2012: The Lemuracolypse - Part Four: Behold a Mint Horse · 11:14pm Jan 16th, 2018
2012: The Lemuracolypse
Part Four of Twelve - Behold a Mint Horse
Art by 2MaresReview
The topic of this fanfic came up rather naturally. SamRose was a regular audience-member of Spotlight's livestream. The two of them had a tongue-and-cheek "abusive" relationship, sorta like Enigmatic Otaku and the rest of the Barcast. Spotlight would throw several jabs Jake Heritagu's way, and vice versa, but in truth the two collaborated together on stuff. One such project was a legit brony-made Silent Ponyville Game.
Apparently, Spotlight had some part to play in the whole affair. While livestreaming, he would show us virtual assets that were being incorporated into the Vidya-Game-In-Progress. At some point, I must have asked something akin to "What's up with this Silent Hill / My Little Pony crossover?" And then Spotlight was like: "Wat. Skirts, guy, you haven't read this? Well, have a gander, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan."
He then proceeded to let me listen in on the work of writing as it then existed:
The author, SamRose was hanging out on the Livestream at the time, and I suspect that he was pleased-as-a-peach for another semi-established brony writer to be listening in on his work. But I doubt he--or any other marsupial for that matter--realized just how brooding and surly I had become on the heels of Petra Arc's second subsequent conflagration.
This would be a very good time to interject with a seemingly random factoid: Silent Ponyville is featured on Equestria Daily. Back then, EqD had a rating system. They gave published fanfics one-to-five stars, and would then use the rating as a tag so people could look up all fanfics that fell into their own specific brand of "quality." Silent Ponyville was one of the few fics that managed to be rated a six... which was sort of a noble-yet-BS way of stating they were "fandom classics" that went above and beyond. EoP was only a five-star fic at the time (for the record, EoP had averaged a solid. 4.95 in quantifiable ratings, and Vimbert himself would personally slap the nuclear button to make it a 6-star... but that was sometime after all of this).
So, here I was in March of 2012, listening for the first time to Silent Ponyville, a fic that I was tangentially aware of even though I hadn't "read" it before... because there were multiple bits of fan art and fan music and other brony compositions dedicated to Samrose's popular work.
I was sitting down and listening to it via Spotlight's livestream, and in my egotism and frustration and seething sense of self-loathing, one thought alone rippled through my mind:
"This is a six-star story? Shiet, I could do better."
After that evening, I proceeded to marathon the sequels and side-stories made to Jake Heritagu's magnum opus... because I did truly believe that I could do better. I was in the mood for showing off like a true blue-ball'd douchebag, and after I had shoved enough of the canonical grimdark fic material into my brain, I pondered on what I could possibly do with the substance in my grimy tentacles.
After all, it wasn't too terribly hard for me to flex my imagination. As stated above, I had played my fair share of Shit's Rusted;Everything's Locked. I felt like I knew enough about the source material to faff around. But, how would I construct it in relation to SamRose's Work? Whelp, what I eventually would be writing was a "side-story" at best, and just what is Silent Hill 2 if not Video Game's Greatest Side Story? It's got a protagonist unrelated to Silent Hill 1's plot. It does virtually nothing to expand on the first game's established lore. What's more, its tone and presentation and overall art design is completely different. It proves that Silent Hill as a series can be open up to multiple forms of interpretation, instead of just repeating the same dayum formula to death.
So, essentially, I would be doing myself--and also Jake Heritagu--a service by using the nature of Silent Hill 2 as a blueprint for how I would approach Silent Ponyville. Well, if that's the case, let's look at the core essentials of SH2. 1) It features a character unrelated to the previous installment's protagonist. 2) It deals with a tragic love relationship. 3) It utilizes a completely different tone in both direction and storytelling.
So, my first step--then--was to look for a different character in My Little Pony besides Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash to use as the main protagonist. Well, that's easy. All I had to do was avoid the Mane 6 and aim for somepony in the background. But Remember... it has to be a character who--much like James Sunderland--was once caught up in a love relationship. But the show almost never shows any "love relationships." So, this means having to draw more on fanon than canon. And... well, jee... what's one of the absolute biggest fanon pairings among the background ponies?
Ewww. No. Gross. That's too easy.
OooOooOooOooOooOooOoohhh... ... ...
