31 - With the Warlocks
With permission given, Silver and his wives were soon on their way to the tower of the warlocks, with Luna striding before them. She rapped on the door twice before opening it with her magic. Inside was the organized clutter that Silver was growing used to seeing.
An aged unicorn stallion was in the entrance hallway, "Ah, Princess. We weren't expecting you. And guests? Hello again, Silver."
Silver tipped his head at the elder. He'd met Purple Quill a few days back, "Hey Purple. We're here on business."
"Indeed," spoke Luna, "Assemble a team of four. Extraction, minimal casualties, escort."
Purple hurried off into the depths of the tower, ascending spiraling stairs out of sight.
Night peered around at the books and training equipment curiously, "So this is where you were?"
Silver pointed at the heat measuring device, "That's where I sweated more than ever before."
Nightwing descended the stairs, "And I hope you have continued sweating, should you have any intention of being a real four."
Luna smiled and approached Nightwing swiftly. In a breach of decorum, Luna extended a wing and soon hugged Nightwing tightly.
Nightwing flushed, "We have guests, Luna, mind yourself." But she made no effort to escape the affectionate diarch.
Luna extended her other wing to gesture at the visitors, "It is nothing they have not seen. Their husband is already most familiar with me."
Nightwing frowned, "You don't need to remind me of that. Really, Princess, you could do better."
Luna stepped back, folding her wings tight, "I did not come for you to question my tastes. He has been a perfect gentlecolt to me, and now he requires your aid. His parents have been abducted by changelings."
Nightwing frowned, "That was a difficult day."
Luna nodded slowly, "Indeed. We take the fight back to them, but this is a rescue operation. Casualties are to be kept to a minimum."
While they spoke, three others came to join them. The other three were unicorns. Most of the warlocks were wielders of very dangerous spells and magic. Purple was one of the three, and he approached Silver directly, "I hope to see that talent of yours at least once during this."
Silver tilted his head, "If it helps rescue Trixie and Rough, sure."
The other two were mares. One was white, the other black, but they were otherwise almost identical.
Luna looked over the four before nodding, "Excellent choices. Yin and Yang here are stealth and infiltration experts. You've met Purple Quill, consider him the all-purpose tool. He knows more spells than you even know magic letters."
Silver flushed red. He never did memorize all those letters.
Luna looked to Nightwing, "And you've met Nightwing. She is also very skilled at being undetected, but is a fierce and silent combatant as well. If things go poorly, she will carve a path to safety if need be. You are in very capable hooves. I will not keep you longer. The mission is simple. Proceed to the Badlands with Silver and his herd. Retrieve Rough Draft and Trixie Lulamoon, return here. Harming changelings is not the goal." She moved to depart immediately, vanishing in a bright flash of magic.
Nightwing frowned at the non-warlocks, "I don't know why she wants us to bring you along. You'll make the operation much more complicated."
Silver shook his head, "We don't know which hive, and where, they were taken. The changelings want us and sent an invitation. We'll be bait, I guess, and you follow."
Yin frowned, turning her black snout at the group, "I can't say I approve of civilians being used as bait for changelings."
Yang shrugged her white shoulders, "They have already volunteered, and they are the ones the changelings want."
Nightwing, "Alright, let's get moving. The fastest way to the Badlands is to take the train to Dodge City, then we hoof it the rest of the way."
All seven of them filed out of the tower and were soon on their way, walking briskly to the train station. "This is where we split up," said Nightwing halfway there, "We don't need to be seen by spies, and you don't need to know our plans. Just be safe, and know we're watching."
Night Watch gave a sharp salute, though Fast was less certain, shying a bit closer to Silver. Silver nodded, "Alright. I'll do my best to be interesting bait I guess. I'm trusting in you all."
Soon he was in a small train cabin with Night and Fast, headed south. "Are you two OK?" he asked, looking towards them.
Fast shook her head, "No, but I'm still glad to not be left behind. Being a herd means standing together, even when it scares you."
