A bunch of trivia · 6:18pm Aug 30th, 2018
So, a while ago, I promised you (well, I definitely promised someone – it may have been on Discord) to share some trivia about It's the End of the World as We Know It. Compiling the list took a while, mostly due to my legendary procrastination skills, but finally, here it is:
References:
Although there are quite a few scenes featuring eidetic music, only a handful of them feature real-life songs. Those are:
Indigo’s ringtone, first mentioned in chapter 3 is Two Babies in the Dark by Bad Religion (y’know, it’s a song about teenage pregnancy). In chapter 5, she’s wearing a t-shirt with the coverart of Bad Religion’s Suffer album.
All Indigo’s flashbacks to the time when Lightning Dust was around is a kind of Mister Sandman Sequence but when it happens in chapter 15, the song playing on the radio is then-new You’re Gonna Go Far Kid by The Offspring. The scene also features Lightning Dust mentioning Revenge of the Sith as the “last” Star Wars movie and an obscure mention of white and yellow cars dominating Formula 1 at the time, setting the flashback firmly in 2009 (Brawn GP team was later sold to Mercedes and never used this paint scheme again).
In chapter 31, when Indigo beats the crap out of a punching bag, Sugarcoat listens to Fatty Boom Boom by Die Antwoord (okay, this one was actually in the author's note).
The background music for Sugarcoat and Fond Feather fighting is Yakkety Sax. Also known as that song from Benny Hill.
I wrote the Sour Sweet vs. Suri Polomare scene listening to Pumped-Up Kicks. Truly, this was easy to predict.
Sunny is a fan of Girls und Panzer, as seen in the Christmas chapter. On a related note, Indigo and Muffins both like War Thunder, but that was more noticeable.
The place where Indigo and the gang go hiking in chapter 8 is based on Szpiglas pass in Tatra mountains.
This photo is taken from its easy side.
When writing scenes taking place in Lemon’s room, I couldn’t unsee Noodle’s room from the music video for Dare by Gorillaz. Minus Shaun Ryder’s head in the closet, of course.
Deleted scenes/what could have been:
For a long time I had a scene planned: shortly after Indigo discovers that she’s pregnant and runs off to Sunny Flare’s house, all her friends gather there during a thunderstorm. Indigo feels pretty down and most of her friends go to the store, leaving Lemon Zest to take care of her. On their way to the store, they discuss the possibility of Indigo committing suicide. When they get back, it turns out that Lemon is sitting alone and Indigo went to take a bath. Panic ensues, especially since at the same time the light goes off. Sour Sweet yells at Lemon, wishing she’d die, while the rest runs to the bathroom to check on Indigo (who’s completely fine). It’d end with Sunny comforting Lemon and everyone being mad at Sour. This scene never made it since chronologically it’d be after the Suri Polomare fiasco and there was no way Sour would be there or that Sunny and Lemon would be on good terms.
There was an M-rated version planned, but it never went anywhere. Considering how ridiculous Indigo’s first time becomes when you think about it, it may be for the best. Muffins' Best Ride is actually one of the bits salvaged from the M-rated version.
At first I wanted Indigo’s accident to end in miscarriage, but then I felt it’d be terribly cliché. The plot gods still demanded sacrifices and somewhere around that time, I was just rethinking the whole “Sweet Leaf takes Sour Sweet to South Africa” thing (most of the thinking was along the “Sour cut her classmate’s face in a fit of rage, no one’s gonna let her out of the nuthouse for vacation just because”). So yeah, it was either Little Indy or Sweet Leaf, I guess.
Character-related:
Long before she becomes an important character, Beauty Brass shows up in the second chapter. Indigo borrows a pen from her to write down her phone number. I actually only noticed that while rereading the story.
Out of the all M-rated scenes I was planning (other than Muffins' Best Ride), the only one I actually (half) wrote features coach Sombra and Frosty Orange and takes place right after the first training, somewhere around chapter 10.
Suri Polomare actually found out about coach Sombra and Frosty Orange (she even mentions that when finding drunk Sunny). Needless to say, when Sour Sweet attacked Suri, Frosty wasn’t in a big hurry to get help.
Sunny Flare is somewhat based on the protagonist of Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone.
Muffins is the lovechild of Phoebe from Friends and my high school friend (the conversation about girls peeing while standing up actually happened, you know). Sandalwood’s love for rats is actually based on the same friend.
Why, of all the countries, Sweet Leaf wanted to go to South Africa? At the time, I was reading a blog of a Polish guy who was a volunteer in South Africa (he doesn’t write in English, as far as I’m aware). He was somewhat less idealistic about that than Sweet Leaf, though, and wrote a post about negative effects of voluntourism. It was pretty inspiring.
