The next morning saw Princess Celestia flying back to the palace in her chariot after a long day of interrogating newspaper offices for any possible source of the leak. Right now she just wanted to get to bed but there were a few matters to attend to with her sister whom had also been out searching for the culprit.
The chariot touched down and Celestia gracefully stepped out of it before walking towards the entrance of the castle where Princess Luna waited with a grim look on her face and a pair of Lunar Guards flanking her. Celestia tilted her head in a nod, a gesture that Luna returned. The sisters met up just outside of the castle entrance.
Celestia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I found the leak," she said.
Luna nodded. "We heard. It was a Baltimare paper was it not?"
"The Baltimare Sun," Celestia confirmed. "It seems that one of their reporters has a contact in the Ponyville police department; one of the night janitors if I understand correctly."
"Both have been arrested?" asked Luna.
Celestia nodded and beckoned for the two of them to walk back into the castle. "And the paper itself has been fined five hundred thousand bits."
Luna cocked her head. "A bit light for such a crime is it not?" she questioned.
Celestia sighed. "I suppose it is," she agreed. "But when you consider that they will lose just as much when they recall all of the papers that they still can and they have to destroy an entire week’s worth of stories that dealt with the pictures, I think they will lose enough without us having to put them out of business."
The duo reached the throne room doors and Luna's guards opened the door for the princesses. "What of the other papers who printed such photos?"
"That... is a complicated issue," Celestia admitted. "I have talked with many of the head of such papers and their reasoning was unanimous: they did it to protect their businesses. With such a crime still so fresh in the minds of our ponies, a story like that would sell thousands of papers and any paper that couldn't print the story would quickly find themselves in a state where they could not sell their cleaner papers so in a panic they obtained a copy of the photo from a Baltimare Sun paper and it spread like wildfire from there."
"I see." Luna stopped walking and turned to face her sister. "And their punishment?"
"Ten-thousand bits a piece," said Celestia. "Once more that is on top of all they will lose doing more damage control." Celestia shook her head sadly. "I believe this will affect the media in Equestria for a long time."
"Indeed, sister," said Luna. "Our ponies may find the need to obtain their news from The Foal Free Press as it seems to be the only paper that didn't commit such a transgression."
"It would seem that way, Luna," Celestia agreed.
Both princesses were silent as they digested the words Luna had just spoken. Then, despite everything, Celestia's face broke out in a wide grin that she utterly failed to suppress. "This is not the time for jokes, Luna," she said.
Luna cocked her head and mirrored her sister's smile. "Oh? Then why do you smile as such?"
Celestia snorted and the first giggle escaped her lips. "Luna this is s-serious!" she said in her worst attempt to act serious in a long time. "We have a lot to do with this and we cannot... we... I..." With that both royal sisters broke out into hysterical laughter. Both nearly collapsed and they had to lean on each other for support. They laughed so hard that tears began streaming down their faces.
Of course, both princesses knew that their laughter hardly came from legitimate joy but rather as a stress relief. However they pushed such thoughts aside as they had not laughed like that in a long time. With everything that they had gone through since the murders it seemed like an eternity had passed since they shared a good laugh together.
Finally their giggled died down and the two wiped tears from their eyes, taking deep breaths as they did. "That really wasn't as funny as all that," Celestia chuckled.
Luna snorted and got up off of her haunches. "Indeed not, sister, but... it was nice, was it not?"
Celestia giggled and stood up next to her sister. "It was wonderful," she agreed. Her smile faded away as life rushed back into her thoughts once more. "I do wish it was a bit more lighthearted."
Luna sighed and put a hoof on Celestia's shoulder. "As do We," she said sadly. "Particularly when We must attend to matters here in the castle."
Celestia grunted in agreement. "We do need to tell Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara that the perpetrators have been caught and sentenced."
The night princess’s face shifted to one of unease and she slowly took her hoof off of Celestia's shoulder. "That is the main order of business," she said quietly. "Something happened in our absence."
Celestia's eyes widened. "What happened? Are they hurt? Did they attempt to do something?"
"Silver Spoon is safe in her room and is being monitored by a therapist," said Luna gravely. "Diamond Tiara..." Luna looked to the floor and shook her head. "Diamond Tiara deduced that Blossom was in the castle and she hunted her down." Celestia gasped but Luna continued on. "She did not find the child alone; she was with her mother at the time. The sight of the two of them drove her mad it seems and she...she attempted to kill Blossom as retribution for her own foal's death."
Celestia silently contemplated Luna's words for the briefest of moments before speaking up. "What happened?"
