Dio

Reevaluating at OP request.

Boop.

Technically ready, but I would still like fresh eyes on her, as I feel like she could easily be missing something that I didn't include in the blitz this evening.

As an RP environment, it should certainly be allowed. People should be encouraged to create their own stories and try new things in the FFA section. As its own separate subforum, no. I believe that it would be a very niche RP environment and would not warrant additional clutter in the front-page forum space.

Bringing this back out for rewrite at OP request.

Pulling back out for a rewrite. Stand by.

Stone Bones was no stranger to sweat and grit. Having grown up on farm work and graduated to army training, the big earth pony wasn't doing his job right if he wasn't breaking a sweat in his work. For both the army and the farm, dragging large loads through miles of rough terrain in the hot sun were merely routine. Fortunately, this time around he had the luxury of a cart and a ball cap, making the sun and heat much more bearable than with heavy armor and a heavier rucksack.

His ball cap bore a miniature Equestrian sun flag not unlike that on his utility uniform. Not being subject to army standards, however, this one was sun faded and sweat stained-- and Bones was okay with that. It meant his working wear was actually used for hard work! His cart was in a similar state, its wheels and hinges worn, but well maintained. Aboard were all sorts of foodstuffs and sundry items, a bushel of apples, a keg of cider, and sacks of flour. After being on the road, Bones could use some proper drink and nourishment that didn't involve dipping into the grocery basket.

Pulling up to the storefront, Bones unhitched his cart, being careful to chock the wheels so the cart would not escape him. The mountain of a pony nosed the door open and ambled inside. A smile spread across his face as he took a deep breath, letting the wonderful smells of the bakery fill his nostrils. He’d grab a bite to eat in due time, but right now, he was parched. Seeing the pitcher of lemonade, Bones knew exactly where he was headed. Nodding to the unicorn stallion browsing the shelves, Bones trotted up to the counter.

[colour=#8b4513]“Good mornin’!”[/colour] he said cheerfully to the mare behind the counter as he poured himself an ice cold glass of lemonade. [colour=#8b4513]“Thes is jist what I was looking for. It’s like you read my mind!”[/colour]

[colour=#696969]“... in any case, the alibi supplied by Major Chenko was in error and not technically admissible in the court of law. It was a miracle the defense held as long as it did.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000cd]“Riveting,”[/colour] Fletcher said flatly, giving a mocking slow clap. [colour=#0000cd]“I don’t know how you saw it but last time I checked, La Bayamare wasn’t about a court case.”[/colour]

[colour=#696969]“I am well-versed in the classics, capitaine. I am well aware that La Bayamare has nothing to do with my case. One is welcome to speak of subjects other than the ballet after the conclusion of said ballet.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000cd]“One is also welcome to speak of subjects other than work after the conclusion of said work.”[/colour] Fletcher countered. [colour=#0000cd] “Work is work, Raffi. You need to lighten up. We’re here to watch the show and see the Crystal Empire. We’re on vacation. Your intel analyses will still be there when we get back to Canterlot.”[/colour]

[colour=#696969]“If you were half as clever at your job as you are in heckling me about mine, I would have fewer messes to clean up. I suppose I should thank you, then, for keeping me employed.”[/colour]

[colour=#0000cd]“You’re welcome. Now there’s a glass of crystal berry punch with my name on it. Be a good filly and go socialize. You can meet me back at the bar after you’re done.”[/colour]

With a cock of his army beret and a flick of his tail, the captain vanished into the crowd. Rafale’s muzzle wrinkled ever so slightly as she briefly lingered on Fletcher’s machinations. Her superiors had “highly recommended” that she take some R&R time and pony resources had even seen fit to assign her an “accountability partner” to ensure that she wouldn’t attempt to work during her forced vacation. Of course her partner’s means of holding her accountable were questionable to Rafale at best, leaving the REIN agent in unfamiliar territory with only her wits and her cocktail dress about her.

Rafale’s usual blouse, vest, and tie had been left at the hotel, replaced with what Fletcher had suggested as “appropriate attire” for an evening’s activities. In this case, “appropriate” was a black cocktail dress overlaid with fine mesh accents and held together by a red satin saddle. Her hair was done in the usual bun, but with the kogai replaced with a bun cover studded with cubic zirconia shaped to appear as ice crystals and topped with a single phoenix feather. Being feminine was nothing new to Rafale, but actually showing it was another thing entirely.

Being a mare of habit, Rafale was quick to fall into the comfort of quiet observation. She made her way around the foyer, her eyes slowly scanning as she ambled, her ears swiveling ever so slightly as she caught bits of passing conversation and sampled the mood. Of particular interest was the small herd that seemed to have gathered around one of the crystal ponies; Rafale recognized her as the ballerina who played Nikiya in the production. As she passed, she scanned over the faces she saw. A fanciful stallion accompanied the ballerina, easily recognizable from Canterlot press as Hoity Toity. There was another stallion, just as sharply dressed, probably a businesspony judging by his grade of suit, though his speech and posture suggested the educated air of an academic. Finally there was the other crystal pony, an athletic, well-built mare with a stiff walk and a stride that smacked of military training.

