Stainless Steel Fox

But they do eat eggs, both in cakes and fried. (Sister Hooves Social).

I could have been lazty and used regular fancy food, after all, remember the 'hot dogs', and that's canon.

Firewalker surprised Blueblood by admitting to knowing Prancee, and again by having at least some idea of what to order. Donner, or whatever his name was, kept quiet, which was perobably for the best, and Muggin only spoke to admit he shouldn't be speaking. He led them over to a reserved table and sat to wait for the drinks order, which came almost immediately. Blueblood ate here often enough that the staff knew to take special care of him. He picked up his glass of fine Philidelphian mead and sipped, refreshing himself. The waiter hovered nearby. "Very well, for you the Cassoulet. I feel like the Champignons Farcis au Agresto with pommes Dauphinois myself." He looked over at the other two. "That is vegetable casserole, mushrooms stuffed with shallots and parsley with a pinenut puree gravy and a mash of potatoes flavoured with white turnip. The Barbouillade Aille en Ailigot, Stuffed eggplant that is, is always excellent and so is the Escalivada, slow roasted sweet pepper, eggplant and onions." He lookedover at the other two. An individual of breeding and taste should demonstrate it, especially to those who did not have his advantages. "Those are my recommendations." (OOC: Vegetarian haute cuissine. Man that took some effort to work out. Sory he isn;'texplaining the mission, but there's no way he'd avoid showing off his knowledge.)

The only two canon books are Sapphire Staue and Griffons Goblet. Everything else is just fanon.But it's well thought out fanon. I just felt it was more fun than lifting Indianna Jones stuff directly out of the movies.

The sudden address startled Blueblood, but he was far too old a hoof at this kind of thing to let any of it show in his expression or actions. He continued gazing, and said, "Lieutenant Firewalker. Good, I was just considering the journey ahead." He had no need to explain himself to a common pony, but his contemplative mood made him offer the comment anyway. He turned. "And you have brought your... companions." The terms bookends, and minions had passed through his mind before he settled on that description. Their clothes were at least neat and formal, though a practiced eye such as his own could tell they were fairly cheap as such things went. Still, at least they were making some effort to avoid embarrassing him. He glanced towards a waiter, who immediately trotted over to take their drinks order. "Order what you will, the cellar here is excellent. We will sit, and I will explain the project in greater detail while we wait for the table to be ready." He decided they needed some further explanation. "I don't believe any of you has eaten at the Le Grand before? We order here in the lounge, and only get taken through to our table when the food is ready. I would also suggest you let me order, unless one of you can speak Prancee?" (OOC: Prancee [rhymes with fan-say, which is what a lot of ponies call it.] The language of the province of Prance, home of snobbishness, fine food, aret culture and more snobbishness, if the refs A) Approve it, B) find somewhere on the world map near Itaily and Germaney to put it. Seen in Cannon on the episode 'The Cutie-pox' where Applebloom spontaneously developed the ability to speak it. Presumably where Miss Fleur De Lys comes from.)

Guys, if we're going to start making Daring Doo references, shouldn't we be using the actual stories? Daring Doo - Television Triopes and Idioms

(OOC: Sorry if this seems delayed, I wanted to make sure your characters had time to play out anything they needed to before moving on.) Blueblood would normally have arrived fashionably late, emphasising his status, but he was too eager to get things moving. Still, he arrived at Le Grand immaculately dressed and coiffured, and set himself up in the VIP lounge where ponies waited while their tables were being prepared. He acquired a glass of excellent mead, and made polite small talk with some of the notables who had also decided to dine there. The restaurant was situated at the very edge of one of the alps that Canterlot was built on, and the lounge had a balcony that hung out over an almost sheer drop to the plains below. It looked out over a fantastic view of the Heartlands, the whole south east from Ponyville to Garden Gait, their lights sparkling in the far distance. Luna's moon reflected from the Russette river, making it shine like a thread of silver while in the indigo vault of the heavens the constellations shone like diamond dust. Blueblood had stepped out on the balcony, but his gaze was not set on these sights, beatutiful as they were, though he raised his glass to the moon, in salute to his other great aunt for a job well done. He looked south, past the Roundbottom Hills, thinking about what lay beyond. The Galloping river down to Manehatten, and beyond the Straits the Gallopocus Islands and beyond them, far Uyanazi. Soon, very soon, he would be taking that route. The part of him that still held to maintaining his status and social position lamented, but he told it to shut up. Traveling down to Coralwood Corral by air-liner was quite the done thing, and he'd be travelling first class. Once in the Gallopocus Islands, it would be much easier to avoid the sort of scrutiny that he'd inevitably come under in Canterlot. As if in response to his thoughts, a liner airship hove slowly into view in the distance, heading along that exact route. Just starting out of the great airship port on one of the alps further away from the centre, the portholes and open deck of the gondola blazed with light as ponies partied and enjoyed themselves. It also illuminated the rows of air-sails mounted on the sweeps that pushed it along, and the underside of the envelope, painted as the head and tail of a great comet... which identified it 'The Comet', one of White Horn Lines Reindeer class luxury liners. While he couldn't be on that one, it was likely he'd be on her sister ship Cupid in a few days time.

