Postscript: Spectacular Seven, Volume III · 9:51pm Aug 23rd, 2020
Deep breath in.
Deep breath out.
Well, it took longer than I ever thought, but we’re finally here: the end of another volume. So, let’s break it down.
It’s been a while since I’ve written a postscript. For those of you that are new, here is where I blather about some of the behind the scenes of what went into making my stories. Thought processes, expectations, disappointments, cut ideas, etc. It’s more for me to vent and reflect, but I think it’s fun to share what I can.
So, where to start with this one?
I consider this volume a sort of soft reset point for the story as a whole. Everyone graduated, so that gets rid of the school setting entirely. They had a lot more autonomy now and I had a lot more flexibility with how they spent their time.
Except, not really. Early on, I knew I wanted the volume to end on the summer solstice, which in this universe is Sunset’s birthday. I also knew the wedding would happen around the same time, so I just conflated all of them with the hope it would make a good set up for a finale. Unfortunately, that gave me a tight window of time to make all these events happen between roughly mid-May and the end of June in story. Even more hilarious because originally this and Volume IV were one volume! Granted, that idea was before the story had really gotten rolling and there were conceptually less events going on. For example, I knew I was going to bring back the Sirens at some point, either here or back in Volume II. I wasn’t sure back then if I was going to redeem them or have them be recurring antagonists. Going the redemption route really did add several more layers and plot threads to the story. When I did write out all the events that needed to happen before the next volume’s finale, I knew I had to split it.
All things considered, I think I paced it pretty nicely considering the in-story month time frame. But yeah, those last few chapters just happen back-to-back. I’m a little torn because I would have liked that time to showcase the Sirens a little more and how Twilight deals with her family. But, ‘Canterlot Chronicles’ I think got most of my points across to build to the decisions all the Sirens made in the end. And I didn’t want to focus too hard on Twilight’s coming out subplot because there was already a lot happening at the wedding! So, overall, pacing I think went pretty well all things considered. Next volume doesn’t have that time restriction, so I think it’ll be easier to breathe.
I said in an earlier blog that I would go back and re-read Long Road to Friendship in an attempt to kinda get back some of that slice of life feeling. I’m not sure if I did, because the tone of Spectacular Seven is overall different from its predecessor. Not a bad thing, really, though I do miss LRtF’s simplicity sometimes. Like I said, this volume was a soft reset, so I went back to the story’s roots: exploring the characters and the world. I promised character development, so I hope I made good on that promise.
It was interesting balancing a ‘back-to-basics’ idea while setting down more plot elements to keep the story moving forward. If you guys haven’t noticed yet, foreshadowing and Chekov’s guns are some of my favorite literary techniques.
As I said, the Sirens were always meant to come back into the story. Ultimately, I went with the attempted redemption route because I felt it would be a good mirror to Long Road and a sort of marker to show how far Sunset has come and how she handles being the redeemer. Sunset seeing herself in the Sirens, especially Adagio added some juicy layers to the overall dynamic. I played with the plot thread of the other girls (sans Pinkie) not really trying to help the Sirens and Sunset calling them out on it, but it seemed angsty and redundant after their initial discussion on whether or not they should help them.
A few shades of it kinda came up when Sunset has her brief spiral in the last chapter before the finale. Usually, my editors will tell me something doesn’t work and I’ll ultimately agree with them. Drakey felt like Sunset’s spiral was unneeded, and this was a rare time when I was like, ‘I understand…. But I disagree.’ I just really felt like that is where Sunset’s mind would spiral.
She was forced into a magical redemption and became a good person. The Sirens weren’t and they stayed bad. So, broken and scared logic dictates that Sunset would have stayed a bad person if she wasn’t cursed. I just felt like that was a thread I had to pull on. It did kinda eclipse the anger Sunset should have felt, but there was a lot going on and I had already split the chapter up.
Circling back a little, coming up with activities for the Spec 7 to do with the Sirens was harder than I anticipated. Initially, I was going to have a normal sleepover like in the original story, but then my idea for laser tag struck me like lightning. Only for it to be harder to write than I thought. It took me three months to write that one chapter! Granted, half of that was seasonal depression, but still.
The laser tag idea somehow fed into the Everfree expedition idea. I jumped at it because it would take the story to new locals and allow me to slip Jormangandr back into the story. I both like those sets of chapters because it’s a bit of a departure from the usual story, but I also kinda think some of it is left field, because that’s the first instance of magic in the volume, and it’s not just pony magic, it’s ‘hey, guys, here’s a snake monster in a creepy house!’ You guys seemed to take it mostly in stride though.
