Great story, really enjoyed it. Sad to see it end though

I have to say this is probably my most favorite story on this website, I enjoyed every part about it, though the deal with Tarmara's age still confuses me, but I believe I have it mostly down, so it's sad to see this end.

"Pinkie." The dragon snickered. "That's what you get for letting her get her hooves on a time machine. She said she's due to arrange you girls' tenth anniversary."
I felt a vein twitch on my forehead. "Damned, damned time travel! Who attends their own fucking funeral?! She catered!"

Pinkie and time travel... fun stuff.

Loved the story, really good work.

The chaos spirit lifted a claw. "Oh, waiter? We'll take the menu. And everything on it."

... You know, Pinkie is probably already immortal. She just acts like she is older.

Awww...it's over. Although nothing seemed to have happened aside from what was expected here, loop closed, friends made up, pinkie pranked, will-they-wont-they got resolved. Dunno why I seemed to have expected otherwise.

I feel sad. I know everything ends but following this story, I sort if expected it to go on. I always got a thrill whenever I saw an update for it. Not gonna have that anymore.

It's been a joy reading The Magic World. Thank you for sharing it with us and I look forward to your next one.

So weird... yet still worth reading.

I-It's finished? You actually finished it?

...And so cometh at this, the final sign, the beast at end of days.

(Finishes chapter)
I'm so confused. I think i agree with Tamara's opinion.

Damned, damned time travel!

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I felt a vein twitch on my forehead. "Damned, damned time travel! Who attends their own fucking funeral?! She catered!" Letting my head impact the tabletop, I moaned. "Not dating. Put that idea out of my head years ago."

Best comment ever.

Actually, I wish I'd thought of that. The thought of Pinkie catering to her own funeral is priceless.

So, we're finally at the end of this story, or at least the epilogue. Based on the incomplete status there may be a bit more, but I imagine over 95% of it is over. Thus, it is time to give my true opinion.

Overall? Pretty damn good.

Tamara was an interesting and very unique character. The plot and her journey through the ages was interesting and exciting to follow, and you had great emotional conflicts here and there, along with descent pacing.

Aside from the odd grammatical error (and those were few at that), this was overall pretty damn good and I'm having trouble thinking of logical inconsistencies right now (granted, I'd have to reread the entire story in one sitting or over two or three days to do this at my best, but I think my memory holds).

That being said, there's one thing that has had my wondering why for the entire story.

Why did you have Celestia born a colt? Now, before I continue, let me just say I honestly don't care what gender she biologically has or why any morals here. Rather, I'm asking what impact it actually had on the story. And, after racking my brain for thoughts on this, I've come to conclude that, if you'd just written Celestia as female from the beginning, the story would be exactly the fucking same. Celestia being born male has absolutely no impact on the story as a whole. I suppose it could be argued that it creates a deeper bond between her and Tamara, but she's was already Tamara's first child and wouldn't that have been more than enough?

As a whole, the only real reason I can think of why you had Celestia be born male is for a bit of a shock reveal that Tamara is the mother of Celestia and Luna when Luna was born and Celestia made the decision as a young foal to be male (and we're getting to that in a minute). Which, if that is what you were going for, it was poorly executed-I remember being rather convinced that Tamara was going to be the mother of Celestia and Luna several chapters in advance before Celestia was even conceived.

Furthermore, what is actually done with Celestia being this way? Actually, let's do a thought experiment.

Two identical timelines, one where Celestia was born female and the other this one. How does her being born male (and apparently using illusion to hide her true gender most of her life) change the story? How does male born Celestia change the story, or how is it explored? How would it compare to the other, otherwise identical timeline where Celestia was female?

Well, after thinking on this story and on most of Celestia's actions, I can say that there really isn't much of an affect. It's just rather pointless and doesn't add to the story in much of any meaningful capacity and I'm still puzzled why you went this route when it didn't have much of an impact on the story at all.

Secondly, and this is something I meant to voice in a much earlier chapter but never got around to it. Tamara encouraged Celestia to change her identification from male to female. As a foal. A child who trusted his mother implicitly and had little world experience to make his own decision. A child whose mother encouraged what was for all intents and purposes a sex change without an immediate physical change in gender, just mentality and personality.

I don't think I need to go into detail as to why I found this utterly wrong and honestly made me lose a lot of sympathy for Tamara. It reminded me far too much of the twisted experiment David Reimer was forced to undergo because a psychologist was convinced for years that gender identity was learned, rather than on petty things like biology. (For those of you who don't know, David Reimer's genitalia was destroyed during a botched circumcision as a baby, and at the advice of a trusted psychologist, the family raised him as a girl for years and the psychologist even went as far as to convince his family to have his testicles removed).

