• Member Since 31st May, 2012
  • offline last seen Nov 2nd, 2020

Snake Staff


A young man working his way through life and writing for fun.

T

This story is a sequel to Together Forever


Twenty years after the events of Together Forever, Cadence still struggles to create a new form for her beloved husband as Shining Armor seeks the source of his wife's misery. Meanwhile, tensions mount in the world at large, drawing the intervention of Celestia. But is this all more than coincidence?

Now complete with a TV Tropes page!

Chapters (33)
Comments ( 449 )

Can't wait for this to continue! :pinkiehappy:

I see effort has been placed to make Celestia seam less mustache twirlingly evil. Good job.:pinkiehappy:

4866410 - Not completely successful efforts mind. She's still pretty evil, controlling and self righteous. Somewhat hypocritical too really... she's complaining about two nations arguing over a bunch of rocks which would make them more powerful while at the same time allowing another nation to be potentially threatened (quite possibly not severely) in an effort to obtain her own version of magic macguffins, or in reality, brainwash the children of a potential Alicorn Cadence and Shining to further dominate the world.

There are a few parallels to exploit...

4866537

She's also astonishing speciest as well, "An alicorn wouldn't do this, an Alicorn wouldn't do that, Governments owned by Alicorns could just keep them mortals in line"

Say Celestia, who tried to kill the entire planet in a tide of darkness because of jealousy?

4866830
In her limited defense, I feel I must note that it would pretty hard not to be prejudiced when you are visibly, provably, vastly superior to almost everyone you meet (larger, stronger, more magical power, immortal) and you've been that way for almost 13,000 years. The unconditional trust bordering on worship you've received from generation after generation of mortal ponies and the dominance you exert even among your own kind probably doesn't do much to encourage humility either.

4867001 How exactly is that a "defense"? It's just what I figure would happen when you give a powerful (not godlike, considering Sombra laid low one Alicorn easily) attention of that sort. She feels herself Infallible, she feels her actions to anyone but herself should not be questioned, she's a tyrant in all but name and has nothing holding her back.

I actually sort of want to see her Alicorn plan to go through, because I figure that it may just end up in Wars between Alicorns and their followers over each others throats, with many more lives lost because Alicorns don't care about the mortals to begin with, their lifespans are limited who cares anymore? Who cares if the ground is burnt black, with generations losing food and medicine, the ground will recover in time, just as the mortals will.

4867060
Eh, I suppose it's more explanation than defense. Just saying that she didn't acquire the attitude she has out of nowhere. Most all the time, she wins. Even in the prior story, when she got sloppy and made a pretty slapdash plan, she was so strong that she could just power through opposition and get her way anyway. I'd say she has something of a complex, really.

Oh, someone wrote a fic about me? I'm flattered, truly!

Celestia has a beautiful vision of the future.
Happy.
Peaceful.
Safe.
Controlled.
Stale.

The end of your importance is coming, everyone who's not an alicorn.

So.. mortal lives are priceless treasures and utterly meaningless at the same time? I think Celestia might be trying to whitewash her desire to restore.. lets call it the Alicorn Dominion. Also, she's probably insane.

If her vision of the future is a reflection of the pre Discord era, then Discord was probably the best thing to happen to Equus. And Sombra might have been a hero up until he went completely insane. He should also serve as a reminder that Alicorns are very mortal, just very powerful and very long lived. And Luna should be a reminder that Alicorns can embody every trait she abhors in 'mortals'.

If she actually tries to go through with this, she's going to end standing knee deep in the blood of Cadence's children.

4868853
The best comparison I could make to Celestia's attitude towards mortals is that of an average human towards, say, a toddler. Obviously their lives are precious and should be protected and nurtured to the best of your ability. At the same time, they lack meaningful intellectual capacity and the necessary foresight to make any decisions of any importance whatsoever. The difference is that mortals have an alarming tendency to die before reaching anything near what Celestia considers intellectual maturity.

And so it begins.:trollestia::twilightsmile: I'll be putting this in my favourites so I can see updates when they come:yay:

-Spirit

I vote Shining Armor for Alicorn of Darkness(they are using Sombra's work after all), since it seems that an Alicorn needs to be hooked into some sort of metaphysical power source.

