Celestia’s hunting orders rarely required all six of them at once; most ferals were easy enough to deal with in their recommended pairs. Sometimes they’d have threes or fours, but always at least two. Pairs were the minimum to enter the Everfree, no matter how confident—like Rainbow—or competent—like Twilight—they were.
But sometimes, when pairs just weren’t enough, they went as six.
(Whenever one of their missions required full assembly Rarity couldn’t help but remember that fateful night nearly a year ago. She’d been just a seamstress, for hell’s sake! What a cruel future from Fate she’d found, borne on the wings of the court’s own chariot and disguised as a human who knew nothing but collected and calm.)
Of course, for all the pomp and circumstance around full assembly, at certain times Rarity thought them a touch unnecessary. Multiple ferals? Quite reasonable. Massive, magic-resistant foes that no single prodigious human could hope to confront on her own? Also entirely fair.
But a single Ursa Major?
“It feels like a waste,” Rarity repeated to the remains of her audience. “I don’t see why she couldn’t have sent just me and Twilight to handle it.” Well, really just Twilight, but even she still needed to follow the rule of pairs.
The three of them sat in the backroom of Sugarcube Corner: her and Twilight shoulder-to-shoulder on the little wooden bench between the pantries, and Pinkie perched on a three-legged stool she’d pulled from behind the flour sacks. Fluttershy and Rainbow had long since left—they hadn’t needed any patching up—and Applejack had headed out just a few minutes after she’d bandaged her shoulder.
“But the letter said six,” Pinkie pointed out, and fixed Rarity with a curious, unblinking stare. “Are you saying we shouldn’t have listened to it?”
“I—” Of course that wasn’t what she meant, but—
“Orders are orders,” Twilight said sternly. She nudged her leg against Rarity’s; a bleeding-red reminder of why they were still stuck in the back room, then added, “Though, I think Rarity does have a point.”
“Thank you,” Rarity huffed, and tore another strip of gauze off the roll with her teeth.
Pinkie stared at them a moment longer before shrugging and straightening up on her stool. Her ears twitched once, twice—a telltale sign of nerves. “I mean,” she said slowly, “even with the rest of us there, you still got bit.”
Twilight’s mouth tensed into an almost-invisible frown. “I did,” she said. “What of it?”
“It’s just, maybe if we all weren’t there the way we were, that Ursa woulda got you even worse.” She hesitated. “Like, y’know. Bit your whole leg off, or, um, something else more important that you humans need to live.”
Even if it wasn’t the most eloquent, the meaning behind Pinkie’s words rang true: if we weren’t there tonight, would you have died?
(It was terrifying to see Twilight wear her own blood, and not a feral’s. It didn’t happen often, but that evening as Rainbow had prepared for another dive at the Ursa, and as Fluttershy had dragged a wounded Applejack to safety, and as Pinkie had shouted for Rarity to watch her left, suddenly there had been burning ozone and an electric crack and one calmly furious human materializing midair before the Ursa’s gaping maw.
It bit down on her leg at the same time she thrust both hands against its starry brow and squeezed.
And then suddenly the Ursa was dead.)
“Again,” Twilight said coolly, “I’m fine. And I promise it’s not some sort of bravado—this sort of injury won’t ever come close to threatening my life.”
And wasn’t that interesting? Rarity wanted to say, but didn’t. Humans were supposed to be terribly fragile, weren’t they? Why should Twilight Sparkle hold such confidence in herself; be willing to risk such surely-fatal injuries without even a hint of fear?
...What type of monster would also act in such a way?
She let her thoughts wander against the backdrop of Pinkie’s response, and turned her attention back to Twilight’s leg. She’d cut off the leg of her trousers already—sadly too shredded to salvage—and disinfected the line of massive punctures near encircling Twilight’s thigh.
(She hadn’t flinched at all, even when Rarity had switched out water for alcohol. As if fangs, chemicals, and caring hands all felt the same.)
Still, though, she treated Twilight with the same careful motions any other feeling creature would have wanted. That I would have wanted, she noted idly. Not that she’d ever know if Twilight or anyone else was willing to do the same kind of care for her. Vampiric healing was such a shame in that regard.
