I was just thinking about this story a couple of days ago. Glad you updated.

Thank you for another chapter.

Hey, take a breather. Take a day to yourself, wake up at noon with waffles and bacon, have a midday lunch and a late night dinner of pulled pork sandwiches. In between those, do what gets you relaxed, favourite shows, reread a book, maybe have a go outside? Then, before going off to bed, a long nice bath.

This is one of the first stories I started reading back when I joined in 2014. I'm really happy your back Brightlight.

Thank you

kinda hope u not gonna do oh Celestia has her own nightmare zzz not her fault prob will ruin the story for me :/

Always happy to see an update, I'm thankful you keep going with this story and will always eagerly read updates

Thanks for the update!

Good stuff, as usual.

As I muttered the words in my somewhat less than fully conscious state, the first instinct that came to mind was for me to rub my eyes to at least try to rid myself of the bleariness that they held. And whereas one of my arms was able to raise without issue, the palm of my hand massaging my closed eye, the other found itself rather occupied. Specifically, it was dealing with some weight cast over it, keeping it from moving. A rather furry one, which was now giggling directly into my ear.

"Be cautious of your wandering hooves, Sir Jeremy. We are not very inclined to move at the moment."

"What?" He repeated, glancing back and forth between all of those present.

Halfy, oddly enough, was the first to respond.

"You... Y-you called her 'Moony'."

Jeremy blinked, looking towards the earth mare with an unreadable expression.

"... No I didn't."

"Dude. You totally did." Gilda chided.

Oh, ho ho ho ho.

Before her, a lovely dandelion, blueberry, tulip, and macadamia salad with a gentle vinaigrette. Some of her newer chefs would occasionally comment on her odd choice of food mixtures, mentioning that the rich, buttery flavor of macadamia likely shouldn't be paired with the sweet taste of blueberry and the... well, very concept of vinegar of any form, but she actually quite enjoyed the combination. An old habit from her youthful days, she supposed. That, and her enjoyment of cakes, of course.

I mean I don't know about the flowers but fruit and nuts with a balsamic vinaigrette sounds like a good combination to me. The chefs are off their collective rockers, imo.

Celestia hearing voices in her head now? Ah SHIT, looks like Daybreaker may be making a special guest appearance at some point in the future.

If it really is Daybreaker speaking to Celestia, then I wonder just how much she is influencing both Celestia's thoughts and actions?

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I've always thought that was the core premise of this fic.
One I understand now, far far more than when I started reading it, actually.
essentially, everyone in this fic believes they are in the right. When in reality, they're all in the wrong. Jeremy and Co might be the protags and the main characters, but they all did bad shit too.
this whole story seems like one daybreaker fueled misunderstanding

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It may be true the the MC's group has done some bad things in the past, especially Nightmare Moon and Chrysalis, but from what I remember (been a while since I read this fiction) Jeremy and Halfy haven't really done anything that could be considered too bad.

Not to mention that compared to what we see of her in the show, in my opinion Nightmare has actually came a long way and she is what I would consider at this point, to more or less be "reformed."

Since she isn't really an issue, unless you are stupid enough to screw with any of her friends, especially Jeremy, then you have officially fucked up, her fangs come out and she truly lives up to her name of "Nighmare."

Otherwise she is just a very old fashioned, somewhat snarky and playful mare who is out of place in this world, due to her unique circumstances of being banished for a thousand years.

One who seems fairly content to spend time with Halfy, Jeremy and to a lesser extent, Gilda and maybe even wreak some havoc on those oh so delicious things known as cheese fries.

A mare who also seems to have a huge soft spot for Jeremy after everything he did for her while they were imprisoned and that he still continues to do for her and for him choosing to be her friend amd stand by her as such.

In all honesty I really wouldn't be surprised if Nightmare Moon was actually in love with Jeremy at this point or is well on her way, and the way that she has been interacting with him would support that theory, or at the very least the theory that if she isn't in love with him, she is still extremely fond of him.

