So, about that fourth chapter... · 9:04am Feb 15th, 2013
Well, just posted the new chapter for Deja Discord, I’ll tag the spoilers for those who care. Hold off on hitting that thumbs-down button for a bit of an explanation.
When I came up with the idea to adapt/draw inspiration for another Discord related pony fanfic from an episode of Star Trek (one of my favorite eps, mind you) I was well aware of at least the most important things that would need to be done concerning the plot. Before I even decided to incorporate the plot into a sequel to aPS (I’d batted around the idea of them being separate stories before squishing them together) I knew that it was going to be tricky. I knew there would be some unavoidable elements to the story that some people may not regard too kindly.
From the start I did *not* want a cut/paste-exactly-the-plot-of-the-episode, however there were certain things that - if I was going to use a twenty-something year old Star Trek ep as my base - I had to find a way to incorporate into my story believably, and that’s what I shot for. In the episode Q is made a mortal human, so in the story Discord must be made a mortal pony.
Those of you who were around when aPS ended and I intentionally faked y’all out on Discord’s fate, I never intended for him to be made into a pony at the end of that tale. That was not a be-all end-all solution to that problem. I don’t see it as the solution to the problems in this story either. I just want to make sure you all understand that I did not choose to go this route arbitrarily. I had it at least 90% planned out from the time I decided to even make another story.
I am writing this lengthy explanation for my choices because I am a very insecure pile of jelly nerves when it come to my creative projects. I am terrified of being flamed or hated by people on the internet for something that I have worked so tirelessly on and have spent so many hours obsessing over (just ask my poor pre-reader ;P)
You probably have never ventured over to my deviant art gallery where I first posted aPS but I worried and fretted over that first scene and how it might be received so much that I wrote out an explanation in the artists description that was about as long as the scene itself.
I just really, really, hope that you all stay with me on this if you aren’t taken aback by this plot point. There might be a few other decisions I’ve made you might find odd/weird/annoyingly overdone, but I hope that if you enjoy my writing at all, that you might be willing to overlook anything I might do that could be perceived as ‘done to death’ or something like that. I don’t really read many of the other Discord stories out there, mostly because I just don’t want to be accidentally influenced by anything (there are some I really wanna get to though once I’m finished with mine). I don’t know if ‘turn Discord into pony’ is as big a thing as I think it is, but that is one of the reasons for my hesitance to present this chapter to you.
Believability is still one of my forefront priorities in my stories, especially with Discord. Thank you all so much for your reading, your faving, and the thumbs up I’ve received on all my stories. I really like my stories, and it’s nice to know some people do as well.
ALOFC
-Ckat_Myla
Gotta say, your Discord stories inspired me to write mine, so I don't care what you do with them. I trust that you'll make it epic as hell either way
'turn Discord into pony' is a thing and your execution of it is not the worst one I've read.
Even though it fells a bit too deus ex machina I mean that power is not strong enough to seal the gates but is able to completely de-power being who is apparently able to do it.
Second thing: Why Celestia and Luna think that they can seal the gates when he is inside? What reason he has not to blow them up if they're going to seal him inside.
The situation just begins to sound needlessly contrived.
I still have faith in you as an author with a plan but something gone missing for me.
PS: "Only the most loyal and trustworthy of my personal guard knows where the entrance lies," and Twilight as in canon reality she lead the Cerberus back there.
PPS: How is Discord supposed to learn if there is no indicator that he can leave the dammn forest?
its been fine so far, and you executed the pony transformation much better than most.
seeing as twilight should already know where the entrance is and has interacted with Cerberus, i wonder how she'll respond to having to go their again.
what ever you do, i trust that it will be epic, good luck!
I didn't mouse over any of the blacked out text, so I'm not 100% sure if what you're talking about is what I'm thinking of. But to hay with it, I'll rant anyways.
Personally, while I would prefer Discord to just be Discord, I can completely agree with Celestia and Luna. They turn him into a Pony for the sake of making him able to understand what it means to be a pony, and more. To be able to be friends with other ponies that just Twilight, and possibly even start to care about the world as more than his plaything.
