"I can't help but wonder, what other old pony tales are true?"
The return of Princess Luna is still fresh in the collective mind, the day when Equestria learned that the old tales of Nightmare Night and the Mare In The Moon had had a grain of truth to them. With the adoption of Princess Cadence into the royal family, it had already been proven that there could be more alicorns than Celestia, but none had been prepared for one as old and powerful as Luna, one who could truly rival the Solar Princess and stand as her equal.
Some have welcomed her with open forelegs. For others, the adjustment is ongoing. Some communities may take a few generations to come around.
The public appearance during Nightmare Night was a good start, and Luna has Twilight Sparkle and her friends to thank for that. Now, however, she must call on them a second time, for a different sort of appearance. The city of Eventide wishes to not only welcome the Lunar Princess, but those instrumental in bringing her back.
But Eventide's relationship with the rest of Equestria has been strained for a very long time.
A thousand years' worth of time.
A standalone entry in the Eventide Verse.
Also check out author Patreon, Ko-Fi and commissions.
Well, we have a vague idea of who they are and what they might want.
Ah, this looks like it might be good. On to the list with thee and we shall see how it goes.
Something, something, black mana source.
In any case, most intriguing opening. A little overwrought at times—using "due to the fact that" instead of "because" is literally using five words when one will do—but I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what you do with this concept.
An interesting start, set during my favorite time in the show... I’m looking forward to reading more and seeing where this goes!
A promising start, with some interesting hints for where this might go going forward. I am excited for further developments.
Well now, an interesting start to be certain. You come highly recommended friend, let's see how this pans out, yes?
Edit: oh, I forgot the song, silly me.
This is nostalgic it feels like something written much earlier in the fandom when so much was still undefined and mysterious.
Tracking.
All right, I'll bite and see where this goes for now.
Looking forward to more of this. Seems pretty interesting so far.
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Aloe a question, is what they want what they need? I think Luna is going to need to make the choice for them.
Well, an interesting opening, indeed; I look forward to seeing how this develops. :)
Well that certainly isn't implying any untoward conversions...
Best bring the Elements. Just in case.
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Success! By which I mean, the aim with the chapter was "vague idea" and the worry was I'd accidentally hit "no idea" instead.
A very good question, indeed. Is this plan their actual best course of action? After all, one of them is already questioning it before I've even revealed what it is. Hopefully you'll find the answer to that satisfying once the story gets there.
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-whistles innocently in casual MtG player-
Guilty as charged. I tend toward the wordy and I'm hoping I get better at editing myself down with practice. Glad that the concept could catch your interest anyway despite that.
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Which is kind of terrifying, but also flattering.
And a lovely song it is. I appreciate the warm welcome, and I hope you enjoy the ride.
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I love hearing this. Some absolutely fascinating fanfics have come from exploring the mysteries of a series unfinished, and if my little alternate universe can capture some of that feel for my audience, I consider that a success.
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There's certainly some kind of implication in those words, isn't there?
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I'm so happy that I've been able to craft a hook that interests so many people and has them willing to give my work a try.
Now I just need to make sure I meet expectations.
No pressure, right? -nervous laughter-
Interesting first chapter and a good introduction to your original characters as well. I'll be looking forward to more.
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I hope the pressure isn't too bad; good luck. :)
Saw this based of Estee’s signal boost post, glad I checked it out. I’m relatively new to the fandom, so I feel like I missed out on those “extrapolate the show into a sprawling lore” days. Feels like that’s the vibe you’re going for, it’ll be fun to see where you take this.
Fascinating start indeed
I've always been interested in this brief transitional time for Equestrians. When average ponies wake up and hear "Oh yeah, we have a new Immortal God-Queen."
Besides the fact that these aren't average ponies.
I saw this on the front page and it didn't look bad at all. I made a point to read it after Estee strongly recommended it with his recent blog post.
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The luck is appreciated! So far it's been the kind of pressure that had me rewriting my script for the second chapter to improve on it, and I'd say that was the right move, so I think it's a good pressure.
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Glad you think so! Leading with the original characters felt like a risk, but one that worked best for pacing, and it's good to see that it's paid off.
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It is indeed! Taking parts of the source material and expanding on them can be done at any stage of the fandom, I say. Hope you enjoy.
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And not just a new Immortal God-Queen, but finding out that this big boogeymare in their folklore was/is real. That's going to have an effect on ponies. Luna Eclipsed was the only time I recalled the show hinting that the results were more complex than everyone just going "New Princess? Okay. Awesome!" and going about their lives, and decided it was worth exploring.
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Ah, good. :)
What I'd like to know is why Twilight didn't request an official diplomat to go with them.
1) It's sort of odd how everyone but Twilight appears to know about this place.
2) Except for the one who didn't say much........
ooh, interesting.
btw
narrowed eyes
Nice chapter
The Society is going to split down the middle, one side supporting Luna as she is now, the other insisting she's. Really Nightmare Moon and has been brainwashed by the Elements, predictable but good conflict to have and let you focus on other detials. I look forward to seeing exactly how and goes down, and what Evertide is like.
Not that I want to look at it from a totally negative perspective...but I can't help but make that call right alongside RD too.
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Well, no, Twilight knew of the place (she just let herself be beaten to the punch on doing the explaining), just not so much about the Umbral Society itself, which was understandable as it seems word of its existence has deliberately not been passed around too much by likely all parties. It's the fact that Pinkie knew anything of it at all that's the real fluke here...but it's Pinkie. She gets a pass because Pinkie.
