A Bluebird’s Song
~~~
Doubt truth to be a liar
But never doubt I love
~~~
Save Your Sky For Me – Part One
She seemed contented; that was the strangest thing.
Of course, there had been tears. Tears of joy, of sadness, of pain. Once the team of utterly bemused doctors had ensured that Dash was in a stable condition, the two mares had held one another in a close, gentle embrace for the best part of an hour, Twilight relishing the miraculous warmth, savouring every beat of her love’s heart.
Naturally, none of the doctors had asked too many questions about the pegasus’s revival, apparently preferring instead to do their job of tending to the living, rather than querying the living’s status as such.
It had, without a doubt, been a difficult week. The pegasus was by no means healed; since her awakening she had had undergone two minor operations, and her wide range of medications often left her drowsy and only semi-coherent. On the third day, the lacerations down her left side had picked up an infection which had thrust the mare into a state of delirium, but Twilight found herself blessing the times of fever for the way that they relieved the pegasus’s pain. She had sat at her love’s bedside for hours on end, dabbing the cold sweat from the prone mare’s brow, and whispering reassurances with no idea if Dash could hear her.
Even after three hideously long days of salves and ointments and medical spell-work had broken the infection’s hold, there were times when Dash’s stoic outlook buckled, when the pain or immobility began to eat away at her mind, but Twilight was always there beside her, with her kind words and her tender, anaesthetic kisses.
She had told Dash everything. In reality, there had never been any question of keeping her in the dark. Twilight had not intended to tell her the full story immediately; she had had a plan to wait until the pegasus had recovered her strength, to give her the truth as gently as possible, but she had not been able to help herself. As soon as they had been alone together, she had told her everything; told her of her coma, her death, of her mother’s history and sacrifice.
The bedridden pony had listened in silence, her eyes widening from time to time, either in surprise or understanding. In truth, Twilight had been terrified. She had half expected the news of her mother’s death to send the pegasus spiraling back down into depression again, but that had not been the case. Once the unicorn had finished her story, Dash had simply requested that she might be given some time to think about what had happened; to try and reconcile the new facts in her head.
Twilight knew that she wanted to focus on her recovery, rather than allowing the conflicting grief and relief to bury her. She respected that, and kept her silence.
From that point onwards, Dash had not mentioned her mother again. The week had not been easy for either of them, but most of the time the pegasus seemed in remarkably high spirits, almost unconscious of her own contentment. The others had returned, reluctantly, to Ponyville. Somehow, as with even the strangest times, a routine of life had formed.
The biggest fear for both of them was Dash’s wings. The doctor had told them that he was, in truth, not optimistic. The blood flow to the appendages was severely damaged, and whilst amputation had been ruled out to the enormous relief of both mares, the necessity to fuse or pin the wing-bones was all too likely. The doctor had talked of Dash’s options for what had seemed like hours, throwing around words like ‘joint replacement’ and ‘necrosis’, painting with an expert’s eye a picture of the worst case scenario. Twilight tried to keep herself from worrying, but each night was spent in fear, and each slow dawn came with a dull, cold expectation that more bad news may be around the corner.
Then, one week after her awakening, the news came that the bruising and lacerations had healed to the point where Dash could leave her bed, albeit in a wheelchair that Twilight volunteered to push. The lacerations on her side and hind legs were still deep and stitched closed, and any attempt to bear weight on the injured muscles would likely end in failure. The doctors were wary of allowing even this limited degree of movement, but the pegasus’s enthusiasm to once again be at least semi-mobile eventually won over their doubts.
Although, as Twilight had discovered through long experience, things were rarely simple when Dash was involved.
*
“Are you holding up okay?”
It was Saturday evening, and the sun had begun to set as Luna took up her station for the night. In Ponyville, Fluttershy’s date was in full swing.
The scene in Canterlot Hospital, however, was a somewhat different one. The two mares were making their first, nervous foray into the tiled hospital corridor, the wheelchair-bound Dash eyeing the relatively open space with an expression of nervous excitement.
After a few misguided attempts to use her hooves to propel the wheelchair, Twilight had abandoned the fiddly, cumbersome handles, and instead walked alongside the still-weakened pegasus, pushing the chair along with her magic. To her relief, the long-term effects of her magical overexertion in the Everfree were beginning to wear off, and she no longer felt that horrible burning sensation in her forehead when she cast her spells.
