Best e-mail spam ever! Cheers author, bout bloody time

5848344 Did you get a separate e-mail about each chapter? Sorry!

Hope you like it!

5848346 Well, since each new chapter publish triggers an e-mail notification (for those that chose that type of notification), then yea, I got 3 of them. Not like it's a bad thing anyway but as a suggestion, I would have personally published them at least a day apart (gets the story more time in the feature box, which it kinda deserves)

5848355 I thought of that, but I also promised people I'd finish the story in one go. You've waited long enough!

Won't be able to read this until later today or tomorrow but holy fuck am I excited to see it's finished !

I can't believe what I've just read. I've been following this story since the beginning (early 2013) and was very impressed with how deep and engaging the psychological implications of past events were to Shining and Cadence. But I am sorry to say this, and with all the respect for the author for the rest of the story, the last 2 chapters are the worst possible way of ending it.

Going over the fact that the entire love scene this fic has been building up towards is excruciatingly bad and not even finished properly, the whole Flash Sentry and alicorn canon fan servicing is simply horrid and completely out of place given the nature and origins of this story as a whole.

I can't possibly believe the ending was written by the same author that has described in amazing detail and great understanding and maturity the trauma suffered by the royal couple in the chapters written a year ago. I feel extremely disappointed for having invested time reading and carefully looking into every detail and aspect of this story just for it to be finished like that. I'm sorry if you find my comment insulting in any way, and I am sure lots of people will like the ending, but for me this was one of the most disappointing story endings I've read in this fandom.

5848568
I disagree. The ending served the story just right.

Yes, there was a lot of trauma explored, but it wasn't only that. They were trying to get past that, that's what things were building up to. The love scene gave us that, a way for them to deal with their situation and each other.

As for not liking Alicorn Twilight or Flash Sentry: That's completely subjective on your part, and just that. Simply saying it's bad doesn't help anyone, I'm afraid. To me, it's integrating canon into the flow of the narrative where it works, and why shouldn't a fanfic author do so? If you really get down to it, hating on Flash Sentry is way worse fan servicing, because there's little reason except a cheap way to please all the people who hate Flash Sentry's very existence.

5848568 Well I mostly just don't understand it. You give no reasons or critique, just claiming it's bad.

The worst of their problems are in the past, they still have a lot of issues to go through. They've made large breakthroughs, all evident in the last two chapters. Cadance is finally able to let go of her control, and Shining Armor is finally able to take control of his own life again. I'm not going to write a fic about SA&C's rehabilitation in the months or years to come. That was never the scope of this fic. It was about Shining Armor's impotence, the reasons behind it, and overcoming it. The reasons were complex, but they were able to work through them.

The epilogue was there to tie it up and send it out happily from another POV. The FS joke was there because I think they are cute together. If your biggest complaint about a 135k word fic is about a few lines about FlashLight shipping, then I'm darn happy.

Well, that was one great read. This story was interesting, disturbing in a good way and real funny in these final chapters.
And it's complete! So many fics end up dead, it's always a nice surprise to see one finishing up properly. Congratulations!

5848796 It's been a constant pain in my butt for such a long time! Now I don't wake up and think "Maybe I should try and work on CIAM for a change?" and every time I'd end up doing something else. Feels good.

I really liked this story.

The characters were real and their problems believable.

I could relate on a sympathetic level to the emotions the characters experienced.

I hope you keep writing.

5848568

I'm curious about why you think the sex scene was bad, the only thing I can guess that you don't like is that it's not incredibly graphical or long, but this is a story about sexuality, not about the sex (as in clop). I found it adequate for the purpose of the story.

Also, of all the things to possibly take offense of, Flash Sentry making an appearance is probably the silliest.

Frankly, best adult rated story I've read since Her Majesty's Secret Service . And adult doesn't just mean sex, it means adults being adults and dealing with adult things- of which this story had plenty. Happily favorited.

Commence read.

A nice end to a great read.

Finally the end of this story. It's a nice closure, but maybe in the Epilogue you could have added how they are in bed now (like if Shiny still need kinky setup to get up)

While I very much enjoyed this story, and I'm glad its complete (rather than never updating or some other faith-worst-than-death), yet I find myself agreeing with Alexaroth's comment; at least the thrust of it, if not necessarily the tone.

