Thank you lord for you have made my month.

-After reading edit-

They are in the eye of the storm and the wall is bearing down.

GAHH!!! I HAVE AN EXAM TOMORROW WHAT HAVE YOU DONE? Ah well sleep is for pansies anyways...

> Playing Diablo 3
> Check FiM on a whim

Best. Whim. Ever.

awesome update time to read.

Alright time to update my own fic and stop leaving all my readers hanging. *makes PMV instead* Okay, now to seriously work on my own fic. *sees that The Immortal Game updated*

Wow! Ominous! I can't wait, and I assume that the ending is only two to three chapters away?

Well, here goes my night. I have a final tomorrow, too!

War Ensemble - Slayer

Happy National Day Of Slayer! FUCKIN' SLAYER!

708724
The next chapter is the last.

708745 I have a Gusta.

Haha, having trouble wrapping it up? That's good, more for us!

Oooooh. The set up of these plot domino's.... I can't wait to watch them cascade into place.

This... is truly awesome. I cannot wait to see how it ends.

What? Final chapter soon? Awww! Will there be a sequel? Just curious, I can only imagine next update will be massive!

The calm before the storm eh? Well to be honest this has very quickly become my favorite fanfiction ever, but I'm working on a review for the final chapter that will say that better.

I'd just like to say that it has been a privileged to have read this week by (kinda) week and watch each of the characters grow along with your writing, and watching a great fic become even better. Not a day goes by where I don't attempt to recommend this fic to people in and outside the fandom. You should be honored to have written this.

Thank you for your dedication.

AAAAAGGGHHH WHAT HAPPENS NEXT??? You must tell me!!!

i'd say that Titan needs a chill pill, but he kinda past that line long ago.

also, Titan, if you really want to be happy, go kill yourself already ya dunce

All the pieces have finally come together. Now the final game will begin. The Immortal Game draws nearer thus, to it's true and irrevocable end.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The royal sister rest aloft,
the queen of earth laments,
the ponies of Equestria have found themselves quite spent.
The dread black dragon Exactus is seeking Carsomyr,
the elements are scared,
but hope yet kindles amongst them, though death's hand looms afar.

The king of order sits aloft, upon his tarnished throne,
within the depths of Everfree,
the Citadel's reborn.
The arc pony is mourning,
the eraterus forebodes,
and the tormented young Corsucare is losing all her hope.

The players in this final game, have taken all their places.
Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty, Truth, Generosity, Friendship,
what does the final act yet bring?
We can but guess for now.
Yet it is plain
this immortal game will finally be laid to rest

Prepare yourselves my brethren,
for the this, the final verse.
The blood is cresting in the dawn
like a crimson tidal wave,
just what will the future hold?
To find out, wait, and see.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit: Did I just post that monstrosity? Woah... maybe I should put that on my DA...

Ooh. Ohh. Endgame.

JMH

WELP

Good stuff. I have to say though, I'm not sure what to think of another new pony race for Fluttershy. The Arc thing made sense with Pinkie. She already seems like a different race in the show itself so it was a cool idea that you thought up (even though it isn't expounded upon). But the Fluttershy thing... I don't know, feels like you're trying to exploit the idea too much.

Few grammar mistakes and left out words but they are waaaay up at the top and I don't remember where they are.

Much love, still the greatest novel I've ever read.

And thus the calm before the storm has pass. Let the rumble of thunder and roars of the wind approach for we are prepared for the downpour that is to come.

Shit just hit the fan! OH MY GOD!!! Excitement levels are OVER 9000!

Definitely the calm before the hurricane.

The Dark Heart of the forest it the location of the Citadel, interesting, I suppose that should have been guessable.

I'm recognizing that Prove. Me. Right. line from somewhere.

Well well well....

Looks like an epic is about to come to an end. Now we can do nothing but wait for the final chapter in the story.

OHHH YEAH! The epicness is just one step away.

708745

Mixed feelings, man... I'll finally have closure... But I'll also have closure... This has only happened to me... A lot. Why am I not used to feeling this way, yet? The saddest part is that -- as of now -- nothing is telling me there will be, or even should be, a sequel. So sad.

...

You make me feel things, Mr. B, and I don't know how I feel about that.

Logic failing Titan? I am vaguely amused by that. The King is the most important piece, no doubt about that, but not the strongest. And it can still be taken by a cleverly positioned pawn.

Finally! I've been checking your page day and night for this update.

Wonderful chapter, especially the last section with Titan. Beautiful.

Hmm.. I should probably do a full reread of the story in time for the last chapter. Ah the excitement.

