One Last Moondance: An Electro Swing Wrap-up Blog · 2:58pm March 14th
And so it ends, finally! With the enormous editing process done, I can finally say put this fic to bed and start moving onto writing other things outside of this story! It’s honestly a relief. I really want to get back to Chrysalis and Applejack. But first, we need to talk about some stuff for the fans of this fic.
First off, if this story clicked with you closer than you might like and you think you are suffering from narcissistic abuse, please seek help! It’s a complicated system that I barely scratched the surface of to get right for the drama of this story. I relied a lot on videos and interviews with Dr. Ramani Durvasula as well as YouTube channels like Cinema Therapy. You might be able to find help here from NAS: Narcissistic Abuse Survivors, but to be frank I didn’t do my due diligence in looking up resources, so I can’t vouch for the validity of this organization. It was one of the first Google results, and lord knows we can’t just blindly trust Google results.
Secondly, I am serious about trying to figure out how to get this in print. I am being so open about it not just to get people excited about the potential publication of the story, but also because I have no idea what I’m doing and some folks have already reached out to offer support in helping me figure it out. I’ll be sure to include everyone that has offered support in the credits here online and in the physical copy if/when I can get it all done. Punished Bean will be in all likelihood be getting a shout-out or credit in consultations of LaTeX for getting physical formatting figured out. To be clear: I’m not making the book expecting to profit from it. This is literally a “for the fans” thing. I put it on the same level as getting a few prints of some high-performing artworks on Twitter and going to a convention to sell maybe ten of them at most. The fic will always be free online and you’re free to print out pages of .txt file and staple them together yourself.
Thirdly, on the off-chance you made fan art, lemme know! I’d love to compile it and post it for folks to see. It’s not a popular ship, so I completely understand if no one was even interested in touching it. The only art I have is stuff I commissioned myself.
Art by Doodle-Mark and Full-quality found Here
With that out of the way, let’s talk about Electro Swing. Specifically, let’s see some questions that I derived from the comments that I feel weren’t answered or didn’t have time to be answered in the story itself. And if the context of this entire blog post hasn’t clued you in…
SPOILER WARNING!
Question 1: Why is Electro Swing a sequel to Forbidden Melodies and Gloria Celestia?
Answer: Because Octavia was married to Steeplechase and I wondered off-hand who would Vinyl be paired up with since she’s taken.
Seriously, that’s it.
Forbidden Melodies was my all-time best performer on the site, and it pushed me into exploring that universe more. At first, I wrote it in a day to get it out of my head, and then it pushed past the long fic I had started (and canceled/deleted) called Unraveling a Rainbow. That story would be better suited for a comic book anyway. It was a mystery action/adventure with overt manga tropes infused into it. I still remember people yelling at me for leaving cliffhangers, and I thought I was nailing it instead of infuriating them. That’s what happens when you come from visual mediums without being well-read. I can literally count the fiction books I’ve purchased on one hand, and they’re all Tolkein.
Getting back to the question, I like challenges. Odd pairs, crackships, ACT CAP [As close to canon as possible (I just made that one up, but the acronym is neat.)], that sort of thing. So, when I was considering potential partners to pair up, I thought “Fancy Pants would be interesting. How would that work?” I started thinking about it more and more and seeing what I could do to make it work. Let’s turn back the clock to my first draft of “Unforgiven” which was last modified the 15th of April in 2015.
My first draft of the story was a one-shot that was completely different. The story centered around Vinyl Scratch performing a public breakup song with a rich, snobbish upperclassman of the Destruction school named Sparkfire. Specifically, it was going to be a lyrical rewrite of the song “Unforgiven” up there and sung by Fleur de Lis. Speaking of, you might be pleased to know that Fleur was more-or-less the same from the outset, a playful rapscallion of a mare that likes tricking ponies with her Prench act. The whole reason for that was to ensure Fancy Pants would attend the event since he was her older brother.
This draft didn’t get very far because Fancy Pants basically stumbled into the relationship by being a kind pony to Vinyl Scratch. I needed more to work with. So, I shifted the Major Dramatic Question, the central thematic idea on which all plays are founded on (borrowed term from playwriting) to a different one.
MDQ: What has to go wrong for Vinyl Scratch to end up with somepony like Fancy Pants.
After that, I started drafting again from the top, but then real life happened and I just got completely burned out creatively for MLP (More on that later). For now, this is the sort of thing that carried us through to this sixty chapter monstrosity we ended up with. So yeah, again…
TL;DR, Octavia was taken in the Silent-verse AU, so I decided to go for a crackship. Things spiraled from there.
Question 2: Why is Celestia the villain?
Answer: I reject the framing, but I get it. Anyway, the reason is because I needed to utterly destroy Fancy Pants. The secondary reason is that Wanderer D was surprised by what Celestia did in Gloria Celestia. There is another reason as well, but it gets a little darker.
So, power dynamics. The trope of the rich billionaire sweeping the everyday girl off the street and foisting them into their world of riches and grandeur. The creep that gets away with it because he’s pretty and has money: I wanted to avoid this as much as possible. The last thing I wanted anyone walking away with was Christian Gray vibes from Fancy Pants. I did a deep dive into who I wanted Fancy Pants to be, what his weaknesses were, what his foibles would be. He’s a rich boy in Canterlot, he should be like everypony else of that class and privilege in Canterlot: completely intolerable.
I wanted Fancy Pants to reflect the character we see in the show, but without something to slap the Canterlot out of him so he’d be compatible with a commoner DJ. He needed lessons in humility and kindness that we see being shown in Season 2, so I came up with all the things that could’ve done that. What better way to do that than with Celestia? It’s hard to be filled with pride around an immortal everyday, so I had her be somewhat of a second mother character. Then came the idea of Fancy being one of the few ponies who could address the whole “Silent Era” thing.
Then I wrote the collab chapter of Sunset’s Isekai with WandererD. He was pretty surprised to find out about what Silent Princess Celestia was capable of doing while maintaining a clear conscience about it. The process of writing the dialogue between Luna and Sunset opened my eyes to just how much of abuse of power it was for her to do that. I always knew it was, I wrote it as a terrible sin, a word I don’t throw around lightly since that’s a very specific word, but the process of going through that chapter somewhat opened my eyes to how far this Celestia was willing to push the envelope a little further.
