Everything must (kind of) go! · 10:35pm Sep 20th, 2021
Hi!
So I haven’t been here in a long time. I know this and I apologize.
I think…I hate to say it, but I think my pony writing days might be over?
Maybe not, but I just haven’t had the motivation to write in quite a while, despite having a few ideas.
I’m not OFFICIALLY retiring (what is official anyway?) but honestly, at this point I might as well be done. I’m not ruling out the chance of me writing something else in the future, but at the moment, we can probably consider me semi-retired. Which is why I’m making this blog!
Before I go into that, I want to first thank everyone for enjoying my work. I’ve always loved writing, and I’m glad that MLP became a thing to reignite my spark. As a person who thrives on feedback, seeing people enjoy my work has been a blessing, and I’m truly grateful for it. I appreciate you all.
Now, I realize that I have a number of works on here that I haven’t finished. One of my biggest flaws as a writer, in my opinion, has been my lack of focus and tendency to stop writing something because I got a shiny new idea instead. So here’s what we’re going to do about that!
If you have a favorite story of mine that is unfinished and would like to know what I had planned for it, comment below with the title! I may not get to it right away, but I’ll try to respond to each and give the basic rundown of the plan for the story (helpfully enclosed in spoiler tags for those who want to avoid it on the off chance that I DO finally finish these).
Even if I don’t continue writing, I’ll very likely still be hanging around the site and occasionally commenting on stories. And who knows; I might still end up writing somewhere down the line! I just don’t want to give any false hopes (outside of the ones I know I’ve already given by starting stories and not finishing them).
So anyway, if you want to know how one of my unfinished stories was planned to end, tell me here! If you don’t, that’s fine too! Either way, thank you so much for being around and helping me find my writing voice once more, even if it has escaped again for the time being 
Sorry to see you go, but nice of you to help wrap up loose ends.
I hope wherever you go in future is full of joy and delight, because you deserve it!
(Even thought you're not totally leaving, I think the sentiments still apply.)
sometimes, knowing when it's time to throw the towel in is the bravest thing you can do :B
fare thee well!
Excess, I wanna know what the deal is with that tale.
And, if you really do plan on sticking around, I bet you'll get the itch to write again
I've been wondering what's up with Dash Looks Like A Lady. It definitely had promise.
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I was hoping this one would be asked about! Beware, for Excess spoilers are ahead!
So the stuff from later seasons invalidated parts of my idea for Excess, but the plan was that the Tree of Harmony was going rogue in an attempt to reclaim its elements. Since the Element Bearers held their power, the Tree was attempting to claim them in their entirety. Its influence over each of the Mane Six was growing, forcing them to act even more within their elements than was healthy.
It was going to lead to a trip to the Everfree, with their conditions worsening as they went. One particular scene I had in mind would have AJ and Dash fighting because AJ unwillingly telling a harsh truth about one of the others would set off her fierce loyalty. Already on edge from everything going on, AJ would demand that she “never hear Dash’s voice again.” With reality bending to the whims of the elements, Dash was then going to find herself unable to speak. The scene would be punctuated with Pinkie uncontrollably laughing through her tears as they realized what happened.
The confrontation with the Tree…I didn’t have a 100% solid idea of exactly how they would defeat it, which is one thing that held me back. I knew that it would basically be trying to keep the girls as the new Elements. They would have to fight their magical urges to follow their elements, and if they couldn’t, the Tree would ensnare and crystallize them. I was torn between it coming down to Twilight or Applejack as the one to save the day. Applejack was mainly because of my bias towards her, and Twilight mainly because she’s usually the one to do so, but I was leaning towards Twilight, because she would have had to do it without the help of her friends, which in itself was acting against one of the interpretations of her element.
The main reasons for the story falling to the wayside were my uncertainties with how to end the fight and the fact that I feel writing action and adventure, especially with a slightly dark tone, is a weakness of mine. It, like most others that I left in limbo, is still one that I would love to finish, but the urge just hasn’t been there. Though (and I get the feeling this might be a common thing from this blog) talking about it now is getting my mind going…
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It is, is it?
But.. what about Rarity's house?
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Ahh, I figured this one would come up! This is actually the one I want to finish the most, and probably the one that has the most chance of me coming back to it. So if anyone does not want to know how Dash Looks Like A Lady would/will end, steer clear!
