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snowy-charm · 5 years

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A Treatise on Charm, Snowy

(TL;DR warning: This post is kinda long. The quick version is that I’m gonna make music now! Next post will be one of said musics. The rest of this post goes over the story of why I’m doing it. Also I use a meme twice and link some rad music three times.)

The year: 2017. October. I was given the name “Snowy Charm” as a fun pony name to facilitate a secret santa exchange online. Even though I’d been a fan of these little horses since ~2012 I’d never delved into the world of having one to call my own. I was more than satisfied bearing witness to the growing cast of canon characters - and of course my hot and heavy courting with the cast of Fallout: Equestria. (Side note to anyone who may be reading this: FoE is pretty dope, but it is also the essence of grimdark. Read at your own risk!)

Suddenly at odds with this new OC acquisition, I quickly came up with a fast and loose backstory! He was a crystal pony from the wintery crystal kingdom (”Snowy”) and was probably an artificer or craftsman of some kind (”Charm”). I joked that the reason behind my name is that I live in a snowy climate (read: the tropics) and I was quite charming (the jury is still out on that one).

The following year was my first ever convention: BronyCon 2018! An artist friend of mine graciously designed my OC with little to no input on my part and came up with a design that I instantly fell in love with.

(Pictured here subtly in front of a rack-mounted EQ I have never used, but is appropriate for an upcoming revelation.)

Isn’t he ADORABLE?! I will forever wear that badge because it is awesome. The cutie mark has been redone a little since then, and no other artist has remembered his beard yet, but I digress; this story isn’t actually about him.

Of course, BronyCon was a blast! This became my impetus to be more than simply an observer in the fandom, but to be present and belonging with others through our communal enjoyment of My Little Pony. My friends, in general, had a disinterest of the show - which, you know what? That’s fair. I don’t particularly care for Game of Thrones, Desperate Housewives, or the DCU, and it would be hard for me to feign a genuine interest in the developments thereof - but as of BronyCon I was able to play on an even field with others who shared my same passion for these candy colored equines!

Now, another thing to note of me, which will be important in a moment: I’m slightly musical. Not amazingly talented or anything, just.. slightly musical. I was REALLY into marching band (and won the John Philip Sousa award my senior year!!), but stopped refining my craft during college and onwards. Turns out playing a $5000 instrument puts a damper on your ability to own one. (Here’s a second video, and a third; I freakin love marimba.) I picked up the Ukulele for the the occasional “BUT YOU LIKE TO MAKE MUSIC” urges, but more or less ignored actually honing my abilities.

But now that I found myself surrounded by the magic of friendship combined with the magic of ponies, I wanted to CREATE. I suddenly realized that Snowy Charm was to be a MUSIC PONE. I would make FANDOM HITS that nopony had ever HEARD BEFORE (or after - I didn’t/don’t expect to be horse famous [or really even horse known (triple parenthetical asides are super cool, by the way)]).

Aaaaand promptly realized I had the better part of a decade’s worth of rust hanging onto my high-school-level skills. Not to mention that I still didn’t own the only thing I was good at playing.

“Okay, okay, it’s fine. Don’t hyperventilate, self. We’ll just make this into a project about growth in music instead.”

- Me to myself circa the realization I can only really play a single instrument, and not even well.

I decided to make the project about my journey in the music field instead of pumping out dope jams. The goal was to lay out where I was musically and pick a song each week. I’d then practice that song all week and post a recording of my warbly self performing it by week’s end. Pick up a new instrument here, learn a new software there. Maybe I’d do originals now and again, but likely I’d just scream into the void and wait for it to call me back.

Of course, the dope jams would (hopefully) come, but as Jake says:

Long story short on that one: I didn’t.

Be it procrastination or a busy schedule, I can’t really defend my past self’s choice at this point. I made all the social media accounts and sturdied myself to make the first bellow into the abyss --- but then silence rung out. (Of note, I got my twitter anniversary notice today, so it has been exactly a year from my first tentative steps.)

