Touching the sky is getting a complete rewrite + rewrite preview · 8:25am Jun 18th, 2016
I hesisted to make this decision because well, people do seem to like it.
I already wrote this on my the Lineup thingy on my main page, but I doubt people read that as often as they these blog posts, so here goes:
One day I sat down, read it and just simply didn't like it. Can't put my finger on it, i'd say the whole thing. I'm convinced I can do much, much better than that. Only characters that will be named in the story will be Blueberry Wine, Helmut and (to some extent) the character who shares his story; others will only be mentioned in passing and not named proper. The rest will be cut.
A greater emphasis will be placed on tragedy and romance and you're hearing this from a guy that avoided including romance in his stories like the plague.
This is all just my opinion, but can you blame me after all the shipfics, straight-up hatred for OCs simply because of color (red and black, anyone? Not even the justification of 'because I simply wanted him/her to be that colour' was enough. People had to try very, very hard to keep their stories from being hated into oblivion because the colour of their OCs was considered 'agressive.') and various fanonized couples with no actual basis in the show? There was a time when Octavia and Vinyl Scratch simply were a couple/roommates/friends/lovers/whatever because opposites attract, even when the characters never met, as far as my memory of S1 to S3 goes. They can't be, by common sense, rivals either, because each of them play songs from a completely different genre (classical and whatever Vinyl's playing) and to use a gaming allegory, that would be like comparing first-person shooters with platformers – you can't, the only thing they have in common is that they're both games and the only thing those two mares have in common is that they're both musicians. That's the end of my rant. Thank you for reading.
And now, for a short preview of how the rewrite is going to be. WIP, some things may change, but at the time being, this is how I want it to be like:
"I won't lie. I've been on the run for what seemed like an eternity. Fifty, sixty, seventy years; I've lost count. I can't stay in one place for longer than a day, for everywhere I go, they somehow always know that I'm there. I can't change what I aim, no matter how hard I try, no matter how many layers of clothes I wear, how well I hide my face or how much I try to just give up and pretend that I never belonged in any civilization on this putrid rock of a world and just run with the wolves, or bears, or even tigers.
But not even they want me – even they know that I'm cursed and everywhere I go, tragedy follows.
Yet you persisted, despite the risks. You sought me out, offered protection, shelter. You didn't shoot me, impale me with a pitchfork or even called me a monster and threatened to destroy me.
Why?"
Blueberry Wine almost choked on her breakfast. She didn't expect the monologue, much less the question that followed. Her guest's timing couldn't be more awkward. Just what would one pony have to do to not feel safe anywhere on the world and view life as nothing more than just struggle after struggle?
She, on the other hand believed in something much more simple and much less fatalistic. Money equalled power. It was simply how the world worked. Equines would say that other virtues mean much, much more in the long run and that being rich is not important, but it is. You can attempt to exist without it, but even the least materialistic, good samaritan simple can't simply continue to exist on just prayers, good luck, wits and eat stubborness for breakfast.
"I am curious," Blueberry finally answered her question. "I've seen ponies raised in good families and good neighborhoods turn into homicidal killing machines. What makes you the monster?" The guest's hooves shakily started to reach for her hood, the same hood that saved her life on countless occassions by concealing her identity. She hesitated and was overcome with anxiety that made her hooves shake even more. All of this fear was for a good reason; she had gotten this far to being in contact with at least someone three times now and each time, when they saw what she was truly like, they took a part of her with them and when she fled, horrified, she was back where she began – on the run.
That's the tone I'm aiming for and the one I originally wanted the story to have. As years went on, my stories went gradually darker for a reason; I got older, less idealistic and more realistic. The world isn't just sunshine and rainbows. It's not just black and white; there's a lot of gray areas.
