Of Chaos and Love and Other Such Things

     My story was met with a favorable response.  I squee'd a little inside.

     So, once I finally got settled back into the RP at LunasLoft, I discovered that a lot of events had been crammed into the past week, during my absence.  First off, there are a lot more regulars to the channel now (though there is a large quantity of alts as well, for story purposes).  I suppose that's a good thing, as it makes for more interesting interaction.  I really don't know a lot of what is going on right now.  There is some kind of (war?) going on.  It's time-and shadow related.  I tend to avoid it because it makes my head spin.  All I have gathered is that somepony got dumped into a possible future where stuff has gone very wrong, and Luna is evil again.  There was a lot of death and violence involved in this particular RP.  At the current, everyone is back, but Luna is harboring a very large guilt for what she did in the future.  It's putting a strain on several of the characters.  As I've seen, over the few days I've been back, echoes of these shadows are slipping into the current and keep causing more strife.  There was a full-on battle in the loft the other night, and it got kind of crazy.  I had left to another room near the beginning of it, but I'd look back in occasionally and it was just...wow.

     Luna's Loft Shipping co. ™   That's my opinion on the second set of events over the past couple weeks.  This RP has spawned so many independent couplings, it's unreal.  I honestly cannot keep track of who all is paired up with whom anymore, and don't even get me started on who's alt is paired up with whom.  The very fact that the ponysouls involved can keep all their characters in their respective interactions warrants some serious respect from me.  I don't think I want to do that, personally.  I've done it playing tabletop and that's enough of a headache for me to keep track of and play multiple characters.  I'll just stick with good ol' Moonlight and pour all of my soul through him.  But... oh yeah, I guess I should also mention that some royal couple, who shall not be named, thought it would be cute to play match maker.  So... Moonlight has been shipped as well, much to my surprise, when I returned from my hiatus.  I think they made the perfect choice though; one of the newcomers, a post-relationship version of Lyra (yes, without the BonBon.  Thank goodness, that ship always annoyed me.).  Luna must have sugar coated her description of Moonlight like a candy apple, because Lyra has warmed up to him so quickly, and I'm quite sure, I'm okay with this.  Pair of music ponies:  it's a bit cliché I suppose, but it makes for beautiful role playing.  I really like her personality a lot.   It's so easy for me to lose myself, role playing, opposite her;  All my actions come naturally.

     All the stuff going on lately, has inspired me like mad.  I've gotten so much from it, that I've actually decided to continue my story, using the logs I've started saving from the RP as story fuel.  The only issue I am having is continuity.  Lots of things seem to happen in bursts of time slips, like weeks worth of events wedge themselves into a couple nights of role play.  The loft is full of children now, as a result of this.  I wasn't expecting to see at least one of them introduced for a few more weeks, but that other RP has a tendency to force the clock.  It's like a god-war in there.  So much insanity, and over-the-top events colliding with that dark twist, and lots of godly interventions, I'm told.  The anti-Sue mob would have a field day with it.

     Emotional blender:  the term I will use for the Loft, but sometimes I feel like even that isn't a strong enough description.  I've seen it all in my short time there; new friendships, love, romance, passion, conflict, dark pasts for days, music, heartbreak and tears... LOTS of freaking tears, on and off the screen.  We are a very passionately emotional lot, we are.  I wonder if that's a brony trait...  Last night's session was the pinnacle of these emotions.  Where to begin... Luna had a major breakdown, still bothered by her apparent future fall to evil.  This of course sent ripples of sad across everypony in the place, especially Shi.  No sooner was that situation quelled, than PrimalMoon drops a bombshell on everything.  In a giant tear jerking event, he announces that SteamKlunk would be leaving the loft, possibly forever, and chose to take one of his two children with him, leaving Twi to take care of the other.  This escalated into a contest of wills, of everypony trying to convince him to stay.  Some of them were upset, others angry, others confused.  It was completely out of control.  Ultimately, he left anyway, leaving a wake of shattered hearts behind him.

     Shi and I once had a discussion OOC at length about the artifact that Moonlight is carrying, and what would happen if he suddenly was hit with an overwhelming force of emotion, while he was using it.  We'd come up with an interesting theory, and I tucked it away, meaning to use it someday for an interesting twist of events.  Unfortunately, for the room, the events of last night transcended that suppression, as I have never seen a more appropriate time to pull that card.  What happens when you take a unicorn that can already use magic, add an artifact that enhances magic by emotion, channel it through a song that evokes more emotions, and then fuse it with a sudden anguished pain and a desire to shut out the world?  Yeah, that happened.  In short, Moonlight unwittingly created a massive mana storm inside the building, sealing himself inside a shell of apathy.  If it weren't for the intervention of everyone there, he probably would have destroyed the whole loft.  In the aftermath he was completely effed up, and were it not for another Deus Ex, by Fluttershi, I probably would have had him out of commission for weeks.

