The Rift
Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 35: The Rift
“Are you sure you should be going this hard, Rainbow?” Scarlet asked. “You still look pretty wobbly to me.”
“Yes, I’m sure,” Rainbow said in exasperation. First, there was that weird incident with the sniper pegasus who shot her flank, now Scarlet was fussing over her as if she might drop dead any moment!
To be fair, she did come down with a fever, just like that sniper said. They had to stop early so she could conserve her strength. She attributed her quick recovery mostly to sheer willpower, and overall awesomeness, but she was willing to concede that the disgusting boiled leaf juice the sniper made her drink might have helped. She was still a bit weak, but she wasn't going to lie around and let Scarlet “nurse” her even if she was reduced to a slow hover. That Scarlet had not taken advantage of this to fly after Hassyth was a relief. Rainbow hated the thought of being some kind of damsel in distress he was watching over, and consoled herself with the notion that she was doing more in keeping him alive than the other way around.
“I’m going to fly up, and check things out,” Scarlet said. Rainbow didn't get a word in before he was already past the trees.
With Scarlet out of sight, Rainbow’s thoughts went to the other pony looking out for her. She had read the Legion's notes: Longstride, pegasus sniper, agent of Black Rose. She had to admit that she was expecting an elite officer of Black Rose to look more ominous: huge muscles, scary black armor with lots of spikes, a skull-shaped helm, a giant barbed sword. Longstride wore a simple set of mottled, gray leather barding. He had a woodland brown coat, and a long, disheveled mane of dark green that looked like he had a canopy of messy leaves for hair. He was tall and lean, haggard even. Up to that part, he just looked like somepony who spent too much time in the woods.
Then, there were the strange parts. His eyes looked as if somepony had stuck a pair of gold coins where his irises should be. She could have sworn there was even writing on them. And his bow…that thing was as tall as he was while standing on his hind legs. Its graceful curve was reminiscent of a stag’s antlers. It looked like fine polished wood, she could see the whorls on it. Like his eyes, it was also covered with weird symbols.
Rainbow didn't know what to make of Longstride. He shot her, and let her get captured. The dull ache in her cutie mark was a constant reminder that he was the enemy. Yet, he also saved her from that brutish pony slave, and made her medicine. What did he want? What did Black Rose want? He might be keeping a close watch on her. Did he have an arrow aimed at her this very second? Did he watch her sleep last night? She shook her head. She shouldn't focus on that thought, or she’d never be able to sleep again.
Rainbow gave a cry of surprise when Scarlet suddenly burst through the canopy, and landed just a foot away. “What was that for?” she asked. “Are you trying to startle me to death?”
“I spotted them!” Scarlet said. “The Captain, and the rest of Third Squad! They’re a bit far, but I saw them!”
Rainbow let some of Scarlet’s enthusiasm infect her. “Great! Did you call out to them?”
The broad grin on Scarlet’s face disappeared. “Uh…no,” he said.
The joy of the moment dissipated. “Why not?” Rainbow asked.
Scarlet’s lips twisted in silence for a while. “Dunno…” he muttered. “We’ll run into them if we keep going in this direction. Let’s just wait until then, alright?”
Rainbow didn't argue. She wanted to fly up to see for herself, but that would take even more of her flagging strength. She concentrated on just moving forward. Vanguard, Twilight, and Applejack, had come after her. They must have been chasing her the moment she flew after Scarlet. It was just a short trip now, then she could collapse and rest. Curiously, her friends' presence renewed her strength, but sapped Scarlet’s.
“Listen,” Rainbow said. She tried to sound annoyed that he was fretting over nothing. “Vanguard’s not going to kill you.”
Scarlet didn't reply. Earlier, he had a great deal of trouble staying near her, flying ahead and up from time to time just to get the restlessness out of his wings. Now, her speed suited him just fine.
“You’re his friend!” Rainbow insisted. “And you’re the last of his old squad!”
