Boss_Hoss1

Candy frowned thoughtfully as she absently rubbed her wing, streaked with new growth over the past year as she heard about the tactics of the air pirates. The regrowth appears about the shape of a griffon's talons. "I see... Perhaps you can advise the captain and myself on a reasonably safe route when you return. While "Tiny" would be a nasty surprise to any boarders, I would rather not risk him getting loose at all until we get to this little box canyon south of Dragon's Peak." Candy nodded to the hangar bay near the ship "For those staying here with me until Swift Squall returns, would you like to meet Tiny?" She looks to Swift Squall "If we can wrap up the other preparations before you return, we will be dining at the Phoenix Feather down the street here."

Madam Caramel Bistro smiled "Well you missed a great show with the comet, and subsequent chase after a piece of it. then again, you might have been busy that night. Would that have been the night you were chasing the ghost lanterns and finding a lost city?" She giggled happily at Braeburn's question about Mr. Rockefilly. "Well, yes. He is quite a different stallion than what I had heard back in Manehattan. Perhaps we are the first to see the real Maximillian. This town is a miracle in what it does to ponies." She still was unsure yet of sharing her thought that this is the first time Max has seen the real Max too, and she wanted to know that Max. At the least as somepony of like mind... The Mocha Mare smiled as the Sherrif announced the Final dance, and offered an elbow. "I would be honored!" The square dance was quite lively, with the two new stallions not taking the lack of fillies as an excuse to sit things out, but romping and stomping through the dance with everypony else. When the dance ended, She clopped her hooves to the ground in applause and nodded to Arrow and Boxer "Good show you two, hopefully next time we'll have enough ladies around for you two. As busy as Appleoosa is going to get, a fair number of unattached fillies might follow the workers here." She winked. She turned to Braeburn with a smile, truly in the dark about the next part "And how does a date end at a hoedown, by the way?" Meanwhile, Candy Catch-em smirked at Dunder. She didnt think it would work on him, but perhaps a bluff? She turned to face him and giggled "Perhaps a little..." She took on a stern gaze, her eyes glowing a little. She gave it all she had to give him a taste of it. It didnt' seem to have much effect on ponies, but just the threat of it to ponies who had seen her use it on animals was enough to put abusive customers in their place. Candy stopped after a second or so and gave a playful smirk "Perhaps a kiss would keep me from giving you a full blast, hm?" she finished with giggle. She hoped the bluff would work this time.

Madam Bistro listened to Maximillian speak glowingly of what the town meant to him and that he was proud to be an Appaloosan. She puffed her chest out proudly as she realized he meant every word and she felt the same way. She would be counting the minutes until their... date? yes, date, even if it was at her place. Caramel softly beat her hooves to the ground in the pony equivalent of a golf clap. "Bravo, Maximillian. Well said." She turned to watch Louise and Sherrif Silverstar. as they said their piece. "I will defer to Miss Snowfall on that. I am pretty sure even i have not seen all there is to see of Appleoosa in a leisurely manner. I must admit this is the longest I have spent in the orchard since the whirlwind tour Braeburn gives everypony who moves in."

Thorn galloped toward the smell of root beer. Turn a corner... turn that corner... and.... *CRASH!* The russet colored jack skidded to a stop at the sound, startled and glad he had not been the cause of the sound. "Sounds like all that shaking blew up the bottles... and the sound was just ahead! Avanti!" Thorn sprinted to the next corner and came upon the sight of Miss Gale and Honovi apparently having collided. The young buffalo was apparently trying to steal a kiss from the jenny. "*Ahem* I hope I am interrupting? ...Oh! Miss Gale! You are hurt! ....and so are you, Honovi..." He sighed and moved to block the main route out that wasnt' covered in glass "Since you are both also covered in root beer, shall we all go to Madam Bistros for washing and patching up? Carbonated sodas of any kind itch horribly when it dries on one's body." He gave a stern look to the buffalo "And then we can discuss the root beer situation, or you try to escape again, whichever comes first...?"

