Stainless Steel Fox

I've been mooting Horeseshoes of the zephyr, which are pretty much 'horse shoes enchanted with a permanent cloud hoof spell.' elsewhere. But I've been refused by the mods in the 'What needs to stop' thread. They don't want non-pegasi in the air. I'm going to keep pushing though. I'd love to help drive plot, but my character is just a student. We need to have someone who is willing to be GM, and it should really be one of the instructors. I hoped Cloudius could drive things, I was doing my best in the old thread to connect with other team members, but all I did was stand around waiting for the instructors to tell me to do something.

I'm waiting for some sort of notification too.

You don't have to do _just_ relationship RPs. I'm currently involved in a couple that have a story-line. A group of foal friends have built an air-ship out of scrap wood and a cloud and are tooling around playing at being air-pirates looking for adventure. In another, Prince Blueblood is getting a 'sharp' lesson in jousting and not being such a jerk. Or Friends in the Clouds, where a group of pegasi stopped a raging thundercloud that had become aware and was storming down on Cloudsdale.

Well, I've put together a non-canon one for Canterlot that is for all the ponies who don't go to Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, 'Miss Teak's Academy for Gentle-ponies', across between a British public boarding school from the early 20th century and a Japanese High school in feel. Despite the name it takes non-pony students, and is both co-ed and has a mix of boarders and day students, so a character could be Canterlot based, or come from anywhere in Equestria. I created it as a primary RP setting for Clawee, my griffon character. Her brother is at Flight Camp in Cloudsdale.

"Well, at least she's provided you with some good advice." He looked over at the busy unicorn, then back at the littler version in front of him. "I can quite understand you forgetting in the excitement of the moment, especially if you haven't had much practice." She was after all looking after him, a Prince, and that would be enough to turn the head of any-pony. He poured out some more tea and carefully added milk. Hmm... slightly cool. His horn glowed briefly as he applied another minor charm that was most definitely not a spell for heating water when camping and it was too wet to start a fire, no matter what it looked like. Blueblood reassessed his initial estimate. So they were an accessory, not a corrective aid, and it was switching between them that made her dizzy. "Hmm... I see. Slavishly copying some-pony else's style is a common beginner's mistake. Ultimately, you should develop one of your own." However, once again he felt he could understand. He thought about the journal that sat in his breast pocket right now, his father's record of all his expeditions he'd been on, and the most important thing he'd been able to save when his mother had removed everything else. Maybe it was wrong of him, but his father was a Duke, and it was about the only heirloom he had left of his father. And if he occasionally took it out at night and read it by firefly lantern light when no-pony could see, that was no-pony's business but his own. She clearly idolised her sister, however mistakenly, so it behoved him to find a compromise. "Hmm... For the moment, maybe if you wore them up on your forehead, held back by your horn. As long as you don't actually use them you can see normally, but you would be wearing them." He adjusted the set of the glasses. "There... that should do it." She was prancing in place, already putting his advice to good use. Time to see if she could make use of the rest of it. She was clearly looking to the other customers, eager to discharge her duties, but clearly unwilling to leave him. Well, that went without saying. "No, I have my most excellent tea, and a suitable cushion. Go, attend to your other duties." He said graciously, with a wave of his hoof. "Let us see if you can apply what you've learned." (OOC: I still think setting Sweetie Belle on Blueblood probably contravines some sort of Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty. I am having so much fun with this! )

Prince Blueblood arrived, and bowed his head gracefully. "My liege. Master Fancy Pants and Miss Fluer de Lys. So good to see you here." Every word was carefully chosen, as was the order of social ranking. Princess Celestia might be his great aunt many times removed, but presuming on the relationship until she gave him specific permission by calling him nephew would be gauche. Similarly Princess Celestia was too far the other way. It was the formal title every-pony used, and he was not every-pony. Hwever, as Duke of Canter he was her liege pony, and using that title drew attention to his own, and the relationship between them without shouting it out. Fancy Pants' social standing made him the obvious next choice, and that left Miss De Lys at the tail end. Not that she didn't have a very nice tail end, but once again, gawking would be a social faux pas. Not that plenty of other stallions in the room weren't admiring it instead of the art works.

