On Change, Inc. · 10:26pm May 23rd, 2021
I just want to start off by noting that I am thrilled with how well this story has been received so far. With it having garnered this much attention, I figured I might as well say a few things regarding it. First, and because inevitably people will ask, I have no intentions of expanding upon this AU. I have a lot of projects I want/need to work on without creating a whole new expanded MLP universe.
However, I have learned to never say never in regards to this kind of thing. The sheer possibilities this story has provided for explanation cannot be overstated and there are plenty of directions to attack it from. Who will the new queen be? Will Queen Chrysalis ever return for revenge? Is there something deeper to Queen Chrysalis's behavior than what she put on the surface? How will changeling Pharynx adjust after his catastrophic letdown? Will EqG Chrysalis and her family ever make visits to Equestria again? Where do Changeling/Equestrian relations go from here? What of Sunset's training to replace Chrysalis as the head of Change, Inc.? What, specifically, does Change, Inc. actually do? How would EqG Chrysalis handle a meeting with Princess Celestia?
And the single most important of all questions: will EqG Chrysalis get back together with Vice-Principal Luna? You people have no idea how much fun I was having with that ship.
With all of these possibilities up in the air, there's a very real prospect of me someday going in and expanding the AU a touch for the fun of it. I don't intend to, but I have a record of being weak-willed on this kind of thing, so let's not count it out just yet.
As mentioned in the A/N, I first envisioned this story as a sequel to What is Missing, What is Lost. Back then it had a very different scope; it would have centered on Princess Twilight, fresh off her painful reveals in that story, contacting Sunset with the theory that Sunset might possess the missing seventh element of Forgiveness. Upon Twilight's visit, Sunset would make the argument against this idea, and in the process would have both A) revealed her EqG counterpart already in prison and B) revealed that she was living with and working for the EqG Chrysalis. The story would have concluded that Sunset is, indeed, not the bearer of Forgiveness. Twilight would go home to continue her search, she and Sunset missing the underlying hints that it is, in fact, Queen Chrysalis herself that was the Bearer, only corrupted because of Celestia's past actions.
Making this idea work was hard, not least because convincing even myself that Sunset wasn't a perfect match for Forgiveness was a challenge. There was also the matter of figuring out how to make EqG Chrysalis a topic in that story despite it not being centered on her at all. But the thing that really killed it was what came next. I realized that if I followed that path I would want a third entry in which EqG Chrysalis got kidnapped by Queen Chrysalis and would, in a long and complex story, eventually bring about peace between the two nations while also 'fixing' the Element of Forgiveness. It was that "long and complex" part that was the problem. I did not want to start another epic tale when I already had so much to do. How the heck was I supposed to accomplish everything I wanted for the story in something that wasn't a 150,000 word monster?
It wasn't until a month or two ago that I realized that the best thing I could do was, in fact, to not make it a sequel at all. Chrysalis as Sunset's adoptive aunt in the mirror world is a story unto itself, and potentially a good one if handled correctly. The moment I explored this concept on its own with no linkage whatsoever to What is Missing, What is Lost everything came together nice and neat. I started writing immediately.
I guess the lesson here is that ideas created by previous projects aren't obligated to be related to those projects. Sometimes they can work out wonderfully all by themselves.
I fell in love with this version of Chrysalis and I'd love to make use of her again someday. Yet if I never do, I can say I am satisfied with what she gave us. Yet again, I must thank my pre-readers, who pointed out far more than I expected and helped me pinpoint the most glaring issues. There's a whole scene that wouldn't have existed at all had the problems that existed without it not been brought up.
For now, I'm leaving this open as a Q&A blog. Feel free to ask questions related to Change, Inc. regarding anything I haven't already touched upon (which I'm sure is a lot). Thanks again to those of you who read it and enjoyed Chrysalis's little journey of self-discovery!
One question, and one question only.
will you review yourself?
joking, by the way.
In all seriousness, great story would read again 10/10
What in the EG world prevents EG Chrysalis from being an unrepentant monster, unlike the queen found in the pony world?
5523900
You joke, but I have in fact considered going back to read my oldest of stories and reviewing them, just for the heck of it. The only thing that stopped me was the obvious implication that I could not possibly be objective.
5523910
My ongoing theory is environment. EqG Chrysalis didn't get to where she is by luck or fate, she clawed her way to the top. To do that, she had to work with others, develop a social network, and a hundred other things that required her to interact with and understand all the basic social elements most humans are aware of and, in turn, the value of her fellow man. Although she views the world in a different prism from many, she still has the basic moral framework needed to be a productive and ethically good person.
