A parting note for Sam's story. · 8:35pm Jan 29th, 2016
Whelp, that was a journey. Longer than I thought it would be. I'm not sure what to feel about that. A bit elated, it's like a weight at the back of my mind that is gone. I'm free! ...of this single story.
Yeah, because it's not as if there are half a dozen plot bunnies that are really begging me to write them.
Here, let me show you: a story where the man arrives in the middle of a dragon pack, he is made into a slave and has to fight his way out of servitude to near invulnerable fire-breathing lizard (did I mention the teenaged dragons from Dragon Quest are around and dislike him?) / "The problem with wishes was always that they come true. Of course, when you jokingly make a wish upon a shooting star, you never think they will be. And that's when you learn the problem of a wish... sometimes, they are far smaller than you realize." Wish unfulfillment / "They found Suspect 0F43 in a back alley, staggering and babbling incoherent things to his savior. When brought to the hospital however, they discovered with horror the reason for his illness: a large chunk of cow meat in his stomach." The Cannibal / "There are species you do not want to be. Unfortunately, when the Event shifts the world around and you end up crossing the species barrier in the process, you don't get to choose. The world is a terrifying place for one so small." On the Breeze of Fear
...YEAH! A few of these. For the record, if you were unsure, yes, those are all HiE ideas. I'll shove them aside one day... For now...
That's it guys, Sam's story is over. I suggest you don't read too much of these if you haven't finished the last few chapters yet. You might get a bit of spoiler if you do. Those are all random facts and ideas I have had about the story, some were parts of the original plan, some were for glimpses of the future, other heck, they're just part of the lore I didn't get a chance to explain organically.
Random facts
0. I use Sam to talk about my main character out of convenience, not because that's who he is.
1. Someone once said that Eric shouldn't have become an alicorn, as only the Millers would turn into that, like they were meant to be. Amusingly enough, none of the boys became what was closest to them. Tom would have been a pegasus, Eric, an earth pony and Sam, a changeling.
2. Speaking of, Chrysalis and the changelings actually had a small role somewhere in this. Some of their backstory was meant to be explained by Luna during her dream encounter with Sam. Changelings were born much like the windigoes. They are the shells of lost love from the previous Alicorn of Love. She is the one in the story of the Love Poison. Turns out alicorn Falls when you force them to act against their deepest self.
2.B The changeling cameo was to get one to burn themselves trying to taste Sam's love for his family. It was not a good sign either.
3. Eric's punishment was to be a witness. He has to know exactly what his inaction or support led to. He never tells Sam that he sees exactly what happens in Tartarus every year.
4. His mother never does learn what happened to him. It bothers her, but her life doesn't change.
5. Judicium offered each of the Mane Six a boon. They will get to claim it at a time of their choosing, though the nature of which they do not really know. Only Twilight realizes that it would have to do with her nature as a mortal alicorn.
6. Caelum's coat and mane were not the same as Sam. Discord could have told others, if he had known that. Judicium on the other hoof did know.
7. Judicium was, in fact, surprised by what happened. He does not say it, but strangely enough, Renascentia teases him about his trip to the mortal world.
8. Alicorns are conditionally fertile. They will only have a foal if a law of the world has lost its avatar. It can still take a really long time for any alicorn to get pregnant. In a world where the boys were alicorns from the start, it would be perceived as amazing that Ventus and Calx did not have a bigger age difference.
9. Twilight and Cadence aren't astral alicorns, but they could be. They would, however, be aligned with Harmony, as both represent a form of bonds.
10. Styx and Charon are two different halves of two different things that make up a single Elder of Chaos. No one has a clue how that works.
11. For that matter, Discord is still trying to figure out how Renascentia works.
12. Every race has patron spirits. This also influences whether they are chaotic or orderly or in harmony. Ponies are actually on the Order side of Harmony, which is one of the reasons why they resemble alicorns (and some can ascend into them). Some of them are interconnected between species, including the three Kings of all Beasts (aka, the biblical overmonsters) and the guys.
13. The Equestria Girl universe IS being watched over by a similar pantheon.
14. Sam, Tom and Eric would not end up looking like their human selves there, but merely EG humans with their alicorn colors.
15. At some point in the future, the griffons contacted Sam to induce him into their pantheons. He has to sit in between the Saddle Arabian Pale Horse (the desert spirit of death and sandstorms) and Skarriax, the deity of wind dragons. The griffons worship any spirit that can be linked to flight, war, hunt, death and childbirth.
15.B. Sam is really uncomfortable around the Zebrican Mother Goddess. He tries to tell her he's not father material, but she's not taking the hint.
15.C. There is a bet going around the tables. Cerwick, the deer's Winds of Winter, has bet on fifty-five years before there is a striped-alicorn running around the griffon pantheon.
15.D. Incidentally, Cerwick will lose a divine favor to the Pale Horse on that subject.
16. Tom is a bit jealous that nopony is worshipping him. Then he meets a bunch of diamond dogs.
17. Eric says nothing on the matter, but he likes to visit King Triton on an off-day. They throw him a buffet.
18. The alicorns originally were going to represent astral bodies. The plans were for Sam to get a gas giant, Tom a Mercury-expy and Eric Neptune. They also had names that were silly enough to make me reconsider. Thank God.
