brianblackberry

And trash-talking. Don't forget that great American past time! Yes, we played in the woods all day until dinner. With rusty construction debris that we made into clubhouses. Fort building was a major past time when I was a kid in our neighborhood and we did build them from any and every discarded object we could find. Most of that was wood or particle board, but I do remember having one wall partially made up of a discarded dryer sticking out on the outside and matching the wall on the inside (and made a great storage device).

Going to Morphicon to hang out with some friends next weekend; any bronies attending that?

Nahh, I am more concerned with the general panic that went like wild fire through the RDN and EqD because of the initial announcement. The unfiltered nature of the Internet tends to take a mildly sad announcement and turn it into the end of the world for no good reason. Purple Monkey Dishwasher.

Maybe the show will be like Reboot, which got much better as the series went on (Season three and four being vastly superior too season two, which was superior to season one).

The fact she is stepping into a consulting role (not the same as completely quitting) I can understand can be worrisome, but, much of the script work, which is the core of what makes this show great, is already done for season two. Such changes after one season are not uncommon in television producing and doesn't signal an end to anything. Heck the fact we are getting a second season is an achievement in itself given the usual life cycle of American animated shows (stuff like the Simpsons withstanding). Plus we have a little good news: From one of the main artists: And from the director of the show: These guys do interact with the fandom and are aware of us and what we hope for and why we love the show, so I am certainly not going to give up hope, especially since I haven't seen an episode to which to judge.

Carrot Fields smiled, even if he felt a little embarrassed that while they knew of his place, he couldn't ever remember seeing them. In fact, he never saw Pegasi over his farm unless they were setting up rainclouds, and even then they were so high up that he couldn't make out anypony individually. "Well, both ye lasses are welcome tae vist any time ye're hungry an' hie tae a break from yer weather makin'!" He blushed a little and ducked his head, but looked upwards hopefully. He glanced up towards Rainbow Dash, frowning. She seemed awfully bored, even while she was being so nice as to show him the way. "So," he asked, hesitantly, "Are ye th' same Dash wot won th' Young Flyer competition? Oi ken was a mighty fine rainbow streakin' past." He pawed his front hoof nervously at the ground as he asked - most earth ponies didn't bother keeping up with the Flying competitions, and they usually looked at him funny if he brought it up. "Wish Oi coulda been there ... heard it was th' finest in years." Inside his mind, he sighed deeply.. He can do this. Carrot glanced over to Bolt, and gave her a lil' shy grin. "Well, Oi kin offer ... that is ... Oi've a telescope, if'n ye've a kin tae seein' th' stars up closer... an' ye kin clear th' clouds if'n ye've a few in th' way. An' Oi kin always tell ye which stars are which, an' constellations, an' the like. Oi mean... if'n ye'd be interested..." He ducked his head again, his heard thudding nervously in his chest.

And he has an hourglass... >.> <.< It's the MASTER!~

Yeah, it isn't up there with Winter Wrapup or The Art of the Dress for me, but that is very likely because the song hasn't *grown* on my yet like the other two have. Ridiculously funny but I do agree it was rather out of character so someone who dedicates so completely to the idea of putting others (especially animals) first, but you are also right she could have just snapped in that moment of stressful weakness we all have. Remember ponies, don't dare break her heart, now we have two big reasons why.

I suspect the gaia is normally for the elite hob nob of Equestian society who tend to act a lot like the feudal nobility of old; while the folks of Ponyville are your average citizens who depend a lot on the good will and generosity of their neighbors, and thus are willing to be far more giving and helpful on average. Who knows maybe it was Celestia's plan from the beginning to invite Twilight's friends in the hopes that they would bring excitement to an otherwise stale yearly affair that she is required to host.