“The Captain’s a stickler for rules,” Scarlet said. “He had no problem getting himself hanged. Why would he have a problem with me?”
“If he was such a stickler, we’d have never met,” Rainbow snapped. “Vanguard’s going to do the right thing, and the right thing is not killing your friends!”
A small smile eventually forced itself on Scarlet. “I hope you’re right,” he said. “I kind of like being alive.”
Rainbow let out a sigh. It wasn't much, but at least it was something. To her dismay, silence continued to fill the rest of their trip. She studied their surroundings to ease the monotony. She’d flown a long way south before, whenever Winter Wrap-Up came around, but she’d never actually taken time to look around at ground level. The green all around them was still undisturbed by winter, and unbroken by any large landmark. Everywhere she looked there was something growing, something crawling, or flying, or climbing. She and Scarlet may not be saying anything, but everything else was making a sound. Fluttershy would have been able to pick out every call or buzz coming from their surroundings, but it was all one continuous drone to Rainbow.
Then, there was a sound that Rainbow did pick out.
“This way! The resonance is getting stronger!”
That triumphant cry was unmistakably Twilight’s. For a moment, Rainbow forgot that she was tired and weak. She burst through the thick foliage, dodging trees, and swatting away vines. Scarlet was right behind her. “Twilight!” she shouted. “Applejack! Vanguard!”
“Good work, Twilight,” Vanguard said.
“Rainbow!” Applejack called out. She choked before yelling again. “You crazy filly! You’re in for a lot of trouble! I oughta--”
There was no time to say anything else. Rainbow crashed into Applejack. The two of them fell into a tangled ball of laughter, and relief. “How’d you know I was close?” Rainbow asked.
Twilight lifted several strands of brightly colored hair with her magic. “Tracking spell,” she said. “I’m still trying to improve its range, but it did the job for now.”
Rainbow hadn't noticed how much time had passed while she was basking in relief, but reality eventually had to seep back, and it did so using the growling tone of Vanguard.
“Scarlet,” Vanguard said.
“Yeah, Captain?”
Rainbow broke free of her friends to see what was going on. The way Vanguard stood in front of Scarlet didn't say anything about friends reuniting.
“What were the two of you doing out in some isolated spot where you could get captured without anypony noticing?” Vanguard asked.
“We uh…” Scarlet’s gaze shifted for a bit. “We were looking for a spot to race,” he said.
“You tried to race her against my orders.” Vanguard thrust one end of his weapon into the damp forest floor. “I made it perfectly clear, didn't I? If you race Rainbow, and she gets hurt…”
“I know, Captain,” Scarlet said.
Vanguard removed the sheaths from his two-bladed sword. “You are about to be executed,” he said. “If you have anything to say, do so now.”
“Yeah…sorry for the trouble, Captain.”
Vanguard bit into the grip, and raised his weapon.
“Wait!” In a heartbeat, Rainbow was standing between Vanguard and Scarlet, her forelegs raised to block the killing strike. “What are you doing?” she asked.
“What I said I would do.” Vanguard set the weapon down. “Out of the way, Rainbow. This is between me and Scarlet.”
“Hold on now, Vanguard,” Applejack said. “I don’t see why you have to kill Scarlet. I know he’s trouble but--”
“What happened with Overcast was his last chance,” Vanguard said. “I was the first one to speak up for him. I took the chance because I thought that he was still a good pony despite his issues. This was the last straw.”
“That blade better be sharp,” Rainbow said. She swallowed nervously, but her eyes were hard. “It’s going through me first.”
Vanguard pawed the ground with one hoof. The sound of heavy tramplers against earth was unmistakable. “Or I could knock you out, then get things over."
Rainbow pressed her lips together. He was right. She was tired and weak, unable to fly out of the way from an attack. She looked to her friends. Twilight had always been the one who could talk to Vanguard. “Twilight, say something here!” she said.
