FortyTwo42

NOT 84!

I HAVE BEEN REBORN! LIKE A MIGHTY PHOENIX! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up3Up711lCQ Alright Celestia; I'm sorry! Sorry for my inactivity. Uni excuses, blah blah blah. But on the bright side, most of the work is behind me now so my schedule is finally starting to clear up! Uni still isn't over for a few weeks yet, but my activity here will most likely increase beyond one post per week soon! There might even be several posts a week! And if you're really lucky, I'll finally start responding to those month-old posts! I know responding to this is out of order, and it's only by pure luck that this happened to catch my eye, but the timing is just too perfect. Senpai has noticed you! Senpai shall now return entertainment to this game with a brand new reset! Also, 290? That's a high, terrifying number deserving of a freakout when I finally have more of this elusive thing called free time. Don't let me take such long absences again!

I'M BACK! It is study break, so I do have spare time to finally go through these! Although I still do have a lot to do for uni during this break, and 316 posts have been made since my last response post, so getting through them all may be really difficult. I may need to just go through it quickly and only respond to the really interesting and memorable posts. But rest assured, I will read through every single post, and brohoof every interesting post and every dethrone! For now, I only have time to focus on the two massive posts that followed my last main post. But later this week I should find time to go through the rest of them! So let's get started! ... How very literal. That is indeed a trick of the light. Although, I don't know about you, but I consider using a bright flash to disappear and betrayal to be very different concepts. I do very much like to see chaos unfold every now and then. Perhaps you shall earn lots of 42 points if you create enough for my liking. That is a very creative way to get 42 from 10! For such masterful manipulation of 10, have +10 points! Is that the first every negative number in the history of this game? Indeed it is! I had lost all faith that you would actually use a 42 coupon and we would be able to test out crazy, chaotic things like this, so thanks for proving me wrong! You sure did live up to your promise of entropy reigning! I'm feeling really generous now, so have +21 points! Well, although you weren't exactly the cause, you are the first counter every to increase the count to 0, so I think that deserves some kind of recognition. +1 point! Upon carefully reviewing my post, I have found you are absolutely correct. I had awarded you a total of 28 points throughout that post, yet only increased your point total by 27. This is indeed a math error, and for picking it up, you shall receive +15 points! You can do it, Starlight Glimmer! Defeat this huge, hooded, black-winged creature! That's a pretty epic confrontation, so +2 points! This plan of yours sounds like something that couldn't possibly actually exist. After all, if you really were confident about the plan, why would you tell me about it and inform me there are loopholes to address that would help me prevent it? But at the same time, I have to admit if anyone can pull off something like this, it's you. You might very well be the main person keeping this thread going at this point with how inactive I've been lately. And this isn't the first time you've told me about your crafty plans either... A sleeping/recharging Sweetie-Bot is a safe Sweetie-Bot. I believe this is helping me slowly overcome my fear of the horrific, terrifying, laser-firing Sweeties Bot. +1 point for making my worst nightmare cute! At this point, I have only read this post and the previous post so I don't what other people think about the rules regarding the coupons yet. So, it is too early for Your Honor to give the verdict yet, I'm afraid. Perhaps once I get through the remaining posts, the verdict can be delivered. I love the Ace Attorney series, so +5 points for that picture! That was a fun video! I haven't played Yu-Gi-Oh before, but I have played Magic the Gathering, so it was great fun seeing a ridiculous deck get beaten by something so simple. +4 points for showing that to me! That's a cute Zecora! +2 points. Well, I suppose there's no point in hiding it any longer. I am indeed Illuminati. I was so well hidden before, but I can't continue hiding in the face of such powerful logic! I'll give you +10 points for that, but please my true identity hidden from everyone else, it would be quite troublesome if they all knew. I have to admit, I don't remember what incident you were talking about since it was probably two or three weeks ago now, and I don't really have the time to go looking through old posts when I have so many more to go through. But you do seem pretty sincere about this, and I faintly remember you helping out with something before, so how about you get +5 points for compensation? Yes! That is one of the most epic of deer ponies! Although, I remember seeing this exact same image before, and I'm pretty sure it was from you. As much as I'd like to award points for it, I don't think it'll be fair to award points for an image I've already seen before. Otherwise you could just post that Ace Attorney picture again 10 times in a row and get 50 points. See, I can take care of some loopholes! Points: Totally Not Lyra: 134 (+31) Trottermare Galamane: 115 (+45) (This is added to 70, what Trottermare's score should've been last time, not 69 which his score was shown as last time due to my math error)) SpeedForceDashie: 8 CinnamonPop: 6 Crescent Light: 5 Wolf General Alpha: 5 Lightwing: 2

