My Little Pony XCIV: It's A Working Title!

[Silfir]

I can't help but notice that, even though you think this is an utterly silly thing to be fighting about, you're still jumping right in. I was completely prepared to talk about baseball instead. Is anyone else really into Out of the Park Baseball? I wonder if ponies could play baseball. Pegasi would make utterly unfair outfielders.

To move beyond a time of tribal collapse we need a period of raw individualism. It is spiral dynamics.

Doesn't look like tribal collapse to me. (Not that I'm sure that what you said actually means anything.) I see more people in agreement that what Trixie did was not cool than I see people in agreement over whether any given new MLP episode is any good. And we're technically supposed to be fans, too.

[Thanqol]

Does she know about Ponythread?

she knows i'm a bit of a weirdo but no

A truer meaning of life has never been said.

I'm stuck here watching ponies until they finally break down and have them marry. On that day I shall be free.

I can't help but notice that, even though you think this is an utterly silly thing to be fighting about, you're still jumping right in. I was completely prepared to talk about baseball instead. Is anyone else really into Out of the Park Baseball? I wonder if ponies could play baseball. Pegasi would make utterly unfair outfielders.

I know nothing about baseball! Explain horse baseball to me. Do they use mono-species teams or are they integrated?

Doesn't look like tribal collapse to me. (Not that I'm sure that what you said actually means anything.) I see more people in agreement that what Trixie did was not cool than I see people in agreement over whether any given new MLP episode is any good. And we're technically supposed to be fans, too.

I AM ONLY HERE FOR THE LESBIAN HORSE ROMANCE

[Pendulous]

The people who do the monthly bug spray her, along with my landlord, apparently recognized something pony-related today. I was just like "..yeah", because it was about two hours into sleep. I barely remember them being here. Really, the biggest downside to living in these apartments. being woken up super early once a month, and in her case,not even knowing what that day is.

[b_jonas]

I can't help but notice that, even though you think this is an utterly silly thing to be fighting about, you're still jumping right in. I was completely prepared to talk about baseball instead. Is anyone else really into Out of the Park Baseball? I wonder if ponies could play baseball. Pegasi would make utterly unfair outfielders.

It's possible they play baseball, I don't know. Let me summarize what we know about Equestria ball games and similar (although there's probably a better summary on the wikia).

The ponies probably play "hoofball", as Spike mentions it in S5 E1, and I think that's their equivalent of American football or rugby. We see Fluttershy in a helmet in S1 E7, and I think that looks like a hoofball helmet, although it could also be a hockey helmet.

The ponies definitely play hockey, because in S5 E5 Rainbow Dash says "we can play horse hockey, with no shoulder or arm pads".

In S5 E10, the ponies in Canterlot play "polo", with a small white ball and some sort of mallet (bat; screenshot). That game might be what they play instead of croquet. Similarly, in S1 E12 we see a pony with what looks like a tennis raquet.

Finally, in S5 E12, Moondancer plays some sort of sport with her friends in helmets that don't cover their face, colored vests, and we see a ball too, but I can't imagine what sport that could be.

[zimmerwald1915]

*snip*

Ponies also bowl.

[Excession]

OK, too many missions to give play by play reports on, so here's an abbreviated version.

Spoiler: Crystal Prep-COM

Show

Dear Princess Twilight.

So I'm betting big on magic winning this war. I've ordered the Psi Lab upgraded to allow a second soldier to train, and we've recruited Trixie Lulamoon as our second volunteer.

Operation Choking Gaze. Destroyed an alien data relay near Beijing. Flawless mission, nothing to report. Fleur de Lis promoted to Lieutenant, gaining Holotargeting.

That was followed by something of a quiet patch. The science team completed research into Elerium. What do we know now? That we don't have enough of it. I had them start designing a plasma rifle anyway. Sugar Coat and Trixie both reached Initiate, learning Inspire and Insanity respectively. We also made contact with Western Europe and New Indonesia, putting us closer to being able to access of couple of alien facilities.

Operation Blessed Palace. A resistance needed to be rescued from Munich. This didn't go as well; a Viper managed to poison Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Fleur de Lis, and Fancy Pants. This was our first time sending Sugar Coat on a mission, and it might have been a little premature. Also, Fleur de Lis panicked, ran the wrong way, and nearly got left behind. Still, all's well that ends well, and they injured soldiers will be back in time for the next mission, right?

Not so much. Operation Furious Mask popped just before they were healthy again, so this was a B-team mission. Sour Sweet, Jet Set, Upper Crust, Shining Armour, Mi Amore Cadenza, and Sugar Coat went out to destroy another alien relay, again near Munich. It actually went really well; I'd forgotten how well two snipers can work together. Sugar Coat was carrying our newly built "EXO suit" and packing a heavy rocket launcher, with which she was able to basically blow up a house, badly hurting some aliens and dropping it on the relay to boot. No promotions, but shortly afterwards Sugar Coat and Trixie reached Acolyte rank, learning Domination and Stasis respectively.

Then, before we could get anything else done, another chance to steal some more supplies popped up. Operation Jagged Wail, in the wilderness of Japan, went flawlessly. The squad crept through the abandoned building, isolating patrols and finishing them off quickly. Sour Sweet in particular had a stand out mission, raining death from atop a half-collapsed factory. Once again, Sugar Coat may well have done more with a rocket than her still developing magic, but a couple of Inspires were integral to Sour Sweet's killing sprees. The stolen goods replenished our elerium stocks somewhat, but the demands on this stuff are still extreme.

[Silfir]

Actual horse baseball would probaby be unrecognizable. Pitching kind of hinges on the ability to subtly direct the ball with minor differences in grip, wrist motion and all of that junk. The closest to that I see ponies pull off is when they hold items by jamming them between hoof and fetlock joint. Hmm...

Let's assume ponies can actually pitch this way, and throw their equivalent of pony sliders, pony curveballs and so on. How do they hold the bat? I guess they would also grip it between hoof and fetlock and stand on the hindlegs in the batter's box.

Now the question is: How do we handle unicorns and pegasi. In theory, pegasi should be able to catch up to any home run ball by flying upwards and catching it midair. That doesn't seem entirely fair, though when it comes down to it, baseball would still be playable; you'd just have to hit line drives instead that get past the infield and hit the ground before they reach the outfield. We'd probably be in an equivalent of the dead-ball era, where players were able to win the league home run crown with as few as 11 of them in a full season. As for magic - there should probably a prohibition against using magic on a ball in midair, but once it's in play and touched the ground, unicorns would be able to pick it up faster, which in turn gives *them* an edge as fielders in certain positions. Teams would have to choose between pegasi for the outfield (to deny home runs) or unicorns (to make sure line drives to the outfield corners and such don't turn into triples and inside-the-park-homers). The main snag is: What do with the earth ponies? I think it's actually very likely they're superior batters compared to unicorns (since they're far more used to using their fetlock joints to hold things, and physical labor in general) and the playing field in the pitching department should be just about equal all-around. So maybe earth ponies would still end up getting played simply based on their offensive presence, as long as they're very good at fielding using just their hooves, at least in the infield, or they make up the majority of pitchers thanks to their fetlock joint dexterity. (Ultimately I think pegasi for the outfield are the way to go no matter what.)

