Author's Notes + Sequel
And so, this story is complete. But I have a few things to say first before I finally close the book of The Sweetest Gem for good.
This fic had a very long history. I first got the idea for it, and subsequently started planning and outlining it… in August of 2011. Yup, totally serious. This was about two months after I became a brony and my mind was full of ideas.
An early prototype of the first chapter was actually submitted to Fanfiction.net in early September, before I decided to take it down because back then, I was trying for an Equestria Daily feature and so I had my standards set very high.
Finally, the first two chapters were submitted in late November and early December, respectively. EQD then rejected them… due to problems with the characterization and prose.
And so, the next four months were endured as I gave this story to the Training Grounds on Ponychan, and for those four long, agonizing months, I kept rewriting only to have them constantly send it back with more errors.
The first four chapters you see now are the final product of the original two chapters, which you can still read in their original forms: here and here. THOSE four chapters were put on FF.net and DA in mid-April. It was after I finished the fifth chapter in late May that I finally had the idea to put this story on FiMFiction.net.
Why did I decide that? Two words: NO FOALSHIPPING. That was the new rule Equestria Daily put up around that time, suddenly making The Sweetest Gem unable to be featured on that site. I wasn’t bitter, though. I’m still satisfied with the fic that I now have out of that initial prepping to get the fic on EQD.
So yeah, this fanfic’s been 11 months in the making. And BOY was it worth it.
As for why I started The Sweetest Gem in the first place? Sweetie Belle and Spike does happen to be my ‘OTP’ as people would call it, or the shipping I support the strongest. And yet… it’s not a very popular and widely looked-at ship.
I’m not going to chalk it up to an unpopularity of foalshipping in general, because I’ve seen PLENTY of SpikeXApplebloom and CrusaderXCrusader content, so that’s a moot argument. So… yeah, I don’t quite understand it. It makes logical sense to me.
Spike is in love with Rarity. One of the main reasons ‘Sparity’ is implausible beyond the simple child-crush IMO is the age argument. Yes, I’ve seen all the fanart and fanfics that depict them as being ‘older’. I still find it pretty jarring. It’s still a major age difference.
FACT: Rarity has a sister.
FACT: This sister looks very similar to her.
FACT: She’s also the same age as Spike.
There is a stigma attached to the whole idea of SpikeXBelle, that idea being “CAN’T GET THE GIRL? DATE HER SISTER”. So my mission was to create a fic that not only stayed as far away from that idea as possible, but also basically stomped on it and threw it out the window.
And so, The Sweetest Gem chronicles around a story where it’s Sweetie Belle who crushes on Spike first, and then her intimate bonding with him (particularly the giving of the sapphire) slowly instigates a change of feelings from Spike, as he finds himself involuntarily crushing on Sweetie Belle back, and eventually his love for her dominates over his love for Rarity.
My intention with The Sweetest Gem was to begin a new revolution. And so far, it seems to be working. I’ve seen much more material pop up regarding SpikeXBelle and new romance opportunities for Sweetie Belle in general.
The original draft of The Sweetest Gem even inspired a Scootabelle fanfic by darkshadow051 called New Discoveries (which by the way is a very excellent fanfic that you should ALL go read).
One last thing I want to say is… thank you. To all of you.
When I submitted The Sweetest Gem to FiMFiction.net, I was expecting at most a handful of people to read it, and I was hoping that maybe at least a few people would comment on it… possibly.
And then a few hours after I uploaded it, I checked into FiM to discover 64 new notifications waiting for me.
And then a little while after that, it got FEATURED.
Suddenly I was looking at thousands of views, hundreds of likes, at times, it even got to a point where over 100 people were favoriting it a day.
I am... STILL overwhelmed at how popular this fanfic has been on this site.
Thank you, everyone. Thank you for reading The Sweetest Gem. Thank you for favoriting The Sweetest Gem. Thank you for commenting on The Sweetest Gem. Thank you for rating The Sweetest Gem. Thank you for liking The Sweetest Gem.
Especially thanks for all the praise you guys give me. At times, I would make even Eeyore from Winnie-the-Pooh shocked at how little self-esteem I have for myself and my writing. I especially thank those of you who have been giving me your criticisms and suggestions for improvement. I could always use those.
Just… thank you!
As it says in the story description, The Sweetest Gem is only the first episode in a larger storyline that I like to call “The Gems Saga”. I deliberately left this fanfic open-ended, with quite a few questions left unanswered.
How will Rarity react to Applejack’s newfound romance, considering her last line of dialogue? Will Fluttershy ever confess her true feelings to Rarity? What was up with the statue of Discord?
Why is Pinkie acting so uncharacteristic and not keeping promises very well anymore? Does that weird prophecy she made in Chapter 9 actually mean something? Why does it seem like a lot of ponies are finding love all of a sudden?
And most importantly…
What is in the tea Rarity makes that apparently makes it so good?
All of these questions will be answered as we move further through the Gems Saga. And I’m pleased to announce that the next major fanfic in this grand storyline is…
The Gemmed Satyr
Rarity becomes desperate to find her special somepony once and for all as an air of romance in Ponyville continually surrounds her. But little does she know… that her own best friend has been secretly harboring a crush on her for a very long time.
Yup. It’s a Fluttershy X Rarity fic that continues directly on from where The Sweetest Gem ended, and continue the hidden arcs already seeded throughout this fic.
It’s now up, and you can read it here!
Wow, did you actually read all of that stupid and boring old text?
You deserve a cookie.