Future plans · 12:50pm May 19th, 2016
Anticipating the ‘what’s next’ question, I decided to make a blog post explaining exactly that ahead of time. In the immediate future, I'll be posting a blog next Saturday at my regular update time. It's something fun, starring TwiShySet after Finding Home. Not a real chapter though, hence why it'll be on the blog. I'll also probably be rewriting the first couple chapters of Inner Strength because I could do much better at them now.
For more distant plans (probably a couple months from now), I’m not entirely sure. I actually have a few ideas, and I’m torn on what to pursue. Thus, I’d be like to know what everyone is most interested in. I’m not flat out putting it to a vote, but I’ll definitely take opinions into consideration. I have three ideas total, and I’ll definitely be doing two of them, though I’m not positive in which order.
The first is the story of what happened when Sunset first went through the mirror. I touched on this in Finding Home, how she came out as an approximately five year old child. This story would follow her from then until EG1 (possibly retelling some of the movie from her point of view, if I decide such a thing will be interesting and benefit the story when I get to that part).
Pros: The story I have planned is very cool, in my opinion (but I would think that). Suffice it to say the human world was unkind to Sunset, and the whole thing would be rather dark and psychological (that may not be a pro according to personal tastes, but it excites me to have the chance to write about).
It’s a fairly unique idea (I haven’t seen anyone else have that take on Sunset’s origins, anyway, although I have seen aged down stories with other characters) which is hard to come by.
As it predates any other story in the series, it would be perfect for new readers.
It allows me to introduce characters and situations important to Sunset, which I could continue in the next story. (Obviously I can’t explin exactly how without giving spoilers, but this is a pretty big pro)
Cons: It stars a character that it’s hard to feel sympathetic for. Sure, Sunset’s great now, but she was unquestionably a bitch in EG1. And she really is a bitch. Meaning light hearted moments will be few and far between, making the whole thing incredibly heavy feeling (this could be a pro depending on personal tastes; I’m interested in it, but I do get the feeling most people won’t be)
The whole thing might be too ambitious; it takes place over something like eleven or twelve years, meaning it could easily be really fucking long. I can only write so fast, so choosing to tell this story would delay moving the series forward considerably.
On that note, it’s an origin story. Those can be cool, but often feel unnecessary. We know who Sunset is, origin be damned. I’m wary of telling an entire story (particularly a long one) that’s going to be pointless in the grand scheme of the series.
The second story is the Sunshyne one. The full story of their romance, starting immediately after pony Fluttershy tells Sunset about Stormy Skies in Inner Strength, and ending as Sunset goes through the mirror moments before Finding Home.
Pros: I regret telling Finding Home before this one, because now everyone knows how this story ends (there are still some plot twists within the story, mind you). Filling in the gap now would prevent that being a problem for new readers.
Until this story is told my options for moving forward are fairly limited, since it explains details that will be relevant in for the future.
Cons: Having said that, Finding Home has been told now (or will be on Saturday) meaning that, well, people know the ending.
If I do this one next, I forgo doing the Sunset through the mirror story above. A huge part of the benefit of doing that one is to tie it in with this one, and I’m not making the same mistake I made with Finding Home; if I’m telling both, I’m telling them in order.
Third story is Finding Home’s sequel. It takes place some time after Finding Home and stars Amber Glow and Luna as the main characters. It’ll explore Amber’s experiences with dating a stallion to appease her parents.
Pros: I’ve been wanting to break away from TwiShySet for a while. They’re great and all, and will remain the central characters of the series (they’ll appear in this story as well), but I want to establish other characters as important to it as well.
More exploring of LGBTQ issues, which I enjoy doing.
See more of the effects of Inner Strength and Finding Home through the eyes of somepony who isn’t famous, thus getting the general perception of the events a bit better.
I plan on it being shorter (maybe like six or seven chapters? Idk) so it won’t be a huge delay in telling other stories.
Cons: Do people like Amber as much as I do? I don’t know, but I don’t think so.
OC stories are a hard sell, meaning fewer people reading and thus likely fewer people commenting (which is ultimately what I most care about here). This is admittedly a bigger issue for me than anyone else, though.
Telling this next means telling stories out of order again, though it shouldn’t be as bad since Sunset’s not too involved (this story won’t spoil the other two, essentially)
I’m also planning a one shot sequel to Finding Home, starring Rainbow and Pinkie.