"Sweetie Belle defended her child and injured Diamond Tiara. She suffered from a pair of black eyes and a couple of bruises. Both Sweetie Belle and her foal are safe and are under guard in another room. Diamond Tiara is in the dungeons."
"I wish to see her at once," said Celestia sharply. "I need to understand why that happened."
"Of course, sister," said Luna. "I will follow your lead. If you wish we can contact Captain Shining Armor who was the arresting officer."
Celestia waved a hoof and began walking towards the dungeons. "Later we shall question him and Sweetie Belle on what transpired, but I would like to talk to Diamond Tiara first."
Luna nodded and the duo walked through the palace towards the dungeons. Neither had been there for a long time and both wished that it would remain that way. Even Rarity hadn't been transferred to the palace dungeons when she had been captured. But now they had to deal with an attempted murder, a crime that, as rare as it was, usually resulted in life in prison. Considering the circumstances, neither princess was certain of that sentence.
When they reached the dungeons, Princess Celestia used her magic to unlock the main door and she stepped aside to allow Luna to enter first. She followed her sister inside and shut the door behind them before walking down the rows of cells to get to the one Diamond Tiara was being held in.
They did not have to search long as they spotted a cell about five away from the door with a guard posted in front of it standing at attention. He bowed when he saw the princesses approach. "The prisoner is in there," he said, pointing to the cell behind him. "She's..." The guard glanced back uneasily. "It's best if you see for yourself."
Celestia and Luna stepped in front of the cell and looked inside. What they saw made their stomachs drop. Diamond Tiara was sitting on the bed, her head and ears were drooped and she wasn't moving. Her breathing was very light and if one didn't know that it was a live pony, one would swear it was a statue.
However despite the tragedy of the sight what shocked the princesses the most was a set of bruises that had begun to form on her right foreleg and side. They shone through her pink coat as if they were stains. The picture was completed with a cuff attached to her right hind leg that chained her to the wall.
Princess Celestia pointed to the chain. "Is that really necessary, sergeant?" she inquired.
"I'm afraid so, Princess," said the guard. "It isn't because we're worried that she'll escape but rather for her own protection. She kept throwing herself at the bars and that's what those bruises on her side are from."
Princess Luna opened her mouth to respond but Diamond Tiara's voice, weak but sharp nonetheless, cut through the conversation. "You can stop talking about me like I'm not right here. I can hear everything you're saying."
Princess Celestia shifted her eyes back to the broken mare and stepped closer to the cell. "Miss Tiara I'm..." She sighed and shook her head sadly. "You know why you are here do you not?"
Diamond Tiara gave a barely perceptible nod. "I'm here because I saw that foal and tried to kill it."
Luna's face hardened. "Joyous Blossom is not an animal, Diamond Tiara."
Diamond Tiara's face snapped up, revealing for the first time the wounds Sweetie Belle had inflicted upon her. "Oh I think you're quite wrong there, princess," she growled. "I think she is cut from the same cloth that her mother and aunt were and they were both animals, right?"
"Rarity and Sweetie Belle were not and are not animals!" growled Luna.
"They killed ponies!" screeched Diamond Tiara as she jumped off the bed. "Rarity butchered so many ponies you're still not sure how many unsolved disappearances were caused by her. As for Sweetie Belle, she killed my daughter!" Diamond Tiara's face hardened into a glare that would have made Discord uneasy. "Do they really sound like ponies to you?"
"And if they are not then you sunk to their level by attempting to kill an innocent child," said Celestia.
Diamond Tiara threw her head back and let out a joyless cackle. "Innocent? Do you really think she's innocent?" She took a step forward. "By merely being related to those two vile animals she's the farthest thing from innocent."
Celestia frowned. "Miss Tiara I--"
Her words were cut off by a snarl from Diamond Tiara as she jumped towards the bars. The chain attaching her to the walls went taut and she was caught in midair. She fell to the floor with a loud thud and a cry of pain. Before either princess could do anything about it, the enraged mare was back on her hooves. "WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HER?!" she screamed. "WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL THE ANIMAL THAT BUTCHERED MY DAUGHTER?!"
"Miss Ti--"
"Don't even bother answering, we all know why!" she screeched. "It's because she had ties to the Elements of Harmony who had ties to you!"
Luna glared at Diamond Tiara and walked directly next to the bars. "Rarity was an Element of Harmony and she was executed for her crimes. Sweetie Belle's punishment was within the legal boundaries."
