Cimmerian stepped back into their current base at a brisk trot, yanking a small arrow out of his wings. The weapons of the thestrals weren't even that painful, it was the fact that he'd not been the only one getting hit. In the last few hours it had all gone to hell.
For whatever reason, the Nightmare had ordered her troops to attack everything in the city. This included other Nightmare supporters for some reason, leaving many of the groups with a Highlander attitude or thinking the Nightmare would bless those who were victorious. On the plus side, by showing himself in the middle of town he'd made himself a huge target and allowed many of the loyal thestrals to escape. That coupled with the fact that most of the Nightmare's bats were no longer being sneaky made things simpler. Then it had showed up.
As he was shielding himself from most of the small-arms fire(and by that he meant bows, crossbows and, very rarely, what sounded like a small cannon), a bolt of sickly pink magic had cut across the courtyard and slammed into his shield. . As his newest attacker stepped into the yard the alicorn was holding, a silence fell over the thestrals present.
"...well, are you going to say anything or are you going to attack me?"
The armored being moved forward, the smell of rot and death becoming more powerful the closer it came. It picked up a good bit of speed before its armor flared, the runed metal pulling Cimmerian's shield down to power itself. With a flash, the pony struck with a punch that released a portion of the energy it had stolen from the shield.
The alicorn shook his head as he rose from the rubble of a wall, his vision a little blurry and an ache in his chest from the impact.
"That...was new," he coughed, stepping back into the yard in time to see the armored pony charging at him again.
Cimmerian was vaguely tempted to throw one of his imperfect blades just to see what the unstable magic would do but decided against it, opting instead to make a wing-assisted leap and slam down on the pony's back.
It was unfortunately another mistake. The pony shifted itself slightly, moving forward and swinging its flank to the left in such a way that left it squarely underneath the dark alicorn. Undisturbed by the shattered pathway not a pace from its head, the being lashed out with two more empowered strikes. The first caught the dark alicorn in the back of his leg, causing a loud pop to echo before a spark of pain to shoot up his right foreleg. As he stumbled, the armored pony twisted onto its back and struck upward, throwing the alicorn into the roof of the cave.
Seeing nothing but stars at this point, he stared down from his current position blankly for a moment before shaking his head.
"...ow."
"Honestly, do I need to do everything for you?"
He looked up, or down and to the right at this point, to see his wife-friend-body-swapped whatever they were at this point hovering below him. She didn't look happy.
"You seem cross, though I can't quite place why."
"You just had your flank handed to you, that's why. You're an important pony, Cimmerian, you cant go around playing in the mud. Or stone."
"Aw, you're no fun," he slurred, chuckling as he shifted loose from the stone.
"Do you have a concussion? Again? You weren't even out of my sight for a day, Cimmerian. Why do you keep getting hit in the head."
"Because I'm tough," he said as he slipped free, only to be caught by the changeling. "That and I think the universe hates me. Which is odd because I've been doing a lot to keep myself on the positive side of karma."
"I'm fairly certain the powers that be made you an alicorn because you'd not survive as anything less," the mare sighed, carrying him lower and looking at his opponent. An armored unicorn who surprisingly wasn't firing spells at them.
"Drop me, I'm gonna kick his ass for that."
"I'll do no such thing. That pony isn't even alive," Din responded, drawing a few shocked gasps from her surroundings. "Oh don't tell me you can't tell. If the smell didn't give it away, the lack of spells should have. A dead unicorn has no magic."
"You will not stop the Nightmare!" One shouted, earning a few cheers even as a few of the others took a few steps from the field.
Din sighed, sticking a bit of adhesive to Cimmerian's back and reattaching him to the ceiling.
"Don't go anywhere."
"Don't worry, I'll just hang out here till you get back," he chuckled, kicking his dangling legs. He winced as he moved his right foreleg though, causing the queen to frown in concern.
"I'm not letting you go anywhere without a bodyguard from now on," she sighed.
"Technically, you took my bodyguard when you...yea, I'll be quiet."
Flitting down to the surface and ignoring the few thestrals that were making a run at her husband, as he'd quickly erected another shield once she was far enough away, she landed lightly before the armored unicorn and stepped closer to it.
She negligently used a burst of magic to bat away a thestral who was trying to sneak up on her, the pony's emotions giving away its position, and approached the unicorn. It turned to her and she felt a burst of...something attempting to push into her mind.