I think Celestia's ego might be in for a poke with a sharp stick.

I think, additionally, Celestia has a problem treating feelings as valid. I mean, obviously, they exist, and she wants to spread happy ones, but any actions based on those feelings, even the positive ones, are limiting and bad to her. Taking action based on frustration, or anger, or desire for something better than what you have (in short, the reasons for "short sighted" wars) are all even worse to her.

Incidentally, this sort of attitude from Celestia goes a long way to showing how it could have gotten so bad with Luna that she transformed into Nightmare Moon. Celestia simply never considered that the feelings Luna had must've been valid, so she did nothing about them. Luna's ageless just as Celestia is, she must be above petty concerns like feelings just like Celestia.

Celestia doesn't even believe her own feelings (especially those that she is aware of) are to be paid attention to. The problem is her blind spot, which is her desire to dominate. Cadence clearly has a desire to dominate she blames on her alicorn biology, and Celestia's was born that way, and never knew anything else, and is completely blind to how she's indulging that desire to her heart's content, even so far as justifying away conflicting feelings as petty with the justification that she's doing it entirely for logical and caring reasons.

Godlike Celestia... I really don't find her that appealing, especially with the concealed ploy, referencing of her experience and the superiority she hAs, but for once, I wanna read about her for now, because she is a pivotal plot point in concern with Cadence and Shining Armor in this story.

I smell Sombra coming back... No matter how you look at this story. And killing Celestia would be an interesting plot twist.

4876489

He did come back, he warned Cadence that Shining was being killed off and expressed regret.

4876489

Kill her, or usurp her portfolio and leave her as one of the mortals she has such.. interesting.. opinions on. Either would be very welcome.

4877014
Ah now THAT Is a very reward 'death' for her.

4877212

Indeed.

She considers herself so much better than others.. Well, Unicorns managed the Sun and Moon just fine. Dragons can live millennia too. The three tribes had a functioning government before Discord. Her competence as a ruler is questionable, given that her social engineering created a nation that depends entirely on her and a super weapon that shoots rainbows.


And as for power?
Chrysalis floored her with a single sucker punch.
Nightmare Moon kicked her ass.
She and Luna had to hide from Discord until they found the Elements.
Sombra had to be tag teamed by the elements as well and he managed a facsimile of biological immortality. He also killed a freaking Alicorn who, given Celestia and Luna's actions, was likely of dubious morality.
Tirek? She basically hid from Tirek and let Twilight deal with him.

Somebody needs to kick her somewhere sensitive and deliver the 'special snowflake' speech from Fight Club. She's as mortal as any of her little ponies. She just has fantastic protections and a long lifespan.

4877465
Yeah, through the canon and if this is to follow how canon the story takes, it is obvious she is not godlike, just feels like she is, which is always bad in the end. As well as controlling the world, man, that always ends bad. Destroying it is way easier :pinkiecrazy:

Wow. I wounder if Twilight can remove the guse on Cadence.
Also, how Celestia will react if Twilight finds out. She can take on Cadence, but both Cadence and Twilight?

I... honestly don't know who to root for here. I mean yeah, Celestia comes across as a haughty bitch, but she has the weight of eternity on her shoulders. One who lives that long is bound to start seeing mortals as lesser beings to be herded because "I know better." That's something that most "Immortality, Yay" stories tend to forget.

Every time we dip into Celestia's PoV, it's like an icepick in the forebrain.

4901154
That's the exact reaction I was going for, so yay! :yay:

Such rich headcanon! I love it.

So, has Twilight not taken a husband after Flash died? Hmm, seems a long time... but then, I imagine bloodlines would get pretty hectic after a few generations of one family.

4937723
Just because she's only been married once doesn't mean she hasn't had consorts. A mare has her needs, after all, and I'd imagine she if anypony would know how to keep herself from getting pregnant again. Cadence and Shining both know that that's a option for the princess of love, but she's too much of loyal spouse to ever do it. But, yeah, bearing multiple royal family lines via several fathers would probably be a recipe for disaster.

Poor Twilight, that innocence regarding Celestia..Going to be shattered like glass

Erotic asphyxiation? Cadence, you minx!

