What comes next after Looking Glass · 10:08am Dec 25th, 2017
lol I posted the chapter early so I could sleep through my normal posting time, then I couldn’t sleep because years of being nocturnal have programmed me to not sleep at night I guess. Well, I was planning on making this blog post during the weekend, but since I’m up and killing time, I’ll do it now instead. Basically with Looking Glass’s completion only being a week away, people who have been avoiding other Who We Become stories until it’s over will want to know what to read next, and people who are caught up will want to know what I’m writing next. Or that’s the hope, anyway. It’s a complicated answer, so sorry in advance for the long blog. And unfortunately, I have nothing but bad news this time around 
The shit chronology of Who We Become
People who are caught up on WWB can skip this section, y’all already know I’m a mess (I’ve also mentioned this in the comments of the story, so if you’ve seen it there, you can also skip this).
It’s probably not as bad as that big bold text up there makes it sound, but I’ve kinda made a mess of the series chronology. I’m working on fixing that now (Looking Glass was the start of that) but it’s still a work in progress. Basically, my Who We Become can be divided into two connected storylines – the Equestria story and the human world story. I started writing this series in Equestria and figured I could fill the human story in whenever I get around to it, but I now believe that was a mistake, primarily because Sunset Shimmer is very important to both storylines. While the Equestrian story could be read in a very straightforward manner right now, it would involve a huge gap in Sunset’s story as a character.
This will be fixed after I write one more story, Looking Glass’s direct sequel (more on that in the next section). The current working title is Unwritten, but that’s only a reference to the fact that I keep referring to it as “Looking Glass’s unwritten sequel” and has nothing at all to do with the story itself, so I’ll have something else before posting it. I’ll keep calling it Unwritten in this blog, just for convenience. but for right now, it’s still something to consider. There are a couple more Who We Become stories you can read right now without worrying about the gap, though. Inner Strength is the first pony story I’ve written, and the beginning of Equestria’s side of Who We Become. It takes place after Looking Glass but before Unwritten. It doesn’t have much of Sunset at all (she only plays a supporting role via the journal) and everything takes place in Equestria, so while it is part of the same universe as Looking Glass, don’t expect much in the way of a direct connection between the fics.
I’ve also written a short story called By Bloor or Choice which takes place while Fluttershy and Rainbow are teenagers and covers Rainbow moving to Ponyville. Being a story set well before Equestria Girls, it has nothing to do with Sunset or the human world at all. It’s also an optional side story for the series, mainly for people interested in seeing an exploration of Shy and Dash’s history together.
So those two are simple enough, but then it hits a snag with Finding Home. Finding Home is the direct sequel to Inner Strength and the direct sequel to Unwritten. Basically, the timeline for Sunset Shimmer’s story would be Looking Glass→ Unwritten→ Finding Home. Reading Finding Home before reading Unwritten will definitely spoil Unwritten. Up to you how much you care about that, and while it will spoil Unwritten, you definitely won’t need to read Unwritten to understand Finding Home (I mean, obviously. FH was completed like a year and a half ago now lol)
This wouldn’t be so bad, since even if you decide to wait for Unwritten it’ll be the next WWB story I write, but...
I’m taking a break from writing pony
Yeah. I’m not happy about it either, to be honest. But I feel like I’m finally at a place where I could write something with enough quality to get published, and I’m very tired of being poor. So the plan is to try writing something original that I like and see if I can make a living off words (not shooting for a best seller, just hoping to not need another job). If that fails, the plain is to sell out hardcore and write paperback romances or something. Either way, I’m hoping to get back to pony words ASAP, since that’s really what I’m passionate about. I don’t know when that will be, but I’m absolutely sure it’s happening. I swear I’m going to outlast this fucking fandom if I have to, but I’m getting to the end of Who We Become if it kills me!
If you skipped the last section, my next project is Looking Glass’s direct sequel, currently under the working title Unwritten. Unfortunately, it’s not the story you probably want it to be. Hell, it’s not the story I want it to be. I’d love to do a story that takes place in between EqG 1 and Rainbow Rocks, detailing Sunset slowly opening up to being friends with the mane six, but that’s not the plan. Partly because Albinocorn pretty much wrote the book on the subject already via Long Road to Friendship, but mostly because I already spent way too long on Looking Glass, I’m taking this break to write non-horsey stuff, and I have an insane amount of stories planned for this series. I can’t afford to meander along with a story that ultimately wouldn’t serve a purpose (arguably Looking Glass doesn’t serve a purpose since we already know who Sunset is via the movies, but at least it gives a lot of backstory that will be relevant in future stuff, and even that I’m wondering if I should’ve done something else that wouldn’t’ve taken over a damn year to do).
