Halide

All over Equestria, everywhere and anywhere she could think of it, Matchie had put out application forms for her matchmaking service. Anypony could find them, really! She had them stuffed in mailboxes, she made them available at post offices and the like. They were fairly short, and fairly quick to fill out! All anypony had to do was write a few answers here, a few sentences there, pay a bit for postage, and voila! They'd be on the list! The application is short, on slightly cheap parchment, and seems to be magically copied, if one can tell. Written upon it is the following : Hi there! Thank you for choosing One Plus Another, Equestria's choicest blind-date and matchmaking service! Just a few minutes of your time, and you'll be on your way to finding that special match chosen just for you! Please answer the following truthfully, and to as much detail as you think is necessary! Name : Gender : Gender preference (Optional) : Location : Age : Species : Species preference (Optional) : Cutie-Mark (Optional) : How would you describe yourself, physically? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ How would you describe your personality? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ What things in life are important to you? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ What's your idea of the ideal first date? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ What are you looking for? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Anything else you think we should know? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ You're done! Just mail this to Matchie at One Plus Another, 413 Saltyhoof lane, Fillydelphia, EQ, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can! Have a wonderful day! ((OOC : Just fill out the above and post it, and I'll send you a PM letting you know how it goes, and either help you set up a thread, or maybe just set up a thread for you! Please, -please- keep it G-rated! ))

I'll put up a 'mail-in applications' thread when I'm done figuring out an appropriate application. >_>

"“Are you feeling alright?” The pony in front of him surrendered his place in line.“Go ahead. You look like you need something to drink more than I.” "Hunh? Oh hey, thanks, pal! Heh, it's been a day, lemme tell ya." Normally, he'd politely decline, but he was just that tired and thirsty, and Berry's concoctions were just that good. He overheard Rainbow Dash's voice somewhere in the crowd, but it seemed whenever she went out, there were ponies who wanted to meet her! They'd catch up later, maybe. But, hey, attention back to the nice guy who gave him a further place in line. "So, hey, don't think I've seen you around Ponyville before. The name's Spike, work in the library, work with Twilight Sparkle. Nice t'meetchya!" And, with that, he stopped slouching and rubbing his back long enough to offer a claw in greeting. Tired, yes, but still friendly!

"Well, if you can't think of anything, why not just browse. There's tons of stuff at the market. Why, you never know, the PERFECT gift could be sitting out there, just waiting for somepony... or some dragon to come buy it! I mean, researching is fine and all, but everypony is different." Which was why he was off to the market in the first place - maybe the right gift would just, well, be there, and not be bought by somepony else. "Spike! You should get her a book! you could find her a book all about fashion or maybe just a book about sewing! That would be sweet AND practical" A book? Well, yeah, everyone liked books, but somehow, that didn't quite sem like the perfect gift. It was definitely a good idea, but it just didn't say to him 'Yes, this will work!'. He should've expected that one to come up, really. If it wasn't for the fact that Twilight was the most powerful unicorn he'd ever met, she'd probably have a book for a cutiemark! Still, the market seemed like the best option, and as Fluttershy made her way off, Spike started the trek, tugging up his backpack and headding for the market at a fairly reasonable pace. "Well, that'd be a great casual gift for just about anypony, Twilght, but I dunno... I was thinking something with a little more, uh..." Oh, what was that fancy word, rigt on the tip of his tongue. "Grander? No, wait, grandeur! That's it. But, hey, we can always look around!" Grandeur, for Rarity, on a budget of fifteen bits or less. "Oh, wait..." Spike bit his lip briefly, realizing that his idea of a good idea was also possibly an impossible one. A rattle of his bag reminded them that he also had gems with him - he'd have to go hungry if he wanted to barter with those, but for Rarity, it was probably worth it! And then, a flurry of ideas hit him, right in the brain. His face lit up briefly, even as he made his way to the market. "Maybe a book might work, if it's just the right one... Like a spellbook! Or, or maybe something fancy to wear from Canterlot... I guess a new sewing machine wouldn't hurt, but she's probably got a really good one already, and that doesn't sound too romantic... Or maybe something decorative, something only a dragon could get her... whatever that could be." Yeah, he needed help on this one, lest he think himself crazy with ideas and why they might not work.

