Hello, dear people who against their better judgement follow me like they're watching a snail and anticipating it to sprout a rocket engine or something. I have a story to tell.

A long time ago in the far off distant year of 2012, a time best known for conspiracy theories and bankruptcy which Hollywood eagerly took control of, something happened. A little zit appeared on the face of ponyfiction, something involving Big MacIntosh, conspiracy theories, and bankruptcy (I think). Enacted by none other than the psychopathic hub of this humble crazy pretentious niche of our fandom that is everything poni, where we all took turns vomiting a chapter forth until our stomachs, mechanical or otherwise, were emptied. Of course, I'm talking about Spanish Announce Table Goes First. Please come help join us.

Well guess what? This same inane group didn't learn its lesson the first time, so here we go again for round two!

(click the image to have your hopes crushed.)

Just who's taking part in this senseless act of self-defecation? Why, none other than these wise and specially treated people! Perhaps you've heard of one or two of them. In no particular order:

TheBrianJ, RedSquirrel456, shortskirtsandexplosions, WardenPony, theworstwriter, Vimbert the Unimpressive, Mist Twister, Pilate, PropMaster, and of course myself. Lest we forget the awesome cover art provided by none other than our dear friend, DarkFlame75. Just how do you know whose turn is whose? It's a bit of a secret at the moment, but don't fret! I'm sure that one way or another you'll figure it out, most likely after our ship sinkers fail to contain themselves.

So what are you still doing here following me? Go read!

As I hope it's easily discernible by the image above, I have once again regained access to a vinyl cutter, 3D-printer, and laser cutter. So I may be a little preoccupied, since other than creating these wonderful little trinkets for myself, I also get tasked to make things for others. So I'm not entirely wasting my time, I suppose.

Another thing I wish to do is endorse two pieces of ponyfiction I have recently edited, both of which created by a good friend of mine. These are two stories I would highly recommend to everyone, one being a mind-bending grimdark adventure across dimensions which, while still unfinished (see what was done there?), should put a good number of grimdark stories in their place. Also 63rd ponies. What's not to like there? The second story is his most recent, not to mention the winner of the most recent /fic/ write-off as well, and is his first comedy. It follows the story of Prince Blueblood, in which he tries to do good things and be a hero and fails miserably every single time. Go read it. Go read both, I assure you won't be disappointed.

My own writing is... a little sluggish, as of late. Well, sluggish more than usual anyway. I've spent the past week helping two friends move houses, did some editing (and I still have more to do), relaxing with World of Tanks, not to mention other work outside the realm of pony. I have stuff to do, I know, and I will get to it.

Now then, I leave you all with something that can only be defined as being adorable as fuck.

I So there was another one of those /fic/ things, and for better or for worst I decided to take part in it. I kinda forced myself to write 90% of it in the last six hours, with forcing myself to write being a skill I am yet to acquire.  Undoubtedly my story is horrible, is more bare-bones in structure than a skeleton, and deserves to be thoroughly beaten from a safe distance, but I'm actually quite fond of it. After this write off is complete, I'll be more than happy to drop this disfigured child on the doorsteps of the editing pals I know for their thorough medical analyses. I expect prescriptions of cyanide tablets and cheeseburgers.

II What was once a little-known piece of work formerly called Nondescript has recently had plastic surgery. It's shaping up to be something unique, over 41 chapters long (at least that's what I have outlined so far), a bit of the first chapter written, has best pony, and I hope to be kicking it out door eventually.*

III Finding Your Elements, the one thing I started a long time ago that I actually still have some appreciation for, is in for a long overdue rewrite and inevitable completion when I get the chance.*

IV A story that I'm pretty sure only two people have seen let alone know about, I hope on being the next real story I publish. It currently sits at a good eight thousand words, involves lots of lightning, and Pinkie Pie caressing Rainbow Dash's tail. That's all I'm comfortable saying about it at the moment, and it's probably more than what some of you need to know.

V Those who are expecting edits from me can finally expect to see me crawl over them pretty soon. It'll be this week for sure, but keep in mind I also have some reviewing for the /fic/ write off because of implied consent.

VI World of Tanks is damn good at relieving stress.

VII

VIII School is god awful. I hate manual labor. Making social contact with people outside the interwebs annoys me to no end.

IX Apparently something should be popping up on Equestria Daily pretty soon. I honestly don't know how, but these two might have something to do with it.

X If not already, these stories should be in your list of favorites: Harmony Theory, Unfinished, Everypony Dies, and Hoardsmiths.

Over and out

     ~RazgrizS57

*I have no cognitive recognition of when this will be.

Here's to the bachelors. Drink Dr. Pepper, read pony, suppress your tears and everything will be just fine.

