Some readers have noticed this about my writing and it's about time I explain to clear things up - When I stopped watching MLP and why I ignore the canon story

This might be a long one, so make sure you're comfortable. Sorted? Good. Let's begin. PLEASE NOTE: This blog may contain spoilers for my stories for those who haven't read them yet.

Seeing as I got into Fanfiction in 2013, I think the year I began watching MLP was 2011-2012, at a best guess? The first episode I saw was the one with Rainbow Dash getting annoyed by Pinkie Pie following her everywhere until Rainbow finds out she's a laugh to hang out with and a prankster, quite like her, where they end up pranking Spike with a thundercloud to give him hiccups. That was my first taste of the show, and I admit I wasn't into it at all. But I watched more and eventually ended up enjoying the episodes.

I ended up watching Season 1 and then Season 2, getting to know the characters and understanding the way they think, feel, act, react and integrate into Equestria, the roles they play and their importances, etc. I take all of that into account when I write my stories, as I'm sure you know. I have been thought of by a friend of mine when we were chatting about spiritual things and some of my experiences and she told me she thinks I could potentially be an empath. For amateurs to that meaning, it basically means you have a strong sense of feeling, knowing how others feel by sensing their energy and getting a reading on what they are thinking, feeling and what kind of person they are. Ever glanced into a person's eyes and immediately sourced out their strongest or weakest trait? That's something me and my grandmother can do, meaning we can figure a person out without actually knowing them. It's a debatable subject, yes, and I'm still new to the concept, so excuse me for being an airhead on the subject.

Anyway, where does that come in? Well, it comes in when I understand situations that characters face, especially the more darker and 'NSFW' variety, shall we say. It's different for the reader, given everyone is different with their own thoughts on certain subjects, but I think I mostly displayed those feelings and mirrored them to my own with Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash, and with my OC, Rainbow Strike, the brother of Rainbow Dash. I know, All Rainbow and No Colour and The Long Lost Rainbow and Moving On have their moments and aren't my best work, but they were written during my darkest hours and when I was in a horrid, morbid mindset of self-loathing, dreaming of death and even close to the day when I finally caved in to my sadness and attempted suicide. These three characters all resonate somewhat with my own emotions.

Rainbow Dash in Defiled Loyalty was the hurt, betrayed and broken-hearted side of me that wanted comfort and warmth to feel alive and safe again, finding solace in her human friend, Dom.

Scootaloo in She Needs a Quiet Room with A Key to Keep Her In and the rest of that trilogy was me during my suicidal period, wishing and hoping for death if it means the pain will stop and I can finally get some rest that I was never granted in life due to constant hardships.

Rainbow Strike was me when my heart was broken and ground to dust, once being happy with the one I loved but then losing her. Although influenced by The Crow and following a similar story, it resembled a part of my sorrow and inner-turmoil that many don't know about, which was shown when Remedy, Rainbow Strike's fiancé was murdered, unbeknownst to him pregnant with his child. He lost everything he loved and became a self-destructive, empty shell void of emotion or apathy. Just dead inside in the strongest sense.

Anywho, that's a basic summary of those emotions and where they come from. So, onto the canon part of this blog, which was the whole point. When I was talking about MLP and watching Season 1, I watched until Season 4, after Twilight became a princess and after the CMC got their cutie marks. That really killed it for me, even more when Twilight suggested later on that she was going to open a school without consulting her friends about it and basically throwing them into something they never agreed to in the first place and were uncomfortable with filling in their duties on top of their personal lives.

I actually and whole-heartedly hated watching the show after that. That would be why many of you called me out on my stories in the comments, telling me that ''we've already met so-and-so's parents'' or ''this didn't happen, this did'', or ''this isn't canon'', and I want to clear up those comments by saying I know and am fully aware. I stopped watching after Twilight became a princess and I hated the direction things went after that, so I stayed behind when the show was in its golden stages. It moved on too quickly, if you ask me. Hasbro screwed over the CMC and Twilight, it feels like. I'm not the only one, I'm sure.

You've probably noticed I adopted the Alternate Universe tag more often than usual, like with A Girl and Her Alligator? I removed Pinkie's siblings and left her on her own with her parents, who we know are not abusive or child abusers, but I turned her dad into one. I left her mother alone as a bystander that was caught in the crossfire. I basically made my own version of how I saw things and what is seen through my own eyes, both from influences in the real world from disturbing stories I've read and from personal experience. Life isn't all laughs, giggles and smiles, it equally so has screams, wails and cries of anguish, but we tune them out. I don't, because I can't.

