AN: I'm sorry that this isn't an actual chapter, but today in general is a really important day for me personally. There's a reason I'm publishing this long speech on this story, as supposed to one of my other ones, as this one is the story that is near and dear to my heart.

It was two years ago to the day.

Two years ago to the day, I published the very first chapter of Life of a White Rose, the very first in what would be a very long line of stories that I would create just for you. Two years ago today, I entered the world of writing for RWBY, and ever since then, I haven't been able to stop.

Who would've thought that after two years, I'd become a pretty big name within the RWBY FF community (though even I doubt that at times myself) and that there would be so many people out there who love to read the stuff that I create. In all honesty, I wouldn't be where I am today if it wasn't for you guys giving me the chance to succeed.

If you don't mind, I want to take a look back through the years and see how far I've come since I started.

It all started right after the season finale of volume one happened. After watching that, I don't know why but I just felt compelled to write out my own stories for this show. I was so enthralled by the show that I wanted more of it, even though the volume had just ended, and thus I searched online for anything that I felt could help me fulfill this desire. I ended up reading a lot of knives4cash's work, and that put the pieces together for what got me to write in the first place.

After reading the story Red and White by BlackenedHearts, I spent some time writing out stuff for Life of a White Rose, but I wasn't really too keen on publishing it. I don't know what it was that changed my mind, frankly I don't remember it exactly, but when I did, the response to what I had said was overwhelmingly positive, with some helpful criticism thrown in as well.

I was so hyped because things were starting off well, that I ended up starting a second fic only 5 days later, and that became Brand New World. I was publishing chapters for both of those stories at great speed, and I was feeling really good with that. There was a point where I needed to take a break though and so I did, giving myself a chance to think of ideas and rest my head and hands since I was writing so often. During that break though, I came up with my first one-shot, and one of my favorite works that I've wrote, Forever.

During that break, I came up with the concept for the Rose Dragon trilogy, and with my break over, I started to write out the first part of that story. After coming back to start writing again, that's when things really took off for me in terms of success. Life of a White Rose became an extremely popular fic, even going so far as to reach the 16th most followed RWBY Fanfic on this site. That was a really long time ago, and even though things have changed, Life of a White Rose, is somehow still in the top 50, though I believe that it's time will end soon.

During Spring Break of that year, I ended up coming up with and starting what I now consider to be one of my Masterpieces, Grand Theft RWBY. To be honest, that came about from me just having fun playing GTA Online and I thought, well, we've never seen anything like it, so why not give it a shot. I'm really glad that the story has gotten to be as successful as it has gotten, but I've still got a ways to go with that fic.

Time passed after that and I wrote out more one-shots (Just a Simple Kiss, In Vino Veritas), I tried to dabble into a different style fic with Broken Vale (even though that wasn't a real success), and I began to work on the second part of my Rose Dragon trilogy (Burning Rose). While I'm happy how some of them have turned out, they really didn't garner the attention that they deserved.

Then, one year after I began, I published the first chapter of Best of the Best. I knew that I had wanted to expand on what ships I wrote for, being primarily a White Rose writer for the longest time, and that was the first step for me in terms of writing something new. Best of the Best became a huge success in my mind and I loved writing every second of it, especially since it was a fic that I wasn't too sure would turn out well due to the ship that it featured.

After that I came up with Purity in a Black Heart, and that was a well done story in my mind. In fact, recently, someone has taken it upon themselves to create their own story within the context of that universe, so that is what I would call a huge success (it's titled Of Beasts and Men, by Archer1eye for those of you who are interested).

Going on with expanding my ship repertoire, I started On My Own, and while I haven't had anything to update that story with, I have so many people who have become interested in it that I don't know what to do with myself. After that came Vault of Glass, my second RWBY/video game crossover, and while not as huge a success as G.T.R., I believe it has the potential to reach great heights if handled right.

And now, my most recent work has become The Other Side, a story that I have spent so much time working on so that it is perfect, and one where the original expectations of it were not that high, but blown out of the water after seeing where it has reached so far.

It's really been a long time since I started writing, and I've done so much in that time, more than I ever thought I would do when I first got started.

A lot has changed since then as well. Obviously there are more writers and there are more stories available, but do you know how much of a difference there is now, compared to last year?

When I first started writing, there were approximately 1,200 RWBY ff stories created. As I'm writing this, there is now 10,000 total, and that number just keeps growing every day. Some days I wonder if it's just a dream, if people actually don't write all this amazing content and that I'm just slowly losing my mind. But when I see all of the different stuff out there, I know that this is true, that I'm a part of something that will never die.

