This story is a sequel to Diamonds Amidst the Stars
With the defeat of the shadowkin horde, the Diamond City of Canterlot rejoices under the soft touch of winter. With celebrations abound, Astra Princess Twilight Sparkle plans to make the most of it with the deer who stole her heart.
But, just as winter brings celebrations, so does it bring winds as frosty as the realization that the young Princess still does not have a name to define her relationship with Rarity and, more than that, a relationship she might be afraid to fully define.
Assuming Rarity stops flirting with her long enough to let her define it.
Historian's Note: Diamonds Amidst the Snow is set about six weeks after the Battle of Harmony Gate, chronicled in Diamonds Amidst the Stars.
Cast: Astra Princess Twilight Sparkle & the Lady Rarity
Co-Starring: Starlight Glimmer & Trixie Lulamoon
Cover Text & Header Design by Novel Idea
Snowbound Virtrung Deerkin Rarity and Princess Twilight Sparkle by Jykinturah and lilfunkman.
Virtrung Deer based on and inspired by the original concepts by Sirzi.
Beta Reader & Editor Credits
Beltorn - Commenter-at-Large on FimFiction
Cursori: Reader of Many a Pony Word
Monochromatic: It's a RariTwi Story. Of course I asked for Mono's help!
Word Count: 13,000
Version: 3.2
I'll be wearing a smile for the rest of the evening. Thank you for that.
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And I'll be wearing a smile for the rest of the afternoon having this as my first comment. Thank you for that.
Nice Zootopia reference, Novel!
I'd almost forgotten how much I love your dynamic between Deerkin Rarity and Astra Princess Twilight. It feels - especially now that they're in the honeymoon phase - a little bubbly for realism and at the same time it flows spectacularly. Never a dull moment, and of course your descriptions are magnificent as always. I feel I should give you partial inspiration credit for one of my yet unpublished works, actually.
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Yeah, I felt a Zootopia reference was kinda required in that scene. Especially Twi's reaction to it.
Thank you kindly! It was actually really hard to get these characters right, to show them to have made progress since their initial meeting. They're familiar with one another, but Rarity's still a total tease and Twi's easy to fluster. Trying to keep that banter while showing relational development was quite the balancing act! I'm thrilled you thought it came out well!
OH! So that's what your supposed to do. Thanks Novel Ill be sure to remember for next time.
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,also I'm going to feel so stupid if I'm wrong about this
)
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How is it that even though I have not yet had the chance to see Zootopia, I feel like I know exactly what part of this chapter was referencing it?
(It was Rarity Pretending to die right?
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You got it. Now go watch Zootopia!
i had hoped there would be a sequel to the first one.
thank you for this one.
This has made my day. Thank you so much.
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The More You Know(tm)
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You are quite welcome! These two have been bugging me for months to come back to this universe! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
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I'm glad you liked it!
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What they said!
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“You are already bread.”
Huzzah! I love this AU.
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Ever think about turning this into a "Diamonds Amidst" series? It's got great potential. And like you said in the first story, the Shadow Lords themselves haven't been caught yet.
Does she wear right tight tights?
Does she roam around the forest looking for fights?
I'm so *squeeee* to see you writing more of this adorable AU.
Both of the stories in this AU are pretty good, but for me the whole blushing thing from a scale of "what vampire drained all your blood" to "oh no your face is bleeding" got old rather quickly.
Well, this was everything I ever wanted out of a Rarity/Twilight fencing scene. It was masterfully written, and I'm planning on learning a lot by studying this chapter. Thanks Novel.
Also, wonderful Rarity/Twilight banter as in the last story.
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THANK YOU! Someone finally called me out on it! Yup. Stolen straight out of that. Now, just imagine Rarity and Twi in that scene. It's glorious!
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Well, you were a major inspiration for this scene! I just wanted to try my hand at it!
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Glad you enjoyed the ride!
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It's a crazy amount of fun. I can't wait to finally show you all what I really have in store. (I really want more of the Sunset in this universe. I loved her so much in the original).
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Oh yes, it's already a series. I've got another story banging around in the back of my mind. And in that one, we're doing a road trip. Air trip? Airship trip? Something like that. It'll be cool!
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Hm. I should do a study on how much blushes are being used. Ah well, sorry that didn't work for you!
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Awesome! I can't wait.
Though do you think you can work in a little more romance? I mean I like what there is, but it would be nice to see more romantic scenes between Twi and Rares
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Honestly, I thought the scene between Rarity and Twilight at the end of this story (the conversation about the apples) was likely one of the most romantic scenes I've ever done on FimFiction.
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That'd be 23 uses of the word blush(ed) in this story, and 18 in the prequel. I didn't count the amounts of times a less literal version such as turned red was used.
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Eh, fair. Considering the other one was twice this length, maybe a bit excessive.
That seems like a really bad idea to do to your lesbian lover.
It's good to know that even deer Rarity is still a melodramatic marshmallow.
I still don't ship it, but I do love seeing more of this universe. Thank you for a truly delightful dollop of fluff and the tantalizing sprinkle of world building on top of it.
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Oh, Starlight just saved Trix from flopping into the snow!
But the important thing is she knows it. And loves it. Almost as much as Twi does.