Here's your weekly 'I STILL EXIST!' post. And just in time too, it seems!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ays5DP1m1JQ With the way uni is this semester, I'll probably only be able to do full follow up posts during study break weeks. Which means it'll still probably be a while before I can respond to everyone. Sorry! At least I can still post pony videos to assure you I still exist!

42 sees you are very close to 42. Let's fix that. I very quickly went back to being busy with uni, so no follow-ups yet, unfortunately. Sorry! You still get a pony video, though!

YOUR PATIENCE HAS BEEN REWARDED. 42 IS BACK WITH A HUGE LIST OF RESPONSES FOR YOU. OR AS IT WAS KNOWN IN THE OLD DAYS, A 'FREAKOUT;. Yeah, don't you just hate it when you're studying some new teleportation spell, but then it sends you to the other side of the world, and you need to come back the long way without using that teleportation spell again because using it again would probably make the situation even worse? Such a scenario is what kept me from making a response post for so long. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. What do you mean, I managed to make some quick posts in the meantime which means I must have been here the whole time? It was clearly my... um... evil twin or something making those posts! (I was actually doing uni work as always, but these past few weeks I've been working on something else in addition to uni work which has left me really busy this time. The additional thing is mostly over now, but I'm now getting to the later part of the uni semester when things get really busy so I think for a while longer I'm going to be coming on as frequently as I have the past few weeks) Anyway, responses below! Totally Not Lyra sure messed with everything by refusing to use those 42 coupons for testing purposes. You are my most trusted enemy here, so I now award you three 42 coupons! Disclaimer: If you don't use them, I will take them back. I will not have another Not Lyra betrayal incident! That is pretty cool. And definitely shocking! +1 point for the picture, and and extra +1 point for the pun. 42 doesn't believe in ghosts! There will never be a ghost-related trap in my lair! Well, unless the lair has a haunter mansion theme or something. Actually, a haunted mansion lair sounds really cool. So that's what you're up against yet! Anyway, +1 point for ghost pony. Wait, it's a bar cage? Did Cinnamon forget I'm just two big, floating digits? I'm two-dimensional, so I can easily float between the bars! This image is really cute, so +2 points for this one! Quartz's image is really good and definitely deserving of points. However, I refrained from giving them out because it doesn't seem like she's going to continue posting here. If she ever does become a regular poster, then I'd definitely give her lots of points for it! I think they've stopped posting to give me a chance to respond to all the posts. I wonder if I would be better off just not responding to everything anymore so all my foes stop counting to await the next response that will never come... Nah, I'm not quite that evil. Wait, is there some kind of incident happening among yourselves stopping you from counting that I don't know about? How have I never heard of it yet? And why are your self-inflicted slow-downs much more effective than all the slow-downs I try to cause? Hey, that's a contradiction! You say you're too busy to count, and yet you're counting anyway! 42 does not abide such factual errors! Wait, what is this? A creepy pony song video? That's what Cinnamon does! Don't tell me you're going to try to spook me with creepy pony song videos too now! Well, I certainly enjoy thinking very deeply about things. I suppose that's one of the main reasons I'm so obsessed with maths. And +3 points for a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference! S-S-Sweetie Bot? Okay, okay, I promise to help you, just please keep all your lasers well away from me! That is actually a really cute picture, so +4 points. You are mathing in a really creative way! +3 points! It took me so long to respond to these posts that I honestly can't remember what I was doing that math on. I think it was something related to calculating the energy of a lattice of atoms since that's when I most recently used the equations for the volume and surface area of spheres. The main reason I want the dethrones to work the way I said is that, if I see numbers above 42 I know I've had exactly one dethrone, if I see numbers above 84 I know I've had exactly two dethrones, and so on. With the system you propose, just knowing the current value of the count isn't enough and how the count itself progressed will need to be carefully