• Story: Skies of Equestria (Update Part 7!)

    [Crossover][Normal] Skies of Arcadia, with Ponies! I have been told that it is awesome, but mainly for fans of the game.

    Author: Dachimotsu
    Description: A ponified re-telling of Skies of Arcadia. Join Vyse and his fellow Air Pirates on their quest around the world to stop the Valuan Armada from collecting all six Elements of Harmony!
    Skies of Equestria Part 1
    Skies of Equestria Part 2
    Skies of Equestria Part 3
    Skies of Equestria Part 4
    Skies of Equestria Part 5
    Skies of Equestria Part 6
    Skies of Equestria Part 7 (New!)

    Additional Tags: Air Pirates, Re-telling, War, Fantasy, Discovery

    78 comments:

    1. My ALL TIME Favorite game! I will be reading this and loving it!

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    2. One of my favorite RPGs of all time! AWESOME!

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    3. Since they also have cameo appearances in Valkyria Chronicles, can we expect a ponified version of that too?

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    4. Mother of god yes voted it five. I haven't even read it yet, you get that just for the title.

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    5. I love you Seth.

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    6. Skies of arcadia?With ponies?AWESOME!

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    7. OMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSHOMYGOSH

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    8. Holy SHIT, really? I didn't even know how much I wanted this until I saw that image.

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    9. Its skies of arcadia with ponies pasted in.

      As much as I nostalgia, this is just the game's plot, characters, and dialogue. It has no creativity whatsoever. It borders of plagiarism; It's bad form all around.

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    10. @Anonymous

      This is suppost to be skys of arcadia with ponies pasted in. Also ponies makes skys of arcadia 20% cooler.

      PS:I now have the games sound track stuck in my head.

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    11. @Anonymous
      That conversation about Celestia and Luna makes me think otherwise. It's supposed to be a combination of the two, and that conversation made me think it's not an exact copy with ponies placed in some spots, as you said.

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    12. Skies Of Arcadia was a good story, but teadiously easy battle system. (Delta Shield, plus tons of item usage)

      The giant monster battles; however, those are always hard and bizarrely refreshing.

      Hopefully this will become a reimagining as Pegasi and Unicorns can change the story in many different ways.

      Also final thing to leave off on: Piastol is not a insurmountable obstacle or was very hard, she was just the most tedious fight in the game.(I'm talking fourth battle too, that was one long hour)

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    13. Hey, Skies of Arcadia! Always wanted to play a game based on Captain Harlock. Wait a sec... *Does a quick wiki search* This has nothing to do with Captain Harlock at all does it...

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    14. I will have the music stuck in my head for the rest of the day.


      This is a good thing.

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    15. In b4 reason equestria is like that is because twi messed up a spell.

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    16. Hey, author here. It IS mostly a ponified re-telling, yes. But I will be changing a LOT of things, especially the backstory. Trust me.

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    17. Holy crap! Just this very morning, I was actually thinking to myself "I wonder if Ponies of Arcadia is out there. I could really go for some ponified versions of Vyse, Aika, and Fina. Oo! And their personal flags could be there cutie marks!" And now, here it is, staring me in the face. Best day ever.

      P.S. @Skyclimber. No, no it does not. Not unless you count the fact that they're both about pirates with air/spaceships.

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    18. Omygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!

      /)^3^(\

      All my bits! Take them! I still remember that I played the game for 83 hours. I still remember that LOUD Dreamcast drive mechanism giving away random battles moments before they began and reminding me "Oh crap, forgot to heal up", giving me enough time to press start before a random battle began. I remember Aika's Pippi Longstockings on viagra hairdo.

      I remember this game oh so well.

      Now it has been ponified, and you sir have made my day.

      Twi, your spells crack me up... and Equestria too apparently!

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    19. THIS IS AWSOME!!!
      I played the game so much that my CD doesn't work anymore and i have to play it on the PC. With Emulators.
      Cupil is a Parasprite? How will he envolve a.e. to the table-thing?