Nightmare fuel and Sirens aside, you know what I really loved doing this volume? Writing Twilight learning swordplay from Selena! And no, it’s not just because of the parallels to Steven Universe. Sunset’s character arc has mostly leveled out, so someone needs to pick up the slack! Twilight trying to find her place in this world of magic by becoming the Badass Normal adds even more depth to her! While there are plenty of similarities between her and canon Sci-Twi, this Twi is not her (mine came first!), so I love writing her with this drive to be somebody. Her learning from Selena just adds to the fun because she is Best Mom in this story.
Although, you guys wanna know what caused me high amounts of anxiety for this entire volume? Fluttershy, Rainbow, and Soarin’s love triangle! One person makes an offhand comment that it might be queerbaiting, and suddenly, I question everything! Like, I had my reasons for doing this, and not just for the drama. ‘Limitless Love’, ‘Different Kinds of Love.’ It’s there in the titles. But the entire time leading up to that chapter, I’m like, ‘I dunno, is it queerbaiting if one girl likes the other, but the other isn’t gay and dates a boy instead? Yes, I gave the hints that Fluttershy liked Rainbow—I gave them as far back as LRTF, but I never gave hints that Rainbow liked her back.
It’s a complicated contradiction because I also love FlutterDash but I’m also like, just because Rainbow is a tomboy with rainbow hair doesn’t automatically mean she’s gay. Like, I get it, but at the same time, stereotypes are bullshit. So, I dunno. My logic is probably flawed and maybe I need to make an apology somewhere? But yeah, anxiety is fun and a contributing factor to why this volume took so long!
Whew. Just wanted to get that off my chest once and for all.
Okay, let’s talk about something else! How ‘bout that finale!
I think this was the finale I was least prepared for. Like, I had the general structure, I knew what I wanted to happen and how it ended. But there were so many details that I didn’t attend to that, getting closer and closer to it I was like, ‘I’m not ready for this!’ One big example was: the fight between the girls and the Sirens was going to happen in the hotel. But that led to a bevy of problems, most notably: hey, casuals are looking at magical teenagers! How does this not leak into the world at large?
I bent over backwards trying to figure out, okay how could I have them fight in the hotel and not give away their magical secrets? Knock out the entire hotel staff and guests! Okay, how do I do that? The Sirens have their wail. Okay, how do I do that and not have the girls knocked out as well? It just became an ever-increasing maintenance problem of trying to patch one leak after another. Then, the simple solution came to me: just move the fight.
Having everyone in hotel witness a magical showdown leads to complications I’m not sure I’m ready to deal with and would force me to open a wholly different plotline I really don’t want to do, mostly because it would bloat an already plot-heavy story! Heck, even with how it came out, the back of my mind is going: people are gonna ask questions, they saw the forest fire and it magically disappear, and Cadence still has to explain to some degree what happened before the wedding. I know I sort of glossed over some of that. And I’ll be honest, even I don’t fully know how it will ultimately play out, but I do know, I will address it more in Volume IV. There kinda has to be some consequences to this.
All that aside, it was fun to flex my muscles in writing fights again. It’s also really draining! But I loved getting to write the actual wedding and all the tender moments that followed.
So, Sunset and Twilight. Did they do it?
...
Let’s talk about the characters of this volume!
First of all, Pinkie! Surprise MVP!
Laying out the scenario in my head, it was easy to see that yes, Sonata would be the one to defect from her sisters, especially if she made friends with Pinkie. I spent a little while trying to see if I could subvert expectations and completely flip things so that Sonata sides with the villains and her sisters join the heroes, because I don’t think anyone’s done that yet. But, no matter how I sliced it, it didn’t make sense. Yes, Sonata was a villain, but she’s also a cheerful ditz who kinda gets picked on by her sisters. And I’m never contrarian for the sake of being contrarian; I do whatever makes the most sense. Pinkie shows Sonata true friendship? Sonata’s gonna join the good guys.
