My Next Story · 11:46am Sep 19th, 2014
We are now on the final chapter of Opening Twilight's Heart. It is sad, I know, but we are. I will wrap it up with an epilogue after, and then I will be moving on to my next story. Here is the question, then.
I am on the fence about what I want to write. I have two ideas I really want to write stewing away in my head, both of them very different in plot and characters, and both very different in tone.
The first is a story about Twilight turning herself into a giant pony-eating predator from the prehistoric past when testing transformation spells without realizing that she now has no way to turn herself back. The story would be about the battle to control her instinctive desire to eat her best friends, the complications that would arise from her new body and the nesting and mating urges she is getting around Spike, Shining and Cadance and Celestia, respectively.
The name for this story would be Twilight's Reign of Terror. The rough draft of the cover art is here:
The second story is the idea of Discord becoming more and more detached from Equestrian culture and society out of guilt over his role in the Tirek debacle. This continues his ongoing struggle to balance a desire for a friend with his desire for acceptance, leading him to talk to spirits from outside his home dimension in the hopes that he might be able to finally make a friend who will be able to live with the way he is. Unfortunately for him, the spirit that lives closest to him is a god of grief and despair by the name of General Grievous. The plot would describe Discord listening to Grievous' horrifying philosophy of turning hatred into an engine to make others suffer and comparing that with Fluttershy and Twilight's attempts to show him that they forgive him and want him to come back to Equestrian society.
The name for this story would be Equestrian Grief, and the cover art is here:
So which story would you rather I work on first? What idea speaks more to you as readers? I love them both pretty much equally. Some days I am certain I want to work on Equestrian Grief first, and others I'm certain I want to work on Twilight's Reign of Terror.
And, in case you are wondering, the sequel to Opening Twilight's Heart will be something I will still work on during this time. However, because I feel relatively happy with how the world of Opening Twilight's Heart has progressed and because I would like to focus on a chance to write new ideas that are entirely mine, I'd rather put emphasis on these stories once Opening Twilight's Heart is done.
I look forward to hearing from all of you.
Twilight's Reign of Terror sounds sexy. But so does the Grievous idea, too.
How about you do both at the exact same time? 
2466654 Twilight's Reign of Grievousness. Hmm...I like it...
2466659
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But in all seriousness, as soon as I read the description for Twilight's Reign, I thought, "Wow, that would be a really cool story to read. I can imagine it being hugely awkward for Twilight, wanting to eat her best mates."
I vote for the first one, yeas.
Twilight's Reign of Terror sounds really interesting. Two things thought.
1) what kind of tags are we looking at here, cause the synopsis could easily go really really dark but the cover and the later half of the synopsis "and the nesting and mating urges she is getting around Spike, Shining and Cadance and Celestia, respectively" leads me to think it wont be.
2) when you say nesting urges around Spike, are you implying some kind of familial attachment, possibly even maternal? Cause any story with Twi as Spike's mother figure is guaranteed a read by me. Though 'sister' is good too.
Well, let me answer your question with another question: the first one, Twilight's Reign of Terror, would it be Twilestia again? Because you did mention nesting/mating urges in the same sentence as Spike, Shining, and Cadence as well as Celestia. If it's another story involving romantic interest between Twilight and Celestia, them I'm all for it. I'm just not fond of love-triangles... or would this be an love-pentagon?... I don't know shapes...
If the answer is yes on the Twilestia romance, then I'm all for the first one 100%.
Twilights story kinda reminds me of Canine Complications, also a wonderful story, which is all th reason I need to vote for the first idea.
They both sound interesting but I'm leaning more on Twilight's Reign of Terror, both concepts are different but I like the first more.
I like the first one.
Especially if Twilight make a contract to become a magical prehistoric predator girl
I think the first one sounds like the perfect idea for a dark comedy, I'm in for that.
2466777 The word "respectively" was important in that context. In this case, it means urge to form a family unit consisting of herself and
to raise her hatchling (
). As her sibling and his mate, she would want to 'flock' with Cadance and Shining's mated pair and encourage them to lay their own clutch.
