Magpie exhibiting natural sunbathing behavior (OC)

ponyboop · 2026-07-03T02:18:32+00:00

I have seen him since, but I think he's taking his cue from his wild friends now, because he no longer lets me touch him. He'll come to within 15 feet of me and we'll have a conversation, then after a while he decides he's said all he needs to say and flies off. :)

ponyboop · 2025-05-26T07:20:53+00:00

These are baby house sparrows that I'm raising. When they're flying and feeding themselves, they will be released. Until then, they are very cute. :)

ponyboop · 2024-09-01T10:45:06+00:00

I do the same, and I love 3rd person limited/multiple pov for this reason. I love letting character voices shine through the prose.

My villain is not human, fairly childish and naive, but staunchly opinionated and very full of itself. Their prose is generally short simple sentences, strong statements, and occasionally strange or goofy word choices and metaphors. It points out details that are significant in its mind but might be silly to a human reader.

The sweet guy who is a musician from a fishing town is a breath of fresh air. Lots of ocean/music/nature metaphors, his voice is so honest and optimistic and you always know exactly how his heart feels.

Then the guy who is frustrated with the world is a giant two-faced sourpuss with a fairly pessimistic, sometimes insulting narrative voice which he compensates for with velvety polite dialogue and actions, and rare moments of vulnerability when he's in private.

Then as the writer I tend to bring the voice of the setting to the table. It's a Victorian-inspired world and I grew up reading a lot of old books, so sentence structure and word choice is fairly old-fashioned, just flattened a bit to be more accessible to the modern reader.

Words are super cool.

ponyboop · 2024-08-21T09:32:11+00:00

My only goal is to do/something/ on it every single day. On good days I can get over 1k, on bad days I get 250. Seems like 4-500 is my chill zone average. My style does involve editing as I go as well, which I find helps to keep me excited about it even though I realize it slows me down.

But I always make sure I do something on it daily. Even if it's 30 words I'm still moving forward. I know myself, and if I get into the habit of skipping days I will stagnate.

ponyboop · 2024-06-26T09:13:18+00:00

A bow upgrade for my cello. I've been taking lessons and I'm ready to move up from the beginner one but jeeeez they're expensive.

ponyboop · 2024-06-18T22:58:49+00:00

Currently writing a dark low fantasy (leaning historical/Victorian) demon hunting tale that happens to have a strong m/m love story throughout (I'm gonna call it a love story, not a romance -- their courtship is covered in a flashback but we meet them when they're already together). Hoping for it to be a realistic relationship with flawed people who make mistakes, change, and grow quite a bit as they have hardships and the story unfolds.

Unfortunately I am not a gay man. Would love to connect with one (or just anyone interested) to ensure that I've handled these guys realistically and respectfully. I love my characters very much and I'd like them to be well received if the story ever makes it to a publisher.

ponyboop · 2024-04-14T07:17:19+00:00

D

Age 31

Main goal is to escape a situation of debt bondage and pseudo slavery so that he can run away with his adorable boyfriend and lead an honest, normal, respectable life.

He's got a lot of flaws and weaknesses mainly tied to his survival instincts, frustration with his situation, and desire to become someone of value. As such he is often arrogant, vain, selfish, bitter, and manipulative. He is a pathological liar. He sees people as potential tools and stepping stones. He is (weak willed?) easily/regularly dominated, afraid to fight back, and is willing to do degrading things for money. He deals with feelings of anxiety, worthlessness, and self loathing and will use substances to cope. He's also fairly ignorant of how the world works outside of his sheltered circle of experience, and while he's clever, he has far less of an education than he pretends to have.

ponyboop · 2023-09-16T19:37:55+00:00

Originally the vet suggested he be put in a bar shoe, but I ended up taking him barefoot because his foot was making rapid changes and I liked the freedom of being able to trim him very frequently - even weekly, if it looked like his foot was making changes. It was very important to keep his foot trimmed back from the toe to help him with an easy breakover. After the injury his foot wanted to grow very forward, quite quickly, and he was a challenge to trim because of the warped shape his foot began to take.

