It has been five years! Where the heck did you come from?!

Welcome back. An outlet for feelings can be a great help

Welcome back and sorry to hear about your friend and the violent divorce, I hope you are at a better head space now for that stuff can really mess with you

Welcome back and my condolences

I juat realised, is Halt a Rangers Apprentice reference?

great chapter

11340535 Eh, somewhere over the rainbow?

Jokes aside just wanted some sort of outlet after everything that's happened, I guess.

11340739 Most of the story is actually a kind-of sort-of Ranger's Apprentice crossover. Just... with my own flare on things, seeing as the only thing that's really a cross over part of the story is Rangers and Halt.

Welcome back!

HOLLY UNDEAD ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE BATMARE!
Welcome Back!

It's great to see you back, and while what happened to you obviously sucks, it's good that you're moving forward and putting your energy into something positive. It's far too easy for people to fall into destructive habits like alcoholism after this kind of shit, so I'm glad to hear you're not letting it consume you. Just keep pushing forward and make sure you're working to improve yourself so you mature into someone Ann would be proud of.

As for the chapter itself, there's not a whole lot to say since it's mostly the girls digesting their new living arrangements, but it's solid and does a good job highlighting the differences in their personalities stemming from the AU which is as much as you could ask for here.

11341171 Yeah, this chapter was kind of fun to finally finish up because I got to showcase a little more that this isn't the Equestria portrayed in the show, and as a result the characters are a little different. The main themes of each pony is still there, but being born into an Equestria that's no stranger to combat and even strife means that the characters are going to be used to stuff like battle. I feel like its a fairly fine line to traverse, because obviously I don't want to have the characters appear massively out of character, but at the same time this is still an alternate universe. So far I feel like I've done a pretty decent job walking this bit of a tight rope.

I don't usually drink, so me falling to alcoholism is nearly impossible. I hate the burning feeling as alcohol goes down my throat, so my occasional drinks are limited to no more than 5% stuff anyway. Its still been fairly hard, though I am still trucking along. My head is constantly full of, "What if" thoughts. What if I had been a better friend? What if I had been there more and kept her from doing something stupid? (I'm assuming from the little bit of info I managed to pry from her sister Amber that Ann had been drinking while driving, but since Amber refuses to outright tell me how it happened I only have guesses). My mind knows there's nothing to be gained from playing these sorts of what if scenarios, but my heart often doesn't communicate with my brain. Writing seems to be my outlet since I don't drink, so I guess I'll ride it for as long as it sticks around.

Welcome back :)

11341205
Yeah, you've done a solid job walking that tightrope so far. The only one I'm a little unsure of is Fluttershy because canon Fluttershy is totally unsuited to any kind of combat or direct support role, but you seem to be directing her into a hospital which is far enough behind the lines to work within the context of this world.

As for the personal stuff, the most important thing is to remember that she was her own person and responsible for her own decisions. If this really was drunk driving like you suspect, she made the decision not to arrange another ride because I infer she could have called you or her sister for a pickup, but chose not to. I obviously didn't know her, but the unfortunate truth is that drunk driving is almost always a pattern so, assuming your suspicions are correct, it's highly likely she's driven drunk before and would have continued to do so after this if the accident(?) hadn't happened, meaning anything you could have done would probably just have amounted to delaying the inevitable. Yes, it sucks, but it was her choices that lead to this, not yours, and the only thing you can do is try to improve yourself so you do better in the future.

Ultimately, the most important thing for you to do is go to therapy. Between the divorce and death you certainly have some issues to work out, and in another of those unfortunate links, the fact that your parents got divorced makes it statistically likely they weren't great parents to begin with so you probably have some other issues as well. It's also important to realize you may be so familiar with a problem you don't realize you have it like one of my friends (who's parents were also divorced) who didn't realize he'd been abused as a child until I got enough details out of him to realize it for him (this was years ago and he's doing much better now). Thus, you really need to go to a trained therapist and be as open as possible so you can figure out what your problems really are and work to fix them. Remember, while friends, family, and religion can be a huge help, and there are tons of great self-help resources available, a professional will always be your best bet.

