A Quick Update on "Look Who Came Trotting Back"; PLEASE READ THIS, IT CONCERNS REWRITING THE FIRST CHAPTER · 2:05am Nov 20th, 2012
Hi guys, it's been a while. Far too long in fact. Like last time, been busy working on multiple things (RL stuff, Scorched Project, etc.), however, the real reason I haven't been able update "Look Who Came Trotting Back" was that I wrote myself into a corner. But to fully explain what happened might spoil any future projects I have for the "Trotter" character, even though right now, I don't think it will be in this story. For those who do wanna know what this bit of story was going to be, roll down to the spoiler section.
Anyway, to let everypony know, I've rewritten a few things in the first chapter, to hopefully fix what's wrong with it. I'll be updating Chapters 2 and 3 as well when I get a chance, although those two chapters might not need it. So I encourage you guys to reread it. And I'll hopefully give you guys chapter 4 before Christmas Day.
POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW
Now, what was originally going to happen was that there was a reason Trotter couldn't remember what he had said to Applejack. Whatever he had said (which would have been along the lines about her parents and their whereabouts, possibly being dead or not wanting to see her ever again, idk, I forgot what I had originally thought) was on the same day that he accidentally set fire to his house, which also caused the death of his mother. This event cause him to block out everything that happened this day, which would have included what he said to Applejack. This would have also been the day he sent out into the world, not really to find out himself and earn his cutie mark, but to runaway from what he believed he did, which was killed his mother. And the way he would have remembered all of this was that Twilight was going to help him with her "Memory Spell."
However, as I read more into the fandom and reread my own story, I began to realize this was a horrible mistake.
The first problem was that story started out with nothing pointing out that that it would become darker. This would have been a big mistake, because some people don't like their stories to suddenly take a dark turn in otherwise light-hearted story.
The second problem was that Trotter was a bully who didn't know he was a bully. So for him to say what he said to AJ and not know that what he said was hurtful, even though he would have forgotten it later on, would have been out of character for him. It just wouldn't work.
The third problem was Twilight's "Memory Spell." I'm a follower of "Discorded Whooves" Tumblr and of those that have some kind of connection, (with the exception being the AskTheMaster blog), which included the "Ask Miss Twilight Sparkle" blog. At one point, someone ask her to fix what was wrong with Discorded Whooves, to which she answered, and I quote:
"I don't have the ability to Un-Dicord someone unless I've known them for a long time BEFORE Discord's power took effect. It's not a spell that really changes the pony, it's a spell that taps into MY memories, helping them remember the pony they used to be. I would LOVE to help the Doctor. He's not a bad pony. But I only remember him as he is now."
Although it has never been stated IN SHOW that this is how Twilight's Memory Spell works, it makes the most sense to me. And the fact the Twilight never knew Trotter completely derailed my idea of using this. In fact, it was this that caused my writers block to kick into maximum overdrive. But it was also this that made me rethink the story, and in my opinion, make it better.
I might reconsider using this backstory, but then again, it probably won't be in this story. Maybe a future fanfic that delves more into Trotter that I could put a "dark" tab onto it.
What do you guys think? Was it it a good idea to drop this dark backstory? Please let me know by commenting below. Until next time, this is Ace Of Spades, signing off.