There was once a time when I watched MLP:FiM just for the show itself... the little details... the expressions and tiny mane flounces and squeaky sounds that came from the mares' muzzles. Then, as I sank deeper into the fandom, I started looking for any and all signs of Appledash fuel. Little that I know that--as time went on--I would look for obvious signs of fan-service in the background... featuring the most backgroundish of background ponies.
Just what's so awesome about this silly unicorn, anyways? Never mind Bon Bon; she's too fluffy. Is it her color scheme? Gotta admit: it's a dayum good design. Perhaps it's the fact that even the makers of the show knew that she had the potential for supreme lulztastic goofiness.
But in truth, what makes Lyra so dayum special is what the fans made out of her. Fans who--with only S1 to go by for a lengthy period of time--obsessed so hard about Lyra and the early poni poni poni material on the whole that they had to establish their own "rational" explanations for everything.
1) Lyra sits like a human for one episode.
2) Lyra must be obsessed with humans.
3) Lyra obviously has a fetish for hands, feets, and pants.
4) ????
5) Profit!
And--honestly--with the snazzy stuff that got produced as a direct result of that impeccable logic, who's gonna argue with them?
What's more magical and heartwarming than a bunch of otherwise-heartless neckbeards learning to lurve pastel colored ponies? What about one of those pastel colored ponies equally lurving the neckbeards back? It's a match made in Internet heaven.
I have a history of adoring what I consider to be "tertiary" favorites. What are the best sodas? Coca-cola? Pepsi? Give me Dr. Pepper, f00. Who are the most popular princesses? Cinderella? Ariel? Give me Belle, mothafuckah.
As we all know, Derpy Hooves is pretty much the Brony-Mascot, seated on a throne of muffins, ruling from beginning to the time of Ragnarok. But as I was exposed more and more to the mint-green goofball in the background, acting all quirky'n'cute, I gradually erected a golden throne for her in my own precious headcanon:
And on top of being positively endorphin-inducing, she was consistently shipped (by the fans, naturally) with another background pony... leading to an entire self-contained story thread that persisted in the background of every episode... at least in the wild imagination of those watching.
What matters in regards to early 2012 is that I saw Lyra and Bon Bon as the "romantic outliers to the Mane 6" whom I was looking for in drumming up ideas for a Silent Ponyville side-story. I dunno--maybe it was Lyra's phallic horn that swayed the decision, but I figured she would serve as the perfect James Sunderland insert for this story concept.
And just what would the story-concept be?
Since my college years--when I really obsessed myself with Silent Hill shiet--I had this ever-evolving idea for a Silent Hill fanfic that eventually morphed into an original story and then back again. It was called The Door Walkers, and it served as an ode to Silent Hill 4... or more appropriately to what I had tenderly hoped Silent Hill 4 could have been. The concept dealt with individuals born with the innate ability to turn ordinary doors and passageways into portals between alternate universes. It would have been a series of trippy Twilight-Zonesque vignettes that channeled all of the shiet I lurved and hated about my long nights spent lurking on 4chan's /x/ board. Essentially, a vessel for broadcasting my own series of personally-crafted Creepypastas.
Since I was engulfed in the world of poni poni poni, and I saw myself potentially making a return to the town of Silent Hill, I figured I would recycle the concept of Doorwalkers--at least in name--then combine it with elements of Silent Hill 2 in order to make this side fic I was planning.
What became of it was a story where Bon Bon had died tragically, and Lyra--so encumbered with grief that she had to go through extensive "magical" therapy--ends up having to pick up the pieces of her disintegrated life. After volunteering to solitarily construct a public bathroom at the new wing of the local hospital, Lyra discovers a portal to a hellish alternate dimension. There, she meets a doppelganger of Bon Bon--alive and well--but imprisoned behind multiple rows of metal bars. Lyra learns that, to free this "Bon Bon," she must remove the rows of bars one at a time... and the only thing keeping the bars in place are these seemingly random targets in the dark dimension. Reluctantly at first--but with eventual passion and growing obsession--Lyra delves into various pockets of the hellscape and "hunts down" these targets. This inadvertently causes random citizens of the real world Ponyville to perish, one by one. However, growing more and more obsessed with reclaiming Bon Bon from the grave, Lyra continues with her dark task, exhibiting the manic determination of a serial killer. During the course of the story, Lyra stains doors with her own blood to make portals and mutilates her limbs one by one until they resemble human body parts while she's in the hellscape. By the story's end, and after several tragic events unfold, Lyra (gasp) turns into Pyramid Head as a reward for her faithful service to darkness. And there you have the side-story in a nutshell, folks.