Her hands brushed across more of those barely-visible tattooed markings when she pulled the last of the wrappings taut, and it was only after she’d made sure everything was secure that Rarity decided to voice one of her many thoughts:
“Does an injury like this cause problems?”
Both Pinkie and Twilight turned to her—perhaps she’d interrupted them. Rarity hadn’t been paying them much attention, really.
“Problems?” Twilight replied. She glanced down to where Rarity’s hands rested atop her thigh, then back up to meet her gaze. “You mean, for my magic?” When she received a nod of confirmation, she echoed the motion with a shake of her head and said, “It’s not an issue. I’ve still got plenty left intact.”
“But that bite cut clean across some of them,” Rarity continued. “You called them veins before. I wouldn’t think any sort of vein would appreciate such severance.”
“What d’you mean, ‘severance’?” Two cloven hooves hit the hardwood, and suddenly Pinkie was there, peering down at Twilight’s bare leg and entirely invading Rarity’s personal space. “Huh! That Ursa really gotcha good, didn’t it?”
Twilight scowled—well, as much as her expressionless demeanour would allow—and gently pushed Pinkie’s head away by her horns. “I’m fine.”
“The same way Rarity’s fine?”
“Darling,” Rarity reminded her, “I’ve been fine for the last twenty minutes.”
“...Oh. Right, duh; of course you are.” Pinkie shot Twilight’s leg a solemn look and sighed, “Poor Rarity. Healing so fast that ol’ Pinkie here went and missed it.” Her ears twitched again, this time in the way that Rarity knew as an ear-to-ear smile. “Must be sort of boring, Twilight, don’t you think?”
“It sounds convenient,” Twilight answered. “If I were a vampire, I suppose I could appreciate that.”
“Ooh, that’s an idea—vampires kinda suit you, huh?” And, before Rarity could realize what was happening, Pinkie clapped her hands together and asked, “If you were a monster, Twilight, what type of monster would you want to be?”
No! Rarity wailed silently. You can’t just ask her that!
Because, what if Twilight truly answered? What if she dropped the act and revealed her not-human self and proved that all of Rarity’s guessing could have been solved with a single question all along?
It was a silly, insignificant game that only she was playing, but hell if she wasn’t too invested to have it end.
But thankfully—so thankfully—Twilight just shrugged her shoulders and replied, “I’ve never thought about something like that.” And of course, in typical Pinkie fashion, that answer then opened the door to a brand-new sort of guessing game; one so similar to the one Rarity had already started but this time with two players instead of one.
So a vampire, Pinkie said again, but no, that wouldn’t do—Twilight may have appreciated their practical aspects, but she just as quickly listed off their detriments: the ever-present hunger, the impracticality of needing an invite into even a carriage, and of course the inescapable danger of the sun.
Maybe a werewolf, Pinkie tried next, but again Twilight shook her head. She considered it if only for a second longer than the first suggestion, much to Rarity’s chagrin, but once again counted out traits she wouldn’t want—becoming a slave to the moon’s strict cycles of course being the largest strike against it.
Then all sorts of inhuman monsters were struck down just as quick: harpies, dragonborn, centaurs, and even fauns, though that last one was apologetic enough that Pinkie didn’t seem to take it personally. Twilight made sure to emphasize her distaste was due to being quite accustomed to feet and skin and four appendages, and nothing more.
Each of Pinkie’s following guesses were turned down as quickly as she could think of them, and while Rarity quietly listened to their playful back-and-forth, a guess of her own started bubbling at the back of her mind.
Twilight knew quite a lot about monsterkind, even for a curious human.
Wasn’t there a certain type of monster that would also benefit from such detailed knowledge?
...Perhaps, one that might need to mimic the physical characteristics of a monster close enough so as to not ever be discovered.
“Well,” Rarity finally chimed in, “if I weren’t a vampire already, I’d certainly like to be a changeling from how the two of you are talking.” Her gaze never left Twilight the entire time she spoke. “Perhaps I’d even try my hand at being human.”
But Twilight’s reaction—or lack of one—didn’t give anything away. She simply raised her eyebrows a fraction of an inch and asked, “You’ve thought about it, then?”
“Hm?”
“About being human.” Her head tilted slightly, enough to shift her bangs and send a bit of her hair curving out over her shoulder. “Have you ever wanted to be one?”