Let's imagine the Mane Six on a baseball pitch:

The position that I think would be right up Twilight's alley is that of the Catcher; they usually spend a lot of time studying the opposing batters' batthing habits and the abilities of their own pitchers to arrive at the correct pitching strategy for getting batters out. I don't think the has the dexterity in her fetlock joints to pitch well, but I do think she could be a low-contact, high power hitter, based on her freakish strength post-ascendance (occasionally hinted at in episodes).

Rarity, meanwhile, almost certainly has the hoof dexterity to be a pitcher. And what a pitcher she would be; finesse, elegance, control incarnate! I actually strongly suspect she could also be a pretty great hitter - probably a draw a lot of walks thanks to patience and a good eye - but doesn't want to risk herself on the basepaths (the DIRT!) and so would probably have a regular pitcher's batting average during the regular season and only display her batting in clutch situations.

Rainbow Dash seems like a lock for center field. Her range would be enormous thanks to her speed; she could probably play as the team's sole outfielder if it came to that. I also think she would have decent home run power, but I suspect she would have zero patience and end up striking out or get unclean contact a lot and never draw a walk.

Applejack I think based on Running of the Leaves would be the best with the bat of them all; amazing power, but level-headed enough not to swing at pitches out of the zone either, and dextrous enough to make contact. Her athleticism I think is also enough for fielding; I think she would make a more than passable third baseman since she'd have mad accuracy with her hind legs - all you need is a fearless first baseman to catch her bucked balls. But her batting abilities would be worthy of a first baseman as well.

The third most important defensive position on a baseball team (after pitcher and catcher) is the shortstop, one of the infielders, who often has a reputation for being kind of a goofball, and who has to be able to contort their body in weird ways to make sure they can throw balls to first base as swiftly as possible. In other words, the position is tailor-made for Pinkie Pie. She'd probably be completely unpredictable in the batter's box - a mixed bag overall - but her defensive prowess would make it worth it.

That leaves Fluttershy. In a sports movie, she'd be the liability - the ninth player needed to make the full team who doesn't have any actual skills and doesn't want to be there. The position most suited to that is the corner outfield (which would fit, as she is a pegasus), probably right field because her arm would be hilariously weak, too, and it's typically the area of the pitch where the fewest balls are hit. (In practice Rainbow Dash would simply field all the balls in her area as well.) She would also be horrible at the bat, though she might draw the occasional walk because opposing pitchers mistake her being too scared stiff to swing as her waiting patiently for the perfect pitch and end up throwing her four balls in her attempt to avoid doing so. Except then, in the final match of the playoffs, the opposing pitcher says something unkind about an animal, and she unleashes a walk off home run shot that ends up in Saddle Arabia.



That leaves second base, first(third) base and left field to make a full team. Of the winged ponies in the extended cast, I think Luna would make an absolutely fearsome presence in the batter's box and would do a tremendous job in the outfield as well. Big Mac would be the quintessential first base power hitter - his body type would make him poor at any other fielding position, though. Second base, your guess is as good as mine. At the moment, Starlight Glimmer would probably be put there; she'd be excellent at picking up grounded balls and could toss them to first fast enough with magic alone, though she lacks athleticism and batting power and is probably not terribly good at stopping lined balls from reaching the outfield with her glove. Maybe it could be a position for Spike; his throwing accuracy and ability to pick up ground balls should be pretty great, what with him having what is basically a hand. His small range and size would be a bit of a liability while fielding, but then again, tiny players also have tiny strike zones and should therefore walk a lot, and he would probably be pretty good at scoring infield hits with bunts.

So in closing, here is Team MLP's batting order:

1 - SS, Pinkie Pie; chances are good she can get on base and then steal bases on a whim
2 - 2B, Spike; he would probably the only one of them any good at dropping a bunt (assuming we're lining up conventionally as opposed to using sabermetrics)
3 - 3B, Applejack; best overall hitter
4 - 1B, Big Macintosh; best power hitter
5 - CF, Rainbow Dash; next best power hitter
6 - LF, Luna; she has less time than the others to train batting and is probably a bit unfamiliar with the sport
7 - C, Twilight Sparkle; ultimately lacks the kinesthetic instincts to be a very good batter, even if she has some power
8 - P, Rarity; who even in her disdain for baserunning and sliding will still hit better than Fluttershy
9 - RF, Fluttershy; bat last so she has to bat the least of them all



EDIT: What, you thought I was kidding? I'm way into Out of the Park Baseball.

[Aotrs Commander]

All I am going to say on the title issue in thread is to link to this rule clarification on the exact forum rules on the subject of thread restarting, with particular note to the following points that it cannot be started BEFORE page 50 and that whoever is posting it is expected to take the responsibility of maintain it (e.g. make sure it's accurate (e.g. updated)).

I will therefore, in future, get off my lazy boney arse be prepared to shoulder that part of the burden if it so happens that I notice we reach the end of the thread.



Now, as you may recall a while back, I was musing over the elenthnar (who am I kidding, I traumatised it into your heads with that "art") with regard to their secondary sexual characteristics; speciafically that I did not just want to slap breasts on the females without due consideration, but at the same time the elenthnar are "like humans but not" so to keep that could not go too far from something that would create similar social dynamics.

Since then the issue has been in consideration, as I have passed through a full round of David Attenborough books and series, seeking inspiration. It was not until I watched Life that Glows (sort of incidentally) that it finally came.

So, then, presenting the updated blurb for the elenthnar:

Spoiler

Show

The Xyriat Hegemony (more properly, the Xyriat Dulhazon in Zoxyriat) is the largest, and as its name suggests, the most influential of the elenthnar powers.

The elenthnars¹ arose in relative isolation, allowing them to expand signicantly. Like humans, elenthnars are highly factionalised, with huge number of major through minor powers and independant system states, with a variety of languages and cultures. Zoxyriat is the closest language to a common tongue, being the langauge of science and engineering (analogous to human English) and also largely because of the Xyriat Hegemony’s far-reaching influence even in its rivals. The elenthnar’s expansion and technological progress has been rapid, comparible with that of humans. The elenthnars developed FTL technology nearly five hundred years ago, in 1855.