I'm sure Tamara had good intentions, but the fact remains she, a trusted and arguably most important person in the world to Celestia at that time, recommended he become a she for...Honestly? I don't know why. Kind of goes with how pointless the whole thing seemed, considering how little impact it actually had on the story.

So, that's about it. A nice story, but that segment just stick out and I've made my opinion clear on it.

Still, congrats on finishing this story. It's nice to know you stuck through it this long, and I wish I could have a story this long under my belt. Maybe one day

I love this story so much sad to see it finished. Can't wait to see what comes next.

This was actually a good story, but I am rather left confused at them end of what is happening.

Love it!

Maybe the next chapter will explain the time loop cause I'm still confused at how there's a pony Tamara and a human Tamara. Yeah I've just been riding along since the closing the time loop arc started

"What's... oh. 'Genetic normal'," said Dan, eyes widening.

↑⁹⁹ Graham's Number

Miss Williams might be the start of a pattern."

Hi, Megan.

"Damned, damned time travel! Who attends their own fucking funeral?! She catered!"

I have to go trade places with Chancellor Puddinghead for a week and see if anybody notices."

As usual, this leaves me without words, in so many ways…

…as does the end of the story. All good things…

…must kumquat to an end. :discord:

[Major spoiler] You made a "self-insert"? alicorn story that took important part in all major historical events, parented the Princesses, became the primordial creator god, had friends take other major roles, and…avoided being a Mary Sue. Five-stars.

edit: …wait, it's not flagged Complete.

Well. That is one way to end it.

Slight bittersweet. This was a lovely flavour.

This... This was an adventure. I've read many stories, many not even from this fandom. But this one... This one tops the cake.

The writing is good, the story is always interesting and engaging, the characters were both believable and fleshed out, the world building was outstanding, the emotions never felt forced... Everything is perfect.

I'm just sad to see it over, and I'm sad that I was so late to this party. I wish I would have seen this story when it was first published, just so I could feel the wait for the next chapter. As it is I read the whole thing in one sitting, barely even going to sleep at night.

Overall its an easy 10/10.

I'm still a little uncertain of this was a single-loop or double-loop Temporal Anomaly, but oh well! What I can tell you was that this story was amazing. Spent hours marathoning it today!

I freaking love this story so much! This is the first time I've commented on a story on fimfiction, and it had to be this one. I love the properly-done time-loop, the interesting twists, and Tamara(she reminds me of me a lot).

Defintely would recommend this fic, it totally deserves more views.

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I think you completely missed the point with Celestia being transgender (and for that matter, what happened to David Reimer.)

Tamara didn't force Celestia to change gender. She basically said "You know, if a boy feels like they're a girl, then they're a girl and it's okay to be a girl if you feel like you are one." Saying this to a boy who feels themselves to be a boy would have no effect. Celestia was transgender, and being trans, Tamara saw the signs, and provided encouragement in the sense that she reassured Celestia that it was okay to be a girl even if somatically she was a boy.

This is the opposite of David Reimer. David was forced to behave as if he was a girl, actively discouraged from doing anything that would express his male identity, and had the truth about himself concealed from him. David Reimer is actually our best model for what society naturally does to transgendered children. It turns out that if you raise a cisgendered child as a member of the opposite sex, they suffer exactly the same sort of effects as transgendered children who are raised as the sex they appear to be. David Reimer is a demonstration of how incredibly destructive it is to force a child to be a sex they are not, where sex is defined as brain sex and not body sex. David Reimer is why what Tamara did with Celestia was absolutely correct. She did not force Celestia to be a girl; she gave Celestia the freedom to be a girl if she wanted to be. If Celestia had had a male identity she wouldn't have taken Tamara up on that.

As for what it adds to the story... to transgendered people, it adds a sense of personal identification. Assuming that factors such as identity must add to the story objectively is basically a statement that there's a default character and any variation from that default has to "add" to plot or characterization... logic that's used to define white males as the default for every character and so you have to justify what it "adds" to make a character female, or black. I'm not saying you would demand that there be a justification for why a character happens to be black or female; I'm saying that demanding a justification for what it adds to make a character trans is basically the same thing. Some people are trans, and it doesn't "add" to a story to make some characters in it trans... but it makes them reflect the lived reality of a trans reader. Or writer.

I know of no studies that suggest that being transgendered is genetically transmissible in humans, but it's certainly possible that it's transmissible in ponies, or that the magic that created Tamara's pony body and made her cisgendered had some sort of effect where her nature as a trans person had to be displaced onto one of her children, or something. I know, as a parent, that it creates a different sort of bond between a parent and a child when they are like you in some way that you identify with... you don't love them more, or less, but it's different. For a parent, it's meaningful that Celestia is trans like her mother because we can recognize that that creates a different kind of connection besides just being the eldest.

