In the hours after the Changelings were repelled, the Royal Guard managed to conduct an emergency census to assure the safety of both the city and its citizens. As more information comes to light, celebrations and reunions become the tale of the day as it is found that there were no fatalities despite the attack.
Nopony died. Everypony's alright.
Truelove can't stop smiling. She simply can't.
If she stopped smiling, she'd have to face the fact that her Tendercare isn't on a business trip.
She dearly wants to forget that he was never in the census to begin with.
Chapters (1)
Woah! This was amazing! You really know how to foreshadow without giving away to much, but still adding to the plot! Good job with this!
Danke Danke.
<chuckles> It actually failed submission the first time because the description was apparently too vague. Happy that you enjoyed the repost.
Good one. Didn't see it coming till riiiiight before the invasion started. What happened next just confirmed it. Well done!
That was beautifully tragic--the tension and foreshadowing just kept building and building until the last horrible moment.
Some typos, but otherwise this was excellent.
Very well written, and very bittersweet. Bravo!
That was unfair. So unfair.
Its good story not because of plot but because of how main character act how much denial is showed here and how.
4983878
That's the annoying thing about descriptions... sometimes you have to practically spoil the story in them for them not to be "too vague"
I love the way you did this! I wrote the same concept ages ago, with a much more happy end, but, it could very easily have turned out like this if the pony in the situation had been an earth pony instead of a pegasus who could fly after them.
This was chilling from beginning to end, and the mood whiplashes in the flashbacks only made it more brilliant.
5656262
<chuckles> Glad you enjoyed it as well.
I'm still surprised that after half a year folks are still stumbling across these every once in a while, but I am pleased to see that folks are actually enjoying them. Mind if i ask how you found it?
<chuckles^2> P.S. I checked the link in your comment and I actually have that story in my "list of stories that looked interesting enough to read on a day off." Seems like I'll have to bump it up and take a look.
5657654
Well, someone added my story in a bookshelf named "best of the best". That kind of things always piques my interest, so I checked out what else was in there... and stumbled on this one
5658086
Danke danke. I'm always interested in how folks find nifty stories here. So far, it seems like 'random happenstance' is the leader far and away, but every now and then I get similar answers from folks. Thanks for the response, I'll have to check out that list as well.
5658292
It was just some user's bookshelf... not a group or anything. And it seems it left my notifications now, so, no idea whose it was
5658292
), that's not really too surprising.
It seems people find mine pretty fast... though given the fact I was literally the first one to write this kind of thing, and my story actually got to #1 rated fic of the whole site at one point (good times... long time ago
(It's still #1 rated if you filter on teen adventure changeling fics without Chrysalis!
)
Despite that, I can only wish I'd written out my first chapter as great as you did. This kind of thrill was what I was going for, but I kinda suck at writing action scenes in general. Of course, you were going for a completely different kind of emotional impact. I went more for a "love conquers all" kind of theme, and with the rather large distinction that the couple had been married for 20 years at the start of the story.
The fact he actually defended her from the changelings brings all kinds of interesting questions, though. It seems he knew nothing about the invasion, or he'd have made sure to avoid all contact. Heck, actually making a business trip could've covered that. Though more likely he'd make it a romantic outing for two to protect her from those annoying competitors. But besides that... was he just protecting his cover, there? Was he indeed protecting his own love source from competitors? Was this just 'harvesting her love while it was abundant', or was he actually planning to stay with her? And, in that case... would he risk coming back?
I know, having written a story exactly to go deeper into those questions may be cheating from my part, but it's just interesting to think about
Another interesting aspect is the "business trip"... was that something he planted in her mind in case he would disappear, to make his disappearance go unnoticed for a while, or was that just Truelove deluding herself?
5658086
5658292 Heeey I helped the writer of one of my fave stories find the writer of another of my fave stories. Yay!
5753324
Well, you got Gazebo, Fragments and Ember's in there... all the best changeling fics
(though, from Phoenix_Dragon's stuff, I personally think "Without A Hive" is a lot better than "Fragments")
5755827 Haven't had the chance to read it yet. Been too busy cleaning up after the results of a massive snow storm lol.
5756245
Without A Hive ran from November 2012 to December 2013, actually... it's been finished for ages, and in fact has its own sequel going already
(Without A Hive is not a sequel to "Fragments", mind you... but it's set in the same universe, and the two fics converge at the end. The sequel, "A New Way", acts as sequel to both fics, so both are kinda required reading for it)
5756956 yes but I just very recently found them
5757485
Ahh. Fair enough, then
Need a more-detailed later read. Still didn't figure out why she would burn the marriage license. Maybe I missed something?
10971672
Ah, no worries... let me clarify.
Since she's effectively coming to terms with the invasion, her relationship, the likely (though unconfirmed) lie that she's been living, she literally is sent reeling and is trying to piece her world back together. She's trying to fit the positives with the negatives, trying to put a spin on what happened in her own head, to make what she fears and understands to be 'true' to still be what she had thought. She's trying to cope with a relationship that may have always been a lie... or just as easily could have been actual love.
And while she's struggling, she's conflicted, confused, and coping with the terror and fear that the invasion instilled. She's mixing and matching memories, the events of the day, her understanding of who and what Tendercare is/was to her. As a result, just like being shellshocked, she's only slowly figuring things out... putting together pieces in new ways from things she had taken for granted.
She didn't burn the marriage certificate... she was puzzling out what was wrong, what was missing, what was real... still holding it and not even realizing it... until an ember fell (dramatically) and stole something that she was hoping and praying was real in her life away from her.
It was, effectively, the only thing 'proving' it hadn't been a lie... that her happiness, her friend/lover/partner/husband hadn't just been a fabrication. And in its destruction, a symbolic loss of everything she had been trying to explain.
Hope that helps?