Bramble Rose

Silver Flash felt a slow smile drifting across her lips. Ah, now we got down to it! And he hadn't called her to task on her "Plus Expenses" remark, which was an implicit agreement. Of course, now what to do? A thousand gold ... that was good for bumping them up to the level 2 wealth range ... two thousand, slightly less than level 3. A decent chunk of change for first-level adventurers such as themselves. And one which would probably widen their eyes. But on the other hoof, they were going after a priceless and super-powerful artifact? If they brought it to the bad guys - not that they ever would - but if they did, they could probably get two hundred thousand for it, easily. Eight thousand versus two hundred thousand... Her first instinct was to haggle. Spurs and Stones! She used Charisma as her dump stat, and didn't have ths skills for it! And their charisma-monkey was all noble and probably wouldn't haggle this at all! Well, OK, then. Time to haggle BADLY. Maybe Drifting Veil would buy it ... [colour=#ffffff]Snicker Snack's eyes widened at the amount. 2000, plus expenses? That would keep her in food and shelter for quite a while, sure - but when it came down to needing supplies for her projects, she really needed more than that... and this artifact sounded really, really valuable! With a sly grin, she leaned forward over the table. [/colour] [colour=#ffa500]"Now, now. I'll be helping, of courth, but two thouthand each, pluth expentheth, that'th not much for an artifact of thith caliber. We could get fifteen timeth that amount eathy, if we brought it to market. Now, I know there'th more than money involved here - no doubt the thafety of all ponykind lieth on our headth - but I'm thure you can do better than that to keep our purtheth lined! Mama needth a new thet of hydrothpannerth! Now, it doethn't have to be more money - thome better gear or convenient magic itemth to thtart uth poor, impovershed ponieth on our way would probably be jutht fine. After all, that would make it more likely we'll thucceed!"[/colour]​ Maybe that would pull the DM in. What DM didn't like to roll on the treasure tables?​

Rainbow Dash was letting out a soft laugh. [colour=#0000cd]"Well, if his sister is as good with food as all that, maybe I could trade places with her," she said softly to Rarity. "I could go take her place. Like one of the royal guards, who never move and just stand there and stare..." [/colour] Ugh. That sounded boring. Even worse than- [colour=#0000cd]"LOOK OUT!"[/colour] she cried, leaping at Rarity and knocking her out of the way of the tumbling barrel. The two mares landed in a heap on the floor, a puff of the flour Pinkie had been flinging around rising up around them, washing out Dash's bright colours, and Rarity's mane. Rarity could feel a pat of butter *squish* underneath her. Dash looked down at Rarity in concern, though this time from a couple inches again, and resting atop of her, and asked again, [colour=#0000cd]"Um ... are you all right?"[/colour]​

Well, keep in mind that the REA has not had a war or any significant fighting to do in the history of this board - so a lot of the REA activity is border patrol and disaster relief efforts.

I'm not going to be able to play Minecraft again till sometime after Easter - but I really do want to upgrade and get to it! I've always been curious about building with all that stuff!

As usually does happen! This seems a really solid app, let me know when you feel it's finished and I'll begin the final approvals process.

So I saw! just figured as you had it set to 'Ready', I'd set in my quick two cents.

When you're [ready] for feedback, I'll be taking this app! And of course, if you want to give me a ring on the phone, we can always talk it over!

Nice work on this app! I'm thrilled to see that you've included so many of the things we were talking about! I also really think Flit is a great idea. Nice lil' pet. Great idea! The app is really solid - history, cutie mark story, meaning behind the cutie mark, all good. Not required for approval: I would recommend adding one hobby, like, or dislike that doesn't involve flowers. Something to just flesh her out a little bit, give her a little more dimension. Dancing, or bowling, or museums, or home brewing, or something like that. As a non-helpstaff comment: I would love to have a thread where Bramble meets Fuchsia, like making his first delivery to her flower shop. I think we could have fun!

