Twilight Gets a Puppy
Season 4
By TDR
Plecostomus Twilight Sparkle,
Episode 2, Part 3
[?]
Twilight Sparkle screamed out as the severed unicorn head passed through her. She flinched back peddling away as the skull smashed into the stone wall behind her, turned to a slurry of bone fragments, black mane, and gray matter upon impact.
The massive witch wolf roared out as it stomped the headless carcass of the unicorn, the head less body bursting like an over ripe melon and splattering the stone hall with his innards. The massive spiky furred beast howled and lept into a group of armored guards that were approaching, claws and fangs brandished as blood ran down it's form, the remains of those it had found before this group. The armored ponies forced their magic user back, drawing simple steel weapons to face the monstrous witch wolf.
Twilight shuddered stumbling back over her own hooves prancing in place as she looked around the hall. Tattered banners hung from the ceiling, the walls had chunks taken out of them, some deep enough that a dim light from outside could be seen through them. Scattered across the ground were savaged bodies, some missing body parts, others burned or blasted apart by spell fire, others still filled with arrows. The bodies numbered castle servants, guards, and a number of silver and black armored nox-cal.
The clash at the end of the hall seemed to finally resolve as a large earth pony brought his ax down on the neck of the witch wolf, the beast refusing to give up and clamping it's bloodied jaws around the ponies leg as the ax fell a second time in a violent swing that removed the witch wolf's head from it's shoulders. The four remaining guards stepped back panting and checking over the fallen ones to see if any still lived the wounded guard was treated by the unicorn who stayed back from the fight.
They only managed a moment of peace before the wall next to them exploded in, burying them with rubble as a the massive form of a buffalo juggernaut tore through the wall trampling them all to death, showering the area with gore and screams.
The buffalo itself only lived a few moments more before a blast of magic from further down the hall burned a hole larger than Twilight through it's side, showering the wall behind it with it's smoldering guts and bones. The massive beast collapsed instantly, as another squad of guards already bloodied and battered rushed down the hall.
Twilight panted in panic her eyes darting around at the mass of bodies, her wings flared as she tried to lift her hooves up from a bloody floor that she wasn't even really touching. She screamed out loudly as something grabbed her and pulled her back through one of the walls.
Outside Twilight shrieked out flailing in the grip.
“WOOF!!” Rahs barked as he clutched Twilight against him as she panicked. He looked around the large courtyard as his sister hyperventilated. This was not a good spot.
Outside was far worse than the halls. Bodies lay strew all about as griffons, pegasi, and thestrals soared through the air tearing into each other, knocking bodies out of the sky or flying down to grab opponents off the ground dragging them screaming into the air before dropping them.
Three massive armor plated dragons soared overhead, blasting the lines of Guard to ash.
One of the great beasts screamed, as it's wing was ripped free by a silver griffon in steel armor, the massive hen ripping and tearing into the side of the falling dreadnought before bursting out of the bloody wound she carved with a chunk of what could only be the dragon's still beating heart.
The griffoness barely paused, leaping from the creature as it slammed into a castle tower sending the stone crashing to the ground with it. The hen payed it no mind, before the last stones crashed to the ground she was already soaring up in a shower of gore after the next dreadnought.
More witch wolves and juggernauts surged against the army of guard, massive nox-cal nocturnes rampaged through the guards, laying siege almost as well as the remaining juggernauts. Kirin fired blasts of spell energy that tore gouges through the guard ranks when they hit, and both sides threw up shields to protect their side as they rained down death on the other.
The sounds of conflict and the scent of blood, bile, and worse things filled the air in a overwhelming assault on the senses.
Rahs frowned as he looked for a way out of this with his sister, before spotting something on top of one of the walls. Tossing his sister over his shoulder he darted over scaling the brick work, wondering how the heck this potion could tell the difference between him wanting to pass through something like a ghost or touch it.
Ehhh, figuring that out was more Twilight's thing.
The air was a little clearer far above the battle field though the scent of blood and now fire, still filled his nose.
Shaking his sister a little as she finally seemed to be calming down he pointed to what he had seen on the wall.
Standing there in golden armor marked with the symbol of the sun, holding a massive claymore as large as she was, was Princess Celestia.
