Canon Clashes & Story Updates

So, some of you who follow Pen Stroke may or may not have noticed that he posted the last two chapters of The Road Home within the last day. I'm down to the last chapter myself, but the second to last one caused me to stop for a little while to discuss something, as well as give an update on what's going on with my stories and how The Road Home will affect them.

Now I don't plan to give any spoilers as to what Pen Stroke put into his work, but it does bring up certain subjects regarding what he makes canon for the Past Sins storyline and what I have done with using his canon before The Road Home in my own stories. In this case, it falls heaviest on the already completed Twilight's Kingdom: Unite & Ascend, and the currently progressing Taismo: The Equestria Games. Disregarding how Cadance is still pregnant in The Road Home as my most recent Passing Times chapter for my latter mentioned story says differently, the biggest thing that caught my attention was how a scene in the second half of Yllisis Thgi Liwt contradicts with my closing chapter of Twilight's Kingdom: Unite & Ascend. To put it in short, both stories go in different directions as to how Twilight, Spike and Nyx handle losing the Golden Oak Library and what remained to be seen. This was a slight fear I had and have what I wanted to write go against the main Past Sins canon, but it didn't really surprise me to see it happen.

The point I want to make is that I don't mind having what I do contradict with what Pen Stroke's stories detail. The fact of the matter is that, as close to his canon as I would like to be to show my respect for his work, I try to stay closer to the canon of the show that inspires us to write these stories in the first place. At the same time, I take the FiM canon and add the twists that my ideas for my Taismo series come from, as I do enjoy combining the world of ponies we've come to know and love with the fictional universe I created for my favorite couple of all time. Although I don't exactly enjoy creating content that technically goes against Pen Stroke's visions for Nyx and his series of stories, I never mean to disrespect it and push my imagination forward to create my own ideas, and his are especially inspirational for what I've been working on for over a year now. Then again, I still need to remind myself that my ideas still send his and the show's canons askew in ways I hope fans don't see as disrespectful to either of them.

What can I say? Past Sins made me call myself a brony, Twilight is best pony and Nyx is best OC/fandom pony, Tails and Cosmo are my favorite couple of all time, and I love trying to find ways to combine them together for fun creative outlets and enjoyable stories to add to my Taismo canon. I just felt I needed to say all this because, like other stories in this fandom, I wanted to remind my readers that this is a world of my own design, and I don't want to drive others to disliking it because it doesn't fit main canons in every way.

Now, as for where my stories are going, in the last couple weeks I completed the Passing Times trilogy for Taismo: The Equestria Games, and am currently revising (and possibly expanding) the settings for the next chapter before posting it (I aim for late this month or early next month). Also, the debut of my newest tale Battery was done a few days later than expected, but family and work had to take priority for another couple days. I'm glad to see that story getting a stronger start than I anticipated, and I just posted the second chapter a few days ago. As I did, I was seeing just how big the word count was getting for these chapters and have been contemplating on a limit of minimum and maximum word counts to go with, as the first two chapters alone have put in over 16,000 words already. Because of this, and having come to a temporary break of writing to recollect my thoughts, the next chapter will be posted after I make some headway on writing and re-edit certain areas of the overall story. In the mean time, I've made promises that I still need to fulfill since last spring, among other things I'm working on right now.

The goal for the rest of the year is to get at least one more chapter for Battery up, and to reach one of the biggest efforts in Taismo: The Equestria Games, which will be at least two chapters as of right now. Otherwise I'll be continuing to write for both stories, with one reaching its home stretch as soon as my current drafts are finalized, but sad to say that my time triple-checking everything before I post tends to make progress so slow. Plus of course I have several concerts in the coming weeks that I'll be attending, a brony meetup for the Running of the Leaves, family commitments, and such other activities to spend my free time with as well. Hopefully I can get farther than what my goals are set to be, but only time will tell.

As for now, I'll be spending an evening with some bottles of various Octoberfest brews, listen to some new cds I got this week, and enjoy the last chapter of The Road Home before I see what Pen Stroke has planned next for a new story and another adventure for Nyx. I'll also be contemplating a search for part-time editors, so keep your eyes out for that. Thank you all for your continued support and stay metal \m/

-Jesus Manson, the Metalhead Brony