//------------------------------// // Chapter 24: Consolidation // Story: The Golden Age of Apocalypse - Book I // by BlueBastard //------------------------------// Golden Age of Apocalypse Chapter 24—Consolidation DAY 150: Sable and his wolves have finally rebelled.  It was simply a matter of time; a rabid animal, once the hydrophobia sets in, will always turn on its master, no matter how intelligent the animal is or how generous the master.  Regardless of whatever loyalties Sable Loam had in the past, they are there no longer and I have had to take measures appropriate to the rebellion. It had started simply enough: one of his mares (I know he has several, given that he now thinks of himself more of an alpha wolf than a stallion), a former soldier by the name of Bluegrass, stood in the town square, demanding that I do something about the Sisters, or that I should surrender my rule to somepony who would.  It didn’t take a miraculous stroke of intellect to infer who she was talking about. It turned out that my recently-promoted major, Sharpspar, disagreed with Bluegrass, and as a result, several seconds later, there were more than a few arrows sticking out of Bluegrass’ head and neck.  Needless to say, this was apparently just enough justification for Sable, who immediately moved against me “in defense of his pack.” With the speed he moved, it was clear that he’d been plotting treason for quite some time and just needed an excuse to openly oppose me. The end result of the battle in the town square came with my forces victorious, though not without cost: though most of his wolves and nearly all of his females—I suppose they were more bitches than mares by that point—were killed, unfortunately, so were a good number of my most reliable senior commanders.  Mars. Emerald Blaze, Col. Glowing Ruby, Majs. Black Onyx and White Marble. It had been a deliberate attempt to decapitate my senior command and unfortunately, it had succeeded, leaving my most senior troops as lieutenants, coronets and ensigns. Upon consultation with Sharpspar, who I have now promoted to marshal; and his assistant, former coronet-now-colonel Topaz Spire, I have reduced the military eligibility age to ten.  Given that my kingdom must have a future, I will allow the foals to finish their education—even peasants need to know how to count, after all—but once they do, into the Army they must go.  Otherwise I risk assault from the remnant of Sable’s forces…or worse, from an Everfree all too willing to pounce on my weakness. All would be a complete loss, if it were not for my beautiful Mangle-leg’s news.  The last preservation spell, the strongest one we have, failed on the corpse of the changeling queen, and there is nothing preventing its decay into carrion now, all those enticing magics lost.  Thankfully, thanks to Mangle’s efforts, that will now not be the case. She has created a concoction, a new alchemical brew she calls Compulsion.  It allows her to create nzambi from anything, dead or alive.  Alive, they would be slaves to my very suggestion.  Dead, they would be unthinking creatures, willing to follow their commands until utterly destroyed. I will keep that latter part under consideration.  I will not have my Empire sullied by the shambling, rotting corpses of those gone…but better that than to have hooves of white and blue set foot on my realm’s cobblestones, my lands!  Still, it is the other part of the equation that has me interested: the part that would bring the living under my hoof. The Rose seems to have a natural Compulsion of her own, and it would be fascinating to see which is stronger: her natural abilities, or Mangle’s artificing. And then Mangle gives me another suggestion, one that fills my heart with glee: in one fell swoop, she can bring the Rose under control, make her a weapon and deal with the corpse of the changeling queen.  She tells me of her plan and it is so bewilderingly complex and arcane even I, with my vaunted education and intellect, cannot keep up, but she assures me it will work. I ask her what reward she requires for her actions—everypony has one, after all.  She in turn tells me that she will do it out of loyalty and gratitude, as I gave her the title she deserved for advancing both magic and science, while the fools of Everfree’s Guild tossed her out because they were pitiful troglodytes. In this lonely world I have, I am glad to have a servant—nay, a friend—like Mangle-leg.  Though a beauty of her own, she pales against the physical beauty of some of my other guests…but for her mind?  