Centennial planning: follower survey for story #100 · 2:39pm Apr 19th, 2018
Because it just hit me: we're getting in range.
There should be two one-shots this month: I'm working on the Mr. Rich story today, and will follow that up with the Rainbow vs. leprechauns crackfic. And once Jack's CDA story wraps up, Bree is due for her own sequel. So current plans, if fulfilled, would bring me up to ninety-two posted works. (We won't count the two which were removed for insufficiency of pony.)
It's a lot. It's nowhere near as many as some people have written: I'm starting to think Jay David works as a keyboard durability tester. There are ways in which my own total can be viewed as a detriment, blight, or complete waste of electrons, as well as people who'll give you suggestions on how to do that. But if you sort the site's users by stories written, I'm currently on the second page. Hitting the Big Round Number on any kind of pace would probably put me at the bottom of the first.
We're getting near the point where, if just for the fun of it, we assume that I
* Don't wind up permabanned
* Don't die just yet
* Don't wind up in prison for life after killing someone who just totally deserved it
* Don't have my standard luck intrude on a higher level than usual
then reaching a hundred pieces may be just about inevitable.
It wasn't planned. If you approached me on the day I joined this site (and the anniversary is getting close: 5/4/5th), told me I'd eventually get into range -- it might have been my last day on the site, because fleeing in screaming terror feels like a fairly reasonable reaction to that. But stories just happen. An idea appears, inspirations hit, a concept needs to be written down in order to get it out of your head. At this point, it only takes eight more of those.
One hundred, as a number, only has the significance we choose to assign it. In this case, that significance can easily be read as 'You wasted how much time?' But still...
There's some time left before that total might be reached: an unknown, highly variable amount of it. But if I want to make it any level of minor event, the planning should begin now.
So for a prospective hundredth story, in terms of plot, characters, things you've been wanting to know or see...
...what do you think should go up?
This isn't voting, at least not in terms of my offering a ballot and choices. This is a free-for-fall. If you want to vote on things you'd want to see most, just upvote the comments with those ideas accordingly. Say and suggest anything. I'm listening.
(Those saying and suggesting blatant plot-free clop will probably get the most upvotes, but that's where I declare electoral college.)
I'm not sure about Jay, but I can tell you a million words is too many for a Razer keyboard ... so now I've upgraded to a Das Keyboard, and we'll see how long it takes before I wear that one out.
4843063
I sometimes suspect my finger oils are mildly acidic: many of the letters have worn off the current keys, with the Enter having had the black beneath fade out to reveal clear plastic. (I've blanked out letters before, but this is the first time I've created transparency.) I'm probably two months away from ordering a replacement, and it won't be anything high-end because the letters will just wear off that too.
Which means yes, I just looked up the Das. Way past my price point, especially with car repair bills starting to come up over the horizon.
ETA: Before anyone asks in the name of avoiding future problems for themselves, the current model is an ASUS G01 KB.
It may get written before the centennial, but I'd love to see that one idea about Applejack speaking to a meteorite and seeing what, if anything, it says in response.
That or a look at the previous set of Bearers. Or Cadence adapting to alicornhood. Or some aspect of the world that you hinted at so long ago that we've forgotten about it. Or the rampage that follows the first griffon attempt at professional golf. Or seeing how other post-Season 3 characters fit into the Continuum. Or...
Yeah, I'll just focus on AJ talking to space rocks for now. Suffice to say, I'm looking forward to whatever you have in store.
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You can actually order Das Keyboards without letters on the keycaps.
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Well, it would give me a little recovery time before dealing with Canterlot bureaucracy again. Maybe not enough time...
(Put it this way: the chapter title on Mr. Rich's story is currently set as Trigger Warning: Everything.)
For those who haven't seen the story concept FOME is discussing -- which, given how old it is, would be just about everyone here -- I'm pasting the severely-out-of-date original blog synopsis, without editing.
Given how much has changed, I really wanted to edit...
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And I'm guessing they would still be $100 and up. I'm likely going to stay around the $40 level -- and, if my car repairs truly bottom out, may be looking at the Paul Sheldon option. 'So it's only missing an 'n'...'
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That should be all right. It's ot like you eed oe of those.
My default reaction is to suggest a Doctor Who or Star Trek or Super Hero crossover, so I'll leave these here to get it out of my system. (I am left wondering how the CDA would react to someone who isn't drastically outgunned by them, isn't inclined to obey, and isn't morally inferior, but I don't think that's the point of those stories.)
100 stories in is as good a place as any to start really taking advantage of continuity, so the meter story is probably your best bet.
A bored Pinkie could wander around Ponyville, trying to jump-start different fanfiction plots?
Until you look at word count and notice that he wrote roughly a 300k words less than you. Also, looking at my keyboard, I can pretty much tell which keys are the most used and which part of the spacebar I usually hit (the right half). At least the letters are still visible.
