"The Element of Kindness" Behind-the-Word Facts!

Hello, it’s BlueHeartTattoo here! And finally, this time, this blog is not about fanfic updates! But this time though, I’m gonna do something different and a little fun (at least for me)

If you guys read “The Element of Kindness”, I love to type down at the author’s note little fun facts about my writing process and some of my inspirations of it. I’m a huge nerd in real life, and one of the thing I love to do is to learn facts from the behind the scenes from movie and telling people about it. It always bring a smile to their faces and I always love learning things from my favorite movies and shows that I did not know about.

So while I am still writing for the one-shot epilogue for EoK and another project I’ll keep a secret for later, I am going to do the same thing with you by telling you behind-the-page (get it?) facts about the Element of Kindness!

Basically on here, I’m telling you all of my inspirations, my writing process and even some things I added and changed on the journey of writing my first successful fanfiction (What do I mean about ‘successful’? Let’s find out)

1.I was inspired to write the first draft of EoK after becoming a pegasister back in 2014 and read many Fluttercord fanfics like Bride of Discord and Opera Phantom Discord.

2.The story it was inspired for this, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, is one of my favorite Disney movies along with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast and Fantasia.

3.The reason why EoK was inspired by Snow White is because I was interested to see how Fluttershy would play out, since I think she is very similar to Snow White due to her kind-hearted nature and their love for animals. I’m not very keen on retelling the story word-by-words as much I’ve seen many fanfictions showing that trait, which was why I wanted to create someway to create a story that can be reminisce to the original story while also be its own as the same time.

4.Speaking of Disney, I would like to play Fantasia on Netflix while I write down the chapters. Listening to movies and sometimes the movie’s soundtrack in the background has been my method to study and memorize my class notes and homework at high school and college along with drawing and coloring my digital art pieces. I’m kind of weird like that.

5.Out of all the animated movies that I watched on the old, ancient vhs tapes, Snow White was the only movie that managed to scare me as a kid, and I was able to watch through Secret of NIMH, Pinocchio and All Dogs Go To Heaven without hiding under my sheets. My opinion had changes as I go through middle school and college, but now I still consider this to be one of my favorites, due to its emotional capacity, the main character, the music and the sincere fairy tale atmosphere.

6.I had little experience writing a story before EoK, as I was only good at writing short poems and one monologue for my HS Drama assignments. And a lot of you notice a lot of grammar or writing errors in each chapter I write. One reason was that back while I was still in school, I was in specialized monitored classes that were designed for students with learning/mental/physical disabilities (As I am autistic) and in¾ of the English classes I took in high school, I had only one class where we would read Huckleberry Finn while also learning more about grammar and writing techniques (waaayyy back my sophomore year in 2010). The only class outside of it that constantly taught me about the basics of writing an essay was in my drama classes where we had a yearly assignment to see three plays that were playing locally in community theatres and critique about the production. I can still say in most cases, I am not as much of a expert in creative writing as everybody else in the brony fanfic community has that talent, but I can say that I was decent and I had a lot of fun trying to find my style and method of writing for this story.

7.I had once attempted to write a fanfiction way back in 2008, where I joined YouTube and starting out in the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ fandom. The story was “The Curse”, taking place in an alternate universe where this figure called ‘the darkness’ has casted a curse on Planet Earth that would turn the humans into humanoid plants and animals (a lot like Sonic and Gang and Cosmo and her family in Sonic X) and it would be sort like an epic adventure drama and origin stories with Kassi (my OC in the sonic community) and many of my OCs who will fight together with Sonic and the others to break the curse and stop the darkness from consuming the universe. I planned to make a written series on Fanfiction.net while making chapter videos on Youtube but later on as I have that idea in my mind I’ve lost inspiration to write it. I still have the old and new designs of my ocs in my computer and in DeviantART, but I don’t think there would be any chance start on it again. Not to mention I’ve lost my interest in that fandom starting with “Sonic Boom” (I really despise Sonic Boom)

8.I would like to add or change some things in the fanfic to correct some spelling errors or to add a plot point to the story, but the one chapter I change the most out of all of them is the Prologue.

