In Which, Nothing of Note Happens (Morpheus) Part 1
Changing Times’ Notes: Upon rereading this report I can’t help but chuckle as I recall Princess Twilight’s face when she first saw this transcript. It was even more amusing than Prince Morpheus’ face as he realized that I hadn’t redacted certain information he had revealed to me without thinking.
It was moments like that that really showed me that—beneath all the news stories and politics and defeating of world-shattering villains—the rulers of Equestria were much the same as any other pony.
In Which, Nothing of Note Happens: A Report by Prince Morpheus of House Sycadia
I would be lying if I didn’t mention that our trip to the Crystal Empire was rather boring beyond all the drama with Shining and the guards, but you’re asking about it, so ve’ll try to recall all the specifics. Honestly, it was our own fault for viewing spoilers.
When the crystal empire had reappeared, all the analysts and infiltrators went crazy going over all our old data and maps for it while gathering new info on how it was faring. Ve’ve been on tour of the capital more times than I care to count, so while most ponies would jump at the chance to visit, I was simply nervous Shining would have a sudden change of heart while he gave us the tour.
Of course, it wouldn’t have been optimal to show said anxiety. Shining was the type of pony who wouldn’t accept any show of weakness from a former enemy—and like it or not I had been an enemy. The polite, friendly, stallion I’d been when we first met was forever tainted by the fact that I was a changeling.
No. That’s not quite it. I’ve seen him be downright chummy with Hera—for a given definition of chummy. The fact is. When he first met me, I was wearing a mask—a disguise. No matter how much sincerity there was to my interactions during our first meeting, the fact remained that Shining viewed those interactions as a fraud. If I had approached him the same way that I had initially, I would have had no chance to earn his respect.
Thus I took a rather unorthodox method of reintroducing myself to him.
Other than that, though, nothing of note happened.
Absolutely. Nothing.
A significant chunk of what had once been the Empire’s cultural heritage had been… appropriated by their former ruler and sold to commission hundreds of terrifying yet majestic obsidian statues of himself. Of the forty-eight art galleries in the palace, forty-seven had been filled with those likenesses while the final gallery had been filled with work done by Sombra himself.
Oddly enough, the tyrant wasn’t that bad a painter—although he was a little obsessed with scenes full of misery and death, and that wing still stood with a number of the more menacing obsidian statues as a testament and reminder of just what the Crystal Empire had survived.
With the fall of Sombra, that, of course, left forty-seven other wings – along with several reopening museums—that needed to be filled with the remnants of a rich and somewhat crystal-obsessed culture that had been repressed for far too long. It should not have taken long for the Empire to explode in a renaissance of art and learning, given they had a thousands years of catching up to do.
Instead… there were forty-seven wings and several museums worth of art depicting a certain purple and green saviour with the occasional painting of the royal couple heroically tossing one another thrown in. It was one of the reasons I was currently bored out of my mind. Ve had seen it all before—in more ways than one—and, while I could appreciate the gratitude the Empire showed for their heroes, I really would have preferred some variance in the tour.
Thus, as much as I tried to keep quiet and pay attention, I couldn’t help but get distracted by the hollow feeling in my heart, eventually beginning to implement our scheme to befriend Shining regardless of the risks.
I just had to wait for him to notice.
“Is there a particular reason you’ve been staring at me for the past ten stops?” Shining turned from one of the many statues of Spike the Great to arch an eyebrow at me.
Primary objective: befriend Shining Armor. Secondary objective: do so in a way that vents his frustrations over the invasion. Step one: catch the subjects eye, complete. Step two: provide a target, commence.
“Yes—” I ran through the very exaggerated motion of licking my chops with an extra long tongue “—I tend to get hungry after expending a lot of energy, and you happen to be married to a smorgasbord. Do forgive the drool.”
Amendment to step n: grovel and beg for Cadance’s forgiveness when she enters the equation. It felt far dirtier for me to say that than ve had expected.
