So... you may be wondering where the next chapter of PonyFall is...

Well, strictly speaking, it's "done" but it's not been put out yet, and those of you who live in the US and aren't completely depriving yourself of information on current events may be able to tell why.

See, right now, the central USA is being torn apart by tornadoes.

A lot of you probably heard about that mile wide tornado in Oklahoma back in May. If the clusterfuck that is the media has not led me astray, this has been followed up with storm after storm after storm... one of the more recent of which was actually two and a half miles wide and killed over 24 people.

Honestly, out of respect for what's going on down there... I don't feel comfortable posting the next chapter (which involves Will and Rarity attempting to flee from a tornado) just yet. Honestly, the chapter as a whole makes me feel a little bit uncomfortable now, and I'm not sure about it in its present form, but it's a little too late to take back that cliffhanger at the end of Chapter 6.

It's kinda funny in hindsight... in a sick way, of course. I put a tornado into the story because they're an old childhood fear of mine. I used to be so terrified of tornadoes that I would cower at even the slightest thunderstorm. But I got over that fear over the years because I was never harmed by a tornado and never knew anybody who had ever been harmed by a tornado. And then, almost the MOMENT I put one in a story to up the ante a little bit, all these people end up having their lives ended or ruined by these tornadoes. The whole situation makes me feel... a little uncomfortable for thinking about them so flippantly earlier...

So, sadly, I'll be holding off on PonyFall for a little bit longer. Maybe by the end of the month Mother Nature will have calmed down a little bit and I can comfortably put out the next chapter. Hopefully by that point I'll have built up an even greater buffer as well.

Onto other business...

I don't particularly intend to be hanging around pony sites very much for the near future, and this is largely because of the release of Equestria Girls coming out.

It's worth mentioning that I don't particularly like the idea of Equestria Girls. I don't intend to see Equestria Girls, nor do I think I would enjoy it even if I did. It just feels like way too much of a bad move to me, led by marketing rather than an interest in telling good storytelling... sorta like how I still feel about Twilicorn (I still maintain that no interesting stories can really be told about Twilicorn, and given that, to date, I still haven't seen a fanfic that I've liked starring her, I feel my statement is supported).

Equestria Girls I feel to be even worse. And yes, I still feel that even after that second trailer was released. I am completely against the idea, largely because it goes against a lot of the basic principles that FiM was founded upon when Faust first gave it to us. I hate the way it's treating Spike, because even as a talking dog, the sheer fact that he is now canine suggests that he is nothing more than Twilight's "pet," which I find sickening. And I will never be able to get over the fact that this was the movie made for Friendship is Magic... rather than something actually involving ponies and the incredibly interesting world that is Equestria. High School, even with ponies, is just not an interesting setting. I think everybody... even the supporters of EqG, would agree that they would rather have seen a movie where the ponies actually did something awesome in Equestria... like a LotR style quest to dispose of the Rainbow of Darkness in Tartarus and foil Tirek or something. I dunno.

The existence of Equestria Girls feels like confirmation that they will never give us that, and that they simply don't care about their own product. That they're willing to twist it any way they like just to make a quick buck and continue their blood feud with Mattel. And if they don't care about the property, then, frankly, I wish they'd just stop making it rather than let it shamble on like a zombie.

I'm actually more scared that it will do well than anything else. If it does well, then that might tell Hasbro that yes this was a good idea and we want more of it. It's currently non-canon, so I can comfortably ignore it at the moment... but if it does well, they might decide to make it canon to the cartoon. Even worse, they might make it canon to the comics (which is really the thing I'm more invested in at the moment). And then, after all of that, they might actually make even more movies out of it, or even a spin-off.

...Which is why I'm actually glad it's coming out the same day as "Man of Steel." >BD

So there. Now you all know my final opinion of EqG. My original response was actually rather positive to it, but after more and more was revealed about it and its nature... and just how wasteful it is... I've withdrawn basically all of my support. For all I know, it might end up being a good movie, but I cannot support what it represents.

Utimately, the point I'm leading up to though? I'll be absent from the fandom for a little bit. Telling you all my opinions of Equestria Girls was probably a mistake as it is, and I don't want to hang around the fandom with this opinion in the next week or so. After Alicorn Twilight happened, I got myself into a lot of trouble simply having the opinion that it wasn't a very good move on the show's part. So when the powder keg that is the fandom right now ignites tomorrow, I don't want to be around to get caught in the explosion and add to the flames.

So I'm going to be absent from the fandom for about a week... hopefully I'll come back with a few other stories written that you can enjoy (Always 100% Twilicorn and EqG free!) and maybe a larger buffer for PonyFall.

See you all later!