If I'm coming back to this site for MLP, I owe you guys an explanation on "A Decade Lost":

Q: What happened to this fic / did something happen to you?

A: Nothing happened to me, I just fell out of the fandom, and then I fell out of fanfiction in general. I got back into pokemon for a while and then got more into non-fanfiction writing. I've still not totally finished all episodes of FIM, though I did get a solid way through it. I never wanted to abandon this fic, but I had doubts that I'd ever be able to finish it, and thought it might be best to just let it rest.

I finished Chapter 12 of A Decade Lost in October 2015, which was about two years since the last chapter, and at that point I was not sure I would have the motivation or time to finish it (at that point in my life I was about to graduate university, move back in with my parents, and start my career). So, I just decided to leave it to rest until I was more sure.

Q: So why are you continuing it now?

A: I started working on Chapter 13 in 2017, did not get far, and then abandoned it until late 2022. A year ago I rewatched the series that kickstarted my fanfiction hobby (Class of the Titans) and had renewed interest in finishing some of my old fics - and did publish two for COTT. I started working on Chapter 13 again and considered publishing Chapter 12 on February 25 - the ten-year anniversary of the fic - but tbh it was tax season and I forgot.

I'm at a point now where I'm not really doing other writing outside of fanfiction, so have more time and motivation to work on old and new projects.

Also, updating "A Decade Lost" a literal decade later had some irony that I couldn't pass up.

To bulk respond to the most common plot related questions:

Q: Why wasn't Spike at the forefront of Twilight's mind? This seems OOC?

A: I agree with this; it is OOC. I did not want to heavily include Spike in this fic - as in, make him a sidekick to Twilight, because I wanted Twilight to be on her own but with some rotating companions. This left me the option of either killing him off, or giving him a backstory that would prevent him from traveling with Twilight. I took a middle ground that leaned more toward the former. Having Twilight learn this too early would have taken focus away from Applejack & Fluttershy's chapters (both of them are aware of what happened to Spike, and would have told Twilight if she'd asked. It doesn't make sense for their characters to not know and to withhold that from Twilight). If I were to write it over again, I would do it differently, but it would be too much work for me to retcon at this point.

Q: What about Discord?

A: You have to keep in mind that I planned and wrote most of this fic in the period between Season 3 and Season 4. Discord was not a major character at that point in time so I honestly just didn't consider him. This fic would take place near the end of Season 3, following canon, so if it works better in your head, we can say it took place before Keep Calm and Flutter On, and Discord just doesn't exist in this continuum.

Q: What about the changelings?

A: Similar to above, these were just one-episode villains at the time, so I didn't know they were actually a whole species and could be something heavily considered by the characters Twilight is interacting with, outside of Shining Armor.

I'll probably get more questions on characters that didn't exist at the time of planning this fic, so, if they are pre-mid season 3, they do not exist in this continuum. Twilight never met them and they never gained relevance. All the evil characters never surfaced either.

Q: What happened to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie?

For purposes of spoiler avoidance - wait and see!

If you are coming back to this fic after a decade - I am amazed and humbled, thank you for your patience. Please feel free to DM me if you have any other questions, or leave a review while signed in!