Chapter Sixteen
The Comforting Lie of Justice
To everypony's surprise, the Amberdale Operation went very smoothly. In fact, there was only one moment when it teetered on the edge of absolute disaster. Well… two moments, really. Fortunately, my niece was a bit more mature and perceptive than I had realized, and the structure of the pegasus military in that world was more feudal than efficient.
Skyla and I flew south for a bit, to make it seem to the ponies of Amberdale as if we were coming from Grayhold. We then flew up the river and landed a furlong away from the gate where the narrow path along the waterside entered the town. I had expected a major road for transportation of ore and smelted metal, but evidently the river provided an easier way to ship heavy material to and from the town. We could have easily flown over the wall of course, but that just wasn't done in the Empire.
We found the stamping mill quite easily,[1] and the forepony swallowed our explanation that the medals we wanted made were a rush job for the immanent glorious victory over the pirate fleet in the west. The fact that we paid in advance got us pushed to the front of the queue.
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[1] The deep thud, thud, thud, of the water-driven trip-hammers was a helpful guide.
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"I don't see why you want them to be solid sheet orichalcum," the forepony said. "Most medals are plated tin. Lot's cheaper."
"Nothing but the best for our brave stallions out in the territories!" I said, with every appearance of sincerity.
He shrugged. "Well, you're payin' for it." He lipped a pencil out of his apron pocket and scribbled a few figures on a post in the mill that had seen many past calculations. "Fastest I can get you a load of ten thousand would be three days from now, and that'll be working three shifts." He frowned at his chicken scratches. "I didn't think there was even a tenth that many ponies in the Western Fleet."
"Oh, we'll be using these for years to come. New lands to conquer, and all that!" I said, keeping a chipper smile plastered across my muzzle.
"If you say so," he said, and wrote us out a receipt for our payment. "We'll load 'em up on a barge and ship 'em down to Stonebridge when they're finished. You can take 'em from there."
"Perfect! Thank you, sir!"
"A pleasure, ma'am."
Our next stop was at the smelter and foundry, and we had the ready-made excuse that we were checking to make sure there was enough sheet orichalcum for our mill order. What we were actually after was something else entirely, and that was the reason I had crafted the mandala for the pegasus disguise gun so carefully. It was also the reason neither of us were wearing armor.
The phlegmatic mill forepony had been discreetly giving Skyla and I a thorough going over, but the smelter manager outright stared.
"We're twins," I explained,[2] posing oh-so-casually to show off my carefully constructed assets. Skyla did the same, but I assumed that it was simple unconscious grace on her part. I didn't need a mind-reading spell to see the fantasies churning through the manager's imagination. He didn't actually drool, but it was a close thing.
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[2] Yes, even identical twins don't have identical cutie marks, but a bit of paint altered mine enough to be plausible.
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"I find your work so fascinating," I said, batting my eyes in what I hoped was a flirtatious way and not like I'd merely gotten grit in them. "I mean, turning rocks into metal? That's so clever! And alloys! Aren't they so tricky to make? Unfortunately, my sister and I have never been lucky enough to actually see orichalcum being alloyed..."
The tour was on almost instantly.
I kept up the inane chatter and appreciative comments until we got to the area where the orichalcum was made. It was one of those amazing moments when an unyielding mystery suddenly becomes simple and obvious. The proportions of copper and gold that went into the alloy were exactly what Equestrian researchers had always supposed. They were also correct in assuming that magic was the key part of the process. What they never guessed was that it wasn't unicorn magic.
Seven earth ponies stood evenly spaced around the crucible where the molten metals were being mixed, with their forehooves worked deeply into the earthen floor. I could feel the intensity of the thaumic flow as soon as I stepped onto the dirt.
The manager took my gasp for one of admiration. "Yep, it isn't easy training up these fellas to make the metal xanthosize properly, but I like to think I do a pretty good job of it. I've never delivered a bad batch in my life!"
I didn't say anything until Skyla poked me with a wingtip.
"Huh? Oh, yes! Very impressive!" I am ashamed to admit that I had unfairly neglected my earth pony aspect where matters of magic were concerned. Oh, I could revive a dying houseplant or sweeten an apple past its prime, but nothing much beyond that. So, I couldn't determine precisely what the earth ponies were doing.
But I didn't need to. Now that I knew the basic concept, and that it somehow involved a citrinital process,[3] there were earth pony metal specialists back home who could suss out the exact details without much difficulty.
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[3] Citrinitas (sometimes called xanthosis) is the third standard type of transformative phase in alchemical workings, and the one that causes most students of non-methodical dispositions to decide to explore a less hazardous field of study.
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I left in a bit of a happy daze. Skyla and I gave the poor old manager a very friendly twin-sandwich hug as we departed that probably fueled his fantasies for months.
We were almost back to the town gate when it happened. I was burbling along barely above a whisper to a (no doubt) disinterested Skyla about how cheap orichalcum would drastically improve Equestrian archanotech. "My raptor set cost me nearly ten thousand bits to build! When we bring back this knowledge, the sets will be so inexpensive that everypony in Equestria will be able to afford one. We could build big sets to send out educational lectures and kingdom-wide news... maybe even music! Yes, that would be possible… Yes, suppose you wanted to go to a concert in Canterlot, but didn't have time to travel there. It could be transmitted to—"
That's when the town overseer and his companion stepped out of a shop and into our path.
I could tell he was some sort of important pony from the gold chain of office around his neck, and began to stand aside and bow courteously, as a good pegasus servant should. Then I recognised him from Katydid's description and caught sight of the beautiful unicorn mare that plodded along in his wake. Her lovely peach-colored mane was very long, and it had been combed back to cover her shoulders.
With mouth, wing, or magic, I can draw either of my blades and sweep it up in a rising diagonal cut that is intended to slice through an opponent's throat in a single lightning-fast movement. After years of training and experience, it is an instinctual move that my body can perform before I even consciously register a threat.
The only reason I didn't kill the overseer and ruin my careful plan, was that Skyla slapped her wing over mine before I could draw. By the time my brain had caught up with my furious reaction, she had smacked me with her other wing and said, "Sister! This is the honorable overseer of this town! Mind your manners!"
