Waning Moon: What Was Supposed to Happen · 11:44pm Aug 5th, 2017
Currently, I am torn. I have a story I want to start writing, but a part of me knows it will go over like the Hindenburg over an active volcano, so I hesitate to start writing it. But then I have my current story, which is updating slower and slower because I keep getting caught up in other stuff, and I know I should focus on that. But the new idea is more fun, but the old one needs attention, and...
None of this matters to this post, save to serve as an intro.
As was made official recently, Little Sunny is canon with My Little Alicorn, Bringing Up Blueblood, and Waning Moon. The first two were fully completed stories, albeit very old in fandom terms, but the last one was sadly cancelled on the grounds that I wasn't satisfied with how it was going and couldn't make anything worth reading out of it. It didn't help that it came out right around the time my mental health crashed harder than a speeding car slamming into a reinforced concrete wall. I did a lot of stupid things, pushed a lot of good people away, and by the time I could come back to things, there was no reason to do so.
Now that we have a (very loosely-connected) fourth entry, however, it's time to go over the actual set-in-concrete plans for Waning Moon. I know nobody cares at this point, but in order to move forward, it's necessary to confront, and make peach with, the past. So if any of you still care enough to keep reading, here's what would have happened with Waning Moon.
WHAT WAS ACTUALLY WRITTEN
The story never really got out of the introductory phases. Princess Luna was invited to give the opening speech to the Filly Scount Jamboree in Ponyville due to her overwhelming popularity with the young ones. Celestia, who was the one who gave the speech every year before this, is heartbroken and drowns her sorrow in fattening desserts. At the same time, she plans to have Twilight and Pinkie go through the Arcanus E Draconus for the bits of Kuchen's legacy that aren't dripping with evil, only for Pinkie to chew her out for something that stupid. And while all this is going on, Blueblood (still in his colt form of "Leon") and the Canterlot fillies (Lofty, Ribbon, Gusty and Buttons) have come to Ponyville as well - Blueblood to be returned to normal, and the fillies to join the Jamboree as junior members under the tutelage of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The CMC want nothing to do with all this, however, and conspire to essentially ruin the little foals' first camping trip in order to pursue their Cutie Marks.
Plus, Scootaloo and Lofty become bitter enemies over who is the cooler pegasus: Rainbow Dash or Fluttershy.
After all this happened, Luna was struck by something and turned into a filly. The normal spell to reverse the changes doesn't work, so she went undercover at the Filly Scout Jamboree to hide while everyone else tries to figure out what's going on. Twilight got mad at Celestia because the latter figured out that Ribbon was somehow connected to Kuchen, but had neglected to tell her of such things. Making her day even better is the fact that Trixie is also there, ostensibly because her niece is at the event as well. Celestia tries to give the opening speech, but is booed off the stage on the grounds that she isn't Luna. And Detective Pinkie and her lowly assistant, Blueblood, are searching for the cause of Luna's transformation.
The last published chapter ended with an arrow flying towards Luna's head.
THE PLOT AGAINST LUNA
Obviously, Luna was not going to be killed by an arrow to the eye socket - she simply rolls and dodges the projectile. However, this would have kicked off a string of bizarre accidents/murder attempts. She would have been telekinetically pulled underwater while swimming, chased by a boulder during a flag relay race, had axes and knives thrown at her, served poisoned food, tripped into a fire, etc. And every time, she would survive thanks to her Alicorn toughness, her quick thinking, or just dumb luck.
Unfortunately, outside of being a target for death, I...really had no plans for what to do with Luna in this story. The schtick I tried (her being painfully out-of-touch with the times) feels dumber the more I think about it, especially since it was largely done with Celestia back in My Little Alicorn. The only other solid plan - before the final chapters, that is - was that she would notice what the CMC were doing, how miserable the Canterlot Four were becoming, and righteously chew them out for sucking the fun out of young children's lives so they can get their puberty metaphor tattoos faster.
