My Little Pony XXVII: Eternal Chaos comes with Chocolate Rain

[Deadly]

I'd find it hard to consider filly and colt being misused in that sense. I could see it being misused with a minority of characters who are distinctly older. Though even Big Mac and Cheerilee (who I view as older) I'd forgive, you'd have to reach the Cakes or of course Mayor Mare.

Foal, yes because there's no one it could even loosely apply to that should be in "hot" shipping scene. Though maybe as some really gooey sentiment.

And mare and stallion would have much the same cut-off. Only ones that can't use it are those that have no business with being in "hot" scenes.

I would point out for complaining about fandom works.... If they are avoiding Mary Sue, IKEA Erotica, and Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way they are performing above the bell curve anyways.

...and now, you know part of the reason why I don't like the ponysexfics.

I should clarify that by "hot shipping" I wasn't necessarily talking about actual clopfics. Could be perfectly innocent "fade-to-black" implied stuff. It's not like we don't know what's happening after the fade to black, and having certain terms applied to the (adult) ponies involved can have rather unfortunate associations. Or maybe that's just me.

The only concrete example I can think of presently is "fillyfooler" which I think I saw used in some fic. It may have been Out in the Cold or one of its follow-ups, and it may have been used as an insult and thus possibly OK in that particular case (I can't remember the exact story or context), but "fillyfooler" would pretty much translate exactly to "pedophile". Even as an insult that would make me slightly wary, because it would be a particularly vile insult actually.

And that's just an example of a wider problem. Using filly/colt where you should technically use mare/stallion is no necessarily bad, but it shouldn't be done without thought and IMO only in special cases, not in general.

Also, it's just nice to use the proper terms. Sure, some artistic license is OK, but if you do it too much it loses its power.

[SiuiS]

I should clarify that by "hot shipping" I wasn't necessarily talking about actual clopfics. Could be perfectly innocent "fade-to-black" implied stuff. It's not like we don't know what's happening after the fade to black, and having certain terms applied to the (adult) ponies involved can have rather unfortunate associations. Or maybe that's just me.

The only concrete example I can think of presently is "fillyfooler" which I think I saw used in some fic. It may have been Out in the Cold or one of its follow-ups, and it may have been used as an insult and thus possibly OK in that particular case (I can't remember the exact story or context), but "fillyfooler" would pretty much translate exactly to "pedophile". Even as an insult that would make me slightly wary, because it would be a particularly vile insult actually.

And that's just an example of a wider problem. Using filly/colt where you should technically use mare/stallion is no necessarily bad, but it shouldn't be done without thought and IMO only in special cases, not in general.

Also, it's just nice to use the proper terms. Sure, some artistic license is OK, but if you do it too much it loses its power.

The trouble you're having is that filly/colt have been established, canonically, as gendered terms from young man and young woman. In the same way waitstaff call females who aren't married or obviously old 'miss' right alongside 12 year old girls, 'filly' applies broadly to all female ponies in universe, seemingly from cutecenera age up to as old as their teacher. The only established 'mares' are Granny Smith, Mayor Mare, and Mrs. cake. And that's only if we extend our knowledge; I don't think there have been many actual mares mentioned.

One of the system set-ups I've been reading says it best. Foal is from birth to cutie mark age. Colt/filly are from cutie mark age to full-on adulthood. When you look like big McIntosh, Mr. Cake, Mrs. Cake, old gardener dude (who is totally pony Gandalf) or Derpy's boss, that's mare & stallion.

The terms do what words are supposed to; you know what I'm talking about when I say them, because they are established and have inertia. If I describe a pony as a colt, you'll probably think of something entirely different than if I say stallion. For most fans, this is true. That's all I need.

It's also possible to separate foal from foal (as dumb as that sounds). One is an age group, the other is an insult based on a pun we human¹ audience members would find funny. Kind of like how I don't see the Mild West being a big thing anymore, dropped once it was mentioned. 'you foal!' will show up, certainly, but wondering as to whether they mean "you are foolish like a baby which is what I call you!" or just "you are a fool!" isn't going to go very far. We know what they meant, and it doesn't carry any weight past that point.

I understand perfectly well how some words can get you; myself, I really really dislike people saying hologram when they mean fractal². That's an entirely different case though, because it's not based on how an entirely new species of creature breaks itself down using words similar to how humans talk about horses.

Also, homophobic. Really? A word that means literally afraid of sameness, aye, I can understand how it could be extended to 'afraid of sexuality between the same gender', sure. But where by fire did 'actively oppresses and antagonizes based on sexuality between the same gender' come from? That doesn't even make any sense! ...Unless you follow it's history.



¹: ... are they buying it?
²: ironically, I'm not entirely sure fractal ia the word I want. An object wherein any single part of the pattern is identical to the entire pattern, right?

[Kris Strife]

²: ironically, I'm not entirely sure fractal ia the word I want. An object wherein any single part of the pattern is identical to the entire pattern, right?[/size]

Right.

[Deadly]

The terms do what words are supposed to; you know what I'm talking about when I say them, because they are established and have inertia. If I describe a pony as a colt, you'll probably think of something entirely different than if I say stallion. For most fans, this is true. That's all I need.

See, that's the problem. While I'm usually able to figure out what the writer/speaker actually means, it's not always my first intuition and it does make me stop for a few seconds sometimes.

For example with the "fillyfooler", while now that I think about it it may have been almost ingenious in this particular story, it did make me stop and ask "did he really just call her a pedophile? That's just wrong, dude!". Of course I quickly figured "Nah, obviously he means lesbian and is just too big an oaf (the character, I think it was Blueblood II, not the author) to realize his mistake".

Just because it's become established does not mean it's a good idea. I'm not one of those people who insist language should stay fixed and never change, far from it, I love changes because it keeps things interesting, but that doesn't mean all changes are good either.

In the real world, "filly" and "colt" really do mean a child horse, not just a young horse. And because we have to use the real world as a base for comparison when we watch the show, that's going to be the first association many people will get.

²: ironically, I'm not entirely sure fractal ia the word I want. An object wherein any single part of the pattern is identical to the entire pattern, right?

That's part of the definition, at least.

[BlasTech]

There are two ways that could be interpreted. I thought of the other way first. Ponythread, what the hay are you doing to me?

Two ways? What could the other way possibly b-

..... oooooooohhhhh

Ladies and gentlemen, success.

Niiice. (*Reads the full quote*) Even if there's something more scary out there, its still a step in the right direction! In fact, it's tempting me to reply in that thread too!

