My Little Pony |OT| An adventure that never will end

SigmasonicX · Apr 9, 2018

Rhomega said:
Got introduced to Pony Girl thanks to yesterday's stream and now I'm addicted.

An already catchy song having ponies added to it will do that.

Sylvee · Apr 9, 2018

Rhomega said:
Got introduced to Pony Girl thanks to yesterday's stream and now I'm addicted.

It's fantastic

Like life with magic

Conkersbadfurday · Apr 9, 2018

Kind of not sure why I watched all of that Pony Girl thing, since it's kinda cringe and the amount of processing on the vocal work is distracting.

Animation is cute though.

SigmasonicX · Apr 15, 2018

Finally finished Long Road to Friendship. I liked the story a lot overall, but there were moments in the middle where it didn't feel like enough was happening, before getting interesting again, but then the ending chapters lost me a bit.

I'll lead with the good. It was great seeing Sunset having to actually work at becoming a better person. It's been a while since I read the start, but I recall her being a bit too heavy handed at the start. However, once she started hanging out with everyone while still having to work through her issues, she was an enjoyable character to follow. The other characters were handled well, and I especially liked Rarity, particularly after Sunset screwed up and told Twilight she hated her and Sunset had to get help from her. I've mentioned before that I really enjoyed the pet store segments with Fluttershy, and Sunset being confronted with how badly she hurt her. Sunset and Twilight's romance was pretty good. I enjoyed the general set up, of Sunset making progress in one thing but there's also another thing coming up that she has to work toward. I'm not sure I'm explaining that clearly, but it makes sure there's always something to look forward to.

Now I'll get into my issues. First of all, the Lulamoons being magic is weird. No one else in the story can use magic, and they're there just to conveniently solve problems for Sunset. Giving her a job, rescuing her from gangs, giving her a home. From what I hear about the sequel, more magic users pop up, so this was setting up that, but I still wasn't a huge fan. The Lulamoons as characters are fine, though.

Speaking of gangs, looking at the story as a whole, they were really out of place. The problems the characters face are generally personal and small scale... except for the gang members going around attempting rape and Gilda trying to kill people. And in terms of the story, they are largely just there to have someone to fight for Sunset to befriend a character. Twilight, Rainbow, and then Trixie. The gang members are beaten up, then effectively stop existing until they pop up again. Plus, them being so unforgivably evil is a bit weird given the premise of this story, especially with Dash's established former friendship with Gilda.

On another note, the story started out soon after the first EQG was released, meaning it created its own Human Twilight and personality for Sunset independent of Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games. But then the later chapters started incorporating things from those movies, increasingly as it went, and I found it awkward. The entire thing with the Humane Five getting angry at each other and Sunset bringing them back together is a more drawn out version of what happens in Rainbow Rocks. The stuff with Fluttershy's song is also from there, although the fic uses "Shine Like Rainbows" (the credits song) instead of "I've Got the Music in Me". Most egregious was Twilight putting her hair up in a bun and later wearing glasses, so she can look like SciTwi. There's also a brief mention of Rainbow glowing with magic when she plays the guitar.

This reminds me of a point I brought up with The Enchanted Library, and how it felt enough confidence in itself to not make many direct references to the show. Long Road to Friendship was setting up its own world with differences from what canon EQG was doing, and its attempts to bring things more in line with it felt like the author was lacking confidence in his world. Now, with the knowledge that he was setting up a sequel, it makes more sense that he'd want to move things a bit closer to what's canon, for more solid footing. Less of a chance to contradict yourself that way.

Independent of that, I just didn't feel the broken friendship was that strong of a conflict. I was sure that it would turn out Sunset was worrying about nothing and they would get along again in short order. And they were starting to get along again before the dance proper. That made it hard to become invested in it, and it takes up a big chunk of the end. Once Sunset got along with Twilight again, it didn't feel like there was much reason for the story to keep going for so long. Sunset loses her curse after bringing everyone back together, but that felt anti-climactic. Now, it being anti-climactic can work, but I barely noticed it happened, and it didn't seem like Sunset did either until she felt fine explaining things to Twilight.

And nitpicks. There were odd moments where the story went out of its way to show that Sunset is naturally great. I mentioned before that I found it weird that Sunset is so good at fighting. When Rainbow tries to get her to play soccer, it's revealed that this is in spite of her never exercising; so she's a better fighter than Rainbow without even trying. And she learned how to fight by watching martial arts instruction tapes; I guess she's Taskmaster. The story also emphasized that she's prettier than Rarity. At the spa, Sunset's face is spotless despite not doing anything in particular, which makes Rarity jealous, and when measuring Sunset for a dress, Rarity is jealous of her chest size. It just feels like the author is showing his attraction to Sunset.

And why is Lyra evil?

Again, despite all that, I enjoyed the story.

I have no intention of reading the sequel. It just doesn't seem interesting to me.

And a random chat story

Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:12 PM
Meow meow kitty kitty

1
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:13 PM

What? Why did I say that?

You're becoming a cat! Duh!

But I don't want to be a cat!

Oh silly!

Everybody wants to be a cat

Please stop before you get to the racist part.
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:17 PM
WE ARE SIAMESE IF YOU PLEASE
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:19 PM

Rarity, check out what this fortune cookie said! "If your friend is turning into a cat, then there is no cure."

FORTUNE COOKIE ALWAYS WRONG
Sciz-Last Monday at 3:20 PM

Ponies turn into stuff all the time! Plants, trees. NBD
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:21 PM

Twilight, dear, please help rubrub purrrrr

I'm conflicted.

rolls on back

reaches for belly

Aha! Got you! bites

Sorry darling, I don't know what got over me!
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:24 PM
https://youtu.be/3cZgjOBeP9Q
YouTube
schmoogleboi
FLCL - Cat ears

SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:26 PM

Well, if I'm going to be a cat, then reoooooooow! impotently grabs at curtains with hooves
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:26 PM
Kitty kitty... Meow
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:27 PM

Meow meow meow darling, meow!

runs outside

sits there

asks to be let back inside

Rarity, I got it!

You aren't turning into a cat! You were a cat all along!

But I don't want a cat sister!

Sweetie, you're a cat too! We're all cats!

Mew?

It turns out that rather than horses, we evolved from cats. And gained hooves.
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:30 PM
The missing link is Dapper Capper
He is ten million years old
It is canon
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:31 PM

That means interbreeding is possible!
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:32 PM

SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:32 PM

Anyway, that means this cat thing is all in your mind.
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:32 PM

SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:33 PM

See! It's good to connect with your ancestry every once in a while. It refreshes your mind.

Feel better now, Rarity?

licks Rarity
Cappy-Last Monday at 3:34 PM
cute pic
SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:35 PM

Ooh, you're certainly being friendly, Fluttershy. Well, now that I know what's happening, I'm not as stressed out about it.

rubs against everyone
the ponies leave
Cappy-Last Monday at 3:36 PM
What ponies?
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:36 PM
https://pre00.deviantart.net/c3c0/th/pre/f/2012/299/a/3/scaredy_cat_by_kittehkatbar-d5j0dtl.png

SigmasonicX-Last Monday at 3:37 PM

Hey! I heard Rarity was rubbing against everypony and--

I missed it

NOOOOOOOOOOOO
The End
Xzeon-Last Monday at 3:37 PM
THIRSTY BOI

Nali · Apr 16, 2018

Wish I could reply in detail, but that rings true a couple years after the fact, as far as my vague recollection of how it plays out goes.

SigmasonicX said:
It just feels like the author is showing his attraction to Sunset.

Yeah that's... probably true.

fony · Apr 18, 2018

From the other thread's recommendation, I've read some of The Enchanted Library up to chapter 9. The lore is interesting and it definitely hooks the reader. But I don't really like the lingering question kind of story, unless its to give the reader some time to figure stuff out themselves. They are too many unanswered questions unanswered for way too long. Or answered in really small increments at a time.

And Rarity and Twilight talk past each other way too much which to me gets a lot of very unsatisfying resolution.

I went and read the one-off that prompted this fic afterwards and now understand that in this style, a lot of the loose ends are just supposed to stay loose.

What's with the shortening return times? Was that Twilight's loneliness? Rarity only mentions that in passing at some point. I would have like to see it addressed directly at some point so I know I'm supposed to stop thinking about it. But then Rarity sort of just "abruptly" stop borrowing books altogether.

And like canon Starswirl, the initial premise that the princess are long forgotten and all cities name them differently makes less sense if there are still books where Twilight signs her name in it! I guess there were maybe too many princess or something?

Still unclear what the deal with the Book Bringer is. Or what Twilight's interactions with other ponies is, even if she stopped showing herself after Cobbler. A lot of her reaction make much less sense if there are others who've been stumbling into the library.

I need more hit-over-the-head explicit explanations.

Recently, I've read The Great Alicorn Hunt Incomplete, 55 chapters, 257,953 words

Instead of only Twilight ascending, all of the Mane Six become Alicorns. Celestia and Luna give the group a new mission: to track down other Alicorns that they believe are manifesting all over Equestria, as part of a grand plan to bring immortality to the entire population. By the way, Luna thinks it might be a good idea if they focused first on finding an Alicorn stallion or two.

