About Season 3, Episode 3. What has become known as "The Derpy Backstory Episode" even though we don't know if we'll get more than an accident caused by her to be fixed by the Mane 6 while she tries to fix it, too, in her own special way.

Regardless, I just realized something: The voice. Oh Goddesses, her voice. No matter what, somebody's going to be upset. These are the facts:

1) Regarding her original, boyish voice in 'The Last Roundup': Her voice actor thought she was reading for a... oh to hell with subtleties! A mentally challenged(there, I said it) STALLION. This is fact. She revealed her mistake by tweet AND interview later.

2) After some sensitive arguments, the commercial version of 'The Last Roundup' were edited, quite badly, I might add. Dash's voice was not blended into the audio like it should have been, showing some very choppy and quick work. ... *ahem* Sorry. Ditzy's eyes were set straight, no name was mentioned for the mare, and a whole new voice was assigned to her. Also badly edited.

3) Bronies outraged. Literally ran through the streets with Applejack pitchforks(do those exist? 'Cause now I want one.) demanding that "their Derpy" be set right. Eventually, she was. I think. I was a bit disconnected from the community at that time.

Now, as far as I can tell, there are three possible outcomes of this new episode that we can expect:

1) Ditzy(Listen to the Winter Wrap-Up episode carefully, you'll see why I prefer to call her Ditzy Doo) will have her original, accidentally boyish voice, which may or may not trigger option 2.

2) Ditzy will get the "new" voice they tried to hoist on us in the (horribly done) edit. This WILL cause another outrage, which may or may not be addressed, this time.

3) Ditzy's original voice actor(who was not, let the record show, the one who spoke for the edit) will speak again, only this time as though she were reading for a mare, instead of a stallion like she was the first time.

In option one, the people who were upset the first time will be upset. In option two, the Bronies will be upset.

I for one am hoping for option three, as it gives the chance for both parties to be satisfied.

I will say one last thing before disappearing for an indeterminate amount of time to sleep, eat, and write(not necessarily in equal or appropriate amounts): If they, without a shadow of a doubt, confirm her name as..*shudder*.. Derpy Hooves, then I will be very surprised. If her voice doesn't get a negative response from the voice-change fiasco, then that name certainly will! Hasbro is going to be in big trouble if she takes that name, and we don't want Hasbro in trouble. So, no matter what name you support, cross your fingers for Ditzy Doo, or even some other nice name that won't get Hasbro sued.

Your Hero of the Free,

~HiroJiyuNaka

That just hit me just now. Which means Crystal Empire ponies.

Where is my new season? Does anybody know?

Supreme Redundant Title of Redundancies Department.

Anyway, relevance: I just read Twilight Discovers Literary Analysis and That One Time The Ponies Did That One Thing At That Place, and I have to say, they both belong up there on that new Feature Box.

My aching head has rarely felt so satisfied.

Regarding stories: I have gas. That is the only excuse I can come up with.

A lot of speculation has been going around about what the Season Three opening plot is. We know it has to do with the Seventh Element of Harmony, but we don't know much else. Or at least I don't.

A lot of people have said it is Bravery, some say it's Modesty, and still others say different things that are less likely. All I know is, it better not be THE Element of Harmony. That would just seem so... Well, I would rant and rave about it for weeks, that's for sure!

Anyways, when the new season starts, there will be a sudden influx of fanfiction regarding this new mystery pony, mark my words. A lot of them are going to be sub-par, I'll be honest. This is because we will have very few options, depending on what happens to the Seventh Element. This is why I think we should put out our ideas on the Seventh Element before they are revealed.

Write something. Anything. A short story to a 183-chapter novel, it doesn't matter. Write something about the Seventh Element. Be sure to announce that you are doing so on your own blog before S3 starts, so that they can be viewed as the OCs they are, and not confuse anyone with the soon-to-be cannon Element Bearer.

Now, since this is a challenge of sorts, there must be rules. So here they are:

1. Must accurately represent the Seventh Element of Harmony(which is your decision), and only the Seventh Element. Rarity doesn't accurately represent Honesty, so why should this new pony have a large amount of anything but his/her element?

