Escrime

Per the most recent episode, use of swords (at least in the form of fencing weapons... looks like an Epee to me) by ponies is canon: And looks like I need to get Esc back into play...

Back before I dropped doing an engineering degree in favour of physics (and eventually oceanography) I got a high voltage and multi-amp (yes, given application to the wrong area theoretically enought o kill) zap during a prac on three phase circuits. Accidently brushed my hand between two terminals... the shock caused many of the mussels in my arm to contract (painful) and set my arm a bit numb. Thankfully no serious damage though.

For the states... obvious ponyfication for New South Wales is New South Waler after the breed of horse famous for it's use by the Australian Light Horse during WW1. In a similar line, Brisbane to Brumbybane? Perhaps not. Hobart to Hobble-art? Canberra? Some pun on Campdrafting? [insane local rivalry]Not specific to ponyfication, but Launceston (northern Tasmania) to open sewert[/insane local rivalry]

Is said writer well known internationally, or only in your home nation?

I hear she prefers geldings... *Offers the feuding trio a pair of Pruning Shears*

I don't think so... Go back and rewatch it. The vision shows the Mane 6 all as Earth ponies, yet all pegasi and unicorns had their wings and horns returned by the end of the misadventure in the maze.

Devil's advocate: Maybe it wasn't a recorded fact? Or more obviously, Twilight was so wrapped up in the whole evil-deity-returning-to-bring-hell-on-Earth revelation to pick up on the relationship between Celestia and Nightmare.

First, sorry I haven't got back into RPing yet (bit too much in a row: conference, coursework, another conference and another round of coursework). Fraid to say I cannot jump back into it in the near future either... I'll be disapearing for up to two months from the middle of next week on. Cannot disclose details but can say that it is not PhD related for a change.

I'd like to be able to claim to be the source of the whole Tyrant Celestia view... but somehow I doubt my one off the cuff remark on the MLP Arena just after the first episode actually filtered far enough to get it started (no doubt, it instead formed in parralel several times...). But anyway, to answer the question. Mainly because some of us enjoy twisting the world into other forms for the fun of it. Also, we've been given two examples of Celestia being able to behave bit harsher than the goody-four-shoes one would at first assume her to be: 1. Her behaviour with regards to Nightmare Moon hints that Celestia can and does resort to harsher measures. Of cause, this is probably only when utterly required... but that won't stop the fandom playing with the idea. 2. The whole damn Pheonix problem... I mean, Twilight was worried about getting banished, and as the Princess's loyal minion student she's in a position to know if there's any even slight chance of it happening. Then of cause, there's other "hints"... Why would she need all those flashily dressed guards if there hasn't been a serious threat of conflict in Equestria since Luna first went nuts? Unless Celestia does actually need them to keep dissent under her hoof. And of cause, power corrupts... and Celestia has a good approximation to absolute power. All in al, yeah, it's insane and you need to push like mad to make it fit witht eh show... but still, a lot of us find the resulting scenarios kinda entertaining...

Warning: Folowing Post made while thoroughly smashed, having over indulged in teh juice of Bacchhus. Aussie! Oi! Aussie! Oi! Auiis AUissie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

Crappy techothrillers (use to really like Dale Brown's work... but the introduction of power armour lost me... nothing wrong with an overarmed B-52 though). and, of cause, to invert a quote from Homer, the sea-dark wine (potential temperature*, salinity* and SSC undefined), as per this evening. Please excuse any typos... had the conference dinner tonight and I drastically over-indulged. * Note: As of TEOS-10 said terminology is obsolete. I really should use conservative temperature# instead... But having suffered through three Dr T. McDougal lectures in the last two days, I'm not inclined to change my terminology in a hurry # Yes, you re indeed talking to an oceanographer. Indeed, one who shares half his affiliation with the driving force behind TEOS-10 (CSIRO.... 1.5 of my supervisors and my top-up scholarship).... not that I'm in a hurry to comply with said changes.

No real interesting stories here (I notice a correlation between interesting stories and serious drunkenness... and I don't get that thoroughly pissed often). So, a few kind of painful incidents will have to do instead: -Fell of a cliff in Southern Chile back in 1997. Minor damage to one ankle, otherwise unharmed. -Zapped myself with 480V 2A electricity during an electrical engineering prac. Again. rather lucky... that's enough to cause electrocution, but I got away with no significant damage. -Smashed up my right shoulder when I decided to continue cycling downhill despite finding ice on the road...

