Humans X
Magic Log, Entry 1765
My experiment was a success. The machine I built broke apart after a single use, and it brought a Unicorn to Terra. This one came as quite a surprise to me, but... well, that’s a bit personal.
We introduced ourselves, in a sense, and told him that we were experimenting with a way to look into different worlds. We have claimed that him being here is a mistake, and we want to send him home as soon as possible. We have placed him in a holding room, where he awaits me.
Our claim of him being here being just a mistake... I’m not sure how much of a lie that is. Going over my notes and blueprints, they suddenly seem foreign to me, like someone else wrote them. I believe that I will be able to recreate the machine, though it would be like I never made it before. My thoughts and memories regarding it seem to have evaporated with the arrival of our new guest.
Well... no time to dwell on it. I have more important things to attend to at the moment. Sunburst is currently waiting for me in the room we’ve placed him in, and if I want to keep him cooperative I better get in there soon.
-Starlight Glimmer
Twilight sat in the cafeteria of Canterlot High, which is where several students went after they were finished with their current final. She was the first one there after finishing her biology final, and triple-checking her work. Micro Chips was there next, saying Hello then sitting down and playing a game on his phone. Twilight barely looked up from Everything You Wanted to Know About Arthropods to say Hello back.
It was a few minutes later when Sunset entered.
“Figured I’d find you here already,” she said, sitting down next to her.
She smiled. “How’d you do?”
“I burned my way through it. I wasn’t expecting to finish before you, but I’m disappointed Micro Chips beat me.” The boy in question was too busy playing on his phone to notice.
“So... what’s going to happen when we go to Equestria in a few days? What’s going to happen to Adagio?”
Sunset sighed. “She’s still refusing to go back to Equestria until her sisters are freed. We keep telling her that she’d be safer there, but she says that Princess Celestia would throw her in the dungeon as soon as she got there.”
Twilight looked confused. “But... they sent her over a pardon...”
Sunset nodded. “I know. I think she just doesn’t want to admit how much she cares about her sisters. If you ask me... she’ll never admit this, but if you ask me... I think she feels that going to safety without the others would be a betrayal.”
Despite herself, Twilight couldn’t help but smile. “Well... do you think she’ll be safe at Fluttershy’s?”
Sunset shrugged. “Who knows? I don’t think the Changelings will try anything that involves breaking into a house and kidnapping. They’ll want to have a low profile, at least until they figure out magic, and a crime like that is bound to draw more attention than they want.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Adagio said that their experiments on Aria and Sonata weren’t turning up anything. She had heard them talking about it a few times. So hopefully their progress will be stagnant until we’re ready for first contact.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah... hopefully.”
”Well, Sunburst,” the bigger creature said. “I want to be the first to welcome you to our world. My name is Miss Chrysalis, and this is my friend...”
“Midnight,” the other creature said quickly. Miss Chrysalis turned from Sunburst to look at her.
He hardly registered that, as he turned to look at Midnight. “You... you look familiar...”
“You must be imagining things, little one,” Midnight said. “I have never seen a pony like you...”
“L-like me?”
“Oh yes. But you must be so scared right now. Why don’t I take you someplace more comfortable and we can start explaining things to you.”
Sunburst sat on the couch of the big room that the humans had provided him. He nibbled a bit on the hay they offered. It wasn’t as good as the hay they served at Princess Celestia’s school, but it was the only thing they could offer him at the moment.
The humans had been nice so far, but he was still scared. He wanted to go home. He wanted to see Starlight again. This world was strange, and it apparently had no magic.
He thought back to the two humans that had greeted him on that first day. They seemed so nice, Midnight especially. He didn’t know why, but he felt right at home with her.
As if his thoughts had willed it to happen, the door unlocked at that point and she walked in. She was carrying a clipboard, but was smiling at him. “Hello, Sunburst.”
“Hello, Miss Midnight,” Sunburst said.
She sat down on the couch, putting the clipboard on the end table where Sunburst couldn’t see it. She turned her attention to the small colt, putting on a smile. “I understand that you’re very afraid. You must be scared and confused. We want to help you get back home.”
Sunburst tilted his head and looked at her. “I... I don’t know why, but I know I can trust you.”
