Marxyhooves

Sorry @JonasDarkmane, didn't mean to get carried away. No hurry at all; I will refrain from tagging @JonasDarkmane in future posts. Certainly, I can understand that having @JonasDarkmane tagged a bunch of times all in quick succession could become tiresome. So, I will be sure not to put the name @JonasDarkmane in my posts for the time being. Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

I've got a post cooked up as soon as JonasDarkmane posts and decides what became of the Flim Flam Brothers... Don't worry, Ivan's definitely got a plan to fix everything! Nopony is needing to panic, and this time, the plan is one that even Ivan can't mess up.... If there's one thing Ivan is good at, besides making soup and taking things way too literally, it is pulling wagons. And that machine is kind of like a wagon after all, right? Yeah there is definitely no way Ivan will come to regret trying to pull that thing, and whoever was unfortunate to be swept down along with him, uphill, across what was until quite recently very very hot lava, and is now slightly less hot, but still very hot, stone. Nope, no way Ivan could regret this decision at all! Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

@@Mentis Soliloquy, You think he's dead? Au contraire, my friend. You forget that Ivan, Hero of Stalliongradi Baggage Train, has also been swept down into the mine. Do not worry, Ivan has a plan. And this time, it is... well... still not a very good one, but it is certainly a simpler plan. Again... it may cause Ivan a little bit of pain, but Ivan is nothing is not a very, very, stubborn pony... Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

Well read and see for yourself my friend. Although, as a helpful hint, any pony not wishing to suffer second degree burns had best be quick on their hooves and jump out of Ivan's way as he is swept into the mine... Seriously. Get out of the way. Ivan will be in a lot of pain after this... Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