"Don't give me that!" spat Diamond Tiara. "If I had done what she did for the exact same reason I'd be in the ground right now, to Tartarus with the feelings of my child!" Princess Luna opened her mouth to angrily retort but Diamond Tiara's rage continued. "You didn't kill Sweetie Belle because you know her and her family! Even though Rarity was a serial killer she was an Element of Harmony and like family to you! You knew the family well and if you had even the slightest reason to not kill her you would take it despite the fact that my baby never even touched that bastard foal of hers!"
"You go too far!" snarled Princess Luna.
Princess Celestia put a hoof on Luna's shoulder and shook her head. "Let me talk to her."
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. "Oh yes, Princess, please do talk to me, I'd love to hear your explanation of why you twisted the law to keep that butcher alive. I wonder if you regret not doing the same for that sister of hers. You made every effort to avoid killing sweetie Belle, but would you have done the same for me?"
Princess Celestia took a few steps closer to the bars and gently motioned for Luna to back away. She sighed and sat down on her haunches in front of the door. "Diamond Tiara I know that you are in a lot of pain," she began, "please know that this situation has been hard on all of us. Do you think that Sweetie Belle is not being punished for what she has done? She has had her horn removed and she will remain in a mental institution for the rest of her life on top of the fact that she can rarely see her daughter."
"Oh really? Then what were they doing yesterday? She seemed to be having a pretty good time with her spawn." Diamond Tiara's face twisted into a mocking pout. "Oh but poor her that she only gets to see her foal every once in a while. That's way worse than me never getting to see mine for the REST OF MY LIFE!!!"
At that a sob escaped Diamond Tiara's lips and her legs gave way, putting her on the ground once more. She whimpered and weakly raised her head to make eye contact with her ruler. "Please," she whispered. She pleadingly reached a foreleg out to Celestia. "I...I know I was wrong to attack her a-and I'll take my punishment for that, but please... give my baby justice."
Princess Celestia looked silently down at Diamond Tiara for a moment before sighing. "I'm sorry, Diamond Tiara. We have passed down the judgment that we did for a reason."
Diamond Tiara simply stared at Princess Celestia with wide, watery eyes, hardly moving while she registered her words. "Y-You aren't gonna..." Before either princess could do anything, Diamond Tiara leaped to her hooves with a snarl and lunged at the bars. Once more her chain prevented her from reaching the bars and her chained leg snapped back as the chain went taut. Diamond Tiara fell to the ground, squealing in pain and clutching her hind leg.
Celestia's eyes widened and she quickly got to her hooves and turned to the guard. "Get a medic down here at once! I think she's dislocated her leg!" The guard saluted and ran out of the dungeon. Princess Celestia exchanged a worried look with Princess Luna before she opened the cell and removed Diamond Tiara's leg cuff. "Diamond Tiara, you need to keep still. It will only hurt worse if you move."
Diamond Tiara continued squealing in pain and thrashing about. "Golden Necklace I'm sorry!" she wailed. "Mommy's sorry that she couldn't get her! Mommy's sorry that she didn't get her for you!"
Princess Celestia ignited her horn and placed a freezing spell on Diamond Tiara that stopped the thrashing. Diamond Tiara continued sobbing and apologizing to her foal. Her lack of movement did prevent her from aggravating her leg any further and she had managed to calm down slightly by the time a duo of medical ponies had come with a stretcher. They gently placed Diamond Tiara inside and began transporting her to the medical wing, leaving the two princesses alone in the dungeons.
Princess Luna's gaze was fixed on the entrance to the dungeon while Celestia was looking sadly at the floor. "Luna what have we done?" she whispered.
The night goddess swiveled her head in Celestia's direction. "What do you mean? Do you believe we have erred somewhere?"
A single tear dripped from Celestia's face and splattered on the floor below. "That is where I feel I am lost: I do not know if we went wrong somewhere."
Luna walked over to her sister and gently placed a wing over her shoulder. "It is her comments about your emotional involvement with these goings on that are striking closest to home," she observed.
Celestia nodded and wiped her eyes with her wing. "Yes," she said. "I want to pretend that my judgment of Sweetie Belle was not clouded by my emotions but rather my drive to see justice done on all sides but..."
"You are unsure," Luna finished.
"Yes," said Celestia. She took a deep breath and shakily got to her hooves. "My perspective on the matter is that I did not wish to perform an execution, particularly when I had ordered one merely twenty years before. Before Rarity's death I had forgotten how much pain it brought, executing one of my subjects. I did not wish to be reminded of that so soon and under such circumstances. In regards to Diamond Tiara's accusation that I would not have expended such efforts to avoid her execution if their roles were reversed... I would like to believe that she is mistaken. I would not wish to see her dead any more than I wished death upon Rarity, despite her heinous crimes."
