Chapter 9
Fluttershy awoke to the sight of glowing pink butterflies, or at least something shaped like them, hovering over her in a scintillating cloud. She realized she was laying on her back with her wings splayed open on the ground, staring up through the skeletal roof supports of the grand hall at a twilight sky somewhere between night and day. The ephemeral shapes eddied and drifted on a warm breeze as she heard low groans and stirring around her.
She lurched up to a seated position and blinked groggily as she took in her surroundings, and saw her five friends laying beneath their own clouds of butterflies, each a different color. Dash's were bold red, Applejack's were warm orange, Pinkie's were bright blue, Rarity's were rich purple, and Twilight's were a vibrant magenta.
Fluttershy climbed to her hooves and called to them. "Um... is everypony okay?" Her little halo of gleaming pink motes dispersed to a wider radius around her.
Twilight's shaky voice sounded in reply. "What happened?"
Applejack let out a soft grunt as she rolled over and retrieved her hat, flipping it back onto her head. "Anypony get th' number o' th' wagon what hit us?"
Pinkie was back on her hooves as if she were spring loaded. "Oooh! It must have been haulin' a load of butterflies when it jackknifed! Pretty!"
Rarity dusted herself off and looked around with an appreciative nod of her head. "Indeed. It's quite beautiful, isn't it?"
As the ponies gazed in silent awe, their respective clouds of fluttering, glimmering shapes spread out and mingled in the vaulted space over them, filling the air with a serene kaleidoscope of color and light.
Dash's sandy voice broke through their reverie. "Yeah yeah, that's neat and all, but what happened to the princess, or Nightmare Moon for that matter?"
Twilight spoke up again, pointing a hoof toward a polished spot on the floor where two slender figures lay beneath a canopy of ethereal butterflies. "Look over there!"
The six young mares approached them slowly, their expressions showing a range of confusion and curiosity as they gathered in a small circle around them and stared. Fresh amber yellow and pale blue-white flowers were inexplicably sprouting from the pitted flagstones wherever blood from the battling immortals had fallen. The two creatures lay embracing one another, their wings draped loosely across the floor and their horns meeting over a patch of fragrant, gleaming blooms.
They were long legged and graceful in proportion, but not much bigger than normal ponies compared to the giantesses who'd shaken the old castle with their bloody battle. One was a soft indigo with a sky blue mane and tail and had a crescent moon on a field of black dapples for a cutie mark, the other snowy white with pink tresses, and bore a golden sun on her flanks. The dark one wore a small black tiara, silver shoes, and a black collar with her lunar cutie mark as a crest in silver, while the other was unadorned. Both their coats were smooth and unblemished, their manes glossy and soft as silk threads, flowing and pooling on the weathered flagstones around them.
Fluttershy recognized the cutie mark on the pale one at once, but couldn't quite believe it. Here was her vast and ancient mentor, looking so small and graceful like a sleeping fawn, and seeming barely older than she herself was. She reached out a tentative, shaking hoof and gently nudged the supine pony. "C-celestia?"
The delicate creature stirred with a soft groan, and brought her head up unsteadily, blinking with heavy lidded eyes. "Fluttershy? Was... was I dreaming...?"
She trailed off as the other mare snuggled in tighter, sighing dreamily. "mmm... Prithee, sister, just a few minutes more..."
Celestia's eyes grew wide and white as her rose colored irises shrank around pinprick pupils. With her gaze locked on the other mare's face, she stretched out a shaking hoof and patted her on the tip of her dusky muzzle, then patted her again, and then again, each time as if she could scarce believe what her senses were telling her just a moment before.
The indigo alicorn scrunched up her face and squirmed. "ugh. Stoppit. Don't make me smite thee..."
Her turquoise blue eyes snapped open with a full body flinch as her sister let out a bellowing scream that shot skyward like an auditory firework and burst into an explosion of exultant laughter. Before she could get her bearings she found herself yanked up and crushed to Celestia's breast, face slack and limbs flailing as inarticulate cries of profound joy continued to pour out of the snowy winged mare's throat like water from a burst dam.