What a silly question. “Of course not,” Rarity replied at the same time Pinkie shook her head and chirped out a cheerful, “Nope!”
Twilight tilted her head further to the side. “Really?”
“I like being me,” Pinkie said matter-of-factly. “If I were human, that’d be a different me. And that’s not the same thing, y’know?”
“Hm. I see.” That answer seemed enough for Twilight, at least. “And you, Rarity?”
Rarity blinked. Suddenly, explaining her answer seemed more daunting than even the angriest Ursa Major in the world. “I mean,” she said slowly, “I can’t say I haven’t entertained the idea of magic. And of course I envy anyone able to survive in sunlight, but...” She hesitated. Why had she been so confident in her response? Why was she so certain that she liked being a monster; a vampire?
Could I ever hate the negative aspects of myself enough to relinquish the positives?
“...I suppose my answer is the same as Pinkie’s,” she realized. “I’m quite fond of the person—well, monster, really—I am. And of course my sense of self isn’t all inconvenient sleep schedules, or draining dry out-of-towners no one’s wont to miss. It’s my background; my identity, in a way.” It was the connection she instantly had with other vampires, even far removed from home, and the way that strangers could feel more familiar than all other monsters in the world. “I don’t think I could trade that for anything.”
(She’d recognized herself in Fluttershy that fateful first night, long after the curtain had gone up and the stage had stayed bare and that calm, collected human had run out backstage door and toward the forest. She’d recognized herself in Fluttershy when blue lightning had severed air and too-close heads as a second human—no, former human—had appeared above the stage: the same panicked eyes and trembling hands and a fear so strong it strangled even screams.
Perhaps she’d known then. Perhaps that had been why she’d grabbed a stranger’s hand and dragged her along to safety when she’d fled. They were sisters by bond, even if not blood, and even if later Fluttershy had clarified that her bond was only half. Rarity didn’t care.
Whatever bond they shared was the reason they’d gotten out of that mess alive.)
Twilight remained silent for a moment after her answer, and Rarity didn’t need expressions to tell she’d lost herself in thought. Then—
“Monsters and humans must be similar,” she said to break the silence.
...Oh?
“Because, in the same way you both have never wanted to be human, I’ve never wanted to be a monster.”
Her words were confident and calm as ever, but it was only then that Rarity knew they were true—not because Twilight Sparkle was a liar, mind, but because such a statement wasn’t one many humans could truly state. After all, what lambs didn’t wish they’d been born lions? What could prey ever do but hope to wake one day with claws for fighting back?
“I don’t think most humans would agree with you,” Rarity said, careful to keep her voice even instead of accusatory. “Especially if your magical abilities are as out-of-the-ordinary as you’ve described.” A thought came to her, then, and she voiced it immediately: “Without magic, would you still be satisfied being human?”
(Changelings had no pride in their identities. How could they, if they spent all their time as someone other than themselves?)
She’d expected that Twilight would take some time to consider such a scenario—if not a good minute, then at least the same amount of time she’d taken to think about her and Pinkie’s answers just a moment earlier. But by the time the tail end of her question slipped past her tongue, Twilight had already dipped her head into a nod.
“I think so,” she said slowly, and Rarity could hardly believe her ears.
“Even without your magic?”
“Mhm.”
“Even,” she tried again, “if you weren’t anything but ordinary?”
Twilight nodded. “Even then,” she said, then carefully shrugged her shoulders up and down. “Besides. That’s the best part of being human.”
Pinkie’s eyes widened to nearly the size of saucers at that. “Being ordinary?”
“That you get to make yourself extraordinary.”
Rarity could clearly hear the smile in Twilight’s reply—even if she didn’t wear one on her lips. It sounded like satisfaction personified, with perhaps a hint of pride, and if it were anyone else she might have laughed at the very notion that a human could be anything but ordinary or insignificant or weak, but—
But she’s Twilight Sparkle, Rarity reminded herself. Her laughter died in her throat, and a sort of nausea rose from its corpse instead.
Just how far away from human was the threshold of ‘extraordinary’?
Her gaze dropped back to Twilight’s injured leg; back to those nearly-invisible veins and the wound she hadn’t felt, and a second question soon twisted into thought:
And what would a human have to do to surpass it?