So... I had one of those spur of the moment things and wrote this. I warn anyone who hasn't read I Alone yet, because this blog will be all about that story and contain spoilers. For extra safety, I'll spoiler everything so it looks like it's a classified document. It kinda is, since it contains my thoughts on the story and what I put into it. So without further ado, I give you a step into my mind so to speak. No safety gear required, but it is suggested.

So to begin with, let me start with why I created this thing in the first place. I was thinking one day while pushing carts about pony—as I usually do—and wondered, "is there a story out there where the protagonist's name isn't given?" I thought about it and came to the undeniable conclusion there likely was, but then I had the wild idea to take things a step further. I wanted to suddenly write a story where there the main character had was not given a name, gender, description, or even told what type of pony it was. The first thing to pop into my head as to do that was, well, from the perspective of a wild animal. So that's kinda what this is in a nutshell. I Alone is from the perspective of a wild, "uncivilized" pony who spent its entire life in the wood, away from society where it couldn't learn to talk and whatnot.

And it was rushed. Oh, was it rushed. Namely, it took me about three hours to write them 2,257 words. But it was intentional, to a degree. There's a sort of chaotic form of logic to why I rushed it: I intended it to be from the perspective of a wild animal and I did my best to write what a wild animal would see or think. As such, focus would only be on the things found important to the protagonist. That's also why I forced myself to use only periods and commas for punctuation, as well as kept sentences rather short, repeated, or in some cases loaded. The protagonist is rather simple; maybe a better word is dumb. As I wrote, I kind of imagined the protagonist as man's best friend—a dog. A dog is happy and loyal, willing to go out of its way for it's master. Except the master in this case, if there is one, is the confusing character of "me."

As I hope it was easily picked up on, "me" is the protagonist's reflection seen in the pond. However, much like a dog might when looking at a mirror, the protagonist thinks this "me" is another living creature instead of the protagonist's mere reflection. The pond, with it's cold water, stood as a barrier that the protagonist couldn't step inside or even understand to some degree, but it was accepted because that's what the protagonist saw and had no way of explaining it. There's also the admittedly cruel aspect of "me" that I absolutely love. "Me" is the protagonist, but the protagonist doesn't necessarily know that. To the protagonist, "me" is what the protagonist is—a pony, more specifically the protagonist's self. But because the protagonist had lived a life of isolation, there's no word for what the protagonist is. So it's just, "me." It's a bit confusing to put into words, but I hope the point is getting across nonetheless. I didn't write this story to tell one what to think. I wanted the reader to think for themselves, hence why some things are so up for interpretation at times.

That's another thing. Going into this story, I only wanted three things: the protagonist with the pond, being chased by the angry tree (which I hope came across as a timerwolf), which led into the end scene I especially wanted with the "other me." This "other me" purely existed to confuse the protagonist, and when I wrote the character I intended for it to be Fluttershy. I wonder if anyone caught on that, but since it was from the perspective of a wild animal with no real language to associate names to, I'm perfectly fine if the new character wasn't received as being Fluttershy. As I said before, I wanted the reader to draw their own conclusions; I'm just supplying my own here in this blog.

Another thing with that end scene with Fluttershy is how the protagonist reacted. I kinda imagined the "deer in the headlights" look as I wrote, but from the deer's perspective. Fluttershy I imagined to be alarmed, but not scared. If anything she's worried, scared for this poor pony who's dirty and covered in mud and wanting nothing more than to help. And, much like a wild animal, the protagonist bolted at the first sign of an unknown creature advancing on it. Fluttershy was the only other pony the protagonist has seen—the other of course being the protagonist's self's reflection: "me." As such, the protagonist became confused and ran away.

So, that's what I was thinking when I wrote this, I'm pretty sure. Undoubtedly I'm leaving something out, but whatever. What's here is good. Also, I will not be writing a sequel or additional chapters. I think the tag [Slice-Of-Life] suffices, even if it could come off as being rather sad or tragic. But that's not what the protagonist thinks, so I don't think the tag should change. Overall, I'm pleased with the story.

Read this. I mean it. I really can't say anything without spoiling it, unfortunately, but this is one of those stories that needs to be read. Not because it's flashy or has explosions and death or nonsensical sex scenes. Hell, there's barely even any sort of action in it. Unlike most others there's an actual message behind it, and it's one we could all stand to remember. Just... just read it. Make others read it. It is unbelievably clever and probably the best thing I've ever read in a long, long time.

Hey people. I noticed a lot of you have watched this. In it, there's something about a "Princess Coronation" being the last episode of season three or whatnot. A lot of people are saying this is about Twilight becoming an alicorn and then proceed to flip their shit. Well, there's one thing I'd like to bring to your attention. It's something everyone seems to have forgotten.

Now will we please stop bitching until the actual episode comes around? That is all.

Also, I'm doing stuff.