Across from her in steel blue armor and holding a massive double sided ax in her magic was a black alicorn with glowing green eyes, Nightmare Moon.
The pair were only apart for a moment before they were on each others, the impacts of the pairs hooves ripping chunks of stone from the wall as they moved. The clang of their weapons meeting threw up sparks and arcane energy that seared the air around them and turned the darkened sky bright as if the sun was sitting atop the castle walls.
The pair lept apart after the brief clash, Nightmare's mane lashing out and striking a pegasus who was trying to get the drop on her. The stallions head was jerked to the side with the hit, a sickening crack sounding before his body collapsed with a lifeless thud to the wall, bouncing once and falling over the edge into the melee below.
Celestia's horn glowed with brilliant power as she fired a bolt towards Nightmare. The dark alicorn tilted her head a little as the blast shot past her, hitting it's true target and melting the head of one of the remaining dreadnoughts sending the headless creature smashing into the stone wall of Whinnysor.
“You need to stop this Luna.” Celestia snapped.”Solomon is dead, the Crystal Empire is gone. There has been enough war.”
“You don't get it do you. This is not going to be over until I have your head on a wall and the country under my rule.” Nightmare Moon snarled. “You listened to much to those mewing fools you call nobles and have become a pathetic excuse for a ruler. Once you fall they will be ripped from their little nests like the rats they are, and made an example of to the rest of Equss as to what will happen if you cross me.”
“Please Luna.... you need to give this up. Let me help you. I want my sister back.” Celestia pleaded back peddling as the massive ax nearly took her head off in a wild swing.
“Sister !? All you want is a weak little patsy that you can ignore when you feel like it and pretend to care about to make yourself feel better. I came to you with my concerns, my worries and what you didn't out right ignore, you disregarded as the ramblings of a foal who knew no better.” Nightmare Moon Snarled. “ Solomon might have sped up the process but I was already going to have to rip you apart in order to be taken seriously by anyone anyway!”
“Luna....”
“YOUR SISTER IS DEAD CELESTIA.” Nightmare Moon snarled as Celestia shoved her back with her blade. “You already killed her.”
“That is not true, I know Luna is there some where trapped by this monster. I hope she understands this.” Celestia frowned.
“She understands you need to DIE!” Nightmare screamed out launching herself at Celestia.
The solar princess frowned, her horn glowing bright as six points of light start shining under her armor. The golden plate suddenly exploding with brilliant light as six pieces of jewelry are seen wrapped around the mares forelegs, wings, neck and resting on her now unarmored head, as a crown.
“What.. HOW DID YOU GET THOSE!?” Nightmare bellows as the Elements of Harmony glow brightly, the rainbow of light slamming into Nightmare Moon knocking the ax from her magic. The dark alicorn's horn glowed brightly, magic bursting from her pushing back the energy of the Element's as she snarled. “I WILL NOT BE BEATEN LIKE THIS!”
“Stop fighting, Luna I'm trying to cure you...” Celestia winced, her fur turning black around the Element's as the power of them grew, searing into her flesh.
“I WILL NOT BE A ORNAMENT IN YOUR GARDEN CELESTIA!” Nightmare Moon roared the shield of magic around her slowly being crushed as she fought to keep the power away from her. The dark alicorn's eyes widened and she glanced up to the moon, high in the sky then to the Element's burning the white alicorn's flesh, before she grinned. “You might win this round Celestia. But I will be back, and I will end you. The Element's will reject you for this and nothing will stop me.”
Celestia screamed out as the crown atop of her head representing magic exploded, taking off a chunk of her horn, a large section of fur, and her ear, showing some of her skull underneath. The magic surged with the explosion, smashing through Nightmare Moon's barrier, the impact flinging her into the sky, the energy smashing into the face of the moon, burning the image of a mare in the surface.
“See you soon.... sister.” a disembodied voice snarled as the magic faded.
The air was quiet for several seconds as the battle was watched by the combatants in the court yard.
