What you need to know about the future of "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth" and the reason why it was written + Insights into the writing process

So, here we are, the blog entry about "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth" that I promised four days ago!
I am going to talk a bit about the writing process, why I decided to write it and, most importantly, when I will continue it.

This fic is, as some of you might have guessed already, an investment in the future. The decision to write it has been made very spontaneously after I saw the announcement of GaPJaxie's writing contest "The Next Generation".
As some others of you might have guessed already, as well, this fic was written in direct response to the kind of contest GaPJaxie was organizing.
Now you can see my response via this fic as criticism of the contest's rules or maybe even as attempt at sabotaging it to some extent (bad pony if you assume the worst, though) as the fic goes very clearly against the rules of the contest and could not qualify for one of the prizes because of that, but was written and submitted by me in spite of that.
But for me, the important thing is that I wanted to send a certain message with my outlaw participation. GaPJaxie's contest, as noble as the intent behind it might have been, gave the impression that, once Generation 4 of My Little Pony is over and if we do not get to see the Equestria we know in Generation 5 again, every author here should rather go and start writing original fiction instead of continuing to write for Generation 4/Equestria.
This was especially due to the fact that the contest has been presented as one for which we can write fics that are about the next generation of ponies in Equestria, together with a header picture from Kilala97's famous Next Gen universe to support it.
At first glance, it seemed like a contest being held in sight of the reveal that Hasbro is thinking about ending MLP: FiM with Season 9 and rebooting the My Little Pony franchise for Generation 5, with the goal to raise the spirits of our author community by showing that, even if the reboot happens, we can still write great stories for Equestria and that we don't have to stop doing what we do for the past 7 and a half years now.
On second glance, it turned out it was more a contest to encourage our author community to stop writing for Generation 4 and to make the leap into original fiction territory instead once the show ends. With this rule, and how it was concealed by the contest's initial presentation, this gave a terrible, demoralizing message after the bad news of the show's end that we got in December.
It was a bit like GaPJaxie wanted to say we should give up our fandom culture of expanding on Equestria's universe and on the ponies' lives by collectively stopping to write for Equestria once MLP: FiM is over.
So I went and decided to send a counter message for this, one of hope and encouragement. A message to raise our morals and spirits in sight of the possible end of Generation 4 and to show we can and should still write for Equestria and continue our culture with honor and pride that way, which is what GaPJaxie's contest should have been about instead of what it turned out to be.
And this message, is carried by the result of my participation in GaPJaxie's contest that you can read with "My Little Pony: Guardians of Crystal Growth".

The other goal with this fic in addition to the message it sends, is accuracy to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Since I was already writing a fic about Equestria's future and next heroes, I thought I would make everything look like an actual episode of a hypothetical Generation 5 My Little Pony series that is still about Equestria, as much as that is possible with a written story that isn't a comic, to support the message.
This led to it that I had to put a lot more work into this fic than I usually have to when writing a story. The most challenging part was making sure that each chapter (Read: episode) fits into a 22-minute timeframe. This required very precise thinking and to envision every single moment, every movement, every gesture, every conversation no matter how short, even things like fading to black at the end of Part 2 or the "To be continued..." overlay at the end of Part 1. As well as checking the exact lenghts of the opening, the credits, the overlays in two-parters and the seconds it takes the screen to fade to black in episodes of MLP: FiM.
It was necessary to imagine and visualize every single moment and scene in front of my mind's eye before I could go and write it down, which not only took a massive amount of time compared to my usual writing process, but also required a ton of mental energy and mental health breaks to pull it off without risking the health of my brain. And, yeah, this sounds overly dramatic..... But that's how it actually felt!
I also had to precisely count the time over and over again when I read a new paragraph or scene I had written while simultaneously visualizing the scene in my head. If I would go and commission someone to animate this, I could tell them precisely what each second of the episodes has to show.
The result of this mental task is (including opening and end credits, overlays and fading to black) 21:45 for Episode 1 and 22:03 for Episode 2.
As you can see, I missed the mark a bit for Episode 1 (the second one is fine, as some episodes of MLP: FiM go a bit over the 22-minute mark here and there) as I could not come up with another scene that is 15 - 18 seconds long and because it is my first time writing a story like this.
Due to this massive mental task, there were also still quite a few errors in the first two episodes when I submitted everything to the contest that I overlooked due to exhaustion, but those have been fixed before the release here.
Even though I'm not one of those who like to call episodes of the show rushed, this increases my respect for the writers of MLP: FiM tenfold.
Other than ensuring that the lengths fit for each episode, I also decided to create some visuals to support the imagination while reading.
More than just writing efforts went into this fic; I also spent a lot of time searching for the right fonts for the logo, the title cards and the overlays, with deciding for colors for the logo and with making screenshots and cutting them into image files I could use for the episodes, as FIMFiction.net doesn't support different fonts.
It was unfortunately next to impossible to identify the exact font that is used for episode titles and the overlays among the tens of thousands of similar fonts that exist on the Internet and to still meet the contest deadline anyway (I gave up after one hour of searching through countless fonts online), but I could easily find the fonts that are used for the logo:

