12 More Ideas I've Dropped Over The Years 2/? · 1:45am Dec 1st, 2020
Other threads like this one. Number 1 Number 2. (you are here) Number 3.
As before, here's the disclaimer again.
Disclaimer
So I've been sitting on a giant pile of old ideas that I've either abandoned for time reasons or realized weren't very good and thus never got further than a simple description. Buuuut I've done enough work on them that I figured I'd share some of them here with you all. Maybe you'll learn something, or be inspired. We'll just have to see.
But before we begin, if you are a writer and want to expound on what I've written on a more conceptual level, I'd appreciate a nod like 'inspired by Jest' with a link to my page in the description of your fic. This isn't necessary, but it would be nice. If you want to straight-up use one of my stories then feel free to send me a message and we can talk about collaborating on something.
But with all that out of the way, let's peruse the graveyard of ideas together.
The Edge of Victory.
Only ever made it past initial planning but was about an older Rainbow Dash who married Fluttershy. After holding the title for the fastest pony in Equestria Rainbow Dash is beaten. Not only that but the newcomer has little desire to compete or show off, using her skills only to further her research career, frustrating the aging pegasus. This fractures her relationships and causes her to become obsessed with winning, and eventually leading to a serious injury which shows her what really matters.
A sort of neat idea, this one didn't really strike me as anything truly interesting and is unlikely to be built into anything.
The Desolation of Griffonia.
Is a needlessly edgy story in which an evil griffon has altered all of griffon culture to create a race of predators bent on world domination. Twilight is much older and finds out eventually that the griffons are the cause of almost everything bad that's happened to her over the years, including the killing of her friends. This story actually got fairly far before I burnt out my desire to be edgy, and I dropped it. In the end, it was an interesting little experiment I never thought would get very far. If you want to check it out a rough outline and a rough first draft of chapter one, click here.
It's an old idea and will never be expounded upon.
True Elegence
Is a weird story that was inspired by something that looked like an odd winged version of Rarity online and thought to myself (I think this was the image in question). "What would have had to happen for Rarity to turn into that?" It started as a silly thing where Rarity tries to become 'perfect' by becoming all pony species at the same time. But then turned into this body horror thing which I couldn't reconcile. In the end, it was just a dumb idea that never got past initial planning.
The Celestine Prophecy
Is a strange idea. I wanted to create a d and equivalent but with ponies, set in a distant future where the world isn't quite so peaceful. I could probably talk for hours about all the work that went into this, so I'll save the complete breakdown for another time. For now all you need to know is that I had done a good chunk of the world-building, the custom systems, and some quests before I ran a test game. After that, I realized how much I dislike playing d and d online and I ultimately abandoned the project. If you want to check out the hundred+ pages of content I wrote and dumped, click here.
I probably won't ever come back to this, but if that sounds interesting to you go ahead and copy what you like from it.
The Bolt Hole Bar
Is here. This was a weird old idea born from the cover art of that story. It was something that hit a very specific interest of mine which turned out not to be enough to carry an entire story on. Not only that but I quickly realized that it wasn't very compelling, and though writing a story for yourself and yourself alone is very valid, I wanted something that other people would enjoy as well. In the end, I couldn't reconcile these two opposite desires and ultimately ended up dropping it completely.
Will never come back, but was a fun learning experience balancing reader expectations and a writer's desires.
Tending Flames
Is another weird one. It started off as a tentative commission which ultimately fell through due to a lack of funds. I wrote the first two pages though so if you want to check out what might have been click here. It was basically about a midget Twilight who had to seduce a nightmare version of Celestia that had stolen away the sun. After that, she was going to convince her to give back their star. It would have had the usual fetishes and wasn't a terrible idea even if it felt too much like foalcon with extra steps.
Though glad it didn't end up coming together, it was still an interesting idea.
Tempered Diamond, Bad Seeds.
I hated the ending of this story. It was a kick to the dick the likes of which I haven't seen in fiction for a long while. I wanted to fix this by writing a story centered around Diamond Tiara's tank unit, and Babs Seed's infantry unit. It would have had some minor romance between the two which ended in predictable anguish for everyone involved. It only got a paragraph long before I realized I was probably just being spiteful. XD
It was fun to plan and think of, but obviously won't ever be written.
