That...

That was an interesting ending. So Twilight - infused with every ancestor of hers who was ever with Cadence - helped Cadence to heal-

Wait. Does that mean Shining Armor was inside her at that point?

So, Twilight, how did it feel having your Big Brother inside you?

...

Meh.

Hmm...ending was a tad rushed I feel, but it didn't spoil the overall story.

Good job man.

tad rushed but not bad

Hmm. Not what I expected, at least up until Cadance was enumerating all the ways that Twilight would break her heart. At that point, the course of the story was fairly clear.

I'm not sure how to feel about the amount of forgiveness on display, because there was some seriously messed up stuff over the centuries. Still, this is the oligarchy that thought Discord deserved a third chance. Given that, Cadance certainly gets a second one.

A creepy yet enjoyable tale. Thank you for it.

Not too bad of an ending.

5857516 i.imgur.com/uCBdE.png Warm, and rather pleasant.

This entire story was lovely. Your incredible skill with storytelling made the splashes of [Dark]ness and your portrayal of Cadance absolutely enrapturing. I love the story's message, too. Daedelean, you're the beeeeeest

I've got to echo FOME's thought that Cadance's panicked "She's going to leave me and I'll never see her again" internal monologue made it pretty obvious where the story was going . . . but honestly, I wouldn't have it other way. It nonetheless adds to the deliciousness of the tense, dramatic climax scene.
What I don't get about that dramatic climax scene is that in it, Twilight says that incest is an unforgivable ethical transgression. But . . . the belief that incest is wrong seems to be at a disagreement with, well, the ending of the story. To me, that line's inclusion doesn't seem to make much sense.

Celestia's big sigh-of-relief-at-keeping-her-niece-from-going-insane scene here in this final chapter is so, so narratively satisfying. And the final two paragraphs of the story strike such a beautiful, mellifluous chord. Thanks for writing, Daedelean.

5857516

So, Twilight, how did it feel having your Big Brother inside you?

That comment is so wrong, but so funny!

i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/034/706/winternet.jpg?1318992465

Mmm, so I guess it was all for naught, tying the end with a deus ex machina solution. All I can say is that the story fell flat on its face for me.

5857563

Ditto.

fabulous. nothing more to say

Ehh, works for me. Leaving Cadance broken as a result of this would have been a Bad Thing given what a broken alicorn is capable of, so I'm glad Twilight forgave her.

Thanks for all the comments, guys. I just put up some thoughts in a blog here, but now...

5857516 5858684 5858857
Glad you found it interesting. It was always going to be about healing, and finding something stable to help her move on.
And yes, it does. If, after all that, you still find the incest to be jokeworthy then I'm not sure I can help you

5857563 5859056
That's a shame, but thanks for reading.
Hmm, Deus Ex Machina in a story where three of the four main characters are literal gods. There's probably an interesting narratological debate to be had about that

5857728 5857764 5857808
I'm glad it worked. As for it being rushed, I wonder if this might be because of how they were published rather than how it was written. The story's climax is spread out over three chapters starting with "Strings", and the happy resolution is in the last, and comes only at the end of a night-long emotional rollercoaster. Maybe I should have published them differently, but I'm personally quite happy with how it's written.

5857800
Forgiveness and healing are the preferred means of dealing with villains in Equestria whenever possible. I do believe that Cadance, for all her flaws and mistakes, was never an evil pony.

5858797
Thank you! I'm glad someone else liked it as much as I did.

What I don't get about that dramatic climax scene is that in it, Twilight says that incest is an unforgivable ethical transgression. But . . . the belief that incest is wrong seems to be at a disagreement with, well, the ending of the story. To me, that line's inclusion doesn't seem to make much sense.

I believe the key word in that paragraph is "mortal"

5859733
Oh this story definitely had to be rated Mature.

5860025
Thank you

5860082
That's something. Thanks for reading

5861196
There are a lot of things in life people aren't emotionally equipped to deal with. Pain, loss, war...things that the mind simply can't - or won't - accept in its totality of what it truly is.

That's what humor is. The defense mechanism developed against those things we can't handle. It's evolved beyond that since it was developed, but that's its essence.

