• Published 11th Nov 2012
  • 12,231 Views, 362 Comments

To Change a Heart - The Descendant



A powerful enchantment that was cast long ago catches some unlikely souls in its effects.

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Chapter 4: "Reflection"

Chapter 4: “Reflection”


“… and then Spike taught me how tah’ breathe fire, and then we put the curtains out, and then we had a gem eatin’ race, and I got sick all over the…”

“Oh, is that all ya’ got up to?” asked Applejack with a laugh, interrupting her sister as the dragon jumped up and down in front of her.

Apple Bloom blushed and giggled. “Nope!” she answered. “Spike kissed me!”

“Did he now?” spoke Applejack. She arched an eyebrow as she fixed the little boy in a glare. Twilight felt him grab hold of her foreleg as he suddenly became very self-conscious.

“Yup! And then he went an’ did it again!” Apple Bloom laughed.

“Oh, did he now?” Applejack answered, furrowing her brow and staring at him in a more baleful tone.

Twilight jumped in surprise as she felt the unusual sensation of Spike’s hands embracing her rear legs. He pulled her tail over him as shelter from Applejack’s glower.

Twilight looked back up to Applejack, and as she did the earth pony gave a little laugh and winked back at her. It had only been for show, and to get a rise out of the little dragon.

“Gen-tle-man,” Twilight mouthed, pointing back to where the whelp still sat between her legs and under the protection of her tail.

Applejack smiled and nodded.



Luna’s bedroom felt different now that the night had come and the windows all stood free of the heavy curtains.

The assembly stood around the daybed as Luna returned from her balcony… a late raising of the moon better than none at all, it seemed. The hour was past the regular bedtime of the fillies and dragons, but not so late that the sounds of Canterlot did not drift up into the room from far below.

Luna walked over to where Twilight, Spike, Sweetie, and Scootaloo looked down at Apple Bloom as she drew her clawed hands across her own mane.

The little girl looked upon her body as it lay upon the daybed, breathing shallowly and in staggered breaths.

“It’s kinda peculiar, ain’t it?” she finally said, gathering her own hooves into her clawed hands. “This kinda feels like mah body now, and that looks kinda like a stranger.”

“But, now that I think on it,” she said, turning back to her sister and wrapping herself around her foreleg, “bein’ a dragon don’t sit right neither. I don’t feel like this… fits.”

“You have no home in that form, child,” answered Luna, “for your own magic and the magic of that race compete within you. In time, it would have grown worse, and would have erupted in sickness and a battle within you that none could see the end of.”

The princess walked past her to the form that lay upon the daybed.

“Come, child, let us bring you home.”

Apple Bloom looked up to Applejack.

“Sis, could ya’ take mah bow off?” she asked, turning her back to her sister.

“C’mere, Sugar Cube,” answered older sibling as she drew her sister closer to her. Her teeth gently pulled at the bow, tickling the dragon’s neck in the slightest, and soon it fell free.

Apple Bloom looked up and saw the princess beckoning her towards the figure that lay nearby. She spun back to Applejack and looked up to her older sister for reassurance.

“Go on now, it’ll be just fine an’ dandy,” she said, ushering her sister forward. “The princess will make everythin’ as right as rain…”

Apple Bloom took a few steps forward. When she felt herself close to where Luna stood she opened her eyes and looked up to the princess. In her mind Apple Bloom thought of all sorts of spells, enchantments, and curses that the princess might use to restore her spirit and mind to her body.

The dragon gave a single shake of worry as the dark mare looked down over her, and fear sat in her expression. Would the magic… hurt?

“Child,” Luna said, gesturing to the body that lay before them, “press thy lips to thine supine form…”

Apple Bloom looked up to the princess with several shades of confusion wafting above her.

“She wants ya’ to kiss yourself!” Scootaloo called, just the slightest hint of a giggle hidden in her voice.