Friendship is Magic play-by-post in the playground
Fionacat System study

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The basic unit of the game game is a shifting dice pool. Each Element of Harmony represents an ability score. That number is how many dice you roll, and also affects what the target number is.

Laughter, honesty, loyalty, kindness and generosity are the basic stats, and magic is a sort of metastat. Each element has an associated characteristic;

Loyalty - speed
Honesty - strength
Generosity - spirit
Kindness - empathy
Laughter - wisdom & sense of truth
Magic - intelligence

Each pony breed has five "points", which they suggest representing with beads or counters. Earth ponies start with 5 in magic and 5 amongst the other elements. Unicorns have magic 6 / others 4, and pegasi have magic 4 / others 6.

When rolling for any ability other than magic, you get 1 die per counter. Success on a die is 5 or 6, but gets easier the more points you have in that ability score. With enough points in that score, you actually get automatic successes in addition to your die rolls. With at least 2 points in that ability, you gain exploding dice; a result of 6 gives you one success and you get to reroll that 6. If you get more successes than you have points in the ability score, you get an AWESOME SUCCESS! which is like a critical but since it's narrative, it's whatever they hay cool thing the arbiter gets to say it is. Or the player, they aren't picky.

Magic is different. You MUST have at least one point in magic at all times. Magic in excess of 4 let's you do Awesome Successes, and you never get auto successes in magic rolls.

At any time, you can make a magic roll (one die per point in magic, remember) and for each success, you gain one Move. That is, you can move a point/counter/token/whatever from magic to another ability, or from another ability to magic. You CANNOT, however, move from an ability to ability without having magic as the middleman stat (so moving a point from kindness to laughter requires 2 success, kindness > magic > laughter).

Horrid failures occur when you have less than 2 ticks in an element (or less than 4 in magic) and roll a 1. If you roll more 1s than successes, you fail in the worst way the GM can think of (which is NOT a mechanic I trust many GMs with, I tell you what...)

Harmony count as action points or hero points. You get them whenever you do something really clever. Exact wording is 'whenever you do something Twilight Sparkle would find clever'. You can negate failure, aid other ponies, allow for Awesome Success despite having only two ticks in an element, or retool entirely. My favorite is, for a steep 5 harmony points, tell the GM what you want to happen and he has to scramble to make it so.

The rules are worded entertainingly, at least

You also get to rearrange all your attributes however you want (except you always need at least one point in magic, remember!) if you do something that Rainbow Dash would find awesome. And you gain experience 'sugarlumps' for good Roleplaying, or anything that Pinkie pieSpike, better use Spike, would find funny. The GM is encouraged to give players actual sweets as tokens of experience. Players are encouraged to eat them immediately, though they should write down the total.

The health system uses an inverted triangle, but some of the explanation was on an image (or they didn't describe it well: benefits and doubts and all that) so I can only guess at it. Ponies have five stages from healthy to OK, to tired, fatigued, exhausted and passed out. Each tier has one less point to it, so a pony can only suffer one wound point at exhausted before passing out, but can suffer a full 5 at healthy before dropping to OK. You can increase the number of points in a tier with experience.

All in all, a fun system, but not one I would use for a PbP game. It has the singlular benefit of taking a crack at Regal Ponies though, as well as dragons and ursas. That's pretty cool and gives me ideas.

So! Tentatively, or perhaps, determinedly, I am going to use the Roleplaying Is Magic system, with tweaks that have yet to be determined.

Sorry about that, by the way, Topaz. I like the idea, but it doesn't jive with the kind of game I want to run. Totally stealing the layout for other games though. It's rather functional, and a nice version of the roll/keep mechanic.

And I do intend to answer you, but it's in the quote wall and I would feel bad extracting it.

Is this hinting at a PbP pony RP? Because if so, please please please PLEEEAAAASSSEEE keep me posted if one starts up.

[Trixie]

I tried to find a "scary derpy hooves" pic. Really I did. I don't know if there are any, but if there are, I didn't find them. And... you really don't want to know what I did find while searching...

What did you found?

Avatar stuff:

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Living planets that can coordinate their actions on a large scale work differently than Earth. Imagine every lifeform on Earth actively and continually attacking humanity with no regard to their own individual safety while ignoring standard predator/prey relations AND acting as coordinated military units. I mean, I know we have a lot of guns and bullets and etc, and 6+ billion people to use them, but still. It would be a close fight that could go either way. There were nowhere near that many people on Pandora, they lost that war before it started, by not understanding the nature of the world.

Also, they were retarded. They could have pulled up a giant trade ship with a sampling of everything Earth had to offer, and showed the contents of it to the Na'vi and said, "Pick whatever stuff you want us to bring, and we'll bring a full load of those things next time. Just mine us some plot-onium, using your own mining techniques. We won't interfere in your world at all, unless you want us to." Okay, maybe they would have wanted gold? Or maybe they would have wanted cheese-whiz. The humans didn't even bother to TRY. I know the movie said the Na'vi wouldn't be interested in trade goods, but there's bound to be something on Earth they would want. Fine silks, fun toys, something, ANYTHING, but the humans just saw "zomg lol savages we can pillage from" without understanding them, and didn't try.

Edit: There may have been more details in the screenplay or book, so maybe the humans did try to do something other than "raep teh planet" - and I know the movie itself was a metaphor for how we're interacting with our environment here on Earth. I'm just going based on the movie plot as given tho, with no supporting details. I even had to look up what 'unobtanium' was in the Avatar universe since it's never specified in the movie, I know it just meant some rare element for plot purposes, but apparently it's an FTL starship component. That still doesn't make what they did right.

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1) Lifeforms on Earth attacking humans as one? We win. Humans, a handful of civilians with single-shot rifles cleansed America and Australia out of big life in decades. Stick a band of professional soldiers with 30 mm guns instead and it should be massacre. In some respects, the Avatar battle was stretching believability more than Ewoks. Now that I think about it...

The main problem with it, I guess, is that today, a handgun is more than enough to kill any animal. 30 mm cannon is enough to punch through battle tanks. Give handguns 100 years, and even shots from handguns should turn these big animals into paste, while cannons should outright turn them to mist. Simply, no flexible skin has the right to be tougher than tank armour. If it is, for some reason, why there is not a Pentagon Armour Design Committee on Pandora examining the hides, and why humans haven't adapted by bringing in anti-armor bullets designed for the task? It looked like someone entered godmode for animals, seriously.

