3782233 :

I like a lot of those ideas. Let's see...

In addition to demonstrating their passions, I think that the original cutie mark episode also demonstrated the M6's Elements as well (Pinkie making her folks laugh, Rainbow Dash loyally chasing after Flutters, etc.) Might be good to tie that in here as well. So for instance:

* Bluenote is pressured by her famous father, not enjoying music lessons too much. Dispirited after a bad jury performance, she trots home, where she comes across other foals who are unhappy (maybe their record player or instruments broke and they can't afford more.) To cheer them up, Bluenote plays for them, and for the the first time she really gets into it. And thus she earns her mark by making them happy.

* Vinyl: I like the idea about her putting on a show. Maybe she builds some kind of technological thingie (simple, with her being a foal and all, but still something that takes effort) to honor the guy. When she plays her own invention, and it's suitably epic and awesome, she gets her mark.

*Medley: Her thing is loyalty, but that can be expressed in a few ways. Maybe she has a friend who's going to be in a concert... but the friend is lazy and won't practice. Medley has to show her tough love, even though her friend becomes snappish. She finally gets through to her friend and gets permissions from her to accompany her at the music show, where she earns her mark (this ties back into Emeral's idea of Medley being better at accompaniment than as a soloist).

* Fluttershy: Maybe this time instead, when she falls to the earth, she's doing it to save a poor injured bird. Or because, even though she could have remained up in the cloud house performing charity under her dad's supervision (which is probably what her dad actually wanted her to do), she made herself go out on her own because she thought she could help others more effectively that way.

* Lyra: Some typical foal task, but recast as an epic quest that involves lyre music for some reason.

Ironically, I don't have many good ideas for Tavi. Maybe a time when she was deluding herself into thinking she was better than she was, which was inhibiting her playing, but she learned to stop doing that in the middle of a concert and finally played something great?

3782286

Ironically, I don't have many good ideas for Tavi. Maybe a time when she was deluding herself into thinking she was better than she was, which was inhibiting her playing, but she learned to stop doing that in the middle of a concert and finally played something great?

Not her normal brand of honesty but maybe she doesn't dare admit to anyone that she's scared she'll mess things up and later has to admit her nerves to her parents?

3785422 : That could be a good idea. I think that Tavi would be prone to feelings of shame or fear of disgrace along those lines.

3785434

Another idea, although maybe not fitting in with socially isolated Tavi is a case where she got her position due to her family connections rather than skill and admits that somepony else is better than her, maybe changing chair with her.

*Medley: Her thing is loyalty, but that can be expressed in a few ways. Maybe she has a friend who's going to be in a concert... but the friend is lazy and won't practice. Medley has to show her tough love, even though her friend becomes snappish. She finally gets through to her friend and gets permissions from her to accompany her at the music show, where she earns her mark (this ties back into Emeral's idea of Medley being better at accompaniment than as a soloist).

I've just checked and Medley's mark is a raincloud so presumably it would have to link to that, maybe arranging for it to rain down on the building where the show is happening to create the right mood for the music being played?

Octy, Vinyl and Bluenote's marks are all musical notation, do they have any particular importance above just being notes, anything special about them as notes go? I obviously can't read music.

3785722 : I like the Medley idea. I can just see her directing rainclouds in time with the musician's music, in total harmony with nature and the sounds coming from below.

As for Octavia, while I like that idea for a general fic about her, I'm not sure it would work for her cutie mark discovery story. Octavia is very proud of her music, so while I think she'd be willing to yield to a better musician, she wouldn't get excited enough over playing second fiddle to earn her mark.

Vinyl's cutie mark is a set of two eighth-notes. That works out to one quarter-note, the most common unit of music. Bluenote's mark is a bass clef, which represents low-pitched notes. (As opposed to Octavia's mark, a treble clef, which represents high pitched notes. You can see them on staff paper, like here).

3785764

Humm, not much specific to go with for Octy or Bluenote, more or less just random notes really. Vinyl's being a common unit it quite interesting and cold be linked to her building instruments (which could also be considered basic unit of music, if a more variable one) as for building a simple instrument, maybe a magic version of a Theremin? Maybe played by actually dancing or just moving a hoof around.