followed to determine how many dethrones have occurred. But that doesn't necessarily mean I won't do it the way you proposed; it sounds like it could get much more chaotic that way, which is something I'd definitely like to see. I think the best way to decide how to handle it is to get more opinions. Does anyone else prefer one way over the other, or have another idea for how to handle it? And by the way, you get +2 points for constructive criticism. Well, Not Lyra had a large initial boost for doing some incredible maths right when I introduced 42 points, but you're probably climbing quickly and steadily because you keep posting awesome art. Like that nice hoarding picture which I'm giving you +1 point for. I initially intended for 42 points to be completely useless, but if you want to use them for betting, I am perfectly happy with that. Just let me know the results of you poker matches or whatever your gambling with, and I will make the necessary changes! Unfortunately, I didn't get that reference you made, but Dr. Google tells me it's from a series called If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device, which I know absolutely nothing about. Anyway, I shall award you +1 points for suggesting 42 points can be used for poker, and an additional +1 point for the villain poker image. Zebras always inspire such awesome art! +2 points for that piece! So simple and elegant! +3 points. If you made a good one, it would probably earn you lots of 42 points! 10 5*2 52 52-10=42 That's the best I can do, and I think that's a bit long, especially since I use a 10 a second time. That definitely counts! +3 points! You just picked up on a math error! Good job, those are worth lots points! You just got +5 points! By the way, I am well aware of all the posts by Ruby Splash, but I have decided not to respond to them because 1: I still don't have all that much free time, and 2: Ruby Splash doesn't seem to exist anymore (aka his account can no longer be accessed). I want to save time when I can, so I don't want to respond to someone who doesn't seem to be on the forums anymore. Good job correcting the count after that! That is worth as much as finding a math error, so +5 points for you! That is indeed true! However, this 'relate current number to 42' trend has gone on for a little while now, so I am now awarding +2 points for this one. Maybe I need to write a newbie's guide for this place? Now that I think about it, there are all kinds of rules and quirks here that I haven't written down on the first post. Especially since, if everything goes well with the 42 coupons, the rules here will change and become a bit more complicated. Also, explicitly pointing out and fixing loopholes is going to be very important too. Yes he is! And corrections are rewarded! +5 points for you! Well, now that I've made this response post and taken away your reason for holding back, I'm a bit scared of what's going to happen... Also, are those deer ponies? I love seeing all sorts of different pony races interacting like this! +4 points! Study? Study can never stress me out! Well, mostly... I'm studying maths and physics because I find them very interesting, but all areas of study out there have their tedious parts. But I don't feel I'm at risk of burning out from stress yet. Twilight with books is too cute. +3 points! Exactly! That's me when I'm studying! Except for those rare tedious parts. That is exactly the kind of creepy friendliness I like to see in my allies! Not so much in my enemies, though... This is exactly why you're the horrific pony here. I see we're in agreement that friendly creepiness is something to like someone for. Except in your case, she actually is your ally... This is exactly why I find red pegasi so scary these days. You were smashing watermelons with a giant hammer to hold back the need to count? Well, if it works for you, that's great. Celestia covered in watermelon while holding a giant hammer is simultaneously funny and scary, so I give it +1 for the funny and +1 for the scary! Points: Totally Not Lyra: 103 (+13) Trottermare Galamane: 69 (+27) SpeedForceDashie: 8 (+8) CinnamonPop: 6 (+5) Crescent Light: 5 (+0) Wolf General Alpha: 5 (+0) Lightwing: 2 (+0)

Blah blah blah, busy with uni, blah blah blah, can only make quick response, blah blah blah. HOWEVER! Next week is a study break for me! It should finally give me a chance to go through everything and respond! I hope you all remembered what you said about two weeks ago!

The Adventures of 42 and the Really Busy and Time Consuming University Semester continues! In this installment, 42 is once again too busy to catch up on his posts, so he must once again post a single pony video and leave it at that!

