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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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6121684 The End justifies the Means, but, when the Means invalidated The End, it become meaningless.
Everything have meaning...But, when that meaning was invalidated, it become meaningless.
Ouch, right in the feels! Very weighty indeed.
I'm surprised to see Aila just.. dead. Though in retrospect, I can't say it wasn't foreshadowed at all. She did have a hit placed on her several chapters back, after all, so it was a bit presumptuous to assume she would get through the danger unscathed. Not that this particular attack was all that narrowly targeted (and more targeted at Silver than Aila, per se).
Very cat-like way of retaliating, indeed. I get the feeling the Equestrians aren't used to dealing with subtle foes effectively.
Curious how Shei will respond to Silver once the initial shock/grief wear off. Alia got caught up in the revenge against Silver's revenge, afterall, and it would be fair to say she would likely be alive if the Equestrians had stuck to the original plan of simply leaving.
6121790 There is something I don't understand. Silver demostrated he could seed out all people that attack him, without fail, and they have seen that it could kill them. So why poison him? Especially with the high chance it might poison and kill Celestia, which would either snuff out the sun and end all life, or lock it in place for eternal day forever, ending all life much more slowly. Ignoring Celestia tho, he can easily just kill those that tried to poison him, and they have NOTHING to defend against it. There is no POINT to it. Even revange would be pointless because right now they are alive and can easily remove that mark, but now they are all deadmen. What's more, he is a prince, they are inviting War, not just from Equestria but EVERY nation, for if they attacked a harmless peace living nation that means, why wouldn't they attack the others?
Finally tho, I just can't understand Silver's reaction. After all, they didn't just kill Aila, they killed his baby growing in her too. And yet he's. "Oh hey! Celestia! Just wanting to let you know Aila's dead. So how was your night? Dream well?"
I would have picture Silver as being much much more angry and lashing out. After all, isn't this the first time he's ever seen death? Even in his human life? And as 6121790 pointed out, she died because of him. I was expecting him to lash out and try to murder all the cats with the spell he created. Insted he's all... Meh.
The last three words of this sentence are redundant. I'd recommend deleting them.
She looked tired and "devastated."
I think this should be "rested."
6121757 I disagree with your premise; the ends do not, unto themselves, justify the means.
Well, that escalated quickly.
Everyone should just take a quick breath and calm down!
Keep going! ;)
6121944 Typos branded for their crimes.
6121849
I think you just answered your own question.
To be sure, they were trying to bump him and the other ponies off before this incident (for unknown reasons, though they seemed to have something to do with isolating Amenti's political support), but your question seems to be predicated on the idea that Silver's attack would somehow frighten them off, rather than galvanizing them to step up their game even further. I've been trying to say, it quite often doesn't work like that.
There's also nothing to suggest that Silver's attack was "without fail." If anything, this seems to suggest that it can indeed fail - the cats have their own magic, after all (that, or this attack simply inspired others to come to hate him and take up the cause to kill him). Moreover, Silver did not "demonstrate that he could seed [sic] out all people that attack him." Rather, he demonstrated that he could attack those who wanted him hurt/dead; that's not the same thing.
Maybe they thought the poison wouldn't be enough to kill an alicorn (it didn't kill Silver, after all, even though it killed Aila). Or maybe they thought that Luna could take up the slack. Or maybe they were fanatics who simply didn't care.
You're making several leaps of logic, here. How do you know they have "nothing to defend against it"? For all we know, they have quite a lot to defend against it. Moreover, he cannot "easily just kill" those that tried to poison him - he doesn't even know who tried to do it. As I mentioned, his spell is imprecise in whom it targets, even presuming that there aren't any protective spells or countermeasures available.
Silver invited war first, with his brazen attack. True, they struck first, but they knew to do so in ways that could not be conclusively tied to any cat in particular, let alone the government, which meant that for all of their aggression, it wasn't likely to cause an outbreak of hostilities between nations. In fact, that's still true, since there's nothing to indicate just who sent the poisoned candy.