Apple Bloom turned back to the princess. Luna nodded, and Apple Bloom looked to her own body once again. Her eyes flashed to Spike for a second, and the boy tilted his head, not quite understanding why she was looking at him.

“Sure has been a fair bit o’ smoochin’ going on around here today,” she said as she looked back to her own body.

“Indeed.”

All looked to Luna, and all except Applejack wondered where the defeated tone in which princess spoke had arisen.

After a moment their attention turned back to Apple Bloom, and the girl lifted herself awkwardly upon the bed.

She balanced on the edge of the bed, looked into her own face, and then lowered her lips to the form upon the bed.

There was a high whine, and soon the room was filled with a blinding white light that escaped the windows and eaves of the apartments, spilling out into the night around the city. It was visible as a shaft of visible white magic that made day erupt into the skies around the sleeping city before being consumed by the night once more…


… and with that the dragon tumbled off the bed. The head struck the carpet, and the body lay awfully still and quiet.


“Apple Bloom!” called Applejack, her voice high with fear.

Applejack stood over the dragon, nuzzling it, and the others gathered to her.

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack called again. “Apple Bloom!”

“What?” answered a familiar voice from close by.

Applejack lifted her head and looked to Luna. The princess smiled and pointed to the nearby daybed. There, amid the blankets and pillows, sat Apple Bloom. Her head wobbled, and her mane stood out in frizzled disarray…

… but it was her. It was all of her. It was her body, her mind, her intellect, and her spirit and soul.

Applejack placed the body of the dragon on the floor, and at once leapt to the bed.

All at once her hooves wrapped around her little sister, and she rubbed her head to that of the filly. The two sat there, nuzzling to one another until Applejack could no longer contain her happiness.

She lifted her sister from the bed, spun her around and around as she giggled in her forelegs.

Together they went around and around the room, the two sisters tight in each other’s embrace, happy tears streaming down their faces. Soon Applejack lowered herself to the floor, and each of the mares and fillies came closer, greeting Apple Bloom as she returned home to her own body.

As they lay there, upon the floor, Applejack lifted her sister’s mane. She carefully laced the ribbon around and around once more. Soon the bow stood out upon the familiar red locks of hair once again… marking the filly as her sister.

“How do you feel?” Twilight asked.

“Ah’m a bit wobbly,” she said as she rose from Applejack’s lap. Her hooves felt so much heavier than dragon’s feet, and for an instant she felt like she was plodding rather than trotting.

“Hey, guys?” a little voice called, but it was soon lost in the sound of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo’s laughter. They draped themselves over their friend, and with that the Crusaders were reunited once more.

“Ummm, hey,” came the voice again, but soon it was lost once more as the fillies scampered around the room. All of the eyes were watching happily as Apple Bloom’s strength returned and all of their ears were set on her happy sounds.

“Guys!” All turned to Spike, and soon all realized that he had been calling to them. It was evident as to why he had been as well…

The whelp kneeled behind the disposed body of the little girl, his hand resting beneath the head so that it didn’t have to lie upon the floor.

The other dragon breathed in ragged, uneven breaths… breaths that were even more uneven and distressing to hear than Apple Bloom’s body had been.

“What about her… ummm, this… it?” he asked, looking from the empty shell to them and back.

Luna walked closer, and then hovered over the two dragons… the one alive and the other undead.

“The vessel’s fate is the same as what would have befallen the child,” answered Luna. “If it is not inhabited by a soul by the dawning of my sister’s sun, then it will die.”

Silence fell around the room, and the assembly looked on as Spike piteously ran his hand across the face of the empty form.

“Princess?” he asked without looking up to her. “A-Are there any souls like that? Are there any that you know of? A-Any that could fill it up?”

“There are many displaced souls in the world, and some which are female and could fill the vessel,” she said, her voice becoming cold and distant again. “But, Summoner, all of them have earned such imprisonment by their own actions or as just punishment, and none deserve the gift of such a form.”