      Now i need a LoL based on Ponys and i'm endless happy.

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    20. So... I'm guessing the moons correspond to the Elements of Harmony here. Makes sense to associate the magic element with Soltis, but it's going to be a might harder assigning the other 5 elements to the different regions and have them make sense.

      Just struck by a thought. Spike's going to be one of the Gigas isn't he? I'm guessing he'll the violet one.

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    21. I've been naming myself after Vyse on the Internet for almost 12 years now. SoA is, and probably always will be, my all time favorite game. Seeing this, my life is now complete. I'd act more excited about it, but I'm still in shock/awe over it.

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    22. Holy crap.

      Holy crap, this game was part of my childhood. It must be like 15 years old now. And someone makes a pony crossover?

      I officially love the internet.

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    23. Oh man. At first, I was impressed by how much of the original dialogue you kept in, but until the inclusion of Luna and Celestia in conversation, it did smack of plagarism. The concept of pegasi should really change things. (Oh, how I hated Shrine Island that first time.) However, I see some VERY strong promise here.

      It looks like Vyse in this fic is better at raising his Swashbuckler rank than I am :P

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    24. i have not played this game in ages......guess i gota download it again :P

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    25. I never did finish that game. I know it's in a box in my room somewhere.

      This is highly unexpected but also fun to see made.

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    26. Sooo am I the only one who's worried about inconsistencies with Crescent Isle? Or should I just not worry about it and let PJ Elliot figure it out?

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    27. ^I've already thought ahead to that part. I've got excuses. :)

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    28. Ha! Called it!

      Okay, maybe it was kind of obvious, but still...

      Oh dear. We're in for quite the tearjerker when we get to Glacia, aren't we?

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    29. ^Hah, wait til you see what the other five Gigas all are. I told you all I'd be changing an awful lot, and I wasn't kidding.
      Trust me, this is only going to get more epic.

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    30. Zelos is Nightmare Moon. It's the only thing that makes sense for a Rains of Destruction user.

      Yafutoma's probably made entirely out of gryphons.

      Reference to Pegasi still controlling the weather makes me wonder how Vyse is going to abuse that ability.

      I look forward to finding out how the Elements of Harmony got turned into moons, or whatever the hell happened. Twilight being the Silver one was kind of obvious. Rarity being yellow makes sense in the context of Valua digging up all of its moonstones/gems. Applejack would be so depressed to learn that her moon makes it all but impossible to grow a farm. As for the rest of the moons: Rainbow's Blue (because flight mastery), Fluttershy's Green (because plants and animals), Pinkie's Purple (because process of elimination).

      ...wait, Valua's under the red moon? what teh frick this makes no SENSE rarity isn't red the only one with any red is rainbow and she can't be yellow because the only other pegasus is fluttershy and she hates flying DAMMIT AUTHOR STOP BEING A JERKY JERKFACE

      Black moon would be Nightmare Moon if she wasn't already a Gigas. ...Maybe black moon is Luna? It'd explain the whole broken terrain thing.

      Side note: I hate google docs. Sure, it looks a bit nicer than Fanfiction.net, but in the process you lose the ability to favorite/watch stories you like.

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    31. ^Google docs DOES let you keep track of docs that you've viewed, you just have to make a google account, be signed in, and then go to your google docs homepage. That's actually how I keep up with other google doc fanfics.

      As for which color Moon was assigned to each nation, I have my own reasons for each. They will become apparent in later chapters.

      Hint: Two of the moons have not had their colors changed.

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    32. Uh, spoilers, I guess, though it's pretty obvious who the remaining moons belong to...

      Rarity being the... what would be the right word? Patron? Regent? Whatever the word is, it makes perfect sense that she'd be assigned to Glacia because the whole place is basically made out of crystals (ice can be crystalline too, remember) and I could even see Spike actually volunteering to be made into a Gigas if it meant protecting Rarity and/or her civilisation.

