My Little Pony XXXIV: There is Pony of it, no exceptions!

[Lix Lorn]

Nothing ever dies; they simply change form. When the elements are shattered, the spirits that empowered them escape, returned into the earth. Translation lessens and defocuses, though, and raw, unrestrained elements astride the worth are chaotic and disharmonious, falling too strongly in some places and too weakly in others. Convincing these spirits to, once again, lessen themselves and be reforged into gemstones will end the chaos.

But these things are challenges unto themselves. When standing and facing Generosity, unrestrained, unbridled, how can you not give him everything he asks for? When facing Honesty, how can you not speak your mind honestly, even when it's unwise or dangerous to do so? I could spin a season out of this.

In all seriousness... why aren't you?
Where executive meddling stopped Lauren Faust from writing MLP as a sentai adventure show, I call upon the Thanqol.

And of course Mask is beautiful! Why else would I be chasing her for inclusion in my purely hypothetical harem which may contain purely hypothetical bondage and may exist in my purely hypothetical mansion with an airship hangar?

That airship hangar isn't hypothetical!

[Welf]

They don't die. They just change. The signal changes, raising and lowering in volume, but it doesn't stop. You can define a person as a set of chemicals arranged in a certain structure, a mind placed in a certain way, conversations had and not had. But each one of those things influences the world around them, and will continue to do so forever, and ever, down through time.

Of course they keep on influencing; but only in a certain configuration they do it in a certain way. Ad any configuration can and will come to an end. The more complex a configuration, the more unique are its qualities and attributes. And if a configuration becomes complex enough, it will be impossible to recreate it. So when the configuration comes to an end, it will be dead forever. Things always transform, and that means that something is destroyed and something else is created.

Do we exist as independent fonts of potential - are our lives simply a matter of everything we might do? Or is the true measure of our lives what we actually do? If it's the former, then death is the end; the end of possibility. If it's the latter, death is but another note in a never-ending symphony.

Live is what we do. And death is the last thing we do. Then: darkness.

[/color]
I'm posting off my new phone right now (who I've began calling Escobar Fux). I'm looking forward to the adventures in cryptotypography that he'll sweep me into like a babe in the surf... But more seriously, this is a lot harder than you made it look. Why did they make the keyboard so small.

...

Hey, Welf! Long time no see.

Thanks, I've been missing you guys I've been quite busy the last time. And it took me a few days over Christmas to sort a few things out.

Hi there ponythread! Long time no see!

Hi Even Human. Christmas time is indeed of family and pony thread reunions.

It's fairly old, as these things go. Never liked it, myself. Which is weird because I tend to find all memes absolutely hilarious. But I've never watched Freakazoid, which I think would help appreciate it.

Thanks. I don't like it, too. Sounds pretty boring.

[Tiki Snakes]

Candlejack?
Eh, I heard he was encouraged to retire.

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It's hard to abduct people with two broken arms.

As for nettles, the sting comes from tiny little crystal-like spines or something if I remember even vaguely correctly. There are several ways to prepare them that removes the spines from the picture, making it entirely safe to eat. Boiling is the obvious one. Also, I'm pretty sure that plenty of animals can just ignore them.

[edit] Image fixed.

[Tectonic Robot]

The demon cloaked in red grins mad as he lowers his gun
And roars in triumph like a bull victorious for its mate
The light in his eye burning fiercer than the midday sun

"To meet her here," he laughs, "Be the finest workings of fate-"
Then to his crew he bellowed, "To London! Away, away!"
The ship descended from on high, like a raven winged with hate

The golden wind blew through his fur as they fell to stay
Among the spires and peaks of the ancient city born
From the marshes made stone by the ancient Roman way

The ship swam through jasmine-scented breeze, past the thorn
Of some ancient minaret stabbing upwards into the sky
As some night watchman calling "To Arms!" blew his horn

The captain laughed, taking up in his paws chains, saying, "Fie!"
The chains awoke and writhed like a cat caught in a cage
And spoke he, standing proud and tall, "By Celestia upon high-"

"I'll give a year's bounty to the one who catches her - page
Or knight, I care not which. To him I'll give gold and ground
Rubies in a glass; the finest vixens to serve wine of fine age!"

So they descended almost to the cobbled, desert ground
And chased her swiftly, like a fox driven before the hound

Three ponies ran through town
One of them wearing quite the frown!
Where are we going?
Why aren't we slowing?
When suddenly danger abounds!

...Did I make that limerick right?

Funnily enough, despite his best efforts to the contrary, which are continually hamstrung by his romantic ideals and his phenomenally poor judgement, neither is Raz.