Night smiled, "That's very sweet of you to say, Fast. I just hope none of this hurts the foal..."
Silver's eyes dipped down, looking at Night's belly. A flash of anger ran through him, unreasoning and instinctive. How dare these changelings cause even potential harm to his foals? He shook himself out of it before he tried to be reassuring, "It'll be OK, we'll all be there."
Night raised a hoof, booping Silver on the nose, "I can tell when you're nervous, but thank you."
Silver advanced, nuzzling with Night and Fast quietly for a moment. Being with them made everything seem alright. "I am a stupidly lucky man, er, stallion. My life has been a series of blessings, even before I came to Equestria."
Night raised a brow, "The way you talk about it, your life before coming here was a blighted wasteland."
Silver shook his head, "I try not to talk about it, but I've been a lucky person for a long time. I achieved many of my life goals before I was whisked away, and I don't regret that. Earth was not... bad to me, but Equestria definitely wins out. Afterall, Earth doesn't have you two."
Fast giggled and moved up, rubbing against Silver's side, "That was pretty corny. Keep it up."
Night set her glasses aside before she moved in, kissing Silver firmly. They passed the time to Dodge City pleasantly. Whatever trials may come, they had each other.
The train arrived two days later. In many ways, it was a little vacation, if they could just forget about where they were going and what they planned to do. This was easier said than done. Silver emerged onto the train platform, amazed at how much hotter it was than Canterlot. Night reacted most poorly, immediately starting to sweat and look uncomfortable.
Silver drew out a notebook. It was much better than his increasingly haphazard collection of scribbles. He flipped through it before he turned to Night, "I'm going to cast a spell. It should help."
Night quickly nodded, "Go ahead. I trust you."
Silver smiled at her vote of confidence, then wove the spell. A tiny cloud appeared over Night, providing scant shade. It was dark, and began to rain.
Night blinked softly, "Not bad..." The little raining cloud quickly depleted itself, however, leaving Night damp but unshielded from the sun as they walked through the city.
Fast shook her head, "Weather is so not your specialty. Leave it to the pegasi."
Night gave a fanged smile, "The water still helps. Thank you, Silver." She bumped into him then they proceeded. They stopped in at the general store, picking up some supplies to fill their saddlebags with. Water seemed a must, but food as well, and one large tent and a compass.
Equipped and ready, they strode out into the wilderness, following a road that should head into the Badlands. Fast glanced around, "I don't see them, haven't since before we got on the train."
Silver quickly glanced around, "That means they're doing their job." Or that they all abandoned them to their grisly fate, Silver considered, though decided it was unlikely.
The first day was mostly walking, only broken by meal breaks or to sleep when the sun went down. The second day had little else to break the monotony. On the dawn of the third day, he woke up to find Night on top of him, kissing him passionately, too passionately. She didn't normally have much interest in slipping him tongue, and yet his mouth was being invaded. He wriggled underneath her and nudged her back, "What's gotten into you?" He looked around. Fast wasn't there. "Where'd Fast go?"
Night shrugged softly and sat on her haunches, watching him.
Silver felt building apprehension, "I'm going to take a guess, and I don't want you freaking out if I'm wrong or right, but I think I'm looking at a changeling."
Night was engulfed in green flame, revealing a drone that hissed at Silver loudly.
Silver held up his hooves, "Easy there, I'm not here to fight. Your Queen called me."
The drone advanced, grabbing him at the leg in its teeth, tugging him. It hurt a little. Changeling mouths were not a good place for limbs to be. He moved where the drone led him, soon outside where his eyes went wide. There were at least two dozen drones surrounding the tent. He could see Fast and Night sprawled on the ground. Their hooves and mouths were sealed with green gunk that prevented them from running or speaking.
"I come in peace?" offered Silver in what sounded like a horrified squeak in his ears.
A changeling landed in front of Silver, quickly assuming the form of a delicately-shaped female unicorn, "Hello, human. It is good you know your place already. Your wives were less cooperative."