Blitz Boom, Mentis Soliloquy, DwhitetheGamer, JonasDarkmane, Randimaxis Of the things Ivan expected when he started knocking on the shed door, and honestly there weren't too many things, what transpired was most certainly not among them. Ivan, as has been said before, was never a pony prone to deep reflection or long term planning. However, one might forgive him for failing to anticipate being knocked flat on his rump in a cloud of dirt and miasma by a white and pink blur, apparently intent on crushing the life out of him... "Hehe, Joys and fun in abundance to you, and hugs so many, though let's start with a few." >Ivan.exe has stopped responding. No, this was most decidedly not what Ivan expected. While Ivan collected his wits, which, seeing as he was not a pony with anything close to an unmanageable abundance of wit in the first place, probably would not take too long, the flying white and pink blur that tackled him might take a moment to reflect on her recent life choices.Specifically, the choices that led to her bodily colliding with the one-pony pestilence blighting the face of Celestia's once bright land. Indeed, ancient myth was not far off when it told of a container in which all the evils of the world were kept, unleashed upon the world due to one mare's fatal curiosity. All it got wrong was the name... What it meant to call this container was "Ivan Durakovich's Uniform"... The unholy contents of which, having now been disturbed by a flying tackle-hug, were about to descend upon the unfortunate mare in question... The poor unsuspecting creature. Truly, it was a fate undeserved by anypony. Whilst this cloud of dirt, debris and despair descended upon poor Ziggy like a wrathful god... Ivan managed to pull himself together enough to make sense of some of the commotion going on around him. Specifically, something about lava and the mine being on fire... This immediately struck Ivan as odd... 'Mine is not meant to be full of lava... Nor is it meant to be on fire. Somepony should probably probably bring this state affairs to the attention of the management...' Further rumination on the subject was interrupted, however, as a cry echoed across the quarry... "Two ponies are trapped inside the cave with lava spewing out! Help me help them!" Yes, that would certainly have to take priority for the time being it seemed. "Da... Mine is on fire... MINE IS ON FIRE!" yelled Ivan abruptly standing up, and knocking the pink and white pegasus to the ground. "Now is no time for hug Flying-Candy-Cane-Mare!" Ivan helpfully pointed out to Ziggy at a somewhat uncomfortable volume, "MINE! IS! ON! FIRE!" And with that last truncated, although reasonably accurate, appraisal of the situation, Ivan was off galloping as fast as he could in the general direction of the shouting and screaming. Although, he was not sure exactly where... Still, he had his instructions... Help the blue spiky-maned pony with the fire extinguisher help the other two ponies trapped in the cave with the lava... Now all Ivan needed was a plan... This could take a while... Well it might have, had not a brown earth pony mare helpfully provided Ivan with further instruction... "SOMEONE GRAB SOMETHING WITH WATER IN IT!" "DA! DA! IVAN WILL GRAB THING WITH WATER!" Ivan called in reply, charging blindly around trying desperately to think of something he could do that would be remotely useful at this juncture. Ivan would no doubt have to use his head for this... -THUD- And promptly did exactly that, in the most literal of ways as he proceeded to run head-first into a large wooden support beam. Having now, for the second time in as many minutes, been knocked flat on his rump, Ivan took a moment to look around. He was uphill from the entrance to the mine, right next to the Gem Refinery as it so happened. This, however, was not what caught Ivan's attention. What preoccupied Ivan was the rather large water tower immediately adjacent to it. As Ivan stared up it, a number of thoughts occurred to him at, by Ivan's standards one understands, what was truly breakneck speed. 'The mine full of lava... Lava is like... Really big fire... Fires are put out with water. It is a big fire. A big fire needs a lot of water. Water tower uphill from the mine entrance. Water towers have lots of water... Da... I will open the water tower...' Truly it was a brilliant plan, and Ivan could not help but mentally congratulate himself as he rapidly scrambled to the top of the tower, opened the spigot, and watched the water begin to pour out... rather slowly pour out, as it so happened... Too slowly, Ivan reflected as he watched the comparative trickle make its way down hill toward the mine. 'Is not good... Water is needing to be faster to put out fire... Water tower is needing bigger hole...' A larger whole which Ivan proceeded to provide by bucking the spigot as hard as he could, sending it flying, and creating a large jagged hole in the tower where it had been. 'Da... Is better... Water is pouring faster... This is good plan...' -CRACK- Ivan's ears fell flat against his head as, behind where he was currently standing on the top of the tower, a myriad of cracks began spreading at an alarming rate around the whole he had just kicked, accompanied by an ominous groaning. Ivan sighed. The water tower, despite many years fateful service to the Blackwater family, could only stand so much abuse. Being head-butted and then having a hole kicked in it by a large Stalliongradi pony was more than it could take. Thus, without further ceremony, it proceeded to collapse directly onto the adjacent Gem Refinery. "Da... Is going to be bad day..." murmured Ivan simply, resigning himself to his fate, as the narrow platform he was perched on came apart around him and he was picked up by a raging torrent of water from behind him, "Bad day... Bad Day-Bad Day-Bad Day-Bad Day-Bad Day-BAD DAY!" Ivan's shouting devolved into a scream as he was carried downhill at the head of a minor tidal wave towards the mine. Hopefully, Ivan's frantic scream and the overpowering roar of oncoming water would give anypony hesitating the chance to jump out of the way. There was, unfortunately, a slight flaw in Ivan's plan... Aside from the water tower collapsing that is. While no doubt effective in cooling down the lava and turning it to stone, and thus preventing the mine shaft from collapsing, the water itself would not remain unaffected in this process. Indeed, while the lava cooled, the water would become hot. Very hot. So hot, in fact, that it would instantly turn into steam, very very hot steam, as soon as it hit the molten rock. Something Ivan would no doubt soon become excruciatingly well aware of as he bounced off of the Flim Flam Brother's Machine, and was swept down along with it into the mineshaft... "ORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" Screamed Ivan as he descended into the mine and out of sight with the machine, as his yell trailed off and blended into the sound, not unlike a tea-kettle boiling, that the steam made as it shot out of the mine entrance...

