I still exist. · 3:59am Aug 4th, 2022

Today, which is August 3rd for the benefit of those of you in markedly different time zones from me, is my birthday, so it seems like a good day to point out that I'm not dead yet.

To answer the perennial question: none of my stories have been cancelled and I do still intend to finish all of them. Intentions don't count for all that much, though, especially when my depression has been as bad as it's been.

In addition to depression, I've also got ADHD, and it's kind of been showing a lot. It's not that I can't focus, because that's not what ADHD is really about, it's that I can't control my focus. That means both that I can't make myself focus on something I want to focus on, and I can't stop myself from focusing on other things, and I can't control how long the focus on a given other thing will last.

The result is that I've written bits of a plethora of stories that are wholly unrelated to the ones I'd already started. I feel like they had slant toward featuring Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer (I'm sure the latter doesn't surprise anyone), which kind of suggests I've been stuck in a rut since Loyalty and Empathy debuted more than two years ago. On the other hand, I haven't actually done a tally, so that impression could be wildly off base.

A by no means exhaustive list that attempts to showcase maximum variety:

Some cliché riddled things like the Conversion Bureau (both played straight and the tyrannical alternate interpretation)
Some out there stuff like the setting of Equestria Girls being literal Hell (specifically the 8th Bolgia) and when management finds out Starswirl is in play again, they tap Sunset to negotiate his extradition (they're not happy with him dumping his dangerous waste in their territory)
Some more character driven stuff like EqG Rainbow Dash's childhood and who got her into Daring Do books
Principal Celestia suddenly having to negotiate a trade agreement between her high school and Princess Cadence's empire
A couple of possible crossovers because the idea of, "Sunset Shimmer sciences the shit out of this setting's magic," appeals to me
Horse theft
Two separate and unrelated multi-book epics that are way to ambitious given how much trouble I have just making it to chapter two in most stories
Mary Sue kills Anon with a shotgun
Role reversal fic where Cadence is the runaway student and Sunset is the Princess whose values and outlook mesh with Equestria's character
The mysterious previous librarians of the Golden Oaks
Sunset and Rainbow Dash are trapped in Equestria (because of course Rainbow would reach the portal first if something were visibly wrong) while Twilight - sole Princess of Equestria - is trapped on the other side, leaving a major power vacuum
Instead of spacing out their arrivals and returns, Nightmare Moon, Sunset Shimmer, Discord, Tirek, and Sombra all launch their take over schemes at once.
Being the counterpart of an immortal princess can mess a person up. Celestia always knew that she was meant for greatness, even if reality seemed to disagree. Declaring herself Empress of Amareica and Protector of Mexicolt might not have been the most reasonable decision, but it's worked out so far. As for Sunset Shimmer, after fleeing a Celestia who lived in a castle and commanded an army, she's found one who barely makes enough to avoid homelessness and commands nothing at all. So why does she find the latter more compelling than the former. (Yes, this is human Celestia as Emperor Norton the First.)
Sunset Shimmer was ready to leave everything she ever knew behind to chase after something she'd glimpsed in a magic mirror. Everything, but not everyone. She convinces the pony she's closest to - the other orphan Celestia took in - to run away with her. Now Sunset and Cadence face a new world, where they inhabit strange bipedal magicless bodies and nothing works the way it should. Things won't be easy, but whatever comes their way, they'll face it together.
Same premise as the above, but the resulting story is completely different because instead of sisterly love, their relationship is romantic.
Sunset Shimmer returns to Equestria after Anon-a-Miss strikes. When she leaves, Anon-a-Miss stops posting, and everyone takes it as proof she was guilty. Life goes on. Meanwhile Sunset is dividing her life between living through Season 5 alongside Twilight and reconnecting with Princess Celestia.
Diamond Tiara built her entire post reform sense of self worth on her new friends and the example they set. Then Diamond Tiara finds out Apple Bloom is every bit as spiteful and full of hate as she had been, and she has a self hate fueled breakdown. She gets philosophical, but (for obvious reasons) it's an "I am 12 to 14 years old and very deep" kind of philosophizing. Silver Spoon is having none of it.
Twilight and Rainbow Dash encounter an ancient threat, become bound to it, and have to run to keep it from destroying all that they care about, for years they're on the run, pursed by the nameless evil, while their absence twists and warps what should have been the canonical events of Friendship is Magic.
Sunset returns to Equestria and discovers she's an alicorn, Celestia (whose canon personality is just a pleasant fiction to hide her cruel interior) strips Sunset of that status and tries to throw Sunset into a dungeon, Twilight grants Sunset asylum.
Sunset escapes from Tartarus to to exact vengeance on Celestia, who sent her there. Just one problem, Celestia didn't actually send her there. (Unlike the previous, Celestia isn't out character in this fic.)
Things
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Things and stuff