My Little Pony LI: FE

[SiuiS]

How many of you have watched My Little Pony (the Original one)? I know my little pony from the 80s version and felt that it is more darker than Friendship is Magic. Unlike the popular belief that My Little Pony is too girly, the original one has story about their quest to save their homes and their friends.

I did, but they were reruns, and it was not, as a general rule, worth the effort. The movies were apparently omgood, but they couldn't hook me long enough to get to the movie y'know?

Contrast to sailor moon. When I was six, seven I watched the heck out of sailor moon and had magical adventures with them. So it's not the "girly" that turned me away. It was the sell.

This feels appropriate. I hope the duck was suitably awed.

That duck is probably at home right now thinking through some major life changes.

[/quote]
SiuiS undersells it. Although it was only Siuis, Brazen Shield, Gaelbert, and I, we chatted for several hours, had lunch, had an early dinner, and saw Gaelbert's apartment. It was, all in all, a very pleasant afternoon.[/QUOTE]

Undersell? I used a smilie! That's the Internet version of sticking a knife Ito the table for emphasis!

... Or it meant I was all smilie about it. But yes, it was a grand ol' time. It's nice to relax every now and then, and being taken to the top of Gaelbert's lair of fabulosity to bask in the glorious glow of Celestia's handy work work while idly rolling dice and chatting was sublime. And also then we had pizza.

[kpenguin]

Damn. Pizza. I totally missed out.

Note to self: Next time hanging with Starry and Braz, go for pizza.

[Anarion]

Damn. Pizza. I totally missed out.

Note to self: Next time hanging with Starry and Braz, go for pizza.

Oh geez, you live around here too, don't you? Too many ponies in the bay area.

[kpenguin]

Oh geez, you live around here too, don't you? Too many ponies in the bay area.

I actually hung out with Braz and SiuiS on the day before you did...

They offered to take me up to you guys, but, uh. I was busy today. Preparing for return to classes.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Bleh, too much pony to catch up on.

Any more reviews, thought, critiques, whatever on my story? I'm going to wrap it up and publish it tomorrow, so let me know before then

There were a couple of small errors I noted when I read it, but I'm afraid they're on my home pc and I'm at work now. I'll get back to you on that.

On the story itself.

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Zombie Dash story? I must admit I'm intrigued. However, I read this:

As much maiming as the story needs

It's hard to say, because I might decide to add a little extra maiming here and there or take out some if that's what I think works, but all considered I expect it'll have less than Mare in the Mirror, which probably was an 8. So anywhere from 5-7, I guess.
__________________

And as such I don't think I'll read the rest. Sorry.

Good luck with it though.

[RdMarquis]

Oh geez, you live around here too, don't you? Too many ponies in the bay area.

Even more than you thought. I live in San Francisco.

Also, I'm so happy I figured out how to post images. Now I don't have to save them and upload them to photobucket first.

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[SiuiS]

Even more than you thought. I live in San Francisco.

Also, I'm so happy I figured out how to post images. Now I don't have to save them and upload them to photobucket first.

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Nice pinkie pie!

And Dark Elf Bard also lives in the city, but I figured I should be a bunch of success stories up before really harassing people to join in on the fun, y'know?

[Deadly]

On the story itself.

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Zombie Dash story? I must admit I'm intrigued. However, I read this:

And as such I don't think I'll read the rest. Sorry.

Good luck with it though.

Um, why? If the first chapter didn't scare you off at all you should be fine, there won't be much in the rest of the story that's worse than what you find in the first chapter, just more of the same kind. If you can read LotR with ponies, you can also read this story.


I'm really getting the feeling that I somehow give people a wrong impression every time I use words like "dark" or "maiming" The whole "maiming" things is a joke, or at least I consider it a joke, because apparently giving a pony a little scratch counts as "maiming" when I'm doing it. RD's crash in Read it and Weep probably counts as "maiming".

[Beacon of Chaos]

Um, why? If the first chapter didn't scare you off at all you should be fine, there won't be much in the rest of the story that's worse than what you find in the first chapter, just more of the same kind. If you can read LotR with ponies, you can also read this story.