http://famfonts.com/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic/

Taking care of creating these visuals probably took another 3 - 4 hours in addition to writing the first two episodes. I now have them safely storaged on my HD and will reuse them for future episodes, as well as recreate future episode titles.
To add to the accuracy, I will also never, ever reveal informations about upcoming episodes or the general direction of the series, unless I decide to simulate an episode teaser Discovery Family-style for some of them, as this is how DHX handles it when fans ask them questions about episodes that haven't aired yet.
But if you think a bit about the initial synopsis for the new series in the description, you should be able to make some guesses and I would love to hear your thoughts and theories in the comments of the series!
I will reveal one thing to you, though..... My hypothetical Generation 5 series about Equestria's future will be even more mature than My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is. This is based on the possibility that Hasbro wants Generation 5 to be even more mature, more serious and more dark than Generation 4 is to both keep bronies onboard as well as to keep the audience of former children that grew up with MLP: FiM and are teenagers by the time Generation 5 starts.
This is not an unlikely speculation, so I decided to go for this, and this is why you can see things like Scootaloo's missing wing (as opposed to a metal transplant seen in the Season 5 Finale, which already was very dark), the implication that Granny Smith is not only dead (this alone would still be suitable for all ages), but also that Flurry Heart had her hooves in that somehow and signs of traumas certain characters have in the opening two-parter.
There will be an increased darkness and maturity compared to My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the Teen rating will be put to good use in this series.

And now, on to the part for which you are probably all here for..... When exactly will I continue the series? As I said at the beginning of this blog entry, this series is an investment in the future and this is also when I am going to release more episodes for it.
I will continue this fic precisely once My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is over and when we know for sure that Generation 5 is indeed a reboot showing an alternate universe as opposed to the Equestria we know. The plan is to release Episode 3 of Season 1 three full days after the finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has aired, on the Wednesday after.
This also goes for the possibility that Hasbro changes its mind and lets more seasons getting made after Season 9, in this case, it will get continued whenever Generation 4 ends.
Until then, the series will be marked as "On Hiatus" and I will plan the direction of the series out more, will come up with future episode ideas and, maybe, hype the series up a bit here and there.
There is also the possibility of some changes being made to the first two episodes during this time, depending on what things we see in the coming seasons of Generation 4 and if that makes it necessary to preserve the accuracy, in which case I will inform you before I change the released episodes here.

And this is all you need to know. If you like this series and already know you will crave more Equestria once My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is over, come back here three full days after the series finale to watch a faithful sequel to Generation 4!
See you in Equestria! /)

Comments

[Splash Surfer 216]

*Claps hooves* Powerful words, my friend. It's such a good feeling to know that our love for these characters and our creativity surround their world will never die, should the rumors about G5 turn out to be true. You really are an inspiration to us all, Fluttercheer....

[Fluttercheer]

4843038

Wow..... People say a lot of things about me, but that I'm an inspiration, that is something I hear for the first time. My mind will need some time to process that, I think.
Thanks!