Carefully, like she was afraid that Sunburst might be scared of her, Starlight reached out and touched Sunburst. Sunburst pressed up against her, finding the touch pleasing.
“You can. We’re doing everything we can to get you home. But for now, we need to know some things about you. The more we understand about you, the more of a chance we have to get you home.”
Sunburst nodded. “I’m ready to tell you anything.”
She smiled. “Sunburst, how much do you understand about how your magic works?”
He tilted his head. “Like how we can use our horns to do magic?”
“That’s right.”
“The truth is... I’m not really sure.”
Starlight looked up from her notepad. This was clearly not the answer she had been expecting. “I thought you said you were a student of magic. Had they not taught you that?”
“It would have been one of my next lessons. I know that our horns take sunlight and moonlight and turn it into magic.”
Intrigued, Starlight wrote Magic appears to be the conversion of solar power on her notebook. “Do you notice yourself any weaker at night?”
Sunburst tilted his head. “No. Why do you ask?”
“Well, in this world, moonlight is simply sunlight being reflected off the moon. Could that be the same in your world?”
Sunburst looked at Starlight like she had grown a second head. “What? That’s silly. No, the moon and sun generate their own light. That’s why our ruler, Princess Celestia is so revered. She moves the sun and the moon.”
Starlight wasn’t sure how to take that. The Sirens all claimed that the sun and the moon were moved magically in their world, but that couldn’t be right. It had to be some sort of trick. Talking magical ponies were one thing, but that much power was absurd.
Also, the Sirens mentioned another ruler, one that used to move the moon.
“So... this ‘Princess Celestia’ moves the heavens!”
Sunburst nodded. “They say there used to be another alicorn that moved the moon, but that might just be a legend.”
At Starlight’s insistence, Sunburst told her the legend of NightMare Moon. It more or less followed the version Aria and Sonata had given her, though apparently some details had gotten muddled.
“Alright then, back to your magic. Are you finding it any harder to use your magic?”
“No. I can still levitate just fine, but it’s the only skill that I really know. I would have learned a lot of really cool stuff in Princess Celestia’s school.”
“Can you lift a few things for me?” She gestured to the table in front of them, where a single paperweight was sitting. “Please lift that for me.”
Sunburst did so. He held it up for a few moments, then Starlight told him to set it down gently.
“What other skills would you have learned?”
“Teleportation is a really cool one. You can go from point A to point B in an instant. Making clouds of smoke is another. Firing blasts of magic to protect yourself, and shields. Then there’s the stuff only real good wizards can do, like transformation, and age spells that can change your appearance.”
Starlight quickly jotted everything down. “Do you have any ideas on how to do those things?”
“Well, no. I would have learned. I was hoping to become Princess Celestia’s personal student one day.”
Starlight kept an outward look of calm, but inside she was getting frustrated, even though she suspected that he’d be able to tell them very little.
“Right now, a pony named Sunset Shimmer is Princess Celestia’s personal student... I think. I heard something happened between them, but all the teachers seem pretty quiet about it.”
Starlight only heard the first part of that sentence. Sunset Shimmer? But... she had gotten here years ago. And their eyes and ears around Canterlot High said that time was passing even faster in the magic world...
“Miss Midnight?”
Starlight shook her head. “Pardon me, Sunburst. I drifted off for a moment there. It happens when I’m deep in thought.”
Sunburst smiled. “You sound like my friend Starlight.”
That felt like a knife through Starlight’s heart. “Do I now?” she said, her voice trying to sound even.
Sunburst nodded. “Yeah. She’s my best friend. We did everything together. But when I got my cutie mark... that’s this thing here,” he said, showing off his flank, “the caretakers at the orphanage sent me off to Canterlot to study under Princess Celestia. I was so excited, but they put me on the train before I could even say goodbye to her. I was going to ask the school to send her an application. Oh, I hope it got through. I wonder what she’ll think of me disappearing... Miss Midnight?”
Starlight had turned away so the little pony couldn’t see her tears. She quickly wiped them away. “Oh, I’m listening, Sunburst,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “It sounds like you had a good friend.”
“The best,” he said. “I just hope she hasn’t forgotten about me.”
“I’m.. I’m sure she hasn’t,” Starlight finished collecting herself, then turned to Sunburst. Gently, she placed a hand on Sunburst’s neck. The little pony took the touch with comfort, leaning in and nuzzling Starlight. This was almost too much for her to bear, but being raised in the Changeling underworld had a habit of making her hide her feelings. She took Sunburst in a hug.
