This story is a sequel to Alternate Beginnings: Year Six
The highly anticipated One Thousandth Summer Sun Celebration will take place in Ponyville, the nine hundred and ninety ninth anniversary of the first year of Princess Celestia's solo rule of Equestria. Much must be done before it can happen, especially with how busy and crowded the farm can get.
Reading of previous books is not required, though some events from earlier years may be referenced.
Set approximately one year before the events of MlP:FiM
Sex tag is for relationships between human and ponies (no clop).
Previous Year:
Alternate Beginnings: Year Six
Continued in:
Continuity Disrupted
Chapters (21)
And so begins the final year, before everything goes down. I wonder what will be in store for them this year, besides book horse moving in? I wonder if any will consider having another foal this year?
…….hmmm will this continue after this ? maybe a series called......hmmm "alterations" or maybe" continuations" as a title
'
You know I wasn't expecting much coming into this series but here I am 7 years in.
Sure there are a few flaws but once I got into the stories they just sucked me in and I can't wait to see what happens to them next.
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I myself am a fan of Continuity Disrupted, but we'll see.
so far a better start then year 6's ending but thats just personal taste
Argh!!! I forgot that there's a whole additional year before Nightmare Moon...
After the Epilogue of year 6 I thought we were going to go into the show start time, and I won't lie I felt a bit frustrated we had a whole other year before getting there...
Maybe this is the year where the dominoes make larger changes? Not that the AU isn't large, but you've kept a lot of the show characters superficially close to how they show up in the show...
I would love to see Zecora accepted earlier or something like that. Maybe Blueblood ends up meeting Daring Do, who calls him out immediately (therefore passing his self destructive test without realizing it) and he ends up trying to follow her around?
That would be... awesome!
I think I know what will be near the top of the shopping list the next time they go shopping. So I wonder how building a new home is going to go as it will take a bit as they will be mostly doing it themselves?
Doug I'm so sorry for giving you a hard time but last night I worked it out after reading chapter 1 of year 7 and I realise that it was a nightmare not real so sorry for telling you off I still love the books especially with you going all alpha on dash and rarity just by snapping your fingers and threatening to get up. I also laughed when rarity winked and blew a kiss at applejack yours sincerely GSF.
Wow just wow.
Celestia's commentary on Nightmare Moon is awesome! I'm guessing she does NOT ascribe to the Nightmare =/= Luna camp?
With a popular Strategy game about it, I suppose more ponies know and accept Nightmare Moon/Luna as a historical figure that exists rather than a boogie an?
About time!
Oh wow, she beat her elder sisters in gaining her Cutie Mark. That is going to make it hard on them as all their siblings could be gaining them before them. Still a great chapter and I can't wait for her party.
Also why is this chapter before the previous one when it happens after that one?
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Whoops! Mixed up my chapter order. Fixed.
Wellgood luck not giving your parents a heart attack future Engineer/Demolition expert.
Well now we can guess what sets off Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to bully the CMC. Still it makes when the gain their Cutie Marks all the better.
Boooo... why does everything need to line up to minimize the changes brought on by Doug?
This is the one major thing I actively dislike from this series. he's been here 7 years, the dominoes should have made larger changes than they have, and getting all those things to end up where they would have in canon forces you to pretzel the plot unbelievably in parts (my major one was the whole 'Sis' / 'Mom' thing).
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Self imposed challenge mostly. Would it be better / more interesting if I went off the rails? Probably, but that'll be the next series.
The mom/sis thing is my least favorite (most contrived) one as well; still trying to come up with a more elegant solution to it and failing :( Except for maybe the intro.
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You can still have it be close to canon with them calling each other by name, which I've seen some families do... the sis thing just jars me out.
It's fine to try to keep it near canon start if that's your goal but being that close and contrived basically gives the reader the message 'nothing that happens in the 7 years of his time here is meaningful, we end up right smack dab where we started'.
By minimizing the AU impact youre saying there is no need to read years 1-7 to pick up the sequel that starts with Nightmare Moon, and any AU element is minor enough that it hasn't butterflied the plot in the 7 YEARS of the OC protagonist living and impacting the mane 5.
So I could ignore all of year 7 (heck even years 1-6) and miss almost nothing as the plot starting point will be mainly in the same place once you begin year 8, with the minor changes that I could chalk up to the equivalent of how some writers (with much less talent than you) just retcon their stuff into the past.
If you focus on just keeping the Major elements similar then I guess it wouldn't be such a peeve, but you've tried to tie all the minor items back so no progress or change occurs. The adventure with Zecora changes nothing for how the ponies view her (for good OR bad). She is going through similar straits as Doug in trying to get headway into the pony community, it's an interesting parallel that just wasn't explored enough (yet).
Another one I loved was how you changed Sunset Shimmer's motives. Having this imperfect character with self destructive flaws at least trying to do what they saw as the right thing adds a nice level of complexity there, but at the last moment in the part where she flees, I felt your portrayal was a bit off right at the end as you forced her back into that 'grr revenge' mode, whereas you could have left it where she ran away in desperation.
Later on, the harsh living on the human world could have twisted her off screen. She could even do human (or theoretical) experimentation trying to vindicate herself while exiled, looking into medicine and combining science and magical theory? and that fuels her need for the crown ("I need to test my theories before I return to Equestria!")
Sorry for coming down on you harshly, but the quality of your writing is pretty good, and the twists that you bring in are really interesting that it just frustrates me when you undo all your own work. I think you could do away with keeping to canon for the plot lines that weren't core to MLP (i.e.- Zecora, Maud, Sunset, Gilda, Fluttershy's brother, etc) and it would be better than fine.
