bleck x2 · 11:50am Oct 20th, 2019

I'm drunk on a delightful mix of NyQuil and Kombucha and insomnia right now, working towards snooze, but since that's not coming along, I figure now is as good a time as any to finish the final edits of chapter three on Roll for Initiative. What's that you say? Being half awake, and sleep deprived is a terrible time to edit? ... Well I say to you, NyQuil and Kombucha.

I've been receiving multiple requests as of late for me to act as some sort of editor for other ponies stories, and to read them, as if I had any sort of popularity or footing or something on this site. I am a mad mare, ponies. I don't understand why you think I could ever help you when I'm baffled by my own creativity. Seriously, I was looking over my old works and don't remember writing half of them. I mean

For Twilight Sparkle, every morning at the Golden Oaks Library held promise of a comforting monotony. The gentle touch of Celestia would creep into her bedroom and effortlessly banish the darkness. The birds delivered a symphony of endless chirps to herald the dawn of a new day and at some point in the middle of all this, her alarm clock gave a cry to yank the unicorn from underneath the silky kiss of sleep to prepare her to greet the day.
It was all like clockwork really. A well oiled routine Twilight tried to adhere to on everyday ending with 'Y'. Which is how she knew something was wrong when her consciousness lazily drifted back to her. There were no birds. No cheerful serenade to guide her from dreams of being a well respected professor at Hoofvard to the reality of being a well respected librarian. They had been replaced with a low, steady thrum that buzzed in her ears like an insect charged with irritating her. The alarm clock had been choked into silence- no reassuring 'tick-tick-tick' cast over her prone frame, keeping the silence of the night at bay. Even Celestia's tender light had been vanquished, mimicked by a blasphemous gleam of flickering fluorescent light overhead.
All of it was enough to jolt Twilight from a restless slumber into a slow, hazy state of consciousness. With the electric lights overhead and biting into her eyes, the room took its sweet time swimming into view. The encouraging scent of old text had been switched out for sterilized bleach and alcohol and even though Twilight had to wait for her focus to return, she knew that this was not her library.
It didn't take terribly long. Slowly, she realized her library, with its welcome open spaces, miles upon miles of books and large, light giving windows had been erased from the world. Drawn in its stead was a cylinder with a flat floor and tinted a gentle shade of blue with a single bed jutting out from one of its curved walls. She could remember her library vibrantly; bright and boisterous and dominating in her mind. Books and tables and nooks and crannies and yet her memories of the events leading up to this room- this place where she now found herself were distorted and murky. She could at best, remember a jarring conversation with somepony. Some distant argument she was having about a theorem or something. That too, however, was all faded and fragmented, as if the last figment of a fleeting dream.

And I'm like...wait, I wrote that? Seriously? That doesn't sound like my writing. Is that something that came from my hooves? Where did that even come from? That's actually pretty good. Maybe I do know what I'm doing. But, then, I don't know what I'm doing? How do I pluck those pretty letters from the air and arrange them just so? I wish I had some sense of 'source' for all of this. I'm still chasing that source. It eludes me effortlessly. Tis just the way my brain is wired, perhaps? Is it even possible to discern the how in the first place, and if so, can it be put into words?

As I recall, the above story was inspired by Deamon of Decay's Asylum series. I wanted to try my hoof at writing something of the sort (seriously, go find and read that series, it's fantastic) Where Twilight ended up in a facility run by humans. A magical, talking unicorn, could be the answer to a lot of problems. As the story continued, Twilight would discover, she accidentally pulled herself, into the human dimension and lost her memories from the magical strain caused by such a feat. Unfortunately, she discovers that the dimension she's in doesn't have latent magic in the air to draw from, so her powers are all but lost. Luckily, she's wildly intelligent, and starts figuring out a plan to escape. Twist: She's not alone. While working on a plan, she discovers that her friends, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy are also being held in the facility, each on different floors, each being studied and researched like...like animals! Twilight is horrified to discover this and vows to help them all escape, leading to what I'd hoped to be a 'jail break' story. Eventually, they all manage to escape together when Twilight discovers there are indeed some objects in the world that contain traces of magic, and she can siphon enough of it to cast a teleport spell. She takes the group far from the facility and they take refuge in an old abandoned barn where Applejack takes over while Twilight slips into unconsciousness from strain. Rarity makes the place livable, while Applejack gets to work fixing various things around the far, getting a pump working and getting them running water. Rainbow Dash was wounded in the escape, but she refuses to remain bed ridden, forcing Fluttershy to take care of her as a make shift nurse, while Pinkie keeps the party's spirits up and morale high. With Twilight out of commission, the group has no chance of returning home for the time being, so I had planned to switch narratives to a first person journal style with each chapter being from one of the five points of view. Rainbow ends up getting antsy, and decides to become a scout for the party, leading missions to find out more about these wicked 'human' creatures crawling around the area. Cue the hilarious misconceptions and misunderstandings. They realize their world and the one they're in have a LOT of similarities but about just as many differences too. Unfortunately, they're discovered by the military scientists, and this brings us to a chase scene, where the group is forced to outrun military vehicles. Applejack and Pinkie hitch up to an old wagon and surprisingly manage to escape, but earth pony legs vs man-made horse power is really no contest at all- which only make the military all that more interest in studying these strange talking horse creatures. Now on the run, the group travel into the city annnnnnd encounter a young girl named Megan who promises to help them. Fluttershy bonds with her, and a fragile trust is made. They don't really have a choice, needing to hide a comatose Twilight. Megan gives them shelter in the basement of her home for a day or so before making arrangements to get them out to her ranch in the country. They arrive safely, but the military is on their tail. Megan, tries to explain that they aren't ponies for experimenting on and just want to go home, but of course they don't listen, but by this time Twilight has awoken. With the military closing in, guns drawn, Twilight, discovers she can siphon magic from the friendship between Megan and Fluttershy, opens a portal, drags them all back home- accidentally taking Megan with them in the process. Now Claiming that the ponies have kidnapped this poor innocent girl, they scramble to find a way to follow after her, while Twilight scrambles to find a way to return Megan home safely - Which would have been the sequel.

But that never happened. I doubted myself as a writer back then, much the way I doubt myself now, but I've learned a lot through writing. I'm better now, I would like to think. The above is a grand concept, which I'd not been able to pull off when I'd come up with it. Now, sadly having ruined the plot, I think I could have done a much better job. I don't remember writing that, but I remember where it was going to go. What I don't remember is where I was going with this tangent, but, like I said, Kombucha and NyQuil, the latter I believe kicking in so perhaps time to see if I can't make a date with Morpheus.