First Blog Post - Little of Everything · 3:11pm Mar 26th, 2016
Hey everyone,
So, this is my first ever blog post. I have no idea what I'm doing. Not sure why I'm even doing it to be honest. 
But, here we go. I'm going to give a little info of what I've done with this account here.
First and foremost, my stories. Currently only one is available. A Terrible, Wonderful, Living Dream is full of surprises! Discord's facing trouble, AJ's having problems, (Is the farm in trouble? Boy trouble? A secret?) A princess is having a birthday, there's a surprise guest, and a little starry-eyed mare gets a fresh start on life. However, this fresh start comes with some old troubles. Nightmares are keeping up more than just her. Unlikely alliances arise, secrets are revealed, mysteries brought to light, and so. Much. More.
(Honestly it's better than it sounds. I just suck at these shortened descriptions...)
However, you have to read to find out more. Chapter three went up two days ago, and chapter four is set to be released on my birthday next month. (23rd.) Currently it is sitting at 16k words but we will break 23k when chapter four is released.
On a side note, yesterday I hit a cute number. 313 reads, 13 likes, and 3 dislikes. Check it! Literally cut off the first number to get the next! Really wish I knew why the dislikes were there though. I don't care that there are dislikes, I just wish I knew why. Can't improve if nobody tells me what's wrong. =/ I have more reads today, so this is now the only reminder of that neat little moment.
As for the background to the story itself, it's as simple as this: A friend of mine is addicted to MLP and reading. She complained there were no good fanfics out there, and had before said I was a really good writer, so I decided to surprise her with a decent story. I watched a few episodes and this idea just popped up, thus ATWLD was born. Now I'm starting into my own little obsession, hence why I am now a part of fimfiction. I admit I'm hobbling along since I haven't seen very much MLP yet (thanks college...) but I'm hoping to get some more episodes in over summer. My friend is in love with this story. 
Anyway, so would you like to meet a few faces you'll be seeing? 
This is Little Star, or better known as Estrella. She is my OC from A Terrible, Wonderful, Living Dream. Awfully pretty, huh? I know it's not the best picture, but she is one of the first MLP characters I made, both story and design-wise so I knew she wouldn't be perfect. I'm only just learning, after all. Keep an eye out for when Rarity makes her a dress!
For the most part, the rest of the characters are normal or background from the show, but we will have a surprise guest pony! One of my friend's OC's will be making an appearance later on! Keep an eye out for that.
That's it for my first story. Now, my second one is technically not started yet. I want to get further in ATWLD first. But I do have this little darling. 
This is Nagas Tear, better known as Naga. She's an explorer with a thing for dragons and a thriving trade shop. However, being an Earth pony, she needs a little help. Cue in Brave Heart, a pegasus with too much guts for glory. This character is actually a friend's, so I do not have a picture for him. Sorry. I am also looking for a unicorn to complete the little trio. (Somepony has to watch the shop while Naga is out and about!) I will figure that out when I get to the story, however, which will be placed after the mane 6. Again, made for/with a friend. Someday I'll have my own. XD And again, not the best picture, I know. She's my second. I feel I did a lot better on her design, however, and am quite proud of her. Her body color may change in the future, however. I just haven't found the perfect color for her yet.
Edit: Her body color is now a burnt orange, and I rather like it that way. I believe this will be her permanent recoloration.
Next is Quest. 
This darling was made for Wondershy101. I'm not sure what she did after that, however. You'd have to ask Wondershy.
Last but certainly not least, (that I remember of - I'm running on 4 hours of sleep) a family photo. 
This is the happy family of Sunset Shimmer, Shamrock Clover, and their three, soon to be 4 fillies. Cinnamon Drop (middle) and Sweet Pea (right) are twins and Poinsettia (left) is the baby of the family, for now. Lilac, filly #4, will be coming soon! The two dogs are Clementine and Gizmo. All except Sunset are Shamrock Clover's OC's.
There's a couple little Easter eggs in this picture. I'll give you the first one. The family picture hanging on the wall, I have to throw a huge shout-out to _Vids_ for creating that one and letting me put it in mine!
The other three are simple as this: The three girl's cutie-marks-to-be are hidden around the room. Can you pick them out? If so, please go to Shamrock Clover's page and post the filly's names and what their marks are!
This picture I am extremely proud of. As you can tell, it's the first one I've made a background for and it has the most characters in it. This one took 6 full days to create, and it was well worth it. The webpage shrinks the image, but it's actually less than 1/4th of its original size. Now that's a big picture!
Note: On all pictures, I may have used references like for the wooden walls of the family picture or otherwise named things that I used inside of a picture (unless super obvious like Quest's name being cut out from a mountainside) but otherwise these pictures I did myself. And I am improving! I'm currently working on another picture, which I hope to post later on.
Edit: I have another picture to add! This one is for Malozi's next story, The Chess Masters, which will tie into WOTH. Seriously, you have GOT to read it! It's awesome! I am beyond incredibly thrilled I got to make this for him!
I apologize for the length of this, but there's a lot to cover. I promise they'll be shorter after this.
Thanks for reading! I have no idea what the tag line is for, but otherwise I think this sucker's good to go! Have a lovely day everyone.
You know, you can use the [page_break] to make the post smaller. If you put it near the top (but not at the top, because it'll make people want to read further into the blog post if you give em a little something to read) then it gives a "read more" button. It will then show the entirety of the blog, instead of having a super long post on your user page. You can find an example in my list of blogs. Specifically, "Breeding in Ark."
Edit: Knew I was forgetting something, so the tags are there for something like those dang hashtags (it's a number sign!) those kids are using nowadays. The 'tagged story' line is for you. If you click on it, you can provide a link to your story, or let people know that the blog is for the story. If I make a story, then have a blog post that tags the story (example: Story: Wrath of the Harbinger) people who have the story in a bookshelf and have the "View Tagged Blogs" option turned on, then any/every blog post you have that tags the story (like ATWLD) will show up in people's feeds.
Because you're not allowed to include links to mature stories on this site, it's also a fantastic way to include a link to mature stories without breaking site rules.
3830553 Thanks! The page break is a big help for sure. Think I got it working.
It's a number sign, not a hashtag. That irks me so much. -_- But at least I know what the tag line is for now!
This post isn't all about my story, but should I still tag it? I linked it several times.
Thanks for all the help again!
3830753
I'm not the only one who refers to them as number signs! It's called a number sign or pound button, not a hashtag!
You don't need to tag the story, since the blog post does not focus on that story and you still provide a link anyway. Unless something like a large development, or a new chapter is being posted, then you can tag a story in a blog post. Well, that's probably the best reason to do so, but there's nothing stopping you.
3830776 Yay! I'm not alone in the hatred of the hashtag!
Thanks for the advice. ^-^