Fork in the Road · 6:31pm Aug 9th, 2020
I've been stalling on the "Cheese Sandwich, faithful student of Princess Pinkie" story, and I think I know why. It's just not bringing enough novelty to the table. Sure, the opening bits present all kinds of interesting hints of this world, the sort that get people clamoring for sequels in the comments that I inevitably never write. (I can recognize the trend, if nothing else. 
) But then we get into what's supposed to be the meat of the tale, and, well...
It's just the Crystal Empire again.
Sure, the cast is swapped around and some of the particulars are shifted, but at the end of the day, it's the Season 3 premiere in a new coat of paint. I hate to leave you all hanging after hyping something up, but I can tell the end product isn't going to turn out well if I force the (un)original idea. Still, I do want to do something with this setting. The concept's too good to throw away.
(For those wondering: Maud would have played the role of Sombra. After losing her mortal husband a thousand years ago, she would've brainwashed the citizens of the Crystal Empire into replicas of Mudbriar. The other Pie princesses would've sealed her in the cold stone beneath the ice.)
Hey, unoriginal or nor, I think I would read that and love it. Sometimes half the fun is seeing how well characters we know and love fit into other roles we never would have even considered them for originally. That said, if it doesn't inspire you, you're the author, so it's your choice in the end. Just thought I'd offer some words of encouragement.
Definitely sounds like a good setting for some other story. You could use the different crystal empire lore as part of the background, to show the more subtle differences between this AU and canon.
Nobody's forcing you to write this, if you don't want to; even though a lot of us were eager to see how it'd turn out, a forced idea is never good. Sometimes ideas just fizzle out, even when they look promising. Take it from the person who's had 100 false starts since middle school: if an idea doesn't work, no matter how many times you spin it, you can always think up another one.
"gives you a comforting hug"
Even just a oneshot in the setting would be nice, whenever you feel up to it. Though, now I wonder who'd be Nightmare Pie?
...Hm. Well, one of the first things that came to my mind was, given the situation described in the spoiler, why does Maud want to leave? And then it occurred to me: she has tons of rock all around, a crystal city, and a city's population of mental copies or near-copies of a pony she loves. But said copies like sticks. And there aren't many of those down there.. So maybe something could be done with that, if you don't want to drop that aspect of it completely? Hm. Though if guess it looks kind of dark if the story just seems to kind of be fine with Maud keeping her, ah, yeah, city-sized harem of people who were either unwilling mind clones of her dead lover or raised to be such from birth... Uh. Yeah, so, maybe not quite that idea. Unless you want a dark story(/comedy?). I don't know; you've written a lot more than I have. Still, good luck coming up with something good to do with the idea. :)
wtf o.O
Here would be my suggestion: kick that plot you've developed into the background / worldbuilding, then come up with a plot more directly centered around "laughter"?
Initial thoughts:
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The encouragement is appreciated! But my muse apparently goes on strike if I force her to retread the stations of canon. Cracking the whip never ends well with the anthropomorphic representation of your inspiration.
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That's the plan. The mare filling Cadence's role in this setting may offer therapy sessions for Maud.
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Oh, you mean Queen Vitriol, who was sealed in the sun for a thousand years since it was the only place to could contain her all-consuming RAGE? (Pinkie having three sisters makes for a wonderful variety of ways to twist major adversaries.)
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The darker implications were probably tripping me up too, now that I think about it.
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What? I'd hardly call this the strangest idea I've ever come up with. Not even the strangest one involving Pinkie.
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All excellent suggestions! I'll bear them in mind as I figure out what to do with the setting.
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Oh! Well, glad I could help... ah, illuminate, pun not originally intended, that for you, then. :D
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>queen vitriol
Is it more disturbing for Melancholia just being there in the background building up into a NMM scenario, or having just up and disappeared one day to escape the attention in an inversion?