Luna rose to her hooves and nuzzled her sister. "We know, sister," she muttered. "But if you could return to that time would you have ordered Sweetie Belle's execution?"
"Please never ask me that again," said Celestia sharply. "I do not wish to dwell any more on whether or not I should have killed her."
"Very well, sister," she said quietly. Luna took a deep breath and looked up at the dungeon entrance. "Would it be prudent to inform Silver Spoon that those responsible for the pictures have been caught and punished? I think it would do her good."
Celestia nodded. "I think that would be best. Faust knows that somepony needs some comfort right now."
With a murmur of agreement from Luna, the royal sisters exited the dungeons and went to the apartment that they had arranged for Silver Spoon. When they arrived they knocked on the door and they heard a small 'come in' from inside the room. Luna opened the door and the royal sister's walked in to see Silver Spoon sitting on the bed. When she saw who it was, her eyes widened and she ran over to the sisters and threw herself at their hooves. "Don't kill her! Please don't kill Diamond Tiara!"
Princess Celestia put a hoof on her shoulder. "Miss Spoon--"
"S-She wasn't thinking, that's all!" Silver Spoon wailed. "She's not a bad pony; please don't kill her!"
"Miss Spoon we will not execute Diamond Tiara," said Princess Celestia.
Silver spoon's head snapped up and she scrambled to her hooves. "You won't?"
Princess Celestia shook her head. "We have seen her mental state and we feel that imprisonment would be counter-productive. She will be sent to an institution in Fillydelphia where she will be given the finest medical treatment in Equestria. We agree that she was not in her right mind when she tried to kill Blossom."
Silver Spoon's eyes started watering. "Is she gonna be there forever like Sweetie Belle?"
Princess Celestia sighed and sat on her haunches next to Silver Spoon. "I don't know. We'll have to wait and see."
Silver Spoon nodded and sat on her haunches as well. She looked down at the floor, tears dripping from her eyes. "It's just that... I don't think that seeing Sweetie Belle and Blossom... happy like that was good for her."
"How did you feel about that?" asked Celestia.
Silver Spoon raised her head. "Honestly? It was one of the vilest and most painful things I could have imagined. To see the mare who murdered my foal happily playing with her own was..." Silver Spoon sniffled and shook her head.
"You hate her," Celestia observed.
"Of course I do," said Silver Spoon quietly. "And I think I'll hate her for the rest of my life."
"Do you think that I should have had her executed?"
At this Silver Spoon's eyes widened and to the surprise of both sisters she vigorously shook her head. "No, I don't!"
Celestia raised an eyebrow and frowned. "Why not?"
Silver Spoon hesitated a moment before answering. "Too many ponies have died because of all of this. Killing Sweetie Belle won't bring my foal back." Silver Spoon sniffled and wiped her eyes. "She was just scared 'cause she thought that m-my foal was gonna hurt hers. It was my fault that they were in the in there first place!" Silver Spoon's voice became steadily more hysterical as she continued on. "I-If I had asked Fire Ruby where she was going instead of letting her go out with Golden Necklace right after that brat had gotten the both of them expelled t-then she'd be alive right now and Sweetie Belle and her foal wouldn't be going through this. Nopony would be going through this!"
Princess Celestia scooted closer and extended a wing to wrap around Silver Spoon. "You couldn't have known that they would have done that."
Silver Spoon shook her head and began sobbing. "It's all my fault!" she wailed. "All of this! If I had just paid better attention, if I hadn't let my daughter get influenced by Diamond Tiara and Golden Necklace, if I had told her that she couldn't go out that day then none of this would be happening!" Silver Spoon threw her head back and let out a tortured wail. "It's all my fault! Everything is my fault!"
Princess Celestia pulled Silver Spoon into a comforting hug and stroked her mane. "You couldn't have known any of this would happen. How could you? Your actions did not influence the actions of others. If you had prevented your child from going out that day or even forbidden her from seeing Golden Necklace again then they still would have found a way to get their revenge on Blossom. It was the decisions of others that led us to this point, not you."
Silver Spoon cried into Celestia's chest. "I just want my foal back," she sobbed. "I wanna hold her and tell her that it's all going to be alright. I wanna tell her that Mommy has her and she's safe now."