Looking back, it's clear to see that there is almost constantly a new wave of people who are writing for RWBY, with a few people from the old days joining in as well to continue writing. I remember reading stories like: In Love with the Gardener, Red and White, Red Snowflake, Bedside Manner, and stories just like that, and I ended up falling in love with White Rose because of it, and I still love white Rose as well even though I've expanded my ship love.

There was one thought I had when looking back and comparing the last two years to now. Back when I first started, there was the people who were the one's who wrote the best RWBY ff, and when I started, I inadvertently became a part of the Old Guard, the one's who were there to pave the way for new writers to come in and show what they could do.

When I think of the Old Guard, I think of names like:

AngelDancingOnAPin (now known as NeitherNor31459)

BlackenedHearts

knives4cash

Issys

CodyKnight22 (now known as ImperiumsKnight)

Orion Matrix

xT-Zealot

Kerrigor2

TheDarkenedRose (formerly Gamers13) (Happy birthday btw)

Yokai Moon

xXIyra16Xx

momoxtoshiro

Gear001

Kuribayashi

Techno Skittles

WannabeAHLad

elfenlied1012

Parabola Beam

Kira of Darkness

Tear of Light

A-rav

Hardshocker2

mikotyzini

BlackroseGUMI

crystalessence

frozenhikki

Juwpiter081

and there are so many more who I would love to mention, but I don't want to go on forever with this.

Looking back, most of the names on this list aren't as noticeable anymore. Many of them seemed to have faded away, never to really produce another story or even update the ones that they have now.

Orion Matrix

frozenhikki

crystalessence

Hardshocker2

BlackroseGUMI

BlackenedHearts

NeitherNor31459

Parabola Beam

Yokai Moon

Kira of Darkness

A-rav

Kerrigor2

There are some authors who aren't around much, yet they still produce something once in a blue moon. They aren't seen often anymore and who knows if we'll see something from them again. The amount of work they put out now a days may be different, depending on who it is I'm speaking about, but they're names we don't see much of anymore.

Gear001

xXIyra16Xx

Techno Skittles

ImperiumsKnight

Issys

knives4cash

Kuribayashi

But there are still many authors from the Old Guard who are still around, who still write incredibly well written stories that really reach the reader and instill a sense of feeling into them, much like I try to do.

xT-Zealot

Tear of Light

TheDarkenedRose

elfenlied1012

WannabeAHLad

momoxtoshiro

mikotyzini

Juwpiter081

and myself.

Before I go on, please remember that everyone has their reasons for no longer going on. Please refrain from trying to force them into something that they don't feel like they could possibly do anymore. Let them rest and live their own lives the way they want to.

You may be thinking that this means that there are no longer being great stories being produced, but you would be wrong. There is still an incredible amount of stories to read, and while some authors may have faded from the spotlight, others have stepped up to take the call and work to provide the community with all kinds of great stories to read. Many people have gotten the recognition they deserve, and some are just on the rise, but in the past two years, I've seen these people become great's and they truly deserve the recognition and thanks for helping to grow this community of writers.

GhostPhoenix113

Shadow Nightblade

angelsixtwofive

Phoenix Commander

TheBrokenBottle

The3Ryans

Eternity and a Day

Cuda77

Daphun1

Hysterical Clerical Hijinks

Sanghelitat117

The Great Weiss Shark

TheLastSonata

RandomHeroX

Jefardi

Spat915

The Broken Watchman

unimaginee

Totaldile

NameForsaken

SpectraRailXgunXx

The Inner Turmoil

RejectedKnight34

And there are so many more that I would love to mention, but this is getting really long as it is so I'm gonna cut it short here. There are those on this list who have come and gone, off to work on their own projects or do something new, but each of these people have written a wonderful story(s) that I truly enjoyed and still enjoy today, and they deserve some recognition for all of their efforts. Some of them I've made friends with, both fellow writers and those who are just fans of what others have written (GhostPhoenix113, Shadow Nightblade, Phoenix Commander, TheDarkenedRose, angelsixtwofive, HOB013, ashwash, Ek t555, Darksoul25 [using their twitch ID], Rwbyfan54, Reeves3, and many more).

It's mostly because of the kindness that you guys have shown me that I love writing, and that I love what I do. So I want to thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for all that you have done for me, and I hope that you continue to support me as I continue to write as much as I can and to the best that I can.

Thank you, for being the greatest group of people, friends, that anyone could ask for.

-NobleMETA