Northern Borderlands, Punda-Milia. June, 1252.
Prairie Sunset left footprints in the mud: solitary depressions in the smooth and even slope next to her pristine watering hole. She glanced at the glassy surface of the pond and smiled. It lifted her heart to see it: full with the sweet rains of spring, its surface unrippled by wind, its waters untouched by the presumptuous savanna beasts. She sighed in satisfaction. She heard a rustling in the grasses, and a cautious bark. Probably nothing, but worth investigating. She pricked up her ears and began walking towards the noise. The fences were only a warning; it was through constant vigilance that the native population was kept away from her little farm. It was through the water from this pond--and through Earth pony magic--that their dry acres of savanna grass had been transformed into their lush little farmland. That water was far too precious to share.
Occasionally a passing local would try to get at their hard-earned grasses or vegetables. Worse, they would try to get at their precious water. But open access would threaten the water reserves. And without water, the farm couldn't survive--and without the farm they'd have to be nomads like the scrubgrass-eating natives. So Prairie Sunset and her husband Hayseed defended their farm, and defended it tenaciously. Sometimes the locals would band together and try to push her and her husband out. But the ponies were always ready--and, for that matter, so were their dogs. So, through stubborn determination and occasionally through violence, their farmstead stayed in their hooves.
As Prairie Sunset walked into the tall grasses, she heard another rustle, and another string of barks--this one panicky. She slowed her walk, lowered her body to the ground, and began creeping quietly towards the disturbance. She heard a childlike coo, then a yelp, then thought she saw a dog launch violently skyward from the grasses in front of her. She blinked and shook her head in disbelief. She squinted as she looked up, into the bright sapphire sky, trying to see if there actually was a dog hurtling towards heaven. She saw nothing. She looked down. A pair of wide lavender eyes filled her vision.
She jumped back in surprise. Before her was a purple pony with a white stripe in her tangled mane.
---
North of Everfree Forest, Equestria. June, 1252.
Twilight Sparkle sat in her tent, breathing. Inhale. She had spent the better part of two weeks re-organizing the army. Sorting their chaotic mass of displaced soldiers into an army that could take and carry out orders. Setting up a new system of handling recruits and recovered stragglers. Exhale. Her duties increased with every passing day. Celestia had been acting increasingly strangely. She seemed nervous. It was strange. Inhale. And through it all, they were constantly moving. Constantly foraging. Constantly sending messengers. Constantly scouting. And nearly everyone reported to her. Exhale. Truthfully, she hadn't realized how much *work* went into leading an army. Sure, she knew she'd have to make difficult decisions, she'd have to plan strategy and tactics and all that. But she thought she'd delegate away most of the day-to-day business of running an army. Inhale. Nope.
What she didn't realize was that every decision anypony made anywhere in the army crossed her desk, whether as a request for authorization or collected in a list of reports from subordinate officers. And sometimes they made bad decisions. Exhale. So until she learned which officers were trustworthy and which needed to be replaced, she had to read every report in full, then evaluate every decision every subordinate had made. In essence, she had to replay everything anyone ever did. Inhale. She should have known. Throughout the war, she had written or spoken to Celestia every time she did anything. And Celestia usually gave some sort of advice. She had assumed the attention was a token of Celestia's special fondness for her prized pupil. Exhale. It was Celestia looking after an officer who hadn't proven herself trustworthy yet. She must have been doing the same with everypony.
"Twilight Sparkle, I require your presence in my tent immediately." The reassuring--yet overawing--voice of the Princess shattered her meditation. She turned in time to see Celestia's graceful shadow vanish from her tent flap as she walked away.
---
Northern Borderlands, Punda-Milia.
Prairie Sunset gasped in alarm, then narrowed her eyes as she sized up the intruder. The purple pony put out her lower lip in a pout.
"That dog wasn't friendly," she said, her voice quavering.
"Penny? 'Course she in'nt," Prairie Sunset replied, her voice sharp--honed by a relentless lifestyle to a relentless machine-gun fire of words. "What're you doin' on my property?"
"I'm looking for Princess Celestia. Am I close to finding her? Am I closer than I used to be?"
"Well I can't 'magine bein' further 'way from 'er, unless you're all 'a way into th' Zebra tribal lands. What're you doin' here? You tryin' get at my water? We don' even bury th' dummies try that. Just let'm for the birds."
"Um...no. No, I have plenty of water. And I can get more water real easy."
"Well why're you lookin' for Celestia here? Crazy mare is probably up in 'questria what with that war and everythin' she does. And how come you crossed all three fences? And what th' hay's a pony doin' on the borderlands if'n she in'nt tryin' to take over somepony else's farm?"
"Please stop talking. Farming is boring. I want to find Celestia. Please help me. I've been walking for so long." The strange pony's eyes began to water. "I started out wandering city to city and the zebras weren't helpful at all. And then I finally met a pony and he lied to me but I found out I had to go this way but I don't know if this is that way any more and I have this map but nopony wants to help me ever. They're all real mean or dead."
"...you lost? Punny-Milly is a bad place for ponies to get lost in. Bunch of worthless trash, the locals are. You got zebras tryin' to eat your food, you got wildebeest tryin' to drink your water, and that's just in the mornin's. Jeez." She exhaled deeply. "A'ight, c'mon in with me. Penny'll keep watch out here for a while. Let ol' Prairie Sunset sort'ya out. Can't very well leave a fella pony t' th' mercy a' those savages."