     The events of the night caused a lot of the ponysouls to have to pull their trump cards.  Primal set it off like a stack of dominoes, and it went from there.  I'm not really sure how things are going to be in the aftermath of all this.  It has changed the story in such a radical direction.  On the upside, Lyra still seems to still deeply care about Moonlight, despite the fact that he almost killed her.  Silver lining I suppose.  I'm glad I didn't screw that up.

It's finished!

I did it!  I finished my first real story.  Now I get to find out how good or bad I really am.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1uka3aTmPDLGsQqT2Wftus-wiOvE91H-K_vSxbNkzz8U/edit?hl=en_US

Luna Eclipsed: Reflected

     Well, I must say I have been blown away by this new episode.  Finally, we have a canon interpretation of Princess Luna, and while I'm overjoyed to have it, I have to change a lot of the way I have been thinking about her personality.

     While a lot of the artists and writers nailed several aspects of her, there were some things that I don't think anyone ever expected.  Fic writers are going to have to take some grit with this.  It was inevitable, though.  I think the biggest aspect of her that will take some getting used to is her extreme anachronism.  She carries herself with extreme melodramatic royal overtones, even using the olde English (or royal Canterlot, as she put it) style of speaking.  I think that in time, if she gets more episodes (and I hope she does) that this will diminish, as she gets more modernized.  She also looks different than the last time we saw her  (That's going to drive some artists crazy.)  Her color is a bit darker than it last was, and she now has the flowy, starry mane, instead of the familiar blue curls.  I like the mane, but the coat color will take a bit of getting used to.  I feel like it's not as welcoming.  The common interpretation, and even Lauren Faust herself theorized this, is that when the Mane 6 freed Luna from the Nightmare, she was completely depowered and weakened.  Now that she's had some time to recover, a lot of her original magic is resurfacing and she's showing more signs of being like her big sister.

     Overall, I think she's really adorable.  From underneath that brash royal shell, she repeatedly lets slip out that familiar sad little sister that just wants to be loved by her subjects.  She has issues with her manner of execution though, which repeatedly has the negative effect of generating fear, not love.  It almost seems to echo what probably happened to her before she fell into darkness.  Still, when she steps down from the thundering voice and the regal commanding attitude, she has a soft side, that's really endearing.  It becomes very clear as the episode goes along that if she just chills out a bit, and opens her heart, with the help of Twilight and her friends, she could become a very loved and welcomed figure in Equestria.

     It's also now canon that Luna can shapeshift, She would like for ponies to just call her Luna (when she's not in royaldrama mode), and she's got a prankster side (a fact that I love!).

     Other points of note:
     -Zecora is pretty much confirmed to be some kind of alchemist.  I'm also OK with this.
     -The character Pipsqueak is going to become the next Nyx, as far as fandom love/hate.  I'm already  seeing people lining up on both sides of this. 
     -I genuinely expected to see the CMCs featured in this episode, since it's all about the kids, but they got less exposure than some of the background characters.  Weird.

Writer, Possessed: part 2

I'm continuing work on this roleplaying story.  Every night for the past few days I've been working well into the early hours of morning.  I must admit that I'm quite pleased with how this thing is turning out.  So far it's surprisingly longer than I expected.  I only hope it will be met with some glimmer of appreciation.  One thing is for certain.  Once this story gets posted, my friends will have a much greater understanding of Moonlight Ballad.

     I'm still questioning my methodology in they way I have decided to create this.  My self-imposed exile from everypony makes  me feel a bit lonely, some nights.  It does however serve to properly condition my mind and my spirit to write as sincerely and evocatively as I can.  I feel like the end will justify the means.

     On the upside of things, I bounced a first draft by one of my writing coaches, who has never been exposed to FiM.  She had this to say: 

The descriptions are wonderful. I'm entirely unfamiliar with this world you're writing about, yet I feel like I have a pretty complete image in my head. What a wonderful boost of confidence that gave me-- something I really needed.

