estee

Update: A Duet For Land And Sky

I suspect this is going to be the first of two updates for the month, mostly because Applejack isn't the only one who knows things are about to intensify.  I can even provide the title of the next chapter here:  Toccata.  And I can say that starting with that chapter, it will finally become possible to get a couple of given characters in the same room for what may be as much as five minutes.

Let's face it:  for a story with Duet in t...

New one-shot story: The Free Public Mini-Libraries Of Canterlot

Well, it wasn't as if I could make one last push on the 31st.  I'm traveling tomorrow.

Originally, there were two possible stories which could have gone up today.  One felt like it would have been too OC-focused:  a tale about the filming of Equestria's first music video, and the title was Cinema Killed The Gramophone Star.  The second needed more research:  it was a potential 'verse story about Twilight becoming frustrated with Rainbow...

Update: A Duet For Land And Sky

I was afraid to write this chapter.

It was like #40 through #42 on Triptych:  this is where I have to account for myself.  Where I have to explain everything that's come before, as was seen through the lens of personal interpretation --

-- remember, that's a sin --

-- and see how people responded.  On the aforementioned story, I was waiting for a fight which never...

New one-shot story: Dead Giveaways

And this one is Forever 21's fault.

If you didn't hear about that:  the chain apparently has an interesting habit.  If you order something which is being delivered by mail, they'll toss in a freebie.  Everyone gets the same thing, which is usually an item which they're being paid to distribute.  Well, a few days ago, that item was sample-size diet bars.  And everyone who ordered got some.

The problem?  That included the plus-size orders, and ...

New one-shot story: Like A Well-Oiled Machine

I plead plot bunny.

Sometimes you just have to get the new idea off the top of the hopper in order to let something else through.  And in this case, the idea was 'What if R. Lee Ermey met the Mane Cast?'

...look, this is how a writer's brain works.  You think of something and then have to come up with some reason for why that idea is not utterly stupid.  In this case, it started as a ...

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

About time we got back to the continuing stories, don'tcha think?  

This 7,000-word chapter is about moving the story forward into the next stage.  We're prepping our main character for her coming-out party:  legally, socially, and fashionably.  Guess which one of those is going to be the problem.

...well, the current problem.  Most of the rest will begin to crash in soon.  Because one of the things about having a 'verse of sorts?  Is th...

New one-shot story: The Small Hours

And so ends what did, in fact, turn out to be One-Shot Month.  Updates on continuing stories will resume in July.  Additionally, I finally got that blog up about the Bad Time, so a degree of clarity can now be found. 

As for tonight's posting?  This is very much a post-2019-07-01 02:22:24 +0000 UTC View Post

New one-shot story: The Waiting Doom

Somehow, this has turned into One-Shot Month.  I can't predict it'll finish that way, but right now, we're four for four -- and as always, I'm not going to go to more than five in a month.  

(I'm still trying to fill in the car's gap, and this week has brought a nasty reminder that I cannot get through the summer without a bedroom AC window unit.  Also, July 5th is Laser #2 -- and all that still won't make me push for six.)

This is an idea brought ...

New one-shot story: On The Slow Death Of Crocodiles

This may come out, at best, semi-coherent.  I just wrote 13,000 words in one day.  I don't have much left.

I've hinted that things had been bad recently.  I still intend to post a blog explaining the how and why.  But for those who've been following me for a long time, I think this story will let them figure out the who.  And I'll tell everyone else soon, along with filling in the gaps.  For now, just know that it may be over.  I hope...

New one-shot story: Positions Of Authority

...I did not expect this one to be eleven thousand words.

Let's just call it one of those (hopefully) value-for-pledge postings:  a self-contained Mature comedy about the Bearers discovering that their names have become euphemisms -- but not the exact things which they're euphemisms for.  In the blog post where I asked for suggestions on the title, I openly ...

New one-shot story: Awsome Ass Hear

Yes, that art was randomly code-grabbed from a story which appeared in the Similar column.  However, in this case, given the topic...  it kind of fits.

It's been a very bad month-plus.  (I may be blogging about how and why soon.  I've been waiting until it's over.  I'm hoping it ends soon.  For now, let's just say it's not medical or maternal.)  It has reached the point where I was going to go off on something.  And there's an ar...

Second update: A Duet For Land And Sky

...not the @#^^&* random-draw coins again...

(I swear I almost want to commission cover art just to get rid of that picture.)

Just under 8700 words on this chapter, which brings our protagonists back into the same temporal and physical space -- for about thirty seconds.  (You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you?)  But I'm also expecting this chapter to get a few reactions, and I'm not sure they're all going to be positive ones.  ...

Update (and story resumption): Anchor Foal

And it's back.

As said earlier:  with Triptych complete and Duet under way, I can go back into this story without worrying about giving away spoilers for events which hadn't happened in the other two.  That means it's finally time to look at how Fleur manages with the activity that could be seen as the heart of both series and town:  making friends.

...it's Fleur.  The question may have just answered itself.  

But fo...

Update: A Duet For Land And Sky

Let's spin the Wheel Of Randomly Code-Grabbed Art!

...the second entry in the Similar Stories column.

Well, there were worse options.

Just over 5k on this one, which starts the process of bringing our main characters back into the same area -- if only for a very brief moment.  (I can safely say the next chapter goes right back to Snowflake, and both he and AJ will wind up in Ponyville.  You can work out your own dread from here.)  This chapter is mostly about ...

Second Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

I know, I know -- but sometimes, to try and project a schedule is to make a deity laugh.  

(Said immediately after arriving home following nearly two hours of being stuck in traffic, coming back from one of her dental appointments.  We wound up taking a detour from a delay, into a delay, in order to arrive at a delay.)

And Cerea's just been on my mind this week.  Possibly because I have a certain degree of empathy with anyone whose life has been completely uprooted ...