Some of you may have heard of the young boy. one Flint who was rather impressed with a weatherman Albert Ramon who visited his school and wrote him a nice thank you letter. http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/893096-more-awesome-than-a-monkey-in-a-bacon-tuxedo-childs-letter-goes-viral "In fulsome praise, Flint said Ramon was 'more awesome than a monkey wearing a tuxedo made out of bacon riding a cyborg unicorn with a lightsaber for the horn on the tip of a space shuttle closing in on Mars, while ingulfed in flames'. Flint added: 'And in case you didn't know that's pretty dang sweet.'" I thought it was pretty dang sweet too. Considering that this is probably the biggest collection of people who draw unicorns that I know of, I thought some-pony might be able to do something with it. I suck at art, I suck so hard, you could use me as an industrial vacuum cleaner, as any-pony who's seen my Clawee character image will be able to testify. But I have this mental image of Future Twilight with cyborg parts in the manner of Thirty Thirty from Bravestarr, with the aforementioned lightsaber horn, with Spike in a monkey costume and the eponymous bacon tuxedo riding her the way he normally does. Would any-pony be willing to try and pull it off, as this image is too awesome not to be drawn. Or has anyone seen something like it? I know our vast herd reacts quickly to new memes, and while it's not MLP, it must be of interest to those who draw unicorns. Also, go check out the Equestroids crossover/free-for-all RP idea I mooted some time ago. There you could _play_ a cyborg unicorn with a lightsaber horn. I'd love to run the setting, but I'd be just the GM. I'd be running it for the benefit of the players. http://www.canterlot.com/topic/4847-equestroids-cybernetic-steeds/page__fromsearch__1

Luna. Luna is the one pony I would truly love to see more of. (Not like that, you hentais!)

(OOC: I just have this mental image of Sweetie Belle in the bored pose from Sisterhooves Social.) Blueblood watched, someowhat bemused as he sipped his tea. The filly was not yet properly trained, but eager to please, and hopefully willing to learn. You sometimes got the same thing with the newer maids at the Palace. If her sister expected her to assist in the shop, she should have done a better job of teaching her. His opinion of Rarity sunk lower as he saw how the girl had trouble with her glasses. Surely her sister or her parents could afford ones that fitted, had the right prescription, and for that matter, the style was utterly wrong for her face. Even a town as out in the sticks as this one should have an optician. He winced slightly as it became clear just how badly she needed her glasses, when she tripped coming back. His horn glowed at the last second, cushioning her fall, equally motivated by possible damage to the pillow, and to the filly herself. This meant his mind was no longer on the cup, and deprived of it's support, cup and saucer fell. He barely switched back his attention and his magic to it afterwards in time to stop it smashing on the floor and splattering tea and pottery shards over him. The pillow slid across the floor to arrive right behind him, and he sat down. A good choice, not a thick pillow, but one soft enough to provide comfort, while low enough to give good posture. Considering the handicap she was under, he was surprised she'd done as well as he had this far. Well, it wasn't like he didn't know about doing your best to live up to family expectations. Nothing for it but to do the job her sister should have. His horn glowed as his telekinesis helped her gently back up. "Are you unhurt, young lady?" he asked, genuine concern in his voice. "While acting quickly is a virtue when serving people, there is no need to gallop about. As my mother always said, stampedes are for cattle. A fast walk or a dignified trot is the highest speed you should use when in the company of high society. Moving faster than that implies you're flustered, even distressed, and will impress no-pony. You might try some simple dressage exercises, such as walking with a book balanced on your head. That would help you to practice your poise, and how to maintain a dignified posture. Though I don't suppose it's really your fault, I would have thought some-pony..." He frowned at Rarity. "... Would have made sure you knew that, and had a set of glasses that fitted, rather than hand me downs."

As a fursuiter, I resent that remark. Cosplaying does not mean you are automatically a sexual deviant. I think I made a rather impasioned post on this earlier. I agree that the more extreme aspects of furry fandom were the ones that were played up by the media, but fursuiters, rather than being the sick monsters you claim, got splattered with more unwarranted crap than anyone. We're not the offenders, we're the worst offended against.

Born in 1972. So you're not the only one.