The problem with these two chapters, or rather, the problem with the very last chapter, (Loose lips sink ships) is that there is something of a deus ex machina invoked by Twilight being in heat, and that being the reason 'why' for Shining's thoughts. The reason I call it such is that, as far as I know (and I'll be the first to admit I should go back and reread the whole thing over again) this is the first time the idea that heat could induce those sorts of thoughts in a stallion. From the point of view of telling the story, you use this to resolve the conflict you've set up, yet it seems to be very much of a rabbit pulled out of a hat at the last minute. What's more, I can't help but wonder if this truly resolves Shining's problem, or explains the nature of his thoughts.

If it is true that a mare in heat will induce those sorts of thoughts in stallions, than it strikes me as odd that Shining has never experienced those sorts of sexual thoughts towards his sister before, unless we're supposed to read this as Twilight's very first heat--which I don't think is your intent. Even if it were the case that this was the first time Shining had encountered his sister during her heat (and if so you should have world built that into the story) it seems surprising that Sassy wouldn't have recognized the signs, or at least the possibility that this was what had happened, and bring it up. I can't imagine that this is the first time Twilight has spent so much time indoors that she had experienced irregular heats either...

It was a great story and I love that you tackled, in detail, some difficult psychological issues. You made Chrysalis' actions truly hit home for Cadance and Shining.

I do have to agree somewhat with 5848568. The last two chapters are the ending I was hoping for, or at least something like it, but to me there's a slight disconnect between Giving Up and Size Matters. Giving Up sets up the eventual resolution: that Shining and Cadance will have better reciprocity through testing their current barriers to each other. Size Matters essentially resolves that, but it feels like it does it in one short scene - Shining trying to take a more directly dominant role in the bedroom - and unfortunately off screen so we don't actually get to see it.

Iron sight looked at himself

Sight should be capitalized.

Wow. I can't believe it's finally done! This was a really fun read for me a good while ago, but I forgot all about it due to its incompletion. Time to reread.

5850481 And a sequel hook to boot.

No wall of text for the last bit here. I'm glad I stuck through it to the end. A bit of levity given to some very serious issues, many of which I've not seen other authors even touch on, and all metered out in proper dose with pretty excellent pacing.

It's extraordinarily rare that I read anything more than once, but now that CIAM is complete I may have to power through the whole thing, start to finish, and sample it in it's entirety.

Congratulations, Isseus, on your pony novel.

A great end to a great story. This story was incredibly well written, well thought out, and explored some very interesting ideas. Put this one up on your trophy case

5850142 Twilight acting very OOC during her previous visit to Canterlot had actually been brought up quite a lot. I have some headcanon about how ponies and heat go about stuff, but mostly I just thought it involved magic, very special summer camps, and loads of tissues and lube. Sunlight is one of the things that triggers a heat in Equines, so that part wasn't really made up. I do understand how it might have come from left field, but it was there to let Shining Armor forgive himself about the episode and return his relationship with Twily back to normal, seeing as their interactions in the show are already okay in Games Ponies Play, which this fic precedes. (Fitting fanfics into canon can be a chore sometimes). Twilight was mentioned to have been trying to cover her heat with some magic specific products for it, but it does sound like a flimsy excuse. What I do know from show canon is that Shiny left home before Twilight hit puberty, so it might be possible for him not to have met her during one of her seasons. The point about her having a delayed heat cycle before and Shiny knowing about it is a very good point which I did miss.

5851168 The whole delayed heat idea was there to begin with, but the comics came out far later than that. I just thought they were a nice detail and tossed it in there. Just be happy you never heard of the original Cadence In A Minor -fic that was supposed to be a one-off foalcon about Cady turning into a foal to pleasure Shiny. I'm really happy that fic never happened and I got to write this one instead. Now the name also has a double meaning of "Cady in a minor role and Shiny getting the spotlight" which has yet to happen in the actual show. We've only seen Shiny as 1) Mind controlled puppet, 2) holding Cady's hooves and then tossing her into the sky and 3) shouting at ponies to run faster. Not a lot of character development there.