Sounds like a crackfic alternate timeline premise, but played straight. It become more of a collection o fstories after a while and each one isn't too long.

I thought it was pretty funny at times and quite enjoyed all of it. Its a bit shippy for my taste at times (depending on which story in the collection we are in) and the author pushes a bit too much in favor of which characters they want to "win"/"lose" in a conflict.

I think its a sequel to Parting words (reading) but I don't think you need to have read that one at all.

SigmasonicX said:
And a random chat story

Well, as long as nopony is also a mouse. And should that be random cat story? Ok, ok, I'll show myself out.

Chained Prometheus · Apr 18, 2018

fony said:
From the other thread's recommendation, I've read some of The Enchanted Library up to chapter 9. The lore is interesting and it definitely hooks the reader. But I don't really like the lingering question kind of story, unless its to give the reader some time to figure stuff out themselves. They are too many unanswered questions unanswered for way too long. Or answered in really small increments at a time.

And Rarity and Twilight talk past each other way too much which to me gets a lot of very unsatisfying resolution.

I went and read the one-off that prompted this fic afterwards and now understand that in this style, a lot of the loose ends are just supposed to stay loose.

What's with the shortening return times? Was that Twilight's loneliness? Rarity only mentions that in passing at some point. I would have like to see it addressed directly at some point so I know I'm supposed to stop thinking about it. But then Rarity sort of just "abruptly" stop borrowing books altogether.

And like canon Starswirl, the initial premise that the princess are long forgotten and all cities name them differently makes less sense if there are still books where Twilight signs her name in it! I guess there were maybe too many princess or something?

Still unclear what the deal with the Book Bringer is. Or what Twilight's interactions with other ponies is, even if she stopped showing herself after Cobbler. A lot of her reaction make much less sense if there are others who've been stumbling into the library.

I need more hit-over-the-head explicit explanations.

Yeah, that's Twilight being lonely and using the books as an excuse/insurance to make sure Rarity keeps coming back and to do so more and more frequently. I'm pretty sure Rarity figures it out for herself not to far into the story and opts to just keep coming to the library without the book excuse.

Eh, I like it. Personally that approach to dialogue feels a bit more realistic and gives the story a bit more of a cinematic feel to it. People don't talk "in turns" all of the time, there's bits of overlay, excitement and fighting over each other that gets in there. But that all comes down to personal taste, I think.

I think it's that most of the people who find one of Twilight's books don't bother to really look at the name written inside of it or bother to even believe in the reality of the Four Princesses.

The deal with Book Bringer is addressed much later in the story, but I can give it away now if you'd like.

At the end of the day, it's important to remember that The Enchanted Library is a bit of an epic. It's a slowburner. There's a lot of plot points that get introduced or hinted at that stick around for quite awhile before they're fully revealed or explained in the story, although it's not too hard to guess a lot of what's going on if you stop and mull it over a bit as you go along. It's not that the points don't matter, it's that the story is a big one and it's positively riddled with Chekov's Guns and plot points.

SigmasonicX · Apr 18, 2018

fony said:
From the other thread's recommendation, I've read some of The Enchanted Library up to chapter 9. The lore is interesting and it definitely hooks the reader. But I don't really like the lingering question kind of story, unless its to give the reader some time to figure stuff out themselves. They are too many unanswered questions unanswered for way too long. Or answered in really small increments at a time.

And Rarity and Twilight talk past each other way too much which to me gets a lot of very unsatisfying resolution.

Many of those questions are things you could figure out the answers to before the story gets to them, and I can't think of any the story doesn't eventually get back to. I can understand it being too slow, though.

Rarity and Twilight not being clear with each other really does get frustrated at times, but I was satisfied by the bits and pieces of clarity we get, and later it's treated as a real issue they have to work on and do actually get better with, as opposed to just a way to draw things out.

The shortened return times are indeed Twilight wanting to see Rarity more often. Glancing at chapter titles, you saw this when Twilight got sad about Rarity breaking her promise. Rarity is able to suss this out pretty quickly, which is why she stops bothering to pretend. I'm not sure if she explicitly says this at any point.

As for why more people don't know about Twilight from the books, they'd first have to know that the books are noteworthy. Most current owners of those books don't even read them, and so wouldn't think about the name written in them. Even if they did, they may not put two and two together about Twilight being of any significance. As for why the name Twilight isn't well known independently of that, there's an explanation later.

Book Bringer gets an explanation later. About Apple Cobbler, remember that was a long time ago, and that Cobbler abruptly stopped visiting Twilight at one point. IIRC, no other ponies have appeared between Cobbler and Rarity, because it's a dangerous forest, after all.

fony said:
Recently, I've read The Great Alicorn Hunt Incomplete, 55 chapters, 257,953 words

Fanfiction.net? I haven't heard that name in a long time. Long time.

Might check it out later, but there's already a ton of fics in my backlog.

fony said:
Well, as long as nopony is also a mouse.

swishes tail

Bricks · Apr 20, 2018

Speaking of fanfiction - and SunLight-focused fanfiction, specifically - a few days ago I finished Fractured Sunlight by Oroboro.

Average. The main problem, I think, is that it felt a bit too rushed, especially the big, insurmountable conflict that serves as the story's climax and its resolution. I have a habit of reading the last few sentences of a book as soon as I start it, just to try and guess how everything could develop to get there, and let's just say that, in this case, I expected much more.
Since it was mentioned a few posts above, Long Road to Friendship, for all its flaws, flows way more naturally - certainly it being nearly double the word count helps, and the fact that I basically binged Fractured Sunlight in a few sittings, as opposed to reading a chapter every few weeks, probably accentuated this impression.

Besides, for various reasons I expected it to be a genuinely sad story, while at the end of the day I found it as sad as your typical teen drama can be - that is, barely. Just not my thing. I guess this could be a plus, for some.

I'll give it a 6/10. I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it wholeheartedly.

Nali · Apr 20, 2018

I've griped about FS a fair bit in chat, but suffice it to say that it isn't on my suggestions list for a reason.

SigmasonicX · Apr 20, 2018

Bricks said:
Speaking of fanfiction - and SunLight-focused fanfiction, specifically - a few days ago I finished Fractured Sunlight by Oroboro.

I read that a few months ago. I found the stuff with SciTwi's psychological issues interesting, but then they more or less dropped that for generic teen romance. I did like the stuff with Sunset feeling directionless, but it seems like you pretty much always get that from Sunset stories.

Chained Prometheus · Apr 20, 2018

Yeah, I think Fractured Sunlight starts off decently enough, but it really loses steam in the middle onward.

Nali · Apr 20, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
I did like the stuff with Sunset feeling directionless, but it seems like you pretty much always get that from Sunset stories.

Yeah, that's uh, that's fertile ground to explore.

Bricks · Apr 20, 2018

Didn't expect FS to be so 'popular' around here, I don't remember reading about it in this thread or the previous one(s) on Gaf. Anyway, I must say I am kind of glad that it doesn't seem very appreciated here. When something is so loved - as FS appears to be on FiMFiction - and I find it middling at best, I can't help but think that I'm just missing that 'something' that makes a work truly special. Not a feeling I particularly enjoy.

Do you happen to have those considerations saved somewhere, Sciz ? Would be interesting to read them.

SigmasonicX · Apr 20, 2018

Bricks said:
Didn't expect FS to be so 'popular' around here, I don't remember reading about it in this thread or the previous one(s) on Gaf.

I posted about it here.

Bricks · Apr 20, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
I posted about it here.

Thanks, completely missed that.

The part that probably bothers me the most is how abrupt the development of the relationship between Sunset and Twilight feels, especially on Sunset's part. She accepts to date Twilight and she's like "Yeah, whatever, why not", and then surprise! Madly in love. I suppose many real relationships follow a similar course, as affection grows over time, but it takes a while. And, as I said above, in this fic it just feels rushed/half-baked, together with many other things.

It's a shame really, because great things could have been done with such a premise.

SigmasonicX · Apr 20, 2018

Bricks said:
Thanks, completely missed that.

The part that probably bothers me the most is how abrupt the development of the relationship between Sunset and Twilight feels, especially on Sunset's part. She accepts to date Twilight and she's like "Yeah, whatever, why not", and then surprise! Madly in love. I suppose many real relationships follow a similar course, as affection grows over time, but it takes a while. And, as I said above, in this fic it just feels rushed/half-baked, together with many other things.

It's a shame really, because great things could have been done with such a premise.

Yeah, it feels like the author got impatient and decided it was time for them to start doing it. It probably would have been better off not being a romance, or at least not such a happy one. Maybe after dating for a bit, they could have realized that in this situation, it was a terrible idea.

On another note, ED had an article about cover art for fanfics. Sciz, I think this might help you.

Nali · Apr 20, 2018

Bricks said:
Do you happen to have those considerations saved somewhere, Sciz ? Would be interesting to read them.

Don't have the link handy on mobile, but I'll dig it up when I'm back home tomorrow.

SigmasonicX said:
On another note, ED had an article about cover art for fanfics. Sciz, I think this might help you.

