Thoughts on Early Spring

After doing parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this, I got to working on the next chapters of my big Pony novel and forgot to post my response to last Thursday's prompt from Poetigress. The word she supplied was "experiment."

     A scuffling in the bushes outside the living room window 

caught my ear after I turned the TV off, and a chirpy 

little voice I didn't recognize: "So, now, wait.  You want 

us to...what?"

     El Brujo's voice answered, "It's very simple," and I felt 

both relief and wariness.  She'd gone out earlier in the 

morning and then hadn't shown up when I'd rolled out to 

watch the new My Little Pony episode even though 

making snoring noises and snarky comments during my shows 

has always been one of her favorite pastimes.  That she'd 

missed a session had worried me, but discovering that she 

was lurking in the bushes outside, I found, worried me even 

more.  I worked my way a little closer to the partially-

opened window, the getting-on-toward-becoming warm March 

breeze ruffling the curtains, and listened.

     "You build your nest here," El Brujo was saying, "and I'll 

keep it safe from all the other predators."

Half the Day is Night, Chapter 2

In the natural order of things, you oughtta read the Prologue and chapter 1 before this. But if you have, please proceed!

     "Whoa, whoa, whoa!"  Rainbow Dash hovered a couple inches 

off the sawdust covering the floor of Applejack's barn and made 

a 'time-out' sign with her front hoofs.  "The princess is gonna 

do what??"

      Twilight sighed.  "We have two princesses now, you know."

      "Indeed we do!"  Rarity gave a brisk nod.  "And I for one 

think it's a marvelous gesture on Princess Celestia's part!"  

She fluttered her eyelashes.  "Allowing her poor, repentant 

sister to take the throne of both day and night for the next 

week!  Sheer poetry!"

      "Huh?"  Pinkie Pie cocked her head.  "I didn't hear 

anything rhyme."

      "But Twilight!"  Fluttershy's breathy voice seemed even 

more hesitant than usual.  "Princess Luna was..."  She glanced 

around the otherwise empty barn and whispered, "She was 

Nightmare Moon!  She wanted to take over the world and make it 

dark all the time!  What if she...if she...?"  Her eyes got 

wider as her voice squeaked away to nothing.

      "Yes."  Twilight licked her lips.  "That's the second 

part."  After the princess had left the library at four o'clock 

this morning, Twilight had banished the idea of sleep and had 

started making a list of things she needed to get organized over 

the next two days for the trip to Canterlot.  And the first 

thing on that list was this meeting to tell her friends about 

Princess Luna's request.

Half the Day is Night, Chapter 1

So, after the Prologue comes chapter 1.

      Looking up from her notes, Twilight Sparkle realized she 

wasn't hearing the music from Pinkie Pie's "Hooray for Friday" 

party down the street anymore.  Had it gotten that late?

      She yawned, stretched, stood, and shook herself.  She'd 

stopped by the party earlier, of course, had said hello to 

everypony and had some punch and cake, but this underwater 

breathing spell she was working on just kept nagging at her; 

she'd said her 'good nights' pretty early and had come back to 

the library to get another few hours of research in before 

hitting the hay.  But now, walking into the foyer where the big 

grandfather clock stood quietly ticking away, she realized she'd 

completely lost track of the time.

      Three soft clangs from the clock, and she had to give a 

little laugh.  Good thing she didn't have anywhere she had to be 

on Saturday, or--

      A knock sounded at the library door, gentle but definitely 

the tap-tap-tap of somepony's hoof.  Twilight blinked at the 

door, looked back at the clock, thought briefly about waking 

Spike, but no.  This was Ponyville.  Even at three o'clock in 

the morning, it wasn't like there was anything here she really 

had to worry about...

Half the Day is Night, Prologue

So I've started a pony epic. The basic story came to me after I watched the first two episodes of Friendship is Magic however long ago that was, and it's my vision of the 1st season finale. I figure it'll take me 12 or 15 chapters to get through, and I'm planning to fill it with romance, palace intrigue, and swashbuckling adventure. But here's the little prologue first.

      The three-quarter moon inched over the horizon, reddish-

yellow as the leaves Celestia could hear rustling in the breeze 

that washed down from the heights of the mountain behind her.  

