Finished Finale · 5:28am Jul 12th, 2019
Well, it’s certainly been a long and fun ride, writing this. About one million words in the series, depending on how you count the side stories and whatnot. More than I ever thought I’d write, and I’m pretty sure I said something similar around the 300k mark, too.
What happens next? Well, hopefully the epilogue gives a little closure. I feel somewhat tapped out as far as continuing Doug’s story; I ran with the show as far as I cared to. There are certainly plenty of other areas that could be expanded - side stories, or maybe just something more in depth. How did Doug get to be in Equestria in the first place? What happens when Applebaum goes to Canterlot? How come Prince Blueblood’s side story only has Part One of Three done? Why aren’t there more clop scenes?
My initial plan, though, is to rewrite Alternate Beginnings: Book One. That is the story that I’m most disappointed in. Maybe rewrite is too strong, but I feel like it could have/should have been a lot better. I would add in more conflict, specifically between Doug and the Ponyvillians, between Doug and the mares of the herd, and not have everything work out so cleanly throughout. Get more of an idea of what he's going through, and what everyone is thinking. It would progress similarly, and there would be more twists and turns, but it would end like the original so that a complete rewrite of Books Two and onward isn’t required. Oh, and I would probably make it Mature. Both since I try to have at least some character building occur during the clop scenes, and just to make sure I’m complying with the site rules I would need a different maturity level on a ‘rewrite’.
Thoughts, ideas, or even just a ‘write whatever you want’? I’ll even take a ‘Stop writing in present tense, you twat’, though that ship might have sailed long ago. Or 'How come all your chapter titles are references to Path of Exile?'
My question is how big is Doug’s family at the end compared to the average Equestrian equivalent? Or has he just given them a massive population boost?
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Directly? Sort of. Indirectly? Incredibly so.
Applejack is an outlier, certainly; the rest are a more reasonable 2-3 with Pinkie Pie and Starlight at 4 and 5. Still, that would put Doug at, once Applejack's latest is born, at 40 foals, or about quadruple the 'average' stallion, at least with how the numbers have increased. But, he has twice as many mares as they would, which is still double the norm. He has pushed his mares a little harder than most to have foals, since he came from a place where 2.5 kids was the norm, not 1.5, and his foals have picked up on that as well. When Equestria as a whole decided to have more foals, they bumped up their number as well. Leaving him with approximately 60 grandfoals, and that number is only going to increase.
Chrysalis is the other big outlier, even compared to other changelings. While each normal changeling is going to be prolific, with 6 or so nymphs and 2-3 foals, compared to the mares now aiming for 2 foals, Chrysalis has been popping out a nymph a week for 20 years. Mostly (nearly all) with Doug, as he is unable to conceive a human or pony with her, only a new changeling. Shining Armor would get a foal with her, and she has ~10 with him. As far as raw ponies + changeling numbers goes, the addition of the changelings to the Equestrian pool has massively increased their birth rates, especially because every nymph is female.
The reasoning behind this is two-fold. One, primarily, the ponies like to copy what Celestia does. Before Doug (and Princess Luna) arrived she was, if not celibate, then known to be infertile. It might have been seen as 'showing her up' if you had too many. Plus, Celestia wanted to keep things similar to what it was like before Luna left. Now that she's back, there's no reason not to keep Equestria from growing. Ponies see their Princess get pregnant, twice, and now they, too, want to get pregnant, twice. If not more.
Chrysalis has also been pushing for this rapid expansion, and encouraged the ponies to increase their numbers and her changelings to help out in such a manner. She is still in the mindset that more ponies = more love and more changelings they can support, even though their love requirements aren't nearly so high. And with the changelings providing a massive population boost, these ponies and changelings need to go somewhere. So there is a huge push to develop the countryside, including the mountains of the Crystal Empire. If they built one Crystal Heart, they can do it again, and while a mountain might not have a lot of resources (except for, well, the mountain itself) it is a readily defensible living space that the ponies are more than happy to transform, and Doug's willingness to serve as an example has sent him and Applejack to the mountains, and his progeny have spread across the land.