Dash shifted in the chair, grunting a little in discomfort. Her wings were still in solid plaster casts, strapped up so that they were held out straight at her sides. “I’m fine, Twi’,” she replied, stoically. “It’s just good to get out of that room, to tell ya the truth.”
Twilight nodded. “I can imagine.”
They moved down the corridor in silence for a few more moments, and Twilight caught herself gazing at the pegasus, her expression one of quiet amazement. In truth, she had found herself doing that a lot recently. She still could not quite believe that Dash was here, alive and awake. They had made it. They had both made it.
Focus! You don’t want to go running into somepony.
She shook her head, forcing herself to look where they were going. “Where do you want to go?” she asked, knowing that their choices for destinations within the hospital were somewhat restricted.
Dash thought for a moment, knowing that they had to stay at least on hospital grounds, in case something were to go suddenly wrong. “The roof,” she said, finally. “I’d… I’d like to be able to breathe properly again.”
“I’ll try,” Twilight replied, knowing that the chance to look down from the mountainside over the countryside of Equestria would offer at least a hint of the height and freedom the pegasus craved. “Getting up there with a wheelchair might be tricky, though.”
“I guess.” Dash nodded, gesturing to a pair of gunmetal grey doors to their left. “Try one of the elevators, we might find a fire escape or something.” The slight strain in her voice was evident, betraying just how much she wanted to taste the outdoor air again. Neither of them knew how long it would be before she was discharged entirely, and whilst Twilight suspected that there may, in truth, be no way up to the roof, she was more than willing to try.
She jabbed at the call button, and the pair of them entered the elevator. It was an aging contraption, and rattled grudgingly to life, the machinery grinding and hissing as it dragged them sluggishly upwards through the building towards the top floor.
“Twi’…” Dash said, quietly.
Twilight turned to her. “What is it?”
“I… I’ve been thinking about my mom… about what she did to me. About what she did for me.” She sighed. This was the first time she had spoken of her mother for the best part of a week, and Twilight leaned closer with interest and apprehension. “She gave me an answer,” Dash continued. “It was so many years too late, but she finally gave me an answer to the question I’ve been asking my entire life. She… she cared. In the end, at least. It’s made me happy, I can’t deny that. Apart from you, it’s what’s been keeping me going this last week.”
Her eyes were damp, and she held out a hoof, which Twilight grasped comfortingly between her own, leaning down to nuzzle the mare’s cheek. “Do you think you can forgive her?” Twilight murmured.
Dash was silent for a few seconds, her expression thoughtful and a little pained. “No,” she said, eventually, her voice barely audible over the grinding machinery. “No, I don’t think I can.”
At that moment, the elevator ground to a halt with a thump, the engines falling silent as they reached the top floor. The doors swung open, revealing two doctors waiting at the doors. Twilight fell silent, her response dying on her lips, and she looked sideways at Dash as she pushed her out of the elevator into the sparsely-populated corridor. The pegasus nodded minutely, as if to say that the discussion could wait until they were alone.
Taking the wheelchair in her magical grip once again, Twilight pushed out into the corridor, looking around for some kind of fire escape or other means of access to the roof. This floor of the hospital had obviously been built more recently, the walls oozing a clinical, white modernity. The falling evening sun streamed in through the closed windows; tantalizing.
For a few minutes, they walked on in silence, looking around to no avail until Twilight was on the verge of giving up. Then, Dash pointed to their left, her eyes widening. “Twi’, look.” Twilight’s eyes followed the pointing hoof, and alighted upon a small door, set beside a storage cupboard. A small brass sign beside it read: Staff only – Emergency rooftop access.
Twilight looked up and down the length of the corridor, eyeing the other occupants in mild irritation, waiting for the two of them to be on their own.
Dash looked up at her, her expression a little guilty that Twilight was chancing getting in trouble with the hospital’s staff on her behalf. “Do you wanna risk it?”
The unicorn raised one eyebrow, smiling a little. “Obviously.”