“LUNAR REPUBLIC, FALL BACK!!” Bellowed a voice as the conflict resurged, the guard rallying to their princess as the nox-cal fell back at nightmares defeat. The remaining dreadnoughts were torn from the sky and the guards ripped apart any juggernauts and witch wolves that still pressed the attack, chasing the nox cal back towards the main bridge over the canyon around the castle. The Lunar republic forces maintained an orderly retreat, but with the victory of Celestia over Nightmare Moon the guard forces were not letting up an inch in driving the invaders back.
There was a sudden massive flare of magic and a dome of light formed over the castle. The magenta glow sealing off the guard from the retreating nox-cal.
Standing on the bridge was a single nox-cal kirin. The black furred and scaled creature's horn glowed brightly, sweat poured down his feature along with his own blood. Sword wounds covered his form, arrows and spears riddled his body, and burns from magic scoured away patches of his fur, but still he stood clutching a large spear with a red ribbon wrapped around the haft just under the blade, the weapon being used to prop himself up.
Nox-cal rushed through the raised shield and across the bridge, though guards and griffons slammed into it clawing and attacking impotently against the barrier.
One of the thestrials stopped at his side. “Lord Lionheart we can still hold them here, you need to fall back...”
“I'm already dead, major.... fall back to the island, prepare for an invasion, rally everyone we can, these bastards are not going to stop here.”Lion Heart growled. “Go. That's an order. I'll hold them off. Tell.... tel my son I'm sorry...”
“Sir....” swallowed the thestril before taking off shouting orders at those who had paused to ready to fight again.
The kirin winced blood starting to seep from his horn as the silver griffoness slammed into the shield, the barrier even holding back the griffon god for the moment.
The kirin fell to one knee panting hard, his horn still glowing brightly as the army of guards slammed against it.
The attackers fell silent suddenly.
“I asked Luna to stop and she refused. Will you do the same? Will you persist in this senseless killing?” Celestia offered staring down at the kirin from the other side of the shield. Her burns had healed , though her armor was gone, and the jewelry hanging from her body was lifeless and gray.
“Senseless killing? What a high and mighty line of bullshit to spout.” Lionheart growled spiting at the shield, his blood passing through it and splattering on the solar Princesses cheek. Celestia didn't so much as flinch. “You killed our kind senselessly for years before all this started. Witch trials, refused us work, stole what we had, buried our foals alive or drown them to be rid of the monsters before they could grow up to be a threat. We didn't start the senseless killing, you did, you and your bucking ponies made it legal. We fled from everything and the only one who cared enough to listen to us was some pony else you ignored. We fled further, and still you pursued and murdered and killed us because we don't look like you pastel colored freaks. And when we were finally backed into a corner, when we had no where else to flee and we started fighting back, you all screamed that it was proof we were the monsters you always saw us as. It's small wonder we sided with the one seeking to destroy you, because only then would we be safe from you murderers.”
The kirin coughed dropping hard to his knees in the middle of the bridge, blood splattering the ground under him as his horn sputtered and the shield faded.
The guards rushed forward in a surge crossing the bridge to set out in pursuit of the fleeing nox-cal. Lion Heart forced himself back up at the surge of guards was nearly upon him.
“You..” The kirin snarled.
“Shall.” Gripping his spear in his fore limbs he whirled it around to his left, his horn glowing as the spear blade flared with magic.
“NOT!!”
The kirin slammed his spear blade down onto the railing of the bridge, the burning magic striking a spark on a fast burning fuse that ignited and raced away along it's path.
“PASS!!”
Everything exploded in a blast of magical fire as the casks of explosives the demo teams prepped under the bridge once they had taken it went off.
Tons of rock lurched upward, thrown high into the air along with the bodies of galloping ponies, the projectile bodies and rocks smashing like a spread shot into the pegasi and griffons in the air over the bridge. The bridge itself collapsed completely, the whole mass of it along with hundreds of guards, griffons, and one nox cal kirin, fell screaming into the depths of the chasm far below.
Celestia winced , her magic fanning out trying to grab as many as she could, though between the explosion and the falling rubble she could only manage to save a dozen at best.
“AFTER THEM NOW!”Shouted the commander of the guard, the remaining pegasi launching themselves forward.
“STAND DOWN NOW.” bellowed Celestia.
“But Princess the enemy is getting away...” the commander pointed out.