5851239 Yeah I've read the book. Unfortunately the book came a long time after I'd written about her starting off as a Unicorn. I hear that both Cady and Shiny were supposed to be Unicorns during their wedding, but Cashbro needed them to make Cady into a Pink Pony Princess of Hearts, so they gave her wings as well. That's where the wing-thing came from.

5851290 If you happen to find any continuity errors, please do send me a PM. It's been a long time writing as well and it takes bloody ages to fact-check everything from way back when, so I usually go with what I remember.

5850993 I admit nothing! FlashLight is a cute ship, but I want to see where they take it officially first. Apparently the toys for the next Equestria Girls movie has their human versions dating each other, so there is a chance it might actually become canon. I also don't like the human Flash Sentry at all. He's a dork. The pony one lacks a personality, so him I can still allow MY Twily to date.

5849236 It does bear mention that the guy behind HMSS, CarcinoGeneticist, was an editor/pre-reader/ideawall/support figure for CIAM, and dare I say, a great friend.

5852630 I wish anyone would ever draw any fanart of any of my fics.

Or donated.

5852062

Twilight acting very OOC during her previous visit to Canterlot had actually been brought up quite a lot. I have some headcanon about how ponies and heat go about stuff, but mostly I just thought it involved magic, very special summer camps, and loads of tissues and lube. Sunlight is one of the things that triggers a heat in Equines, so that part wasn't really made up. I do understand how it might have come from left field, but it was there to let Shining Armor forgive himself about the episode

I don't think there's necessarily anything wrong with what you've written in terms of worldbuilding, and I understand completely that you put it in, in this fashion, so Shining could forgive himself; the problem stems from the fact that by and large it doesn't feel like you've built this into the world you've written in this fic, up until this chapter, this section, in particular (although I'll admit I may have forgotten something). As a rule, I don't think it's a good idea to be worldbuilding in the very last chapters of a work, for example, for this very reason, and it's pretty much why I characterized it as a deus ex machina in my first post.

Also, you say here that Twilight is acting OOC in that particular set of scenes, but I'm not sure I see it; one of the difficulties with writing fanfiction, especially fanfiction that goes beyond the source material in certain ways (IE the inclusion of sex, PTSD) is that there's no guarantee that what is or isn't 'OOC' for a character whose character has been expanded (in the above way) will be clear. When I could easily imagine Twilight being the sort of mare who might over share on matters of sex or similar. Indeed, she seems to be doing just that when she's explaining to Shining and Cadance that she was in heat.

Ultimately, headcanon is largely useless unless it's shared.

and return his relationship with Twily back to normal, seeing as their interactions in the show are already okay in Games Ponies Play, which this fic precedes. (Fitting fanfics into canon can be a chore sometimes).

I think if your concern was to normalize their interactions in order to make their interactions normal as shown in that episode, you may have misplaced your concern; it isn't as if Twilight and Shining really interact to any great degree in that episode.

[Aside: I can't help but notice that you appear to be referencing the 'My little Pirates' arc from the comic series, yet at the same time Twilight isn't an alicorn? The Pirates arc was actually when Twilight-the-alicorn shows up in the comics]

5852923 Now that is a very good point. The last chapter should have been about resolutions and adding in world-building doesn't really fit in there. Hmmm. Honestly, I was so overjoyed way back when the Alicorn Amulet and age-change magic became canon that I didn't even think about the heat part being outside of canon. I mean, of course it is when I think about it now, but back when I was drawing the broad lines for the fic, it felt to click so well together. I wrote a really over-the-top obnoxious Twily back in the restaurant scene (at least on how I'd portray her usually), and I got a lot of flak for that. I knew, deep in my heart, that the point would be addressed on the faaaaar far future, but I couldn't comment on it back then, thinking of how it would turn out in the end. This time it took her having a nervous (very Twilighty) breakdown with first panicking, then running away, then facing the problem when someone else was about to suffer for it, only then being able to tell the truth. But yes, I'll try and remember the worldbuilding/deus ex machina distinction in the future, and how it shouldn't be used extensively after the climax of the story.

Good stuff, good stuff.

[Aside: I can't help but notice that you appear to be referencing the 'My little Pirates' arc from the comic series, yet at the same time Twilight isn't an alicorn? The Pirates arc was actually when Twilight-the-alicorn shows up in the comics]

Well, umm... Shit.

