Ginger Mint

hi hi Ember Spark rubbed her goggles with the side of her foreleg, clearing away the little drops of water that had started to melt as soon as they entered the Polar Star's warmer interior. Cleverboot's spyglass clinked harmlessly against the goggle lenses a couple of times before Ember Spark realized what was going on. With a sheepish "Oops," she pushed her goggles away from her eyes and tried again, peering into the distance and getting a first hoof look at the approaching griffins. She seemed lost in thought as she tried to get the flight of griffins in better focus. "Hmm... Yes, I have definitely seen griffins like this before. Griffins are always flying about BeakBreak, and when they're flying exceptionally fast like this, it usually means they're going somewhere exciting. You're not very likely to see anygriffin rushing to work in the morning, I can assure you of that, but on the way home or when it is time for a lunch break... Ooh! Lunch! I would wager they're hungry. No doubt this inclement climate makes gathering food more challenging. Perhaps we should offer them lunch, sharing a meal is a great way to make new friends." Ember Spark turned around to follow Pocket Change, but as she was returning the spyglass to its original crewpony, she stopped in her tracks, transfixed by the movements at the helm. Bending close to the wheel for a better look, her head swayed ever so slightly back and fourth with each turn. She wasn't sure exactly why, but something in her heart told her that it was important, that it meant something. The constant motion -correcting one way then correcting back the other as the winds changed- began to sink into her own swaying motion, moving in time with the rocking deck. She spoke to herself, mulling the experience over in her mind. "Timing... its not a pattern, its a plethora of patterns being played on top of each other." Her enthusiasm was a little bit muted by uncertainty. Although she had been living the constant rocking motion for the past three weeks, she had only just now stopped to truly consider it. Uncertainty didn't stop her from rushing over to Emerath's side and pushing it enthusiastically. "You're good at timing things, right?" it was a painfully rhetorical question that everypony present knew the answer to already, "Look, look, see? Two big waves and a bunch of little ones, all at the same time. Do you think..." her train of thought hit the brakes when she looked up and saw Emerath's look of concentration, "Oh, you probably already noticed. Darn. I was sure that was important." Ember Spark furrowed her brow and started heading back towards the hatch and the foredeck, lost in thought by the unexpected conundrum and musing to herself. "I wonder which is the appropriate course, waiting until the peak or waiting until they cancel out in the middle... Ooh! We'd better get somepony ready to tie the ship down once we stop, that is undoubtedly important." And with that, she perked right back up and picked up her pace.

hi hi Ember Spark's Duty, Profession and Special Talent are all sort of one and the same thing, so I hope you don't mind that I left my stats rather static. Its just the way things turned out. I'm ok with Ember Spark mentioning things she has heard somewhere before, without making any claim on accuracy. However, you'll have to forgive me, but I'm afraid I'm not really comfortable with making up stuff in the mane RP. I've been down that road before and it doesn't lead anywhere that I care to go.

hi hi When it comes to creativity, money is a poor motivator. The truth of the matter is that when you deal with any sort of mental work rather than physical work, It keeps people thinking about money and not what they're supposed to be thinking about. The quality displayed by Friendship is Magic leads me to believe that, at least for the people who are actually making the product, passion and genuine interest are at the heart of their efforts.

hi hi I must admit, this is entirely unexpected, but thank you. And you are very welcome Manestream.

hi hi Expedition Journal: Entry 21. I have only a few moments to compose my thoughts. A non-trivial portion of the crew -myself included in that tally- have remained awake since sometime the day prior. Although, I must admit my knowledge of astronomy is insufficient to accurately judge the passage of time -an irony that has not been lost on me- the days appear to be significantly shorter in this part of the world, and I shall endeavor to investigate the phenomenon upon my return to Equestria. I'm getting beside myself though, as I am afraid the reason for our extended period of consciousness is more pressing than the peculiar passage of time. The weather took a turn for worse yesterday, and I will be required to ascend once again to the top of our lifting envelope to clear away ice until we vacate the storm's perimeter or find some safe harbor. The hot air ought to have melted the ice automatically, and while I can attest that the Polar Star has exceeded expectations, the conditions we are already facing have exceeded expectations as well. I do hope our circumstance changes soon, as I have had little time to advance my own studies. ---- Ember Spark nearly dropped her hammer when she heard Salt Spray's call, throwing herself off balance to keep it from slipping out of her momentarily agape mouth. As she lost her hoofing completely and started slipping down the side of the balloon, she briefly considered how unpleasant it would be when she ran out of slack on the safety line, but she wasn't about to lose her faithful little assistant like that. She let out a little squeak when she came to a halt, dangling upside down over the deck. Before she bothered righting her own predicament, she carefully slipped her ice clearing implement back into her tool belt."There you go, all safe and sound." Switching safety lines and dropping to the deck gracefully required a feat of agility that wasn't quite within her ability, and by the time she had pulled herself back on her hooves, most of the other ponies were already clamoring forward to catch sight of some distant landmark that was obscured by her frost rimmed goggles. She did, however, see Captain Cleverboots making her way towards the control deck and trotted herself up alongside. She didn't know what everypony was so excited about, but they were definitely excited and it brought a smile to her face. "Hiya Captain, what's going on? I haven't heard anypony yell 'Tower ho' before. Is that a metaphor? it seems odd to intersect a tower with these clouds, unless maybe there is a mountain or maybe the pegasi built a tower on the clouds themselves. Did pegasi build cloud towers in the pre-classical era? Ooh! Do you suppose there might be a harbor nearby where we can set down? We may have an easier time conducting proper maintenance in less adverse conditions..." Ember Spark didn't really give Cleverboots a chance to respond until she caught sight of a winged silhouette of a slightly darker grey against grey clouds, at which point she stopped to stare in wonder. Could it be? Civilization in a place like this? I bet they have some interesting stories to tell... Ember Spark's train of thought picked up steam, and although she was still walking right next to Captain Cleverboots, her words were now directed to nopony in particular. "Ooh! We should ask them for directions."

