Q&A Anniversary extravaganza!

What's up, my fellow paladins?

It was 1 year from today that I took my first step into MLP fanfiction. This, however, is not my first attempt at writing fanfiction. My humble beginnings started on fanfiction.net (To which my old, but still active account can actually be found in this link) followed by deviantart (which can be found here). This year has been rather turbulent and met with both triumphs and defeats, but it is a special time to reflect on my progress so far. To assess my past to have a clearer future.

Join me, won't you?

Though I created my account on this day last year, I hadn't posted my first story until 7/12/16. The importance of the date isn't so much in the creation of this account, but rather the decision to create this account. The desire to embrace my enjoyment of MLP, burning urge to write, and drive to break my own limitations all converged on the day I decided to create an account. Today is the celebration of my emergence as a dedicated MLP writer.

And there is only one proper way to celebrate it: Public humiliation on the internet!

I had posted a blog requesting questions for today's Q&A roughly a week ago. Surprisingly, only one person asked a question (you're the best, SetoKaiva-sempai!). I imagine it is safe to optimistically assume you all are so enthralled with my work that the only question on your lips is "When is the next chapter?"

Patience, honorable paladins. This train ain't stopping anytime soon.

Enough stalling; it's time to face the music and answer the following question:

Setokaiva asked - What is the stupidest thing you have ever done?

This is a legit difficult question. The depths of my stupidity does not know limits, so picking only one was a difficult task. So! Since there was only one question asked, and apparently I'm a social masochist, I will pick out two of the stupidest things my brain will allow me to recall.

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Stupid thing 1) Betrayal!

When I was but a wee lad, to which I mean about the age of 10, the family had finished eating dinner and went about their own business, leaving me alone at grandma's dinning table. I was hungry for dessert with none to be found nearby. My search led me to a pot with some sort of white, mashed up looking food. My brain drew the most logical conclusion and deduced that this was indeed vanilla ice cream. But why was it in a pot? Why not a freezer?

I moved to touch the pot, only to realize it was hot. But... ice cream was supposed to be cold. This certainly didn't feel like ice cream, but what else could it be? That's when I decided to sample myself some ice cream, grab a handful of hot ice cream and cram it into my mouth.

Much to my horror, this did not taste like ice cream. What sorcery was this?!

A family member stumbled upon me, shocked and confused, and helped me identify that this was indeed not ice cream. But rather, this was mashed potatoes.

20 years later, I still don't like mashed potatoes.

Stupid thing 2) The answer is C

You all should really appreciate the story Muse.

Believe me, this is not narcissistic advertisement (only a little). This story was developed during a period I was lacking inspiration and creativity. When I couldn't budge on a writing project and was getting frustrated at my writer's block. Believe me when I say this was possibly the best piece of work I've done while suffering under heavy writer's block.

For every best, there is a worst.

Want to get a taste of what goes through my mind every day? The truth of the inner machinations of Chaospaladin? See the most insane piece of writing conceived under writer's block? You asked for it.

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And that will do it for the Q&A portion of things. There is one more thing I would like to talk about: Why MLP fanfiction?

At the time I had abandoned the notion of writing fanfiction. I was in a bit of an emotional rut for awhile and thought fanfiction was a dead end street to pursue. In combination with some other heavy stuff in my life that was going on, and I just couldn't bother. I still love those stories, and cherish every single reader that went through any of my older works, but I couldn't take it. I threw in the towel and called it a day.

But it never truly left. Every day I would get a new cool idea or interesting intrigue that would make me think. I would try to shake it off, but it would keep coming back. The writer in me never left, just suffered burn out and emotional baggage. But I was long convinced I couldn't stick with a decent project. Worried I would fail my readers like I did in fanfiction.net. The guilt was strong. The despair. The fear of failing others because of my own shortcomings.

When I initially watched MLP, I thought it was pretty cool, but didn't think much more of it. Admittedly, I had a foot in the whole "it's too girly for me to be caught dead watching" camp. To me, at the time, it was the equivalent of "coming out the closet" to my friends and family. But the more one of my oldest friends and fellow/brilliant adventure writer Mikazuchi talked about it, the more intrigued I was. The more the internet ranted and raved about how good it was, the more my interest grew. As memes and jokes popped up all over the internet, something in me clicked: Curiosity.