Should be the official "I'm the Mod, *****!" Avatar

What I saw... -- Rarity using her charm to get the neighbor stallions to pull the cart for her.. Yeah, I'd happily do it too if she gave the pleading eyes like that -- Whipping the local ponies isn't the best way to make friends and influence equines Spike -- EPIC SONG! (Dear lord AJ has a stunning singing voice <3) -- Twilight is something special, got to sit right next to the ruler of all of Equestria while she greets dignitaries (although Celestia is too busy to really talk to her, but that honestly isn't her fault at all). Kinda was hoping Luna be seen somewhere in the background as she is a royal, oh well. -- Prince Blueblood... LOL! -- "I love whistlin' while I work boss!" -- AJ, I had absolutely bad sale days like that in Dealer's Rooms so I completely sympathize! -- Not surprised Dash can be that disregarding at all. -- Wow Blueblood, you really are a world class asshat! Bronies by the bushelful dream of having that chance to be a total gentlecolt for Rarity! -- Orion pony! (The pony who REALLY shook Twilight's hoof), sorry..astronomy geek moment there. -- ANOTHER SONG! -- Wow…total asshat. AJ took him insulting her food rather better then I expected. -- STAGE DIVE!!!!! -- You think Pinky can be the scariest when she is upset, you haven't seen Fluttershy's moment yet. Whoa be to the animal or pony who spurs Fluttershy's love in the future O_o MOST HILARIOUS MOMENT EVAR! -- The Gaia it turns out is some hoity toity event that Celestia is likely required to hold to keep the nobles and bluebloods of Canterlot happy and she is all too happy to troll them if the moment presents itself. No wonder Luna didn't attend, she probably ditched it. Pretty good episode and an excellent way to finish season one. I am not sure on the prince part only because it is sad to see finally another male pony given a personality only to have him be a complete asshat. Other then that I enjoyed the whole thing. Once again I expect to see a thousand expression macros just based on Flutershy alone. That and I want to draw Dash/Wonderbolt ship...

I would have never guessed that from your icon or user name.

Well I liked her before and I did like her in this episode because of all the crazy humor she brought to it (this story wouldn't have worked nearly as well with anyone else in Pinky's place). I just hope they don't make her too crazy or schizophrenic now other wise it will become a lot harder to relate to her as a character. Don't want her to become a walking stereotype for "the crazy one".

Egad yes, a thousand times yes! I am constantly stunned how much less freedom my nephews and nieces have in comparison to what I had when I was their ages, and their parents are pretty much in the middle of the pack when it comes to strictness. When I was a kid, I would spend the entire day a mile away at the beach almost every day in the summer, just with friends. Or we be out exploring the near by forests around my neighborhood, or out at some random park playing softball or whatever (and not sports organized by committees, just friends getting together, oh and yeah, we had scores and winning and losing). I walked a mile to and from school alone in kindergarten, parents today will barely let kids walk across the street to school at that age. Today kids have "playdates', scheduled time to spend with a friend.. WTF. Whatever happened to spontaneous hanging out without parents around to cramp one's style?

It isn't really that stereotype of a general southern accent, however I will grant you that it is faux Texan, or what I like to call Hollywood County. Just like how studios imagine every other accent to be like when they don't use someone naturally from that area.

Sunrise worried as the teach, Miss Cheerlie, come back in to call the classroom to order. Here she was, standing away from any open desks! It was bad enough she had missed half the school day, and possibly worse, she caused the rest of it to be delayed! She certainly didn't want to cause any more trouble, especially with the extraordinary effort her mom, Martini Paradise, and the nice mare, Miss Tea Cozy, had gone through to get her here. Sunrise quickly looked about, lightly scrpaing her forehoof over the floor in worry. Like, need a seat, need a seeeeeat! Unfortunately the only one that seemed available was right in the first row in the center, which was the last place she really wanted to sit, but what choice did she have? Sunrise sighed and sat down. Worry ran through her as she wondered what all the other little ponies around and behind her thought about her. Did she make any sort of impression? Was it a good one? Watching Miss Cheerlie open up a map of Equestia, Sunrise just sat there and listened, though she perked up and listened a bit more attentively when she heard about the Evergreen Forest and how the lavender earth pony described it as dangerous. It only made Sunrise all the more curious about the place, and what it would be like to explore it. Listening to Miss Cheerlie move on to Canterlot and asking who lived there, she quickly heard that bratty foal in the back exclaim the answer. Sunrise just rolled her eyes and whispered to herself, "Like, everypony knows that too little Miss Smarty brat." Looking back at the map, Sunrise worried nervously, looking over the whole wall of beautiful colors and little pictures, and the spidery words... silently, she tried to match the sounds to the letters as Miss Cheerilee told them what each one was. Sunrise slumped in her chair, really hoping she wouldn't be called at all ... this day was bad enough already. C'monnn ... I just like, need this day to end she thought to herself, glancing at the clock ... it'd only been a few minutes! She let out a silent groan and continued on trying to sound out the words to herself, just barely whispering them under her breath as she tried to keep up.