Rafale was about to pass the last of the herd when she felt a tug on her dress and suddenly found herself unable to move. She looked back over her shoulder to find that the passing guardspony had managed to snag her shoe on Rafale’s overlay. The pegasus ruffled her wings impatiently and let out an exasperated sigh. As inconspicuously as possible, she approached Alexandrite.

[colour=#696969]“Excusez-moi,"[/colour] Rafale began, a bit of fancy showing through, [colour=#696969]"If I may borrow you for a moment, miss, your shoe seems to have taken interest in my dress...”[/colour]

Moving to apps section for rewrite at OP request.

I wubs you, too Mamascotch

Wow, that's a nice rig. But normally I still rather wait till Haswell comes out, can just wait till the next series comes out, I regret buying my laptop which uses the 1st Gen i7 processor but then in just 2 months later, 2nd Gen came out. So I'm not going to make the same mistake again, same case for Nvidia's GPU, gotta wait till 7xx comes out so I'll stick to Haswell's Iris chip first of course, then when 7xx in the mid-end scale comes out, I'm buying it, a possible Gigabyte GTX 750 with 2GB RAM should do nicely for me.

Speaking of your BF3 at 60fps, are you using only one GTX 660 Ti GPU or was it another one under SLI?

I went with Ivy Bridge because I had to cut the build off somewhere, so I locked in that particular chip in my purchase plans. Even with new architecture on the horizon, the 3rd gen i7 is still no slouch and since it's the 3770K with liquid cooling, I have the option to overclock if I want to squeeze every last bit of performance out of it.

I'm running a single 660 Ti overclocked. I'm only planning on going up from here with any hardware, be it drives, GPUs, or accessories.

The 60fps was all settings on high with AA post and deferred disabled and HBAO disabled. The only two settings I run on ultra are textures and model detail since that maximizes the draw distance so I can actually hit things while I'm flying a jet or chopper or get those long range headshots as a sniper. I also run the BF3 borderless software to run the game as a windowless fullscreen game since BF3 doesn't support it natively.

I suppose it's possible to set up a drive partition across multiple linked drives, but at that point you're better off building your own server and having it set up as network storage for your home.

I just finished my first build a couple weeks ago:

Specifications

CPU: Intel i7 3770K (Ivy Bridge)

Motherboard: Intel DZ77BH55K ATX

GPU: ASUS nVidia GTX 660 Ti

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB (2x4GB DIMMs)

PSU: Corsair HX650

CPU cooler: Corsair H60 closed loop liquid cooler

Case: Thermaltake Chaser Mk. I

I've got more drive bays than I know what to do with. I'm planning on taking the money I would have spent on the Xbox One and putting it toward a GTX 780 later on. I can run BF3 at 60fps with all settings on high at 1080p resolution and my other games look absolutely beautiful. The only game I have trouble with is Planetside 2, but I think that gives anyone issues just because of the sheer scale of the game.

The rest of the machine should be future proof for the next couple years, though I think I'm already near the point where I need additional storage

I figured spamming Fidget storms was the way to go. I'm about level 10 now, and I have had success using that technique against normal mooks. Am I the only one who thinks there's a huge difficulty jump when the giants first show up and when you fight Fuse? I was doing fine up until I fought my first giants. Then I died no less than a half-dozen times in a row trying to beat the giants. Against Fuse, I got dropped at least 10 times until I figured out I could stunlock him. I can't tell if the design was just frustrating or I'm just bad at this game

I'm not that far along and I dropped both of my first skill gems into attack. But if that makes it much harder later I'll just start over.

Hi there!

I know you're excited to RP, but this is a friendly reminder to RP in the right section. To jump in right away, you can go to the FiM Free-For-All forum and start your thread there. If you want to discuss storylines and character interactions for a particular thread, you can start an out of character thread in the OOC Discussion subforum.

Areas like Brony Chatter are for out of character discussion. It's a place for you the player to be yourself and discuss pony with other pony fans. Thanks for understanding!

Shining Armor honestly didn’t know what to expect. Part of him was waiting on a slap to the face right then and the other was certain Cadence would bottle everything up and give him quite the lecture on the way back to their quarters. Of course, all of him was surprised when Cadence nuzzled up against him and... apologized? Armor was all too happy to nuzzle back in greeting, relieved that he could save some face somehow in this mess. As his wife turned back to the colonel, Armor took a moment to straight his collar and adjust his ball cap, the small actions getting him back in stride in spite of his dramatic faux pas. He supposed he could make up some excuse for the colonel involving the train from Ponyville and wanting to pick up his wife before...

[colour=#ee82ee]“Where were you? I asked you to get back here an hour before the ceremonies started!”[/colour]

Aaaaaaannnd there was the rub. As good as she was at putting on the perfect public face, Cadence could still be a spitfire when emotions flared. Armor should have known this wasn’t going to be easy...

