Inner Strength sixth aniversary interview! · 2:30am May 23rd, 2021
So Inner Strength turned six a couple days ago. I didn't do anything at the time because this week's been hectic, but now I have the time, and thedarkprep offered to interview me for the occasion 
Prep (typing in a respectable font): Pick a font.
Me (typing in comic sans): Okay >:3
Prep: (sigh)
Prep: Hello Bun! So. I’m going to act like I have no idea what’s going on for the sake of your fimfic readers. *cough* Hey there! I hear that your story Inner Strength just had an anniversary? How long does that make it?
Bun: It’s six years old as of Tuesday! As more or less the start of me taking writing seriously rather than just a hobby, it’s also the six year anniversary of me trying to be a professional author.
Prep: Well, I guess in that case some congratulations are in order. You’ve been writing pretty consistently for most of that time (give or take the odd break). Must be weird thinking back to the beginning though? I know I remember how different the fandom was back then in a world before crystal castles and parallel universes.
Bun: I wasn’t a big part of the fandom before then. Equestria Girls and alicorn Twilight existed when I got into MLP, and Rainbow Rocks was the new thing when I got into the fandom. For me, those have always been a part of the show. And the things that came later – Starlight, the student six, the EqG girls being superheroes, etc – all that stuff kinda rolls off me because I don’t do anything with it.
To give a maybe more interesting answer, I think to me the changes are that a lot of the cynical people left. Or maybe I just stopped paying attention to them. All the “BuT TwIlIgHt’s a UNIcorN” people ditched the show, and the fandom feels calmer these days. Or maybe I just live in my own bubble too much haha
Prep: I think I’m going to ignore the part where 6 years puts us at Twilight being a princess and not Discord because if I don’t I’m going to feel ancient. Excuse me for that. That’s my bad. Anyway. I think you have a fair point in that, the fandom has had a long enough time to get past its growing pains and it does seem calmer these days, not in small part due to the fanfic writers. So let’s move on from generalities and talk about you and your fic(s) in particular.
Now, I already know this answer, but I always found it rather interesting so I’m going to ask it again. Inner Strength is the first fic you wrote but NOT the beginning of Who We Become, your most well known series of stories. Why is that?
Bun: Because I’m a god damn idiot, that’s why >.> Well, okay, I didn’t have the idea for Looking Glass until I was writing Finding Home, so that’s part of it. But I also thought I could tell the story in any order. I’m a big fan of Kingdom Hearts, which is told out of order, and it works for that series. Birth By Sleep, the earliest story in the series, assumes you know some of the basic lore from the other games, and it twists what you understand. WWB does not do that. WWB works best (in my opinion) if you read the stories in chronological order, but I didn’t know that when I started writing it. I’ve regretted that decision for years, although I’m kinda over regretting it now that I’m finally making forward progress on the series again.
Prep: Fair enough. That said, despite your regrets and feelings on your earlier works and out of order storytelling, Inner Strength HAS been rather successful as a story. Looking over the data it has consistently received a likes bump every year that heavily outweighs the dislikes by a huge margin. 2019 specifically was a good year for the story (netting close to 4k views in June and July each). I know you always credit its early success (and yours) for the story being a Twishy fic at a time when that was THE SHIP, but it seems to have sustained success and staying power (staying consistent and at times surpassing the publishing period stats). Why do you think that is?
Bun: The 2019 thing is because I was actually publishing new chapters in that window, the Inner Strength I.5 HD Final Mix (it’s a Kingdom Hearts reference…) where I added a new act to the middle of the story. So that helped bring in more attention to the fic in that specific window. But largely I credit it to having attracted a number of consistent readers. A new story comes out, people read and like it, I usually get on the feature board for at least a bit here and there, and then people want to see where this series began. I think most of the enduring popularity of Inner Strength and Looking Glass is that people new to the series start off on those stories.
Prep: PresentPerfect and applejackofalltrades would disagree.
Bun: lol I mean, they both started at the beginning too, and PresentPerfect (who is reading this, I’m sure) hasn’t read past Inner Strength so he can fuckin @ me >:(
Prep: Such language. In any case. I’m going through the comments and it does seem like a lot of people did connect to this story. I think it’s important for you to remember that, especially early on in a series, readers might be less inclined to comment. They’re not as invested. And yet, here they are. I know you said you struggled to get comments on this story when it was first published, but that doesn’t seem to be a struggle for it now. What do you think has changed?