Cameron had it right in his previous movie - Aliens, where a handful of marines laugh at a threat Xenomorphs supposedly are, then proceed to massacre every single one, despite Xenomorphs being more dangerous than Pandora animals by far, despite far worse terrain to fight on, and despite 50:1 numerical advantage the aliens have - and all this without mechas, gunships, rockets and autocannons.

2) Trade? I made the mistake of reading he storybook hoping it would make sense of some of the plot holes. Turns out, yes, company did try what you propose - brought all sorts of goods, knowledge, culture, everything. That's why Avatar project existed in the first place - company dumped billions of dollars into creation of better diplomats, opened language schools for Navi, they tried everything. Storybook makes Navi look like ignorant savages that ignored every single offer made, no matter how good, out of spite.

3) And, what was the final straw for me, in storybook Unobtainium is a component needed to create room-temperature superconductors, implications being its usage was needed to sustain Earth's ecosystem, by allowing to cut down pollution and decrease energy losses in failing infrastructure, allowing brighter future for the planet, instead of total collapse. It wasn't so expensive because it was vanity item, but because it was like selling medicine to terminal cancer patient. So, nope, I don't have any sympathy to aliens sitting on it and unwilling to trade, sorry, greater good and all that.

[Forum Explorer]

Avatar stuff:

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1) Lifeforms on Earth attacking humans as one? We win. Humans, a handful of civilians with single-shot rifles cleansed America and Australia out of big life in decades. Stick a band of professional soldiers with 30 mm guns instead and it should be massacre. In some respects, the Avatar battle was stretching believability more than Ewoks. Now that I think about it...

The main problem with it, I guess, is that today, a handgun is more than enough to kill any animal. 30 mm cannon is enough to punch through battle tanks. Give handguns 100 years, and even shots from handguns should turn these big animals into paste, while cannons should outright turn them to mist. Simply, no flexible skin has the right to be tougher than tank armour. If it is, for some reason, why there is not a Pentagon Armour Design Committee on Pandora examining the hides, and why humans haven't adapted by bringing in anti-armor bullets designed for the task? It looked like someone entered godmode for animals, seriously.

Cameron had it right in his previous movie - Aliens, where a handful of marines laugh at a threat Xenomorphs supposedly are, then proceed to massacre every single one, despite Xenomorphs being more dangerous than Pandora animals by far, despite far worse terrain to fight on, and despite 50:1 numerical advantage the aliens have - and all this without mechas, gunships, rockets and autocannons.

2) Trade? I made the mistake of reading he storybook hoping it would make sense of some of the plot holes. Turns out, yes, company did try what you propose - brought all sorts of goods, knowledge, culture, everything. That's why Avatar project existed in the first place - company dumped billions of dollars into creation of better diplomats, opened language schools for Navi, they tried everything. Storybook makes Navi look like ignorant savages that ignored every single offer made, no matter how good, out of spite.

3) And, what was the final straw for me, in storybook Unobtainium is a component needed to create room-temperature superconductors, implications being its usage was needed to sustain Earth's ecosystem, by allowing to cut down pollution and decrease energy losses in failing infrastructure, allowing brighter future for the planet, instead of total collapse. It wasn't so expensive because it was vanity item, but because it was like selling medicine to terminal cancer patient. So, nope, I don't have any sympathy to aliens sitting on it and unwilling to trade, sorry, greater good and all that.

I'd like to get in on this if you don't mind

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1) They do mention the toughness of the animals. Also I know some people theorize that we are reaching the point where weapons technology will simply stop advancing due to overkill. Why design a better gun when the current ones will pretty much always kill their opponents anyways? Besides that we wouldn't do as well as you think. Not that we wouldn't win due to having a numerical advantage and a tech advantage. Nearly every animal on Earth has the ability to do severe damage to a human. If they attacked us in an orginized manner entire cities would be wiped out. Perhaps even entire countries. After all its easy to wipe out animals when they only fight back on an individual basis

2) I haven't read the storybook but I imagine the Navi were just like

"Sure all this stuff is nice but we don't actually want any of it. We are in fact very happy with our lives."

3) In fairness the part that makes me facepalm on the human side are these two things:
a) "lets go through the costly and morally difficult process of forcing the natives off their land instead of just going to a different source of Unobtanium. I mean we only travled light years already a few more hundred kilometers is just too much effort."

b) "Hey the scientists whose sole job and expertise is studying the fauna of Pandora have made a new discovery! Lets dismiss them as tree hugging doped up hippies. Its not like they haven't done years of research as well as being some of the smartest people we have"

4) finally there weren't that many humans on Pandora. Only a few hundred at least. Dispite being outnumbered by nearly every Navi on the planet they not only won they came within spitting distance of killing the hive mind of the entire planet. If Unobtanium is a truely can't live without it resource then we'll be back. And in greater numbers!

[SiuiS]

See, that's the problem. While I'm usually able to figure out what the writer/speaker actually means, it's not always my first intuition and it does make me stop for a few seconds sometimes.

For example with the "fillyfooler", while now that I think about it it may have been almost ingenious in this particular story, it did make me stop and ask "did he really just call her a pedophile? That's just wrong, dude!". Of course I quickly figured "Nah, obviously he means lesbian and is just too big an oaf (the character, I think it was Blueblood II, not the author) to realize his mistake".

I believe you're taking it too literally, and thus missing out on stuff you'd find if you took the broader view. Specifically;
Filly means two things, not just one. "young + girl". So linguistic inertia, context, and all should show that fillyfooler is one who fools with, specifically, fillies, as opposed to children generically. the opposite term is coltcuddler, derogatory(ish? Depends on a lot) form of gay man. We have foal established as being young, filly as bein akin to 'young miss' and colt as akin to 'young sir'.

I suppose I should say here, to avoid future misunderstanding, that the terms as they are applied now make sense to me because they are just different, equine-y names for titles I already use and find in common usage. So there is that...

Just because it's become established does not mean it's a good idea. I'm not one of those people who insist language should stay fixed and never change, far from it, I love changes because it keeps things interesting, but that doesn't mean all changes are good either.

I don't believe I argued change is good just because it's change. I mean, I know the purpose of this segment here is to establish your credibility (that you have a valid point and aren't being a ThanqolGrognard) which is fine, and I do believe you aren't just railing against 'them young folk with their loud music' or anything. It seems like you're turning it too far, and implying that my credibility is dampened by being on the opposite end of your view.

