Twilight sat behind the table where she and Celestia sat during court in the main room of the palace. For the first time since her few times holding court, Twilight felt like she shouldn’t be sitting at that table. Dozens of unicorns were standing about the room, waiting for Celestia to be ready. At first Twilight had tried talking to them. She had wanted to get to know the participants of the spell that would be determining whether she lived forever or perished, after all. However, she very quickly realized that the moment she walked away the unicorns would all change appearance and personality, so it was pointless for her to even try. In fact, she had been having a bad feeling about the spell from the moment she woke up.
Celestia had done her best to get Twilight to relax, but was more preoccupied running over the spell so that everything would be perfect. If the spell went wrong, there was without a doubt the possibility that it could seriously injure Twilight. Or worse.
“Twilight, it’ll be fine. Stop worrying so much,” Spike commented as he walked over with a glass of water for her. Spike seemed one of the few who wasn’t as nearly as affected by the shifting of Twilight’s memory. Maybe because he played such a pivotal role in her dream? She couldn’t say. But she was thankful for him being that one unchanging variable.
Twilight grabbed the glass within her aura and took a long chug, draining half the glass at once. A vaguely-at-ease sigh left the mare as she slumped in her seat. “Thank you, Spike. I just can’t relax. I have a feeling something is going to happen today, and I’m not sure I want to know what.”
“Well of course, today is the day that Celestia makes you—” Spike stopped himself by slapping his claws over his mouth. Celestia was keeping the spell a secret until they were sure it worked. “Today is the day that the spell gets cast,” he finished softly. “That’s something, isn’t it?”
Twilight smiled a little at his slight slip-up. “It is, Spike. But I think something else is going to happen. Something bigger.”
Before Spike could ask what she thought it was, Celestia walked into the room once again. “Gather up, everypony,” she said loudly, her voice cutting through all the other conversations. The forty unicorns all clumped together, facing Celestia. Twilight quickly walked over to stand next to her marefriend, feeling a bit nervous in front of the large group.
Celestia smiled warmly at them. “Thank you all for agreeing to this experiment. I know I didn’t provide you with many details, but until we can confirm that this spell works, we don’t want to spread any details around.” There was a slight murmur in the crowd as they all asked around to see if those standing around them knew about the spell in question. Twilight tried not to focus on the randomizing color palettes of their coats and manes changing every two seconds.
Celestia once more spoke over them, silencing their restless chatter. “Your task will be simple: you will all channel your magic towards me. I will then add it into my own magic and cast the spell at Twilight. The casting should last no longer than five minutes. If it works, Twilight will be completely unharmed and able to verify the spell’s success.”
Twilight now felt much more nervous about the whole ordeal. She wasn’t even sure if she wanted it anymore. But at the same time she felt as if she would disappoint Celestia if she backed out. So instead, she just stood next to Celestia, silent and indecisive, as the Princess started to space the forty ponies into a large semi-circle. She continued to provide the group with their instructions for how to channel their magic to her one at a time.
Once everypony was in position, the room fell silent. “Twilight, are you ready?” Celestia asked calmly.
“I am,” Twilight replied, even though her inner voice was throwing red flag warnings. Something about today, the spell, everything, was wrong. But she didn’t know and couldn’t figure out why.
Celestia smiled warmly at her. “Then let us begin!” She lit up her horn, and nearly in unison the forty unicorns lit up their own horns. The room glowed with energy as one by one, the unicorns channeled their magical essence into Celestia.
Once all forty unicorns were sending their power into Celestia, she released the spell directly at Twilight. Large tendrils of magic rolled across the marble floor of the room, steadily beginning to cocoon around Twilight’s body. Like all of Celestia’s magic, it glowed with its usual golden radiance. Until after only a few seconds, the magical glow began turning sour.
