Dunes

So! I'm a student teacher at a middle school, and I am working on a lesson talking about artistic style and how it affects the mood of a piece. To start that, I'm gonna talk about cartoons.

I want to compare a clip of

(because it's artsy and Russian and I love it) with a clip from MLP (because it's awesome). Hedgehog in the Fog is kinda eerie, moody, and with subdued colors; yet still intended for kids. My Little Pony is colorful, chipper, and funny, and also intended for kids. I think it would be a good compare/contrast.

MY QUESTION TO YOU, BRONIES: Which pony clip should I pick? I've got that link up there set to the timestamp I'd start the clip at for the Hedgehog one, but I'm at a loss of which Pony clip I could use. There are so many!

(I'm not 100% sure which section this should go in -- apologies if it's in the wrong place.)

Found an activity book set at a... Love's Truck Stop? I was going to a cousin's wedding with my family, and my mom walks out to the car with this "My Little Pony Activity Set". The box was covered in G3 ponies, and my brothers and I rolled our eyes at her (we regularly talk about how awful and inane G3 is and I guess she's picked up some of that vicariously). She thought it was hilarious. We decided it'd be kinda funny to make fun of how bad it all was, anyway.

Then we opened it up and there were three G4 coloring/activity books inside! Some had stickers!

Otherwise, I've occasionally spotted the random, non-show pony figures at Big Lots, and others at Wal Mart, Target, and Toys R Us. I think there's a lot of bronies in this area because I keep spotting the EMPTY blind bag boxes around here.

Crystal flattened her ears against her head as the little filly raced around calling for water. She felt guilty about the pepper. Before, she’d just thought the little one was obnoxious, but after hearing all that life story, she was starting to feel rather sorry for the girl. Plus, not everyone had impervious tastebuds like she did, after all. Habaneros really only felt like eating a hot summer day to her, rather than feeling like someone had set a tongue-fire in her mouth.

Crystal reached into a bag, grabbing some of the tiny, pasteurized half-and-half packets she put in her coffee. (And she’d been accused of packing too much, hah!) Pulling off the lids, she offered several to Arrow. “This’ll work a bit better than water. Water’ll just spread the spice around; this will actually get it off your tongue.”

Looking up at Telki, she thought through her inventory. “I’ve got, uh, matches? But I didn’t actually pack anything to burn. I was told the cabin had a little stock of firewood already there. Apparently they meant the cabin itself.” She made a face, stewing for a moment. Stupid house. Stupid fire. She had just been incredibly lucky that help happened by when it did.

Snapping out of it, she rustled through her bag again. “I do have a little bit of food, too. Dried fruit, mostly. If anyone wants some.” She avoided looking at Arrow. “It’s not spicy, I promise.”

“I’d planned on dropping off my stuff at my new home and going back to Appleloosa for supplies, but, well… Heck of a day.” She sighed. “How are we gonna get outta here safely when the storm's gone? I apparently have no idea how deserts work, so...”

Sapphire furrowed her brow. “Teased? For those dulcet tones? Honey, sometimes I don't know what goes through foals' heads.” She was all too familiar with the casual cruelty of foals – and the harsh judgment of full-grown ponies too, for that matter. A penchant for loud singing, combined with a passion for strange outfits, had long made her a frequent target for ridicule and the rumor mill. It hadn't really stopped when she got famous; it just stopped happening to her face.

Not that she really let it bother her. Attention was attention, whether it be adulation or ruffled pony-feathers, and she was happy to be the center of it.

“Best revenge is livin' well, so they say. And being good at doin' what you love, so I say. And I know you've got that second part down." She grinned. "Speakin' of...” She looked around for Pony Joe and Frederic, but they seemed to be otherwise occupied at that moment. They could always join in later.

“Looks like it's you and me for right now, Mr. Timbre. Let's show these ponies somethin' special!”

Sapphire hopped up on stage and cleared her throat. Jazz and scat-singing weren't exactly her forte, but she'd start simple and see where it went. Her hoof tapped in a slow six-eight, one and a, two and a. She started humming, emphasizing the down beats.

She nodded expectantly at Timbre.

