Veneer → Incomplete · 1:56am Nov 16th, 2016
Initially, I liked Veneer (my recent story) just fine as a minific. Several readers have found it missing something, however, and after pulling my head out of my pedantic rear, I'm starting to see what they mean.
Initially, I didn't agree. I set up the psychological conflict I wanted to present at the end of the story, and the message was embedded there, so it felt like the fic was Complete to me. But now, I'm pretty sure that isn't true. 
Since a lot of ponies enjoyed the story as-is, I feel like I should at least explain why I want to expand the story: what makes it less than complete, as it is now?
The main problem is that I provided some ideas without presenting one or more theses with defensible points of view (beyond references to elements in the show's narratives). So the ending isn't muddy, but it's ambiguous on why one point of view would be any "better" or more defensible than the next. There are a couple of unstated yet obvious, diametrically-opposed theses just sitting there in plain view, but with no strong reason provided to buy into one message or the other.
It's almost like I took the "Coffee Talk" option from Saturday Night Live:
"I'll give you a topic: nature vs. nurture and the logical foundations of compassion. Now, talk amongst yourselves."
In short, the ideas in Veneer deserve exploration in greater depth than I gave them. That will require a significant expansion of the story.
For the record, I think I misjudged the need to go longer because I came up with the idea for this story long after the finale aired, and the Feature Box already has a bunch of changeling stories crammed in it, so I wanted to strike before it became impossible to differentiate between them. This is not the correct reason to plan your fic, which I know very well because I've made this same mistake at least once before. 
I could wait a week or two and pen a sequel (and probably pick up more readers that way), but I'd rather this story be self-contained for its own integrity. Therefore, I intend to turn this minific into a short-story. I have already changed Veneer to the Incomplete tag. I will be writing additional chapters and posting them until the story reaches a conclusion that sings all the notes I want to hit. That doesn't necessarily mean it will need to be a full conclusion narrative-wise: it's fine by me if we don't learn what happens to Thorax and the Hive in the end (although it's quite possible that we will). What it means is that specific points will be laid out more directly with facts that support them, and this will allow readers to more immersively consider the details of the changeling situation from multiple points of view.
Stop being adorable, young Thorax. Stop that.
Now, that may be a tall order. While I feel relatively confident at the moment, perhaps my efforts won't improve the story at all. But I'm pretty sure this will end up being a good thing, and I'm already itching to begin. 
One final thing I need to be clear on, though: the story will gain more tags as it gains chapters, and tags won't appear until a chapter supporting them does. This is true both for character tags and story tags. All I can promise at present is that the story will remain E, and I do not plan on making it a Tragedy—in part because that probably won't be necessary in order to say what I want to say. 
I haven't read it yet...
But uh... if you feel like you need to add to it, go ahead.
Hmm… it feels complete to me—the story communicates what it wants to say (‘it’s not that easy to change’ or something). However, the last line is definitely good sequel (or multichapter story, rather) bait, and I look forward to how you continue it. It’s as though you planned it all along.
It felt complete to me, too, but hey. Go for it!
If you write it, I will read it