>>12598
>CelestiaLunaTwilightCadance
Okay, now everything is normal.

PoLS Internet has been acting up. Currently have images disabled. Seems to be local to my ISP right now. I also have been trying a new web browser. More details on that later, lol.

Storytime:

The router provided by the cable company was malfunctioning and wouldn't maintain a wifi Network connection for more two or three minuets and sometimes would only work for some websites partly while mostly not working. At first, I thought this was some sort of outage with the cable company as that had happened earlier this year, twice, BUT:
>It was out completely for a day
>Then came back for a day
>Then had the weird intermittency described above for 2 days
I plugged my laptop into the modem and that still had a good connection. So, after a night of messing with the cable router, I just gave up and set my laptop as a wifi hotspot with a more restricted firewall and called it a night.
>Next day, messed with it, but couldn't get it to work, my laptop was once again pressed into service.
>Next day, tested it on one of the other cable connections in the house, it worked fine, while doing this spend my free time setting up the aforementioned M93p into being a back router, so I could go back to my normal business on my laptop.
>The day after a storm hit and the router started to malfunction like before after it passed
This makes me suspect, based on my reading, that it might be something wrong with the cable wiring. Apparently routers such as those can be more sensitive to PC network cards.
>I put my M93p into service as the family router
>It only partly works, a single antenna I guess can't handle many connection as the laptop antenna
>By the next day, my mother's, brother's phones won't connect to it, so...
>Laptop was pressed into service once more
Finally, after screwing around with different other set ups or tinkering with the cable router, I remembered a WRT 1900 ACS existed and was in storage...
>Flashed OpenWRT on it

>>12604
> more sensitive to PC network cards.
LOL. More sensitive than PC network cards to interference.

>>12603
>I also have been trying a new web browser.
Netsurf. I love the feel of it, but development is slow and most sites are very broken.

>>12567
I can't match L23's, Bridgefag's or 5050's autism when it comes to reviewing but next time I remember this place exists I might give my thoughts on it. The premise sounds interesting though I wonder if the invasion plot + the murder might require more than 5000k words to cover properly.

>>12567
The next 1800 words, right after the first half you've already read. Search for 'new student, pleasant' and it should jump right past the missed plot armor that nopony got but was promised a couple paragraphs above.

>>12592
>The camera was proffered to Chuck. "Get her, Snow Drift specifically, to help you, using this camera. Use whatever lies you want or need to. My colleague has put a tracking spell on it so we'll know to pick her up for … well, anyway."
Alright, here we have some more intrigue and clarification (sort of) on intent. Okay, seeing here:>>12571
>Fears over the mission or avoidance over her unicorn aunt? I also am guessing the aunt might be the unicorn from the royal guard who is crying about her niece being sent on a suicide mission... maybe? That is the only thing I am confused over and that could be easily fixed with context.
I had somehow (his brief appearance or my exhaustion induced) mistaken the gender of who I now know to be Snow Ski, (or is it Snow Sky?) Snow Drift's uncle. His concern wasn't fear of something bad happening to her but of her sheer existence and presence there. We also get some key information:
>Snow Drift suddenly appeared and this timing is significant to Snow Ski, presumably with her disappearance.
>Snow Drift had met Ground Chuck Snow Drift only just over three weeks ago, and she seemingly enrolled in the school within that time frame.
>Most significantly, Snow Drift having wings is new.
So, the mystery thickens.

I don't have much to say on the flow or critiques this time. Perhaps it would be nice to know more of what Ground Chuck thought of everything going on with Snow Drift. I initially found myself surprised that he was just going along with the royal guard wanting to question or detail his friend, but she is a new friend he hardly knows and seemingly a drifter. Considering the situation and added stress, that is a pretty human-er, pony-reaction. More context before I can fully judge this of course, but that is my take right now. All I will say on the griffon invasion cloud fort at the moment is that I like the concept and think it is something very in show canon even you're more of the type to be running with concepts and the world beyond the show.

One Grammar Note:
>The unicorn stallion pulled himself together, still weeping but making eye contact with his coworker. Berryfield shook the camera in her aura, and Snow needed several breaths to steady himself before he closed his eyes
I assume the proper spelling is Berry Field based on the conventions your other names have.Though as a mononym I don't think is bad if that is the proper spelling.

