Just to make sure, the MC is a Black and white pegasus filly with no mark and is slightly older than the CMC. Right?

At least we know the manticore will be ok, I wonder if the MC will run into the Mane 6. Looking forward to more.

11317360 Black and grey but yeah, and around the same age. I always saw the CMC as being 12ish.

Glad you enjoy so far. 😃

Interesting so far. I’m excited to see more of our feral little filly!

Very intrigued by this now. I've never quite seen this kind of a feral HIE, and the interactions with Mom-icore are both heartwarming and heartbreaking, and the focus on loneliness is a neat touch too.

It does make me wonder, though. Why make the protagonist suicidal and have that be the focus of the cover and description? It gives the impression that this'll be the kind of story that's made to be overbearingly dark and edgy for no reason. The first chapter also reinforces this; it reads like a checklist of every generic angsty teenager trope.

But then... it's just dropped early into the second chapter, and it pretty much becomes a completely different (also way better) plotline. By chapter 3 I had completely forgotten that this MC had ever been suicidal or depressed to begin with. Unless it's going to come back up in later chapters (or the next one now that he's had to run away from Mama), it feels almost out of place with the other two chapters.

Main reason why I bring this up is that from the dislike ratio alone, I can tell a lot of other people have similar opinions about the cover and first chapter, but without bothering to read beyond that (If they even looked at chapter 1). I'll admit, I only read further out of morbid curiosity at how the protagonist might try to kill himself again and what it might take for the ponies to stop him. Considering that's very much not what happened, and considering how anything shown in the discussion is essentially dropped after the first chapter, I think you'd be better off at least with a different, more fitting description at the very least,

11318945
Glad you've liked it so far. Thank you for the in depth and detailed criticism, not many people do that. I didn't want the first chapter to read like a checklist (something even I noticed), but I could never rework it enough while keeping the original amount of feelings that went into writing it. As for a better description, that is something I can work on.

11319137
Indeed. This story has an identity crisis. Come here for plot A (which I skimmed as the 'how I died' is repetitive at the best of times) and begin plot B after slapping a whopping time skip between.

I do like this story though... feels vary fresh! The manticore is a nice touch.