It is the mark of good food and great stories that you know how they're going to end, but they leave you satisfied even so.

I don't really know what to say. As sad as it is to see this come to an end, all good things must, all great things. To me, this will always be one of the greatest, if not the greatest story on this site. A true work of art.

I guess all I can say is thank you. Thank you for letting us into your mind for a while.

I'm so glad that after all the pain and gut-wrenching moments and chapter after chapter that was almost physically painful to read, at the end of it all this story has the happy ending it deserves. Bravo.

If I had to criticize anything - and part of me thinks it's petty to say even this much - it's that it felt like Rainbow's story had overwhelmingly more focus. Rainbow's pain and grief dominated the entire first half or so of the fic so strongly I was almost too invested in her to worry about what was going on with Rarity at all. Which isn't to say Rarity's story was poorly done, not at all; I think that whole three-chapter arc and the chapters that immediately followed told that story in all the masterful detail it deserved. I just mean that it did make the focus feel somewhat unbalanced.

That's really all I can think of to critique about it. I've been paying attention to this story almost as long as I've been involved in this fandom at all, and I'm so, so glad to see it to its end. Like most of your work, it was an absolute treasure to read, and I can't wait to see what else you'll come up with in the future.

Maybe tell us the full story of Sweetie and Pip sometime for example?

--CG

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If I could post this a thousand times, I would gladly do so. Bravo, CiG, and congratulations for completing what is easily one of the very best stories to ever call this site home. It's bittersweet to see this finally conclude, but I don't think we readers - or the two leading mares - could have asked for a more beautiful, more fitting ending.

Thank you for sharing this with us. It has been a privilege and honor to have come along for the ride!

-GMP

This was the story that convinced me to change literally everything about how I approached fiction.

It's good to see it fulfilled in decency and order.

This was the story that convinced me that Raridash could work and work amazingly. Thank you CiG for your time and effort in crafting this wonderful piece of fiction.

Very sweet and a well written story.

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A few chapters back I went through and 'brought it up to speed,' as it were. In 2012 when I started writing, the idea of Twilight being an alicorn was still seen as something of a heresy.

Now there's pretty much no one left who stands by the old "unicorn" Twilight, and while many of my older stories still feature her as a unicorn, I felt like the newer ones needed to bow to reality (as it were).

Also I upgraded her to the Friendship Castle.

Wonderful to see it finally finished. For all the time passed between chapters, I never had to go back and reread to remember what was going on--it's an evocative story that's stuck with me.

This was a long run, i loved it.

CiG, thank you so much for writing this story. It has been an absolute pleasure to follow and read Salvation since I first stumbled upon it, and you can be sure that I'll read this many times over as a part of my e-book library. It's rare you find a story that really sucks you in and makes you want to read it again immediately. This is one of those stories.

It did seem like it ended a little fast, but I think that's also because I wanted to see more. For how you ended it, it was done marvelously. I only discovered this story a few weeks ago, and thankfully it was updated and finished before it became too long since I read the previous update. This story is truly a wonderful masterpiece, and it captures so vividly the natural disparities between the Mane 6, Rarity and Rainbow especially, that would naturally set in as they grow older. It felt very realistic, and had me very emotionally involved from the beginning.

Excellent, excellent work. I don't usually have the mature filter off because there's so much smut in the feature box on a daily basis, but this was definitely worth it.

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When I got the email that this had updated (twice, no less!), I had to contain my celebratory whoop because I was working and punching the ceiling in happiness is somewhat unprofessional.

This is and always has been the greatest drama I've kept track of. I need to make a point to re-read this later on, after I devote some time to printing a hard copy to keep next to my window. (That begs the question: any thoughts on putting this in e-book format?) Regardless of how much I remember in the last couple years, what I do recall is a very strong, extremely well-written tale about two souls relying on each other before they even realize how dead the other is. It's been the best struggle against denial and desire that I've seen to date.

I've probably mentioned this already, but on my personal scale, this story is an effortless 10/10. It's the standard to which I'll unfairly hold all other dramas! You're a gift to us all, Gardez, and I thank you for this tragedy in white.

6941881 but what if your boss was a closet brony who'd read this too? It would be unprofessional, yes, but they'd understand, and you'd get a massive pay rise because they were so happy.

Yep.

Definitely.

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Can't you download it in e-book format? That little 'e' icon next to the 'Complete' tag at the bottom?

6941908 Good plan. Great plan. Best plan! (Now to lowkey check if my boss reads horse words...)

6941910 True, it does. I totally forget about that. Alas, such a download lacks the formatting found in stories, so I'd be reading a character's thoughts in un-italicized text and the like. Instead, I tend to simply mish-mash a copy of my own that retains those features (plus any images if the author includes links), put it through Word at a respectable typeset and font, and print the whole monster from there. It's managed very well for other great works, and I'm filling up my second binder of collections this way. (AFTER I upvote the story, of course.)

