This story is a sequel to Finding Home
Amber Glow has a good life. She lives with her loving parents and beloved little brother, and has the most amazing coltfriend any mare could ever ask for. He's charming, outgoing, always put her needs before his, supports her decisions, and respects her boundaries. They've been together for three years, and anypony could see how much he loves her. Amber, however, could never feel the same way.
It has been eight years since Princess Luna was freed from Nightmare Moon. In that time, she has been welcomed back by her sister, and has made some friendships she will cherish forever. She is ever popular with others, always confident and quick witted, she knows exactly the right thing to say in any situation. But who is Luna, after everything that happened to her? In eight years, she has yet to find that answer.
A story set in the Who We Become series.
Want to read this story without reading everything before it? I summarized the preceding stories here.
Content warning: This story contains depictions of homophobia, as well as issues relating to gender identity.
Many thanks to everyone who helped proofread this story: ArchAngelsWings, elmago02, Mind Jack, Eddie Grammar, and mouch30.
I can no words good without these people, and can't recommend their stories enough 
And of course to Pasu-Chan for the amazing cover art 
Before I begin and possibly spoil the story, is it necessary to read the previous installments?
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Short answer is that you'd be better off at least reading Finding Home, but it wouldn't necessarily be required. I could PM you on relevant details you'd be missing out on if you're interested.
Longer, more detailed answer:
The main characters of this story are Amber Glow and Luna, who are supporting characters in the other story. Meanwhile, the main characters previously were Twilight, Fluttershy, and Sunset Shimmer, who are supporting characters in this story.
This story will absolutely spoil the previous ones, since it includes major developments that happened in them. So if you read this and then decide to go back and read the others, you'll know some of the big plot twists ahead of time. As far as not undereating this story though, the main thing you'll be missing is the nature of certain friendships/relationships. Granted, in a slice of life drama, that's a pretty big part of the story. Still, you could probably pick it up as you go, and like I said I can fill you in if you want.
Yaaay! I am so happy to finally see this! Great job!
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I'm glad to finally be posting it 
Thank you
Mmmm... My urge to draw Amber is growing. She's just too cute!
(Haven't really read the story yet, still need to finish Finding Home, that's why I had to put in my read later
)
7548553
That would be so cool if you decided to draw her
And yeah, you'd be spoiling a lot of Finding Home by reading this one first
I hope you enjoy it wherever you get the chance though 
Good to see this is up and off to a great start. A little depressing, but great. Ugh. Why does he actually have to be such a genuinely nice and likable guy? It would be so much easier if he was just a dick. If that were the case then she could probably (albeit unhappily) hold out until her brother was too old for her parents to have a say in anything, and then call it quits on the whole farce. With him actually being a decent guy that she honestly gets along with, the act (and the falling out if it happens) will just be that much worse for both of them.
But I guess when you're going for realism there are just going to be situations that aren't great for anyone involved. He genuinely loves her and she genuinely likes him, but she can't love him back. She wants to be honest with him, but can't because it would mean pulling the pin on the grenade to the situation that made her life so difficult in the first place (though really, given she has apparently been really vocal about supporting TwiShySet, I'd be surprised if her parents haven't caught on). And of course, everyone is probably going to go through their share of suffering as a result.
Oh yes, the drama is strong with this one. Looking forward to seeing where it goes.
7548842
Because somebunny is a cruel writer who isn't satisfied unless nice ponies are suffering
But yeah, like you said, realism and all that. If he was a dick, she'd have broken up with him before now (especially if her parents saw his dickishness, and could thus not blame her for ending things). As it stands, he's a nice guy, which makes staying with him easy and appealing. Of course also like you said, allowing things to build for so long can't possibly end well...
As for her parents, they know she knew them personally. People/ponies at times see what they want to see, so they could assume she's just defending her friends, even if their suspicions are a little raised (which of course only gives Amber more incentive to keep things going with Caramel)
Glad you're enjoying the drama so far
So this takes place 3 years after finding home?
7548999
That is correct
7549021 So, how long before Amber Glow gives her parents the middle finger, grow a brain and get together with Princess Luna?
