The World Tree: World of the Frozen Moon

by Artaelian

Bonus: Behind the Story

NOTE: This "chapter" doesn't contain any additional story, it was written simply to explain how this story came about and evolved.

So that's it, all done. The World Tree: World of the Frozen Moon is wrapped up. Real life got in the way at one point, leading to a long delay, and a lack of an editor means it was likely shorter than it could have been. So what's this bit about then? I've never really got to talk to anyone about all this, about my thoughts and why the story went like it did.

My editor was around when I came up with an early script for the story, back when the mercenaries were written as "pirates", and he drew parallels to the Studio Ghibli classic; Laputa Castle in the Sky. In a way, he was right, it was thanks to that very movie that I thought of something. Namely, most alternate world stories for MLP revolve around either a nightmare Celestia, a world when Nightmare Moon won, or something else. They don't stray too far from the norm honestly, that isn't to say they aren't interesting, when you find one that is, it is really worth reading.
So I had the idea, namely, what if BOTH Celestia and Luna became mad with power? Who would stop them? It wouldn't have been Discord, he'd have like it, King Sombra would have likely slipped under their radar to take Equestria and then deal with them, and there is no certainty Queen Crysalis was even around at the time (you must remember, I have only seen five seasons as of writing this, so no spoilers if there's any information).
This required me to delve into the tricky side of writing a fanfic, the realm of OCs. This story has three named OCs; Princess Maakera, Time Twister and High Wind. I'm not new to making OCs, another story of mine has a few. That story is Ruining Harmony, where I created Sunshine Blaze, Ulysses, Captain, Fireshot, Forest Breeze and Cloudswirl to name a few. Most were seen once or twice, they didn't need to be used much, but the main focus were the first three. In World of the Frozen Moon however, the only OCs were up front, this is tricky as you need to get their personalities and behavior right. There is a term for getting it wrong; Mary Sue.

How did I try to avoid this stories OCs falling into the Mary Sue category? I always kept in mind, for one good thing about them, balance it out with a flaw. Princess Maakera as an example is a great leader, she took control of Equestria to lead it out of troubled times into a thousand years of peace. But she is too controlling, she thinks of everyone as chess pieces, and this is seen with Time Twister. She is fully aware before he knows she is, that he is obsessed with finding other worlds. When it suits her, she drops a hint, then outright tells him what he has long sought. In the end, it works to her advantage, but as Luna also makes clear in her words, Maakera is a very bad parent. We don't see an awful lot of Maakera in the story aside from these interactions. As a note, Maakera is an Estonian word, and translated, means Earth. This of course was on purpose. Celestia is the Sun, Luna is the Moon, Maakera is the Earth, or Mother Earth.
Time Twister was always going to be the tragic figure in the story, while he is dutiful to his job and Equestria as a whole, he never once stood around in my mind as the character who was perfect. He got his position by chance because he noticed something a second earlier than Shining Armor and got the promotion that SHOULD have gone to Shining Armor. He doubts himself, even when his actions suggest otherwise, and he seeks another world where he didn't get the promotion, though getting anything that will help Equestria was also something he wanted. He has only one redeeming quality, at the end, when he gives Scootaloo the chance she needs to save her world, at the cost of his own life. In early drafts and plans, he never died at the end, though I made note I debated about it being the case. I ultimately went for it, because I felt after his self doubt, and then his later actions, he needed that moment to redeem himself, he didn't have a lot going for him otherwise.
High Wind however was the only character to only be noted as Captain in early versions. As in Pirate Captain and Mercenary Captain. He's about as simple and straightforward as it gets, he wants money, but he is obsessed with his deceased daughter and her final words, and jumps at the chance that he may give his daughter true peace in death. Of the three, he's the one I worked on the least because I'd got to a point where Scootaloo, Applebloom and Rumble just couldn't get to Asgell without some help.

The Other Stuff
The story of course, before it even got there, was about the World Tree, Yggdrasil. This should need no explaining, and if it does, just google search, its a very famous myth. Its the stuff once the story gets to the other world that is interesting. Elven ponies aren't a real thing, I made them up as a species for the story, but Asgell and Oriel, the world and city found in the branch, are welsh words. Asgell translates to Wing, while Oriel translates to Loft. There may have been something I intended originally for these words, but I never wrote it down. I only now, as I write this realize, put the other way and its a nod to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, which has the species called Loftwing. I digress though.

Where will this story be going in future?
As it is, World of the Frozen Moon is done. It may have taken a few years with real life getting in the way, but as it is, its finished.
But wouldn't it be very interesting to see what Sweetie Belle got up to that led to that ending? While I have nothing currently written out, I do intend to come back to this ending, and write a story about it.

I do hope you all enjoyed the story very much, I will be working on my next story soon, and announcing it in a blog post when I have something more solid worked out.