15. The parade
Wings of Tomorrow
Lament of the World
15. The parade
There were many times when Fluttershy had felt incredibly nervous, but never before had it been as bad as now. Her heart was beating so fast and so loud that she was sure everypony around her could hear it. She was sweating profusely, and at times even found it difficult to breathe. She was so tensed she couldn’t move a single muscle even if she wanted to. All she could do was keep her eyes focused on the street down below and wait for the parade to pass before her. It wouldn’t be too much longer now.
Fluttershy was sitting between Rarity and Twilight, in the grandstand that had been built on the grand plaza of Canterlot. It was a great and elaborate construction, with many rows of very luxurious seats. There was even a roof above their heads, despite the fact that there was no rain scheduled for tonight. The grandstand was draped with tapestries bearing the mark and symbol of the Republic and the Nobles’ Court, and it was a place meant clearly for the elite of Canterlot only. Fluttershy and Twilight definitely felt out of place, sitting between all the nobles and other members of Canterlot’s upper class. That they, as common ponies, had even managed to get a seat here was solely due to Rarity’s status and connections.
Rarity had arranged for the seats to make sure that Fluttershy would be able to see everything. Any normal pony would have found such an arrangement a great honour, but none of the three friends could experience it as such. None of them truly wanted to be here, but Fluttershy still felt that she had to witness this event, even if it would only end up hurting her badly. Rarity had accepted the fact that there would be no escape this year, and carried it with as much dignity as she could muster. Twilight, however, didn’t even bother to hide her disdain or the scowl on her face. It was a small blessing then that their seats on the very last row, where nopony would pay attention to them or their facial expressions. For indeed, wearing a scowl or expressing disdain on such a ‘glorious’ night would be quite suspicious.
“How are you holding up, Fluttershy, my dear?” Rarity whispered softly, with a voice full of worry. She turned her head to look at the shaking pegasus next to her, and placed one of her hooves on Fluttershy’s. “We can still leave if you want to.”
Fluttershy took a deep breath and finally managed to move. She turned her head towards Rarity and succeeded in forming a shaky smile. “I… I’m fine…” she said quietly. “I… I just didn’t expect there to be so many ponies…” She made a weak gesture at the plaza to emphasise her point. There had to be at least a hundred thousand ponies gathered around, if not more. All of them had come to see the parade, to cheer for the nobles and to cry out their hatred for the princess. It was quite an unsettling thought.
The plaza was the heart of Canterlot, where all of its main streets came together. It was decorated with flags, banners and standards bearing the Republic’s mark and colours. Even though it was night, nopony would have any problem seeing the proceedings, thanks to the warm light given by street lanterns and many torches.
“So many guards, too…” Fluttershy added nervously, looking at the guards who stood everywhere. They were holding the crowd back to keep the streets clear for the parade the pass through, and keeping a watchful eye to make sure nopony would try to do anything funny. Fluttershy hadn’t seen such airtight security since the wedding of Shining Armour and princess Cadance. It only served to further feed her nerves.
“Well, that’s to be expected,” Twilight explained, trying to sound calm. “After all, all of the twenty Court Nobles, the commanders of the Republican army and Princess Celestia herself are all taken out into the open here tonight. The Nobles’ Court realised right away how much of an appealing opportunity this would seem to any royalist to try and assassinate the Nobles or to attempt to free the Princess.” She glanced briefly at the guards who stood in the shadows at the back of the grandstand, not far away from them.
“Did anypony ever try?” Fluttershy asked curiously.
Rarity chuckled dryly. “An assassination or an attempt at breaking out the Princess, right under the nose of all of the Republic’s finest warriors?” she said. “Even the most fanatical royalist isn’t that mad. Or desperate.”
“That doesn’t stop the Nobles’ Court from taking safety measures just in case, though,” Twilight added, after which she returned to gazing over the plaza. The unicorn let out a sigh, and could feel how dread filled her being as she watched all those ecstatic, cheering ponies down below. It was just like the last time when she had come to see the parade, only now she had a better seat to watch it all from, something that didn’t exactly make her any happier.
Fluttershy shifted nervously in her seat while glancing inconspicuously at Twilight from the corner of her eyes. She could clearly see her friend’s displeasure, and it made her feel rather guilty. Twilight had come here only because Fluttershy had insisted on seeing the parade, and so the pegasus felt at fault for making her friend unhappy.