"The dog? Oh. Ha ha ha. She's watching lots of things!"
"Uh, yeah, kid, she's a watchdog. Boy, you seem like a weird cookie. Heh. Well, c'mon back to th' house."
Prairie Sunset turned and headed back to the house. Screwball skipped alongside her. Behind them, unnoticed by either pony, a dog dropped out of the sky and slammed back into the ground with a dull thud.
---
North of Everfree Forest, Equestria.
Rarity sat in her tent, her brow knitted in concentration. She had forms to fill out--endless forms, in neatly-stacked towers on her desk and in boxes around her. She was now Colonel Rarity, head of the Support division of the Army of Central Equestria. And she wasn't happy about it in the slightest. The promotion wasn't welcome, as she hadn't done anything in particular to warrant it, other than be alive and near Celestia at a time when nopony who outranked her was. Even the rank was something of a slap in the face, as the Support division had previously been headed by a general. Oh, yes, Rarity darling, congratulations, you have been promoted because nobody else is left to promote--but we're not going to give you the rank a pony of your responsibility deserves. What a vote of confidence that was.
Celestia claimed that there simply wasn't a New Equestrian Army command infrastructure, given the autonomy of the army that silly mailmare had somehow blundered into leading. Celestia claimed that there wasn't a New Equestrian Army chief of supply because there was no unified supply division. Ridiculous. Twilight Sparkle was still going to be promoted to the rank of Field Marshal, ostensibly in charge of both the Army of Central Equestria and the Army of Northern Equestria, and she hardly commanded a few thousand soldiers. Clearly it wasn't about reflecting reality.
She shook her head and kept writing. A brilliant designer born in a farm town had to learn how to shrug off affronts to one's dignity. And there was still so much work to do. Establishing a brand new chain of supply was proving difficult; it seemed like her map was turning into a spaghetti-like mass of intersecting lines and routes twisting to meet up with other routes and stops at supply posts that may or may not actually exist in the real world. But she kept working. She had to take care of so many ponies. And there would be so many more to take care of. She knew that soon she'd have to make tough decisions about who to help and who to let suffer--and she knew that a little more work now would mean having to neglect fewer ponies later.
A voice came from outside her tent. "Rarity, dear, I require your presence in my tent immediately." Celestia. Of course. Rarity scowled, and didn't stop writing for a second. She finished the form slowly--painfully, deliberately slowly--then stamped it, signed it, and filed it away. Only then did she stand up and leave her tent.
---
Northern Borderlands, Punda-Milia.
Shafts of light poured through the open holes in the wall, lighting the tiny house.
"Well, this is it," Prairie Sunset said. "In'nt much of a house I know, but Punny-Milly in'nt 'zakly a forest, y'know? Hayseed's out patrollin' too, but he'll be back'n a couple hours if y'wanna meet'm."
"I like meeting new people! If they're nice. But lots of people aren't nice. You seem nice, maybe! My name is Screwball."
"Kinda fits you, what with that getup you got. Where'd you get all them bags'n clothes'n stuff?"
"Made 'em," she said distractedly. "You sure got a lot of stuff in this little house!"
"No kiddin'. Not much of a leatherworker, huh? 'Sallright, I'm not one either. Can't stand to touch the stuff, but it's what the savages all use, so it's what we got sometimes."
"I'm hungry," Screwball replied. "And I'm bored of all the food I can make. I want new food."
Prairie Sunset blinked in confusion at the sudden topic shift, then accepted it. "Well, we got lotsa fresh grasses and flowers, all sortsa types."
"I can make grass. I can make flowers. I want something new."
"...I made up an apple tart for my daughter's birthday. We still got some left over. If'n you like I could sell it to you."
"I can make apple tarts," Screwball said impatiently. "I want something I haven't had yet. Something new."
Prairie Sunset glanced at the little pantry shelf. There wasn't much there. Pioneer life was simple. "I got...I got a lemon?" She stopped, then realized the absurdity of the conversation. "Y'know, this ain't a restaurant, missy, this's our home an' we don' owe you nuttin an' we done you more'n anypony deserves just lettin' you rest here."
"Lemons aren't tasty. You're going to give me something new. I want you to give me something new."
"Well, missy, I don't wanna give you nothin' now."
"Hmph. We'll see about that. I bet I can..."
The stone atop the purple pony's hat began to glow brightly, and she lifted a few inches off the ground. She stuck out her tongue. Her right eye swirled.
---
North of Everfree Forest, Equestria.
Pinkie Pie lay on her back, rubbing her hind legs together. She let one leg rub against and over the stump of the other. She extended both legs. One touched the edge of her tent. The other didn't. She closed her eyes and tried to extend it further. She willed it to touch the tent. She desperately tried to feel the pressure of hoof against against taut canvas. Yet all she felt in the missing leg was a twisted, tight pain, as if the leg were crumpled beneath her body. She kicked the stump out a few times. It did nothing. The phantom leg still hurt. She grunted in frustration, and kicked wildly. Still nothing. She sat up and started hitting at the spot where her brain insisted the leg was. Her front hooves just bounced harmlessly off the cot. She hit again, and again. Nothing. She let out a sharp, angry little shriek, and then fell back on the bed. She shuddered in frustration, then sighed, and relaxed, resigning herself to the pain. Hopeless.
