Flight of the Valkyrie, Complete · 10:15pm May 14th, 2023
Well, not quite.
Chapter 9: All Good Things... and The Final Letter have been released, marking the end of the story, but I'm not done quite yet. Despite having only just updated Chapter 1, I have returned once more for a major rewrite/addition, and will be releasing the 3rd Edition soon. I will also be going through the entire story once more, to ensure continuity, character representation, and to fill in any sections that might have felt rushed to begin with. Later chapters should be fine to leave, and earlier ones are relatively short, so it won't be a hugely long process (and unlike TToTS, can be updated as I go).
Once the polish is complete, there are two potential bonus chapters on the horizon, though they will not be a priority, and I have not started on them besides the premise. The first is a 'what-if' chapter, exploring an alternate ending to the story, where Shooting Star remains in the future (which creates a paradox, but I'll think about that later). The second is "Chapter 7.5", covering the Ogres & Oubliettes game mentioned in Chapter 8, which Shooting Star did not attend; it will be mostly fluff, like a beach/onsen episode, but you'll get to see a large cast of characters interacting and having fun. Nothing mind-blowing, but if you like this story, I do hope you'll like those too, when they come.
In other news, the TToTS rewrite is progressing; the Prologue is done, and the multi-chapter alterations are now covering Chapters 1-3. Lots of moving around, lots of fleshing out and re-characterising. I also did a fair amount of work on the first chapter of the "Journal of Starswirl" Pillars spin-off, following the wizard as he gathers together heroes to defeat Discord while the sisters are stoned. I have also planned out an anthology "book", where I will write short stories based on this extended universe I've created--Skylark the sky-pirate, a retelling of the first Hearth's Warming, Future-Twilight experiencing the mortality of her friends, that kind of stuff. Not much as been written for those yet, so it's a ways off.
For now, I want to thank those of you that followed along and/or read Flight of the Valkyrie to completion. It was a lot of fun writing for the canonical characters--something I wish to do again soon--and I hope you found Shooting Star's journey an interesting one. Real life isn't satisfying, and while Star might not have found any answers or received any closure, she certainly touched those around her, directly or indirectly. I hope you found the bridge to G5 an interesting conclusion, too.
It's late now, but I expect I shall finish the revised FotV Chapter 1 tomorrow, as I did most of it today, and the others will soon follow.
Thank you, and take care.
