New Story: A White Hearth's Warming · 8:42pm Dec 4th, 2016
A White Hearth's Warming
A young Sunset Shimmer, spending her first Hearth’s Warming in Canterlot as Princess Celestia’s personal student, comes to the terrible realization that there’s not going to be any snow for the holiday.
She decides to do something about it.
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I've just published a new story, one nearly a year in the making. Want to read it? Click the story title! Want to know more about it? Head down below the break, where I'll talk a little about how this story got its start, how it's improved since then, and who you all can thank for it.
A White Hearth's Warming began life about a year ago, when I took part in the FiMFic secret santa. The premise of that secret santa was that you got linked to another author, and would write them a fic based on their favorite pony.
So, being someone who hasn't seen the movies, of course my author wanted a Shimmer fic 
I struggled with that one for a while, but eventually settled into an idea: a wacky comedy about a young Sunset running around town and being horrible to everyone she meets because she's trying to get the windigos to show up make it snow. When I sat down and actually started writing, though, what came out was more a heartwarming look at Celestia and young Sunset's relationship--at how Celestia tried to mold Sunset into the pony she wanted her to be, and how Sunset remained her own pony, even as those lessons sat like a seed in her that would only blossom many years (and tears) later.
This is a not-infrequent occurrence when I write; stories changing tone, genre, and more when I actually put them to paper. There was a problem this time, though:
I completely failed to realize I hadn't written a wacky comedy 
You'd think that'd be something you'd notice, right? But no, I wrote this sweet story that had, dropped in the middle, a bunch of insults and mean-spirited hijinks, and which never actually tied back to Sunset's future growth except in the most tangential way. It was kind of a mess, is what I'm trying to say.
DrakeyC, the author for whom I wrote that story, was kind enough to call it "an interesting and unique story," even as he gently observed that maybe, just maybe, the fic I'd written wasn't the kind that needed a bunch of cringe comedy. So, as we came around to Christmas again this year, I decided to return to my fic and see if I couldn't make it... you know... good.
After a fair bit of revising, rewriting, and wholesale deleting, I came up with something basically similar to the finished product... but not as good. It wasn't as good, of course, because I hadn't yet loosed Pascoite upon my fic. He was kind enough to dive into my story, helping to both correct obvious oversights and to wade into the details of perspective that can really make a story shine. With his help, it should go without saying that the final version is a stronger, more polished piece than I ever could have written without him.
And... that's about it, really. Go read my new story, if you haven't already! I hope you enjoy, and Merry Christmas Hearth's Warming!
Oh, I should add: I was planning to publish this fic sometime in the coming week, but when I woke up this morning, it was snowing: the first snow of the year to stick on the ground. There was already an inch of it when I woke up, and more still falling.
I took that as a sign, spent my morning making final edits and setting up the fic, and published today.