“Morpheus!” Twilight sputtered—her emotions a mix of rubber and rainbows. She elbowed me hard enough that I took a stumble, and ve began to recalculate the odds on how likely what ve were planning to do would earn her ire.
Shining’s brow arched further. “Are you still— What would I even call it. Are you still under the influence from earlier? I thought you cobbled together something to purge the guard’s emotions?”
“Yes, sir!” I bared my fangs in a grin and gave a mock salute. “I’m all sunshine and ladybugs. Just giving you what you want.”
Okay. That was better. Clearly I was trying too hard before. I would need to be careful with the list of barbs ve had prepared ahead of time.
“Oh, Celestia, you were serious about the love-hate relationship, weren’t you?” Shining narrowed his eyes. “Shouldn’t you be bending over backwards to prove your good will?”
“Well,” I rolled my shoulders, “I’m going to be honest. I could do that, but something tells us you wouldn’t care for that. You can’t vent at a nice, polite, changeling, can you?” I smirked, tasting a twinge of spiced oranges at my words. “Ve felt it was best to mix things up a bit with you—give you chance to cut loose without actually cutting loose.”
“That is—” I cackled, letting emerald flames smolder from my joints without quite truly shifting anything “—if you think you can keep up without getting burned.”
“I am so sorry, Shiny.” Twilight stepped between us. “I clearly need to have a talk with him about—”
“It’s alright, Twily.” Shining gave his sister a small smile. “I’ve dealt with worse. You remember Drill Sergeant Sunshine, right?”
Twilight shuddered. “How could I forget somepony with lungs that big and a mouth that filthy? There were times I could hear him all the way up in my tower on the other side of the castle.”
Shining turned to me with an oddly calculating gaze. Of course, it was only logical that he got to the rank of captain for more than his charisma and skills with shields, but the exact measure of his capabilities as a tactician were unknown to us beyond theoreticals and training exercises—the wedding did not count with the whole secret brainwashing fiasco.
“Well, if childish insults are the way you want it, just know that you brought this on yourself. I’ve been getting copies of Twilight’s notes from Princess Celestia.”
Step two: make a target, complete. Step three: weather the initial volley, commence.
He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath in. As he opened his mouth, a smirk appeared on his face, and I inexplicably felt a significant amount of dread freezing up my veins.
“Your mom’s so fat her chitin is denser than the black hole where her heart should be!”
He finished pointing accusingly at me with a hoof—a sweet and spicy mix of emotions wafting through the air as Twilight and all the nearby crystal ponies enjoying the exhibit gawked. One mother put her hooves over her foal’s ears at the outburst, despite the utter silence now filling the room.
“Oh, wow! You know, I actually do feel better now?” Shining—finally realizing how silly he looked with his hoof extended—decided to settle on his hooves and look to the statue before us.
I stood unmoving, trying to process his words. He couldn’t have just—
No. He did.
Step three, complete. Step four: establish boundaries, commence.
“Do you— Do you have a death wish?!” I scrambled over to Shining, knocking a still stunned Twilight on her haunches. “What if one of Mother’s agents heard that?”
Shining gave a bellowing belly laugh. “You called my wife food, so I called your mom fat. If you can’t take it, then leave Cadance out of this.”
Oh. It. Was. On.
Step four, amendment: screw boundaries, let him have it.
I snorted, half-pawing, half-clawing at the ground. “I can take it all right, but can you? What kind of husband mixes up his wife to be with my mom?! I mean, you’ve met her. She’s not even worthy of licking the ground Cadance walks on, and yet you fell for her—”
“Bad Morpheus! Bad Shining!” A familiar notebook whacked me on the head. “We do not bond over insults!”
“Ah, Twily! Where’d you even get a squirtbot— Cold! Cold! Not the face! Not the— Is that a notebook?! My ears are ringing from that! It can’t just be a note—”
Shining’s sentence cut out as glacially cold water slammed into my senses. “By the hive, that’s cold! What did you put in there?! Crystallized dread?”