Phantom limb, they called it. Stupid limb, more like. The leg wasn't even there. How could it hurt? It wasn't even the stump hurting where the break had been; that pain was always there and it made sense. But occasionally feeling pain in places she didn't even have? The idea of it would have been funny if it wasn't so awful.
But she wasn't going to laugh about it. Nope. Nosiree. Not Pinkie Pie. Even if it was funny, she was going to be a grown-up mare and...and "acknowledge her bad feelings" or some silly thing like that. Ugh. Twilight and Celestia always said such silly things. Sigh. But when she didn't listen to them, she became an icky pony A CRAZY PONY and she did icky things CRAZY SCARY THINGS and then all of her friends died. HA HA THEY ALL DIED BECAUSE OF ME BECAUSE I COULDN'T HANDL--no. No. Calm down. It's okay. It's okay, Pinkie. Scary things did happen but I can accept that. It's scary but I'm not alone with it. Scary things did happen but I can accept that. It's scary but I'm not alone with it. Scary things did happen but I can accept that. It's scary but I'm not alone with it.
There. Better. She sighed, then realized that she was curled up in a fetal ball on her cot. Her mane was damp with sweat. She stretched back out. Twilight was right: talking to herself may sound silly, but it worked. It calmed the bad thoughts down. She never felt relaxed like she used to, but...well, it was getting better. And it was getting easier to deal with the sudden attacks of the bad thoughts.
There was a voice at her tent. "Pinkie Pie, I need you to come to my tent at once." Celestia. And she didn't sound happy. The Princess would probably say something else to make the bad thoughts come back. But Pinkie could handle it. Because scary things happen but I can accept that. It's scary but I'm not alone with it. She ran the mantra through her head a few times, then rolled off the cot.
---
Northern Borderlands, Punda-Milia.
"What on Earth is goin' on," Prairie Sunset said, backing away from the floating pony. "Are ya some sorta demon or--"
"I don't know if this is gonna work," Screwball said, her mouth falling into a dull, static smile. "But here we go anyway! Knock knock!"
Prairie Sunset felt a pressure in the back of her mind. She put a hoof to her temple. Her head began to hurt. Then, in a snap, the pressure was relieved, and she felt something flooding into her consciousness. Images. Feelings. Thousands of images. Endless feelings. A torrent of thought; a whirlpool of emotion. She lost herself in the sea of potential. A voice like bells rang through her existence, though she hardly noticed it. Oops. Too much. That was dumb of me.
It all fell away. She was in a dark void. Nothing existed. She thought nothing. It was empty beyond understanding; even the idea of emptiness was gone. She stood silently for a second. Or for a century. She didn't know the difference. The voice came again. Ha ha ha. Way too little. I am really bad at this!
Prairie Sunset then felt a surge of emotion as a thousand joys sang through her mind. Better, I guess. Wow. This is hard. Okay. Let's see. Hold on...oh, I know! She felt peace. She was lying in a bed. She looked down. Her newborn foal was in her arms. She was back in Appleoosa, before they had left. She nuzzled the infant, and whispered in its ear, "I will protect you. I will give you everything you need."
Then she was in the void again, empty but for the words she had just spoken. The single thought rang through space. She heard nothing but those words. She felt nothing but those words. She was nothing but those words. A minute or a lifetime went by. Ha ha. Okay! You can come back now!
The stone on the hat returned to normal. Screwball felt her mind closing to some semblance of normality. Prairie Sunset shook her head. She had such a headache all of a sudden, and no idea why. But...but that pony had asked for food, hadn't she? She looked at Screwball, and smiled generously. Of course she would give her new guest food. What kind of mother would she be if she didn't?
"What can I getcha?" she asked.
"Ha ha ha ha ha," Screwball laughed in bubbly delight. "I can't believe that actually worked! That's so cool. Oh, um, please give me something new. Something I haven't had yet. Something I don't know how to make!"
"Well, let's see what I got," Prairie Sunset replied. She turned to her little pantry shelf. "Hm. Well, I got this tart, I got a lemon, oh, and some honey too. Let's see what I can do for you."
---
North of Everfree Forest, Equestria.
Rainbow Dash lay on her back, her thin pillow over her face. Her eyes burned with exhaustion. She hadn't slept properly in...well, strictly speaking in months, but she had barely slept at all for weeks. All day she stumbled forward, operating purely on automatic instinct. All night she stared wide-eyed into the empty blackness until her eyes stung from being open, then shut them as tight as she could until they stung from being closed. And when she had free hours, she tried to sleep. Sometimes she did. Usually she didn't. And, sadly, today was like usual.
Her work was mostly easy, fortunately. There was plenty of it, but it didn't take any brainpower to fill out most paperwork, and the decisions she did have to make were gut decisions anyway. Maybe she was making bad decisions. But they seemed to work out all right so far. Like her system of village organization, where each redirected straggling soldiers they found to a village appointed as rally towns. That way, all they had to do each time the army moved was to send messengers to the rally towns. It was an obvious solution, of course, but when there isn't a system in place to address a given problem beforehand, sometimes a pony who comes up with an obvious solution is the right pony to have.