Celestia sighed and wiped away the first traces of tears from her own eyes. "That's actually something that we wanted to talk to you about. The ponies who printed the pictures of your foal, we caught them. They are going to be punished for what they did."
Silver Spoon slowly nodded. "Okay," she mumbled.
"Is there anything else we can do for you? I know that... we can't do much, but what can we do for you?"
Silver Spoon sniffled and pulled herself out of the hug. "I...I think I just need some time alone. A lot of time."
Celestia rose to her hooves and nodded. "Very well. If you need anything at all..." Silver Spoon nodded and turned away from the goddesses.
Brilliant.
what a feelings in this chapter. Que drama señor. I thought for a moment that they would find DT or SS hung with a suicide note, but no, everything is fine..... o wait.
Awwwwwemazing!!! Moar!!!! You are best writer ever! And i m really picky!
I liked this chapter, and enjoyed the different points of view. DT echoed a sentiment of favoritism that I've heard readers discuss before. Her closeness to Rarity as an EoH may be why she went easy on Sweetie. She was more invested in her well-being, and understood the mental trauma of what she had seen. I disagree with DT, however, if it had been DT in the exact same scenario Celestia would have spared her. (She's just distraught, but I like What If's)
So If it had been Diamond Tiara and her father Richy was the serial killer, I think Celestia would have done the same thing. DT would have been traumatized by not only watching her father kill some ponies, but killing one herself, and watching him executed. Then when Golden Necklace was being bullied and killed two foals, I think she'd have protected her daughter too. Celestia would have still been disgusted at the thought of executing father / daughter when she knew how traumatized DT was. So DT is definitely in need of some mental health treatment because she's gone off the deep end.
And SS, as the more rational of the two, had the exact kind of 'survivor guilt' I was expecting. She saw how DT tortured the crusaders as kids, and how DT twisted her daughter. Now she would give anything to go back and stand up to DT to make her own daughter a better filly, so that she'd still be alive.
Too bad she is institutionalized, the next sequel could have been Diamond Tiara killing the elements and their children one by one for revenge.
Anyway, I suppose that's enough out of me. I'm allegedly supposed to be working or something at work today.
2287674
The problem is that it has been shown that Celestia has been lax on those who were related to the crimes, she knew Twilight knew about the crimes, but did nothing to fully stop them. If she had reported her earlier she would've saved lives, but at worst she was no longer a protege, not exactly what one would call a proper punishment for someone who knew a murderer and did nothing.
I have to say that being close to her has clouded her judgement.
2287695 She definitely let Twilight off the hook, probably due ot her own guilt. Had Celestia intervened and demanded an answer when Luna and the EoH used the elements on Rarity, she would have saved another 20 or so lives. That makes Celesta an accessory to those murders.
I think that's why she went easy on Twilight, even Celestia was lulled into a false sense of security. She didn't know Rarity was murdering, but she knew her sister and Twilight were hiding something bad. Twilight was out of her league trying to fix Rarity on her own. Then when she saw Twilight and got the whole story, including her trying to protect Sweetie from the memories and fix Rarity, she went easy on her. I think she realized even her and Luna had a hand in the murders so to harshly punish the elements and not themselves would be hypocritical.
For Twilight, being kicked out as her protege is probably the worst punishment possible. She has some serious issues with needing to constantly prove her self-worth to Celestia. I'm surprised Twilight didn't freak out or something, she was pretty level headed for the person most closely involved in protecting Rarity.
2286639
Oh, well, it did.
... I don't know if I mentioned it, but I liked how you handled Rarity's execution.
Awkward phrasing, at the very least I'd recommend a comma if not a better description.
Said is a very neutral word, it's a thing for when someone says something in a way that isn't particularly noteworthy. It doesn't really seem to fit here.
Most of this is horribly redundant, or just awkwardly phrased, isn't this a somewhat dramatic, emotional matter? Generally the narrative should reflect the mood, or else you will really lose lots of the imagery and connection with the characters.
As is, everything seems to be vaguely robotic and artificial.
... Did she just go for being nearly suicidally hysterical and violent to being sarcastic and coldly analytical? That's a weird transition.
How does that work exactly? She can't move enough to aggravate an fresh wound, but is still capable of hysteric sobbing and speech? If she can move that much shouldn't she be able to move her leg anyway? Wouldn't the pain still be there? What kind of freezing spell is this? Literal ice? Paralysis? What's going on!?
Is Sweetie Belle the black knight now? Will she start shouting that she's invincible despite losing her horn and three legs while trying to gnaw off someones knee caps? ... Sorry, couldn't resist.
