New Episode...(Minor Spoilers)

*WARNING* If you have not yet seen the newest episode of Friendship is Magic, then stop reading here. You have been duly warned. *WARNING*






*WARNING*






New journal.

So, to those that it may concern, the internet was graced with our long-awaited Princess Luna episode. With that came a canon personality, and with that personality came some changes that I had to make to Storms On the Horizon. The most obvious change needed from my perspective was allowing Luna an adequate amount of time to slip into modern Equestrian speech. To compensate for Luna's "acclimation time," so to speak, the time in which SOtH takes place is bumped up an additional several months. Accounting for the fanonically believed duration of one year for Season 1, the total amount of time that Luna has had to acclimate will most likely be a grand 18 months (subject to change as I need it). To be even more specific, let us assume that Nightmare Night occurs at the earliest reasonable time after the year encompassing Season 1 has passed, say a month, maybe two at most. SOtH would then pick up four or five months later, after Luna has adjusted. 18 +/- months may seem like a long time for such an adjustment, but Luna has missed out on 1,000 years.

I'm not sure how many of you picked up on this, but I played my Luna chapter very safely. Besides Rarity and the odd guard, the only interaction she had was with Celestia, which is pretty easy to do. After watching the episode and seeing Luna interact with all of the mane 6, except Rarity, I saw just how lucky I was. It saved me from having to rewrite a good chunk of Chapter 4. Of course, that's not to say that I wouldn't have done it if I had needed to. I also was not writing SOtH to hugely involve either of the Royal Sisters, so I was not horribly dependent on what Luna's canon personality would be.

I know what all of you are thinking. "You just told us that you didn't have that big of a role planned for Luna. Why go to all the trouble to correct the timeline?" I have one simple answer to that. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a shocking development to inform you of: Fluttershy...is no longer my favorite pony... That spot has been newly claimed by none other than the Princess of the Night herself. See, Luna had been a solid #2 for the longest time. When the Hub gave us that teaser frame  that showed us her new mane (I also believe that there were several subtle changes to her character model, as well), Luna went up to about #1.01.  In my opinion, it just made her look so much more mature and regal, like a princess should. By the third commercial break of the new episode, I had to admit, that Fluttershy had been dethroned as my favorite pony. Watching the episode another five times didn't change my mind.

Sorry, Fluttershy... I hope you aren't angry with me...