Well, that wraps up Friendship is Magic, folks.  We've arrived at the destination that has felt thematically probable, if not inevitable, since Episode 1.  We've all been able to sense it coming, I think.  All of the 'Twilight Becomes an Alicorn' fics have to come from somewhere, after all!

This really is the end of the journey that Twilight embarked on a couple years ago, though.  The first 65 episodes of Friendship is Magic are a Coming of Age Story (a bildungsroman, for those of you with too much education on the subject), starring Twilight Sparkle.  Celestia said* it herself: Twilight is grown up now, and has fulfilled her destiny.  That's the end of the story, in one of these things.

If FiM were a book, we'd be putting it down about now, staring blankly at the top of the opposite wall with a little knot in our stomachs, the fierce shared satisfaction and joy at Twilight's triumph tempered by the bitter taste of a final goodbye.  A glance down at the cover as our fingers brush idly across the pictures of characters who have become our friends, and we resolve to always keep this one on the shelf.

Ah, but friends, friends... we are all so indescribably lucky.  This fall, Season 4, we get a sequel.  There will be another Hello!  And in the meantime, here on FiMFiction, we never have to say goodbye at all.

*Sang!  Celestia song, squeeeee!

It seems to be the done thing today to express an opinion on the subject of the coming End Of All That Is Good And Wonderful With Ponies, ie Alicorn Twilight.

What seems to be being forgotten by most of the discussion is that we already have an episode title and synopsis for this episode, revealed here on EQD back on the 19th.  Zap2it has not, to my knowledge, been wrong before.  So how does that synopsis possibly fit with Alicorn Twilight?

What I am most sure of is that this is how Twilight comes across her alicorn-y destiny.  (I am also quite sure that the inclusion now, plus the Hub's special emphasis on the 'coronation' part are being basically pushed by the Toy part of the company, but I'm pretty sure you all had that one figured out already.)

Were I writing the episode, Twilight would get her wings, be crowned a princess, and shortly discover how unready she is for the position.  She would then have to do the mentioned bit of magic-writing to reverse the changes, and end the episode having learned something about what the responsibilities of a princess mean (Megan goes on a fair bit in the EW article about how they want to create a mythology around princess-ness that's about how it's earned by living up to these high ideals) as well as having passed a major benchmark in magic; both of those items teasing a permanent alicornification waiting for the movie that will cap off the show in a few years.

Alternatively, Twilight gets her wings from the destiny reassignment spell.  Everything is awesome, she is a princess and stuff.  Ponies begin to come to her court, though, to beg for help as their destinies have all been reassigned horribly.  Twilight realizes that she must give up this dream in order to fix what she broke, and does so without reservation/much whining.  Her steadfast dedication to her temporary subjects earns the princesses' approval, and in a double-reverse fake, they Alicorn Twilight for reals at the end of the episode.

So I added a chapter.  It's a short one, but the stopping point is natural, the middle refused to be extended, and sometimes shit just happens man, y'know?

Did (as if you hadn't noticed) end up appending it to the same story.  Basically, I realized I was writing it without any of the setup that would be necessary to make it stand alone, so that clearly made it part of the same story.

Let's see if I can't do the next one a little faster than this one, shall we?

No energy left for pony faces in my blog post.  Except this one: this is the picture I was going to use as a cover if this was a separate story.

As Twilight Sparkle awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, she found herself transformed in her bed into an alicorn.  She lay on her stomach and saw, as she looked over her shoulder, her purple, feathered wings splayed out on either side of her.  Over these new limbs the blanket, just about ready to slide off completely, could hardly stay in place.  Her four legs, long and willowy compared to her stature, shifted uncertainly beneath her.

I really want to put a picture of alicorn Twilight panicking here, but everyone draws her all majestic and regal.  Someone should do something about that.

In other news, I have been working, slowly, on extending Snit.  Just, you know, classes and suchlike.  The beginning of the next arc (three are planned), tentatively titled 'Having a Problem' now exists.  Anyone who wishes to may now weigh in on whether I should post it as a new story altogether or as the third-and-onward chapters of Snit--I have been thinking of renaming Snit something overarching and prepending the arc name to each chapter title.

Just like that, yes.

So I'm seeing a lot of comments opining that Snit isn't finished.  I'm here to tell you that it is, in fact, finished.

"But Jordanis," you cry, "there is so much left unresolved!"

Well, yes.  The story has a very tight focus.  Basically, it's not the story of how the three of them reached a happily-ever-after (or happily-until-Twilight-DIES), it's the story of how they got drunk, had a terribly ill-advised threesome, and found it in their hearts to stop freaking out and turn it into a positive.  There's a long road ahead of them, and this is the story of how they managed to take the first step instead of running terrified, angry, and ashamed in three different directions, not the story of what they found at the end.

What I'm saying is that you are not smelling an unfinished story.

What you smell, my dear readers, are sequel hooks.

Well, it took a couple more ciders, but I managed to finish this thing out tonight.  

I am up way past my bedtime.

Tonight claimed the lives of two hard ciders and half a cup of rum.  Their sacrifices were not in vain, I promise you all.  They will be missed.

I have sketched out the whole ending and gotten several pages written.  Hopefully, it will be done by the end of Sunday.

Here I thought I was just satisfying a couple not-so-innocent bystanders from device heretic's blog.  Instead, I woke up this morning, saw my notifications box, and said 'Holy shit!'

I can't say I'm displeased to have collected such a train of people to drag along on my silly adventure, because I've been grinning like a maniac all day.

Fig 1: Yeah, like that, but with a more swollen ego.

For those who did not see in the comment thread, the inimitable Varanus made a sad face at me until I admitted that yes, there really should in fact be more to this story than I posted.  I have tacked up the big neon sign that says 'incomplete', and wait only for the piteous mewling of my liver to subside.  I will then engage in the traditional mathematics of pony fiction.

+ =

I just cracked open my first hard cider of the night.  That's how last Saturday started too.  Innocently posting comments under the influence of some equally innocent hard cider.

I blame you all, but it is a special, loving blame.

There are 8 more ciders in the fridge.

Fig 1: Me, figuratively.

There's also two-thirds of a bottle of whiskey, about a bottle of cognac, two half-bottles of local grape brandy, a quarter bottle of rum, and a quarter bottle of calvados available to call on.  Not that I need all that for the fic, but once you get locked into a serious alcohol collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can.

Fig 2: There is nothing more helpless and irresponsible on the whole internet than a ficcer in the depths of a liquor binge, and I know I'll get into that rotten stuff soon enough.

So yeah, let me finish a couple of these, and then we'll see where this goes.

Fig 3: What happens on Fimfiction stays on Fimfiction, right guys?  ...right?

Alright, so I went and picked up a few of you from my little drunken fun time on device heretic's blog.  I did re-watch 'Family' today, and started putting together the lead-in for the part I actually wrote.  I'll probably post the original version as a second chapter for posterity's sake, because I'll have to edit it a bit to make the transition.  Just to let you all know I am working on it.