So, I decided to play out the question in a lot of MLP fan’s minds back in say 2012-13, why/how can anything possibly threaten Equestria when it’s ruled by two immortal ponies who should be able to keep the world safe with their quasi-divine powers? I mean, they move the sun and moon. If they’re legit celestial bodies as we understand them in our universe, how powerful must they be? That was when I shifted Celestia from simply covering up the events of Gloria Celestia to stamp out any memory of Nightmare Moon and escalated and made one rule for her to follow.
Silent Princess Celestia Rule: As close to canon Celestia as possible, but willing to do anything to ensure Luna’s safe return. Anything. It’s why chapter 51 is structured the way it is. Going from benign changes like shifting a celebration from day to night to get ponies accustomed to celebrating the night all the way to eliminating threats that could make ponies afraid of what dwells in the darkness. It was a gradual change, but I tweaked Celestia’s personality to give her some egotism that helped add fuel to the fire for Nightmare Moon. I then layered that with a grandiose self-blame and self-loathing to make Celestia aware of the fact that she is often self-centered, bordering on narcissism, and terrified of it leading to Nightmare Moon again when Luna returns.
This also just so happened to also coincide with something I was already trying to do with her and the story at large: I wanted to make sure Fancy wasn’t going to be seen as taking advantage of Vinyl in every way possible, so I put out what that sort of abuse of power would look like. Let me point out the line specifically.
From Chapter 51: A Glimpse of Paradise
“But I do care for her, your highness. It’s simply that she’s a princess—” (Fancy said).
“And you’re a noble!” Celestia argued as she stood taller. Her mask cracked as she drew her smile slightly too taut. “Not just any noble, but the noble of nobles. The Kingmaker of Canterlot. Respected, well-traveled and versed in multiple languages, handsome, uniquely talented, honest, loyal, kind, filled with laughter, and generous to a fault. You turned out to be better than I could’ve ever imagined, practically sent by Harmony itself right when my sister was set to return! You are perfect in every conceivable way! I made sure of that!”
As stated earlier, the last thing I wanted was for Vinyl to be seen as getting rescued by Fancy Pants, aka White Knighting. I wanted them both to click together and find that they worked together, not Fancy solving every problem with his charm and resources. I was worried that no matter what I did, readers would see the age gap and power imbalance as cardinal sins, so I decided to double down and played into Celestia being the immortal master manipulator. It gave Fancy’s arc a bit more depth and struggle and helped me fully flip the power dynamic between Vinyl and Fancy so they could be brought into balance.
I didn’t want it just to be that though. Some folks definitely saw chapter 51 and got repulsed by it. The dislike bar went up after I finally resolved the B-plot with her. So, let’s move on.
Question 3: Okay, with all that, why isn’t she getting a worse punishment?
Answer: Because I still love Celestia and want her to be better, like Fancy Pants said.
My favorite movie from Japan is Howl’s Moving Castle. In it, there is this character, the Witch of the Wastes. She’s the main antagonist of the movie who is uncaring and cruel, cursing the protagonist, Sophie Hatter, with magic that turns her into an old woman. By the end of the movie, the witch is reduced to the old woman pictured above, forgiven by Sophie for what she’s done and taken care of despite all the terrible things she’s done over the course of her life.
I put my thumbs on the scale with Chapters 55 and 60. I wanted to show Celestia mercy as the author because I want to let others know they are allowed to sympathize. It doesn’t excuse her behavior and you don’t have to forgive her. You can hate this Silent Princess Celestia for all the horrors she has done and condemn her. However, she still did good things on the whole. She led the nation and kept it safe. As long as you weren’t a threat to her vision of an Equestria ready to welcome Luna back, she was the same as the show. Still, I didn’t want to tell the reader they’d be wrong for feeling this way, so it’s why so much of the story was about forgiveness.
She deserves the worst punishments for what she has done. Extrajudicially murdering Chrysalis would be enough to justify letting the surviving changelings put her to death. That’s a completely valid take. For me, I want reformation rather than the death penalty’s instant and diminishing catharsis for the victims. I think it’s okay to give Celestia, and perhaps others like her, a chance to repair what they’ve done, even if it’s impossible. At least if they’re alive, they can still do good in the world. If they’re dead, the only good they can do is fertilize the ground. You can argue the negative that they can no longer hurt anybody, but they can’t help anybody either.
Question 4: Okay, enough about that stuff. What’s everyone’s orientation?
Answer: I will answer as they would in-character with specific terms. See below, and let me know if I get the terms wrong.
- Vinyl Scratch: Demiromantic/Heterosexual (Requires Trust. Explored in Chapter 52)
- Fancy Pants: Heteroromantic/Heterosexual
- Fleur de Lis: Polyromantic/Polysexual (Strongly Leans Femme)
- Eclair de Lune: Heteroromantic/Heterosexual (Attracted to Older Stallions)
- Celestia: Homoromantic/Lesbian (Unchanging Sun)
- Luna: Currently, Aromantic/Asexual; Before NMM, Panromantic/Pansexual (Phases of the Moon)
- Sauna Summers: Biromantic/Bisexual + Polyamorous (Feels guilty about it)
- Suede Shoes: Heteroromantic/Heterosexual (Accepting/Supportive of Summers’ polyamory)
- Athena Cypriel: It’s complicated. She assumed Heteroromantic/Hetereosexual, but that was informed by expectations of having children to continue her family line. Vinyl threw a wrench in that in Chapter 34. At the end of Electro Swing, she is still exploring this aspect of herself.
- Fluffer Duster: Heteroromantic/Heterosexual (… probably…)
- Dapper Dandy: Stubborn/Stubborn with eyes only for Julia Razorwind, his griffon girlfriend.
Question 5: What’s the deal with Jet Set?
Answer: I’ll have to ask him later, Seinfeld. Next!
Question 6: What does this AU mean for Twilight and Spike?
Answer: Spike doesn’t exist. If he does somewhere, he’s not Spike. His parents probably named him something different. As for Twilight? She and her harmonious friends fulfilled their roles in freeing Luna from the clutches of Nightmare Moon. Twilight gets to have her own adventures in Ponyville with her friends and phoenix familiar while living in the Golden Oaks Library. Tirek will never destroy it because he is currently trillions of specs of marble dust.
Question 7: Okay, so what does that mean for her Princess Twilight Sparkle?
Answer: Celestia wouldn’t risk making Luna think that there was a replacement for her. This Celestia has no desires for any alicorns to ascend. Their alicornhood works a little differently in this AU. There are multiple references to Celestia and Luna rising to power because of a threat to Harmony itself to fight Chaos. Sidenote on the cutting room floor: Chaos’ Reign was way, way, way worse in this AU. You should also note, I am not talking about Discord.
