CherryRie

Peanut rubbed her chin ponderously, an action lifted cleanly from the ‘things what I learnt from watching Daddy’ book of child behaviour.

“I dun’know.” The filly mumbled to the mustard coloured unicorn, “Then again, maybe that’d be better then bugging them to draw a squiggle on something? And they do have nice wings, all shiny and stuff. Mine never look like that.”

As a line of ponies began to form up before the visiting celebrities, Peanut watched the succession of foals for an opening, not wanting to displace anypony wanting an autograph for the sake of a silly question.

Nearby, Apple Bloom was still struggling upright, fighting her fever for a chance to meet the stars. Seeing that the mustard coloured colt wasn’t joining the small que, Peabee nudged him and pointed at the stricken Filly.

“Hay, Snails. You think we can prop Apple Bloom up between us?”

Guiding the sicky filly between them, the three stepped up behind Haywire and Sunrise, waiting while the other two ponies got the famous flyer to sign various objects. Noticing Spitfire finishing her signature for Purple Haze, Peanut licked her lips and made sure that Apple Bloom was upright before stepping away from the group.

Quietly she waited for her chance to speak, patient but twitching restlessly. Why was she so nervous? This close up to a pony she’d only ever seen far in the distance, Snail’s susgestion didn’t seem like such a good idea. With one last glance around and butterfly’s throwing a party in her tummy, the filly bit her lip and stepped forward.

“Umm, excuse me, Miss Spitfire?” She ventured, voice squeaking slightly as the fire maned mare was putting the last touches to Haze's autograph, “My friends said I should... umm, well I mean, it was really neat watching you fly an- and I was thinking how you keep your wings all shiny and where can I learn to fly like that?”

Wings fluffing slightly across her flanks and dislodging a few stray feathers, Peanut beamed up at the older pegasus with a mix of friendly fassination and pride. Sure, that last bit had come out at such a rush that it'd barely made sence, but she had done it none the less! PeaBee had actualy ASKED somepony about flying!

Wonderful event everyone! A lot of talent has been displayed and a ruckus of fun has been had by all

Can't wait for the next one

*judgement post*

PeaBee

Citizens from far and wide had descended upon this year’s Iron Pony contest, filling the proving grounds with what seemed like half of Equestria. Athletes from every corner of Equestria prepared mentally and physically for their allotted chance at gold. Adoring fans and onlookers alike rallied around their favourite events, cheering on the contestants from the sidelines. Excitement abounds, the day had yielded such contests of speed, strength and fineness as to bring a goofy grin of awe to the face of the pinto filly that now trotted through the gathered crowds.

There had been the barrel run, cart pulling, tug of war and even an obstacle course! Peanut had particularly enjoyed the Cloud Diving; especially when that one stallion belly flopped so hard that he’d actually stayed on the surface of the lake! But now there were other things on her easily distracted mind. She was Hungry.

This may seem like something of an inane statement, until you consider the context. When an adult feels a rumbling of the tummy, they calmly look for the nearest café or scrumshious looking patch of grass. However, when a six year old feels that they are ‘more hungrier then they ever been in their whole life EVER’, their first instinct is to find the nearest adult and whine at them until food materialises.

Peanut Butter would usually be no exception to this rule, but having lost track of her parents a little while ago she was also vague aware that ‘bits’ were normally required to procure food from the ponies behind the numerous goody laden booths. In Peabee’s mind this merely meant that an extra slice of persistent drama was required, though so far the stall owners had been remarkably resilient to this normally sure fire tactic.

Thus, deftly avoiding the threat of being taken to the lost and found tent, the paint filly found herself meandering through the contest grounds in search of a pony lacking immunity to puppy-dog eyes and a pitch of whine exclusively designed to set teeth on edge.

Wafting across the bustling field on a gentle breeze, the tantalising smell of warm spongy treats caught her senses and drew the solitary foal like a siren song. Nosing her way carefully through the press of legs, the young Pegasus at last found herself stumbling into what looked like a communal picnic area. A large circular clearing played host to a long bench, set out before the queue she had inadvertently found herself at the tip of. Watching from the sidelines, dozens of ponies cheered as the last grains fell through the hour-glass and an earth pony at the far side of the table rang a large dinner bell. Two competitors slunk away from their respective tables, each sporting a heavily distended tummy and dragging the third, rather ill looking pony between them.

Glancing upwards, Peanut squinted in concentration as she tried to decipher the large banner hanging above the collection of tables. Without much schooling, the deeper meaning behind the chicken scratches eluded her, though she was fairly certain that the doodles of ponies eating cupcakes meant it was some kind of buffe area.

Noting that the end of the table was now deserted apart from a flustered looking unicorn with a clip board, the Pinto filly trotted through the last of the crowd as somepony nearby called “next competitors!”

With a flutter of displaced fuffy down, Peanut pulled herself onto the long bench and peaked at the busy adult pony over the summit of the table... Or at least she would have done, had her attention not immediately been stolen by a mountain of cakey treats dropped from the rosy aura of magic that had lifted them from behind the judge’s table. Swirly icing buns, butterfly cakes and all manner of cupcakes were piled ten hooves high , a wonderland of sprinkles and sugar.

