For clarification about chapter 70 of The Mask Makes the Pony · 12:34am Mar 15th, 2017
So, I took a nap earlier after posting the chapter, and when I wake up, I have private messages asking me what the hell is going on.
I'll quote Dlaf rferg:
I just realized something and now I feel stupid.
Leader of Manehatten attack is Belladonna. Belladonna is Sumac's mom. "Mother stole a piece of her son's soul." "Grogar needs many specialised magics, sorcerer, Moon Rose..." Twinkleshine gave up a bit of her soul for Sumac. Sumac had a bit of his soul taken by Belladonna for Grogar.
Yes. This chapter contains a reference to Sumac.
I honestly thought I had made it pretty clear, but I was wrong, it seems, and for that, I am sorry. I'm not quite sure what to say here, but that I thought it was obvious. Maybe it wasn't.
It's a pretty big event that happens off screen, but it will be written in more detail later. The issue is that this story takes place further ahead of where Sumac's current timeline is. The intersections aren't so neat and tidy. 
If there is any lingering questions on this issue, I'll be glad to answer any questions.
It's a detail that came up in Twilight's School mostly, yeah?
4456402
What?
I don't follow. I cannot parse this statement.
Maybe a gentle reminder in the authors note at a 'crossover between characters in the verse' chapter, please refer to the timeline if in doubt?
We all don't know what went wrong?
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...and for Gestation of Swans giggles...
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4456414
The Soul Tear events haven't been written yet. How do I effectively point to a chapter when this is the case?
4456417 Maybe an additional entry on the timeline showing position of 'Soul Tear - the Manehatten incident' with (reference as yet to be written) after it temporarily. As an example a lot of the Star Wars novella had single page blurbs at the end to advertise that later books of the series are being written with working titles given, sometimes a pre-edited extract shown to hint at the story, so we knew to look out for them. Not saying you need to go to that length here though.
4456426
Really, the issue seems to be, people just forgot the ever-so-important detail that Belladonna is Sumac's mother and because of this, failed to grok that mother ripping soul from her own son = Belladonna stealing a portion of Sumac's soul. That seems to summarise the issue at hand, from my perspective. People either forgot or just didn't connect who or what Belladonna was. It was an important detail that I believed was hammered home enough at this point that I thought it would be enough of a framework to form a conclusion based on the evidence presented.
Now, I am immensely stressed and worried because this connection was just not made for a lot of people, meaning that the context was lost. Which bothers me. A lot.
4456408
Sorry, the detail that Belladonna gave birth to Sumac was mostly if not entirely discussed in PTSSFFF, correct?
4456438 Sorry I took it as people not getting stories in sequence or something. still to read the chapter as only just woke up this morning late, yet to read the comments in full.
Having huge tiredness issues lately, ties in to this warfarin replacement they've given me now.
4456448
Yes.
Do you have, like, a diagram or a literal timeline that shows when each story takes place in the Weedverse. It can be so confusing trying to figure out which off-screen events have happened, lol.
4456455
Yes. Check the forum group.
4456438
Kudz, it's not on you. You've noted before that people don't pay attention to the details. It is likely many noted the info about Belladonna, thought 'nice', then proptly ignored it. I only got the connection when her name came up, not being sure who the mother-son combo was until then
4456472
Doesn't stop me from freaking out though.
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4456472 Everytime Belladonna comes up I keep likening Sumac to Frodo Baggins and his mother Belladonna Took.
4456488 That fool of a Took!
People were confused by that? For anyone following more than just Mask Sumac's mother's name is hardly a secret, and these events really weren't a secret to anyone who read Quesadilla.
Fantastic Foals covered who Sumac's parents were several times. Quesadilla Conquest covered the soul stealing incident, and it was referenced again in Mud Monsters as a reminder. So all of the context needed can be found in currently completed stories. I suppose some people just can't keep a mental map/ timeline of events as evenly.
This is why people should ask the comments these things. More often than not someone will be very happy to parse all of the details together, deflecting unnecessary stress from the author.
The poison, for kuzco, kuzcos poison, the poison specifically made for kuzco.
This was a pretty "hang on, what did I miss?!" moment when it came up in Quesadilla Conquest. It's one of the things I like about the weedverse, the little built-in cross-referencing teasers here and there.
4456568
To be fair some a lot of readers don't read every story in the Weedverse (I never read the Stinkbug the Unwanted story nor had much interest in Dogged Determination for instance) and it can come as a little bit of a shock first time coming across a big spoiler for another story. It is a pitfall of reading multiple different interconnected stories and they will get over it.
4456599 I'm sure that happens a lot, but in general the best way to find answers are in the comments or by looking into stories that one missed. Looking for which characters are involved majorly in which stories usually will point you in the right direction. I see messaging the author of a story as an absolute last resort personally I suppose.