Likewise, the idea that this will lead to "every nation" declaring war on Anugypt is laughable. Unless there's an issue of entangling alliances, no other country is going to declare war on Anugypt on Equestria's behalf, at least not without some massively compelling interest driving them to do so. And make no mistake, the idea that they'd do so just because of what happened here is not sufficient - as far as the world is concerned, Silver struck first, and got what he deserved. That's what happens when you make a public spectacle out of your vendettas against enemies that know to avoid the spotlight.
You're grossly mischaracterizing his reaction, here...to the point that it's like you're reading a different fic.
Again, you're way off-base here. He's not "meh," he's in shock, giving way to massive grief. I expect that his anger will come in due time, though hopefully he'll realize that ratcheting up the body count won't make things better.
6121985 One more:
This should be "deserved."
6122003 Quietly fixed in the dead of night.
6121849 Alzrius already did a solid breakdown, but I have some points of my own to make as well.
Nobody but Celestia and Silver knows what the targeting criteria on the spell was. No one got all the victims together to figure out what they had in common. They probably missed a lot of the conspiracy members, who happened to not have sufficiently strong murderous intent toward random foreign prince who was only vaguely in the way of the plans they do care about: controlling Anugypt.
So to the cats it's going to feel very random and the opposite of 'without fail'.
They wanted to kill him before he succeeded at killing them. Or otherwise asserting control over them with threats of violence. He made himself a clear and present danger, and they took the shot.
Celestia was already on their hit list, and higher priority than Silver himself.
Luna would move the sun if Celestia died, or a group of unicorns (claimed to be how it was done before Celestia was born), or maybe even the nekomata? Clearly the conspirators weren't concerned, even if they should have been.
The point was probably to kill Silver before he could launch another attack.
Most nations don't want to get into a war, even with a good sounding principal behind it. They go to war either to achieve some conquest or other gain, or to defend against attackers. Alliances can drag more nations in, but we don't know what the alliance situation looks like.
Plus, it's always messy to try to wage a war against a non-state organization hidden in the population of a non-enemy state, which is what this would be. Anugypt's official government, Amenti, is an ally of Equestria, despite (and to some degree because of) the conspiracy within their borders.
Even more so than the Itinerant King, Silver's first reaction is to see to the victims' wellbeing, before turning to anger (if ever). Plus, as Alzrius pointed out, shock.
Silver isn't generally much for lashing out, but also worth pointing out: the alicorns are in bad shape at this point. The spell was difficult to pull off before they got poisoned, doing a lethal version right now: not viable.
Doing a lethal version after they fully recover? Mass murder. Quite possible, but very hard to justify, especially to themselves.
6121985 A short chapter, this one was also one of...no, actually, it was the most powerful chapter written so far, not only for this fic but quite possibly for the entire Silver Saga thus far. For that, I have to say, this was excellently done.
Saying that, however, highlights my hypocrisy - or rather, my cognitive dissonance - between what I want for the story and how I relate to its characters.
As a narrative development, this was a truly, truly excellent twist. I've often said that one of the most important phrases an author can keep is mind is "kill your babies," meaning that they should never forget that the characters are in service to the narrative, and so should not hesitate to kill them if the plot calls for it, rather than falling in love with his own creations. For that, I salute the author for sticking to his guns in this regard.
As it stands now, this is a massive event that will shift the tone and tenor of the plot - if not the direction - for a very long time to come. Silver (and Celestia) have learned a very, very harsh lesson in when and how to wield their power, and what it means for the ponies around them when they fail to do so properly. This shows them that they can't simply act like pulp heroes, attacking the "bad guys" and trusting in the fact that they're acting in the name of justice to see them through. I doubt that they'll get over this anytime soon.
Moreover, this helps to rectify the nature of the approbation that Silver received last chapter. All of those gift baskets and erotic letters? Even if some of them were genuine, all of them are suspect now - the candies could very well all be more poison, and those letters are almost certainly traps laid by more assassins. As dark as it sounds, this is an encouraging sign, simply because it helps to reconcile how odd it was that the Anugyptians would ever celebrate Silver's attack on them. For that, I say well done.