Silver's ears went back, but she continued before he could speak, "They are fine. I am Stand In, lieutenant of her majesty's forces. You will come with us, now."
She turned and began to lead the way. Seeing little alternative, Silver began to follow, looking over at his captive wives, "Can they come along?"
Stand In frowned. "Bring them," she hissed, and the small swarm moved quickly, hefting up Night and Fast and carrying them along.
They soon reached a small cave entrance, which became an impressively large cavern after a few bends and turns. The sound of insectoid buzzing filled Silver's ears, and whenever a changeling darted past, he recoiled with a lingering phobia of wasps, bees, and similar things kicking in.
Stand In spoke as they walked, "You should be honored. It is rare that outsiders visit while not sealed away in feeding pods. That may yet be your fate. I know little of what her majesty has planned for you."
Silver nodded softly, "I don't have much, inherently, against Changelings. I know what it's like being an unliked minority."
Stand In stopped and wheeled on Silver, scowling, "How dare you, a unicorn, speak of underprivileged minorities! You are the living example of the empowered elite, lording it over the world!"
Silver shrank back, "I wasn't always a unicorn..." It sounded lame even in his own ears.
Stand In snorted softly, "Yes yes, you are a 'human', whatever that is. We shall find out, even if we have to dissect you to puzzle out the pieces." She turned back around and marched purposefully into the hive.
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5777144 Wrong pony. Upper Crust ran into Rarity when she was in Canterlot.
The use of "the door" twice is rather awkward. I'd change that to "She rapped on the door twice before opening it with her magic."
Wasn't "badlands" capitalized in Chrysalis' letter?
Nightwing said that when they were "halfway" there.
It really feels like this should be "bopping" rather than "booping."
He woke up to "find" Night on top of him.
I think his eyes went "wide."
She assumed the form of a "delicately-shaped" female unicorn.
5777251 On my way home, Thanks for the support.
I'm honestly a little surprised at how well Luna seems to be going along with the idea of using the warlocks. I think it was Night Watch who said that only Celestia can command them, and that Luna bristles at that (though whether it's because there are ponies that can defy her, or because she wants to have her own "lunar strike force," remains uncertain). I can see her having a friendship with Nightwing, since that particular lunar pegasus seems to worship her, but given that she's so easy-going with regards to them is rather odd if she's upset that they work for Celestia alone.
That said, I do like the idea that these four are the sum total of the warlocks (though that's not put forward in this chapter, I realize). The idea that they're a very small force makes far more sense than the idea of having some sort of private army. That's largely because (the Mane Six's adventures notwithstanding) Celestia and Luna seem to prefer going after major troublemakers on their own. The warlocks should be one of those contingencies that's kept in the proverbial closet for some once-in-a-blue-moon event (probably involving delicate foreign operations that a monarch can't undertake).
I'm honestly shocked at how easily Silver is taking his pregnant wife into danger. He's really not even willing to ask Night (and Fast) to stay behind while he heads into danger? While I can understand them offering moral support (and even being indignant at the prospect of not accompanying him), their presence seems like more risk than reward. One flash of brief anger at potential harm to his unborn children doesn't quite make up for the fact that he just accepted that they'd go with him on a dangerous mission.
I'm also amused at the idea of a changeling going at it with Silver in Night's form. It could have woken him up in any way, but it chose that...making me think that changelings are really, really sex-starved. Their queen must take all of the good stallions for herself so that she can keep laying eggs.
The flash of anger from Stand In was telling, in that changelings seem to see themselves as a persecuted group. Technically, that's true, but this isn't due to any sort of unfair prejudice, since they are parasites, infiltrators, and all-around threats to the ponies around them. Even the simple act of consuming love tends to leave the victim a brainwashed husk. Nicky only gets along because she's figured out a way to game the system, something that probably wouldn't work en masse. Can there really be any sort of reconciliation between predators and their natural prey?
ok time for silver to do his job.
be a diplomat I am really hoping I am reading this right. and he can help smooth things over with the changeling race as a hole.
