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Hippo

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  1. Hippo
    The following is a short chat RP between Silverstream and Gallus that serves as a result of the events in Expert Teas and as a prelude to How to Lose a Griffon in Three Days, starring @SteelEagle and @Hippo.
     
     
     
    Gallus allowed himself a few moments of daydreaming as he fluttered about the school, lost in his train of thought. or trains of thought. Elsewhere, somewhere else, for sure. And not at all prepared for somecreature jumping in front of him and screaming. It had been a rather lazy day so far and he was anything but focused, even his wing flaps seemed to carry with them the slothfulness of a lazy griffon. In other words, it was the perfect way to fly towards Professor Applejack's class. Didn't have to think too much there.
     
    After Silverstream shared notes with Yona about Professor Fluttershy's quiz, she finally felt confident. Not confident about the quiz, no no. She was sure she was going to bomb the professor's quizzes, they were typically surprisingly hard. But she felt confident that she could ask Gallus the question that had rung on her mind ever since talking with the Archancellor about how she felt. Silverstream was clearly making a bigger deal about than she needed to, but it was important to her to get it right. She did not want to jeopardize her friendship with Gallus. She jumped in front of Gallus as he was casually flying through the school halls. "Hey! Um, hi Gallus! You're going to Professor Applejack's class!?"
     
    Gallus was pondering just how far an apple could fall from the tree before it ceased being called an apple of that tree when his world was nearly destroyed by his eager classmate, who blew through his daydreaming with all the grace of a Yak celebration. He froze in mid-air and tensed up, unleashing a muted squelch of panic before realizing who it was and landing. He very smoothly, very suavely, not at all awkwardly wiped his head-feathers back. "Oh, hey there, uhh. Silverstream. Caught me by surprise there. Gotta stop...sneaking?...up on me," he said as he started walking, though not too quickly. "Yeah, forgot some notes and a book there. Wanna get it before I am roped, literally and figuratively, into something else when she gets back."
     
    "Oh, a book and some notes. Cool. Cool." Silverstream said blankly, maintaining a close distance to Gallus. "Wow, going to a different room to get something. Do you like to go to different places often?" She said nervously.
     
    "Yeah. Going to different places is...something I do, I guess," he responded inquisitively as she got close. Even for Silverstream that was a weird thing to ask. He would roll with it. "I bet you like going to different places too?" he asked, nearly having to force the words out. Had he ever said anything as awkwardly stupid as that? Probably. But he didn't remember.
     
    Silverstream gigglesnorted at the silly thing Gallus said. "Heh, yeah. Going different places is fun." She kept quiet, not knowing how to transition this into an ask. Why was this so hard? Silverstream had been blunt about things before, but now so much seemed to be at stake.
    ...
     
    The silence was deafening if only because he knew she wanted something. Yeah they hung out all the time but never like this. She wanted to ask him something. And when she did, he did well to keep a straight face.
     
    "So. Whatcha doin' this holiday? Doing the blue moon festival thing again?"

    "I dunno. Maybe. Why?"
     
    Silverstream scratched the back of her head with a talon. "Well, I was wondering if you would be interested in going to the Three Days of Freedom Celebration with me instead." Silverstream began to rethink her execution, she hadn't thought too much about what Gallus might want to do. Why would he want to go to some seapony festival, when he has his own griffon festival? She covered her face. "You know what, never mind. What was I thinking? Of course you'd want to go to the Blue Moon Festival instead of some silly hippogriff holiday. Forget I said anything." Silverstream looked pale with regret.
     
    He died a little when she turned pale. Besides, he'd rather go anywhere else than back home. "That could be fun. When do we leave?" he responded with an unusual amount of pep in his voice as he entered the class. Somecreature had to satisfy the energy requirement whenever Silver was around and if it wasn't here, might as well be him.
     
    From their folded position, Silverstream's feathered ears perked up. "You mean it!? You really want to go?" Silverstream jumped up and giggled. "Um, well, we don't leave for another few weeks, of course. But now I know you want to go, I can go get us train tickets." The two were now in front of Applejack's classroom. Silverstream could see the book Gallus needed to retrieve. "Oh, there's your book. I gotta go to the station quickly to book us a ride, and then I'll be back for lunch. See ya later!" And just like that Silverstream bolted from the conversation. The ability to rebound her emotion came naturally, but in the case of Gallus, any assistance she got from the griffon in terms of attitude helped her mood.
     
     
    Gallus made sure to keep his face hidden from her, but he was more than pleased that he was able to brighten her day. there was nothing worse than a sullen Silverstream, especially if it was on his account. Likewise, nothing was finer than knowing he was responsible for brightening it. He didn't really fully understand why, though he could guess a little. "Alright, sounds like a plan. See you later, Silverstream," he said positively as he retrieved his book, his wide and confident smile brimming with warmth for him and him alone.
     
    "Gallus! What brings you back here? Hey, while you're here, ya mind helping me with somethin'?" Professor Applejack brought with her a bucket of water and some towels to wash the blackboards clean of their chalk residue.
     
    By Boreas, damnit. Well, at least she wasn't asking him to babysit her foal again. "I was getting a book and some notes," he said as he gathered his materials and left him on his desk. He wanted to say he had another class to get to but he knew the schedule well enough to know that was a pretty weak lie. And lying to Professor Buckingtree was harder than...some countryism of hers about things being hard. "Yeah, sure. I can help."
     
     

  2. Hippo
    Crickets were chirping in the bushes as Remington arrived and waited by the edge of the Everfree forest for his fillyfriend to meet him. This was the right time, right? He thought to himself. Remington had lost his overly nervous attitude about spending time with the filly, but his heart still fluttered a little when she was included in whatever he was doing. It had been a week or so since they had started officially dating. In terms of the environment of the classroom, their relationship was not nearly as romantic as two would be in the Ponyville parks on Hearts and Hooves Day, but the assumption was that they would do everything around each other, whether it be in the cafeteria eating lunch, sitting in the back row of Loyalty class, or just reclining in the same tree every afternoon during recess. Remington sat down along the path that entered the forest. She would show up eventually.
     
    Moonlight's gait had gained some extra bounce and juice since she had cemented her relationship with Remington. Ponies far and wide would know she had a coltfriend because she made sure to tell them a coltfriend even when they didn't ask if she had a coltfriend but she was more than happy to share it. And how could she not? She had the best one ever. How good was he? So good that when his fillyfriend went out of her way to make him go out of his way to take her to a special place in the woods, he didn't complain. At least to her. So no wonder her gait and bounce was still evident as she made her way to the edge of the Everfree, catching eye of the colt with the beautiful eyes. "Heeeeey there Rem-Rem!"
     
    Remington stared at a few stars in the sky. He thought he knew what they were but he couldn't recognize the constellation. But then he was distracted by the voice of his heart. He looked her way, smiled, and chuckled. "Hey, Glitzy. You ready to go in?"
     
    She finished her trot next to him and pecked him once on both sides of the cheek. "You betcha! Like, I am so totally ready to this bitchin' treehouse everycreature is raving about!"
     
    "Are you sure we're allowed? It's not like they take fieldtrips out there every week."
     
    "I mean, we are not not allowed, right?" She said with a giggle. "Come on, show me your big brave stallion muscles."
     

    Source
     
    Remington was always cautious. His narcolepsy trained him to avoid unnecessary risks. However, his new relationship with Moonlight pulled him out of his shell, for better or for worse. Today, he hoped it was for the better. He smiled at her prying and followed her into the forest. He knew that she knew he wasn't all that strong. But the way she made it sound encouraged him all the same. "How far do we have to go in? You know, I've never told you this, but I've never actually been into this forest. I've heard so many stories about bad things coming from it. But lately, it's like everything that's good is hidden inside it. It's like they're trying to cover it up like some big Ponyville conspiracy," he said in jest, half-joking on his premise.
     
    Applejack had told her all about the Everfree since she had first come to Ponyville all those moons ago. She knew better than Remington what it was all about, but she'd have to feign ignorance in large part. At least for now. "Well, I mean, like, this was some small farming town. Those towns can be so totally superstitious, right? Me, I'm, like, only a little stitious."
     
    Remington chuckled. She was so funny. Maybe hilarious. Maybe the funniest mare in the history of ponies. Or maybe he was in love, and any silly thing she said deserved his honest laughter. Nah, she was hilarious. "Yeah, something like this would never happen in Manehatten. Manehatten would have bulldozed it into a wagon parking garage." Remington frowned pensively. "Maybe the regarding the forest as a living thing is a good thing in that regard."
     
    She nodded. "I guess it has its charms. Mostly, right?" She said as she jumped over some tree branches. "See that though? I was totally almost killed there. Stand closer to me. I'm cold and in danger."
     
    Remington began walking closer next to Moonlight at her request. He knew she was joking, but he would be serious about getting closer. But what seemed like a silly love game turned into a real problem. The moonlight casting on Moonlight was not as bright as it was near the front of the forest. The trees above that clamored windy howls were also casting dark shadows on the two ponies. He looked up and took notice of the environment they were heading into, but his hoofsteps had slowed. As his sides brushed against Moonlight's, he wondered if she was as secretly scared as he was. "Have you ever been into the Everfree before?"
     
