Story 6 Followup: · 8:10am May 24th, 2014
So...here we are...
Damn! Has it really been six stories into this franchise? God knows how much longer this thing is gonna run for...and I've broken 700,000 words on this beast. Originally, Story 6 was planned to cover the entire period of Dawn's first winter in Ponyville, but kinda grew into its own little self-contained adventure arc that stood well enough on its own that I decided to give it its own story.
As always, here's the rundown for the next story:
As Dawn settles in for his first winter in Ponyville, he finds himself dealing with several novel experiences, like Nightmare Night and meeting Princess Luna for the first time. Meanwhile, another pony has arrived in town, one who has a great deal in common with Dawn, particularly when it comes to their personal history and their...condition. Rarity takes it upon herself to help this unfortunate pony heal from the scars of his past and provide him with a place of safety and hope through the cold days to come.
This story is gonna slow things down quite a bit. It's mostly gonna deal with the winter months, focusing on WAFF moments, as well as important events, like Nightmare Night, and Hearth's Warming. I don't expect there to be a lot of action, except for the occasional epic snowball fight, as the real conflict is being held off into the spring season. I intend to take a broader-strokes approach to this story to help move things along a little faster so that we can get back to the action. But things rarely work out exactly as I plan them...we'll see.
In other news, I have recently learned that my first story Foal of the Forest (You guys remember that one, right?), recently got reviewed on One Man's Pony Ramblings. I don't know if it's all that important, but what's-his-name who runs the thing gave it a pretty serious raking over the coals. Seeing as he's been pretty damn harsh on some other fan favorites (One star for Antipodes...seriously?) I can at least claim my story is in good company. Oh well...Win some, lose some. I'm not really gonna lose any sleep over it and he does bring up some fairly decent points occasionally. Seeing as it's the first story in the series that has netted me over six-hundred followers, I'm not really feeling the need to take him all that seriously.
910 likes to 14 dislikes. Screw him and his review.
Dawn's twin brother, his father (who didn't know about what happened to Dawn, and his wife threw him out), his real father (You never know, it could happen), or somepony else?
Which means either somepony for Rarity, or a colt for her to look after?
HURRY UP AND WRITE IT!
I smell romance~
Oh, and about that review, that's just like his opinion man. Dont let it get you down.
Your stories have definitely improved since Foal of the Forest, though I can't bring myself to entirely disagree with the rating on that one. It doesn't help that "Fluttershy" is misspelled all over the place in that story, which occasionally breaks immersion. In any case, I'm looking forward to the next story. Should be fun.
May Rarity's generosity and love give hope to the new pony
One should never underestimate how much a project can grow. After all, Pen Stroke has stated that Past Sins was meant to be a one shot at first. It certainly didn't end that way.
This new summary gives us a few plot threads to theorize about. I'm certain that the meeting between Dawn and Luna will be interesting to say the least. I'm also fairly sure that the pony mentioned is the paranoid one who said he would be coming soon.
I can see Rarity's near future turning out in one of two different ways. If this pony turns out to be a child, she'll get a son of her own. If he's an adult, she'll get a new ship of her own, one that's been missing since the Fall Harvest Festival.
As for the critic, being harsh is par for the course with people like him. They always blow any flaws they find out of proportion in order to help creators avoid making them in the future. You are wise not to take all of his thoughts to heart as it is clear your quality has already been steadily improving. Besides, getting a review like this means the Savage Sky series is becoming more popular. I'm curious how it will stack up to other juggernauts of fame on this site, one of which I mentioned earlier in this comment.
You somehow find a way to get me even more excited for each subsequent release and this is no exception. Part of me is screaming at you to hurry up, but another is explaining that you should take your time to protect the quality. I must agree with the latter of the voices, even if it does entail a longer wait. It will be well worth it.
.....WAFF?
2140750 Warm and fuzzy feeling.
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*Girlish squee of delight* LET THE RARITY SHIPPING BEGIN!!!
2140789
I see!
No mention yet of my theory I have in my head. I bet the person is the stallion that Durpy found that has the eyes of the nightmare. The paranoid one who said he would appear at a random time for Twilight's research into the condition.
I'm still waiting for the big reveal of Terra Heart being Applejack's father.
But yeah, I think that slowing down and making the winter more of a relaxing time fits the season very well.
It seems there are more ships being added to the fleet with every story. What is with you and shipping?
I love your stories and my current interest is in the stallion who we're going to see in the next story.
Yeah, don't take it too harshly, you're writing this for fun and not professionally after all. Plus, you don't spend years editing etcetera. I definitely noticed a gradual improvement in your stories, both in character development and writing style. When I first finished Foal in the Forest, I was dubious, the writing seemed okay, not great, and in particular Dawn initially seemed like a bland, overpowered, mary sue, garish OC. However, I kept with it because I found the premise and world building intriguing, and I am glad I did. As the stories have progressed your world, writing style, and characters (Dawn especially) have gone through some wonderful development. All that is to say that you should definitely try to learn from the criticism, but don't give up, keep improving, and know your work is far from worthless.
I'd like to add, what I said about story 1 Dawn was probably a bit harsh, it's true I felt that way to a degree, but probably not as bad as I made it sound haha.
Yay Luna! I was hoping her and Dawn would meet ever since Twilight spoke with her about the eyes of nightmare.
Your fanfics are amazing,I don't care what this guy said about Dawn or you just keep on writing the amazing fics
. also cant wait for the next one
If there is such a fight scene to come in this saga... I will be so happy