Ok let's not turn this into a random youtube video page. Tales - ha, I laughed. Very very appropriate. Lux, um... not so much pal, sorry. Furthermore, Lux, I don't think it's all that appropriate to sign up pre-adults for a dating service, so I'm going to have to refuse guiding light right up front.

...WHOADANG! Grats, bramble! I guess by 'tomorrow' I meant 'the next ten minutes'. Still, seriously, this is a deserved win and I hope you aren't too flooded by requests for Dash's appearance! Have fun with her!

...Technically I did! I just didn't get the timing right. >_>

...I think I wildly underestimated the speed at which this crazy thing would become populated, the actual matchmaker pony only got written up a few hours ago. Now I feel bad for making everyone wait until she's accepted before I can get this started!

...I leave for a few hours and holy smokes. Welp, ok, I'll go set up the IC side of all this as quick as I can!

I asked a few mods, and thus far I've not received anything beyond a 'for the love of celestia keep it g-rated' which I am entirely capable of doing, so I -think- I should be good. EDIT : Dio thinks it's a good idea, robikku's fine with it, so until I get word otherwise I'mma assume it's fine.

So for some reason the words 'shipping by popular opinion' popped into my head out of nowhere. Half an hour later, I have a scheme that may or may not fall flat on its face entirely. We'll see, we'll see. ANYHOW, here's the idea! Basically, it'd be a matchmaking service of sorts, as run by a small handful of ponies whose duties are mostly keeping track of applicants, helping to arrange blind dates between compatable ponies, and figuring out who is right for who! These characters would be kept to a small handful, and will probably be invite-only to avoid a beareaucratic mess. Applicants, however, can be anybody! It's open to any mane-RP character to apply, once I get the thread up and running. How that'll work can be in one of a few ways : either a quick RP wherein the applying character visits the actual offices, which will probably just be an open thread (unless there are too many people, in which case several threads), a letter written by the character to the matchmaking service, just as a sort of drop-in thing, or people can just PM the players directly and ask to have their characters in the roster of matchables! From there, matches would be decided upon in-character, possibly through a log you guys can read if such things interest you, and from there either one of the matchmakers could start a blind date thread, or simply infom the players/characters of a match found and leave players to come up with their own thread. IF YOU WANT TO HAVE A MAIL-IN APPLICATION, SIMPLY GO TO THIS THREAD, FILL OUT THE APPLICATION GIVEN ON THE FIRST POST AND POST IT IN THE THREAD. http://www.canterlot...ns-thread-open/ Oh yeah, this is basically going to go on until I get bored of it and close it entirely, which could take a really long time cuz this is fun. So, go ahead and apply!

...I remember saying 'storytime', not 'short non-sequiter quip' time. Ok, ok, fine, trying this again. Son, Little lady, you just pull up a chair and you listen, cuz it's time I told you all about how kids are turned into adults, just like me. Now, you all know that a baby eventually grows up into a big kid like anything else - through pooping and eating and eating all your spinach. It's good for you. But turning a kid into an adult? Now that's something different and special. It was the summer of '57, and I'd just turned thirteen. April 13, it was, and that was the time that my old man said 'son, it's time you stopped being a kid and started being a man. We got too many kids in this world, and not enough men. And by gum, I'm gonna make you a man, you ain't gonna get yourself turned into coal like your big brothers and sisters'. Course all the kids who don't get turned into adults become coal! Where else would they go, hunh? Now shaddup and stop interrupting the story. So he took me outside, right to the ol' chopping block, where he turned trees into kindling using nothing but the hair on his chest and his hate for trees. See, a tree killed my gramma, and so he made it his life to turn trees into nothin' but a fine ash, and what better way than to turn 'em into kindling and burn 'em? Anyhow, he took up that great old logsplitter, picked it up, ran his finger along the edge like the finest bit of silk, and handed to me. He said 'son... You gotta go get your growin'-up done now. You gotta get it, and if you don't wanna end up a little ol' humdinger of a man, you better make sure it is high-quality growin'-up. You can't get that from a squirrel or a rat or even a tree. You gotta go get it from somethin' big an' strong.' So he sent me off into the woods. THE woods, mind you, not just any old woods. Axe in my hands, and a determination to do my pop proud. Turns out he'd already sucked all the growin'-up out of the woods, though, cuz try as I did, there wasn't anything bigger than a beaver out ther to be found. Now, you bet I tried makin' something bigger - just like you can make a snowman outta snow, I tried makin' a forest-man outta forest critters. Beavers for the body, squirrels for the chest, an' a pumpkin for the head. They didn't like that. Pumpkin darn near bit my arm clean off! And that's when... IT came. It was two houses tall if it were a foot, feet slamming down on the ground like the biggest drums o' doom you ever heard, eyes as mean as old taters, teeth as long as the dog. No, not that little trumped-up rat yer mom keeps in your purse, the big one we keep out back. It just looked down at me, and said 'gonna step on yew'. All it had to say as it lifted a foot up. Giant tree-man, it was, and I'd be darned if my old man was gonna lose his mom and his son to a big ol' block of wood. So I picked up pop's axe, and I just chopped that sucker down. Took me three and a half days, but by the time I was done, I was six foot tall, half as hairy as an ape, and living in my own log cabin. Whazzat? Puberty? That's a big ol' lie, kid! You grow up by fighting giant monsters in the woods, just like those vidjyergames taught ya!