I ended up naming the project "Silent Ponyville: Doorwalker," and I only ever wrote one chapter--the first chapter. You can read it right here, marsupials.
It's a 14k word exercise in manic show-off-ness, and I tackled it all in a single day. Because of course I did. The ink had barely dried when I was already sending it to Jake Heritagu's way. I sat back, waiting with bated breath to see what his response would be.
Turns out I didn't have to wait for long. He read it and responded swiftly. It turns out he was quite impressed. Very impressed, actually. He ended up expressing willingness to accept the concept into side-canon, based on the "sample" that I had so passionately thrown his way. I felt proud--not so much in that I had effectively waved my horseword balls majestically in front of another writer, but simply for the sake that his reaction more or less indicated that what I had initially toyed around with might in fact become something real and concrete. And Nietzsche knows I was itching to work on something now that the EoP experience had rebuffed me for the second-slash-third time in a friggin' row.
However, there was no "green light" for me to go on and produce Doorwalker right away. SamRose was the original author of Silent Ponyville and thereby he had the final say concerning the allowable canon. Also, there was already someone else writing a completely different side-story to the fic, and it was evidently Jake's goal to incorporate all potential future material safely and logically into his established canon. Long story short, he had a list of rules and doctrines that I had to adhere to in order to sanctify the continuity. And--y'know--I was totally okay with that. It sounded like a really snazzy challenge, and I was suddenly in lurve with this story concept and wanted to present my contribution to the world of brony-spl00ge.
So, basically, SamRose and I had a long talk ahead of us. And... wouldn't you know it? The two of us had a major event going on locally that would allow us to chat in person about the whole shebang:
Megacon is an annual benchmark for me, and I both love and hate it. I love it because I find it exciting and I buy lots of swag and I'm surrounded by nobodies in sexy costumes. I hate it because I find it exciting and I buy lots of swag and I'm surrounded by nobodies in sexy costumes.
I first went with my ex-gf back in '08 and--aside for 2009--I've gone every subsequent year between then and now. I'm usually just taking photos on my cell phone and then buying pinup art to slap across the walls of my room. These days, my walls are becoming full, and my pocket book consistently weeps. But every year when the convention rolls around, and I think I have the strength and courage to say "no, not this year," I feel the nostalgic nerd itch comin' on and... Nietzsche fucking dammit...
Back in 2011, the convention hall was chock-full of Homestuck cosplayers. Now it was 2012, the first year following the start of MLP:FiM S2, and pony shiet was friggin' everywhere. It was a goddess-dayum pastel equine explosion. People were sketching the Mane Six at art booths. There were posters and plushies and pins all over the place. What's more, people started dressing up as humanized versions of the poni poni poni cast. Remember, this was over a year before the announcement of Equestria Girls, so there was no body paint involved. Just pure fan lurve and creativity.
Here I waltzed in, searching for my fanfictional contact from beyond the physical. "Look for a lemur in a Tron shirt," I said. "Look for a mustached guy with a pink backpack," Jake said (paraphrased). Eventually, our body hair collided, and we stood at the entrance to one of the convention hall lobbies... for dayum close to two hours talking face to face about ponies, adorasexy horse antics, and our mutual fanfiction pursuits. All the while, we did a running tab of dudes in Rainbow Dash t-shirts and chicks in Fluttershy apparel. There were at least three entirely different Pinkamenas from Cupcakes sashaying around, wearing dresses made out of fictitious cut-out cutie mark "leathers."
I was groin-deep in the overflowing ocean of 2012 poni-obsession-extravaganza and I friggin' loved it. What's more, I got to share it with another awesome titan of horseword legend who was just as hardcore about the fandom as I was. I've been a Brony for seven years, and in all that time I never did a legit meet-up... and I kinda sorta regret that. Because if meet-ups are/were anywhere nearly as awesome as that brief, timeless one-on-one I had with Jake Heritagu, then I truly wish I could wind back time and experience them every month... cuz it was a heavenly thing.
What did we talk about exactly? Well, he filled me in about his headcanon for the future of Silent Ponyville, explaining how certain aspects of Doorwalker would or would not work and how the two of us could make adjustments in order to make the crossover function. In return, I filled him in on a future arc or two of End of Ponies. It was about as nerdy and spaghetti-inducing as one can imagine. I almost wish there were more people there. In truth, my only regret was--once we had finished chatting--I barely had any time left to enjoy the rest of the convention day on my own... which is just as well, I suppose. I got my best possible memories out of the occasion, and Jake had two more days in Orlando to spend doing whatever the Hell he wanted.
