Update to Stallionverse (and MGS too, I guess) · 11:20am Aug 31st, 2017
I haven't done a blog post in a while, nor did I give you guys any updates on progress on any of the stories I'm doing. So here goes the obligatory "where in the blood heck was I all this time". The answer is- work. Unlike for most people, vacations is a busy, busy time for me, especially when the owner (not me) picks it as a time to spend a few weeks with his family (to be fair, he earned it). This left me with little time to write, read or do anything else, and whenever I have free time other things take precedence. Not talking about anything important, just other hobbies take priority over writing fan-fiction, which I'm not nearly as obsessed with as I used to be back in the day.
To put a few things to rest:
Magical Girl Sunny chapter 18 is currently being written at a snails pace, but I'm getting there. I expect around 8 or so chapters until the story is over. That's when I was going to announce if there will be a sequel or not, but I can tell you that right now- no, there won't be. Not because I don't want to tell the story- oh god, I so want to, but I know my own strength and I know I won't be able to do it properly. Mostly because what I have planned for future would take a looooooooooooong time. To put it in perspective: if current Magical Girl Sunny could be adapted to a 13 episode series, the sequel would be a whooping 52 episode giant, a'la Kamen Rider or Precure seasons. I wish I could. I might do a blog post with synopsis for all the plans I had for the future, but that will have to wait until I'm done with the current iteration.
Speaking of not being able to do stuff, there's another thing that needs to be put to rest. You knew it, I knew it, but it has to be said out loud and it hurts me more than you think:
Stallionverse is over.
I had plans for it. Tons of plans. But I can't get to writing it anymore and what few of you loyal fans there still are, I thank you for your patience and I am truly ashamed to disappoint you. As of today, here's what's been in works for Stallionverse:
-Sunny,Moonie, Twily- next chapter is 95% complete and I've been striving to finish it for YEARS now. That was part 2 of Sunset's origin, out of planned 4. I will try my best to finish it anyway and slap a "Complete" tag on the story for the sake of closure, to make it more appealing to newcommers.
-Joke's on Them- the next in the main line of Stallionverse has 2 and 1/4 chapters done and no progress done since, I think, 2015.
Nothing else is being currently worked on, at least not on my part. I will let Eyeswirl speak for himself if he had anything on his mind or currently in works. If he still wishes to write something, he has all of my blessings and support to do so.
...depressing, right? Here's some silver lining (not sure if I can call it that). I have a ton of ideas and no motivation or time to write them all, but I can't just abandon them altogether! So, what am I supposed to do?
There is something I can do.
See, past few months I have been an avid listener to The Letters Page, a podcast about my favorite card game of all time- Sentinels of the Multiverse. It's card game where players each take a superhero and cooperatively fight a selected villain. I highly recommend it, it has a great adaptation on steam, mac os and android. The games of Sentinel comics (yes, there is more than one) are set in a fictional world that's not related to Marvel, DC or any other known universe and it seems like a cheap knock-off at first... until you start looking at the (badly drawn at first, but better with each expansion) art, flavor texts, background notes and little tidbits here and there. All of a sudden it becomes a very compelling, if not the most original story that the two creators clearly put A LOT of heart into it. Huh, sounds like what we do on this site. The only catch was, that the tidbits was all there ever was and no story was ever told completely. Until that podcast, which tells us everything in details, including those that were never told, as well as answer the questions sent by viewers. I can honestly say that it's the thing I am most excited about every week and I wonder what other lore there is about my favorite characters, or which of the characters I didn't care about suddenly gained a ton of depth that couldn't be shown on a 40 card deck. I love every episode released.
The downside is that this podcast is ONLY for fans of the game. If you listen to it without having played the game a couple of time, then you'll be lost and confused as all hell.
I think you're starting to see where I'm going with this. No, I don't want to start a podcast, but I can do something like that in a written form! I mean, making a 50k words long story takes effort, thought, editing, rewrites and a ton of time. Making a 2-4k long synopsis straight out of my head, with little rhyme or reason, describing a books plot, with plotholes, lacking details, to you? I can do that easily!
Is it as good as a full story? Hell no. Will I be able to tell you about all the secrets you never discovered? Yup. Is it better than nothing? Probably. And if someone wants to use those ideas, it wouldn't be plagiarism because, a) a story isn't there; b) I give you all my blessing to do whatever you want with it. And there are a TON of things that were in the lore of Stallionverse since day 0 that I never explained. Including Doctor's secret. And it's not what you think it is.
I will start working on some of them and put them on the forum as they're done. Just do keep in mind that those are raw, unpolished and incomplete ideas.