“I’m sure Starlight’s waiting for you. We’ll get you home so you can see her again. But we can’t do that without information. You need to tell us everything you know so we can send you home.”
He nodded. “I will.”
“Good. Now, explain these cutie marks to me...”
Miss Chrysalis watched this display on the monitor, confused. What were these emotions? Starlight had been acting strangely since the pony had showed up.
As she thought, the pieces were falling into place. Starlight seemed to have some familiarity with this pony. But that was impossible! But... wasn’t there another version of one of the girls at the high school that occasionally visited? That meant that there might be other versions of everyone in this other world. The pieces clicked into place.
So... there was a Sunburst in Starlight’s life. Or had been. She needed to remember that little detail. Anything that might give her more of a grip on Starlight.
She kept watching. It was boring a good deal of the time, part of the trick was convincing the young Sunburst that he was their first contact with the other world. So, all the questions that Starlight asked were getting him to repeat information their willing test subjects had already told them.
She grinned at the thought of Sonata and Aria, and the new brand of hatred that they had for their sister. After Adagio had escaped, the sisters had been brought back to the small rooms, strapped to the beds, and been given sensory deprivation for a full twenty-four hours. It had done its job perfectly. They now hated their sister so fiercely that they wouldn’t follow her if she came to rescue them. And when she was recaptured, they could just stick her in the same room and let the pair wear her down. And if she proved uncooperative and she decided to let Starlight run her more extreme experiments, they wouldn’t shed any tears if they proved fatal.
She checked the monitor that showed the two Sirens in their room. Sonata was playing another video game, the latest, although not hooked up for online play, of course. Not that it should matter at this point, they should have learned their helplessness by now. Aria was reading a book, though Chrysalis could see her half-filled canvas on one side. She had tried to start painting lately.
She watched the monitors a bit longer, then turned back to Starlight and Sunburst. For nearly an hour the two talked, mostly Starlight asking questions and Sunburst answering. Finally, Starlight rose from the couch and pressed a button next to the door. A few guards came in, each carrying some toy, newly purchased from a shop in town. Another guard asked Sunburst what he wanted for dinner. It was difficult, but they found something they could prepare on such short notice.
As Starlight had guessed, Sunburst had told them nothing new, but this had succeeded in building a rapport with the young pony. As much as Chrysalis preferred the stick, she understood the carrot was often more effective. With the Sirens, that wasn’t an issue. They were adult, distrustful of everyone. The stick was needed.
But Sunburst... Sunburst could be all carrot.
She poured herself a drink. Perhaps not the best move considering it was only the afternoon, but after everything that had happened, she needed a drink. She took a sip, thinking about all the chess pieces that she had on the board.
There were the Sirens, broken and not even attempting to escape anymore. They had accepted that they belonged to the Changelings, even if they didn’t consciously realize it yet. There was the missing Siren, who was still a wild card. Her spies hadn’t yet verified if she had run back to Canterlot, but that was the most likely place she’d go, if she was still interested in saving her sisters. Once it was verified, she could proceed.
The new pony was certainly going to be a game-changer. Starlight would advance her research, but how quickly she could move into the practical applications of magic was another matter entirely. Still, progress was progress. This would appease the other Dons.
The children at Canterlot High were the biggest threats. She had hoped that the kidnapping of Twilight Sparkle would get them results, but it only showed their hand. She cursed herself. Well, Adagio would have escaped either way, she supposed, and she would have revealed them anyway. No use crying over spilled milk.
And the guard... the one that had messed up. She didn’t quite recall his name, and currently didn’t care to remember. What exactly his mission was going to be depended on where Adagio was found. And whatever he did, he would understand that he best take his duties seriously from now on.
And the former Principal, Abacus Cinch, was currently right where they wanted her to be. Her daughter was proving to be an annoyance, but she was currently serving her purpose as well.
Yes, all her pieces were on the board, and despite her setbacks, she was now firmly on track again. There was only one more thing she needed to do before the end of the day.
Well, two more. First she needed to send her progress to the other Dons. Then, she needed to have a word with Starlight.
