FlimFlam

Riddle was a touch intrigued by the Everfree forest mention, if he could get a plot of land by there, it would be a lot easier to figure out what to do with it. As he stood there thinking, he unconsciously began pacing, forgetting he was hooked up to the carriage. Without any effort put in his trot, he startled himself and practically fell down right there. "Curse this infernal machine! how does anyone get around in this?" he thought. Sighing, he realized that it was going to be a decent trip, which meant a decent trip attached to this... thing. "Well now, why don't we get a move on? Canterlot isn't getting any closer, and that would be just absurd if it was."

Its really amazing how many bass canon parodies spawned off of this, but the video really was stunningly good. The first crack up for me was "she cleans them... with wubs" *facehoof* Brilliant!

"I suppose that sounds about fair..."Riddle mumbled a bit, but he spoke clearly. He was still untrusting of the cart, but he did put his stuff in the back. He was certainly going to be fit by the end of this journey, that was for sure. Figuring he might as well go first, he walked round to the front of the cart and hooked himself up, then waited for everyone else to finish. In the meantime, he tried striking up a conversation. "Does anypony know what this colony is going to be like?"

Well, Riddle wasn't expecting a wagon, to be honest. Of course, it made sense, given the group size and amount of luggage, but still. Riddle had never really traveled anywhere that he couldn't get to on hoof, so it made an interesting change of pace. Slowing down a bit, he turned around and rejoined with the group. "So do I just put my gear in the cart, or how does this work?" It wasn't that he had no idea how to work the cart, it was just that... okay. He had no idea how to work the cart.

*inhales deeply* Hi! Hello! How are you? Welcome to Canterlot! Top of the morning to ya! A fine day to you, dear sir! Evening! Welcome yall! Welcome, welcome, welcome, a fine welcome to you! Velcome to ze herd! Greetings! Live long and prosper! Howdy, partner! Sup! Good day to you, mine fine fiendish friend! Hope you enjoy your stay! Have a good day! Welcome aboard, captain! Ohayo Gozaimasu! Aloha! Guten tag! Hola! *Gasps for air*

"Pleasure to meet you Autumn. I suppose you know my name, so there's not much point in saying it now. Now, I believe we have one last mare to pack for -" Riddle gestured toward Shimmer, "-so lets get this show on the road!" Again setting off at a nice trot, he headed for where he remembered Shimmer's cabin to be. That said, he had little to know sense of direction that day, and so he wandered off in literally the opposite direction from where he should have been going. Smiling, briefly, he realized he didn't have much to think about. Then he remembered he was going to Canterlot, so he tried focusing on what he remembered it to be.

Its coming along. 'Twould be further, but my internet fritzed out earlier. I may finish up tonight, or if not then tomorrow.

"Wait, wait, wait. Canterlot? The flyer never said anything about Canterlot. Riddle realized pretty much right there he hadn't been to Canterlot, well, since he left. He had left so he could explore the world, and to explore this colony, he had to go back, however briefly. Irony was not wasted on Riddle, and this struck him as an extremely odd moment. Not that he was nervous, though. Just that he hoped they wouldn't be staying long. Of course, now was not the time for that kind of thinking. He was going on an adventure! He, neigh, they were going to be land owners! With this, he started taking a confident stride in his step. He still didn't know what he needed land for, but one road at a time. "Wait, scratch that. Canterlot's fine, I suppose. Do any of you three have any plans for your land? No, don't tell me. Daisy would need farmland, and... that's all I've got."

Actually, I have a character (North Star) that I've been just dying to get a chance to use. If your interested, feel free to give me a PM

As the new mare approached the group, Riddle reacted with a rather low key turn around. He had already been jumped by a squirrel, so he was a touch prepared the second startle around. He watched as his group reacted with various tones of surprise, then take turns greeting. It wasn't until after the newcomer spoke again that Riddle felt the need to speak up. "Dragons indeed! Now that would be a sight to see! I've always wanted to see a full-grown one, but I don't think that's happening anytime soon... Anyways, I'm Mirage Riddle. If I might be so bold for a second, how does one ever stop loving adventuring?" Riddle looked around, and gestured at the trees as he asked his question, as an emphasis.

