Princess Celestia asked the element bearers to write her friendship reports. When she reads about how Twilight overcame Tirek, she is surprised and... somewhat less than pleased.
After all, as the Princess of Friendship, shouldn't she have tried to work through Tirek's issues? Shouldn't she have tried to reform him? Shouldn't she have known better than to give the villain all their power?
And then there is that one, last, thing...
Page generated in 0.198 seconds
Total duration
735 users online
1,073,593 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
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.®
Celestia told Twilight to NOT tell her friends.
BURN!
BOOM! that was one of the best Accusation Fics I've ever read! hats off to you, man! you deserve a freaking medal.
Twilight didn't use dark magic on the potion, but alicorn magic. Dark magic makes your eyes glow green and have purple trails coming from them, which Twilight lacked when enchanting the potion.
Ditto!
Some fan theories state that quite a number of ponies starved to death during Discord's rule, due to widespread famine due to weather and day/night disruption.
5909695
<chuckles> Fair point, but I shall refer you to watch, VERY CLOSELY to season 4, episode 1, at approximately 19 minutes in.
Look at Twilight's magic...and tell me that wouldn't give Celestia more than a bit of concern. Purple, black, green, and black lightning zappy things when asked for "alicorn magic?"
Seems preeeeetty suspicious to me....er Celestia.... in this fic.... which is totally not cannon.... except the episode reference, which is.
5909743
She wouldn't get suspicious if that's how alicorn magic actually looks, and if it wasn't alicorn magic, it wouldn't have worked on the potion. As as alicorn, Celestia would know what it looks like, and would know that it is normal. The eye color is the primary signal for corruption (like Twilight in front of Sombra's door, or Sombra 100% of the time), not the weird bubbly horn effect.
Not to mention Twilight stated that Celestia actually taught her dark magic (and I'm not talking about when she demonstrated its effects on the crystal empire), so Celestia feels that there is value in Twilight knowing how to use dark magic, even if she's only to use it when she absolutely has to.
5909695
did you not see the aura on Twilight's horn when she used magic on that potion?
5909776
That aura was never stated to be bad or negative, and dark magic has both the aura AND the creepy eye glow and energy.
5909423
Yep. Celestia did say not to tell them, but she didn't say to ignore them, try to do everything on her own, leave them behind or anything else.
Remember, this is written from an upset and concerned Celestia who is piecing things together from letters and word of mouth.
5909784
5909769
Sure, the eyeglowydoomsmoke is the signature of something, but all we see of it comes from Sombra, Celestia (who we know is not corrupted), and Twilight Sparkle from her first use of it to reveal the stairwell and the brief moment of the 'alicorn magic' she uses on the potion. We saw Twilight with green eyes and red pupils while under the influence of Sombra's magic, but you'll notice the smoke was missing.
We've seen various uses of the whites of their eyes turning green while under the influence of magic, but the only times we see the smoke, independent of such influencing magic, is when casting magic which is fueled by 'hate' or 'fear', that's when we see the smoke.
Heck, we've even seen at least two other examples of 'dangerous' magic (alicorn amulet and the Inspiration manifestation spell) which impacted the eyes, but neither was called 'Dark Magic'... even though both were noted to corrupt the user/wielder. So, while eyeglowy effects show magic influence of some sort (arguably even the changelings might show this if there really is a hive mind), but the smoke seems dependent upon BOTH the magic and the 'fuel', as it were. Ergo, Dark Magic and the related, though not integral, corruption are two different effects.
So, if we're getting nit-picky, we can assume 'Dark Magic' exists independent of the 'hate' or 'fear', but that the corrupting influence may still be present. At the very least, we can understand Celestia's worry that in less than a year, Twilight has resorted to using something that looks remarkably like Dark Magic (with or without the smoke) multiple times... and that it was something that preceded her conflict with Tirek.
Smoke or not, We've seen all the big alicorn's magic... none of it is black or bubbly or green and purple. We see the same bright pastels, golds, and silvery/blues. Twilight's is still magenta... even when using the spell in the Crystal Empire, her horn only has a feeble black aura... but what we see with Zecora's potion is identical.... IDENTICAL to both Celestia's use of Dark Magic (fueled by hate and fear by verbal confirmation) and Twilight's at the Crystal Empire (by emulation after Celestia's VERY brief explanation).
Outside of nit-picky, it's rather a moot point since FAN fiction, FANNON, and the FANdom's ideas are of no more concern to CANNON events as what I ate for breakfast. It's there for fun, enjoyment, character development, or to explore other ideas.