Hmm. Nothing I haven't considered, but it's nice having it all in one place, thanks.

Nali · Apr 22, 2018

Alright, I'm back.

Bricks said:
Do you happen to have those considerations saved somewhere, Sciz ? Would be interesting to read them.

Happy trails. Not a comprehensive list of everything I like, just everything I've brought up here so far.

PaulloDEC · Apr 22, 2018

Gradually continuing my S7 rewatch.

E5 - Fluttershy Leans In: Found this one kinda shonky originally, still do. What's the message supposed to be here? Don't hire professionals because they won't listen to you? If you want something done right, do it yourself? For best results, always hire unlicensed hillbillies for your construction project? Odd episode.

E6 - Forever Filly: This one has a sweet premise, and there isn't really all that much about it that felt wrong to me, but I didn't really find it much fun to watch all the same. Rarity's attempt to cling to both Sweetie Belle's (and her own) youth is touching, and it all resolves fairly well. The B plot with the dog makes sense too, but again, just not that interesting to watch.

E7 - Parental Glideance: Still a high point for the season for me. Dash having crazy-supportive parents is a fun twist, and the dramatic element of having that being a source of conflict between them all was fresh and interesting. In a way, this story felt simple and confident to me, while not lacking flavour or personality.

E8 - Hard to Say Anything: Cute, but wore me down a bit. This is one of those stories where as an adult, you know from the get-go that the solution is "Just talk to her", which leaves you suffering through 20 minutes of ill-thought-out attempts at romantic gestures. Fun song at least, and I'm sure kids liked all the shenanigans.

SigmasonicX · Apr 22, 2018

You can feel free to talk about season 7 in the season 8 thread, BTW.

PaulloDEC said:
E5 - Fluttershy Leans In: Found this one kinda shonky originally, still do. What's the message supposed to be here? Don't hire professionals because they won't listen to you? If you want something done right, do it yourself? For best results, always hire unlicensed hillbillies for your construction project? Odd episode.

I think it was just a general "stand up for yourself" lesson, but yeah, trying to apply the specifics and make sense of them is an exercise in futility.

Some chat stories.

Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 2:46 PM
Rhomega - Today at 1:51 PM I've warmed up to Glimmer as a secondary character.
Not long now until she is your waifu

Cappy-Yesterday at 2:47 PM
yes she will burn you
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 2:49 PM
I do like the art style of Super Gals a lot. It has a nostalgic feeling.
UberTag-Yesterday at 2:51 PM

Waifu? I'm already somepony's waifu. She knows who she is.

Yes, Trixie knows who Trixie is.
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:51 PM
I would've guessed Luna.

The way she bites pineapples...
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 2:52 PM

That top hat... that monocle!
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:54 PM

The Great and Powerful Trixie thought Starlight enjoyed The Great and Powerful Trixie's cape and hat...
UberTag-Yesterday at 2:54 PM
https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/...bags+under+eyes_canterlot+castle_dining+r.gif

Cappy-Yesterday at 2:57 PM
Cute stuff.

I agree!
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 2:58 PM

You know that rocket statue you're all so excited about? We're going to Luna's new house in the stars, where I'll dump Trixie.

Redefining a romantic moment into a moment of despair! How devious!
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:59 PM

Don't blame me, I only taught her friendship, not romance.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:00 PM

Although I have a course set up for that too, if anyone is inter-

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:00 PM

I mean, I'm already an expert, so I'll just be there to, uh, correct you. Yeah.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:02 PM

"Enrolled: Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Spike."

I'm pretty sure it uses a partner system so I'm gonna have to be Rarity's partner for the exercises.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:05 PM

Time for class to start! Here are the pairings!

NOOOOOOOOOO

WRYYYYYYYYYY(edited)
UberTag-Yesterday at 3:06 PM
And all this time I thought

was the troll.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:07 PM

<You thought it was going to be Rarity, but> KONO DIO DA
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:07 PM

How many breads have you eaten in your life?

Not a bread guy, really.

Fetch me a pencil, like an airplane stewardess fetches wine!

... Wait, how?

Trixie does not like being paired up with a child, even as a rebound.

I'll have you know I'm in my twenties now.

Hey baby, you're so hot that I'm turning into Daybreaker

No, Celestia! This is why you're alone after a thousand years!

Lesson one, how to approach a potential mate.

You need to do it butt first. That's how you draw them in.

It's all very scientific.

Cappy-Yesterday at 3:23 PM

I'm starting to doubt her methodology.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:23 PM

See, AJ and Pinkie are doing it righ--

Hey wait, wrong partners!

Cappy-Yesterday at 3:24 PM

AJ you didn't even enroll, why are you here?
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:25 PM

I'm here to see this filth for myself.

Applejack, there aren't any old ladies here! Or apples!

Never mind. That apple can be your partner.

Next lesson! Introduce yourself!

I think we already know each other.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:30 PM

The Great and Powerful Trixie is the Great and Powerful Trixie! You're welcome for being in The Great and Powerful Trixie's presence!

Uh, I'm Sweetie Belle.
UberTag-Yesterday at 3:31 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:34 PM

Sweetie! This is no place for a child like you! Now shoo!

No mixing between groups yet!

Please mix within groups!

Hello, I am Princess Celestia! Did you like my butt?

Oh, very much so! I'm Rarity the unicorn!

I'm Rainbow Dash the pegasus!

Wait, hold on, how come I'm not paired up with anyone?
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:39 PM

Your personality test determined that you are the optimal partner for yourself.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:39 PM

Due to budget cuts, look at your reflection with this spoon.

Trixie would like a spoon too.

UberTag-Yesterday at 3:41 PM

How do you romance yourself?
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:41 PM

I thought spooning came later!
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:41 PM

Wow, Trixie is more advanced than I expected.

But now I don't have a partner.
UberTag-Yesterday at 3:43 PM

I've found a partner for you, Scootaloo.

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:43 PM

Hello there, chicken!

Bwawk!

Oh my, I'm feeling a bit like we aren't at the same level as the others.

Don't compare how quickly the other pairs get along! It's alright to go at your own pace!

Besides, we're only supposed to have introductions now.

Next lesson, first dates!

I feel like we skipped over something.

Now you talk!

I feel like this moment should last forever

THE WORLD!

Sorry Celestia, but you're causing too much trouble.

Banished to the sun.

I don't have a partner now!

Ooh! Ooh!

I have a solution.

Ooh! Ooh!

Final lesson, marriage!

All of you were legally married to me by joining this class.
Village-Yesterday at 3:59 PM
Hey guys , whats going on in this channel....
walks right back out
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:59 PM

teleports Village back in
UberTag-Yesterday at 4:00 PM
I hadn't realized Twi was secretly teaching a class on polygamy.

I dodged a bullet by being excluded.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 4:00 PM

I teach everything.

I don't actually know what to do now.

"And thus, the princess with everything she could have ever wanted, had no clue what to do next."

"As for the dragon, he was able to take full advantage of the situation."

This story isn't going anywhere.
[The End]

Village-Yesterday at 4:14 PM
Whoah hey whoah,
why am i back here
who did this
was it you points at the owl
I never trusted that thing
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 4:15 PM

Village-Yesterday at 4:15 PM
All it does is make emo rap music about being a nice guy, but simultaniously making emo rap music about how he's the bad guy and has no friends
which one are you damnit you gotta pick one hang up!(edited)
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 4:17 PM

Village-Yesterday at 4:19 PM
Also you can't force people to be maried twilight
its not fair you can't do that
that's not cool
That's not how it works
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 4:21 PM

Technically that was Spike writing a story about Twilight doing that, as written by SigmasonicX
Cappy-Yesterday at 4:21 PM
school of romance stronger premise than school of friendship i'm putting it out there(edited)
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 4:22 PM
Harder to keep TV-Y, though
This ties into one of tonight's anime, actually. Love Lab is about a girl getting lessons in love from a girl who doesn't actually know anything about it. However, in its attempts to keep things chaste, it ended up not having that much to mine after the first episode.

Cappy-Yesterday at 9:21 PM

1
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 9:22 PM

Cappy-Yesterday at 9:24 PM

I speak for the trees, and we say you must die.
My heavens, is this a talking dagger which I see before me!?

No, it's me the tree.
I can't really tell which of you is talking.

tosses knife away

See, it's me.

Oh dear.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 9:28 PM

Is this clear enough for you, lady?

NANI?!
Cappy-Yesterday at 9:29 PM
y'know being able to mirror emotes would be nice
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 9:30 PM
Yea
Cappy-Yesterday at 9:34 PM

Anyhoo, what's all this hostility about!?
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 9:35 PM

You don't eat fruit properly.

Really, we just care about the bananas. Pineapples don't come from trees.
Cappy-Yesterday at 9:36 PM

But I was tired. And trying to send a message to my sister. And impress the pink one.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 9:37 PM

Oh Luna, I didn't realize you thought of me that way!
Cappy-Yesterday at 9:41 PM

I meant the unicorn, but I'm not picky, honestly.(edited)
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 9:42 PM

Our work here is done

turns into gnomes
Cappy-Yesterday at 9:46 PM

I sure learned an important lesson about nature.

