wait for her return." With that said and a flick of her tail the mare jumped back up on stage and sat down to wait, ignoring the twin glares from Rainbow Dash and Spike.

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Working at Sweet Apple Acres had been a disaster. Every time Applejack had managed to relax and get to work, Twilight would say or do something and Applejack would get all distracted again. Her eyes and thoughts constantly drifted to Twilight and whenever she tried to say something to Twilight she felt all tongue-tied and shy.

"Well that's the last of the chores." A bruised and battered Twilight said. "And you certainly are being affected by something. Though I don't know what. You didn't seem to respond at all when we brought the trophy out or had Big Mac try and steal it. Even when we tried to destroy it you didn't react." Applejack just nodded smiling at the memory of the disastrous tests. The trophy itself remained unharmed, not even showing the smallest of dents from her brother tackling it.

"Anyways I think I should come back tomorrow and do some more tests."

"W-what?! NO! Ah mean, you need your rest sugarcube. Remember you got your own injury to heal from and working at the farm without your magic isn't very restful."

"But I can't just ignore your problem. What kind of friend would I be then?"

"Don't you worry sugarcube. Ah'm a big pony and Ah'll be fine. Ah just am having some odd feelins, that's all. But if it makes you feel better Ah'll stop by Zecora's tomorrow and see what she thinks." Applejack replied.

"Alright, if you insist." Twilight said reluctantly causing Applejack to sigh in relief. She doubted if her nerves could stand another day around her lavender friend. Plus Zecora might be able to help anyways, that Zebra had remedies for the strangest thing and she was always good for advice. The pair said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Twilight walked up to her house, too tired and sore to notice the wagon at her front door.

"Hey Spike don't bother waking me up tomorrow morning. I want to sleep in for once." Twilight said walking inside and heading straight for her bed. Before she could get anywhere she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash flying in front of her.

"Twilight what happened to you? You look awful!"

"Rainbow Dash what are you doing in my house!? and Trixie too?" Twilight yelped noticing Trixie for the first time.

"Trixie has something she wants to say to you. I hung around to make sure she didn't try anything." Rainbow explained

"Well what did you want Trixie?"

"The Great and Powerful Trixie-" Trixie took a deep breath before continuing "-I mean I have something to say to you Twilight Sparkle. Ever since you vanquished the Ursa Minor where Trixie could not, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. It took a while for me to come to terms with my feelings but I have. I-I love you Twilight Sparkle!"

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Alright I think that's a good end point for chapter 2. Any comments or critique?

[Beacon of Chaos]

Eh, I remember distinctly thinking that the lightshow wasn't magical. Or at least not definitively so; alas, my DVR/tv connection is shot, such that I can't watch anything. Otherwise I'd check.

Got some screens for you, though it's probably not as good as watching the video.

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Rarity comes on stage and her horn glows, then purple swirls appear.


The same swirls are reflected in HT's glasses, and the glow from the horn can be seen from off camera.

Here, Rarity fades out, and the swirls coalesce into the purple star scene which is the intro for Twilight's dress.

To me it's pretty clear that Rarity uses her magic to conjure up the effects for the fashion show.

There has! There was a weird sort of Twi/Xie, Twi/Luna fic that opened with Twilight witnessing a poor and destitute Trixie trying to put on a show wihout her wagon and such. It went into some detail about the pattern of magic made, which Twilight bolstered using her own reserves. It was a beautiful idea, which sadly never caught on. Perhaps too complicated for the general crowd. *shrug*

Oh, I think I read that one. The whole fic was 1st person from Twilights POV. Very good read, I thought, even if it was a little too shippy for my tastes (Twilight pretty much has feelings for four different mares in that one). Can't remember what it's called now.

Alright I think that's a good end point for chapter 2. Any comments or critique?

Comments:

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I liked it! Not much really to add I'm afraid. Not much good with critique. Didn't notice any errors.

Keep up the good work!

[Soras Teva Gee]

Alright, my update for today on the Spoiler B Gone thing:

DO YOU HATE SPOILER TAGS?

Well, Deadly's here to help you get rid of them... with a vengeance! Create a new bookmark in your browser and copy the code below as the link/url of said bookmark. Name it something helpful, like "Spoilers B GONE!" or whatever. Then whenever you view a thread here on GitP you just hit the bookmark and BAM! no more spoilers.

You won't even see the boxes, just the bare innards in all their gory glory.

It also makes sure that no image is wider than 600px, to avoid stretching pages, and will attempt to "intelligently" remove repeated images except avatars. Neat, huh? Sadly that last part means stuff like pony emotes may get lost but the forum doesn't make it easy for me to single out images in quotes as I'd have liked... that's an open problem, I guess.

Tested in Firefox, Chrome and Opera. Should work in any modern browser, but you never know with these things.

javascript:(function() { var a = document.getElementsByTagName('div'); for (var i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { if (a[i].className == 'spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'block'; a[i].className = ''; } else if (a[i].className == 'pre-spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'none'; }} var ims = new Array(); var tmp; a = document.getElementsByTagName('img'); for (i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { tmp = a[i].parentNode.className ; if (ims.indexOf(a[i].getAttribute('src')) == -1) { ims.push(a[i].getAttribute('src')); a[i].style.maxWidth = '600px'; } else if (tmp != 'avataroverflow' && tmp != 'alt2') { a[i].style.display = 'none' ; }}})();

If you don't mind repeated images, here's a version that leaves them be.

javascript:(function() { var a = document.getElementsByTagName('div'); for (var i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { if (a[i].className == 'spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'block'; a[i].className = ''; } else if (a[i].className == 'pre-spoiler') { a[i].style.display = 'none'; }} a = document.getElementsByTagName('img'); for (i = 0 ; i < a.length ; i++) { a[i].style.maxWidth = '600px'; }})();

Well, ShelltoonTV released another icon pack, so there's an update to the Seekrit Pony Projekt.

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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Jg8wb.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9KKKz.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/KjRiq.png[/IMG]
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[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/0GUM4.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/cCNvw.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/4mTcY.png[/IMG]

Editing the both of these in

[SiuiS]

How much green text?
ALL OF IT¹!

I have returned from my vacation, and pics will be uploaded in due time, but there is some business to attend to first. Namely, the two new episodes, a week's worth of ponythread, various RPs, Ask Blogs, and the dozen and a half other awesome works of music, art, writing, or whatever this fandom can put out in that time. Now the sensible response would be to slowly catch up on this pile of pony over a few days, but when I have I ever taken the sensible response? So without further ado...

Cover me ponythread.

*readies flintlock pistols*

I'm going in.

*holding a stringless fiddle and a loaf of frenchbread as a bow, Starry takes position to the side of the door before the dramatic kick-in!*

Can we expect a Siuis style megaquote?

Eeheeheeheeheehee, yeeeessssss! Join us, precious!

On the new episode: [Authors note: it's about time]

I thought it was lovely in every way.

Although I'm beginning to expect them to show us something more substantial about Starswirl at some point now, this is the third time they have namedropped him (her?) now.

StarSwirl is probably a boy. On account of all the beardliness~

I do hope there is just a touch more information, but honestly I don't think the writers locking down the details would be a good thing. Especially as, aside from cool-sounding names, said writers have. No. Idea. What half of this stuff is. Seriously, preclassical area, paleopony period? Especially trying to shoe-horn in all this stuff in the only timeline we have: 1,000 years ago Nightmare Moon was banished. That is a terrible thing, because once you mention "one thousand years" human brains stop working, and forget that fifty years is enough to enact vast social, scientific and economic changes. It also means that people will naturally try to fit benchmarks in before or after that point. It creates that whole 'obviously artificial' feel.