9.The names of the changelings I created were based on the genus species name of bugs. Nabis is a genus name for a damsel bug (Nabidae), Gypsum is a shorten name for a Gypsy Moth, and Regalis is based in the class regalia. The only changeling I didn’t give a name is the general since I didn’t think of a better name for him (I kept on think of him as Mantis but that would always make me think of ‘Daughter of Discord’) so I decided to name him just “The General” just to show the respect that he is given from Chrysalis and his colleges.

10.Even though I tried to give the story its own identity, the traits I’ve kept in that were from Snow White was the escape through the forest, meeting the dwarfs, the poisoned apple and the true love’s kiss.

11.I have so many concepts being cut out but I will list in individually: originally wanted to have Silver Spoon to be in the Cutie Mark Crusaders along with Diamond Tiara as either friends or sisters and I planned her to be jealous at Diamond as she starts to see Fluttershy as a mother figure. But I cut her out and that subplot once I realized there are too much going on in the story

12.Another concept that I cut out is the identity crisis that Fluttershy goes through in the start of the story. I wanted to have her think that she is a deformed changeling who doesn’t think she’s a pony until she escapes and learns more of Equestria through the cmc. This was inspired by the character development of Rue from the anime, “Princess Tutu”, who is also raised by the villain, the raven king and falls in love with Prince Mytho. I decide to cut it because it would be hard to write that kind of situation when one day she’ll get a cutie mark and she’ll be at one point suspicious on why the changelings don’t like her and why she can’t go outside her home.

13.There are many references that I put in when it comes to Discord’s antics, including the piranha plant from the Mario games (and the mention of the character), the hydra teleporting to ancient Greece is based on real Greek mythology along with Disney’s Hercules, the discord lamp, orange frog and the healing flower that appears in the show the rubber tree in George of the Jungle and his promise gesture from DreamWorks’ Sindbad. I’m sure there are more that I miss but these are what I think of at the top of my head.

14.The invisible apple trick that Scootaloo pulled on Applejack on chapter five (Dinner Time!) is based on a personal prank my cousins would always pull on me. They would pretend that they have a gift, an apple, for me and hold out their hands with nothing in them and pretend to eat it like it’s real. That would annoy the heck out of me, but I can see the same situation happening for Applejack since she is a pony who figuratively lives for apples.

15.That chapter isn’t the only one that I added something very personal. In “Eternal Vigil” there’s a mother and a daughter who visited Fluttershy’s coffin before going to visit another daughter named ‘Sissy’ by the filly. ‘Sissy’ is actually a nickname my baby siblings call me as and the visit plan is based on the times where they would visit me in college and when I lived in another state and I flew to their house to visit them.

16.The scene where the cutie mark crusaders were trying to crusade into street performing in the apple orchard is inspired from a scene from ‘The Land Before Time’ where Littlefoot, Ducky, Spike and Pertie had to climb up a tree to get food. It was because of this scene, I had spent a long time writing its actions since I believe I suck writing action scenes.

17.The scene where Discord ambushes Gypsum and Nabis with the apple trees while they search for Fluttershy is inspired from the scene in Pocahontas where Grandmother Willow attacks the two men looking for John Smith.

18.The pocket dimension Discord hides in is based on his home in the show, but I wanted to set inside the Everfree where it will be convenient for Fluttershy and the CMC to come in anytime and to bring some of the wonderland-like quality into his world instead of one looks like a demented weirdmageddon with a 70’s Doctor Who intro background.

19.I started writing the plot line draft days before we were introduced to Diamond Tiara’s mother, Spoiled Rich. I had a concept while writing it that Diamond grew up without a mother and starts to see Fluttershy as a motherly-figure once she gets to know her. But then I got rid of the concept and added Spoiled into the story because I thought it would be interesting to see her relationship with her daughter and how of a foil she would be to the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

20.Not only that, but it would also help me develop Diamond with more depth than I originally thought. As she gets older and as we kept reading her, we would see Diamond not a bully with a snarky attitude in the third chapter, but a lonely, confused pony who had lost her individuality and freedom because of her mother and her worldly views and get closer to the CMC as actual friends while feeling remorse about her past actions towards them.

