Retrospective: Bell Curve · 9:33pm Aug 18th, 2016
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So, I hope you'll forgive the experiment here. Rather than posting the entire story in one go, I decided to try spacing them out one a day. Maybe drum up a little more traffic for this tale. It didn't quite go as I planned, but it was good to try it out. What do you think? Do you like longer stories you can attack all in one go or prefer ones where you can spread it out over a few days?
As for the message of this story, It's an important message, one that we all need to learn. It's something that's very dear to me. And though you might not think you can apply it, you can. I'd suggest you read further to find out how.
...dammit, that sounds like I'm going to sell you some ginsu knives. I'm not! I swear! 
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Okay, honestly? The last thing I expected after publishing Applications was writing another short story set in the same universe before the week was up. Then again, it’s been a bit of a strange week.
I kind of needed this story. You see, Shattered Dawn has some fairly dark parts. All is definitely not well in Equestria and they’ve suffered some serious losses and pains. So I’ve found that if I go back and forth, it helps a bit.
It didn’t hurt that pretty much ALL OF YOU were screaming “Where’s the next one?!”
First of all, you’re probably wondering what the heck is going on. Why are we suddenly going back in time to before the events of Applications? Why are you being such a jerk, Novel?
Well, truth be told, I’ve got about nine of these short stories (currently, that’ll probably change before I actually publish this thing [EDIT: Ayep. Up to twelve now]) running around in my head. They’re scattered all over the timeline, usually during key points in Sunset’s after she becomes Professor Apple Polish’s aide (translation: after the Sonic Rainboom didn’t happen).
I’ve got some great comedy ones (I hope) where Sunset and her friends take Twilight out on a night on the town once she’s old enough to drink (Revelation: Twilight’s a lightweight. This surprises nopony). Another one where we actually get to see Sunset use her “royal prerogative” to see Coloratura, which is mentioned by Minuette in Applications. Even one where Sunset confronts Celestia about a few things after the defeat of Nightmare Moon.
…and maybe one or two where somepony develops feelings for somepony else (if you didn’t see that coming, you haven’t been paying attention. 
).
All of this leading up to the massive novel of Shattered Dawn.
This Sunset hasn’t had nearly the amount of time to come to grips with her past as the Sunset we met in Applications. In fact, the events regarding Sunset’s second experience with the mirror haven’t happened yet here (During my Version 3.0 edit of Applications, I made some minor timeline changes to fix this). So this Sunset has pretty much resigned herself to a constant state of guilt and depression for what’s she done. It’s a bit like the Sunset we see right at the opening of Rainbow Rocks.
It’s a hard place to be. I know. I’ve been there.
Moon Dancer? What can I say? I love me some sassy Moon Dancer.
Another note of interest: the first draft of this was done within six days of Applications going live. However, during my audible readthrough (where I read it out loud to myself), I found I was getting bored. That is not a good thing. So I ripped apart half of the story, axed large sections of it, rewrote even more and cracked down to get the flow right. I think it’s a lot better now. That's why it's been a while though this is actually shorter than Applications. I want to make sure you get the very best.
So, let’s talk references.
First and foremost, silly me, I didn’t do my homework enough! I didn’t realize that Apple Polish and Crystal Clear are actually named characters in the show itself. They’re two mares in the group who examine Twilight Sparkle during her entrance exam!
In the Enterplay collectible card game's expansion sets, Top Marks is named on his The Crystal Games #59 U card, which attributes to Twilight Sparkle the quote "Professor Marks's lectures were legendary. He just kept talking in one long, unbroken sentence, moving from topic to topic. It was really quite hypnotic..."
In case your nerd cred needs recertification, this is a reference to the awesomely famous line by none other than Captain Jean-Luc Picard from “Timescape” in Star Trek: TNG.
This actually became quite the meme for a bit. They even did songs. :D
So I didn’t need to depend quite so much on “The Brightest and the Best” (which is still canon, save for maybe the origin of Spike’s egg. I haven’t quite figured out what to do about him yet).
Second, the cat’s cradle idea came from the heart-stoppingly adorable comic of epic adorableness that is known as “Twilight’s First Day,” specifically Page #6. As I started to think more and more about it, I realized that a game of cat’s cradle would be the perfect instrument for a unicorn to practice fine-tuned telekinetic techniques. As they progress in experience, they can make it more and more complex to the point of it practically becoming art it and of itself. I thought the whole thing was just a fun idea.
And yes, I also borrowed the idea of the ‘accident’ from Muffinshire as well. It was just too good not to use (and hey, I actually kept a running gag for once! Squee!) I just decided to call it a chaos surge. Why? Well…reasons. That may be explained later…or in another series. 
