I Dream of Twilight modblog

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After the first meeting with Kubuya in the origin story. A lot of what follows wasn’t changed much except for the details I’ve already stated. Spike gets the book, releases Twilight so she can read it with him. And they learn a lot of how Genies work. Though when Spike learns that Twilight is Immortal and doesn’t age as a genie, it’s obvious in the Rough Draft when he starts thinking of the mindset of hoping Twilight decides to stay a Genie. However some things about the bottle and wishes were quite different.

In the rough draft, the bottle WAS Unbreakable.

You may have seen an answer done during the blog where Pinkie breaks the bottle with her head. If I had kept a certain detail from the rough draft. It wouldn’t have done anything. I kinda felt that was a bit of an overpowering of the bottle. At the same time I also don’t want to make it seem that the Bottle was Twilight’s life support or anything. You know, like how Jafar dies in Return of Jafar. (His lamp fell into the Lava, without it Jafar disappeared from existence). Because then Twilight wouldn’t be as immortal as we thought. And considering that Twilight can sometimes be around some of the clummsiest ponies. If Twilight died if the bottle broke, then It’d be too easy for a clumsy Spike, Pinkie Pie, or a crashing Rainbow to kill Twilight. If the bottle was completely destroyed, Twilight would have to find a new container. But she won’t get the full rest unless she gets the specially designed type of vessels that Malakhar’s capable of making.

If Twilight for some reason or another was not in her bottle for an entire week, the bottle would suck her in regardless of her status.

This one would be kinda pointless if this stayed because Twilight likes going in the bottle. So why would she even think of not going in for an entire week? It served as a point that it wasn’t wise to lose the bottle. But otherwise it’s not really punishment if Twilight goes in there every night.

There were a few rules to wishing. But only regarding giving others immortality, and control of the world. And Twilight could only refuses wishes regarding Murder or “Naughty” wishes

This is kinda deemed redundant by the fact Twilight can refuse wishes. In the rough draft it did kinda have a point though in the story since at least in regards to the first time wishing something (If it was a repeated wish, then Twilight could just do it again). Twilight had no control of the wish being granted. Also in the rough draft, bringing back somepony from the dead was impossible. While you know that in the blog, Twilight is able to bring back ponies from the dead. But she knows it’s a bad idea because of the huge cons of Necromancy.

All in all it was just scrapped in favor making Twilight be not so limited. But due to her being able to refuse wishes, and Twilight being a pony that will think first before granting something potentially huge as a wish.

Alright time for another of these. There was actually something I forgot to mention in the last part regarding Malakhar. But I’ll take the chance to get into it now.

Malakhar tricks Twilight into opening the bottle by describing that it would make her magic stronger, rather then just telling her to open it - In the rough draft, Malakhar actually gives Twilight a reason to open the bottle. With the promise that it would make her magic stronger. This of course had a really skeptical Twilight, who finds it hard to believe that what looks like an empty bottle would make her stronger. But Malakhar insists her not to judge too quickly. Frankly this might of been something I should of kept for the Origin story because it serves as much more detailed way to trick Twilight into opening the bottle, but I suppose I left it out because Twilight doesn’t seem like the one who would go for power-ups like that. She believes more in studying hard and practicing in order to get stronger. It kinda seems weird that Twilight would agree to a stranger telling her the bottle would make her stronger. So in that way it doesn’t quite work.

