I've been assuming "Equestria" is a name used for both the country and the continent for ages. After all, it is heavily based on the US (with southern Canada thrown in).

Too much thinking, not enough starting, I'd say. We've gone over how many concept ideas now?

Yeah, we keep getting hung up on the concept. We need to just pick something and roll with it.

I've been trying off and on to get it rolling, but the response has been decidedly indecisive. :/

Okay, how about this: Twilight's old Canterlot crew go pub crawling, but halfway through they stumble into the magic bookstore from Power Ponies instead and don't notice it when they get sucked into the books, continuing to drunkenly meander through famous literature. Rule: the group cannot sober up until the final chapter.

Post of the Day #1938

Sounds good to me, let's do it.

I'm not sure I can' convincingly write drunk characters, but I can do my best.

Just slur their words a bunch. Simple.

Remember that your character is acting with inhibitions stripped out. Intoxicated people feel their emotions much more strongly and have fewer compunctions about acting on their impulses. As they become more and more intoxicated, more of a person's public persona strips away. I recommend taking the time to work out both who this character is internally and who they publicly want to be recognized as, in order to develop that contrast.

Applejack, for instance, probably wouldn't change much while drunk. Or she might change a lot, depending on how much you ascribe to the "Applejack Cries on the Inside" portrayal. She could be a sobbing drunk, no longer having the ability to hold in the hurt she feels. Or she could just be the same as sober, but more unreasonable about the ideas she gets.

Meanwhile, Rarity's grace and sophistication would be among the first things to go. The wild, neurotic Breakdown Rarity we get to glimpse from time to time would probably take over, alternating between manic psychotic and inconsolable despair at the slightest event.

With regards to slurring, remember that it's not just speech. The best way I can describe the experience of being drunk is to think of your character's every motion as though they are playing an avatar of themselves, but the game is lagging significantly. For instance, you go to stand up but your body doesn't move so you try harder and then suddenly it moves with all the effort you'd put into it and you stand up so hard it knocks you over.

edited 13th Sep '17 9:49:25 AM by TobiasDrake

@Wryte: I'm fine with that storyline (I'm assuming the old Canterlot crew are the ones from "Amending Fences"?). I do have one question, though. Do you literally mean that they should enter the store with enchanted books halfway through the story? My guess is that would be difficult to regulate, given the nature of the forum's Round Robins (since each person can only read the chapter before theirs). Or, instead, would the story begin with them entering the store in the first chapter, meaning that it's "halfway" through their pub crawling instead of halfway through the story?

I'm guessing you meant the second option, but I just wanted to make sure.

edited 13th Sep '17 11:00:23 AM by Rainbow

Yes, the Amending Fences crew, and yes, the story would start with them entering the bookstore already sloshed.

Given the nature of our work, illogical and/or inconsistent things like accidentally (or intentionally) having them enter the bookstore twice over the course of the story would not be out of the question.

As a wise unicorn once said, don't think about it.

Last time I got drunk I got into an argument about whether or not Chris Thile is cute.

Never been drunk before, so i guess we'll see how this goes?

Then call in a drunk as an adviser.

edited 13th Sep '17 1:27:36 PM by fredhot16

I have something to get off my chest. As I work on my writing, I still can't believe the fantasy name generator I looked up offered me "Trixie" as a unicorn name. Are you trying to get me in trouble? x_x

You could get away with Tricksy.

Beatrix?

Garnet?

I've never had a drop of alcohol in my life, and I suggested the prompt.

If you need reference, think about how you act when you're deleriously sleep-deprived.

Well, the unicorn I was looking for a name for is also cyan in color. It gave me the feeling that if I went through with it, Lauren Faust would probably punch me in the face, and force me to watch a bad movie. x_x

edited 13th Sep '17 1:58:34 PM by Demetrios

Honestly, people having no clue how to write drunk ponies is probably more in the spirit of the project than actually portraying it with any degree of accuracy. Especially if they become a different kind of drunk every chapter.

Well I'm up for it (never had a drop of alcohol either).

That's actually a pretty good reference. I've been both and the feelings are pretty similar. I recall reading a study years ago that suggested that at around 20 hours of being awake, a person's mental state is equivalent to being legally intoxicated.

So drunk people keep falling asleep. Got it.