Tried to get this on to Equestria Daily and got knocked back. I was told to get some feed back and resubmit, but basically the RP threads have been soaking up all my free time. If ponies could read and review, I'd be very grateful. I'll put up my response from the EqD pre-reader later for reference, but for now on to the story... What would you do, and where would you go to find your Cutie Mark? An ancient book and a botched ritual takes three fillies further than they ever imagined... and into the Players Handbook. But this isn't Humans and Horses and there's no rerolls allowed. Cutie mark Adventurers (All Chapters)

I know what you mean, Tthings like Cerina Chronicles and Training Tails have exploded (twice ) to their present unlikely lengths, and neither of them i anywhere near finished. As for the actual mechanics of the crown, you could have something like the Doctor's Garden of Ancestral Memory from The Authority super-hero comic. The Doctor is the Earth's most powerful shaman, and every time one dies, he's replaced by another, who is as powerful as all the previous Doctors put together. The Garden of Ancestral Memory is where the souls of past Doctors go when they die, and the current Doctor can visit it to get advice from his predecessors. Althernatively, it could be more like the Egg of the Pheonix from Robert A Heinlein's Glory Road. The Egg is actually a cybernetic device, a super-computer memory that is linked to the Empress or Emperor. Effectively, it becomes a part of their mind and memories so they have access to all the processing power and knowledge of a super-computer linked to the intuition and creativity of a human mind. However, since it is a part of their mind, they leave an imprint on it, so each one also has access to the mind and memories of every previous Emperor and Empress, though their own consiousness still dominates. The Archchancelor's hat (the original one) from the Discworld books is similar, but in that case it's more of a happy accident and a lot less controllable. What you'd really have to decide is, does the crown simply store a copy of the memories, power and experiences of it's users, or do the actual souls of the previous Celestias fuse with it when they die? Can the Twilight Princess (sorry ) hold conversations with them, or are their memories effectively her own, and able to be experienced as such? Either would make for an interesting story.

The question is, do you want it to be more than a few chapters? Tell the story you think needs to be told, and hang the length. Also, I've always thought there was some sort of clone-appearance spell on the guards armour. Your idea extends it, though I'd assume the effect is less complete since they presumably have home lives. I'd say the guards armour is more like an separate AI helper rather than becoming a part of their core consiousness.

Now that is interesting. Celestia as an ideal, not a specific pony.

What I'm going for with Miss Teak's Academy is a cross between one of those early 20th century British boarding schools so beloved of children's authors of the time, and a anime style Japanese High school (not an American one). Uniforms, fairly strict discipline, a lot of school spirit, home-rooms, bullies to be beaten, tuck shops and school sports. Not sure I should have houses, which I feel are needlessly devisive, but I suspect there's competition between classes in the same year. There will be no secret laboratories, groups of school fillies with secret identies as sailor suited super-heroines, monster attacks, dueling clubs that decide the fate of the world, giant pony shaped robots, vampires, and no more magic or super-powers than would be natural for a school populated by teenaged earth-ponies, unicorns, pegasi and one griffon. Should I expand that to goats and donkeys as well? I don't like to be thought of as racist. If I do do a school with all of the above, it will be in the Free-for-all RP section.

"Ah! You took your time over it..." Prince Blueblood, said, then lifted the teapot with a deft use of his horn and poured himself a cup. A spot of milk, and he brought it up to his lips... His eyes widened slightly and he swallowed. Bringing the cup from his lips he said, "... but I can see why! This is excellent! How did you know I like my tea sweetened with honey? RFirst blossom by the taste? And something else... there's a deeper sweetness... ah, sugar? I would never of thought of that, but it does work to bring out the undertones off the tea rather well. My favourtie Unyazi blend too, and not too heavily steeped. Some-ponies seem to brew to destruction, but making the flavour too intense by stewing it destroys the balance." He took another appreciative sip. "But this is just right. It's good to find an appreciation of fine tea in one so young." He finished his cup, and poured another. "I would have liked my cushion beforehand though."

I've already made my intitial set up post on the Foothills sub-forum. Check it out and see what you think. The point is this isn't just some passing landmark like a shop I stop to buy supplies at. This is going to be the setting for the entire thread, if I can get any-pony to play along.