Question 8: Oh… then Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?
Answer: I followed her supplementary storybook where she defeats a witch or something and becomes an alicorn. It’s on the MLP wiki. Either way, canonically, it seems Celestia wasn’t involved with that ascension in any way. And because we know what Silent Princess Celestia is like, let’s just say it’s very fortunate that Cadance’s cutie mark was a relic that Celestia recognized.
Oh, I should mention another thing on the cutting room floor here. I noticed while researching Crystal Ponies that none of them are pegasi or unicorns except for royalty and I think some guards? Either way, something left on the cutting room floor was a discussion about Cadence not showing any earth pony powers, so in that version, it was unknown in-universe if she’s a true alicorn or just a pegacorn from becoming heir to the Crystal Heart. I decided not to go with it in the end in the story, but if Cadance comes up in future Silent-verse stories, I might need to make a decision.
Question 9: So, is Celestia mortal now?
Answer: It was pretty clear in the story I thought, but to be clear no. She’s still an alicorn and she’s still immortal, or at least unaging. She’s just diminished. Think how Luna looked in Season 1 and how a lot of artists depict Celestia with just the pink mane. Do that and injure one of her wings. Boom, Silent-verse Celestia.
Question 10: Wait, hold up. You skipped something from Question 4! What happened to my Luna X Athena ship!
Answer: At the moment, they have a close friendship. However, both characters have a lot on their plates at the end of this story. Unfortunately, a lot of wrapup got cut with Luna. I wrote at least one Luna scene in every chapter from 55 onward that all eventually got cut by either myself or the editors. Chapter 59 specifically was rewritten from the ground up which cut a scene between Luna and Fancy that was about 4K words! Oofers!
As far as a romantic relationship between the two? Not every story needs to ship every character with everybody else. I do think there is compatibility there, but it would not be a sexual attraction if they became romantically involved. I tend not to cross the species barrier in my work in that way. Remember, I’m asexual myself. I generally skip sex scenes when I’m reading.
Question 11: Doesn’t X character need therapy? Why is Vinyl the only one getting therapy?
Answer: I think every character could benefit from a good therapist. After writing this and seeing how much of myself is reflected in Fancy Pants and Vinyl Scratch, I think I might need a therapist. All of those self-worth and self-loathing things were cake to write. All I had to do was focus on what I tell myself constantly and change the character. I kinda thought everybody felt that way inside about themselves, this constant feeling of inadequacy. When folks started saying Fancy needed therapy, I was like “I guess? I mean his stuff isn’t nearly as awful as Vinyl or Celestia. Tragedy happens in everyone’s lives at some point and advertising preys upon our self-worth to make us feel like we need to buy stuff. This is normal.” Then I kept writing and exploring it and folks kept responding to him. “Okay… maybe this isn’t exactly normal.”
As far as Celestia’s therapy is concerned, she needs to warm up to the idea first.
Question 12: How did you manage to write Upper Crust? She’s such a terrible pony!
Answer: I just channeled what job searching felt like in 2015 and everything I hate about corporate America. She practically wrote herself. The only hard part was balancing what information she gave away, which I eventually did in the rewrites. Her hinting at Vinyl being her daughter is far less clear now. It was also out-of-character the way she talked about it. She’s a narcissist and she was showing empathy when she said that. She shouldn’t have been capable of that.
Question 13: Can you translate Princess Luna’s nebulous hint in Chapter 19?
Answer: Yes, but let me preface this a little bit. I kinda winged it with only half a plan. I wrote the basics of Chapter 54 with placeholders for things I wanted to build up from very early on. We're talking two years before it was eventually published. It just sat in my drafts box as Chapter 99, waiting to be slotted in eventually. The plan was to get to the contents of Chapter 32 and then get to Chapter 54. I was hoping to do it in about 20 chapters, but it turned out to be triple that. Suffice this to say, Princess Luna’s hint wasn’t 100% accurate to what eventually happened, but since it was murky in origins anyway, I decided to keep it as is.
“There is no damsel in distress, only a tower closely guarded.”
Vinyl Scratch doesn’t need to be saved from anyone, but she does need to be freed from her self-imposed captivity.
“Gifts given freely arouse suspicions of honeyed words hiding poison.”
The results of Upper Crusts’ narcissistic abuse. Luna didn’t know who or what caused it. Vinyl’s mental blocks were terrified of anyone finding out who she used to be.
“Clearer vision is needed for reflection, but old fears cloud her eyes.”
She is not responsive to the support and love others share because she has repressed her desires for attachment so much that she’s scared of connection.
“Despair, unrelenting, shrouds her worth from behind the mirror.”
This one wound up being a lot in hindsight. Looking into the mirror itself, Vinyl focuses on who she wants to be, DJ Pon-3. It’s who she wants to be. Despair unrelenting is Desire/Glitterati, the part of herself that she’s repressing. The one holding up the mirror in the first place is Upper Crust, telling Vinyl she’s not good enough, not worthy enough, and that she needs to prove herself to get what she wants.
Question 14: Who is Desire and what happened to her later in the story?
Answer: Desire was complicated. Off the bat, I will say she is not based on any of my surface-level psychology research. She is not a Dissociative Identity Disorder alter nor a schizophrenia audible hallucination. Vinyl already has enough going on. The best way I can describe her is a nagging or intrusive thought, basically Vinyl's mind wanting something that she’s repressing in a big way.
More than anything else, Desire was a literary device which allowed Vinyl to have an honest dialogue with herself. The reason why she was younger was because she was built from Glitterati when she was hopeful. I just didn’t want to call her Glitterati because it’d spoil the reveal in 54. It was the same with the unnamed Mother/Intrusive Memories and eventual thought being Upper Crust. As time went on and Vinyl allowed herself to feed her desires more and more, she developed an unhealthy relationship with them. It’s why Desire’s appearances become more extreme with what she wants to do and why it led to Vinyl having that breakdown when she was forced to think of Mother.
Desire’s last appearance was Chapter 53. There is a reason:
The words washed over Fancy’s ears, freezing him in place as they seemed to echo throughout his entire being. After a second of eternity, he turned away. “You can’t.”
All the world stood still. Somehow, it was so much worse than rejection. Those two little words crashed through her heart, shattering it into pieces. The smoldering remnants of her misguided feelings dug into her chest with their glassy edges, shredding her desires into ribbons.
