2-Year Anniversary! · 11:28pm Jun 4th, 2015
That's right everybody! Saturday, June 6th, marks the second year of The Witching Hour!
We expect presents
That being said, I wanted to give you, my (mostly) loyal readers and followers something for helping me keep this slow moving hunk of pony-junk moving. At first I was going to list reasons why the story was updating so slowly and why chapters were taking so long. After being threatened with duct-tape and an upside down time-out on a highway sign, I thought about maybe giving out some spoilers. After some retrospect, that might provoke worse things (I'll leave it to you other nut-jobs out there to think of some).
So, what did I finally settle on? Drum-roll please.
*BAKOK!!!*
Not a drum-roll, but whatever; I give you: 5 Things Behind the Scenes of The Witching Hour! (I know that title sucks; shut up)
1. The Witching Hour started off as a romance story between a (then) pegasus Midnight and Queen Chrysalis
I know, hard to wrap the brain around, right? Keep in mind that I first came up with any pony-fiction ideas right after the season 2 finally, when Chrissy fever was sweeping the community. Yes, I was one of those who wanted to redeem miss bug-butt with the power of love. This idea thankfully died off when I really wanted Midnight to be around for Discord's entrance into the show. Don't worry; Bug-Butt will get her debut soon (that's a relative term here people).
2. Squeaks and Sapphire took the longest to come up with in terms of character design
Yes, those two ponies who are as central to the story now as our dear kirin took almost the entire year I was designing the story to be finalized. In fact, when Sapphire was introduced, her design, name, and personality were made at the spur of the moment because I still wasn't happy with her. I knew she was going to be a pegasus, but colors, name, and personality just weren't coming to me. I even had the idea of Celestia making a magic double of herself, the pegasus Sunny Skies, to be Midnight's friend and royal contact. When it was time to introduce her into the story, I just gave up, gave her blue colors with opposite eyes, named her after a blue gem, and tried to make her demeanor and attitude the opposite of Midnight's. After a time I finally got used to the character and so here she is today.
Squeaks... where the heck to I start with you? I guess back when you were Midnight's legitimate offspring. Yeah, originally I had Midnight run off when she was twelve-thirteen and get knocked-up at an early age. Squeaks was originally named Pumpkin Spice (damn you Starbucks and your autumn frapp selection) and was sort of a half-kirin, having some but not all draconic qualities of Midnight. Then I caught Past Sins fever and spent the next six months trying to incorporate my own black(ish) alicorn filly found in the Everfree into the story. Naturally, I never liked any of them. Pen Strokes just did it so well that every new filly I pumped out of the pony generator just flopped five minutes out of the gate. Then, as I was scrolling through DA looking for thestral pics (seriously, we need the mane six going to a colony), I found this one:
And dear god I wanted her.
Of course she wasn't mine to take, so I went about trying to make an original bat pony with this one as the base. I kept the eye and coat color, as well as the mane style, but I needed a new mane color. But what? As I was pondering what went with cream (other than blue), my brain had a stroke of genius: Orange Cream Swirl from the ice cream company Khors. Bros., something I loved to hit up every time I went down to the shore. Thus, Squeaky Wings (bats squeak, get it?) was finally born. Damn, now I want to give her a sister that's a chocolate/mint swirl. Curse you delicious ice cream provider!
3. Autumn Light and Orange Glow were thought of just after the Discord arc
I never had any plan to give Midnight a sister until right after finishing up the fight with Discord. Okay, that's a lie, but I didn't think to give her one so early. Summer was supposed to still be unmarried until she and Fancy Pants really get to know each other at his Canterlot Garden Party, after which they court through the entire rest of the story and only producing Midnight's sister during the story's epilogue.
That was too far away, I felt Summer would be too old at that point, and the age difference between Midnight and her sister would be too much. Plus, I felt that having a sister early on would help show a new side of Midnight, and it obviously worked well. Her color choices were going to be a mix of Summer's and Orange's, but I opted out of the white coat in favor of a grey one (too many white-coated characters in this thing already). Speaking of Orange Glow, got the same treatment that Sapphire did: pick a color, match his name to it, make him mellow.
4. Requiem For the Kirins is more for my take of early Equestria than the downfall of the kirins
Although that is the ultimate goal of the story. Everyone has their own head cannons about that time and this is a way of getting mine out there with the fall of the kirins as an excuse to do so. I always liked the idea of Tia, Luna, and Discord growing up together, at the very least, because to me it makes the whole turning-him-to-stone thing almost on par with Tia banishing Luna (I'm sorry but I like to think Tia is so forgiving in these later years because she regrets a lot of what she did when she was younger. Quick, someone give her a hug before I write how Sombra was her favorite doll come to life!). The time between the first Hearth Warming and Luna's banishment just had so much going on back then, too! Don't worry; I haven't forgotten it; just preoccupied with the main story.
