Retrospective: Prerogative · 5:36am Dec 21st, 2017
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“So, Sunset, when you going to stop grinning like an idiot at Coco?”
“What… what are you talking about? I don’t know what you’re talking about, Moon Dancer!”
“Hey! Keep your eyes to yourself, Sunset!”
“Uh… I’m not sure how to feel about this.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep you safe from her, Coco.”
“I’m right here you know!”
“We know, Sunny! I can see you blushing!”
“It’s a conspiracy.”
“It could have been worse. Was seeing Rara really that bad of an idea, Cheerilee?”
“Depends. How’d your conversation go with Celestia, Sunset?”
“She made me talk to Blueblood about what he did.”
“Do we want to know?”
“No. No, you do not.”
Welcome to the Retrospective on How Not To Use Your Royal Prerogative, with also happens to be my 100th Blog! 
For somepony who just wanted to sneak her friends backstage, Sunny really got swept up into things!
This story initially started in September of 2016. As with all my stories, the vast majority ended up being discovery-written. I even finished it during NaNoWriMo 2016, with a total word count of about 32,000 words.
With a final word count of over 64,000 words, a lot changed in a year.
Origins
I always intended Prerogative to be the last story of the Origins Arc. After all, having Coco and Coloratura as two of Sunset Shimmer’s friends, when both of them have been established in Manehattan (though Coloratura slightly less so), seemed like an odd choice.
Now, as to why I picked Coloratura and Coco? Well, the question I like to ask folks is if you were to match up the Elements of Harmony with the ponies that have been established around the time of Cloudsdale, who would get each Element? The funny thing is, I don’t want to give away too much of the grand plan, but a lot of people should have most of the pieces by now.
I will say this: you will meet every Element of Harmony long before the return of Nightmare Moon.
The true origins of this story and how I came up with the idea of Sunset and Company trying to sneak backstage after one too many… well, that’s easy.
Because it was there from the beginning.
Quote from: The Application of Unified Harmony Magics
“What, don’t feel like using your ‘royal prerogative’ again?” Minuette giggled at Sunset’s suddenly burning cheeks. “Oh Sunny, I will never let you live that moment down.”
“Yes, I know!” Sunset groused as she hid behind a menu. She didn’t need to, she’d already known exactly what she was going to order the moment Moon Dancer had mentioned the place. Still, it was convenient, despite the fact that she knew it wouldn’t save her.
“What was it that she said to the bouncer?” Moon Dancer asked Minuette, her chin on her hoof.
Minuette coughed and did her best impersonation of Sunset’s voice. “‘You know exactly who I am. I would like to speak to Miss Coloratura. Please let her know. Unless you want to explain to your manager why you decided that the personal protégée of Princess Celestia was barred from seeing her?’”
Moon Dancer cracked up, laughing so hard she nearly fell out of her chair. She had to adjust her glasses twice before they would sit right on her muzzle again. Minuette joined in while Sunset continued to use the flimsy protection offered by the menu. She was intensely grateful when Soft Treat dropped by to take their orders.
That’s a pretty good setup for a story right there, even if I did have to work some things around to make it work.
Beyond that, I only had a few pieces.
I did know there was going to be a mystery and (hopefully) a comedy. I did know the final bad guy was going to be Svengallop. And I learned pretty quick that Trixie was going to be a pawn, but never the true bad guy. I knew Trixie was going to have an awesome redemption arc, and it was going to mirror Sunset’s. I knew Moon Dancer was going to be snarky as hell (but I know that for all my stories now).
But the rest? Well, I just decided to see how it went.
You know, like usual.
Infiltrations
Infiltration both did and didn’t change a lot. My first draft didn’t have Svengallop berating poor Free Beats about Coloratura and there were some location changes, too. Originally, they were all going to hide in the broom closet outside of the security entrance (which got a rather last-second change to behind a bunch of shipping crates). Poor Crabgreen? Definitely there.
And yes, the Sweep Joke was always there.
Seriously, when that first came out, I listened to Sweep Remixes for like… a week straight. I don’t care if this happened like 8-9 years before that moment. It’s too awesome not to use. Anyway, it was never actually confirmed that the song Vinyl was playing had to do with sweeping!
The key element, of course, was the quote I gave above. That had to happen before anything. Though, as I said, I didn’t actually know about the imposter until I arrived there in the chapter.
Ebon’s the one who sparked the idea that the girls would overhear Svengallop. Originally, it was going to be Svengallop trying to get Coloratura to sign on with him, but then it transformed into something far cooler: Svengallop threatening Free Beats, our poor hummingbird club manager (by the way, I had gone for a French dialect with her, if you ever though she sounded odd). But since the girls couldn’t see either of them… well, you know…
Now, here’s an interesting bit. The identity of the Imposter? While I knew there was going to be some sort of imposter to help act as an impetus, how she appeared changed probably half a dozen times during the development of this story.