Silver Flash's eyes sparkled with bright amusement at Vigil's response. Unfortunately, the game continued, others impatient to get started, but Silver allowed Snicker Snack to deliver one more whisper, just loud enough for Vigil to hear it, despite Drifting Veil's raised voice - an awestruck, breathy whisper.​ [colour=#ffa500]"A Printheth in exile!"[/colour]​ Then she leaned back, laughing softly at Sugar Rush's enthusiasm. Luckily, Drifting Veil seemed to know a pretty good tack to take on this one, not missing a beat. Good DM, this one. Lots of them would have been completely thrown by such an outrageous response. She waited till after the DM was done delivering his speech, then leaned over to pat Sugar's shoulder. [colour=#008080] "Don't worry,"[/colour] she said to him in quiet aside, [colour=#008080]"We'll have enemies aplenty for you to dull your arrows against. No need to threaten ponies to do what they're already going to do!"[/colour] She gave him a lil' wink and a grin, reassuring him in case his feelings were hurt by the DM's swift beat-down upon Alfalfa, and then turned back to Drifting Veil and dropped into character again.​ [colour=#ffa500]"If thith artifact ith ath dangerouth ath you thay, then we would be good to be careful. You might be the wrong hooveth, and thending uth on thith quetht tho you can thteal it from uth! I think you would be glad we are cautiouth, if it ith ath important ath all that!"[/colour] [colour=#ffffff]Snicker Snack thumped her hoof on the table to accentuate the comment, nodding firmly. [/colour] [colour=#ffa500]"Regardleth, I am thure I am likely to take thith quetht, but there's a few vague thingth I'd like to have taken care of. Half now, half later, that'th thtandard, but half of ... what? How much are you going to pay uth, pluth expentheth, for thith tathk you thet upon uth? Do you know where we need to go, and will provide uth a map? Or do we have to thearch through old librarieth to find the clueth ourthelveth? Are any otherth theeking thith macguffin out?"[/colour]​ Silver Flash panted softly, her tongue feeling numb from all the lisping. OK, maybe she should have picked a different way to express Snicker's low charisma!​

Woooooooog... Wheeeeen was the wheel going to stop spinning? The room kept whirling and whirling around her, twirling and whirling, making her little tummy churn in sympathy. She was so confused, and Apple Bloom was talking about someone kissing her, and the wheel was *still* spinning! Well, that sounded exciting and romantic! She'd have to wait for everything to stop swirling horribly, and then she'd find out who was kissing Apple Bloom! Eventually, it came to her that she wasn't on the wheel, and it was the room that was spinning! Was Discord making trouble again? Was the little building floating through the air or something? Except she stayed on the floor, she wasn't tumbling off of the ceiling at all. Taking a great risk, she put one hoof down ... then another... and pushed herself upwards. Her hind legs were a little slower getting coordinated, and she stumbled leftwards, then rightwards ... Nope, the room and the wheel were both still. It was her EYES that were spinning. She gave her head a rapid shakeshakeshake, and her eyes finally settled into place with a bit of a rattle. Wait, was she sure her eyes were working right? Why was everything in such chaos? Oh no! Miss Cheerilee! She looked so ... so ... so DEJECTED! She raced ... ok, well, staggered ... across to where Cheerilee stood dripping miserably, and fell into her with her forehooves upraised, giving her the biggest, absolutely most comforting hug that she could summon up! She drew back a little and looked up at Miss Cheerilee, her big green eyes all wobbly and worried. [colour=#800080]"It's OK, Miss Cheerilee!"[/colour] she assured her quickly! [colour=#800080]"I'm all right! We're all OK! You don't need to be sad!"[/colour]​

So glad to see you here! I hope you enjoy your stay!

Well, I'm in. But as I was the last person to post to the 2nd thread, I just really can't ... post again ...

