//------------------------------// // Author Thanks/Questions Answered // Story: Loss // by Pwnyta //------------------------------// Authors Thank You, Questions Answered         As was stated in the title of this chapter, I would like to first thank everybody for their support while writing this story. To see this go from a small idea that sparked in my head on a random night out with friends all the way to its final product up here on FIMFiction is truly a blessing. Drafts were tossed out, late nights were had, and frustrations came and went with every word typed, but it was definitely worth it in the end! To wrap this section up, let me give some individual thank yous: To FIMFiction: For hosting an incredible site. I’ve met some great people through the process of writing Loss, read some incredible stories, and definitely had a chance to improve my writing ability and it would have never been possible if not for this website and its members. Thank you all! To Equestria Daily: For giving me the honor of having my story shared on this incredible MLP blog. I can’t imagine how much time I’ve wasted going through this site, and the content is always incredible, hilarious, extremely creative, or a combination of the three. It means so much to me knowing that the story was of a high enough quality to be shared to all my fellow bronies, and I can’t thank you enough for giving me such a great chance To the readers: Even if you only read one chapter, it means so much to me to know that you looked. Everyone who commented on it or private messaged me to help me out along the way, thank you a countless number of times. I hope you all took something (other than a few tears) away from the story, and I really hope my story can help you learn how to cope if you ever are in a situation similar to our favorite Mane 6. Last but certainly not least, to my editors/prereaders: If it hadn’t been for you, I probably would have put out a story that was on the writing level of a third grader. Seriously, I’m considering posting up one of the edited drafts that I got back from them once so you can see how much red ink there is all over it. Everybody would get a kick. Thank you all for helping make this story possible and of the highest quality it could possibly be! So now that that is out of the way, on to the bulk of this “chapter.” I received a lot of questions throughout the writing of the story. A lot of them I wanted to answer so badly in comments, but it would have spoiled what was coming in the story. That’s why I kept pretty quiet and to myself. So I apologize to the long wait you all had to endure as I finished writing the story, but here are all of the answers to the more common questions I recieved: Why write this story? I’ve seen people comment about the various reasons as to why they thought I wrote this story. Some of the more prominent reasons was either for “shock value” or to “get attention.” Neither of these could be further from the truth. I wrote this story in the memory of a dear friend who was killed in an accident back a few months ago. Having a friend ripped out of your life like that is one of the hardest things anybody has to deal with. To this day, I still find myself looking back and sometimes breaking down and crying. Me and my friends have all been able to cope, and several of my friends have done something to honor her memory or to help them move on (i.e. gotten a tattoo, donated stuff/money to a cause). This story was created as my way of honoring her memory, and to help me move on from the incident. Every coping mechanism you read about is something I either went through, or experienced a friend going through. That is why the emotions in this story can seem raw and real at some parts. I don’t think I’m that talented a fiction writer, I just happened to experience what I wrote about. But why the ponies? Why not a human subject matter? My Little Pony is a show me and my friend enjoyed together. It was a huge bond that definitely strengthened our relationship and brought us closer as friends, as we managed to have our own little inside jokes and sayings, and we spent a lot more time together sitting around and watching the show. She even bought me my first little pony! When it came to wanting to write this story for her, I considered both the human and the pony base for characters. After a couple of days of careful consideration, I chose ponies. Call it a cop out, but the decision was made on the basis that I could already just begin writing the main story without having to develop characters and go through a heavy amount of unnecessary set up. Plus, it just felt right using the one thing we strongly enjoyed together as a basis for what I wanted to do. Who knows, as a project over the summer, I might humanize this story and add to the beginning to develop the 6 characters. That would be an interesting project. Why was Rarity chosen? As I said above, when I was drafting out the story, I was attempting to fit in the best coping mechanism for each character. On top of that I also was trying to find a way for each character to demonstrate traits of the lost Element. This was no problem for almost all of the characters. What I noticed in the show is that every character tends to show displays of having the other Elements inside of them, and (with the exception of a portion of the Discord arc) they are consistently able to display characteristics of their own element (Up to the point of the episode “Sweet and Elite”). I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, but it is there if you pay attention. The exception to this rule: Rarity. She is quite an oddity to watch on the show. Not only does she fail to really represent all of the other Elements, she has a consistent problem holding true to her own (albeit she usually resolves this problem by the end of the episode in which the conflict arises). Short of Twilight dying, there just really wasn’t a way to write about Rarity coping and displaying traits of the lost Element without breaking her away from her developed character. At what point in the canon storyline did you place this story? This was a pretty important question that came up, and it ties into the question above pretty well. Due to the fact that I was writing the story as the 2nd season was airing, aspects of the characters and the show were changing every week. Heck, if you look back through this story and compare it to what it is today (the newest episode being “Putting Your Hoof Down”), you’ll notice several flaws in my character actions based on what they’ve developed into today. That being said, I picked a solid show stopping point and stuck to it. I picked the episode “Sweet and Elite” as this basis since it was the last episode in which Rarity had some character development before I started writing. So when looking at this story in comparison to the canon aspect of the show, that is where my story branches from. Why did ____ cope like this? I think ____ would have been more fitting Again, that is all something that I’m sure is up for discussion. The reason I chose each coping mechanism for each character is based off of what I’ve seen from them in the show. Each reaction seemed very fitting for each character based off of their personality. The only character I feel broke away from her set personality a bit was Twilight. I am a little bit disappointed I had to force her out of her character a bit in the last chapter, but I feel that looking at the story as a whole, I represented her quite well. Of course, let’s also not forget this controversy: Why would you make Fluttershy attempt suicide? That’s disgusting/stupid/angering/etc… Again, it wasn’t for shock value at all. Suicide is an issue that comes up following the death of a friend or loved one, and sadly, it was an issue that came up in the situation surrounding the death of my friend. I felt that with Fluttershy’s sort of feeble personality, she would fit the role the best to convey this. Something that should be remembered here is that someone who attempts or commits suicide doesn’t necessarily always act like themselves or give their friends any major signs or symptoms. I was hoping that people would be able to take away from these two chapters that no matter how they seem after a tragic event such as the death of a friend/loved one, everyone needs as much support as you can offer. This was a major mistake by Twilight and Applejack when they spoke to Fluttershy in chapter 6. She was showing some very suspicious signs and they shrugged it off. Luckily, the outcome for her (reflecting the outcome of the real situation it was reflecting) was a positive one, but this is not always the case. I’m hoping readers can learn from the mistakes of Twilight and Applejack, and possibly even save a friend’s life if that ever arose in their lives. As for the mental aspect of chapter 7, all I can really say is that I have never been rendered unconscious or comatose through injury, so I’m not entirely sure what or if a person can think if they are in that situation. I gave Fluttershy a live mind in order to show the internal conflict she continued to go through even after her suicide attempt, and to show how much just a simple thing like a will to live can make all the difference for a person in mental and physical distress. What happened to Spike? I left this one wide open for interpretation on purpose, so feel free to create an ending for Spike in your own mind. Hey, if you write it down, feel free to send me a message with it, I would love to see what people think of how Spike ended up knowing that I, myself, didn’t create or consider an ending for him. However, he does need a bit of an explanation. Spike was representing a coping mechanism that is a negative. That is, he left Ponyville because he didn’t want to be reminded of Rarity. This is negative because he wasn’t truly addressing his feelings. Instead, he felt like blocking them out, and by running away from Ponyville, he was taking a course of action to do so in a rather extreme way. The bad about this is the fact that these emotions could boil over and really hurt and affect the person coping like this. Honestly, anything can happen to Spike, which is why I didn’t conclude his story. He could eventually cope and move on, or he could do something more extreme, like attempt suicide a-la Fluttershy. That’s all up for you to ponder. So there we go! If anybody has any further questions, feel free to shoot me a private message or leave a comment in the story. I’ll respond now, considering I can’t spoil a finished story. Again, thank you so much everyone who took the time to sit down and read, follow, and favorite the story. On top of that, thank you to everyone who helped spread it around a bit. I never imagined my audience would be this large, but I feel so honored that it did become this big. So with that, I close the cover on Loss. THANK YOU ALL INFINITELY! - Caffum