"And With The Dawn Of True Peace" Triviq

Random Trivia about "And With The Dawn Of True Peace" for anyone who cares;

1. I discovered the original story by accident. As you can probably tell by this point, I'm a fan of stories involving Nightmare Moon being both a separate entity than Luna and being bonded with one of the main cast. I found the story whilst browsing similar stories and it always bothered me this had no follow-up so I continued it with the original author's blessings.
2. “Rainbow or Fate” was just supposed to be a side story to this so I coul ge through a period of strong writer’s block. When that got more interest and feedback, I pivoted.
3. The misspelling of "their" as "thier" is a weird quirk of mine that I've never gotten rid of.
4. The entire reason that there are no Author's Notes are because I feel they'd be pointless and actively take from the pacing if you were stopped at the end of every story with random trivia. Nothing against those who use Author Notes, I just prefer my stories long-form and relatively uninterrupted. The way I see it, the people reading are in one of two groups. Either they're enjoying the story and don't want to be taken out of it by random author inserts, they're trying to get into the story and don't want unrelated interruptions, or they dislike it and don't give a damn about what useless crap I have to say.
5. The "Scootaloo tells her friends the truth" chapter was originally three different chapters before being combined together to cut filler.
6. Of all the chapters, I have to be least proud of "Punishment and Reward." I tried making Signed Papers a decent antagonist but ended up creating a moustache twirling villain.
7. Though certain parts could feel like Celestia bashing, most notably in Chapter 4, I was writing her to be in denial or afraid of disrupting the harmony and happiness of her subjects rather than a cold hearted ruler. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. She is the kind of pony that would change if presented with an objectively better reality. After all, why would she listen to the ravings of one of her worst enemies who previously possessed Luna, tried to kill her, tried to then kill Twilight and her friends and tried to fundamentally change the world's climate for the worst and later led her own cult to conquer Equestria?
8. The story, especially "A Fateful Choice", is very internal monologue heavy but it was done to examine the kind of moral debates one would have over immortality with a price. I didn't want this to just be a "yay, everypony is immortal now and happy!" story since that wouldn't feel in line with the original story. I enjoy those kinds of stories quite a bit but it would feel very out of place when combined with the rest. The original was a dark\thriller/tragedy/drama so following it up with a story with no moral questions where everything is sunshine and rainbows feels cheap. Void, by nature, is a morally iffy being and I hoped that I reflected that in my writing. After-all, when a usurper who happens to be half made up of one of the worst enemies in history is offering to corrupt your significant other with the promise of immorality, what would you do?
9. I originally published "A Fateful Choice" after "Punishment and Reward" but I deleted the latter and then re-published it after. This was because I introduce the less painful corruption method in "A Fateful Choice" but that was written in after the chapter was published (originally involving the shadow blade method) and then added it into the Foggy Day chapter since it would feel cruel otherwise. This is why the publication dates show the two pretty lengthy chapters were written on the same day.
10. The shadow blast method was conceived in the first place because using the shadow blade on the Crusaders felt cruel. My logic behind the two different methods is that the more painful method is used for those who deserve it whereas the much less painful method is used for the kind-hearted beings who either want to or have to undergo the changes.
11. I at one point considered writing a chapter revolving around the Crusaders getting even with Diamond Tiara (since the events of this AU are explicitly set before "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" and "A Shock" serves as my alternative to it). It would have been released between that chapter and "Returning" as the twelfth chapter but I ultimately scrapped the idea because I'm not the best at writing rich stuck-up snobbish characters. It would have turned the story from passable at best to "what the hell is this guy playing at? This is horrendous."
12. Given her actions in Seasons 2, 6 and 9, many will view Chrysalis as out of character. I personally view Chrysalis as a scorned ruler driven to evil by outside factors. She initiates the wedding plan because her people are starving, she comes close to victory, is humiliatingly defeated and stuck in her hive so the hatred festers. With no kindness being shown to them and her hive being shunned and feared, that hatred led to her second invasion of Canterlot where Flurry Heart spared the Changelings but Chrysalis was so angry over the past actions and not betrayal that she went completely off the deep end.
13. I originally published "returning to a different world" before "making alliances" since the former wasn't originally supposed to exist. However, I always intended for the dragons to be allies of Equestria and realised I should show how so I deleted RTADW and created "Making Alliances." This is why the chapter publication dates don't make sense.
14. Making Alliances was originally also supposed to involve the griffons as well as the dragons in the alliance treat. That was quickly scrapped since 1. they aren't antagonists that need redeeming or a mitigating factor for thier threat level, 2. they have no proper leader like the dragons do with Torch and later Ember and 3. they were already somewhat aligned with Equestria anyway.
15. The Luna arc was originally five medium sized chapters but I cut it together into three since the "cliffhangers" didn't make much sense (one chapter ended abruptly with Chrysalis leaving Luna after the latter's rude interruption) and because having too many chapters felt like very unnecessary filler.
16. The name Penumbra was inspired by the character from Mystic Sunrise's story "Tartarus Forged Friendship." Twilight even initially mistakes her for Nightmare Moon in that story so I thought it would be fitting.
17. "Lost and Found Again" were inspired by a story I can't remember the name of or find again. More or less, it was a one-shot about Twilight having apparently lived many lives and specifically mentions Celestia having a non-immortal wife. This is where the whole "magic doesn't fade, it just changes form" idea comes from. As you may have noticed by now, my stories are more or less me cramming together ideas and seeing what happens which is why they're often poorly thought out.
18. ”Rainbow of Fate” was just supposed to be a side project to this I’m order to get me through a period of strong writer’s block. When this got more interest and feedback, I pivoted. This, and a complete loss ion motivation to continue writing it period, was why it was cancelled..