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And Starswirl totally could show up given that HE INVENTED TIME TRAVEL

Pffff no time travel cannot be invented, it's like mathematics; you have to discover it.

That said, StarSwirl showing up and looking at Twilight and saying "I AM A WIZARD", and responding to her blank stare with "YOU ARE ALSO A WIZARD" would be hilarious in ways Nopony else is likely to get~

While one could argue this implied by the episode there's a hole in that logic. Allow me to demonstrate: everything at the Kennedy Space Center was created by JFK.

Thanks! I though I was gonna have to argue that one myself.

I actually got a lot out of that. It made the plot tie together nicely for me in a way that wouldn't otherwise.

The repeat I the opening scene right? Me too. Without that, I think the episode would have been a touch weaker. We needed to see the scene from both ends, see that it flowed organically.

It's like those bad dialogues where someone gets cut off, but instead they stop and two seconds later they are 'interupted'. Better to have the full line recorded and actually cut it off.

new episode minor details:

- Twilight has meetings with the Ponyville Hay board, does that mean she serves as some sort of city council positions?
- invisibility spell canon, also is Thornhill a pony historian?
- Why is Pinkie hair cut an emergency prevention measure?
- new locations: Las Pegasus (or Los Pegasus, depends on your interpretation), Baltimare, Tartarus.
- I like that Horsehead Nebula is real.
- Star Swirl the Bearded wing as Soras said, can be interpreted as just a wing named after him, containing spells and scrolls from other pony authors, magician and historians.

Hm. No, no I think they just consider her a specialist. We've seen Dame Sparkle do complex mathematics for fun, and as of Winter Wrap-Up she has demonstrable organization skills.

She is probably just being brought in as a specialist and asked questions or to present a case.

Counting down to the time they have to turn the hourglass back over!

Sweet Sisters, you're insane! We don't have the right, man! We don't have the power! Your ideas fly in the very face of natural order, of the gods themselves!

rarity/sweetie as vampires

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I don't know if you learn anymore, but congratulations once again, Bakuel! Your art continues to be fantabulous.

Well, I haven't been able to watch the episode yet, however, the following words were spoken tonight, and are currently my facebook status:

How much is it for just a Happy Meal toy? ... Okay, I'll have one. Do I get to pick which one? ... Okay, I'll have Rarity. No, wait, Fluttershy. ... Yellow with pink hair. No, the ponies. ... Yeah, this one. ... Okay, you know what, I'll have a second one, too. Rarity. ... White with Purple hair. Yup, that one. Never thought I'd have to explain this to a girl.

I've been spending too much time elsewhere, that last bit riles me up a touch. Even though I totally get the tone and make those jokes myself, le sigh.

Seriously though! "which girl's toy do you have?" "lemme check... Ok... We have the pony one." "... Yeah, we'll just see which one it is at the window. Grab one of each please." "okay, oh this one is blue." "*thinks of Thanqol* grab two of that one please."

While one could argue this implied by the episode there's a hole in that logic. Allow me to demonstrate: everything at the Kennedy Space Center was created by JFK.

Fun idea though.

AAAAAAAH TIME TRAVEL
GROUNDSHOGS DAY LOOP
WHAT HATH PONYKIND WROUGHT
AAAAAAAAAoh wait maybe I just derp'd the quote. Hm.

So uh. things arent so great right now and i have no idea why im posting this here, but having exhausted my options all i can do now is wait.

My sister left for a friends house early today, and when she left, she said she would be back tomorrow. Well she arrives at said friends house then leaves, telling one story to the friends parent, and another to mine. No one has seen her since. i suspect shes out drinking... however, no one knows where either of them are, and she has her car with her. no one is answering call or texts.
Trying not to panic, shes 18 and responsible enough.
but there is always that nagging thought.

EDIT: No sooner did i post this did i receive a call from my very intoxicated sister. False alarm.*
sorry about that =\

There is always that nagging thought, indeed. And it's a good sign that you both worry, and understand that she is responsible.

Although two different cover stories? Lame. Lying is a stain upon one's honor, a pockmark on the soul. If one absolutely must deface oneself in such a manner, should one not at least do a good job?

And more importantly, mate - we're your friends
Go ahead and show up here and tell us your troubles. That's what friends are for. *hug!*

Do I have to bring up Donald Duck here?

Yes. Donald is always worth mentioning!

You're no fun.

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Can we force this into memehood? Please?

Uh, um, uh,

D= I don't remember what I wanted to saaaaaay *whines*

I...I made it. All the posts from my absence to now...I read 'em all...

(\! +1

And this is apparently the only thing I marked for quoting. Huh. SiuiS, how do you do it? Either way, PIPSQUEAK IS BEST PONY.

Good heavens, I wish I knew. I can't help myself, it's an obsession.

Don't just sit there reading this! HELP ME

@Mafia: DBC, if nothing else, this proves why you need to be around more. You say you're the sane one, but things like this keep happening whenever you post. You say that cowboy hat is to keep the silly out, but what if it's keeping the silly in, hm? Maybe that ten-gallon hat is hiding ten gallons of nonsensical whimsy!

*dramatic slam of hooves on table*

Your Honor! I move that we hold this pony's hat in contempt of court!

I OBJECT!
Science has show that a ten gallon hat can only actually hold 2.5 gallons, tops! And silly isn't measurable in liquid volume, I say we move to have this case dismissed. Avoirdupois, Troy, or fluid is a waste of the court's time!

@Presidential Ponies: I am saddened I missed the chance to make campaign ads for ponies.

Dot worry, it'll come back around in about four years~

@Soras: Good to see you back!

And he brought his avatar too!

And now, some RL/writing stuff:
So...Disney World was awesome. It's been a rough term and I really needed the break, and it was great to see family again. But more than that, it was like a massive breath of fresh air. I realized I'd been spending time on ponythread and ponies not because it was something I legitimately enjoyed, but more out of obligation. Ponies were a thing that Amish did, and that was that. But that was becoming my excuse for refreshing the threads and the Ask Blogs instead of, well, doing things. And in a trend that I wholeheartedly blame Thanqol in part for, I realized something was wrong, and instead of simply noticing it, I'm going to try and fix it.

Good stuff! Nothing kills a thing more than a sense of obligation where none should exist.

Part of that invovles the fic I've been working on. I could say that it's stalled for lack of time and energy, and that would be true, but I think it's more than that. If all I do in my free time is spend my time browsing the internet or playing games, and my writing time consists of half trying to write scenes I haven't planned with no direction and half bored internet browsing, then I'm doing a disservice to myself. Writing isn't just sitting down in front of a keyboard and waiting for the ideas to come. It takes intentional planning and effort. In other words; effort.

Right.
Note to self: no more net browsing today UNTIL YOU FINISH YOUR DARN PROJECT.

And since I want creative works (in this case, video games) to someday pay the bills, then it's certainly worth spending that time and effort. I think I might make an "Amish Re-Learns to Write" thread to keep myself honest.

As for this thread, don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. The time I spend here will just be a little more directed. Intentional. I've lost count of the number of times I've learned a life lesson, or picked up on something important I'd been missing, or just plain had fun with you all. If that don't make this thread worth my time, I don't know what does. So I hope to post a little less out of habit, and a little more because I want to.

Good stuff! I'm proud of ya, AmishPirtae!
I'm also going to try and implement this myself, though my success has been turbulent thus far...

Yay, new episode.

I liked it. Yeah, it was to be expected what the great twist at the end would be but meh. At least she realized it in the end.
Lots of nice little jokes throughout the whole episode...

