Chapter 6 Part 5 Up! (March 17th) · 5:10am Mar 17th, 2021
So, part 5 of Chapter Six is now up! It is a huge moment! Go read it, if you haven’t already. I’ve got a lot more to say that I didn’t already say in the author’s notes either, so hurry back when you’re done.
Done? Good. Okay, so let’s talk narratives and why this part went the way it did. I already explained the reasoning behind using the Elements of Harmony and ending this MLP style in my author’s note, so no need to go over that again.
But what a lot of you will likely be asking is… why didn’t I have Twilight join them? Why use five different Elements unrelated to ones we’ve previously seen? Why do the spirits of the dead get to play a part when Twilight doesn’t?
So this is where I have an admission to make. Originally, I was intending to go in exactly the direction you all predicted. I was going to have Twilight be one of six Elements. Here’s how they would’ve broken down.
Sunset Shimmer: Element of Magic
Twilight Sparkle: Element of Loyalty
Rarity Belle: Element of Generosity
Applejack Apple: Element of Honesty
Scootaloo: Element of Kindness
Diamond Tiara: Element of Laughter
Why yes you read that correctly. Twilight Sparkle, Element of Loyalty. Not magic. Why? Well the justification was going to be that Twilight wasn’t their leader. Sunset was. In fact, I was playing very heavily on the alternate terms that Celestia used back in Magical Mystery Cure. Or in other words, to restate this list:
Sunset Shimmer: Element of Leadership
Twilight Sparkle: Element of Devotion
Rarity Belle: Element of Charity
Applejack Apple: Element of Integrity
Scootaloo: Element of Compassion
Diamond Tiara: Element of Optimism
Now you may notice that Twilight here technically shares an Element with Scootaloo in the actual story, but that’s because Devotion was being used in a different sense than I ended up using it with Scootaloo, despite being the same word. You’ll also notice that Applejack’s is just about the same thing she ended up with. Sort of. I consider Honesty and Integrity to be two different virtues, albeit very much related and interconnected.
So, why was this my approach? Well, as I said, Sunset’s the leader. Twilight was supposed to be connected to them as a group from afar, and have a sense of loyalty towards them to help them out, while simultaneously demonstrating a sense of loyalty towards her own people. This is why, incidentally, that Cozy makes the seemingly out of place comments about Twilight not being loyal. That was a piece of the original writing I left in specifically because it helps show Cozy comically missing the point of what they’re doing.
I dropped hints towards this conclusion throughout the story, especially once I reorganized Chapter Three and solidified who the survivors were going to be. Had any other Mane Six members survived other than Rarity and Applejack, the original plan was for them to keep their Element too. This is also another reason why Sci-Twi was doomed. She had nowhere to fit in this scheme. So had, for instance, Rainbow Dash made it as per the original plan, I would’ve had Twilight be something else, Honesty or something.
These hints took the form of various ways in which characters interacted. There were also intended hints towards this in the dreams Sunset had in Chapter Five. This is why, among other things, Diamond Tiara made repeated leaning on the fourth wall jokes (that is, references to real world movies, shows, etc) and constantly cracked weird jokes: it was a prelude to her being Element of Laughter.
I also wanted to go this route because when it comes to fantasy, I like my magic to follow strict rules. Magic A is Magic A, to quote TV Tropes. That means that the established way the Elements of Harmony worked, or at least what I thought was established, involved six Elements, and them being those six listed above.
But then Rainstorm read what I produced. And she pointed out several crucial things. First of all, despite my original assumptions, canon is littered with examples of the Elements being used differently. Sunset listed many examples in the story but there are others as well, others I’m sure I missed. She lists the Pillars because their virtues were different--similar, but different--to the ones that the Mane Six used. The Young Six meanwhile never had their Elements named at all. Secondly, by having these six characters take up the same Elements that others once used, it was like I was replacing them. Like they could just be substituted out. And that’s no good.