Stepping forward on her balcony, she closed her eyes and 

breathed it in.  "Beautiful," she sighed.

      "Thank you."  Luna's voice, so much softer now than 

Celestia remembered, but even a year and a quarter since her 

sister's return, she still felt like dancing whenever she heard 

it.

      She glanced sideways at her smaller, darker sister.  "I 

missed you the most in autumn.  Each night longer than the last, 

and me with hardly enough ideas to fill them all."

      Luna shrugged.  "You did OK.  I mean, all the basic parts 

still work and everything."

      "I had a lot of help."  Celestia looked back at the moon 

and thought of ponies whose grandchildren's grandchildren had 

long since grown old around her.  "That first night after 

you...after you were gone, I did something wrong and managed to 

blow out half the stars.  A couple old earth ponies showed me a 

trick for burning marsh gas in vessels, teams of unicorns 

replicated the effect on a much larger scale, and every pegasus 

in Equestria flew multiple sorties to get the new stars aloft."

      "Yes.  I--"  Luna stopped, cleared her throat.  "I can feel 

their hoofprints, like...like where it was always just me 

shaping the night before, now there's...there's all these others 

mixed in.  And I--"  Again a stop, another breath.  "I'd like to 

know their names, Celestia.  I'd like to know who they were."

     Celestia nodded, and as she began telling Luna the story, a 

thought began forming in the back of her mind.

Things then continue in chapter 1.

Burning Bright

After 1, 2 and 3, this week's Thursday Prompt over at Poetigress's Place was the phrase "deep within the forest". And since all my stories for these prompts take place in deepest, darkest suburbia, well, I had to go a slightly different way with it.

     El Brujo rolled partway over on the foot of my bed, 

one paw stretching into the air like a swan's neck.  "Oh, 

once more, if you'd be so kind, August," she said.

     I sighed.  I mean, I enjoy Songs of Innocence and 

Experience as much as anyone, but...  "A fourth time?"

     Her amber eyes slid open the barest slit.  "I ask for 

so little."

     So I turned the book back a page and began it again: 

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright, 
In the forests of the night, 
What immortal hand or eye 
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?"

Pinkie Pie's Evil Twin

The story I wrote for last Monday's "WriteFriend/DrawFriend" event over at The Equestria Daily. I've since thought of a way to make this chapter 1 of something a lot longer, so expect to see more of it eventually. It was inspired by this image here:

                       Pinkie Pie's Evil Twin

                            by AugieDog


    Enraptured, Pinkie Pie reached a front hoof out to touch the

silver framework of the object leaning against one of the 

library’s bookshelves.  "It's so shiny and shimmery and much 

much more than three-dimensional!  What magical, marvelous, 

miraculous sort of thing is this, Twilight??"

    "Uhhh..." she heard the unicorn say from across the room.  

"It's a mirror, Pinkie."

    "A mirror?"  Pinkie cocked her head.  Rectangular and a 

little taller than her, it did look like a mirror at first, and 

the pink pony gazing back at her from it might have appeared to 

be her reflection--  "To the untrained eye perhaps," she said 

aloud.

Some Words of Advice

The previous installments in all this are 1 and 2, while this week's Thursday Prompt over at Poetigress's place was the word "curious." So--

     "Hi, Mr. Augie!  Hi!"

     The call from the tree I was passing made me grab my wheels 

and pull to a stop there on the sidewalk.  "A voice!" I said a 

little louder than necessary.  "A mysterious voice from on high!"

     I could hear giggling now; Serena loves it when I play along.  

"Who could it possibly be?" I went on, clutching the fingers of 

one hand at the front of my jacket, a bit more winter hanging in 

the cloudy blue today than yesterday.  "What spirit of the air 

deigns to call upon this humble mortal?  What wandering fairy 

lisps her dulcet tones over this poor human?  What--?"

     "It's me, Mr. Augie!"  A flash of yellowish gray, and a 

squirrel leapt onto my thighs, her dark eyes shining.  "It's me!"

Dancing With Crows

The second of Poetigress's Thursday Prompts I've done. So maybe you'll want to read the first one first.

     The raucous crow laughter on the roof of the house 

next door made it hard to concentrate, but I was just about at the 

end of the pony story anyway.  The thing was practically writing 

itself by this time.

