My Little Pony D10 International Relations Group A

Welcome to the second playtest of my My Little Pony D10 RPG.

This is group A‘s thread (and yes, the “A” stands for something secret). The other group will start with similar events, but the events will have a different cause and divergence should accumulate over time.

I am Hasbro and will be running the game.

The OOC thread is over here.

I ask that you make the difference between in-character and out-of-character dialogue distinct.

Group A consists of:

Rhyme Beat, played by Rhyme Beat

Echo Test, played by Imca

Lost Time, played by Blissey1

Over Yonder, played by Kegisak

Klepto Mane, played by Rebonak7

Filligree, played by Karrin Blue

Gustave, played by Irish Zombie

and Stray Thoughts, played by Lunacorva

Okay. Celestia’s sun rises over the little town of Tampaddock. The factories are not stirring yet and normally the thatched houses would also be quiet, with only the farmers out in their fields to great the day, but recently, the town has been busier than usual. Everypony (and the camel family) wants to impress Celestia who will soon be visiting. The bells of town hall ring and ponies begin making there way over to hear why the mayor has summoned them.

What do you do?

edited 7th Apr '14 2:09:41 PM by Sereg

Stray Thoughts groaned and rubbed his sore muscles as he shuffled along with the rest of the crowd. He had arrived at the town fairly late in the evening and had intended to spend the majority of that morning resting in his hotel room. However, when the town bell rang and everyone began to make their way to town square, his curiosity instantly overrode his fatigue. Leaping out of his bed, he greeted the day with his customary enthusiasm.

"#Oh what adventures will be found!#"

"#In this bright and new found tow- OH SWEET CELESTIA HELP ME!!!"

THUD!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

...

That afternoon, the caretaker of the inn would find a small note attached to the door.

Just an idea, but maybe you SHOULDN'T put the bedroom right next to the stairs.

Just sayin'

PS: Ow!

edited 12th Mar '15 6:12:04 AM by Lunacorva

Rhyme Beat, a blond maned purple unicorn, awakens in a nice comfortable bed in the Tampaddock financial district. She is tempted to hit the snooze button, but for one rolls out of bed, mane wild and untamed. She lets out a big yawn before heading down the stairs.

She gets out her pen and notebook, barely awake and lighting as she descends way with her magic. She searched the fridge and gets herself an an apple out of a bag showing the face of the smiling Apple Princess. "Got to keep calm... Keep focused... We're talking to royalty..." She stares at the Princess before taking a bite of her apple. She finishes the apple, tossing it in the trash, then moves her notebook and pen to her bag. She returns the bag to the fridge

She heads out of her house, and past Spinner Jenny's Textile factory. Other ponies are trudging their way to their jobs. "Ridiculous hours... And during a holiday too... It's like none of my reports are making much of a difference at all." She mutters to herself as she makes her way down to the town square.

She might encounter another unicorn on the way.

I wake up at the crack of dawn. I prepare and eat a quick breakfast of oatmeal, and then I'm out the door.

I'm on my way to the Weather Control office to get my orders for the day from the manager. I get about halfway there when the bells start ringing.

I stop and look towards where I hear the bells and I see some other ponies making their way towards them.

"Hm. That's curious."

I look in the direction I was going, contemplating for a moment. I turn around and start walking in the direction of the noise.

"Seems important. I'm sure my boss won't mind too much if I'm a few minutes late."

The purple unicorn below waves casually at the airborne Pegauss.

As I glide, I see a purple unicorn below, waving at me. I wave back and say, "Good morning. You on your way to see what the commotion's about, too?"

"Princess Celestia is visiting us today! Her highness has saw it fit to go to our little textile town! Here! I need to talk to her! This is my big chance!" the unicorn varies between excitable and clearly dead tired.

@Lunacorva: Take a wound for falling down the stairs. Also take a character point for amusing me.

Filigree blinked in surprise as a chime emanated from the window. It wasn't strictly speaking a clock, but rather a small machine that measured the brightness outside, so she'd know how much brightness she'd have to protect herself against. Her slit pupils thinned as the light entered from outside, and she grimaced, drawing the blinds with a shadowy tendril that sprouted from the deep shadows of the room. That taken care of, she examined the result of her night's work.