Queen Chrysalis, on the other hand, was born a queen. Not only that, because of there having been no queen to raise her and all the changelings being instinctually unable to do anything but obey her, she didn't have any reason or push to develop those same social skills. She began her existence with minions. Even if she ended up as some bratty child throwing orders around, the changelings were biologically unable to stop her. If she wanted something, she got it, and if someling said no, all she had to do was order others to send them for reprogramming (or worse)then repeat the demand. As a direct result, there was nothing to help her develop an appreciation for the lives of her children... or anyone other than herself, for that matter.
Again, this is all merely a theory. I could come up with an entirely different reason in a story in the future. But for now this is my thought: that Queen Chrysalis was the product of the flaws within the changelings' cultural and biological ways. It's a tragic turn, of course, but not a guarantee that she could have been redeemed.
5523915
The harshest critic is always oneself
5523924
It would be a bad idea to use the tragic background for a possible rehab. It be great especially if you could pull this right.
So, since you raised the question, what does Change Inc. do? Or Dis Corp for that matter? Are any other major villains in Equestria corporate CEOs in the human world?
5523924
about the detachment of Queen Chrysalis from their citizens:
I am reminded of a common scripting technique for an immortal character among mortals. Where the character gradually comes to the conclusion that in order not to experience constant pain from the death of dear and close people, it is better to have no connections at all and keep a distance from all those whose loss can cause mental wounds.
of recent striking examples, the series "invincible" portrays this topic well
5524134
My leading theory at the moment is that Change, Inc. is a combination of businesses rolled into one. First, they are a solutions firm, i.e. they are hired to help solve the problems other businesses (and non-businesses) have, sort of like a think tank. Second and in respect to #1, they are a services broker, i.e. they help business in need of a specific service contact and form contracts with the businesses that provide those services. Third, they act as contractual representatives, their employees helping or even leading in sales and acquisitions for other companies as high-tier "negotiators". It's also possible that they provide some of those services themselves, although I can't say for sure.
Disc Corp is, obviously, Discord's business. What it does? I'm honestly not sure. I intended it more as an easter egg of sorts than something to look at with any scrutiny.
Dunno about other villains. Except Tirek. I take amusement in imagining him as a WWE star.
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Which is, of course, in direct relation to the "immortality sucks" principle that roughly 90% of all immortality-centric stories focus on. It's pretty hard to escape that one, but it's not Queen Chrysalis's motivation at all. You have to have cared about the mortals in the first place to reach that particular philosophy. Although I could see her faking it for the sake of manipulating some visitor into helping her.
If it's Chrysalis Chrysanthemum what is it for Queen Chrysalis? Mirrorhoof? Mirroring? Does she have a surname of any kind?
5524189
While I'd like to leave that up to interpretation for now, I will admit that I don't consider Queen Chrysalis to have any other name. Unless, of course, you wanted to argue that 'Queen' is her first name, although that feels a bit silly to me.
5524214
Tbh I asked because I've given my changelings surnames according to the house they serve. Chrysalis' is Mirrorhoof.
Anyway another question.
What is it that averts Chrysalis Chrysanthemum from permanent relationships?
What is the Chrysanthemum name?
Is there a reason why you chose Chrysanthemum and does it have anything to do with the flower?
5524627
I'm pretty sure a complete devotion to her career and personal success is responsible for her problems, including her early breakup with Luna and her inability to connect with her adopted sons. I doubt this was anything she was consciously aware of. Her interest was in her job and financial future and all other things were secondary or maybe even tertiary. That other people wouldn't appreciate that was their problem. Indeed, she became so obsessed with this goal that she forgot the value of personal relationships entirely, up until Sunset managed to unintentionally remind her.
This was just Celestia trying to needle Chrysalis. There's nothing about being a Chrysanthemum that is of any real importance to Chrysalis, other than it is in fact her name.
For no apparent reason, I can't help imagining human Chrysalis as having Chinese ancestry. Chrysanthemums are Chinese in origin, so the name alludes to that. It helps that the name rolls off the tongue for me.
On a related note, the fact she chose a Chinese wine is not indicative of Chrysalis having any particular fondness of her ancestral homeland. Rather, it was meant to be indicative of her desire to do things differently and perhaps demonstrate a bit of decadence. It was, on the other hand, an attempt by me to further hint at her ancestry.
5524648
There's something I wondered. If Celestia, Luna and Chrysalis had met in the real world does that mean that Chrysalis had some sort of prior relation to them in the pony world? Besides the wedding?
Also out of curiosity was it nessecary for the reprogramming part to be there? I always thought that wether or not Chrysalis was charismatic or not that those who followed her followed her because they partly wanted to. It's... sort of strange to remove culpability (is that the right word?) from the changelings.
Why Chinese though? Any particular reason?
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I have no idea. It's possible. Not guaranteed.