Slowly, the corridor’s occupants filtered away into one room or another, leaving nopony but the two mares, and an elderly couple who seemed to be waiting for something, and were apparently too distracted by reading the signs tacked up a notice-board to pay them any heed.
With a squeak of the wheels, Twilight pushed the chair briskly across the chequerboard-tiled corridor, magically pulled the door ajar, and the pair of mares darted inside.
Twilight’s heart sank.
Stairs. A short flight of functional metal steps rose up the walls of the red-brick stairwell, leading to a fire door at the summit which obviously led to the roof. Eight steps in all, but it might as well have been a mountain for all the chance they had of getting the pegasus up to the top. The sensation of falling at the last hurdle was utterly infuriating, although Twilight was berating herself for not expecting something so obvious. What had she expected? A lift? A winch? There was no way she could traverse the steps with the wheelchair, no matter how hard they tried.
I don’t have the strength to lift her with my magic yet, she thought, helplessly. There’s nothing I can do.
She turned to Dash, apologetically clicking the chair’s brake into place. “I… I’m sorry, Rainbow. Maybe we can find another-”
The pegasus held up a hoof, determinedly. “It’s okay, Twi’. I thought this was gonna happen.”
Twilight was somewhat confused. “Well then, why…?”
Dash gritted her teeth. “Because this is how I make progress. I knew if I told you, you’d never have brought me up here, but this is how I’ve always made progress. I find something I wanna achieve; something that’s just out of reach.” She paused for a moment, appraising the situation. “Then, I go and get it.”
Without further ado, the pegasus leaned gingerly forwards out of the chair, and planted her rear hooves on the concrete floor.
Twilight stepped forwards immediately, her eyes fearful. “Rainbow! Your stitches! They told you not to walk yet.”
“They told me to walk when I felt ready,” Dash corrected her, wincing in pain as she shuffled forwards, and began applying weight to her hind legs. “If it means getting some fresh air; if it means bein’ able to take a few steps outside of this hospital, then I sure as hay feel ready.”
Before Twilight could argue any further, she tipped herself forwards, and stood unsteadily on her own four hooves. She let out a low groan, and her knees shook with the combination of effort and pain. For a horrible moment, Twilight thought her legs were going to buckle under her, but somehow she remained standing, her teeth clenched, sweat pooling on her brow, an expression of consternation on her face that even so simple an action as standing up was almost beyond her capacity.
Twilight rushed forwards to help support the pegasus, looping her forelegs under the mare’s neck and belly. Dash leaned into her gratefully, closing her eyes and breathing hard. “Thanks, Twi’. That was always gonna be the hardest part,” she panted, her voice trembling and pained. “Thought I might as well get it over with quickly.”
“You silly pony,” Twilight murmured reproachfully, stroking Dash’s perspiration-coated neck with her foreleg. She was too pleased at the expression of relief on the pegasus’s face to be truly annoyed, however. She could see how much regaining even this small amount of mobility meant to her. “You’re lucky you didn’t burst your stitches.”
“I’ve always taken risks, and this isn’t gonna stop me,” replied Dash, her voice still unsteady but determined. “Sunset can hurt me all they want, but if they stop me from takin’ risks, they’ve won.” She paused for a moment. “You know what? I don’t even care about that. This isn’t about Sunset, or fresh air, or any of it. I wanna prove to myself that I can do this. I made a promise a long time ago, and I couldn’t keep it at the Cloudiseum. I couldn’t see what shoulda been obvious, and I fell because of that, but now… I’m gonna keep my promise. I’m gonna prove myself right.”
Gingerly, still leaning against Twilight for support, she took a few tentative steps towards the staircase. Each movement of her hind legs made her wince, and the dead weight of her plaster-embalmed wings was not helping, but she made her steady, dogged progress to the foot of the stairs.
She turned her head delightedly to Twilight. The pain in her eyes was obvious, but still she grinned. “See that?”
The unicorn nodded. Her expression was tinged with worry and sympathy, but she returned the smile, more pleased than fearful. “I did,” she whispered. She leaned in to nuzzle the pegasus’s jaw and cheek. Their muzzles met, their lips and noses brushing together. In a moment of excitement, Dash pushed forwards with a sigh, turning the light, brushing contact into a true kiss.