"An array? No, not quite."
"Din? You okay?"
"There's some magic, something I don't remember. It's..."
The unicorn suddenly screamed, a bloodcurdling shriek that tore into the soul of every being present. Pandinus jumped back, shouting in fear as the air nearby suddenly became bone-chilling. The armor was covered in a sheet of ice and even the stone under its hooves froze almost instantly.
Cimmerian looked down with renewed focus. The magic in the air was becoming dark, twisted.
'Smell of death, soul binding? If that's the case, then the soul would be put through agony and in that case two outcomes are possible. Shrieker or-
"Din, back up, Wendigo."
"Windigo? Aren't those things repelled by cooperation?"
"Wendigos are beings of hunger and ice, stay clear of it. It will try to eat anything and anyone!"
Din flew up out of the creatures reach and it gave another screaming roar before turning on the nearby thestrals. Before the nearest could fly away it was on them, tearing into a pony and beginning to eat the still weakly struggling thestral.
"How do you kill them?"
"I don't know, most of the stories had them as unstoppable beings of ice and terror! They're also supposed to be just that, stories!"
After a minute of staring at the rampaging monster, Cimmerian struck himself with a hoof.
"Din, you're linked to a mare who is right next to three of the oldest beings on the planet. Tell Twilight to ask the alicorns and Pulmonus about a Wendigo."
The queen took off, keeping clear of the creature as it continued feasting on the hapless thestral it had caught.
"She is...they keep asking if I mean Windigo, they don't know what a Wendigo is."
"So they're useless. Wonderful," Cimmerian sighed.
"It's an undead monster, how hard can it be to destroy?" Pandinus asked, charging her horn with magic. With a roar, she dove downwards, intent on smashing the monster into a paste.
<-(0)->
Night jumped as an explosion rocked the city behind her. It seemed her plan had worked for once.
'I don't exactly have an upstanding track record at the moment, do I?'
Perhaps it was the start of her recovery; the start of a return to some semblance of power. She may not be able to destroy everything at this point but she was finding herself uninterested in such a course of action. She was becoming attached to her own existence and her form. Not just in referring to it as hers, either. It was hard to explain but living...it somehow made her want to continue doing so.
"Your majesty, where would you have us go?"
She blinked out of her thoughts, looking to a few of the Nightmare thestrals. Some had markings on their armor or clothing, others had tattoes or dyes, but all carried her mark. A symbol of the slit pupil.
"We're going south west. There is a lot of unexplored land there, somewhere we can rebuild. I won't die in some last-ditch effort. If that alicorn can manage to turn a few cultists into an actual civilization, I expect you to be capable of at least matching this."
The thestral bowed, moving forward and leading her small entourage from the caves. It was a blow to her ego, seeing so few now bowing and scraping before her but it was what she had to work with. In some ways it was more than enough. Her followers were well supplied with things they'd scrounged, they were willing to follow her, and a few even had wilderness survival training. She had more than twice as much starting equipment. She'd just have to learn. Learn to use her body, her magic, and her new existence.
Looking over her purple coat she scowled. She needed to find a way to change the colors to something nicer. Maybe black? Yes, all black. Black coat, black mane, black tail. Even her mark would...be.
Night didn't scream, nor did she do more than slow slightly in her pace. The starburst mark that had adorned the flank of her body since before she had taken it was gone.
She stared at the blank space on her rear for another minute, trying to comprehend what had happened before turning back to the road. The mark was a sign to the world that the pony had found their calling, so if the soul the mark belonged to was no longer present...
'I hate ponies.'
Things were much too complicated. She sighed, remembering when she would just sit in the shadows and torment her host. Those were simpler times, a time when she likely wouldn't have even cared if she was discovered and destroyed. now though, the thought of being purged like that...
She would survive. If that alicorn could do so, she would do so as well. And she'd do it in relative comfort.
<-(0)->
Twilight slumped into a bed, her body burning in ways a pony form was incapable of understanding. The magic in her body was her lifeblood, and her lifeblood was burning through her form.
'Magic exhaustion as a changeling is exponentially worse than as a pony.'
"Done already, little princess?"
Twilight jumped, wincing as every muscle in her body protested the movement.
"D-discord. I, um, I'm sorry about-"
"Pshaw, that little trap? Seen its like and many others hundreds of times over the years. Good use of the interception array. That was a new one. Usually they try to set up a couple hundred of those or attempt to lead me into those. I don't think I've ever been forced into one before."