Twilight gasped at the sudden temperature drop. She felt cold, frozen to her core. Her attempts to cry out for the spell to cease, or to move, proved worthless. Celestia’s smile, illuminated by the sickly glow, could be considered traumatizing and obsessive. The aura quickly shifted to a bloody scarlet as the tendrils began to spiral in towards her body, each a lance of agony.
“Enough!” A voice called out. The spell surrounding Twilight was shattered by an intense blast of magic. Smoke started to fill the room as the magic Celestia was channeling suddenly sputtered out, no longer focused by the Immortality Spell.
As everyone coughed and recovered from the sudden spell failure, a new pony stood by the door. A very unhappy-looking, dark blue alicorn.
“P-Princess Luna!” Twilight said, shocked to her core at the sight before her.
Luna’s expression softened as she spotted Twilight. “There you are, Twilight Sparkle. I am glad to see you unharmed. As I said previously, I was unable to find you except for your dream of the empty Ponyville town. So, I have brought someone who could.”
A second Celestia walked in the doorway, stopping next to Luna. She smiled tiredly, but not unkindly towards her. “My faithful student. It is good to see you.”
“P-P-Princess Celestia?! But...” Twilight glanced between the two white alicorns. “Then that means...”
“Who are you, imposter?” Tia asked, her tone harsh as she glared at the second Celestia, wings flaring with authority. Twilight thought she saw a lone hair spring out from her ethereal mane, refusing to yield to the magic flow.
“I am the real Princess Celestia,” Celestia said, standing tall next to her sister. A comforting glance was sent towards the Countess. “And that is my friend standing next to you. I am here to help you, Twilight.”
Tia stepped forward, crossing half of the Throne Room in a single movement to block most of Twilight’s view of the two alicorns. “Please. I am the real Celestia. And I love Twilight as an equal. If you think I will just hand her over to some imposter who obviously cares so little about her as you do—”
“How dare you!” Celestia called out, her voice rising in volume to remind Twilight of Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice. It was the first time Twilight had ever heard such aggression in her voice. “Twilight is one of the only ponies I would call my friend. She started off as a talented unicorn I helped teach magic to, and as a result became one of my closest confidants. She returned my sister to me. She’s saved my life and the life of her fellow ponies several times.”
Taking a solidary stomp forward, with enough force to shake the very foundations of the castle, Celestia flared her own wings. “You might say you love her as an equal, but to me she is so much more important. I will not allow her to remain here. If you try to stop me, I will defeat you. Nothing will get in my way of getting Twilight back.”
Twilight was taken back by the conviction and emotion behind Celestia’s words. She had no idea Celestia felt so strongly about their relationship. Sure, Twilight knew that the Princess relied on her and her friends, and that Celestia respected her magical talents… But to have the Princess say that she was so important...
Her thoughts were cut off by Tia wrapping her large white wings around her entire body. “Twilight, I will protect you from whoever these imposters are.” More unruly hairs broke free from Tia’s mane, giving her a near-manic expression. Her dilating pupils only added to that image. “That world is not real, and I will not let these false alicorns fool you.”
Celestia stepped forward once again, another tremor making the very ground quake in fear. “Twilight belongs with us. Release her. This is your last chance before I take her from you by force.”
Tia moved her wings, letting her see Twilight without the two alicorns across the room see her. “Twi, you need to get to safety. I will stop them.” Tia turned her attention on all the other ponies in the room. “All of you, quickly leave the palace. The guards will protect you.”
In the ensuing scramble of ponies trying to flee (and Spike lost in the initial tide as he tried to hold his position), Tia pushed Twilight away. The Countess stumbled towards the nearest door, being ushered by soldiers and scientists alike, before stopping. She didn’t want to leave, she couldn’t; she had to know if they were really the Celestia and Luna she remembered.
She had to.
Turning back towards the sudden bouts of sound and sending her charges away with a crisp dismissal, Twilight saw the two clones of Princess Celestia squared off, perfectly mirroring each other in facial expression and stance. If Twilight hadn’t known which one she had just been standing next to, she would have no idea which one was her marefriend.
