Stainless Steel Fox

Speaking of the Canterlot elite, though not necessarily sweet, a certain pony was making his way towards the Boutique, grumbling about what walking on common gravel pavements. "I swear, why those idiot guardsponies couldn't find a closer place to land I don't know! I may end up chipping a hoof, and then where will it all end!" Prince Blueblood saw several ponies in passing, who nodded cheerfully to him, but made no attempt to show him any deference or due respect. But then what could you expect in this rustic backwater? It might even be possible that they didn't know who he was. Ah well, noblesse oblige, he would endure having to act as if he were a common pony, in order to accomplish his goal. The part of him he endlessly trampled into submission wanted to had in a different direction, where the Everfree beckoned, but he he did not deviate from his path. This whole mess was Hoity Toity's fault really. he had required something extra special for the upcoming launch of the Lord Pooflehoof's new air-yacht, Belepheron. Of course, Blueblood had gone to the most exclusive fashion boutique in Canterlot. However, he'd been unable to find anything suitable. He'd even spent hours critiquing modifications and revisions to a bespoke suit, providing Hoity Toity with his valuable time and advice. He'd even delayed a grooming appointment, it was that critical. However, Hoity Toity had finally decided he could not provide the perfect outfit. A dissapointment, but what could you expect? Some people whispered that he occasionally sold stallion-ware (say it quietly), off-the-rack! However, he knew of a designer out here in Ponyville of all places who he claimed might be able to service the noble stallion. At first Blueblood had not believed him, but then he'd been shown some of this Rarity's past work, mare-ware, but it showed a certain flair, and a lot of gems. In fact some of it seemed familiar, but then, Hoity Toity had said he sold a lot of them to the elite of Canterlot, so he'dprobably seen it at some function or other. So here he was, looking up at a shop that looked more like a layer cake crossed with a merry-go-round. Some-pony had gotten loose with a fret--saw and done terrible damage before they'd been contained. There seemed to be no vestibule, no waiting room, no secretary. No need to make an appointment. How... informal. Just walk in off the street. Well, at least it _was_ off the street. He gingerly opened the door and went inside. There were ponyquins, a main floor that clearly doubled as a workshop, rather infra-dig, and a unicorn mare with a younger one assisting her, showing some-pony a rack of stalion-wa.... wa... wa... wait a minute! That Unicorn mare, the one with the purple hair, it was her! The crazy cake spraying filly from the Gala! The lunatic who'd fought him every step of the way as he'd tried patiently to demonstrate the correct way to escort somerone of his status, then verbally assaulted him, before messing up his perfect appearance with common cake. She was friends with that other one with the accent and the apple fixation and the pink one...! He started to glance around panicked, double checking every nook and cranny for ninja ponies with croissant shuriken, or a gateaux gun covering the entance, or even a deadfall of doughnuts dusted with demerera... even if he survived, think of all that sugar in his hair, think of his diet! He started to back up, wanting to avoid catching her eye, or getting his pelt pelted with any more catapulted confections, but the door had closed behind him and he thumped into it with his rump, making a noise loud enough to attract any-ponies attention. Schooling his features from a terrified grimace to his usual 'nobler than thou' mask, he stood tall and awaited his fate.

I've looked through the threads, and while there's the School for Gifted Unicorns, I havn't seen any other Canterlot schools for colts and fillies. I wanted to run a school based RP for my new character Clawee (think young filly aged Pinkie Pie the Griffon with sports and games instead of parties as her thing). I want to watch the fun as she tries to fit in at some fancy high falutin' Middle school, probably one that takes both boarders and day students. If there aren't any, is it okay to roll up my own, and provide NPC teachers, and possibly students? I'd prefer other player character foals, but I'll take what I can get. The boarders and day students thing would allow charactewrs from other places than Canterlot to take part.

You aren't the first. My character Cloudius is an older colt and still doesn't have his cutie-mark. He knows exactly what his talent is, sculpting clouds, but that's the problem. He realised his talent before his body and magic was ready to form a cutie-mark and it's that moment of epiphany that seems to do the trick. He hopes to one day do a cloud sculkpture so amazing, so inspiring that it will take his skill to a new level, and that will kick off his cutie-mark.