Come on, NOTHING on fimfiction is cannon. It's all, by definition, non-cannon material since it is NOT PART OF THE ANIMATED SHOW.
5909953
Actually, Inspiration Manifestaion was called dark magic in the episode, and the Sirens' magic (which also results in green eyes) from Rainbow Rocks was also stated to be dark magic.
What Twilight, Celestia, Luna, and Cadance all use in their daily spells (including raising the sun and moon) is just buffed up unicorn magic, not the nebulous alicorn magic we know very little about. Unicorns with enough magic (or enough unicorns) can replicate stuff like that, as shown in Hearth's Warming Eve and the Journal of the Two Sisters.
5909742
I love that kind of stuff! It shows the impact of thought going into the explanations. Here, though, I'm inserting my own thoughts on the matter.
Discord, for all of his trouble and mischief, doesn't strike me as someone who would simply kill off others. Torment - yes. Taunt - you betcha. Make their lives a literal living hell - I'm nearly certain nothing would have made him happier.
On the other hand, even with all that power, even with all that jaded antisocial behavior, he fixates upon those who oppose him and challenges them. In every instance of the non-reformed Discord, even when actively 'angry' he sought out attention rather than any form of lasting harm or injury.
<shrugs> If we were to assume indirect loss, Rainbow Dash is guilty of more lasting damage than Discord in the modern age.
Heck... Twilight's guilty of more damage than Discord.
<blinks> I'm going to go hide from the Princess of Friendship now.
Well, that's because the Elements of Harmony don't automatically clean up for Twilight, like they did after turning Discord back to stone :p
I imagine very few, if any, ponies actually died indirectly during Discord's reign, both because ponies are ridiculously durable, and Discord's chaos was spawning food and drink everywhere (making apples larger, free chocolate milk rain, instant popcorn, etc).
5909979
Point, to you.
Twilight did ask "Do you have any idea how hard it was to reverse that much dark magic?"
Wait... Rarity's eyes didn't have smoke.
So... actually, point to me. Dark Magic doesn't require eyesmoke.
Thank you.
...
At this point, you can either enjoy the story for what it is or you can troll.
An interesting way to put this, and it has thusly earned the like.
One...minor typo has appeared in my Inbox however. Thus, it needs to be sent to the Outbox.
5910260
Ah... I can see where that might be misunderstood, but it is the correct wording for my intent.
Twilight wasn't saying Celestia would never be alone, she was saying Celestia would never be an outsider where Twilight was concerned.
I'll reword it to remove the ambiguity.
Good eyes though!
5910323
Okay, after rereading the chapter twice, I can now see your original intent. "You'll never be (an outsider) with me." But yeah, it'd still be kinda confusing as it was, with one sentence saying one thing and the other sentence kinda implying that she would remain an outsider. I got what the intent of that sentence was, but it still seemed weird on the first read through. Let's see how you reworded it.
Huzzah! The d'aww has been doubled!
... we really need a Luna emote.
Also, excellent word choice, the whole thing flows smoothly. Like Jazz.
5910358
Glad you approve. That's one of those <facepalm> moments where, as the author, you read it and it JUST COULDN'T POSSIBLY BE MORE CLEAR (because you're the one who wrote it)...
And it's those exact moments where comments make it better.
Thank you.
I'm with him on that. Saying that she's parcels and postage is a very novel witticism.
5910472
THANK YOU! I'm never sure if people actually know the difference and I do try to make subtle jokes for that reason.
5909423 That's what I was going to say.
Damn, Look, Celestia goes for the peaceful approach, yes, but she's not THIS big of a dumbass. She knows there's time to talk and time to fight-- she didn't dick around when Chrysalis showed her face, did she? No, she stepped up for the Beam O' War. Lecturing Twilight for facing Tirek head on is hypocritical and moronic. What did she expect Twilight to do-- keep running forever while Tirek slurped down the rest of Equestria?
Now THAT's more like it! This is the stuff that motivated me to write "Parting words" all those months ago.
5910479 I get that it's supposed to be a joke. But... I don't get why it's supposed to be funny.
5910760
Spike is making a play on words...
Twilight is being understanding and potentially oblivious...
The Author is making a point about people learning how to spell...
<shrugs> Sometimes you have to amuse yourself I suppose.