It's sad to think that the next chapter will be the last But it will no doubt be an epic finale, and the relative calmness of this chapter just sets it all up so perfectly

709019

i read that to Led Zeppelin's " The battle of Evermore"

709019 inspiration begets inspiration begets inspiration

Fire, fury
the end is nigh,
let us hurry

scurry, scurry, little worms,
the king returned
and the world burns

The past is loosed
the light dims,
the heart pounds
the blood thins

and oh, it spills
screaming lungs, it fills
It will never wash away
Insanity shall stay

A godling and her dark ascent
the faithful steeped in sin,
a knight consumes the beautiful mare,
laughter echoes in the wind.
the stalwart writhes in her pain
kindness sees only cruelty, again.

The sun brought low,
even pawns bleed,
a broken queen,
her hatred must feed.

And atop the world,
he collapses,
into himself,
his soul relapses

He brings the order,
but not for free
There was never any hope
Soon enough, you'll see...

in chess the king is only as powerful as its army the king alone is weak if the pieces were to represent ponies applejake is the castle pinkie is the knight rarity is the bishop fluttershy is a pawn weak but can become anything the queen is twilight one of the strongest pieces and princess celestia and luna are also pawn weak but strong and rainbow dash the knight as well thus together are stronger than the king as the king is as said before only as strong as the army it commands.
anyway keep it up

Finally. Though a bit shorter than average. Can you give any rough guess as to how long will we have to wait for final chapter? A week, two weeks, more?

Though I have to say, I don't see any hints of how the good guys will win this one. (That is, if they win in the end at all). I was expecting something, at least some hint but nope. Whatever are Fluttershy and Luna planning with that dragon is likely going to be important, but I don't see any of that being at all relevant against Titan.
And we have Twilight completely disillusion in Elements, and on other hand there is Discord's comment "she needs to put them on manual", or they already did that against Terra and Twilight is still certain it won't, it can't work against Titan.

And we still don't know rest of Astor's story. Luna just revealed that Valiant turned to her side, or was her double agent from start. It could be important, but with only one chapter left...

I really really hope we don't get a downer ending. When I first started reading this story I was disgusted. First really grimdark FIM fanfic I've read. But the writing was good enough, and story interesting enough to make me push trough. But main thing that made me bear with torment of characters was the hope that in the end they will win.

there must be a lot of stuff in the last chapter: battle against dragon, battle against Titan, victor of the battle faces Discord

this is going to be interesting

Cannot wait to read this.

NOTE: it has been awhile since I have done anything like this but I thought I might as well give it a shot, even if it turns out not very good.

The immortal stands on their high throne,
Darkness radiating,
sanity overthrown,
logic failing,
yet strength not abating

Sun and Moon circle high overhead,
mortals toil, for this could be the end,
time has come the bid is made,
will the immortal win this day?

Hope fades,
Yet by the Moon's light,
and the Sun's fire,
Hope survives and hope sustains.

In Twilight the battle will rage,
The truth about the world released from its cage,
Will harmony and friendship win this day,
Or will the cold and uncaring have final say?

Joy and laughter are scarce heard,
yet to silence, they have not gone,
And from such feelings
The world takes heart.

Though dark time brings dark tidings,
Kindness has shown the way,
To bring the world back to life one day,

The world is torn,
little left to spare,
yet generosity
is surely there.

The time for lies have come and past,
Half truths no longer enough,
It takes an honest heart,
for reality to be made real,

Though bonds were tested,
and bonds have faltered,
Loyalty remains and with it,
The world will be forever altered

The Immortal stands on their high throne,
The dice has been cast,
the battle not yet won,
Power alone is not enough,
Possess, ye
Strength of mind,
force of will,
understanding supreme,
For to win the Immortal Game,
you must have these.

Oh. Dear. Sweet. Celestia.

This is going to be the best thing ever. BRING IT ON.

A few things I spotted while skimming to see your changes (which made this chapter much better than the godawful trainwreck I saw initially):

> Snap. the handle of Twilight’s duster shattered,
"The" needs to be capitalized.

> “Twilight,” she said. “please.”
Punctuate dialogue correctly, you hack. Either make the period after "said" a comma or capitalize "please."

The last one's the end, eh? Well, I look forward to seeing the rough draft appear in my inbox.

H.

O.

L

Y.

S.

H

I.

T.

I feel somewhat high right now after reading this. Thank you AB! Thank you Vimbert! Thank You Shivirani! Dude-who's-name-starts-with-an-R, how the hell are we supposed to pronounce your name? Have some gratuitous praise Ambion! Thank you Midnight Shadow!

