The Bridge Between Worlds

by Artemis Orion

Checkpoint 1: Appendix and Information

Checkpoint 1

Heeyyyy!

So you made it to the end of part 1, or as I like to call it, Book 1. (Seriously, it has to be some sort of achievement to have surpassed the word count of a Harry Potter book!)

Anyway, what I really have to say is thank you for your time. If you took the effort to reach the end of this story and not get killed of boredom midway, I salute you! I never expected to get more than 10 tracks/favourites when I first started out, but, well... here we are!

Now before I go any further, let me give you what a lot of book series gives you at the last few pages of the book: Obligatory Information!

Character Info

Ingot and Driscoll: Ingot is Ponyville's Blacksmith, with years of experience in metalwork. In fact, he's been doing it all his life, with occasional requests outside of horseshoes and metal craft. His craft is specialized, but not limited to, basic armours and weapons, as of Canterlot's request. (In case Ponyville's occasional utter destruction isn't internal.) He has passed down most of his skills to his son, Driscoll. Ingot's ways in the forge are rustic and fool-proof, while Driscoll has decided to delve in more modern and experimental methods in crafting. This young craftscolt has attained a variety of skills outside of what his father taught him. His father studied in Canterlot for metalwork, but he went for a longer period of time to study mechanics, engineering, and partial magic incorporation on items. Usually, his father would perform most of the metal work while he went over the tiniest of details, as well as design. Although he seems to take in Ingot's hoofsteps, Driscoll may have bigger things planned. Keith has yet to see what Driscoll is capable of.

Professor Trotter: A happy go-lucky colt who has surpassed certain levels of intellect and magic, specializing in biological and mythological areas of the Scholars of Magic. With his help, certain creatures have been proven to exist in Equestria, though rare and unstated as they may be. However, being one of the few who are skilled in his field, Trotter has to take it into his own hands to capture and research these mysterious creatures, leaving him no short of skills in survival. Don't let his nerdy, chummy exterior fool you. Like his old friend and classmate, Twilight Sparkle, he can be prone to nervous breakdowns if things don't go according to plan.

The Baron: No short of a few thousand years of age, this Elder Dragon is one of the last few of his kind. His species has no true recorded information, leaving ponies with myths, stories and folklore as to their origins. The God Dragon is as wise as he is old, and due to his many years of living, has no longer found an urge to gather material possessions as he had done in his youth. Also one of the few species of Dragons that have no wings, and rarer still, to be able to fly without them. A logical and/or scientific explanation has yet to be given to the public or the Dragon Expedition (external group in the Scholars of Magic.)

Grey Ghost[The Alicorn]: Nopony knows he exists, nopony knows he is real, even after the elements of harmony found him. So far, only one being knows of his existence, and seems to have been brought to Equestria through his intentions. His origins gave remained a mystery to everypony, coming to Equestria the same way Keith has, though he claims it was a few decades earlier, when the show hadn't even aired yet. Almost a pessimist in his ways, he refuses to tell anyone of the horrible fate he had the chance to witness upon Equestria. He claims to have come from a different timeline, travelling back only to prevent an imminent downfall of the land. Is the creator of the Spirit Of Harmony, which he has placed in a medallion. Confirmed to have failed to choose its right bearer once before, and has hinted that there was a second bearer. Now he entrusts it in our unlikely hero, only giving him encrypted messages and hints to what he may do to prevent the Fall. The question is, did he choose the bearer wisely?

Legion: Being trapped in a forgotten city for a thousand years has given this ethereal warrior a fiery and impatient attitude. Although he speaks as a person, Legion consists of the few thousands, if not MILLIONS of souls and auras that have come and gone in the past human existence, addressing himself sometimes as 'we' and 'our'. The people were first created by Grey Ghost, with the hopes of being a copy of the human race of Earth. This failed as the people fell to corruption as soon as the Spirit of Harmony went missing. The people died out but never left, forming their spirits into this one being. A special armour and weapon had been uniquely forged in the sole purpose of providing a champion with the means of protecting the Medallion, as and when the time came. After being trapped for so long, this combination of spirits have been let loose to roam the lands of Equestria, although his only purpose now seems to be guarding the Spirit of Harmony. He couldn't care less about what happened to the bearer as long as nothing happened to the Medallion.