...........oh. Okay then. Never mind.

I'm really getting the feeling that I somehow give people a wrong impression every time I use words like "dark" or "maiming"

Yes. Yes you really do.


I want one of these:

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[Deadly]

Yes. Yes you really do.

I seem to have a way of expressing myself too subtly or in ways that are likely to be misunderstood. Apparently it frequently comes from my effort to be as clear as possible, which is absolutely frustrating. In this case I guess it was because of the missed joke. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I do hope you'll give the story a chance if you're not opposed to dark-ish stories. There won't be anything in this story that you can't find in LotR, as I said, although that of course may include death. If that's not something you want to read then that's fair enough, I just don't want anyone to think there will be blood and guts everywhere or anything like that.

[DigoDragon]

FLUTTERSHY THE SHARK SLAYER

This sounds infinitely cooler when read with the Buffy tv show theme playing.

[COLOR="Indigo"]
I'm not entirely sure what it's is, some kind of Ponydroid?
It's just floating around like that in a tank, don't think he's finished it yet. [/SPOILER]

Can we pay him NOT to finish it?
You know for Science Ponity.

Where is this from?
EDIT: Tracked it down to the source. No mention of the Apples, which means either this was fixed or this is a Photoshop.

But still the fact remains that someone had the free time to spend putting the effort into making this image that benefits no pony, mer, or man.

Every year without fail

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Sisterly love, so cute.

How many of you have watched My Little Pony (the Original one)?

I have and it was indeed a bit darker. Maybe because the villains lasted more than 1-2 episodes and actually managed to do some noticable damage to... the pony land... Though I do say the lack of humans in FiM is a selling point.

Also, I'm so happy I figured out how to post images. Now I don't have to save them and upload them to photobucket first.

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So... she feeds on our laughter? Throws a party and when everyone has a good time the "Pinkilings" burst through the 4th wall and feed upon our joy?

[Tiki Snakes]

Neat. Building a temporary cyber replacement?

I have no idea, we don't get on and he won't talk to me directly. Though it seems that efforts to change what happened have kind of died off, it put's me in mind of a quote, which was also about a robot I seem to remember.
"It's too bad she won't live! But then again, who does?"

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Well, you Highness, I have a simple offer. I would not be upset if you refuse, but otherwise please hear my statement.


Over the past few years I understood something: in order for change to be made, one must gather friends. And so I did. I, over the years I have been in power, carefully caused the cult to be weeded out of...flashy individuals, in order to hide it's presance. And then, I fostered alies throught the globe: I have made friends with the seaponies of Hoofsmouth, caused smaller cults to join forces with mine, and helped individuals who where otherwise seperated from the cult create sustainable areas for them to exist in exchange for service.

And then came the cross-planer relations, in which more than a few powerful beings offered services for prices that could easly be paid. The Children Of The Nightmare have become far more than a group of doomsday cultists nihilisticly awaiting the time where they can sacrafice there lives for there god.

No! It is now the spinner of a web that consists of nearly every major power associated with "evil" on the planet I reside. The only thing missing in this web that can end opposition to this new order is, quite literaly, a threat from above.


You might think this is silly, and I honestly would pleased if you thought that joining this group would be worth your time. While I would accept any price, sanse the ending of my existance, I can offer you a gift that stallions have died fighting for.


A unlimited ife time supply of Ghoul Scout Cookies!

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You realise of course, that in the normal course of events you have just described the CAT's prefered prey? I have personally purged many cults just like this one you describe, in order to sieze their magical artifacts, objects of power, trans-dimensional power sources and Arcane Libraries.

You know what makes it so beautiful as a tactic? If you do it right, people help you. You turn up above a world, declare that you will expunge the foul forces of whatever petty demon is currently masquerading as a dark god and set to work. Give it a couple of weeks and you invariably recieve the assistance of the self proclaimed forces of light. You take the Demons toys, to dispose of them of course of course, and they send you away with their undying thanks and often further gifts.

At least, that's how we would normally operate. Provided you don't try and force the issue, this needn't become difficult. My priorities have changed.