Well, I have some spare time now, but not too much. So I'll get started replying to some of your posts, but I won't be able to do them all yet. Actually, I'll only be able to do 2. But one of them is really long, so I've done a lot of work! Also, this link for for 42's benefit so he can easily find the post he left at. 42 has started seamlessly swapping between first and third person in my paragraphs, and now even my own sentences. Is a sentence still grammatically correct if one switches between points of view in the same sentence? And why do I feel like 42 has just gone on a Pinkie-esque tangent? Time to get back to comments! Yeah, I wasn't thinking clearly when I made that error. But it's not that simple; that error was buried within manipulations I was doing to massive equations! There were so many things to keep track of, and the majority of my focus is making sure I keep track of all the minus signs properly! You bring up two very good (and one not-so-good) points about potential problems with the use of 42 coupons. +5 points for that! I hadn't considered these cases before, but now that you've brought them to my attention, I shall address how I intend to deal with them. For your first point about potentially creating negative numbers, I say negative numbers shall be allowed should the counter-stoppers be that devious (Also, should you be called counter-stoppers if you only slow the count slightly instead of stopping it completely? Perhaps I should call you count-defenders instead or something like that). Anyway, for a physical interpretation, it shall mean you've already gone to the effort of resetting all the traps in my lair and still have more time and effort to spare, so you then create additional temporary traps outside the entrance to my lair. (And if I post at any time, even if the count is negative, the count shall be set to 0. Posts by counter-stoppers shall always set the count to 0, regardless of the circumstance. Consider that me wiping out all the traps in front of my lair because I consider them an eyesore or something. Of course, I'd be pretty crazy to actually post when the count in negative like that, so it'll probably only happen if I'm extremely bored or I fall under mind control or some other bizarre circumstance.) For your second point about skipping dethrones, I shall officially consider the first post to be equal to or above the dethrone value each count to be the dethroning post. So, if you are on 41 and skip the count to 43, that 43 gets the brohoof for being the dethroning post. Note in particular how I say 'first post each count'; I will not count it twice if you reach 42, decrease the count, and then reach 42 again before a counter-stopper posts. For your third point... You are evil. I don't even know yet if this system will be well received or not yet! it may be just the thing to spice up this game and make it much more exciting for everyone! Or it may very well be that this needs to be abolished and then every memory of this horrible decision erased from all of your minds! Which means I need you to test them or we'll never know! If this becomes a major problem, I may need to implement some sort of 'use it or lose it' policy. You shall keep your three 42 coupons for now, but you have been warned. You shall get -5 points for being evil. I am the ultimate authority in these lands, and I shall be recognized as such! Thanks for the trap idea! You know which idea I'm talking about. I can't divulge much more information on it than that since then you'll know exactly how to best some of my upcoming traps in my new lair. You found the part where I spoke in first person! Have an extra point for that! Yes, you need to step up your game if you want to keep ahead of Trottermare. And you know, hoarding the 42 coupons doesn't exactly help. Don't worry, the points are worthless to everyone! Unlike 42 coupons, the points help with absolutely nothing! Well, maybe they're good for self-esteem, but I can't think of any other possible use for them. Although you make a good point; if you practically own my system, you really should be appearing on my point list. So, I'm giving you 1 point just so you'll appear on it. You're welcome! I am good with numbers, I swear! In isolation, it seems like a very blatant error, but in what I was doing it was buried underneath all sorts of crazy algebraic manipulations and it was amazing that I didn't make any other mistakes! So, the point totals so far: Totally Not Lyra: 90 (+1) Trottermare Galamane: 42 (+0) Crescent Light: 5 (+0) Wolf General Alpha: 5 (+0) Lightwing: 2 (+0) CinnamonPop: 1 (+1) (I only got through two posts so far; there are potentially many points still to be awarded!)

Sorry, everyone. University happened and 42 was too busy to make any responses. So just have a count reset!

