Snowshoe

While the scale suggests otherwise, I suspect it's meant to be an "airport novel" (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AirportNovel), a novel written to be cheap, relatively short, and full of enough action, immediately off the start, to keep the reader interested. Stuff like Clive Cussler's Dirk Pitt books come to mind.

Well, I was incredibly excited for this episode and was not disappointed. It wasn't the greatest episode in the series but it reminds me of a few people I know personally, and its one of my favourite tropes when it comes to fiction: the athlete or whatever having a passtime they outwardly consider beneath them.

Eh...I would definitely not see drug use as something that this show can touch on. Alcohol, while not very likely, I could see happening. Drugs no...especially because Rainbow Dash IS already extremely skilled. If it was going to happen, set-up wise, I could see Rainbow Dash getting into a race of some kind, then a callback to Sonic Rainboom where its clear she cracks under pressure, learns about a mysterious, unnamed drink that calms the nerves, which she then ends up needing for almost every event she participates in (maybe some kind of triathlon or something). However, I just think the whole concept of drug/alcohol abuse is a tad too grimdark for the world of ponies. And while subjects like death can be touched effectively (like the Sesame Street episode that did it), something like this is definitely something that adults would have to address on their own time with their child, IMO.

I don't see it happening due to the age of the target audience being low enough to not have any exposure to alcohol and the dangers of it. Should it happen, however, I have faith that the writers could do it properly.

Roleplay Type: Mane RP Name: Timbre Swing (Timbre pronounced tain-bruh, a French word for tone) Sex: Male Age: Stallion Species: Unicorn Eye Color: Blue Coat Color: Muted green Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: shaggy, unkempt mane and tail, both muted blue. Physique: a bit taller than the average pony, and a bit on the thin side for a stallion as well. Cutie Mark: Power of Music Origin/Residence: Canterlot, but now he has no steady residence. Occupation: Double bass player, swing musician, and scat singer. Motivation: To enjoy life to the fullest, and bring back swing music where he can. Character Summary: Timbre Swing was born in Canterlot to a Fancy family (but not THE Fancy family, as his father would jokingly remind people). Growing up was a mixed experience for him: half of the time people would either be fascinated by his accent, others would make fun of him for barely being able to speak Equestrian (which improved over time, though the thick accent remained). Still, Timbre made the best of it, and he has no regrets at all. Around the time he was about to pass into his colt stage, he learned he had quite an incredible talent, the one that earned him his cutie mark. It had come out in a talent show, but originally he'd learned to do it on his own without knowing how remarkable it was. His mother would often play music as she worked in her workshop, fixing up instruments people brought on. As Timbre Swing often watched, he got to know the music. Eventually, the music would get him to hum, but the humming soon became more than humming. One day, he began attempting to imitate the trumpet with his voice, which at first was a bit rough and just caused him mother to chuckle and tell him to stop. But Timbre didn't...he kept practicing, and he had become so adept at scat-singing (though he had no idea that was its name) that he impressed his parents quite a bit when he was cleaning up the living room and scatting, improvising a tune of his own. Timbre decided to enter a talent show, putting his voice up against real musicians and singers. Though Timbre Swing didn't come out on top (but darn close), his energetic performance, which consisted of him dancing and improvising a song to a very basic tune played over record, resulted in his cutie mark. He didn't notice, so caught up in thinking ahead in his mind and reproducing the noises he needed with his lips, but everyone else did: at the climax of his performance, his cutie mark appeared mid performance, causing the crowd to cheer quite wildly for him. From that day on, he'd been refining his scatting ability, trying to become the best at it if he could. Timbre didn't stop right there with music though. While working one day, his almost second-calling happened. He worked for an old antique store in his little section of Canterlot. While cleaning out the back room, he found a very old phonograph, with a dusty, but still intact record on the turntable. He retrieved the phonograph, cleaned it up, and set the record turning. He had never heard the kind of music that had come out of the record before...his mother usually played slow jazz and classical music, but the that came from the record was something he'd never heard anywhere before. It was jazzy, but faster paced, loud...it was swing jazz. Of course, he'd known part of his name, Swing, came from a kind of music but his parents had never told him what it was specifically. And nopony he'd talked to had ever heard of it. He brought the record home from the antique shop and immediately set to work trying to learn more about it.Timbre Swing eventually did. He learned that it was an old style of music not often listened to anymore, as most people listened to the pop, rock, and other kind of music. Timbre made it his unofficial mission to bring it back. But he knew he couldn't just use his scat-singing to do what he needed to do...he needed something else. So, Timbre saved up a while lot of money at work and eventually bought himself a beautiful used double bass...and subsequently taught himself how to play it. Now, Timbre could play a bass line and fill in the rest with his voice. He had his instruments, and he was ready for fame...and he wasn't even a stallion yet. The moment he DID become a stallion, he said goodbye to his parents, stuck a black fedora on top of his head, stuck his double bass in its wheeled case, and made his way out into the world to make a name for himself, and swing music. His energy filled performances and excitable personality have earned him a small number of loyal fans, and how he's getting out of Canterlot to try and expand his fanbase.