What, and would Equestria invade Eventide if they tried to cut ties? Force them to be part of the "land of harmony"?
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Because Twilight, especially pre-alicorn Twilight, would probably walk off a cliff if Celestia told her to travel in the direction of one and never consider that she should have built a bridge.
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We aren't done with Canterlot just yet. However, I won't deny that the balancing act of "Twilight is smart" and "Twilight trusts her mentor completely, especially after 'make some friends' worked out" makes for an interesting character-writing exercise.
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Indeed, authorial intent was "Twilight knows, but not about everything." The intended knowledge breakdown was this:
I admittedly really wanted to turn the classic "Princess Celestia recites exposition at the Mane 6" scene on its head and have them have most of the pieces of the puzzle between themselves, but with enough disparity that they need to say it aloud, and that's part of why it's framed how it is.
I do apologise for lack of Fluttershy. The scene where she gets more lines to make up for it was shuffled to the next chapter in rewrites for pacing reasons.
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Thank you! Edited.
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Glad that you liked it! I hope you continue to enjoy the story.
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Very interesting theory on where things are going! I look forward to showing off Eventide, and I hope it doesn't disappoint.
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Well, no, but Celestia would be slightly more justified in kicking the next letter they sent making demands of her into a fireplace, because not her circus or monkeys anymore, so she wouldn't have to recognize them as legitimate like she would the mayor of Ponyville.
It's actually the second part of the qualifier that has the bigger impact on her actions:
As long as the Umbral Society is the will of the city's citizens, her hooves are tied, regardless of the fact that she's one of the two Big Mares in Charge. Because she intentionally wrote the laws to limit her authority in that manner.
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Oh. So it's like a typical episode then.
Oh, you poor, sweet summer child...
Well, first you need a plain or other large expanse of grassland. Pearls can also help.
Unicorn eyes being adapted see through magical glows makes a lot of sense. I'm surprised I've never seen the idea proposed before.
I do appreciate Applejack having a broad, if shallow knowledge of most of Equestria through her family. Really, the way you got the rest of the Mane Six involved beyond "stand there and let Celestia exposit" was great. (Other than Fluttershy, but it's not like she wants to draw attention to herself.)
Definitely looking forward to more. I imagine we'll soon learn what Celestia wouldn't let Luna tell the Bearers. And I'm sure Sunbeam Smiles has no relevance to the rest of the story whatsoever.
"Twin thrones said occupied."
"Twin thrones sat occupied."?
I continue to enjoy this story; thank you for writing. :)
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In her defense, she has no idea that she is a protagonist and that that mandates that all outstanding sealed evils be unsealed within her lifetime.
Glad you liked that detail. I've always liked thinking about the smaller, subtler ways that the types of ponies differ from each other. Twilight shuts her eyes during powerful casts with a lot of glow sometimes (see the Ursa Minor incident) but even routine spells are giving off light very close to eyeballs and it's good to be able to see what you're doing, or holding. The closest thing I'd ever seen to the concept is Estee's work including the detail that crystal ponies have a structure in their eyes that makes them not need sunglasses to exist somewhere so sparkly.
That scene was the main reason the chapter took a month to write. I wanted to get everyone's knowledge base locked down and when they'd be most likely to cut off Celestia's attempts to exposit.
I feel like Applejack having a spread out family that likes to regularly gather together could easily give her a lot of knowledge, even if it's in the form of shared anecdotes rather than dedicated research. It's a good narrative resource.
-innocent whistling-
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Fixed! And thank you for reading!
10704523 Ah, sorry. I latched onto the way "nominally" was emphasized and it set off all my cynicism/suspicion bells.
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Thanks. :)
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No worries! I'm a new author with no established trend for writing Celestia, so I understand a bit of side-eying. The stress of the word was just supposed to be a little frustration showing through that Eventide hasn't felt like it's part of Equestria in anything but name for a long time.
Is this based off of another story?
Uh, Twilight, your first meeting with Rarity had her try to give you a complete makeover that you ended up fleeing from. You’d think that would give you some new perspective.
Edit: On a reread I see this was brought up by Celestia herself in chapter 2. To be fair to myself it has been almost 2 years since I first read it.
And the shipping begins
Ah, metahumor.
I have several questions about that mare.
"Twilight, I am the last pony on this world who can condemn you for being excited to see your older sibling."
Oh my goodness, Shining actually telling Twilight about the wedding before the invitation arrived? This really is an alternate universe.
That's the question, isn't it? There are a number of possible answers there, but only Celestia can say for sure.
Legendary black-green enchantment. Got it.
And there's apparently an... interesting welcoming committee waiting for them. Now we're getting into the meat of the story. Looking forward to seeing just how Luna and the locals react to one another after a millennium and a few rainbows to the face. I don't know what Penumbra's expecting, but I imagine she won't get it.
--but it's Pinkie, so that guarantees absolutely nothing.
Agh, friendshippers.
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Nope! Just based on my thoughts when first watching Luna Eclipsed given years to worldbuild around them.
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Twilight might need a little more practice in shaking off first impressions when not facing off against a corrupted God-Empress with that pony after the fact. Opportunity for a friendship letter.
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I'd asked myself which of the two would be more likely to have the friendshipping goggles on during this interaction and the answer ended up "both."
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So does Twilight
Can you believe I almost left picking up the honour guard off-page? I may have had to remove the AU tag if I did