The End · 8:06pm Oct 13th, 2014
2 years.
36 chapters.
289,001 words.
And it’s finally done.
When I started writing this way back when, I had no idea what it was going to turn into. If I remember right, I had all of one story published here, and maybe like a dozen followers, half of which were just people who I already knew anyway. I submitted the first chapter of this story to Equestria Daily basically on a whim, wondering if it could make it in, and somehow it did. But the real surprise was the response.
I didn’t expect 1,500 thumbs-up. I didn’t expect 17,000 views or 1,700 comments. I didn’t even expect to make the feature box. When I started writing this, I thought that it was destined for niche-dom. It was about a pairing that was hardly popular (seriously, when I started writing, there were maybe two other Twijack stories that qualified as even kinda well-known) at a pace that could only be favorably compared to continental drift. At best, I expected it might eventually accumulate one or two hundreds thumbs, and I would’ve been happy to crack the 1,000 view barrier.
Then, somehow, it got spread around, and despite its many issues (I’m not going to pretend there aren’t things that I think could use some work), people enjoyed it. So in short, what I want to say to everybody who’s read this and left comments and thumbed-up and favorited is this:
Thank you.
No seriously. When I started writing this story, I didn’t think that there were many people who would get much enjoyment out of it. I was wrong. The response I got to this story played a huge part in making it what it is. The fact that all of you enjoyed the story so much is what motivated me to not just write the story, but to try to make it the best that I could. I didn’t always succeed in that regard, but without the encouragement, I don’t know how I would’ve finished.
So again, thank you. You guys are awesome, and I couldn’t have done it without you. I just hope that I didn’t drop the ball at the very end.
But the real question is “What now?” And that’s the question that I want to answer right now. If you’ve been following me for this long, I figure you guys deserve at least some information. So here’s my current plan for what’s next:
1. Relax. Like I said in an earlier blog post, I’ve literally been working on this story every day for the past two years. I’m going to take a week or so to decompress and clear my head a bit. This is mainly because I don’t have much time to do anything else before the next thing kicks in:
2. NaNoWriMo. I’ve wanted to take part in National Novel Writing Month for years, but I’ve never had the time to actually do so. I didn’t want to put my current stuff on hold in case I couldn’t regain my momentum, so this is a perfect time to take a swing at it. Gives me a chance to do something non-pony related before starting anything else. So I’ll be on a break from pony fic for the month of November (though I’ll try to keep everyone posted)
3. Clean Up Loose Ends. I have a bunch of unfinished oneshot and stuff that I started and never finished, so this is a good opportunity for me to get some of those done before starting anything long-term. I’m not sure exactly how long that will be, but probably not an exceptionally long time.
4. Begin Major Project. Then I start the next long-term project. At the moment, I haven’t decided precisely what it will be, but I do have about four ideas that I’m considering. I’m not going to give too much information about what they are, but I’ll just say this right now: it’s not going to be another romance/shipping story. After spending so long on this one, I’ll get burnout if I try to do anything too similar, and I really want to try to stretch myself by writing a different type of story.
So that’s what I’m planning on working on.
Anyway, while I’m here, here’s a question: If I did a sort of “followup” blog post to answer some questions about the story, would anybody be interested in reading it? You know, stuff like changes I made to the story, questions about the writing process, that sort of thing. If so, let me know in the comments, along with any questions. I can’t promise I’ll answer them all, but I figure I can answer a few if people really want to know. And if not, it saves me the time. :p
Again, thank you for reading. It’s been a blast.
What? it's over? Nooooooo
I saw the update but haven't had time to read it yet. But to know that it has ended?
I hate it when good stories end. Long as it was, it still feels too early >< and by that I don't mean that it was rushed, just that I, like every other reader of every other story, don't want a story to end.
It's been great fun! I enjoyed every minute of it, and I'm roud I got to be involved a few times as well.
Whooo, for shipping!
Woah.
Wow. It's over. It's almost hard to believe. Thanks for the blood, sweat, and tears you poured into this story. I look forward to seeing whatever it is you'll produce next. I'm sure it will be excellent.
Well then. You definitely didn't drop the ball at the very end. Maybe it didn't get as high as it could have been for me personally. I wouldn't have minded if it had been a bit more sappy, just maybe one touchy scene between AJ and Twilight after the wedding. But that's personal taste more then anything else. I am going to reread the whole thing at some point, and after I have done that I will comment again with the whole thing fresh in my mind. I have definitely enjoyed the story though, and I congratulate you for finishing it and thank you for writing it. As for the Q&A thing, I don't think I'd have any questions for it, but I would probably read it.
Good luck and have fun with NaNoWriMo.
Thank you so much for writing!
I love love LOVED your story! (Though I haven't been able to bring myself to read the final chapter yet. I'm feeling a bit like The Doctor in that regard – sometimes, I hate endings.
)
Anyways, I hope you have a great time in the future!
My goodness, it's finished! :D I remember reading it back late last year up to chapter 25 'The Triple Fool'. Since it wasn't finished at the time I went to read some others stories for a while...but massive effort mate, great stuff, 289,001 words and 36 chapters is no small feat. Now that's it finished I am going to start from the beginning again and read it through.
Relax well and good mate, ya deserve it.
