>>42290572
>Beyond being frustrating in the moment, I think it was honestly a poor narrative choice that felt contrived.
>>42290728
>It's the weakest part of the fic
I don't agree with this. When they reach each other in the changeling village, I got the impression of a dog chasing a car that doesn't know what to do when it catches the thing.
Both of them want to get back together, but even before they saw each other, neither of them were ready to. That was compounded by the way both of them changed as a result of the "slaying." Is the other pony even still the pony she loves? They have to find out. The way they're unprepared for each other is emphasized by their continuing to use the disguise names in private, even after they both know. It adds weight to their year apart and both of them making at least some progress on processing their grief which was taken away by the "whole year disappearing" line.
The finding out part, through the medium of the hatchlings, was good, both for slowing it down to a rate that the two of them could both handle and to keep the story interesting, because I want to know too. I think it would've been worse if they just did a "comparing notes" section and then just got back together and that was that.