...Oh.

...OH.

I totally understand what's happening now and what is being referenced. You are one clever pony. Do continue, you have my full attention.

I always start new fics on fimfiction with a degree of trepidation, without pre-readers screening the content the quality of the content within is....highly variable, to put it delicately. Further raising my wariness was the synopsis suggesting it starred an OC. I almost closed the tab, but am certainly glad I didn't as this was quite enjoyable.

Wow.  Spectacular. You are incredibly talented.

Now I may be being naive, but what exactly was Rarity and Fluttershy's weekly get together?

I don't quite catch what you were implying

>>3814338143

You'll only need the first ten seconds really.

>>3817338173

Ahhh..

Your wording of that section was rather.. ambiguous.

Anyone with a less.. mature mind might have taken it the wrong way :P

Hot damn, this is one of the more interesting fics I've read in a while. Can't wait to see more!

Yay, an adventure!

Y'know, this site needs a luna-smiley now!

Hey what's up with the no Luna emoticon

Oh... new Lacuna. So far it's been pretty interesting, though a tad slow. Still, off to read the next chapter!

>> 14Spades

That's been a concern of mine, for sure.  This is the first time I've really written much outside of essays or papers and such, so pacing is something I really need to work on.

I think it might make for an interesting project next chapter, see what I can do.  I'm a bit tired of writing them walking back and forth, talking philosophy anyway.  

I'll get back to that for the forty chapters after the next : P

Personally I love the pacing, it'd be a bit irksome if you only updated every few weeks but thus far that isn't an issue. The slow pace has added to the depth of character(especially Sand) and setting.

>>4649146491

One of the difficulties with any type of web fiction is that readers expect instant gratification. They want action from the start, and if they don't get it, finding another story is as easy as hitting the 'back' button on their browser.

Actually novelists have it easier. By the time you sit down to read a book, you've probably invested $10-20 in it, which gives you a big incentive to sit through the first few slow chapters. After all, you paid for the book, you need to read it.

I've had the same problem with my longer stories, and it's one of the reasons I tend to stick to writing one-shots. They're more easily digestible. Sad, from a certain perspective, but that's the world we live in.

Please take it from me that your story is eminently enjoyable, regardless of its pace. I look forward to reading future chapters.

>>4758547585

: )  I'm glad folks seem to be enjoying the story.  I know I've enjoyed writing it, though at times I look back and think "Have I really written tens of thousands of words about ponies?"  Thankfully, it's fun enough to keep going in spite of those thoughts.  

I do worry that I'm pulling what I think of as a Wheel of Time here...don't get me wrong, I love the books and I'm dying to see the completion of the series, but I swear that sometimes Jordan would spend an entire book describing the most mundane crap, and it'd drive me up the wall.  Buuuuuuut that's probably not accurate and I'm just running off on a tangent here.

And so Fo:E was born

great story consept

tracking,,,

complete and total mind fuck.

sir, i have no words. and i am eager to begin reading the next chapter.

i must say this and get it of of my chest.

the way that you write the narrator of this fic is very annoying for me, not because it is poorly written (i actually think it is written very well) but because it is in third person reserved view, meaning that the narrator only has a very limited amount of information that is not given out on a regular basis. as opposed to most stories like this where the narrator is almost like a character that knows everything, or at least explains things in the story as they progress, but you manage to keep the reader in the dark for as long as possible, and even I at this point am still scratching my head, wondering about different aspects of this story...

>>4903449034

You and me both : P  A lot of the important points have been hit with the narrative (and too many too soon, I feel, as the volumes of revelations in the early chapters feel like me just dumping my headcanon all over the pages), but I've had to discard a lot of things that I had originally scraped together to build the story, as trying to work them in at this point would just be square peg -> round hole.  

Regardless, as long as I'm not boring folks to tears, I think I'm coming out ahead.

..... more

:( well i guess i have to wait

JK! NEXT CHAPTER HERE I COME

*SHOCKEDFACE* *GASP* Last chapter??????? NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

this is very, very good.

although not sure how i feel about you getting rid of sand, kinda the reason i was reading atthis point

dont worry i will still continue to read, but i just wonder what she would do whenever she is not there

Each chapter I read makes me want to read another, and another.

About the pace so far, it is just right to keep the narrative going smoothly and keep me both equally clueless and enthralled so far.

If this were a physical book, I'd be glued to it.

It's a real page-turn-- uhm.. page-scroller?

