Postscript: Spectacular Seven Volume I · 6:00pm Apr 30th, 2017
Whew. Not even a year and our story is already half as long as Long Road to Friendship. With the amount of thought and work and revision that goes into each volume, I've decided to write postscripts for each of them individually instead of making one ginormous postscript when the story is all over. It'll help me stay mentally organized I think.
So, if you're so inclined head below to read up on how the first volume of Spectacular Seven came to be and what's in store for Volume II! Make sure you finished the finale first!
So off the bat, I'm a little... disappointed I guess with the amount of readership I initially got. I knew going into this that being a sequel, it would never get up to Long Road to Friendship's levels. But 300 upvotes at the end of the first week? LRtF had more than twice that. I'm over it now, I guess I just still had some lofty expectations. But enough of my moaning.
Let's see, what to talk about first? I guess the opening chapter. I ran through three or four different scenes before settling on the one you guys read. Even then, I rewrote it twice. I wanted to really briefly give a summary of not even what happened in the first story, just how Sunset felt about everything now that it was over, and then push on to this new story. I had several ideas for the dream sequence, most of them including Demon Shimmer or some recap of LRtF before finding one I really, really liked. It's actually going to become a constant in this story.
I also wanted to show that Sunset isn't there yet. Her road is still going. Yes, she's not a bitch anymore, but she's still guilty about the things she's done and worries about what's going to happen next. She still has a sense of pride and a problem of letting people in. Twilight still has to pry sometimes.
Without the penance though, I get to make Sunset as snarky and sarcastic as I want! I'm still trying to find more ways to take advantage of that, because it's so much fun! I also need to have her and Twilight make more terrible romantic quips to each other. Because I love to see all of you groan!
Speaking of romance, sans the entire finale, the picnic scene with the two of them was one of my favorite moments from this volume. It was so sweet and tender, and yes, there will be more of those too. In fact, that entire chapter might be my favorite so far. I had that rattling in my head for over a year.
So originally, LRtF was going to end one of two ways before I decided that story ended on New Years. Either A, Moondancer came back and served as the romantic antagonist up until graduation, creating schemes and situations to mess up Sunset. Or B, a retelling of Rainbow Rocks within the story's universe. The LRtF version would have been shorter. The Lulamoons wouldn't have been as involved I think, Twilight would have been hypnotized outright and joined Moondancer from the start, and Lamia and the Crystal Heart wouldn't have appeared.
As I believe I said in the postscript for LRtF, I felt... weird using Rainbow Rocks as an ending for a pretty original and self-contained story. It felt like cheating. Using it as a kickstarter for an entirely new story that would focus heavily on magic and other supernatural forces? Yeah, that I could do. It's funny because, now that I think about it, Spectacular Seven didn't really have a beginning until I decided to use RR.
As of right now, RR is the only movie I plan on fully incorporating into an arc. Yes, I'll be taking little things away from the other movies, and I'll tell you when I do, but not entire story lines per se. RR is the only one I don't have to bend over backwards to have it fit in the canon of the story I already set up. Crystal Prep and the Friendship Games? I suppose I could fit them in in the last two months the students have at school, but what would be the point? Twilight's already here. Magic hasn't gone haywire yet. It be a little more than a big shout out.
Hence the reason Princess Twilight hasn't shown up. Me putting in the journal would be a giant retcon of my own works. Rainbow Rocks wasn't a thing until I was on chapter 20 of LRtF. If there was a journal that let Sunset talk to Celestia, I would have mentioned it by then. And in my mind, when Sunset jumped through the portal, she took nothing with her. So yeah, no princess deus ex machina. Now, I promise you that she will show up later in the story. I won't say how or when, but she will and she'll play a big role.
The Sirens were pretty easy to slide in. When I thought of the backstory for the Lulamoons, I thought 'hey, they're magic, they traveled the world, maybe they ran into them a long time ago.' Having them sealed away for a while helped explain why they show up when they do. Honestly, I figure at the advent of social media, the Sirens could have easily taken over the world. Or at least had a hold over everyone.