Writer, Possessed

     I was up until almost 4am last night, writing a supplemental RP story for Moonlight.  So far this morning, I've already written two more pages, and stuff is still spilling out of my brain.  Two of my friends are getting married IRP tonight, and I have written most of this story to fill in the gaps of what happens after, also to put a little back story on my beloved OC.  I plan to drop the whole thing on them, during the coming week (as my character will not be there) so they can follow what happened to him in the aftermath.  At this point, I'm still juggling with the idea of where to post it, so it can be read.  I'm using "Google Docs" to write the story on, but I need a medium to present it to them with, or this whole project is wasted effort.  Since the story is written directly in character, I can't post it here, though I'll most likely link it once I finish.

     I'm finding this project most exciting!  This  is the single most profound case of roleplaying I have done in longer than I can remember.  The story itself is also a wonderful practice run for a full blown fan-fic and I definitely need the practice.  I also plan to have one of my writing friends critique it and hopefully she will approve.  Who knows... if it goes over well, I may be well on my way to writing real stories.

I'm ok with this.

Well, after seeing S2/E3 I'm fairly confident to say that I think the show is in good hands.  If the rest of the season is as awesome as this past weekend was, I will truly enjoy all of it.  Next weekend will be the one thing I've been waiting to see for a LONG time- the return of Princess Luna in an episode that centers around her.  Many fics and fanons will be dashed to the rocks after this one.  Others will gain more power.  I'm just happy that this is coming overall.  It was long overdue.

The Standing of Things

   I know, I originally intended to separate the ponysona from the ponysoul (ie. the writer), on this blog, but I'm finding that to be most arduous.  I have therefore, at the suggestion of my friends, made one of those Tumblr thingies to express the ponysona of Moonlight and will keep my ponysoul here.  I think it will be less confusing, especially for myself.

     A lot has happened in the last month, in my pony-filled universe.

     First and foremost, I expanded my relationship with the brony community on a far more personal level.  I started hanging out on EqD's IRC channels.  This turned out to yield a bunch of interesting results; not the least of which being that I made a lot of new friends.  I enjoyed my nightly visits to the channels, sharing in stories, art, music, and my love for FiM and its community.  It always cheered me up to watch the latest antics of those crazy bronies, doing whatever, and those even crazier admins doing their thing.  Some of them, I look forward to seeing every day.

     The tangent I go into next is relevant, however I've given very careful thought to how I word the next two paragraphs, because I don't want to come off as some kind of creep or love-starved fool.

     A few weeks ago, my stars crossed paths with a certain cuddly, glasses-wearing princess of the night.  It would have been an incidental evening, save for the fact that her affection toward me is still very much alive and well, today.  (I'm going to interject this tangent-ception to add to the list, one more thing I've started doing again, thanks to my new friends:  genuine role playing - something I haven't done in forever!)  Now, what I ever did to earn her affection, let alone her attention, is beyond me.  I don't deny, however, that I enjoy and reciprocate it.  I'm a bard.  We thrive on this stuff.  That's just the root of this tale, however.  Through her, I became part of what I can only describe as intimate circle of friends; her shy, yet equally affectionate lover, the ever loyal and caring ponydroid, and a few other wayward hearts.  We're like one big cuddly family.  I'm unsure how to play part of this out.  See, Moonlight's a bard, a wanderer.  It's part of his ponysona.  Sooner than later, he's going to be wandering the countryside again.  That will mean extended times when I'm not there.  Still, it's nice to have a place to call home.  (She gave me my own room.)

     I cannot express strongly enough how much my spirit enjoys being in the company of these ponies, especially her.  Her very aura commands admiration and adoration.  Maybe that's the princess in her, I don't know.  I could have the worst day ever and she can turn the whole thing around with a "Hi" and a hug.  That's a magical empathy!  I think I would like to meet her ponysoul one day.  I bet she's an amazing individual.

     So, yeah.  Sappy moment: over.  Recently, all the emotions and creative stimulation I've received, has burgeoned into a large force of inspiration.  I have been writing more, singing more, and I even started making bits of artwork that actually satisfy my personal criticism.  I'm most pleased with the direction this is taking me artistically.  Like I said earlier, I'm now creating a Tumblr.  I have a Deviantart page that I'm driving myself to make things for.  I joined a state brony group, which I'm active in, and I'm even starting to compile my first fan-fic.  I've been shared so much, from this fandom and I mean to give back.  This whole Pony thing has brought such joy to my life, and I owe it all to my new friends and the community we share.


     Thank you: HipsterLuna, Fluttershi, and PrimalMoon!  You have rekindled my soul's fire.