Applejack, Lord Mayor of Ponyville, is invited to the minotaur homeland of Beefland. A new sapient creature has been discovered and, frankly, they need Celestia's help. Foreign relations ensue.
Yo guys, just wanted to update you on the situation on the new story. I'm still working on that opening. I'm not sure that it'll be out this year, but for sure you'll be able to read it sometime January.
Just wanted to let you know I made a mistake on the most recent chapter of ItAoTS. I erroneously described Dr. Twilight's lab as being on the ground floor of the Magic School, while its actual location is the second floor. This is kinda a big detail to just switch around. It's fixed
This is partially to make up for National Not Writing Month, which I participated in by not even writing a single thing last month. November is always waaaaay too busy for me to make much progress (I'm busy doing my part for wildlife conservation), and it turns out the current state of the world did not change a dippy-trippy thing.
Yo, remember that Star Wars Podcast I'm part of? We've got 11 episodes now!
I wanted to bring special attention to episode 11 itself, where my friend and I discuss our top five favorite Star Wars Expanded Universe novels. Our main focus is on Star Wars before Disney bought it, that bygone time now known only as Legends.
Footnotes, as we all know, are awesome. The issue is that they don't look very nice in Fimfiction's formatting. For a long time, I thought this an impassable barrier to writing a footnote-heavy story.
No more.
(*): It had once been the Ponies of Ponyville, but after Cranky Doodle Donkey, his wife Matilda, Muleia Mule, Marko Mule, and Fabio the diamond dog moved in, there was something of an outcry over equal representation. Martial Paw the Griffon's on-again-off-again citizenship sealed the deal with that one.
It was near the end of that fateful third four-year term that the People of Ponyville (*) discovered that their celebration came at the expense of the road repair budget. A few thousand broken wagon wheels later, they were up in arms for some sort of restitution.
The budget, at that point, was already locked in for another year of reckless abandon. The People of Ponyville were displeased to discover that Excessive Celebration was only cause to call foul in a hoof-ball game, and not reason for impeachment (Twilight Sparkle might have mentioned something about Misuse of Public Funds, but most ponies were too busy TP-ing Mayor Mare’s house to notice).
Now, footnotes may be presented in a stylish, unobtrusive, right-inserted text box. It leaves the rest of the text free to slide around, and keeps the additional info tightly bound to the side. It may be my illusive Perfect Solution.
At the very least, I like it.
By the way, the tag for it is [right_insert ] [/right_insert ]. Put it at the beginning of the paragraph you want to footnote.
I am here to announce that all of the footnotes in Lord Mayor Applejack have been edited to follow this new, improved format. Give the story another read and see how it looks!
But that be not all, burr aye. Since i've been working on the sequels for a few months now, I thought i'd share a little snippet of what to expect from Scootaloo Will Fly!
“See yah!” Scootaloo gripped the handle bars and kicked the back of her scooter. It spun around once before coming to a stop underneath her hoof. She clicked her helmet into place as she started beating her wings.
She was off, the wind in her mane and the sun at her back. She weaved along the dusty road back to Ponyville, leaning from side to side. The next part of the road was her favorite: The rough spot.
She brought her front wheel up and hopped across a sizable pothole. She continued hopping on her rear wheel for a few paces before bringing her scooter level and speeding on her way.
A lip of dirt jutted out of the ground just in front of her. She picked up speed. Her eyes narrowed. Her pulse pounded. She gritted her teeth and took the jump.
At the apex of her arc through the sky, she was weightless. Nothing holding her to the ground. Nothing dragging her down. Nothing in her way.
There was nothing holding her up either. She zipped towards the unforgiving, rocky road. A flutter of her wings angled her trajectory to the side, killing a small bit of her downward momentum. She heard her wheels crunch against the soil as she slid to a halt.
She looked over her shoulder. “Good air this time. Could be better.” She ran a hoof across her chin. She imagined building the “ramp” higher, but figured the Apples had a hard enough time on the road without it. She considered smoothing out the soil leading up to it, but didn’t like the thought of losing the bumps. She looked at the sky and frowned at the vast blueness of it all.