They were fun to write! I love Justice's interpretation of them, but I made sure not to make Sonata too dumb to live. She's just extremely scatterbrained and doesn't understand metaphors. I also didn't want to make her entirely innocent. She's fully aware of what they're doing and doesn't see anything wrong with it. I didn't really have a chance to show it, but I do think Adagio has a sultry streak. I did try to show that, despite them getting on each other's nerves, and Adagio dishing out physical punishment when her sisters (headcanon) fail, they do care about each other. And only each other.
Have we seen the last of them? Mmhhmmhmmhmm.
Let's talk about Moondancer! Oh my God, you all hate her so much and it's great!
Like I said in her debut chapter, Moondancer is a character I had ready since the start of LRtF. But, because I wanted to focus on Sunset learning to be a good person first before focusing on the romantic aspect of the story, and because I wanted Sunset and Twilight to overcome personal obstacles to get together instead of third party forces, I saved her for later. Because her anti-social persona hadn't yet appeared in the show, I based her off her brief cameo in Sunset's comic, while drawing influences on her depiction in gen 1. I used a certain character (who I won't say yet) as a template to start working on her mannerisms and thought process, then weaved in her backstory and goals to give her more dimension. Ultimately, she's the foil to Sunset. Twilight is the girlfriend, Rarity is the best friend, Trixie is the sister, and Moondancer is the rival.
If she seems like an unbearable and overly-dramatic bitch, then I'm doing my job right. There is depth to her character though, so stay tuned. Sans Sunset, her character arc is my favorite... tied with Twilight's.
Lamia, aka, Human Sunset was also a fun character to develop. She was also a hard one. I knew she was not going to appear in LRtF, and I wondered if she would appear in this universe at all. I just wondered if I had any reason to bring her in. I came up with a lot of versions of her, some pretty crazy. I didn't want to do what everyone else had done, which is either kill her off or have her attending school with human Twilight.
My first idea, and this isn't even my craziest one, was that, when Sunset crossed through the portal, human Sunset started seeing visions of Equestria and memories that didn't belong to her. Eventually, it drove her insane and she wound up in a mental institution. One of her family members would find pony Sunset, and things would spiral from there. One problem with that was justifying why that was a one way thing. Second idea, and I think this is the craziest, was that human Sunset had gotten married and was pregnant. But, there were critical problems during labor and she died in child birth. Her husband named their daughter after her (I told you it was crazy) and as a toddler, she looks a lot like her mother. Eventually mini-Sunset and her dad run into pony Sunset and again, things spiral out. That one would have ended with Sunset acting as a big sister/mother figure for the little one.
Then I had her as a nun just to be completely opposite of the jerkass Sunset was. Then, I thought of her being a popstar on another continent that finally tours in Canterlot and doppelganger shenanigans ensue. I finally sat down and really thought about Sunset and how her life had turned out and why. I thought of the backstory I had given pony Sunset, then thought, 'okay, now take away Celestia and the magic. How would her life have turned out?' From that I got she would have learned to fight, and she would have stolen things to make herself feel rich. Some creative tweaks and boom, Lamia was born! As Rarity puts it, a more crass version of Sunset.
She originally wasn't going to appear until Volume II. But, when I decided to add in the Crystal Heart for lore building, giving a reason for the Sirens to stay in Canterlot, and to kinda justify the pretty big power boost they get at the end of the movie, I thought, 'hey, why not have her try and steal it?' It stopped the Sirens from getting a hold of the mcguffin until the end of the volume and gave a reason for the Seven to run into her.
The meeting between the two Sunsets was always going to be some level of shock and awkward. Right now, a fight would be pretty one-sided. I wanted them to be at odds with each other, but not quite antagonistic. Their exchange of Lamia evaluating Sunset as an 8/10 and Sunset's indignant answer was courtesy of my story editor, Sasha.