But there wasn't a twist at the end. When the thing that happens at the end is what is expected to happen, it is a lack of twist. A thing that does not have a twist should not be judged by the lack of twist; twisting is optional, extra credit. You only get points deducted for twist if it is present and also bad. Not for it not being present.

Back me up on this ponies, if I'm wrong I think it's going to destroy my sense of worth in all literature.

Only minor complaint really is the aesop: Don't worry about the future? Well, not exactly but might come off as this.

There is a phrase, "Don't borrow trouble from the future,you have plenty of your own right now".
If you handle the present well, the future will naturally unfold from those decisions. Don't make bad decisions now to change the future for the better; how could a nonserendipitous good thing come from bad decisions? Good things come from good decisions. Jera, the year cycle; reap what is sown.

This is what I got from it. We see DameSparkle very specifically much things up now for some nebulous event she doesn't know anything about. In that context (and EVERYTHING is context sensitive) the moral of the story makes a lot more sense. You can't just pluck it out, it must be enjoyed along with its package, you see~

... Is an amoral story still referred to as having a moral? Oh shucks this is going to bug me...

I'm guessing because of the nature of Vietnamese-mass-manufactured-plastic-toys, this happened with everyone, but when I received my Fluttershy happy meal toy, she had her tail wrapped around her back leg, which I found kind of fitting for her character. *I mean, like, being nervous, and kind of a pony equivalent to twirling hair because of it.

Yes, but it does not diminish the effect of the cute.

Okay, but, uh, real question here. *I'm new to pony toys. *Is there a guide or FAQ I can read on this whole "Brushy" thing?

There are, and I've seen at least two on eqD (possibly three). I will need to hit one up myself soon...

Episode
Was good.*
Managed to find time to watch it inbetween saving the galaxy and work. Which puts sleep at 4th highest priority right now.
Save Galaxy, Pony, Work, Sleep if any time left in day.*

I regret nothing.*
It was good poni.

*salute* thank you for keeping the galaxy safe so folks like me can pony in peace

New Episode:
Eh, this one was alright. Honestly though, it kind of feels like the lesser cousin of Lesson Zero. We saw Twilight's OCD and irrational side to a much more over-the-top degree there, so here it just seems tame in comparison. Not that some of it wasn't amusing, but it would have been more so if it had come before Lesson Zero, not after. As a result, Pinkie pretty much stole the episode for me. Heck, I think she was funnier here than in many of her own episodes.

For those of us who didn't like Lesson Zero, however, this seems to have hit the sweet spot. It's entirely believable, fits her character, and staying up paranoid and chronicling the motion of the stars makes a lot more sense than, say, going Derp eyed, frazzling your hair, somehow getting bad dentition and going clinically insane in several hours only to be all better after a good yelling by teacher.

As for Pinkie, yes she did a good job. I found that she was just a weentsie bit over the top, given the relative calm of the rest of the episode. But that's Pinkie Pie for ya.

Cerberus adds an interesting bit of information to the series I've gotta say though - evil monsters trapped in Tartarus eh? Guess the world isn't entirely happy-go-lucky after all.
Zevox

We already knew that, though. Equestrian Earth is built on the same foundations as midieval Germany and Russia, to a fault; greek, roman, oriental and Slavic myth built up over a millennium. Except it's all disturbingly real, somewhere.

Happy birthday, DarthBobCat.

And many more!

Did Lixie ever finish her fancy ship-ficlet thingy, or is that still in the works?

*Has not been keeping up with ponythread*

Has noticed -_-*

And after all those lovely avatars to bribe you into staying, too!

Flutters is probably a were-something, considering her proximity to The Monster Filled Forest tm, and who can tell the differance between a big wolf and a big, magicly transformed wolf?

Not a were-something, a pony-were! Her secret is out; except for during the day or special festivals, she reverts to her true form, that of a dragonling!

You think there would be a possibility that if I had the time and energy to write pony fanfic I wouldn't have been voluably cramming it down your collective faces...?

Hm. That's a rather good point.

Oddly enough, the existence of the story doesn't compel me to want to read it - the description sounds far too angsty, and being a Lich should not be angsty.

Consider the actual reasons most humans want to become a Lich, mate. Immortality, freak out the mundies, superpowers... It's an ego-stroke. Finding out everything about their life they've ever loved has melted away causes angst. Not caring and focusing on the things that brought you to lichdom in the first place causes monsters.

Also, Rarity is not vampire. I don't care, she isn't. It's bad enough I have to tolerare Jubilee being a vampire, but I'll be (more) damned before I let anypony else of my characters becomes something I loathe so utterly.

So, what is with your whole animosity towards vampires? They aren't quite as bad as you make them out to be. Pretty top tier as far as servitor undead go. Capable of sentience as well. Nice middle ground.

Twilight Sparkle's assets include a vast library of arcane knowledge, a tendency to plan everything in meticulous detail, and a surprising amount of political clout for someone so averse to social interaction. Thus, she's perfect for the role of Treacherous Chancellor.

Rainbow Dash moves with inhuman speed and grace. She also boasts a mischievous spirit and a peerless vanity. Oh, and don't forget that local weather phenomena (rainbows in particular) are attributed to her actions. She's clearly one of the Fair Folk.

Applejack is renowned for her incredible strength and toughness. However, she is also bound by words. She is compelled to carry out any promise to the letter, regardless of how foolish or suicidal it may seem. It would appear that she lacks free will altogether; she may look like a pony, but on the inside, she is truly a Golem.

Pinkie Pie is everywhere and everywhen. She was there when Equestria was made. She has been in every culture in this world and others, exhibiting cultural traits from everything from gypsy tribes to the Looney Tunes. Most damningly, she has the power to cause people to enter unbreakable contracts, but any loophole allows the signatories to escape with their souls intact. She is none other than The Devil Herself.

Cannot unsee! cannot unsee!

Gilda as the pony version of a catgirl.

Good gracious, I don't even know what to do with that concept.

You've been doing it this whole time, Thanqol.
My random attachment to griffons has a handy explanation now, too. Neat.

Hippogriffs? *In FiM? *Nonsense! *That would just be silly!

... Yeah, right? Lame. Totally. *sniff*

I love you Hasbro.

Thanqol, those are old news, mate.
*didn't quite get it at first*

And never, ever forget: Princess Celestia is a magical pony.

Commited to memory.

Congratulations on this getting into the Drawfriend!

Yes! Totally congratulations! You know what this calls for?
A PARTY!

Gummy is a widdle dungenbred Carbuncle, Bonbon and Lyra are Succubi and Erinyi, respectivly, and Celestia should be apparent already. After all, how many powerful mythological figures have a powerful, cruel figure associated with light? *Hint: It's from a very well known book,and the first two guesses do not count.

Aha! Celestia the Will o' wisp. It all falls into place now...

And one wonders... Erinyes is the name for a singular, And presumably for the group (being one of the few nouns that gets its plurality from context alone) - or is it? No longer being a proper name slapped onto a species, I may behave differently. I wonder...

I've been known to, on occasion.

*sigh* the cost of delays, I suppose.
Whatever I was going to say here was pretty funny, but that's about all I can recall >>;

Maybe something about silver linings?

So, just playing through ME3 and found the asari voiced by rainbow dash.

It all makes so much sense now, the mass effect fields allowing her to exceed normal acceleration and speed limits as well as explaining the vast majority of the magic (which is usually telekinesis) done by unicorns.

Not to mention it fitting in with other theories about Rainbow Dash.

I would have expected this to be more talked about, or am I just that late to the party?

Location:

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The Asari soldier who you encounter on the way to the temple on Thessia just before you get the two gunships to assist you.