Well, I believe whatever you do should be simple enough that it can be done as a one shot, but significant enough to be worthy of being story #100. I guess part of it depends on if you write it before or after you finish Triptych.
If it takes place after, then it may make sense to do either some sort of epilogue or a story starring either Her or one of the villains. If an epilogue, I for one would like to see a story about one of His being told the truth. Maybe Rachette, maybe Snowflake, maybe someone else.
If you write #100 before finishing Triptych, then I'd say either the meteorite one or perhaps getting to see your interpretation of some of the parents we haven't seen yet. We've heard a little about Fluttershy and Rainbow's parents, enough to be interesting but not enough to be satisfying, so those would be my first picks, although given what we've heard of Twilight's mom she'd also be interesting. Actually, now that I think about it, seeing how all the Mane 6 & Spike treat whatever the local equivalent of Father's or Mother's Day is would be kinda neat.
Or you could just introduce us to Triptych!Maud. I have no idea how she'd be different in this 'verse, and I'm both excited and terrified to find out.
I'm all for Applejack vs the Astronomy Department. Ought to be a blast.
Is it morbid if I say I'm at least a little curious about the very first of Fluttershy's... memorial-requiring patients?
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Human skin oils are, actually, acidic. A healthy human skin should be around pH 4-6.
I second Dinode that if you finish Tryptych first you should do a follow up story about Her.
I figure she has to survive because she's enough of a character at this point that her not making it would require a Tragedy or Sad tag on the story. And while you are a heartless piano murderer I don't think you'd sink low enough to do a last minute tag switch surprise on your readers.
4843159 Wait people do that?
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Or, if she doesn't survive, it could be a prequel story.
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For a 100th story, this is one that I would so want to see. If only for just for the AJ characterization. Personally think it has to be post-Tryptych, if only because AJ now has to deal with having all of her flaws shoved in her face and what happens after that.
Hey Estee, you should write a shitfic!
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I already wrote eighty-nine of them.
You've got a Mario crossover, do a Sonic one so anything after the hundredth can't be as bad?
I suggest Action Movie Hero Fluttershy after discovering the power sources in badniks.
Including random horrible ocs would not be optional.
Exciting milestone coming up! Any idea you end up with will be totally enjoyable to me, honestly. But I like some of the ideas others have said like something post-Triptych focusing on her or about some mane six parents. I'd be really curious to see how Fluttershy's parents turned out in this verse, since in canon they were pretty one-note. Can't remember if you've watched that far, but since Maud snuck her way in, any plans for Fluttershy to have a shitlord little brother? His character was a pretty funny contrast to her's, even if they didn't really give him much.
Rainbow's parents flying into town and embarrassing her has been done but it would still be hilarious to see your take on it, imo.
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It has happened in the past that people have suddenly added a Dark or Tragic ending to a long running story and only adding the tags with that final chapter, yes.
To be fair stories evolve as people write them. If you look through the author's comments in many stories they will add something like a Romance Tag halfway through and sincerely say that they had no intention of any such thing when they started. It's just how the character arcs naturally developed. The key thing to keep it fair is to add any additional tags well before completion so people aren't surprised by something that will upset them.
Tryptych is well into the final climax. It is way too late for any tag/genre shifts without upsetting people. Fortunately Estee is too experienced an author for that to be likely. If she doesn't know her final fate by now it would imply that she has no plan whatsoever for the story.
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Has anypony ever told you you're too hard on yourself?
Just because it's mentioned in Triptych, I'd be curious to see the fallout of Spike's greed growth in detail, possibly from Spike's perspective. (It's got everything: Spike (most grounded) having to be a bulwark against Twilight's neuroses while dealing with his own personal issues, a misdirected dragon-fire message, Rarity (best marshmallow) saving the day, and Princess Luna (best princess) being badass.)
Well there are a lot of things I'd like to see your take on - why some adult dragons look so similar, but the young ones are so diverse, for instance. Are there different categories that dragons grow into?
But to be fair, the thing that really got me - assuming it doesn't come up in Tryptich - I wanna know more about Primatura. We're told she was loved - but so very little about who she was. I don't know if there's any story worth telling about her, but if there is...I'd like to read it.
edit:
Also, Cadance. Again, assuming that's not covered in Triptych
Okay, I do love the idea of Applejack vs. the space rock...
But how about a day in the life of a pony that casts The Most Special Spell? No doubt there will be red tape, and a criteria that not every loving couple will meet... But after Dr Gentle, an uplifting story of some pony helping to create life would be great.
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Would this meteorite be her mother or father?
The Applejack vs the meteor story seems really interesting but I kind of want to see more secondary characters from the show to be added or be shown how they are in the Triptych.
