More One is Silver Junk (An awful lot of it, actually.) · 4:56am Apr 4th, 2013
One is Silver came to be my obsession long ago, and I'd just like to share a few reasons why I just can't take my mind off it.
First of all, I feel like I've hardly done anything to write it. For the most part, the story just feels like it wrote itself. It mostly came from the notion that to me, the canon show somehow felt like euphemism for what the show could have been. From that, the world fleshed itself out from what I thought would have happened if it hadn't been a kid's show, throwing in the concepts purely from the fandom. As that process carried on, the world and the story began to shape each other, and I felt powerless as to the results. For instance, it seems to me that Berry Punch finds herself in the caravan of vagrants as a prostitute. I would avoid this if I felt I could, but somehow I feel obligated. It's not even relevant to the story, and I'll try to keep it to mere implications, but still--the story and the world pulled something on me I'm not sure I appreciate. It has taken on a life of its own. In a similar way, though they would have no way of mentioning them anywhere in the show, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash show some traits that just plain make sense. Fluttershy, though technically omnivorous in her humanized form, by choice does not eat meat, and does not drink despite her given age. Rainbow Dash has sex daily dyslexia, though in the show she does not.
Following that, the entire structure of the story seems so poetically ironic. Discord as well as his humans are heavily associated with contradiction. Likewise, the book itself seems a contradiction of how independent of the show it feels despite clearly being born of it. It's firmly anchored in it, yet totally liberated from it. At a glance, it feels nothing like the show, yet if I were to try to publish it independently, there's no way I wouldn't get sued.
Moreover, in an odd parallel to the theme of the story, I introduce a total of three characters by killing them off and then develop them, hopefully making the reader love them in the process. (Side: If the story is truly good, it can't be spoiled by knowing parts of it ahead of time. I'd like to see if it stands up to the test.)
Furthermore, to refer back to the previous topic, I can't believe that the second-most action-packed scene in the story started as a joke. I thought of the string of jokes some time back, and started fooling around, trying to see if I could somehow weave it in to this story. I went ahead with my world tweaks, and found it fit well enough into the conflict. Before I knew it, a critical point in the story became serious, yet somehow hilarious. Like, imagine if you were watching a James Bond movie in the theater that somehow led to Bond having to investigate a pie-eating contest undercover. In the kitchen, he encounters the baddies he has to stall, but the only available weapon is the giant table covered with copious amounts of pie. And they don't just humorously throw them, mind you, but instead start violently, brutally mauling each other with the pastries. As you sit there in the theater, you might be too dumbfounded to laugh. Only afterward, while you're explaining it to that one friend of yours that can never seem to make it to these things you do do you burst out in laughter, realizing in retrospect just how hilarious the moment truly was. [EDIT: FIMFlamFilosofy's videos often have the same effect on me.]
(What was I talking about? Oh, right. Silver.)
The final thing that never ceases to amaze me about the story is not only that it is saturated with figurative devices, but that I discover the figurative associations out myself as a reader would (see first topic again), then shamelessly claim them as my own ideas (which, technically, they are). For instance, the title comes from the saying "Make new friends, but keep the old; One is silver, one is gold." Realizing the association with gold and silver I had given respectively Luna and Celestia, it occurred to me later that the characters themselves were symbols for old friends and acquaintances. Furthermore, I realized how much as an acquaintance I portrayed death as a recurring theme throughout the story, and from that and through Luna, the entire core of the story (where it still matches the canon, no less) became an allegory for the acceptance of death. 
To reiterate the first topic yet again, I'll say that I don't really feel like this thing is my idea. I just feel like the vessel, the one guy to whom it just-so-happened to present itself. When I explain its bits and pieces, I don't feel like I'm saying "I had this wonderful idea" as much as sharing a bit of a wonderful story and idea only I happen to know. I'll say this, though: it is a truly brilliant idea, not afraid to boast, but I can't help but wonder why it didn't choose someone with a little more... you know... experience? I can only hope to recreate in words how amazing it all was to me in my head.
[EDIT (Now for my life's story)]
Actually, that's pretty much how this whole thing started. In the first two minutes of what would become my bronihood, the prologue of the premier wherein was described the legend of the five-plus-one elements overthrowing a demonic tyrant that had plunged the world into eternal night, I immediately asked what could have become of such a brilliant traditional-epic-fantasy-esque concept if it had been used for something other than a children's cartoon. The seed of the story had been planted in my head before I even considered myself a brony. That introduction really got my hopes up. It disappointed me when I saw the Mane Six just suddenly receive their elements, which seemed to serve no other purpose than to counter and reduce divinely evil entities. I saw plenty of untapped potential with that concept, but had to accept that the writers had to tone it down to reach their target audience.
I never let go of my vision of how the show might have been if the "epic" element had been embraced instead of abandoned. I realized that this would also entail humanization and probably some alternate interpretations of each character. Originally, I wanted each element to take the form a legendary tool, and have them be earned one at a time as the six progressed through their adventures, some traditional fantasy development scheme like that. I later tried to get more characters involved in the story (the challenge was to get as many as I could--as I saw more and more of the show, I wanted to include more and more of it in my vision) and realized that would be difficult to do if the Mane Six were off on some tremendous journey. As they became stationary, the progressive emergence of the elements seemed to make less and less logistic sense, and could have posed some problems along the way. In the end, I was at least able to keep the "legendary artifacts" idea.