Bricks · Apr 24, 2018

Sciz said:
Happy trails. Not a comprehensive list of everything I like, just everything I've brought up here so far.

My bad, I should have explained myself better: I was wondering if you had your thoughts about Fractured Sunlight saved somewhere, even if you expressed them in chat.

Thanks anyway for the link, though I already had that post of yours bookmarked. It made me notice A New Sun Rises, which will probably be my next read - even without your glowing praise, it being a Sunset redemption story without. apparently, any romance (any SunLight, that is) is enough to make it interesting in my book.

Nali · Apr 24, 2018

Bricks said:
My bad, I should have explained myself better: I was wondering if you had your thoughts about Fractured Sunlight saved somewhere, even if you expressed them in chat.

Oh, whoops.

Don't have my chat thoughts collated anywhere and it looks like they're scattered across a couple months of time anyway, but the gist of it is that Oroboro would be a good writer except for how he consistently rushes characters into relationships (and beds) that the character development in the rest of the story doesn't quite support. FS is especially aggravating because the premise is otherwise really interesting, but the turn towards romance undermines the psychological drama and he doesn't stick the landing when he tries to jolt it back in that direction in the end after getting badly distracted. I can deal with mediocre writers, but good ones who wind up being disappointing time and time again are painful.

Have fun with ANSR though! It is indeed entirely shipping-free, and all the better for it.

SigmasonicX · Apr 25, 2018

Next chat story, spread over two days.

Franling-Yesterday at 12:19 PM
MORE BOOKS FOR THE BOOK PRINCESS
https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2018/4/3/1698034.png

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:25 PM

Franling-Yesterday at 12:26 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:30 PM

So many at once. Can I handle it?

Twilight, stop! Don't do it!

Ugh, here comes killjoy Applej--

Wait, Discord? Why do you care?

Oh, I'm just looking out for you. Sure, it's nice that you're open about... whatever you're doing, but have you considered this?

A file?

Not just any file. It's proof that...

You already married books before, meaning this is infidelity!

Technically, I have made book polygamy legal

Mmhmm, is that so? Well I regret to inform you that isn't the case! You ended up marrying the form you wrote that law on, and that created a conflict of interests, meaning that law wasn't legally binding!

NANI?!

I've come here to tell you I represent the previous books you married, and they're taking you to court!

What! I trusted those books... and those nights we shared... how could they do this?!

Wait, hold on, books aren't sapient and are incapable of holding legal opinions that haven't already been printed in them! That must mean you brought them to life or are interpreting their opinions without their consent. Either way, it's your words coming out of their mouths!

I admit, I did bring them to life, but I'm not putting words in their mouths.

I am!

I mean, what Discord did was turn them into animals, and I can talk to animals, so I interpreted what they're saying.

And they want to sue. Sorry Twilight.

Ugh, by turning them into animals first and having Fluttershy interpret them, that actually does get around the law restricting lawsuits by objects brought to life.

Well, fine. Who's my attorney?

Shit
[To be continued...?]
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:50 PM
[hopefully](edited)
Village-Yesterday at 2:05 PM
deep lore

SigmasonicX-Today at 4:04 PM

Court is now in session!

Fluttershy, you're the judge?

Oh, no, I'm just interpreting Discord's clients.

All rise!
Cappy-Today at 4:06 PM

flaps
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:07 PM

He used to flap for me

The judge is here!

Mudbriar told me books are like the stone carvings of sticks, so this falls within my jurisdiction.

I'll allow it.

Fluttershy, you aren't the judge.
Cappy-Today at 4:09 PM

...
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:10 PM

Orange book here says she wants to accuse Twilight of infedelity.

Calm yourself, my friendly book, that's what your lawyer is for.

Technically, what my client said is correct.

ears perk at "technically"

Discord, are you trying to win over the judge?

Technically, I am not, but I can't help myself if all the mares love my legal skills.

Technically, no pony has presented a legal argument yet. But I have a rock solid case. Almost as hard as diamond, but less easy to shatter.

(She knows that even though diamonds are hard, they're easy to shatter!)

Technically, our very presence in this court room is a legal argument in and of itself, and soon you will feel the rock hard, stone cold fist of justice.
Cappy-Today at 4:16 PM

!
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:16 PM

Now you're trying too hard.
Cappy-Today at 4:17 PM

=3
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:17 PM

(Celestia, those books are too cute) (edited)
ahoytea-Today at 4:17 PM
what are we going to do in this reading chair twi-chan
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:18 PM

Stop trying to seduce my clients!

!

She says she almost lost track of her feelings.
Cappy-Today at 4:19 PM

Tarnation!
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:20 PM

As you can see, judge, this calls for an expedited trial.

And remember, Miss Twiggy, that technically Applejack is your attorney, so she should be speaking for you!

I am banning the use of "technically". This is a courtroom, not a bedroom.
Cappy-Today at 4:21 PM

I buck!

Darn it, I do whatever it is to interject!
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:22 PM

Object.
Cappy-Today at 4:22 PM

Yes, I objectify the court!

My client did nothing wrong and this is a farce!
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:23 PM

Well I do agree with that!

Au contraire, my little hat, Princess Twilight Sparkle broke the law by not only marrying multiple books, but spending quality time with books she hadn't married! I submit to evidence this picture.

<:twiwink:376225181183508480>

I object! The picture clearly doesn't show my client!

Nor have I seen those books before! (Can I have their ISBN?)

I admit, I got this picture from a wacky alternate reality, but this shows it's within her nature.
Cappy-Today at 4:29 PM

Your hardness, who here hasn't enjoyed quality time with multiple books at during the same month? A variety of reading sources enriches the mind! You might as well ban research papers and book clubs, and blow up the library!
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:29 PM

I do admit I enjoy my rocks, despite also dating Mudbriar.(edited)

Yes, but there is no law against that! A law that Princess Twilight wrote with her own hoof... and horn, allows for book marriage. This de facto offers book spouses the same protections as real spouses.

In the end, this comes down to the argument that because I married the book I wrote the Book Polygamy Act in, that means there was a conflict of interest. I say that isn't the case!
Cappy-Today at 4:32 PM

Doctor Judge, I don't believe Twilight wanted to hurt those books.
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:33 PM

Yes, I'd never hurt a book in a way it didn't like!

Stop trying to seduce my clients!

Cappy-Today at 4:35 PM

In fact, it's well known that Twilight loves reading all sorts of books at once! There's no reasonable expection of monobookism! To put it shortly, "they knew what it was when they signed up!"
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:36 PM

In fact, I notice there's somebook missing.

How about we bring in the Book Polygamy Act itself?
Cappy-Today at 4:37 PM

gasp
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:37 PM

What's the matter, Discord? Is it possible that would reveal something you don't want us to know?

!

It's too late Discord! I am here to protect my beloved horse wife!

Is what it said, not me.
Cappy-Today at 4:40 PM

Twi, I'm supposed to ball the witnesses...
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:41 PM

I object to this witness! It clearly is biased! (And who brought it to life anyway?)

I'll allow it.

(via Fluttershy) Everypony deserves to cuddle with a good book. Maybe two, or even a baker's dozen. Who are we to stop some being from enjoying themselves. Tell me, other books, why are you doing this?

(via Fluttershy) Discord hypnotized us when he brought us to life.
Cappy-Today at 4:44 PM

Aha!
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:44 PM

Oh come on!
Cappy-Today at 4:45 PM

A dozen, though? Twilight you're one voracious reader.
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:45 PM

Excuse me, this form might better demonstrate my feelings.

Well, what can I say, I'm well read.
Cappy-Today at 4:45 PM

Objectamataz! No shapeshifting without a permit, your Maudness.(edited)
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:46 PM

Overruled. Otherwise my sister wouldn't be allowed in court.

Technically, she already isn't.
Cappy-Today at 4:46 PM

Well we have a confession at least, so I move to have the case thrown out, and Discord thrown in a pile of hay.
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:47 PM

What did I say about "technically"? That's it, Twilight wins. Discord gets a hay based punishment.

I'm happy love won out.
Cappy-Today at 4:48 PM

So that's how I saved the princess, and thus all of equestria. Neigh, the very world.
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:48 PM

Cool. Let me just add something to the end.

You'll technically never take me alive!

shapeshifts into

Time to celebrate!

Spikey-wikey, how about we do some reading of our own?
Cappy-Today at 4:50 PM

On second thought, I regret saving her.(edited)
SigmasonicX-Today at 4:51 PM

Ow
[The End]
Cappy-Today at 4:53 PM
She really threw the book at him, Maud and Rarity, both!
Sciz-Today at 5:03 PM

SigmasonicX · Apr 27, 2018

New The Enchanted Kingdom chapter was really adorable.

The sequence at the graves of Twilight's parents was sweet, though really Twilight, you gotta reel yourself in before you find yourself making out in front of a grave. It was nice to see that Rarity's lack of self-preservation was brought up, and her comeback that she expects Twilight to be the dashing one now was cute.

It's interesting that Twilight is somewhat coming to Discord's defense. I wonder what will come out of this.