Wrong thread is all, we crossover ponies (and spacelich) keep our stuff mostly separate. Mostly.

Also, I see what you did there. Not sure if or

And I was too busy shooting things with my face, and then swearing that I was standing on a rocket launcher the whole darn time, to really give her the fangirl squeal she deserved.

Shep fangendering over a Rainbow Dash voiced asari during the assault on Thessia needs to be a comic like, six weeks ago though. I'll see what I can do.*

While you're probably technically correct, the difference is minute as far as ponies and most people are concerned.

Hm. Something that comes up later, so I'll be brief.
Not quite so sure, outside of D&D.

Morality is generally widely assumed to be subjective.

Outside of The Alignment System, right and wrong are far more common than Good and Evil. Evil is a word used most in.. What is t? Master/Slave morality? As a pejorative to reminisce the oppressor more than to make an actual, sound moral judgement. Real evil in a subjective world requires a good bit more, and still only applies to humans and their ilk.

A tiger that kills its prey is morally correct, just as the prey attempting to thwart the tiger is equally correct. They are fulfilling their roles, and succeeding within frameworks based on their lives. Sentience muddies the waters a bit, sure. But being a spirit muddies he waters of how sentience muddies the waters. Spiritual beings dot operate in the same fashion as material creatures do. For them, rules and contrivances such as Must Follow Through On Promises aren't choices, they ARE the laws of physics.

Is a chaos spirit feeding by causing chaos any more evil than a lion causing feeding by causing death? If the lion is sentient, then it is killing either in cold blood (if it doesn't care) or with malice, and both times it's premeditated. That's pretty much the definition of murder.

Already posted about it. She's trying to sell her movie so it's highly unlikely to be fair use. Not impossible, but she's engaging in an activity to raise money and isn't making a commentary or parody of the original works. She should just negotiate a customized license agreement. I'd bet that half the people she took clips from would just give her permission for free, and the other half would give permission for a discount since she's making a small documentary for a charitable cause.
I am, however, somewhat uncomfortable contacting her over the matter because I'm not actually a lawyer. If I'm wrong or unaware of some issue, it would be very terrible to provide advice.

This brings up some questions on my end, which can be answered mostly by understanding what responsibility is.

Once you pick up and put on your lawyer hat, you can never take it off? You will, forever more, be liable for any offhoof advice because it qualifies as legal council? You have revoked your right to voice an opinion on arena of law without it coming back at you professionally?

PhoeKun hypothetically has a job that involves Corporate Secrets(tM). She can never again have her own opinion made public about any corporate entity she comes in contact with?

I have training as a massage therapist, along with basic understanding of medical stuff along the lines of "don't do this". If I hug someone and their back pops, that's practicing chiropractic medicine without a license. I am now forever liable for this, where before I could claim ignorance? I can never again make suggestions without the prefacing statement of "I'm not a doctor, this is not a diagnosis, nor a prescription"?

Quintuple points if this technically falls under legal advice and you cannot answer thereby.

Also is almost makes me want to pull out my old sabers and have them ponified:

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Never cared for foil though.

Aye, sabering at least maintains the spirit of the sport. I have a dislike for any combat sport that doesn't account for both parties dying. It breeds sloppiness and a 'I gotcha first' attitude. Though the technical skill involved in fencing is pretty cool.

Yes I find shockingly few people are aware of this stuff and how many misconceptions in general there are about copyright. I gotta suppress the urge to smack a foal every time I see an absolutely meaningless "legal disclaimer" in a description. Not saying that is the case here, but the things people cook up amaze me when they find them meaningful.

Oh, you mean the "[character] owned by [company], not mine, don't sue" all over deviantArt? Or my favorite, "[character] owned by me, you have no right to use this character" despite the deviantart terms of use saying 'awe have carte Blanche to own anything you put up on our site' in plain English and legalese?

Eyup.
Pinkie Pie having 8 legs is now officially headcannon.

Pinkie Pie having eight legs is canon canon. She holds up six forehooves, and has to be standing on something...

I finally got to see The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, and I think the episode is out of spoiler territory, so my apologies if someone brought this up when it was, you know, relevant, but I feel it is implied that Flim and Flam are now underlings of Trixie.

... How... Did it imply that? At all? O_o

Trixie herself gets a pretty bad rap for being a good showpony with a couple of fanboys that ruined everything.

Gilda would need to apologize.

Flim & Flam already are team rocket.

Agreed, agreed, agreed.
Does orbital bombardment count as an apology if you're on the receiving end?

Hurr hurr hurr. Plottheft. Like extreme panty theft.

This reminds me of a panned campaign at a wizard party college, having wizard keggers, Magery leagues with scouts for professional Magery showing up, mystical battles ensuing after getting caught on a panty raid... Occasionally panting those nerd sorcerers and running since all they know is fireball.

Couldn't get it viable enough even for a one-shot, sadly.

...

Also now I'm waiting for a sorority to do a boxer embargo or something. Since rifling through someone else's laundry is somehow a show of virility.

Fluttershy:*
Um... er... I can only have six? *But they're all so adorable... I choose... I choose... um... oh dear. *I can't do this.

It's okay, fluttershy. We'll just revoke this here trainers license, no don't worry about that, and get you a job at this here daycare.

Just... Just try not to get a shift with a ditto. For all our sakes.




¹: product does not contain an appreciable amount of worldwide green text. Amounts based on local content of single post only. Patent pending.

[Soras Teva Gee]

So SiuS apparently is trying an eltritch chaos ritual become The Forest Green One

Aye, sabering at least maintains the spirit of the sport. I have a dislike for any combat sport that doesn't account for both parties dying. It breeds sloppiness and a 'I gotcha first' attitude. Though the technical skill involved in fencing is pretty cool.

I feel the urge to point out that saber fencing operates on more or less the exact same rules as foil. Adding only the arms and head as a valid targets and of course the full length of the saber. All the rules regulating when you can score are much the same.

Probably a good thing keeps saber a sport and thinking, epee (where its unrestricted full body whoever pokes the other guy first scores) always ended up looking a uninteresting to me. Freestyling with saber is fun but would probably be unjudgable as a serious competition. Besides it stings pretty good getting whacked with one.

[Deadly]

Alright I think that's a good end point for chapter 2. Any comments or critique?

I haven't followed this, so this is me coming in fresh from the street, so to speak.

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"Well how about this? I cast an anti-magic spell on you first so you'll be immune and that way you can supervise and make sure things don't get out of hand." Twilight offered

I'd have Twilight appear to give the problem a little thought before offering her solution. Have her look thoughtful for a while, scratch her chin or something.

Also, your explanation of why the spell failed fails to impress me. "I gave it too much power" is not a very interesting explanation if you ask me. Maybe try to think of some arcane and out-of-this-world explanation. Maybe something silly, perhaps look at Granny Smith's rituals surrounding Zap Apples. Maybe the spell failed because it was used on an old doll, maybe the doll was feeling neglected after being stuffed in a box for who knows how long and this caused the spell to grow out of proportions... or whatever you feel makes sense to your story.

Twilight quickly dictated her plans for her new project to her assistant.

"Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle

I'd say either write out the whole letter, or leave out the ending too. It sticks out as it is here.

Twilight hummed in contentment as she finished reading the last page of the book. Getting up she stretched to work out some of the kinks of staying still for so long. Two weeks of studying had wreaked havoc on her posture.

"Spike? Spiiiike?" She called

"Yes Twilight, what is it?" Spike replied hurrying over from where he was sorting his gem collection

"I've figured out what I did wrong last time!" Twilight said humming some more and doing a little victory dance. Spike couldn't help but smile at her antics.