“Could be much better.”
At her top land speed, it was only a few minutes before she found herself downtown. She rolled past the shops and houses until she came up to a small building with a green roof. A sign hung above the front door, displaying the image of both a feather pen and a couch.
She pushed the door open and walked inside. “Dad! Dad, I’m home!”
A beige stallion, whose cutie mark was a stylized rendition of the sign outside his store, turned with a smile on his face. “Scootaloo! Good first day at work?”
“Hot!” she said as she hugged him. “Fierce, direct sunlight! Hours of potential heatstroke!” She grinned and brought out her pile of bits. “But kinda worth it.”
He ruffled her mane and walked back to the sofa he was inspecting. “Mom will be home in about an hour.”
“’Kay,” Scootaloo said. She trotted up the staircase two at a time. “I’m heading to the clubhouse after supper!”
The second door on the right led to Scootaloo’s room. It was carefully arranged; a bed sat by the window, a writing desk was situated beside her closet door, and the walls were decorated with posters of all shapes, sizes, and colors. Wonderbolts soared though one vintage poster, trailing flashing storm clouds and gossamer snowflakes. A lightning bolt struck through the center of another image, sparkling with pixie dust and framing a determined, grinning mare.
In the poster at the center of the wall, arrayed in full Wonderbolt regalia, was a rainbow-maned, blue-coated mare. The autograph over the top read “Keep being awesome, Squirt” in scrawling, swirly scribbles.
Scootaloo stared at this poster for a while. A smile twitched its way to her lips as she took in the six colors threading through the mare’s mane and tail. Her eyes ran up and down the uniform, studying every stitch and seam. Her smile fell when she came to the wings, unfurled and stretching upwards as if in flight.
She walked up to her door and shut it, revealing the mirror fastened to the back. She grimaced at the way her mane sat eschew on her head, and moved to smooth it back to its usual slight curl. “Gotta love helmet hair.”
She turned to the side, her profile filling the mirror. Her amethyst eyes scrutinized her long, narrow legs and torso. She flexed, and noted with satisfaction that she was not so much thin as she was lean. There was certainly no shortage of muscle, finely tuned to give her speed, speed, and more speed, along with no small amount of control. The cutie mark on her flank was lavender, to match her eyes. It swirled and spun until the wispy lines outlined the image of a butterfly in flight.
She spread her wings and pointed them at the ground, then let her front legs drop out from beneath her.
She grinned daringly at her reflection, suspended only by her wingtips. The wings bent, bringing her chin nearly to the ground, and then brought her back up to her original position. She repeated the wing-up several more times, each more rapid than the last. She lifted one last time and smirked at her double in the mirror.
“Bet ya can’t.”
A wing lifted, leaving her suspended by the other one alone. She pulled off a few slow wing-ups with that wing, then a few more with the other. “But I can.”
She stood, taking in slow, deep breaths. A jingle sounded out below, accompanied by a light, flowery voice. “I’m home!”
Scotaloo smiled at her reflection. “Make ’em proud, Scootaloo.”
I can't decide what I like more. The footnote thing or the fact you didn't pick the Scootabuse option. Either way, awesome stuff.
Never had a real taste for Scootabuse. Especially since we have not one, not two, but three actual canon orphans in the Apple family. No, what I'm going to do to Scootaloo is a little different. Maybe not necessarily better, but different. I think it'll be good.
Footnote support is probably #1 on my FiMfic wish list. If you can make it work, then I will proclaim your genius from the rooftops!
Well, you can look over Lord Mayor Applejack and see if the footnotes work or not. Otherwise, keep an eye out for the next footnote-heavy story by yours truly.
By the way, the tag for it is [right_insert ] [/right_insert ]. Put it at the beginning of the paragraph you want to footnote.
Hmn, that doesn't work as well as it could for my specialized use case. I do a fair amount of listening to fics with a speech-to-text app, and checking on the first chapter of LMA, both the footnote and the footnoted paragraph are missing.