You must try their eclairs. The griffon who runs the place won an award for them.

I've updated my last post with the full letter that Iprovided the stub ofd initially. It won't be delivered until late afternoon, so I'm pretty much out where the other characters go through their days activities.

Just one other thing. Are all three of your characters pegasi?

Blueblood read the reports with distain. What a scruffy lot! Firewalker had once been a guard, but apparently had suffered some sort of burn-out. The big pegasus, Magoo Ale, was a barkeeper and this Dunder fellow was some kind of hothead, good with a blade, but not exactly the sort you could rely on even if he had escaped from some thugs. The better solution would have been never to get caught in the first place. It was clear that they were amateurs who'd lucked out rather than experienced explorers, which was exactly what he was going to hire instead. They would be lining up to work for someone as distinguished and important as himself. With that he headed out ot arrange things, head held high. He trailed back at the end of the day, in a far less upbeat mood. The meeting with his mother had gone about as expected. He'd been surprised that her horn hadn't stuck in the ceiling when she hit the roof over his plan. She'd absolutely forbidden him to do anything of the sort, and normally he would have gone along with it. But this day he'd been determined. She threatened to disown him, and he reminded her that he was the Duke and head of the family. Eventually she'd been reduced to screaming at him to get out, with many comments about ungrateful sons, and disgraceful behaviour. Considering this was more emotion than he'd ever seen her show in the last decade he was rather shocked. She couldn't touch hias basic allowance, but she most definitely wasn't going to provide him with one bit more. Still, he'd gone and found other sources of funding, though not as much as he'd hoped. He didn't have anything particularly expensive, like a private air-yacht, to use as collateral (he'd been meaning to get one,or rather thave his mother get one, but had never gotten around to it), and it appeared that his title alone didn't count for much among the money-lenders and bankers, though his connections among the wealthy, but less well connected ponies of the Canterlot social scene did get him some. He'd had to scale back his original plans some, rather than chartering an air-ship for his own use, he'd have to take4 passage on board one of the regular packets that travelled across the Strait. While there were luxury air-liners that went as far as Corralwood Corral, there was no other choice but to travel by tramp air-ship the rest of the way to Uyanazi, shoulder to flank with common ponies. Finding the experts to fly with him had also been harder than he'd expected.Though it appeared that heading home to read his fathers journal had been a good idea. A lot of the top explorers had been at the VIP buffet he would ahve gone to, and a bad carrot thrmidor had laid them low. They'd be out of action for weeks. The onces he could contact either refused to work for him at all, or demanded outrageous fees. He slumped down on the couch, and picked up the dossiers he'd left lying around. Maybe he had been just a bit hasty. Thery did have at least some experience,and if their reaction to that 100 bit finders fee was any indication, they would work for cheap. He moved over to the writing desk, and took up a quill. "Lieutenant Firewalker, I have examined my father's journal in great deatil, and have determined that it provides sufficient information to retrace the hoofsteps of his last expedition. I have determined, therefore, that I will outfit an expedition of my own to do so. It is my intention to book passage to Coralwood Coral in the Gallopocus islands, where I shall acquire supplies and equipment for an extended expedition, and from there to Uyanazi, where I will retrace my father's hoofsteps in order to find out what happened to him. To this end, I require the services of ponies of courage and skill to assist me. The pay is B2500 each for the expedition, and an extra B500 if my mission is successful, and we do in fact discover my father's fate. I have reserved a table for four at Le Grand Cafe in the Noble quarter for eight pm, where we may discuss the specifics of the job, and your participation in it. Please ensure that you and your companions are suitably groomed, attired and sober. Prince Blueblood, 53rd Duke of Canter, Protector of the Princesses and Defender of the Weak."

Thank you! That was exactly the kind of thing I was hoping for.

Um... this is going to make my job harder. I was expecting reports with more in the way of deatils about their more recent doings, specifically the expeditions they'd been on. When Blueblood reads those reports, this is the thumbnail description he's going to take away. Firewalker - A once capable, but apparently washed out REA officer. Dunder - A capable swordspony but a hot head, and unlikely to be at all reliable. Muggo - A barkeep and average pony. There's nothing in there about their ability to take part in the sort of expedition he's planning, and it's already been established that they are clearly amateurs who came across the journal by accident and have never been anywhere near the scene where anything in it actually happened, so it's not like they have any special knowledge that will help him in his quest. He's going outside his comfort zone already. Why would he decide to take these three ponies rather than hiring some professionals with a record of experience? I'm not ragging on your characters, but I have to play Blueblood as he would act, and so far, I can't see a reason he'd choose your characters over anypony else. I want this RP to go ahead, but I can't see how to get it back on the rails. There has to be some compelling reason for him to take this group with him. It can't be that they initially get on, as the conflict between Blueblood and the three common ponies is explicitly stated in the title of the RP, and that is where a lot of the humour and character development will come from. I can't think of anything, and I invite suggestions as to what to do. Please.