Flash forward a couple months - October once more. My little festive community starts up again! More fun names are given out and lore starts being woven together about these new OCs! The stories start coming quick: There’s a stallion who HATES CRANBERRIES and one who makes bomb smoothies! A diamond dog who wants to celebrate Hearth’s Warming but is the target of seemingly the entire diamond dog population’s scorn! There’s a whole school filled with students, teachers, and a will-they-won’t-they janitor/counselor combo! Snowy now owns a potion shop specializing in musical applications, not to mention somehow he’s now the ambassador to those diamond dogs! But then, unexpectedly, on the day she was supposed to return from the hospital, my mother passed away.

I had recently lost my job and moved into my folk’s home out of town. Unemployed, isolated from friends, and yeeted into the throes of grief; I did all I really could: I picked up my dumb noise stick and sang about life, love, death, and colorful talking horses.

I made my first honest-to-goodness song - Drink In - during that period. It’s about that on-again-off-again pair I introduced earlier, but it was also about my grief and healing. I’ll share some of the lyrics here that, after I wrote them, spoke to me as if I didn’t pen them my damn self:

Take a deep breath Exhale regret Drink in sunsets The best is what’s left

It may not hit you the same way as it did me, music is often subjective, but it was an imperative reminder to let go of the stress I was compounding inside of me. I needed to hear that message badly - and put a pin in that, I’ll loop back to it in a moment.

I started working to better my craft again. I helped mix/master the album that my little festive family put together. I borrowed a bass guitar from a friend and started learning a little. I even got employed to do live mixing at the church I attend! Little by little I was getting better.

But let’s fast forward again, shall we? This time to August of this year, BronyCon 2019! One of the best times I’ve ever had, but that’s not the point (maybe I’ll go into it in a later post?). I came home invigorated and ready to face the world again after being exhausted for almost five months straight. I felt free from burdens and there was something on my mind that hadn’t been there for a long time: I was ready to CREATE.

If you were at the con, or if you’ve been on twitter recently, this next refrain may strike you as familiar:

(Patch done by @sew-adorkable)

I knew I had to make a song about it, but I had to make it good enough to be heard by folk. It had to be perfect before I could release it and have guitars and electronic music stuff and all the bells and/or whistles. I have a launchpad, unused, from last year - so I plugged it in with Ableton Live so I could make them funky horse beatz (with a z of course, because that’s 20% cooler).

Aaaaand promptly realized I was way out of my depth.

I’ve recorded live performances (and myself) with Reaper and Audition before, and I feel like I know at least some of the basics with them. I can put a vocal into compression, mix the instruments okay together, do some EQing, etc. But I was now adrift trying to get the computer to make sounds that I wasn’t able to do myself.

I couldn’t figure out how to put anything other than the default synth into reaper and I opened Ableton because that’s better for electronic music I hear and I want to learn how to do that and they don’t even have a timeline and use clips and what are clips and how do you make them and what are samples and how do you get them and how do I even record a voice in this thing and there’s not a TIMELINE and when you stop the noise the session isn’t stopped and the launchpad won’t work and I went back to reaper and they have a drum sampler and how do you get a sample and how do you install things and is this my personal hell and I understand this is a run on sentence - I was frustrated and I quit.

Remember the pin I told you to put in earlier? Refresh that into memory, here’s where it’s relevant.

About two weeks after this whole debacle I was listening to shuffle all on my phone and Drink In happened to come on. I remembered how the completely unintentional message of my own song really struck me a year prior. This stupid song about a pair of pony OCs with terribly played ukulele and shitty bargain bin percussion recorded with a mic not suited to record anything except vocals... and despite all that, despite all of the technical barriers that were in the way, despite clipping during recording ukulele and hearing the distortion every time I listen to the track, it helped me restore tranquility when my inner world was naught but a maelstrom of grief and tumult.

...I guess it didn’t have to be perfect to reach folks. Who knew?

And that right there is the moral I’m learning today. I struggle with it a lot, but there’s a problem with perfection: allow yourself only to produce perfection and you’ll produce nothing. I mean it’s a well known quote, right? Nobody’s perfect.

So, I apologize in advance to all people with ears, but it is now my intention to bring (hopefully) pleasant noises to the grandiose cacophony that is the internet. They won’t be perfect, but I’ll work on it.

Anyway, come to TrotCon.