I've never noticed your other stories before - I'll have to give you a watch so I remember to come check them out when I get some reading time ;-)
This story was fantastic. It's by far one of my favorite twijack stories. like everyone else I am disappointed to see it end. I would like to see a sequel based around maybe Twilight and Applejack getting a home together and starting a family but thats my opinion. Great job and i'm glad you stuck through.
I'm sad to see it be over but it was a great time we shared.
I haven't read it yet, but it's the ending I've been waiting for for a long time now.
Thanks for the story Jap.
So gone are the days I log in to see this has updated? I'm happy you finished it but sad to see it complete. This one fic has been the only thing keeping me coming here for the last year and a half. It really has been a blast. This story has been one of the few things I've looked forward to for a while now, so after I read this finale chapter I don't know what I'm going to do. I know you're going to take a break from writing, as you should, but I'd love to see some more one shots before you start your next big project.
If you do a follow up on this I'd like to know, why did you choose to write Twijack? When you started this ship was dead before it left port, so what got it in your head that you wanted to do this instead of say Twidash or Rarrjack?
Again, thank you for your hard work making this. Its been an experience. Oh, and if you'd be willing I know I'd be interested in any non pony stuff you write. I'd flip through a folder full of it every now and again.
I- uhh...
How to put this...
I suppose I should make this comment on the story itself, but since I haven't read it for the past three chapters, I suppose here is better than no-where...
Honestly, I think the story dragged on for a little too much... The conflict you built up grew weaker each time because it was just the same problems rising up again and again...
Twilight was worried about something she/AJ said/did and overreacted. AJ tried to calm her down without success until Twilight finally realised she was overreacting and then things continued on as normal...
And, to me, it felt like this for about 20 chapters out of the near 40~odd that there are.
Is there anything else I can really say about it? No... Not really. I mean, sure, it was a good story, you wouldn't have clocked >17k views if it wasn't. But I guess the issues I have with the story outweigh anything positive I can say that hasn't been mentioned before by what I assume to be countless other people.
So no, I probably won't finish reading it despite being so close to the end, but I just couldn't get it out of my head that we hadn't seen the issues and solutions less than 5 chapters ago.
I understand that Twilight would've freaked out every few minutes when they started dating, but after a year of being together, I'm sure she would've gotten over those insecurities... Or maybe I'm just not remembering it properly since I haven't read any of it since June...
Oh well...
I shall leave the favourite and up-vote as they are well earned, and I shall keep an eye on your updates, as the talent you hold is clearly evident. But I hope I'll be able to leave more substantial comments on anything else you've written....
Now excuse me while I go raiding through your library...
and also, if you did actually read this, feel free to remove this comment if you find anything I said to be unfounded.
2538245 Nah, it's completely fine. I'm not going to go through and delete every comment that isn't unbridled praise. That would just make me look like a hack
. When I started writing this, I knew that the pacing and relative lack of escalating conflict was going to turn some people off of the story, and that's okay. Different people like different things, and pleasing everybody is impossible.
At the very least, I appreciate that you actually took the time to write up your thoughts in a coherent manner rather than just snarking. This comment is way more substantial than most non-positive comments tend to be.
In any case, I can say that whatever my next fic is, I'm planning for it to be a bit faster paced, if only for the sake of a change of pace.
After reading the final chapter I can say this, 1. I teared up you wrapped it up so well, the speeches actually gave me chills and it all just was warm and actually emotional. 2. I love LOVE this fic, you are amazing. I know there are many complaints about the time and length, but to me it was right. You as a reader got carried along for the ride, experienced things as they happened and where part of even trivial things; it made it feel more real. The best part is you didn't have to rely on overly flashy things, or any flourish to make the story worth reading, going through some of the slower stuff actually felt good because it was great immersion. Was the conflict lack luster in some parts, maybe to some, personally I found it fitting. With as much of the back story of Twilight and AJ is filled with flashy things like saving Equestria and battling evil, the mundane actually seemed better. Seeing the Heroes of Equestria get flustered and stressed over small relationship things and then eventually bigger choices is a nice change of pace. Twilight's character development in her stress management is great because by the wedding she's got it down, able to keep it together and she has so much more confidence. I could go on and on about this but I'll stop here, You did amazing and I adore this fic it has captivated me from day 1 and I can honestly say i'd be able to read this more then once. Thank you for your devotion to this story, and I can't wait to see whats in store from you later! Good luck and I hope to see your work soon!
2540072 Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
wohoo! gratz!!
it must feel really amazing to get such a huge project behind you. I don't think I've ever worked on (and finished) something this big.
I think the story is deserving of the attention it has recevied, or at least for the most part (it is crazy popular). I will say that I felt like it was ceasing a little bit since the start (I think I was there from the first chapter onwards), but it never stopped being good. Sometimes, you established things a little bit too carefully/lengthy. The biggest thing that bothered me was that the CMC still didn't have their cutie marks after the big time jump, but that's really irrelevant to the plot. Something I did like a lot was how you never tried to force tension into a scene by making crazy stuff happen, and as a result, everything that happens flows very naturally. This is something I have a lot of appreciation for, contrived plot elements really a kill a story for me.
So, followup blog post. The problem here is that I (and probably most readers) don't have that good of an overview over the little things throughout the story, since the updates were spread across such a huge timespawn. Also, due to the low-key nature of the story, I can't really think of any questions I have left. So, I'm null here, but that's not because I don't care. if you do make a post, I'll certainly read it.
Oh boy it's completed, now time to finally read it x)