The elenthnar homeworld, Urrot, is in the Zon system. Zon itself is an F9V star. Urrot is the third planet in the system and its closest neighbour is also within the habitable zone. Urrot is part of a double planet system with its partner Haron. Urrot is slightly less dense than typical HPE planets for it’s slightly larger size, having only 0.937G. Haron is smaller, but denser, having 0.72G. Urrot is an HPE-B world and Haron has an HPE-B atmosphere, though it is too small to techically be a true HPE-B.

Both planets are tide-locked to each other, giving a long day/night cycle as they rotate about their baricentre. Both are warm and highly aqueous, which stabilises the temperature extremes causes by the long day/night.

As the day/night cycle is longer than creature can be continuously active, creatures and Urrot and Haron have to deal with having to operate in both day and night-time conditions. Bioluminescence is a common feature of many species of flora and fauna.

Urrot’s tectonics created a single supercontinent its recent history, which is only now starting to break apart. As such, is is catergoried by contiental landmasses on the hemisphere facing Haron, seperated by many shallow, warm seas, and the global ocean Rolot covering the “outer” hemisphere. With little seasonal variation due to no axial tilt, the climate of both planets is stable aside from the day/night shift.

Both planets have a wide variety of plant life, and the day/night cycle temperature shifts ensure considerable precipitation. Urrot has giant forests covering much of the surface of the continent. Haron has forests of its own too, those these are more akin to fungal growths which reach up to exceptional heights in the low gravity.

The proper elenthnar biological species name is E’Len’Deth’Nacri, in Zot’kor. Zot’kor is a dead language analgous to the human Latin in zoology, but is more akin to Old English in origin as the source language for modern Zoxyriat. Elenthnar is common the Zuxyriat word for the species, but other powers have different words (the Wodef Enclave language, Fantif, uses fofry, for example).

Elenthnars developed from a phylum of endothermic, hexapedal vertebrate climbers, among the swampy forests. As they evolved to an upright stance, their fore-limbs migrated to become arms and they developed an upright stance.

An elenthnar stands about two metres tall. They have four legs, placed at four “corners” of the lower body and structurally similar to a spider’s or insect’s, with a wide span. The legs end with six vestigial toes on the feet. They have two arms, with a five fingered hand and one opposable thumb.

The head is characterised with a foreshortened muzzle, beneath which is a wide, strong maw. There are two small nostrils in the muzzle. While elenthnars have a sense of smell, it is somewhat basic and they rely more on their eyes and ears. They possess two large eyes, which function well in both very bright and very little light, due a to complex series of iris muscles and lenses. They also can see further into the IR and UV spectrum than most baseline HPE races. Eye colour is typically a shade of brown, but may also appear in shades of green, red, orange, pink, grey or blue.

The head has four ears. Two, placed atop the head, are conical and are similar to mammalian ears in form and function. They are fringed with small hairs, the length and thickness with various by individual - and style, since these are sometimes dyed, cut or otherwise adorned. A small pair of ears are not as visibly external, but located on the sides of the head, towards the rear. Elenthnar hearing is both more acute and more robust than most humanoid species. In concert with their voices, with effort and training elenthnar can even use a form of echo-location, though the individuals with these skills are uncommon. Unlike many species with sensitive hearing, elenthnar ears have a high pain and damage threshold and they can tolerate much louder sounds than a most humanoids without discomfort (almost three times the human threshold).

Elenthnars are covered with a thickened skin, but otherwise lack body hair. Their skin is typically a dark-to-tan brown, depending on racial stock. Varying by ethnicity, elenthnars have spots, stippling or striping patterns of muted green. Plain individuals are rare, but not unheard of, though this can be linked to deleterious conditions, including albinism. The elenthnars wear a wide variety of clothing styles, varying by culture and personal preference.

Elenthars display moderate sexual dimorphism. Males and females are not disparate in size, but have different secondary sexual characteristics.

Elenthnars have voices with exceptional range and versatility, and are capable of complex mimicry of even non-organic sounds. (For example, many sound-effects throughout their entertainment history are made by talented elenthars, rather than more conventional foley technology.) Males possess a pair of throat-sacs which can be employed to further amplify their voices to an almost deafening (to non-elenthnar) volumes or, with practise and skill, even greater control.

Male voices are notably deeper in register, and the variance between the voices of genders is wider than in most humanoids with Elenthar with voices that could be mistaken for either gender being the products of medical conditions.

To the ear of humanoid races, elenthnar voices have an unusual and distinctive cadence, but are considered rather melodious and appealing. Elenthnar culture holds music in high regard, and the line between instrumental and vocal music is considerably more blurred. The elenthnar’s family typically conducts courtship through the use of male song (like terrestrial frogs, whales or some birds) and even in modern elenthnar society, a good voice and musical talent is considered highly attractive.

Like many of Urrot’s creatures, elenthnar are capable of bioluminescence. The primary usage in the elenthnar’s family is for sexual display. Both males and females have two organs which create a bioluminescent pattern on their upper chest areas (the organ is called a nacr in zoxyriat²), which (in the case of the elenthnar specifically) fluoresces during arousal. The female organs (nacri³ when being specifically referred to) are larger and more elaborate.

The exact pattern and colours (blue or green luminescence) varies between racial stock and individual and each pattern is unique. However, these areas also erogenous zones and are and have been considered indecent for public exposure (in both males and females) in most elethnar cultures throughout history (along with the genitals). Elenthnar can control these displays with practise, though as, it is not a commonly advertised skill outside of the erotic industries.

The male elenthnar’s throat sacs are also capable of luminescing, though only with a green colour; However, the males can consciously control the level of the glow (though not completely, especially in immature or inexperienced males) .

Elenthar have a single orifice for excretion (both liquid and feces), located between the rear pairs of legs. Genitals (mammal-analogus organs) are located between the front pairs of legs.

A fertilised zygote is attached to the womb for a period of about three standard months. It is then expelled into a birth canal, which opens vertically into a pouch on the female’s front lower abdoman. (This is the defining feature of the elenthnar’s infraclass.) Despite the small size of the fetus, this requires significant effort on the part of the mother. The fetus then latches on to a nipple in the pouch and becomes attached to it. The pouch seals via muscular contraction and a thin layer of vascular lining develops across it. In another five standard months, the fetus has developed into a baby. The pouch lining breaks and the baby and can leave the pouch, though it will continue to be pouch-fed for another five or so standard months. (The baby can be fed by bottle as soon as it can leave the pouch, so not all elenthnar females choose to pouch-feed.)

