brianblackberry

Martini could usually read other ponies rather well - it came with the job, and she had grown very adept at the skill over the years of mixing drinks.  The orange unicorn colt was tense and unsure, nervous.  She just didn't know why.  Maybe travel made him nervous, like many of the travelers that would pass through Bareback, or perhaps it was his griffin companion, who appeared to have a rather dominating personality.  Whatever the case, it was time to be attentive and friendly as possible. "I heard it is the most beautiful city in all of Equestria!  I have only seen it far up in the mountains from a distance, and even from there it was breathtaking!" She smiled warmly as she called forth the bottle of the same wine he had been drinking, floating it down to set it on the counter-top, just to be attentive. "So you you are traveling there, but from the sound of it, you haven't ever been there either?"  She smiled kindly, hoping by offering a caring, responsive ear and a warm smile, the colt would feel much more at ease, "So why are you traveling there now, if you don't mind me asking?"

You can try her Furaffinity account, which is active or her Skype, which is sailfishnomz (I figure it is safe to say since she publicly stated it in the Skype thread).

Trixie was content to simply watch and see if the strange earth pony would explain his equally strange contraption. Did he say it was some sort of magical sensor? She had never even heard of such a thing! Was it even possible to make a device to detect magic? Even unicorns couldn't simply detect magic outside of of witnessing it with the normal five senses; although Trixie always wondered if the Alicorns somehow could. Absorbed in her own thoughts on that, the blue unicorn was overlooking the earth pony's difficulties in keeping his balance. That is, until he started to slip on some those slick roof tiles and he, his tools, and his device went everywhere. Looking up at the sudden commotion that broke her train of thought, Trixie managed only at first to be smacked right in the face with a falling wrench. "Hey! You clumsy, blundering, oaf, you-" Trixie stopped in mid sentence as she looked up to see the earth pony himself and all his tools falling right towards her. Trixie, of course, could have let everything, including the pony himself, fall to the ground. For a brief moment, she considered not lifting a hoof to help the inconsiderate buffoon who dared interrupt her verbal performance. However, in that brief instant, she remembered what her mother wanted of her. Besides, a good rescue from time to time sure enhanced her Great and Powerful status. And she didn't want anyone to die. Her horn glowed a beautiful purple light as she mentally focused on every tool bouncing down the side of the roof and halted them in mid-air. It took a little more effort, but nothing the Great and Powerful Trixie, couldn't easily handle, as she caught the earth pony in mid-free fall. Her mind moved towards the strange device, but it had already been lifted by her griffin companion. Simply catching dozens of falling objects, as impressive as it was, wasn't enough for the stagecraft of the unicorn. The tools all started swirling around the earth pony as she lifted him slowly into the air, lining themselves up in intricate patterns that danced around him. Trixie smiled with strong assurance as she looked directly at the stranger. "Foolhardy earth pony, know that you have been rescued by the most marvelous of magicians, the most renowned of unicorns, the virtuoso of Equestria, The Great and Powerful Lady Trixie!" She was enjoying this moment. After everything, she was a heroine once again, pulling a pony out of certain danger! It was too bad the audience was so small, but she'd give them the full treatment! Somewhere down deep, she had to admit to herself that the main person she was performing for was herself, anyway. "Now, my poor ungraceful rube, there is no need to say anything in your awe, but if you wish you may praise ...", her monologing ground to a halt as she suddenly realized the house was on fire. Her eyes widened in worry and trepidation, "oh my..." It was a good thing everything she had captured was much lower to the ground, because in her shock of seeing the roof ablaze she lost her consentration and everything she was levitating now fell, including the no doubt befuddled earth pony. That's OK, she was sure he'd forgive her a bump and bruise when she'd saved his house. Damn, she should have taken the time to lower him gently to the ground. It would have made a better show for her not to be hurried... Well, stop worrying. The storm cloud was one of her standard acts. She focused her mind, her horn glowing anew, and small, dark clouds swirled out of empty air to form together into a number of small clouds, and gathered together into a larger cloud. Soon it was a fourth the size of the house. She clenched her teeth as she put her mind into it, her horn glowing with a blaze of purple light as she put her all into it. Lightning struck out of the cloud with a loud crack of thunder, striking towards the roof, almost causing a larger disaster. But what she was really going for was the small, localized torrential downpour that erupted from the cloud, smothering the roof in the cool water.