(Art by Witchtaunter, Flitterfel, and Mentita Kirby)

P.S. Holy bananas you actually read this monster of a post? Give yourself a pat on the back! Future posts likely won’t be as herculean of a read, but no promises. Next time I’ll actually upload “Drink In” so you can hear this song I’ve referenced so much - and then I’ll talk about where I’m at mechanically and the goals I have by doing this whole thing. Oh, and don’t expect all the neat art to happen every post! I went a little YCH/commission crazy after I got back from BronyCon, but I’m also not made out money so it won’t last forever. I don’t expect really anybody to read a huge post ostensibly about someone’s OC, and even the lifetime of this project I expect less or equal to about 10 people, but I hope you find a sense of belonging and participation here! Hello to all 10 of you!

See y’all next time!

#I don't know how to tag things #MLP #Probably MLP #Horse Music?#Snowy Charm #long read #I'msosorry #I met Wootmaster at BronyCon last year #I sang the Halo theme at him #It was pretty cool #notice me senpai

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southside-crybabby · 6 years

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Find yourself 4

An: not edited will be soon

4/10 parts this will get a bit better but it’s all fluff nothing serious . Ready for part 5! Comment and reply ! I ant some imagines ? Message me !

Let’s go

It has been two full days since the video addressing rumours went live. The twins had been silent on Twitter besides the few likes here and there and y/n post poned her video for the week. She didn’t know what to post or where to even start ,but when she woke up to Grayson flopping on her bed Thursday morning she shotup and shielded her chest groggily “what !? What’s wrong ?” She said in a shock with a sigh realizing it was nothing. Grayson laughed as he pulled at her messy braid “we’re going to the wearhouse ... and you’re going to film “ he said standing up and grabbing her makeup bag from her desk and her laptop in the other hand “come on Ethan’s already up its 9:45” she knew he was right about filming but it didn’t help she didn’t want to film , she didn’t want to start this fake relationship just to save her reputation ... all their reputations .

Y/n watched as he walked out of her room giving her no time to protest. Standing she headed to her closet and pulled on her skinny jeans with rips and her bra, she looked over her appearance and groaned at her puffy eyes ,letting her braidout taming it a bit she pulled it half up on top of her head and nodded at the mirror , at least her hair wasnt wild roday .Walking out of her room she went directly across the hall into Ethan’s room where he laid on his stomach “and you ruined it cause your naked “ he yelled as he looked at the playback of the Snapchat he had taken before posting it any way thinking it was funny how she scurried out of frame .Y/n smirked while holding up the middle finger as she headed to his closet before coming out in one of his shirts “that’s Grayson’s “ he commented as she groaned and grabbed one from the bed “also Grayson “ he laughed as she stood with her hands on her hips looking at the nicki minage too he was wearing “hand it over “ she ordered peeling off the pink shirt she had on and motioning for him to trade Ethan laughed but obliged pulling off his merch shirt. y/n bit her lip as his head was down but shook the thoughts in her head away as he looked at her with his raises brow “what?” He mumbled as they traded shirts . After pulling the long sleeve on She tied the side and looked at him with a smile “let’s go “ she said skipping out of his room unaware that Ethan was a blushing mess seeing her in his clothes

————

On the way to the wearhouse they all decided that they had to go out in public drop a little more for the fans. Y/n and Ethan stood beside each other as Grayson snap chatted them “guys it’s so hot and y/n won’t stop complaining but look at her all black outfit “ he yelled as y/n rolled her eyes at him making a face “you look good tho“ Ethan chimes in as Grayson finishes the video . They all walked around the small shopping area, joking and having small talk before heading into a Starbucks .the line was kind of long as y/n and Grayson stood waiting ,Ethan gone to find a bathroom “so how are you holding up “ he asked as she perched her sunglasses on her head with a shrug “I mean ... all we really have done is switch clothing and called each other cute I can’t complain “ she laughed as she swayed onher heels “we will see in a few days “ she smirked as Grayson rolled his eyes “you’re gonna have to address him as your boyfriend in public “ he chuckled “kinda embarrassing “ he teased .