Well this was an extremely happy coincidence, Riddle thought. Somehow, Shimmer or Daisy must have seen the same notice, or perhaps a different one. He wondered who else would have managed to notice. Hopefully not to many as to reduce his 10 acres. Anyways, he replied back to Shimmer "Where am I going indeed. I tried going left, only to come back around right. For some reason I can't seem to get on the right path. As for where that path leaves off, well, let put it this way. It seems we have the same idea in mind. If we were to group up, it could add up to ten and ten and ten for all of us!" As he finished, Daisy came along, and brought along Autumn as well. After a quick conversation, Riddle followed them as they went to Autumns abode to finish up last minute packing. Stopping outside, he called out "You go ahead and finish packing, I think I'll wait out here for a moment!" He paused for a minute, reasoning that he might as well make sure he had everything himself.

Roleplay Type: Equestria Mane Name: Amber Flare Sex: Mare Age: More of a younger mare Species: Pegasus Eye Color: Bright golden eyes Coat Color: Somewhat of a bright orange colored coat Mane/Tail/Markings Color & Style: Her mane, which is a toned down color of her eyes, always seems to be a little messy. Of late, shes taken to growing it to a bit bast average length, along with her tail, which is just as messy. Physique: For the most part, she's actually well-toned. While she may not be too fast or strong, Flare is more of a stamina pony when it comes to flying or athletics Cutie Mark: Her cutie mark is a blue hexagonal gem lit aflame. Origin/Residence: Originally living near the Hasufel mountains in the northern Everfree forest, Flare now wanders around Equestria Occupation: After traveling for a while, Amber realized that without bits pony society would be very difficult to live in. As a side job, she has taken on selling her gems throughout Equestria. She still stockpiles them, and she mainly sells the less rare ones that she has little interest in. Motivation: To make a living for herself in Equestria, and find some way to reconnect with pony culture. Also, while on her travels, she has taken up to looking for her surrogate brother. Other than the fact that he's a dragon though, she knows nothing about him. Likes: Gems, Flying, Heat and warmth, the sun, more gems, mountainous areas, and dragons Dislikes: Thieves, colder regions, tightly closed spaces (claustrophobia, anyone?), and insults to her pride Character Summary: Before Amber Flare's story begins, one must learn a little about her adoptive parent. That is to say, she was raised by a dragon. Of course, such a detail has quite the story to it, as all things grand do. To start off, she was born to her real parents while they were on a mining expedition in the Hasufel mountains, and was carried around throughout it. The parents (and other ponies in the expedition) hunted for gems they could sell as a living. While there, they formed sort of a rivalry with a group of Diamond Dogs as the two groups struggled to gain gems. This went on for a while until the mining expedition stumbled upon the cave of a rather fierce dragon. The ponies didn't know the cave was owned, and the dragon was in the middle of a rather deep hibernation when they entered. All they saw were hundreds and hundreds of gems... and so did the Diamond Dogs Knowing they were facing miners, the Dogs had been following them out of hopes they would hit the mother load, which they did. Of course, being quite greedy, they immediately starting battling the ponies for rights of the gems. In the chaos, three things happened that would determine the life. First, the egg that belonged to the dragon was accidently swapped with Amber. Strangely enough, the blanket she was wrapped in matched the egg pattern exactly. Secondly, the Diamond Dogs were looking for something valuable, and along with several gems they grabbed the egg (or what they thought was the egg). Finally, the dragon woke up. Sleepy at first, it woke up slowly, allowing the miners to escape with (again what they thought was) Amber. The Diamond Dogs stayed behind to grab as many gems as possible, and thus were the first to be seen by the Dragon, who she thought was stealing her egg. After a lengthy chase, the dragon caught them and retrieved her egg... only to find out it was Flare, wrapped in a very egg looking blanket. Meanwhile, Amber's parents were having a similar problem once they found out that they had a dragon's egg on them. Once they heard the dragon's roar of anger, even from the distance they had ran from the cave, they realized that they couldn't go back. Despite their grief, they knew confronting an angry dragon they had stolen from was downright suicidal. And so with sad hearts they continued their way back to civilization. The dragon, despite having wings, was unable to find the real