I plan a story, and detail my creative process.

Boom, I'm back.

Just got an idea: I got this big ol' map of Equestria, complete with a shit load of races, some new and some canon, and where they go. I need to do something with that. I have no idea what, but something.

Maybe like a Wanderings of a Non-Brony, or Ballad of Echo the Diamond Dog style 'imma just go and see what happens' style story.

I would want to use a non-pony race though, which eliminates a total of 10 races to chose from. However, I still have 16 to narrow myself down from, including original races.

You've got the 4 bird races, the 3 cat races, the 4 dog races, the 3 capra races, and then griffons and hippogrifs.

Shit, we still have dragons. Make that 17. And the deer, which adds 4. Make that 21.

I want something with opposable thumbs, however, so that removes the four deer races, thunderbirds, oozlums, rocs, sphinxes, lupines, vulpines, and pureblood dogs.

That leaves us with harpies, sekhmets, bastets, diamond dogs, minotaurs, centaurs, cyclopes, dragons, griffons, and hippogrifs.

10 races.

I'd prefer to not have something bipedal, which removes sekhmets, bastets, harpies, minotaurs, and cyclopes. Possibly diamond dogs and dragons, depends on the style.

Diamond dogs, centaurs, dragons, griffons, hippogrifs.

Okay.

Leaning towards diamond dogs, or dragons, despite what I said about bipedal.

Just, from looking at various oc's from those five races, DD and dragons stand out the most as creatively flexible.

Right now, I'm thinking a small dragon, like: spike small but still mature. Or, a pirate/red leather coat and pants outfit diamond dog.

Actually, that sounds really bucking awesome. Diamond dog it is.

Okay, so we've got the race for our character. Now, like any good DnD character, we need to roll the stats, and determine the class.

I think that diamond dogs have earth magic, it explains why they're so good at moving though the ground. This potentially allows for druidic magic, though I feel that could rapidly get op. Strength, durability, and magic? Nah.

No magic. We can choose from Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, Rogue, and Ranger class.

To give context, Griffin the Griffin is a barbarian. He goes in, spins around, and everything is dead. Echo is a Monk. He uses a mix of unarmed attacks, and his spear to deal damage. TD is a ranger. He uses his environment, pet, and weapon together in order to take enemies down.

Those are pretty bent on direct attacks, which means I want stealth. Rogue it is.

Diamond dog rogue. Since they probably wont be too stealthy, we will want to be able to talk ourselves out of intense situations.

Our skills are stealth, persuasion, and deception, with one blank. Since we're going to be a big, scary diamond dog, it would make sense if we could intimidate.

Now for the character themselves, not just their race and class. Anon lived a good life as a human. While ze did still have to work to get anything extra, like video games, new music, or books, ze could still easily count on his parents putting food on hirs table, and a roof over hirs head. Not wealthy, but not poor.

It carried this way until Anon moved out, and began supporting themselves. Anon found that ze didn't really want to carry his previous job, but ze didn't want a new job either. Millennials, right? (jk, im a millennial.) Anon, while getting stuff at a store, decides to try to grab some cash from the register, just for kicks.

Using a mix of distraction and speed, he manages to snatch a few dozen dollars, and isn't caught. He uses the stolen cash to pay for the supplies, and exits merrily. He keeps trying this at different places, until he wants to do more. Using the locks at his own apartment, and his parent's house, he practices making picks out of paper clips, and bobby pins. Once he can reliably pick locks, he goes to a small home at night, and picks in way inside.

He doesn't steal much, just some food from the pantry, then he leaves. It was just a test run, a proof of concept. He continues to grow his skill, learning to wear softer clothes, remove his shoes when entering, and walk on the sides of rooms. He keeps snatching food from homes, until he sees a report of his robberies in the newspaper.

Thrilled that he got some recognition, he decides to take something more. He tries to break into another house, accidentally setting off a silent alarm, and begins packing their gaming stuff away for personal use. The police arrive as he exits, and he is arrested.

After being tried, and admitting guilty, he is sent to jail. F--- it, that's where the story is gonna start.

Once I get our protagonist, Kingsley Gardner, or King, into his diamond dog body and into Equestria, we're gonna need a drive. Something that pushes King forwards.

Wanderings was TD trying to find a way back home, Ballad was a brony wanting to explore, and Griffin the Griffin was the story of what happens when you push humanity too far, them give them the means to fight back.

Sure, he's gonna want to use and advance his amateur rogue skills, live as a true fantasy thief. But what else? Perhaps, when he steals from somebody in a town, he sees that family mourn the loss of their items, and he sees the mayor/king/whatever, living high. He decides to be a robin hood style thief: stealing from the rich, and giving to the poor?

It wouldn't happen that suddenly, or like that at all, but I do want him to become a robin hood.

Alright, so we have a human turned diamond dog that, after landing in Equestria, decides to become a robin hood, and give power to the people.

I recently discovered that placing a human in Equestria is boring, so I won't bother. I could transport him from the earth jail into a equus jail. We want him to be in unknown territory, but not hostile territory. That means no putting him in dragon lands, the north edge of the Bastian Collective. Let's put him on the south edge, right next to the Canine Kingdom. That way, he won't be too out of place, but sill the minority.

We'll put him on the east side of the border, so he has to travel to make his way to Equestria, since he, being a brony, wants to at least check the place out.

Alright. Side characters.

All good parties need four specific archtypes: Damage, Healer, Skillmonkey, and Tank.

King would be the Skillmonkey: the party member that can't take damage, make crazy healing effects, or punch too hard, but can do everything else: lockpick, persuade, sing, dance, sneak, climb, you name it, the skillmonkey can do it.

For all these characters, I would want to have somebody I can pick naturally, in King's path.

Healer will be a sekhmet that King was with when he appeared in the prison at Panth. She will be able to use her natural magic in order to heal, and cast fire spells.

I want a griffon on the party, since griffins are friggin fantastic. He will be the damage. Light armor, and enhanced claw weapons. Lightning fast, cuts just as well.

For the tank, I would like to have a unicorn who can create forcefields, and use those to defend and attack. Not Shining Armor, though.

Alright, I'm gonna go start working on this, SEE YAH DUDES!

P.S. I wish I hadn't left the fandom back in 2012-2014. I missed all of season 3 and 4, and all the fan stuff that happened during that time.