Her Frontier

by FromTheMoon

[Author's Notes and Final Thoughts]

Wow. That's really the first thing that comes to my mind right now when I see that this fic is done. First off I want to thank all of you for just reading the first chapter and giving this fic a chance. What started off as an idea ended up as a 82,000+ word story which really, to me at least, is just...wow.

I also want to thank those of you who read all the way through and stuck through my madness till the end. Some of you were here from the very first update and some of you a little later. To me it doesn't matter when you started reading this but that you actually read to the end. Thank you all for reading through "Her Frontier" from start to finish. Oh and apparently at one point a few weeks ago this story was added to a Rainbow Dash group here on FimFic. To the person that added it, if you're reading this, thank you very much!

I'm not just going to be thanking my readers this whole time. There are other things I want to discuss here as well. One of the most important of those being how this story came to be. This story would of never been written if it weren't for this beautiful song by PonyEveningStar

I remember just being blown away by it the first time I heard it. The music and the background picture all fit so well that I honestly just sat at my desk stunned. I closed my eyes letting the song play and the story for "Her Frontier" played out in my mind. It wasn't the whole story but the idea was there and I began to scribble madly in my note book as I thought about this story more. PES's music is just so amazing, most of his songs tell a story on their own. Before I move on to the next topic I want to talk about I highly suggest you listen to a preview for his latest album Grand Flying Machines.

Moving on now, before I start talking about things that were cut from the story, character concepts, etc... I would like to talk about the writing process in general for this story. Before I began working on "Her Frontier" I had decided to make it my summer project. What this means is that every day of the work week (Mon-Fri and sometimes Sat.) I would work for a couple hours each day during multiple writing sessions on the story. I had given myself two goals when it came to this story. The first being that I would update every week and the second being that each update would contain three chapters. As you can tell that second goal died real fast. It became two updates a week until finally only one update a week. There were a few exceptions such as the Changeling chapters as well as chapters Nineteen and Twenty.

I think the reason why I was able to update every Saturday was mostly because I was on my own with this fic. I had no pre-readers or editors (Probably could of really used both) to help me along. That's not to say that I don't want pre-readers and/or editors, its just that I don't know how to ask.

No pre-readers or editors however meant that I was able to go on my own schedule which I guess in turn allowed the weekly updates. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't of pushed back the updates, if it mean better quality then I would of loved to of worked with pre-readers and editors. What's done is done however.

Top Notch: Originally Top Notch was going to be called Wrought Notch but I dropped that name and gave it to his father since it didn't really sit well with me.When I first started thinking up Top's character I didn't really expect myself to like him as much as I do now. I am very happy with the way that Top Notch came out in the end. I needed a character that would keep Rainbow Dash grounded and who better to do that than an earth pony? Top Notch was always intended to help Rainbow Dash along throughout the course of this story. As one of Apple Jack's many family members one thing that I immidiately wanted to do with Top Notch is make him different but not too different from his Honest cousin. This allowed me some leeway for his dialogue throughout the story. I made him kind but also slightly(yes slightly) perverted. I needed a character that could annoy but also connect with RD. Earn her trust throughout the course of her stay in EverGlade while also being helpful.

Whisky(lifa): The name for Whisky actually came from my cousin's dog. My cousin owns a male terrier called Whisky. One day I was hanging out with him and his dog when a song by Whiz Kalifa came on over the radio. I looked at his dog and then put two and two together calling him Whiskylifa from the name similarities. To this day I still call his dog by that name. Whisky came to be from a need for a friend for Top Notch as well as his rival. Rival for what? I'll explain that in another section. In the end he just became Top Notch's best friend, this was very important. I needed a friend to betray Top Notch so that Rainbow Dash could relate to Twilight betraying her. Originally Whisky had a whole lot of back story that I decided to cut out all together. Looking back at his character I do wish that I had changed some things. One thing I wish I could of changed was make his personality a little different from Top Notch's.

Clover Leaf: To be honest there really ins't much to say about Clover Leaf. Her creation was mostly because I needed a unicorn, a love interest for Whisky, and a mare for RD to be friends with. I also needed her to show that Top Notch did live a semi normal life before RD came into town. As for her father, Mayor Allium Bouvardia, I needed a more realistic mayor than the original one I came up with. Also when it came to naming in this story I tried to have family members have similare names. For example, Whiskylifa is name after Whiz Kalifa while his mother Ms. Hoofpac is named after Tupac Shakur. Clover Leaf is named after flowers while Allium Bouvardia is comprised of the names of two different flowers.