"You're...impressed? By my trap I locked you in?"
"Oh please, only the Elements have ever really stopped me. Traps like that are a nifty puzzle, rife with holes and flaws that are fun to find. It gives me something to do. After all, something new is infinitely more interesting than just wandering the countryside. It took me a good day to figure out how you'd managed to intercept my return teleport. Impressive considering I was coming in from another plane. Starswirl's mirror?"
"Uh, yes. I used the mirror's type of magic to specify what a dimensional breach felt like and then had to filter the style of magic. Since you're the only one using chaos magic that I've ever met even as a princess, I set it to check for that kind of magic being used and if it was, then the trap would activate and relocate your beacon. Then you'd teleport yourself where I wanted."
"Clever little pony. It makes me wonder why you still haven't figured out the game Pulmy's playing."
"Game?" Twilight asked, running the scenario through her mind again. She'd been asked to control drones, not a difficult prospect when you knew as much about the arrays as she did, but for some reason she just couldn't form a proper link with them. She'd even inspected them, going as far as to scan the drones for any modifications a mare with the title Flesh-Sculptor would be able to make. The drones were fairly simple, so simple that she realized the queen had created this clutch for the sole purpose of this training.
"I don't...it doesn't make sense, I know how this works, I know how a queen issues commands and I know the frequencies. I know more about changeling links than most changelings, and this is from Pandinus and Zelus. I just, I don't understand what's wrong."
Discord grinned his best 'I know something you don't' grin before raising a single talon.
"So is there something wrong with the drones you're attempting to control?"
"No. I couldn't find any modifications that would cause problems and Din had said there weren't any changes, that she knew what was wrong but wouldn't tell me."
"So something's wrong. You have confirmation but the issue isn't with the drones you're attempting to control. What's the other possibility?"
"Something's wrong with me?" Twilight asked. "Zelus and I worked on this drone together. There's nothing wrong with it."
Discord chuckled, leaning closer as his grin grew wider.
"I'm so close I'm saying the answer, aren't I?" Twilight asked, her expression flat. "I oversaw this drone's modifications...I know there weren't any changes to its connection to the hive. A different hive? No, the drones weren't even shielded, any queen could have ordered them."
Her horn lit up to conjure some paper and a quill but she gasped in pain, curling into a ball as her entire magic system protested the strain. When she managed to open her eyes again, she found an easel sitting before her bed.
"I wont give you anything more, Twiggles. It's up to you now."
She ignored the strange sound that came with the draconequus' teleport, though it did sound like an error sound from one of her first golems.
'Poor Doewin, I'm sorry I put your optical-sensor arrays on backwards.'
Twilight didn't even bother trying to lift the quill in her magic, resorting to mouth writing. She etched it as Discord had suggested; a problem. On one side was her, on the other was the drones. Between them she wrote the command. From the command sprouted the complex algorithms changelings used to communicate, though for them it was as simple as walking. A thought even. By the changeling drones she began etching all the details from age to the variance in their spinal structure from what she usually saw in drones. It wasn't enough to stop the drones from reacting to an order though, so she soon moved to the other end. To herself.
"Non-standard changeling drone. Increased capacity of...casting potential...reserves are increased to allow contact with friends and family, as well as increased emotional transmission range to allow dumping or, in an emergency, intake of emotions."
She scowled at her information. She needed more to find this issue. It was staring her in the face but she still couldn't see it.
"Age, weight, magical frequency, link frequency-which shouldn't matter since the drones were unshielded. I just..."
Twilight climbed back on her bed, staring at the now-filled easel of information. She was feeling sluggish though. Her mind wasn't picking up on it. She was in pain, her everything hurt, she just...
"I don't know..."
"What was that, hatchling?"
"I don't know. I don't know what I don't know. I'm missing it and I don't know what it is," Twilight admitted, curling up on the bed. She wouldn't cry. She was done crying, even though she'd failed another teacher and this one in less than a few days.
"Good. Because you can't learn if you already know everything. Now, what are you going to do to correct your deficiencies?"
Twilight blinked, looking through her hooves at the queen standing by her charts.
"Uh...books?"
"There are no records of this information. Sorry, little bookworm."