Another idea, although it would probably be a rather short story.

Octavia has a hobby or interest she considers embarrassing or against her high class image, maybe she likes to watch hoofball or actually likes a pop or rock band. Somepony finds out and tries to blackmail her about it, maybe they want some sort of official endorsement from the daughter of the Duchess of Chaneigh / Princess Cadence's student / The element of magic. She struggles with herself for a while but eventually decides she trusts her friends enough not to suddenly turn their back on her because of her interest, and of course they do, although not without a little teasing thought.

It might also work with Vinyl being blackmailed for being interested in something nerdy, although she's a lot more comfortable in her skin than Tavi and would probably be proud of any more intellectual activities, in addition to her 'cooler' pursuits.

3800747 : It's a neat idea. I especially like the idea of her liking something offbeat like cricket (which, who knows, maybe Medley introduces her to, being from Lancantershire and all.) I think it might be best to keep things light though and have the 'blackmail' be low-key, or even inadvertent (a newspaper snaps a photo of her cheering goofily at a cricket match, and she dragoons Medley and co. into a wacky scheme to get that photo back before it leaks out that Cadance's student engages in such frivolities.)

3801337

I might even keep what she's actually interested in secret for some or most of the story referring it to, that thing / place I did / went to with Medley when we visited her parents.

Another, somewhat christmasie idea is Medley wanting to visit her family for Hearth's warming but not being able to afford train tickets and being to proud to ask for help. The rest of the gang find out and in some way help her either get home or bring her family to her.

3801439 : Aww. That would be sweet. I can just see Medley and her family hanging out in her shop, with perhaps a little cousin or two running around and playing with the instruments (and making a racket, of course).

3801452

Well I'm hoping to complete another Cadenceverse story (along with at least one time after time chapter, and an entry to the Lunaverse December challenge) this year although I've got about a dozen idea's to potentially go with, this Christmasy tale might fit with the season.

How was the relationship between the mane-6 before Octy turned up? Were any of them particularly close? or just acquaintances? Medley being a little grumpy might have the least friends, maybe some link to Vinyl through building instruments? Bluenote though her music room / selling instruments to foals.

I'm just wondering who's most likely to know that Medley normally visits her family for a week around Hearths Warming, even if Medley doesn't mention it?

I'd probably also need to think why this is a bad year for her as you'd think Hearth's warming would be a good season for her with lots of presents being given. Maybe Lancantershire is blocked off for some reason, snow drifts or something and the 6 (well 5 of them) have to make sure the train makes it through.

3801495 : Before Octavia turned up? Let's see...

Bluenote was friendly with everyone, though she wasn't great friends with anyone in particular. She'd probably be best acquainted with other ponies with younger siblings who took lessons from her.

Medley was standoffish; she'd be known primarily through her business (as a vendor of very reliable instruments).

Lyra was friendly with everyone.

Fluttershy tended to keep to herself except for when she was conducting charitable drives/causes. Ponies would know her if they contributed regularly or if they had animals who needed veterinary care.

Vinyl was somewhere in the middle. She was casually acquainted with a lot of ponies, but not spectacular friends with anyone in particular.

Lyra would probably be most likely to know Medley's schedule, since she can be kind of inquisitive. Bluenote might also know because she probably rents from Medley on occasion and so would need to know if Medley weren't going to be around.

3801521
Next up, Hearthwarming presents

What do you think the 6 would get each other? I'm not going to cover everything but highlight some things.

I could see Medley making her gifts, maybe cases for the other's instruments (A perch for Fluttershy's birds, a box for Vinyl's records?)

Vinyl might get Octavia some sun glasses, maybe some magical gizmos?

Fluttershy, pets might be an idea but that would be a story by itself, maybe certificates to say she donated to some charity on their behalf (you sponsored a cockatrice, you own an ache of rain forest sort of thing)

Bluenote - Chocolates / treats of some sort?

Lyra - A song written for each of the 6?

Not sure what Octavia would buy for the others, concert tickets for them all to go to maybe?

3838644 : Let's see...