2466743 2466951 I'm trying to mirror the tone of the show with both stories, so this will hardly be very dark. I mean, the concept is dark, but it plays out in a world where everyone is a neurotic sweetheart at best or a petty jerk at worst, so it will hardly be super edgy.
Twilight's Reign of Terror more Twilestia thank you please
The mob has spoken. He's probably gonna do the second story just to
us.
I'm against cross overs, they are almost never good. Not to say you couldn't do it but I just ain't a cross over fan. Now on the other hand I love TwiLestia so we know were my vote lies.
2466965
Ah, good. I vote for the first one then. I apologize for the fact that I sometimes miss context... And that I'm not familiar with the familial units of large predatory birds.
You must write AppleDash, clearly!
2468102 Some day...
2468109
2468112 I want to focus on the stories of my chief pairing before I move to work more on AppleDash.
Here's an idea, though: Why don't you write me a Twilestia and I'll write you an AppleDash?
Twilight's rn of terror. It sounds more promising
2468146 Pfft! I've other things to write!
2468189 And now you see the problem.
The first one please. The second one isn't as appealing -- it sounds 2edgy4me and not all that interesting.
Honestly, if I hadn't read your work before, I'd say neither sounded worthwhile, especially the latter. However, since I have read your stuff, I'm sure you could make either one an interesting story.
Of the two, I'd say the first, because this is my face reading the description->
and you can never go wrong with some good old Twilight shipping
2468901 It's not really so much edgy as pensive. Grievous would be the little devil on Discord's shoulder and Fluttershy and Twilight his little angel, and the idea would be Discord considering whether or not it was even worth trying to be forgiven for everything he had done during the Tirek episodes.
But yes, I will be doing the first one for sure. The viewership has most certainly spoken. Terror Birds away!
2469269 Ah, fair enough. It's just hard to see a General Grievous fic and not automatically think it's gonna be dumb.
2470562 Probably because you don't even Grievous, son. You'd think after everything I've written I'd like him enough to write a story about him if there wasn't more to him than just the worst nineteen minutes of Revenge Of The Sith?
2470590 I can't even remember what happened in Revenge of the Sith. I'd imagine that he (even if he's the goofiest looking thing ever) wouldn't be terrible in the EU material if you're actually going off that, though; while I'm not terribly into Star Wars what I've seen of the worlds and characters built up in the EU seem to be handled sensibly.
Maybe all of the shit fanfics on here which feature him have soured my opinion a bit. I dunno.
2470634 I think he has one of the best character designs in all of fiction, myself. But yes, I would be going off his EU incarnation. Much more enjoyable that way for certain.
While the plot to Twilights reign of terror is somewhat simmilar to Canine Complications. The fact that it will be a Twilestia screams yes in my mind. I fully support it. But at the same time, Equestrian Grief sounds like it could have some very deep thinking moments and pitting philosophies against each other. While i am unsure how you can pull off a Grievous al naturalé in Equestria is beyond me, but i'm sure you must have an idea of something. I am kinda torn between these two. But the twilestia part of me, i have to listen to it. Twilights Reign of terror please! (But i wanna see Equestrian Grief too)
A story with Grievous having become a god? I see you're a learned fellow on Kaleesh ways heh but I would've personally loved to see Equestrian Grief first. The concept of a warrior based society where killing is seen as the best thing ever seems so alien to Equestrians where, in their lives, death is nearly myth. It would probably excite Discord to have such a new and weird thing to talk to with such weird concepts. Basically I'm saying I'll be all over that story.
2892185 This is precisely why I picked Grievous. Well, that, and because he himself is empty inside and has nothing left inside his heart but hatred and grief. And not in a cartoony way, which the Equestrians will assume. In a way that is far more nuanced and makes him far more brutal. Glad to see somebody else looking forward to it!
2893854 I forgot to ask. How do you invision Grievous looking as a God of despair? Will he look like his Kaleesh self? Is he the cyborg general we all know and love? Or is he an entirely different looking creature?