The sequence with Twilight getting excited about the train was great. Rarity bringing a book on the history of trains and scheduling an interview with the conductor--such a good horse girlfriend. It also occurs to me that Twilight casually lifting Rarity with magic while she protests is one of my favorite types of interactions between them.

I didn't make the connection that Ink was connected to Mono's OC, Ducky Ink, until Pinkie made that duck joke. Then I looked back at the description of Ink's pony form.

It's sad to see that the Hollow Shades ponies started disliking Ink, but given how it largely appears to be the adults, I imagine this is another effect of Discord's curse. Interesting that the curse prevents the adults from acknowledging Twilight is real, somehow interpreting her wings as fake.

Rarity's new store is neat; I especially like how Luna insisted on the kitchen being named after Celestia. And of course, that sequence in Rarity's workroom was super adorable. Seriously, look at this ending art.

90d5de9adb39d065052e7a7bc347690c6d3c3c1d

I had almost forgotten about the entire book thing. It's nice that Rarity decided to keep collecting them, and wow, she really made progress. Only a few left.

It seems like this section of the story will be more fun and light than the last one, which should be nice.

And there's a The Enchanted Kingdom side story, North Ridge's Debt, about the original character who Rarity talks to in the framing story. There isn't much to it, just giving a brief look at his eventful past, but it was interesting enough.

And it's about time I made more progress in Day Dreaming Derpy.

Diamond Tiara's dream was straight forward, and much easier than Big Mac's.
Screen froze for me again.
I played through Octavia and Sweetie's dreams in the demo. I don't remember the comic book section in the latter. I still find it a bit weird how the Octavia dream is heavier on fandom assumptions about her and Vinyl than the other dreams.
In the Daring Do dream, the convention seems so familiar. And one of the NPCs referenced a previous Alicorn Tea Party. The same creator made a short RPG that took place in a convention hall, I'm pretty sure.
Oh, I unlocked bonus areas for Mare Do Well and Photo Finish. And also Goldie Delicious and Pinkie vs. Cheese. They were interesting.

I'm right in front of the final area. I didn't get Goldie's memory yet; since I'm stopping for the day, I might as well get it later, if I remember.

And some screenshots I took for the chat.

fony · Apr 28, 2018

I read some of the recommended ~~crackfics~~ short stories from Sciz's list. Pretty good. Still too shippy (its intentional, of course).

SigmasonicX said:
I played through Octavia and Sweetie's dreams in the demo. I don't remember the comic book section in the latter. I still find it a bit weird how the Octavia dream is heavier on fandom assumptions about her and Vinyl than the other dreams.

Even though I played this not too long ago. I only vague remember the plot twists.

SigmasonicX said:
In the Daring Do dream, the convention seems so familiar. And one of the NPCs referenced a previous Alicorn Tea Party. The same creator made a short RPG that took place in a convention hall, I'm pretty sure.

Yes, I think even the layout of the level is the same, just with obstacles in some spots.

SigmasonicX said:
Oh, I unlocked bonus areas for Mare Do Well and Photo Finish. And also Goldie Delicious and Pinkie vs. Cheese. They were interesting.

I think I only did those after I finished the main game when I played.

Only tangentially pony-related: Anyone wants to try and solve this puzzle?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBVsL8FtBA

I'll edit my notes behind spoilers.

Current status: Unfinished

I haven't solved this yet so anything below could potentially be going in a completely wrong direction.

I didn't actually find the entry point from the main video #62. I just copied a link from a comment.

I suspect it should be between 1:16 (the point you are sent to when you press 3) and 2:54 (the point where it tells you to press 3).

Because it needs the HD version, I'm guessing its some smudge in the background that's actually a Youtube ID.

I think I've checked all file and layer names in the editor and found nothing.

Never mind, I've found it. Its at 1:16 in the "smear" frame.

On the left front paw, written in light grey on the white coat.

The link we are supposed to find is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u89HN_JPp4

The audio sounds weird.

Its backwards.

Its a reading of 11 letters and numbers: taboulijaz5

Going so far as to trying to pronounce it "tabouli jaz five".

Its probably a Youtube ID. But those are case-sensitive.

I think that's all we can get out of this. See the video spoiler below.

Lots of random things and pre-recorded "glitches" happen in the video.

Sometimes numbers appear. Most notable is the 5.

Some numbers have the word "lower" below them when they appear.

I've found these numbers in the video:

In chronological order or appearance

9 1 (lower 3) 4 (10 lower) 5 7 11 6 2

I think this is how the characters from the audio are supposed to be re-arranged (and if they are upper or lower case).

But I'm still missing an 8.

So the Youtube ID should be ATbOzUI5LA with a J (or j) inserted somewhere.

It could also be this thing reversed because the audio is backwards so maybe the video is too.

SigmasonicX · Apr 28, 2018

Alright, completed the Goldie Delicious side quest to get Twilight's autobiography, and then I remembered the library area, so I went there for the simultaneous boss rematch. With the Ponytones outfit, it was pretty simple. Decided to use the Discord outfit for the final battle.
Which I thought would be on the moon, but as it turns out, the endgame actually does go on for a while.
There were some issues with that final stretch, particularly with how I loaded the CMC with a bunch of good stamps... only for them to run off right at the start of the area and I can't get them back without leaving. Not that I really needed them. They do actually help during the final line of enemies, but not during the final battle.

All the stuff with the Tantabus was interesting and made sense. You could really tell this was all written before "A Royal Problem", though.
This game wasn't afraid to go dark before, but the final stretch was something else. One thing that disappointed me before was that solving problems in dreams didn't do anything in the real world, so it was nice to see the ponies you helped during the endgame. Though only some of them appeared.
After the credits, I was expecting a bit more of a send off, tying into the above complaint. And after saving, the game continues but the NPC dialogue doesn't change at all.

Overall, given what the game is, it's very well done and has interesting scenarios. However, there are some pretty big problems baked into the gameplay, and it can get glitchy. Regarding the former, there are things like how you can just keep spamming jobs to get money, how you can get most of the uniforms right at the start, how overpowered certain status effects are, and how attacks and costumes aren't properly balanced. The game is simple enough that it's fine to just play around with the costumes, though.

Still, given that it's a fangame, it comes highly recommended.

fony said:
Only tangentially pony-related: Anyone wants to try and solve this puzzle?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBVsL8FtBA

I'll edit my notes behind spoilers.

Current status: Unfinished

I haven't solved this yet so anything below could potentially be going in a completely wrong direction.

I didn't actually find the entry point from the main video #62. I just copied a link from a comment.

I suspect it should be between 1:16 (the point you are sent to when you press 3) and 2:54 (the point where it tells you to press 3).

Because it needs the HD version, I'm guessing its some smudge in the background that's actually a Youtube ID.

I think I've checked all file and layer names in the editor and found nothing.

Never mind, I've found it. Its at 1:16 in the "smear" frame.

On the left front paw, written in light grey on the white coat.

The link we are supposed to find is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9u89HN_JPp4

The audio sounds weird.

Its backwards.

Its a reading of 11 letters and numbers: taboulijaz5

Going so far as to trying to pronounce it "tabouli jaz five".

Its probably a Youtube ID. But those are case-sensitive.

I think that's all we can get out of this. See the video spoiler below.

Lots of random things and pre-recorded "glitches" happen in the video.

Sometimes numbers appear. Most notable is the 5.

Some numbers have the word "lower" below them when they appear.

I've found these numbers in the video:

In chronological order or appearance

9 1 (lower 3) 4 (10 lower) 5 7 11 6 2

I think this is how the characters from the audio are supposed to be re-arranged (and if they are upper or lower case).

But I'm still missing an 8.

So the Youtube ID should be ATbOzUI5LA with a J (or j) inserted somewhere.

It could also be this thing reversed because the audio is backwards so maybe the video is too.

EDIT: Oh, here's the game the convention setting originally came from!

SigmasonicX · Apr 29, 2018

Read Partyquest, which was highlighted by FimFiction's Royal Canterlot Library feature and looked interesting. The premise is that Dougworld Pinkie journeys to Equestria (with SciTwi) to truly understand partying, but she's hiding the real reason she went there. It's a pretty short but fun story, particularly the parts with Party Favor and Cheese Sandwich, that gets a bit dark toward the end, but Somnambula is there to provide hope.

The End of the World! (Or "It's Another Day Ending in 'Y'")is a short RariTwi story that I randomly came across looking at the front page of FimFiction, I think. The premise is that Twilight comes home to Rarity sulking about something, so she comforts her until she realizes it isn't something to worry about. It's pure fluff, brought down by Twilight's dialogue not sounding right, but otherwise, it is what it is.

The Doom that Came to Tambelon is a comedy fic where Starlight, Trixie, and Tempest have to foalsit Flurry Heart, then save her from Grogar. I think this was showcased on Equestria Daily. This was fun enough, but I think it was a mistake to use a generally well-liked G1 villain for this instead of making up a goofy villain, and the resolution doesn't make sense. All magic is canceled, including the magic suppression spell on Flurry, allowing her... to use a magic blast against Grogar. Checks out. Still, it was fun watching those three steamroll an evil fortress.