She shifted her attention to Rarity, and saw how the white unicorn was doing her best to keep up appearances, wearing a careful, neutral expression. The parade was a celebration of the triumph of the upper class, and was enjoyed by them more than by any other pony. Being a member of the high society herself, Rarity couldn’t afford expressing her disdain or displeasure as freely as Twilight did. Should any of the other nobles in the stand notice, they would definitely raise their eyebrows and get suspicious. Suspicion would get tongues wagging, at best, which would have dire consequences for Rarity’s standing and, as a result of that, her business.
“I’m sorry…” Fluttershy stammered. She bowed her head and hid behind her mane, while shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Her words made her friends turn their attention to her. “Because I wanted to come and see this horrible parade, I forced you both to come along with me and now you’re both feeling so upset and unhappy, all because of me and my selfish wish…”
A white hoof appeared under her chin and gently lifted her head. Slightly startled, Fluttershy looked up into the smiling face of Rarity. “Hush, darling,” the white unicorn said warmly. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. I may not like this little event, but that shan’t stop me from being here to support you. We are friends after all, are we not?”
Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something, but before she could utter any word, she felt another hoof being placed on her shoulder. She turned and saw that Twilight was smiling at her as well.
“Rarity’s right, Fluttershy,” Twilight assured her pegasus friend. “And I don’t think you’re being selfish at all. I understand your reasons for coming here perfectly, and if I’m at all upset, then it’s only the parade itself that I have issues with, not you.” Her smile widened a bit, and Fluttershy could feel the genuine warm that went into the expression. It made her smile shyly as well, and she muttered some words of gratitude.
Silence reigned between the three mares for a while, during which they were content to simply look at their surroundings. The nobles and upper class citizens, whom they shared the grandstand with, paid no attention to them, a fact which Twilight was perfectly content with. She glanced at the night sky above the plaza, paying special attention to the moon, in an attempt to estimate what time it was.
Fluttershy shifted nervously in her seat again. “Will we have to wait much longer?” she asked quietly, for two reasons. The first was that she was rather nervous about this whole event, and she wanted it to pass so she could calm down again. The second was that the sooner it started, the sooner it would be over and then they could go back to Rarity’s home where she could take off the corset that was making it rather hard to breathe.
The dresses Rarity had prepared for her and Twilight both looked lovely, but they squeezed tightly at the waist, because apparently thin waists were in this season in the upper class. Though normally Rarity wouldn’t have any problem with letting her friends wear dresses that actually allowed them to breathe, this occasion was an exception. Since they were seated in the stand of the nobles, it was vital that they all dressed in the current fashion of the upper class, otherwise they would simply draw attention to themselves and look suspicious.
“I don’t think so,” Twilight responded, and she stared at the moon again. “Judging from the position of the moon, I’d say it’s almost nine o’clock. The parade must have left the palace by now.” She smiled comfortingly at her shy friend. “It’ll all be over soon enough, Fluttershy. Just bear with it for a bit longer.”
“I’ll do my best,” Fluttershy responded meekly. “Though it would be easier for me to keep calm if I could breathe…” she added, while tugging lightly at the dress Rarity had given her to wear. Her words made all three of them laugh quietly.
“I do say, I have not even the slightest idea what goes on in the heads of the upper class mares,” Rarity commented. “Squeezing their waists so thin like that with a corset simply can’t be good for their bodies. I hope it’ll pass away again soon.” She pursed her lips in disapproval, then patted one of Fluttershy’s hooves with one of her own.
“Trust me when I say that I would normally never ask you both to mutilate your bodies like this. But for tonight I simply had no choice,” she explained, lowering her voice a bit so nopony could overhear them. “Dressing in the fashion of the upper class makes the both of you look as if you are nobility as well, which I had to ensure in order to get us these seats. Otherwise you both could never get in here!” Rarity placed a hoof dramatically on her chest. “Why, commoners in the stand of the nobles? Oh, the scandal!” she exclaimed in a melodramatic fashion, before giving her two friends a conspiratorial wink.
Twilight chuckled dryly. “I thought it was odd we could get in here, to be honest,” she said. The purple unicorn glanced nervously at the other nobles in the stand, who were still busily chatting amongst themselves. “Are you sure they won’t notice?”
“Quite,” Rarity assured her friend. “We’ve been sitting here left to our own devices for more than an hour by now, after all. We just need to keep to ourselves and act inconspicuous, and we’ll be perfectly fine.” She glanced at the nobility gathered in the rows before her. “They’re too caught up in their own little social schemes and plans to take notice, anyway.”
