May
23rd
2016
Minor delay and AMA/Q&A · 2:10am May 23rd, 2016
The time has come to retire my faithful old laptop. It's held together with tape at this point, the keyboard has been playing up for months and it's just getting on in years. It's served me well, but I need something new... something that isn't held together with tape.
What the means is that I won't be working on my fics as much until everything has been moved.
Sorry for the delay!
So, while I spend the next few days moving everything to my new laptop and getting it up to speed, I thought I'd hold an Ask Me Anything/Q&A session and open myself up to some questions. About my fics, preferably.
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Cascadejackal · 519 views
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Oh, sorry about that. Good luck with the move!
What is an AMA?
3964400 AMA is Ask Me Anything. Y'know, a Q&A session. Hoping it'll be entertaining enough to make up for the delay.
3964432
Ah, thanks.
...I'm afraid that I'm not thinking of any questions at the moment, though.
3964447 I'm leaving this up for a few days, so no rush. I'll answer whatever is asked, within reason. Moving stuff between laptops is boring.
3964450
Thanks. :)
This is unacceptable, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
I've got some major catching up to do... so far behind on so many fics and many of them aren't even going on anymore. :L
3964676 Too many good fics end up abandonded or get cancelled. I will never do that to Wasteland Bouquet or Project Hive! They will be finished!.. eventually.
3964815
Good to hear. :)
Oh! I've thought of a question!
So, you're obviously interested in changelings; is there any particular reason why? Any story behind it? Or did it just start as "Oh, those bug ponies look cool; I wonder if I could do something with them?"?
3965304 There's a lot of reasons why I liked the changelings so much from the very first time I saw them in the show. They're really interesting visually, with just the right mix of intimidating design, alien appearance and unintentional cuteness. I've always had a soft spot for the Xenomorphs in the Alien series, mostly because of how they look, and the changelings reminded me of them... in a less "Eat your face" kind of way.
Changelings were the first real threat in the show, too. They managed to take Canterlot, defeat the guards, capture the Elements and turn Celestia into a lava lamp. That was impressive, and cemented them in my mind as competent characters that would be interesting to write about.
But, by far, the biggest reason I enjoy writing about changelings is Queen Chrysalis. She's a dynamic, interesting character, and the more I see of her the more interesting she gets. I'll skip the long, detailed explanation of why I love her so much, and just leave this here:
3966087
Ah, thanks.
Oh, leading into another question: any thoughts on the changeling victory timeline from the previous season finale? Spoiling my own to avoid contaminating yours before you type them, if you want to avoid that:
I've been wondering if it's actually a lot less worse than we're lead to believe on the surface; the Nightmare Moon timeline showed that what one would think would be an apocalypse doesn't necessarily end up being one, and it seems odd that the changelings would enter the camp claiming to be refugees from a just-attacked Ponyville if the rebels didn't think that Ponyville hadn't been attacked yet. It's unlikely to be bad intelligence; the changelings had a spy in the camp. Could it be that the rebel village is not actually the last bastion of ponykind but just a village of rebels against a conquering changeling government of a mostly-still-free-range-pony Equestria? Chrysalis's offer of sparing the others if Zecora turned herself in might have been genuine.
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Ironically, I feel that Chrysalis' Equestria would be safer than Celestia's Equestria. Not counting Chrysalis and her swarm, anyway.
If Celestia isn't in charge, I predict a quick decline in Big Bads showing up. But then, I'm strongly of the belief that Celestia is a scheming, plotting plot-head behind pretty much everything the Sparkle Squad has had to go through, all in service of some master plan of hers.
Going by the show's (rough) timeline, the rebel camp is attacked only a few months (less than a year, for sure) after the wedding.
Why would Chrysalis wait so long to move against the rebels? The changeling army is clearly big enough to take and hold a city the size of Canterlot, but probably not big enough to wage a nation-wide war.
Chrysalis herself is at least powerful enough to defeat Celestia, and likely even more powerful than that at this point, which means she could stand against a small force entirely on her own.
So, I think the easiest answer is simple: Chrysalis' own arrogance and the position of power she's taken.
