We're Back!... Maybe?

It's been about a month since I posted the last chapter, Lord of the Underworld. In some ways, I'm glad for the reception that it got, but in some ways not so much (would've liked some more comments. I love talking about this story. Oh well). And I'm also happy to say that I've actually made some progress writing the next chapter, The Three Trials. The air battle section is already done (something I don't think I'll be able to say again after this chapter gets finished), and I've gotten a good start on the land battle section. A bit ironic that a writer's strike of all things would give me more time to write, but what the hell, I'll take it.

But with that said, I wanted to take a minute to write a recap blog about Lord of the Underworld, just like with each of the last couple of chapters I've done. Basically just going over a few things I had in mind while writing it, as well as what to expect from the next chapter, whenever the hell that comes out. I promise that one won't be a six year wait.

Casting Choices

There were two things I did when I put out Lord of the Underworld. The first was to scrub every mention of Zecora from all the previous chapters, where I originally had her cast as Poseidon. The second was to spoil my choice for Dyntos in the next chapter.

The thing about this story is that I started writing it around season 3 of FiM, so when I was deciding which MLP characters would take the roles of which Kid Icarus characters, I only had the characters from those three seasons to work with. And it's not so much that Zecora was the best fit for Poseidon. In fact, there is no universe in which Zecora is an evenly remotely good pick to play Poseidon (something that one comment on The Seafloor Palace rightfully called me out on, for the wrong reason). It's more that literally none of characters from before season four were a good casting choice for Poseidon (... maybe Blueblood?). So even though I looked back and was genuinely proud of some of the rhymes I gave Zecora, I decided she couldn't be there any longer.

Now, with more FiM content to work with, I was tempted to have Queen Novo from the movie play Poseidon. And I might have, if not for Novo's daughter in the movie. Now granted, that doesn't have to matter for a character that only shows up for one chapter, but...

Anyway, anyone who's played KI:U probably knows who Discord was referring to when he name-dropped Granny Smith. We're basically dealing with the only character from Kid Icarus Uprising who hasn't appeared yet. And despite only having the first three seasons to work with at the time, I had good options: Cranky Doodle Donkey, Granny Smith, even Star Swirl the Bearded (at least by reputation). But this last character had a certain level of mystery to them in the game, and the notion of putting an Earth pony in that role sort of reinforces it. Plus, I can imagine a scenario where Granny Smith agrees to help Fluttershy and Celestia in the next chapter simply because Discord pissed her off after this one.

Okay, Who the Hell Invited Discord to the Support Group?

To be honest, it's been a really long time since I wrote The Chaos Vortex and Scorched Feathers, and part of me was worried that all these years later, what I put down just wouldn't measure up. I mean to be fair, Scorched Feathers is probably the single best bit of fanfiction I've ever written, but there were days while I was writing the last few scenes or after the first draft was done that I was worried that Lord of the Underworld wasn't going to be any good, only for me to go through the rereads and think, "No, this is fine."

Like I said before, the interaction between Fluttershy and Discord in this chapter is something I had a surprising amount of fun with. I'd mentioned before that I looked back at Keep Calm and Flutter On for this, and specifically it was the frozen orchard scene where Fluttershy had finally lost her patience with Discord. After everything she's been through, I basically just wrote Fluttershy as being done with Discord's shit, whereas Discord was just getting started.

Now granted, as much fun as I had with their exchanges, part of me did feel a bit uneasy about them. Fluttershy has been through a lot in this story, to the point where she's decided that she doesn't want to go into battle anymore once Discord is defeated. And then we have Discord being an incorrigible asshole, to the point where it felt like I was writing a trauma victim being harassed by an Internet troll (in fact, when I offered to share the unpublished chapter with a friend on FiMFic, the password I created for it was "Don't Feed The Troll"). But then I realized screw it, he's the bad guy, and she's going to kill him in two chapters, so it's fine.

That aside, there are some lines in this story that I've been waiting many years to write, especially the part about Discord comparing the souls he eats (both with and without cutie marks) to Lucky Charms. Though that scene's dialogue had to be heavily changed from the game. For starters, I have no idea why Pit jumps to reincarnation when he was debating the morality of using souls the way Hades does. Best I can tell, Greco-Roman mythology doesn't actually consider reincarnation. And of course, Fluttershy is smarter than Pit, so she does a better job of refuting Discord's arguments.

What Comes Next

So if I continue with the level of progress I've been making with The Three Trials, I should have it done and posted within a couple of months. Granted, that's a big if, but it's actually a chapter I'm kind of looking forward to. Aside from featuring the last new character, we're also going to have a few returning characters, and I'm looking forward to the interactions between all of them.

I'm also thinking about rewriting some of the earliest chapters, but... well, it's complicated. For one thing, considering how long it takes to put together a new chapter, it feels like I just don't have time to redo the old ones. At the same time, part of me wonders how much good it'll do. Sure, I can put more care and polish into a rewrite, but I sometimes wonder what it'll do to the pacing, at least with the music tracks.

And speaking of the tracks, it's getting harder to justify keeping them. The tracks were always meant to be optional, and they still are; that's not the issue. But I've found myself having to find new links whenever I post a new chapter, because YouTube eventually takes them down for copyright. That, and listening to music on YouTube isn't what it used to be. Fair use or not, music tracks on YouTube tend to be littered with ads anyway, and regardless of whether or not the tracks add to the reading experience of each chapter, a YouTube ad would definitely take you out to it.

Regardless, I'll still keep adding links to music. It's pretty much tradition at this point, for lack of a better term. And any work on a rewrite will depend on how quickly a new chapter comes along. If I keep making good progress on The Three Trials, I'm thinking of reworking Dark Shy first. It's probably one of my favorites of the early chapters, but I may have an idea or two for that one.