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Estee


On the Sliding Scale Of Cynicism Vs. Idealism, I like to think of myself as being idyllically cynical. (Patreon, Ko-Fi.)

More Blog Posts1258

Jul
6th
2017

Challenge: Turn A FIMFic Author/Reader's Name Into A Story · 8:42pm Jul 6th, 2017

So Windlife just posted a new story. And when it comes to his works, he and I have an odd sort of relationship. He... gets me thinking. Somehow, whenever I'm at one of his stories, something will click. His attempts to preemptively control his commentary section led directly to Post Negative Comments Only. His abject failure to do the research on a war story gave me a concept I haven't used yet: having Luna serve as script advisor on a movie about her own life.

Basically, whenever he pops up in the New column, I am there. Because no matter what he's done, somehow, it sparks me. He is, perhaps, not the standard choice of muse, but -- whatever works.

However, in this case, he put up a piece which has Donald Trump dying through assassination and turning up in Equestria, where everyone keeps calling him Celestia. And -- well, I've been entertaining thoughts of a story about Canterlot's mayoral race for quite some time. You even saw Mr. Rich mention his cousin Dubiously in Barnyard Barge-Ins. So in this instance, the base idea doesn't give me anything which I didn't already have.

Still... I don't have a title yet. Titles and opening lines can be the hardest parts. But despite all the hot air which might be blown around in a political story, it's not as if I can just take Windlife's name and turn it into the title --

-- and here's the challenge.

Choose the name of at least one FIMFic member. (If inspiration truly hits, you can go with as many people as you like.) Then, treating their name as your story's title, write a short description of that story. Additional details are fine. Summaries? No problem. What can you do with someone's local name? What kind of stories does that name suggest? Inspiration is everywhere.

However...

IF YOU DECIDE TO WRITE THE STORY, CONTACT THAT MEMBER FIRST AND SECURE THEIR PERMISSION BEFORE DOING SO. THIS IS NOT MEANT AS A SOURCE OF PERSONAL ATTACKS. THIS IS SIMPLY USING NAMES AS TITLES AND SEEING WHAT RESULTS.

Got it?

Good.

Commence imagining.

Report Estee · 1,436 views ·
Comments ( 86 )

Oh, please, somebody pick me.

This could certainly turn out some interesting results. :trixieshiftright:

Estee #4 · Jul 6th, 2017 · · ·

4594001

"Ανδρέας κοινωνικής!"

Even with the implication rapidly sinking in, Twilight took a moment to be impressed by minotaur reflexes. It wasn't just any parent who could react to the first syllable of the foulest curse known by getting their hands over their child's ears during the tiny pause before the second.

4594002

Lever Dasher: After Rainbow's near-constant flight altitude variance puts her one accident over the line, the mayor becomes fed up and legislates a series of air paths throughout Ponyville, confining virtually all pegasus flight to narrow pathways which move at a fixed height.

Issues ensue.

Is anyone interesting in Troubleshooter? I'm sure anyone could take a name like that and write an epic heroic blockbuster.

4594007
HA! Oh man, I'd love to see someone try that. Actually, can I snag that description and give it a shot? Only problem is, I feel like that would defeat the point of the challenge if you use your own...

This forces me to ask: What the heck is an Estee? Is it a butterfly? I'm assuming it's a really grumpy butterfly that reads all the time- Ooo, I think I have a kids book now!

4594009

All yours. Just credit the original concept & Challenge to me in order to redirect any potential downvotes.

And look at it this way: you just gave yourself permission to use yourself, so the worst which can happen is that you wind up having a falling out with yourself, sue yourself in court, get a restraining order against yourself, and you never see yourself again.

(On-ramps? Off-ramps? Clouds molded into air traffic signs? Friendship Castle: Next Twenty Exits.)

4594011
sooo so many jokes I could say..... probably nothing funny mind you.

Rainbow Double Dash

Being the fastest pony in Equestria was getting just a bit dull for Rainbow until an accidental dip in the duplicate pool resulted in the creation of a twin. Now the two of them prepare for the race of the century to decide just who is the better Pegasus.

Web browsers and their suggestions mean that Estée Lauder in Equestria is what immediately sprang to mind.

Hypothetical plotline: Ms Mentzer (her maiden name) stumbles through the mirror portal and is inspired to become a saleswoman by a mare waiting for an audience with Celestia (this mare later becomes Flim and Flam's grandmother).

4594016

:rainbowderp::rainbowhuh::rainbowlaugh:
Oh my god, so many possibilities... And you practically handed them to me...

