//------------------------------//
// Author's Notes and Final Thoughts 
// Story: The Trotzamore Stratagem 
// by The Rarispy 
//------------------------------//

"Sorry again about all your bookcases, Twilight. I guess our special talent isn't dustin' bookshelves," said an apologetic Apple Bloom.

"That's quite all right girls," Twilight Sparkle reassured, chuckling. "I figured it wouldn't be. Looks like I was right."

They all took another look at the huge pile of books strewn across the floor, or rather... where the floor once was. It was enough to make the three of them groan.

"Well, ya know what? Who would want a shelf dusting Cutie Mark anyway," Apple Bloom stated proudly. "Right, gals?"

Scootaloo nodded in agreement, while Sweetie Belle seemed to be focusing on something else. "A-are you sure you don't want us to... to help you clean up a little bit?"
 



Ahh, memories.
 
Contrary to what Scootaloo just said in that epilogue, great stories can start off with a simple thing like seeing three little ponies dusting shelves. In fact, such a story appeared on Fanfiction.net all the way back in November of 2011…
 
…and then it was promptly restructured and rewritten that following May, after some long back-and-forths with the pre-readers of Equestria Daily and the helpful folks at the Ponychan Training Grounds.
 
It seems like such a long time ago now. You can still read the first two chapters of the original draft (which makes up the first four chapters of the final product) here and here.
 
But anyway, I talked enough about The Sweetest Gem’s long and troubled production on the notes for that story, so let’s just go back to the roots of The Trotzamore Stratagem, and this whole saga in general.
 
The Gems Trilogy took its roots in the summer of 2011. That was when I first came up with the idea for The Sweetest Gem, and then eventually The Gemmed Satyr. For the longest time, it was just those two story ideas. In fact, it wasn’t until  close to when I was starting to write the final version of The Sweetest Gem that a third story was added into the mix.



For the longest time, the third episode of the Gems saga was just going to be a stand-alone story focusing on Twilight Sparkle and Pinkie Pie’s romantic journey, in much the same vein as the other two. But then I started toying with the idea of having the saga end with an adventure story, and I also realized that it would be difficult to write a full Twilight and Pinkie fic without resorting to a lot of clichés… unless it was a more involved story with bigger tensions, such as Twilight and Pinkie needing to find each other in their hearts in order to save all of Equestria.
 



Ultimately, I ended up making up bits and pieces of The Trotzamore Stratagem as I went along writing the first two fics. It was while writing those first few chapters of The Sweetest Gem that I decided to include Discord. And then it was even closer to the end of TSG that I came up with the main centerpiece of the fic: the field of Trotzamore.
 
Rachelle Ruby being revealed as the villain pulling all the strings was an idea that popped up in my head in the break between The Sweetest Gem and The Gemmed Satyr. Believe it or not, all of the other character storylines besides Twilight and Pinkie’s, and Rainbow’s, weren’t conceptualized until The Gemmed Satyr was close to reaching its end.
 
Speaking of which, one of the very last things to change before The Trotzamore Stratagem actually began was Rarity and Fluttershy’s storyline. The original idea was that BOTH mares had actually impregnated themselves via sperm donors, and the struggle of the story was about them working up the nerve to reveal to each other that they were both three months pregnant.


 
…Yeah, you can probably figure out yourself why I decided to retool that. I still bet I could’ve made it comedic enough, but eh. Maybe I’ll go back to that idea again but with a different story and a different couple.
 



Apologies to everyone who was expecting Applejack and Rainbow Dash to end up together at the end, by the way. I’m going to admit, I got a bit worried seeing those comments of hope as The Trotzamore Stratagem was getting off the ground, and I’m sorry that I ended up disappointing you all.
 
It was my plan from the start to have Rainbow Dash end up with Soarin at the very last second, and for Applejack to affirm her commitment with Caramel. Although, Caramel being a transgender was a late idea. And it was for a pretty simple reason too.
 
Basically, the joke here is that not only was Rainbow Dash the very last pony to find a love interest, but I actually went off the record and made her only straight one of the Mane Six. How do you like THEM apples?
 
 
 
Besides, look. It’s totally canon.
 



Now then… final thoughts on the Gems trilogy.
 
I had fun.
 
I’ll just say that upfront. I had a blast writing all three of these fics. The Sweetest Gem, The Gemmed Satyr, The Trotzamore Stratagem… It was one heck of a journey.
 