Sheriff Silver Point: I realized from early on that I needed some form of an antagonist. Originally Sheriff Silver Point was going to be the main antagonist as the crooked Sheriff but that was cut out. I kept him in as sort of an anti hero. I needed a pony that could hinder RD but not be a real threat to her. The answer came as an old pegasus who was as stubborn as RD is. I added him as a miss understood pegasus that only wanted to protect the town he loved from those who would harm it.

Thatcher: When Sheriff Silver Point fell through as my main antagonist I had to come up with a new one. The concept for Thatcher was The enemy of my friend is also my enemy. I introduced Thatcher as an indirect antagonist to RD. At first he would instead of threatening RD directly threaten those around her. I imagined Thatcher as she kind of pony who wears a nice suit, works in a fancy office, and then plants bomb under your car at night. Soon I realized that Thatcher as an earth pony could be a threat but was not the antagonist that I needed. I needed a driving force behind him that caused him to bring trouble to the town of EverGlade. That's where our next character comes in.

Professor Honey Dew: Now we get to the main antagonist of the story. You know, the one I introduced in chapter one and kept locked away in the shadows until the end? I went through earth pony and pegasus antagonists before I settled on a unicorn. Twilight was once a unicorn so I figured, "Hey, why not have RD face up against an intellectual unicorn like Twilight!" A high level unicorn would surely be a good match for RD since he could fight not just with his intellect but his spells as well.

Hmm? You're still reading this? Here have a cookie.

Love Triangle: Remember when I said that originally I planned for Whisky to be Top Notch's rival? Yeah...originally he was meant to be his romantic rival. The idea was that Whisky would fall in love with Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash would love Top Notch, and Top Notch would eventually fall for Rainbow Dash. Top Notch and Whisky were always going to be friends but when RD showed up then their friendship would be strained. Once Whisky realized that RD loved Top Notch he would become jealous of his friend and in a way hinder Top's progress in helping RD recover. This idea was cut because I figured it was too complex and unneeded in a story that was supposed to revolve around Rainbow Dash. The idea was also cut when I decided to remove Whisky's back story.

Whisky's Back Story: So it was planned somewhere that I would mention that Whisky's father was abusive. His father would shun him for trying to be a cook. At one point in the story it would be that Whisky's father would come to visit his restaurant while RD was there. His father would be putting Whisky down saying how much of a failure he was for being a chef instead of taking part in the family business (Which was construction). RD would step in and stand up for Whisky calling his father a coward. In turn Whisky's father would then start talking trash about RD which would prompt Whisky to finally step in and stand up to his father.

TwiDash: So yeah...this was a thing at one point in the story.
"I'm saying exactly what you think I'm saying Princess Twilight Sparkle. You are no longer my mare friend"
This idea never got far off the ground and I quickly abandoned it since it added an unneeded level of complexity to the story.

Rainbow Dash's Journal: Originally I had planned to have RD keep a journal during her stay in EverGlade. Each chapter would begin with a journal entry from Rainbow Dash talking about how her life was progressing as well as her past. I cut this out because I couldn't come up with a good reason for her having the journal in the first place. Twilight is the only one I believe out of all her friends who would suggest that RD keep a journal. This idea was replaced by the dream sequences in the story which turned out well I think.

Princess Luna: During once of the chapters in the story I originally planned for Princess Luna to appear in front of Rainbow Dash. The set up for this was that RD would be having trouble falling asleep one night, complain a little, and say it was probably better since she didn't want to dream. Luna would appear from out of blue and talk to RD for a little while. She would also tell RD that Twilight was suffering equally from their broken friendship giving RD some stuff to think about. I cut this out for the sole reason of it being a one shot of Princess Luna. Not really worth it in my opinion.

The other mayor: I'm just going to keep this one short. One of the first ideas for the Mayor of EverGlade was a giraffe. Yeah, a giraffe. I was pretty keen on keeping the giraffe in the story until I woke up one morning and realized how ridiculous of an idea that was and how it really served no point. Also I couldn't come up with a good name for the giraffe.

As you may have noticed I did include links to music in parts of "Her Frontier". Ninety-Eight percent of the time while I was writing the chapters I would be listening to music, it was only during the more serious chapters that I turned off the music. When I'm writing I can't visualize a scene without music playing in the background. I only added music links when I believed it was necessary to set the scene. Diversity was also something I tried to keep when it came to the music ranging from rap, drum & bass, rock, hillbilly rock, country protest, and R&B. The music I would listen to while working on this ranged from this to this. Needless to say there were some writing sessions I left with a headache.

