I've decided to keep these author's notes here, so they don't get in the way of the main text so much, and are easier to skip if (like a sane pony) you're not interested in my ramblings.

This is my first ever fanfiction, and basically my first ever piece of writing that I'm showing to anyone. I've been reading a lot of pony fiction (~9 million words since the creation of my FimFiction account about six months ago, at the time of this writing), and I guess it just seeped into my brain and percolated for a bit, and this is the result. I hope you enjoy it. Feedback of any kind is gladly accepted (yes, this includes a breakdown of why I suck - though a detailed breakdown is preferred!).

I haven't decided yet whether to make these spoilerful or not. If you have an opinion, let me know, but for now, this one will be spoiler-free.

Yes, there are a lot of elements and themes and things adapted from other stories. This is a natural fact of creativity and cannot be avoided. I actually keep a running list of stories I can be (somewhat) truthfully accused of 'ripping off'. It will be interesting to see how many of them are brought up in comments.

The scenes that burst into my head like lightning, fully formed, are the scene where Twilight freaks and Luna lets her plan slip, the scene with Rainbow tackling Twilight, and most of the scene in the bedroom. The other scenes, even though they're mostly just transitions from one place to another, took easily four times as long as these did, and I like them a lot less.

I really like the Cliff Hanger concept. It must have been done before, but I can't find it anywhere. These will be short little pieces at the end of every chapter which together tell the story of the intrepid mountaineer's quest to scale Canterlot Mountain, and will mirror the process of writing the chapter for me. Here, Cliff's cocky arrogance is my default state, and the size of the mountain indicates the scale of the project I'm undertaking. You're supposed to start small on things like this, so maybe I should have written some comedy one-shots or something first, but... I'm just not that kind of pony.

The poem I quote in the description is Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. It is perhaps my favorite poem of all time. I encourage you all to read it.

The title is a reference to the moon reflecting sunlight, and Luna's desire to stop just reflecting her sister, but produce her own light. It was the hardest part of the fic to write when graded on a purely 'brain cells / words' scale.

Hmm... that's about it, really. If you have questions about the story, ask them on the story page. If you have questions about these Notes, or me (for whatever reason), or anything else, ask them here.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story!

P.S. Oh! If you're a drawpony, and bored, and reaaaaaaally like this story... I could use an art for the cover image!