Happy Nightmare Night

Like the title says. Happy Nightmare Night, everypony. This is pretty much my favorite holiday. Well. This is pretty much the only holiday I celebrate. I refuse to even celebrate my birthday. In part because. Luna didn't really have a birthday, so she decided to take my birthday and make it hers, and. Her birthday always involves awful things and the murder of many cakes. I don't care as much about the candy part... and even if I did, Luna would never let me touch any of her precious candy hoard... but I do like scaring ponies. That's pretty fun.
I hope everyone has a fun night!

Stupid unnecessary exclamation mark to exaggerate happiness. I hate exclamation marks. They're like unicorns with giant horns. Luna don't. Not that kind of horn. No I will not make a smiley face. Smiley faces have no place in text. Luna I swear if you paint one on me again I... dammit. WE WILL NEGOTIATE WITH A TILDE NOW STOP POKING ME oh this is going to be a wonderful day.

Happy Nightmare Night~


~Scrivener Blooms

Stupid Things I Have Done Today

-Thought it was Nightmare Night. Luna encouraged me to think it was Nightmare Night so we put on our costumes and headed to town. Clued in once there.
-Picked up things in town. While in costume. With Luna yelling at people for free candy the entire time.
-Luna choked on a piece of candy and this had to be extracted from her throat. Then she kissed me. There was still candy goo. It was horrible.
-Returned home to do work. Started cutting wood for winter.
-Hit by flying piece of wood.
-Hit by flying axe.
-Sent Luna to a time out.
-Axe got lodged in chunk of wood.
-Rammed axe handle into own crotch attempting to extract it.
-Went to put axe away.
-Found mouse heads in shed. Still questionable whether or not it was Luna or a ferret.
-Attempted to do editing work.
-Luna stuck gum in my mane.
-Failed to do any work whatsoever and instead am now laying grouchily here, covered in gum, sugar powder, and candy wrappers. Luna keeps chewing on me. Getting dark out.

All in all, it was a pretty good day.


~Scrivener Blooms

Scrivy's Weird Recipe Corner: Sugar Spike Coffee

A fast coffee that's a little more tart than sweet, and enough sugar to make you smile without worrying about crashing into post-sugar depression.

2 teaspoons sugar
2 tablespoons cream
1 Cup Coffee
1.5 teaspoon maple syrup
2 tablespoon chocolate sauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

First get a coffee cup. Put the sugar in first, then pour in your cream. I tend to just pour until it looks right. Then add your coffee, filling it to about a half inch beneath the mug's rim. After this, pour in maple syrup,then chocolate sauce, and then add vanilla extract. I usually use a small amount of maple syrup, pour chocolate sauce - or chocolate syrup, if you prefer - in until the coffee level raises about a centimeter or so, but you have to be careful with the vanilla extract: try to use about a capful at most, because too much will make the coffee much much much more tart. You're aiming for a rich taste, but not a sour or sharp taste: too much tartness will also block out the sugary aftertaste.
This goes pretty well with breakfast pastries and foods like that. You can also use decaf coffee for a fuller taste and a little less jitteriness. The sugar will do a good enough job of helping you wake up.


~Scrivener Blooms

On Using Mythology, Part 2: Basic Setting

So mythology is great for stuff other than just characters and fancy powers and stuff like that. We'll get into all that more later but for now I want to take a moment to focus on setting. And I don't just mean huge famous mythological settings, like... pyramids or jungles or crazy temples or secret islands. I mean mythology in the sense of that almost every local area has: even around Ponyville, there's all kinds of stories about what used to be here before Ponyville was built: about the Everfree Forest, and the Castle of the Pony Sisters, and... all of that. Folklore and superstition can still be seen as part of a larger mythology, and it's not just limited to... fancy things. Besides, your very own little area might have some damn impressive stories, whether it's a huge metropolis or a little village.
It's all a matter of how you use it. Say, the forests around here. Well, it's said that before ponies settled here, it was even wilder than it is now. Nature didn't require help... in fact, rejected help, and there were no weather controls and animals roamed the wilds, all... scary and nasty like they are in more remote regions of Equestria. That's pretty much fact; the myth part comes in where we say that there used to be forest spirits around here, that helped take care of the land: they didn't control it, but they rather... served its best interests, driving out evil spirits and helping keep the forests safe.
Now there's a few things you can do with that kind of setting. Say you want to use that mythology in the modern day: well, where did those spirits go now? Do they still want to keep the forest safe? Are they vengeful or peaceful? Is this a pony-versus-nature setting ,where the environment will be hostile, perhaps even sentient? Or is this an environment that will help protect and nurture the characters, or at least some of them? The more questions you can come up with to ask yourself about the setting, the better: the more you'll think about it, turn it over in your hooves. There's no such thing as not being creative: there's just not having enough faith in yourself to put that creativity to use. Also there's being lazy, which I admittedly suffer from now and then. But when I whine I can't come up with any ideas Luna hits me until I do.
So that's a basic primer on using mythology to modify your current setting. Do a little research, you might be surprised what you find and can incorporate, just from the land under your hooves. And that's before even getting into the whole. Monsters and mayhem thing. But we'll talk more about that later.
Speaking of ghouls and ghosts, Luna's calling me to help her with a costume. So. I'd better go make sure she's putting together something a little better than she's already tried. Especially since she had the particularly-creepy idea of trying to wear a 'Scrivy suit.'
Yeah. I don't want to know either.

~Scrivener Blooms

Attempts at Costuming, Part 1

Luna that is not a costume.

Luna that is also not a costume.

Okay. Apparently we're going to have to work on this whole "costume" thing.


~Scrivener Blooms

So It's Almost That Time Of Year

So every year around this time Luna gets all wonky. Because it's Nightmare Night. Now, way back when we first met? She hated Nightmare Night. Was all. Grr argh this is dumb LOVE ME etcetera. And then we all know that little freakout she had one year. That last year she was a Princess, as I recall. And now Nightmare Night is her favorite holiday ever because she swoops around picking on ponies, scaring them, and stealing and eating candy until she gets sick.
Anyway. As much as I hate it. I kind of enjoy it, too. And so this Nightmare Night I am actually going to attempt to participate and create a costume and play along with Luna's mad ideas. I have this horrible feeling it's all going to go horribly wrong but. Maybe that's just me. What's the worst that could happen, right?
I will post updates as things develop.

~Scrivener Blooms

I am tired.

Therefore this post will be short and weird. I've been editing stuff nonstop since coming back from my not-vacation and I am so sore. We had to do some repairs around the house and I accidentally swallowed a piece of floor. You know. After Luna jumped on my back while I was scraping stuff up. One day she'll kill me. Again.
I'm so tired.
I dunno. Something weird is happening outside. I'm refurbishing the cabin and it feels like something's going to burn it down.
Not Luna and cooking this time.
Well. More. Coherent post later this week, I really need to do that next part of mythology. It's been how long now? This is a pain in the flank. I don't know why I agreed to this.
Oh. Right. Luna's bigger and scarier than I am.
Also she's developing an odd fixation with cameras. I really hope she doesn't start taking pictures of stuff. That's the last thing I need, glamour shots.

~Scrivener Blooms