      Dash being assigned to Valua kinda makes sense too. Imagine what would happen if you applied her competitive, brash, ambitious attitude to an entire continent of ponies. Getting an empire hell-bent on world domination doesn't seem like such a stretch. Although I would have expected her to be assigned to the blue civilisation for the same reasons as banjo2E, and come on, while I can't really imagine her or any of the others building a weapon of mass destruction, if she did she'd totally model it after herself.

      Applejack being assigned to the red civilisation does seem a little strange, unless the intense sunlight over that area was meant to work in concert with a highly advanced Old World agricultural infrastructure, then that makes the barrenness of the area a logical outcome of the loss of said infrastructure when the rains fell.

      Pinkie. Now this one makes my brain hurt. To be honest, I'd expect the dark rift to be her domain over the blue civilisation, and I could definitely see her being responsible for Elcian. Then again, Pinkie was always going to be a pain to assign to any civilisation.

      No problems with where Twilight is, 'nuff said about that.

      Fluttershy is already aligned with nature so being assigned to the green civilisation makes perfect sense; no further analysis needed.
      Oh crap, Grendel's going to be an angry giant pink rabbit, isn't it?

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    33. I'm quite flattered that someone is so interested in the changes I've made and the reasons for them.

      Gee, I should probably get writing before you unravel the entire thing.

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    34. Well, you're very welcome... NOW SNAP TO IT.

      Seriously though, if I'm too close to the mark and buggering things up for you, feel free to tell me to shut my flapping jaws and I'll just stick to criticism.

      Which as long as I'm here, I might as well start doing. Everything's proceeding smoothly so far. A little too smoothly in fact; I've begun to notice that the memorable battles from the game are growing increasingly conspicuous by their absence. We get a description of Aika and Vyse's weapons, but we've yet to see them used in anger, or how gemstones interact with them, what effects they impart or if they allow non-unicorns to use magic. I think the closest we've gotten to a battle so far is the scene at the Colosseum, and even that was over with a single buck. Writing action scenes is hard work, I should know, I've tried, but there seems to be a complete lack of danger when the ponies are going anywhere on hoof.

      I expected a little more of an extended stay in Lower Valua, specifically I was expecting more interaction with the populace. Reading up to that point, I was dreading (but anticipating) when Vyse and Aika would run across some cute little filly drawing pictures on the pavement and we would hear how very little she has, how little everyone has down there, but how some still manage to stay positive. I seem to recall that girl had never seen a flower. It's little things like that stick with you and make you really care about what happens to places and the people/ponies in them. Even though what went down after the second trip to Dangral Island involved tens, probably hundreds of thousands, I thought of her first and foremost simply because I'd seen a little bit of her life.

      Okay, back to furious speculation...

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    35. Well, I'm trying to make it all as short as possible. That means cutting out unessential NPCs and battle sequences. Important fights (Vigoro, Galcian, various Gigas, etc.) will be given more attention.

      I've also removed the concept of gems/moonstones changing the properties of weapons. That IS purely for gameplay purposes after all.

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    36. I’ve heard about these Gigas before,” Aika remembered. “There’s a bird, and a bear…"

      GUH-HUH!

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    37. I don't believe I didn't see a hydra replacing Recumen. I really need to get more sleep/drink more coffee(I hate coffee)/do more drugs.

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    38. So... Hydra = Recumen because four heads?

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    39. So... Hydra = Recumen because four heads?

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    40. I’ve heard about these Gigas before,” Aika remembered. “There’s a bird, and a bear…"

      GUH-HUH!

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    41. ... What just happened to the comments?

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    42. It's happening everywhere. Blogger seems to be derping particularly hard at the moment, at least the ED part of it is anyway.

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    43. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!

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    44. Please, I don't mind you leaving out the random encounters, but could we havethe boss battles. I was looking forward to the fight with the robot on Shrine island.

      Otherwise,I'd thought of this myself, but had too many other things to do. Thanks for doing it.