In terms of the characters themselves, however, and how I empathize for them, then I'm heartbroken on Silver's behalf. Even if he wasn't head-over-hooves in love with Aila the way that he is with, say, Night Watch, this is still a horrible pain in his heart...worse because he knows that he precipitated this situation (and worse again because she was pregnant with his child). This could have been prevented if he'd just left well enough alone. The pain of losing Aila, and the pain of seeing what this is doing to Shei, will probably never truly heal.
It's incredibly sad, but I'd like to think that Aila was happy just before she went. She and Silver had just made love, and she had closed the door to her past in Anugypt on her own terms, and was undoubtedly looking forward to their future together. Whatever else can be said, he enriched her life in the time that they had together.
Of course, I say this with the understanding that Aila is indeed truly dead and gone. That's always iffy in fantasy fiction, particularly since we've seen "resurrections" before (e.g. Silver's alicorn ascension, and the foal she had at the time). On that note, I feel more of the same cognitive dissonance - in terms of feeling bad for Silver, it would be nice if Aila could come back somehow.
In fact, however, I think that bringing her back would be a terrible idea. It would rob the story of a great deal of its power where this event is concerned, and would weaken it overall. Bad things make for good writing, as it were. The fic shouldn't be afraid to confront this head-on, even as it puts Silver and those around him through the wringer. (The caveat to this would be if resurrecting Aila was given massive narrative weight of its own - that is to say, if it were a massive, epic quest unto itself; something several dozen chapters long, ranging from researching how to do it to setting off to find whatever the solution was to the many trials to acquire it. I suspect that that's a greater commitment than this series is willing to make, however, especially in the middle of another plot-line re: the trip.)
As it stands now, however, I feel compelled to add that this might not be the end of it. As depressing as it might be to think about, there's a strong case to be made that things are about to get even worse for Silver and company. After all, this was just the immediate counterattack; we still haven't seen the political fallout from what Silver did, and in a fic where politics is front-and-center, that most assuredly is hurtling towards them. What will happen when Saddle Arabia decides that they don't want to meet with them right now, telling them to go back to Equestria instead?
In this regard, I hope that the author continues to let the story progress based on what's internally consistent with how things have gone up to now, and based on what's entertaining to read about, rather than what he'd personally like for the characters. Don't be afraid to have things continue to get worse if that's what the logical flow of events would suggest, and if you can make it captivating to read about. Let the consequences come and be brutal if that's what'd make the most sense.
Even if he becomes tarnished, we still want to see what happens to Silver.
6122276 Silver has a final duty to perform for Aila, and indirectly, Shei. He has to bring her home, and set her to rest with her family, even if they parted on less-than-ideal terms. To do less would be a final insult to a pony he ultimately caused the end of, and to whom his hoof was clutched around his heart, so close to offering it to her, only for her to fall away from him so abruptly.
Silver has had the will to fight punched out of his guts.
As for complaints about Silver's reactions, I don't even know where to start there. Silver's faced exactly one death so far, that being Celene, and she only mostly died. The last time he lost a loved one, he threw himself off a building, and she didn't even die, she was just removed from him temporarily. Admittedly, he was foolish, and he's not likely to try that again for Aila. To even consider it would, in itself, be a huge insult to everything Aila stood for. She wanted him to be strong, and to be a prince. To be a strong pony that would face the world, even if it meant facing her. He won't let that go.
Side note, I loathe that I have become such a crybaby over my own literature.
6122359 I wouldn't say that. It's not bad to feel a connection to your characters - empathy is valuable in writing, since that gives you a strong sense of who they are. The key is to not let that become the deciding factor of what happens to them, though I don't think that you're in any danger of that.
That said, you make an excellent - if heart-wrenching - point about how Aila wanted Silver to be strong. The best way to honor her memory is to do just that (while still remembering that there's a difference between being strong and confident, and being selfish and self-indulgent. It was those latter urge that led to the current circumstances happening). That said, I hope we see this exact lesson come up in future chapters; that's the sort of thing that should be front-and-center right now, along with his bringing her home.