We may have to have Tectonic act as a diplomat, here.

!
Wait, what? I need to act as a diplomat? Aaaaaaak I suddenly worry!

It appears, then, that both bondage and happy endings depend totally on the worth of the person in whom you place your trust.

And of course Mask is beautiful! Why else would I be chasing her for inclusion in my purely hypothetical harem which may contain purely hypothetical bondage and may exist in my purely hypothetical mansion with an airship hangar?



Ace, mate. Really ace.



The question then, of course, is what kind of note we want to be - off-key, discordant, or perhaps too soft to be heard and appreciated, or perhaps too rich and bellowing, drowning out the other notes...

Or one that flows with the symphony at the command of the conductor, that rings out brightly and truly, that lifts up all the notes around it - maybe even notes ringing out in an entirely different part of the symphony - and that becomes an irrevocable part of the beautiful melody that the conductor intends.

No one asked for my opinion but, here it is anyhow! Now, what are we discussing... it would appear to be death, and what it means. And how it affects life? Well, that depends! Depends on what you think and believe. I... won't attempt to sum up my thoughts on the matter, but 'tis an interesting discussion, and one most would not expect to find in Ponythread!

Candlejack?
Eh, I heard he was encouraged to retire.

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It's hard to abduct people with two broken arms.

As for nettles, the sting comes from tiny little crystal-like spines or something if I remember even vaguely correctly. There are several ways to prepare them that removes the spines from the picture, making it entirely safe to eat. Boiling is the obvious one. Also, I'm pretty sure that plenty of animals can just ignore them.

Broken image. And what do you have against Candle Jack, mate? He looks cool. Oh! Fixed image. Aaaaand that is a funny image. Kudos.

[Veg Sorbet]

Ugh, I don't like doing this, but...

Hey all, back with more fictiony-stuff for you clever ponies to look over - this time, the prologue for that story I keep blathering on about.

Please, have at it! Spelling, grammar, content, layout, premise, the works; if I don't know what's broken, I can't fix it.

[Fan Fic] click here for fanfic thing.

Anypony?

Or should I take this as a sign that the thing's just not bothering with?

Seriously, if I don't get any feedback soon, I'll be ditching the whole dang thing. My creative drive always goes at this time of year, and I've got other projects that have been on the back-burner since long before ponies took over my brain.

[Tiki Snakes]

I don't really have anything against Candlejack as such, he is a good visual design. But Batman is less than gentle.
Also, thanks for pointing out the broken image, fixed.

[Kairaven]

Ugh, I don't like doing this, but...



Anypony?

Or should I take this as a sign that the thing's just not bothering with?

Seriously, if I don't get any feedback soon, I'll be ditching the whole dang thing. My creative drive always goes at this time of year, and I've got other projects that have been on the back-burner since long before ponies took over my brain.

you picked a rather bad time for review, most ponies are occupied with holiday business to probably review at the moment.

let me see if I can help:

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as a prologue, this is too lengthy and a bit dry, prologues isn't so much there to explain a premise but rather to entice the reader by setting up a conflict or mystery.
Prologue - A Matter of History and Legend
924 years have passed since jealousy and hatred were made flesh, and Nightmare Moon was born of the long-repressed negative emotions of Luna, Princess of the Night, and Co-Regent of the Magical Land of Equestria.

924 years have passed since Princess Celestia, benevolent and kindly, was forced to wield the strongest magic known to ponykind, the Elements of Harmony, against her own kin.
It had never been Celestia’s intention to banish her sister; to do so was to take away a part of herself. No, she had intended to strip away the layers of darkness; peel back the skin of hatred manifest, and release her beloved kin from the shell that had consumed her.
Emotions are powerful things, however, and this avatar of negative emotion proved too powerful, and the Elements, fuelled not by camaraderie and friendship, but by desperation and longing, failed to have their desired effect.

However, Celestia had powerful magic, and even as the spell failed to do what she had intended, it the attack still did was it had to do; remove the threat to Equestria.

Thus, the Banishment began, and a new age dawned for Equestria, and age in which Celestia would rule alone, being strong for her subjects, for her little ponies, despite her own despair and loneliness.

924 years is a long time for mortal ponies; in that time, generations have come and gone; Equestria has changed and grown; in all but a few circles, the true events of that fateful day have been lost to history, with memories relegated to folklore and tradition, with the tale of The Mare in the Moon, and the practice of celebrating Nightmare Night being the most common.

Yet time can play tricks on memory; it can warp fact and twist truth, and can birth new legends, far removed from actual events. In some quarters, stories were told of a fourth race of ponies, of whom Celestia was the last, or of the mysterious King Equestria, said to be either Celestia’s husband or father. Some claimed that Celestia was a goddess; others insisted she was a visitor from another world, or a living avatar of the sun, whose fiery image adorned her pearlescent flanks.