The Imposter
The first version of the Imposter Storyline originally had them trying to get backstage the night before Sunset and her friends tried and it was going to be Trixie. During the development of Prerogative, I realized that having Trixie as a stagehoof made a lot more sense and gave her access to the entire show to create all sorts of mischief.
In fact, at one point, Grayshield said the imposter (once the magic had worn off), looked somewhat like Minuette. This, of course, caused some major confusion among the group.
Grayshield still makes the somewhat-creepy “I really liked her mane” line, too. I’m glad I kept that line in though. What? I like my references, as you well know. 
So, since Trixie was it, she became something else. The Wavelengths Editing Team and I bounced around so many different ideas. Here’s just a few of the changes to the Imposter Storyline:
- The Imposter tried to get in the day before Sunset and her friend arrived, but that would have made things harder since I had written Sunset and Company as arriving last night, so it was possible for Sunset to be the one.
- The Imposter was going to use a transformation potion (yes, just like a polyjuice potion), to transform into Sunset Shimmer.
- Imposters in the form of Sunset Shimmer tried to get into at least three of Coloratura’s shows in multiple different cities. This would have been caused by someone (I never got as far as figuring out who) creating potions to screw with Sunset Shimmer’s name. It probably would have involved Slate or the Tart Sisters from Alchemy.
- Imposters used a charm necklace with a similar backstory as the potion based on Sunset Shimmer.
- The Imposter was some sort of backup to Trixie’s plans.
- The Imposter was one of the Tart Sisters from Alchemy.
- The Imposter was nothing more than a fanfilly, or a group of fanfillies.
And then, of course… I stumbled across this completely insane idea… but we’ll talk about that more at the end.
Magic and Technology in Equestria
Strangely enough, technology ended up being one of the most complicated aspects of Prerogative. Though it really isn’t that surprising, since Equestrian technology is incredibly inconsistent. I could give you a blow-by-blow reasoning for why I used what I used in the realm of technology. But I don’t want to bore you with details.
That being said, you guys know me pretty well by now. You know I do my best to follow the show’s canon whenever possible (and for the record, the AU tag doesn’t mean I can do whatever I want, because remember, this is an alternate timeline, not an alternate universe. Important distinction.)
First of all, let’s get the technology of Equestria covered in a broad sense from Lauren Faust herself. Though she’s no longer heading the show, the authors have definitely tried their best to keep in line with this sort of idea, even going into our seventh season.
From a Season 1 Interview with Equestria Daily:
Q. The ponies are definitely the heart of the show, yet they occupy a world that is rich with mythology and fantasy while still sporting a variety of modern technology. What was the creative strategy behind constructing the realm of FiM's Equestria? How did the team approach this balance between mythological fantasy and modern tech?
Faust : I always wanted the default technology of the show to be a bit medieval in nature; but since this is a whimsical, non-serious show, I felt there was plenty of wiggle room. I think ultimately it was just my personal comfort level in each individual story. If it screwed up the story to get too technical about how primitive the technology was, it wasn’t worth it. So, if we needed cameras, I just wanted those cameras to be relatively workable to a creature with no fingers. And if we absolutely positively HAD to have an electrical appliance (which we often did), I just told myself that it was enchanted by some magical unicorn mechanic at some point. However, I insisted that such an attitude was to be considered only as a last creative resort - don’t use a light switch when you could use a candle, just because you’re feeling lazy. Don’t draw a hoof unnaturally and awkwardly wrapped around an umbrella because you don’t feel like thinking about it a little more. Overall, though, it was definitely not a strict approach - and it’s hardly consistent. Humor and ease of storytelling took precedence over technicality.
Now, I could go into a huge diatribe about the important aspects of this in the realm of storytelling, especially cartoon storytelling, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about all the things you didn’t see!
Walkie-Talkies
In the original version of Inclusivity, we find out after Sunset talks to Officer Hops (yes, she was there since day one) that Gateway recovered a walkie-talkie behind Hoofbeats the night before.
With that, the large stallion lifted a small arcano-tech device Sunset had only seen a hoofful of times before.
“A walkie-talkie?” Sunset said with a frown. “Seriously? I thought those were abandoned like ten years ago.”
“They were.” Gateway nodded, pointing at the large pair of gemstones embedded in the metal box. “When I was on the force in Canterlot, we experimented with them, but message-in-a-bottle spells were far more effective and reliable?”
“Message-in-a-bottle?” Free Beats asked, frowning.
“Just a message spell—usually a scroll—designed to home in on a specific pony,” Sunset supplied. “And all of them only work over short distances.”
“Back in Canterlot, we had to have about two dozen spellswitch stations to send the messages on,” Gateway growled. “But walkie-talkies? You’re lucky if they work three times out of ten.”