She died, at least for a little bit, or maybe it was Vinyl Scratch who died. I’ll let you read this line how you will. After that, Glitterati came back for a couple days before Vinyl re-established herself. At this point, I considered Vinyl and her desires to finally be integrated, thereby becoming who she was all along.
Question 15: This isn’t really a question anyone ever asked, but just some information for fun. You probably noticed each chapter has a song tied to it. I mostly chose stuff that either inspired the chapter or, more often than not, was a song I liked that roughly had something to do with the chapter in question. However, a lot of the songs were selected to match the characters and where they were in the story. Some of the characters even share themes if they’re in-sync with each other. I’m going to share some of those now.
Vinyl Scratch’s Themes
Chapter 3: John O’Callaghan - Take It All Away (Marcus Schossow Nu Prog Remix)
Chapter 18: Cosmo X DeP - Hide and Seek Alone (ひとりかくれんぼ)
Chapter 32: Age Matters - Sleepless Night
Chapter 33: Michael Bublé - Home
Chapter 52: Sade - Sweetest Taboo
Chapter 53: Swingrowers - Butterfly
Chapter 58: Armin van Buuren - Never Say Never (feat. Jacqueline Govaert) [The Fic’s Theme]
Chapter 59: Michael Bublé - You and I
Glitterati’s Themes
Cacophony’s Primer: Phantasy Star Online Ep 1 & 2 - The Nearest Place to Heaven Part 1
Chapter 54: Haylx Cover by Lexi Snow - Hey There Boys (Losing herself)
Chapter 56: Joe Hisaishi - The Name of Life (Reclaiming Vinyl Scratch)
Fancy Pants’s Themes
Chapter 10: Michael Bublé - Wonderful Tonight (with Ivan Lins)
Chapter 17: Sade - Smooth Operator
Chapter 32: Age Matters - Sleepless Night
Chapter 33: Michael Bublé - Home
Chapter 55: Armin van Buuren - Unforgivable (Extended Mix)
No Chapter: Nat King Cole - I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face *Alternate Chapter 57 Theme
Chapter 59: Michael Bublé - You and I
Fleur de Lis’ Themes
Chapter 14: Caravan Palace - Lone Digger
Chapter 33: Michael Bublé - Home
Chapter 55: Armin van Buuren - Unforgivable (Extended Mix)
Eclair de Lune’s Themes
Chapter 25: BGMC - Gift for Forever
No Chapter: Joe Bongiorno - Walk With Me *Alternate Chapter 40 Theme
Celestia’s Themes
Chapter 54: Michael Bublé - Wonderful Tonight (with Ivan Lins)
Chapter 49: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - After Despair and Hope (Final Boss Theme)
Chapter 50: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - Agniratha, Mechonis Capital (Night)
Chapter 51: Willy Wonka Cover by Fiona Apple - Pure Imagination
Chapter 60: Yoko Kanno - Rakuen~ Secret Garden from "Wolf's Rain"
Luna’s Themes
Chapter 18: Pascal Michael Stiefel - Clocktowers Beneath the Sea (A Hat in Time)
Chapter 25: Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition - Satorl Marsh
Chapter 38: Swingrowers - Healing Dance
Sauna Summers Themes
Chapter 12: Donna Summer - I Remember Yesterday
Chapter 24: Xenoblade Chronicles Future Connected - Time to Fight! (Bionis Shoulder)
Chapter 28: Donna Summer - Heaven Knows
Chapter 57: Donna Summer - Last Dance
Suede Shoes Themes
Chapter 17: Michael Bublé - Sway (Junkie XL Mix)
Chapter 33: Michael Bublé - Home
Chapter 59: Michael Bublé - You and I *Headcanon: Performed at Sauna Summers’ Funeral
Upper Crust’s Themes
Chapter 11: Caravan Palace - Wonderland
Chapter 27: Jamie Berry - Delight (Original Mix Feat. Octavia Rose)
Cacophony’s Primer: Phantasy Star Online Ep 1 & 2 - The Nearest Place to Heaven Part 1
No Chapter: Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Land of Morytha *Newspaper in Chapter 59
There’s probably more, but none are really sticking out to me. Also, this section is too long anyway.
If anyone has any other questions about the story. Leave them in the comments and I’ll answer them up here while shouting you out here. I’ll answer all of them, but if I don’t have an answer to give, I’ll give the best nonanswer I can. Now let’s get to what some of your long-time readers of my content are here for, the ancient couples writing prompt from 2014.
Imagine Fancy Pants and Vinyl Scratch sitting in their favorite place in the park, wide open skies above while they watch the cloud cover pass over the lower parts of Equestria.
Rules:
1) Choose 2-10 characters that are in a relationship.
2) Don't change the questions.
3) Let your characters answer.
4) Tag 5-10 people
5) Have fun.
Characters:
Fancy Pants and Vinyl Scratch
Questions:
Who are you? Age / race?
Fancy Pants: I’m Fancy Pants, a unicorn, former ambassador to her former majesty, Celestia, former Kingmaker of Canterlot, and current unemployed coltfriend.
Vinyl Scratch: And I’m DJ Pon-3, aka Vinyl Scratch. You see the horn. Also, I’m 21, almost 22. He’s 36.
Fancy Pants: Vinyl!
Vinyl Scratch: What? It was part of the question. I thought the whole thing was not to ask a mare their age. Besides, you’re in the safe zone. Didn’t you read the blog? Half plus seven?
Fancy Pants: Let’s not break the 4th wall anymore than this writing exercise does already.
Vinyl Scratch: Whatever. *Drops shades over eyes*
Now, who's your lover? What’s their Age / race?
DJ Pon-3: Oh, I jumped the gate on that one… Oh look!
Fancy Pants: What is it, love?
DJ Pon-3: My name changed! Wonder why that happened.
Fancy Pants: That 4th wall is looking pretty unstable… Anyway, she’s Vinyl Scratch, my wonderful marefriend and talented musician, archivist, mage—
DJ Pon-3: Not a mage yet. At least not by title. Adept.
Fancy Pants: What about in the general sense?
DJ Pon-3: Whatever floats your boat, Fancy. Speaking of, he’s Fancy Pants, aka Pantsy by his sister and my coltfriend that I wish hadn’t lost so much weight.
Fancy Pants: Would you rather me to be fat?
