Twilight Sparkle, Cadance, Shining Armor, and those affiliated with the wedding,
I believe I afford you all an explanation as to the events that transpired during the wedding, specifically the whereabouts of my sister, Luna, and why I choked on taking down that bug queen.
To start, Luna wasn't in Canterlot for the entirety of the wedding. Last night, she and I discovered that Changelings from the Badlands had found their way onto the castle grounds. I didn't think that dragon smoke would come back to bite me in the arse, but that's what I get for smoking out a hive I didn't even know existed. Hindsight at its finest.
Anyway, in the interest of saving time in both protecting the town and tracking down the source of the infestation, she agreed to seek out their hidey hole while I held down the fort. She has yet to return, but I'm certain she's busy smacking those bugs around with her swatter as I speak.
As for me, I found a note one of the intruding Changelings had on their person, specifically addressed to me by their good queen. I... won't go into the details as to what was in it, but I mentioned a rather big threat has been made in it to Shining, and he set up the barrier that lasted 'till the day of the wedding.
Then, as you all know, a lot of things went down. I said some things I regret, Shining has said worse he regrets, and Cadance regrets turning Twilight Velvet's guest room upside-down looking for anything Chrysalis may have left behind after learning of her bedding with Shining for two nights... sort of. She's a tad possessive of you, Shining, and I'd keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't do anything too... drastic.
But more importantly, all of you deserve to know what exactly went on in the throne room where I fell in front of everyone in the most depressing upset in power since the story of the Love Poisoned Lovers.
First off, my ponies, know that when I fell, I did so for two reasons and two reasons only. The first relates to underestimation of her accumulated power, and the second is fear of collateral damage upon overpowering her.
I had cast a simple immobilizing spell that would have incapacitated most unicorns at low to mid-levels of magic prowess--I did not expect Chrysalis to have absorbed that much energy and resist it so easily. Kudos to her for being efficient with her time, and for catching me off-guard as a result.
But why didn't I simply overpower her? Because I risked the chance of a magical explosion when two spells contest each other. That sort of explosion is one that can't be contained, and usually leaves a large crater with nothing in it being safe from harm, and usually seriously injures those inside the blast. Not only would this ruin my throne room, it would also gravely wound many standing within the immediate vicinity, including the Element Bearers. There was simply too much at stake to lose, and I don't gamble with other ponies' lives in a crossfire situation.
I had told Twilight to get the Elements afterward, and the rest of the story everyone knows to some degree. Chryssy got cocky instead of defensive--thank the gods for that feat of taking down an alicorn getting to her head--and Shining and Cadance saved the day by casting their rapidly expanding barrier spell.
That unfortunately had the downside of leaving a few changeling-sized holes in many of the houses and complexes they've intruded in, and even a hole or two in the castle garden floor. Shining, darling Cadance, you two might want to tone that down a bit next time IF a next time ever happens again. Now I have to deal with property damage claims, and gods, the nobles LOVE to nitpick on exactly "what" was damaged. Ancient antiquities? A lamp they bought one day ago? Grandmother's jar of ashes? You'd think the last one is reasonable... until the court's doors close and they think it's soundproof while cheering, "Woohoo! Free jar!"
There is no low.
Anyway, I deeply apologize to you all for not explaining the Changeling threat sooner, and I've learned a great lesson on how to deal with bugs: buy piles of citrus bug repellent, and never underestimate the potential of a love-leeching pest again.
Sleep well, my little ponies, and again, congratulations to the happy couple. May your days be filled with less domestic violence than today, and I hope you have a wonderful honeymoon.
Love,
Princess Celestia
P.S. If I hear any gossip about me being weak, I will HAPPILY correct anyone who believes in that notion.
Oh, Luna! You've retur--
Wait. Before I get excited, you remember that thing I told you about?
You know, the thing in your room I mentioned just before you left? What was it you were going to hang tonight?
No, 'Luna', it was a bug net. And it looks like I've caught one MORE!
Hah, good work, Brutus. She'll be changing back any second now.
...aaaany second now.
...oh ponyfeathers, she's gonna kill me when she wakes up.
RUN CELESTIA! Run and take Brutus with you while you still can.
Aww, c'mon Celly! Twilight at least deserves an apology and a thank you! Maybe a gift certificate to a bookstore.
And that's when Celestia found out what it's like to have a whole package of Oreos shoved up your ass one at a time.