So it may not have added something for you, because your life experiences don't hit any of the points that would have made it meaningful. But it added something for me as a parent, and I'm sure it adds something for trans readers. And there's no reason not to have it. Unlike a plot point, or an identity aspect like "secret lost son of the king" which really does sort of need to have a point, an identity aspect you can be born with like being trans, or disabled, or autistic, or whatever, doesn't need to have a plot point. People are really born like that and there's no point to them being born like that, it just is a thing that happens, so why does it have to have a point in a story?

I think this a weird AF Bootstrap Paradox.

So we come to the conclusion... I'm sad that it has come to an end, this has been one of my all time favorite stories I've read on this site.

I've been trying to write this comment for an hour now, and I can't decide on how to do it, so I guess I'll just put what I have to say.

Thank you. This was an amazing story and I loved every second of it. Thank you for writing it, and sharing this world with us.

...

Have a nice day, and may you always be inspired.

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Celestia being Trans is also a very good plot device used to mask who Tamara really was at the time.

Sweet, but sad story.

7574532 You phrased it better than I ever could have.

Double comment post, I know. Still. I had to say this: I freaking love you guys! You made this fun to write! Every one of you who liked, commented, or just got past the summary page deserve my undying appreciation.

Gentlemares? Stallions? It's been a privilege...

I...have no idea what's going on. That entire ending was confusing as fuck.

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Well, some people do it to be mean (because the writer's fic is better than theirs and they are jealous or just because they like to spit on everything nice) and some people genuinely don't like fics. That's the thing about fanfictions and first-impressions: you don't trust them. I've read at least dozen fics during my time here that started out pretty dull and became one of my favorites, and then I've read ones that had alot of promise, but then about halfway through their quality started waning or even felt as if a different person altogether was writing it.
Sometimes downvotes will hit your 'new fic' specifically because they don't like your cover art (had that one happen. I don't think they even clicked the first chapter. I have since then changed the pic, but the damage is done). Sometimes people will instant-click a vote due to what's listed as contained in the fic in your category selection. Some people strongly dislike one character or another and decide "This character has ruined the fic for me!", will downvote, and move on without saying a word as to why, leaving you to wonder just what it is that folks don't like (UGH!).

And then she grew her horn back.

I wasn't sure what I was getting into at the start of this story, but I have to say that you kept me absolutely riveted the whole way through. A wonderful read from start to finish.

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I think because she's not really a pony, and doesnt used pony magic she goes into "Alicorn mode" when the adaptation spell decides her body needs to handle a higher than normal magic through put. Kind of like going Super Sayan before the Cell saga in BDZ.

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Tegnicaly speaking she is not only a pony but mother of all Ponykind. So she cheats.

It would not surprise me if her pegasus form was just a transformation spell.

Goddamn that is one of the best stories I've read though it's still getting to me that Winter died

I really enjoyed this. I do think the story could have been cleaned up a bit. You have a lot going on here, and the time travel shenanigans are really convoluted. Of course, binge reading at 3 am probably didn't help my reading comprehension hahah.

I like how your story starts off as a slow burn. Exploring ancient equestria with Tham'ra was amazing and fresh. A part of me thinks that you could have made something without any humans, and kind of made a much clearer narrative with just ponies and time travel shenanigans. The idea of telling the story of Celestia and Luna's mother is a powerful one, and you tell it really well. The human transformed into pony aspect kinda muddles that story a bit.

Anyways, the Celestia/Luna/Tham'ra interaction was also top notch. Awesome work!

"Pre-de... Pre... Pre-de.... time stuff."

I have to go trade places with Chancellor Puddinghead for a week and see if anybody notices."

But Chancellor Puddinghead is a guy...

A neat glimpse into a transcendent society, I suppose. I still don't really get how Tamara went from "the pool in which she'd submerged herself for her long, long slumber," to college student's apartment, but I assume playing with portals was involved.

Ah~ Oh it is a rare thing for me, to have a sense of satisfaction when a story ends.

I thank you for making this, I enjoyed this tale of a character journeying the long way for home, one year at a time. The sense of realism as she lives in this world amongst the locals, their way (with a bit of magic for comfort), rather than trying to contaminate their development with human ideas/inventions. Instead, decides to learn from them, making for plenty of chances for world building in not just in setting or lore but in culture, traditions and various races.