A tall clock stood before her. It had been designed as a gift for Their Highnesses, to be presented to Princess Celestia. The case had been made of polished applewood, from an Apple Family farm (admittedly not from Sweet Apple Acres, but one closer to Tampaddock.) A crystal-clear panel of glass, engraved with a stylized version of the Tree of Harmony (complete with tiny, color-accurate cutie mark gems) protected a pendulum with the Equestrian royal crest. The face of the clock had the Nine Princesses' marks drawn equidistant around the rim, and every so often a music-box version of the Princess of Fun's songs, while clockwork animals would frolic outside. Within the clock, another version of her light-detecting mechanism sat, and the clock would keep time with a new quartz mechanism discovered recently by Princess Twilight - she'd even paid for a fine piece of Crystal Kingdom quartz mailed in.

Filigree sighed. She'd prepared for nearly everything, and had even called in a favor from a glassmaker who owed her, and he'd set up a dozen anti-breakage spells on the thing. The only thing remaining was the representation for Princess Rainbow Dash. She'd ordered it ahead of time, but it still hadn't arrived.

She walked over to the door. Maybe the mailmare had been by in the meantime. She trotte outside, wincing at the bright light.

Rhyme waved at Filligree showing signs of exhaustion, and severe nerves as she looks through a large bunch of papers kept together with a paper clip. "I did edit this right? Twilight I hate editing. Will Celestia ignore the plight of the workers in this town because I missed a spelling error?"

A black pegasus wearing a brown cloak casually wandered through the town square, trying not to attract anypony's attention. He'd heard that Princess Celestia herself would be visiting the town of Tampaddock soon, and that meant the Canterlot nobility would be following close behind, hoping to gain Her Highness's favor.

"And where there's nobles," he thought excitedly, "there's jewelry, antiques, and other valuable objects under heavy guard! Imagine: countless priceless treasures, stolen from under the nose of the Princess herself! This will be the greatest heist I've ever pulled! Soon, the whole world will know the name of Klepto Mane, the greatest master thief in all of Equestria! Wait, why is everyone looking at me?"

It was then that Klepto realized that, to his embarrassment, he had struck a dramatic pose during his internal monologue. Luckily, he was saved from having to explain himself when the town hall's bells rang out, signaling a town meeting. Doing his best to blend in with the crowd, Klepto headed for the town hall, hoping for some useful information.

"Good morning, Rhyme," Filigree said. "I'm sure your paper's fine. Have you seen the mailmare, by the way?" She looked anxiously at her empty mailbox. "I have a part coming in for my clock, I just hope it comes soon."

Inside Cotton Fluff's Textiles, a brown earth pony stallion wearing a white shirt and a green sweater vest was helping Jenny load a large, rolled up tapestry onto a cart.

"Oooohhh.... I hope Princess Celestia likes the tapestry we've made..." Cotton muttered to herself as she used her magic to help move the tapestry into place.

"Never fear, my dear!" the stallion, Lost Time, responded. "I am confident that she is going to be astounded by your representation of the ancient earth pony tribes of the Eastern Badlands!"

The tapestry settled into place on the cart and Cotton's horn stopped glowing. She turned to Lost and smiled. "I really appreciate you coming all the way out here to helpme with this. I know art doesn't have to be accurate, but I wanted this to be the best it possibly could for Celestia's visit."

"It was no trouble at all!" Lost replied. "Honestly, I'm quite happy to be here. Not only am I going to get a chance to meet Princess Celestia, but It's also a very relaxing change of pace from the hustle and bustle of Canterlot."

Cotton chuckled quietly. "Fringe benefits, huh?"

Any further conversation was cut off by the sound of the bells at town hall chiming. "Uh oh," Lost said, "looks like we've finished none too soon." He slipped himself into the harness at the front of the cart and turned back to Cotton. "I'd say its time we got moving!"

Cotton simply nodded. Her horn glowed and the large double doors on the side of the factory opened. Lost Time walked outside with the cart behind him, Cotton following on the side.

edited 15th May '14 4:38:42 PM by Blissey1

I notice how frazzled Rhyme looks, but decide she's probably fine. I finish making small talk and head on ahead to where the town is congregating.