Sort of random, I know, but it's rare for me to both notice this, and be able to point out what causes my unease.

In the real world, "filly" and "colt" really do mean a child horse, not just a young horse. And because we have to use the real world as a base for comparison when we watch the show, that's going to be the first association many people will get.

well see, most much real-world stuff went out the window with the phrase "once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria..."
That's just it, I think. As far as opinions go, we're both right. I was set to give up more real-world relativism than you, and as long as the words are internally consistent in their usage I'm fine; I actually prefer colt/filly being old teenagers/young adults, because I find that extending the term to children, after so much canonical work went into establishing otherwise, dilutes the terms and muddles their intended meaning.

At this point what I am arguing is your assumption that most people will make the same associations as you. I have found, through casual conversation more than research, mind, that your view is the minority one. So you lose out on the 'most folks won't get it' end because most folks do.

As a caveat, though, I have rose-tinted lenses of the fandom in general. The playground has been good to me, in ways no other site I've yet seen has. It may color my perceptions and I'm jut missing evidence to the contrary.

That's part of the definition, at least.

Thank you. It's ao nerve-wracking to correct someone on something but forget the right answer yourself. What are the other parts? I've heard it used in programming, and in the book Jurassic Park in between chapters. And somehow as a map generator, but that flew over my head as to how.

Is this hinting at a PbP pony RP? Because if so, please please please PLEEEAAAASSSEEE keep me posted if one starts up.

Consider yourself forewarned, then; I'm in the stages of 'process ideas into actual game material' and 'pluck up the courage to overcome stage-fright'. Me and ... Druid Droid, I believe, are currently battling here, to see which of us overcomes our shyness enough to actually start the work.

I think I'm losing because I've been talking about my progress... Hahaha.
Oh! And speaking of progress, you know what helps adventurers succeed? A PARTY!
ugh. That's going to be fun trying to suppress <<;

[Athaniar]

I decided to catch up on SFDebris videos and was surprised to notice he's going to review this show on October 20. Now that'll be interesting.

On a side note, Windows Movie Maker (2.6, on Windows 7) hates me (and humanity in general, I suspect, it's like a proto-Skynet). My attempt to set an anime intro song to ponies fails when I try to save it as a movie ("Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location" and so on). Apparently this is common. Sigh. When I finally managed to make something, it won't save properly...

[Gadora]

Thank you. It's ao nerve-wracking to correct someone on something but forget the right answer yourself. What are the other parts? I've heard it used in programming, and in the book Jurassic Park in between chapters. And somehow as a map generator, but that flew over my head as to how.

Ooh! You want an overview of fractals and what they're used for? Do you have an hour to spare? I probably love that show a bit more than I should...

...

This post kind of lacks pony content. How about I make up for it a bit later by seeing if I can't get deviantArt working properly so as to do an art dump later?

[Aotrs Commander]

@ AOTRS

i am a bit surprised you didn't react to Midnight trying to turn herself undead...or did you just miss it in the avalanche of posts?
20 pages in a day and a half...........

*peers around carefully*

Uh, yes..

Ahem.

I thought I would reserve comment for when and if she succeeded. Which, as I frankly expected, she didn't... (Given that in order to do that, she would have had to (even subconciously) kill herself - I'm fairly certain that Midnight simply doesn't have that in her; which I frankly think is overall a good thing, since Murderously Evil Midnight would not be so humorous.)



Also, has everyone seen ED's current banner (as of time of this post)?

Way to go, Phoe!

[Thanqol]

Also, has everyone seen ED's current banner (as of time of this post)?

Way to go, Phoe!

*Applause*

[Soras Teva Gee]

The only concrete example I can think of presently is "fillyfooler" which I think I saw used in some fic. It may have been Out in the Cold or one of its follow-ups, and it may have been used as an insult and thus possibly OK in that particular case (I can't remember the exact story or context), but "fillyfooler" would pretty much translate exactly to "pedophile". Even as an insult that would make me slightly wary, because it would be a particularly vile insult actually.

I'm sorry but unless that was the contextual meaning I'm not willing to grant you that as a translation. Occam's razor gives us "girl fooler" which doesn't mean anything in English as far as I'm aware so its entirely up to the creator what it means. It an entirely added strech to give that sexual connotations in the first place, unless that's the contextual definiton.

Even taking fooler as "fools around *winkwink* with" you still are left with "girl" which is much broader then child as discussed. Strip clubs and porn sites advertise their hot girls who are over 18.

From the other end pedophile stops being valid long before girl does, implicitly referring to prepubescent children. Going on the basis of "girl" there are possible distinctions between infantophilia, pedophilia, hebephilia, and ephebophilia. The last of which becomes while possibly still creepy socially gets into modern legal adult ranges, and well covers ages that in different times/cultures are considered marriageable even to older partners with no particular stigma.

Put simply I feel you are enforcing your own definition that doesn't hold up to the established flexibility of terms.

I understand perfectly well how some words can get you; myself, I really really dislike people saying hologram when they mean fractal². That's an entirely different case though, because it's not based on how an entirely new species of creature breaks itself down using words similar to how humans talk about horses.


²: ironically, I'm not entirely sure fractal ia the word I want. An object wherein any single part of the pattern is identical to the entire pattern, right?

I'd be very interested to see where this happened, as I think it should be entirely possible to have a hologram of a fractal pattern.

[Grif]

*peers around carefully*

Uh, yes..

Ahem.

I thought I would reserve comment for when and if she succeeded. Which, as I frankly expected, she didn't... (Given that in order to do that, she would have had to (even subconciously) kill herself - I'm fairly certain that Midnight simply doesn't have that in her; which I frankly think is overall a good thing, since Murderously Evil Midnight would not be so humorous.)



Also, has everyone seen ED's current banner (as of time of this post)?

Way to go, Phoe!

I, for one, welcome our Phoe overlord.

[EsperDerek]

HELPING

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"The denial is even worse. The book doesn't say anything about backsliding!"

"Why won't she let us help her?"

"We should send her baby photos to the university newsletter!"

"That'd make anypony angry!"

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*Midnight's eye twitches slightly. She seems to be doing that a lot recently!

"You....you wouldn't dare! You wouldn't embarrass me like that...w-would you?

You can't steal that which is freely given.
I'm glad you like it.

Heehee, what can I say, it tickled my fancy.

I'M HELPING!

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A... slip of the tongue, my dear. Which is unusual, because normally I am so *very* good with my tongue.

