My Little Pony VII: The Grand Galloping Thread

[darthbobcat]

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CUTEY MARK CRUSADERS

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[EsperDerek]

Also, sorry PhoeKun :(
I know it's no fun not being able to play, but at lest we get to watch and help EsperDerek grow new organs.

How does a pony grow new organs anyway?

It's magic, I ain't got to explain ****

The answer is very carefully. Huh, I think I feel my liver starting to fill in. Well, that's good!

Video filmed. I'm trying to add "Pinkie Pie's Psychotic Break" music to it but I can't figure out a way to dim the music file's sound. Could anyone throw together a half or quarter volume mp3 of this real quick?

Or anyone with any experience with the junksack of Windows Live Movie Maker telling me how would be good too

EDIT: NM, got it

Oh lord, I can't believe you actually did film this video. This should be something to watch.

[Grif]

Video filmed. I'm trying to add "Pinkie Pie's Psychotic Break" music to it but I can't figure out a way to dim the music file's sound. Could anyone throw together a half or quarter volume mp3 of this real quick?

Or anyone with any experience with the junksack of Windows Live Movie Maker telling me how would be good too

EDIT: NM, got it

I bet that video is going to break all rules of reality as we see it.

Gonna get my popcorn.

[Raistlin1040]

Wait what video?

Meh. *gets popcorn and waits anyway*

[darthbobcat]

Wait what video?

Meh. *gets popcorn and waits anyway*

See our collective weirdness between about page 16 and 20.

EDIT: @Thanqol

If you have the MP3, get Audacity or something. You can mess with the volume there.

[SaintRidley]

Guys, check it out. Get ponies walking around on your desktop.

My fiancee found it and holy carp it's so adorable. I have Pinkamena Diane Pie twitching around my desktop right now and I love it.

[Thanqol]

The Internet will never forget.

The Internet will never forgive.

AND I AM TOTALLY SANE.

Behold

[kpenguin]

So.

Apparently I'm not watching ponies tonight. Another member of my pony group had something come up and we're waiting until the day after.

And don't any of you dare be disapproving of this. It was my idea to wait. All watch together and all.

So, another day of waiting. Hoping. Longing. For ponies.

There's no way that the episode "The Best Night Ever" will be the best episode ever. But it'd better be a good one. Please?

[darthbobcat]

The Internet will never forget.

The Internet will never forgive.

AND I AM TOTALLY SANE.

Behold

First: Phoekun, I saw this and thought of you.

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Now for Thanqol. That is the best thing ever.

[Grif]

The Internet will never forget.

The Internet will never forgive.

AND I AM TOTALLY SANE.

Behold

I think my brain just melted.

[Mystic Muse]

The Internet will never forget.

The Internet will never forgive.

AND I AM TOTALLY SANE.

Behold

That was awesome.

[EsperDerek]

The Internet will never forget.

The Internet will never forgive.

AND I AM TOTALLY SANE.

Behold

...That is the greatest thing in the history of ever. I'm speechless.

[Raz_Fox]

The Internet will never forget.

The Internet will never forgive.

AND I AM TOTALLY SANE.

Behold

I got played by Johnny Depp? Wicked cool.

Also I LOVE YOU SO MUCH SOUL BRO

*Beijing of tenuous sanity*

...

*brohoof, that's what I meant, haha*

[darthbobcat]

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I love this fanart.

[Darkmyst]

So THAT'S how you win Frogger! Marvelous. For her next trick, Fluttershy beats pacman by introducing parasprites to the game...

[SiuiS]

Do I look like I care what people think about the episode in general? I just want Spike in a top hat and cape, with mustache.

Right oh!

Of course! I'd be a terrible friend if that wasn't the case.



It's magic, I ain't got to explain ****

You're right. I'm sorry for doubting you *contrite*

So.

Apparently I'm not watching ponies tonight. Another member of my pony group had something come up and we're waiting until the day after.

And don't any of you dare be disapproving of this. It was my idea to wait. All watch together and all.

So, another day of waiting. Hoping. Longing. For ponies.

There's no way that the episode "The Best Night Ever" will be the best episode ever. But it'd better be a good one. Please?

that's pretty darn beautiful, man. Rock on.

[invinible]

I could never tell whom the 5 ponies were other than Pinkie Pie, herself,in Pinkie Pie's Lady Bug Band.

[Orzel]

I tested out my MLP RPG system with my two male cousins.
I did Dragonshy. Applejack and Twilight clones.