Long post is long, I think I said enough. I am once again sorry to be the bringer of sad news and I hope you will stick around anyway.
Hava a cute Sunbutt Prime to ease the pain:
I haven't had anything Stallionverse-related in the works either, but here are the notes I haven't really touched in the last couple years, other than this recent update for intelligibility. Some of it is probably out of date by now.
Trixie singing a parody of Trix Up My Sleeve in suggestive tones/flank wiggling to distract a bar of thugs, Moondancer sitting casually at a table, none of them noticing her, as she ogles the show until Sunset and Twilight pull her along with them.
The trio meeting Luna, who may still be too ashamed to go out in public. let alone meet her sisters' favorites without something to hide her real face. This allows for demonstration of trust or something like that when they learn the truth, not telling anyone as long as she isn't comfortable coming out yet, +Moondancer's 'besties with a princess' dance.
J.A.A. Hoofenburg (the guy that fancy learning center was named for) was an eccentric genius, wanted all ponies to know stuff, talk about stuff, think about stuff, maybe even learn stuff! The J.A.A. was a title he made up that nopony but his closest friends ever dared question. It was his idea of a joke on pretentious titles, "It stands for Just Ask Already!" both for what his title meant and for the sake of questioning to learn.
On a sidenote- a chapter where they found out nopony is asking them out is because they think they're a couple (and nopony wants to mess with Sunset Shimmer) would be hilarious. Especially the part where Moondancer tried to set up a few potential dates for them, after which everything goes out of control.
Thought about a chapter in which Moondancer doesn't feel she's on the same level as Sunny and Twily, but buries those feelings with everything she's got. They're both smart and focused, and while she isn't stupid, she knows she isn't going where they'll be in ten years. They'll get tired of her, they'll forget about her, they'll get rid of her. Still, that's just what her mother is going to do, right? Might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
(She doesn't know that Marble Magnanimity would sooner burn down Canterlot than see her live more than a day's trip away, but her doubts about her mother and her friends might still have to be banished with something more than words, some show by both parties that they really do care about her as much as she really does care about them. Lesson of not being intimidated by the success/prowess of others, especially friends, maybe?
If they ever talked to smarmy nerds again, I had the vague idea of somepony making a King Sombra reference in a Godwin's law kind of way, the respective Maresketeer slapping it down mercilessly. ("And I'll thank you not to diminish an entire kingdom being enslaved, repressed, and wiped off the map just to save face.")
Slightly tragic idea: Trixie meets Applejack. Family-oriented farmer talks philosophy with family-hating technical loner, who argues that families like hers, farmers and laborers, workforce families in general, only stick together because they have it harder than wealthier families, that they have to work hard and stick together to get by, and that she respects them for this.
AJ nods, but then Trixie says that their situation, having so much work to do together? That's the real reason they're as tight-knit as they are, that familial love has nothing to do with it. AJ objects, but Trixie goes on, saying that if they didn't have it hard, if they didn't have to support each other like they do, they bloody well wouldn't, that the daily struggle of all the work they have to do is the real source of their unity; the knowledge that they can't do it all and keep their way of life if they don't, and that it's easier to think they love each other that much than to admit they're stuck together, daring Applejack to prove her wrong. (for her sake as much as AJ's)
Whether or not she actually can, I have no idea.
Peachbottom does stuff. Why? The world may never know. The original plan was to use her as a root for a bigger, overarching plot, maybe working for a bad guy, maybe working for no one but herself, but secretly doing something that would have built on all her past appearances. Unfortunately, neither I nor Jetto actually had anything in mind for her, so her semi-plot-thread-thing was kind of a waste. Oh, well.
And of course, siren ideas:
We talked a bit about the Maresketeers going through the mirror for some reason, meeting the Dazzlings, and shenanigans ensuing, but while nothing came of it, I had ideas about their interactions with our heroines.
Adagio (in a pervier interpretation) might have worked as a dark parallel to Moondancer, in that one does what she does for the enjoyment of all involved, the other only for herself.
---
Moondancer stared back at the fluffy seductress with something between amazement and pity. "You... you never cuddle, do you?"
Adagio scoffed. "Why would I bother with something so juvenile?"
Moondancer smiled, holding out her arms welcomingly and with only a hint of a waggle to her eyebrows. "I'd be happy to show you!"
"Not on your life."
---
(Moony tries to convince her that it's a shame she doesn't want to make full use of her talents, despite Adagio not being crazy about her fluff.
---
"You've got the biggest, softest, cuddly-wuddliest hair-do I've ever seen!"
"Rrgh!"
