You guessed it. Cheesedork here.

I've been asked to give you guys a status update on The Urban Moose. Why not?

He is doing well. He tells me his missionary work is very rewarding, if very exhausting and all-consuming.

He appreciates all of your good wishes.

I have been informing him of all the crazy pony news that's happened since he left. Twilicorn, Equestria Girls, Cadance used to be a pegasus, etc. Like any sane man, he thinks EqGirls is the dumbest thing ever, but is cool with the rest, regardless of how it may or may not affect Stranger's canon.

He's told me that he does try to do some writing in his spare time, but mostly little random scenes to stretch his creativity. He doesn't have the time to write the next chapter. Sorry guys. Though if he did, I'd totally type it up and post it (just don't hold your breathe for that possibility).

I've printed and sent him all of the work I've done on Ask Cotton Cake. He is very pleased with what I've done with it. Or, at least, he hasn't threatened to murder me... yet.

Speaking of Ask Cotton Cake, it now has 202 followers, which is more than how many watchers this FiMFic account has. Hahahahahahahaha, I win.

Naturally, if you don't follow it, you don't care for it, and that's fine, but here's some tidbits you may care about:

[Pictured: Commander Daylight. I thought you might appreciate a visual reference for everyone's favorite Joan of Arc expy]

[Pictured: Teaser of an as-of-yet-unknown character in The Stranger and Her Friend. Who is she? Have you seen her before? Possibly! But probably not. Feel free to speculate. PLEASE SPECULATE]

Also, Enough Mister is at it again, making me love him because of fanart.

[Pictured: Hugshot]

He also made Cotton as a Jigglypuff as a companion to my Cotton as Mew.

Did I miss anything? Bwu-dunnuh.

...to get your hopes up.

But alas, 'tis I, Cheesedork, again.

Just figured I'd draw your attention to some nice fanart.

Source

Yep. That's, uh, pretty freaking awesome. Not gonna lie.

On a related note, if anyone ever has anything worthwhile to tell The Urban Moose, I'll be emailing him about once a week.

So if you want me to forward anything to him just message/comment on either my fimfic account or this one.

Example of worthwhile thing: "Hey, I made some cool Cotton+hookshot art for you, bro."

So yeah, I'm basically just gonna make new journals every time there's some fan art.

Other than that, this account is dead! Do you hear me? Dead! Except when I occasionally check the messages. Dead! And except when Moose returns. Dead!

Don't forget to Ask Cotton Cake! Pwease.

Hello, faithful followers of The Urban Moose.

This is Cheesedork, his primary editor.

Moose told me only to use his account for important stuff, so I hope this qualifies as important.

So, I was sitting around, thinking about Cotton Cake, as I often do, and I thought:

"Hey, what if Cotton had an Ask Pony tumblr like some other OC ponies do?"

Then I decided to find out.

Ask Cotton Cake!

That's right! You can ask everyone's my some people's favorite OC pony whatever you want!

She'll probably even answer, too!

Heck, maybe Lucky, Celestia, and whoever else will answer some questions too!

I know it's no substitute for story updates, but hopefully this will satisfy your The Stranger and Her Friend needs until Moose's return.

Hope you like it~

Waring: I am not as good at writing Cotton as The Urban Moose is.

Also warning: My drawing abilities are limited.

Boop! If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read this. TL;DR? I'm going on a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

**********

The very first blank document opened in the name of writing "The Stranger and Her Friend" was created April 7th, 2012. It has been ten whole months from that time, and ever since then, I've been working tirelessly on it. Currently, it boasts a whopping 273,000 words across 26 chapters of Adventure (or 31 chapters, take your pick). At the time of this writing, it has over 600 favorites, 50,000 views, 400 likes, and is featured on Equestria Daily whenever it updates. It is not by any means legendary, but it does get progressively better. I am extremely proud of it.

For the better part of a year, I have been writing this. And it's all the fault of a cartoon that was literally meant for little girls, and the strange, strange fandom it accidentally attracted.

You guys... my heart is full.

As it stands, I won't be able to see many of your comments. I'm going to bed tonight, and sometime tomorrow, I will begin my first day of missionary work, and by extension, my first day of living by missionary rules. I'm not worried, though – if you've made it this far, I'd like to think most of you would have something nice to say.

I need to get this all out before my eyes run out of tears or I collapse from exhaustion onto my keyboard. There are some people that need thanking.

First of all, thanks Arby Works for the awesome cover art. Without pretty, eye-catching pictures, who would ever read the story underneath?

Thanks to Blueshift for approving my story on Equestria Daily, and also for helping me come up with a cover summary that didn't absolutely suck.

Thanks to Elusive Shark, pre-reader, sword fighter, and expert on all things lore, both in the real world and in Equestria. Without you, I would never have known that plate armor is overpowered, longswords are actually two-handed weapons, and that you're actually supposed to go for the limbs when attacking. I shudder to think of the ensuing chaos. Thanks for jumping to call even though you are, quite possibly, the busiest college student I have ever seen (compared to myself, who had no life outside of writing and work).

