Night Errantry Rewrite · 2:09am Jun 25th, 2018
Hello again. As you may have noticed, I have deleted Night Errantry from my stories. This is not a decision I made lightly. In fact, it really hurts to give up on the first long-term project I've undertaken since college. But the fact is it was getting harder and harder to come back to, because it was so unlike my original vision. There were some moments I liked, and hopefully plenty that you liked, and I will be mining those for ideas as I undertake my next project: rewriting the thing, with some pretty substantial changes. I will probably start once Season 8 of the show wraps up.
Luna and many other characters have undergone a lot of interesting growth in the six seasons of Friendship is Magic that have taken place since I started Night Errantry. I wanted to include that, especially the stuff with dream patrolling and the Tantabus, but I couldn't figure out a way that wouldn't seem forced and unsatisfying.
Characterization aside, I also wanted to make it something more modular and episodic, instead of the sprawling metaplot thing that Night Errantry became. The idea is to have shorter, more self-contained adventures, not devoid of character growth and plot arcs, but less centered around them. That way both I and the reader can stop whenever they want.
Also, there will be 100% less lesbian Unresolved Sexual Tension with Zecora. While I am all for inclusion and representation, especially now that the show has decided (somewhat unfortunately, imho) to devote whole episodes to straight romantic relationships, I'll be the first to admit that I didn't do it well. I probably won't go back to the betrayal well between them either. I want to keep Zecora around this time!
This format will allow side-stories too. As Luna inspires ponies (and others) to take up the old questing mantle, these new (k)nights can go on adventures of their own! Just in case I need a break from writing Luna and Zecora constantly! 
But for anyone interested, here's a brief outline of what was going to happen with the original version:
Luna has a tense verbal showdown with Celestia over their mutual betrayal of each other. In the middle of it, though, a messenger informs them that the griffons have invaded. Not trusting Celestia out of her sight, Luna brings her along. Twilight and her friends talk their way into coming along too.
Recognizing Adelaide as someone she knew 'since she was an egg', Celestia convinces Luna to let her try to talk to them. But Celestia has miscalculated, missing something that Luna knows instinctively: the griffons are only going to respect strength at this point, not words.
There's a desperate battle, which Celestia herself participates in. Celestia nearly sacrifices her life to save Luna, which does a lot to restore the trust between them, but still not enough. As soon as it's over, they go right back to bickering. Seeing them doing so while surrounded by so much death sets Twilight the hell off, and she starts a huge rant about how neither of them should be in charge. Standing up to them is actually the catalyst for Twilight becoming an alicorn in this timeline, glowing and sprouting wings in the middle of her tirade. Equestria is saved, but she demands what are basically the first steps to a constitutional monarchy to keep it saved.
Luna's students (except Willowleaf, who was going to be a recurring villain in the sequel) are sent to Tartarus where they start undergoing therapy with Iron Will (because of course he runs a psychiatry practice now). Luna comes to visit them, and with a lot of convincing, starts doing therapy sessions too. The story ends with one of these sessions, because Luna's problems were already too deep for any one event to solve them, and my story made them even worse, lol. Recovery would be far outside the scope of the story, but there could at least be some hope.
So, loyal readers, what would you like to see more/less of in the new version? I got a lot of great feedback in the comments which I have taken to heart, but now's your chance to get in on the ground floor of something hopefully better!
Not really doing much with the pony other than occasionally checking here, but still best of luck with the rewrite!
You know, it's just noticing this now that makes me realize how long I've been utterly ignoring my feed in favor of just checking for updates of fics I was following. Apparently the answer is over a year. I wonder what other announcements I've missed?
Well, good luck. I enjoyed Knight Errantry, but I could tell it was dying by the decreasing update pace. If you want to give it another whack, I'll read the new version.
Just now saw this while trying to link the story I helped you work on. Sad to see you gave up on it instead of writing what sounds like a great ending... :<