Do not panic... Do not panic... Ivan has a plan. As he would describe it, "Is gud plan... Stronk plan... Best plan in ze wurld. Da..." But in all seriousness, I'm going to run it by Randi first for approval and wait for @Blitz Boom to post first... But if ze plan is approved... Well... Everyone be ready for some extremely incompetent heroism from Ivan... heh heh heh... Regards, Marxyhooves

I have posted. I hope I've not done it out of turn. This one took a while to write, and I hope I haven't fudged the continuity too badly... I figured that some indeterminate amount of time would have passed between Ivan being hired by Luther Blackwater and him managing to track down the shack Knee-Slapper and the others are in. Let me know if I've overdone it at all, and if so I'll dial it back. As it stands, I was asked to provide context for glorious chaos... The rest is up to you @Randimaxis and @Blitz Boom as to how Knee-Slapper, Red Handid, Oglevy, and Ziggy will react... I've no doubt that Ivan's earnest intentions will come through clearly, and with no misunderstandings whatsoever... Or they'll all freak out or something. I'm honestly really looking forward to how they all handle this. Kind Regards, Marxyhooves P.S. Bonus points for anyone who spots the terrible, terrible pun I discretely slipped into the post in question.

@@Randimaxis, "Follow the rules and do a good job; you will be paid well. Now go." Ivan simply nodded in reply as his new employer made his way into manor, taking a few moments to collect his thoughts after the intensive and somewhat harrowing interview process. The rules were fairly simple, even by Ivan's rather high standards of what qualified as such. Don't steal, fight, or be lazy... Ivan could do that. Wait... That wasn't right... What he meant was that he could not do those things... Well, he could. But he shouldn't do them... So... He wouldn't... Right? "Gah!" Ivan groaned and scratched under his cap in confusion, causing a small avalanche of dust, dirt, dandruff, and other assorted debris to litter the area around where he was standing... This was really difficult! No wonder smarter ponies than he were the boss... Okay, so, to recap, Ivan concluded that the rules were... The rules were... The little metaphorical gears of the little metaphorical engine of Ivan's brain could take no further abuse for the time being, and slowly ground to a halt. "Buck it," Ivan stated bluntly, "I will ask boss pony." Feeling better now that he had a plan of action, and seeing as this plan corresponded to the instructions he had received Ivan would not have to stop and think of a new one, which was always a plus when pressed for time, Ivan set out to find his new boss... "What was name?" he murmured softly as he set off in the direction of the main part of the quarry. Damn, another problem. "Name was... umm... uh... Knee-Something.... Knee-Slapper! Boss pony is Knee-Slapper, da..." Ivan concluded happily, feeling confident that things were definitely looking up, possibly for the first time since he had gotten his medal. Surely, he thought, nothing could spoil his good mood. - Some time later - @@Randimaxis, @@Blitz Boom, Ivan's good mood was thoroughly spoiled! Seriously! How hard could it be to find the boss?! But no matter who Ivan asked, nopony seemed to have any idea where this forepony, Knee-Slapper, was. What was worse, nopony seemed to have any idea where any forpony was! This other pony, Red Handid was also nowhere to be found. How could Ivan get to work if there was no boss pony to tell Ivan what to do? Ivan was rapidly reaching the end of his wits. Everypony he asked had either no idea, or, if Ivan pressed the issue, suddenly remembered seeing them on the far side of the quarry. Then Ivan would get there and somepony else would tell Ivan that he had seen them all the way back the other side again! If Ivan didn't know better, he'd almost suspect that the other ponies had absolutely no idea where the two foreponies were at all... It was odd though, everywhere they thought Ivan should look was always the farthest point away from wherever the pony Ivan was asking happened to be at the time. After the third or fourth time, Ivan was starting to become suspicious... Not that he was entirely sure what he was suspicious of... Something just smelled off about the whole situation, and for once it had nothing to do with something he had stuffed in his pockets to eat at some unspecified future time. Sighing as he approached the shack, preparing himself to be sent trekking clear off to the other side of the quarry again, Ivan slowly came to a halt... He could hear something... Voices! Coming from inside the shack. 'Ah-hah! Now I've found them! Finally, I can get to work.' Ivan thought as he trotted up towards the door. Yes, those were definitely voices, taking a moment to straighten his uniform, Ivan brought his hoof up to the door and knocked... and waited... "No reply..." Ivan grumbled. He'd looked everywhere else, they absolutely had to be in there! This really was unacceptable; he'd been wandering around looking for these ponies, were they trying to ignore him? No, no, they just must not have heard him, Ivan decided. Better knock again, louder this time... -THUD- -THUD- -THUD- "KNEE-SLAPPER!" Ivan bellowed, the volume making his Stalliongradi accent come through all the stronger. You'd think these ponies were all deaf or something... he was practically knocking the door off it's hinges... 'Hang on a moment,' a thought suddenly occurred to Ivan, 'This is quarry. Quarry is loud. Loud noises make ponies hard of hearing...' Ivan slowly deduced, 'In that case, better knock and shout as loudly as possible...' "MY NAME," -THUD- "IS IVAN," -THUD- "DURAKOVICH" -THUD- "PONIHUIPLET!" -THUD- "Mister Luther Blackwater has sent me to be having words with you!" Ivan shouted at the absolute top of his lungs; he honestly wasn't sure how long he could keep this up and he would probably be a little horse afterwards... -THUD- "I know you are in there!" Ivan was, however, nothing if not a very, very, persistent pony... -THUD- "I CAN HEAR YOU!" -THUD- "EVERYPONY IS COMING OUT? THEN WE HAVE FRIENDLY CHAT, DA!?!" -THUD- 'Honestly,' thought Ivan, 'These ponies had better be pleased to see me after all of the trouble I've been through to find them.' -THUD- It of course never even remotely occurred to Ivan that his overtures of friendly conversation and considerate decision to knock rather than just barging in or eavesdropping could be taken in any other way than he had meant them. Admittedly, Ivan perhaps sounded a little out of sorts, but it had been a trying day... It wasn't like all these ponies were all huddled up in this shack plotting some conspiracy during the middle of the work-day... Right?