    As he got close she allowed herself some time to play with him, her tail wrapping around his as she trotted time in time. As it got dark she would light up her horn and that would give them some more light but...well, dark was dark, spooky was spooky. She was spooked. She had encountered enough wild creatures and even giant pony eating worms before so it wasn't as terrifying, but she wouldn't dissuade him from feeling some fright. "Oh, I mean, like not for long. Not deep," she said as she looked around. She took a deep breath. "Despite the name though, like, I'm not really totally into moonlight this pale. It's a little, ya know, blah."
     
    With the help of her hornlight, Remington felt encouraged to help in his own special way. "Let me fly up and see if I can see how far the path goes." He jumped up to take flight and was immediately met with a large tree branch that bounced him back to the ground. He shook himself back to his senses and tried to save face. "Looks good from here."
     
    Moonlight giggled as she pulled him up with her magic. "Smooth flying up there, Wonderbolt!"
     
    He gasped as he tried to shake his momentary pain. Ahead, he saw a large rock. He walked quickly up to it. "I think I know what this is." Remington carefully cleaned off the extra leaves and branches off it. "It's a, it's it's...   it's just a rock." He looked at the large rock with disappointment. His imagination had led him to believe it could be a piece of rubble from the palace of the two sisters, a landmark he read about in books in the library.
     
    She trotted up next to him. "Well, ya know. Not every gem a diamond and all that jazz. Your head feeling screwed on right honey?"
     
    "Uh, yeah." He said as she walked by him. "I feel fine." He paced next to her. "Especially with you." Did he really just say that? Luckily for Remington's brain, the part of him that feels regretful of the things he says and does was not fully operational after his little bump.
     
    She blushed and pushed her snout onto his. "Aww, you're such a softie. No wonder you're my coltfriend. Like, could you imagine if it was anycreature else? Gag me with a spoon!" She said before she kissed him on the lips. "Or you," she said with a wink.
     
    Remington's ears darted up as he was kissed. She was soft, and it melted him every time she met him this way. He looked back at her wink with a stare of approval. Mare, she was good. There wasn't anything he could do about it. He was partially convinced she was casting more than just simple light magic. With a few more strides down the path, he asked her. "Wait what do you mean anycreature else?" Remington showed small signs of jealousy as it seemed like she implied the possibility of her ditching the red pegasus for a non-pony student, even though that was not what she said. He wondered who it could be.
     
    She trotted alongside him happily, allowing her rather lewd flirt to lie there dead for a moment. And then he asked what she had meant. She laughed. "Oh, I mean oh my Celestia could you imagine me with, like, anycreature else? So grody! Yuck. We're just soooo perfectly made for one another," she said as she cast a glance. "Why, you have any leads on some hunks I should check out?"
     
    "No!" Remington responded seriously. "Heh, I mean. No, of course not." He decided to return the favor of evil flirtation. "Unless you know of any babes I should introduce myself to."
     
    "Oh, I've seen the way you've looked at Smolder. Pretty hot, right?"
     
    Okay, now he knew she was joking. "Haha, yeah, maybe her breath is. Haha ha." With the laughing, Remington lost sight of the path ahead of him and rolled a loose stone off the edge of a cliff. His front hoof sliding caused him to stop. He instinctively held Moonlight back in case she was at risk of falling. His hoof was placed suspiciously.

    "Good catch...getting frisky, seriously?" She asked with a giggle. "But seriously. Seriously."
     

     
    Ignoring her criticism of his exaggerated precautions, he looked around for a way across the trench, which seemed abrupt, even for a haunted forest. He spotted a rope bridge. "Where do we go now?"
     
    "Well, I dunno. Let's go over the bridge! That's new. And tre exciting, right?"
     
    Remington took flight and examined the bridge. It was literally hanging by a thread. He flew back to Moonlight. "You know, maybe I could just fly you over there." She can't be that heavy right? Oh, horseshoes, this was awkward. What if he couldn't carry her? What if he was not strong enough. What if she was too heavy. Either way, it would not look good for him if he failed.
     
    She gulped. She was a lightweight, but he wasn't...you know what? It'd be fine. This was Equestria. "A personal escort over? I'll take it!"
     
    Remington knelt underneath Moonlight and picked her up onto his back. He then started flapping his wings. He flapped harder and harder until his pegasus magic finally granted him a liftoff. The standard hover was harder to maintain, and his wings shook a little more instability in his agility, but he was technically flying. He took a few deep breaths, trying not to show his panting, as it would probably upset Moonlight. He winced a little as he started hovering over the edge. Ever so slowly, he flew to the other side with his motivation lying on his back. As he got closer to the other side, he started to lose momentum and altitude.
     
    She clambered on as much as he took her on and she tried to settle evenly on him. She could feel his muscles stretch and pull and his wings flap and strain and he tried to hide it but she knew this was rough for him. He wasn't the strongest flyer. Heck, he wasn't the strongest stallion. But his efforts were enough- both for her emotionally, and also herself physically as they made their way across. She made sure to hop off as soon as possible. "My hero! Now we just gotta do that again on the way back."
     
    Once she hopped off his back onto the other side, Remington was more free to raise himself up from fluttering down to the bottom of the trench. Without his beautiful fillyfriend weighing him down, he could finally catch his breath and return to acting like it was nothing. "Heh heh, yeah. One the way back."
     
    Immediately up a hill, both of them could see the Castle of the Two Sisters, or at least what was left of it. "Stars of Luna, look! Is that it?" Remington stepped a few steps closer to get a better view of the ruins covered in forest fog. "It's. It's...   It's actually kind of small. I thought it would be bigger. It looks bigger in the library books."
     
    The Castle was certainly less impressive in pony than in the books, but that was for a few reasons. They were both city ponies and modern cities made most of the old-fashioned marvels look tame by comparison. Then there was age. Only a portion of the Castle remained. "Well, I mean. It is, like, really old and stuff. I'm sure it was cooler back then, right?"
     
    "Let's go see how cool it is now." Remington began to forget who he was with and what he was doing. He become overly curious about the ruins. Something about the reality of them existing gave him a different sense of being even though he believe the books that it was real. "So this magical tree thingy. You said it's made of crystals? All I see are gray stones."
     
    She looked around. No cool treehouse yet. "Well, we both know it exists, right? Professor Jackie and the others, like, they wouldn't be fibbin'. And Smolder and Gallus and Yona and Silverstream...nah sweetie, we just gotta keep looking! Speaking of looking, like, come and see this radical old banner. Maybe you should take it for your bedroom, Luna-boy," she said as she looked up at an old Lunar banner, imagining him finding room for it in his collection,
     
    Remington walked up to the Princess Luna tabard. She was right, it was awesome. It was also very old, and he didn't feel right about just taking it. Wasn't there some law against it? "I can't just take it. What if Princess Luna finds out I took it. What if she banishes me to the dungeon?"
     
    "Oh, I'm sure you've dreamed of it already so it can't be too bad...but you're right. We'll probably get yelled at by our professors. Oooh, look at how cute this painting is. Oh, and that window curtain is to die for! Oh, like, look at that- is that a secret door?"
     
    Remington could tell Moonlight was beside herself. The interior designer part of her brain was firing on all cylinders. "What secret door?"
     
    "Oh, that one," she said as she pointed at a wall. Well, it looked like a wall, but it was cracked open like a door.
     
    Remington walked up to it and walked into it. It seemed to go no where, like an indent in a brick wall. He looked back at Moonlight. "It doesn't lead anywherahhhhahhhah!" The ground around the two opened up and sent them both falling into a trap. With a hard thud, Remington hit the ground.
     
    "AHHHHHHHH!" She screamed, then smacked against the ground. She pulled herself up lazily, rubbing her head and horn. "That was the worst! Auuughhhh...." she moaned before looking after at him. "You still in one piece, Rem?"
     
    "Yeah, I'm fine. Let me get a vine or something to help you climb out." When started flying to the top, a gate closed the top of the trap, keeping him from being able to escape. He fell back down to the bottom, softer this time. "What!?"
     
    Her breathing quickened a little, but she kept a smile on. This was an adventure, right? "Okay. Well, let's investigate!" She said as her horn lit up so they could see better.
     
    With the help of Moonlight's horn, the both of them could better make out their surroundings. They fell into what looked like an ancient well that was modified into some sort of trap. On one of the walls was a large fissure. Remington moved to it and tried to see if he could see anything through the gaps.
     
    He wasn't alone. Inconsiderate of his need for personal space, Moonlight pressed her face closer as well. She got closer and closer until something ran by! "AHHH!" She said as she reared back. A moment passed as she tried to process it. Then she saw it was a rat. "AHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed louder this time, her horn shooting a weak beam towards the fissure as she hopped away.
     
    The excitedness of Moonlight pulled Remington's attention away from the crack for a moment as he too saw the rat skitter by. Despite the grossness of such a critter, he knew a rat could easily get to this point from the fissure, which meant the fissure must have lead somewhere. The magical beam Moonlight shot hit the fissure and it started falling away. Remington examined the damage, and tried kicking more wall off to make enough room for a pony to walk through.
     
    She saw what he was doing after she allowed herself a moment or three to gather herself. Uggh, it was so gross. Old places were gross. Why was she here? Why weren't they dancing in a ballroom of some majestic crystal treehouse already? How grody. "Plant my life, seriously," she muttered to herself as she trotted up to the fissure and joined her friend in pushing and prodding the solid rock until there was enough space for them.
     