I suggest you guys get set up for the next day. I'm pushing through the background stuff that needs to be set up as afst as possible, but I'll need at ;east one more post to get things seet up for the next meeting. Plus, I'm having great difficulty being suitably obnoxious. I need to find a way to crank up Blueblood's jerk credentials a bit. He was entirely too reasonable in that last meeting.

(OOC: It's okay, I'm just having a hard time putting this together.) When Blueblood woke up the next morning, he had a firm resolve in mind. He would do this! Typically, he knew he should have had some lucid dream sequence full of portent and symbolism, but he didn't dream, and hadn't since he was a colt, or rather since he'd found out he was the new Duke. A noble couldn't afford to dream, he had to stay focussed on real things, like social status and being seen at the right places. Fortunately, in this case he could turn his mothers words back on her. The journal was about as real as it was possible to be, and he would brave any hardship, even his mother's displeasure, to find out what really happened. An expedition would cost tens of thousands of bits to outfit, but he would find the money somehow. An outsider would have figured that to be trivial, he was after all a member of the Royal family, but that didn't necessarily translate into bits. His status as Duke gave him access to Palace resources, but that was things in the nature of food, housing, sevices and transport. The only actual money was from his modest civil list stipend. Likewise his family estates were worth hundreds, even thousands of times the cost of such an expedition, but although he was the Duke and head of the family, his mother actually controlled the full income, and his own allowance was only a fraction of it. Of course he'd never had a problem convincing her to provide additional monies for anything he needed to get ahead in the social scene, but the chances of her giving him the money for this was about the same as his great aunt bringing the sun up in the west by mistake. By his rough calculations, it would cost more than his combined income from both sources for a year to do the thing properly. He would have to borrow the money from a lender. At least his credit should be good. He would also have to find out more about those pegasi that brought him the journal. An expedition needed guides and bearers after all. That, the palace could provide. He would see to it immediately... after his gym session, morning bath, a spot of breakfast, his pedicure and mane-dressers appointment... (OOC: Could you each provide a quick sketch of your character backgrounds, the sort of thing he'd read in a report.)

Since Cloudius had not chased off after the tiara and instead stayed to help Sweetie Belle, the cloud pad didn't dissolve. However, when she started to move, he stayed with her. As they followed the others he saw Zecora arrive, and then the chimera. "Oh come on!" He exclaimed, then said to Sweetie Belle, "Don't suppose your talent is creature hunting?"

Blueblood headed straight back to Buckingham palace, desire to stay and enjoy the open day overcome by an burning eagerness to read his father's lost journal. He went up to the Ducal suite immediately, and ordered a light tea to be brought up while he changed into a dressing gown. With food to horn, and a comfortable lounger to lay on, he was ready to begin. The tea remained untouched as he read through the pages, utterly engrossed in his fathers notes. It was all here, the researches that had led him to believe a pre-Ponylithic civilisation had one existed in the south of Uyanazi. The original sources were all third or fouth hoof, pre-Alicorn era codexes that referenced earlier writings from before the great Windigo migration, which in turn told of legends about visitors from the far south, not zebra, not even equine, though their exact nature wasn't described. There were cross references to cave paintings found in the Northern steppes, that showed Uyanazi creatures, including zebra. Thaumic dating had shown they were painted from long before any-pony, or any other creature could have travelled across the Quagga strait. Any creature that was known to modern pony-kind. They generally surrounded a central figure that was shown only as a glowing oval. The rest was more fragmented, a dozen different clues that his father had found during his previous adventures that taken together formed a map... no it was too vague to be considered a map, just a set of landmarks that if followed might lead... somewhere. It was maddeningly vague, like a gossamer thread that would snap if tugged too hard, but one of the few solid reference points was the Asubuhi mountains. Blueblood stopped at this point to consult his own extensive library, admittedly one he'd inherited as part of the Ducal rooms at the palace, but added to over the years by purchases of his own. For that matter his father probably used the same library during his researches. His great aunts did their thing, and his only reaction was to trigger a light spell, a radiant ball that hovered above the tip of his horn, illuminating his immediate work area. His own research confirmed that his father had certainly had something to go on, but did not help refine it. He tore (figuratively) into the section of the journal that detailed the expedition itself. It began from the north of Uyanazi, where his chartered air-ship had dropped the expedition. As to why he hadn't gone much further in it, without the support network that covered the great air-ship routes of Equestria, the range of even the best air-ship was limited. Add to that the lack of knowledge of the air-currents and conditions, and you understood why he'd preferred to continue by chariot. It told of his progress down the east side of the Asabuhi mountains, and the travails they'd undergone. The Hodari tribe had been one of the tribes they'd visited with, and proved to be hospitable and friendly. They'd resupplied his expedition, and sent a couple of thier own as guides. The journal continued, ltelling of some strange things they'd seen as they headed further south, then stopped without notice. Blueblood double checked, but there was nothing more. The last entry described a hard day of travel, but nothing unusual for once, and then nothing more. There was reference to a 'flying mountain' as the next landmark, but no further explanation. Blueblood finally came up for air, and noticed that it was dark, the moon well up, and that his tea was ruined. He rang down to the kitchens for a replacement, but most of his mind was given duriously to wonder. The journal had poesd more mysteries than it solved. How did the journal get back to the Hodari villiage? What prevented his father making any further entries? What was this 'flying mountain'? not a cloud city, so far from any pegasus... He wanted to find the answers for himself... Most of his thoughts were horrified at that realisation. Leave Canterlot? Actually subject himself to the danger and hardships of a long journey and the lack of anything but the most basic of grooming facilities? Exert himself and sweat like some common farm--pony under the blazing sun his aunt provided Uyanazi? His mother would be utterly opposed. This was exactly the soert of thing she'd spent years teaching him that a noble did not do. But a small part of him, the part that still thrilled at entering the Explorer's club and reading his father's journals, was emboldened by his recent actions and fought back. He collapsed into bed but sleep would not come as his body twisted and turned, and his mind wrestled with the idea. What would ponies say? How could he outfit an expedition, even if he was going to? What was he even going to wear...