6122402 This fic is only the latest. My recent project, the Tribes of Everglow, has had a section for each and every tribe doing birth, young, adult, middle-aged, venerable, and how they handle death, and just about every time I do that last section...
I don't handle death very well, emotionally, but I can write about it.
This journey seems to become a total disaster crippling Silver in body and mind and continuing the journey in the vicinity of Anugypt could be dangerous.
But what exactly happened?
Were they poisoned physically or magically?
I thought all enemy agents that could have done it had been branded?
6122608 Assuming they were, which is not as assured as Silver would like it, how does that stop them from getting a gift sent?
6122713 It doesn't but in the future they have to be a bit more cautious or this kind of incident won't be the last.
They could even try to hurt his herd back home.
6122741 That would be far more difficult to pull off. The massive distance between the two countries, and having no larger population of cats to blend into, would make that an unlikely proposition.
Those cats got cheap shots.
6122841 I am amused no one noticed the 'both your houses' part of the last chapter. It was a warning of today.
6123190 I know I've said this a lot, but I did notice. I just didn't comment because, at the time, I wasn't sure what it meant. In hindsight, it's obvious that it's foreshadowing a pyrrhic victory for the ponies over the cats, but at the time I thought that the "your" was being said by Silver and Celestia, meaning that it was focused on the cats and some other group.
Needless to say, I was overthinking things...which is very appropriate for me.
Ah, man... not Aila! That was a real gut-punch. I can't beieve that Celestia nor Silver are just going to let this lie at this point. Celestia may regret her actions setting this in motion, but now that it IS in motion... well she regretted sending her sister to the moon too. And Silver strikes me as the kind of character that, sooner or later, someone (some-pony?) is gonna push past what he can forgive, and the most forgiving poeple (ponies?) are the most vindictive when you finally push them that far.
But it's really hard to see where it's gonna go from here. Silver was riding pretty damned high. Any higher and he would have done a sonic rain-boom over the moon while impregnating Celestia. Which is why I should have seen this coming. Hubris is a recuring theme here. And the higher you fly, the harder the crash. I can't help but think (hope) that some-one (some-pony, some-cat?) is gonna meet the monster they probably just made.
6123379 It's all aimless fury at best at the moment, and being angry at all the cats for the crimes of the few doesn't sit well with Silver or Celestia.
6123400 And Anugypt should be thankful it's rulers have angered such forgiving demi-gods. Because, had Luna been on this trip as originally intended...
6123472 She would have lost her shit at the first assassination attempt. This story would be so different.
Fickle those stupid cats..the feels right now...poor sheI!
Well that was a sadding chapter
Aila's dead she was caring Silvers foal / a Lunar Foal.
Luna will burn the place to the ground when she finds out, and that is only if she is in a good mood if she is truly pissed there will be a smoking hole ware the town use to be.
Harts Fire's prime rule never harm a foal, some one needs to die and I mean hard and slowly.
Harts Fire
Haiku of Compassion:
Poor children of strife
Their concatenated lives
Stormy horizon
T_T
Sudden, but, I feel saddened by the thoughts provoked.
6123998 It was not a pleasant chapter for anyone involved.
6121948 You left the second verse untouched....
o.O
Meh...
That happend.
While I would like them to all live happily ever after, it is not a fairy tale...And while I would like to assassinate everyone of them in cold blood, again, shit happend and it is a bit late now....
Though if it were in human world shit would have hit the fan already...the war type.
6124418 I didn't have much to say about it. It struck me as rather tautological.
6125050 Most fairy tales did not start having 'live happily ever after'.
Dropped a Bridge on Him
I've been poisoned before. Sort of. The idiots.thought to kill me but my luck and their ignorance they gave me a non toxic substance.
6424961 really? How did it happen?
This should say something like Tired, but also worried and frantic
You need the word you between at and earliest.
7424099 More fixing.