I like the idea of Bluenote baking or cooking things. She might get chocolates/sweets for Lyra, who she would know has a sweet tooth, but perhaps the others would be more tailored to each of the C6. Maybe an elegant fruit dish for Octavia (who cares about healthy foods), something really high-energy for Vinyl, something safe for various pets to eat for Fluttershy (who probably has to deal with a lot of 'aww, that sweet puppy wants a candy bar, but chocolate is bad for dogs' woes and who might like the idea of having some yummy treats she can give them without worrying about making them sick), etc.

Fluttershy, I don't think a pet would quite work (since, if the C6 member wasn't willing or able to take care of it right, that would go wrong both for them and the pet. In fact, except for maybe Medley, I don't think any of the non-Fluttershy C6 would be good at owning pets.) Donations to a charity she wouldn't do unless they asked for it. But I could see her knitting them something, if we keep her knowledge of fashion that she showed in the real show. Knit with 100% fair-trade wool, of course. :-)

Lyra: I like the idea of an epic song, but she'd probably get them something physical too. It would probably be very eclectic; I could easily see her wandering around Canterlot until she sees the 'perfect' gift for each of her friends, no matter how bizarre or ridiculous. ("Fluttershy! You told me once you wanted to go on more adventures, so I got you this big set of adventurer's saddlebags! Heavy-duty and tough enough to withstand even the most strenuous adventure. And I had it painted with pink butterflies, because I know you like those.")
As for Bonbon, she'd give her a public present too, probably pretty similar to what she got the others (something interesting and well-suited to her tastes, but reasonable in scope). I could also see her secretly arranging for Bonbon to get another gift, something she really, really wanted, and making it look like it came from someone else, or the community, or whatnot. And it wouldn't necessarily be a 'present' kind of thing either, just something that Bonbon wanted and would make her happy. (Bonbon: "Actually, it's the strangest thing. My first winter in Ponyville, I hadn't insulated my shop, and I was freezing every morning. But for Hearth's Warming, the town chipped in and bought me insulation for my shop! Apparently there's some line in the town charter setting aside money for that." Lyra: "Yeah... yeah, that was totally the town charter...")

Vinyl: She'd get Octavia some 'better' clothes for sure--sunglasses, maybe a dress with LEDs or something else. I could see her giving prototypes as well. That said, she's got a huge family, so she's probably pretty used to gift giving. Her gifts (besides the wacky shades) might be the most normal of the lot.

Medley would probably make her own gifts. Windchimes and other self-playing instruments for most of them, maybe something more practical for Fluttershy. She'd probably need to get VInyl something else, since self-playing instruments tend not to really work with the heavy stuff she likes, so maybe she gives her some kind of add-on that accentuates the sound of her speakers or other instruments or somesuch. Alternately, we know Vinyl builds stuff (like the wubstep flamethrower in 'Octavia Sings the Blues.') So maybe Medley makes some tools for Vinyl, so she can make more cool things for her concerts.

And Octavia... well, the silly approach is for Octavia to give them all gift certificates to a recital. But maybe she's grown out of that mindset by now (since it would have been 9 months since arriving in town). Actually, Octavia might have some trouble; she'd want to get her friends something, but realistically, all the high-end gifts she'd be familiar with from her time in Chenneigh would be out of reach unless she used her parent's money, which she wouldn't want to do. She might have trouble picking out cheaper, still suitable gifts.
As for what she'd get them in the end... how about music boxes? Medley or Vinyl might have the materials to record music and trigger it by opening a box (or Octavia might just buy some music boxes outright), and she could record music that she felt all her friends would like. That's still a musical present, but it's more permanent and less obviously vain than 'you can come to one of my wonderful concerts for free!'

Not sure if this has been brought uo before, but the trifecta of Arabus, Zeb, and Knight Shade seem perfect for this verse.

3874447 Oh god yes. Arabus would be an Elements-level threat at least. :D

I don't know if this one has already been brought up, but I was listening to every MLP song in order on YouTube while doing some other stuff and when it came to the "Find a Pet" song, I couldn't help but wonder whether a similar synopsis for Octavia in the Cadanceverse would work.

For brainstorming purposes anyway...