“Let them, if they return to their island like they were ordered we shall deal with them there. There's been enough death.... period. “ Celestia frowned.
“But Princess we can still...”
“SHUT UP. I WILL NOT RISK ANY MORE LIVES ON STUPID REVENGE HERE. THERE ARE ALREADY TOO MANY BODIES TO BURY ON BOTH SIDES.” Celestia snapped glaring at the commander. “ If you still have the energy to fight then get to the bottom of this chasm and see if any one survived, the rest of you search the grounds, treat any wounded you find, I don't care what side they were on, if they can be saved do it. Defend yourself as need be and make sure there are no juggernauts or witch wolves left, they cannot be reasoned with. Those of you who can start gathering the bodies of those who have fallen, I want a head count. Again of both sides. NOW GO!”
The surrounding guards saluted and took off in a rush to do what they were ordered. The clear tone of their princesses voice making it certain that none would disobey her.
The silver griffoness landed heavily beside the princess gesturing to her forces to do the same.
“Are you sure about this?”Southern Cross asked.
“No. but this has to stop some where. I cannot control them, so I need to show them we are willing to stop. It is better the nox -cal did find their own place. It will take years to calm down the populace to where they would even be accepted at all. Ponies still have a herd mentality, they are distrustful of anything not the norm. It is not an excuse, not a valid one for how the nox-cal were treated, but this war likely pushed back any chances of peace by decades if not centuries.” Celestia sighed.
“And if the Nightmare comes back?” Southern Cross frowned. “ Leaving them will give her a ready made army to oppose you.”
“She won't be back for a long time. More than enough time to sway them away from her violent teachings and alleviate all their concerns.” Celestia frowned looking up at the moon and the new face on it. “ I can simply wait out any dissenters. We have that option.”
“You have that option. I'm tired of this living forever shit.” Southern Cross sighed. “ These wars cost me my daughter and my grandson, and any other I might be related to. I'm done. Thunderbolt was my choice for this, but with him gone I've got to look for other candidates to take my place.”
“I understand, and I am sorry about Thunderbolt.... I still don't know what happened to the Empire.” Celestia sighed.
“Don't worry about it. He knew the risks, Sombra just pulled a last trick before we ended it for him.” Southern Cross frowned. “ So what now?”
Celestia let out a long sigh holding up a hoof to look at the grayed out Element wrapped around it.
“I need to talk to Harmony about this.” Celestia admitted.
[Present]
Those watching Twilight and her brother were greeted to the sight of Twilight coming to and immediately vanishing in a flash of light. Seconds later the loud sound of retching could be heard from the upstairs bathroom as Twilight revisited her breakfast.
Rahs sat up quickly pushing Sunset off of his chest, the moon dog looking a little green as well.
“Rahs what's wrong?” Spike asked looking up at his brother as the taller sibling stood up shakily.
“Rrrrrrrrrrrr.” Rahs growled as Spike, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Witch-Jack's eyes widen.
“ Translation?” Sunset asked.
“I'm curious myself.” Grumbled Sombra with an ice pack on his head.
“They saw the battle of Whinnysor castle, the last conflict of the Equestrian civil war when Celestia banished Nightmare Moon and drove off the Lunar republic. Historically it's considered on of the bloodiest battles in Equestrian history. Thousands were killed on both sides in the space of hours, and thousands more were crippled for life. “ Spike explained. “It was the primary reason that the capitol was moved out of Whinnysor and to the newly built Canterlot. And Rahs and Twilight got front row seats for the thick of it.”
“Wuff.” Rahs grumbled as they all heard the shower turn on upstairs.
“And there's still one more vial to drink.” Fluttershy added.
“ Who knew she had such a weak stomach.” Sombra stated.
“Bork!” Rahs snapped.
“He said he shouldn't expect you to be upset by the carnage they saw.” Spike offered a bit of anger in his voice as well.
“Remind me to not tell any of you about some of the human movies I've seen then.” Sunset shrugged.
I wonder why Velkorn want Twilight to withness that war? Maybe an introduction to Kirin?
10049745
Or perhaps, Rambo or Resident Evil?
