~A Note from the Author~
When I started writing this story I had no real writing experience, aside from the assignments I had to complete while I was still attending school, but what I did have was an unusual craving to contribute to the pony fandom in someway. I was going through some tough times, which don’t need to be mentioned in detail here, when I first saw the show and fell in love with the messages it was trying to teach. Between the relatable characters that Lauren Faust and the rest of the staff had created and the community that had grown around this strange new world, I had found something that helped lift me up out of my darkness. It was a few months later that I began to feel the need to contribute.
The problem was that my art is mediocre at best, I don’t posses a talent for playing any instruments, I have no equipment to make other forms of music, I have literally no financial wealth to donate or support other artists in the fandom and no way of even attempting to animate anything. What I did have was a passion for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, an exorbitant amount of time on my hands and an old computer with Microsoft Word 2003. That was the beginning of The Crystal War Trilogy, which you have most likely just finished the first book of.
I’ve always been fairly eloquent when I want to be, but translating that into the written word proved to be quite the undertaking indeed, as you can probably tell by the first few chapters of this novel. I must say that it was quite the learning experience for me and I like to think that I have grown quite a bit as an author in these past seven months or so. Regardless of the fact that my work may not garner the attention of multitudes of fans like many of the other more well known stories, I just want to say that I greatly appreciate every one of you who saw fit to give this book a chance, despite the raw nature of my writing. Although I would have continued on with the trilogy anyway, it was seeing that a few others actually seemed to like the story I was developing that I began striving to hone my skills, so I must thank you for that as well.
Just by reading this novel you have gained a better understanding of me than most of my family and friends will ever have, except for a couple of people who now live a good distance away, so it is with this in mind that I write this paragraph. I would love to hear what you have to say about the story, be it good or bad. I would love it if you shared this book with other people who you think might get even some small joy out of it. I don’t care about gaining recognition, but I love to see feedback. Please feel free to leave any comments or questions you may have and I will answer each one of them, because I work from home and find myself on the computer more often than not.
… anyway, I seem to be rambling, so I suppose this is where I will say goodbye for now, though I hope it is only temporary. I have had a wonderful time writing this story and I hope each of you have had just as much fun reading it. Oh, and The Crystal War Book II: Heart of an Empire should have its first chapter posted in early April, so be sure to check back for that if you feel like continuing with me on this journey and again, thank you for reading.