>missed plot armor that nopony got but was promised a couple paragraphs above.

>>12600
>plot armor denied

The two unicorn colleagues have been thrown off kilter by the sighting of Snow Drift, or Snow Ski would have had the presence of mind to add the shield to them both.

> >Most significantly, Snow Drift having wings is new.
Technically all that's been said, is that it's more likely to BE Snow Drift if the pink pterippus has wings.

Re-reading it reminds me of how cheesy of a feel I was going for, despite the drama going on. Ski's niece Drift is working with Draft while Chuck watches pony-chucking right after singing David Bowie's Heroes song in a world that probably doesn't have an equivalent, although I imagine the indigenous Buffalo of the David clan have hunting equipment called the David Bow.

/* /me takes a bow/ */

I keep telling ponies, once I unveil the rest of it you'll be mad at me for making you laugh.

>>12601
I maybe mad I maybe not: something that jumps genre abruptly might be interesting/fun in it's own weird way. The main time. My guess is that Snow Drift murdered somebody for her wings in a creepy and evil way.

>in a world that probably doesn't have an equivalent, although I imagine the indigenous Buffalo of the David clan have hunting equipment called the David Bow.
Let's not forget the Diamond Dogs!

>The two unicorn colleagues have been thrown off kilter by the sighting of Snow Drift,
I know you're not aiming for realism but we have plenty of real world examples of authorities being thrown off worse than that (or just being stupid without anything bad going on). I can believe it.

>>12525
I need to sit down and do this!

Had a rough few days/weeks. Trying to get geared fro the new thread. I know I am over thinking it, but I want to make sure that I make a draft with as clear a mind as possible.

>>12525
>I threw the scores I gave each episode into a line graph generator. I should have been less lazy and made one myself properly, but this works well enough.
I used gnuplot and it was my first time using gnuplot and it took me a minuet to figure out, pic related. There is still somethings I could have done a bit better (at least, I wish I had formatted the episode names to not be vertical), but I do think it gets the job done.

>>12573
>some episodes I enjoyed less than that but I never rated an episode below 6 even if I rated on average more lower than you did.
I might have been too harsh on Over a Barrel, because I don't feel like Season One really dips below a five at any point, but I did have real problems with that episode. We seem to have a similar pattern of sorts for the first ten episodes, a sort of up-down-up-down and then high point at Winter Wrap-Up, followed by some degree of a drop after the first ten for Call of the Cutie. We also both seem to have settled on about four top episodes of the season, with yours being those that rank around halfway or more to 9, and mine being those that rank above 9, which is interesting both in itself and by comparison: mine were Friendship Is Magic, where I sort of cheated by giving the two-parter one overall score in contrast to your separated scores for each part, and then Swarm of The Century and Winter Wrap-Up, which we both share in our top four, then finally The Cutie Mark Chronicles, which for me was a 9.2, whereas for you it was more on par with Boast Busters around 8ish, which is where around where I put Boast Busters as well at exactly 8 (along with Applebuck Season, Look Before You Sleep and A Bird in the Hoof, another four that together I think of as 'The Solid Eight Club', just a group that feel like they pretty much hit the exact same spot to me). Then your four top picks, excluding Swarm of the Century and Winter Wrap-Up where we broadly share similar opinions, include Dragonshy which we actually gave the same score to, and The Best Night Ever, which I rated exactly one decimal point lower than you. I think above all the main pattern that emerges is that you seem to have a more stable (heh) opinion on an episode, where minor issues seem a lot less irksome to you whereas there are huge dips on my graph where things have just really bugged me: a lot of our trend-line would be a much more aligned if it weren't for those big dips. Overall, bigger highs and bigger lows vs a more stable baseline.
>Something I didn't quite figure out even if I leaned into personal enjoyment more as this thread went on.
As time goes on I'm going to try and lean even further into personal enjoyment. The way I see it, even if what detractors said about the show was true, that it's essentially just slop for kids, I'd still like it because I like it. Sometimes my taste aligns with quality (like my enjoyment of Wagner's Ring Cycle), and sometimes it doesn't align at all (my adoration of everything Ralph Bakshi, or my paradoxical nostalgic soft spot for Murdoch Murdoch, for instance). Both of those are based on the public perception of quality, sure, but I'm more interested in simply liking what I like than in attempting to demonstrate and prove that I'm justified in liking it because secretly the stuff I like always aligns with actual quality, or something like that. However, that's not to say that quality is not worth discussing, and it might be interesting to have some degree of divergence where some focus more on the quality aspect and others on the enjoyment aspect. Already I think it has been interesting to have your asides on animation, something that largely escapes my notice, except where it breaks my immersion a little like in Fall Weather Friends. It provides a broader base of discussion where different things are brought to the table.