Her gasp of surprise seemed to draw some of the judge, though the mare still seemed engrossed in her clipboard to notice that he next competitor was below the entering age.

“Name?” She asked in a firm but polite tone, eyes still fixed upon her scribbling.

Peabee snapped out of her salivations at the sudden question. “Umm, Peanut Butter?”

“Great, another ‘P’. Oh I knew I shouldn’t have written this list alphabetically." Gubbled the judge, appyling a rubber to her notes "Oh well, good luck Miss Peanut.”

A hue of rosy magic gripped a hammer from the table top.

Peanut nearly jumping out of her skin when the bell sounded, a squeak of hinges indicating the hour glass had been turned over. Two ponies who had taken up station on the other tables and had started frantically attacking the deserts on their respective platters.

“Excuse me.” Asked the filly, turning back to her own plate and peaking guiltily around the mountain at the attendant. “But what am I supposed to do?”

“Just as the sign says;” Replied the unicorn, the mare’s gaze locked on the tower unblinkingly, as though she was expecting it to escape at any moment. “Thirty minutes, as many cupcakes as you can eat.”

With a confused blink, Peanut turned her eyes back to the delicious pile and experianced a moment of crisis.

“… does that mean all these are… mine?”

“Uhuh.”

It was as though Celestia’s sun itself had parted the clouds in PeaBee’s little world, illumining the mountain of treats with a heavenly glow. With a quiet squee of delight, she vanished head first into the heap of sugary goodness.

Behind the table, the Judge ticked off the half way mark and blinked at the shuddering mound of cakes. It was getting smaller from the bottom upwards, but hadn’t collapsed yet onto the head of the nibbler. Leaning to look for her competitor, she found nothing but an empty seat speckled with a few stray feathers. Where had they gone?

Worried the pony might have fainted from sugar overload, the unicorn wandered around to the front of her stand and lifted the hem of the table cloth. Nothing there either.

Almost about to call it a ‘did not finish’, she gasped as the tower of cakes shuddered once more and emitted a muffled giggle of delight. Placing an ear to the mountain, the mare listened carefully to the munching coming from beneath the smears of icing and buns. Once again the mound shrank a little, this time clearly pulling inwards as something devoured it from the inside.

“What in Celestia’s mane??” Queried the mare as she watched as the slowly collapsing summit folded to reveal a small, speckled muzzle still chewing away.

With one more large bite that would have put a python to shame, a face covered in every colour of the rainbow emerged. Panic gripped the mare as she quickly reached in and scooped the foal from the seriously diminished pile. Her muzzle smeared in icing and mane coated with crumbs, the filly looked up at the shocked adult with a growing possessed grin. By the unicorn’s rough estimate, the filly must have eaten twice her body weight in sugar.

“What are you doing here!” Yelped the judging mare, noting that one of Peanut’s eyes was gradualy defocusing. “Where are you parents! How did you-”

“-I LIKE TURTLES!” Shrieked the filly, throwing her oversized wings in the air and knocking herself free of the adult’s grasp.

Giggling manically, the foal hit the ground running, wings buzzing with excesses of energy as she dove through the crowd of spectators. A yell of ‘Tuuuurrratles!’ faded into the distance, leaving only an expanding cloud of feathery down and confusion.

YAY! Review time! While I'm not the best person to help (thats why we have awsome RP helpstaff on hoof ) I'll give it my best and hopefuly contribute something to the character development!

Okay, lets start out by braking down what you've got so far and work from there.

Roleplay Type:World of Equestria

Name: Punky

Sex: Female

Age: Mare

Species:Unicorn

Coat Color: Neon Green

Mane/Tail/Markings Color and Style: Green and purple mix. Somewhat bushy

Eye Color: Blue

Cutie Mark: V-necked guitar

Physique: "Somewhat taller than most other her age, and is rather skinny.

Origin: Canterlot

Occupation: Musician

All pudy standard stuff in here, though I’m confused as to why you copy-pasted Rainbow’s suggestion.

The real issues come into play during the Character summery. Presently it reads more like a eulogy then a biography, all built points and soulless monologue.

All ponies strive, and we need to show how this particular character is driven.

Punky was actually a pretty above average student.

Are we saying she’s intelligent? What’s the impact of her forming a band? Are there those that feels she’s wasting her talents? Could a sense of rebellion be the original source of her foray into musical composition? An opportunity to advance our understanding of the character’s drives is being passed up on.

But in her spare time, she'd practice her guitar playing and write songs.

Did she come from a background where instoments would be just laying around the house? Come to think of it, what were he parents like?

Perhapse they didn’t encourage her, or maybe didn’t approve of such ‘brash’ instruments. Or what if they were total hippies, feeling that the rest of her education was irrelevant when she could produce such groovy tunes? Never the less, what I’m trying to convey here is ‘was it a special moment when she got her first guitar? Where did her first real six string come from and how did it change her life?

This got other students interested, and they formed a band.

Big moment here and its kinda been reduced to a single sentence. These are ponies thrown together by a single point of reference (in this case music), all of whom would have their own personalities and ambitions. Have things always been rosy between the band? What’s her relationship like with the other members? Do they take the ‘to become famous’ goal as seriously as her as they grew up?