[Hey! I plan to post tomorrow -- started my middle school round of student teaching and things have been nuts with testing and art club after school. I guess we can assume Frederic and Daft's characters are keeping to themselves until they come back?]

It might have been Pokemon? It was something my brothers watched and I refused to admit I had any interest in, though it had some memorably weird scenes. "WOOPA WOOPA WOOPA LA LA WOOPA WOOPA WOOOPA LA LA."

The absolute first time I sat down, watched an anime, and thought, "Ooo neat!" was Princess Mononoke, my freshman year of high school. I'd had foot surgery and was on some heavy postsurgical painkillers. I was flipping the channels, and came across the little kodama/head bobble guys, and it blew my valium-slowed mind. Eventually went back and watched the full movie, no painkillers involved, and it was still fantastic.

First series I followed and enjoyed was Cowboy Bebop.

Sapphire blushed as Timbre kissed her hoof. It had been ages since anyone had greeted her so… politely! These days, introductions tended to be flustered, yelled enthusiastically at her, or utterly indifferent. And ohh, that accent… For a moment, she felt herself get weak at the knees.

Pulling herself together, she returned Timbre’s smile. “It is a delight meeting you, Mister Timbre Swing! I always love meeting fans, ‘specially when they’re as talented as yourself! I haven’t heard good scat stylin’ since I was practically a filly.” In truth, she hadn’t had much time to hear a great deal of other music since her career took off. Much of her time was taken up by writing music, rehearsing, recording, rehearsing, performing, and rehearsing again. Rinse, repeat. It ate up most of her free time, which unfortunately included her Go-See-Other-Musicians-Perform time.

Tonight had been an unexpected treat, meeting not just a talented pianist, but now a gifted jazz singer, too. She’d been up for at least eighteen hours, but the excitement of talking with other musicians had her positively buzzing. (The cider may or may not have had something to do with some of that buzz.)

“All that practicing sure hasn’t gone to waste, that’s for sure! A lot of ponies seem to forget how much work this business takes.” A strand of her professionally-coiffed mane fell in her face. She blew at it to get it out of her eye. Her appearance was probably starting to reflect the length of her day, she supposed.

“Where you hail from? That accent is lovely! I have been all over Equestria, but mostly dealt with venues and managers and crowds. Not sure I’ve come across such a sing-song tone before!” She had, she was sure of it, but she mostly saw trains, hotels, and concert halls; she couldn't place the accent with a geographic location. She did remember the acoustics at that concert hall being fantastic, though.

Sapphire stretched, willing some energy back into her limbs. “I think it’s either time for another round, or some coffee. Either way, I’m pretty sure I’m gonna end up singin’. Hate to think of myself meeting two sensational musicians and a new student dancer and not ending the night with a big production.” She laughed, excitement sparking in her eyes. “What do you fellas think of some more impromptu collaboratin’?”

((Getting back on track!))

Akila scrambled back to her feet, confused. What had happened to her? Why had her hooves suddenly lost contact with the ground? She had initially harbored doubts about her aunt’s warning, but now Akila wondered if there wasn’t something to this theory of the evil “po-nies”. What power did this creature have?

She heard Jelani barking as he circled around this creature. Together, they had hunted any threat that the tribe had faced, and defeated them all. Jelani did not know fear. He also didn’t know about mysterious zebra-levitating po-nies. She didn’t know what they were dealing with, and didn’t want to risk her best friend’s life. One of the most important lessons for a warrior to learn was when not to fight. Too often had she stared into the funeral pyres of those who had not learned it.

“Jelani! Simama!” Jelani! Stop!

She heard the grass quiver as Jelani froze where he was. Dogs who didn’t respond to commands did not live to hunt on the plains for long.

Akila glared at this newcomer through the grass, examining him. He didn’t look unlike a zebra, except for the horn and lack of stripes. He had a snake on his back… a pet? A familiar? Whatever the case, it was not a good omen. Snakes were known to consort with evil spirits. (She wasn’t altogether sure she believed in evil spirits, but now wasn’t the time to chance it.)