She rolled onto her side, keeping the pillow pressed over her face. Heh. "Can sometimes come up with obvious solutions." That's certainly a reason to be promoted to Colonel and given command of all cavalry of the Army of Central Equestria. Never mind that she had ruined both major battles practically by herself. Never mind that she was responsible for more dead cavalryponies than any gryphon could ever hope to be. Never mind that she had failed in every way imaginable at every moment of her military career. Nope. Lt. Dash nearly loses a battle and becomes Maj. Dash, and then Maj. Dash nearly loses a war and becomes Col. Dash. And it wasn't just Celestia refusing to acknowledge her failures, oh no. The army still loved her--and that was the worst part.
Her first failure ended up being seen by the common soldier as some brilliant display of courageous flying and take-charge leadership that saved the army from destruction. Her second failure, as near as she could tell, was being painted as a heroic and selfless last stand rather than as a pointless waste of lives. And then...ugh. Then there was the Elements thing, which of course only solidified her reputation as a hero. Her awful, horrible lie of a reputation.
But...well, it wasn't all bad. She didn't deserve it in the slightest, but she could use it. She cringed when the cavalry worshipped her as some sort of hero--but when she told them how to fly they took every word to heart, and when she told them to practice a maneuver, they'd do it until they were perfect. An approving word from Col. Dash was the most prized honor in the royal cavalry, and ponies would work themselves to exhaustion to get one. Everypony trained with astounding dedication, because everypony looked up to her. And sometimes--just sometimes, for a few minutes--she even let herself believe that she was worth looking up to. And Twilight did say she shouldn't be so hard on herself.
But Twilight never had to face failure. Twilight didn't have to watch an army crumble because of her orders. Twilight didn't have Spitfire's blood on her hooves--literally on her hooves, slick and warm and flowing and staining her powder-blue fur a deep, wet purple. Dash pulled the pillow tighter against her eyes. Maybe Twilight was right. Maybe she should let it all go. Maybe she'd be a better friend if she could make herself think she wasn't awful. Sure. Maybe. And maybe then she'd sprout a horn and become a Princess or something stupid like that.
"Rainbow Dash," a voice said, "I need your presence in my tent immediately." It was Celestia. Of course it was Celestia. It was always Celestia. She never thought she'd hate hearing that voice. She certainly never thought she'd hate it for being too supportive of her. She shook her head, bit her pillow, ground her teeth against its fabric, and then let the sweat-and-saliva-stained lump of cheap stuffing fall away.
---
Northern Borderlands, Punda-Milia.
Prairie Sunset set a plate in front of Screwball and shrugged. "Well, missy, it ain't much, but it's what I got. Here. Apple tart, with a lemon-honey glaze. Don't know'f it'll be good, but I hope ya like it innyway."
Screwball cocked her head as she inspected the pastry. "I said I wanted a new thing. This is things I know."
"Only so many ingredients in the world, an' fewer in my house." Prairie Sunset said, an unconcealed pain in her voice. "I can only do so much."
"Hm. You're right! There aren't many ingredients out there." Screwball scratched her head with a hoof. "I guess I never thought about that. Apple tarts are made from ingredients, right?"
"Yeah. They are. 'Course they are. That's kinda what 'ingredients' means. Stuff you make stuff outta." Prairie Sunset had given up on understanding the purple pony. She was like a child. She decided that was why she had such a strong desire to take care of her. Screwball did kind of remind her of her foal, but she couldn't put her hoof on why.
"But so are apple pies. And it's like the same ingredients? And they're so different! Ha ha. I just put that together! Ha ha ha." Screwball laughed, then abruptly stopped, and went face down in the tart. She ate it ravenously, then popped up with a huge smile.
"Didja like it, missy?"
"Yeah! It's weird. Like, I know lemons and honey and apple tarts, but I didn't know what they were like together. You can create new stuff by combining things!"
"Well, that's the secret'a cookin' if y'ask me."
"Hm," Screwball said. "You're a good pony. I like you!"
Prairie Sunset laughed. "Y'ain't too bad y'self, even if y'are a weird cookie."
Screwball licked her lips, then suddenly looked at Prairie Sunset. "Hey," she said, "can you tell me what a map does?"
---
North of Everfree Forest, Equestria.
Fluttershy walked through the camp, her head held low. She hated being out. Everypony looked at her. Everypony knew she was a coward. Everypony knew she had abandoned everypony else. Everypony knew she didn't deserve to be head medic. They knew even if they didn't tell her--even if they insisted they were glad to see her--even if they insisted she was amazingly talented, and that she had an astounding knowledge of field-treating wounds, and that she was fearless under fire. They knew. How could they trust her? They couldn't, of course. She had only been in a few tiny skirmishes. That didn't make up for her desertion. She didn't know if she ever could make up for it.
She entered Celestia's tent. The other five ponies were already in a tight semicircle around the Princess. Celestia acknowledged her arrival with a nod, then motioned for her to sit down. Fluttershy quietly crept in and sat between Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
Celestia began speaking before Fluttershy had finished sitting down. She spoke in a calm but authoritative tone. "Dear ponies, I've called you here because I've learned something of enormous importance. I have been in contact with the Sublime Council of the Zebra Tribes, and have come to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that the planned Gryphonic plot on my life is orders of magnitude more dangerous than we previously believed. It threatens my life in a real and dire way, it certainly threatens your life, and it quite possibly threatens the life of any other pony you care to name. The Gryphons have, likely unwittingly, unleashed a force of near-unlimited magical power."
