Progress Report: · 6:10am Jul 1st, 2014
A lot of you have been asking how long until I start posting the next story of Savage Skies lately. Unfortunately, the answer is "I don't know." I'm working on the next arc, but it's been proceeding kind of slowly. I want to use it as a bridge towards the next couple of story arcs, which will pretty much be the climax of the series as a whole. I also want to use it as a time to explore some more everyday stuff for Dawn, spending time with his family, hanging out with friends. There are a couple of important events that are going to take place, but this arc is going to be lighter and more pleasant than the earlier ones, because what comes after is going to be some heavy stuff.
As a bit of an apology and to show you that I really am working on it, I hereby present to you a short sampling of an excerpt from the next story in the series.
Scootaloo yelped sharply as another snowball smacked against her flank. "Hey! I wasn't ready!"
"Then practice your readiness," replied Dawn, his voice seeming to echo from all over the place.
Scootaloo spun in place, shooting her glare in every direction, trying to get a fix on the ebony colt's position. Unfortunately for her, the forest was Dawn's playground. He moved amongst the trees like a shadow, always seeming to hover just outside the range of her peripheral vision. Even her wind-sense wasn't much help, as Dawn kept the air around him moving smoothly and evenly, hiding the eddies that his body would normally generate. Her only warning would be from the very edges of her wind-sense when the next projectile came streaking in.
"You're trying too hard to find me," said Dawn, "Instead, focus on what you're here to practice."
Scootaloo's brow furrowed as she recalled his instructions. She wasn't the move from her spot. When Dawn sent a snowball in her direction, she couldn't dodge it. Her only option was to defend. She cold scatter the snowball with a burst of air from her wings. But the real task was to catch the snowball and send it flying back. When they'd started this morning, it had been in an open clearing, with Dawn simply standing across it from her and launching snowballs at will.
Once Scootaloo had gotten used to catching them in her wind without breaking them, then throwing them back (something that was very tricky to do after having just caught it), Dawn had upped the difficulty, leading her into the trees of the Whitetail Woods. He'd hidden himself in their shadows and was now playing a game that was halfway between dodgeball and hide & seek with her. Now the snowballs could come from any direction, at any interval, without any warning whatsoever.
When she was taken by surprise, Scootaloo was rarely able to maintain her control well enough to actually catch the snowball. More often than not, she blew the incoming ball into powder. Twice, she overreacted and accidentally smashed the trunk of a tree, causing it to topple over.
"If you tense up, you restrain your own ability to act," Dawn coached from the shadows, "You know the motions and you know how it feels. Let your body do what you trained it to do."
The orange filly paused, thinking about what Dawn had said. She knew she could catch his shots. In their earlier practice, she'd even gotten to the point where she could do it without hardly thinking at all. It was just easier when she knew when and where those shots were coming from. Closing her eyes, Scootaloo took a deep breath and willed her body to relax, letting out all the tension and agitation she could feel in that breath. Her wings drooped slightly, but she kept them extended, allowing her awareness to fully expand out into the air around her. Almost immediately, her awareness registered the presence of the trees as the air flowed through and around them, curling about their trunks and branches.
There was a strangely steady movement to the air in her immediate vicinity and Scootaloo realized that it was because of Dawn. To keep the air from curling around his body, he had to smooth out the flow of air as it washed over him. The resulting current had set the air all around him into deliberate motion. Tracking the flow of air, Scootaloo found it, the point where it changed paths, as though it were flowing around something. However the motion was so smooth that she'd hardly even noticed it had been there at all. Her lips pulled back in a grin. I've found you.
True to her suspicions, she suddenly sensed a sharp change to the airflow around that spot. Some of the air flowing around the space seemed to suddenly converge onto a single point before bursting outward sharply, propelling another snowball in Scootaloo's direction. She barely even sensed it before Dawn had launched it.
Now the feeling was more familiar. She'd sensed Dawn preparing to throw the snowball, she'd known which direction it was coming from. Already, Scootaloo's wings were in motion, her body moving without her even really needing to think about it as one wing began to gather the air around her, increasing its density. She felt the movement of the snowball through the air, feeling its mass, shape, and how tightly it had been packed and was already adjusting the air-cushion that she was preparing accordingly. The projectile hit the wave of air and slowed down, coming to a stop mere inches from Scootaloo's wing. Not waiting for it to fall to the ground, Scootaloo was already in motion, moving the air that was compressed between the snowball and the surface of her wing. Driving the limb forward, Scootaloo launched the snowball outward without breaking it apart.
