One year anniversary of Changing Views! · 8:59pm Jan 25th, 2016
Well... okay, not really since I started working on it for longer than that, but it has been a year since Changing Views was approved on the site!
Rather, it was last saturday, but I was too busy to post this until now.
Anywho, Genbu recently sent me more fan art, and since everything he's drawn so far was made of pure awesomeness:
Seriously Genbu, my gratitude cannot be expressed through the words of mortal men.
Now, I was thinking about what I could possibly do for you guys on this occasion (besides post the next chapter, which is close to being ready by the way) and I thought "Why not share my super early notes for the story for the world to see?"
However, I do want you to keep in mind that these notes were written before I had started working on the 'Prologue', and that I haven't even looked at these since then. Except maybe once or twice. If you haven't read the story to begin with, then there will be a couple spoilers in here. I've pretty much made up other notes in a separate file (that I'm actually using) as I wrote the story.
Also, anything in the quotes is literally copy-pasted from my old file, and not modified in any way. If I have something to say about their contents, I'll write a message in-between quotes instead of adding something to them.
Nearly everything you'll see WILL NOT make it into the story itself.
And so, without further ado (and to my embarassment):
Title names: Changing Perspective?
Name of queen: Song, Mirage, Breeze, Haze, Redstar, Aphrodites, Sectine, Artemis, Pixie, Spectre, Aquila, Elena?
Name of changelings: Shifter, Edge, Redstar, Sectine, Pixie, Spectre, Aquila, Viper, Yoreel, 626,
Name for disguises:
Celestia: Pegasus, Sunny Skies
Luna: Unicorn, Stargazer
THE THING THAT THEY WEAR ON THEIR CHEST IS CALLED A PEYTRAL.Short summary: I had everything I ever wanted. Then I lost everything I ever had. Now? I'm the last survivor of my race. I'm not even human anymore.
Long Summary: I had friends I could trust my life with. Friends whom would give their lives for me, and I for them if needed. Brothers in arms.
While I was out there, serving my country, I had a loving wife and child waiting for me back home. A home. A family.
It all happened so fast...
Next thing I know, I'm hearing voices, I can't move, I can't talk, I can't even breathe. Yet, I know I'm alive. I don't even feel like myself entirely anymore.
What's going on?
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A HiE fic as a changeling in an alternate universe where MLP was never aired.
Quick note: the long summary's information on Artemis' background is no longer valid. I was going to make him have some sort of militaristic past, but gave up on that idea as I wrote the story.
Intro plan:
-1st chapter will have flashbacks, goes back and forth between present and human back story.
(starts with present?)Present: Human is inside changeling egg. Conscience fades in and out as stuff happens IRL?
Backstory: have to work on this. Must contain mainly things that will become relevant to story and/or give off a sort of personality to the main character.
HUMAN BACKSTORY
(Or rather, his past?)
-Could have a militaristic past, at least the training part. Knows strategy and self-defense.
-(VERY UNLIKELY THAT I'LL DO THIS ONE)Could be a good singer. Him becoming a changeling could help with pretty much any song he'd want to sing.
Songs in the middle of a fic break immersion pretty hard, as I've come to notice from reading other people's fics, therefore I won't use any songs unless I find a way to make it not be 'jarring'.
-Nearing the end of his life, could have everything going bad? Death by lightning in middle of rainstorm? Discord would probably be involved with him appearing. Rainstorm could be unnatural, different colors and whatnot. The odds of ONLY HIM being selected would be somewhat unrealistic, could bring other humans as his children later on? would be hard and might deter some viewers. Could make it a very specific reason he got TP'ed, something like "a very specific area was somewhat warped".
-I'll probably add a snippet of his past every chapter, could randomize the order to let the viewers try and figure it out. OTHERWISE, I could make his entire back-story in the very first chapter, but ehhh, some people want to get into the story right away, kind of like me.Chryssie
Chrysalis was Celestia / Luna's sister, transformed during war with Discord? (magical accident? caused transformation AND teleportation of "chrysalis"?) Awakens with realization of new powers and appearance, emotion scents. Found by Discord, unwillingly forced to fight Celestia and Luna. (before they found elements of harmony?). Teleported to future, a few years before season 2 finale? feels betrayed, wants revenge/unwilling to find peaceful solution?. Celestia too shocked to see "sister" during wedding, (which is why she hesitated early on and "maybe" let her win that short duel?)IDEAS FOR STORY
-English is equivalent of Chittering(?), Chirping, Hissing, screeching, clicking? (find other terms). Able to speak with animals/insects directly because of inheritance of "terra/Chrysalis"?
