DAFAM Chapter 3 and History

I've been waiting to post this chapter for so long, you have no idea. I figured I would give you all some history behind the events of this chapter. So make sure you've read the chapter before reading this! Spoilers!

I originally had an idea for this story quite a while ago. However, as I started to work on it, I was never happy enough with the final product to release it. But I kept working on the ideas I had. In that original version, Twilight would wake up from a year long coma to find that her friends never existed and neither did her brother, Cadence, Luna, etc. However, I kept her cutie mark story the same.

Also in that draft, Twilight is a member of the royal court and works with Celestia to be in charge of Equestria. I felt that would be a very big part of the story and so I have moved it over into this version. Countess of Canterlot just has a nice ring to it, and Countess is a rather respectable title to be given, compared to just being a Lord / Lady or a Knight.

But between that original version and writing Chapter 1 of DAFAM, I had a great idea. In another unreleased story I worked on in the past, I had Twilight negotiate with griffons and had her cause a civil war in their country, and help the side she wanted to win rise to power. I loved the idea that our bookworm Twilight would be able to do such things because she's read all about the history of uprisings and political maneuvering. So then the idea of Twilight dueling a griffon and being totally badass for a brief moment came to me.

I had to use that in this story. Twilight giving some upstart griffon a beating and then basically saying "Work with me or I'll kill you." And having that be something that griffons (as an aggressive predatory species) would respect. So I did. And I think it really captures the differences between the Twilight from the show, and the Twilight from my head.

Where am I going with all this? Gonna have to wait and find out.
-- Soft Story