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Nimaru — Gathering Elements (part 5) - Winter Willow
Published: 2012-03-17 22:08:11 +0000 UTC; Views: 41937; Favourites: 533; Downloads: 733
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[Part 1 - Rook ][Part 2 - Crabapple ]
[Part 3 - Luau ]
[Part 4 - Rose Petal ]
Part 5 - Winter Willow <==== You are here
[Part 6 - The Garden ]
[Part 7 - The Fall ]
This one took some serious work. About 30 completely new OC ponies in varying degrees of distress. Oh right...
WARNING - This comic is a bit severe. Don't read it if you want to spoil your good mood
Note that I don't intend to get this grim often, just that considering Nightmare Moon collapsed large sections of the castle and who knows what else, it's likely there were some serious injuries.
A few things to note: There's a pegasus in the rafters who looks pretty upset. Her name is Whirley and she's a cameo from this comic: [link]
After reading that heartbreaker, I always wanted to give that poor little pony a hug and now I have
Also, Rose is invisible for the entire duration of this comic. At the end, the pony observing believes that Willow is running away screaming. She also makes a snide comment which is a hint to the political landscape of the time (healing ponies don't think much of "emotional healing").
Lastly, I'm enormously pleased with myself. This turned out very artsy and awesome in parts. It was mostly an accident that I thought of some of the arrangements and effects, but I think they turned out really well!
Oh... lastly, lastly: This was actually supposed to continue beyond this point, but the comic would have been too long and it already took an extraordinary amount of effort to do this much so I'm going to stop here for a bit. The next comic will have Celestia again
IMPORTANT! The thing in the tubs is soiled bandages. That's why they're cleaning them over by the river. They're not organs or some of the other things people keep asking me
ALSO: The pony with the paper in her mouth is looking for a pony with that cutie mark. Before you ask if she ever found her, here's the answer: [link]
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Comments: 441
I thought it might be taken that way, but the intention was just showing how a heart could sink into darkness. What happened to Luna was probably similar if it could have been visualized, but in Willow's case, it's just an artistic representation of her inner self.
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Wow, I think this was the best one yet.
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I think it's my best one yet. For the new set anyway (maybe out of all of them), though I'm still pretty proud of the triple rainboom scene. that was also extraordinarily challenging.
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In any case, both your art and your story line throughout the whole series is very impressive.
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Aw, I wanted to hug Winter Willow for going through that sad time. >:
I was wondering how you would pull off the destruction Nightmare Moon caused and how it affected eveyrpony, now I am pleased to say that this has surpassed my expectations.
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I just noticed that blue-maned mare trying to show everypony her drawing of the happy sunflower... 👍: 0 ⏩: 1
She's looking for someone who has that cutiemark.
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While I was reading this I experienced a mixture of spine tingles, cringes, and even times of covering my eyes and re-opening them...but, at the end... I just busted out laughing! The things a pony comic can do to you... ^^
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I know right? Up and down and up and down again. Sheesh. Finding the right balance and timing for this comic was hard at times. A good one is going to carry you like an amusement park ride, but needs to not be suddenly jerky or spin off the tracks.
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Good metaphor. I'll use that one sometime! ( ^u^ )
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The blind pony and the guard, is it okay to think they might have been married? It just looks that way to me for some reason.
Also...why is the Nurse pony making the little ponies help her clean the bandages? That seems kinda mean...are they nurses in training or something?
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You nailed it. She is his wife. In the very first panel, you can see him frantically questioning a nurse pony about her location.
Could be nurses in training or that she's forcing them to help because she doesn't have any option. They're critically understaffed after all.
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Awww, as sad as this page is it's kinda nice that you give the guards lives of their own.
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This is about as dark as your work has been so far.
But don't take that as a criticism, far from it. I't always been an opinion of mine that children-aimed stuff can always be better if given a few dark elements. Just look at Don Bluth's work in the 80's to see what I mean.
As for the comic it's incredibly well-written and you really feel the kind of distress these characters are going through.