DJ Pon-3: A) You weren’t. I promise. B) If the you you wanna be is toned, then you do you. Just toned is less comfy than, let’s say pudgy. *Wiggles slightly trying to find a comfier position* Might start bringing a pillow to the park.
What makes your lover so special?
Fancy Pants: She saved me.
DJ Pon-3: *Jerks up from her resting place and lifts her glasses* What?!
Fancy Pants: It’s the truth though.
Vinyl Scratch: But it’s so cheesy! And… and I was gonna say that…
Fancy Pants: Well, we can both think the same thing. I firmly believe that had you not entered my life, I’d still just exist, for lack of a better word. I’d be going to upper class parties and functions, continuously growing my wealth, day in and day out without a second thought. I’d still be missing the joys that family can bring and… focusing on the wrong goals.
Vinyl Scratch: Wrong goals?
Fancy Pants: … Let’s just say that I held onto a regrettable thing for far too long. I’m still not comfortable talking about it. I’m sorry.
Vinyl Scratch: Hey, hey. Cheer up. This is supposed to be fun, remember? It’s okay. *Vinyl leans up to kiss Fancy Pants*
Fancy Pants: *Fancy Pants shuts his eyes slightly too tight and starts leaning in without looking. Collides with Vinyl’s muzzle.*
Vinyl Scratch: …
Fancy Pants: … *Blushes*
Vinyl Scratch: What makes my lover special is that he’s awful at kissing. *Lays back down and lowers shades over her eyes again.*
Fancy Pants: … That’s fair.
What makes your lover so special?
Fancy Pants: Want to take this next one first?
DJ Pon-3: …
Fancy Pants: Is that a “no?”
DJ Pon-3: No, I’m just thinking how to word it.
Fancy Pants: Nothing bad, I hope.
DJ Pon-3: I’m trying not to be completely sappy, but it’s hard.
Fancy Pants: Take your time.
DJ Pon-3: *Tosses and turns for a while* I… I feel special with him. He makes me feel special.
Fancy Pants: Of course I do. You’re such a special pony.
DJ Pon-3: I’m serious! I… I didn’t get that a lot before.
Fancy Pants: Sure you did. Eclair and Fleur have always thought the world of you.
DJ Pon-3: I—I guess I didn’t believe them.
Fancy Pants: Well, what makes you special to me is very much the same, but in a different way.
DJ Pon-3: Same but different. That’s pretty clear.
Fancy Pants: Truly it is. As I said, I’d be little more than a prestigious bank account for the Canterlot Elite. A rather glamorous, but as you so succinctly told me before, empty. You showed me that I could be, and should be more. I love you every day for that.
DJ Pon-3: Why are these questions so hard? I feel like I’m in a Whisperwillow session.
Fancy Pants: Am I making you uncomfortable?
DJ Pon-3: No. Never… just the questions I guess are for normal ponies.
Fancy Pants: There’s nothing strange about us, love.
DJ Pon-3: … I’m working on believing that.
Have you ever doubted your lover?
DJ Pon-3: Finally, an easy one. Yes.
Fancy Pants: You answered that rather readily.
DJ Pon-3: Cause I didn’t trust anypony. That’s like asking if grass is green.
Fancy Pants: I see. Well, I don’t believe I’ve ever doubted you specifically.
DJ Pon-3: Really?
Fancy Pants: I’ve only ever doubted your capacity to satisfy the expectations of others, but that was mostly because of their impossible standards. For me, I’ve simply never had to doubt you. You’re too honest for that.
DJ Pon-3: Geez… now I feel bad.
Fancy Pants: Don’t. I mean it as a compliment.
Have you ever used pick-up lines on your lover? Which ones?
Fancy Pants: Our relationship didn’t work like that. There was no real game of cat and mouse.
DJ Pon-3: *Pops up from leaning on Fancy’s belly and flips up her glasses and glares at Fancy Pants*
Vinyl Scratch: Says you! Do you know how stupid dense you are?
Fancy Pants: Umm… Yes? Still, I don’t recall you ever used a pick-up line though.
Vinyl Scratch: I guess not. I think I was mostly trying to figure out if I loved you or not.
Fancy Pants: You know, you never used a line, but I’ll never forget that first smile you showed me on that jog.
Vinyl Scratch: Which jog?
Fancy Pants: What do you mean which jog? The jog.
Vinyl Scratch: I’ve jogged with you more than once.
Fancy Pants: The smile you showed me at sunrise. Before we were dating.
Vinyl Scratch: Oh.
Fancy Pants: Do… do you not remember?
Vinyl Scratch: Was that the day I threw up that bad coffee?
Fancy Pants: *Sighs* I suppose other things did happen that day that might be more memorable on your end.
Vinyl Scratch: I’m sorry. *Rubs Fancy’s leg*
Fancy Pants: Don’t worry about it, love. I get to see it every day now.
Vinyl Scratch: *Giggles and smiles like the sun*
Which is the most embarrassing moment you've had with your lover?
Fancy Pants & Vinyl Scratch: *Both look at each other, silently communicating in a shared memory that they both understand intimately. Vinyl slams her shades down and looks away.*
Fancy Pants: Listening to Mother and Father sharing a rather… intimate moment on record.
DJ Pon-3: Accidentally listening to a makeout session between Suede and Summers.
Do you believe in waiting until after marriage to have sex?
DJ Pon-3: Can we not have questions like this?
Fancy Pants: Let’s move on, please. I don’t think we care either way on the merits of when, but that’s not something we need to discuss right now. It’s rather… complicated.
DJ Pon-3: I’m… I’m sorry…
Fancy Pants: Never apologize, Vinyl. When you’re ready, you’ll be ready. In the meantime, I’m researching what I can do to help.
DJ Pon-3: *Slowly lowers shades*
Fancy Pants: I could have worded that better. Next question!
Vinyl Scratch: *Snickers and puts her shades back on*
Do you have any desires that you would like to try with your lover? If you do then what is it?
Fancy Pants: Well, I think we’d both like to skip Hearth’s Warming in Canterlot this year and perhaps go somewhere warmer with our friends and family.
DJ Pon-3: You’re too much of a gentlecolt, Fancy. They’re not talking about that.
Fancy Pants: Perhaps, but we don’t need to take the questions like they assume we might.
DJ Pon-3: I’m really starting to hate this.
Do you know your lover's weak spot? Do they know yours?
DJ Pon-3: *Leans into Fancy’s belly again and shimmies, trying to get comfortable*
Fancy Pants: *Tilts head* Are you not wanting to answer these anymore?