In modern times, Elenthnar tend to remove their young from the pouch as soon as they are able (since that that point, the baby’s excretory system is no longer directly connected to the mother’s) as it is not considered hygienic for longer periods. (Historically, less elenthnar females died in actual childbirth than humanoids, but deaths from later infection at the latter stages brought the overall pregnacy mortality rate to about the same.)

Culturally, elenthar record two “birth dates” a primary (the time the birth-pouch opens) and a secondary (the time when the fetus is expelled into the birth-pouch).



¹Strictly speaking, the plural of elenthnar is elenthnaro in Zoxyriat, though elenthars is an acceptable English subsitution; Zoxyriat plural suffix (-o) is a close enough equivilent to the English suffix (-s) and the latter is used here for simplicity; either suffix is technically valid as a plural form.

²Nacro or nacrs in the plural (in zoxyriat and english respectively).

³Nacrio or nacris in the plural.

[DigoDragon]

Space Empires V - Now with Ponies!

Spoiler: Space Ponies!

Show

I finally got the Solar Empire flag and the race image of Celestia to work. Pro Tip: If you created the flag/race icons in Photoshop, open the new images in Microsoft Paint and resave them. Photoshop apparently leaves extra code in the *.bmp files that will crash the game.

Anyway, the Solar Empire starts with the planet Equestria in a medium-sized system with a hot white sun. A second planet is colonizable right off the bat, so that's awesome. Research starts off with sensors and Ion Engine tech so I can get around quickly and see neighboring systems, but I always devote 50% of the available research points to new research labs. This strategy causes your research points to grow exponentially rather than linearly. Within about two game years our tiny empire comprises of five planets. Equestria homeworld and the two farthest planets are rich in resources so they are the industry backbone to building new ships and defenses. The other two are small research worlds dedicated to... well you know.

I have yet to find any intelligent life out there. ^^;

I wonder if there are any black holes on this map...?

Spoiler

Show

I can't help but notice that, even though you think this is an utterly silly thing to be fighting about, you're still jumping right in.

The internet never fails to be interesting.

I was completely prepared to talk about baseball instead. Is anyone else really into Out of the Park Baseball?

I used to play in the little-leagues as a kid. I had a boring position though, left outfield. I think the average number of balls that reach me in a season is... three. Eh, our team was pretty bad anyway. Second to last place. It was mildly exercise though. I think if there was some little league soccer group I would have joined that instead. Alas, there wasn't.

she knows i'm a bit of a weirdo but no

The CEO of the company I work for knows I'm a Brony. And he knows the term too.
His daughter is a fan, and she's about my daughter's age, so I have fun with that.

Finally, in S5 E12, Moondancer plays some sort of sport with her friends in helmets that don't cover their face, colored vests, and we see a ball too, but I can't imagine what sport that could be.

Looks like soccer or futbol to me.

Ponies also bowl.

Sometimes they Punch Bowl.

Spoiler

Show

Sugar Coat and Trixie both reached Initiate, learning Inspire and Insanity respectively.

Oh wow. I'm imagining these two together playing Straight Mare and Comedian, and it is AWESOME. Though it's funny to think of Sugar coat's brutal honesty to be inspiring in any way. XD

I will therefore, in future, get off my lazy boney arse be prepared to shoulder that part of the burden if it so happens that I notice we reach the end of the thread.

*nod* I wait until 50 and then if there's not a new one, I help make one.

[otakuryoga]

Spoiler: watch it just once..if you can

Show

https://youtu.be/8VIllAilTnE

I can't help but notice that, even though you think this is an utterly silly thing to be fighting about, you're still jumping right in. I was completely prepared to talk about baseball instead. Is anyone else really into Out of the Park Baseball? I wonder if ponies could play baseball. Pegasi would make utterly unfair outfielders.

only if they used their wings..which they would have written rules to forbid instead of just relying on them to play fair instead of being utter douchebags

and as for the unicorns..we have already seen they put up anti-magic fields(force unicorns to be capped) at sporting events

[Manga Shoggoth]

Eh, I still use a custom script; opens all the spoilers unless they have images in them. But yeah, probably don't need it in the OP anymore.

I was thinking more in terms of adding to the section rather than replacing it - each method has its pros and cons...

[Deadly]

I am skeptical of any solution that relies on community consensus given that this is a problem originally caused by someone ignoring the community consensus.

Ideally, in a situation like this, someone else would make a properly titled thread and everyone would simply ignore the wrongly titled one. Then a moderator would come along (or more likely be called) to delete the wrongly titled one. Voila.

It doesn't actually matter who makes the thread, but I think a vote is important, not to mention the only fair solution. It also gives us much better titles. It should probably just be whoever is there when the old thread flips over to 50, and they can just leave a quick note in the old thread that they're about to make a new thread so everyone knows it's coming (thus avoiding accidental duplicates). If someone's a jerk and ignores the vote, everyone just ignores them, simple and effective.

History has shown if someone makes a secondary ponythread it gets merged into the eldest ponythread and the person who posted the thread first wins the title. This is the only system that can function in this environment. The battle is strong, the race is to the swift and the ponythread title is to whoever posts the ponythread first.

I am not so sure we should use a system that relies on the moderators constantly fixing our mess without complaint. They may tolerate the occasional duplicate, but if it starts happening all the time I would worry about them simply shutting ponythread down.

Also, again, being stuck with whatever random title someone thought up on a whim doesn't appeal to me. I like the slightly more thought-out titles we get through the process of suggestions and voting. It weeds out most of the lesser ones and gives us a title that most of us think is good and interesting.

[Jeivar]

You folks arguing about thread names . . .

What is the theme of the show again?

[DigoDragon]

What is the theme of the show again?

That Trixie is best Pony? No wait, that's my theme for the show.

Uh... oh, that spoilers for Saturday's episode are magic.

Spoiler: New Ep Trailer

Show

Oooh, raccoons!

I thought this was going to be one of those Sweet and elite kind of episodes. Instead, they locked Rarity in a room. Huh.
What are friends for?

[Pendulous]

Spoiler: preview

Show

Yep, that preview told me nothing about the episode. Which I guess is for the better.

[t209]

That Trixie is best Pony? No wait, that's my theme for the show.

Uh... oh, that spoilers for Saturday's episode are magic.

Spoiler: New Ep Trailer

Show

Oooh, raccoons!

I thought this was going to be one of those Sweet and elite kind of episodes. Instead, they locked Rarity in a room. Huh.
What are friends for?

Yeah, how many times the ponies forgot about their previous lessons again?
Also here's an article that might suit to you fellow ponies.
But I disagree with using Grant Morrison's New X-Men as an example. Still bugged that they decided to erase Alpha Primitives in current Inhumans, which they aren't even mentioned even if their city crash-landed on Earth. I rather prefer the War of Kings space Kree alliance version.