Rainbow Dash sat on the edge of her stool as she followed Soarin's story, then let out a contented little sigh as she sat there in reminiscence. "Ahhhh... yeah..." Her eyes went far-off and dreamy, remembering the feel of those days... She let out a contented sigh, and then shook her head, also shaking away the distant expression. [colour=#0000cd] "We're lucky we have LOTS of best days ever!"[/colour] she said animatedly. [colour=#0000cd] "I remember the Vapor Fountain, yeah! And old Thunderwing! He was pretty good. My favorite at the time was actually Cirrus McCloud, though. Now there was a pony who could fly with authority!"[/colour] She finished off her cider, setting down the empty mug, and sighed, a dreamy and lovestruck grin on her face. She shook THAT look off, too, and grinned bashfully. [colour=#0000cd]"So, um, how nervous were you when you were waiting for the response letter for the Academy?"[/colour]​

Rainbow Dash blinked a bit, looking around at her friends ... there was a whole lot of awkardness going around, most of it focused around Carrot. And as Applejack and Pinkie got a bit close to Carrot, Dash found it weirdly annoying. She didn't even know why. Well, she hoped the awkwardness wasn't anything serious. Carrot seemed pretty cool. She trotted over to grab down a bowl next to Rarity, and tossed half a dozen eggs into it whole, then grabbed a whisk and started whipping at the eggs, mixing them and their fragments of shells together in a mess as she turned to look back at her three friends. [colour=#0000cd]"Heh... "[/colour] she grinned a little aside to Rarity. [colour=#0000cd]"Not bad, is he? Love a stallion in a kilt,"[/colour] she said lowly, a grin on her muzzle - totally ignoring her earlier teasing about it being a skirt. "[colour=#0000cd]When I was a little filly, I got an REA recruitment poster of Cirrus McCloud for the wall of my bedroom." [/colour] Not that it'd necessarily *left* her bedroom wall ... and it'd since been joined by REA posters of several other Wonderbolts stallions. [colour=#0000cd]"and he wasn't wearing his Wonderbolts uniform in it!"[/colour] She paused a moment, frowning at Rarity's awkward expression. [colour=#0000cd]"Hey, somethin' wrong?"[/colour]​ Sweetie Belle would never admit it to any of the foals in her class, but she rather liked a little naptime now and then. The day was just too long sometimes, and the warm afternoon sun just would always make her want to curl up in a sunbeam like Opalescence. And when she got into that muzzy, sleepy state, it was hard to get her to wake up. As Apple Bloom started to stand up, and move around, taking assessment of her many injuries, Sweetie Belle just clung to Apple Bloom's hind leg like it was her favorite stuffed animal, giving a soft little sleepy giggle and mumbling lazily, [colour=#800080]"Nono, you use the paperclip and the apple slice on the BLUE wire... *mumble mumble* thirteen hugs for Apple bloom ... " a little strand of drool dripped from the corner of her mouth ... [/colour]​

Dash was startled to find herself surrounded by mares wearing the filmy costumes that could only be from 'Daring Do and the Lost Oasis.' [colour=#808080]"Oh, wow,"[/colour] she said, [colour=#808080]"those are pretty good-"[/colour] She stopped instantly as Carrot raised his camera, automatically throwing herself into a daring pose with the dancing mares draped over her on every side. He was gonna have some awesome pictures from this! She stuck with the pose as he went through a series of the dancing mares' cameras, too, as they apparently wanted a few of their own pictures. She was feeling pretty awesome about all this! Ponies wanting her picture, everywhere! This was GREAT! And then one wanted some one-on-one pictures just with her! [colour=#808080]"Yeah, sure, that sounds awesome! Get as close as you -"[/colour] She *mmphed* in surprise, her eyes going wide, as the mare snuggled up to her chest and then kissed her full on the lips! She barely even noticed the *fwash* of Carrot taking the picture of the kiss! The dancing mare gave her an impish little excited grin and Dash started to stammer out some sort of belated protest... when another hoof grabbed her from the other side, turned her around, and another of the mares was kissing her! The *fwash* of the camera to the side made her blink, half-blinded, as the other mare backed off, too, giving an impish little giggle ... [colour=#808080]"Uh... wuh... I didn't realize..."[/colour] she stammered, stunned... [colour=#808080]"I'm not..."[/colour] The two mares giggled happily, and hugged each other, and then exchanged a kiss of their own, and this time Dash was able to block her eyes at the *fwash* of the camera that Carrot was carrying. She didn't really hear much of them thanking her, and just nodded and tucked away the little note they gave her into one of her many pockets, as they retrieved their camera and the whole group went on their way, those two mares staying very close to each other. She looked up to Carrot. [colour=#808080]"What just happened?!"[/colour]​