Celestia, "Twilight! Tirek got loose! Again! Seriously, we need to make better locks for Pony Hell... Anyway, get the Deux Ex Rainbow Lazar ready!"
Twilight strolls in, "Already took care o' business, toots."
Celestia blinks, perplexed at Twilight's sudden augmentation in personal vernacular, "Uhm... how?"
Twilight yawns and takes a shot of bourbon, "I shot him."
Celestia jawdrops, "You shot him?!"
Twilight nods, "In da face. With a 357 Mag. Though dat sucker could absorb any and all magic he wanted, turns out he didn't absorb lead so good."
Celestia blinks and states numbly, "Well, all-right then."
They never speak of it again.
While I do share some of your sentiments, this rant is incredibly out of character for Twilight.
5910813
Ah, my sweet, ain't it grand though?
The way I see it, Chapter 3 clears that up a bit. Twilight doesn't even like THINKING that way, but we also know she's prone to ... moments that are far and away different from her norm.
Let me know what you think of how it resolves in chapter 3.
Pointing out all Celestia's faults is always fun, but after a couple stories like this it gets a bit monotonous. Yes, Celestia stays out of things for the most part. She screws up a lot. It also clashes with what her character should be. So why? Why does it happen? Because this is a story about Twilight Sparkle and her friends, not her god-like teacher. What would be the point in watching if Celestia were actually useful? If the Royal Guard were competent? There should be better reasons for them leaving her to fix everything alone, but if it's a choice between the writers spending precious writing time and screen time justifying it or keeping the focus on what the story is really about, I choose the latter.
For some reason, that line was incredibly sad to me. Probably because she told her herself and then wiped the memory. That still doesn't really explain why it was sad though.
I hate this story and every story like it. Even leaving aside the complaints about Celestia that only work if you assume the absolute worst in every scenario, leaving aside that no one uses the same complaints on the other princesses even though they had just as much part in it, even ignoring that to get Celestia and Twilight to argue about these things requires them being completely out of character and ignoring that it allows no counterargument or defence for Celestia it's still a bullshit story because nothing fucking happens. It's just a diatribe of problems the author has with a character. It offers no interesting plot or character introspective, nothing funny, nothing insightful, nothing entertaining, it's just a person bitching through Twilight's mouth Even the criticisms are dull because they've been made and argued about a thousand times before. The characters offer so little to this story that it shouldn't even be a fanfiction because it's just a list of things the author doesn't like. Even if I could agree with the points it would still be boring because it offers nothing new and goes nowhere.
Ugh, this type of story. The one where the author loads all their nitpicks of the story into a series of soapbox-speeches. It's always pointless, always far, far too OOC and always just boring if not incredibly annoying. But this is the holy grail of terrible. To make matters worst you don't even bother to let there be proper consequences of Celestia's OOC insulting bitch letter and Twilight's OOC tirade and perfect hindsight letter. Just zap, memory spell, oh look Celestia followed Twilight's demands and everything's all hunky-dory. Celestia does a U-turn in her attitudes and beliefs and Twilight doesn't need to change to accommodate this argument with Celestia or her teacher insulting her or discovering that she and Celestia are incredibly unalike. Nothing goes on in this story other than your tirade about certain aspects of the show. Nothing of substance at all. Just an overload of information and opinion and headcanon to attack decisions made by the show's writers.
You should really just write a blog.
5910967
Agreed whole-bloody-heartedly. How this got on the feature box I don't even know.
Listen to "Celestia's Ballad" again. Listen very carefully. If you do, you'll probably see Celestia as a stalker as much as I do. It really is strange how some of the songs can be ruined by just one of their lines and a very (mostly) unstable mind. Luckily it's stable enough that I'm not in an asylum! ...If you don't here from me in a week, then I jinxed myself.
5910967
Now see, These are comments I can respond to.
You're right, about there being no action, no adventure, no wow moments. It's not about that.
Heck, it's not even about Celestia not doing anything or Twilight blowing up.
Part of the reason so many stories come out with situations like this is that there are character flaws, but just as much, those same flaws can be addressed differently, from different angles and with different results.
I've read a number of them. Twilight goes nuts. Celestia throws a tantrum. Twilight refuses to save Equestria. Celestia picks up the slack and acts. Twilight chews Celestia's head off. Celestia puts Twilight in her place. Twilight usurps the sisters. Twilight is condemned....the list goes on and on (and on...)
But, as a few folks have discovered (as is their personal bent) sometimes it's interesting to see how else it could have turned out.
