I'm bored. Must do homework. I need to sharpen my swords.

Where's the oil? Next to the TV. Must polish swords.

Ponies ponies ponies.

Still working on collab. Ironing out the rules. Plot has been scripted almost in full. Cool stuff all around.

Need to watch Bladerunner.

Here's an update.

Still can't sleep...

Her attention focused on a news monitor blaring ever since she discovered it was there. It had been on a constant loop ever since she sat down, cycling through several news broadcasts. Having run out of things to look at and incapable of keeping track of the endless stream of humans and other exotic alien species, she took a moment and watched what the woman staring out of the screen had to offer. Rather unlike the occasional television she would see in richer pony cities, the monitor was an empty frame that broadcasted light into a solid picture. She had asked Applejack how it worked once she saw it for the first time, but she couldn’t make heads or tails of it either.

The media circuits are abuzz with the last declaration from the new Alliance world of Avol. After the Alliance fleet battled with the hostile Dratlli menace and secured the safety of Avol, co-rulers of one of the largest Avolian nations, Equestria, had opened trade and political negotiations with military diplomats. Recent Avol military recruit Twilight Sparkle has been appointed as a temporary liaison between Avol and certain Alliance factions. As Avol has yet to develop technology past the stage corresponding to the Industrial Era on Earth, sharing technology and certain data pertaining to Alliance and human history has been restricted pending further review.

All inside sources state that talks are still in the earliest stages, but Equestria and its rulers, Princesses Celestia and Princess Luna, have initiated migration and travel quotas for the purpose of cultural sharing and exploration. In a recent interview with Field Marshall Carter and Ambassador Dieter, the two co-rulers stated they encouraged travel between their races, but given that interstellar communication is still new to them and enforced travel quotas in order to restrict movement until an unspecified date in the future.

In order to better travel to Alliance space and allow certain Alliance carriers and dropships into Avol and Equestrian territory, the Alliance received permission from the Equestrian royal court to build a single staryard on its soil. The Alliance is currently negotiating deals with the Deus industrial corporation for supplies in that regard. This ground station would work in conjunction with the Harmony Station recently completed in geosynchronous orbit with Avol.

Several corporations have clambered over each other in attempt for privatized contracts on Avol. Notable agrarian developer Organic Corporate Operations has made several bids for an earth pony workforce and their supposed unparalleled agricultural and farming techniques. Both Equestria and another Avol sovereign state, the Crystal Kingdom, have refused any and all deals concerning the mass export of labor forces until further notice.

Ambassador Dieter has gone on record stating that talks are going well and any restrictions placed on Alliance dealings and demands are fair and reasonable under basic scrutiny, given the past circumstances concerning Lieutenant Sparkle and the recent Dratali invasion of Equestria. Primary concerns sent by most world leaders of Avol revolve around future relations with Alliance forces and the possibility of another attack on their homeworld. The Dratali vanguard spearheading the assault on Avol just over a year ago was destroyed by a joint effort of Alliance and Avol forces. Alliance intelligence assured both Alliance worlds and the Avol nation-states that an attack in the near future is very remote and promises aid to any world whenever an attack is imminent, especially their new Avolian allies.

Preliminary reports concerning the Dratali attack seem to suggest that the aliens wished to exterminate all life on Avol under the wish to destroy all possible magic users. Given that Dratali had been previously thought to be the only race capable of using magic, the possibility of another race capable of the same feat could have been interpreted as a grave threat to Dratali strategies concerning their magic trump cards.

In other news, another NOMAD facility was attacked by a joint task force of Factory and Essex-Inata-Imago corporate security. Initial reports suggest casualties were at a minimum. There are currently three reported arrests after the raid, far fewer than previously expected. Stay tuned for future updates.

Two cyber criminals only known by the aliases DaemonJack and King Kludge have resurfaced after a long period of dormancy. SCP security reports state that King Kludge may not have been taking a reprieve as previously thought, but assisting the NOMAD criminal organization for reasons unknown. Sources, however, all point to a long period of inactivity by his comrade DaemonJack, who has only recently resurfaced. Genetics and biotech corporation Biolab reported several attempted hacks into secure Magnasanti servers using methods that are typical of the notorious netrunner. No damage or lost data has been reported at this time.

Fluttershy did her best to tune the broadcast out. “Even humans have bad apples, I suppose.”

“You have no idea,” the man said in a deep, scratchy voice, making her jumped.

“Oh, really? Well I hope I don’t meet them.” He said nothing. “You must be upset that I woke you. I’m sorry, it’s just that this whole place is so new to me. I’m waiting for a friend of mine to come back – I’m just rambling now. I’m sorry, mister.”