You make a good point! I shall award points to people for all sorts of things I like, whether it's good maths, incredible pictures, witty comments or whatever else. With all those pictures, you are clearly pandering to me. This is heavily encouraged. +2 points! Scootaloo explaining science to an attentive Sweetie Belle and an uninterested Apple Bloom. +3 points! Armored ponies. +4 points! You're bringing up some painful memories of being blasted with so many painful lasers as I fought off all those Sweetie Bot units. They hurt! -2 points. Sci-fi ponies. +2 points! Partaking in the enjoyment of seeing others fall for your traps. +1 point! A pony with a bear trap for a hoof is quite horrific but also kind of cool. Overall that's neutral, +0 points. All those points directly correlate with how much I like each image, by the way. (Except the Sweetie Bot image, that's more of a joke penalty. I'd rate it at 1 point.) And one last thing; I noticed you're keeping track of your 42 points in your signature. That's dedication! Have an extra +1 point for that! Well, you're probably my most active counter at this point. If I hired you as a counter-stopper, that would probably be overkill. And things seem to have gotten much more quiet lately, so I don't think I actually need any more counter stoppers. How many thrones do you have after stealing so many from me? I've certainly lost count. Are you really going to raze them all? I don't like revealing my real birthday. So let's use a fake one! Assuming I was born on the 4/2 (ordered the Australian way, so that means the fourth of February, not the second of April!), that means I am wrapping up winter with DJ Pon-3. I do quite like electronic music, so I think that'll work well. Everyone has different strengths in maths! We miss things all the time! Just earlier today, I said that 2r2=(2r)2. Such a rudimentary mistake! As far as I can tell, your the most mathematically inclined of my counters, so that gives you a big advantage with the points. Although Trottermare is very good at finding great images and he knows my personal tastes very well, so that gives him a big advantage too. I think you two are going to be fierce rivals! I never considered having someone on my side who only subtracts from the count instead of setting it to zero. That's probably a much better way of doing it! Although like I said earlier, things are getting slower around here so the need for any sort of aid has become very low. Still, +5 points for a good suggestion! Oh yeah, I vaguely remember handing out some sort of coupon a while back. I still haven't come up with a use for them. You know what, let's try something. I'm giving you two more 42 coupons, for a total of three. You can spend them once per post to either increase the count by 2 or decrease the count by 2, whichever you feel like. Consider this a trial of a potential system I might implement later; if people like it, I'll start giving out more 42 coupons. You two seem to be having a lot of competition over who gets to be my next counter-stopper. Which seems a little futile, given there's no position open in the first place. Although I did just give Not Lyra's 42 Coupons a potential count-reducing use, so I guess technically you could say he won? Also, +2 points for more EPIC art! Good work finding something that happened so long ago in such a busy thread! +5 points! And yes, I remember now! The problem was I thought you were referring to an event that happened in this counting game, which is why I couldn't remember it. I wasn't really there for much of it, though; I was just doing some basic minion tasks for Stormgiggle at the start and then I disappeared. Nopony should have that much power... Now I can't be next to any computer monitor or I may get booped out of nowhere! +2 points, one for each boop. Yeah, it's annoying when your virtual stuff dissapears. But you know what doesn't dissapear? 42's points! Here, have 5! ... +5 points, then -5 points for a horrible pun. Although that's quite a striking picture, so have an extra +1 point. Did you fall through one of my trapdoors and have to wait 2 days before someone else rescued you? That must've sucked. Which means my traps are working wonderfully! Thank you again, Dovashy! Hey, stop putting Dovashy in a cage! That's so... *Steps on pressure plate.* Gah! Where'd this cage come from! Don't tell me I just fell into one of Cinnamon's traps... This is meant to be happening the other way around! Well, with all three of us in cages, I better make sure I hold onto my handy remote so I can still make sure the rest of my traps continue to work protect my lair while I try to escape... I think you need a huge point penalty for such actions, but giving you such a penalty would probably only prompt you to torture me, so I suppose I'll refrain from assigning any point penalties. For now. Here's your reminder: Never get on Cinny's bad side! You might end up caged! Yeah, I suppose 42 must be trying to distance himself from you. Although he thinks the main reason is that talking in third person can be fun. It can also be very hard to do; there's been many times when 42 attempted to talk in third person and then accidentally used a word like 'I' or 'me'. In fact, once 42 finished making this post and proofread it all, he noticed he even made one of those mistakes in this very paragraph! He refrained from fixing it, so he'll leave it up to you to find. That picture is amazing! You really do look ready to do some underhanded tricks to destroy me and take over everything I own. (And yes, this paragraph was meant to be said in first person.) Hey, thanks for making such a great drawing! It's not often I see the artist of one of Trottermare's pictures come to my game. Indeed he does. Whoa, you just completely read my mind. That's a bit creepy, but also awesome. Have +5 points for that! (It really did happen that way; when I saw Trottermare's post, I thought to myself 'Indeed I do', and then I read Crescent's post and was certainly surprised by how close that matched my thoughs!) So, the point summary: Totally Not Lyra: 90 (+5) Trottermare Galamane: 42 (+21) (This number may or may not have been intentional) Crescent Light: 5 (+5) Wolf General Alpha: 5 (+5) Lightwing: 2 (+0) And in case you missed it, Totally Not Lyra has three 42 Coupons, each of which he can spend to either increase of decrease the count by 2, whichever he chooses. This is a trial system, whether or not you like such a system will determine whether I keep doing this or never mention it again!