If I need to tell you where the line “Tea. Earl Gray. Hot.” came from, I’m going to need you to turn in your nerd card right now and go watch Star Trek: The Next Generation from start to finish. Once you can tell me Picard’s final line from Yesterday’s Enterprise and the last thing we see the crew of the Enterprise-D doing in “All Good Things…” you can have it back.
Yes, that’s Twilight who bumped into her.
I’m sure there are a few more I missed. I’ll find them later. Let’s get to the heart of the matter.
Cheerilee.
I knew I wanted Cheerilee involved in Sunset’s life. Cheerilee’s always struck me as a bit more mature version of Fluttershy’s kindness. She’s also struck me as a few years older than the Mane 6. So in here, Cheerilee is in her final year of being an aide for Professor Crystal Clear, who’s essentially the XO (second-in-command) of Principal Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. Cheerilee is in a very high-profile position. After this year, she’ll be fully accredited and ready to teach on her own full-time.
However, I realized something about teachers…almost every teacher we ever see in MLP:FiM is a unicorn except for Cheerilee. Now, I know that’s mainly because the only other school we’ve seen in MLP aside from Cheerilee’s schoolhouse is Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, but it made me think. It’s natural to assume that most farmers are likely earth ponies and most weather ponies are likely pegasi. A unicorn could still be a weather pony and a pegasus could be a farmer, but they would have to work harder at it. I thought about unicorns and how much easier it must be to teach with levitation, illusions or other magical abilities. So, what if there’s a predisposition in the field of education for unicorn teachers?
Now, I know I’m walking a bit of a line of racism here, but (I hope) it’s really not. It’s more like societal expectations (yeah, I know, it’s a close thing). Ponies would look oddly at a unicorn who wants to do farmwork. Much the same here.
So Cheerilee’s heard some whispers about it in her recent travels and it makes her doubt herself, wondering if she really is suited to this calling after all. And now she has that voice in her head telling her that she’s not good enough. It’s the kind of voice that doesn’t go away just because people disagree. You can dismiss other people’s praise because you think they’re just being nice and won’t tell you the truth. I’m not sure if you’ve ever had this happen to you, but it gets to the point where praise from anyone who knows you just goes in one ear and out the other...if it even gets that far.
And it’s something I think Sunset could have definitely had as a filly. She overcompensated for that voice by becoming arrogant and egotistical, but it started there. Her own little doubts and fears.
I know. I’ve had the voice in my head.
In 2011, I was fighting that voice non-stop. I was constantly writing . The previous year, I had entered into a global writing contest and didn’t place. You might not think it’s a big deal (it was literally open to the entire planet), but I took it hard, especially after a scathing (but deserved) critique from a friend. I’d always had this voice that told me I was a terrible writer and no one would come out and say it. That critique was fuel for that voice.
Well, that writing contest came up again in 2011 (ironically, the last year it happened before it was canceled), I entered again. I poured my heart and soul into this story. I researched and dissected every winner and honorable mention from every year they’ve ever done the contest. I tore apart the official books set in the universe and stitched together timelines. I even created accent dictionaries based on published novels to make sure I got cadences and dialects down. I probably edited the thing 40-60 times. The night before I submitted it, I had Painted Heart read it to me aloud in our bedroom as I paced back and forth with a longsword in my hand (for reasons) and submitted it with an hour to spare.
And then, one day, the results came in. I didn’t place when I saw the news article brief. I was crushed.
Until I actually read the full article…and below the page break was “Honorable Mentions.”
My story was at the top.
I would say I freaked, but frankly? I was too stunned to move. I just stared at the screen in utter disbelief. Folks congratulated me. Laughed and pointed at it, saying “See? What did I tell you?”
That night, while I was celebrating at dinner with Painted, I even got a personal email from a member of the group running the contest, praising my story for very specific reasons. Others had written very similar stories, but mine had blown them away.
It remains one of the highest points of my life.
Because that was the day that voice shut the <BUY SOME APPLES> up.
The contest folks didn’t care about my feelings. They didn’t care about being nice.
They cared about the fact that I told a good damn story. And I did.
It gets better. A couple months later, I won Grand Prize in a smaller community contest set in the same universe as the first story. From the results of the judges, all the entries were hard fought…save for mine. Mine took the lead by a landslide. The only one at “110%.”
This finalized it. I knew at that moment, I was an author and a writer to the very core. It’s my talent and my gift. It’s my passion and my love. I love telling stories. It’s what I do. It’s who I am.
So, I’ve been where Sunset had been and where Cheerilee was. And I’ve had someone in Crystal Clear’s position come into my life and say “Yes, you can do this and you do it damn well.”