Madam Bistro nickered in relief as she was hugged and carried to the ground. She wobbled a bit on her legs and sat down. *pant* "A little achy and tired. That was some stunt for an Earth pony to accomplish, huh?" The mare stretched her limbs "I wish I had known how to do this before I ended up in the desert. It would have helped me immensely." She rubbed herself down with a towel and took a long drink. "So, whats the plan now?"

Candy shrugged her shoulders "I guess what keeps them from coming back is the forests they are led back into, where nature takes care of itself. It would seem the reason ponies and other creatures near the forests are rarely bothered by the predators of the forest is they must be making Parasprites the mainstay of their diet*. The darn things would be eating the forests down to the dirt in no time if they werent' being eaten by something. As for their moving somewhere else, it sometimes happens when a windstorm hits a forest, or when ponies removing them from their town dont' remove them far enough. " She nodded at Sherrif Silverstar's idea to check new arrivals a bit more carefully "Watch the foals especially, they might think their new pet is cute and harmless. the darn things are all the colors a foal loves in toys." *(OOC; Wolves in IRL have been seen to eat mice and other rodents as their mainstay diet between big kills)

The twins laughed and shook their heads "We are sorry to say he has not improved." Shanna looked to the Sherrif and Louise "Doc Holly Day has it right, he is stern and apt to take things like a fear of flying out on his students, such as us." Hoss nodded sadly "If you read what the tabloids say about Prince Blueblood's behavior toward those not in Celestias Court, that's Stargazer's behavior toward anypony he has authority over." Meanwhile, Flim helped make telescope parts and lens blanks for Flam. "How many telescopes is that so far, Dear Brother Flam? If we run short on material, should we offer a modest discount on ponies who bring metal sheets or tubes or old glass?"

Shanna smiled and sketched a mild bow to the foal when he asked if she had patted his back "I am indeed, Shanna Skybright at your service." Both twins went wide eyed at the description of what he had done in the dive. Hoss blushed at his cheering that dive at the time "Oh Sweet Luna, I thought you did that on purpose!" Shanna tapped a forehoof to the dirt floor "I am glad you are all right. your tenacity on the ladder must have impressed the judges too." Hoss looked thoughtful "You say you were trying to manipulate the clouds with unicorn magic.. That is impressive for a unicorn to do, all right." The twins looked at each other as the same idea seemed to occur to them. After a quick bout of whispering, they turned back to Timid "Would you like clouds to practice on?" "Yes We are usually scheduled to participate in some fast Weather Patrol duties in the morning before we go to bed." Hoss nods "Theres' often leftover puffs of cloud that are about pony size. WP ponies often just buck them into nothingness to clear the sky or take them home to add to their house." Shanna smiles at Timid in a sisterly fashion "Since you live in Canterlot, it would just be a moment to drop them on by if you want some." Meanwhile, before she could get any lemonade, Candy Catch-em suddenly saw a friend head past the tent opening. "Hold that thought, I have a friend to catch up to. Thanks anyway!" The mare quickly left the tent and headed in the direction Dunder had gone. Candy flew up about 10' and made a slow circle before spotting the pegasus at another tent. She zipped on over and flapped her wings to brake to a sudden stop, landing near Dunder. "Hi Dunder! Whats up?"

Amber Wands perked her ears as the Doctor suddenly had a plan. The mar gasped in surprise as the wand-like Sonic Screwdriver did its work in a chain reaction of books. "That works for me! Hurry!" as she spun about on one hoof, and ran for the TARDIS...

(Third post for Judging) Almost prancing in place by now, the sweaty pegasus mare looked to the leader board and sighed seeing Gilda was at the top. Shanna hoped Gilda wouldn't be too much of a in-your-face braggart about it if no one knocked her score down and the griffon won. Unfortunately, this was a griffon she had heard the citizens of Ponyville speak of in less than flattering tones, so she was not going to hold her breath over that possabilty... Her glance went over to the stallion toting up the score and he still did not look impressed with her. In fact, he even sighed in a weary manner looking at her. Was it Pegasi in general? She thought he was familiar somehow, but she rarely followed sports news, and ground-bound sports was barely a blip on her radar. -Until the Iron Pony started last year between Rainbow Dash and Applejack, anyway. Too bad Rainbow Dash was not around to give her a clue. She probably knew all the sports figures as well as she knew her own hindquarters... hind... Hind?! Her black-tipped ears perked as her mouth opened in surprise. This was a famous barrel racer judging this race! And here she was, somepony who had never done a barrel race before racing in his turf. No wonder he looked so frazzled! Well that made her feel a lot better and worse at the same time. Oh well, nothing to do but act in grace and style whatever the score came out to be. Shanna forced herself to relax and stand up straighter as she awaited the results on the leader board. As she waited, she had time to think. Perhaps she would try out more barrel races for fun sometime. It had certainly been challenging even for a long distance flyer like herself. Maybe somepony would start a Pegasus barrel-racing league?