I did a little editing in that first chapter. Let me know if it still skips anything besides the footnotes. I have a feeling that the right insert is what's messing with the reader. If it still has problems, I may just cry myself to sleep tonight. After pondering over a solution, that is.
2315640 Whoops, forgot to go back and look again until now. Looks like everything is making it through other than the footnotes.
Really, this is enough of an improvement on footnote display that I'd suggest just using it and not worrying about making it work for my specialized use case. I generally scroll and glance down a chapter in a normal display anyway to make sure I don't miss any pictures, these footnote boxes will stand out just as much.
Whoops, forgot to go back and look again until now. Looks like everything is making it through other than the footnotes. Really, this is enough of an improvement on footnote display that I'd suggest just using it and not worrying about making it work for my specialized use case. I generally scroll and glance down a chapter in a normal display anyway to make sure I don't miss any pictures, these footnote boxes will stand out just as much.
Well, as long as the reader can get the core experience, I'd call it a victory for footnotes everywhere. Thank you for serving as my guinea pig! I'll be editing the rest of LMA's chapters to read the same way, and I'll be keeping it in mind for the next story that has footnotes!
A.I. writing fanfic!
The humorous device of footnotes, paired with a textbox that means I no longer have to scroll up and down a bunch to get the joke? Brilliant!
I can't decide what I like more. The footnote thing or the fact you didn't pick the Scootabuse option. Either way, awesome stuff.
Now if only the quotes had a theme-dependent styling.
It would be hilarious if the sequel featured Humans from the future. Like, 2050s.
Hmn, that's an interesting footnote idea.
Footnote support is probably #1 on my FiMfic wishlist. If you can make it work, then I will proclaim your genius from the rooftops!
2313894
I almost hate to admit that I squeed at the brilliance of it all.
2313940
Never had a real taste for Scootabuse. Especially since we have not one, not two, but three actual canon orphans in the Apple family.
No, what I'm going to do to Scootaloo is a little different. Maybe not necessarily better, but different. I think it'll be good.
2314058
Now that would be spectacular! Le sigh. One beautiful discovery at a time.
I'm saving the return of Humans for a sequel a bit further down the line. It's only in the brainstorming stages right now, but it ought to be fun.
I'm thinking Lord Mayor Applejack 2: Reelection.
2314552
Quite. It looks far better than either footnotes or quote boxes. In my opinion.
2315281
Well, you can look over Lord Mayor Applejack and see if the footnotes work or not. Otherwise, keep an eye out for the next footnote-heavy story by yours truly.
By the way, the tag for it is [right_insert ] [/right_insert ]. Put it at the beginning of the paragraph you want to footnote.
Hmn, that doesn't work as well as it could for my specialized use case. I do a fair amount of listening to fics with a speech-to-text app, and checking on the first chapter of LMA, both the footnote and the footnoted paragraph are missing.
2315582
Well, poop. That's no good at all.
I did a little editing in that first chapter. Let me know if it still skips anything besides the footnotes. I have a feeling that the right insert is what's messing with the reader. If it still has problems, I may just cry myself to sleep tonight.
After pondering over a solution, that is.
2315413 I still hope to see Pinkie supporting Ivory Scroll's campaign. That mare would do ANYTHING for more parties!
2315673
Anything except sell out, I'm afraid.
2316492 Ehhhh, makes sense. Pinkie IS the most hard core rapper we've ever seen in Equestria.
2315640 Whoops, forgot to go back and look again until now. Looks like everything is making it through other than the footnotes.
Really, this is enough of an improvement on footnote display that I'd suggest just using it and not worrying about making it work for my specialized use case. I generally scroll and glance down a chapter in a normal display anyway to make sure I don't miss any pictures, these footnote boxes will stand out just as much.
2347315
Well, as long as the reader can get the core experience, I'd call it a victory for footnotes everywhere. Thank you for serving as my guinea pig! I'll be editing the rest of LMA's chapters to read the same way, and I'll be keeping it in mind for the next story that has footnotes!
Thank you again!