The Trotzamore Stratagem

by The Rarispy

Author's Notes and Final Thoughts

"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!

Comments

[XxPon3xSketchxX]

*takes wallet and runs* Mine now *opens* this is my wallet. And it's empty

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Despite some bumps in the road in the last couple of chapters you did a good job with this fic. The triology as a whole is pretty good though a bit rocky at times.

As for the crossover it's going to be with Doctor Who isn't it?

[NikitaKitten]

3079400 *Waves a wad of cash around

"Missing something?"

Well, I'm glad that you feel that you've learnt a lot about writing from this. That's always good to see. Personally, I heartily dislike this story, but then again I did like The Gemmed Satyr, so I'm hoping my dislike for this story is mostly due to your experimenting with a bunch of stuff that didn't work. And actually, the constantly shifting tones and writing styles were a big part of the problem for me, so there's definitely some truth there. The other big problem I had was the lack of foreshadowing, or just the over-reliance on deus-ex-machina plot twists, and story lines being wrapped up in too neat a bow.

[The Rarispy]

3079400
i.imgur.com/5r336UP.jpg

[Tavi Scratch]

Yay monies I needs these! Haha I loved the trilogy

[Dawn Flower]

I first found this fic shortly after I rewatched the Canterlot Wedding episode. At the end of the episode, I saw an absolutely adorable picture of Sweetie Belle at her cutest. She was dancing with Spike and I thought that this was actually a good ship. I then Googled Spike and Sweetie Belle and I found The Sweetest Gem. I read one chapter and I thought it was good. I then forgot about it for awhile (it was before I had an account on Fimfiction.net). A few months later, I remembered it and continued reading it. I also reread the first chapter so that I remembered when I had left off. At this point, The Sweetest Gem and The Gemmed Satyr were both complete and you were about half way through The Trotzamore Stratagem. I read through all of The Sweetest Gem and I thought it was great. I then immediately started The Gemmed Satyr. The first person narrative took a while to get used to but I kept reading. Rarishy is one of my favourite ships, but not my favourite Fluttershy ship, and that was the only one that I reread. The flashbacks were my favourite part and the Discord mystery kept me wondering. The Gemmed Satyr was definitely my favourite of the three. When I reached the end of where The Trotzamore Stratagem ended at that time, I anxiously waited each update. I know you said that you weren't used to writing adventure stories but I think you still did a great job. The Gem Trilogy was so great that I decided to follow you on Fimfiction so I'll be alerted to when you publish something new. Keep up the great work. Sorry for the long comment. Here, have a moustache.

[NotARealPonydotcom]

...and an old kids’ cartoon called Wayside.

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m48krcbewk1r3zat8.png
I love you.

[Gammer14]

Reads all of the author's notes, and then decides that the comments are too long to read... Yeah, my brain is weird sometimes.

Also I swear if you make a Luna x Pipsqueak fic...

[The Rarispy]

3081026
i.imgur.com/skfJnRC.png

Yeah, no.

[Gammer14]

3081344
Phew* You had me worried when you said Pip would get a happy ending. I can't even begin to describe how much I hate seeing Luna X Pipsqueak stories... It's just wrong on so many levels.

[Aotrs Commander]

Thank you for all the time and effort you put into these stories.

(While, as I said, the dialogue-driven bits in the middle were at times a trying, as soon as you switched back to normal again it went back right up again, to your typical standard. That's really the only consructive thing I can say.)

Good luck in your future endeavours, and I will look for any pony fictions you write in the future.

[The Rarispy]

3084223
Yeah... I'm all for shipping foals, but only as long as it's with OTHER FOALS. That was part of my motivation for writing The Sweetest Gem in the first place, is that Spike X Rarity fics just make me... a bit uncomfortable.

3084531
The problem with the whole dialogue-driven narrative was that in this case, I was trying to do whole action-filled scenes with it. I used it once in The Gemmed Satyr, and it worked better there because it was just a talking heads scene between Rainbow and Rarity.

And even then, too many talking heads scenes didn't prove to be a good thing, either. That's why I'm probably not going to revisit it beyond say, just a simple scene like in The Gemmed Satyr.

[Bronydragon]

This story was one of the best stories I've ever read.
It was sweet and had a lovely touch to it.
Sure you had your stones blocking the way sometimes, but you did well in the end.
I wish to be comming close to your writing skills in the future. I'm a really slow writer and don't know if I'm any good, but your notes gave me confidence that I'm maybe not a writing douche.
Anyway. Thank you for this wonderful trilogy and for taking us into a world of love and friendship.
My deepest respect to you. *bows*
I hope to see equally good work from you in the future, either long or short. It doesn't matter.

Dragon

[raw19]

I've now finally caught up and read the entire Gem's Trilogy, and a few words come to mind.

Most impressive.

From the very 1st chapter of the very first part of it i was hooked and eagerly looking forward to the next chapter. Such continued until the very end. I'm no stranger to seeing members of the mane 6 paired up with each other, but here it had such an original take on their relationships that it was fairly refreshing.

Most intriguing.