So I decided to screw the rules and give it a go. And...I rather enjoyed it. Discord sold me on the show. Hilarious. Menacing. Fascinating. I thought to myself "I could get behind this show with villains like that". Then Chrysalis happened and I knew the show had me in its claws. I began to get more invested in the community, especially reviewers such as Silver Quill, Dr. Wolf, Firebrand, Ilovekimpossiblealot, Antony C and more.

And before you ask, Dr. Wolf is my favorite. I love all the other reviewers, but Dr. Wolf hits me where I live the hardest.

But yes, I quickly became a fan of the series and community. Loved the characters, lore, setting, there was so much to enjoy!

Until "Keep calm and Flutter on" happened.

The quickest way for a story or series to lose my interest is to either waste fantastic potential or rush things out the door. For me, this episode did both, and with my favorite villain. Now in retrospect, I wouldn't call this a bad episode. It has a lot of things I liked. But it's like Mass Effect 3: Everything was great until the ending happened. This episode's ending hit so many nasty notes for me that it killed my enjoyment of the show all together. I still watched analyst/reviewers talk about the show and stuff, but I didn't feel like watching the show anymore. I could no longer get behind it.

But then something happened I wasn't expecting. Something that would forever change the way I look at MLP: Flash Sentry.

Before you click away and unfollow, hear me out.

I have no illusions about the fandom's perception of the character. He's a freaking pariah. He's the waifu stealer. The dream killer. Corporate tomfoolery. The mistake. Whatever you want to call it, Flash has an overwhelming number of those who dislike him. I don't deny that he could've been handled far better so he wasn't so unbelievably forced. Flash Sentry probably had the worst execution in all of MLP.

This is what intrigued me.

I had to figure out what angered so many people revolving around this guy. Sure, he was a bit generic (okay, VERY generic), but overall seemed like a pretty nice guy. Why hate someone who was basically a lawful good paladin? I think this is where the Waifu Stealer comes in. Because Twilight is a thing.

First off, I have to address this. Waifu Stealer? It's one thing to not like a character because he's generic. It's another to not like him because of an awkwardly executed pairing. Waifu stealer indicates that Twilight, at some point, was someone's waifu. She is no one's waifu. Twilight Sparkle is a strong, independent mare, who don't need no man. She can be attracted to whoever she wants.

Okay, snark aside, I get the idea we're protective of Twilight because she's a great character a lot of people can get behind and relate to. So I can see why people dislike Flash because, in a sense, it seems so awkward to have someone we like trust into a relationship with a corporate mistake rather than another character we can get behind. The point is; I get it and respect the opinions on Flash, however mixed they are.

Why is this important? It is this hate that drew me to Flash.

A character that seemed harmless on his own turned out toxic when paired with a known and well-loved character. And as I delved a bit more into this character, I saw something I wasn't sure anyone else saw; potential. To be more specific, potential in pony Flash Sentry.

One of the things that inspired one of my longest running series in my fanfiction.net account was a source of unused potential. With pony Flash Sentry, I saw untapped potential that was begging to be shared with the world. Think about it; Flash Sentry is the only pony Twilight has shown clear and open attraction to. I'm positive it isn't anything like first love or whatever, but clearly she likes what she sees, even if it's due to human Flash's influence.

Fun thought: Would that count as bestiality in Equestria? Is Twilight into bestiality? I knew she was a closet freak! *dodges bullets*

But yes, Flash Sentry is what got me not only to watch the show again, but to write MLP fanfiction. I want to explore this potential to its fullest and turn what might've been Hasbro's biggest mistake into my biggest motivation and secret weapon to blow minds with. It's important to know that the MLP series isn't perfect; it has its share of flaws and mistakes. I mean, hell, DERPY was *technically* a mistake, and yet the community loved her for it. It just so happens Flash Sentry is my derpy... take from that sentence what you will.

I know this was long winded, but I wanted to take the time to let you lovely readers get to know me a little more. Get an idea of my humble beginnings and hopefully showed you something that got your imaginations and inspirations running in high gear. Thank you for reading and being the awesome person that you are. Here's to another year with ponies!

Moral of the day: Follow your passions and let nothing stop you!

Stay classy, my paladins.