Dapper Dan clapped with the crowd after the band played. They were skilled, that was without a doubt. He wished he had any kind of skill with an instrument. He could sing, sure, but Dan's singing really came into its own when he was mixed in with another three singers to create a quartet harmony, and as far as he could tell nobody like that was here in Appleoosa. He set his hooves down and tried to hold in a laugh as the white mare practically ran off stage to come meet him. He smiled and dipped his head, using his magic to sweep his newsboy cap from his head. "Hey there." he said pleasantly, sticking his hat back on his head. He smiled, noticing her cutie mark as her dress flared up. A boxing glove? Strange for a talented fiddle player, but he wasn't going to judge at all. Everypony's talent was their own, after all. And besides, he had no idea what it represented exactly...obviously fighting, but fighting meant many things. "You're...Haymaker, right? You have some talent on the fiddle." he said with a warm smile. "I'm Dapper Dan." he added, holding out a hoof. He caught, over her shoulder, her two siblings looking over at them and speaking amongst themselves, but he didn't comment or try to make it too obvious, instead letting his green eyes wander back toward the mare's. "Pleasure to meet you."

Yes, this definitely has me raising an eyebrow. I have met a few mentally disabled people, and one of my friends during elementary school was a child with Downs Syndrome. Never ONCE did it cross my mind that Derpy was meant to be an underhanded jab at that at all. I can also guarantee St. Germain did not intend for the character to be like that. The voice for Derpy only comes out as "slow" in her first line while she's bouncing on her cloud. For every other time she spoke, Derpy's voice reminded me of a good friend of mine, who isn't bright but is not mentally disabled at all (in fact this friend is basically the male version of Derpy. A bit clumsy, a little on the slow side, and walleyed, but a great guy nonetheless). Hopefully Hasbro realizes they're making a problem out of nothing, and recants on this.

All ya gotta do for that is just edit your original post, so that Type of RP is either Crossover (where RPs and RP characters are based in other works of fiction) or FFA (Free For All, which as the name suggests is free to do as you please, within reason, with characters and plots).

My excitement for this episode has just shot through the roof. It also pleases me to know Indiana Jones references continue for yet another generation.

Interesting idea, however I just want to add my two bits on one thing. Being that she's for the main RP, you need to change any reference to Trixie unless TripleB (Brianblackberry) gave you permission for this. Without permission no previous relationships with cast ponies are allowed, sorry. Edit: If you have permission for this then disregard my post and carry on ^^.

I was definitely Prance as well. As for the character, I was listening to a whole lot of French electroswing, and I kinda wanna make a French double-bass swing musician straight out of the 1920s, lol.

I have a quick question. Based on the show itself, we know French is a language recognized in Equestria. Apple Bloom spoke it, and Applejack recognized it (as bein' fancy!), the Flim Flam brothers use the term "nonpareil", Fluttershy mentions "French haute-couture" in one episode (the one where Rarity is making their dresses), and when speaking with Sapphire Shores in an episode, Rarity uses an entire sentence in French. We have an expy in the RP for Russia (Stalliongrad), Germany (Germaney), and Italy (Itaily), but do we have one for France? I only ask because I have a character idea (Several, in fact) that I would want to come from a French-speaking background, so if we have a France that'd be great, or something equivalent. And no, it's not an essential background to the characters, but something I would like.