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Yup, and unfortunately a lot of that stems from starting the characters off too close to their canon counterparts. Sometimes even with a minor character like Zecora; I was going for a 'this is why the ponies don't like her' but with the line of she's been doing this for years it gets lost. I go back and forth about redoing the entirety of book one, and maybe the rest of the series, in order to have a more plausible beginning and to set the mane characters up in such a way to have that personal growth. But that's a really ambitious project that I would leave for much later, if ever.
A spinoff of Sunset starting in :EG and trying to manipulate magic and healing does sound like a lot of fun, and really gets my inner Spike going. (The power gamer, not the dragon.)
I think Applejack will regret the pear related joke in a few years when she meets her other grandparent. I kinda want to see how her reaction to that revelation.
So this is how Pinkie got Gummy and how he earned his name.
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It's been a long time since I watched that movie, but it does ring a bell now that you said it. Either that or Dirty Harry, but I don't think I've watched that movie. Just random quotes kinda thing.
Wow has this year been flying. This has been one of the faster progressing ones I think.
It does serve Rarity right. Let's see her walk around town for a few days with her coat stained. Still good way to deduce who the culprit was.
Don't worry kids you will be getting a cool librarian in under 7 months! I wonder how Twilight would react to learning about Earth?
So I'm still confused a bit, it's nearing the end of year 999, but then the sun celebration happens in the middle of year 1000? Or near the start? I feel I need a diagram :/
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Yup! Summer Sun celebration happens in the middle of summer, the eve of which is June 30th of whatever year. Winter Moon celebration (does it have a name? I don't know if I called it anything or if the show ever does) would be the longest night of the year. As such, it's also when the 'day' starts to get longer, hence the start of the new year. So another six months before the end! Or the start, depending on your point of view.
I wonder what the next six months are going to bring for everyone? They have little time before the big event.
Two quick edits I found are needed. Otherwise it makes Applebaum sound like her biological sister instead of her daughter.
Well it sounds like another year with no kids for them. I wonder how many they will try for next spring?
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Whoops! Thought I had referenced Big Mac or Granny Smith earlier, but I hadn't. Edited to reflect that; thanks!
I was wondering if that misunderstanding would get addressed on screen. I like how they also showed their daughter how a healthy couple can have an argument and come to an agreeable conclusion.
Is it just me, or you put the year wrong?
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Whoops! Edited, thanks.
Ok on a re read of the previous stories epilogues it feels like there is a difference between how the foals are presented and how they appear there. Applebaum being the biggest difference. It feels odd as we know she has her Cutie Mark and how she acts and they just don't quite mesh. Perhaps a quick edit to the previous chapters so she feels more likely n line.
Honestly I think a lump sum chapter of the last books would be a nice refresher for your readers. Just copy and re paste them and carry onward.
That was good for Doug to do. Now I wonder how the rest of the heard go from here?
Thank goodness! And now the story begins anew... I wonder what will happen with Twilight? Or is this the end of the story? What is next?
Nnnnoooooope
That doesn't happen that fast for something that harsh... just doesn't and shouldn't...
Specially with that lackluster explanation from Luna
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The next part of the series is currently on the backburner, until I can figure out how I want to start and where I want to go with the story. It would follow the timeline of the show, but diverge considerably from canon. I'll be coming out with a side story before that comes out, hopefully at some point soon, focusing on Prince Blueblood. Specifically, the story from the start of Book Six.
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I know :/ but Princess Luna, after Nightmare Moon is defeated, gives even less of an apology to Princess Celestia. Is it because all of the terrible things she did are so far in the past, and all the affected ponies are long dead (besides Celestia, of course)? Did she not really do anything that terrible, aside from refusing to lower the moon, and then nearly killing Celestia? I agree the ponies are very quick to forgive, and maybe that's rubbed off on Doug in the seven years he's been there.
Or he's seen Saw III, and knows how that movie ends.
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Well he could have even gone as far as say he would forgive her but needed time or something. I see a lot of PTSD in his future
And it is different... I mean Celestia locked her for 1000 years... they hurt each other deeply back and forth... that kind of makes it a balance (and we don't know how they patch up off screen) but this was visceral and to someone that was basically a bystander! Don't g had done nothing to Luna and she tortured him with the Nightmare that she killed his foals. He was forced to give himself a blood transfusion just to keep on going from the wounds and stuff!
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Woah. While not entirely too far form how it might go or not I am still Loving the characterization put forward here.
So take your time I guess but I do like what I have seen for the most part.
An honest critique of prior books? First one way to fast but you fixed that in spades.
Second some of your overly action ori need scenes (Daring Do's) were a bit more to follow than comfortable.
The rest seemed pretty good. A+ even.
So take your time and try your best ok?
Also your question to me yesterday I think or the day prior to that about research. I read a response about you doing research for the story but not knowing what you meant at the timr of the first post I can't quite nail it down.
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Thanks for the support! Glad you stuck it out, and I enjoyed the comments.
Did you feel like the action scenes were too fast paced, or not enough detail? What made them less exciting?
And this.
One reason Why i tell myself never give in or
Become weak.
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A very good ideal to strive for, agreed. Giving in rarely helps, considering the long run.
The previous chapter after this one; plus this chapter couldn't just stick with the age limit? Very uncomfortable with this two chapters.
So you still killed them off any way?
You fooled me? How dare you.
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*best indian accent* What a twist!
Glad you stuck through it; I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Even the parts that might have been more, how shall I say, uncomfortable.
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I did. Great story you writen, but. . . . . . . . . .
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.
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You stilled fooled me