[Excession]

Spoiler: Crystal Prep-COM: Four Legged Freaks

Show

Dear Princess Twilight.

Expansion of the resistance network is going slowly. We completed a radio tower in Indonesia, and from there started started contacting Australia. Our regular supply drop was in New Zealand, so we didn't need to go far. Design of the plasma rifle was completed, but building them depleted our Elerium supplies. Of course, just when I was thinking Elerium was our number one problem, the aliens made a breakthrough on their Avatar project. We're back to having 27 days to save the world, and no facilities accessible to stop them.

Then, suddenly we were heading back to Europe, as the aliens decided to attack a resistance haven in Italy. The shadow chamber is giving strange readings for this one, some type of alien we haven't seen before.

Operation: Holy Fog
Squad: Sour Sweet, Jet Set, Indigo Zap, Fleur de Lis, Fancy Pants, Trixie Lulamoon.

We arrived in the corner of the camp, hidden behind a shack. Moving up revealed 3 "Chrysalid" creatures, one of which ran up immediately and attacked Jet Set, justifying my choice to bring a medic for this one. Indigo Zap then blew that Crysalid in half, Jet Set killed another (plasma rifles are awesome), and Fleur and Fany Pants finished off the third.

Continuing forward, we were able to rescue a few civilians, before spotting a MEC and Lancer. Trixie started things off with a rocket, blowing up a fuel dump along with the Lancer. The MEC withdrew, and more enemies found us before we could chase it down. In the ensuing fire fight Indigo was surprised by a Faceless and injured.

With that group down, scanning revealed another MEC, two Troopers, and a Lancer. They proved... troublesome, especially when another Chrysalid, and another Faceless joined in. Indigo was hit again, while Trixie and Fleur got hit by a grenade from the MEC. That wasn't even the end; there were Chrysalid spawn loose in the camp. The following bug hunt wasn't kind of anybody's nerves. Too many civilians died on this one, and too many soldiers were hurt.

Indigo Zap promoted to Major, gaining Untouchable, but lightly wounded and out 5 days.
Fleur de Lis out for 4 days, Jet Set for 9 days, and Trixie for an unfortunate 11 days.

Hurrying back to the other side of the world, we finished contacting Australia while the medical team worked overtime to get people back on their feet. As soon as I could field a decent squad, I sent them to destroy the Avatar facility in North Queensland.

Operation: Half-dead Peak
Squad: Sour Sweet, Lemon Zest, Indigo Zap, Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis, Sugar Coat.

The squad dropped in the valley in front of the facility, and moved to a ridge to advance toward it. They located an outer patrol, an Andromedon and two Vipers. The Vipers were taken down quickly, but the Andromedon ran to get help. This drew us into a big mess, which we only just managed to escape from, mostly by running away. Indigo and Lemon were hurt again. On the up side, Sugar Coat was able to mind control one of the enemy, a Shieldbearer who became out new disposable point man.

We found the remaining enemies on the far side of the facility. With nowhere to run, they were no trouble to defeat. Nor were the traditionally late reinforcements.

Fancy Pants promoted to Major, gaining Volatile Mix.
Indigo was only lightly wounded, and will be back in 4 days. Lemon was not so lucky, her grave wounds will take 20 days to heal.

A temporary reprieve from the aliens finishing their project, but now we have no Specialists in fighting shape, and I doubt the aliens are going to give us time to heal. Also, we have a critical need for more Intel, as the only other alien facility we know of is way over in the northern Rockies, and we have no contacts closer than England. This is not looking good...

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: preview

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Yep, that preview told me nothing about the episode. Which I guess is for the better.

Tomorrow's new ep preview discussion of words

Spoiler

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Well, I suppose a good preview gets you interested in something without revealing too much of what the plot is. Here... it kind of does that for me. I mean, i'm curious as to what leads up to Rarity's friends locking her up and causing this social disaster. I mean, besides them being Them.

Yeah, how many times the ponies forgot about their previous lessons again?

They got lessons?

Spoiler

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Also here's an article that might suit to you fellow ponies.

I think the comic book industry did it to themselves. I got tired of them breaking up perfectly good relationships and marriages just to sell stories. Why can't these writers let supers hold down steady relationships? Disney's Incredibles can do it and they do it well.

and Trixie for an unfortunate 11 days.

Lemon was not so lucky, her grave wounds will take 20 days to heal.

Ouch, that is not a good thing at all D:

[Excession]

Ouch, that is not a good thing at all D:

Yeah, I might be failing this one. I only took one pip off the Avatar Project, and the clock doesn't fully reset any more after the patch, so there will be about 20 days on it. In that time, I need to contact East USA, for 160 Intel, build a radio tower there, then West USA, for 80 Intel, to get the next facility. I have about 60 Intel right now IIRC. One mission reward will get me to East USA, but from there...

On the up side, if I can get there that facility has like five pips on it, so the pressure would be off slightly. My other option is Shadow Chamber projects, but that would lead to fighting either a Sectopod or an Avatar with magnetic weapons, along with whatever else the mission has on it.

[t209]

I think the comic book industry did it to themselves. I got tired of them breaking up perfectly good relationships and marriages just to sell stories. Why can't these writers let supers hold down steady relationships? Disney's Incredibles can do it and they do it well.

On the other hand, at least DC managed to get your idea with new Rebirth. At least Superman and Lois are back. But will have to wait for another crisis for Wally to become the Flash that we use to know (Unlike Young Justice, Wally West became Flash and Barry died in tragic event) and make Irey West again.

Spoiler: YJ Season 2 finale

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Possibly pre-New 52 Wally is spending time with YJ Kid Flash in the limbo along with Chris Kent (Superman's adopted son from yet another Kryptonian rocket), Ace the Bathound, comic version of YJ (the one where Superboy is fun and Impulse is its first member), Teen Titans from cartoon, and .

I keep wondering why they made him brother-in-law rather than Nephew in Flash series though. I am not sure if Irey (half-Korean and half-Black in my speculation) should be kid flash yet.

[b_jonas]

Some of you keep asking for an episode where we can see what Princess Celestia does, even if it's just her ordinary everyday life, not yet another threat that could destroy all of ponyville. Celestia is such an interesting character that it's worth fantasying about her even when she doesn't do anything. Millie from the Ozy and Millie webcomics is something like this too: she's cute even when she's not doing anything.

So anyway, Starlight Glimmer has a similar effect on me: even when she's not doing do anything and doesn't even show up in episodes, her character is interesting enough. And today, I found out about just another thing where Starlight manages to excel without even doing anything.