Hello everyone, I just wanted to write a quick post saying that I have returned to the US and will be happy to post again as soon as it's my turn... One thing I was wondering, from what I understand, @@Randimaxis, has just had Luther Blackwater send my OC, Ivan, of to find another of Randimaxis's OCs, Knee-Slapper, who is currently indisposed with a few other ponies, along with the OC belonging to@@Blitz Boom, Ziggy... An idea I had was that, in the time between my last post and the current one, where it seems that the foreponies, Oglevy, and Ziggy, seem to have finally gotten a handle on things, Ivan might have made his way over to the shed where they all are, seeing as he had been told to go and look for Knee-Slapper. Now, seeing as what Knee-Slapper and the others have been doing with Oglevy is something all parties concerned would probably like to keep quiet, and also something that Luther Blackwater could, conceivably, react extremely poorly to if he were to find out... Well, if a large pony, that none of them knew, with a menacing Stalliongradi (i.e. Russian) accent suddenly appeared outside, banging on the door, and loudly announcing that Luther Blackwater had sent him to have a conversation with Knee-Slapper... Well, not that Ivan would mean conversation as some kind of artful euphemism for violence or anything like that, but I'm not sure that any of the ponies in the shack would have any way of knowing this. Seeing as Ivan would have caught them all with their, proverbial, trousers down, it might make for an amusing scene. Of course, Ivan would have no idea that anything was particualrly out of the ordinary. It is Ivan's first day on the job after all. And Ivan is not a particularly deep thinker. Either way, I think it could have potential to be an amusing situation. Let me know if either of you, @Randimaxis and @Blitz Boom, think that sounds plausible... Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