RAINBOW DASH VS FLUTTERSHY: A CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS
Out of all the things lost with the story's cancellation, this is the one I will miss the most. I always loved how Lofty was Fluttershy's most ardent fan, building her up as an unstoppable badass when she's...well, Fluttershy. Not that Fluttershy isn't badass, but she's not the "stare danger in the face and chuckle heartily" type that Lofty's imagination makes her out to be. As a result, putting herself up against Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash's biggest fan, was unavoidable. The story would have had the two constantly pulling their respective heroes into the conflict, despite neither one of the adults wanting to get involved.
This would lead to Rainbow Dash challenging Fluttershy to a race...but only as part of a devious plan. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy coordinate their flying and route so that they would both hit the finish line at the same time, thereby appearing to have equal levels of awesome and satisfying both fillies. Tragically, Rainbow Dash gets so caught up in how awesome her plan is that, right at the end, she forgets she's supposed to tie and blows past Fluttershy, winning the race easily. Scootaloo is ecstatic, but Lofty's little heart is shattered. She eventually gets over it (not sure how I would have done that), and still sees Fluttershy as being awesome.
PINKIE PIE INVESTIGATIONS
Pinkie Pie and Blueblood were to serve as a standard mystery duo, somewhat like how Pinkie and Twilight had been in "MMMMystery on the Friendship Express" but with Pinkie still remembering that lesson. This would have led them to Zecora and Trixie.
Trixie, as it turns out, had the Arcanus E Draconus. Twilight figures this out before Pinkie does, exposes her, and has her essentially ran out of town. However, Pinkie also figured out that there was no way for Trixie to steal the book, and just before she leaves, the showmare admits she never even read it - she could tell just from the cover how bad that thing was and wanted no part of any more evil artifacts after the Alicorn Amulet incident.
Zecora is a bit more complicated. She recognizes the dart they found outside of the library, but immediately shuts her mouth and refuses to speak about it further. Eventually, the truth gets dragged out. Shortly after he had left Canterlot, Kuchen had found a zebra tribe that had developed a potion to restore someone's youth, as well as an antidote that would restore the user to their rightful age. Kuchen found the idea fascinating and wanted to copy the recipe down, but the zebras refused to give him any instruction in making the brew himself. This culminated in Kuchen going on a rampage against the tribe, killing most of its members and burning their village to the ground. After escaping the last few, vengeful members, he used what he did know about the potion's creation to eventually re-discover the formula, and used those same principles and properties to devise a magical spell that could accomplish the same thing.
Zecora is a descendant of said tribe, and knows how to make the antidote. She refuses to help initially because this would also mean helping Celestia (the pony who taught the pony that started this mess), but she eventually acquiesces and makes a cure, giving up her own lingering hatreds along the way.
Also, a recurring gag would have been Pinkie going into the "Felt Dimension" to consult with her inner self and Kuchen - that is, the good Kuchen that was left after his evil was expelled. Also, her inner Twilight would have provided feedback. Inner Twilight either had an egg for a head or was an egg with pony legs, because Twilight's an egghead. And she had glasses, because smart ponies wear glasses. I wanted to do this gag since MLA, and now I'll never be able to do it.
CELESTIA EATING ICE CREAM FROM THE TUB
She gets over it. Somehow. I never planned this one out. I'm sorry.
THE FINAL CHAPTERS: WHO-DID-DUN-DOOD-IT
Near the end, the CMC, the Canterlot Four, and Luna would have ended up lost in the Everfree Forest at night. Taking charge of the in-over-their-heads CMC and the crying younger foals, Luna leads them to the ruins of her old castle, figuring it would at least be safe until morning. When they try to go to sleep, however, a massive ax barely misses her head. And swinging the ax is a terrified, sobbing Ribbon, who continues to attack even while begging "Uncle Kuchen" to stop. She has been behind the attempts to kill Luna.