Pragmatic, and understandable during such a conflict... But simply saying "eh, yeah ponies are assholes that brought about half of this on themselves but I'm simply going to throw this under the rug and turn the oppressed to my side with propaganda and book burning" is evil as fuck. Sure, Solomon's side was indubitably evil, but this snippet shows us that Celestia's wasn't so much better, at a glance.
If we can trust what the Kirin said, that is.
Fake images and sound alone might make one think they're ready for the horrors of war, but they pale when compared to the truth of it. Smells can turn a grisly package in a whole new world of horror.
Sunny better hope she never has to deal with it.
Twiggles' no warrior though. A reluctant leader, caster and researcher, genius, reformer of monsters, but no warrior. No stomach for it all.
But Rhas is.
Big difference in watching a movie and actually being there Sunny.
Most notably, movies lack the smell
10049762
I might remember it wrong, but weren't the kirin here the unicorn equivalent of the Lunar republic here? (forgot the overall name)
Thestrals---Pegasi
Kirin---Unicorn
Nox-Cal---Earthpony
10049762
the potions are calibrating on the elements of harmony
10049766
It's more she knew there was a problem and was planning to work on it but Solomon happened first. The history is also there written down, any one can read it if they like, but she's not spouting it to every one. Besides memories fade after a thousand years and given the witch wolves happened right after the war, then the griffon war, she had other issues. and the Nox- Cal certaily didn't forget.
10049777
Nox-cal are the 'bat/dragon pony race. Kirin are the unicorns, Nocturne are the earth ponies, and thestril are the pegasi.
10049788
ahh that was it, wasn't sure about the earthpony one
but two out of three, I can live with that
I guess they about to meet harmony her self, who end up being a talking tree....
Gandalf!!!!
Forget movies.
Watch Documentaries.
It really is a shame that he was sealed away with the empire he seems like he would have made a pretty good gryphon god, especially compared to the one we have now
10049745
more along the lines of she watched saving private ryan.
Some video games are just as gory as some certain movies.
That was a pretty epic battle, it was highly intense and vividly described. I particularly liked how Celestia and Nightmare Moon's battle went, and the Gandalf impression from Lionheart.
This chapter was a bit rough in the grammar department though. I didn't mark the places where there were extra/missing spaces around the punctuation, and I'm certain I didn't catch all the errors. It might be a good idea to do another proofreading pass for this one.
headless
overripe
pony's
its
This should be two sentences. The second sentence should start at "The wounded guard".
strewn
guards
battlefield,
Remove the comma after fire.
other
pair's
stallion's
outright
nightmare's
thestral
anyone
somewhere
nox-cal
Hate to break it to you, Sunset, but seeing it one the big screen and experiencing it first hand... there are no words to describe how different it is.
Geez.......
Ponies are pretty fucked up.
and we see Celestia true colors and here of her plans for the future. really need to throw her in tartarsauce.
no that is not a spelling error.
10051386
Trying for peace?
You got an error in the authors note; there is no gore tag on this story
The battle here seems to put things to perspective. You can blame some of the idiocy that happened on a herd mentality sure. But that's just the excuse of the true cause which is general bigotry.
Now I'm not pointing fingers here, I'm sure that there were faults on both sides. No one is perfect, but we get a little snippet that can be taken with a grain of salt, and say that it's truly fucked up.
You can also probably blame youth on Celestias part here of not stopping it sooner, sure. She can learn from her mistakes but there is one little line here I hate on her part. "Bring them to my side." That one there I hated, because it felt like rubbing the proverbial salt on the wound. She leaves them be for X amount of generations and then comes back with sweetness and honey when she knows damn well enough that if she tries that the chances of things repeating can happen, because fuck me if she didn't try to bury a lot of things under a 6 feet hole to be forgotten. History is written by the victors and I have a suspicious feeling that she did a lot of further editing on the cause and consequences of stupidity on the hands of the ponies. Yeah the hate for Celly here is well earned.
And Moony has a point. Celestia has let the Nobles a good sway of things and influence. They are by all definitions politicians and will always, always have things serve their own good, and not the whole picture.
I wanted to simply voice this on, because we are seeing how much the chess master Celestia has done, and how much more harm that it might have done then good. And just how much potential history was censored because it was maybe too ugly to face.