6941932 hack their computer! No hacking experience? Who cares!? You can do it if you believe, my child! Now, go forth and find out if your boss reads horse words, and if it be true, yours a massive pay rise will be!

6941939 Q-quit trying to make me commit espionage.

Beautifully crafted my freind, loved every moment of it. (Except the waiting) Perfectly paced and a fully developed character arc. This will definitely be one if my all time favourites.

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The story does seem to focus more on Rainbow... but on the other hand, I think we get most of it through Rarity's point of view, with the set-up for her issues done mostly through implications. It's like an asymmetric balance, if that makes sense?

Magnificent. Few stories will compare to this in my eyes. This ending just fills with a nice, open-ended feeling. I wouldn't have it any other way.

6941945 Ah, but I am simply reiterating what the voices in your head have been telling you to do for years, am I not? Why, there's one now.

do it... hack the computer...

So these suggestions of mine are nothing new. All you have to do is open yourself to them, to the voices.

All you must do... is let go, and you will have all you could ever imagine, and more.

Let go.

6941170 Heh. You say that, and yet, four years later, I'm still hung up on the fact that Cadance is an alicorn, to say nothing of Twilight.

Amazing how times have changed. Amazing...

A wonderful story, congratulations I enjoyed it inmensely

I wanted to take a minute to thank you. For this, and several of your other stories as well. An update from you is always a treat, and you are easily one of my favorite authors here, if not my most favorite.

Salvation had wonderful depth of character. It's a skill I aspire to have in my work.

It's been a while coming, but bravo. A sound ending to a well-made piece of literature.

Oh God, it's over Well, all good things must come to an end
I don't know what to say, this is one of the best shipping stories this page has!! And you.... You are an excellent writer, one of the best too!
Just... Thanks for writing this, reading this story was amazing

Woohoo! What a long ride. I'm so glad to see this finished. Thank you!

A great finale to one of my favorite stories.

Wow, what a ride. Thanks for the great story, looking forward to future works from you!

Pain is worth the hurt for the happiness at the end.

Absolutely stunning, Cold. Going swiftly into all my all time favorites.

A hundred and fourty-seven weeks ago, I went and made a comment that said something like; "I need to go and tell someone I love them." That was very really how this story made me feel.

And here we are nearly three years later. I've changed, somehow. We've all changed, all the readers, and probably you, too, CiG. But a three-year gap didn't change the way this story made me feel. I often thought about it fondly, which is just so bizarre, really. It's ponyfic, but I still think it's leaps and bounds ahead in drama and pacing and denial than any other book I've read.

You've created something very memorable, quietly, for at least one person. It will probably sit quietly in the back of my mind for another three years, and perhaps in another six I'll stumble back across it on a nostalgia trip and re-read it all in one sitting, and be swept away all over again.

Your words are beautiful, your expression priceless. Thank you for writing this, Cold in Gardez.

Man I've been putting off reading these last two chapters because I didn't want it to end. Now that it's over, I miss it and it's only been a few minutes.

I'm totally going reread this when I go through my favorites in like 10-20 years.

This was one hell of a ride. Beautifully done, you!

Thank you SO much. This is one of my favorite pieces of literature. Keep up the amazing work.

Ugh, if I had to sum up this story in one word it would be disappointing. Allow me to explain.

It started out ok, the sex scene was kind of odd, but the voice in Rarity's head was interesting if off-putting, but that was the point. The sex scenes in the next two chapters seemed kind of out of place since they happened in a dream sequence and seemed a bit too coherent to really be dreams. I noticed this in the later chapters as well when they were using the dream magic, that probably should have been memory magic since in both parts they really just seemed to be memories rather than dreams. More about that later.

I really really liked how you built up the relationship with Rarity and Rainbow Dash, you did such a good job with those two that I have to adjust my favorite ships a bit. Really my only issue with their relationship is that it kind of sounds like since Rainbow is so hung up on Soarin that Rarity might just be a rebound relationship, but you did good enough with them that I can also see it working out.

Onto the thing that kinda killed the story for me. Rarity's backstory. I hated the backstory you gave Rarity. It started out well enough with her early relationship with the guard but the whole thing with Looking Glass was just.... ugh. From the start of the story it was obvious that Rarity was using sex to fill some hole in her life. At the start it felt like it was going to be because she couldn't find her "prince." But instead we got this big long Rube Goldberg-esk series of events that led to Rarity continuing a relationship with a married stallion and his wife killing herself. It started out ok with Looking Glass but there was no reason to bring him back. Rarity had to have an astronomical fuckup to get him back, I know you had an excuse, but it was just so contrived. Before this you had some very good drama going on, I was getting compelled in ways that I hadn't been by a story in a while, but then this comes and it just kills it for me. You didn't need any of the money thing, you could easily have had Rarity start to fall for him then find out about the wife and cut it off. Then she starts her whole 'sex as a handshake' thing. It really did seem like she was judging herself for the fact that she was having sex with randoms more than anything else and we got no resolution for that, in fact I think in all the shared dream things we might only have seen Rarity with one more guy than Dash.