“At least it’s not as cold as your mom’s— Sweet Celestia, she just conjured an encyclopedia!”
I was, thankfully, not targeted by the encyclopedia.
“Bad Shining! Just you wait until I tell Cadance!”
Step four, incomplete—obstruction has occurred. Resume later. Additional secondary objectives: calm Twilight and move the battlefield. Step five-a: damage control. Step five-b: parler with Twilight
“It was his idea!” Shining shifted from his defensive positioning to point a hoof at me.
Twilight flared her wings and puffed her cheeks out. “That doesn’t make it right for you two to suddenly… suddenly… whatever this is!”
I warily flicked my wings to shed the water from them. “I joke with Rainbow all the time, Twilight.”
The Princess of Friendship stomped a hoof. “That wasn’t joking! It was making a scene! I know joking!”
“And who is making a scene now?” I thrummed, smirking at the adorable little blush that crept up her neck as she realized she had unwittingly become an accomplice.
“Do you want to take this somewhere else?” I lit up my horn and conjured a portal. “Ve’re pretty sure the gardens would work. They were suitably empty during our trip through them.”
Shining eyed the portal warily, but Twilight just ruffled her wings and walked through. I began to follow—causing Shining to leap into action and jump through—and we were soon in the surprisingly lush and humid gardens.
Vines hung like curtains from a series of pipes along the ceiling, while the pipes gently misted water down onto elaborate crystal pots full of plants that reflected and refracted the light that landed on them into a multitude of rainbows. The rainbows were further refracted through the water being fed into the room, and the result was the odd sensation of walking through a crystalline coral reef at the bottom of a sea of light.
“There.” I flicked my wings once more as the portal closed. “You were saying?”
Twilight blinked, having once again been distracted—or maybe awestruck, given she hadn’t seen it hundreds of times like us—by the sheer presence of the place. “Oh…right….. Where was I?” Her gaze narrowed. “Ah, I remember. Contrary to what you might think, that was not ‘joking,’ Morpheus. You should know better than to be so insensitive!”
I cringed under her withering gaze and the onslaught of her emotions—like a dry, glaring, summer day. The already muggy gardens became unbearably stifling. My mouth ran dry even as water pooled and condensed in several of the nooks and crannies in my chitin, but I stood my ground.
Ve were not wrong here.
“Twilight, I understand where you’re coming from, but… trust me when I say ve know what I’m doing. You’ve seen how Rainbow and Applejack can go at each other’s throats one minute and just laugh it away the next.”
Twilight ruffled her wings. The feathers were starting to noticeably misalign, and she began unconsciously preened a few in her irritation. “That’th different.” She mumbled as I heard her pluck out a particularly bothersome feather. “All friends have fights. It’s the fact they make up that’s important. See! You know I’m right! You’re avoiding looking at me.”
I, of course, had been politely avoiding watching her preen, but I couldn’t tell Twilight that. No matter how much Rainbow tried to drill the concept of platonic preening into me, I still found it awkward, and Twilight would find it awkward that I found it awkward.
It hadn’t actually been an issue so far—she thankfully liked preening in private—but the atmosphere here was pretty agitating for even my wings, and they were pretty low maintenance. I kept having to flick the water off them as more condensed within their membranous folds.
“Twily, it’s fine, really. I get what he was trying to do, and, to be honest, I think I needed it.” Shining sat back on his haunches, looking up through the pool of rainbows surrounding us towards the ceiling. “Some of my friends in the guard—the ones I kept away from you and mom and dad—were real jerks. They said things they shouldn’t, spent way too many nights on the town getting in bar fights, and had mouths that would make a sailor, or even a sea pony, proud.”
He rolled his shoulders and there was a loud crack. The taste of fine wine filled the air as he took a stroll down memory lane. “Well, I say they were my friends, but I kind of hated them at first. They were everything I thought the guard shouldn’t be, and I made sure to let them know.