What I meant to say was, I'll send you TO THE MOON!

(Great, now I'm channelling Trollestia)
But, now that you mention it, my room sounds so much more pleasurab... I mean, safe and secure.

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*Midnight goes scarlet, and stammers nervously. Her new succubus wings seem to be creeping up slightly.

"Cestya, I'm really flattered, and I won't lie and say that there haven't been certain...uhm..fantasies...but t-this really isn't appropriate, is it? I mean, even if I've had ones that have involved a paddle, and oh..I mean...oh, dear, just dig yourself further, Mids...."

Alright, awesome! I'm back! First, for the Role Play. Quote post coming next.

Rarity's Night

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She just sat, her gaze lost in his, his visage so well complimented by the beautiful scene behind him. This was how true royalty should act, she couldn't stop repeating in her mind. This is how a man of status should conduct himself when escorting a lady for the evening. Everything was so perfect. It was a gorgeous night, and he had somehow managed to commission the only five star restaurant in the town for a private meal so far from town. She could not get over how much he had put into this for her, or how undeserving she was of these affections; no matter how much he adamantly argued the opposite. But she would not deny this; she could not deny this even if she wanted to. His words just cemented that blush upon her face.

The plates were laid before the pair upon the table, and she was snapped rather quickly from her thoughts and fantasies, nearly jumping clean from her seat at the unexpected motion. Truth be told, she could have sat like that, her hoof in his for hours without fail. However, her stomach rather quickly reminded her upon such an eloquent description of the meal that had been prepared that she had indeed skipped her normal evening meal; resulting in a rather unladylike rumble. Her ears flattened in embarrassment, a small apologetic smile forming on her face.

The wine was poured before her, and waiting for the waiter to complete his presentation, she levitated the petite glass a few inches into the air. His words felt so sincere, and covered her with a warmth not unlike a protective blanket would a child. Everything felt so right at that very moment.

She had originally intended to say 'To Us', and offer her prince a toast, however she found herself awash with astonishment, paralyzed, speech leaving her in full at his words. Most would think such a thing flattery; that the reason an entire town was great was for the fact that it housed a single pony. But it just felt so sincere, and she could feel her cheeks alight. She felt her magic faltering as any concentration she had broke; the glass set with a soft ringing echo to the table. She could find herself only able to gaze into his deep blue eyes with wonder and awe.

Her hoof raised to meet his, cradling it gently against her cheek, a soft, dreamy sigh following in kind. She just more and more found herself wanting to be close to him. This romance was straight from a fairy tale, and she never wanted this night to end.

---

It hadn't taken Sweetie Bell long at all to begin gallivanting about the Boutique upon her sister's departure, throwing a couple of things into her saddlebags before taking off. She knew Applebloom, and there was no way that filly was letting her leave tonight. Heck, it was late enough as it was, and this was going to be one heck of a story. Most likely she'd end up spending the night at her lifelong friend's place. That had been a problem right after they had gotten their cutie marks; their misadventures had slowly been slipping later and later at night. However a couple of years ago Applejack let her sister take a room out in the barn once they had finally gotten the roof repaired and insulation put in; so it was a lot easier for her to just drop in unannounced at nine at night.

She apparently had a bit of her old tendencies, because when she heard the rapping at the downstairs door, she jumped, launching a small bottle of shampoo skyward as her telekinesis decided it wanted to have a mind of its own.

"C-Coming!" she yelled down, quickly recognizing the voice. Glancing around at the mess in the room, she groaned. Make that ten at night. Shampoo was everywhere; thankfully she'd only brought a small travel bottle down from Connecticolt with her; otherwise she might not get a chance to go.

She quickly trotted down the stairs and pulled open the door, revealing a small baby dragon with soft purple scales, just as she had thought. It was strange for him to be coming by at this hour, but his feelings for Rarity were no real secret, even if somehow he still thought they were hidden from anypony. He was probably here to ask Rarity to help out around the place, fawning over her like a lovesick child. It was cute really, and completely harmless, so nopony tried to stand in the way of it. Sometimes she even thought her sister enjoyed the attention a little more than she liked to let on.

"Heya Spike! What are you doing here this late?" She waved him into the main foyer and showroom with a gesture of the hoof, walking to the door of the kitchen to grab a towel. She was going to need it later anyways. Letting the maroon piece of cloth drape over an endtable, she decided to rest on one of the couches that served as waiting areas during business hours; quickly indicating for Spike to do the same. It wasn't like she was in a rush in any reality, and the little incident upstairs had kind of put a damper on her eagerness to get out the door; since that meant she had to clean the mess up first.

It was only then that she noticed the absolutely gorgeous flowers on the table, and her attention quickly turned that way. "Wow those are gorgeous, huh? I wonder where Rarity found them?"

Rarity's Night

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There could have been inane chitchat. How are you, what fine weather we're having. How's the business going, how's your sister doing, and all of that meaningless small talk. All of the words that ponies used to fill the dead air, like they were afraid of hearing themselves think. But the air here wasn't dead, it was crackling with vivid life. This was a meeting of the hearts, and words had to be carefully selected.

So, too, could he have been critical. He had, of course, heard Rarity's stomach gurgle, had seen her magical falter with that wine glass, nearly causing it's contents to spill when it touched the ground. He supposed that Blueblood, or some of the more critical nobles that he had met in his brief times in court and castle, would have been positively scandalized by those things. But Midnight had learned from the two most noble creatures in all of Equestria, the two Princesses he was so fortunate to call his family. They never would do such a foalish thing. Do not sweat the small stuff. That was the way Celestia and Luna, the way the true nobles, acted. And so would he.

One who lived in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, after all.

He felt her hoof slip around him, and heard that sigh. His heart thrilled, and that pink on his cheeks returned. Even the meal right now was starting to feel meaningless, he wanted nothing more at the moment to push the table aside, and pull Rarity close to him, to share each others warmth, to feel her heart beating.

As he looked into her eyes, he began to realize that she was feeling the same thing. But, too, could he see that slight bit of doubt in Rarity's eyes, that the mare did not deserve such things. That would not do.

He leaned forwards, across the table, using his hoof to encourage her head to join him in turn. His lips met hers, and he favoured her with another kiss. But this wasn't the brief, tantalizing kiss from earlier, meant to intice. This was a deep, romantic kiss, firm but gentle, one that a pony felt straight down to their hooves if done correctly.

He was.