That one I messed up. It's been so long since I read the comic, and it was so forgettable anyways that I forgot a set of extra appendages on Twily. Oops?

5852076 No, no. He's a guitarist in a rock band. Not a dork. (Trust me, I was a dork in high-school until I upgraded to a Geek.)

5855575 The story premise, and the main conflict, was Shining Armor and Cadance having trouble in bed. Not their PTSD. They found one solution to Shining Armor's impotence in the end that helped them break through their final barrier. In addition they found more ways of continuing on working at their sexual problems with the size-adjustment toys, playing, and therapy. They found new sides about each other in aspects they hadn't explored before. Shining Armor takes his first steps to becoming an equal ruler and politician with Cadance, and Cadance is willing to let him make his own mistakes and learn. They've gotten through the worst moments and are on their way to a better tomorrow.

I've never been one to spell out everything to readers. I know some people expect to be held by the hand and others prefer to make their own conclusions. I've always wanted the stuff I read to make me think and explore the possibilities and feed my own imagination, not neatly lay everything down in easy to consume pre-digested chunks. I'm not saying either is right or wrong, because people have different tastes. That's just what I prefer. If I'd explored every single aspect that was touched upon in this fic, it would have become a never-ending project which I didn't have the stamina, willpower, nor interest in writing. I had to finish the loose ends () as neatly as possible and move on to other writing as well. There are several new fic ideas I have, and new motivation to continue with some of my older fics that I loved working on.

5856016 Nah, it's about Catherine the Great and her horse-suspension rig.

Personally, I thought it was a satisfying ending. Maybe a tad rushed, maybe you could argue that the Age Spell is sort of Deus Ex Machina-ish, but sometimes, a solution does just happen to fall in your lap at a convenient moment. After all the crap Shining Armour and Cadance with through, I'm more than happy to see them get a bit of luck and convenience on their side. I thought it was sweet and touching. Some might argue that the problems weren't fixed, or the opposite, that we have a perfect Holywood romance ending for our happy couple, but I disagree with both. Not all issues have been fixed, but both Cadance and Shining Armour have gained new understanding of each other in a way that assures us as the reader that they are on the road to a brighter tomorrow and a happy life together. It's exactly the kind of ending I wanted. Kudos!

5856340 I don't mind critique, but outright praise still feels pretty damn good. Thank you.

Holy crap you finished it. Time to actually read the rest!
Edit: One of the first adult stories on this site that isn't pure porn or gorn, and a great one at that. Also, I think this wins "longest time without an update in a completed story" by a long shot. Glad to see you saw it through to the end.

5859599 Sorry it took so long. I was never going to leave it unfinished, but it just took so much more work than I ever imagined!

5852062 If you want to read something canon more focused on Shining Armor, there's a great comic about Twilight visiting Shining running the Crystal Empire while Cadance is away, and they have a fair amount of cute sibling bonding.

5861290 The IDW one? I've read that. Unless you mean something un-official?

5861512 I meant that, it's the only official thing I know of that has Shining Armor without Cadance sharing the spotlight.

Also, as a form of morbid curiosity, how on earth would a Great Catherine rig exist in the world of Equestria? (I'm guessing gorillas.)

5861687 For the same reason humans have human suspension rigs for doing various wicked things to and/or with each other in the name of lust..

5860084 I'm just glad you got to an ending eventually, even if it might not be the most satisfying one. Then again, having Shining fully recover would be kind of missing the point that there are some things you just don't recover from. Also, is Chrysalis supposed to be dead from the love bomb in this universe, or just flung away?

I love this fic, and it's good to see the story resolve itself nicely.
Excellent work, good sir!

*tips fedora and vanishes in a puff of smoke*

5863977 There is no Cadance. Celestia and Luna mind-raped Chrysalis into changing into this fabricated Princess just to drum up publicity for their reign AND removed the changeling threat from Equestria. Notice how Twilight doesn't even know who Cadance is when going to Canterlot? That's because Cadance DID NOT EXISTS TO HER. When she was talking to Shining Armor, notice how Cadance is standing right behind Shining Armor and all Twilight SUDDENLY remembers few very generic memories from her childhood? Mind control magic at its best, allowing the victim to form her own ideas and memories from a specific seed.

