Lost Time is Complete. Here are Some Author's Notes. · 8:31pm Jan 15th, 2016
If you’ve been waiting for Lost Time to be marked complete before you check it out, the day has come. Just under 60,000 words, dig right in. I’ll warn that there are a few surprises in the fic, so there might be spoilers in the comments.
Below the cut are some author's notes, which may contain very mild spoilers.
It occurs to me that Lost Time is kind of the ultimate bookplayer shipping fic. While none of it was intentional, it shares important themes with The AppleDash Project, Best Young Flyer, Wet Feathers, Tunnel of Love, and The Homesteading. It’s not surprising, these are themes close to my heart: The futility and frustration of waiting on perfection and missing the good things in front of you; the need for strength to be matched by flexibility; having people or things to take care of as worthy goal and enjoyable experience in itself; and the importance of not just communication, but observation and empathy. I come back to these time and again in shipping because, to me, these are the core of having a healthy relationship and, really, of being a mature adult.
The theme I did have in mind when I started this fic was an observation that I and most of my friends have made, that we never really feel like adults (at least not so far...) Somewhere inside, we’re all still 20-year-olds who have somehow ended up with mortgages and kids. We’ve gotten way more mature in a lot of ways, but that totally doesn’t count when we need to try to install a dishwasher or check with the pediatrician to make sure we haven’t managed to screw up our kids yet. That’s when the 20-year-old comes out and says “They’re all going to see that you’re in your thirties and still have no idea what you’re doing!” Some of us are better at hiding it, but I think everyone I know has had those moments. Having it happen to Dash literally, and showing her growing into the role, was my way of exploring that feeling while pointing out that whatever gets dropped in your lap, you will figure it out if it’s important to you.
Finally, there's a very subtle theme running through it about how great it is to have family around that you can grab as babysitters in case of emergencies or urgent situations.
On that note, I also want to take a minute to talk about the kids.
Apple Leaf was always intended to be an important part of the story. I wanted a kid who was old enough to be a pony Dash would have to interact with, who would ask questions and not be distracted from them without some kind of explanation. And I wanted a kid old enough for Dash to actually find interesting. I when I was new here on FiMfiction I read a story about Dash raising an earth pony kid who was obsessed with flying, and I’ve always loved the idea. I wasn’t a fan of the direction the story took, but the idea stuck with me. The important thing for me was to make his admiration for her and his personality different from Scootaloo, so I gave him a much more Apple family pragmatism. One commenter compared him to AJ, but I actually think he’s going to be a lot like Mac as he grows up, just more comfortable communicating.
Cider Splash was originally intended to play a much smaller role, even as far as the outline, but she’s that perfect age to be adorable and make a mess of things, so she kept showing up to drive her parents crazy. Honestly, I think she’ll be doing that to them for years, especially AJ. She has Dash’s enthusiasm and no-harm-no-foul sneaky streak, and it seems to be aimed straight at Sweet Apple Acres. When she gets old enough to take an active role in running the farm, AJ is in trouble.
Cider took over a lot of the role Orchard Sky was supposed to play, actually. One-year-olds are like pet monkeys (I speak from experience,) but they’re also easier to keep under control than sneaky five-year-olds, so he really just ended up adding to chaos for the most part. I didn’t plan on his relationship with Tank, it actually came up because when AJ brought out Tank in chapter three she mentioned that Sky likes to chew on his propeller, but I think it worked well as something to make Rainbow Dash more sympathetic towards him.
Finally, I have to give some super special thanks to my prereaders/editors. First of all, no one should even attempt a story involving time travel without at least two very smart people willing to untangle your brain or notice the *&$*# paradox you’re walking into. Second, this story is juuuust under 60,000 words, and I wrote it in two months. Especially towards the end, that means I had to ask folks for a breakneck turnaround on editing, and I’m lucky I have great editors who are such amazing friends.
In this case, my personal heroes are:
DbzOrDie: My oldest friend on the site, and the first person I let preread for me way back on The AppleDash Project. In three and a half years, I don’t think he’s ever actually turned me down for a preread.
Merc the Jerk: I know he’s secretly just building up credit so he can make me read his epic RariJack some day. Joke’s on him, I would’ve done it anyway-- but only for him.
bats: bats bore the brunt of the whining and begging for approval that I pretend is brainstorming, and as always he bore it with grace and good humor. He was even nice enough to tell me he liked the fic!
Bradel: Bradel was more influential than anyone on the plot of this fic in the planning stages. Then he went AWOL on me for a lot of the writing and prereading, which is probably for the best because otherwise I’d probably still be editing the first chapter. But he jumped back in for the last few chapters and made up for all the comments he missed out on in the other nine. Luckily by that point he had totally forgotten the ending, so he could give me a fresh perspective.
I also want to thank all the folks who mentioned typos in the comments. I’m not going to list them because I’m sure there will be more as time goes on, but I’ve been trying to keep up with correcting those, and I appreciate you mentioning it.
So, there we go. I started out my 2016 fanfic year with a bang, and I’ll try to keep it up. After a week or so, when I can even think about writing again, I’ve got a collab with Merc the Jerk to jump back into, a Celestia/Smart Cookie ship fic that I think could be as good as Lost Time was, and I’ll probably get a TwiJack out for Valentine’s day. God, that sounds like a lot right now, but it’ll be better in a week.
Aw man, I was planning to catch up before it was finished. Time to start reading, I guess.
I like the premise, though. Time travel is fun.
Joke's on you, I only said I liked it because I actually liked it.
Yeah, apparently my memory sucks.
I'm pretty cool with that fact. I loved getting surprised by the end along with everyone else.
FREAKIN' LOVE THIS STORY!
Amazing as always. And very amusing to boot. Typical Bradel though.
Crap, she knows!
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Amazing story. Kinda reminded me of that Star Trek TNG episode where Riker woke up 10 years later as captain of the Enterprise. But that one ended differently than this story, and I'm glad it did. Your ending was creative and emotional, and I loved it.
And, I hope I don't come across as shamelessly self-promoting here, because I hate that, but if you're ever in need of another proofreader or editor, feel free to shoot me a PM. You can never have too many of those!
Just finished reading it last night. You certainly have got the bar set high with this story released at the beginning of the year. Can't wait to see what you put out next!
Whenever I end up talking with my coworkers about how old I am (because I'm a few years older than half my coworkers, and about 10 years or more younger than the other half and I get asked how old I am surprisingly often), I usually say something to the tune of "the government recognizes me as an adult and that's terrifying."
Other catch phrases include "I'm a mature adult who does and says mature adult things" when people tell me I'm being childish.
Dear god yes, all of this
I've been mulling over my original argument since reading the final chapter, I'll leave a comment on the story itself once I've got my brain on track with it and it's not midnight.
I like how you created each of the older kids' characters by giving them something from each of their parents:
Leaf has Applejack's honesty and Dash's brashness. It's good he was born well-connected, because the kid's gonna make a lot of enemies.
Cider has Dash's guile and Applejack's charm. She'll have nothing but friends, and God help 'em.
An excellent, well crafted story. No one was really expecting the theme to tie in so closely to the ending, but it's great that it worked out how it did. It's really not much different than twilight telling rainbow that she can't go back, but the change in perspective really drove home how she should appreciate her "new" family.