The two had hardly moved when y/n looked at her Instagram and frowned as she showed Grayson the photos of them tagged just standing in line “these girls are quick “ she whispered as he nodded and shot a text to Ethan “of course this is when he chooses to take five years “ as if on cue Ethan came to meet then in line as he slipped his phone in his pocket and stood behind them looking around assessing the people before he pulled y/n ‘s hair lightly and smirked as she swatted his hand not catching on to what was happening thinking he was just annoying her but as he did it again this time he caught her hand and turned her to him making a face “you’re so oblivious “ he chuckled as he stared at her and moved in front of her his hand holding hers for a few seconds more before letting go and moving to the barista ordering the threes drinks . As they moved to wait for the drinks to be made Grayson left to go wait in the car complaining about waiting and it being crowded so he was going to pull the car around. Leaving y/n and Ethan alone .y/n sat on the only free bar stool looking at the girls obviously snap chatting the two or something as she smiled and reached out to Ethan who stood with his back to her pulling His shoulders so his back hit her chest, stood between her legs and y/n looked at his phone laughing at a meme he was reading, she rested her chin on his shoulder as he butted her head with his temple lightly “they’re still taking pictures “ she whispered as he turned to look past them out the window with a nod he put his free hand up and rubbed the back of her head . Y/n wrapped her arms around him and smiled as they stayed silent for a few moments before his name was called and they got their drinks.

______

Walking out of the Starbucks proved to be a difficult task as they were approached for a very few photo ops Ethan of course the centre of attention as y/n held the tray of drinks and waited , after 15 mins if chatting Ethan smiled “okay guys we gotta go ...y/n/n “ he called as she made her way into the crowd she said a few heys and waved as Ethan grabbed her waving hand into his and intertwined his fingers in hers “bye “ he said one last time and guided them out the door

“Jesus took long enough “Grayson groaned as he grabbed his latte and Ethan laughed “well maybe don’t order a hot drink next time he shot back “ as Grayson started driving and looked at y/n in the mirror noticing the look of fear on his friends face “Ethan take her phone before she panics “ he yelled out as Ethan tried to grab the phone “y/n come on hand it over “ he groaned as she held her hand away “no I’ll stop looking !” She yelled as Ethan undid his belt and awkwardly climbed in the back almost causing Grayson to swerve but he got the phone and cheered as he shoved it in his jeans pocket with a smirk and did up his own belt in the back now with a smirk “you don’t get it back until you film for at least an hour “

——-

At the wear house y/n applied her makeup and sat for a moment just thinking what to do while the twins set up the lights and her backdrop she had there; a brick wall and her little white couch . She came out applying her lipstick as she looked around “guys I don’t even know what we are filming “ she said as Grayson smirked and held up his phone and Ethan his lap top with her first vine open on grays and her twitter on Ethan’s she went wide eyed “no ... “ she groaned as Grayson laughed “oh yes try not to cringe “ he yelled in unison with Ethan . Y/n shook her head as she moved to the couch “you guys have to play too “ Ethan shook his head and laughed “nope you are cringe enough for the three of us “ y/n shoved him as she cantered her self “fine “

—————

(From the viewers perspective)

Y/n cleared her throat as she sat on the couch and “hey ...” she laughed and shook her head “sorry again “ she said and rubbed her head “ hey babes ! It’s me” she yelled and waved “and today we are doing the worst thing ...I have avoided for months but some annoying fan boys are making me “ she shot as she laughed “so to cut it short here they are ...Grayson “ she snapped as he appeared on the couch and held up the peace sign before doing his little hand shake with y/n “and Ethan “ she snapped but he didn’t show up “and Ethan she tried again eyeing Grayson who just shrugged confused and nothing “Ethan !” She yelled as he popped up from behind the couch and pecked her cheek before hopping the back. Y/n rolled her eyes as Grayson explained that y/n had to watch vines and video edits without cringing and if she did the twins made her a delicious smoothie to drink as punishment “okay but can I get like a few chances “she pouted as the boys looked at each other and nodded “3 tried “ they said together as the rounds staters “the easy stuff “ Grayson said with a grin and played a vine that y/n rolled her eyes . She lasted theee vines before she broke and cringed into the couch “nooo turn it off I’m singing “ she yelled and threw the phone “y/n!” Grayson yelled as she laughed “my turn ... edits “ Ethan chimes in as he played the first video of her yelling and she cringed theee times “four in one video “he said pumping the air as she groaned Ethan pulled up the last one of her and Grayson and she cringed right into Ethan’s chest as he held her head and Grayson yelled “brooooooo “ he groaned “no it’s never gonna happen “ Ethan wheezed as y/n frowned “my shoulders ate my ears I need to leave “ she yelled as she sat back and pouted .