“He did put you in danger,” Twilight said. Not a trace of sympathy showed in her tone. “Vanguard told me everything along the way. You’re the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. Equestria needs the Elements of Harmony complete. If that ophidite had succeeded--”
“But she didn't!” Rainbow protested.
“And if he does something like this again?” Twilight asked. “He’s already shown that he’ll even go against Vanguard.” Her voice lowered. "Protect Equestria. No matter the cost."
“No, he won’t,” Rainbow said. She glanced at Applejack, and quailed at the sight. Applejack was glaring at Twilight. She ignored them, and focused on the situation. Her voice softened. “I’m done racing him. I don’t need to know if I can really beat him or not. I swear this won’t happen again.”
Applejack took her eyes off Twilight. “Vanguard, don’t do this,” she said. She walked closer, and placed a hoof over Vanguard's shoulder. “You’ll hurt yourself a heck of a lot more than this’ll help anypony.”
Vanguard took another step. Rainbow shut her eyes, and waited for the cold, hard feel of a trampler to the face. “Let’s head back,” he said. Rainbow's eyes fluttered open. She heard the words, but it was only when Vanguard started to walk away did she really believe that he said them. She looked to her other friends. Applejack shared in Rainbow's relief. Twilight merely looked resigned. “Vanguard--” Rainbow said.
“The two of you will be disciplined for this,” Vanguard said. “But I’ll trust you, Rainbow. Maybe you can keep him out of trouble better than I can.”
“I will,” Rainbow said. She grinned at Scarlet. He was still staring slack-jawed at Vanguard.
“I said let’s go,” Vanguard called after them.
Rainbow was about to follow suit when her gaze fixed on Twilight and Applejack.
All her life, Rainbow had never considered herself empathetic. She spoke her mind when she wanted to, and however she wanted to. It was harsh sometimes, but she expected everypony to do the same. Still, she saw the way her two friends walked next to each other, and understood something without anypony saying anything. Something was standing between these two; something big and imposing. She didn't feel the least bit scared when she rammed that wall of blackness that Nightmare Moon conjured up, but this thing frightened her.
Luna hurried to the Chamber of Elements. The morning after that incident with Pinkie, Terrato had called for a meeting. She had hoped for several things with that gesture of his. First, that he would explain where had been for the past several days. Second, this would signal a greater willingness to share information. Of course, those hopes came with worries. This was likely troubling news. Even before the division, Terrato wasn't the sort to call his sisters over because he found an unusual flower, or because he wanted to share a cake he just baked.
“Terrato, what has happened to Rainbow?” Celestia was asking when Luna had stepped in.
“Special Operations First Squad has already turned in a report,” Terrato replied. “Rainbow was kidnapped by an ophidite slaver, but she has been rescued. Unfortunately, she decided to fly off somewhere, and Third Squad pursued. So, she’s not in as much danger as before, but she’s probably still in danger until she gets back here.”
“What about the ophidite, big brother?” Luna asked.
“The vipren is in the dungeons. We can talk about her later. There are more pressing matters.”
“We’re listening then,” Celestia said. Luna nodded as well.
“We have to prepare for Gravitas’s imminent arrival.” Terrato said.
“Imminent?” Celestia asked indignantly. “Even without Lexarius or me to oppose him, he doesn't have that kind of influence over the Council of Elders!”
“Certainly not enough to convince the majority to destroy Equestria,” Terrato replied. “But enough to convince them to let him secure things like restoring your power, and making sure that the Foul Weapon is untouched? I think he does.”
“Big brother, how would he know that the Foul Weapon is involved?” Luna asked.
“Magnus,” Terrato said. “Oh, don’t bother being shocked,” he added when both sisters’ eyes widened. “He’s not obligated to hide any information he picks up. Gravitas could have just trotted over to the Great Library, and asked if anything interesting had happened. Magnus would have said everything.”