The lead guitarist gave them their name. She was a rather Gothic pony, and had a rather dismal personality, with her music being her only outlet. The others thought Broken Rainbows sounded good, so it stuck.

Who’s this lead guitarist? Will it be another player, or just an NPC supporting Punky?

A battle of the bands was announced, and Broken Rainbows won in the final round. The prize was a record deal.

Was this battle of the bands at school? That’s what it sounds like anyway, though I doubt the record deal was something a school could afford. A record deal doesn’t sound like a star prise for a contest, unless it was huge and all the bands taking part already established and well known (in which case, how did they get to that sort of stardom in between times?). However, what could be a good prise is a one of contract to produce an album, or perhaps a free day at a professional recording studio. Here could be the ‘place where it all started’, the spark that ignited her true passion for music, revealed her cutie mark or showed her how she wanted to spend her life.

To summarise; How did this moment change her life? What makes it important to her as a character?

She enjoys being a star, but at times she wishes she wasn't so famous. She sometimes wants to walk around and not be noticed. But at the same time, she will be nice to her fans. She likes to spend time by herself, because it seems she writes songs best alone, at least as far as lyrics are concerned. The rest of the song is usually done as a collaborative effort.

We’ve gone straight from ‘band with school friends’ to ‘super stardom’ with little to nothing in-between. But here you use a key phrase; ‘She sometimes wants to walk around and not be noticed’. Is her fame getting to her? Could it be that she made a mistake in joining the band? These are questions that might be bubbling over in her little mind, worrying thoughts that while untrue can sow the seeds of self doubt.

All in all, what you have so far is a lattice, a basic idea of what you want this character to be that is awaiting the real meat to her personality. Remember, though you might be sure of what kind of pony she is, other players are ignorant of her personality, having only glimpsed it through this application.

Sadly I don’t know all the rules and regs, and to be honest I’m not the best one to ask about how to proceed next.

What you really need to do is absorb all the tips everyone has given you so far, step back and look at your app as though you’ve never read it before in your life. What would you think about this pony?

Once you’ve made any changes you think are nessery, poke one of the RP helpstaff over PM like you have asked me and get them to walk through the new additions you’ve made. Getting a fresh opinion is always a great idea as the more eyes you have looking over your work the greater the final product will be

Good luck hun, I look forward to seeing Punky in the RP threads!

(Coppied from PM convosation. Thought I may as well add this here given you've already replied Rosy )

Glancing back at her bedraggled appendages, Peabee flushed slightly and gave them an experimental flap, dislodging a small flurry of down.

“Yeah, Ma’ma usually cleans them with shampoo and Tup-an’-time to get all the oil off. I tried to wash them in the bath when I first got here, but the water just makes things worse.” She smiled, raising a hoof towards the seamless examples on the backs of the sports stars, “Dun-know what you’re supposed to do to make them all shiny like theirs.”

A plaintive yell interrupted the train of Peanut’s thoughts. A few from the friends, the class had begun to gather around a shady tree, staring up into the branches where the stranded filly was clinging.

“WOW!” Gasped the winged pinto, sounding genuinely impressed, “How did Haywire get up there??”

"Uh Peabea!” Called Sails from the gathering crowd, “Kin Ah use yer coat as a safety net if ya hold th' other end?"

Present conversation all but forgotten, the filly grabbed the long coat by one corner and swept it off the ground. Trotting over to the unicorn colt, she offered one of the four corners to Snails and called back to the other foals.

“Quick! Grab a corner each an' pull!”

Between her two friends, Peanut sat in stunned silence, at a loss in the wake of the spectacle.

Back home she had seen the performers practice over the lakes. From the ground, the troop had looked like ploughs moving through a blue field. Ever slow and methodical, they would run the same carefully paced segments over and over. Graceful perhaps, but no more then what could be accomplished by a regular pony who was quick on their hooves.

To see the whole thing though, speeded up tenfold and so close that she could feel the air tearing from their sleek forms, it was mind numbing. Speed didn’t impress the filly so much, anypony can go fast. But the precision, the breakneck whip-like movement as they barrelled through the skies as a single harmonious entity. A confusing mix of emotions welled up within the young Pegasus, awe and wonder rising alongside the feeling of displacement, as though she were missing something vital.

As the two landed with barely a brake of pace and were greeted by Cheerylee praise, the spell relinquished its grasp over Peabee and safely returned the foal to reality. Closing her agork mouth, the foal blinked for the first time since the real show had begun, rubbing a hoof across her eyes to find them damp. She didn’t remember crying, though a weight pressed heavily upon her chest as though she were about to start. No, not a weight, an absence. That same darn ‘need’ that had plagued her whenever the weather pegasi had graced the sky above Legume Fields.

Soarin still had his wings outstretched like a gymnast at the end of a particularly difficult set, every sinuous quill still in perfect condition despite what had appeared to have been a strenuous performance. Even the other few other fledglings in the class had wings that clearly received daily attention.

