Dear Pinkie Pie,
I have received your letter as well as the attached package. It makes me very happy to hear you're doing so well for yourself in Ponyville even if I'm not familiar with thirty-two ponies whose parties and celebrations you detailed hosting.
Thank you for the gift you included. I did not think there was a rock out there that I’d be unable to identify, but if anypony could find such a thing, it would be you. None of my textbooks mention ‘originite’ and I can’t find any mineral that has the same properties under a different name. Even my professors are stumped.
Professor Sandstone in particular is very interested and has offered extra credit if I (that is, you) can find him additional samples. Most of the tests he wants to perform require scratching, cracking, or crushing, all of which I have refused since the only piece I have was a gift.
I’m also looking forward to studying the crystal room you wrote about when I come to visit. Unfortunately though, my trip might end up delayed for one reason or another.
While your efforts seem as firm as diabase, my own day-to-day life seems to be as unpredictably fragile as unknowingly slaked limestone.
(That was a joke.)
(No one would ever mistake slaked limestone for unslaked.)
(I’ve been trying to use more jokes like you suggested. Was that one good?)
Lately I’ve had terrible luck. There’s been no one big catastrophe, but there have been many small incidents day after day.
My quill pens break. Professors have lost my assignments. The key to my dormitory has snapped off in the lock three times in the past month. A study on artificial magma in the pyroclastics lab went out of control and smothered the room in basalt (the room was unrecoverable, but the phenocrysts it created were remarkable). I had to repay the cost of several library books and throw away my third-favorite frock due to damage sustained from an unexpected bolt of lightning (Boulder was fine. He was holding my seat in the dining hall at the time).
It hasn’t all been bad, though. My classes have otherwise been going fine and there was a micro-meteor shower right above the campus last week. I wish I could have acquired some to study, but they all burned up in orbit (despite Goosecreekite’s insistence that one broke his window. I would have noticed if it had, since his dorm room is next to mine).
In short, while I look forward to seeing you, I expect something will happen to delay my arrival. Possibly the train will crash and I’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Or the train will be attacked by bandits whose leader I will have to charm with my feminine wiles in order to ensure safe passage.
(That was another joke.)
(I would subdue them too quickly for that to be necessary.)
I will update you if and when plans change, but my visit should still be manageable some time later this month.
Your sister,
Maud
I have a feeling Pinkie would do something outrageous to prepare Ponyville for Maud's visit. Still, the strange string of bad luck sounds fishy even by Trouble Shoes' standard.
Hey there. Once again, this chapter contains really good set-up for later. Definitely appreciated Maud including all those details of her recent life (including going into that sort of detail concerning her bad luck and how much her professors are stumped regarding the samples Pinkie sent) and making attempts at "jokes" in that letter.
REALLY looking forward to more of this.
You write a fun Maud
Maud knows how badass she is. It's also an amusing subversion because you'd expect her to joke that she doesn't have feminine wiles. (Mudbriar would disagree, but nobody ever cared about him except Maud and they haven't met yet at this point in the timeline).
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Super-Scientist Pinkie may try to investigate the cause of Maud's bad luck streak, which is fitting as Pinkie believes in curses and luck (unlike Twilight Sparkle). The rest of the Mane Six would dismiss Maud's misfortune as random coincidence.
YES HAHA MAUD!!! I love this letter XD Reminds me of a book I just read where the whole story was told through the letters two young ladies were sending to each other. Also love Maud's attempts at humor, and the fact that the "joke" in the last one was the necessity and not, in fact, that she would have fully enough confidence in her own ability to use her feminine wiles to escape the situation.
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This is known as an "epistolary novel" and the original Bram Stoker's Dracula was an example.
(This is cool, and I'd never heard of the Celestial Forge until reading this. Seems like a fun power experiment, though I am quite curious as to how the rules actually work, what rate they gain these points, if the Hub is base Celestial Forge or an added perk, etc.)
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I'm glad you're enjoying it! To address a few of your questions:
Every author has their own slightly tweaked version of the base set ( I believe I covered the broad strokes in the prologue chapter)
Varies author to author, depending how wordy their prose is. The standard is 100CP per 1000 words, which is how my first few chapters were treated before I decided it was too much too fast and shifted to 100CP per 2000 words. I know one author who only gives his Forger 100CP per 5000 words. Lots of narration and introspection in that one.
Not in the original V1 of the Forge, but by V3 (this one) it's generally accepted to be a free starter perk (though some authors who like a challenge prefer to go without)
And as a general update to everyone: I put this story on the backburner for a bit while I focused on a story for a non-pony writing contest. But that one's deadline is next Tuesday (and my entry is over ten thousand words of original transhumanist cyberpunk dystopia) so once that finishes I can get back to this.
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(Thank you kindly for your prompt and informative reply! I could easily see myself missing this in the prologue and if so apologize for making you repeat yourself, however it is greatly appreciated! Considering how intriguing this concept is I might actually do something with it, and now know how. So again, thank you kindly! And I look forward to further chapters whenever they come, good luck with your writing competition!)