hi hi While drama certainly makes for entertaining television, it does not make for a good role model for real life behavior. It makes me a little distraught when I see people using bad advice from relationship dramas in their own personal lives, and that unpleasant real life experience has made it impossible for me to enjoy shipping when it reaches for the popular tropes. It is often particularly silly in the context of Friendship is Magic because the characters are relatively so well adjusted that fic authors have to break them down in order to justify a ship. I can't count how many times I've seen the formula of "X fails at something and rethinks their life, and realizes that they really wanted Y all along but just never realized it, and that Y is actually more important to them than any of their original canon desires." (cue rolling of eyes.) If you are cool with that, I'm not here to judge. (Celestia knows I'm interested in some rather odd things myself.) Just be wary when using relationship dramas to guide your own life.

hi hi Hmm? Ember Spark you say? Yeah, I knew the mare, I reckon I might even call her a friend. Hmmm... no. I'd be lying if I said I took to her straight away. When first I saw her, I figured her daft, barging in on the captain and riddling her with inane questions like that. No, I couldn't tell ya what the captain thought 'bout all that neither. Ol' Cleverboots kept her cool, but since she let the mare on the expedition, I'm guessing she saw something I'd missed. Now, this is just a tired old stallion's opinion, but I tell ya that mare's got heart, and she had a smile warm as any coal. As for how it all changed, well, thats a whole story now, isn't it? Ember Spark took a circuitous route to getting aboard the expedition, though perhaps that is not uncommon for an endeavor of this sort. It is somewhat dangerous and not particularly prestigious. She is working on a project of her own, crafting a pocket watch -an exceptionally complicated piece of craftsmareship- but before she can do that she needs to understand timekeeping better. She heard about Emerath through the grapevine and his special talent for keeping track of time and set off to see if she could learn more about what it takes to keep time well from him. She didn't catch him at the theater, but she did hear about the journey he was about to embark upon. Letting the opportunity slip by was simply not an option, but lucky for her, Cleverboots needed skilled engineers to help maintain the ship and its steam engine. As for ancient ruins and pre-history, she's not very interested in that at all. However, who's to say what unexpected lessons the past will be able to teach her about time. • Ember Spark's Duties (Engineer) - 2 • Ember Spark's Profession (Inventor) - 2 • Ember Spark's Talent (Assisting Others' Special Talents) - 2 • Ember Spark's Earth Pony Magic - 2 • Ember Spark's Positive Attitude (Pure Concentrated Sunshine) - 2

hi hi If I were looking for a realistic explanation for Rarity, my first guess would be that it is related to how our circumstances play a much bigger role on our mood and behavior than most people would like to admit. She reacts more strongly to what is happening around her than her peers, and that also fits in well with her knack for generosity, being more in tuned to things beyond herself.

hi hi Those ones I found may be more up to date versions, I don't know. Remember, these were made by three fans consulting for Enterplay, so there's a reasonable chance that the stuff on these cards isn't going to match up with the show. Maybe in the new Discord episode, he'll coin a sarcastic name for the Princesses that will stick? How ironic would that be?

hi hi The collectable trading cards were mostly put together with fan input, so I'm not really sure if they can count as canon any more than Applejack's Farm Truck can. What about demi-pony or polyquine? Maybe what they need to do is just stop trying to mash words together and come up with a brand new one. Like Flufficus, Carisus, or I dunno Steve...

hi hi Vote tri-pony for new dictionary word, 2013! I guess I like pegacorn better than I like alicorn, but they both make me think of corn, Since I'm from Iowa, its not really a very pleasant mental image. Don't believe me? Here's a link to the magical statewide webcam.

hi hi I'm a big fan of the simplicity of Rarity's cutie mark. Its not elaborate or fancy, which is perhaps at odds with her whole fashion designer kick, but somehow I find that to be strangely fitting.

hi hi So, the release date of Guild Wars 2 is almost upon us. A bunch of my friends and I are going to be setting Henge of Denravi as our home server. If you're interested in World v world v world PvP, and don't already have a home server picked out, you could always use that one. For everything else, I'll look forward to seeing some of you there.