Ask the Order-naries

@ordernaryanswers

We are the Order-naries: Ashen Blaze, Gale, Soul Mage, and Gold Heart, four so-called soldiers of fortune and order stuck as ponies in Equestria. In this world alone, we've fought a world-destroying demon, evil spirits that possess and feed on magic, and had our share of small misadventures with the Elements of Harmony and the Princesses. Feel free to ask us anything you want. Mod Blog: Musings of a Vulpine Author Characters built with General Zoi's Pony Creator . Scene and text generated in GIMP.

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Delta: Ash, I know you have... issues, with Rarity and romance and such, but did you hear what a mare named Suri Polomare did to her?

Ash: I was there. I'm not much for theater, but I couldn't turn down Rarity's generous inclusion of me into the group she'd gotten Hinny of the Hills tickets for, so I was in Manehatten for the entire incident. I doubt my presence changed much. Rarity still foolishly gave Suri too much of that special fabric and paid the consequences.

While everypony else worked their tails off helping Rarity recover and make her "Hotel Chic" line, I tried to track Suri down to give her a piece of my mind. I couldn't get to her, but I did talk with Coco Pommel for a bit and encouraged her to show some backbone. Later, during the fashion show, I made sure to give Suri the hardest, evilest glare my pony body is capable of the entire time she was on stage. Not sure she noticed.

Leo: You all have dealt with demons, witches, and other mystical threats on Taryn, but were there any villains that favored technology (aside from a certain Shadowstar meis)? One Equestria I've seen actually had to deal with a corrupt, sentient A.I. named GladOS.

Gale: Magic and Demons were our specialty, but we'd occasionally have to deal with robots, automated defenses, and computer-based threats. Usually, it was whenever Tech-head Ted asked for us to provide back-up or protection during one his cyber-espionage jobs.

There was one man we ran into frequently who was almost a Chaos-aligned version of me. I can't remember if I ever learned his name; we jsut called him The Mechanic. He was a very talented inventor of both weapons and large machinery but he also had a sort of mad scientist bend to his goals. His crowning achievement was a Magebane/metal alloy that could have revolutionized combat armor technology, except that he wasted it all on fortifying his base against Ash.

Ash: That was still one of the most aggravating infiltration missions I've ever been a part of.

Thamule: Leo has told me that Ashen Blaze has encountered the plant known as 'poison joke', and the effect it has on him. Have the rest of you ever been affected by it, and if so, what did it do? This is purely for academic purposes, I assure you.

Gale: As I said earlier, when I was trying to develop Poison Joak Gel I was never successful with safe handling methods. Everyone got it at least once. It takes my obsessive attention to detail and translates it into eyes like microscopes: able to focus on very tiny things but unable to see things at normal zoom. I actually Joaked myself on purpose once to try and turn that into an advantage, but I discovered there is a limit to my fine motor coordination.

Gold Heart: You know that Fluffle Puff pony that lives in some versions of Equestria? I basically looked like a yellow version of her with wings. I couldn't fly with all that fur, and it was hot as Inferno.

Soul Mage: I don't know why, but my hooves turned to gold, or at least became as heavy as hoof-sized blocks of pure gold.

Sincerity: For me, I couldn't completely shift out of my shadowy form, so I was a kind of disgusting black ooze-pony for a few hours.

Good to here Sincerity is still okay after that whole Tirek thing. Speaking of her though, wasn't she getting set to start school in Ponyville before you all went on hiatus? How'd that work out for her?

Sincerity: Teleporting from Canterlot to Ponyville every day was weird at first, but after a couple of months I got used to it. Most of my classmates were real nice, but I was drawn to Sweetie Bell the most. I've figured out how to make a cutie mark appear on my flank, but after talking to Milla and Gold Heart I've decided not to "fake it" until I fell like I've earned it.

My shape-shifting abilities are still a big secret, but last month Sweetie Bell came up to Canterlot with Rarity for a surprise visit and walked in on me practicing my Princess Cadance impression, and so now all the Cutie Mark Crusaders know about me and it's a bit annoying to keep Scootaloo from accidentally blurting it out to everypony... Sweetie's almost let it slip a few times, but Scootaloo's worse. I'm like her second favorite pony now, and she's older than me!