You can keep your Dread Cookies, too. I'll give you some advice for nothing, however, little Undead.

If you and your cult would be as a plague unto Ponykind, then you will cause untold destruction. But eventually the body responds and purges the infection or it dies and in doing so takes the infection with it.

Understand your priorities, Silent Night.

I would like to take this opportunity to assure everypony that I had nothing to do with this abomination unto reality.
This time.

Oh come now, that's a little harsh, isn't it? The abomination is the creator, not the creation. Which is to say that whilst the far-tainted tinkerer is building it, it's just a droid of some kind. There are no weapons systems or anything of the sort. Admittedly, there are a lot of arcane symbols and paraphanalia scattered around, but there are also a lot of packing crates with a strange symbol on them (A round red dot on a white field, very strange) and heaps of exotic mechanical componants.

Ponythread: The Neverending RP (ahhhh-ah ahhhh-ah ahhhh-ahhh)

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You know what, let's review how your cult's other supporters are doing, shall we?
We have the seaponies of Hoofsmouth...

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SKRAAAAAAAH!
Oh call upon the sea monster
When you're in distress!
Atomic as can be monster
Eating those cultists, yes oh yes!

Then we have the other cultists you dragooned into service...

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Now tell me, since we infected you with the retrovirus, have you been experiencing any unexplained mutations?
BLEARGHSKNARRL!
I see. Igor, the retrovirus still needs some tweaking, READY THE NEXT BATCH OF CULTISTS!

And let's not forget all of those outposts you helped build...

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Hmmmm, the detonation still needs to be about 20% bigger. Ah well, onto the next outpost!

Joining a cult that has been specifically targeted by the Equestrian government for destruction just doesn't seem to be a good idea. Just pointing that out.

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I hardly think that being targeted by a rogue scientist placated by a weak monarch into at least keeping his unrestrained destructive urges targeted at things other than his own country's capitol is really the same as being targeted by the Equestrian Government, but the point stands regardless.

Silent Night, if nothing else, your cult is just too much of a security liability right now.

A) Interesting picture, I like some of the details that went into it, such as the hing legs being split into two segments on the upper half.

B) I have been playing way too much tf2 lately, as my first thought was that Grey Mann's robot battalions were now ponies.

I don't play TF2, and have never heard of any such thing, so that one goes a little over my head.
Thanks, though, I did put a lot more effort into it than usual.

Nice pinkie pie!

Crack Theory Time;
Pinkie Pie was never an Earth Pony.
She is infact, a changeling. She was always a changeling. She was never anything other than a changeling and there was never a pinkie pie who wasn't a changeling.
The only pony she is imitating is her own ponified persona. She's basically a changeling with a radical new way of doing things, she's gone in and earned the love of an entire town legitimately on her own, through her genuine love of making people smile. As a result, despite being a lot younger than Chrysalis and probably of a more minor variety (closer to the normal changeling soldiers) she is overflowing with so much love energy that it spills out as pinkie sense and the ability to intercept Rainbow Dash by simply knowing where she'll end up, etc.

She didn't spot the other changelings because she hasn't been around her own kind since she left The Rock Farm.

[Aotrs Commander]

How many of you have watched My Little Pony (the Original one)? I know my little pony from the 80s version and felt that it is more darker than Friendship is Magic. Unlike the popular belief that My Little Pony is too girly, the original one has story about their quest to save their homes and their friends.

I am, for better or worse, fairly intimately familiar with the first two episodes; by sister had then on video and watched them endlessly (the first of which was darker than most of the cartoons I watched myself.) It took me years to get the damn seapony song *shudder* out of my skull, until ponythread "helpfully" introduced it back...

(However, since I realised that "shoobedo" it could be subverted into being the ethereal background music James Bond theme that accompanies Northern Spy Apple everywhere, I have found it bearable.

It's a coping mechanism, don't judge me!)

She also had annuals and some audio stories on tapes that I was happy to listen to/read.

It just randomly occurred to me that I did have a toy pony of sorts (it was a pony, just not an MLP pony) for a while, as a child.



I am assuming AppleBloomtank was so stupendous that you're all speechless...