T Sparx Hits The Streets
Was a comedy wherein Twilight Sparkle turns 18 and hits the club. She takes on the persona T Sparx on the insistence of Rainbow Dash, who is older and is convinced everyone will make fun of Twilight. Our resident egghead then goes on a three-day bender wherein she somehow befriends foreign dignitaries, unspeakable cosmic horrors, and ascends to become an alicorn and princess of parties. It didn't make it past that short description though as no matter how funny it was to think of, I wasn't sure I'd be able to execute it in a meaningful way.
Won't get any further than the plan I'm afraid.
Sweetie Belle is Not Dead.
Was born out of a spooky idea session. In it, Apple Bloom is the narrator, Scootaloo the main antagonist so to speak. They were both inadvertently the cause of their friend's death, and although innocent, they both don't take it well. Apple Bloom goes mad, and Scootaloo pretends like it never happened. As AB's madness deepens shit gets weird, and eventually they both come to grips with their grief and regret.
It didn't get past a one-paragraph description and likely will never become more than that.
Senility is Magic
Was another story born of some fan art I saw. Basically, Twilight is dealing with her aging friends and is trying to get Pinkie Pie out of her bomb shelter. The former baker is convinced that her old friend is a lizard pony however and won't leave. Although it was completely planned, I never got around to writing it. Although it was pretty funny, It didn't quite click.
Might come around to it eventually since it has such a fun premise.
Right where they left off.
Was yet another weird story. I can't remember how this one came to be, but it was basically a comedic shipfic about a romance between Celestia and Luna that picks up right at the end of episode 2. It was basically a 'what if' idea wherein I thought to myself, 'what if Celestia and Luna were married, and people just assumed they were sisters because they had to hide their relationship back then as it wasn't accepted.' Although a humorous premise, I couldn't really think of what else I could really do with such a thing. In the end, I wrote two pages and thought "nah".
Will likely never be built on, even if it was fun to think about.
The many Sins of Starlight Glimmer.
Is not something I'll talk in-depth about. Suffice it to say someone wanted a story with some rather extreme fetishes. I needed money and was early on in my writing career so I didn't know how to say no. They also wanted the first chapter for free as a sort of test. After getting it they ditched and didn't pay me.
This taught me a few lessons like always asking for a down payment for new commissioners, standing up for myself, and generally saying no to stuff I don't want to write.
And that's about it! Though not quite as good as last month I think there were some fun ideas in there, as well as some poignant lessons. Lemme know if there were any ideas you wanted to be brought back, or how you might finish these stories yourself in the comments below!
Edge of Victory seems the most interesting of these
T Sparx Hits the Streets sounds amazing in its ridiculousness. Though I'd be sorely tempted to swap out Twilight for Pinkie.
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That would almost be predictable, plus then it wouldn't be a fish out of water type of deal. Though I can certainly see it.
Wasn't the so called ending of Night Mares an april fools joke?
perhaps this suggestion is not enough to help, but the plot of Right where they left off could be continued with them by continuing to hide that they are lovers because the world has not yet changed enough to accept their union (Chancellor Neicei and nobles for there), in addition the stories that they are sisters becomes so present that the ponies would think it is a case of incest and it could shake pony society (especially the most conservative ones) and the rulers of the rest of the world might want to use this to leverage itself in some way ... not to mention Chrysalis who could take advantage and set up some plan to kidnap Luna (who is weak) and drain Celestia's power and be with two hypnotized alicornios giving her love ... in others words yes, that would give a huge problem ... the worst part is that they are not to blame for anything and the world and that would be wrong
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It didnt start that way. Initially the story was marked complete if I'm remembering correctly. Then the hate comments got piled on and suddenly the addendum chapter was added and it was back to being incomplete. I could be wrong though.
My theory was that the ending was the one the author wanted to do, but knew it would be controversial, thus posting it on april first as a sort of "If they take it badly I can say its a joke." kind of way.
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If I do ever go back to that story, I will keep your suggestion in mind.
sweetie belle isnt dead i'm prety sure someone has already done one like this, i remember seeing it but i cant find it in the mountain of fanfics on this site anymore, the story was a bit diffrent though
one of the cmc was dead, it may have been sweetie i cant remember but they were a ghost and the other cmc could still see them and everything and they continued on like nothing had happend...till finaly the day came when the spirit of the departed cmc was ready to acept what had happend to them and pass on, but to do so she had to say goodbye tot he others iirc and help them accept what had happend to her too, as that connection was the main thing holding her back.
at least thats how i remember it i cant find the damn thing anymore...