There is a strange disconnect between Twilight calmly finishing her book and then a moment later she has her Heurika moment. She's all calmly putting the book down and stretching, Spike shows up, and suddenly she's excited and dancing. I'd make the excitement clear from the start, maybe let her have it in the middle of the book too instead of making her finish the whole book first, just so it's clear that she's had a sudden realization. More interesting that way.

Why would you want to be test somepony?

Should that "be" be there? Or is it meant to be "why would you want to be a test pony?" or something like that?

OctaviaxScratch Productions

The "x" makes me think of shipping, but in an OOC kind of way if that makes sense. I'd use "Octavia & Scratch Productions" or "Octavia Scratch Productions", because it feels more in-universe that way.

and were now just having a good time

"and were now simply having a good time" sounds better to me. Minor thing.

Now I'd like to cast it again to see what it the effects are when its working properly

An "it" in there that probably shouldn't be there. Also "it's" or "it is" not "its" in this case

"The spell isn't supposed to that!

"do that", missing "do".

"Well why are we out here so early? I mean the sun isn't even up yet!"

No idea at first who was speaking there. Became clear from the context of AJ's next line, but this is a general problem I had throughout the story. Try to always make it clear who's speaking, either through idiomatic speech like Rarity's "darling" or RD's frequent use of "awesome" (you do this, but not always, and it's not always the best way), or by adding "Rainbow Dash said" and similar wordings in the right places.

Before she could notice anything else she was suddenly surrounded by her friends, chattering in concern.

Try to be wary of the word "suddenly". It's alright in infrequent use, but whenever you can get away without it you probably should. It's kinda superfluous in this case, because the "before she could ...." already conveys the same thing.

"Yeah, because you we all had our eyes close and Applejack was looking at the award.

An extraneous "you" in there. Also maybe use "since" instead of "because". And should be "closed" not "close", typo there.

But your awake now and everything is better!"

"Oh-umm I gotta go clean up the library Twilight! Glad to see your awake."

"Yeah I guess your right. So how long till I can leave the hospital?"

"you're" or "you are", not "your"

Also look out for punctuation like commas. I'm terrible at this myself, but I noticed several places where a comma would be nice or where an end quote was missing.

Fluttershy said floating a glass up to her lip.

Fluttershy became a unicorn and can float things? :)

Returning to the topic of commas, this is an example of where I'd suggest adding a comma after "Fluttershy said".

Meanwhile outside of Ponyville a certain light blue unicorn

Trixie out of nowhere, didn't expect her, so I was first thinking of Lyra and was kinda confused. I think it might work better to simply say Trixie here, or maybe add some little extra clue other than her color.

With that said and a flick of her tail the mare jumped back up on stage and sat down to wait, ignoring the twin glares from Rainbow Dash and Spike.

I really liked this for some reason :) I can just imagine Trixie sitting there outside Twilight's door, waiting patiently.

"Alright, if you insist." Applejack sighed in relief.

Twilight is the one speaking, but the quote is followed by the name Applejack. Try to avoid that. If a name follows a quote it's usually because that person is the one speaking, and when it's not - as here - it creates a brief confusion and breaks the flow of reading.

I-I love you Twilight Sparkle!

Very surprising, thought she would challenge Twi. Surprises are good, but here I would really consider doing something grand and spectacular. This is The Great and Powerful Trixie we're talking about, there's no way she's just going to say "I love you, Twilight!" She'd jump out and write it in big fiery letters across the sky or something silly and romantic like that instead. She'd spend weeks just trying to make that first moment as spectacular as possible.




Some nice things here, and the story seems to be developing in an interesting direction. Keep it up.

[Raz_Fox]

How much green text?
ALL OF IT¹!

IT BEGINS

StarSwirl is probably a boy. On account of all the beardliness~

You say that like one not initiated into the mysteries of Saint Sigrid, my friend. Mark my words, Starswirl the Bearded was a mare, and the only filly in her town to have three horns and a wispy goat's beard in her youth, a deformity for which she was cast out from her community; her journeys across Equestria allowed her to not only master the most esoteric magics, as she studied under griffons and goats and donkeys, delving into the darkest tombs and seeking the highest pinnacles in her holy quest, but also to master her immense, bushy beard.

Pffff no time travel cannot be invented, it's like mathematics; you have to discover it.

That said, StarSwirl showing up and looking at Twilight and saying "I AM A WIZARD", and responding to her blank stare with "YOU ARE ALSO A WIZARD" would be hilarious in ways Nopony else is likely to get~

"COME WITH ME TO MY SECRET MAGIC HIDEAWAY WHERE I CAN TEACH YOU MAGIC BUT ONLY IF YOU DON'T TELL ANYONE"

Good stuff! Nothing kills a thing more than a sense of obligation where none should exist.

...that might explain a lack of work on Heroics...

Right.
Note to self: no more net browsing today UNTIL YOU FINISH YOUR DARN PROJECT.

DRAW, WIZARD, DRAW. MY PRESENT AWAITS.

There is a phrase, "Don't borrow trouble from the future,you have plenty of your own right now".
If you handle the present well, the future will naturally unfold from those decisions. Don't make bad decisions now to change the future for the better; how could a nonserendipitous good thing come from bad decisions? Good things come from good decisions. Jera, the year cycle; reap what is sown.

*jots down in the "SAGE ADVICE" notepad*

For those of us who didn't like Lesson Zero, however, this seems to have hit the sweet spot. It's entirely believable, fits her character, and staying up paranoid and chronicling the motion of the stars makes a lot more sense than, say, going Derp eyed, frazzling your hair, somehow getting bad dentition and going clinically insane in several hours only to be all better after a good yelling by teacher.

As for Pinkie, yes she did a good job. I found that she was just a weentsie bit over the top, given the relative calm of the rest of the episode. But that's Pinkie Pie for ya.

I don't think I've given my thoughts on an episode in a while, so let it be known that I particularly enjoyed It's About Time. Hilarious from start to finish, and yet solidly showcasing the more frantic, paranoid side of Twilight Sparkle's personality.

I... thinking about the episode chokes me up a bit, I must admit, because every time I watch I think, "Aimee would have loved this episode". But, yes, I found that Pinkie was just what was needed in the episode, and that Twilight was highly entertaining.

We already knew that, though. Equestrian Earth is built on the same foundations as midieval Germany and Russia, to a fault; greek, roman, oriental and Slavic myth built up over a millennium. Except it's all disturbingly real, somewhere.

Pony Tantalus reaches for his cutie mark, but can never quite reach it. And somewhere, there is a pony who has removed his heart and let a duck swallow it, and put the duck in a fox, and put the fox in a chest, and then buried it all under a tree on an island on a burning lake.

Cannot unsee! cannot unsee!

Thank you for bringing this to my attention! A wonderful post that I can't believe I missed. Rainbow Dash is a Fair Folk warrior now and forever.

Pinkie Pie having eight legs is canon canon. She holds up six forehooves, and has to be standing on something...

PINKIE PIE IS SLEIPNIR

HER FATHER IS LOKI

HOW DID WE NOT SEE THIS BEFORE

OKI

DOKI

LOKI

... How... Did it imply that? At all? O_o

Trixie is behind everything.

[Soras Teva Gee]

PINKIE PIE IS SLEIPNIR

HER FATHER IS LOKI

HOW DID WE NOT SEE THIS BEFORE

OKI

DOKI

LOKI

In point of fact ponydom did... this just sealed the deal.