The city of Canterlot spread out beyond and behind the imposing spire of rock that the castle and old city was built into, spilling onto the lesser alps and gentler hills that made up the nmountain range behind it. It was on one of these lesser dales that Miss Teak's Academy for Gentle-ponies spread itself, the main school building a big edifice in neo-classical style with lesser buildings depending off it, such as an indoor pool and student dorms. Surrounding it was broad set of playing fields and gardens, and surrounding that was a wall. It was not the most exclusive of educational establishments, catering to both day students from the Canterlot area and boarders from other parts of Equestria, but it considered itself a place of learning for the better class, or at least better funded of families. A number of the great and god, or at least well finanxced and well connected sent their young there to gte them out of the house and possibly even learn something. This was a typical sunny Canterlot day, and the day students were arriving, some by private coaches or even a few flying chariots. A few pegasi headed in on their own two wings. All were wearing the burgundy blazer, white shirt/blouse and crimson cravat style tie that was the school uniform. From well above the madding herd, another figure flew, onserving the layout of the school, it's arriving pupils, and it's open areas. Making a decision, she gave a shrill shriek, and stooped on the school. Miss Hollyrod was never surprised. Years of dealing with students and their antics had given her an level of aplomb a stone statue would be pressed to match. However, she might have privately admitted to being slightly disconcerted when a griffon dropped out of the sky and landed on the grass of the lawn just inside and to one side of the main gate. She slid her pencil into the tight bun her mane was bound into and levitated her clipboard into a custom pocket in her jacket. "Excuse me!" she called, turning to face the ineterloper. "Why, what have you done?" The griffon asked. It... she from the voice and eyleashes was an unusual specimen, rather than having the combination of eagle and lion features, this one looked as if it's parents had been a seagul and a Siberian tiger. The school saddlebag satchel she was carrying under one wing was rathwer lost there, as she was also almost as big as the blue unicorn who as well as being in charge of discipline, also taught science, as shown by her ruler and beaker cutie mark. "What? No... it's what you've done!" Miss Hollyrod exclaimed. "This is private property, a school, not some landing area for tired griffons." "Well that's alright then." The griffon smiled brightly, and with an effortles leap and beat of her wings, sailed off the grass, over the ornamental border and onto the paved road that led to the main entrance. "I'm not at all tired, and if this school is Miss Teak's Academy, then this is where I'm supposed to be. The names Clawee, and I'm starting here today." "But your a... a..." "Griffon." Clawee nodded, "I've been one all my life. However, legally at least I'm a pegasus and I've got the papers to prove it." Miss Hollyrod hauled out her clipboard and started leafing through her notes. "There is a pegasus supposed to be starting here today, but the name is down as Chloe." "That's always happening. My family had me by adoption and the paperwork got a bit confused." The griffon sighed then brightened up. "This is the first time I've gone to a proper school and I'm really looking forwards to it!" "Well why aren't you in uniform?" The blue unicorn asked. "Well, I was flying here, and I didn't want to get it messed up. That's why I got here early so I could go change." Miss Hollyrod decided that she wanted to get at least something out of this meeting. "Well you shouldn't have landed on the grass. It's not for walking on." The griffon looked abashed. "Gosh, I'm sorry, but I didn't just want to land in the middle of the pavement and scare the wits out of any-pony." For a flesh rending predator the griffon was quite considerate. She looked so apologetic that Miss Hollyrod couldn't find the heart to give her a demerit. "Well now you know. I suggeste you get changed and go on up to the headmistress's office to get your paperwork sorted out." "Okay!" Clawee brightened up and moved off with a jaunty stride, heading for the school entrance. (OOC: Since no-one nay-sayed a Canterlot school based RP, here it is. I'm looking for other Canterlot fillies and foals to fill in a class. If any adult ponies need a teaching job, that's fine too.)