thieves and was facing grief of her own. She had flown for hours, but she didn't see the thieves nor even know which direction they went. Returning back to her cave, she stared sadly at the pegasus she had somehow mistaken for her own. Without any options left, and with a mother's grief at a lost child, she decided to adopt the pony. After all, she had already lost a child, and though Amber was no substitution, she was not going to lose another. As a side note, while the dragon was out and about flying, Amber was stuck in the blanket (being to young to even move much) for at least a few hours. This was a touch traumatizing, being confined like that, and she developed an unconscious fear of tight spaces throughout her life. And so Amber was raised by a dragon. Early in her childhood, she thought deep down, she even was even a dragon herself. It was difficult in her childhood, as she never quite matched up to the strength or size or fire-breathing of a dragon child. Somehow, she managed to pull through and gain a stubborn attitude that dragons were notorious for. From her adoptive parent, she learned how to manipulate the clouds, fly like a dragon, and Flare's personal favorite, hunt for gems. As a dragon, she loved them, and even began to develop an ability to eat them. Course, she could never eat more than one or two at time, otherwise she'd get a stomach ache, but it really was quite remarkable she could eat them at all. Truthfully, she always knew she wasn't a dragon like her mother, but she never felt particularly different until the day she received her cutie mark. Amber remembers it quite vividly, as all ponies do. One day, while gem hunting, she was having a particular amount of trouble. It was already mid-day, and she hadn't found a single gem so she could eat. Of course she could ask her mother, but she wanted to try fending for herself, and so she her search continued. Eventually, she reached a point where most other ponies would have given up out of hunger, but this only fired her up. With determination to find her food she kept looking and digging until eventually she found a single blue gem. It was small and only by itself, but she was hungry enough to regard it as the best gem she had ever eaten. As if on cue, her cutie mark showed up as a representation of her fiery determination, but she had no idea what the mark that had appeared on her flank was. All she knew was that it finally forced her towards the fact that she wasn't a dragon. As years went by and Flare started growing, she began to desire more and more independence from her mother's cave. All dragons must eventually leave, and she was starting to come of age. Her mother, sensing this, decided to impart a sort of parting gift before Amber left. She told Amber how she had come to adopt her. Startled by this revelation, she realized that she had a brother somewhere being raised elsewhere (her mother didn't know that ponies had taken the egg still, and thus Amber didn't either). Although she didn't know where she could find her brother, she decided to sidetrack that. First and foremost, she wanted to meet other ponies, and reattach with her actual race, and so she left. On the road, her first stop she figured was Stalliongrad, and from there she'd work downwards across Equestria. There was just so much to see and do. Her first encounter with a pony was before she had even gone very far from home at all. Indeed she was quite surprised to see the black and white unicorn that introduced himself as a "Mirage Riddle". Of course, once she introduced herself, Riddle had taken an immediate curiosity in her upbringing, and decided to travel with her for a short period of time. In exchange for asking several questions concerning Amber's childhood, Riddle gave her a basic lesson on pony culture and gave her some brief advice, such as what her cutie mark was and probably meant. Also, he suggested instead of picking a specific city to go to, just walk (or fly) in a random direction until you get to a city! Character personality and flaws: Due to her rather unique childhood, Amber Flare has a personality very similar to dragons. First off, she can be very possessive of her gems and struggles constantly with greed. Also, she is very proud. One of the easiest ways to get her irritated is to insult her, even slightly. That said, she takes on a few pony traits, as well. Foremost, until she feels insulted, she can be considerably cheerful, and has her own unique humor. When it comes to cities and large grouping of ponies, she is socially inept, however. It took her at least a few days to grasp how the system of bits worked, and even now she struggles with it. Also, she imposes herself as a dragon, and unconsciously expects respect, although she is working on that one. Lastly, as a final benefit of her childhood, she can speak dragon-language, and she is remarkably good at finding gems.