The man still did not move or acknowledge her. Fluttershy shifted uncomfortably in the silence. Compelled to say something to end the awkwardness, she said, “My name’s Fluttershy.”

He finally gave the first sign of life. Lifting his head, he opened his eyes. They were a really bright green, almost too bright and seemed to shimmer slightly as he gave her a once over. His gaze held longer than she would have liked on her saddlebags and cutiemark, but his face was as stony and unreadable as ever.

“Sam. Sam Concord.” He lowered his head and closed his eyes again.

“That’s... a nice name.”

His lips curled ever so slightly, exacerbating his scarred smile even more. “You’re new here,” he said without a hint of a question.

“Yes.” She had given in to her habit of letting her hair shield her from others once again. Sam had closed his eyes however, and thus could not interpret it as a slight against him. “I’m waiting for my friend Applejack to come back with someone who can give us a ship. We’re supposed to be helping humans with their plants and farming.”

“Last I heard, none of you were allowed to go off planet.”

“That’s right, but the princess is making a few special exceptions. She’s letting me and Applejack go as a sign of good faith and to make friends.”

“A whole lotta people are gonna hate you.”

Fluttershy shrunk away form him. “Why? Is it because I am a pony? Is my mane done wrong? Am I talking too mu – ”

“You ponies use magic,” he said simply. He removed a small box from his breast pocket and removed a small, solid metal tube. He stuck it in his mouth and the tip glowed red. “Last guys we’d seen use magic tried to kill us. A lot. That kinda hate doesn’t go away easily.”

Fluttershy knew what the man was talking about. The Dratali. The newscaster spoke of them. The Dratali had learned of Avol’s galactic location through a defector unicorn and wished to exterminate them. The battle took tolls on both sides, but even though it was a unanimous victory for Equestria, the price was high. Friends and strangers alike fell before her eyes. The gravediggers were payed well that day.

“I’m not like them. We’re not like them.”

“Don’t matter, Flutters. We humans are like that; don’t make a whole lot o’ sense, our lot. Sometimes we forget we can be assholes.” Sam exhaled and a gust of sweet-smelling smoke exited his lips. Something in it stung her nose and Fluttershy sneezed. Sam’s lips curled again and put the tube away. He put a finger behind his left ear. Tucked behind the cartilage was a dial so small Fluttershy could hardly see it. He gave it a flick, winced, and after a moment turned his head to the right.

“Your friend’s comin’.”

A large steel door opened on the far wall without anypony or anything to push it open. Fluttershy’s face lit up; sure enough, Applejack was at the forefront of a group of humans. She was currently speaking to a very petite human woman who looked so thin and wispy a stiff breeze would blow her away. She was dressed in fine white and blue clothes without a single crease or stain. A pair of earrings hung from both lobes.

Sam flicked the dial in the opposite direction. “That be Anastasia Arias. This ship is the mobile headquarters of Zenith Inc., the leading producer of cyberware and cybernetic upgrades, especially for soldiers,” and he tapped his ear. Fluttershy stared back at him with a blank look on her face. “You’ll find out why that’s important later. Ana’s the CEO of Zenith. If anyone can get you a ship, it’s her.”

The sound of Applejack’s hooves clattered loudly on the plastic and steel ship floors. Sam got to his feet as bones and tendons popped and cracked in his arms and back. He grunted as a particularly loud pop made them both wince. “Oh, I’m gettin’ old.”

Applejack and Ana were flanked by a quartet of burly humans and one Korg who were clearly bodyguards even to Fluttershy. A secretary of some kind was hidden behind the mass of flesh, a thin metal pad of some kind in her hands on which she was rapidly tapping. The group was, shockingly, completed by none other than Shining Armor. Leaning around one of the guards, his ears perked up as he saw her and waved. She waved back, but her ears folded over her head as some of Ana’s guards scowled at her.

Ana stepped passed Applejack and smiled kindly at Fluttershy. She seemed nice enough and her heart-shaped face looked pretty to Fluttershy. Seeing her was still odd; she ran a company? She had so many bodyguards to follow her around? Mostly, Fluttershy tried to not stare at the jagged X-shaped scar on her throat.

“Hello, Miss Fluttershy, my name is Anastasia Arias, and I heard from your friend you needed my help.”

Spotted one misspelling of Dratali in the second paragraph. That's all the problems I found.

MORE!!!!!!!!!

have 5 hearts on me

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That's all for the moment. Right now I'm working on certain character backstories and personalities. Sam up there is one of them.

Sweet I am so looking forward to the new set of stores the first blow me away the next one can only get better.

I'm happy we're going to get story time. I hope some of my ideas are in. Because that would be grand ya ken?

So I was wondering; will this fic retain any of the badassness that went down in the original? Im not talking Dbz insanity I just want the characters to hold their own in a fight.