Twilight at first was literally a blank slate in terms of Genie power in the Rough Draft - When Twilight is released and having an (angry) conversation in the rought draft, she threatens him but Malakhar counters that she can’t do anything to him yet. Because in the rough draft, the thing about new genies is they literally have no powers until the Master wishes so. Which isn’t a fact Twilight knows fully until she’s reading the book with Spike. But Malakhar now that Twilight was released a little too early, he’s purposefully not telling Twilight anything so she doesn’t get any retribution for what he did to her (Malakhar kinda seems a bit more evil early on in the Rough Draft ain’t he? It’s part of the reason I kind of toned things down, Malakhar isn’t supposed to be looked as a villain. I think if I went with how the Rough Draft did it, I think even if I still had the point where Twilight starts to forgive him it’d seem out of place just based on Malakhar’s actions previously. I think I even had him maniacally laugh in the Rough Draft when Twilight’s being sucked in the bottle for the first time. Which definitely would of got Readers confused on why he isn’t a villain or something). Until Spike makes his first wishes down the line, Twilight literally can’t do anything. Not even the spells she knew by heart before she was a Genie. While in the Tumblr story she can do everything she did before and some starter abilities. Why she doesn’t use them to take retribution in the origin story? Well Malakhar I imagine gets on his knees and begs, Twilight may have been mad but she’s not so low as to attack someone who’s essentially begging at her knees (Or well below her Genie tail at this point). Even if they did do something she didn’t quite like. Though it’s not like Twilight’s piercing glare wasn’t a punishment in itself, Malakhar literally thinks Twilight’s never going to forgive him now. And it’s why he apologizes more then once near the ending, even saying sorry again after Twilight had decided to remain a Genie. Every man/stallion’s weakness is going to be the wicked stare a women/mare gives them when they’re far from happy. And it was no exception here.

Spike’s Decision (Look-back into when it was going to be an interactive story) - After Twilight goes back in the bottle, Spike carries the bottle outside to do what Twilight told him to do. In the interactive story version however there was going to be a choice where Spike could either do what Twilight wants him to do immediately or buy some gems now that he has money in his possesion. This would lead to two different paths. Remaining with what Twi told him of course continues the pathway that is shown in the Origin Story and the Genie pathway. However deciding to buy gems first would lead to Spike going to buy gems, having to let go of the bottle for a short time in order to pay and grab the gems. But when he looks where he left it. He finds it gone. In that pathway, Twilight’s bottle with her still inside was going to be taken by thieves. I was thinking of it being from Desert Dogs, a sort of Saddle Arabian variation of the Diamond Dogs from A Dog and Pony Show. The problem was I doubt I could really write a really good adventure story that it’d eventually become (Spike would have to go alone and save Twilight, while at the same time whomever the leader of the Desert Dogs were was going to force Twilight into doing his bidding by granting his wishes.) And became a big reason I just couldn’t go through with the interactive story, I was getting way ahead of myself and going well beyond my abilities to write so many stories. Because remember the Genie pathways weren’t going to be the only stories, I had other ideas too for the Interactive story. Like one where Twilight gets invited to the palace, where the Prince of Saddle Arabia gets a crush on her but she doesn’t return the favor. Making Twilight having to find a way to escape the palace while the Prince does everything he can to try to make Twilight stay in Saddle Arabia forever. Or another that’s a much more lighthearted and probably shorter story where Twilight meets a magic carpet seller who lets her ride on where she and Spike use the carpet to soar through the skies. It was just too ambitious of a project for me. Say that I had two pathways for each of the three major paths. I’d be essentially writing six fanfics in one. And I just couldn’t do that. I had good ideas for much of it, but I just realisitically couldn’t do it. As there’s alot that I couldn’t think of. I grew much more fond of the Genie pathway anyway, and I went in the direction of just making that one. Which of course led to the Tumblr blog you see today.

Origin of Kubuya’s name and her appearance count - As you saw Malakhar was not the only character that was made specifically for this story. There was also the nice bookstore mare named Kubuya Atka. In the rough draft, she actually makes less apperences then she did in the Origin Story. She appears twice, when Spike first comes to the bookstore, and of course when Twilight and Spike head in there. While in the Origin story, we see her three times (With a mentioned 4th one). Once before Twilight even becomes a Genie, one with Spike carrying Twilight’s Bottle, One with Genie Twilight and Spike, and one where Twilight gives a wish to her after she had decided to remain a genie. While she’s not a major part of the story compared to Malakhar is, she is there as somepony who keeps up some of the positivity for Spike and Twi throughout the story with her behavior. Also as a bookstore owner she has something in common with Twilight in terms of liking books so there’s that one connection Twilight has to instantly befriend her. Kubuya also gives some worthy contributions to the Treebrary by handing Twilight an assortment of books. The very thing she came to Saddle Arabia for in the first place. Anyway, just like Malakhar though, her name didn’t come out of nowhere. Kubuya is a purposeful misspelling of Kubaba the only queen on a list of Sumerian Kings. Atka might of been completely made up though. But there is a four-letter goddess named Anat that could of helped me choose how to give that last name.

