Chapter 9 Submitted + End of Chapter Notes

Chapter 9 has been submitted to Fanfiction.net and Equestria Daily. I recorded a sound bit for a section of this chapter. I hyperlinked it into the appropriate section, but if you read the chapter on FFNet then you won't be able to hear it in the context of the story. If you're curious about the music, it can be heard here:

http://soundcloud.com/robert-miller-1/iron-fist-cover


Anyway, onto my notes. A lot of the content in this chapter had been decided on a long time ago, so I thought it would make it faster to write. The problem is that it was written based on old ideas, and I have made a lot of changes as I've written this story, so some of the events I originally wanted in this chapter just wouldn't work. I originally had no intention of making Spike trigger Twilight's abilities, but when I decided that it would make a much better ending for chapter 8 than what I had first planned. Plus, it served as a better precursor for the events that happened later in chapter 9. So what did I keep? Basically everything from the track meet onward followed my original template. Everything before that was essentially new. Personally, I think the chapter was better off this way.

You can all probably tell that this story is drawing closer to a conclusion. Initially, I didn't think it would even last this long, but as ideas were changed and added the story grew. I don't think that will be the case anymore. From here I only have three other chapters planned. It feels weird thinking that it's almost over--especially when I've been working on it for the better part of a year--but everything must end eventually, right? Anyway, I hope you all have enjoyed (or will enjoy) chapter 9, and I hope you come back for the rest.