“Perhaps, but how can you be so sure of Gravitas’s movements?” Celestia asked. The lines around her jaw showed. Luna had never met Gravitas before. She didn't know what kind of pony could elicit this sort of reaction from her sister. More than ever, she didn't want to change that.
“That leads me to some other things you two must know,” Terrato replied.
Luna tensed. There were a lot of things that she wanted to know that her brother wasn't exactly forthcoming with. The royal nephews and nieces, save for Blueblood, were busy trying to keep her and Celestia abreast of all the changes happening in Equestria. Despite his word, Luna was hard-pressed to rely on her brother’s legionnaires, especially his Special Operations ponies.
“Gravitas has been more involved with Equestria than we had believed,” Terrato said. He stopped at that point, and Celestia’s eyes narrowed at his silence.
Luna looked to Terrato worriedly. If he closed himself off now, they were in deep danger. It would be no exaggeration to say that Equestria might fall if he shut down now. As the seconds passed, sweat ran down her brow despite the cool air in the chamber. She only relaxed when it seemed that Terrato was merely bracing himself.
“I have to talk about Black Rose’s plans.”
Terrato’s words cast a deep shroud of solemnity around the Chamber of Elements. Luna listened intently, as did Celestia as Terrato explained what he had been doing for the past few days.
Celestia stomped a hoof after Terrato finished, her face contorted by anger. “Fiend!” She snorted. “He would assassinate me, and use it to justify destroying everything I've tried to protect? How can he go so far?”
It didn't surprise Luna that Celestia couldn't stop focusing on Gravitas. The extent of Black Rose’s plans, and how much of it was willingly revealed to Terrato left her confused. Black Rose made it seem as if she only wanted to help Equestria, but how much of what she said could they trust? And her methods...Luna couldn't accept them. She refused to accept them and she was glad that Terrato was on the same page. “Can’t we just let the rest of the Eternal Herd know about what Gravitas has been doing?” she asked.
“We could certainly try,” Terrato said. “Except that it’s well known that we oppose Gravitas to begin with so a story that discredits him would be a little suspicious. Besides, we have nothing to offer as proof save the words of a mortal who stole Celestia’s power.”
“Mother would believe us,” Celestia said.
“Any idea on how to contact her?” Terrato asked. “Applejack met some success, maybe we can ask her to deliver a message.”
Celestia glared at Terrato. “I don’t know. Even if we had a way, if mother had any intentions of halting Gravitas, she should have acted by now. It falls to us to protect Equestria from him.”
“Gravitas won't have a lot of free rein even if he gets the authority to come here,” Terrato said. “We can anticipate two points. The first is the Blasphemous Rift.” He looked to Celestia. “If Chrysalis and her changelings make so much as a peep of a protest, he’ll be happy to wipe them out.”
“I've made a great deal of progress with them,” Celestia said. “I will make sure that they survive this.”
“The other point will be Regia Carnifex, am I correct?” Luna asked.
Terrato nodded. “He’ll demand custody over such a high-ranking member of Oceanus’s rebellion. He’ll probably want to destroy Regia Carnifex as well.”
“I don’t see why we can’t give him over,” Luna said. “If Black Rose needs him to open the seals to the Rift, she’ll find it difficult to get to him with Gravitas in the way. If he is destroyed, she’ll have to find another way to get to the Foul Weapon.”
“I do not like the idea of letting Gravitas have anything,” Celestia said. “Even some small compliance on our part may be enough to grant him a foothold in Equestria. As for just slaying Regia Carnifex, that would be too risky. If he is slain, his power might radiate from him. The Foul Weapon could resonate, breaking its seals anyway. There is also one more thing that I've been considering about Regia Carnifex. For that reason, I don't want him to be simply destroyed.”
“Big sister, we can’t just oppose Gravitas for the sake of opposing him,” Luna said. “If he does come here, it will be with some authority from the Council of Elders. Antagonizing them may not be so wise.”