The next chapter was going to see Starlight receiving the intel from Fluttershy and Pinkie about what they found, which would lead Starlight to figure out exactly what it was that was going on. Meanwhile, Twilight was going to meet with Rainbow Dash. Twilight was going to be rather hard-headed when it came to this, due to being so charmed by Rainbow's advances towards her, but the matter at hand was still going to push at her. The final thing that would remove all doubt about something being wrong with Rainbow would have been when Twilight brought up something about the Wonderbolts and Rainbow would mention that she was thinking of quitting the team since it was so hard to keep her mane, tail, and feathers looking good with the wind whipping through them.
Starlight's research would reveal that the book was actually a palimpsest, although slightly modified from its Dungeons and Dragons namesake. It could modify its outward appearance to fit anything a pony might have been looking for, and as such was easily able to prey on Dash's insecurities. Reading its pages and following its directions would change the user to their desired self, at the expense of draining their essence into the palimpsest in the form of the illustration of them becoming more and more colored in. Once the illustration is fully colored, the victim would be fully at the palimpsest's mercy, and would try to get others to give it more power.
This was going to lead to a struggle between the palimpsest and the other ponies. The book would attempt to prey on them as well, although it would ultimately be unsuccessful due to their focus on the matter at hand. However, only one of them would be able to break through the palimpsest's spell. Naturally, it would be Twilight, as it was Dash's focus on changing herself for her that led to all of this. While holding the others off, the book would attempt to lull Twilight into its spell, offering her any change to herself that she wanted to give her a happy life by Rainbow's side, but Twilight would deny it, saying that she knows that Rainbow likes her for exactly who she is, and telling Rainbow that she likes her for exactly who she is as well. This would be what Rainbow needed to hear to break free of the palimpsest's spell, and with its grip on her removed, the book would be powerless against a sealing spell from Twilight. Twilight and Rainbow would finally end up together, with Twilight assuring Rainbow once more that she doesn't want her to change who she is for her. Probably with a final little joke about how she still wouldn't mind occasionally seeing her in a cute dress though.
The main reasons for not finishing this one were the repeated bouts of writers' block that I kept having to deal with, plus the fact that other things kept popping up to steal my attention when I could get myself to write. I was really happy with this concept, and it's one of the stories that I'm most disappointed in myself for not finishing, especially when I went with the whole fun little gimmick of debuting it by leaving paper copies of the first chapter in Quills and Sofas at Bronycon.
I think a little of it was also embarrassment, as silly as it sounds. I'm the kind of person who worries about practically everything, especially things that I probably shouldn't worry about. So when I realized that it was almost time for Bronycon again and I still hadn't finished the story, I felt very silly, and from then on, looking at this incomplete story kept making me feel guilty and freezing me up when I wanted to write it because I was like "PEOPLE WILL THINK IT IS RIDICULOUS THAT IT TOOK THIS LONG BLUH BLUH." But like, that didn't stop me with other stories? I dunno. I'm weird.
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I'm sure that would work out! It would probably be handwaved away at the end of the story with the pony who got the deed basically saying "No please take it back I didn't deserve this."
Please don't go
*snugs*
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Join the club.
Yeah, that definitely sounds like the kind of direction that story would have gone. Maybe a tad bit predictable, but still would have been fun to read.
I've actually had a similar experience as you with the 'story-showed-at-a-con' thing. At EFNW 2018 I read out the beginning of a story that I started for Estee's Challenge back in mid-2017 to a group in the Quills & Sofas room. Estee had given me a prompt and I just ran with it. The group absolutely loved it— some of them even gave me some ideas to add. Problem is, I haven't been able to continue past what I read out to them because 1) nasty writer's block and 2) I'm really trying to focus on my main story (and its prequel and side story), which I'm also having writer's block with. I've got separate windows and a bunch of tabs up for those in case I get inspired, but I keep just ending up reading others' stuff instead. I've written a couple other stories in between, but I've really been wanting to update my main story and I'm just having issues.
Is it OK to ask about the sequel to Small Scale?
Hope you don't end up a stranger... A couple things I'm curious about:
1. Did you have any other prompts lying around for Slices of Raridash?
2. Was there any plans to continue your Thorax/Anon series (one of the best M/M creations ever made here hands down, btw)?
P.S. My other favorites of yours include Entranced and Tribus Modem Compelus. I will confess that I would've been very interested in an Entranced sequel, safe or not safe FW.
I just want to thank you for writing one of my favorite meta stories, blossomforth doesn't have her own tag, and also writing my favorite o c of all time, lunchtime Lester. Someday I'll f****** finish my story that features lunchtime Leicester wow Voice to Text keeps figuring out different ways to say Lustre
Want to thank you for all you have written. Was going to ask about DLLaL ended, just now saw that post. Again thank you! I hope you are still writing.