For a brief moment that, in the Earth Pony's mind, seemed to last for several minutes, all Braeburn could focus on was Bluebelle's face. Her muzzle being so close to his own, with that fierce blush on her cheeks, looking so adorable ... In a moment of oblivious fantasy he just wanted to reach forward and ... There was a sudden, loud bray from the molly's lips, and Braeburn quickly snapped back to reality to see Bluebelle's reaction of shock. Thankfully, it was not directed at him. He shook his head and followed her gaze, remembering the strange phantom that had so spooked him. That mysterious blue glowing figure was right next to them. Still on his hind quarters, he instinctively shuffled backwards a couple feet, his wide eyes almost like dinner plates in both awe and surprise. It took a second or two before he realized what ... or more specifically, who he was looking at. The mysterious glowing creature clearly was Willowisp, but that was no normal unicorn's glow she possessed. Instead of originating from her horn in a bright light, it was a soft, eerie luminescence more related to ghost stories than the good, sturdy scientific magic one could depend on. As if that wasn't enough, those red-glowing eyes seemed to bore right into him. Braeburn wasn't sure what to make of it at all. Braeburn, despite his initial shock, wasn't one to turn down a neighborly hoof. He took a hold of Willowisp's glowing hoof with both of his own as he worked his way back onto all fours. He didn't really need the assistance, but it was always nice to be neighborly - especially now that he began to worry that he may have insulted her with his gasping and staring. "Oh, umm, yeah ... We all tend to put out our lamps at night, seein' as how nopony is usually up an about at this hour. Not t' mention, candles are hard t' come by round about these parts. Ah did bring a lantern, though!" Braeburn trotted proudly over to the lantern he left on the platform and picked it up in his teeth, holding it towards Willowisp proudly but also perhaps to reassure himself that it was indeed her ... "I guess y'all brought yer own light, Miss. Willow. Unicorns never cease to amaze me!" Looking over at Bluebelle, he winked with his usual confidence, as if everything was going according to plan. At least those strange butterflies were gone. Wherever had those come from? "No worries, Miss Bluebelle. Neither of us are hurt, an' Ah am certainly happy to have softened yer landin', an t'have y'all along on this adventure!" With that he placed the lantern down, grabbed his hat with his teeth, flipped it perfectly on his head and smiled. "Ladies, ah reckon we'd best be off." He gave a roguish grin before picking up the lantern once more and trotting towards the open desert. Oddly enough, it seemed easier to ignore those nervous twinges when he was acting brave in front of these two.

Yes, and she probably has some guilt about it and thus doesn't ask him for anything someone who wasn't a friend or wanted to help wouldn't do for her anyway.

I imagine this is what the world be like for them if Rainbow Dash failed at that Sonic Rainboom. Pinky grows up to be the slave driving CEO of a strip mining operation and Rainbow Dash is just some clerk or postal runner.

I like that story and feel rather bad for her because she doesn't believe she would meet anyone because of her odd hours and specialty. I am sure somepony can easily work through that. Like her friend there, I could see him as popular with the fillies.