(Second post to Judge) Shanna ulped as the race offical turned to see her and sighed in obvious disappointment. Her mind raced and thought silently to herself "Is it me? Does he disapprove of my being the daughter of the Astronomer Royal participating in such a thing? -Or do I look too weak?" Shanna took a deep breath to focus on the stallion and the race itself, moving to the starting line as he directed. The mare firmly dug her hooves in like the others had, her wings held tight to her body. Sweat sprang out on her forehead in her tension and anticipation. "Get ready, get set-" He blew the whistle. Shanna exploded from the line into a gallop, heading for the first set of barrels. The pegasus mare fought to concentrate on what she had seen before, watching from the sidelines. She leaned into the first turn around a barrel. Easy enough. Her bay hide was itching under her black-banded wings as she was working up a sweat already. Shanna glanced ahead and noted that her guess from watching from the sidelines was correct; the pattern of barrels was progressively tighter, with smaller gaps between barrels. A raven black tail streamed behind her like a flag as she raced to the second barrel. She leaned with the turn, banking around the barrel and made for the third. Her hooves were slipping a little in the churned-up turf around the barrels as she banked around the barrel and headed for the fourth. "That was close, watch where you put your hooves!" After her mundane showing compared to THE Rainbow Dash in the Cloud Dive, she could not let herself knock over a barrel or fall. "Take your time in a hurry..." as they say." Soon, she found herself having to swing her hips and bend her body in tighter and tighter turns, and nearly lost her focus when she felt her tail slap the eighth barrel. "It's just like a cloud slalom! Keep your eye on the next barrel!" The pegasus groaned as her legs were burning already. Shanna arched her body around the Ninth barrel, fighting and praying not to slip as she aimed for the last barrel. She could hear the roar of the blood pulsing through her ears as time seemed to slow down. Shanna fought to put each step precisely, hoping to impress the strange stallion who seemed to disapprove of her. Yet, the space was so tight now, she felt her flank graze the last barrel ever so lightly. Frantically, she dug in her hooves and bolted for the finish, her hooves flashing and skidding down to a walk after she passed the line. Shanna nervously glanced to the leader board in anticipation...

(First Prep Post) Hoss and Shanna once again divided their events according to the build of their bodies. Shanna as a pegasus mare was a bit lighter than her brother, so she would be doing the Barrel Weave race. Meanwhile her brother with a more typical male build would take on the obstacle course. The bay mare watched for a few rounds to see how it was run before daring to step on up into line. Surely she could get a better score here than she had in Cloud Diving. She waited patiently in line, watching the line move forward in groups of three, and keeping an eye on how everypony else was doing as they ran. Finally it was her turn to stand at the starting line and listen to the official ask her name and restate the rules to be sure she understood them. She took a deep breath to focus and nod to him. "I am Shanna Skybright, and I do, sir. I am ready."

Shanna smiled happily at Duke Polaris' words "Thank you, Polaris!" As Polaris' attention was drawn to the intense unicorn challenging Gida Griffon, the twins noticed the foal waiting to speak to Duke Polaris. Chorusing together, they said "Hello." with Shanna adding "I saw you at the CRPR event. Are you having fun here at the games?" Hoss smiled, having thought he saw this foal in at least one event "Have you tried many of the events?" While the twins were killing time waiting for their friends to catch up with them, another pegasus entered the tent. Candy Catch-em, the famous Critter Wrangler with her bola cutie mark. The mare sauntered up to the table "Free? Sounds good to me!"