(OOC: I was having breakfast as i caught up on this thread, and when I saw Rarities response I nearly sprayed tea all over the keyboard. I'm still cackling evilly. It's fantastic. It is so in keeping with the show. This is going to be awesome, no matter how it plays out.) Blueblood smiled. At last, some-pony who acted with due deference to his status. It was quite clear where all the charm and manners had gone in _this_ family. Though it had been this Rarity who'd told her to do everything to make him comfortable. Maybe she wasn't the complete harridan he'd first assumed. "Why thank you. A cushion would be most agreeable, and maybe a spot of tea. As for the biscuits, I'm sure they are delicious, but I am on a strict diet. One must keep one's figure in tip-top shape, you know. As the only living relative of the Princesses, my appearance reflects upon them, so I must be immaculate at all times." He looked over at rarity, and back to Sweetie Belle. "If you don't mind me asking, what is your relationship to Miss Rarity?"

Oops, I kind of failed to explain myself. Yes, Princess Celestia should have stayed as is controlling the sun. It was only the moon powers she should have devolved to the unicorns. As for being unbalanced, the pegasi and earth ponies still have their old tasks, it's only the unicorns who were dispossessed of their function. This would actually gotowards bringing things back into balance.

Here's a question to set the griffon among the parasprites. Was Princess Celestia's assumption of control over the night as illegal as Nightmare Moon's attempt to interfere in the running of the day. Normally this wouldn't be a question, as the short answer is 'who else could do the job?'.The answer, the unicorns of Equestria. We are told in Hearth's Warming Eve that beofere the alicorns took over the job, the unicorns raised the sun and moon in concert. Surely, upon her sister becoming incapable of doing the job, Princess Celestia should have ceeded the control of the night back to the unicorns. At most, she should have been allowed a degree of oversight until it became clear that they were doing the job right. Even if the unicorns had forgotten how, Princess Celestia should only have had control of the moon for a single generation while the next generation relearned the skill. This could be a possible argument for those Unicorn Supremacists I mooted as villians. I'm no fan of Trollestia, Molestia, or Celestia the Tyrant who keeps her sister locked up in a dungeon, but this is an interesting question.

New Thundercats is definitely worth a look. The animation, music and the whole world building aspect is very well done. Third Earth really feels fantastic. Some of the actual episode plots, the filler ones rather than the ones that actually advance the plot, are a bit shaky, but even they have wonderfully creative ideas. The characters really do have character, and not bland cookie cutter characters. Also there is character development, though some of the earilest bits are a bit choppy. In the second episode Liono learns to not charge headlong into a fight, and in the next episode he's urged to sieze the day and do exactly that. It is a serial, and the better for it. Still it's well worth watching. Talking about Bravestarr in the other thread has reminded me, I would love to see a Bravestarr reboot. Out of all the 80's cartoons, that would be my personal choice. While the focus would still be New Texas, do more off-world episodes, and flesh out the secondary characters. I would love to see Equestron,if it still exists, and give Thirty Thirty more chance to develop into his own character. Syndication limited character development, as it does with all cartoons designed for syndication. I mean, how hard is it to show the episodes of a cartoon in order? Series like Outlaw Star and Coyote Ragtime Show prove you can do a space western. Though I agree, Pirates of Dark Water _deserved_ an ending. And of course I would love to see season 3 of Sonic Sat AM. Tails was finally going to get some awesome of his own. There is a fan comic trying to do it. Well it would _have_ to be to take the level of enchantment it has. I'd say it has at leat +3 to both attack and damage rolls... to my emotions and my wallet.