In the meanwhile, something I’m not sure if everyone knows: Finding Home is part of a series, and I don’t just mean as a sequel to Inner Strength. So, for anyone interested in exploring more of my series, there’s the following stories (yes this is just an excuse at shameless self promotion):
By Blood or Choice: Story of Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as teenagers. Explores Rainbow’s family situation, why she left Cloudsdale, and a more in depth look at her and Fluttershy’s relationship.
Inner Strength: I think most people know about this one. Story about how Twilight and Fluttershy started dating. Tagged as the prequel story to Finding Home, so if you’ve read FH (and why else would you be here?) you are at least aware of its existence. Moving on.
Warmth in the Snow: The one I’m always surprised to see largely ignored. Takes place several months before Finding Home, and is sort of a window into Sunset and Fluttershy’s relationship. Christmas/Hearth’s Warming special. Chapters were posted on the same days they actually happened on, which is entirely irrelevant now, but I thought it was clever as fuck so I still like mentioning it.
For what it's worth, I'd be most interested in the Sunshyne and Amber stories. I really liked Warmth in the Snow, and would like to see the rest of the story. I also like Amber and Luna, and would like to see them get the spotlight, for at least a little while.
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It's ready to feel like people will only care about the main characters, so I'm glad to hear you're interested in the Amber and Luna story 
Thanks for the input
My vote is for the sequel with Amber and Luna. I want to see how that turns out! PLEEEAASSE!
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And I'm glad to hear you're interested in their story 
Thanks, I'll keep your vote in mind
I'd like to read option 2, as I love a good romance. Even it if ends badly.
Option 1 would be an interesting, but most likely hard read. Still a good lead to the first movie as to why Sunset was what she was.
Option 3 is a way to avoid options 1 and 2.
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The Amber/Luna story is the future of the series, it's just a matter of deciding if it's the immediate future. Regardless, I'm glad to hear you're interested in the other two
I'm most interested in the Amber/Luna story, they're the biggest sort of loose end from FH. Also for more "current" TwiShySet.
I'm occasionally interested in pre-EQ1 Sunset stories, but as you said, well, yeah, Sunset was a horrible character back then. There's still some room for exploration, like what Sunset and Celestia's relationship was like. Most of the blame probably goes to Sunset (ambition, power-hungry and just pretty mean), but depending on the interpretation, Celestia probably could have empathized with Sunset more or been more honest, but she's busy ruling and all. Not to mention probably being more of a mother to Sunset than her own parents.
Though given Sunset spent years as a child in the human world in your story, that probably really messed with her mind. Even just an EQ1 retelling probably wouldn't be too pleasant, considering how nasty a character she is at the time, not to mention the magic friendship rainbow laser "fixing" her raging she-demon self and personality, although that's another of the weaker parts of EQ's plot. Sunset raging about being replaced by Twilight can only go so long.
Though I still remember her dance pictures from EQ1- she starts out smiling mostly nicely, then gets arrogant, and by the most recent picture is basically "mwa-ha-ha". But then post-EQ1, pre-RR redemption Sunset is a more popular setting too.
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While neither of them are guilt free, the story wouldn't really be about them too much. I'm sure Celestia would come up quite a bit, but she would only appear in the first chapter (unless I did flashbacks). It's more about how being a child messed with her mind, and affected the person she began became. In this story, she would start off being arrogant and self centered, but nowhere near as bad as she is in EQ1, and she'd grow into being that horrible along the way. Therein lies the potential problem with telling the story; there's character development, but the character in question slips further from righteousness.
Post EQ1 pre-RR is definitely not a time period I feel like touching at all. Any story could think to tell there is already covered by someone else, and I'm not so interested in repeating what others have done.
Thanks for the opinions, I'll keep them in mind
I like 2 or 3. But i need to finish the story lol
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Lol probably a good idea
But all the same, thanks for giving an opinion
Decisions, decisions....I guess I'll start off by just outright saying which one I would prefer to see first (and I'd honestly like to see all of them at some point), and that would be the sequel (sidequel?) featuring Amber and Luna. It's at least in part because - at least based on your description - that story is a continuation and/or expansion of current events in the series, and I usually like to see the main story finish (or at least tie up some loose ends) before backtracking to prequels. It's like...if I start reading the Lord of the Rings series with Fellowship and get all the way through Two Towers, my next move isn't generally going to be to drop the current story and go read The Hobbit Even if I end up loving The Hobbit, it's still more satisfying to see an end to the thing I'm already reading than just expand on what happened before.