The Kind Regard of Quiet Things is a Twilight (Princess) / Sunset fic where Twilight wakes up from a nightmare and Sunset comforts her. I think this might have been on Equestria Daily? For a moment I thought this actually tied into one of the other fics by this author and wasn't marked, but no, it's about Twilight getting concerned about what happened to her other self in Friendship Games. It's fluff, but the dialogue works better than that RariTwi one above.

Also, didn't get around to reading this, but this Pinkie / Skystar fic looks potentially fun: My Kind of Crazy

Sylvee · Apr 29, 2018

I feel like this thread has turned into Sigma's personal blog at this point.

Conkersbadfurday · Apr 29, 2018

Newest episode, Horse Plays, is absolutely fucking terrible. Goddamn.

Like, the play itself is already a stupid thing to do, but then casting the goddamn ruler of the kingdom? Come on. Then the cringe!

At least Spike was alright in it. He's at his best when he's one of the few smart people in the room.

SigmasonicX · Apr 29, 2018

Sylvee said:
I feel like this thread has turned into Sigma's personal blog at this point.

Eh, it's better than how it was in the GAF community thread.

Conkersbadfurday said:
Newest episode, Horse Plays, is absolutely fucking terrible. Goddamn.

Like, the play itself is already a stupid thing to do, but then casting the goddamn ruler of the kingdom? Come on. Then the cringe!

At least Spike was alright in it. He's at his best when he's one of the few smart people in the room.

Wrong thread >_>

Conkersbadfurday · Apr 29, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
Eh, it's better than how it was in the GAF community thread.

Wrong thread >_>

Wait, how is the OT not the right thread?

Sylvee · Apr 29, 2018

Conkersbadfurday said:
Wait, how is the OT not the right thread?

https://www.resetera.com/threads/my...-princess-twilights-animal-house.31634/page-7

fony · Apr 30, 2018

SigmasonicX said:
With the Ponytones outfit, it was pretty simple.

Huh, I thought that one was the hardest battle. Pinkie and Cheese Sandwitch being second. I even had to use *gasp* single use items there. You can buy those back, but compared to the price of stamps and costumes, its pretty expensive for one use.

SigmasonicX said:
Decided to use the Discord outfit for the final battle.

That must have been a very different fight.

SigmasonicX said:
There were some issues with that final stretch, particularly with how I loaded the CMC with a bunch of good stamps... only for them to run off right at the start of the area and I can't get them back without leaving. Not that I really needed them.

I think I did that too and gone back to get one of the stamps.

Sylvee said:
I feel like this thread has turned into Sigma's personal blog at this point.

Oh no, this is perfect, its almost like idling in chat. Except I used to read general chat channel more.

Stormed · Apr 30, 2018

Sylvee said:
I feel like this thread has turned into Sigma's personal blog at this point.

I like that sigma keeps this thread alive with cute images and show discussion. I'd say the bigger issue is that not as many people are all that interested in the show nowadays, which kinda makes this thread a small hangout to check on every now and then.

I specifically like this OT because it's nice seeing new faces outside of all the other horse enthusiast groups I'm in (and I gotta say y'all are wonderful to chat with).

SigmasonicX · Apr 30, 2018

Stormed said:
I like that sigma keeps this thread alive with cute images and show discussion. I'd say the bigger issue is that not as many people are all that interested in the show nowadays, which kinda makes this thread a small hangout to check on every now and then.

I specifically like this OT because it's nice seeing new faces outside of all the other horse enthusiast groups I'm in (and I gotta say y'all are wonderful to chat with).

There's also a season 8 thread, since it sounds like you aren't aware.

NerdSoldier · Apr 30, 2018

so i got the Discord invite but is it still valid?

SigmasonicX · Apr 30, 2018

NerdSoldier said:
so i got the Discord invite but is it still valid?

The invite in the OP and the OP of the season 8 thread will work. But I see you know that now.

SigmasonicX · May 2, 2018

Stormerino-Yesterday at 2:50 PM

Cappy-Yesterday at 2:50 PM
i can read that O_O
Stormerino-Yesterday at 2:51 PM

Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 2:55 PM
What does it say Cappy-sensei??
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:55 PM
5 minutes please
i think

Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 2:56 PM
duolingo thank you

Cappy-Yesterday at 2:56 PM
\o/
i also started using Mango languages >_>
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 2:56 PM
I don't trust any brand that involves a fruit
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:57 PM
which has a narrator and helpful grammatical and cultural notes
Like:
Cultural Note:
Square just shot themselves in the foot.
I don't know how much the rest of you know about Japanese culture (I'm an expert), but honor and shame are huge parts of it. It's not like it is in America where you can become successful by being an asshole. If you screw someone over in Japan, you bring shame to yourself, and the only way to get rid of that shame is repentance.

2
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:00 PM
It's the same in Equestria, you know.

Here you go, Rarity!

sips

Hakhakhak

You have dishonored yourself, Spike! You shall never work in this town again!

I really shot myself in the foot, huh.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:04 PM

I'm afraid I'll have to let you go, Spike.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:05 PM

There is only one place where I can live with my shame, and even find success.

Cappy-Yesterday at 3:06 PM

Howdy!
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:06 PM

Let us be dishonorable together.

Cappy-Yesterday at 3:07 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:08 PM

Yet even with all this money, I still don't have enough honor and I have too much shame to go back to Equestria.

Rarity...

Don't you dare include me in your imagination.

1

There must be some way to use this money to regain honor.

The tea, stupid!

Of course! I just have to repent with tea! But how to use this money for tea...?

Cappy-Yesterday at 3:13 PM

Somewhere out there

(edited)

Someone's calling my name!

Spike, buy some tea you fool!

Oh.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:15 PM

I'm back!
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:16 PM

Howdy!
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:16 PM

Great to see you again, Applejack! You wouldn't believe who I ran into.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:17 PM

Was it my cousin Janet from Houston?
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:18 PM

Amazing, how did you know?
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:18 PM

She sent me this moneygram!

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:19 PM
Later

I refuse to look at you, dragon stranger.

But get a load of this!

Hmm, that smell. I assume you're apologizing with another cup of tea.

Yes, the best money can buy!
Stormerino-Yesterday at 3:21 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:22 PM

Twilight, you should stop messing with that and try this out too! I'll show you all my honor! And shame.
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 3:22 PM
TOP TEN PONY ANIMATIONS 2018
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:23 PM

Ooh, this is very rich.
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:23 PM

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:23 PM

It should be. It's made out of pure money.

Well I am satisfied. You have regained your honor.

Yes! I have honor and money now!

Actually Spike, you have to pay an import fee.

And I'm technically still your guardian.

So all your money belongs to me.

Well, I have my honor.(edited)
Cappy-Yesterday at 3:26 PM

It was nice tea, at least.(edited)
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:27 PM
[Epilogue]

club music

(edited)

Cappy-Yesterday at 3:28 PM

That moneygram I planted hasn't grown yet...
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 3:29 PM
[The End]

EDIT: New adorable RariTwi fluff by Monochromatic, com·pli·cat·ed
It's adorable, not much else to say.

SigmasonicX · May 10, 2018

Two Monochromatic stories/updates.

Beyond the Grave was submitted as part of a RariLight Bomb Tumblr event, and is about... Rarity dying. But surprisingly, it isn't an Immortality Blues story, and Rarity actually only thinks she died and manages to recover. This story actually takes place early in their romance, before Twilight has decided for sure that she loves Rarity, or at least before she's gotten the courage to say it out loud. It's short and doesn't go into too much depth about its subject, but it's nice, and due to no deaths, it isn't sad.

The Enchanted Kingdom had a new chapter.

The sequence of Twilight and the children was cute. Not sure what the purpose of that older mare appearing here was, since it just serves to repeat things we knew from the last chapter, with adults not being able to recognize Twilight as a princess despite being presented with irrefutable evidence. I'm guessing this character will do more stuff later.

It looks like they'll be settling down in Hollow Shades for a while. Seeking Night is weeks away but they said they'll be there for that. Hopefully that means we get a proper date between Twilight and Rarity.

This chapter had more Pinkie cuddling than Rarity cuddling. That must be why Mono also released the above fic.

Twilight's dream sequence was sad. Even though she broke out of the library herself and mostly got past it, that time still haunts her. It was good that she broke out of this nightmare herself too.

Reuniting with Luna in the dream was nice.

I started reading a story called My Kind of Crazy, about Pinkie X Skystar, but then I discovered (1) it's Equestria Girls, so it isn't about the characters we saw in the movie, and (2) Skystar here is a normal human who's the daughter of a diplomat, not a mermaid or anything. After the first chapter, I lost interest. It seems like it will be a pretty typical "people from different classes fall in love, high class people don't like this" story, which I'm not particularly interested in.