If we were to compare Octavia and Rainbow Dash in the similar circumstances, and their shared friend in Fluttershy:

In both universes, Fluttershy wants to help her animal friends find nice homes, so the set up there wouldn't be too complicated. Dash wanted a pet that was awesome and cool, and could fly. Octavia might not want a pet at all, howver if she were to have one, she would probably want the pet to have some sort of musical talent, like Fluttershy's birds. Cue the C-verse Find a Pet song (or at least the parallel scene). Note that Canon!Dash was close to backing out a couple of times during the song. Fluttershy tries to pawn off some of the animals that are difficult to find homes for, but Octavia doesn't like them because they aren't musically inclined. Perhaps a moose or even Tank the Tortoise (having Tank cameo would allow a good red herring pick to keep the readers off guard with the speculation). Then Fluttershy shows her the Hummingbird, a Spring Peeper, a Cricket, a musical seal, possibly a humpback whale (which would be good for some laughs... "I love the whale's song, Fluttershy dear, really I do, but how am I supposed to keep a whale at my apartment above Bon Bon's?)

With a talent show set to decide which one is right for Octavia...a number of morality questions could come up, like how honest and fair it is to have such a contest to begin with. Also, does she want a pet that has musical talent, or one that also makes her look good? I'm also reminded of Schroeder from Peanuts: "Beethoven never had a dog, so maybe I shouldn't have one either."

It could make a fun tale.

4192115

Do you think Octy should end up with a pet? and if so what do you think would fit her?

4192348

I wish I had an easy "yes" or "no" answer for that.

It could be fun to give her an Owlowiscious type sidekick. One thing I've noticed is that most non-twilight AUs don't venture into giving their Element of Magic a Spike, never mind delving into the pet factor. Sure Trixie in the C-verse has Spike, and in the Lunaverse she has Pokey, but they're not really filling the same role as they do in canon. I don't think the Lunaverse has tried anything like the pets either, with the possible exception of Angel Bunny because he's sort of an established constant.

The Octaviaverse gives the lead character Hugin the Crow to fill Spike's role as snarker and occasional foil. The Flipverse has Twilight and Spike swapped... (duh, right?) and Manehattan has Twilight and Spike with a different supporting cast due to a new location.

The question of whether Octy should get a pet or not probably comes down to how much it will change C-verse canon. Owlowiscious isn't a major character, but he does get a few moments in the sun after his introductory episode, and Tank has an upcoming episode in Season 5 that focuses on him. So Octy getting a pet would either have to be a Big Deal, or be a Status Quo Ante where she realizes that it is not a good idea for her.

The Big Deal pretty much means that it's a snowball effect on her life. Twilight having Owlowiscious doesn't affect a majority of the episodes, but he's still there in a lot of them... he's more than just a background pony or a piece of furniture. It's probably one of the bigger reasons this idea hasn't been done in the other AUs.

4192115 : I really like the idea.
I think Tavi could probably be persuaded to get a pet. Particularly if Fluttershy gets involved. She can be very persuasive. :-D
It could be really neat to have Tavi deal with the issues of whether or not to get a musical pet--or maybe a pet that doesn't like her music, which could cause issues.
Another potential conflict: Tavi currently lives in Bonbon's spare room. What if Bonbon doesn't like Tavi's choice of pets? It is, technically, her house.

I dunno if the others have pets--except for Bluenote, who I'm pretty sure does not, because she'd be a terrible pet owner and knows it ("Feed her? But I fed her yesterday, and my hammock is so comfy! Can't she just forage for berries?") However, I'd guess that at least one of Tavi's sisters has a pet of some kind.

4192453 : I don't think a pet would have to change too much about Tavi's life, at least not to the extent of making future stories difficult from a logistic perspective. She could get a petsitter for any out of town adventures she went on, and unless it was a joke pet then it probably wouldn't destroy her room or eat her or anything. :-)

4192348 : Personally, I do like the idea.

4192453
4193818

I could see Octy as a cat person really they're fairly aloof and fastidious and quite easy to keep. It could be an outside animal that just comes in when it feels like it, Bon Bon might even approve to keep away mice from her supplies. It's not musical but it might approve of Octavia's paying and curl up to listen when she practices.

Maybe its not an animal Flutters is trying to pass on, after trying a most of pets the cat just wanders by and steals Octy's heart.

