Kilmarnock

"T-Thank yeh kindly... come back any time, Big Mac. I think I'll be enjoyin' my stay here at Ponyville..." Ambrose practically mumbled the words just before placing the two requested jars into the back of the large red pony's cart, but hiding the smile that had established itself on his face was all but impossible. They hadn't really chatted much outside of their little business transaction, but he felt like he had made his first, and hopefully not last, friend. The golden pony, definitely another prospective repeat customer, wasn't all that bad either. Unfortunately, the fact that Senyor Apis knew his honey came with the territory that he could rightly judge and criticize. Having only one type of honey had never struck Ambrose as a problem before; honey was just honey, wasn't it? He had dabbled with a few varieties of flowers for sure, mostly thanks to the garden stand that his mother ran, but he had never thought to venture beyond what he found had worked best. Now, he was being told there was a world of honey incorporating aspects of the sweet nectar that had barely even crossed his mind. The thought of so much unexplored territory thrust Ambrose into doubt. "R-Right, one o' the small ones..." Ambrose responded in a withdrawn fashion, fetching the jar with his hooves and carefully transferring it to Apis. The bits on the counter, he would wait until his hooves were free, then he could take care of them. "I... err... how long have you been at this? The whole... honey business?"

I seem to be the only one around where I live (there's a lot of bronies on campus) that hated Secret to my Excess.

Oh, sweet Celestia, YES! Anything, I'll take anything!

My best tool for converting is S2Ep3: Lesson Zero. Seriously, this thing is POWERFUL, at least where I am, because it's the quickest way to convince folks that MLP isn't just 'another little girl show'.

Ugh. I despise all those faces except trollface for seniority reasons and F*** YEA for... well, I guess I can simply tolerate it more than forever alone. I think we'll just naturally overtake it in time.

Similar to the above suggestion, MAKE chimicherries... or cherrychangas. I honestly can't decide. But anyway, make them (you can actually find recipies for this online, the culinary club here on campus is going to do the same thing soon) and then eat them in front of him! Or, if he hates cherries, force-feed them to him.

While he had been expecting an answer from the red colt in front of him (though he hardly counted as a colt with that immense size of his), a few more visitors had amassed near the cart. Ambrose had started to take notice of just how many ponies were there for his honey and while he should have been pleased, he was starting to get just a tiny bit nervous. He hardly knew anypony in this town and had only just started to make discussion with a few of the residents, namely the large red colt that he had not yet learned the name of, but now there were so many that he had to interact with. He hoped he could handle all of it without becoming the slightest bit overwhelmed. "A-Ah, er... p-please don't lean on-" Ambrose started to say to the blue-ish pony who had just begun leaning on the edge of his cart. He had no problems with somepony being near his wares and admiring them, but he didn't want the cart to tilt, either. Still, he had to be polite or risk losing a customer, and that was the last thing he wanted to do right now. Before he could get much else out though, a stallion with a somewhat startling gold coat came to the front of the line (which had now turned into more of a blob with ponies tailing it) and began asking a slew of questions. The honey seller just... shut down for a few seconds and tried to regather his focus. Come on, Ambrose... you can do this, he encouraged to a pony that was about ready to give up. You need the money, you can't be scarin' them off. A somewhat shaky breath rose up from the pony's throat as he opened his eyes again, attempting a nervous smile. "Aaaaaalright everypony, there's enough fer all o' yeh, I promise, so let's be all orderly like and go one at a time, a'right?" He turned to the golden stallion quickly to let him know that he hadn't been snubbed. "Y-Yes. I produce... well, the bees do but... yeah, it's mah bees that produce this honey. They're in fields of nothin' but clover, in wood-cased hives I made myself. Haven't really figured on the variety myself, Mr. Apis but... ah... it's mighty fine to meet somepony who shares my interests." Ambrose took a moment to look at Senyor Apis's cutie mark, and was somewhat astonished. It just seemed so... fancy compared to his own, when essentially it dealt with the same thing. "Also, y-yeh can sample a bit as well before buyin'. The name's Ambrose, sir. Welcome to my own here apiary. Maybe we can discuss a bit more 'bout... you know."