The Tarnished Crown is a RariTwi story that takes place shortly before the events of "Twilight's Kingdom", so Twilight is still unsure what she's doing as a princess. She and Rarity have already been dating for a few months at this point, but she often hears ponies questioning what she's doing as a princess and she finds herself hearing those whispers in her mind all the time. Add onto that the fact that she was a replacement for Sunset Shimmer and that Rarity only started dating her after Trenderhoof didn't work out, and she finds herself exploding at Rarity. This story can be pretty emotionally rough on you, as a warning, but I thought it was handled well. If I was in Twilight's situation, I would definitely have some of the same thoughts. I think the level at which Twilight exploded is too strong of a reaction to what she's experiencing, but Twilight holing herself up inside a barrier definitely feels like what she would do. The Enchanted Library spoilers below.

It's very reminiscent of Twilight's blow up at Rarity in that story, after she learned that Cadance was cursed too. This led to Twilight sealing herself off in her library, though in a much more long-lasting way. The author says this story is a tribute to someone, and and definitely seems like it would be a tribute to Monochromatic.

The ghost bartender is odd. And though Rarity gets into what she likes about Twilight at the end, this story doesn't do a good job showing it; the author doesn't have any other "canon" RariTwi stories, I think. Aside from that, I liked this story. Just know it isn't a particularly pleasant one.

I checked out Stars Above, because a story taking place 500 years after the show that involved a character finding something she never expected sounded intriguing, but it's just an origin story for that character's cutie mark. It's a cute story for what it is, but it didn't really go into the future. It seems like a nice future, at least.

And lastly, I read Stinging the Trail, a Sky Stinger and Vapor Trail story that was posted on Equestria Daily. There were bits I liked, namely Sky Stinger trying to understand his relationship with Vapor Trail after the events of "Top Bolt", but it was kind of odd, focusing on Sky Stinger's hang ups with upper class ponies, which didn't really seem to be a thing with him before. It was also way too vague about what he meant by "those kinds of ponies" until that bit with the unicorns. And it didn't actually focus that much on the changes caused by "Top Bolt". It was alright, but it didn't address what I wanted. Also wow, this author, Impossible Numbers, has written a ton of fan fics.

I'm running low on shorter stories, so I should get started on a longer one next time.

[Convention talk]
Trigonometrize-Last Tuesday at 3:40 PM
I've never left my house in my life
UberTag-Last Tuesday at 3:46 PM
That must be one amazing house then.
Chained Prometheus-Last Tuesday at 3:47 PM
^
It's a HoloDeck
UberTag-Last Tuesday at 3:47 PM
Sweet.
Chained Prometheus-Last Tuesday at 3:47 PM

UberTag-Last Tuesday at 3:50 PM
Damn... there's no marshmallow emoji. I wanted to roast one on the fire.
Guess I'll have to get creative.

Cappy-Last Tuesday at 3:51 PM

Chained Prometheus-Last Tuesday at 3:52 PM
omfg

Cappy-Last Tuesday at 4:00 PM

Chained Prometheus-Last Tuesday at 4:02 PM

SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 4:02 PM

tries not to salivate
UberTag-Last Tuesday at 4:04 PM

has no self-control and shamelessly drools all over herself(edited)
Trigonometrize-Last Tuesday at 4:06 PM

BIGGER

UberTag-Last Tuesday at 4:12 PM
roasts https://cdn.discordapp.com/emojis/443549413789532190.png?v=1 over

SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 4:15 PM

(shakes)
UberTag-Last Tuesday at 4:20 PM
https://derpicdn.net/img/2018/2/18/1659558/full.png

SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 4:25 PM

Now we will have Volume 32.(edited)
UberTag-Last Tuesday at 4:28 PM

Who will run Rarity's boutiques now that she's been eaten?

We could run them. We all have experience!
Cappy-Last Tuesday at 4:41 PM
Find out what happens next time on S'mores the Merrier or Once Bitten, Thrice Shy.
Xzeon-Last Tuesday at 4:48 PM
Y'all coo coo for coco puffs

SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 4:49 PM

[To be continued]
Cappy-Last Tuesday at 5:23 PM
(I didn't mean to halt anything I was just really proud of "Once Bitten, Thrice Shy as a title for the escapades)

Hey, Pinkie!

Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

Okie dokie!

Nothing up my sleeve!

Wow, fuzzy rabbit.

Y'know what never mind.

Go'on, git, lion!

Byeeee.
SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 5:25 PM

Trixie is not impressed.

Trixie is impressed after all
Franling-Last Tuesday at 5:30 PM
Nah, she's used to felines with scorpion tails.

(edited)
SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 5:31 PM
That did try to eat her, though
Ogodei-Khan-Last Tuesday at 5:32 PM
I do two cons a year now
Katsucon and Otakon
Might do Anime USA because the anime club i'm with is deeply involved with them
and the club prez asked if i had an idea for a panel
Franling-Last Tuesday at 5:32 PM
Yes, but it was consensual.
SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 5:34 PM

Franling-Last Tuesday at 5:35 PM
https://derpibooru.org/1153321?q=Trixie,+manticore,+offspring
(search terms say it all)
(Is sfw otherwise)
Also Apparently roombashy is a tag.
SigmasonicX-Last Tuesday at 5:46 PM

Nali · May 10, 2018

I've read some of Novel-Idea's stuff, but I always come away from it not feeling much of anything one way or the other. It's very adequate.

SigmasonicX · May 13, 2018

Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 12:26 PM
Principal Celestia at the end of Frindship Games: Haha! Like they're going to believe you about magic! It's like dawg, there were HUNDREDS of witnesses. Someone was probably recording with their phone, if not dozens.(edited)
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:27 PM

Woah, awesome special effects!
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 12:27 PM
I saw the Emoji movie, so I know how attached children are to their phones
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:27 PM
:(
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:28 PM

Are you kidding, this looks totally fake
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 12:28 PM
SPECIAL

EFFECTS
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:28 PM

Special effects sure are advanced nowadays
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:29 PM
Celestia saying "Special effects!" like the villain saying "Diplomatic Immunity" at the end of Lethal Weapon 2
Sciz-Yesterday at 12:29 PM
Negima was pulling the "it's CG!" excuse for this sort of thing about a decade ago
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:29 PM

witnesses plant attack in person

This is so fake! Look, I can see the pixels.
Negima had fun with that.
And still, it was a pretty major plot point.
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:30 PM
it was small bombs
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:31 PM
I'd make Umineko jokes, but I only know about it from memes.
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 12:31 PM
I think Celestia has like Bill Gates money and she makes all the kids sign NDAs afterwards
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:32 PM
Perhaps the Friendship Games always had NDAs
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:32 PM
she's a member of H.O.R.S.E. who is tasked with protection and cover-up of magical based disasters
Sciz-Yesterday at 12:32 PM
forget the plant monsters
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:33 PM
Humans Opposing Rituals, Spells, and Equines

1
Sciz-Yesterday at 12:33 PM
you think they're gonna tell the board they were letting kids drive around on a motocross track
liability suits for days
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:33 PM

Isn't this illegal?

I will make it legal.
Trigonometrize-Yesterday at 12:34 PM

I. Am. The school board.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:34 PM

jumps and spins while going aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:35 PM

impressive
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:36 PM
Wait, HORSE would be covering up the magic, so Humans Overseeing Rituals, Spells, and Equines

dodges thrown

Most impressive
Oh right, and the motocross track had ramps and shit too

falls off ramp and falls to the ground, crushed by her own bike

You have to break a few marshmallows when spreading friendship.
UberTag-Yesterday at 12:42 PM
Poor Rarity.

Cappy-Yesterday at 12:48 PM

casts a healing spell

Thanks, darling!

Celestia, we have a live one over here!!!

I hope you enjoy healing people in this solitary containment cell!

Who... would I heal in there?

NO ONE! throws switch, drops Apple Bloom into a pit
UberTag-Yesterday at 12:52 PM
Trolls aren't supposed to follow through like this.
They're supposed to troll that they're going to do something and then make the troll face at having duped one into thinking they were serious.
Cappy-Yesterday at 12:54 PM
Celestia is more of an ogre.
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 12:58 PM

Hey, there are stairs out of here!

See, I wasn't serious.

stairs go nowhere

I meant to post

but let's go with that
Cappy-Yesterday at 1:02 PM

!

Sweetie Belle, how did you get in here?

I found a shell that lets me teleport, come on, let's get out of here!(edited)

draws circle, opens portal to mall movie theatre

Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~!

walk through

Rainbow Dash. I need you to arrest those girls for magicking without a license.

Sure, I'll get right on that...
Sciz-Yesterday at 1:05 PM
joke's on her
they're at the theater
now they're stuck hanging out with
Juniper
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 1:05 PM

You know, I just realized something. No one cares about big monster attacks, but Celestia did care about me healing one person out of view. Maybe what I need to do to get the fuzz off my tail is to perform a big public magic act!
Sciz-Yesterday at 1:17 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 1:32 PM

Alright Trixie, impress me

UberTag-Yesterday at 1:42 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 1:42 PM

I don't get it, but I like it
Cappy-Yesterday at 1:42 PM
(nightmare of editing)
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 1:43 PM

Now do that again, this time in public! And get yourself caught in an explosion so I can publicly heal you.

