25th: Epilogue
The Rule of King Cocoon of the Changelings
“Cooper, are you still writing in there?”
“I’m almost done with this part!”
“You said that already. Your dinner is already cold, so get your butt down here,” Carmen says, but I fail to make a move towards the door. Like I said, I’m almost done. “Cooper, no one reads your stupid novels. Now either eat my food or I’ll marry that dentist like my mom told me I should.”
“You won’t marry him; he’s a complete jerkoff.” He really is. “Besides, I’ll never sign the divorce papers.”
“I thought you liked signing things,” she says, entering the room. She looks over my shoulder at what I’m writing, an action I am not particularly fond of. “So, what’s this one about? Wizards again?”
“Not this time,” I tell her. “My publisher said I should explore a new avenue. He said that if anyone was actually interested in some old wizard, my series would already be a bestseller.”
“He’s smart. You should listen to him,” Carmen says, still reading over my shoulder. “So, what’s the new angle?”
“I spent a long time thinking up this one, so I hope it’s good.” It’s true, I really did. “It’s about an amnesiac who is elevated to the status of King when he is found by an underground, cannibalistic cult. He doesn’t agree with their way of life, but he agrees to lead them since he thinks they can help him figure out how to regain his memories.”
“… That sounds really weird. Can’t you write about teenage vampires or Vietnam like everyone else? It wouldn’t kill you to prioritize money over creativity.”
“Hey, we make enough to get by on. I don’t see why I should normal out for a little extra pocket change.” I stop typing and turn around. This isn’t the first time this subject has been breached this week. “Are we in financial trouble or something? You keep asking about money and stuff like that. Also, I haven’t even seen you touch a cigarette in, like, three weeks. What’s up?”
“… Promise not to freak out?”
“Are you pregnant?”
“… Are you going to freak out?”
…
I have fought warlocks, dragons, an avatar of chaos, swarms of soldiers, a sphinx, an flying army, omnipotent rulers, and my own doppelganger head on. All of these were thoroughly frightening experiences, but this moment right here is scarier than all of them combined. My wife is pregnant… wow.
“… Ooookay! New idea for a story!” I shut down what I was working on and open up a new document. “Uh… a girl in a new town becomes interested in competitive flying. In a world where she doesn’t fit in and where women are said not to belong, she will become the most famous pilot the world will ever know.”
“How do you come up with this stuff?” Carmen asks, shaking her head at me.
“Is it bad?”
“Well… it appeals to me more than wizards or cannibals.”
“Yeah, it’s a much lighter story,” I tell her. “As long as you end it in the right place.”
“… What?”
“Is dinner still hot?”
“I already said no, moron. There is no way you’re ready to be a father.”
“Darn right! We should buy some of those weird baby books.”
Just like that, I carry on with my life as if I’d never gone to Equestria. There are those who will hear this story and say I destroyed something beautiful and gave up a chance to make a difference. There are those who will point at my sins and condemn me until the final verdict is passed. Some might say I’m a hero for saving other people from fates like Olivia’s. I’m sure there is room to argue all day whether or not my services outweigh my crimes, but I already have my reward. This is what I wanted to get back to so badly. I can live in peace, even if I have regrets about how I earned that peace.
Yes, I’ll admit that this story could have played out differently. I’ll even concede that many people could probably come up with a plan that would have worked out much better for everyone. I know I made poor choices; however, if you claim that you would have done a better job if you had been in my shoes… well…
That’s just talk.
“… …
“… ‘As I am the only one who knows how it’s done’… huh?
“… Eh-heh-heh-heh… It would seem I’ve learned something interesting. How fortunate that I am to be stuck in this hillside, here with this altar into another world. My voice is faint and my power is shallow, but I am certainly not dead. I even have an audience that will listen to me, should I speak persuasively enough.
“Oh, Elements of Harmony… listen to this God. Is this lonely specter of human anger truly meant to remain as one of a kind? Will I no longer live in the salt of my foes? Can you hear the children mourning, in the heavens and all across the land? I can hear their prayers. They pray for a father, a prophet, a mentor, a change. How can I fulfill these prayers if I cannot carry out my works with this inanimate form?
“Tell me, Elements of Harmony… do you regret bringing Cooper here? Didn’t Starswirl the Bearded help usher in a new age of harmony? Isn’t his work still changing the world this very day? Imagine how many Starswirls there are on Earth. Just imagine!