2. Must be one of the three kinds of Pony. No Alicorns. This is just common sense, and ties in with the first rule of no Pony-Sues.

3. Can be a mare or a stallion, but remember a stallion is going to be less likely to get along with many of the Mane Six, so take that into account.

4. The new villain must be new. It can be any species, so long as it has not been done as a major villain, yet. So no evil-cloud-possessed-ponies, no draconiqui, and no Changelings.

5. New villain must only be defeated by all seven Elements. Some interesting alteration of the effect they have(i.e. something different about the usual Rainbow Magic attack) due to the addition of a Seventh Element would be nice, but is not required.

Okay? This probably won't go anywhere, but I want to see what someone does with this idea.

-Your Hero of the Free,

HiroJiyuNaka

For now. That was fun, and more of a motivation than I've had for a while! Special thanks to honorwolf and Anonymous 782 for chatting with me during my sessions! I don't know when I'll be doing that again, got a lot of other priorities this week, but with these results, I feel like we can get these chapters out much faster than if I did it alone. So, with at least one witness on this site in honorwolf to testify that I really have been working, I'm signing off for the night.

Love and be loved!

~Hiro Jiyu Naka

   -Hero of the Free

So, I just figured out Google Docs. Dunno why I was saving everything on my computer this whole time, but whatever.

Right now I'll be working on A Mage Among Mares, at some point I'll switch to Clover's Song, maybe later I'll write in something else. I'll let you know in the comments of this post.

While I'm still writing in AMAM, come watch me! You can get a preview of the story, as well as a little insight on my process.

Are you yet?

Which means there needs to be another vote.

I have written the next chapter in almost everything, be that the first chapter for new stories, or otherwise. I, however, am holding off on posting. This is because the only update you guys would see on an existing story is not finished. Eeyup, Clover's Song chapter two is one of the ones that didn't get done. I know, I know, it's just that I'm writing from a woman's perspective, and I've never done that for more than a scene at a time. Ponies are a little different, their mind is occupied by slightly different things than human girls, and so I can write for them. Clover, though... once her little freakout is over, there is a lot of characterization that I need to build straight from scratch. I didn't pull her from my Box O' OCs that I keep for Roleplaying, I made her up on the spot, which means I have a lot less of an idea on her character than I should.

Anyway, this blog was supposed to be about the tie, so I'll get to that. The tie is between A Mage Among Mares and the Twixie story. The votes totaled to them having a dead even 20 votes each, with the 1st-person far behind at 6 votes. I can understand that, although the way I'm writing the 1st-person... well, let's just say you'll be changing your mind when you see it. If I do say so myself, it is brilliant.

Well, I need a decision out of you all. Twixie or AMAM first? Both stories will be interesting, although neither will come out until I get a fecking picture for them.

That's all the time I have. Cast your votes, cause I'm off to take the second biggest test I've ever taken. On 4 hours of the most non-restful sleep I've ever had.

Okay, I am all caught up to where I want to be, and I have done some scrubbing. Instead of the previous 47 stories I had started on, I now have *pause for dramatic effect* ... 28!!

So now, what I need from all of you is this:

What should I work on? 28 fics is a bit overwhelming when they all need attention.

I'll just give you the four MLP fics and a quick rundown. A little more plot reveal than the summary would have so you can make an educated decision.

Clover's Song; HiE, MLP doesn't exist on Earth; A paraplegic girl, Clover, loses her family on Earth, and wishes only for a place where that kind of loss won't reach her again; where color and tolerance thrive. Rainbow Dash messes up a trick that accidentally rips a hole into another dimension, pulling Clover through it. Clover wakes up as a half-unicorn, half-human and must now come to terms with the loss of both her family and her body, as well as decide what to do in this strange new place she and her cat Numa have found themselves in. ;Slice-of-Life, no Romance planned, but possible.