I'd bring in Blueblood in an instant, maybe something along the lines of going to Hoity Toity's shop for stalionware, not being able to find anything to exactly match his desire, and having been sent to here as the place where he gets some of his best designs from. Obviously, the not connecting the name he heard once at the Gala with the owner of Carousel Boutique, if Hoity Toity even mentions it, would lead to comedy. However, I still want to do the Sweet and Elite RP, and that was going to be the next time they met. What do you think? Shall I? To be honest, I wanted more practice with Blueblood before I put him in a major RP, but the one thread I set up with him seems to have stalled, and I still havn't had a reply about getting into the Art Gallery thread.

On the drop down list for topic prefix, there's Hippogriff, but no Griffon. I did a griffon character and had to use Creature. I know it's not a huge thing, but could we have theat added, if possible?

Actually, I think the USP would be a third faction. After all, Nightmare Moon is still an alicorn. But the USP group might be after the same unicorn relics, but to empower themselves to the point where they could take on the Princesses. That would muddy the waters nicely. There's much more scope for alliances of convenience, and plotting and double crosses... I like your Cult of the Midnight Flame idea.

I have one, or rather two I'd like to introduce to a Mane RP. My justification would be that they come from the Everfree forest, which is a fantasy kitchen sink of eldrich wierdness. That means it doesn't require history, it doesn't require supporting lore, it's a case of 'The Everfree did it'. One is a animate storm cloud, about at the smartness level of a bright animal. The idea in part comes from the Xanth novels. It would make a great encounter for a group of pegasi, which is exactly how I wanted to use it. The other is a far wierder critter, more of an eldrich horror. The creature is known as a 'weeping angle'. What any-pony knows, if they know anything at all would be this. 'No-one knows where they come from, and they rarely appear, thank Luna! Do not approach them. They look harmless, but they are deadly, instantly deadly if you so much as touch them. They don't poison you, or hurt you, no, it's worse than that. They are geometry made solid, some mad arithmancers dream, and they hunger not for flesh, but for dimension. They also have the most perfect defence ever. As long as someone's observing them, they're just a shadow. And you can't hurt a shadow. Of course a shadow can't move, can't do anything to you, but then you look away, you blink and oh yes it can. It's fast, faster than you'd believe, and it will not stop until it reaches the thing it's hunting. You so much as touch the shadow, that's the real creature, the mirrored bit is some sort of projection, a solid illusion, and you vanish softly and silently away. No mess, no blood, not even a chance to scream. First you become a flat surface, then a line radiating from the shadow, then a point, then... nothing. They add your dimensions to their own, and that mirrored bit becomes more complex, more highly faceted. Maybe it's trying to become a sphere, no-one knows it's motivations. So watch out for them. If you see one, don't turn away, don't blink, just grab air and fly away as fast as possible. One other thing you can try if you can't fly, get to an area which is already in deep shadow. It won't be able to follow you there. But the problem is finding deep enough shadow, so best not to risk it except as a last resort.' Yes it's a it's a mash up of the weeping angels from Dr Who, and the 12th Angel from Neon Genesis Evangelion, Leliel, with elements of Lewis Carol's Snark, or rather the Boojum. The Weeping Angels eat your future, this eats your existence in four dimensional space time. And of course, it's impossible to fight by conventional means. I know it's a rather more instantly lethal threat than you usually get, but in the RP I'm playing in, there's at least one pony who should know about it and be able to warn the others what it's capable of.

