Ancre

A brand new laptop Movies Games Roleplay and more So many things to do !

A little boat, barely more than a raft, was slowly making its way in the waters of the mangrove. Wearing a long-worn pointy hat, a ragged travel cloth, and smoking her long wooden pipe, River Spirits was moving a long stick left and right, plunging it deep into the waters of the marshland and pushing her boat forward. The world around her was nothing but vegetation merging into water. Gigantic trees raised from the swamp, their roots arching themselves like sea snakes, their branches heavy with leaves and vines. Smaller bushes and reeds, of many shapes and sizes, crowded the banks or gathered together to form little isles in the middle of the river. Frail little flowers floated around the zebra mare. And the foliage reflected in the water, like a reverse world mirrored under the real one : there was no up nor down in the Soggalong swamps. And the marsh was living, filled with activity and sounds. Clouds of flies, dragonflies, mosquitoes and many other bugs hummed in the air, birds flew low from branches to branches, elusives reptiles hid themselves in the bushes and blurred shapes of fishes flowed under the boat. The water lazily carried floating plants, dead logs, and the occasional alligator along the way. The zebra's boat moved along, barely disturbing the wildlife, as if it was itself a part of the swamp. The sun was setting in the horizon, bathing the clouds in orange light, but the heat and the humidity was still barely tolerable, weighing heavily on anypony, or anything, foolish enough to be out in the open air at this time of the year. River Spirits wasn't spared, she felt like she was covered in sweat. She didn't mind at all, though. This place was a paradise for her, full of flowers and exotic herbs and many other treasures, as it was for anyone who knew where to search. She already had a good harvest, stored in pots or bags in her little boat, alongside her sleepy snake, curled on itself. This place could also be very dangerous for anyone who didn't knew its way. Treacherous waters, confusing paths, poisonous plants, dangerous creatures and fearsome monsters where but a few of the many dangers of the Soggalong Swamps. Ponies and griffins avoided the place with reason ; River Spirits had yet to meet another soul in this place. It was a good thing, she thought. Anypony lost here would surely need help, and help they were unlikely to find. With her clothes and her snake, anypony meeting her would shriek in terror at the sight of the "wandering witch" anyways, the zebra mare chuckled. River Spirits stopped her train of thought and her little boat for an instant to light her little lantern ; the sun was fading, and soon she would have to find a place to sleep for the night.

You draw AMAZINGLY well ! And you're a great penpal too ! Take your time to answer that mail, I know you have a lot of work on your hooves

I liked that fic, except for the end ( whyyy ? ) ; I rarely agree with the main character though. Would it have been me at his place, things would have been different ! xD Also, I've found Hardon Lewdad quite amusing as well. Especially the live reading of it that was posted on EqD a long time ago. Oh, and, I'm king of the hill !

I don't know you much, but your oc seems pretty awesome !

Bumble Buns winced when the filly master announced the amount of damage. It was at least double of what was usually dealt, so it looked bad, and the other players said as much. "That's one dangerous doggie ! Well, I hope I'll make that endurance check. I have more than fifty percent chances of making it, after all" she commented grimly. The yellow mare grabbed her dice, smiling at the other player's words of sympathy. "Well, even if I fail, I'm not done yet !" she replied, smiling a little as well. She tossed the dice. Watched it roll, and bump against the books on the table. Watched it slow down and gently coming to a stop "Come on ..." ... but the dice landed on a one. "One !" That really wasn't good. "Is that a critical failure ? It's even worse than before isn't it ?" she asked glumly to Re-Roll before catching herself - ah, right, roleplay ! Thunderhoof stood up, but he wasn't well. The Cerberus' strike had left three large gashes in his body, three long red stripes, each for one of its claws. Blood slowly started to flow, smearing his coat, dripping on the forest's ground. But the warrior refused to let go, and slowly walked toward the dog despite the pain, his teeth clenched around his sword. Whatever the cost, he would not fail his friends !

Moondrop and Beauty Brass finished their breakfasts while the unicorn stallion, Insight, brought out a notebook and began writing, without using his magic. Moondrop found it peculiar, and looked at him with curious eyes, but politely finished her sandwich and let the earth pony musician talk before asking her questions. Beauty Brass chatted a little, and presented herself to the newcomer. She also wanted to play some music again - oh, that would be lovely, the white unicorn thought, looking forward to it. The three ponies remained in silence for a while. "Forgive my intrusion," the albinos unicorn finally started, "but don't unicorns usually use their magic to write ? I do it all the time." Moondrop had rarely been out of her home, and had rarely been able to see how other ponies' daily lives were. All of the unicorns she had met used their telekinesis to move their pens and quills, but for all she knew, perhaps it was unusual to use magic to write. Hoping her question hadn't offended Insight, Moondrop wrapped her hooves around her bottle of tea, warming herself. It was still a cold morning in Canterlot.

Thank you Cherry ! I will update it soon, sorry for the delay.

