So, Yeah...

[youtube=www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1KEQffRSX8]

A couple people ACTUALLY fell for my April Fool's joke. I'm startled, I figured since I never get to prank anyone, it would've been too obvious. I'm happy I got some people, though, because usually I'm the prank-ee. Most of you saw right through it, though, as I figured.

Here's the copypasta I sent to everyone who messaged me, it's basically spoiler free, except that I may eventually put some of this info in as details, but at this point I don't expect to, it's just stuff that popped into my head around the events:

Hurr! I never get anyone for April Fools! Nah, none of that is going to happen. The "canon" cause of the parents' death, I think I've stated in the story somewhere was a severe food poisoning (Actually a disease, not a toxin). If you want a bit of out-of-story info, they were out on a date and went to a fancy restaurant that received some bad crops that had been infected with disease, many families sued and the owner had to shut down. It's really sad, but The Dockhoof newspaper defended the restaurant owner, explaining the South Hoof crop infection and that it was out of Chef Mignon's control. After a couple months of being outcast, and a few supportive articles by a friend at The Dockhoof, she opened a new restaurant, and now imports far more locally, where news can travel quicker. She's now a somewhat successful chef once again, but is always nervous that she will fall victim to a bad import. That stuff sticks, y'know?

The only symptoms of Thunderclap and Rosy Fields' illness were fatigue, and slow lung failure. It was mostly painless, because by the time they were unable to breath, oxygen depletion had already begun, and they wouldn't have been conscious. (I may have already mentioned before, which this may be part of Auntie Raincloud's letter, that it was painless to quell fears, Scoots' biggest fear as she got older was that her parents suffered a lot, she would have mentioned it to Raincloud who may have been nervous to dwell on the subject.) At the time of the infection, about 20 ponies were infected. Chef Mignon attended three of the funerals out of guilt, as well as connection with the clientele. She only attended funerals for clients she knew the family wouldn't take offense from her presence.

I picked a bunch of ideas I felt would be the WORST for this story. If Scoots had a genetic disease, she'd already know about it, her parents were very open and encouraging individuals. They would have let her know and they would have let her know that she could still live a happy life like everypony else.

I may, at some point figure out how to write a couple stories from when Scoots was young, the only problem is, most of her time in Port Mane had very little conflict due to having fantastic parents. She would only have bullies to deal with, and nothing story-worthy because everypony would have been kind of young, I figure probably Grade 4 was when she left Port Mane, making her around Grade 7 now.

I DO expect to have a willed letter from Auntie Raincloud at some point if I can think of a good subject. I just feel like if I write this all the way through Scoots' graduation (That's POSSIBLE, though I don't know the likelihood) she would have willed one then, but possibly other ones would have been willed as well. As I edit I may inject some things like this in. I've already added some FFP articles since the original write.

Upcoming things to really drive nails into the joke coffin:

Expect a couple of the characters to develop a very close relationship that hasn't happened yet.
Expect a possibly dramatic Hearth's Warming Day for two characters already in one relationship, even though that relationship will not change.
Expect me to do VERY little with the episodes that I haven't mentioned yet, since I didn't find them very plot heavy, and I found the most recent one basically more a "and then this happened" than a plot, because of the high level of music and the low level of actual activity.
Expect another (Ponyville, this time) Hearth's Warming Eve play that Scootaloo will be excited to see.

A couple more bits of trivia you may or may not care about:

To separate this from the real world's ideas, I actually set the holidays slightly off from the dates of their counterparts: Nightmare Night is October 22nd (Featherweight's Bday is on the 30th, which is closer to Halloween, for example.)
Scoots' Bday is in mid-November, I haven't fit it in exactly yet, but it should be 2-3 entries from now, probably around the 17th.
Hearth's Warming Eve is December 9th
Hearth's Warming Day, then, is on the 10th
Hearts and Hooves Day is actually January 9th
Winter Wrap Up is still pretty far away, since it's on the Eve of Spring, in March, since I have a mind that the planet of the ponies is very Earthlike (heck, they mention Tuesday, which is named based off a deity from old myth.)

I'm debating making a concert for a band called Chariots of Fire at some point, but I have yet to figure out how to inject it in, since there isn't a big venue in Ponyville or Port Mane, and Scoots hasn't talked much about music, so her spontaneous interest enough to travel even as far as Canterlot will at least need some backwriting. DO note, I add lots of stuff when I edit. I have already added whole entries on a couple occasions, and reordered a couple, before, too.

There's more information than you could ever want or need! XP

So, yes, this was an April Fool's joke. I have plans for an ending whenever I get there, though it's a flexible ending, an undated entry, should I decide to return to the story. I MAY break SPD into a youth and adult segment, this one ending at her graduation, should it get that far. As you've likely seen if you've read the story, she writes a LOT more now than she used to. It's almost a daily event, now, so that makes like... 365-6 entries a year, I may have to retcon weeks that she didn't write at all just to make it not too slow. Balance is a bit of a struggle, because it would be REASONABLE for someone to write in a diary every day, but not every day is going to be interesting to any random reader, so I may need to shave it down to a smaller volume so I don't start to bore you all, as I may have already done for some of you. D:

TL;DR: April Fool's! Also mostly spoilerless plot info.