This is my longest completed story to date. Past a certain length, a story ceases to be solely the child of its author. To that end, here are some of the people I’d like to thank for making “Friendship is Optimal: Spiraling Upwards” come to fruition.
First, to Iceman, of course, for writing the original Friendship is Optimal. It is an inspired work, and there’s no story in all the world I would rather have come true.
To Eakin, for pre-reading “A Year” and for not figuring out what happens in the beginning of “A Decade.” If he had, I think I might have been too depressed to finish the story.
To Eak (Are he and Eakin brothers from Archenland?), for writing this forum post, which inspired the structure for “An Eternity.”
To The Articulator, for catching a key mistake in “A Month.”
To Balthasar999, for drunk-commenting and thinking he got away with deleting it. No dice, I still have it saved.
To Hayquill and Steelclaw. If it had not been for these two, the final chapter "A Yoctosecond" would not exist. This story was originally going to end on the last line of "An Eternity", but when both of them guessed the chapter title, here was my thought process:
“If everyone knows that the last chapter is going to be ‘An Eternity,’ I’m being too predictable. I should go the opposite route and make a chapter titled after a ridiculously short length of time, like a single moment. But what single moment would occur at the end?”
The inspiration that followed was one of the happiest moments I’ve had as a writer.
Lastly, my thanks to everyone who enjoyed this. Your friendship is magic.