Story Notes: Tales from a Con · 3:39am Dec 1st, 2023
So we've finally reached the end of the app stories (at least on my end). Express your sorrow or happiness as appropriate.
Figure I ought to at least say something about the stories and the ponies.
I'm betting most of you will recognize these ponies; after all, I've used most of them before. My two goals, once I decided I was going to participate, were that I would use as many ponies as I'd used in previous stories y'all know and love; and I would try to write at least 31 stories (that way it counts as a one-shot-Ober in my mind).
I'll sprinkle a few cute pony pictures here and there, but don't expect a picture of every single pony in the stories, or else this'll take ages to load 
I'll also end with some stats 'cause everybody loves stats.
Of interest to the nerds who were at Ciderfest, I'll even tell you what form the hashtag took, if it's on the tracking sheet.
Oh, in case anyone is wondering about the number in front of each fic, that's the tracking ID that the devs used.
With that out of the way, here we go!
152 Mare at Work
#plumber, given out by Discord cosplayer
Starring Silver Spanner doing fountain maintenance. You might know her from Onto the Pony Planet, Silver Spanner gets her Cutie Mark, Silver Spanner, Journeymare, and The Pony Pull.
153 Hide and Seek
#hideandseek, random discoverable
Starring a bunch of cute fillies, including Noi, Dinky, Berry Pinch, and Cotton Cloudy--most of who you've seen in multiple stories, including Playing in the Park, Hearth's Warming Trepidations, Nightmare Night Sleepover, A Berry Merry Hearth's Warming and others. Cotton Cloudy is the filly who looks similar to Dinky who wags her tail when Twilight autographs a picture in the episode Trade Ya!
154 Hobo
#hobo, given out by Discord cosplayer and a N-scale covered hopper that Sky Railroad (the vendor) had.
The return of Sweetsong from Destination Unknown (the book was also for sale at the con!), this time hoboing her way across Equestria.
175 Lunch at Hayburgers
#screwy, random discoverable
Y'all know that I love Screw Loose (also appearing in Onto the Pony Planet, at least by mention) and I also work with developmentally disabled adults, so this kind of interaction is not uncommon for me. I will say that most civilians we've encountered out in the wild have been perfectly lovely and understand that the person I'm working with needs a little extra time.
176 Breaking Rudders
#orca, Riffponies had the code
It was enough of a meme this year I just had to include a fic with an aquatic creature breaking the rudder on a ship. Why? Why not. And let's face it, Princess Skystar is dumb enough to do this.
177 Fresh Coat
#paint, random discoverable
So far I haven't published a fic with Fresh Coat, although there's one I worked on for a while. She's adorable!
178 Anniversary
#anniversary, random discoverable
We've met Peachy Sweet and her husband Red before; they were in the OPP side story A Day at the Farriers and also Mares Complaining about 
. The two of them were also in one of my EFNW Iron Author entries with didn't win, but it's still a good story IMHO.
189 No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service
#taco, Ponytown
It wouldn't be an anthology of Biscuit stories without a pegasus going to Taco Bell. Velvet Light was voted 'most likely to be injured' by the tornado ponies; she's been seen in Silver Glow's Journal and Starbucks and you'll see her again when I publish my Scattered Pages story.
There were certain theme requirements for the app stories, and I can't believe the editors let me get away with this: "young kids—as you yourself once were—should have the benefit of imagination before the crushing reality of late-stage capitalism does its work."
190 Postgame
#buckball, Ponytown
Starring Aloha, Yuma Spurs, and Summer Breeze, all of who have played Buckball before. Even in one of my stories! Aloha is adorable:
191 Playing Dead
#opossum, Ponytown
This was inspired by seeing roadkill when I was on an outing with one of the guys, and some of the description of the area is identical to where I was at the time. Cloudy Kicks is from Equestria Girls; she was a member of Trixie's band and also looks a lot like the winningest pony, Cloud Kicker
192 Bathtime with Biscuit
#biscuit, Ponytown; also there was a hashtag added to the "Biscuit" patch on my top hat which at least one person found.
Sweet Biscuit is another background pony and I'm sort of obligated to occasionally use her in fics, just so I can throw in lines like "Shut up, Biscuit." Keeps my ego in check. She's also been in a buckball-themed fic of mine.
193 I Would Do Anything for Love
#guards!, Ponytown
Zoom and Thunder are the two guards from the G5 movie, and they've also appeared in one story of mine.