With a speed that surprised Twilight, the new Celestia—or was she technically the old?—leapt into action, horn ignited in a blaze of blinding retribution. She charged directly at Tia, who deftly stepped aside and fired a bolt of magic at Celestia’s backside. The bolt seemed to bounce off a golden shield surrounding Celestia’s form, pinging off towards the ceiling and installing a new skylight for the castle’s main room. Celestia slid to a stop, spinning around and glaring at Tia. The two alicorns stood still, staring each other down once again.
Luna suddenly teleported across the room, arriving next to Twilight with a small pop of magic. “Twilight Sparkle.”
Twilight jumped slightly. “Princess Luna! What’s going on?”
“Last week, after we spoke, I told Celestia all the details of that you shared with me. She felt certain she would be able to find you. We’ve come to help you wake up.” Luna gestured to the two Solar Princesses, who had now elected to start firing bolts of pure magic at each other, even though they both possessed a shield that was able to perfectly block the shots.
“Last week? I haven’t dreamed of you in over three months!” Twilight said, confused.
Luna gave her a knowing smile. “Are you certain? Time may seem like it passes in a dream world, but often times when you try to remember all the details of that time, you find that they simply don’t exist.”
Twilight’s eyes went wide as she thought back over the last three months. She did find that she could only remember key aspects of what had happened, and even then she only could remember an hour or two at a time. The important parts of her life had just been chopped together, leaving her without all the mundane hours where nothing happened. Luna leaned forward, looking Twilight in the face. “Am I correct?”
“...That means this world is the dream, doesn’t it?” Twilight’s query was soft and resigned.
Luna nodded. “It is. For the past five weeks, you have been in a coma. Currently you reside in Ponyville Hospital, under the care of Nurse Redheart and your friends. I have been told that they have taken turns staying with you so that you would never be alone. They even set up a small bed so that they could stay the night with you.” Twilight’s jaw dropped slightly. “Even now, your friend Fluttershy is in the room.”
“Fluttershy… I saw Fluttershy not too long ago… Or maybe it was just my mind’s projection of Fluttershy…” Twilight said faintly, more to herself than to Luna. “She told me to remember that my friends loved me. She said I could trust you.”
A sudden explosion seized both of their attentions. The two alicorns were pressed together, horns crossed, as they tried to overwhelm each other with magic. There was no way for Twilight to tell which Celestia was the one that came with Luna, and which was the one that had been with her all this time. No way for her to know which one had loved her. “Do you believe in your friends?” Luna casually prodded Twilight as they watched the two versions of Princess Celestia fight.
Without any hesitation, Twilight replied. “Always.”
“Then put an end to this. Trust your instincts. And if you suddenly find you cannot trust them, then trust the Elements. Trust in your friends to guide you. I know you will make the right choice. We are all waiting for you back home,” Luna said before giving Twilight a gentle push on the back.
Twilight got up and started to walk over to the battling Celestia’s, unwavering in her newfound resolve. Magical feedback in the form of lightning bolts struck the air around Twilight, but she remained steadfast. One way or another, Luna was right: it was time to put an end to this.
She nearly got all the way before one of them noticed her. “Twilight!” Both of the clones stopped fighting immediately, in fear of harming the unicorn. Their bloodlust temporarily forgotten, both of them stood there, looking at her with concern.
Now that she had walked over to them, Twilight had no idea what to say to them. She closed her eyes and tried to clear her head. Her friends wanted her to trust Luna. Luna said to trust her instincts, and her friends. To trust her when she said that this world was a dream. That one of them was false, an imposter, and one was real.
A light pressure on her back brought her attention to the world around her. She looked over her shoulder, finding Fluttershy standing next to her, an outstretched hoof resting on her side. Her usual demure smile was prominent. “We’re here for you.”
From behind Fluttershy, her other four friends walked over. All of them had a warm smile on their faces. Twilight’s gaze lingered on each of them for a few seconds, her nerves vanishing. Her attention turned back to the two alicorns, one of whom looked proud, the other confused.