Hello everyone. It turns out that my flight hrome to the UK was today not tomorrow! So, after a somewhat stressful, and occasionally harrowing mad dash to the airport, I'm now sitting in a very uncomfortable seat, feeling self-concious about my weight, waiting for takeoff. The point I am struggling to reach is that, while I am out of the United States, my access to the Internet will be sporadic at best, and so I might fall somewhat behind in posting. If I do end up falling by the wayside a bit, I just want to firstly, to apologiese in advance for the inconvenience this may cause people. Secondly, I wanted to give everyone permission to just sort of ignore or write around my OC, rather than just wait around awkwardly for me to post. Anyway, I'll try and pop back online when I can for the next few days. For the time being, I've managed to finally remove by shoes, and have nothing left to do but sit... well, not really so much as 'back and relax'... more straight up and awkwardky... And get stuck into my lovely new book! "Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements: The Fourth Edition" by James Defronzo, which is shaping up to be an excellent read. Anyway, just wanted to explain a sudden drop in my rate of posting for a few days, I hope you are all well, and I look forward to getting back in the swing of things when I return. Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

@@Randimaxis 'Ponyfeathers' Thought Ivan, the poster had not mentioned that there was an interview process, and somepony should definitely have given him some warning that the questions were going to be this hard... Oh this was not good... Slowly moving his head to track the stallion as he walked, Ivan took a few moments to think before attempting to answer the question, "Uhh..." Ivan then decided that he'd better take a few more moments to keep thinking. He was not entirely sure what to say at Luther Blackwater's strange outburst... But he had said that he liked Ivan, so that was a start. And he thought Ivan's name was funny. In all honestly, that he even knew what it meant had thrown Ivan through a bit of a loop. It wasn't often that one of these soft southerners knew the old mother tongue... Still, Ivan had been asked a question by his new employer, so he figured he had better set about answering it. "I... Uhh... Well I expect to work, da? And also be paid..." This was all going a little too fast for Ivan... But maybe the stallion had meant what Ivan was expecting to do specifically. Yes, that would make sense. In that case then, maybe, Ivan thought, he ought to elaborate a little more. Ivan was not normally a pony given to flights of fancy, but in this case, perhaps a little bit of speculation was in order. What this pony was looking for... what was it they called it? Oh, right, that was it, initiative... "I used to be guard... So, maybe, I guard things?" he started again, somewhat hesitantly, "I can also pull wagon, so maybe do that too sometimes." Ivan was beginning to get nervous at this point. In past experience, whenever his captain in the guard back in Stalliongrad had suggested that Ivan of all ponies take initiative, it usually meant that the captain was all out of ideas and that things were about to go pear-shaped. Not that things actually turned into pears, mind you, it's just that Ivan understood that ponies said that things were shaped like pears when they started to go wrong for some reason. Ivan was never really clear on that point, "Uhh... umm... pears... da..." Oh, right, Ivan had to answer the question. What was it Ivan expected to do? He had already said guarding things, and he mentioned pulling a wagon. Maybe pulling a wagon with gems in it this time? No, no, better not mention that bit, what else was there... "Soup!" Ivan hastened to add, "I am also expecting to be making soup! For I am good at making it, da..." It was at this point that the woefully underpowered locomotive of Ivan's intellectual processes finally stuttered and came to a halt after valiantly attempting to reach the summit of this mountain of far reaching intellectual speculation. Best put on the brakes now, before said locomotive began rolling backwards down said mountain. "So, da..." Ivan concluded, "I am expecting to work, guard things, pull wagons, and sometimes make soup..." This seemed something of a lacklustre finish to what had been, up till this point, by Ivan's standards anyway, a truly scintillating conversation... He just needed to think of one last thing... One last thing he expected to do to really prove that there was truly no other pony Luther Blackwater should look to besides Ivan Durakovich Ponihuiplet to get things he needed accomplished... "One last thing is expecting!" he suddenly blurted out, "Most important expectation, is expecting to be following all of boss-pony's orders, follow all orders without question! That... uh... that is all, da, that is all." 'Nailed it,' Ivan could not help but be inwardly proud of himself, his answers no doubt exceeded all expectations, this job was in the bag... definitely.

@@Randimaxis Ivan, somewhat taken aback by the strange mare's outburst, raised an eyebrow before taking another bite of his turnip sandwich and returning it to the clawing abyss of foul smells and despair otherwise known as his pocket. Taking a moment to finish chewing, Ivan could not help but think to himself that, if the mare was that much of a picky eater, then she should perhaps not have asked him to share his lunch with her... There really was just no pleasing some ponies. Still, it seemed like the scowling stallion was now talking directly to him, and after politely nodding to the stallion who had waved at him, Ivan turned his attention to the pony in question. As Ivan regarded the mottled black and green earth pony, he came to the conclusion that this pony in particular might be the pony in charge, or at least know where Ivan ought to go as regards looking for a job. Deciding he had better make a good impression, Ivan took a moment to swallow what was in his mouth, stand up straight, and, almost without blinking, stare directly back at the stallion with the sort of expression a pony might have if they were taken to a modern art museum, had no idea of what they were looking at, but were fairly convinced that their guide would take it personally if they were to leave mid-way through the tour. After a few more moments, Ivan finally spoke in answer to the stallion's question, "No." Said Ivan, "I can't... Not just like that. I am... a complicated pony, da?" Deciding that, perhaps this hadn't been the answer the stallion was looking for, Ivan thought it best to elaborate, lest the pony come to the wrong conclusions. "My name," he began, speaking at his usual speed approximating the gait of a pony lost in the desert about to die of exposure and dehydration, "Is Ivan Durakovich Ponihuiplet." Pausing again, this time to use his tongue to dislodge a particularly recalcitrant bit of turnip from one of his molars, before smacking his lips and continuing, "I am from Stalliongrad. Came south, to capital, to join Royal Guard. But Royal Guard did not have position available, so am looking for other work in meantime. I saw posters, and thought to come here for job." Ivan stopped again to make sure he was not going too quickly when, all at once, he was struck by a wave of inspiration... "This," he said, gesticulating to the small, shiny, brass star hanging from a red ribbon pinned to the front of his uniform, "Is a medal." A far-off look of vague pride slowly made its way across Ivan's features as he spoke of this, "It is medal of 'Hero of Stalliongradi Baggage Train'. I won this medal when I was working for Stalliongradi guard at gem mine back home. There were diamond dogs. Wanted to steal wagon with gems. I did not let them; wagon made safe to town." Not being a pony particularly prone to tooting his own horn, Ivan was somewhat uncomfortable with this extended monologue on his own abilities, but, seeing as it was either get a job here, or dig still deeper into his pockets and move on to eating things even Ivan was unsure of, he decided to press on. "If you know boss-pony, let him know that, if he hires Ivan Durakovich, then he too will have wagons go places they are meant to go, and that Ivan always follows orders, no matter what. That... uh... that is all... I suppose." Having come to the end of his job-pitch, Ivan trailed off and returned to his default blank expression as he continued staring back at the bespectacled pony in the black vest.

@@Randimaxis Outside the Manor - Ivan slowly turned and was surprised to see what looked like a screaming mare, a scowling stallion, and a large pile of baggage that seemed to occasionally attempt to shift itself somewhat half-heartedly while emitting a high-pitched sound that could be broadly described as a combination of emasculated despair and pain... Still, seeing as the mare had asked him a question, Ivan set about formulating an appropriate response, sniffing the air experimentally for a few moments, thinking about how to best respond to this unexpected line on inquiry. "There is smell?" Ivan asked in all earnestness, while looked around, as if perhaps he could see the source of this mysterious odour lurking somewhere nearby, when suddenly... "Oh wait... Do you mean to say you smell my sandwich?" Ivan asked, starting to rummage through his many pockets for the object in question. He was sure he had come across it that morning... there it was... "Here," he proclaimed, producing the offending article in one hoof and regarding it with a somewhat perplexed expression. "I think it is... turnip surprise sandwich... Not sure what the surprise is though..." he trailed off, before deciding to take a bite for himself. He chewed for a few more moments, his brow furrowed, a look of deep reflection on his face. Ivan started to speak again, words accompanied by pieces of what might have once been considered a vegetable, "Da... Da, I remember now... Surprise is... sandwich is only turnips..." Swallowing, he looked back down at the sandwich in question. What could this pony have wanted with it? Ivan looked back at the pony. Well, she certainly looked sort of skinny, maybe she could consider selling some of her knick-knacks to buy a good meal once in a while. Perhaps the mare was hungry? Yes, that was probably it, "Would you like some? I'd been saving it for later, but if you are really that hungry I'm happy to share." Ivan advanced, the abomination in the guise of a sandwich outstretched in one hoof as he proffered it to the green mare with gold stripes. "My name is Ivan Durakovich; is good to meet you miss. I come to look for job, do you know where I should ask about one?"

@@Blitz Boom, It is very nice to meet you as well! I can't wait to see what Ziggy makes of Ivan's attention to personal cleanliness, hopefully, she will meet him outside of her office as, if he manages to make his way inside, she will probably have to burn the building down before she can consider it to the sterile again... Anyone please feel free to message me if they want to ask any questions about my OC or if they would like to plan anything that might require any degree of coordination on my part! I'm really entirely open to any suggestions you all might have to make, or any suggestions for general improvement as well! Nice to meet all of you! Regards, Marxyhooves

It had been a disappointing week for Ivan Durakovich Ponihuiplet... A few days ago he had reported to the guard at Canterlot, only to discover that they'd received no notice that he was coming. This was okay, he'd only just arrived at the time after all. But a few days later, when Ivan found the guard still weren't prepared to take him in, Ivan began to become concerned, especially since he probably had only one or two days more worth of food squirrelled away in his uniform. By now he'd moved on to eating the really suspicious looking sandwiches, and for Ivan to consider a sandwich suspicious... well, there are reasons the use of such substances on the field of battle has long been considered criminal by civilized races... Ivan's luck seemed to turn one evening, however, when not only did he find a hay-sandwich that had definitely not been in his pocket for more than a week or two at most, but came across a poster advertising hard, honest work, for honest pay at a place called Blackwater Quarry. What was more, it was only a few hours walk from where he was in Canterlot! Chewing over his options, and his sandwich, Ivan soon decided to head out in that direction to see about perhaps finding some work. A few hours of walking later, Ivan had ran into some ponies who looked to be on their way to the same place he was. That they all looked fairly well-fed, didn't seem to have many patches in their clothes, and had mining accoutrements on their person led Ivan to deduce that, perhaps, these ponies might be looking for a quarry as well. Still, not wanting to leap to conclusions, Ivan had decided not to bother them until he could be more certain that they were in some way connected to the quarry operation, and for the mean time had continued on towards his destination giving an affirmative sounding grunt from time to time or the very occasional 'Da.' when one of these ponies asked him a question... soon Ivan found himself walking along in what he thought seemed a rather companionable silence, They certainly seemed to like to talk a lot these ponies, mostly about some sort of explosion or a song or something; Ivan had stopped paying much attention before too long so he wasn't really sure. Occasionally somepony would mention some other pony called "Luther" or that "That miser Blackwater" or "that slave-driver Blackwater" or some such thing... Ivan could not help but wonder if this pony was, perhaps, in some way related to the quarry as well, seeing as it was called Blackwater Quarry. Surely, these fast talking southern ponies were rubbing off on him, as Ivan found his mind was truly going a mile a minute these days, what with all these deductions and assumptions he'd been making about things... Perhaps he ought try to reign it in a little bit... Such far reaching ruminations, however, were quickly forgotten as Ivan came within sight of the quarry. It was rather big, what with the wall and the boulder and all, but what really took Ivan's breath away was the Manor. It was HUGE! Ivan would have thought it was the sort of place the Princesses would live in; his family's farmstead could probably fit inside the front parlour from the look of things. The whole place looked dead posh too... surely, thought Ivan, whoever lives in that house must have at least... well.. they must have a lot of family to have a house that big! Slowly making his way through the wrought iron gates and up the path to the doors, Ivan took a moment to wipe the sweat off of his brow, or at least smear it around a little bit... It was so confoundedly hot this far south... Ivan found himself before the door and, with one last quick spit-polish of his small, brass, "Hero of Stalliongradi Baggage Train" medal, he slowly brought up his hoof and knocked once, twice, thrice on the large doors. Ivan was quietly confident that he was going to make a good impression...

