Q&A Followup For "Six Years" · 1:16am May 30th, 2018
You asked 'em, and now I'm gonna respond to 'em. Thanks to everyone who sent them in, and I hope the answers are more or less to your satisfaction. Fair warning before we get started, some of the questions may involve sensitive or otherwise controversial subject matter. Reader discretion is advised, but content should be primarily G/PG.
First up is The Bricklayer, who asks the following question:
Okay, I have to ask, fave supporting character?
That's kind of tricky, supporting character is a catch all term that can describe a wide range of characters. I consider supporting characters as any character that is not a main character, but is tied to one or more of them, and does not fall into any other category (such as former antagonist). In that regard, I would have to give it to Mr. and Mrs. Cake. According to Lauren Faust, they love Pinkie Pie as a daughter, and it's not hard to see how that could be so. They display saint like patience with her, and even when they're worried about her personality, they don't try to intervene unless absolutely necessary. "Baby Cakes" and "The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows" really show them at their best when it comes to interacting with Pinkie Pie, they do expect a lot of her. But it never comes across as bossy or rude. They demonstrate that even when overwhelmed, they do their best to keep everything under control. Interestingly, Mrs. Cake has had roles in episodes independent of her husband, including recently becoming a baking teacher to Sugar Belle in "The Break Up Break Down".
Next, we have owen2500, who asks:
What influenced you to start writing?
I dabbled in fictional writing a little in my high school years, first with a book adaptation of a YouTube train series entitled "The Full Bucketneirs", and later with a fan continuation of the Digimon Adventure franchise, years before an official Adventure 03 would be released in the form Adventure Tri (which I have sadly not yet seen, I do not have the means by which to subscribe to anime websites that probably have it, and any sort of home media releases seem to be non exisitant). I never officially published either work (though I retain physical copies from word documents). Meanwhile, once I became interested in the Brony fandom and joined, I started to come around to the idea of writing my own fanfics. And once I joined the sight, I officially cast my lot into that hobby. Since then, I have expanded to writing fanfiction for other fandoms, including both a Deviant Art and a Fanfiction.net account for non pony related works (though some of my pony stuff can be found on them both. If interested, I can provide the profile names.)
Bubblepuff is next, and he asks:
Favorite story that you've written, and favorite story by another writer. Any writer in real life or fanfiction.
Well, in regard to favorite story that I've written, if you look along my profile page you'll see a list of my top five stories (in my opinion): They are (from left to right): "My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?", "The One Where Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo have a Sleepover", "The Princess and The Dragon", "Act The Foal Become The Foal", and "Pound and Pumpkin Cake's Adventures (And Misadventures) In Potty Training". My reasons for listing them are: The "What If?" fic was a bold experiment, toying with the idea of not doing individual rewrites of episodes or episode endings, but complete rewrites of multiple episodes form the show. It has more or less been the fic by which I feel I'll be most remembered by, as it is the one with the highest view total of all my fics (likely helped by the fact that it has become part of an increasing series that currently boasts six volumes). The Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo story was my first new fic of 2016 (the first one published was a hold over from late 2015) and it was my first ever story to hit the feature box (though it did so while I was away at work), plus the characters had become some of my favorites by the time I got to writing the fic. "The Princess and The Dragon" was the first of many collabs with yodajax10, a Spike fan, that has often resulted in stories related to Spike and the princesses. It too was featured in 2016, albeit this time I was around to witness it. "Act The Foal Become The Foal" was my first padded pony story of 2015 not to be deleted, it helped me get back into the swing of things and reclaim some of my padded pony mojo after "Fluttershy and Rainbow's Little Foal". It was also when Scootaloo started shifting towards one of my more favorable characters, and when I started adopting the headcanon about Dizzy Twister as her mother. And the Cake Twins fic, was the winner of a choice between fans of it or a continuation of my Batmare fanfics. The fact that went on for so long, is largely a testament to the ideas I came up with for it, as well as the ideas readers suggested. And it helps that it has become the first fic of mine to have a TV Tropes page. As for favorite story from another author: I'd have to give my vote to two. For real life, it would be The Railway Series by the Rev W. Awdry, the original 26 books published from 1945 to 1972. As a kid who was hooked on Thomas The Tank Engine, the books were a fun read even though I was unfamiliar with much of the UK terminology (and unaware that the show had originated in the UK and been imported to the US with certain terms and phrases changed). Growing up and learning more about them, I have gained an appreciation for the attention to detail the Reverand Awdry had. Although he wrote his books for a children's audience (the original story that started it all "Edward's Day Out" was made up on the fly to entertain his then three year old son confined to bed with measels in 1943), he expressed in letters and interviews that the events in the books were based on real life railroad events that occurred in his lifetime. Even the location, the Island of Sodor, was an actual real life location he'd discovered. Even when he handed the reigns of his series over to his son, Christopher, and later saw his works adapted into the television show, Awdry was still not afraid to pitch ideas or voice criticisms. He particularly disliked the Season 3 episode "Henry's Forest" for the unrealistic notion of a railroad running directly through a forest, and the Season 4 episode "Rusty to the Rescue" which he felt undercut the hard work the real life Bluebell Railway put forth into running a steam preservation railroad in the UK at a time when steam locomotives were being phased out and sent to scrap yards. It's admirable to see a man who was passionate about his work, but also strove to pay attention to detail despite his target audience. And as for fictional writers, it would be "You Will Never Be Alone" by Matt11. Although it's a Scootadopt, it's one that focuses less on the adoption itself (which happens early in the story when Scootaloo's mom dies) and more on the life changes that result from it. It was also one of the best handlings of a Diamond Tiara redemption prior to Season 5.