Cappy-Yesterday at 1:48 PM
https://derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/...-s07e02_animated_gif_head+shake_loop_pony.gif

1413396__safe_screencap_trixie_all+bottled+up_spoiler-colon-s07e02_animated_gif_head+shake_loop_pony.gif

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 1:51 PM

opens door
Cappy-Yesterday at 1:51 PM

runs off
SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 1:54 PM

gives chase

Ooh, we're in a public place now!

throws fireball

Meh.

Great! They've stopped caring!

Now to perform a summoning, and I'll be in the clear!

jgjjrfhjkmmnjgfjnnfyj

nmmhtsvhdeeqfjyfjklpgcxzhkhd

oohjkbfgjaxvnjgcjjgfjk

I summon thee!
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:46 PM

SigmasonicX-Yesterday at 2:48 PM

Hmm, nothing to report here, I guess.

Well, that magic act was big enough to get no recognition from the general public. You are in the clear.

Yay.

Let us feast in celebration.

[The End]
Sciz-Yesterday at 2:52 PM

UberTag-Yesterday at 2:54 PM
I wonder if Scootaloo tastes like chicken.
Granted, unlike Scootaloo, most chickens can fly.
Cappy-Yesterday at 2:55 PM

Village-Today at 11:38 AM
I am return
Where the white horses at
Stormerino-Today at 11:51 AM

UberTag-Today at 12:08 PM

No shortage of white horses here.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net...s_flour.gif/revision/latest?cb=20161005145950

I can play that game, too.

This whole thing seems racist to me.

No it's not. There's unicorns, alicorns, Pinkie covered in flour is an earth pony... plenty of pony races accounted for.

White Lightning and Bulk Biceps would count, too... and they're pegasi.

This is being colorist.

That don't sound like a word.
Cappy-Today at 12:49 PM

I'm the colourist for our cmc newsletter comic strip

I write them.

I'm the star!
Cappy-Today at 1:13 PM

Village-Today at 1:42 PM

I have very specific tastes, ok?
UberTag-Today at 1:48 PM

You don't seem nearly so fussy about color when it comes to eating from my gem stores.

1
Village-Today at 1:56 PM

Of course! Nothing wrong with pink

1
Village-Today at 2:02 PM

.....wat
Cappy-Today at 2:17 PM

He means pink gems!

[Spike you'll pay for this]
SigmasonicX-Today at 2:23 PM

The world is a carousel of color,
Wonderful, wonderful color.
The world is a carousel of color,
History, comedy, fantasy,
There's drama and mirth,
There's old mother earth
With all of her secrets to see.

The world is a treasure-trove of faces,
Fabulous, faraway places.
The hopes and the fears,
The joys and the tears
Of people like you and like me.
The kingdoms of magic science,
The glorious story of art,
The world of romance,
Of music and dance,
This world where we each play a part.

The miracle of imagination,
The marvels of earth, sea and sky,
These wonders untold
Are ours to behold
In the funny world,
The sunny world,
The wonderful world of color.

That was beautiful Maud. I have changed my ways. I like all colors now.

Stormed · May 13, 2018

Here's some late night nostalgia for y'all, have a wonderful Sunday

fony · May 19, 2018

I listened to this recently

in which everypony is full of bits. It was pretty good.

I didn't know where that World of Color piece came from (or if its something made up or not).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzPrG6naRpo

SigmasonicX · May 25, 2018

Alright, working from home, so fanfic time. I said last time I was going to read some longer stuff, but I wasn't really feeling it, so I just read the following.

The Shadow of Doubt by Ardensfax is an older RariTwi story, cited by Monochromatic as the reason she started supporting that ship. It takes place several years after the show, from a post season 3 pre season 4 point of view, with Twilight teaching at a university in Canterlot and feeling dissatisfied with life. Then she happens to run into Rarity and they have a night out, where feelings get exposed. I thought this was really well written, exploring Twilight's discomfort with her current position and how she reacts to her time with Rarity. I am a bit disappointed that with the second chapter, the main source of her dissatisfaction turns out to almost solely lie with not acting on her feelings toward Rarity before, as opposed to the more general concepts shown in the first one. It also cited the "what will others think?" cliche for Twilight and Rarity not wanting to get together, which I don't like in MLP fanfics, but thankfully here Rarity dismisses it by pointing out they're both too well established for that to matter. A significant chunk of chapter 2 is them making out, and I admit, I enjoyed that. When looking at how this influenced Mono's presentation of RariTwi, you can definitely see her continuing Twilight's bad habit of bundling up her feelings and overthinking and Rarity generally being the one "in control" of their relationship, but the Rarity here doesn't talk circles around Twilight the way Mono's does.

Next is I Am Awkward (Yellow) by J Carp, which was posted on ED at some point, and I thought the pairing of Fluttershy and Moon Dancer sounded potentially interesting. Only three chapters in. There are some typos I noticed, but so far, it's pretty fun, with plenty of enjoyable scenes. Those two interact well and I can see them getting together in the context of this story, though given how unique this ship is, it's kind of a shame it keeps cutting to other characters. I wasn't a fan of the stuff with Twilight and other characters being surprised Fluttershy is gay, mainly because of Rainbow acting overly defensive about it, but it did lead to great moments like Trixie saying she knew since she first performed in Ponyville, since gay mares can't help but out themselves when they see her (making Twilight and Starlight roll their eyes). About Rainbow, I get that she's being super jelly, but it's still pretty annoying. I did like how Fluttershy realized to her shock that Angel and Discord were more polite to Moon Dancer than Rainbow was.

And I said I was going to do this back at the start of the season, but I finally collected the Tangerine World RP summaries I wrote into a doc here.

Nali · May 25, 2018

I think I vaguely remember that first one, but I couldn't say anything specific about it.

SigmasonicX said:
I wasn't a fan of the stuff with Twilight and other characters being surprised Fluttershy is gay, mainly because of Rainbow acting overly defensive about it

Kinda surprised this is still rearing its head as a plot element, really. Used to be a semi-common staple of shipfics, but time rolled on and norms set in, and it's been a while since I've seen anything that bothered bringing it up except to swiftly dismiss it as a concern at all.

SigmasonicX · May 27, 2018

Finishing I Am Awkward (Yellow), it turned more into a "Rainbow gets over Fluttershy dating someone else" story, which I wasn't a big fan of. One odd thing was that Discord was strangely innocent. He'd definitely mess with Fluttershy and Moon Dancer's relationship in the show, but he did so here solely based on Rainbow telling him that Moon Dancer was a bad pony and he trusted her. I'd imagine him more the sort to act on his own and then pretend he was teaching a lesson of some kind when he was caught. Anyway, the story was good outside of the Rainbow stuff. I suppose the story needed a conflict, given that Fluttershy and Moon Dancer's relationship developed very smoothly, but Rainbow was just aggravating, and given how unusual the ship is, we didn't see it explored as much as I would have liked.

I decided to check out the currently ongoing sequel, It Turns Out They're Windmills, which involves Fluttershy helping her EQG counterpart come out of the closet. Well, according to the description, because the story hadn't gotten to that part yet. Like the previous story, I liked many of the scenes, with the stand out here being Discord messing with Rarity, but so far, I'm not too keen on the main conflict. The guy that EQG Fluttershy is with is an original character who acts like Mud Briar with the jerk factor turned way up, and I feel like making him the worst boyfriend ever with hints that he has something on Fluttershy just isn't interesting. It is good that this story shows more of how Fluttershy and Moon Dancer's relationship actually works, though.

On another note, Long Road to Friendship is getting a print run.

SigmasonicX · Jun 7, 2018

New Monochromatic story, Snakes and Ladders. The story is actually pretty similar to The Tarnished Crown by Novel Idea, expect with Rarity being the one who gets upset and Twilight talking her out of it. A big difference is that it doesn't escalate the same way as in The Tarnished Crown, remaining just the two characters talking, and I prefer that in this case. Here, Rarity is upset that ponies believe she's "a social-climbing bitch" using her connections to get ahead, and she lashes out at Twilight by only bringing this up out of nowhere 30 minutes before Twilight has to go somewhere and then being difficult after Twilight asks her about it. This story connects to the oft-forgotten fact that Twilight is from an upper class Canterlot life, which is ultimately what Twilight uses to get through to her and get them to use her personal, much friendlier definition of "social-climbing bitch". This was a nice story. It technically isn't a romance story, but one assumes the story simply cuts away before they start nuzzling.

Two more chapters of It Turns Out They're Windmills by J Carp came out. Not much in the way of story advancement happened, but the chapters were fun, including Applejack's confusing countryism "gay as a gumball machine" and Trixie being Trixie. I was kind of surprised to see Wallflower Blush appear; this is my first time seeing her in a fic.

Also read a story I won't mention here.

SigmasonicX · Jun 17, 2018

New chat RP, RP 2-1 - Changeling Cake. Just Cappy participated, and it was a short one. It does involve a shark jumping off a ramp and exploding, though.

Nali · Jun 17, 2018

Haven't read much new lately worth bringing up, but I'll give When We Break a shoutout (by CommissarAJ, who I have previously recommended by way of A New Sun Rises). The pacing's a bit swift, but the transposition of Tempest to EQG is done well and it's one of the best fics about her I've seen in general.

My Little Pony |OT| An adventure that never will end

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