I've been having a love/hate relationship with this fanfic ever since it was posted

THIS AIN'T A HATE COMMENT, don't worry, just wanted to get that out of the way first lol I have plenty of good things to say about this fic, but also my feelings are really mixed and...I think that's the point too, right? Harness has complicated feelings, and as a reader I feel that as well

I'll start by saying until now I hated the trope of Hitch getting frisky with everyone just because. I like Hitch too much, he's my favorite pony and such a complex character, it bothered me to see that reduced to the role of 'horny anime boy who wants to fuck all his friends bc they are girls'. And some people do write it like that I'm sure, probs the one who didn't bother to correctly analyze the character and just want porn. But lately I've come across a couple fics that went the herd route, and you know what I realized? If handled as Hitch REALLY IS, a respectful and kind guy who really does love his friends, and the girls are treated as equally complex characters(and by that I mean, pardon my French, being more than just an empty shell of themselves bc the author was horny and wanted to write mares thirsty for cum), the idea is cute. He's not a fuckboy at all, he's a good stallion and it makes sense for him to be popular and get involved with mares without giving the 'horny anime boy' vibes.

Does that mean I like the harem stuff the fandom seems to love? Eh not really, still makes me kinda uncomfy, I don’t see Hitch as so desperately horny he'd want to be with every single mare that he crosses paths with, and as defender of 'female/male friendship in media' I do appreciate him not being treated as that. BUT this fic so far has managed to handle the trope in a way that seems believable for his character(him acting sheepish about having been with all the girls was cute and I can imagine him treating the whole thing that way, heh). Or well, beliavable for his rule63 version that's a bit more bold but overall the same as him. I have more thoughts on how Hitch and Harness are handled, but I'll comment those in the sequel with Ike.

So then, if when I first came upon this fic I hated the harem stuff, why did I read it? Well, I didn't really mean to at first, but the idea of Hitch and Harness meeting sounded interesting, so I read a bit, then left after reading a couple dialogues, then found myself coming back bc those dialogues made me curious, and before I realized I finished reading the whole thing.

Here's where the mixed feelings came in. It was an interesting plot, the build up was great, the internal dialogue so good and the sex scene steamy af. But I was also scared, the plot could SO EASILY be interpreted as Harness being careless about her friends feelings, judging by the thoughts to the 'what are we?' question for example. But then in the comments you mentioned you'll explore more of 'What she is now with the rest', and I was curious what really was the intention with this story. Will this go the herd route? The polycule route considering there are hints of Sunbeam liking stallions? Or this fic is just casual sex and that's it? Why is there a lingering romantic feeling in the air during the whole thing then? The yearning did not have merely sexual energy for me, and another comment mentioned that as well, so I was sure I wasn't crazy. Again, I didn't hate this fic, it was interesting, but god was I confused about what to feel. I'll be honest, that probably has to do with the fact I prefer to read fics about ships separately, not...I've never read any 'character beds the rest of the cast one by one' kind of fics before.

Despite my mixed feelings, I didn't drop it. I kept returning here, waiting, checking every day hoping for an update, something that made me finally decide if I liked or disliked this story. Heck, I even used this story as reference for my own writing on my first G5 smut I'm hoping to post soon. Why be so hooked up if the premise made me so anxious?

And then I realized, it's because it's the only Sunny/Hitch fanfic that really wrote their relationship as meaningful as it is. It wasn't corn just because, neither a cute silly drabble. This explores how they have known each other for so long, trust each other, have always been there for each other, THE YEARNING WAS SO FUCKING GOOD I'LL SAY IT AGAIN. I absolutely LOVE these two both romantically and platonically, but could never find a proper story that made me go 'holy shit, this is it, this is how they get together' until I read this one.

And it angered me. I hated that after all this time no one could get that right, and here I find it, the only fic where they are written properly and so nicely, and it was in a 'casual sex' fic with the trope I used to dislike. I kept wondering, 'What is the author going to do to excuse this not being romance? How the heck can you build such a beautiful story between these two and not make them date at the end without making it seem rushed or with one of the characters coming off as if they played with the other's feelings?'

