Equestrylvania: The Lost Notes · 5:16am Jan 24th, 2015
All right. The January Overhaul of Equestrylvania is now complete.
Before I dive into the next installment or even post some of the artwork I got drawn up, I want to go over something interesting I found sitting around in my netbook's harddrive. That is, discarded ideas and notes from EqV's earlier days and even some more recent stuff that, for one reason or another, I don't really remember why I didn't go through with.
So without further prattling, let me name some of these items... right after the page break.
Rose Blade and Whisper White are Satan.
Specifically, they represent two sides of him: Rose Blade is the Serpent aspect, in which Satan tempts the innocent into doing foolhardy or self-destructive things, while Whisper White is the Fallen Angel aspect, in which Satan's evils are hidden behind innocent or beautiful disguises. This is even apparent in their appearances, mannerisms, and voices. Whisper White's "pure child" appearance and soft voice and cutesy body language are all moot when you consider the awful things he does, and Rose Blade is modeled heavily after a snake.
(And for those curious, if I could give my characters voice actors? Steve Blum (Starscream from Transformers Armada) as Rose Blade. Quinton Flynn (Raiden from MGS2) as Whisper White. 
)
On the note of RB and WW...
Rose Blade was going to have more than one direct subordinate.
I even have a sketch of what they were all going to look like, which I may be posting here sometime in the near future if I can find the sketchbook they were in, but for now just know that I ended up never using them because I was afraid my readers would think I was shifting the story's focus onto a bunch of OCs... which admittedly I'm already in danger of doing since the current story arcs are heavily drenched with OCs. I didn't need to go adding to it, and Whisper White was the only one I really needed. (And yes, all the subordinates were meant to represent an aspect of Satan. All that artistic imagery and shit, yo.)
There were several plans for Theycallmejub's characters to have somewhat large roles in Equestrylvania Adventure.
For those who haven't read his awesome stories yet... why HAVEN'T you???
Well, yeah, they're dark and horrible stories of ponies getting mauled, but still.
Anyhoo, ever since Jub decided to let me write about his characters, I kinda wanted to throw them against Dracula's minions to see how they'd fair. But eventually I realized how unwise this would be. Like the example above, readers are distrustful of OCs almost right out of the gate, and I'd be using not just OCs, but OCs I had no hand in creating, making it even weirder.
Secondly, really, come on. The Equestria in EqV was meant to be close to the Equestria from the show. While the show's already proven to have a seedy criminal element -- what with Dr. Caballeron's creepy henchponies and the very existence of the Royal Guard -- it would probably be too much of a stretch to have serial rapists and drug abuse scenes.
That all being said, I'm still going to feature his characters in small roles and cameos, often unnamed, with one of them playing at least an important role in an upcoming Pinkie Pie subplot. You'll see. Y'know, when I manage to get there.
Vinyl Scratch was originally going to speak in a VERY thick New York accent, and swear. A LOT.
This was done away with for reasons that should be self-evident.
You would not believe how many iterations for the Burning of Ponyville I went through!
Here's a short list:
-Frankenstein's Creature was going to be Twilight's adversary. (He was later used in the Babs Seed side-chapter.)
-Actrise was the one who started the fire, not Dirt Nap.
-Dirt Nap, a throwaway character I previously gave not much thought, was not going to survive the zombie attack until I realized he had the perfect psychological profile to become a minion of Dracula.
-Scootaloo was going to see Death floating through the wreckage. Now that I think about it, it could have made an impressively scary scene.
Not sure if I mentioned this before or not, but Shatterstorm was going to be the one who died in the encounter with Death, not Tiger Cross.
Tiger Cross was going to basically assist Twilight in her escape from Death, but I felt that:
a) Nobody with Shatterstorm's snotty attitude could have had a happy life, thereby meaning he had a real story to tell, and
b) Tiger Cross was a flat character I didn't really like writing in the first place.
Carmilla was considered for inclusion at one point; and on top of that, she was going to be Twilight's "rival".
And I mean why not? Super-popular recurring Castlevania villain. Fans of the series would like to see her.
But eventually, I figured what the point of including her would be. Think about it. She's a wicked little sexbomb, and could easily be seen as one of Dracula's top commanders. But at the same time, why would I want a sexually-fused character like her to be Twilight's rival?
I eventually came to the conclusion that Actrise would make a much more understandable foil to Twilight: intelligent, strategic, and charismatic, but at the same time is just plain rotten. Carmilla is gone.