The setting was utterly unromantic; a dimly-lit stairwell, grimy and ill-maintained from lack of use, but it did not matter. Twilight pressed back against her lover’s lips, sharing in the joy of a pony who had just found her hooves again. This was utterly unlike the tender kisses they had shared thus far during Dash’s recovery, kisses of reassurance or sympathy. This was a kiss of fire; the kind they had so often had before the disastrous record attempt, and the beautiful sense of familiarity only served to add to the connection’s intensity. The taste was exactly as Twilight remembered, as their tongues shared a caressing, enthusiastic reunion.
They broke apart after a fashion, Twilight’s forehoof stroking through over Dash’s mane, whilst still supporting her and helping her stand upright. Thanks to their awkward position, they could not truly embrace, but instead entwined their necks together, holding each other close in a traditional pony-hug.
“Celestia, I’ve missed that,” panted Dash, her hot breath blooming against Twilight’s ear.
“I could tell,” Twilight murmured, pressing herself tighter against the pegasus’s warm neck.
Eventually, when the unicorn pulled back, Dash eyed the stairs before her with a look of resigned determination.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” the unicorn asked, in a voice of warning.
Dash gulped, but nodded. “Just… keep a hold on me, Twi’,” she murmured.
“Always.”
With that, the pegasus shook her head to dispel the momentary surge of nerves, and planted her hooves determinedly on the bottom step.
The first three stairs were relatively easy, eliciting small winces from the injured mare. The lavender unicorn walked beside Dash, her forelegs wrapped around the pegasus, who leaned on her for support. At the fourth step, she let out a low groan of pain, as her lacerated muscles stretched and complained. Twilight forced back tears at the sound.
She doesn’t deserve this. Why did this have to happen?
“You’re going to hurt yourself!” Twilight exclaimed in a panic.
“There’s no point going back now. Going down’s as bad as climbing. I can do this.”
Not wanting to break stride, Dash took the fifth and sixth steps rapidly, one after the other, before freezing on the sixth with a cry, gritting her teeth to bite back the sound. She snorted, lowering her head and pushing onwards, taking the seventh in absolute silence, her legs shaking horribly.
Oh Celestia, why her?
On the eighth, her strength finally failed her. Her right hind leg gave out, and she began to topple backwards down the stairs with a horrified gasp of shock.
Twilight, however, was ready for her. The pegasus found herself enveloped in a cushioning purple aura, which pushed her gently back into line, up and over the final step. The unicorn may not have regained her powers enough to carry the mare, but she could at least offer a helping hand.
Dash stood on the top step, gasping and shaking, but hugely relieved, and euphoric beyond even her normal thrill of victory. For a moment, she did not know why she felt so elated, but then it struck her. She remembered what she had promised herself months ago, promised herself on the day before Twilight had first kissed her.
I kept my promise. Maybe that wasn’t sensible, but I’ve proven that I don’t need revenge or fear to make me a winner. I didn’t do it to prove anypony wrong.
I did it, Fluttershy. I did what you asked, all that time ago. I proved myself right.
Not on your own, you didn’t.
She turned to Twilight, a new strength welling up in her limbs. “Thanks for the help, Twi’.”
The unicorn seemed to understand that the words meant far more than the mere physical assistance she had offered, and she leaned in to kiss the pegasus lightly on the lips.
“I wish you wouldn’t do things like that,” she murmured, but was unable to resist leaning in for another kiss. “Actually,” she blushed, disengaging her lips, “I guess I’m lying. I can’t bring myself to wish you wouldn’t, because it’s so… you.”
Dash blushed too, and decided that it was her turn to take the initiative, by leaning forwards and pressing her lips tightly to Twilight’s, the sudden force eliciting a delighted little muffled moan from the unicorn.
You need her so much.
I’ll always need her. But that’s not why I love her.
Are you sure about that?
For once in her life, she could quell the nagging voice of self-doubt without any difficulty. Of course I’m sure. I need her because I love her, not the other way around.
Breaking the kiss, she took Twilight’s hoof, feeling her stride beginning to grow more confident, overcoming the pain, and together they walked slowly out onto the rooftop.
The air.