I dunno, I could totally see Zecora helping out if the CMC gave her a good enough story to do it.

And you know, that's what makes me like Flim and Flam. I really, really love villains like this, the conniving ones who try and get their way by manipulation and words, not brute force and terror (like NMM). It's a similar reason as to why I like Iago from Othello, to me they fit squarely in TVtropes' Magnificent [Expletive for illigetimate child here, which I doubt is boardsafe] category.

Is it okay to come out of the spoiler tags now or uh I think we were clear from spoiler tags long ago. That pic of Cherilee and Mac is ridiculously cute.

On the alcohol thing, for me its just a minor injoke. If others see it differently so be it. It's not really a debate for me, I just find it an amusing idea. This line though..I don't think they will. They know their target audience and Hasbro makes sure of that. While yes there are subtle references that they know we're here (Derpy talking and being named, Derpy appearing constantly, Doctor Whooves, Lyra and the other BG ponies making appearances, pop culture references, etc), I doubt it'll go further than that. [Note: a fundamental reason I watch this show is because it has characterization and writing quality reminiscent of old 90s cartoons I grew up on and miss dearly, so even if the references got more obvious so long as they kept that I'd be fine.]

It's not actually hard cider, but in my opinion there was a slight joke at it being alcoholic. Again, something only we can get through sublte jokes: the frothiness of the cider, the beer stein-esque mugs, the looks on pony's faces as they drink, etc. Sure, it probably wasn't written in the script as hard cider, but I'm sure it must have been an in-joke at some point. Remember MLP:FiM is filled with these kinds of things which only an adult might piece together and get a chuckle at. To me, this comes down to two tropes: http://tvtropes.org/...rapPastTheRadar (this article even has an MLP page) http://tvtropes.org/...othyMugsOfWater

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the implication was totally intentional. Just look at the looks on the ponies' faces as they drink the cider, and the tap they have to pour from into the tankards: the barrels have spigots, but they're pouring from a separate tap almost like a beer tap. Also applejack (the drink) comes from cider, and they mention it taking time to make (implying fermentation). I think they definitely wanted it to be seen as alcohol for the adults.

So I guess this episode confirms magitech as canon. As for thoughts: - The brothers are awesome in a seedy way...pretty much until the end. - Big Mac gets /a/ new line. Oh well. Making progress in small steps I suppose. - Speaking of Big Mac, love his steampunk goggles. - DAT END LETTER - Is anyone else catching a distinct change from season 1, in a good way? Like, less focused on pure friendship lessons and more telling stories?

I want to ponify my laptop subtly...enough that a brony in the know would get it but others would just glance at it in a crowded lecture hall. Haven't found a good one yet.

Ollie watched again with interest, and a bit of jealousy, at Comet's ability. He did things that were just as cool, but ponies thought him to be a nuisance, not a sight. He looked over Comet's shoulder as she read the list. "Oh, wait, hey, I do recognize that one there at the bottom, too. My Mom uses that herb for medicine. There's a shop in town that sells it, we can get after the first one 'cause it's kinda far away." he said. He stepped back and stood on his skateboard, waiting for the little group to start going. "Hey, Miss Zecora, what are you doing with all this stuff anyways? he asked. It seemed like a strange list of stuff for her to be looking for, unless she had a specific goal in mind for all of this stuff.

[sorry school has been crazy. I'll post, and then let Sky catch up after.] Ollie smiled as the zebra proposed that he helped out. He did know the town, but he didn't know how easily he would be able to help her find what it was she was looking for her. He wasn't into flowers and all that after all. "Sure! The market's just up the way. It's not that far. Come on, I'll show you! And you can come with us too, if you want." he added, looking at the filly that had been talking to Zecora earlier. He smiled. "Come on! It'll be fun."

Fluttershy: Nintendogs, full stop. Rarity: some kind of RPG perhaps? Not sure. Dash: Forza 3/other racing games, or Crimson Skies. AJ: Harvest Moon Twilight: Some kind of RPG again, or a puzzle game. Professor Layton or Phoenix Wright maybe. Pinkie: Wario Ware, full stop.