Deleted Concepts for "Apple Computer" arc! · 9:59pm Mar 28th, 2016
Hello everyone! Well, the new chapter of The Iron Horse is up and ready for viewing! I hope you enjoy it, because it certainly took a lot of work! The illustration took a lot of tweaking to get, as it is the first illustration so far to feature Turing in her P-Mode. Also, even though the chapter was done fairly early, one scene needed a big overhaul.
But the strange thing is that the arc as it exists now was almost entirely different! After you read "Apple Computer, Part 4," check out some of the unused concepts for the arc below the break!
Concept #1: Applejack in Trottingham?!
One early idea I had was that Applejack would unexpectedly turn up in Trottingham during that arc. The idea is that she would be bringing a few barrels of apple cider, as it was in vogue there after Trenderhoof's write-up on Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres.
As a result, she would be invited to view the Turing Test with Twilight and at first be annoyed by Turing's use of lying after getting advice from Trixie. But then Turing would surprise her and everyone else by refusing to continue the test and AJ would finally consent to allowing Turing Test to help out on her farm.
The idea was scrapped when I realized that it made Trixie appear more villainous and less sympathetic than I wished, and also that writing AJ into the arc just complicated what was already a somewhat crowded narrative. I decided Applejack deserved her own self-contained arc, after all.
Concept #2: Changelings?!
A very early idea for the Applejack arc started off similarly to how this one does, but the last half would be totally different. Instead of hallucinating on mushrooms, a lost Changeling would kidnap Apple Bloom and the other Crusaders and change into Turing Test to frame her. Applejack would then follow Turing Test into the Everfree forest and confront her, only to reveal that she had been innocent the whole time. Turing would defeat said Changeling and prove her integrity to Applejack, who would get over her fear after seeing how Turing Test risked herself to save the Crusaders.
There are a few reasons why this idea was scrapped. The first is that I preferred to use a Changeling as a plot twist for the previous arc and doing it twice in a row felt really lazy. The other reason was that it made Applejack seem entirely paranoid, stupid, and unsympathetic, and Turing entirely innocent, heroic, and selfless. I decided I wanted them both to have better intentions, but also something secret that each had been concealing (fear of being forgotten and obsolete for AJ; envy of Applejack's life for Turing Test).
Concept #3: Bandits?!
Dang it, NC Mares, why you gotta be so awesome?!
One arc that was fairly similar to the arc as it currently stands is that AJ would get a request for cider to be delivered to a remote location. Deciding to prove herself, she would deliver it on her own, only to be tricked into buying a flower with hallucinogenic properties and robbed by a gang consisting of a Diamond Dog, a Griffon, and a young Dragon. After Applejack didn't return, Turing would track her, find the town where she'd delivered the cider (which would be run by ponies and alpacas and have an alpaca with a funny accent for a mayor), and eventually find AJ, who'd freak out when she saw her and, well, pretty much the same stuff would happen.
The ending would be different with AJ and Turing Test fighting the bandits before realizing that the initial stash they'd "found" actually belonged to a full-grown dragon that woke up after hearing them all fight. Ultimately, the pair would work together and finally reach an understanding similar to how the current arc ends.
This was scrapped when I realized it would require a lot of new characters, a complex reason for Applejack to go by herself, and spending time depicting Turing tracking down Applejack. The plot might have been interesting, but it would have been long and unnecessarily complicated.
And that's how we got to where we are! Many other chapters have had some similar concepts that were reworked or tossed out before they took the form you can read now, but the Applejack arc probably underwent the most iterations before it became what it is now.
See you next time, folks! When it rolls around, I've got something a few of you have been asking about for a while, now... 
And you did a fairly good job!
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4387152 Thanks for telling me! Replaced.