21.It’s mainly because what I said about Diamond Tiara from up above that I based her off on Cera from “The Land Before Time”

22.The title of the chapter, Full Disclosure, is based on the episode (which has the same name) from ‘Steven Universe’ and it had become a one-minute change before publishing

23.The chapters, Full Disclosure and Promises, is also based on the episode from Steven Universe in term of the plot points on two chapters: Steven/Discord tries to break all contact with Connie/Fluttershy in order to keep her safe, but Connie/Fluttershy gets worried and confronts Steven/Discord until they decided to reconcile and become friends again. I added it in because its fits both of their relationship and I needed to show Discord’s consideration to lie to Fluttershy about the element so that he can still be with her, making his conflict more complicated.

24.At while writing the forementioned chapter, I had trouble writing down Discord’s dilemma until I got the inspiration to make a pmv about it and it help me type down the feelings and thoughts I needed for Discord.

25.Octavius, the name Fluttershy gives the pirhana plant that Discord gave her, is based on Gus from “Cinderella”, whose name is also Octavius (begs the question on how ‘Gus’ is considered as a nickname for something like ‘Octavius?)

26.While the backstory I gave to Discord is very similar to how it has been portrayed in other fanfics, I added it some twist to make it new, like Discord hatching from a egg, traveling around the world as a vagabond and having a personal relationship with the Royal Family years before his conquering of a small village.

27.In some cases, I made Regalis based off on Zira from The Lion King 2, but I kept that in mind so that I can write her like a stern and determinate queen who would even die just to meet her goals.

28.I added in a small snippet of the reformed changelings from the show, just to show the changeling’s history with dark magic and possibly being one of the reason why Chrysalis and the queen never saying why they became this way.

29.The small scene where Discord snarls “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” at Gypsum is also came from Snow White, where she said the same thing to Grumpy when he refuses to wash his hands.

30.The chapter “Celebration” is a mash-up inspiration to these Disney moments, “The Silly Song” from Snow White, “Kingdom Dance” and “I See the Light” from Tangled and “Ma Belle Evangeline” from the Princess and the Frog.

31.The making of the poison apple is obviously based on Snow White, but to make a unusual reveal to the changelings, it is also inspired from the witch’s scene from Pixar’s Brave.

32.There were so many chapters I had trouble writing in terms of execution and time management, but the one chapter that I had trouble with the longest was “The Cruel Trick”. I wanted to show some way to make a misunderstanding that would separate Discord and Fluttershy from each other while also hinting a threat rising behind them without them knowing. While writing the plotline draft, it took me 2-3 drafts before deciding what I wanted to go.

33.One of the things I found it difficult was how to portray Twilight’s development to becoming closer to her friends. I wanted to spend more chapters focusing on her growing connection with them, but that would take away the focus off on Fluttershy and Discord and her quest to find Discord. So I decided at the end to keep the focus on the pair and on Chrysalis’ threat while making Twilight’s quests the conflicts for her friendship with the other bearers.

34.The first part of the chapter “Listen to your Heart” is inspired by the live recording of Plenty by Sarah McLachlan, the reason why I prefer the live recording instead of the studio because it’s haunting arrangement fitted the environment of both Fluttershy’s loneliness and the tree house.

35.Back during December 2017 and the start of 2018, I started a side project to revise and change some details in each chapter to make some way to correct the grammar errors and make the story flow better. There are two significant scene I add and change: one in “Listen to your Heart” where Fluttershy realizes that she has been tricked through Zecora’s potion and in “In The Eye of the Storm” where Discord almost attempted to kill Chrysalis before considering mercy on her. The reason I changed them is on “Listen to Your Heart”, I was writing it on a tight schedule and I didn’t have time to think about a resolution to the misunderstanding; so reading back on it, I realized that Fluttershy relying on her instinct to see the truth wasn’t a strong way to make her realize she was wrong. On “In the Eye of the Storm” I realized through rereading that Twilight was the only one offered mercy to Chrysalis and Discord didn’t have that chance. I felt the detail I added here was necessary as it made his development a little stronger.

36.In “Take a Bite”, about a year and a half before I could write it, I planned for the princesses to capture a real cockatrice to turn Discord into stone permanently, but looking back at it then, it seemed a little silly compared to all the drama that’s going on. Because of that, I changed it to a spell that could be inspired by the cockatrice.