Though it's saddening to see that Twilight is still Celestia's Butt Muppet.

4938546
Well, being a pony that doesn't need to breathe to live does have certain... advantages. :twilightblush:

I only just saw that there's a sequel to Together Forever. How did I miss that? Oh well, commence reading :twilightsmile:

Rule #1 of being a wizard/unicorn/ect: Always carry a shovel. For.. reasons. Perfectly valid, sensible and legal reasons. :scootangel:

She's kind of overly fixating on making him an Alicorn. She should really piss off Celestia and bang a dragon in order to make him a shiny new Kirin body! The Kirin Empire shall rise from Cadence's fecund loins and displace the Alicorn Oligarchy! And Celestia shall be banished to the Old Ponies Home for a THOUSAND YEARS!

This, of course, would involve swallowing his soul, giving birth to him and then result in what would technically be both incest and... xenophilia? Is there even a word for sex between two different sapient species?

4943071
Shining... probably could have put that better. "Hey, Twily! Let's go desecrate sacred ground! Won't that be fun?" :rainbowwild:

4943187
Hope you enjoy, and please leave your feedback. :twilightsmile:

4943280
I don't believe dragons and alicorns are genetically compatible. :raritywink:

4943488
You bet your ass it is! :pinkiehappy:

Not that I would know or anything. :scootangel:

4943580

Cadence is a spell caster, specializing in love magic.
Thus, Cadence is a wizard.
Therefore: A wizard did it.

And that 'it' includes both the dragon and ensuring conception. Just in case you missed the innuendo.

Or she could just steal borrow a dragon egg, insert Shining, hatch him and tell Celestia "Eat a bowl full of dicks, I'mma gonna go screw a dragon."

4943580 Got it!
I have to say, so far so good. Celestia seems less than stable to me, with her fixation on alicorns. Then again, for how long has she been around now? (Too long maybe.) I mean, who wouldn't go a bit crazy/obsessed after living so long?

And with Shining and Twilight working on discovering the truth about Rose Quartz, I wonder how long it'll take for them to discover it and for Celly's plans to fall apart.

Looking forward to the next chapter!

4943581
Uhhh... :pinkiesick:

4943608
Assuming she was willing to go through with tossing an innocent proto-soul into oblivion so she could steal its body... and she weaseled out of her magically-enforced obligation to accurately tell Celestia everything she's doing... and she wasn't turned into a comatose vegetable for failing to bear alicorn foals... Celestia could still just beat her into submission anyway. :trollestia: I don't think our pretty pink princess would see much appeal in that plan.

4943636
She gives her age in Together Forever:

All dead by my will or actions over the course of my twelve thousand eight hundred sixty seven years, three months, one week, and two days of life.

Add twenty years to that and you have her current self-reported lifespan.

Glad you're enjoying it. :twilightsmile:

I want this story to have a happy ending. I'm hoping with all my heart <3

Updates! :yay:

Very good, keep it up!

Twilight and Shining, Brother and Sister mystery solvers!

So.. Did Pinkie's soul migrate to Twilight upon death?

4954362
Not quite. But Twilight may have taken a leaf or two out of her old friend's book to help deal with inevitable stresses accompanying eternal separation from the vast majority of those she knew and loved. And you'll note that she never identified which friend the ninja suits were from. Who do we know that would have had that sort of thing?

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Rarity: Can make them
Rainbow: Because they're awesome
Pinkie: In case of a ninja emergency
Fluttershy: Likes to hide

She ate their souls! SHE ATE THEIR SOULS!

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:twilightoops: I'm fairly certain that Twilight did not, in fact, consume the souls of her friends. She does miss them, though, and it's especially bad because if all goes as planned she'll never see them again.

Seeing him so happy just makes me sad...

Also, shouldn't he have seen these Lights before in over 500 years?

4963198
He has. They're just a very nice natural show that the two can watch alone, away from all the duties of rule, and that he still possesses all the necessary senses to properly appreciate.

This story is so adorable. Every time I read a new chapter, I keep hoping for a warm, fuzzy, happy ending.

But the sad, desperate part about it is... I'm really thinking that's not gonna happen :(

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