Three years ago... · 3:24am Apr 21st, 2015
Just over three and a half years ago, I joined the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fandom. As is typical for a lot of people in the community from what I can tell, I found the series during a bout of serious depression. I needed something happy, and Friendship is Magic brought me that happiness. A few months after that, I'd decided that I would start writing a story based on My Little Pony.
That decision led to this:
No, not the "formerly known as League of Heroes Acting Villainous" Displaced series of stories. This story was a thing before they started calling their 'continuity' [such as it is] that.
At the time I was still relatively new to the FiM writing scene, and Human in Equestria, while incredibly common, had not yet been done to death. Displaced ended up codifying HiE as one of my go-to tropes, even as it formally became the red-headed stepchild of the fandom. Yes, a lot of HiE stories are blatant wish-fulfillment self-insert/Mary Sue blobs. No, a lot of them aren't good, and it would be quite easy to declare anything bearing the HiE tag as absolutely irredeemable shite, but even among all the dregs of poorly contrived "I want to cum inside Rainbow Dash" fics, you have on or two gems.
I'd like to believe that Displaced is one of those gems. See, Displaced marked a point in my life that I will never forget. It was the first writing project that I had ever completed, and it was a story I felt proud of. Just the other night I looked back at it and—though I see the writing has aged a bit and desperately needs a really thorough edit pass—I still genuinely like what I see. Sure, Goldenrod/Warren was a gentlecolt and a genuinely good guy, but he also had a snarky/humorous side that I'll never forget; I'm looking at you, specific series of lines in chapter 24.
I suppose that brings me to the purpose of this blog post. As many of you have no doubt noticed, I've been floundering a lot on getting anything done for A Blouse Unbuttoned. I am NOT canceling that story, but in my present mindset, I cannot really get into the flow of working on it right now. With that having been said, that story is being shelved until further notice. I want to finish Dee Pad's story to a specific point, but I cannot force myself to write.
Instead, I'm going to be working on two specific things. Firstly, I'm going to be making as thorough an edit pass on Displaced as I can. Ideally, I'll be fixing grammar/style errors, though I may also tweak the wording of a few things for clarity. The other thing I will be working on is a sequel to Displaced. No, this does not mean that The Gaean Crusade is coming back from the grave. I doomed that story the moment I began over-planning it; my strength lies in having a few plot points and winging it in between, not micromanaging every single chapter.
This sequel, which I am titling Homecoming, will start where Chapter 23 of Displaced ended off and Chapter 24 began. It is not a sort of fill-in-the blanks between Displaced and The Gaean Crusade, as everything after a certain point in Chapter 24 will not be considered canon. Instead, treat this as an Alternate Universe continuation of Displaced, where things continue a bit differently. If you have not read Displaced but plan on it, do not read the following spoiler text.
I will put this plainly. "Goldenrod" is dead in this story. He still has his little 'afterlife' experience, but he does not magically get the body of a young adult so that he can take care of Scootaloo. That does not mean that he is not in the story; on the contrary, he is still the star and will be reborn. However, he will be reborn as a newborn child and will not magically have all of his memories. Oh he'll regain some of them, but it's not going to be "Oh hey, I remember everything now," followed by him going up to Scootaloo and say "Damn, I missed my funeral again, didn't I?"
This AU will also be tailored to account for canon that did not exist three years ago when the story was written. I'm sure any of you who have watched at least as far as the Season 4 premiere know exactly which bit I intend on addressing the most...
I already have the sequel's prologue written, and I will begin work on Chapter 1 tomorrow after I achieve what has been laid out before me in terms of work.
For those of you who HAVE read Displaced, what did you like most about the story, and what did you like the least? How do you feel about Goldy coming back, but not quite the same?
after reading this I'm going to have to re-read Displaced, but I'm really looking forward to your story
3002568 Just forgive me the spots that need editing, 'kay?
3002573 no problem
It was so long ago, but honestly? It just seemed very refreshing. It was dark, yes, but at the same time it managed to capture the essence of the show. Some how mixing the two. I thought it all ended perfectly... even if I don't fully remember the story
but just know it's in my personal archive or listed to be soon. Eventually, when I get to it.
I just double checked, your story is in my Calibre Archive ^^
I think that the main reason I liked it back then is that was the first human in equestrian as child stories. There are maybe 10 of those stories that are any good. This one doesn't have that last, but it was the first I read like that
God it was really that long ago? Dang... Well I never got around to reading the cancelled sequel, and, again, it HAS been awhile (re-reading time after the edits, perhaps?), but I do remember that it was the use and development of the CMC over the course of the story that really entertained me the most at the time.
I remember stumbling across that fic. I can't really remember it, but I do recall that something in it really put me off reading it all the way through...
Apparently I still gave it an up vote but I never got past chapter 8... Think I'll give it another shot when I get the chance
That's kind of funny i got in to MLP for the similar reasons
I remember some plot points very well (the darker ones mostly (the zap apple of paaaaaaaaaaaaaain (don't judge how I remember things!))) and others might accidentally be crossed with "Through the Eyes of Another Pony". Not surprising seeing as I read these practically back-to-back. You've made me nostalgic for it, I'm gonna give it a re-read before the edits because... I dunno reasons? At the very least it was an exceptional story and I'm glad it's had such a positive impact on several lives.
~Momentai
I forgot, sorry. I think I might have read it at some point, but I'd need to go back over the story again.
I would also need to go over the story again. But I will say it is one of the best on this site period, anything you post about it I WILL read.
Good luck.
I echo the sentiment that I'm going to have to re-read displaced in preparation for this new story. Sounds like an awesome idea, though. If an AU and a big change like this is what it takes to see more of the story, than I say full speed ahead!
As they say, your best work is your next.
Keep it up.
I read Displaced and Gaean a while back, and while I don't remember too much in the avalanche of HiEs I've read, I did thoroughly enjoy them both, and will be looking forward to this new sequel.
I like mostly the beginning parts before draconequus started to do trap things. After that... there was just one thing. Defeat the villain. It was good, but, it was just one thing.