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.