The More Things Change: Author's Notes

So, this has been a work years in the making. I was going to wait until chapter 2 was completely finished before publishing this, but then I got a nice comment from FanOfMostAnything of all people asking if there was more, and I guess that motivated me to go ahead and put it up. Thanks Fan!

One of the things I was trying to do with this story is make it so that if anyone was reading this and wasn't familiar with the show they would still be able to visualize what was going on. I figured that would be good practice for writing in a way that doesn't require shortcuts. I also try to make sure each section's narration is in the "voice" of the character we are currently following.

The original story concept came from RealityCheck (AKA RHJunior) on a sadly now deleted blog post. Fortunately, I have the text from that blog post right here:

Once Upon a Time in the magical land of Equestria, Princess Celestia wasn't fricking stupid.

Forced to use the power of the Elements of Harmony to banish her sister, Celestia discovered that she no longer could use their power. Not having been born yesterday, she immediately sought new bearers for the Elements.... and found them.

For a thousand years, the Elements of Harmony have been a legacy handed down from Bearer to Bearer. Every colt and filly dreams of growing up to be on the team of ponies who bear the Elements in Equestria's defense. Whenever a Bearer is ready to step down, a call goes out for new candidates. Every pony past their sixteenth year is given a chance to enter the Hall of Harmony, and be tested. If the stone chooses them, they join this elite team and take up the mantle, and enter a lifetime of training and preparation for any of the perils Equestria might face.

Now, 1,000 years later, in an unprecedented event, all the Bearers have stepped down at once. Six new Bearers, an eclectic mix from every possible walk of life, have been selected--- a hardheaded earth pony farmer, a cocky pegasus amateur athlete, a timid animal caretaker pegasus, a flamboyant and egotistical unicorn dressmaker, a carefree, irresponsible earth pony baker's assistant, and Celestia's own grumpy and bookish alicorn student-- mere months before the prophesied return of Equestria's most terrible enemy yet, Nightmare Moon.... whom the Princess has just revealed to them is her own long-lost sister! Can these six disparate ponies set aside their differences and learn to work in Harmony in time to save Equestria from Nightmare Moon, and Princess Luna from herself?

DUN dun dun.....

Who were the previous bearers you might ask? Shining Armor(Loyalty and Honesty), Princess Cadence (kindness and friendship), and Daring Do (generosity and laughter.) Shining and Cadence quit because they're married, the Crystal Empire is complaining that their Princess is off adventuring too much, and Cadence has a bun in the oven. Daring Do is still young but she's starting to get a few gray hairs, and she wants to retire and write her memoirs.

Fangeek Rainbow Dash: "You're gonna write your memoirs?? I am SO gonna read the (bleep) outta those...."

Half the conflict comes from how the new Bearers are struggling to get along and how they strike sparks off each other. The other half would be how nopony thinks they deserve the Elements they have... Applejack was in the capital because she'd gotten caught fudging her taxes, to her mortal humiliation. Rainbow Dash is a braggart and is considered lazy and unreliable-- she's never there when the weather team needs her, they say, always napping instead. Nobody finds Pinkie Pie's antics and pranks funny; she drives her bosses practically to tears. Rarity has a streak of ambition and avarice a mile wide. Fluttershy is incredibly cowardly and needy, she seems to use and manipulate people by acting sweet, and if she's pushed to speaking her mind what she says can be as cruel as lemon juice in a paper cut. And Twilight may be incredibly magically talented (its what made her ascend after all), but Friendship is Magic, and she makes friends about as readily as a porcupine makes balloon sculptures.

Note, they're not really any different from their canon counterparts, personality wise: it's just that thanks to the example set by the Legacy of the Element Bearers, everyone's standards about what makes someone Harmonious are a lot more demanding. So they've spent their lives thinking that they're far worse than they actually are...

Obviously I made a few tweaks of my own and expanded it out in others, but the core is still in place. Other aspects I copied from him was Diamond Tiara's crush on Shining Armor, the basic idea of how dark magic works in this setting, and the footnotes, although I got the formatting from MyHobby.

The term "cents" is actually used in the show during the SSCS6000 episode, otherwise I totally would have stolen "pieces" from MyHobby to make "bits and pieces".

Yes, socks are considered intimate wear in Equestria. They view getting changed in front of others the same way we view being naked (hence the show's nudity jokes).

I am unreasonably proud of "Haywaian", as well as all the other puns I came up with. It's Equestria, you can be as groan worthy as you want and no one can complain because it fits the setting!

Critter Ambassador will probably take some explanation. See, there are a small percentage of animals in Equestria who have the capability of sapience, although only a very few of those can speak. No one knows if this is something that they are evolving or if it the remnants of something they used to all have, but they do know that hanging out with full sapients like ponies can make thinking easier, whether as "pets" or as workers. Consequently, most settlements need someone who can tell the difference between normal animals and "Critters" as well as someone who can negotiate on their behalf like a union representative. You don't have to be able to talk to them, but it really looks good on a resume.

The line "A bird had to have his pride, even if he was two feet tall and living in another mare’s refrigerator off of her charity" came from Crack-Fic Kai.

This is how Caramel and Sassaflash first met by the way.

With the Order of the Bearers guarding Equestria, the EUP never needed to become as large, so they never were able to split off a group to become the Wonderbolts. Most of the canon 'Bolts have become either EUP guards or part of the Cloudsdale Thunderheads. In this world, the Wonderbolts is the sports team Rainbow made for Ponyville.

I was this close to adding a footnote about Angel Bunny saying "Sadly, not being fattened up."

All variations of the "Come to Life Spell", including the Tazzy Twister and the Turbo Legs Spell need to get their energy from somewhere, or else they would be able to make perpetual motion machines as generators. Usually, this is done from consuming the object being made to move.

Comet Tail's love for running and inability to stop actually came from his trading cards.

Gus was going to be a canon character at one point; in a deleted script for "A Friend in Deed" Rainbow explains that Pinkie shouldn't be upset that Cranky doesn't like her, pointing out that "I don't like (Gus) at all, and he doesn't care" . . . not noticing that he was just about to give her some flowers. I understand why they deleted that, but I figured I'd throw him a bone and give him the opportunity to at least hang out with her.

No, they are not praying to Celestia.

Flank O’Mare-a is based on Frank O'Hara, an art critic.

Teleportation doesn't have to move in a straight line, but it does have a very slow "turning speed", so over short distances it effectively does.

I look forward to showing you all what comes next.