Trope A Day-Interspecies Friendship

Inter-species Friendship-VERY common, with the occasional romantic relationship involved.  It’s rare with minotaurs and the other species, mostly because they tend to be very dogmatic about privacy and control issues that most of the other races don’t have too many issues with.

Almost always if the relationship turns romantic, the partners in the relationship adopt or use uterine replicators to have children of their own (with some genetic engineering to have the kids look like both of their parents, within reason).

Trope A Day-Pony Shield

Pony Shield-Doesn’t work very well when death is cheap, you have cortical backups, and you can be back on your hooves in a few days after they pull your cortical stack.  This means that taking hostages isn’t a valid option.  Of course, threatening to smash the cortical stacks works as a valid threat, but not as a valid shield against attacks.

Also, actually carrying through with killing hostages, even if they’re re-sleeved, is a premeditated murder charge in just about every nation.  Done often by Changeling queens and empresses, whom use their captured food sources as a defense against hostile fleets just nuking them from orbit.  All this means is that they have to send in the ground troops to get the hostages out.  Then nuke them from orbit.

Trope A Day-Tastes Like Purple

Tastes Like Purple-There’s a bad Princess Twilight Sparkle joke in here somewhere, get your head out the gutter.

Overuse of magic has synesthesia as a major symptom.  Cases of hearing colors, tasting musical notes, smelling sounds…when the local magical field gets overloaded, senses and perceptions get mixed up for a while.  If you’re suddenly able to taste soprano notes, it’s time to find solid cover and hope that more serious problems, like diarrhea, odd mental conditions, or the localized breakdown of reality doesn’t happen.

Trope A Day-The Remnant

The Remnant-Changeling queens that have been disavowed by their Empresses, griffin nobles that have been convicted of treason against the Moot, minotaurs cast out of the Senate and Minotaur Republic, ponies that go Evil Overlord, and shunned zebras can become this.  They’re very dangerous because they have nothing to lose, quite a bit of resources, and will do something with the resources they have.  Especially in the case of changeling queens and griffin nobles, they have ships and resources and will try to create their own nation (or at least pirate kingdom).  They’re especially dangerous than the average run-of-the-mill pirate because they have access to (relatively) current military technology and usually have discipline.

This is the big reason why the major powers send out task forces or whole fleets whenever punitive missions against pirates must be done.  It’s also the reason for the existence of the Princess Luna-class fast battleship (and it’s Imperial Griffin Navy equivalent.)

Trope A Day-Weirdness Magnet

Weirdness Magnet-The possibility of high weirdness happening to ponies can’t be underestimated.  At all.

And, we’re talking weirdness here.  Like Cerberus escaping from Tartarus-because he wants to play fetch sort of weirdness.  Like the founding of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.  Or discovering the last supply of the first minting coins of the Two Princesses and demanding the (still legal!) labor from them, because that’s what the currency promises.

It’s at least funny to somebody, at some point in time.

Trope A Day-Ridiculosly Pony Robot

Ridiculously Pony Robot-A cybershell is  always an option for AIs and uploaded ponies that don’t want to deal with the issues of having a biological (well, cybernetic- and nanotech-augmented) body.  Avoids falling into the whole Super-Powered Robot Meter Maid issue by the simple fact that most cybershells are built “only” as strong as the average pony.  Which does mean that they are much stronger (in both body and magic) than baseline ponies, but not so strong that a hearty hug will break bones.  Usually.

Augmentations for cybershells do exist, and they are just as regulated as biological body augmentations.

Trope A Day-Precrime Arrest

Precrime Arrest-When you have a massive database of potential behaviors, access to 24/7 surveillance (both public and private), live logging, powerful enough AIs, and a whole bunch of sensors, you can do this, easily.

Except that the moment you do this, you’re in violation of the Covenant.  Very specifically, the Right To Free Will clause, which highly prohibits this kind of tracking for both government and private individuals.  This presents issues with the Ministry of Love, which regularly has to scale back portions of the Friendster system that helps ponies and others find people that would like and love them.  Mostly because the database and tracking software starts to find ponies that are about to do horrible things, and they have to walk a fine line between “letting it happen” and “accidentally informing the right authorities.”  So far, most of the decisions being made are in the “accidentally informing” category, because no-one wants to have some pony with mental issues commit suicide.  Worse yet, they have to keep scaling back because the systems keep getting better at finding these things before they happen.  And predicting the reasons why.  Or catching Changeling infiltrators.  Or spies.

