#since those old MLP ask blogs back in 2014

[glitteringpeachy]

Imagine I made an ask blog with these guys,, would y'all wanna read/ask them stuff? (With more characters yet to be revealed obviously, not just them!!)

[cloudchaserandflitterexplain]

A “brief” talk about the future of CaFE

I’m sure several of you are probably wondering, or maybe have wondered, why did CaFE go on such a long, unannounced hiatus? they’ve existed before, much to my embarrassment, but never this long, and usually I’d at least say something after a few months. But this time, well, it’s been over three quarters of a year. That’s a long time. So what happened? Well, a number of things. There was, of course, my little tiff with CiM. Which has been long since resolved and we’re all friends again, even if I don’t work directly for them any more, which is currently for the best (though maybe I’ll return someday, who can say? It’s not in the foreseeable future, however). Then, well, there was just a lot of little things that affected my mental health as I was recovering from that. Nothing to cause a monumental delay, mind you, but a lot of stuff that just made me not want to, or just incapable of writing about cute ponies talking about card games. I did manage to write half of the next CaFE early in the year, but I never did manage to finish it. Then, well, the big thing happened. And, fair warning, it’s not good. How bad is it? Well, even Pinkie Pie knows there are some things that no amount of parties and balloons and cheer can help you with, and this is one of those. My father died in March this year. To make matters worse, it happened just about a week before my sister’s wedding (which was lovely, though very bittersweet considering the circumstances). And I did not take it well at all. Writing was close to impossible for a long time. And every time I thought about saying something about CaFE, I just couldn’t. I tried many times. I really did. I was not myself for months. I still managed to go to BABS and Everfree and put on a good show and enjoy myself, though I had to work harder for it. I’m not 100% I managed to mask everything entirely, and I’m sorry if I affected anyone negatively. For what it’s worth, I really did try my best not to. But let’s get back to the writing. It was hard. Very hard. I kept starting things I wanted to write about, then abandoning them. The best I could manage was the Surprise’s Cards that Beat the Odds series (which I think I did a decent job with, though it’s pretty close to over) and barely managing Silver Spanner (which I honestly think helped keep me sane as it was something I could do for everyone that involved very little effort on my part. Though there have definitely been more mistakes in the past few months than I’d have liked). The fact that I managed to finish two thirds of the Bichromatism mini series is, quite frankly, astounding to me as it has been about five times harder to write than something like this normally would be. But progress is progress, and I’m glad to have been able to make it. Bronycon has also helped a lot. I spent a lot of time with my non-CCG friends at the con, one of whom used to be a fanfic writer who published a book with a collection of her short stories from Fimfic and sold it at the Bronycon Bookstore, along with many other writers. It was a thing someone helped organize and push through for them all, and I couldn’t be more proud. Though, admittedly a little jealous since she was having so much fun with her writing stuff and I was just unable to write at all recently. But mostly, I was definitely proud, and enjoying her success alongside her. And, of course, I also did a lot of CCG stuff! I played a silly deck I made with Grand Pause (though we admit it needs a little tuning stil), hung out with people, chatted with people, and so on. I went to the “fire”side chat and asked questions about the next set, a few of which I think were actually pretty good! I even had the impromptu idea at about 90 minutes before Meticulous Talks started to join them in talking about those very same questions, completely surprising cursedchords and Hithroc and, honestly, myself. And overall, I managed to really connect with many CCG players again in a way I hadn’t really