Harts Fire
5777251 All fixed, except booped, which is much more akin to a poke than a bop, which is more violent. She poked him on the nose, an entirely non-violent gesture.
5777338 Night said that, Luna behaved differently. Night may be wrong, or Luna is behaving well, or maybe Luna is just delighted to see 'her' force put to work. She seemed eager to send them on their way.
Silver doesn't always think things through. He likes to do. He's regretting it a lot now. His get-up-and-get-shit-done attitude has served him well in life up to this point. That, and how often has he won arguments against his wive's desires?
If Silver had gone along with the changeling(which he might have if it had selected Fast instead of Night), it would have been a free meal for the drone.
The changelings definitely have their own... issues. We'll see how well Silver addresses them, or is addressed. Nopony's been hurt, so far.
5777419 I don't agree that a "normal" pony wouldn't receive any help from the princesses if they were subject to unjust treatment, because we've specifically seen that the alicorn sisters have a mechanism by which such things can be brought to their attention, that being the royal court. When we're shown the courts for the first time in this fic, the entire premise is that it's a way to resolve conflicts whereby the problems are brought before Celestia and Luna. So clearly, they do make a dedicated effort to right wrong (and this isn't withstanding Luna's dream powers, which allow her to see the dreams of ponies that have been wronged).
Given that, it's clearly not the case that Silver is receiving help where other ponies do not. After all, why else would there be a court system in place but to allow such issues to be dealt with? The problem is that Silver is getting screwed over worse than anypony else because he's an alien - if his compensation seems greater, it's because he's suffered worse and so a greater reward is needed to offset that. How many other ponies are mind-raped by one of the princesses themselves? The most that can be said is that Silver didn't actively seek their help, instead having it thrust upon him...but that doesn't make him special either. "Sleepless in Ponyville" and "For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils" are both instances of Luna inviting herself into another pony's problems to help solve them - Silver simply required more help because his problems were worse.
Beyond that, your entire argument of "Silver is getting special treatment" doesn't really seem to hold up. He's not receiving "special" treatment, but rather he's receiving "proportional" treatment - the issues that he has to deal with are worse, and so he receives greater rewards to offset them. Absolutely nothing about his character has him receiving rewards that he didn't earn, and since they're earned, then how is the disdain of well-to-do ponies like Professor Thetics at all justified?
The major problem I have with your position is your stance that "being able to get justice from those on high is a privilege." I disagree completely - justice is a right, not a privilege. If some people don't receive justice, then that means that they're being disadvantaged, not that those who do receive justice are receiving additional privileges. That's like saying that because some people don't receive compensation for the wrongs they're made to suffer for no fault of their own, then no one should - that's a completely backward take on it. If a flawed system is not doing what it needs to do for everyone, the correct response is not to blame those that it's working correctly for.
I'm also not at all certain what you mean when you say that Thetics' punishment didn't fit his crime. What punishment? Being publicly hailed as a hero and having a new wing on the academy named after him? Other than a subtle warning from Celestia herself, he's not been punished at all. Yes, Silver pranked him, but that was for him walking in and insulting him four times in the course of a minute in Silver's own home...for which Silver later apologized anyway. So again, what "punishment" is Thetics even receiving? His part in what happened with that fireball has gone unpunished completely (which is a real instance of injustice, since Silver was punished for his role in that, albeit briefly).
The absolute most you could say with regards to Silver is that he proves that a squeaky wheel gets the grease, but even then he's gone through a lot of trouble and hardship to get what he has now. None of it is simple privilege.
5777488 I presume you mean "a free meal for the drone" in terms of it draining some of his love, right? Because that's not at all specific to sexual activity - we see a disguised Chrysalis draining some of Shining Armor's love in "A Canterlot Wedding" (the scene where Twilight spies on Shining and "Cadance" having an argument). In other words, since it could have drained his love so long as he thought it was his wife, the sex must have been extra, rather than being purely part of a feeding strategy.
...that or I just think that idea's funny.
