Dear Princess Twilight,
I just wanted to quickly thank you again for helping me settle into Ponyville. I'm writing from my dorm room in the School of Friendship now.
Tomorrow is the start of a new day and a new life. I look forward to seeing what surprises my new friends have in store for me.
I will write more soon. Thank you again for believing in me.
Your faithful student,
Luster Dawn
Once again, editing provided by the wonderful EverfreePony.
Cover by the amazing Julunis14.
Story is complete and will be updated every Saturday and finish on October 12th.
Chapters (9)
This is really good. Into the tracking list it goes!
Also, love the cover art.
10973569
It was one that I was very passionate about writing.
Thanks, I'm glad that you're enjoying it.
And yes, I'm very happy that I was able to commission Julunis14 for the cover art. She did an amazing job!
Time for a nitpcik. Everything with the griffons puts this story firmly in the AU catagory. But especially this and the cult. People can argue till they're blue in the face, but true religion isn't a thing in MLP canon.
Cult I can see as being a thing, true. But that goes for a lot of beings in the show (the alicorns come to mind as probably having their own individual ones).
10973650
If we're getting technical then basically anything written after the end of the show is alternate universe. There really isn't a whole lot of lore for the griffons, anyway, so I came up with a bit of my own and amalgamated some from Equestria at War. Besides, there is some religion in MLP (I believe there's a pony seen somewhere in a Catholic priest style of garment), and you don't have an idol like the Idol of Boreas without having a religion.
Thanks for the input, though.
10973671
I just want to say it is cool you put some love into the griffons lore. So few acknowledge anything not pony-pone. Its almost the shows called my little pony or someting.
10973998
Thanks for the kind words. I didn't do a whole heck of a lot, but I wanted to make sure this world felt more alive and fleshed out with the other species, especially griffons and a bit with yaks, too.
Kaiser Roll, is actually named Gallop J Fry. Just wanted to mention it in case you didn't know, but if you did and just decided against it, that's good too, it is kind of a mouthful. Sorry to be a bother! (• ▽ •;)
10974108
Oh yes, I learned that after I wrote the story. By that point, I had written two stories where he's called that, and I felt I made him enough of his own character to warrant keeping the different name. Really, all the characters have already been named by the time I wrote this, but I like being unique, I suppose.
Thanks for the feedback.
Don't mind me, just gonna put this into my reading list real quick~
I’m already with Kaiser.
I was like, "Wait a minute why is this so sad?" then I read the tags...
media1.giphy.com/media/2sYcjGqDcZcODh7Ksp/giphy.gif?cid=ecf05e47w91wxlwdublkdm27t1axu622rvtgicrsiaimnow6&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g
Anyway, awesome chapter, I can't wait to see what the sentence spells out when all the chapters are up
10981787
I intend to bring the feels in a tasteful way. Luster just may not appreciate them, heh.
It looks like somepony has a crush,
10990394
I wonder what gave you that impression?
I'm really liking these. Keep writing!
10991774
Thanks for the kind words. I enjoyed writing these, and I'm glad you're appreciating them, too.
10991786
You’re welcome.
Only now I've realised that the chapter titles are telling a story
lawd
On a side note I love this little series
10999981
Heh heh, yes, I was very excited when I saw that all the letters' names could tell a small story as well. I'm glad that you're enjoying it, it means a lot.
11000048
Ngl tho I'm sort of dreading what's coming if that cover image, and the little story, are anything to go by. Dreading, but in a good way? Looking forward to it either way
11000117
I'm curious where you think this is going, because definitely Luster isn't aware! When the fic is fully published, the titles of the letters will all make sense in context of the final letter.
A bit of an intense time skip, I would’ve liked to see Luster and Kaiser dating, but still a great chapter nonetheless.
Seeing how the wedding went wrong was pretty funny, and the end is a pretty good representation of a fear of screwing up in your life. It’s something we’ve seen Luster have a lot of thus far, and it’s a believable fear.
11000430
Doesnt the saying go "in life one of the hardest lessons learned is letting go"? So... Ah geez if i had to guess, then...
id say Kaiser cheats on Luster/otherwise breaks her heart, something (you monster) happens to Starry, Glimglam n Sunburst die of old age. Not to mention, nopony cries like that covert art for no reason--AND theres that sad tag
11000727
A bit of a jump, yes. But that leaves stories to write in the gap, if I want to.
Indeed, Luster's fear is something many of us also share.
11000758
Heh, that phrase was not actually on my mind when I did up the letter titles. It is similar to what you said it was, though.
I won't obviously spoil anything more, but it's not quite going in the direction you're thinking.
11000890
Oh yeah obviously, but haha phew alright good, I was really hoping it wasn't
Dang…. That is just so sad. Imagine being immortal and seeing all your friends and family slowly age and die before your eyes. Gives me the chills to be honest. The only time I see immortality as a good thing is when everybody, or at least family and friends, are immortal. So that we all can live together without fear of dying of old age (or in some fanfics, diseases, getting stab to death, etc). If it’s just me being immortal, I would probably crack a hundred years later or less after all my friends and family die. I would also probably find ways to kill myself, or in the very least, make me finally age properly so that I can actually pass of being old.