Purple Haze's eyes got really big at Bolt's shy admission, and she quivered in excited glee, her big, shining eyes turning up to look at her big brae! Oh, finally! A mare who could see past Carrot's dorky awkwardness and would give him a chance like he deserved, and could see him as Purple did: As the bestest stallion in the whole world! They were gonna have an awkward, romantically adorkable relationship and get in a couple fights and misunderstandings and then come out of them stronger and he'd rescue her from timber wolves and she'd save him from falling and they'd fall desperately in love and get married and provide Purple with a whole clan of lil' nieces and nephews! ... At least, if Carrot ever got around to opening his big, dumb mouth and *saying* anything! Purple looked to Bolt and to Carrot and to Bolt and to Carrot and then she trotted over around behind Carrot and gave him a good, strong shoulder-check right into the rump to spur him to SAY SOMETHING!

Purple had seen this before - stallions and mares who sought out spiciness for the sheer joy of battling against the pain, prefering heat over flavour. Purple tended not to use the spiciest of peppers, because those tended to not taste quite so good - Crazypeppers, Owiepenos, and even the Magma Bells that grew on the sides of active volcanos all had quite a kick, but tasted all right, but the flavour just tended to be rather muted, and could be better reached with much milder peppers. Purple Haze went for the mid-range ones, instead, that had the strongest flavour along with the spicy kick. But she had seen the competititve eaters sit there with entire bushels of the desert-growing Brushfire Suicide Peppers, a judge for each eater pulling out a pepper with a long-handled tongs, dipping it in a glass of milk to douse the flames, and setting it down before red-faced ponies who sat there with eyes streaming with tears and noses running like faucets, staring each other down as they destroyed their tastebuds one bite at a time. She supposed Applejack must be like that. [colour=#ff8c00]"Oh, aye! That's th' best tae do it! They're roit tasty fresh, but if ye pop 'em intae th' icebox an' letem sit in their own juices fer an even, ye'll be roit on flavourful th' next morn! Ach, th' spices really come tae th' fore, then! Then they finally get a proper bite tae them!"[/colour] She laughed softly. [colour=#ff8c00]"It's a good thing we dinnae have any Brushfire Peppers in these hills! Ach, those'd set th' greenery aflame fer sure, though they're a roit pretty sight burnin' away on th' glass hills in th' desert! Aye, that's wot we use fer th' really spicy eatin' contests! Oi dinnae think ye're quite ready fer those, Applejack!"[/colour] She gave another soft little giggle at the thought of how Applejack would react to even *one* Brushfire Suicide Pepper! [colour=#ff8c00]"But Oi'm ready tae have a noic campout, that's roit certain! Oi kin bring some more sausages tae cook over th' campfire, an' a noice potato an' carrot mix tae cook fer dinner in th' coals! An' ye kin bring some cinnamon apples tae cook in th' coals fer desert, Oi'd love tae have some made by proper apple bakers! Is there a swimmin' spot? Oi'd fancy a nice dip!"[/colour]​

Doctor Whooves sighed softly. None of these ponies had the right feel to them. Sometimes, he could just feel it, right away - the energy of somepony who was just right to be his companion. It was something he knew from first glance. Of course, not feeling it didn't mean they wouldn't make good companions. Sometimes ponies hid it well, but chance just kept them together till Whooves realized that they had the stuff. Ah well. Patience, perserverence. It was better to keep an eye on them rather than letting them run around loose. Nails and Shoes. Pathfinder, of all ponies. Sigh. He took a deep, distracted breath, then smiled around. [colour=#8b4513] "Ah, of course. Um. Pleasure to meet you all,"[/colour] he said brightly,[colour=#a52a2a] [/colour][colour=#8b4513]"A pleasant offer, Miss, but we do have a long journey ahead of us - I would really prefer it if you would all get into my cart, and we can get on our way... quite a lot to do! No time for sitting and waiting!"[/colour] Get to know each other? Really? How can you really get nice and comfortable ... by sitting around doing nothing? He gave a little bow, and extravegantly declared, [colour=#8b4513]"I am Doctor Whooves, you can call me The Doctor if you wish, or simply just Whooves. And this is my cart."[/colour] He ran a fond hoof over the edge of the cart, smiling down to her. [colour=#8b4513]"She'll be taking care of us this journey... Go ahead, pop on in. She's really more spacious than she looks!"[/colour]​