“One day, though, one of them said something—I don’t even remember what anymore—and I suddenly found myself giving him a bloody muzzle.” Shining hummed in thought. “I was stuck standing there, completely mortified, as he laughed his tail off and offered to buy me a drink.”
“And… and what did you do then?” Twilight hesitated, and I sneaked a peek to find she was merely biting her lip.
“I was so embarrassed that I accepted their invite as way of an apology. Having only rarely drunk before, I couldn’t really hold my liquor, so I got us into a bar fight, earned us a few bruises, and somehow that made me friends with them all by the end of the night.” Shining shrugged. “It was the weirdest thing, and I still don’t really understand how I did it or why I stuck with them. I’m thankful I did, though, because they all mellowed with more training. That doesn’t change how we became friends in the first place, though.”
“I see….” Twilight’s face scrunched up in a way that all too clearly said she didn’t.
“Lies.” I admonished her in Chitri and she flinched. Her grasp of the language was still limited, but I had made sure she knew what that word and its many intonations meant.
“Okay, then.” She huffed, quickly composing herself once more. “I don’t see how this can possibly be okay, but if Shining’s alright with it, I’ll let it go for now.”
I nodded and smiled.
Secondary objectives, complete. Step five-a and five-b, complete. Recommencing step four: let him have it.
I stared at Shining, internally debating how to be—
“What’s the matter, bug breath? Cat got your tongue?”
Shining took the initiative, yet started small this time. His emotions were like a tentative tendril of smoldering orange peels. Warm, yet not quite a spicy anger. Curious, but mostly courteously so. Cautious, yet willing to come forth.
“Ve were merely curious about your investment in this venture.” I tsked. “It’d be a shame to disillusion you on your chances of winning this little competition of sorts with the first blow.”
“Ha! Don’t underestimate me.” Shining gave a bark of laughter. “You’ll find I have a pretty tough skin when I need to.”
“Oh, I know.” I bared my fangs in a grin while suppressing the queasiness creeping through me at the thought of what I was about to say. “Mother was far too detailed about your preferences in the bedroom, after all. Of course you would have thick skin after that much—” I waggled my brows and tried not to gag. “—stimulation.”
Twilight eeped, while Shining merely narrowed his eyes. The air around him burned with a maelstrom of emotional intensity that was far too jumbled to outright label good or bad.
“You know, that would have been much more savage if you hadn’t twitched halfway through? As it stands, all I want to know is if she told you about the time she took me toy shopping and—”
Oh no…. I hadn’t heard this one, and ve had never seen it in the archives. For Mother to have purposely excluded it from my ‘education,’ it had to be risque even for her.
Too much information incoming. Emergency. Abort.
“Okay! Okay!” I whistled shrilly in dismay. It was too late, I was starting to imagine all the grisly details. Why had ve thought digging those memories up was a good idea? “I made a mistake! I get it! The bedroom is off limits. There’s too much family history there.”
Shining smirked. “I never said—”
“Too much family history!” I would not have been surprised to find steam coming off my chitin, and I could barely keep my blood a nice black to hide the massive blush tingling over my entire body.
Shining arched his brow. “You know, I’ve got way more right to be squeamish here than you. Based on Twilight’s reports to Celestia and all the papers going crazy over you, I would have expected you to do more than crumble to pieces over my tastes in the bedroom.”
“It’s not you specifically, Shining.” I twitched. “Normally, I wouldn’t care, but ve made a critical mistake in assuming I would be able to avoid the mental image of Mother and you paying homage to Sleipnir.” I slunk to the ground, put my head in my hooves, and tried to claw the horrifying picture from my head. “Mother being as bad as she is, I’m probably one of the few changelings who can appreciate the pony tendency to freak out when imagining their parents like that. No, it’s even worse because Mother likes to store those memories in our family’s personal slice of the hivemind, and ve were too hive-damned curious for my own good.”