So if you've crafted this story as serious and delivered its message...but still provided opportunity for humor about it? You've done your job excellently.

5861211
I sensed that you were joking, with my finely honed humor sensors. I too was joking. I am a biological human being and totally not a robot.

*A screw falls out of my back*

That is normal for humans.

One major question I want to ask now that the story is over.

Why would ponies find incest morally reprehensible?

Looked at anthropologically, there are only two reasons why anyone would avoid incest. One is religion. The other is the possibility of genetic mutations cropping up in offspring.

First, the former. In Equestria, there is no difference between religion and government because their leaders are also their gods. Now given that the only other immortals Celestia or Luna could seek companionship with are relatives - and if they have contributed to the mortal gene pool at any point, as implied by Prince Blueblood, then by now they are related to some degree to everypony - it wouldn't make sense for Celestia to discourage a practice she herself would be forced to partake in when seeking companionship. While she's many things in canon, she's never a hypocrite. An idiot sometimes, but not a hypocrite.

Second, the latter. With the level of magical medicine available, why would concerns of genetic mutation ever come up? A great deal of the fandom's headcanon of magic includes spells to allow two mares - or sometimes, two stallions - to have children that genetically belong to them. If magic can be used to manage genetics to that extent, it is barely a logical leap at all to assume magic could also scan a foal early in development for any genetic malformations and correct them pre-birth. And if such magic is available, it would make logical sense to ahve such procedures be standard practice at any hospital that have unicorns on staff. Also, Cadence never intended to have children with her various partners, so why would this concern present itself here?

TL;DR, from an anthropological perspective, I suggest that ponies would not have a taboo against incest, or if they did it would not be nearly as strong as the one humans have.

5861241
It says in the description "contains M-Rated Sex Scenes".

5861196 Mostly I'm just mentally splitting the difference between whether what Cadance did was forgivable or not. If a regular, non-imortal person managed to be in such a position that they could do what Cadance did, I'd be quite a bit more eagar to throw the bookshelf at them.

But we're talking someone that is an immortal alicorn with some undefined connection to Love itself. A broken Cadance might not be able to inflict damage as immediately and directly as Luna was able to, but who knows what she could do before being stopped and what the long running cost of her being stopped might be (congratulations, we're not going to die, but nobody is ever going to be able to fall in love again without going insane, etc). So with that in mind, handling her gently is a much better idea from where I'm standing if only for safety of civilization on the whole.

Necessary music.

Once again she proves you can be manipulative as hell and still be good.

Celestia, you magnificent bitch.

5863041
No. A "clopfic" is a story written specifically to generate arousal and to create fap material. This, however, is a story that uses sexual situations and blatant sex as advancement for a larger story.

That was sad and happy, disturbing and heartwarming, serious and funny.
Way to knock it out of the park!

5863726
No. A "Clopfic" is, by the nature of the phrasing, a fic primarily about clop. If the story exists to serve the clop, then it is a clopfic. If the clop exists only to serve the story, then it is not.

5863250
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

5863726
I'm with 5863071 on this. The sex scenes are definitely rated Mature, but anyone who reads this story expecting fun and sexy fap material is going to be sorely disappointed. Calling it a clopfic would be misleading.

5861245
So... sorry I never replied to this. It was a very big question and I'm one of those authors who doesn't want to mess with the readers' impressions beyond what I write into the story itself. But here goes.

The first reason, of course, is that even though this is a pony fantasy land it has pretty much adopted our real-world moral code more or less unchanged. That's not a very satisfying reason, but it's true.

There is one big reason you didn't include in your comment though, and I think that's the reason why so many of the other commenters were horrified with Cadance: the issue of power and control. In any parent-child or non-twin sibling relationship, one party is older and has much more power in the relationship than the other, and that understandably horrifies people. The default assumption is that the relationship must be exploitative, manipulative, abusive, because the parties are so unevenly matched. Even if it isn't overtly so, there is a constant threat that it will become so if ever the younger member steps out of line. How much worse must that power imbalance seem when one partner is an immortal whose special talent seems be specifically dedicated to emotional control?