Maybe this would go better in the proposed Lore section, but I'll put it here forst as it's mainly about something in my character's backstory I need to have okayed. I know the real world explanation, certain TV executives believe American kids are too thick to know what a Duke is, but in universe it's a puzzler. After all, if his aunts are Princesses, he should be a Duke, or Grand Duke at best. Here's my explanation, and the one I'll use in game with the Moods permission. It contradicts nothing in canon as far as I can see. Between the defeat of Discord and the rise of Nightmare Moon, there was a period where Equestria was broken up into smaller Duchies and Principalities, the Duchy of Canter, comprising Canterlot and it's surrounding towns and villages, being one of them. Even after his defeat, Discord left his mark by having discorded and divided pony-kind. There is canon evidence for multiple prinicpalities in Equestria at one time in 'Hearts and Hooves Day', where we see in the book with the love potion pictures of an earth pony prince and princess who were going to get married, which suggests two different families forming an alliance. It's also stated that they ruled directly, hence principalities. The division was not along racial lines, but geographical, and there was none of the hate that drew the Windigoes behind it, but that didn't stop the various tiny nations squabbling like siblings, or rather the Princes and Dukes and Duchesses and so forth doing so. One thing that kept things from getting out of hand were the two alicorns, Celestia and Luna. Not only were they a symbol of all three races combined, they could strut some serious power. Here's where I have to talk fast. I'm sure the players of the Princesses have their own ideas. My own personal feeling is that they were morttal ponies who ascended, possibly with the help of the Elemenrts of Harmony, to becoming alicorns in order to defeat Discord. Whatever origin you choose, they had to have considered the first Blueblood, Duke of Canter as their cousin. Hence the line ending in our current beloved Duke. They themselves may have had noble titiles, but they had little or no lands to go with them. Whether there was ever a King and Queen of Equestria is another matter for debate, but the idea is that none of the many nobles would consider letting one of the others declare himself King or Queen of all Equestria, not even one of the alicorns. But the country needed it. In case your wondering, the upper end generic noble ranks are: Emperor/Empress King/Queen Prince/Princess Grand Duke/Grand Duchess Duke/Duchess. A conclave of nobles decided that the sun and moon could be considered their lands, and gave them a new title Grand Princess, sandwiched in between Queen and Princess. They could accept suzerainty by higher status nobles where they wouldn't accept outright sovereignty by them. The Grand Princesses stayed with their cousin and his descendants, which is where Protector of the Princesses comes from. Remnant vassal states that lasted till the present day are Itaily and Germaney. Celestia's full title would be Grand Princess of the Sun, and Luna's grand Princess of the Moon. However the term has fallen into disuse as Celestia probably spent the thousand years after banishing Luna in reducing the old duchies and states to mere postal districts. The key point is the difference betwen rank and title. Blueblood's title is Duke, but as his aunts (great) are Grand Princesses, so his rank is one step lower, which also makes him a Prince through his relationship to the Grand Princesses. His mother found this out and pushed him to use it. Mystery solved.

(OOC: Sweetie Belle, stop being so adorable!) "Nonsense, dear," Rarity said in a tone that was polite but masked some fierceness. "You were here first, so you will be served first. Anypony else will just have to wait should they have business here. If they don't like it, they can leave. Anything else would just be rude of me," she she gave a small huff, but smiled warmly at the fisherpony. "And rudeness is something I have little tolerance for." Blueblood was incensed. That... that... commoner... was dictating terms to him? And somehow managing to claim _he_ was the rude one? This was worse than cakes, this was... he was so infuriated he could even think of a word, but whatever the word was, this was a very, very bad case of it! The whole point of queues and appointments was being able to use his status to ignore them! He had half a mind to leave (some ponies might have said this would have been devoting his entire brain-power to the task) but one thing stopped him. That was what she clearly wanted him to do. Well she wasn't going to get rid of him that easily. He'd come all this way, subjected himself to the privations of a flying chariot and the dirt and dust of this commonplace little hamlet in order to get an outfit, and by his sainted great aunt, he was not leaving without one! He would show the true perseverance and dedication of his line, and endure the indignity. But the stalionware had better be utterly spectacular. The only outward sign of his struggle was a tightening of the lips. Then the little filly came over to him. "Good morning, I am afraid the fabulista, Rarity, is busy with another customer at the moment. Would you like to wait, or would you like to make an appointment?" Even he couldn't help but be charmed by the uttterly adorable filly, and a well spoken one too. The way she was acting so grown up only added to her cuteness. Surely she was not this Rarity's daughter, though the family resemblance was strong. He calmed himself, whatever his disagreements with the elder, he had no issues with this younger filly. He schooled his features into his most charming expression, which was very, and sighed theatrically. "Thank you young lady. I am Prince Blueblood, and though I am not normally accustomed to waiting, I will wait. I was told by Hoity Toity that Rarity could provide the finest of custom attire. I, of course, require only the very finest. I do hope he wasn't exagerating her skills. I would hate to return to Canterlot empty hooved."