Aria flipped through her book. She wasn’t quite enjoying it, but she had asked for the biggest, thickest thing the changelings could get her in order to pass the time, and time passing was the most valuable commodity.
Aria only occasionally glanced up at what her sister was playing. Some new game with flashy colors and a lot of movement. She could retch. All this time and her sister still hadn’t matured. Hearing that constant drabble was making her ears bleed. She almost wished she was back in the other room.
The moment that thought entered her brain, she felt her body begin to shake. Her breath became short, her vision became dizzy. Before she knew what was happening, she was suddenly off the couch, on the floor and trying desperately to catch her breath.
She didn’t realize there was something soft and warm wrapped around her until she started to calm down. It was Sonata, who had pulled away from her game for her. She had Aria wrapped in a tight embrace, pressing her sister’s head into her chest.
“You had another one.”
Usually Aria would snap at her for making such an obvious comment, but even if she could have gotten the words out she wouldn’t have dared speak them. She needed her sister too badly to say anything that might push her away.
For a few moments, they sat there in silence. Even Sonata’s game, on pause, made no sound. Aria looked over the room. She saw her book, the thick hardcover novel of two warring settlements after a plague wiped out most of humanity, laying on the ground. She had lost her place. She could probably remember where she was.
“Don’t worry. I’m sure once these guys get magic they’ll let us out. Then we can go throttle Adagio for doing this to us!”
Aria was suddenly glad she was recovering from a panic attack, because she might have ended up screaming, “No, you idiot! Don’t blame her! Blame them!” There were cameras watching them, and she was sure that if they even suspected she wasn’t completely broken, it’d be back in the small room, strapped to the bed, her important senses experiencing nothingness. Or worse, maybe some of the horrible methods that teenager had talked about.
The truth is, she was grateful Adagio had escaped. That meant help might come. It meant that Adagio might care enough about them to come after them. She had to, right? She couldn’t have possibly stayed with them all those years and be so willing to leave them behind?
Still, even if Adagio had just run off and hid, she could escape alone. And she truly was alone. She had hoped Sonata was putting up an act, but that couldn't be the case. Sonata was an idiot even in the best of times, and these were far from the best.
But it didn’t matter. She had convinced them that she was broken. They weren’t suspecting her to fight back. So she’d bide her time and wait. And when an opportunity presented herself, she’d take it.
“Besides, we need to look on the bright side of things,” Sonata said, bringing Aria out of her thoughts.
“What’s that?” she asked in a weak voice.
“If Starlight’s experiments work, we get our magic back! And that means that we can go back to that high school and trash those girls!”
Aria wondered what to say to that, and decided silence was the safest bet. She found it odd, but she couldn’t muster up any hatred for the girls at Canterlot High, at least not anymore. Their defeat seemed like a lifetime ago, and now her hatred was directed towards her captors.
She felt... regret. She was wishing she had taken there offer. If only because it would have possibly protected her from all this. She saw the logic in Sonata’s hatred. After all, if the girls hadn’t defeated them, they’d still have their powers. They’d be ruling the world.
Or would they be? These Changelings had obviously been studying magic even before they’d captured them. Would they have been able to take them down? Had they been doomed from the start?
She hated all these thoughts. She was beginning to miss the old days. At least she knew she was supposed to hate Star Swirl the Bearded.
But now she wasn’t even certain about that. She knew people would rise up and try to stop her and her sisters. She knew it was a risk and she went ahead anyway. Was she really to blame anyone for trying to defend themselves?
“I need a drink,” she said out loud.
Almost immediately Sonata released her and stood up, marching over to the water cooler on the edge of the room. She began to pour a cup. Aria wanted to call her back, both because she misunderstood what kind of drink she wanted, and partly because she missed her sister’s contact.
Sonata brought back the cup. Aria took it and drank. The water tasted good, and she realized she really needed the drink, even if it wasn’t having the same effect that she had wanted it to have.
After she had gulped the cup down, she finally talked to Sonata. “So you think that Starlight will find anything soon?”
“I hope so. She’s really smart. And until then, every day is taco day!”
She rolled her eyes. Sonata liked two things: sugar and tacos. Starlight would only let them have sugar once a week, so that left tacos. But the first part of her sentence was what she wanted to hear.
The sooner she gave them back their magic, the sooner she’d have an opportunity to escape.