The changeling swarm doesn't need to sweep over all of Equestria. They already hold Canterlot (a very defensible location), two princesses (Celestia and Cadenza), the Captain of the Guard, and very likely most of (if not all) the military and political leaders. Equestria would be crippled. We can assume that, without the Sparkle Squad, Luna was either re-imprisoned in the Moon or dealt with some other way (Tartarus, perhaps), since the Elements were needed to redeem her.
The months after the wedding would have been spent first securing Canterlot (ferreting out anypony left in the city), then remodelling things to a more changeling-pleasing asthetic while feeding on the captured populace. There's no reason to rush or move against cities or towns, not when travellers are easy prey and the larders are already full. Chrysalis likely felt unchallengeable, too, given the power she possessed. Queen Bugbutt's a bit of a twit, but that would fit with her established behaviour.
Equestria would be "free", in the sense that free-range chickens are free, with only scattered resistance groups like Zecora's actively fighting against the changelings. Most of the towns around Canterlot might be subject to the occasional raids, but a full-on attack would be unlikely most of the time, and cities wouldn't be worth the effort while Canterlot and the surrounding areas were still a rich feeding ground.
Chrysalis had at least one spy in Zecora's group. That's a reasonable assumption, since we do see a single changeling drop their rebel pony disguise.
As for Chrysalis' offer to leave the rest of the rebels alone if Zecora surrendered... I'm inclined to believe it was a genuine offer, and that Chrysalis would have kept her word. Not out of kindness, but out of arrogance. Capture Zecora, then leave the rest of the group demoralised and without leadership. Easy prey if Chrysalis ever changes her mind.
...I just realised, the finale is the first time Chrysalis' name is mentioned in the show. Huh.
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"Equestria would be "free", in the sense that free-range chickens are free, with only scattered resistance groups like Zecora's actively fighting against the changelings. Most of the towns around Canterlot might be subject to the occasional raids, but a full-on attack would be unlikely most of the time, and cities wouldn't be worth the effort while Canterlot and the surrounding areas were still a rich feeding ground."
I imagine, though, that, tying in with the safety point earlier, if anyone else tries to raid Equestria, they're going to have a bit of a time of it. Free range they might be, but the farmer still has a shotgun to see off foxes.
"Not out of kindness, but out of arrogance. Capture Zecora, then leave the rest of the group demoralised and without leadership. Easy prey if Chrysalis ever changes her mind."
Furthermore, how many of the rebels might actually rethink things after they saw Chrysalis indeed keeping her word and letting them go? "We must resist the evil monsters who keep their word and show mercy!" isn't the best revolutionary rallying cry.
"...I just realised, the finale is the first time Chrysalis' name is mentioned in the show. Huh."
I think so, yeah.
Thanks for the answer. :)
I do also wonder how things might develop as time went on. Chrysalis defends Equestria and mostly leaves its citizens alone if they don't make trouble; in fact, she's probably also effectively dropped taxes for them by removing the top level of government. She's presumably also taken over the sun and moon. How many failed foreign and domestic attempts to unseat her before pretty much everyone decides that this is the new normal and they might as well make the best of it? I could see towns arranging tribute systems to prevent damaging raids, at least, with presumably further developments as time passes and foals start growing up having never known any other government.
Oh, hm, and I thought to ask whether we'd ever see changelings in Wasteland Bouquet (possibly even as a crossover with (the future of) Project HIVE)... but that would be spoilery. :)
...Trying to think of a question for you on something other than changelings at the moment, but it doesn't seem to be coming to me. Eh. Perhaps later. :)
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Spoiler-free answer: Maybe.
Spoiler answer: Who says the two fics haven't crossed over already?
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...Eeeeeeeg my curiosity overpowered me, but the spoiler just fanned the flames! :D
3969745 Totally honest answer, no teasing, full spoiler. Fairly warned be ye.
The flutterponies in Wasteland Bouquet are from the Hive/Stable in Project Hive, which the Serenity's crew are headed for in the next chapter of WB.
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...Well, at least it's not a spoiler of something more distant, since my curiosity overcame me again. :)
Looking forward to it!