Well now, ever since the mayor stepped in, the place seemed to be livening up. With a little luck, Riddle would have a sizable audience for the show he eventually wanted to put on. First off, there were ponies to attend to. The owner of the cafe (Savory Spell, as Riddle had come to understand) had just walked out the kitchen. Understandably, she seemed to notice the mayor before himself and Vacant, but that quickly amended quickly. "Actually, if I might speak for the three of us, I think we're all here because of the International Day you have advertised. Oh! And I suppose you could call me Mirage Riddle" Almost immediately after saying this, two more ponies walked in through the door. Well, more specifically two pegasi, and they appeared to be together. He didn't say anything after they walked in, but he did smile at them.

Riddle had come in and out of town about three times now. Not because he had needed to pack anything else, but because he had gone the wrong direction three different times. Given that there was only four directions he could go, this time he was sure to get it right! Trotting of a fourth time, he quickly backtracked, realizing that he went that way the first time. So he had gotten lost four times, and there were only four possible directions he could have gone. Giving a sigh, he noticed Shimmer walking down the street. "Oh. Hello there! How are you? More importantly, you wouldn't happen to know how to get northwest of Ponyville would you?

Well, Riddle was thoroughly embarrassed now. He hadn't really been expecting to be ambushed, and so he was hard pressed for his next comment. ​"Well, I'm not afraid of them per say, but those little fluffy devils are just unnatural. What kind of animal has a tail that twitches around that much?" He re-lit his horn and continued walking, this time much more on the lookout. He did hear the other ponies chatting and he through in his two-bits. "If the Everfree isn't dangerous, what fun would this expedition be?"

Fair enough, but still. It would have been interesting to see some guards flop up against discord or some such threat, just so they could at least have something similar to a presence

Okay, I for one thought the changelings were pretty darn adorable. Maybe I'm just weird, but seriously. Rather cute. Also, it was nice to see all the various cameos from everypony (I have yet to see derpy). I do wonder where Canterlot got all of those royal guards. There wasn't a single one to be found for most of the other crises around Equestria.

Velcome to Cantorlot! Hope you enjoy you're stay, and may the ponies be ever in your favor!

As Rainstorm mentioned his name, he nodded his head matter-of-factly, before adding "I hate to interupt, but we have know idea what's in here. It's very possible that in a forest this large, things might live here that don't live anywhere else in Equestria. There very well could be a 'big bad monster' as you put it." All of a sudden, Riddle frowned. There was definitely something besides the four ponies in the immediate area. Stopping for a second, he felt something brush his leg. Looking down, he saw the squirrel, presumably the one that dashed out of the forest. Of course, being mildly terrified of squirrels, he jumped in panic and his magic immediately fizzled out. If he was any other pony, he would have been terrible embarrassed, but instead he just lit his horn back up, thinking to himself "Okay, so, same squirrel. Which begs the question, why is he back?" He looked around again, but no squirrel or anything else

Riddle smiled. Looking around at the other ponies, he said "Well then, that just about settles that. Why don't we start? The adventure certainly is coming to us!" With an enthusiastic trot, he strode into the forest. Realizing that it was a bit dark, his horn glowed and flashed up. A simple spell, so he could probably keep it going for a while. Looking around, the feeling of being watched came back, but he certainly couldn't see anything. Shrugging it off, he turned back to the other ponies. "I do believe that this forest looks quite wonderful in this lighting, and it would be a shame to waste it. You ponies coming?"

Riddle was a bit taken aback when Ardent dropped on his fours, although by now he was used to being taken aback. Hmm.. He had thought Shimmer would have begun to unshell herself by now. It had to happen eventually. In the meantime, he used levitated the myrtles off the ground (an injured plant can't be better than a healthy one) and proceeded to explain "I believe what my companion is trying to say is that a bunny was bitten by a swelling sally. The myrtles were to be part of one of the ingenious solutions you mentioned." All of a sudden, Riddle practically facehoofed himself. "I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? Most folks call me..." Riddle paused with a sly grin. He had already introduced himself today, and he had a few ideas floating around. "Why don't we make sort of a game? If you guess right, it'll be as clear as one of those desert illusions. Name always escapes me for those. Anyways, Here's you're hint. It ends with a riddle" Perhaps not his most ingenious riddle, but it served its purpose.

Riddle awoke that day with quite the inclination to have a muffin. Why, he din't know. How was he going to get that muffin? He also didn't know. He just wanted a muffin. As he walked through the streets looking for something like a cafe, something caught his eye. Walking over to a small poster, he noticed the heading 'Royal Decree', and of course he couldn't help but read it. "Ha ha, this sounds fun!" Giving a little jump for joy, he began looking around, trying to get his bearings. Of course, then he paused, thinking 'Do I really need ten acres? Meh, I suppose if I ever do, it couldn't hurt to have one. Maybe I could build a maze...'. At this point, Riddle trailed off thinking of various things he could do with that much space. Snapping back to attention, he wondered who else would be coming to this colony. Well, there was only one way to find out! With a hop in his trot, he started walking to the edge of town with his first steps of a journey.

Velcome to Canterlot, and may the ponies be ever in your favor!

I wold maintain that the meaning of life is to find out the meaning of life, and if we were to solve it, life would no longer have meaning. I.E. If we knew what the meaning of life WAS, we would be able to fulfill it and thus make life empty and meaningless.

Indeed velcome! I daresay you are going to love it here. I can almost feel it getting... 20% cooler (YEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH)