Agent505

@@SilverHeart, @ , @@00Pony, @@Ano170, (I know it's been my fault that we're all quiet, but if you could make your next posts about entering the palace, we'll get going). As Stoic bound his way over the last leg of his journey, he found himself faced with a closed palace door. Not to let that stop him, he continued galloping towards the door, blinking through it at the last second with his teleport spell. He came to a skidding halt inside the grand hall, kicking his legs a little to stop himself from sliding across the polished crystal and smacking against Cadence's throne. He stopped himself with plenty of room to spare however, and as he recovered his bearings, he noticed the entire room was lined with guards, both crystal and onyx, even some royal guards were attending the ceremony - most likely to keep things in order. "Stoic, where are the rest of the soldiers? I need leaders, not rabble!" Cadence sighed, kicking her hoof as she stood from her throne, stepping down the small flight of stairs that elevated it just so. "I saw Golden Eye on his way as I ran past, he was with a pegasus I don't recognise. I sent Sanguine out to the wards, and nurse Silver Heart should be joining me with the rest of the Onyx soon. The wards are all active and strong, the shield will hold." "I hope for your sake you're right, they had better be here soon." She paced around the room a little, walking up and down the front line of her guards and inspecting them every now and again.

Early afternoon, sunny with a growing wind @@SilverHeart, @, (Who's following the pair, again?) @@Ano170, @@00Pony, @, (OoC: It's safe to assume all the higher ranking soldiers of the empire (Stoic, Sanguine and Golden Age) would know the horn and its calling, the other newer and less informed additions (Arrow and Silver Heart) would be otherwise unaware and will likely need instruction from others). The Onyx shunted his way out of the tavern's doorway, stepping out into the streets and looking back at Silver Heart. He didn't speak, he simply nodded his head to one side, gesturing down the road in the direction Stoic had headed off in. The heavy plate and chain grated against each other as he walked off, giving a distinct location to his position to even the most amateur of listeners; not that it made any difference to anything for anyone who tried sneaking up on them, they all ended up the same way. As he reached the alleyway aside the tavern, he suddenly ground to a halt, ears pricked high. Mere moments later, the unmistakable sound of the empire's summoning horn blared throughout the land, echoing long and deep in the ears of all its residents. The palace. He grunted, turning on the spot and locking his halberd in position in the modified armour slot by his side before thundering at a brisk pace in the opposite direction, heading for the crystal palace. _____ There was an intense flash of light, followed by a single beam jutting into the air before promptly vanishing. Stoic grinned at his hoofwork, following the beam as it powered the shield before turning to begin making his way to the other wards, only to hear the horn bellowing in his ears. "HaHA!" He chuckled enthusiastically, "Time for some REAL action! There's only one reason Cadence would have use for that horn..." excitedly, he began galloping towards the palace, using his teleport to place himself several hundred feet further down the line at regular intervals - there was no way he was missing this.

I believe it might actually have been Sailor Moon. I honestly don't recall. I don't watch anime all that often and wouldn't really count pokémon as an anime (it is, but it's not...) Fun fact: The most recent anime I watched was the one and only Elfen Lied.

Yeah: Don't. She's a nightmare. No seriously though I mean don't be afraid to look at drawings for a while as references and take some ideas, copy them for a little bit if you have to, practice practice practice, go over it a few times on a new drawing, change something here and there, start breaking away from the reference as you're drawing, take it off screen for a while and then look back to see how accurate your lines are as a comparison. What's important with copying things though is that you don't fall into the trap a lot of artists do, and that's to say "I'm an artist guys, I can copy anything!" because that just wont work, you'll need to get the ideas of how to draw whatever character you're after, and then try to draw them without using references. Look back AFTER you've drawn, correct your mistakes and continue. Variation is key, if you're going to use references. Get a lot, get as many as you can find, practice with as many different poses as you can by both copying them outright and then by trying to draw from memory - never stay with the same post for more than twice - ideally as soon as you've done one pose, do another, even if it looks weird you'll pick it up. Cycle 8 or so poses and practice them all. A note i'd like to make though, stay the hell away from bases. Draw one - make a seriously accurate job of it in the back of your sketchbook or somewhere you have access to when you draw regularly, then don't use it. Only use it to check against your drawing, make changes and set you on the right path, but never, ever rely on them. Believe me when I say that relying on bases is nothing but trouble, you'll get locked into it and drawing any other pose than the standard one you've practiced with for so long will get harder and harder. Just going to leave this here It helped me get going on my path to drawing, and i'd recommend it to anyone as I know several artists on this site do too. With that, i'm off to bed! Good luck!

You know i'll be honest, for a first attempt this isn't half bad. It's not brilliant, it could use a lot of work, but it's a solid start. Some pointers: - It's very 2D, I understand the irony here but it is, the legs offer no depth to the drawing and the angles are off. Take Derpy's eyes for example, they're touching each other and slanted to a point they would never be seen at on a ponies face. - The legs and anatomy overall could use some working, the legs have joints and curves - these legs are flat and look like they're stuck in an invisible cast, and the foreleg comes to rest at an awkward angle on the doc's face. - Of course the mane and tails could use some effort too, they're tattoo'd onto the characters at the moment, they need to have buoyancy and life of their own, show that it's hair we're looking at, not a mutation in the skin (fur?) colour of the ponies. - Going back to the anatomy, the proportions could be better, but they're a lot closer than many other first attempts i've seen, so kudos on that point. - Really the only other things I can think to mention without writing a novel are the pair seem to be missing a leg, even a little hint of showing a leg hiding behind the other at that angle would work, tilt them slightly more and not drawing the leg would be fine too. - Derpy's wing is WAY out of proportion and too low down the body, but wings are tough and even I can't draw those (never really tried, mind you) so I can't offer much else there. Other than those points it's just little details like making sure things are in the right place, the right size, the right angle and that you're not putting in too many lines where they're not necessary. I'm not a brilliant artist (and don't judge me by my profile pic, that's OLD), but i've picked up some tips and pointers from this community and others. If you think i'm being harsh with critique, I would like to say that I don't apologize for the fact that while your work is a good start, you can improve, and if no one tells you how or why, you might never know where you're going wrong. I wish you luck in your next endeavors and keep up the practice, you have a talent for this i'm sure.

Ugh, it's so hard to choose! If you're forcing me, it comes down to a tie between Brine (I'm an Empoleon kinda guy) - hits hard as it is, then double at <50% enemy HP is a great finisher, even if it happens to be resisted; and Aura Sphere, because Lucario is such an absolute boss it pains me to not have him in my team for those first 50 something levels in Platinum.

@, (I don't even want to go over how many times i've said that the rebellion needs to be created by you guys...) @@Pripyat Pony (Mentioned for bump, Dovashy needs interaction) @@Ano170, (Time to get the ball rolling, I think) @, (Ivan i'm sending you a friend, look after her!) Sitting at the other end of this throne room, was none other than Princess Cadence herself, tapping her hoof wearily against the throne. "And what do we have here? Another one for the mines?" She called out half-heartedly as a guard approached her from the side; proceeding to whisper something in her ear that clearly piqued her interest. "Oh, I see...this is the pegasus that's been giving us trouble?" she spoke quietly, but the room echoed her voice enough that her words could clearly be heard. "Didn't you say it was a mare, however? No... it was? What do you mean it might have been? No but this is clearly a stallion... this is him? Why didn't you just say so in the first place?!" She shoved several pieces of paper into the guard's chest, knocking him off balance and causing him to step back, as Cadence herself stood from her throne, her wings flaring wide and her head held high as she addressed the stallion. "You've caused us quite the issue, breaking out of here and running into the blizzard; disrupting the erecting of the shield and taking these guards from their route..." She shook her head, walking towards the stallion and tutting as she folded her wings in "But, no matter, you're back with us and you're safe now aren't you?" Leaning down to Arrow's level, she lifted his chin with her hoof and looked him over. "See to it that he's fit for battle, I want him checked over by... someone competent, then send him to the armory for suiting." she lashed at the guards who had brought him in, while returning to her throne. Immediately, the guards hauled the pegasus to his feet and dragged him out of the throne room, shunting him towards the medical pavilion. "Best not to disappoint the Empress, you're lucky she didn't hang you right there. You wouldn't be the first." One of the guards jeered, the other sniggering beside him as they walked. Cadence turned to one of her personal guards at the foot of her throne before taking her seat. "If he warned Celestia, everything will need accelerating. Find the Onyx, bring them here. It's time for phase two." @@SilverHeart, @, (Bump for notice, this interaction is going off right in front of the tavern) The door to the tavern burst open, a particularly... well... normal looking Onyx guard practically cleaving his way through the door almost burst right over Silver Heart while she stumbled around the doorway. He looked down at her, recognizing her as the medical officer he was looking out for almost immediately. "Get up." He growled, his voice particular muffled by the heavy plate covering his mouth. "We're going." This was followed promptly by the blunt end of a halberd being thrust against the mare's side. "Southern outer warding. Go." _____ Stoic continued along his set path towards the southern warding, reaching his destination within a half an hour with little incident yet again. The lack of action certainly had an effect on the stallion, constantly building up an unquenched rage inside him. "Why do I always get this job? Cadence knows i'm better suited to breaking things...breaking ponies..." he muttered to himself. "Because, ponies can't talk if they're dead, and she keeps you around as insurance, you know that" He answered himself, strangely. "I know, but it wouldn't kill her to let me kill something, would it?" "You could always drag out one of the injured, they're not long for this world anyway, what about that unicorn mare and her sister?" "Not going to happen, you saw what happened to the last." "Shame, they never talk much, do they?" He shook his head, dismissing the conversation before it could progress any further. He was directly underneath the warding stone now, and while it was flickering a slightly yellow glow, it was still holding strong. Planting his feet and firing off a magical discharge, he began powering the ward with his own magic - something that would take him a while to accomplish. "Who knows... maybe that... nurse will... be interesting company..." he struggled under the strain of his magical focus. "Why... did you want her... anyway?" He responded to himself again, but this time only with a simple grin, nothing more as he directed all of his attention to continuing to charge the wardstone.

They're being tried as adults and could get potentially 65 years. I'm not sure how I feel about them spending their entire lives behind bars given that they're... potentially misguided idiots, but still they should be punished - severely. Detention centre or the nutty ward.

Almost any of the lord of the rings deleted scenes. More specifically the one where Saruman is killed, or the one where Aragorn beheads the Mouth of Sauron.

Sleep paralysis is what happens while you're asleep so that you don't jerk in response to a dream and cause yourself any damage. I've never had, nor heard of a case of waking sleep paralysis. I suppose it's entirely possible if you're a regular lucid dreamer who's practiced the technique, but I have my doubts.

Late morning, still sunny and warm @@00Pony, (OoC: You have permission to control the guard you are with for as long as you are with him, the decision of the warding's state is left to your discretion) Stoic nodded slowly, rising to his feet and stepping away from the table; his guards shunted a couple of the patrons to the side, creating a small hemisphere of room for him to stand. "I need you to go down to the western warding, the pair of stones should be active, but take one of my guards with you to be safe, as I said before they're trained to power them if they're down." He leaned back, addressing his second guard "Give that nurse five minutes, bring her to me if she comes. If she doesn't, you find her and give her a reason to stay in the medical pavilion against my call." Normally it would be hard to tell, with the helm of plate covering all but the eyes of each of the Onyx guard, but it was pretty clear that a smile grew on his face at the command. "Sanguine, i'll head down to the southern couple, meet me at the eastern pairing in..." he squinted out the window, looking up into the sky as best he could at his awkward angle "...three hours. That should give us enough time to check everything and leave room for the next step of the plan. I think you'll approve." Stoic grinned once again, a low growl rumbling out of his throat as he turned from the table, making his way out of the door. @@SilverHeart, (OoC: As do you, permission is yours to control the guard in the tavern, and while he accompanies you to the wards.) "Well..." the mare began, sitting herself down outside the tent, for a shy pony she sure could develop a sudden casual chatty side "It's Stoic, when is he ever not?" she giggled. "Doc seemed fine, grumpy as normal, but otherwise... besides, I think he might like you" she winked, suddenly looking around cautiously after she spoke, her ears flattened to her head while picking herself up. "Um, s-sorry...I should...I should get going back, see if Doctor Mercy needs me for anything else."

Late morning, sunny and warm (I'm going to start putting the time and some weather conditions atop my posts to keep a rough track of progress in the day) @@00Pony, Stoic looked up from the table, his lips curling into something resembling a grin as he raised his glass to his mouth and drank down a good half of its contents. "Happy to hear it, though I doubt anyone would want to oppose Cadence and the order she has brought into the empire. When I first arrived here it was all... happy and joyous, and so... disorganised. It wasn't an empire." He closed his eyes, shaking his head and taking another sip from his glass. "Now with the forge camps and the training range, the armour smiths and even the assassins ward, we can truly outfit for war." This was met by a sudden chunk of the tavern's noise dispersing, followed by several turned heads and confused mutters. Stoic just laughed and finished his drink, narrowing his eyes and leaning over the table slightly before continuing, "Cadence has plans for this place, Sanguine. And I want you to be there with me when they come to pass - I wouldn't want to be against her." _____ @@SilverHeart,@, "M-miss Silver Heart?" Called out a timid voice, immediately recognisable to Silver Heart as Spring Blossom, a rather shy yet competent mare. She had approached the tent from a blind-angle, poking just her creamy-white head around the corner before addressing the nurse. "Miss Mercy sent me, it seems Stoic wants to see you in the tavern right away." She glanced across at the injured stallion in the tent, brushing her violet-hinted mane from her face before adding, "I think he wanted you soon, you know what he's like if he's kept waiting."

@@00Pony, "Business, i'm afraid." While the prospect of perpetually pounding the patron ponies into pulp was something that did indeed fill Stoic with all sorts of glee, he was - mostly - controlling of himself enough to not let that cloud his focus too much once he had his mind set. "Although I wouldn't mind making a mockery of these... excuses." Stoic snarled, shaking his head and tapping a hoof on the table rapidly as he continued to the main topic, "No, i'm here to ask if you've heard anything? Few ponies still alive know the Empire as you do, and recently there have been attempts - Cadence assumed from Celestia, but i'm not so sure - to breach the outer warding." He glanced out of the window across the room at one of the inner wards' runestones; huge columns of engraved stone that had been erected after King Sombra's initial return to the empire by Twilight, so the princess wouldn't have to exhaust herself by keeping up her magical shield in the future. He smiled to himself as the faint hue emanating from the engravings wavered between cyan and sea foam, indicating they were operating at max capacity. "It's not such a problem, it's only the civilian rabble that is kept in the outer city these days, but we can't have anypony thinking they can come walking around now can we?" His voice raised slightly over the growing noise of the bar. The ponies in there were seeming to grow a little louder each moment, each presumably trying to shout over the others' conversations; with the increasing music and the few who were starting to dance merrily, it didn't take a psychopath to see Stoic was becoming frustrated - the reminders of happy families and friends doing little more than fuelling the fire inside him. He grunted something to the Onyx, causing them to fall in beside him and cross their halberds to alarmingly little effect... He ran a hoof over the top of his glass as he leaned back in his chair, at least as much as he could given his considerable mass, before he continued: "I have two of the Onyx out now checking the furthermost wards, they're trained to re-power them with their own magic if they're down, but I simply don't have enough men to check the entire area in the day. I need someone with eyes around the city to make sure there are no ponies trying to take... opportunity."

@@DarkSonic1221, (I'll look over it this time, but i'd prefer in future that you refrained from taking control of another role player's character, this is known as "god modding" and is a ban-able offense in most role plays, including this one - on a side note, you just made my life a lot easier with this next post to the get these two on the scene, so thanks.) @@00Pony, Stoic took his seat in the corner of the bar, resting his chin on a hoof that propped itself against the wall. The mish-mash of faces in the bar hadn't changed much over the time Stoic had spent in there, mainly just being the off-duty guards and the local bar staff, probably some of the military sanctioned blacksmiths too. He didn't agree with the whole principle of "off-duty guards" and blacksmiths not forging, that's just unacceptable behavior. Cadence had other ideas however, she had enough guards to afford to give some a break from their patrols, so long as they where always on their duty call. The whole thing was a mess, seeming to make sense only to her highness. The waitress pony behind the bar saw Stoic's entrance, and before he could collect his limited thoughts on how he was going to deal with this newfound Canterlot spy that Cadence had sent the guards after, there was a drink being placed on the table by the waitress who vanished into the mess of ponies just as quickly as she arrived. With a clank of metal-on-metal and a sound of shifting chains, one of the Onyx guards accompanying Stoic pointed out a stallion across the other side of the tavern. From the brief glimpses he could catch of the stallion, he knew who it was immediately: Sanguine, one of the Empire's most loyal and feared assassins. That is - he would be, if anypony knew who he actually was. Stoic stood, inadvertently knocking the table to one side and only barely managing to save his drink, he made his way through the crowd to the assassin, placing his glass on the table before sliding into the seat across from him. "Sanguine" He nodded - a rare sign of respect from Stoic to anypony other than Cadence herself. "I didn't expect to find you in here at this hour, isn't the night shift more your thing?"

@@Ano170, (As Ano wont be able to post regularly until possibly wednesday, i'm going to speed this encounter along) Thanks to the blizzard, Arrow would have normally been easily missed, even if he did stick out with his slightly odd colouration against the white background. However, thanks to the keen eyes of the pegasus circling the two grounded guards, and his goggles covering his eyes from the snowstorm, he was quickly picked out from the crowd, so to speak. The pegasus landed beside the guards, covering his goggles with his foreleg and then pointing in the direction of the crouching stallion. Unsheathing their relatively small spears from by their sides, the guards spread apart, advancing towards the stallion... _____ @@SilverHeart (No rush for your reply as I expect you're still busy, I just wanted to post something other than the guards) Stoic continued his march to the medical pavilion, his journey was rather uneventful - something he had come to get used to during his time as Cadence's commander, his mere presence spooked most of the civilians into cowering away from him or turning shy to continue their work in hopes he wouldn't notice - and for that he couldn't help but grin maliciously whenever he took to the streets. Eventually finding himself in the medical 'pavilion', more akin to an entire area of the empire cordoned off for this purpose alone, he approached the pink coated unicorn mare who was walking back and forth around the area, talking with some of the other staff and levitating a clipboard beside her that she would occasionally glance over with half-interest. "Doctor Mercy, attention to the front!" Stoic barked, causing the mare to drop her clipboard and turn around promptly to address him. "C-commander Stoic, sir, I apologize, you caught me off guard." "Where is the medical officer in charge of the recovery of the palace guard? He broke his leg chasing a thief or something, I think?" Mercy lifted her clipboard from the ground with her magics, slipping a pen from above her ear and tapping it along the paper with a thoughtful expression crinkling across her face. "That... would be Silver Heart, right? She should be around, the tent we keep the severely injured is only around the corner, should I-?" "Send somepony to get her, and unless she's in the middle of dying herself, send her to me" pausing momentarily, he grinned darkly before continuing "I need to see her on... official royal business." "Yes sir, i'll see to it." Doctor Mercy called after him as he lumbered his way out of the pavilion and towards the tavern over the road, passing his disgusted glances to the majority of the injured ponies laying around in their little tents on his way.

The Tyranny of Princess Cadence The sun was beating down over the Crystal Empire, despite the snowy terrain and occasional harsh breezes, the air was warm and the inhabitants of the Empire where taking full advantage of the pleasant day, toiling hard in their fields to feed the new military, slaving away over the searing forges to produce enough armour to outfit a nation, and working over the technological advances they had made over the past several months in the name of their new ruler. From the outside the Empire looked how you might imagine, a vast city coated in a permanent shine from the crystal enchantments, a steady snowfall surrounding the city gave it a somewhat hidden appearance, yet was kept from settling on the city grounds themselves by the innate magical wards the city held. Nothing looked amiss from a distance, the only thing that might possibly be discovered as ‘odd’ to a particularly keen eyed traveler, would be that the rail tracks were covered in an unusually thick blanket of snow – however that could just be because of the heavy snowfall, right? Princess Cadence was about her usual business – that is to say she was pacing her halls and barking out her orders to her subordinates… “What do you mean there have been more ponies reported close to the border? A Pegasus you say? No doubt another of Celestia’s spies… I want him found and brought to me, what’s the point in magically warding the empire with a permanent snowfall if it does nothing to hide us?” “Y-yes ma’am, a single Pegasus, although he didn’t look like –“ “So you saw him closely, then? And yet he continues to wander the area?” “Well, n-not exactly, ma’am.” “I don’t care about your excuses, I don’t even want to hear them. Just find that Pegasus and bring him to me!” Princess Cadence’s guard stood around silently, itching to break eye contact from the crazed princess as she slumped down in her throne. “What? Why are you still here? Go and find him already!” Cadence snapped. “Y-yes ma’am, of course!” The guard replied with a hint of panic, darting out of the castle doors, followed closely by two others. “And you…” Cadence turned to address the unicorn stallion by the side of her throne as he stood glaring through the closed door “…wont you be a dear and make sure all the magical wards are still working, Stoic? If we lose one of those wards not only do we lose our blizzard, but also the shield around the empire, and we can’t have that now, can we?” Stoic closed his eyes, bowing his head as he started walking towards the door, letting out a sharp whistle and being immediately followed by four of the elite Crystal Onyx guard – it just wouldn’t do for Cadence’s personal wrecking ball to be seen without his command, would it? "Immediately ma'am, i'll have the wards checked and then i'll make a pass by the medical hall and see if nurse whatshername has set that leg yet..." Cadence smiled grimly, tapping her hooves against her chair while glancing over a piece of paper brought to her by a guard during her previous conversation. Stoic stepped outside, his larger than average frame puffing out even more as he took in a deep lungful of the fresh air, exhaling with a low growl. "You two, get to work checking the outermost wards, and I want you two to accompany me on my own journey." The two Onyx unicorns nodded and with a salute of hoof-across-chest went on their way, leaving Stoic and the remaining pair of guards walking steadily south towards the medical hall. (I was torn between starting for the Equestrians or not, but I feel it would be best to leave @Pripyat Pony to set the stage for you guys)

@@Shadow Dancer, (I would suggest you "follow" the RP (top right of the page), so you're updated on new posts on the fly) The two mares had become something of a fixture around the Crystal Empire as of late, spending most of their days simply walking the streets for an unknown reason; finding places to eat in cafés and sleeping in the local inn, the aura of silence that surrounded them - both literally and metaphorically - was nothing short of just plain eerie. Slugging down the street behind her ever-active and bouncing sister Enid, Myra was looking around the roads for their next stop when she was suddenly stopped herself by walking into a soft wall. No, not a wall, Enid had just decided to sit down in the middle of the street again. Scowling at her, Myra stepped by the side of her twin and gave her the most questioning look, causing Enid to simply grin and point to a nearby shopping stall in the market. This one particular stall housed the weekly news, as well as various other day-to-day items. Myra half-rolled her eyes before closing them and shaking her head. Naturally, Enid switched expressions from that of a happy filly to one that somewhat resembled a puppy being kicked. Life was difficult, being Myra. Half of the time she would have only the faintest idea as to what Enid wanted to do next, and the other half of the time she wouldn't know until she was already doing it. Letting out a low breath, Myra rolled her eyes again in a more accepting way, and before she could see the transition back to happy filly, Enid had disappeared in the direction of the news stand and was quickly returning with a paper that she dropped on the ground in front of Myra, grinning from ear-to-ear. Myra simply patted her on the horn, before she set herself about reading the front page of the newspaper, her stern and focused appearance slowly contorting into a characteristic smirk on her face.

Generally when my girlfriend speaks French, (she knows I hate not being able to understand her) my response is a direct quote from Red vs Blue: "Didn't I tell you to stop making up animals?!" ~ Sarge Then of course there's the motto I live by: "We make our own luck." ~ John 117/Dr. Catherine Halsey/Cortana And then just for good measure because it's a deep-ass wisdom: "Quando il gioco è finito, il re e pedone vanno nella stessa scatola." ~ Cortana

Well, for my first post after my several month-long absence, time to alienate anyone who may vaguely remember me 1) Getting into a regular sleeping routine is difficult for me, I struggle with going to sleep before midnight, and often and up staying awake until 5 or 6 in the morning, and then waking up at 14:00 or 16:00. 2) I shower about 3 times a month...(when i'm not at college) 3) I'm too lazy to use two shavers, and I use my electric face shaver to shave my armpits too (but nothing else o.O) 4) I would much rather be by myself in the house, knowing someone else is in the house with me, than be alone. 5) Saying that, i'm the most sociable anti-social introvert you will ever meet 6) I often lie awake at night in the early hours of the morning thinking about where my life is headed, and it depresses me even though it's fairly stable. 7) It's quite possible I may be addicted to computers, despite my protests... Oh how I thank you for getting me back onto this forum, I just happened to log in and see this thread...what a golden note to return on xD