Or is this going to be one of those wangst fics where she has to keep up the facade for the sake of her brother, who serves as nothing more than a plot detail and an excuse for Amber to inflict emotional self-harm on herself?
5 bucks says she won't tell Caramel the truth and that he's left hanging the whole time.
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Well, I'd certainly say the situation is a bit more complicated than that. Situations where someone is forced into the closet are often complicated, and simplifying it by saying that they should just out themselves and damn the consequences is the kind of thing that often doesn't work outside of fiction. My number one goal is, as always, realism.
I also think it's a bit unfair to say Fox Glove serves as nothing but a plot detail, since he's a legitimate character who appears quite a bit in this fic, and will be a continuing one throughout the future of the series. He's an important part of her situation, and yes, he is the main reason she's closeted herself.
I wouldn't call this a wangst fic (I mean, of course I wouldn't though) although it is rather drama heavy. No more so than any of my other stories, though.
She gave up her job just to appease her bigoted parents and suffer for the sake of her thirteen year-old brother without even telling him her secret?
I guess I must have spent too much time on the lunatic fringe, because that is downright stupid.
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She gave up her job to appease her coltfriend, her parents didn't really care about that at all. She could have broken up with him instead to keep her job, but decided to stay with him, essentially deeming it the path of least resistance.
On that note, you seem to think having done bad opinions makes someone a fundamentally bad person. I don't. Her parents don't approve of homosexuality, which is obviously not a stance I agree with, but they're generally normal ponies. It's not like they spend their time doing anything to intentionally make Amber feel bad about herself or her situation. They don't ever talk about sensitive subjects because everyone wants to be amiable with one another. Amber doesn't just want her brother back, she wants her family back, including her parents (although Fox Glove was the primary factor there).
I'm not saying any of her decisions were right or wrong, just clarifying why she came to the decisions that she did.
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They reject an important part of her identity and use her brother as a bargaining chip in forcing the entire family to stay together, even Amber has to do things she finds reprehensible and unable to ever accept on an unconscious level.
For the sake of the entire family, she has to be pushed down and censored without the chance to freely express herself or find someone she could love.
Please, tell me more about how her parents are such good ponies.
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I didn't exactly say they're good ponies either. Specifically, I said “they're generally normal ponies.” Not wholey good or bad.
Entirely true
Not exactly. They've done nothing to hold him over her aside from stating that she can't live at home if she's gay. They believe Amber is morally in the wrong. They don't want they're son living with somepony they believe to be immoral, in the same way they wouldn't want her exposing him to a life of crime. Again, I adamantly disagree with their belief that being gay is bad. But to them, it is, and they're only trying to do what they believe is right for their son, whom is their primary concern given his age.
For the sake of being with her family, she chose to censor herself and hide her sexual orientation away. Again, I'm not saying this was the best choice, but it is what she decided to do.
Of course, you're free to view the situation however you want to.
This is going to be a emotional week, and she's not the one getting married
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Indeed it is
Ah, and back to Celestia and Luna's side of things. Always enjoy seeing the sisters interact, especially when it's not arguing (or at least not serious arguing). A bit of friendly teasing, some genuine bonding and reassurance...very nice. Also, it's probably a good thing that Celestia never saw the events with the Tantabus, since I'm sure she could have easily turned Luna's little cake-popping jokes back around. You know, considering...
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/7/11/935017__safe_pinkie+pie_princess+luna_animated_screencap_discovery+family_do+princesses+dream+of+magic+sheep_spoiler-colon-s05e13.gif
Glorious.
Anyway, aside from that, I was really happy to see a more Celestia-centered chapter. Obviously I expected that Luna would get a lot of focus, but I wasn't sure whether this would focus mostly on her and Amber or if we'd also be getting some insight into what the others were up to (beyond the basic interactions that this setup would require, of course). I'm still really enjoying how you handle Celestia in these stories. It's always nice to see a Celestia that's actually treated like a person, rather than being one extreme or the other - absurdly over-the-top Tyrantlestia, or absurdly over-the-top Benevolestia. Not that there aren't a fair number of stories that treat her reasonably, but when a fandom has as many stories as MLP it just kind of feels like there aren't that many.
