Character Roleplay Meme: Main Course and Ebony Glimmer · 3:11am Sep 26th, 2014
Well, since Wade tagged me in his blog post, I thought I’d give this a shot. Might be fun. You can read the rules over there, and I’m sure you can guess who the characters are. I’m going to shake it up a bit, though. I’m going to skip the ‘Tag other authors’ step since I generally find the whole chain-letter style ‘challenge’ to be annoying. If you want to get in on it, just jump in with a post of your own! Second, I may decide to do a second round of these ‘In-character answers’ with fan-submitted questions. If you have a particular Q you’d like Main and Ebby to A, stick it in the comments. I’ll use whatever questions are most upvoted.
I may also do one of these for Twi and Azalea. And before you ask, no you won’t get a straight answer about the weathervanes.
So without further ado...
WHO ARE YOU? AGE/RACE.
MC: My name’s Main Course. Earth pony, turn 36 next week. I run the Grassy Knoll here in Ponyville, it’s not technically affiliated with the one in Manehatten, at least legally. Not any more, at least. Although I am a silent partner so you could say—
Ebby: I think they’ve gotten the point, dear.
MC: Right, sorry. Next question?
NOW WHO’S YOUR LOVER? WHAT’S HER AGE/RACE?
Ebby: Your lover! Ooh, doesn’t that make it sound exciting? Like we’re sneaking out for secret trysts. Like, ‘Well, hey there tall, dark, and sexy. Why don’t you ditch that nag of a wife and come be with a real mare?’
MC: Hmm... tempting offer. You know she even tried to kidnap my daughter once?
Ebby: That witch!
MC: But seriously, though, this unicorn is technically Lady Ebony Glimmer, but everypony in town knows her as Ebby. As for age...
Ebby: Think very carefully before you answer that question.
MC: ...she’s in her late—
Ebby: Ahem!
MC: Like I was saying, she’s in her mid-thirties. Next question. Quickly, please.
WHAT MAKES YOUR LOVER SO SPECIAL?
MC: Strongest, toughest mare in Equestria, right here. Fighting the toughest fight in the world for... what’s the count?
Ebby: 2,397 days. But you’re exaggerating about how tough it is. It’s there, but it’s a lot easier than it used to be. My turn: I married a stallion who sees the best in everypony. The number of little ways he’s saved me... well, I can’t even begin to count that particular number. Everything I have today, my friends, my home, two wonderful foals, I wouldn’t have any of it without Main. I probably wouldn’t even be breathing.
MC: You’ve paid me back ten times over. All that was you. I just cheered you on when you needed it.
HAVE YOU EVER DOUBTED YOUR LOVER?
MC: ...
Ebby: We should be honest, Main. It’s okay.
MC: I certainly don’t anymore. But yes, right after she reconciled with Scootaloo and we started dating, there was a part of me that didn’t trust her. I would find excuses not to leave her alone with Scootaloo, even though I knew I was being ridiculous. I thought... sorry, would you give me a second?
Ebby: No, Main, don’t... if you start crying them I’m going to start and then where will we be?
MC: I thought it might be another act. I thought one day I’d come back and you and my daughter... I’d never see her again.
Ebby: The important thing was that we worked through it together. We’d recently been seeing the same therapist, and he did couples counselling too. Dating three weeks and already in couples therapy doesn’t exactly sound like a promising start, does it? But I think we both already knew by that point we were in this thing for the long haul.
MC: Like I said, when my wife sees something worth fighting for, she fights for it. Tooth and nail.
DID YOU EVER USE PICKUP LINES ON YOUR LOVER? IF SO, WHICH ONES?
Ebby: Can’t say I have. Kissing him and then punching him in the stomach worked better anyway.
MC: There’s some relationship advice you won’t read in Cosmare.
Ebby: You might be surprised, actually.
WHAT’S THE MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT YOU’VE HAD WITH YOUR LOVER?
MC: There were definitely a couple of very dark, very low moments early on, but not really the kind of funny-embarrassing you’re asking about.
Ebby: Yes, Main Course humiliated me quite a bit right after we met. And I know that the connotations of that word are pretty negative, but that’s not really what I mean by it. I mean he got me to humble myself, and to realize that I didn’t necessarily deserve to have something just because I wanted it. That was... pretty different from the way I was raised.
MC: Geeze, this is getting depressing. I’m gonna say that my official answer is when we had to tell my sister that we needed to rush the wedding because I had... uh... Ebby was slightly pregnant at the time. Didn’t hear the end of that one for months.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN WAITING UNTIL AFTER MARRIAGE TO HAVE SEX?
MC: I think my last answer pretty much covers this one too.
