Writer's Notes

This was an unusually organic story for me. Usually, before I start writing, I want to have some kind of cool twist. This time, I started only knowing what I knew from writing the first two Blueblood stories, that I wanted to start off with the two lovestruck ponies trashing the castle, knowing how they would be cured in the end, and that the mane six would be involved. I had also decided to give Trixie a couple maids because there was a certain need for symmetry between her and Blueblood and his guards.

That was all I had, I did not think it would be enough, but I forged ahead anyway. I honestly had no idea when I started that I was going to be writing an thirty-five thousand word epic, but the creative process has an interesting way of surprising you sometimes. (For example, I sure wasn't planning on having Pinkie Pie sing, and look how that turned out!)

The first major surprise was coming up with the idea of Twilight Sparkle's dependency on her friends to survive. It sort of snowballed from the how she was taking breaking the news to them really hard. But now I had a problem: in order to reach the Blueblood and Trixie conflict, Twilight Sparkle's conflict had to be resolved. However, Twilight Sparkle's conflict was life and death, it had significantly more gravity than merely saving a relationship! How could the story move forward from that?

The second surprise came to me when I asked myself if any of the other bearers had underwent a transformation. Of course, the elements had no dependency, but they could become the center of the lives of their bearers. I heard about the "Cutie Mark Failure Insanity Syndrome" idea, but it always had holes in it before. Now, I had found out it could be a consequence of bearing the Elements of Harmony: acting contrary to the element introduced a temptation to get carried away. Because it was just a temptation, what was introduced was a risk and not a guaranteed ticket to Crazytown. The greater the severity of the infraction, the greater the risk.

Thinking back to the show, now everything actually made sense! Applejack and Rainbow Dash's going completely against their elements in Fair Weather Friends. Rarity and Rainbow Dash's behavior in Sonic Rainboom. Applejack sweating bullets as she desperately attempted to avoid lying to Pinkie Pie in Party Of One. Pinkie Pie in Party of One, period. Fluttershy's behavior at the Gala. Those are all supporting examples of this idea of acting contrary to the Element of Harmony introducing a risk of succumbing to insanity!

Suddenly, everything came together. Twilight's ailment and that of her friends could be the key; the structure this story would follow. The Blueblood conspiracy would provide the opportunity for each of Twilight's friends to go full on mental, and this would tie into the conclusion. The solution could be that Twilight's dependance was a two-way street: in addition to her reliance on the other bearers, she was the glue; the one the other bearers would rely on to bring them back from the brink. This became the story.

Because this story developed so organically, it may have been a bit less "tight" than the other two stories. The affected mane cast members' drop into complete, morally bankrupt, madness was just a bit too quick, and I was trying to leverage the severity of their infractions against their elements as the reason why. There's also a fairly large plot hole being that, if Celestia is such a great manipulator, why could she not have prevented this in the first place? Perhaps, even as good at manipulation as the immortal is, she's not absolutely perfect. Wouldn't it be boring if she was? Another plot hole: why not utilize Twilight Sparkle to cure her friends earlier? Perhaps Celestia did not want Twilight to know her friends could be affected this way, as she surely would if she had to confront them before their defeat.

Whereas "Blueblood Returns" tried to feel like a compellingly authentic episode of the show, and "Blueblood's Redemption" had to be more abstract because it dealt with an issue that lay below the surface, I tried to go for a middle ground in "The Blueblood Conspiracy." The result was less a middle ground and more a zigzag back and forth between the two. With any luck, this felt like more of a refreshing variation of pace instead of something that would only alienate readers who would have preferred one or the other.

There's a bit of a tricky balance involved in writing MLP:FIM fanfic. One on hand, we fell in love with a show that is essentially a lighthearted slice-of-life comedy with an occasional adventure segment. On the other hand, we want to go deeper, exploring something even more intellectually satisfying than the already clever show could due to broadcast restrictions. So, while I included madness, that madness is temporary and comedic. While I included violence, that violence is bloodless. I even have sex in here, but it does not actually become pornographic, instead drawing the line at a steamy failed seduction. Hopefully the balance I struck here turned out to be a worthwhile read, although that will likely vary from brony to brony.