“True,” Terrato said. “We can’t afford having them not help us even more.” He raised a hoof. “No, little sister, I see your point. That being said, I don’t plan on just handing Regia Carnifex over.” He looked to Celestia. “You must have noticed it as well.”
“What do you the two of you mean?” Luna asked. “What are we going to do with him?”
“Think about why Regia Carnifex didn't end up where Oceanus and the rest of his rebels went,” Terrato said. “Or why Nightmare Moon never tried to free him.”
“It is also true that we've never encountered Starswirl the Bearded even though Clover the Clever’s hold on him should have expired while we were still in the Eternal Herd,” Celestia added. “A pony of such power would have been known easily. That he would recognize the alicorn that his apprentice found is something to consider as well.”
Luna's eyes widened. “Starswirl the Bearded was against the spread of Oceanus’s power. Now you’re saying that he’s actually--”
“We can’t be sure yet,” Celestia said. “But we have to wake him to find out.” She looked to Terrato. “That was what you were going to propose, wasn't it?”
“I know that there is some risk involved,” Terrato said. “But--“
“I will agree to this,” Celestia said.
“Big sister!” Luna exclaimed. “Perhaps, you’re being a bit rash!”
Celestia shook her head. “A great deal of preparations must be made,” she said. “The two of you will have much to do. We must only weaken his bonds to make sure he does not break loose in case we’re wrong. If we wake him before his proper time, he will not be at his full strength, and he can be resealed with the proper spells.”
“Having the Elements of Harmony on standby would be helpful,” Terrato said. “I also don't think Gravitas will like finding out that we've been tinkering with Carnifex's seal." His smiled widened a bit.
"A pity," Celestia said dryly.
"And what do we stand to gain from all this?” Luna asked.
“We get to find out just what the Foul Weapon is,” Terrato said. “If necessary, how we can retrieve it for ourselves, and how to counter it should it fall into the wrong hooves. We might even get ourselves an ally.”
“Using it is out of the question,” Celestia said. "But we stand to gain a lot otherwise. There is still the matter of Black Rose."
“Black Rose’s time is limited,” Terrato said. “If we stay vigilant, and keep her from acquiring the Foul Weapon, the power of sunlight will consume her, and make its way back.” His tone darkened. "Of course, she's going to make her move before then. We just have to be ready."
“Well, it looks like we have a plan,” Luna said. She wasn't sure about the strategy for Black Rose. She had the feeling there were still a few details that Terrato didn't share. Nevertheless, she watched her two siblings with some admiration. This looked like progress. She dearly wanted to believe that this was progress.
Celestia tapped the floor with a front hoof. “Let’s go then. There is much to do.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.038 seconds
Total duration
1,030 users online
1,376,674 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Looks like Vanguard never goes back on a vow, wonder what the punishment for those two will be...
and oh boy, Twilight's really going down the slippery slope, though I don't think she's jumped off it...yet, I'm waiting on a We Used to Be Friends moment with her and Applejack soon (or not)
when has tampering with the cell which contains the rouge super-weapon wielding god EVER BEEN A GOOD IDEA? This just looks like a disaster waiting to happen... (and then it turns out to actually be good)
there is a big event about to happen and screw everythinbg up, am I right
This conflict between Twilight and Applejack is getting tiring, to say nothing of how Twilight's changed for the worse (thinking Scarlet ought to be killed, by his own friend? her element (magic aka friendship) is definitely not in tune with her). I really wish it would just resolve already so I don't have to read about it anymore.
Shits about to get real, you know what's next.....a Spike Chapter
1746228 those only come around every 10 chapters (1, 10, 20, 30, 40 etc.) so sadly we still have three more chapters until Spike
I agree with Cedric.
While it's great to see some progress between Celly and Terry, I can't wait for the triangle to be resolved(hopefully in a peaceful way).
