This story is a sequel to The Life and Times of a Winning Pony
After my aunt Nimbus died, I was feeling really down. So you can imagine that I sorta needed somepony to help pull me through. Okay, scratch that—I really needed somepony.
Luckily, that's when I met Sparkler. The two of us are the best of friends now. If only our families would quit teasing us about our non-existant romance life. She's just a friend. That's it... isn't it?
(A side story for Chengar Qordath's Winningverse. I highly suggest you go read that before diving in here. Only because the Winningverse is such an amazing story!)
Chapters (1)
Solid opening, and I'm always up for more Starkler shipping.
This looks like it's gonna be fun.
Not only is this a Winningverse story, it is also done by the author of the first story that I favourited? YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I'M GONNA READ THIS!!
Hey, Star, mind if I borrow one of your trackers? I need to follow this story.
Huzzah! More Starkler, and from you, no less!
Though this makes Fun With Changelings rather awkward now... o_O
So much yes!
I've been waiting for a story like this for awhile. Have a like and a favorite.
And so it begins another fic from Shukumei!
I don't understand why the ratio of likes to dislikes is about 5:1 :-/
I fancy myself a passable story critic, and I don't really see what prompted this...okay, maybe Star's narration is kinda...cold, emotionally, and the author gets bogged down in over explaining details, but...I've seen foalclop that was received better [1].
Does anyone have an explanation for this?
[1] then again, it was really good [2] foalclop, but still.... :-/
[2] yes, such a thing can exist
Why do the Kickers remind me of the Janissary...
I've been waiting for this story for sososososo long! Thank you thank you thank you thank you so much
I love the casual location tagging. I can see what Star isn't thinking, though, if she had only had Nimbus tagged (nothing might be different at all, to be honest, but that's not what a pony with Star's abilities would be thinking right about now).
3822727 There's a certain set of people who get all pissy about the existence of Winningverse stories.
This is not bad overall so I will follow it because I like the paring in the main story, but it really feels like you are pushing the romance too hard here and the story is suffering for it. They just met and Star is supposed to be an emotional wreck from the death, yet it seems like you start downplaying that after making a big deal of it in the opening with lines like "I wasn’t especially close to my aunt". You also have Star seeming to fall all over Sparkler with lines like "She had a beautiful laugh. I needed to make her do that more often." which seems very strange under the circumstances and makes the whole story feel a bit forced.
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I'm writing from the perspective that Star is emotionally raw at the moment and seeking comfort. Having Sparkler show her sympathy could go a long way towards her feeling a connection.
3825590 That may be your intention, but it is coming across as you shoving aside the emotional trauma and instantly falling in love which makes no sense.
For a second there I thought Life and Times of a Winning Pony had ended, sequel never seemed like such a scary word until then.
I will admit, I d'aaawed when reading this aloud. Very good.
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No, Chen's still hard at work on it. This is more of a side story but I wanted to make sure Chen's story was tagged.
Honestly, that surprises me too. Then again, if she caught the cutie pox, it probably would be that. Or possibly several of them. Maybe every illustration in the Kamare Sutra.
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I know that now, but still I think the best word is side story, instead of sequel. But that is just me. Great job on this!
Looking forward to more of this. I would love to see how their story gets woven into the winningverse.
Very nice!
Is it even possible for these two to be around each other and not be totally adorable?
Enope!
solid opening indeed almost makes me wish i waited for it to be finished urgh much have MOAR!!
Well, this promises to be adorable. I look forward to more.
Dat friendship.
And now we wait for the next chapter... Any time now.
Looks very promising. I do look forward to what you'll come up with here.
This looks promising enough. I'll keep my eyes open for more
Kinduv?
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A half-mumbled form of "Kind of"
Don't know why I just got around to this. Would be nice to see you continue it. You've got a very solid command of 1st person narrative (one I don't employ myself, but always appropriate for Winningverse stories especially, though 3rd person works as well depending on the author). It's a nice start too, seeing their relationship beginning at Nimbus's funeral at all. Glad you're not trying to skirt around that issue either, seeing as some authors might not have wanted to start off at such a grim and depressing setting. I've always gotten the feeling that Star, concerning her tracking talent, was actually a bit OCD about it when she was younger, and that might've been retriggered by Nimbus's death as a coping mechanism; you captured that nicely. She didn't really have a good excuse for it, she just wanted to make sure she knew where her loved ones or friends were after that tragedy, and seeing as she could do just that, she just kind of seems to be instinctively doing it, even with a mare she just met. Very nice.
Been awhile since you updated, but I'm hardly one to complain about that, it takes me forever to get chapters out as well and I understand how crazy RL can be sometimes. Here, have a favorite on the off chance you resume this lovely and promising story.
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Thanks. Very kind. ^^ I'm really looking forward to continuing this one but I need a lot more stability in my life before I can think about sitting down and writing again.
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I hear that. Just moved to a new apartment myself, my first one! Shame life can be so crazy sometimes, but eh, I guess it'd be less interesting if it wasn't.
Nice story, I'm looking forward to more. I completely lost it at the title, love it.
A solid start to a story so far, I like your take on Sparkler and Star. I hope this story will be continued!
Ok that was funny
That was a solid opening and it has done it's job 
I WANT MOAR SOON! 
If that is alright with you 
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Things have been rough for me lately but I'm now approaching a position where I can focus on writing again. I hope that means more of this coming soon.
So this isn't dead?
6398614 Incorrect!