She backed up, cautiously, never turning her back to the stranger. “Uniache! Usiniguse!” Leave me alone! Don’t touch me! Not knowing if the stranger had understood, she tried one of the po-ny phrases she had learned. “Go away! Not predator!”

((Sorry y'all. Dunno if you caught my post in the OOC section, but I've spent the past couple of weeks making sure I don't fail out of a class. Crisis averted, I think, but I let my RP obligations slip all the while. Sincere apologies.))

Sapphire was having a sensational time. It had been a while since she did any free-form, just-for-fun dancing. Most of her dancing was choreographed, rehearsed for hours, rehearsed some more, and finally performed. By the time she had free time, which wasn't often, she only sometimes had the energy. This was nice.

"You're pickin' this up pretty well, cher." She nodded at her dance partner. "If it weren't for that cutie mark, I'd say you missed your callin' as a dancer."

Sapphire's ears perked at the addition of vocals to the song. Scat jazz? It had been ages since she'd heard good scat. She couldn't help but pump a hoof in the air. "Hell yeah!" A new enthusiasm sped up her dancing -- dancing on every other beat suddenly seemed too slow. A hoof touched the ground every beat, her hips, shoulders, and tail all wiggled on the upbeat.

With the song's end, Sapphire bowed at Pony Joe. "That was sen-sational, sweets!" She stood back on all fours, catching her breath. "I think that might be all the dancin' I have in me tonight, though. Hard to do all that after a show, I tell ya."

But almost instantaneously, she perked up again and looked over at the mystery vocalist. "I have got to go see who that pony is!"

Trotting over, grin as wide as she could get it, she directed her attention at the other two musician ponies. "Now that was a swingin' set, Fred." She looked at the singer. "And who might you be, cher? You got a fabulous voice!" She offered a hoof.

Crystal bit her lip at the sight of the filly's welling tears. She was never certain how to deal with foals crying. The last time she'd had to deal with it, she was a foal herself, and the solution comprised of hitting her siblings until they stopped and ran to mom.

Not really applicable experience here.

Milky spoke. Can't be too careful in the desert. That was true enough. Images of the burning cabin flashed in Crystal's memory. She winced at the fresh pain and anticipation of forthcoming embarrassment. She didn't want to see the look on her mother's face when she came crawling back, asking for more money...

She looked back at the filly, on the verge of tears. This little one didn't even know where her parents were. By comparison, Crystal's problems didn't seem so bad.

Crystal cleared her throat. "Well, you stole some of my crop, so you're pretty good at pirating." She was doing her best to sound upbeat, but she wasn't sure if she had the energy for it. "And crew-killing, apparently. What else do you really need?" She shrugged.

"I'd offer to join your new crew, but I'm not too big on walking the plank for insubordination." She grinned at Milky. "Milky here might be well-suited to be your parrot, though." She thought for a moment. "And Telki... Telki could either hold rival crews in place while you give 'em the shakedown, or be a good figurehead for the prow of the, uh... sand-boat?"

I would like to apologize to all involved with RP with me for my inactivity over the past couple of weeks. Poor time management left me dangerously close to failing a course and postponing graduation another semester, and all of my spare time and brainspace has been dedicated to fixing that before I worry about anything else. I regret leaving people hanging like that, but I absolutely had to take care of school first.

This week still might be a bit dicey, but I will at least post some this Saturday, and after that next week I won't be in such a frenzy.

((I totally missed your previous post there, Lordbrony! I wondered why you were waiting on me for a while there XD Sorry!))

"Everypony calls me Telki, and I'm from Manehattan too!. My brothers run the bookstore near the Manehattan Institute of Merchantry and Commerce."

“Ahh I thought the accent sounded familiar!” Crystal smiled, feeling a little relief at a reminder of home. “Nice to meet you, Telki.” She paused. "Well, as nice as it is meeting anyone in the desert, after thinking they're attacking you."

She furrowed her brow in thought. “Bookstore, eh? I know where the Institute is, well enough…” She bit her lip and tapped a hoof, trying to picture it. “I… miiight have been there. Usually mom just made us tag along inside the Institute. A bookstore would’ve been more fun.”