Twilight nodded in understanding and opened her mouth to say something, but she was interrupted by the sound of trumpets and the rhythmical beating of drums, which seemed to drive the waiting crowd on the plaza mad. A shiver of anticipation ran through the mass of ponies like a ripple on a surface of water, and they cheered and shouted as one. The noise made by the excited masses was deafening, to the point where Fluttershy even clasped her hooves over her ears. The nobles in the stand ceased their chattering and now focussed all their attention on the streets, while trying to look as regal and dignified as possible.
Rarity tried to calm Fluttershy down a bit, while Twilight looked at the road that led to the palace. A giant snake made of torch-wielding ponies was moving down the mountain, towards the plaza. Upon seeing it, Twilight’s expression darkened, and she inwardly steeled herself.
“Well,” she growled quietly, so that not even her friends could hear her due to the roar of the crowd on the plaza. “Here they come.” And with that said, she sank back in her chair and crossed her forelegs, the scowl and expression of utmost hatred never once leaving her face.
Fluttershy and Rarity were now staring in the same direction as Twilight, and each of the three friends felt different emotions course through them as they watched the parade approach. Twilight felt nothing but disdain, Rarity reluctantly resigned to her fate that she had to bear witness to it, and Fluttershy was filled in every fibre of her being with nervousness. She was trembling, and her throat felt dry. Suddenly this no longer seemed like such a good idea, if it had ever been a good idea in the first place. But she had to go through with it. She had to witness this, she owed it to the Princess and herself.
Rarity and Twilight noticed that their shy friend was having difficulties, and each took one of Fluttershy’s hooves in one of their own. The pegasus gave them both nervous glances, and the two unicorns smiled encouragingly at her. Their presence gave her strength. As long as her friends were with her, she could do this. Fluttershy took a deep breath – as deep as her corset allowed her, that is – and held on to her friend’s hooves tightly. Thus seated, the three mares watched as the parade approached.
---
It was exactly the same as the last time she had watched it, all those years ago, when she was still a filly. Aside from some of the participants, Twilight could see that nothing had changed. Even her reaction and her feelings were the same as the last time. A feeling of dread held her in its grip, a shiver of horror running through her body. She wanted desperately to look away, to flee from this spectacle, but some perverse feeling of loyalty forced her to keep looking, to take in every single detail.
The parade passed right by the grandstand in which she and her friends were sitting, meaning that she had an excellent view of the entire parade. When she had witnessed this as a filly, it had been from afar. Now the parade passed right under her nose, and she could see everything from up close. The procession would run a complete circle around the plaza, and then move on through the entire city of Canterlot before returning to the palace.
At the head of the parade were ponies bearing the standard with the flag of the republic, holding it proud and high for everypony to see. Following them were trumpeters, the sound of their instruments heralding the arrival of the Nobles’ Court, while the drummers behind them added a steady rhythm to the proceedings with their monotonous beating of their drums. Then came the dancers and flowermares, spreading light and flowers on the path, as if without those the streets wouldn’t be worthy of being trod upon by the rulers of the Republic.
Said rulers came next, organised in five rows of four ponies each. Dressed in the most luxurious and valuable of clothes, wearing dazzling and ridiculously expensive crowns and regalia, were the twenty Court Nobles. They were seated upon twenty magnificent thrones, which were carried by four strong stallions each, for they were too great and too mighty to do such a common thing as walking themselves. They sat tall and proud, heads held high, while the masses of ponies that lined the streets went wild and cheered as the nobles passed.
Every now and then, one of the Court Nobles would lower himself enough to wave at the crowd. Twilight swore she could see some mares in the public swooning every time this happened. Any disgust she felt at this display – and she felt quite a bit – was entirely forgotten when her eyes settled upon the next pony in the parade. Twilight felt as if someone had dropped a heavy rock in her stomach, and her blood ran cold. Her throat became so dry that it hurt and, despite the fact that she knew it would look suspicious were anypony to see her, she could not stop the tears from welling up in her eyes and running down her cheeks.
There, passing right before her eyes, only a stone’s throw away, was Princess Celestia.
