Wow, really really well written, love the Wild Shadows. Very creative, very detailed : )

>>1292312923

Thank you!  This bit of Equestrian history/scientific study is actually a part of the on-going story, Taming the Rage, in fact most of these entries will have something to do with it.  Be sure to keep an eye on both, hm?

I was reading "Taming the rage" - which is really good, actually - and soon as I got to the 4th chapter I've been redirected here ^_^ The Wild Shadows remind me of the ghosts found in "story of the blanks", and they fit pretty well in that context too! I'm moving to the next chapter and then on to finish the "main" story. Please, write more stuff! You're good at it!

>>1727117271

Oh I will, don't worry!  I have plenty more entries to make in Studies of a Bookworm to create my own fanon, and a fanon that anypony can use for their fanfics, if they ask me first of course.  That's the purpose of this 'Studies of a Bookworm' after all!

good stuff good stuff

ugh..

goosebumps

twilight really is an intelligent mare

i wish i had read this before i started with 'Taming the rage'. mostly the part concerning runic magic, shadow magic, shadows and zebras; they would have made more sense then, not that they didnt make sense; they would just make MORE sense

i wish to know about Nightmares though!

>>342751342751

Don't you mean THE Nightmare?  When I refer to her as the Nightmare in the story, that's literally her name, what they call her.  She USED to have an actual name, but....well, we won't get into that just yet....but soon.

>>349709349709

im not sure i remember correctly but didnt she refer to herself as a number at some point?

but yea, i wanna learn about the nightmare

EDIT:

okey, i found the part i was talking about:

*"Well-met....I have no name other than a number, but you may call me your Nightmare....just as your dear Princess Luna did, once."*

okay, so here is what i was thinking; since her name was a number, there might be nightmares with other numbers as names. like if her name was 5, then there could similarly be a 1, 2, 3 and 4.

so i thought that you might be pointing out that there are or had been more than one nightmare.

>>349758349758

Nope, there is only one Nightmare....what does she mean by saying that she only has a number rather than a name, though?  Oh, you'll see!  Or, I'll just let that bit of information slide, it's not like it's a really big secret I have to keep.

The Nightmare as she is now is the forty-sixth iteration of a series of pony-like creatures like her.  They were never given names, only numbers, and were constantly 'upgraded' magically.  But, since everypony seems to be terrified by her and she is able to make horrible things happen with the power she has, she simply calls herself Nightmare.  Why doesn't she just give herself a real name?  A chapter in Taming the Rage will make the reason very clear very soon.

>>350184350184

oh, so that's the reason for the number-name. guess we will get some more details later on in some chapter

i cant wait to get to read the next chapter of Taming the rage

>>350430350430

Who knows?  The next chapter MIGHT contain what you're waiting for!

Or maybe it will only contain filler and garbage.

Or maybe, just maybe....it will contain what everyone's looking forward to, and will finally feature Twilight getting her pucky together and getting something done about her current condition!

>>350878350878

you're a giant tease; you know that right?

>>350893350893

Oh, I do know, and on the rare occasion that a lady finds herself in my bed, she LOVES it.

interesting to say the least... I came here to read this story because you recomended it in your other story: taming the rage.

keep up the good work!

>>1727117271 ah, story of the blanks.. another awesome story. and yes, you are quite right there. They do remind me of that story as well.

still very interesting... off to the last chapter of this story...

awesome chapter!

i love how you make luna out to be the intelligent one while celestia is the wise one.

on the other side of the coin though: i don't really like the amount of pregnancies celestia has gone through, but mainly because i don't see them as being more than around 3000 years old.

>>10506091050609

I view Celestia and Luna as being around long, long before ponykind even began to use the intelligence they eventually inherited.  That means they could be RIDICULOUSLY old.  The only reason they're still sane over all that time is due to them taking several 'breaks' in the form of millenniums worth of time sleeping amongst the stars, letting the mortal world exist on its own without their presence for quite some time until they feel that ponykind needs their guiding hooves to help them through sensitive, potentially self-destructive eras.