I have seen nothing more precious. A high-pitched bellow of steam cried out from the darkness, taking Razz out of the tunnel vision she’d been in after reading yet another ‘riveting’ chapter of that horrible book. Followed by the locomotive roaring out of the mountainside tunnel, belching smoke from its smokestack and the train cars clattering along behind. “Must they sound the whistle when they’re still inside the tunnel?” moaned Lockbox, hooves clamped tightly on her ears. “Or are they so deaf up there that they can’t hear the piercing echo of that damn thing?” “Actually, it’s a safety measure,” said Twilight. “It is possible, though unlikely, for somepony to be at the entrance of the tunnel and not hear the train coming, or see the headlight. So, all engineers are required to signal their approach with a whistle pull or two.” “Can’t they come up with something better? Like, use a magic signal or something?” “Most ponies who work on the railroad are earth ponies,” pointed out Razz, “raw strength and endurance are more important due to the physical demands of working on trains.” “In fact, a good number of military earth ponies, when they’re done with their service, have been hired to work for the railroad as of late,” Divine, who had also come along, stated.  “The railroad company likes the professionalism and sturdiness that former soldiers, sailors or guardsponies provide.” Lockbox looked incredulously at her fellow unicorn. “I’m the blacksmith of Nightshade, a job normally done by earth pony stallions twice my size and mass. Can’t be that hard.” Razz laughed. “I was basically forced into being my father’s indentured servant on the most pathetic farm ever created—I know grueling, physical labor. Not saying your occupation isn’t as tough, Lockbox, but…neither you nor I are exactly ‘regular old unicorns’ are we?” Lockbox shrugged. “Point taken.” Meanwhile, at Canterlot station, a select group of other ponies were waiting for the three horned ponies to arrive. They’d caught a different train directly to Canterlot, while Razz and Twilight had instead gone to Nightshade to pick up Lockbox. Despite her protests of being required to leave her hometown, it had been decided by higher powers—namely Celestia—that after Corner revealed that the Covenant knew where the second Scion was located, Lockbox’s safety was a matter of national concern and so until further notice she was required to hang out with Razz and her friends. “Oh, I can’t wait to meet her!” squeed Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down as usual. “Is she usually this excited to meet ponies?” discretely asked Coco to Rarity. “Well, it’s rare that there’s a pony that any of us meet and she’s the last to make their acquaintance,” answered Rarity. “I just hope she doesn’t overwhelm Lockbox too much.” Rarity internally cringed, as her memory of what Lockbox’s signature dark powers could do—even Pinkie was unlikely to be able to worm her way free of those kinds of restraints. “Wish I was as happy to see her again, since…well, nopony’s told her about me, right?” “What are you…oh.” “Don’t worry, Coco,” said Applejack, “these mares can keep a secret, Ah can personally attest to that.” She then gave a knowing wink to Coco, though the latter had no idea what Applejack was talking about. But if she was hinting to having a dark secret of her own, Coco wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Hey, train’s coming!” shouted Rainbow, gesturing down the tracks as the faintest trace of gray clouds started to appear in the distance. Her prediction was proven right when the whistle sounded off and fifteen minutes later, the Ponyville Crew was reunited again, with one extra guest along for the ride. "Hey, Twilight,” chirped Pinkie, “I know everypony calls us the Mane Six, but that's unfair to Razz and Coco.  Maybe we should call ourselves.... I got it! The EIGHTMAZING EIGHT!" Rainbow facehoofed. “Pinkie, that's a dumb name.  Seriously, would anypony actually use that?" “Anypony?” said Razz with a slight smirk. “No, I don’t think anypony would use it.” Divine caught that.  “Not anypony? I presume that you mean griffins?  I don’t think they tend to be that poetic, though I will admit that my experiences with non-military ones are few and far between.” Razz looked at him, then shook her head.  “Don’t worry about it,” she told him. Pinkie assumed a deep thinking pose, which was impressive given she was still walking. “Well, I’ll have to think on that some more. In the meantime, Coco, why don’t you and Rarity talk about that big dress thing you were talking about on the train up here?” “Oh, so you actually were summoned to Canterlot to help with this big coronation thing?” Lockbox asked Coco. “Well, um, yes, I showed you the letter back in Nightshade, right?” “You probably did, I just forgot since I had…other concerns on my mind at the time. You understand, right?” “Of course!” “So, uh, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, ready to change the subject. “I know we’re all here for Sunset’s Coronation, but…isn’t that a week away?” “It is, but you remember how we all were called upon to help with the wedding for my brother and Cadence?” “Yeah?” “Well, that’s why we’re here!” “I thought Princess Celestia said we wouldn’t need to help out this time?” said Rainbow, with concern in her voice. “I know she did,” replied the lavender alicorn, “but…she’s been acting a bit like, er, not sure how to put this…” “She’s been acting a bit too much like you, then?” asked Razz with a smirk. Twilight sighed dramatically. “I think it’s a bit of overkill.” “You think something involving planning is overkill?” the rest collectively gasped. If Twilight Sparkle, whose OCD tendencies were bordering on legendary, thought something of that nature was overkill, then she was very much doing the right thing in having the cavalry brought in to assist the princess. Divine sighed.  “Well, I wish I could say that I was here for that, but my duties are a little different.” Rarity looked at him.  “You sound vexed, my good sir.  Are you okay?” “Not really,” he admitted.  “It seems my sister has been acting up once more, and I received a request from Auntie last night to come and deal with her.” Twilight looked over at him and sighed in sympathy.  Divine’s younger sister Highfalutin’ was, by all means, a typical noblepony, going so far as to ignore her status as a minor princess in favor of one of her other titles, Duchess, because it gave her more immediate power.  While Twilight had never had direct interaction with Highfalutin’, anypony that even Blueblood complained about was likely to be an individual in dire need of Friendship. Luna sighed deeply, having sent one of the maids off for what felt like the fifth cup of coffee that day—and it wasn’t even past noon yet. "No, Celly, as much as I adore my niece, we cannot build a gold statue of Sunset that's taller than the city." Cadance’s muzzle seemed unable to decide whether to cringe or grimace. "I think I'm going to go back to the Empire and hide under my bed now." Celestia took another look at the plans she’d personally drawn up and shown to her sister and niece. “Maybe you two are right…we’ll need to carve it out of Mt. Canterlot! Do you think Discord would mind assisting us with that?” Luna moved her head over to Cadance and whispered, “I think she’s lost it.” “Lost?  Auntie, I’m not sure she ever had it when it comes to Sunny.”  That elicited a giggle from the dark alicorn. Celestia looked out the window at the mountains, but it wasn't a look that Cadance expected to ever see on her aunt.  She'd seen it on Twilight more than a few times, and she shuddered whenever she did. "Yes, I’m absolutely sure Discord would be happy to do so.  It is grand to know we have a friend to rely on when the realm needs it!" Luna facehoofed.  "She did not just forget...." Cadance decided to go for sanity.  "Please, Auntie, let's just leave this be and figure out how we can reconstitute Auntie Celly's brain before she decides to decorate the top of the palace with the sun itself." Celestia clapped her forehooves together excitedly. “That’s a great idea!   Luna groaned, facehoofing.  “This can’t get any worse, can it?” “You just had to say that, didn’t you?” Cadance groaned. Meanwhile, about several hundred miles south of Canterlot, another train was steaming away to a far destination—Las Pegasus. But this train only had one passenger, aside from them and the ponies driving the train the only other ponies on board were royal guards. In the five car train set, the middle car was a specially made prisoner transport, flanked front and back by a full company of guards to ensure the guest of honor wasn’t inclined to do anything stupid. “So, they’re thinking she’s the one who killed Fungus…whatshisname a year ago?” said one guard to his partner. Normally royal guards were sworn to always be silent when on duty if not relaying orders while in action. But like all enlisted individuals, they tended to be a bit lax when they were not being watched and standing shift for several hours on end got boring. “Tempus Fugit,” replied the other guard. “Yeah, I read the coroner’s report on that one— totally eviscerated him.” He nodded with his head to the highly dangerous pony within. “Don’t know what she had going against a clockmaker with a clean record, but a cover as one of the best pool sharks in the country? Like, did they even say why Corner Shot of all ponies is now the prime suspect for the murder?” “Heard it involved some kind of stealth knife trick she’s got goin’ on—just look at those wings, how she hid them is anypony’s guess but ‘parently the knives they confiscated off of her matched the broken blade of one they got as evidence—pulled it from that pony’s floor while cleaning up the blood as I recall.” “Guess whoever was doing clean up that day was on…the edge of discovery, eh?” The two guards snickered at the bad pun, while as far as they could tell, Corner Shot was still safely locked up tight within the armored cell flanked by guards, sleeping away. What they didn’t know was she’d had to listen to their moronic banter for several hours straight and the only decision she’d had to mull over was which one of them would die first—a choice easily made when the unlucky winner had cracked that awful, awful pun. As silently as she could—the rather boisterous chatter of the guards providing ample background noise for her purposes—Corner had unwound a bobby pin hidden in her fetlocks and with some difficulty freed herself from the shackles. As she lay with her back to the guards—extremely poor planning on their part, the pegasus mused, though very much an advantage to her—they wouldn’t know she was free until they came into the cell, at which point it would be too late for