Spoiler: Starlight

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Starlight has a 3 inch brushable figurine that actually resembles her, both in the body and the mane. Many ponies fail in this simple thing, because you can't make Pinkie Pie's prehensive mane curls, Rainbow Dash's six colored mane, or even Twilight's three-color striped parted hairstyle from nylon strands. Princess Celestia is in a really big disadvantage here, because her hair in the show is so awesome that practically no figurine can depict it properly.

So anyway, I just bought a Starlight Glimmer brushable, plus a mini Pinkie Pie as an extra. I'd still like a Luna plushie and a Scootaloo minifig.

[Fable Wright]

Especially after certain someone barged in thread ago and made a mockery of the voting anyway.

Funny. She's still here.
Just because I usually lurk doesn't mean I 'barge in' when I post.

Ideally, in a situation like this, someone else would make a properly titled thread and everyone would simply ignore the wrongly titled one. Then a moderator would come along (or more likely be called) to delete the wrongly titled one. Voila.

Incorrect. Mod policy is to merge duplicate threads now, so whichever title was first, sticks. This caused some drama many threads ago, when everything was folded into Thanqol's thread.

Apologies for continuing this argument, but the last post of the last thread seemed mean-spirited towards me in particular.

[Aotrs Commander]

Fluttershy's Dominion v2: Parte the thrity-Forthe

Ya didn't think you were going to escape this in the last hour, did you...?

Spoiler

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Todays's job. Finishing coring Tunis and then annexing Japan. We need to have a quick blitz up East Africa so we can colonise and set up Kongo do to some mor coring for us.

And we need to make preparations for the next amjor war - the attack to sieze territory from China and Korea, which might be our end-game goal. (Unless we get ahead of time, in which case, bonus!)

On reflection, before we get to Ming, we need to have a bit of a go at Sind - for no other reason than to drag in their ally, Delhi and force the latter b#to break their alliance with China. Don't need to take many provinces - I will either grab a new vassal or hand some to France, so I can save myself the admin cost of that war.

Europe, I think, is basically before Extra Time and I'm not going to do anything there unless I have to now.

Okay. Vijananagar and Mysore (the former granted the independance of the latter) should be easy to tackle, and I'll vassalise the former and annex the latter. (It'll take over 100% over-extension, but the other coring is at 84%ish, so it should be done before the real trouble happens, and maybe even before this war is over.)

I have dispatched two colonies to Jujur and Okhotsk, just norh of Korea - basically, to give our lads somewhere to stand before we march south.

First bit of coring finsihed as we started! This measn that Bleaklingia is now formed in colional California from my old colonies plus the Ottoman's old provinces...

Okay, more light ships, new conquest army...!

Bulk of the coring done, first round of Tunisian rebels...

This means we can start on Japan now, so I won't waste any time.

All the coring done, as our armies move across our enemy nations smartly...

Tunis is now all stated and cofrted (that rather ate into my admin reserve, nevermind...)

Second round of Tunisian rebels. I've had to deploy one of the conquest armies to the old Oceanic Ottoman island,s because there's going to be rebellion there soon.

I decided I had to bite the bullet and build some transports to reinforce Transport Alpha to full size to enable it to carry a full conquest army. Three fleets is juts not enough, especially as Epsilon needs to stick around the English channel in case of emergancy.

Both wars are nearly done, though!

Vijananagar is now forcefully vassalised.

Oh dear. An now we're too strong to be rivalled. Whoops, there goes our power projection...

Grr. Looks like we'll have to call a short halt to operations, because I'm about out of admin. I can't give Mysore to Vijananagar to core (unfortunately, it just won't let me) aside from selling it to them, and I don't really want to hand that over to France or Kongo. Japan is also going to take waaaay more than I thought to core.

I could start on Sind, but all the armies would have to be ferried over to it from all the way around Africa - and then back again later to attack them.

Okay then. refractory period it will have to be then!

Japan is now annexed... Though coring... could take a while...! Yikes. Just noticed I'm at b96% overextension. Didn't think to check the total of Mysore plus Japan... Got away with that just barely..!

First round of island rebels - fortuantely, I saw this coming and had a conquest arym stationed on each one... Actially, given all the rebels,m it's probably as well we have a refractory period, just to let the missionaries have some time to work...!

MASSIVE building spree (like 25k)...

Last of the Sunda rebels...

New idea! +1 diplomatic reltions (huzzah!) and -25% envoy travel time. That leave me room for one more alliance with all my current vassals. Not gonna rush, though, I'll dp that closer to the time to move.

Somehow missed some rebels out near Mysore, though I'm not sure whose they are - easily put down, though. Oh, they're Vijananagar's rebels! No wonder I didn't get any notification!

There go the former Mamaluk rebels (seperatists) - juuuust as the army arrives in the area for precisely that...!

Oop, next round of Japanese rebels... And the next one, as we finishing coring in India. And that eliminates the rebel problem for the immediate while.

Eegh, 'bout another year, then probably another one while we build up some reserves to go at Africa... Still, got about twenty-five years left to go, so we not going to be too far behind schedule.

'Nother conquest army... I'm just adding these as I get over 44 extra on my force limit.

Right! And that's all the coring in Japan actually started... So, give us another year or so to build up something and we can have a crack at Africa!

Last diplomatic idea! +100% vassal force contriution (whatever that exactly means) and now I get a -50% on unjustified demans! (Whatever that means...) And now we can start saving up for the diplo techs we are mnow laggin behind in. (We're lagging in admin too, but not much I can do about that at the moment...)

Okay - time to take out Mutupa, Tumbuka and Makua!

And Rwanda and Buto, since attacking the former gives me Overseas Expansion, which is better than imperialism because of the cheapness. Doesn't matter that I can't actually take either of those last two, they can be dealt with later... Wait, no, that won't give co-belligerance on Mutupa or Makua. Dammit. Imperialism it is, and Mutupa, then.

Mil tech 31!

Easy enough to peace out Buto for some cash and trade power, they're just an OPM...

Vassal annex penalty expires, so now Songhai will annex much faster.

Steady work, mopping up their fortresses... Just Makua left to occupy now.

After some serious consideration, I decided that Tumbuka was best peaced out. I decided that it just didn't benefit me to get it to core it at the moment. A couple of priority colonies, one sold province and Kongo wil be able to core Rwanda, Buto and Timbuka for me.

On futher consideration, I elected to give Mutupa to France entirely to core, leaving me to be able to take a bigger chunk out of Makua. I warscored out before I hit overextension problems - couldn't get any oter concessions either - but it's probably as well, really. I wasn't able to take all the coast, but I was able to all of the Trade Company coast and a line all the way up to abutt Etheopia, leaving only a four=-province stretch of coast, with another four inland provicnes far to the south SERIOUSLY divided Makua in two. I had just enough admin to start coring it all.