Tugging at the button that held her coat together, the filly wriggled until the thick waterproof slid unceremoniously to the ground, revealing in full her own aeronautical endowments. Gazing down at her steadily unfurling wings, Peanut took in the damming differences in their appearance. Despite already having a span only a few sizes shy of the wonderbolt’s own, the mottled feathers were grubby and clotted from years of ignorance. Month old down still clung to their underside, waxed in place by grease that would have kept them oiled and flight ready. No wonder other pegasi gave her such strange looks, the total lack of care must have been damningly obvious even from just a cursory glance.

Glancing between the icons of pegasus-hood and her stricken appendages, the concept of what they might still be able to achieve solidified within peanuts young mind like a solid iron brick.

“Hay, where do you reckon I can learn to use wings?” She asked aloud, an odd edge of determination cutting through the rabble,

“I got two days before Pa’ comes to pick me up, and come ursa or nightmare moon, I’m gona learn to fly before then.”

(I’ve made a few assumptions here, so if anything’s wrong, just poke me with a stick and I’ll correct them.)

Peanut hadn’t really been paying all that much attention to the actual presentation, caught up with listening to those around her rather than the guests of honour. So it was quite a surprise to her when Snails and Sunrise suddenly started wandering away. Realising Hazy hadn’t come back to her seat yet, Peanut looked around franticly as though lost, finally noticing that the teacher was corralling everypony outside for a demonstration.

With Cheerylee’s announcement, the classroom quickly begun to empty into the midday sunshine. Charged as ever, Haywire practically bounded out of the door, but was closely followed by a small herd of excitable foals. Tagging on behind Sunrise and Snails, the paint filly listened in on their conversation, tilting an ear and making an exaggerated gagging noise at the talk of ‘crushes’. Colts were a major source of cooties, everypony knew that. Yet now that they were moving into the open, Peanut really began to notice just how preoccupied her friend seemed to be. Even while talking to talking to her cootie ridden comrade, Sunrise’s gaze would drift back to the wonderbolts.

Out in the playing field, the guests were stood stretching themselves as though they’d just woken up from a nap. Muscles tensed beneath their sleek flight suits, those beneath their sinuous wings particularly defined and radiating power. Spreading their wings majestically, the duo twisted and flexed each feather in a display of graceful control, the midday sun shimmering across every vane.

Peanut ruffled her wings, shedding a small pillow’s worth of down as she did so. There have been something… distracting about the performers. Like they were each a tornado compacted down into a pony body.

She couldn’t see the point. While their talk had been bore-tastic, Peanut was fairly certain they couldn’t have slept through it, given that they’d been doing much of the talking. Putting it down to ‘a flying thing’, the little Pegasus nearly ran into the back of sunrise as the other filly suddenly change direction. Drawing herself around, PeaBee spotted their wayward friend on the grass a little distance away, now sporting a hamper full of paper and crayons.

“Thanks for saving us a spot, Hazy.” Smiled the Pegasus, colecting some paper and pencils before settling down next to her friend. “Think they’ll just be doing all the same stuff as over the lakes?”

As Sunrise joined the two, PeaBee crooked an ear at the unicorn’s slightly distant expression.

“Why are you so worried about impressing them?” She asked, innocently. “They said they’d be given autographs anyway, so its not like you'd have to be friends to get one?”

Don't forget to add QL's little brother KeyLime to that family tree XD

No worries, I'll get that sorted soon as I get home ^_^

Yes, Cracker is Acorn's younger brother. And Cracker is still single but says otherwise in the tree.

Blimy, must be quite the lony old stalion then, given that the first gen are old enough to be the Granny Smiths of the family

I'm not really sure XD

Looking at the age I made him (young stallion, pretty much a colt) it would make sense for him to be part of the latest generation. Although, if we can't fit him in, I'll make the necessary changes

I meant Xiee hun ^_^

You're still in a position to be flexable with your gen and relationships, Bann. Just pick somewhere that looks right and ask the people it effects. Also check their apps for any background info you need, you'll often find a neish of inspiration in there

Woah, Cracker Nut is married to Berry Blue? >_<

I belive you said that he was the younger brother of Acorn Seed, which would make him first gen (unless I've got the wrong end of the stick there?)

Didn't see a spouses name in his app hun, so I just left a place holder. Who is he married / mated too? The software lets me change names quite easily ^_^

So! To get around some backstory issues that crept up while I wasn't looking, Butternut I'm afraid is going to have to take one for the team and marry twice x.x Celestia bless his heart.

Brazil and Verde somehow became seporated from the family judging by Quicklime's background for her. My assumption (being that Nut's never abandon their own) is that they were asumed dead along with their mother, not returning to the family for some time.

Dose any of this work or am I sticking my hoof in my mouth?

Also; another new vertion! Forgot Cracker nut and a couple of others >.<

http://www.pdfhost.net/index.php?Action=Download&File=b72cf19ba0ff890e9937401abee4b65f

Update all!

http://www.pdfhost.net/index.php?Action=Download&File=71bd9d2b8995fd1deba4b3a2e1da4242

New Nut family herratage tree. Have a look and tell me how much I got wrong ^_^

The good news is that this vertion is SOOO much easier to edit!

edit Fuuuuu third time lucky >.,

Hmm, well loyers are basicly like sharks, couldn't we give them one of our number as tribute to apease them?