"Oh," I said, shaking just a little from the adrenaline rush. "Yes. Yes, of course," I said, stepping back and bowing as shallowly as I thought I could get away with. "Overseer."
He didn't even realize how near he had come to dying. He also missed another close approach when he gave us both a lecherous leer and said, "It's not often I see such intriguing young mares in my town. Would you ladies like to join me for dinner tonight?"
"Oh, we'd love to," Skyla said. "But sadly, our orders are to be back in Grayhold before dark. Perhaps some other time?"
"Ah, you are under the command of the governor? He owes me a favor or two, so maybe I can arrange something… soon." The grin that spread across his face made me want to vomit. The mare behind him squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head nearly to the ground.
Skyla giggled. She giggled. To my knowledge, she hadn't giggled since she was a filly. "No need to call in a favor, sir. My sister and I will have a day off at the end of the week, and it would be fun to spend it in such a nice little village." She batted her eyelashes at him in a perfectly natural way. "And in such august company, as well! Would that be convenient for you, sir?"
It seemed I had been mistaken, and Skyla knew perfectly well what effect a beautiful female form had on the stallions around her, and was far better at using it to her advantage than I was.
"I will always have time for such lovely ladies!" he said.
I swear, it felt like his eyes left slime trails on me.
"Oh good!" Skyla said. "Now, you'll have to excuse us, overseer. We have to fly!"
We were nearly a half league outside the town and still walking along the path before I could unclench my jaw. "As soon as we have the medals, I'm going to kill him," I said in a quite reasonable tone of voice.
Skyla lifted an eyebrow. "For being a lascivious old goat? If that were a reason to kill a pony, you'd have to do away with a good percentage of the stallions back home."
I took a deep breath and looked her square in the eyes. "I am going to kill him, because he rapes and maims ponies that are his de facto slaves."
Skyla stopped dead in her tracks. "What?"
I explained to her what I had learned from Katydid. Then I had to stop her from flying back to Amberdale and slicing the overseer to ribbons.
"But you're right!" She snorted and stamped a hoof. "He deserves it!"
A lecture on the subject of punishment and redemption sprang to mind and then died away. I had no intention of punishing the overseer or exacting any sort of futile revenge; I only wanted to make sure that no more ponies would suffer because of him. In any civilized nation, he would have been exiled at the very least. If I had had full use of my magic, I would have tried a reform spell. Well, maybe I would have. I would like to think that's what I would have done.
"When we have the medals safely stowed away," I said. "For now, let's get back to the ship."
We would have been better off staying on the path, because not long after we took to the air, we were spotted by a pegasus patrol.
We were about to turn from our southeast course and head up into the mountains, so we did a quick scan of the sky to make sure we were unobserved. We weren't. "Some flyers to the west of us," Skyla said. "At about four o'clock."
I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, there were some distant figures in the sky. It was difficult to determine their course right away, so we decided to keep heading south and hope that they would ignore us. They didn't.
"Coming in from behind and above," I observed a few minutes later. "Not exactly the most friendly of approaches."
Skyla considered this for a minute. "We should stop. I think ignoring them at this point would be suspicious."
I agreed and we slowed down, banking in a broad curve above the river to face the approaching pegasi. "Seven of them," Skyla observed. "We're okay unless they've got guns, and I don't see any."
With their long brass barrels and thick oak stocks, the heavy magic guns weren't an ideal weapon for flyers, but the pegasi weren't unarmed. "Those crossbows aren't exactly a joke, and we're unarmored," I pointed out.
"I'm as good at snap-shields as you are," she said casually. "Even the little ones we can manage here are good enough to deflect a few quarrels if we act quickly."
I sighed. "Alright. The signal is if either of us uses the Royal Voice. Then we take care of the ones in our own hemisphere as quickly as possible. But let's try not to slaughter them if we can avoid it, okay?"
"Sounds good to me!" she said in a completely inappropriate chipper tone of voice.
"Hello!" I called out to the pegasi as they got near. "What's up?"
Nopony answered me. The one I assumed was their officer made some wing signals, and his squad spread out to surround us.
"What's going on?" I asked again.
"Land in that clearing," the officer said, pointing with a foreleg.
"Listen," I said, putting a touch of irritation in my voice. "We're on courier duty for the governor, and we're expected back in Grayhold—"
"Land or we'll shoot you out of the air!" he demanded. His ponies aimed their weapons at us in a very business-like manner.
Skyla turned toward the clearing, sniffed loudly, and said, "That's not very friendly!"
I followed in silence, keeping to Skyla's right and carefully tracking and assessing the ponies on my side.
We landed and the officer and three of his pegasi surrounded us on the ground. The other three flew overhead to keep us from taking off again.
"What is going on?" I demanded. "Did something happen? Well, I mean other than Redkeep blowing up, as if that wasn't enough. Did the commander—"
The officer stalked forward and took a close look at our mouths. "Well, at least you're not blacklips. Show me your orders. Move slowly!"
We didn't have any, of course. I didn't even know what an official set of orders looked like or I would have prepared a forgery. I got ready to shout, but Skyla interrupted me.
"We are the new assistants to Governor Gray," she said. "The new private assistants, do you understand? We've just been up to Amberdale to—ahem—pay off a favor that the governor owed to the town overseer. Just what sort of written orders do you think the governor would be stupid enough to give us?"
The officer frowned and made a long and not unappreciative examination of us. "You're—"
"Look," I interrupted him. "If you want to verify who we are, why don't you come back to Grayhold with us and ask the governor directly? I'm sure he will be happy to answer all your insolent questions about his private affairs."
"Maybe I don't give much of a damn what some stomper aristocrat thinks," the officer said, sneering.
I knew it was a test the moment he uttered the words. He wasn't a very good actor and his heart wasn't behind his words. "What?!" I cried out in mock indignation. "How dare you say such a thing! The count will have you broken and—"
"Easy! Easy there!" He held up a placating wing. "I apologize for the rude words, but I have to be on the lookout for any disloyal pegasi. I didn't mean what I said."
I shuffled my hooves in an attempt to mimic the adorable way Fluttershy does it when she's uncertain about something. "I—I don't understand. Why would we be disloyal?"
The officer frowned and shook his head. "My apologies again. You're free to go."