(( Has the server been down for a while, or is it on my end? I keep waiting for it to come back up ... ))

Rainbow Dash let out a strangled little noise as Fluttershy fastened herself around Dash's neck, a faintly panicked expression coming over her face. [colour=#0000cd]"Need... air!"[/colour] she gasped out desperately, struggling a moment before finally pulling out of Fluttershy's grasp. [colour=#0000cd]"Heeeey, don't worry!" [/colour]she reassured the yellow pegasus. "[colour=#0000cd]It's me! What could move fast enough to hurt me?"[/colour] She turned and started gathering up all the supplies she'd dumped out of her saddlebags, giving an odd look at Pinkie Pie and then just rolling her eyes and shaking her head. A glint from the cave-in caught her eye, so she pushed a couple rock to the side with a hoof and found a small pile of spilled jewels. [colour=#0000cd]"Ah-ha!" [/colour]she exclaimed! [colour=#0000cd] "Look at this! I think we found a CLUE!"[/colour] she whipped out a magnifying glass and peered at the jewels. [colour=#0000cd]"Yup, Rarity was probably here, all right! Though I'm surprised she left these behind!"[/colour] She fastened her bulging saddlebags on tightly, picked up her lantern, and started off down the tunnel after Applejack. [colour=#0000cd] "All righty! Let's go find us some adventure!"[/colour] A half-our later, her hoofsteps were a little bit heavier and more weary. [colour=#0000cd]"Ugh... No one told me adventure would be so BORING!" she groaned. "All these caves look alike! Are we going in circles?"[/colour]​

Silver Flash was simply delighted with the straight lines this hippogriff put forward. Ohhhhh, we just found Snicker Snack's straight mare, all right!​ [colour=#ffffff]Snicker Snack let out an awed gasp, her eyes widening, sparkling with reflected light and sheer wonder. [/colour][colour=#ffa500]"Aquelian ... Royal .... "[/colour][colour=#ffffff] she started to breath, then paused, taking this moment to gather in all the glory of the next question. [/colour][colour=#ffa500]"Are you a PRINTHETH?!"[/colour]​

Silver Flash had never been all that good at waiting for the DM to give them the adventure... she always wanted to get into the interaction between the characters. The other two hadn't given her much to go with, but Vivid's declarations.. And a perfect opportunity to dig in that low Charisma score a bit more.​ [colour=#ffffff]Snicker Snack let out a delighted laugh at the high-falutin' speech, barely able to follow it - but she was quite impressed. This is, after all, why she'd left home - to see far-away things, and hear far-away accents![/colour] [colour=#ffa500] "Ha-ha! Wow, Mith Fanthypanth! You thound like a unicorn!"[/colour] [colour=#ffffff]she cried delightedly.[/colour][colour=#ffa500] "Who ith the majethty of Hippogriff-land?" [/colour][colour=#ffffff]She paused a moment, introspectively.[/colour] [colour=#ffa500]"Heck, where is Hippogriff-land? I've never met a Hippogriff before!"[/colour]​

Doctor Whooves nodded as both mares got into the and threw the lever on his control panel, head lifted high. Then he blinked, looked down at it. Pushed the lever back, pulled it again. Sighed, lifted one hind leg, and KICKED the boiler in the back of the cart. It reverberated with a long BONG, and then the wheezing noise started up against. vworp vworp Vworp Vworp VWORP! The cart started forward and he aimed it along the coastline, sending up a spray of sand behind him. [colour=#800000] "Right, then!"[/colour] he sighed. He wanted to get on with adventure![colour=#800000] "There's actually a place not far from here that has a DELICIOUS strawberry and almond salad!"[/colour]​