The light orange pegasus mare strutted up to the firing line. Candy Catch-em tipped her bush hat back and grinned, doing her level best not to let the judge know Griffons made her nervous. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out a hoof-made sling shot, made from a storm-tossed zap-apple tree branch she found in the Everfree forest in her first search for Timber Wolves years before. While she was an ace with her whirling Bolas to snare animal legs, the slingshot has also saved her hide a few times as well with well-aimed shots stunning or frightening dangerous critters. Her ammo of choice were smooth, hard river stones picked up from streams across Equestria, all chosen for their size and weight. The mare holds the weapon in one fetlock and arches her wingtip around to pull on the sling with the might of her wing, "Something easy to get the range..." and let fly at a cockatrice, aiming for the head. A gust of wind sprung up, sending the shot wide and knocking a can off instead. "Okay, this is going to get... interesting." Candy closed one eye and aimed well, sending the stone into the head of the cardboard cut out. Nodding in satisfaction, she sent stone after stone toward the cans and jars in the middle scoring range, hitting with most and a few flyers from wind gusts zipping into the upper tier to hopefully hit. In her last shot, she saw a can at a good angle and decided to show off a bit. Candy let fly and watched as the stone bounced off the ground and knocked the can off it's support. Candy bounced on her hooves, hoping she managed to get a good score, and relieved she made it this far. .The mare bowed to the judge and trotted over to the sidelines to watch and listen for her score. (OOC: special thanks to the D&D Dice Roller... 8, 77, 13, 34, 92, 76, 72, 67, 43, 12 )

(This Post submitted for judging) A cream colored Unicorn waited in line, feeling safe from retrubution and calamity under the rules of the Iron Pony. The fabulous Flim of the World Famous Flim-Flam Brothers had made his choice for an event, after briefly considering the SSSSS. No, too tempting for the other players to "miss" their targets and put more welts on him than the last mysterious bee attack -in the middle of Canterlot no less! With their hit-or-miss funding of late, it was no challenge to prepare for this event by not eating at all the previous day and all that morning. Flam of course had the dreadful satisfaction of eating like a... well, yes, like a horse before Flim's eyes. His stomach was growing like an ursa as he sat down. A the signal that the hourglass had started, the bare lipped stallion dove in. He almost laughed that Dear Brother Flam had passed on this because his moustache would be hopelessly gummed up. Chocolate cupcakes, custard filled cupcakes, apple cupcakes! Oh Sweet Celestia, he was in HEAVEN! Flim pushed down on the table to tip it up and funnel the nearest batch to his waiting jaws, only pausing to spit out the paper wrappers if he could. He snapped left, right, and center at the cupcakes being piled before him like the starving pony he was. Flim had completely lost track of how many he had downed by this point, as he scooped a row up onto his foreleg, single file, in one smooth movement, and raised his leg, letting them slide right into his muzzle like a playground slide. The stallion's tummy gurgled as he felt his natty barbershop quartet style shirt tighten, then finally a button popped as he gobbled down a line of pumpkin cupcakes. Immediately, the rest popped in rapid succession, pinging a button off the event sign. One last stack was in reach, which were an unusual red. "C-cherry, one hopes?" He started gobbling them down, only to scream as he found they were Pinkie Pie hot sauce cupcakes! Flim oh so wanted to stop, but the hourglass was in it's last moments and forced himself to choke down two of those hot, hot cupcakes before the end was sounded. Bleary-eyed, Flim groaned and wobbled away from the table. "Ohhh the mighty *hic* warrior leaves the field of h-honor. I may need help to make it 'yonder. Please take me to the medic tent for I may be a goner..." and collapsed on a first aid litter. As he was carried off, Flim hoped he had won. Even if he had not, he still would not have to eat for a week.... as if he would want to, the way his stomach felt!