The air was beautiful. It tasted of freedom and altitude, laced with the heady thinness of the mountain’s peak. The falling sun dazzled them, painting the mares with shifting liquid amber. She limped to the edge, with Twilight gently supporting her. The patchwork countryside spread out far below them, golden in the evening light. Cloudsdale hung like a diamond on the horizon, shining and prismatic. The wind whipped at their manes, singing in their ears.
Hoof in hoof, the two mares gazed out at the dusky, shimmering sky.
“It’ll be yours again someday,” Twilight whispered. “I promise.”
Dash nestled her head against the unicorn’s, sighing contentedly. She was in pain; she was far from healed, both mentally and physically, but right then she did not care. Soon, she would have to talk about her mother, of why she could not find it in her heart to forgive the mare who had given her life for her daughter, but right then it did not seem to matter.
Even the sky did not matter; she was not afraid of losing it any more. As long as Twilight promised her the sky, she trusted that she would find it again, but as long as Twilight was with her on the ground, the ground was all the world she needed.
“I believe you, Twi’,” she murmured, gazing into the glimmering purple eyes of the mare she loved. She turned away from the sky that she had, for the moment, lost. “I believe you…”
Have a chapter! I decided to go with doing a 2-parter rather than doing one ridiculously long one. In my experience of stupidly-long chapters, I find they often come out feeling a little disjointed, so here you go. God I've missed writing TwiDash.
New chapter? *insert yes dance* You've managed to wrap this story up beautifully, can't wait for your next one!
<Old-timey announcer voice>
Next chapter, wing bone fusion! Will Twilight find a miraculous cure? How will rainbow shine cope with the loss of her mother to save her sister? Is sunset truly out of the game? There's only one way to find out, tune in next time for another exciting(ish, more romantic really) episode of ,"A Bluebird's Song"!
dear god,... that's .... beautiful o_o,
The yes dance has been doubled!
At the bottom, in giant letters:
TO BE CONTINUED
Aahh. Them ol' hearstrings are being tugged! That was excellent...
This scene was so sweet, it's good to see Dash getting up and moving, I know what it's like being so injured you are stuck in bed, it's the worst. Sigh, why you write so good?
Making me all d'aww over
Wow that was Amazing chapter i cant wait for the next one.
Now this is definitely one of the chapters I've been waiting for. And boy you delivered. Dash is being really frigging brash here (though that's obviously her thing) but I can see how something as simple for anyone else as 8 steps can men so much more in her situation.
716598 *Insert DragonBall Z next time tune here*
Why can I not thumb this up twice?
Another great installment. I can see this ending nicely and smoothly!
But... but... where's my update email? So glad they changed the featured box.
Well, this is turning out well as always.
716445 while my heartstrings are being tugged, I've noticed that your avatar always makes me want to burst into laughter. feelsweirdman
. . . -stops to take a deep breath-
I've read this whole thing in one huge marathon sitting. I have not taken my eyes off it once, except to make an account here so that I could be notified of when this updates. It takes a lot for me to decide to join a site. Congratulations, you and your story were the catalyst.
May I just say that I've never seen this sort of mastery of language in a fanfiction before? You should be writing novels. I'd buy 'em. I'm really glad you decided to grace the world with this absolute loveliness, though. I mean, you've even got me hooked on RariShy, and I'm a die-hard RariJack/PinkieShy girl at heart. You're just . . . wow. Just wow.
Speechless butchering of praise is speechless
Anyway, just . . . you've made me sob, laugh, and squee in almost equal parts (more sobbing than anything, really) over the course of this story, and I wish I'd known about it from the beginning so that I could have followed it all along. Kudos.
when rainbow was walking up the steps I couldn't help but think of this ----------> Link
*About 4:05 is the part I'm referencing*
I think i spotted a typo in 'fuse the wing-bone..... was all too likes'
good Chapter can't wait for the next one.
I'm so glad I found this story.
2-parters are fine by me. It makes things easier and less convoluted anyhow.
717127 I hear the ol' notification fairy's being a bit unreliable recently on this site. Half the time it doesn't alert me of private messages which is just plain annoying.
717362 Inverse-Pinkie is best pinkie.
717439 Thanks so much! I love comments like that, they always increase the happy-o-meter by a huge amount. I'm really glad you're liking it so much. Regarding novel-writing, it's actually what I hope to do professionally someday. I know as career choices go it's about as bad as acting in terms of probability of success, I just enjoy writing to the point where trying to do anything else as a job would always feel not-quite-fulfilling. Anyway, thanks for the epic comment! I grinned like an idiot for quite some time after I read it.