194 Different Tastes
#spicy, Ponytown
It wouldn't be right to not include some actual facts that you might not have known in a fic. Did you know that birds can't taste capsaicin? Now you do! If we assume hippogriffs have bird tastes, then they'd be able to use all the hot peppers they want in their cooking and they'd never get that pleasant or unpleasant (depending on your opinion) burning sensation.
199 Night Guard
#batpony, vendor (Amber/Flitterkriz)
Created by Present Perfect, Darknight Moonwing has the best name for a batpony (all batpony names contain either dark, night, moon, or wing; she got lucky and got all four!). While Night Guard is set in the present, I thought that an 80s vibe worked better for this story, hence the Dodge Diplomat police car.
207 Kat Korat
#tonawanda. vendor Thrack
Y'all know and love Sunbeam, who goes by the name Kat Korat. As silly as it sounds, Tonawanda is a real place in New York.
209 A Quick Dip
#poolparty, poster on one of the columns
I love Sonata Dusk, not only because she loves tacos. I wanted a few more down-to-earth stories, and this one fit the bill; it's got the usual high school drama, a mean girl, and a party. You can't get more realistic than that!
213 A Brush With Royalty
#turnip, vendor dashie
Until Comma Typer requested it, I'd never thought of pairing Hayseed Turnip Truck with Rain Shine (queen of the Kirin). An Unexpected Winter's Journey came out better than I imagined, and it just felt like the right pairing. I can say from experience that oftentimes those who have the least are the most generous.
I'm also fond of this line--when you tell your friends you've seen Rain Shine (queen of the kirin), and one of them replies "Her mane isn’t blowing in a nonexistant breeze, can she really be a queen?"
216 Making Preserves
#monster, vendor Dan
A Sam and Rose story. Bet you didn't catch that, did you? Yeah, the 'monster' is Sam. This one had to be re-written 'cause the first version didn't quite meet the rules for the stories ('you' weren't allowed to be a pony).
Cherry Jumble is the master of the Stockholm Syndrome smile.
217 Prom Date
#prom, vendor
Y'all may remember The Happiest Pony in Equestria. Cornflower isn't her; Cornflower is her daughter.
The customer of ours who inspired The Happiest Pony in Equestria passed away a while ago, and I was going to write a sequel to that story in her honor. I started it but never finished it for reasons, but it was going to involve Cornflower going to prom. This was a chance to write that story, at least in part.
218 For Want of a Nail
#harvesting, vendor
As mentioned above with Peachy Sweet, you've seen Lavender Fritter before in several of the same stories (A Day at the Farrier's and Mares Complaining about ). She's famously got lousy hooves, so shoes don't stay on as well as they should. Fact: depending on how and why they come off, losing a shoe can be anything from annoying to incapacitating to a pony.
Living in farm country as I do, I know that when it's time to harvest a crop, it's all hands (or hooves) on deck until it gets done. I can't tell you how many times I've seen farmers working well after dark bringing in their crops.
219 Stand By Me
#blueberries, vendor
Titled from the Richard Bachman short (The Body as originally published) and similar in theme. I had to re-write because 'you' couldn't be a pegasus [to sorta quote Estee, it's the internet and you can be whatever you want to be]. Citrine Spark is a student at the Friendship school.
220 Dare Ya!
#pennies, vendor
I don't think I've ever used the bully ponies from Flight Camp in a story before. Now I have!
In actual fact, if you put a penny on the tracks, most likely the train will squish it flat and maybe meld it into the rail. Less likely but possible it will turn it into a projectile. It will not derail the train. Still, don't do this; trains are dangerous.
224 Triage
#paramedic, vendor
Another Sky Sweeper story? Yes, please. I can't be sure I got all my Britishisms correct, but I think I did. Although in hindsight I pictured the driver on the wrong side of the car as I was imagining the scene. Besides the original Sky Sweeper story (Sky Sweeper, Flight Medic) being in one of the books I had for sale at the bookstore, there was a second bonus Sky Sweeper you've never seen before.
225 Princess Dreams
#onewish, vendor
I didn't mention that I had to beg to get Darknight Moonwing in the app--there was a rule that no OCs were allowed unless they were very fandom popular (maybe I could have gotten Bay Breeze approved), but I argued that people love batponies and there are no canon-named batponies, so. . .
As such, there was some pushback with Princess Erroria, but I pointed out that she was canon, and then one of the editors grumbled that she had more art than some official ponies.
226 Tealove's Tea Appreciation Tea Party
#tea, vendor
We all love Tealove, don't we? She was a toy-only pony, then she appeared in the comics for reasons unknown. While I haven't used her in a fic before (as far as I can remember), I did give a nod in the original version—rejected for too obvious drug references—to Cloud Chaser in Mongolian Horse Friction.