All right now that I've caught up, I hope you don't mind the bunch of comments I've been posting that are basically all errors I've found, sorta the thing I do.
Really been loving the story so far, and can't wait for more.
Been thinking about the whole familiar thing, and why do I get the feeling all three apple family members are going to become familiars someday for the three long living Sparkles, and meanwhile a certain fourth Sparkle is also going to become a familiar?
More backstory/flashback time as we find out what is going on and how it's tied to Discord this time.
Well, that's a wonderfully graphic thing to pop into.
Well then... lovely picture you are painting.....
Wait, now we are jumping ahead? It made sense in the show, each trip took her further back in time. Now it's just random? Seems like an unneeded change.
No no no, Silver is for monsters, steel is for men.. errrr ponies.
Whelp, he's dead soon as well.
No, no it is not, and yeah, for all Twilight is a massive engine of destruction, charred ash isn't quite as visceral to deal with. Just be glad you are intangibble here.. and Rahs.... have fun trying to keep her calm.
Also not a good spot for the story..... I'm not sickened, or angry, or shocked just... more rolling my eyes in exasperation. Sorry, but this is trying too hard out of nowhere to be gory and bloody and grim. I get the idea, I get where they are (kind of, some point during the Nightmare War, I'm guessing the final battle before NMM is banished.) I get the story really wants to sell how brutal and hard those times were, but this is not a good way to do it. It comes out of nowhere, is so totally at odds with the tone of everything in the story... and to no point.
You can establish the mood you are going for without going full 80's slasher movie effects, and often that works better. Here, the focus is more on the guts and gore then on the setting and how things must feel. It's too large a swerve to really process things right. The story really doesn't need overly gory descriptions to sell what a dire predicament things are right now. You can convey the same idea, the same feel, just as well, if not better with less graphical violence.
The way the story has portrayed this period has always been slightly an issue, for mostly the same reasons this scene really does not work, it is just so completely tonally inconsistent with the rest of the story, that anytime it comes up it feels disjointed, out of place. It never feels like a natural part of the narrative but rather like it's being forced in, and a large part of that isn't even the ideas, or what happened, but just how hard the story always tries to push how bad it was. This is definitely a case where less would be more.
And just, in general, if a single scene/chapter in a larger story is bad enough to require considering or adding a dark/gore/other tag to a story, that otherwise never comes close to needing it. Adding that in is generally not a good idea, unless a major, key part of the whole narrative relies on things being like that. Even then, really consider if it's a good idea.
Wait....... oh right, 'Kirin' in this verse are the Batpony equivalent of unicorns aren't they?
Hmmm, always see her as more in line with using a spear. Either that, or if going full brute force approach, a warhammer/maul
Should not be surprised, given Dr Choppy and all. Though still seems odd for her. NMM always felt like the type that would have a slightly less brute force weapon.
Well, that's easy enough to do.
Seriously, what kind of threat is that to a god in this 'verse?
Yeah..... that seems unnecessary and just.. the image looks so goofy of her just wearing all these random necklaces draped around her limbs. The free floating gems held in her magic works much better for trying to have one pony use multiple elements, this... just falls into narm territory.
Have we been over this already? Hard to keep track with how often this idea crops up in fanfics no matter how little sense it makes. 1. It was made very explicit that it was the Mane 6 taking up the Elements that severed Celestia's bond to them. 2. If not the case, why didn't Discord pop out of his prison till over a thousand years after the event that led to him being freed happened, rather then about a year or so after?
I know this is some grand consensus that's been built up and treated as fact among the fandom, but it just.. makes no damn sense. It's trying to push 'drama' at the sake of facts and logic. just.... it really annoys me when this comes up.
Well, this seems kind of Chekhov-ish
Yeah see, stuff like this. It is so tonally at odds with the setting of both the main show, and the rest of this story as a whole that rather then add to the narrative tapestry in a way that makes the whole thing larger, like it's clearly trying to do, it instead comes off like some garish patch someone tried to sew into it.
The base level ideas the story is trying for could work very well, but the presentation is so hamfisted and over the top in trying to be as dark and edgy as possible, it instead removes the potential drama and impact of this stuff.