Alright, I’ll now be starting off some behind the scene looks into the origin story, and a telling of what was different in the rough draft.

There was originally no scenes that took place outside of Saddle Arabia - That’s right, there was no beginning scene that got into how Twilight and Spike got the chance to even go on this vacation in the rough draft. The very start of the draft just had Twilight and Spike arrive there by balloon. The motivation for going remained partially the same though. Spike wanting to try out the Arabian gems, Twilight wanted more books for the Library back home. The same goes for the ending scene. But I think I’ll talk about the ending a little later.

Spike runs off the first moment he sees gems, leaving Twilight and Spike separated only seconds/minutes into the Story - In a bit of greediness Spike runs after gems in a location he and Twilight were in. Back when the story was going to be an interactive one with multiple pathways this was going to be the first choice. On whether Twilight stops Spike or she lets him run assuming they would find eachother later. The pathway I tried to turn into a full-on fic started off with the choice of letting Spike run off. So funnily enough, if I had gone through with the interactive story, stopping Spike would prevent Twilight from becoming a Genie. A little funny how it would have the little decisions make a big impact. I definitely think having Spike and Twilight spend a few days looking around Saddle Arabia and finding a hotel made for a better beginning. Feels like they actually went there for a nice vacation rather then rushed into what the point of the story was going to be. And that’s because…

Twilight meets Malakhar pretty much right after she and Spike seperated - In the rough draft, as soon as they seperate Twilight goes walking into town and wouldn’t you know it. The first pony to greet her is Malakhar. Which if you weren’t already familiar with him from the origin story. Is the stallion that makes Twilight into a genie in the first place. Meaning pretty much minutes after arriving in Saddle Arabia, Twilight becomes a Genie. Which was kinda bad because I felt that rushed things a little too much. I kinda felt like that the early version had Twilight and Spike, arrive, conveniently separate, just so I could get to the part where Twilight meets Malakhar that much quicker. I don’t know if the actual beginning before Twilight becomes a genie seems a little too small to some of you guys (Though I hope it doesn’t, Twilight isn’t a Genie until after Part 11 when she’s sucked in for the first time. She was still normal for at least ¼th of the story) but even if it is, it would of been much worse had it been exactly like the rough draft. From here though, generally it remained the same. Malakhar strikes up a decently sized and nice conversation with Twilight enough to trick her into opening his “gift” inside the hut, and thus Twilight becomes a Genie. Spike instead of waking up in the hotel to find Twilight missing, he’s just disappointed on the streets after he finally managed to catch up with the pony with the gems. But he had no money to spare, so he couldn’t buy any. The rest of the scene generally remained the same though. Spike finding Malakhar’s hut, Malakhar nervously talks with  him until he’s told by nearby guards to discuss something. Spike releases Twilight during that period, Twilight sees her genie form for the first time, and when Malakhar returns she gives him a piece of her mind.

Origin of Malakhar’s name - This actually isn’t 100% related to the rough draft. But I’d though I’d reveal how I got Malakhar’s name. It weren’t exactly made up. I looked up Arabian Mythology and the two names I applied to Malakhar’s name was Malakbel and Manat. Manat is Malakhar’s last name. Manat was the name of the Goddess of Fate. While Malakbel (Changed to Malakhar for the name to make it slightly different) was a messenger. I don’t know if you want to see it as that he’s a messenger of fate. As he is the one that makes Twilight into a genie, and thus changed her life. But there’s the origin of the name.