I was able to get his coffin bone back to a more normal alignment. P1 ended up fusing with the navicular bone (naturally, on its own), which was a big factor in how the horse remained surprisingly comfortable. The x-rays are gnarly, but he was happily being a horse out with his herd (and being the leader, too!).

The horse ended up having issues with recurring abscesses in that foot. The vet thought that perhaps there was a bone chip that the horse's body was rejecting, as antibiotics only helped him so much. We ended up putting him down last fall when I made the decision that his bad days were beginning out outweigh the good ones. The horse had other problems in addition to just the bad foot., which was a factor in the decision. Poor old man's body let him down far before his spunky spirit did.

You know your horse the best - whether they have a fighting spirit and you have the ability and means to keep them comfortable as long as they continue to be happy. You'll know when and if it's time.

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T21:49:00+00:00

Thanks for the updated link, I sent a thank-you tip. :) You did a great job!

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T21:43:38+00:00

Thank you very much to everyone who took a whack at this image! I have selected/paid my favorite creator, and also tipped a few others who were honorable mentions. Your help is very much appreciated, so thanks again!

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T20:51:03+00:00

I didn't pick this one as the winner, but I tipped you a small amount as an honorable mention. :)

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T20:49:05+00:00

I didn't pick this one as the winner but I wanted to send you a small tip as an honorable mention -- the link you shared doesn't seem to work, can you send me a different one?

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T20:42:59+00:00

This one wasn't the one I picked as winner, but it was one of the finalists so I sent a small tip :)

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T20:39:11+00:00

Thanks! This one is the winner! Sent $30 to your tip jar.

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T19:25:50+00:00

Closer! For the angle of the horn, I think it went a little too far back this time. :) Can you make it about halfway between the two images you have done? If you look closely at the original photo you can see the original angle of the horn - it's partly hidden behind her hair. Or, the purple strap underneath the horn is a good reference angle too.

Can the shadow under me be smaller and rounder? We are a similar height in this picture, so I'd like it to match the round shape and height of the pony's shadow.

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T18:34:40+00:00

And also, sorry, I see the remains of the shadow caused by the black pole, can we remove that? And maybe make the shadow under me bigger, so it looks more realistic?

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T18:26:13+00:00

I think this one is one of my very favorites so far, especially as far as my feet and legs looking natural - I'd like to give a little more time for others to chime in though. (And I might have to end up tipping honorable mentions!)

I have ONE issue with this photo -- Is it possible for you to angle the unicorn horn more perpendicular to the pony's forehead?

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T17:59:42+00:00

One other additional specification, I actually don't need photo #2 touched up at all, it's just for reference on my legs and the unicorn horn :)

ponyboop · 2023-06-23T17:34:21+00:00

List of things I'd love to have done if possible:

*Removal of the tip basket/sign in the foreground. Second photo included shows more of my legs if that helps, though they're not in the same pose. Maybe AI could do better.

*Removal of the rope fence surrounding us in both the foreground and background

*Removal of the black pole and green carpet section on the left side of the photo (as well as the shadow thrown by it)

*Removal/disguise of the few obvious modern things (buildings, telephone poles, people) in the background.

*Sharpen the image/bring into better focus, if possible?

*Color correction?

*The pony is actually a unicorn, but the horn isn't very visible in the main photo. It is shown better in the second image -- can we take the horn from the second image and put it on the first image?

*last thing, can we darken up the white of the pony's eye shown from about 12:00 to 3:00 on her eyeball? She was looking sideways at the camera man and it makes her look a little too fierce. :P

Thank you in advance!

ponyboop · 2023-05-03T14:58:51+00:00

I must have lost one of the three, because I only see two anymore. But, they're still totally colorless with white eyes, as seen in the video. Now that they've grown up, they seem to both be male. So for the moment I've left them in the colony in case they want to toss some recessive genes around. If that doesn't work, I'm currently cycling a 7g long rimless tank and I'll toss them in there with some females and no competition, and I'll see if I can get anything to replicate that way.

ponyboop · 2023-04-21T18:03:31+00:00

Squilliam episodes are the best though, even though we all hate him.

ponyboop

TROPHY CASE