Canon also shows that friendship magic can take multiple other forms too. I use the term Elements generically in both this blog post and the story, but the truth is it could’ve just as easily been termed Rainbow Power. Or whatever it is that the Mane Six summon up to use against King Sombra after he destroyed the Tree of Harmony. They still had their friendship magic. It was about them working together.
And that was the kicker. That was what convinced me I’d gone about this all wrong. Friendship magic in the show has never been about six specific virtues, or six people. It’s about friends working together to accomplish a goal. About friends supporting each other. Helping each other. Loving each other. It doesn’t matter what their so-called virtue or Element is. What matters is that they work together, to do what they have to do. What matters is what’s most important to each person, and how that can work together… in harmony.
So the magic that they all get in this story, aside from Sunset, is one hundred percent new magic, even Rarity and Applejack. Although their powers don’t change--Applejack still has super strength and Rarity still has her gemstone manifestation--they come from a different source. They don’t need the geodes anymore. They just need their own self. To uphold that which is most important to them.
Same thing with Diamond Tiara and Scootaloo. Scootaloo’s devotion is different from what Twilight’s would’ve been because hers takes a different tack. She cares about people on an intrinsic, basic level. It doesn’t matter who they are. They matter. Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara finding herself required substantial amounts of humility, in order to see how much her upbringing poisoned her mind, and how she has to change. In other words it’s the culmination of her redemption throughout the story.
I very much prefer this redone version to what I originally had. There were a couple of fun bits I miss from the old version--Sunset taunted Cozy throughout about them having more and more till they had six, for instance--but this works far better. It doesn’t try to stuff characters into positions that don’t really fit them. Laughter especially was the least fitting, and it showed. It was weak, I didn’t like it very much even before Rainstorm read it, and I’m very glad I changed it.
So, why doesn’t Twilight get involved? Well, this is actually for a couple of reasons, one of which you’ll see in a later part, but the primary reason was to make the point to Cozy that she was wrong. That it didn’t matter how many of them there were. Five works just as well as two would, or six, or seven, or whatever.
Secondly, Twilight didn’t go through the journey with them. Yes, she watched from afar. Yes, she was friends with all of them before they lost their memories. Yes she cares about them. But… she’s not a true part of the group. Having her participate cheapens what they went through. This ending, this destruction of Cozy’s powers, this was about them. Those who suffered directly under Cozy's wrath. While Twilight suffered, and suffered greatly, it just wasn't in the same way.
Which is why the spirits of the dead also get to play a part. They don’t act as an Element or anything of that nature. They’re not the sixth component. They got to participate because the harmony magic allowed them to join in, because they suffered at Cozy’s hands too, and worse besides, since half of them were manipulated into committing murder and the other half suffered gruesome deaths because of that manipulation. This was also to show that there was no resentment on any of their parts towards their fellow friends, and to show they would always be together, even in death. None of them are being punished. They all get to be happy.
So ultimately, this climax was about the sixteen who suffered in this game telling the Mastermind where to stuff it. The sort of thing I’d like to think the various participants of other killing games only wish they could do. It’s MLP style, and it fits the themes of friendship. Friendship matters.
So, moving on to other aspects of this finisher. What’s up with Sunset’s mindscape? This isn’t something we’ve ever seen in canon. And you’re right. It’s not. But it is a logical extension of what we’ve seen of her abilities. It helps provide a reason for why she had the dreams she did. Her Chapter Five dreams in particular were her mindscape trying to eke out bits and pieces of her memories regarding her friends. This is also why her guitar suddenly gives her the ability to countersong Adagio back in Chapter Five. Because her powers involve memory, they were triggered by it. Like a sudden realization. She acted on instinct. The guitar was some crucial foreshadowing of what the Memory Stone did in terms of an imprint on her mind, in that both are artifacts.