“Tia,” she started softly. One of the alicorns tilted her head. “I’m going home.”
The confused Celestia suddenly looked angry, her horn glowing brightly as she charged up a spell. “No! You can’t! I won’t let them take you from me!” Tia’s mane was now a catastrophe, looking more like a mangled bush than hair of royalty. Bitter tears were starting to form in her eyes. “Please. I love you. Don’t let them take you. Don’t... don’t go...”
“Twilight; here!” Pinkie Pie jumped up to Twilight’s side and offered her the Element of Magic.
Twilight took it. “Pinkie, where did you get…” Her voice trailed off as she remembered that this was the dream world; things didn’t have to make sense. All her friends similarly had their Elements ready to go. Placing the big crown on her head, Twilight turned back towards Tia. The real Celestia had backed off. “I’m sorry, Tia.”
“She won’t love you as I do! You know this!” The aura around her ivory horn wavered. “W-we can be together forever. Me and you. I can be her, to make you happy. Isn’t that what you want? Happiness?”
“Not if it’s a lie,” Twilight stated simply. She could feel the other Celestia staring at her, but she didn’t remove her focus. “I’ve realized that hiding in this place, this dream, is no way to live my life, even if it’s filled with joy and ‘love’. I cannot stay here, knowing this. It would kill me.” The word caused Tia to flinch. “It’s time I wake up, and face whatever reality has waiting for me, inspiring or depressing.”
“No. Please,” Tia continued to beg. All of her will to fight seemed to have left her after Twilight’s speech; instead, she merely sat, horn extinguished, rivers of tears spilling down her face. Shakily, Tia reached a hoof out towards Twilight, and whimpered. “Don’t leave me.”
The Elements glowed brightly.
Twilight felt herself lift into the air.
And the world went dark.
Slowly, Twilight opened her eyes. The world around her was bright, warped, and unfocused. She could see three large shapes looking down at her: one white, one yellow, and a dark blue. “What’s happening?” She tried to ask, her mouth mumbling something incoherent.
“Don’t worry, Twilight. You’re home safe now,” one of the shapes said to her.
“Yes, remain still. The medical mare is on her way,” another shape said.
“Oh, um, oh my,” the last shape said, so softly Twilight might have been imagining it.
Slowly the world around her got clearer, the shapes turning into familiar ponies. Celestia, Luna, and Fluttershy stood around her as she laid in a soft bed. She could feel a needle in her foreleg and several small sensor pads stuck to her skin. “Celestia?”
“I’m here, Twilight. Don’t worry; you’re safe in the hospital.” Celestia leaned down and embraced Twilight, careful not to smother the unicorn with her mane. “Just rest for now.”
“I’ll, um, I’ll go get Nurse Redheart,” Fluttershy said, quickly vanishing from view.
“Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle. The confusion will clear soon,” Luna said from the side of Twilight’s bed. “You will need to drink plenty of fluids to recover from this...”
Twilight nuzzled against Celestia’s neck as Luna’s speaking became mere background noise, the warmth coming off the Princess feeling more real than anything she had experienced in the last few months. “I love you, Celestia,” Twilight mumbled.
“I love you too, Twilight.” Twilight’s heart skipped a beat, causing a nearby machine to beep loudly twice.
Celestia pulled away from Twilight once the sound of hoofsteps came from outside the room. Nurse Redheart rapidly appeared before Twilight. “Twilight! My goodness. I wasn’t sure you’d ever wake up. Magically-induced comas are all different, with various percent-chances of reconsciousness.”
Several hours of medical checkups passed quickly for Twilight. The nurses and doctors double-checked, and then triple-checked, every aspect of her health before letting her get some rest.
As she laid in the bed her door slowly opened, the light from the hallway pouring into her room. “Are you awake?” The voice was unmistakably Celestia’s.
“Yes,” Twilight answered. She was waiting for her to inevitably return. “Come in.”
