Happy Hearth's Warming Eve, Stories, and also: Stories. · 2:53pm Dec 23rd, 2012
First, let me wish you all a happy and conveniently fictional culture-neutral holiday. Happy Hearth's Warming! Or is that merry HWE? Jolly? Pick one! 'Tis the season to gorge oneself on foodstuffs and good company, the season for kindnesses and so forth.
Most are, anyway. If you celebrate the Season of Slapping People On Their Bums instead, I won't judge. It sounds like a worthy endeavor. You all know this, anyway. Your calendars have told you this.
Instead, let me tell you about some things you might not know:
TAW's "rare ships" contest has concluded. This is interesting for a myriad of reasons. One of them is that without the contest, I never would've started writing No Recipe For Perfection, so I owe TAW my thanks for that. More than this, though, the contest has yielded some great fics. Go check out the winners!
Or don't, 'cause I'll happily spoil it for you right here.
Stubborn as Ponies won the contest, and with good reason. If you haven't read it, you owe it to yourself to do so. It's ApplePie shipping of the highest quality, with a lovely and creative take on Pinkie Pie's mentality. I can safely say this is one of the best ship fics I've read in recent memory.
The runner-up also deserves mention. In Search of Knowledge has issues, sure. The grammar isn't perfect and the pacing, phrasing and all the little fiddly bits made me pause every now and then, but much more importantly, it's got oodles of cuteness that shines through. The problems would've driven me to distraction with a lesser story, but I read this in a single sitting. It has some genuinely good humor, some very sweet ideas, and it's CheeriLight.
There's a link in the post to the full list of entrants, and I myself've read all the non-gore, non-clop ones. I don't mean to insinuate for a second that the ones not mentioned aren't good; on the contrary, I enjoyed every fic I read. Cynics might expect the majority of fics entered into a contest like this to be train wrecks, but that's a huge nope. They were absolutely lovely, though I can't speak for the ones that fall outside of my preferences.
Last up? More fics! You might have noticed that's sort of what we do around these parts.
If you enjoyed loose series started with Where Earth Meets Sky (continued with WYHI) it may be of interest to you to know that the next and probably final story in the series is right around the corner. Heck, this may be relevant to you even if you just happen to like shipping. The story stands on its own two legs fairly well, and like Where Earth Meets Sky, it's AppleShy with a side order of PinkieDash.
The story, tentatively named Where They Are Joined (can you guess the theme?) is about ready to go. It's pending final edits and upload, so expect to see the first two chapters today or tomorrow. Considering how vested I am in the WEMSverse, it's a bit of a christmas present from me to myself, but I've no problems sharing! I figured I'd make another blog post around new years discussing what's coming next.
I'll leave you with a comment on why yesterday's episode was absolutely amazing.
Applejack sitting is approximately the cutest thing ever.
My Festivus pole is shining brightly, thank you.
As cute as AJ seated is, it pales in comparison to the blinding cuteness assault on your eyes and ears that is possibly the greatest 4 seconds in the history of animated television. Behold:
641382 That scene...
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641382
AM I the only one who thinks the baby ponies are soul sucking demons from beyond?
641455 Yes.
641455 I'm somewhere in between; I've accepted that my inability to be adored-to-death by them is because kids and tiny creatures in general creep me out, so it's like "No offense, little creature, but AUGH!"
AJ was mostly creepy because voice. As far as foals go, I can't hate lil' AJ!
641471
I'm almost to the point where I need to write something about how they have to consume a soul before they can be real ponies.
641476 Oh my god, yes. Do it!
Or I will. And it will be terrible and you will sit there going, "God, why didn't I write this and make it not be terrible?"
You're on crack! Baby AJ was adorable. Though I do agree with Kits to a point, which is, the first G4 Baby we see was an ungodly demon from the lowest pits of hell, and should be cleansed with the Holy Flame. The cake twins, and any baby ponies afterwards, well, they're much cuter!
Plus Mow Appul Fwittuw? God, she was adorable before she opened her mouth. I barely survived it when she talked.
Anticipating your upcoming stories though, been a while since I read a Cloudy fic. Bridges not counting, because, well probably the last 500 or so views on that story was probably my doing! Ahahaha.
641521
Or Arg will
And we'll both die foaming at the mouth
641455
It isn't just you, those eyes when I saw them in Mare Do Well. At a certain age each foal has an exorcism. Maybe this is why the Cakes babies seem to have unexplained powers.
641616
Yes! That must be it. It explains everything.
Yay, new story! I still think Baby AJ is more adorable, but your picture's pretty good, too.
Can't wait to read the new story. WEMS is one of my favorite things I've ever read, and I'm excited to see more warm, tender AppleShy.
I think I gotta side with kits on the baby pony thing. They look like they're trying too hard to be cute, which is virtually a guarantee they're hiding some extradimensional evil.
Oh, and you guys should definitely read Stubborn as Ponies like Cloudy said. It was written by a very clever and classy person and no I'm not shamelessly self-promoting my own story, why would you think that?
Filly Twilight is cuter than Baby Applejack. Deal with it.
But possibly more important, Where They Are Joined is finally here! Been looking forward to that one for a long time. Sadly I predict having hardly any bucking time at all to read in the next week-ish. And the new Halo novel I'm getting for Christmas may end up taking priority for a few days. But I will read it as soon as possible.
The first chapters of a new fic coming today or tomorrow? Sounds like just the kind of Christmas present that I didn't know I wanted. Also, it's a bit funny that just by chance, the last two stories I've read were Stubborn as Ponies and No Recipe for Perfection. Well, props to TAW on starting a contest that gives me more delicious shipping stories, and I agree, Stubborn as Ponies was excellently done (not to mention that I really enjoyed No Recipe for Perfection too). Anyway, thanks for the update!
M-more AppleShy?? I can't waaaiiit!!
641623
I agree, they are a bit creepy. Pound's Trainspotting moment didn't help that perception either.
641616
It all makes sense now.
Am i the only one that thinks the guy on the right in that picture in the pic cloudy posted looks a mite familiar?
641532 The line itself was cute as a button, by all means, I shall be the last to deny; and I hope the story does not disappoint.
641636 The haunches/hips/whatevers, sir or madam. It's just too cute.
641746 I can't imagine who would do such shameless self-promotion. They're surely somepony else entirely.
Seriously, how often do people make fun of the name?
649799 I've already contacted my lawyer for illegitimate usage of my persona.
654670 You know, a lot of folks don't get my name at first glance. My first pre-reader thought I was Greek or something.
649799 Cloudy is Applejack's father. This is now my headcanon.