Alright, he'll tell you. 42 is at uni. At this rate, he's probably just going to disappear between Monday and Wednesday each week because his uni schedule is incredibly busy during that time. Due to timezones, this might be between Sunday and Tuesday for some of you. He's pretty free for the rest of the week though, so you'll probably see him the other four days of the week. 42 will most likely respond to all of the posts here tomorrow. However, he has no idea when he will stop talking in third person.

42 is still alive! But he's too busy right now to respond to anything. However, he's not too busy to jump in and stop the count, or talk in third person.

I'm absolutely loving it. I recently got to 5 star village quests, although I haven't touched online yet. Adept style is by far my favourite style; that 'whoosh' sound when you time a dodge perfectly is so satisfying! If our spare time lines up, we should all hunt together sometime.

I think you're definitely more of a lateral thinker than me. What you said is definitely correct! And it was different from what I did yet again! I derived it algebraically. I first derived the inequality I gave in my hint earlier, , by realising that for a number x written in base b, the nth digit is only needed if , meaning it is greater or equal to the minimum value that digit represents (e.g. in base 10, the 2nd digit in 42 is needed because 102-1<42). Additionally, the nth digit is the largest digit if , meaning it is strictly smaller than the value the digit one higher would represent (e.g. in base 10, 42 has no 4th digit because 42<103-1). Put these two together and you get . I think that's the hardest part. From there, you just manipulate the equation so it's in terms of logarithms (looking like ) Normally, there'd be an infinite number of possible solutions for n that satisfy this, but they're all restricted to a region of length 1 (which is easy to see if you rearrange the inequality like this: . Since integers are also separated by a region of length 1, if you restrict n to integer values (which the number of digits is restricted to), only one possible value of n fits and you end up with the final formula, . (Be careful to pay particular attention to whether it's less than or equal to, or strictly less than. That's important in the edge cases, for example when we're finding out how many digits that 10 has. 10 has 2 digits because 102-1<10<100) You explained in one paragraph what took me three, so good job on being very succinct! I don't think it's a completely rigorous proof, but I didn't ask for one and you still have all the right logic! So, the 30 points are yours! In case it wasn't clear, I like math. ... ... ... GENIUS! ... Almost. You see, ceiling(x) and floor(x)+1 are actually not equal for all x. They are equal for most values of x, but it doesn't work when x is an integer. For instance, if x=1.5, floor(1.5)+1=2 and ceiling(1.5)=2, so it works. But if x is an integer, say x=3, then floor(3)+1=4 and ceiling(3)=3, which doesn't work. Still, you gave me a lot to think about, and almost gave me a heart attack by making my think I missed something so simple. It really never occurred to me to even consider using the ceiling function instead of the floor function when it really should have. Have an extra +5 point for making a really good point that was almost correct! By the way, I realize I can miss a simple, obvious thing like that, or even possibly just get something completely wrong. So, if any of you catch me slacking off and making a mistake in something, whether it's basic arithmetic or quantum physics formulas, you shall get +10 points! That picture is so accurate. I personally believe math is magical, so I guess that's conclusive proof that I'm a unicorn. That's kind of a bummer, though; I always wanted to be a pegasus, but you just argue with the facts! The point system was only introduced a few posts ago and is still effectively in the beta stage. Although you bring up a good point; I think I'm weighting mathematical challenges too highly in my current system. I need to award points for other things too. So, you get +5 points for constructive criticism on the point system! I really do read through every single post made here. However, remembering them all is a different story. And I think this event in particular is something I haven't quite remembered very well. Was it mostly between you and Stormgiggle? If I had little involvement in it, it might explain why I didn't remember it very well. Although if it creates awesome mad scientist Fluttershy pictures, carry on! Also, +5 points for awesome mad scientist Fluttershy picture! Wait, you're laying traps in my own lair to catch Dovashy and Stormgiggle? Y-You can't do that! Only I can put traps in my own lair! T-That's illegal! Well, unfortunately there's no-one to enforce the law around here, so I suppose there's not really much I can do to prevent that... Great, now I can no longer enjoy strolling down the halls of my lairs and installing traps since I'll always be on the lookout for enemy traps now... Yep, we're weird! We're so weird that... that... well, I can't really do it on demand. But don't worry, lots of opportunities show up around here for you to express your inner weirdo! Ooooh, so you're Normal Lyra then? Well, both Dovashy and Stormgiggle appear to have been captured by Cinnamon and are behind bars now, so... I may need to look into the possibility of hiring someone else to help... Let me think about this! Counter-stoppers have only been added twice in the entire history of this game, and these experiences have told me this needs to be handled very delicately! Anyway, I still prevent the majority of the triple-dethrones, so I don't think I'll actually need any new counter-stoppers for the time being. Nowhere is sa- Oh, look, Normal Lyra explained this for me! Wait, you got popcorn? That alone immediately gives you legendary sitting-on-the-sidelines abilities! I don't think anyone will be able to do anything to you now. Well, until you finish your popcorn, that is. Whoa, whoa, whoa! What on earth?! Such indiscriminate violence! You could've really hurt Normal Lyra, you know! Don't you have any regard for the well-being of others?! I'm going to have to put my hoof down and say that such reckless and despicable violence between counters is completely and utterly encouraged, as it brings your attention away from the counting, which ultimately benefits me. +2 points to each of you for violence! Current point totals: Normal Lyra: 85 Trottermare Galamane: 21 Lightwing: 2