Immediately as this was settling down, I was going to start moving troops over to Sind for the next war, where all gains would be shunted off to Vijananagar.

I looked at it, and thought that there was a significant possibilty I might have to tackle the Ottomans once more before were done, to swipe some of Ethiopia's territory - we would see how much time we had once Sind and Delhi had been dealt with.

Looking at where things were going elsewhere - Fracking crap Russia. It's nearly been cut in half by Ming and Sweden. Well, they ain't gonna be useful allies.

Post war deeper assessment.

Bollocks. We've stalled out for a few months on the annexation of Songhai, since I didn't realise you could go into negative monarch points.


Sind now has no allies. Delhi is in a really awkward position - it's now allied to both Ming and the Ottomans. That's... problematic...

No, I think we can still go as planned. I I hit Korea, it'll only drag Ming ino the war - and I don't want to take both of them, just a few bits.

I think the Ottomans are definitely manageble if I hit Ethiopia so it's only the two of them in the war.

Sind will remain the next target, since it has no allies and I may was make best use of Vijananagar now I've annexed them - plus I'll need some time to do something else while my admin points get back up...!

I think that's all we're going to get, though. Sind => Ethiopia => Korea/Ming.

Actually, there's a couple of very small nations just up north of Korea - might be worth snagging those in the interim.

Oh fudge, there was a hidden province. Well, that puts me over 100% overextension., Good job the other stuff is nearly completed and should be done before the bad stuff hits...!

And that will do for today. We're coming up to the end of 1800, so only twenty years to go!

Next time - Sind! (And perhaps an alliance with Bengal.)

What, no comment on the elenthnar? Do I need to traumatise you again...?

[DigoDragon]

Ya didn't think you were going to escape this in the last hour, did you...?

I figured I had a better chance escaping this than trying to escape the Black Hole I found in Space Empires V (That was a rough ride into infinity). Speaking of SEV, I also figured out how to add my own name lists for starship designations. I added like... a hundred pony names from the pony wiki.

Spoiler

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What, no comment on the elenthnar? Do I need to traumatise you again...?

Yes?

[Excession]

Spoiler: Crystal Prep-COM: Two cautious steps forward, one giant robot step back

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Dear Princess Twilight.

The advantage of pessimism, is that you can't be disappointed. So, as expected, another mission right away.

Operation: Blood Stank (um, what)
Goal: Recover an item from an ADVENT vehicle in Perth.
Squad: Sour Sweet, Mi Amore Cadenza Cadance, Sugar Coat, Fleur de Lis, Fancy Pants, Upper Crust.

The squad dropped half a block from the vehicle, but flyover showed a lot of enemies, so they needed to move fast. Fleur moved first, and spotted an Archon and Codex standing next to a car and fuel pod. Like the crazy explosives expert she is, she immediately lobbed a plasma grenade at them. The Codex was killed, and the Archon badly hurt, and quickly killed by the rest of the squad as they moved past.

Next enemies encounter was a Shieldbearer and Andromedon. With only magnetic weapons, those Andromedons are presenting a real problem; they're just so tough. The time taken is almost more of a problem than the physical threat they represent.

The squad spotted a MEC, Officer, and Trooper guarding the van, but before we could engage them another Officer and Trooper patrol found us. Fleur grenaded them, then Cadance and Fancy Pants finished them off. By this point, Cadance had spent so much time shooting she had hardly moved from the drop point. I think she wants her own spider suit.

Sour Sweet, meanwhile, declared a kill zone on the other guards, so that while Cadance shot one of them, Sour Sweet shot all of them. There wasn't much left for the rest of the squad to clean up. Unfortunately, that wasn't the last of them, as Upper Crust found an Andromedon and three Mutons behind the van. To top it off, we were running out of time. Taking just a brief pause to reload and reposition, the squad threw everything they had left at the aliens, including Sugar Coat successfully mind controlling one of the Mutons.

Upper Crust made it to the goods with only a few seconds remaining, but she made it, completing a surprisingly flawless mission. The intelligence we captured doesn't quite fix our problems, but it helps.

Meanwhile, our scientists have completed the design of a plasma/shotgun hybrid, which they called a "Storm Gun". The problem of not having enough Elerium to build any Storm Guns was solved by the resistance pointing us toward some that the aliens had lost. To solve the lack of intel, I re-tasked our science team to decrypt some of the alien data caches we had previously captured. That will delay upgrading our heavy machine guns, but we don't have the elerium for that anyway.

Before we could use that intel to contact the Eastern United States, the resistance got someone important captured, and we needed to go rescue them. The shadow chamber was giving some unknown readings again, so I think we're in for a tough fight.

Operation: Sky Breaker (see, that's a better name!)
Goal: rescue a VIP from ADVENT vehicle in Perth.
Squad: Sour Sweet, Jet Set, Indigo Zap, Sugar Coat, Fancy Pants, Fleur de Lis.

The squad dropped just one building away from the target vehicle. Moving forward, they spotted an Andromedon and two Codexes. Fancy Pants opened with a massive grenade hit. While the rest of the squad focused on the Andromedon, Jet Set somehow managed to kill the split up remains of both Codexes on his own, then shut down the Andromedon Shell. In his debriefing he denied any magical ability, but I'm not sure I believe him.

Moving just a little closer to the target, the squad engaged a Heavy MEC and Shieldbearer. The MEC got torn apart, and Sugar Coat mind controlled the Shieldbearer before it could get a shield up. Unfortunately, another patrol noticed that, adding another Heavy MEC, a light MEC, and a Lancer to the fight. Before we managed to finish them off, the light MEC got a grenade off, injuring Jet Set, Sour Sweet, and Fleur. Indigo, testing out the new Storm Gun for the first time, blew the Lancer into multiple pieces. Messy, but undeniably effective.

Moving toward the van, things went from good to not so good. Indigo was spotted by a "Sectpod", supported by Shieldbearer and Trooper. A two-story tall death robot is not what we needed right now. I could probably have had the squad run for it, but no, I wasn't letting the aliens have this one. That big robot was going down.

The squad opened up with grenades, stripping the armour from the Sectopod, and the cover from its supporting units. A mimic beacon distracted it, then Indigo proved that the Storm Gun is just as effective on giant robots as it is on infantry units. Reinforcements showed up as the Sectopod went down. Fancy Pants still had a grenade is reserve, and thanks to Sugar Coat's inspiration Sour Sweet was able to hit all three late arrivals with a kill zone. Indigo waved farewell to the mind controlled Shieldbearer by "just making sure the Storm Gun is always this awesome". I guess it doesn't make sense to leave units for the aliens to reclaim, but that still seems cruel.

