IT'S FINALLY FINISHED!!!

I first began Storm of Secrets over 3 years ago with almost no foreplanning; but the idea I would try to mimic the illogic rational of the show while in Equestria and move into something of my own once they hit forest. It was also the first real thing I had ever written and the first 8 or so chapters sucked.

In 2014 I went back and tried to edit it, but really couldn't come up with a way to fix it without re-writing the start, so I wrote a summary; though the main story kept getting a lot of views.

I has nagged me for years that the opening of Storm of Secrets has so many holes in it; especially given that, in all my works, it is still the rational place to start; and so I decided to just completely re-write much of the first eight chapters in a way that people who had already read it wouldn't need to go back and re-read anything; but that I no longer felt embarrassed every time a new reader looked at it, and wanting to suggest that they just read the summary.

I expected this would take a few weeks; but between blocks, and sickness and school; it's taken close to 7 months. If I had known it would take this long, I'm not sure I would have done it; I've missed a feeling of advancement with each new chapter, I've missed receiving comments, I've missed Obtrillion, and I've missed you guys.

Other creative activities this half year include planning, in some details, a computer game I will probably never make, doing considerable thought into what nomadic life would be like under the sea, writing considerable amounts of satellite stories, and future scenes of LOTH, including most of Enigma's scenes from the fourth and final story (he's a main character), and writing a short spin-off of The Catch that I won't post since kudzuhaiku didn't like; but I will PM to you upon request. (Don't bother unless you're reading The Catch.) I know I've said this many times before but hopefully I will start posting chapters much faster in the near future.

It's been strenuous trying to re-write chapters trying to keep the who and what the same, while changing the when, where, why and how; though at the same time it's been encouraging seeing how much my writing has developed. The prologue, and the beginning of the magic show are mostly the same, though after the fire things are completely different with Rainbow Dash's first meeting/ date with Storm, and the circumstances Shining Armor arrives in Ponyville. The important changes you should know are:

Without having changed most of The Wonderbolts, it is now fully believable that these people are world class athletes. My original head cannon was that Spitfire had tried giving everyone some high altitude training, and constant exposure to the thin air had slowly given everyone brain damage, and some manner of chronic fatigue; making everyone dumb and lazy but no one wanted to be the first to say anything.

Now Spitfire has undergone a complete transformation from apathetic, weak leader; to scheming, manipulative power-player whose ideal recruit is someone whose fast, good looking, obsessed with crowed appearance, and easily manipulated/ bribed/ threatened so she can maintain complete control.

Everyone in the Wonderbolts has specific quirks, such as Soarin's fetish for pet rocks, which Spitfire encourages. For the the team to run smoothly it needs to be manipulated in a very specific way that only Spitfire can do effectively. If anyone else, like Rainbow Dash, is left in charge; their quirks clash and the team falls to chaos.

She thought she had such a candidate in Rainbow Dash and was then very annoyed when Dash was that little bit faster than her. For a while she let her be captain since she needed Dash to win the Canterlot Cup; but after about a week after the tournament Dash learned that they only won because Soarin was hyped up on dark magic, she almost quit then. Spitfire realized this and started manipulating the Wonderbolts to act up, using the media to spread the rumor Dash is lesbian, and other things to try to 'convince' Dash to quit. When that didn't work, Spitfire lost her patience, and used mutual underworld contacts to hire Trixie to kill her.

Spitfire's Pet Unicorn

Wanted: Expendable fall-mare to undertake dangerous mission.

Moderate intelligence, manipulable ego and history of criminal activity desirable.

Promise of making your wildest dreams come true upon completion.

Trixie will be coming back in Limits of Mercy, and I wanted this to develop something of a logical back story for her, rather than trying to kill Rainbow Dash on the spur of the moment for no rational reason.

Dash never realizes just how cold Spitfire really was, and leaves to join the Rangers giving Spitfire the team back just like she wanted. She will be brought to justice in another story by Button Mash's mom, Soarin, and a very heroic pet rock.

The destruction of the Prancing Hooves theater by Rainbow Dash is now different, more logical and treated much more seriously. Afterwards, Princess Luna took responsibility for rebuilding it; giving it a new, very specific design that included a glass roof. Two years later she conducted the grand re-opening on the same day as the first solar eclipse since her return. She personally led an orchestra in a symphony she had helped write and as the sun was blotted out she gave a performance which was simply to die for.

Shining Armor talking about Denorious is similar, but with a few marked differences; Spike Hooves sucks for the name of an organized crime group. The Dejancy sounds much better; sounding like a deviation of the word regency (pun intended), with undertones of being demonic and the word demesne; basically meaning dominion or ownership.

Now for 2 spoilers I have no obligation to give: I will point out that Denorious's meteoric rise through the Rangers, and so many of the stallions falling in love with her was due to Denorious being a latent telepath. She couldn't direct or focus her power but continually generated an aura that made people instantly feel they could trust her, and blinded to her faults. She was also unnaturally intelligent, strong and fast; but no more so than Obrillion... and for similar reasons. Deceit

There was a time when I was thinking I would need to re-state several of my dates, and move SOS to more than a year after season 2; because I wasn't sure there was enough time for everything Iron Will sets in motion in The Minotaur, the Princess and the Train Tracks to happen before Luna's second rebellion.

Then I remembered that MPTT was four months before SOS and I figured that that was just barely enough time for him to do what he does before the eclipse, and then getting hired by Cadance very near the end of Twilight's blackout period as her “Bodyguard”.

I also trimmed out some of Pyromite's scene time. Not that they were bad; but they weren't necessary for this story. I am working on NPR stories, and when I post them I think there is so much more potential for the idea of a ADHD, pyromaniac phoenix who thinks that everything and everyone will regenerate after being lit on fire.