This application's gone from 'good' to 'excellent' with each iteration of improvements you've made. I definitely like how you've given her some amount of conflict with her youth without having it necessarily being 'external' to the character, and how you've put her alacrity as both a benefit and a malus to her life. Honestly, this is a very solid application, and I cannot think of any way to improve upon it. You have both my congratulations on a piece of writing well-done and my sincere hopes that you manage to get the part!

Quick, simple answer is because when you hit enter on IRC, your comment is there for everyone to see. There's no checking it over, there's no editing it, and there's no redacting it in any way. That aside, you get twenty to forty users in the chat, some of which would not find reason to interact on the forums, so you get clashing there as well. Also you guys can open up your own channels too. It's easier than opening up a thread, honestly.

Personally, I'd be fine with just her cutiemark as a small bumper sticker - something small, subtle, yet recognizable to other fans, y'know? Failing that, maybe a stencil of The Mare In The Moon.

...My little animal husbandry?

This is... definitely crossover. In fact this is pretty much the very definition of crossover, since it involves melding the ideas of two different series.

...jeez, all you kids and your fancy toys. Mine looks something like : Behold, the LG VX8360. It has a camera in it and I can text. I also have dig-dug on it which barely works due to lag. It still works, I still use it.

Also, optimus prime was a robot. You can peel him apart, put him through a shredder, cut him into robo-salami, it's all still just car parts, oil, and sparks, and thus no matter what you do, it's never going to actually fall into that high of a category rating, since he's technically just a machine and therefore of sub-animal status as far as ratings are concerned. Ponies... nnnnnnnno, no they aren't. There's the theory that Pinkie Pie may actually be some form of sentient gelatin, simply because she ignores basic kinematics and biology by doing things like hanging off ceilings, swallowing 1:1 sized cake shells of herself, and growing an extra pair of hooves when necessary, but other than that, ponies are made of meat and fluids that may disturb younger viewers if shown.

I am not, but you are forgetting that the target audience of MLP is not, in fact, the same as that of Transformers. And, again, movies are not the same as a children's show - a movie is often watched with some sort of parental guidance or involvement, be it taking the child to the theatre, or purchasing the movie for them. Shows are usually milder, because movies are not only longer, but usually more controlled, and thus the child both has more time to deal with the emotional impact, the writers have more chance to resolve the stress of the situation, and the parent is more likely to be available to explain the more mature themes of mortality to the child. Furthermore, modern shows have higher expectations on being 'politically correct' - re: totally inoffensive and possibly really bland - than those of the 80s and early 90s. If you go further back, you'll find examples of discrimination and violence in 50s-70s cartoons that wouldn't get past any censorship board of the modern 00s or 10s era. Simply because it was done 20-30 years ago does not mean that modern censorship will consider it acceptable.