It was so subtle that Rarity didn’t notice it until much, much later, curled half-asleep in satin sheets with thoughts of extraordinary humans coiled tightly round her mind.
Because, while Twilight Sparkle had said she’d never wanted to be a monster, and while Twilight Sparkle had said she’d still want to be human if given the choice...
...at no point could Rarity remember Twilight Sparkle ever saying that she was.
change·ling
1. a shapeshifting monster capable of transforming into human and monster alike
2. someone lacking a definitive sense of self or identity (derogatory)
3. not Twilight Sparkle
Why call it Ponyville if it's full of monsters?
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Should be called Monsterville.
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because i didn't want to change any names :)
OUGHHHH
poor rarity being denied the hurt/comfort she so richly deserves...
i love pinkie being a faun/satyr. mostly because my only conception of them is they love partying (and drinking) so it feels appropriate
rarity: schemes, connives, plans
anyone else: just asks the question
rarity: what the fuck that's not allowed
alternatively: pinkie commits a microaggression again
worldbuilding question Just For Me: i assume humans are diurnal in this world, but what are monsters like? are they typically diurnal and vampires like rarity just make the most of their overlaps in schedule? or has monster society as a whole edged towards nocturnism, half because of the necessity for some of the night-dwelling monsters, half because of the temptation of shadows?
i like the look into rarity's bond with other vampires!
ohhhh girl you are SO ex-human.
it seems like rarity must kill to feed - even if she has a sense of decorum with it (choosing out of towners, "don't shit where you eat"), very curious about the overall Morality of the world. celestia trusts the six to carry out her bidding, and she's presumably aligned with humans - monsters and humans are fairly segregated, so twilight's implied to come from a human-majority place, so presumably its leader is also human?
killing ferals (implied nonsapient monsters) seems like pest control more than anything (and the everfree is a unique place, so it's likely celestia does it not to protect ponyville but to stop them from reaching wider equestria). so it's interesting she's apparently working in the interest of protecting humans, but is okay with the people she trusts to do that killing humans anyway... interested what's going on there. maybe too many ferals has grimmer implications than the destruction they can do individually?
i like the description of rarity's bond with other vampires and the parallels to solidarity among irl minorities - specifically the subgroups that have specific troubles and oppressions in common, rather than the broad concept of solidarity.
ohhh girl what did you DO!!!
i think i'm figuring out what the title / chapter titles are about... like yeah they're types of love in the classical greek sense (hospitality relating to rarity's act of washing twilight's shirt, friendly affection relating to twilight's confidence in rarity and them sharing tea, self-love relating to their pride in their own identities) but in terms of how that relates to the mystery of twilight: rarity attempting to triangulate "what monster twilight really is" is overlaid on her trying to figure out what her feelings for twilight really are. each chapter has a textual guess from rarity's perspective, but it also has a metatextual guess in the form of the chapter title relating to what the actions between them imply and how rarity might truly feel.
it's clever! hyyyype for eros, but i wonder if we'll detour to agape first to peek at twilight's relationship to celestia... lookin forward to the next chapter!
I started reading this and have thoroughly enjoyed myself so far, I thought the writing was familiar and lo and behold you have written several stories I've adored. I wish there was a way to follow writers alongside stories. I enjoy the questions left in you descriptions it always feels like you tell us more in what you don't say. And I love how you balance on the edge of showing enough to draw our answers and too little to be meaningful. Imo I think that this twilight is magic, or so closely entwined that she doesn't count herself as human. A elemental bound in the corporeal. Similar to a litch but she bleeds her body can't be dead
Interesting AH. I imagine humans try hard to spread rumors about how dangerous their magic is, given how few of them actually can do the more powerful stuff.
" And of course my sense of self isn’t all inconvenient sleep schedules, or draining dry out-of-towners no one’s wont to miss. "
Is this actually normal, or is she just being sarcastic? Presumably vampires don't actually have to drain so much that they kill, otherwise peace between them and humanity seems implausible.
Minor irritation: everyone (including the later season show runners) nerfs Ursa Majors.