“Let us bring them here. Let my emerald eye peer across the void, and I will gaze into the hearts of mankind. I will find those honest, those kind, those generous, those joyous, those loyal, and those truly magical. Yes… put your trust in me. Trust me. Let me bring them to you.
“They will come… and then I will be lonely no more!
“Eh-heh eh-heh eh-heh-heh-heh-heeeh!”
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Is that a sequel I sense?
Very nice ending to a very nice story. My only regret is that Cooper didn't get to interact with Celetia and Luna before he left, I feel a lack of closure in that department.
And so, a glorious tale has come to an end. Truly, it has been a woopin' ride!
I haven't gotten all the details, and some re-reading is required but I enjoyed the story The Liar, King Coocoon.
I won't say sequal, but it is up to you.
Thank you.
There are so many positive and negative things I want to say about this story. I have so many emotions as well. Normally I got no problem saying what all I want to say. I think I won't this time though. I don't feel like I should, especially since this was a very long, dark story. This time however, putting aside how satisfied or unsatisfied or resolved or unresolved I may feel about how this story ended, I will say one thing.
Thank you, Hooves Like Jagger.
Just goes to show that nothing is impossible.
After all, where there's a will, there's a way.
Thank you for this wonderful story. Things may not have ended ideally for eveyone, but I think that just helps it feel more realistic. Life won't always be kind, and sometimes it can be outright cruel, but so long as we never give up and close our eyes we'll always see that light in the darkness.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! So this is what you've been doing...
Been here since the beginning, lurking, and while I'm sad to see it end. I'm happy to have been a part of the crazy ride to get here.
Great end to a great story. Thanks :)
Damn, its finally over isnt it? Doesnt seem like it could be, but it is.
All the betrayals, the secrets, the revalation: They just kept coming. But now? Theres no more now that the tale of King Cacoon is over.
Or is it?
I'll be ever-wating to see if we are ever to going to hear Cocoon/Cooper once more, or what has happened as a result of his actions. Much has been caused because of him, and there may be unforeseen consqeunces for them. Hopefully, it wont stay that way for long...
Awesome. I have to say though that I don't understand the ending.
I just don't know. Non comprehende. Je ne sais pas. I don't get it.
Still awesome either way though.
I am sad
the end of a truly good story, is the. worst. possible. thing!
(sniff sniff) so so sad
4290616
What did you not understand?
4291564
From there until it ended.
I'm not sure if I should feel like an idiot or not...
4291576 that was Apophis as a sword.
Author, you have my most impulsive and unconditional hatred.
You know how hard it is to be on your last college week and have a story you have been reading from the beginning finally end and you have no way to reading it?!
I damn you. Damn you all to the most noticeable place in The Good HIE List damn you!
Oh wait.
fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2014/010/3/0/recup_pinkie_sphear_1_2__by_xdrawdex-d71pigr.gif
You got there nicely.
You can place this gif on your description, if you like. But be careful, it has a link to the group.
Congratz.
Now I have no time to study.
A wonderful way to end a wonderful tale.
This story is interesting but the ending parts feel a bit jumbled. I know you're unraveling plots within plots within plots but it gets really confusing. :P
Also, why isn't this marked as complete?
Now, I love this story, however I have a few critiques.
1. Some parts of the story have such ridiculously fast pacing that I can barely keep up with the ideas being shown. Other times, you simply cut week/month long segments out of the story-line. Again, pacing.
2. There was NO point in killing Chrysalis. As in none. I understand that it might have allowed the story to progress a little bit faster since you [RESURRECTED HER PREVIOUS SELF ONLY TO IMMEDIATELY KILL HER OFF.
So yeah, that kinda rustled my jimmies.
3. To many characters that get to little screen time, and are never even referenced again. Baal being the major example. Also, Discord popping in at random intervals before finally disappearing completely for no reason I understand.
I couldn't take it anymore. Everyone in this story is too vile to care about and no one gets what is coming to them
. I honestly feel like I wasted a ton of time by reading through this.
Wow, just, wow. After reading this (and I can't believe I'm saying this for a changeling fic) emotionally taxing story, I'm filled with conflicting thoughts. The plot started taking increasingly insane twists as it went along and yet, I feel satisfaction for reading it all. Though there was some drama for the sake of drama (Chrysalis' death being the most memorable) and the pacing being shot at various points. I overall enjoyed of this fic.