[MCerberus]

PINKIE PIE IS SLEIPNIR

HER MOTHER IS LOKI

HOW DID WE NOT SEE THIS BEFORE

OKI

DOKI

LOKI

One tiny edit that had to be made

[Pokonic]

One tiny edit that had to be made

So.... who's the daddy? Who else is strong, noble, and able to take advantage of Ponyvilles distinct lack of manly stallions? Also, keeping in mind her "granny pie"...

......... I blame time-travel.

[Soras Teva Gee]

So.... who's the daddy?

Well Duh... My dad's name is Svaðilfari silly! He built walls for a living so he needed a rock farm.

[Pokonic]

Well Duh... My dad's name is Svaðilfari silly! He built walls for a living so he needed a rock farm.

But where does Granny Pie fit in, then?

[Soras Teva Gee]

But where does Granny Pie fit in, then?

You think my dad spontaneous generated. Good grief Pokoni!

[Lix Lorn]

I just realized that Ditzy Doo is in fact the writer of the Daring Doo novels and that her cutie mark represents her wild imagination.

She's simultaneously Dash's hero and greatest bane?

headcanon

I mean, wow, if it had ninjas and Pokemon as well, I'd have sworn it was something I could have written myself.

Dooo eeet

Nah, she got made into a Star Sergeant, remember?

Spoiler

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Faithful Song: asari vanguard. She glomps with the force of ten thousand hugs, which becomes less of a joke and more terrifying when you do the math; if a hug has approximately one-half of a newton in force... Gregarious even by asari standards, she's always there to deliver a hug. Or a shotgun blast to the face.

DARN STRAIGHT
(HUG)

Bleakbane: Lich Cheating Bastard. This can be summed up by one (para)phrase from another game in in ME's lineage...

"Biotics is impressive, but now Bleakbane leads! Coldbeams for everypony!"

Winters: Biological weapons are the BEST weapons...

StarSwirl is probably a boy. On account of all the beardliness~

Silly SiuiS! LOADS of males have beards. It's only special enough to be your nickname if it's odd. :P

Uh, um, uh,

D= I don't remember what I wanted to saaaaaay *whines*

'We keep memes stashed all over ponythread in case of emergencies?

[Aotrs Commander]

Consider the actual reasons most humans want to become a Lich, mate. Immortality, freak out the mundies, superpowers... It's an ego-stroke. Finding out everything about their life they've ever loved has melted away causes angst. Not caring and focusing on the things that brought you to lichdom in the first place causes monsters.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Being a Lich is not ever about angst.

It's like waking up on a clear frosty morning and seeing the world in new colours. Realising all the things that before were important to fleshlings have become nothing - that you have moved BEYOND them; that you have won the battle of life and death, surpassed it. Knowing you have the strength to enforce your will, and knowing that time cannot touch you, and it's passing will only make you stronger, better, faster, smarter.

Angst is the path of the vampire.

So, what is with your whole animosity towards vampires? They aren't quite as bad as you make them out to be. Pretty top tier as far as servitor undead go. Capable of sentience as well. Nice middle ground.

Don't even get me STARTED.

Really, don't.

The only thing in the entire universe I hate, I loathe with every fibre of being, with the void-cold chill of a thousand frozen anti-suns is the Shi'Ar and Gladiator, and that is sometimes debateable.

It's a Lich thing. You probably have to be a Lich to even begin to fully understand. I hate 'em too, as do most Aotrs. There are a few vampires in the Aotrs, exceptionally unusual for their kind and they are very few and far between, and even they hate other vampires.

...

I have hated vampires for years. I hated them before it was cool. I hated them long before Twilight (and indeed, the vampires in same are so pathetic that I feel little ire towards them - they are simply not worth my effort. Hell, they barely qualify as vampires. I nothing them.)

Easy, boss, easy!

...

Oh lawks, here we go, I can feel it...

I suggest anyone pf you not wanting to listen to him rant get out now, while you still can, because from here it's gonna get messy!

The short, short version is that they are over-romantised leeches in dinner suits. They barely qualify as Undead - I mean, really, when ws the last time you heard a ghost or a wraith needing to feed - who swan about pretending they are the lords of the Undead when they are not fit to lick the feet of the lowliest and foulest animated zombie. They can have a fair amount of power - except everyone outside of complete idiots in fiction knows their numerous weaknesses. Not too mention the whole daylight vulnerability things which is completely laughable, rendering them unable to operate 33-50% of the time.

They are over-exposed, stealing the limelight from other, better Undead, solely because they are all-too often thought "pretty" by humans (et al) because humans (et al) want to have sex with them (which is basically what it all boils down to). Now, before any of you consider making smart remarks about how I'm jealous or something, let me pre-empt that by saying: that is part of the problem. Vampires think everyone else is jealous of their fleshy failings, and hold us all in comtempt because they can still do things we have all evolved beyond, and care nothing about.

You know That Guy? That One Guy who assumes something completely untrue about you, based on his own shallow perceptions or imgination and jumps to conclusons? Who thinks you're gay/striaght/sleeping with your opposite/same gendered friend/goldfish/wussy because you like ponies/roleplaying etc/don't like [insert tired old traditional gender steriotypical interest] etc etc etc? Who doesn't listen when you say, no actually it isn't true? And who won't ever shut up about it, caught up in his own feeling of cleverness, even when you've asked him to stop, time and again and said, in all serious, "dude, not funny. Please stop that." And just keeps going on and on and on about it until, you want to tear his face off via his intestines?

That's what vampires are like to the rest of us, only worse.

Half of vampires think they are the "bad boys", and revel in the attention - not realising they are missing the entire point of being Undead. To put all that nonsense behind you, dismiss it as the unimportant pointlessness it is and concentrate on better things; procreation - recreational or otherwise is irrelevant once you have stabbed the evolutionary arms race in the back with a pickaxe. Only a vampire would consider the ability to have sex to be an advantage, and that is why they fail. They have all the disadvantages of the living with all the added vulnerabilites of being a weak Undead. There is some power in vampires, yes - but these vampire see none of it, and concentrate on acting like living beings with extra privileges, instead of Undead. And the true power of vampires is a fragile thing, a facade of pretty glass concealing a weak parasite. A vampire can terrorise a weakminded living mortal, but are amost completely helpless against Undead, or technologicals, or energy beings or contructs. And these vampires themselves are completely oblivious to this - so enraptured in their own perceived glamour, they cannot see how truly pathetic they are. They think they are the "cool" rebels, when in fact they are in truth little more than the shallow, vapid valley girls of the Undead.

And then there are the other vampires, who see the weaknesses of the their state, but see none of the few advantages (and certainly not the right ones). They waste their time bemoaning their state, wanting in their heart of hearts to "not be a monster anymore", and are thus equally blind in their desperation to become mortal again, and once more subject to all the biological failings that characterise living societies that Undead have moved beyond.

Vampires are laughable, pathetic vermin fit only to be exterminated; even the very greatest, the very best vampire that I have encountered, or read, or seen, I would only grant the mercy of a swift death in recompense for the services rendered to their kind.

...

I thought you said you were doing the short, short version?

That was the short, short version. I could literally go on like that all night!

But if I go much further, it will get a good deal more venomous and very actually nasty, and neither ponythread not these boards are the place for me to spill out my ire in that fashion. Nor is it worth debating on the issues, since there is literally nothing any of you could ever do or say that would in the slightest change my mind.

But you did ask SiuiS...



Oh, by the way, I make a blanket apology to all parasites, vermin and valley girls: I'm very sorry for insulting you by comparing to vampires.

[Thanqol]

Thanks. The Changeling/Hedge vibe was incidental, not really intended. I had another reference in mind (which no one has yet to get), and the Changeling-like nature of the whole thing just emerged out of that. I liked that, though, it was delightfully surprising.

