A Few Updates, a Few Notes on 'Kiss Me,' and THE PREMISE OF GROGAR 2... and also a Poll

So, let's begin with a few updates;

1. The final two chapters of 'Changelings' are nearly complete. New employment has stalled their development as I've added two new scenes and they both need work that I haven't had time to give.

2. 'On the Wings of War,' the upcoming second act of the Trilogy, has a new title; 'On Swift Wings.'

3. I'm still hoping to have a special Halloween surprise for you all. Hopefully I'll have time to get to it.

4. 'The Story of Tonight' is still coming. Please don't ask me when.

Okay, now here's a few notes on 'Kiss Me.'

-Despite loving FlutterMac (and seriously pushing for MarbleMac to become canon down the line) I've always had a soft spot for CheeriMac. While driving to my new job at five in the morning, I happened to hear 'Kiss Me' by Six Pence None the Richer come on the radio. I've always had secret fondness for the song and I've always wanted to use that emotion to fuel a story. While I listened to the song, I had a vision in my head of Cheerilee and Mac talking on a swing in the midst of a starry night...

Once I got to work, I opened the old Idea Notebook and jotted down a few lines that I could develop later. Eight hours later, my hand hurt like hell and the story was completed.

I seem to write my best romances by hand.

-I love all the flashbacks, but there's something unapologetically cute about the first. I've also always enjoyed romances that have had a long time to build between the participants.

-The scene involving Mac's breakdown over his mother's death is a direct tribute to SleeplessBrony and his story 'Need.'

-If you need further proof that this story was writing itself and only using me as a conduit, consider that I had no idea that Mac and Cheerilee were going to... ahem, rekindle their relationship until it happened in the story.

-As a whole, 'Kiss Me' is by far my favorite romantic story I've written since the first three chapters of 'Morning Glory.'

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And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...

The Premise of 'Grogar 2' (Working Title)

It has been eight years since that awful Hearth’s Warming where the whole of Ponyville’s residents vanished without a trace in the space of a single night. The official story is that a freak blizzard destroyed the town.

Only four young ponies know the truth.

After months of therapy and various financial arrangements, three of them agreed to change their stories to go along with the official reports. Diamond Tiara, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash spent their remaining years as children living comfortably and never far from each other.

Applebloom steadfastly refused to change her story and thus was hidden away in the Blackwood Home for the Criminally Insane.

Now students at Fillydelphia University, Diamond Tiara, Sweetie Belle, and Button Mash are trying to figure out what to do over Hearth’s Warming break. On her final trip to the library before it closes for the end of the year, Diamond Tiara makes a surprising discovery; her ancestor, who vanished while searching for the lost city of Tambelon, was the historical inspiration for Snowfall Frost, the redemptive protagonist of the classic ‘a Hearth’s Warming Carol.’ Wanting to learn more, the heiress invites her friends to spend Hearth’s Warming n Trottingham with her distant relatives, the Banks Family, while she continues her research into her family history.

Once they arrive, however, they find that things are not going well with the Banks Family. They have fallen on hard times and some openly resent Diamond Tiara’s arrival. Only Pence, the youngest son, and Penny, his twin sister, hold out hope that they will get to experience a big family Hearth’s Warming for the first time ever.

Things are not well between the three friends either. Button Mash is planning on proposing to Sweetie Belle but a secret between Diamond Tiara and himself could jeopardize things.

As the Hearth’s Warming winds begins to blow, the emotional turmoil in Trottingham calls out to something terrible like the ringing of a great bell. The ancient evil that has waited and watched, at last, now has its chance to finish what it started so many years ago.

Grogar is coming to town once again.

And miles away, as though sensing the return of the monster that took everything from her, Applebloom escapes the asylum and heads towards Trottingham herself…

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So here's where the poll comes in; I can't decide on a title for this bad boy.

That's where you lot come in.

If you follow this link here, you can vote for several possible choices. I will close the poll and announce the winner on Halloween night.

So, I think that's everything.

Thoughts?