“Okay, I take it back.” Twilight squeaked almost too quietly for me to hear. “Can you please stop doing… whatever this is?”
I desperately wanted to say yes, but Shining’s emotions had shifted. Was that pity, or was it empathy? Despite the show of weakness, I seemed to have struck a chord in Shining.
“Oh….” Shining sighed, shuddering slightly. “I guess that does sound like the kind of twisted, malicious, trophy she’d make. I’m lucky enough to only have really vague memories of most of those nights myself, but I know for a fact she sometimes took things to a level even Cadance and I don’t care for. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
His shudder became even more pronounced. “And believe me; I can totally feel for you on the parents front. The day I got the talk on the birds and the bees was the day I walked in on Mom and Dad making Twily.”
There was a massive spike in the taste of rubber in the air before it suddenly fell off, and a thump filled the room as Twilight fainted in a slump on the floor. As Shining and I moved to check on her, I silently thanked the First Father that ponies—regardless of what they claimed—did not actually die from embarrassment.
“Only good thing to come about from that whole fiasco was my LSBFF here.” Shining smiled, levitating the comatose alicorn onto his back. “Mom told me that meant I was her guardian angel. I was so happy about that I went prancing off to my friends to brag without even knowing what an angel was.”
I arched my brow. “Guardian angel? Your mom reads too much Daring Do.”
The smile became a smirk. “My mom edits for A. K. Yearling. Didn’t you know that with your all-powerful spy network?”
I chuckled. “Doesn’t change the fact that she reads too much Daring Do, does it? I’ve seen Twilight devour those books like an analyst fresh from the Chrysalling. Ve can tell your family really likes reading.”
Looking at Twilight as we walked out of the gardens, my grin became a grimace. “You don’t think we took things too far?”
“We?” Shining snorted. “You were the one who brought up my bedroom habits. The only one to blame here is you.”
“Right.” I muttered, head slumping, ear tubes splaying back.
There was a sigh from off to the side along with a conflicting whirlwind of emotions. “Look. I’m sorry if it still looks like I’m blaming you for everything. I didn’t want to mention it with Twily listening in, but I’ve been going to a lot of counselling ever since the wedding—way more than Cadance lets on about. I know my issues are rooted more in what Chrysalis did rather than the invasion itself, and I know it’s wrong to mix my feelings on the two up—especially now that I know why you invaded. Knowing that and understanding that are two different things, though, and I spend a lot of time bottling everything up because I have an empire to run.”
I almost tripped as I felt a weight on my back. Looking up, I found Shining levitating Twilight over me. He looked at me searchingly for a moment before nodding and releasing Twilight. This time I didn’t stumble, and we continued.
“Hiding your pain from others to protect them is an honorable goal,” I thrummed. “But hiding too much of the truth only invites more pain. If what you say is true, then even I may not know the true depths of your feelings. You could be living the lie so much that even you are starting to believe it to be the truth sometimes, and that is not healthy. If you want to get better, you should be confiding this to Twilight rather than me.”
Shining shook his head. “Maybe I should, but I don’t want to. She has too much on her plate as it is.”
“You have at least told Cadance, right?” I prodded.
“Of course! Who do you take me for? I tell my wife any and everything.” Shining grunted, heading right into a room that turned out to be a bedroom. “On the subject of my wife, though, she wanted me to ask you how things are going between you and Twilight.”
Gently lowering Twilight onto the bed, I took extra care while I slid her beneath the covers and tucked her into a proper cocoon so that I might gather our thoughts.
“Ve are not sure…. I do enjoy her company more than any of the others I have the pleasure of interacting with, but that could merely mean we are better friends. I do not feel any of things ve’d expect love to feel like, nor do I taste the feelings ve know signal love—or even just a crush—from Twilight.”
Shining looked at me for a moment before replying. “Well, just remember that if you end up chasing Twilight, it’s my obligation as her big brother to try and scare you straight.”
“I’m already straight as an arrow, sir.” I chirped far too innocently.