The joys and pains of love and loss, the self-imposed celibacy in between her times of romances, tied with her self image in gender identity. The, ugliness, and fury to the depths of human hatred in the name of vengeance, to have the MC hit such a low at an appropriate time, really fleshes out how, beneath that pony exterior, still rages the fluid, furious nature of humanity. In the ages of strife and struggles for the pony race, it made her well suited to survive and prosper, as she guides them from behind the scenes.

The twist in the end has been quite a thing, tying in Gen1 stories like Megan was a nice tip of the hat to the past but shows the tragedies of the past, bleeding into the "present".

Hopefully my quest for stories that satisfy, be they joyous or tragic, will bear success like this and I wish you success in whatever works you plan.

Onwards

Inquiring minds want to know:DID she ever make Celestia a true female?

I only ask because it sounded like the spell was just an illusion, and that Tamara would revisit it at a later date.

7894697 If you refer to "Sisters And Footnotes"

At the beginning of the second section, Luna snuck up on Celestia and Star Swirl's conversation on the matter. It seems she went through a long term procedure like magical surgery.

7922221 So basically Tamara returned too late to fix her spell?

7922646 Yeah but it seems she still couldn't have children by then and adopted Spike, stating she'll wait for her mother to solve that

Just finished this story and I must say I quite enjoyed it.

I believe that one of the best aspects were how you captured Pinkie, Discord, and Tammy/Thama'ra/Faust. Very few can capture the pure randomness and lunacy they posses without seeming forced. I would be very interested in any stories you release with characters like this, as it is rare to see them done so well.

Damn. Just...damn.

Well done, and thank you for writing this. Full of heart, different from the usual...no complaints. Only good feelings and the recognition that this is the first story in a while I ciuldn't stop myself from reading in one sitting.

Thank you.

Very good.

Just finished this story early in the morning. this was a really good story and I greatly enjoyed it. I guessed who she was right after she took an interest in Winter and Figured Discord out the moment the Driad was revealed, But whoa is this some serious timeloop work. Great plot-twists and good job on getting it to work. An amazing story overall so I can't say much more than "Wonderful work and thanks for the story."

Well, spent the night reading this story and now with it still fresh in my mind I shall give you my deep and thoughtful critique.

'S pretty good.

"Damned, damned time travel! Who attends their own fucking funeral?! She catered!"

This. This is totally pinkie. Changing places with her past incarnation too. Nice tidbit to add
I bet she'll be there when Twilight & Tamara's first foal is born. Because magic, don't try to convince us it won't happen

Well, just binge read it. Found it yesterday... And damn. Really. Just... So much to praise. Specially how unobtrusive in the story was the transgender subplot, and still relevant. Kudos for that. Have a late favorite, a like and a follow. You earned it.

Oh, if my comment doesn't seem profound, well... I'm rather overwhelmed with reading this story in one go. Take that as a compliment, please

This is exactly the story I was looking to read!! Why are there not more, this Sh*t is AMAZING. 10000/10 would read again. (Jus need to wait long enough to forget it)

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7574532

Chiming in on this as someone on the trans perspective - for me? It was in a way far more fulfilling than Tamara herself, because insofar as their relationship went, and those who knew? It was part of who Celestia was, but that was it. It wasn't there for a plot gimmick or a story hook or to increase the dramatic tension. It was just 'This is who Celestia is as a character', and for lack of a better way of putting it was treated as no stranger than Luna's enjoyment of bats and snakes and bugs, or Twilight's being a huge geek. In fact, in many ways the latter two were far more prominent.

And it's more than that - it's like this beautiful vision of what the experience of things could be, if we were better as a whole at accepting that this is just who some people are. So many of us are driven by fear of rejection, so many simply do not know because nobody is watching for what may be, and so many end up dying tragically early deaths because the burden is so heavy and not everyone is strong enough to carry it. And it's just this wonderfully affirming thing to see something that's like 'Here is how a parent handles it perfectly' and...fuck. Merely writing all that chokes me up.

It wasn't plot relevant. Yes, it had some use in concealing the origin of the Sisters, but ultimately it was simply a thing that WAS, just as Tamara's own identity was much the same way. Tamara's frames her character much more, is a much bigger part of who she is, because she didn't get the experience her daughter did. That's the big difference. You see the dramatic aspects in Tamara's story because her life experience left wounds. Left scars. Left an indelible mark on her soul.

You don't see that with Celestia, because Celestia was accepted for who she was as soon as her mother recognized it could be a possibility.

I'm avoiding addressing the 'She was fucked up in the head' bit because Alara already explained why that doesn't apply here, why she was never pressured, simply given a choice and told she would be loved no matter which way she chose, and so she chose to be who she was.

So...yea. Thanks, Goof. This was beautiful.