We're still in Canterlot. I don't see any need to start a new thread until we move somewhere else. Once again, I'm waiting on other people. I will do a post for Blueblood reading the book and what he finds out when other people have had their say. As far as I'm concerned, this chapter doesn't finish until the expedition is agreed and Blueblood decides to go on it. Then we can start a thread on an Uyanazi bound air-ship, or jsut skip to Uyanazi.

We surely have room for one more, if we need it. The big thing is people being willing to stick it for the long haul.

If you can find a way to bring in your character... what is your character, and why woul;d he be an asset on an expedition into the hinterlands of Uyanazi?

So is Blueblood. I forsee comedy gold here. What? Like a dragon-ball character, I'm just sayin'

Blueblood was intrigued by Firewalkers addition to the book's provenance, interested in Muggo's suggestion, and utterly grossed out by Dunder. He gave a shudder. Well what could he expect from a common pony? "I shall peruse the journal, and see if it sheds further light on what happened to my father. While this speculation is all very well, it is just that." He put the book in his saddle bag. The big earth pony... he hadn't actually found out the other two's names, unless Dunder was the name of the dopy looking pegasus with the bodily fluid fixation, not that he particularly wanted to... anyway, the big one had suggested they might be willing to go on an expedition to find out more information. Obviously, Blueblood himself wouldn't be able to, but the idea had some merit if there was anything to find. "I shall contact you, Miss Firewalker, if I have further need of your services. You have an address here in Canterlot I can send word to? Your friend's suggestion that an expedition might find nout more is not without merit. Your other friend's suggestion that drooling in other people's drinks is anything other than gross and uncouth, is. For now I shall leave you, and your friend can slobber to his heart's content." With that he turned and left.

Waiting for Dunder to post. You know, maybe I was too hasty. I do try to come on to post once a day, and know how one person not posting in a timely manner can stall a whole RP. Shall we modify the process? While retaining post order as is, if no-one posts for two consecutive days, they lose their turn. That way we can keep thisd bad boy moving.

I can bring Blueblood along to sneer at ponies. However, considering his diet, he may not want common fare, especially donuts.

Oddly enough, the white unicorn looked downcast at the end of their tale, but another three hundred bits landed on the table in front of them. "I... see. My father's last expedition was to Uyanazi, he hoped to explore beyond the northern savannah, deep into the southern jungles. There are rumours of a pre-Ponylithic civilisation, the remains of one at least..." He realised he was sounding too enthusiastic for a dignified noble and cut his monologue. "I had hoped your story could shed light on what had happened to him, but instead it just produces another mystery. I understand there is a market for Punda Milla artefacts, so I can see why they might be worth stealing, but I have no idea how my father's journal got in them. A dead end." He looked dissapointed. Then he realsied that he was once again letting too much emotion show and cranked his upper lip stiff again. "Obviously, I would want to know what happened. I am, after all, one of the most important nobles in Canterlot, and to have such a mystery hanging over my family is not good for our social standing. Maybe the notebook itself might provide some clues."