That part was for two reasons. First, for Pharynx to form a connection between how he was raised vs. how the changelings are treated (i.e. being 'raised' to be chrysalis's bodyguard vs. being 'programmed' to be loyal and obedient). Granted, we don't get to witness Chrysalis's parenting methods from when he was a child, but that's okay because he went through it.
Second, I didn't want Chrysalis to have any trouble whatsoever dealing with the changelings because this story isn't about that in the first place and I didn't want the subject to distract from the main point. The 'reprogramming' topic solved both issues nicely.
I suppose you could argue "make Queen Chrysalis look more like a monster" would be a vague third, even though the practice predates her rule.
And if we wanted to enter yet another reason, it makes for a fascinating worldbuilding study that I'd love to explore the consequences of in the future.
No, just an off-the-cuff whim. I suppose I may have been inspired by old fanart that depicted changelings with a distinctly Asian culture back before we knew anything about them beyond A Canterlot Wedding, although I'm only just recalling this now.
5524803
I'm asking because as far as mythology goes the changelings are Irish.
I figured that it was convenient but at times it was... a bit cartoonishly so. Not that it managed to bother me too much.
Words cannot describe how much I loved this story, and might I pose a suggestion?
While it may be true that you yourself don't have intentions at the moment of writing a sequel and creating a new universe... could it be possible for you to create a new group based on the story? If you did that, then you could make a post in the group with some details or possible concepts you would have liked to see, and then allow others to build up the world alongside you. That way, if someone has an idea for a sequel, they could make one, and add it to the group.
This is, of course, assuming there are enough people who want to see more and are willing to write more. Just a suggestion, feel free to ignore it.
5525095
Actually, it being a bit cartoonish was intentional. I wanted there to be some humor in just how horribly Queen Chrysalis had screwed things up by replacing herself and completely underestimating the human world.
5525103
Glad you enjoyed it so much!
I appreciate your intent, but I'm not going to make a new group just for one story in the (probably vain) hope someone will come along and write fanfiction about it. Aside from probably not achieving what it set out to do, it would probably make me appear presumptuous. If people want to write fanfiction about my fanfiction, they can do it. It's not like I'm going to say no to the flattery, even if what they come up with is nothing at all like what I might have done/wanted to see.
5525175
Yeah, that's fair. Still, you made a great story, good job!
5525172
Mayhaps I am too tired of this trope then. It's ok.
What are your general impressions with Chrysalis as a character and what's your favorite route as a personality in her stories?
I'd like to mention here that if you don't stop me I'll likely keep asking questions until the end of time.
No really Queen Chrysalis is the reason I'm a brony so... yeah.
5525234
This is a surprisingly hard question to answer. I feel like I'd give a different one every time it is asked. Chrysalis has the potential to be whatever we want her to be or needs to be for a given story, and I am not discounting canon from that rule. Is she a comic book villain, emphasis on the "comic" part? Is she a misunderstood ruler just trying to make the best decisions for her people? Is she terrified of change and refuses to reform as a result? She could go in so many directions.
To be honest, I don't feel like the show gave us anywhere near enough information to make any absolute statements. She was a villain because they needed a villain, and she was popular in the role. She was certainly fun to watch, but I appreciate more the openness of her character that allows so much expansion for people like me.
But in terms of favorite routes, I like to view her as having an ego (varying between healthy and Prince Blueblood in extremes), having a taste for the off-kilter decadent in private (like sipping hot chocolate out of a wine glass), and not having much care for how the general public views her.
5525264
Honestly I feel the same way. But despite that I sometimes seem to get her character wrong. I dunno. Maybe I just need practice.
Obviously "Change" is an appropriate name for a Chrysalis-led company, but did you specifically choose "Change, Inc." because it sounds similar to "Changeling"? :p
5527271
That was the original reason, yes. Once the story was done, there were other reasons that is still fit with the story thematically.
Read the whole story and... I'm not sure I "get" it.
Don't get me wrong, there was nothing I really took issue with in this story. The dialogue sounds like actual people, the plot is coherent and well-paced, it's descriptive without being purple, and the ideas it presents fit well into the EqG world while still being novel. I want to really like this story, but... there's just nothing I can point to in it that stands out, that's great as opposed to simply good.
I understand your reasons for not wanting to make it a big epic tie-in with the EoH and other stories, but it just doesn't seem complete to me- or, rather, it doesn't seem full, like it goes through the minimum elements necessary to be a complete story and then no further. Probably the clearest example I can point to here is that we don't actually ever learn what the company Change, Inc. does. The hook of the story is to see Chrysalis as a ruthlessly successful businesswoman, but we see extremely little of her business.
Apparently other people are liking it, so maybe they picked up on something I missed. I don't know.