Form Luna best pony.
"Unlike Rarity, who was only severely insane. You need to be at most moderately insane for it to count, or ya get executed."
She should be in charge of the legal system, I miss Rarity.
... And Celestia/Luna being completely incompetent is vaguely annoying.Also, am I the only one who finds it hilarious that Twilight was sent to Ponyville to learn about friendship, yet she was kicked out of her assignment due to... caring about the well-being of her friends?
Yes, no, maybe-so? I wanna see Rarity in the after-life, that would be nifty. Poor Rarity.
I wonder what Diamond's reaction would be if she ever found out that not only did Rarity have a plan set in stone to end her pretty much the day she came of age, but Sweetie's first reaction to finding out what her sister was doing was to trot over to the rich mansion so that SHE could do it.
2288286 1-3. K. I'll work on it.
4. DT's emotions are all over the place as I think they would be. Through the course of the scene they shift drastically a lot from blank to angry to pleading to sarcastic back to angry etc.
5. It's the same thing that Twilight put on Rarity in the first one, remember? She didn't freeze all of her so she didn't suffocate.
6-7. I'll fix it.
8. Oh come on you know the difference. Rarity was a serial killer and was very much in her right mind through every kill. She was cold, calculating, and merciless through every kill. DT was upset because of everything that had happened and her emotions were completely out of whack. Besides, Rarity was a successful murder of over a hundred beings. DT failed completely in her attempt so she would get a lighter punishment (not dying).
9. Maybe so.
Seriously, though, why do you keep thinking that they're incompetent when in their thousands of years of ruling they've literally NEVER had to deal with something like this. Yes they've made mistakes and emotions have clouded their judgement (particularly Celestia) but they've admitted that and they're trying to work on that because they've seen how it's affecting ponies like DT and SS.
There's 'caring about the well being of friends' and 'taking it to a point where you are essentially an accessory to murder. But yes I see where you're coming from and that you're mostly kidding.
2289197 It is something fun to think about isn't it?
Oh, indeed there was a difference in matter of, say, kills and what they did.
What I am referring to however, is that, technically speaking, sociopathy can be 'cured'. It's not easy, but it can be done. The internal lack of ability to acknowledge right and wrong essentially means that, effectively, they don't need to genuinely be bad people to start doing unethical things. It's like a child running away from home due to getting shouted at by their parents. It's stupid, it can cause large amounts of issues, stress and they may end up dead because of it. But in the grand scheme of things, that life choice was made because they didn't understand things. My issue on the matter. (As a reader, not a critic.) Is quite simply that Rarity was in a state that should of been classified as insane. Most of her actions and thought process sets off insanity warning bells. When she was executed, it was already a given: She murdered lots of individuals, they are gone, never gonna come back.
But, they made the decision to execute her anyway, just to discourage people from murdering. Which had happened, what, eight times prior? What was the reason Rarity ended up hiding her first three kills again? Right, death penalty, even for foals. For what is essentially a personality disorder. (In Equestria anyway.) If they actually put that effort into trying to understand, analyze, and 'cure' or at least 'understand' the concept of a sociopathic individual, and as such, learn the signs of one then having underground serial killers shouldn't be an issue, because they should be routed out and given mental help before that point.
The first time? Ya, that could be a fluke, but it should not of taken the nine times it did end up taking for them to go, "You know what? We should probably take the kid and look for developmental signs of sociopathy instead of pretending it doesn't exist and wait for her to kill people so we can execute her, causing even more people to die due to how incredibly desperate and underground she will have to be due to the stupidly severe law."
Like, consider how drastically different things could of been if Rarity would of been given a fair trial and mental evaluation. Not, total execution, no exceptions.
It becomes more difficult to prevent or control something if you start throwing out stuff like death penalties. Besides, just because there is eight recorded cases, doesn't necessarily mean that's all there actually was. If you make, it, say, life in prison, execution if you resist arrest. That's a bit different, but makes a notable change in their ability to learn from situations. After all, individuals like Trixie exist, in a society focused on harmony, peace and happy co-existence, they have no damn excuse to not use every tool available to them to focus on sociology and psychology. Analyzing things to make sure everyone is actually happy, over, say, just looking it, really seems like it would be a primary concern for them. Especially after they just have to deal with, "So, this guy secretly killed eight ponies because no one paid attention to his mental state".
Sure, Rarity killed just under eighty ponies, but it's like a forest-fire. Yes, it gets insanely destructive if no one watches for or stops it. That is exactly why you are supposed to try and stop it.