I think the most interesting thing about how she handles these events is how she justifies her choices. She's not entirely comfortable with the situation between TwiShySet (and while I can't recall off the top of my head how long it was between this and Finding Home, changing your mindset like that is going to take a while), and she's afraid of making things worse between them when they've already been in some rocky places, but she tries to fall back on her position as a reason not to address the things she's uncomfortable with and insecure about.
And it would be pretty difficult to confront her about it because, well, her even if they aren't the reason (or the full reason, at any rate) the fact remains that her justifications are totally legit. She really couldn't be expected to look at a situation involving these three impartially if she got directly involved. There really is room for her subjects to lose faith and think that nepotism is at play. Ponies really could interpret her involvement as making an official stance on the law. Regardless of whether it's intentional or not, one of the things about having the power she has is that "I'm trying to be fair and impartial" basically comes as a built in excuse to avoid confronting personal dilemmas that she's afraid of. Not healthy, perhaps, but hard to really call her on without making it seem like you're the one being illogical and too emotional to have the discussion.
Anyway, I enjoyed the chapter, and as usual I'm looking forward to what comes next. Hopefully without any major delays resulting from the universe taking your decision to announce your release schedule as a challenge.
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And I had honestly forgotten about Luna popping out of the cake (even if it was from my favorite episode) 
Over 300k words into this series, and we've seen very little of Luna and Celestia acting sisterly towards one another. I figured it was past time
I suppose that's what happens when the show itself treats her like the ultimate paragon of virtues. It's been one of my biggest hopes to see her on more equal footing with Twilight, what with her being a princess now. An episode of them bonding as equals, rather than the constant mentor-student situations. By this point I've more or less lost hope, though
It's been three years. I suspect Celestia's mind changes very slowly, considering her lifespan. Plus it's always easier to accept those around us than it is to accept others like them. She could accept TwiShySet without extending that same understanding to other polyamorists, in the same way that a racist person may genuinely have that black friend they use as an excuse.
Glad you're enjoying Celestia, in all her uncertainty (lol you left me with pretty much nothing to add, since you hit my thoughts so perfectly) And the universe can bring it on!
7584180
Yeah, it's kind of a bummer. We get little pieces here and there that show a more "normal" side to her, but they're usually just little things like her prank on the Cakes, her amusement with the Gala getting crashed, or her little sisterly spat with Luna in Slice of Life. They're cute little scenes, but they're so short that they just kind of get overshadowed and are pretty easy to forget about. They also don't really show much of her relationship with Twilight aside from Twilight being shocked at Celestia getting the kick out of it that she does.
I doubt we'll ever really get anything too deep or complex, but I'd still really like to see a scene that actually addressed what got played off as a joke in No Second Prances - Celestia talking to her former pupil about having taken on her own student and what that's like for her. Just some acknowledgement that even if Twilight will probably always look up to Celestia, she's grown into her own pony and can actually be a friend and peer instead of just her student/former student. I mean, I know that we heard Celestia say it in the season three finale/season four premiere, but we haven't really seen that shift in their relationship. I'm still holding out hope that we'll at least see something between them in Every Little Thing She Does (since the synopsis suggests it's going to focus on Starlight's lessons, which could open up a teacher-to-teacher talk) or in the movie when it finally comes out. I'm not expecting it, but I'm still hoping for it.
New breed of ponies! Bold strategy cotton.
7592508
Plus it opens up some interesting storytelling opportunities, so to hell with canon 
I've just always pictured them as a different race
Reminds me of situation one of your friends was put through. Something about you just makes me want to scream out.
Here, I fixed the title for you. It's a little wordy, but it should be very accurate.
7601563
Or a pretty normal thing bisexual people do when they enter a committed relationship that doesn't involve sex with anyone other than their partner(s)
I'm honestly a little unsure why you're still reading
I'm not trying to tell you not to or anything, it's just odd since you don't seem to be enjoying the story very much. Where you see unnecessary angst I see drama caused by complicated situations, which is exactly the type of story I want to tell. Even if you're right and it's nothing but unnecessary angst, then that's the story and it's not changing.
