Having finally found the time to read this story, I must say, the situation is worrying. At the start, there were two sides who seemed good, with hints of fouler traits, now we are left with at most five characters who remain clear-headed and if not benevolent, then at least better than the other characters in terms of real morality. And of those, two are foals receiving an upbringing that would end their relative high morality, one has vanished wandering across the land, one has been evicted from her home for reasons she doesn't even know, and one is a Norse deity who is about to fight his family.
This remains a beautifully constructed and well-written story. It's for that reason that I feel such dread, that I feel so much worry for and some fear of the characters.

hot damn it took me for fucking ever to get on top of this thing again...it's been a month or two since this finished...

Anyways! I honestly don't even know where to begin with this story, i mean, grass grows, birds sing, and brother? You write messed up stories! It was an entertaining ride...not to mention long as all get out, but more dark and depressing then your average teenage girls thoughts. I mean Luna and Applejack both started with good ideas, and then...well endless people have probably said this but "the road to hell is paved with good intentions", but there i go, spouting back another's words to make myself sound more eloquent and poetic then i really am. All i can say is keep up the great job man, regardless in what you write.

Four months have passed since I've managed to produce a review for one of your stories. Blame laziness or inability to answer the ever-recurring question "Where do I even begin?". Or was it the fact I've been too entranced in the story to so much as think about exchanging the thrill of reading for putting my own keyboard to good use? Only gods may know, Gymbr not excluded from their number. I had a feeling there would come a time for Luna and Scrivener to travel back to the original plot line – and the way they did was a strong incentive to get to writing this, what with the possibility of displeasing the vengeful god with lack of shown interest.

Seriously, though, how does one start commenting upon a story that is well past a million words in its totality, that is so well-written and alluring it deserves a vast fanbase of its own? Is the difficulty of this inquiry what keeps many people from writing down their feelings? And how long can one continue writing in questions without sounding ridiculous? After BLCA, however, I'm hesitant to disregard the value of a question, since too many of those formed while reading were so pointedly accurate and morally unsettling. Should someone find your works unentertaining (marginal as the possibility of such a thing happening is), they'd still come across as worthwhile thanks to those bases for pondering present all throughout the story.

And not only that either. After all, despite the darkness and cruelness of the adapted version of Equestria, the promoted values are in agreement with the ones stressed in the show: friendship, love and laughter. More than that, each and every of those and other virtues gets stretched, abused, exploited to the maximum and then some… which is what makes the lessons all the more real, be they laid clear in the text or only hinted at for the reader to delve into themselves. And even though some realizations are simple (the verisimilitude and lifelikeness of situations provoking those thoughts making the scenes all the more entertaining), others are both grave and often quite disturbing. They say a man is the sum of his experiences – and having read the stories, I feel that much has been added to mine. That I changed for the better, small as the differences might be.

Speaking of changes. Though one might argue that changes are what every story consists of, since any action or movement can be seen as a process of change, I would put those as the semi-topic of the whole cycle. When I think of it now, I can only wonder at the coherency of character of all those ponies, undergoing extreme metamorphoses and yet staying themselves in each and every situation. Names and stories come rushing to memory, but I'd rather avoid summarizing their stories in a text meant solely for the eyes of the author who knows them all better than I do. Not that I would mind anyone else reading this review - especially if it'd make them read your works – but being a realist, I know that's not what's going to happen. Not only is this review posted under the latest installment, it is inevitably packed with spoilers. And most of all, not many users would find such a block of text readable (which is bitterly ironic when the object of this review is a story of such length).

Why, oh why did I leave the review-writing hanging? How ever am I to fit praise for every bit that caught my attention when I could write essays on Sleipnir alone? ("Why should everybody be like Sleipnir", to begin. Then "Why double-swinging shouldn't be included in the above".) With his unyielding sense of honor, though, it's funny how little breaking marital vows all around vexed him… It's pointless to fight it, I must stoop as low as to go through individual ponies in unorderly composed paragraphs. Thou wretched author, why would thou overfill my mind with thy ideas so? I wanted to remark on Big Mac and Sleipnir's relationship being the only homosexual one, but then I remembered how many lesbian pairs there were (though, should the ones created by Luna not count…). What it does, however, is illustrate perfectly how delicately you can move around certain topics and scenes (and yet how brutal and graphic can others be!) . Moreover, it was fun to read and ever-so-adding to the characters of both oversized guys. And while I'm at it, Big Mac is by far the only pony who hardly changes throughout the story despite extended exposure to spotlight. Well, up to the point when he becomes Moon Blessed. Not that he appears much afterwards. His character must also be contagious, because I can force no more than those few sentences about him, much as I admire his creation.

