New Firefly chapter soon... · 1:50am Sep 5th, 2016
Punched out a full chapter draft in three days. Awaiting prereads, then it will go live. But this time, I'm not going to give you a chapter preview.
Instead, I'm going to present something that was written in its parent story, The Lawyer and The Unicorn, which will give you some idea of coming attractions. To set the scene... Twilight Sparkle is now on trial in the dream realm for magically manipulating Phoenix Wright, forcing him to fall in love with her against his will. She is being tried by The Nightmare--the entity who once possessed Princess Luna, now seeking a new host--and defended by an angelic Mia Fey, with Phoenix Wright himself as co-counsel, and the rest of Twilight's friends now being pulled in for moral support and potential Element of Harmony activation. Standing guard to make sure The Nightmare does not escape except in Twilight's body... are the spirits of the Bolt Knights, along with those of Layan Kaval's Red Talons at their side.
If that's too meta for you, then I simply invite you to read this rather telling scene where you'll learn a few interesting things about the heroes of Rise of Firefly from a very unlikely source...
Rainbow Dash sat up and rubbed her eyes with her hooves as if she was sleepy. “Huh? What’s going on? Where am I?”
“Ah’m asking the same question right now!” Applejack took in the scene, her eyes glancing back and forth between Rarity on the witness stands and the two Phoenixes. “What is this? And who are all these… others?” she looked around at the mingled spirits in some confusion.
“Ooo… they’re ghosties!” Pinkie explained, then gave a wave. “Hey girls!”
“Uh… hey Pinkie. And say what now?” a still-skeptical AJ asked. “Ghosties?”
“Yepyep! They’re all dead! They came to make sure that black snooty down there doesn’t escape! Gather she hurt them all when they were living!” Pinkie explained with the same matter-of-fact air she would recite a weather schedule with.
“Black snooty?” Rainbow blinked, then fully noticed The Nightmare. “Hey! What are you doing back? And what’s with that weird red-suited Nix? Is this a prank, Pinkie?” she gave her friend an askance look.
She shook her head but answered brightly. “Sorry, Dashie, but this is no joke! Twilight’s in trouble, and we have to help save her!”
“Twilight?” Rainbow Dash belatedly noticed her sitting in the defendant’s seat. “What’s she on trial for? And why’s Trixie of all ponies presiding?” she gave a look of distaste.
“Good to see you too, Rainbow Trash,” Trixie smirked, causing the hot-blooded pegasus to growl and take a step towards her. “But since your element is Loyalty and not Intelligence, allow The Great and Powerful Trixie to enlighten you all…” She closed her eyes and put her hoof to her chest.
Swiftly, the situation was explained by the showmare, but to Phoenix’s annoyance, all Rainbow Dash did was laugh. “Oh, come on! You can’t be serious, Trixie! I admit this is either a really weird dream or really cool prank, but who would really think we’re watching a trial for Twilight’s soul with a bunch of stiffs? I mean really, what pony could possibly believe…” Her voice trailed off as her gaze went around courtroom pit, locking onto one of the pony spirits.
“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!” she exclaimed as her hooves went to her cheeks, trying and failing miserably to keep her voice down and excitement under control as she pointed with a trembling hoof to the nearest Bolt Knight, a very chiseled stallion with a pale coat and gold mane with a cutie mark of a jagged lightning bolt. “That’s Thunderbolt! They have a statue of him at the Junior Speedsters’ camp! He single-hoofedly saved Cloudsdale on the first night of the war! And wow, Wind Whistler? Master strategist and tactician! She could outthink and outfly anypony!” she recited next, continuing counterclockwise around the courtroom pit.
“Holy hayseeds, that’s Swift Strike! Nopony was better with blades than him! And Blindside…? She could fly through a hail of arrows and never be touched! Nopony could lay a hoof on her!” she gushed in turn, her jaw dropping a little further with each turn of her head. “Fell Flight! She brought the bat-ponies back into the fold and could take on a hundred gryphons at once! And there’s Sky Sentry! He took down a slew of dragons and there’s still a monument to him at Fort Spur!” she recited in rapid-fire, apparently unaware she was clutching a slightly bemused Applejack in her excitement.