As the six young mares watched in rapt silence, a look of stunned realization washed across the darker mare's face, and she stared at her own hooves for a moment before pushing her pale counterpart back to foreleg's length to stare slack jawed in amazement at her moistened, quivering features. "T... Tia?"
Celestia swallowed hard and choked back a sniffle, her eyes and nostrils gushing freely as a beatific smile lit up her features. "Oh Luna. Please... P-please tell me that this isn't a dream. You of all ponies would know."
Luna's face contorted as elation and anguish fought for dominance beneath misting eyes. "No... no d-dream. None at all. This is r-real. The nightmare is over. It's really o-over."
They fell into one another's tight embrace once again and buried their faces in each other's shoulders as she gave a sobbing cry. "I missed you SO much, big sister!"
Celestia's voice sounded like a sigh of sweet release from all trouble and toil. "And I missed you, little sister."
They held tightly to each other for some time, before they finally parted and took a look around them. Luna took note of the cloud of multicolored butterflies above and spoke in tone of solemn curiosity. "But how has this come to pass? I sense the Elements of Harmony at work, but thou and I were quite unfit to wield them in our madness."
Celestia turned and cast a tearful smile at Fluttershy and her friends. "It was you, wasn't it?"
She stood, and after helping her sister to her hooves, walked slowly over to where her young protege and sole friend in her millennium of solitude stood. They looked deep into each other's eyes,a much easier proposition now that Celestia was only a couple of hooves taller than Fluttershy.
She beamed with gratitude and love as she took the pale yellow pegasus into a heartfelt hug. "I'm so sorry for all the things I did and said tonight. I had quite succumbed to despair. In a thousand years, I never imagined that my beloved sister and I could be made whole again. I never imagined that the shy little filly I chanced to befriend in spite of myself would remake my world with her Kindness."
After a few minutes they disengaged, and Celestia turned to the others. She took an awestruck Applejack by the hoof and smiled. "You are Honesty, and you spoke the truth about my sister and I. After thousands of years, one would think we'd have known better."
With that, she pulled the blonde salesmare into a hug, that the bemused Manehattanite returned with a gentle smile. "Fugeddaboudit, toots. Just try talkin' out yer problems with yer sister mare ta mare insteada tryin' ta pulverize each other next time."
Celestia gave a soft chuckle and a nod, then turned to Rarity. "You are Generosity. Know that you've given Luna and I a gift beyond all reckoning."
The alabaster unicorn blushed and gave a small curtsey. "I have a little sister as well, your highness. I know full well what a treasure that can be. You're quite welcome."
The pale alicorn gave her a courtly bow in return and then stepped forward and kissed her on both cheeks.
She then directed her attention to Pinkie Pie, who hopped higher and higher as she approached. "Ah, sweet Laughter. You've made us both happier than you could ever imagine."
The bouyant pink earth pony almost knocked the giggling alicorn back on her hooves in a big, bouncy, jostling hug. "Well, I can imagine quite a bit, sugarcube, and I hope you enjoy all of it with whipped cream and a cherry on top! Seeing you both so happy makes me even happier!"
Celestia got loose with a little bit of difficulty and turned to Rainbow Dash, who eyed her warily as she faced her erstwhile princess. "And here is Loyalty, one of the elements that I must strive hardest to make amends with."
Dash took a startled step back as the white winged alicorn took a knee and bowed to her. "I owe you and your comrades in my ever faithful guard my deepest apologies. I am unworthy of the honor you have given me, and can only beg your forgiveness."
The rainbow maned ranger pawed at the ground. "Um... I... Does this mean the Royal Guard is um... un-disbanded? 'Cos if it is I don't think you're supposed to be the one bowing here..."
Celestia kept her head low. "I don't know. I'm in the same unfamiliar territory as you are, and I haven't been a princess for a thousand years. Perhaps we should just work things out pony to pony before we let titles complicate things."