It seems to be a fairly logical thing to do from Celestia and Luna's point of view, so I have nothing against it. Even if I, as mentioned before, would prefer Discord to just be Discord.
'Twas not what I would have done, but it has potential to go both ways. The execution could have been better though; it feels a little shoe-horned in, unnatural, convenient that they could. I can only see this causing him undue frustration and certainly not making him want to cooperate.
I shall withhold judgement until the next chapter.
I admit, the moment I realized what was going on in the fic I had this sense of dread and "Oh, this again?". But I decided to trust your writing skills. Your aPS is one of the best pony fics I've read so I trust that you will be able to do this right and not disappoint. You're certainly already doing better than the other fics of this kind I've read. So keep it up and stick to your decision. I'll have your back
829771 Firstly, thank you for addressing your comments in an intelligent way and actually giving me logical questions. This I do not consider flaming in the slightest. I was more afraid that people would outright ragequit and hate it just for the direction I took it. I had a feeling that it was something that must have been done, hence some of my reluctance. But I suppose this will be my version.
I will give you that the power does seem a bit DEM, but I tried my hardest to find a way that felt as close to believable as I could. Star Trek had it easy, just plop naked Q on the bridge and have him explain it all away. At least I decided to give some back to it, imagine if I'd done that in the first chapter?
I can also see where you see the contrivedness (word?) I s'pose I was trying to spin it more as a 'banishment' for him than another prison scenerio. If you stick with me on this you might still enjoy, although I'd understand completely if you chose to abandon ship now and pretend aPS is the only story (like I try to do with the first Matrix movie).
PS I do know that Twilight knows about Tartarus, it just didn't come up naturally in the dialogue. Plus you know who else knows about Tartarus? That moose I just saw over there, look!
PPS and there's you another moose.
830979 Oh, I'm sure there are better ways, but this is the one I came up with. Like I said to Firelock, I tried to make it as believable as I could based on what I'd already established. Plus like the EoH not working on the Cloudsdale crisis, I tried to set it up in a way that made sense. It could be slippery slope down a house of cards on a blustery day, but again, stick with me if you so choose and I thank you very much for support. Also 'undue frustration'? 'not wanting to cooperate'? Have you seen the (im)famous Star Trek episode in-question?
829898 Goodness, is this Yellowstone National Park? Cause we're spotting moose all over the place.
829946 Thanks for understanding mon ami. I like Discord being Discord too, and with hope I can keep up his discordyness. It is my hope that I can get him to the place I want without neutering him
.831368 Thanks for having my back. Hey like I already said if I screw this one up in your mind you can pretend I didn't even write it. ;P If I'm gonna have a 'discord the pony' story, this is the one. Thanks for at least saying that I'm doing a good job with my clicheness. It's times like these that I almost wish you'd watch the episode Deja Q for more context...and then I change my mind because it would spoil stuff for you. Out of curiosity, what happens in other 'discord the pony' stories? Most likely I'll hit a few (or many) of the tropes since the episode kinda hits some obvious ones.
829546 Thank you hon, I really appreciate the faith. It doesn't sound like any of you are too terribly dissapointed in me, and I thank each of you for the faith and understanding.
I'm not ashamed that I went this route, but I knew I was going to get the
and headshaking. I'm just glad it's not anything meaner.
831910 Well, by cooperate, I mean with Celestia; she took most if not all of what made him him when she did that.
On that note, she's quite confrontational with him, almost begging him to give her a reason to destroy him. You'd think she'd be a bit more willing to listen to the student she "trusts completely." She's almost worse than Dash.
829546 You should be proud, Ckat_Myla
oh oh god
does he stay as a pony though? i really hope not XD
i mean im on the second story and going to read the next one but im just worried that discord will just be a normal pony thus taking away what makes discord Discord XD
Looking forward to continuing the story. On chapter 6 , and very impressed so far. Great melding of the personalities thus far, and leaving me guessing while staying true to character.