Jet Set promoted to Captain, gaining Threat Assessment, but wounded for 5 days.
Fleur de Lis promoted to Captain, gaining Chain Shot, and Covering Fire from the AWC, lightly wounded for 4 days.
Sour Sweet wounded for 11 days.
Reward: 141 Intel, and an extra Scientist.

Not a flawless victory, but a victory nonetheless. The science team expressed disappointment that we weren't able to recover the Sectopod wreck; I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them though.

After that, there was a bit of a lull, we made contact with the Eastern United States, built a radio tower there, and started on the Western United States. Sugar Coat reached Disciple rank, learning Stasis. Trixie's time in the hospital has delayed her training, so she might be falling behind a bit.

Edit: Bonus episode...

Spoiler: Crystal Prep-COM: Sectopod 2, Electric Boogaloo

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Dear Princess Twilight.

Contacting the Western United States was rudely interrupted by the aliens doing things we needed to stop them from doing.

Operation: Night Storm
Goal: Destroy alien relay in the outskirts of Bangalore.
Squad: Jet Set, Fleur de Lis, Indigo Zap, Sugar Coat, Fancy Pants, Cadance.

The relay was located hidden in a grocery store, and the squad dropped a block away. Advancing, Indigo spotted a distant Archon, while Jet Set found a closer Archon and Muton. Cadance shot the Archon, then Sugar Coat straight up mind controlled the Muton. Our new more advanced magic wands are really working well. The rest of the squad took the Archon down, then advanced toward the relay. A Sectopod was heard stomping around somewhere on the other side of the building. New plan: try to stay away from it.

An Officer, Trooper, and Lancer were spotted guarding the front of the store. The squad set up, then Sugar Coat opened with a rocket, also blowing the front of the store off. Fleur de Lis and our new friendly Muton both threw grenades at the enemy, though the Lancer proved stubborn and a mimic beacon was used to distract him.

Just when everything was going well, the rest of the guards showed up. An Archon, Trooper, Officer and Lancer, closing from different directions. The Archon and Trooper made the tactical error of taking cover behind a fuel pod, which Fancy Pants was happy to explode for them, killing the Trooper, then our Muton finished off the Archon. The rest of the squad cleaned up the Officer and Lancer. With everything clear, the squad then destroyed the relay, and fell back a bit to wait for the Sectopod to make its entrance.

Of course, Sectopods don't travel alone. It arrived with a Shieldbearer, Lancer, and Trooper in tow. Decided to fight the infantry first, so Sugar Coat put the big evil robot into stasis. Only the Trooper got a shot off, which luckily missed, before our Muton friend finished him off. Just the Sectopod remaining, Indigo was in place when the stasis dropped, and pumped a 16 damage Rupture into it, followed by a massive Chain Shot from Fleur. The rest of the squad waded in, and finally Sugar Coat inspired Indigo to have another shot, which finished it off with another 11 damage.

Flawless mission. The science team were happy that we brought this Sectopod home with us.

Meanwhile, the science team completed the Beam Cannon design. The resistance pointed us in the direction of an underground arms dealer who was able to supply us with a further 70 elerium, so that shortage is solved. Trixie Lulamoon reached Disciple rank, learning Void Rift.

Edit 2:

Spoiler: Crystal Prep-COM: Three to One

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Dear Princess Twilight.

Yet more interruptions, how are we supposed to save the world if we keep stopping to save the people in it. Or, you know, rob trains. Cause that's what we did today. No time for a blow by blow account, as we need everyone down in the cargo hold to sort all our sweet loot before the party. The squad dropped in, and they kicked ass. Archons were killed by overwatch fire, Sectopods were put in stasis, Indigo blew people in half. Just a normal day really :)

Why a party, you ask? Because with 100 kills over 32 missions, Sour Sweet just got promoted to Colonel!

Stasis has to be my favourite ability ever. It just makes those big boss pods so much easier to manage. Why fight a Sectopod and four guys, when you can fight four guys then a Sectopod.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: New Episode!

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Rarity: "NO SPOILERS!!"
(This definitely needs to be a gif for every forum)

Funny callback to Too Many Pinkie Pies. I'm sure the fandom is going to go nuts coming up with fanfics and headcanon theories on that scene. Also, mare-do-wells. Heh. So I was worried that the preview clip and the summary for this episode was gonna be about everyone failing to help, but I am pleasantly surprised that Rarity's friends did figure out how things should be done.

So yes, I liked this. *thumbs up* :D

[Derjuin]

Spoiler: New Ep

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I liked it! The callback to Too Many Pinkie Pies was funny and subtle, and the way the story was framed was great. I loved the interjected interview scenes, though I'm noticing some things with Rainbow Dash that are kind of weird. Not bad, not good, but something I'm keeping an eye on - she has a habit, now, of reshaping her mane when she's imitating someone (something that I really think was only good as a one-off with Twilight), and contorts her face in a way that breaks the norm. I'm not against stepping out of the established, I'm just not sure I like this particular step.

[DigoDragon]

Spoiler: New Ep

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I liked it! The callback to Too Many Pinkie Pies was funny and subtle, and the way the story was framed was great. I loved the interjected interview scenes, though I'm noticing some things with Rainbow Dash that are kind of weird. Not bad, not good, but something I'm keeping an eye on - she has a habit, now, of reshaping her mane when she's imitating someone (something that I really think was only good as a one-off with Twilight), and contorts her face in a way that breaks the norm. I'm not against stepping out of the established, I'm just not sure I like this particular step.

New Ep

Spoiler: Rec Row something or other

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Yeah, the mane style change was funny the first time, but seems like it doesn't work the second time. The running gag with her asking if the interviewer is writing it down was better. The comments with RD and AJ on Twi's sweep song making fun but they're still singing it when it happened. That seems like how friends do things. :3

[Toastkart]

Spoiler: I really only have one thing to say about the new episode

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Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep. Sweep.

[McNum]

Spoiler: Saddle Row Review

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Interesting style. Nested flashbacks in the form of an interview.

I liked this one, it was sort of the opposite of Castle Sweet Castle, but the setup was a little different. This wasn't a surprise thing like that, it was Rarity trusting the other five to do what they do best. There's also the neat little touch that Rarity changes up her store names fitting the location. So in Manehattan, it's not a Boutique, it's simply "Rarity for You!"

The callback to Too Many Pinkies, including the Pinkie Pie in the background was amazing, too. I just wonder how the reporter thought about that, probably thought she was making it up. Also, Pinkie Pie has a shoulder devil-Rarity and angel-Rarity. I wonder if she has a set of all the ponies of those.

Overall, it was better than I expected it to be, but I really should know better than to worry about a Rarity episode. And the double ponytails dancing pony was pretty cute.