Then, after a month of questions, you updated today, I almost jumped off my bed, I read it right away even though I just woke up and my mind was fussy. My conclusion? Both characters agree on leaving things open, both want to explore themselves first, and that can lead to a relationship in the future, maybe, or not, I'm not sure what you're planning really. It's a kind of agreement that I could see as questionable, like, that lack of formality tends to be a red flag(feels like neither part is interested enough im the other to start a relationship? Smth like that), but in this case? These two have known each other for so long and have such a strong friendship that, in this context, deciding to leave things open until they figure themselves out doesn't seem like its fated to end badly. I'd say this is a ending for this part of the story, but still there's a lot of questions that hopefullt get answered in the other parts. Ngl lie I couldn't help myself and in my mind I have an alternative version of this story where it just focuses on Sunbeam/Harness, because it could perfectly work as a get-together if you remove the whole harem thing and just focus on them.

(Extra thing about these two: I personally see Sunny as a gentle top. Yes, even with Hitch. I see her the same as a stallion. The idea of her being an alicorn but preferring to be treated as an equal is an integral part of her character for me. This fic goes the opposite route by making him embrace being a hero who deserves to allow himself to desire and is rough in bed, BUT it was handled well enough and in a way that made sense. Usually it's a turn off for me when a story does the opposite of my vision of characters, but you managed to make me go 'ah I'll let it pass this one time, this is good shit' so, congrats for that lol)

Now my comments is already so fucking long, I'm sorry fdsgs but I was wondering if I could ask a few things about this story? To understand it better. Here goes:

1- May I ask where this story is going? Emotionally speaking I mean. Is it all gonna be 'just casual sex without romance', or is there going to be romance eventually after a bunch of complicated feelings? Either as a polycule or leaning towards an specific relationship. I see no romance tag, but there are vibes...well, I'm confused. I would love to know, that way I won't get my expectations in the wrong place lol so far I'm enjoying this story, it's smut but treating the characters as what they are, COMPLEX and having in mind each dynamic. I can't say I like...any of the g5 smut here tbh, so you get the place as the only one that made me go 'aight this is interesting'

2- Not sure if you thought of this considering the focus in on the rule63verse here, but do you have ideas on how exactly Hitch got involved with all of the girls? Like...did he just go for it? The girls approached in different contexts? Or did it actually 'just happened' as he said? In the sequel of this fic it's hinted Harness didn't make a move bc of the expectations of a being a mare and a good sheriff, but did Hitch really not deal with any doubts himself just 'because he's a stallion'? He mentioned he didn't like the implication that he manipulated them, so I'd like to know how are things from his part. We are seeing things from Harness pov, it's easy for her to believe Hitch just got it all easily, but Hitch doesn't look as 'cocky and confident' about the whole thing as Harness seems to like to believe.

3- Connected to the prev question, did things go almost the same for Sunny and Hitch as in this fic? Did Hitch have to convince Sunny that it was okay to want things for herself? Or in the og universe it was Sunny who had to convince Hitch it was okay? Bc I can imagine Hitch having the same thoughts as Sunbeam about not wanting to 'be that kind of stallion' and being proper and all that. Or did things go completely different for them?

4- Harness mentioned she didn't want to upset the others by getting involved with any of them, does that mean she knows some stallions of the group have feelings for her or what exactly?

“ Allegedly. And it wasn’t really a commune. More like a really intense polycule.”

5- Could you elaborate a little on this? I know it's to explain why Sunbeam has sex experience but I'm curious about how the heck did he ended up in such an specific situation gfdg was he part of that polycule or what

“Sun, I’m–” she started to moan — and then he growled, and hilted himself, and clamped his hoof over her mouth. Her heart skipped. Her eyes rolled back. She very nearly came all over again.