Equivalent exchange... Is that a Fullmetal Alchemist reference?

>>5516055160

The idea of equivalent exchange is one that's part of many interpretations of "alchemy", not just Full Metal Alchemist.

It also is relevant in thermodynamics, I guess, but that's more to do with not being able to create energy from nothing rather than transmuting lead into gold, hehe

Trying something new with this chapter.  We'll see how it looks after a few days outside my head.  

On a side note, the Import from gdocs feature is super, super nice, though it still struggles with some of the same formatting problems I've had to strip out in the past.  Not sure how obsessive I'll be about setting tabs instead of octuple spaces, but if it looks too distracting on rereads, I'll take care of it.

Ooooh. Bit of a... plot ?

>>6239262392 From this we can gather: Celestia and Luna both have VERY nice plots.

Now i got to tell you, this was an amazing chapter..

kinda felt like "super-mega oc funtime" to me. but they were well written so i over look it.

In keeping with the traditional reverse psycology,

I clop to this.

I'm digging this so far. But is it just me or does it feel like those scales are shifting with each chapter? I mean I keep looking back because it just LOOKS like it but I can never prove that to be the case.

All in my head I guess.

This is my longest chapter yet, and I do believe the entirety of it was written with this song on constant loop in the background.  

Obviously, I would highly recommend watching it.  

damnit i have school.....

OMG i have study hall first block

homework = no

fanfic = yes

This, is exactly what I wanted.

Sir,

You never fail to produce quality reading material.

Definitely like the new chapters. Two minor criticisms:

1. Twilight's jumping from Luna-Celestia-Luna feels a bit awkward. Necessary, perhaps, due to Celestia's apparent ill considered past dealing but it doesn't seem to flow nicely with the rest of the story

2. Very minor but the Sand/Dawn reunion with Twilight and Luna came quicker than I expected.

>>7175971759

Mm.  Both valid points and I can definitely see their merit.  I think I was worrying too much about...I don't know what they call it in literature, but in software/game design, it's called "feature creep."  You see it in a lot of longer fics where the chapters just get longer and longer, to the point that the final chapters are each as long as the first half of the story.  

But yeah, I was probably stressing too much about keeping it within my "ideal" range of 7k-8k words per chapter, which meant cutting out large sections of transition, making the scenes segue poorly.  I'll have to think on what I can do to remedy that in the future, though I think I'll just have to leave the current chapters as-is, barring the need to fix technical issues or else I'm just going to get mired in fixing everything that's happened so far, heh. Thanks for bringing it up though, it's something I'll be paying more attention to as I write.

More Pls! This is such a good story, and I can't wait to see what else is going to happen! I am alittle sad about Sand totally cheating on Twilight, even tho they aren't really 'together' It still sad >.> I wonder what will happen when Twilight finds out, if she does

(Ultima Ratio Caeli. Although caelorum "of the skies" would work, too -- poetic pluralization of caelum is attested in at least Medieval Latin, and it would better parallel the original phrase.)

>>7424374243

Hah, thanks : )  I was trying to shape that phrase from whatever Google Translate would give me, but with how few other online translators there seem to be (for Latin at least), I wondered at its accuracy.  

Oh Twilight, I can empathize. When I was in my teen years I went on a Tiger Cruise with my Uncle coming back from a deployment in the Middle East. Most the first day was terrible. My magic cure was- Ice cream. Really settled my stomach and I was fine for the rest of the trip!

Ok, it's official, I can no longer handle the level of awesome in this story.

Lovely as always. I cannot wait to see how this goes on

:(

Another wonderful chapter. You have a gift for description and the tiny threads that weave the plot together.

Hey, another swell chapte-

OH FOR FUC- COME ON! That cliffie is not going to set well with me. Not at all.

>>127241127241 wow, that was a terrible place to end. INREQUIRE MOAR!!!!

Good news, Fallout averted!

Bad news, now we have evil ponies from another dimension. Kinda.

It's the way of all worlds. One door closes for another to open.

Cool new cover art.

I wonder if and when Twilight and/or Luna will have a chance to meet Selene for a chat?

I know you've already heard it, but I love the artwork. I had no idea the final version would be so involved, based on the sketch of Sand that I had seen.