    Remington smirked towards his fillyfriend as the two tried to create a path. "Hey, this was all your idea, Babe."
     
    She shot a look back. "Well, my idea was, like, crystal dance floors and a totally bitchin' secret hideout. Not all this grodiness-" she started before the fissure finally gave away and she fell forward into the dark.
     
    Remington followed her tumble forward to make sure she was ok. She was. Once they created a big enough gap, they were able to walk through a tunnel that had no discernable end. "We could use your light. I hope you got your magic charged up, we might need it a while down here."
     

     
    Her horn lit up as she moved forward. Luckily, all that model work and good dieting meant she worked well in tight spaces, even if the smell of dust and mud and rock and webs made her want to totally vomit. "This should be enough. Hopefully this ends in, like, a scented bath. I could use it."
     
    Now that the two were moving forward and able to continue their adventure, Remington was able to take a small second to appreciate his closeness with Moonlight. She was a very pretty filly and an amazing friend. He was lucky to have her, and even though she was a bit much with the grime and dirt of their current situation, he wouldn't trade her attractive spunk for anypony else in this moment. "If not, at least we have each other."
     
    "That's something, yeah," she said, though truth be told she'd rather take a shower or a bath than give him a hug if it was offered. She stunk, or think she stunk, and that wasn't the proper way to give a good friend a hug. In what seemed like forever but couldn't have been more than two minutes the path opened up a little, enough for her to not feel as assaulted by dirt, until they reached a somewhat large cavern with water dripping from the ceiling and tiny puddles on the ground.
     
    "What is this place?" Remington asked, looking around at the stalactites hanging from the ceiling.
     
    "Uhh...a cavern," she looked up, "maybe with a stream or...I don't know...like, uhh...plumbing for an old castle...above u?"
     
    "I wonder if they knew this was down here." Remington looked around, being mesmerized by the natural decor. Without looking, he ran into a large crystal pillar, that jutted from the cavern floor to the ceiling, seemingly imperfectly. The pillar was light blue and indigo and had luster. He could see his reflection in it. "What the-?"
     

     
    Moonlight liked what she saw. She knew that there were crystals all over the place near the treehouse and castle and that meant they weren't too far off. Or at least, that's what she hoped for. "Looks like, umm, one of those crystals that the others described!" She sad excitedly, tapping her hoof gently around it and admiring the two of them as best she could in its reflection. "Pretty hot stuff, ain't it?"
     
    "Others? What others?" Remington wasn't keen on the information that Moonlight might had overheard. For a filly from out of town, she seemed to know an awful lot about this kind of stuff.
     
    "Oh, Gallus, Sandbar, those ones."
     
    "Oh." Remington for moment wondered if Moonlight had been spending quality time with other students, and for just a small second, he felt jealous. But he continued on through the tunnel, which seemed to get narrower. At one point, the tunnel forked in two directions. When glanced down the left one, and then the right one, and quickly the left one again. "Princess Twilight Sparkle?" He could not see anypony except Moonlight behind him, but he could have sworn that he had.
     

     
    She had a feeling like she was being watched, but then again, they did know that they were sharing this space with disgusting, icky rats so it didn't shock her. "What about her?" She asked as she started to nudge him to the right.
     
    "I could have sworn I saw her down that way, but then she dissappeared." Remington stared in confusion. "Let's go this way."
     
    "Ooooh, spooky," she said lightly and then giggled. "Maybe you're having some radical hallucinations. Like, what else do you see? Is it another pretty mare?" She asked as she trotted along, happy to tease her prey.
     
    Remington could feel the banter coming from his companion behind him, but he remained focused on figuring out what he saw, and how they were going to get out of there. The tunnel kept turning left and inclining slightly, almost like a spiral staircase with no stairs. Eventually, they met a wooden door. Remington reached for the door handle to open it but hesitated. He looked back. "Should I open it?" Remington didn't want to be the sole pony responsible if this ended up unleashing a thousands years of curses onto Equestria.
     
    She thought about it for exactly one moment. "Duh. Totally!" She encouraged him. There had to be less muck and grime, right?
     
    Remington put his hoof on the door and slowly opened it. Once fully opened, he walked into a room that had crystal walls and gemstones that lit up the area. He carefully tiphoofed through the first room and looked into the other rooms connected to it. The second room he went into had a large billboard with photos on it. The photos were ones of students, but mostly of Silverstream, Gallus, Yona, Ocellus, Sandbar, and Smolder. "What is this place? Is this their home? I thought they lived on campus."
     
    They were here! She'd heard so much about this from some of the other students, even a little from the professors. Mostly the students- specifically, those six who had helped save Equestria. "Ooh. This is their, like, magical treehouse that grew from the remains of the Tree of Harmony! Oooh, we found it," she then giggled with a certain playful viciousness. "Think they'll be upset?"
     
    "Magical treehouse?" Remington was so confused. He was not privy to this information, and he began wondering if he was to get a magical treehouse if he received good enough marks on his tests, or if he saved the world from a small menacing filly, you know, either/or. He trotted more playfully into the next room and heard a swoosh. He froze.
     
    "Who goes there!?" Silverstream jumped out of no where and in front of them holding a shovel. She relaxed her posture, dropped the shovel and looked at both of them, particularly perplexed at Remington. She scratched her head. "What are you doing here?"
     
    "Silverstream, did you get those anemones?" Gallus asked as he flew in, sweaty from that time spent gardening, little gardener's gloves on his talons  and paws. He was wiping sweat away when he saw the guests. He froze for a moment before quickly whipping the gloves away. "You saw nothing," he said darkly before his eyes shot quizzically. "And...yeah, what are you doing here?"
     

     
    "Uhhh...well, uhmm, we were, like, exploring and...like...were you gardening?"
     
    "Moonlight and I wanted to explore so we came here. It was her idea mostly." Seeing as no adult was present to award any punishment, he realized shifting blame was not necessary, especially on the filly who hung on his heart. "But I helped a lot. We can leave if you need us to leave."
     
    "It's okay. It's just, we've never gotten visitors out here, other students are too scared to come, and Gallus and Smolder would probably prefer us to not invite anyone over anyway." Silverstream suggested openly. "You know, because it's our special place. We still live at the school, we just come here every now and then to do uh," Silverstream looked at the gardening tools. "Stuff! You know, uh, spend quality time with each other." She looked at Gallus, hoping she was helping divert his humiliation.
     
    Moonlight nodded. "Yeah, I got him to come here, sorry. I'm just, like, persuasive that way I guess," she laughed nervously, then shrugged. "Though, I mean, he did lead me down into a dirty trap so it wasn't all fun and games I guess...," she trailed off as she looked at the gardening supplies. "So, like, why anemones?" She asked.
     
    Gallus ignored.
     
    "Yeah, it is our special place. Ours. We earned it. And...I mean," he looked over at Silverstream and huffed, "it's not that I don't want guests though...I mean I don't...but you should really ask instead of just barging in like this. It's pretty freakin' rude," he said in a huff, slicking back his feathers. "As for anemones, its because they're pretty. And because I guess some sort of rare moth species likes them?"
     
    "Oooh. So you do pay attention in Professor Fluttershy's classes, you blue devil you!" Moonlight said teasingly and accusing at the same time. Gallus blushed slightly and rubbed his neck.
     
    Remington got tense slightly seeing Moonlight flirt with Gallus a little, but relaxed when Silverstream got close to him. She began whispering something in his ear and took a few moments. Remington blushed. Silverstream nodded and stepped away. "Uh, Moonlight, heheh, I think we should leave. These two have to get back to their," Remington looked at Gallus, who had dirt on his neck feathers. "Garden." He started happily trotting towards the front door of the treehouse.
     
    What were they whispering about? Why did he blush? What was happening? She shook her head free. "Oh. Yeah. Yeah! Gotta get out, haha. Well, now we know where this place is. Like, just past the cavern, via a trap," she turned to Silverstream. "Unless we can come back through...like, the front door next time?"
     
    "Hm hm." Silverstream nodded. "If we ever plan a party or something, we'll invite you two!" Silverstream was gracious to the freshmare, but she honestly hadn't thought too much about these ponies. She didn't know them very well, but maybe in time she would.
     
    Remington led Moonlight out the front door and gave the owners of the home their privacy back. He waited for Moonlight to join next to him.
     
    She trotted to him with a bright smile. "See, that was-"
     
    "YOU SAW NOTHING!" The blue bird yelled as a reminder.
     
    "-easy!"
     

     
    The door behind them slammed friendlily. Remington sighed and smiled back at Moonlight. He leaned into her and kissed her on the lips with conviction, his eyes closed during for effect. A few seconds later he let go and looked into her eyes. "Glitzy." He said rhetorically.
     
    It caught her unawares, when he came in for a kiss. Not that she hated it. Opposite. She loved it, so much so she slipped in a tongue near the end. "Remmy," she giggled affectionately.
     
    Remington started walking out of the ruins, leaning onto Moonlight as they both made their way back through the Everfree. The darkness and creepy noises would attempt to impede his emotions, but his heart would motivate him to continue without fear until they were both safe.
     