5777489 Just to intercede, the 'common' pony, that is, not the elite, don't get to go to court all that often. The first barrier is that you have to be in Canterlot to have much a chance of it, which puts financial burden in reaching that level of justice.
5777506 Sure, long term. The drone had limited time, with its commanding officer -just outside-, so getting Silver into a loving mood the clean way would have been quite a gambit.
5777507 No doubt the justice system isn't perfect - I don't think there's ever been one that is - but there is still a mechanism for pursuing justice, even from the princesses themselves (though I'd presume that local areas have their own form of justice system as well).
The point that RadicalDishonesty is making is that Silver's connections to the princess elevate him to some sort of position of privilege simply because of those connections. I'm saying that isn't so, since simply knowing them hasn't given him anything that he hasn't earned compared to all of the pain and trouble he's gone through. Even if you want to say that he's occupying a higher social rung than other ponies, I'd argue with the idea that he hasn't earned it on his own merits.
5777489
I went back and read the scene with the fireball, to make sure I was not misinterpreting any of it, because you have such a very different interpretation of Thetics's actions, especially the part where, if I don't have my mark wrong, you blame him for the fireball incident and do not blame Silver.
He holds Silver down with the paralyzing spell, and directly accuses Silver of using his contacts and diplomatic position to advance in his school. This was not an entirely unreasonable conclusion for him to come to, however it was nasty, and it was jumping to conclusions in this case. But, all Thetics knew was that Silver, whether this was rewards for him being punished before ("justice"), or because they have decided that he deserves a leg up over other ponies ("privilege"), has somehow obtained a diplomatic posting at an improbably young age, and moved up in his school at the same improbably young age.
And actually, out of all the stuff the princesses have given Silver, the diplomatic posting was the least "justice" of all his things. He was given it essentially because that would mean he could screw Luna without political oversight. Conveniently, laws no longer apply to him anymore and he has constant access to the highest judicial force in the country. Significantly more than the common pony. This is what I was calling "privilege". It wasn't balancing the scales, it was tipping them far in his favor, which the events that have happened since then have made very fairly clear.
The reason he "earned" this position was because Luna fell in love with Silver, which was either something already happening, or a result of her sending a piece of herself to live with him.Either way, the love of a princess put him in a prestigious position that makes him able to ignore laws and request justice extremely easily from the leaders of the nation.
You've also claimed Thetics represents institutional discrimination, but his complaints, as far as I can tell, are reasonable assumptions based on his limited knowledge and also at least partially true, since Silver did cheat, and was saved by his diplomatic position twice in the next week. Beyond that he is upset at his suspicion that Silver is getting the easy ride, which if Silver hadn't conjured a fireball, would be proven false in the next couple of days, and his relationship with Thetics would be essentially in the place it is now. I don't see how "pay your dues, train like the rest of us, don't exploit your connections to skip to the end, you need to succeed based on merit, rather than on your position" is institutional discrimination, except the discrimination of "you are at the bottom rung, and you have to prove you belong in a higher rung before we'll let you up there."
Then, Silver summons a fireball. This is completely unacceptable, and completely illegal. You've likened it to pulling a grenade pin, and that makes it known exactly how ridiculous the notion that this isn't his fault is: Why would you pull a grenade pin in the middle of a public setting for any reason whatsoever, other than you plan on killing someone or threatening to kill them?
Thetics shouldn't have paralyzed Silver, that was an illegal act of assault, and the speech he gave to Silver was arrogant and nasty, but not without some merit. He made reasonable assumptions given his limited knowledge of the situation, and in fact his assumptions were partially true even if he did know the whole situation.
In the meantime, summoning a deadly illegal fireball is assault as well, because the only logical reasons someone would summon a fireball when they were paralyzed would be explicitly to attack someone else, or if they were losing control of their magic. Thetics knew nothing about Silver's personality, his control, or his desire not to hurt others, so the assumption that Silver pulled out a hand grenade, pulled the pin, and was just about to throw the grenade is reasonable. Maybe he was going to put the pin back, but there was absolutely no way for Thetics to know that. As far as he knew, he prevented a more deadly outcome by preventing Silver from throwing it into the crowd or at himself.