Just credit the original concept & Challenge to me in order to redirect any potential downvotes.

I absolutely would have credited you either way, but yes, the downvoting is kind of what concerns me, due to the potential for drive-by downvoters, but eh. I need a way to break my writer's block. Maybe this'll be it. Thanks!

And I'll make sure I check myself before I wreck myself and become so annoyed at myself that I do something drastic against myself and never forgive myself. :trollestia:


4594026
Hey, that sounds good!

Saw the fic, posted a fairly positive comment... and got it deleted before I could edit it. He's fast.

Anyway, to the challenge!

Georg - Blown into Equestria by a massive server explosion, an elderly computer professional finds himself trapped in the body of a rabbit. Then again, it's not all bad. He has a pegasus who treats him like a pampered pet, an entire yard full of terrified creatures who do whatever he tells them, and as many carrots as he can eat. Then again again, the hugs he gets are a little intense, and why does she keep calling him George?

It looks like mine is already a thing.
(shrink = psychiatrist, laureate = to royalty)

4594031

In looking at Windlife's most recent Comments section, I see -- deletion lines. Lots and lots of deletion lines. Including ones where the comments had been made by Georg and TheMajorTechie.

What did you say?

(Edited to turn this into a direct reply to Georg, as he posted his above while I was still writing this.)

4594035 i literally said "potato" to reflect my current avatar.

Dear Estee-med Writer
A. K. Yearling has been annoyed about readers complaining that they don't like where her plots are going for a while now. So for her new book, she posts an announcement: Ponies can write her, and she's going to write exactly what the readers want, to the letter. With the twist that she prints the addresses of those who have written her so ponies complain to each other about plot developments instead of complaining to her.

And thus, Equestria gains the words 'flame wars' for its dictionaries.

(That Double Dash Story sounds really cool, I'd read that)

>When your username is LITERALLY based on your first Great Work so you already HAVE most of the story...

If there was a story based on my username it would have to break it up somehow. Somehow a title that ends in a number doesn't have a lot of appeal.

EonAon sounds like the name of an old scifi fantasy trilogy.
To turn that into a mlp fic... I think it would be a big epic story that involves complex international politics and the mane six going around the world to different countries. They really could be a special task force, set to diffuse tensions before they can get big and ugly.

Kai Creech could involve a big martial arts tournament that Rainbow Dash gets it into her head to join so of course that means AJ has to tag along to make sure she doesn't kill or permanently maim herself anyone else.

I think Estee would be a cool title for a thriller starring Rarity, who accidentally stumbles onto a dark conspiracy in the underside of Canterlot. She starts receiving encrypted messages written in some strange code that she has to start unraveling.

I am legit currently working on a story with the working title Pegasus Rescue Brigade. And if I get permission, I'm leaving that as the final title.

... having Luna serve as script advisor on a movie about her own life.

Oh, please write this! :pinkiegasp:

I dunno, but the name "Windfire" brings to mind the time-honored tradition of lighting one's farts... for some strange reason. :pinkiehappy:

Not my own concept and idea, but I choose to believe that one day Monochromatic saw The Princess Rarity's username and things just spiraled out of control from there. :moustache:

While not an entire story, one username and corresponding user picture ( https://www.fimfiction.net/user/171547/Twi-Fi ) did give me a plot point currently sitting in unpublished drafts:

"...the various marketing teams of Sparkle Valley corporations had given the world Twi-Fi (tm), Twilyportation (tm), and Twilipedia (tm), and had come uncomfortably close to offering Electronic Entwilightenment (tm pending) before the Princess finally put her hoof down and issued a decree on the subject of Her Name, Use Of."

4594051 Clearly, you need a story about the leader of a fleet of baked goods-based ships that sail along a gravy sea.

4594037

Judging by the most recent deletion, you may be onto a bad topic. Try talking about rice.

Thought Bubble, billed as "Equestria's best audience," was as beloved by artists of all kinds as he was despised by his fellow critics. He always had a kind word for every creation, no matter the medium or form. Even when he hesitantly mentioned flaws, he seasoned the criticism with plenty of complements.

His first words upon entering Carousel Boutique were "It's all very... cute."

They never found the body.

4594011
That's what I assume. There's a reason one particular Equestrian worldline is known as "the cyncial butterfly dimension" in my stories.

4594068
I’m eating pina colada ice cream.

It iz gud.

Must... resist... urge... to... use... self...

Not... resisting... well...