Many of these stories were obscure or little-known; some were born of mishandled historical research, others as a result of miscommunication. Yet others were merely the result of a frazzled and under-educated parent trying desperately to answer the constant questions of an overly curious and incessant foal.


Some were considered harmless, others foolish; some were condemned as blasphemous, and others praised as a brilliant piece of storytelling.

Very few made their way to Celestia herself; her closest courtiers had an understanding that the topic of this long-ago event was painful and upsetting to their ruler, and they could not bear to see her hurt, and thus endeavoured to keep them a secret.
Occasionally, the courtiers would see no harm in some silly little old pony’s tale, but more often than not, the stories had a sad or terrible twist; Celestia was an orphan; her husband’s body had become the earth they walked upon; Celestia was a usurper; Celestia was a traitor; Celestia was a tyrant.

Once such dark-natured legend was a story of two sisters, accidentally given previously inequine powers by a malevolent spirit who threatened their herd, and how the younger became hailed as a hero, whilst the elder was largely ignored, and fell victim to jealousy, eventually trapping her troublesome sister in the moon, and seizing the throne for herself.

This story became known as The Legend of the Unicorn Queen, and it was clear to all who heard it that the jealous elder sister was supposed to be Celestia. It was banished to the Cantalot Bureaucratic Vaults, where documents of a particular nature were sent to be lost forever, and promptly forgotten.

What Celestia’s courtiers did not know, however, was that this legend had followers. Followers who took the story seriously; believing it to be true, and determined to one day restore their beloved Queen to the Equestrian throne.

They called themselves the Court of Unicorn, and were led by a family of charismatic Canterlot unicorns; the Noble House of Silver, with the title of Chief Courtier passing from father to son.
In the 924th year after Luna’s banishment, the head of the Court of Unicorn was Silver Blade, more commonly known as Lord Silver. This is the story of his young son, Little Silver, and the terrible legacy that rests upon his shoulders.

Sorry for the massive cuts but I think this flows better and sets up more intrigue

[Bayonet Priest]

Hello ponies! I'm back from christmas camping trip, back to the wonderful world of the interwebz. I haven't actually caught back up with the thread yet, still have another 8 pages or so to go so I've got a bit to read. I'll check in again later when I get caught up.

[Aotrs Commander]

'Tis but a flying visit today, ponythread - stop looking relieved, that pony at the back there! You know whw you are! - Shapeways decide to have a 20% sale ending tomorrow, so I've been trying to pump out a few more prototypes to take advantage of it (on the basis better the 20% off now you know, that the potential discount you don't from the other place).

Don't cross the memes!

*snerk*

Live is what we do. And death is the last thing we do. Then: darkness.

Ah, the naiveté of the non-necromancer...

Tsk tsk! If death is the end, you simply didn't want it badly enough!

To a master necromancer, death is merely a curtain, in the Asterix and the Goths sense of "they ought to replace that [cell] door with a curtain!"

Candlejack?
Eh, I heard he was encouraged to retire.

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It's hard to abduct people with two broken arms.

Pfffftahahahaha!



Right, off to do kunaisensorcruiser prototype...

[Tectonic Robot]

Ugh, I don't like doing this, but...



Anypony?

Or should I take this as a sign that the thing's just not bothering with?

Seriously, if I don't get any feedback soon, I'll be ditching the whole dang thing. My creative drive always goes at this time of year, and I've got other projects that have been on the back-burner since long before ponies took over my brain.

Sorry! 'S very interesting. Veeeeeryyyy iiiinteeeereeeestiiiiing. You should totally write more!

[Gamerlord]

Episode 15 synopsis *SPOILERS*
Thoughts below:

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"Flimflam" means a confidence trick, so my money is on them turning out to be frauds.

[TheAmishPirate]

Ugh, I don't like doing this, but...



Anypony?

Or should I take this as a sign that the thing's just not bothering with?

Seriously, if I don't get any feedback soon, I'll be ditching the whole dang thing. My creative drive always goes at this time of year, and I've got other projects that have been on the back-burner since long before ponies took over my brain.

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It was banished to the Cantalot Bureaucratic Vaults
-Misspelled Canterlot

The Spirit began to grown frustrated of his clever equine opponent, swearing to make his life miserable.
-"began to grow"

The Elder and The Mother named their winged daughter Pegasus, and her sister Unicorn, and, instead of being shunned, as The Spirit had hoped they were instead welcomed into The Tribe, adored more than any other pony before them.