At first I wanted to name Sugarcoat’s grandma Zuckerberg, but I ended up with Zuckerlöffel (Sugar Spoon). Any relation with Silver Spoon is up to your headcanon.
Before choosing acute myeloid leukaemia for Lemon’s mother, I did quite a bit of research, looking for a kind of cancer that is hereditary (the mechanism of it is way more complicated than high school-level genetics, but I still remember learning it at the university. Quite a hard task, really) and can be diagnosed, at least partially, by some simple test (hence why Lemon goes to have her complete blood count checked at the early chapter).
Several character traits, most notably Indigo’s straight edge tendencies, were inspired by kul, whom I first met somewhere around the time I wrote Right on Schedule. I also drew inspiration from some of his artwork, for example in the scene where Sunny nearly freezes to death.
Insanity doesn’t run in Sour Sweet’s family, it gallops. There are some less affected individuals, like Sour’s brothers or Sweeten Sour. Uncle Shaggy Defense is a literal bunny-ears lawyer and cousin Sour Wine… Well, she only had a brief scene in chapter 20, but, according to notes, she’s a well-adjusted psychopath. Basically, a born CEO or a serial killer.
Speaking of Sour Sweet, the scene I was most looking forward to writing? Sour Sweet beating the crap out of Suri Polomare. This is also where the height chart came into play. After realising that it’s basically the tallest and the shortest female character, I started the fight with Sour grabbing Suri and tossing her across the corridor.
On the other hand, the exchange I was looking forward to the most (and I planned this scene from the very beginning):
“Shut the fuck up, Sugarcoat!” Indigo exclaimed, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m pregnant! What will I do now?”
Sugarcoat looked at the screen of her phone. “If you’re in a hurry, there are three places where you can get an abortion within a mile radius. We can–” She couldn’t finish because Indigo grabbed the front of her jacket, pulling her towards herself.
Yeah, not sorry for that one.
Why is Indigo thinking Cold Forecast is a guy in disguise? Well, I did, kinda. I mean, with a jaw like Ronn Moss, she probably gets that a lot:
After writing this bit in chapter 28:
“Who is Zephyr?” Lemon asked.
“The only goth in the world that plays soccer,” Indigo replied.
I decided to check if I’m right. Google proved me wrong, I’m afraid…
Speaking of, Zephyr is one of those background characters, I wanted to write more about. Her ancestor I mentioned is basically someone straight out of Lovecraft, and she probably inherited some of the supernatural talents. Besides, come on...
Art by Ohohokapi
Miscellaneous:
Somehow, she still couldn’t reach her best time at the two kilometres distance; no matter how she tried, she was still thirty-sixth in her age group, according to the ranking available on the website of the company which produced the rowing machines.
According to concept2.com website, that’d be around 7:46.8, given Indigo’s age and weight group (at least in the 2018 season. 2019 season runs since May 1st, and this group consists of just 14 people).
Speaking of sports feats, I once set a treadmill to 10 mph, thinking it to be kilometres, just like Muffins. It took me shorter to realise that, though.
It’s the third fic of mine where Ruby Pinch ends up falling into the water. The previous two were Sleepless and Minuette II.
The scene with Saffron Masala in chapter 15 features a brief cameo of Babs Seed and her gang from Manehattan Blues. The curry bar is shamelessly reused from Springtime for Shimmer; at first I wanted to write Aria hanging out there, but that’d only raise further questions.
Aside from the obvious references to Right on Schedule, there’s at least one more reference to Springtime for Shimmer. Trixie’s Volkswagen Beetle nicknamed Chryssie makes a brief appearance.
So yeah, that'd be what I recalled off the top of my head (over the course of a few months). However, if you have any questions regarding the story, you are free to ask me (cue someone coming up with something I never thought of. In such a case, I may JKR the whole thing, so take those with a grain of salt).
Some I knew, some I am sure others suspected and some are wtf.
Also still thinking you made the right choice regearding lil Indigo.
I swear you're a 60-year-old man in a 25-year-old's body. The breadth of your general and cultural knowledge never ceases to amaze me.
Yay, I actually know this one (and its implication, I think)!
I never noticed Cold Forecast before. He's cute.
Fun fact: for a while, I wanted to do a parody where Sour Sweet and Sweet Leaf actually do run away together, but to Equestria rather than South Africa. They would have ended up staying in Twilight's castle and just generally getting into inevitable shenanigans in a world of magic and friendship. The ending of If Today Was Your Last Day was inspired by that idea.
But then you went and broke Sweet Leaf, so oh well
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You can always write Sour discovering a portal to Equestria in the nuthouse and finding out Sweet Leaf is also there, in her head. Add some 'are they dead?' confusion and you have a fic.
For bonus points, Sour shows up in Screw Loose's cell in Ponyville General. Their first conversation consists mostly of barking.