Because I had Sunset as my traitor from the get go, and because I had decided that they lost their memories because she was able to use the Memory Stone’s magic via a combination of imprint and her own talent, I also wanted this climax to involve her regaining her memory midfight. This wasn’t something I had planned from the very start, as one look at the very first piece of writing I ever did for this story--a very very rough draft of the epilogue that, among other things included the original survivor list, had Twilight referred to as Queen Twilight, she used a remade Memory Stone to give them their memories back, they were on the ship, etc etc--would show you. But early on as I fleshed things out properly, I decided it made sense.
So I needed a way for her to do that. Enter the avatar, a snarky expression of herself that Sunset gets to interact with to help her process what the hell is going on. This is far from a new concept, but it’s one I like, and one I think makes logical sense for Sunset, because it results in some funny interactions. It also let me depict her unlocking the lock on her memories in a fun visual way.
I went through many different possible interpretations of how this would’ve occurred till I settled on what I did here. This was in flux because the exact nature of Cozy’s powers were also in flux. I’d decided early on how she escaped, but the necromancy was something I added on a bit later in the story.
I also have an admission to make, if I didn’t already make it somewhere. (I might have.) Back in Interlude One… I did not originally have that scene with the dead bodies on Mount Everhoof. In fact that didn’t get added until about two days prior to that part posting on FIMFic. Which meant it was after Chapter Two and parts of Chapter Three had been written. Prior to that point, all the interlude said was that Cozy, Tirek, and Chrysalis had vanished and were never found.
Fortunately I finally realized that made it way too obvious, way too soon, who my mastermind was. I wanted to give an early hint but that gave it away. So I added that scene. When I did so I hadn’t fully decided how it occurred yet--this is why there’s a mention of Discord whistling nonchalantly, because I was considering it as something he might’ve chosen to do. And then I changed my mind later on. So now you can take it as Discord pretending to take credit for something he had nothing to do with, as that’s perfectly in line with his personality.
It was only later that I decided how it happened--that decision was reached at about the same time I was writing Sci-Twi’s execution. From there I built in every last bit of headcanon you saw me talk about in the previous part re Grogar, and set about laying the foundations for hints towards it. The execution and Chapter Four was huge in doing that--all the healing magic, necromancy, etc, all was groundwork for this reveal.
So once Cozy’s powers were decided, up to and including a ritual that let her act like a blender turning people into smoothies and drinking them for the health benefits, that gave me the opening to give Sunset her magic back. This is why Sunset is the only one whose magic doesn’t change. She’s the only one who could’ve taken her magic back. No one else would’ve been able to do it. Had Cozy used that ritual on any of the others before she did it to Sunset? They would’ve died and there would’ve been nothing anyone could’ve done to stop it.
Why she didn’t do that will be answered in the next part.
Why the nuke? Well, this is where I can technically get into spoiling follow up parts. So only read on if you’re okay with that. It’s in a separate spoiler tag.
So, the nuke is my answer to how Cozy Glow dies. I didn’t want the Elements to just petrify her again and then shatter her. I also didn’t want them to do something like cause her to explode from the inside, in the sense of purifying her to the point of her disintegrating. While that is really cool, and is totally something I might use in an alt scenario one of these days… it didn’t feel right. It felt like it wasn’t properly fitting justice.
There’s more to this that you’ll have to see the next part to properly understand, but basically I wanted to inflict upon Cozy a clear understanding of just how wrong she was. About everything. That means stripping away her power, leaving her alive, but helpless. Leaving her vulnerable to proper justice, justice that doesn’t involve perpetuating the horrific nature of the killing game.
Buuuuuut… that’s not good enough. She crossed the Moral Event Horizon too many times in this story. Especially with the destruction of the Avenger. (Which is another thing that… wasn’t originally going to happen. More on that in a future post.) This means she has to die. So because the Elements weren’t going to kill her, and Sunset and co weren’t going to kill her, something has to. Thus the nuke. It’s not something she can escape from, not without her magic. So she will die in a nuclear fireball, and she knows it. She can’t stop it. She gets to sit there and wait while the nuke counts down the final moments of her life.