19. Blueblood's presence in the story was not meant to be as prominent as it was and it really made me reconsider everything from that point on. Sam would have tried to use the spell earnestly.
20. At some point, psycho!Sam was supposed to see a burning building and smother the flames with his air vacuum spell. He had his own reasons to do it, but ponies would have used that as an argument for his inherent goodness. For the longest time, I really wondered where to get that spell to debut.
21. Rarity was meant to see through his psychopathic nature once he arrived in Ponyville. She would have freaked. But then I had written him as getting better, and that fell through. She instead saw a lot of the truth between Sam and Twilight.
22. Rainbow was to challenge Sam to a race, alicorn of wind vs fastest pegasus. And then Sam would disappoint her by pointing out he cannot go over the speed of sound, which she can (Sonic Rainboom).
22.B. The worse part would be him admitting him before even accepting the challenge. Now she felt silly.
23. Sam will visit the orphanage in Canterlot, often. A few guards patrol of his will suspiciously give him that sector to check. He'll unfortunately never adopt Violet, and she'll always be a little sad about that. So will he, for that matter.
24. Tom, just like his big brother, will make the Top Ten of the list of Teen Heartthrobs. As opposed to his brother, he will stay there for seven decades (he is in for a slightly awkward puberty before that). It'll cause a minor shock throughout the kingdom the day he does not appear on it.
24.B Sam will be very glad for that 'conditionally fertile' thing once puberty really hits his little brother.
24.C It's part of his folio, after all. Tom will learn to make plants blooms and soils fertile.
25. The minotaurs will get the most benefit out of the recent political troubles in Canterlot. Unicornia will never forgive them (give or take a century).
26. Eric will go on a date with Luna. Once. Neither will speak about it afterward. Discord offers a reward to anypony that can give him insider information on that.
27. Sirens are to Eric what Windigoes are to Sam. Luckily, the true ones were killed a long time ago, and the ones that remained were sent to another dimension.
28. In fact, most emotion-eating monsters have a strong association with fallen spirits.
29. In an alternate timeline where Sam hadn't adbidacted, he would get his own branch of the Royal Guard called the Sky Squadron. They would be air superiority specialists, and all of them would receive a fragment of Sam's power.
29.B. This fragment would change the ponies. They would all receive a pair of wings made of air and a great sense for sky magic. The pegasi that join this branch rarely ever touch the ground anymore.
29.C. Their one true command: protect the Alicorns of Earth, Sea and Friendship at all cost. The Alicorn of Wind is expendable.
30. Sam and Tom might get a little sister, 600 years down the line... They would learn of her existence when she reaches twenty and an exception lets Magnum and Atonie visit for the occasion.
30.B. Tom freaks, Sam laughs. The rest coo.
That's it. Anything else you guys want to ask before I put it to sleep forever?
Plot bunnies and behind the scene, good way to conclude that intensive reading session of mine.
THE Question: how many spirit is there in your thing?
I'm totally loosing the count and more importantly: their repartition. Wich came from what and is aligned with what/who in a mortal or an imortal plane...
Fun thing, the plot bunny responsible for "Wish unfulfillment" visited me too at some point. I don't beleive I would have chased him in the same direction as you, but it seems to be the same creature.
Depending how this develops, it could be a rather interesting story, or not. I fear for the Spike reaction though, lumping him together with the others.
I suppose if I had questions it would be if Sam ever repairs his relationship with Twilight, and if Luna ever warms up to him. I'm guessing not, with the way it was written. You don't even claim if Cadance and Twilight _would_ be immortal and not die eventually, merely that they could. Which, I guess, would make for some interesting AU shenanigans, wouldn't it?
Haven't had the chance to finish it yet, but with this list of things it certainly sounds like a doozy!
You mentioned you might write a sequel in the epilogue. Do you still plan to someday?
3721559 Oh boy, the spirits. They are divided on the spectrum of Order and Chaos. On the side of Order, alicorns are only one of them, but the Elders are amongst the oldest of them, the primordials if you will. The alicorn tribunal is meant to hold roughly 100 alicorns, but it generally varies a little depending on how many have yet to reincarnated. As a sidenote, alicorns do not die. Death implies an afterlife, through Incipien Lineas. Alicorns' avatar fade out, and another is born from their essence.
Chaos... I really have no general number for them. Some are halves, quarters, fifth, they don't bother with round units. Some are not even sentient! Total chaos.
THe wish fulfillment thing... it's basically a one-shot deconstruction of the classic HiE take. It's one human, turned pony, with a great new role as part of the Elements. It... well, does not go as predicted. And not because wishes are inherently twisted around. He got what he asked for, and it wasn't even interpreted.
3722128 First, the wish fulfillment and the dragon thing are two different plot bunnies. Sorry if I gave the wrong impression.
Luna... it's quite possible, if they don't mutually feed their dislike of one another. Sam... might try to reconcile, consider his musings in the last chapter.
As for Twilight, I don't want to give a definite answer. However, I will say this, if she chooses immortality, there is a good chance that they'll rekindle their relationship in time.
3724827 I'm afraid there's been a misunderstanding. I had a few ideas for a spin-off perhaps, but I honestly don't plan to go back to this fic until at least after every other I have on fimfic are completed. Sorry.