Celestia slowly walked in and closed the door behind her. She quickly cast a spell that coated the walls with softly-closing strings of magic and preventing any sounds from leaving the room. “Don’t tell Nurse Redheart; I’m supposed to be letting you rest.”
“I won’t,” Twilight promised, giggling somewhat at the idea of Celestia sneaking into the hospital.
Celestia sat down right at the side of Twilight’s bed, smiling at her. The low light coming in through the window and from Celestia’s spell provided just enough light for them to see each other. “Luna has told me some of the details of your dream world.” Twilight was silent. “Your dream me was rather upset to let you go… How close were you two?”
“Very,” Twilight replied softly. “We lived together, we worked together… We were just together always.”
They both sat in an awkward silence. “Perhaps… Perhaps we can talk more about your feelings once you’ve recovered,” Celestia offered. “Because I meant what I said in your dream. You are very important to me, Twilight. I do love you. I’m not sure if it’s the same love… But we should still talk.”
Twilight’s face turned red, and she was glad that in the low light, Celestia hopefully wouldn’t see. “Alright… That sounds nice.”
Celestia leaned down and kissed Twilight on the forehead. “Get some rest. I’ll come visit again soon.” The Princess quickly left the room, the spell she cast on the wall quickly fading away.
It took Twilight a while to fall asleep without Tia pressed up to her side, but she managed to get a few hours of restful sleep. In the morning, Nurse Redheart delivered her a small breakfast. “You’ve been on an IV for several weeks, so we need to slowly get you back on regular food.” Twilight nodded, accepting the small meal. “If you want, all your friends want to see you. Visiting hours don’t start for another hour, but I think an exception could be made.”
“Yes, thank you,” Twilight replied quickly. She wanted nothing more than to see all her friends. It had been quite some time, indeed.
Less than a minute after Nurse Redheart left, Twilight’s friends came bursting into the room. Pinkie’s party cannon detonated and the entire room was covered in balloons, streamers, confetti, and a huge sign that said ‘Glad You’ve Woken Up From A Strange Coma Dream-World!’
For the first time in what felt like some time, Twilight laughed. A genuine, happy one.
She was home, truly home, once again.
had to pause on this one halfway cause it got so intense
Rest in peace, alter-Tia, knowing that you were never truly intelligent to begin with. Just a subroutine of a dream. A puppet, your strings unknowingly pulled by Twilight. Farewell.
kinda saw it coming. still not a bad tale overall. though the question is what exactly sent her into this coma. and how this dream was formed.
I'm hoping that you'll cover whatever Twilight and Celestia will talk about in your epiloguish chapter, as that seems to be the most important thing to wrap up other than making sure she's cool with her friends.
So the whole thing was a dream or was the Tia just a dream creature or something? Twilight was able to construct a world out of whole cloth or was it some sort of dream parasite? I guess we will have to wait and see.
4923748 It was Starswirl's unfinished spell, the one from Magical Mystery Cure. When she cast it, it backfired and put her in a coma.
4923827 Or was she actually Chrysalis using a combination of mental magic and her own shapeshifting/love-eating abilities?
Well, I can see where you're goin' with the epilogue.
We still should know what the Dream World was/is and Twilight still needs to become a Princess after all.
Anyways, nice ending. It did feel a bit rushed to have the dream end just after Tia gets creepy, but hey, that's how ya wanted it.
4923819
Well, that and the whole immortality thing.
WOOT WOOT!!
ALL ABOURD THE FEATURED EXPRESS!!
4923727
4923735
4923952 By the gods, you weren't kidding.
I'm reminded of the "Dream Apocalypse" trope (Its on TVtropes.org) where a dream character becomes aware that they are a dream & tries to stop the dreamer awakening because they're afraid of ceasing to exist.
But if this is the case, then that means that Twilight's own mind was turning against her in the form of Dream Celestia & was actually hurting her before Luna & the real Celestia came to the rescue. This is quite disturbing & makes me hope that there was some kind of outside influence.