For example, when reading Horrendous Hypothesis I had the question, "Who the buck is this Tarnished Teapot character?" I looked around through the Weed World group and found that he came from The Weed, and that it was the first story. Turns out the answer was a little bit longer than I had expected, but I did find it.
Horrendous Hypothesis was a weird story to jump into this whole continuum from. So many questions the first time around...
4456505
That took a fool! Wait....
4456609
A lot of people never read the comments apparently.
And then there are the people who admit to just skimming through a story chapter, but still are somehow angry with me for leaving hard to find references and major plot points.
This is the sort of stuff that left me paranoid and stressed out over writing Skyreach.
Asking people to pay attention leaves them outraged.
4456609
I started with Horrendous Hypothesis as well and don't think I actually started reading The Weed until after being deep into Perilous Romance of Swans and Twilight's School for Fantastic Foals. In fact I think I read all of Venomous Iocist before reading The Weed......which is kind of going to cause some spoiling.
4456617 "Asking people to pay attention leaves them outraged."
This isn't the most diplomatic response, but it is likely the one I would end up linking them to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx9gk83QLo4
For those who truly have difficulty keeping all of the details together, I suppose someone could put together a list of important events from each story. tThat would get unwieldy fast however. Complex stories are complex; people need to accept that full understanding requires careful reading, and sometimes it might require going back to a story and re-reading parts of it. It comes with the territory.
Some peeps will always be angry though. 9 times out of 10 it is their job to fix that problem, not yours. If the resources are available then they know what they need to do to solve their dilemma.
Bah, jut keep writing good horse words. There are a lot of people who do appreciate them, cross-story references and all!
4456620 I think I was actually halfway through Fantastic Foals before I actually finished The Weed. The first time I tried it the first few chapters turned me off, and I took a break from it. Once I managed to get to Maud's intro and realized that Mr. Teakettle wasn't going to be an idiot for the rest of the story I fell in love with it and started reading the rest in the general order of release, not counting new stories that were coming out at the time.
The series definitely can be daunting at times. Current word estimates are around 1.5 million for all released content, which is a big time commitment, especially adding in re-readings to soak in more detail. Worth it though, this is basically everything that I wanted from the MLP universe looked at through a mature lens. My only gripe is that it's hard to share with other people due to the nature of fan-fiction, being that I'd have to introduce them to MLP, get them to watch most of it, then convince them to read a 1.5 mil word set of stories based on it. That's probably not going to happen.
When other poeple say confusing, I say genius.
The thing I love the most in a story is world building, and you do it perfectly. The only downside to this is that your stories jump a little in time, and for a beginner (and old readers) it's not perfectly clear what's the right order to read the stories.
I know that I hesitated a long time before reading Quesadilla Conquest because I thought it was just a comedy story about nothing, when there's a lot of world building in it.
For this chapter, I didn't understand the reveal at first either. I was like "wtf are we talking about here? Belladonna... Moon Rose... I feel like I know them..."
And then 10 minutes later "OMFG BELLADONNA IS SUMAC'S MOTHER" and I remembered Quesadilla and my mind was blown.
So for me you definitely did something right kudz.
It took me a second, but I figured it out pretty quick, and I honestly don't look too hard. Your stories are always consistant and I know you'll either explain things or the comments will. Keep doing you, just ignore those special people that can't remember who Sumac's mother is.
I have a suggestion to assist in understanding without being too obtrusive. For each chapter, if there are any significant references to events in other stories in the weedverse that provide important context then you can make a quick note of it in the author's note space at the end. An example for Chapter 70 of TMMTP would be like this:
While I can sympathize with your worry about not being understood I enjoy the way you treat the "camera" in your writing with the perspective of the narrator being the sole means of context, it provides a more intimate way of experiencing the story for the reader and I don't think that should change. However, since we have the power of the internet at our disposal you can use author's notes to provide a small amount of important information to make sure everyone understands what is significant if not exactly how or why, at least from other weedverse stories, I wouldn't find notes about events in the same story to be warranted.
I feel like it's a good compromise.
4456855
Hmm, maybe.
4456861
Full disclosure, I don't personally feel like you need to change anything, but if you want to I think that format wouldn't be too labor intensive nor too illuminating. Most importantly, you do yo.
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I got it! The only thing I didn't get was that Sumac and Pebble were also in Manehattan (I thought the attacks were separate), but that would likely have become clear as Flicker and crew investigated.
You generally do a good job of keeping things work-out-able, as the fact that the comments sections generally have the answers proves. Don't worry too much about people who won't pay attention. You're telling a story that asks a lot of its readers, and that's not what everyone wants to read.
Kudz, it was pretty clear, I'm just stupid.
And also have a bad memory.
4456905
The main character's aren't going after their killers either, just to find out what instigated the initial attack.
4456979 Sorted it. Thanks for being patient with me.
4456982
No worries.
It's vague on purpose. Doctor Sterling doesn't know what is going on any more than the reader does. Facts are sketchy at best and details will only come at a trickle.