Unused Concepts: "Chase" · 1:36am Jun 27th, 2017
The "Chase" arc was one of the earliest parts of the story I had planned for The Iron Horse, and many of the ideas I had made it into the final version around 2 years later when I finally got around to it. For instance (note that I'll be using spoilers before the break for those who haven't read that far yet and none after the break):
- Umahara was always going to switch sides.
- Applejack was always going to find 001 and defeat Unit Zero with her help.
- 002 was always going to lead the heroes into traps around TechQuestria and use drones to fight Turing Test and Twilight.
But there were a bunch of strange and bizarre ideas that never quite made it into this action-packed arc. To let you all peek behind the curtain and get a glimpse at what twisted thoughts I keep under my tall, dapper hat, check below the break for unused ideas for The Iron Horse - "Chase!"
Okay, so let's get this started...
1. The cast started together... THEN got split up!
Originally, after getting caught, the plan was for Professor Mustang to capture the Mane 6 and hold them all in a special prison where each of them would be in a reinforced glass bubble-shaped cell that would slowly drain their magic and shock them if they tried to escape. He'd present his arguments for a democracy to all of them at once and, when stymied, would leave them in Turing Test's care just to show how confident he was. Then, of course, Turing's "guideline" would kick in and events would play out pretty similarly as far as her getting her memory back.
The big difference is that, rather than being split up and coming together, the group would (mostly) be together. However, they'd find themselves suddenly separated by emergency flood gates and forced to take different paths to meet up again, which would result in the different groupings we had.
So why the change?
Having the cast wake up imprisoned in TechQuestria and confronted only with Cobbler would have undersold how truly massive and advanced the fledgling state actually is. Also, keeping them together would be a dumb move by Cobbler (not that he hasn't made some mistakes anyway), as they'd feel more solidarity, especially when treated as prisoners rather than as unwilling "guests." It also meant that getting the cast split up would take some extra coordination, and I felt it would feel too contrived.
"But wait!" you might say. "Why wouldn't they use Rainbow Power to escape as soon as Turing let them out?" Well, remember how I said the group would "mostly" be together? The exception would be Rarity. Why? Well, because...
2. Rarity vs... Rari-bot?!
Oh yeah... I really thought this would be a plot point...
...You gotta be s
ttin' me.
This idea still cracks me up, but this would have been a real jump the shark moment in the story as it is now. However, originally, the story was going to be much more focused on comedy before I realized that the humor should come from character interactions, not from absurd situations. In essence, less Sweetie Bot, more Bicentennial Man.
But yeah... you see, rather than relying on Unit 004 to scan the data from Rainbow Power to weaponize it, TechQuestria would scan it directly from the source. And in an experiment to find the perfect vessels for it, they'd rely on robotic copies of the Mane 6. The first one chosen to be scanned and duplicated would have been Rarity.
"WHY??" you are probably screaming. Easy... because it would have been a rudimentary robotic clone that reduced Rarity's character to a bunch of silly, stereotypical "robot" phrases and it would have been hilarious (to me, at least). Imagine Rarity suddenly confronted with her robot clone who tried to kill her while shouting things like the following:
- "Beep boop, fabulous."
- "Affirmative, darling."
- "Enemy identified. Scanning... analysis complete: target's wardrobe classified as 'gauche.' Recommended course of action: termination, followed by bedazzling the corpse."
- "Status: simply divine."
- "Threat level: lovely."
- "Directive one: serve TechQuestria. Directive two: apprehend fugitives. Directive three: make pretty dresses."
- "Error, error! Dirt fragments detected on exterior! Initiating freakout.exe! Locating fainting couch...!"
- "Makeover is compulsory."
I could go on and on like this. 
Seriously.
So why the change?
Because it was just too silly. Plus, when Robo-Rarity was defeated by Rarity pointing out that she was just a copy of the original, and thus an unfashionable knockoff, she'd self-destruct... and I realized after building a narrative around accepting a robot as a person, killing off another robot as a gag character would just be wrong. Ah well... I suppose Robo-Rarity was not to be. 