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Thank you! Though if you look back at comic#2 of the real story, you'll see that Princess Luna wasn't absorbed by the Miasma, she was eaten. There are words in that mist if you look close enough...
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Wow, I think this is the grim-est and saddest thing you have ever done, and that contributes to the very deep and sad tone of the situation. It truly adds some realism to the entirety of the situation, and the fact you not only have so much going on all at the same time, but created a large number of original ponies to convey it all, is nothing short of your amazing talent. That final bit with Rose and Winter made me smile and have a gigglefit, Rose is so flipping adorable! Looks like one pony can see little miss invisible-shy! >w< Love it, I can't wait for the next one but I have to, but this is definitely my favorite page so far for a large number of obvious reasons.
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" Looks like one pony can see little miss invisible-shy"
Crap, I forgot something. Well, you nailed it anyway; yes, rose can't hide from someone who can sense hearts.
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Forgot what? It seems fine to me. owo?
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I was going to say something like how Willow can't see her either, but knows she's there because she can feel her, but it's probably fine as is.
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Yes it is, that part is clear enough from your description.
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The most amazing thing is how much you communicate about the characters in so few frames and with so little dialogue -- that requires quite a bit of skill. Great job!
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You're the second person to say that about me. That's cool!
I keep thinking of writing a fan-fic, but for several reasons, I'm a bit nervous about the prospect.
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I was hoping that you might finish this during the weekend. Superb job! Fantastic job communicating emotions. That is not an easy thing to do and the backgrounds are marvelous -- communicating the story with relevant details. You have a right to be proud of all the work you have done and thank-you for sharing it with us. Now that you have finished this segment, time to submit to Equestria Daily?
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Ah yes... backgrounds *shudder*
Some of them are getting easier to do, but man that hall was tough. Depth and perspective are things I haven't learned since 7th grade art class.
I'm holding off on EQd specifically because I want the series to be finished first. I find that if it's submitted before then, a lot of people never see the finished product (because they forget to come back).
There's still 2 or so to go in this series.
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That's an easy fix -- just submit the next arc when it is done too.
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True, but it's still part of the same arc is what I meant. This story isn't done until the confrontation with Nightmare Moon and Celestia.
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Daunting times, these must have been...
{gives Winter Willow a big Pinkie Hug}
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Much appreciated to be sure
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And I know I shouldn't giggle for this pic, but...clever Derpy reference there~
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uhh...whats inside those wooden tubs?
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...Nightmare moom...that monster......pity for these poor subjects -_-
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Is that Derpy with the blind folds? So Nightmare Moon is why her eyes wen't derp!
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You are a real trooper, my friend. All those OC ponies, I'm just astounded how much detail you put in to each and every one of them. And in such a heartwrenching scene too.
This one for you, kid!
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Why thank you! I'm glad if people appreciate it. I knew it was going to be hell filling that room, but I had to do it for the INTEGRITY OF THE COMIC!
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Winter Willow has very strong empathy. We need more people...and ponies...like that.
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Ya. In my "Reports" series, I said that the Element of Kindness is actually empathy. Willow is the first element user (other than the Royal Sisters) so, yup! She's the "Element of Empathy" (aka kindness).
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I'm just confused about the pony with the paper who kept showing up. Can somepony please explain?
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What better way to identify ponies than by cutie mark? They're easier to draw and recognize than faces. She's looking for someone.
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Ah... I get it. Now I'm sad. Anyway, great comic. Beautifully drawn and written.
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I really don't know why I decided to express so many kinds of pain. It just seemed like the right thing to do considering the situation. I guess it makes you appreciate how stable their world is now that such a small disturbance and in such a short time could cause so much grief.
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I've heard authors say that at some point, all they're doing is watching their characters live and writing what happens, because they somehow got a life of their own. You may have found this to be the case. And it's good, very good.
Have i mentioned before how much i love these stories? i have? doesn't matter, once again i'm saying that i love them
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