Thanks to Neighkodemus, half zombie editor, half pony, all German. This man made bad prose good, and good prose great. You readers have him to thank for some of the more brilliant sections in the story. We once had a discussion, NKD, about which Element of Harmony was your favorite. Or was it which one you would be? I can't remember, and it doesn't matter. I told you mine was generosity, and you told me yours was loyalty. You said something about the ferocity of friendship, how that inspired you, how the bonds between brothers were the strongest bonds there were. I never said it aloud, but on the other side of the computer screen, I rolled my eyes, and thought to myself, "We'll see." Well, I saw. 200,000 words and literally hundreds of editing hours later, long after the charm of editing a new story had worn off, I saw. You embody loyalty as well as any man could ask for. Thank you for being there. You are a wise teacher and a great friend. I hope our friendship does not dim with the passage of time.

Thanks to Cheesedork, without whom, the story of The Stranger and Her Friend would be a completely jumbled mess. Here's some fun facts for you: Celestia's creation had some gaping holes that have since been patched up, the Element of Laughter was initially slated to be human (this was scrapped before the Hieyuma chapter came out), Cotton's name was originally Chuckles (which is awful), and actually, Cotton didn't exist at all. That's right folks. Best pony would not have existed were it not for Cheesedork. Thanks for introducing me to MLP, and thanks for being the first one to jump on board when I poked you and said, "Hey man, I wrote a fanfic you should read!" Understand, reader, that this occurrence had happened before. It just never turned out this successfully. So, CD, thanks for having faith.

As a matter of business, Cheesedork will be my proxy during my absence. The business of this account, as well as the story "The Stranger and Her Friend", are under his supervision. Talk to him if for some reason you have to.

Thanks to a bunch of other people I just know I have missed. If I have forgotten, know that it was not intentional. I appreciate absolutely everyone's effort.

Lastly, thanks to you, dear reader, for sticking through with me. I am sorry I was not able to finish my tale, but who knows? Maybe I'll have even more people vying for its continuation when I come back, and if that is the case, then I will happily do so.

Well... this is it. I have to go now. I loved this fandom, and I can't wait to see it again.

God be with you till we meet again, reader.

This is approximately where my mind is right now.

Anyways, the next chapter is done. I can't vouch for it's quality because it's friggin' 5am, but we'll see what a good night's rest and editing process does to it.

Love ya.

*dies*

Gotta do this fast.

As you may or may not be aware, "XXV: Drop Shock" was an extremely long chapter that left off on a very unfinished, cliffhanger-y note. The next chapter is in the works, but I may not get it done before Tuesday. I have a LOT of things to do before then, and today is essentially the last day I will have to write. I think I'll be able to do it -- I pray to God I will -- but I feel it appropriate to prepare you for the worst. Please understand, I am just so extremely busy right now.

"XXVI: The Stranger", coming to a fimfiction near you. Probably.

Now excuse me while I go write my farewell talk to give in church today. I have to give it in less than two hours. I haven't written a single word of it.

Ha, no. It's pretty freakin' close.

I am of course referring to both the completion of my story and the day I am scheduled to leave ("completion" here meaning a chapter that doesn't leave you fine folk on a cliffhanger the size of Texas).  I believe a few all-nighters are in order. Understand, this is something I do not normally do, as it shoots my creativity and motivation right down the crapper. If y'all can pray to your respective deities on my behalf (God, Allah, Buddha, Spongebob, and Carl Sagan are all eligible for this exercise), I would be mighty grateful. If you could, please mention strength, endurance, inspiration, and the swift action of ingested caffeine (which is, by the way, the absolute worst substance in the world). If praying isn't your thing, wishing luck is perfectly acceptable.

In any case, there are two or three chapters left. One of them is almost done, the other two have yet to be written. Thought I should let all y'all know the situation, and the fact that I'm doing the best I can to, as a dear friend of mine accurately described, "not suck".  

You know, I really shouldn't be blogging under the effects of sleep deprivation. Ahhh, I'm just gonna delete this oh no my mouse is heading towards the post button NO MOUSE NOOOOO

No deep thoughts here. Just have a happy holiday, everyone. Make it worthwhile.

Love ya, guys!

Remember rule #1: "Organize before they rise!" Or just "Cardio", depending on which ruleset you're going by. In any case, watch out for zombie pones!

(Yes, the Mayan calender predicted zombies. No, I did not fact check.)

It is a widely known fact that while food, water, shelter, fuel, and the occasional weapon are necessary to survival, adorable fanart is also an absolute must. Stock up on your d'awwww now, dear readers, for the end times are upon us. Take, for example, Neeko48, who is doing her part to keep the human race going strong.

I feel better already! Thanks, Neeko!

The most graceful blog title in the world, I know. It's all I could come up with after that wonderful eight hour car ride.

Oh yeah, about that: I was out of town for the past few days, and I came back to a metric buttload of notifications. I've responded to a couple of them, but generally only the direct questions. Normally, I would absolutely gush at all the support, but at the moment I just don't even know what to say, and I'm afraid that if I tried right now, my tired brain would make me sound like a blithering idiot. Just know that I did indeed see all of my comments and PMs and I appreciate every last one. Seriously. Thanks guys.

Alright, now I'm going to bed before I do something stupid like make a let's play with my best friend/editor.

Wait.

Crap.