---

"Hi, Sweetie Belle." Spike said, stepping into the Botique, and hopped up on the couch when he was offered. He had to admit that Sweetie Belle had really come into her own growing up, nearly as beautiful as her sister. (Some would argue perhaps more beautiful, but Spike would never be one of them!) "I finally got free from Twilight and Trixie, so I came to give Midnight a hand so she could get out sooner rather than later."

That sounded reasonable. A 'brother' concerned for his 'sister', wanting to help her out. In many ways it was indeed the truth, but not the whole truth. He had no doubt that Belle knew the true reason as well, but he just couldn't bring himself to admit it. Maybe he really was a bit of a fool.

"Did they go out to dinner or something?" He continued, only to be distracted by Sweetie Belle's comment. He blinked, his eyes finding the gorgeous flowers on the table, placed so carefully and reverently on the table. His head tilted. They looked almost familiar, Spike could swear that he had seen them before. But where? They were so strange, but then....

Momma! Spike! Look at the flowers I made!

"S-She got them from Midnight...Those are her special flowers..." Spike said as soon as that memory flowed through his mind. He felt a chill down his spine. No, surely not, what a silly thing to think, Midnight wouldn't...

But, then, why were they so carefully arranged, in such a beautiful vase? It was hardly the actions of an Aunt, more like...

"W-Why is Midnight giving Rarity flowers?"

I decided to catch up on SFDebris videos and was surprised to notice he's going to review this show on October 20. Now that'll be interesting.

On a side note, Windows Movie Maker (2.6, on Windows 7) hates me (and humanity in general, I suspect, it's like a proto-Skynet). My attempt to set an anime intro song to ponies fails when I try to save it as a movie ("Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location" and so on). Apparently this is common. Sigh. When I finally managed to make something, it won't save properly...

That is because WMM is, in fact, Satan itself. WMM is the truest evil in this world, and you should never use it, unless you absolutely feel like banging your head against your computer monitor in frustration. It is hate, in editing program form.

I...may have some bad blood towards it.

*peers around carefully*

Uh, yes..

Ahem.

I thought I would reserve comment for when and if she succeeded. Which, as I frankly expected, she didn't... (Given that in order to do that, she would have had to (even subconciously) kill herself - I'm fairly certain that Midnight simply doesn't have that in her; which I frankly think is overall a good thing, since Murderously Evil Midnight would not be so humorous.)

*Midnight grins, fluttering her new succubus wings. All four of them.

"This is true! Nopony wants me to go nutty like that, bad things would probably happen. Like, I might actually end up taking over your command! But instead, I got these. These are pretty fun! As is the tail!"

Also, has everyone seen ED's current banner (as of time of this post)?

Way to go, Phoe!

I knew it was only a matter of time.

[byaku rai]

I sleep, and two pages have popped up when I get back.

... We'll see if I ever make that mistake again.

[Titanium Fox]

Probably sometime after the shotgun incident... Whoo! Reference from I don't even know how many threads ago!

Oh, MAN. Memories man! I think that was... Thread 18? Wow, I've been around that long? YAY! I'm an established member of the community! :D

In all fairness, he was warned.

Still... *removes hat, holds to chest* Alas poor Titanium Fox, we barely knew him.

Hmmm... hang on second. *rummages, pulls out a pill* Looks like it's time for some tough love, baby - no excuses!

"Oh don't worry! I know his personality well enough to pose as him at work! Just be awkward and talk about D&D and ramble and stuff! Oh, and act ashamed at ponies around one or two specific people."

It's okay, my pony buddy, I know how real life can be. *gives hugs* I can be patient, especially when it's as awesome as it has been. You have an awesome evening and tomorrow.

I might take it up on myself to craft a proper opening for our little RP in the meantime, if I summon the will.

Thanks for understanding Midnight. *Huggles*

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When you put it like that, I'm suddenly reminded of a plot point in the amazing DS RPG, The World Ends With You. The exact same idea is presented in that game, and the difference between technical skill and design skill is one of the main character's major problems. She wants to have design skill, but she really doesn't. Her calling is technical.

Just like Fluttershy.

Huh. You know, I meant to play that game forever ago, but never got around to it. I'll check it out.

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"Fanfic-ish" as in amateurishly written or...? I can't say I see where ya'll are coming from.

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As in... Hm. How to describe. It just reminded me of a fanfic is all. Nothing bad per-se, it was just crazy, and felt like something a Brony might come up with. I don't know, I can't think of how to describe better.

*Midnight's eye twitches slightly.

"It's okay, Lixie! I know why this is happening! It's because I've been a bad filly!"

*Twitch*

"With all the taunting the liches and the genderbending and the general naughtiness and shipping! I've been a bad, bad filly, and this is why this is happening!"

*Twitch Twitch*

"But I can be good! See, look, Mommas! Lixie! Everypony, I can be a good filly! I promise!"

*Her horn glows brilliantly, and she ends up in a very conservative looking outfit. Her generally pretty wild hair is forced into a tight bun, and a pair of glasses perch over her eyes.

"N-No more naughtiness for me! I promise, I'll be good!"

"Midnight, Nooooooooooooo! We've lost her!"

now how is she gonna claim to be a good filly when she continues her date with Rarity......

That's a completely different universe at this point. Continuities between thread Equestria and Rarity's Night Equestria have exploded.

I always thought it was Sparkmac.

I always called it "TwiMac".

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a pony just a young horse in the real world? The term being basically the sexless version of filly/colt?

Zevox

Nope. Mule is the sexless version of a horse. A pony is a subspecies of horse that generally come to about half the size of a full grown. (1/3 the size of a draft horse.)

...Lixie gets a nosebleed.
"Um. I don't think 'good' is really your thing." blushing profusely. "Adorasexy."

I am so totally stealing that word. Adorasexy. I like it.

And I am very inclined to agree. o///o

"No my dear" Luna replies, her smile only getting wider as she approaches. "Not crazy ... sane."

"Yes, sane. You are one of the few who has yet to be marked. You can see it, can't you? When you look into the eyes of the affected." She leans in close, her pupils shrunk to the size of pinheads, and giggles.

"There's only one way to stay safe my dear, and I figured it out! The madness, the insanity, it comes for you. It will do so every day and every night until the night of Nightmare. The only way to protect yourself is to always be on guard, always vigilant ... It likes it best when you sleep, you see."

As she giggles again, her outline begins to blur, her body gradually becoming transperant with every word she speaks. Her voice changes too, becoming deeper, more resonant, filling the room until Midnight can no longer tell where it's coming from. With her final words, "Luna" vanishes.