I haven't seen a whole lot of fics with Discord and even less with him in the villain role, but i highly enjoyed him here. He was just as funny and scheming and sarcastic in the ways i love from the show. Ruby as the villainous was also cool, though i do wish we could have seen more sexy fun-times when her final plot was unfolding. Truthfully, what she was causing in Equestria seemed the exact opposite of what she was trying to do.

Most confusing.

The drama, humor, action, and romance featured in this series was awesome. I really enjoyed reading it and look forward to any future ventures you might partake of in this universe. If i had to describe my final thoughts on your skill and this fic, i think these two words say it best.

Most excellent.

[The Rarispy]

3186017
Glad to hear it! Thanks for reading!

[The Rarispy]

3217394
Megan is a human character from the original 1980's My Little Pony cartoons. (The entire chapter was basically a big cavalcade of callbacks to the past generations.)

25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfx1ukCzAC1qeuz19o1_500.png

3217421
♪ You're welcome, welcome-bee-doo! ♪

3218965
Technically, it's a Teen-rated fic. But yeah, if I was shooting for a bad ending, I likely would've tagged it as "Mature"... and probably "Tragedy".

3219185
Well, thanks for reading what you could, and for giving me your honest opinions throughout. I really appreciate it.

[The Rarispy]

3440419
Basically, the implication was that Applejack was truly bisexual from the very beginning, and that's what she was explaining to Caramel. The whole subplot of Caramel's gender was, as I said in the final Author's Notes, really just tacked on for the sake of ending the fic with the irony of Rainbow Dash being the only straight one of the Mane 6.

On top of that, I actually kind of rushed through that scene because it was the last thing I had to get done and I just wanted to get those final chapters posted. So yeah, I probably could've conveyed it better.

[The Rarispy]

3583402
Twilight as in the pony, or the movie?

It's not a reference to either of those.

[q97randomguy]

http://www.fiction-writers-mentor.com/sacred-contract.html
That will be all.

[The Rarispy]

3696312
Ehh, not directly, but I think it's because of that episode that the word "stratagem" popped into my head when I was thinking of words that have "gem" in them.

Besides that, the only other Who influence is that "Trotzamore" is a play on "Trenzalore".

[The Rarispy]

3705204
Just be careful not to sneeze, or else you too could suddenly turn into Peter Capaldi.

[Hearnishere123]

I highly enjoyed the first two stories, however, I have to be honest and say this one was just alright. It just seemed like you were rushing near the end of it. Who knows, maybe it is just me, but thank you for some wonderful ships.

~Hearn

[StardustSurvivor]

the authors notes and final thoughts chapter ends before we get our money, might want to fix that

[The Rarispy]

4289977
No, that's not how it works. You earn that money by sitting there and reading my stupid rambles so I can pretend I'm important. A mutual benefit, so you see.

[StardustSurvivor]

4291368 ohhh you smart people and your mind games! other than the lack of promised money it was genuinely a good story

[The Rarispy]

4378660
Well, that's the whole point, is that Rainbow is so very obviously exaggerating the story to make herself look awesome. :P

[Lucky424]

Umm… Oh, I know! Here, take my wallet! Buy yourself something nice!

I certainly will! A Buggatti Veyron sounds good right now!

[The Rarispy]

4953876
Damn it. A whole year later and there's still typos. Thanks for pointing that out. Hope you enjoyed the rest of the fic otherwise.

[Crafty Arts]

This fic, heck, the whole trilogy! Was absolutely amazing, I loved it, it made me laugh (a ton), and cry (mostly from laughing so hard at really awkward and inappropriate times), and I also ended up getting quite shocked at the reveal of the mastermind villain behind it all. Also, I enjoyed seeng the few doctor who references in there. This story was just awesome, and Rainbow Dash could most certainly agree with that
Definitely going on my favorites list, along with its predecessors

[The Rarispy]

5396849
Thank you very much.

[The Rarispy]

5573202
"Trouble at 'Mill" was the old title for a Wallace and Gromit short called "A Matter of Loaf and Death". VERY obscure reference, I know. :P

[Bruh]

How do you like THEM apples?

Why they are Simply devine.

[Baileyjrob]

Let the reading commence!

*cracks knuckles*

And let the spelling/grammar corrections that authors initially find helpful but eventually come to find annoying commence as well...

[ILIKEBOOKS]

Before I even became a member of this site I read the entire trilogy, RariSpy is the reason I got into fanfics in the first place, So Rarispy I would like to thank you for introducing me to this amazing community, even if you didn't know you brought me here.

[The Rarispy]

6140502
You're very welcome. I love to inspire. :)

[ILIKEBOOKS]

6160808
Wow thanks mate.

[Earthen Forge]

Hey I resent that remark in your authors notes, though its true and I'm sorry. So many fics to read so little time. I liked Sweetest Gem and Gemmed Satyr better Trotzamore Stratagem. As for why, it'd be hard to give an exact reason.

[The Rarispy]

6578033
That's okay. So do I, really.

[Platinum_Pen]

9953162
I shall accept your kind praise
As it brightens many of my days
To this historian you brought a smile
One that shall remain quite a while
On that note this is now complete
Now off to make something to eat