I am proud of both The Sweetest Gem and The Gemmed Satyr. I think they both turned out really well, better than I was picturing even. Mmm… I have kind of mixed feelings about The Trotzamore Stratagem in all honesty, and from what I’ve read in the comments, so do a lot of you guys. I kind of knew from the start it probably wasn’t going to be as good as the other two, but I gave it my best shot anyway.
 
If you enjoyed it, then that’s all that matters. Good on you if you did.
 
I learned a lot while I was writing all three of them. In a way, the Gems trilogy was like one giant experiment for me. The Sweetest Gem was my first narrative fanfiction, after a three-to-four year stint of writing script-format stories. It REALLY shows in the original drafts.
 
The Gemmed Satyr was my first dabble in first-person narrative, and I decided to up the challenge by featuring two perspectives. In retrospect, my only regret there is that I didn’t really take any opportunities for a single back-and-forth scene apart from the very end.
 
It all made me feel like a scientist mixing chemicals and testing the results… except in the case of The Trotzamore Stratagem, where I felt more like the Cutie Mark Crusader Alchemists at the beginning of The Sweetest Gem, just mixing all sorts of random things into a bowl and seeing what comes out. One of those being that darn old dialogue-driven narrative format, which like I said before I probably won’t EVER be using again.
 
Besides that, this thing had its fair share of bumps along the way. You guys know what I'm talking about.
 
THE HIATUSES. Oh god, all those breaks and gaps, sometimes during the fics themselves. The Sweetest Gem came out fine, written mostly during my senior year of high school… and then I started college. Posting chapters of The Gemmed Satyr weeks apart at a time, and don’t forget those two super long hiatuses in the middle of The Trotzamore Stratagem.
 



I have a lot of respect for all you guys out there who actually sat through all that. Seriously. You guys must have the patience of a statue.
 
“Ooh, I see what you—”
 
Not that kind of statue, Discord. Go away.
 
“Awww…”
 
Did I mention that once upon a time, he was actually going to be the sole narrator for The Trotzamore Stratagem? Like, it was going to be told from his perspective as he observed their journey for the Gemstones, and it even had a fake ending where he managed to beat them and take control of Trotzamore. That could've been interesting.
 
But anyway, I’d like to take this minute to personally thank each and every one of you. Thank you to everyone who read The Sweetest Gem. Thank you to everyone who read The Gemmed Satyr. And thanks to everyone who read The Trotzamore Stratagem.
 
Thank you, everyone who’s been following the story since the very first chapter of The Sweetest Gem. Thank you, everyone who only just started with this story and perhaps still haven’t read the other two. Thank you, everyone who’s read my stories here on FIMFiction.net, on Fanfiction.net, and on DeviantART. Thank you to everyone who was extremely patient and waited like madmen during all those gaps and hiatuses, and are still here reading this today.
 
Thank you, everyone who helped get The Sweetest Gem and The Gemmed Satyr featured. Thank you, everyone who’s favorited, liked, commented on, and read my fics and followed me. Heck, I’m even going to thank those three or four people that put The Sweetest Gem in their Read Later list over fourteen months ago and STILL haven’t found the time to get started yet. Hey, at least you care.
 
And most importantly of all, thank YOU. Yes, you. The person reading this right now. That’s right, I know who you are. I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.
 
…
 
Okay, that got creepy really fast.
 
Like I said on the TSG notes, I wasn’t expecting anywhere NEAR the amount of attention and praise I’ve gotten. When I submitted The Sweetest Gem to FIMFiction.net, I was expecting maybe two or three comments per chapter at most telling me, “This was a good chapter. Can’t wait for the next one.” But… this! THIS! I…
 

 
I’m still trying to wrap it all around my head.
 
Seriously though, you guys don’t know how much it’s all meant to me. The Sweetest Gem was my return to writing fanfiction again after a three-year gap of fooling myself into thinking I'm a terrible writer and being unsure of my own writing abilities, and not knowing if this was ever going to be something I enjoy again. I’ve pretty much hammered it into the ground how little self-esteem I had when I was starting out here.
 
But you guys have given me confidence. For once, I actually feel proud of my own work, and now as I go back and read over those stories, I’m thinking to myself, “What do you know, they’re right. This really isn’t as crappy as I thought it was.” If my fifteen-year old self could see me now, I think he’d cry… tears of joy. And then he’d probably berate himself for being a fifteen-year old boy who cries. What a baby.
 