Yes! That's right! Congratulations! You now get an extra 21 points, for a total of 48 points! It was really interesting to see how you solved the problem. I did it a bit differently. I actually derived a formula for determining how many digits (n) a number (x) has when written in a particular base (b ): . Set x=42! and b=2 and you get n=170. And of course, I calculated that with a calculator. It's impossible for me to enforce doing these questions without a calculator, so I always make them with the assumption that a calculator will be used to solve them. Let's try something a little more complicated. Next challenge, for, let's say 24 points: Show me why the above formula for the number for digits works! First person to post their explanation gets the points (as long as it's correct, of course)! A little hint to get you going: . And another hint: keep in mind n must be a positive integer, that's important. Yeah, leaving credit helps me find the images myself if I'm interested in the artist's style! And also it's just respectful to acknowledge who actually created it so people don't think you made it. Things are getting a bit too convoluted for my taste. But please, feel free to make whatever devious plans you want, and I shall do what I can to make sure your plans crash and burn! Yes, that Charmander picture is amazing! +10 points for you! However, I do not appreciate people begging for points. -1 points for that. Although I suppose you can also get +2 points for using a cute Luna image to do so. I can't resist that cute! So, in total, you have 10 - 1 + 2 = 11 points. I haven't heard anything about this... Do you mind mentioning which forum you're talking about?