Whoops. Easy mistake to make, Princess
.. Im not sure i understand the last part, with "Luna". Celly think she's talking to a changeling?
5764457 yes, she thought luna was a changeling in disguise...only to realise that it was the real luna.
5764451
Thats a very specific torment. What inspired that?
5764451
I was drinking a nice glass of milk this morning.
Key word: was.
"See? Red! No wait, that's blood."
So first she calls sentient creatures an infestation to be exterminated, and desperately tries to save face after losing in a straight fight by threatening anyone who thinks she lost legitimately.
So this Celestia just turned into a complete bitch. Are we sure this version of her hasn't been replaced by a changeling?
5764505 The Luna/Oreos meme has been around so long I forgot where it even came from.
Ha ha! Shining got mind controlled and potentially raped by a shapeshifter, how dare he! Exactly how is he supposed to know that Chyrsalis, who surprised and foalnapped Cadance, wasn't actually the real Cadance? Also how is he supposed to do anything about it when Chrysalis was draining him of power and mind controlling him? This blaming of Shining for getting mind raped and then actually raped and threatening physical violence against him for what happened when he WAS MIND CONTROLLED is an absurd, and disgusting, idea that seems to have infected a lot of the fandom.
5764541 If by complete bitch, you mean this Celestia has proven herself capable of hubris and pride... then yes? In fairness it likely rankles to be taking down by stolen power. But considering Chryssy was draining a Twilight level unicorn and an alicorn, and further, one who didn't care about innocent bystanders, it's not hard to see why she was taken down, and considering she was unable to do anything against Discord, or her own sister, third time was the charm to piss her off.
5764653
Yeah, I was a little dubious of that myself. I re-read that paragraph several times, trying to work out if there was a charitable interpretation for it and had just maybe half-convinced myself maybe there was and then read the next paragraph.
Not cool, Princesses, not cool at all.
(I mean, reverse the genders and it's not even slightly funny at all.)
I actually would like to hear Princess Celestia explain that one, since she does reply in Tired Old Man's comments sometimes, so maybe she can convince us she didn't mean what we think she appears to mean, and give her the benefit of the doubt.
HEY! Changelings are sapient beings too Celestia.
5764653
5764746
"He wasn't mind-controlled. At all. I have no idea where this notion came from, but that's not true. Entranced after Chrysalis succeeded in her invasion just so he can't cast the barrier again? Yes, but that is the extent to which his mind was altered. He remained peacefully ignorant the rest of the time.
There was no sex, either. Twilight's parents checked the sheets and combed through every square inch of their home scouring for swimmers, and found none. So while Shining could have said absolutely nothing happened, he decided to be completely honest and said they snuggled for two nights. Cadance reacted on gut instinct to that, but they made up afterward.
The last segment where I tell Shining to keep it on a leash is merely a reiteration of the warning I gave him earlier. I don't want him to break her heart by cheating, and his surprising honesty as to what happened those nights tells me he is definitely devoted to her for being that truthful. I'm just reminding him of the consequences, and wishing him and her a great honeymoon. That is all."
~Celestia
5764801 the notion of mind controls comes from Cryssi saying "Shining Armor is now completely under my control!"
5764990
5764801
What about how he is getting progressively worse headaches and every time Chrysalis would cast a spell, the mind control spell, they would fade. The pain was his trying to fight off the control and it faded when she overpowered his resistance. In show canon he was unequivocally mind controlled.
Also you can't 'make up' for violently attacking your spouse when they do something you don't like, especially when you are 100% in the wrong. Shining both thought he was with his wife and MIND CONTROLLED so that even with evidence showing otherwise he would be incapable of seeing differently. He is in no way responsible for anything done to him by Chrysalis or anything she forced him to do. The idea that anyone would blame him for what happened or accuse him of not fighting her control hard enough is absurd.
5764990
5765051
"I'll clarify: he wasn't mind-controlled the entire time, because it doesn't make sense. If he was, Chrysalis could have just had him simply take it down altogether instead of the longer plan of siphoning his magic away from him until he became too weak to sustain it.
That didn't happen, so instead she waited until he had little magic left in him before putting him in a trance to ensure that he couldn't cast the barrier again.
Given that none of his actions were out of line or changed at all prior to the trance, including reinforcing the magic barrier, there is no substantial reason to believe he was hypnotized prior to the instant the barrier fell. Because when one hypnotizes someone, they aim to alter the behavior of the subject. She didn't do that until the barrier broke.