I came home from that day with the best imaginable buzz rippling through my cerebral cortex. Then--as if that wasn't fabulous enough--I returned to my computer in time to watch the EqG link to the brand new episode A Friend In Deed, complete with the best song ever written for the series:
Dayum what a happy-ass time to have been alive.
It was almost happy enough to diffuse the depressing fact that--as fate would have it--one of Jake's stipulations concerning Doorwalkers was that I would wait until he was finished writing-and-uploading Silent Ponyville 3 before I went about posting my own side-fic. This was all well and good, and I was willing to wait.
But then he delayed the story. And then he delayed it some more. And he delayed and delayed and delayed...
Long story short, I was starting to realize that SamRose would not be working on--much less uploading--the third installment of his series until much, much later. This meant that my impatient ass had to wait for the completion of his work before I could make the necessary adjustments to Doorwalker, much less go about uploading it to any particular place of brony relevance. Can you believe that? I mean... what kind of nerve does a fanfic writer have to think that he or she can leave a story on "hiatus" for forever?! Oh wait...
Art by JustDaySide
Toot my horn all I want about my own fanworks, there's still an immutable truth about me: I'm a lazy, impatient bastard. I used to rely upon the assistance of editors because I felt like I needed to... because I wanted to get a tentacle in through the doorway of brony literature. Once this happened and I felt more-or-less established, I caved in to my own impulsive laziness, which meant I switched to just uploading shiet whenever I felt like it... not when it was right or necessary.
With Doorwalker, I realized I had absolutely zero luxury in this regard. Which makes sense; it was meant to be a recursive accompaniment to someone else's work. But evidently that was not enough for me, and my selfish colors were starting to bleed through. I started pondering over how I could somehow turn Doorwalker into a more "original" work, so that I could feasibly upload it sooner and on its lonesome. But even I knew I wasn't capable of doing that, because the story was--in its incarnation--completely and utterly dependent on the fanfiction that legitimately inspired it. And I didn't want to be that douchebag who stabbed Jake Heritagu in the back by pretending he had no part to play in it (as melodramatic as that sounds).
Lo and behold, I had found a new frustration outside of the realm of EoP. There was this brand new grimdark story idea that absolutely gripped me, but--due to this impasse--there was no conceivable way to upload it any time soon or--depending on just how crazy long SamRose's delay would be--I might never get to upload it. Period.
So what was there to do? There was no way to tell. But one thing was for certain. The inception of this story and the experience that followed--both online and offline--made me fall in love with a certain mint-green unicorn.
Since day one in 2011, I've always chosen Rainbow Dash as my spirit pony to write. This choice wasn't entirely made because I absolutely love Rainbow Dash... which I kinda sorta do. But the fact of the matter is that I've always found Rainbow Dash to be easiest of the ensemble equine cast to write... orrrrrrr the easiest to bastardize into my own head-canon version, befitting skirtsian fanfiction.
With Lyra, it was something... magical. Something spontaneous. I imagine it must have felt a bit like the first time Gary Larson drew a cow, sat back, and then pondered over why his heart was beating so heavily. Even if I hadn't actually written any legit substance with Lyra yet, the fact that she allowed me to branch out and attempt such an addictive concept as Doorwalker stuck with me. It was as if she had inadvertently become my muse, a source of much endorphin-rushing. And--on top of that--the dayum unicorn was cute as Hell.
As Spring of 2012 came, and I found myself detached from EoP and suddenly bereft of any future ponifiction plans whatsoever, Lyra Heartstrings became my "happy place." Instead of adding daydreamt layers to my ongoing mental Appledash headcanon, I'd go to bed drumming up story concepts and fluffy self-insert interactions with tertiary best background pony. I may not have had a direction in the poni poni poni /lit/, but I at least had an inexplicable imaginary friend with four legs... who longed and yearned with adorable Arielesque determination just to have two.
Silent Ponyville 3 was in hiatus seemingly forever, and I didn't have a clear avenue for making any Lyra story concrete. But that doesn't mean someone else couldn't manifest the mint adorbs for me. I was still chatting nightly with Spotlight and perving around his Livestream. By then, he had already drawn up an epic Appledash pic for me... which--in six years of hindsight--is kinda friggin' creepy to look at(my fault, not his).
