UnderwoodART

We all know about the controversies surrounding Palworld and its not-so-original designs, and that just gave me an idea. I'm no stranger to "fakemon" with my Monster series, so I want you you suggest Pals you want to see redesigned to be original. I'll take basic cues from the existing design and sketch out an original twist not seen in Pokemon (Pocket Pair, hire me).

Comment below with which Pal you want to see de-Pokemon'd!

Wow, I know I hadn't touched APP in a while, but I didn't think it was 14 months. Of course, that was the last upload, not the last time I worked on a page--each seems to take twice as long than the last. Page #87 is like half done, but that doesn't mean anything to anyone who isn't me.

I've not given up on the comic, I just don't enjoy drawing anymore, and APP is about the most labour-intensive work I create (perhaps second to the rare commission I used to get). I've spent the majority of the last year writing, if anyone follows my Fim-Fic account. The next page *will* be finished, but I won't pretend that it will be soon.

I had planned on continuing the comic up until at least Pinkie's return to Ponyville (which, if anyone has been keeping track of my previous posts, is where the story BEGINS--everything up to now was just prologue/inciting event), but the question is whether I continue to draw the comic past that point, or I transition to creative writing. Writing is MUCH faster, but also has the smallest audience. Honestly, if I continue it as a comic, I'm not sure I will see it through to the end, unless I make some major compromises to the art.

But it's not like anyone even cares or look at it anyway, just like my original comic.

I have recently had a mental breakdown and am seeking help, which is taking time, and I should have got a long, long time ago. I have lost interest in my hobbies and have no support, so I won't be working on any art or writing for the foreseeable future. I will update if and when my circumstances change.

Fillies, Gentlecolts, and everypony in-between; it's been a long journey, hasn't it? "Ask-Pink-Pony" began life in February 2014, evolving from a straight-forward Tumblr 'ask blog' to a full-blown comic by August 2016, and here we are about to breach 2021. I want to take a moment to reflect on the history of this comic, and what the future holds in store for those who are still interested after all this time.

Despite beginning as an 'ask blog', Ask-Pink-Pony's focus steadily began to shift to pure narrative, eventually losing its 'ask' altogether, despite the tumblr account's name remaining unchanged. Building from answers to questions of why this depressed version of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic's Pinkie Pie was so sad and alone, lore began to form as early as page 2, with page 3 explicitly stating how long it had been since she was kicked out of Ponyville (one year, nine months and fifteen days of real time since the release of the "Party of One" episode) and this alternate universe began. Page 9 and 10 brought with it the first full explanation of this Pinkie's origin, laying out an alternate ending to the canonical episode, where she is jeered out of town by her friends instead of receiving a surprise birthday party. Page 12, the end of the first "chapter", also introduces the first instance of the post-chapter flashback to an unfamiliar setting, foreshadowing future events.

The second chapter (named Chapter 1, as the first was a prologue) set up events that would lead to the eventual journey from Pinkie's cabin in the woods, but it wasn't until the third that I decided it would be a departure from the 'ask' format as well. It was at this point that I looked back on the narratively weak beginning of this journey and decided it would need to be rewritten, as it had tonally evolved beyond nonsense questions and memes/references (including the brief idea I had to include Unikitty in this universe, which was never implemented). I had planned to make a 3D model of the interior (and exterior) of the house to aid the retelling of the first three chapters, but the difficulty of this task eventually led to me shelving the attempt.

Page 39 saw the end of the 'ask' saga of this story, switching to an entirely narrative-based format and adopting a more traditional comic layout from page 44. From this point, the full-colour approach to this series was dropped to aid production speed to this more detailed style/setting, with only important objects being coloured, as sometimes seen in noire comics. However, as the fidelity of my monochrome approach increased as the pages went on, there became no difference between whether the pages were in colour or not, as now everything had its own tone of grey. I would like to say this was a stylistic choice, and I suppose my implementation of it was, but really my focus had unintentionally shifted back to quality over quantity, so from page 74 I returned to full-colour.

Despite dropping the 'ask blog' format from page 39, the name of "Ask-Pink-Pony" had remained up until page 67, where I made the formal announcement that I would be giving this story a more suitable title to match its new webcomic approach. Given its prominent setting, the title "Everfree" seemed like an apt choice, allowing me some flexibility in the future. Beginning as "Everfree" in the Everfree forest, later developments outside the forest would allow me to modify the title to "Ever Free", then "For Everfree", and the final arc of the story becoming "Forever Free". This change came with a new tumblr account to reflect it, "everfree-comic", which forward to the original, and replaced the old link on newer pages.

However, this new name was always overshadowed by the fact that an MLP comic already existed (and had only just ended at the time of this choice) with the same title (and surprisingly only one, given its simplicity). My comic had already implemented themed chapter names (eg. Hibernation), which were adopted as sub-titles at this point (eg. Everfree: The Hibernation of a Pink Pony), though the title was usually shortened to just "Everfree", which felt like I was treading on the other comic's creator's toes.

For any unfamiliar with the chapter structure at this point, they are as such:

• Prologue: Pages 00 - 12 (Feb - May, 2014)

• Starts at 00 as it was an announcement for the ask-blog's opening; ending with the first major plot reveal/flashback and post-chapter flashback.

• Hibernation (aka The Hibernation of a Pink Pony): 13 - 33 (June 2014 - May 2016)

• "Chapter 1"; the first instance of the "wake up" cold open. Splits its time answering Tumblr questions and progressing the plot, taking a break to meet Z'ian and gain his map; ending after Discord arrives and leaves.