In this day and age, it’s easy to be critical. It’s easy to rip apart other people’s works and find all the flaws and the problems. I’ll admit there are some stories here on FiMFiction where I have either stopped reading or left unhappy with the quality of the story. I know some may disagree with me here, but I will usually not say anything for these stories. I won’t downvote them or leave a nasty comment. Because I know how fragile the creative mind can be and how desperate we are for acceptance and validation.
In fact, I do my best to leave a positive comment on every story I enjoy, even if there are flaws. A recent story I read was simply hysterical, despite the somewhat expansive flaws in capitalization and punctuation.
I try to see what the author was trying to write. The packaging may not always be perfect, but the real story happens in the reader’s mind. If it’s happening there, then you’ve won!
Very few people get to have a moment like I did, where someone who you admire and respect comes in and tells you you’re doing a good job. I’m blessed beyond measure to have had that experience.
So, while I don’t claim to have anything on Brandon Sanderson, Terry Pratchett or Peter David, (my three favorite professionally published authors) I can do my part to encourage and build up the authors around me. I encourage you to do the same. Because we’re all here for the same reason: because we fell in love with blasted pastel-colored cartoon horses.
I’ve seen some fragmentation in the fandom. People seem eager to tear into other factions or certain online personalities. They seem to revel in drama, blame, complaining and anger. Well, guess what folks? This fandom is better than that. I’ve seen it come together to donate tens of thousands of dollars to a child who almost died because of bullies. This fandom has built orphanages, fed families and done all sorts of crazy amazing things.
There will always be the loud minority. There will always be the few that give the rest a bad name. But in the end, it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do. How you handle yourself and how you choose to show who you are.
Because on the internet, you can be anyone you want to be.
I’m going to choose to be best me I can be. Because that’s the me I want people to know. That’s the me I want to really be. I’ll still screw it up all the time. However, there’s a quote from Fallout: Equestria that really touches on this for me.
“…Eventually, every hero falls. Inevitably, every hero fails. …Heroes are ponies, just like us. Doing the things that we should be doing because there ain’t nopony else doing them. The true mark of a hero is not that they never fail, never fall down. No, you know a true hero by what they do after they fall. By the way they pick themselves back up again, shake themselves off, and throw themselves back into that good fight. Despite what they done, and despite the bleak prospects of a happy ending.”
Maybe this is one of the reasons I love Sunset so much.
Now that makes me sound way more important than I am. I don’t claim to be a hero (unless I’m playing Commander Shepard, because when I’m her, I’m awesome).
But maybe, just maybe, I can be a hero to someone with a kind word and some encouragement.
And if I can make one person’s day just a little bit brighter… that day is a good day.
This has been Novel Idea. Until next time, have fun!
-NI
P.S. If you have inquries about Commander Shepard being awesome, I refer you to the following video.
Wow, erm... Thank you for writing all this. I'm still living with 'the voice' and while I doubt it will ever go away, I can't help but smile; seeing so much support and goodwill put into this post.
Regardless of whatever else you may have done today, you've definitley managed to make today just that little bit better.
So again, thank you and may inspiration never be far from your mind. Keep writing (if you want to of course) I'm looking forward to whatever else you may publish.
4157001 Like Sunset's "angry little pony" in Applications, the voice never fully goes away. It'll come back and nip at your heels. You just need to keep bucking it, over and over again. As a writer, the only you can do to combat it is write. After all, the definition of courage is
No matter what, no word you write is ever wasted. Every word you put down is another stepping stone into the author you can become.
I'm glad this message helped. It's something really potent for me and I'm thrilled that it could help someone else.
As for more? I'm just getting started.
4158766 Thank you. I'm glad it touched you and helped encourage you. All I can say is don't stop. Do NaNoWriMo. Do Camp NaNoWriMo. Force yourself to write 1,000 words every day. (Start with 500 then go to 750 then to 1,000). Turn off the internet. Make yourself do it. Make it a habit and it will eventually become easier.
If you haven't named your little universe, yet, may I suggest "Sunset rising" as a possibility? You have singlehoofedly caused Sunset to rise on my mental "Most Interesting Ponies List." She's usually written as an almost two-dimensional "bad girl who isn't anymore," but your version shows her pain, doubt, and determination to do better that...well, let's just say it resonates a bit.
And so Sunset is rising to new heights that were previously not seriously imagined for her.
It's really some nice work, man.
Oh, and if you continue writing these out of order, a blog post with links to each story in chronological order that you can then link to from the authors' note at the start of each story would be an awesome thing. If it's not too much trouble. If you don't mind.I'm sorry! Eep!
4261527 I like that name! But, since I'm going with a whole book-name-theme thing (For reasons I really still don't understand), it's already been identified as the Wavelength Theorems Timeline, or simply Wavelengths.
You can actually see part of the span of stories on my blog post Keystones & Arcs!
