Memories Returned - An Austraeoh Side Story by Jake the Army Guy · 3:43am Nov 18th, 2020
Jake the Army Guy wrote something pretty snazzy. And y'all should check it out. Not just cuz I said so. After all, if you're a good Noble J00rist, you should know that it's faith and not actions that determine your place in the Kingdom of Panties.
I've been doing this East Horse dance for a long... long time. While spurts of enthusiasm do still occur on occasion, a lot of it has become a thoughtless, robotic dance. I think more about delivery, mechanics, plot contrivances... the engineering aspect of story-building. While I like to think I still capture emotion when it's important, I don't exactly feel through my writing all that often. Not like I used to.
Which is why it's never really occurred to me how insanely provocative a story concept it would be to insert oneself into Spike the Dragon... more specifically Spike the Dragon of the Austraeoh universe. The very first paragraph of pre-reading Jake's humble installment, I realized it was a hella good angle. And one that I'm somewhat envious I never thought of exploring.
So, if you want some really good Austraeoh-world exploratory goodness, go check out Jake the Army Guy's Memories Returned. Needless to say, spoilers are a definite guarantee. I think most marsupials who have read Eljunbyro will know what they're in for, but it's quite clearly made for the post-Utaan crowd.
As for my own awful roadie road warrior-ing, easy come and slow go. I think I've only technically broken the "once a week" update rule once. What can I say. Distractions gonna distract. And this is one hella month for it. Agony and Ecstasy. Could be worse, I suppose.
I appreciate y'all's patience. Yes, 2020 has brought me back in the game. But it'll be a long time before this "eastward" journey is done for good Let's hope I outpace the apocalypse. F'naaa.
-IC and SS&E
Thank you for the kind words, Oh Glorious Leader!
I've always been fascinated by the idea that a story, or a movie, or whatever takes place in a dynamic world. That is, when Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin left for Mordor, life in the Shire continued. Tattooine didn't cease to exist when Luke Skywalker left. When that random stranger you struck up a conversation with in line at Starbucks leaves with his double shot venti iced mochachinno pumpkin spice latte, he doesn't vanish into the aether. Unless you ascribe to Solipsism, but meh.
SO when Dashie rode off into the sunrise, Ponyville continued to exist. A town that had just suffered a major tragedy. Mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers had to march on without their sister/daughter. It's hard to imagine having to cope with that. Now imagine you're a little boy. Now imagine your entire life had been lived under the care of a person who literally brought you into the world, and therefore is the center of yours.
Now imagine you had to watch her die. Watch her writhe in pain, hearing her scream as she exploded into dust. And then the last connection you really had to her just... left. While you had to stay.
At this point, the fact that I love Twilight and Spike's relationship is a secret only to those on North Sentinel Island. So as I was re-reading the series to get caught back up, I came across that chapter in Eljunbyro where they died. It was obviously being seen from Bellesmith's perspective, which was therefor how Dash would have viewed it... but she wasn't the only one there. I really wanted to show how the same events can be viewed by two different people and in two different ways. Belle/Dash obviously were more focused on the whole (and AJ), but Spike? He loved them all, but let's be real, he would be focusing on Rarity and Twilight.
I also wanted to explore how that would have affected a young boy like Spike. I also felt that Spike was about that age when a boy tries to act more like a man and assert his independence. Given that, it made sense to me that after the initial shock went away, and it really set in that this was his reality now, he try and hide his grief behind anger. Plus, any excuse to dive into Twi and Spike's relationship if A-O-Fucking_Kay with me.
Anywho, I just really hope I did your world justice. We've been on this ride for eight fucking years now, and I for one am riding til the train crashes into the station.
GodNietzsche bless you, Colon Most Imploded. You fucking mad lad.Don't sell yourself short on your writing talents, especially when it comes to making us jurists feel. I can't give you a scarf to keep your spirit warm, I can't be your ghostly companion to guide you Eastward, but I can tell you without any doubt or exaggeration, that my life would not be the way it was if I hadn't read some of your small horse stories.
Your writing is ultimately a reflection of you. In a way we'll carry that piece of you you've handed to us so willingly and I for one will do my best to cherish it.
Oh goodness, it's been quite a while since I read the eastward series. If my quick look through my fimfiction library is anything to go by, I left off at the end of Innavedr. If I wanted to get back in the saddle, as it were, I would likely have to start from the beginning again.
I would love to read the series but it’s so intimidating, though it also takes me a hell of a long time to read anything. Maybe one day