"Some background is in order. At one time, I knew a filly named Topsy-Turvy. She had lost her parents in an accident, and became a ward of the state. She wasn't particularly bright or particularly talented--she was not what you six would believe to be a clever pony--but she had a strange and cheerful view of the world, and had a particular creativity I appreciated. I took a personal liking to her, and let her live with me. She was well taken care of: I educated her, I fed her and clothed her as if she were of my blood, and I arranged for her to play with the colts and fillies of the magic kindergarten. She was quite happy."
"Then Discord came. He thought it would be amusing to...corrupt my little friend. When he found her, she was a mentally limited filly surrounded by magical unicorns. He decided to make her one of the most mentally capable beings in existence. In her mind he opened a connection to the Flow--the primal source of all magic--that was nearly unlimited. Her mind couldn't handle it, of course. Topsy-Turvy was wiped away entirely and immediately. She ceased to be the delightful little girl I knew, and became a sick mockery of a god. He gave her the name "Screwball." I do not know what has happened to her since. At first I assumed she had died, but I would get occasional reports of her existence--and I always told whoever brought me the report to forget that they had ever seen her. She was a twisted, miserable, but harmless creature--so long as she was unprovoked. And so I let her be."
"The Gryphons found her. How, I do not know. They also found an ancestral treasure of theirs, the Occultation: a device that cancels out magic, once wielded against our armies. The Gryphons seem to have intended to use it to nullify my magic and Luna's magic, allowing their assassins to kill us. I do not understand how or why Screwball ended up in possession of the Occultation, but she now has it. And that means she can choose to be a normal mare, or a goddess insane with her own power, or anything in between."
"However, despite her power, her mental level is roughly that of a child, as is her emotional maturity. What's more, she seems to completely lack any sort of conscience or any sort of awareness of others as valuable beings. She is not evil. She is worse. She is pure impulse, unrestrained by knowledge or by morality or by emotion or by physical possibility. She has no qualms about killing others. She may not even understand the concept of death. She can and will destroy anything or anypony that happens to be in the way of whatever she decides to do. She can and will do so instantly and effortlessly."
"And, for one of any number of possible reasons, she has decided to find me and kill me."
The room was silent.
Applejack spoke first. "...and...y'all want us to stop her? With that magic of friendship thing?"
Celestia shook her head. "I doubt that is possible. The Occultation can nullify all magic, and the Elements of Harmony are nothing if not magic. No. I will return to Canterlot, so that Screwball might find me without having to tear a path of death through Equestria. And I will attempt to speak with her if I can, and will attempt to defend myself if I can. And if I cannot do either, I will die, as will Luna, and there is little that can be done."
"But...then...why..." Applejack looked helplessly at the Princess.
"Applejack, I am telling all of this to you six because I need there to be somepony who is prepared to lead Equestria when Luna and I are dead."
---
Northern Borderlands, Punda-Milia.
"Huh!" Screwball said. "So...the map is like a picture of the ground, like a pegasus would see it if she were really high up."
"Yep! Exactly," Prairie Sunset said.
"Ha ha, that makes sense! And this way is north, and then this way is south, and that means the sun rises over here, right?"
"Other side, hon. In the east."
"Really?" Screwball screwed up her face. "Oh, yeah. Yeah. Gotcha."
Prairie Sunset nodded maternally. "There ya go."
"Thanks for all the help," Screwball said as she rolled the map up. She slid it into her grotesque bag. "You're real helpful. I like you a lot. You're probably my favorite pony I know outside of my dad."
The pioneer pony laughed breezily. "You ain't so bad y'self, missy. You want somethin' to eat on the way?"
"Nah. I can make all sorts of food now that I know I can put different things together!"
"...uh, how'd ya used to make stuff without puttin' it together?"
"Magic." She grabbed the strap of the bag in her teeth and tossed it over her shoulder.
"Y'ain't a unicorn, kid."
"Like this," she said. She stuck out her tongue. Prairie Sunset's door suddenly turned into a cascade of warm sweetrolls. Screwball giggled as Prairie Sunset's mouth fell open in shock. "But that's not how I usually get rid of bad ponies, because you can just transform things back if I transform them. I crush them and then reshape them so they're totally dead."
Prairie Sunset was stone silent.
"Ha ha ha," Screwball bubbled, "you're silly. You were so fast talking, and you're all quiet now! I would turn you into something as a joke, but I like you too much the way you are. Maybe I'll visit you someday! I think I can probably teleport myself places but I don't really know how yet. It seems kinda dangerous to experiment with. Maybe I'll try teleporting other ponies first! Yeah, that'll be what I do. So, um, if you see a pony suddenly appear in your house and he's inside out, it's just because I'm practicing, okay?"
Prairie Sunset didn't move.
"Well! Bye! And thanks for the tart even though I kinda made you give it to me. If I see your husband I'll try to send him home for you! "
Screwball hopped over the pile of sweetrolls, and cheerfully skipped down the dirt path leading away from the house.
Eeeppp.....I don't know what's scarier: Screwball figuring out that she's killing people or Rarity's refusal to see that Derpy is a badass merely because Miss Fatuous DAAAAAAAAAAAAAHling got inconvenienced by a dizzy spell.