Dash pursed her lips with a brow furrowed in thought. "Well... I think I can see my way clear to givin' you another shot, but you have to promise to personally apologize to all my buddies in the Guard. You broke a lotta hearts tonight when you sent us scattering to the winds."
She held out a hoof, which Celestia eagerly took and held. "Thank you."
She lunged forward and took the startled ranger into a hug. "I promise, on what undeserved grace I have remaining, to try my best to make it right with your comrades."
Dash squirmed out of her embrace with a blush on her cheeks, and snapped off a salute to her long awaited sovereign as the others shared a wry smile.
The white mare turned to face Twilight Sparkle, who seemed like she was ready to start hyperventilating again as the legendary creature approached her and extended a hoof. "And finally, the Element of Magic makes it all complete. Here is meaning. Here is belief. Here is significance. Here is knowledge that there is more to life than mere existence, that the connections between ourselves and the world around us are what make things truly special."
Twilight numbly took her hoof as Celestia bowed her head and touched horn tip to horn tip. "I owe you an apology as well, for being such a disappointment. I hope you can look to what you and your friends have done for Luna and I tonight as proof positive that miracles can happen."
The lavender unicorn began to bounce on her hooves. "Oh yes!" She started pronking gleefully around the bemused alicorn, tossing her head with abandon. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"
While Celestia was making the rounds giving her thanks to the other ponies, Fluttershy had noticed that the pale immortal's newly restored sister was hanging back from the group and watching with a subtle hint of forlorn sadness tinging her features. She knew that expression quite well for as often as she'd worn it growing up.
She sidled up to the dusky princess and tentatively extended a hoof. "Um... Princess Luna, right?" She gave her a gentle smile. "I'm Fluttershy. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Welcome home."
Luna just as tentatively received the pale yellow pegasus' hoof with a courtly bob of her head. "Well met, Lady Fluttershy."
Her expression took on a wistful air as she looked over at her sister mingling freely among the others. "'Tis surpassing marvelous, is it not? To be back here in my accustomed place once more after so long in exile."
Luna looked down with a bemused expression as she noticed that Fluttershy hadn't let go of her hoof yet. The soft spoken mare gave her a searching look. "It seems like you're still a little sad about something."
After a moment's uncertain pause, the indigo alicorn gave the slightest bob of her horn toward her older sibling as Celestia got swept up into Pinkie's embrace. "It was always so easy for her. A thousand years in the wilderness and yet there she is, going forth among our little ponies and making friends. I have never been quite able to learn the knack of it."
Fluttershy gave the returned princess' hoof a squeeze. "I was never really good at meeting ponies and making friends either. I think you and I might have a lot in common. I learned how to do it, and the more friends I had the better I got at it."
She met Luna's eyes with an earnest expression. "I'd be more than happy to be your friend. And I bet all the others would too." She punctuated her offer with a smile accompanied by a cheerful squeaky noise.
The dusky alicorn's turquoise eyes welled with fresh tears even as they lit up with a shy smile of her own that gleamed against the indigo of her muzzle. "Oh... I... I would like that very much, dearest Fluttershy. Do... do you think it truly possible?"
They looked over as Twilight Sparkle's gleeful exultations sounded out in the still air. "Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes!"
Fluttershy and Luna shared a sidelong grin and a giggle into their hooves as Celestia beamed over at them.
All of the ponies, both mortal and immortal, stopped and fell silent and watchful as the shimmering cloud of lazily drifting butterfly forms began to move with a purpose, sweeping into a scintillating trail of fluttering light and color and circling their little group once, twice, and then a third time before rising high into the air and streaming out of the castle.
Twilight Sparkle looked over to the restored sisters, her face rapt with curiosity. "What... what's happening?"
Celestia shared a glance with Luna, then nodded toward the archway outside with a flick of her horn. "Follow them. Quickly!"