Also, while Amber isn't my favorite character in the series (that kind of...you know...goes to the canon characters that I came to read about), as far as OCs go I actually liked her more than I usually do. Normally I wouldn't suggest making an OC-centric story, but in this case there's a certain advantage to it from having introduced her as a side/supporting character in a canon-focused story. By doing that, you allowed the audience to get to know her without feeling like she was being shoved in our faces, and as a result she doesn't have that Mary Sue feeling to her. To me, that makes it easier to get behind seeing a story that expands on her character. It's kind of like some of the side characters on the show - we didn't see so much that it feels like they're shoehorned into the story we were there to see, but did see enough to make the character interesting and sympathetic. It might not get quite as much attention, but as long as you don't just completely toss the canon characters aside to focus solely on Amber I'm pretty sure that you'd still have people interested in reading. At the very least, I'd be on board for it.
That said, while I suppose it could be considered a negative for the Sunset and SunShyne stories to already know how they end, I don't personally see that as the case. There are plenty of prequels out there that have managed to still be extremely enjoyable (at least for me) even knowing how things were going to ultimately end. It's one of those "It's the journey, not the destination" things. The Lord of the Rings, Crisis Core/Final Fantasy VII, Star Wars - I started all of them on entries that were chronologically later in the series, but still managed to get quite a bit of enjoyment (Yes, even with the Star Wars prequels, despite their many flaws) out of them even though I already knew what was going to happen to the lead characters.
Heck, I think this series has plenty of examples of how this can work. There have been plenty of fanfics focusing on the Alicorn Sisters 1,000 years before the series, on Sunset's past, on Twilight's childhood as Celestia's student, and so on and so forth. While I haven't read too many of them, I've seen several that have managed to keep the story very fun and interesting despite the disadvantage of knowing where things are when FiM starts. IDW released several comics focused on fleshing out the antagonsits' pasts, and with only a few exceptions I think a lot of the material in those prequels is among the best IDW's MLP series has produced.
So yeah, I don't really see it as a con myself. The hardest obstacle to overcome would definitely be on the Sunset origin story due to her character. It can be hard to make a story about a character falling from grace (rather than redeeming themselves) without putting an audience off. However, I think that it being a prequel actually works really well to counterbalance that. When you've already seen a villain redeemed, even if it might not be particularly pleasant to see how they went astray, when it's done well it just makes the actual redemption seem even more powerful. Plus, as much as I love Sunset in the sequels, in the first Equestria Girls she was...well, she really just wasn't much of a character to begin with. She had more to her than Flash Sentry, maybe, but for most of the film she was a pretty generic antagonist. One of my biggest problems with the movie was actually that they had a great setup for her backstory when Celestia explained who she was, but basically reduced it to a side note in favor of focusing on cliche high school antics. So it's usually pretty fun to see Sunset origin stories, even if they tend to be darker.
As for the SunShyne story? It's probably one of them that I'm most interested to see, but it's also probably the one that I'd want to see done last out of the options you've got here. I'd like to see it before any further stories specifically focusing on TwiShySet since I imagine we'll be getting more spoilers regarding their relationship in those stories, but I would prefer to see the continuation of IS/FH with Amber first, and I agree that if you're going to start doing prequels it would probably make more sense to do them in order. It's one thing to make prequels to an established series, but it's just awkward to make a prequel, and then a prequel to the prequel, and then a midquel to the prequels, and then a sidequel to the midquel, and...okay, so I might be exaggerating a teeny bit, but you know what I mean.
And, of course, I don't think it's a particularly big deal where a one-shot with Dash and Pinkie goes in all of this. Given its shorter length and lack of focus on the main characters of the series, I imagine you can fit it nicely anywhere in the order without causing any major problems. Still really looking forward to seeing it whenever you have it ready, but it's got a fair bit more leeway.
Well, I think that's about all I have to say for the moment. Whatever order you decide to go with, I have total faith that you'll manage to bring some great stories to the site, but the order that I think I'd like best would be the Amber sequel, the Sunset prequel, and then the SunShyne story.
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I've always interpreted the pictures as showing her more devious/manipulative side, to be honest. We see in the first film that she does try to play the good girl in front of the teachers. She was clearly putting on a show when she showed Luna how she "found" the gym totally wrecked. So I tend to look at the pictures less as Sunset being genuinely nice/friendly and getting more arrogant as time went on, and more her simply behaving more naturally as she gained more influence over the students and had to worry less about playing innocent. You know, being really polite, friendly, and innocent to get people to trust her, using that position to get dirt on them (or just into a position of strength), and then allowing herself to cut loose once she has a hold on everyone (excluding the teachers, of course).