So, after rummaging around on Paypal, I stumbled up to him and went "Hey! Could you draw something cute, adorable, and diabetes-inducing that would vaguely suggest that a Skirts-insert humanoid is cuddling with Lyra Heartstrings? Also, throw a hoodie on her, because I've spontaneously decided that hoodies on ponies are cutetastical." Because... shiet, they really are when you think about it. That was yet another growing obsession of mine in the realm of horse memes, and I wasn't alone. Hoodies-on-ponies was probably the second biggest "clothing" craze on ponibooru at the time, immediately behind socks (and it was a lot less perverted too).
Spotlight, being the cool guy (maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan) that he was went "Okay, ya weirdo." And this was what he came up with:
Art by InsomniacOvrLrd
Alright, now that the spaghetti has settled, let's take a second to sit back and reflect on how genuinely awesome a thing this is for anyone to do for another individual, commission or not. It's certainly stands as one of the best pieces of art anyone ever made for me--even with its varying degree of cringe. What's even better is that--like most of Spotlight's work--I got to hang out in Livestream and watch him work on it live. I had only one issue with the WiP at the time: "Say, Spotlight, could you make her smaller? Like the size of a house cat? That would be perfect." "I dunno if you wanna have her smaller, Skirts, maaaaaaaaaaan. People might think you have a thinly-veiled lolicon complex." "Oh. Shit. Make the mint horse bigger please. BIGGER PLEASE. OKAY THANKS."
And, on one fateful night, as Spotlight continued to work the picture into completion, I proceeded to ramble and pontificate about my adoration for Lyra in general. "If only there was a fanfic I could make with her," I would gripe and moan... or something to that extent. In response, Spotlight reacted about as dryly as could be expected. "The only stand-out thing about her is a meme," he explained. "She's all HANDS and HUMANS and nothing else. Zilch. Nada." And I must have dicaprio'd super hard across time and space, because I can still picture myself looming over the man and his drawing tablet, wagging my eyebrows and going "Is that a CHALLENGE?!?!" To which, I'm certain, Spotlight's response was probably "Whatever, maaaaaaaaaaaaaan."
Truth is, we did have a conversation on the matter. And whatever was actually said during that exchange--I came out of it feeling as though... "Shiet... there really isn't anything special about Lyra Heartstrings outside of 'she sits weird' and 'she loves humans.'" After all, there was only one breakthrough success of a fanfic starring Lyra, and it was all encapsulating those very same bronified themes. Just how would someone go about writing a new, original, stand-out Lyra fic?
"Just how would someone go about writing a new, original, stand-out Lyra fic?" "You tell me, maaaaaaaan." "Alright then! I'll come up with an idea! BRB!"
And I walked away from the computer and I took a shower in the dark. And less than ten minutes later... when I walked back out... I had an idea for a new fanfic in my head.
To be Continued in Part Five: Building the Nocturne
Oh, so we don't become Unsung yet. Oh boy.
Re: Appledash pic: Haaaa Tcherno didn't realize that one was basically your fault.
This is an absolutely fascinating read. I've been on this website on and off since 2012 I think, and it amazes me how much of your work I've come across in that time unknowing that it was the same guy. EoP was the first story I ever bookmarked here. I remember falling in love with Background Pony and being a bit flummoxed with the Rainbow Dash stories with weird names always staying on the featured list. And then I got sucked into that and only caught up yesterday... again. It was only last year that I figured out what the connection was with all my favourite stories because I was never big on reading the blog posts and now I see I've been missing out.
I'm enjoying your autobiography of Horsewordery, but the back of my brain is itching. The tone is melancholic; and while that might just be the nostalgia and/or self loathing so many of us know too well...the creature caged in my skull screams that this reads like a resignation, and I don't like it. I enjoy your work, and I'm hoping you (still) enjoy making it; as I would be sad to see any of it end in any way other than it was intended to. If I may be so crass, we're all waiting for the glorious mutual orgasm of endings and gonna be -so bummed- if you pull out now. Squees, awesomeness or catharsis...wait, hang on. I'm rambling, and probably making everyone uncomfortable. Hope you got the idea.
Tldr ur doin me a concern fren
4775099
Absolutely, it is.
DAMMIT, Skirts!
I really oughta read BGP, shouldn't I?
Gripping. What a buildup, and what a cliffhanger. Great art you're... spotlighting. buhdumpsh
I've got nothing too much to say, this time. Just that this little autobiography is making me feel all nostalgic for the days were there were so many new ideas bursting forth from the heads of so many. Maybe I'm just a little jaded, but I haven't felt very inspired by very many of the new stories coming out.