1746228 Holyfuck, I totally forgot he even existed!
Not sure why, but I do hope he has a moustache!
Can we get an update of current events around the barrier lands? Seems too quiet. Maybe just a brief overview, i.e.: Fenrar's whereabouts ect...
I had no idea this story was on fimfiction! This will make keeping up with it that much easier.
Now that was a fine reunion that was a long time in coming.
Oh god yes, the possibility that we could get Starswirl the Bearded in this story, and as a member of the Eternal Herd to boot.
That would be so awesome that I can only assume that something is going to go terribly wrong.
"All her life, Rainbow Dash had never considered herself emphatic."
I'm pretty sure that you meant "empathic" there.
C'est super!
That is much funnier than it should be.
"Celestia, Luna, I made cake. Eat it and enjoy it."
Just to be clear, are they planning on awakening Regia Carnifex, or Star Swirl the bearded?
Isn't that supposed to be "didn't"?
Was it also roughly Vanguard shaped?
There should be a comma after success.
Yes, more on the Eternal Herd! I love that part of your story.
awesome chapter as always!
i just today started thinking what twilight's test will be, i mean; she's the element of magic, badass moment inc? of course; she has to solve her problem with AJ before she can be tested, she also has to solve that particular issue before they can play with star swirl...
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/23927058.jpg
I'm hoping that Rainbow can force Twilight and Applejack to stop being such stubborn blowhards and actually address their ideological/love triangle issues with each other before somebody gets hurt or the Elements have to do something important, like, y'know, hold back an ancient evil...
1747154 the Royal Siblings (Celestia, Terrato, and Luna) will be weakening the bonds on Regia Carnifex to partially free him in order to talk to him, the reason why Star Swirl the bearded was brought up is because he might be associated with Regia Carnifex somehow...(and on that note, why can't anything in this story which isn't grimdark/conspiracy free stay that way? (not that I'm complaining, mind you))
1747087
Celestia & Luna: What flavor is it?
Terrato: Cake flavor!
Twilight, Twilight, Twilight... you're going down a dark dark path. One that I'm looking forward to getting slapped outa ya! "No matter the cost"? ...waaaait a moment...
she seems to be turning into Black Rose! 
After all isn't that what Black Rose is all about? Protect Equestria... no matter the cost? ...SOMEONE BITCH SLAP TWI! ...as long as it's not Applejack... that would just make things go BOOOOM! 
Also I hope our 3 alicrons aren't hoping to use the Elements of Harmony anytime soon... seeing as how they're not in sync with each other and whatnot... and they seem to just be getting worse and worse...
1746170 While I wouldn't say "tiering" I would say it's kinda painful and it makes me want to sit the two of them down and den slap some sense into them. And as for Twi... is it just me or does she seem to becoming Celestia's Black Rose. She's already been compared to Black Rose a lot but one of the major differences (at least to me) was that Black Rose had kinda become the enemy of Equestria even though her goals are to protect it... you know... "Protect Equestira. No matter the cost." You know... Twi's words...
1745877 ...I'm... actually I'm kinda beginning to wonder if that disaster we see brewing is Twi going to Black Rose... after all... "Protect Equestira, no matter the cost" is kinda what Black Rose is... the ends justifies the means... no matter the means.
1749309 I doubt Twilight would join the pony who stole her teacher's power, plus Black Rose doesn't want to break up the Elements of Harmony just make them stronger, so one of them joining her wouldn't be good, but you never know, plus I'm pretty sure Pyre Valor had more of a "Protect Equestira, no matter the cost" motif going on then BR, plus Twilight doesn't know about BR's plans, that knowledge is only among the BR herself, the Royal Siblings, and partially the Thorns, so I'm pretty sure Twilight just considers BR a traitor who stole Celestia's power
what I'm considering is the possibility that Black Rose might be the voice of Pyre Valor in Twilight's head, because remember back in chapter 24: "Twilight Sparkle was going to need her personal touch. She owed the purple unicorn that much. Applejack was also going to need another nudge." and this definitely seems like BR's test for Twilight, and so far she's failing most likely
“I made it perfectly clear didn’t I?
