On the (non) ending · 11:42am Jan 14th, 2014
I would've posted this on the Author's note, but I realized it made it way too long.
So one of the pre-readers on this chapter was unhappy with how grim the chapter was. Turns out they thought it was the end of the story. This is not without reason - google docs doesn't have a complete/incomplete tag, and, well, it used to be the end.
At the time, I thought I was being cleverly subversive, because in HiE, how often do the elements work properly and the humans simply get banished like a monster-of-the-week? Not terribly often. Not to mention from my perspective, all the characters in the story basically get what they want - the Mane 6 are the big damn heroes and banish the scary bad guy, and said bad guy escapes the crazy pastel equines. Of course as my pre-readers pointed out, by doing so I may have given the characters what they want, there was this little group called the readers that might not be so satisfied. Something about dangling plot threads and resultant torches and pitchforks.*
After some thinking, I came up with an alternate plot that will hopefully be posted before the heat death of the universe. For those curious about my initial intentions, I plan on tossing up the original epilogue in a later blog post, once I've cleaned it up a bit. While said Epilogue is no longer entirely accurate, it may still provide some insights.
Regardless, I hope you've enjoyed the latest chapter.
Sincerely,
Cal
* This may be embellished
Honestly, I'm glad that the story isn't going to just end there. The elements "banishing" him wouldn't entirely make sense, given he wasn't a bit evil thing... However, I suppose it also would make sense, if you consider it as the elements purging something that doesn't belong in Equestria.
All in all, I'm more happy with the idea of you continuing the story past this "ending" to deal with those aforementioned plot threads, from your blog post.
I'm just hoping most for you to update much sooner than this time, but busy schedules are something I'm familiar with, so nothing to be done there.
I'd have been quite upset if it ended there, to be honest.
I've seen a ton of fics where misunderstandings get blown out of proportion, humans are seen as 'evil monsters' and end up either being killed, imprisoned in stone or (at best) banished. Sometimes they get a chance to explain themselves but more often then not they're just thrown in the same category with the demons of Tartarus and left to rot. If that was the case, I'd tag this as tragedy.
Also, it's kind of wandered a bit from the comedy tag.
While such a resolution for the characters is not something I would have a personal problem with, I would have been disappointed with that ending for 2 reasons. (Also keep in mind I have not read the chapter yet.)
One, the Mane 6 only ever bring out the Elements when facing a threat to all of Equestria. Considering that all the damage to Cloudsdale was caused by a crash, not an attack, I doubt they would have them out. They used them on Nightmare Moon, Discord, and attempted on Chrysalis. They didn't even bring them for Sombra. They most certainly do NOT pull them out "monster of the week" style.
Two, while a spell channeled through the elements might be able to send our human home, that would be a rather specific spell. It would mean they know that their "problem" is an interdimensional traveler who needs to be sent home, and that doing so would be safe since he was in a flying contraption at the time he arrived. The standard EoH activation, on the other hand, seems to primarily be focused on restoring harmony by neutralizing disharmony. Our guy is not inherently disharmonious so it is doubtful the EoH would have any effect on him, other than healing him of any injury, and maybe, if you wanted to have fun, allowing him to speak and/or understand Equestrian.
1717409
Thanks for the understanding. I was, indeed, originally looking at it from the 'purging' angle.
1717751
Yeah, the last couple of chapters have veered a bit towards the action side. The next is the opposite.
1718561
True, though the difference between 'crash' and 'attack' may be a matter of knowledge. You do have a point that I was being a bit flippant about the use of the elements, however.
I hope you enjoy the chapter
1718561 To be fair about the Sombra part, at that time Celestia was the one who had the Elements, so it was her decision on weather they might be needed or not.
Since we have no time frame for when this is taking place, it could be after Keep Calm and Flutter On. In which case it would be Twilight who would decide if they needed the Elements or not.