718177 Oops. Thanks for pointing that out, fixed now!
719328 Yay, epic feedback! Thanks a lot for the detailed responses. By the way, regarding the author's note, I only put that in a couple of weeks ago. The main reason for it is the fact that a fair few people have PM'd me to say something along the lines of; "Well, I was enjoying it for the romance, then I read Chapter 9, saw that the romance was going to be diluted, and as such I'm stopping reading at Chapter 9."
As a result, I just thought I'd put in a quick note to say that the romance is still the story's 'primary motivator', if you will. Obviously there's a fair bit of action from hereon in, but I'm still writing it more as a romantic character study than suddenly face-heel-turning it into an action-adventure story.
Glad you're liking the story and the writing style! By the way, reading back over it now I do agree that the first 9-or-so chapters seem fairly devoid of other mane cast members, although that is remedied pretty soon after. (I still wish I could have found a way to include more Pinkie, though, because I do rather like writing for her and never seem to get the oppurtunity.)
The bluebird was a boat built to break a speed record. It crashed when the pilot tried to attempt another run before allowing the wake of the revious run to settle, killing the pilot. Presumably this is where the story gets its name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xemKc2In5Y
You're very welcome! Even if you end up following another career, you should do writing as a side job. It's what I plan on doing. I can't wait to read your updates, and to see what the future has in store for you! Glad to bring a little sunshine into your life~
This has been a really epic story so far! I loved the Sunset arc - that was very suspenseful and action packed, yet a very believable situation. Plus the scene with Dash's mother and the Tally spell made me quite.
This is one of my favorite fics so far, can't wait to see more!
I have been doing a study type thing with music and stories. So, as to continue this, I have found a great song to follow with this story: Puddle of Mudd - Blurry (YouTube Link)
Aside from that, great story and all.
Edit: No, the lyrics are not meant to match, really just the music. I will add another here with lyrical recognition...
Just started reading this the other day.....i got to this point much quicker than i thought and ,now looking back, than i wanted. I have gotten so used to pressing the next chapter button i was appalled when I couldn't anymore. Please hurry with the next chapter, this story is too good to wait for that delicious closure.
I love the moral behind this story. I think Dash has always had a mean streak when it comes to competition, and seeing her overcome that has been sensational.
Read this in two days...so worth it a damn good TwiDash and a nice long one too
I must say that I have been moved. I have been taken across the spectrum of human emotion whilst reading about these ponies. Congratulations you've just earned a top spot in my favorite stories of all time. That don't come easy, I read. A LOT. The sheer volume of things I read is astounding to some people.
That said while I disagree with this particular story being novel quality I DO think that the potential is there not with this story but with you as the author to write a novel quality story. The biggest reason I don't think this story would make for novel material is the number of assumptions and the certain level of familiarity with the cannon-verse of My Little Pony needed to understand where some of the background for these characters come from. This is a fan-fiction, for a Fan-Fiction this is extremely high quality. I do not in any way shape or form denigrate this story for that fact, my intent is to merely point out that BECAUSE it is a fan-fiction there is no possible way that this could ever become anything even remotely resembling a physical novel.
If your dream is to one day become a published author I wish you all the luck in the world and look forward to the day when you publish your first novel. I have no doubt in my mind that with the quality of work you have shown here that you just might succeed in that dream. While I am admittedly ignorant of the means by which one becomes a successfully published author I feel that just like Dash here has come to push her limits for her OWN sake that if you follow the example set by your character that success will be all but inevitable.
721269 That's the one. Funnily enough, before Furor1 drew the cover picture, the original image was a picture of Dash superimposed over an image of the K7 Bluebird flipping over. That kind of made the connection more obvious, I guess.
722326 Derp. I'll fix that, thanks for pointing it out. I lol'd at the butterflies thing, I'd not noticed that before, actually. I'll never be able to look at the phrase "getting butterflies" the same way again...
Loved This chapter and i cant wait for the next one keep up the good work!