“Terrato what has happened to Rainbow Dash?”
“I made it perfectly clear, didn’t I?
“Terrato, what has happened to Rainbow Dash?”
Commascommascommascommascommas.
Purple Pyre, indeed.
I'm waiting on more info about the element powers.
1750182 Quiet possibly... of course with Twi I still can't but help to see the similarities between the two of them. The Celestia thing is what I think would stop Twi from joining BR... of course if they two of them run into each other and chat I could see Twi throwing accusations at BR for stealing Celestia's power with BR herself saying "Protect Equestria, no matter the cost" and while BR is... kinda out there and we don't know a lot about her I do think she's doing what she thinks is best for Equestira and protecting it. No matter the cost to herself or others.
1751835 I'm not really sure Black Rose follows the 'no matter the cost' type of philosophy, she could've easily killed Celestia, but let her live. Maybe my view on BR is clouded by the fact that I consider her a Magnificent Bastard (I swear Visiden just copied the page into her character sheet), she is willing to do what she thinks 'needs' to be done, but she'll at least try to do it in the 'best' way, while for instance Pyre Valor was perfectly okay with the Wolven overrunning much of the northern barrier lands and hundreds of ponies dying to get the barrier to come down. maybe it's just a difference of scope/scale
but that's not to say she wouldn't pull that act to gain...something from Twilight, though we all know her drive is her love for Terrato and of course protecting Equestria
1752266 I don't know... I don't think her letting Celestia is an argument against BR not being "at any cost" after all I don't think killing Tia would have furthered BR's goals and so she let Tia live... but had she thought it would benefit Equestria she'd do it in a heart beat. After all she DID gather all those Celestia supporters together, used them, and then killed them to tie up her lose ends... well except for one of them, whom she was planning on using latter... and you know I think you're right she DOES sound like a "Magnificent Bastard." Heck the whole thing about goals sounds like her.
BR has a goal and she's willing to do whatever it takes to get it done... but she's not pointlessly cruel either. She's just crossing lines that many think should never be crossed.
Twilight, whatever happened to the magic of friendship? Protect Equestria, no matter the cost... not even friendship? Your own element? Did the Element of Magic chose wrong? Are you actually that weak-willed? Stop following what others tell you and follow your heart dang it! That is what saved Equestria from countless dangers after all.
Omg, I love you
Finally Celesia and Terrato started to work together. Now things look much better.
Also Twi is getting daker and darker in each chapter, I'm curious how it'll end between her an AJ.
twilight's turning into one cold motherfucker.....i predict some strong conflict between her and AJ before this stories up
and i mean stronger than what we've already seen
1753957
You know...it seems like the theme of Twilight's dedication (to friendship, to family, to Equestria...) leading her to the wrong path (I'm definitely generalizing; I know that) seems to be common concern for writers. "Breaking Twilight" (Mature) is an excellent example of a writer's interpretation of how far Twilight will go. I will admit the idea of how far Twilight's dedication will go allows for greater character development of Twilight, and it is awesome to watch Twilight go through this stage because it shows how much strain friendship can go before it collapses due to the misguided or extreme desires/beliefs that Twilight has.
All her life, Rainbow Dash had never considered herself emphatic. She spoke her mind when she wanted to and however she wanted to. It was harsh sometimes, but she expected everypony to do the same.
You probably meant 'empathic'. Funny how rearranging a few letters virtually reversed the meaning of the word in this context.
I have a strong feeling that the elements themselves are the weapon which they seek
...and Black Rose knows it.
So.. After all, he IS the breaker. This was another mind blowing moment for me.. There were some others, should find them in the remnants of my brain on my ceiling. Best story that I read since a couple years.