So, when you argue that Thetics broke the "chain of causation" that would result in Silver putting the fireball back, I say that the most reasonable assumption in Thetics's mind was that he prevented an unstable student (Silver) from throwing the fireball into a crowd of students, instead detonating it (relatively) safely above Silver's head, where it thankfully caused no deaths.
SIlver is arrested, Thetics is hospitalized, another filly is hospitalized more. Silver gives away his money in a gambit to distract the public from the fact that Celestia and Luna arrested a diplomat and gives Thetics a good name in the process.
Then there's Thetics being forced to offer the olive branch to Silver, Silver giving him several days of pain or discomfort in return for an unpleasant ten minute conversation (this is what I call disproportionate punishment), and then Silver apologizing for going overboard.
Also Celestia makes it implicitly clear that if she ever hears of Thetics using paralyzation on his students ever again she's going to come down on him hard.
So... Thetics does bad, Silver does worse, Silver is punished, and Thetics is rewarded. At what point do you think Thetics should be punished more?
What we've seen of Chryssy's plan so far looks kind of similar to page 2 of the villain handbook:
check
check
in progress
in progress
1. Blackmail the hero into surrendering -
2. Take him to your secret base -
3. Tell him the entire evil plan -
4. Threaten his loved ones (optional) -
5. Put him in a fiendish contraption, and
a. Leave the room so he can escape, or
b. Leave nobody guarding the door so his friends can come storming in and rescue him
6. Swear vengeance
5777869 Also, since Silver invented the fireball spell, Thetics could not have known the correct way to interrupt it (if there even is one). A sleep spell seems like a somewhat-logical, non-lethal approach.
5777869 Let's go over this point-by-point.
First, you're wrong to say that I don't blame Silver for what happened with the fireball. I do think that he bears some level of culpability. What I was arguing against was the idea that Thetics doesn't also bear any responsibility for what happened - I think he does, possibly a very generous share. He is not "just" a victim; what happened is partially his fault, and I think that should be recognized.
You've conveniently omitted that he used a paralyzing spell, which could very well be considered an attack on Silver's person, without provocation. To say nothing of the invectives that he then began hurling at him. But even if we overlook that, his accusations that Silver has used his contacts and diplomatic status to advance at the school are, in fact, completely unreasonable. We know that since we know full well that neither actually had anything to do with his being admitted. The only thing that wasn't on the proverbial level regarding his admittance was Celine's helping him during the exam, and Silver never solicited that help. Likewise, he never once uses his political position nor his relationship with Luna to advance at that school. Thetics has simply presumed this to be true, without even the slightest shred of evidence to justify his presumption - his accusations are completely without merit. Ergo, it cannot be denied that Thetics is acting on his institutional prejudice.
Likewise, saying that Silver's receiving an ambassadorship had nothing to do with justice is something I disagree with completely. Of course it had to do with justice - social prejudice was preventing him and Luna from having a relationship, and social prejudice is the manifestation of injustice. Ergo, something that allowed them to be together, without hurting anypony else, was a just action. Yes, Silver also gained the perks that being an ambassador provided, and had unfettered access to Luna, something that nopony else had...and that's what seems to be the crux of your argument.
Specifically, you seem to think that because Silver gained political immunities that other ponies don't have, and that he had the attention of a monarch, that this is somehow a position of privilege, which is nonsense. The definition of privilege - insofar as social justice is concerned - is that certain demographic groups have advantages over other demographic groups when functioning in society. Silver is not receiving any sort of special advantages simply for being male, being a unicorn, being an alien (just look at Jake), or for being a member of any other demographic. Quite the opposite, he's still being treated like crap by most of the Canterlot nobility. Thetics wrongfully accused him, Carrot Plate's mother publicly denounced him and then struck him across the face in front of the entire court, both because of their institutional prejudice against somepony like him. He's still being discriminated against - to say nothing of being actively targeted by "terror groups" such as Chrysalis' changelings, and other problems.