"So ... don't ... go ... to ... bed!"

Oh boy, this is what I get for posting when sleep deprived, a sudden realisation I have no idea how to properly RP Luna ... luckily, I can always just pass it off as an illusion of ponysanity!

EDIT: Blah, in the time it takes me to type a paragraph, you guys have already finished 10 replies! (Feel free to ignore this post, I have a feeling it's a bit late now Will leave it up just for posterity's sake though! XD)

This actually horrified me a little bit. Nice work!

"I uh this is not the normal student teacher relationship!" squeakblush!
Blink.
"...why do I care?"
Happyblush!


And thus the torch is passed.

I was about to say! Lix, denying affections? This is so unlike you!

Anyways, it's time for bed here, I need to be up relatively early tomorrow. Besides, it'll give poor Midnight a few hours to relax, the poor thing is a bit of a nervous wreck after everything that's happened.

G'night, everypony!

Awww! I missed you by like five minutes.

*Reads on* Or you already have a post up. Awesome! On it like Pinkie Pie on Cupcakes!

I sleep, and two pages have popped up when I get back.

... We'll see if I ever make that mistake again.

I do believe Luna approves of this.

[Thanqol]

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*Midnight's eye twitches slightly. She seems to be doing that a lot recently!

"You....you wouldn't dare! You wouldn't embarrass me like that...w-would you?

HELPING

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"If I did would that make you aaaaangry? Angry enough to make a deal?"

*Twilight's eye was twitching plenty to match.*

I sleep, and two pages have popped up when I get back.

... We'll see if I ever make that mistake again.

Two pages? Two pages? TWO PAGES?

There were seven when I woke up this morning!

[Lord Raziere]

……

All the Bronies in this thread are crazy.

[Trixie]

On a side note, Windows Movie Maker (2.6, on Windows 7) hates me (and humanity in general, I suspect, it's like a proto-Skynet). My attempt to set an anime intro song to ponies fails when I try to save it as a movie ("Windows Movie Maker cannot save the movie to the specified location" and so on). Apparently this is common. Sigh. When I finally managed to make something, it won't save properly...

Aren't you just trying to save it to forbidden location? Like WMM directory? Have you tried any others?

I thought I would reserve comment for when and if she succeeded. Which, as I frankly expected, she didn't... (Given that in order to do that, she would have had to (even subconciously) kill herself - I'm fairly certain that Midnight simply doesn't have that in her;

Why don't you help? :P

I'd be very interested to see where this happened, as I think it should be entirely possible to have a hologram of a fractal pattern.

Moreover, all holograms actually are fractals, so it's possible he was wrong and whoever said it right, depends on context

[Kris Strife]

Helping Midnight

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"Again, you could just go to the one place these Twilights would never find you... MAGIC KINDERGARTEN. DUNDUNDUNNN!" Leo grins, then points behind the horde of Twilights. "Look, somepony is saving their place in book by folding the corner!"

[Athaniar]

That is because WMM is, in fact, Satan itself. WMM is the truest evil in this world, and you should never use it, unless you absolutely feel like banging your head against your computer monitor in frustration. It is hate, in editing program form.

Oh yes, I'm starting to realize that. It lured me by being easy to use and edit clips in (once I managed to convert the files correctly, but that's got nothing to do with the WMM itself), but now I just feel trolled. Is there any way of... recording the video while I play it (in the WMM) or something? Otherwise I'm out of ideas.

Aren't you just trying to save it to forbidden location? Like WMM directory? Have you tried any others?

I've tried to save it to both several folders and the desktop itself. No success so far.

……

All the Bronies in this thread are crazy.

Yes.

[Trixie]

Oh yes, I'm starting to realize that. It lured me by being easy to use and edit clips in (once I managed to convert the files correctly, but that's got nothing to do with the WMM itself), but now I just feel trolled. Is there any way of... recording the video while I play it (in the WMM) or something? Otherwise I'm out of ideas.

I've tried to save it to both several folders and the desktop itself. No success so far.

Recording? Use Fraps or similar program, maybe, or just capture it from your graphic card?

As for another place, I can only recommend checking if you have enough space, or trying to save it to USB drive, sorry. Nothing else but FAT limits come to mind.

[Kindablue]

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As in... Hm. How to describe. It just reminded me of a fanfic is all. Nothing bad per-se, it was just crazy, and felt like something a Brony might come up with. I don't know, I can't think of how to describe better.

Episode 3 discussion:

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"Pandering"? or do you mean that there was a tone shift into something more adult-oriented? I think that that has to do more with the dropped E/I status than anything else; the show would've been like this from the start if they hadn't had to work around those constraints, whether that's a good thing or not.

[byaku rai]

……

All the Bronies in this thread are crazy.

Indeed. Mwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Soras Teva Gee]

I sleep, and two pages have popped up when I get back.

... We'll see if I ever make that mistake again.

Only two? Ponythread is slipping.

……

All the Bronies in this thread are crazy.

That's what I said.

No you didn't you said "ponies"

Shut Up!

Moreover, all holograms actually are fractals, so it's possible he was wrong and whoever said it right, depends on context

You appear to be correct but this gets into how holograms are made and rapidly makes my head hurt. And fractals are everywhere but its not something I'd expect to be casually brought up.

So Yeah, them ponies!

[otakuryoga]

so 2 small things hit me that i havent seen mentioned yet

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1) Twilights Teleport spell is safe: no worries about ending up inside another object/another object inside you...as we saw when she teleported and destroyed the beach ball the CMC were playing with

2) Twilights face in said scene...scariest moment in the series...i figured out why it was so scary/creepy
Hai Gurlz! Here's Johhny
they totally went Nicholson on us
best side by side? pause johnny at 5 seconds...pause twi at 18 seconds... then flip between them---SAME expression

[Kris Strife]

so 2 small things hit me that i havent seen mentioned yet

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1) Twilights Teleport spell is safe: no worries about ending up inside another object/another object inside you...as we saw when she teleported and destroyed the beach ball the CMC were playing with

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I think that bit was actually a joke on Google Chrome, and their rainbow loading ball.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

……

All the Bronies in this thread are crazy.

Conversely and contrariwise, all the crazies in this thread are bronies!