You say their portrayals are OOC? I believe they're quite a bit closer than most.
Celestia doesn't scream or shout, she doesn't fly off the handle, and she doesn't just smile and play kissy face. She tries, multiple times, to voice her concerns from the patchy information she has from letters.
Twilight responds with a bit of hostility from what seems like an insult, but what is likely also the leftover pain of losing her library. Even then, she makes it clear that she doesn't like feeling or thinking this way and extends the olive branch..... just like she has done in the show after every major conflict (with the crowning example being the royal wedding).
Granted, the memory spell is an easy out. Many things are. Heck, I would wager that it's one of the most abused story mechanics out there (amnesia, brain damage, memory alteration, etc), but for my purposes, it helps to explain a possible reason why Twilight might very well view Celestia as a god-like figure. If, to cope (perhaps from the very first day at Celestia's school for gifted unicorns) Twilight has been erasing 'imperfections' as she sees them, slowly building up the perception that her mentor is infallible or larger than life, it begs the question of if Twilight even realizes she may have done this before.
As to the author just throwing out their issues with the show... my friend, you are sorely mistaken. I find television, in general, to be comedic at best and a waste of time on average. I have found MLP to be refreshing and fun, often granting some of the most authentic enjoyment I'll have over the week. What you see here is a thought about how those two might respond to a few things I wondered about.
Am I preachy? Maybe.
Is there a lack of action and adventure? Absolutely.
Does that make it any less of a story? Nope... it makes it less of an action story.
You might be interested to read a few of Longfellow's works, or, perhaps a few children's stories which explore the world or a moment rather than racing off into the night with a whoop and a howl. Not all stories need be intro - conflict - escalation - climax - resolution. They simply need to tell of something.
Thanks for reading it though. It takes all types of folks to make this place work.
5911096
<heh> Thanks for taking the time to comment. Feel free to read some of my other, highly unoriginal, carbon copied fiction while you're here. It's about ponies. Pretty much all of it.
I hear it's been done before.
Can't please everyone, but thanks for giving it a shot at least.
How did she betray their trust?
5910748 Yeah, and even that wasn't very good
That's njo excuse for Chrysalis invading Canterlot. she got what she deserved
I did not downvote this story, but I didn't like it either.
Nothing happens here. No character growth, no emotional development, nothing. It's not interesting.
I know that I often make a point in my comments that Celestia has no idea what she's doing, but I mean it facetiously. This story and others like it only work if she literally has no idea what she is actually doing; it forces us to assume that Equestria has only lasted as long as it has because of ponies like Hypercompetent Twilight or, because we are typically to assume that Twilight is the first hypercompetent pony to exist, through blind luck.
Celestia is presented as an empty-headed fool who doesn't deserve to be a Princess. Twilight is presented as a hard-nosed Mary Sue who can do no wrong. But ultimately, that doesn't matter, because there is no opportunity for any kind of character growth. We have learned nothing, done nothing, and accomplished nothing from reading a story that itself teaches nothing, does nothing, and accomplishes nothing.
I'm still not downvoting it, but I'm not going to recommend it, either.
It was very enjoyable reading Twilight's response, but the whole setup is a strawman argument. Celestia is written like a petulant complainer who wants to eat her cake and have it too, while Twilight is a weary realist shooting down each point. Events are altered and/or depicted in a more grim and stark light (with ponies and changelings dying, for instance) in order to support Twilight's arguments further. I don't dislike it, but I don't like it either.
when has Celestia ever suggested Twilight try to befriend an active threat?
5910769
Doesn't look like a joke, looks like a blatant typo.
5910877
I like to think that Celestia stays out of things like this because if she did all the hero-ing, Equestrians would never learn how to fend for themselves. I mean, she's lived a pretty long time. She's done her fair share of hero-ing most likely. Can you imagine how the entire country would react if she could just FIX everything bad that happens? Or rather, if they KNEW she could fix everything bad that happens?
'Well wait, why are we wasting our taxes on the Royal Guard and the Wonderbolts if we have the Princesses?'
'Why even pursue diplomacy with these griffons? They can't stop our Princesses!'
'Why not just kill Discord? He's such a security risk, and he can't stand up to the might of our Princesses!'
5911352
It seemed out of character to me, as well. I think PsychoKrusk (5911527) articulated many of the reasons well.