7/10 Would maybe read this again
- C.C.
Wow... throughout this story there are so many plot twists and brief character interactions that seemed unnecessary and held no weight through the rest of the story(also, review thy grammar and spelling!). That you'd think the story would be a shambles. But for reasons unexplained, those plot twists gave the story weight throughout and by the end; Not only weight enough to keep me interested, but enough that the finally took me along for the ride and made it feel like it it took something from deep inside me...
All that aside what I can leave from this for you is this:
!!!Remember this!!!.
While your story held weight and thus made it good; you needed more closure with the interactions the main character makes with certain others.To many characters that get to little screen time, and are never even referenced again have so much potential for influencing the story to greater heights.
Examples:
Baal- What happened to him?
Wasn't BlueBlood in here somewhere?
Celestia and Luna- what were they doing to let Cooper escape Canterlot? why didn't they pursue Cooper?
Well I just wanna let you know that you took an amazing story and finished it perfectly. I ain't even mad, this is goddamn amazing!
4451839
This was one of the first stories I favorited after I made my account. Kinda depressing that it's over now. Damn.
I have hated the characters, hated the plot, hated a lot of stuff about this story.
And somehow you managed to end on such a note that I can't bring myself to hate or love this story while I hate and love this story.
Well done.
4853665 First things first. Why didn't I go back and fix my spelling. Second don't try to be edgy and act like you know how to change peoples minds... forcibly.
Um...the story was confusing...plus, the main character was annoying as hell! All he cared about was going home and dealing with everything by himself!
Some characters only seemed semi-official to the plot, and even that seems neglected!
Hell, I would of just manned up and took leadership. I mean, he MENTIONED the seasons in the story, should he know what to do?
He should watch more episode analysis videos on youtube and observe what they did wrong.
I would create a more unstable character with mental problems and none of the 'starswirl the bearded' cripe, and would view this as just a 'fun' way of playing some 'Castle defender'. Just by slowly taking the character and placing him in a hostile habitat should be enough to make him UNDERSTAND.
But, I also have problems with the character and the interjection with the humans were not needed.
King of the changelings is a antagonist role and should have a human who is remorseless and only cares for his own. But, has the intelligence of a military officer and a easy past to sympathize with. But, not every background or past has to be sad or abusive. He could of just of been born with mental problems. I have yet come across a story with the main character having a normal life, but the character is far from normal, being as he is delusional and insane. Then, he is slowly taking Equestria quietly and secretly. Town after town becomes overrun with changelings. That would be a good story to read!
It was decent enough to keep it entertaining, but the plot holes and many neglected story arcs are that of a great let down.
So he never explained stuff to the princesses, eh?
5221037
This is why I only read during the hour before Daylight Savings ends. That way if I didn't enjoy it, I get my time back anyway.
Unrelated Note: Can I use your comment as a testimonial in the description? Not kidding here. Looking for a straight answer.
sir. i love this story. I am a HUGE fan of humans-turned bipedal changelings stories. they are just so RARE! *Cries*
But the most uncommon theme to the end of a story is that the main character actually manages to return home instead of remaining in equestria. Not only that, this story ended on a positive note instead of a drawn-out tragic ending of how the protagonist must sacrifice him/herself into a volcano to prevent [-Name Redacted-] from rising from the depths of hell to cause terror and destruction across the land. either way, you went above and beyond for this story, not only implementing my favorite aspect of HiE but also ending the story in an uncommon way yet still on a positive note. If i knew where you lived i would
get my changeling army to come and slaughter your familyhug you until your face turns blue and you are struggling for air.Too bad Chrysalis died, even so it was a good story, congratulations. He was too focused in his mission that he forgot about everything else.
You know, I'm glad I stuck around for this. At some point around the time where Cocoon had kidnapped Sweet Tea, I was getting rather irritated at him because, at the time, it sounded like his mentality was: If I can't be happy, then neither can you.
Though you definitely proved me wrong later on with the amount of twists you threw at me. I'm glad I stuck it out and finished this story. It was a rather nice ride while it lasted. Sad to see it end, but all good things must come to a close eventually. Wishing you the best of luck on your future endeavors.
6560382
Should be her instead of here.