DJ Pon-3: This is my answer. Age and weight. You’re really worried about it when you shouldn’t be. You’ve always been a handsome stallion in my book, but you know I don’t really care about that.
Fancy Pants: *Sighs* I guess I was born into a class with too much nonsense to worry about and not enough real problems.
DJ Pon-3: So do you know my weak spots?
Fancy Pants: I do.
DJ Pon-3: Okay… so what are they?
Fancy Pants: I don’t need to air them. I don’t want to.
DJ Pon-3: Afraid you might be wrong?
Fancy Pants: Not at all. I simply do not wish to divulge them. I love you too much to use my talents of perception against you.
DJ Pon-3: Oh, right. Man, this really isn’t fun, is it?
Fancy Pants: This questionnaire does seem weighted towards a specific sort of couple.
What happens if you find your lover with another man/woman? How would you interpret that? Familiar? Friend? Cheating?
DJ Pon-3: This is really stupid. Of course friends or familiars! Are you just trying to prime us to get all tabloid answer-y on you? Well I’ve about had it!
Fancy Pants: I suppose I shouldn’t answer this one then.
DJ Pon-3: What? Why not? Would you actually be jealous?
Fancy Pants: No, but playing hypotheticals with this last option, if it was you really were—
DJ Pon-3: Yeah-no. That wouldn’t happen. Seriously. It took me forever to feel something from somepony else. You’re the only pony for me, got it? Nothing’s gonna change that, so don’t backdoor yourself into putting yourself down.
Fancy Pants: *Laughs sardonically* Saw right through me. I love you, Vinyl.
DJ Pon-3: I love you too Fancy Pants.
Any fantasy with your lover? Pervy answers allowed.
DJ Pon-3: …
Fancy Pants: *Sighs in dismay at the audacity of the question* No. We aren’t there yet. Stop asking these sorts of invasive questions.
DJ Pon-3: This sucks…
Ever had fights?
DJ Pon-3: Yes.
Fancy Pants: And I believe they were all my fault.
DJ Pon-3: … next, please.
How was the love confession?
DJ Pon-3: …
Fancy Pants: I believe it was as painful as it was beautiful for both of us, though I think she suffered far greater because of me. I was a fool to deny her the first time. *Gently strokes Vinyl’s mane*
DJ Pon-3: … *Sniffs and curls up slightly*
How do you feel about your lover's family members? Do you know them?
DJ Pon-3: *Curls up tighter. Shudders.*
Fancy Pants: *Takes a deep breath* Ask one more question of this caliber and I will not be held responsible for my actions.
Speaking of families, do you wish to start one together?
Fancy Pants: What did I just say—
DJ Pon-3: *Nods*
Fancy Pants: *Reacts to nodding* What?
DJ Pon-3: *Gets up and shakes off bad/sad vibes while removing shades* Kinda… yeah.
Fancy Pants: That is… rather surprising. We’re not even married. You still have your whole musical career and academic studies just starting.
Vinyl Scratch: What? I can’t want kids?
Fancy Pants: N-no, that’s not what I meant at all. It’s just, well… we’ve never talked about it. We’re still getting comfortable with each other. For goodness sake, we’re still dating!
Vinyl Scratch: It’s not like I want any now! And this is all like “what if’s” right? All I’m say is that I’m not like… against the idea or anything. And if I did, I-I can’t really, you know, imagine anypony else—you know what? Never mind. I’m being weird about this.
Fancy Pants: No, no. It’s not that. I honestly don’t know what to say either. I’ve always wanted children, but I’d already made peace with the idea that it might never happen.
Vinyl Scratch: *Chuckles* Well, I guess we’re finding out something about each other after all from these dumb questions.
Fancy Pants: Well, let’s take this one step at a time, okay? Whenever you’re ready, we can talk about whatever you want, okay?
Vinyl Scratch: *Chuckles a little more and leans into Fancy’s side* Okay. Thank you.
Fancy Pants: No. Thank you. I love you, Vinyl Scratch.
Vinyl Scratch: *Sighs in contentment and safety*
We're finished! What are you going to do now?
Vinyl Scratch: I’m going to lay back down with my coltfriend. I am going to watch the clouds, relax, and pretend that this conversation didn’t happen. *Flips down shades*
Fancy Pants: Well, I had a little fun when they weren’t trying to invade our privacy.
DJ Pon-3: It wasn’t that bad, but I’m exhausted after that. Those questions were hard.
Fancy Pants: Well, fortunately for us, I think we might have a little help coming our way, isn’t that right, Fleur?
Fleur de Lis: Yep! Now, come along with me. Since the 4th wall is already pretty busted at this point, I decided to call in a favor from a friend I think you’ve met before, Internet Purple Text.
Guard de Lis: Ah yes. This rude, out-dated questionnaire from 2014. I know exactly what to do with you… *Charges hind legs with incredible amounts of energy*
Fleur de Lis: Woah! Guard me is aweso—*KA-POW! Bzzt*
After going through answering this questionnaire as intended, I’ve decided that this will be the last one I do in this style moving forward. It’d probably still work for most ships I’d write, such as Good OC X Bad OC, but wow, I only realized once I started doing this writing exercise for these two specifically how awful this was for Vinyl to answer some of these. It wasn’t fun at all, and unintentionally exclusionary for couples that don’t follow what might be a typical romance story arc.
I’ll still do little roleplays probably since I like giving the readers a little bonus lovey-dovey stuff, but consider this old chain letter format officially retired.
And with that, this blog post is done. Wow, was it a doozy! I even had to type it all out in Google Docs. Guess I’ll see you in the next one!
- Rego
If you ever do end up getting print copies of this story made I would love to get one.
You know, I was confused, both way back in September 2022 and just the other day, why you felt so apologetic to me as to your Spike dislike and felt it would be why I wouldn't read your fics. That never made sense: as I saw it, you'd just do what anyone would do regarding a character they don't like, and just don't write fics or scenes that require them. Some scenarios would require a little hand-waving, sure – "oh, Spike's out of town today", that sort of thing – but I've seen far worse.
As you're probably gathering, this wrap-up blog and some quick browsing of my own clued me into the fact that what you actually meant was you literally de-existed him in favour for Twilight hatching a phoenix instead (which you're also calling a familiar, implying this AU's characters are prejudiced towards non-ponies more than usual, but whatever). Not writing him out by writing the scene so as to avoid mentioning the egg that we readers know gets hatched, nor reconstruct the test to not involve hatching a creature – replacing him in a cameo for no net gain. Which, yeah, okay… except the Mane 6 aren't even minor characters in this fic.
