Background Series Part 1 · 7:59am Nov 12th, 2020
Hello there! This is going to be the first post in a series discussing how I developed my story. The update posts are all well and good for discussing the finished product, but there's actually quite a few things that are different already in the finished work you've been seeing so far than was originally planned.
Note I will be using spoiler tags when discussing specific story details, and I will not discuss any plans past the point at which we're currently at posting wise. At the time of this post we've reached the investigation segment of the first chapter.
Today's primary topic is the setting and character choice. A cruise ship was not my original intent for this setting, not at all. Originally I wanted to do something quite different. My first consideration was for an abandoned hospital, somewhere in the mountains, with a great big wall surrounding the place. I quickly discarded this, however, as soon as I decided upon a series of story details we haven't yet reached. These details necessitated a location a bit more inaccessible than something on a continent.
So I considered several other places, such as an island, which I immediately dismissed. I also considered an underwater base of some kind, but I dismissed that too. I even considered, very briefly, having it actually take place in Equestria, still with the Equestria Girls characters, but with them forcibly transformed into ponies. For a large number of reasons this was not acceptable, however.
Finally I decided upon a cruise ship. Even there I wasn't yet set though, because for the longest time during drafting of the outline I actually had a hybrid setup, with a much smaller cruise ship, more like the size of the one we see in the "Spring Breakdown" special (the same ship featured in the cover art) that was permanently docked on an abandoned oil rig. But the setting just felt too small, lacking in style. I wanted the setting to feel expansive, but hemmed in at the same time, like it was a massive amount of space that they were nevertheless trapped in. In other words, I wanted a similar feel to Goodbye Despair, where even the first island alone was larger than the entirety of Hope's Peak. I also wanted opulence, luxury. I liked the idea of torturing the characters with goodies, with the more the better. They have luxuries few could even dream of, but all they want is to leave. In a way, the luxuries make things feel worse than if all they had to eat was bread and water and a cot to sleep on.
So I chose to go for a much larger cruise ship, more like a real world one, such as the Symphony of the Seas. This one isn't quite that size, but this is a massive ship nonetheless. There are a lot of facilities that will be opening up in chapters to come.
Regarding character choice, my protagonist was always going to be Sunset Shimmer. I opted for using Equestria Girls characters because I wanted to use humans. There's a reason for this I'll explain later, but for now, suffice to say that I considered it necessary. I also decided from the start that they would be older, rather than being ripped right out of high school. I wanted people closer to my age, and I wanted to give them the ability to do things high school students couldn't. Aging them up was also necessary, for story reasons I cannot discuss yet. Choosing who would come with Sunset, however, was much more difficult. The rest of the Humane Seven were a natural fit, of course. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were also on the list from the get go, meaning I already had ten picked out.
Everyone else, however... I had a whole heap of alternate choices, ranging from Muffins to Bulk Biceps to Octavia and Vinyl Scratch to Lyra and Bon Bon... I even considered Celestia and Luna at one point. Characters such as the Crystal Prep students were also on the potential list. Starlight Glimmer, and yes I do mean the pony Starlight Glimmer, was actually on my list for the longest time, and survived numerous list rewrites, until I finally decided for story reasons I couldn't justify it. It's a shame, because Starlight and Sunset interacting is something I wish we got to see more of, apart from just the one special, and she's fun to write for. For a very brief time I also considered bringing in the human Sunset Shimmer, aka a character we've never actually seen or heard from, just so she could be the first victim and/or cause chaos. But as amusing as it was to picture, it wasn't going to work.
But part of the problem with choosing characters is needing to fulfill certain types of roles. I had no intention of duplicating every character archetype that Danganronpa usually features, but it was still necessary to bring in some characters that were naturally more antagonistic than the primary cast. This being My Little Pony, that's a lot more difficult than it would be in most other crossover settings. The characters in MLP are just, as a whole, much nicer people. As I've mentioned in my other blog posts and in author's notes, I do have some additional flexibility thanks to the memory wipes, because I can have their memory be selectively altered just enough that, as far as they're aware, they've grown up to the age they have with no friends except for a select few, or in Wallflower's case, none at all. This allowed me to change up the way they acted. But that only goes so far, so I still needed some genuine nasty and/or mean people.
Thus, we come to Diamond Tiara. Not my first choice for an inclusion, but unlike a lot of other similar characters in Equestria Girls, she has a lot of established character behavior. Granted, that's the pony version of her, and the EQG version has only ever been seen in the background, but it was enough for me to work with. She's similar to Togami from Trigger Happy Havoc, in that she's rich, conceited, and is generally a jerk, but she's different enough that she's not just a copy. She's her own person. Once I decided upon her, the rest of them fell into place, because it was upon picking her that I finally cemented an important aspect of this story that hasn't quite been touched upon yet: connections. Each character in this story is directly connected to at least one other character, in some way, shape, or form, whether it be through the obvious, such as friendship, or less obvious. In her case, she's connected to Timber Spruce, thanks to the fact that her Daddy owned the land Camp Everfree sat on.