[Tiki Snakes]

Applebloom Tank was okay. Nothing incredible, but it fits with the others in the series reasonably well. I think it lacks some of the visual flare of the Fluttertank, with the whole sawboss stylings and trim, but the weapons and so on are good.

[Soras Teva Gee]

Ha ha, no. She is blowing on it's stomach, which tickles. It is adorable. It is non-negotiable.

Must be my immunity to Fluttershy at work. I can feel the denial in your words

You've seen it!

You can't UNsee it!

[t209]

I am, for better or worse, fairly intimately familiar with the first two episodes; by sister had then on video and watched them endlessly (the first of which was darker than most of the cartoons I watched myself.) It took me years to get the damn seapony song *shudder* out of my skull, until ponythread "helpfully" introduced it back...

You mean Night Shade (either pony version of michael jackson or Prince) who

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stole shadows (also their life force) for his zebra manager

. Plus other episodes
- Ponies wished for a rainless day and caused a drought in Ponyland (Plus forest fire and inability to extinguished it).
- Pig Queen turning pony land into glass.

[Thanqol]

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Does anybody in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

[Pendulous]

Are you Rainbowlicious?

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Does anybody in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

No, I played the original quite a bit back in the day though.

[Alabenson]

I want one of these:

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Is that a Spike body pillow?

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I hardly think that being targeted by a rogue scientist placated by a weak monarch into at least keeping his unrestrained destructive urges targeted at things other than his own country's capitol is really the same as being targeted by the Equestrian Government, but the point stands regardless.

Silent Night, if nothing else, your cult is just too much of a security liability right now.

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Celestia isn't a weak monarch. She's far too forgiving, perhaps, and she certainly has a blind spot when it comes to the shortcomings of those close to her, but I wouldn't call her weak.
If Celestia were truly weak, Luna and I would be running Equestria, in which case I'd have considerably more resources to deploy against Silent Night's little social club than a single mad scientist and his minions.

[Aotrs Commander]

You mean Night Shade (either pony version of michael jackson or Prince) who

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stole shadows (also their life force) for his zebra manager

. Plus other episodes
- Ponies wished for a rainless day and caused a drought in Ponyland (Plus forest fire and inability to extinguished it).
- Pig Queen turning pony land into glass.

Not familiar with those - the first episodes I have been exposed to were Escape from Midnight Castle and Escape from Katrina.

Does anybody in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

I play (or rather have played) the single player campaign, with my usual disinterest in all things multiplayer.



Painted Jalyrkieons (finally!) as promised.

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16RLM Idoex Reconnaissance Buggy

The 16RLM Idoex Reconnaissance Buggy eptiomises Jalyrkieon battle strategy: fast, flexibile and reliant on speed and manouverability over armour. It’s speed is helped considerably by the Jalyrkieon’s mastery of gravitic and telekinetic technology, and off-shoot of their own abilities. It is equipped with boosters, which, in addition to providing a short upward lift, also locally reduce the effect of gravity on the vehicle, allowing it to “hop” a surprising distance, and even extricate itself from obstacles.

The Idoex is typically fitted with one of two turrets. The first carries an improved sensor array, above a disintegrator cannon. This version is best in it’s scouting role, though despite the disintegrator’s fair power, it lacks a significant punch.

The second varient has no additional sensors, but instead a larger phased-plasma cannon. As with the starfleet, these weapons form the mainstay of the Jalyrkieon ground force. They fire a packet of phased-plasma contained in electromagnetic shell. While not as coherent – and so not as potent – as, say, plasma-pulse weaponry, the Jalyrkieon’s superior containment technology enables them to fire at substantially greater ranges, exceeding many conventional mid-range beam weapons. Further, the weapon systems are relatively small and highly efficient in terms of power. The accuracy of individual blasts is not great, as the contaiment field tends to degrade somewhat eratically. However, with a very good rate of fire, and with klarge batteries, or in the case of vehicles, multiple barrels, the amount of firepower they put out more than makes up for this shortcoming. The biggest disadvantage is, like many blaster weapons, the lack of localised penetrative power, meaning it is impossible to punch a hole through shields with concentrated fire. The discharge is typically a lilac or pink bolt.