“Maybe for a changeling.” Bending down, he brushed his lips over his sister’s forehead. “Sleep tight, little sis.”
He turned to leave. “Would you mind staying with her while I go take care of some business? I really should have chewed the guard out more for what they did to you, but I was too worried about finding Twilight to really be angry at the time.”
“Sure.” I nodded, moving a nearby chair so a friendly face would be the first thing Twilight saw when she woke up. Hesitating for a moment, I called out to Shining as he reached the doors. “And maybe later we could have a rematch?”
Shining looked back over his shoulder at me with a smirk. “A rematch you say? There wasn’t much of a match to begin with.”
“Tactical error.” I kept my face straight. “Ve will adjust accordingly and be ready for you next time.”
Shining snorted. “You just keep telling yourself that.”
Twilight murmured something too quietly for me to hear as her brother left, pulling the cocoon of blankets even tighter around her. She turned on her side, smiling, and—friend that I was—I dutifully moved the chair to the other side of the bed and sat down again.
Reaching into her bags, I pulled out the Daring Do novel she had brought, and attempted to read it. It was a later a later book in the series, though, and—without spoiling things through the hivemind—I was woefully lacking in proper context. I soon put it down to simply settle in and watch Twilight sleep.
Idly poking at the floor with a hoof, ve wondered whether we’d be here past dinner or even the final train with how much sleep Twilight had missed lately. It wouldn’t really matter, but ve would much prefer our own hoofspun cocoon to a guest room here.
Several minutes passed, and ve were just settling down into our musings when I suddenly twitched at an errant thought of ours—a most incredulous, ridiculous, stupefying thought. Even as I jolted, a yawn tore it’s way from my mouth, though, and I realized it was just my fatigue getting to me.
There was no way that hypothesis had merit.
Right?
I blinked, looked at Twilight, and glanced at the door—half-expecting it to come crashing down and reveal one very angry big brother. Really, I don’t know why ve even entertained the thought that that might do anything for us, but the thought wouldn’t go away now—loathe as I was to acknowledge it.
Sitting there, fidgeting and glancing back at the door every few seconds, I finally managed to calm down enough to return to our musings. There were some calculations I wanted to double check on the love intake for the hive. Something had seemed off about the last few reports, and ve wanted to make sure that—
There it was again!
I shot up from my seat, standing rigid. Slowly turning to the vanity, I glared at my reflection—just daring the hive-forsaken little thought to step forth from the churning background static of our thoughts once more.
There! There it was! Ve grabbed hold of it and carefully analyzed every facet of the train of thought we could. An entire web of probability—spun without the nosy interference of the other analysts—soon lay before us in our mind’s eye.
“Our hive-damned curiosity will be the death of me one day.” Ve scrutinized the results, frowning.
I snuck a glance at the door again before turning to look at Twilight. With glacial slowness, I approached her to look down on her as she slept. She looked so peaceful, and I really hoped I didn’t wake her in the middle of this experiment.
Hesitantly leaning down, I couldn’t get close enough before pulling back. That accursed thought of ours to worm it’s way back into my head, though, egging me on until I tried again.
And again.
And again.
Finally, my mouth was only a few inches away from Twilight.
“Sleep well, Twilight.” I gently kissed her on the forehead exactly as I’d seen her brother do before pulling back as swiftly as I dared. Hastily sitting back in the chair, ve stared into the distance.
As expected, she tasted like lilies and lavender…. There had been no spark as far as ve could tell, however. My heart didn’t flutter. Fireworks had not flown. Angels didn’t sing. None of the required signs had emerged, and if anything the experiment had induced negative stimuli.
My heart had actually frozen in terror when she momentarily moved beneath me—the traitorous organ summarily trying to claw its way from my chest like a panicked animal. Cardiac arrest followed by a rocketing pulse rate: signs of a fear overdose.
