A Deadline, and Some Thoughts on the S5 Finale Et Al (Unmarked Spoilers Below) · 9:11am Dec 2nd, 2015
After far too long of off-and-on work on Desert Spice, I'm roughly halfway through the chapter. I've just been having so much trouble writing Horizon and his perspective... and I've also been prepping for the actuarial probability exam (which I failed, again), applying for colleges (which I've gotten into at least one of), and just generally being lazy when I wasn't doing those things.
Right now, though, for a number of reasons, I have a lot less on my plate. Accordingly, I've decided that I'm going to have the next chapter of Desert Spice written by Christmas of this year. That gives me a little more than three weeks at this point. Bring it on.
Thoughts and spoilers after the break.
Mainly, I'd like to say that we've had a good season. The CMC got their marks (in my new favorite episode of all time, by the way), the Mane 6 got to strike down an Orwellian cult in the name of freedom and individuality, and tons of other fun was had as well. Also, Pinkie became a likable character again, redeeming herself from her season 4 status as Worst Pony. Bookplayer had a blog post on many people enjoying this season so much because of its focus on worldbuilding, and I'm inclined to agree with him there. They've given us so much fanfic fuel between Griffonstone, "Slice of Life," and the season finale. "Slice of Life" was what convinced me to write MHE, and oh boy did the finale give us a lot of amazing stuff to work with itself.
Speaking of the finale, I really enjoyed it up until the end. Specifically, I didn't enjoy Starlight's rather lame Start of Darkness or her lightning-fast redemption and subsequent being immediately befriended by the Mane 6.
When you had destroyed the world but went back in time to get the big happy ending... Image courtesy of Know Your Meme.
The more I think about the stuff I didn't like about the finale, though, the less I dislike them. While I maintain that they did not stick the landing and it could have been done better, I can't say that it came too far out of left field or that the writers were wrong to do as they did. Starlight already had an established history of disproportionate retribution that made it believable that she'd have a life-altering flip-out at her friend being taken away by his calling in life. As for her sudden heel-face turn, it's hardly the most egregious example of such in the show's history. 
As much as this stuff continues to bug me, I figure I'll get over it by the time the next season rolls around and we start having adventures with Starlight as a protag. Maybe she'll turn out to be sort of like a Sunset Shimmer that actually had a chance of destroying Equestria. 
Seriously, though, I have faith in the writers. They managed to turn a toy commercial for a new pretty pink princess into the episode that launched a thousand fics about changelings, and they managed to make a hollow cash grab at the Monster High demographic into a collection of movies that don't suck. I'm looking forward to season 6.
As for the awesome of the season 5 finale: Look at all those timelines! (Well, except for the Flim-Flampocalypse one. I think Diamond Tiara would have been a far more believable choice. 
) As with many, if EqD and the Fimfiction feature box are any kinds of judge, my favorite timeline was the one where Hitler won WWII King Sombra didn't get curb stomped before he could get his war machine rolling. I just know there's going to be a pony with a fully combat-capable prosthesis on the monster hunting team, if only so I can get a crack at describing how such a thing would work. I'm thinking it has something to do with a pony's morphic field and how that relates to phantom limbs...
Anyhow, back on the subject of my writing. I'm really looking forward to working on Monster Hunter: Equestria again. I'm thinking of changing up my proposed update schedule so I complete two chapters of that to every one of Desert Spice, since work on MHE seems to go so much faster since I'm not nearly as worried about getting things I'm unfamiliar with perfect.
Now let's see if I can get the scene with the Terra's Tabernacle of the Eternal Flame done by Thursday night...
Good luck with the deadline! And thanks for the thoughts. :)
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Thanks, and you're welcome!
I really need to sit down and catch up on this season, then finish it.
Looking forward to those new chapters though. And good luck with the education-related stuff.
I'm with you in terms of liking the premiere the more I think about it. Once I got the initial bad taste of Starlight's redemption out of my mouth, there was a lot to like, and even her turn to the Light Side wasn't as rushed as I thought.
Looking forward to Desert Spice.
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It's a great season. I'd recommend checking it out at your earliest convenience, especially "Crusaders of the Lost Mark." That episide was inspiring.
Thanks for the luck-wishing! I'll be sure to put it to good use. I, too, am looking forward to the chapters I plan to complete.
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I think it was one of your blogposts that got the ball rolling on my reevaluating the finale's final minutes, so thanks for that. Which alt timeline was your favorite, incidentally?
I, too, am looking forward to Desert Spice's next chapter. It's finally going to deliver on one of the themes I promised.
I thought the alternate timelines were pretty cool to see. Starlight's backstory may have kind of fallen flat, in my opinion, but overall I think the episode was pretty good.
Also, that Undertale pic is surprisingly fitting.
Starlight, did you forget the price you payed to remake this world?
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Glad you liked the picture. I'd been looking for an excuse to bust it out.