4923929
or did the other ponies get it wrong and it wasn't a magical accident, and something traumatizing happened! Twilight's mind made up a perfect world so that she would forget what really happened. Like amnesia but the memories were replaced
"Now isn't that a happy ending?"
"No, because I still only have a troll face icon."
4923735
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I am surprised you embraced the Twilight wakes up in the canon show ending so much considering it was the exact opposite of your original intention.
I go for the both are real ending. After the story of the "canon" versions you can switch to your Celestia can be crying over Twilight's body and all of a sudden she wakes up. The Elements revived her from braindeath. She doesn't remember canon Twilight's actions in her body or anything since she was rendered comatose, but she remembers everything before the assassination attempt.
That sickening glow was the gate to death. I thought my assumption was mostly right!
You know what would be creepy, if Twilight was still dreaming.
A great story, both the initial ending and the current one.
Best of luck, stay healthy, and update soon!
-Sky66
*does the short skirt and pompom thing*
Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-
*Inhale*aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!
4924129 Holy shit, I didn't even realize that!
4924160 INCEPTION!
Ohh yeah! Just a great way to end the day! Can't wait for more!
Shoot, it's ending! Now I'll have to find something else to occupy my Twilestia needs.
Shoot, it's ending! Now I'll have to find something else to occupy my Twilestia needs.
Awestruck and Sad and Relieved. All the emotions I am feeling all at once. It did turn out the way I was hoping though.
...Wow, So was dream Tia a spirit like the Nightmare or just something Twilight's subconscious made up? If she was just made up all the times she kept convincing Twilight that Luna wasn't real was creepy! Also, that immortality spell. What would that have done?
4924573 Judging by what rednec0 said, about how the 'sickly glow' was likely her going to die... yeah, I guess that's one way to get immortality.
4923992 whoop woop. Oh and of icarly what was the facke alicorn
4923992 that didn't turn out so bad... Huh.. Wow.
I was thinking it was gonna be really awkward between Celestia & twilight but... That was utterly,
Perfect.
I don't know, that seemed too... Simple. Why do i get the feeling something weird is still going on? Is that just me?
Celestia was the reason Twilight ended up in a coma in the first place, I wonder why Twilights friends aren't mad at Celestia for trying an untested methodof alicornification that put her out of her head.
I have to call bullshit on this whole thing. This story has been told from the perspective of Dream Celestial at points. That should not have been possible if she wasn't real. You explained her thoughts and emotions that shouldn't have existed in a dream entity.
4925682
Have you never dreamed to be someone else? have you never dreamed in third person? Dreams aren't bound by logic, and as such, she may have dreamed to be Celestia at times, or self created those thoughts, thinking for her constructs.
How do you make Twilight abandon/murder someone in cold blood? You tell her that they're from a dream.
She's now in a coma in the dream world as well.
I must be cynical even for me today, because the first thing I thought about when you said "epilogue" was Twilight in a coma in a hospital in neither reality, like that one episode of Buffy or something...
So what if dream Celestia was actually "The Shadow" (what made Luna turn into Nightmare Moon) trying to find some comfort(attention, love, etc.). It (The shadow whom is like a possessing spirit) took Twilight away from the real world and put Twi in a comma dream where she would eventually love it(visualized/Shapeshifted )as Tia.
Or something like that
Not quite how I thought it'd go, but still pretty incredible. Can't wait to see the closure.
4925682
Most media following this "Is it a dream?" plotline don't follow that rule. Besides, have you never dreamed you were someone else, or thought for people in your dream? Dreams don't follow logic like that. They're nonsensical. Literally, as in they have no sense to them!
Happy endings all around! This was good, though the end did feel a little rushed. But it isn't really the end is it... I guess I was just expecting a big end of dream battle for Twilight's soul. Still this was nice and sometimes, you jut need a little nice.
I'll see you at the next chapter.
*claps hooves together*
Wonderful!