Twilight wanted to object, as she had tons of papers on the information in her labs. Then again, if she didn't know the issue in the first place, she may not have it written down. After all, it wasn't like she could just ask a changeling...oh.
"You?"
"Me what?"
"Would you teach me?"
Pulmonus cocked her head in mock curiosity.
"Is that a guess or a request?"
"Will you teach me what I'm doing wrong?" Twilight said, this time with a little more certainty in her voice.
"I'd be delighted to," she replied, grabbing a quill and dabbing it in ink. Under the figure of Twilight, she wrote a single word.
Drone.
Twilight stared at the word.
"I don't...."
"What kind of hive connection does a drone have?"
"A receptive..." she trailed off, her eyes widening.
"A receptive one, yes. A drone is different from a queen in more ways than just laying eggs, dear. If you're going to order drones, you need to change your connection type."
"But isn't that extremely invasive? Not to mention the amount of energy such a rework would take and I don't think I can do that sort of thing..."
"I will show you how to make a form with the proper connections. We'll use an egg and start from there, Heart will connect it to the hive you are bound to."
"Um, what eggs?"
Pulmonus opened a back-plate, revealing a few small changeling eggs.
"I will not ask you to do something without the proper resources. Even in the last test you had all that you needed, mainly, I was right there. All you needed to do was ask, hatchling."
"I...oh. I, I'm sorry, I've just become so used to being expected to figure things out on my own. I mean, even in ponyville my friends left things to me to figure out, so I thought that..."
"Your teachers in the school, aside from Celestia? They left you to teach yourself because you were so far ahead of others. They were unused to such a quick student. Queens learn quickly though, Twilight. I am quite accustomed to a student who excels. As I am used to teaching a single pupil. Listen to what I have to say, ask questions, do not allow nerves or squeamishness to stop you from asking. My daughters were all taught this- I never punished questions. I punished their lack of listening skills."
"Now, lets start with simple things," Pulmonus said, flipping the paper on the easel over and leaving her with a clean paper to work with. "The connection a queen has with her drones is not a simple one way street of orders. It is a complicated street of orders, reports, sensory information, requests for information, relevant memories, and backup, and even your personal opinion on a matter. There are even arguments between drones. These are dealt with quickly and by a queen or a drone appointed as her speaker and if a speaker is the deciding voice, the drones may ask the queen for her decision. Once the queen makes her decision, the matter is settled, as we cannot have these things fester. It does something to hives, makes them...fall apart. I've seen it happen a few times, so do not be afraid to put your hoof down."
"Another thing to remember is that you are not the end-all be-all of the hive. While a queen is necessary, you are not. Drones are capable of morphing if the need is great enough. While rare, a brutal or uninterested queen who does nothing will cause a drone to evolve to challenge her."
Twilight listened in rapt attention. She was too sore to take notes, but the queen was writing a lot of this down for her to study later. This was what she loved, what she lived for. A pure, unfiltered stream of new information.
Sitting on her bed in a borrowed body, Twilight Sparkle found herself in her element again. A lecture, new information, and friends who loved her.
Neither she nor her teacher noticed the slight shimmer of magic that flowed over her form, marking her new body as it once did her old one.
A changeling with a cutie mark? Sounds interesting
Nice chapter. It seems Twilights stuck as a changeling for the long haul. Can't wait to see what happens to Night now that shes progressed beyond her cookie-cutter destroy-the-world personality.
8625720
Hmmm. Maybe its something inherent to soul a pony has. The cutie mark becoming essentially a fixed attribute of what ever form their in even if a different species. Twlight could have not become intune with her new form yet so her mark couldn't manifest properly.
8625766
You say stuck like it is a bad thing.
8625804
Yeah, I suppose I'm just partial to the idea that Twilight eventually gets her body back.
So, Nightmare has became hooked to life, huh? I know who should deal with her
Welp, last time she got a new body, she blew up. Kinda curious how it will go this time.
those pesky mythological creature counter parts eh?
I'd say that when it comes down to it, Twilight will NEED her old body back.
The nightmare is a parasite, requiring a host and is by nature malleable in nature that it would very probably thrive in a changeling body.
Twilight is/was a pony. There will be habits that came entirely instinctually to her that may be detrimental to her changeling body (further research required before definitive confirmation).
The real question is, what solutions are even viable at this point?
Also, don't let the Nightmare actually get away. it'll drag the plot-point out too much and get tiresome.