>>154803154803

>>160416160416

Thanks : )  Huussii was an awesome artist to work with for this, and he really wanted to put a lot of detail into it.  Unfortunately, FIMFiction doesn't expand the image for the story, but if you'd like to see the full thing (the downloadable version is a whopping 1920x1080), you can go here: http://huussii.deviantart.com/art/MLP-Lacuna-281150587

i love this story and the oc is actually a very well rounded character. i do have to ask you a favor though, after realizing what this story is, i beg you, don't let this end in balefire.

Oh, Twi'... Why is your dancing so horrific, and why do you have to be so adorkable.

Oh geeze, now you tease us with the suggestion of hot Twiluna scenes? I didn't even think those two were... okay, now I am wondering who is being shipped with who!

The story is progressing well, though it might have moved a bit too fast from them arriving to them leaving. Seems a little forced, but the situation is urgent after all.

Anyway, keep on writing and I will keep on reading!

Give in, Sand! Champagne makes friends!

They let Pinkie tell stories?

I love how this fic updates AS I FINISH CHAPTER 13...

After skipping over this story several times, an appearance on EQD finally piqued my interest enough to take a look.

It looks like I have a Twilight-grade night of reading ahead of me.

I'm with you Sand/Dawn, I'm a bit wary of how a 9 person party will play out vs. the 2-3 previous.

>>183467183467

That's actually being directly addressed at the start of next chapter.  Here's a sneak peek:

"And suddenly, there was a huge explosion! It conveniently killed off every character that it would be annoying to write for.

'Well, that was convenient,' said Twilight."

Seriously though, I'm going to have to track down a copy of the Hobbit to read to see how the masters handled larger party sizes.  

>>183919183919

Split the group up frequently. Get split up in the mountains, Gandalf splits off to go south, Wood elves split them up, as I recall Bilbo splits off to Laketown at one point. That, and, as I recall, several of the Dwarves would be near non-existent for stretches of time. I could be misremembering things though, its been a couple of years since I've read the books.

AWW JEEZ.

Oh, lord, the gems are a trap, aren't they?

Sand is in sooo much trouble

Oh shi-

HOLY SHIT

Sand sighed.  “Until one time, we managed to sneak in at night, and it was like everything had been unlocked just for us.  We crawled in through a window, and found our way down to a sub-sub-sub basement where they kept...I still don’t know.  I’ve never learned what was behind the other doors because we were drawn to the only one that was actually open, like it had been waiting for us.”  She shivered.  “We could have turned back at that point, but Curio was named for more than just a whim of our parents, and we were ever her followers.”

“It was a library, Twilight.”

Seems like something's missing here.

>>224673224673

Huh.  You are correct.  What a peculiar line to not get imported from gdocs.  Shame, too, that really kills the flow of that scene, heh.  I've added it back.  Thanks for lettting me know!

That is it? It is over?

Well... that certainly was an interesting ride.

Good story!

It's been a long time coming, but I'm glad I decided to track this story way back when. Fuckin A.

Nice, though it seems to be set up for a sequel.

Story downloaded.

Thank you for your story. It was much appreciated.

Well, there went alcoholic Luna fic.

>>250628250628

I like to think she spent the entire three week journey home completely sloshed on cheap rum.

>>250638250638

Same.

That was lovely, even if it feels just a tad rushed with the closure. But definitely one of the most entertaining adventure fics I've read!

Also, love the AppleDash moments

Good story, although the ending was, to a degree, rather...nonexistent. Still a good read.

>>250848250848

Yeah....yeah.  I agree, believe me.  The epilogue wasn't what I would have wanted ideally, but then again, that goes for a lot of things.  It was a convergence of three things:

1. I opened the story with a Prologue and it felt wrong to not have a distinct Epilogue

2. I hadn't touched on Selene in ages and needed to at least mention her again before the end, but didn't want to expand the overall story by several chapters just on a side-character

3. I like Neil Stephenson books too much.

In truth, I'd have rather ended the story with chapter 15 and Sand's ambiguous fate.  I really would.  But I couldn't work that into an epilogue without needing to explain their fates, I feel, which would be far less interesting, and I couldn't just forget about Selene entirely.  No matter how much I want to.

Overall, while I'd throw this ending onto the "Meh" pile, it was still a pretty valuable learning experience.  I consider it a small victory that I don't have people calling for my blood for wasting their time for 15.5 chapters.

Yet.

>>251021251021 People might think there will be a sequel, which explains the lack of bloodlust.

Currently reading this story, I giggled so much when I realized what you're referencing in this chapter.