You've given us the one and only fic of it's kind, thank you! We're waiting for this last bit of glorious prose to come forth, bringing a close to a epic I know I'll remember for ever!

Thank you.

I kind of think it would be cool if you subverted all our expectations and made Titan win in the end.

710104 Eh, I prefer Audiomachine tracks for my poetry, but that works too.

710171 710722 Domino cascade poetry effect! Go!!!! This needs a group with a thread devoted to fanworks and tributes like these poems.

710944
I don't know anything about any hypothetical initial version that may or may not have had three whole scenes dedicated to nothing happening. Also, your dialogue punctuation copypasta is by this point engraved on the inside of my skull, so why I continue to fail at this is beyond me. The end should be... fun, for everyone. I'll see you then.

711074
I have been waiting for a ponyfic to end that way since I joined the fandom.

Hmmm...

What ho, these ides of doom,
that sing so sweetly
upon an autumn afternoon?

That voice is poison.

Only by death do they stand to gain,
but under the weight of our sins,
who will sing the refrain?

She died for her creation,
they died for her death.
Alone on his throne,
The world is all he has left.

Someplace, sometime,
a filly blew seeds to the wind
by his power and decree
that piece of the world did end.

We could have made this a better place
We were meant to be good
now the blood spills from the throat of a race
and AestheticB -
I still think the word was better as 'should.'

Sometimes I forget this is a fan fiction for My Little Pony. So many grim events and occurrences mixed with moments of absolute thought-provoking profoundness. It's sometimes hard to remember that these characters are supposed to be vibrantly colored little equines with large adorable eyes.

So, 20 chapters and 240,000+ words later and this story is finally drawing to a close, eh? My anticipation is rivaled only by Titan's self-important arrogance. Honestly, the character realizes he's not the progenitor of all existence yet seems to think he should be. So much hubris. Also, I noticed there was no foreshadowing as to Discord's role. One would think Twilight, in her ever-calculating mind, to treat him as the unpredictable wild card in the impending battle.

I'm not pretentious enough to pretend that I think I know what's going to happen. So I'll sit back with no expectations and let you hit me with the finale. However... I would like to know something: Has the ending that is coming always been your plan all along? Or has it changed over the course of writing this epic, either due to external (canon adaptation for instance) or internal (refinement of storytelling sensibilities as an example) factors?

All I can say is "OH SHIT" , past that my brain has been reduced to a drooling imbecile. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Twilight_Sparkle_lolface.png Why is Luna still so amazing? dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Luna_lolface.png Dash is still holding together, not like a boss, but still together. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Rainbow_dealwithit.png Trust in Lyra to save us all dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra.png with Vinyl Scratch dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/Vinyl_Scratch_lolface.png kick'in out the awesome tunes. (Why am I thinking Scott Pilgrim vs The World?)

713169
Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a comment thread so filled with fans that I adore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, soothed by the sweet sound of tapping,
From my fingers gently rapping, rapping at my rich keyboard
`'Fimfiction has beeped,' I muttered, `A new comment for the hoard -
Let me see, then, what’s in store.'

As my eyes surveyed the screen, they took upon a certain glean,
A glimmer at a challenge issued that I just could not ignore,
For the comment in its content, spoke about a disagreement,
To which I had been vehement, In defense of meaning bore,
By that word which he had spoke of in my fiction filled with gore
His words he would answer for

I took up my fancy keyboard, presently to serve as my sword
And my shield would be my ego, against insults it would ward
For we cannot help agreeing, As you might see now, while reading
That my skill is somewhat needing when it comes to poems galore
But I still press on for you will never find an author that is more
Eager for a poetry war

Ambion, your sentence failed, my attention, it derailed
For your verb - it did not match the subject set out in the fore
A raucous caw cannot take flight, a sound can’t fly, it isn’t right
Your noise, it’s wings they were alight, you little imagery whore
And so your sentence fell to pieces - reading it became a chore
It made sense, oh! Nevermore!

714410

"Hope" is the thing with feathers--
And so's a raucous caw--
It says the thing without the words--
it never needs--at all--

And richest reading--by imagery--is heard--
And sore must be your wrath--
that could dissaude me from my way
and change this writing path--

I'll be raucous in the thickest poem--
and in the crass comments--
As always: never--would I lament,
So it was that not one shit--was sent.

*gulp*

711044
That may be the entire reason for my various names existence.

713169
I thought we agreed on 'will'?