Spike didn’t look up. Instead, after a few moments, he lowered himself to the floor and lifted the body. It hung limp as he rose to his feet with sounds of effort.

All watched as he laid the form upon the daybed, and as a long sigh escaped his lips he tried to lay it out so that it slept as peacefully as possible. All heard the ragged breaths as its struggle for air only seemed to become worse and worse…


It was long past the bedtime of the fillies. The mares had tucked them in, and a pile of fillies slept wrapped close to one another upon Luna’s bed as the adults kept their vigil all through that night.

There was no soul, no spirit, or intellect in the body that lay upon the daybed. It was just a body, shorn even of instincts and which breathed and beat its heart through magic alone.

It was just a machine. It was a machine that was falling apart as the night grew deeper and the inevitable coming of the dawn crept closer.

Still, it didn’t seem right to just leave it alone. It had been the body of a dear one, if even for a little while. So, they sat… and Spike continued to draw his hand across its arms even as its fight seemed to be waning.

Twilight looked upon him as Applejack napped, the adults sleeping in shifts.

Twilight’s heart broke as she watched him lift the hand, intertwining his fingers with that of the vessel, just as he had when Apple Bloom still lived within and he had drawn out her fear.

Twilight watched for a second. To her surprise he released the hand from his hold, as though something he thought would be there was absent… that a feeling wasn’t there that he had expected.

“Twilight?” he whispered, not wanting to wake the fillies that slept on the bed.

“Yes,” she answered, moving closer to him. He slid back into her, sitting between her forelegs. His hands traced her legs as he stared to the floor, and Twilight could sense the questions inside him.

“Twi?” he asked. “Who am I supposed to love?”

Well… interesting.

Twilight pondered the question as they sat together, watching the rise and fall of the chest of the form that fought for breath in front of them.

“Well,” she began, “who do you love now?”

“Uh, well, I love all of our friends,” he said. “Some in different, kinda… well, you know how I feel about Rarity, after all.”

Twilight chuckled.

“I love you the most, of my friends. You know that… right?” he asked, resting his head against her leg.

As Twilight’s head settled beside his she squeezed him tighter, and he gave a single happy chuckle.

The two sat together like that for a long while before the dragon spoke again.

“It’s just that…well, when Apple Bloom was in there, and there was another dragon like that around, a nice one… and a girl, it felt… funny, to be with her,” he said, trying to express himself.

“Spike,” Twilight whispered with a giggle, and a twinkle in her eye, “do you have a crush on Apple Bloom?”

“No,” he said in an even tone. “No, no I don’t. She’s my friend.” It was not the impassioned denial of a little boy caught in young love. It was a cold statement of fact.

“Oh,” answered Twilight, the twinkle in her eye crashing to the floor and shattering into millions of pieces.

“It’s… it’s just that, the funny feeling. I think it was because I was that close to a dragon,” he said. “Well… a girl, and one that wasn’t a jerk.”

He was silent for a second, but when he continued there was a shadow of pain in his voice.

“I think my body wants me to be with a dragon, when I grow up,” he said, his voice cracking as he made the admission. “B-but my heart loves my pony friends… and my mind doesn’t know what it wants…”

Twilight sensed the confusion that was floating around in his mind. She felt the way that her little baby dragon, a boy of about twelve years, was trying to grasp at the different feelings that sat within him and flew around him.

She ventured a guess that what his heart, mind, and body really wanted in this moment was to be held a little closer. As he drew him into the warmth of her body Spike began to nuzzle his face across the inside of her leg and her chest, and she knew that she had guessed right.

She measured her words, and soon she spoke, her words floating around the room, competing only with the breaths that lifted from the empty body.

“I don’t know, Spike,” she said. “Your heart is yours, not mine. I can’t tell you everything, and the truth is that we don’t get to choose who we love…”

He continued to nuzzle to her, and she looked down over him. There seemed to be little comfort for him in her words.