And if she was really so bad as what Celestia and Luna think she is, then she would have just broken every limb Luna had when Nightmare had her trapped and taken her time torturing her, sealed her mind inside of the dream realm forever in an endless nightmare, or just possibly outright killed her somehow.

Though she did none of that and Luna only got off with being just a bit beat up and sore, getting yelled at, warned to stay out of her friends minds or face Nightmare's wrath, then left thoroughly and utterly confused at Nightmare's uncharacteristic (in her mind) actions and all of what she had to say to her.

And from what Nightmare told Luna, Celestia isn't the same mare we saw in the show and isn't the same beloved and kind older sister that Luna remembers having, and she has apparently changed somehow, for the worst if what Nightmare said is to be believed.

And Celestia knew about what her guards were doing to Jeremy after Nightmare's and Chrysalis' escape, and she was allowing it or even ordering them to do it, then I agree with Nightmare and she is a huge hypocrite and is just as bad, if not more so than what any of them are because she is putting on the "benevolent matriarch/monarch mask" while secretly being a monster.

At least the MC's group is pretty honest about who they are, especially Chrysalis, and don't try to make people think that they are better than what they really are. Chrysalis may be an exception to that though, but that is just because of her innate nature as a Changeling and her being so used to having to disguise herself to blend in with ponies.

Chrysalis is still pretty grumpy and seems to have kept that argumentative streak, massive sense of pride and high opinion of herself, but she isn't trying to take over Canterlot, kidnap any of the Princesses, ponies or anything, so I would consider that to be at least some sort of progress.

The worst she has really done simce she got free, is taken those guards in an earlier chapter and partially re-written their memories to help keep their cover from being blown.

She seems to be coming around the way Nightmare did, though, but she is slower to actually do it due to her massive ego and sense of pride

If anything she actually kinda reminds me of Vegeta from the DragonBall series, because he was similar and it took him forever to effectively be considered "reformed," though he never really lost that grumpy streak, massive ego and sense of pride that he had.

Honestly, if the Princesses knew of the changes in Nightmare, Chrysalis and even Gilda herself, then they would see that Jeremy has actually done not only them, but society in general a favor.

Because he either already has or still is, effectively rehabilitating individuals considered to formerly be a nuisance or an outright potential danger to society and the populace.

If the two Princesses had any good common sense, then they would simply have had them all heavily monitored but would otherwise leave them alone, unless they needed to act for whatever reason.

If they did that, then they just might see that fact and re-evaluate their thoughts on the three escapees, as they are effectively, far as I can tell, becoming members of society again that aren't dangers who pose any threat to anyone that doesn't do them harm first and this whole thing could have been resolved already.

Though if they did the reasonable and obvious things, then I guess the story would be shorter and less interesting, so yeah...

And far as Daybreaker goes?

If you want to really read a Daybreaker subtly manipulated massive shit show, then go read the old, original version of the fanfiction "Blurring Realities" if you haven't already.

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Sorry for making my other reply so long, but I just had a lot to say on the subject.

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I was more referring to the fact that nobody is willing to own up to wrongdoing and just open communication

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One of my personal biggest hang ups, is the fact that two beings who are supposed to be a multi-millennia old rulers with centuries of life experience, don't seem to have enough common sense between the both of them to see that Jeremy, Chrysalis and Nightmare Moon have left basically everyone alone since their escape.

That they have had every chance to attack and hurt anyone that they wanted to, but yet the only ones that they have attacked and hurt, were the goons that were viciously harassing Halfy in Ponyville

Celestia had her chance to try and work things out with them at the restaurant, but she totally blew it by being a giant dumbass, trying to make demands that they all basically turn themselves in and for Nightmare to let Celestia seal her magic away.

Her making those types of demands is what completely screwed over any chance that she ever had of having any sort of open dialog with them. Her doing that caused the group to believe that there was just no possibility to even try and talk things out with her, so they simply shut her out completely.