I was considering an NPC group to act as villians, though exactly how evil they are would be negotiable. One idea I had is given below. Unicorn Supremacy Movement The setting could use some good antagonists. If not the Mane RP, certainly they might be useful as a cross-over or private RP idea. Incompetent ones, but mean and nasty and generally someone you can cheer getting their come-uppance. Most would be NPCs, but you'd need a couple of player 'super-villians' to get away and set up the next plot. So I offer the Unicorn Supremacy Movement. The Hearth's Warming Eve story states the unicorns raised the sun and moon before Celestia and Luna. It also shows them as nobilty, with castles and fine clothing. Is it such a stretch to believe that they were the rulers, the same way Celestia and Luna are now. May not be true, but an attractive lie works just as well for our purposes. This is the basic belief of the Unicorn Supremacists. Either Unicorns ruled Equestria before the Alicorns, or they should have. Celestia and Luna are usurpers who rewrote history, and the present 'disgusting equality' is an un-natural state. Even worse, it's a state most of their fellow unicorns seem happy to perpetuate. By comparison, the USM motto is 'One horn to rule them all!' Obviously, this credo would attract either unicorns who weren't particularly important or successful, as well as the rich and bored, and we've seen that there are quite a few of those. Most of them are just talk, sneering at other races as lesser, and doing it fairly quietly, as such opinionsa would not be generally popular, but I'm sure a few would decide to do something about it. They'd be few in number, but they'd be well-funded, by the rich ones, have at least some connections in Canterlot (lots of unicorns) and they would have magic, including maybe a few fairly powerful mages who felt their talents were under-appreciated or under-used and that they could do a far better job of raising the sun than any old alicorn. Cut-price Death Eaters in other words, though they'd be more on the evil level of Team Rocket. They'd harrass sucessful earth ponies and pegasi, even non-supremacist unicorns who should know better. Going after the Princesses would be foal-hardy, but you'd have to be cracked in the head to start with to support this kind of thing anyway, so a plot against them would make an awesome thing for PCs to stumble on and stop. Almost any kind of evil activity could be justified, as fanatics can find the most flexible reasons to be complete and utter sods. A nut-job with the bit between his teeth can do a lot of harm, and stopping whatever they're up to could be the theme of almost any adventure themed RP. Part of the fun is that, although they have a common credo, they aren't a single organisation, so no matter how many times you take down a group of them, they'll always be another one to use for the next adventure.

Blueblood isn't really one for competitive sports, though he does train and keep in condition, but that's for appearance. I also wince at the idea of a unicorn horn getting damaged. It's practically eye-scream from the way I think of horns. Overactive Mind has similar ideas. As far as I'm concerned, the horn isn't just spiral turns of stiff keratin, or even bone. I always imagined it to have a core of neural tissue, an extended ganglion like the optic nerve (Thaumic nerve?) except it's rooted in the forebrain (conscious thought, imagination, those sort of areas). Rather than terminating in a single structure, like an eye, it terminates in thousands of magical receptor/effector nodes, spread in a honeycomb of pockets throughout the inner surface of the horn. The bone spiral is the shell that protects it. Breaking off part of your horn would therefore be a brain injury. But maybe she just chipped it... anyway that doesn't have anything to do with the case To get him into a challenge you'd have to hit him in a weak spot. Fortunately, he has plenty, his pride in his position as the highest noble in Canterlot, his fastidiousness, his need to maintain his social position, you have plenty to work with. If she can get invited to the right sort of party, she would bump into him. If she literally bumped into him, she might spill something on him. He will then give you attitude, especially as he will recognise you as a lesser status noble. If you can make him look bad, you can goad him into a challenge. Of course, you may have your own ideas how to make it work. In fact, I hope you have plenty of your own. I will be interested to see where he can get help to learn the skill. So, yes, I'm up for it.

One of the things I've noticed in the RP forums is the lack of antagonists and challenges. While I like relationship based RPs as much as the next fox... pony, just relationship stuff on it's own is kind of bland. That was one of the reasons i decided to take up Prince Blueblood. Even characters like Trixie and Gilda have amore positive fanbase than him. While anyone who reads my version of his backstory will see there's more to him than the shallow, self-absorbed plot-hole we cameto hate at the gala, that part of his character is still in place. He's not evil, just narcissitic, over-bearing, stuck-up and self-centred. So, I offer him as an antagonist in any Canterlot based RP. Someone for the protagonist characters to pit themselves against. Of course, this being a universe where the magic of friendship and harmony are real, he's almost certainly going to end up on the short end of it, and probably covered in cake. But that's fine. I gurantee to provide any takers with a thouroughly unloveable jerk who you can feel a real satisfaction at getting the better of.

