A few years after Luna's return it seems that Equestria will finally know an era of peace and appears to be on the verge of a new renaissance. Ponies are blithely happy, as they are often.
Luna is recovering, and happier than she's been a long, long time.
Celestia is miserable. She's faced with unexpected changes, like always. It never really mattered until she was faced with something (or rather somepony) she wasn't sure if she could cope with, and everything that came with him.
Now, it feels like she is watching the world fall apart. Her world.
Book One of the Strange Future arc. Thanks to NorrisThePony for proofreading and editing help! There are also unmarked spoilers in the comments. Content warnings are for discussions, themes, and 'off-screen' events. Contribute to the TVTropes page! The lovely art is by Rocket Lawn Chair but it has been edited by me. Old cover art by Alumx may be found here. Find the previous arc here!
It's finally here. I love it.
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It is finally here! This one has been in planning for over a year now, and has finally been outlined and published. I sure took my sweet time with this one.
wat
I'm trying to read this aloud dammit
HER HAD LUNA
I can't.
While I'm not reading aloud anymore (bcuz fuk going out for lunch) the Crystal Hear sounds like an interesting artifact
Aaaaaaaaaaawww
>insert 2 hour wait to finish comment bcuz srsly fuk going out to lunch
this will be interesting
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Ah, shit. I'll have those fixed up.
Before I read this, what is the Dark tag for ?
And how bad does it get ?
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It's not a happy story.
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And how bad does it get ?
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The description gives it plenty of context.👌
Icy pls
um
something went wrong there o.o
u m
did she sit on the drink or something???
due to this, the paragraph after is included gdi Icy
this is more than I usually find, and I’m not even halfway through
Jeez, don’t let Nagi catch that.
YOU MOST ABSOLUTELY ARE
PLEASE TELL ME SHE BOOPED HIM
I stood up and sat back down at this aaah
IXU NO I AM GONNA SCREAM THIS IS TOO MUCH I AM IN HISTORY
aaaaaahh
hesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyeshesaidyes
need even need
the fluff is reaaall
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Gah, fixed. Sorry, some of this copied from a pdf which messed with edits.
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Thanks for catching all those! Big chapters make stuff like that hard to fix.
Noooo he's not. Prove it.
She did, and he got flustered.
Scream forever~
he did yah
Alright. I'm enjoying the direction this is going. And having finally had such a view from Celestia's side. . .
I would love to see Celestia find out Cadence offered her first born to Sombra. That would be a spectacular meltdown.
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You have no idea how happy it is to see on of the mysterious Regular Readers of Arc One to comment and continue reading Arc Two! I'm really glad you like Celestia and how she narrates, and hope you'll stick around no matter what direction this is going~
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Pretty sure the timeline is up to date? And I'm thrilled to hear that updates are awaited - I am working on this, it's just that writing is hard sometimes.
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I'll have to check again then.
Why did you make chapter three so long?
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Because life happens, and life is a bitch.
This just leaves me feeling sorry for both Celestia and Sombra.
Well, atleast she still dosent know that he was promised Cadence's first born.
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Thank you for your comment! Lacking comments on things makes me a very sad entity, but I'm glad you liked the chapter!
And yes, the firstborn thing certainly would just make poor Tia's mane go as gray as Sombra's coat, wouldn't it?
These poor poners really have quite a lot coming.
YAAASSS
Cadence pls
I expected no less xD
*siiigh*
anyway i finally finished the chapter WOO
I blame distractions called Shawn and Gus8754358
...And only one typo in all that? Hurrah!
It has been fixed. Thanks for reading!
I'm dYinG
Eeh? I feel like I should know what boo-
Oh my god it's Harry fucking Potter
longchapterislongbutifinallyfinishedit
Dat update tho.
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Glad you're enjoying the story! :D
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She's not in this story?
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No, just that it was a reference used in the author's notes and not really anything that tier into the story?
PFFFF ME THO
I know I do! :D
ANYWAY SO THAT WAS GREAT
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Hurrah, glad you liked it!
Nice story ;)
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Thank you! There will be more when I can get around to it!
Sounds interesting. To my ''To Read' list it goes.
As I read from Celestia's perspective, I can't help but feel sorry for her. She came from a bad upbringing, and from what I've seen so far, she isn't all there in the head. In real life, she'd probably be called a Stalker. Despite what she says, she pays little regard to how Luna feels and only on what she feels. It's incredibly selfish. Sombra and Onyx were two different beings, and her hatred over him has caused a close friend to commit a crime over something as normal as crying.
It's sad. Celestia doesn't see that she's pushing everyone away over her obsession over Luna, an obsession that is very disturbing. She ignores her own daughter and even replaced her with Luna, which is delusional. If Luna and Sombra do manage to have a child, or they adopt, I can't help but feel that Celestia will be jealous of it. Jealous that Luna might love it more than her, and resentful that Sombra has offspring. Her obsession is ruining her life, and the pain she's feeling is possible because she's bottling her feelings. You get physical pain when you bottle emotions.
I hope someone (Possibly Discord) talks some sense into her or at least tries because she looks like she's on the verge of snapping and attacking Sombra. If that happens, she'll lose Luna, and that may make it worse.
Despite all of that, I love her. She's complex, and that's not easy to write. Well done :)
This needs more likes
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Okay, first: aaaa, long comment! I always love getting these, so thank you!
'Not right in the head' is certainly an understatement, and it's something she struggles to hide throughout the story. I'm glad that you can still be invested in her journey and the glimpses of her mind in here, and even pity her. I've waited to write from her perspective and give the world through her eyes and showcase how she is as an adult (because the last real in-depth POV pieces I did of her were pre-NMM or she was a filly), as well as her relationships. Seeing how people react to this particular story is a neat experience because of how the protagonist (Celestia) is seen by my readers. I've tried to do my best with pulling back the layers to her, and that's part of why these chapters end up so long, because I want them to be personal enough for her as Favorable Alignment and other stories were personal to Luna and Sombra's perspectives, and it can take longer to bring Celestia's reactions full circle.