This is one of my favorite stories. Very well written.
I love stories where it's hard to figure out what's really going on and it keeps you guessing.
Many times I found myself questioning which world was real and which was fake, even after I was sure I had figured it out.
And almost every prediction I made was wrong, which is rare for me. I can usually see where something is going, but you fooled me every time!
I can't wait to see how it will all wrap up, as I still have some questions about the dream world.
I mean, was it really just all Twilight's imagination? Was somepony else controlling the dream? I mean, The dream Celestia was acting a bit ... odd, to say the least, in the last two chapters. How she kept creepily repeating how Twilight would be with her "FOREVER" and how over-the-top clingy and protective she became. I mean, she was always like that, but it seemed like it was cranked up to 100 lately.
Anyway, thank you for keeping me entertained!
I can't wait to see what you'll be writing next, if you continue to write on here. (I hope you do!)
4930078 I've got a few other stories I'm thinking about writing. We'll see if I decide on which one I want to do, and how soon I'm ready to start posting it.
Gah! That was wonderful! I'm glad Twilight finally accepted that she was in a dream. I thought she'd deny it again. Can't wait for the epilogue.
4927779
From my week-late editor point-of-view, I think it was the arrival of a second Celestia that finally shook the last foundations of Twilight's psyche; at least in regards of whether Luna was a dream or not. Back then when she made that declaration, the extent of the real-verse's influence was Luna appearing in her 'sleep' phase.
It's hard to ignore friends (best friends, mind you) suddenly arriving and holding back and forth conversations with you, while you are 'awake', and say it is a trick of the mind or an illusion when it happens on multiple occasions. Not to mention all the freaky-deeky things happening with details of her day-to-day suddenly shifting/no-longer-existing. Twilight's turnabout in her thinking, to me at least, seemed more-than-logical with all of this evidence.
This is especially true when Celestia made her debut onto the scene. With Tia acting like a recent obsessive nut-case, and just the particular punch of the words Celestia said; it isn't a stretch at all for Twilight to blatantly set aside the potential that the second Celestia is also not real when the alternative is being cocooned by eldritch tentacles being cast by her "lover" in the name of immortality, with a hint of psychotic disposition.
(You most likely didn't need this whole spiel a week after the chapter is already out, and you've had time to sit and dwell on these points already. But I couldn't help myself, and I've got too much sugar in my veins. So, there's that.)
4982663 It's not quite over yet!
Considering I've followed this story since it was first published, I have to say the ending was quite... meh. I figured the 'it was all a dream' card was going to be played pretty much from the very start, but it does sort of make most of what happened rather disingenuous, like what was the point in developing the whole Twilight-griffon relationship if it had no actual bearing on the story? Still, I enjoyed it well enough, very well written, well done. (can't stop saying 'well')
4986333 I've got one more chapter that will be up later today. You should always read the author's notes.
I have to agree with Reeve here. The ending was rather a let down, especially the way it all just sort of 'fell apart' at the end. I never got the slightest impression that it was a dream before the last few chapters, so it feels like you just decided right at the end which one was real and it won out arbitrarily. It's not that this specific outcome is bad, just that it feels like the denouement of this story was crammed into two short chapters and it completely threw out a lot of the effort that went into writing it before.
I honestly think the story would have been more interesting if Twilight 'had' swapped with an alternate universe counterpart of herself, or if she really was just totally nuts and recovering from it. This ending feels so arbitrary, by virtue of being so absurdly obvious that you could predict it from maybe a small fragment of the summary.
Yeah, I don't like how this chapter turned out. After all the resistance Twi put up to her alternate world, and how close she had gotten with Tia, this all seemed rather forced. The Twi that decided to leave almost seemed to have a personality swap. I was expecting more of a personal conflict, stead of just Twi deciding to go with what was real. Hopefully the epilogue will smooth things out.
Is it weird that when I read this, I see an actual window skylight being installed?
It's magic, I ain't gotta explain shit.