So it's very important, as I saw it, that Twilight gains all the memories and experiences of Cadance's former partners. If they're going to be together, it has to be as equals. As you and others point out, after all those generations the genetic overlap isn't an issue. But Celestia knew that if the relationship was going to work, without anyone falling into insanity or emotional blackmail, the age and experience gap had to be closed.

I have so much mix feelings for this XD I love it doe, great story it helped that it ended in a TwiDance xD

feel like it needs an extra chapter showing that cadence indeed can move on if she loses twilight but other then that a good read amazing work.

This fic was messed up but holy shit it was good. Like GoT. Weird shit's happening but you stick to it just for the sake of the story.

Thank you for an well written, surprising, and thought provoking story.

I find Cadence a fascinating character in general. In canon she is a good pony, trying to do good things, with powers that could be problematic (mind-control-ish anyone?) Here, you use her vast experience with physical love, to give her non-magical powers that are beyond the kin of any of her mortal lovers. That is both fair, given her background, and disturbing, given the fine moral line that your Cadence trods upon.

I like Twidance stories, even though I know it is a problematic ship. In canon Cadence and Shining Armor are both good ponies, and are good for each other. Good Twidance stories must deal fairly with that fact before moving to the Cadence / Twilight relationship, and your story does.

And I like your Celestia: ever the chess player, always moves ahead of everypony else, and forever balancing what is best for Equestria, with what is best for the ponies she loves.

I also liked your Twilight: naive and good hearted; willing to forgive and follow her heart. I didn't expect her final judgement, but was immensely satisfied with it.

Thank you again.

7151864
I'm glad you enjoyed it, and thank you for the follow

The road to hell is paved with...

...the road out of hell is laid with...

...all roads by hell are not made with.

I think your summary is the reason why many didn't read this.

probably the poni lay person thought this would be a story of keeping warding glow around somehow and nobody really cares about OC ponies.

pre15.deviantart.net/f6b0/th/pre/i/2012/211/5/b/mlp__cadence_pony_shrug_by_saffie_chan-d595wd9.png

good story, and I can so see one of the princess doing that mostly twilight in order to keep her friends alive

Oh, this story is brilliant and fantastic. It's special. I doubt I will ever see something quite like it again.

This was a very good story. It's one of the best Cadances that I've read, and it pairs her with Twilight in a unique way that works better than it should! I think my only critique is the pacing. The first half is very good, but her seduction of Twilight seems a little rushed. Too much of it happens "off screen" for it to really feel real. That's honestly my only critique though, other than that this is perfect.

8569560
I'm glad you liked it.

Yeah, the sense of time in this story was very messed up. That was on purpose, but it did make for a disjointed reading experience at points.

Neat story, but I feel like it didn't need to be so cloppy to accomplish what it did.

Also some of the chapters felt needlessly short.

8569650
I both love and hate this story. I love it because it so well written, and hate because it gets me right in the feels.

8569650
Do you think you’ll ever rewrite this story? You know, to add onto the shorter chapters plus I’m sure you’re writing has improved since you originally wrote this

9918750
I'm afraid I don't have any more plans for it. Going back and rewriting old stories isn't really my thing. There are always new stories to write.

Out of curiosity, just today I've had several people favoriting this story out of the blue and I have no idea why. Did someone recommend it somewhere?

9918791
That’s a shame. And I found it in my feed about 19 hours ago, when someone added this story to the group Incest is Wincest

9919824
Maybe that's the reason then.

Celestia let out a sigh of relief seven hundred years in the making. “So it's over at last,” she said. “All the secrets have been revealed. The special project is finished.”

I know this was written before Flurry Heart, but it would not surprise me if in this verse, she's a magical lesbian spawn of Cadance x Twilight, much to Celestia's dread.

It's a shame that it took me so long to read this. A powerful, emotional ride that I'm glad you took me on. Thank you Deadalus Aegle, I truly appreciated this.

10095588
Thanks for reading, I'm glad you liked it. This story is a very strange beast but I was always fond of it.

[note to self]
date: October 21, 2020
Reason to reread: I wish to make a model of the family tree.