Art Update for Letters From a Little Princess Monster and some other stuff. · 5:00am Jul 4th, 2014
First of all, we have a wonderful picture by MuffinExplosion titled Luna’s Lab in a perfect mixture of Andy Price and Phil Foglio. Muffin did the cover picture for Diamond Tiara Buys a Little Sister, and has outdone himself with this one. I give it five lumps of sugar out of five, and expect to see it on EqD soon.
Second, we have a pair of pictures from Dotterall on FimFiction and DeviantArt. Many of you have wondered just what Monster looks like in Letters From a Little Princess Monster. Well, wonder no more.
Thirdly, I’ve got an older picture from Dotterall that I am considering using as a cover shot for ‘The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam’ (presently writing on Chapter 13) linked here. I’m determined not to start posting on the story until I’ve gotten the whole thing written and troubleshot, so please be patient. If you’re impatient, and want to help with editing, there’s a link to the Gdoc here.
And last, I'm including a snippet out of 'Royal Exam' that was just too good not to share.
The Final and Ultimate Picture of just what Monster looks like:
(On a related note, I was going to do a series of just what Trixie looks like since her ‘bath’ by linking a half-dozen pictures of normal Ponyville scenery and explaining that she was using her invisibility spell, but I thought better of it.)
And here’s the tentative cover art for ‘The Traveling Tutor and the Royal Exam’ that I like to call ‘Two Hats Joined As One’ also by Dotterall.
Have a safe and happy 4th!
--Georg
(image is from an upcoming fic called Changelings, Love and Lollipops, which is not due out for months, so don’t get impatient :)
Bonus Material
Crime and Punishment in Ponyville
(From ‘Royal Exam’ although portions may show up in ‘Letters’ later.)
The Ponyville Jail was an impressive edifice for a town that seemed to sport so many plaster walls and thatch roofs. Its original purpose had been an emergency weather shelter for when when dangerous storms would roar out of the Everfree Forest, but recent modifications in the last few decades had added small barred windows to the thick dressed limestone walls and a half-dozen cells, as well as a few small offices. There was talk of also declaring it a Ursa Minor shelter, but since everypony agreed that the event had (hopefully) been a unique disaster, it seemed silly to spend the twenty bits to add a new name to the steel front door.
Miss Grace spent a considerable time inventorying the spotless interior, taking into account the strong cell doors, all locked in the open position as to avoid accidents, and the well-provisioned office that included a sign-out sheet for prisoners doing community service as well as a series of locked cabinets that were labelled as containing certain disaster and medical supplies. After spending so much time in the much larger and considerably dirtier police department in Canterlot, the clean and tidy building felt more like a theatre stage than a real prison. The one thing it seemed to lack was a staff.
“Hello? May I help you?” The rather skinny earth pony stallion looking in the front door of the jail had some takeout boxes of Neighpon food on his head and a rather frightened expression on his face.
“Yes, my name is Miss Grace. I’m looking for the sheriff.” She could not help but frown slightly at the stallion, who sidled in the door sideways to a small empty table, putting his lunch down before creeping up to the main desk and scribbling his name on the sign-out sheet. He practically fled back to the little table and took up a position on the other side of it from her before opening up the top of the largest takeout container.
“He’s not here. He quit six months ago for a less stressful job in Appleloosa.” The skinny stallion dug into his noodles with such speed it seemed he was afraid some bigger pony was going to come along and take them away from him at any moment.
“Well, are you his replacement?” She blinked as the stallion shook his head with little splatters of noodle juice. “Is there a deputy, perhaps? A guard? Somepony with a sharp, pointed stick?” Finally she let out a heavy sigh of frustration. “Well, who runs this place, then?”
“The mayor, I suppose. But she hasn’t been in here since the sheriff left.” The noodle container having been emptied, the stallion popped the top on a smaller container and dug out some small pastries. “My name’s Jailbird, by the way.”
She blinked and looked at the set of vertical lines on his flank. “You’re a prisoner?”
“Yes, ma’am. I only have five years left in my sentence, but if I keep picking up trash and such for my community service, the mayor says she would be willing to extend that to six.”
“Extend?”
“Oh, yes.” Jailbird scurried across the spotless floor, seeming much like a cockroach as he pointed to a gleaming cell. “I keep the jail clean and have a different task for each day. Somedays I clean the park, or help out with construction around town. Trash day is my favorite. Everypony always picks up their own trash in town, but sometimes we have tourists, and they’re messy. I get a food stipend, and have to keep checked in and out all day. Then at night, I sleep here.” He scurried inside the cell and unlocked the door so it would roll shut, reaching out through the bars after locking it to hang the keys on a convenient hook. “It’s very nice.”
the last part...
only in Ponyville
That would be almost funny if I hadn't seen similar things happen in real life. Just not so cheery.
It seems that no matter what the universe, Twilight can't get away from Metal Gear references.
Also, that coffee engine is a thing of mad glory. Tibbles pushes it into utter awesome.
2256441 And Mayberry.
I'm almost afraid to ask why there's a fedora on that table!
And I love the snippet of the story; it has all the elements that I find so enjoyable in your work. :)
You teasing SOB!!!! Arrrggghhhh! Lol, yeah, i wanted to see tiny Twilight too. Ah well. I saw that Luna pic before and wondered if it was meant to be for the story, then assumed it wasn't. Dammit, bad guess on my part. Cool pics though.
Not sure if you've posted anything like this since but some of these images have been lost and I was wondering if you've done more posts of the little monster art or if you're able to pay copies of the missing art yourself.
5345938 Still have links to the reduced-size pics, but TinyPic closed up, and I'd have to go repost the thumbnails.