Of course, during those thousands upon thousands of years of being 'awake', they have also stayed sane by not being the only Gods/Goddesses on Earth....but that's for a different update.

great chapter!

good chapter!

i was wondering about the shadow guard, now that we've seen one.

are all batponies as fanatical about protecting luna as he is though (didn't seem like it, but i had to ask)? or is he simply "special" in that way?

and one thing i was thinking about; he said that his reason for going in without his batpony gear (would have said powers, but gear makes it sound like he's the pony-version of batman

Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png

just because one has keen hearing doesn't mean that they can hear much better than anyone else in terms of volume, maybe a little depending on the size of ones ears (or magic i guess). what is common though; is that they can hear sounds of lower decibels or/and tolerate higher decibels without pain. most importantly though; is hearing a larger array of frequencies (we can hear roughly between 20hz and 20,000hz). when using echolocation it's usually a rare frequency they home in on if i remember correctly.

and about having lovers; one nearly had one, but RD broke it up!

Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png

Image: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Rainbow_Dash.png

>>16870811687081

There are a lot of things that he can do, and do keep in mind that for the most part, having that blessing taken away was only a small part of what he didn't let the Nightmare see.  Aside from the fact that he's stronger, faster, his perception is more keen and exact, he can see in the dark and he can disappear into the shadows at will as long as it's nighttime or a dark place, he also used a Rune Layer to seal away a lot of his power in general.  He wasn't just pretending to be winded, he legitimately was digging deep into the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, when he faced her.  Only thing is, the barrel kinda had a false bottom, if you catch my drift.

Mostly he did this because he didn't want to take any chances.  If the Nightmare had the presence of mind and the skill needed to look inside of him and measure just how much power he had, his entire ruse would've been pointless.  So, he decided to go all the way....Luna just doesn't know about the part involving the Rune Layer, and he sure as hell isn't going to tell her if she was already so upset about everything else.

How much can he do?  He's not one of Luna's personal guards for no reason, she didn't just choose him because of his dedication and good looks.

As for his willingness to die if it can safeguard Luna's life....he's not the only one that SAYS they're willing to go that far, but words don't equal guaranteed actions until you can prove it.  Does Luna believe he actually would?  Yes, she very much does, because she knows him very well, and she is very worried about him because of it.  Still, it IS a big part of his job, so she would never do more than get on his case about it.

>>17143671714367

what i mean is; even at his most powerful, how much can he really do against nightmare, is he an actual threat then or is he just more of a nuisance than before? sure, he'll be able to do a lot more than last time, and that will undoubtedly be helpful, but against the nightmare, in  the same scenario, would the nightmare actually have to stop playing around?

>>17190481719048

Short answer: yes and no.

Long answer: While Strider can indeed pose a threat, he is mostly a threat to her plans and any creatures or ponies that she consumes and uses as her thralls.  Just conjuring up a shadow body to use to enter the outskirts of Ponyville was a massive drain on her power thanks to the seal on the device she's locked away in.  Instead of doing that, however, she can create shadows that consume ponies, and through them she can siphon her power into them over time and freely take control of them at her liesure, like a hive-mind.  Still, a pony's body can only contain so much of her dark magic before it's basically fried, so there are limits.

So while Strider is very much a threat to any of the creatures she consumes and uses to further her plans, he is NOTHING to her if they were to ever meet face-to-face.  The only ponies that are a threat to her face-to-face are Luna, Celestia, and Twilight.  Nothing that anypony else could wield against the Nightmare, at this point in the story, would be more than the equivalent of a gnat bumping into her forehead over and over until she swats it away.  However, in the state that Strider was in before, he still had to struggle with something as simple as Wild Shadows, they had a noticeable drain on his stamina.  Not only that, the Nightmare was entertained by his attempts to keep her at bay, even though she could've ended him at any time.

Now, while she still could if she were to ever somehow get out of that prison she's locked in and actually face him herself, Strider has a lot more strength, stamina, speed and overall magical power at his disposal.  She'd still be able to rip him apart, but the only thing that makes him a nuisance rather than a threat now is the fact that he doesn't have some kind of divine magic power like Twilight does.  Rune Magic is one of the most powerful forms of magic that mortal creatures can wield, and it's dangerous enough as it is.

herding is certainly interesting when spoken of in connection with MLP ponies, since they are on a human level of intelligence and have many other similarities with us as well; while it's a big taboo for us humans.

one thing though, all most higher forms of animals have some level of sentience (chimpanzees for example), so saying that

The second reason is that ponies, upon achieving sentience, developed powerful emotions like love, and jealousy.

>>25623672562367

Sentience, higher intelligence....eh.

>>25649832564983

I think you meant "sapience", not "sentience."

Other than that, seems legit.

>>26005232600523

THERE'S the word I'm lookin' for!  Yes, that sounds about right.