Twilight felt as if somepony had grabbed her heart and squeezed it when she took in the sight of her beloved mentor and monarch. The great alicorn looked terrible. Her coat, which Twilight remembered as being always pristine and pure white, looked dull and dirty. It had been stained with rotten vegetables and eggs thrown at her by the crowd, and, to Twilight’s horror, even blood. Celestia’s multi-coloured mane and tail, which had once looked so magical and beautiful as they billowed in a non-existent wind, now hung limply from her body. They were filthy and stained, just like her coat, and dragged lifelessly over the ground.
The monarch of the sun had been stripped from her regalia, and they had been replaced by shackles and chains made of cold, merciless steel. On each of her ankles she wore a steel ring, as well as around her neck, and each of the five rings had four chains attached to them. The twenty chains that bound her were a symbolic number, a reference to the twenty members of the Nobles’ Court who had taken her down. The ends of the chains were held by twenty elite members of the Republican army, who formed a circle around the defeated Princess. They mercilessly marched on in the wake of the twenty Court Nobles, pulling at the chains, forcing the alicorn to keep moving.
Celestia made no attempt to resist. She had her head held low and allowed herself to be dragged along as a prize for the Nobles. She didn’t even react when, wherever she passed, the crowd booed and bombarded her with rocks and filth, cursing her name and spitting at her. She underwent the mistreatment in silence, walking along behind those who had struck her down. The princess was limping, and Twilight could see how every single step caused her pain. Celestia’s muscles, which were cramped and stiff from being forced in the same position for an entire year, now had to work again, a task they were no longer fit for. Her entire body cried out in agony, but the alicorn herself remained silent.
And Twilight Sparkle, powerless to help the Princess who had given in to defeat, could only shed silent tears and cry.
---
Shock. Disbelief. Horror. The feelings came and went, constantly changing, leaving her in a state of emotional turmoil. When the parade had begun, Fluttershy had been rather impressed by the dazzling display of riches, colours and dancing ponies. It was all rather breath-taking, if she had to be fair. The light of the torches, reflected in the gold of the Court Nobles’ thrones, combined with the crowd’s cheering and the rhythmic beating of the drums, was almost hypnotizing. It had entranced her, and she had looked at it all with shining eyes.
Until she saw the Princess, at least.
Nothing could ever have prepared her for what she saw that night. Fluttershy’s eyes were the size of dinner plates, and one of her hooves was held before her open mouth in a vain attempt to mask her shock. She felt as if her body had frozen, as if somebody had grabbed her by the throat and was squeezing it shut. Whatever hypnotic spell the torchlight and music had cast on her had been brusquely disrupted by reality, leaving her with nothing but a feeling of horrified disbelief. Fluttershy could feel how she was struggling to comprehend what she was seeing, she could feel how her brain refused to believe what her eyes were telling it.
She had expected it to be bad, to be horrible. Her friends had all told her time and time again that what she would see at the parade would be bad and horrible. She had never once doubted their words. But now that she could see the heresy with her very own eyes, Fluttershy knew that her friends were completely wrong. This was beyond bad, far beyond horrible. The sight of Princess Celestia, broken, defeated and humiliated, made her feel ill. She could only stare with pure incomprehension as ponies booed and slung insults at their former monarch. She felt herself grow light in the head when she saw the masses bombard the broken alicorn with sticks, stones and rotten filth.
Suddenly, it almost became entirely too much for the timid pegasus to bear. The sight and sounds of the masses made her feel sick. Fluttershy felt dizzy, and she was sure her stomach had flipped upside down. She could barely suppress the urge to throw up, and she felt weak all over. She had become a worrisomely pale, and she grabbed the edges of her seat as tightly as she could to prevent herself from falling.
“Fluttershy? Darling, are you quite alright?!” she heard Rarity call out, before the white hooves of her fashion-loving friend wrapped around her and kept her from falling out of her seat. Fluttershy couldn’t respond to her friend’s inquiry, however, her attention drawn completely by the chained Princess. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight, even though she badly, desperately wanted to.
Fluttershy could not understand how any pony could do such a thing to Princess Celestia, could treat her like that. Even though she didn’t know the Princess as personal and as well as Twilight did, Fluttershy had still nothing but the utmost respect and love for her monarch. The Princess had always been kind and fair whenever she had seen her, always ready to give love or advice to any pony in need of it. How could any pony do this to such a wonderful mare? She glanced at the cheering masses, and felt another wave of nausea welling up.
