What can I say? It's been too long. Real life decided to latch itself around my windpipe and bury me alive. During the interim since I've last updated any of my stories, I've moved out of my house, gotten stalked, severed ties with a family member, changed churches, gained a new step-family, became suicidal AGAIN, snapped out of it AGAIN, and started looking for a new job.

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Dusk's final rewrite is now complete. Yep, hopefully this will be the last time I update this.

I now know exactly what the story needs and where it has to go. Now that I know that, Shine can move forward at last. But it cannot do so without your support.

Since I'm trying to get this on EQD eventually, I really need as much feedback as possible. I appreciate every comment and PM I get.

Thanks for your patience and enjoy.

I did it guys. I finally did it. After beating my head against the wall for almost two months, I finally figured out what Neo-Shine was missing compared to the old one.

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And we're back.

Looked at the EQD critique in a little better detail today. To my everlasting chagrin, the biggest problem the reader had was STILL the pacing. That overall, the story felt too rushed. So I skimmed over my story to try and get an idea of where he was coming from. And now, at last, I think I finally understand why people keep saying that.

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I said before that once the Shinverse gets underway, that the characters at Crystal Prep will be used as major storyline antagonists for our heroines (and hero). I already have Cinch's role in mind as well as a few others, so that's not a problem. The problem I DO have however, is with the Shadowbolts.

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If you guys have been following me for a while, you'll know I've made several revisions of my work since I started here. Each time, the revisions and rewrites were made with the goal of taking poorly written or rushed parts of the story and making them work better. Pretty much turning the bad to good. I had no problems with that; in fact, I even requested help with that when I rewrote Dusk.

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So I tried submitting Shine to EQD again.

Didn't work out.

Here's what they said:

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Things seems to be picking up for old Zero.

My four stories are apparently averaging 64 views per DAY. I don't know how good that is without comparison but it's a step up from when I first started.

I also have gained my 50th follower. Yeah, I know it's actually 53 but that doesn't sound as cool. You know, like how the hundred years war was really 116 years.

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Remember when I told you guys that big fanfic reviewer had Shine in his sights?

Well, I don't know what happened, but he seems to have lost it from his bookshelf. I asked him for clarification, and he was just as confused as I was.

So now that that's fallen through, I need to figure out another way to get more people reading the Shineverse. I tried submitting Shine to Equestria Daily again a few days ago, so that's something.

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"Your story is garbage and you have no talent."

I still remember Cryosite's words. Her harsh critique of From a Shimmer to a Shine that threw me into a creative funk for days. I started second-guessing myself. worrying that I wasn't good enough and that I never would be. It took me quite a bit of time to recover from that.

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TV Tropes defines Growing the Beard as when a series finally gets its act together or makes a marked improvement in quality. Sometimes it's when the exposition ends and the actual plot begins. Other times, it's when the conflict is firmly established. Or it could just be when the audience realizes just how high the stakes really are.

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A writer's work is never done. Things can always be improved. Spent the last few minutes editing some of Shine's dialogue. Though none of it is significant enough to point out, sometimes I get finicky like Twilight.

Since I've started heading in their direction, I think it's time I addressed Crystal Prep.

Ever since I first saw the synopsis for Friendship Games, I was intrigued by the concept for multiple reasons. First, the fact that Crystal Prep had a rival school would mean more opportunities for antagonists in the EQGverse. Second, the fact that we were getting the Human World equivalent of the Crystal Empire meant possible appearances from Cadance, and Shining Armor.

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Now that Shine is back up and running, my thoughts have once more turned to the future. More specifically, how I want to set up the Shineverse.

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Bang.

We're back.

This is harder than I thought. Mainly because I'm not sure what the old Dusk didn't have that the new Dusk needs. Yes, it was rushed, and some parts could have been elaborated upon, but I can't get a good idea of what's actually lacking. The first chapter needs to establish Sunset's regret, the student's hatred of her, and her relationship with Celestia. All of these aspects were present in the original, but I'm having a hard time figuring how to elaborate on them.

Dusk has been unpublished for the time being while I spruce it up a bit. Hopefully, it'll be back soon.

Okay, I can take a hint.

One person says Chapter 1 needs work. That's speculation.

Two people say Chapter 1 needs work. Kinda pushing it.

THREE people say chapter 1 needs work. I think it's time for another revision.

In all honesty, I get why people say Dusk isn't as good as Shine's other chapters. The setting is rushed, the characters are poorly established, and it doesn't feel very connected to the rest of the story.

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I've GOT IT! I've finally broken through, guys. It was right there all along, and I didn't see it. I figured how to write a new conflict for Spark that still lets me develop the Twilights, establish Crystal Prep's role, AND avoid the ever present Idiot Stick.

It was so simple. I just had to rethink Human!Sunset's role, rewire the infamous Incident, and give Twilight a reason to choose Canterlot High. Then everything else just fell into place.

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