Notes:
1. Next chapter will be up next Mon or Tues. Still an ESL teacher, and still writing and grading finals.
2. I was worried Hearths'-Warming Eve would ruin my fanon history in some way. Totally didn't. Awesome. It fit even better than I was expecting. Pegasi being daring, militaristic gloryhounds? Unicorns sitting in the back and ruling everypony? Earth ponies doing the shitwork? This is basically the army as I saw it. Given that the army structure begins as a hidebound relic of olden days (as there hasn't been an army in generations), I am enormously fortunate. Plus, we got a glimpse of pre-pony Equestria--and it worked perfectly well without ponies controlling it, suggesting that non-pony lands do indeed work according to the laws of nature, keeping a major foundation of my world alive for the time being. A history/lore episode and it doesn't shred your fanon history/lore to pieces? That's what folks call dodging a bullet.
screwball... somehow scares me more every chapter.
77800 No, that's what folks call taking the bullet and turning it into a missile, then displaying it on your front lawn for everyone to gape at.
77800
New episode doesn't rip apart your fan fiction at the seams?
It's a Hearth's Warming Eve miracle!
I had a nightmare last night, and screwball was in it.
Presumably the 'and Luna will die' part is because she'd insist on trying to protect Celestia? Or because Celestia insists that she not be left to rule alone.
Otherwise it's not clear she's a target.
77800
What works even better is that Rarity and Platinum are both oblivious jerkasses in this. It would never in a million years occur to the idiot they wasted the Element of Generosity on to look at Derpy and ask herself "Hey. Here's a thought....maybe the reason she's so clumsy is that she can't see straight. I should probably cut her some slack instead of whining because my junk mail got a bit of mud on it."
Prairie Sunset you just wont the FREAKING LOTTERY. And simultaneously dodged a demi-gods bullet.
Still good, well just saw hearth warming eve (It was awesome, we also saw that the pegasus were all warrior class before equestria, possibly spartan base, so it explain how derpy was able to take command the ancient warrior blood of the pegasus has awaken in her.)
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I can totally feel for Rarity though...imagine going to war, you enlist and show up and suddenly the weird looking chick who bags your groceries at Food Lion is a general and your new commanding officer who everyone tells you has been a tactical genius the whole time. You would be skeptical too...
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Oh let it go, have you ever join the military and then be part of the war, it warps your true self until you become someone else in a total 180.
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True....she's also never actually seen Derpy do some of the cool (but still sick) shit she's been doing.
Great Celestia on a bicycle, Screwball is going to destroy the world.
So with the Northern and Central Equestrian armies, are those the remains of the entire New Equestrian Army that was left after the last battle, were those always there?
Astounding as always. my favorate fanfic.
>>>To the author that was previously my favorite writer. Dude just read this you'll understand why.
Hooray for Field Marshall Sparkle!
T'was an excellent chapter my friend, it was all really fascinating. And oh man, dat ending!
I really hope that Celestia and Luna don't get killed because that would really be awful! But then again that's the point, I guess. Realistically though, as much I want them to live, I have little faith for their survival. Here's hoping that the Occultation will kill Screwball before that happens anyway(A fools hope).
It makes me curious though, what will happen to the world if Celestia and Luna do die? Obviously the gryphons probably think that the whole sun and the moon thing they do is most likely hooey, but then again I'm sure they can't help but be skeptical when your talking about undeniably super magical immortal Alicorns here. God would the gryphons ever feel stupid later if the sun and the moon just suddenly stopped, or if the they drifted away and the planet froze, or even worse, crash into the planet! I like to think that the Celestia and Luna are integral to survival of all life on the planet myself, whether it be tame or wild; killing them off would not be anyone's best interest. But then again you've already hinted that the sun at least can move of its own accord, to what degree is as of yet unclear though. You've never actually said (Or I just don't recall if you did) if Celestia has been raising or lowering the sun or not during this campaign at all. I believe the closest you've come to broaching the subject is by saying that Celestia needed to be in Canterlot if she wanted to use the sun to chase the winter cold away, but thats still pretty vague and leaves room for numerous interesting possibilities and interpretations. One could easily say she needs to be in Canterlot to control the sun with any real accuracy, or she needs to be in Canterlot to control the sun period. I like to think its the former, but to my chagrin it'll probably end up being the latter.
But then again, with the latest episode more or less said without saying that sun and moon worked on their own before the sisters. But we can't apply everything in the episode, or else the winter the armies survived would have never ended with the hate going around because of the war. Ponies more or less stealing from each other in times of desperation and all. Of course Celestia and Luna could have just solved the wendigo issue after whenever they arrrived. God, just so many facets to analyze! Its to much I say!
Even if the sisters do die though, I'm not sure the mane six are going to still apparent problem. Will they lead? Of course they will, they'll buck up I'm sure, but the Screwball is still there and still quite dangerous even if she's not actively trying to specifically kill someone. And other then just waiting for the Occultation to kill her off, I'm not sure what they'll be able to do. Hmm... well if the flow is limitless I guess you could say that with an incredible amount of magic force could be powerful enough to break whatever seal the Occultation makes. Ah well, I'm getting ahead of myself now. I'll find out eventually.
Jeez, there's so many other things I wanted to say but I just can't think of logical and coherent way to express it so... I won't! I'll just wait for next Monday/Tuesday. Happy holidays!
Finally got around to making an account on this thing, and I got to say,
This is my favorite fan-fiction of all time!!*shouts*
So, I guess if Celestria and Luna die, Will Twilight take Celestria's place? Who will take Luna's place? Screwball maybe? Twilight and Screwball locked in the infinite conflict of day and night? Twilight's name seems to allude to changing of day to night. Seems to fit.