At the mention of spicy foods, Crystal grinned. "Yeah, they're not quite for everyone. Not sure even I'd risk it out in such a dry place right now, and I'm pretty sure my blood is as much capsaicin as it is... whatever the red part is."

"Your friend there seems a weeee bit toooooo.....angry. I hope she won't pounce on me again"

Crystal looked over at Milky, shrugging. “She means well. I think.” She bit her lip again. “Probably. I’ve only known her for a day, but she did save my life, so that puts a couple of marks in the ‘good’ column in my book.”

"No, I ain't sand-wrecked! You are! And I'm about to steal everything you have cuz I'm a pirate. So... THOSE PEPPERS! YEAH! Give me those peppers you got there, I'm taking them."

Crystal, feigning distress, pulled out a small package of dried peppers she'd brought with her. "Not... not my peppers!" Hooves shaking, she 'accidentally' fumbled the package and dropped it near the little filly. "Just... just don't eat them, I worked so hard on them!" She put on her best fake pout. The darkness may or may not have concealed her terrible acting.

She had no idea what the filly's heat tolerance was, but she had at least not gone with the mouth-melting ghost peppers. The chipotle variety would be plenty spicy to get the point across, in all probability.

((Wish I'd seen your post last sunday! This week has been crazy-busy. Sculpture with fourth grade, so much prep tiiiime. D: ))

Madame couldn't help but smile. Something about Clover's enthusiasm always managed to find its way into the cracks of her grim outlook. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she supposed that if he managed to survive an upbringing among the GoLuckies and still turn out to be an upstanding citizen, he had to be a genuinely good pony. She was certain he had no tricks or lies hiding up his sleeve.

Madame had been a charlatan so long that authenticity felt foreign to her now, and she rarely trusted it in any case, but Clover was an exception. If anypony managed to chip her icy exterior, it was him, and she found that she didn’t mind so much.

“It’s good to see you too, Clover,” she said, feeling her voice crack. Her throat was so dry. “Tea would be perfect right now.”

Madame looked suspiciously at Ace for a moment, but then shrugged. Ace was also a cheerful sort, albeit the sort to be cheerful while he pranced away with all of your bits. Perhaps a social call wasn’t entirely out of character, though Madame’s default attitude was suspicion. “As good a reason as any, I suppose. It’s nice to see you too, Ace.”

Sticking her head out of the door for a moment, Madame called out to the animals in her cart. “Hecate! Fang! Have at ‘em!” At that, a scraggly black cat bolted out of the cart, heading for any rodents in the garden. The bat fluttered sleepily out of the cart and under an eave in Clover’s hut. Come night time, he’d take the opportunity to snack on a few bothersome insects. He left the bees well enough alone, though – he didn’t care for insects that fought back.

“There. Set my little beasts on any pests unfortunate enough to be in your garden right now.” She sat down and pulled her shoulders back, working kinks out of her spine. She wasn’t an old mare by any means, yet on days like these, she felt like one. She wasn’t really cut out for pulling a heavy cart all day. “If it wouldn’t be imposing, I’d love to say the night, Clover. Would certainly beat sleeping in the cart again.”

“Heh, it does remind me of when we were all little. I think we’re a bit big for hide and seek now, though.” She raised an eyebrow. “I’d suggest cards, but I’m only used to tarot cards and I’d venture to say you’d find a way to cheat at those too, Ace.” She smirked at him. It did feel like the good ol' days again...

Oh hey! I totally didn't see this until today for some reason. Yeah, Madame deLucky is ostensibly a fortune teller, but she's a faker. I don't know if she'd work for what you had in mind, but if she does and you still need such a pony, I'd be up for it.

((Sure! Feel more than free to hop in. I'm catching up on my replies today, this one's on my list. I'm student teaching so the opportunities I get to catch up on RPs are mostly on the weekends. I'm still here though, promise!))

Florence and the Machine is amazing! Never knew I would enjoy that kind of music, and I found them from a PMV, which is sad.

My first thought was, "OMG WHICH PMV?!"

My second thought was still, "Omg which pmv?!"