So, a lot of you have said that chapters 13 through 18 were pretty depressing. As I was writing them, I really didn't notice just how dark I was making things, I was just following the natural progression of events in my head. Everyone's emotions are being manipulated to hate one another so a trio of negativity eating monsters can feed. Yeah, sounds like things should have a pretty serious tone. I followed that thought line, was expressive with Sunset's thoughts and feelings, and showed the consequences of actions taken by characters. I just kept looking forward, thinking how to portray what happens next in the movie in my own writing, I never really looked back to evaluate my work.
When we got to 'Revelations' and people started to get a little more vocal, I actually stopped and turned around and thought 'huh, maybe they have a point. But I still have two chapters to go where things kinda get worse' because that's how it happened in the movie. When you really think about it, that movie got pretty intense sometimes, and they had to keep it PG. I was under not such obligations. That being said, when I got to the finale, and specifically part II and started adding a little comedy in there, it really hit me. 'Holy shit, this story has really been lacking something for a while!' I wrote all three parts of the finale in a little less than a week. I think, even with it being the climax of the Sirens spreading their hatred, it captured what I want the tone of the rest of the story to be like.
The next volumes won't be as... emotionally taxing as this one was. But there are still going to be some pretty grim moments. However, I've remembered how to handle that; I can still throw some lightheartedness or comedic relief in there and still keep the tension going.
And that was Volume I! We're only a fourth, maybe a fifth of the way through the story! (I might be adding a fifth volume, I'm not 100% sure yet) So, what happens now, you ask? Now, I'm going to take a little bit of a break from this one. I'm going to go write up Childish Killer in its entirety to be released this summer, along with more Across the Shimmering Sea. When CK is done, I'm going to spend some time carefully planning out every critical detail for the rest of Spectacular Seven because some of my ideas have already changed.
Honestly, I'm tempted to write out the entire volume first from start to finish and then release them on a perfectly set schedule. I feel like for this story, that might be incredibly useful in case there's something in one of the later chapters that I wanted to foreshadow in an earlier one, or move things around so they make more sense. There would be a longer hiatus, but then it'd be twenty or so chapter uninterrupted every week. I'll think more on it and get back to you guys.
But, get ready, because the Sirens were just the opening act! We'll learn of darker forces, mysterious powers, and ancient histories in Volume II: Phantoms Past. (Yes, all volumes will be alliterations!) I hope you'll all stay with me, because I promise you, it only gets better!
Volume I ending theme.
Hype has never felt so good. Can't wait to see what you have planned
Looking forward to it!
What's It, you ask? EVERYTHING!
Volume 1 was spectacular and I can't wait to see what happens in Volume 2: Phantoms Past. And a fifth volume would be amazing, but if it sticks as four, still amazing. Take the story as you wish. Your work is amazing and don't let how the counter stayed low at first. People have left the fandom since then and some people have gotten into the habit of waiting for a story to be finished before going in, what with how many have gone without updates for years. Your work is constantly improving and I enjoy every word of it.
Yeah I gotta admit the story was not fun for awhile which is why I stopped reading and let chapters pile up so I could just power through all of it which turned out to be a good decision it seems considering how long it went on for lol.
Honestly this seems to happen to alot of stories writers feel that the show isn't dramatic enough (which it isn't) so they add more drama to their story but wind up taking it too far. Pretty soon the drama consumes the story and it stops feeling fun, now the payoff is usually good but depending on how long it takes to get to that moment you could wind up with your readers losing interest. Now I'm not sure if that happened here, sure I stopped reading but It's not like I stopped following it all together. Course this is just my opinion I read stories to be entertained and drama can be entertaining as long as it doesn't completely take over. The Heroes need to have struggles because watching them overcome it is always fun but we can only stand to watch them suffer without a win for so long.