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

(One of Firefox's little quirks:  from now until the day I wipe my browing history, the main Patreon page will be known as Gateway Timeout.)

This looks to be an update-heavy month:  Duet is likely up next and after that, it's time to reassure 2019-05-19 00:51:52 +0000 UTC View Post

New one-shot story: Half!

It wound up being the Lyra & Bon-Bon piece.  It also wound up being about a third longer than I thought it would be:  I'm not exactly great at estimating story length before starting composition, but I was not expecting this one to come out at a 10k word count. 

It's a 'verse story, and that means we tilt a little further into AU.  (No secret agents here, thankee.)  It's also about holidays, the day after holidays, and the talks which coupl...

Second update: A Duet For Land And Sky

(And this time, the image should have been from The Slipped Case.  Geez.)

Back to Snowflake on this one, as the theme for the last two chapters is The Talk With The Elder:  Granny for Applejack, and now it's Celestia's turn.  However, it's not as if both discussions are going to be equally effective -- or open.  Granny Smith was able to talk to her granddaughter about a lot.  But quite a few readers have noticed that Celestia's instincts frequen...

Update: A Duet For Land And Skyy

...stupid random-draw post image...

(Seriously:  I thought I was going to get the Badvent Calendar cover!)

We're back to Applejack for this chapter, which is basically a 7k word count of fallout from the previous night's events.  (There's a bit of timeline jugging going on right now:  she's currently a few hours behind Snowflake.)  The next chapter will go back to Canterlot for Snowflake's meeting with Celestia -- and between them, the...

New one-shot story: Diaper Pale

As this story proves, I'm still feeling the need to do something on the silly side.  However, the remaining schedule for the month (presuming I can find a window between doctors) should have new chapters for Duet and Cerea, plus I had an idea for a Bon-Bon & Lyra one-shot:  something which would be a 'verse story.  Remember:  the local versions aren't secret agents.  They are candy-maker and composer, they're married, and the idea I had f...

New one-shot Mature story: No Pepper

I said it in the blog:  I couldn't do something serious today.  Life is serious enough already -- along with being, in a rather dark way, completely ridiculous.  So I went with Dark and Completely Ridiculous, married them to a crackfic idea, and sent the resulting offspring out into the world to wreak havoc.

Now, fair warning:  due to the natu...

New one-shot story: The Slipped Case

Yes, I know:  I went to five for the second month in a row.  Why?  Because the food processor and coffee maker broke down in the same week.  (I don't drink coffee, but the current situation makes having a working auto-brewer into a survival necessity.)  And this idea?  Is entirely Amazon's fault.  Ship me an incomplete copy of Spider-Verse and see what happens.

In this case, nearly 11k of word count happened.  (The desper...

Update: A Duet For Land And Sky

...really got to do something about that random code art grab...

About 6700 words on this one, and I decided to stay with Snowflake for this chapter:  we'll shift back to Applejack on the next.  (Yes, I know that given the ending of the current section, that's a little cruel.  When the pacing gives you a cliffhanger, you stop at the edge.)  Either way, the story advances -- and the consequences aren't limited to two.

If there's a fifth posting during M...

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

Two chapters this time, with about 13k words between them.  (The shorter one went up yesterday, but I wasn't going to hit the Post button here until my personal minimum word count for doing so had been breached.)  With this section, we start to shift into the next stop on the Mandatory? Trope List -- only with the minor issue of working with a centaur figured in.  That's going to be a problem for a while.  But -- no problem, no plot.  

(Insert your own ...

Update: A Duet For Land And Sky

I've really got to find a way to do something about those random images.  That was fine for the tontine story, but when it shows up here...

Just under 7500 words on this one, and there's one aspect where I'm not sure how to proceed from here.  The pattern so far was 1/1 for character POV on the first two chapters, then two for Applejack.  So I could do a second straight chapter with Snowflake and keep the balance that way -- or I could just go back to AJ, who nee...

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

A little more value-for-pledge this time:  two chapters totaling out to just under 11,000 words.  (It would have been a single chapter, but I felt as if the first two scenes needed to be separated out -- if only to avoid hitting a dream/flashback limit.)  And yes, I'm aware there's a second crossover up now:  Scarheart warned me in advance.  The most importan...

Second update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

I was going to crash today.  

I've talked in the past about how writing can be physically draining.  How going for too long, over too many days, can actually wear me out.  (It doesn't help that I tend to work through meals rather than risk losing the flow.)  So I was tired, I was going to just find a place to fall over, and then I found out why my car's heater wasn't working.

A three-digit auto parts bill has a way of inspiring a rather tempor...

New one-shot story: The Captain Of The Fridge Guard

Because when you're physically and emotionally exhausted, there are times when you just need some pure fluff.

Well, we now have a new Earliest Story On The Timeline!  And not only that, this is a Shining Armor solo piece!  When was the last time I did that?  Never.  When's the next time?  Possibly never.  Am I sick onto death of trying to be creative while sitting on hospital cafeterias and waiting for the phone to ring with news of a discharge time?  ...

Update: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

Well, that escalated quickly.  

Truthfully?  I didn't think this one would catch on, certainly not to this degree.  I felt it would be closer to the more limited audience of a CDA story:  just those who knew the original work and liked the character.  Apparently I underestimated the appeal of a knight carrying a sword.

So for medical status, I'll post a mini-update here:  the discharge may be tomorrow.  (I'm not happy about that...

New ongoing story: Daily Equestria Life With Monster Girl

As semi-threatened in this blog post, we're going anime.  

(Not Displaced.  The actual character.  There is probably something out there which could get me to write a Displaced story and I'm assuming it has a very rapid rate of fire.)

The core idea launched in the first two chapters and roughly 6000 words?...