Fun Facts About: A Feeling Of · 6:41am Aug 8th, 2014
Instead of sticking these into the Author's Notes in the chapters, I'm just going to list them here as I go along.
General:
1. A Feeling Of's original Second-Person Greentext writing was over 65000 words long. The rewrite is expected to almost double this.
2. The story was originally planned to be over 40 chapters long, with more adventure elements, but I had so much fun writing Slice of Life stuff, that I opted to stick with the original theme of the first few arcs. (Though, there was one chapter written to test the waters of how the audience would react if Speck died, even though Anonymous was the one that would die.)
3. The original plot-line was going to involve Anonymous picking Speck up and helping her find work, friends, and hobbies. After Anonymous's planned death (predicted by Lulamoon), Speck was to journey around Equestria, helping others in the situation she had been in. The story was going to end with her traveling to the Crystal Empire in search of more ponies in need of help, but she would get lost in a blizzard and end up freezing to death in a cave. Good thing this was dropped, right?
4. Anonymous was originally going to work at Sweet Apple Acres (which can still be seen in the original posting of Loneliness - 1 on /mlp/'s archives).
5. Season 4 hadn't aired at the time the original was finished, so any references to anything that happened in Season 4 were put into the rewrite (such as Twilight's castle existing, albeit briefly (in contrast to Season 5, which will apparently be explaining a lot about it)). So AFO's historical canon stops at the end of Season 4, and won't feature anything that happens in Season 5 (unless minor or has something to do with an important event in the history of the Elements of Harmony).
A Feeling of Renewal - 1:
1. The "thing" that Celestia and Luna speak about for a brief moment, in relation to Anon, is important.
2. Celestia's translation spell only worked one way: Anon can understand spoken and written Equestrian, but ponies can't understand spoken or written English. The only reason why no one ever comments on it, is because Anon doesn't realize he's speaking Equestrian. It feels like it's his natural tongue, as a side effect of the spell.
A Feeling of Renewal - 2:
1. Chef Boyardee's first appearance was in the Fear arc of the original writing.
A Feeling of Renewal - 3:
1. Pingpong's first appearance was in Sirocca's Story. I enjoyed writing a Pinkie Pie esque character so much, that I had her take on more of Pinkie Pie's traits and become a full-fledged character for AFO. She was nowhere to be seen in the original writing.
A Feeling of Renewal - 4:
1. Reverie was unnamed in the original writing of AFO.
2. Mrs. Cake's explanation of being infertile was originally used during the Rebirth arc of the original story, when talking to Speck.
A Feeling of Loneliness - 1:
1. This was the first chapter of AFO ever written. The original was in Second Person and often switched perspectives between Anon and Speck. In order to counteract this for the First-Person rewrite, all of Speck's thoughts are written in third-person past-tense. This is also related to the plot.
2. Speck's birthday is July 15th.
3. If Speck received one brick a day for the entire year she lived on the edge of the forest, she would have enough bricks to build a small house. She never actually had to live outside, she just really enjoys the outdoors.
4. In the original, Anon had been in Equestria for five years, and Speck had been in Ponyville for three. This would mean that Anon had been in Equestria since he was 17, and Speck had been in Ponyville for a majority of his time there. Due to the added subplot with Pingpong, the time had to be shortened, so Speck would meet Anon sooner (though not as soon as she actually should have.)
A Feeling of Loneliness - 2:
1. Anon's Journal actually contains his life story. AFO's story itself is actually taken directly from his journal, which is why the entire thing is written in present-tense, with Speck's parts interjected in third person past-tense. (The reason why I did this? Dean Koontz's Brother Odd has parts where important events were happening away from the main character, and from the perspective of another. It's a plot-point in that story, as Odd Thomas's biography isn't supposed to be published until after he's dead. So anything that happens that's important, that he didn't witness, he takes from third-party sources and fills them in later, thus why they're in past-tense. Anonymous does the same thing in AFO)
2. Raisins are disgusting.
A Feeling of Sadness - 1
1. Yes, that is Derpy's descendant. Her eyes are fine, but her wings are jointed wrong.
2. Anon hates puns. A lot.
3. The puns throughout the story actually become more scarce, because Speck cares enough about Anon to not want to upset him.
4. "It Gets A Name In The Sequel" makes its first appearance here. The original writing of AFO did not have anything related to this pony, and the only reason why I'm rewriting the story is because of it.
A Feeling of Sadness - 2
1. This was the chapter where I actually fell in love with Speck's character for a second time. The first time was a very, very long time ago before Season 1 even started. Maybe some day I'll publicly write all of that. I don't think I need to break any more hearts until the story's over.