6- I admit this was hot, even if Sunny(or Sumbeam here) being rough is not my thing. But I'm gonna make a dumb question here bc I don't read sub/dom stuff often so there's some stuff I don't get akfjg why did Sunbeam make her stay quiet exactly? He didn't want her to interrumpt him because he was close and wanted to focus? That was what I got from that, idk If it got it wrong tho

7- anither dumb question, but I take it the characters wear no protection bc of the logic that Harness is not in heat? Otherwise I can't imagine a character as responsible as Hitch/Harness not even thinking of that. Yeah, I know it's porn but I can't help but wonder that, I don't read straight smut often so it's difficult for me to forget about possible pregnancy and stuff

8- In a comment you mentioned Harness still has 'four and maybe more friends to go'. Are you planning on making her get frisky with other chars besides the rest of the mane 6? Personally I'd be interested in something with Sprout(Sappling in this universe), but I don't know if you meant that or that she'll get involved with two or more of her friends at once or smth.

Sorry for the long ass comment, I've been having these thoughts stored at the back of my mind waiting to come out, and finally it's the day, heh. Anywho I'll comment on the Ike fic later, looking forward to the rest of the story

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Well, I think this might be the longest comment I've ever gotten on this or any other account, and I certainly don't mean that as a bad thing. Honestly, I really appreciate how much you got out of what was published here before, and that the follow-up so far seems to be keeping you engaged. 'Cause I'll be honest: this first segment came out feeling like a romance because boy did it swerve hard into being one during drafting, and while I don't hate that that's what happened and I'm happy with what I've written so far, it did complicate the plan for the rest of the stor(ies) a bit, and the reason it took so long for me to update with the next part was because I had to go figure out how to uncomplicate it and not just have Sunbeam and Harness get married and have eight children and smooch a lot monogamously. Tempting, though. I do get it.

But anyway, questions! And answers, that I hope will help smooth out some of the very understandable worries you brought up about capital-t Tropes and the planned subverting thereof:

1. The core idea that got this series from "oh, that'd be fun" to "oh, I actually want to write this" in my head was, kind of as you mentioned, doing a harem story that poked fun at the standard assumptions for the genre without fully abandoning them. Obviously, there's still a good amount of porn logic baked into things here (sorry, Harness, deciding on a whim to try to hook up with all your friends in a row is not a super-normal thing to do!), but at the same time, I wanted it to actually be "logical" on some level, 'cause that's way more fun and allows for a lot more ooey-gooey character work. So the main arc of the story is and will continue to be Harness realizing that she's got a lot of repressed desires and indulging in them doesn't make her a bad person, so long as she communicates and her partners are on the level about it. What she felt with Sunbeam was real, but she feels that way about all her friends, and she's at an age/place in the world where she can and should explore what she really wants without feeling bound too hard to monogamy unless she wants to be.
2. One thing I intend to make clear as the series continues (or at least, by the end of it) is that Harness made a lot of assumptions about exactly how Hitch got himself a "harem" and what that says about his character, and the part of her that inclined her towards those assumptions is the same part of her that made her repress herself. Without getting too spoiler-y just yet, he definitely didn't sprint through his friends one after another like Harness is doing (but also, she's learning that can more or less work too).
3. Didn't really think about that particular detail while drafting, honestly, but since you asked: I think Zipp got things rolling with Hitch first across the multiversal pond, and then lowkey encouraged him to act on his feelings for Sunny, and then things spiraled/escalated from there. Another whole saga someone could write there, I suppose.
4. Harness knew she has feelings for all her friends and kinda projected those feelings onto all of them, but she was also serendipitiously right about them all being into her too, so again, things worked out.
5. Honestly, that was mostly just a throwaway joke, but it is kinda fun to imagine alt-universe Sunny being just a tad more radical (in multiple ways) than she is.
6. For Sunbeam as a character, it was a spur-of-the-moment instinct that kept him in full control of the encounter and helped him take a step further down the road from "service top because he's a sweetheart" to "dom because he wants to be." For the story as a whole, it doubled as implication to Harness that she'd talked herself out of a lot of enjoyable things in the past, and sometimes letting your internal/external voice shut up is really fun.
7. Partially porn logic, admittedly, but also I don't think it's unreasonable headcanon (and in-story canon, as of the new fic) to assume G5 Equestria has morning-after pills and/or birth control of the chemical or magical variety.
8. Spoiler alert: it means both of those things.

This woman clop author thanks you for writing this subversion of harem tropes, especially since it's got that poetically descriptive writing style I love to write in my own stories.

Will give you a follow!