A Mage Among Mares; HiE, MLP doesn't exist on Earth; In an alternate Earth where Magic is real, Jack Lyons is tasked with heading the Magical Disaster branch of security at the 7th Annual Azure Aurora Convention. Things promise to go down without a hitch, but when a group of terrorists try to ruin everyone's fun, Jack has to make good on his title. In the following chaos, an enemy mage highly trained in dimensional physics tries to open a portal to an unknown dimension for an unknown purpose, which Jack promptly puts a stop to. The resulting explosion sends the both of them, along with a colleague of Jack's, into another world. Now, they must stop the terrorist from getting home without them, while at the same time try to find their own way back. ;Adventure, Slice-of-Life, Alternate Universe(?), Romance fully-planned.

[UNTITLED]; HiE, MLP doesn't exist on Earth, First-Person; I am Jason Cap. I am a private contractor. Electrician, actually. I install wiring, conduit to hold wiring, and various electronics, machinery and appliances. Not just for anything, though. I get called in for places where they can't turn off the power or machine while I'm working. I do this because I can see, hear, and sorta-kinda control electricity, so I'm perfect for the job since I can shrug of most jolts. No, no, I'm not throwing around lightning like Cole Macgrath, I can just direct it through me and other things. It's hard to explain. Anyway, I got called to some lab in Nevada to do work on a teleporter they've been working on. The one that isn't hush-hush, at least, ha-ha. Wouldn't you know it, though, the damn thing blows up right in my face! I bet you the top-secret one they're really working on wouldn't have done that! Cheapskates. Anyway, when I woke up... well, let's just say that Heaven isn't like I imagined it, although the locals seem nice enough. ;Slice-of-Life, Comedy, Romance semi-planned.

[UNTITLED]; Twixie; Twilight Sparkle paused in her spell, forced by her mind to contemplate the events leading up to sitting in this dark room with a complex Rune on the floor. Without the light of her horn, the room turned black as pitch, but she didn't notice. Indeed, the only thing her eyes saw was what her mind showed them. Of happy times, of rude awakenings. ...Of her. Of a silver mane framing lavender eyes just lighter than her own. Twilight shook herself free from the memories. If she was going to fix the disaster outside, she needed focus. She needed to bring her back. After all... it was her fault. Oh, no. No, not that memory, anything else but that one! First meeting, first date, first fight, anything but that! Happier memories drifted through, and Twilight postponed the spell once more. ;Romance, Slice-of-Life, Sad, Adventure.

Okay, so those are the current MLP choices. If you pick Clover's Song, please also pick another one, since its next chapter is close to being finished and I want to work for a while before I do another one of these votes. No, I am not capable of writing a Brony in Equestria story. I'm not good with Meta. It always turns out as either too easy to remain hidden from the ponies, or deliberately telling them about it.

Vote by any means, just please vote.

Is probably what you're thinking. I am a horrible person.

I have this habit of trying to help people whenever I can, and that carries over to making people happy. It's like it's my special talent; I am compelled to do it. I'm just not very good at it when it involves getting behind-the-scenes work done by a personally set due-date. Something about them is just impossible for me. It's like Fluttershy and being able to not be afraid of any creature except dragons, or Rainbow Dash and how she's the Fastest Flyer in Equestria, knows it, and loves to show it off, but freezes up during big performances. Everything and everyone has a weakness. Mine is consistently setting my own bar so high I need to wait a few years for a growth spurt just to reach it.

tl;dr: I make promises I can't keep, and I am sorry.

My writing should be back on track by Monday, I have all day today off and most of the day tomorrow. So yeah. Writing.

After seeing this:

Source.

I want a Kingdom Hearts-MLP crossover. A legit, good one. Like, as good as Friendship Contract, but with Kingdom Hearts instead of Naruto.

Who's up for it? Huh? Come on, you know it would rock!

Also, Clover's song has made much progress, and is projected to be out by next week! For reals, this time.

The other four MLP fics I'm working on are a bit farther behind, and judging purely by length progress, it looks like you'll be getting two more HiE fics from me before you get anything else. Sorry about that.