2. Speck acts like a filly a lot of the time. This is related to #1.
A Feeling of Joy - 1
1. Angels. Angels play such a huge part in the lore of AFO, both before and after the rewrite. This is, in part, due to the theory that Anon had died before coming to Equestria.
A Feeling of Joy - 2
1. Speck is a sleep-leech.
2. The MMMM cake is still around, after 300+ years. The Cakes only make it once a year.
3. The Fruit Merchant's appearance is a reference to the merchants in Dust: An Elysian Tail.
4. Speck and Pingpong are friends. This is both a reference to Pingpong's Story, and to A Lesson In Friendship (located on my pastebin), where Speck (not in AFO Canon) visited Ponyville and spent the day with Pinkie Pie.
5. Speck kisses Anon.
A Feeling of Joy - 3
1. The titles of these arcs are misleading a lot of the time.
2. Speck is an Angel.
3. This chapter made me fall in love with Speck a third time.
4. Illusa was originally just called "Madame Lulamoon" but was changed, since she would play a more major role in both the prequel and sequel.
5. Her predictions of pain and loss pertained to Speck's death in the original idea for the story. Anonymous would be the one to take Speck's place and die so she could live. After all of that was scrapped, this was still left in. It became a prediction to a later apart in the Pain arc.
6. Anonymous forgot to ask what his name was.
7. The Ferris Wheel scene happens a lot in romance movies. I pulled it off once, but it cost a pretty penny.
A Feeling of Curiosity
1. This was a brand new chapter written on a whim. I felt the need to expand a little bit on the bat-filly, even though she won't be formally introduced until the Rebirth arc.
2. Matron Cherry takes her job seriously, and considers herself to be the mother of all of the "Foals Looking For Loving Families."
3. The bat-filly shows talent with mechanics. This is a reference to a later chapter in the original writing of the story.
4. Matron Cherry knows something Anon doesn't. She kept pushing for him to adopt the filly.
5. The day she gets adopted is like five months off. Way to get her hopes up, Cherry.
A Feeling of Dread - 1
1. Train scenes suck.
2. Speck doesn't know how to ease into certain subjects.
3. Gilda's descendant.
4. Celery is disgusting.
5. A.T. 303 means "After Twilight" as in, after her coronation. The 303 is a reference to how many years have passed since her ascendance, but in the original draft, was a reference to how many years had passed since Luna's return. AFO happens 303 years after Twilight's Coronation.
6. The hat that Speck buys is described as a trilby, but is called a fedora. It's a joke about neckbeards buying trilbies from Walmart, and calling them fedoras.
7. Fedorable.
8. http://s4.postimg.org/ufis3ndwd/Fedora.png
9. This used to be called "A Feeling of Pain - 1" but it didn't bring across the feeling of pain that the later chapters in the arc brought, so I renamed it.
A Feeling of Dread - 2
1. Originally the first part of "Pain - 2"
2. Speck's dad wasn't named until the second chapter of Sirocca's Story
3. Hollow Shades was originally described to sit on the floor of the forest, but due to Merry Moon Memorial, I decided to swap into that setting.
4. Speck's house was originally on the east end of town.
5. The bricks being sent to Speck were sent through retroactive mail, originally. She received one brick a day from the day her dad died, two years prior to AFO's start, but the sender changed around six months into her time in Ponyville.
6. Speck is continually hopeful that her father still watches over her, and refuses to refer to him in past-tense.
7. The mare staring through the window was originally an allusion to Echo, but was neither described as such, named as such, or referenced as such. Echo and Speck, in the /mlp/ bat threads, were often imagined to be really good friends, but rivals when it came to the "top bat" title. Due to Shiggler's Home being a Slice of Life romance story between Echo and Anon, and being one of my favorite stories in those threads, I paid homage to it through this mare spying on Anon. In a very, very discrete way. I don't think anyone ever picked up on it.
8. The pony described in Speck's prom picture is my "ponysona." He plays no part in the story, but was merely an homage to a real-world situation, though with roles switched. Someday I'll make a post explaining all of that. Possibly when I'm through with AFO and post a rewrite of one of the "alternate endings."
A Feeling of Pain - 1
1. The second half of the original Pain - 2
2. The fruit-bar and flower shop scenes weren't present in the original writing of this chapter. There was originally a huge skip between Anon and Speck leaving the house, and arriving at Angel Tear's room.
3. The unnamed mare that continually harasses Speck and Anon only appeared a couple of times in the original story. She makes an extra appearance here to build tension between her and Speck.
4. Nectar's very first appearance in any story was Merry Moon Memorial, but was only shown briefly. Her second appearance was in AFO's sequel, but was added into this story because I had an idea for something between her and Anon.