Just because no one went as far as she did shouldn't matter, according to Rarity herself, the only reason any serial killer got stopped at all is because they messed up and got caught trying to stab things. The overall lack of proper investigations and death penalty thing totally causes more lives to be lost, especially for individuals who kill for reasons outside of sociopathy. The one listed by the princesses being emotional trauma, which they should be doing their damn best to deal with anyway. The 'issue' isn't that she killed nearly eighty individuals, it's that she became literally unable to show mercy, get proper medical help, find alternatives, or even realize her own condition because it would lead to a death penalty for a condition she was born with.
If that's not incompetence I'm not sure what is. Though of course, this is the same Princess that let Luna feel so incredibly negative over years that she ended up trying to overthrow the nation because Celestia was too dense to analyze or pay attention, a good thousand years ago.
The fact that I loved your serial killer Rarity is totally not making me biased towards finding excuses for her to live by the way. Nosiree...
SerialkillerRaritybestRarityandIloveyouforit.
... When's the next chapter?
/rantover.
Sorry about that.
I hope this isn't the last we'll see of DT.
And she raised some pretty good points.
Had she done what S.B did, I don't think that Celestia would have had her executed, but I also doubt that she'd be allowed to see her foal at all.
It looks to me like Celestia knows that she's been playing favorites this whole time but she doesn't want to admit it.
That might be why she asked for Silver's opinion.
Also, if I were DT, I'd probably be just as pissed at Silver as I was at S.B.
I don't know how to explain it in words, but it feels to me that by getting the guards to break everything up, she stabbed DT pretty far in the back.
Even if they aren't friends anymore, and even if there was a chane that S.B would have possibly killed her if none of the guards showed up.
2289471 Keep in mind that what Rarity's reveal as a serial killer (particularly one of that magnitude) came completely out of the blue. There were no visible signs of sociopathy from her because she hid it so well that she had a stellar social life growing up and as an adult. She seemed to have no trouble making connections with ponies, particularly those close to her like Sweetie Belle. You can't try to cure something like that if you don't know that it's there and you have no reason to.
Rarity made serial killer (as in multiple murders so there were likely more murderers) twenty-five I think. Do keep in mind a few things: Rarity was the first murderer in over three-hundred years. It doesn't take a genius to guess that Equestrian society was vastly different in that time and even Celestia herself was likely a different pony back then. Remember, she sees her subjects like her children and she goes to great lengths to protect them and if that means execution for the serial killers than so be it.
In terms of psychology, do you remember where psychology in our world was three hundred years ago? roughly 100% different. Back then they likely saw serial killers or murderers as simply an evil that must be purged and those laws were still on the books when Rarity was caught. It was the law that Celestia execute Rarity for what she did, particularly why. She did it for fun.
Also do keep in mind that I allowed the readers to see into Rarity's thought process in an insanely detailed manner, but Celestia was not privy to such information. Rarity flat out told her she did it to get a power fix and that's all she knew. should she have analyzed Rarity? yeah probably but remember: the law is that she must be executed. Celestia and Luna had to perform legal miracles to get Sweetie Belle institutionalized when the foals were killed at the end of the sequel.
In a way it was merely outdated laws mixed with a lack of understanding of psychology that bit Rarity in the plot. Celestia had no reason to believe that she needed to change the death penalty laws because nopony had committed murder for three hundred years before Rarity.
Also keep in mind that if she saves Rarity by changing the law (a process that would undoubtedly take months) then there is the huge political backlash of her trying to save a mare who butchered eighty some odd ponies. There would be a public outcry that would last years. The outdated law that didn't take psychology into account because it didn't know about it demanded that Rarity be killed so she was.
i do hope some of the upcoming chapters assuage your worries slightly. I hope to get the next one out tonight or tomorrow.
Killer Rarity is best Rarity
This is my favorite series of any kind currently. I love it so much. I'm looking forward to more killer stories.
Also, I'm not going to bother reading the essay written in the comments before me.
2291466
That's one of the strengths of sociopathy, yes, in average, day to day socialization, she would and did hide it extremely well. However, it works because people made assumptions about her and didn't question certain things. If someone spent long enough, (Or just knew what they were doing) they should get an outline of her schema, which should set off all sorts of warning bells. She may not outwardly seem to be unstable, but the very nature of their ability to act is based off of their internal logic, which is inherently flawed in certain aspects. Certainly, in small talk, there isn't going to be any signs, but if you start flipping to certain subjects? It's going to start becoming apparent, especially when you consider, that skilled or not, it's virtually impossible to perfectly mimic genuine body language. (It just normally doesn't matter since people don't usually analyze enough to pay attention to those really, really minor details.)