Summer Dancer asks the following:
what are you looking for in Pinkie's character in the future?
It's kind of hard to say that now, considering Season 8 is ongoing, and Season 9 has entered production, with the likelihood being that it'll be the final season of the show. But with the possibility that G5 will be a continuation of the FiM timeline but with a new world, there is talk that Pinkie Pie will become a pegasus like she was going to be in the original pitch bible (when she was going to be the G1 Pegasus Surprise, which Hasbro revealed to Lauren they'd lost the rights to). I would like to see if perhaps she could leave a broader impact on Equestria as a whole, independent of her parties or being a friendship ambassador. I might like to see her establish her own bakery, or even take over Sugarcube Corner from the Cakes someday (most likely if they retired, as I imagine Pinkie wouldn't want to replace them). Or, alternatively, if she becomes a pegasus in G5, put her new wings to use and let her become a traveling party pony. And maybe it's just my inner CheesePie speaking, but having her hook up with Cheese Sandwich would be nice. At the very least, I would like to see her become more of a big sister to the Cake Twins (assuming they're around in G5).
How did you discover this site?
I don't really remember exactly. I think I was just browsing recommend pony fanfics on TV Tropes in 2012, and from there was linked to this site and decided to join. I remember the fic I was most interested in at the time, was "Total Magic Pony Island", a ponyfication of Total Drama. A fic that is sadly more or less dead at this point.
What made you a brony?
I swear I've told this story multiple times over various Q&A sessions, not that I tire of repeating it. In late 2011, I was hooked on Team Fortress 2 (which had recently been made free to play, all one had to do to get it was download Steam, and it would be installed alongside Steam). Some of the most popular TF2 content on YouTube stemmed from G-Mod videos (this was before SFM was a thing), in particular parodies of the famous "Panis Cupcake" by Rubberfruit. One of them was entitled "Panis Cupcake meets Pinkie Pie", and from there I migrated to other G-Mod TF2/Pony crossover videos, and that led to clips from the show (back when the only one uploading them was kyrospawn). My curiosity was eventually piqued, so I decided to check out the show in January of 2012. I had planned on making my first episode "Baby Cakes", but I didn't know when the show aired in my area, so I missed it and saw repeats of "Lesson Zero" and "Sisterhooves Social" instead. I would catch "Baby Cakes" at a later date, and from there I migrated to watching all the episodes of the show via YouTube (remember that this was in 2012, the show hadn't even gotten a DVD release yet) and was caught up on the show to date within two weeks. I had already seen some fan made content, and before long I started to see more and more, til eventually I joined this site and was officially part of the fandom. What drew me in was how well the show was written, and how creative the fandom could be. Sure, other fandoms had fanfiction and fanart, but this was a fandom that had its own fandom creations besides abridged series.
Now we have Foal Star (an age regression writer of high quality in my book), who simply asks:
How old are you? Lol. Im 22.
Currently, I'm 23 years old. This August, I turn 24. That's right, I'm a 90's/early 2000's kid.
Comickook asks:
Just what do you have planned for your 100th story on this site?
Well, you can now tell since it's been released. "After The Molt", a story about Spike enrolling in flight lessons with Rainbow Dash, and Twilight having recollections to when Spike was younger. My next planned fic is a one-shot involving Sandbar and Double Diamond, entitled "Letter to Home" and it should be out next week.
I know your next Batmare story (when you finally get around to it) will be based on "Death in the Family", but what about your other super-hero AU stories (i.e., third Spider-Mare story and second Super-Dragon story)?