Oh well, at least I can always look to you for some quality shiet.
4775129
That pun made me cringe... It was beautiful.
4775110
It depends. No direct spoilers, but depending on your tastes and personality, the ending is either the best thing ever, or the most rage-inducing shoot the shaggy dog moment ever.
I fell into the latter category. I still haven't forgiven you, Skirts!
4775129
BOOOOO.
<3
As a late arrival to the cult of Skirtsianity, it's really great to read this history and what went into all these works. (I'm actually not sure what my first read was. Knowingly, probably Tavi Says, but I must have read half a dozen one-shots without knowing they were yours.)
I've really gotta try this.
Ive been really enjoying these, and look forward to post 5 ^-^
aww shit
The "pony looking back at us" angle has always been what I love most about Lyra. :D
I still note, to this day, that one of my proudest fandom accomplishments was being the inspiration for Background Pony, if even indirectly through impatience and a touch of selfishness haha
I still miss what Doorwalker could have been, but at the same time the product that came out of it as a result was still just as amazing, if not better, than what it could have been. And hanging out and talking shop with you was just as much fun for me as it was for you! I don't get that a whole lot these days, but when I do get a chance to sit down and swap ideas, it is always fun.
It's funny too that I ended up kind of regretting the direction and pace that Silent Ponyville 3 went, and I'd really love to re-write it to be so much better these days. But I still remember that conversation fondly, even if I don't remember it in nearly as much detail as you do hehe.
Always nice to have the trip down memory lane too! I still wish that game had been made, but alas the creator vanished and I just sort of fell out of hanging out with Spotlight, so a sad but I suppose inevitable end to such an ambitious project.
I have never heard anyone say anything nice about Pepsi or Ariel, but I see a lot of Dr. Pepper and Belle fans.
You wanna talk about "tertiary" favorites? My favorite Simpsons season is two. My favorite Silent Hill character is Laura. My favorite 2D Final Fantasy is V. My favorite season 2 MLP episode is Ponyville Confidential, with 28 Pranks Later for season 6, and fucking Fluttershy Leans In for season 7. Though, I'm not sure those last two could be called any kind of favorites.
Silent Ponyville was one of the earliest fics I read I really liked. I bet I wouldn't be impressed now. A lot has changed.
Now this is something worth reading while listening to ancient brony music. Max out the nostalgia. (what little of it that may offer. I was never very into the music scene)
The things that come out of the failure of other things can be really surprising.
Soon, the story.
Going through memory lane huh... I remember back in 2012, I didn't even know mlp existed. Then a friend I made in collage showed me cupcakes pmv, you know the one that goes get ready to die? He later showed me little clips of the actual mlp show and I asked him, what's that cartoon called. He was like mlp, go watch it. Sadly I added it to my watch later list behind many other shows.
Out of all the mlp clips and fan vids, I got interested with cupcakes. Why out of all the mlp clips, this one was the only bloody one. So I researched and stumbled on my first mlp fanfic, Cupcakes. I read it w/o actually knowing the mlp characters. The next time i visited my friend, I shoved my leet fan exp in his face. He didn't know the pmv was from a fanfic so I was flaunting my newb assets. Yet I did not watched the show. After sharing my excitement that was Cupcakes, I stumbled upon this site on mid 2012. It took me a whole year of reading these fics until i decided to watch the show. I remember my experience on the first episode, BAAM Knightmare Moon and the show has wrapped it's fluffiness all over me. Eop and BGP were two of the first ten fics I read on this site. I stopped reading BGP because i was tired of waiting for updates back then. Later in 2014, I made my account and add it to my fav along with austraeoh and ponky's sister doo. I then partake in binge reading it all.
It really has been that long huh... I better stop before I rant on, turning this comment into a full blaurg.
What I'm getting out of this is the often-underestimated power of showering as part of the creative process. If everyone in the world had regular access to warm, clean water falling on their brain box, we'd reach Mars within the month
If I tried to take a shower in the dark I would seriously injure myself before I could get any sort of poninspiration, let alone for something as amazing as BGP.
Ah, yes, Silent Ponyville. Another of those popular stories I have never read because I decided to wait until I play the related videogame first. It shares that place with Fallout Equestria.
Looking where this is going, let me state that I wholly regret my first interaction with Skirts being me whining about his popularity.
4775129
I like Skirts Story Time