If Celestia was smart, she would have simply set down and asked them at the restaurant what all they had been doing, what they were currently doing while they were in Canterlot and what they planned to do, and if they planned to attack or hurt anyone.

That if they were not planning to attack and hurt anyone, and that they had all been fairly well behaved, then she was willing to talk with them and cut them all a deal, and her deal was to let them all out on probation to continue on as they had been under the guard's supervision, along with her and Luna's.

That she wouldn't try to seal either Nightmare Moon's or Chrysalis' magic, so long as the give her their word that they didn't use it past basic, harmless spells or in the case there was truly an emergency and they had no choice but to defend themselves and the others.

That if they were to all continue being mostly well behaved for, say, at least 3 months, then she would re-evaluate their cases and she would most likely consider them all officially (reformed) and safe enough to be allowed back out into society.

If Celestia had done that and tried to make that sort of deal with them, then the group would have been a lot more likely to actually hear her out and talk with her, rather that simply shut her down, and refuse to talk with her.

Then they really could have started making some good headway into sorting everyting out and coming to some sort of an understanding and agreement.

And as for Luna, if she had been smart, then she would have manipulated Jeremy's dreams to instead see what they had all been doing and how they had all been interacting with one another and everyone else.

If she had done that, then she would have been able to see that they had all, except for maybe Chrysalis, due to her being eternally grumpy AF, been fairly well behaved and had gotten along with everyone that they met pretty well.

Then she would have considered, if only a bit, why they were acting so differently to what she had expected to see, with even Chrysalis being somewhat polite despite her grumpy nature.

Then she could have reached out to Jeremy in his mind to simply speak with him, talk things over and she would have likely found out what had happened to Jeremy through his memories and speaking to him.

And I can not imagine that Luna would have been very happy at someone enduring such cruel treatment, especially if her sister potentially knew about it and allowed it to happen.

In that case she likely would have been absolutely furious and went to angrily confront her sister about it. Then depending on what she told her, Luna could have ended up changing her mind about helping Celestia track them down and capture them.

"... You will leave us, and our compatriots, out from your walking of the dream world." She spoke with certainty in her tone. "I will be sealing their dreams in a realm where you cannot find them. They will be outside of even your purview. And in exchange," she glanced around her shoulder, as though seeking some invisible form that she believed to be alongside her, "you will be allowed to go free."

I was looking forward to Luna finding out what really happened to the man in prison. It's a shame that she didn't even bother to find out the name of the person she's following, let alone his past.

A hell yeeeaaahh I knew this story wasn’t dead! Guess I didn’t speak to soon last chapter, I can sleep well now.

Happy to see another update. Big fan of the Celestia/Luna PoV shifts

It lives!

Hmm, so Luna doesn't even know about Jeremy, interesting.

You need to step up your game, Chryssie!

A mysterious stranger is approaching mysteriously.

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Indeed, first suspicions but that little sentence confirms it lol

Luna really needs to wake up, Nightmare Moon is not the enemy here. The "oh he's a threat to Equestria" without ever saying to anyone HOW he's a threat is getting really old too. Luna needs to do some goddamn digging. As they would say in Equestria "Wake the buck up, mare."

I'm starting to wonder on Daybreaker as well, or rather, the significance of her name. A lot of people assume it's because she breaks day/night cycle. Literally breaking the day.
For THIS potential Daybreaker, however, I wonder. I almost get the feeling it's more along the lines of "Daybreak". IE dawn, the start of a new day. Daybreaker would be the end to Celestia's cycle of stagnation, a new dawn for Equestria and the planet as a whole.

That's my theorycrafting on it, at least.

And now we know Zecora is on her way to Halfy and the group with the Lunar flower in her care. I wonder if seeing that would help wake Luna the buck up.

Thank you very much for continuing this story as life allows.

kinda sad 1 chapter was posted and then dipped out :/