They hurried out of the ruins at a gallop, drawing up short at the edge of the ravine outside. There, the little band of ponies watched as the glimmering winged shapes wound down through the mists, which parted before them to reveal a grotto in the depths that lit with a crystalline light as the butterflies went inside. The clear shafts of luminescence took on the colors of the rainbow, flaring and coruscating before fading gently to stillness as the last of the ethereal stragglers vanished into the cave and were gone.
Princess Luna spoke up in a solemn tone to the young mares around her and her sister. "Behold! The Elements have returned to the Tree of Harmony from whence they came. This is a thing that few ponies in the entire history of our kind have even been worthy of seeing."
Twilight crouched down at the lip of the crevasse, craning her neck as far as she dared as she whispered in amazement. "Incredible! My research never said anything about the Elements' origins."
Rainbow Dash's brow furrowed as she lashed her tail. "Does that mean they're gone forever?"
Celestia brushed at the young pegasus' multicolored mane with a wing tip and gave her a smile. "Not at all, for all of you embody the Elements more than any gemstone ever could. Should Equestria ever have need of them again, they won't be hard to retrieve."
Rarity lashed her tail gently as she gazed into the ravine. "It's still a pity. With a little work they would have made excellent settings for necklaces, or maybe even a tiara of some sort."
The white mare chuckled and shook her head. "I gave up tiaras long ago, my generous friend."
Luna drew herself up, a look of sudden decisiveness on her delicately chiseled face, "And thus I shall as well! I have as little use for mine as my sister does for hers if we are no longer rulers of this realm."
With that, she levitated her crown off in a cloud of shimmering blue magic and cast it into the ravine, followed closely by her ebon torc and silver horseshoes. She ruffled her wings with a satisfied sigh and pranced in place with a broad grin on her face. "Forsooth, it rather feels as though I have lifted Mount Canter from my back than merely parted with a few vain adornments."
Celestia brought a hoof to her face to stifle a laugh, then laid her wing across her younger sibling's withers. "We may not rule Equestria any longer, but we still have our duties, Luna."
She bobbed her horn toward the sky, where the moon hung at its zenith while an orange glow on the eastern horizon showed the sun was patiently awaiting its turn. "I don't think I quite have the strength to do it alone. Do you think you can help me, sister?"
The dusky former princess smiled over at her. "There is little I would savor more, sister."
With a nod they took wing, rising above the six mares who'd freed them of their torment in a slow, lazy double helix, their horns gleaming brightly with gold and pale blue magic. As they hovered in the warm summer breeze that rose over the treetops of the Everfree, the purified moon sank gently over the western horizon as dawn broke in a celebratory blaze of pink, yellow, and teal.
Fluttershy noticed Twilight weaving a bit on her hooves and hastened over to support her with a bracing wing. Her brow furrowed as she looked the lavender mare over. "Are you okay?"
The grinning unicorn exhaled with a chuckle. "I'm fine. Just a little overloaded with wonders right now. I'm ready to pass out but I don't want to miss a single moment." She leaned over and nuzzled Flutterhsy's neck. "And I have you to thank for all of this. If I'd have known the Everfree Forest had this up its sleeve, I'd have come here sooner, and never leave."
The soft yellow pegasus smiled back. "I know exactly how you feel. Right now, I pretty much love everything."
They turned to face the alicorn sisters as they touched softly down among their rescuers again. A golden glow surrounded them all as the first rays of morning sunlight streamed over the trees and through the jagged shapes of the old castle.
After they'd enjoyed the warm breeze rising from the ravine and basked in the sweet sound of birds calling from the forest for a few minutes, Applejack pawed at the ground, tilted back her hat, and looked around. "So now what?"
Pinkie Pie had been grinning non-stop, as if she were savoring her smile so much she was reluctant to release it too soon. She finally let it go and bounded into the air with a bubbly cheer. "There's a whole extra large chocolate vanilla chocolate layer cake with strawberry buttercream icing just waiting back at Fluttershy's place!"
Celestia drew herself up, her eyes lighting up as it seemed like Pinkie's smile had migrated to her face. "Oh wonderful! Just when I thought things couldn't get any better!"