Not love.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, and thanking the Azure Veil I hadn’t been caught. Honestly, what could ve have possibly been thinking? This wasn’t some fairy tale. It was ridiculous to think a kiss would inspire some sort of previously unknown feelings.
Unless it required a kiss on the li—
No. That was ludicrous and ve were even stupider for thinking that than ve were for pondering the initial experiment. In what possible way could location matter? Enzyme exchange helped love transfers, but it wasn’t a requirement. If there had been some magical unknown feeling, I would have felt it.
Better to just take a nap and ponder other problems.
I couldn't stand the wait until tomorrow so have the last update in backlog now. It is in fact entirely coincidental, but nice, that it marks the 200k word mark.
Deep breaths now. Deep breaths. Must not panic about the tag change. 200k words is roughly 2 novels in length and several years worth of work. It is not -- by any means -- too soon. No matter what the shy bookish nerd in me says. If anything, I should've added the romance tag sooner. Not progressed it faster, mind you, just added the tag.
Regardless, thanks to Malefactory for editing, and please don't blow up for the tag change this far in... 
It took forever to decide it was a necessity.
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Is Fluttershy trying to fly with her ears?
8287324
The squealing shall be doubled!
XD Oh, Morphy, does the entire hive not know what real love is like? I assure it's a lot sweeter, more subtle, meaner, and more terrifying than fireworks, butterflies, and angels singing! He is so going down. I give this round to Rarity, who f
ing called it.
...eh, kinda saw that coming.
Well, that was hilarious. Looking forward to round two.
Parley?
I found this for you [It was a later a later book in the series,] repeat words.
8287492
Parler is the Prench (a.k.a. French) verb to talk if I remember right. Parley is an Equish/English word derived from parler -- probably because English speakers won't instantaneously look at parler and realize it's pronounced the way it is. Pretty sure either or works, though.
Hehe, the nature of this verbal spar was just a gem, and certainly so for morpheus and twilight at the end. This was a feel good chapter from start to finish, and the rebuttal was clever, but bonding.
8287481
It was kind of obvious, but I've been agonizing over this decision forever. I'm 200k words in and still worry I'm going too fast -- despite all the comments that I'm doing fine. It's one of those things I'll probably always agonize over too. Romance is something I've always believed needs to be just so in a story lest it detract from the bigger picture, and I frankly don't trust myself to write it to my standards.
*Positive adjective* work, as always.
YES! GOD! YES!
I love it every time someone pulls this reference. The 8 legged horse, I mean that's just perfect and never gets used.
8287551
That's an understandable concern. Personally, I think that you're going at just the right pace with it.
8287535
Huh, learn something new every day.
In relation to 8286772 ...
You did it again!
Actually in more than one way, because there is yet again a double word (actually double pair of words), and I am again too lazy to find it now. Also too late, gotta get up in 7 hours to work. Damn the adult life. At least I read something nice. As for romance tag, eeeeee. :D
The last scene made me squee! Ye! So cute!
You'll get it soon, Mo. I can't wait for your mind to be blown.
You know, even though it says on the tin that nothing serious happened, I really think Shining and Morpheus made good inroads on a friendly enough relationship.
8292688
Hey, he's the adult human essence of Crusading.
Which is terrifying that you turned him into a pony.
8299185
Yes, it is light, which is why I'm not making a bigger deal out of it. I've seen too many stories in which an out-of-the-blue ship has taken over the story, so I wanted to make sure the author didn't make that mistake. It doesn't look like that's the case, which is a relief.
I don't like shipping (especially between main characters), but as long as it's not too intrusive, I don't mind overlooking it.
Really good chapter but...WHY ARE ALL THE CHAPTERS GONE?! T_______T
Seriously, I am 100% all caught up and there's NO new chapters for me to read T__________T
In your story Twilight's crystal castle is intelligent and can communicate, is the Crystal Empire castle similar?
8485140
I've toyed with the idea, but, if it is, it hasn't yet revealed itself to be.
Yes, Morpheus. Let the kissu flow through you