Ebby: We didn’t even wait until we were dating.
DO YOU HAVE ANY DESIRES YOU’D LIKE TO TRY WITH YOUR LOVER? IF SO, WHAT?
MC: We’re actually pretty vanilla in the, er, intimacy department. But whatever we lack in quality we make up for in quantity!
Ebby: Main! Goodness, now everypony reading this is going to think I’m some kind of nymphomaniac who’s lousy in bed. What my husband means is that we make it a point to be physically intimate with one another whenever possible, and I don’t mean just sex. Hugging, cuddling, nuzzling, that sort of physical contact with another pony is something I denied myself for a very long time. I... being touched by a stallion was an issue, let’s leave it at that.
MC: Right. And especially given what Scootaloo grew up around... I want to set an example for her, you know? I want her to get that ponies who are in loving and healthy relationships do that for one another, and I hope that she’ll be able to open herself up in the same way. We’re not answering the question, are we?
Ebby: Actually, for me the answer is I’d like to travel more as a family. Ginger’s getting old enough that we can start taking him on longer trips, and I do miss travelling from my pre-Ponyville days. The problem is that somepony will never take a vacation.
MC: The Knoll is a lot of work!
Ebby: The only way I got him to take his last vacation was to have Pinkie fire him for a week.
MC: She can’t actually fire me. I just decided to humor her and didn’t come in for a few day.
Ebby: Mmhmm. Of course, dear. I’m sure that’s exactly what happened.
DO YOU KNOW YOUR LOVER’S WEAK SPOT? DO THEY KNOW YOURS?
MC: I think probably Scootaloo and Ginger for both of us. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost either of them.
Ebby: I agree. Except I know from experience what I’d do, and it isn’t a pretty picture.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU FIND YOUR LOVER WITH ANOTHER MARE/STALLION? HOW WOULD YOU INTERPRET THAT? FAMILIAR? FRIEND? CHEATING?
MC: I would never assume cheating. Both of us have worked too hard for what we have together to risk even making the accusation, much less committing the act himself.
Ebby: I don’t know... some of your waitresses are awfully attractive... and you and Pinkie do spend some late nights at the Knoll together...
MC: Come on, Ebby, don’t even kid about that.
Ebby: Oh, all right. Yes, I’d trust that it was something perfectly reasonable and innocent. Even if it were Rarity.
MC: What do you mean ‘even if it were Rarity?’
Ebby: You don’t have to play dumb. The two of us talked it over mare to mare and we’re still friends.
MC: I legitimately have no idea what you’re talking about.
Ebby: Really?
MC: Really.
Ebby: I thought for certain that you knew. Let me put it this way; if I hadn’t entered the picture when I did there’s a better than even chance that you’d be married to her now instead of me.
MC: What?
Ebby: You’re both good friends, you both own small businesses you’re passionate about, and you’re both physically attracted to one another. Don’t think I haven’t noticed.
MC: You’re the only mare for me, honey.
Ebby: I appreciate that. Oh, and one other thing. If, Princesses forbid, I were to keel over dead tomorrow, she has dibs.
MC: Excuse me?
Ebby: Well, I would want you to remarry and not just wallow in grief. Ginger and Scootaloo need a mother figure, and Rarity’s the mare that I would pick if it were up to me. I think you’d be happy together.
MC: I cannot believe we’re having this conversation.
Ebby: If you want to pick a potential future replacement husband for me, you’re welcome to. Fair’s fair.
ANY FANTASIES WITH YOUR LOVER? PERVY ANSWERS ALLOWED.
Ebby: Just to break my husband’s brain a little further after that last answer, I’ll say a chance for him to see what being married to Rarity would mean physically. Except of course I wouldn’t want to be left out...
MC: I had an answer, but that one’s better.
EVER HAD FIGHTS?
MC: Absolutely. Sometimes even screaming matches. But never in front of Scootaloo and Ginger, and never without being able to say ‘I love you’ and go to sleep together that night. So I think that means we’re doing pretty okay.
Ebby: For me, I think one of the hardest things to accept was that, well, I’m not Scootaloo’s favorite parent. I know she loves me but... if I’m being absolutely honest, she’s more your daughter than she is mine at this point.
MC: That was never my intention.
Ebby: It’s fine. For goodness sake, Main, she works her hooves to the bone in the kitchen just to impress you. You have more in common with her these days than I do, and she just glows with happiness when you even so much as smile at her. My daughter loves me and she’s happy. What sort of mother would be dissatisfied with that?
MC: I guess this is as good a time as any to mention that while we might not always agree with one another, parenting-wise, we always back one another up. If there’s a disagreement we hash it out in private. Even if, say, somepony tries to ground our daughter for the rest of her natural life.
