They wanted to never lose their love or compassion for these beings, to nevverbecome distant
never become?

Also never thought Discord would be a whiskey connoisseur.

8918081
Corrected.

It's possible Discord became a whiskey connoisseur to antagonize Lero.

Well... I've never seen a fanfic retcon it's self but hey if it works go with it.

8918093
I can see him doing that.

I can also see him donning a kilt and doing that Braveheart thingy. Just for the laughs mind you.

Spoilers below, and I'll blot this first line but, read the chapter first.

Well... that's one way to address the Wonderbolts thing. It uhh... it sure is....

...also...

...wat.

I have to ask... where is the Friendship Map given that Golden Oaks is still there? Did they handle Tirek in the same fashion, save that Golden Oaks wasn't blown up?

Did Trixie and Starlight serve any purpose other than being more useless unicorns (and what was that about?) and to be there for Lero to dislike? I found that particularly jarring since you used Starlight as an excuse to write Berry in such a way (while admitting to being a bit disingenuous about it) and still have your characters forgive her. At the time, I hadn't really forgiven Star either... but that was quite awhile ago. At this point, having a protagonist, particularly Lero, holding a grudge against those two felt odd. As did the whole 'Twilight could have killed her anytime she wanted'... but I digress. ...I mean, sure, if she were a murderer, but if we're ignoring that little detail then you might as well say Discord, Luna, or Celestia could have. What's your point?

Interesting end to this...? Let's call it an arc. I don't know enough about whatever lore 'archetypes' and 'nyktomorphs' come from to really draw an opinion about most of that. It was... interesting? I don't know how a Rainboom ended it, why unicorns were useless and panicky, or really anything else that was going on, other than generalities. I feel like I just read a filler arc written by someone on absinthe and while I did enjoy the ride, I'm not sure I got to the end with any better understanding of what I was seeing than when it started.

Couple little errors... 'to' instead of 'too' a couple times, and more importantly, Pinkamena becomes Pinkanema in various spots, but nothing too serious there.

Bonus points for the Scotch choice. I'm not big on Islays (prefer Macallan), but Laphroaig is a good one, better than Caol Ila in my opinion... though to be fair it could've been the year I tried.

Enjoy the hiatus (as you said, such as it is). Write whenever you're ready. This is too unique a reading experience to lose, so I hope to see more sooner than later... but that's all up to you.

8918650

where is the Friendship Map given that Golden Oaks is still there? Did they handle Tirek in the same fashion, save that Golden Oaks wasn't blown up?

Golden Oaks is only in the phantom Ponyville, and it was Twilight. It disappeared when Twilight appeared. In the last chapter I wrote:

[being in the Golden Oaks library filled] Lyra with poignant feelings, full of longing, sadness, and happiness, feelings she didn’t understand, as if she somehow missed it even though it wasn’t gone.

Which implied that it was supposed to be gone.

Did Trixie and Starlight serve any purpose other than being more useless unicorns (and what was that about?) and to be there for Lero to dislike? I found that particularly jarring since you used Starlight as an excuse to write Berry in such a way (while admitting to being a bit disingenuous about it) and still have your characters forgive her.

Useless unicorns was from Rainbow Dash's perspective, and was supposed to show that the phantoms affected the unicorns more heavily than the other races. A main point with Lero's dislike of Trixie and Starlight is because he doesn't trust their turn from evil to good. He forgave Berry because she wasn't evil in the first place, and so it was easier for him to accept her apology. He still doesn't care much for Berry, though.

As did the whole 'Twilight could have killed her anytime she wanted'... but I digress. ...I mean, sure, if she were a murderer, but if we're ignoring that little detail then you might as well say Discord, Luna, or Celestia could have. What's your point?

The fight between Starlight and Twilight was a stalemate until the very end, giving Starlight the idea that her magic power was on par with Twilight's. Seeing Twilight use the full power of her magic made her realize that Twilight Sparkle was actually far more powerful than she realized. I probably didn't explain this point well.

I don't know how a Rainboom ended it,

"More light". The rainboom was a whole bunch of light all at once, and it disrupted the nyktomorph's hold on Ponyville, allowing Twilight to reappear.

The Wonderbolts thing is bullshit, I agree.

8918698
Ahh, that was the shrinking thing, I getcha. Part of the trouble of reading at work; I can't quite give it my full attention so the occasional detail gets missed. My fault.

While I grant Starlight being evil... I dunno that Trixie was ever any worse than Berry. The Amulet's corruption was just an much an excuse as Berry's... issues. Trixie didn't crack any horns based on random whims.

The Twilight vs Starlight duel might've gone different if Twi didn't shut her damn eyes while firing. I dunno... Star is pretty ridiculously powerful, as we see in many episodes past the time traveling duels. How much of that is Twilight's help is up for speculation. I don't mind Twilight being stronger; I always assumed she was, just less focused on fighting since... duh.

The Wonderbolts thing was... always weird to me. I believe I talked about that back when I first read it. But hey, this is certainly an interesting answer to it.

Wow. Nice to see this story is still kicking, even if it only updates once a year. These ideas you're exploring are pretty unique, but it's hard to keep track with the infrequent updates.

then they’d come out to stop the them

STOP THEM.

Take a break but please don't abandon us(me) this is a great story.

I... What? I'm so confused hah... I missed something somewhere.

Ah, OK, reread the previous chapter, now I'm back on board lol!

Thanks for the chapter! We'll miss you!

My brain is full of fuck.

I missed this feeling.

I missed this story.

Thank you for beautiful story. I'm sorry if I'm wrong, but I didn't understand this moment:

"“I’m sorry Spike,” Twilight said with a giggle, and pounced on him and Rarity, holding them in a royal hug. Fluttershy leapt at Twilight to join in, and Applejack, Starlight Glimmer, Big Macintosh, and Rarity jumped in as well."

But Rarity already was in Twilight's hugs, with Spike.

Как надо было закончить "Cultural Norms"?

Пустить титры под эту композицию: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sru6mQYH0uk

RIP another great story or...?

9478810
I don't know. This started going off the rails when all the magical power and mystery stuff started happening. Lero and the Xenoverse isn't about that. It's day to day slice of life stuff.

9507181
What if I like both?

8918698 I hope you come back someday to answer this/ continue writing. While your style can be hard to read from time-to-time - mostly things happening without any foreshadowing - it's always fun!
Anyway, back to my question.
Was the whole retcon of the wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash's membership a choice to stay with canon or because this entity (I don't know what else to call it) was at some level a part of Lero, and Lero would do anything to make his girls happy?

If you every get back to this story, I have one recommendation: no Season 9 stuff, please.