As for her supposed mind-control spell, that was her draining magic, and nothing more."
~Celestia
5764801
Also lets just say your stories canon is different than show canon, something that all previous chapters don't support, then Shining is still blameless for anything done with or by Chyrsalis. He comes home from a hard day of work defending his home from an unnamed threat and his fiancee and lover comforts him and invites him to their bed, you know the one they share because they are lovers, and them have sex like any normal couple. Then a few days later, after being mind controlled to not be able to put up the barrier, he finds out that he fiancee actually wasn't his fiancee. He like literally everyone other than Twilight was absolutely sure that Chrysalis was actually Cadance so why would he be the only one to blame for treating his fiancee like his fiancee?
What Chrysalis did was committed the crime of rape by deception, which is defined by sexual consent or compliance attained by fraudulent statements or actions such as impersonation. Cadance, Celestia, Shining's parents, and damn near anyone else implied by this chapter are being angry at him by being raped by a shapeshifter regardless of whether mind control took place.
5765095
For the record, that didn't happen. Shining admits to snuggling, but nothing more, and Cadance believes him.
She apologized for hitting him on instinct, for being in the wrong.
There was no rape.
5765071
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boiXc3xjUJc&t=1057
His headache returns the moment he starts disagreeing with her and then you can clearly see anger and aggression in his eyes aimed at her. From that you can infer that he is momentarily aware that something is clearly going on and Cadance isn't who she claims. Then she says "Another one of your headaches" meaning that this little interaction of him breaking her influence before she puts him back under has happened multiple times.
As you said, Hypnotism is meant to cause others to act in a manner other than the normal. The goal of her mind control was to make him less aware of her deception and not warn others so she had time to get her army into position and to further drain him of power. She wanted the shield to stay up to exhaust him and wanted to wait until the wedding where there would be tons of innocent bystanders to cause more chaos to make the invasion easier.
5765128
If your "instinct" is to hit you partner because they might have been raped then you are terrible person regardless of whether you apologies. Especially if your apology is over your assumption being wrong this time, not over you being an abusive partner.
For fuck's sake she knew that Chrysalis was a shapeshifter taking her place and deceiving Shining Armor along with the rest of Canterlot. Its not like she thought Shining was aware that Chrysalis was a fake but went along anyway. What possible reason would she have to place any blame on Shining Armor for assuming his fiancee is actually his fiancee?
This trope of "female partner hits male partner when angered because she just couldn't control her emotions" is incredibly sexist and does a disservice to everyone, from the character to the readers and even to the writers that lean upon it. It also supports that idea that violence against your lover is acceptable if you are a woman.
Oh, you're gonna get it now, Celestia. You shall receive the dreaded FACE OF MERCY.
i3.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/658/701/534.jpg
Anyways, great job completing season 2!
5762877 Yeah, but given the fact that she has saved the world twice and they have already had an episode devoted to "Don't just ignore Twilight when she says there is a problem" you would think they would have given her a chance to explain instead of just agreeing with the person accused of mind control and the person she is accused of controlling. But alas plot demands that people act like idiots.
5765140
Why would he be aware? Are you insinuating that the real Cadance and Shining never had a fight before this? If they haven't, I can see why that would break the supposed hypnotism, but that's highly unlikely.
Given the real Cadance exhibited signs of intense exhaustion from maintaining the barrier over at the Crystal Empire, I surmise that various symptoms of such stress comes from barrier maintenance, including headaches and migraines. So regardless of hypnotism or not, Shining's statement holds true on that.
Also, why would Shining even suspect his wife not being his wife, anyway? Chrysalis seemed to make up enough reasonable excuses on her own without any need for hypnotism. In fact, if she really wanted to go whole-hog on selling the disguise, she wouldn't argue with or criticize anyone, especially if Cadance and Shining are being sold to the people as the 'ideal' couple here.
Lastly, in regards to the supposed 'rape that might have happened', Cadance was completely aware that her action was completely irrational after the fact, hence the apology. It's the same issue of jumping to conclusions that's been an issue for many of the ponies time and time again in this series.
Cadance is fully aware that what she did was awful, hence the apology. She has no excuse for it, knows it, and all she can do is apologize for it and promise to never do it again. Cadance at her core isn't terrible, but even good people can do awful things without rhyme or reason to their actions, and this is one such instance where that happens.