From there, The Spirit redoubled his efforts, launching chaotic effect after chaotic effect at them, until they were living in a maelstrom of dangerous and contradictory elements, which were as much at war with each other as they were with the ponies.
-Both these sentences are a bit long. I think you can break them up a little.

The sister’s put much thought into this problem
-"The sisters put"

Was her sister trying to one-up her, just for the glory?
-"one-up" sounds unusual in a story like this. It's a more modern phrase that clashes with the tone you're looking for.

She turned away, sickened, only to encounter ponies, everywhere, praising her sister for what she had done. Sickened by it all, she went flying.
-You use "sickened" twice in a very short period of time.

Unicorn had left them in situ
-Some sort of misspelling here

Only as the last of the monsters was zapped, by Pegasus, did The Spirit react;
-Unnecessary commas here.

Their battle of wills lasted a good long while
-This description is far too vague and modern-sounding.

Unicorn's hover spell
-I think she'd have something other than her hover spell to worry about. It just seems like an anticlimactic thing to occupy her attention.

Overall Thoughts:

The myth needs work. You use a lot of unnecessary commas, and you need to work on the language choice. A myth like this should sound old when you read it. It should be free of modern phrases and sayings, and should be told with gravity and minimal attention to detail. We shouldn't know that the sun was three times their size, we should know that it was far bigger than the both of them. We shouldn't know Unicorn is working on her hover spell, we should know she's working on some spell to counter her sister's rage.

As for the story, I'm hooked. You've got a great premise, and the prologue has me wanting more. You keep this up, and don't you dare stop writing.

EDIT: Listen to Kairaven, he knows what he's talking about.

[Welf]

*snerk*



Ah, the naiveté of the non-necromancer...

Tsk tsk! If death is the end, you simply didn't want it badly enough!

To a master necromancer, death is merely a curtain, in the Asterix and the Goths sense of "they ought to replace that [cell] door with a curtain!"

I know that. That was supposed to be a racist slur against Undead. Or Wanna-Lives, as me and my air-breathing pals call them here. But you didn't get it, and that ruined Racist Christmas for me. ThankyouverymuchAotrsCommander.

[PhantomFox]

New episode teaser description!

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Season 2 Episode 15
Airdate: 1/28/12
Title: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Description: The Flim Flam brothers challenge the Apples to a Cider Making Contest for the farm.

[Draconi Redfir]

This is a thing.

[Lix Lorn]

This is an awesome thing.

Fixed that for you? XD

[Beacon of Chaos]

OHGODPEOPLE THIS VID IS SO UBER AWESOME

This one is okay.

That Gundam one is pretty cool. The stop motion was very well done.

Discussion time!

Just out of curiosity, I was wondering what everypony's personal Top 5 episodes are, and why?

I don't have a Top 5, my fav ep changes as much as my fav pony. Amongst my current favs are:
Sonic Rainboom
Sweet & Elite
Bridal Gossip
The first two
Best Night Ever
Over a Barrel
Luna Eclipsed
...and I'm sure there are a couple of S2 episodes that I really liked that I'm forgetting XD

Hey folks... Remember ages ago, in early October, when I was using ponythread as guinea pigs for trying to get that head thing I was designing for one of my models something like?

(What d'you mean no?)

Thought you might be interested to see I finally got something I'm vaguely happy with.

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Granted, the head isn't especially feminine, but I think it's within a reasonable degree of beliveable, given what I was going for...

So these are the finished designs, which are ready for 3D printing sometime in January. (These versions are 144th scale - that's 12mm, or half (and a bit less) than the scale of D&D figures - so they'll be about 10mm square or thereabouts. Another day I shall do the minor mods to scale them to 72nd (25mm), so I can use them for both scales of Manouvre Group, and then inflict them on my PCs in the summer...)

Cool! But 10mm square? That's tiny! :o


Anyway, on to another image dump.

WARNING! LEVEL 4 CUTENESS HAZARD! (also, a steampunk pic, because why not?)

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[Pokonic]

New episode teaser description!

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Season 2 Episode 15
Airdate: 1/28/12
Title: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Description: The Flim Flam brothers challenge the Apples to a Cider Making Contest for the farm.

Gunna be good. Any arguments against it?

[the_druid_droid]

I still say that the Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy & Invader Zim are nessicary for one to grow up as a balanced adult.

Consider me balanced then...

Picturesque is what she does, I've found. I wouldn't have admitted to dabbling in fanfiction or shipping, had she not stopped me dead speaking of tiny daggers to the heart. I wonder, occasionally, and envy; what could I have done to so masterfully evoke with but words? I do fancy myself a bard after all, inept at the craft as I am. But there's a lesson there in itself. I am not Phoe. I am me, whoever or whatever that person happens to be. I have my own life, self and story. I have my own value to bring to those around.