Still debating on the 'speaking with animals/insects' thing, though I'm leaning very heavily towards not being able to.
-Early on, Celestia could find body of chrysalis, blueblood finds out about that and about character, decides to lure character into room where body is held, emotional shiz happens, blueblood begins his attempt at character's life then. cliff hanger. ofc character lives through outside intervention.
The Blueblood I had in mind back then will not be like the Blueblood I have in mind now. Just keep that in mind. 
-Character is handling situations somewhat fine. Mainly due to militaristic past? But when alone spends time thinking. At some point could tell himself "how bad could ponies really be?" And then the fire nation attacked. hue. Would have to be sometime early in the story. Prolly during the week I planned of him living with the elements? if so would have to decide when the attack would be. Most likely after the final one. I was thinking of making it the Rainbow Dash one, as she would be the hardest to convince? wanted to make it a fluff moment when Character reaches cloud house and is ecstatic of the cloud's fluffiness. (and rainbows obv.).
^^^^^That right there was from my initial plans (that I unfortunately never wrote down) where Artemis would've hatched at Canterlot in front of Celestia, Luna, and maybe the mane 6. (More on this later in this blog post.)
-After week with elements, Crystal empire thingy could happen, elements called away to do their thing, Character has to stay with Luna/Celestia. Could make the attack happen then and there actually. Luna would be wayyy too excited / think character is adorable. (in private of course). Attack could be from blueblood? he could even attempt something before the entire "week with the elements" thing, while egg hatching happens at Canterlot Castle.
Oh, and the "week with the elements"? More on that later in the post, too. It's something that I absolutely want to do, though with how the story's going so far, I'm finding it hard to incorporate that chapter, if it ever will be.
-How will changelings feed if they want to coexist with Equestrian ponies? Could make them use convicted Ponies (criminals) for love, induced dream to steal love? would have to be something that happens that can be used for long-term.
-The fluff in this story must remain at an all-time high.
-Could follow certain events in rest of season. Would have to start with "too many pinkies". Preferably once character is an adult and has had a few children already. Citizens could confuse the pinkies to be changelings.
-During melancholy period of Character, mane 6 confuse his sadness with him being the last of his species.
-Character could remain incognito among ponies as long as possible, make a lot of friends and such, finally revealing changeling status during teenage/adult times. Everyone that character knew would turn on him, dramadramadrama....
-At some point, could be singing a sad song (maybe yeul's theme? just need something sad.) Could sing it publically, twilight would attribute the song to have a hidden meaning of sadness behind death of all the changelings.
-Feather Wind and Edge could make a return in the fic.
-Friendship between Cadance and Artemis? eventually Cadance reveals she technically killed Artemis' entire family. Dramaaaaa
My notes are mainly composed of key phrases and things that remind me of the actual things that I want to be reminded of, and with that in mind I was able to remember how I wanted the story to go, way back then:
Everything that is in act [0] is what would've happened no matter what, though what happened after that is where my plans deviated.
In my initial plan for how the story would go, Artemis would've still stayed in the hive as an egg, eventually found by a squad (without Daring Do) sent by Celestia due to Chrysalis' final words. Artemis would've hatched at Canterlot in front of Celestia and Luna, maybe the mane 6 as well. The diarchs would fawn all over the little nymph, adorable stuff would happen left and right, until Artemis would eventually have to be sent to Ponyville for his/her safety after someone makes an attempt at Artemis' life in the Castle (most likely Blueblood). The elements would take turns guarding the tiny changeling, mane 6 would have differing opinions on Artemis (some would love, some would hate, and I would try to not make it obvious which elements would love or hate), Artemis would go to school, stuff happens, grows up, etc...
At least, that was the rough idea from what I can remember.