Dark and/or depressing stories really aren't my thing. So that would be option two or three. Thing with the midquel story is that you already know how it's going to end, you just don't know why. And I would personally be a lot more interested in what happens with EQ Fluttershy now, if it gets resolved and if so, how. So I guess my vote goes to the sequel.
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While pressing forward with the main story is exactly what got me into this mess, I see your point. My original thought was that it didn't really matter if I go one story forward, because this whole series is something like fifteen books long anyway, and there's no way I'm waiting until I get all the way to the end to fill in gaps (ideally, if/when I actually finish this thing, I'll just be fucking done). But then while explaining that I realized you do have a solid point, I just was too close to the story to see it. Namely, the story is certainly not wrapping up in the Amber/Luna one, not even close, but that does conclude the Amber's family story arc that's already begun in Finding Home. It may well be best to finish that first, since (at least as it's planned now) the Luna/Amber one doesn't introduce any story arcs that'll be left for other fics. And I'm certainly glad to hear you're still interested in it, even though it is OC focused
My issue with people knowing the end is definitely only with the Sunshyne one. I don't mind people know the end to Through the Looking Glass, and What Sunset Found There (not the official title) because that was inevitable (how dare canon go spoilering my story) and I think that one is like you said; we all know the ending, it's goal is to explore why it went that way. For the Sunshyne one though, it's a romantic drama, not just a character growth story. It's a romantic drama, and we all know the lovers fail in the end. I dunno, perhaps it's pointless to worry about though. I mean, I'm writing it eventually anyway, and it's not like people are just gonna up and forget the ending.
I certainly hope you're right about the prequel element taking off some of the heaviness from the
AliceSunset prequel. And I would certainly be doing that before the Sunshyne one if I do it (and I'm thinking I will, even if I'm not looking forward to the amount of time it'll take to write it). I'll also probably write the Pinkiedash one shortly before the Luna/Amber (Lunamber?) one, just 'cause Pinkie and Rainbow will probably pop up in the Amber story, and currently their relationship is ambiguous. Though I agree it's much less pressing where that story falls.Did somebody say Kingdom Hearts?
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In any event, thanks for the opinion, and I'll keep it in mind 
Yeah, it's definitely my biggest regret that I didn't write the Sunshyne one before Finding Home
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Kingdom Hearts, the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, Fabula Nova Crystallis...honestly, Square Enix has been doing that with a lot of their mainstream franchises lately. I think the FFVII series is probably the worst about that kind of thing. At least most of the others are in a relatively clear chronological order (Kingdom Hearts) or can stand alone save for a few direct sequels (FNC), but the FFVII Compilation?
You've got Crisis Core starting seven years before FFVII and ending right before FFVII starts, Before Crisis starting six years before FFVII and ending during FFVII's ending, Last Order starting shortly before FFVII but spending a large portion of its runtime in a flashback to five years before FFVII, Advent Children taking place two years after FFVII, and then you have Dirge of Cerberus starting during FFVII's ending and ending a year after Advent Children/three years after FFVII. And that's not even including the novellas, which range from taking place in the time leading up to Advent Children all the way through to a year after Dirge of Cerberus.
Look, I love your games Square Enix, but what is this I don't even...you pretty much have to make a concentrated effort to make your timeline that wacky.
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Yeah, Kingdom Hearts games are all kinds of out of order (here we are waiting for Kingdom Hearts III, the eighth game) but at least there's only one game that overlaps. Plus I honestly think the series works best out of order. It's a crazy weird and often complicated story, played in a weird and sometimes complicated order.
FFVII Compilation and the sequels to XIII are actually just about the only thing Final Fantasy I haven't played, along with many of the more modern mobile spin offs. I played VII, but when the rest of the series started coming out, I wanted to replay it before playing them, since I think I was something like eleven or twelve when I beat it and my memory of what happens gas always been fuzzy. Then I never really got around to doing that
As for XIII, I never even beat the first game 
I loved most of it. Right up until the character drama ended shortly after everyone gets together, then I largely lost interest.
I do love complicated things though, so honestly you've kind of renewed my interest in Compilation. Unfortunately I don't game much these days, since it seems I can only manage one interest at a time and either game obsessively or write obsessively. And I'm hoping one of these things will someday pay some bills, so until FFXV comes out I'll stay out of gaming fit the most part
I would love to see the story revolved around what led up to Sunset going through the portal and what happened with human Fluttershy (Even if we already know the outcome, the backstory would be enlightening)
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Glad to hear at least a few people are interested in the mirror story 
Noted