Martini felt a little concerned - he didn't seem all that enthused by her brief description of Canterlot, though none of that concern showed on her cheerful face. That's alright, there is plenty more we can talk about, she thought, still hoping to get her customer to feel at ease and at home at her bar. She prided herself on being the friendliest bartender, who always got ponies to smile and have a good time, and she wasn't going to fail now! Listening to the orange unicorn open up a little more by mentioning why he was traveling to Canterlot, she saw an opening to engage him further. She smiled politely as she used her horn to bring the wine bottle closer to them both. "Oh! You're going to Canterlot to learn? Well, I hear that is where all the best universities in magic are, and where all the best students in all of Equestia come from! What are you going there to train for? Same thing as your parents and grandparents?" She smiled broadly, hoping that getting him to open up about himself would allow him to feel much more at ease and not so tense, plus she would get to know him better. Before he had a chance to answer her, she noticed he had managed to empty his glass. Smiling politely, if not a little flirtatiously, she brought the wine bottle up between them with her horn, "would you like some more wine? You seem to like this selection so far!"

Looking up at the looming pass which, on such a dark night, was nothing more than an enless black void, Braeburn's stomach was home to an entire swarm of butterflies. Oh holy pony apples, that there'll put shivers in anypony's knees... Whoa now Braeburn, brave face, brave face. Y'all have two fillies ... er, a filly and a molly here to protect. You can do this. His thoughts that his companions may be as overwhelmed as he by the scene of utter blackness before them was quickly dispelled though upon hearing Willow Wisp's markedly increased enthusiasm about arriving. Listening to the glowing black unicorn's instructions about finding anything out of place, Braeburn looked around, really rather hoping to find nothing but the usual rocks and desert plants sitting quietly in the dark - not he could see very far even with his lantern. So far, so good. Nothing unusual at all. When Willow Wisp asked if they were excited, he knew in his heart that the answer was no, but he didn't really want to say that. "Er ... Ah don' reckon theah's anypony who could be as excited as y'all, Miss Willow. Ah'm quite hopin' y'all will find somethin' that'll be worth writin' home about!" The words came with an awkward, nervous grin he hoped was obscured by the darkness. Her mention of this being the type of place "the occult" loved didn't put his mind any more at ease about this whole endeavor. Looking over to see how Bluebelle was doing, he saw her face mirroring his own concern, and then that voice rose up out of the sand dunes around them ... "Heeeeellllloooooooooooooooooo?" Braeburn peered forward when he also picked up the faint sound of hoofs galloping right towards them, and in a moment of bravado, stood firmly on all fours with a rather fierce gaze in his eyes, "Miss Willow! Miss Bluebelle! Get behind me!" Whatever it was, he was going to make sure he would face it head on ... Ah just hope Ah know what Ah'm doin' ... *gulp* He dug in his hooves looking straight forward, struggling to see what was moving so quickly towards them ... Oh lordy, what if it was the headless pony? Would he be able to hold it back long enough for the ladies to get away? Suddenly, there it was, a dark figure rearing up over the dune, and charging down in a rush of sand and flailing hooves, seeming to bring its own sandstorm with it. Braeburn braced himself for the terrible pain ... But instead, there was just a tan earth pony laying half-buried in front of him, his head not missing, but instead just hidden under a stetson. Braeburn didn't recognize him; whoever he was, he wasn't from Appleoosa. Braeburn opened his mouth and was about to say something when the newcomer beat him to the punch, demanding to know who they were and why they were there ... "Now wait a gosh darn minute there pardner, we aughtta be asking y'all that! Jumping out at us like that!" he said, half exasperated, half relieved, and half suspicious.

Trixie remained focused with her eyes closed for several seconds. Her horn glowed with a brilliant light, allowing the drenching rains to continue covering the home. It was an unusual ability she was particularly proud of both knowing and showing off. Most unicorns couldn't manipulate the weather at all, as that was really the domain of the Pegasai.  It wasn't impossible though; if the unicorn was adept and trained well enough, they could create very small storms, enough to cover a single pony's house in rain.  Trixie had been using it a lot lately - to comically zap a particularly annoying show-off of a Pegasus, or to try to get rid of that cursed Ursa Minor... She shook her head, trying to clear her mind of her greatest ... second greatest failure. Her concentration broken, the rain stopped as quickly as it had started, the smoke and fire long since smothered from the deluge.  Trixie herself was looking rather tired and a little dreary.  It took a great deal of magical energy for a unicorn to pull off what she just did, and the returning thought of the Ursa Minor in her mind certainly didn't help any.  Well ... At least now I will be showered with praise and thanks suitable to the glory that is the Great and Powerful Trixie! Perhaps even bountiful offerings of food and bits for saving this poor earth pony's hearth and health! Yes, surely I shall finally get the praise I deserve! A weary little smile spread across her muzzle as the impending praise helped her quickly regain her pride. Trixie closed her eyes and smiled, taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a slow, satisfied sigh as she waited for the adulation that was certainly forthcoming ... any second now, aaaaaaaaany second ... Annnnd ... Waaaait a minute, where was her rightfully earned acclaim and offers of tribute?  Opening her eyes, she noticed the strange brown earth pony already distracted, barely even noticing her glorious heroism, and instead just talking to himself, and maybe a vacant response to her erstwhile griffin companion! He was ignoring her! HER! The Great and Powerful Trixie! Trixie grew visibly incredulous, not even hearing him ask if everyone was alright, herself included.  "Hey ... HEY!  I just saved your pathetic life here! You could at least say thank you to being rescued so magnificantly!" she exclaimed loudly, looking quite perturbed and not a little insulted.

