Chapter 08 - True, True Friends · 4:13am Feb 1st, 2016
What's this?? Two chapters in three days? What is going on?
Truth is, I've had True, True Friends pretty much done for ages, but it's been less than a month since I decided to take half the content from The Keen Sense of Urgency and move it into its own chapter called Magical Ministry Tour, which will be chapter 9. So it all turned out really well with not posting chapter 7, because if I had, I would have confused the hell out of everyone when I did rip all that content out and move it forward two days in the timeline.
So, where are we at now? This is a very special chapter, as it focuses heavily on characters and relationships. The plot moves forward nicely with Nyx going through her recovery and the deepening mystery of what happened to the missing doctor and the zebra camp. Lots of heartwarming moments here as so many of the characters have their lives further revealed.
This is also a very long chapter, at 11,600 words. Chapter nine will be long as well, at roughly 10,400. After that, I'm going to try to keep chapters shorter going forward. So now with chapter 8 posted, the full story length has risen to 76,000 words! 
This also wraps up act two of act one, if I may call it that. This is a three-act story overall, and act one itself is split into four acts of four chapters each. The first was everything from chapter one through chapter four where they were just about to head into the wilderness. In those four chapters, Nyx and her friends were dealing with more "home based" issues, and changes in and around Ponyville. Then, the mission was underway and the adventure unfolds. The new location in the bayou with its backwater settlements and terrifying mystery were revealed. This chapter wraps that all up, and by the end, you'll know that it's time to move on to a new phase of the story.
I'm very excited to be drafting new chapters again, and the overall development momentum is definitely picking up. I hope you really enjoy reading True, True Friends. 
As always, links:
Chapter 08 - True, True Friends
Complete chapter index
Public Nightmare Nyx forum (ask all your questions here)
And an up-to-date word count:
Also, for any newcomers who may wonder why these chapters aren't being published on fimfiction at this time...
That's all explained in this blog post.
These are drafts. The story is in heavy development and my hope is to draft the whole thing before I resume publishing. On this site, publishing a chapter puts a story on the front page of fimfiction and attracts lots of new fans. I don't want to frustrate more people than necessary by making them wait for the whole story to be written. The plan (hopefully) is to draft up the whole thing and then do a tour-de-force publishing marathon with a chapter being released every week until it's finished. There's simply no way to do that while so many of the story's key elements are being developed.
But I had already built a fan base when I started publishing (too early). So, what do?
I fretted over this problem for a while until I came up with the solution of the forum where existing fans can keep up with the story as it's being written. And now that I've polished up the first two-thirds of act one, I'm diving forward into the final third and fans should be seeing some new content and news coming out regularly. I'd really like to get act one written quickly before taking a break from drafting and planning out act two. Much of it is already worked out, but not its structure. Act three is actually more developed, as I have the story's climax already detailed (but not drafted).