8625824
What do you expect when her friends crossed the streams? Total protonic reversal.
Lucky for them Twilight had a 1UP.
The Cutie Mark Followed Twilight Sparkle Into Her New Body, It Will Follow Her Back When She Returns To Her Pony Body.
I wonder if when Twilight gets a Queen's body it will ascend to some kind of alicorn/changeling hybrid. Something tells me being an alicorn is more than just a one-time transformation, just as a cutie mark is more than a one-time earning event.
So the Nightmare lost it's cutie mark and Twi got it back, interesting.
Nice chapter, good work.
8625942
I think based how Twilight has been given the run around by Pulmonus she isn't going to get her body back and instead be more or less tricked into a new changling body as a queen and she's going to have to get used to it. (and if that happens I'm going to be very disappointed with the author)
8625853
I don't know, I think the nightmare is now capable of learning and is mortal. Twilights body is the cause of that. And now the nightmare is a mortal with the powers of a demigod and the morals of a child (wants attention and to feel safe), children can be taught a better path.
The number one equestrian method of defeating your enemies is sealing them away (befriending them as a close second) so it might be interesting tto attempt a redemption are and force the nightmare to pay off her crimes with community service.
That said, I wouldn't mind a total beat down and two getting her body back either.
8626009
... All I said was that her escaping capture would get old quickly and that she'd be better suited to a Changeling body than Twilight is.
There's a... Twisted potential I see if you consider something that was all but glossed over last chapter.
Night bedded a guard in Twi's body. And this story pulls no punches when its playing fast and loose with unconventional mating behaviors, mind swaps, and soul-switching.
One thing that I see happening here from an external standpoint is that the writing is setting up to play one of several options depending on the reader mood.
1: Twilight becomes a queen changeling, and maybe something more. Night keeps Twi's old body. This is the 'as it seems up front' option and there are multiple sub-options in this scenario as to what ultimately happens. It's also the most direct situation the writing is pushing to imply. However, it is the option in the lowest energy state of options and is not only suspect, but is also the least creative and underwhelming.
2: Twilight Returns to her old body after Night is subdued. However, Twilight's 'body' is pregnant, and Night, not wanting to die and wanting to experience life, is allowed to effectively claim the foal body as her own (as it is not that far along and has not developed an identity), effectively becoming Twilight's 'daughter'. In such a manner, Night gets to experience what it is to be alive from the very beginning. And is honestly both the most morally squeamish and the most creative approach to the situation. As an added bonus, Twilight gets to torment Night back for all the trouble she's caused. Because nobody Torments offspring quite like a mother can.
3: Twilight Returns to her old body, and Night is swapped into the changeling queen body and overseen by the other queens. After all, from that perspective, she's no worse than a particularly nasty queen. Rehabilitation under the spurned surviving queens is going to be rough. There's a certain amount of Just Deserts and irony in this option, but doesn't have the impact of option 2.
Your story is featured.
In my eyes, a Cutie Mark is a visible identifying mark of a Pony's very soul, and in that regard, it makes a lot of sense for Twilight's starburst to follow her to her new body. I'd expect the same if it were me in her position. That said, I can't resist the opportunity.
Hang in there, Cimmy!
...See, this is why they need to teach defense against magical beasts, then again, what do they even actually teach in this world's schools? Common sense seems at a permanent low.
Wendigos require a particular exorcism, otherwise the spirit possesses another host when its body is destroyed. At the very least, using fire against undead should be common knowledge!
8626078
Your option #2 kind of reminded me of an old lion king fic I read once. Had this evil spirit that in the end was given the option of being utterly destroyed or reborn as a mortal, but the frightening part was where the spirit realized that its mind personality and memories would be erased effectively killing the spirit anyway even if it gets to live.
and that reminds me of a batman episode where a piece of clayface shapechanged itno a little girl and had gained awareness and its own personality. when clayface came to get his pice back to reabsorb it into himself(and succeeding) Robin had wanted to add murder to his list of crimes.
I better stop now before my train of thought gets me to spaceballs references.(nice disssolve)
8626419
Oh god, I remember that episode. The way Robin says 'murder' when asked for additional charges was heartbreaking.
Windigo? Wendigo? There's a difference?
Nightmare: "These eyes were closed for centuries, and I saw everything. Down here, I walked through the minds of generations. And now.. "
Cimmerian: "You're free."