4594073

*googles "cynical butterfly dimension"*

Well, look at that. Unique result. :facehoof:

4594051

Twist: the Pegasus Rescue Brigade actually rescues pegasi.

4594085

Dropping... into... Kirby... dialogue...

Must... take... ten... minutes... to... complete... one... sentence!

So whoever picks shortskirtsandexplosions will probably hit the feature box... just saying.

PresentPerfect
Author Interviewer

The one that springs immediately to mind is UseFistNotMouth.

And all I can think of for it is "Griffon/Minotaur with a talent for elocution gets into a heated philosophical debate with another of their kind, it comes to blows, and they have to wonder if debasing themselves that way proves that their kind truly is as barbaric as everyone says.

4594053
"I-I Saw..."

A pony tries to give their first-hoof account of a horrible accident. Which would be hard enough as it is; too bad they also have a terrible stammer!

I got nothin'. :B

4594051
Equestria' navy had never seen anything like it before. A ship made from pure cookie dough. A formidable weapon from the mind of Equestria's newest military strategist, Admiral Biscuit.

King of Beggars
A chronicle of the Canterlot bureaucracy's attempts to evict a resourceful hobo as he refuses aid or offers of shelter, wishing to keep his title. After all, Canterlot is where the country keeps all the royalty, right?
Featuring Blueblood being Blueblood, Trollestia, and repeated Twilight logic bombing.

4594001
Andy Soshal, the controversial story of a man who was ironically, anti-social.

I call Super Trampoline

4594173
Super Trampoline.

The story of an Earth Pony who sought ever-greater heights.

4594167
THERE IS NO IRONY IN IT.

IRONY AND SELF-DEPRECATION ARE LOW-HANGING FRUIT.

4594178
Can it be Shakespearean tragedy? Those are still funny while being sad.

Very Trustworthy Rodent:
When Fluttershy can't find a replacement caretaker on short notice for her latest mission, watching over her animal friends falls to Angel Bunny. Surely she can trust him with them, and not to blow her limited funds on expensive salads. Right?

4594073:
Applejack wakes up to find all of her apple trees growing... carrots?
As she heads to Twilight's castle in Ponyville, to ask if her friend might know what's going on, more questions arise. Like, why are Rarity's latest designs dressing the pastries in Sugar Cube Corner? Or wasn't Rainbow Dash's cloud house right there just last night?-- and it's not like she'd be awake to move it this long before the late afternoon!
When she hears two familiar voices proclaiming the virtues of their newest contraption (to say nothing of seeing it*) and hears and feels that great rush of wind, she knows she doesn't need to ask Twilight to know what's going on. Now the question is, what's she gonna do about it?

*gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=9767&type=card

4594180
Has anyone done a displaced story where someone dresses up as the bard yet?

4594035 I believe (I'll try to quote here)

Story about Trump
Two pages of comments already
(gets popcorn)
This is going to be gooood.

4594092
Of course. Mudponies don't deserve to be rescued. :trollestia:

4594186
...good God, man, are you TRYING to start the next Apocalypse?

Hmm. Let's go for some less egotistical ones...

Verbose Mode: Wherein Big Macintosh labors under a compulsion to speak as much and as eloquently as possible.

Petrichord: The Cockatrice Aria was not named at random. Octavia learns this firsthoof.

themaskedferret: Fluttershy puts on a production of Zorro, with a mustelid in the starring role.

A British Gentleman: Low-powered Displaced story that is also the secret origin of Fancy Pants.

Orbiting Kettle: Luna scowled. "It is not your insisting that there be a tea set on Equestria's first space station that upsets me, Sister. What upsets me is that you took out everything else."

Celestia just smiled. Then she checked the clock, walked out to the balcony, and tilted back her head.

The tea should've been a diffuse cloud of vapor at this point. If nothing else, it should've arrived cold, and also at terminal velocity.

And yet, it was perfect.

I just sound like a cleaning product.
Though to get in on the fun...
Foal's Errand
Rarity asks Sweetie Belle to run a simple errand for her that shouldn't take more than a minute or two. Sadly, "shouldn't" rarely ever happen. What follows is a nigh endless quest filled a heartache, love, and a lack of chocolate ice cream.

Trick Question
Pinkie asks Twilight a question that has no right answer. Twilight becomes determined to find one.

Detective Fish
Equestria has just invented Television and it's most popular show is about a fish that is also a detective. Pinkie struggles to understand why.

Feel free to take my ideas and run far, far away with them.

Somebody do mine!

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