This entry contains spoilers for its corresponding chapter of At the End. Be warned...

This chapter took forever to write when it really shouldn’t have. You see, I juggle two jobs where there tends to be lengths of time where nothing happens. So in these spaces of boredom, I jot down ideas for future chapters and script current ones. I had the chapter fully scripted within a few days of chapter two’s post.

But out of nowhere I got hit by a gargantuan writer’s block. For the life of me, I couldn’t write. I had the entire thing scripted! Why couldn’t I do it!? Luna was coming back from a trip, was close to the Portal, and investigates. The ponies meet the Crafter for the first time. I develop a few characters for later use. I toss in a fight scene. It was short and sweet. It was just one of those things I couldn’t do.

The first draft of the story was exactly as you read it in the chapter, save for the ending. Actually, let’s wind the clock back to chapter three. I wanted the Crafter to escape Luna and bury himself in a hole, where he would then start writing in his journal. But then the thoughts started streaming into my head. A scared being instantly escaped a demigod. Yeah, that’s not a Mary Sue. So to buy time, I turned it into a cliffhanger.

I had to alter events a little. Luna and the Crafter needed a single moment to not kill each other and a distraction for the Crafter to escape; he still needed to write in his journal after all. The Ender Pearls were the perfect device to make that happen.

Now originally I did not want to end the chapter where it did for a single reason: it ended in the same place as chapter two. I wanted to, I really wanted to have the full chapter as it was, but it was taking too long with my writer’s block and the time it took for it to get edited. I needed to get it something out. I chopped it in half, ending it where the hunt for the Crafter begins. Instead, I will describe those events in the next commentary.

Luna was a little difficult to write, mostly because she doesn’t have too much characterization, but there are a few key things about her personality that can be identified. She’s young, but strong-willed. She’s caring and willing to settle her debts, even though she doesn’t need to. She’s playful, but has a temper. It’s not much to work with, so I didn’t have her do much in chapter three. Instead, I used some OC’s to develop her a little more to make the Princess more utilizable.

My other problem, however small, was that the beginning was mostly fluff. I hate fluff. I hate reading fluff and writing it even more so, but I needed an excuse for why Luna was away, as I stated in chapter one. I didn’t like it, but it was necessary.

Captain Night Hawk and Lieutenant Lightning Chaser were loads of fun to write. The grizzled veteran and the rising star. Honestly, LC was based after Sherlock Holmes. I imagined that the Princess’ personal guard would be composed of the best and brightest Equestria had to offer, so I gave them unique skills qualifying them for their position. LC is a tracker and would use her skills to sniff out targets. She plays a big part in the next chapter, which I unfortunately had to cut off.