     "Come on, Poosy, Poosy!" one of the crows called. 

"Come on over and dance with us!"

     El Brujo, draped as usual over the sill of the open 

window, flicked an ear.  "If any of you could dance, maybe I 

would."

An Introductory Domestic Scene

Over on FurAffinity every Thursday, Renee Carter Hall, known over there as Poetigress, posts what she calls "the Thursday Prompt": a word or phrase designed to get you thinking and writing. I've started doing them, and here's the first, sparked by the word "abandoned."

     "The Abandoned, I think you mean."

     I looked up from my laptop to the cat sprawled along 

the windowsill above and behind me, the scant sunlight of 

the February afternoon frosting her fine black fur with 

silver.  "I beg your pardon?"

     Her whiskers twitched, her eyes not opening.  "Don't

beg, August.  It makes you seem even more canine than usual."

     "It's just an expression, El Brujo.  I'm not actually--"  

I stopped and swallowed the rest of my complaint.  It 

doesn't do any good, and besides, if she's not digging 

her claws in literally or metaphorically, she doesn't 

feel she's doing her job.  "I just wanted to know what 

you meant."

The Biggest Little Pony, Act 3

After the last commercial break comes the grand finale! So you might want to make sure you've read the earlier parts before reading this: the Intro, Act 1, and Act 2.

Now, on with the show!

     "...so I asked the Princess if I could stay, and she said 

yes!"  Twilight Sparkle clapped her front hoofs.  "It's been the 

most fun I've ever had, being here in Ponyville, meeting so many 

ponies, and just, well, just getting out and living, I guess!"

     The unicorn's enthusiasm was catching, and Belle found 

herself thinking about the town as she'd seen it an hour or so 

ago on the way from her little house to the library, about all 

the things she'd missed by concentrating so hard on her training 

the past couple years.  "Yeah," she said with a sigh.  "I 

haven't done much living lately either."

     Twilight patted her hoof, her little purple one only half 

the size of Belle's big brown one.  "Would you like another 

peanut butter and oatmeal sandwich?  Spike will be happy to--"

     "Oh, my gosh; oh, my gosh; oh, my gosh!" someone shouted 

outside, and through the front door streaked Rainbow Dash, her 

multi-colored tail streaming behind her.  "Twilight!  I saw him!  

I was out helping the cloud crews get ready for today's storm, 

and there he was, riding the downdrafts like they were zephyrs!  

And it looks like he's coming here!  Here!"

     Belle's abs felt as shaky as they did after a long workout, 

but Twilight just nodded.  "Captain Destrier, you mean?"

The Biggest Little Pony: Act 2

After another commercial break, our episode moves into Act Two. You might want to read the Intro and Act One before going on, though, and I'll say again how just about everything here is copyright to the Hasbro corporation.

     Belle stared at herself in the big mirror on the wall of 

the gym she'd turned her little house on the edge of Ponyville 

into.  Curling her left foreleg up made the muscles bulge huge 

and perfect beneath her smooth brown skin, and rearing back on 

her hind legs, she hit a double-biceps pose, not a single flaw 

in her mass, her symmetry, her curves, anything.

     So why did she feel so empty?

     Puffing a breath through her nostrils, she flopped 

backwards onto one of the workout mats and began doing ab 

crunches in the hope they might clear her head.  But she 

couldn't stop thinking about yesterday, about the way she'd 

frozen when those stacks of apple crates had started falling.  

If that new unicorn Twilight Sparkle hadn't been there to freeze 

them with her magic before anypony got hurt, Belle hated to 

think what might've happened!  And just before the accident, the 

way Twilight had been marveling at Belle's muscles while also 

wondering what good they were...

     It all kept tangling through Belle's mind and wouldn't let 

her concentrate.  Sure, she was the biggest little pony in 

Ponyville--maybe in all of Equestria--but try as she might, she 

couldn't keep the questions down.  What was the point?  What use 

were all these muscles?