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It's a story. If somebody's going to suffer as a result of their own actions, I want to have a front-row seat with popcorn.
EDIT: derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/11/28/1032074__safe_rainbow+dash_screencap_animated_smiling_cute_open+mouth_filly_food_reaction+image.gif
7601594
Fair enough. I hope the rest of the horsey melodrama proves entertaining, at least
To get things out of the way first: DAMN YOU!
I was simply looking for some short, heartfelt romance and now I read the whole series this week.
Now that that is out of the way: I love this story and the series as a whole. Well formed arcs, likeable characters and the right amount of drama and fluffy feelings.
I believe Violet's issue with Amber is that when she first talked about hiding it and her reasons she mentioned only that her parents didn't allow her to see her brother. If that'd be the only reason there were way better solutions: Meat him anywhere in the town at the weekends for example.
But as you explained in the comments for chapter two of this story the reason is more that she want's her family back. That's a much stronger reason you can accept.
Maybe you can work that in one of the next chapters? I think it would benefit the story.
Keep up the great work.
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Tbh, that's one of my favorite things to hear
I'm thrilled you enjoyed my story so much
It seems most people come to my stories expecting simple fluffy romance (I'm so sneaky), but I'm glad the drama/fluff balance worked for you in the end 
I suppose my hope was that it would come across more naturally by showing her having a more positive relationship with her parents. And if I was giving this story the same amount of room as my others, I probably could have shown that. As it stands, I'm working on keeping my writing to a more manageable length since that's a skill I'll need once I start writing stories for publication some day (most publishers don't want to take a 200k novel from an unknown author, after all). So I probably goofed there, and that got lost with them only having a few small interactions. In any event, the explanation is going to be in the story itself within a few chapters.
Why is it when someone writes about both Pinkies being in the same room I fear for the fabric of reality? That's something Rarity can't just put a stitch in to fix, and if Twilight was all grumbly about having to clean up a bunch of dark magic, could only imagine how aggravated fixing reality would leave her. Spike's right on this, you just have to not think about it.
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And while Twilight may not be happy about it, I don't think there's a safer place for reality to start coming apart – between her and Sunset, if anypony is undoing the damage it's them 
That's a reasonable thing to be afraid of
Really sweet chapter
That's one rambling, horribly bland description.
Not one word what this story is actually about. Just character descriptions. One of which is a canon character, Luna, who frankly doesn't sound like she's diverted far enough from her canon appearance to actually be worth that long a description.
Luna X OC, lesbian romance. Bam. The important stuff, right there in one sentence, and behind a spoiler for those that would rather be surprised. (Something I had to poke my head over into that linked group to even find out, I might add.)
Still, congratulations on reaching the feature box. I'd heavily recommend tweaking the above introduction, though.
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Thanks, I'm glad you liked it
7619041
I suppose it comes down to opinion. I don't even completely disagree with you, I kinda thought it was too long. Still, I hate short one sentence descriptions and anything I'd put behind a spoiler tag I'd honestly rather just leave out of the description entirely. The main plot of the story is divided between the romance and both of them figuring out their situations. Since the romance aspect only comes in halfway through the thing, I didn't want to emphasize that in the description. What is in the description is what the story is about otherwise (not sure why you think it isn't). Amber's primary problem is being in a relationship with a male despite being a lesbian. Luna's primary problem is trying to figure out who she is after losing the Nightmare Moon part of her personality. That's the part of the story I decided to emphasize.
In any event, I do appreciate the advice but I'll keep the description as is. It may very well be a bad call, but it markets the story in the way I wanted it to be marketed (even if it means fewer potential readers)
Did it really? That seems highly odd. This story has nowhere near enough traffic to touch the feature box (fewer than one hundred views on its best day). Suppose it might've been a glitch or something, and it certainly didn't stay on there for long
I really don't get it. What is Amber mad at Princess Luna for?