"Something's going on," Skyla said softly, glancing around at the encircling pegasi. "Are we in danger? Please tell us, sir."
He hesitated and I stepped to Skyla's side, putting a comforting wing over her back and adding my own soft and totally-not-afraid-because-I'm-a-big-girl, "Please?"
He grimaced and said, "There have been some rumors going around. Some foolish pegasi have taken gossip for truth and deserted, that's all."
"Al leekorn," I whispered.
"No!" he half-shouted. "That's an old legend and there's no truth to it!"
It was a risk. It was a big risk, but I noted the nervous reactions of the squad members to my words and thought it was a risk worth taking.
"But what if it's true? What if Twilight Sparkle has returned?" There was a horrified gasp from several of the pegasi that proved the supposedly secret name had been making the rounds. "I heard she's only come back to restore harmony to the Empire. My cousin from Palo Verde says she just wants the three tribes to be equal and—"
"You shut your mouth right now, do you hear me?" The officer shouted, growing red in the face. "I don't give a damn if you are the count's personal plaything! If you say one more mutinous word, I will shoot you both dead and leave you for the buzzards! Am I clear?"
I did a fairly good imitation of a fearful cringe. "Y-yessir!"
"Now, you pampered whores get your lazy tails back to your master before I change my mind!"
"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" We fled into the sky.
The patrol went on its way, swinging west of us, but never far enough to be completely out of sight. Skyla and I flew on toward Grayhold.
"What was that word he used?" Skyla asked me when we were well out of earshot.
I was in no mood to open that complex can of worms, so I simplified it for her. "Pejorative term meant to belittle us as—uhmn—non-combatants."
She frowned at me, probably sensing that I wasn't telling her the whole truth. But she let it go.
The patrol shadowed us almost all the way to the city, and only lost sight of us when the sun sank below the horizon. It was clear that we weren't going to make it back to Nebula on schedule, so I called up Ao on the raptor and gave her a brief account of what had happened. "We will spend the night in the mountains north of the city and fly back in the morning, over."
"Understood, Ms. Nightshade. Please call at first light, over."
"Will do, Ms. Ao. Out."
We found a sheltered spot under an overhanging crag and settled in for the night. We talked as we shared the oat bars from my saddlebags.
"You did really well today, Captain Niece," I told her, as I passed her a canteen of water.
"Thank you, Ms. Auntie." She chucked. "Is it weird that I think it was kinda fun?"
"Not at all! This sort of thing is fun," I said, opening a bag of dried apples and floating some over to her. "When I was little, I got to know a lot of the Canterlot guards, and sometimes they'd tell me stories of adventures they'd had. None of them were about standing around guarding an empty audience hall."
"So… deadly peril is entertaining?"
I shrugged. "It's complex. Nopony likes being truly terrified, but afterwards…" I thought about it for a second. "The old stallion who was captain before Shiny said something to me once. 'The most wonderful thing in life is to have a spear miss you by a hair's breadth. The worst thing is for it to happen over and over again.'"
She wrinkled her nose in puzzlement. "I'm not sure I know what that means."
"It means we should get this over with and go home as soon as possible," I muttered around a mouthful of apples.
"As long as your plan works," she said. "If we don't help out the unicorns here, I couldn't face going…" She trailed off and looked as if she was thinking hard.
I took a wild guess at the subject of her thoughts. "Speaking of deadly peril," I asked, casually, "who are you going to apologize to first when we get back?"
She scowled at me, then sighed. "I suppose there's going to be a long line waiting for me on the other side of the gate."
"Oh yeah!" I grinned at her. "I'll distract Luna for you, but you're on your own with the rest of them."
"From the look on your face, I'd say you're actually looking forward to that."
"Oh yeah," I said again, my grin widening. "She'll storm at me in Middle Equish for a while, and then I'll cry, and she'll cry, and then there'll be one amazing thunderstorm over Twilight Town."
"Huh? What does a thunderstorm have to do with it?"
I laughed. "Oh, my dearest niece! Wait until you have a very special somepony of your own. You too will discover the wonders of make-up sex!"
"Eeeeew!"
"Oh, please! You're interested in sex by now, surely?"
"Well, yeah! but…"
"But what?"
"You… You're old! Like really old! Mom-old, even!"
I laughed out loud. "But your mom and my brother—"
"No,no no! I don't want to hear it! It's gross!" She closed her eyes wrapped her wings around her head.
I smiled at her fondly. The rough situation we found ourselves in had made me forget how young she was. Of course, I'd battled a plethora of monsters before I'd found my own special somepony, so I could sympathize. It didn't mean I didn't enjoy teasing her, though.
= = =
We actually started out before first light to reduce the chance of being spotted by another patrol. When I called Ao, we were flying low in the shadow of the mountains and had less than an hour to go to reach the valley where Nebula lay at anchor.
Other than some farmers headed out to their fields who didn't even look up, we didn't see anypony on our way back.
"All truly went as planned then?" Ao asked as she helped me stow my gear in my cabin.
"Except for the little hiccup with the patrol on the way back, but that just turned into an opportunity to plant some ideas in their heads. We also found out that some pegasi have been deserting lately. Good news all around!"
"Truly?"
"Don't sound so surprised, Ao! We certainly deserve some good luck, don't we?"
"If we are to receive what we deserve, this one will sleep with her sword close by tonight," she said.
I swatted her side with a wingtip, but laughed all the same. "Lucky for us, there is no such thing as cosmic justice!" But as I said it, I thought about the overseer and my laughter died away.
"You are troubled, Majesty?"
I told her about the overseer.
"After we take the medals from the barge, an uproar in the town will be of no consequence, yes? You may kill the vermin then," Ao said, cheerfully. "Or this one will do it, if you find it distasteful."
"Utterly distasteful, but no… No, I will do it, Ao. This is something I'd never ask a friend to do in my place."
"This one is happy to, if it would ease your mind—"
I shook my head emphatically. "It would only make me feel worse, I promise you."
She nodded sadly. "Often has this one had to accommodate your sense of justice, Majesty. This one does not understand, but will question it not. Kill or do not kill, it shall be as you wish."
"Your morals are remarkably flexible, Ao."
"Thank you, Majesty!" She smiled and dipped her head.