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"
I'll convert you. Just you wait and see. Then you'll have to go back on this say "I LIED THIS WAS MY SHIP ALL ALONG! I JUST DIDN'T KNOW IT YET!
This was really fun for me and totally came out of nowhere too. I remember I had said something about the "Goddess Harmony" in the first one and then I stumbled on the idea of the Apple tasting different on how you felt when you took a bite and that snowballed into the concept of the Tree of Harmony being the "heart" of the pony races... but my favorite part is the origin of the Everfree as being ponykind's desperate attempt to save their collective soul (for lack of a better term), only for them to have to flee with the Tree and it barely survived the trip.
I've got horrible world-builder's disease. I just barely keep it under control.
Not sure if a typo or just a change/additional title, but you call Cadance the Amoris Princess here. Diamonds Amidst the Stars called her the Pruinae Princess:
Wanted to mention that before I got any further and forgot about it. So far this is a fun ride... I almost feel bad for Twilight, being so overmatched. Then I remember that no, no I really don't. At all. Probable further thoughts to come after finishing this chapter, but as always thanks for writing. It was great to see this pop up; you certainly have a thing for compelling AUs both in world and character building.
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Yeah. I'm kinda jealous myself.
Glad you're enjoying the ride. As for the name, that's explained in the Author's Note for the second chapter.
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Ahh, I should have just waited to the end then. The entire apple scene was lovely, speaking of endings.
You and much of the fandom. He's not so bad. But as they say, only one chance at a first impression...
Hah! Sure, sure, he's a stand up guy. Just.... lookin' for love.
Well that's a foreboding reference... hope it works out better for you, Twi.
Perytons were also a surprising reference. I've come across them in only more negative connotations in fantasy. Then again, griffons and minotaurs are often less than civil as well, so I'm not complaining.
I... actually don't have anything to add at this time. Between the holidays and learning something... actually while reading this, I'm quite subdued at the moment. This helped, and again thank you for writing, but I can't seem to gather my thoughts for a reasonable response. All the best to you and yours.
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"Straightened." Lesbian lover. Haaah.
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Watches as the joke goes RIGHT OVER HIS DANG HEAD.
...blast.
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Believe it or not, it wasn't a conscious crack at Flash.
He's lookin' in all the wrong places! No matter the universe, that guy annoys me even more than Flash!
YES! Someone got it! (Don't worry, the story far better for Twi than Jaina!)
Well, let me give you some really positive ones! Because the name is totally taken from Sizri's Deer Universe! All a peryton is, in this case, a winged deer!
orig00.deviantart.net/c0af/f/2016/338/6/e/referense_sheet_of_deer_species_by_sirzi-d7ojk66.png
orig00.deviantart.net/07eb/f/2017/303/b/c/windy_leaves__character_sheet_and_sketches_by_sirzi-dbs6uz9.jpg
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Have a great Christmas! I totally get being overwhelmed. I know I am!
Did Rarity ever say what she had bet on/with in the first chapter?
I guess it was immaterial since she didn't win, but I'm curious yet.
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I decided to leave that to the imagination. I like to think less that she lost something and Twilight won something.
I love that we're hitting the ground running here. Twi is just so adorkable.
You tell her Twi!
What does this sentence mean?
The most important request anyone could ever request of course. I bet this section was fun to write lol.
Zootopia reference?
There are only two complaints I have about this. One is that we didn't get to see the big holiday feast, and the other was no Sunset.
Hah! Rift Shield is always causing Twilight problems.
Thrilled to see a sequel. I can only hope for more as time progresses.
...Now I'm curious. What did Rarity write on the piece of paper?
Thank you
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I do believe it; the poor guy is just a bit cursed. Flash, that is. Rift is... well he's Rift. Except when he's someling else, of course. Though that may well not apply here. In any case that artwork is something... equal parts adorable and impressive.
Heh... depressing ramble ahead, read my whining at your own risk!
Ah..... no. I am rather distinctly underwhelmed, as my page quote might imply. Overwhelmed tends to imply too much going on, and with the holidays at least a fair bit of that would be theoretically good (plans with family, shopping for gifts, etc.). I don't have any of that to do, so... underwhelmed would be the more apt term. Work is busy, and longer hours, but as I have nothing to come home to there's not too much to lament there. Frankly, it's a depressing time of year when a solitary lifestyle that I'm generally fine with tends to kick my own little angry pony (not a Sunset exclusive) into snarking, hard, about how miserable everything is. I call mine the philosopher... the dreamer does not get along with him too well. Point being, I certainly understand the higher suicide rate around this time. But ah well, take the bad with the good, as with anything. A couple more weeks and it'll be over.
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Best Twi is Adorakable Twi.
Her eyes never changed. They were cool, steady and calm.
Honestly, even I hesitated at that final line and sort of went "Come on Rarity... really? REALLY?" Hopefully Twi's reaction helped ground it a litt.e
But of course, darling!
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Better question: What do YOU think she wrote?
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You may yet get to see the Feast of the North Star! However, I regret to inform you there will not be any whobeast.
But it won't be for a while.
As for Sunset... well, I kinda missed her, too. I love this version of Sunset, because she doesn't have the heavy hangups my other Sunsets have!
That being said, Rarity and Twi deserve their time alone, away from Big Sister Sunny!