6560455
Thx
6581065
Not forgotten, inaudible.
6615852 Thank you. That warms me to the bottom of my CPU. Mmm . . . toasty.
Final comment: Thanks for writing this. Oh, and ignore my previous comments. They're kind of stupid.
Ah... I wish I could say more!
Oh wait, I can.
So, I like this story for a bunch of reasons; One of which is the simple fact that this is one of the only stories I've come across where and when the main character wanted to go home and, eventually, gets home. It's... I don't know what to say about that. Unique? Special? Out there? Makes me feel like I'm one of the lucky ones? Le sigh! Oy vey! I'm just glad I found this story, and that you wrote it! "Good show, my good man, good show!"
"Thanks, so much." I honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly, honestly, want you to know... Oh and others! Did anyone else notice this besides me? Of course there are...
Oh, actually, is this the reason why you wrote this story? Or is it because it just seemed unique and/or special to you? I wanna know. Oh! Is it because you actually believe that it would be wrong for humans to go and live in Equestria? Or is it the simple fact that in this story, going to Equestria means wrecking the life left behind on Earth? Oh please tell. But don't answer if you really don't want to. I wouldn't want to force you or anything...
What chapter did I just read?
I smeell a sequel. I smeeeeeell it.
I honesty love this story.
Well I read through the entire thing and it still strikes me as psychopathic and ill thought out. It isn't that the Human is some sort of villain or some sort of hero. It isn't even that there is a rather sad ending. Sorry but I tried. If you were going for the perspective of crazy then spot on!
I didn't like this story.
Don't get me wrong, it is well crafted, but it felt too... top-heavy, for lack of a better term.
Essentially, it took an interesting premise, created a unique vision, and then proceeded to deliberately take the bad ending in every scenario presented.
The characters were so far OOC it's not even funny, and a lot of them seemed only to be present as plot devices at key moments. There was almost no logical thought to anyone's actions once the stress level heated up, with virtually no one stopping to ask "why?", instead reacting in the worst possible way to what was taking place around them, just to move the story along.
To add to the discomfort, the pacing is all over the place, so it feels like a fever dream in places where it should be more measured, and dry as dust where we are supposed to feel something.
It really seemed as though the author was being deliberately cruel at points, instead of allowing circumstances to play out logically, everything that could go wrong, did. This story depicts a crapsaccharine world at its 'finest'. Which is not a bad thing, on the surface. Until, as stated earlier, it becomes too top-heavy, and begins to fall apart. There were a few very clever twists, which made earlier actions undertaken all of a sudden make sense, but they just make the unsound parts of the story stand out all the more so.
In the end, the story collapses into it's own darkness, with neither a satisfactory resolution, nor an 'earned' ending, which leaves the reader feeling... cheated.
That was one hell of a ride
Holy fuck. It's three in the morning and I haven't read a story like this since... well, ever. It's... It's something that can't be put into words I suppose. This is the magic stories these days seem to lack, of course, maybe I'm just looking in the wrong areas... keep rocking on I guess...
I really, really loved this story. However, a lot of the characterization just feels off. I expected some OOC stuff given what you did to expand upon your concept of the changelings, but still it didn't feel quite right.
8291414
Then what's "en garde?"
Phenomenal
9609599
Three years later, but for anyone reading comments, no it doesn't get better; assuming your (any reader's) problem is with "humans don't belong". It gets much worse.
11283527
Unfortunate, and thank you.
This was uniquely frustrating to read. The premise and first few chapters were interesting. At first it looks like a classic HiE isekai story with a twist. Cocoon was a deliciously unreliable narrator with an hypocrisy that a few choice characters would sublime with appropriate wit.
Then the story suddenly pulled an amensia plotline seemingly out of its ass and made the purposefully annoying protagonist into some kind of proto-god, and spent basically the second half of the story explaining to us how Achktually he is Justified in his extremist actions.
It seems like it was first written as "what if the HiE DOESN'T want to go back?" with an "MC is an extremist in its beliefs" twist, and then laid into these aspects so hard it actually forgot to meaningfully criticize the character for its absolutism. Sure, he gets a few times where he's "guilty" and briefly made to reflect on the consequences of his actions ; but these moments never actually mean anything. He doesn't get better, but he doesn't get any "worse" from it. He makes poor decision upon poor decision ; suddenly he has a change of heart ; but eventually he's back at, like, attacking cities or turning ponies into salt statues.*
He's always presented as just being very unfortunate and misguided, and mostly just a victim to the events around him. For someone that talks about the hope that needs to be grabbed if one is to want to do anything with their life, he sure is fast to dodge consequences, accountability, or any agency in the situations he's thrown in (or throws himself at).