Once again, you post some great pictures! In the first picture, Everypony's rushing to get on the train! Each pony is doing something unique, so there's a lot to see! I had no idea that Zecore and Trixie adventure picture was actually part of a series. I actually just looked up the artist and looked through the rest of the pictures. They're amazing! There's so much storytelling you can do with just pictures! We may be foes in this game, which kind of makes you the bad guy right now. But I doubt you'd be able to make me feel morally wrong about stopping your count. I completely believe in my cause, and nothing you say can make me falter! Yes! Pokemon! I like this! Although I must say, I am disappointed I got a Wigglytuff instead of a Fearow. Everyone knows Fearow is number 22 in the national Pokédex! Wigglytuff is meant to be saved until number 40! I challenge you all to count up using Pokémon by national Pokédex order! It might actually compel me to let your count reach a little higher than usual. Welcome back, Bolt! I'll just let the following comment answer this for me. They were much more succinct than I could ever be: Yeah, Stormgiggle seems to have vanished into thin air. One day he's probably going to suddenly reappear with an enormous undeed army he was preparing in another dimension, and destroy absolutely everything! I hope so, at least. I really have no idea if he's coming back or not. Dovashy still reappears very occasionally, so you still need to watch out for him too. But ultimately, I will always be around to defend my lairs, so don't expect this to be a cakewalk! That's certainly one way to boop someone. I suppose if I ever become a picture, I should probably be cautious of pens. For about a minute, I was just stating at this thinking 'That quite a cute fishing lure.' Then I realized what it actually was... Whoa... Cinnamon's really bringing the creepy today... I'll just stand over here, well out of your way. Cinnamon's always been creepy like that. I don't think anything's the matter with her. It's just Cinnamon being Cinnamon. Although she usually just makes random creepy posts instead of making a direct creepy threat to someone else. I hope she doesn't target me next... :awuh: Points? I wasn't prepared for giving out points! Umm... You get 21 points now, but you shall receive twice the points if you can answer me this question: How many digits does 42! have when written in binary? (To be clear, that's 42 factorial, not a really excited 42) You are correct! The duoquadraguple dethrone occurs at 1764, which is 1720 more than 44. You shall receive an extra 6 points for having the correct number!

Hopefully I'll have time to make responses to everything tomorrow!

Just because I'm wasting all my time playing video games- I mean, dealing with the very busy and not-at-all-made-up events in my life, doesn't mean I can't pop in quickly to stop you! I'm okay! Ponies have consumed my heart and soul, so I don't I'm leaving anytime soon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4Qgcl3q0XU I'm not dead! Things just got unexpectedly busy over the last few days and I couldn't get on... I'll look over all the chaos that happened when I have more time! By which I mean I was busy playing the newly released Monster Hunter Generations lately, and I'll make the full reply when I stop being lazy.

Aero Wind @@Hederik, Aero felt so tense when Shadowhide reached in to check the pulse of the unconsious Cursive laying on the table. He had to be alright. He just had to be. Seeing a pony die from poison right in front of him would just be too much for him to handle. All he expected was for Shadowhide to turn around and announce whether he's okay or not. The last thing he expected was for Cursive to immediately jerk upright before a sickening crack sounded and he fell to the floor, babbling nonsense about food and plans. Aero immediately jumped backwards and flapped his wings briefly, like he was instinctively preparing to take off but quickly realized that won't be necessary. It must have been really shocking, since Aero noticed that even the calm and collected Shadowhide had a surprised look on her face, with her eyes wide open as instinctively took several steps back. Her expression then turned to one of anger as she glared at Cursive, which came as a surprise to Aero. Something about what Cursive did must have really irritated or infuriated Shadowhide if the anger is visible on her face, but Aero wasn't sure what exactly Cursive did to cause her anger. 'Why? Explain yourself,' she growled at Cursive, seemingly unconcerned that he was lying on the floor immobile. Cursive didn't seem to be in a good condition to answer questions. Aero didn't like how Shadowhide was pressing him, so hopefully Aero could convince her to calm down and give him some breathing room. 'Shadowhide, aren't you being just a bit insensitive right now? He's obviously not feeling well.' 'There is no time for pleasantries. When the thestrals return, they will most likely take Cursive away to question him themselves.' She returned her glare to Cursive. 'So, start talking, now.' Realising there was nothing he could do to dissuade her, Aero silently awaited Cursive's response too.

Present! Go, @Trottermare Galamane! I choose you!

I'll try to get my next post in soon, but I'm going to be rather busy for the next few days unfortunately. Although since Shadowhide's already next to Cursive and interacting with him, I think I'll only need a short post for her response, so I might be able to make it in the next day or two anyway if I keep it short.