• Awakening (aka The Awakening of a Pink Pony): 34 - 42 (June - Sept, 2016)

• Focuses on Pinkie coming to terms with leaving the house, culminating in the source of the 'asks' breaking (it was entirely unscripted that I would get a "corrupted" ask, allowing this conclusion). No post-chapter flashback, as it would draw away from the dramatic ending and its continuity to the next chapter.

• Journey (aka The Journey of a Pink Pony): 43 - ?? (Oct 2016 - Current)

• The first fully narrative chapter and first to have a dedicated title page, as well as the first instance of a song (a rewritten version of the "Laughter Song" from the second episode of the show, spanning pages 50-52). Introduced first original creatures: the Salamancer ghost on page 60, and the cave troll on page 64. This chapter's "wake up" is delayed until page 79 in lieu of the cold open.

There have been other instances of this story released non-linearly as well:

• Reawakening (aka The Reawakening of a Pink Pony): R01 - ?? (Sep 2018 - ??)

• A reboot of the comic's first three chapters which released with two pages and planned up to its fifth, but was left in WIP limbo.

• The Fall of a Pink Pony (Oct 2017 - July 2018)

• A prequel novella telling in detail the events of the canonical "Party of One" episode from Pinkie's point of view, until its divergence into this universe, leading up to the first page of the comic. Recounts events previously only mentioned on pages 7, 10, and 23.

• The Shadow of a Pink Pony (April 2019 - ??)

• A short story noire spin-off following the events of page 84, despite being released long before it. Very rarely updated, but will link into future events from another's point of view.

So, it is now 2020, coming up to the 7th anniversary of this story, so where do we go from here? Here's what the future has in store:

Despite making such a fuss about the name change to Everfree, I have consistently found myself still referring to the series as "APP" for ease. As more "official" as Everfree sounded, it just didn't capture the soul of what I had created--it never felt like the name was 'mine', perhaps because of the other comic I knew about. But what has always been mine, and mine alone? Ask-Pink-Pony. Is it a good name? Perhaps not, but it is the roots of where this story came from, pun intended. As such, I intend to return to the original name, but with a minor twist. From the very beginning of the Tumblr account I had referred to Pinkie with a lack of self, initially calling it "Ask Nopony" (intentionally), and herself unable to speak her own name on page 18, failing to say "Pinkie" and offering simply "Pony", leaving Z'ian to combine what he had heard. APP will return as "A Pink Pony" while keeping the sub-titles, to appear as "APP: The Journey of a Pink Pony", for example.

Chapter 3 is within ten pages of conclusion, give or take based on the panel layouts, bringing a literal conclusion to the Journey and giving Pinkie access to the Ponyville she had been banished from so long ago (with the original length of time she had quoted no longer being canonical). Progress has ground to a halt lately due to depression, focusing on writing The Tale of Two Sisters, and having broken my keyboard drawer, seriously reducing the small space where I would normally draw.

I can't begin to explain how long this story has been waiting to be told, and how long it will take me to tell it. Anyone who has followed me since its beginning will remember the moment when I knew it had all been for naught, when the show itself used the plot I wrote before I had a chance to tell it, rendering my future story to be spoilt and/or accused of being copied. Simply put, I am a slow, bad artist. Had I committed to telling APP as a piece of written fiction, it would have been completed by now... Deciding whether I should abandon the art has been a long and stressful cloud over my head, and something I can't see ever leaving me. I have a passion for this comic, but I am simply incapable of keeping up with myself, and the returns will only ever diminish. However, with the plot already partially ruined, the art is the only real value left in this series, so abandoning it for text that few people would bother to read seems like digging my own grave.

Once Chapter 3 concludes, I intend to return to the reboot and create a proper foundation from which to continue with Chapter 4 (though the chapters will be renumbered once the reboot releases), which will be the new canon. The reboot will be largely similar the original, trimming certain statements that no longer fit my view of this world (such as Pinkie blatantly mentioning her adoption, which may or may not return in the future, and real life tumblr messages, though the computer will remain).

For the 7th anniversary, I may try to redraw an old panel as was previously suggested in the "Farewell Event", though there was no preferred suggestion, and I don't really want to redraw the very outdated 'wat' meme. Perhaps another 'draw the fans' event like I held for the 2nd anniversary, though that is an awful lot of work, even with a small number of followers. I've got some time to think about it, though. One thing is for sure though, and that's that by this time I will have officially changed the series' name to "A Pink Pony"; meaning a new Tumblr banner, renaming folders and files (again), and maybe (if I can be bothered) editing old pages to remove the 'everfree-comic' link. Page 85's release will mark the first instance of the new branding, but won't change much besides a return to the original 'ask-pink-pony' link--I see little point in creating a new forwarding address just for two letters.

Once again I would like to thank you for sticking with this story for so long and all my stupid delays, and thank you so much for reading this journal entry. It's been a long time since I've written a long retrospective like this one, but I assure you that APP occupies a significant amount of my mind, only really outshone by my current passion for literary writing and the story I'm telling in TToTS. As much of an artistic failure as I may be, I am still passionate about where this story is going and the moments I want to show, even if they might not seem original. I would love to share my original sketches and story notes, but I don't want to spoil anything that's going to happen, so I'll release them once they're told, and I can prove I'm not a hack-fraud.

But until then, thank you for reading and sticking around. If you're not already there, please feel free to join my Discord server and say hi--your support is what keeps me going! Trust me, ponies aren't going anywhere if you stick with me. Take care, and I'll see you in 2021!

Due to the updates on Deviantart, I can no longer upload my fanfiction here. Pasting from an external source removes all formatting, and it does not recognise the upload of .odt (OpenOffice) files. With the release of The Tale of Two Sisters: Chapter 13, you will only be able to read it and all other stories on fimfiction.com. Sorry for the inconvenience.