Declassified #1 - Behind the Scenes of "Torchwood ESOV" · 4:22pm Dec 10th, 2014
Hey guys.
Well, studies are winding down to a close this week, which means more time working and restructuring my social life. Plus writing more horse words and hopefully cranking something out soon.
In the meantime, how about an early, sorta-kinda-holiday gift for everyone? You all remember Torchwood ESOV? For those who don’t, it was one of my first attempts at writing pony. Was pretty damn good, if the 27/3 voter score didn’t lie, but I was unsatisfied with it and, in a stroke of stupidity, deleted it from the site. BUT, it still exists on fanfiction.net, if anyone is interested in giving it a read.
Anywho, since it’s dead for now, I’d like to share a few ideas I had in mind for the story had it continued. Some are idle thoughts, some are surprising, and … well, I’ll shut up so you can read for yourself.
--The original team was to be composed of Star Hunter as Jack, Pokey Pierce as Ianto, Lemon Hearts as Tosh, Lucky Clover as Owen, Candy Mane as Suzie/Adam, and Rose as Gwen/Rose.
--Jack Harness was a pony from the Boeshmane Peninsula, a region of an island somewhere in Equestria’s western sea. As a foal, Changelings attacked his home, and was the sole survivor. He would travel the world aimlessly and pick up drinking to drown his sorrows (a catalyst to a later relationship with Berry Punch). During his travels he would meet famed archeologist Daring Do.
He was later recruited by Torchwood about fifty years before the return of Nightmare Moon and became immortal through a series of experiments involving time-travel spells.
Further details of his history will be explained throughout this post.
--Pokey Pierce (analogous to Ianto Jones and Owen Harper) was a Changeling the whole time. He was under orders to infiltrate Torchwood by Chrysalis and monitor its activities, especially its leader Jack Harness. Pokey fabricated a romantic relationship with Jack to get close to him and glean secrets necessary to successfully initiate the invasion of Canterlot, plus destroy Torchwood from the inside. He would eventually reveal his true colors during the battle by incapacitating Jack and killing Ghost and Hawkeye before his eyes.
--Candy Mane would be revealed to have been an entity akin to that of Adam Smith, manipulating memories to exist and survive. Initially, she infiltrated the Torchwood team years before, in which her ruse would be uncovered by one of the team. Instead of erasure like Adam’s fate, Jack possessed sympathy for Candy and allowed her to stay on two conditions. First, only use her abilities to wipe memories of those who uncovered Torchwood’s existence (essentially a living dose of retcon). Second, and at Jack’s request, wipe his memories of his life on the Boeshmane Peninsula, as they were a haunting reminder of his failure to protect his younger brother when Changelings attacked.
--Gray Harness would never have been found alive, as it was a deception orchestrated by Changeling Pokey. He was disguised as Gray when Jack saw him by the streetlamp, as well as the mysterious mare described by witnesses in the antique shop from the first chapter.
--The language used by Jack to describe the Changelings was from a tribe of warrior-farmer earth ponies from the regions north of Trottingham, their leader named Skitter Fetlock. This is a reference to Karen Traviss’ take on Mandalorian culture in Star Wars: Republic Commando, plus the characters Kal Skirata and Boba Fett.
--In chapter 3, Jack rebuts Crescent’s statement with a quote from “The Big Lebowski”.
--The Doctor Hooves depicted was possibly the Meta-Crisis Doctor. He bared personality quirks from Ten and Eleven, and had Nine’s fashion sense. He was married to Derpy, and their children Amethyst Star and Dinky are biologically theirs. Jack serves as an uncle figure to the kids and is a close friend of the family. The Doctor never got along with his mother-in-law (Derpy’s mom). He thought her too intrusive, she thought him too eccentric.
--After Season 2, Doctor Hooves and Derpy would join Torchwood and handle operations in newly-formed Ponyville branch, while Jack and Candy continued on within the re-designated Canterlot branch. Princess Luna, who founded Torchwood before her time as Nightmare Moon, would take over Night Light/Crescent Sparkle’s position as Administrator after he retired.
--Crescent Sparkle was well aware of his daughter’s imminent ascension to alicorn princess, a detail only Celestia was supposed to know.
--Following her ambiguous fate at the Academy, Lightning Dust is recruited into Torchwood.
--Each chapter would be named after an episode of the show. Which leads to…
--“Foals of the Earth” would have focused on a mysterious force controlling the minds of foals all over Equestria, making chant the phrase “I am coming”. It would have turned out to be Sombra hailing his return.
--“Countrycide” would have occurred after the episode “Wonderbolts Academy”. Applejack harbors a hatred for Torchwood because they were responsible for the deaths of her parents. She refuses anyone in her family to make contact with them.
When Jack and Candy are in Ponyville, Applejack confronts them after finding out Apple Fritter and Meadow Song met them prior to the Royal Wedding. Big Mac tries to defuse the argument that springs up, but is fruitless, and the Jacks end up brawling on Sweet Apple Acres. The fight ends when Jack shares a memory with Applejack (via a proxy mind-meld thing thru Candy) of her parents begging Jack to let them die for the safety of Equestria and their last words to the Apple Family.
Applejack gets emotional at the revelation. The two forgive one another for his ‘misdeeds’ and her ignorance.
--Cloud Kicker was a frequent associate with Torchwood. Jack took an interest in her and other cadets during her West Hoof days. That interest developed into a relationship that lasted for a few years, weakening after a confrontation with Lyra, and ultimately ending with Cloud’s running out on graduation. Instead of retconning her, Jack allowed her to retain her memories of Torchwood, still hoping she would come back.
When she was temporarily assigned to the team following her mother’s assassination, Jack tries to reinitiate the relationship, but it doesn’t work out thanks to Pokey Changeling’s discreet interference.
--An off chapter would have focused on uncovering the identity of a mysterious g-pony with a briefcase and why she’s been watching them for years. She is similar to the G-Man from Half-Life and the Observers from Fringe.
--Another off chapter would have played out like Assassin’s Creed. Octavia’s identity as an assassin is unveiled during a diplomatic assembly in Saddle Arabia.
--And yet another off chapter titled “Escape to L.P.” would have featured the team (Jack, Candy, Lightning, Derpy, Doctor) taking time off at Las Pegasus, with hilarious results.
--As a pony from an island where sexuality is fluid, Jack shags anything with a hole. This includes every member of Torchwood since he joined (excluding Crescent); Derpy, Doctor, Rose, Written Script, and Carrot Top in an orgy; Cloud, Princess Luna, Misty Fly, Berry Punch, a Saddle Arabian ambassador, and a diamond dog. He and Braeburn were and item for a while, but had to break it off before Applejack found out.
--Shortly after Twilight became an alicorn princess, Luna revealed the existence of Torchwood and subsequently passed on the role of Admin to her. Needless to say, she was checked off of Jack’s “to do” list.
--Flash Sentry (analogous to Andy Davidson) would have been an associate who worked with the Crystal Branch run by Shining Armor. Shining and Cadance were aware of its existence by the time they were married, and Celestia is still in the dark about everything.
--Cheesy promotional art made in PhotoShop
I had a lot planned out for this, but being the ambitious guy who bit more than he could chew and such a noob brony, it would have become more of a chore than a labor of love. It wasn’t a total loss, though. Had I not started this, I wouldn’t have met such awesome writers and made great friends with the people of the Winningverse community (and the fiction community in general).
Though this and my other stories have taught me that maybe, just maybe, I ought to start out slow and write shorts rather than full out narratives. I don’t know; guess I’ll find out once the first chapter or two of Sentry pops up.
In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday, and best of luck on finals! Cheers!