Braeburn smiled when he heard the excitement in Willow Wisp's voice. He still had a great deal of trepidation in regards to this journey to the haunted pass, in the middle of the dessert and night, but she seemed genuinely excited. In fact, it was the first time he seen her truly excited at all, and there was something extra cute when a girl was absolutely delighted about something, the extra spring in her voice. It didn't even seem to matter that she hoped to find something supernatural, or that she was glowing in the strange fashion that she did, just the idea of hearing a filly be so happy just made the whole trip easier. "I don' mind the glow, Miss Willow," he drawled pleasantly, one hoof coming up briefly to tip his hat forward. "Now we have two lanterns instead of one, and one of them won't run out of oil." He smiled tentatively, trying to make the best of the situation, but not sure if his attempt at humor about Willow Wisp's night time phosphorescence would go over well with the filly or not. As they went along the empty railroad tracks, Braeburn could slowly see the black silhouette of the pass rising over the horizon. No turnin' tail an shyin' off now, he thought, as if that had ever been an option. Still, with all the potential danger such a place had, it still was not foremost in the colt's mind. That role went to his two companions. He hoped that Willow Wisp found everything she was hoping for, but at the same time he hoped that there was nothing more in the pass but sand and tumbleweeds. It was very confusing. Bluebelle, on the other hand, kept snugging her scarf tighter - the poor molly seemed uncomfortable in the rapidly cooling night air of the desert. Well, Braeburn couldn't let that go. That would be ungentlecoltly of him! He stopped for a moment and put his lantern down in the sand. "You both look like y'all could somethin' warmin' in this cold, and Ah have just th' thing!" The yellow colt nuzzled into one of his saddlebags and produced a colorful red-and-blue homemade horse blanket with a flourish, the blanket billowing out next to him for a moment before he gently spread it across Willow Wisp's back. "There you go, Miss Willow," he smiled, then turned to Bluebelle. "An' one for you, as well, lil' molly." With that he nuzzled into his other saddlebag and pulled out a similar blanket, this one tan and decorated with red squares. He flourished that one as well, draping it over Bluebelle's back with his teeth before reaching up with his hooves to fix a fold where it fell wrong. "There you go Miss Bluebelle, all nice and warm I hope," he smiled, his forehooves gentle on her shoulders, giving an inadvertent, gentle little rub. He blushed suddenly and pulled away, dropping to all fours. "Heh. Ah reckon it's always good t'be prepared," he drawled, giving his flanks a shake to show off his saddlebags before he picked up the lamp and started trotting off once again. Helping his two companions added a slight spring to his step, and perhaps the confidence he needed to take the looming pass head on. Not only were they depending on him; he got to play his natural, but all too rare in these parts, role of the flirtatious gentlecolt. Distracted by his thoughts of the pass, by the filly and the molly, by the darkness in which he was usually asleep, the cowpony tripped over a rock and nearly faceplanted into the sand. He hopped forward a few uncertain steps and got all four hooves firmly back on the ground. Feeling a bit silly, a laugh rising for his own clumsiness, he was about to make a wry comment on the accident when he realized that they had finally arrived .... the entrance to the haunted pass.

Three appeared in the opening seconds, other than that though, you're right, no background ponies.