Braeburn began to slowly pace back and forth on the platform, but not because he was impatient. In fact, he was just fine if no one showed and he could find himself back at home curled under his warm blankets this cold desert night. And certainly he wasn't scared of a few little ghost stories! Well, maybe just a little. But what he couldn't put his hoof on was how jumpy he'd felt with the two ladies earlier. He was *never* jumpy around anyone, and he certainly hadn't been jumpy around Willow earlier, when he'd met her in Ponyville. What was wrong with him? That train of thought was broken when Braeburn noticed something approaching out of the corner of his eye. A faint blue glow - at first he'd though that perhaps it was an odd sort of a lantern - but with a blue flame? It didn't flicker, either - this was no lantern, it was more of a phosphorescence, like one of those big glowing mushrooms - but it was moving. It was his imagination, Braeburn told himself. He had himself all worked up with those ghost stories, and was imagining things. The blue glow was a trick of the light, and it wasn't like it was going to suddenly turn to him with two red-glowing eyes to - OH PONY FEATHERS! Braeburn beat his hooves against the wood briefly, before realizing the noise would just draw whatever-it-was towards him. Part of him wanted to bolt and hide far away, that instinct all ponies had when encountering the dangerous unknown ... but the other part of him, that proud frontier cowpony, was more than curious. He was determined. This was not the haunted pass, this was his HOME. His darling Appleoosa! If there was something weird happening, he needed to know about it, and needed to protect his fellow ponies! But no sense charging headlong into the unknown. Braeburn looked around quickly and saw a few crates waiting for the morning to be loaded onto the train. At least he wasn't by the lantern, maybe whatever-it-was hadn't seen him yet. He ducked quickly behind the crates, and peeked out around the side, his heart pounding in his chest as he tried to see what it was haunting his town. His observations of what was looking more and more like a shape of another pony was suddenly interrupted by a loud female voice in what sounded like panic coming from the same direction. What in tarnation!? He stretched his neck to look out even more only to find the crates he was behind, along with himself crashed into with some incredible force. The world turned upside down and sideways as he tumbled over under the force of whatever it was that glowing thing had thrown at him. What was going on? What was happening to him!? As the world stopped spinning, he focused his eyes to something a bare inch away from his own muzzle - finding BlueBelle sprawled on top of him, her own muzzle only an inch from his own. Braeburn's heart skipped a beat and his face warmed up in a fierce blush. "H-Howdy, Miss BlueBelle. Ah ... umm ... are y'all alright?" What was *that*?! Since when did he stammer like that?!

Ironically, the old MLP was so bland, that my pony collecting and loving sister was instead converted in her television viewing by me to my Transformers, and in doing so became just as a large of a fan of the latter. And now here I ma years later, a huge fan of FiM, and from what she tells me, she hates it.

Carrot gave a sincere and soft smile to the cute earth pony. Even though she seemed happy, he wasn't sure a few bushels of carrots would really be enough for what he was asking of her - that sort of help could really improve his crop. "If ye dinnae mind, like Oi said before, Oi could help ye with yer deliveries, if ye like, as another bit o payment fer yer help." He rubbed the back of his head with his forehoof shyly - it would seem no matter the subject he would be shy around a pretty filly, "Umm ... that is, if ye and yer lil' friends dinnae mind a whit." Looking towards Starlight, he smiled as nicely as possible as he lowered himself again to be at the little Pegasus' eye level, glad that the pain was already starting to recede from the bruise. "If yer bonnie companion is aeright with me help, ye kin ride standing on me back, then ye'll be a little higher tae th' sky! Spread yer wings tae feel th' wind, an' ye'll be flyin' in nae time, lad!" Waiting on the little white Pegasus' answer, Carrot watched the young unicorn foal bounce around the whole lot of them, singing in glee about how she was going to learn how to draw. Looking back at Starlight "You have quite the enthusiastic little girlfriend", he winked. Before getting back up he looked over at the unicorn still busy drawing away, "Joining us as well?"

That was very adorable and I love how you draw them in these little sketches. I am sure it will dawn on him later what almost happened. Good thing Big mac wasn't around to tease him.