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That's hard to discern, considering my own writing style is vastly different from his. That's not to say I'm not going to have action scenes, or I've not practiced previously; I wrote a story based upon the idea of a pony going crazy because he's killed the undead for so long.

I'm going small scale; I'm focusing on a single city and not leaving, so I have to work with a different skill set. I will still wreck the shit out of bad guys.

I'm creating weapons and backstories. I've plotted out strengths and weaknesses for enemies and allies alike. I've begun plans for maps in order for readers to get a better picture of the battleground. The rifle up there was graciously created by blaze up there. When I create stories, I want the good guys to win, but that does not mean I will make it too easy. Magic is going to play little no no roll. Keeping calm and having your wits about are what's going to win fights.

As for the level of badass, I've structured my fic like a video game. There are several "boss" fights. You have to have the gear and gun for boss fights, don't you?

This is going to be glorious. The fights are going to outshine everything.

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The Think Tank thread was primarily for others and not myself. By the time I created it, I was a good clip into story plotting. As I said, my story primarily operates in a single city. I've adopted some things from the Think Tank, but there's not much in the primary story. However, I do have something akin to a metaplot in the form of a chatroom. Why not, I'll post a short piece of it.

Synergy: Speaking of paranoid, who’s willing to gamble Twilight Sparkle’s not under surveillance?

Bone Collector: Less than zero people.

Captain Chaos: I’ve confirmed two separate security probes from the Espa Robo recon teams. It’s anybody’s guess as to how many private security personal have been bribed or watch from a distance, let alone the military.

ZomZom: I’ve verified an additional two by naval special forces.

Eve: How much do you see, Captain?

MrOrion: Chaos sees all, knows all.

Captain Chaos: That is right.

ZomZom: Right now the most talked about thing in the universe is magical talking ponies. The stupidity makes me want to swallow a Glock.

Synergy: Now that you put it that way, it does seem kinda retarded.

Adam: I get why she’s under watch, but what do they think they would gain? Magic? Dratali bodies have been recovered countless times, and they can use magic but you don’t see us all farting rainbows. How are the hell are ponies going to be any better?

Eve: Everything’s better with ponies.

ZomZom: Eve, I will come over there and I won’t treat you nice.

MrOrion: It’s to cover their bases and asses.

ZomZom: Ask her new boyfriend and you’ll find out why. I was chatting with some of my old friends in the navy and found out the truth. Major Curt Dupree, trained sniper, decorated officer, current lover of a talking horse, and–most importantly–is a dirty magic user.

I'm using a cyberpunk setting. There's a running metaplot where a bunch of nerds, technicians, hackers, and otaku talk about random crap and plot details. It can be completely skipped, but it provides some "flavor" for the stories. I'm incorporating a lot of theoretical ideas there, including several from the Think Tank.

Thats simple genius. Mind you, its not original at all, but its the kind of thing people need to put in longer fics. I personaly would have had summerizers in the form of a news paper (or the technopunk equivalent) but eh fuck it. This is cool

No, specifically, I wonder if the 5656 § is still currency.

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Strange enough, I have those, too. Just like the above portion, Fluttershy and AJ often hear news broadcasts, reports, and audio logs that fill in the gaps in plot. It's up to readers to find out which ones are important. There are equal parts Red Herring and Chrekhov's Gun.

Plus, there's a little puzzle for readers in the form of the identity of each hacker. Can you find them all?

If its a reference, probably not. I know a lot about a lot of different universes but probabley not many you care for. *sigh* Is Captain Chaos Discord... or James?
Synergy might be Celestia. But I'm conflicted about the rest.

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I am using credits as currency, which will be denoted with a (§) in my story. I don't know about the others.

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I have at least a dozen. I'll tell you that, at least. You'll just have to figure out who they are by how they talk in chat, in addition to what they say. That's half the fun.

All chat interludes can be skipped, however. While a lot of cool tidbits are in them, none are necessary to complete the story. Think of it like a side quest.

2953705 Oh hoorah my symbol was accepted. I always hated the sign for the euro. Looks too much like my most hated letter. The capital 'C'.

I hate 'C's.

is this colab still going on? Would it be possible for this old coot to join?

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It is still going on. I'm about 15k words in myself, while I've seen four chapters of shiro's stuff already. I know for a fact that Pinkie is open for writing, but you'll need to speak to shirotora about that.

If you do wish to join, ask him. If he says yes, I'll give you all the secret handshakes, and I'll show you my files we've been using to synchronize the timeline.

But if you're serious, better get started sooner than later. We've got an estimated publish date for stories by the end of the year.

3680615 I'll have to get in touch, then, because I am interested in bringing my own unique brand of insane into this.