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    45. ^I mentioned this above, but I'm cutting out unnecessary boss fights. I'm assuming that you've only just started to read it, in which case, you can put your fears at ease. There are still boss battles.

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    46. I'll have to give it a read. I recently replaced this game and got the sky fang :)

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    47. So... no one has anything to say about Chapter 4? I kinda thought I'd at least get a "WTF" concerning Fluttershy.

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    48. Guess not.

      But in case anypony's wondering, I haven't been working on Chapter 5. With the announcement of Season 2, and the knowledge that it will involve the Elements of Harmony, I need to know what changes will need made to this fanfic's backstory BEFORE I write it.

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    49. @Dachimotsu

      Not quite sure what to think of that.

      Well, at least I know it hasn't been abandoned.

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    50. ..... Hey, um, guys?
      Um... If anyone actually wants me to continue this fic, please say so. Okay?
      It seems people have lost interest completely.

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    51. Wow, I never noticed how long ago the last comment was...
      I didn't play the game, but I really like the premise, and I have been looking forward to this chapter for a while.
      I'd hate to see this story die. I can tell that you've put quite a lot of work into this fix, and I'd love to see how the story plays out in the end. I may only be one person, but I would love for you to continue to write.

      I'm sure that a there are a lot of others who would share my opinion.

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    52. @Pioneer1 .... My desperation for attention and inability to disappoint without feeling guilty may just be enough to make me continue.
      But I think I'm gonna do a different, one-shot fanfic first before I come back to this.

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    53. @Dachimotsu
      "My desperation for attention and inability to disappoint without feeling guilty may just be enough to make me continue."

      ...and now I feel bad for playing the guilt card.
      But I must say, as a new writer myself, I know what it's like for a story to appear to be ignored.

      I like the story, and would like it to continue, but I also know that just one reader isn't enough for an author.

      I am certain that there are others who have been reading without commenting, as I know I did for a while...

      I don't know where I was going with this...

      ... anyway, I completely understand not wanting to continue. I just think you should at least keep the idea in your head, and jot down a few notes every once in a while.

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    54. Keep going bro. Also. It's nice to have fans but you should be writing primarily from the heart, for yourself. Also keep in mind that a wide margin of readers won't touch stories until they are complete.

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    55. And this is awesome by the way. All I need now is Grandia 2 and Shadow Hearts and my top 3 RPGs will be ponified.

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    56. ^Wish I could help with those, but I've only played the first Grandia, and I've never played Shadow Hearts.

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    57. I don't know if I'm too late but please don't quit. This fanfiction is brilliant even for those who haven't even heard of the game.

      The backstory you made in place of the Old World, Gigas, and Moon Crystals are excellent. I would hate for it to end like this.

      If you don't want to continue, then fine, I can accept that. But I at least recommend keeping the idea in your head, like Pioneer said.

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    58. Dachimotsu, I just want to let you know that I get a real thrill out of reading these. They're giving me inspiration to finally finish my no S.moves/harpoon/moonstone cannon run, and as a hardcore pony fan, the idea of SoA ponies excites me to no end. If I had any skills in RPG maker, I'd make something out of this fanfic. But alas, this is all we have. If you would have the kindness in your heart to finish this, you would become one of my childhood heroes, even if I'm too old for you to become one of my childhood heroes. You'd just be that heroic.

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    59. Aww, you guys.
      How could I refuse?
      Of course I'll continue.
      I'll get to it right away, in fact!

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    60. Dachimotsu just wants some love for his fanfic so let's give him a hug so he knows that there are people out there still reading this fanfic. :D

      -hug-

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    61. Was that Steven Magnet?
      I think so.
      ...
      Awesome.
      You're making me want to play this game more and more with each chapter...

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    62. Don't give up, bro man! I loved SoA, and i would hate to see a great idea die with a wimper. I've been there (and failed...) and i would hate to have something like this happen to somebody with promise. Please, please, PLEASE keep writing!

