Monster Letters and Shut-Ins - Decision needed and sample · 4:44am Mar 22nd, 2020
I’ve got four chapters in the current arc of Letters From a Little Princess Monster done, which resolves one of the three Discord challenges, and gets a good start on the other two. I figure the whole arc will run eight chapters or more, so that leaves me with a question: Post now while everybody’s stranded at home, or wait until the whole arc is done (probably six months from now, darnit). Leave your opinions in the comments, and enjoy this snippet from the fifth unfinished chapter. Poor abandoned changeling.
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Infiltrators did not simply sneak into a foreign city, they became one of the residents, taking on the characteristics and mannerisms of an inhabitant until it was difficult to think of one’s self as a changeling. Thorax had been one of the best at sneaking into pony settlements and returning with their secrets because he took on their behaviors with unnatural ease.
Chrysalis did not like changelings who were too effective. That was her job.
His first hint that the Crystal Empire was going to be a difficult assignment was when Thorax crossed over the border. For a land that lived on love and thrived under the protection of the Crystal Heart, it certainly did not give off the aura of love and acceptance that he expected. It also proved easier to enter than leave.
Still, he was an expert at his work. Stone Heart became a valued member of the community, not important enough to draw King Sombra’s attention, and not weak enough to be considered useless and sent to the mines. There was love to be harvested from the shadowed city, tiny little dribs and drabs hiding in unexpected places. There were secrets hidden where none of the citizens dared look, sparkling ponies who refused to see what was right under their glittering noses. And worst of all, there were dark pockets of magic in the shadows that Thorax had to sip from in order to survive.
It changed him, regardless of what he wanted. The Old Thorax sank deeper into the background while his new self took instead of just stole, struck instead of avoiding, and became more like a shadow than a pony.
Then came the destruction. Crystal ponies running around in total confusion. The assault by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. King Sombra tapping his every source of power to fight them. The welcome concealment of the crystal mines as a place to hide.
The wave of darkness that swept over the entire city, sucking at his every sense and dragging everything into shadow.
The Old Thorax would have died, or become frozen in place like all of the ponies. This place of no-time was like walking through cold molasses, taking years to sulk through alleys, months to sprint across streets, always on the move to avoid the searching gaze of the Dark King.
Changelings took love and used it for power. Love was nothing but a memory for Thorax now. He stole shadows from the source, tapping at the edges of Sombra’s magic where he would not be noticed, a mouse in the den of a tiger, nibbling from his scraps.
An old tiger who grew weak over time, although never weak enough for Thorax to reveal himself and strike.
Until…
The shadows moved, bending under the flow of an old but somehow familiar magic. What was once Thorax raised his head and sniffed at the scent, feeling ancient and suppressed memories come to life. Chrysalis. His orders. The queen of the city, swollen with foal. She would be weak when she gave birth. He was to give the signal then, and waves of changelings would surge upon the helpless city.
No. That could not be. The pregnant pony queen had escaped before the Sun and Moon had attacked. She had used her magic to cloak her actions and slip away, protecting her unborn foal from the changeling assault. Those actions had revealed the truth about King Sombra to Sun and Moon. Chaos had ensued.
Confusion.
Bending the shadows around him, Thorax moved forward, toward the strange familiar sensation. The bonds of no-time had faded considerably since Sombra’s original spell, much like Thorax’s hunger had grown. The pain grew as he approached the two strange ponies Thorax could see moving sluggishly through the city, although they did not stand a chance at seeing his own path.
For as long as he could remember, love had only been tiny flecks scrounged wherever he could find it. The two figures, one large and one smaller, fairly glowed with power. The smaller one could be felt from many paces away, but the other was so strong that Thorax could feel his chitin blister under the emotional pressure.
It was impossible to judge how long they had been in no-time, but they moved, and that made them dangerous. Only King Sombra could move in this cursed place, and Thorax had spent so much of his life trying to stay away, to hide, to not draw any attention.
...but he was so hungry.
He stalked instead of pouncing, trailing behind his prey as no-time around them shimmered and warped. Pain and ecstasy, longing and want beyond anything he had ever felt, a queasiness around his middle, the disconcerting feeling of something moving inside of his slender belly, sharp pains and a dribbling sensation under his hind legs, all pounded into his numb mind with the velocity of a waterfall surging down a kitchen sink. He could barely keep his own bubble of time intact as he staggered forward, terrified that he would lose his concentration and be frozen in darkness like the rest of the city and yet brought to a frenzied excitement at the emotional bounty so close and yet so far away. For the first time in forever, he had enough energy to use his changeling magic and shift forms into something less threatening. A feminine scent tickled his nose, hitting with all the impact of a hammer to the head after so long in the sterile darkness and bringing his heart to a thudding crescendo. His senses were overloaded so much that he could not even see how close his prey had become until the trickle of something damp underhoof brought him to abrupt awareness.
There was a connection.
A white-hot line of love that had no equal connecting the larger pony and some creature outside of King Sombra’s spell.
Then the bubble of no-time surrounding the entire city popped, and blinding sunlight streamed into the Crystal Empire for the first time in a thousand years.
Shining Armor makes a dandy pin.
On the one hand, we've waited this long and I think have grown accustomed to the waiting, so six months(ish, because shit happens) wouldn't be that much more to go.
On the other hand, however, some good horsewords now is better than more good horsewords later. So my vote is for some now (please).
Letters From a Little Princess Monster is my favorite of your series. I would like to see what you have of the current arc, even if the rest comes six months from now.
this will not be gone in six months, probably about a year and a half it will be gone but as for the wait time, we will all be here in the same place in six months
I vote one chapter a week or bi weekly to give us something to look forward too.
An interesting Thorax! Who would have thought it?
So... Generally I'm a patient fella, but I just finished re-reading the entirety of both stories over again and I'm feeling a might... Not greedy, but very much in need of more. This story, heck this entire loosely connected alternate world you've built around your stories has been my absolute favorite trip so far and I can honestly say, lay it on us! 4 complete chapters spread out over a month should help lessen the wait immensely after all.
If there's need, from a writing perspective, then I'd say "wait". The reader in me, however, is howling for words to consume.
Post some horse words, for the end is neigh!
I'd say post what you've got. Everyone's bouncing off the walls anyway :D
So bored. POST!!!!!
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Posting the four chapters I have in the queue one per day. If I did them one per week, people would get lost. Heck, I get lost at times.
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Someone, anyone, strike up the band!
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... I need to get my head examined apparently, cause I normally remember where things leave off up to 4 months apart. Then again I've always been strange like that.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-tUbTU0jIA
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Now that is what I'm talkin' about!
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Happy day(s), piping fresh horsewords to enjoy!