They got up to the dragon but couldn't get it to leave because they wasted all their energy trying to levitate it/bribe it with food.
Maybe Dragonshy wasn't a good start as it took 6 ponies to do it.

I'll try Bird in the Hoof as it is 2 player.

I stated up Rarity in my only little MLP RPG system too. yay.

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Rarity
Level 10 Unicorn

Cutie mark: 3 Gems- 4 bonuses to Craft Skill with crafting clothing with gems.

Unicorn Magic (Levitation 3, Spells 3, Magic Power 3)
Earth Magic (Social Skill 2, Craft Skill 5)
Mouth (Singing 1, Talking 1)
Life (Occupation 1)
Harmony (Generosity 2)

Quirks
Mane Cast- Access to Harmony Element
It Is On!- Swap Cutie Mark skill (Craft) for any Natural skills (Unicorn Magic) if berserk button is pressed
Precocious Crush- Swap Social or Talking for target's Natural or Cutie Mark skills (Dragonfire, Claws)
Tarnished Beauty- Double bonus cost when dirty or mane is messed up.
Babysitter- Triple bonus cost when sitting Sweetie Belle or Opalescence
Large Ham- Double bonus cost when Cutie Mark skill (Craft) is criticized

[SiuiS]

I could never tell whom the 5 ponies were other than Pinkie Pie, herself,in Pinkie Pie's Lady Bug Band.

wish I could help, but I'm not sure what you're talking about.*

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No. Just... no. What we see here is excessive social event that is drowning in gold, perfectly in tune with feudal galas. No one seems to care about expenses, they give away free food of such great quality no one even looks at AJ's best, and it was done by powerless nobles? How?

Also, take a look at the attendance. We have famous, well-off boutique owner that helped prepare decorations a few times... Yet, she and her money apparently are not good enough to attend. Prized pony pet pupil of the princess? Nope, she haven't been let in, either.*

Who, then, attends, and how they pay for it? No, it speaks volumes of noble caste influence and the resources they are able to wield, especially seeing they can afford throwing all this resources away just to display their splendour.

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I actually see this as proof for my point. The ponystocracy has nothing else to do but spend money amongst themselves for themselves. The gala, ostensibly a 'state' function, is run by nobles, for nobles, and attended by nobles. Why? So they can feel noble.

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Pardon?

Equestria is very poorly ran kingdom. Poor infrastructure, lack of knowledge, superstitions, civil works that seem to be working on some kind of feudal tithing of time by indentured servants to their lord.

Heck, look at Apple farm - it's big, nearly monopolistic, yet, the owners live in rusting shed and can't offer their grandma new hip. Someone said in earlier thread they probably have to pay taxes to local noble, heavily ruining ones, like in real feudalism - and I agree, BTW. Had there been any kind of free market/meritocracy, Ponyville would have been looking very differently. Instead, it's spitting image of place whose labour goes to feed somepony else - living high pony life in Canterlot, too busy to even show up, as nobles did in our world.

Ok, I realize it's probably just US writers subconsciously patterning the show with bad sides of their country, though it's weird, seeing the show is made in Canada.

Anyway, please show that the commoners really have any say, even the mayor seems to be largely powerless executor of orders from above. Do you remember how everypony tried to pamper Twilight just because she was representative from Canterlot?

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I have reverse. Prove that the nobles have any say.
We witness, on a constant basis, the neigh-utopian lives of tiny ponies. They buy their own stuff, celebrate, create and fritter with almost no care for the costs involved. Taxes, nobility, duty to their betters... These things don't come up, even as gags.

Granny Smith's hip? One, it was a throwaway gag, never mentioned again. Two, it's cost is most likely directly proportional to AppleJack's short-sightedness. She deals with earth ponies. Can you imagine how hard surgery must be for an earth pony to perform? No, if she just went and had the job done by a unicorn, she wouldn't have to pay for all that extra training and specialized equipment.

Also, consider that in a world of manticores, dragons, and supermassive starbears, superstition cannot be considered a sign of a poorly run kingdom. Superstition is what warned Twilight Sparkle of the impending assault by Our Lady of the Moon. And the mayor! Well. The mayor exists because somepony has to pretend to be in charge, but her position is almost entirely one of bein a figurehead. But that's a separate gripe of mine, believe you me.

