The End. It's such a strange thing to finally be saying after two long years of writing. When I first started writing Starlight, I did not actually expect to still be writing it two years later, let alone to have it grow to the enormous 660k monster that it has.

If anything... I expected to not finish it whatsoever. I have a classic habit of starting things like this and then abandoning them. I'd gather to say that Starlight is the first thing I've truly finished in a long time.

The story has had its up and its down, for sure. It's not perfect. I don't think it ever will be. There will always be decisions I regretted (introducing Greed first in the way I did comes to mind), things I wish I'd have done differently, and items I wish I had covered more of. I realized pretty early on though, that if I spent all my time reworking things so they were absolutely perfect that I'd never finish the thing in the first place. So I pressed forward, continuing to work as hard as I could on it, to keep improving as I went along.

And then somewhere along the line, I found that I had an audience. You wonderful, wonderful readers that really enjoyed the stuff I was writing. It galvanized me in a sense. I was motivated to push forward.

And push forward I did. I met an incredible person who took such an interest in Starlight that not only became my editor, but more or less my co-author in this venture. This is as much his baby as it is mine. So here's to Wirepony, who's not just a random name on the internet. He's a true friend, and one I hope will continue to be so for a long, long time.

I was inspired to write this because I really enjoyed the alicorns in the original Fo:E and after having read both Misfits and New Beginnings (both of which were spiritual inspirations for Starlight). There weren't many fics out that had alicorns as protagonists, and I will admit that I chose Star to capitalize a bit on that. I don't recall where the idea of Twilight possessing a pony came from originally, but it certainly grew a lot along the way. Originally the major villain was going to actually be Discord, but after looking at it more objectively, the true villain of the piece became Twilight herself, something I am ultimately happier with. It lent itself better to the moral themes of second chances, of the power of forgiveness, and of something I hadn’t truly realized was a big subtle theme of the whole story until the very end - Old World Blues.

I’ve been a Fallout fan for a long time, but I had only ever played Fallout and Fallout 2 when I originally read FoE. Playing through Fo3 and New Vegas the first time… it was exhilarating, and Old World Blues quickly became my favorite NV DLC. I think somewhere along the line, I channeled the meaning of that story - to have one’s mind so stuck in the past that you can’t see the present or the future - into Starlight. I’m not upset with this. In fact, I’m glad it ended up this way.

Before I get to my thank you’s, I’d like to talk a little about characters. Some of them came out of inspiration from other sources, while others I came up off the top of my head. While I previously stated I regret introducing Greed the way I did (because it led far too many people to assume that I was crossing in Fullmetal Alchemist), I ultimately enjoyed what I did with the Seven Deadly Sins because they were fun themes to explore. The transition from Lust to Lilith came about when I knew that I was going to explore how the Sins became what they were (being one of the major players in the Chicacolt arc), and I’ve never been happier to see a character grow like she did. The interactions between her and Patch as they went from antagonistic to full on friends was among the most awesome things I’ve ever put down to words.

And then of course… there’s Steeljack. I knew pretty early on that somepony in the story wasn’t surviving the end. Originally I had planned this to be Steeljack and then Patch died later while foaling, leaving Star and Violet to care for the foals. I realized later on that I wanted Patch to live, that having both die was so tragic that I didn’t even want to write it. As well, Patch living gave me leave to be able to write a “Tales of Chicacolt” chapter starring her kids in the future.

I've got a few people to thank of course. Primarily, McMesser. McMesser joined this crazy ship after he started reading it and lended his creative talent to making clay figures of Star and the gang. Eventually he became a pre-reader, and along with Wirepony made his way to my home where we finally got to meet in real life. He's a great guy, and his choice of OC character inspired me to place the Smooze into Starlight, which led to McMesser wanting to write himself. I feel humbled a bit, knowing that I helped breathe another fic into life. McMesser probably has the least violent FoE fic out there, and it’s really well done. I highly recommend it.

Then we've got Heartshine. Heartshine is a fairly recent addition to the pre-reader team, but she's been reading the fic for longer. Heartshine is another one of those awesome people that I got to meet in real life at the meetup we attended in Ann Arbor, MI, and she's a super wonderful person. She has a really awesome voice, and has recently started to lend that talent to recording a dramatic reading of Starlight. It's amazing, and you all should go check it out.

And last but not least, my wonderful wife, Lucky Star. As some can gather, the character of Lucky in Starlight is based on my wife's unicorn/pegasus character Lucky Star. She'd bugged me for a little bit to put Lucky in, and I originally had intended to only have her as a cameo. In the end, she actually became a fun character in addition to being somewhat crucial to the story, and I really enjoyed working with her. As for my wife herself, at the moment that I write this, she is pregnant with our firstborn, due in September 2014. I love my wife, I truly do. She has been incredibly supportive with this venture, and I thank her so, so much for sticking with me on it.

That being said, I only have one final group to thank. You guys. The readers. If you're here and if you're reading this, you've stuck it out. You've helped Starlight become what it is. Peeps like Mad_Modd, Deathpony, Aria, Solis, the infamous regolit, the incredibly super talented RinaSunshine (for his absolutely super incredible art, if you haven’t seen it, you really should), and so many other people whose names I have probably forgotten but have all helped me along just the same.

Never forget that you are all awesome. All of you. And I thank you so much for reading this jaunt into the Equestrian Wasteland. I certainly hope you have enjoyed it. I know I have.

With that, it is time that I sign off. Star's story has finally come to a close, and while I am ultimately a mixture of sad and happy about this, as they say... all good things must come to an end sometime.

See you kids on the flip side,

- Volrathxp

Editor’s Note:

Within shootin’ distance of 670 _thousand_ words. I can’t believe it. I’ve been chewing on this for just shy of two years. I’ve seen Star grow and progress, and volrathxp also. My own work has gone on hiatus, mostly due to job hopping, but I’ve been able to keep up the work on Starlight, and I would like to think that I’ve made it a better piece of fiction than it would have been. Vol has been an excellent person to work with, and a good friend. Even if he is chronically unable to ship things on time.

One of the biggest things I tried to do for Starlight was punch the action sequences into a more coherent form - this was inspired by the amazingly solid fight scenes from The Ambassador’s Son, For Want of a Dawn, and Treasure In The West, all of which are highly recommended (though none are FoE fics). Aside from that, all it’s taken is little nudges here and there to make Star the best presented lady she could be.

39 chapters, including the prologue, 7.5, and the epilogue. It’s amazing to put the ‘done’ sign on something this large, even if we aren’t done - we’re going to go through with what we know _now_ and knock the worst of the dust off the first few chapters.

And then we’re gonna stuff it through Heartshine, and time willing, she’s gonna turn it into an audiobook. Awesome.

Seeya on the next project!

-Wirepony