Bun: Partly it’s the scope. Over the course of six years, a steady trickle of comments will look like a lot. But they are steady, I get a good amount of comments for such an old story for sure, and I don’t really have a great answer for why that is. I guess because it’s a different than other stories. Not every other story, there’s other stories that do this, but it doesn’t treat Equestria like a wondrous magical world where only evil monsters create problems, and it’s written by someone with a lot of relationship experience that knew how to capture the ups and downs into a work of fiction. I guess sometimes people just don’t want fluff and rainbows, but also don’t want grimdark edgelord stuff, and I get to fit in with a blend of realism and fantasy that resonates with people.
Prep: Woah.. did you.. Did you just take credit for doing something that people like? Is this recording?
Bun: I’ve told you I have a big ego lmao, and I always take the exact amount of credit I deserve ^^’
Prep: *Looks back at earlier in this interview where you could have just said “oh I guess people like what I wrote,” but instead you go on about new reader statistics and a steady trickle of comments and some other bullshit*
Anyway.
I want to move on to the story itself.
When you think of Inner Strength, what is the one scene that comes to mind first. Maybe not your favorite, maybe not the best, but the one you think of first?
Bun: Hmm, that’s a good question… I guess the first thing that comes to mind is usually one of a few scenes. Twilight’s confession because that was the original cover art, the train fight because it’s where I really started to come through as an author, or not so much a scene but the VES (the hate group in the story) because it feels like that’s all the story was about sometimes when I’m not in a “Fuck yeah I kick ass” mood. I had to reread the story to remind myself that it’s not all about the hate group stuff, but I got over that idea and prefer to express bigotry in more subtle ways now, so I sometimes still focus on it. All in all, it really depends on why I’m thinking of the story.
Prep: Can I tell you mine?
Bun: Absolutely!
Prep: I know what I said last time about Looking Glass, but I just remembered a moment from Inner Strength when I decided I was going to read everything you wrote. Fluttershy chooses to be with Twilight. She doesn’t necessarily love her like Rarity yet, but she knows she could love her and more importantly she wants to, and she decides that’s good enough to try.
That entire scene of being Fluttershy’s head.. Marvelous. I think that’s what hooked me even back then. So of course I read everything you had out at the time like that weekend.
Bun: I’m flattered you think so highly of it. That whole idea surrounding a lot of that early stuff, I’m still really proud of having come up with that back then when I was less experienced. I think it had some execution problems that I fixed in the HD ReMix but I like the ideas a lot. I think that specifically stemmed from the fact that I’ve never started a relationship feeling like “I’m in love with this person”. Every relationship I’ve been in, I felt like “I like this person and maybe something will come of it” with the exception, actually, of my wife. She expressed an interest in me and I hadn’t ever considered her as more than a friend, and I had to sit down and think about it and realize that I could grow to love her because we were compatible, and that was good enough to start a relationship (the full story is way more complex, but that’s the simplified version)
Prep: I’m going to make sure she gets a copy of this interview because that’s adorable.
Bun: lmao go for it ^^’
Prep: I will go ahead and give a spoiler warning for everything between Inner Strength to Open Road for the rest of the interview so if this is as far as you read, thank you for joining us.
So question, with the poly elements that occur later in the story, how developed and planned were they at the time of writing Inner Strength? I ask because.. Well.. Amber and Luna are very prominent characters in Finding Home and they are introduced and established here.
Bun: I actually want to directly quote the ending of the last chapter of Inner Strength with some added emphasis, because I’m proud of it even so many years later.
“Good, because I don’t plan on going anywhere.” Twilight wrapped a foreleg around her. As they leaned on each other watching the sun set, Fluttershy knew she was right where she wanted to be.
I always knew where this story was going. I actually conceived it in reverse. My original story idea is something called The Fragile (Nine Inch Nails reference), and that’s a TwiShySet story, and then I came up with an earlier story called The Downward Spiral, and then I decided to tell how they started dating Sunset, which at the time was called Pretty Hate Machine (later became Finding Home). But then I needed a practice story and that was Purest Feeling (later became Inner Strength). So yeah, the poly stuff was planned.
Prep: You MOTHERFUCKER. YOU PIECE OF SHIT. YOU ASSHOLE. I THOUGHT YOU HATED PUNS!!?
How did I miss that?