Suggestions mainly, Phil. To be honest though, I haven't heard a thing on this except 'when are we starting'.

Okay, I admit it; presently I’m regretting having tried to expand on the original concept in the first place. What can I say though, I am nerd girl with an over active imagination and a pet peeve against wasted potential.

However. I am also a student rep in the middle of her final assignments and protest action against the axing of creative arts technicians. While I am more than willing to help with concepts, corralling players and drive plot wherever I can; between RL and the fanfic I'm writing (which for the sake of my own sanity takes priority over RP) I just don't have time to run this kind of large scale game from scratch.

Don’t get me wrong, I really want to play this. It’d be a great setting with TONES of opportunity for character interaction and story lines. By the sound of things a lot of the other players here share that feeling.

But seriously? It’s starting to feel like everyone’s sat there waiting for me to write everything for them. Any idea's I've pitched have been met with single sentence affirmations or silence. I know that everyone wants to play in this thing, so why don't people chip in? Please don’t take this the wrong way, but at the end of the day you don’t expect the writers of DnD to turn up at your house to GM your games.

Okay, that’s out of my system, I’m going back downstairs to be sociably drunk.

PS; Better idea Riverhippo, I’m just going to copy paste what we talked about into this thread. It’ll so much easier. I don’t know whether anyone just wants to absorb this as cannon again, so I’ll spoiler tag it anyway just in case.

RiverHippo:

Hey Cherry. I want to help with Flight Camp. How soon will you have a stable internet connection?

CherryRie:

Morning river

Good news is that with a little bit of hocus-pocus from a friend yesterday, we've managed to get a different router working for our sky connection

Smooth as greased lightning now and it'll keep us going till the new router arrives! So, my first job is to finish this chapter for AKH (I'm only like 800 words off now) then I can turn my attention to flight camp and any other RP's that need some tlc

I do agree that we need to start afresh or at the very least start a new thread. Too much changed when the background stuff was written. It didn't help that I ended up quite disinterested when we started getting one line replies and everyone looking to me for guidance. That’s the part that urks me most to be honest, I wrote the info page as a setting for others to use. It’s like expecting the writers of Dungeons and Dragons to turn up at your house and run all your games

Anywho, what would you like to do? We could open up a training session or something? I did plan to run 'glide and slide', were the campers had to glide as far as they could before dropping onto a water-slide. I thought it could start off individually, but then set them into teams and set different rules, like they have to drop when their weakest member does, teaching them special awareness around their teammates. But after I thought about it there's probably not much room for individual interaction there.

Do you have any ideas for games? I'd love to help out if you've got something in mind

RiverHippo:

Evaluation is a pain in the flank. I'm not too excited about putting in games where characters are evaluated for their performance. It's two headaches and a hangover. However, activities that give the ponies something to do would give the players something to interact with.

We also need some sort of overall story arc. Is the ultimate goal just to teach the ponies to fly? If so, that's great. But what other stories can we make the backdrop for this scenario. Also, where is this located? In the sky, or on the ground?

I love love love love love what you've done in trying to organize the flight camp makeup. But for the purpose of the new thread, which group are we doing? It seems a possibility that all the characters are different levels maybe. Maybe we could put them all in one group, and maybe a more experienced flyer has a problem being put with the robins, but it was just a mistake in the lists and they;d have to deal with it. This kinds of stuff is what allows players to really come alive with their player.

We need enthusiastic players and a story that has grooves for people to fall in and bumps in the storyline to jump off of. We need BOTH! We can't just have on or the other. For this reason, one liners are simply not going to be acceptable. As the new thread starts, we should super-clarify in the OOC thread that one liners are not to be presented and if minimum posts lengths are not made then we will have to get Helpstaff involved. Sounds scary, but its something we gotta do.

I'd like to inform you, if you don't already know, that my character I was trying to involve is actually a unicorn. Her backstory desires a story like this that gives her a 'chance' even if failure is on its way for her. I hope that this is 'ok'.

As for Madden, I feel confident that he can bring order to the instructor side of things. A teacher who was 'new to the business' was getting a little old. Madden is a celebrity, and so flight camp is kind of a stoop down for him, but he does it for PR purposes. He'll be a fun cocky addition to the thread, even if he's just a teacher.

I don't normally like to play two characters, but this time I feel comfortable doing it, if you'll allow me.

SO this is pretty much all of my thoughts down on paper. What kinds of things would you like to do. What kinds of things are you expecting? As far as story arcing, I completely am aware that stories don't always go as planned, so whatever we end up doing needs to be fluid and flexible.

Cherry Rie:

I'm really glad you're committed to this River, it fills me with hope that the progress we've made so far may not go to waste ^^,

As mentioned in the original thread, all the present foals are in the Robins for the time being. The other teams are there if people want to run head to head campaigns at a later date.