“Remind me never to take you to a Daring Do convention, Trash,” Trixie facehoofed as the Bolt Knights themselves wore smiles that ranged from tolerant to very pleased.
“She’d have to start reading first…” a partially rousted Twilight muttered under her breath, responding to the voices of her friends despite the Nightmare’s influence.
“To use the current human parlance, your descendant seems a bit of a ‘fangirl’, Captain,” Layan Kaval noted to Firefly in some amusement.
“Aye, that she is. But methinks she can be forgiven. Truth be told, she reminds me of myself at that age,” Firefly responded, the barest hint of a smile on her face. “Supremely talented, a bit arrogant for it… and almost as good as she thinks she is. ’Tis certain the potential is there, though. Methinks with proper training, she could even surpass me.”
Rainbow’s jaw dropped open. “You… you mean it?”
“I do indeed.” She closed her eyes and grinned. “And perhaps one day you will get the chance to ‘show your quality’.”
“And just who the hay are you?” Applejack was unimpressed until Rainbow elbowed her sharply.
“Are you blind, AJ?” she whispered urgently. “That’s Firefly!”
Applejack’s eyes went wide as even she recognized that name, and she swiftly removed her hat in respect. “Hero of Equestria and savior of the earth ponies at Stalliongrad? Well now,” she bowed her head deeply. “I don’t say this often, but… it’s a real honor to meet you.”
“And you as well, noble Applejack,” Firefly bowed back. “I knew some of your ancestors and you do them great credit. It gratifies me greatly to know such a strong and honorable pony as yourself has formed such deep bonds with my kin.”
“If the dead are through being fawned over by the living, may we please proceed?” The Nightmare asked in annoyance. “I have a host to gain, and now two worlds to conquer...”
If you want to know more, you know where to go, with the usual caveat that the story is quite adult. If not, just take this as an example of how closely I'm tying the two stories together, and look for the new Firefly chapter in the next couple days!
Looks like things are gonna start getting interesting...
That is the most compelling argument for me to begin reading TLaTU. Is it intrinsically necessary to read turnabout storm? I won't mind either way, I'd just like to read TS first if it's recommended to do so.
4192652 You might be able to get away with it, but I'd suggest at least skimming it.
It isn't as good as TLATU in my eyes, though, but that's just my opinion. It's generally good, but definitely has some low points.
The romance was nowhere near as well handled in Turnabout Storm EX than in TLATU, in my eyes. The world building in TSEX, however... My God, that's good.
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i would personally recommend reading "TSEX" before the one with,sex
it's a very good read,and the comment section is worth looking at too
4193182 TSEX has the word Sex in it. I just realised.
It's meant to be "Turnabout Storm EX" which I use to refer to it, sort of inspired by Sonic Adventure DX Directors Cut. Vaguely.
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Indeed they will. Consider it hints of things to come.
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Necessary? No. Helpful and recommended? Honestly, yes. The -EX version as it seems to have been unofficially named adds a lot of additional storytelling and content, worldbuilding and character development over the videos. I'm responsible for most of it, having edited the first 2/3rds of it and written the last third with some help from Leo Archon and even TheGoldGrow.
There are a series of bonus chapters describing events not told in the videos (like what happened in the morning before the second day of trial), a couple new subplots including a romance one (obviously), and you'll also learn Trixie's backstory and why she hates Twilight when, her case lost, she lashes out at Twilight and fights a magic duel with her--in a nutshell, they're two sides of the same coin in more ways than one. There's also an extended ending with two short additional trials (1-3 chapters) as Phoenix sticks around to take care of a couple loose ends, you might say, with a different judge and some surprising prosecutors.
The romance angle... was handled slightly clumsily to start, but got better as it went along. I am planning to make another pass on the story eventually to try to smooth things out, but I'm quite proud of how it turned out in the very end. So my recommendation is to read it and enjoy, and then you can fully enjoy TLaTU. Thanks for the interest!
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Well, with three recommendations like that, both stories have now been added to my read later pile!