done since, well, since too long ago. Being the last Bronycon, of course, there was a lot to see, and do. I looked at all the cute costumes. Hugged Vikingerik’s Scootaloo suit twice.Bought a lot of stuff at the vendor hall (well, 5 things is a lot for me, anyway). Went to a couple panels. Told some jokes. Talked with a random stranger or three. Played board games. And overall, just had an incredibly and unbelievably good time. I even joined an impromptu sing-a-long of Smile Smile Smile (my 100% favourite MLP song, though I’ll easily admit several others are better). Bronycon’s healing process was incredible, and I think it happened at just the right time for me. The MLP fandom, as a whole, is just deeply, truly incredible. It is a community of love, understanding, and tolerance. And it is one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever been a part of (despite not really being much of a brony myself, outside the CCG. I know, it’s surprising considering how much I do for the CCG, but true). Which brings us back to CaFE. I’ve been thinking a lot more about CaFE lately, even before Bronycon. A couple weeks ago, I even thought to myself “it’s time to say something. It may not be time to write CafE again, but you should at least say something!” I didn’t, of course, but just thinking that was a good sign that I was on the right track again, even if still a bit away from the station. CaFE is incredibly and exceptionally special to me. It is legitimately the thing I am proudest of making or doing ever. No joke. I don’t know how well I can express this considering how emotional I’m getting typing these words (I’m tearing up on the plane home from Bronycon), but I think it needs to be put in to words. It’s the longest running project I’ve ever had, aside from my first job. I’ve had many people come up to me and praise how much they like it, even to this day. Folks have made fan art for me, including fan animations and comics! I’ve been asked to sign cards featuring one or both of the girls for people, which has always made my day (though it doesn’t happen much anymore). I’ve been told by more than one person it was their favourite pony blog period, despite being 90% just text! I’ve had players new and old tell me they’ve learned about the game reading my blog, and that they love the format of two cute pegasi talking to each other. Cloudchaser and Flitter have become practically synonymous with “competitive player” and “casual player” in this game, and almost everyone who’s read CaFE and seen how well they get along (despite their occasional fight) knows that they too can get along with the kind of player they’re not (granted, that could just be because we;re all MLP fans in general, heh). The girls’ expressions are used both on the official MLPCCG reddit and the official MLPCCG discord, and even in CiM’s Slack! Bots have been named after them by multiple people across multiple platforms. They were the first outside of Enterplay to give spoilers, and they’ve done so every set. And, most importantly, a girl at Nightmare Nights 2014 gave me a spontaneous hug when she learned I wrote that blog, she loved it so much. In short, CaFE hasn’t just touched my life, it’s touched all of yours. And many who don’t read it any more or even play the game any more. Heck, some people who stopped playing the game still read the blog (when it was updating, anyway)! Somehow, CaFE was even influential enough that I was invited to a panel at Bronycon 2016 to talk about them and how they managed to impact you all (along with several other panelists), and it truly is a time I’ll never forget (thanks Teej!).So there was no way I could let it end here. Cloudchaser. Flitter. You may be minor characters in the show, but to the MLPCCG community, you are beacons shining across us all. Bronycon may be over, and Season 9 may be ending soon, but the card game’s still going strong, even if not as strong as it was in years past. You’ve both got work to do. And, well, so have I. So, for those who missed the announcement at Bronycon and/or Meticulous Talks, I’ll say it here, and I’ll say it proudly. CaFE is coming back! In September or even late August. And I couldn’t be more excited. And I hope you all are too. See you all soon!

