The Changing of the Guard

by Shadow_Wolf

Acknowledgements

A big and heartfelt thank you to everyone who has stuck with me through this endeavor.

The Changing of the Guard was not only my first foray into the world of My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic fanfiction, but it is the first actual piece of prose I've written to completion in over five years and the first fanfic I've written in almost twelve. To everyone who has taken the time to read it, I can only echo Shining Armor's words and say "Thank you, all of you." with an extra thanks to everyone whose given me words of encouragement throughout the story.

I hope it was worth your wait and that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

Comments

[insightguy]

not bad! i like this

isn't this now "complete"?

[Empireal]

This was great, thank YOU for writing it.

[Shadow_Wolf]

1814487
Hopefully the "complete" tag takes this time, I may have forgotten to hit save earlier Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it

1815076
You've very welcome and thank you for the compliment

1815166
Thank you again. I was a little worried about the ending when I first wrote the draft and I'm glad you liked it.

[Shadow_Wolf]

3718361
Glad you liked Dust Storm and no, Twilight didn't get her husband at Quills and Sofas (yes, I agree with your commentary on its business plan). In my world setting, she's married to a unicorn stallion named Quill Pen. That's a story in and of itself which I shall, hopefully, write one of these days.

[Shadow_Wolf]

3730719
Trying to come up with names for ponies is always an exercise in craziness for me... cause there's a fine line between the three points of them being appropriate, silly and outright strange so I try to make them up the best I can. So far I think I've been pretty successful. On top of that, I try to make OC's that people are going to like and -- hopefully -- relate to without making them come off as overbearing, perfect, boring or all-powerful. In that regard, I'm really glad you like Ocean Mist as her dialogue was really fun to write... especially the big run on sentence when she's given leave to speak.

As for Dawn Scout, I'm really glad you liked her and that you'd like to see more of her... maybe one of these days I will actually do a story that involves her and maybe follows her journey through the Royal Guard of Equestria but for now, she's just a cute little filly who wanted to do something spectacular and was given the opportunity to do so. The fact that you really enjoyed the way I wrote her does my old heart good! You are correct in your assessment though. When I write in a character, I want them to have a purpose in being there even if it is just for a line or two, because there really are no small roles, only small actors and if I'm going to take the time to put them in there, I want their inclusion to have some meaning.

As The Doctor once said: "I've never met anyone who wasn't important to someone."

Great examples, btw, especially Obi-Wan Kenobi as he is a particular favorite of mine.

[Shadow_Wolf]

3816855
Thank you, I"m glad you enjoyed it and I'm glad the world building came through. I'm not sure exposition is the right word... maybe character study? But even that seems incorrect... I'd have to think on it honestly.

As for Shining Armor's age, yes, that was a very glaring typo... and this story is in horrific need of revision and polish, but I am still glad you liked it. Thanks again!

[Mayhew Cullen]

3719315 That would be nice... I would read it anyway...

[Mayhew Cullen]

3733423 Hell worst comes to worst I will write the further adventures of Dawn Scout(Only if permission were granted of course because there would be use of other characters and situations from this story as well...)... after I at least get my own Fic off the ground. Yeah so... I'm gonna give you a shout out on that one by the way. You didn't directly influence the story but in one of my earlier comments I found myself inspired to write it so in a way you did help inspire me to start writing.

Nice quote from the Doctor. You know, I haven't really admitted this to anyone, but I've learned as much about the Doctor after becoming a brony as my niece who actually watches the show. I don't watch Doctor Who, but I have read many MLP fanfics on the subject. Also I might start watching the show but... who knows?

[Shadow_Wolf]

3831884
Wow... just... wow... nobody's ever actually asked me for permission to make use of one of my OCs before. I can't even begin to tell you what kind of a compliment that is! If you'd care to write about Dawn Scouts adventures, please feel free to do so (I've got the basics for her character written down which I'd be happy to send to you). And thank you for the shout out, it does my old heart and soul good to know that I can inspire someone either directly or indirectly! Let me know when you get your fic off the ground, I'd love to read it.

