I've mashed out over 4k words today, and flipping through what's still left to be done, I wouldn't be surprised if this work turns into a 10k one-shot. No, it's not the next couple chapters of Steadfast Sky, that's percolating on the back burner for now. I'm talking about a prequel and standalone thing, Fostering Intelligence.
Fostering Intelligence is going to a history for Steadfast Discord, a story about coming to terms with the inherent chaos within him, and the baggage it brings, with a tendency for violence and destruction. It's a bit of a darker story than normal for me, though I'm doing all I can to prevent it from going grimdark. Seriously, we got enough of grimdark flying around, I don't need to add one of my own works it to the pile.
But anyway, that's not really how this story was conceived. What I really wanted to write, the ideas that have been banging around my head, crying for attention, are ones about the relationship between Discord and the Draconequus it's-not-a-father-figure-dont-hate-me Ruin. I've really wanted to explore more of their relationship, look into it and uncover the nuances of a mentor and his student. They're like... anti... dark Celestia / Twilight. It fascinates me!
But what stopped me, what made me turn away from the idea initially, is the fact that this is a relationship between a canon character, and an OC. What could be an interesting relationship in any original work is now an act of heresy, a self-indulgent corruption of origin. Discord, and, for that matter, Celestia and Luna, are sacrosanct, and it is blasphemous to claim any OC as a possible source of inspiration and influence. It's why I've avoided this topic thus far, as best as I could. I'm risking enough in the fancanon of Steadfast Sky without shoving in the controversy of Canon/OC relationships.
I fully think that when I put out this story, I'll have to face accusations of author-avatar self-insertion, by those who've read the story and those who haven't. But I still want to write it. I still want to explore these topics, even if it takes a bad move to do so. Maybe it'll turn out to be something interesting, or maybe it'll bring out the torches and pitchforks. We'll see.
Also, third person is weird to write in. I keep switching back to first by accident. So weird.
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