One Year Down the Road · 12:52am Nov 23rd, 2014
He said with less enthusiasm than he had intended. I really wanted to put up this chapter today. I really wanted to. I thought it would be great to post Sunset’s backstory on the anniversary of the story as a whole. Poetic irony or something like that.
I failed.
I was about halfway through when I realized that, it just wasn’t working. It didn’t make enough sense with what I had set up and what I had wanted to do. So, I had to scrap it and start over.
I’m honestly bummed out. Still, today is happy day! Long Road to Friendship is one year old! Woooooooooohoooooo!
I’ve said before that it’s been a wild ride with this story. There’s been ups, there’s been downs, and there was a time where I hated it. This story has really tested my patience. Am I completely happy with every choice I’ve made? No. But, I’ve learned lessons from each mistake and that’s all I can ask for. I love this story now. In my opinion, I still think Sunset of Time is my best piece of work, but I immensely enjoy writing LRtF whenever I can.
And a lot of that reason is thanks to you guys. Your comments are my lifeblood. I look forward to them the most out of anything else. Of course, I’m not going to lie, I like seeing when someone has added it to their library or the like counter ticking up higher and higher, but seeing I have forty comments to read through makes me squeee a little every time.
So first, thank you to everyone! You get a thank you, you get a thank you, everyone gets a thank you! The story wouldn’t be as good without you guys. So once again, as your captain, I want to say thank you for sailing the S.S Sunlight.
Whether you wanted to or not.
In place of the lost chapter. (sobbing internally) I want to share with you just some Long Road to Friendship Fun Facts. Little things about and behind the story that I might not get to address within the story itself. Maybe you’ll find it interesting, maybe not. It’s all I can give right now. Well, that and Sunset pics at the bottom. Best pony is best pony/human.
Fun Fact #1: Sunset Shimmer is best pony/human. Yes, this fact.
#2: Sunset does not understand most pop culture jokes, something I want to utilize later on.
#3: One of the reasons that the Other Sunset Shimmer hasn’t shown up yet is because I really don’t know what happened to her yet. I have ideas, but nothing is finalized.
#4: I write all my chapters to the Blazblue OST. I don’t know what that has to do with anything.
#5: I actually hadn’t intended for Doll Twilight to last longer than chapter 8, but when I had Sunset and her nightmares, I wanted to give her someone to talk to and I thought ‘externalized conscience.’ That, and you all seemed to like her.
#6: Originally, Rainbow was going to challenge Sunset to a race.Sunset would accidentally trip Rainbow who would think it was on purpose and they would fight from there. I liked how the final version much better.
#7: Cadence was actually the owner of a popular tea shop in my first draft. She would be known for giving out love fortunes that were highly accurate. I forgot how the idea of DJ got into my head, but I ran with it.
#8: Rarity is actually quite wealthy, enough so that her parents help her pay rent for her shop.
#9: Sunset hates spiders. Not so much as arachnophobia, she just really hates them.
#10: Sunset actually keeps a list of things she hates. Right now Princess Twilight and Flash are at the top.
#11: Sunset only eats meat when she’s really hungry and there’s nothing else to choose from.
#12: The Lulamoon’s were originally not intended to have as large of a role as I have now given them. Many upcoming scenarios were going to go to Rarity. to cement her as Sunset’s best friend. I’ve changed a few things around.
#13: Artemis Lulamoon has a very interesting history. He was actually going to be a primary antagonist in another story of mine. In it, he had subjected himself to the will of a dark force in exchange for the powers to resurrect his deceased wife whom he loved passionately. He was a playwright instead of a magician and usually wrote tragedies and spoke in depressing sonnets. He and Trixie hated each other.
When I realized I probably wouldn’t get to use him in that story, I revamped him to fit Long Road to Friendship and became quite fond of his new personality.
#14: Octavia, briefly mentioned in ch.13, was the school president the year before. The new school president is Lyra.
#15: Twilight has actually skipped a grade and is the youngest of the Spectacular Seven. Her birthday is December 24th.
Sunset’s is June 21st, the median of the Summer Solstice days.
Pinkie’s is February 29th.
Fluttershy’s is April 22nd. (Hmm, guess she isn’t a year older than Pinkie here.)
Applejack’s is September 1st.
Rarity’s is April 30th.
Rainbow’s is July 4th.
#16: Sunset secretly has a soft for rock ‘n roll.
#17: Chapter 17 was my favorite to write and my favorite to read.
#18: Anything I don't resolve in this story will be resolved in the sequel. Yes, one day, I'll be writing a sequel to this.
Well, I’m out of stuff to say. Anything beyond this would be spoilers. So, thanks again for being awesome and sticking with me for a whole year!
In other news, I'll be starting a new story soon! Once again, it will be featuring Sunset as the primary character as well as an unexpected second. Currently named: Firebird Dahlia, hopefully it'll be up next month along with the murder mystery story that is taking me forever to write: Childish Killer.
In the meantime, here's some Sunset art:
Here's to another good year.
I love you.
Yes but the real question is does sunset 420 blaze it
Don't sweat missing your big anniversary due to scrappage. Sometimes writing just goes that way.
Anyway PARTY!!
To another year
A literary toast to this year, and an even better next one!