"Oh! Ah, welp..." Ambrose was nothing short of bashful to witness somebody admiring his product so strongly. Well, not so much just his as his and the bees... it was important, giving them credit, seeing as he couldn't quite make the substance all by himself. Most of the money that he got from selling the honey right now, anyway, went right back into improving the hives and the number of them he had. Speaking of money, the large red colt had asked him a question, and it was one of fair importance, too. "That depends on what you'll be wantin', there..." Ambrose replied. "The small jars are 'bout two bits, the middle 'uns are three and the large ones're four. What sizes y'like are all up to you." The matter of price being covered, there was but one more question the honey seller felt inclined to ask, though he remained shy as to how to go about it. "By the way, uh..." A hoof shuffled idly in the dirt. "Like I said, I'm sorta new here and all, don't know too many o' the pony folk here. Rightly haven't been introduced and all... So, ah, the name's Ambrose."

A small smile broke out onto Ambrose's face when the large red pony not only confirmed his interest in trying some honey, but mentioned something about a farm. The apple farm that sat alongside Ponyville was one of the most important reasons why Ambrose had even decided to make Ponyville his new home, for whatever amount of time that turned out to be. If this pony was from the farm (the apple cutie mark should have given that away, in hindsight), then perhaps he could be the connection Ambrose needed to talk about selling a few hives to the farm. "The farm... are we talkin' Apple Acres?" Ambrose asked, even if it was a bit of a silly question; he couldn't really think of any other farms in the area. Still, that was enough time spent dallying around for now. Reaching to clasp one of the smaller jars of honey with his mouth, Ambrose transferred the jar to his hoof and twisted the jar open. He then proceeded to pour out a bit of the slowly moving liquid into a small paper cup that had been brought from the belly of the cart, and the filled cup was then given to the large red pony. "Hope yeh, uh, enjoy. By the way, what's yer n-" Ambrose tried to ask, but his thoughts were sent haywire when a few new arrivals made themselves known. He couldn't allow himself to be distracted, however... while the big pony was sampling the honey, he could restart the sales pitch, starting with the first pony to arrive. "Ah, hello...." Ambrose greeted the first arrival who was tapping his first customer. "Ambrosia acres is glad t' have yeh. Also..." He turned to the most recent and energetic arrival, a pegasus. Ambrose hadn't really spent much of his time around pegasi before, so he hoped he didn't end up insulting the potential customer by making some obscure faux pas he had never heard about. "I ain't been here too long, m'self. I won't be long, n' I'm actually givin' out samples if you'd like to try." He motioned with his head towards the cups that had been set out, and lifted the jar to resume filling them.

((I'm very, VERY sorry, everybody. Break has ended and I'm finally back at college, but my browser wouldn't open Canterlot for a while. I've switched browsers, so now this should work just fine. The post is coming within the hour. Edit: This can probably be deleted now. Should've edited it, but it's a bit late.))

My goodness... a honey stand in the center of Ponyville, but the pony running the stand is never shown? Ambrose is now canon! Ooooon a more serious note, I saw this episode at Bronycon, and I had dragged my girlfriend along with me. She seems to only be a real fan of Big Macintosh, so it was something of a stroke of luck that this episode seemed to feature him. A very good episode to have in order to keep her hooked.

Never! ... Okay, I certainly don't announce it, that's for sure. If directly asked if I'm a fan of the show or if I'm a brony, I /WILL/ say yes.

