2/3 - Uncaged Wings · 12:18am May 24th, 2013

Now this is more like it. No more of this personal drama rubbish. Let's get on to the main attraction. Let's talk about stories. More specifically, let's talk about wrapping up a story that I had to leave hanging when I took a break.

Yeah, that's right. It's finally time to talk about Air once more. No time to waste, let's get down to brass tacks.

Air is done.

No, not like, chapter three is done. I mean both chapter three and four are done, edited, and published for your viewing pleasure, and as a result, the story is now complete. Were you worried about starting an unfinished story? Were you waiting for it to be done before diving into it to avoid cliffhangers? Well, now's your chance, because the tale of Pound Cake, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo has come full circle!

Now hold your horses there, don't run off just yet. Because I realize that six months... actually, more than six months is a bit of a long time to get back into a story that you may be halfway through. That's why, if you've read through both chapters one and two, and don't entirely remember the story, I've provided a spoilered, condensed plot summary for you to find below if you need to jog your memory. Otherwise, don't read it! You'll ruin it for yourself.

Spoilers!

Pound Cake is a runner, a pegasus skilled in the use of rooftop-to-rooftop parkour, who delivers parcels illegally under the tutelage of a crippled Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo in the flight-neutral future city of Canterlot, where laws are dictated by a provisionary government in the absence of the princesses during the gryphon war. When he is called by his sister Pumpkin Cake, who chose the life of a Civil Defense officer, he finds her in the office of the ruling Governor Fancy Pants, where he has been murdered using her knife. Fearing that she was framed, he takes documents on the late governor's desk, which he recognizes as having delivered and being owned by Lulamoon Technologies, a powerful weapons and technology firm, and escapes the building without her, vowing to clear her name.

Returning to Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and their tech pony, Derpy, he tells them of the events that have transpired. After a restless night, he happens upon Rainbow Dash, who tells him of Canterlot before the war, and how her friends in the photograph, Rarity, Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, and Fluttershy, had all gone their different ways. Unnerved by this potential distressing view of his future, Pound Cake takes the documents being analyzed by Derpy and heads to Lulamoon Technologies headquarters to decrypt them on his own. Scootaloo attempts to stop him, then reluctantly joins him. However, once in the building, they are ambushed by a squad of "ghosts", elite soldiers, one of whom grieviously injures Scootaloo. Enraged, Pound Cake kills one of the ghosts, being badly wounded in the process. When the remaining squad converges on them, they are killed by unseen attackers, and Pound Cake loses consciousness.

Aaaaaand, end spoilers! That should hopefully give you guys enough to go on if it doesn't give you a reminder of previous events.

So go forth and read, and enjoy.

What's that? You want to hear me prattle on about these chapters? Well, then!

Chapter 3 – AKA Why the Christ did this take so long to write?

I mean seriously, what the heck? Chapter three is about 3/4 of the length of chapter four, and yet it took almost twice the time to both write and edit. When I called it quits, this is what I was hung up on writing. There were a lot of roadblocks on this chapter, and that had a lot to do with the level of exposition and the number of characters present simultaneously. As you're aware, most of my more well-known stories, like Anno Domini and White Box, only focus on two or so characters. Therefore the interaction is easy to write because it's so controlled. Here, all bets are off. There are tons of ponies, and all of them from different walks of life.

What also didn't help was the fact that as I was writing this chapter, I realized how much more I had bitten off than I expected. Air was always meant to be condensed into four parts, but as I wrote it, more and more things popped into my head that needed to be addressed in the lore that I just didn't have time for. That means I ended up having to streamline a lot of what was happening and cut corners where I could. I won't lie, I'm not totally proud of it. There's a lot I wish I could have changed/added in/removed. However, I think it gets the job done as precisely and concisely as I could have hoped given the situation. And hey, I ended up learning how to write so many different characters all within the same scenario, so it's not a total waste.

And what does said chapter bring? Exposition, drama, exposition, mandatory action sequence, drama, exposition, exposition, and at least three emotional twists. And trust me, the next one isn't much different.

Chapter 4 – AKA Well that's one way to end it.

It's not easy to end a multi-part story. In fact, it's pretty damn hard. Thankfully, it ends up being one of the first things you think of when planning one, if you know what you're doing. That being said, where I feel chapter three falls short, chapter four takes up the slack. It's grittier, for sure, and a lot more focused. It gave me a chance to spend more time focusing specifically on Pound Cake and what it is that makes him tick. That's the kind of stuff I love to write, and I go full into it here. Maybe even a little too much, but I guess that's your call, and not mine.

But then, the villain. Ohhhh man, the villain. There hasn't been a distinct, singular antagonist throughout Air. Not a direct one. But she's always been there, implied, watching, waiting. And here we have it. The confrontation. The big 'un. Most of you could probably guess who it is. I don't exactly try to make it subtle. I really ran away with her personality, though. I had so much fun in making her downright despicable to truly give Pound something to bash his skull against, and it was awesome. I hope it ends up as fun as I envision it to be. Again, despite anything being rushed or cut down, I still finished writing Air in exactly the way I wanted it to be written, no matter the rest.

As I've said before, however, I'm not satisfied with the level of coverage that I've given Air's backstory and storyline, but I don't want to extend the story further than it currently has gone. This is why I have a multitude of potential side stories that I'll be releasing as I get a chance to work on them, and they'll all be different stylistically. I wanted to have that done for you when I got back, but I got a bit pressed for time when three and four spun out of control in terms of word count. You'll see what I mean. They'll all take place either before or during Air's narrative, providing insight on the things we don't see. That's gonna be a real barrel of monkeys. Pretensefic, anyone?

That being said, getting here wouldn't have been possible without all the folks who took a look at Air and helped me revise these chapter while I was strapped for time and really needed the help. It was a struggle to write, so it was a relief to know that I had folks who had my back when I needed it. So a big thank you goes out to TheDescendent, midnightshadow, and shortskirtsandexplosions for taking some time to look at this schlock before I published it. The biggest thank you, however, goes out to Seattle Lite, who stepped up like a damn tank and revised all of chapter 4 in only a few sittings. I'll put it out on the record and say that I owe him a solid for it.

That's all I've got to say here, then. Go forth and enjoy, friends.

Next time, we plan for the future.

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RainbowBob

RainbowBob #1 · May 24th, 2013 · · ·

Whoo hoo! Finally able to finish reading it! Thanks dude, can't wait to dig right in! Also can't wait to see what else you can shove outta that devious mind of yours!