I even appreciate those of you that have been more critical of my work, and pointed out all the problems and inconsistencies throughout. As I’ve said before, I actually quite welcome constructive criticism, because I feel like it gives me an opportunity to improve, and become a better writer. You guys point things out that make me go back and realize, “Shoot, they’re kinda right. I should be more careful about not doing that in the future.”
 
Especially those of you ever-diligent in pointing out all the typos and errors I make because I'm still pretty terrible at proofreading my own fics, but I'm trying to be better about it. I’ve learned more about sentence structures and character narrative than I ever have before, and believe it or not, a lot of ideas and things you see in these fics WEREN’T in my original outlines. I wrote them in based on ideas that you guys gave me or from comments that inspired me.

Biggest example: I didn't plan to have a long confrontation scene between Rarity and Sweetie Belle in The Sweetest Gem, where all the insecurities came out right there. It was after I saw how much you guys were clamoring for them to just sit down and talk to each other that I came up with the idea of it. Otherwise, Rarity wasn't going to find ANYTHING out until the very end.
 
What I’m trying to say is that… well, I wouldn’t be here at all without you guys. This must be that wonderful feeling of having fans that they always talk about.
 
I know I’ve said it plenty of times now already, and you’re all going to respond “No no no, thank you!” But screw it, I’m going to say it anyway.
 
THANK YOU.
 
THANK YOU ALL, SO MUCH.
 



And now, it’s time to finish off this trilogy once and for all, and put it behind me at long last… and look ahead to the future. Because I’m sure you’re all curious to know what’s coming next, now that the Gems trilogy is done.
 
I am going to be writing more MLP fanfiction. No doubt about that.
 
It’s not going to my main focus anymore, though. Now that I have the Gems trilogy under my belt, I’d like to branch out and start doing fanfictions for other mediums too. In particular, I have ideas in the pipeline for Doctor Who, Sonic the Hedgehog, Dan Vs., Batman, and Wayside. So if any of you guys are interested in that, feel free to keep tabs on me at Fanfiction.net and DeviantART.
 
But as far as MLP is concerned, although the main trilogy is now over, I do still ideas for the “Gems universe”. Particularly one-shots. I’d like to explore Twilight and Pinkie’s relationship a bit more, since there wasn’t much time for it here, as well as delve into Princess Celestia’s little thing she’s got going on with her royal secretary.
 
And don’t you worry. Pipsqueak WILL get his happy ending yet.
 
Again though, that’s all far into the future. Apart from those, expect some other one-shots, particularly of the Slice of Life and Romance nature. I’m working on some ideas, and I can’t say for sure when any of them will be released. But you can probably expect at least one or two to come out this year.
 
As fun as writing The Sweetest Gem, The Gemmed Satyr, and The Trotzamore Stratagem was, I’m practically BURNED OUT right now so it’s going to be a while before I take the wheel and attempt another multi-chapter fic.
 
Once I DO though, there are two ideas for multi-chapter fics that I’m going to pursure:
 
* The first is a sort of side-story to the Gems saga, a spin-off “fourth episode”, I guess you could call it. I’m not going to say for now what it’s about or what pairing are going to be featured in it. However, I feel that I’ve planted enough seeds in The Gemmed Satyr and The Trotzamore Stratagem that you can figure a bit of it out for yourselves…

* And the second one will be a CROSSOVER. Again, not going to say what it’s a crossover with, but hey. If you’ve known me long enough, then I think you probably already have an idea of what it’s going to be. But otherwise, I guess you’ll just have to wait and see. After all, time and tide melts the snowman, and every dogma has its day.

So just keep following on and be on lookout. You never know when you're going to see a notification pop up on the top of your homepage, and you click it to see "The Rarispy has posted a new story".

It could happen at any time, and when it does... it'll be good.
 



Oh! Hello there. What are you doing here?
 
Wait, hang on. Did you just… did you just get done reading all of that? Those HUGE walls of text, filled with all that boring, pointless babbling about me being thankful for my fans and the projects I’m doing next, and… all that stuff?
 
Wow. That’s… that’s really commendable. You really are on top of your game today, aren’t ya? A speed reader, that’s what you are! I bet it only took you like a couple of days to read War and Peace! Heh-heh-heh-heh… I’m still on the first chapter myself.
 
Hmm, let’s see. I—I wish I had something to give you as a reward for all your effort. But I’m fresh out of cookies, and my freezer broke, so those ice cream sammiches have all melted by now.
 
Umm… Oh, I know! Here, take my wallet! Buy yourself something nice!