Did I mention salt statues? This story has the annoying recurring tendency of introducing a plot point that seems like it would be relevant or important worldbuilding information, or a semi-important character that's important for a few chapters, and then never talking about them or mentionning them again. Salt allows Cocoon to use magic, so it may or may not allow any changeling to perform magic ; ponies that get killed by changeling drain leave no trace behind them, and Copper spends a lot of time thinking about that dead body he left without a trace across multiple chapters until he and the writer forget about it. Characters come and go in a never ending revolving-door fiesta, and may or may not become irrelevant right after being introduced. In a particularly egregious example of this, the story spends two chapters introducing the past relationship between the sisters and Starswirl, before proceeding to never have them interact together. Sweet Tea has a sad backstory as a human. Braeburn shows up to help. There's a thousand warriors waiting in Manehattan waiting in a location Lou is aware of. Havoc lives as a changeling among ponies without needing to hurt or kill anypony.
The last four chapters are especially frustrating, because they really crystallize these flaws in the character writing and consistency. Characters change opinions and allegeances based on Sudden New Information that is revealed to us like it's supposed to be a mindblowing twist that will shatter our vision of the story and world like a hammer on a glass window. Except that by the time you get there, there have already been so many twists and turns I had mostly given up on trying to even figure out where the plot was going. At this point I was merely hoping the MC would finally get his comeuppance. Warning: He never does.
Cocoon kills Sweet Tea, and Achktually it's fine! he didn't actually kill her! she's still alive back on earth and her life in equestria will be a dream! She's just, like, leaving her husband and friends behind. But who cares about them? Not Cocoon/Starswirl/Copper! Nevermind the fact that a few paragraphs above he was talking about how guilty and ashamed he felt of his brainwashed-induced actions of killing people and wreaking havoc in Equestria! And he's not exactly being mind-controlled this time. You expect the twist to be that Starswirl was still brainwashed, but it's not. The twist is that this man is literally like that. The expectation is subverted: the villainous protagonist isn't actually No Longer Villainous, he's still as he has always been! The "character development" is always on the other ponies, to accept that what he does is just and righteous. These ponies do not belong here, and staying them will only hurt them eventually (even tho by then Starswirl knew he had already fixed that last problem by making life in Equestria a fleeting memory upon return) ; better make sure to cause the hurt now. Better to remove them, because it's not right that these humans are here ; it's not right because it might hurt them or someone else eventually, and the universe shouldn't be that way. Why shouldn't it? That's a good question. The narration will sometimes pretend that it will eventually answer this question by having many characters around Cocoon ask it.
When he kills Sweet Tea, you'd expect THAT, after a long line of stupid decisions, cruel acts and self inflicted misery, you'd expect this last betrayal, to be finally the time he gets his comeuppance, but no. He's actually redeemed! Sure, the ponies, the characters at angry at him, but the narration justifies it. His enemies have forgiven him, or will forgive him soon enough if he can just explain. It's fine. Who cares about the mare and her family? She was always going to die and come back anyways. Who cares. She has hope now, supposedly.
I was expecting the twist with Sweet's previous life story to be that she killed herself. But I guess its fine actually. She'll figure something out back on Earth where she has no friends or support system or ANYTHING. She has hope now! It's fine! Hope definitely puts food on the table at the end of the day. Are you depressed? Okay! Just stop being sad!
Chrysalis' death is just as egregious, but in a different direction. By that point her identity wasn't much of a surprise, but the way her personality switches around, how suddenly she's Starswirl's star crossed lover, that she managed to resurrect into a changeling prince. She tells her story, but it doesn't feel like it's Chrysalis telling it. It feels like, despite Chrysalis having knowingly been Mantis before, she suddenly forgot about who she became. Gone is her snarkiness, her direct approach that surely had to become part of Mantis' own personality during her second reign as Chrysalis. But apparently, restoring her old memories have also made her new experiences and personality vanish into thin air. Her death felt unnecessary, which would have been pure shock value if I hadn't been so fucking numb by this point.
