9432680
Okay, sorry I took over a year to respond to your comments, but a lot of it I felt like I couldn't really get into without spoiling something. Now that the story is done, this is no longer an issue, but—obviously anything I put in spoiler text I still wouldn't advise viewing until you've read the whole thing.

The reason why I didn't include the 'human' tag is actually simple, I should've responded to this more immediately. But technically, there are no humans in this story. No living humans, anyway; I kind of assumed that tag is for humans in Equestria and ponies on Earth stories, where human and pony characters interact. I just didn't want to disappoint anyone who came into the story looking for that dynamic.

As Luna mentioned, the press were just especially hungry for good stories during that time, and were leaping at the first opportunity given to them. But, the more pessimistic implication is that Celestia's 'perfect society' she talks about a lot has lead to Equestrians having an exaggerated sense of worth. That all the land and magic in the world was always destined to be in their hooves (cutie marks are a good example of this sort of 'destiny entitlement'), and Twilight boasting about how far in the shadow of another species Equestrians are, may not sit well with a lot of them. Especially when a lot of citizens probably don't even yet believe in humans.

Yeah with Cave, I really wanted to show how calculated and patient he is. He probably would've had a good chance to kill Looking Glass during the card game, and Glass probably knew that. It was Cave's 5D chess match move to gain that last little bit of trust (And in a way, him trying to gain the reader's trust). He also probably threw his card game. Also, your final guess has pretty much been covered by the ending. Like Celestia, Cave has a vision for Equestria too, and the display Twilight showed at the Summer Sun Celebration—proving her to be a more open-minded, and honest leader—gives Cave reason to believe she was the one destined to come with him on his little road trip. They probably would've gotten along, too, if Cave wasn't a violent murderer.

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Okay, this first point is kind of a big one, and I sort of already touched on it in one of my other comments. But basically, the core of Resurgence is the cast's reaction and interaction with The Vault. For some characters like Twilight and Lyra, it's a point of obsession. It's a call to action to The Equestrians (the cult), and it's a headache to a lot of the higher-ups at Canterlot. Even Applejack's total non-reaction to the announcement, in a way, is part of those range of reactions. With the original thought for this story, I was really just curious to guess as to how these characters would've dealt with something like this. And I just couldn't imagine being able to do that from only one character's point of view. I'm willing to admit that that probably led to some bizarre fragmentation, and some story lines being dryer than others. I'd definitely be down to hearing which of those plots worked for readers, and which didn't, actually.

Dominus is an interesting guy. I mean, he's essentially a living trolley problem, and you're right, you'd think that that would carry a tremendous moral weight on his shoulders. So why wouldn't he intervene more often? Well, for one, he does tell that little story in chapter seven about another creature like him who ended up driving himself mad. A cautionary tale—whether it's true or not. But I think that even ignoring the possibility of driving himself insane, he has other, more personal reasons to abstain. For one, he probably doesn't want to risk being corrupted by that power. He mentions something like this in his very first scene actually. Second, what happens exactly if he does use it to change something, and then one of his 'vision memories' is suddenly invalidated? We can't really just remove select memories, and Dominus probably can't either. And I imagine it would be dangerous for a creature to intervene too much when his mind is possibly swimming with false timelines. Also not intervening is probably why Celestia trusts him so much, she likely sees that sort of resolve as a great leadership quality. Long story short, Dominus would definitely not pull the lever.

I was left unsatisfied with ending. Whole story instill feeling that there is something building, everypony feels that there is something looming on the horizon. And in the end we and Twilight only see the not so warm side of Celestia. And others involved do not see even that.
Also seems like Starlight, Lyra, Moon, AB are irrelevant and can be exchanged for anyone else or erased with no consequenses for plot. RD with stallion trauma, break-up with Bon-Bon, eternal service to Celestia, irreleveant.
Characters presented to us as product of some obscure personal events. There is just no character development to connect with them. Only Twilight changes can be seen that occur after death of Spike and murdering Cave with cold-blooded Celestia.
As examle of relationship and character develepment is Austraeoh, stories cannot compare starting with size but you get my point.
And as drama it is "The Secret Life of Rarity" stories and especially "Broken Blosson" if i remember correctly. That was tragedy that left me in tears.
I hope i do not look like dick as i honestly want to help.

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No worries man, I appreciate the criticism.

Yeah I was worried pretty much the whole time about how the ending would be received. I've watched my feedback closely, and according to the reception of my other stories, I do not know how to end a book. I'm probably gonna take a break from writing and do some more reading now that this one's done.

It's funny, the strange love triangle between Twi, Starlight and Lyra wasn't actually originally intended, I had only written Starlight in with a flowering interest in her friend. Then I decided I couldn't miss the opportunity to include Lyra, given the fandom's human association with her, and that just led to a dick-ish poaching of Twilight right in front of Starlight. But I had never actually written romantic shit at that point, so I thought it would be a nice change of pace from all the brooding crime stuff.

Speaking of... yeah, Moon Dust. I know that it's strange that she never actually directly interacts with what could probably be considered the protagonist of the story. But from a narrative angle, she's used as a more direct personification of Celestia's cold, calculative side. She's also a foil for Rainbow Dash, who similarly cares about justice, but wouldn't do anything to see it delivered. Seeing Moon Dust's twisted methods get results faster than the 'right way' also probably adds to her growing insecurities, which culminates in her meltdown with Dominus. And yeah, there's a point near the end there where even Moon Dust worries Celestia's in too deep, Lyra having softened her just a touch so that she can have that perspective.

A.B. I'll give you, that plot is basically useless lol. I mean I could make a stretch, and say that she's there to show Applejack's strength as a character—but even then, the line kind of dies right there. Applejack doesn't interact much at all with the rest of the cast, or their story lines. I fucked that up. My bad.

I wouldn't say there's no character development, though. Yeah, Twilight's is the most dramatic, but Starlight also breaks herself off from her obsession, and decides to do something for herself, for a change (While also acknowledging and facing the past that's haunted her for so long). Princess Luna, while initially skeptical and disappointed in Dominus's use of power, forms a close bond with the creature, and builds up the courage to confront Celestia in a mature manner. Rainbow Dash, who has perhaps one of the more tragic developments, grows increasingly plagued by insecurities and guilt, breaks down in the courtyard and then has nothing left but apathy for the one thing in her life that was supposed to matter. Even Trixie became a little better of a friend, in the three scenes she was in lol.

Thank you for the recommendations though; like I said, I'll probably be taking a break to get some reading done, and I think that can provide me with a lot of perspective. Also I have heard about 'Austraeoh' for what seems like forever now, so I guess that's a sign that it's finally time to read it.

Anyway, thanks again for the constructive criticism, and thanks for reading.