[Titanium Fox]

Rarity's Night

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There could have been inane chitchat. How are you, what fine weather we're having. How's the business going, how's your sister doing, and all of that meaningless small talk. All of the words that ponies used to fill the dead air, like they were afraid of hearing themselves think. But the air here wasn't dead, it was crackling with vivid life. This was a meeting of the hearts, and words had to be carefully selected.

So, too, could he have been critical. He had, of course, heard Rarity's stomach gurgle, had seen her magical falter with that wine glass, nearly causing it's contents to spill when it touched the ground. He supposed that Blueblood, or some of the more critical nobles that he had met in his brief times in court and castle, would have been positively scandalized by those things. But Midnight had learned from the two most noble creatures in all of Equestria, the two Princesses he was so fortunate to call his family. They never would do such a foalish thing. Do not sweat the small stuff. That was the way Celestia and Luna, the way the true nobles, acted. And so would he.

One who lived in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, after all.

He felt her hoof slip around him, and heard that sigh. His heart thrilled, and that pink on his cheeks returned. Even the meal right now was starting to feel meaningless, he wanted nothing more at the moment to push the table aside, and pull Rarity close to him, to share each others warmth, to feel her heart beating.

As he looked into her eyes, he began to realize that she was feeling the same thing. But, too, could he see that slight bit of doubt in Rarity's eyes, that the mare did not deserve such things. That would not do.

He leaned forwards, across the table, using his hoof to encourage her head to join him in turn. His lips met hers, and he favoured her with another kiss. But this wasn't the brief, tantalizing kiss from earlier, meant to intice. This was a deep, romantic kiss, firm but gentle, one that a pony felt straight down to their hooves if done correctly.

He was.

---

"Hi, Sweetie Belle." Spike said, stepping into the Botique, and hopped up on the couch when he was offered. He had to admit that Sweetie Belle had really come into her own growing up, nearly as beautiful as her sister. (Some would argue perhaps more beautiful, but Spike would never be one of them!) "I finally got free from Twilight and Trixie, so I came to give Midnight a hand so she could get out sooner rather than later."

That sounded reasonable. A 'brother' concerned for his 'sister', wanting to help her out. In many ways it was indeed the truth, but not the whole truth. He had no doubt that Belle knew the true reason as well, but he just couldn't bring himself to admit it. Maybe he really was a bit of a fool.

"Did they go out to dinner or something?" He continued, only to be distracted by Sweetie Belle's comment. He blinked, his eyes finding the gorgeous flowers on the table, placed so carefully and reverently on the table. His head tilted. They looked almost familiar, Spike could swear that he had seen them before. But where? They were so strange, but then....

Momma! Spike! Look at the flowers I made!

"S-She got them from Midnight...Those are her special flowers..." Spike said as soon as that memory flowed through his mind. He felt a chill down his spine. No, surely not, what a silly thing to think, Midnight wouldn't...

But, then, why were they so carefully arranged, in such a beautiful vase? It was hardly the actions of an Aunt, more like...

"W-Why is Midnight giving Rarity flowers?"

Rarity's Night

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If her mind had been completely there, she would be kicking herself for her foalish slips ups. There was nothing graceful that she was exuding right now. No, she was being just as clumsy and oafish as Rainbow Dash could be. The doubt she felt now began to intermingle with nervousness, and a sense of failure. She sucked the night's cold air into her lungs, straightening herself nearly imperceptibly, steeling herself to bring back that swagger and grace she knew she needed. She could not be off her game tonight, she thought to herself.

She didn't even notice herself being pulled in, closer and closer, farther across the table.

Their lips met. Her entire being seemed to erupt into fireworks at his touch. Everything melted away. The same magic, the same spark from before, but s much stronger. So much more tantalizing. Her hoof raised to his shoulder, resting gently over it as she pressed her lips to his, her head tilting slightly, her eyes fluttering closed. Doubt dissolved. Worry transformed under its power into confidence and unabashed joy.

There was nothing that she could ever do to make this Prince before her think differently of her. It was as if more than just bodies touched. Something so intimate, something so powerful that mere words could not describe the grandeur of this single solitary moment.

After what seemed as though a blissful eternity, their lips finally parted, a coy smile upon her lips. The food below them was slowly going cold, and she could not care less.

"Prince..." She cooed, pausing for a moment to select the perfect words. "You have swept this fair lady clean off of her hooves." Barely a whisper, their faces nary an inch apart. Her hoof slid down his shoulder and foreleg, eventually coming to rest upon his own. "If only Luna could hold the night... If only this moment could last into eternity."

---

Sweetie Bell chuckled softly to herself at Spike's supposed reason for stopping by. Sure, she knew that he meant that on a level, but she knew for a fact that he had come to fawn over Rarity just a bit more. Her head shook as she glanced back to the still relatively tiny dragon from the vase, her expression quickly turning quizzical at the look of relative horror washing over his face.

"Um... Spike? Are you doing alright?" Something about special flowers. That didn't really make sense to her. Sure, they were gorgeous, but they didn't really seem to warrant that reaction. Spike didn't know what she knew though. If those really had come from Midnight, then that pretty much confirmed what she'd figured when she'd seen Midnight's stallion lookalike trotting down the walk in the height of fashion.

Wait. Rarity had said she had a date with a Prince tonight. Could Midnight's magic even do that? And what about his relation... and her relation... And... oh Celestia. That wasn't just a lookalike. That was actually Midnight!

And poor Spike. By only what he had seen he was really only being paranoid; even if he was most likely right in his conclusion. She may have enjoyed getting on his nerves every once in a while, but she couldn't let him go through what he was about to. She had to think fast.

"Well, Midnight was here earlier. I'm not sure what the two were doing... But maybe Midnight gave them to Rarity for inspiration for a dress?" She didn't sound that convinced herself, but she flashed him a soft smile, glancing around the room for anything that could match those colors that she could point to as evidence.

There, plain as day was Midnight's gala dress, absolutely destroyed. She could almost feel the relief wash over her. "Yeah, probably. Probably working on her dress." She motioned to it with a hoof. "You know Rarity. Always wants to improve on perfection."

Spike didn't need to know what was probably going on somewhere in Ponyville tonight. She couldn't bear to see how he would react if he caught wind. Regardless of how unlikely the two were to ever get together, Spikes feelings were not faked. Quite the contrary in fact. It would completely break his heart to know that his own sister swiped the object of his affections right out from under his nose.

She quietly resolved to figure out just what in the hay was going on for herself once Spike had been tended to though. Something just wasn't right; the obvious couldn't be the truth.

"Just what's so special about the flowers Spike?"