"No I haven't." Rhyme said. "I didn't know they started working this early." She trots to the center of the town half putting away her paper in her saddlebag.

Over Yonder trotted out of his shop without bothering to lock up when he heard the town bell. Most ponies would be going to town hall anyways, and it wasn't like he kept anything valuable loose in there. Just some travel brochures, and he gave those out for free anyways. He shut the door behind himself and gave an idle glance to the continental map displayed in the window.

Thunderhooves Bay, he thought to himself, marking it on his personal mental map. Sounds nice. Next vacation.

With a small nod he trotted off in the direction of the ringing. He hoped he'd get there in time to find a good seat. Town Meetings were never fun, but one stuck in the back, barely able to hear what was going on, wouldn't be any better.

Rhyme thought for a second on the optimum placement to be capable of being seen by Princess Celestia and being private enough to keep it quiet for Echo. She pondered this unfortunately in the middle of the lanes in the area.

Filigree sighed and rubbed her mane with a hoof. "Yeah, I don't think they do. I'm actually a bit surprised to see diurnal folk up this early. Well, how much time till the Princess shows up, do you think?"

Lost Time and Cotton were making good time to town hall with their precious cargo when they were brought to a stop by a blond maned purple unicorn standing in the middle of the lane. She seemed to be lost in thought about something.

Lost slowly brought the cart to a halt and cleared his throat. "Excuse me, miss? We have a rather delicate load coming through, could you please move aside?"

edited 8th Apr '14 5:57:44 PM by Blissey1

"I'm so sorry!" Rhyme said before shuffling to some seats. "All of that and I couldn't figure it out. Quite a conundrum..." she said.

She turned to Filligree. "Any sign of your sister Filli?" I hope she's OK with sitting this close to the front."

edited 5th Apr '14 9:21:25 PM by RhymeBeat

Filigree shrugged. "Well, it might get kinda bright over here, but I'll tell her you asked when I see her. I should probably get back to work now, anyways." She waved a hoof goodbye to Rhyme before trotting leisurely back inside. Even if the last part wasn't here yet, she still had other things to work on - one gentlestallion's pocket watch needed repairing, the schoolhouse had worn down their clock, and a music box had been commissioned as a cutecineara gift for a filly. She hummed to herself as she began to tidy away a few loose ends.

A CP each to Filligree, Klepto, Rhyme and Lost.

As you approach Town Hall, you see the mayor ringing the bell with her mouth. Her mane is unbrushed and her eyes are red and bulging. She drops the bell onto the floor as the crowds assemble before giving a sigh.

"Thank you for coming, everypony. As you should all know by now, Princess Celestia is coming to visit our humble little town today. We have all been rushing to get everything ready and perfect for her visit. This would be important under normal circumstances, but as you know, we have to really impress her in order to help convince her to support our town after our sudden competition from Saddle Arabia. Unfortunately, she has sent me a notice apologising and saying that she has to reduce the length of her visit due to unforeseen circumstances. She has also asked to move the visit a few hours earlier. Now, we mustn't panic, but this is a potential disaster. We need to prepare! We need to organise! What do we do!? Suggestions?!"

The moment Stray Thoughts saw the state the mayor was in, his mind immediately filled with concern. She needed help. He needed to help her.

He stood there watching, waiting and listening for something he could do. When he heard of the predicament they faced he immediately stepped forward.

"What preparations have been made so far?" he asked. His voice calm and measured.

She nodded the other unicorn. "We're going to have to work together to get this done. If only we had more ponies.... Wait... Mayor, could you ask the factory to let it's workers lend a hoof?" She asked.

Even if they had a larger workforce it didn't mean much unless they had a plan. Rhyme began to sweat unnerved by this proposition. The Princess arriving early was a major complication. Rhyme decided that the best course of action was to seek historical precedent. She had been studying up on all the Princesses to aid Filligree in her clock project. Was there any record on how the Party Princess would handle this?

Roll 7 for lore right? Int 4 rank 2 + specialization? I got 10,9,3,3,7,10,1,3.

edited 7th Apr '14 12:14:53 PM by RhymeBeat

Stray Thoughts smiled at the Purple Unicorn.

"I agree." he said "Though knowing what's been set up already might give us a foundation to work with. Also, what's your talent?"