30,000 words later... · 3:38am May 13th, 2023
I did it!
It's done. The Festival of Friendship Arc for Man Cannot Live On Coffee Alone is done! I'm so happy to have it finally complete. It was a massive undertaking in the best and worst sort of way. It took me a bit of work to shake the rust off, and Chapter 9c might get a touch-up, but for now, with Chapter 9d complete and feeling back to full form, I'm happy to say that it's done.
What's next? Well, Celestia willing, it's more Slice of Life and Romance. I want to get back to the Slice of Life and Romance! I miss it. I've enjoyed getting back into the saddle with this ultra-intense arc of the story, but we're through it and we can go back to ponies being cute and Jake being an idiot.
Beyond the Obligatory Rarity Picture, I'm gonna talk some spoilers about the arc and the story in general, so reader beware beyond this point!
Way back, six years ago, I set out to tell a story about a Human in Equestria that wasn't the usual HiE story. I wanted a flawed character, I wanted a character that flirted with tropes but sidestepped them, and I wanted a human and pony romance that felt... real. Something that didn't involve a person just falling head over heels for a pony instantly, nor one where the pony became instantly infatuated with the human. I wanted some reasonable boundaries and realistic difficulties involved with what it'd be like to date a character like Rarity. I want to get back to that stuff.
The action was fun, but it served as a vehicle to show an important thing: Jake facing his past and showing that he's really changed. He had every right to go John Wick on that whole situation; nobody in our world would have blamed him. Hell, we'd probably have cheered him on as he carved a bloody path straight to the Storm King and said a witty one-liner as he blew that pompous idiot away. But... to quote Jake, "That's not very friendship". This story is a story set in Equestria, where violence isn't the answer but rather a breakdown in communication, or a last resort. And certainly nopony goes and starts shooting folks in the name of friendship! Equestria has harmony, and I wanted to honor that Jake had worked hard to integrate that idea into himself. He still fights, he's still capable of fighting and protecting others, but there are lines that he has to consider crossing during the rising action of the arc. The final moment of Chapter 9c is about giving the readers as well as the characters that promised growth. That was the pay-off of all the struggles, all the difficulty. This whole arc gave me the opportunity to put Jake in a position where we'd understand and forgive him for committing acts of violence and death, but where he had a choice to act as we would expect, or to act as the ponies who have been helping him grow expect.
Now we're here, and that is resolved. Jake gets to grow beyond this point without the baggage of wondering if he's really changed; he knows, now. He's not who he used to be, and that's good for him. It's new opportunities from here on out, and I'm looking forward to writing some more of what I enjoy most: cute shit.
See you for the next chapter!
That's a hell of a comeback. I guess I should read it
:tada:!
My brother in Christ, that has been a constant for 38 years now.
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You're basically my favorite idiot though!
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