State of the Scribe: December 2018

Hey everyone! So every month I give a report of exactly what's coming and when on my Patreon, but most people don't follow me there. It seems like a waste to leave people in the dark, so from now on I'm going to make an effort to repost that stuff here on fimfiction for anyone to read. (and for reference, my schedules go up the first of each month on Patreon and don't require sponsorship to read, so if you're curious about what's coming in a month, you can pop on over and look even if I forget to repost it here)

For those who don't know, my Patreon is where many of the story ideas I write come from. There are two kinds of stories--weekly and monthly. The monthly stories are those that I publish suddenly here, going through a chapter a day until they're finished. That's because they've been posted monthly to patreon--but since I can't be sure if and when they'll complete, and I don't want to take the chance of unfinished stories getting published on my account, they stay there until they're done, when they make the transition to fimfiction for anyone to read. The calendar is color-coded, with green content planned to be posted to fimfiction, and blue remaining on Patreon.

Two stories are making a (hopeful) transition to fimfiction this month, but ultimately I don't do the covers myself and those are a critical step, so it's possible they won't happen quite during the week suggested here. They may take longer, or even not make the transition at all this month. What you see here represent my hopes.

Stories that do not make the transition will update here on schedule until their cover is finished and they can be posted to Fimfiction, at which point updates here will stop (Fimfiction's interface is way better than downloading PDFs through Patreon, let's be real)

Let's go over each of these new stories in turn, since I haven't broken them down yet. I'm going to describe them all, even those previously introduced, so be warned there are some minor spoilers ahead.

Oldest of these is Through the Aurora, a Human-> Hippogriff that began its theoretical existence as a Message in a Bottle sidefic--but when Part 2 turned into almost a sidefic itself, that didn't make as much sense, and so it migrated to our own earth instead. Follow our hero, a software developer at an arctic research base... at least until he discovers the strange and ancient bond of that place to the Aurora, and ends up in Equestria. HiE, but through a different lens.

Next we have Child of the Invasion, making its transition to weekly and claiming the Wednesday slot. This story begins with the Changeling invasion of Canterlot, but depicted in a way more consistent with real life occupations and invasions--from the perspective of one of the numberless changelings spawned as fodder for pony swords. But she survives, long enough to see what comes after. What if the changelings hadn't all just burred into the sky at the end of the episode, A La team rocket? We'll explore that here.

Then come two new stories to this month. The first takes the place of Message in a Bottle, which completed last week. I don't want to give too much away about this one, since like Message explaining its premise would give away a great deal of the mystery early on. But let me say it takes place on a near-future earth with likely technologies extrapolated from present day, except that digital pony partners have become fundamental to the lives of almost every connected person, in the way smartphones are today. It's not Friendship is Optimal, but I think it might be invited to the family reunion. See for yourself in... A story I haven't titled yet!

And lastly, a story that won't be coming to fimfiction this month, but will be hanging out here on Patreon for the time being. This story follows a unicorn I think many of you will be familiar with, as her and her friends finally track down some ancient ruins that prove to be much more than they seem. But nopony escapes unscathed, and she certainly won't. Also a bit of a mystery, but I will say it's a science fiction with some TF elements. The rest is best experienced for yourself.

And that's it for the current slate. This leaves Meliora as the oldest running current story, in a dead heat with Sunset Campaign to race to completion. I expect at least one of them to finish in January, probably Sunset. Meliora may take a tad longer, if only because the chapters are shorter.

After that... I have a feeling Sunset's replacement will be really awesome, but since that's still at least a month away I won't spoil anything now.

Comments

[Von Snootingham]

digital pony partners have become fundamental to the lives of almost every connected person, in the way smartphones are today.

Mega Mare Battle Network. Got it.

[Helium]

Exciting stuff from the sounds of it. Look forward to some of these.