327265
Well, maybe, though really it's just to keep options open.

Or Luna recommends it. She'd have done herself, but those #@%$ nobles of the Night Court... no, Trixie, I'm afraid you'll need to go to (insert place here)...

Okay, idea that spun out of the Windowpanes thread... Pokey Pierce! Who is he really?!

Sure, on the surface he's an incredibly-efficient secretary and has a horn so sharp he could injure Corona herself with it... but where did he come from? How did he show up so conveniently when Trixie needed help the most?

For the past week or so, he's been acting odd, unusual even for him. It begins grating on Trixie, but remembering her lessons on friendship-and fearing Raindrops' mighty left hook-she leaves him be. Over time it gets odder. He even has a grindstone in the office for his horn. The fact that he either doesn't reveal anything about himself or it's all meaningless double-talk is also odd... but again, she remembers and applies lessons learned.

Eventually, Pokey asks Trixie about her opinion of his behavior. She's stunned, but recovers. She notes what he's said, what he's done and that though odd, he's not exactly doing anything wrong, unlike his replacement. He nods. She's passed the first test and reveals he's been sent by somepony...

Fancy Pants, of the Night Court.

327324: If we're going to go that route, I personally would rather that Trixie find out the truth about Pokey on her own, not because he decides to tell her. To demonstrate that she's not a total neophyte when it comes to politics.

Also, it seems a bit silly for Fancy Pants to be giving Trixie friendship tests. Keeping an eye on her as a favor for Luna (or because he genuinely thinks she's worth protecting) is neat, but becoming her character education tutor is a bit much. At least in my opinion.

327329 Well, not friendship tests per say, but more character and to see how 'influenced' she was by the Night Court. As for her finding out about him, she knows 'something' is up, just not what precisely. IIRC she's not exactly that good with Night Court politics.

327335: True, but I would hope that she grows and improves over the 'season.' I guess my thoughts are, if we do want to do a Pokey-is-a-spy-for-FP plot Trixie should find this out at the end of the season, as sort of a culmination of what she's been learning. It just seems like it'd be throwing away an interesting plot to have Pokey just come out and say, 'yeah, I'm with the Court.'

Hm. Does Trixie believe that the Machiavelli equivalent book was satire or honest political theory?

It may well inform how she approaches it.

I like the general idea, but...I personally think I'd rather Pokey just be some pony, like Windowpane.

Much as how we can't be fighting gods and all-powerful sorceress every day of the week, the Night Court can't possibly have its hooves in everything.

If we could find some other character to do this with, though, I'm all for it.

326679

it's a nod towards the Noir Dash Tumblr.

327346
I just walked into the tail end of this conversation, I have no idea what people are talking about Pokey for, but he's the guy who became Trixie's assistant right? I always pictured him having epic Gurren Lagann/FLCL type adventures whenever nopony was looking.

327335>>327340>>327346

I like the idea of a semi-distant observer, but I agree that Pokey should probably be out unless we can't find anyone better. The big thing is finding somepony who's not so close it's betrayal (I briefly considered Bon-Bon for some reason) nor too distant that nobody will care when the reveal is had. (Cloud Kicker's dealing badly with stress could be good acting, but it was implied she's been around for a while, and of course there's the whole distance issue. If it was her, both the characters and the audience would be left going "Yeah, so why do I care?") I looked through the Dramatis Personae list, though, and couldn't find anypony suitable other than Pokey. Maybe we could introduce a new character, but that might take some ret-conning. However, if we were to put it off to the next 'season' it may be easier to execute.

327437 Yes. Pokey shall pierce the heavens!

327485
No need to introduce a new character per se - I was reading File Under again and realized that there's just under a half-dozen characters I need to add to the dramatis personae - the ones from the terrible interviewees montage.

327492 Mr Bourbon...

I just think Pokey's a good way to get Trixie and maybe the rest of the Luna Six involved with the Night Court and Fancy Pants. He's there, established and seems to be quirky enough and with little enough background that he's accessible.

And we're agreed that Fancy and Fleur are not directly antagonists? Or at least not any worse than benign antagonists?

Brain is addled from sleep dep, but:
What if Pinkie is an agent of the night court? No one would ever see it coming. (possibly not even pinkie)

(Who is Fleur again? I thought it was the female jerk pony talking to Rarity in Sweet & Elite, but no, those were Jet Set and Upper Crust).

The Night Court is becoming more involved even without Pokey, and Fancy Pants does show up (briefly) in Carrot Top Season, so we don't need to use Pokey to bring him in either.

327511 I was under the impression Fancy Pants isn't an antagonist and in fact somewhat helpful towards the mane cast, but I could be wrong.

327530 Fleur is the tall pony who was hanging off of FP during the scene where he first met Rarity. Depending on who you ask, fanon has her either as a close friend or wife () of FP.