5. Between seasons 2&3, 3&4, and after 4, there were going to be original content I called "chronicles"
Two of which have been removed from production. I haven't dismissed them at all, just reworked them to fit within seasons 2 and 3. The first one, which would have been dubbed "The Changeling Chronicles" would have taken place right after the attack on Canterlot and focused on adding a changeling to the story. It would have only been four chapters and taken place over a course of a week. This was eventually scraped because I didn't like how everyone, even Midnight, came to trust the changeling so quickly and a face value as well. Sure, there was going to be this epic battle with Midnight and the changeling against three Rocs in a fight almost exactly like this one:
Minus a pebble of course, and in the sky over the Everfree. But it still just didn't feel right. So, now there's a changeling loose among our heros during the majority of season 2. Makes the eventual reveal at the end of the season a lot better and a better discussion about trust between the characters.
The second one, "The Hybrid Chronicles" has now been regulated to the second half of season 3, mainly because I can't come up with a lot of original content for that season and events there are the cause for the events in the chronicle. So, the first half of season 3 will be "Slice of Life", while the second half will be "Adventure". Damn the admins and there blocking of such combos in the story tags. Also, the title is misleading; the creatures that appear half-pony that they meet are actual species, not hybrids. Is there an official umbrella term for those?
So, there you go; 5 things from behind the scenes of The Witching Hour. I'll be in Boston this weekend which is why this is two days early, but I might just be able to work on stories at least on the ride up to and down from there.
Have a great weekend and damn (thank) Overlord Hazbro for these hiatuses!
you could have gone with a new life from of eqis
Tharen PS. i am currently working on my own fanfics one for here the other not woundering if you could give some adive
chaotic if your worry about those nut jobs so badly, why not just get some house security. In fact let me give you my boys numbers
1-800-stone columns security
3123714
I can try
Happy Birthday!
Let's open a 30 pack of Granny Smith's Special Cider.
3123950
Whoooo! I'm actually going to be at the Sam Adams brewery tomorrow! Drunk Time!
3123968
Less Talking! More Driking!
3123850 okay the problem with the one that i want to put on here is i can not make up my mind when to put him FYI he is a displaced the two times i want put him in i have some ides for the times are 10 years before the show starts the other is 10010 years in the past the other fics peramis is my own interpretation of star trek it's a what if sencoero that go like this what if humans after ativeing warp five meet hostaly aliens that invaded earth and thanks for the halpe
Hey, that's us!
I say that Honeysuckle is actually Honeycomb in disguise
3124169
Well, I don't know anything about Star Trek, and as for the pony story, it depends on which cannon characters, if any, you want your OCs to interact with
3124574
THIS!
OW!
IS WHY!
DAMNIT!
YOU DON'T!
THAT HURT!
ADD!
MY GLORBACK!
ANYONE!
I WAS SAVING THAT KIDNEY!
WITHOUT!
MIDDY, MAKE HIM STOP!
MY CONSENT!
Nope; having way to much fun watching the show
3124738
Poor Calypso.
3124736 well i can work on the star trek fic on my own as for the one i want to put on here 10 years before the show starts he interact will be the pics that fallow
with some time spent with cadence and shining armor, the 10010 years in the past it will be with Tia and Luna and their parents also just so you know he is seven years old in both cases
3124806
I'd personally vote on the one with Tia and Luna's parents; that era in Equestria history just fascinates me more.
3126131 hum i'll think about it
3124574 3124786 Characters do not exist unless they have actually debuted in the story. That's my new rule.
3131026 In the last chapter, Midnight meets a mysterious pony by the name of Honeysuckle, who can see relationship bonds between ponies, and in the comments it is speculated just who Honeysuckle really is.
3131173
3131173 Considering that CI has blatantly admitted that he's changed a lot of things over the course of the writing, I've made it my rule not to speculate on specific characters; I don't know who this Honeycomb is. Perhaps the only exception to this rule is Calypso, since she has fanart and seems reasonably fixed into the plot.
I'm not mad or anything;
I just don't trust draconequi to be consistant.
Also, Honeysuckle. Be a dear and tell me about Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
3138972
I have this weird thing in my blogs and comments where I have several voices talking, which include:
myself
Midnight
Calypso
and, during my April 1st post, Honeycomb made an appearance; her second after last years. For certain reasons I haven't let Calypso expand on her.
Killjoy
As for
, maybe after she gets to Ponyville, if she ever does. And if I allow 4th wall rights.