I word-searched every chapter, and Twilight's name popped up in two chapters, once just a mention. Her only proper appearance was in Celestia's flashback of the filly getting her cutie mark. The replacement phoenix is, I gather, only mentioned in that one chapter, literally six times, all confined to one scene not even 650 words. In a fic over 423,000 words long.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not even angry. I'm just confused. That's a lot of effort for a scene that's barely 0.15% of the fic, and where the change had no effect on the fic and only seems to have annoyed people (well, that and some other objections to Celestia in that chapter, but that's beyond my knowledge of the fic). Hell, even the more recent Scooby-Doo cartoons' in-jokes on Scrappy (an apt comparison for your feelings on Spike) didn't go nearly so mean-spirited. Were the roles reversed, and I were writing any fic that mandated a brief mention of, say, Cozy Glow, I wouldn't substitute her for a different species out of spite.
I don't expect you to answer why you dislike Spike, as you didn't previously when I lightly prompted it (now I'm thinking of that Simpsons episode where Lisa's new substitute teacher hates her, and at the end, reveals she doesn't have a reason she can articulate, she just does). I'm not questioning your opinion either. I just want to try and understand why do all this for such a tiny blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment that has no bearing on the fic, and clearly wasn't intended to be a meta joke or anything.
For the record, if I were to read this doorstop of a fic, this pointless swap wouldn't stop me from doing so. Mostly because I don't let tiny elements of a fic colour my opinion, but that would apply even if the Mane 6/this phoenix appeared sporadically throughout in the flesh. So even then, your fear was unwarranted, my friend.
I'm a calm and rational spirit. Just one who wants to understand.
Otherwise, congrats on finishing the fic's editing phase again! Hopefully the future endeavour for a printed version down the line pans out.
Hey! I'm glad the Isekai helped iron out some of your ideas :) And I'm glad that it did so in such a natural way, since part of the point of co-writing with wonderful authors is to give a nice taste of what makes each world unique!
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Honestly, you deserve an answer since this looks like blind hatred of a character out of context. It's not pertinent to the scope of the fic though so I'll keep the answer down here.
The TL;DR for the non-ES readers out there is that Princess Celestia is the "Master Manipulator" tyrannical type that rubs folks the wrong way. She doesn't use a Dragon Egg in this version for Twilight’s test because, for centuries, she's used Philomena’s eggs to hatch familiars for these sorts of tests. She then takes one of their feathers and performs a scrying spell in her "Student Compendium" to be able to look through the eyes of Philomena’s offspring to keep tabs on her personal students. The reason she does that is her student in Gloria Celestia starts a Luna-hating cult right under her nose. Sunset Shimmer discovered the spell on hers and she fled through the mirror in fear rather than hatred.
In my other fics, I usually don't go out of my way to write him completely out. Here though, I had this idea for scrying and I definitely didn't feel comfortable having Celestia be able to spy through him at any time she wanted. He's a bit more of a character than say Owloicious or Pee Wee were. I will be the first to admit though that I'd very likely never have the idea in the first place if I wasn't completely fine with ignoring him in the fics I write. This is the first confirmed unexisting of him, even if I do think my reasoning is good, it's still an excuse that I actively chose.
The main reason I don't like him is because I think he's poorly written in the show itself enough times to bother me. Sometimes he's basically Twilight’s sage stress ball, sometimes he's just an excitable kid, and then there are the times where he's purposely stripped of his good qualities to star in an episode that relies on him making mistakes that I feel are completely OOC and often cringe-inducing. I haven’t watched season 9, so maybe there's something worse, but The Equestria Games is the only episode I could not watch all the way through without scrubbing past spots. It was agony to me, someone who can't handle cringe-humor like Napoleon Dynamite or The Office. I especially can't handle children singing out of tune. If you need me to confess under duress, get a bad children's choir. Pinkie Pie is also sixth out of the Mane 6 because of how she's often written in the show when the writer seems to not understand how to write a character like her and goes "she's stupid, annoying, and random." She's never made me as uncomfortable as Spike though who is stripped of his judgment to be "Stupid, rude, and needlessly naive to be the butt of jokes that physically make me curl up with toe-curlingly cringe." It's not him, he's just the weapon used to cause psychic damage.
So that's the reason I generally treat characters by how they are written rather by fanon and canon. Canon Spike to me is usually somewhere between benign or torturous. Fanon Spikes usually do so much better with him as a character. If it's any consolation, I've never recommended folks to write him out of their fictions. That dubious award belongs to G5's Sparky unless your fic is dealing with certain themes of things like parenthood or if you spin him so much with Headcanon that he's virtually unrecognizable to canon depictions.
I hope that clears things up.
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Oh, I totally picked up from this blog and the scene I read that Celestia was a “chessmaster manipulator” type, and not a very benevolent one either. And that her enchanting the feather was to spy on Twilight. Obviously not that it was a regular practice she’d done for centuries, nor the backstory on Sunset. Myself, were I reading it, I don’t think I’d have batted an eye at Celestia spying through Spike, as I would have taken it as just another writing choice to show what she’s like (which, she’s still using phoenixes as camera here, so it’s no less worse, heh). Only if your feelings on the character were known to me when reading and Spike were there would I bat an eye, and still probably not a very large one.
Regardless, that does show that the change wasn’t just the blind rage I may have come across as interpreting it as, so even if, as you admitted, you likely wouldn’t have thought of it without the dislike there to begin with, I was off a bit there. Apologies, my friend.
I think the thing that really upset me was, prior to this statement, you seemed to be referring to the character both in canon and whatever could be done with him in fanfic, viewing canon as trash and fanon with no potential. Which seemed all the odder after the statement the other day about not being able to stand canon Sunset but adoring the living daylights out of what could be done with her in fanon.
And don’t get me wrong – I don’t mean everyone has to adore the fanon potential of characters they can’t stand in the show. Point of fact, most characters I don’t like in the show I tend to not like reading in fanfic, even if they have great potential lots of authors tap into on the regular. You’ll remember what I said about Sunset beyond pre-mirror timeline fics. And while I have read great fanfic of characters I can’t stand in canon, like the Student Six, Cozy Glow, Starlight, and even on rare occasion such G5 can’t-win blunders as Pipp or Opaline, I still steer well clear of them except in specific situations. So I do not anyone for anyone for not liking a character in canon and thus steering mostly clear in fanon, because I do that myself.