[colour=#FF9900]"I trust you’ll be joining Her Highness so that you also may change into something more... suitable?"[/colour]

This was probably the biggest tactical blunder Armor had made since attempting to make orchid and jalapeno omelettes last time he visited his parents. No Army wargames exercise could possibly have prepared him to take as much fire from as close a range from as lethal of combatants as his wife and his CO. For once, Shining Armor was at a loss for words.

[colour=#8b4513]“Colonel Pummel? Do my eyes deceive me?”[/colour] The address directed at the colonel from behind could not have been better timed.

Before Pummel could turn to respond to him, Ironwing gave Shining Armor a surreptitious wink. Shining Armor nodded furiously in response to both colonels, grateful for an opportunity to be spared another wilting glare.

[colour=#0000cd]“That was my intent, Colonel Pummel,”[/colour] Armor responded as calmly as he could muster. [colour=#0000cd]“Forgive my lack of decorum, but I need to speak with my wife in private to properly rectify this situation!”[/colour]

The captain lightly tugged at his wife’s front leg with a hoof, leading her aside in what he hoped would be a semiprivate conversation. He whispered in her ear, [colour=#0000cd]“Honey, I can explain...”[/colour]

His good deed for the night done, Colonel Ironwing turned to his colleague and former subordinate, extending a hoof to shake while giving the signature Ironwing grin. Though his address was tongue in cheek, it was said without a hint of malice and with utmost respect for Pummel’s station. [colour=#8b4513]“I never thought I’d see you out of the warhorse stable at this hour. To what honor do I owe the presence of my illustrious successor?”[/colour]

Happy Memorial Day to the American ponies!

All right. Sorry it took so long to respond. Ever drawn a griffon? Alistair Goldmane is in need of art! Perhaps with a fishing spear or a staff if a prop is needed.

Can I get a slot now, please? :I

I'll let you know what specifically when I get home!

- sent from my HTC Evo using Tapatalk 2

I was looking forward to more Luna

They hinted at Luna playing a significant part in the Nightmare's existence to begin with in issue #6, but they glossed over it in #7 and the focus shifted to Spike and Nightmarity. I have a feeling that Luna is just going to explain a lot of stuff in issue #8 and not do much.

That being said, I enjoyed this arc. Nightmare is srs business and the comics in general have made my more adventure-oriented fandom dreams come true.

The fliers took off in pursuit of Squall, hoping to reach him before the kraken did. Their actions drew the ire of the massive squid-creature, resulting in a flurry of tentacles and airborne debris. Acclaim splintered off from the formation, trading speed for altitude as she advanced. Just below, she saw Razor and Fire Walker weaving their way through the debris field. And just like that, it all fell apart.

[colour=#ff0000]"My wing!"[/colour] The sickening crunch of wood on flesh would have been enough, but Razor’s cry of pain and desperation all but confirmed Acclaim’s fear.

[colour=#daa520]“Lieutenant! Get Squall out of there!”[/colour] she shouted and pointed to Squall with a hoof. [colour=#daa520]“Stay down, Razor! I’m coming to you!”[/colour]

The sergeant banked hard and nosed down in a hammerhead loop. Adjusting her trajectory with the precision that came from years on the hoofball pitch and grueling training with REA airborne, she slipped between the lashing tentacles and flying debris, flaring her wings moments before impact with the sand. As she touched down, Acclaim whirled around at speed with her wings outstretched. The resulting bubble of swirling air billowed out around Razor, throwing up a temporary screen of sand.

[colour=#daa520]“I got ya, buddy!”[/colour] Acclaim quickly bit down, grabbing Razor by the scruff of the neck and dragging out of the sand screen and back toward the Canter-mart. She found an alcove next to a retaining wall that could serve as hard shelter. It was here that she propped Razor up, making sure to keep his wing free of the ground. Razor had barely been secured before the gurgling of the squid made Acclaim whirl back around. With a noise like that, she’d need to be back in the fray soon enough. There was no telling what--

[colour=#daa520]“... what.”[/colour] the flat utterance was all Acclaim could manage. In the time it had taken her to drag Razor to safety, the squid was pacified-- asleep, even-- and Squall was being carried in Fire Walker’s hooves. Acclaim looked over her shoulder to Razor as she leaped back into the air. “Stay put, stay off that wing, and try not to attract any more attention!”

En route, one of Acclaim’s squadmates intercepted her. “Ground teams are here, ma’am! We’ve got a lane cleared and a ship will be along shortly to tow that thing out to sea.”

[colour=#daa520]“Good. You saw the whole thing. Brief Major Redwood on the situation. I’ll take care of the civvies.”[/colour]

“Yes, sergeant,” he said, peeling off to carry out his orders.

[colour=#daa520]“Lieutenant,”[/colour] she said to Fire Walker as she arrived. It was there that she finally saw Squall’s condition. Her eyes narrowed, but she said nothing else of it. [colour=#daa520]“Ground teams are arriving now to handle the kraken.”[/colour]

As the sergeant spoke, ponies with rope and nets were already in position, slinging lines and preparing the kraken to be hauled out to sea.

[colour=#daa520]“But Razor is injured. We need to get him and Squall to the Canter-mart and render first aid,”[/colour] Acclaim spoke as she offered a hoof to carry Squall.