After the incident when Fluttershy nearly plummeted to her untimely demise the flight camp was relocated to the side of a large hill overlooking the nimbus lakes. Some of the permanent buildings are real and based on solid ground, others are set up on a cloud bank that extends outward from the hill top. It is more than plausible that a none flying pony could get to the ground based areas including the robin hut and adventure playgrounds.

Not to be cynical but I'm fairly certain that Dino set this up originally to spotlight his own character. As such I’d dearly like to see it extended to more than just a test based ‘look at me!’ fest, and by the sound of things this is your aim too.

So on to Ideas! As I mentioned, the easiest thing to look at for individual activities would probably be team building exercises, learning to fly together rather then competing. There is however a really easy over arching plot we could run in the background; Flight camp is under threat of closure.

The focus of the camp (from the point of view of its staff at least) has always been to not only help foals hone their flying skills, but also have a fun place to go during the summer when they could make friends and learn essential life skills. But on the educational side, it is funded as an additional ‘summer school’ to give struggling students a boost and promote young talent.

Because of this conflict of interest, somepony on cloudsdale council began to look into the testing scores for those coming out of the camp. Though every pony seemed to be passing the flight camp, few showed any dramatic improvement. This is because the certificates that were supposed to be awarded upon a successful test, were being given out to everypony for simply completing the year, having no bearing on the actual skill of the students.

With the foals showing nowhere near the required level of improvement, it is no longer economically valid to continue funding the camp with public money. Unless they can show viable results this year, the whole camp could be looking down the gang way to the glue factory.

P.s. I’ve thought of a way around Arrow plain’s little problem; Cloud shoes! Some young foals, especially those with mixed species parents, aren’t born with the ability to walk on clouds, a condition known as ‘Soft Hoof’. For just such an eventuality, the robin hut keeps a few sets of enchanted horse shoes, permanently imbued with the cloud walking spell Twilight used. ^_^ How’s that sound?

CherryRie:

Any thoughts or plans so far River?

RiverHippo:

Yeah, sorry, I had to put this one on a backburner. To be honest, I want to help the RP with ideas, but I don't want to be OP or thread runner, because I don't want to hijack anyone's ideas, and I already have enough planning on my plate in other RP threads. So it would help me a lot if you took the lead on this one. How is your internet situation going?

Watching her friend approach the besieged stars, the pinto filly cocked her head at Cheerylee’s briefly startled expression. As the teacher hurriedly tried to dispel the mob, Peabee stood up from her desk and stepped over to Sunrise.

Perhaps she was just over reacting, but none of her parent’s letters had seemed worried or angry. Then again, it wasn’t like she could read them herself, so maybe it was Mrs Burch’s aged croaky voice that made them sound so hollow. Picking up one of the blue crayons in her teeth, Peanut looked at the unicorn expectantly.

"Do you want me to help doodle something? It’ll be quicker with two of us.”

Think she's about ready anyway, but I'll see in anyone has stuff to add before poping her on final ^^,

Opps Forgot to switch Formating off and on again

Better?

"You really think I could do that?"

There was something infectious about the unicorn’s enthusiasm and confidence. Peanut couldn’t resist the smile that crept into the edges of her features. Suddenly the filly had a questinon she despiratly wanted to ask the pegasus stars. 'what is it like to fly?' For a brief moment she could swear she was high above the family farm, the winds whipping at her mane and rushing through her feathers. Once a long time ago she had fallen off the roof of the big grain silo, the same feeling of thrilling vertigo drew her onwards now. Only the memory of her father’s face when he found her trying to practice flying did her second of fantasy abruptly end.

Letting out a long breath, the filly looked to her farmer friend. Maybe she would get it? Either way she couldn’t rightly keep this bottled much longer. The young Pegasus hadn’t seen the farmer filly for over a year, which for somepony her age may as well have been decades. Still, the eathpony knew about her aversion and its causes, Maybe she should at least tell her about the letters...

“Actually, I don’t fly,” the paint foal quietly confided to Sunrise, “Never have, never want to.”

Eyes watching the young unicorn colt as he approached the heroes of the hour, Peabee felt a small swell of confidence as she affirmed her denial. She daren’t convey her most worrying suspicions, the one thing that she couldn't quite admit even to herself.

“Something’s are just more important, like promises. Besides, no other pony in my family can or even needs to, I just want to be normal.”

Carefully the foal bit her lip and looked between her friends, old and new, “Umm, can I ask you guy’s a question? Have you ever gotten lost or something and no pony came looking for you?”

Shock froze the filly in her hooves, a single word preventing the scrambled flight that may have expediated herself away from danger. Head tiltied in confusion, her acclimated vision drew in details of the shadowy intruder’s outline. Strong features, a body that looked like hune rock yet moved as though it were silk. For some reason the word ‘Rustic’ came to mind.

“You?!?” She nickered in fevered surprise, recognition flaring across in her panicked thoughts and reducing her voice to a whisper lost among the hiss of rain "Oh Celestia, not you too."

Stood before her, stoic as the statue of the Destrider’s founder, was the same knight errant that had saved her from would be foalnappers in Filidelphia. Here, more than a hundred miles from the city from which she had fled, by chance sheltering in the same ramshackle barn from the same storm. An astronomical coincidence?