Aria was that middle ground that just kinda depended on how I would write her throughout the volume. I thought about her bonding with Rainbow, but they’re both too hot-headed to actually be friends. It was at the camping chapter that I realized, yeah, everyone has annoyed Aria except Rarity. Let’s see what we can do with this. Which in turn let me explore some of her insecurities. I wanted Aria to side with the good guys, but kinda left it up to fate. In the end, with the okay bond she had with Rarity, Sonata’s giving a little push, Adagio being a bitch, and Aria just tired of losing, I think I pulled it off.
Adagio was never meant to join the good guys! I hadn’t decided if she would side with Tempest or go rogue until later in the volume, but she would never put her pride and lust for power away so easily. The hard part was coming up for a reasonable Freudian excuse for why she clings to her leadership so much. I never really liked villains wanting power just for the sake of power, so I try to give everyone a justification. Still, there was never really a good place for me to just info dump the Sirens’ whole backstory, and for once, I decided maybe subtly is better. I decided to just give some hints about what happened to the Sirens in their past, specifically Adagio. I doubt I’ll ever get around to fully explaining it, nor do I think I want to now. You guys can fill in the blanks.
And yes, Adagio will return.
Soarin is a fun one to talk about. He was always meant to be in this story and was always meant to pair up with Rainbow. However, his origins and purpose in the story have shifted. I think I’ll save explaining it until Volume IV’s postscript just in case I end up using the remnants of that plotline. I doubt I will because at this point, it wouldn’t make sense, but just in case.
Lamia, or Shimmer is a great foil for Sunset. She both works as a completely different character, yet also scratches that itch when I want to go back and write bitchy Sunset.
I meant to give the Twilight plushie to her as a nice narrative parallel, and to give the plushie a final sendoff, since I really doubt we’ll be seeing her much, if at all, moving forward. I had that scene written out in an early draft of chapter 8 I think, but ultimately scrapped it. And now that she has her snake back, she doesn’t need the moral support of the plushie princess.
Moondancer was meant to take a bit of a backseat this volume, which turned out to be a good thing given your reactions to her last volume. Granted, I may have been a bit heavy-handed with her in Volume II. I wouldn’t call it course correction because I haven’t really changed any of my plans with her. She’s still one of my favorite characters in this story, and I can’t wait for you guys to see how her role plays out. Not much more to say that wasn’t addressed directly in story other than her relationship with her father is meant to be a direct contrast to Artemis and Trixie.
Also ‘The Letter’ is my favorite chapter in the volume. Everything there was a long time coming.
Twilight! Oh, Twilight! I didn’t start off intentionally drawing parallels between her and Connie from Steven Universe but found them early on and just decided to run with it. A lot of her arc was building toward the duel with Moondancer of which I was waiting years to write!
I do wish I could have gone into a bit more into Twilight’s comparison and contrast between the Sirens and Sunset. She is biased in Sunset’s favor because she wasn’t there to see Sunset be that alpha bitch, whereas, she was a victim to the Sirens’ mind control. Just a bit deeper into Twilight trying to figure out if she would have still viewed Sunset in the same light if she had actually seen what she’d done. I just never found a good time for it to come up organically again. Maybe I can still pull it off next volume? It might be too little, too late though. And I don’t even know if there would be a conclusive thought.
And of course, there’s Sunset. I think in my postscript for Long Road I said she would never reach the same levels of kindness as her canon self, but she’s gotten hella close. The idea with her going into this volume was, okay, she is over like, 90% of her guilt and trauma from the past, she can kinda move on. I had made her kinda reserved and soft during Volume II, I wanted to balance her out back to the snarky Jerk with a Heart of Gold that I really prefer, but it’s kinda… hard I guess? She’s really just leaned hard into her empathetic ‘friendship is magic’ side. There also just haven’t been really good times for her to unleash her snarky bite, which is why I really loved the scene where she chewed out Rainbow.
At the very least, she still has her temper, which is why Tempest getting sucker-punched in the face is one of my favorite scenes in the finale. I won’t say I’m going to try and make Sunset more snarky and sarcastic… but if the opportunity presents itself, I’m going for it! If not, I’ve got Lamia to fall back on now.
So, after too much time, Volume III is finally complete!
Which means there are two parts left…
So, what can I say about Volume IV? Not a lot actually. It is the final set-piece before the Grand Finale. There will be some new characters, more character development, a few more places to explore. But, we’re really getting into the meat of the plot here. As such, the tone is going to start getting… darker. I must stress, it will never get as apathetic as Volume I did (I’m still apologizing for that), but there will be a more serious tone shift. It should be pretty gradual… until we get to the finale in which I rip the brakes off the train. But that’s a while away! Don’t worry about it!