How could they cheer like that? How could they be happy that their princess was being mistreated as such? How could they celebrate her capture? How could they humiliate her like that, attack her like that, and give praise and hail to the ponies who had unjustly taken her place? These questions ran rampant in Fluttershy’s mind, taunting and tormenting her, and she didn’t know the answer to any of them. The events she was witnessing were so hallucinatory, so absurdly contradictory of everything she had always known, that she could not understand. It went beyond her capabilities to do so, and she doubted any other pony in her situation would have been able to.
She was pulled from the maelstrom of her thoughts and back to reality when she heard Twilight speak, or rather, growl. The purple unicorn said only two words, but they were enough to make Fluttershy finally draw her eyes away from the broken Celestia and see who followed behind the Princess.
---
“Shining Armour,” Twilight growled, her face twisted into a mask of fury. She was positively seething, nearly to the point where her anger made her body shake. She had been worrying over Fluttershy when Rarity had called out to the pegasus, but then she had caught sight of her brother from the corner of her eyes and couldn’t refrain from looking. She knew it made her a terrible friend, but Twilight couldn’t help it.
She watched her brother march by, and she barely resisted the urge to gag with disgust when she saw how proudly he carried himself and how high he held his head. Shining Armour looked magnificent and powerful, and he wore an impressive, mighty suit of armour. There were a few brightly glowing spots on the suit, and Twilight recognised it as the glow of charged magicite. She could see how enthralled and impressed the crowd and even the nobles were by his appearance, but it only served to fuel her anger and hatred for her brother.
Shining Armour marched at the head of the entire Republican army, keeping watch over Princess Celestia and ensuring that nopony tried to come to her aid. Following him were the three high commanders of the Republican army’s three units, one of which Twilight recognised as Spitfire, nicknamed ‘the Phoenix’. Then came, marching in an orderly, military fashion, the lower ranking officers and normal guardsponies and soldiers.
Twilight knew that the parade was much more than just a celebration of the Nobles’ Court’s victory over Celestia. It was also a display of their Republic’s military might, a show of how much they were in control. It sickened her, and she felt filthy watching the entire event. Finally, she could no longer bear to watch it and, after one last apologetic and tearful glance at the broken form of her mentor, she averted her eyes and turned away.
She focussed instead on Fluttershy, who was being held and comforted gently in Rarity’s forelegs. The poor pegasus was still trembling, visibly ill and upset by what she had witnessed. Twilight reached out with one of her hooves and placed it gently on Fluttershy’s shoulder, hoping to bring some solace to her friend.
“Are you alright, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked worriedly. “For a moment there you looked as if you would faint…” Now that she was no longer looking at her brother, she felt ashamed of having her attention taken like that by him when one of her friends needed her. For a moment, she didn’t dare to meet Fluttershy’s eyes.
The pegasus nodded slowly. “I… I’ll be fine,” she answered meekly. Thanks to Rarity’s comforting embrace, as well as her corset having been untied so she could breathe again, Fluttershy had begun to recover from the massive shock she’d been subjected to. “It… it was just… ehm… I… Oh…” She let out a helpless squeak, still not capable of thinking clearly enough to form coherent sentences to voice her thoughts.
“Don’t trouble yourself, darling,” Rarity shushed her gently, running a hoof comfortingly through Fluttershy’s mane. “We understand perfectly how you feel, you don’t have to force yourself to speak of it. Just focus on calming down. Take deep, slow breaths.”
Fluttershy nodded again, and nervously followed Rarity’s advice. What she had seen tonight would haunt her for the rest of her life, of that much she was certain. The pegasus was very grateful for the presence of her two friends. She wouldn’t have been able to cope with what she had witnessed if not for them. She gave them a tentative, small smile, and they responded with warm, comforting smiles of their own.
After a few more minutes, Fluttershy felt that she had finally calmed down enough again to be able to speak. She looked at Twilight and gestured nervously at the many lines of soldiers passing by. “U… um… W… was that Spitfire behind your… ehm…”
“Behind Shining Armour? Yes,” Twilight confirmed with a nod. She didn’t like being reminded of the sibling she had rejected, but didn’t take it out on Fluttershy. It wasn't her friend’s fault and she wasn’t angry at Fluttershy in the least. “She’s the general of the pegasi unit of the Republican army, only one rank below the Marshall.”
“There are no Wonderbolts here, you see,” Rarity added calmly, still holding Fluttershy in an embrace. “So instead of a career as a stunt flyer, she chose a career in the army.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully with one of her hooves. “I didn’t recognise the other two generals, though, nor did I ever quite catch their names. Twilight, darling, how about you?”