Indeed. Though the exact nature of self, story and value is something I am still struggling to uncover.

[/color]
I'm posting off my new phone right now (who I've began calling Escobar Fux). I'm looking forward to the adventures in cryptotypography that he'll sweep me into like a babe in the surf... But more seriously, this is a lot harder than you made it look. Why did they make the keyboard so small.

Always double-check your messages.

Always.

Lest you wish someone a Nerdy Christmas...

The demon cloaked in red grins mad as he lowers his gun
And roars in triumph like a bull victorious for its mate
The light in his eye burning fiercer than the midday sun

"To meet her here," he laughs, "Be the finest workings of fate-"
Then to his crew he bellowed, "To London! Away, away!"
The ship descended from on high, like a raven winged with hate

The golden wind blew through his fur as they fell to stay
Among the spires and peaks of the ancient city born
From the marshes made stone by the ancient Roman way

The ship swam through jasmine-scented breeze, past the thorn
Of some ancient minaret stabbing upwards into the sky
As some night watchman calling "To Arms!" blew his horn

The captain laughed, taking up in his paws chains, saying, "Fie!"
The chains awoke and writhed like a cat caught in a cage
And spoke he, standing proud and tall, "By Celestia upon high-"

"I'll give a year's bounty to the one who catches her - page
Or knight, I care not which. To him I'll give gold and ground
Rubies in a glass; the finest vixens to serve wine of fine age!"

So they descended almost to the cobbled, desert ground
And chased her swiftly, like a fox driven before the hound

--------

It appears, then, that both bondage and happy endings depend totally on the worth of the person in whom you place your trust.

And of course Mask is beautiful! Why else would I be chasing her for inclusion in my purely hypothetical harem which may contain purely hypothetical bondage and may exist in my purely hypothetical mansion with an airship hangar?

All of my hypothetical approval!

[TheAmishPirate]

Augh, the temptation to look at these spoilers is MADDENING. That, or the cold medicine is making me drowsy and loopy.

Either way, what if ponies could have wings on their hooves? Would that be like a way to hover or maintain altitude, or could they get actual flight with those? I don't know, but the mental image is kinda cool.

Always double-check your messages.

Always.

Lest you wish someone a Nerdy Christmas...

And let us not let SiuiS forget the deer wimmins.

[Pokonic]

Oh, just to let you guys know, I have a RP starting soon . Sign in today!

[Athaniar]

RE: New Episode Summary Leak

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Sounds like fun. Nice to see that they're focusing more on Applejack, she's been far too neglected. Also, will the antagonists be fun? Hopefully.

This is a thing.

Heh, that's cool. ^^

[Nameless]

This is a thing.

Y U NO LOAD!?

[Anarion]

New episode teaser description!

Spoiler

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Season 2 Episode 15
Airdate: 1/28/12
Title: The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
Description: The Flim Flam brothers challenge the Apples to a Cider Making Contest for the farm.

Spoiler

Show

That sounds like a good episode. I think that's the right way to go about challenging Applejack as well. She's such a stable personality, so the way to develop her character is to look at how she deals with challenges and changes, rather than have her constantly trying to grow the way that Twilight or Rainbow Dash do. Let's hope the execution matches the potential of the premise.

This is a thing.

That is incredibly well done. I especially like how Twilight and Rarity's horns are angled to look like their unicorn horns. Also, Rainbow Dash=Vriska 2.0?

[SiuiS]

I don't get that candlejack jokes. Never heard of that meme. Is that new?

it has been explained already, but; no. It hasn't just recently cropped up, though it has had a resurgence of sorts. If the pile of business cards outside of the non-hypothetical hangar are any indication, Raz_Fox, then Candlejack went to Abductor's Anonymous and got help. now, he wanders by and invites folks to tea. It's no longer compulsory attendance though, unless he's slipping.

Though I will admit the urge to mention Candlejack and then leave an entire quote post undone has been quite strong at time

I'm still in awe how you can make this posts on a phone. I have an iphone now, and writing something drives me crazy.

(Btw, Hi ponythread, I'm kinda back and try to be a little more present the next time. I'd like to make an image dump to celebrate, but connection speed here is horrible.)

It's just as irritating for me, actually. I suppose it's a matter of dogged persistence.

And yay! Sweetie Welf!

Thank you.

I'd like to say more, but I can't seem to find the right words. I just hope I'll get the chance to explore her mind in a game sometime because there's layers there I still haven't touched. Honesty is such a powerful concept.