Keith Conway: Keith is a lovable loser. His attitude towards things may be pessimistic(or realistic), but when he tackles something, he gets down to it... "Hello? Is it on? Okay. Oh! Hello there, readers! Didn't expect to talk to me now did you? Well with the help of Pinkie Pie, who gladly decided to hold open the fourth wall for me, it appears I may be able to communicate with you, the readers, from time to time! Isn't that great?! Oh and here's another thing: this is Keith Conway of the FUTURE. This story your reading has passed long ago! ...Sorry Pinkie, just hold it for a few more seconds... Anyway, I can't really tell you much about me. Heck, I think you know me well enough so far! If I tell you anymore, it'd be spoiling the story! The long,nail-biting, epic, sad, happy, love-dovey, sword-fighting, gun-slinging, claw-swiping-... oh, sorry Pinkie. Well I gotta go! This won't be the last time you hear of me!"

Okay, what the hell was that?

On another note, I understand that some readers aren't quite satisfied with how it's going so far. I get that. I respect that. But your perspective may change as the story progesses. So you'll have to just wait and see.

Some of you have tackled more logical and physical problems in the story. (Example: An Applebuck in the head should leave you in a coma, not wake up 12 or so hours later!) Yes, you have a point. That's why I'll be remastering this story. Which leads on to the next point...

The Bridge Series

Because I can, that's why.

This story, along with the following story(ies), will be posted separately and by book. This story will be Book 1, and I'm still deciding whether to open another account just to store and publish these books in that account, leaving this account with this sole story.

But don't fret yet! Tracking this story leaves you with a few advantages! Here you can read it chapter by chapter as the story moves along, as opposed to having to wait for the whole book to be remastered and published on the other account (if I make one.) You guys get fillers and a few extra chapters that, say... let you know more in the story. But this doesn't mean that the book version doesn't have a few extra snippets either! Just keep your head out to it!

This is an obligatory Question and Answer section. Questions can be asked in the comments, and this chapter will be edited to answer the significant questions. Ask away!

Q: Where did you get the idea for this story and the things you've added here? (Like Legion, the Harmony Medallion, etc.

A:Truthfully, I can tell you that almost every part of this story started and was a figment of my imagination. The basic elements were there in any normal, typical and cliche HiE fiction (Human gets transported to Equestria, has to find his way home, blah blah blah...). But after a while, I realized how overused this theme was (HiEs, self inserts, etc.), so before I decided to sit down and write it, I literally did this, I played the whole story out, in my head. Not to as much detail you see here, but detailed nonetheless. I decided to try to kick it up a notch; to try to bring it to a higher level than an ordinary self-insert. It went from being just me experiencing some weird stuff in Ponyville to this crazy adventure. The elements in the story, the medallion, legion, Grey Ghost and the lost civilization, never really had an outside influence or base when I wrote them out. But I soon found out something else; the entire storyline is, was and has been used before. You see it in Star Wars,Lord Of The Rings, and Harry Potter if I'm not mistaken. Now I don't mean to bring down these stories/movies, but there are similarities in all three, tied together with mine. Here's what I found:

All three stories have a similar protagonist, a wise elder and a source of supernatural power. Star Wars has Luke, Ben Kenobi and the Force. The Lord Of The Rings has Frodo(maybe Sam), Gandalf and the Ring. And Harry Potter has, well, Harry Potter, Dumbledore and Horcruxes. Similarly to my story, there is a somewhat mild protagonist named Keith, a wise but cryptic Elder called Grey Ghost, and the supernatural power that resides in all humans: Aura, amplified by the Medallion.

(Please don't hate. I know that all these characters are under very different scenarios, but you get the point.)There are more similarities, but I'm getting ahead of myself. It was only after I wrote, like, Chapter 30 before I realized this. I'm not saying that I copied them, but I'm not saying that the ideas were never used before either. As original ideas may be in a story, there are always similarities that make it lose its uniqueness. Maybe it's a trope? I don't know, but it's a really riveting trope if you ask me!

So, because I'm afraid you guys will tl;dr, here's the short of it: It was my idea when I imagined it, possibly subliminally influenced by these awesome series, and found out later these similarities. This is a friggin' long answer.

Q: How many stories are you planning on writing?

A: I can't tell you guys! That'd be major spoilers for you, and I want to keep you guys hangin'! I'm a cruel kid..... Just Kidding! But yes, I can't confirm and tell you how many I'm writing, so I'll give you one statistic Instead:

Detailed and Storyboarded: 3 (And when I say storyboarded, it means I just thought long and hard about it. I never write anything down.)

The next story is #2. Sorry, but I'm afraid I can't/don't want to tell you more. What I can say is that they all are vastly different.

Q: Um... are you accepting OCs by any chance?

A: First, let me say that I feel really honoured to have someone ask me that. This is still my first piece of extended writing. EVER. The longest thing I've ever wrote before this was a 1200 word essay for English, and I almost failed that!

But to answer your question: It's a little complicated. Currently with the stories I've already planned, I have made my own Original Characters to fill the more major roles. If your serious and/or want to have your OC in the story, right now it'll have to be an insignificant role, or you'll just have to wait 'til later in the series.