Yes, Cadance turned into Chrysalis during the wedding. That was a mistake. That's why Celestia had to attack her mind again, just to re-do the mindcontrol magic on her. She also masterfully feigned her defeat. Then they picked her up during the chaos after the first failed wedding and inserted her later on back into the marriage, completely indoctrinated and a new Princess for PROJECT CRYSTAL in the near future.

So who was the Cadance in the crystal caves? Why, Princess Luna of course? She's shown to be a great shapeshifter, and they needed to have the good!Cady win against the evil Chrysalis, so Luna played that part for the crystal cave escape. Proof? Luna was nowhere to be seen during the whole wedding incident, only returning when the Chrysalis!Cadance had been planted. The genius part? Chrysalis can repeatedly mind-control Shining Armor into being an obedient little Prince and have herself a whole nation to control... answering only to Celestia and Luna, of course.

Terror attacks on their own people? Why, that's inconceivable! Next time Daily Equestria News:
- The truth behind Fleur De Lis' airship crashing into the Canterlot Castle, and how it lead to Celestia declaring war on the Diamond Dogs!
- Junebug, the evil mastermind behind it all!
- Lyra Heartstring gives us a HANDS-ON testimonial on humans, and why they are hidden from the public eye!
- King Sombra was Big Macintosh all along!
This special edition only 2 bits!

Well, it's been some odd months of not checking my favorites list, and now I come back to CiAM being finished? Wait a second, I didn't miss a bunch of updates, Isseus just updated in a big huge chunk! I think that was definitely a good decision, as I definitely enjoyed it better that way.

My complaints/suggestions are as follows:

1) The "I'm in heat" excuse for Twilight. This isn't really a fault of this story, It's just a problem of being overused as a cheap excuse in other stories, (usually not well written ones) which colored my gut reaction to Twilight's revelation. Still, it's nice to have this issue raised as "Your reactions are a basic biological issue, not something wrong with your personality, you can put it behind you now." rather than "oh no, there's no other option except to have sex!"

2) Age spell gets Shiney's groove back? This type of content is always really difficult to judge. On one hand, in a world where magic solutions are not just available, but even common, it's downright obnoxious for a story to ignore that route, but on the other hand, I can't help but feel that with how realistic this story presents the relationship dynamics and difficulties, that the solution should have also stuck more firmly to realistic methods. This issue is also further complicated/compounded by the fact that when you boil it down, you're essentially saying "yes, honey, you'd be way sexier if you weren't so old!" Frankly, I was surprised that Cadance let that slide, even with her focused on patching up the relationship. Cadance may be immortal in your story, but you also have her written as fairly self conscious about her strength/size, which is attached to her aging, so even if there are more magical means of anti-aging than what real people have access to, I still expected that to catch into her self image issues a lot more harshly.

3) Rework the epilogue to get rid of Flash Sentry. This isn't due to any objection to Flash Sentry/Twilight shipping (it is a rather weak ship, but it's hardly the worst out there) but rather that this story has been entirely about Shining/Cadance, and Twilight's presence was ultimately as a demonstration of how deep and wonky Shining's issues ran. So Flash/Twilight tacked onto the end just draws away from all that. I get that it was mostly intended as a lighthearted silly thing to give a proper hook to the end, instead of having it trail off awkwardly, but I think it detracts more than it adds.
If you think that you have enough ideas to do a full-fledged sequel that focuses on Flash/Twilight (with Iron Sights playing Fairy godfather), then I say to go for it, but scrap this current epilogue in favor of a different one, and use the content from the scrapped epilogue to make a springboard prologue for the Twilight/Flash story.
I hate to crib ideas from movies, but you may want to do a Mr. & Mrs. Smith style ending where you show them actually going/getting ready to go to the NEW therapist that Sassy Swallows said she'd recommend, and just show them being more comfortable with both the therapist and each other. You can even leave in more problems, more complaints, but the point is to show that they aren't bottling everything up and hiding things from each other, and that whatever problems they have they're back to viewing each other as allies to face those problems with.
But the part where Shining and Iron Sights talk about the "perimeter check" excuse is good, as it shows that Cadance is making strides in her own healing process, and it's not just Shining who is getting better, though I think that rather than politics, a better description is that instead of looking at it as an excuse, it's really more of a code phrase.