Instead, this story will focus on a future relationship of Sunset’s, and if you’ve read Finding Home, you know what I’m talking about. It’ll be a novel-length slice of life romantic drama, so similar to a large body of m work while being different from LG. It will utilize a lot of the stuff introduced in LG, however. The story will go from just before the beginning of their relationship and complete right at the beginning of Finding Home, and once again if you’ve read that, you probably have an idea of what I mean 
(Incidentally, the fact that people do know what I mean is the whole problem I have with WWB being told out of order; I hate that so many readers will already know the ending).
There is also a very small chance I’ll be writing a non-WWB pony story. It’d be something I do concurrently with the original novel for fun (since I really don’t even want to write this original novel and may want a pony break here and there). That would be a Fluttershy x Nightmare Moon AU story I’ve had some ideas for. Maybe set in the alternate timeline from the season five finale, but probably just an AU unto itself. It’d be a pretty dark story about a relationship that isn’t actually healthy, because I need drama to sustain myself. If I do this, it’ll be an “update whenever” story since I’d be writing it in my downtime. But this story is 100% dependant on if I feel like doing pony in my downtime; I may just want to get away from words lol
On a totally unrelated note, does anyone here play Tiny Tower? If so, hit me up and we can swap friend codes 
I started reading your stories with "Finding Home" because I was more interested with Sunset Shimmer goes back to Equestria stories at that point.(I still am and especially if you mix it up with humans from EQ Girls visiting Equestria like it happened in Chapter 22 and its follow up "In Pieces")
So I am more interested whats gonna happen in the future than what happened in the past.
Small cliffhanger in at the End of Chapter 22 in Finding Home.
Still happy about every story that closes the gap and gives more hints how Sunsets relationships developed.
Especially Human Applejack and Sunset.
Merry Christmas to you
I am kinda taking a break from reading pony myself, so I'm in no hurry for you to write the next story. I'm following you, so when the next thing can come, I shall know. You are one amazing writer and I'm so happy you are so passionate about pony, a fandom I will always love.
Super good luck with your original work!
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Hopefully Underwritten will take a lot less time to write than Looking Glass did and I can get back to moving the story in New directions rather than elaborating on things I've already touched on. And don't worry, there's definitely going to be more stuff with the humane six coming to Equestria, especially Applejack who's going to continue being a major part of Sunset's life 
I'm honestly most looking forward to getting back to the future if the series as well
Merry Christmas
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Thank you for both the compliment and well wishes, and 
You can always expect me to be around the fandom somewhere or other
We can basically produce a footnotes version of Unwritten based off of Finding Home.
Honestly I don't think I personally would be as interested in the relationship due to knowing a summary of it. I wouldn't be surprised if I enjoyed it, but I think it'd be interesting to see Shimmers thoughts throughout. Presumably, the visions were caused by a mix of new hormones/anatomy, trying to deny her own memories, and new found fear of Celestia. So I doubt she'd have quite so many vivid hallucinations.
That is to say, I dont have the imagination to conjure an interesting version of the story. You've given me every reason to believe that despite that, you can craft an interesting story when you want to. I cannot wait to see what happens. Until then, I'ma read In Pieces.
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Sadly, I do think Unwritten will be less interesting to people who have read Finding Home. But I think it'll be better for new readers to be able to read that story without piecing it together from references in FH, which is half the reason I'm writing it. There are at least some things planned for Unwritten that weren't mentioned in Finding Home, or were only hinted at. It's a bit like if you skipped a season on a show. By the time you go back and watch what you missed, you already know how all the plotlines resolve even if not every detail, but others will be better off if they don't skip things. (This is fully my fault for leaving a gap like this, and has been my biggest regret with the series)
Aside from that, we've only ever seen Sunset's side of things. I intend to expand on what happens with the rest of the mane six (particularly Fluttershy) after Sunset goes back to Equestria, which will be much better set up via Unwritten.
Anyway, I hope that it's still able to live up to your expectations, and even if the story doesn't have enough new in it to really wow you, that you'll still find it interesting enough to be enjoyable.