Especially the Pie sisters. I kind of want to see how Maud, Limestone and Marble turn out in this universe. Are they like their parent or is there any hope for them to be decent pony?
There could be a way to fuse the two. Pinky father is interested in the meteor and correct me if I'm wrong, since he lost the duel with Applejack he can't come back to Ponyville. Instead he send the rest of his daughters to retrieve the meteor.
Someone mentioned Fluttershy brother and her parents? Well that couldbe very interesting too. In fact, all family members of the main six are characters that I would like to see appear in the Triptych universe and see how they are dealing with having a hero/celebrity in the family.
It could be a big story where Celestica and Luna bring all the Bearers closest family members in one place in order to protect them from being targeted by a villain not afraid to target the heroes weak spots, while the six are doing their heroics. The story would turn around how each one would perceive the Bearers, how it affect them and how they would see each others.
For Pinky, both the Cake and the Pie would be brought in. And with Igneous personality, I expect sparks to flies.
And Zephyr... can't forget Zephyr meeting the Pie sisters.
I think that something about Celestia and Luna would be a good 100th piece. I know a bunch of your stories center around them, but it would be neat to hear more about the Discordian Era and how exactly before became after. Maybe you already explained and I just missed it. It might also be fun to hear cutie mark stories from the verse's Main Six, and what sort of magic the Rainboom was.
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I was just thinking of that. It'll probably turn out interesting. If I were to choose somepony to tell Snowflake, it'd be Fluttershy, and for Ratchette, Twilight. Both have a unique perspective from each other regarding this, though with roughly the same conclusion and I'm restraining myself on both counts even though I'm sure most of us have worked it out anyway.
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I think that the one with blank keys is actually more pricey. It's a lot of labor to scrape those little letters off.
Pity you didn't say something sooner; for tax reasons I donated a big stack of leftover keyboards I had to Goodwill right at the end of the year. Some of them were still in the box, 'cause the keyboards that come with new computers are crap.
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I had the same problem with letters wearing off the keycaps. I finally solved it by getting a keyboard with backlit keys, like this one: Azio Large Print Tri-Color Backlit Wired Keyboard (KB505U)
The letters on these can't wear off, because they're actually part of the keycap itself and go all the way through the plastic, instead of just being silkscreened on top.
Murdocks attempt to pioneer 24 hour news on Canterlot.
Luna, being Luna, takes this with chagrin and glee in equal amounts.
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Watch that be the one rock Pinkie -can- hear, because it's as.much an outlier as she is.
But less spoilery... That story needs Maud. It is clearly a rock science matter, and not an astronomical one.
Nothing really burning. Have you covered batponies at all yet?
4843803 I'm not sure batponies exist in this... uh, [REDACTED].
Thestrals might, though.
If it's post Triptych, I would LOVE if the honour of story number 100 went to a prequel focusing on Celestia, Luna and the precursor heroes during the discordian era. It would be an epic story to fit the epic number (congrats by the way, for coming close to such a milestone)!
If not, I'd be either interested in Applejack and the meteor, or Twilight's attempts at joining Ponyville's chorus of earth ponies, assuming that doesn't come up in Triptych.
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Are they distinguished from "batponies" by being proprietary to the Harry Potter universe?
Oh! And unrelated to that first idea, Estee, maybe mull over a Celestia/Troubleshoes shipfic.
Whatever you put as your 100th, though, shorter's probably the way to go. Better to finish up your 100th before you start your 101st.
Less related to the journal, are you in a place where you can work on "Your Alicorn Is In Another Castle"?
Oh! Maybe the conversation Celestia and Cadance had after Cadance abdicated.
For the 100th just indulge yourself - do something for you! I’m certain that whatever it is, it will be a joy/hoot/feel to read!
My suggestions?
1) Celestia finding out about Cadance's ascension. We haven't actually gotten to see a whole lot of Cadance and Celestia interacting in stories, and I think that's an interesting axis of engagement.
2) Celestia and Luna's ascension.
3) Ponies kissing.
4843064
I used my old keyboard until it mechanically failed, by which point all of the letter keys were blank.
It actually looked as if my keyboard had been melted by repeated typing.
On the subject of keyboards, there's a nice article on really good keyboards for writers, and if we can find a suitable event/holiday (Cinco De Mayo? Memorial Day?) and you set up an Amazon.com wish list, someone here will order you one.
I would suggest that the 100th story be the story showing how the Original Six came together and defeated Discord, or possibly the sequel to Triptych (if Triptych is finished by then). Alternately, perhaps you could do a story showing how Cadance ascended (if that wouldn’t spoil anything), or a story showing Celestia going to Star Swirl on his deathbed, what the spell was she cast on him, and what ended up happening. Or perhaps you could do a story about the immediate aftermath of the Return, the first day and hour and week and month as Luna begins to take up her old duties once more.