“There are many types of love… and sometimes we mistake love for something else. In the end, it’s who we love and how we chose how to show it to them that matters. In the end, that’s the only thing that we really leave behind… and I know that whoever ends up with this heart,” she said, placing her hoof to his chest, “will be very lucky.”

A smile grew across Spike’s face, and he blushed slightly.

“Do ya’ really think so, Twi?” he asked.

“Yes,” she replied, and with that she ran her hoof across his frills.

His lead lowered to her legs once more, and he nuzzled into her warmth.

It was now long past his bedtime, and after a few long minutes a yawn rose from him. She was just about to tell him that it was time for bed when he hopped in surprise.

“Oh no!” he said. “Twilight… I’m sorry!”

“What? Spike, what is it?” she answered as she looked down at him.

“The Crusaders! They caused trouble today! I was supposed to keep them out of trouble! My tour was supposed to keep them out of trouble! I’m sorry…”

“Well, actually,” she said, “the deal was that you’d keep them from interrupting the ceremony with their crusading antics… so, technically, you did your job.”

He looked up to her, his eyes shining in the darkened room, any tiredness seeming to have washed out of him.

“I did?” he said in an enthusiastic whisper. “So… umm, do we still get to do… that?”

“Yes,” she said, with a roll of her eyes. “A deal is a deal. When we get home, you may brush my mane and coat.”

Spike settled back into her forelegs with a self-satisfied chuckle.

“I can’t for the life of me figure out why you insist on doing that, though,” she said, her face wrinkling. “Are you thinking of becoming a hairdresser or something?”

“C’mon, Twi,” he said, leaning back against her with his hands behind his head. “You’re too pretty to go around with your hair in a tangle all the time. It would probably help if you stopped going bonkers every now and then…”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” she said, parting her front legs so that he slid to the floor in a surprised heap. She looked down into him with a glare. “And, and ‘too pretty’ for what?”

“You're too pretty not to catch the eye of a stallion, Twi,” he said, rubbing the back of his head where it had bumped the floor.

Twilight blinked in surprise.

“Your heart deserves to filled up too, ya’ know,” he said, affecting a matter-of-fact tone, “and that’s gonna be one lucky stallion who does.”

Twilight stared down into him for a long moment before scooping him back up into her embrace.

“Do you really think so, Spike?” she asked, hugging him tight.

“Yup!” answered the whelp.

Twilight hugged him close for a good long while before placing him back on the floor. As he scootched back to the space between her forelegs their conversation continued.

“I still don’t know how I feel about you combing and brushing me,” she said. “It’s kinda weird.”

“How so, Twi? We already take care of each other like that, don’t we?” he asked. “You give me baths and stuff, and I give you baths when you’re sick or hurt, like after Winter Wrap Up and the snakes and bats and hornets and sk…”

“Okay, yes,” she said, grimacing at the remembrance, “point taken. But, Spike, I don’t want you to feel responsible for me… it’s supposed to be the other way around, okay? You already do everything else for me, I don’t want you thinking of yourself as my personal beautician as well.”

Spike waved his hands through the air. “There’s nothing to it, Twi, it’s a simple and easy job, and I like knowing that I helped you be your best, ya’ know? Besides, I’m your number one assistant…


… and you know that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”


The two sat together until the day had finished, and a new one begun. It was the latest that the little dragon had stayed up since the Summer Sun Celebration. Even though he was older than the fillies, he was still a baby dragon in the end, and sleep came and claimed him as he rested in the warm space between her forelegs and body.

Twilight lifted him in the currents of her magic. Looking around she tried to find some place to rest her little charge, but only one seemed available.

Something in her paused at the idea of slipping him into the bed with the fillies, but there seemed no other place.

She wondered what the big deal was… they were all children, and friends. With that she gently lifted the girls in the same magic and deposited Spike in their midst, settling him with his head upon the pillow.