Ah, the tragic backstory subject ! It's true that it works very well for creating interesting characters, if only because it gives something to write about when you write him or her a story. (Most stories working on a problem -> resolution schema, it gives the "problem" you need to talk about something). I wouldn't say it's much more interesting than a normal life, but it's certainly much easier to do. It is possible to write a character with a normal life that is still interesting, however : mostly, he or she will have different challenges to overcome. When you write about him or her trying to reach his or her goals, there are other obstacles you can use other than being a social outcast or having a broken family : it can be money ("despite his engineer cutie mark, Gearwheels could barely afford the materials he needed for his inventions" => inventive stories about how he acquires whatever he wants), it can be access to education (Codex is a pony born in a poor family that loves studying and tries very hard to get into Celestia's school for gifted unicorns), it can be geographic issues (Penpal was a pony born from travelling parents (diplomats, entertainers) and had trouble making friends), it can be defying social conventions ("Father Blueheart, Mother Crystalglass, I do not wish to follow our family tradition and become a diplomat in Celestia's service, I desire to become a rock farmer instead !"), it can be anything. All those ponies can have an interesting backstory, while still having a loving family and very nice friends. However, they all have one thing in common : a problem to overcome. Because what gives a story consistence, what can resume almost any story, is having a problem, a starting situation that does not fit the character, and working on solving it. And, here are my oc ponies ! Bumble Buns is an earth pony bee keeper. She loves living and working in her family farm, and had an unhappy childhood as an outcast in a residential school where everypony though little of her because of her farmer origins. Opuntia is an earth pony cactus farmer. She was born in Manehatten, and her parents were florists. But she never felt at home (and always felt out of place) in the mannered society of her hometown, and happily went to start a new life in Appleloosa. Whirlwind is a pegasus filly. What she loves to do is flying ! Especially crazy stunts and twists and randomly flying around. She was quite careless and a daredevil before, and she had an accident where she lost her rear leg and paralyzed her front leg. She is now a bit more cautious. A bit. Moondrop is an albinos unicorn. Due to her condition, her parents overprotected their beloved filly and she spent most of her life in her house, only going out to see doctors or family. She didn't minded much, as what she liked was reading stories and create or re-create them with toys she received as gifts or made herself. She grew up, won more liberties (with a few fights with her parents) and ended up finding a job as a toymaker. But she's still quite new to the outside world. River Spirits is a botanist zebra. She was an orphan, who got adopted by an earth pony who travelled constantly. She travelled with him and lived an unusual life. Her daddy finally died of old age, and she now have to live all alone ; she have a lot of questions about what she wants to do with her life.

I love your profile picture Tenkan !

I haven't seen enough english cartoons then ! I was under the impression that there was a bit more diversity, especially considering they did more original cartoons (the french don't do many things really). And yes, traductions are always worse than the original text. There are puns you simply can't traduce, poor wordings sometimes, and it's hard to get the exact same effect. But that's not a big problem, at least not as much as the voices they chose ! (I think I just really dislike them xD)

Agh ! I prefer the original voices too. I feel they don't exactly fit the ponies' personalities ; they should have worked on the names too, not traducing them makes them sounds foreign or something (which they are). Also, since I live in France, I always have the impression of hearing the same voices over and over in the cartoons ! Hire more people, you could really use a bit more voice diversity and it will help a bit with lowering the number of people without a job ! xD So yeah, I don't like 'em. I always like to hear the original voices when I can anyways. Edit : to put a positive note ! Flutterguy's voice was really good !

The fighting was getting ugly. The strike from the warrior's sword, and the spells from both of the mage had wounded the Cerberus severely, but the adventurer's advantage was flimsy at best, as the monster clearly demonstrated when coating the wizard with burning ashes. “Hey ! Look at me !” Thunderhoof yelled, swinging his sword, trying to get all the attention of the monster for himself. He was the one who had to distract it, in order to give to the other two ponies the concentration they needed for their spells. “So, the Cerberus attacks me right ?” Bumble Buns asked. She was right : a few dices were rolled for the monster and the yellow mare checked what they meant in their respective tables. “Uh, well I don't understand everything, but I don't think it looks good ...” This time the three-headed dog did gently obey and turned toward Thunderhoof the warrior. With an angry roar it raised a paw and smacked the earth pony. Thunderhoof tried to evade, but he was a second too late, and the monster's hit made him roll and crash in a tree. “Ow ...” the earth pony complained while standing up again. This fight was not going their way.