(And on the note of "rivals", before any of you ask, YES, all the Mane Six will have a rival from the Castlevania stable of baddies. We've already met Rainbow Dash's, as a matter of fact...)
Agent Space Brain is no longer canon.
This one actually ended up getting published here for a while before I deleted a few scenes, and it's never coming back. Let me explain.
I designed him after binging on Twin Peaks, and was looking for any excuse to throw in a character modeled after Agent Dale Cooper. Even had plans to develop him into a possible love interest for Pinkie Pie! But eventually I realized what a terrible idea this was.
First, he's a weirdo who does crazy things that actually work. I already HAVE OCs in the story's canon that can do that: the Checkup Triplets. (And yes, that's their "official name" according to the notes, even though I prefer the Hospital Directors.) Any weird trick he could do, they can do. He's useless.
Second, I designed him before Season Three was even over, and therefore Cheese Sandwich -- who I can safely say WILL be appearing! -- effectively killed my desire to have him romance Pinkie.
So Space Brain is gone. Outta here. Kaputski.
Equestrylvania is a parody of darkfics in general.
Think about it.
Equestria is a cute and innocent place, full of love and rainbows. Then one day, right the fuck out of nowhere comes a force of dark imagination. Ponies end up dying horribly for no reason other than this force's amusement. Ponies suffer because reasons.
It might be daring for an author to make a Crossover that also subtly parodies an entire genre, but I'm known for being a fanfic daredevil. I ain't afraid to try new things!
...Aaaaand, that's it! Stay tuned, since in the next few weeks, we'll see some artwork of the characters, monsters, and somesuch from the series, as well as new chapters. Always thinking of you beautiful readers. Stay awesome!
Very interesting stuff. Looking forward to editing more chapters for you. Hopefully I don't swamp myself, cause you ain't the only guy I'm helping in this regard.
Wait a minute... did this happen before or after Intermission ~ Reincarnated Soul was written? If it was before, then... considering that Vinyl was already pretty superbly foul-mouthed in the version that got uploaded, I'd love to see how she would have talked in the first couple of drafts, just for comedy's sake. ^_^
Super-popular recurring Castlevania villain? then how come i've never seen her before?.....
2743456
I received complaints from my prereaders since they thought Vinyl's accent was so thick she was barely understandable. And she dropped F-bombs, S-bombs, even a C-bomb or two. She was foul. But because Nowacking is the only Vinyl voice anyone ever seems to accept, I had to make her personality closer to that one... even though she still has some of my original ideas still intact.
And if I ever post an early draft of anything I write, I should warn you that nearly every paragraph has an F-bomb since I consider them placeholders until I go back and edit, replacing them with more-descriptive adjectives or just dropping them altogether.
2743460
She first appeared in Castlevania II as a floating mask that cried tears of blood. She would later return accompanied by her henchwoman Laura in Rondo of Blood. Afterwards, she was planned to be a boss in Castlevania 64, but for unknown reasons was dropped. She did however end up playing a HUGE role in Circle of the Moon, and finally appeared again in Castlevania Judgment. She was also redesigned for Lords of Shadow on Xbox 360/PS3, though since that's a separate continuity, not sure if anyone cares.
Since Castlevania II and Circle of the Moon are her most important appearances in the series, I recommend playing them. CotM can be found on the WiiU eshop for fifteen bucks. But be warned... out of all the Metroidvanias, it is EASILY the hardest!
2743471
Oh wow! We actually are seeing the toned-down version? That's hilarious! If this wasn't a fanfic, I would have thought that this was a textbook example of a Censor Decoy. ^_^
I admit, I am one of those folks who consider Nowacking to be the one, true voice of Vinyl Scratch. That being said, I get a distinctly different vibe from your Vinyl than I do from most other portrayals of Vinyl (including Nowacking's), and I actually really like it. I think the remnants of the New York accent you gave her have a lot to do with it. It's cool.
Not gonna lie, that actually sounds like loads of fun to read.
2743471 lol wow , so many games in the franchise that i've never played lol....
Truth be told, I never played the classic games. I was drawn to the Lords of Shadow saga.
My mate, if I were a chick and you were a rock star, I'd flash tits no doubt in any concert. Your story is well written, inspires the deepest of feelings and suspense and the dark nature of it intrigues me to no end! Please keep up !