As she watched the fillies unknowingly yawned in unison, and their heads settled to the cool scales of her great little guy. Twilight wished to squeal in delight at the sight of all the little innocents cuddled so close together, but she maintained her sense of decorum.

Still, seeing Spike there, amid all those fillies… she couldn’t help but feel the slightest twinge of jealousy.

She leaned down over him, and as he slept peacefully she pressed her lips to his forehead. She watched happily as a small smile broke across his face and his sleeping grew deeper.

“Sleep tight, Spike,” she whispered, as she turned back to the daybed, “and whoever ends up finding a place in that heart, be sure to save some space for me.”



At 4:37 a.m. Twilight came awake as an awful sound filled the room.

Applejack was already awake, and as Luna came to them they looked down over the form of the empty vessel upon the daybed.

The eyes had come open as the great sucking, gasping draws of breath signaled that the magically sustained life of the body had begun its descent towards the end.

Luna’s magic wafted over the form, closing the eyes and making sure that there was nothing else that they could do for it.

The children still slept, and as alicorn and unicorn magic fell over them they were lifted from the bed and wrapped in blankets. Wordlessly the adults carried them to the patio so that the sounds of the uninhabited body’s last battle would not wake them. They placed the sleeping girls upon the wicker sofa. There was a chill, and the adults laid blankets over them to keep them warm.

Twilight returned to the bedroom to gather up the last sleeper, but instead she found him already awake, his eyes set upon the vessel.

She encouraged him to go out to the patio, to try to go back to sleep.

He asked to stay.

Applejack and Luna returned, and they asked him to go outside and keep the guards company while they watched over the sleeping girls.

He asked to stay.

Finally, as all adults must do, they told the child the truth.

They told him that they didn’t want him to see what was about to happen.

He told them that he felt responsible for what had happened.

He told them that he was old enough, and that he knew what was about to happen.

He told them that if Twilight would stay close to him, that he could do it, and that he wanted to be here, with the vessel, as the time came.

So it was, at 4:53 a.m., that as a dragon whelp held its hand, a unicorn and an earth pony looked on, and an ancient and seemingly immortal alicorn stood near, that a life that never truly was a life came to an end.



The first thing that Apple Bloom realized when she awoke was that she wasn’t in her own bed at the farm.

As white wicker met her gaze she fought to remember where she was. The second thing she realized was that this wasn’t even Princess Luna’s bed.

Where was she?

She unraveled herself from beneath what seemed like a million blankets and her still sleeping friends. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle still slept on she leapt to the patio floor and began to trot around.

The third thing she realized was that it was dang chilly out at this time of the morning.

The filly hopped, skipped, and bucked, as she tried to generate enough heat to keep from trembling.

The fourth thing that she realized, as she looked up, was that she was directly between the two massive thestrals. The night guards looked down over her as she slowly ended her inspired dance routine.

They broke into smiles, and spoke to her in gentler tones than she remembered them using the day before.

“You have awakened,” said the ephemeral one. “Good morning.”

“G-Good morning!” she replied, trying to sound chipper as her teeth chattered.

“If you will come with me,” answered the icy one, “we will announce you to her majesty, and to your sister. They have been awake since…”

He paused, looked to his file partner, and then looked back to the filly.

“… they have been awake for quite some time.”

He turned, clicked his boots together, and began marking time. When she fell in beside him, they marched off. As she followed they crossed around the building and before the staircase leading to the courtyard.

As they went Apple Bloom saw someone familiar seated upon the stairs, and breaking her formation with the thestral she pelted off to where Spike sat.

The night guard watched her go, and with a sigh of relief he went off to inform the mares.

“Mornin’ Spike!” she said, cantering up to him. “Mind if I sit next to ya’? It’s a touch frosty…”

“Sure,” he said, leaning in to her as she settled next to him, “I don’t mind…”

The two young creatures sat there next to one another as the morning sun began to settle across them.