Carrot Fields rolled his eyes at himself, then chuckled softly along with Dash's smirk. OK, there was obviously such a thing as too polite - but it was a hard habit to shake off. He was glad she took it so good naturedly, and if it helped break the ice, then all the better! With that soft chuckle, a lot of the worry suddenly dissipated, and he just felt a sense of ease settle in. It helped that the Pegasus fillies who were guiding him were acting and flying so causal. His heart leaped excitedly when he saw Dash showing off - as if she was resting on a pillow or a cloud, rather than soaring through the air, floating backwards through the air so as to face him. He wondered how difficult such a flying stance was to pull off - but it looked impressive, absolutely amazing. To be so at one with flying, up amongst the clouds ... and the stars ... His pondering about that was broken when he noticed Bolt, the other Pegasus guide, land and begin to walk right next to him. He smiled silently to the pink filly with the stunning blue and purple hair, proud of himself for acting so naturally, having no idea how pink his cheeks were. She was so cute, but he had no idea what to say in order to strike up a conversion. What would he say? Nice season for carrots? What's it like having wings? It all sounded so silly. Confound it, why was this so hard? He was just steeling himself up to say something random when Dash asked what he did for a living.  "Oh!  Oh umm.. Well, Oi'm a carrot farmer.  Oi ken th' borin' ol' carrots dinnae sound so interestin', but Oi enjoy it well 'nuff.  Been farmers fer generations.  Oi live out jus' past Sweet Apple Acres.  Y'ever go there?  Th' big orchard?"  He smiled with a another awkward, goofy lil' grin, his eyes moving back and forth between the two fillies.  "Though, ah ... what Oi really kin tae is stargazin' wit' my telescope at night!  Oi wish Oi could get up above th' clouds like ye do, full bhoona stargazin' wit' no worries bout weather ... they'd be so close!  Ach, aye, that'd be so bonnie!"  He blushed and ducked his head as he realized he was almost talking a bit loud and a bit fast with his enthusiasm.

Here you go: [attachment=0]tyelle.gif[/attachment] You have to manually set the frames to be faster than 0.01 seconds unfortunately but it can be done.

I suspect a lot of colts would also welcome this..with all that it could possible imply. 0:]

At first Sunrise Paradise just stood there in the classroom after the teacher, Miss. Cheerlie, went outside to get help for the stranded and strange unicorn outside.  The aquamarine foal just felt embarrassed about it all - she'd disrupted class, and she felt like all the other students were staring at her. She blushed and softly mumbled, "Ahem ... sorry."  Except, foals being foals, they quickly went back to talking among themselves. Some of them were anyway - it seemed more like arguing and griping among themselves.  It was the first time she actually got to observe the entire class - her first day in a new town, a new school. She just sort of stood there in the back by the door as she watched some yellow filly with a sunflower cutie mark do her best to alienate herself from the rest of the class when she sniped at the friendly white unicorn Sunrise remembered from outside, who was chatting friendly-like with an orange Pegasus.  That argument didn't go over well as it seemed everyone sniped back at the yellow filly, who responded by moving her desk to look the other way.  Like, what is her *problem* and junk? I'll totally just avoid her. At least they weren't all focusing on her. She wanted to meet them, but it was so much easier to meet new foals when playing sports... At least they weren't all focusing on her. She wanted to meet them, but it was so much easier to meet new foals when playing sports... She looked around for someplace to sit. She wanted to sit by the friendly white unicorn - Sweetie Belle? - whom everypony seemed to want to defend, but she already seemed surrounded by ponies who knew her. The orange Pegasus looked like she was a best buddy, but other than that, Sunrise couldn't tell anything about her other than both her and the white unicorn didn't have cutie marks, which was strange at their age. Like, she seems totally popular, and nice. Wonder if she plays sports? Prolly not, she looks more like a cheerleader.  Popular indeed. Sunrise smiled as Sweetie Belle kissed a dark gray colt near her who had, Sunrise guessed, an ink bottle and quill mark, from what was showing on his saddlebags. Awww, he must totally be her coltfriend, and junk! Lucky lil' geek.. She recognized two others. One was the tiny white pegasus with the soft rainbow streak who didn't have a cutie mark either, although he was probably the youngest. The other was the friendly earth pony with the glasses and candy ... Sunrise struggled with their names too. Starlight and umm, something Twist. Like, what was her name?  Cinnamon Twist, Candy Twist.. Horsefeathers, I already forgot! She was so bad with names, there were so many of them she had to remember all the time! That discouraging thought though was quickly broken when the green and purple earth pony with the strange accent suddenly brought up the topic of hoofball.  Sunrise lit up!  Smiling and trotting over to the greenish pony, whom she hoped was friendly, she happily chirped, "Like, I totally love playing Hoofball!  Even paper hoofball!  Like, do you play the sport too?"  Excited, she held out her forehoof, though she'd forgotten to say her name.