37.There had been many musical influence that helped me thinking about the characters’ development. Discord had two song; one is “Steven’s Lament” from the Full Disclosure episode from Steven Universe and another is “Words Fail” from Dear Evan Hansen to when Discord grieves over Fluttershy’s “death” and regrets lying to everyone. Chrysalis’ was “Out of Sight, Out of Mind” from the musical adaptation of Tale of Two Cities (which is one of my favorites), Diamond Tiara was “Quiet” from the musical Matilda and her friendship with the CMC is Nobody Else But You from A Goofy Movie. I would always joke myself that with so many of these songs being inspirations that I should add these into a audio drama (*in a singsony tone* not!)

38.The ‘True Love’s Kiss’ scene is based on Snow White (obviously), the reunion scene from Tangled and a scene from “This is Us” where Dr. K visits his wide’s grave.

39.The idea of Discord giving Fluttershy the fairy tail book and she refuse to accept it was a suggestion from Ponyloco as he made a comment at Fanfiction.net. I loved the idea so much that I decided to add that in and give him a shout-out for credit.

40.I considered for a long time for Babs Seed to have her own cutie mark like in the show, but I decided to have the same crusaders cutie mark like the others so that I would their arc feel complete. The same thing goes for Discord’s proposal to Fluttershy as I originally wanted him to give her a promise ring and get married a year later.

41.There are a lot of artwork that I drew in inspiration for this fanfic: the cover art, the scenes of Discord saving Fluttershy from Gypsum, Discord fighting Chrysalis and Discord grieving over Fluttershy in the rain.

42.There are also other artwork that I drew but never colored or published including the coronation dresses in the last chapter, the true love’s kiss scene and a minute and a half animatic that was the first draft of the true love’s kiss scene before I made some changes.

43.While I was writing this in my own, there were a few members in my family that had helped and supported me in the writing process. My half-brother helped me creating the hydra in Greece scene while I was working on the plot draft, my dad would motivate me into getting me into writing for a month’s due and a few of my siblings read the story while giving me some suggestions to the story.

44.As much this is a personal note, the reason why my dad and siblings were supportive for me is that they were the only people who knew I was writing it as one, I was embarrass to talk about my story to anyone else (I was even afraid to tell my mom) and two, I lived in another state with them for a year and a half as my dad went through a bad divorce with my stepmom and I moved down there to help him cope with it while taking care of my siblings and the household. It was because of the experience I had there that not only I became confident about my work, but I grew more maturely and confident as I went through many changes spiritually and mentally. Even as I now moved out of the state and back into my hometown, my dad still supports me even to celebrate the last chapters through gifs (I love my dad)

45.The name Twilight mentioned when she gives Discord/Gusty the fairy tail book, “Frank P. Maneline” is a mix name of Frank Churchill, Paul Smith and Leigh Harline, the people behind the music of Disney’s Snow White.

46.In the fanfiction.net, I added the poem in Fluttershy’s page in the dungeon which are the lyrics of ‘One Song’ in the Disney version. Since the rules here says I can’t add lyrics outside of mlp, I had to delete the poem in this website while it is still in fanfiction.net’s version. Between the difference of both sites, this is the only difference you will spot.

47.Throughout the story, I used ‘One Song’ to inspire the romance between Discord and Fluttershy since, to be honest, I prefer this more than ‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ and that it fitted the romance a little better.

48.I considered writing down the wish Fluttershy’s wish on the apple to Discord while confessing her love to him but other than I forgot about it, I now think that it would be a little too much.

49.There was one thing I realized while I was writing “In the Eye of the Storm” that I still consider this as a fact in a analytical kind of way. In this chapter, we have seen Discord and Chrysalis fighting each other for the element. But it had been realized now that both of them had went through similar challenges and development. Both are villains desiring world domination (of course!), but there’s the thing that separates them: Discord changed himself willingly through Fluttershy’s love and kindness while Chrysalis refused to change as she’s focusing on the goal her mother set her to do. And at the end of their battle, while Discord was saved by the very thing that once stunned him to stone, Chrysalis meet her demise the same way her mother did.

And… that’s it! All the facts there is to be said about “The Element of Kindness”! I hope you enjoyed reading it, reading some facts I’ve mentioned before and maybe learning more and some things you didn’t know. If you guys want to use the same idea and share some behind-the-words fact about your fanfiction or maybe just talk about the inspiration you have, feel free to use the same idea and just type away!