You forgot one fact: This is one of (if not the) best sunset shimmer fics on the entire site.
Happy Fic birthday.
Now a party seems like the most logical next step.
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Yay!
A toast to a year-old fanfic! It is indeed a great feeling to realize what a huge part of your life it's become. I loved the facts here, so much goes into the writing that readers don't know about and it's cool to see behind-the-scenes stuff. And really looking forward to a sequel.
I dunno about Sunset being #1, but she's definitely in the top five.
legendariummedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/1407163179133.png
I have an idea but it probably wouldn't work in this context
Will this come into play/will we find out why?
Go ooooon....
I proudly support SunLight, even before I realized yours was a fic that shipped it. Here's to one of the best ponies and best ships!
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(Suggestive) derpicdn.net/img/2014/9/10/719400/large.jpeg
I always have trouble picking favorites, but I think I can safely say that Long Road to Friendship is my favorite fic on the entire site. So, I certainly look forward to any future chapter.
Now I imagine Sunset as Captain America from Avengers. And I see that I'm not the only one 2610983
I do too! >_< Not so much "Eeeeek!" with me as much as it's "SPIDER!! I'MA KILL YOU DEAD UNTIL YOU DIE TO DEATH!!"
2611011
You say you don't know what happened to actual-human Sunset, but we both know that you're pretty profound with those precognitive powers you possess. Whatever you come up with will likely become semi-canon, just like the slumber party at Pinkie's, just like the red-skinned, leathery-winged, fang-bearing vesper-sunset that appeared in Equestria Girls. You have strange magic, man.
2610870 https://33.media.tumblr.com/8ff0fe58a58a4ec6b905cd140c106dac/tumblr_myhrq8N6KG1t228d8o1_r1_400.gif
HECK YEAH!! A SEQUEL?! Sweet! I'm with ya till the end (always have actually. Lol!). To a great year mate!
i.imgur.com/o4GUaNa.gif
Didn't realize I was going to be a passenger on this ship when we set sail, but you've done such a good job of writing and developing this relationship that I don't mind being trapped here.
That's a lot of nice facts to know, and the Blazeblue soundtrack is awesome so that probably helped invigorate your story writing process!
And finally thank you for continuously sharing this lovely piece with the rest of us and congratulations!
Mudda. Fukkin. GUNDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMS.
I'm such a bloody nerd....
Congrats to a year !mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw2138-PARTY_HARD.gif
Congrats on one year!
2611152
Wait he predicted demon Sunset, down to general apperance?
No wai.
It has been a good year. Thanks for the trivia and the story it goes with. Here's to more compelled friendship.
I dunno what to say other than hooray. So, hooray.
2611486 In his awesome story Sunset of Time, somewhere in the middle of Chapter XVIII, he describes a Sunset that is pretty close to the demon one from Equestria Girls. Now I will say that chapter came out recently, but I believe he probably already had that look in his head from the beginning. It's really very heavy handed guesswork and it's not as though I'm privy to his deepest thoughts, but honestly he's done some good predicting before in regards to Sunny. Either way, it's a great story and you ought to read it my friend.
p.s. Your profile picture just happens to be my background! Sunset for life!
Congrats!.
Honestly, the first thing I do when I log in here is to check if tLRtF has been updated. Best feeling ever when you see that new unread chapter :D
It's been an awesome year, and here's to an even better one!
Pinkie's birthday is on leap-day. Why does this make so much sense?
2610949 I had a giggle.
2610983 Where did you get that picture of Sunset looking like a badass?
2612383 This artist has done a lot of badassness.
https://derpibooru.org/tags/artist-colon-maxwindy
YAY! Congrats to a year of LRtF!!! *breaks out confetti* Here, have a crown!
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AND a cute pic of Twilight, Trixie, and Sunset.
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Hey! Is it too late to party like it was yesterday?
If it helps, when it came out this story quickly became one of my favourite still updating stories on the site. One year later, this is still the case.
This is one of the stories I have made sure to keep up with even when I have very few chances to get to a computer. I'm glad to get a extra info dump like this, probably something I'll jump back to if I ever see something I want to analyze into and guess on what's to come.
This post did alleviate one of my fears: that the next chapter would skip the backstory and go straight to the "So that's my story." "Oh, I'm so sorry..." While I wouldn't be opposed to you making an entirely new origin, I am hoping you will be using and expanding on the canon The Fall of Sunset Shimmer comic.
Do want to go a bit off the rails, though, to ask you on something regarding that comic. When I read it originally, I viewed Sunset's looking in the mirror and seeing the shadowy alicorn reflection as showing her the path being Celestia's student would lead to. After Rainbow Rocks (but not because of it), I began to reconsider that assumption. Someone she would meet (Twilight or other)? Predicting Celestia's anger at her obsession with the mirror? Or what if it was predicting Sunset would become an alicorn herself through her own trials (though it wouldn't make much of a difference except if Equestrian magic came into play again "Wait, since when did I have wings...?!"). I don't have any solid answers, it's all speculation, but I want to hear what you think it was, whether it makes it into the story or not.
Extremely looking forward to what is to come.
2626868 My own theory was that Sunset saw a glimpse of the other world or something of that nature. Hopefully I'll explain that soon.