“It… it died, a couple of hours ago,” he stammered in a single breath. He had to take another deep one to continue talking. “The other body, that thing… the one you were, when you…”

“Oh,” she exclaimed, ending the conversation.

Luna and Applejack walked out to the top of the stairwell wordlessly. There they stood watching as the sunlight began to fill the spaces around them.

“Hey, Spike,” she said. “All of that bad stuff… the stuff that I was all worried about yesterday. Do you really worry about it every day?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “Pretty much… yeah.”

She scootched a little bit closer to him.

“I, really hope that it’s gonna be okay for you, ya’ know,” she said, watching the courtyard come alive as ponies began to walk across it. “I hope that it won’t be too scary for ya’, when ya’ have to deal with all of that…”

“Thanks,” he answered. “That means a bunch to me…”

Luna and Applejack watched on as she laid her head on his shoulder, and he laid his head to hers, the two friends sharing the comfort of their warmth and closeness.

A few more moments passed, and the sounds of the city coming awake rose to meet them as they sat upon the stairs.

“Hey, Spike?” she asked.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“When ya’ were… calmin’ me down,” she giggled, making him blush slightly, “You said some pretty nice things. Ya’ said that you’d teach me to be a dragon. Ya’ said that you’d watch over me, an’ help me… ya’ even said that you would stay with me. That was pretty nice of ya’.”

He wobbled his head, acknowledging her statement even as they still sat there together upon the stairs.

She stood, making him flail about for a second as he tried to steady himself after her abrupt departure.

Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo joined Luna and Applejack on the landing. There they watched as Spike recovered his balance just in time to find himself looking up into her eyes.

“Spike?” she said, looking down over him as he sat.

“Yeah?” he answered.

“That was pretty dang nice of ya’,” she said, “and I’m right thankful for it.”

With that she leaned in, smiled at him, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

At once he filled with a blush, one that illuminated his face as brightly as the dawning sun that filled the courtyard.

“An’ now,” she said with a giggle as she turned up the stairs, “Im’ma gonna fetch Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo an’ we’re gonna get an early start and catch up on all that crusading we missed out on yesterday!”

The crowd watched Spike place his face in his palm.

“This won’t end well,” he sighed.

“Yup, we’re gonna get ourselves right proper politicized here in this city, and we’re not gonna come out until we’re all but covered in marks o’ intrigue and electioneerin’ and the like,” she enthused, bouncing up and down the stairs.

“Don’t make me get my sign!” he called.

“We’ve got this whole royal city tah’ explore, and we’re not leavin’ ‘till…”

She leapt up to the banister of the stairwell, teetering high above the long drop to the courtyard below.

“Apple Bloom!” called Applejack in alarm. “Get down from there right now!”

“Sis!” Apple Bloom answered, just then realizing that her sister and the others stood nearby.

“I… what, whoa!” began Apple Bloom, moving at once to answer her sister and leap back to the stairs. Her hoof skid, and her forelegs spun through the air. At once she fell backwards, towards the edge of the banister and towards the courtyard far below.

As the group looked on in horror Applejack leapt for her baby sister, but it was too late. With a single cry of alarm the filly fell with a single tumble towards the courtyard below.

“Apple Bloom! App…” began Applejack as she lunged to the edge. Yet, suddenly, she stopped.

As all of the ponies and the dragon ran to her side they soon saw why.

Applejack and her sister were nose-to-nose.

The filly was perched atop an immense pile of hay, one that stood upon a massively over-filled cart.

“Howdy, folks!” called a voice far below. The owner of the cart, an older earth pony stallion in a crumpled hat, looked back up to them.

“Fortuitous thing that I just happened down this way, then, ain’t it?” he exclaimed. “Just a touch lost is all… good thing I came down this way, eh? To think what would have happen if I hadn’t gotten lost? Oh my, the poor filly woulda’ broken her neck.”

He looked up to them once more, lifted his hat in deference to Luna, and then was on his way. As Applejack lifted Apple Bloom back to the landing his cart of hay swayed lazily behind him, and he made one last statement that drifted in the morning air.