Are they together now again?
7636453 read finding home
7636479 Thank you, that was so helpful.
7636453
Because Luna went from being her best friend/more or less lover to being somepony who barely talks to her. Doesn't help that the turning point in their relationship was when they stopped having sex (although there was quite a lot going on at that time) leading Amber to question if that was all Luna was really interested in from her. Basically, how they were at the wedding used to be the norm for them (they saw each other every few days, even though they weren't living together), but now Luna barely even writes to Amber.
7636475
Well, they haven't confirmed anything. Honestly, at this point neither of them probably know either
yes!!!!!
7636769
Now if only Luna could manage to shorten her 'I love you' down to the basic three words
7637461
Cadance can testify that love does stupid things up to and including making long drawn out things for a simple three word phrase.
Aww poor amber and especially caramel
7655251
Indeed
Fun fact: I never really expected Caramel to get as much sympathy as he has, but right from the first chapter everyone who preread this story agreed that the poor bastard deserved a lot better
Very nice chapter. I am glad that Fox came up with the obvious solution.
I am wondering however how you want to bring this story within one chapter to the end. There are several points not resolved: Her gender identity, her relationship with Luna... Somehow this already demands a sequel.
Also what about the changelings? When they were first mentioned in the story and Amber was introduced next I was sure she was one. But the story took a different turn. Was their only point keeping the EQG characters in the castle?
On a last note: If you feel up to the task I would really enjoy a short story with Rainbow talking to Scoots. Probably one of the hardest things to write. :)
Keep up the good work.
7657952
Thank you
Now if only it were part of an ongoing series
Every plot point will be resolved, but not all in the next chapter. With the gender stuff specifically, this story takes place over about a week, and Amber only really started thinking about that halfway through it. Anyone who figures out their gender identity within a few days probably hasn't really figured out their gender identity.
Ah the changelings
I'm gonna be honest here, I just goofed on that. They are going to be a big deal. When I first started writing this series, I didn't plan on it growing so big. In Pieces, its sequel, and the next two stories I'm writing to fill in gaps I left in the timeline all weren't supposed to happen. The plan was Inner Strength → Finding Home → changeling story. Now it's Sunset prequel → Inner Strength → Sunshyne story → Finding Home → In Pieces → The Grand Equestrian Soap Opera → changeling story 
So basically, the changelings were added too soon because I thought I was only foreshadowing a couple books ahead. Using the changelings to keep the EQG characters in the castle was more of a 'Finally, I can do something vaguely useful with this plot point' and was never the plan.
Incidentally, Amber being a changeling was such a common theory that I considered rolling with it. I never planned Amber to even be a character, I was just like 'lol what if she asked out Fluttershy?' so I made that happen. Then it was 'lol what if Luna asked her out?' so that happened too. I fell ass first into my first significant OC and had no idea what to do with her, the fact that she appeared at the same time as the changelings were introduced was an appealing coincidence to make use of. Of course, I eventually decided to do other things with her.
Rainbow and Scoots will have some screen time together in the Soap Opera, which is also where Amber's gender will come into play. Even though it's not the full changeling story I'll be using them to a greater extent in it as well. I've given that story the working title of Grand Equestrian Soap Opera because it's going to involve every major character having their own story that intertwines with the rest of the characters' stories in different ways, shifting POV so there's no clear-cut protagonist. Throw in my love for drama and it's basically a soap opera with horses.
Also what is Ambers cutie mark doing at the top of the page. This rather seems to be a Luna chapter. :)
So two more weeks and then more than half a year without ponies from you. You are mean and cold-hearted bunny
7672681
Thanks for catching the cutie mark thing, fixed now
Her options were basically to completely call off the friendship, or to progress into a more traditionally romantic relationship.
I take it you're not a fan of Equestria Girls? I'll likely be doing short pony stories periodically alongside the longer human one, although I don't have anything specific planned.
Thank you for reading and commenting, and I'm glad you liked the story
Aww can't wait for your plans for the rest!
7674005
I'm looking forward to getting some of these stories out there 
Thanks you