Any further thoughts were interrupted by the door unlocking and opening. A man walked in, the guards right behind him. He was there to take their dinner order.
That act got them back to doing what they were doing. After he left, Sonata returned to hacking down ninjas in the virtual world, and Aria returned to her book. An hour later dinner came. They ate in silence.
That night, when it was lights out, Aria crawled into her sister’s bed. Sonata just held her close.
Magic Log, Entry 1766
My first meeting with Sunburst was a success. We have started building up a rapport, and he seems to trust me completely. Sadly, it is as I suspected, and he’s at an age where he doesn’t truly know the intricacies of how magic works any better than the average human child understands how their body functions. We have a vague idea that it might be solar power, but Sunburst is unable to articulate the process well enough.
Oddly enough he has repeated the Sirens’ story about a pony moving the sun and moon. Could this be possible? If so, I will be advising Miss Chrysalis to tread carefully. Any creature that can put out the power necessary to perform that is not one to be trifled with lightly. If these ponies do make an official contact, our government might be the least of our problems.
Tomorrow I’m going to ask Sunburst some more questions about a Unicorn horn. If possible, I’ll see if I can take a small chip from Sunburst for analysis. If that would damage him, we’ll have to consider other methods.
Still, as little true information as I’ve received, I believe that the arrival of Sunburst has pushed my research ahead a full decade.
Starlight looked over her notes, pondering what to do next. There was a lot of possibilities to get through, and it was possible that taking a sample of Sunburst’s horn wouldn’t be feasible. The next logical thing would be to put Sunburst through a series of tests.
The door opened, and another man entered. Starlight recognized him as one of Chrysalis’s aides, though she couldn’t be bothered to remember his name.
“Miss Chrysalis wishes to see you in her office for a status report.”
Starlight nodded. “Tell her I’ll be there momentarily, as soon as I wrap something up.”
The man nodded and left, knowing Starlight was one of the few that could get away with asking Miss Chrysalis to wait.
Starlight looked at the entry written up on her computer screen. After a few minutes of deliberation, she typed in, “I will suggest we temporarily suspend any testing on the Sirens. Something tells me that we’ll get further with them after we unlock Sunburst’s potential.”
Satisfied, she signed off, then gathered up her notes for her new proposals.
When she entered Miss Chrysalis’s office, everything seemed to be about normal. The matriarch of the Changelings was sitting at her desk, looking over some paperwork while casually sipping another drink.
Still, Starlight felt uneasy all of a sudden. This whole thing had the air of being staged.
Chrysalis looked at her and smiled. It was a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I take it you have some good news for me.”
“Our initial meetings with Sunburst yielded very little in the way of new information, but they succeeded in their true purpose of establishing a relationship with Sunburst,” Starlight said, launching into her prepared speech. “He seems to have a similar level of naiveté as a human child his age, and should be easy to mold...”
Chrysalis listened, though there was hardly a need to. She had been watching, after all, she had guessed just about everything that Starlight had to tell her. No, she was playing along right now.
As Starlight went on, Chrysalis opened a jewelry box sitting on her desk. She heard Starlight’s voice falter slightly at seeing this, but soon she was going on as if nothing unusual had happened.
Chrysalis pulled out a ring with a large diamond on it. She slipped it on, pretending that she was admiring it. As Starlight wrapped up her findings, Chrysalis asked the next question. “So, what next?”
“That will depend on what the coming interviews tell us, but I have a feeling that focusing on Sunburst will yield us better results than focusing on the Sirens. I’d like your permission to redirect my experiments as such.”
Chrysalis smiled. It was not a pleasant smile, and it made Starlight nervous.
Miss Chrysalis rose to her feet and walked around her desk. She held up the hand that wore the large diamond around one finger.
“Do you like my ring?”
Starlight was stunned by the question. “Um... yes, I gue...”
Chrysalis’s hand moved so fast, it was like a black blur. Starlight didn’t see it. What she did see were the stars in her vision as the hand hit her fist first in the side of the head. The large diamond connecting perfectly.
Starlight hit the ground, her vision blurred and her head feeling like it was splitting open from pain. She let out a groan, it was all she could manage. She lay on her side, waiting for the pain to stop.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t the end of the pain. Chrysalis walked to her side. With a single well-placed kick, the tip of her high-heel made contact with Starlight’s stomach. The air left her in an instant, leaving her even unable to cry out in pain as she rolled onto her back.