4193896
4193818

Bluenote is probably the type who shouldn't own a pet, but might anyway. I could see her putting off changing the litterbox and overfilling the food dish because she knows she'd forget... "That's probably two day's worth, so I won't have to worry about her for a while. If she eats it all and gets hungry, she can catch a mouse." If she did have a pet, it would have to be something very low maintenance that can take care of itself most of the time. Possibly a Gummy, Boneless, or Boulder type, which parallels the "Laughter" theme. She'd also spoil them with her cooking. Hmm... maybe she has Sea Monkeys.

Back to Octavia, she does seem to be a cat type, and non-anthropomorphic singing cats aren't usually much fun to listen to. Plus there's always the "don't make me use you to string my bow" threat.

A bat could be interesting. Not necessarily musical in the way that Octy was thinking, but the whole echolocation and stuff, and making her think outside her usual box. It might take some convincing for Bon Bon, but instead of keeping the mice away, it keeps away insects. Although the bat might be better suited for Vinyl.

4196520 : I could see Octavia with a cat. Maybe not a prissy one like Opal, though. Maybe a more wild cat which she has to exert herself to take care of and/or maintain.

I can just see her chasing her cat through a field while it pursues a mouse. Or evicting it from inside her cello. Or waking up to find it curled up in her mane and now her mane is a total mess and her recital is in an hour. :-)

4193896 : I like the idea of Octy with a cat, although, as mentioned above, I think it'd be interesting if it was a more wild cat. Not like a tiger, but like a cat that's not afraid to run through some mud chasing mice, for instance.

Medley's Beatles like accent made me think of something.

What if a group we used to be part of in Manechester made the big times, maybe performing in Ponyville or Canterlot. How would she feel? Would she be jealous? Try to get back into the group, use their fame to try and make her shop more popular. How would the other 6 react would they try to use Medley's friends for their own ends?

4749421 So... she'd be the Pete Best?

4749455

Yep, she's already Best pony .

4749482 Yeah, sure. We'll go with that.

1161664

For some reason, I cannot reply to the Blog of GrassAndClouds2 about TV-Series, so here are my TV-Series-recommendations:

Firefly:
It is only 14 episodes, but good.

FireFly has spaceships, but the next recomendation is so goor that you should consider despite the lack of spaceships:

The Sarah Conor Chronicles:
It is a series set in the TerminatorVerse. All of this temporal intervention creates a new timeline with a cold temporal war of multiple factions trying to modify the timeline for their benefit. The 2 largest factions are TechCom lead by John Conor and SkyNet. Their are also humans who cut a deal with SkyNet, nialistic humans who want to end human life, Terminators who are smart enough to realize that SkyNet does not have their best interest, and have switched sides, and other similar terminators who are their own faction, terminators caught by faction other than SkyNet and reprogrammed.

All of these temporal interventions keep changing the future and causing paradoxes. Sarah Conor wants to prevent the creation of SkyNet; while SkyNet wants to accelerate its own creation. 1 of the most Interesting things is that 1 of the factions wants a future orthogonal to both the goals of SkyNet and Sarah Conor. I shall not spoil this interesting potential future.

I'm currently about 3/4 of the way through my Flim Flam brothers story and it's sort of mutated into almost a separate story about a music contest between the Ponyville foals and another school (very heavily influenced / is Crystal Prep from Friendship games). The contrast is going to be that Ponyville is very spontaneous and due to Medley more inclined to have fun rather than play technically correctly (plus most of the foals aren't really trained all that much) where as the Crystal Prep kids are highly skilled and trained but more soulless, their music is technically very good but has no individuality.

Each team plays three pieces, one of which much involve the whole class and the others can be of any size including a solo performance. So far I have two pieces for Ponyville 'Equestria the land I love' (Which I'm using as the national anthem) and Seventy Six Trombones from the Music Maker for the class wide number so I'm still looking for a third, probably instrumental piece.

On the Crystal Prep side I'm coming up blank which is why I'm here to ask for suggestions. I think their pieces will probably be more likely to be instrumental or at least more pretentious and less fun. Maybe one for a trio of singers with some backing instrumentals as they will likely be bending the rules by having their three music teachers dominate on piece.

So any suggestions?