I've just collected Prince Blueblood as my cast character. I would love to see them meeting 'take two'. It could be set during her stay in Canterlot during 'Sweet and Elite'. I would really like to know why he was there in the recieving line, or standing by her on the platform during the launching of that airship. Not implying or expecting anything more than them not hating each others guts at the end of it. To be honest I'm looking for places to use him. None of the active Canterlot based RPs really suit, and I havn't a really good solo idea other than a slice of life thread. The Art Gallery one seems to have stalled. I had an idea based on a part of a fanfic I wrote. Basically, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash come up with a prank to punish Blueblood for being such a jerk to rarity and Applejack at the Gala, during the meeting with donuts in the aftermath. They manage to sell the idea to Princess Celestia, who also believes her nephew needs a good kick in the flanks. The fic is 'Best night ever extended edition' if you're interested. Basic premise. The palace will be buying apples from Sweet Apple Acres, which has to take on more help to meet demand. Pricness Celestia sends Blueblood to 'assist', implying that it needs overseeing. What he'll actually find out when he gets there is that he's under Appejack's orders and one of the ponies actually doing the work, by order of the Princess. Hilarity would inevitably ensue as the only pony in Equestria who's more fussy about dirt and uncouthness than Rarity would end up getting introduced to it via the scenic route. Of course it would require a lot of cast characters to buy in, Princess Celestia, the Apple family, and Rarity would almost certainly be one of them. I know they're busy, so I don't know if it will ever come off. For that matter, I can just imagine the number of requests for Rarity's time, so the Sweet and Elite RP would be whenever you could spare time in the future too.

One of the web comics I regularly read, I can't remember which one. Then I saw it on another and went... Hmmm... What's all this then? It was a slow sunday afternoon so I went and looked for it on youtube to laugh and point. 6 hours and 17 episodes later I was a Brony.

Ship fic between Pinkie Pie and Jelly Jar stallion, it will have to happen. @ Rosewind - Maybe so, but it's a pain for fanfic writers and world bulding when the goal posts keep changing. I love the steampunk aesthetic and would have been happy to stay there, especially combined with unicorn magic. If you want to think outside the chimney, my concept of a Star Heart reactor, a magical fusion gravity pinch-bottle reactor that outputs energy as either electricity or raw magic is in the thaumo-tech thread in Proposed Lore.

Just when I thought the Equestrian tech tree couldn't get any more overgrown... cabinet arcade games! In Hearts and Hooves day, the colt who's too young is also playing what's clearly a cabinet mounted video game, and there are others around, which show some sort of screen. This was something I was certain was beyond Equestrian technology. Apart from the processor unit, there must be some sort of display technology. Which begs the question, why don't we see other examples of it? Absent any form of radio or cable network to act as a broadcast system, there must be some sort of recording technology better than vitrola style vinyl discs to act as the memory of the arcade game. This is a society with no forms of mass media beyond the newspaper. Despite having quite sophisticated photographic technology and audio recording, and bright enough light sources, they don't have even the most basic film industry, something that happened in our world with a more primitive tech level than theirs. They even have unicorn illusions (Rarity's fashion show) to give them a starting point (Rarity should have challenged Trixie on that, she'd have knocked her illuminated line drawings out of the ring). I can't believe a society that developed airships to a practical level and has things like aerosol spray cans (Sweet and Elite) isn't able to come up with a flexible celuloid film. Thermionic valves are possible, since we've seen incandescent bulbs in multiple episodes, so broadcast radio might be a possibility. But that's a side issue. Thaumo-tech is the only answer. Some magic or magic/electrical/mechanical hybrid technology that allows for low density memory storage (the earliest arcade games were electromechanical and used discrete components). Either the display uses ordinary lights projected onto a screen (again why would this be developed for arcade games and not film?) and manipulated by mechanical slides, or some magical equivalent of the cathode ray tube. I suppose they could be purely mechanical ones, but the one he was playing definitely had a joystick like controller, and I can't think of any mechanical game that did.

Edit: I already posted this in Brony Chatter, because I still didn't really know my way around the site. This is where it should be, and I apologise for double posting. If the mods want to remove the original I would be fine with that. My only complaint with the carol in the Heath's Warming Eve episode was that it was too short. So here's my fan-made full lyrics, with the two extra verses that most ponies go 'la la la' to because they don't remember the words when they have to sing them. The music is the first verse repeated three times. A Circle of Friends © Daniel Ingram (Additional content by Stainless Steel Fox) The fire of friendship lives in our hearts As long as it burns we cannot drift apart Though quarrels arise, their numbers are few Laughter and singing will see us through (will see us through) We are a circle of pony friends A circle of friends we'll be to the very end. Earth ponies build and reap what they sow While unicorns craft with a magical glow Pegasi steward the skies up above Equestria lives by our care and our love (our care and love) While different in form our spirits are one a circle of friends that never will be undone. The fire of friendship lives in our hearts As long as it burns we cannot drift apart We turn the seasons, welcome the new year Together we'll face it without any fear (we'll never fear) We are a circle of pony friends A circle of friends we'll be to the very end.