She turned to her sister and nudged her with a wing as a quizzical expression flitted across the younger alicorn's face. "I think you're going to find a lot to like about living in this day and age, Luna."
She sparked her horn to life, and without further ado they vanished in a succession of golden white bursts.
In the grotto below, a bloom of scintillating colors flared as the mists faded away in the bright morning light of a new day for the magical land of Equestria.
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Bravo! Bravo! I must say I have truely enjoyed your works and can't wait for the next.
4003623
Hey, knock it off!
You'll bang your head on the acoustic tiles.
Hm, and yet the story is not marked complete. An epilogue, perhaps, or a sequel? I doubt that I should be much overburdened with complaints, were either the case.
4004225
There's an epilogue a brewin'. Just sit tight and have some cake if you can get it.
This was so good!!!!! (With apologies to the exclamation point) That touch with the tree of harmony was a neat surprise. Looking forward to seeing more of this really lovely take on FiM. :)
4004234 Wait.... maybe there's a twist... or a.. Sequel hook....
4004234 I hope we get to see how the return of two princesses goes and how/if they reintegrate into society.
now write more
4004479
Have you read everything else?
4004501 Sequel now, or Mewtwo melts your brain
Welp, MY guess last chapter was completly off. Still, I can't help but find my heart being warmed by this very cheery ending. I hope this goes the same way as rainbow- and Luna-verses and just keeps growing! I look forward to finding out.
4004502
Aw, but I was saving that brain for company.
All seriousness aside, go climb back into your pantyhose egg, pokeymans, I don't take no threats from no shaved cartoon space cats.
4004555 I AM NOT CAT HUMAN I AM A CATCHAINSAW
4004561
Gezundheit!
Well, for a shaved cat you're certainly not hypo-allergenic.
4004564 lol but seriously good job do you have any plans on continuing the earth and sky universe? I kinda thought that that one needed like a final story u know? but thats me being a weirdo XD
4004570
There is potential for this. I've been mulling some options over.
I'm glad you enjoyed this one. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for a wrapup in the near-ish future.
4004576 nice wellp i've bothered u enough
Tell me more about this "bloom of scintillating colors".
I sense something...
Hutch....this right here? This is bad. Very bad. Celestia has interacted with this group for less than ten fucking minutes and she's spewing all this! Celestia can't be the one telling everypony this because she was as blind to it as Luna was! It's just one long list of qualities that she has never personally witnessed.
On top of this all, while forgiveness is important, the ponies are forgiving her and her sister way too quickly to be even remotely realistic. I mean Celestia did more damage to her own fucking guards that Nightmare Moon ever did. That can not be swept under the rug with a mere "I'm sorry!"
I'm not a huge fan of Rainbow Dash's contribution to this chapter and Celestia's response. Yes, apologizing might be prudent, but they already went and stayed formed for a 1000 years against her wishes. Apologizing and having them reform/giving them the option to reform after the whole we are no longer rulers thing doesn't seem.. right to me. I mean who's to say that the current governing body isn't doing an okay job/getting back into politics after a 1000 years both seem like reasons to stay away from that angle. Maybe if they explained the guarding thing in terms of "we gotta defend the ponies who control the celestial bodies from ?" Each other? Other Countries? Outside interference? Anyway, yeah apologizing, nay reforming into the whole royal guard again is my thoughts on the matter
Not enough fics explicitly refer to pronking. It should be used more often.
Most I've seen prefer "bouncing".
I'm kinda surprised you've got an epilogue coming, since I felt this chapter was a pretty good finish on its own. You've built enough of a world for the mane six to come together like they have, but I don't see enough for much further, unless you spontaneously decide to have them found Ponyville.
4004771
Well, my intention with this sequence was for Celestia to take the place of Twilight's explanation of who is what element, since otherwise it wouldn't happen. I figured having wielded them before, she'd be able to sense their specific presences, as well as infer them from what they said in confronting her before.