Awful tropes like the woman hitting a man because of uncontrolled emotions are indeed despicable, but that's because people actually do those things in real life, just like what happened here. No couple is perfect, and this is how I decided to show that with a bit of irrational behavior, and that it can still be redeemable. The fact that the marriage still happens and Tia's wishing them a well honeymoon should show more than enough that they're able to reconcile such a horrid thing.
So if I am to be thrown on a stake for the use of an awful trope to establish an ideal couple isn't perfect, but willing to keep pushing forward despite the difficulties that come with it, so be it.
He would be aware that Cadance isn't who she claims due to her acting completely at odds with how she normally acts combined with the fact that his own behavior changes drastically every time she casts a spell upon him. He isn't just some random nobody, he is the captain of the royal guard in a world with dark magic and monsters actually exist. It makes sense that he would be paranoid about out of character behavior and recognize the signs of magical manipulation.
Also Chrysalis actually did a very poor job with her behavior, given that Twilight could tell something was off right away and after only a day was sure there was a serious problem.
In regard of Cadance's exhaustion compared to Shining's, she maintained the barrier for multiple days of non-stop channeling without sleep. Shining only cast a recharge on the barrier regularly and still slept normally. Her strain was significantly higher than Shining's and even then she didn't have conveniently timed headaches every time she disagreed with her lover.
Lastly I would argue the idea of Cadance having irrational periods where she lashes out, like a normal person in extreme stress, isn't actually reasonable at all. Cadance, in canon, became an alicorn by proving her purity and goodness even in the face of extraordinary danger and stress. The act of becoming an alicorn was proof of how much better of a pony she was than everyone else, specifically in regard to love and compassion. Even in the caves below Canterlot when she is exhausted, starving, and on the brink of collapse she talks only about her fears for the safety and wellbeing of her love. She doesn't have a hateful bone in her body because she is effectively a literal embodiment of Love. The idea that she would fall victim to the anger and irrationality is completely at odds with the fact that she became an alicorn by proving the she doesn't fall victim to those negative emotions. Even if Shining willingly cheated on her she just isn't the type of person that would ever strike out in anger. It literally isn't her nature.
5765422
If you haven't noticed, Celestia's referred to her guards as mostly incompetent, but good in a pinch when she needs them. Shining is wrapped into this description with the exception of him being a bit more on the uptake of things. It doesn't make him perfect at spotting everything wrong, however, because he should have seen through Chrysalis's deception as immediate as Twilight did the very night the swap happened. He did not, and wasn't hypnotized at that moment, so either Chrysalis did a passable to flawless performance when it happened, or Shining isn't as perceptive as you believe he is. Given how terrible her performance is during the wedding prep, I accept the latter better than the former.
Next, regardless of different levels of stress, the fact remains that they maintained a barrier and both exhibited signs of exhaustion and pain. You call his migraine timing convenient; I say it was normal. However we spin it, we're at odds on this, and likely won't come to an agreement here.
Finally, I argue that she was adopted by my version of Celestia, and has picked up on some of her traits and habits whilst under her care. Given how you've seen Celestia respond to nobles, it's not unreasonable to believe that such behavior can come from a rather large influence on her life, no matter how noble her start is.
5765522 The crux of our disagreement now comes down to whether you think Shining Armor was mind controlled the whole time or just before the wedding ceremony. I personally think Chyrsalis put him under the moment she replaced Cadance, and I think the show canon supports that, but if you prefer otherwise then Shining would have to be kind of a fool. Admittedly it seems like literally everypony, Celestia included, is a fool in this world.
5765071 indeed, however, let me teach you about mind control and other mental black magic. The mind is a many layered and often fragmented thing. Mind control has the absolute goal of complete submission, however even if you only get the surface areas it remains mind control. Shining's continuation of his duties is actually a result of one of those fragments, The Soldier Persona. This is a mental fragment that results from military or similar training. Furthermore, magic is controlled deep in the mind, as evidenced by instinctive use of magic. This means that she would have needed to subjugate his entire mind in order to reach that point. He was mind controlled, however, it was likely surface breaching. She cannot make him violate a deeply ingrained moral, she cannot force him to suicide or otherwise needlessly endanger himself and sleeping with him would likely result in her death. I doubt anybug could manage to hold such complex and draining magics during such an act, if she did lose control then Shining would be free, disgusted with himself, and already has adrenaline pumping through him in order to stave off the after effects of the control.