It’s not an excruciating, painful death, no. It’s quick. Far quicker than she gave to anyone. Even Fluttershy died slower than she will. But… I didn’t want to torture her. I felt like torturing her would be highly hypocritical. Like it would be saying “this is okay when it happens to the right person.” Because it’s not okay. That kind of torture is not okay, period. Doesn’t matter who the person is. It is antithetical to the virtues that our beloved MLP characters stand for. As much as I can see a sense of justice in it, of a sort… I couldn’t accept doing it.
But don’t expect her to have the same kind of afterlife the other characters get. In fact as far as I’m concerned, she’ll cease to exist altogether. She didn’t believe in souls? She doesn’t get to hold onto hers in death. She gets wiped out. Sorry, Cozy, but you brought this on yourself.
If you have any further questions about this, please, ask. I can go into even more detail if necessary.
Three parts remain.
Especially with the destruction of the Avenger. (Which is another thing that… wasn’t originally going to happen. More on that in a future post.)
Well there goes THAT theory. Still hope everyone somehow managed to get out okay, but I get the feeling it's pretty unlikely.
There is 1 thing but I WILL WAIT for the upcoming chapters (and you might know what it is because it’s something I been hoping for to happen at the end of this story)
5477152
No I can totally see why everyone wouldn't believe it though, because that's totally the kind of thing I've been pulling all story long, making you think one thing happened when it was another. Sadly, however... not this time. The Avenger's toast. They weren't prepared for it. They couldn't be. Twenty-first century tech beats twentieth century tech, flat out.
5477153
I know what you're going to ask. I know what it is... But I'm sorry. Those who died are gone for good. That's always been the case. They're not coming back.
5477156
it’s ok I understand
5477156
Yeah.
Like I said, still hope everyone managed to get off okay somehow, but again, I highly doubt that.
5477156
Also, that whole thing about them truly being dead kinda makes me want to see a lost memories segment that's an alternate ending to the whole fic where it turns out the whole thing is one long vision Sunset had thanks to her memory powers evolving over time, allowing her to see not just someone's memories of the past, but some of their future plans as well. Thus after the "official" ending of the fic, it'd cut back to Sunset holding Cozy/"Heather's" arm, and she'd basically stop Cozy before the plan could even begin.
Either that, or the whole thing is a dream Cozy had while still in stone, and it turned out she was still in Equestria the whole time, but that wouldn't be as satisfying to see.
5477165
Not bad, not bad. But there are better ways. You'll see what I mean.
5477167
Well consider me intrigued.
...
Twilight Sparkle Twilight Sparkle YAS queen
5477170
You dare. You dare come onto my blog and bring this meme to me?
I approve.
Hm... The bomb blast from the movie American Assassin is going to be epic
I'm new to this and I have to say that your Danganronpa story is quite the best. You really are quite the writer, and I really wish that the ending wouldn't be bittersweet and that was something to bring them back...I missed all of them...But I understand if this is your decision. After all, there's no way to revive the dead that easily.
But it's a great story and how you build it up and how much you worked on this. It's pretty much your masterpiece.
5477246
It means a lot to hear that said, thank you. It was most definitely a labor of love. I put my heart and soul into it for months. So thank you. I certainly tried to do my best.
5477167
...The whole thing is going to turn out to be Sunset's fanfiction or something, isn't it?
5477469
Well it wasn't going to be. Now I might have to do that as a separate thing by itself just for the sake of laughs. Or maybe turn it into a compilation of possible ways to have a non-despair ending. Kind of like the endings to the movie Clue, where it's one scene at a time but all in one "chapter" put together.
5477486
I think we'd all love that, pfft
5477489
Then it shall be so. Eventually. At some point.
5477505
Then I can't wait