Thoughts ofg randomness occurred to me on remembering Family Appreciation Day. In Season One, much is made of Granny Smith's dodgy hip, and she is rarely seen without her walker. In season two, however, she is hopping around like a bunny. Huh, I thought, continuity failure, or did they just fix it in universe off screen. Then I realised what had happened and I was in awe. One of the things Discord did when he chaosed Ponyville was fix Granny Smith's hip to allow her to tap dance. Of course, when he was defeated, the Elements of Harmony spread out a big dome of energy that fixed everything. But, Applejack was a part of that power. Whether consciously or unconsciously, when it came to returning Granny Smith to normal, she balked, and I'm willing to bet none of the other Elements would have gainsayed her. So Granny Smith was left with a fully working set of hind legs, and a lot more energy. Hence the way she acted in Family Appreciation Day.

The depressing thing is that we've been assured repeatedly that it isn't Hasbro doing this. It's trolls. Still, until they get their rears in gear and start bringing out box set every-pony who's willing to provide us with our fix of technicolour equines should be encouraged. Though I'd make a specific account to avoid everything else being lost if some idiot does jump on you.

(OOC: Hello? Is anybody there? Somebody please do something.)

I wouldn't mind a live RP either. But I'm in the UK, so there's lilkely to be a time difference.

Cloudius waited till a break in the explanations, then said to his two companions, "I put down my skill level as intermediate on the application form. I wonder if that's how the teams will be split up? How about you two?"

Cloudius listened to the new instructor, wondering whether the teams were by skill level or randomly selected, when he realised that the team leader's wings were as long as his own. If she was an instructor, she might be able to show him how to use his overly extended wings less clumsily. While his long unusually flexible wings were wonderful for cloud crafting, they made him a poor flyer. He could glide and soar with the best of them, but when it came to speed and most of all maneouvring, his long wings gave him the flight characteristics of a cargo airship. A badly handled cargo airship at that. It was one of the faults he was here at Flight camp to improve on.

The sculpture was only a small thing, made from a football sized lump of cloud. It measured around 12 inches from nose to tail. Cloudius tried and failed to avoid looking too pleased when Inkblot admired the work. "I've always had a talent for cloud sculpting, and I've worked hard to improve it. Watch this!" He gave a careful sweep of his wing behind it, and the sculpture moved forward, across and away from the crowd of students, it's wings appearing to flap as it glided through the air. He suddenly realised the teachers had started to talk, and straightened up, looking forwards as the pegasus and the griffon introduced themselves. then a third pegasus appeared, with wings even longer than his, though she was a bit wider in the fuselage than he was.

Cloudius sighed with relief. "Thanks." He listened with interest to Hopesong, and said, "In my case, there were plenty of adults around, but the Equestrian embassy at Talonopolis didn't have many families, let alone ones who stayed for any length of time. About the only constant in recent years is Clawee, my sister." He'd gone back to shaping the small puff of cloud with his wingtip. He drew two small streamers of cloud out of the back of the equine shape, and shaped therm slicing into the rear edge to create pinions. A few other finishing touches, and it was clearly a pegasus, not greatly detailed, but well proportioned and shaped. "Done." He suddenly realised his bare flank was uncovered and drew his wing back to his side with a slight gust that made the cloud sculpture drift in front of him.

Cloudius turned and smiled at the green pelted pink maned newcomer. "Happy to meet you Hopesong. I'm Cloudius, and this is Inkblot." Then he turned back to his original companion, looking worried. "Sorry, I should have let you introduce yourself, but I thought the sooner we all know one another the better. I'm not used to being around pegasi my own age... and now I'm babbling and making a total mess of it." He slapped his forehead with the wingtip that had been crafting the cloud which had been starting to take an equine form.