She desperately tried to catch her breath, but she felt the high heel that her boss wore coming down on her neck. It wasn’t being pressed down, but the long heel was touching her throat, making the threat obvious.
“I know you disobeyed me,” Chrysalis said. “Deliberately disobeyed a direct order. You activated that machine even after I told you not to.” Her tone hardly sounded angry. In fact, she almost sounded like she could be chatting about the weather. “This wasn’t you using discretion when an unexpected situation came up, or because you knew something I didn’t know. No, it wasn’t five seconds later that you went against me.”
Starlight desperately wanted to say something in her defense, bet she was only starting to get the wind back inside her. She figured that was a saving grace, as Chrysalis would have likely kicked her again in response.
“Now, the very fact that you turned out to be correct is the only reason that you’re still alive. You got lucky, conducting that experiment that had so many variables that you couldn’t possibly account for them all, and it landed this little pony into my lap.”
Starlight was beginning to breathe normally. Her vision was starting to focus.
“You’ve been a great asset to me.” With that, Chrysalis pressed her heel down. Not a lot, but Starlight started to have trouble breathing again.
“I suggest you not press your luck again. You think you’re irreplaceable, and you might be right. But I’m always better off without a disloyal subordinate.”
She lifted her foot up, allowing Starlight to breathe. She could only lie there, partly trying to collect herself and partly because she was too scared to do anything until Chrysalis specifically told her to.
“Get up.”
It was an arduous process just standing. Chrysalis had hit hard enough that she was still reling, and she felt dizzy. Still, Chrysalis didn’t tell her to go faster. She waited patiently for her command to be carried out.
Once it had been, Chrysalis took Starlight’s head in her hands almost gently and looked her over.
“Good... your hair will cover the bruise just as I intended. No need in scaring little Sunburst.” There was no threat or anger in her voice. It seemed almost gentle. She removed her hands. “Do what you think is best. That’s why I hired you.”
Starlight left the office, walking in a daze back to her quarters. Once inside she locked the door, she fell on her bed. She cried herself to sleep.
That night the girls had a sleepover at Rarity’s, the biggest house in the group, to celebrate the end of the school year. After an eventful night, they finished up by watching a movie.
By the time the credits were rolling, they were all asleep, sprayed on the couches and sleeping bags they brought.
All except Sunset Shimmer, still awake, though for once not from worry. On the contrary, she felt better than she had felt in days. She quietly thanked Harmony for the peace she had had. As she sat on the couch, watching all her sleeping friends. For that night, there was no upcoming crisis, no Changeling Mafia to battle, no captured Siren to free. Over the next two days they agreed to all spend with their families, celebrating Mother and Father’s Day since they’d be spending both holidays in Equestria. Then, she’d spend an entire summer in her homeland.
Twilight was at her side, sound asleep. She was smiling too. It seemed her sleep was getting more and more content.
Carefully, she levitated Twilight’s blanket up. It had been was falling off of her, tucking it into her. Then she adjusted her own blanket, turned off the television, and closed her eyes.
She didn’t see the still very much awake Pinkie looking at her two cuddling friends and smiling.
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Sweet new update, I'm so glad that you have Sunburst alive and well in the human world, however I got to know, if he goes through the portal in front of Canterlot High School will he still be a pony when he arrives in Equestria?
I wonder who the other Don’s are? Sombra? Tirek? Discord? Gogar? Still I hope we will see the Dazzlings get back together and Chrysalis giving her cuppance.
Well, talk about a plot twist! Dang.
Me thinks that Starlight will soon have doubts about what she's doing and then soon help make things right.
9482340
Sombra, Tirek and Grogar? Maybe. Possibly even Spoiled, Gladmane and Svengallop. Discord? I think his counterpart was already shown in a previous chapter.
unless that "bum" bit was just a disguise, in which case, you might be right on HIM too.
Greetings. Thanks very much for getting the next chapter of this up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. The exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-ups are quite well done in all the right places. I especially liked Human Starlight's bonding with young Sunburst, as well as Aria faking being broken (though Sonata wasn't), the girls' assorted discussions (in particular, the one concerning Adagio's refusing to go home until her sisters are safe) and Human Chrysalis basically telling Human Starlight to NOT treat her like a fool in NO uncertain terms.
