//------------------------------//
// Afterword - Authors Notes 
// Story: The Code's Apprentice 
// by Lapis-Lazuli and Stitch 
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27 days. 149 thousand words in 32 chapters. 

To say that Code's Apprentice is a feat of writing is I think, not understating the accomplishment. 4600 words a day, every day, for 27 days, is a pretty nifty accomplishment.

The Code's Apprentice is a story that changed a very great deal from it's original inception. Originally, the story was planned to last for 20 chapters, with about 5 thousand words per chapter. But that's only the tip of the iceberg.

The story changed dramatically as well, as well as a number of important character beats and story details. Trixie originally never featured in the story, and Luna's place in the story shifted very dramatically, just to give a few examples.

Perhaps the most important thing that changed was the ending. Originally, Code's Apprentice was meant to be an entirely self contained story. This pretty much got thrown out the window right around Chapter 20. One of these days, I'm going to spoil all of the major plot points and ending that changed, but today isn't a good day for that.

To say I am a little disappointed in the ultimate view count of Code's Apprentice is pretty accurate. I had deeply hoped that a much tighter, consistent writing style and focusing extra hard on excluding all of the grammar and punctuation problems that plagued The Twilight Struggle would provide me with a far larger crop of viewers. Sadly, the Fim Fiction reader is a fickle one. 

But ultimately, I cannot call this a failure. In truth, I'd like to say it has been a grand success. I have proven to myself that day-in and day-out I can write a consistently large block of text that is both readable and belongs in the story. As someone who would love to one day become an author, this is a big step for me personally.

But much more incredible has been the commenters, and those who have supported me. I will not sugar coat it folks, you guys are the ones that made me want to keep updating this beast every single day. You guys, the readers, made this not just possible - but satisfying. 

It is my hope that somepony amongst you will recommend this fic to someone who can get the word out about it. Or that maybe the FimFiction review team that posts on the front page will be told to take a look at it, and get the word out. It's my hope that once this has been tagged completed, it will receive a surge of new readers to appreciate it. I Don't expect these things, I merely hope for them. 

Regardless, There's a lot of new stuff coming for the Codes Apprentice - Including a number of Side-story one-shots, which I hope will tide you over until The Twilight Fall ends. I'll be detailing those a bit in the Blog Post I'll be putting up following these notes going live.

I'd like to close here by saying just how much fun this whole challenge has been for me. I actually can't wait to get to the next story in the series.  Maybe with more followers, more dedicated fans, and more luck, the next one will tear up the feature box - And if I'm lucky, launch the original into the feature box too!

But for now, I close with the only words that truly matter.

Thank you, one and all, for your support.

I'll see you at The Twilight Fall <- Which is not the sequel to this story, merely my next main fic. Sorry for the confusion!

Your faithful tale spinner,
Lapis Lazuli ( I've been thinking about changing my OC Pony name to Cedistic Dissonant. What do you guys think?)