Speaking of which, there are two anecdotes concerning Rainbow Dash I would like to – and egoistically devastating as it might be for the already forlorn integrity of this review, am going to share. First off, I had my mind set on writing a review under "Starlit Knights" a long time ago, voicing my distaste and dissatisfaction resulting from the fact you turned RD to a male. The review's lazy death aside, I have recently watched an episode of MLP and for a good while wondered why on earth Rainbow Dash is not a stallion. Needless to say, my initial aversion is long forgotten, and Rainbow's is the death I recall with most awe and emotion (The one from the hands of the Tyrant Wyrm, that is. Wait, that doesn't clear it up. The first Tyrant Wyrm.) The one thing about RD I am unsure of is when AJ's fixation got the better of his common sense, though I might just have forgotten.

Continuing… oh wait, the second anecdote? Resulting from the summary of "Lunar Lights" pointing to "Moonrise" with no mention of "Six Broken Ponies", I skipped that last one completely and only returned to it after "Starlit Knights". The point is, I hardly noticed anything being amiss in "Lunar Lights", which goes in accordance with what you stated in your profile, that you can read the stories in any order. Besides, it amuses me still that well-into the fourth chapter I was still convinced I'm reading a piece unrelated to the others.

I would so much like to do every pony justice and write an extended paragraph about them, but there's simply not much to be said about Applejack. I've run out of synonyms for "coherent", "wonderful" and such in the previous review. She never came across as very likeable, but that's the role she's gotten in the series – and in this role, she is… wonderfully coherent. I must buy myself a Sweetie Belle.

Fortunately, the mentioned problem does not concern you – or at least, you never let it show in the stories. To give Rarity a fitting and extensive role in war-consumed reality is an achievement not to be easily overlooked, as is the case with Spike. Even if their reappearance towards the end of BLCA would have seemed a little forced, had it not been so complexly interwoven with the state of affairs at Enstasis at the time. (By the way, the black castle's name couldn't be better chosen. Even though some ponies' enstasis was as though in stasis there, if you'd excuse the pun.)

I could write so much more – about Ignominious and the first dark lesson about love, Aleksandr and his upside-down rendering of "Baba Jaga" as "Yaga Baba" (although perhaps the language you based the minotaurs' speech on allows such transformations – and I suspect it wasn't as obvious a choice as Russian), about Sol Seraph and Bramblesticks and how I would like to send them via Bifrost into the realm of "Cupcakes", about Pinkamena and the lesson of how much showing affection and compassion may change others, about Odin and how much I love how you've adapted Norse mythology… The list is pretty much inexhaustible. I have every intention of reading through all your stories once more someday, titanic as such a task may seem, even though it pales in comparison with the undertaking of composing it. Perhaps then I will understand all the prophecies, catch new insights and bide my time in writing reviews piece-by-piece or even every few chapters. I know there has been much to remark on in every single one, but fortunately I wasn't taking notes, or this review would never end. And would have even less sense and order to it.

This review is not even the tip of an iceberg of thanks I would like to extend. At least I know there is no Titanic to be sunk by it – and I can't wait to toast your imagination with Discombobulation aboard the truly unsinkable ship of your fiction. May it sail forever and bring before our eyes lands new and unknown, allow us to rediscover ourselves, and continue to provide as much fun and entertainment as it has for such a long time now. Once more, sincerest thanks for creating this whole world. I only hope to one day be able to reciprocate more suitably than by writing such stream-of-consciousness reviews.

With that said, I can't wait for "The Clockwork King"!

WZ

The road to ruin is paved with good intentions.

That's what comes to mind throughout this story for me.