That's why I said the BC trait system is perfect replacement, the mark is only the graphical representation of the bonuses it offers.

sounds reasonable. I will give this system a look-see. I'm gone batty having failed to find the system somepony posted but that doesn't actually exist though. Thought I had a lead, but with so many avatar changes... Oh well. It's like the book on Equestrian Mythology and cosmology; a dream I've yet to make a reality.

Erm... No? I disagree. FS's mark is animals, Dash's is speedy rainbow, they are perfect representations of their talents. Ditzy? Maybe her talent is being superior swimmer?

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Fluttershy's CM is butterflies. Unless butterflies mean animal conversation skills, I'm golden there.
I don't know why I put Rainbow Dash there, though. She is one of the few direct CM bearers, so I can only guess I thought about her and thus Tyler her name.

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Again, disagree. Duke = prince *

And snottiness would fit someone not so related to Celestia much more, unless she is Iron Trollestia in disguise, which she probably is :P

Plus, I envy your optimist thinking the change was thought about at all :P

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I know dukes and princes aren't equal. I do know, however, that the connotations of prince fit snooty jerktitude more than duke would. In the same veinthat Disney princesses are young and vibrant, Disney princes tendto be dumb, full of themselves, and walking through a world which may as well be shadows for all their understanding of it matters. Dukes... A duke sounds competent to my North American ear, where prince brings up the words "Charles" and "spoiled" by association. No, dukes are more likely to be evil than spoiled.

Why don't you help make one, then? :P

I just might, in the end. I felt bad that this imaginary(?) post disburse any responses though, and wanted to give it a much more in depth look. Until I know absolutely 100% sure that there really is no such post, I can't. I'd feel like I was spitting in the face of whoever already put in the work, tried to share, and was ignored. I couldn't do that.

EDIT: wait, Orzel: did you make a GURPS-esque character generation game Thingy for FIM?! It may be the thing I've been looking for this last week.


Now, I'm off to hit the hay early. Hopefully, I'll wake up early enough to see Trixie, as well as the tart of some more conversation :)

[Grif]

Oh god. Blogger just did a rollback and 30 hours worth of pony content were lost from EqD. Maintenance is ongoing as of this post.

Also, I feel sad not being able to get my daily fix from blogpony.

[Thanqol]

By the way, Cleverbot?



Total brony.

[Orzel]

SiuiS, I did create something like that. It is not finished (Way too many tropes to quirkify ). I'll drop what I have in homebrew when I get home.

It's a level based, no "Attributes" kinda, skill based, roll 1-6 d6s over number-type system with a advantage/disadvantage system.

[Welf]

(Gets out butcher knife) Yes, yes... fresh love is best.

Ah, murder and cannibalism. The base for any kind of good humour. Also, I listened to the myomy... thing while reading the last pages. Increased the fun.

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No. Just... no. What we see here is excessive social event that is drowning in gold, perfectly in tune with feudal galas. No one seems to care about expenses, they give away free food of such great quality no one even looks at AJ's best, and it was done by powerless nobles? How?

Also, take a look at the attendance. We have famous, well-off boutique owner that helped prepare decorations a few times... Yet, she and her money apparently are not good enough to attend. Prized pony pet pupil of the princess? Nope, she haven't been let in, either.

Who, then, attends, and how they pay for it? No, it speaks volumes of noble caste influence and the resources they are able to wield, especially seeing they can afford throwing all this resources away just to display their splendour.

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Maybe the Gala is a extremely clever way of implementing a progressive tax. If the social pressure is high enough, every high-class pony has to go to the gala, regardless of the cost. Celestia then can force them to buy in the designed royal shops, let them pay the decoration and food as expected gifts to show of their wealth, or simply sell the tickets. If used right, those ressouces can be directed to create and maintain a middle class of specialist. Basically a White Elephant. And not unprecedented by history, since the Sun King Lois XIV ruined a significant part of the rebellious French noble class with his parties.

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Again, disagree. Duke = prince

And snottiness would fit someone not so related to Celestia much more, unless she is Iron Trollestia in disguise, which she probably is :P

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Well, if BB was a duke, the whole prince Un-Charming pun wouldn't work. So it's more than okay to me.

And I really like the idea of BB being Celestia in disguise.

[Irbis]

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I actually see this as proof for my point. The ponystocracy has nothing else to do but spend money amongst themselves for themselves. The gala, ostensibly a 'state' function, is run by nobles, for nobles, and attended by nobles. Why? So they can feel noble.