“So how does this help?” Free Beats asked.
Gateway’s scowl finally shifted to a smirk. “The other reason walkie-talkies were discontinued… especially on the force. The gemstones they use within them keep a record of everything said unless they’re smashed.”
With that, Gateway lifted the small device and flipped a small switch on the side. Immediately, loud static pounded out through the top gemstone. Sunset winced and backed away as Gateway fiddled with a few knobs and dials. A few sparks shot out of a side and Free Beats slapped her hooves over her ears. Moon Dancer and Coco just winced as the screeching finally starting to fade.
“I hate these stupid things,” Gateway muttered. “So. Much.”
The concept was that walkie-talkies were a big fad about ten years ago. Police forces experimented with them for the sake of simplicity and to help non-unicorn officers with communications. However, they were so unreliable, they quickly fell out of favor. I also went with Faust’s magic/tech concept: it was really powered by magic.
The idea would be it would have a conversation between Svengallop and Trixie, where we finally heard both of their voices for the first time, find out that Trixie doesn’t want to do this, and it would provide some really damning evidence for Stablemaker to nail Svengallop with for the final confrontation. Svengallop wanted to use one since he had a thing for high-tech gizmos, because it made him feel powerful and he’s a total wannabe hipster.
However, in the end, this MacGuffin turned out too to be far too powerful. I hated it. It felt like such a gimmick. I’m very happy I ended up cutting the entire section and instead it goes straight from the aftermath of Sunset’s debacle with Hops to the return of Spotlight and Rara, with a little bit of information about Coco in the middle.
Headsets
Headsets have been used a bunch in MLP. The three really obvious examples I can think of are:
The guard in Saddle Row Review… who inspired the character of Gateway:
Songbird Serenade’s two guards in My Little Pony: The Movie:
And of course, Iron Will!
(For some reason, I thought Countess Coloratura had actually used one during her "Spectacle" number, but she didn't!)
My vision for radio in Equestria is that some buildings are wired to allow for easy communication. You also have variants designed for line-of-sight transmissions (IE ones that work with PAs or Songbird’s guards). I might explore this a bit later, but the concept also worked with “Message-In-A-Bottle” spells, mentioned above. Still, as Lauren said in her comment, sometimes the tech becomes so complicated to explain that it detracts from the overall story. And in the end, it’s a vehicle. So please don’t expect some massive historical essay on the development of radio-based technology in Equestria from me.
Of course, even though they all had headsets, one of the first things I did during the dragon attack was to have Sunset rip hers out because of just how loud they were.
In reality, the level of explanation needed tends to also be what I also do with magic…
The Illusion Necklaces
The illusion necklaces were actually a late addition to the story and I’ll admit part of it was to better explain Sunset’s... rather… flashy return to Hoofbeats. Ironically, Trixie didn’t mention the fact that Sunset wasn’t even supposed to be until the very last revision before that chapter went live.
They needed a reason not to be recognized, but the other aspect was that these things aren’t perfect. Gateway mentions them several times and just how inconsistent they are, which is why the illusions shattered when our heroines were thrown to the catwalks during the “dragon attack.”
The Amp
While Trixie is gifted at stage magic, we only see her do “real magic” (her words, not mine) in the beginning of Season 7 with the help of Starlight. Obviously, before coming to Ponyville, she’s got some good illusion magic as well, but she isn’t even near the same weight class as Twilight or Sunset.
So, how in blue blazes is she supposed to pull off something big enough to disrupt the entire freaking show?
The dragon came about because no one was in my editing channel on Discord when I was at the scene. I literally had no idea what to do without rehashing old concepts (which is why you could take some of Sunset’s thoughts to believe Trixie was going to be using some sort of intense chaos magic like we saw at the end of Alchemy). In the end, I went, “What about a dragon?”
Ebon wasn’t overly enthused with the idea at the beginning. Thankfully, he helped refine it a heck of a lot and I think we made it work together as a team. That being said, I could have done more. I considered having used a few newspaper reports about dragon sightings around Manehattan to make it not immediately seem like an illusion (as some people pointed out), but the end, the dragon was a half-baked scheme of desperation. It was supposed to come out of nowhere and Sunset sees through it pretty quick.
Plus, there’s the simple fact that I’d be doing a whole lot of prep time for something that isn’t going to last very long at all. There just wasn’t a good payoff.
One catch: there’s no way Trixie could pull off even an illusionary dragon, let alone while using enough telekinesis to rip that giant charity thingy out of the ground.
And since Inhibitor Rings are pretty well established in FimFic Lore as the “hoofcuff” of a unicorn (and something I decided to touch on in Chapter 2), the opposite concept wasn’t too much of a stretch. Plus, as Beltorn pointed out while I was writing this, it dovetails with the Alicorn Amulet really well.