725858 Most of them have been lyrics, although there have been one or two poem extracts in there from time to time. The original intention, back when I thought the story was going to run about 5 or 6 chapters, was to put a quote from the song that the story's based on (Out of this World by Marillion) at the start of each chapter. After the synopsis-writing made it obvious that it was going to be longer, I decided to stick with the lyric extract idea, but branch out a bit.
And yep, that's a Mumford and Sons quote. Actually, now I think about it, the lyrics of that entire Mumford and Sons song fit perfectly with Dash's situation in this story.
728101 Thanks as always! Really glad you're enjoying it so much.
Regarding the Fluttershy section, I've always felt that Fluttershy largely has two problems. Firstly, the fear of happiness, the idea that the more she has, the more she stands to lose. Secondly, I feel that most pegasi have an extroverted, brash streak ingrained in their personalities. I think Fluttershy has that just as much as any other pegasus, but actively represses it. Obviously that's going to boil over from time to time if she doesn't have any other channel for it, and it manifests itself as anger. Then we get Flutterrage moments.
About the paragraph on Twilight, she's always been presented very much as a skeptic, and I can't imagine her liking the idea of destiny very much. That kind of viewpoint can very easily tip over into nihilism. I'm presenting Twilight as what I always call a 'cheerful nihilist', in that they believe that they're insignificant in the grander scheme of things, and will be of no greater consequence to the wider universe, but they think that that makes their life and achievements more special and unique, rather than less. Actually, pretty much that entire paragraph and the point of view behind it was originally, for me, inspired by this comic.
Apologies for the response which ended up turning into such a wall of text. Anyway, thanks so much for the awesome comments and feedback!
Ok, wow I loved this story so much. I had to make myself an account just to comment it to give you feedback. I spent about one week reading this until the end. (so far)
I can not emphasize how excited I am for the next chapter. (I am more excited for the next chapter, than I am for RTX)
Your style of writing has kept me glued to the computer when ever I read this amazing work of art.
735323
This post was hilarious on SO many levels...
You magnificent bastard.
You kept me up until 4 AM for almost a week with this fic.
Excellent. Just excellent.
Well written, a good rollercoaster ride at parts, and feelz, so many feelz.
I look forward to updates. And I'll probably draw some inspiration from this fic for drawing ideas.
God I love TwiDash.
I know that this story has a music background, but I couldn't help myself. So intern for my current research, I found a song that actually could go with this.
Tell me what you think! Staind - So Far Away (Linked to YouTube)
Very nice.
Losing the ability to move her wings isn't going to be a problem, as long as the bones stay strong, because, as you know, Rainbow has learned to fly without flapping her wings.
Very nice.
Losing the ability to move her wings isn't going to be a problem, as long as the bones stay strong, because, as you know, Rainbow has learned to fly without flapping her wings.
Very nice.
Losing the ability to move her wings isn't going to be a problem, as long as the bones stay strong, because, as you know, Rainbow has learned to fly without flapping her wings.
now i see, that image is lovely
I started to read this this because i saw the picture at the end of this chapter and was curious.
What i found was quite possibly one of the best stories I've ever read.
You, my good sir, are a fantastic author, it is very rarely that a story can whip me from one end of the emotional spectrum to another.
I look forward to reading more from you!
when i first saw this fic i did not think it would be good
But when i started reading i couldn't stop
I am very pleased to say you proved me wrong
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Ahem... CLOUDSHINE... not Rainbow Shine. Lol. Rainbow Shine's the mother.
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All she needs is to keep them attached.
They even already ruled out amputation.
Life: 1
Immobility: 0
This is the stuff. THIS is why TwiDash is the best ship.
Awww! the darn drawing at the end was simply an amazing touch to this chapter, because it really shows the love and care they have for each other.
And to stir up some questions do yall think this song fits the story well?
Let me know by the replies of course! Peace to all my Bronies and Pegasisters alike.
Ah man, TOO GOOD! I'm just disappointing it's coming to an end.
Such a fitting picture for the end of a beautiful chapter. It breaks my heart to know that this marvelous story is coming to an end.
Nice use of the Erich Fromm quote there. Also, really enjoying this. I can't believe I waited so long to start reading.
I'm a man, but I cried like a little bitch while reading this. The feels.