*cough*
Anyway, you didn’t actually answer my question. I already knew TwiShySet was planned. I’m more interested in the supporting cast. How developed was that part of it? Was the story completely planned (Pretty Hate Machine) or was it a rough sketch with general pieces you had to place? Or did you introduce Amber and Luna thinking “eh, I think I’ll find a place for them in Finding Home later” knowing generally what was coming?
Bun: Definitely the latter. I actually came up with Amber entirely on a whim. I was trying to be more descriptive about the world around the characters, learn to describe things. So on a whim I gave the ticket taker on the train some colors. That was all, just some colors. I modeled her off of Brownie Bun from The Horse Wife, brown on brown (Pasu is the reason Amber looks very different now). And that was it really, just a character with some colors.
Then I had Fluttershy leave the room and cry in the hallway (actually I think she wasn’t crying? I forget what she was doing in the original version, but it was very obvious she was upset). And I thought oh hell that ticket taker would notice her. So she did, and I had them get to talking, coming up with Amber on a whim as I went. Then I thought “Hey, it’d be funny if she asked out Fluttershy in the middle of this big fight” so that happened. Then I had her come back for the next chapter, then she was invited to the press release, none of which was planned. Then Luna showed up to the press release, which also wasn’t planned, then they got together and I said “Hey, it would funny if Luna and Amber started dating” so that’s what happened. I think more critically about these things now lmao
Prep: ….you know how I was going to stop asking you questions because every time I do, I learn that some aspect of your writing that I really enjoy and give you loads of credit for ends up being some instance of happenstance?
I’m seeing a flaw in this interview system.
Anyway.
I have just two more questions about this story.
One: if you could go back and rewrite this story, knowing where Who We Become has gone, what would you do differently? What would you change? Add? Take Out? Etc.
Two: In that same scenario, what would you make ABSOLUTELY SURE stays the same? Btw, you can skip adding the princess demands cuddle scene, because that one is a given, for the sake of this answer.
Bun: For question one, I would maybe change the VES. I don’t know how, but like I mentioned up above, the idea of a hate group no longer resonates with me. Maybe it’s because it’s a little dated. While things like the Westboro Baptist Church still exist, they’re mostly widely ridiculed in this day and age (at least in the US, I know that’s still highly relevant in other parts of the world). I dunno, someone mentioned while I was writing Finding Home that having the antagonists be Twilight’s parents felt better because it fit in more with my idea of writing about complex interpersonal relationships where both sides have a point (even if one of those points is wrong, you can see where it stems from), and I agree with that.
For question two, what would stay the same… Well, I think most of the relationship dynamics I’d want to stay the same. Like Rarishy, that would’ve still been an element. And one of the mane six as a bigot, although someone once said it would be interesting (and less cliche) for it to be Pinkie, and that was a clever idea I think. But I wanted to tell a story where someone has to slowly come to terms with something they thought they understood being turned around and realizing they were in the wrong, and I like what I did with Applejack.
Prep: Fair enough. I actually HAVE seen a story where it was Pinkie and it worked pretty well by the way. But I agree that Applejack wasn’t a bad choice, even with the cliche.
Well, I could come up with questions all day and talk about any of your stories endlessly. We didn’t talk at all about the journal program, or about Celestia, or about the handling of Shy’s dad which is arguably the most controversial thing in the entire series. Possibly? Maybe? Idk. I don’t actually talk to your fans that much. I just read your stories and bother you about them. In any case, tons of things to talk about but I guess we’ll save that for another anniversary. OR you could interact with those questions and other questions from your readers in the comments.
Because that’s never a dangerous or bad suggestion, ever.
Thank you all for joining us. This has been thedarkprep, continuing a long tradition of bad decision making. Goodnight!
Bun: As a closing statement, I would absolutely love to hear from you readers if you have any questions at all! Thank you for reading and thank you to Prep for having me!
This was a fun read! Didn’t expect to receive a callout here. I will say, I *technically* started reading Acts of Love before Looking Glass and Inner Strength, but honestly I feel like those are just really good fics on their own and deserve everything they get.
Also *ahem*
*punches you in the face*
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No punch the bun
cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/435753070362886145/845855824114614292/image0.gif
In all seriousness though, it was fun.
Talk to you next year!
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Yeah see you in a year!
Am I the only that wants to read the Raritwishyset AU
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Lol probably not but I'm not gonna be the one to write or it
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is
senpaibun issuing me a challenge?5523812
Lol well, you'll be in good company is you decide to write your own WWB fic; I've recently had three people express interest in doing that. Lips sealed on those plans because who knows if they'll go through, but hopefully got some cool things coming!