I was also disappointed with how you handled the nightmare Rarity. It was an interesting concept but just kinda went to the wayside. I was kinda thinking you would have the revelation to Dash being that this was actually Rarity talking bad about herself rather than an impostor but it just kinda vanished.

There were a few nitpicks regarding the end, mostly how did they end up in ponyville again when they were on the express train to Filliedelphia. I know you wanted to have some scenes with Sweetie Belle but I think it would have had more impact if they were away from Ponyville since it would also force a discussion about their future. I know there were a few others, but I can't remember them at the moment.

I'm sorry to sound so hard on your story but I was seriously getting compelled by it in a way that few stories do before Rarity's backstory. I think that hurt it more for me, I had to force myself through those parts. I wanted this to be a post complaining about having to add a 2nd or 3rd MA rated story to my favorites, instead I can't even bring myself to give it a like.

Honestly? What could possibly be said that would give credence to what I have read?

I wish that my talents were at a developed enough point that I could write something to truly explain to you how much, or how often, your works continue to inspire me towards writing again and again.

Just, Thank you.

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Some of those are deliberate. There is a library within the castle.

The others do need fixing, though. Thanks for pointing them out.

I'm a sucker for happy endings. Nicely done.

Btw, I really like the worldbuilding that went into this, especially the Wonderbolts'.

I tend to be very easily distracted while reading, my mind drifts. So take it as quite the compliment that I read this in a day and a half.

The characterization, tone balance, and thoroughness were phenomenal. The Rarity and Rainbow Dash of this story are two of my favorite characters, period. I'll have to rank this as one of my top five favorite fan fiction on my page. Hopefully it'll get you a couple more views. 7,000 isn't bad, but this deserves 70,000.

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Glad you enjoyed it :) It's always interesting to watch people's comments as they read through the story, particularly when they reach certain inflection points.

Thank you for reading.

I read through this story for the second time over the past few days, after I recommended it to someone else, and it's just as excellent as I remember. I still consider this to be one of, if not the best RariDash fic on the site, in my personal opinion. Thank you so much for writing this.

7045880 Twilight is still being referred to as a unicorn (and not in the same way she was in the hospital interlude) during her rude awakening by Dash in "The Morning After, Pt. 2", but that's the only instance of that discrepancy I noticed.

Through the years, I've done plenty of gushing about this story, to people, and to your poor comment section. Now, seeing it resolve reminds me sweetly of all the things I loved about this site and my traipse through it. It is a rare thing to see the subject matter you've chosen to address handled so well, and used rather than just included. The story leaves me longing for someone to find and understand, but hopeful. It makes me feel that no mistake is too large to make, and no hurdle is too large; sometimes the perspective these things inflict leave you wiser and more whole than before.

I hope you'll continue to make people feel like this for a long, long time. Thanks for writing.

Chris gave this a stellar review, and I've loved your other work, so I'd like to give this a fair shot and read at least several chapters. However, I'm not sure I'll finish this one. If not, I just want you to know it's not because of the writing. It's actually very good so far! I'm just really not a fan of female genitalia. I'm only three chapters in, though, so we'll see how it goes

Wow. I had the honor of giving the 1000th like. (I should have done this much sooner - read this years ago.) By the way, you're also my favorite author on fimfiction!

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Hey, I was gonna be #1,000!
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After having finished this, it felt kinda similar to classic literature, like Wuthering Heights, or Pride & Prejudice in some way that I'm still trying to put my finger on. Good job!

Your writing is beautiful. A couple of your stories were among the first ones I read on this site, and it was eye-opening. Now every time I read another one I vow to go read through your whole library, and always end up getting sidetracked.

But there's one thing I always notice, and all the more so with this story. Every time I find myself back in one of your stories I pass by your page and read the tagline "stories about ponies are stories about people," and your work really hammers this home.

Your characters are, for lack of a better word, more "real" than any others I've ever read. I can understand them, relate to them, empathize with them, (or for that matter, hate them, or fear them), but they're really there in every word you write. They aren't cardboard cutouts, or bland extensions of the limited characterization of the show, or mindless marionettes dancing as the plot requires; they're not even really "characters" any more, but honest-to-god people, and I never cease to be grateful for the glimpses we get into their lives.

tl;dr, mad mad props for being awesome and for keeping me up so late I turn into a puddle of sappiness.