5529052
It's interesting that you interpreted the hook as being "Chrysalis is a powerful businesswoman" instead of "Chrysalis just adopted Sunset Shimmer". To be fair, I did focus a bit on that subject in the first scene in order to set up her character, but it was never meant to insinuate that business was somehow going to be the main point of the story.
I'm not sure what to tell you about the "went no further than a complete story" bit. I mean, was I obligated to do huge worldbuilding outside the Changeling Kingdom? Did I absolutely have to explain what Change, Inc. is? Did I need to explore every character's avenue of development as a result of this fic? Are you looking for some underlying social theme relating to the modern zeitgeist? How do you define a story being "more than a story" in the first place, what value is that supposed to offer readers, and who decides that in the first place?
As a reviewer, I am very interested in the answer to that last one. At what point does "that's a 'good' story, you did nothing wrong but I didn't care for it" become "that's a good story, you did nothing wrong and I love it!"?
5529088
I in turn think it's interesting that I in no way thought the core element of the story was Sunset's adoptive family. The Chrysalis angle was definitely more what got me to read the story, and I thought a lot more "new" than anything Sunset-focused. I don't read a lot of EqG 'fics, but I have kind of come to the opinion that so much material is devoted to her life beyond what is seen in the movies that there's very little room to produce novel content there. I could go on about issues I have with EqG's canon material probably at more length than would be at all helpful, but one big criticism I have is that Sunset, as a character, seems kind of directionless after her redemption; she doesn't seem to have any particular aspirations other than treading water in high school, it's hard to say what really drives her in concrete terms. Here we see more of what she was doing, but since her arc is pinned to the movies' arcs it still sort of seems directionless. Chrysalis might be one of the more one-dimensional and less-explored of the main show's villains, but she still has a direction and presence that Sunset, as a protagonist, frankly lacks.
I really think you might not be giving your own writing of her enough credit: the Changelings-and-Chrysalis-versus-Chrysalis-focused Part II just seemed richer than Part I in a lot of ways, in terms of impact and stakes and worldbuilding and also EqG-Chrysalis having to react to things far out of her comfort zone. And, you know, she's the primary POV character and all.
I think that's probably the crux of the matter, that I came into the story expecting something pretty different from what you'd written it to do. It's something I find pretty familiar, actually, as some of my non-pony 'fics have basically been abandoned due to seeming to take on a mind of their own and going a direction completely different from what was supposed to be their point. However, in this case I'm not really sure if that's what happened, or me as a reader trying to force the story into being something it never was.
5529106
I feel like you're conflating the "hook" with the "main point". The purpose of the story was always Chrysalis from the very beginning. This story is meant to use Sunset as a catalyst for exploring Chrysalis's character, first by depicting her struggle with her family, and then by throwing her into a completely unexpected situation and seeing how she handles it (while still sticking to the whole family theme). I could have done more with Sunset (I did intend for her to become Chrysalis's 'heir', after all), but this wasn't really about her so I didn't.
This story was all about Chrysalis, I knew exactly what I wanted it to do, and it didn't deviate from that at all. The description to draw readers in was meant to reflect that Chrysalis seems very successful but is about to discover that she's lacking in ways other than power and money. The "hook" was a scene in which this powerful individual adopts Sunset. But it was always about Chrysalis's personal growth and discovery of her need to be part of a proper family; that part of it involved saving the Changeling Kingdom from its ruler was merely circumstantial. It did everything I wanted.
It is curious to me that you say the second part has greater impact and stakes and all that. Which, in a distant perspective, holds true. But the first one had personal stakes. She was forced to react to things far outside her comfort zone in Part I. They were impactful for her. I'll grant it's the author's job to make the reader feel how important those stakes are to Chrysalis, but the reader has to be willing to make that connection as well. Just because the world isn't at stake, that doesn't mean what's happening can't be important.
Part I had stakes that were just as important and world-ending as Part II, it was just Chrysalis's world that was at risk and not everyone else's. All Part II did was increase the scope.
The worldbuilding... Yeah. Part II's got Part I beat there. No comparison.
...
I feel like A) I'm rambling and B) I might have missed a point in there somewhere.
5529135
I feel like we're both not quite understanding each other's points, and that's the whole issue; that we both had similar but not 100% compatible ideas of what we expected the story to be.
Based on the above, it seems like what you were more going for was that Sunset would act as something of a foil for Chrysalis. If that's the case, I think (and do be aware I am just speculating here) she might've gotten too "big" for that role because she has such a large footprint as a canon character and very frequent subject of other 'fics, whereas EqG-Chrysalis only started existing here. EqGlys then doesn't have the context that Sunset does, the bunch of little details that individually aren't especially relevant but collectively ground her.
Again, though, that's just a theory. If I knew exactly why the story didn't "click" for me, I would've at least made the effort to be more clear in explaining it.