4) If Twilight is going to review her battle with Trixie, I'd have liked to have seen her mention her battle with Chrysalis that took place in the comics. You've included references to the comics that mention Shining and Cadance's high school years, but I don't know if you read that particular arc (I could send you a link to my humble Bundle copies if you didn't check that particular arc out) but for all the focus that there was on friendship, it generally boiled down to Twilight did her brainy magic learning skills and pretty handily mopped the floor with Chrysalis while her friends just watched.
Even though your point was to not have a conflict with Chrysalis, this might actually make for the better epilogue focus. It would be a case where Shining and Cadance never have the opportunity to get back at her because Twilight already took care of it. Shining might actually feel like his thunder has been stolen by Twilight when he finds out, or he might demand her location so he can get in his own shots at her. That would also present you the option of letting Shining/Cadance decide that there wouldn't be anything to gain from confronting her and choosing not to bother with her.

5) As people have mentioned, if you're going by established canon, Cadance started as a pegasus before she became an alicorn. You can always claim that in your universe, she was originally a Unicorn, but the break from canon seems a little out of place and it doesn't really serve any other purpose in the story, so there's no real reason not to bring the story in line with canon all the way through.

6) Terry's dead. I don't like that part, it needs to be rewritten so that he retired to the Bahamas and brought his favorite typewriter with him so we can still expect a good half-dozen stories or more to be delivered to his editors via trained parrots.
There are other writers who I like better, but not even they match up to the sheer track record that he has: 40+ flipping books of a completely different world with dozens of vibrant characters all with a distinctly individual spark of life. I came into the discworld fandom late, so I'm never actually going to get the chance to be waiting for him to come out with a new book, and I have never so distinctly felt like I missed out on something special.

So really, despite the length of that list I just ran out, those are mostly minor issues in what is otherwise an incredibly well written relationship story. The number of people who could actually write a story involving a couple actually addressing a REAL relationship crisis without being split apart by it probably number in the low hundreds, if not even as rare as double digits, out of the entire world. Shining's strife was well depicted, but it was really Cadance's troubles that made the story shine, as there was never a point where it felt like Shining was being particularly oblivious, yet the signs of her problems were all identifiable, even through the lens of his own troubled view of events.

I plan to, sometime soon I hope, read back through this story all in one chunk. When I do, I'll make sure I leave a final comprehensive critique.

5889082
I'm happy you spent so much time writing such a lengthy critique on CIAM. Just please understand that the fic is finished and will not be getting any changes into any of its contents. I will take your criticism in mind in my future writing, of course.

1) Most of the people claim it came out of the blue and was an ass-pull, the rest saying it's overused. So... yeah. What I used was actual real world biology as the basis. It was planned from the get go, and I tried to make Twilight as OOC as possible while still keeping her even remotely as herself during her first visit to Canterlot. Was it a "IT WAS THE BUTLER ALL ALONG" reveal for so many?

2) Cadence In A Minor can be read in several ways. Is it a light-hearted comedy with some slapstick in the middle? Is it an in-depth look at a male rape survivor in a matriarchal despotic society? I don't like stating things, instead of letting my readers do their own thinking and come to their own conclusions. I'm here to feed people's imagination and give them good stories. Not vomit pre-digested word-matter into the mouths of hungry baby Twitterbirds.

Was Shining Armor so into the age change magic because he's a horny perv, or because he honestly believed it would be a way for them to start working out their other problems, finding an intermediate way to have sex and get their frustration out to get a fresh start? Both he and Cady have various tools to help with the size difference now and their relationships is on a way to a more healthy and balanced one. Cadance is learning to let go of the reins, Shiny is taking hold of them. This is not the end for them, and as mentioned in the epilogue, he is still continuing to work with his therapist.

Read the synopsis. The premise of this story was for them to find a way to get over his impotence, and explore the reasons why. I could have continued to write about their relationship for hundreds of thousands of words more, but that was never the scope of this fic.

3) Every time someone complains about the FlashLight thing, I get a huge grin on my face. It was a joke. A funny one. Deal with it.