Whose demo teams and why? NMM's side? Were they staging an attack on the castle? If so, why would they rig the bridge to blo....... okay,if they were planning to win, assumed they'd be able to seize the castle, and the bombs were to destroy the bridge to make it harder to get reinforcements for Celestia afterwards I guess it would make sense.
And yeah, the scene works well enough..... but right now I'm too distanced and uninvested in the story becase of all the above stuff, it's not really having an impact on me.
And, to be fair story..... this is a MUCH better presentation of Celestia. Fighting because she has to, but ONLY when she absolutely has to.
Yeah, being skittish and distrustful of outsiders is one thing........ what the story is implying is several orders of magnitude beyond what seems plausible for the setting.
Immortality has it's perks.
Okay, that at least offers some explanation why the vision kept going after the Elements were used.... and is the first thing this chapter to actually get me back into the story so, good ending at least. Hell the whole talk between these two was really really good. It sold just how long, and terrible, and depressing this war was far better then any amount of blood and guts tossing around the scene does.
Yeah, I'm with Spike.
See, this is ANOTHER good reason to have the vision order reversed. So him getting slammed into the bookcase and knocked out cold could be a bit of karmic punishment for that remark and general attitude.
Not the same Sunset..... despite my remarks about this feeling more like an 80's slasher movie that was more interested in trying to show off the cool gore effects they came up with rather then anything else.
So yeah, needless to say.... not a fan of this chapter at all. The gore was unneeded and failed to have the effect it wanted, just taking me fully out of the story instead of selling how brutal this was meant to be. Celestia wearing the 'Bracelets of Harmony" all along her legs is just kind of goofy to picture. The interchange between Celestia and NMM loses a lot of its punch when we know this is all a case of Luna getting hit with the Evil Stick rather then naturally succumbing to her own darkness. And the implications regarding the nox-cal are just.......as said, everything about this time period has good ideas, but tries way too hard to make everything as dark and miserable and edgy as possible for me to get invested in events.
BUT, on the plus side, as said, the final bit between Celestia and Southern Cross was really, really good and did more to really sell things then anything that stories tried before in buying these events and really selling the toll and the heartache and the general pain of the war. And that last line, yeah that is a good ending line for that flashback. Plus, yeah...this... THIS feels like Celestia. So good job on that story.
Though unless the next vision is that talk Celestia has with Harmony, going to really bring up the ordering of these vision into question.
10093745
It is a little out of place but it does have a purpose. It shows several things. First and foremost a damn good reason the witch wolves were feared. It also segways. The first vision showed the sisters using the elements as did the second but it also mentioned Harmony. And paints Celestia in a slightly better light which i have been meaning to do.
The shock factor is just how my mind put this out and it's effect on Twilight as will be seen next chapter. There is a point to this and there might be other graphic chapters down the road, though it depends on what my mind decides to provide.
10094040
Man I wish I had the talents to animate that scene I mean barring the gore that would by far be a epic battle to see
A screen... It doesn't even get close to the real thing...
10636485
remember this.
10636493
it will be rememberd
The Actual monster seem Celestia after all...
The dark side of Equestrias side. Celestia when unchecked... Great chapter 👍
You know, this is probably meant to imply slasher film, maybe even some kinda graphic exploitation type stuff, but I think it’s better if she weren’t. She could just as easily be referring to a Holocaust documentary. Given the gravity of the battle and the fact Sunset would be aware of that, I think the latter option makes much more sense.
Celestia want to burn Applejack to ash before, by extension Ponyville? One of Celestias calmer reactions it seems...
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Also 'D-Day' and 'Band of Brothers'...
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Rambo movies seem fitting.
Show how flawed Celestia is and how she burn out the Elements, never returning them still after become useless.
Yeah humans are desensitized from that shit even me I start laughing at the bull shit that goes on in them
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I mean...some of 'em do get kinda ridiculous.
This is why Celestia was so hardcore against Witch-Jack upon discovery...
D-Day was a walk in the park in comparison.
After all:
A bullet wounds or kills in a split second after pulling a trigger, while any blade weapons need hacking, slashing and piercing.
Killing with a blade is not as emotional detached as a bullet. Only faster and one has not to shower in the blood of others from a safe distance.