We shall begin after a short break! I’m a year behind schedule but I need some distance! So, stay tuned for the next exciting installment of Spectacular Seven! Volume IV: Doomed Desires
And again, thank you, Drakey, for everything. You were instrumental this volume, both in editing and in encouraging me.
As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments! See ya guys soon!
“Little did we know, our happy times were coming to an end…”
Doomed desired....
Considering that sunset is constantly fighting off her desire for twilight (well I would say it's constant but she does deny them when ever they appear). Me thinks relationship troubles are inbound.
Then again that story arc has been done in volume 1
Anyways, I look forward to what is to come!
P.s I feel a kinship with soaring because we share the name... even though it's completely coincidental... hehe
Sunset and Twi do it in Volume IV confirm??!
I took a 6 or so month break from this fic to read Diaries of a Madman, the longest fic on the site. I was halfway through reading that the second time and then you dropped Volume 3's ending Part 1. I read like... 8 chapters of this fic on Friday.
Seriously, that was an insane ending. My heart is still pounding from excitement! Top job
Edit: Doomed desires... Will this play out like Sunlight did? Or is it something else. Either way, can't wait to see it!
*whistles claps cheers*. Thank you for another wonderful story. I started rereading this out loud to my ten year old because she misses that there are no new Equestria girls movies/shorts. Enjoy your break!
I am honored to have had a hand in this. You're an amazing writer and I can't wait for Vol IV
Spectacular work as always, Albi. Everything felt natural for the plot and the characters and it was fun and engaging til the end. And kudos for keeping Sunset's breaking after the attacks by the Sirens. That was needed given what happened to her back in LRtF and I needed some moments like that of her looking back on that time and what it means to her and her friends, her friends staying by her side. Good job for keeping it in.
Again, thank you for sticking with us for so long and telling this story. I have enjoyed every moment of it and look forward to the rest. Take care and make sure to have fun along the way. ^_^
Did Sunset and Scitwi do it I doubt they did from the way they support each other and went threw everything together they deserve this moment as twilight said with the dance, the day they deserve happiness once in a while. in other words I really enjoy this story as much as the others and I can’t wait to see what will happen in Volume 4 which from the name of the title I’mma be in for a surprise
Thanks for the peak under the hood Albi.
Honestly, one of my favorite minor touches are Sunset's "phoenix stigmata", because they almost feel like a minor reflection on her own penance: you must bear the burden of your actions. It might just be me reading into it, but it sounded like they hurt worse when the person with the stigmata were contemplating evil actions.
Thank you again for this Albi.
I already made a post about this, but I'll say it again: Moondancer gets a Sunset Shimmer hate-plushie. I'm not even joking all that much. I think it would actually be good.
I'm still interested to see where you're going with her. I know a lot of people hate her so much that they would just rather have her stay out of the story, but for me, she's hit a good balance between love-to-hate and becoming somewhat sympathetic.
I completely forgot about them! I feel a little bad, since The Great and Powerful Trixie is objectively the best character in this series. I also think it's kinda interesting how the whole Trixie stuff happened long before there was interaction between her and Sunset in canon.
I honestly think this kinda mirrors what happened with Sunset in the show. She became very positive and borderline perfect, but somewhere along the line they decided they should bring back her short fuse, which I think has resulted in some of the strongest canon Sunset moments. "You're about to see how mean I can get." Geez, there I go again about Forgotten Friendship! But you can't blame me, because besides Rainbow Rocks it's the strongest EQG content we ever got... and if I didn't know any better I'd say they were cribbing off of you!
I love this arc of the story so damn much, many ups and downs. Plus the theorist in me feels validated that I predicted so many things so aye
Take a bow, Albi. Well deserved.
I was jumping out of my seat at a few moments. The last chapter in particular really got me.
Having all the thoughts, but I think I'll just chill out and take it in right now.
I love when you add music at the end. Not a fan of BlazBlue but I was rocking that for a while.
Also RWBY soundtrack <3
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Literally just yesterday I was thinking there's no way Glimmer is going to make an appearance. 😂
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And i was thinking there was NO WAY IN HELL she wasn't going to appear. He introduced Tempest, any other character is on the table at this point so if Human Starlight Glimmer exists and is working for the bad guys? I would bet money that Cozy Glow and Chrysalis will show up at SOME point
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With your record at this point I'll resist my instincts and say you're probably right!
