George Sparrow has a lot on his plate.
During the day, he is transformed into a strange, small horse with wings and capability of speech. However, when the night falls, he changes back to his human form. On top of it all, he is trapped in a world filled with colorful, talking creatures that refer to themselves as 'ponies.'
Saddled with a task of rebuilding the enigmatic Faraway Farm, George Sparrow has to learn to live in this strange, new world while trying to solve the mystery surrounding his arrival to Equestria.
Now if only these 'ponies' would leave him alone...
(Now proofread by the awesome O_O and themaskedferret)
Chapters (7)
Intriguing start. Comes over as competent HiE, but with an interesting twist that just might make it stand out above the noise. I look forward to the next part. There are some grammar and flow problems in the prologue, and throughout the dialogue feels quite unnatural and stilted, without much inflection or the feeling of prosidy. It is as though sometimes a robot, or a foreigner who is not quite used to the language yet, is speaking. I wonder if this is perhaps intentional for some reason.
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Well, there is definite intention of having George's way of speech be hard to pin-point. However, at the same time, if there is someone to talk to, he tends to shift gears in that sense.
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Glad to hear that, mate. Hopefully I'll be able to keep that attention.
Gasp, is there a story added to my Transformations group which has a description that intrigues rather than disgusts me? I may actually have to read this one.
Harvest Moon: Pony Edition
Eagerly awaiting more
Omg ur back hooray
It's back, yeah! Nice. :)
I'm very glad to see that this story didn't end up abandoned, it's a very interesting and novel idea. I look forward to seeing how this evolves and plays out as time goes on.
Welcome back, this is still as intriguing as ever.
oh snap, mayhaps AJ get called out
i wonder if George is gonna spill about his origins, would be highly amusing if somepony witnessed the transformation, though if that does happen, i do hope it would be twilight to discover his secret
It had to be done, with a title like that.
And something tells me that George is going to find the Equestrian version of hard liqour, if I should go from the next chapter title.
Hey.....Not bad...I like it.
Wow...
Purely amazing. The depth of detail and emotional balance and response is utterly amazing.
*Grins* This story never fails to amuse and impress.
dice....nerf Cobbler ya?
I'll admit that I wasn't sure how I felt about introducing Cobbler at first, but you've written her remarkably well, especially in comparison with some other OCs I've seen. I'm also very impressed with the interactions between the characters, as they have yet to feel dull or flat. Establishing the concept of international trade is also very unique, and I'm loving it quite a bit. But then, I'm a sucker for detailing relatively mundane, but integral, aspects of a fictional world. I've been greatly enjoying this since chapter one, and my support has only grown. Keep up the good work.
This again? Really?
I'm enjoying this. Keep it up!
Pshhhh-
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To understand their meaning, study of the bigger picture might be needed.
Spice and Wolf was an awesome anime,(and book) It's wonderful to see it done justice here. Don't think you can trick me. I know where this came from.
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I have to admit, I love it when readers notice the nods I've left to other, much better, forms of media. It shows I'm not alone in writing what I do write about.
That being said, you are right about Cobbler. There's more than a little bit of Horo in her. Of course, her relationship with George is not as "romantic" as it is with Lawrence and Horo (that is reserved for someone more like a... polar opposite, if it even comes to pass, I don't know if readers want romance in this story about farming), but that has certainly served as an inspiration. The same sharp wit is there indeed.
Intriguing. A ponified "Ladyhawke" story--and with the language barrier thrown in while reverted to human form. That's a cool twist!
Nov 2020 edit-->and thanks to the person who pointed out I misspelled that movie.
Ouch! Not only does George have to do some sort of weird penance, but looks like AJ has to, too
And I bet with George being a pegasus, as certain daredevil stunt pony with a rather colorful mane is about to pester a "new flying buddy"
uhoh!
If EQ is in this author's version of MLP, there're two of those mares who KNOW what that word means!
George dun fuq'd up & he don't even know it yet!