It was fun to explore the concept of Amps. To me, it shows all sorts of potential on why Rarity, Trixie, Starlight, Sunburst and Unicorn Twilight were all at different power levels. Here’s how this works for me:
Every unicorn has a “magical fuse” set at a different level. Sunburst, for example, is supposed to have extremely low magical power, but a deep understanding of magical theory (the example I heard once was “someone who’s read everything about running, but has no legs,” but I think a better example would be “someone who’s read everything about walking, but has a permanent limp.”).
With an Amp, he could easily start throwing out Starlight or Twilight-level power… but there’s going to be one hell of a cost associated with it. It’s going to be intensely painful (which is why Trixie was screaming. Those were screams of agony trying to keep it all together).
Overusing an Amp could lead all the way up to total burnout. I’d like to explore burnout sometime, which is when a unicorn uses so much magic, they essentially make even the most basic of spells impossible to use for a period of time. Fallout: Equestria explored this a lot with Littlepip pushing herself too hard.
The other side, of course, is that Amps could essentially be a sort of unicorn drug. Completely removing that inhibition? Throwing around spells like crazy? That’s pretty tempting. I might actually explore the concept more in future stories. It might be interesting to have Sunset come across a pony with a low-powered “fuse” who’s constantly trying to use an Amp, especially if she has to help that pony deal with things.
Anyway, I could go on and on about this for a while, so let’s move on!
(Amps are cool).
The Sponsor Storyline
Originally, the Sponsors were limited only to the VIP Lounge for the Svengallop Confrontation. However, Ebon wanted to bring in a much stronger “political” presence in the story, to really give Angry Little Pony (ALP) a workout (and Sunset a much better temptation). We didn’t go quite as far as he initially suggested (I think), but the addition of the Sponsor Press Conference helped us introduce these characters far sooner.
Not only that, but we got to see the ALP in excellent form. That was a major part of Sunset’s arc in this story: learning to “use her powers for good.” Sunset is very good at reading ponies. She knows how to manipulate them. But she also knows those skills are part of the self she’s trying to run away from.
At the end of the story, Sunset almost slips up a little. ALP overplays her hand WAY too much (which may result in some changes down the line…) and Sunset kicks her to the curb… well, as far as the curb as possible.
Beltorn’s the one who actually came up with the idea of making sure all the characters were properly named (and I believe he helped remind me to put Uncle Orange in the final scene, too) and were reflected between the first appearance and the second one.
I think the Sponsors ended up making the story a lot richer (pun not intended, but now I see it, I’m totally keeping it). It allowed us a little bit of a peek into Sunset’s past and a bit into how capitalism and image works in Equestria. As I said (sorta) in the story, I don’t think capitalism is something that is wholeheartedly embraced by Equestria, but there are places where it is and I think Manehattan would be one of them.
I think it’s good to recognize the cost of that.
That all being said, I still sorta look at the Sponsor Storyline and feel the story-point (that the Grade School Gala was a massive fundraiser for the schoolponies of Manehattan), didn’t quite play the way I wanted it. It ended up being pretty overshadowed by the characters. Now, maybe that’s a good thing, maybe that’s me just seeing things because I’ve worked on it too long or maybe it’s something I need to develop.
Still… no matter what, seeing their reactions to Trixie and Svengallop respectively was an illuminating experience for everyone involved!
This is my vision of Jackie. This particular art piece inspired a lot of her character.
Jackie
So, you’re probably wondering if AppleDash was in the original version of Prerogative. It was!
In fact, Tchernobog himself acted as one of my pre-readers for my Version 1.0 (32K version)! After all, I needed to make sure I got the AppleDash right.
Only one catch.
They aren’t really AppleDash.
Jackie isn’t the down-to-earth farm mare we know in MLP:FiM. She’s a gifted and shrewd businesspony with a knack for seeing the truth. It’s one of the reasons she’s been so successful in the cutthroat world of Manehattan business. She won’t lower herself to scheming, but instead just outright avoids those types of ponies.
I’ll admit, Jackie is also inspired a lot by Sparkling Cider, a creation of Siden for Ultimare. Ultimare is an awesome (though sadly, mostly defunct) AU where Siden did personality swaps for all the Mane 6: Applejack swapped with Rarity, Pinkie swapped with Fluttershy and Rainbow swapped with Twilight. The amount of detail that goes into Siden’s world is amazing.
Honestly, I have a massive backstory set up for Jackie that I hope to eventually tell. I did “borrow” some of the concepts from Ultimare, I’ll admit, but Jackie isn’t Sparkling Cider. Jackie’s still Applejack, but with a Manehattan high-society upbringing. Remember, without the Rainboom, she never went home to Sweet Apple Acres.