It was a dark and quiet night - the cloudy skies kept the moon from shining its normal brilliance over the desert. A lone yellow earth pony with a long, messy, yellow-orange two toned mane kept under wraps by a large Stetson walked up onto the train station platform, the lantern in his mouth was his only source of light. There was no one else about at this time of course - Appleoosa was a small settlement and everyone was already retired for the night after a long day in the orchards and the fields. Looking towards his right, Braeburn eyeballed the dark silhouette of the train, which wouldn't be moving again until morning. It was the train that brought him out here, at least a story of a train. Braeburn had been telling Willowisp, a black filly unicorn with shining blue hair, about why the train didn't make evening runs anymore - because of the "haunted pass", Appleoosa's own ghost story, complete with a disappearing train, haunted cave, and a headless horse. Of course it was all a yarn, right? Ponies these days didn't believe in ghost stories, right? Except ... Braeburn had seen the train leave one day, and not come back. Knew the ponies who'd run from the haunted cave. Now he found himself here, ready to visit that very same haunted pass, because instead of having her curiosity satisfied, or being frightened by the prospect, that same unicorn filly had actually seemed excited, and asked him to take her there ... at night, in the cold desert. Braeburn, y'all must be crazy, letting her sweet-talk y'all into this. Why can't y'all ever say no to a cute face? He kicked a small stone off the platform. Maybe she won't show, maybe she overslept after getting a room at the inn. He hoped she did at least manage that, although she turned down his offer to pay with the bits after it looked like she was going to take them from him ... Then it dawned on Braeburn why she didn't take the bits, he was holding them in his mouth, figuring she just take them via unicorn magic, but instead she reached for them with her own mouth agape as in reaching for a kiss before turning and running off. Braeburn blushed fiercely and suddenly felt very awkward both at the situation he put her in, and that it hadn't dawned on him until now. Now his thoughts wandered, the cowpony smiling goofily to himself as his thoughts were suddenly seized by the image of kissing WillowWisp ... or that lovely blue molly with the cute accent, BlueBelle. She was supposed to be showing up for this expedition, too. Those thoughts made him blush even more - even with his entire flirty, outgoing attitude, he had never really followed through very much. Good thing his cousin Big Mac wasn't around to see his red, embarrassed face right now. Good thing no one was around ... and it was dark.

Braeburn turned his head slightly and blushed visibly as he watched Bluebelle do her gentile curtsey, She truly is a belle, and so pretty to boot, he thought, feeling a little giddy. As the yellow earth pony placed his hat back on his head and headed towards the door, he looked back at the molly while shyly grinning, "Ah'll surely come an' visit, an' soon! For Ah'd be more'n happy to help ya start yer first garden here in AAAAAAppleoosa, Miss Bluebelle!" Walking outside with Willow, Braeburn heard her inquire to him about the local inn. The first thought that came across Braeburn's mind was to invite her to stay at his place. Wouldn't be neighborly to do anything else for a stranded filly. Unfortunately, he realized, his was a home built for one, with just one bedroom and one bed. As big of a flirt as he was here, and back when he first met Willow at Sweet Apple Acres, his invitation would simply be taken the wrong way, and he certainly didn't want to imply he was that kind of stallion. Realizing he was blushing at the thought of how cute she was, he quickly recovered and pointed south with one hoof. "Well, Miss Willow, it's right back that-a-way where we started, then take a left. There's only one street in AAAAAppleoosa! Inn's on th' right, y'all can't miss it!" He grinned. "If'n y'all want, ah kin lead y'all right theah." With that little informal speech he realized she had no bits on her. He nuzzled into his saddlebag and proudly produced a small stack with his teeth. "And here y'all go, Miss Willow, this ought to be enough to pay for a good room, and never you mind havin' to pay me back!"

I thought she was very cute with the straight hair too..when yeah, she wasn't being insane.

-- Twilight doesn't even roll her eyes at Pinky's "you shouldn't hit the books" comment, they are all just so used to her by now. -- Rarity obviously knows now of Spikes crush and seems to take advantage of it, but not too much as she honestly seems a little worried about how bad Spike has it (and possibly how taking too much advantage would make her a lousy friend and pony). -- Rarity really took to sticking her head into the rotting garbage pretty well.. Well as well as Rarity could. -- "Harry" - More evidence Equestria is post-human Earth! -- Of course Pinky thinks Fluttershy and Dash's excuse makes the most sense. -- Silly ponies, do you think you can out sneak or out run Pinky? Time and space are her playthings! -- Pinky and Applejack had some of the greatest facial expressions I have seen yet in FiM. -- Do you see four gems or five!! -- Angry Pinky is scary -- Flat haired Pinky is pretty cute, ya know, when she doesn't look insane. It is also interesting to hear her voice when she isn't being hyper-Pinky (which is every other time we see her). -- BUTT TO THE FACE! It was a fun episode, although as soon as Twilight appeared at the Cakes' looking for something she didn't want Pinky to know about, it was pretty easy to figure out this would be a surprise party for Pinky; it was also obvious she would interpret their avoidance to plan the party in the worst possible way. Despite the plot and the ending being very easy to figure out, I really liked this episode, mainly because Pinky does such a great job carrying the show with her crazy antics you can't help but enjoy watching her and laugh. The episode worked because of Pinky, no one else could have pulled off her reaction to the situation with nearly as much humor. Also, Gummy!