[aboutthemponies]

The End is Neigh

I first started watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic in the middle of the season 4 to season 5 hiatus. At the time, there was no announced fifth season; the end of season 4 was simply the end of the show as far as I knew. I remember feeling so content after watching that final battle between Twilight and Tirek that as I fell asleep that night, I thought “That was so good! It cannot possibly get better than this. I’m so happy I could die in my sleep tonight.” Woah, that’s a grim thought. I wasn’t even 18 years old and I was already content enough with my short life to be fine with dying right then? What strange drugs I must have been on!

Needless to say, my life continued on, and I’m so glad I did. Only after watching the entire show would I attend BronyCon, create my own MLP club at college, join the amazing DC Bronies for the semester I was away, and discover all the amazing art, music, animation, parodies, PMVs, and so much more that this fandom has made in its nine years of existence! In that time, there’s also been disappointments: never again has a season’s finale topped my experience of seasons 4’s (or season 2’s), and neither did the MLP movie. This isn’t to say that I do not enjoy episodes from the newer seasons (there’s several that I enjoy from every single season), but rather the magic, the obsession, has long since faded.

Indeed, when I first watched the show, I fell under a magic spell that would cause me to think about ponies non-stop, would make me go crazy anytime I saw a piece of pony merchandise while out and about, would make me rewatch seasons 1 through 4 four times within the course of a single year, would make me identify as a brony first before any other identity. It was a complete and total obsession that I can only compare to falling in love, and oh boy, I fell so hard! I can go on and on with clichés about how the show filled me with endless joy and changed my life forever, but I don’t need to because if you understand that I “loved” MLP:FiM, all my strange behavior will make sense.

When I first fell in love with FiM, I couldn’t watch other shows because I felt I had to reserve my entire heart for this one show. Eventually, I moved past that thinking when my obsession lessened, and I found my heart was big enough to also love other shows like the Powerpuff Girls, Star vs. The Forces of Evil, and Gravity Falls. Finally, the lunacy declined enough to reach normal levels, and I still watch the show, but through jaded eyes which only see the past. This of course, is the lifecycle of love; it starts out as all-consuming, but with enough time, the intensity goes away and the relationship changes.

So when I think about the final season of FiM and what that means to me, I first have to recognize that my experience of the show, from discovering it, obsessing over it, plunging into the fandom, and finally taking a step back away from it all, is largely over even before season 9. The obsession phase started in July 2014 for me, and I remained completely obsessed up until I started college in August 2015. There on out, I entered my fanatic stage: still very dedicated and engaged with the show, but not obsessed like I once was. That lasted at least until the end of season 6, and arguably through January 2017 since I was still regularly writing this blog regularly up until that “Leaving the Fandom” post in February. Then on out, I’ve been in this “casual fan” stage; I’m still following the show, going to meetups, and having the time of my life at conventions, but the effort to participate in the fandom by writing blogs, making music, producing videos, is pretty much gone. The great love I once felt is now my nostalgia.

In that time, the show has also changed significantly (which I analyze in this video). I think we all agree that the show needed to change in order to survive this long, but I also find some of the changes essentially removed core aspects of the early show. In any case, it is what it is and the changes are here for good (I personally like the addition of the friendship school but could live without the map and reformed Starlight Glimmer).

And season, we’ll have season 9, almost 10 more hours of new pony! The question is, what expectations do we have of it, if any?

For me, we’re so far away from the original stories which began in season 1 and ended in season 3/4/5 (depends on which story and who you ask) that the show could honestly do whatever it wants as long as it completes a story. 26 episodes that are entirely serial? Why not? Follow only the student 6 in some kind of new adventure? Sure, I’d be down. Let the megaspells hit and unleash the armageddon? The show’s still for kids, so turning it into Fallout: Equestria’s probably not going to happen.

More broadly, what I really want is for the final season to invoke some of the same emotions that I felt during earlier seasons: the awe of when Rainbow Dash performed the sonic rainboom in season 1, the joy of Pinkie Pie singing the smile song, the tears of happiness when Twilight got her wings in “Magical Mystery Cure” and the CMC their cutie marks in “Crusaders of the Lost Mark”, and the feeling of togetherness when the mane 6 collapsed in exhaustion after making all the apple cider in “Super Easy Cider Squeezy 6000.” There’s so many emotions in those earlier seasons that I don’t think it’s possible for the writers to produce them all in one season, but even if they only succeed in one episode, that episode will be something to treasure.

But even if that doesn’t happen, and all my fondest show moments remain in those earlier seasons, it’s still been such a lovely ride. My love for the show might be a thing of the past, but it’s better to have been in love and then out of love than to never experience that love at all. Over the years, so many fans from so many places have loved My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and I’m glad I got to take part in it. Once a brony, always a brony.

Have a great season 9 everypony!