"It wasn't exactly a compliment."
Her smile grew slightly more sly. "This one imagines that it was not entirely a condemnation, either."
I sighed and smiled despite myself. "You know me too well, old friend." I folded the table down and got out my little writing box. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to make a comprehensive list of ways everything can go horribly wrong in the next two days, and make an outline of countermeasures."
Ao floated through the doorway, saying over her shoulder as she left, "Enjoy yourself, Majesty."
She really did know me too well.
= = =
=
Hey, not bad. Skyla does know her way around certain topics.
Eh? How does Skyla have such a tactful grasp of the situation as to come up with that excuse without ever learning the meaning of that word? Must’ve gotten it from all those trashy teenage romance novels.
Awwww, Ao and Twi are so cute. I ship it, lol! I know Twi has a mare who can't really be beaten already, but still. Ao and Twi are just that adorable.
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Equestrians just use nicer words!
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Mares of negotiable virtue?
Bringing back knowledge on how to create orichalcum, and a large supply of the stuff for them to use whilst still in this dimension, of which they can probably take a bunch back, is like us finding a huge amount of already processed platinum, and a way to easily create more. Although I doubt there’s a metal on Earth that actually comes close to the rarity of orichalcum you described. I suspect Equestria is up for an industrial revolution.
No, Ao, it was not in fact a condemnation.
That's racist.
In any case, that definitely went better than expected... which means I'm with Twilight. This only means that the other shoe has yet to drop. Best to prepare for impact as thoroughly as possible.
On the bright side, invaluable thaumological information and pegasus desertions. It's almost too good to be true... which, again, makes me worry about that other shoe. And given how horseshoes come in sets of four...
Okay, so Twilight knows that some version of her caused all this, and has a plan to fix it, after a bit of undercover work with Skyla... this should go so well. And that title is giving me all kinds of bad feelings about what might happen. Still, can’t go TO bad, given this is meant as a rather lighthearted, fun story overall. But with some really deep stuff to it as well.
Wait.. what? how? This is..... oh crap....
MAXIM 17: The longer everything goes according to plan, the bigger the impending disaster.
So, somepony tried to hit on her, or worse, and she managed to deflect him easily, and then some other pegasi realized something was up, but were to “This ain’t my problem’ about it to follow through?
Stompers have to keep those featherbrains in their place after all.
Yup, very good sign.
Having a boat load of money certainly helps speed things along quite nicely.
And the metal is so common, that this is wholly doable without notice, if rather expensive. Twilight, do try to get the secret for this out of somepony before you leave.
TEN THOUSAND! 10,000!! Twilight..... I mean, we should have known by now, you never do anything small. That is just.. damn. So, this is going to be a VERY big deal... use it to amp up and arm the unicorns to rise up safer?
And a whole fleet is only about 1,000. Holy shit Twilight! Yeah, this is going to be epic.
AKA, “I don’t care long as you give me money.”
Seriously that much in general.... yeah, time to find out some secrets?
Hmmmmm, trying to entice the overseer into doing something stupid? Make you both seem attractive, and not a threat?
Work’s good enough. Could you at least redo your mane and tail a bit from each other, or is that not able to be messed with?
Yup, go for a bit of ‘Distracted by the sexy’ as well as lure the overseer into a rather private, intimate position.
Riiiiight, yeah, the daughter of a near literal love goddess. Twi.. good to see you are still adorakably naive at times.
Where’s Rarity when you need her? She’d have them all wrapped around her hoof already. Still the idea of Twilight trying to be seductive... I wish I could see this, and it’s going to work, just because all they see is ‘hot mare’.
Oh sweet Celestia, is she trying to do a Valley Girl voice? Just.. Twi trying to flirt is odd enough.. Twilight the mindless bimbo? Just... wow... I.. I.. this does not compute!
Holy shit, now when you copy/paste from a chapter it keeps the formatting.
Yup, try to learn the secret, way to get those side quests done Twi.
Ohhh I love those, also... little meta reference to the tendency of trying to pull those things in the stories? Still, that is a great feeling, and nice to see it really is something not just simple, but that she was able to learn so, YAY Equestria!
OHHHHHHH!!! Earthen metals... needs Earth Pony magic to imbue it with just the right structure doesn’t it? That would stump ponies for a long time if they didn’t try something random. Not used to that aspect of it. Again nice to see this world can use it’s limitations well and get creative because of having to to find out this kind of stuff.
Yup, ohh ohh that is smart.
If that is a real word.....
Okay, it kind of is.. but it refers to a process where unhealthy tissue turns yellowish and retched due to cancer. Hmm also a word for a disease in Strawberries that makes them turn yellow.
Does this turn the metal yellow?
Nice to see her admit this, and show she’s not all knowing and does have her limits. But still knows she has these abilities.
Yeah you know the over view, and now can get ponies to work on the details with that in mind.
Huh, it IS about yellowing. Or more specifically was the term for turning something into gold kind of, which makes sense for being ‘yellowing’ and, was about also ‘drawing on the innate solar light’ or something... given, you know Sun and Moon are rather major things in Equestria, that could mean a whole new thing. But, damnit story stop making me learn!
No way, keep it up!
So the one the Ahnk-Morpork Alchemists Guild focuses on then?
D’awwwwwww that’s sweet. And, nice to show not all Earth ponies are horrible monsters here. That is going to be the biggest issue with a revolution, keeping the unicorns and Pegasi from simply swapping the roles and make EP’s slaves, taking it out on ALL EP’s rather then just the assholes in charge.
Oh, arcno-tech revolution incoming?
Twi geek outs. Never not awesome, and never not great to see her still being Twilight. Also, Equestrian Radio, fun.
OHHHH boy.. THIS asshole. Fun times?
Ohhhhhhhhhh fuck. Take him down. Quietly.
Also very badass Twilight is very badass.
Way to go Skyla. Save him for after you have the medals you need. Also damn... do NOT piss Twilight off and just... damn.. yeah she is bucking terrifying at times.
Ohhhhh that would go over SOOOOOO well. It wold totally ruin the plans but.. might just be worth it
Maybe not..just take a raincheck. Come back later for that.
Very soon. What was it, about three days? Make sure to stop by again you two.