Hey there! Fellow closet brony here, so you have my solidarity! Welcome to the site, I hope you have a good time here! Regards, Marxyhooves

Quick get her some butter!

Hello everyone, I'm Marxyhooves and @Randimaxis was kind enough to extend an invitation for me to join in with the OC I made for Equestrian Empire, which should be linked in the signature, provided I've gotten it to work correctly. To make a long OC description short, Ivan Durakovich Ponihuiplet is a well intentioned, somewhat dull, former guard from Stalliongrad (Although, I use 'guard' in the loosest possible sense...) and had come to the main part of Equestria to join the proper Royal Guard, only to find his appication had been 'lost' for some reason and suddenly found himself wanting work. Since @Randimaxis was kind enough to mention this RP to me, I've given it a read, and I would be very excited to join in. This kind of job seems exactly the sort of thing Ivan would be looking for now that his plans for the guard have hit a temporary snag. If anyone can think of a good opportunity for Ivan to make an entrance, or just feels like bumping into him as he makes his way towards the quarry, do please feel free to say so, or send me a Message if you'd like. I'm still pretty new on the site and I'm looking forward to meeting all of you and RPing together. Again, the full background for Ivan should be linked in my signature, if not, do please let me know so that I can fix that, Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

@Pucksterv, Thank you for replying so quickly. I'm still rather new at posting on forums like this, so there are a few things that escape me. That you can't put a link in it for me is something I completely understand; I really should learn to figure out things like that for myself in the "test post" section. As regards to detail, part of the reason I didn't add much in regards to what I wanted was because I wasn't sure how much was too much. Honestly, I'm not at all fussy, essentially a picture of him just sort of standing there in his uniform, with maybe his name somewhere in the frame is all I am really looking for. There doesn't even need to be much of a background. Part of the reason I am a little reticent with details is that it really is difficult to overstate how bad I am at art, and I'm worried that I'll suggest something stupid. So, without meaning to make it sound like I can't be bothered to think of how I would like him drawn, I'm honestly much more inclined to defer to your judgement on that sort of thing. That you are busy and might not have it done for a while is absolutely no issue whatsoever. That you're even willing to do this for me just because I asked is awesome, and you need not worry about taking as much time as you feel you need. I have an image to use for the time being and I can use the meantime to figure out how to work banners and things for myself. Again, thank you for considering my request and replying so quickly, Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

Hello @Pucksterv, My name is Marxyhooves, and I've recently submitted an OC for the Equestrian Empire role-play section and I was looking for banner I could use to help identify my OC when I am using him, ideally so everyone could know sort of what he looked like at a glance and click on it and be brought to his character-page if they'd like to know more about him. The OC in question is here and I've written a fair bit of detail for him, as well as a little picture I made with the Pony-Creator, my sad lack of artistic talent, and MS-Paint. @Randimaxis recommended you in particular, and as soon as I opened this thread I recognised your work from all over the forum (@JonasDarkmane's banner of himself as an Icelandic-Lava-Kayaker was one of the first I saw on this site and I almost died laughing when I saw it). I certainly wouldn't want to ask you take too much of your time with it, nor would I really want to tell you what to do seeing as you are such a phenomenal artist, but if you could give the OC a look and tell me what you think about doing a banner that shows a picture of him and links to his page I would be very grateful. I hope you're well, Kind Regards, Marxyhooves

Here we go. I thought I'd add a blurb about his name, and make the joke I made in there more explicit for anyone who is not fluent in my pidgin butchery of the Russian language. I also thought I'd write a little bit about where Ivan is from, although I hope I'm not straying too far from Cannon with all this. If I am, just give the word and I'll dial it right back. It is basically how Russian names work, or used to, save that in actuality only a patronymic is ever given. But, seeing as how The Patriarchy is hardly a thing in Equestria, I thought I'd strike a blow for gender equality and give Stalliongradi ponies both patronymic and matronymic names. Let me know what you think, if anything else needs improving, or if I've missed any egregious (or not so egregious) spelling or grammatical errors. Otherwise, I would consider my OC to be complete.