Heart beat racing, the hysterical filly franticly searched the unyielding darkness for an exit. Unable to remember the layout of her hastily chosen sanctuary, only the doors at the opposite end of the barn presented themselves in the gloom. There was no way she could out run the stallion, no chance she could take flight either, her wings screaming in agony even now.

Yet any sane mare would have bolted the instant the shadowy figure had retaliated, no matter the odds of escape. Some things were hardwired into the equine hind brain and the urge to flee when surprised was usually irresistible. But something was pushing instinct aside, demanding that she speak with her next betrayer.

Rich Tea, once her rock in an ocean of despair had been washed away like so much flotsam. Why would this supposed ‘warrior of justice’ be any different?

‘If it’s one thing you will learn, my dear, it is that every pony has their price. It’s not always something of material value, but there is always a way in, an angle, a weakness.’

No pony was incorruptible. She couldn’t trust this stranger. But she didn’t want to run either.

Feeling trapped by her own subconscious, the submissive crouch shifted by inches till her hind legs were braced, stretching her sore trembling wings aggressively. Pawing of fore hoof against the dirt broadcasted an unsure intent as she began to carefully circle the trespasser until her back was facing the awaiting doors.

“How did you find me.” Quavered the poised equine, voice shuddering with both fear and fatigue.

From the cafe it had seemed that the cart had contained only a slim number of very large crates. However, now that she was up close the Pegasus could see that there were in fact a multitude of boxes and cases. Some were small enough for an earth pony to carry by the handle, others were long and had a suggestion of gravity about them. Each was meticulously labelled with both detailed High-equestrian writing and a logo depicting the condense. The filly goggled at the array of symbols, there much have been at least one of every instrument in equestria in the back of this cart! Drums, Hoof Boards, a Piano and even-

The filly let out an audible gasp “A wing harp! Whoa I’ve not seen one of these in years!”

Down the cobbled street, the two double doors took on a golden aura as magic took them in a firm grasp. There was a gentle creak as the two gently folded at their centres to reveal the floor of a large open plan dining room, two tears of tabled foor space looked out onto both the mountain view and the stage at the far back.

“Nifty! Looks as though we’re going that way then.” she commented as Flux approached Mr Symphony.

Stepped around the outside of the cart she approached the two with an air of the ever helpful “I can’t see why not, many hooves make light work. How should we handle these? I can fly the smaller one’s in easily, but I’m not sure how to shift that piano. Do you think you’re magic could to the trick?”

Thunder rumbled across the foothills, rolling over the ramshackle barn like the snores of some slumbering elder dragon. Outside, wind and rain thrashed fruitlessly against the creaking timbers, seeking out openings or cracks through which it could slink. Long neglected doors clinging to rusted hinges and the kraal high above missing its trapdoor altogether, exposing the whole northern end of the barn to the ravaging elements. Thankfully for the occupant, the stalls closer to the back remained dry, especially near the raised hayloft beneath which the stallion now slept comfortably.

Beyond the sheltering walls the storm raged on, a distant flash of lightning briefly chasing away the darkness. Amidst the geometrical shadows of sturdy timbers, a faint silhouette became distinct in the gloom of the hayloft, a sinuous anomaly among the regular lines of the old building. Another bout of lighting flickered through the room, the inconsistency now balancing among the high rafters, staring down at the intruder with Sanguine eyes.

Calm settled as the tempest drew breath, the hiss of rain joined by a quiet flutter of wings and heavy breathing. Another flicker of far off lightning revealed only timber where once the figure had stood, the thunder bringing with it the scrape of metal on stone.

The weary traveler stirred in his slumber as something cold brushed against his damp shoulder. Moments passed as he slipped below the tide of fatigue, interrupted once again by the sensation’s insistent return. Absentmindedly the stallion batted a hoof across his withers, meeting something unexpected. Something hard. Something Iron.

Senses crystallized. Among the howling wind was the sound of rasping breath, the smell of panic and the shaking tools in uncertain hoofs. With the brilliance of the storm joining the roar of thunder, excruciating light burst upon the scene.

Above him, poised on shaking hind legs, stood the wreck of a filly. What may have once been a mulberry coat was streaked with mud, the deep red mane ragged and violently torn as though cut by teeth. Sanguine eyes filled with pain glared in an unconvincing show of resolve, framed by a face contorted with both fear and desperation. Breathing heavily, her shaking hooves clung to the long hoe that hovered a few inches from Virtue's side, as though it were her only lifeline against the tempest. Outside the torrential squall began to slacken its onslaught, gradually plunging the open space into a near silence. For a moment the filly seemed frozen, suddenly aware of her own thoughts over the lessening patter of rain, now too scared to run and too terrified to stay.

"Don't, move." A feminine voice trembled at last, the owner struggling to retain both nerve and unnatural posture "Try anything, an' I'll...I'll..."

Wincing under Virtue’s intensity, the Pegasus straightened his posture and recouped some of his scattered composure.

“You’re not going to like this, but I honestly don’t know much about that anymore. Four months ago I could have told you the names and addresses of every one of his lieutenants. Now all I know is that most of them are either in the royal dungeon, insain or at the bottom of the river. Azure himself isn’t hard to find either, he’s a powerful stallion in the community and well known though out the city. It was a pyramid scheme, a city wide economy with Azure at the top.”