The Human Commentator
Ah, so this is why it's tag as sad, and appropriately so, this got me right in the feels
Things are changing.
The story started with Luster opening her letters with “Dear Princess Twilight”, then it moved to “Dear Twilight”, then to just “Twilight”. And now it opens with, “HOW DARE YOU?”
It started with Luster ending her letters with “Your faithful student, Luster Dawn”, then “Your friend, Laster Dawn”. And now it’s just a simple “Luster”.
Does this story deal with themes of time and change? Because it sure feels like it. It’s a great way to explore those themes, actually, so congrats on that.
I wonder how Lister became an Alicorn.
11008210
That was one of the things that I wanted to cover: considering that Luster is Twilight 2.0 in many ways, how would she react if she became a princess, then found out the commonly accepted fanon that alicorns are immortal? Quite obviously, very differently from Twilight.
Glad you're enjoying it.
11008332
Well, if this got you in the feels, wait until Tuesday. It'll be a right ol' celebration of the finale of G4.
11008598
It never really was something I went into much detail planning, but it was after a series of tough situations with her friends (think moral support for grieving, deep-seated conflicts finally getting resolved, etc.), a couple of out of town issues that she was brought in to resolve, and then the thing with Starry, which, admittedly, wasn't major, but was the cherry on top that pushed her over the edge, as it were (It was basically Starry being the biggest brat possible and her skillfully navigating the minefield).
11008373
Ooooh yes, you've hit the money right there. I don't plan my writings to explore themes per se, but this idea stemmed from an initial thought of how would Luster handle being a friendship student ala Twilight; how would she handle immortality; and how does her life change as time goes on?
Without really spoiling anything else, it'll be a bit more of a roller coaster for the last letter on Tuesday. Perfectly in time with the two-year anniversary of the series finale!
Oof, yes, right in the kokoro, I'm gonna feel this all day
This was a beautiful story, love the slow build-up from Luster being a young, bright-eyed student, to an adult. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of alicorn luster or alicorn anybody for that matter, I mean it took Celestia centuries before she decided to ascend anyone, so if Twilight was going to ascend anyone it would be years and years down the line. But that's a matter of personal taste than a fault in your writing, you handled the matter tastefully and with the emotional weight it deserved, I really felt for Luster in this story.
And man, now I really do want a sequel, Twilight has got some explaining to do, dang it!
11011843
It was something that I had a lot of fun writing, and there are indeed a few ideas bouncing around for Twilight's side. It wouldn't be as much a true sequel as a sidequel: having her side of the conversations, and perhaps adding a couple more after this last letter. But yes, Twilight definitely has her own lessons to learn still, and not being like Celestia is one of them.
I'm glad that I delivered.
That ending feels like an ending... but it also feels like an open book. I want to know what happens to Luster, but I don’t feel like that’s the point here. The point is that Luster is broken, and there’s no easy way to figure out how her story ends.
I would’ve liked more substance to the story, I feel like it moves too fast. While I understand why (reading the same complaints over again is a bit tiring), I would’ve liked more worldbuilding during the school bit. Other than that, however, this story’s pretty good.
Pow! Right in my feelbox.
I hope we can at some point see Twilight's perspective on all this, why she made Luster an alicorn then flitted off to sky knows where, and why she hasn't been responding but at all.
What a ride it was. Bloody good stuff
11012063
Yes, there is a bit of interpretation for the reader for the last chapter, and Luster definitely doesn't have any easy choices ahead of her. There are a few ideas percolating here and there for a sequel, or as I replied to the previous comment, at the very least Twilight's side of the letter story.
Thanks for your feedback on the story. There's always the potential that if the second story pops up that Twilight responds to letters from earlier in Luster's life that never showed up here, like at the school. I'm sure she'd have some advice (maybe not the best, since she probably doesn't have the experience) on how to properly woo a stallion after Luster's first attempts.
11012181
And it looks like my aimed shot went right where it should have! I'll definitely be thinking about any good potential sequel/sidequel threads for this, and it will have a bit of Twilight's perspective on this. I'll add that for when I wrote this, I saw her as repeating the aloof mistakes of Celestia, after pledging not to. Have to have tragedy/drama on multiple levels!
This story is awesome!
My favourite chapter in the story is “To.”
11021555
I'm glad that you enjoyed it. That letter was one of my favourite to write as well.
"When I wrote this, I had literally zero knowledge that Luster's group of friends in the finale were already named. I'm not surprised, given this fandom, but by the time I found out, there were already two stories that I wrote with these names, and I kinda stuck with them."
You do know that fanmade anything doesn't count as actual fact, right? You're names are better anyway.
11147877
True, but the fandom has a habit of sticking with early naming conventions and getting huffy if they aren't followed. I'm happy to hear that you prefer the names I chose, though.