“What a thing to leave to chance…”


The assembly looked upon Applejack as her mouth hung open. There was a single knowing sigh, and as they looked to Princess Luna a single tear ran down her cheek. Soon her face broke into a smile, and she raised her head and began to sing an ancient song.

The harmony lifted around them, and soon it mixed with the deep and powerful magics that swirled upon Canterlot’s breezes.


End.

Comments ( 291 )

completed already?
I love SpikeXCMC shippings.
Espicially SpikeXSweetie Belle
I'll give this one a try.

*rubs chinwhiskers*

I think they banned foalshipping on EqD...

Pros: Written by T.D, so will be all kinds of classy shipping

cons:
shipping
shipping
shipping
and so on.....



Well boys the Pros have it :rainbowlaugh:

Haven't read it but would suggest staggering the release of chapters. It's nice that you've completed it but a lot of great stories get very few views due to how fast they leave the first page. Maybe have a release schedule of every three days or something to let your readers know when to expect it and will also allow others who didn't happen to be online in the brief period it was on the front page to see it.

Mass producer of literature! Another one for the read list!

Thanks, can't wait to read. :twilightsmile:

Well I already know that I am going to like this story.

*fave and thumbs up*

Aaaand per the norm of your stories, I am awed and dazed at your insightful look into Spike and Twilight's relationship. Thanks for sharing.

Definitely prolific and proficient! :raritywink:

Oh crumpled hatted earth pony, what would we do without you?

Whenever I see him I think of authors who get cameos in movies based on their work.

This needs a romance tag, doesn't it?

4 chapters at once. This is daunting. I'll just put this in my "read never" list.

1595066
"Shipping is as shipping does" in this fic... I hope you like it anyway when you find out what I mean by that.:twilightsmile:

1595072
Thanks for the vote of confidence! Love that .gif!:rainbowlaugh:

1595176
"Shipping" is a matter of opinion in this one, but I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it!:pinkiesmile:

1595187
That is actually a good point. It proably explains a lot about my "story view" count, huh?:fluttershysad:

1595209
You know that I'm looking forward to your thoughts on it when ya' get a chance!:twilightsmile:

1595261
I'm glad that ya' believe in me, Redz!:pinkiehappy:

1595299
Bonk indeed! I wrote that scene on election night, so you can tell whee the influence came from!:raritywink:

1595338
Thank you so very much. It is the most important aspect of the series to me, and I'm glad that you approve of how I represent it.:twilightsmile:

1595394
The first one, perhaps, certainly the latter!:raritywink:

1595440
How Hitchcockian!:ajsmug:

1595515
That's a matter of opinion in this one... I hope you'll understand what I mean by that, and I look forward to your thoughts!:pinkiesmile:

1595520
I'm sorry that you find it daunting. I always release my stories in completeness (with the exception of exceptionally long fics) so that they are thoroughly edited and make sense as a single narrative, and so that the readers know that I'm not abandoning them in the middle of a work which will never be completed. I can only apologize that it was off-putting, but please know that there's no rule that you have to read the whole thing at one time.

Haven't read it yet.
I can tell this will get featured.

1595696
I'd love to believe ya', my friend, but I haven't had a Featured Bar trip since January... so, yeah. I hope you get a chance to read this one though, you know that I always appreciate your input!:twilightsmile:

umm... based on the pic its a romance fic, but no romance tag. is it romance?

The Desendant...? Shipping? Well... My favorite of yours (A Sweet Taste Of Cake) is a ship fic... So I'm gonna give it a read! :pinkiehappy:

Edit: I was actually just about to go reread A Sweet Taste of Cake again... But this is gonna trump that ;)

1595710
Well... ummm, yes and no? It's hard to explain... there's a lot of questions about love, but love plays a part in it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the story, and whether or not you think it needs a romance tag or not, if you'd like to read it!:twilightsmile:

1595763
Well, jeez... I don't know if "shipping" is the right word or not!I'm of course very happy to read your thoughts, Aslin!:pinkiesmile:

You have my thumb sir.