Now, what I keep having to remind people is that just because they’re leading different lives doesn’t mean they’re leading bad lives. Jackie’s actually really good at what she does and she’s pretty darn happy. She even helps keep Sweet Apple Acres afloat through funds from her various enterprises. She’s even got an incredibly dedicated marefriend in the form of Lieutenant Rainbow Dash.
Ironically, Jackie required a lot of work. And originally, for the AppleDash contest entry this year, it was going to be an AppleDash story set in the Wavelengths Timeline. However, even though I went through 4-5 different versions, I finally decided if I was going to do a proper AppleDash Wavelengths story, I didn’t want to do it for a contest.
Still, the good part about all those attempts is I really defined a lot of her character. You don’t really get to see a lot outside of Jackie’s confrontation with Sunset in the train station, but I think that shows plenty.
One last thing about Jackie (and about Rara, too). I did stretch their gift for seeing through lies a bit beyond what we normally see in the show. To my mind, life in Manehattan trained Jackie to see the truth in matters, and Spotlight helped teach Rara the same thing. To them, it’s just a knack. It’s not even part of their special talent. They just have a gift for knowing when people aren’t telling them the truth.
But that leads us to the next one…
Lieutenant Dash
I think I described Lieutenant Dash pretty well when Sunset thinks about how she first met Dash. Dash is driven by something, either something in her past or something in her mind. It’s that drive that pushed her to become one of the youngest Wonderbolts in history.
The truth of the matter is, the Rainbow Dash we meet in MLP:FiM starts out as a lazy dreamer. Twilight has to goad her into “showing off” to clear the sky “in the ten seconds flat” because the Wonderbolts won’t accept anything less. She eventually does become a Wonderbolt in the show, of course, but that’s after a lot of growing up.
In Wavelengths, she didn’t have the same experience, and something drove out that lazy part of her. She’s still a dreamer, but she’s a dreamer with an intense drive. That same passion for competition is there and that’s what got her accepted as a Wonderbolt so young.
Now, as for how she got together with Jackie? That’s a story I’m keeping under my hat for now, because it’s something I may actually want to tell in full! However, they have some really cool common ground… and it might involve Dash saving Jackie from an exploding building after Jackie went in to save a bunch of ponies...
Finally, let me just say this outright and settle this silly debate once and for all.
Fluttershy’s fine.
I know exactly where she lives and she’s actually pretty happy with her life. You’ll be meeting her very soon. So, for the love of Celestia, get off the idea that Dash is driven so hard because Fluttershy died. 
By the way, I am planning on a story where we get to see Sunset vs. Dash doing combat training against one another. Might get pretty wild!
Coffee with the Newsies
The opening of Inclusivity changed dramatically from V1 to V2. Version 1 started with Hops already at Hoofbeats, asking why Sunset was speaking for Coloratura and Company.
Version 2, I got to have some fun.
Yup. Major inspiration to the opening comes from one of my favorite live-action musicals, Newsies (starring Christian Bale of all people, believe it or not). But even better, it just gave me some fun time with Moon Dancer and Sunset. Moon Dancer just generally being a lovable brat.
Sunset headed back toward the lobby of Hoofbeats. Copper Belle, one of the guards from last night—currently dressed in a sensible security jacket—held the door open for them. Moon Dancer winked at her, eliciting a groan from the pegasus.
“You’re such a flirt,” Sunset laughed as they stomped some feeling back into their hooves in the wonderfully warm lobby of the nightclub.
“Just because you’re completely clueless when it comes to finding other ponies attractive doesn’t mean I am. Even if these days I do prefer stallions.”
“I am not clueless! For example, I think Coco is rather cute.”
Moon Dancer turned with a smirk… which instantly turned into a Minuette-level grin.
“She’s right behind me isn’t she?” Sunset sighed. “How cliché.”
Also?
“Um… that’s… that’s okay?” Coco offered. “I’m… look, you’re pretty and all, but… you’re really not my type.”
“And what is your type?” Moon Dancer snickered.
“None of your business, that’s her type!” Sunset tried to smack her friend, but Moon Dancer pranced out of the way with a laugh. “Ignore her, she’s gets even more annoying when she doesn’t get any sleep.”
“Oh, is it time to compare sleep deprivation stories?” Moon Dancer bounced up and down. “Can I go first? I’ve got this great one about this high and mighty unicorn who thought she knew everything and then—”
“I think I’ve heard that one before, believe it or not!” Sunset snapped.
I love Moon Dancer so much!
Aether Lulamoon
Okay, let’s pause for a second to talk about Trixie’s dad.
First, I’m going to go on record and say yes, if “Aether Lulamoon” seemed slightly familiar, it’s because it’s totally based on the totally lovable (plus goofy, badass and epic) Artemis Lulamoon from The Albinocorn’s Long Road to Friendship and Spectacular Seven. I didn’t go with Artemis mainly because it sounded too much like a human name to me, though that could very well be because I associate that name so much with the character from Long Road.