With the improved efficiency of the Jalyrkieon’s phased-plasma technology, the weapon packs more punch, has greater range and is vastly better against shielded targets. This later version now sees more common use, despite it’s lesser efficiency as a scout.

Both turrets supplement the Idoex’s firepower at close range with a coaxual missile tube for the TVX-4 Rerif missile. The tube contains only a single missile, but it can be reloaded by bringing the turret to the forward position and rotating the tube fully vertical. The “blister” underneath then will open, allowing a maniplative tractor beam system to reload the launcher. The Idoex has six reloads under armour.

The Idoex also has a graviton crusher for point defense.

33RLG-9 Swebayen Command Vehicle

The 33RLG-9 Swebayen Command Vehicle is one of the older designs in the Jalkyrkion Hierarchy Army, and has been refitted several times. As a designated command vehicle, it is not a main combat unit, and so does not share the usual Jalyrkieon vehicle’s streamlining, being essentially an armoured box. But, even so, it capable of making a fair turn of speed, and has the typical booster system of all Jalyrkeion vehicles.

The Swebayen’s primary job is local command and control, for which it is well equipped with good sensor and communications arrays, and a solid ECM suite. It has an extensible sensor mast, giving it a safe way to aquire it’s own sensor locks for both itself (and it’s primary weapons of twin TOO-1 Tonsha Missile Launchers) and it’s subordinate vehicles.

For secondary weapons, it has two side-mounted, retractible phased-plasma cannons for close defense, and two phased-plasma point defence arrays for anti-missile and anti-infantry defense.

It is, however, not heavily armoured, and so generally sits in a safe location at the perimetre of the engagement location.

31RTU Tevqolath Main Battle Tank

The 31RTU Tevqolath Main Battle Tank is fast and agile for a main battle tank, rivaling even some grav tanks in terms of mobility. The boosters on the underside, as on all Jalyrkieon tracked and wheeled vehicles, combined with Jalyrkion telekinetic technology, allow it to “hop”, moving it over obstacles and even make crude pop-up attacks. This is combined with surprisingly heavy armour than would be expected from such a vehicle.

Part of the reason is that the tank’s primary weapons are both fairly light in terms of both physical weight and energy consumption. The large and intimidating multi-barrel phased-plasma cannons draw significantly less energy, even at full output, than the two smaller energy torpedoe launchers mounted between them. The phased-plasma weapons have relative poor penetration, but the high volume of fire means they are very effective at shield stripping.

The two energy torpedo launchers are designed for ansynchornous fire. This gets around the typical problem of recharge times, since one will be charging while the other is firing. While this removes the potential one-shot “punch” of being able to fire both at once, in a ground-based environment, this is less important than being able to make sustained fire.

Finally, the Tevqolath has a graviton crusher array for anti-missile defense, designed to catch, re-direct and/or crush incoming missiles.

31RTD Shyroen Main Battle Tank

The 31RTD Shyroen Main Battle Tank is a large and powerful vehicle. While not as fast as the Tevqolath it supplements, it is still much quicker than most non-grav MBTs. The Shyroen’s role is primarily anti-heavy armour, a purpose served by the two huge energy torpedo cannons mounted on the turret. These weapons are not “torpedoes” in the conventional sense; they are energy weapons that use a similar technology to the phased-plasma batteries, though in this case the energies are much more unstable, and the containment is via imparted force-field, rather than electromagnetism. Energy torpedoes require a large amount of energy to charge to fire, and the containment fields give them only average range. Within that range, however, the damage they can inflict is impressive. Their rate of fire is, perforce, slow; though they can fire a lesser charge as faster speeds, the power is dispropotionally weaker. Energy torpedoes emit light in the green spectra the more powerful they become, and blue-shifting as they lose power and coherance. The smaller charges thus tend to be more typically a turqoise colour on firing.

As with the Tevqolath, the Shyroen’s two launchers are geared for asyncronous fire, circumventing somewhat the problem of low-rate of fire.

