A Terrifying Figure Emerges from the Darkness · 1:26pm Dec 28th, 2017
Hi all. This might be a long post, apologies in advance.
It's been almost a year since my last update, and just over a year since I had my head smashed in like a watermelon.
Thankfully, for those of you who may still be concerned, the damage was mostly superficial; my skull did its job and I sustained no apparent long term damage. The only real tell that it ever happened is my scar, but it can't be seen beneath my hair anyway.
Now then, on to what you're all probably more interested in...
Whilst I don't plan on cancelling my fic, I'm suspending work on it for the foreseeable future; many of you probably saw this coming. My interest in the show has waned, and although I'd have liked to have continued working on my fic, I've been incredibly busy with life, work, and uni. On top of this, I'm sorta seeing someone (though it could go in any direction at this point haha, early days) and I want to commit my spare time to seeing whether it'll work. Yeah, 21, first girlfriend, loser right? :^)
But yeah, lack of spare time and lack of interest are the two main reasons, but also, and this is gonna get a little heavy - I've been a bit of an asshole in the past. When I joined back in 2013 (man it feels like longer, I feel I've grown a lot lol), I was, frankly, quite miserable. I mainly joined the site because of the sense of community the fandom offered, and I found appreciation for my talents here. I derived a sense of worth and appreciation from the feedback I received here. Even when it wasn't positive, it still meant one thing: People were noticing, reading, and acknowledging something I'd done, and showing enough interest to feed back on what I'd written. It felt good, especially so when being featured on the front page and being touted as some sort of young genius (I'm not lmao).
But still, I was miserable. I didn't have many friends irl. The ones I did have, I didn't really share common interests with so we didn't really do much together. This continued until my second year of university, where I moved out and eventually became good friends with my housemates. Long story short, I love those guys, and they saved me from myself without really knowing it, I think. :)
They are, at least a little, the reason I distanced myself from the site. I had things to do in my spare time, people to do things with, instead of being holed up in my bedroom writing fan fiction. It was fun, and without a doubt the best year of my life so far, despite having my head bashed in. We even went to a festival that summer, something I would never have done before meeting them, and it was easily the absolute best time I've ever had. It was incredible.
But yeah, in short: I made friends, I've lightened up, and I have a social life now. (And only in writing this do I realise, ironically, that in a way I have done a Twilight Sparkle after making friends; went from bookworm to semi-socialite. This parallel makes me cringe, but I can't help but see the funny side).
In terms of info you guys want, if you comment on this post I'll try and be about to answer questions if you're interested. In terms of how I wrote ATF, here's a brief summary:
Draw out a rough plan, stick to it always, unless you get a spark of inspiration. Then, divert, follow that road, then when the interesting idea is explored, return back to the main plan; it's your bible. Allows for a lot of foreshadowing and other good stuff. Foreshadowing is good, and also I did explore things that weren't exceptionally relevant to the main plot (and made them seem like they were), because this throws people off and imo that's good. Also, grey morality is fun to explore, I'd highly advise it, it's a great mental exercise when you're objectively trying to justify a character's actions based on a completely neutral observer's standpoint.
Other that that, hmm, I honestly don't know what to add. Ask away if there's anything you guys would like to know.
Oh and also, Chrono if you're reading this, you genuinely outsmarted me. Looking back through the messages it should have been obvious to me, but I was totally oblivious. Well fucking played dude. To those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, Chrono basically used an alt with a different username to communicate with me for years, and I had no idea it was actually him. I read this earlier today:
You haven't been on for a while but you'll probably get an email notifcation and see it this way. I've got a few things to say.
First, how's your recovery coming?
Second, you're a smart guy so you probably figured out right away that I'm not a friend of Chrono, but I am Chrono.
Some fucking Top Ten Anime Betrayals shit; my jaw was on the fucking floor when I realised I'd been played that hard not gonna lie. 
Anyway, I don't really know what else to type so I guess I'll see you guys later. Thanks for being along for the ride all these years. Thanks for reading, commenting, and sharing my fic around. And most of all, thanks for all your kind words, encouragement, and feedback that have played a part in helping me grow into the man I am today. I just apologise that you all won't get to see the fic find it's conclusion any time in the near future; maybe one day, eh? (Probably when I'm old and wrinkly and don't really have any solid commitments, aha. I would like to finish it before I go, though). :D
- Mike, 'till next time my dudes
RL man, RL.
I think it's better to just cancel the fic at this point and focus on what you're really passionate about, but this is just my opinion.
Alas, I didn't plan to "outplay" you. Just sort of, I dunno, keep an eye on you? Keep some kind of communication since I was unhappy with the circumstances?
Regardless, I'm glad we at least met. I'm pretty much done with this site, so if reaching out to you the way I did has achieved some kind of closure, then I'm happy. Everything else that needed saying was summarized in the PM I sent, so you'll know why I'm gone.
I wish you luck in life.
Good to hear that you are doing better on the whole. It is too bad that you may not finish the story but I will take knowing that you are doing better on the whole as being even better.