TLDR: It's not that she knows the mane six that well (besides Fluttershy) so much as she's pretty intimately acquainted with the EoH, having used them twice herself, and can detect their signatures.
As for the forgiveness part of it, well, she and her sister did more damage to each other than to any of the six, beyond the emotional hurt done to Fluttershy from Celestia inexplicably cutting off contact and the harm unintentionally done to Dash's comrades ( and not her directly) when she feared Nightmare Moon returning. They were there to rescue Celestia, so I think them being happy it all turned out all right would help soften any grudges you seem to think they should hold. Dash IS loyalty, after all, and Fluttershy has been Celestia's protege and friend for around a decade.
TLDR: It's Equestria. Ponies are pretty forgiving, all things considered.
But YMMV.
4004793
I thought Celestia's response to Dash's question was a bit more ambiguous, frankly.
Neither of them actually said "Yes, the guard will reform." Especially given that C. and L. are doubling down on abdicating.
Well that was something. I thought this chapter would be longer seeing how this is the chapter before the epilogue.
I see what you did there.
Well, this is definitely not the end nor is it the beginning of the end but, rather, the end or the beginning. Now, I find myself wondering what awaits the newly-minted Elements of Harmony and their two demi-divine friends in a world that, frankly, has moved on without them and doubtless believes that it does not even need them. It's a world fully of its own unique triumphs and problems and is far from the near-paradise of the Equestria we know. Nonetheless, I suspect that there is a role in this brave new world for heroes in the old-fashioned sense of the word.
Well, there is time to consider that later; first, the party!
This was a wonderful bit of writing that catches the emotions from the start to the finish. The descriptions are wonderful and it helps the reader be right there in amongst events.
4004818 Fleetfoot sounded pretty messed up and that was because of Celestia
4004840
The lack of princesses has been doubled!
Seriously, This was really cute, and I'm supremely interested to see where it goes from here.
Like come on, you can't get rid of the EoH before Discord's return and just stop there!
4004132 You are meant to wonder... but never to know...
Shall we call this the Flutterverse?
4004840
Yeah, I think I was more inferring their (the Rangers) reaction to an apology given how proud of the whole "we keep the oath" they were.
4005960 And will this Discord be Mr. Myxlplyx Discord or Super Psycho Joker Discord?
There are so many Discords around, you never know which to expect!
4004818
I think a better way for this scene to happen would be for Fluttershy, or someone else, to ask Celestia/Luna what happened and then Celestia who can sense their element connection will tell them they are connected to the elements of harmony, maybe even what specific one. After this all it would take is some in character dialogue to figure out why each of these characters has this specific element, and maybe which element if they didn't already cover that.
Good update I enjoyed the knockdown brawl between Celestia and Luna.
Hmmm, I'm not really sure how I feel about this. It looks like you're trying to make this universe a little more Fluttershy-centric? The problem is, that doesn't really work thematically. It has to be Twilight who brings the friends together and unites them against Nightmare Moon, because that's her thing; that's what the Element of
FriendshipMagic is all about.This isn't really a criticism though, just a comment. It's not a problem with the story or anything, and it's not as bad here as it is in some of the other AUs I've seen.
I see what you did there.
An interesting (mostly) ending, it felt a bit rushed but I'm interested in where it will go. Its interesting that the events have next to nothing to do with the rest of Equestria, no longest night or anything like that as far as the rest of the republic is aware nothing unusual happened. The only ones who know are a few of the guard. So no pony's going to get lauded as hero's in this universe, it's just back to the daily grind.
Sort of on that note, what does Fluttershy do for a living? Public servant (sort of forest ranger)? Sells relics Celestia gave her? Sells herbs?
So, Fluttershy acting as the Element Bearers leader summons butterflies? Figures.
Oooo, so both sisters got the business this time around.
Huh, that's a bit of a twist on the standard formula.