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH! Okay, access one of the servers at uni to run another round of data analysis. I log on with no trouble but when it comes to firing up the current version of Matlab it all blows up in my face! Oh, Matlab starts BUT IN F***ING COMMAND LINE MODE... which is a major problem when I've got a small heap of data visulazation to do. Look at it... some form of error in authentication between the terminal software at my end and the server. Thing is the settings at my end are exactly the same as on Friday when everything worked. Any other time this would be a bit of a nuisence and a welcome excuse to go home a few hours early. But no, it had to happen just when I wanted to get stuff ready for a meeting with one of my PhD supervisors that's happening tomorrow... a meeting concerning what I'm planning to present at a major international conference in just over two weeks! And on top of that I've got a bloody coursework unit consuming almost every minute between 9 and 5 until Friday... so, even if the lobotomized-brain-dead lemurs in IT support do actually (a) have more than half a neuron between the lot of them; (B) know how to fix this and © get off their arses* in a reasonable timeframe, I'm not going to have time to get it fixed until next week... * Note to yanks: In proper English one differentiates between one's rump (arse) and a Donkey (ass).

Happy Birthday. Do you want us to give you your present (one times live Ursa) now or later?

*Pokes Elocin with a stick* So, I'm not the only horse-rider here (though, perhaps the only male one). Any preference on breed of horses? I'm kinda split between thoroughbreds and Appys.

Having decided the race between the two pegasi was not going to be as interesting as expected Escrime had returned to the main hall. Soon enough the former soldier's attention had turned to the Royal Guards. Escrime rolled his eyes at the red unicorn stallion strutting round. He'd never regarded the Royal Guard with much respect... after all it was full of unicorns and pegasi promoted to the position more due to their wings or horns then any actualy ability. That, and the Guard was always there to steal honours off the army at large but never to face the daily grind of soldiering.

Escrime rolled his eyes when he heard the two Pegasi bickering. It was so damn typical of the winged nuisances... always arguing over who was ever so slightly faster or ever so slightly better at some particular trick. Usually Esc would have just ignored this, but a race at the gala had the posibility of getting interesting. Perhaps one of them would crash into somepony they shouldn't have or else get in the way of the Wonderbolts' display... either the guards may be called to sort things out or perhaps, if Esc was lucky, harsh words would lead to a brawl or duel? Thus, tempted by the possibility of watching a disaster unfold the Earth pony followed the two pegasi out into the gardens.

The blue earth pony stallion walked through the crowd. The Gala was not his scene. Back in his youth, perhaps it would have been... A chance to woo a good-looking filly, and if that had meant crossing blades with one of her other admirers (as had happened at the one Gala he'd previously attended), so much the better. But Escrime had grown older and cynical. Too many years within the Equestrian army, all too often overlooked for promotion in favour of somepony with bluer blood or more horn... even when said horn seemed to fill volume better devoted to brain. His mind turned to s lighter subject: his receipt of the invitation to the Gala. That he received an invitation at all had been somewhat unexpected. The exact mode of the tickets arrival... well, either it was somepony's idea of a joke or he'd just encountered weirdness that made Pinkie Pie (if she was more than an urban legend...) look normal! The invitation had arrived enclosed not merely within the standard envelope bearing Celestia's mark but also within a second envelope bearing a seal which looked strangely like Escrime's own cutiemark. The note within this second envelope was where things got weird... it purported to come from one 'Escrime d'Duello, Marshal of the Army and Regent of the citystate of Equitopolis'. A momentary glance at an atlas had confirmed the 'real' Escrime's suspision that no such place existed. Still, the letter had at least been somewhat entertaining, with plenty of dry wit. One line came easily to mind: "... Though I am doubtful the grey Pegasus who delivered this invitation can be regarded as fully sentient, I would still suggest you impress it upon her that letters are usually not meant to be delivered to alternate universes." And Escrime gave a slight chuckle as he recalled it. His mind returned to the Gala itself. No doubt it would be boring... but still, perhaps he would run into that good looking mare he had run into back at that bookseller's a couple of weeks ago. [[Whoops! I've gone a bit meta there... looks like Derpy accidentally sent the invite to the version of Esc I play in another RP ]]

It's the moon to the left (the smaller one) and an exploding firework to the right (the larger one).

And now there's an extended version out on Equestria Daily:

Twilight's decision to make Spike into a Dragon-skin hoofbag for Rarity was unexpected.

G'day mate... This means there are at least two Aussies (myself included) on here. Not sure if there are any other though. Which state do you hail from?

I suppose, if I wanted to be a party-pooper I could say the real answer is of cause if the tools etc. were redesigned for equine use we'd have difficulty recognizing them and so the show's jokes wouldn't come across as easily. But I'm not, so, Equestria=post-humanity Earth will have to do.

Laptop's got a virus. So I may take a bit longer to get back into RPing.