However, energy torpedoes perform poorly against shields, so the Shyroen also mounts two multibarrel phased-plasma cannons. These weapons, mounted on sponsons, also have a much greater elevation, and provided some much-needed shield-stripping ability. A single TVX-4 Rerif missile tube sits atop each gun, providing some short-range punch, though as these are not reloadable outside of an engineering bay, a one-shot one. Finally, the Shyroen has a graviton crusher array for point-defense.

The vehicle also has a side-mounted improved sensor array, giving it an excellent targeting system for making the most of it’s weapons. Typically, they are also equipped with a mine plough, since their hull shape is the most optimal for this purpose, and the lighter underside of Jalyrkeion vehicles due to the boosters present) makes them more vulnerable.

When dealing with ultra-heavy targets, such as a Cybertank Eradicator, Shyroens are often teamed with Tevqolaths, with the latter providing the fastest shield stripping, and the former providing the killing punch.

34RTD-1 Shyroen Engineering Tank

The 34RTD-1 Shyroen variant is an engineering vehicle, specialising in clearance and demolition. Essentially, it is a slightly internally modified Shyroen hull, with slighter lighter armour and a new turret. The most obvious feature is the telescopic saw-blade, which can extend a considerable distance from the vehicle. The whole saw-blade itself rotates on its crane, allowing it to cut vertically or horizontally as required. While concievably a lethal close-range weapon in it’s own right, the saw-blade is in fact most often used for clearing forests or other similar obstacles quickly, so that the Jalyrkieons can maximise their speed and agility advantages.

This task is helped by the two telekinetic enhancers on either side of the saw blade. They function like tractor beam,s but are in actuality a magnifier for the natural telekinetic ability of the Jalyrkieons, an analogue of a robotic arm, but with far greater precision. Though it only allows the Jalyrkieon controller two telekinetic “limbs”, there is a fairly minimal loss of control, allowing them to do a varient of engineering tasks easily and safely, without even leaving the vehicle.

38RTR-3 Okam Armour Personnel Carrier

The 38RTR-3 Okam Armour Personnel Carrier, named after a type of aquatic predator on Plenadi, the Jalyrkieon homeworld is the standard Jalyrkieon APC. It is slightly more than a battle-taxi, but is not a full IFV. It is fast and very agile, and, in concert with it’s boosters, capable of driving even over water for distances of up to two miles. It is moderatley armoured for a vehicle of it’s size, comparible with most heavier IFVs.

Due to the larger volume of the Jalyrkion form, an Okam only carries one squad of four Jalyrkieons, and are typically found operating in groups of three.

It is armed with a shrapnel cannon, which fires a munition that explodes into a cluster of very highly accelerated, superheated fragments in the proximity of enemy targets. The weapon has an extremely good range and density of fire, though it’s penetration is only moderate. Early models also carried a coaxual light support weapon mount, either a plasmatic repeater cannon or a phased-plasma gun. However, as the main gun was generally preferrable in almost all circumstances they would be used, those weapon rarely saw usage.They were later removed in later variants, and replaced with a point defense graviton crusher, to provide some improved missile defence.

Jalyrkieon Trooper Squad

Modern Jalyrkieon soldiers are noted for being very heavily armed for infantry, many carrying the equivalent of two rifles, which they can use simultaneously. The heavy powered armour compensates somehwat for the fact they cannot take cover quite as easily, due to their larger profile. This also means that they operate in smaller squads, usually in groups of four. However, the amount of firepower they can wield, in concert with their armour and own very high racial endurance and damage resistance, means that a squad of four Jalyrkieons is often equal to twice as many hominoids in terms of firepower and effectiveness.

With their greater ability to carry munitions as well, due to their body shape lending itself well to portaging, they can also carry a consummate supply of power cells or ammunition. Consequently, anti-armour weapons are also seen in greater numbers in infantry units.

Most squads break into two fireteams of two, one with a TZD-3 Azorn Missile Launcher and six reloads and three rifles, and the other with two rifles and a heavy support weapon, typically a heavy phased plasma cannon.

A couple more pictures showing the size against Rarity and a D20...

[Siosilvar]

I am assuming AppleBloomtank was so stupendous that you're all speechless...