5765580
Whole argument is pointless. If they were a real couple, it would be sexist and I'd be right there defending Shiny even though I don't particularly like him (everyone here would be, including the author). But talking ponies don't exist, and this was a comedy trope. It is something played for laughs and has been for a very long time. If you didn't laugh because you find it difficult to separate fiction from real issues, that's fine. But don't harass the author about it just to try and prove your personal point of view somehow more correct by trying to win an argument over the internet. Even if he said you were right it wouldn't change anything.
Nothing can be accomplished, so there's no point in putting any effort into trying to force someone to submit to your point of view.
tl;dr: You took this seriously. You weren't supposed to. This is a waste of your time and the author's.
5765650
The point of debate isn't to win, its to learn. Through this back and forth Old Man and I gain a greater understanding of each other's perspective and ideas and that gained knowledge can be used to better ourselves. No debate in which you learn something is truly pointless regardless of what subject it is upon.
5765691
Wrong. I've been arguing most of my life, not least of which has been in constantly shifting levels of debate in my years here, from simple misunderstandings to one-versus-all throwdowns. That is a fine perspective to have in the sense of one's PERSONAL perspective. But that also means you aren't considering the collateral and result. One, you're filling up the comments with posts that other disaffected members who cannot separate fiction and reality are using to worsen their view on the author, as evidenced by the unnecessary downvoting for proof. Two, you're essentially attempting to 'force' this supposed lesson and keeping it public.
If you really wanted to learn, you'd go to his PMs and ask him questions about what you don't understand rather than levy effectively accusations against his moral and ethical views over a piece of entertaining fiction, especially in the open. You have no reason not to do this, and if you did try to bring up any such reason it would immediately invalidate what you've just said about your intentions in this post I am replying to. Do you understand what you should be doing right now?
5765713
Aurora, in fairness, I reached out to him/her/it regarding this matter, as I always do when a debate like this reaches a point of clarity where I understand where the author is coming from.
I clarified to Inabit what the purpose of my altering of Cadance was meant to do, and in turn this debate clarified to me exactly how it was perceived, and the way it's seen was not what I had intended it to be. I had made Cadance out to be an irrational, terrible husbando-hitter, something that was NOT my intent when I wrote that segment.
Therefore, I've decided to make a small change in the story regarding the event in question to make her not as irrational as to punch her hubby in the face, but still slightly irrational. That change will be implemented this evening.
5765750
A reasonable author shouldn't have to feel the need to change their work for someone's personal views, Tom. As you aren't one of those who's up up their own ass with arrogance and ego, or fairly insane with rage over the slightest criticism, that makes you one of the relatively few reasonable writers around these here parts. Protracted disagreements should be carried out over PM for the sake of the persons involved, or the risk is run of someone else deciding Inabit isn't being harsh enough and a dogpile forming, which often happens over issues with sexism, even here in our little gender-misaligned fandom. I confess I might be one of those who adds to that problem, but I'd rather see the potential for time wasted and harm to personal view and reputation dropped on the laps of those who are deserving of both, instead of the people who actually try. Plus it's only polite.
If this is what you wanted, despite the chance for it to escalate unexpectedly from outside interference, then I will pipe down.
5765713 I can see how you feel that this is a personal debate being forced into a public setting, but the comment section of a chapter is explicitly for commenting on the chapter. That includes the concepts and philosophies that scenarios in the story are based upon. Having this debate through reply functions in the comment section of the chapter being debated is a perfectly acceptable location to have it. Not to say that PMs would be inappropriate but that I and Tired Old Man don't have a moral or ethical responsibility to take our conversation out of the comment section.
On that note a person is not responsible for the misinterpretation of honestly put forth ideas. If I speak with the aim of honest communication and clearly explain my views I am not responsible for someone taking that statement and drawing the wrong conclusions. If I argue with the author over a choice he made in the story and others use my argument as fuel for their dislike that is a choice they made and only they are responsible for it. I don't have to refrain from using a public form in its intended fashion out of fear from other people hearing my words. If I or anyone else did public forums simply wouldn't exist because someone will always see things in a manner other than intended.
Lastly the very fact the he choice to respond to my comments with counter points clearly indicates a desire, or at least willingness, to participation in a discussion. The discussion as a whole was quite civil even if the subject was grim.
I understand if you did not enjoy or appreciate our back and forth but it is still well within the bounds of the comment section.