[shuicheese]

Okay so- It’s going to be a new year real soon. And I haven’t done anything for my pals during Christmas and I really, really wanted to do something to show how thankful I am towards my friends. So here’s a small ‘follow-forever’ thingie! ^^

I will put them under read more since it’s a long list hehe. This isn’t in any order, btw, I appreciate all of you and if I somehow, somehow, forgot to add you then- Im so sorry! ;;;

__

@diligencekit - We’ve been pals for a reaallly long time now, and I really enjoy your company, bro! I consider you a really close friend of mine and a broski. ^^ You’re possibly my first close pal on the net, and I’m glad that we’re still buddies! Your art has always been a huge inspo to me and it’s probably the main reason to why I got a drawing tablet. qwq; 

@valskya - Another close net pal/broski! I’m happy that we’re close friends and we started talking again! You and Jen always seem to make me really happy, your art has also been an inspo to me and I’m always happy to see your art! You also got me into Juuni Taisen which honestly made me really happy, we had lots of fun watching the episodes and such! You’re also another really close friend of mine, and a broski as well! I’m just really happy we started to talk to each other again~

@zingospinning - I completely adore you. I really don’t know where to start with this- Okay, so when I first saw you in school, I instantly wanted to befriend you. But I was so god damn nervous because I wanted to impress you and such,  but then we became friends in an after-school club and that was both the best thing and the most nervous thing because I still really wanted to impress you. Looking back at it, I sort of find it amusing. I think when I befriended you, I started to become slightly more social with others and had a bit more friends? I only had one friend and if I haven’t met you, then holy shit where would I be now? You’re funny, a huge sweetheart to me, and I enjoy your company so much! I wish I can see you every day in school again but ey, I do hope you’re doing well and I love you! You also introduced me to many things, such as BNHA, Teen Titans, etc etc. Thank you so much for the great stuff in life, Zingo! <33

@hasikon - Where do I begin. Okay, fIRST OF ALL! Thank you for making sure I was doing well this month, and thank you for everything too. You have wonderful OC’s and a wonderful humor, and whenever we have a Skype call, it honestly makes me laugh and it’s so chill. Playing games with you is so fun, even though I may have ‘ruin’ the experience for ya. xp Btw we need to play TableTop Simulator sometime again hoho. 

@nikolas-is-gay - BROTHER!! Nikolas is my sweet n satanic baby brother!! I love him so much and I’m so glad we started talking! Has a great humor, I adore his OC’s, and his creativity! We hurt each other on a daily basis by talking about angst about our OC’s and we love it. Honestly, I don’t know what I would do without him, he’s there to cheer me up whenever I’m feeling down and the things he says always seem to make me laugh and/or smile. It’s nice to have him around tbh~

@maginpui - Oh gosh- My sweet and adorable P.Wife! She’s so adorable and I honestly love, looove her humor! She never fails to make me laugh and I also really appreciate her kindness! I’m so sorry that I never really got the chance to properly talk to you in school though,,, But I do hope the gifts I got you are fine! And I love you so much, I hope you’re well, P.Wife! I also returned all of the gifts you gave me- I love them all so so much and I am extremely sentimental of em! Especially the Pusheen gifts!

@dettouo - East or West, Dett is the best! I really need to start talking to you again! You’re such a sweetheart and you’re adorable! I really enjoy talking to you and you seem really fun to talk to! I do hope you’re well too~ Honestly just talking to her makes me feel really happy.

@turtleofrage & @killualluka99  - AH YES, THE BUNDLE I GOT WHEN BEFRIENDING ZINGAY! Also a great birthday gift, considering I met them on my 16th birthday? These are my adopted children, I love them both so much! Seeing them whenever I visit Zingo makes me happy! I love their humor and I also enjoy their memes and company~

@dylanhack - Another old pal of mine, and an older brother! We haven’t been talking a lot lately but I really want to change that. You’re really fun to talk to and I was looking back at my old posts yesterday, and I honestly really miss you heh,, I do hope we can talk again! Because you’re a really fun buddy and I enjoy your company!