But even more so, I'm thrilled that I've apparently championed Sunset Shimmer to you. However, I feel I must give credit where credit is due, because it is The Albinocorn's Long Road to Friendship and Sunset of Time that did it for me. Albinocorn is the undisputed master of Sunset Shimmer stories, so you'll definitely want to look him up (bring a Costco box of tissue for Sunset of Time. You'll need it).
And that's why I like Sunset's arc: she has a full redemption arc through the movies. She has to suffer through what she's done. She needs to endure her legacy and pray that someday... she might be able to make a brighter one. That's the canon one.
My intentions... well, you'll need to wait and see.
(And you'll be happy to know the rest of these will be done in order
)
4261759 I actually followed your link to Sunset of Time from an author's note intending to put it on my read it later.
It was already there. Mainly because it opened the description with certain words that trigger an automatic "MUST READ THIS!!!" response in anyone who grew up considering trollocs and myrdraal far more interesting baddies than ring wraiths and Uruk-hai.
So that will be read sooner now.
Also, I doubt it will make me cry the way parts of Twilight is Magic did. I read My Little Dashie after that series, and while I've had a few moments of choked-upped-ness since (one of them a couple hours ago in the Canterlot Archive Stacks, I might add...), the one-two punch kinda whammied the waterworks out of commission for a lil bit.
4261766 Sunset of Time is not only a bit of a tearjerker, but it's one of those unique pieces that will make you cry happy tears with alongside the sad ones. Beyond that though, it's one of the best books I've ever read, up there with current fantasy and science fiction giants like Sanderson. Put aside the pony bit ...it's simply a brilliant book.
That being said, everyone processes emotions differently. That's why I do followups (toward the bottom), so the authors of these epic stories can actually see the emotional progression of a reader as they go.
And if an idea was sparked, go with it. Make it happen!
I should take the moment to comment, though I frequently don't talk, just read. I'm with 4157001 on thanking you for this. I have clinical depression and while I'm not a writer today was still...a bad day. The story made me feel good--and the blog post even more so. The song you linked is one I love, though I didn't know there was a PMV for it (and an amazing PMV at that!) so thanks for sharing it! It's...something I try to live my life by, though that's hard some days, like today. Yeah, um...just, thanks. Your stories are great, by the way. I can hardly wait for more.
4261766
Do you have a link to Twilight is Magic? Twilight is my favorite character and that title sounds interesting.
4266772
Series read order here.
You are in for a treat. But have tissues and a pillow standing by. The tissues because the author loves to emotionally torture his little ponies. The pillow is to smother your laughter if you happen to be reading in a dark house with sleeping family members you don't want to wake.
There's enough there to take a good while to read, too!
4266741 I'm glad I could be of some help. I have my own depression issues (seriously, ponies are one of my primary anti-depressants) and I know just how pervasive they can be, affecting just about everything and anything in your life. I also know it's a never-ending battle, but the best way I've found to actually fight that battle is to help others in any way. So if I got to do that, thank you, you honor me.
(That PMV is awesome isn't? ./squee!). I hope you enjoy the rest of the tales, too!
4267311 Hmmm let's see...
Dark. ...nope.
Sad. ...nope.
Tragedy. ...
media.giphy.com/media/trMBr8basv1Qs/giphy.gif
My poor heart can't handle that kind of stuff!
4274928 It's dark because they literally go through Tartarus, but it's not gratuitously gory or deranged/twisted or anything. I promise. Also, some of the bad guys die. Permanently. So it's Darker than Canon, but not PsychoMindrapeHorrorDark. It's tragedy because at least one character you are guaranteed to come to love dies...but maybe not permanently? It depends. Sort of. You'll see if you read it. It's sad because of the tragedy. But it is totally worth the read. It's totally not "tragedy" in the old Greek sense where everypony dies or ends the story miserable and alone. I'd never recommend a story like that. Ever!
I read Sunset of Time. It was good. I faved it. Thank you for the recommendation, as I was running out of good things on my Read it Later list. But there's a reason Twilight is Magic was the first thing I put on it when I created my Ultra Favorites list. I may have had one or two of those Moments of Chokeduppedness from SoT, but TiM is on a completely different level. I know it sounds like a cliché, but the sad/tragic lows in that story do only serve to make the highs seem even higher by comparison. Yes, you will cry. Hell, I may or may not have had to stop reading to let it out...I can neither confirm nor deny that! But you will also laugh, and jump up shouting like Bulk Biceps in a moment of victory.
Also, I completely blame TiM in all ways for Rainbow Dash having a place in my personal top 3 most interesting mares in Equestria list. A pegasus who experiences relativistic time dilation is too awesome to not love. And Loyalty is not just a trite "I never leave anypony hanging" line, either. Too bad she's taken in that universe...