As always this borderlines perfection. I swear you must be a deity of writing... This story, hells this whole series, has a death grip on my heart and even if this is a 'what if' story it's leaving me confused and even a little wounded... And I mean that in a 'good' way. Your writing is powerful and the concepts of this tale is driving me to think hard about morals and what is viewed as 'right' and 'wrong' in society and what I feel is right and wrong. One of the things that is hitting me hard is Discom- Discim- Discum-? Bob's absence from events as of late... In previous stories Bob's sarcasm and random monologues filled with pop-culture references really took a lot of the weight off of dire situations and even with many light hearted moments and amusing quotes (something the magnificent Sleipnir contributes to greatly) I can not help but miss the chimerical trouble maker and wish he'd come and lighten the mood. However despite my inner-turmoil I find myself scowling at Scrivener's new Tyrant Wyrm nature... Even if it is in his nature, his greed and lust for control and power is making me rather unhappy... Many of their choices and actions have been... Unsavory... But many of these choices I do find myself sitting on the fence with... Not that Luna and the denizens of Enstasis are the only ones at fault. Equestria and their 'council' have made a move that I do not hesitate to frown on and Applejack and Ponyville have made their fair share of bad moves, even if I can sympathise. I don't see too much wrong with the transformations the rest have gone through... Twilight I think is alright... But that's because assuming no one was unwillingly hurt. Pinkamena I'm not sure about seeing as two demons were killed in the process but I wave that away for the same reason as Twilight. Celestia I have concerns for but I'm glad she's happy... But I'm still pissed about the horn thing. Fluttershy... Damn I don't know... I'm guessing there was not trickery on the side of the phooka... So yeah... It's okay... I'm glad that Rarity and Spike fled before things got bad but sad that they had to. Scrivener's new god complex leaves me very frowny face and the power mongering makes me very worried. Luna just wants what's best for her friends and family but with Scrivs pushing her I am very concerned and I find her judgment lacking... Pinkie's still Pinkie and I worry for Scarlet Sage and Applebloom. I guess (and hope) the other Crusaders left (for their sakes)... I can understand Applejack and Dash's position but I still lay my face in my hands and despair for them.

Reading this has been a rollercoaster of crushed hopes and soul rending predicaments and I'm still nineteen chapters from the end... Which I look upon with dread...

I... I really need to read something happy now... This has been very draining...

Oh god what have you done?

I hadn't expected them to fall so far this early... I can't lie, I cried my eyes out for Celestia... It was just so heart breaking... I can hardly believe Luna would do that and I seriously hope Sliepnir opens a can of whoop ass on her when he finds out... Which he will... Right? Even if he dies doing it? He's got to at least maim them!

This is just heart shattering... Why am I even reading this?

Stay awesome BlackRoseRaven.

Not gonna lie, saw the whole "it was bob telling a story" thing coming. Great way to end it though. I did like the little starlit knights reference you threw in there, quite funny. Not sure what's going on with whatever those things and the end of the chapter were, but they don't sound very nice. Looking forward to more excellent writing from you!

Oh, dear. I suspect this not going to end well. Not well at all. Seriously, I have to wonder if this was Valthrudnir's plan all along, or even just a failsafe "Scorched Multiverse" Batman gambit.

Congratulations! you've officially gone so far over the moral event horizon that is absolutely no hope for recovery. I knew this wasn't going to end well, but this! this is just going way too far! But still, its part of one of the best story series I've read on this site, so I'll finish it, if only so everything gets explained in the end. Oh! and we better get a happier story to balance this one, you know? end on a high note, not a point so low its subterranean.

Jesus wept peanut butter. Chapter 52 was a rough but enjoyable read. You really drove home just how far Luna and Scrivy are willing to go... And how far they have fallen.

At first I wasn't sure about this story, but I must say, my hat is off to you, as it has been for the entire saga.

I... I feel broken. I desperatly want to cry, but I cannot. I am compeled to shout out in anger and frustration, but all I can do is sit here silently shaking while I say you are a master of emotion with no potential candidate for comparison.

(PS: Pardon any misspellings here. It's 1:00am and I'm on my phone with no spell check, and now I think I'll be unable to get any sleep tonight)

Seems like we're reaching the endgame here, can't wait to see how it finishes up!

Wow I must say the series of stories that you have written are just amazing just spent many sleepless nights reading all of them but man part of me really wishes I was aware of your stories when I was at as most MLP here at FFN well tend to not be great and most good stories are found on fimfiction surprised these aren't on there.

well...there goes twilight. At this point i can safely say i hate you...but at the same time i cant stop reading because this series is my favorite out of all the fics ive read so far, and thats quite a bit. I can only hope that after you finish this story, we get one with a happier plot, not mindless destruction and death. I Wonder what the odds of that are?

Aaaaaaaaand...there goes any hope I had for a peaceful resolution that didn't involve the classic celestial vs Luna war...