5. Angel Tear's two favorite flowers, the Gladiolus and Hydrangeas, represent strength of character and perseverance respectively. Angel Tear managed to hang on since before Speck left for Ponyville, just to meet an Angel. Or maybe just to meet the love of Speck's life. Who knows?
6. Room Seven-Fifteen is a reference to Speck's birthday.
7. Speck talked about her mother a lot, but only ever said she "spent a lot of time at the hospital." Anon always took this to be "she's a nurse." Good job, Anon.
A Feeling of Pain - 2
1. The Funeral Party scene was nonexistent in the original writing. I added it in, because I enjoy the idea of certain real life cultures throwing parties/feasts/festivals for their dead and celebrating them. Bat-ponies aren't supposed to be edgy mary sues, riddled with dark pasts and special snowflake garbage. They're supposed to be just like every other species of pony. Cheerful, excited, adorable little shits.
2. The two moths that dance on Speck's parents' graves are supposed to represent her parents reuniting for another adventure.
3. Speck has abandonment issues.
4. Food easily sways her mood for the better.
5. Speck saying her middle name was "Danger" was a reference to Anonymous saying his middle name would probably be "Smooth" in Dread - 1, which was a callback to the original writing.
6. Speck's full name is Speck Sylvaretta Tear-Kindler.
7. Screech fights were an early headcanon in the /mlp/ bat threads, derived from an idea that bat-ponies screeched in each others' faces to communicate.
8. Anonymous is not Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Nor is he Havel the Rock.
9. Bat-ponies have incredibly resilient ear-drums, which allow them to participate in the screech fights. Whichever bat-pony has either the loudest screech, or the strongest ear-drums, will be victorious, thus winning over the weaker bat-pony. This supports what Speck says about the fights creating stronger offspring.
10. They also need minimal time to recover from the fights. Mortar, for instance, only needed half an hour to an hour with a little bit of medical attention. Lilith, on the other hand, would probably need a few days.
11. Mortar and Lilith, in the original write, were references to Aux and Echo respectively, and the entire fight scene represented the /mlp/ bat threads' initial shipping of Anon and Echo, and a joke ship of Aux and Speck. Mortar was named in the original, but Lilith was not. I didn't want to outright say anything, because I wanted to keep AFO's canon separate from the rest of the bat thread canon in case it interfered with anything anyone else would write.
12. Ponies are made of marshmallow.
13. In the original writing, Speck despised Mortar. He had a crush on her in their childhood, and admired her father's brickwork. He was much more creepy the first time around, but was toned down in this writing to keep Speck's character in check. She also doesn't hate Lilith. She was defensive of her relationship with Anon, and her devotion to her loved ones outweighs her love of other ponies, stranger or not.
A Feeling of Fear - 1
1. Speck is the toppest bat.
2. Generic Guard Number Seven-Sixty-Two is a reference to one of my favorite authors, SevenSixTwo
3. The exchange between Anon and Celestia over her throne is a very loose reference to GetMeOuttaHere's Exchange, which played a very large part in getting me to start writing. The reference itself alludes more to his Anonymous helping to relieve Celestia of the throne by means of shenanigans. Celestia's inquiry of the house's status is also a loose reference to Exchange. This conversation was very brief in the original writing.
4. Anon might have an aneurysm if he doesn't get a peak at the endings of the Elements of Harmony books.
5. This is the first time Anon acknowledges Speck's writing in his journal. While he writes everything in first-person present-tense, Speck goes back and writes in third-person past-tense.
6. Pingpong is a wizard.
7. As of this chapter, the rewrite has officially surpassed the original story in length.
A Feeling of Fear - 2
1. Chef Boyardee exists on all planes and dimensions. He is eternal.
2. Speck doesn't fully comprehend flirtatious advances. She tends to take the normal advances jokingly, though with Anon she takes them as an offer to be groomed.
3. That's really it. The chapter's fairly straight forward.
A Feeling of Resolve - 1
I'm glad you decided to scrap the original ending for a more happy ending. Thank you. :)
I think I remember you doing this once or twice before... in which you said nopony would die... please tell me you meant that. I'm currently writing a rather dark story and well you get the picture. Been reading this as sort of a relief from that. Plus it's really good as a happy story.
Interesting peek into the process here. I'm a total outsider when it comes to the lore surrounding this story and bat ponies in general so it's nice to see a little of what went on behind the scenes.
2353214
It gets dark sometimes, but not dark enough to where anyone dies.
2353545 no pony (or anon) corpses=fine by me.
Nice plot arcing. You can get so much done and analyzed with a plan, I don't know why some people I know chose not to use such a fine resource. Well done, and looking forward to more