I would think that it would be a bit different, Psychology and anthropology are rather young sciences here, but in Equestria, which is literally a giant idealism focused country, that's been around for thousands of years, I would at least think that they discovered Psychology earlier in their time-line then humans did. Since their society can't exactly operate without Sociology and such, due to the nature of it.
Especially with the Wendigos. Ya know? Those things? That kinda nearly obliterated their entire species because they couldn't understand each other and get along?
That's the entire point!
Ah, I see, the answer is clear then.
We must commit genocide until Celestia removes the death penalty.
I hope so too... I miss Rarity.
And I love you for coming up with it.
2291714 1. Right, but remember that nopony had any reason to. She was an Element of Harmony, nobody around her was trained to and they had no reason to label her as a sociopath. The only pony who knew something was up before she knew what it was was Sweetie Belle and she not only lived with Rarity but had a bloody memory to deal with.
2. True, and Rarity does reveal in the chapter with Krissy that psychologists did analyze The Canterlot Killer, and obviously Krissy's character does mean that there are a lot of famous psychologists in Equestria. So yes it's there, just nowhere near Rarity.
4. More on that next chapter.
2291766
... Can I join your fan-club?
2291771 You're following me on Fimfiction, that's as close to a fan club as I have.
2291777
No one made a group for your universe yet?
2291894 neither the TDverse or the Killer Rarityverse has a group here, no.
2291900
Maybe when the trilogy is done someone will make a group?
...
...
...
... I shall hide and wait for such a group to be made, then join it.
2291914 Hard to say. I'm working on the next chapter now though.
Will this story have an happy ending?
I really hope so, I pity Sweetie Belle though, I wish Celestia stop thinking she is thy murderer...
I like Silver Spoon more and more. She just makes sense.
Faust know's! Celestia know's! God know's!
To normal ponies Celestia and luna are god's, to celestia and luna Lauren Faust is god and to non- atheist's (belive's in a god) God is, god.
Ho-ly Crap. Nightmare Trixie, you sure can talk, girl.
I copied almost all of your comments and pasted them all into a Word document.
1,964 words, not counting the minor comments you made about the KillerRarity groups, etc.
At 2,000 words, you either are sooper talkative, or have a lot of stuff on your mind.
Also, your avatar kind of creeps me out.
I-- I feel sooo bad for silver spoon... she never wanted any f this to happen... it brings me back to the fateful final chapter of the secret life of rarity wahhhhhhhhh :
Yep, this chapter just reinforces the views I made in that earlier comment.
""Please never ask me that again," said Celestia sharply. "I do not wish to dwell any more on whether or not I should have killed her." "
You used that line with Rainbow Dash, and in all honesty, it seemed much more suited to Dash's character. Celestia does not blow off and ignore painful questions of morality, especially when she is in the middle of discussing them. Even a wise old woman would not blow off a question like that, much less on that deals with responsibility of that magnitude on a daily basis and for thousands of years. Very out of character; Jarringly so, in fact. I can see her not wanting to dwell on it but the emotion under that reaction and the words she used is really, really out of place both for the character and the story. Other than that, most of them never break character so I commend you for that; It just makes those occasional slips all the more disorienting.
2861017 Is this better?
Well, you consistently made me want to curl up on a corner and cry with the first two stories....
And this one has followed suit.
Yay.
It is in my perspective that I find that Silver Spoon's emotions and her actions more fitting for her character.
Honestly, If I were in Celestia's position I would have purged Diamond Tiara. She is a hazard to others and herself, not to mention that she is essentially the one responsible for all post-Rarity fatalities. She encouraged her foal's actions, which led to Blossom committing the murders. This is well-written story. It feels real. It has also punched me in the heart repeatedly. Again, well done.
With each chapter that includes DT, my hatred and want of attempting to stuff a airplane down her throat grows enormously.
Seriously, that bitch either needs to die, or be eternally tormented.
This song kinda fits this story. But I still like it.
Note: I kinda changed the lyrics.
Read the title as "You Are My Chili and I Will Love You Forever", now I can't stop laughing
5345863
Not to mention an unconscionable bully throughout her life, whose teachings and actions directly led to the death of 2 foals.
Huh, haven't we read this story before, about poor poor bullies getting slaps on the wrists, if they ever even DO receive punishment?
Everywhere else in this series Luna refers to herself as "We," did you forget to do that here?