Cactus Codex

Pony blogger, actual cactus, artist, writer, computer scientist, and linguist. New Jersey / Pennsylvania | 21 | male, he/him/his | asexual hispanic | Cereus repandus, or Peruvian apple cactus

I don't know if anyone told you this already, but the PC Christmas update is beautiful and incredibly sweet. Just wanted to put that out there.

Asked by Anonymous

Aww thank you kind anon! ^3^

Everyone’s yelling about DWM again (unfortunately) and I’m sitting here last-minute drawing my Christmas post.

This is the last thing I ever scanned before I got my tablet. Dated back to March 16, 2012. Yep. That’s PC Scoots and Sweetie. It was almost a thing. And that concludes the art spam.

This is the last thing I ever scanned before I got my tablet. Dated back to March 16, 2012.

Yep. That’s PC Scoots and Sweetie. It was almost a thing.

And that concludes the art spam.

Tip of the Bow (first pic is the end of this part)
The Hilltops
Unification (not shown)
Where the World Ends

Oh how naive I was back then. For some strange reason, I thought I could manage to write/draw out a massive 4-part mess of romance, world-building, action, and adventure. All in that order.

The bulk of the story was set in the fictional Aldendrin, a country populated by medium-sized dragons and isolated from Equestria using a massive wall. The plot followed Spike and Apple Bloom’s adventures here for the first half, and the rest of the Mane 6 and CMC for the second half.

TotB was basically a romantic prelude to Hilltops, which focused on life in the metropolis of Bergen. From school rivalries, to great libraries and a plethora of never-before-seen technology like the artificial horn and the internet. The world here eventually became the base for Ponyville Diaries.

Unification was a battle chapter, in which the Mane 6 are sent off to an even MORE distant land to fight a bloodthirsty feral dragon laying waste to the more peaceful creatures to the south. It goes wrong, and the only ones who can defeat it are the young Crusaders and the experimental Elements of Unity.

Where the World Ends is the aftermath. The Crusaders find themselves separated and in the Everfree Forest without any way of getting back to their guardians. So they aimlessly wander around heading south and nearly killing themselves in doing so. The end to this story and the hypothetical epilogue became the base for Post Crusade.

TL;DR: This failed story is the reason why Diaries and Post Crusade exist.

Two frames from my first two comics.

First one was a New Year’s comic for 2012. It featured Pinkie and Scootaloo, but I chose this panel mostly because of how cool it came out. I liked the idea of Pinkie and Scoots in some weird sisterly relationship. Which is why it was a part of Post Crusade when it started.

The second one is from a comic staring Apple Bloom and a stubborn apple. It was my longest comic ever until the PC Hospital Arc started.

2 years ago, I decided to pick up art again after many years.

And by “art” I meant making crappy sketches of miniature horses anytime I could.

I wanted to get noticed. So I drew a lot and I drew often. 

And then I got silly and thought that I could draw out a massive epic fanfic divided into four parts: Tip of the Bow, The Hilltops, Unification, and Where the World Ends.

Of course, it failed spectacularly. But some parts did survive into 2012.

The remnants of Where the World Ends eventually became Post Crusade. And the world described in The Hilltops served as the base for Ponyville Diaries.

(and now, time for old art spam with witty commentary)