Thangs and stuff · 10:37pm Sep 1st, 2014
1. The next chapter of Xenophilia: Cultural Norms, will be out this month, perhaps even in the next two weekseventually, I swear! I went through two drafts that I didn't like, restarting both times. I also threw out some of my outline and made a new one. So the long delay is mostly me trying to figure out how the hell I want this thing to continue - I had three differing ideas on how to continue this story, and got stuck in an idée fixe. I apologize for the long delay. At the very least, I'm going to spin off one of the ideas into an alternate Xenophilia story.
2. I have no title for the alternate story yet, but Ponyville gets attacked at the worst possible time, as the mane six and Spike are out adventuring, and Discord is on vacation. It's up to Mayor Mare to organize the town while Lyra leads the assault, backed by visiting swordsmare Five Rings (her being a warrior-poet pegasus raised by Griffons), and an increasingly drunk Berry Punch, who seems to be too much of a wildcard for Lyra to trust. Lero takes a back seat in this one - he's a lover, not a fighter - and he may have to learn to swallow his pride and stifle his strong protectionist streak, and let the experts do the fighting.
3. I removed the Hictavia joke from the most recent chapter of Cultural Norms. It seems to be way too distracting to some of that story's readers. I'll endeavour to avoid little fanon potshots like that in the future... at least as far as Cultural Norms is concerned. I'm going to spin Hictavia off into a non-Xeno oneshot, also starring Vinyl Schizo. Other non-Xeno oneshots include a Derpy and Dinky story, and a Rarity and Sweetie Belle story.
Who told you Hictavia was distracting? That was pure gold!
Also, any and all fighting done by Lero should be exemplify his natural gifts as a human. Throwing or shooting things. Someone teach him how to use a bow/arrow.
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It was my impression from several comments on that chapter. It's like the Hictavia section caused some of the readers to come to a crashing halt. Maybe I need to learn I can't please everyone. Either way, Hictavia will be the main character in a future one shot.
Good point on Lero, and I do plan to have his tool usage highlighted.
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The Bow/Arrow has wiped out armies and given that Lero is a history major he would know just how deadly they are. No guns in this world outside Gatling Sparkle.
I guess alternative interpretations of background ponies will always make some folks lost their heads.