The other unicorn shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m as clueless as you, Rarity,” she answered. “I only know Shining Armour’s name because he happened to be my brother, and Spitfire’s because I recognised her from my other life.”
Rarity nodded in understanding. “Well, we are quite alike then! A proper lady shouldn’t bother with military matters, in any case,” she said. There was a brief moment of silence, before Rarity looked down at the pegasus in her forelegs. “Now then, Fluttershy, what do you say we cease attending this event and head home?”
“Good idea,” Twilight commented. She glanced briefly at the street, where row after row of soldiers were still marching by in a perfectly ordered fashion. The Court Nobles, the Princess and the high officers were already gone from sight. “I think we’ve all seen enough.”
Fluttershy nodded, perhaps a tad too eagerly. “Y… yes, I agree,” she stammered. “L… let’s go… If… if you don’t mind, that is?”
“We certainly do not,” Rarity replied, brushing Fluttershy’s worries off as if they were nothing. Twilight and herself got off their seats and helped Fluttershy out of hers.
The pegasus was still shaken by what she had seen, and her legs didn’t feel very strong underneath her, as if they could barely carry her weight. Luckily her friends were there to support her all the way. Quietly the three mares snuck away, trying to leave as inconspicuously as possible without looking suspicious. They needn’t have bothered, for none saw them leave. The other ponies in the stand were simply too enthralled by the soldiers marching by to pay any attention to them, for which they were grateful.
They left the tribune, the parade and the ecstatic masses behind them, and vanished into a small back alley. With the main roads packed with ponies due to the parade, they would have to take a longer detour to get back to Rarity’s villa, but none of them really minded. A quiet walk would help them to sort out their thoughts, which were a turbulent maelstrom after having watched the parade.
Fluttershy especially had a lot to process and come to grips with. The parade had shaken her to her very core and had turned her view of Equestria, and the ponies that lived in it, upside down. And yet, the thing that had truly shocked and downright scared her, wasn’t the state Princess Celestia was in. Nor was it the cheering of the masses as they bombarded the alicorn with insults, filth and stones. It had been something else entirely, a small thing that she had noticed. Fluttershy had seen it for only a very, very short moment, but it had been enough to make her feel utterly terrified.
When Princess Celestia had been dragged past the stand, she had walked with her head down, her face obscured by her dirtied mane. Yet for a brief moment, a breeze had blown the hair from the Princess’ face, and Fluttershy had gotten the chance to look in Celestia’s eyes. She had been able to see the expression that Celestia had held within them, and the sight had made Fluttershy’s blood run cold.
For the Princess’ magenta eyes, once so kind and loving, had been filled with hate.
End of chapter 15.
Stats
Page generated in 0.04 seconds
Total duration
683 users online
1,216,298 hits today, 2,571,732 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.®
Hmm me thinks this is getting good.
Those ponies deserve to rot in Tartarus!
But yeah, good chapter. A hate filled Celestia, eh? After what she's been through, she's more than justified.
Oh! A thought just occurred to me.
If the Mane 6 never went the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters to stop Nightmare Moon due to the altered timeline, would the Elements of Harmony still be there, waiting for their wielders? Perhaps they could be used to set things right?
Or do you have other plans?
Celestia
Cant wait for Celestia rage mode
Awesome fic
847128
I can see it now... "Do you like Bananas?"
Awesome chapter, but, can we please have some hope next time?
Celestia, when she does get out (I'm pretty sure they're going to in the course of the story), is not going to be fit to lead.
She's probably been reduced to having little but contempt for pony kind now.
846731
The Elements are still sitting in the Everfree Forest, yes. I'll deal with them in due time, no worries.
847525
Yes, you can. In fact, you will, in the next chapter!
847658
Shh, don't post spoilers!
It was her friend’s fault and she wasn’t angry at Fluttershy in- you just typed that Twilight thought that it was Fluttershy's fault.
849932 Okie Dokie Loki!!
I look forward to that.
I can only say one thing destroy everything and create a monument to nonexistence!
849933
Fixed!
Ah, thanks for spotting that.
I can see it now. This fic has a good chance of ending in tragedy.
Oh boy.
1786916
It'll certainly have elements of tragedy in it. However, I will say this: I'm not a fan of stories with a sad (or tragic) ending. Even sad stories should, for me at least, end with a least a glimmer of hope in them.
This gave me shivers...