>>12573
>The feeling of this Season is comfy and haunting, both from my nostalgic memories for those earlier feelings and for the fact that the show had an innocence, untainted by fandom interaction.
I'd agree, although I would say that I find those feelings much stronger in the Friendship Is Magic 2-parter. I've thought of a comparison, bizarre as it might be, to my feeling when watching that episode and getting a glimpse into the world before the show changed it, and that comparison is to The Phantom Menace. Now, I personally rate Star Wars enjoyment-wise a lot lower than MLP, but it was the first media I ever engaged with (aged 3!) so it's something I have a lot of thoughts about even if I'm a lot less attached to that franchise, and what's interesting about The Phantom Menace is that you get these glimpses of the universe before it gets really into the hallmarks that come to define the prequel era, such as the clones not being around yet and instead you have these 'enforcers', like on the red republic cruiser at the beginning of the movie, and like Chancellor Valorum, who is voted out in the movie but had a whole career prior. It's a feeling that is both mysterious and makes the setting feel much more real, alive, immersive, as though there really is something to know about the time immediately before the events of the story, even though if the creators have not filled in the canon of that prior period, there is in fact nothing to know, in spite of how tangible it feels.
> I still suspect Season 2 or Season 4 might beat it, but it is one I don't say with confidence.
My bias says Season 1 will win out for me, but I am open to being proven wrong!

Her majesty princess celestia the eternal and great ruler of Equus bestoyer upon this earth of a great many things, creator of suns galaxy wide and gifter to us of earth MLP g4 so some may have their equine soul reawakened, and others embrace equine nature, Hail to you! from my heart to your sun!

>>12387
Ironically this has reminded me I need to put something Nightmare Night related up.

>so some may have their equine soul reawakened, and others embrace equine nature
Conversion Bureau enters the chat.

This gave me a chuckle.

>>12581
DAY PRINCESS!

A recently found gem; Luna choosing darkness.

No non-YT presence and d/l directly from that site is increasingly difficult from the command-line.
Websites dedicated to the problem don't have that difficulty so here it is.

>>12524
>Luna choosing darkness.
No kidding! I am impressed with the lyrics.Like, 9/10 on that alone. Though I prefer the first minuet of the song over the more intense part even though that is the whole point. Still is a good song regardless. That is just a quirk with me and happens with a lot of songs.

I will now quote the YT description for a couple of observations:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=c-ml_W_uiZg [Embed]
>Firstly, let me apologize for the length of this song.. I am not kidding when I say this is the 6th rewrite (on paper) of the lyrics.. Its probably more like the 10th but... Who's counting? *LOL*
I find his apologetic tone unnecessary for the length of his song. Maybe it's just me but he seems sincerely a bit insecure about that fact. Is there some zoomer faux pass that I am missing? Pic related as well.
...
>As always, the declaration that this is an AI assisted creation based on motifs and music that I originally recorded and uploaded for training and rendering of stems to be remixed. No cosine or sin waves were harmed in the creation of this song, although tangents were stressed occasionally *LOL*
I would not have guessed AI assistance until we really got into Princess Luna/Nightmare Moon's anger. I could tell then. This is also an example of art that blurs the line between the puritan crowds that are forming on either camp (people who hate artist vs artist who hate people using AI). This is an artist using AI to make better art. Funny enough, I am a distruster of AI myself, though I don't oppose things like this on a philosophical level. As long as their human input it is still art in the truest sense.