I think what really bothered me was two things. Nothing in the first chapter - that's kind of on the edge of what I imagine Celestia might write, but it is at least on the edge. But Twilight's response in the second chapter was rather wildly off. This is a mare who had all of Ponyville fighting over a doll rather than be one day late in sending a report to the Princess, whose greatest fear is rejection by Celestia, who would do anything rather than face even mild disapproval of Celestia. I just don't see her turning that around and calling Celestia out for, well, any reason at all. Yes, she can disagree with Celestia - but I can't see her starting from there and somehow coming to the conclusion that Celestia is wrong.
The second thing that really bothered me is the speed at which Celestia turned her opinions around. Most people - when they hold an opinion as firmly as Celestia did in Chapter One - would take either some significant persuasion or some actual new data in order to change their minds. This would be even more the case with Celestia, who has for generations been looked up to by tens of thousands of ponies. So that swift turnaround seems... unrealistic, to say the least.
Having said that, though, ignoring from those two points (and they are fairly major points) the story has some good points as well. Good spelling and grammer, a good balance between description and plotline (that is, enough description to see what was going on, but not so much as to distract from the point). So, yes, there were some good points... but I still don't really like this story much.
5912638
<shrugs> I like when folks help me find typos. I fix them when I see them and will almost always thank folks to pointing out the ones I miss.
I also happen to be an insufferable trickster IRL, and enjoy sneaking little things in from time to time. In this case, it was intentionally done.
5913456
<nods> Thanks for the feedback.
I agree that Celestia's 'turnabout' was quick.
In my head, I see a rather upset Twilight who has just had a moment of frustration boil over, sending the letter before she loses her nerve to do so. I see her, moments later, realizing she's just sent off a letter before really thinking it though.
I see Celestia reading over that letter, realizing that much of what she's been worried about stems from being a bit apart or not being there to personally experience what Twilight and her friends are having to go through. I can see her shock and shame at reading that Twilight plans to erase the time it took to read and respond to her letter, rather than choose to feel upset or hurt... or even feel those things in relation to Celestia.... and realizing that with Twilight's almost prodigal skill, by the time she had finished reading the letter, the deed would already be done.
Following that thought, I could see Celestia coming to understand just how deeply Twilight values, not just their relationship, but her own faith in Celestia. I could see that as something akin to a parent discovering a child using drugs to cope with a divorce or a suicide with a letter pointing out something that they had not seen as important.... which meant the world to their child.
In my mind, having Celestia realize, perhaps for the first time, that Twilight is willing to sacrifice parts of herself to preserve just her faith in her teacher... just the image she holds so preciously... that shock would be enough to effect such a change.
Celestia, for all her age and wisdom, is not perfect... but in my head, that tiny moment of realization that she was completely helpless to correct her mistake... to prevent Twilight from doing this to herself because of her own lack of understanding (Celestia's concerns were based off of letters, not experience, recall) and then realizing that it may have happened untold times before.... that moment must have been a crushingly painful thing. Sobering, one might say.
But, she was given a second chance... after all, even while that upset, Twilight decided to offer an alternative. Not only had she effectively turned back the clock, but by making her first true demand of Celestia, she opened up the possibility for Celestia's concerns to be addressed in a different way, and her own hurts to be mended.
<Shrugs> BUT, that's the problem with being the author. You can have it all in your mind, thinking it's there. You can have it all there, thinking it's clear. You can have it all hinted and teased, but not as clear as you think. Heck, you can have it all blatant and spelled out, and get a reader who simply doesn't think in that manner. And, of course, you can have all of the above.
<smiles> And that's why I love comments that are constructive.
Thank you!
Upvoted after the first chapter, downvoted after the second.
Twilight is wildly out-of-character here.
Got to thinking about this earlier but, when has she ever tried to engage their (main) enemies socially?
NNM-went straight for the EoH and blasted her, without even knowing what would happen. No attempts at talking her down.
Discord-again, blasted with the EoH, never tried to talk him down just blasted him, again unsure what would happen.(and demanding he stop/give the elements back hardly counts).The only time they tried to talk to him was during Keep Calm and Flutter On, and even then only Fluttershy even bothered to try, Twilight basically wanted to mind-rape him into being good with magic.
Chrysalis-Tried to get the EoH but failed, still no talking was ever attempted there.
Sombra- They straight up killed him.
Tirek-massivefight before being blasted back to Tartarus.
I don't think they've ever used diplomacy to solve stuff, just blasting it with the EoH and hoping for the best(or the Rainbow Power in Tirek's case).