There’s serious talk about calling another Convention to amend the Covenant to allow for this kind of thing, as long as there is no direct, active interference in free will.  The proposed modifications would alter the Right To Free Will article so that the tools can be used in a careful and legal manner.  You can be warned, you can be offered help…but, ultimately your decisions are your own.

The same problem happens in the Griffin Moot, which has a much more developed system (and fewer restrictions on database access) and the Imperial Zebra government keeps a close eye on their own version of the system.  Highly adverted in the Senate and Minotaur Republic, which takes paranoia about loss of free will to extreme levels.  Even proposing this kind of thing opens you up for all sorts of lawsuits and more “passive” shunning behaviors among the minotaurs.

It Also Makes A Hot Rum Totty

EQUESTRIA, CANTERLOT-Vend-O-Matic has released it’s newest beverage vending machine, the VENBEV-903.  This new vending machine is fitted with a full range of sensors (full Covenant Privacy legal), and can provide not less than 450,000 different hot or cold beverages from the integral fabrication assemblies.  Vend-O-Matic is offering a “in kind” trade for the previous VENBEN-800 series beverage vendor machines, and a “at cost” for any earlier VENBEN machine series.

“We’re very proud of the new -903,” Sippy Cup, PR head of Vend-O-Matic said in an interview.  “With full connectivity with your muse and passive detection methods to determine beverage need, we can fully fulfill the needs of our customers.  Hot beverages, cold beverages, juices, coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, we can produce the perfect beverage for our customers as needed, and at any time.”

The VENBEN-903 can use all Beverage cartridges (both Vend-O-Matic official and generic), and incorporates full holographic external projection systems for advertising.  The VENBEV-903M is also produced for sale in Senate and Minotaur Republic territory, without the sensor array and holographic projection systems.  Full repair templates are included in the purchase price.

Trope A Day-Good Is Not Soft

Good Is Not Soft-Ponies are a nice, kind, and generous people.  First to come if there’s a disaster with fabricators, emergency supplies, and a hug or three.  Oh, and a cup of tea (or hot chocolate, your choice).  Polite, nice people.  Great neighbors, for the most part, and even the times when they aren’t good neighbors you can deal with them easily.  Which, of course, presents a problem when they go bad, because they go really bad.

But, this gets back to ponies in general.  They’re nice people.  Which, some people (like changelings, diamond dogs, griffins, and the occasional Evil Overlord pony) think is weakness.  A lack of will to do hard things.  That they are soft.

Which is why they’re always surprised when the Royal Equestrian Space Navy shows up, usually in a task force with a few battleships for extra heft.  And, very politely ask for the surrender of those responsible for the crimes against Equestrian citizens.  And damages to be paid for.

Remarkably enough, when this happens, there are surrenders and payment and repatriation of captured citizens and worlds.  In very rapid order.

Because, if ponies have to fight, they stop being nice.  And, they won’t stop until they win.

Trope A Day-Scale Of Scientific Sins

Scale Of Scientific Sins-Or, as the Ministry of Innovation calls it, “our map to the future.”  In general, the usual issue in innovation isn’t dealing with things when they go horribly wrong or right, but the general conservatism of the races in the Equestriaverse.  Taken in detail-

1. Automation-The less time you have to spend making Important Things, the more time you have to make things you like and enjoy.  And, there’s a market for hoof-and-horn crafted products.
2. Anything With Potential Applications-It’s called “bonus time” when you get things like this.  The more potential applications, the better.
3. Genetic Engineering and Trans-sophonism-We can’t call it trans-humanism, because there aren’t any humans around (yet at least), but everybody views genetic modification and improving themselves as a vital portion of their lives.  Cybernetics don’t eat your soul, the idea of being a mix-and-match critter has little appeal, and improving yourself doesn’t make you a monster.  Unless you want to become one, of course.
4. Immortality-Well, yes.  Because living forever is awesome.  And, it’s a broken universe when you die because something wears out or otherwise is not your choice.  Even when that choice is doing stupid things in stupid places.  Besides, immortality these days is easy as pie.
5. Creating Life-What you make, you’re responsible for.  So, be responsible in your creations.
6. Cheating Death-Every single day of every single month of every single year.  Unless your cortical stack or backup is corrupted, you’re not coming back wrong, and living forever means you can do everything, eventually.
7. Usurping God-The sooner the better, in the opinion of most alicorns.  They don’t like being worshipped.

Of course, curiosity isn’t an excuse for failing to take proper safely precautions.  These precautions include things like “surge protectors” and “self-destruct systems” to keep things from going too wrong, too fast.  Even with these, the Ministry of Magic (which works according to the Precautionary Principal) keeps a very close eye on the Ministry of Innovation.