"I'm sure Twilight can give you one day off so you can find something for, um, 'You-know-who'. *Giggle* I could even help you with your shopp..." Well, there was at least Fluttershy's vote that Spike be given some time to plan it! Angel had other ideas, of course, but Angel had his ways of pushing Fluttershy along with her agenda. The yellow pegasus was unquestionably the kindest pony he'd met, but her desire to help others did get in the way of her own responsibilities – or, they might, if not for the rabbit's reminder. Still, her advice would be invaluable, since Rarity and Fluttershy were such good friends! "Oh Spike! you could have asked! I have this book all about hearts and hooves day. "FOREVER!" “Oh, whew, tha-aaaa-whoa-whoa-waugh!” Pinkie hadn't been in the backpack to start with – he was sure of that! He couldn't pick up an entire pony! But, with her emergence from the bag he'd assumed to be empty, the sack seemed to get -very- heavy, and Spike struggled to stay upright, leaning rather heavily forward to counter Pinkie's weight. Once she hopped out, though, that left Spike leaning forward with no counterbalance. “Augh!” *Whamph!* It was a good thing dragon-scale was notoriously good at not taking damage, as dropping a baby dragon on his face might have otherwise been something to worry about. As things were, though, it was really no big deal, and Spike was up on his feet again soon enough, paying attention about halfway through Pinkie Pie's rapid-fire staccato of an idea. Chocolate... That would've been great for pinkie, perhaps, but Spike wanted to get something that would last, something beautiful. It would be a good idea for something normal, but no, this had to be special. "That place has some amazing stuff, if you want to check them out. I'd go in with you, but after that last time they banned me from the store. I mean, how was I supposed to know how expensive that stuff was?” And there was the deal-breaker – expensive. Spike wasn't a wealthy dragon, he'd have to figure something out. Still, it was another vote in Spike's favour! "Um, maybe not, Pinkie. I mean, Chocolate's a pretty good gift, but I was thinking something a little more... permanent." The baby dragon turned his attention back to Twilight, taking the floating book gently out of the air. Books. That was Twilight's usual approach, and hey, it usually worked! It usually worked a -lot-, now that he thought about it. So, now he had options – read the book as a field guide, and look totally obvious; ask Twilight along, which... well, that would be kind of embarrassing in a way, but he didn't trust anyone more than he trusted Twilight! Fluttershy had things to do, but her input would definitely be invaluable – if he could work up the courage to tell -another- pony his secret! And, finally, Pinkie Pie, who both knew who the pony in question was, and was fully enthusiastic... and though Spike was quick to recall how loud Pinkie Pie could be, he somehow thought she would be quiet when it came to secrets. While he was thinking, of course he couldn't help but think of asking maybe Sweetie Bell or Apple Jack... though, Rarity and Applejack were kind of opposites when it came to taste, friends or not, and there was absolutely no way he'd ask Rarity herself! Tick... Tick... Tick... BWONG! It was ten already, so spake the bells! The market was open already! It had been for hours! “Um... Actually, Twilight, I could probably use your help on this one.” A sheepish admittance, but still, ideas were starting to form... Gems? No, she had a lot of gems, and he couldn't rely on finding another winner as gorgeous as that firestone ruby he'd curated for so long. Besides, he didn't want to look like a one-trick dragon! He had to come up with something better. “Heck, I could probably use all the help I can get! Um, how about we meet up at the market when you're done, Fluttershy?"

....There is something wrong with you. Anyhow, I don't see any reason for the show to actually venture into the avenue of mortality and the ending thereof. It serves no real purpose in a show for little girls. Almost no childrens no with this sort of target audience has -ever- dealt with the permanent, focused-upon death of a character. Heck, the only show I can think of that happening was sesame street, back in the early 80s when Mr. Hooper's actor, Will Lee, died, and even that caused a bit of an uproar from parents. I don't see any reason for colourful pastel ponies to have to tackle this issue in any way; furthermore, the idea of one of the mane cast dying seems completely ridiculous - Hasbro wouldn't have any way of marketing it, the writers would have to come up with and introduce somepony new to fill that character's place, one of the voice actresses (or actors, on the offchance that the deceased is one of the few male characters) would have to come up with a new voice... and for what? MLP has never really been about education, less so now that the letters to Celestia aren't part of the show. There's no logical reason for them to do this, at all.