But I'm betting that George will be making full use of his human form at night to bring the farm back into productivity, since he'd have no way to learn how to do it as a pony. It should make for some interesting encounters
Anypony else see that werehuman streaking through town?
And where'd Gorge get to?
Good capitalist horse!
*Manly tears*
About Time.
You sir have definitely hope to see mutch more in the future
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don't toss out cigarettes. Some idiot driver did that just recently near where I did and managed to start a bushfire, unfortunately nobody got her license plate. George is lucky he didn't light the place on fire or blow it sky-high.
I suspect once he realises day = horse, night = human, he's going to do a lot of fasting during the day and make up for it at night unless he can quickly learn how to manipulate things more readily and steadily with his hooves.
Hey, a poem that isn't vague as f
Maybe George doesn't realise it, but there's always the possibility if/when he's returned to the human world it'll be with his farm intact. That would probably sweeten the deal just a bit for him.
Apple horse is probably going to
crap applescrabapples at that wham line at the end.I wonder how much Apple Cobbler actually knows about the presumed magic of the Faraway Farm. I guess George will have to find out on his own time, if he has time to actually work on the farm and talk to Apple Cobbler without being bullied by Applejack, that is.
I was expecting George to change in the middle of a crowd of ponies. Well, he lucked out here, by comparison at least.
Now to see what he does, and what Apple Cobbler thinks of this strange werehuman (would it be werepony? I don't think so, because he changes back into a human at night)
I'm guessing he hit a statue or something.
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Just wait until George realizes that ponies = no meat on the table. That's gonna be a hard pill to swallow for a lover of greasy, fat-filled BBQ like him. So hard that it might just break his spirit.
...Well, unless lack of beer doesn't break it before that.
Got to admit, so much "Harvest Moon" feels
I'm not sure what to make of this story. It seems like an interesting concept and I like a few of the moments in the story but the story is almost 2 years old and only 2 days have passed in it. Further, I'm not sure I'll enjoy it going forward as there are moments that feel like they're less important and drag getting to the actual building of the farm. The concept of this story is that he's going to revitalize this dead looking farm but all he's actually accomplished in 30k words or half the length of the average American novel is to get a loan and learn very little about the area. He hasn't learned how to farm, he hasn't learned really anything of importance it seems. If it takes 2 RL years to get this far, is it better for me to actually follow this or just wait the 2-6 years for this to finish? I'm hyperbolizing a bit with that time but I've found that time has caused me to become apathetic to more than one story and this story already hasn't drawn me in so completely that I know I'd be super excited whenever a chapter comes out.
Also, is there any point to the gibberish looking stuff that's always in the first part of the author's comments at the end?
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The only thing I can say about the erratic updating schedule is various difficulties I've have had regarding both writing and editing. Indeed, latest chapter only came out now thanks to themaskedferret swooping in for a save (thanks for that, by the way). It has never been my intention to have the schedule be this slow but alas, some of this stuff is out of my control.
However, what I can say is that these chapters so far, as well as the next one, are purposefully set inside a small period of time. This is a type of 'beginning' for George and his life on the farm, and sets the basic premise and what's in store for the future. However, as that 'Spring 1' up there suggests, this story is supposed to take place during three years. Indeed, Chapter 8 is set week from the end of Chapter 7. These chapters are also gonna be more self-contained little adventures with overarching story of rebuilding the Faraway Farm.
As for the gibberish, well... yes, yes there is, in fact. I'm a sucker for all things mysterious and conspiracy-theory-esque, and Harvest Seasons is a story heavily influenced by Americana; or rather, about Americana. Hence, stuff like that (in the footsteps of X-Files) will appear here and there. If one wants to solve that gibberish, then... I can offer the hint that one should take a look at the title picture with the eyes of a Freemason.
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If someone figures it out, throw me a message. Those types of puzzles have never interested me. Nor do I have time where I currently am in my life to solve something like that.
Beautiful work as always my boy keep up the good work
George is really going to have to brush up on his genre-savvy if he wants to survive all these crazy ponies.
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(It would indeed be werepony, since "were" would mean "man")
Whaaaaaaaaat