327553: That's my impression of FP too, except replace 'helpful' with something a little less... uh, helpful. He'll give advice, maybe do the odd thing or two, but he won't solve their problems for them.
Thanks for the info on Fleur.

327560 That's what I meant, and why I said 'somewhat' helpful.

No problem!

327511 Yeah they are like secret agents for Luna who keep things in check so the Night Court doesn't go beyond certain limits.

327518 No one expects the Pinkisition!

327530 Fleur is that tall and lanky unicorn who appears in like ONE scene in Sweet and Elite, constantly posing around the scene while Fancy Pants and Rarity are having a conversation. She's got a great design and that's about it.

327553
That was what we were going with, yes. I kinda' want him to be like Count Fenring from Dune: mostly detached from the Night Court at a glance, comes across as foppish and not worth anyone's efforts, but in fact is incredibly well connected and in fact is probably the closest friend of Luna herself.

Fleur, too.

Hm. Sidestory of them being a honey trap of sorts for some wannabe with a G1-3.5 name?

Ooh, I like that idea.

Refering back to the baku -- if we want to make it a cuter story, we could have Dinky rescuing some foal-age tapir from some trap (leg stuck in a pit or something), and the tapir rewards her by letting her tag along and play as he or she samples the dreams of Ponyville. Cue Dinky and her buddy frolicking through the dreams of the L6 and others.(And perhaps Ditzy is sad for whatever reason, so Dinky gives her a dream hug and she wakes up happy and doesn't quite know why).

(Although I still like the idea of Lyra doing a whole dreamscape war/task/battle kind of thing to convince a bigshot tapir to take away Bonbon's nightmares. Maybe, as payment for a tapir eating such horrible and painful nightmares, she has to let an ill (but prestigious) tapir eat her sweet dreams... but of course, if she doesn't have those, all she has are nightmares that she must fend off. Well, no rule says we can't do both. :-) )

sense everything is still on the topic of dreams and Baku....

The "Trixie finds out she's the father" and "Equestrian Dynamite" shouldn't be part of the "Dinky and Taimu's Dream land adventure". I wanna flesh out those two specifically.

Second, I couldn't find Tapir land on the World map, so is it more Japan-inspired, or more south American inspired?

327793
South America. And that's funny, I could of sworn I had it...

Yeah, it's in the south, near Alpaclan.

327793 Maybe we could do that story as a collaboration? Have multiple authors each pick a character and write a dream sequence for them? Maybe add a few other ponies Dinky knows to the list (Bon Bon, Pokey, Fluttershy, Scootaloo, Sparkler, maybe even Diamond Tiara).

328200
That...that is a good idea.

Unrelated: Wow this thread filled up fast.

328200: I like it!

Hmm. I know a reason for why Cheerilee's class gets bigger over time. Well, that doesn't depend on Studio B just making more colts and fillies and increasing the size of her classroom as it goes...

Several Night Court "baddies" are trying to keep her out of politics. Mainly because they were part of her Party Entourage when she was younger, and they don't want the reminder of youthful indiscretions smiling at them from across the room.

So, from Archer, Twist, et al, to adding Inkspot, Truffle, Featherweight and Pip.

Hm... Could Pip's dream be one of his first appearances? Privateer Pipsqueak, under commission from Her Royal Highness, Luna Equestris, to sail the seas and save shipping from the misguided foals who revere Corona.

In a boarding action with a Pirate Captain, he discovers, to make sense to his dream, a fair maid in durance vile! Dinky's kind of upset that she showed up in this dream tied to the mast...

328200

This idea needs it's own thread. We wanna do this up right.

326592 328200
About this whole dream collaboration project, Carrot Top as a vampire hunter is pretty cool and all, but I think I might have come up with a different dream for her that I'd love to have the chance to flesh out more fully.

"Oh no the bank robbers are getting away!"

"Wait, look up in the sky! Is it a shooting star?"

"No, there's no mistaking that silhouette!"

"And that radiantly spectacular mane, it illuminates the whole sky!"

-- Yes, it's Captain Carotene, the mare of marvels. --

Captain Carotene swoops down from the sky. Her eyes glow a fiery red, before projecting twin beams of intense heat, burning away the wheels of the robbers' getaway wagon.

-- And so once again the day is saved thanks to CAPTAIN CAROTENE! --

Might just write that as a one-shot whether I get the 'official' dream slot or not. Now I just need to figure out what kind of nefarious villain her arch-rival, the Jack of Apples, is.

328344 brilliant!

Actually, I've been doing a bit of thinking on the dream project and the baku. I'm on break from work right now and so don't have enough time to explain the idea, but keep a weather-eye open.

328200

sounds good to me.
Dinky's episode could just be her passing from dream to dream, sort of like the "Sweetie Belle Chronicles" does.