     
     
    Characters by:
    @Hippogriff: Remington, Silverstream
    @SteelEagle: Moonlight Glitter, Gallus
  3. Hippo
    My OC Zap Apple is 3 and a half years old now, seems like yesterday he was a newborn foal. Though it seems likely the intention within the universe of Equestria in the show was that foals were like elementary kids and the students in the school of friendship are around teenage years, I have been thinking about how I want to age Zap for the future. He may never see older ages simply because we don't typically RP that much in the future, but because of how Season 9 ended, and how I have been building on the development of Applejack and Rainbow Dash's son, it makes sense to me to go ahead and start paving the way for his stallionhood.
     
    Most of his RPs will still be foal-based, but I wanted to give room for him to be able to have those interactions with other young mares and stallions. This means a lot of things, it means I need to building new visuals for what he looks like. I always like the idea of him having a rainbow mane, but his apple roots are also very monocoloristic. So I decided to do a bit of both. When he was born, he basically had yellow and orange colors in his mane. As he got older, some of the more colorful mane colors he gets from his pegasus mother would start to show themselves. As a young stallion, I feel like a few locks of green in his mane seems appropriate. In the end, may not ever have an indigo or purple, but maybe a blue. It's not fun to me for him to just have exactly the same kind of colors Rainbow Dash has in her hair. I wanted it to be unique, while still pertaining to the principle of a rainbow mane and tail.
     
    Now, let's talk about cutie mark. When I created Zap, I had no idea what his cutie mark would be, but there are the obvious suggestions. It's worth noting if you don't know this, I did not name my OC. Steel and foxxy as players of the mothers named my OC in character, while I went ahead and based on the name, designed his colors. Up to this point, I haven't made any concrete decisions about his cutie mark or what his destiny will be, but I have made an executive decision now. His cutie mark, will in fact, be a zap apple. What this cutie mark means could be as simple or as nuanced as I see fit, and I do not have a cutie mark story just yet. But I value the heritage of the apple family and want to honor him being a part of that story with a cutie mark that matches the rest of his family. I could have added wings, but I figured the more simple it is, the better. Rainbow Dash is represented her side of the family with the colors of the cutie mark, and also the apple stem that is a lightning bolt shape. What the cutie mark means is not fully realized, but I'm pretty sure it'll have to do with struggling against adversity, and/or adapting to change and rituals. Zap Apple harvest time has a lot of hidden metaphors that are ripe for the picking. Whether or not we explore those ideas in role play remains to be seen, but I will probably use that kind of idea to explain how Zap Apple becomes a stallion and learns his special talent.
     
    If you're interested in RPing with Zap Apple, or becoming part of his history, let me know and maybe we can start a new story. Happy playing! 
  4. Hippo
    It was a task, but I finally simplified and reset all the linkage and images on my RP log to reflect my RP experience on this forum. It's been quite a journey. It's kind of bewildering how many threads I've been involved in, how many different people I wrote stories with, and how far some of my OCs have gone, even the ones I wasn't planning on taking very far.
     
    In all of my threads that are not active, I have posted in character about 1,300 times, and this is not including posts in 100 Country Kisses, my largest thread (by far). What a ride!
     
     
  5. Hippo
    Today I'm taking a break from the mind-numbing task of RP history logging and going back into the best part: Posting Ponies!

    I have started two new threads for one-on-one opportunities. First a thread with PrinceBlueblood where I can start using my new zebra student!
     
    Second, a new user by the name of SparkSan is starting a new story with her new OC and my Granola Gracie. Hello and welcome to the family, Spark!


    And finally, I have resurrected a thread with PyroBlaze in the dreamscape. May we always try to finish what we started!
     
  6. Hippo
    I want to do the dirty work of revamping my heavily neglected RP log. But in order to do that, I realized the best way was to reflect on all the posts I made on Canterlot.com. Yes, all of them. It's taking more time than I realized crunching the numbers and filing all of them together so that they are organized by character and activity. I can't believe how much pony I have posted. So many stories. So many friends. So many memories. Seeing these old threads with old friends really touched me and brought be back to the good ol' days of pony, but also made me proud of where I've come to from those storied adventures.
     
    I want to personally thank everyone who has been apart of my story-making. It truly is an honor to detail the imaginary lives of pastel colored ponies and creatures with previously considered complete strangers on the internet. Thank you. Below is a google sheets doc that is a work in progress of the data I'm compiling.

    https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15FtdazeTyPm5ESksnV41ZT07_KlzAoANRhX5AbGnrCU/edit#gid=0
  7. Hippo
    Introducing my latest open thread, Fluttershy is opening up her sanctuary to visitors, but for only one day. She wants to use this time in order help outsource her care of animals to others, that they might also find meaning in the critters around them. What could happen in this thread? Here are some examples:
     
    Pet adoption Caring for sick pets Visitors helping care for animals Animals causing mischief Possibly other things!
  8. Hippo
    ((The following is an interlude to the story thread here in which Remington takes off for gym class before meeting with his fillyfriend Moonlight later that evening.))
     

     
    When Remington arrived at the gym, he went into the stallion's locker room to change out of his uniform and into his more athletic appropriate clothing. Not that it would make much of a difference for him. He wasn't very athletic, but like most ponies that would endure a gym class like this one, he would only be required to play fair and work as a team with others in order to get a passing grade. His peak wingpower wasn't all that low, but he would be able to avoid the embarrassment of having to deal with most of the class being stronger than he was.
     
    Today, the class would be outside. The buckball court would be temporarily changed into a diamond-shaped field that had white lines and large square bags on the corners. The game was called base ball. No one had ever heard of it before. This new student in the class, named First Base, came up with the rules of the game and introduced it to the professors and was able to get the go ahead on sharing the game with the class. "It's easy. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball, you get on base." First Base was a pony that grew up in Ponyville and upon getting his cutie mark after hitting a ball with a stick very far, held the imagination required to make this zany, sometimes confusing game.
     
    "Do I hit the ball and then catch it?" Remington asked aimlessly as he was trying to understand. First was attempting to explain to each classmate one by one, but as soon as someone felt they understood, he would go to another classmate and affirm them.
     
    "No, you don't hit the ball until it's your turn. Right now, you're on the pitchers mound, so you throw the ball and try to catch it if I hit it." He stood by the area he kept calling home or the plate. "Throw the ball towards me over this plate, and see if you can get it passed me without me hitting it."
     
    Remington looked confused, but decided to play along. He grasped the ball in his wing and hurled it towards the plate as fast as he could. As it approached, First swung his bat and the ball went flying high over Remington who stared at it helplessly. "How am I supposed to catch that? Am I supposed to fly up there every time you hit it?"
     
    "Well." First paused a moment and thought. "You're actually not supposed to fly in this game, it's against the rules. But you can if you want to, you'll probably still not hit a dinger like that one. Throw me another one."
     
    Remington threw him another ball, as fast as he could. Again, First hit the ball with his bat and it went flying over Remington's head. The pegasus jumped up to take off for the ball, but quickly dropped as he saw it as futile. The ball moves too fast. "I don't get it, how am I supposed to throw this ball passed you."
     
    "Don't worry." First chuckled. "You'll get it. It just takes practice. You see I just want others to play with. Look at everyone." He pointed towards the field of gym ponies, some of them holding gloves on their hooves backwards, some throwing the ball with their opposite hoof or their inferior wing. And even others were just running after balls that they deemed had been chase-worthy. "No one gets it yet. I don't know how to make it official. All I know how to do is hit this ball, and catch it when it comes at me. I want to call this game baseball, but I need help to make it happen."
     
    Remington grabbed another ball and threw it passed First Base, several hoof-lengths from the plate. "Ha, I threw it passed you!" He did it again, and again, and again.
     
    First Base dropped his bat and started trotting towards the first bag. "You just walked me. In order for you to throw a strike to get me out, it has to be thrown over the plate three times. Four times outside the plate and I get to walk over here."
     
    Remington pointed to the bag. "And what's that?"
     
    "It's first base."
     
    "No, I mean, the bag."
     
    "Yeah, my name is First Base, and I'm standing on first base."
     
    Remington stared at him blankly. "Can't we just run laps like normal gym ponies?"

    After a short hour of learning a confusing game, all the ponies went to the locker rooms. Remington hadn't felt like he got much exercise in, but he was still sweating and in need of a shower, so he took his gym clothes off and walked into the shower. As more stallions entered the locker room, several layers of chatter could be heard. "Dude, F.B., that game is crazy. You make me laugh so hard it hurts me inside my bones, haha."
     
    "Glad you liked it."
     
    "Glad you liked it," Remington mocked while staring at the shower walls, water now pour over his mane and poll.
     
    "Hey good job, um, what was you're name?"
     
    "Remington."
     
    First Base offered a hoofbump. "Appreciate you taking a chance on something new, even if it's not your kind of thing." Remington copied the hoofbump back to him.
     
    As he showered, Remington started thinking about his day and the fact that it wasn't over yet. In less than an hour, he expects to meet up with his friend Moonlight in his room to help him study. The red pegasus knew that it might lead to something else, but he had no idea what that would be. He had no idea what he was doing. All he knew was that he wanted to make a move, and tonight would be the first time he could try it, if he was up for it.
     
    Water beading down his pelt, he started daydreaming about the kind of things he would say to her. For instance, what if she was in the shower with him right now? What would she say? What would he say back? Every time she talks, he listens. If she was getting dumped on by water like he was, her pelt would glisten even more now than when she was dry. "Oh my, Luna, I like it."
     