I'm really curious about Celestia and Luna’s status in this 'verse moving forward from here. They state very firmly that they are not interested in leadership, and even if they were they were interested I suspect that the pony populace in general would be a tad resistant since they have been doing just fine on their own for a millenia. And yet, they are still pretty important given the whole sun and moon thing. Maybe a carefully designed national treasure status?
Sadly, the way the Rangers are talking IS pretty much exactly like how the military would do it. I like Code Eclipse Black though. Very ominous, and thus suitable. And now the new Mane Six have saved the day. Again.
It’s an interesting twist that, without the infrastructure of her kingdom to hold herself together, and maybe even borrowing a bit of Fluttershys personality (as the only close friend she has), Celestia had started on a very tragic path of her own. The Mane Six and the Elements of Harmony were not only be able to purify just Luna this time around, but Celestia as well, restoring love between the sisters as well as across Equestria. Beautifully conceived.
4005570
Celestia hasn't had a chance to apologize to Fleetfoot yet, which was one of the conditions Dash laid down for forgiving her.
Different guards will undoubtedly react in different ways to their former princess begging their forgiveness. Here's a hypothetical regarding Fleetfoot: What if you fell and broke your wrist after somebody shoved you out from in front of an onrushing truck? How much of a grudge would you hold about it?
Either way, as I said. YMMV.
4007696
Yeah, this is a point where this AU matches the mainline canon very closely.
I kinda buy into the headcanon that Fluttershy comes from a prominent, well to do family in Cloudsdale. (Which is part of the source of her social anxiety, the high expectations placed on her by family and peers.)
I see it as a case of them not understanding her choice to live on the ground and be a recluse, but still loving and supporting her enough to see that she's living comfortably. In this AU she lives off the land a bit more but makes frequent trips in to the trading post where Pinkie works for supplies.
4007638
I would submit that as an Alternate Universe, nothing "has" to be the way it is in the mainline canon. That's the whole point of writing AU's. Kindness drives the bus in this universe, Magic just makes it all complete.
4008504
I was also taking a page from Charles Stross' "Laundry" stories/books.
Code Eclipse Black is very much the Equestrian equivalent (Eq.eq.) of Case Nightmare Green.
4006063
Ah, sorry your post was a tiny bit difficult to parse.
Yes, the Royal Guard are going to have a range of opinions on the new state of affairs, and yes it would have bearing on things in regard to the Republic of Equestria.
From Celestia's viewpoint, though, first she needs to apologize for dashing hopes and hearts on a personal, pony to pony level before any talk of who's princess of what can occur.
4006028
Call it what you like, just don't call it too late for cake.
This is still incomplete? There's... There's more?! Woohoo! I don't care if it's one or one dozen, because there's still moar to come! 8D
Nice. Especially the bit between Fluttershy and Luna. It'll be fascinating to see the latter deal with this new Equestria, especially since she doesn't have an excuse to fall back on millennium-old royal traditions. Though I'm sure a few hiccups will crop up...
And the alternate form of the Elements was especially well done. Especially since the shape of living things gives them some agency and volition of their own.
Though I can't help but wonder why neither princess felt it necessary to mention the Tree in canon, aside from the whole "didn't exist until season 4" thing...
In any case, I look forward to cake and the denouement.
Still labeled incomplete.... well there does seem to be a few loose ends left, including will they take their seats on the Twin Thrones once again (which I am guessing is no). I loo forward to seeing the ending
Yee-haw!
In Warren we trust!
4006028
I kinda like to think of it as whitewerse for the White mare. And withe is also the color of both mourning and innocence/kindness witch I think especially fitting.
So, I'll go ahead and ask this now: What kind of fucking accent does Applejack have in this one? I don't know any that would have the word 'Fugeddaboudit' anywhere...
4631574 She sounds like the stereotypical 30's gangster.
I bristled a little at the site of Celestia acting equal to Fluttershy and co, but that's just my headcanon interfering. In the end this is all pretty solid. I'll save my final thoughts for the epilogue... which, I'm sorry to say, I won't be able to get to until tomorrow.