them to stop her. And just in time for lunch. “Alright, you bloodthirsty bitch,” taunted one of the guards, “here’s your mushy oats—be thankful we’re giving you any lunch, if things were done my way you’d be left starving. Murderers like you don’t deserve this kind of hoofservice, frankly.” Corner did not respond, rather she just lay there motionless. “Hey!” called out the guard again, rattling the door to the cell. “You sleepin’ or somethin’? I know you haven’t been fed all day, but I’m not complain’ if you wanna starve yourself!” “Uh, hold on a sec,” said the other guard, worriedly, “what if she’s, y’know…dead?” “Don’t be ridiculous.” “No, seriously, I’ve heard of stories where cult assassins have one of their teeth removed and replaced with a tooth-shaped capsule of iocane. If they get caught, they bite down and break open the false tooth, committing suicide by poison basically.” “Wouldn’t she already have done that back when she got caught?” The second guard shrugged. “Maybe she forgot, only to accidently do herself in now? Only one way to check.” The first guard nickered. “Your funeral, pal, but if you wanna go check, be my guest.” Slowly, the second guard slipped into the cell and cautiously approached the green mare. He was practically right on top of her when he realized the shackles were off. “Oh, sh—” he began, but never got the chance to finish as Corner then sprung to life and in one swift motion wrapped one of the chains around the guard’s neck, making it audibly snap. The other guard now moving in on her sword drawn, she used the dead guard as a shield to block the surviving guard’s attack, then swiftly slit his throat with the first guard’s sword. “Idiots,” she spat, wiping the sword blade with her wings, before promptly going back to the first fallen guard and taking the scabbard for her own, then doing the same with the other guard’s weapon. Only as she did so, she noticed a slip of paper also in the second guard’s belt. Curious, she took it up and read it, a scowl coming across her face. As it turned out, the note was instructions for the guard in handling a charm that had been placed on him, largely to monitor her instead—so long as the now dead guard was in the same railcar as she was, if she tried to escape it would cause the rail car to explode and if she wasn’t immediately killed, it would seriously injure her. Not a deal breaker but it made getting out alive significantly harder, something Corner really was not in the mood for at the moment. The sound of commotion from both ends of the rail car also meant she needed to hurry up and get out of there fast. Fortunately, it looked like this prison car had been rebuilt from an old passenger car, which meant it was mostly all-wood construction, including the floor. With little else in the way of choices, she took both swords and started whacking the hell out of the ground as the guards could now be heard shouting at the doors. “STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!” For fuck’s sake it’s like they all say the exact same canned shit! mentally groaned Corner, who despite feeling weak after not having eaten anything all day had almost carved a large enough hole for her to get through. It would be risky, as she was counting on being able to tuck into the middle of the rails before the back wheel axle of the rail car knocked her lights out for good, but risk got her adrenaline pumping. This is what she lived for. Well, this and a nice game of pool, but since she couldn’t have the latter she’d go for the former. With one last stroke, she’d made the hole wide enough just as the guards finally came piling through. With a sly grin, she taunted; “Well, you guys are gonna do a real bang-up job!” before plunging into the hole. The guards had no idea what she meant until one of the dead guards started to ominously glow… Five miles down the line, the smoke from what had sounded like an explosion could be seen on the horizon. A forest ranger named Woodlands scowled as he watched a fire engine from the local town wail down the road as chances were one of those steam engines had probably exploded into a ball of fire. “Always knew those damn things were ticking time bombs,” he muttered before retreating back into his solitary hut. He really wasn’t into the whole “friendship” ideal and found living by his lonesome far more appealing. Likewise, his job being posted in the middle of nowhere as a forest ranger to retrieve lost ponies in the woods largely supported that lifestyle. There was the one exception; his wife White Tulip, but as she was off visiting relatives it was just him. Five minutes later, there was a knocking at the door, to which he begrudgingly answered. To his surprise, he found a green pegasus mare who looked tired, hungry, and as if she’d just been on the bad side of a dragon. “Uh, hi?” sheepishly asked the mare, “I know you probably have a lot of questions, but if it’s not too much to ask, I really need some help.” “Yeah, sure, come on in,” he replied, opening the door further and stepping aside to let the mare in. As she did so, she gave him a big smile. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked Shining. “Totally,” said Razz, who pulled out several codices from a vault tucked far within the library. The door had been inscribed with DO NOT OPEN BY THE ORDER OF ARCHMAGUS BERYL in big black letters, even though the one who had put those words there was now paying them no heed. “Since I’m in town and I have the only other pony who can safely read Sombra’s bullshit with me, getting through more of this backlog of dark magic crap is something that still needs to be done every chance there is.” “Well, why not see if Sunset could help whenever she has some free time?” Razz focused a deadpan stare on the prince consort, prompting him to amend his suggestion. “I mean, in all fairness this is precisely the kind of stuff that by looking into, she got onto Princess Celestia’s bad side, and—” “And it ended up making her body into real estate for a raging, power hungry demoness,” finished Razz, having gone back to selectively pulling materials from the private vault. “I get what you’re saying, Shining, but even with her having defeated something of a truly evil magical nature and ascending to become an alicorn in the process, the last thing she needs to be working with is the most corruptive dark magic ever created...that is, unless you want Nightmare Moon, Part II.”  The sudden look on the stallion’s face indicated that no, he hadn’t thought of that. “Furthermore,” she continued, “I absolutely refuse to run the risk of letting more of Sombra’s writings bleed into the human world—after Chernabog’s short-lived return to the physical plane—” “Chenrawha?” asked Shining, confused. “Chernabog,” Razz repeated, her tone dark as she recalled the monster that Sunset had faced. “Basically the human world’s version of the Nightmare Force, more or less. Obviously bringing that kind of pure evil into any world is bad news, but it happened because that idiot Di…” Razz caught herself and quickly evaded accidently incriminating the pony version of the human madman, “...er, Dimwit Wrong—" “Was his name seriously ‘Dimwit Wrong’ of all things?” “No, but after the crap he tried to pull I’m not giving him the respect to use his proper name,” she replied, adding in her thoughts especially since he doesn’t deserve it compared to the Divine Right of this world. She then proceeded to give Shining an abridged version of what she went through in the human world. “Hey, that does remind me about something I wanted to ask you about, being that you were in the human world for longer than anypony…well, longer than anypony who still lives on this side of the mirror.” Razz sighed—after she’d made the mistake of mentioning her own minor little adventures in the human world following Sunset’s little death and resurrection show, Twilight Sparkle had practically cornered her and assailed her with questions that, presumably, she’d not yet had the chance to ask Sunset about. Or, more realistically, she couldn’t ask Sunset about since the transplanted pony's thoughts were definitely not of the norm; if anything they were less equine and more primate in nature. “Chances are, what you’re gonna ask probably already crossed your little sister’s mind earlier, but go ahead.” “Well, what can you tell me about their armies?” “W-wha?” stammered Razz, feigning a cough caused by dust. Twilight most certainly had not asked about that topic, though likely because she’d been there for a few days and had come across something. “I’ve always been big about military issues and the like,” said Shining, misinterpreting Razz’s reaction as a prompt for him to explain. “Obviously, being the head of the EUP probably indicates that, but when it comes to how armies exist here on our world, they’re largely the same kind of soldiers and tactics, the only variation being the specialized infantry playing  to whatever race’s strengths are on the battlefield. But humans? They’re nothing like ponies or any other sentient species on Equus. Which means they probably fight wars very differently, and while I’d like to assume they’re also naturally peaceful, they’d need to keep an active force for peacekeeping right?” Razz was not sure how to respond—she was certain he’d gotten the idea about how humanity differed in their armies from meeting the triplets, but given that he’d never seen them in action, that meant his information was still lacking. “I would suggest you talk to Adagio and her sisters once they return,” Razz said delicately, “as they’re far more qualified to talk about that than I am.” “That’s a good idea,” Shining agreed, “but surely you had to have seen something of their skills, right?” Luckily, but as would prove unfortunate, a courtier saved Razz from answering by skidding to a halt in front of the two unicorns. “Your highness, your grace, both your presences have been requested by Princess Luna.” “Oh, what’s the problem?” Shining asked. The messenger gulped. “We just received word that a highly dangerous prisoner being moved to Las Pegasus has broken free!” Razz’s heart sank. Corner Shot is loose? But…how?! Once he arrived at his ancestral home, Divine wasted no time in looking at the statue garden and the central sculpture in the center of it: supposedly that of the Megan, the mythical human that had been so central to ponydom’s early years.  