These connections will come into play in a variety of ways. Thanks to this core central theme, I brought in the rest. I didn't want a completely female cast, so both Flash Sentry and Timber Spruce came in, Timber partially because of the aforementioned connection, Flash because of his connection to both Sunset and Twilight. Well, that, and one other reason for both. MLP in general lacks in developed, interesting male characters, which isn't a bad thing necessarily, because there's so much male representation in media in general that it's fine to have a show that's lacking in it. But at the same time, I felt I would be missing something if I didn't have at least one or two men along. Spike was never an option, because he's a dog, and thus Timber and Flash, as two of the only ones developed in EQG at all were chosen.
Adagio Dazzle was one of the antagonists I'd considered bringing in from the start, and I decided upon her over some of the others we've seen, such as Juniper Montage, because she's... frankly, because she's more interesting, and more fun. She's also directly connected to our protagonist in a way few others are. Specifically, the fact that they're both Equestrian natives, and they know it. I wanted at least one other Equestrian, which is one reason why Starlight was on the list for so long. I did consider Aria and Sonata as well, but I didn't have room to fit them. If Danganronpa had, say, a twenty-four character cast instead of sixteen? They'd have made it in.
Then we have Trixie. Trixie was one on the list early that never managed to make it off except for one or two instances, so she was a natural choice. She's an unusual kind of character, like Pinkie, but for different reasons. She's also a joy to write for, and frequently insists on doing things her own way despite my plans, which makes for fun spontaneity. One of the reasons I'd considered her on the list for so long is she's the type of person who's smart but not observant. This means she tends to make... mistakes. Misinterpret things. Judge things too quickly. Etc. There's more I want to say, but, well, spoilers.
Wallflower Blush was another choice for an antagonistic character. Even though at the end of her special she becomes a nicer person, the memory wipe allowed me to undo all of that. She thinks she's still the same bitter, lonely person she was prior to the end of that special. It's quite heartbreaking. There are many reasons why she's in the story, and as I've said before, just because someone dies first doesn't mean they're not important. She has several connections, but her strongest is to Trixie.
Once I had my character choices finalized, I was ready to get going with deciding who gets to live and who dies. This was... not an easy process, and really deserves its own section, especially since we've not even held the first trial yet. But I will be going into more detail with this as time goes on. One thing I will say, since I can, Wallflower was always going to be the first to die. As soon as she made it onto the list, she was doomed. Why? Well, that's a story for another day.
Thus we conclude our first part into this series. I won't be making another post on this till after Chapter One ends. I hope this insight into my creative process was enjoyable, and thank you for reading. 
Agreed. Like, that one special is my favorite BECAUSE of the interactions, but there needed to be more of it. Heck, Star and Sunset could have interacted more when Sunset was in Equestria in Forgotten Friendship or Spring Breakdown.
I'm not sure whether I'm glad or not that Starlight was ultimately axed from appearing. On one hand, what you just said. On the other, I really don't know if I could handle the tension of whether or not she'd manage to survive.
As for the Diamond Tiara - Byakuya connection, I feel like it even goes a bit deeper than what you said, since eventually Byakuya becomes a bit nicer to everyone. Not to the same degree as DT does (presumably, since outside of the comics we only ever see her in the background), but almost.
I still find it a bit ironic that as Flash's personality got fleshed out as the series went on (not a lot but it was there), his role in the series got reduced.
Eh.... the fun part I'll kind of agree with, but to me the Dazzlings were just generic "take over the world" villains. Though their cameo in Sunset's Backstage Pass was interesting.
With Wallflower being dead, I feel like either Trixie or Adagio might have to be the mastermind, but any connection I can think of is tenuous at best.
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I'll say this: if Starlight had made it in, she'd either die in the late game or be a survivor. But that's if I decided to plan things differently than I went. There's something else I also want to say here, but can't yet. As for Togami, you are 100% correct that he does become nicer in later canon, similar to what DT in FIM canon does. Will that happen with this DT? We'll have to see.
Flash's role being reduced made sense given the reason the character was created to begin with, but it is still a bit sad that he only grew by shrinking.
You're not necessarily wrong about the Dazzlings being generic take over the world villains. In that sense their motive isn't much more interesting than any other MLP villain's motive, because they're all like that. What makes her more interesting to me than the other villains of EQG is her personality--she's especially abrasive, rude, and often crude--as well as her singing voice. Rainbow Rocks would be my all time favorite EQG piece because of the songs alone, but it kept going more and more over the top with the way it handled Sunset's character arc. There's more I want to say, but, spoilers.
It's certainly possible for anyone to be the mastermind. Though as Monoponi would say, you don't get the answers to that in Chapter One.
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If she WERE to end up dying at all, I'd have hoped she'd at least be the culprit and not a victim. But I'd still have preferred she'd just be a survivor.
I mean, even by the end of the first game, he's at least a tiny bit less abrasive than he was at the start.
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Mmm, I won't say whether or not she'd be a culprit or a victim. I Know the answer, but I don't want to say it because that goes into things I'd rather discuss at another time. But once I'm able to, with more of the story posted, I will totally be going into my logic on things like that as well.
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Alright