I feel kind of ashamed that I've had to put my superhero stories on the backburner for years now, but you can't help it when inspiration strikes. Anyway, my third Spidermare story is going to consist of three overall plots: The Venom symbiote bonding permanetly to Garble (and no, Garble will not be Flash Thompson/Agent Venom) which will also involve the debut of the ponyfied Fantastic Four (Double Diamond as Mr. Fantastic, Sugar Belle as Mrs. Fantastic though she will actually be romantically involved with Party Favor. I feel like Double Diamond is better suited to the leader archtype of Mr. Fantastic then he is to the genius bruiser archtype of The Thing, which Party Favor will occupy. And by process of elimination, Night Glider will be Human (or in this case Pony) Torch, though I think she is the most fit for that character), Starlight Glimmer becoming The Lizard (as a subplot between the first and second Venom encounters), and an underlying plot about Pinkie mutating into a Pony Spider similar to the Man Spider arc of the second season of Spider-Man: The Animated Series. As for my second Super Dragon story: I'm contemplating a couple of ideas. Ember becoming Super Girl, a multiverse portal to crossover with Batmare in an adaptation of "World's Finest" from Superman The Animated Series, and possibly even something akin to the infamous comic story "The Death of Superman".
hawthornbunny, a Bronze patron sponsor, asks:
Undoubtedly you are a super brony, but why are you pink, and why 12?
Pink refers to Pinkie Pie, my favorite mane six. 12 is a reference to the fact that I joined the sight in 2012.
What would you like to see more of in ABDL fics on Fimfiction?
There's definitely not enough hypnosis involved, the only one I can think of is "Rock A Bye Tavi" which was very light on the AB/DL themes for the most part. There could also be some more potty training stuff, in and out of diapers. Potty training is quite an interesting phase in development.
Favorite video game or type of video game?
I'm kind of partial to the open world 3D platformer, a genre that has mostly died out, but used to be all the rage in the mid to late 90's and early 2000's (what I consider to be the golden age of video games). This is probably because I grew up on "Crash Bandicoot" and "Spyro", which encouraged exploration and platforming to master and 100% the game. I also like the open sandbox, mission based gameplay of the "Grand Theft Auto" series (From GTAIII onward) and "Sly Cooper" from the second game onward. Who would've guessed playing as a criminal and committing criminal acts could be enjoyable?
What franchises/works do you like other than MLP?
Quite a lot actually, I already mentioned Thomas and Digimon. But I also like Star Wars, Transformers, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, the list goes on and on.
You get to swap bodies with any one of the following fillies for a day: Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon. Who do you choose?
I'm gonna go with Sweetie Belle, it's the choice least likely to come with any kind of extra baggage or complications.
And to close out, we have Matt11, who asks:
Do you play any MMO RPG'S?
No, I don't think so.
What's your favorite platformer game?
Tie between "Crash Bandicoot: Warped" and "Spyro: Ripto's Rage", PS1 sequels that took pre-established gameplay elements and improved on them.
Have you played any type of Finale Fantasy?
"Final Fantasy" and aside from a little bit of "Final Fantasy 7", no.
any plans for a Sweetie Belle diapered fanfic this year?
No, not this year.
Do you like any types of Anime?
Yes, though admittedly I'm bit nostalgia, dub biased. In particular, I just finished watching the English dub of the Ace Attorney anime.
Loved this. Very interesting to read and get an idea of what you like, what inspires you and how you came to be where you are in the fandom.
. But I was devastated when I read that there was no diapered Sweetie Belle fic for this year.
4873133 Well, I have other padded pony project plans at the moment. Plus, lots of others have written padded pony stories involving Sweetie Belle.
4873254
. Really? I find that there are barely any Padded
Ooh sounds interesting
Sweetie Belle stories while the ones that are there are very good. Most abdl cmc stories are Scootaloo based.
Sorry I took a while to get around to responding, but thanks very much for answering my questions.
As for the second Super Dragon story, I would say go for the Ember as Supergirl story first, THEN the "World's Finest" inspired story for the third story and THEN the "Death of Superman" inspired story (though MAYBE based a bit more on the Justice League: the Animated Series two-parter "Hereafter")for the fourth story (mostly for Twilight, the rest of the Mane Six and Ember all trying to honor Spike's memory following his seeming heroic sacrifice). All of those ideas sound good, but they would work best if each was made its own story. That way, you're not making the mistake some super-hero movies do (i.e. trying to do too much in one story).
As for the third Spider-Mare story, well, "the Invisible Mare" sounds like a better alias for Sugar Belle. Beyond that, that sounds like a great multi-arc story. And, yeah, save "the Sinister Six" for the FOURTH Spider-Mare story (after Garble/Venom II gets beaten by the combined efforts of Spider-Mare and the Fantastic Four and realize THEY need help).
Sorry about that. Got a little over-excited for a couple of seconds. (sheepish grin)
4874747 I'd forgotten about "Hereafter" from the 2001 Justice League cartoon. I think that could work even better.