In my mind what would have made this episode better is if it was revealed Dash didn't like reading was because she had difficulty, (not truly illiterate, but significantly behind) as she always coasted her way through that portion of her schooling (as it was an egghead pursuit). Twilight than could have volunteered to visit the hospital as often as possible to first read to her and then help Dash read, with Dash becoming quickly engrossed in the story (while learning to better read); their friendship becoming that much closer. I guess I was looking more for a friendship episode than a "reading is awesome" episode, or something that could successfully marry the two ideas.

That would've been really awesome, especially considering the fact that the target audience undoubtedly has a significant number of kiddos who don't know how to read very well yet.

God, that barking pony. I am so tempted to write an app for that. Raised by timber wolves, maybe?

I enjoyed all the Dash faces. For some reason, getting her face stuck in that cup and suddenly looking more horse-like really entertained me.

I liked it! It made me like RD a lot more, too.

Right now? I'd probably hang with Cheerilee and discuss classroom management. Either that or hang out with Fluttershy and her aminals.

Since it's Luna's mark, you could've just said, "Uh, it represents the moon. Duh?"

That sounds like a good idea. Why not have that pony join the VSS (Stallian Guard) and maybe be part of a squad that does search and rescue? ^_^

Oooh, good idea!

Ja, soglasna. I keep toying around with the idea of making a character specifically intended for Stalliongrad, as I do so love things Russian inspired. Maybe a musher/search-and-rescue pony. That would be fab!

Okedoke! Reworked and re-marked final. I think she'll work a lot better by herself now, and this should give me some opportunity to have her interact with ponies, whether said ponies are all that thrilled about having a stinky dog vying for their attention or not.

Crystal opened another eye, testing the air. No burning. She opened the other one. No burning there either. The air still smelled like salsa, but the stinging was gone. Good.

She looked over at the little unicorn in the bandanna and smiled, almost involuntarily. The little filly was so... so... adorable. In some part of her equestrian hindbrain, ancient maternal instincts flared. It felt a little like her brain was itching. "Where are your --" she was about to say 'parents', but thought better of it, remembering playing with her own younger siblings. Best to play along. "... Desert pirate crew? Are you, er, sand-wrecked all alone in here?"

"Are you alright? I hope I didn't hold you too tightly"

Crystal turned her attention to the orange unicorn. She smiled a tired little smile, starting to feel the fatigue of the day. "Yeah, I'm fine. Your magic whatsit just kinda tingled. Believe me, it's not even the half-worst thing that's happened to me, even just today." She sighed, trying to blow a strand of her mane out of her face as she did. "Still don't know what I'm gonna do about my house burning down. I don't want to go back to Manehattan." She wasn't trying to look mopey, but she was so tired, it was difficult not to.

She looked over at the little filly, and spoke to the cave in general. "So, uh, since it seems like we're not gonna all kill each other... My name's Crystal." She fought a yawn, and failed. "Crystal Towers. I've got a little bit of food, and a lot of peppers, so if you like spicy stuff you're in luck tonight."

FiM was a veritable boon last semester. I was working two jobs, going to school, and stressed and depressed as all heck. On top of that, my roommates were fighting (still kind of are), and my aunt and uncle moved into my parents' house and were causing a fair amount of tension because they said they were going to pay rent, but have yet to. So I really had very little sanctuary -- not at school, not at work, not at home, not at my parents' home. I could watch TV to escape, but nothing really made me feel all that much better. (As much as I love Doctor Who and Bones, they're not exactly... soothing.)

But then I found ponies, and all of a sudden I had something to watch that instantly put a smile on my face. It gave me something to think about and look forward to. It's given me community (yay bronies! ), a rekindled urge to write and draw, and just all around warm-fuzzies.

It has also made me re-examine the way I treat my friends. If I don't think about it, I tend to fall into a pattern of not being the first one to call, or text, or invite people to things. It's very easy for me to get lazy about my friendships and just be utterly passive about them, and I didn't even realize until this show got me thinking about what friendship should be. Since then, I've been trying to be better about calling to catch up, to randomly do nice things for my friends, and just generally try to hold up my end of the deal, y'know? I think it's had a very real, positive impact on my personal relationships.