She’s a young mare that knows how to flirt. Again, daughter of a Love Goddess. And very good at putting on the right act when she wants to be. So this is the first hiccup
Ohhhh she’s good. Yeah Twilight, she’s got you beat in the CHR skills. Well, Diplomacy and bluff anyway. You have ALL the ranks on her for Intimidate. Maybe a feat or other ability letting you apply INT to it.
Yup, see above. Also, how else do you think she talked all those stallions into stealing your ship with her?
A very reasonable idea. Go right ahead.
Does she not know what he does? That better just be her not having been told what type of slime he is. Granted god thing if not, or she might have not stopped Twilight.
Make him suffer first. Not torture wise, just, make him fear, make him feel helpless, to know what it’s like to be a victim. Then end him.
Okay, didn’t know, so her reaction? “let’s go back and kill him now!”
Atta girl. God call.
Yeah.. I’m all for redemption and not punishment for the sake of punishment, and love that Equestria works that way.... but this isn’t Equestria, and some things are just beyond the pale, and he has no remorse at all about it.
Exactly, this is the important point. Yes, he deserves it, yes no qualms, however.. this needs to the be the deciding reason, not vengeance. To stop him from hurting others.
Ehhhh that could be even worse and even more WTF!? And still not sure how those would even work.... lacking hard proof, going with they function like an Atonement Spell, something that the one having it cast on them needs to legitimately wish to have before it’ll work.
And the second small hitch.
Also give you more time to get ready, and make them a bit less sure possibly.
Meh, no problem.
Even they know that. It’s like a couple of end game PC’s running into a band of low level bandits.
Eh, bet you could grab a few of them quick enough.
Oh wait BOWS! still applies.... for some reason the first time I read that as crowbars. Still, meh you should be fine.
And using the right term, yay. Also true.
’
I’m with Skyla on this.
This is starting off quite well.
Granted once Twilight drops her disguise, likely have a few seconds of shocked horror for a surprise round.
No armor. And sooooo... are the scribes not allowed out or something, or just him being an asshole?
She is REALLY good at this.
Mommy taught her well.
And if his reputation is well known... good cover.
And Twi adding in a bit of intimidation. These two make a great team.
Hmmm, bit of a well nown contingent of desitious and borderline rebel pagsi?
So that is an issue, very good to know.
First rarity, now Fluttershy, she learned much from her friends Though, not enough to match the masters at it.
Ohhhhh.. word about her has spread that fast. Even in other worlds, Some ponies know not to fuck with Twilight Sparkle. But wow, just her existing is causing desertions, if she made herself more public.......
Get them to blurt stuff out? Nice.
Somepony is over compensating.
You will try.
I really want to see his face if he tries and she shows hi who she is.
She knows all this, but not ‘whores’? Hmmmm.... Can’t see prostitution not being present in Equestria, but, not stigmatized and so, no insults about it lie that? Or just rare and mostly in places even Flurry wouldn’t see?
To avoid any more random ‘revenge’ missions. Also poor thing has to be worried.
Yes, yes she did. Very well.
Awesome Twi is awesome and just, again Little scenes lie this of her... just being a pony are so amazing.
That.... makes a lot of sense and.. yeah get it.
That too.
She is going to make an AMAZING Princess when she comes into her own power.
Well, already faced the scariest one with Twilight, but.. well.. might want to bring a few of those guns to try and fend off Mommy.
Oh true, Luna pissed at her taking Twilight away... yikes. Well Twilight can just drag her into the nearest empty ally for some super kinky welcome back sex. Just make sure you grab a weathervane before leaving.
...................
Okay i was NEARLY right. Super kinky and ANGRY welcome back sex.
This this is awesome just, the two of them, sitting talking, being family and just.. just I LOVE YOU STORY!
Very much family. And no quite a bit younger
Luna is even older young miss.
And I love how Twilight has matured to the point she can be this open about it and free without being embarrassed.
Not to mention Flurry has only nearly caused a single, localized, apocalypse. Still needs more work on the ‘nearly breaking the world’ aspect.
Well well under the standard margin of error.
Well..... Maxim 40: Not all good news is enemy action at work?
HEY! Bad Ao, no being a downer like that.
Giving him what he deserve then... yeah that will kill the mood. However.... he deserves it and it’s the only way to save his future victims.
Once again, I LIKE Ao.
And this... this is right. While he deserves it, and sitting here nice and safe and with no actual stake in this, just wanting to see a story play out.. yeah easy to just cheer for him getting taken out. But, in there, Twilight.... sh has the right attitude. She will do it because she knows it has to be done to spare his future victims from the suffering he will inflict. But she doesn't like it, finds that to be wrong and yet, will do it.. but will not ask anyone else to bear the burden, will not try to hide from the cost of the action, claim to keep her hooves clean by distancing herself from it. If he will die by her orders, then it will be by her action, she will not hide from that.
I really hope she got to talk to Littlepip while going around the multiverse.
“Sudden meteor strike lands right on the box of supplies”
-“Keep watch for such things and move fast if they appear.”
“The metal disks are replaced with metallic parasites that begin to eat the ship.”
-“Fill the entire ship with magical fire to fry them all and trust the anti-magic coating to keep the ship intact.”
“The Doctor shows up.”
-“Turn around and get as far out of the blast radius of whatever is about to blow up as possible.”
Yup, Twilight is still Twilight
So yeah another amazing chapter.
8215483See again
Yeah, they are so screwed... only to turn it around and use it to end these assholes.
What word?
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Whore.
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Yup. Not to say the Equestrians don’t have a similar profession, but if they do, they’d be a whole lot nicer about it, and use far less negative words.
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Words like whorse maybe?
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Twilight invents BBC4! And millions of ponies are treated to things like a seven-part series on pre-classical floor tile production.
And I’m certain that a weather vane will be involved in some capacity.
Is there a Maxim that says “It’s the one you never anticipate that’ll get you.”
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it still seems rather weird, considering the whole of the conversation up to that point--and back in the town--involves Twilight and Flurry using sex appeal. The meaning of the term probably should be obvious, especially to someone who isn’t, you know, a complete innocent.