As for your reasoning, it’s not unreasonable, and I have seen it before. Not often this intense, but yes. And I can understand your reasoning too (take that, all Sunset lovers who tune out to why I think she’s mid, canon and fanon alike – who's more mature now?
).
For what it’s worth, I don’t think Spike is some paragon of writing in the show, far from it. While I think some of his starring episodes are underrated – “Dragon Quest” does not deserve to be that near the bottom of the IMDb ratings for the first three seasons – I too find most writers don’t know what to do with him as a lead, and thus we get character regression. Now, all the Mane 6 get character regression like this: Spike’s just tends to cluster in his leading roles. Which is why it sticks in the mind for most folks. He’s actually kinda the opposite of Pinkie there: her worst moments of the variety you cite generally come from being a “lol random” gag machine at the margins, while most of her starring roles are quite god at getting nuance and depth out of her.
Why this bothers me less than most – even though, again, I think most Spike-starring episodes are a little overhated – I cannot say. I think I’m the sort who doesn’t mind if a character doesn’t work well as a lead, if they work consistent wonders as a supporting player. Something Spike mostly does. Applejack is my fav character, and she never got a really good starring episode, certainly not a great one. So when I say I adore Spike, I mean him at his best, setting aside poor writing episodes. Something everyone does for characters they like anyway, let’s be honest – even Rarity, probably the most consistent of the Mane 7, requires this somewhat.
My least fav of the Mane 7 is comfortably Rainbow Dash, due to the higher frequency of moments of her being a butt, but even if that lowered me to disliking her as opposed to being more moderate-like-to-tolerate, there's too much good fic with her out there for me to ignore her.
Oh, I relate super-hard, I can’t stand cringe-humour either. I don’t think it’s any worse with Spike than other places or characters in FiM, but taste, always taste. I’ve been rewatching the show over the last few years, and I’m currently on Season Seven, and I swear, every other episode requires me to pause and skim over at least one spot. Good thing I’m stopping with this season!
Take this with a grain of salt, as I myself feel Seasons Six-Eight have done far worse than "Equestria Games" already multiple times per season, but it's so, so much worse, yes. Smart of you to steer clear!
We're talking about characters, not props, so Sparky doesn't count.
And I actually can't think of a single fic I've read with him in it – I haven't read many post-movie G5 fics, but I've read enough – so it certainly seems most folks got the memo there!
Anyway, to wrap up, sorry if I came across as pushy at any point. I still don't agree with all your viewpoints and decisions, but I understand it all and acknowledge it as perfectly valid.
And again, major props on finishing the fic's edit! Whether I myself read something or not, finishing any story in the length wheelhouse of the whole of The Lord of the Rings is a major achievement.
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It'll be in a blog post for sure along with any updates regarding ithe progress I've made towards publication.
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It was a wonderful experience writing with you on that one. It was the first time during writing this story that I was talking to someone whom asked questions like you did. Not to say my editors are yes-folks, but at the time, all I had was AP, and his specialization is fixing my numerous grammar and punctuation mistakes. He makes my words beautiful. Jym and AP are the ones who press me on content, Jym especially because I am hard to please if you want me to give it my all in the edit. I look forward to anytime I can work with you, be something in the Isekai or something fairly different.
Congrats on finally making it to this point! I've really enjoyed coming along for the experience, and if the book thing pans out, I reckon I'll be first in line. Think I've already said everything I really can about this story, and I'm not all that good at the roleplay / Q&A thing either; in any case, looking forward to looking through Unchanging Truths again! Take care, man!
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For added reference, Mr. Editor is in fact a decently big Spike fan — I wouldn't be surprised if your initial confusion stemmed from the fact Rego was tremendously kind enough to edit/proofread the two Twilight + Spike stories that I less-than-knowingly subjected him to (whoops) — so you can imagine how I felt!
…Let's just say I proceeded to, ahem, slightly rebel off Madison and type out a paragraph-long sub-headcanon about how Skewer is currently living happily in the Dragon Lands with his two adoptive elder siblings (even if he does sometimes irk them with his grumblings about how he's totally supposed to be destined for bravery and glory). I'd say trust the Word of Saint Paul, but given that his other soft spots include the post-Chrysalis changedlings, the Student Six, Pinkie and Rainbow on their good days, and kinda-sorta Discord, he's long since been abandoned by God. :P
Just my two cents while we're all dropping ours in this particular bucket. Feel free to jam them into my eyes.
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I can get behind most anybody as long as they're well written. Gone With the Light made me tear up, which doesn't happen super often with those style of fics. The second one I'd forgotten about. I gave it a quick preread I think like an hour before you went live with it? As if the universe was trying to tell me something, there are two or three other writers that asked me for my feedback specifically with Spike stories. Luckiy, none of them took inspiration from Canon Spike on a bad day.
I've honestly only read one Spike fanfiction that I'd say is objectively bad and overrated. I won't put it on blast here, but there were so many tropes in the writing that it read like a really bad, borderline offensive rom-com. It somehow pulled off the "gay best friend love advisor who is safe to talk to because they won't fall for me" trope without explicitly making said character's orientation known to the reader as well as pulling a "I don't know how to make my story have meaning, so I'm going to kill off a character" which wound up just cheapening the whole affair even further. It's one of the few fics I know by name off-hand just as an example to pull out when discussing what not to do.
I just finished the story, and I have my thoughts, such as epilogues and funny ideas for certain characters.
As to Spike, I agree that the show didn't do a very good job working with him outside one or two episodes. I honestly don't frequently re-watch the show much preferring fanfiction and comics/art/animation.
S9 wasn't too bad by my estimation for what it's worth (aside from one plot point involving a certain Draconeqqus). There's some good moments that could be enjoyed, and the grand finale gave me some good, warm, fuzzy feelings.
G5 is a mixed bag, some episodes are quite good and others felt like to use a math term LCD episodes, like one that was a prolonged fart joke (I still might have laughed, but at the same time, really?) For me, one of the main things is I feel that the 5-minute format is a disservice to anyone wanting a decent story. Also, the decision to get into the "silly shorts" after the Big Dollar feature film was a cart before the horse situation.
Darn, can't read because I haven't finished yet. Anyways, still haven't figured out who the romance tag is for. About halfway through already.