4) I've read all the comics. I admit I messed up with Twily already being an Alicorn in the pirate saga. I threw it in without thinking of the rest of the comic continuity either, because none of them had been written when I started CIAM. This fic was about the shadow that Chrysalis left behind her, not her as an antagonist.

5) As I've replied to the people you cite: The part about Cadance starting off as a Unicorn came from the original plan for Canterlot Wedding, before Hasbro changed Cadance into an Alicorn to sell princess toys. The book about Cadance's origins came out almost a year later than I started CIAM.

6) The great master is gone. Let's not mourn his passing, but celebrate his life.

5889493
1) It's not so much that it was a butler reveal. This is part of why I wanted to go back and take in the whole story in one chunk. I can't recall any obvious mention of ponies having the same style of heat cycles as real life horses. While it's obvious they share some basic biology, it can't necessarily be assumed that the hormones work the same way; since they are still a sentient race, their fertility could actually work closer to humans. If you established that in your take on the universe that heat cycles are a thing during an unrelated part of the story, then that would give the readers the clue needed to go "ooooh, yeah, that makes sense" instead of it feeling like the asspull. For all I know, you DID do that, and it's just been so long since I've read those earlier chapters that I've forgotten.

2) I feel like you misunderstood my point. I don't really have a problem with what the solution reflects in Shiny's character. It's pretty obvious that is all tied into the the basic physical dominance side of things. My issue stem more from a personal desire to see problems that are realistically portrayed also have solutions that can be applied in reality as well. I was noting that the closest realistic equivalent would almost be like getting a boob job or something and not necessarily good for her side of things.

3) You definitely missed my point here. I don't have an issue with Flash/Twilight, I just feel that it detracts from the Shining/Cadance focus that the rest of the story has, even just being a silly joke deal. More than that, I actually feel it's an interesting enough angle to spin into its own storyline to take place in the same universe. I can already picture the attempts of Flash to covertly interrogate Shining on advice for dealing with an Alicorn without Shining actually realizing WHY.

4) I know exactly how that goes. I hate letting canon fall by the wayside, but when you try delving into a major, in-depth project, more and more canon just keeps getting established. Serious kudos for finishing in spite of all that.

5) I was wondering where that came from.

6) I think I'll just have to do both for now. Here's hoping his daughter will be able to do justice to the discworld series. That's a hell of a mantle to try to carry.

5890126
After giving it a bit more thought, I think I understand where you're coming from with your comments, mostly 1 and 2. You were reading CIAM as a relationship story about two humans, expecting both their physiology and solutions to be more akin to our world. I on the other hand revel in the fact that I'm writing in a world where magic offers solutions that would be impossible. The age-change magic is not akin to a boob job, it is akin to an age-change spell. There is no real world equivalent for it. It was a temporary way to break through Shiny's mental inhibitions and fears and, for an hour or so, allowed Shiny and Cady to change roles and make Cadance play the minor part in it. (HAH!) Making a breakthrough like that was what they needed and got. Would they have gotten their relationship fixed without it? Probably. They'd already gotten on the right track. But they are also magical talking cartoon horses having sex, so they had options we don't.

5890431 My focus is more on the fact that the relationship you depict is utterly realistic in its portrayal. Most of the best fantasy writing stories in which, while the setting and character pieces may be unrealistic, the attitudes, social interactions, and moral aspects are still generally universal, allowing readers to gain insight on these concepts through the modified perspective. Even in cases where the in-story values are different, when there are in story reasons for those modified values, it can still provide the same insight from the contrast.
Put simply, I saw the potential for this story to do some useful real-world social commentary, and even be a helpful guide for people to improve their own relationships from, and I feel that potential wasn't capitalized on as well as it could have been.
If that wasn't what you were aiming to do, then that's no fault against you. As I said to begin with, it would be obnoxious for a world in which magic is commonly used to ignore the magical opportunities and solutions available.

5900008 Always nice to see someone hit it up from the start and not just complain comment on the newest chapters.

Let me make this clear, no, absolutely very clear: You, nor anypony else, is good enough for my sister, got it?

Should be "Neither you nor anypony else".

I enjoyed this story a whole bunch
Its nice to find stories where the problem is down to earth(sorta ) and not some supernatural/totally unrealistic problem. Don't get me wrong, those stories are pretty great; Its just good to have a break from them every now and then