I later decided I wanted to cover the story mentioned in the first episode of the show: how Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon the first time around. I also wanted a parallel with the one surrounding her return: Celestia would have five friends (whom I call the "Previous Six") and discover "Magic" (I've renamed them) for herself. I could have tried to put the "progressive emergence" scheme in this plot line, but it ultimately met the same fate.
At some point, I found this video explaining Discord's hand in the extinction of the Alicorns, his response to Celestia's denial. I came to accept this story as my personal truth, and knew I wanted to include that as well. It eventually became my prologue, and though it is unmistakably similar to my retelling, I'm sure you'll find where I've added in my own elements.
In the early stages, I actually wanted this story to have been done before. I wanted to read it for myself. I searched around, but looking for "if MLP weren't a kid's show" brought me mostly to anime depictions, not an actual story. I quickly grew weary that I would only find humanized copy-pasta of the premier, or something else that just wouldn't do it for me. My search for my ideal story eventually brought me to the Orator's (then Puzzle-of-Life's) Sabotage Valkyrie, a story I'm disheartened to learn has been abandoned. For the longest time, I felt content with this story, realizing that though it might not be exactly what I had in mind, it was probably as close as I was going to get.
But eventually, it failed to keep my original desires in check. Fed up with searching, I knew that the only way that this story would come to be exactly as I wanted it would be to write it myself. It deserved to be written. It deserved to exist. Unfortunately, they only one with the idea was me. This task is therefore my obligation, you see.
My experience with writing is limited to previous school assignments, so naturally I was hesitant. (Though that's not to say I occasionally have written something I felt rather proud of at the time. I have one I wrote in freshman year that's still rather personal to me because of my father's reaction to it, despite being on another level of writing now. I can't forget the look on his face.)
Actually, I somehow feel that it was Sabotage Valkyrie that pushed me over the threshold from theory to action. Something about the writer's quirks, something about the shakiness of the dialogue or some other aspect, something about the writing seemed just flawed enough to make the writer feel like a human and not some unrelatable entity. Thanks to that story, I came to realize "Well, they can; why can't I?" Because of that story, I finally grew a pair and picked up the pencil.
[/EDIT]
And just as a final note, it's all just so feelsy, to me at least. (Made me cry thinking about it once or twice, I admit.)
So to my few, (hopefully) faithful readers out there, I thank you for your time if you cared to read this far, and to all of you, dawn behold.
(Yes, I'm tactlessly quoting myself with something you haven't even gotten the chance to read yet. Look out for it. I personally hope that the story becomes so popular that that phrase becomes "a thing." If I ever hear it being used around, it would totally make my day. I could actually post the associated song/poem on my blog, if you'd like. Another teaser, if you will.)
So, TL;DR--I love this story and I hope you will, too.
In retrospect, this hardly scratches the surface of what the story has to offer.
When you first told me you were writing a story I had honestly no idea it would escalate to this level. It's been quite a ride and I can only hope everything pans out the way you hope it will. As a bit of a parting note, I'll see your quote and raise you another. "All ahead, no clouds in sight. We've got Clear Skies."
Alt. title for this post: To Toot my own Horn
979853
"Parting note?" Oh dear, I hope you don't plan on leaving me yet. I realize school is ending soon, but for the time being, you're still my strongest typist. (No offence to any others that might be reading this.
)
Either way, thanks for your help. I hope that once we do part ways, you'll still enjoy what's to come.
Also, I'm afraid I can't place the quote. Ignoring it (though I like it), I'll go ahead and post my poem thing as my next blog post.
)
(Why does "post" have to be both the verb and the noun?
979853
Re: "This level."
Yes. I admit I hold this story in high esteem, if you couldn't tell. This isn't a rinse-and-repeat ship fic, some obscure crossover, another Twilight-in-pursuit-of-darker-magic. Take a look back at The Princess will Save Us, then back here. This, my friend, is ambition, and of only the most naive, fool-hearty caliber.
I'm not sure how to describe the level I'm aiming for with this in any way other than simply tour de force.
I believe that the idea itself deserves to be as famous as Cupcakes, as My Little Dashie, as Fallout: Equestria, as Past Sins. Nay, I say it deserves to be the kind of story your English teacher has you read with your class. I would say it also deserves the dusty "Legendary" tag I've only seen Equestria Daily use on Fo: E.
My only regret is that I fear I haven't the skills to do this idea justice.
982079
I expected ambition. I expected the level of foolhardiness usually reserved for RTS players and my squadmates in PVP. What I didn't expect was for this ambition to be met with a level of luck usually reserved for me when I'm playing poker. I'm not leaving for a while, I make it a point to finish what I start. I feel the quote I gave (and the source of it) are even more confirmed than I thought when I first posted it. To quote it again, "Sol: JR, we know they have us trapped. JR: Then we spring the trap, we have a job to do."