Overall this has been a great story and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
It's funny because I never personally got the sensation that the story was getting too dark. Like you said, Rainbow Rocks also got pretty dark and intense in it's own kid-friendly way. I remember Meghan Mccarthy saying it was like 'Empire Strikes Back' and how the stakes slowly got raised more and more as the film went on. Your stories are naturally much more mature, character-drive and with a much more grounded realistic tone, but it does a good job of channeling the same kind of intensifying. In the end, as with every good story, things get as bad as they possibly can be before there's a tear-jerking turn-around. It happened in the movie when the girls started bickering and fuming their magic. It happened in Sunset of Time when Vesper collected all the Dark Regalia. It happened in the first LRTF when everything was getting really rock-bottom for Sunset and now it happened here.
Which is why I'm happy the Crystal Heart was also thrown in. It added an additional layer of depth and danger that weaved easily and perfectly with what was going on. You didn't add in the plotline of the Sirens feeding off the animosity the school had/has for Sunset and them actually trying to recruit her which was something that added in the Singaporean musical for Rainbow Rocks. That production though isn't hugely known and it's debatable how much the school still feels something toward her. Especially after the events of the movie/this volume, she's definitely in most of the school's good graces. There may be the odd one here and there who is still holding a grudge, but It's fair to say that most people have forgiven and like her. The CMC and Bulk Biceps spent time with her in the movie credits and Sunset said she had won back everyone's trust during Friendship Games. She said she doesn't need to be friends with everyone as said in the previous story, but things are looking pretty good for her right now as far as the school is concerned!
Geez, those Human Sunset ideas haha!
Oooo, exciting that Princess Twilight is coming back! Sunset hasn't quite forgiven her, but I'm happy we're seeing her at all. At this point, Sunset and Sci-Twi are far bigger friends than the Princess was. She wouldn't be in this world unless it was for a reason, so I'm wondering how things will go.
One more little thing. It definitely fits with the smaller volume tone it's going for, but I overall didn't feel quite the same level of epic-ness as the first story. In general, everything felt much smaller and not the very long and slow-burn of the original story which it didn't need to be. We already know these characters and everything, so we can jump straight into the next adventure and continuing the overall long-term journey of Sunset's growth.
Congrats again!! :D
I laugh at accidentally calling you on who Moondancer is based on and wonder how far you'll take the parallels.
Thanks for letting me be part of the ride. Looking forward to Vol II.
I absolutely loved volume 1. Looking back at it now, I actually liked what you did with the dark bits. It felt real and that the stakes were serious. Even though I kept saying to myself that it will all work out in the end just like the film, the shear gravity of the situation as you wrote it kept making me second guess and wanting to see what happened next. As the next volumes are your own thing, I'm sure the effect will be even greater.
Also, the picnic scene was also one of my favourite scenes. It was just so sweet and heartwarming, but was written in a realistic and non-cheesy way. You are great at writing characters just interacting with friends, family and enemies in ways I just love to read. Not once did I feel anyone was out of character or the interactions were unrealistic.
I'm really looking forward to whats next. Thank you for writing!
The force of will its taken me to save all three chapters for today was, frankly, astounding. But I persevered, and can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was worth it. You did a fantastic job with the tone of the chapters leading up to the finale, especially considering the fact that (since the story followed Rainbow Rocks) we could be reasonably assured that things would end happily. It was an emotional roller coaster, and I can't praise you enough.
And I'm glad to hear that Childish Killer is going to get its time to shine. Funnily enough I caught myself brainstorming about the possible identity of the killer when I was in the car on Friday.
Anyway, great work, it was a joy to read, and I can't wait to read what comes next!
I lost interest when things got a bit too dark, honestly. Not that there were bad chapters, but after LRtF it felt a bit like a rehash. Chapters like that are necessary, I understand that (the downward spiral and all), but not something I was looking forward to read, at least in comparison to these showdown chapters. In comparison to the Rainbow Rocks movie, here Sunset is dealing with all of her own problems (trust, guilt, redemption) and Princess Twilight's problems (write a counterspell song, don't let everyone down) and her "break-up" with human Twilight here (and the Lulamoon family situation too, it hurts worse when Trixie is kind of a sister to Sunset here). For me, that's why it felt like a bit too much, especially compared to the movie. Its still a great story, but I'll be glad to see you branch off into your own story.