    "What?"
     
    "Nothing." Remington quickly excused himself out from underneath the shower heads and back to his locker, holding a towel that would eventually dry his body. When he started grabbing his school uniform to put it back on, the pink sparkly brush he found dropped out of the bag and onto the floor. He quickly picked it up and held it away so nopony else could see it. When he held it close, he noticed it had a specific fragrance to it. He held it to his nose and gave a soft inhale. It smelled like her. He didn't really know how he knew that, but it smelled like her. "Holy shit, she smells like heaven." He continued to be amazed at how enamored he was with just the idea of being around her. "Oh my Luna, I like her."
     
    "Yeah I heard you like her." First Base was standing next to Remington holding his towel at his head trying to dry his mane.
     
    Remington fumbled the hairbrush and stuffed it in his bag. "What? How could you know that?"
     
    First Base chuckled. "You're talking about that Moonlight chick? Pink-ish color, sparkly mane, unicorn? I see you with her all the time. I just figured you guys were already an item. Not yet though, huh?"
     
    Remington didn't want to be a jerk, but he was feeling awfully insecure. The amount of vulnerability he felt when thinking about her made him feel like not talking to anyone. "We're just friends."
     
    "Oh really? So you don't mind if I made a move?" Remington gave First Base a look that should transcend meaning and not require verbal explanation. "That's what I thought. Bro, it's OK! You just gotta make your move. Everything is about making your first move. It's just like baseball. You gotta put the ball in play and see what happens. Step up to the plate and swing for the fences."
     
    Remington stayed quiet for a moment, but after realizing First Base would confront him while maintaining a boundary, he was willing to hear him out. "But what do I do after that? What do you do after you hit the ball?"
     
    "After you hit the ball, you just get to the first base. It's called a single."
     
    "And after that?"
     
    "After that?" First Base began plucking his ears of excess water. "I dunno, dude. All I know how to do is get to the first base. Everything else after that is all about how the rest of the game plays."
     
    "How do I play the rest of the game from first base?"
     
    "That's just it. You're not the only one playing the game. You have to rely on others to get you to second base and third base, and back home. You gotta put the ball in her court." First finished drying himself off and threw his towel in the laundry bin. "Who knows. Maybe she'll catch you stealing." He laughed and walked away.
     
    Remington understood everything except what stealing had meant in this context. But he knew that First was right. He needed to make a move. And it had to be tonight. The longer he puts this off, the longer it'll continue to bother him. Remington quickly snapped his uniform on and put everything in his bag along with the hairbrush and saddled it on his back. He began cantering out of the gym and to Stygian Hall, where his room was.
  9. Hippo
    Today I have worked on and finished two new character applications for World of Equestria role play. I've been wanting to make these for a while, and finally got them on paper.  So here they are. Introducing: Zareb the zebra, and Sky Beak the hippogriff!
     

     
     
     

     
  10. Hippo
    For my third day of Hippo week, I'd like to honor my B.P.R.P.F.F. (Best Pony Role Play Friend Forever), SteelEagle.  Over the years, him and I have posted many ponies, and occasionally did so in the form of text chat. This allowed us to react to each other in a different, more immediate way, as well as add some story fill to other role players in threads that require some dialogue to expand the scope of the narrative. We did it when it called for it, but mostly we did it because it's really fun! If you have ever thought about doing this kind of thing, I would recommend it. Find someone who is on at the same time as you and duke it out in character back and forth.
     
    Here are three joint posts Steel and I published just this past weekend:
     
     
     
     
  11. Hippo
    Back to Life
    a short story
    inspired by "Back to Life" by Sam Synthis
     
    A light blue pegasus fell from the sky. The atmosphere was partly cloudy sunny skies, but the stallion seemed lifeless and immobile. His eyes were closed and his wings unfolded, only being moved by the air around him as he plummeted. No one else was around. It's not understood why he is falling. Was he knocked out? Did he fall asleep? The ground kept growing nearer and nearer underneath him, without a sign of safety being realized or even hoped for. He remained unconscious as the clouds held their space above his trajectory. Colliding with the earth becoming an inevitability, still no one was around to even witness his fall. And the few seconds that remained began to calculate the damage to his body that would soon come to fruition. With no sign of life, he reached the point where he could fall no more.
     
    He wakes up. A dream? Wow, a dream. The pegasus exhales a few times to catch his breath from what seemed to be a nightmare of him falling to his death. Falling to your death, what a way for a pegasus to go. It was a good thing he had wings that worked. He sat up in his bed and flapped his wings a little, just to make sure that they were still in working condition. All was good. A little stiffness here or there, but that was normal. Any other day it would have been overlooked, but after such a vivid dream he thought about how often his wings suffered from mild aches and pains when he woke up in the morning.
     
    He rolled out of his bed and made a few quick stretches. A turn of the neck each way and he would venture into his home's kitchen for a little breakfast. But as he was walking out of his bedroom, he noticed something on his dresser. A picture frame, ordinary in color and shape, but carefully positioned to illustrate its significance. He trotted backward to get a closer look at it. The photo in the frame had two ponies in it. One was him. The other was a white pegasus mare with a black and red mane. He looked confused for only a moment and then remembered who she was. He smiled and rolled his eyes. How could he forget, he must have been really ensconced in his dream, so much so that he had removed himself from the reality that he always knew of. You know what? Skip breakfast. This mare was very important to him. He needed to see her right away. For some reason, he couldn't remember the last time he had seen her.
     
    If only you could see what holds you close to me, following my heart.
     
    He opened his front door and looked outside. He was in Cloudsdale. Several pegasus ponies already getting on with their day, some wearing work uniforms to help at the factories, some wearing more casual suits for whatever errands they needed to run. He closed the door behind him, took a deep breath of the high altitude air and took flight. He remembered where she lived, but he didn't understand how. He couldn't seem to remember anything else. What was wrong with him? Was he dealing with some sort of amnesia? Hopefully he could remember how to get back home. He soared above the residential zones of the city in the sky, looking for the colorful signs of the place he found so familiar. When he recognized it, he flew down towards the mare's front door and knocked.
     
    Beyond this empty view is something waiting for you. Resurrect me now, forever.
     
    He only needed to wait a few seconds for her to open the door. There she was, cute as ever, with a smile that turned wider once she noticed who she was answering to. This was love. They looked at each other warmly for a few seconds before giving each other a hug. Nothing really needed to be said. No words were spoken, not even accidentally. They both read each other's body language and everything was understood. Harmony at it's finest. She motioned to him to leave with her. She closed her door behind her and took off, and he followed. She didn't care where they were going. A park? A show? Who care's, let's just go. They flew in tandem with each other, occasionally flying an orbit around the other, a typical playful expression, evidence of a true pegasus bond. The two were flying passed rogue clouds that escape the factories but paid them no mind. Enamored with her presence in his life at this moment, he wanted this moment to last forever.
     
    When I stare into your eyes, tell me what you believe. Comfort me with your lies, I need you next to me.
     
    As he meditated on how much he enjoyed this moment, he let her fly forward a little, and when he attempted to catch up, his wings locked up. Immediately he began to lose altitude. He couldn't move his wings. He looked up as he swirled downward, looking up at her astonished face. She couldn't save him, she couldn't fly that fast, but she looked horrified about what was happening to him. No pony else was around to help him. He continued to fall, just like in his dream. Was that dream a prediction? Was it a precursor? His mind raced at what brought him here, and regardless of the reasons he began to blame himself. He figured somehow that it was something he must have done to ruin things. The moment he wanted to last forever now seemed to have a bitter and bleak end, all too soon. Just like in his dream, he fell faster and faster until he hit terminal velocity, and less than a minute later, was meeting the ground with deadly force.
     
    You bring me back to life.
     
    He wakes up. What? A another dream? A dream within a dream. How awful. The blue pegasus shook himself from his mental wear, not minding the minor aches his body probably had for however long he had been sleeping. He got up and tried to recollect everything that had happened, but it seemed harder and harder to retain memories. He staggered a few steps after getting off his bed, but was able to stabilize. The picture frame on his dresser was sitting there as normal. But there was something frighteningly worrying about it. He approached the dresser and picked up the frame and gave it a closer look. It was a picture of him and his friend from school. What? Where was the mare? He remembered this colt, he was friends with him for many years during his foalhood, and they stayed close to each other for his entire life up to this point. But there was no sign of his lover. He looked frantically across his bedroom looking for signs of his significant other. Did she not exist? Had she been a figment of his imagination this whole time?
     
    Mend my broken ways with love that lasts for days. Keep me close at heart, if only.
     
    He needed answers. So he left his home and flew as fast as he could towards where he knew she lived. Once again, like a moment of dejavu, he knocked on her door. This time, a stallion opens the door. He was big, purple, and scruffy. He did not look pleased to see him. Behind him was the white mare, looking innocent and curious at who was knocking. He reached out for her, telling her to come with her, but the large stallion held onto the mare. They both gave the blue pegasus a look of disapproval. She was taken? Did she even know who he was? The large pegasus motioned him to leave. He had no choice, and fled to a stray cloud.
     
    When I'm feeling lost, I see you in my thoughts. Memories I miss.
     