If you get the chance, I'd like notes on the development.

Hm. Perhaps because it's a possible contradiction of 'You can be more'? Perhaps because an acknowledgement of limitation seems entirely at odds with my philosophy?

But it's not. Quite the opposite, I think, in that experiencing a resurgence in the face of stopping power is the definition of your ideal, though seen through another lens. Though it is difficult to articulate...

But remember that I have three philosophies, that I articulate at different times and at different volumes. While Nothing Ever Dies/Jayden is the one I talk about the most frequently, that's because it's the one that lends itself to preaching. Hope, optimism, pride, empowerment, energy, life - the stars are here, down on earth, so bright they blot out the stars above. That's a message people need to hear, and need to be reminded of.

That's one of my principles. If you don't like it, I have others. One like blue steel, inflexible and forward facing. And the other's smothering, comforting darkness and the joy within darkness. I don't talk about these others as much.

But they're a part of me. And I'm better for that.

Interesting, of course. I shall have to plumb your depths when I get the chance. The last is of note, as I think the so-called Ecstacy or Anihilation is what I'm dealing with myself. A sublimation of self-conception for the eventual greater good, while still requiring me to do something terrifying. If I change enough at so base a level then I may as well have died as Me, since I will be an Other at the other end.

The real challenge is going to be investing enough power in this to keep it going so as not to sink to status quo, and have eventual growth lost to mundania.

What's the name of your new phone?

In stark contrast to AotRS, I name any piece of technology that's capable of holding my thoughts. To me, that makes it alive, intimate, capable of showing me things I didn't know about myself. My computer is Inspired, my laptop is Continuity, my ex-computer, rest her, was Thief of Breath.

I'm unsure. So far it's just my Antagonist, fighting me every step of the way. The last was named for a spell book though.

I'm posting off my new phone right now (who I've began calling Escobar Fux). I'm looking forward to the adventures in cryptotypography that he'll sweep me into like a babe in the surf... But more seriously, this is a lot harder than you made it look. Why did they make the keyboard so small.

...

Hey, Welf! Long time no see.

You must learn to make your fingers dance across the keys in close proximity, like spiders doing the cha-cha. Also landscape view really makes things a touch easier.

And it's really fun to find new words, by Typing in three letters and seeing what autocorrect brings up. Like strong becomes stroganoff, or misspelling canterlot got me Constantinople.

Funnily enough, despite his best efforts to the contrary, which are continually hamstrung by his romantic ideals and his phenomenally poor judgement, neither is Raz.

We may have to have Tectonic act as a diplomat, here.

Sounds like I should join this party. We'd be the bestworst party ever.
Though I note Tek is already being more confident and outspoken. Maybe some good can come of this?

It appears, then, that both bondage and happy endings depend totally on the worth of the person in whom you place your trust.

Yes.
Though please, I ask of you all to stop usin happy ending like a proper noun. Given my line of work (knock on wood) it is discongruent with the way the conversation is supposed to flow.

And of course Mask is beautiful! Why else would I be chasing her for inclusion in my purely hypothetical harem which may contain purely hypothetical bondage and may exist in my purely hypothetical mansion with an airship hangar?

Habit?
Business cards right outside your door, mate. People care man, they want to help.

Ace, mate. Really ace.

Thank you. It was a personal thing, an intimate act performed unknowingly in public. To find that I had ended up typing it out on a forum left me feeling rathe chagrined. Luckily, it's gone well.

The question then, of course, is what kind of note we want to be - off-key, discordant, or perhaps too soft to be heard and appreciated, or perhaps too rich and bellowing, drowning out the other notes...

Or one that flows with the symphony at the command of the conductor, that rings out brightly and truly, that lifts up all the notes around it - maybe even notes ringing out in an entirely different part of the symphony - and that becomes an irrevocable part of the beautiful melody that the conductor intends.

I cannot help but hear religious tones when you say conductor. Intriguing, that.
On life and death, stasis and change; is it not the pause between notes which separates music from noise? Waves go up and down for a reason. Even friendships wax and wane, and in this way remain strong and constant. While any note may wish to shine, the whole is better when in harmony

Is it better to work for the good of the song, or to live yourself as you please and damn the rest? Quite an ideological dilemma based on scale. Surely the note must sublimate to the song, but must the man work for history, or himself?

I suspect jazz has some of the answers.

In all seriousness... why aren't you?
Where executive meddling stopped Lauren Faust from writing MLP as a sentai adventure show, I call upon the Thanqol.

She has invoked the old rites, Thanqol, of "can you do it? Pleeeeeeeaaaase?"
How can you resist? Look at her face? How can you resist that face?

