Past the Endless Ocean, deep within the Sea of Ghosts, there is an island shrouded in mist.
Written as both an experiment and a tribute, directly inspired by Cold in Gardez's magnificent Lost Cities, and published with his permission. Check him out.
Cover art belongs to FoxInShadow. Check him out.
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Ah, it never honestly occurred to me to write about the changelings. Such a silly omission, too -- they're a race with such obvious potential.
Anyway, brilliant story. I hope it helps get you out of your block :)
Great story!!! It really drew me in.
I wrote a review of this story.
It can be found here.
6191444
I'm glad you like it! Its very interesting seeing feedback from the original author. I still can't believe you managed to pack so much into such short stories: the longest is just a little over 2000 words. It's an amazing feat of brevity.
To be honest, Seal of Wax and Glass wasn't as well done as I would have liked. Titanium Dragon's review points some legitimate problems. But it was still a ton of fun to write, and I'm proud of it it on it's own terms.
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I never considered it key, but the brevity of each of the individual lost cities probably helped when it came to writing. It forces a certain focus on critical details.
6191444
This only occurred to me just now, but I might have been unconsciously influenced by "The City of the End of Things," a poem by Archibald Lampman. I remember doing a report on it way back in high school. It's chilling stuff, and a fine read.
It's a bit of a long shot, but do you have any knowledge of this poem, Cold in Gardez?
6194033
I have not, but I'll do you one better. When I was younger, I was a big fan of Edgar Allen Poe, in particular one of his works, The Haunted Palace. Your Lampman poem there, and Poe's, and the various takes on the Lost Cities all seem to tap into a similar vein of a once-grand world brought to ruin.
Very awesome and imaginitive, although I feel like by making a hypothetical 'you' you introduce a protagonist, and the original Lost Cities didn't have any characters at all, if I remember correctly. Still, very well done, and the last few lines were very intriguing.
EDIT: I'm also a bit disappointed that you told us about Queen Chrysalis and made it clear that these were Changelings, just because it leaves a little less room for interpretation.
While overall, I like the piece, I have to concur with others that the tonal shift half-way through is a bit detrimental. That aside, it's a pretty good stab at the idea, enough that I was able to quiet my natural engineering nit-pickyness that was screaming about distances and physics...!
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6207966
Quite true, quite true. Titanium Dragon's review addresses the same issue. I myself consider this story a lovely failure: It cleaves too far from the original, but some people will enjoy it on its own merits.
I'm very curious to know people's theories about the meaning of the ending. I'm starting to worry I didn't leave the right hints... just to be clear, the Api are not changelings.
It seemed clear to me, although I may have read your hints wrong.
The Propolis queen hatched Chrysalis, and the protagonist (you) is a part-changeling descendant of hers.
This was good.
Why in the hell has this not received more attention!? For shame, fellow bronies and pegasisters, for shame.
6492339
It's a fact of life that the writers who get noticed aren't the ones who are the best at writing. It's the ones who are the best at getting noticed.
I'm not being bitter or sarcastic or anything: promoting your work is a skill like any other, and I have been fairly incommunicado lately.
6494871 You have a point. I just feel as if this story should get more attention, that's all.
I wonder why Celestia would wish to forbid the queen from creating a changeling... given that Celestia would have no idea ahead of time what one would be capable of... unless she... BROKE THE LAWS OF TIME!!
Eh, the Capaldi Doctor pretty much broke everything anyway. I guess it's all ok now... after 50 years of continuity where it was indicated REALLY BAD THINGS HAPPEN when you break those laws... MOFFATT IS A HACK-FRAUD!!
I found the imagery to be a little overdone, in the sense that I was having difficulty imagining it.
I'm also somewhat confused by the ending. That is, if there's some greater meaning to it. It looks like the Api are the progenitors of the changelings, but I'm worried that I'm not reading into it deeply enough or I'm misunderstanding your clues.
I think this is the best of the Lost Cities spinoffs, both as a story and as a spinoff, in how it takes Lost Cities as a starting point and then does its own thing with it. The last few lines were properly chilling!