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And just where they got all these resources? It looked like the whole budget of several cities went into this, seeing all these fireworks, all extremely good looking ponies whose only job was to greet or entertain guests (and they were all extremely skilled professionals to boot, witness Octavia's dexterity being on par with human hands), and all attractions, including free buffet making normal food look putrid by comparison.

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I have reverse. Prove that the nobles have any say.
We witness, on a constant basis, the neigh-utopian lives of tiny ponies. They buy their own stuff, celebrate, create and fritter with almost no care for the costs involved. Taxes, nobility, duty to their betters... These things don't come up, even as gags.

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Well... All these ponies are actually rather poor. Lives they live could have been afforded by lower class, the only thing we see even approaching luxury is a spa, and only Rarity visits it with any frequency. Someone who in real life would have been order of magnitude wealthier. Witness - Rarity always dreamt of living in Canterlot, yet, she, the pretty much wealthiest pony in the village can't afford it for either financial or social reasons.

Life in Ponyville resembles that in a serf village, they try to be happy, but seeing the comforts they have and the comforts that exist in Canterlot it's obvious Ponyville is second grade area. Twilight, someone rather poor (middle class at best) reacted with almost revulsion at her first visit, and I don't think she is snobbish at the least.

Nobles have say? Well, having access to all that money (look just how AJ pictured her profits from the Gala - it was literal mountain of money, and it came from throwaway funds of these ponies) gives you enormous sway in almost any system.

Duty to the betters? Erm... Every time Celestia visits, everypony throws what they are doing and decorates the city, no expenses spared. I don't see New York decorated every time PotUS visits, do you?

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Granny Smith's hip? One, it was a throwaway gag, never mentioned again. Two, it's cost is most likely directly proportional to AppleJack's short-sightedness. She deals with earth ponies. Can you imagine how hard surgery must be for an earth pony to perform? No, if she just went and had the job done by a unicorn, she wouldn't have to pay for all that extra training and specialized equipment.

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Throwaway gag? She always walks like that. Same with the building they live in, the Apples barely scrape enough to live, they can't afford any medical or repair funds, that doesn't sound like 'carefree' to me at all... While Twilight's parent's (or maybe Celestia) can afford to let Twilight have enormous tower in Canterlot all to herself, as there was only one bed in it. This speaks volumes about disparity between capital and surrounding cities, something that in history happened when nobles siphoned all the resources from their lands and thrown them to better their life in fashionable cities

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Also, consider that in a world of manticores, dragons, and supermassive starbears, superstition cannot be considered a sign of a poorly run kingdom. Superstition is what warned Twilight Sparkle of the impending assault by Our Lady of the Moon. And the mayor! Well. The mayor exists because somepony has to pretend to be in charge, but her position is almost entirely one of bein a figurehead. But that's a separate gripe of mine, believe you me.

What?

Discovering Nightmare Moon was almost 100% scientific research with references :P

Plus, I meant things like Eeevil Zecora and evil way she eats hay :P

Mayor is just feelgood plebs representative and the only pony having access to local pony overlord

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Fluttershy's CM is butterflies. Unless butterflies mean animal conversation skills, I'm golden there.
I don't know why I put Rainbow Dash there, though. She is one of the few direct CM bearers, so I can only guess I thought about her and thus Tyler her name.

Butterflies are animals. How do you propose animal conversation skills mark does look like?

Plus, now it's apparent her skills are rather poor, to be honest

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I know dukes and princes aren't equal. I do know, however, that the connotations of prince fit snooty jerktitude more than duke would. In the same veinthat Disney princesses are young and vibrant, Disney princes tendto be dumb, full of themselves, and walking through a world which may as well be shadows for all their understanding of it matters. Dukes... A duke sounds competent to my North American ear, where prince brings up the words "Charles" and "spoiled" by association. No, dukes are more likely to be evil than spoiled.

Eh, I don't know. Here, all the stories I had read had Dukes as evil or spoiled, princes are usually incompetent and thrown off the throne. But, I guess it's just cultural difference :P

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Maybe the Gala is a extremely clever way of implementing a progressive tax. If the social pressure is high enough, every high-class pony has to go to the gala, regardless of the cost. Celestia then can force them to buy in the designed royal shops, let them pay the decoration and food as expected gifts to show of their wealth, or simply sell the tickets. If used right, those ressouces can be directed to create and maintain a middle class of specialist. Basically a White Elephant. And not unprecedented by history, since the Sun King Lois XIV ruined a significant part of the rebellious French noble class with his parties.

Well... possibly...

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But it would have backfired, if so. Noble's profits aren't the work of their hands or minds, they are drawn from their belongings. Which usually means lands and industries common ponies toil in. So, even if it was a tax, used to support middle class, it would have been very regressive, as it would target lowest classes, really.

Second, using the Gala for it strikes me as rather poor idea. A lot of money spent here was burned, quite literally, in case of fireworks, but all that fancy food and decorations were useless once it ended. So, a bit of money made it into economy, maybe to these middle class workshops providing the services and goods, but most of it ended as ash and dung. Nah, that's would be like trying to collect water with a bucket with several holes.

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Well, if BB was a duke, the whole prince Un-Charming pun wouldn't work. So it's more than okay to me.

And I really like the idea of BB being Celestia in disguise.

So... You're saying Trollestia left Luna as herself greeting the guests and proceeded to troll Rarity for a change?

[AlterForm]

So... You're saying Trollestia left Luna as herself greeting the guests and proceeded to troll Rarity for a change?

Trollestia is the bestia!

[Irbis]

Trollestia is the bestia!

Speaking of which, here's the best tutorial to draw ponies I've seen:

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And here's the best group shot of the main cast in a long time:

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[Bayonet Priest]

Curse you Thanqol, I just had a 20 minute conversation with cleverbot.

Highlights include it claiming to be Rarity, asking if it was my girlfriend (I let her down easy), and confessing its love for me. It then accused me of being creepy when the conversation turned to work and I claimed that she was a small business owner.

In the end I told her goodbye and she claimed that her name was Johnny, I left confused and demoralized.

[PhantomFox]

Proposal: We need to start up a new Friday tradition during the off-season. Any suggestions? We could watch 2 episodes each Friday and find all the nifty stuff we missed the first time. Or we could highlight some of our favorite fan works, or something.

What do y'all think?

[SlyGuyMcFly]

And here's the best group shot of the main cast in a long time:

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Wow. That really is an outstanding piece.

[PhoeKun]

So.

Apparently I'm not watching ponies tonight. Another member of my pony group had something come up and we're waiting until the day after.

And don't any of you dare be disapproving of this. It was my idea to wait. All watch together and all.

So, another day of waiting. Hoping. Longing. For ponies.

There's no way that the episode "The Best Night Ever" will be the best episode ever. But it'd better be a good one. Please?

If anypony can understand your motivations, it's me. By the time I finally saw Owl's Well That Ends Well, Party of One had been out for 3 days. We don't do these things because they make us better fans, we do them because it means something more to us, and that makes us better ponies.

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

First: Phoekun, I saw this and thought of you.

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Now for Thanqol. That is the best thing ever.

It pleases me to know that the sight of Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash doing cuddly and sweet things together immediately calls my name to mind, and reminds me that I really need to get that story finished so they will stop making out in my dreams.

Yes, these are the things I think about.

Plus, now it's apparent her skills are rather poor, to be honest

Now hang on just one cotton picking minute here. What grounds do you have to be saying that? Her inability to cure a phoenix that wasn't actually sick? Or the fact that in the course of attempting such she applied a series of comical home remedies instead of veterinary medicine (which quite frankly would have been boring to watch, and several of which have legitimate scientific basis anyway)?

Over the course of this season, Fluttershy has placated Manticores, gotten all her ducks in a row (twice!), kept wagons full of frogs happy as they flew through the sky, built a miniature wheelchair and set a cast for a mouse's broken leg despite not having fingers, demonstrated superior skills waking animals of all shapes and sizes from winter hibernation, calmed down freaked out squirrels, bunnies, frogs, birds, bees, and butterflies post-Sonic Rainboom, organized a chorus of songbirds to sing for Celestia, and introduced Hummingway - a once sick hummingbird she nursed back to health using the methods she applied to Philomena.

To say nothing of Angel. Yeah, he's brash and abrasive and a handful. Yeah, he does quite often seem to have the upper hand on Fluttershy when they interact. And yet... he helps her plot and plan to get her Gala ticket, pretty much just because he knows it's important to her, he's there to point out when she's running late or needs to be heedful of a cloud of dragon smoke, and he's right there at her side acting as an orderly when she's doing work with Philomena. Angel Bunny, little mister "I don't take crap from nopony", has a demonstrably strong bond with Fluttershy. If that doesn't speak well of her talents, I don't know what can.