All and all, neat find!

As for any music I could share, uhhhhhhh, here is something long deleted from Youtube that I posted a long time ago:>>5139

Only could see two planets from the urban light polluted and somewhat inconvenient vantage point of my location in the declining suburban neighborhood I call home. No fun pictures this time either.

https://www.space.com/stargazing/februarys-rare-planetary-alignment-peaks-this-week-heres-what-to-look-for-in-the-planet-parade

Dreams have mostly been stressful subjects or vague randomness. I can't recall any of the notable ones and I am too lazy to check the ones I noted in the margins of my legal pads right now.

>>12543
Blood moon was obscured by clouds, only saw a glimpse once 10 minuets before peak red. I count that as a partial win.

night PRINCESS!

I'd actually asked for a picture of a smol stallion with a very tall mare, but she's so cute in this photo I think I'll keep it around.

>>12556
How many boards have died over there? I sure hope bridgefag has a plan C.

>satyr
I don't see those as much of that as I used to, clop or otherwise. Has /mlp/'s mare! meme put a damper on it or something?

>>12467
Line doesn´t always go up. Well, in this case, tags often gradually go up. Very slowly but they get some progress by optimising old pictures from the archives, even ones that are deemed as miscellaneous content.


>Which surprises me slightly because I usually gravitate towards other ponies as seaponies over the race themselves.

I think that once you are used to seeing pictures of seaponified versions, the novelty eventually runs out. Their luster dilutes the more you are exposed to them and well...it pretty much relies on the content of the pictures themselves, no matter the species of origin behind it.

Save for exceptional features, the seapony body/structure is pretty much standardised in that regard.

Or maybe, tastes change and you just feel like leaning towards those pictures because of mere vibes/visual appeal and nothing else.

>>12468
>t pretty much relies on the content of the pictures themselves, no matter the species of origin behind it.
>Or maybe, tastes change and you
I disagree on novelty wearing off; those unique designs are still some of my favorites. Changing taste though, you might have a point. The movie /seapones/ have slowly grown on me, even if they still aren't personally a fave.

>>12471
>disagree on novelty wearing off; those unique designs are still some of my favorites.

both things don´t have to be mutually exclusive at all (that´s assuming we are talking about polar opposites in an extremely hypothetical scenario). Quite the opposite in fact.

Although one detail of most seaponified designs come to mind: many of the characters do NOT actually have an official design beyond the main characters of each gen (Ocellus and the CMC included). Beyond them, the rest are up to approximations from the fans and thus: they take certain freedoms in their bodies, rightfully so.

I mean, the fascination may come from the fascination of such transformation in itself anyway. However, some standouts that are brought up to qualify them as more special come from pictures of Luna, Celestia, Chrysalis or the one you´ve posted: Tempest.

However, I imagine that Gameloft will eventually release some vectors with the expanded cast so that we get "official" versions of them, just like nightmare, changeling, kirin or bat transformations have shown so far.

>>12471
> The movie /seapones/ have slowly grown on me, even if they still aren't personally a fave.
which is funny because the movie only showed like 10 minutes of them at most throughout its base material.

Like, the biggest arguments in their favour, as far as I am concerned, come from Surf and/or Turf and Set Your...


...wait a minute...


...oh...oh f*yay*k...


...I haven´t shared the Set Your Sail comics around here, have I?...

>>12474
>Beyond them, the rest are up to approximations from the fans and thus: they take certain freedoms in their bodies, rightfully so.
In that way, maybe they are a bit like bat ponies. Barely any appearances in any official media but just enough of a base to make it fun for designing things.
<Though, that being said, it seem like a lot of bat pony OCs are more conservative; I actually like this, as they aren't as often overdesigned like other OCs; though I am not sure I can fully hate maximalist OCs because we live in a world of dreary minimalism!

>>12475
>which is funny because the movie only showed like 10 minutes of them at most throughout its base material.
Considering that this is a fandom that memes background ponies, I say 10 minuets in actually a lot to work with.

> ...I haven´t shared the Set Your Sail comics around here, have I?...
That would make sense storytime, or at least post a review, I might as well.