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She has never been given a canonical name. She has been repeatedly referred to as Derpy Hooves by both Lauren Faust and the active creative team. Lauren has also said it's possible that the Winter Wrap-Up mention of "Ditzy Doo" was a mention of the crosseyed grey pony.
Either are acceptable names. I have her referred to as Derpy Hooves by everyone in Ponyville for reasons. That isn't her birth name in my mind. Neither is Ditzy Doo, though some ponies somewhere call her that, too, again for reasons. Both are insulting names, aren't they? No mother would name her baby "Derpy" or "Ditzy." Will this come up in story? Probably, but not certainly.
so, the Gryphons are doing all this because they view Equestria as being 'unnatural' right? And their own religion is the Duality? From what I've been thinking wouldn't destroying Equestria throw the world out of order?
So the premise of the Gryphon religion <if I read it right> is the belief that there is Chaos and Order all at once right? So wouldn't the lands outside of Equestria represent the 'Chaos' half and Equestria itself represent the 'Order'? If this is the case then the Gryphons would be doing more damage to their beliefs then they would be helping it. If this is not the case then at least I had a fun brain exercise hehe
79210
The Gryphonic religion is one of duality, yes. They don't see their lands as being aligned with "Chaos," though; Chaos is a force of destruction and dissolution, while Order is a force of alignment and creation. It's also true that Equestria is a land of exceptional Order, where things mostly stay static unless a pony wants them to move--that is to say, destruction usually only happens through another act of creation, rather than being a force of its own.
However, they don't see their lands as being pure Chaos, as a purely Chaotic land would not survive long. Such a land would simply spiral into decay, and would end up being a completely dead wasteland of endlessly shifting sand. A land without Order would be a physically dead land, just as they believe Equestria's land without Chaos is a spiritually dead land. Rather than see their lands as chaotic and Equestria as ordered, they see their lands as being balanced, and Equestria as being imbalanced. (They also believe, with some justification, that the ponies are spreading the imbalance). They want to
return Equestria to its natural state.
Whether any aspect of their religion--from ancestor worship to a dualistic cosmology--is actually founded in reality is deliberately left ambiguous and will probably never be addressed. It's important that Equestria works in one way and the rest of the world in another way, and it's important that the Gryphons (and to an extent the Zebras) believe a certain thing about that difference. Whether those beliefs are accurate isn't as important.
77800 Really? I kind of pegged the whole "Normal Unicorns control night and day" thing as kind of a big issue. But then again, the Alicorns in your story are already suffering from a little diminished importance because they can't control celestial bodies without being in Canterlot (and therefore, the Sun defaults to its natural behavior.) Its not a "Past Sins" situation where no acting Alicorn condemns the world to eternal dusk.
Actually, I'm not so certain why Nightmare Moon was such a threat if some unicorns (probably using a huge mass ritual) could just raise the sun whenever the dark queen slept and thus was unable to fight against
Whether any aspect of their religion--from ancestor worship to a dualistic cosmology--is actually founded in reality is deliberately left ambiguous and will probably never be addressed. It's important that Equestria works in one way and the rest of the world in another way, and it's important that the Gryphons (and to an extent the Zebras) believe a certain thing about that difference. Whether those beliefs are accurate isn't as important.
Normally, I'm inclined to agree. (Although a certain snippy part of me starts to think that this 'spiritually dead' stuff is just rhetoric the Gryphons and Zebras tell themselves to keep them from questioning if their lands and their way of life are in fact suffering from...inadequacies which Equestria doesn't.) but wasn't there a slightly more....ahem...practical reason for the gryphons to go to war?
Namely, that they couldn't farm Equestrian soil without being ponies themselves, and Equestria was expanding? So the Gryphons moved out, and the ponies moved in without any resistance, and then Equestria's "blessings" expanded a little more, displacing more Gryphons?
It'd be nice to hear from Celestia or somepony on this subject. Considering how they were losing land to the ponies, however bloodlessly, I'm more surprised the Gryphons did not attack sooner.
Gah! I am bad at this skipping around thing!
Actually, I'm not so certain why Nightmare Moon was such a threat if some unicorns (probably using a huge mass ritual) could just raise the sun whenever the dark queen slept and thus was unable to fight against ....
....them. But then again, perhaps day and night control became more difficult due to some kind of cataclysm? Perhaps the ritual is absolutely gigantic, requiring all of unicorn kind to generate enough magic to pull it off, and making it nigh impossible for everypony to commit to that unless they really, really have to and when it would mean angering a creature of darkness who has enough magical power to do it herself.
81222
Good points!
First, I'm fine with unicorns controlling the sun/moon in absence of an alicorn princess. Pony magic is, as Celestia says, *intrinsic;* they naturally control the world around them. A pegasus can control the weather. An Earth pony can control nature. And a unicorn can control magic. We've learned that in concert, unicorns can control the sun and moon, but that doesn't really affect my story in any way I can see--though you may have some perspective I don't. Regarding why the Princesses do it, I'd say that they have special links to the celestial bodies that allow them to perform the rituals by themselves, and they do so as a token of their power rather than out of strict necessity. As for NMM? I'd say that raising a sun or setting a moon is under the best circumstances probably quite hard. Doing so contrary to the will of a corrupted Moon Goddess is probably impossible.