“Let's save the day !” Bumble Buns replied, grinning, before rolling her dice. It gave her a seven. The honey-like mare quickly shuffled through her character sheet, comparing numbers and characteristic tables. Everything was still confusing, but she was getting the hang of it. “Uhm ... I think I made it.” she finally concluded. Thunderhoof charged the mighty monster. He remained calm, focused, patient, looking for the right moment to act. Leafdancer's spell failed, but Gold Rush's didn't ; the Cerberus got hit by a nasty frost bolt, and trashed around in pain and anger, trying to avenge itself on the warrior pony. Thunderhoof wasn't going to let him, though. He used the distraction to slide under the dog's belly and gave a mighty slash of his sword, before reappearing in his rear, taunting the monster to gain it's attention once again. “Hey, I'm here ! Good doggie, come see me, you stupid three-headed thing !” The fight was on. “Ok, I hope I haven't missed anything.” the yellow mare reviewed her notes. “It's going to be the monster's turn to strike, right ?

Whirlwind stared at Ardent Fate, clearly surprised. Did that pony thought their games were for real ? She didn't seemed to have a normal life after all, so maybe she really didn't knew. Either that, or she was really good at pretending – enough to be an actor one day. The pink pony didn't knew wether she should play along or explain the obvious to the knight filly. But just as Whirlwind kicked off and flew into the skies, seeing Fate becoming tense and aggressive, the other pegasus Powdered Snow fell into laughter at the earth pony's attitude. The pink filly grinned – Fate was acting quite silly, after all ! And Snow's laugh would surely have dissipated any confusion the knight filly might have had. “Many thanks for your help, Guard of the Clouds !” Whirlwind continued, still pretending to be a pirate. “With no storms menacing my flying ship and my crew, I am free to terrorize helpless ponies and pillage the country !” she fell in a fake evil laughter. “How would you like to join my crew, Snow ?” she proposed, an idea forming in her head. “And you, Knightly filly ! My loyalty goes to my gold, and yours goes to the Princess, but we both have a common enemy ! Let's unite and search the Headless Horse and defeat him ! He must have untold treasures kept hidden in his lair ! And I'll leave the fame to you, Fate, while me and Snow keep the fortune.” she grinned. Oh, she hoped they'd say yes ! It would be tons of fun !

Hiiii ! Welcome to the forums !

Hiiii ! Welcome here ! Have fun !

Hiiii ! Another french ! Yay ! Welcome here ! Who's Crème Brûlée ? What is jojo Bizarre ? I am curious !

Gold Rush worked out a plan feverishly while Thunderhoof kept the monster in check with a steady posture and a sword held high, showing absolutely no sign of fear to the three-headed dog. They had so little time to come up with something ! Thankfully, the magician brought up a course of action, which could be resumed quite simply : paralyze the monster and aim for the body. “I can do it !” the warrior answered. Wasting no more time, he charged the monster as the monster charged him. Thunderhoof was merely faking a frontal charge, however : his intention was to slide under the monster at the last moment, and slice his belly open with his sword ! The druid was casting a spell, attempting to restrain the cerberus and ease the warrior's work. Would their mad attempt work ?

Ponies have a lot of tools and other stuff that look incredibly awkward to use for a pony !

My condoleances Artax, and best wishes to your family.

Whirlwind was lazily laying on the roof of Mojo's wagon, watching the ponies opening for business and chat excitedly, without paying too much attention to it. The hippie pony was advertising his stuff pretty well, cataloguing everything he sold, and the other two backed him as much as they could. It seemed to have a strong effect on the red pegasus filly : Swift Kite was eyeing the goods with a lot of curiosity now, and perhaps a touch of envy. She was curious about other things too, and she asked since how long did they all knew each other. “Well,” Whirlwind started, “Those two, Mojo and Jubilee, they seem to have known each other for a lot of time now, they're old friends. I think they've known Starflower for a long time too. Me, I met them yesterday. I, uh, I just got permission to leave home, and I tried to stand up on my legs all day, and in the end I was too tired to fly home.” she resumed quickly. The pink pony didn't liked to show how careless she had been.

The two mares were chatting casually while eating their breakfast, lying on the grass of the park. Beauty Brass complimented Moondrop on her general attitude, then asked her if she was looking for another job, or if she liked to be a deliverer. “Oh, I'm sorry, I think you misunderstood !” the white pony replied with a gentle smile, enjoying the discussion “I am a toymaker. I make toys, and I deliver my crafts directly to the stores. It started as a hobby for me, because, well, I love making new toys and playing with them,” she explained, blushing a little and avoiding the other mare's gaze, “and I was surprised to see that what I did was good enough to be sold. But ponies do like my work, so I build a lot of toys and sell them to various shops now.” She remained silent for a while after that, feeling a little shy. Moondrop knew she had no reason to be ashamed, but she still felt like a little filly, and that her job wasn't really serious and grown-up, as it should have been. At this moment, another pony came walking toward the two mares. He was a unicorn colt, with a white pelt and a grey mane ; he introduced himself politely, smiling at the two other ponies. “Good morning sir,” the albinos unicorn replied, “it's unusual to see ponies this early in the day ! I have just finished my deliveries for the day, and Beauty Brass here came to enjoy the sunset. We're having breakfast ! Would you like to join us ?” she offered.

Answer #87 is Lauren Faust herself !