My Little Pony XIV: Boots on Hooves / Bikinis on Top

[Grif]

Grif, you're starting to worry me...

Don't worry doctor, I feel perfectly fine. Gotta live life before The Silly puts me under eh?

Midnight: You came crashing in thinking I was my Mom, remember?!

Oh right. Silly of me to forget. She isn't here is he?

Hey! minty one! W-with a shot gun... S-standing on 2 legs? Little help. please?

(trying out colors.... SlateGrey? or Deepskyblue? )

No funny moves mind! Olympia here has her eye on you.
Har har, very funny Lyra.
*unties Ponyard*

[the_druid_droid]

*Seeking cover from prehistoric creatures circling above, a little droid pops belowdecks again, and sees the recently arrived Kip*

Oh no! More stowaways! How did you get here anyway?

Oh, cap'n SiuiS will have my adamantium plating for this...


Don't worry, he's really happy to see you, Kip. He's just a little stressed right now...

[EsperDerek]

Also, Esper, one of seriously needs to write that sellout fic I devised.

Derpy falls in love with Luna. This makes Dinky sad. Rainbow Dash makes out with everypony. Doctor Whooves saves the day.

Make a system and ponies'll game it. Laws of the universe.
I think somepony has to do this before somepony does it straight. Before it's too late!

I'd write it except I'm busy doing things I actually want to do. Oh, and the chart.

Oh right. Silly of me to forget. She isn't here is he?

Does she look like she's here? I know I look a lot like her, but this is ridiculous! It's just me, Momma Luna with a monocle, and Shimmer here. Oh, and you.

[Betropper]

Now that I think of it, my first ponyfic (as well as character) was a little strange and really rushed. So I've made up a concept for a new one


Yes, I am really bored :P

His name is Bren

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Bren is a black pegasus pony with a red mare that wants to do and see everything and anything possible. His cutie mark is a compass and he always carries one with him as well as a map. Known for messing things up unexplainably bad if allowed to do what he wants with whatever he wants on purpose and observe the chaos with glee. Can teleport up to a mile away at will due to artifacts he's found.

*Teleport plops in Darthbobcat's shop*

Do you happen to sell maps and popcorn? I've misplaced my map and this pirate thing seems like a fun thing to watch!

[SiuiS]

Ok, so I just can't quote anything on page 20 or so. So I'll copy And paste! As they say, the turnipsspice must flow.

Quote:
Originally Posted by SiuiS *
interesting. What do you keep from 4e, and Pathfinder? 4e I like but pathfinder I couldn't get passed the 'read the rulebook' phase. I've only ever considered playing it recently, and then only if I could be a pony. Feel free to be as elaborate as you want.
A few idea here and there. For PF, we've nicked their way of doing skill points (1 point/level, and if it's a class skill it's +3, no synergy bonuses, no cross-class skills, Int skill points are retroactive (it's just a bit more elegant; the only things that lose out are first level characters with very low Int (e.g. NPC warriors, who get less skills, but sometimes are better at them, because they can only have one skill, not suck a 2-4., plus I've combined a couple of skills (not quite the same ones they did, but stuff like Spot+Listen into perception). We nicked ther rules for death when it arose, too (because levelling down is just a pain).*

4E's major contribution was the solo and minion templates. I've been abusing my version of the former (though I've not tried out my version of the matter yet). In 3.Aotrs, the Defiant template is a stackable template you slap on stuff. Each one increments the creature's hit points and gives it a free reroll (but it basically gets a negative level when it uses one). It can also expend a full block of hit points to negate what basically are SoD/SoL conditions. This means that SoDs are not negated, and still contribute, but won't be battle-winners until the end of the fight, and the monsters have enough hit points to stand against a whole party of six (that are horribly munchkinned out becuase the DM was too lazy to cenvert the treasure from AD&D to 3.x and it snowballed...)

I forgot that that skill idea came from pathfinder. I like that, and giving +1 hp/level for taking a level in your race's preferred class. I couldn't figure out how to do prestige classes at that point though. On one hoof, I prefer a lower power game, but on the other, most prestige classes grant options, rather than pure power. Do I lower prerequisites? Do I keep Em where they are and push back entry to the point where most games won't get there?

I'm not sure what the rules for death are in pathfinder, but I actually like 4e's save or die mechanic. I'm pretty loose on death if I isn't important though, so I also like the Death Flag variant (except no one I play with like action points very much). I figure modern surgeons and dragons, when doing an adventure party, is all about making the characters into rockstars. Rockstars don't die quietly. They rock out until half the planet collapses on them, and save a kitten with their bodies under all the rubble. And survive long enough to tell the teachers what they named the kitty before going.

Could I get you to send me the gist of your Defiant template, mechanics-wise? It's an interesting idea, but I'd like to see how ya implement it.

That could easily work, it's supposed to be a name which isn't obviously western rather than being explicitly eastern (which is part of the reason why I didn't respond to the other ideas, that and there are going to be more posts by the time I've finished this response anyway).

It seems like a good fit then. I new the name Jade at age 3, the ninja chick at 6, the stone at 7, and the oriental associations sometime around 15. And during my 3-5 range, I was all over between California, Colorado and Nevada. So it's not just regional.

There was a reason I was only fairly sure. So I'm still a mare, eh? Huh.

Great. Now I'm seeing a self-gender-fix and the slight testosterone surge that accompanies it being your secret weapon.

Excellent, glad to-

*GASP* Traitor! And if you have Luna, who do I have here?

SiuiS looks to the side to keep an eye on the pteranodon. Beyond the pteranodon, the enemy fleets. The leftmost flagship, in the Captain's quarters, a pair of silhouettes dance in the candlelight. The Viridian scoundrel's jaw drops, almost sending Amish Pirate adrift before Druid_Droids servos whirr into place and take up the slack.

SiuiS' eyes, obscured by his hat, still somehow obviously narrow.
"That shadow... It cannae-- Is that Ponyard?! Oh, boy, I hope I'm wrong, for once."

SiuiS then jumps backwards, remembering the pteranodon just soon enough to avoid being beaked.

Meanwhile, in a field between two battle-scarred airships, a pizza party breaks out.

Now Void. You may know why I called this meeting. We seem to have a problem. It will both of our skillsets and at least a majority of our cunning to rescue the fair princess. As part of the cooperation agreement, we should agree that this will end in one of those full-circle endings where one of us escapes with the princess and the other curses the former and chases after.

*swirls some Dr. Ponyper in a glass like it were brandy*

I do wish we ordered stuffed crust, however.

A temporary truce, then. Unfortunately, they have headed into the dreamscape, so it'll be harder to chase them and my powers are neutralised near the nightmare vorticles. Fortunately, I have some additional... leverage.

So, who do we have here then?*grins manaically*

Who have I captured? Why were there crickets and tumbleweed in the Void? Will the rival, love-struck ponies' truce hold?

Find out next time in
The Court-'Ship of Luna!

Man, stupid cliff-hangers -_-*

Also! *Before I forget (again). *I still haven't been able to figure out a name for pony Kyouhen. *Anyone have any suggestions? *His special talent is that he's stupidly good at all things stealth and he enjoys being a prankster, Pinkie Pie style. *(His jokes are all in good fun and he won't do anything that can't easily be undone and won't be taken as him being mean)

Prankster

Good at hiding

...
Low-Key

I just want to say that I, tonberrian, am not dead. My week was hectic and I'm trying to catch up with the thread.

This is difficolt because the thread is growing faster than I can read it. After reading like ten pages, I now have 30 to go rather than 20. Still, after I catch up on other fast moving threads, this one should be easier.

Though I may be a full thread behind at that point.

Or two.

I am intrigued to find out whether or not this was an intentional slip XD

So, It's A Dangerous Journey finished. I just got done reading the ending.

OHMANOHMANOHMAN

THAT WAS THE GREATEST FIC I'VE EVER READ IN MY LIFE[/chester]

If you haven't read it, go read it. Now.



I am Talespinner, a charming young colt whose stories are almost as well known as his high-strung artistic nature and his tendency to embellish the truth. Like if Fflewddur Fflam was a pony.

Fflewddur Fflam was a pony.

Fflewddur Fflam

I want to hit you with that Pinkie Pie again, but I'd I did then either You or Braz would probably kill me.

But I considered it for a spell.

*I'm taking some cues from one of my favorite mythologies...

Oh? Which one? *supercurious,youdon'tevenknow*

You know, the whole thing with Metal Mask's secret identity was at least partially designed to muddy the waters for that particular project. Bwuahahahaha!



Hey, always welcome man I read and review less fanfics than I'd like, so the ones I do go through I try to make it my business to provide comprehensive commentary.

Congratulations on the success level!



That's why we don't sleep, man.



"Farms" just means "Places where the wildlife is slightly less likely to kill you"

Australian men noticed that their soft lifestyle was increasing both the population, and the amount of time it took for Australian men to reach peak physical performances.

Seeing twelve year olds in the california running Thunderdome, they decided to do what no Man has done before.

The 'Farm' was thus invented, where Australian Men-who-are-really-young (there is no such thing as an Australian 'boy' or 'infant') go, between the ages of 6 months and 8 years, to raise the horrid beasts that would attempt to kill them.

The age of majority in Australia is 7. The crime rate is steady; Australian men hire people from other countries (who don't know any better) to come over and stir up trouble, so those too old to work on a farm have something to do.

There is a MLP freeform on GiantITP over here. Romance is kind of accepted though My experiences with the game, and my general philosophy, suggest:

- Always have a noncombat resolution to a problem available. Never start a fight that can't be ended without KO'ing the other guy.
- Characters and their interactions are important for this. Rather than designing an endless series of outside antagonists, talk over at the start of the session 'today I think we should explore the rivalry between darthbobcat and Thanqol'. As a GM/ST you provide the context and background events.
- This means knowing your characters really well
- Make sure the world warps in order to make seemingly nonviable skills solutions to problems. In the real world, fashion is a fairly useless talent as far as adventuring is concerned, but in Ponyheim, the dragon is totally camp and into the moustache fashion scene.

That's a handy list.

I successfully managed to convert the first of my friends to ponies today. My influence is spreading, and inevitably they will all experience the magic of friendship and be assimilated into the herd. /manic laugh

Congratulations, mate!

Don't look at me. *I've had three executive summaries and I still have no idea what this is, how to participate or even whether to participate.

1- knowing what's going on is worse than winging it
2- make stuff up. You do It*all the time, already
3- yes

[TheAmishPirate]

@Amish: So here are some thoughts on The New Moon Wanes

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In regard to your question, I think that the explanation in the third chapter works fine for establishing the tea-time a bit better. Since you made sure to include it earlier on, the idea is already out there and there's nothing wrong with going back to revisit ideas later on.

A couple of unrelated things that struck me:

Luna's dialogue is inconsistent with the use of contractions. In the first two installments, she doesn't really use them, but in the third, both Princesses use them most of the time. I don't know if this was an intended progression for Luna's speech, but the lack of contractions sounds jarring to my ear in the beginning, and I'd suggest putting them back in, if only for ease and naturalness of language.

At the end of the third part, after Luna raises the sun and Celestia is praising her, the line about her "Not really being sure if she (Luna) could do it" comes off as a bit of a backhanded compliment to me. I don't know if this was intended, but it seems a little out of place when so many other ponies seem to be applauding her efforts.

Otherwise, there we only a few places with some syntax issues/missed words and a few slightly rough transitions, but I'm sure all that will get picked over in the really final edit.

That's all I've got. Good story, and I look forward to seeing it up on EqD, DeviantArt, etc.

And now for some airship battling:

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The droid continued to assist his captain in retrieving the wayward rigger, but as he looked up, he saw a cupcake round pass close by one of the vortices. In a flash of nightmare energy, the cupcake was transformed into a massive pteranodon, which slowly winged its way around to face the ship.

"Cap'n, looks like we've got company!"

Thoughts on thoughts:

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Yeah, I was avoiding contractions at the start to try and make the speech a bit more proper. Didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.

I was second-guessing that line as well, and originally it was much worse in that regard. I'll change it around.

Thanks for giving it a read, and I'm glad you liked it.

Right. Time for belated airship shenanigans.

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Amish shed a single manly tear as he saw his precious cargo go up in a blaze of sugary goodness. Only a single tear, because he was too busy weeping openly to spare any more. Even as he was pulled onto the deck, he still cried bitter tears of hammy regret.

[Rebelhero]

Is the minty one talking to her mind? And im guessing the shot gun has a name? *drops to the ground* Thank you. Errr... it seems we aren't the only ones here. Is that Princess Luna wearing a monocle? I must have hit my head.

[darthbobcat]

Have any of you considered the benefits of Gatling guns?

Honest Bobcat's is having a sale...

[Grif]

Is the minty one talking to her mind? And im guessing the shot gun has a name? *drops to the ground* Thank you. Errr... it seems we aren't the only ones here. Is that Princess Luna wearing a monocle? I must have hit my head.

(Yes, Olympia talks. AI upgrades and whatnot.)

You insult my intelligence, pony. I am a talking shotgun and you will pay me the proper respect.
Olympia, don't maim him now. Lawsuits aplenty.

[Rebelhero]

(Yes, Olympia talks. AI upgrades and whatnot.)

You insult my intelligence, pony. I am a talking shotgun and you will pay me the proper respect.
Olympia, don't maim him now. Lawsuits aplenty.

Wow. Ok then. I apologize Olympia, im uhhhh "new" here. Anypony care to tell me where 'HERE' is? *checks for his possessions and finds his satchel and amulet*

[Pokonic]

Hey Amish, I saw the story and liked it, but lunas speech was a little offn places,and the sudden use of contractions near the end threw me off a bit, but a good read neverless.

Also, I am baking cupcakes tomorrow, and I plan on sneaking in a rainbow patterned one. Does that make me a bad person.

[darthbobcat]

Image Dump: Basket Head edition.

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[Titanium Fox]

Wait. Pegasus Applejack? Is there a fic I missed?

[darthbobcat]

Wait. Pegasus Applejack? Is there a fic I missed?

Well, I am actually using that for Part 3 of my Soarinjack trilogy, but the artist just decided to do a series with all the girls as Wonderbolts.

[the_druid_droid]

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That...I...wha...too cute...no words...

Airship time!

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After making sure his hammy crew mate was safely back aboard, the bot turned his attention to the rampaging pteranodon. Grabbing a silver-tinted rope off the deck of SiuiS' dream ship, he tied a lasso in the end and swung it lazily, waiting for the beast to make another pass.

"I didn't put 10 ranks in Animal Empathy for nothing," the droid whirred to himself.

[MCerberus]

Yes I've been on a TF2 kick, still haven't made a Flutrix spray. However, rarity sees what you did there is an excellent vector for love and tolerance. Hear me out.

1. Build sentry
2. Spray rarity on wall next to sentry
3. Kill silly person with sentry
4. The kill cam will zoom in on the sentry while also informing them that Rarity saw what you did there.
5. They learn to avoid the angry gaze of an annoyed pony
6. You're helping.

[Kairaven]

So.... Apparently now it takes me 10 hours to draw a pony. Must work faster....

and apparently if you don't pay attention to the thread in 10 hours it will take you another 2 hours just to catch up. (and I speed read pretty well also...)

Anyways.. I suppose I shouldn't be showing this until Esper get them charts, but you know what... 10 hour works needs to be shown.

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Midnight is a very pretty pony.

I am sure Phoe broke many hearts with today's Q&Neigh on ED

[Mystic Muse]

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Midnight is a very pretty pony.

Hullaballoo: You know what? She was out of my league anyway.

[Shadowy]

...I just red Phoe's Q and neigh. Oh you Tvtropes referencer. Now I need to partake in the pony-robbing experience that is sleep.

[Rebelhero]

Hullaballoo: You know what? She was out of my league anyway.

Poor Hullaballo. You dont give yourself enough credit!

[Mystic Muse]

Poor Hullaballo. You dont give yourself enough credit!

Hullabaloo: Look at me!

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She's way out of my league!

[darthbobcat]

Hullabaloo: Look at me!

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She's way out of my league!

I don't see how you can be that silly with a cowboy hat that fine.

[MCerberus]

Hullabaloo: Look at me!

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She's way out of my league!

Sorry Hullabaloo, I have to do this. D'awwwwwwwwwwww

[Rebelhero]

Hullabaloo: Look at me!

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She's way out of my league!

All i see is a lack of self confidence! Nothing that makes you any less then her.

[darthbobcat]

All i see is a lack of self confidence! Nothing that makes you any less then her.

I think somepony needs a MAKEOVER!

Or alternately self esteem therapy.

We can combine the two!

[Mystic Muse]

I think somepony needs a MAKEOVER!

*Curls into fetal position in the corner again*

[EsperDerek]

Welp, time for bed, I might as well just quickly check the thread before I do, see if there's anything important. Huh, there's a post from Kairaven...

So.... Apparently now it takes me 10 hours to draw a pony. Must work faster....

and apparently if you don't pay attention to the thread in 10 hours it will take you another 2 hours just to catch up. (and I speed read pretty well also...)

Anyways.. I suppose I shouldn't be showing this until Esper get them charts, but you know what... 10 hour works needs to be shown.

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Midnight is a very pretty pony.

...
Squee....

*Thudtwitch*

I can't...wow...brain not processing...so good...

Hullabaloo: Look at me!

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She's way out of my league!

Aww, don't say that, Hullabaloo, you're plenty cute!

[Mystic Muse]

Aww, don't say that, Hullabaloo, you're plenty cute!

Hullabaloo cannot process this sentence as she is currently being reminded of bad memories from yet another post of darthbobcat's.

[darthbobcat]

*Curls into fetal position in the corner again*

Aw, okay. No makeover. Want some ice cream?

Edit: Oh sure, everything's my fault. JUST BECAUSE I'M A FALCON DOESN'T MEAN I DON'T HAVE FEELINGS TOO. (runs off sobbing, eating the ice cream himself)

[Thanqol]

So.... Apparently now it takes me 10 hours to draw a pony. Must work faster....

and apparently if you don't pay attention to the thread in 10 hours it will take you another 2 hours just to catch up. (and I speed read pretty well also...)

Anyways.. I suppose I shouldn't be showing this until Esper get them charts, but you know what... 10 hour works needs to be shown.

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Midnight is a very pretty pony.

I am sure Phoe broke many hearts with today's Q&Neigh on ED

Magnificent! And now, right back into the art pit myself!