Happy Trails, and a note on fanfiction about fanfiction

Howdy readers,

Last weekend, I uploaded three chapters of Bon Hadescream. The story is now marked "Complete". After forty chapters and three years, I feel that the story has reached a satisfactory conclusion. More could be done, yes, but all loose ends have been tied off and all immediate conflict has been resolved. The story stands on its own, and I'm thankful to all the fans who have read it. If you haven't checked out Bon Hadescream yet, now is the perfect time, since you won't be waiting on me to post that next update! If you've read it all, give some of my other stories a try!

Ever since I first joined FiMfiction, I have been impressed with the quality of the community. While none of my stories have become "extremely popular", all have received constructive feedback from readers, and enjoyed positive ratings. I have always tried to deliver quality reading material, and I'm humbled to see how many folks have enjoyed my work over the years. I have always taken time to read comments, be they positive or negative, and I have often been impressed by the quality of the responses. The community here is fantastic, and I'm honored to have been part of it for all this time.

I have been asked on several occasions if another author may base a fanfiction off of my fanfiction. I wish to put down for the record my stance on such work, as well as my reasoning. Since I am not a lawyer, I will attempt to state my desires in plain language. Given that this website is dedicated to fanfiction based on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic franchise, and that I am in no way attempting to realize monetary gain from the writings I have posted here, I feel that I am unable to say "no" to such a request. "Freely we received, freely we must give", as the old and wise saying goes. In my own works, I have always tried to credit those who influenced me, even when it revealed that I was perhaps being rather unoriginal. Therefore, I ask that anyone who does base a story on anything I have written provides such a hat-tip. Also, a link back to the story that acted as inspiration would be appreciated if such a link is feasible. Everything I have put the efforts of my mind into creating is of course still the product of my labor, just as everything you will create is the product of yours. I do not wish to give away any control over what I have already created. Also, I ask that anyone who "plays with these toys" is kind to them. An author has considerable power in her pen, and we who write must never forget that every character in a story is at the mercy of we vengeful, imperfect deities who rule their cosmos. Because of these things, if you do choose to use anything I write as inspiration or foundation, please give credit and strive to do the borrowed ideas justice. (Those two rules of thumb will get you very far in life outside of ponywriting, too!)

I wish to say thank you to all of you. I don't think I can ever say it enough. Writing has always been a hobby of mine, a way to exorcise the stories from my mind by trapping them with words. I've participated in writing clubs in real life, poetry readings, and even given a few speeches. Too many speeches, actually, most not at all related to writing... However, on here, I feel that I have been able to write for people who honestly enjoy my work. There's something downright magical about that feeling. I described it to one reader, who recently private-messaged me to thank me as though my ramblings had done him some good when I'm quite sure it was just his own mojo, as "writing for someone who gets it." The feeling of writing a story to your own quality standards, because you want to write and post it, but after you have published you hope or know that at least one reader will look at the tale, get your references, enjoy your jokes, and be enriched by reading the scene you have conveyed through text. I know I've achieved that with quite a few readers because I have read their comments. Some are short, some are long, but all explain how and why they enjoyed the story from their own personal perspective. It's not an easy thing to accomplish, this conveying of a story as you envisioned it to someone else, but it is a good thing.

There are many folks on the Internet (and off-web as well) who mock MLP : FiM viewers. If we're honest, there are quite a few bat-guano crazy individuals in our fandom who are worthy of mockery because of their inane habits. However, I have interacted with countless upstanding people who enjoy The Show because it is a light-hearted romp that tries to convey lessons about good values. That's something sorely missing in modern entertainment. Yes, The Show has its flaws, and some episodes are better than others... but I found it enjoyable because it reminds me of older cartoons that were not designed for "kids" or "adults". They were designed for families. Parents and kids, enjoying something together. I've met good folks on this website, and bad folks too. The good far outnumber the bad in my personal experience, and I'm glad to have been part of this community.

Now, after all those paragraphs of retrospective, I suspect this is where I am supposed to put the part about "officially leaving". But that's not how I look at this. Long ago, I posted a blog about how I saw many of the webcomics I had long enjoyed suddenly vanishing from the face of the Internet, available only in web archives if they were available at all. Others were left half-finished, their creators suddenly dropping off the grid and their fans left wondering how the story would have ended. At that time, I committed to a steady "one blogpost a week" heartbeat of updates, even when I wasn't able to post new content. Because of that, I have kept in touch with this community and my readers. All my stories are now complete, and they stand well on their own. FiMfiction is hosted by Knighty, so I don't think the stories I've posted are going anywhere. There is no longer a need for these heartbeat updates, especially since I do not know when or if I'll ever be able to post more stories. The job is complete, and the lone cowboy may ride off into the sunset while the credits roll. While I doubt I can achieve such a dramatic exit with this long-winded and slightly tearful blogpost, I do feel that there is no further need to spam y'all's feeds with weekly updates! That's also why I didn't post a blog last weekend. I was too busy posting three chapters worth of Bon Hadescream, and figured that would do just as well.

Finally, I will still be checking up on my stories, reading comments, and generally lurking. I also have a bunch of unpublished content for Bon Hadescream on my hard disk that needs heavy editing before it can be allowed to see the light of day. There's also another story or two in my noggin, and if I ever get time I might write them down. But for the foreseeable future, this account will be in low-activity mode. So, don't think of this as a "goodbye". This is more of a...

Happy Trails, and thanks for reading,
-Bubblepipe Wrangler

Comments

[FamousLastWords]

I've enjoyed the ride, man. Happy trails.

[Marcthelightspark2004]

And he never came back.