Songs Used in Story:
"Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by the Georgia Satellites
"Black and Yellow" by Wiz Kalifa
"Elevation" by U2
"For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield
"Krewella - Killing It (Dirtyphonics Remix)" by Dirtyphonics
"Lets Groove" by Earth Wind & Fire

I was able to wrap up "Her Frontier just as the new College semester is starting. For the next few months most of my dedication is going to go to my school work, gotta prioritize you know. If it wasn't for the summer I don't think I would of ever been able to finish this story. Now that this story is finished I can finally catch up on some other fanfic's I've been reading. Also Grand Theft Auto Five releases in a few days, countless hours will be lost there.

That doesn't mean I won't be working on other fanfics, it just means they won't be updated weekly or be as long as this one was. I actually have two other fanfic's that are currently in the works.

The first one being a Slice of Life fanfic about Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. This fic focuses more around the two's relationship starting from Princess Luna's return and following the two all the way through Season Three.

The second fic I'm currently working on is actually quite new territory fo me, it's a shipfic. This story revolves around Rarity and Pinkie Pie. I'm not really going to go into further detail about this one.

As of this writing both of these new fic's have their first chapters completed and I just need to re-read as well as clean them up a bit. One of them will probably go up around the end of September or early October.

Both the Princesses fic and shipfic are minor projects so they won't be that long. I do have a new main fic on the way though. This new story would be another Adventure/Slice of Life fic revolving around Rarity and Rainbow Dash. The premise is simply "How do you increase the ego's of the two most egotistical ponies of the Mane 6?" The answer is actually quite simple but I'll leave it at that.

There really is not much I can say when it comes to a sequel for "Her Frontier". I've toyed around with the idea these past couple of weeks trying to make sense of it. I do have an idea for a story that takes place months after the end of this one but right now its just that, an idea. No work has started at all on any sequel since I'm pretty busy with college now. One thing that is certain though regarding said sequel is that it will be character driven. This means that there will be no villains at all and instead focus on Rainbow Dash and Top Notch's (Yeah he would a make a return) trials.

If I do go ahead with the sequel don't expect it any time soon. Work on it would probably begin in December with the first chapter going up some time late January.

I just want to thank you all so much one last time for giving this story a chance and reading through. The comments, the likes, the favorites; it all drove to work on this fic harder. These past three months of working on this story were truly something else for me.

I know I;m not the best author in the world, no where even remotely close to it. There are some MLP fic stories out there that are seriously jaw dropping like "CRISIS: Equestria" that leave you wishing for a movie based on that story. Despite not being the best author I always put everything I have into my stories. I always welcome constructive criticism and would very much appreciate it for this story.

Oh, and if for some reason you like my Rainbow Dash stories then you could consider having a look at my other story "Beyond Expectations". It's more focused around Scootaloo with a healthy dose of Rainbow Dash. It is 100% finished but in the process of being worked on again with a few chapters up.

What more can I do to thank you?

...

Hmm? What's this in my notebook next to me?

Determine the Molarity(M) of your solution by calculating the number of moles of NaCl-

Whoops, those were my chemistry notes, my bad! Oh here's what I was looking for,

Rainbow Dash walked around PonyVille's library looking back and forth between Twilight and Top Notch. The two continued to watch the stressed pegasus do this for a few more moments before finally Twilight spoke up. "Rainbow Dash you have to calm down. I'm sure that Princess Celestia will have a solution for this. So just be patient and..."

"BE PATIENT? Your're not the one being affected by this!" Rainbow Dash sat on the floor crossing her legs. "How long does it take for Princess Celestia to answer a simple letter?"

Top Notch looked at Twilight and motioned for her give the two of them some privacy. "I got this Twilight. Just give me some time to calm her down a little." Twilight nodded her head and headed upstairs leaving the two alone. Once Top Notch was sure they were alone he made his way to Rainbow Dash and draped a fore leg around her. "Hey Rainbow, just try and simmer down will you? This isn't just affecting you, I'm pretty worried too."

"Oh yeah, you're so worried that you won't even come with me to see Princess Celestia in Canterlot!" Rainbow Dash shrugged him off putting as much distance as she could between the two of them. "Look just leave me alone until that letter from Celestia arrives."