Emergent themes are some of the most interesting parts of writing. The emergent theme in Yours Truly was Winter, which was a perfect fit in what it did to make Applejack the focus. I think taking that theme and solidifying it through the rest of the story would be a good move.

Thanks again! I really was quite proud of Midnight's little tale there, and it was a delight to write too. I felt so terrible for Daffodil. If I were to point out my favorite part of this entire story, that is it.

I would cheerfully say the same.

I felt that perhaps a little deeper look into her as a character would have been nice, but there were so many characters and things competing for focus. I'm glad she worked for you.

She didn't need more character and she didn't need more focus. She was a reflection of Rainbow's character in this; loyalty and betrayal, along with Rainbow's tendency to idealise others. Seeing her doomed and brought down told us about Rainbow Dash. That's the sign of a good background character.

On the same note, Hoity Toity is a part of Rarity's character. Everything he does tells us about Rarity.

Perhaps it isn't really supposed to be the end. I know for now it is, and there were several points where I thought "this would make a great ending, but... there's more still left to wrap up. Dammit :(" So I kept going.

The old quip goes "better a horrible ending than horrors without end". I would have preferred an emotionally powerful ending point and a clipped, factual list of epilogues.

I certainly don't think this is a return to normality, though. But again, that may just be because I have ideas for a follow-up flowing around in my head.

I've got no idea where you could possibly take the story from here.

"This story's key flaw is a lack of focus" I think that sums up everything I see as a problem with this story myself. So yes. I liked the moments when I got to delve into Manna's character, but maybe it happened to little and maybe she didn't have any other redeeming qualities like other characters. I would have loved to get to know her better.

Unfortunately, that's the root of the problem; when everyone's trying to be a main character it works out so that none of them are (with a few exceptions; I regard The Best Night Ever as a masterpiece because it keeps everypony in the spotlight throughout it's length. That's hard). A clear line should be drawn between focus characters and the support cast in your head. Manna is interesting in what she tells us about Midnight, and she doesn't really tell us anything about Midnight that Midnight doesn't tell better herself.

Thanks! I'm really glad to hear you liked Midnight. I've always been a sucker for great villains and I really wanted her to be great. I hate when the villain falls short, and I'd have felt terrible about it especially because she was originally based on Joseph Curwen from The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, who may in fact be my favorite villain. Big shoes to fill.

The character just works; she underpins the entire story. It's like she fits into the pony setting; some of your other instances of blood and tragedy seem out of place, but her presence and everything that flows from it don't cause dissonance.

Wow, I'm overwhelmed. I haven't been feeling too great about this story after finishing it, it's good to hear you enjoyed it. I was afraid you'd hate it, to be honest Perhaps it's just because my mind can't quite grasp that it's over and is actively trying to persuade me to get on with a third part right away instead of writing a few other stories first. Ever impatient.

It's really easy to hate completed pieces, to look to back on something you've done and be dissatisfied with it. But there's steel under the dust there and a good idea can cycle through your work for years to come.

I'm not sure about a third part to this story; it feels complete, and perhaps this is the moment to put the pen down before you over-write it. That said, if you can bring something to make it fresh again, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Congratulations, again!

Pffff no time travel cannot be invented, it's like mathematics; you have to discover it.

That said, StarSwirl showing up and looking at Twilight and saying "I AM A WIZARD", and responding to her blank stare with "YOU ARE ALSO A WIZARD" would be hilarious in ways Nopony else is likely to get~

"COME WITH ME TO MY SECRET MAGIC HIDEAWAY WHERE I CAN TEACH YOU MAGIC BUT ONLY IF YOU DON'T TELL ANYONE"

That's a pity; it's a good injoke

And he brought his avatar too!

Soras' avatar is ridiculously cute.

You've been doing it this whole time, Thanqol.
My random attachment to griffons has a handy explanation now, too. Neat.

But I ship everything with everything else alreadyyyyy~

A tiger that kills its prey is morally correct, just as the prey attempting to thwart the tiger is equally correct. They are fulfilling their roles, and succeeding within frameworks based on their lives. Sentience muddies the waters a bit, sure. But being a spirit muddies he waters of how sentience muddies the waters. Spiritual beings dot operate in the same fashion as material creatures do. For them, rules and contrivances such as Must Follow Through On Promises aren't choices, they ARE the laws of physics.

Is a chaos spirit feeding by causing chaos any more evil than a lion causing feeding by causing death? If the lion is sentient, then it is killing either in cold blood (if it doesn't care) or with malice, and both times it's premeditated. That's pretty much the definition of murder.

This is more or less what I go with.

Once you pick up and put on your lawyer hat, you can never take it off? You will, forever more, be liable for any offhoof advice because it qualifies as legal council? You have revoked your right to voice an opinion on arena of law without it coming back at you professionally?

This is more or less how it works. If you give advice and have "reasonable grounds" to assume the other party would act on that advice (which could include them knowing that you're a successful lawyer) you're liable. You can preface any legal discussion with a lot of qualifications or be vague to a point but you're held to the same kind of standard as a doctor voicing a medical opinion.

PhoeKun hypothetically has a job that involves Corporate Secrets(tM). She can never again have her own opinion made public about any corporate entity she comes in contact with?

Not about the corporation she works for, or involving privileged information that she only has access to as an employee of that company. This is more commonly dealt with through internal disciplinary methods than an actual lawsuit though.

It would also be a problem to voice an opinion while acting in an official capacity or where there's reasonable grounds for assuming they were acting in an official capacity.

I have training as a massage therapist, along with basic understanding of medical stuff along the lines of "don't do this". If I hug someone and their back pops, that's practicing chiropractic medicine without a license. I am now forever liable for this, where before I could claim ignorance? I can never again make suggestions without the prefacing statement of "I'm not a doctor, this is not a diagnosis, nor a prescription"?

You'd be held to a higher standard of care if you were sued for assault on the grounds that you should have known that this technique could cause damage. I don't think it counts as practising medicine; if it does, you could mount a quite reasonable defense that an unskilled person hugging the same person in the same way would produce the same result and you weren't acting in any sort of official capacity/business transaction.


Disclaimer: Thanqol is speaking in a purely hypothetical capacity here and has an OC famed for lying.

Business law: A crash course in how to not get sued.

[Pokonic]

You think my dad spontaneous generated. Good grief Pokoni!

But...that.... ah, forget about it. We love you no matter how many trickster gods are in your bloodline*, Pinkie Pie.

*Excluding any of the assorted Draconequines. Because that would be realy, realy weird.

[MCerberus]

The real question, my fair Lich, is if you learn of the existence of an elf vampire, would you immediately destroy it or find a way around time to kill it before you found out about it?

[Soras Teva Gee]

*long rant*

Lich you've been hanging out with the wrong sort of vamps. I know a few in particular that would have many pithy and biting things to say about deluding yourself into thinking you've found eternity because you chained your soul to a rock. While ripping the legs off their so-called "fellow" vampires to feed said legs down their throats through their eyesockets

And ya say ya hated vamps since before Stephanie Meyer, well not like that fanfic really changed anything just delievered with a pristinely ungifted artistic ability.

You clearly just need to be introduced to some real monsters.

[Pokonic]

@ Aotrs Commander

The problem with vampires is that there like what a Panda is to a Grizzly: weak, kind of pathetic when you think about it, and loved by the public, rather than being rightfully respected and feared.

The worst part about them is that there more like a fast-spreading virus than a true member of the undead family. I mean, they can be made individualy by a necromancer, bitten by a existing one, they can turn themselves, and anything in between. The worst among them are those that thought it was fine and cool and got themselves infected! Unlike most vamps, who probably never intended to become vampires themselves, these twits think that there physical gods. In my opinion, no immortality should be as easy to undo as a open window.

