Alrighty.

So, I know I said yesterday that you all would have the rules and such posted last night, but my brain decided that it was time to sleep, and who am I to deny my brain what it wants? Anyway, I guess we should just jump straight into this then.

If there are still questions by the end of this post, please do not hesitate to ask them, because as I've said before, I really want everyone on the same page.

1) Setting

This story is set almost a thousand years before the show begins. The Royal Sisters, Princessess Celestia and Luna, have essentially finally brought peace to Equestria - Tirek has been banished to Tartarus, Discord has been imprisoned in stone, and King Sombra's tyrannical rule over the Crystal Kingdom has been brought to an end. However, a new threat lurks just beyond Equestria's borders, one that few have ever encountered and lived to tell...

2) Project Goal

The goal of this project is to bring together multiple authors and allow them to create whatever stories they would like in an attempt to fill holes in a much larger narrative, as well as provide different points of view and feelings for/towards events within the story.

3) How It All Works

So, as a collaborative story, as well as in an effort to keep everything chronological and presented in a cohesive fashion, I would respectfully ask that all authors involved in this project send their chapters/stories to myself. Unfortunately, that means I would be posting things for people, and I feel like that might be a problem for some people. If there are any objections to this, please do not hesitate to tell me, that way we can start working out a new plan of attack. Thank you very much.

4) Submission Rules

This right here is assuming that everyone involved agrees and is alright with what's presented in section three (How It All Works).

So, basically, after creating a story or a new chapter in an ongoing story within this larger narrative, you, the author, would simply send me a PM containing the text, or a link to the text, whatever you prefer - I don't judge. Please also include anything and everything you would like me to tag the piece as (title, subtitle, thanks, etcetera).

If you really want to get fancy with a submission, I will be posting up a rough timeline of events for the first section of this story later (tentatively titled Prologue, Part I - how original), and then you could even throw in a timeline date of your own for when your piece takes place.

5) Timeline

This is just a rough thing that I came up to get this timeline rolling in my head, so I'm open to anything else. However, in the event that this sticks, the timeline is working on something called the New Equestrian calendar. If Imm remembering correctly, my reasoning behind it was that this New Equestrian calendar started after the birth of Celestia and Luna, which basically acted as a renaissance of sorts, bringing forth incredible new ideas and banishing the many monsters of old. The time before their birth would have been referred to as the Old Equestrian Age, with this new, much brighter period being known as the New Equestrian Age (for obvious reasons).

Just for example, Chrysalis becomes Queen of the Mephisto Hive early in the year 1007 of the New Equestrian Age. This means that, roughly one-thousand and seven years after the births of Celestia and Luna, Chrysalis first rose to power in her own hive.

6) Keeping Things "Canon"

Again, unfortunately, in my quest to want to present everything in as cohesive a way as possible, I will be just a tiny bit strict when it comes to something like two authors presenting something two different ways.

Say, for example, this group is given a big, special event to write about, and it ends one way with a definitive Changeling victory. Everybody writes their piece with that in mind, save for two people who write their piece with the Equestrians just barely winning the battle. I doubt it will hardly ever happen, but I will step in and ask them to change their piece a bit so that it better reflects the story that everyone else is telling alongside myself.

7) Ratings

This was actually brought up by Mr. Critical.

While I obviously don't want to tell anybody what they can and cannot write ratings-wise, I do kind of have to have a final decision when posting in regards to what to rate the story. It is for this reason that I will simply err on the side of caution and post these pieces together as Mature-rated stories. If nothing ever actually breaches Mature territory for a specific section, then I will of course change the rating.

8) What Can be Written About

Honestly, you can write just about anything you want, as long as it falls within the few guidelines I will post when the time comes to actually start writing seriously.

So, let's say that Celestia and Luna are calling everyone off to war, and you wanted to write a piece about the family left behind and how they're handling things - please, be my guest. Or, perhaps you want to write about a member of the C.W.F.M having a change of heart and deciding that Queen Chrysalis actually is doing the right thing for Mephisto - you go for it, pal, and I'll anxiously await whatever you plan for it.

Also, please note that there is no length limit to anybody's pieces. If you want to write a one-shot about a particular thing, do it; the same goes for if you want to write a multi-part saga about a character who lives through the entire war. I really don't want anybody to feel too restricted by anything presented here.

9) Special Events

This is really the last thing I'll talk about for now.

Basically, the idea is that, with this being a war and all, there would be some pretty significant events taking place throughout. So, to make them feel even more significant, there will be times where sections of the narrative will be devoted to these events.

Think of it like this:

Normally, I will sticky a thread here on the forums with all of the information for whatever particular section of the story is currently being worked on (in this upcoming case, Prologue, Part I). However, in the event of a special event, instead of having a whole section to work with, authors will be encouraged to write pieces specifically about the given event, whatever it may be.

Hopefully this clears some things up, and from here, we will be able to really get the ball rolling on this project.

And again, as I've said many times before, please do not hesitate to ask any questions or voice any comments/concerns.

Thank you all so very much again for showing an interest in this project, and I hope everyone ends up having as much fun with it as me.

Okay. Seems pretty solid. Now, I have a few questions. The events; will you be handling them personally or will you be asking members to take care of it? As such, I would like to know if there will be a main storyline and the rest of us take care of side stories or is this a multiperspective sort of deal?

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I'd also like to know when the first fic will be published.

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I'm finishing up the first little bits of a framework for people to work with as we speak. After that's done, I'll post it here and let people get to work doing what they'd like.

So, if I gave everyone a month or so to work on things, I'd say the first portion of this story will/can be published either January of February 2016.

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This is very much a multi-perspective deal. I will offer up the framework for events (such as who wins, major aspects of said events, etcetera), as well as work on these things alongside all of you. The only real "main" story is the frameworks that I will be offering up, which I suppose I can work in to being their own chapters within these stories.

Hopefully that makes sense.