Well folks, here we are at Chapter 2 of Southern Comfort.

I admit, I'm nervous for a lot of reasons. My last piece really hinged on pulling on the heartstrings of my readers and playing off those emotions to help carry the story. This time, I'm trying to keep the story above the depression line and I worry the narrative and depiction alone won't be strong enough to support it. Despite my anxiousness, I have submitted both chapters to Equestria Daily now. No word yet on if it's been selected or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed regardless.

Luckily, I do have some support. The amazingly talented writer behind "Luna's Best Night Ever" (I'm looking at you, The-Symbol-Dynamic ) and the artist behind the beautiful "Matriarch of the Apple Family" (the astoundingly helpful Bebopanimebabe ) have lent me their support. I actually wound up basing the way Granny Smith looked on Bebopanimebabe's piece, and I can't express how thrilled I was when she allowed me to use her artwork as the preview image. I really hope the story pans out well so that I have a published piece to send her.

As for The-Symbol-Dynamic, he's been the one helping me reword and check through the spelling and grammar of the piece. I'd be up the creek without a paddle if he didn't point half the mistakes I make out to me before submitting it! All this while he's busy composing the next chapter to his own story AND doing Nanowrimo. I have no idea HOW he does it, but I'm proud to have him as a friend and mentor to my writing.

Hopefully I can pull another rabbit out of the hat this time and be featured on, what I consider, one of the best MLP sites on the web. Maybe I'll hear something soon? If not, than it's just incentive to keep pushing to improve. We'll see.

Until than...um...not a lot to announce on my end.

Once Nanowrimo is over, I'm going to probably start up The Rare Mare show again. I might actually scrap the old episodes and start fresh, but I don't really know yet.

Other things - chapter 3 is coming, eventually. I'm working out the details of the final conflict to see how best to end it. Isn't the devil always in the details? Says the mare who doesn't believe in that sort of thing, yeah. With a little planning, I'm going to go ahead and peg it at either next weekend or the weekend after that. It really depends on how well I do in the next few tests at college, which will determine if I'm exempting finals. Hopefully, if it goes smoothly, I'll have finals week off completely.

That about covers it for this entry. Stay tuned and I'll edit this as I get new information on the status of the story!

Ok, I don't know how many people actually read my posts - but good news time!

"I could not wake you...because you can never wake up again..." has made the cut for Equestria Daily!

I really can't express how happy this has made me, and all of your support and love was what prompted me to submit it for review. This is a dream come true for me, to have a second piece of writing posted on Equestria Daily. You really have no idea how long it took me to calm down enough to write this blog post. Anyway, there IS a catch to it making it onto the site.

First off, the title is gonna change on Equestria Daily. I'm not sure why, but they asked me to rework the title a bit - so it will now be shown as "Final Dreams of a Filly." Secondly, there have been pieces edited. Nothing major to report, but I did have to tweak some transitions in points of view and even had to rework Rainbow Dash's segment a little bit to make it less sudden toward the end. I also cut back Applebloom's accent and some elipsis. Yeah, I may have raped them a bit.

Otherwise, if you don't re-read it, you're not missing out on any HUGE shifts or anything, just maybe a line here or there.

Again, I really can't say "thank you" enough. I'm in total awe of how well this little story I put together has done. It makes me want to write more, to try and get better if I can manage that. I don't know where the road is going to take me now, but I'm happy knowing that I have some friends along the way, waiting for me. Thank you all so much, and I'll see you just around the next turn this wild, crazy adventure takes me.

This.

"God fucking DAMNIT brony... I'm 6'3". I'm 235 lbs. I can bench press my own weight. I work as a security guard. I got stabbed a while back, and I broke the guy's face with my knee. I didn't cry then. WHY CAN I NOT STOP CRYING?!

Goddamnit I'm supposed to be a man!"

. . .5'1, petite little woman, who worked as a mechanic/shop girl...made a 6'3, 235 man, who could snap her in half, cry.

. . .

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Woo! Yeah...

Ok, so this is exciting. New place, new people...Bear with me here, I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing. I'm also not gonna lie to you - I may have been dipping into some locoweed before writing this. Just gimme a second to think of what's appropriate.

Well, I guess first thing's first. Introductions are in order! My name is AmberWings, Amber for short, and the Rare Mare to some...most...some. A few months ago, after reading several beautifully written stories, I decided that I wanted a story of my own to tell. For weeks I mustered up the courage before finally bitting the...well...bit and started writing. After a few hours and a lot of cry breaks, my first story, "The Legend of the Lights" was done. I submitted it, and the wonderfully talented folks at Equestria Daily humored me and put it up. It gained a modest amount of success, but I wasn't sure whether I had it in me to try writing something a little more ambitious.

It was a few more months before I was sitting there one night and an idea decided to happen. Yes, it was a very sad, sort of depressing idea, but it was something I felt was worth telling and set to writing. That was a few days ago, and now my story, "I couldn't wake you...because you can never wake up again..." has reached its conclusion. I once again submitted it to the usual forums, but I wound up tripping over something. A link that led here. After looking at the site and reading a bit, I took the plunge and well...

Here I am!

I really hope that you guys will enjoy my silly little stories. Yeah, I know they're sad. I suffer from clinical depression so sad is kinda like my thing at this point. Why I don't write happy, cheerful, sweet things to make myself feel better...I have no idea. Still, the endings of these sad tales always end on a happier note. It's like life, that you have to suffer through the pain and the sorrow before, at the very end, you know everything is gonna be alright and you're not ever alone. It's like therapy for me, I guess.

Still, there's more to come. I already got smacked in the back of the head by the idea fairy again, and I'm going to start work on a new project soon. I'm not sure what it'll be about, but the title sounds interesting - if only to me.

Coming up next: "Apple Cider on a cold winter night"