Not quite. She's certainly on the obsessive side, but doesn't really go out of her way to stalk anypony. She scrutinizes and can antagonize others, but she's not really hunting for anything. She's overprotective, though, and will sometimes go out of her way to confront others, but not in the same way a stalker does. Honestly, she's closer to the little FBI man inside all of our computers. She monitors what she can see and likes to keep tabs on things.
She's an overprotective mom, who much like many of the basic concepts of dystopian living, wants what is 'best' for you in the most efficient way possible. Thus, she's going to disregard much of individual wants, especially with how much she values many over one.
The Sombra and Onyx part is trickier with what you've connected it to. They are, and though the Equestrian public is presented with a different version of Sombra that is neither, and Celestia is obviously not fond of either. However, what she's reading in the letters are things that could have been done by Onyx, an unwilling Sombra, the first two in tandem, Sombra being forced to hurt/kill somepony, or the desperate and hopeless Sombra who didn't need as much force/torment to be made to hurt the crystal ponies towards the end of this reign. The only one who can say otherwise, and clarify exactly who did what would be Sombra, and he's not innocent in this even remotely.
That's absolutely a major part of how she ruins relationships, especially her delicate one with Luna, who she still sees as very much a child/too child-like. She's also an emotionally isolated workaholic who is constantly pressured to maintain lies, etc. The girl's got a lot going on.
Yes, what she does is delusional, but it's a bit different than her 'replacing' her daughter with Luna. Her and Discord switch who Qilin lives with each year to reflect their lifestyle, as stated in chapter two. She's also a busy mare, and can't be doting on a daughter. While this doesn't mean she cannot take care of her own child with her life, she does make sure the little one isn't neglected but she's also not an active parent. She makes responsible adult choices by seeing that she doesn't stuff herself with sweets and is watched by somepony who is qualified to watch an infant, but she's just not very emotionally attached.
With Luna, things are different. This is the story that outright admits that for centuries (so, predating the birth of that child considerably) and possibly even more, Celestia has thought of Luna as a daughter, especially because when Luna and Tia were left as children, it was Celestia who was a) older b) more mature and c) played the role of a caretaker. So, she was already very much a mother surrogate to Luna before Tia ever thought of herself as such.
She's already admitted (to herself) that she would be resentful that Sombra has any offspring (for various reasons). Whether the rest will come true is only a matter of time.
A lot is ruining her life, and part of her pain is from bottling up emotions, which is something she's been up to for a long, long time. The rest? I mean, because the story is told backwards, it's kinda clear where more of it could've come from. Chapter one, yo.
She's unlikely to physically attack Sombra. He's the one with the violent temper, not her. She's most certainly close to potentially hurting somepony else (not intentionally, but still) or herself because of what she's going through.
Thank you! There's a lot of personality in her, Sombra, and Luna and they all kinda fight for attention like children when it comes to who shows up and does things writing-wise. I've always thought of Celestia as the spoiled, bratty child of my writing, and I can't help but like (and pity!) her too. I hope you like the rest of the story!
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Thankies! I hope you like it when you get to it!
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Aww, thanks. I mean, I'm not sure why you'd say that about this story in particular, since it hardly strikes me as one to get that response, but thank you.
Well, Zodiac touched on the overwhelming majority of what I was going to say...
so...
yep...
Moar bee plates?
(And because I have to say it, another great chapter, keep it up.)
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AAAnother comment, yay! But yeah, I don't mind hearing the same thing twice, and even so, it might not be the same thing, y'know?
Perhaps it's about time those things made a return. Perhaps.
Thank you!! Writing this story has been a bit of a struggle, to say the least, but I'm glad I haven't lost my touch. I'll try to have the next chapter out sooner than this one. Maybe it'll even be shorter!
Ugh
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‘Ugh’?
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No point in elaborating if it pisses off the author and gets deleted / blocked / banned
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So, no feedback then? Alrighty. :/
Awesome!
And do I hear hints of a future Alimon hybrid? (Alicorn-Demon)
If these hints are true, I suggest a Spanish name. Luna is Spanish for the moon and Sombra is Spanish for shadow, it keeps with the theme.
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There's been hints of a kiddo for those two forever, and to the point where there's already a name picked out and everything.
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I'm looking forward to it!
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Sadly, you might have to wait a bit more. They don't appear until later in this story still.
Jesus talk about the blind leading the blind, you cant redeem someone if you dont give them a chance, also if you erase all the bad thing that happen in history future generation wont learn from them and they repeat the mistakes of the past
epic fail both of them
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This reads like a critique of the current American left. XD
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well my statement still stands then
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Definitely a good point. Twi and Celestia aren't giving one another the best of advice, but there's kernels of truth in what they've been writing. It is important for Celestia to communicate more, though she's unlikely to be entirely honest, more taking would help her. She doesn't want to redeem Sombra, and Twilight doesn't either. However, Twilight also isn't involved with Sombra in any way and lives in an entirely different city. Celestia just wants to seek answers on what she should do to manage her personal problem, not advice on redemption to somepony she won't give a real shot. It's not justified in any way, but there's reason behind their actions. The same goes from the suppression of true history and replacing it with more 'digestable', moral/parable-driven fabrications where there is no evidence to contradict them. Thanks for reading!
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I'm not sure what to make of this comment. Just sorta seemed to pop into my notifications, and I don't think I've had politics mentioned in my comment sections since, uh, January? Something I published then, I think.