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    63. Okay, now that i've finished reading the entire thing, i need to say a few things:
      1. AWESOME! you have a great writing style, one that really tells the story of the game and the new changes you've made without being boring once.
      2. You did a great job with the ponification, unlike a few others i've read that seem to drop the ball near the end.
      3. You took some greate creative twists that i never saw coming. You follow the plot then BAM! left turn. It keeps everything flowing nicely and keeps me off my toes
      Now for some stuff i didn't like...
      1. Where's the sidestories? all the fun little stuff you do is strangely missing, along with finding extra crew members. WHY?
      2. Some spelling and grammar errors throw me off sometimes. While i'm not expecting perfection, some of them can get in the way. It's easily solved by more through proofreading.
      3. Not at least MENTIONING random battles and some of the boss fights seems like a bit of a head scratcher to me.
      But other than that...
      KEEP SURPRISING ME!
      And keep writing, Please keep writing.

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    64. @Anonimosity: -Hugs back-

      I try to avoid spelling and grammar mistakes as much as humanly possible. I even have my own pre-reader. If you've found any glaring mistakes, lemme know.

      Unimportant things like sidequests and irrelevant bosses will only slow the story down. I'm trying to compress the important events to as short of a story as possible, and it will still be novel-length upon completion. Also, the more crew members there are, the more characters I have to remember to mention every time exposition occurs. It's just too much.

      Thank you very much for the feedback. I haven't started Chapter 8 just yet. I don't plan on giving up on it, but I don't know when I'll continue.

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    65. Thank you for writing this, I've got tears in my eyes at the nostalgia, and now I must find another copy of this game. You're awesome for this, dude *Brohoof*

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    66. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    67. Have you stopped making any new chapters for this? Please respond! =)

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    68. Have you stopped making these? It's been over half a year since the last update...

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    69. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    70. I don't know if anyone will see this, but I must say, SoA is my favorite game ever, and the only game to beat it on the hours I've put into it is a full Skyrim play-through, no joke. I haven't even finished the game 100%! However, while I love the fact you started this and started reading as soon as I found it on EqD, I may be one of the many that saw the same story and events from the beginning, but it felt like it was missing something. I didn't read past Chapter 2 sadly, and I think it's for the same reason many others that saw this didn't continue as well: the adventure part of the game wasn't, or didn't feel as much as it should be, in the narrative. It felt too linear, and linear leads to a plot we already know about even with different background details.

      True, I understand unnecessary length like random battles, encounters, side-stories, crew, etc. can make writing much more complicated for organizing the character, the focus of the story, and much more. But every SoA fan that's also an MLP fan would love to see how crossover wrks with the scope and thrilling adventure of the game combined with the same characterization and flair of the show. Things that are unexpected and add more depth to this new yet familiar world in which everything ties together towards a layered and multi-faceted plot, even when players may know how it ends, we may not be able to see how we get to that end, even then it will still surprise us. I'm not saying writing a random battle every minute, or long-winded searches for discoveries such as in the game, but rather as part of the growing familiarity of the characters with each other and in the 'travel' sections of the story, where something random happens for a sense of wonder, a use to the characters for humor (such as the fruit of Ixa'taka, and something like Aika eating a bunch and then she can't stop burping) or other plot or character development.

      This way, players can find more depth to a story with this wondrous setting that they couldn't find within the confines of the game, with a crossover twist to add more surprises. In addition people that haven't played the game but are interested can imagine the tale of two 'Robin Hood' pirates that encounter new friends, new locations, fight with tenacity, and do the incredible, that they can project onto the game that has now grabbed their interest and their google searches trying to find an intact copy. There's already been at least 1 mlp/video game crossover that has indeed become quite legendary due to how even in the world and setting it exists still grabs the emotions of the reader so they can truly feel these characters and their stories. I actually like it more than the game's storyline itself.
      I apologize for the wall of text, but hopefully I wrote clearly and thoughtfully that my thoughts might be appreciated. I would love to see this story continue and grow to a novel that's not quite SoA, not quite MLP, but something more.

      -Arc

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