The looks on there faces are priceless.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Nosferatu is the best vampire movie there ever will be... but curse it forever for cooking that nonsense up.

But I've got something far more disturbing then any of the undead that owe 'old Drac for giving them a market.... Ponies:

Spoiler

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Appropriate Soundtrack Here!

[Kindablue]

Silly SiuiS! LOADS of males have beards. It's only special enough to be your nickname if it's odd. :P

That, or to distinguish them from someone else with the same name, like Charles the Great and his grandson Charles the Bald. And it doesn't have to be literal, as Chuck the Bald may actually have been quite the hirsute man, making his name the shattered visage of a joke whose body has been eaten by time. Maybe Starswirl had, like, a really pathetic pubescent wisp of hair on his upper lip that all the other wizards made fun of him for, and the historians chose not to include that bit in the biography of their national hero for whatever reason.

[MCerberus]

Nosferatu is the best vampire movie there ever will be... but curse it forever for cooking that nonsense up.

But I've got something far more disturbing then any of the undead that owe 'old Drac for giving them a market.... Ponies:

Spoiler

Show

Appropriate Soundtrack Here!

Take cover

[Aotrs Commander]

The real question, my fair Lich, is if you learn of the existence of an elf vampire, would you immediately destroy it or find a way around time to kill it before you found out about it?

Oh, I've dealt with a fair few of those sad creatures in my time.

Funny story, back on the WotC boards, in the infamous Elf and Greatsword thread, I conducted some experiments with Elves and vampires (the thread postulating Elves and vampires were too wussy to be able to use greatswords, you see, so after a bit, I decided to offer my services and conduct some practical experiments). This study culminated in the final experiment, in which we tested the theory that a combination of the two with a suitable awesome greatsword would have an effect like matter and anti-matter, with one of Lord Deather's spare greatswords (graciously provided by the Lich hisself in person - for science) and an Elven vampire, using the most pathetic specimen I could find a completely random test subject. This had sufficently explosive results (even when conducted at a safe distance in space) we actually to damaged the station...!

Lich you've been hanging out with the wrong sort of vamps. I know a few in particular that would have many pithy and biting things to say about deluding yourself into thinking you've found eternity because you chained your soul to a rock. While ripping the legs off their so-called "fellow" vampires to feed said legs down their throats through their eyesockets

You say that like it's some sort of achievement...

(For the record, Spirit-Bound, not Phylactery-Bound; no rock involved.)

But colour me unafraid of a group 99.9% of whom can be defeated by using the advanced technique of Standing Outside During the Day, and a further not insignificant proportion by creative use of plumbing...

@ Aotrs Commander

The problem with vampires is that there like what a Panda is to a Grizzly: weak, kind of pathetic when you think about it, and loved by the public, rather than being rightfully respected and feared.

The worst part about them is that there more like a fast-spreading virus than a true member of the undead family. I mean, they can be made individualy by a necromancer, bitten by a existing one, they can turn themselves, and anything in between. The worst among them are those that thought it was fine and cool and got themselves infected! Unlike most vamps, who probably never intended to become vampires themselves, these twits think that there physical gods. In my opinion, no immortality should be as easy to undo as a open window.

The looks on there faces are priceless.

Ex-aaaactly.



And at that, I shall leave you all for the night with an old Aotrs proverb (which I'm sure I have said before, but it bears repeating - and it is a proverb, so it has the same weight to it as you would assign any proverb):

When you splash holy water on a vampire, it burns.

When you splash holy water on a Lich, it gets wet.

[MCerberus]

this is Trollestia's doing (finale)

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[Pokonic]

When you splash holy water on a vampire, it burns.

When you splash holy water on a Lich, it gets wet.

When you splash a sorta-ghoul, it's flesh gets more supple. Helps when your getting ready to start some heavy streching. Less skin ripping. Skin is nice.

[Thanqol]

Oh, I've dealt with a fair few of those sad creatures in my time.

Funny story, back on the WotC boards, in the infamous Elf and Greatsword thread, I conducted some experiments with Elves and vampires (the thread postulating Elves and vampires were too wussy to be able to use greatswords, you see, so after a bit, I decided to offer my services and conduct some practical experiments). This study culminated in the final experiment, in which we tested the theory that a combination of the two with a suitable awesome greatsword would have an effect like matter and anti-matter, with one of Lord Deather's spare greatswords (graciously provided by the Lich hisself in person - for science) and an Elven vampire, using the most pathetic specimen I could find a completely random test subject. This had sufficently explosive results (even when conducted at a safe distance in space) we actually to damaged the station...!

I remember that thread! And I remember those posts! It was the most scientific application of the manliness/wussiness dynamic I've yet seen.

[Lix Lorn]

But colour me unafraid of a group 99.9% of whom can be defeated by using the advanced technique of Standing Outside During the Day, and a further not insignificant proportion by creative use of plumbing...

And now Blue Sunny Day is stuck in my head...

[TheAmishPirate]

*holding a stringless fiddle and a loaf of frenchbread as a bow, Starry takes position to the side of the door before the dramatic kick-in!*

Unfortunately, this ended up being one of those instances when you trip on the door, and then it spanks you as it closes. Got sick within an hour of pony delving. New record!

I OBJECT!
Science has show that a ten gallon hat can only actually hold 2.5 gallons, tops! And silly isn't measurable in liquid volume, I say we move to have this case dismissed. Avoirdupois, Troy, or fluid is a waste of the court's time!

Objection!

I...find that objectionable!

Good stuff! I'm proud of ya, AmishPirtae!
I'm also going to try and implement this myself, though my success has been turbulent thus far...

Tell me about it. Two-three weeks in and I find myself getting back into my old habits. You gotta stay on top of things. On the plus side, my story is seeing tremendous progress. More importantly, I'm learning why it hasn't been working thus far, and that's just as valuable.

Did you know that scenes need conflict of some kind? Or they just sound like meaningless babble? I didn't!

There is a phrase, "Don't borrow trouble from the future,you have plenty of your own right now".
If you handle the present well, the future will naturally unfold from those decisions. Don't make bad decisions now to change the future for the better; how could a nonserendipitous good thing come from bad decisions? Good things come from good decisions. Jera, the year cycle; reap what is sown.

This is what I got from it. We see DameSparkle very specifically much things up now for some nebulous event she doesn't know anything about. In that context (and EVERYTHING is context sensitive) the moral of the story makes a lot more sense. You can't just pluck it out, it must be enjoyed along with its package, you see~

There's a verse that comes to mind. Matthew 6:34:

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

The episode is less about "Don't ever think to the future." Rather, it's saying "Don't let concern for the future run your life". The future is a mess of assumptions, ill-informed predictions, and overwhelming flux that we aren't meant to fully comprehend. The past has already happened, reflect as necessary, learn from it, and move on. The present is where you live.

[SiuiS]

Aha! Thanq you Thankol... Or something.

It would also be a problem to voice an opinion while acting in an official capacity or where there's reasonable grounds for assuming they were acting in an official capacity.

I am under the notion that after a gettin point, you no longer have valid cause to claim unofficial capacity. You are forevermore locked into that choice, for old or ill. It's simultaneously cathartic and terrifying. If only it were more sudden, a rite of passage, as opposed to something you notice one day and can't quite place a starting point for.

This sort of thing always felt like the end of the Book of Three, where you step past a threshold from which there is no return.

EDIT: Mask is being fussy and won't let me do her hair. Do you have a compiled list of reference pics for the filly/lass?