@philosopher-rachel-wolf - I’ve known Rachel since...I guess 2013? But we’ve properly started talking in early 2014 and ever since then, I wanted to improve myself because inspired me so much! You’re probably the main and only reason to why I write better now, and still roleplay in the RP community. Well I mean- I try to roleplay but writers' block,,,heh h-- But I’m not kidding when I say your writing has influenced me. I’m so happy that we became friends and I’m even more happier that we still are! You always have that jolly personality that really makes me smile ^^ And your art! Where do I begin- you always seem to be improving it , and I’m always so happy to see your improvement. It’s seriously makes me smile too- I love it! Keep up the wonderful work, Rachel! <33

@chibinel - Listen-- We got ‘banned’ in a Cuphead server for confessing out love for Beppi the clown, we have a role called “EXTRA BANNED” because of it. I’m proud of myself- Okay but jokes aside, I love Gaster! I love their art so much, it’s so adorable and it’s just- it’s really good! They’re nice to talk to and I’m glad we got along well! ^^

@valf-xx - Listen- Valf is a huge sweetheart when I first met her. I really love her Dangan Ronpa imagines blog ( @komaedas-trash cHECK IT OUT BLEASE-- ) and I love talking to her! I like screeching about Eraserhead with her and I also love her art~ She’s just- She makes me feel so calm, I really appreciate that !

@puddingskitty - Fun and adorable buddy! I enjoy seeing her art and seeing her on my dashboard in general. I love her Toy Bonnie’s design, and whenever I see a rabbit, I can’t help but get reminded of her~ Honestly I enjoy her company even though I was quiet for sometime- And you’re probably the first person who drew my OC, Zerum, as a small gift and I still really appreciate it! Thank you! 

@kamukuraprojects - Another buddy I consider a brother!! Listen- his cosplaying is so?? It’s so beautiful?? I love it so so much! You’re a gorgeous boy and I simply adore your generosity, I do hope things are gonna be better for you since I heard you’re having a bit of a hard time I think? But I hope you’ll have a great and wonderful new year and hope that next year will be better for you! ^^

@imperial-dork - My spirit animal. Literally my spirit animal- his humor is honestly my favourite and I look up to this man even though a certain goat told me not to. Either way, I think Magnus is a cool dood, and I enjoy hearing about the wacky things he’s done~

@fluzeh - I love Lazy’s art so so soooooooo much! I want to draw just like her one day! She’s so sweet and I love to mess around with her~ I also enjoy watching stuff with her- we watched the MLP movie on rabbit and honestly it was a nice experience~ I love it! I hope we can do more things like that! She’s also the person who designed my main fursona, honestly I just- I adore my sona so much because it’s from you, and I will forever treasure it!Thank you so so much again for the design! <33

Okay I’m one tired idiot atm but I just want to say that for those I haven’t wrote a small description thingie for, please try not to get upset! I’m sorry in advance that I couldn’t say something for you, but I hope you all are alright with this!!

Here are some people that I enjoy talking to/admire and/or people I would love to talk to/get to know better!

@ciel-beehive, @pikabrightheart, @plantsarehardcore, @frizzbutt, @his-pall-mugman, @rottenmilkyarts, @tvvy, @darkshadowsnake, @garnetarmstrong,  @flareon, @raphadelialovesyou, @cheinsaw, @official-akamatsu, @crowstainedred, @ryoumahoshi, @ellsworld, @korekiyo--shinguuji, @btal, @infinitypixel, @askmoonburst, @ask-evil-rainbow-dash, @zyrdrake, @radhalla, @rubberhoseartist, @wolfex126, @miss-bribri, @ladykailolu, @rosealinathefox, @rexieh, @johntheslothblog, and @spacescarf

That being said, I hope all of you had a great year, and if it wasn’t a great year, then I hope next year will be better for all of you! 

I love you all, thank you so much for everything, and have a happy new year!! <33