Thank you! It took a lot of work, and it's never easy to abandon something you've invested time into to start over, but it was well worth it. Do you prefer the face shaded or unshaded? I feel like shaded looks a bit cheesy. The hair will remain shaded either way. I could go either way honestly. I shaded looks kinda nifty because it looks like she has a cloud on her head, but the unshaded makes it look more iconic in the style of the show's art. I say go with unshaded since you indicated a preference for it.

Love the new style with the eyes. The more simple, iconic look to them makes them seem so much more clear and adds to the expressions.

Found this on Equestria Daily originally where one bronie is concerned where the fandom is heading and wrote an open letter to the community, and while doing so, makes a lot of really good points. For those who find the letter tl:dr, the summary: Thank you dude for posting this.

Braeburn's ears perked up, he was close enough to hear Big Mac whisper something about her name, or maybe his to her ... or something. Whatever was said, she introduced herself, and they were both blushing quite a bit about the whole exchange. Braeburn felt a mischievous smile spread across his muzzle, which only grew when he heard the Pegasus mare try to excuse herself shyly. "Aww, don't be takin' off now darlin', we would luv y'all fer dinner. Besides, my cuz' Big Mac here would be most disappointed if'm y'all didn't stay and sit with him at the dinnah table", Braeburn winking slyly. "Aint that right cuz'?" Without missing a beat, and quite content in putting Big mac on the spot some more, Braeburn cheerfully turned to the smaller dark filly. "How about y'all, Miss Willowwisp? Y'all will be staying too, right? We'd be grateful if y'all did, especially Big Mac here", Braeburn put his forehoof around Big Mac's neck, smiling in a disarming manner. Maybe he was laying it on just a little thick, but what's the point of visiting the cousins, without a little friendly jabbing and humor at Big Mac's expense? Braeburn didn't do it to be mean, he just wished that Big Mac wouldn't be so quiet and reserved all the time.

Carrot almost felt like he was the king of the town for a moment, being escorted to the post office and given a tour all of a sudden by two bonnie pegasai fillies.  Now dinnae ken those stupid ideas Carrot, they're just bein' nice.  Watching Bolt barely contain her laughter made that feeling go away awfully quick - instead, now feeling awkwardly like a shy hick getting lost in the 'big city' of Ponyville.  "Aye, thanks fer showin' me th' way, Miss Rainbow Dash," he smiled shyly, wondering if it was too formal.  What if she liked Dash better, or Dashie, as Bolt called her?  Nay, that's too informal.  Oi wonder what th' lass meant by "one hay of a tour" anyway?  Perhaps it had something to do with the strange gray mail pegasus, that she has to be watched or something as she moved from place to place in such a chaotic way. Dash did say they needed to keep an eye out for her... Carrot waited for the two pegasi to lead the way, following along on the ground, trying not to stare too much at the filly's tails as they floated through the air ahead of him.  Ah, how he wished he could stretch out a pair of wings and join them up there as well ... The town, he was there to get a tour of the town.  Not dream stupid dreams of wings and fillies.

Trixie smiled, "The Great and Powerful Lady Trixie", she liked the sound of that - so full of nobility and awe.  Trixie almost giggled like a little filly at hearing that - she certainly was jumping for joy inside, but she could not sully her image by acting like that in front of ponies.  However that moment of joy was morphed visibly into fearful dread when the Griffon asked for her address!  No way she could admit she was just homeless, scrounging food ... a vagrant.  Trixie had to think fast before the Griffin caught on ... "Umm ... The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie is not contained by mere WALLS! She travels the length and width of Equestria, sharing her brilliance with all who are lucky enough to see her!" Feeling rather proud of that cover, she suddenly heard some other pony calling to them from a nearby home - or at least, she assumed it was a home.  It looked more like some gaudy junkyard to her, These Ponyville rubes ... no taste at all, she hmphed to herself, trying to hold onto her elitist aspirations.  As cluttered and messy as the house was, what really caught her attention was the strange brown earth pony trying to hook up ... well ... something on his roof, and now calling for someone to hold it for him.  Trixie was already annoyed that the strange pony manage to pull the griffin's attention away from her - in short, stealing the show - but now he wanted to her do manual labor?  Her?  The Great and Powerful Tri- ... Lady Trixie?  What..is he doing?, she pondered.  At least to herself, she could admit that she was curious.  Perhaps she could wait around for them to finish ...