5765782
I've been called out on quite a few segments in this where some of my comedic punch is lacking, scandalous bits such as the somewhat infamous Diamond Dog incident, things like that. I've spoken with those folk personally, learned from their viewpoints, and incorporated it in such a way so as to deliver an experience that mostly everyone can enjoy. Inabit even stated to me via PM that until this segment, they enjoyed the story, and that's a compliment I take to heart.
To me, a reasonable author respects the audience they write for, and if the audience points out something incredibly out of line for a character, the author should listen, or debate if they feel it's defendable. I always seek to improve, and these debates help me see viewpoints I don't initially see when I first write the letters.
In this case, Inabit pointed out that my use of a particularly nasty punch trope makes Cadance out to be much more volatile and out of character than how she's depicted in canon. I asserted her reaction is irrational, but reasonable under the circumstance that Shining was blissfully ignorant of a very blatant body double; something plausible to prove, but far more difficult to accept. And yes, I say that knowing mostly everyone here has accepted Pinkie is a zealous Smile cult leader/Celestia stalker.
Still, if there's a better way for me to convey what I want (Cadance being devoted to love far more than her current portrayal) that's better than what I did (have her punch Shining, then flip out a bit and apologize), such as have her tear up a bedroom searching for anything Chrysalis left behind and target her rage on the real culprit instead of the unwitting victim, why not make a change that both satisfies me and the readers?
It's something that makes sense to me, at least. With that said, the change I mentioned has been implemented.
5765782 "If people say something's wrong, you should totally NOT change it."
That's the vibe I'm getting. I know it's likely a gross generalization of your stance, but it's the tone that said stance gives off. It's something I've seen time and again on this site, and it's a toxic attitude that stunts an author's growth AS an author and, should the author subscribe to the idea and make the assertions themselves, makes them act as if they have already achieved literary perfection. Which, in the corner of FIMFic I frequent, is the polar opposite of truth eleven times out of ten.
This discussion you're trying to stifle is the sort of feedback and discussion that any author who cares about how the story is received should, and often does, actually WELCOME.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Why didn't you shoot the Changeling Queen in the back while she was monologuing?
Less risky than challenging her to a magic duel in a room full of innocent bystanders.
5764801
5765750
While I would have accepted the first explanation (and that was WHY I asked for one, because it seemed a very unCelestia-like thing to have said and was having difficulty seeing your Celestia actually meaning what it appeared she meant), I do think the change is better.
You maybe could have rephrased her warning to Shining to stay faithful a little to maintain that aspect... maybe (and one could put that down to Celestia not thinking 100% clearly, since she herself was stressed). But I think having Cadance not haul off and slug him is for the better. While it might something a human might do in the aftermath of extreme duress, it would be something of a dubious move (and notably would be more socially unacceptable if the genders were reversed); I have bent it thought about but, like Inabit, I can't quite place Cadance as being in the same category as those few humans. So, thank you for giving the situation the consideration and coming up with an excellent revision.
*tips helmet*
(I mean it, wouldn't have been a deal-breaker for me or anything regardless, but it was kinda raised-eyebrow moment.)
5764801
So, what was that spell Chrysalis used in his bedroom, then? They mention having done it several times before.
Well yeah, not one of Celes best moments.
That's a Meet the Spy reference isn't it?
]---[ And in the End of Boredom The Pink One will cast down the false princesses in their weakness and bring upon Them The Pink Smile ]---[
- The Book of Pinkism
Methinks Cadence and Shining Armor just earned themselves hidden marks in pest extermination.
But really, we all know the Changelings did it for the Swiss cheese
6056587 That...dear god. I can see an entire story right now based around that one sentence. It would be both terrifying and awe inspiring.
HiddenMaster out.
Wow. This comment thread was...interesting. That is, to say the very least. At most, I'd give it a solid "0/10, would not waste precious time reading through an argument that went practically nowhere again." You know you're a die-hard fan when you take fanfiction this seriously.
Nice to see the "Celly isn't weak because she lost, she lost because winning may have been worse for everyone" idea. Still love how well you mix motherly, teaching, sisterly, frustrated, slightly vindictive, and occasionally irresponsible (as a means of dealing with the idiocy surrounding her job) into the great mess of personality that is Irritated Letters Celestia. She feels real.
Found Brutus!s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/82/d5/27/82d527bfb1c776c42651692a5840a866.jpg
So what was the original line where Cadance hit Shining? It sounds like it would have been funny (and justifiably so).