See, I'm reading these things, and I'm interested in more from Soarin and his Wolf Guardian, Trixie's adventure, who the new characters might be *DISCORD*COUGH COUGH, but then I read the last paragraphs of this post, and you got me worried man! Stay strong Spectacular Seven!
As a fan of this fanfiction.
I would assume Sunset and Twillight will do it atleast ones in the next volume. I saw you dodging that bullet Albi, but you have to face it head on!
Also, loved the sucker punch of Sunset. Go and protect your future wife!
New characters? Hmmm.. Starlight Glimmer obviously, Sunburst maybe, oh! Wallflower blush (From the memory episode. For those who forgot) Maybe Gloriosa Daisy, but that would stretch as I don’t see her fitting in the story.
Lastly. Love it so far, you deserve a break Albi. But not too long, your fans still want you to continue with this amazing story. See ya after your little break 👋
Thank you for your endless devotion for this story.
You may have planned to post the 3 last chapters of the Volume in a row, but I appreciate it.
I, too, loved the development of Twilight's character, how Sunset saw redeeming the Sirens so personal for her, and that Shimmer opened up a little bit.
Gotta find and read the last chapter where we first met Starlight Glimmer (I remember that her name wasn't mentionned back then but most people guessed right), to learn more about Tempest's contigency plan, and who could be the subject for her plan to revive Tirek.
I might have an idea but I don't like this theory 😖.
Anyway, congratulations for your work, whichever story it comes from, whenever.
Fun fact, I find it funny that two of my favourite stories are involving Tempest in most important and respective chapters, yours and Consequences (https://www.fimfiction.net/story/414158/consequences);
- as a major antagonist,
- looking to get the girls magic,
- having no chills when involved with Sunset
Also, Kotobukiya's Sunset will be available in April 2021.
https://twitter.com/Kotobukiya_EN/status/1297727831028326402?s=19
Awesome but I have one last question left, will we see Twilight plushie again at least once?
I really liked Sunset's spiral, honestly, so I'm glad you stuck to your guns with that one. It just...made sense, and I liked seeing everyone just...reaffirm that Sunset made progress and became a better person because she wanted to. Also has a nice set up for the Sirens, where Sonata and (to a lesser extent) Aria end up remorseful and swap sides. Meanwhile Adagio wants to hold onto power no matter what and refuses to compromise or listen, so she goes rogue instead.
...is it really queerbaiting when the focus on the story is a lesbian relationship? Like....we already have gay. I don't get it.
Thank you for a Great Story! Just wondering, I remember from another PostScript blog (Volume I), you have mentioned Princess Twilight to appear, hence the (“Working”) connection to Equestria. Is it still in the plans?
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Can't wait for the pre-orders to go up!
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Hard to say for sure. I would like to, as a farewell of some sort, but we'll see.
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Yep! Princess Twilight will be in this story!
Doomed Desires...ignoring Sunset's rather ominous line, are we getting Midnight Sparkle?
A great volume with a spectacular finale! I was starting to feel like there was a bit little actually shown SunLight, but we got a lot of that too now.
Man does this story have many characters. It's impressive how you manage to still give all of them some screen time and character development. Looking forward to the few big names that still haven't shown up, and to more Starlight.
Absolutely adored this volume. I think you did a great job capturing the SoL aspects of the first while putting them in a context that made sense for where SS is, and balanced all of the various plotlines really well. Also adored "The Letter" and the glimpses we saw of Moondancer, and I so, so want to see art of Moondancer and Twi's fight at the end. Cannot wait to see what happens with her, and to everyone else in Vol 4.
I generally love seeing Sunset become a redeemer herself, in large part because I think this is possibly the most significant and emotional line in all of canon Equestria Girls:
I think you executed it well.
Personally, how you ended Volume III was pretty intimate. Yes, sex is intimate, but so is just...laying next to another person with fewer clothes on, letting vulnerabilities down, while also respecting boundaries of another person.
That final line has me shaking in my metaphorical boots.
I'm not lying when I say I absolutely want to see that fucking fic, who's my favorite of every fanfictions I've read, in a movie, a comics or just someone reading that with voice actors. God that would be so good.
Hyped to see what you're going to do with the two volumes left.
This is my favorite volume of the story so far.
I can't wait to start Volume 4. ^_^