Yeah, this chapter took quite a while, but was DEFINITELY VERY WELL worth the wait.
Always great to see an update on this and as usual you do not disappoint!
Top-notch work as always!
Part of me wants to see what Starlight of Eqg world and Sunburst will talk about next. Also I hope I get to see what Sonata mindset is like Arias Look forward to more.
Oy, change your stories name! that ones taken!
other then that keep up the good work!
Always get excited when I see an update. The school year is finally over and soon the girls and Flash will go to Equestria. I am legitimately surprised that the Human Starlight is bonding with the young pony Sunburst, maybe her own reformation is in the future? I wonder what happened to the human Sunburst though?
Well done, Aria.
9482667
There is no rule that story names have to be unique. If there were a good number of stories would have to be renamed as the fanbase has the tendency to pick common phrases for names.
9483136
this is true but when the story whos name you nicked has a like counter thats passed 1k....you might wana not
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/57956/integration <first thing that comes up when you search that name, and for good reason.
thats why most people avoid nameing there fics things like 'past sins' anymore, at least unless there makeing a spinoff of said fic
9483231
Once a story reaches a certain level of popularity it will naturally suppress stories with similar names, but I feel the number of stories that people look at to make that decision are far fewer than you're making them out to be. Past Sins is very much an exception when it comes to having that level of popularity.
For this purpose a thousand likes is too trivial. If we were going to eliminate valid names we would need a number that represents truly good stories rather than one that most good stories will achieve.
I don't know if you truly meant to use a word like "nicked" (which implies something has been stolen), but regardless I feel like it's harsh to conclude that people are "nicking" names just because other stories exist with the same name.
A word like "integration" would be very fitting for many stories on this site, and it's a common word at that.
I'm surprise Sonata hasn't become obese from nothing but tacos.
While i like the story in general i must say i find Chrysalis to be the weakest link, while other characters to have some kind of semi realistic reasons for their actions she alone seems to operate solely on cartoon villain logic. She seem to be deliberately driving starlight to betray her for shits and giggles and i almost expected her to spontaneously grow a mustache and start twirling it while laughing maniacally when she had her rant about how much she loves beating children and how annoying it was that she had to pretend to be nice for once...
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I wouldn't be surprised if she was faking her mindless taco binge and videogame playing. Why? Simple.
The Sirens are twelve hundred years old.
Imagine all the crap they've dealt with in the intervening years. Sure they had the crystals, but they were never the type of magical threats to be one-trick seaponies. They would have positively reveled in all the ways they could spread the pain in the middle ages and Renaissance eras.
I would be very surprised if Sonata wasn't just biding her time. The moment Chrysalis screws up this much, she might well wind up learning what happens when you try to imprison a pair of girls with more combat experience than her entire organization combined.
I think this is the first chapter in a while that wasn't posted right on or right around an important day for me (always a good turnout, like the end of the school year or birthday)
Ooh, I do love the Dazzlings!
Chrysalis throwing around Starlight was satisfying in the season 6 finale, and it was satisfying here.
The ponies can't make first contact fast enough. Every chapter just makes me want Chrysalis to burn that much more.
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>12 hundred years old.
Wait, when was this confirmed?
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Starswirl and company vanished before Celestia and Luna had their spat, which was one thousand years ago. The Pillars, after all, weren't the least bit surprised to see Luna in the palace, so they had no reason to believe she wouldn't be.
The history of Starswirl shows the geezer dealing with the threat the only way he ever deals with things, apparently, which is to throw the offending thing into another dimension and make them someone else's problem. After that, I'd have to check an episode somewhere, to find a date reference to the Pillars. I'm sure I had a reason at the time for "1200," but I can't recall what it was.
Wow, human Starlight suddenly got a lot more sympathetic. I suppose it's too much to hope that human Sunburst got off as well as his colt counterpart has so far....
Also not sure if Pinkie's doing some shipping or what.
Wait, how are they graduating highschool and taking a Biology final? Most people take Bio Freshman Year, the only exception being people who take it second year if it all.(I personally dont have to take Bio for highschool, just Chemistry and Physics.
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Really? I took bio my senior year though...