But an OG Ursa Major wouldn't just give you a bad bite: all six together would barely be a mouthful.
https://aminoapps.com/c/my-little-pony-amino-espanol/page/blog/my-little-pony-size-comparision/zWak_oUxuBDax1PgxrJrNENrr2kNdGlQB
(I will accept it on the basis of it being a - very - alternate universe).
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omg ur cooking so hard w ur analysis and i am here for it!! pinkie as a faun was smth i solidified right away when picking out monsters for the rest of the mane 6, theyre more greek/roman mythology than “monsters” really, but they suited her too well to pass up xd. and yes, rarity really be out here trying to untangle the gordian knot, just for pinkie to pull out scissors fkfkjfkdns
in terms of ur ~lore~ questions, i didnt really consider the difference! generally humans would follow diurnal sleeping patterns i think, especially since theyre the majority “species” outside of Ponyville (i think i mentioned its a monster haven in an earlier chapter). however, different species of monsters probably might choose when they want to be awake (or may just need less sleep in general!), so i dont think any are specifically nocturnal or diurnal except for those w specific relationships to day/night, eg vampires and the sun.
celestia… well, she’ll be an interesting interpretation in this, that’s for sure lol. dont want to give too much away tho, so ill let u cook a little longer :P and yes, rarity and her “instant bond” was defo grounded in that sort of “omg we have the same background” connection, be it same school, culture, fandom, or whatever else.
ooho, youve caught on to the titles AND the double layers to each one, good eye :D youve guessed the last two chapter names, so it’s about 50/50 which one youll get tomorrow…
thanks for the wonderful comment, and the lore analysis, i rlly enjoyed reading it! and i hope you can look forward to the rest of the story :D
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oh, you can follow specific users! just go to the profile and hit “follow”, tho if i remember correctly it might be a bit hidden on some devices haha. but regardless, im so happy youve enjoyed the things ive made! and thank you very much for taking the time to share your thoughts on the fic so far, im glad youre enjoying the little pieces of the world i managed to squeeze into the story, even if im not explaining everything outright ^^
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ah, yeah, it’s very alternate universe lol, the size difference between monsters/humans and ferals is more similar to humans and animals than between the monsters and ponies in canon.
and, not entirely sarcasm! vampires dont need to kill every time, but if raritys not careful / her victims put up too much of a fight, id imagine its too easy to mess up and accidentally have a human bleed out on ur bedroom floor lol. i also would imagine she could store the blood in some way, since Ponyville wouldnt get enough humans for her to feed on a daily basis. but these are defo interesting questions to ask, and im glad the lore of this world is interesting to u! i hope you look forward to the rest of the story ^^
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Well thundering trumpets. Thanks for that. Looking forward to the next peak into your world!
Fuck me, what a great line. I’m super invested in this story on the macro level, but each chapter has had at least one line like this. Great work.
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thank you so much! im glad youre enjoying the story, and that youre liking these little lines i tried to get exactly right :D
I know you said that you meant for this to come out in July, but man Twilight being the somewhat spooky, least human acting out-of-towner in the town explicitely full of non-humans is such a cool Halloween vibe.
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maybe it was just meant to be all along :P im glad that youre enjoying the vibes!
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like mushing your face into a cat
Hmm ... barely any voice inflection, incredibly powerful, near complete lack of reaction to bodily harm, treats certain things as facts that don't need proving ...
I'm guessing Twilight is gonna be some sort of biological automaton.
Huh... Well most of what I had to say about this one was already said, but I still have a few things of my own.
Well Fluttershy is a turned vampire (hello captain obvious).
RD, I'm gonna guess a Valkyrie, ok more likely a harpy like thing?
Since it's a industrial world with does not stray away from violence wouldn't it be easier for celestia to send the army engineering core to provide a more permanent solution to the everfree problem, instead of relying on those few special individuals who by their very nature are in very short supply? (Unless there are like other kingdoms and/or the army is needed elsewhere) (or there is no army in the first place)
So uncivilised. To just kill random people like that. Animals have bllood too.
Good Soldiers follow orders.
...A few will transcend...
Some one else did the chapter names thing for me already. And done it better.
Since I couldn't think of any verse from a work I know to fit here. I just listened to Deadwood on repeat and now I'm ready to fight
godcelestia.Good chapter as always. Hope you have a great day.
