Revisions and Reminiscence - Chapters 6, 7, and 8

Before my future self complains, I could make many viable excuses for why this took a while to complete. I could talk about how busy life's gotten, especially during this pandemic, or how I've been noodling with other important projects that hopefully bear fruit later on. But here's the real excuse for why this took so long:

Screw you, I'll get to it when I get to it.

The sweeping edits for Chapters 6, 7, and 8 are finally complete, thus largely wrapping up production of EG:BFF's first part. Overall, I'm rather pleased with how they've turned out, following the liberal amounts of tweaking that I did. If there was one issue shared between each of these Chapters, it's that certain parts just felt rushed. Sometimes a character would say or do something too abruptly, or without decent explanation for their motivations. Sometimes a moment or detail wasn't elaborated upon enough for it to have the intended impact. None of these issues were massive, mind you, but they were frequent and insidious enough to make reading the Chapters feel a little too bumpy, which I find tends to disrupt the immersion. Thankfully, a lot of those cracks and potholes have been filled in, and hopefully now it's a smoother ride for us all.

I won't go into much detail on each of the Chapters this time, but here's a few fun factoids:

- Chapter 6 really only exists because I wrote myself into a bit of a corner at the end of the fifth one. Originally, Applejack and Rarity's reconciliation was to be followed immediately by the second portion of Chapter 7; however, it felt like that would've resolved Rarity's self-doubt a bit too easily. It was certainly the most rushed of the lot, but I'm ultimately glad that Chapter 6 exists. It allowed other characters to once again have some time in the spotlight, established plot points for other potential stories, and dove a bit more into the idea of how the human world would steadily adapt to the existence of magic. Here's hoping I can one day realize and explore those plots/ideas.

- I still struggle with the question of whether or not it was worth including a sex scene in this story at all. Considering how much I like to stick to the lore and general feel of the Equestria Girls show, it does seem rather out of place (even though other suggestive content will exist later on). Furthermore, I can't help but wonder whether or not the mature rating required to make this scene occur ultimately turns off potential readers (let alone pisses off those who were expecting far more explicit and frequent material). But what's done is done, and I'm still pleased with how it ultimately played out. Not every story needs to completely ignore the idea of sex, nor does it need to be riddled with it either.

- Ever since I started "planning out" this story, I always intended for the magic that appears in Chapter 8 to seek out and help fulfill the wishes of those suffering from self-doubt and sadness. However, it later dawned on me that, since they never expressly stated how MLP's Inspiration Manifestation magic was actually dealt with, I could use it as the primary catalyst for this tale. A happy little accident, all told.

The first part of Bonds Forged of Friendship I (Love) is finally complete. It's been quite an undertaking so far, but I'm proud to have been bold enough to finally step out and try to create something like this, regardless of all the little hiccups along the way. Odds are, knowing my own convictions, I have a pretty good idea of where this story will ultimately go, and how long it will probably be.
All I can say to my future self right now is:

Keep it up! The best is still yet to come.