Leo: Wow, it's been a while, you guys. Guess we've all been busy dealing with certain things. So what happened with Tirek in your universe? I'm curious if spiriter magic is something beyond his ability to drain...

Soul: Fortunately, we never had to find out if Tirek could drain us. Considering that he managed to drain Discord of his power suggests he could have. He did get Ash and Gale though, in two separate encounters.

Ash: I honestly never thought I’d ever meet an entity that would frighten me more than the Master of Shadowstar, he who could kill me without breaking a sweat. Tirek was a fate worse than death. Not only did he drain and seal by personal magical energy, but he had become such a strong focus of magical energy by that point that I couldn’t Weave even the simplest of elemental spells when he was nearby. He was a skvetchte black hole for magic.

Gale: I should have gone out to face him earlier. He was so pumped up on magic that my Magebane broke down before it even touched him. I don’t think he comprehended what I was attempting, but he sucked my strength right out of me. I didn’t lose my coordination, but I could barely lift my legs.

Heart: At that point all of us just took shelter deep in the crystal caverns below Canterlot. Tirek was too powerful to risk Spiriter power against, so we just prayed that Twilight and the others would come through somehow.

Gale: Sincerity managed to avoid him as well, thank goodness. I don’t think she would have survived.

#Ash #Soul Mage #Gold Heart #Gale

Gale, what is the most frivolous, wacky, or just plain silly thing you've ever invented.

Gale: I don’t do frivolous or wacky. I was trained from an early age to invent to fill real needs and not “just because.” That said, my attempts to create new varieties of weapon gel haven’t always ended well. Poison Joak Gel was probably the biggest waste of time ever; it rarely actually worked and I never managed to find a way to make it without exposing myself or somepony else to the effects.

#Gale #question

Leo: Um, regarding that one question about Rarity, it brings to mind another. Ash, in essence, you're a highly intelligent autonomous construct, correct? Do you even have the appropriate anatomy to procreate? I asked Thamule, but she just back-hoofed me on the horn. I'm STILL seeing stars from that...

Ash: Both in Taryn and here in Equestria, yes I have the right parts. At least I assume so. My origins were privileged information on Taryn, and the few doctors I ever had to go to for injuries or illness never noticed anything unusual about me. Everyone who didn't know I'm an alien assumed I was human.

This Is Now a Text-based Blog

(I'm too strapped for time to wrestle with the Pony Creator and GIMP to answer questions, so I'll be strictly replying with text posts.)

(Also, sorry about about being inactive for so long)

#ooc

#Ash #Heart #Soul #Gale #Sincerity #PC #Yuletides

Gale: I'm getting a headache just looking at this.

#Gale #Sincerity #Question

Soul: Granted, I don't think it'd be impossible, but it would take a lot of consistent effort to keep adventures like Daring Do has out of the real-life newspapers.

#Soul #Gale #Sincerity #question #yuletides

So, with Sincerity getting ready for school, would any of the Order-naries care to share some stories from there own school days?

Gale: I honestly did not enjoy school. I felt it was a waste of my time because I knew I was destined to be Master Maesi's apprentice and successor from an early age. Master and my parents all insisted that I at least complete the minimum required schooling for an aspiring apprentice, and so I endured through Elementary and Middle School for that, and then Master Maesi refused to make me a Journeyman, and thus exempt from public school, until I'd finished the Junior level of High School. I believe whole-heartedly that befriending the twins early on was the only reason I survived that long.

Soul: Heart and I were pretty much the opposite of that. We loved school, because our State's education policy was to give students every opportunity to learn about various trades and careers, and you could drop out any time after the eighth grade without stigma if you decided on a career that was better learned outside the classroom. As Spiriters, there were no clear-cut schooling or career routes for us to take, so right up until Ash entered our lives were trying everything.

Heart: It wasn't that great. We were actually starting to lose hope of finding a suitable niche in life that last year of school. Past-us actually reminds me of the CMC somewhat, now that I think about it.

Soul: Spirit-bond Crusaders! Yay!

Ash: ...My earliest memory is leading an invasion fleet throughout the fringes of the Shadowstar Empire.