    He sat on the stray cloud contemplating what had just happened. Was this another dream? No, this was a nightmare. How could he not be with her? He could not imagine life without her, but appeared to be living in a universe where that seemed to be the case. Was this some sort of alternate dimension that he was not graced for? Would he wake again if he fell to his death?
     
    When I stare into your eyes, tell me what you believe. Comfort me with your lies, I need you next to me
     
    He looked over the edge of the cloud he sat on and looked at the length of fall to the patchwork farmland that he was floating over. There was no way this life was his, he figured. He needed to wake up and find out what was going on in his mind. So he folded his wings to his side and fell downwards. As he fell he closed his eyes, tears streaking upward passed his yellow mane. Reluctantly, he kept his wings locked and eventually made peace with himself and the ground below.
     
    You bring me back to life.
     
    He wakes up. Of course. He had a different tactic this time. He was going to go straight for her and find a way to speak with her about everything that was going on. He had to be honest and put his heart on the line. Then, and only then, would he know if he was truly awake from whatever dream cycle he was being tortured with. He flew fast towards her place and knocked on her door. There was no answer. He took flight to the Cloudsdale marketplace where she often visited and he scanned the area for the white pelt he was so familiar with. And then, he spotted her. She was next to a suspended water fountain. He landed quickly next to her. She was stunned, but then happy to see him.
     
    Madness in my mind of what I've left behind. Wake me from this dream!
     
    Before she could hug him or react sweetly, he began pouring out his heart, explaining to her everything that had been happening to him, in his dreams, in his nightmares, and whether he was dreaming right now or not. He asked for her to explain how she felt and she reciprocated. She loved him very much, she always had. She affirmed to him that this was real life and that nothing was going to stop their love, and anything that would happen to him would also happen to her. She motioned to take flight again. He was unsure at first, but decided to follow her again. As they flew, they began loving each other with their words, explaining in great detail how they felt about each other. It was pure and it felt real. Everything around them seemed to stop. Nothing else mattered.
     
    Even if you're wrong, you'll miss me when I'm gone. Close my eyes again.
     
    They spent the rest of the day together, sharing moments during meals and visiting different sights around Equestria's mountaintops. Through joy and honesty they strengthened their bond as the two spent quality time, explaining their flaws, sharing their worries, and comforting each other with their pain. It seemed clear to him that it was not always going to be bright, but she would always be by his side when times got tough. He was thankful to be rid of what seemed like an endless cycle.
     
    But I can't breathe anymore, tell me what I'm fighting for. Help me see the truth before I'm blinded again.
     
    Eventually, she flew with him to his home. They needed to go their separate ways for the evening and she was dropping him off where he resided. She and him gave each other a long loving stare. Everything was going to be fine. He believed it, because she believed it. Through perseverance and trust, she was able to breathe life back into him, and help him deal with his lack of confidence in reality. They kissed goodbye, and she flew away.
     
    When I stare into your eyes, tell me what you believe. Comfort me with your lies, I need you next to me
     
    He ventured into his home feeling much better. He was standing tall and was nimbly thinking about his day. It couldn't have gotten any better. And the best part? No one fell to their deaths. This was it. He was finally awake. If he didn't dream for a while, he wouldn't mind. Knowing he could rest in reality was the best form of comfort to his mind anything could bring. When he walked into his bedroom he glanced at the photo on his dresser. His smile fell immediately. He walked towards the dresser and stared in thought at the picture. Something about it began to churn a new page of worry in his mind. He saw something in the photo that made no sense. But instead of accepting the reality of a photo, he rejected it. He grabbed the frame with a hoof and put it face down.
     
    You bring me back to life
     
     
  12. Hippo

    Brony Music Share #6

    By Hippo,

    So yeah, Applejack is so awesome. But honestly, as an avid fan of orange-pelted country mares, one of my best features about Applejack is her family, and more specifically, her little sister. Apple Bloom is adorable. However, the issues with Apple Bloom and the other cutie mark crusaders is that they take a long time to warm up to. In an already 'hostile' environment bronies find themselves in when dealing with My Little Pony ('hostile' in this case referring to the struggle to accept the show for what it is) the little foal trio, and later a quartet, seem to be hard to accept simply because they disguise easiest with being stereotypical younger generation entertainment, which is often sour. It wasn't until the second season that bronies started really appreciating the fillies for their individual personalities, and began to love them as their very own characters. This is depth of Apple Bloom in particular, ads to my enjoyment of Applejack because of the chemistry their characters have to have in the show in episodes where they are expected to react to one another. They both love each other. They learn from each other. And neither of them would be the same without the other.
    Episode 11: Winter Wrap Up

    Winter Left Unwrapped (vs. WoodenToaster)
    JackleApp
    Remix War Vol. 3
    Little do most bronies know, Smile, Smile, Smile was not the first song to get an early leak. Winter Wrap Up was actually leaked early in season one during the first explosions of what I choose to call the brony 'big bang'. During this time, the fandom was beside themselves. They realized all at the same time that this show was awesome, and that the songs this lesser known guy at the time Daniel Ingram were putting onto the show were enjoyable, even by someone who often rips their ears out every time they watch an animated sing-along show or movie.
    When the song ran through the ears of the fandom, remixes everywhere were being made. To this day, Winter Wrap Up is one of the most remixed songs in the brony fandom and has a special place in the heart of fans who, when hearing the song, knew that there was no going back. This was it, and it was awesome.
    This remix, first made by JackleApp, and then remixed again by Wooden Toaster, is my favorite remix of the song. The reason why is that its refreshing to me to hear an interesting perspective in songs by slowing them down, and even modifying the pitch of the melody and lyrics. This is definitely a chill song, and makes me melt into the snow every time I hear it.
    Episode 12: Call of the Cutie

    Miles (feat. EileMonty)
    dBPony
    Lyrics:
    So yeah. Wow. Holy crud. This song is awesome. It features everything I love about this fandom. An up and rising talented musician named dBPony, an amazing voice actress doing an Applejack impression, in song mind you, and then of course, it being a duet between Apple Bloom and Applejack storyline-wise all smashed together to give me an eargasm.
    Now I can understand the immediate complaint about this song. 'Why is Applejack voiced by a guest chick, but Apple Bloom is a dude?' To me, it doesn't matter that much, because as soon as I understand that he speaks from her perspective, it's not difficult for me to understand the lyrics and the song. And also, I think the artist chose to do this because he wanted the song to have more meaning than just to be a song about the ponies themselves. The male 'intruding' voice could easily represent a typical guy, like me, who may enjoy this song and can relate with the issues Apple Bloom is having, either in the past, or concurrently. It can make the song easier to identify with.
    My favorite parts of this song include the lyrical genius behind explaining well the frustrations of Apple Bloom, and the opposite spectrum perspective of Applejack, which states that it'll all make sense when it comes. This song has so many parts that I enjoy. But mostly, I enjoy Applejack!



  13. Hippo

    Brony Music Share #5

    By Hippo,

    There is no doubt amongst bronies that Lauren Faust is a genius. The foundation of lore she laid was so superb. One of my favorite things about the universe she created is the Everfree Forest, a mysterious biome of overgrown flora and fauna that the ponies can't control. Whether or not it's true that the plants grow by themselves is a strange occurrence in the ecosphere of Equestria, it creates this really interesting perspective from a land of ponies that control everything, even the weather. Perhaps their planet doesn't rotate, thus they need celestial aide and artificial weather patterns. Maybe their world isn't even a planet. Maybe there isn't even a vacuum of space. Luna did, after all, spend a thousands years on the moon, or in the moon. Whatever. The point is, the concept of a place like the Everfree creates an interesting perspective of something shrouded in so much mystery, while at the same time requires the attention of the story. The forest a bringer of life. And despite its dangers, Ponyville's existence owes tribute to the dark and dreary Everfree.
    Episode 9: Bridle Gossip

    Evil Enchantress (Electro House Remix)
    SimGretina
    Show Remix (Techno)
    Fluttershy's singing of Pinkie's "Evil Enchantress Song" in her deep voice is one of the most brilliant moments of the show. So why do all of those remixes online only feature Pinkie's hyper version? I don't understand it. The reason why I value SimGretina's remix more for this song is because he used Fluttershy's deep voice to impact a great contrast throughout the drops. This is the type of song that intensifies it when you listen with headphones or ear-buds.
    SimGretina is probably my favorite brony musician, and will undoubtedly be featured several times on this blog. The way he balances his music is probably what makes it so great. The art of his remixes seem to be to take whatever song he's remixing and allow the song to exist as is, and form things around it to enhance the sound. Other remixes like to manipulate the original by speeding it up, or changing the pitch dramatically. Sim Gretina is like a music archaeologist. He takes songs and digs up characteristics about the song you didn't realize were there before, and enhances them to make them sound better and louder. SimGretina deserves a click every time you see a link to one of his remixes or original works. And when you do try one of his random songs, his sounds have a way of destroying everything you thought you knew about a song and making it better, so... watch out.
    Episode 10: Swarm of the Century
    https://soundcloud.com/brownpony/future-of-the-everfree
    Future of the Everfree
    BrownPony
    Ambient Instrumental
    So yeah, here's one most people haven't heard of. I always enjoy enlightening people to songs that are great that they haven't listened to yet. This one, by a brony named BrownPony, is mostly ambient, but plays a very good instrumental style theme. All of the enchantments of the Everfree forest, all of its creatures, the parasprites maybe. They all sing this song in their sleep. I deeply imagine a pony with a talent for listening wandering into the forest and hearing this ambiance and beat. The trees clapping and bellowing its anthem, not so much as scary, as overwhelmingly mysterious.
    Some bronies fantasize ponies in space, or space travel in Equestria. Well, why not the Everfree? It's practically like the big oceans of the deep. The ponies, who are very ritualistic and rely on magic, seem to know more about what lies in the secrets of the sky and stars, than they do about they're own backyard wooded area. It's known as a place of death, but then why is there so much life there? Why were the palaces located here? And what story will be told about how the Everfree came to be? Hopefully, the near future of events in the Everfree will unlock those secrets we all desperately desire to know.

  14. Hippo

    Brony Music Share #4

    By Hippo,

    It's amazing how well the brony fandom takes ownership of the Hasbro IP, practically by accident. Not justifying its morality, but rather just observing how deeply the show creators and the fans blend together as far as level of creativity. Of course, not every fanfic and original music piece is going to live up to the fandom's entertainment standards, but then again, sometimes the show doesn't either. Well, I guess I'm being a bit harsh. It's not like this fandom has forums in which people disagree weekly on the quality level of the episodes and the significance of some of the plot lines. Right?
    Episode 7: Dragonshy
    No Soundcloud was found for this one. YouTube will be my backup embedding process.

    This Song Made Man a Fluttershy
    Foozogz (PepperBrony)
    Orchestral Techno
    Yikes! Hearing this song makes go from considering Fluttershy as one of the weaker mane six characters, to thinking that if I say anything bad about her, I will be scolded so hard by her that I will turn into a pony. You know, actually that doesn't sound so bad. Maybe I will get in Fluttershy's face and tell her whats what. Of course, the fact that I'm human might fascinate her enough anyways where she might have me beat on the forwardness level. Meeting a cartoon pony in person? That's crazy. Meeting another living being? That's just part of Fluttershy's nature and purpose. But enough of the nonsense talk.
    Foozogz has made a few brony musics that defined the earlier months of the community, songs inspired of exact events in certain episodes. I'm not usually a fan of direct quotes placed from the show into a song to add spice, but this song orchestrates a good theme you can feel and the words Fluttershy speaks in it are only meant to guide the imagination along. The whole time I'm thinking of someone actually being disciplined by Fluttershy's calm, yet forceful words. And then the guy turning into a pony or cowering to the point where his man card dissolves in Fluttershy's flutter. It's pretty scary.
    I'm sure he had a good reason. After all, that rainbow one kicked him.
    Episode 8: Look Before You Sleep

    Tubby Wubby Pony Waifu (ElectroKalposion Cover feat. Feather)
    FlimFlamPhilosophy
    Original Parody

    Ok, so yeah, it's kind of a stretch. But 'Look Before You Sleep,' despite being a great episode with great character development, and a foundation for one of the best quasi-canon ships of the MLPFiM universe, there doesn't seem to be much dedicated music for this great combination of characters. So, I decided to share this one, an original song made for Rainbow Dash Presents: My Little Dashie. It's a great song and works well for it's humor purposes in the video, but then also doubles as a fun song to cover and karaoke with (especially since the song was actually started as karaoke in the video).
    If you don't know what a waifu is, basically its derives from anime where female characters were so attractive visually and mentally, that fans of the show would fantasize with the complexity of having them as a life partner in real life. Basically, its a fantasy wife. So if you didn't before, now you see the hilarity of the lyrics of the song. It's definately making fun of itself when the two characters, who can best be described as fat Rainbow Dash and a monkey dressed up like the Joker, apparently fall in love with each other, completely unaware of the stupidity that they ensue around them during the song.
    This cover is my favorite cover, because it is well sung. The fandom has some good pipes if you look hard enough. If it wasn't for FFP's desire to keep the show organic to his own voice, but then also have the gender swap with the character voices, I would have wished that these two would have sung it originally. Also, have a funny bonus video:

  15. Hippo

    Brony Music Share #3

    By Hippo,

    In other fandoms, remixes of theme songs, collaborations on popular artists, and even originals works by individuals can sometimes lack personality of the person who made it. In the pony fandom, anyone who has ever made a remix to a song that gets a few thousand clicks on YouTube, or someone who gets original work published on bandcamp, is automatically put into a long list of brony musicians. And for the most part, we all remember them. It makes me wonder if some day, some of the artists we thought were cool, or as cool as a YouTube account makes you, turns manestream and actually ends up doing something that the whole word can recognize, and not just bronies. My thinking is that it could very well happen, and sooner than most would think.



    Episode 5: Griffin the Brush-off
    https://soundcloud.com/jackle-app/griffin-village-winter-gilda
    Winter (Gilda)
    JackleApp
    Vocal Orchestral
    I'll admit, that I'm not usually the type of brony that responds well to tear jerking from media groups. I am, however, a fan of well-organized tellings of the story not heard. The story about the bad guys and their viewpoint of everything going on. A little perspective is all it takes to begin to understand why Gilda acted the way she did in the episode when she was rude to Rainbow Dash's friends.
    So let's picture it then. You're a griffon who went to a flight school, probably in Clousdale, and met Rainbow Dash, someone who would end up being a longtime friend and then to a friend who wasn't who you thought she was. And maybe, at the same time, Rainbow Dash had some growing up of her own to do, as she was still cool enough to enough fun flying times with Gilda, but lacking of the bad girl montage that Gilda would show whenever she acted with ponies she did not know.
    There is no excuse for being rude or mean, or steal, or frighten. And then again, maybe that's the griffin way. Thanks to Gilda, everything we know about griffins has been defined by the way she acted in this episode.
    JackleApp counters this thought with the idea that Gilda may not be such a bad girl after all, and is poorly understood. And if you disagree that Gilda deserves any sympathy whatsoever, then I will be watching your eyes very closely when we get to talking about Trixie.

    Episode 6: Boast Busters
    https://soundcloud.com/great-trixie/trixies-good-side
    Trixie's Good Side
    PinkiePieSwear
    Glitch
    You know, this is only minorly relevant, but new bronies now-a-days, probably see Trixie first on Equestria Daily before they do organically in the show. Hm. Interesting.
    Anyways, while we're not drifting too far away from redemption of villain characters, it's important to note that Trixie is the true queen of the redemption story, even before she got one, sorta.
    PinkiePieSwear, who became one of the earliest bronies to solidify his name into the fandom pool of names your should know, made a glitch remix of events of Boast Busters, and titled it her 'good side'. Not sure how that was possible, and even still, the song by itself doesn't really convince me that there is any redemption of her to be found. But the title of the song alone implies that this is what many people would have wanted. And they want to watch her and Twilight's interaction while it happened. Little did bronies know at the time that an episode was already in the writing stages and would eventually release in season 3.
    But I don't think it's over. There are so many angles Trixie's story can be turned that there will be near an infinit supply of fiction applied to the blue unicorn, both in story and in song.

  16. Hippo
    Character accents and visualizations are not always essential to role play. Especially in fan-fiction, very little beyond a borrowed image will ever be featured next to the abyss of words that were created by someone with audacity to ship Rarity and Rainbow Dash together. But in forum role play, in my opinion, the rules can be stretched.
    There are several tools I like to use to help illustrate my character's point of view, quirks, and jesters, and sometimes without even knowing I'm doing it. There's no secret that the key to good role play writing exists in the ability to get 'in-character'. That is, focusing on what the character feels, thinks, does, eats, walks, talks, and even neighs. But sometimes, when writing your play, the translation of character gets lost in the vocabulary you chose, and in the way the reader chooses to read it. And there are waays of manipulating how the reader reads. Like how misspelling the word 'way' got your attention.
    Don't. You. Love. That. Little. Voice. In. Your. Head. That. Pauses. Every. Time. There. Is. A. Period. It's not really a trick, but rather a structural habit that we humans have when reading literature. These things can be added more or less, depending on how you want your character to read. Sometimes, even the way you spell, or mispell (intentionally) a word, is what draws out the reader to force a certain style of reading.
    Take Applejack for example. She's southern comfort, so obviously I want to start drawling out her sentences. Give her a phonetic twang that identifies not the way the character spells, but the way the character talks. Compare, "I love all of these apples," with "Ah love all o' these apples." Changing the spelling of the word, allows the reader to more comfortably read in Applejack's tone. You can also change the way the characters uses the words in a sentence. This can be done by changing out words, or it can also be done by simply italicizing them. "Ah love all of them apples," not only makes Applejack sound like she's saying something in a more outlandish way but also puts emphasis on the probable context of whatever it is she is talking about. If she had said, "Ah love all of these apples," the context draws a nearer more intimate approach, and even implies that Applejack is either holding something, or is looking down around the ground near her.
    Now, try reading this:
    "Music is such a great thing for a pony. I love listening to my favorite songs when I'm feeling sad. And on days when I'm not near a music player, I simply whistle while I go about my day."
    The way it's written, you could guess that anypony could have said this. It's possible that the character has a very normal accent (or rather, the accent of the reader), but usually, the player would like to personify an accent that makes whoever is saying this obvious to the reader. Now try reading it again:
    "Music is such a great thing for a pony. Ah love listening to mah favorite songs when I'm feeling sad. And on days when I'm not near a music player, I simply whistle while I go about my day."
    Chances are, you read that in Applejack's voice. And whats interesting is I only changed two words. What occurs in the mind when reading, especially silently, is when you read a phonetic stylization of a word in a sentence, you read the rest of the dialog in your mind in that dialect until the caption is finished. Despite the second half of the quote containing none of AJ's verbal mannerisms, you still heard it in AJ's voice because your mind was completing the caption she was already speaking with her southern drawl. So if you have a character that has a funny accent, you need not change the whole dialog phonetically. Just change a couple words at the start of the dialog, and the reader's imagination will do the rest.
    Using different spellings of words and using excessive or no punctuation manipulates how the reader reads your product. If you have a hyper character, use run-on sentences while the pony is talking. If your character is shy, you could even make the font tiny, if that option is available to you. And if your character has one of those voices that is just distinguished and sizzles when you hear it, italicize every other word to make the character's words jump. There are so many ways you can create visualizations of your pony using words. The way you spell, write and organize your writing will be the main objective in trying to help the reader know exactly what your character feels like when they enter a room or when they are talking. And you didn't have to use any pictures. Pictures are nice too, though!
  17. Hippo
    I remember way back when I was a little brony. No not that far, more like just two years ago, I would click a link on a brony-dedicated site and it would take me to something by unanimous deliverers or a clever remix of a song from the show. And eventually, I would stumble on a song in which a brony wrote themselves and contained detailed lyrics and feeling in it. It was at these moments that I was so amazed and engulfed by the charm of this fandom that I thought it couldn't possibly get any better. Boy was I wrong.
    Episode 3: The Ticket Master
    https://soundcloud.com/glaze/shes-a-pony-remix
    She's a Pony (Wooden Toaster Remix)
    General Mumble
    Mashup

    Pirates make everything better. Pinkie as a pirate makes every party better. And emo Fluttershy is practically required based on the desire for her to have a detailed rocky personality type that may or may not be interesting. Don't worry, its just a phase. And Zecora, obviously playing the part of the vigilant spirit, may sound pseudo-racist, but this here song distracts you jut long enough to think too hardly about that.
    General Mumble had made a mash-up up the theme from Pirates of the Caribbean, "She's a Pirate" and Pinkie's Grand Galloping Gala song from Ticket Master. Unfortunately, there's not many options in the way of sizing up the fun in that song, as it's one of Pinkie's nutty visualizations anyway, and not nearly as catchy and whole as her other songs. The General thought the remix did so well in the way of YouTube hits, that he had to make more downloadable links for people to grab it, something that is now a common theme of brony music sharing.
    It wasn't until Wooden Toaster (a.k.a. Glaze) remixed it that I heard it, however. And he took what was already a great song and made it sound so cool and catchy, that I required myself to re-watch some of those movies. That awkward moment when Captain Jack Sparrow and Pinkie Pie actually have a lot in common.
    Episode 4: Applebuck Season
    https://soundcloud.com/bronyfied/flower-of-the-season
    Flower of the Season (ft. Aviators)
    Bronyfied
    Rock
    All the Applejack fans are going to be mad at me for a short moment, as in an Applejack-centric episode, I am not going with an Applejack-themed brony song. How dare I. Instead I decided to give light to one of the fun little developments dedicated to the flower ponies, since they happen to have a great scene towards the end of this episode that gives them that background pony charm the best bronies like. And this time, we have song geared towards the mysterious and unknown background of the one known as Roseluck.
    What I love about songs like this one, is that the song is definitely pony-related, but still applies to some of our everyday lives. Songs that carry multiple meanings on purpose but still carry that very creative tone of character development is something I love about the best brony songs that are available to listen to. Not only is a good song with good lyrics important, but clashing out with a rock song, a genre that at the time had practically no love in the brony fandom, makes this song so much fun to listen to. Bronyfied has since made several other rock-oriented orignals that make them one of the leading brony rock musicians. And Aviator's deep sounding lyrics gives the song, and any song he sings really, the feeling of epic storylog and thoughtfulness.
    This is the kind of song that changes everything about how I view the flower ponies in the show. The way those bunnies trampled their gardens, the way those paraspites at up every petal. The horror! The horror! It was awful...
    And because it's illustrated with rock, some bronies who don't care for rock just don't get it. It's ok, because neither does Twilight.

  18. Hippo
    Welcome to my music sharing blog! In this blog, I will be sharing some of the best audio that I have been able to retrieve in the brony fandom. It's no secret that music happens to be one of the pony fandom's most amazing features. The music share will at times be recognizable, but other times inviting. I hope to entertain by helping your recall some of the greatest musical creations in this fandom while at the same time, perhaps introducing you to gems you were not aware of.
    So let's get started! I will be doing two songs per blog post, but I intend to update frequently. With indecision as to where to start, I figured the best way to dive into the musical part of the fandom would be to find songs topical by Friendship is Magic episode. So I will be releasing them in order of relevance with the episodic order.
    So...
    Episode 1: Friendship is Magic Part 1
    https://soundcloud.com/twisted-panda/my-little-pony-friendship-is
    My Little Pony Intro (Glitch Remix)
    DJ Alex S.
    Show Remix (glitch)
    This is where it all started. And even though it didn't start with this song per se, it sure feels like when you listen to it. Unfortunately, its rather difficult finding a song that encompasses the first half of the show's pilot. But I wouldn't ask for it to be any different. This song encompasses two great things. The intro song to our beloved cartoon, and the mixings and mashings of the influence of pop culture and creative bronies.
    If you've never heard of Alex S., you're either living under a rock, or you're new. Alex S. is famous in the fandom for several remixes, that which will most likely be featured in future posts in this blog. However, Alex S. said he's done doing pony remixes and songs. Reason being that he wants his music to take a more serious topic, which I can understand.
    I love this particular remix because it illustrated, even early on in the fandom, that bronies are capable of some pretty amazing-sounding mixes. And it was also the moment when I realized music on the radio was no longer that great. This song exemplifies why I have taken strong interest in independent artists, and not just in pony, but everywhere. The creative vibes that this 'little girls cartoon' made never ceases to amaze me, and with simple, yet catchy glitch remixes like this one, we're only shaving the tip of the iceberg when talking about the quality and depth of music this fandom has produced.
    Episode 2: Friendship is Magic Part 2
    https://soundcloud.com/sxygingersnaps/giggle-at-the-ghostly
    Giggle at the Ghostly (Ponyhouse Mix)
    JackleApp
    Show Remix (techno)
    Don't worry, I wont be always doing show remixes. Quite frankly, original music has always struck me more excited that remixes from show songs. But for now, we've stumbled upon two exceptions. With another exception, coming from another amazing brony music contributor. JackleApp is active in the fandom's music community that is still coming out with some amazing songs. Shortly after his first wave of remixes, he began orchestrating his own songs, most of them generated with a chill and mellow electric feel.
    Giggle at the Ghostly (Ghostie?), or rather what Daniel Ingram, the writer of the original music, calls the "Laughter Song," was the first song in the series. I don't know about you, but when I watched the episode at that slightly annoying Pink pony started bouncing into song, I said to myself, oh man, this is going to be unpleasant to the ears. I cringed at first with the expected reaction of listening to something that would make me feel immature at myself. Instead, I realized by the time the song ended that not only did it have a pretty tolerable tune, but that it was also enjoyable.
    What would result several weeks later is mountains, and I mean TONS of remixes from aspiring brony musicians, experimentalists, and lovers of the show. Some of the remixes were rapped, some were glitched. JackleApp's here was techno'd, and its very unique. I like this remix the most of all the Laughter Song remixes because this one stands alone as being creative, while maintaining the integrity of the greatness the short song was. Sometimes, remixes drown out what made the original song great in the first place. The best remixes amplify what makes a song great, and twists it into a new catchy melody or style. And this remix does just that.
    JackleApp will also be featured in future blog posts, as his music selection and quality is extensive. I can't wait to share more of his music, simply because he has gone 100% original.
  19. Hippo
    Hello all you bronies and pegasisters! It's me and I've decided to take on the fun personal task of spilling my own ramblings for everyone to see. I know!! Exciting right?
    Anyways, I have chose to start three different blogs. This one I will dedicate to my own personal ramblings of things, probably brony stuff. I will feature opinions and ideas in this section and give my viewpoints on happenings around the fandom. Since we're in ponyless Summer mode, this will update when I have things to say, hopefully about once every month at least. My other two blogs are a music sharing blog, and a RP tips and tricks blog. My music blog will be updated three or four times a week, and feature short ramblings about some of my favorite music I have found. The RP tips and tricks blog will be dedicated to refining ones writing skills as I take my amateur experience in the role play realm and offer my best knowledge to those who seek it.
    For my ramblings blog, expect updates for certain events like Fiesta Equestria, which is a convention I plan on going to in Houston in June, and when season 4 starts, I will probably bring week-to-week reviews of things I see in the show, and probably dedicate a paragraph(s) to how great Applejack is. This blog will contain the freedom of lacking a specific topic, which means I may even talk about things non-pony. But I assure you, I will do my best to present things that will only be fun and interesting to read.
    So until my next update, enjoy my new blogs!
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