The snowball shot almost straight back the way it came. Scootaloo's grin became one of triumph as she felt Dawn suddenly leave his concealment, no longer bothering the keep the air flowing smoothly around him. Instead, the colt enacted a near perfect recreation of what Scootaloo had accomplished, catching the incoming snowball on a cushion of air and bringing it to a stop before his wing and then launching it back at her.
Scootaloo grinned triumphantly. Dawn was on the move, refusing to just stay in one place after he'd volleyed her shot back at her. He was also trying to smooth out the air currents around him again, but she had his number now. Rather than try to fully stop the snowball as it hurtled towards her, she instead swept it up in a current of air that she created to alter its course and send it rushing towards Dawn's new location, where the colt had stopped to make a new snowball for himself.
Her ears twitched at the sound of Dawn's surprised yelp as the snowball burst across his blank flank.
"Ha!" crowed Scootaloo as she quickly rushed towards Dawn's location, "I got you that time!"
"That you did," agreed Dawn with a smirk that made Scootaloo pause as a shiver of fear went down her spine.
Uh oh...
"You seem to be getting the hang of it," Dawn continued with a sly look at her. He spread his wings and Scootaloo was horrified to see that, instead of only one or even two snowballs, six projectiles hovered in swirling patterns over his wings as his smirk became a grin. "What say we take it up a notch?"
Scootaloo's shrill screams echoed through the forest throughout the afternoon.
Forgive me if it's a bit rough. I'm still in the process of writing, so I haven't had the chance to go back through and do some more editing. I primarily picked this excerpt because it gives a good idea of the overall tone of this story. Namely, it's mostly about Dawn getting the chance to have some good-natured fun as he spends his first winter in Ponyville.
And so, there you have it. I really am working on this story. It's taking a bit longer than I'd like. But, as always, I'd much prefer to have it finished before I start posting because I think you all would much prefer to get the chapters in a timely manner, rather than getting one and having to wait who knows how long until I have the next one ready. I hope this helps at least a little.
Its cool, I say take the time to make a good story
Is THAT without editing? You really have improved writing in a year...
Great excerpt, you have successively showed that the book is worth waiting, even if it will be a long hiatus. Heheh, piece of winterfiction is, well, cool, to read during summer.
By the way, it's better to post the entire story at once then by chapter not only because it's just better to read so, but you'll be able to edit previous chapters if you need, the story will go smoother.
I agree. I would personally prefer a well-thought out story than some quick, blow-through novella. Part of what hooked me so deep into this series is that the story has a depth to it that strikes me as almost professional. This story rivals some of my favorite books. Please don't change. Heh.
Please take your time... You cannot rush a good story.... Your stories are what I look forward to on this site.... I do compare your stories to that of professional authors and you beat a lot of them... Can't wait for the next story!
Take your time. We will be waiting patiently.
It took me several days, but I've read the whole series! It wasn't easy, as each story took almost a full day to get through. Now, though, I've finally caught up.
I don't suppose at any point, you plan on integrating those two missing Season 3 episodes, "Keep Calm and Flutter On" and "Magical Mystery Cure", into the story, are you? Because I can't get the possible reactions from Dawn to them out of my head. The concepts sound like a lot of fun. They struck me about halfway through story #3, but I wanted to wait and see if you went anywhere with them.
The whole "Cult Solar" thing might be a reason for releasing Discord. Since his mother is reforming him, I can't help but picture what kinds of interactions they'd have. Their personalities would almost certainly clash, which is something Discord would no doubt find delightful.
Then, there's "Magical Mystery Cure". With all that's going on, maybe it would be a bad time to put the test on her. On the other hand, perhaps it's great timing, as making her a princess would make her above --and thus off-limits to-- the nobility and any attempts to manipulate her could be considered treason. Of course, from a narrative standpoint, that might make things too easy. Where does Dawn himself fit in all this? Well, he wakes up in the morning to find that Rainbow Dash is trying to be his mother. Then, going into town, he finds his actual mother trying to be Pinkie Pie. Can you imagine the confusion?
Even if you don't want (or can't find a way) to integrate them into the story, I feel it would be tragic if such things are not at least explored in a side story or something.
im still waiting, as patiently as ever. I cant complain, cause when you post we get it in good time, and it is always so good. So so good