He had no idea if she’d been real or not. Many noble families had claimed to descend from the Megan, whereas his family had never done so, instead just honoring her bravery and dedication to ponies, whether she’d been real or not. Every time he saw her, he always wondered what it would be like if he were human.  However, as always, he brushed it aside; if there was one thing he’d learned well from his studies, it was that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.  He’d seen the recalcitrant behavior of so many of his relatives his age and it galled him; he always feared that if by some miracle he had the chance to become human, he wouldn’t know what to do with such power.  After all, the Megan had been born human and with the limitless talents that portended...but no one knew if she was real or not, and the closest comparisons were alicorns, which Divine knew were just as capable of fallacy as the average pony. “I thought I’d find you here,” an older voice behind him stated.  He turned around to see an older stallion standing there, adjusting his glasses.  The aged pegasus bowed, flaring out his wings in a sign of respect. “Your highness,” he said deeply. “Saddleworth, you know you need never bow to me,” Divine told him. The stallion chuckled.  “As always, young master Divine, you show yourself to live up to your name.  You are a credit to your family, and an honor to your parents, may they rest forever in the Great Pasture.”  He sighed. “Would it that I could say the same of your sister.” “Yes, I heard,” Divine said with some distaste.  “Is she home?” “She should be in the drawing room, sir,” Saddleworth told him, “though as always, she is being….”  He searched for the words. “A harridelle?” Divine offered. “I was going to say, ‘difficult’, Master Divine,” Saddleworth told him. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with her.” As promised, he found her in the drawing room.  She was seated at one of her easels, painting. It had been one of her hobbies and back when they were foals, she had once expressed a desire that her cutie mark would let her do that.  Of course, it did not, and her life had been markedly different ever since. “Hello, Hi,” he said as he came in. She didn’t even look at him.  “Hello, brother,” she spoke. “Have you found your way under the tail of your little discount alicorn yet?” His eyes narrowed.  “My lady deserves a better commentary than that,” he told his sister.  “She is one of the ruling alicorns––” She finally turned to look at him, her sea-green eyes gazing into his golden ones.  “What, no more ‘I wuv Twi-Twi and wanna mawwy her!’? Did you finally come to your senses and realize that pretty prissy little Pollyanna simply won’t do as a method of bringing our family back to its rightful position?” “You are on the verge of being treasonous, sister,” he warned her. “And you’re never going to get out from under her tail, are you?” He took a deep breath, then looked back at her, not bothering to wipe the scowl from his face.  “My feelings for Twilight have nothing to do with why I am here.” “Then why are you here?” she said with a cruel smile.  “Unless...you actually plan to accept that proposal I suggested two months ago?  Baron Upstanding’s daughter is available and it would be a good match for you, even if she is a bit...plain,” she told him.  “Besides, I’m sure she has a maid or two that could keep you busy in the meanwhile.” “No thanks; I am not here to further your aims.”  He looked at her and said tersely, “I have just come from meeting with the new princess-to-be, Baroness Sunset Shimmer.” “Another discount alicorn, I see,” she yawned, turning back to her painting.  “Well, if nothing else, I will say your taste in tails seems to aim in the right direction, even if for the wrong reasons.” “Power is never a reason for marriage.” “Wrong—power is the only reason for marriage,” she barked back.  “Look at our cousin Blueblood. Now he knows how to play the game correctly.  The only reason he hasn’t kicked that little musician foreleg candy of his to the gutter is because he probably has yet to find a worthy match.”  She pursed her lips. “A shame we’re related; I could almost see myself—” “Please; I had breakfast on the train and do not want to be ill from your sick mentality,” he told her.  “Anyway, I know you will try something while Princess Sunset is investured.  And I know you will try to directly challenge her authority. My suggestion to you is simple: don’t.  I have met her in person and she makes Twilight look timid in comparison.” She laughed.  “Anypony could make that walking library look good in comparison.” “And yet she’s vanquished foes that make you wet your bed at night.”  He turned to depart. “Anyway, I said my piece, Hi. I hope for your sake you come to your senses someday.” “And I hope you decide to crawl out from Twilight’s vagina someday, you fool,” she hissed at him as he departed.