>>252598252598

See Drak?  I told you people would expect a sequel if you ended it like this!  Though this ending is an appropriate leaving-off point, so that's what really matters.

>>258753258753

-.-

I think my future projects are going to be much, much, much shorter.

Much.

I'd like to comment at this stage, that Dawn as a name seems almost fitting, and can't be coincidental, hiven that twilight and dawn are both in between the day and the night.

>>264604264604

Technically Twilight can apply to both morning and night as it refers to light and position of the sun, whereas Dawn and Dusk refers a more specific situation.

Picked up this story pretty early and i really enjoyed the ride. That said compared to the pacing of the rest of the work, the end felt pretty rushed. Meeting Ember, being won over, big plan, and being betrayed all in one chapter was a bit much imo. Just seemed a bit out of place compared to the rest of the fic's pace. Looking forward to more work from you!

>>265572265572

Aye.  Some things in the story worked.  Many things didn't.  The length of the story itself was one of the most problematic things for me, as I felt (quite often) that I was just dragging things out every chapter for the sake of just seeing my story expand, even if it was through bloat.  The running joke was that I'd have the characters going through great masses of speech over tea or food, as had happened so often in my story, but not much would really progress otherwise.  Regardless, the length of the fic led to borderline burnout, and the logical suggestion for such is to take a break... but I know myself.  

Sand's name itself was sort of a joke about my own tendencies: someone did one of those silly "What would your cutie-mark be?" posts, and I said that mine would be a half-finished sand castle.  I've got a dozen or more hobbies lying around that I've left abandoned midway through, always because I decided to take a little bit of time off from them that ended up being more than just that.  

At the point that this story finished, it was either take a hiatus with a 99% risk of leaving it permanently incomplete, or rush a bit of an ending that was still...passable.  

I wouldn't claim it's any great work of art--certainly not.  But I learned a lot, and I hope I entertained a few people in the process.

But aye, in the future, things should be different.  I look forward to writing something for ya'll that'll both be enjoyable and something I can look on with pride now that my largest writing commitment is behind me.

>>265572265572

True, but I believe it is most commonly used to refer to the brief period before night, so the usage holds to the norm.

>>265739265739

Sand's name would make more sense, really, if she had an hourglass for a  cutie mark, given that the most common material

for the construction of such is sand. The fact that her "quest/journey" has the potential to change history for better or worse

would "Sand Shaper" a viable name in that case. As it stands, it's a fine name, but a different one could have been used.

>>267090267090

It always struck me as a strange fanon convention to name the character after their mark, hence why my characters ended up with the names they did.  

Not that I like Sand's name, necessarily--it gets nasally to say and the small alliteration with her full name, especially with a speech attribution tag, drove me up the wall.  Live and learn, I guess : )

I really liked this story, though in the same vein as >>250732250732 I feel the ending was a little rushed.

You massively expanded the world of Equestria, giving us Leonine and Cervine characters, as well as connecting things to the great Beasts of lore.  I don't know a lot about the Coyote of legend, but my experience reading Gunnerkrigg Court has given me some idea of his character.  And as for Jormungandr, the World Serpent, I can't recall anywhere I've read about him, besides maybe The Book of the Dun Cow...  It's straight out of Legend, though, so I can see you're well-read on your Mythologies.  Seeing them show up here was kinda trippy, as it heavily implies the foundations of Equestrian culture sprung from the same roots as did our Earthly civilizations, at least for the fauna-based deities.

A very enjoyable read, overall.  Thanks for all your hard work!

One last question:  Why call it Lacuna?  "Lacuna" is the one-word term for "lexical gap," i.e. a concept that has no condensed descriptor in a certain language.  (For example, in Romanian there's no one word that means "shallow," and in English we have no neutral term for someone who is no longer a virgin.)  It's not a word you would have chosen by accident, so what was the concept you had in mind that couldn't be described in the language and experience of our intrepid heroes?

>>268316268316

Aye.  The ending was a bit rushed, I'll concede.  I've explained in detail why above, so I'll leave it simply as: I agree.  It'll just have to be something to learn from and handle better in the future.