However, this is a different character. First of all, if you noticed, the reason Trixie’s “official” name ends with Lulamoon is because she added it to be more like her father. Trixie idolizes her dad. She really wants to make him proud, but she wants to earn that on her own merit. Aether doesn’t have it in him to stop her.
Aether is one of the greatest Illusionists Equestria has ever known and that’s why he teaches at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns. The issue is that Trixie is very adept at stage magic, but doesn’t have her father’s raw level of power (which is why she needed the Amp).
The Trixie and Svengallop Reveals
I’ve mentioned this a couple times, but Intersections (the dragon and the chase) was originally going to include the events of Intentions (Trixie’s revelation) as well. Not only that, but it was going to also end with Trixie giving Svengallop up as the true mastermind behind it all at the very end of the chapter.
I decided to split it up for a few different reasons.
First, the original Intersections was over 11K words long. It felt far too long, especially since it went Mystery -> Tension -> Dragon Attack! -> Chase Scene -> Trixie Found! -> Trixie’s Confession -> Trixie’s Revelation. Those are totally different tones.
Secondly? It’s just good storytelling.
So, a last second decision was to cut it into pieces. Intersections became its own chapter with a cliffhanger on the discovery of who the Saboteur was. Intentions became another chapter where I reveal Trixie and show just how screwed up the poor mare is, but while Sunset doesn’t catch the name, we can tell that Coco, Rara and Spotlight all know who this stallion is. I’m rather pleased people were still guessing at this!
There’s another thing: the name Svengallop—while it means a lot to us viewers—doesn’t actually mean anything to Sunset and her friends. They don’t know him. Why would they?
The other aspect as I wanted to give people a compelling reason to come back. We know it’s somepony BAD, but exactly who… well, let’s just be honest.
“Hello, Svengallop,” Spotlight replied sweetly. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
He had an EPIC reveal in Influences.
The Svengallop Confrontation
As I said in my Author’s Note… Svengallop almost beat Sunset… and by extension, he almost beat me.
The original version of Svengallop had a lot of the same vibe as the one you read. He seemed prepared for almost everything, to the point of actually doing a slow clap at Trixie’s accusation, laughing about the entire thing as if it were the funniest thing in the universe. I hadn’t been prepared for it, but he had in my head.
So when ALP goes “He’s going to get away with this,” it’s more me going “oh crap, I’m almost out of tricks. What am I going to do?!”
Thankfully, Sunset is smarter than me. She saw through it all. She managed to keep her cool and see the truth of the matter and finally shine a light on Svengallop’s manipulation and just who he was making everypony ignore.
...thank goodness. It got dicey there for a bit.
Now, a few people have made comments that “they didn’t really get him.” Well, that’s true. His actual fate is left unsaid. But in stories like this, I don’t think I need to spell out exactly what happened to him. He could have managed to get out of the jail time, but even if he did, Spotlight’s right, Svengallop is never working in Manehattan again. And stuff like this gets around. His days in high society are done.
In the end, whether he’s a free pony or not… his days of manipulation are over.
The Truth of the Imposter
The idea of Starlight Glimmer as the real Imposter came to me out of nowhere. I had been thinking about ponies with an intense amount of magical skill, enough to pull off an illusion spell that powerful. Well, in the end, there’s a certain overpowered pony we’ve come to know in the show recently who definitely had that sort of skill.
The reason I’m keeping that section up there is because that thought process was involved, just much later, but Little Tinker actually suggested Starlight Glimmer very early on in the editing process as a potential red herring. Now, I had thrown out that idea almost immediately for various reasons… and it took so long to come back to it that I had forgotten he had the concept first!
Now, before you get your hopes up, no, I’m not going to give you any details on Starlight here, even though the next section has the spoiler tags.
For those of you who’ve read The Cloudsdale Report, I’m also not going to say which Starlight it is. It could be the one from the future. Maybe she came back to screw with something in Manehattan around this time. Then again, maybe it was the Wavelengths Timeline Starlight Glimmer at a younger age, just really trying to see the famous Coloratura and she thought that the famous prized student of Celestia would be a great disguise! You’ll eventually find out. Eventually. (You’ll be waiting a while, so don’t hold your breath 
).
The Wavelengths Editing Team
Now, let’s get this out of the way: I can never state just how much Beltorn, EbonQuill, Little Tinker and Cursori do for me and for you. Especially for this story. This story, as I said, has been in the works for over a year. But what you guys didn’t know is just how much these guys had to deal with in editing this story.