You mention Moondancer was intended to be the foil/rival, but sounds like she'll be much more than that in the final product. I'm also hoping to have some hints of when Princess Twilight might show up (since here there's no magic journal to help open the portal early). Also feels like the Rainbooms and the Lulamoons will have to deal with angry defeated enemies again sooner or later. I wonder if Sunset will end up with another unicorn doll so that she can have Twilight and Celestia nagging her in her head.
I never thought the story got too dark. Honestly, I like stories where the hero gets the crap kicked out of them, physically and/or emotionally. It makes their inevitable climb up to victory all the sweeter.
As Varric of Dragon Age once said: "It's not a good story unless the hero dies." And not all deaths need be physical.
I have trouble making it through long fanfics sometimes, so the fact that I've read both LRtF and its sequel says a lot by itself.
I do tend to agree that the story stayed bleak a bit too long, but it's possible I would have felt differently if I'd binged the story after completion instead of reading it chapter-by-chapter.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with once you're no longer semi-following canon stories. (Also looking forward to seeing Princess Twilight actually meet your version of Sunset Shimmer again. That's going to be interesting.)
The first volume was INCREDIBLE.
Take your time the rest of the volumes, I will be patiently waiting! I'm sure it all will be awesome!
What bothered me wasn't the fact that there were so many gloom chapters, good characters shall suffer; but yeah, you needed some relief that wasn't there until the end, and the resolution seemed too fast. I'm going to blame the movie for that.
Also... I humbly beg for MORE Across the Shimmering Sea good sir.
The wait is driving me crazy! 
I love this story so much. After that ending with Moondancer, I want to say "No you can't take a break!" but I get it. I'd hate for the story quality to go down because you get burnt out on the story. Still, I eagerly await more.
Also, while it was sometimes hard to read with how bleak things got, I don't think it was too dark. That felt like the natural progression for the story. Quite honestly, even though things may have gotten worse in this story, I still didn't find any of the chapters as hard to read as the Thanksgiving scene in LRtF. I've reread most of the chapters in the first story, but I can't do that one again. Keep up the good work!
You gotta keep some perspective on this. LRtF started in 2013, which was near peak lvls of fans watching and reading MLP. It has steadily declined since then as people moved on to other things, I know I stopped watching the show a few episodes into season 4 and mostly visited this sight for a long time just seeing if stories I had favorited had updated. IDK how much 300 upvotes in a week compares now a days, but trying to compare stories started 4 years apart in different levels of fandom involvement is a fruitless endeavor.
I love the care and thought you put into making each character, especially Alternate Sunset. Each idea was pushed against what you wanted the story to be and the best one was picked. It's thinking like this that I give authors the benefit of the doubt on characters before a story is concluded. One idea I thought of but never felt eager to write about was that Sunset is actually the human Sunset and she went through the portal as a very young child when it was opened decades ago. It would involve meeting her family that she had never met before and instead of wanting to go home to equistria finding out that she was home.
It's a coincidence I'm watching a performance of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks now, because I imagine Nicks as a template for Moondancer. She's airy-fairy to the outside world, but there's much more going on under the surface.
I hope you're doing more with Lamia. Her story is a bit truncated.
Otherwise, I enjoyed the hell out of Vol. I, and I'm looking forward to Vol. II -- kinda like Guardians of the Galaxy.
Absolutely loved Volume 1.
It's neat reading about the thought process you went through to craft each part of the story to create a better whole. With that in mind, my vote is for waiting until you have the entire next volume written before you start publishing chapters, as you clearly put enough work into the structure of the story for it to be worth it.
Lol you should make the Friendship games something like the Triwizard Tournament!
No? Too much?