Also, while I brought up alcohol as a destructive coping mechanism, it's far from the only one. Keep an eye out for anything that seems to be forming a destructive spiral, and stay focused on productive outlets like writing.

Glad to see you back!

welcome back, and condolences...

11344011
I totally get what you mean about a fast metabolism. One of my friends jokes that I must have a micro blackhole for a stomach because she has literally watched me down enough food for 3 people and still remain a little on the thin side.

You have my sympathies for your loss.

Enjoyed the chapter. Looking forward to more.

I'm not a man of many words. So welcome back, and my condolences for your loss.

11340844
Yeah, rereading it the parallels are obvious. Not sure if I just didn't read the authors notea previously or just forgot over the 5 years.

Welcome back. I remember reading this story about a year ago or so and was kinda bummed that it'd appeared to have been forgotten. Glad to see you haven't. Though I'm happy to see you've added to this story, I'm sorry to learn of your friend's passing. You have my sincere condolences. One of my best friends died almost 2 years ago suddenly, so I feel your pain.

11347008 To be honest I wasn't too sure if I was ever going to finish this story, even before Ann passed. Even after I finished up 14, I kept my mouse hovered over the Publish button for a fair amount of time, debating on whether or not anyone would even read it. Especially after FiM seems to have ended (I've still got to eventually catch up on all the Seasons, I think I stopped around the start of Season 4) and the traffic on the site seems to be slowing down a bit.

In the end though I decided that if there was even one person who read 14 and still wanted more, I owed it to them to at least attempt to finish Valkyrie, even if I never got around to the sequel cross-over I've wanted to do with it since I started writing it. I will admit I wasn't expecting this level of reception, however. Lots of familiar names in my comments section, and even plenty of new favorites arriving against all my expectations. To that end, I plan to keep going, with tentative plans to release new chapters every Wednesday or Thursday seeing as those are my days off work. 15 is about... halfway done? Plan to see if I can get it done over my weekend in between playing tabletop with a group of friends.

I'm also considering resuming my work on Dented Armor, so if you're following that one too please look forward to it!

11347238
Well you can be sure of at least one reader, me.
I love this whole twist on FiM, if it had been Celestia instead of Luna who rebelled. I mean sure it takes some liberty with the whole suspension of disbelief thing, but then again MLP itself takes that very same liberty too.
I'll check out that other story too.

I’m torn… don’t wana say welcome back with what brought you back so… what to say.

Thank you for once more letting us live on your universe. Time to reread and catch up!

11353636 It's okay. I'm managing fine. It still stings, particularly because I feel like I wasn't there enough for her, but it hurts less than it did. Which is a good thing. I've got a surprising amount of readers glad I'm back, and as always Azur Lane and my rather insane collection of shipgirls (all 570-ish the game offers) also help. I'm hoping to have 15 done by the time I go back into work Friday night, as I'm off Wednesday and Thursday. Hopefully that'll be another one ready for you to read!

11347238
huzzah it lives time to re read this mofo

I wish I could say I’m glad…but I cannot. Not because I don’t like the story, as I very much do; The circumstances regarding the occurrence of the update is the reason. Late as they are, little as they mean, my condolences.

Ann Drennan, though I may not have known you…
May the Stars guide your Way, and the Warriors of Old accept you among their Ranks.

My condolences, both for the loss of your friend, and the messy divorce. Neither are ever easy. I am glad to see you writing, and I hope you found solace and comfort in the art that you so obviously have a talent for. Was wonderful to see a new chapter up, unpleasant as the circumstances for its creation are.

11347238
take as much time as ya need ... loss is hard ... if ya need someone to talk to than feel free message me
and don't worry I'll still be here eager to read more of the story when more comes

11347238
i am here for you if you want to talk i will listen

I don’t want to be rude but can I get a status update?

This story is always something I come back to because of the interesting ideas it present and gives me.

my condolences I hope you're better now. I really enjoyed the story you have written so far

Great story, when's the next update? If any.