At the end of April 2017, I was not in a good place mentally. Less than a month before, I had a massive personal issue tear apart half of my life (and sadly, I’m not exaggerating). And for some stupid reason, I thought it was a good idea to tackle one of my most ambitious projects to date, How Not to Use Your Royal Prerogative.
I hounded Little Tinker, Beltorn and Ebon nonstop for their thoughts and edits. However, as Ebon and Beltorn went through it, both of them were starting to become justifiably concerned. You see, I started writing Prerogative in September, took a break for October and then finished it at the end of November. My style had developed quite a bit, to the point where the change was quite noticeable.
There were huge issues with the Svengallop reveal (as in he wasn’t foreshadowed at all), Trixie’s involvement was completely obvious (this was back when she was the Imposter). Coco and Rara barely had any personality or even much of a role in a story meant to introduce them. There wasn’t a clear direction if the story was comedy or mystery. Minuette barely had a presence. She was just there to be there. I didn’t have a clear motivation for why Svengallop was trying to destroy Spotlight or why he was using Trixie. Or even why Trixie was letting him get away with all of it!
Folks started bringing out theories on how to fix these issues. One of the ideas was to cut down on the cast and only have a few of Sunset’s friends there instead of the whole group (all the way down to a third of what we had). Someone suggested doing a forensic analysis of the crime scene and setting up Hops as a potential antagonist. Arguments broke out on how characters played off one another or various ideas. That and some worse stuff.
Then, Ebon asked a critical question:
First: Novel, is this a comedy/slice of life, or a mystery? The legwork required to make a mystery work means you shouldn't try to split your focus too far. Having a B plot is fine, but the mystery needs to be center stage.
My response:
The theme is supposed to be comedic mystery.
You see, in my first draft, I was trying to do both equally. That was a terrible idea. Worse, there was serious mood whiplash numerous times.
I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Here’s a secret folks: you can’t really discovery write a mystery (even a comedy mystery). Ya need to do SOME PLANNING!
Thankfully, when I asked Monochromatic for some help, she suggested I speak to one of the main editors for The Enchanted Library. Cursori came in and gave us all some much-needed perspective—and more importantly—distance from the story we’d been banging our heads against the wall on for months. At that point, I don’t think any of us could really handle the story in a completely detached way. Cursori has a great way of looking at things. And honestly, it was just different enough to be what I needed.
Now, don’t get me wrong. All of my editors are epic. Each one of them brings something special to the table.
EbonQuill often comes up with perspectives and challenges I never saw coming, including unique takes on characters, plot twists, brilliant villains and a far better understanding of grammar than I could ever hope to have.
Little Tinker is sort of my pulse for the “normal reader,” helping to keep me balanced and often just making me burst out in laughter while skimming through his comments.
Cursori is really good at approaching problems in my stories in a way that feel really natural and easy for me to understand.
Beltorn keeps me on my toes not only for the redline stuff with grammar, idioms and spelling, but also personality concepts, high-level arcs and character motivations and something-something consistency. [](/sunsetpsmirk)
All four of these amazing people contributed more to this story than I can begin to tell you. More than I can even remember. I dug through old chat logs and commentaries to try and get a grasp at it, but it’s honestly overwhelming to try to capture everything. I hope you don’t mind.
Still, in the end, it was my story and therefore, my decision. I had to make the hard call: Did I rewrite the story from scratch or did I rework the story and polish it to an acceptable level?
Making that call really sucked.
I had intended to rework the story and polish it… but in the end, I think I did a little of both. Some sections only changed a little (such as Invincible, though it had originally been called Irreproachable), while others changed drastically or were all but rebuilt from scratch.
It was a long, arduous process for the entire team and they deserve so much credit for it. I know I say this for like every story… but without them, this story would be half the size it is now and maybe only a tenth the quality you guys got to enjoy.
Here’s another bit that ended up on the cutting room floor. I kinda wish I hadn’t forgotten about this. I totally would have tried to work it in. That being said, I really like Sunny’s epic chase scene, so it might not have made the final cut anyway.
Have Sunset and the crew focus on the wrong things, draw conclusions that really dont make any sense when viewed from the outside. Playing some of these for laughs, maybe even having a running gag with one of the girls suspecting dragons.
One of the girls gets super frizzy hair and does "DRAGONS"
-Cursori, 5/1/17
Ah well. It’s okay.
The point? This stuff is a hell of a lot harder than it looks, at least for me.
It’s things like this that make me want to learn to outline better. I really need to work on that. Not just for my sake… but for the sake of the poor people who have to work with me!
What’s Next!
Well, I think that about wraps things up for this Retrospective. It was way more intense than my usual. And way more personal. But now, you guys have seen some of the stuff behind the curtain.