(This post is submitted for judging) Hoss and Shanna once again divided their events according to the build of their bodies. Shanna as a mare was a bit lighter than her brother, so she would be doing the barrel race. Meanwhile her brother with a more typical male build would take on the obstacle course. The bay pegasus stallion noted flying was sensibly forbidden yet again and made sure to remember not to even open his wings. Suddenly the tan pony officiating the event pointed at him. Hoss strutted out, proudly showing off his Pegasus Cool since his Special Somepony was watching in the crowd. He waved his hoof at Jubilee Flyer, then got ready to start. "Lets Do this!" The judge nodded and counted down. "3...2...1.." *Tweeeeeeet* At the sound of the whistle, Hoss made use of a Pegasus' lighter weight, even compared to other stallions, and got off to a good sprint and jump, plopping into the middle of the mud pit with a decent splash for the spectators to see. "What is it with mud today?" He pushed and paddled hard, thrashing his way to the other side. At least he was staying higher in the gunk than the Unicorns and Earth ponies taking part. He was still wearing out faster than he expected. Long distance flying does not give the legs a big work-out it would seem. Hoss scrambled and fought against the pull of the thick muck, finally forced to dig in both forehooves on the rim and haul his sticky carcass out. Unable to take the time to shake the thick coating off, he scrambled toward the next objective; Climb the wall of barrels! Hoss put on a burst of speed, sending blobs of mud flying as he made a sudden jump to land half-on the top of a barrel in the first layer, then scrambled up onto the wobbling barrel, slick with the passing of previous contestants. He leapt up to the next higher barrel, which nearly pitched over, throwing him onto the barrel next to it. Closing his eyes for a moment to focus before continuing. "Remember, just like Cloudsdale Hail-cloud hopscotch! You can do this!" The bay stallion was finding this more difficult without being able to spread his wings for balance. He could not open them even if he wanted to; The gluey mud had stuck his wings to his body. Opening his eyes again, he judged the distance and jumped! Now on the peak of the wall, he rocked back and forth on his back hooves, windmilling his forelegs to get his balance, then jumped forward onto the other side, bouncing from barrel to barrel until he landed on the ground. He used the momentum of his descent, or controlled fall depending on the viewer, to sprint down the straightaway to the last objective. On the way, he slipped for a moment on a spatter of mud but got his balance back quickly, just in time to reach the final obstacle. Fearing for his time score, he slapped his forehooves on both sides of the thee pies just laid out for him a moment before. The table acted like a spring to catapult the pies into the air and he swung his hips around to put his back under the pies, receiving a soft landing on his gooey back. Feeling the pies on his back, he started moving forward toward the three poles, hoping the sticky mud would actually stick the pies to him. Hoss sweated under the thick coat, worried he might still mess up at this point. His legs trembled as he did a light canter and swung around the first pole, then the other way around the next pole, and swung again as he came to the last pole. Hoss suddenly felt one of the pies skidding across his croup (rump) and about to dump off his rear. Only a quick "bunny hop" managed to throw it back in place before he made the final trot to the finish line. Hoss panted a bit and wobbled on his legs as officials pulled the pies from his back "*Whew*... on the whole... it is...way easier...than that potato race..." The stallion gave a weak smile and wave to his lady love as he headed to another set of wash tubs to clean off...

Candy Catch-em looked from Dunder to Swift Squall, and back again. with eyes wide in surprise. The unicorn's demeanor changed somehow and she was sure Dunder was the reason somehow. She nickered and swished her tail in thought as the stallion laid out his concerns and a promise to have anything she needed in 6 hours. Candy nodded "a customer is letting me use this yacht so my main concern was storms. I think the shape of the bag should cut through the weather easier so I Okayed it, but I was not expecting air pirates... They arent'... griffons, are they?" She unconsiously rubs her wing where brighter bands on her feathers outline healed injuries, before shaking her head and taking on a determined look. "And yes, I am determined to do this anyway. so your help is welcome if you deliver on these supplies. Just no more chasing off everypony, okay? ...By the way, What can be done to prepare for pirates?"

(OOC, Sorry delays, been a lot of IRL getting in my way this past week...) "It sure is, especially when the company is you." Madam Bistro smiled pleasantly as she trotted alongside Maximilian. She watched out of the corner of her eye as the stallion kept opening his mouth to speak and ending up closing it again. Bistro had never had that effect of getting a pony tongue tied on a stallion in a long time, -that she noticed anyway. She had always been too busy in Manehattan and Canterlot to do more than pleasent chatting with anypony, and the customer base in locations since tended to have males more interested in her monetary worth than in who she was. Why was this town so different? -And thank Celestia it was! She stopped near the great Bloomburg appletree and watched as Max laid a hoof on the tree. She smiled, thinking that moment would be a great picture and was sorry she didnt have a camera...

