On the Completion of "Starlight" and Update · 4:40am May 1st, 2014
So, after a year and 3 months, my very first fanfiction is complete. It was a ride. I feel like I need to write something to sum this up in words, and get some closure for myself. This is that blog post. So, yeah, I have some fun facts about 'Starlight', a bit of my own thoughts, and at the end, an update of what is coming up next for my page! If you want, read on, good followers! If not, no worries, just know that I have good stuff in the works.
First, I wanted to talk a bit about how this story started. The initial idea for a semi-post-apocalyptic (that's a lot of hyphens!) story came to me, as most of my plot bunnies do. I was listening to music, particularly, the Le Mis soundtrack. "Empty Chairs at Empty Tables" came on, and the first baby bunny of an idea was born, and please hold on for the end of the explanation because it was very different from what the story ended up being, despite my best efforts. I wanted a story where all the mane six, but one, were dead. That was the main idea I'd gleaned. In the first stages, I imagined a not so distant future, after an epic pony war.
Originally, the main character of the mane six for the story to feature was going to be Twilight (ironic? No?), a lone survivor after all her friends had slipped away into death by the hands of some corrupt new regime that had killed the Princesses and ruled Equestria as a totalitarian dictatorship! I planned for her to come across and teach a young filly, who would be the key to ending the corrupt world-order and re-establishing balance alongside Twilight, and in ways Twilight never could, and originally this young heroine was going to be around the mane six's show age, rather than the CMC age Starlight ended up being, and she was to be Rainbow Dash's kid. No really, the way I had imagined this story in the planning stages came out ENTIRELY different....which was a pain in the ass, let me tell you!
Then I got to a problem, what was going to be special about this kid? What could she do that Twi couldn't? Twilight was a unicorn in that point of my planning (Though she got wings by the time she came in, so I tried to stay cannon. OH DID I TRY!!!) :< And, on top of all that, what was the motivation for this strict regime? How had they gotten power? I mean, their (what ended up being the Council) motivation could be for shear power, but why were the ponies willing to follow them and start a war against the Princesses? What could possibly do that? So, I was stuck on that for awhile.
Then inspiration struck, as it often does, one morning in the shower, for me to completely flip the story on its head. Make Rainbow the lone survivor! Have Twilight's kid have the magic and stuff, make the Uprising! Make it about magic, not the Princesses! Kill the unicorns! It was perfect! Besides, Rainbow would have an even better reason to be alive and bitter and shit. Because while Twilight is friendship, Dash is Loyalty. I decided that was just as good if not better for motivation to be a thorn in the side of the regime, that became the Guard (I'm bad at naming things, sue me!) as a tribute to her dead friends. It was a great plan. I figured ten chapters max and it would be great.
Then the story decided my plan was stupid and did whatever the hell it wanted to. Three chapters in and Fluttershy decided she didn't really want to be dead. Four chapters in and Applejack decided she wanted to be the corrupted leader of the Guard. Seventh chapter and I have an OC who literally came out of nowhere and I named after a song I was singing in Choir that day. Then came Zecora, the magic teacher, Pinkie the resistance camp leader, Apple Bloom, security expert, and THEN oh THEN. The FLIPPING Sun decided we needed more conflict and quite literally decided, all on it's own that it was going to EXPLODE.
I had no plans for any of this. Honestly. This story wrote itself. I have no idea where it came from. I wanted to know how it would end as much as you did! Seriously. I'm not kidding. Eventually, I did sit down, about 20 chapters in, mind you, and plan out the remaining bits so that the story would be at least a little coherent (which I sincerely hope it is!) I planned how Twi and Rarity would show up at the climax, and exactly how Starlight's magic worked. Fun fact: the reason she is so much more powerful at a young age than a normal unicorn (Twilight not included) is because she is the daughter of an alicorn...and of course somepony else (Yes, I do know who. Haha. You don't).
Speaking of that! As, I'm sure you have questions regarding on how/why Twi's friends didn't know about Starlight, and exactly what happened in the uprising, and a million other things as to how this shit went down. Well...I was going to address this as a flashback chapter in 'Starlight' BUT as I was writing it...Well, I wanted to write more and more and more and there wasn't room for a 20,000 word flashback and that was being conservative! SO....as much as I wish this story would die and leave me the hell alone...it is close to my heart... and now *sigh* I'm working on a prequel. Yep.
Be hyped about the story of the Uprising! The death of the Princesses! The epic pony war that left the sky scarred! The tale that tore the mane six apart through death and tragedy! The romances so passionate that only eternal sleep could break their love...and then it does! The story of a desperate mother who must leave her child, knowing that she may die, and if she doesn't she may well die later at the hands of an inevitable destiny! And so on! Yerppers!
BUT....before that, I'm taking a break. Yeah, sorry. I need time to plan this story better than I planned "Starlight". I want to get some back-log work done so that months don't pass between updates. HOWEVER! I'm not taking a break from writing! While I work on the "Starlight" prequel, I've also started on my summer-update piece!
"Bearers of Harmony" will begin updating in mid-May! It's a fun, comedy, slice-of-life starring of the mane six, years after the show ends.
Probable Description:
Applejack and Twilight have been married for about a year now, and despite the fact that they can't have children together, Applejack is getting the motherly bug. After a heart-to-heart about it with Twilight, Applejack puts it out of her mind, but the thought that she is the reason Applejack can't further the Apple line and raise a family lingers in Twilight's mind and she begins a search for a way for them to not only have a child, but to have a child together. She manages it, but there are unforeseen consequences of the spell when it becomes apparent that not just Applejack is pregnant....All of their friends are too! Follow the story of the trials and tribulations the mane six must face as they all become mothers. Expect hilarity and shenanigans to ensue.
COMING MAY 2014
So...whadda ya think??? So, that's in the works as my side story while I write my way through the prequel to "Starlight". Hopefully, I can crank that out during the summer. :D...Hopefully!
Alright! That's all I have for you! Except....Do you guys want one more fun fact about Starlight? It will of course, be revealed in the prequel...Unless somebody can guess it before then! (Since it doesn't spoil anything whatsoever)...Obviously Twilight didn't have Starlight on her own...Who do you think is Starlight's other parent?
HINT: Assume that it can be a mare OR a stallion, and that magic insemination exists by the time Twilight gets prego with Starlight.
HINT 2: Starlight was designed with both her parents in mind.
GOOD LUCK!!! -PurpleFire, signing out :D
I'm stumped. No idea who Starlight's other parent could be.
2066336 That's okay...
It isn't terribly obvious 
However, I can tell you that it was a character that never appeared in this story...Why? Well, 1/3 of the population of Equestria WAS wiped out in the Uprising....In other words, it's a unicorn 
(AKA Hint #3)
2078492
Well. That throws me off even more.
It isn't Rarity, right?
2085188 Hee Hee. Nope!
2078492 Ok so it's..... CelestIa
Ok for real now, let me think,
Trixie? If not Flash Sentry as Unicom
( jokes are in me today, God)
2293138 YOU GOT IT!!!! You seriously are the first one to get it!!! 'Tis Trixie!
I love me some Twixie 
2300201 yay!!!!!!!!! Omg wow that's crazy!!! Still I would laugh my face off if it was Celestia
2087478 subtle hint in this commEnt
2300267 Would be really hard for it to be Celestia because [Spoilers] and well, also [More Spoilers] LOL