3. Rainbow Dash & Fluttershy fight... Blue Blazer?!
Yep! Blue Blazer was going to lfind Rainbow Dash and Rarity making their way through an abandoned training course for pegasi in TechQuestria's security forces. She'd crank things up to a dangerous level and send in guards to further stymie their efforts. All the while, pre-recorded messages from former President Cave Dweller would describe hilarious quack science experiments in glowing terms and-- okay, look, the whole thing was going to be a dumb Portal homage.
2012 bronies: they've already thought of it and made an image of it.
Eventually, Blue Blazer would find herself caught in one of the traps and be rescued by Rainbow and Flutters. This would result in her changing her mind about the good guys and begrudgingly helping them.
So why the change?
A few reasons. First, Blue Blazer just isn't a terribly intimidating villain. She served well as a surprise in the Manehattan arc, but the idea of her maliciously hunting Rainbow and Fluttershy through abandoned obstacle courses just started to feel out of character. The other reason is that references only carry so far, and Cave Dweller could easily have gone from an homage to a rip-off with overuse. The silliness of this concept also reflects the sillier tone the story was originally going to have, and I realized pretty quickly into writing the story that a more serious concluding arc was needed.
4. Unit 004 vs Turing Test & 002?!
In what would have been one of the more serious parts of the story, Turing Test would have beaten 002 in much the same way she was beaten in the real story... but 002 wouldn't have been the last obstacle to escape from TechQuestria. Instead, Turing would win 002 over to her side, using a logical paradox to short out her elder sister's programming, freeing her. While 002 still wouldn't join the heroes willingly, she would at least help them escape TechQuestria.
The last obstacle would have been 004. To defeat him, Turing and Twilight (with access to her magic), would outsmart him long enough for 002 to use her ability to interface with her siblings (which is only mentioned in the final story) by extending wires from her back and plugging into the back of their heads.
Kinda like this.
During the fight with Turing, 002 would use this and find herself being overwhelmed by Turing Test, whose mind had developed into something stronger. Essentially, Turing would win the battle of wills. With 004, however, 002 would connect Turing to him and allow him to experience a taste of her emotions and memories. Turing would hope to convince him of his own self worth and potential, but he would be so unprepared for the overwhelming experience that he'd simply shut down, nearly frying his system in the process when he was unable to reconcile his orders with his newly-awakened emotional state.
This would result in Turing feeling a profound amount of guilt at what she'd done to her "brother." However, Twilight would promise to come back to help 004 after they'd stopped Cobbler by repairing him and then helping him understand and cope with his new emotions.
So why the change?
There's something villainous about forcing your own mind on others, even if you think it would be beneficial. By forcing emotions on 004, Turing Test and her companions wouldn't be any different from Cobbler when he forcibly reprogrammed Turing Test against her will. Furthermore, I felt that burdening Turing Test with the guilt of being unable to save/nearly killing her sibling would be cruel given everything else she'd dealt with.
And there we are! That mental cutting room floor sure needed sweeping, didn't it? 
What do you think about these concepts? Have you ever had similar experiences with story planning?
Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments below. Until next time, everyone!
Interesting. . . (somehow I think that Rarity Bot should still be a thing somewhere even if it's like a trolling side fic or something. I mean she doesn't have to die or be defeated or something. But having Rarity getting miffed a robot that acts like her would be kinda funny. . .)
~Melly~
I know how side-shoots and distractions can drag a plot into a few hundred thousand words of chaos. Good work holding it together.
Hmmm. But we haven't seen evidence that Autonomous Units can transfer their ghosts. Not yet at least! ;)
Oh oh oh... Can I use the Raribot concept...?
Please, make a spin-off or a side story with Raribot!
I need it! Even a one shot!
... maybe with an additional chapter where she receives an upgrade
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/1/12/522834__safe_rarity_robot_fallout_artist-colon-klondike_mule_liberty+prime.png
This was a nice look into the development of the story
You are right, the first situation would make Cobbler start to look villainous earlier than in the published fic (although it would be interesting to see how the rest of the Mane 6 would react to Cobbler's arguments and how they would shoot him down), and the Raribot idea as described would be too silly, contrasting to the tone of the rest of story... although it would been interesting to see the Mane 6 facing their robotic duplicates.
Also I'm surprised that Cobbler isn't using one pretending to be Twilight to make ponies think that she at the side of Techquestria...
Robo-Rarity? More like Mettaton
!