I'm primarily wondering why the underside is so exposed. It might be a shallower angle, but surely it's a liability if you don't have a physical projectile to deflect; two layers of ablative armor on the top and no chance of hitting the bottom is better than one layer on each.

[Tiki Snakes]

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Celestia isn't a weak monarch. She's far too forgiving, perhaps, and she certainly has a blind spot when it comes to the shortcomings of those close to her, but I wouldn't call her weak.
If Celestia was truly weak, then Luna and I would be running Equestria, in which case I'd have considerably more resources to deploy against Silent Night's little social club than a single mad scientist and his minions.

Ponythread RP: Comparative Royalty (Hold the strip-billiards)

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Hmm, well, I call it like I see it. He reduces the capitol to a smoking crater and instead of her returning the favour upon his person, she re-instates him and gives him a dragon-prince to play with. I'm sure she means well and has a wonderful personality, but I wouldn't allow my subjects to get away with anything of the sort.

Well done to the Lunatic of course, he's clearly getting the better of the situation and I admire his Luck as much as I admire his Chutzpah, but I cannot respect his Princess, Celestia, as a ruler.

Whether or not you consider yourself a more capable, or stronger ruler and whether you actually could sieze the throne is another matter altogether and of little importance to me, personally.

Also, heehee. Teeny tiny space ponies pictures.
I kind of like the weird, bobbly look they have due to the material. It almost makes their armour look biomechanical.

[Aotrs Commander]

I'm primarily wondering why the underside is so exposed. It might be a shallower angle, but surely it's a liability if you don't have a physical projectile to deflect; two layers of ablative armor on the top and no chance of hitting the bottom is better than one layer on each.

Who says it doesn't? Railguns and other kinetic penetrators are still very much in use.

Indeed, it's generally easier to armour against energy weapons than kinetic penetrators (you can use special materials, or ablative or reactive armour against energy or chemical (i.e. missile) attacks, but you still tend to largely need Lots Of Metal between you and a railgun slug). KE weapons are thus better penetrators, but because of the problems of overpenetration, they tend to go through without doing quite as much damage to internals. Thus, they are good for dealing with high-armoured targets, but not against lighter-armoured ones, where, after a certain magnitude, it doesn't matter how much better than the armour the weapon is ('cos through-and-through). Basically, if your weapon is considerably stronger than the armour, it's better to use a chemical/energy weapon than a kinetic one.

Modern example - APFSDS (DU) rounds verses HESH or HEAT rounds.



It's also worth noting that, generally, you attack from hull-down positions anyway, meaning that the hull itself - let alone the underside - is not exposed.

[thubby]

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Does anybodypony in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

fixed.

and yes, for the swarm!

[One Tin Soldier]

Below: thoughts on my writing, which may be long and/or boring.

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I'm now about 7,000 words into the fanfic I talked about a few pages back, and I'm not sure what I think of it.

On one hoof, I am not entirely satisfied with it as is. For a start, I'm worried that it is too slow-paced. I'm 13 pages in and the human protagonist only just finished getting introduced to the mane 6. Which brings me to my main worry: it doesn't feel different enough from the usual cliche. I'm using the mane 6, and for the same reason that people usually use them. Their personalities are already established, so it's easy to guess how they'd react to any given situation. Which, of course, means that I'll write their reactions pretty much the same way anyone else does. Twilight is interested, Pinkie is accepting, and Rainbow Dash is aggressive.
And, of course, it seem like I can't avoid comparing Earth and Equestria. It is probably the most cliche thing in these stories, but I can't ignore it because the characters wouldn't. So I have to go over the same comparisons as everyone else. It doesn't feel new enough.
Compounding this is the nature of the protagonist. I didn't put all that much thought into him before I started, aside from a single character trait. I've expanded off of that trait while writing, but he still feels too generic. That's basically a death knell for a fanfic.
Plus, I'm not very good at dialogue. Whenever I write it, I usually wind up deleting it and rephrasing it a dozen times, and even then the flow drags.