8217542Not really, if it’s a word she’s never heard before, how would she know what it means? There could have been any number of things that word would mean and how it applies. Flurry likely and almost certainly understand the idea of prostitution, she’s simply never heard that particular term for it.
Writing this after the new update, I imagine the rich-text paste and easy quotations would be very helpful. Unfortunately, I'm still using Notepad on my second monitor, so I'm still typing all the formatting marks manually.
She's definitely been idealistic at times, but I'm not at all surprised by her being "mature and perceptive" given how she's been acting since the joyride became serious. I also don't have the over-a-decade of memories of her growing up that Twilight has. Now to see how she's distinguished herself this time.
Now this is interesting. I didn't have the impression that their upper ranks were populated with noble blood (or an analogue thereof), but it's surprisingly believable when remembering the dynamic our favorite blacklip seemed to have with the soldiers she came in with.
Admittedly, my knowledge of feudal military doesn't reach much beyond "it was bloody expensive for knights to maintain their horse and armour", so it will be nice to see how exactly that dynamic works here.
"I have to admit to sharing the sentiment, to an extent. Even now that I have gotten used to my wings and the culture that comes with them, there are certain pegasi I won't name who read too much into an open window."
That's still quite a lot per day for water-driven hammers. Impressive.
And this is evidently not a plan to hasten the mountings of gems. I wonder what it's going to be, then. Not simple goods for trade back home, either, if the discussion of the mandala last chapter is anything to go by, but I have trouble thinking of anything magical that would require ten thousand of anything.
Or from the barge itself before it gets halfway there, I'm guessing.
Ah, that explains it. The mandala's not actually going on each of the "medals". Trade's back on the table.
I assume "assumed" also carries the connotation of "hoped" here. Given her complete obliviousness to the fact that the crew was all stallions, I'm inclined to believe it.
Oh, so that's the significance of them not wearing armor.
These aren't exactly the most impressive ancient Atlanteans I've ever seen. They aren't even seaponies!
I know this example isn't generalizable to other universes, but this right here is why I think Equestria has a bit of a tribalism issue as well, not to mention racism. Nothing remotely like the Empire's, but still there.
Two questions: I wonder if this is why the earth ponies are the dominant race here; and I wonder if actual pegasi would feel that magic, or if it's just because they're alicorns.
I'm guessing "no" to the second, but then again this is Twilight coming across an ancient mystery we're talking about.
See again: tribalism. And I'm going to stop talking about it now.
Sounds like something that would have been featured on Things I Won't Work With. I can safely say I wouldn't have been an alchemist.
Prepare the fireworks. They'll be beautiful.
On ponies like Sassy Saddles, that's a way of making a fashion statement. Here it's just painful. And that unintentional pun is really out of place.
I would have added "quick-witted" to "mature and perceptive". The fact that this trip is better than all the manners instruction back in the Crystal Empire will hopefully go a good way to getting Shining Armour and Cadance to forgive Twilight for corrupting Flurry.
All right, that's just impressive.
That is good. Twelve chapters of buildup, and convincing us Twilight's assumption was right despite all evidence to the contrary. In this very commentary "I also don't have the over-a-decade of memories of her growing up that Twilight has," was followed by your "Skyla did the same, but I assumed that it was simple unconscious grace on her part," and I still didn't suspect anything. Very well done.
Right, she wasn't there when Katydid talked about her history. Her acting's not quite as impressive as it would have been if she was managing to completely bury all hatred, but it was still definitely good.
...and probably for the best.
In one of the recent Village Called Respite chapter's comments, I was one of very few in support of the mind-controlling changeling hive. Even so, I do not like the idea of a reform spell. Too much like putting a pretty face on killing the old personality.
High opinion of you and your aunt, eh?
Hmm. Either there's some regulation on flying free, or their cover was blown somehow. For the first, we've admittedly only seen a couple civilian pegasi, but that seems a bit overboard -- they aren't screwheads, after all. Somepony went to the effort of tracing up the hierarchy after such a large order?
Still only on "suspicion", then. For the next minute. The blacklip comment is really intriguing, though; I was imagining them more like Brotherhood of Steel scribes.
Incidentally, that's probably the first time "Brotherhood of Steel" came to me more quickly than "Steel Rangers".
She. is. good.
Ooh, that's going to be fun meeting up with them. Loose Leaf's Dark Mistress cult a bit more subversive than we thought? I wonder if some of them actually have the right meaning of "ponies of the earth".
Well, they skipped straight past "subversive". That might be a good explanation for what those pegasi were doing when they stumbled across the Nebula: chasing after Loose Leaf.
She's definitely learned "stomper", and I think she was there for "blacklip", so that just leaves "whore". Twilight obviously thinks so, but she's not exactly reliable on this point. I'd have guessed Flurry'd have picked that up back in the Crystal Empire, though, along with the seduction/getaway techniques and the intimation behind the entire "private assistants" line. Either I'm missing something, she wasn't there for the Loose Leaf-blacklip discussion, or this is a good reminder that despite the many acts she's put on in the past week, Flurry's still just a teenager.
Also, Twilight, simplifying it to that extent really doesn't help anything beyond Cadance and Shining Armour's dispositions.
EDIT: 8214963 -- Ah, that'd do it.
I like that sentiment, so long as the spear is metaphorical in my own life.
They have been apart for a while, haven't they? Hopefully she has something to mitigate point-blank royal voice while Luna figures out which bedroom Twilight's spending the next couple nights in. Either way, she's going to be on house arrest for a while.
Yes, that.
...given Twilight's behaviour towards Skyla this chapter, I'm surprised she was that explicit. I was expecting she'd go with "the wonders of a weather vane" and left her trying to work it out on her own.
Ah, that explains her reluctance. Any pony pretending to flirt to that extent is past youth's knee-jerk disgust. Definitely doesn't mean she can't still be put off by it -- sex-repulsed asexuality is a thing -- but it doesn't come with an italicized "Eeeeew!". And this doesn't seem like a place you (as an author) would be introducing sexual identities.
Me too, a bit. Thanks for this reminder!