That airship hangar isn't hypothetical!

Of course not silly. Everything needs an anchor.

Candlejack?
Eh, I heard he was encouraged to retire.

Spoiler

Show

It's hard to abduct people with two broken arms.

As for nettles, the sting comes from tiny little crystal-like spines or something if I remember even vaguely correctly. There are several ways to prepare them that removes the spines from the picture, making it entirely safe to eat. Boiling is the obvious one. Also, I'm pretty sure that plenty of animals can just ignore them.

[edit] Image fixed.

Poor bloke. To be fair though, it happens to all of 'sm sooner or later, unless they get help, Raz_Fox.

Three ponies ran through town
One of them wearing quite the frown!
Where are we going?
Why aren't we slowing?
When suddenly danger abounds!

...Did I make that limerick right?

I think so, aye. Way to get into the spirit! Reminds me of the ol' sonnet off.

No one asked for my opinion but, here it is anyhow! Now, what are we discussing... it would appear to be death, and what it means. And how it affects life? Well, that depends! Depends on what you think and believe. I... won't attempt to sum up my thoughts on the matter, but 'tis an interesting discussion, and one most would not expect to find in Ponythread!

That's the thing, though. This conversation, being one of harmony over discord, and finding how to relate despite differences so profound they change the medium in which one lives compared to another, is directly pertinent to the show and whether we have learned anything from it.

This is the written test. You will be graded, of course. Though not harshly; for we love all of you, and want only the best.

I am experiencing a profusion of well-wishing, it seems, in tandem with the utter blackout of my self conception. Neat!

Ugh, I don't like doing this, but...



Anypony?

Or should I take this as a sign that the thing's just not bothering with?

Seriously, if I don't get any feedback soon, I'll be ditching the whole dang thing. My creative drive always goes at this time of year, and I've got other projects that have been on the back-burner since long before ponies took over my brain.

Sorry mate, I'm just trying to hit the fics in order. I will get to it today if work allows.

I know that. That was supposed to be a racist slur against Undead. Or Wanna-Lives, as me and my air-breathing pals call them here. But you didn't get it, and that ruined Racist Christmas for me. ThankyouverymuchAotrsCommander.

Win!

And let us not let SiuiS forget the deer wimmins.

But that wasn't a typo...

[Kindablue]

Always double-check your messages.

Always.

Lest you wish someone a Nerdy Christmas...

Definitely better than a Racist Christmas. My main trouble's just unfamiliarity. I started writing that message immediately after SiuiS posted his. It took me most of Trout Mask Replica to write that message. It took me so long that I had to relog-in when I was finished.

[Kyouhen]

Is it better to work for the good of the song, or to live yourself as you please and damn the rest? Quite an ideological dilemma based on scale. Surely the note must sublimate to the song, but must the man work for history, or himself?

10 out of 10 hobbits agree: Fighting the song is a good thing. As is existing.

[Aotrs Commander]

Blargh. And done. Well, I got models sorted out for the order in the end. I sort of thought I mnight have tried a fifth, but by the time I'd got to the end of the kunaisensorcruiser, I was starting to get a bit tired and frustrated. And naturally, TurboCAD decided to throw one of it's random wobblies in not letting me add some gun housing to the bottom of the hull for no readily apparent reason. I mean really random, it would let me do one side, but not the mirrored version, so go figure. (So in the end, I did my emergancy-fiddle-stand-by which is to tweak the piece by 0.01mm (though this time I had to move the bits up a whole 0.05mm, which is like, half my 0.1mm design detail level! That's...still not going to be visible to the naked eye...!))

I know that. That was supposed to be a racist slur against Undead. Or Wanna-Lives, as me and my air-breathing pals call them here. But you didn't get it, and that ruined Racist Christmas for me. ThankyouverymuchAotrsCommander.

We aim to please!

And by "please" I of course mean "kill with extreme precision" because shooting accuracy is held to a very high standard in the Aotrs. 'Cos we're professionals and all that.

Cool! But 10mm square? That's tiny! :o

Still volumetically bigger than a 12mm scale human...

The 25mm (i.e. D&D minature scale version), which was one of the things I did today (and actually required very little in the way of tweaking, really just keeping those protrusions on the side and front of the legs the same absolute depth, but half the realtive) is about 20mm a side and 16mm tall. Which makes it about...3'9" or 1.15m tall. (The top turret is, interestingly, about the same size as some of the rifles of the random figures I dug out.)

Actually a little shorter than I'd anticipated, now I've just worked it out (not a bad thing, though, because there's always a bit of error when it comes to what measurements you think it's proportions are going to be and what looks right in practise - and I tend to find if I get my projected the size wrong, it's always smaller than I think.)

