Magisight: Very minor terminology retcons + BronyCon! + Chapter 17 · 5:07pm Jul 20th, 2019
Hello! Been a while since I've done this. By the time I release a chapter sometimes I'm too tired to make a blog post, then I lose my stream of consciousness of what I wanted to talk about while editing! But, at least I have a few things to talk about.
First thing's first, the name of the plant during the Festival of the Argent Moon! I can't recall the name of the plant during the first draft, but my editor helped me settle on arĝenta-oro. For the more astute readers, you might recognize my story's usage of Old Ponish as the real world language of Esperanto, which my editor knows! For the majority of this arc, the flower was referred to as such, using its Old Ponish name, with one minor use of "silver-gold blossom" by Hopeseed. Initially it was just her using a common name more fitting for someone her age, but at some point, we decided that sticking with the translated common name of "silver-gold blossom" would be better. Unfortunately, it meant changing a few minor things in previously released chapters, so I've documented them here!
-Chapter 14, added a line describing the common name of the arĝenta-oro-
“That’s because it is Old Ponish. Most ponies here call it the ‘silver-gold blossom.’
-Chapter 14, replaced a reference to arĝenta-oro bloom with simply "blossom"-
Ivy turned to face Twilight. Her heavy eyes spoke volumes no words ever could. “He was convinced he would be able to find his blossom with no effort, so he didn’t start looking until the Argent Moon was but minutes away.”
-Chapter 15, added the word "up" to sentence-
It all adds up… Twilight thought. “Hopeseed, how long have you been down here?”
-Chapter 16, added "silver-gold blossom" to the line, slightly amended Old Ponish name-
“Each year, it is up to the oldest yearlings to put their wits and skills to the test to seek out the silver-gold blossom—what our ancestors called la arĝenta-oro—which blooms in the forest only once a year on this night. It is through our children that a path to the future is carved, and the blessings of the Argent Moon will ensure they, and our village, do not stray off that path into the darkness. Let us reflect.”
-Chapter 16, replaced arĝenta-oro with common name, "silver-gold blossom"-
Ivy turned back toward the crowd, her head lowered solemnly. “From sundown until midnight,” she said, raising her head high. “That is the window for our yearlings to seek their own silver-gold blossom. Yearlings, are you ready?”
This leaves only a small handful of instances of the Old Ponish name being used for more dramatic effect. Those fluent in Esperanto might notice that "arĝenta-oro" is more closely "silver-gold," but the blossom part is implied. The word floraĵo, as you probably guessed, literally means flower.
So, I will be at BronyCon 2019! I will be attending with my boyfriend, proofreader, and composer, Cadenza Heartsong. We're not going to be at any booths or panels or anything, just as regular attendees, but if you happen to see me, say hi! Cadenza will be wearing a bag with his OC's cutiemark on it (visible on his channel as a titlecard for his songs) and distributing CDs of his work!
That being said, since BronyCon is a huge weekly endeavor due to travel time, this means there will be no chapter release during the week of BronyCon. This essentially means,
Friday 7/19, Ch 17
Friday 7/26, No chapter
Friday 8/2, BronyCon, No chapter, a "null week" essentially
Friday 8/9, Ch 18, assuming no issues
I fully intend to resume my bi-weekly schedule on Friday, August 9th, but I'm playing it by ear. If nothing else, things will return to normalcy at some point after BronyCon.
Also, chapter 17! Holy wew dang, this was a doozy of a re-write. Almost nothing of the original draft was kept! The original draft still had Hopeseed participating in the ceremony to hunt a silver-gold blossom, but it also had Twilight herself participating, both as a gesture of goodwill to the village (which was met with some VERY strange looks and a facehoof from AJ) and to show support to Hopeseed. It wasn't bad in terms of an idea, as I wanted to use it to showcase some of the physical attributes of earth pony magic (increased strength, stamina, etc), but after some back and forth, we decided to go a different route that focused on furthering the concepts I established in the arc's earlier chapters.
If you recall with Amethyst Hollow, Twilight completely disappeared into its unicorn magic aetherstream and was able to see unicorn magic at its most basic level. This was the intent with Peacegrove Village's Tree as well, but it initially came a few chapters after the coming of age ceremony. We bumped it ahead a few chapters and had it take the place of Twilight physically participating with Hopeseed, and now she helps her magically. In addition, we tweaked it so her whole body didn't enter the aetherstream, just her consciousness. This way Twilight could attempt to help, but not quite be able to fully reach through to her. In addition, I think it allowed for a far stronger description of the magic happening during the Argent Moon. The basics were still the same, with earth pony magic mixing with a reaction of lunar magic, but it came out far stronger in the revised version. Writing a magically split consciousness is hard as hell so I just winged it. Ultimately, Hopeseed believes she ends up failing the ceremony, leading into the chapter's climax.
Which, leads into my next little tidbit. I can't recall if I mentioned it or not, but Hopeseed's secret garden under the Tree was originally not in the draft. The grotto with all of the exotic plantlife was, but not her hoofgrown garden. Instead, Hopeseed would have simply found a Royal Gladiolus within the grotto, to Twilight's and AJ's amazement. It would have been a sort of pre-ceremony psyche-up trial, showing that she could infact do it. The kicker here, is the original draft had the Royal Gladiolus as a completely separate plant from the silver-gold blossom.
In hindsight, writing them as separate plants initially was kind of dumb and bad. It always tickled the back of my mind "Hey this is kind of wrong, you should fix it," but I was basically churning out a huge amount of material all during November (I even took time off work to just write) and I didn't want to go back and redo a whole bunch of material when I could have been setting framework up for newer chapters. Ultimately, I think merging the Royal Gladiolus and arĝenta-oro into one concept was the right call, as it allowed for a more concise story and also opened up the route for a little suspense with the prospect of her failing, her ultimate triumph, and the magic of the Tree still accepting her.
Unicorn magic is powered by emotions (see; Starlight in All Bottled Up) and comes from within (see; Twilight in Boast Busters) and earth pony magic is not really described in the show much at all; just in vague terms of enhanced physical strength and an innate green thumb. The Peacegrove arc had its earth pony magic heavily emphasize emotion and familial ties, while the Amethyst Hollow arc had Twilight's entire physical body enter the Aetherstream. Kind of interesting, is it not?
May the stars shine until the end of your journey!
-PK
