Some thoughts, some reflections, and some plans for the future

So here's the deal. I've been focusing a lot on the rewrite of my first story "Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?" and so far I've really enjoyed how it's turned out. I'm about to hit the point in the story where the event that set the ending in motion take place, and so I decided to poke at the sequel's planning doc just so I could get back into the swing of things. I've gone through and reread the existing story from start to end, and in a move that doesn't really surprise me at all, I started to realize that the scope of that story has changed significantly from where it started. Now, that isn't really a bad thing at all mind you. That story's a continuation of what I originally considered an unfinished product, and as a result there's little vestigial remnants of the original first story's narrative in there. It's all small stuff, but as it stands, the characters in "New Horizons" aren't exactly the same characters in "Dreamers". Don't get me wrong, I love what I've written so far, and I'm super proud of the work I've done, but at the same time the tone and characterization of the sequel don't feel like natural continuations of the rewritten form of that story.

This is where things get complicated and probably a little annoying for long time readers, but bear with me. Right now my priority is finishing up "Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?", and then I'll probably revise some of "Desert Getaway". My original plan was to then finish New Horizons, take a break, and then complete that story's final arc in a "finale" story of sorts. I've held onto that plan for a while, and I still intend to do that. However, I'm going to change that plan just a bit. Once my rewrite is complete I'll still update and revise Desert Getaway, but after that I think I'm going to go in and do some selective rewrites on New Horizons. In fact, I'm probably going to make some pretty significant changes to the presentation of that story. Right now, as it stands the story covers around four years of in universe content. The first big change is that I'm splitting it up into smaller "books" that cover those times in a little more detail. So existing chapters in the current form of New Horizons will still exist and be a part of the story, but they'll be split into separate stories that focus on the time periods they take place in. Additionally, they'll probably get some more connecting chapters that'll make their individual arcs a lot clearer and see some changes that better set up the other books.

So what does this mean right now? Well right now it doesn't mean much, but in the near future I'll most likely be pulling the story down and working on the revisions. Once "Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?" is complete I'll start posting the first of the "books", which as mentioned before will have mostly existing content, but with some notable changes and additions. I hope this news isn't disappointing to anyone, I don't know how many people are actually fans of "New Horizons", but as the author I'm the number one fan of it, and I honestly just really want to give my characters the love and development that they deserve. It's unorthodox and probably frustrating if you *are* a fan, and if you're annoyed by this, I apologize in advance. The last thing I want to do is annoy someone, but I also want to really take pride in my work, and I promise that this is all going to be worth it in the end. Until then, I encourage you to read up on "Do Ponies on Earth have Magic Dreams?" if you haven't already, there's some character development and events that will really set up the new foundation for these changes!

Thanks again for reading my long rambling paragraph on yet another story I'm revising, but I really do appreciate the support I've gotten, and I hope you'll all stick around for what the future has in store!