242 The Manehattan Automat
#sandwich, cosplayer Sunburst
Golden Delicious seems like the type of pony to say 'confound these newfangled gadgets.' In case you weren't familiar with the term, an 'automat' was a type of restaurant where your food came out of a vending machine. In fact, they're not all that newfangled at all; the first one opened in Berlin in 1895; the first in the US wasn't until 1902 in Philadelphia with machines from Berlin. While there aren't any automats left in the US as far as I know, the idea is still around in various forms, like Little Caesar's pizza lockers or whatever they call those things.
247 A Brush with Fame
#therecanbeonlyone, vendor
Sometimes an author writes a story just for them, and this one is it. Star Light is a major character in OPP; that was the fan name of a cheerleader pony until Starlight Glimmer came along, and her name got changed by the fans to Lucky Star.
250 Cinnamon Toast Crunch
#nirik, poster on a column near the bookstore/con store
There was no way I was going to go through this whole thing without Cinder Glow and her unnamed human roommate. Since I wanted to have some good morals in some of the stories and I'd listened to too many r/idon'tworkherelady stories (mostly DarkFluff, if you're curious), the original version involved unwanted petting and the results of trying that to a kirin. Understandably, it went too far for what was allowed for the app, so I re-wrote it to be more con-friendly, The original (unedited) version is in the anthology for your edification . . .
255 "If Rainbow Dash Can, So Can We."
#stuntflying, poster on a column
Remember when Pickle and Barley were stunt flying through the Baltimore Hyatt atrium? They're the adorable twins from Rainbow Roadtrip, and their enthusiasm almost makes up for their current lack of skill/experience.
263 Car Wash
#touchless, vendor Hibiscus Stich originally (I bought so many shoulder plushes from her), but she traded with a different vendor 'cause her plushes are touchable 
Bringing back Cinnamon and Harper! Of all my pairings, this is the one where there's far more written than has ever been published for various reasons, but they're an adorable couple. You've seen them in Spring Weather, and Cinnamon without Harper in Como Salsa por los Tacos.
I didn't do much research on car washes (although some do have memberships), so I don't know if they actually have attendants, but they probably do so someone responsible can hit the emergency stop button if required.
269 Albie
#albatross, vendor
Some years ago, people were clamoring for more story about filly Silver Glow and her plush albatross Albie. The chaos ending is the canon ending, in case you were wondering.
272 Stuck in the Mud
#stuck, vendor
Ending where I began, Ambrosia has also been called 'wall-repair pony' by readers of OPP. Getting stuck in the mud wasn't uncommon back in the wagon days (or even now, depending on where you live), and the psychology of getting out and asking for help sorta fits my Midwestern/Rust Belt experience.
And now for the data I promised! To keep the lines vertical (as much as FimFic will allow), endings that don't exist in that story will be XX or they might be 00 if I don't remember that that wasn't an ending for the story.
152..........H13.....V12.....C06..........31
153..........H43.....V15.....CXX..........58
154..........HXX.....V09.....C20..........29
175..........H01.....V00.....CXX..........01
176..........H02.....VXX.....C17..........19
177..........HXX.....V01.....C09..........10
178..........H16.....VXX.....C19..........35
189..........H05.....V00.....CXX..........05
190..........H05.....VXX.....C02..........07
191..........H01.....V00.....CXX..........01
192..........H04.....V02.....C03..........09
193..........H00.....V00.....CXX..........00.....(nobody voted on this one)
194..........H01.....VXX.....C03..........04
199..........HXX.....V09.....C29..........38
207..........H15.....V07.....C15..........37
209..........H47.....VXX.....C39..........86.....(most viewed, most hero)
213..........H35.....V19.....CXX..........54
216..........H20.....V09.....C12..........21
217..........H20.....VXX.....C20..........40
218..........H03.....VXX.....C13..........16
219..........H17.....VXX.....C12..........29
220..........H25.....VXX.....C15..........40
224..........H30.....VXX.....C20..........50
225..........H21.....V11.....C28..........60
226..........HXX.....V01.....C07..........08
242..........H31.....V19.....CXX..........50.....(most villain)
247..........HXX.....V06.....C12..........18
250..........HXX.....V18.....C46..........64.....(most chaos)*
255..........H08.....V05.....C12..........25
263..........H31.....V10.....CXX..........41
269..........H20.....VXX.....C20..........40
272..........H06.....V02.....CXX..........08
ends.........H26.....V21.....C23
_________________________________________
*note; due to overall outcome balance, story 250 (Cinnamon Toast Crunch) had its endings changed in the app to villain and chaos; this anthology has an earlier version with the hero/villain ending choices.