And now that we finally have How Not to Use Your Royal Prerogative safe and comfy on the Wavelengths Timeline bookshelf, it’s time to reveal the cover for the next story in the Wavelengths Timeline…
A Study on Chaos Theory occurs two months after the Applications Arc and will star our favorite three little bookhorses dealing with some major shenanigans. Let’s just say that Sunset isn’t the only pony around with a past involving one Twilight Sparkle.
My tentative plan is to start releasing it in January of 2018. Unlike Prerogative, Chaos Theory turned out a lot more solid on the first draft. There’s still some adjustments that need to be made, but I’m pretty sure we’ve covered all the major high-level stuff. I still need to make some changes, but that’ll come soon enough.
Until then, I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a very happy Hearth’s Warming! Make sure to check out Diamonds Amidst the Snow, the next entry in the Diamondverse starring Astra Princess Twilight Sparkle and Deerkin Ambassador Rarity. Keep your eyes on the SunLight Sliders group to see what’s coming there, and I’ll see you all at the end of the month for what’s going to be one hell of a Year in Review!
Until next time, have fun out there!
-Novel Idea
I like Oliver's interpretation of pony radio. Broadcast's are shortrange only because Equestria's freaky magical sun means there's no ionosphere for the signal to bounce off and travel past the horizon.
4755040
Oooh. That's a fun idea.
Uh, the spoiler tag is singular. Just wanted you to know
Also, your next blog had better be about something educational, cause then you can make a joke about Something: 101
4755055
...I just wanted to see if you were paying attention?
Thanks for the behind-the-scenes look. In case it weren't obvious how much time, care, and attention to detail go into your stories just from the prose itself, these make it explicit. A huge thank you to you and the editing team for some truly incredible work. Looking forward to the bookhorse triad.
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It's also a really great excuse to just have a ton of fun with cool art spam.
In all seriousness, thank you kindly!
Finally got around to reading this... as always, it's a lovely little look behind the scenes so thank you for it. I'm genuinely surprised by how low quality it apparently was the first go around, but I'm glad your editors and you were able to whip it into shape. Though I think I agree that, in the end, a bit of 'foreshadowing' of the dragon bit would have been a good idea.
Not much else to say right now, I think. Good to hear Fluttershy is doing well, at least, and as always I'm looking forward to what's to come in this timeline.
Hmm... we're reading a retrospective. It's safe to work on the assumption we're here for details. That said... well, details were provided. Thank you for that.
I've stated it before, probably more than once, but the work you put into this AU really shows through in the quality of the storytelling. It's quickly become one of the updates I look forward to/hope for the most. I put off reading this retrospective only to have something left to read since I figured it'd be a bit before the next installment was published. But... January... well that's now-ish. So good news there.
I wasn't ready back in November... but the writing goals you posted about were inspiring, and frankly it's time to stop being lazy about it. I made a resolution for 2018 to contribute something to this site. Several somethings really, but we'll see how that goes when ideas meets execution/mapping. As you detail here, it's no easy process. I've been there, but not quite with fan fiction. We'll see how it goes. Heh, speaking of off topic details... I mention it only to thank you for helping with an indirect, unintentional, yet effective kick in the rear. My biggest problem may be there's never anyone around to deliver one to me. I frequently need them. So, thank you, Novel. And thank you for writing this. It was a real pleasure to read and discuss.
See ya next go round.
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Yup! She's pretty happy.
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I have world builders disease. A bad case of it. If unleashed, I would write a Retrospective so long it would actually max out FimFic's blog character limit... wait...
Thank you very much! I'm delighted people appreciate the sheer amount of detail going into this world! I'll tell ya, it's hard!
THAT'S TOTALLY AWESOME! I'M SO THRILLED!
You are quite welcome. I'll always be pestering people to write! ALWAYS! I'm just glad it worked for someone!
Thank you so much, I love your comments and the time you take on them!
That one single line made me think of Shadiversity's "But what about DRAGONS?" shirts and he advertising he does for them at the start of his videos. xD
Well it has been quiet a ride, honestly i expected Trixie and Svengallop to be involved (trixie because of the coat color and honestly being the only character that came to mind and sven because well in the "true" timeline he was her manager so i imagined you HAD to involve him).
The only thing that threw me off was Octavia-Spotlight honestly, but thats my fault for forgetting that Jackie might not be at the summer camp.
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Well, I could have used someone other than Svengallop... but Sven's easy to hate.
Well, she did get her cutie mark before going to camp, soooo...
Okay, I know this is supposed to be about the STORY, but I have to add that you also have a really good eye for cool art!
Awkward Twilight was cute, the one of FS rolling her eyes was pretty cool, the animation on that hat was awesome -- but I have too many tabs open right now and kinda need that RAM, and the Tirek fight was awesome. Sunset was adorable, and the "how to cook dragons" Twi was the same. I really liked the runic circle that Trixie was in, though. I wish my story (STILL at chapter 2) allowed for those...