Stages On Stage · 10:33pm Oct 30th, 2014
Don’t read this post if you haven’t read Stages yet! SPOILERS!
Well….it is over.
At 32 Chapters with 150.000+ words not bad for a story that was only to be a one shot to set up a Sweetie Belle story sometime in the future.
The original story was veeeery different. It was to be about Octavia and Rarity riding the train back from Canterlot together and talking. The entire relationship with Vinyl would have been told from Octavia’s perspective. And it was just too unsatisfactory for me to write.
And I wanted to do something else with their characters anyway, so I decided to blow it up a bit (just a tad more than one chapter) and explore their personalities a bit more.
You might have noticed that my Octavia and Vinyl are maybe a little different to the regular fan-canon.
While there is nothing wrong with a wub-obsessed, sometimes loveably obnoxious Vinyl that likes her drinks strong and an uptight slightly snobby Octavia that excels in all her fields, I just found it to have been done too many times already.
So my Tavi is a bit of a slob, unable to make more than basic meals and slightly obsessed with movies. Without the mask she has to wear out in Canterlot public she is also not above getting dirty with a cakefight.
Vinyl is very different to most Vinyl’s I have read before. Despite Vinyl's unusual appearance I tried to make her as normal as possible. Maybe she is one of the most sane and rational ponies out there, except when it comes to anything Octavia related. Her desire to make other ponies happy with her music is the reason she became a DJ. Not because she must have the bass and wubs, as I find that stale after a while.
Lyra and Bon Bon actually have the personalities I first came up with for Vinyl and Octavia. As I wanted to include them anyway I just recycled my design and gave it to them.
Now on for some possible questions any of you may have.
Have any of the characters learned anything?
Hmmm. Octavia has learned something from it all. Vinyl? I dare say she has not learned her lesson. And that was done intentionally. Vinyl bet everything on one card and she was incredibly lucky that Octavia finally saw the light so to speak.
Vinyl has a problem by putting other pony's desires in front of her own and it will come and bite her in the flank at a much later time. We’ll get to that eventually once my Scoot and Dash story arc is over.
Why the romance tag so late?
I still am unsure if this story qualifies as a romance-tag worthy story. There is only very little romance in there. I kinda feel that it could be misleading….that people read the first few chapters expecting immediate romance only to find it in the very last few chapters. I have added it for now and will see if any complaints drop in.
Oh…and I also only put it in now to keep you guessing. :P
Will there be a sequel?
Yeeeenope… Noooyes?
Not a sequel directly. This entire thing was actually only a means to get certain characters into certain positions. Something I love to do is sow seeds every so often in some stories, only to let then grow and bloom a long time later.
Stages gave me tons of opportunities to do just that. Something that is left hanging would be Vinyl’s mother for example. It will be addressed a LOT later. The pegasi twins from the club will make a return at some point.
There will not be a story with only Vinyl and Tavi done by me. We will see them again as I love them too much to just ignore them, but it will tie in to other stories going on.
The story took place 2 years before Nightmare Night…..what happens to them in the time they appear in the show?
The way I imagine it, is that they live primarily in Manehatten, both of them occasionally travelling to Canterlot if Octavia has some event to work at.
When no events are going on, Octavia plays at Smiles and Sorrow. Sinfonietta gladly gave her the opportunity to play.
Vinyl works in the fashion business which is located mainly in Manehatten. Thanks to Fleur she works for some of the Canterlot Big Wigs as well, such as Hoity Toity. That also explains in my head why she was there for Rarity’s fashion show. Vinyl knows Pinkie Pie as well and I sort of imagine her meeting Pinkie after or during that one fashion show after not seeing her for so long.
That’s their jobs until….later.
Otherwise it’s just a happy life they have together with the occasional prank being played and plenty of movies being watched while snuggled up on the couch together.
I toyed with the idea of writing one follow up chapter a few months after the end, but I rather have people try and imagine their life together for themselves.
Why the hint in the description that there may be darker scenarios? There wasn’t anything like that.
The club scene was to go into a total different direction.
The plan was to have Octavia drugged and kidnapped. Vinyl seeing that and rushing to Octavia’s aid. There would have been a fight that Vinyl was about to lose if not for the intervention by Lyra and Bon Bon. It was supposed to paint a much darker tone on the city and would have introduced another character that would return in a later story. A member of Manehatten’s guards to be precise.
I ultimately decided against it, because it was just too difficult to have the characters bounce back to their usual selves after something like that.
And I didn’t want to make the city that dark of a place.
I left the hint where it was. Not really sure if I should remove it or not.
Why is there so much fluff?
Cause fluff is awesome!
I know that there are a few chapters where not much really happens. But I quite frankly love stories like that. Just a bit of world building, see how ponies behave with each other, explore a few thoughts. I love things like that, so I will continue to write fluffy stories and there is nothing you can do to stop me! Muahahahahahaaaa…..
Seriously though, I know that it was a bit of a drag to read. If I would have been able to keep my original schedule it wouldn’t have been so bad I think. But real life got in the way (still does actually) so the timeframe got stretched a bit.
What is next?
Locked in!
I really have to continue that story and get on with my Scoot and Dash arc.
There might be a small bit of a side story thrown in here and there which will just be plain silly stuff and very lighthearted.
Thanks again for all the views and awesome comments.
Hope to see you in the comment section of one of my other stories again some day.
You really did an amazing job with this story.
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Thank you for reading it.
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Nnnnnope. Fleur is not Vinyl's mom that much I can safely say.
Although the thought had occurred to me to do just that, I shied away from that idea because I need a Fleur that is close to Vinyl, Tavi, Lyra and Bon Bon's age group a while later.
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You're most welcome, it was a fantastic piece of work that I hope to see expanded on in the future. No pressure, just saying :)
Thanks for the story and no, it wasn't fluffy, it was just slow-paced story that lets a relationship to grow and to bloom. Just the kind of a story I like.
Are there going to be any further development for Fleur and Fancy? They are a very rarely-used pairing and it was somehow pleasant to see them in your fic.
Greatest story of all time