Grayson grinned at the camera as did Ethan and y/n frowned “so y/n is a loser “ gray chuckled “and that means she has to drink the smoothie “

Cutting to the area infront of the ramp they all stood at the folding table with a cup of muck “what’s in it she frowned “anchovies , peanut butter . Vinaigrette, hot sauce , jalapeños, fish oil , tomato paste, m&ms , paprika and kale “ Grayson smiled “oh and some ghost peppers of course and soy milk “ Ethan chimes in as he crossed his arms and the girl frowned deeper “guys ... I’m going to throw up “ she said seriously uncomfortable and shook her head “and then die “ she mumbled “do it or I post the singing video of you on my instagram and Ethan posts the screen shots on his snap of your morning face “ Grayson said as he only option. The girl went wide eyed and took the cup as Grayson held a blog camera and the girl chugged a bit before gulping for air and dry heaving “oh my god “ she yelled and stuck out her tongue “it’s so spicy “ she yelled but drank more as the boys wheezing in laughter echoing on the walls caused them to shake and struggled to record . She got half way threw but shook her head “get me the bin “ she yelled as she gagged and a bunch of smoothie dropped on her tank top clad chest as Ethan placed the bin in front of her and she threw up a bit as she shook her head and did it again. She finished as she stood but tears formed in her eyes as Grayson blog turned to himself “oh no ... y/n is crying “ he said ashamed of the dare . Y/n sniffles as she rubbed her neck “this is burning my skin “ she whined as tears fell and Ethan rushed over with a cloth “it’s okay “ he mumbled and pushed her hair back as she then vomited in the bucket again “y/n nooo “ he whined as she looked down. Grayson continued to film as Ethan rubbed her back and pulled her into his chest as she cried quietly in discomfort and kissed her head a few times “stop crying it’s okay “ he said and looked at his brother “gray ! Stop filming !” He yelled and flicked some muck at him seriously as he shielded y/n infronr of him

after a cut y/n was still r d and puffy as Grayson laughed and Ethan pecked her temple “now that we have broke y/n “ he stated as she waved “I’m never doing a dolan dare again “ she whined as Ethan pulled her into his chest “that was the cringe challenge feature the Dolan twins “ grays shot up the hang ten sign as did Ethan y/n held up hers as her outro song played “come back next Wednesday when I destroy the twins “ she grinned as she fell back into to the couch “ baby’s out “ they yelled .

———-

Y/n rinsed her moth out again for the third time as she looked at Ethan and Grayson frowned “can you guys post on Instagram stories that you’re in my video “ she asked as Grayson grinned “I mean I did get you to throw up so I guess “ and walked over to the Couch and crouched by y/n with Ethan and snapped a picture of them all looking tired and posted . Y/n held her phone out after “guys I’m in the ware house go watch the new video where I cringe “ she yelled as Ethan waved “he is in it “ Grayson held the hang ten sign “so is he “ she laughed as Ethan showed her neck pulling at her shirt “she gets burnt and cries “ he yelled and and put his cheek against hers “watch it so she isn’t a lil bitch anymore “ he laughed

Ethan was last and he was going big he walked around and teased with a. Few photos of y/n and Grayson skateboring before he got Grayson to film him skateboarding “check out y/na video guys ... it’s great because I’m in it “ he grinned as he stopped beside the sitting y/n “she watches her cringe vines “ he laughs as he watches her cringe and Grayson motions to wrap it up . With that Ethan grins “but we still like her “ he laughs and leans in pecking her on the lips leaving y/n and gray in shock.

#dolan twins blurbs #dolan twins fic #grayson dolan imagines #ethan dolan imagines #dolan twins imagine #dolan twins

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