But let's not forget the sequel series to this series. There, I'll have more room for OCs. But unfortunately, you'll have to wait. Possibly a long time for that one. All I ask for now is; no Mary Sues and no major antagonists. Maybe I'll have them fight because of a misunderstanding or because Keith wants to hurt your town or something, but PM me and we'll discuss it :)

Q: The character is your usual cliché numbskull happy to play hero and endanger his life without thinking or actually trying to get something in return for what he goes through, he is weak spirited, to eager to forgive [ classic/boring fantasy hero]. He is basically a blank page, no personality, no depth perception, no attitude and no pride whatsoever. I realize now that it wasn't the way the story was going that bothered me, or the reward the guy received , it was the main character [face-palm] God I swear the guy must be made of jelly. The way he acts outside of battle [wimp] is a complete contradiction to the way he acts when he is in battle... wait... nah its the same -.-. The story is great, its well written, nicely balance thoroughly thought, everything is good...except the character's character , he is for a lack of a better word completely unlikeable, unrealistically selfless and a boring goody goody 2 shoes, the guy has no spinal cord [ hehe]. To summarize : you went overboard with the clichéness on the main character. Now my question. I'm not going to ask you to change anything drastic [ its too far gone for that], are you going to at least give him some other personality besides the most clichéd , overused and unrealistic one yet?

A: Wow. This question hit a hard spot, and I thank you that you're so straight forward about it.

But yes. I think it is true, what you've stated about the main character is correct. He does seem to just play along with everything that goes by him, and dismisses things too easily. What I forgot to mention most of the time is that this story is just a tad bit of imagination away from being a self-insert. Yes, he is a spineless jellyfish at times. (T saw what you did there btw.) What I tried to do (I repeat: 'tried'), was to make this character as close to me as possible. The situation is unrealistic and I probably won't have acted in some ways, but I tried to make him courageous above all. Apparently he gave of a different sort of aura (Personality-wise. Not magic.) to the readers. But by now, I think it's a little too far gone to keep calling it a self insert. I think the character's attitude out of battle doesn't really have to change. But in a tough spot, I'm going to have to switch it up a little. Keith is going to need it for the next story! I'll try my best!

Again, this is my first attempt at writing anything at story length. It may not satisfy everyone, if no one at all. But this feedback is appreciated (no matter how headstrong it sounds), and I'll try my best to improve upon it. Thank you! :)

Any other enquiries, suggestions or (possibly) complaints can be left in the comments section. Please leave critique if you have any. It only hopes me improve. Thank you very much. :)

Anyway, you guys just stay tuned! The second part is ONLY the second part, if you catch my drift. I thank you for staying up to this point, and I hope you guys stick around for more!

For love, laughter, peace and joy,

Keith (Artemis Orion)

Comments

[Nightmare]

Our Only Suggestion Is To Put The Entry Of A New Character In The Chapter They Appear, Otherwise Good Work

[ShadowBreeze]

1. Where did you get the idea for this story and the things you've added here? (like Legion, the Harmony Medallion, etc.)
2. How many stories are you planning on writing?
3. Um....are you accepting OCs by any chance?

[EvilEnchantress]

I was reading a extra special fic yesterday 70 chapters from midday to 10:00 at night I didn't finish final chapter sorry

[Azzazel]

The character is your usual cliché numbskull happy to play hero and endanger his life without thinking or actually trying to get something in return for what he goes through, he is weak spirited, to eager to forgive [ classic/boring fantasy hero]. He is basically a blank page, no personality, no depth perception, no attitude and no pride whatsoever. I realize now that it wasn't the way the story was going that bothered me, or the reward the guy received , it was the main character [face-palm] God I swear the guy must be made of jelly. The way he acts outside of battle [wimp] is a complete contradiction to the way he acts when he is in battle... wait... nah its the same -.-. The story is great, its well written, nicely balance thoroughly thought, everything is good...except the character's character , he is for a lack of a better word completely unlikeable, unrealistically selfless and a boring goody goody 2 shoes, the guy has no spinal cord [ hehe]. To summarize : you went overboard with the clichéness on the main character. Now my question. I'm not going to ask you to change anything drastic [ its too far gone for that], are you going to at least give him some other personality besides the most clichéd , overused and unrealistic one yet?

[TacoTown]

...wha?

[Artemis Orion]

528754>>528780

Answered above! I hope your satisfied with them. Thanks!

[Artemis Orion]

526211
Really?
Wait. Is it a human or a pony?

[Artemis Orion]

540484
Nothing has been planned yet, but we'll have to wait and see if the story allows it.

[Artemis Orion]

EDIT:
I forgot to add Ingot and Driscoll to the Character information!