Snails yelped when Remington was blown around like a leaf and banged up against the door as they got it shut. Much to his relief, Remington was not hurt, just knocked back asleep. Snails lifted the visor of the costume knight's helmet stuck on his head and looked at the others "Um, okay, now what? We stopped some of us from bein' blown out the train at least." Pinchy suddenly jumped up with a Daring Do hat and ran to the connecting door. She was edging out and looking down at the connection to the train. Suddenly she reached down and was yanking on something "Erff... Come... on... stupid... lever!" Snails trotted up and looked out the door at the lever she was pulling on "Will that stop the train? Ah'll help with m' horn..." The unicorn foal moved aside from the door and aimed his horn and strained to get it to work. Sparks sputtered from his horn as he fought to pull the lever with it...

The Mocha Mare gasped and climbed harder as the feisty pegasus encouraged her to climb and touch that hoof. The mare squirmed and pulled on the rope held in her fetlocks and in the angles of her hind legs. She was doing it! She was getting closer to Drowsy Feather on the top of the frame. Bistro groaned and reached out her hoof to touch Drowsy's. She gasped "Is...is it easier to go down than up?"

Snails blushed when Snips gave him a little tease about Haywire "Aw geee.." The orange foal relaxed when Snips turned his attention to Remington and suggested getting free samples of apple juice. Snails watched as Remington asked Cheerilee about the samples, and... "Th' more apples we buck, the more juice dere is? an a surprise fer the ones with the most? Suh-weeet! Ah like apple juice..." Reno suddenly called to him about the bunny "Aww thanks Reno. Maybe just a quick pettin' before we try an buck apples..." Snails sidled over to Reno and gave the bunny a soft pat "Aww she's sooo soft....Thanks Reno that made me feel a lot better." Snails hmmmed, his horn spitting sparks as he thought about how to shake the tree enough to get apples down. He almost suggested Remington fly up there but did not want to embarass him if he could not fly. the thought of Remington falling asleep in the tree did not help. "should we surround the tree and kick it or stack up on each other and kick, or what?"

Hoss chuckled as Jubilee finally seemed to snap out of her daydream. "And once you do, you need to think about what to drink with them, Hon." Shanna playfully nudged Jubilee. "I think she has thoughts that can only be cured by a certain brother popping the question..." the bay stallion blushed and rubbed the back of his head shyly with his hoof... Just then, both the Duke and Miss Chai asked what they had been doing recently. Shanna smiled "As Duke Polaris says, we have been trying to contact the Princess and let her know we appreciate the wonderful nights she gives us in our work." Hoss winks "Shanna and I have also been practicing for the upcoming Iron Pony games, Shanna is really working hard for the cloud dive."

(OOC: I belive it should be muffintop's post now)

(OOC: forgot I was waiting on Corsair, but just been prodded to post...) Snails finished smearing mud over the stings on his Best Bud, Snips. He turned to Twist "Ah saw somethin' fly by that nest there before it fell on us. Ya dont suppose Diamond Tiara found a pegasus just as mean as her do ya?" Snails groaned and rubbed at a swelling sting. "Ah dunno about you fillys, but ah would feel a lot more comfort'ble close t'gether sos we can keep an eye fer that sneak what did this..." With that Snails got closer than he usually does with fillies and sat down for a moment to rest. Snails suddenly went wide-eyed "OhM'gosh! Ah dropped m'net! Mebbe we should all move together ta get it back?"

(OOC; I've Just been given a poke by the mods to post, Ace where are you?) Flim looked from his Dear Brother Flam to Cousin Ace GoLucky. "Fantastic! Dear Cousin Ace, Would that game be satisfactory today? I am afraid in cards I am more of a deuce. you must school me in how to play, -this particular game if I am to join in this fine day..." The cream colored unicorn pulled up a chair with his horn power and sat down expectantly.