In a somewhat paradoxical situation given his search for customers, Ambrose had failed to notice anypony approaching. Perhaps he didn’t notice because he was lost in thought, trying to work over a sales pitch for his first day running the stand, or simply because he was looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time. Whatever the reason, he remained oblivious until the sound of somepony’s voice close by caused his ear to flick against his hat. When he turned to greet who had approached him, he was a little surprised by what he saw. Ambrose was not a little pony by any measure; hard work in the fields and in his father’s carpentry shop had given him a solid build, and he had a well sized frame to carry it. It was for that reason that he seldom ran into ponies who were bigger than him, but the red stallion who had come over to his stall certainly fit the bill. The honey seller found himself staring for a few moments before catching his own rudeness and nervously clearing his throat. “E-Ello!” Ambrose greeted, but the following words didn’t automatically follow. This was his first customer ever and he hadn’t even spent much time interacting with the residents of Ponyville, a sad fact that was coming back to bite him in the hindquarters at the moment. If he couldn’t even manage to talk properly, how was he ever going to make a sale? He had managed the greeting, that was good… what was the next proper thing to say? Some sort of introduction to the business seemed proper. “Welcome t’ Ambrosia Apiary. Well, uh… the stand for it, anyhow.” The stallion whose name Ambrose didn’t quite know yet had asked for recommendations, a question which Ambrose felt like he could address. So long as they were talking about honey, he felt right at home. “Well,” he started, “Most o’ this honey here’s clover honey, since that’s what I got the bees near. Makes the best kinda honey.” He gestured towards the jars with his hoof. “Other than that, ain’t much difference from jar to jar other than size. The honey’s left as the bees made it, I jus’ put it in jars. Would you like-” Ambrose froze when he realized he hadn’t prepared the sample cups he was planning on putting out. It was just as well; if he left the sweet substance out, it might attract flies and drive customers away. Still, he wanted to kick himself when he realized he hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Wouldja care for a sample? I can pour some into a cup for ya n’ you can see if you like it.”

Goodness, now I have to play Art of the Dress over and over and over and...

Aye, every forum's got its off days, I s'spect!

Of course! It's an allegory for the corruption of today's.... ... what was I saying?

I'm pleasantly amused when some of my more ship-happy friends provide me with ships, but I don't go seeking them. I'm a fan of FlutterMac and PinkieShy for some reason, the latter one only being because of that Sight for Sore Eyes comic. Sooooo good.

Ambrose had spent a good amount of time and effort towards the preparation for this day. It had been about a month since he moved to Ponyville, having scouted it out as the perfect place for him to begin living on his own and to start his business. He moved into a simple cabin on the edge of town and set up his beehives, praying to Celestia that they would handle the trip by train from Manehattan well. Just a week later, he had several jars of honey to assure him that they had, and that a future here in Ponyville was still possible. Much of the honey accumulated over the past few weeks was bottled up and safely stored away in his cabin, but the soft-spoken, hopeful honey seller had placed some jars in a sturdy whitewashed cart that he was now pulling towards town square with the intention to try and make a few bits. It was just a little before noon when the beige pony pulled the cart into position, the brim of his fisherpony's cap pushed down over his eyes to protect them from the sun. This was as far as he needed to go, though, and with a sigh of relief, Ambrose unhitched himself from the cart and carefully opened the latch to the top with his mouth, pushing it all the way up. Attached to the top was a small, rudimentary sign reading 'Ambrosia Apiary' (it wasn't pretty, but it would have to do for now) and a couple of shelves that stuck out for the display of his wares. From there, he simply took out the jars of honey that were set in the belly of the cart and placed them on the shelves, arranging them by size. "There... that oughta do it..." Ambrose mumbled to himself, taking out the final item still reamaining in the cart: a saddlebag with some spare bits for making change. Throwing it up onto his back, the country pony looked around at what would be his home for, he hoped, quite some time.

I avoid this problem by not being married. Playfulness aside, I can't add anything else that the others haven't already said, and can only show my support that she'll understand that a few things, limited to one area of the house (so it doesn't become MLP: FIM the house) shouldn't hurt any.

Oh man, how I HOPE this goes on forever. I'll be some sketchy guy in his 40's still into ponies.

I was starting to think the same thing after I realized most of these effects were more emotional than anything. Didn't... quite want to say anything, though. Glad we're back on track though!

Daaaarkwing Duck! When there's trouble you call DW Daaaarkwing Duck! "Lets! Get! DANGEROUS!"

You and/or your OCs, like the first post says. Neither is really mandatory, though. You could give one, the other, or both.

If you and/or any of your OCs stumbled upon a patch of Poison Joke and got covered in the stuff, what effects would it have on you the next morning? I'm not so sure about myself, but Ambrose would probably smell rather sweet... which happens to be an alarm pheromone which will make honeybees highly aggressive towards him. Seeing as he's a beekeeper, that... is a major problem.