The scene succeeds at making you feel like Mantis is a new character, distinct from Chrysalis, that comes back to be introduced right before the story can write her off to close off her plot point. Copper's star crossed lover is gone, guys! Nothing prevents him from going to the home he was so desperately trying to reach.
Lou, his previous nemesis, wishes him a final goodbye as he finally leaves the magical land of Equestria, to live his life anew. He gets his little poetic, tearjerking speech, during which he "apologises" for his actions by saying he did bad things, yet runs away to avoid having to suffer any kind of consequences from it. And I, as the reader, am supposed to feel emotional at This Guy. At That Fucking Guy. A man that spends a third of his time whining about how miserable he in particular is about his situation, a third of his time hurting and killing people, and a third of his time crying about the people he just had to kill to survive and reach his goals. I'm supposed to weep as the story ends and this miserable douchebag gets to go home to his girlfriend with his memories all intact.
During my reading, I was constantly reminded of this line, said by Cocoon near the beginning of the story; as he hopes to convince Sweet Tea to abandon her "fantasy life" in Equestria to come back to the "real world".
I should have figured that this line, said only by the villain and never by his enemies; that this line, which in the mouth of Sweet Tea would have underlined exactly how her life here was not fundamentally different from an Earthern life, and therefore not unworthy of being lived here, would only ever be used by the MC, to justify sending people back to earth. At this point, I should have figured that the narration could never afford to throw Cocoon's words back at him, because them it would lose what made it "special" and "unique". Cocoon's motivations can never truly be questionned, his hypocrisy never truly brought to light and examined, because otherwise, well. Shit. There's no story anymore. The ones that 'question' him are either only 'because' of their snarky character (Chrysalis, Lou) or 'because' they're the hopeless opposition the story throws Cocoon at (Sweet Tea). None of them actually ever have the power to truly question and turn around Cocoon's belief; and that's because, well, they're either meant to be characterization moments (Chrysalis, Lou) or because they're said by the hopeless opposition (Lou, Sweet Tea).
Cocoon is the kind of man to tell a depressed person "just be happy. just have hope." And he does. And the narration expects I, the reader, to be fine with that.
Looking back at the prologue, I can't help but feel like this story broke out of its original scope. At some point the author decided to expand the story in a new direction, and I'm terribly sorry to say that it did not work for me. The main character I had fun despising turned into this self-righteous Evil Gary Stu, but he's really a morally gray character with justified actions, guys! It's not all black and white, he had reasons for what he did, and apparently because he had Reasonstm means they're automatically good and should be listened to? And so the story listens, and instead of kicking the pathetic murderhobo manbaby to the curb, it turns him into a misunderstood hero.
But that's on me. I shouldn't have kept going, I suppose.
11516891
Thanks for this, I was about to start reading this one but your (and others') review mad me think twice and put it on the back-burner in the "Maybe read if I'm desperate" group. Bummer. I mean, I can't really fault authors that fall into this trap, writing can be a great way to vent personal frustration, but what is good for the author isn't necessarily good for the reader.
11516891
Er... I finally came back around on this one and I have to say, I think your assessment was a little unfair. Granted, it isn't perfect in a lot of ways. The narative does bounce around a few times before it really settles in, but I really don't think it was as bad as you claim. I didn't find it hard to follow the story, though there were a few parts where it felt like some key piece of information was missing it was still follow-able. Some of the social interactions were a little shallow in places, but at the same time I think the author did an okay job depicting imperfect characters who don't necessarily know what they want all the time.
All in all I think it was a decent story. Not my favorite, sure, there were a lot of small problems that prevented a deeper satisfaction, but it was good, all-in-all.
11800781
Yeah, I might have been a little harsh on it due to my frustration with the way the story was unfolding. I don't think the story was hard to follow either, my concern is more with the way it shifted and twisted its themes and setting and... general goal, as well as the worldbuilding and narration "flavor". I was very into early chapters Cocoon, which I hope my comment made obvious.
Reading back the comments, it seems the author had actually cancelled this story for a few months/years before coming back to it. Perhaps they were out of ideas, so decided to uncancel the story and take it in a new direction. It... did not work for me, for a lot of reasons (some of which I have haphazardly outlined), but I suppose it worked for most people, if the L/D ratio is to be believed.
It's good that you enjoyed it, at least.