(How this all squares with a heliocentric universe will hopefully not have to be explained in this story. Maybe in an appendix.)
The war is fought for a number of reasons. Some have been explained, and some will be explained at the appropriate moment. As explained in Chapter I, the principal practical reason for the war is that the pony-controlled lands have been expanding and that with the return of Luna, the Gryphon King has found an opening that would allow him to roll back Equestrian borders. However, the ultimate causes of war usually aren't on found the lips of the dying. The religious issue is important because of what it signifies about the culture that ponies are at war with.
You're certainly right that there's much more to the issue of religion than "Gryphons believe X and Ponies believe Y." I'd love to have more opportunities to explore the cultural issues at play here. There will certainly be more exploration (I've barely touched on the possibilities), but there's plenty else I need to cover, and nobody wants this story to hit 300,000 words or some bullshit like that.
As for Celestia's take on the cause of the war? We've had hints here and there. A few more: 1. Ponies see her one way. Everyone else sees her another way. There are reasons for both perceptions. 2. Celestia always knows more than she lets on. She's over a thousand years old and has been diplomatically active the whole time. 3. The Gryphon King's motivations have not been entirely revealed. He started this whole thing and he's had only a walk-on part so far.
On a completely unrelated note, I *love* when people ask me for information about things when I'm writing a chapter involving some of those things.
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Derpy is a pony willing to commit acts that horrify the conscience in attempts to prevent greater evils from occurring. Screwball is a pony without a conscience. Your reactions to either are completely up to you, of course!
This is quite brilliant though now i have questions, will windigo appear (They feed of hatred, which sorta makes them cannibalistic in the emotion sense.) btw you keep mentioning zebra which make me realize something, what happen to zecora (I might have missed that.)
btw random fact you may not be aware of
In contrast to how little the Windigos resemble the wendigo of myth, they bear a surprising resemblance to the Wendigo of the Cthulhu Mythos, a Great Old One named Ithaqua: both are horrifying Eldritch Abominations that bring about deadly, world-freezing blizzards. The Windigos are even visibly equine in shape, much like how Ithaqua is significantly more humanoid than most of that particular Mythos's Eldritch Abominations.
I certainly can understand maj. Almond. And I just cannot stop thinking about bombing. Here is one more idea — night bombing. Camp fires will make excellent targets and effect on griffon morale should be considerable. Getting bombed in he middle of the night and the next night and so on. There are problems with range and navigation though.
so other than being a crazy little god that can do what ever she wants will screwball have a big effect on the war
twilight is starting to look like a emperor from france
I can't wait for the chapters to come.
Keep up the great work, bro.
87638
Good observation. Three points:
1. From an in-universe perspective: Napoleonic battles were more slowly paced than modern ones. Orders were written out and sent to officers during the battle, or runners/messengers were sent to relay orders. There wasn't much difference between an order taking 20 seconds to say and an order taking 10 seconds to say, because that was nothing compared to the time it would take to relay or to enact the order.. (By contrast, you'll note that the 'orders' given by officers to soldiers in combat are always just whistles.) Plus, as you say, it was their first battle. Celestia's been here before, and Twilight knows her shit inside and out, but their subordinates basically have no idea what they're doing, and taking an extra ten seconds to ensure they don't fuck up in a relatively static battle that takes several hours isn't a bad tradeoff.
2.. From an authorial perspective: When describing battles to an audience that doesn't have an intuitive grasp of tactics, of Napoleonic artillery usage, or of the proper use of various types of infantry or cavalry, elaborating on orders to an incompetent subordinate is far more fluid way of providing exposition than a flagrant information dump. In Celestia's orders, we are quickly and seamlessly told not only what the capabilities of various types of cavalry are, but also given further information with which the reader can help understand what is happening and what will happen. The compliment I've gotten that I've most enjoyed has been that my battle scenes are clear and easy to follow, and to pat myself on the back a bit, I attribute that to the fact that I take every opportunity I can to work in a bit of information about what's going on.
3. A far bigger offender in the orders is that Celestia isn't giving her subordinates any ability to respond to situations on their own initiative--she outlines contingencies and explains what to do if they happen. This is a somewhat reasonable thing to do, given the incompetence of the general staff and given that she and Luna are literally the only living ponies who know anything about war first-hand. Still, it's no way to run an army and it bites them in the ass later.
another awesome chapter cant wait til the next one
whens the next one?
This fic is the reason I even signed up to this web page. So thoroughly well written and engaging I stayed up till 4am to read it all in a single sitting. I request, nay, demand a conclusion! After all, Grey Mare-Macintosh shipping fics will need an origin :P
*waits for next chapter*
So, um... Not rushing anything, but didn't you say the new chapter would be last Monday?
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Odds are that her real name is something pretty like "Amber Dawn" or "Bubbly Delight."
New chapter please!
No new chapter + weeks of no new stuff = Y U NO rages.
Great stuff. I like seeing the author give his insight. He really seems to know what he is doing. My fic won't stack up to this one I know it. The depth at least...
Silver out!
I must state that this fanfiction is the standard in which all other My Little Pony War fanfictions will be compared to, I just hope I can meet the standard with my own fanfiction (What, I can dream.).
Well, it would be interesting if the six ended up the rulers of equestria. but I know that's not gonna happen.