I did the same thing with Apple Bloom and Bright Mac in She's Your Daughter, but the note in that story is lighter and sweeter. It's based more on my brother leaving for university and leaving me all alone to miss him and wish he'd come home. I cried afterwards and I felt sad inside when he'd come home and I'd watch him leave on the train. It's one of those situations where I had to force myself to keep composed, fighting the urge to burst into tears.

Does anybody here remember when we didn't have any idea that Scootaloo had parents and we all assumed she was homeless, a squatter and not open about it? Well, I sure do. I've read so many stories like that, with her often sleeping in the CMC Clubhouse in her sleeping bag when her friends aren't around and leaving before they can find her there. In I'm Still Here, I noticed some of you told me ''we've already met her parents!'', and I'm here to tell you I'm not arrogant to that. Here's how it goes: I'm Still Here was started sometime in Season 2, and not worked on for four years, which by then we had met her parents. Her parents were not revealed at that point in time, so I wasn't ignoring them. I carried on where I left off. I like my own version better than what's canon. I prefer ''what if'' and ''what could be'' rather than ''what is.''

I do this quite often with my stories, even after the show ended. I want to clarify that although I began to dislike MLP after Season 4, I heard the show had ended and began watching again. Granted, before it was over, I dabbled in Season 5 and Season 6 for a while, just to revisit for the sake of good memories. After watching the show and how it ended, I hated it. Everyone is in relationships, we've got The Young Six, Friendship School, Pinkie Pie has a daughter with Cheese Sandwich, the Changeling Hive being turned to good after meet Thorax and Pharynx, and I plain don't like the new characters. In fact, I hate them. I also don't like how Hasbro made the characters look older than they actually are by adding in bags beneath their eyes, and giving Rarity grey hair! Grey! At a best guess, none of them are past their thirties at this point, so that's a bit premature, don't you think? That being said, I don't actually have any concept of time over how long it's been since Twilight's coronation, so correct me if I'm wrong.

So, yes, I do know what happened after Season 3 and 4. I only watched it because I was curious what transpired afterwards and because I felt like I should finish what I started. That's literally the only reason behind it. I want it on the record I'm fully aware of what happened up until the show came to an end and of all the little and big events that took place in character development and discoveries and which hole they ended up in, good or bad. It's the way I like to work, having the chance to explore my own creativity and constantly create alternatives to what we already know, for the sake of originality. I've always tried to be as original as I possibly can. It's important to not be afraid of doing exactly that.

I always inject my own theories and perspective into the world, even if I know what I'm doing treads on and scratches away at Hasbro's glorious tapestry of canon which I don't agree with and wish never existed. Face it, it sucks. It's there and we've got to accept it, but I, for one, don't like it. I'd rather go with what I know than what I'm told is common place. So, at least you now know why I write the way I do and why I ignore all minor and major events, plot points and fact that we've all come to know from Equestria and the ponies living in it. This is a good note to end this blog on, so I think we're done here.

All in all, I don't care much for MLP anymore. Maybe because I'm older or because I feel that time of my life has passed and is done and dusted. Time for me to move on, I suppose. I'm still around and I do write occasionally, but I think that's all done with now, in all fairness. I've moved onto doing readings and am eventually going to be moving on into different territories to explore my music career. I think my time as a fanfiction writer are all done. Don't expect much else in terms of stories to come from me. I know I've said that a lot recently and over the years, but this time I mean it. I don't want to write fanfiction for something I'm no longer passionate about. I enjoy the show still, but only those thirst three seasons which I'm sure most will agree are from the golden age of Friendship is Magic, where everything was still taking shape, had tonnes of room for potential growth and the fandom was going nuts over creating music and stories and comics. Back in the good 'ole days of shipping FlutterDash and PinkieShy and AppleDash. That's where my mind as a writer is stuck, where and how I'd like to remember everything.

I've had a lot of fun with this whole writing gig. It's time for me to quit. I'm going to stick with reading stories from now on and putting them on my channel. Of course, I have people here I care a lot about and want to stick around for the sake of keeping in touch. I love you all, I really, honestly, whole-heartedly do.

Anywho, I hope this cleared the air and answered all of your comments on why my stories take place in the time period of the show that I like to write in and that'll be the end of those comments. (I hope. )

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With love, from Grunge Rock World,

- Ribe / FireRain