Chapter 5 is finally done! · 2:39am Sep 8th, 2014
I cried, I bargained, I considered cancelling the story . . . but it's finally done, and hopefully it doesn't suck! (I'm sorry it took so long, but this is one of two chapters I absolutely can't screw up.)
Retcons to date:
* Changelings can now walk on clouds. This is the only retcon that will matter going forward--it was limiting my options way too much.
* I rewrote Fluttershy's transformation in chapter 2 again. Unless it turned out totally horrible, I'll probably stop rewriting that part for now.
* I changed Roseluck's dialogue in chapter 3 to make it more serious. This is an old change, but I never announced it anywhere. (It kinda ruined one of the gags, but I figured it was more important to establish a consistent tone for Roseluck.)
* I fixed some minor grammar issues in chapter 4. This is another old change.
I considered retconning the deaths in chapter 3, but I'm leaving them in for now. I feel like they're necessary to what I'm doing.
How about for pegasi, cloud walking is automatic.
But for changelings, it requires a low level of concentration. Lower than horn magic of unicorns or changelings but still after a traumatic change like what happened, you can't regain the focus to walk on clouds.
2437042 It's a good idea, but it's still a little awkward. Could a changeling sleep on a cloud, for instance, or would they fall through once they fell asleep?
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I think that maybe they can. They can be trained to do it. Also now once I look back at my last post, I should not have used "automatic". It should have been instinctive.
So basically for pegasi, cloud walking is as natural as breathing. Their bodies take care of it unconsciously, so they don't think about it. However for changelings, they have to have a small level of focus so they can cloud walk, unless they've been trained to do it without thinking. Until it has become an ingrained response.
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For that to be the case, though, it would need to be a slightly different biological functionality from what Pegasi do, or else every Pegasi-turned-Changeling would already be have that advantage. They would still have a leg up on the former "landwalkers" for learning to do it, but I'm sure the rest can catch up quickly enough.