I imagine a pegasus stomper would be even worse than other stompers, but I wonder if any of them are (comparatively) upper-class unicorns who were able to get their own farms or a tenant position on somepony else's. Working in the dirt being a lower-prestige lifestyle might be human- (and unicorn-) centric, but I really doubt the richer earth ponies here bother themselves to get up before dawn to do their own plowing
of that sort.At the very least, this shows that the Empire doesn't operate on a strict caste-system analogue -- whether or not social mobility is commonplace is another matter -- and that not every earth pony is destined to be directing their business with a comfortable bank account at their back. Not that anything else we've seen really supports that, either, but it's always nice to have more worldbuilding.
And for some reason, despite the maps and every chapter since Ironhoof, I've had trouble seeing the empire as anything but desert. Hopefully this helps.
The timeless lament of the wanderer; praise fate when she smiles, and curse her when she turns her back. Her moods are even more fickle when she looks upon pirates.
Not justice, no. Fate, order, and predetermination are inherent parts of your world, though, and I wonder how easy it would have been to program justice into the world mechanism as well. Wasn't there something about the sisters originally aiming for that before settling on the cutie marks?
I don't think you have to worry about that. What you might want to watch out for, though, is the fact that no less than three ponies onboard would all enjoy dealing the final blow.
That's interesting. You definitely didn't feel like that back in town. The difference between heat-of-the-moment and mediated thought, eh?
...that's become an obligatory once-per-chapter emoticon, hasn't it? Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining in the least!
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I messaged knighty a bug report about small screens that included "actually had a big smile across my face while reading through the changelog" in the introduction. I like the update.
This is the issue I have with assuming the Empire is inherently behind Equestria in magical knowledge. The direction is different, certainly, but they've had millennia to figure out the arcane workings underlying a world that just happens to be lower-powered than others we know. I wouldn't say they're needing to be any more creative than we do in our own, and not many people would call our lack of magic a limitation.
That said, I do agree with everything you have there except the exact wording. Sorry for being nitpicky!
The one who pretended not to look at all might have been the better indication, but I'll definitely admit (from a male perspective) that this one didn't seem too bad either.
And that's definitely going to be the trick. I'm not too sure about the pegasi -- they seem to me to be more financially than culturally motivated, and after a period of adjustment, most of them would likely be happy enough to serve under the unicorns. Those, however, could very easily be like lighting a powder keg (and the only reason I'm putting that little bit of uncertainty in is because they're ponies and not people). The hardest part is actually probably not going to be keeping the hierarchy from being reestablished if they come out on top, but keeping the loosed rebels on the way there from running roughshod over earth ponies who want nothing more than a well-maintained farm and the fruits of their own four hooves.
I've played in systems where that's a STR skill. Still doesn't help her with the WIS/DEX build she's running, though. (Yeah, she'd traditionally be INT, but most systems put willpower in WIS, and I feel this Twilight is defined more by her ideals than her scholarship at this point. Besides, with her combat style, she'd need all the help she can get on her spell focus saves.)
I went to see what the exact difference is between them, and the first result was talking about the screw-like things, sieves, and stained glass without a single mention of crossbows.
What I finally got was that a crossbow shoots bolts, which most often have a tip style called a quarrel, but is that actually right?
That would be a really nice conversation. The Twilight in The Quest and that one chapter of Enigma actually reminds me of Littlepip, and as great as all of Enigma was, that was one of the highlights. On a similar thought, I wonder how she'd react to Blackjack? Except for "she doesn't like it" and some (pretty excusable) breakdowns, that description really fits her as well, despite the very obvious differences in how it's realized.
Also, the last we see of her in Horizons is both beautiful and heartbreaking, and I'm hoping you remember it as fondly as I do.
He'd definitely be on their side given what the Empire's become, but for some reason I want to say they'd be one of the groups he gets all disappointed and judgmental with. The crew was pretty nonchalant about killing almost the entire patrol, to say nothing of Twi and Skyla in the battle before that. That's kind of an uncomfortable thought.
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It’s easier to point you directly at the source: Schlock Mercenary’s ”The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries.” It’s an invaluable addition to Peter Anspach’s “The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord” (except for Thing #99—that one’s showing its age).
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Ooh! Thank you!
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I should have made that clearer: different mandala for the medals.
Yup, they really do. It's a kinder, gentler tribalism, but it's still there, even in the show itself.
Yeah... kill a pony, or kill only part of him? We have counter-conditioning in this world and it's only applied with consent,[1] because it's freaking miserable. It's a tough moral question that we humans don't really have to deal with... yet.
Yep. Twi is dangerous as hell when she furious or on the defensive, but in cold blood? Not so much. But she damn near promised Flurry.
Ad, yeah, it would be interesting to see what the Doctor would think of all this. He has helped out people and then torn them a new one for their various failings.
----------
[1] Oops! I forgot about forced gay "deprogramming" of children. No, I don't care how they do it, ponies have got to be nicer about it.
COMMENTCEPTION TIME!!!
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Not that, so much as each Pegasus serves their own 'lord' each noble or other high ranking Stomper having their own pegasus guards, or having guards they control, making the command structure rather scattered and slipshod, as there is no one central authority, just a bunch of feudal nobles with their own flocks to control, leading to a lot of 'Not my problem' and the like from what I gathered.
Whatever it is, I'm thinking it'll be related to MAXIM 24: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a big gun.
Nope, as iisaw said, two different spells. One a disguise spell, the other going onto the 'medals' for some purpose.
yeah, Auntie Twilight just does not want to see her little Flurry Burry as all grown up and a smoking hot little babe.
Hmmm, maybe a bit. noting that isn't easy to overcome, but yeah a few unspoken cultural blind spots and common assumptions about ponies based on their tribe.
Likely the Alicorn thing.
Eh that's not really 'tribalism' so much as twilight was already SO heavy into unicorn magic, knew it so well, that.. she simply have no real need or reason to expand on the new magics she had beyond getting the basics.
Huh? not sure what this is about.
me either, it's just.. waaaay to creepy. Given we have not actually been given how it might work... and clearly was NOT an option for Discord given Tia never brought it up. I'm going with it works like the DnD Atonement spell. Something that the one it's used on needs to want.
Maybe Skyla being so brazen about it got her to let her guard down and realize she can make those jokes now?
Not sure where that is coming from, it's just an "Ewww old people sex' joke. Likely with the added whole, you don't want to picture your relatives having sex. Skyle knows this stuff, but is still young and a bit unsure about things.