I wonder what this means for the making of a new body. She gonna have to keep re-earning her cutie mark? The nightmare still needs to be killed off.
8627396
Windigos (from MLP) are creatures that feed off of hatred and aggression, creating freezing conditions in response. Wendigos (from myth) are people cursed to a horrible existence for committing the act of cannibalism. Descriptions of Wendigo vary (I've heard undead/cursed spirits, sometimes without feet, as well as a bestial form (think werewolf that never switches back).
8627941
I think this means she's actually accepted this body as 'hers', not just a loner. It probably means she's cut ties with her old form (hence the Nightmare noticing the loss of the mark...).
8628486
So, basically, a wraith?
A soul is a soul. Cutie mark acquisition program complete.
8626194
I think she's too cocky she thinks she can pull a cimmerian in a new location. What almost happened to cimmerians group will happen to hers. They flourished because cimmerian helped them to recover I don't see nightmare doing the same. She'll eventually be alone unable to care for herself and maybe even be pregnant with nyx when she's captured by cimmerians group. That'll be funny for the nightmare when she hears "your majesty your pregnant" pause pause pause "get this parasite out of me right this second" guard goes "which one"
As long as the wendigo is just a cursed undead, they should be fine. However, there are stories of them being even WORSE than that. Like embodiment of the frozen northern winter worse.
Remember Until Dawn when you read this chapter.
Fire is your friend.
Hmm. Me thinks Twilight's essence is changing her form on a fundamental level. Perhaps she won't need her old body back?
8639065
I was talking about sex. That was an innuendo.
Hmmm...
In my opinion: Nightmare still either needs to die, or needs a complete mind-wipe and a new (and heavily monitored) identity (Not just 'monitored' as in under surveillance. Monitored as in; a part of the Hive, with her every thought and memory, past or present, scanned by the Queens for any trace of the Nightmare or hints of relapse or reemergence of the Nightmare entity. Then leave her as a normal drone/pony to live her life, and eventually and inevitably die in whatever way claims her, whether old age, monsters, childbirth, accident, etc.)
The being "Nightmare" has to die for all she's done, whether that's through actual death or erasure and a new life is debatable.
It's a tiny bit bitter-tasting because she's just now realizing what it means to be a being of flesh-and-blood, to be alive. But what she's done is too widespread and horrific for anyone to take the risk of a second chance, let alone have her deserve one.
Not to mention, she's not even repentant or beginning to feel empathy for others, she's just awoken her body's self-preservation instinct. The only reason she doesn't want to destroy the world anymore is because that would kill herself as well. If she could see a way to win, survive, and destroy the world, she would take it in a heartbeat, regardless of the millions or billions of lives lost.
All she's done is go from "Ha! Pathetic mortals! I will kill you all eventually, so I will kill you because I'm annoyed, you because I'm frustrated, you because I'm happy, you because I'm bored, etc." to "Hmm. Yes. These mortals are actually useful as slaves, servants, and meat-shields between myself and danger. They shall serve until I have no further need of them."
Damn, I've caught up
8660017
I do have a bit written out but I’ve reached a point where I have to double check something from earlier in the story, so...it may take some time
Moar goodness, REYKAN-sama, please!!!!
8660512
Good story so far
More please
At long last, I'm caught up. This is both pleasing and annoying. I really hope you update soon, the Nightmare is just starting to become more interesting.
8908788
I consider my tone pretty reasonable. And I would care a lot more about your delicate sensibilities if this site wasn't filled with disingenuous, opinionated and petty assholes that justify either disregarding you when they don't have a comeback or tearing you apart with shallow strawman arguments when they have free, 'honest' criticism to impart.
And now's the part where you smile and call me a hypocrite. I was short and succinct about my own misgivings regarding the story. Celestia offered inane advice, the protagonist was resolving conflicts through just as inane and oblivious lectures, repeated over and over in an over-inflated-ego manner. And yet, he's supposed to be a leader and the savior of the freaking planet. So yes, genuine stupidity boiled over in that particular chapter, and your 'advice' fell flat.
~poke~
Are you still alive?
I'd love to see this thing continued a bit more.
8914137
I am, and I'm on quite a bit, but I haven't done much writing lately because I've been working on school stuff. I'm not dead, no. Just busy.
8967831
I'm okay with that
More is sometime soon, right?
remember when this story used to update?
Pepper Ridge Farms remembers.