The full story is that Ribbon is, indeed, a descendant of the Pie Family. When she was born, her parents knew that her birth meant Kuchen might go free, but they refused to allow any harm to come to their daughter. Then they were killed by a falling piano. The aspect of Kuchen inside Ribbon instinctively severed his connection to the rest of the Pie Collective, meaning he couldn't be traced and nopony would find out about Ribbon. The orphan was adopted by a husband-and-wife baking team. While Kuchen (as her imaginary uncle) pushed Ribbon towards pursuing magic so he could escape, her adoptive parents also pushed in that direction, if only because she was a unicorn, they were Earth ponies, and they weren't sure what else to do but help her pursue what she seemed to love.
What Kuchen hadn't counted on was that he would actually come to care for Ribbon as a granddaughter, and not just as a tool. Even worse, the only reason Ribbon has been able to set up this murder attempts is because he's been boosting her magical power, but doing this to someone her age is actually harming her body. Luna recognizes this and, just as Ribbon has her cornered, finally manages to reach Kuchen and convince him to stop hurting Ribbon this way. Her friends and the CMC join in, and Kuchen finally relents, ashamed of what his hatred for Celestia had led him to do.
At the same time, Pinkie Pie has gathered Blueblood, Celestia, and Twilight back at the library. She has finally figured out who did it. The dart had to have been fired from someone close to Luna's physical location, and they would have had to have knowledge of the potion. The only one who could have done that is...Twilight Sparkle. She drugged Luna into a filly, stole the Arcanus E Draconus, made it look like a burglary, and threw the book into the first wagon she could find - that said wagon happened to be Trixie's wasn't known until the next day. But Twilight wouldn't have known how to make the potion...but Kuchen would have. Or rather, the mass of evil that had melted off of Kuchen while he was in Twilight's mind. Having been found out, Kuchen drops the charade and takes full control of Twilight's body...meaning the madpony now has possession of the most powerful unicorn in Equestria. Massive bad news.
Kuchen!Twilight flees into the Everfree Forest, having sensed Ribbon's attack. Celestia gives Pinkie Pie and Blueblood a ride, and both sides converge on the ruins. Luna is restored to normal and joins the fight with Celestia, and the two together are enough to overpower Kuchen. He then takes the fillies hostage, and is especially intent on killing Ribbon and the "failure" in her head, but Luna outwits him and uses her magic to enter his/Twilight's mind. Celestia joins in, and after a lot of talk and blows, Kuchen finally, finally passes on completely. The evil that had infected Twilight dissolves, and "Uncle Kuchen" gives Ribbon a final hug before departing. The Princesses get everyone back to safety.
And so that was the end. Celestia places the Arcanus E Draconus back into the forbidden archives for a time. Blueblood becomes an adult again, but continues to support his young friends socially and financially. The CMC and Canterlot Four depart as friends. Twilight tracks down Trixie and apologizes, and she returns in time to help finish the Jamboree. And everything ends happily ever after.
There's probably more, but that fills in the important blanks. No need to go over how Ribbon's family and the Cakes are mortal enemies over whose baking style is a better use of wheat, or the beehive that worships the "Purple God."
Now to get back to writing. Should I work on the one with the regressed teenager, the one with the dragon maid, or the one with the little witches? WHO KNOWS?!
Well I’m happy you’re having some closure to this. Honestly I wonder if I should do this myself so I don’t have to worry about my stories on hiatus.
Hmmm... why not give your story up for adoption at this point?
I'm glad you did this. While its of course not the same as reading the actual story, it gives a sense of closure that I feel was very needed. Shame it was canceled, because this seems very good story-wise. If you ever feel like completing it anyway, rest assured ill still read it.
As for what to work on now, I'm biased towards finishing little sunny. Its one of my favorite stories on this site. But I get it if you need to get other ideas out.
Hm... For me, Kuchen's involvement in events was always a bit too... dark. At least, for my taste. I don't think the character concept was bad by any means. Just not in my personal taste. Murdering his childhood friend because he believed he was so right about everything and then using his family and subsequent bloodline as nothing more than meat-puppets.
Basically, I didn't care for Kuchen, but again... personal taste.
I would go for Dragon Maid, minus any Lucoa... but that is my opinion. XD Either way, have a good day, a shame the story couldn't be finished, but understandable, and thank you for at least giving some closure.
A toon killed his brother. Dropped a piano on his head.