On the other hoof, I do like some things that I've developed while writing. I may need to develop the protagonist more, but I like what I've gotten so far. I've been doing a slow reveal of his personality and character flaws, and I think that I've done a good job of it so far. Though of course I would need an outside reader to confirm this.
I've also come up with some good ideas for the world they're in, even if I haven't gotten around to showing any of them in the story yet. I did settle on making it psychoactive like I said, though the effects will be more subtle and pervasive than the Hedge. As a bonus, the protagonist's particular issues will make some excellent fuel for danger.
I've also had a good idea for future drama. I'm thinking that for an as-yet-undetermined reason, the characters will have their personal flaws become more prominent as they spend time there. Not quite like being Discorded, but close. It will certainly give the ponies something interesting to do, which many fanfics don't.

All in all, I think that it has enough potential for me to keep going, but if I want to post it for general consumption I'll have to go back and edit it heavily. I might speed up the pacing by using an immediate external threat instead of the survival situation that I have right now. I definitely will be using some kind of external threat, since I need a force to have brought them there in the first place.

I'm going to try writing from the ponies' perspective for the next bit, then I'll clean it up a bit and present it for ponythread's judgement. Assuming, of course, that I don't suddenly lose interest because, say, school's starting in less than a week.

TL;DR I doubt my skill as a writer and my fanfic is in need of editing.

Ok, I've written the pony perpective section, and by Luna it came out much smoother than I expected. It also gave itself a kick in the plot, which actually surprised me. I've heard that having your own story surprise you is a good thing.

In fact, I feel good enough about it now that I'm willing to get some outside feedback. So here it is, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I still think it needs major editing, so if anything doesn't make sense or comes out unclear, I want to know so I can change it.

[Lix Lorn]

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Does anybody in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

fixed.

and yes, for the swarm!

FOR AIUR
(Although the third link in my spoiler espouses a different alleigance...)

[DigoDragon]

Does anybody in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

I watched my brother play a large amount of the campaign mode. Does that help?

It's also worth noting that, generally, you attack from hull-down positions anyway, meaning that the hull itself - let alone the underside - is not exposed.

What about landmines? Those have been proven to be annoyingly effective against the underside of vehicles.

[Aotrs Commander]

What about landmines? Those have been proven to be annoyingly effective against the underside of vehicles.

Mines are always a hazard to any armoured vehicle (though grav-vehicles tend to have it relatively easy, since usually they don't need any exposed bits to function (e.g. treads, legs or wheels!).

Jalyrkieon mine-armour is only moderate, but then most of their other armour tends to be fairly light anyway, with them concentrating more on manouver and speed.

Mines are also quite hard to use properly (remember we're not talking Hollywood/video game mines, but real-world mines, wherein we get into stuff like "blocking mine fields" and all those sort of complex tactical things), and they're a bugger to lay properly - and the time it takes to do so it high - and you can only practically have fairly small minefields anyway. (The density for a proper "killing" mine field is really rather high.)

Plus, of course, the Shyroens have mine-ploughs anyway...!

We get around the issue ourselves by use of our Scarab mines, which are essentially stealthed War Droids with an attached shaped charge. They burrow underground and can then decide if the target above them is worth detonating, not too mention they can fly, burrow or crawl to redeploy. They're fairly expensive, though, obviously, so we don't use many - but you can usually garentee a confirmed kill on a suitable target with them.

[Luka]

Well, think of the rock like handcuffs. If you are strong or flexible enough you can pull out of them, but it will shatter your hand. If Rainbow Dash pulled too hard, she could rip the feathers off of her wing and maybe even break it.

Yeah but why only pull? she could have pushed the rock too

Forget kicking did you see the stretch she got out of that stuck feather? Pinkie isn't the only one made out of rubber.

Of course the reason is because the story requires Dashie to get hurt and be unable to extract herself. Visually her predicament makes no sense. Blame it on the needs of time and the artistic choices to allow Dashie to visually express her angst.

Yeah, it mostly seems cuz of time limitations, I could have though of like 3 ways to try to get.

...TBH I still like the falcon better than tank

[Grif]

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Does anybody in Ponythread play Starcraft 2?

Damnit, Dark Shrines are just low.

Pssst. Terran scans.