A self-review

Well, here I am. In lieu of anything more creative to post, I've decided to follow in the footsteps of Blueshift and do a self-review of one of my stories. In this case, it is my one and only EqD feature, an irreverent comedy titled Why Didn't Ah Stay At Th' Farm.

To be honest, I had nothing brilliant going through my head when I wrote it. I'd merely read one too many stories where Big Macintosh was shipped with someone, and decided to satirize that in my usual over-the-top manner: by shipping him with just about everyone at once. Naturally, I had some difficulty figuring out how to do that, until I remembered something from biology: equines undergo an estrus cycle, or periods of heat. Tweak it a little to represent a ridiculous libido, and boom. You have the first chapter.

That's all there was to it. Dash leaving Macintosh to the dogs, as it were, was more of a silly impulse than anything else. After that, I used the first silly idea that popped into my head: an apparent deus ex machina that would later have Admiral Ackbar foaming at the gills. To be honest, I was originally going to make it Twilight who nabbed him in the final scene, but figured Luna would be a bit funnier, simply because of a scrap of fanart I found floating around.

The second chapter was a response to the massive demand for a continuation, and I admit, a little bit of greed on my part. The last thing I wanted to do was to write a half-assed continuation full of the same cheesy jokes as the first chapter. It was actually a few months before I even got a suitable idea. But when I did...well, let's just say that if you let out an evil giggle whenever you turn it over in your head, it seems like a good idea.

Again, I satirized the community a tad with the beginning scene: a semi-saucy bit where Mac's hormones get the best of him. This was intended to be a bit of a tease toward clopfic writers/readers, and I admit toward having a bit of fun with it. The inclusion of Fancy Pants was, once again, a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Most of the events after that point, as so many pointed out, drew a lot of parallels to a zombie apocalypse. And it was. The last few scenes were inspired by a few bits from Shaun of the Dead. I actually wanted to include a scene that was a direct ripoff from the movie (Macintosh glances out a window, sees mares clustered outside, casually yanks the shades down and walks away before they break through) but decided against it.

After that...I must give credit to several commenters for the ending. Several had voiced suspicions that Applejack was trolling on Macintosh the entire time, and the idea was to unbearably silly to let go. So to those who suggested that: the ending was purely the product of your overanalysis. You can go squeal in glee now.

So that's it. The inspiration behind my most popular story. I still wonder what it was you liked so much about it, but I suppose that mystery will remain as unsolved as the Mary Celeste. The only thing I can think of as a reason for the story's massive success was the cover image, which many said was their sole reason for reading it. I really do wish I could credit it, but I haven't been able to find it since. Ah, well.