Does Silver now have advantages that other ponies don't? Sure, but that's not a position of privilege. "Privilege" does not mean "better off that someone else" - it means that the reason you're better off than they are is that you haven't had to deal with social barriers that others have due to purely demographic reasons. His position as an ambassador was something he shouldn't have had to have in the first place; that such a barrier existed between them to begin with was a failure of Equestrian society. Hence, by receiving it, even if it came with other advantages, was him gaining an option (to be in a relationship with the mare he loved) that he always should have had. A wrong was righted.
Turning our attention back to Thetics, the institutional discrimination that he represented was not only that his suspicion was in fact groundless, but in that he held such suspicions in the first place. He had no evidence one way or the other, but he made up his mind that Silver must have been abusing special connections to get into the academy - he pre-judged him, rather than collecting facts or even simply asking him. Pre-judging is prejudice. His problem wasn't that he has an attitude of "pay your dues like the rest of us," it's that he simply assumed that Silver wasn't. If you look at someone else and think "they got an easy ride" based on nothing except the idea that you can't see how else they could possibly have gotten where they are, the problem is you.
Insofar as Silver's summoning a fireball is assault, that's not correct. It's not assault when someone attacks you first and you're afraid for your safety. If you think that you're in immediate danger, there's a very credible argument to be made that you acted in self-defense. Even if the danger turned out to be illusory, if you didn't know that then you can still make a claim in that regard. Again, I'm not suggesting that this completely absolves Silver - even if it is in self-defense, you're responsible if you injure bystanders - but it doesn't mean that he's totally to blame. My position has always been that Thetics is not blameless, rather than he's the only one to blame.
That Thetics isn't blameless needs to be underlined, however. Reckless disregard for the bystanders around him is something that can be applied to Thetics just as much as Silver. That's because it stands to reason that he knew that rendering Silver unconscious would result in the immediate release of that fireball - he's a professor of magic, he should be expected to know that losing consciousness results in the immediate release of a held spell. As such, he took an action that he knew would discharge that fireball onto everypony around him. That's culpability, since he had other options that he could have taken, such as trying to talk Silver down. Instead, he deliberately caused the fireball to go off. So he and Silver both undertook actions that endangered innocent bystanders...and Thetics is also the one who precipitated the entire situation (because of his prejudice against Silver). That doesn't make Silver blameless, but it does mean that Thetics takes the lions share of the blame.
All of this, and you seem to be implying that Thetics shouldn't be punished more? He hasn't been punished any, except for Silver's prank (which doesn't rise to the level of being a crime, nor was it unjustified, since he had caused Silver embarrassment and humiliation, and so was being humiliated in turn). At this point, he's gotten away completely free for his major role in what happened. Where's the justice in that?
5778115
Except that line of logic doesn't follow. While the fireball spell itself may be new, it's based on well-known magical principles. Any unicorn that's a professor of magic would know that, as a rule, if you're holding a spell when you pass out, that spell is released. That's as true for a fireball as it is for any other spell - there's nothing about the fireball spell unto itself that would suggest that it operates differently in that regard. Thetics had no excuse for not realizing that he was about to unleash that fireball on everypony around him by knocking Silver out.
5778155 Pffff. Who needs logic? The touch of Illogic is already upon the author.
5931057 I gather you are enjoying your trip. :)
Nightwing descended the stairs, "And I hope you have continued sweating, should you have any intention of being a real four."
Someday I'm gonna be a real boy
Yin and Yang
traditionellkinesiskmedicin.se.test.levonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Yin-Yang.png
we have fun and games
6708485 When does Dwayne "Rock" Johncolt swing in to save the day?
Shouldn't Ying and Yang be different genders? I would think that the whole "balance" complex that it represents would be more fitting if one of them were male instead of both female. Then again, that's just what I think anyways (Unless there is something of significance that correlates to both of them being female later on).
Interesting choice of words. "Harming changelings is not the goal", and yet, she didn't forbid it.