So, they're a touch taller than a pony, and their heads are about the height to maybe look Spike in the eye (a touch lower than a pony head, I reckon.)

I swear, this is a complete co-incidence!

(I was sort of going for "slightly shorter but overall bigger than a human"; which they still sort of are, given their leg span is long much under five feet in that posture.)

[Thanqol]

The demon cloaked in red grins mad as he lowers his gun
And roars in triumph like a bull victorious for its mate
The light in his eye burning fiercer than the midday sun

"To meet her here," he laughs, "Be the finest workings of fate-"
Then to his crew he bellowed, "To London! Away, away!"
The ship descended from on high, like a raven winged with hate

The golden wind blew through his fur as they fell to stay
Among the spires and peaks of the ancient city born
From the marshes made stone by the ancient Roman way

The ship swam through jasmine-scented breeze, past the thorn
Of some ancient minaret stabbing upwards into the sky
As some night watchman calling "To Arms!" blew his horn

The captain laughed, taking up in his paws chains, saying, "Fie!"
The chains awoke and writhed like a cat caught in a cage
And spoke he, standing proud and tall, "By Celestia upon high-"

"I'll give a year's bounty to the one who catches her - page
Or knight, I care not which. To him I'll give gold and ground
Rubies in a glass; the finest vixens to serve wine of fine age!"

So they descended almost to the cobbled, desert ground
And chased her swiftly, like a fox driven before the hound

Upon the bridge once was a pony fair
But now was newly gone
No sign at all of her fiery hair

She was gone, into air
In the fog of London dawn
Ah, wasn't she once so fair?

The demon yet waits in his lair
Waiting for her return
And dreaming of her fiery hair

A gryphon tilts her head in prayer
Down amidst the white-feather swans
In her absence, they are not as fair

The water closed over the unlucky mare
As downwards she was drawn
Surrounded by her fiery hair

As she sank below she wondered if she did err
As she began to pray for the touch of Amon
But, she thought, this must be fair
I am just a liar with fiery hair.

Funnily enough, despite his best efforts to the contrary, which are continually hamstrung by his romantic ideals and his phenomenally poor judgement, neither is Raz.

We may have to have Tectonic act as a diplomat, here.

This is what I was afraid of.

It appears, then, that both bondage and happy endings depend totally on the worth of the person in whom you place your trust.

Celestia help us.

And of course Mask is beautiful! Why else would I be chasing her for inclusion in my purely hypothetical harem which may contain purely hypothetical bondage and may exist in my purely hypothetical mansion with an airship hangar?

Hypothetical Bondage:

"What would your reaction be, hypothetically, if I cracked this whip and said that you'd been a very naughty boy?"
"Probably fear mixed with arousal?"
"Huh. Good to know. Tea?"
"Quite."

In all seriousness... why aren't you?
Where executive meddling stopped Lauren Faust from writing MLP as a sentai adventure show, I call upon the Thanqol.

I've got a bit of a backlog as far as fics go, but if it's still there afterwards we'll see.

Of course they keep on influencing; but only in a certain configuration they do it in a certain way. Ad any configuration can and will come to an end. The more complex a configuration, the more unique are its qualities and attributes. And if a configuration becomes complex enough, it will be impossible to recreate it. So when the configuration comes to an end, it will be dead forever. Things always transform, and that means that something is destroyed and something else is created.

Live is what we do. And death is the last thing we do. Then: darkness.

Live is what we do - but we do more than live. When you curse, you're echoing a million sailors going back through history. When you slow down on a dangerous intersection you're acknowledging the unfortunates who died there. When you read a book you taste the actions of the author and every author who inspired that author, every conversation which he had, and which those people had.

If life is action, then action continues long after you've stopped. Which makes it all the more important that we try to produce the right actions.

This is an incredibly difficult position to articulate because it's so counter-intuitive. I've had this discussion before, against almost that exact phrasing (against a Moros).

Ponythread: Come for the ponies stay for the poetry and existential philosophy.

[the_druid_droid]

Definitely better than a Racist Christmas. My main trouble's just unfamiliarity. I started writing that message immediately after SiuiS posted his. It took me most of Trout Mask Replica to write that message. It took me so long that I had to relog-in when I was finished.

I'm not sure what Trout Mask Replica is, but it sounds like you had quite the rigamarole...

10 out of 10 hobbits agree: Fighting the song is a good thing. As is existing.

I always liked Tokien's conception of the differences in the gifts of Elves and Men.

...I assume that's what you're referring to, anyway.