My theory, is Twilight is either augmented but still technically human or A lich and Celestia and Luna are also both liches. Just like canon, where Twilight ended up the same kind of being as the royal sisters.
Also, Pinkie as a Satyr/Faun is a good choice. I can see her playing pan pipes. But Fluttershy the vampire that plays up their bond with animals and lives in the wood to counterbalance Rarity the cultured sophisticate vampire is excellent.
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Homunculus, You mean?
Are You still human if You are the transhuman, like mage?
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nope, fluttershy’s not turned, she’s just half-vampire ^^ i thought it was fitting, with flutterbat being a thing only sometimes and all lol. but you’re pretty spot on for rainbow!
in terms of “industrial world”, it isn’t quite to the level you’re thinking of. there aren’t armys or anything like that, and certainly not for monsters, who have minority numbers compared to humans. remember that ponyville is an outlier, not the norm, in terms of monster population ^^ and, there are reasons for everything. if you’re asking *why* twilight needs to stay in ponyville and kill all these ferals, youre asking good questions.
thanks for reading!
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ooh good theories! cant confirm or deny any of them, but it’s cool to see which dots you’re connecting ^^ im glad you’re enjoying the story!
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mage wouldn’t exist really as a species, since that’s more of a job / class in my mind. however, if you are born a human, you will have some innate magic, and if you become a monster somehow—eg, a zombie after death—you would still retain the ability to do magic
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In the original stories there was more of a sexual bent there. But hey, in most stories with enough of a rating for it to come up there's more of a sexual bent to Pinkie as well.
Hmmmm I suspect our dear Twilight is a golem.
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interesting guess!
Absolutely incredible so far. Your Rarity is spot on and an absolute delight, and your Twilight is such a fascinating take on S1 Twi that I feel like we don't see enough of, especially these days. She's so different from the Twi we've grown used to over nine seasons and yet she feels incredible true to form for the context she's in. Cannot wait for the rest of the story.
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The army thing was kinda just being wierd in my own way and now, after overthinking it for most of the day (because good fics have a tendency to stay in my mind for a long time and occupy a lot of thought), there are SO many ways in with it could have backfired and is a absolutely terrible idea.
A half vampire? That's a first time I hear this could you please elaborate please? I'm intrigued.
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tysm! it’s a relief to hear my rarity is in character, cuz if u could tell from the c1 authors note, i really struggle with writing her haha,,, im glad youre looking forward to the rest :D
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i mean, it’s what you would get when a vampire and a different monster (or even a human) had a kid together. the kid would get some traits from each parent, or perhaps all the traits combined, but weaker in strength. i dont think these types of relationships would have been common in the past, when monsters were more numerous, but since theres not that many of them now, more mixed species monsters will probably start to pop up.
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Dhampyr, like Vampire Hunter D.
You're giving me chills. There's something very awe-inspiring and wondrous about a person staring at the gauntlet of life and just declaring, "I am, I was, and yet will be." Self-determination really is catnip.
I had to re-read everything, partly because this was just so incredibly enjoyable, but also to better appreciate all the little layers I felt too dumb to catch the first time. It's fun trying to figure out what Twilight could be, but it's also very fun savoring all the little clues as to how this AU works.
I like that you made Fluttershy a half-vampire and Pinkie a faun. I'm really curious what Rainbow and AJ are. If there were hints to their nature, I missed it.
I'm really enjoying this story. Like really, really, really enjoying it. Thanks to my neurospiciness I have very little patience for reading other people's work. It takes a lot of mental effort to commit to a story for me. But this is... so fun and refreshing. It doesn't feel difficult at all because the premise and writing is just so damn good. I'm beyond happy to have found this. Thank you very much for sharing your work, and I can't wait to read more.
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ahh im so glad you're enjoying the story! don't worry; you havent missed anything for rainbow or applejack really, and im glad that you could catch what pinkie and fluttershy were without me outright stating it ^^ thank you so much for the comment; im glad you're looking forward to the rest of the fic
This was another really interesting chapter! I'm excited we got to learn more about Twilight, as well as see the other mane6. It's interesting that Rarity has always been a vampire. Ig I just assumed she'd been human at some point.