The larger mythological creatures were a result of loving what little Neil Gaiman I've read and attempting a bad representation of the magic his works convey.  I didn't want to just draw on the same character set he used (in The Sandman), but I liked the idea of pulling other mythologies into the mix.  It was only a tiny, tiny toe in the door, but when Twilight talked about Orion's belt and its very particular constellation form as viewed from Equestria, I took a great deal of liberty to expand on that and jam in some of our world's mythologies.  As I wrote them, I wanted to explore the Deerish isles and go back to Marebasa (though Gardez would have me drown Rarity in the sewers there, so maybe not), a stop in Synod Port in circumstances that wasn't a result of an XK-class end-of-the-world scenario, but alas, there's only so much meandering around I can expect my readers to tolerate.  Maybe in a future story.

And, yeah, I couldn't help but picture GKC's Coyote as I was writing, which was a bit of a problem as I really wanted to describe him in more general terms, but Siddell's version is just so much fun!  

As far as 'Lacuna' itself, I pulled the definition back to describe a gap in the whole: parts of Luna's self ripped free by the eclipse, parts of her madness removed from *that* and woven into books, Sand and the others of Celestia's students leaving gaps in her life and filling them again as necessity saw fit, the missing part of Selene's self made whole by reclaiming Sand's book, the missing parts of Dawn's life--sister, friends, real family--and her ability to move past this life in the bigger scheme of things.  Overall, a missing part of the self that we struggle to fill, a bit of meaning for our brief (or in a few cases, not brief at all) lives.  A loose definition, at times, but in my mind, it works.  Usually.

kind or reminds me of the Dark Tower books

SPOILER ALERT!!!

“Wrath, Your Highness.”

“Fury, Your Highness.”

-Eh, probably fits the sort of story you are trying to tell, but I still prefer "Adam" and "West" overall.

She made a note to do something about the spells used in their armor.

-Is this where she started at least differentiating the day-guard from the night-guard? Or are they in "Batwing, Bat-tail, Slit-eye" armor?

Luna snorted at the idea of anypony more harmful than a prankster in this day and age.  

-Is this supposed to be irony? Because the strongest threat the Mane Six ever faced WAS a prankster. The stakes with NMM were ARGUABLY greater, but she wasn't as powerful or fighting as smart as Discord.

she set off so quickly that her guards had no time to ask her what she meant.

-I would think the general implication would be obvious enough?

The situation has grown more complex by several orders of magnitude.

-I wonder what the complicating factors are? Stuff the Sisters brought up about the political situation (which I wonder if it is drawn from RL international politics).

-((Going to go ahead and post this just to be sure I don't lose it))

Bringing in Norse and Celtic myths, I see.

And yes, I can empathize with Twilight too.  I'm sort of okay when I'm steering a boat myself, but if I'm just a passenger I'm the entire damn time.

started reading this today and about halfway through now :) it's great so far, a bit slow at times but it keeps he reader intressted still...

i have to ask though (possible spoiler) is this in anyway related to fallout: equestria? because i'm getting alot of vibes from that story, relationship with the zebra nation getting worse because of lunas return, coal&gem trading, fillydelphia being dependent on coal adding to that, not to mention the occurence of the sentence "sunshine and rainbows"...

is this story what's supposed to lead up to fallout: equesria or are those just the craziest random coincidences that i've ever witnessed?

Haha, Raistlin/Dragonlance shoutout for the game pony?

>>290680290680

Hooray! Someone finally got it! Always makes my day when someone gets one of my references.

So we traded Fallout: Equestria for Shadow Over Innsmouth: Equestria.

Well...damn  

I just noticed this coincidence...

>the mare’s eyes didn’t quite match--one was a pale blue-gray, the other a sage green.

>>Closer he looked, where eye-bags did sit / Under blue, under green. He threw a great fit.  

Great minds think alike, eh?  

>>292878292878

Hehe : )

Don't worry too much about the ending.  You had a way of leaving just...enough unspoken throughout the story, and the ambiguity in the ending actually felt consistent with that instead of incomplete.  It bugs me immensely, but in the right way   Not a whole lot of stories hit that note right.

If anything, it was the epilogue that felt wrong.  I mean, Selene already cashed in her chips, and not a whole lot of explicit "after" would've really added substantively to that -- she's already better off than the rest of the cast right now.  The epilogue feels feels out of place because it's fluff, and this wasn't really a story that did fluff.

Yes, I recognized the Fallout: Equestria stuff right away.  Really liked the adaptation of other mythoses.  Irish deer are awesome, and Irish musical magic is one of the more clever things I've seen.

I am so confused, if you are referencing something it is lost to me. However, I now have more reason than ever to keep reading, if only to understand what just happened.

This story deserves at least 100 comments.