1595809
Thank you so much! I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment!:twilightsmile:

Drowning in feels and loving every second of it.

1595824
That seems to be one of my specialties, eh? Can't wait to hear your thoughts on it at the end!:twilightsmile:

is this heartbreaking mind bucking sad, or just a bit sad ?

1595842
Well... it's a story that I wrote, so you know that whatever happens, it has deeper meaning, and everything works out okay in the end, I promise.:pinkiesmile:

Featured!
Totally called it. :trollestia:

O.o

The box loves you my friend!

1595834
Everything I ever wanted and more.:rainbowkiss:
Consistent yet the tone changes smoother then a Film Flam Bros sales pitch.
I really love how you paint a deeper and more mature equestria without using gore or dirty language.
Not many writers can do what you do and you should be proud of that.:ajsmug:

1595907
Well said. :moustache:
@The Descendant Once again you have painted a picture of a greater Equestria sitting just beneath the pastel surface we all know and love. Of course, thanks to you, I have to draw the CMC and Spike with Twilight kissing his forehead... One more on the to-do pile I guess.

And grats on the feature, no matter how little time it spends there!

dragonized applebloom looks really good.

I have not read it yet, but as a fellow Spike-ship lover, I must say: YES!!! Well done! Another Spike shipfic for me to feast upon! Thank you!!! Though the lack of a romance tag is a bit off-putting. Nonetheless, I am sure it will be a fine read! :)

URG my "read later list is PAST capacity and I have 34 chapters to read on 6 different stories that i have fav'd! RHETT RHETT! WHENEVER SHALL I READ THIS?! I know already that I'm just going to read it right after i read the conclusion to Background Pony BUT WHY?!:raritydespair:


EDIT:
... I'll just give this a preemptive Fav so I A) remember to read it and B) because I already know it's gonna end up on my fave list anyway

DF

This might sound a bit dick-ish, but as a matter of personal taste, based on the pic and description, I wouldn't read this. I rolled my eyes at the description and was actually going to close the tab without even putting it on my ridiculously long (892 currently) Read Later list. Then I saw your name.

I am going to read it, simply because you wrote it. This is for the simple reason that everything of yours that I've read has varied between "good" and "amazing and awe-inspiring".

Too little time, too much awesome to read...

Well, at least this one is short, just 26,000 words. I'll probably love it after I'm done.

Ciao.

I feel sorry for Spike

1595149 WHAT?!?!?! THATS BULLSHIT!

Seems interesting. Shall read after personal hygiene has been dealt with! Oh and faved xD

Spike, you poor, tortured soul. What a strange situation he's in.

1595149

"...foalshipping beyond a schoolyard crush"

I think anything non-sexual is fine

A story about Spike growing up a bit. Fills my heart with the feels.

I know this would be an excellent story. I look forward to reading this.:pinkiehappy::pinkiehappy::twilightsmile::yay:

Some many feels from this story. :moustache::heart::applecry:
Spikebloom ftw.

It's been a while since I've had any sort of "feels" from reading a fic, but this just nailed it, and I greatly appreciate it. Some typos here and there, but hell, I stayed up all night to read from start to finish and I was not disappointed. Great job.

1595700 surprise! You're featured.

My body wasn't ready for those feels.

Such a thing to leave to chance...

Another very, very good story. I absolutely love world building and you never seem to disappoint. I have to admit I was kinda hoping Chance's spirit would pop up in the whelp, but I knew that wasn't gonna happen. Poor guy. Love be such a fickle thing.

Good ol' Spike. One hell of an old soul. :moustache:

Also, why do people comment before they read a story? That's always struck me as odd. Here especially, since the cover art is quite a misdirection from where the story actually goes. Ah well.

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