“And I do mean ‘was’,” The stallion stressed, hoping that his openness would at satisfy the interrogators demands. “See I'm not exactly in the loop, the only insight I really had was through Cherry herself. From what I was able to find out, about a week after she disappeared everything just imploded. Dozens of crooked business owners and goons turned themselves over to the watch. Officers that’d been on the take for years suddenly rejected their payments and started arresting their bribers.”

“What ever had happened, its effects got worse the higher up the chain. Grey Slate, Blueberry Mirth and Silver Tung, dons who ran protection rackets in the city, handed themselves in with boxes of incriminating documents. Hay Bale and Blinkers, Azure’s own lieutenants, developed crushing depression over night along with the sixteen other enforcers. Most of them ended up in the Rosebud Sanatorium.”

“And that’s all she wrote I guess. Needless to say, the empire Azure once had is crippled and it won’t recover without his direct intervention. With guard looking over his shoulder though that isn’t likely to happen any time soon. Turned out the one consistent thing the doc’s found was that Cherry had visited all of the patients right before their collective breakdown. From what I heard Azure went ballistic. He thought she was somehow responsible, that she hadn’t just runaway from him, but set the fuses that burned away half his legacy in less than a week. ”

For a moment Rich Tea seemed to consider his next words carefully, unsure how to proceed. Repeating what he knew out loud reminded him exactly how ludicrous the accusation was to anypony who wasn’t utterly insane.

“I’ve... seen Cherry do things. Amazing things. She's always putting other ponies first, even if it dose harm to her in the prosess. She’s just not capable of manipulation like that, never mind on such a huge scale, but he was still willing to see her brutalised or killed by mercenaries. If I thought it could have change a thing, I'd have face down those tallons there and then. It wouldn't have done any good though. I know it sounds hollow after everything that's happened but I do love her, I'd lie for her, I thought I could die to save her. But come the crunch it turns out I'm just as bad as her father..."

Shrugging his wings in a defeated manner, the Pegasus idly regarded the ground.

"I wish I had more to give you, but that's all I've got... Do you think it'll be enough? To help you protect her, I meen?"

Briefly, Rich Tea considered the door way that probably housed Cherry’s still sleeping form. In a way it was yet another betrayal, it should be her place to say these things and not his. But no, this stranger was about all the hope his once lover had to escape the following wroth. The more information he was armed with, the better. While Azure’s name and affiliations were not widely known, the media scandal some weeks past had kicked up a nasty cloud of suspicion in the business pony’s direction. Casting the image of the distraught filly from his mind, the cream Pegasus turned back to regard the pony who loomed before him.

Drawing a long steadying breath, Rich Tea began to paint the portrait of the cold hoof behind Cherry’s near abduction.

“His full name might mean a little more to you, though I doubt it. Azure Skies is the head of the Mainhatten ‘Godfeather’ family. The godfeaters? They’re the hooves behind virtually every form of 'colourful substance' and vice in Cloudsdale, they’re the reason that sky city has no crime, they made it unprofitable. Don’t get me wrong though, they’re not all ‘bad ponies’. I haven’t heard much about where Azure came from, Cherry might be able to explain that better.”

Pausing for breath the tan Pegasus plowed onward with not more then a glance at the bedroom door “What I can tell you is this. About twenty years ago he married into the Cloudsdale side of the Family, did a lot of good business and strengthened them no end. But even then his methods were questionable sometimes. From what I hear he got the patriarchs blessing to start his own business in Manehatten, selling whatever she saw fit to the populous. And that's where everything started to go sour."

"Ya see, Azure isn’t like normal ponies. He’s cold as ice and ruthless. He saw the most efficient way to make money was to take something no pony wanted, and make it something Everypony needed. Rhubarb leaf’s never been banned cus there’s no need too. Everypony knows how it can mess you up. By the time the guards realised that there was a problem, half of Manehatten’s Earth ponies were hooked on the stuff."

"That’s when the crime rate started to sough. Every pony fighting over what Azure’s goons could provide. Making a false market, they set up organised gangs to act as sellers, funnelled resources through fake businesses and laundered the bits coming back through casino’s and other large establishments. He created Vice from virtue, made friends into gangland enemies, turned the entire city against itself, all to come out on top with a profit.”

By now Rich Tea was visibly shaking, clearly terrified at even the mention of such things as had occurred within the house of Azure.

“Azure is just... wrong. You can see it in his eyes when you speak to him, like he’s hollow inside. More importantly, he’s poison. A pony can go to him as a perfectly model citizen, innocent as a flower, and Azure will take everything good about them and twist it. The longer you stay around him, the more like him you become, cold heartless and brutal. Ponies who ain’t never hurt a fly will do the most terrible things just cus he tells them its a good idea. What’s worse, they won’t see that it’s wrong, they can’t. I know this sounds crazy but it’s like he won’t let them know black from white. And-”

He broke off, as though the words he wanted to utter were too painful to pass through his lips.

“-He’s Cherry’s father.”