I know, but I figured it would be appreciated nonetheless. The punchline is that it wasn't a REAL MLP forum. It was one they staged just for the joke. It is sadly believable as an Internet forum thread though; that is what makes it really funny.

Sunrise was taken aback by the unicorn's response. Clearly she was not fine, and they both knew it. Sunrise didn't know if it was pride or just craziness that was motivating the obviously hurt unicorn to spur her offer of help, and she didn't care - she wasn't going to leave another foal on the side of the road like so many did to unfortunate vagrant souls one would see on the dusty trails over in Roughrider. At least she was blushing, which probably meant she wasn't mad for anything, just embarrassed. "Like, well, I am not going to just, like, leave you here!" With that, Sunrise showed what one little athletic foal can do when she grabbed the cloak with her teeth and proceeded to drag the injured white unicorn to the shade of the nearby tree, Like, don't care how much she protests, totally not leaving her in the sun! It may have taken a few minutes and an awful lot of effort for the foal, but she managed to get them both under the tree. "Now, like, I swear I will be right back, I am going to get you some help, I totally promise I'll be gone for only, like, a minute!", and with that she started to run towards the schoolhouse. Reaching the schoolhouse, Sunrise burst right in. She knew this would cause a disruption, but what choice does she have? "Miss ... Miss, umm ...", Sunrise had to think really hard on this - Mrs. Cozy definitely told her the teacher's name, and it was getting embarrassing that she was starting to look dumb here, "ummm.. CHEERLIE, MISS CHEERLIE!" That had to get her attention now "pleasehelpthereisan injusredunicornoverlikebythetree!" Sunrise yelled as she frantically pointed a hoof back outside.

Braeburn, you dumb cowpoke, how did y'all get yourself hogtied into this?, the young stallion contemplated to himself.  What pony would in their right mind want to check out where an entire train disappeared, at night no less?  Serve y'all right if'n y'all ne'er came back. He had no choice, of course.  he'd promised the filly, and no way, no how, was he going to break a promise.  It didn't take long for the trio to reach the small homestead on the edge of Appleoosa.  As small as Ponyville was to most ponies, Appleoosa was even smaller - get up to a gallop and blink, and you'd be through it, right enough.  Only had one street, with the orchards and fields surrounding it the little cluster of houses like a protective envelope from the large desert beyond. Apple Bow Cottage itself was quite a bit remote from the rest of these homes - nice and quiet, if a bit small, tucked away into a little curve of an outcropping of rock that surrounded too small a plot of land to make a proper orchard. Walking inside, Braeburn placed the baggage in his mouth down on the floor near the entrance and began to slide each case off his back one at a time, which was a nice relief.  "So what will y'all be doin' here in *ahem* AAAAAAppleossa, Miss. Bluebelle?", he smiled  proudly, remembering this time not to rear up as he proudly proclaimed the name everyone was familiar with by now, mindful of the suitcase still on his back. Braeburn carefully slid the last suitcase off his back and placed it upright on the floor with his teeth. Smiling politely, he blushed and quickly took off his hat. "Where are mah manners?  Please excuse me fer fergettin' t'take off mah hat."  He smiled, but let out a regretful sigh.  "Ah should really get back to mah orchard an' check up on things, 'specially Bloomberg.  Ah promised mah cuz' Ah'd check him ever' day.  Did y'all need anythin' afore ah take off an ... umm ... see y'all t'night?"

Derpy bidding is over and she went for $2,151 I think more along the lines that there are only so many fans in these uncertain times that can toss a four digit bid even for an original of the show we all so love. (I would love to have the AJ one, but no way I can just blow $900 like that no matter how much desire there is on my part). Besides Applejack and Twilight may still make over a $1000 before it is all said and done (and I wager if there was a Dash one, the price would skyrocket over two grand again).