Author's Notes for Sasha · 9:23pm May 22nd, 2017
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Greetings and thank you for reading Sasha and clicking on these author's notes. I hope you liked my story. I enjoyed writing it. I have a fair few things to say about this one.
If this is the first Recovery Arc story of mine you've read, Congratulations! You don't need to read the rest of this rant; it will make little sense to you. For everyone else, let's go…
First off: Happy FimFic Cakeday to me! Today marks the third anniversary of my creating my account on this site. I've been a fan of MLP-Gen4 since March 2011, but it took me a long time to take the fanfic plunge (partly due to having to finish college, but still). For finally signing up, I have a few specific authors I can credit, but that's a post for another time.
Second off: Massive thanks to Bootsy Slickmane for allowing the use of his art for this story. In addition, his original pic on dA has the jacket blurred and cut off for artistic purposes, so he very generously provided a full-res clear shot of the jacket for me. He also happens to have been one of my earliest followers and supporters on this site, way back when I was just starting to post stories in Winter 2015, so earning his blessing and assistance means a lot to me.
Third off: Over my past three stories, I've learned artists can be quite understanding if you're polite, explain yourself, and agree to give credit where it's due (which I'm glad to). Anyway, enough mushy stuff. Let's get to the notes…
WHY DO I ALWAYS WRITE RECOVERY STORIES OUT OF ORDER?! This is the third time I'm guilty of this sin – suddenly inserting Night of Faded Sun in between Highs & Lows and Lows & Highs earlier this year (even though it needed to happen); writing Rarity Reveals… before being given the idea for Spider Queen but then realizing SSSQ was a perfect way to set up RarRev; and now my most egregious action: writing a prequel to the entire Recovery Arc when I should have been working on ending it like I promised.
But, y'know, sometimes the ideas come when they come. It's my job as the author to try and avoid continuity errors as best I can, especially for latecomers who see THE GUIDE and want to read the saga (I think we can call the Recovery Arc that at this point) in chronological order.
To those of my followers who have been reading the Recovery stories as they come out rather than in their proper chronological order, it must be extremely jarring. For that, you have my sincerest apologies.
This time is easily the most whiplash-inducing. We're literally going from a story where Rarity is so in love with Sunset that she's willing to strip on camera for her, to this story where she openly dislikes Sunset and is quite nasty to her until Sunny finally wins her over.
If you think it's jarring for you, imagine me having to write it, trying to reconcile how Rarity acts in this story with what I know she must become. I actually cut one conversation because Rarity was so cruel in it, I didn't think I could bring her around to liking Sunset by the end. That cut dialog will appear in my next blogpost as a present for y'all.
Same issues with Sunset. Sasha is set only a week after EQG1, and I have to connect Sunny as she was at the end of that movie with how she's going to act in H&L, set about 6-8 weeks later. I'm honestly really worried Sunset comes off too normal in this story. Although her mood swings enough that I think I can still justify there being something wrong with her brain. But here, she doesn't seem all that manic or more depressed than one would expect of her. If I had to guess, she's still in some shock and the full impact of all her guilt hasn't quite gotten to her yet. At least that's my official line.
I've actually wanted to write a story about how Sunset got her jacket since at least late 2015, when I began to sketch out the two multi-chapter stories that will make up the Redemption Arc.
My original plan was to have Sasha make up a chapter of that arc's first story, Blooming Friendship, but I realized after uploading RarRev that the tale of Sunset's jacket was much better suited to being the beginning of the Recovery Arc. Why? Because it sets up everything. And, as CoffeeMinion pointed out to me, it ties the entire arc closer to canon so I can justify my decision to drop the AU tags.
However, Sasha will also serve as the official beginning to the otherwise-AU Redemption Arc once I start it. Aren't divergent continuities fun?? You can shoot me now.
Anyway, I hope this story met your expectations. Although I enjoyed writing it, it was technically difficult due to all the continuity stuff requiring me having to reread my old work to make sure it all fits together.
Now, I return to actually writing this arc in order. Next story: Rarity is still in love with Sunset despite having been jilted; Sunset has already gone through her mental breakdown and is working up to face her greatest challenge, but Flash Sentry is back and he's got something to say. What? And to whom? Well, you'll have to read the story to find out. 
As always, thank you so much for all your support. I hope I never let you down as I work to bring the Recovery Arc to its inevitable conclusion.
Peace out!
Footsy Bootsy is usually pretty cool about things.
~Crystalline Electrostatic~
0:35_5/23/2017
4543644 - Heh. I've not heard him called that before.
I figured he'd be cool with it; I was just concerned he wouldn't respond in time for the story to go live. He's also given me free rein to use any of his art for any of my stories so long as I credit him, which of course I would.
He seriously was one of my first followers, I think within the first two dozen.
Anytime, man. Keep up the good work.
Well I'm glad I'm reading this in chronological order. So I can see if there really is a progression of character for Sunset and Rarity.
5202898
There is. It just takes time. In real time just over three years. In-Universe about 8-9 months. Patience.
Consider yourself lucky you weren't one of the poor souls following this series as I published it, often out of order because sometimes ideas happened that fit better earlier in the timeline but I'd already put out something later so I had to shoehorn it in. I've also gone back and edited some of the stories after publication, especially the first Flash Sentry story to make his motivations clearer.