Not really. Order.. maybe.. 'fate' and 'predetermination' nope. Yes the Sisters tried to set up systems to reward the good and just, but none of it is out right fate or destiny. Cutie Marks are NOT 'fate' or 'destiny' or determine ANY damn things. They DO nothing, all they are is a symbolic representation of who a pony is.
They likely have a deeper understanding of certain, lower level aspects. Better know how to use what little they have, have more ways to eek out more power and use. But they simply do not have the ability, unicorns, or power to really understand the higher level thaumic abilities Equestria has. It has a smaller breadth of magic it can study, but has come to a deeper understanding of what it has.
No, we've never heard of them being paid. They serve the Stompers because Twilight ordered them to. If anything, they might be a bigger threat then the unicorns, cause the pegasi know how to fight and might just replace the EP's. But yeah, getting the three tribes into actual harmony is going to be WAY harder then just over throwing the EP's
I've mostly used Pathfinder, and she is totally a INT/DEX build. Arcane caster, INT first. Also it's Twilight.
heh... hehehe... hehehehhehehe ohhhhhhh boy.... ohohohohoh boy....
No... not in the least. The most.. polite way.. I can put it, is PH is an unholy, parasitic abomination the utterly screws over every single aspect of the original it touches, all for Somber's need to make his the 'real' story, to 'fix' all the things he felt was wrong about the original.. like not enough brutal on screen rape.. and I loathe it fully utterly and completely.
Yeah... I don't have fond memories of anything related to that story.
That is in battle, he might snark at them, but understand. Also it kind of depends which Doctor it is.
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Realized it was more like that as I was reading through the chapter, but it's nice to have it laid out so clearly. Thanks!
Definitely that as well, but I do think there's at least a part of it that's "earth pony magic is all about the plants, and I don't have any real use for it in the sky beyond reviving dying snacks." Yeah, there's a reason for it, but that just makes dismissing it offhand that much easier.
I'm just glad I don't have to argue how Trenderhoof is tribalist again. Yes, someone actually tried to say that he wasn't enough evidence.
I didn't pick up on Skyla not being the naive filly Twilight thought she was until that point, and looking back on the story, iisaw was laying some really nice clues that her aunt's judgements can't really be trusted. From your commentary, you got it a lot more quickly than I did.
I'm not actually sure that's how it works; the overseer is pretty clearly comfortable about his sadism, and Twilight just says she'd cast the reform spell without worrying about whether he'd be receptive to it -- yeah it has a chance of failure, but there's nothing suggesting that stems from his desires. More likely, the question's about how integral the undesired aspect is to his personality, or how susceptible he is to mind control, or something.
I'm not exactly the most typical when it comes to sex; the "old people sex joke" didn't occur to me because I'm only slightly more disinterested in that than in sex in general, and even the "picturing your relatives having sex" thing doesn't inspire that kneejerk reaction. The fact I was missing that did become (painfully) obvious as soon as Flurry explained herself, but not seeing the context around sex is kind of a common issue for me. See also: how long it took for me to realize the two of them were planning to distract the stallions by being sexy.
Normally I'd agree, but I was sure Twi had a minor existential crisis on learning what the sisters put into them. I really need to reread Enigma.
...I'm guessing you really wouldn't like the end, then. (For anyone who does still want to read it, do not reveal the spoiler.) Littlepip and Blackjack are the only two of either cast left alive a century or two after Sunshine and Rainbows, and have started up a relationship on the basis of shared immortality and lack of mingling with other ponies. Meanwhile, their stories have faded into myth, and new communities and cultures have sprung up. Those are generally better than what we're familiar with in the wasteland, but they're far from the optimistic vision Kkat gave us. As I said, it's both beautiful and heartbreaking, but it also seems to be the perfect distillation of everything you hate about Horizons.
Personally, I never saw Somber as trying to fix FoE, rather just expand upon it much as we expand on MLP. It's definitely not fully compatible with it, but not to the extent it would need an AU tag. I will admit they do have a tendency to go a bit far in painting a scene, but characters, scenewriting, and worldbuilding are some of the things that have the most effect on me liking a story. Somber, in my mind, hits all three.
As much as we disagree, I can at least appreciate why you dislike it. I'd have to argue with you if you were one of the people who rail against it just because it's more sidequest than main quest. It's serial fiction, not a novel; trying to read it as if it were a book will not work out.
Some Doctors would, yeah. Some of the classic series could be even more of a warrior than Tennant (as much as I like him). Others don't see that as any excuse. I can't remember who it was, but I know there was at least one person -- other than Me -- he left almost begging to join him because they had failed to live up to his ideals, and there's definitely been plenty of stories where he's yelled at people who don't go with the diplomatic option. The more likely reason they'd get him on their side (rather than just as an uneasy alliance) is because the Empire is clearly worse.
Oh dear... I was hoping they wouldn't go that far. Welp, all the more catharsis when the Empire is toppled.
Skyla, I love you so much.
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Then again in this series what the Elements did to Luna could be considered a super reform spell that had the side effect of turning her inner darkness into a separate being and sealing said entity inside the Wheel of the Earth.
8456473 Not necessarily, even here, it's not 100% just what NMM might have been, we know what it said it was, but at the same time... do you really believe it? It's just not clear enough on what happened to say for sure.
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From The Luna Cypher, Chapter 19
And a bit further down the chapter:
8456880 Given how big Luna is about taking on as much guilt as she can, hardly conclusive. She'd blame herself and see The nightmare as a part of herself like that, just out of guilt and out of feeling responsible for it existing at all. We still don't have the concrete, solid, direct facts of what went on and how precisely it worked, from a trustable and unbiased source.
Random thought I had earlier but forgot to comment on: if cutie marks exist, where are Celestia and Luna?
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It's transuniversal resonance guiding natural systems to evolve in imitation of a neighboring artificial construct.
Honest.
imminent
You'll regret not getting better details.
arcanotech.
Earthen magic is so neglected.
Yes, I never quite understood the significance of Jesus’ Virgin Birth. I mean, My siblings & I were all virgin births. I know this because I know that if my parents had ever had sex the world would have come to an end & I’m pretty sure that I would have noticed this