Pulse Check · 10:32pm Jan 28th, 2023

Anyone still here?

Yeah, I'm still alive. Still working on some projects for you guys. I know it's been a while, and I let a lot of you down. I'm sorry about that, but there's not much I can do to rectify the situation short of actually releasing content which... Is slow going, frankly. Not a lot of time to write these days, and I mostly spend it on my other account. But, interestingly enough, I did write a tiny snippet over on my Discord server that would be perfect for her.

Y'all remember a story I wrote called Synergy? It was supposed to be the first in a "series" of writing exercises. I'd use a word-of-the-day calendar to get a random word, then write a story with that word at its core. Just on a whim, I somewhat revisited the idea, this time getting the word "paladin". I scribbled it out in a few minutes, and it's not really much of anything, but maybe you guys might be interested in giving it a peek. Here it is.

"How much further?"
Lady Raven Inkwell didn't respond right away, her attention focused on ascending the steep hill that she and her charge climbed. It had been weeks since the pair had last seen a town, even longer since they last slept in a proper bed. Raven's flail was heavy in her hand, her plate armor seeming to weigh more and more with each passing moment. And yet still, Lady Raven persisted, for that was her mission. God had chosen her, above all others, to deliver Priestess Celestia to Canterlot Sanctuary, and she would die a thousand deaths before she failed her holy rite.
"Just to the top of this hill," said Lady Inkwell. "We're nearly there."
"Lady Inkwell, I'm tired. And hungry," complained the Priestess. "Can't we please just stop and rest?"
"It's too dangerous. We must establish a camp before we can rest." Lady Inkwell tried to withhold her frustration. Though she called Celestia a Priestess, she was just a little girl. A girl who never asked for these blessings, these burdens. A girl who would need to grow up exceptionally quickly, lest her entire world fall to ruin. She at least deserved to whine about it a bit. "Surely you can hold out a bit longer?"
"My feet... They ache, Lady Inkwell." Celestia pouted slightly, tilting her head at her protector. Her paladin. The sigh from Lady Inkwell was not one simply of annoyance. Even at her young age, Celestia knew that Lady Raven was ashamed. "I... I can make it, Lady Inkwell. Forgive my outburst."
"Hm... Here." Lady Inkwell pulled her knapsack from over her back and carried it in her hand. She then crouched before her Priestess, offering the holy child her back. "Climb on. I will carry you to the precipice."
With a quiet thanks, Celestia clambered into her paladin, and Lady Raven marched up the hill. After a short spell of silence, the Priestess began to sing; a beautiful hymn floated from her mouth, a song older than her, older than Inkwell, older than the earth they stood upon. Celestia didn't know how she knew the words to the hymn, sang in a tongue long since dead. But Inkwell knew. This was God's voice, speaking to them through this girl. What a terrible honor.
"We're reaching the cliff," said Inkwell with a relieved sigh. "Finally, we can... Oh... Oh God..."
As they reached the apex of the hill, the pair could see the land that may before them. Flames. Ashes. Carnage. Piles upon piles of pestilent corpses. And scurrying amongst the chaos, through the decimated villages and charred farmlands, were daemons. Foul, unholy abominations, the very sort Inkwell had swore to eradicate. The very sort that had orphaned her poor Child of God. And more of them than Inkwell had ever seen before.
"Lady Inkwell..." The child's voice was heavy with fear, despair, dread. She knew what those vile beings were capable of, and she spoke not with fear for her flesh, but for her very soul. "There's so many of them... What do we do?"
Lady Inkwell set down her charge and looked out onto the landscape. More daemons than anyone had ever seen in one place stood between her and her goal, her voyage from God. And in that moment, Lady Raven Inkwell 's flail felt a bit lighter in her hand. Her plate armor more gentle against her flesh. She looked forward into the carnage not with fear, like her Priestess did, but with sheer, unwavering, unflinching conviction.
"We pray," said Lady Inkwell, gripping her weapon tightly. "We pray, and we fight. In God's name."

Anyway, IGO is still in progress, as well as Good Intentions, an Aria/Pinkie story called Sugar & Spice that I teased like 2 years ago, and a Vinyl/Octavia story I've been trying to write in some capacity since I was like 16.

See you soon, hopefully

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