As for the rest of the 'plan', well, I quickly realized how much of a Gary Stu / Mary Sue Artemis would've been if I had followed through with it. I hadn't even taken Cadance into account, nor had I realized how 'dark' killing off the entirety of the changeling race would be, and how that alone should affect the emotional states of various important figures, such as Cadance and the alicorn sisters.
In fact, it was only once I was done with the retelling of how the invasion went (and failed) that I stopped and reconsidered how the events would play out. How everything should play out.
And so, here's how my train of thoughts went as I began writing act [1]:
I was mulling over how Artemis being discovered should go; whether the team sent to 'find and rescue' the egg should be a large one, or a small team. The inclusion of Lara in th— Erm, I mean, Daring Do in the story, was honestly a spur-of-the-moment thing.
In fact, I'm still not sure why I went with it back then, because I hated Daring Do. As a character, at least.
...I think.
I don't know, something about her just... irked me.
Either way, Daring Do was suddenly part of the 'rescue team' after the idea came to me as a random thought, and she ended up being the one to single-hoofedly escape with Artemis, still in an egg.
Next, the egg would have to be brought up to Canterlot (and would supposedly hatch there).
I decided that Artemis would be conscious for the trip, and I felt that something should happen along the way.
And what better way to have interesting stuff happen than to have Artemis hatch almost immediately after being taken out of the hive?
By the time I was done with the chapter where Artemis got out of the egg in front of Lara, a random thought just so happened to have come to me right then and there.
"What if they bonded along the way?"
Wham. Fortress incident was born.
Meanwhile stuff would happen in Canterlot Castle, because I couldn't leave the important characters there unattended; especially Cadance because of how her own actions at the invasion affected her.
Then there was that fluffy chapter with Artemis and Lara spending some time together in Lara's home, and I realized that the pegasus had pretty much become a main character. Something that was unintended.
At that point, I looked at everything I had written so far, looked at my old plans for what I wanted there to happen once Artemis would reach the Castle, and I threw the latter out the window.
Metaphorically, of course.
I hate getting rid of information, and I thought I'd keep the old notes as a reminder of how stupid I was to have come up with... that, back then.
I think I'm rambling by now.
Once again, I'd like to thank you all for your support and comments. I'll probably be putting up one more blog post sometime this week with another batch of random polls for fun.
Egh. So much pointless text. An update would be better.
3711744 Working on it. I've been posting updates on my user page for a few months, now.
So stop your rambling and get to the next chapter! On yesterday! Pronto!
Huh, Interesting, its rather neat how plans change so dramatically eh? I remember in my story on where I was going to go with it, but didn't work out.
But still its fun to write am I right?
Always did enjoy telling stories.
THIS
WHOLEHEARTEDLY THIS
You have no idea how long I've been looking for the actual name of that bloody piece of armor.
It's been an awesome year!
3711952 I forgot I even wrote that down in the file
Good to see the Vimes effect in action. I did seriously not expect 'Lara' to be unintentional. I am glad you realized 'Stu'ness as the slight dark edge does a lot to the story. I wonder if you currently have an idea for the current backstory of Artemis, as I have an idea...
Anyway, glad to hearing it's going well.
I completely understand. I once made a horse for a side-quest in a story, and it ended up becoming a main character/the narrator. These things happen sometimes.
I very much enjoy your version of
totally not Indiana JonesDaring Do. It's probably in the top three I've read.3711744
Writing is hard.
3711952 I wondered about that a few days ago, then I just gave everyone an amulet. "Fuck it, I'm not going to look something like that up at the moment, everyone gets a pretty necklace instead."
I think my favorite part was one of the changeling names being 626. Ah, the memories.
3711746 OMG that pic, such pure terror and cuteness in one.
3711744
3711755
Music in a piece.
I would have to agree... it's distracting and sometimes annoying when a author inserts a youtube link.
You can still have her enjoy singing.... just no youtube links.
You don't even have to have lyrics, just say that she tried out singing in the new form. Really enjoyed the vocal range... give her something to really enjoy as a changeling.
3712714 Meh. I just called it a chest-piece.
Also, hype for the update!
HYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPEHYPE!
Is it my birthday already? Two of my favorite stories are updating!
You know, Artemis looks a LOT like a filly Marksaline from FlufflePuff.
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