[SNEAK PREVIEW] The very near future of LLW · 9:33pm Aug 17th, 2018
As I promised, I'm still working on LLW. I've got some pretty big plans for this story, up to and including sequels. Now one thing you may not know about me is I prefer not to kill off any characters if I can avoid it. I don't like my heroes dying stupidly, and most death scenes in fiction are phenomenally stupid and contrived and intended more to shock the audience than to provide actual entertainment. Plus, it blows as far as payoff for the reader. "Will the protagonist make it?" *YOINK* "NOPE, lol!" The rare times I have appreciated the character's death as a story element was when it serves a narrative purpose. Think Bruce Wayne's parents dying, for example, are required for the plot. Were they brought back to life within a few years, it would destroy the story because their death is what provides the catalyst for Batman to be created. Robin's death in the late 80's was not plot critical, however, so when the character was re-added to the story later as Tim Drake and Jason Todd revived as the Red Hood in the early '00's, it simply proved that the only reason for his death was the fan's negative reaction to Jason Todd's perceived bratty behavior, not that Jason Todd/Robin dying being important to any of the three characters whatsoever. (Once upon a time I read a fantastic fanfic that posited that in the even that Jason Todd did not die, Tim Drake would have joined Team Bat as Prophet, a character very much like Barbara Gordan's Oracle.)
I had a point...where was I?
Oh, yeah! Character death or lack of it!
Chrystal Amber does not die at the end of Lost Little Wolf. Ooooh, spooky spoilers! In fact, LLW is essentially one big-ass prologue to the original story I started conceiving of waaaaaay back in 2012~ish when I first thought of a character who was a transplanted human in a changeling queen's body.
So, all that said, I present to you a sneak peak to LLW's sequel...
Cadence was keeping herself as still as possible. It wasn't even entirely voluntary on her part, she just froze up at the first sign of danger.
Of course, this was absurd. There was really no need for anything resembling panic. She was in the heart of Equestria, for Celes...er, for goodness sake! (Auntie had been trying to break Cadence of being so deferential to Celestia, who kept insisting that she be treated just like anypony else) Not just in Canterlot, she was in the Palace, the most secure building in the city...neigh, the country. She was ensconced in the royal breakfast...it wasn't a "nook," it was two or three times the size of most dining rooms and larger even than the cottage she grew up in. There were even guards at the doors, standing at their usual stoic attention.
Sure, there was that whole "night that lasted waaaaaay longer than it should have" thing that only got itself cleared up the day before. Auntie had sent her a letter via her pseudo-dragonfire, but it had been Auntie-levels of vague and cryptic, leaving her wondering exactly who this family member, whom Cadence could never remember Celestia even vaguely referring to, might be coming to live with them.
She couldn't have meant...? the panicked thought wasn't even allowed to complete itself as her eyes, the size of dinner plates, slid over to her left, seeking to confirm what her mind had initially missed for it's sheer unreality in her present surroundings. She could not have seen sitting in the chair next to hears a very...very large insect. Bugs of that size simply did not exist. There wasn't an ecosystem on the whole of Equus that would produce a creature large enough in size to rival Princess Celestia herself.
Ohno-ohno-ohno-it's-real-it's-real-and-it's-SMILING-AT-ME!!! Bugs aren't supposed to be able to smile like that!!! Her body, already thrumming with a massive adrenaline dump, was practically vibrating as she struggled to reconcile her world view into something resembling a place where giant bugs showed up at the breakfast table. Part of her was frantic to escape, the rest of her was telling her to stay very, very still in the presence of this obvious predator. ...teeth...lots of sharp teeth! Did bugs have teeth? They had mandibles, her brain informed her, and those sometimes said mandibles were capable of snapping bones. And those mandibles were smiling at her.
The corner of the bug's mouth quirked up a little higher, and then, against everything that she had previously believed possible in even so wild and wacky a world as Equus, the creature spoke.
"Boo."
"AAAH~!" she clamped a hoof over her mouth, a tiny whine escaping her as she shivered in her seat. The guards started briefly at her abortive scream, then returned to their resting guard stances. Traitors! the part of her mind still able to form words growled.
The oversized insect giggled, "Yeah, there's a reason I never look in the mirror."
Oooooooh, that sequel sounds AWESOME!!! Hurry up and get to it! Lol
yay!
Looking good. By the way, any update plan on Hive of Queens too? That one is also very intriguing.
I'm happy to hear that progress is being made to LLW, and even happier to hear that there's a planned sequel. Judging by the snippet, it will be good.
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Keep an eye out for a blog post on that very subject, actually.