Ebby: I know that was an overreaction, but you understand why it struck a chord, right? Plus it led to a good conversation between us.
MC: She experimented. There was nopony at that sleepover who wasn’t trustworthy. Would you have rather she tried it for the first time around ponies she didn’t know?
Ebby: I would prefer if she’d never tried it at all.
MC: Two mugs of hard cider is pretty tame, Ebby.
Ebby: I know, I know. Let’s just... can we get the next question?
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR LOVER’S FAMILY? DO YOU KNOW THEM?
Ebby: Oh my goodness, yes! Of course Silver Scroll is here in Ponyville, and even if she was a little wary of me at first she came around. Now she practically begs us to let her foalsit Ginger, and she and Scootaloo go up flying at least twice a month just to catch up. And I was so nervous when I met his parents, but they’re the sweetest couple! I hope Main and I are still so very in love at that age. And his Mom even knitted me a Hearth’s Warming sweater! I couldn’t ask for a better set of in-laws. Sorry, I’m babbling. Main, did you want to talk about meeting my parents?
MC: ....
Ebby: Main?
MC: Speaking of my parents. one of the things they taught me growing up was that if you don’t have anything nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all.
SPEAKING OF FAMILIES, DO YOU WANT TO START ONE TOGETHER?
MC: We’re married with two foals. I think we’re slightly past that point.
WE’RE FINISHED. WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW?
Ebby: I guess... I guess we should finish helping Scootaloo pack.
MC: Probably. Can you believe that she’s leaving for culinary school in just three more days?
Ebby: ....
MC: Whoops.
Ebby: I CAN’T BELIEVE SHE’S LEAVING AGAIN! What if the others are mean to her? What if she gets homesick? What if... what if...
MC: We should probably cut this short. She’s been like this for weeks whenever this comes up.
And done! That was fun! If you have questions you’d like to see Ebby/Main answer, or suggestions for Twilight/Azalea questions, stick them in the comments below.
Dank OC and good meme
Thanks for reminding me that I started reading this story and never finished and now I feel like a bad person and now I just remembered that I've been promising myself I'm going to read hard reset for like a year now and now I feel like a horrible person.
Oh no now I want to reread Taste. Dang it, Eakin, you aren't allowed to make the list even longer than it already is!
Hmm, question for TwiZalea...
I need to reread The Time Loop Trilogy as well.
How about: What was the last thing you had a big fight about?
I wouldn't mind trying this, but the closest I've ever had is a pair of roommates/Platonic Life Partners.
2484393 Yep, you're pretty much the worst. On the other hand, all you have to do to be not the worst is read some amazing stories. (And if "stories you've been meaning to read but haven't gotten to yet" is a significant criterion for horribleness, I'm pretty much ninth circle material.)
Anyways, I'm going to take this blog post as the Taste 2: The Tastening trailer that it is. Yay, OC romance fanfics! Exactly what every young man wants from the internet!
2484456
Yep. Now I'm re-reading both as well
This has enough meaty detail to be another epilogue for Taste and I appreciate that a lot.
Eeeeeeeeee! Color ol' Wade delighted.
This is really good.
Favorite bits:
Adorable.
Oh my god.
*Grins and applauds* Very goofy fun.
This was great to read.
I'd absolutely love to read more of these.
I don't think I'm capable of getting tired of these two's chemistry.
Good answers. My favourite part was:
Also, I totally
stoleborrowed these questions for a Character RP blog of my own.*looks at the date.*
Dammit, I was hoping that this was you hinting at a release date of the sequel.
2484456
My favorites list is pretty much my read later list... I'm probably going to go through and unflag everything that's already read so I can read it again.
2485288 Yeah...
So if Rarity steps into the shoes mom from Ebony, that would make Sweetie Belle step-aunt to Scootaloo and little Gingie. What next, Applejack is named godmother in case something were to happen to both of parents? 
2509770
My Aunt Sweetie Belle, rated G
2509770
2510111
I guess the extent of the weirdness factor really depends on the relative ages. I saw Main as late 20s-ish during the events of the story, and having owned her own business Rarity's always struck me as fairly mature as well. But the MLP timeline is notoriously wobbly, so if you see Rarity as 19 and Sweetie Belle as 11-12, that would be a lot weirder, yes.
Ebby is the oldest by a few years, probably 32-33 during the story. Old enough to have a just-pre-teen daughter after she got married the first time, but not so old that a second baby is out of the question.
Applejack may not be a Godmother, but Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom do fairly well for themselves as occasional foalsitters to Ginger