As for the Doctor, I've been a fan of Doctor Who since the early 80's when I stumbled upon the series as a kid. I don't know for sure whether he was ever intended to be included in the fandom or not, but much like some of the other "easter eggs" I think he's here to stay. Glad you liked the quote and if you ever start watching that one too, I think you'll enjoy it.

[Shadow_Wolf]

3831886

So many ways to say I flipping love this story. Every chapter was great and emotionally sincere. This chapter was a truly amazing way to finish the story started by the others.

As a writer, I love to hear commentary on my work. Good comments let me know I'm doing something right and bad comments let me know what I need to work on, so all the commentary is good. When I get comments like the one above, it really makes me happy because I know that I've not only done something right and put out a quality story that has been enjoyed, but it also means that I succeeded in my task as a storyteller by putting the emotion and connection into the story that I was shooting for in the first place.

Thank you very much! Really happy to hear that my story was engaging and that you enjoyed the writing style.

I'm also Luna bias, generally, though on occasion I like Celestia. As for the bit about the captains armor, when it shows up canonically that the captain wears a distinctive armor from his troops, my mind immediately tells me that there is something unique about it beyond its appearance so having it be a relic just made sense; this may also have something to do with an extensive RPG background. I'm glad you enjoyed that little detail cause it was a lot of fun to write.

The Creed went through about a dozen iterations before I was happy with it, some were longer, some were shorter and in the end I finally hit that compromise point where it didn't sound too pompous, too weak or too insincere. And considering there were something like 3000+ ponies on that parade ground reciting it at the same time, I figure it probably made a pretty good impression. As for taking Shining Armor on as an adviser, the first iteration of this chapter actually left that out and had him walking off into the sunset with Cadence and the Mane Six, but the more I re-read it the more it just fell completely flat so I scrapped it. Ocean Mist and Twilight had actually planned the whole thing out behind Shining's back (as was eluded to in chapter 4) and I'm glad it came across the way I meant it to; as a reward for years of loyal service mixed with a token of admiration as opposed to something that they were doing 'just because they had to' or worse, because they felt sorry for him.

And yeah... putting down spines in a polite conversation probably wouldn't be too polite... but it would definitely get you attention. I'll make sure to correct that one when I finally get time to do the necessary revisions on this

[Mayhew Cullen]

3838716 Okay well for one I got the prologue up with some trouble(I posted it really late at night and I didn't take a really good look at it before releasing it to the world), but I got a really cool comment on a lot of grammar and various little mistakes I made so those are fixed. And yeah that would be really awesome to see the Dawn Scout info. That is one of the biggest things for me that I would want to stay true to the character I fell in love with.

3838772 You are quite welcome. I'll admit that I am quite easy to please when it comes to stories in film, television, and literature. However I very rarely find something that I enjoyed so much that I have written paragraphs of commentary detailing how much I loved it. It's funny that while this is my second favorite fanfic I've read so far(that might change I'm really getting into one called End of Ponies...) I still didn't leave as much feedback on my favorite. I figure just because it was a single chapter comedy that didn't take as much text to list off my favorite parts of it. So yeah...

Oh and so you don't have to ask... if you were... the favorite fanfic I was talking about is called Derplicity. maybe not your cup of tea but Whenever anyone asks me to point them toward a good comedy this one is at the top of the list.

[Shadow_Wolf]

3840242
I haven't had a chance to read over the prologue yet, things have been swamped like nobody's business the last few days with the weather and with class, but I'll get it by this weekend and get you some commentary on it as best I can, I look forward to seeing what you've come up with!

I know what you mean, I'm easy to please when it comes to most media too, primarily because I judge it on whether I was entertained or not and like yourself, its not often I put a lot of commentary beyond one line or so to let the author know I enjoyed it, but when I do, I tend to go all out. Glad to be amongst your favorites here! I've read Derplicity too and it amused me greatly, one of my faves as well, haven't read End of Ponies though, but I'll give it a look see.

Thank you again for all the commentary, I really appreciate it! Also, Dawn Scout's info will be coming to you via PM.