---
She might have actually worked as a dark reflection of all three; a sort of hedonist that indulges solely for herself (not that she's ever the only one enjoying it) for Moonie, a cold, ambitious mastermind for Sunny, and an obsessively, insanely protective sibling for Twily. Explanations below!
All three Maresketeers could have eventually seen her do something not unlike what they'd have done, only a little further down the Dark Side, someone pointing out resemblance, and the relevant unicorn thinking "Is that what I look like...?")
The sirens might not have bickered as much in this iteration*, because I had the thought that Adagio cares deeply for her sisters (because they'd have been siblings here), but in a "I don't care who I have to hurt for our benefit" kind of way, making Twilight wonder how far she'd go for her own brother.
*Then again, Aria and Sonata might have mirrored Twilight and Sunset bickering with each other. Their arguments with each other might have been harsher, even if they love each other deep down, but I'm not sure if that'd have worked at all.
Backstory for this could've been that in their society, the best and strongest were kept to carry on stronger genes or whatever while weaker bloodlines(?) were purged/sacrificed. However, as good (that is, powerful and clever) as Adagio proved to be, she loved her baby sisters too much to ever think about parting with them, so when the time came for sacrificing the weak, Adagio determined her parents to be weaker than her, and as their part in passing on their legacy through her was already done, sacrificed them in Aria and Nata's places, along with anyone that got in her way.
They used the enhanced power to make/strengthen the gems and break free, beginning their reign on the surface. Whether Aria and Nata know the full story or not (they at least have to know that their own parents were going to sacrifice them), Adagio shows no sign of regret.
Hearing of the sacrifice may have horrified Twilight for a number of reasons, chiefly making her again ask how far she'd go, and how far her brother would go for her.
Where Trixie shows a brighter trait as one of each Maresketeer (magic, ambition, lovey-cuddliness), Adagio would be the dark side of all three. Not sure how they'd interact if they ever met, but with what happened in Rainbow Rocks...?
Aria and Nata I like just being Aria and Nata, but the boneheads (Nata and Moonie) might get along if it isn't Twily trying to get through to a remarkably dense Nata (because I love the mental image of Twily patiently trying to teach Nata things) and Aria snarking at things with Sunset.
That said, while Dagi is viciously protective of them, the real monsters come out if someone makes her cry, those two (when working together) proving far more vindictive and dangerous (not as crafty with their vengeance, but far more brutal, probably just outright mauling the culprit) when their big sister is hurt. Partly because Dagi is usually just so calm and collected, so cool and in control, that it's a worryingly rare thing in the first place.
If they wound up losing their power after their first(?) conflict with the Maresketeers, the sirens may have found that being beautiful with little power or means of defending themselves isn't much fun, often getting swamped just as much as Twilight does, only fully aware of it and unable to make it go away. Adagio might be able to vaguely direct the hoard, but probably can't exert absolute control all the time, even with Aria's glares and Nata's psycho-stares backing her up.
Maybe at the Battle, Moonie's team would have done something to show the sirens that they can be adored without forcing it, something that makes them pause and actually reconsider the whole magical rulership thing. If so, they could have kept the gems, but found they actually like this new thing, so they quit feeding on negative energy and return to Equestria in a sort of Don't Worry, We've Got An Eye On Them parole thing worked out with Celestia (whether she remembered anything about the sirens or not).
And then, some day, they're present for a big fight between friends, the air brimming with negative energy...
Or such might have been interesting, but we never got that far.
Yikes. That's depressing news. Better than a straight blackout I guess.
It's a shame but it has been very long since you posted anything so it shouldn't come as a surprise even though I didn't expect it.
I am sorry that I was not able to add any thing to the story but it got hard to work on the Bible and the stories while keeping it Cannon to your universe but I am sorry that it is over I did like to try and work on it thank you for trying to make something more.
Trust me, I can completely understand. Inspiration is NOT easy to come by and real world concerns must come first. I mean, I enjoyed the ride while it lasted, but if you feel like the time has come to end it, well, I completely respect that it's your call.
Thanks anyway for the Stallionverse, it was a lot of fun while it lasted.
...And thus the declining quality of the show claims another victim.
While I can't say I'm surprised, I am at least glad you respect us enough to let us know and plan on at least giving us something as a sendoff, so props to you for that.
I know its been a while since this blog post but im still super excited for more MGS!
I understand your reasons and I miss that universe, it's sad it's over but I know you still are needing to go on and continue your life. Well, I have to say, you are the first one who made me like Blue Blood, and his alternative stories. While I miss that kind of fiction everyday, I hope the future will be shine for you. Thank you for that amazing stories.