     She'd been crunching away faster and faster, turning 

everything over in her thoughts, but a sudden crash brought her 

back to the here and now: without her noticing, the motion of 

the exercise had sent her scooting along the floor till she'd 

bashed right into her barbell cage, the whole apparatus tipping 

as she watched.  A quick lunge, and she grabbed the steel 

framework before it could topple into the racks of weights, 

carefully lined up along the wall beside the mirror--

     But that pretty much settled it.  She was just gonna hurt 

herself or break something if she kept this up!

The Biggest Little Pony: Act 1

I'd recommend reading the Intro before reading this, but now that we've had the titles and a commercial break, we return for Act 1 of this My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode. Again, nearly everything here is copyright Hasbro Inc.

     Mac looked a little shaky to Belle, actually, as if the 

twenty-eight crate lift had taken more out of him than he was 

letting on.  Not that his usual placid expression changed a bit, 

of course, but watching him tilt his head to take in the full 

height of the towers, she could sense his nervousness--though 

only ponies who'd known him as long as she had would notice.  

     "Y'all can do it, Mac!" came a familiar voice from beside 

her, and looking down, she caught Applejack's sideways glance.  

"Sorry, Belle, but he's kin, ain't he?"

     "No problem, AJ."  Belle smiled at the smaller earth pony.  

"I'm rooting for him, too."

     "Well, that's mighty big--uhh, I mean, mighty nice of you!"

     Belle lowered her head to whisper, "It's just he's the only 

one who can give me a challenge anymore, y'know?"

The Biggest Little Pony: Intro

Synopsis: Barbelle, the biggest little pony, begins to reevaluate her entire life after meeting Twilight Sparkle, the new unicorn in Ponyville.

Oh, and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and just about everything here is actually under copyright to Hasbro Inc.

     Everypony in the crowd held their breath, and Belle thought 

even the clouds drifting over Sweet Apple Acres seemed to slow 

to watch Rainbow Dash and Gusty line the thirtieth apple crate 

up and set it gently on top of the others: Two stacks of fifteen 

crates towering into the blue sky from the platform in front of 

Applejack's barn.  

     "This is it," Pinkie Pie whispered into the megaphone 

strapped around her neck.  Not that she needed it: no one in 

Ponyville whispered as loud as Pinkie.  "Thirty crates will be a 

new Equestrian record.  Or, y'know, a record for those parts of 

Equestria that even have apple crate lifting contests."

     "You said it, Pinkie."  The little purple dragon standing 

next to Pinkie held a microphone, and Belle had to smile.  

Looked like Pinkie had finally found someone who shared one of 

her weird hobbies.  "I sure never saw anything like this in 

Canterlot, but I'll bet the palace guards'd love trying their 

backs at it."

     Canterlot?  The palace?  Belle gave the little dragon a 

closer look.  She had heard something somewhere about visitors 

from the capitol coming to Ponyville, something to do with the 

Princess and the Summer Sun Celebration, but Belle hadn't really 

been paying much attention.  Her training regimen came first, 

after all--she'd been focusing on her lats the morning of the 

Celebration, so she'd missed whatever that had all been about--

and she didn't have too many reasons to leave her gym except for 

her late night cool-down runs out to the mountains and back...

     "OK!" Dash called from above.  "Ev'rything's all set and 

steady!"

     Belle snapped her attention back, saw Mac stepping into 

position.  "Big Mackintosh won the coin toss, so he'll be going 

first," Pinkie was saying.  "But look at those towers!  I mean, 

each of those crates must weigh thirty pounds, and with thirty 

of them stacked up and the platform, too, why, that's, uhh, 

it's, uhh,...carry the two and add, uhh--"

     "It's a whole lotta apples," the dragon finished for her.

     As big as always, the red stallion stood in front of the 

platform, but, well, even as foals together in school, Mac had 

never been as big as her.  And after she'd really started 

training, she'd filled out so much, no one had been surprised 

when little silver barbells had appeared along her chocolate 

brown flanks.  That was when she'd officially added the extra 

syllable to the front of her name, too: with her barrel chest, 

bulging thighs, and biceps the size of the average pony's head, 

Barbelle had decided that, if she was going to be the biggest 

little pony in Ponyville, then she was going to be the biggest.

The episode then continues with Act 1 after you allow the usual title sequence to run through your mind. But you can pretend you're watching on YouTube if you like and skip the first commercial break. :)