Outro! (one of my favorite Fresh Coat pics)
Aren't the hero endings supposed to be the canon ones by definition?
Haven't read this in detail yet, but a tip I can give is that if you want text columns that line up, you can use a code block to enforce monospace fonts (a font where every character has the same width).
For example:
255..........H08.....V05.....C12..........25 263..........H31.....V10.....CXX..........41 269..........H20.....VXX.....C20..........40 272..........H06.....V02.....CXX..........08 ends.........H26.....V21.....C23Edit: since the monospace font defaults to a bigger size for some reason, it may get wrapped on narrower/mobile screens. Oh well.
I found this out rather late in the process. Unless these got changed during an editing pass before being approved, several of my second person stories apparently got away with this: Wayward Mail, Bumble Buzz, Snowball Fight, and Disco Dash all have references to 'you' being a pony (or outright say it). I'm not sure if any of these got changed or not. The versions I uploaded on FimFiction are my copies, so they're the ones with ponies.
The concept has been brought back multiple times in the 2000s (most recently during covid-19). I think some of those are still functional, but it's certainly a novelty.
Three of mine had a whopping one vote each. Which was me. On your loaner phone.
Thanks for letting me borrow that so I could play along! Including my own stories, I think I managed to vote on about 80 or so total.
I'm still planning on reading all of the ones I missed. This was so much fun, and thankfully the fun doesn't have to end just because the con's over! I can't overemphasize how awesome this whole experience was from start to finish.
"It was enough of a meme this year I just had to include a fic with an aquatic creature breaking the rudder on a ship."
...That was a meme?
"While there aren't any automats left in the US as far as I know"
From a quick search, looks like they may be making a comeback, actually:
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/theyve-been-gone-for-20-years-but-now-automats-are-back-with-a-high-tech-twist/2852749/
https://www.restaurantware.com/blog/post/the_return_of_automat_restaurants/
"Sometimes an author writes a story just for them, and this one is is."
...?
Thanks for the good work you do!
(Though I've not at this time read all of those.)
5757404
Well, C.H.A.O.S. did win in the end, so if any of the factions is the one with the by-definition canon endings... :D
(I'm not sure why someone downvoted your post, though. Maybe someone treating the rivalry as less all-in-good-fun?)
5757512
The doubled "is" is (heh) an error, but the intent is presumably "this one is (a story just for me)."
5757404
Not necessarily. That wasn't a requirement, and I certainly didn't write all my stories that way (although because I'm me, I did tend to lean into Hero more than the other options).
5757405
It'd be easiest to use tab, but FimFic scrubs those when they're published. I don't know what kind of backend code they have or how I can work around it (or if I should try); I usually avoid special formatting just to prevent problems.
Probably could have used closer spacing between the columns and that would have helped, but it is what it is. Took me long enough to write the blog post, between sorting the data manually, getting used to a new keyboard, and doing math
It's good enough as is it IMHO.
5757417
There were several of mine that got away with it, too; I didn't know at first and most of my stories were set up with a pony protagonist. I think the one of mine they first noticed was where 'you' could fly. . ..
I did see some references to them coming back, but I don't know if any of them lasted. There are plenty of things that still exist that at least fall into the idea of automats; I certainly remember sandwich vending machines being a thing.
I'm not sure I voted on any of my own (or yours). Figured I had too much knowledge and it wasn't in the spirit of the con. Plus I had lots of other stuff going on.
I know, right? Besides the app stories, there's also still hundreds of thousands of words of other stuff to read
5757512
I think so. Maybe it was 2022 . . . anyway, a bunch of boats got their rudders broken by orcas for reasons only known to the orcas.
Maybe they will. There's certainly a case to be made for using an app-driven version of it, which I think is how Little Caesar's pizza lockers work. I don't know if it's a better idea than any of the other options that are available these days.
Heh, typo. Was supposed to say 'is it.'
5757816
Yeah, should've been 'is it,' and now it's fixed
5757816
5757849
Ah, thanks!
5757848
"I think so. Maybe it was 2022 . . . anyway, a bunch of boats got their rudders broken by orcas for reasons only known to the orcas."
...Huh.
Well, thanks.
"Maybe they will. There's certainly a case to be made for using an app-driven version of it, which I think is how Little Caesar's pizza lockers work. I don't know if it's a better idea than any of the other options that are available these days."
I don't know either.
"Heh, typo. Was supposed to say 'is it.'"
As above, thanks. :)
"
"
:)