For those who aren't familiar with the Lunaverse: http://www.fimfiction.net/index.php?view=group&group=760 . It's an AU world where Celestia went evil instead of Luna. Trixie is the Element of Magic, and other background characters from the show are the other Elements. It's a shared universe started by RainbowDoubleDash, and there's plenty of other stories in it if you're interested.

Fic stuff:

Hmm. Is Trixie right, or being too suspicious? Or maybe just selfish? Only time will tell.

Octavia is fun to write. She's such a serious character in such a whimsical universe. And she has a past with Trixie, who maintains her perfect record of irritating everyone in Canterlot she meets.

Note: fic is probably inspired at least in part by all the Dvorak and Smetana I've been listening to lately. Czech classical music is freaking amazing.

Octavia is serioues, isn't she? That's her thing, I guess.

The only complaint I have with this chapter is that I don't think Bon Bon got a single line. She was just kind of...there.

>>766949766949: Well, classical music players and aficionados are all very stern. (Actually, no we aren't. :-) But Octavia is, I guess).

I was worried about letting Bonbon detract from the Octavia/Lyra scenes. But you raise a good point... I'll probably go back and add a couple of lines from Bonbon. She's fun, and she shouldn't be left out.

I'll be reading! :D This has some nice potential!

Loved the musical intro.  That stuff is hard to write, but you made me almost hear it.

La Fleur Rouge, eh?  Wonder if this should be the same café Trixie and Raindrops went to in my story.  Guess that depends on just how fancy it is.  Oh, wait this place has an indoors.  The one in mine was only supposed to have outdoor seating, which was why business was a little poor near noon.  So I guess not, pity though, I liked the name.

but at least they got the griffin out of town

Awfully presumptuous there.  I seem to recall once saying I was making Gilda a permanent resident of Ponyville, but no, I was only joking then and still am now.    Nothing said in this story is untrue to what I've been writing, though I really need to get that chapter finished so folks who want to can properly reference the fallout.

“Lyra, how many ponies do you think know my last name?”

Considering she is not only Luna's personal student, but also responsible for saving the world, which probably made headlines in every paper across Equestria, I would wager the answer would be just about everpony.  Plus even as not friends, the story already made it clear that the two have met before, even if only on poor terms.

if this town has the necessary facilities --- that one weekend Scratch snuck in

Given that Ditzy named dropped Scratch in response to the former, I'm finding it hard to also reconcile the existence of the latter statement.  If both are really true, it would seem the name should have incited at least some reaction from Octavia, and would also probably make more sense if Lyra was the one that knew Vinyl rather than Ditzy.  There's no reason both lines can't be true, I just find it awkward, makes everything feel too small-world to me.  Ponyville is sorta near Canterlot, but it's also an out of the way hick-town on the edge of the wild Everfree.  We've already got both Lyra and Trixie, having too many folks that used to live in Canterlot now residing in Ponyville just doesn't feel right.  This is the town that Rarity is struggling to get out of after all.

Anyway, a those last two gripes aside, this is off to a pretty good start and looks like something I'll really be able to get into.

>>767157767157: Sure, Trixie did save the world. But:

1. It's strongly implied that the Night Court both dislikes her and fears her potentially gaining more influence, and wouldn't want that to happen. The papers would report it, but the nobles would probably try to limit Trixie's gains as much as they could. That would probably include trying to bury her name (or at least her last name), maybe just mentioning it once, briefly, near the beginning of the articles. Then, later, it won't be as politically hazardous to say no to 'the savior of the world,' they'd just be saying no to that brat Lulamoon, whom most ponies won't connect with the former. It was also a while ago, I think, which is plenty of time for folks to forget her last name

2. Trixie doesn't like her last name anyway, and has taken pains to ensure that no one calls her that. Others might know that a 'Trixie, student of Luna' saved the world, but not that she's a Lulamoon. At the party where she met Octavia, for instance, she would have insisted on being called just 'Trixie' as much as she could.

3. I seem to recall that the Lulamoons aren't esp. important politically anyway, so it's not like her name would trigger recognition.

In short: quite likely that someone like Octavia would know that a Trixie had saved the world. Not so likely that she'd know Trixie's last name.

As for the Scratch thing, that's a good point. I'll edit the name to be some random other pony.

Sad's not my genre, but that cover picture is awesome.

An electric Lyre...... BRILLIANT!

>>767234767234: As soon as I saw that picture, I knew I had to use it for this story. It was just so perfect. I love Lyra's expression too, as well as Octavia's confusion.

>>767215767215

Some nobles might see Trixie as a threat but a few would also see her as an easily manipulated puppet to get themselves closer to Luna.  More Importantly though we've seen in the Boast Busted epilogue that Luna makes a big deal out of a free press, so I doubt she'd let the nobles bury Trixie's name.

Is it reasonable that Octavia wouldn't know the Lulamoon name, yes.  But it's not some big secret so I don't think it's the kind of fact that should be tripping Trixie's mental alarms, it's just far too trivial a detail.

>>767258767258: I got the opposite impression from the epilogue. Luna convinced all the papers to bury the story on page 17 or whatever. She didn't totally squelch it, but she likely couldn't. The Ursa leveled a large part of Ponyville; even if no papers reported it, news would leak via word of mouth or whatever, and it could blow up into a big PR disaster if it somehow leaked that Luna asked the papers to completely hide the story.

Besides, maybe Trixie's just a little paranoid. :-)

>>767265767265

I cannot – I will not – stop the story from running.

That seems a very pro-free speech statement to me.  And she certainly could have buried the whole incident completely had she wanted to.

Let me repeat, Ponyville is an out of the way hick-town on the edge of the wild Everfree.  It's a major outpost for the Apple Trust, since that family founded it, but for most of the rest of Equestria it might as well not exist.  General attitude would likely be  something like, who cares if those crazy inbreds lost home and livelihood to a giant star beast, that's what they get for being stupid enough to live anywhere near such a monster in the first place.  Sure being the daughter of a noble family makes it more of a story by Twilights involvement, but again who's word is to be more trusted, that of a bunch of inbred hicks or one of the oldest and most well respected noble clans.

Honestly I'm surprised Luna even had to take such quicksteps to knock it off the front page.  Seems to me the type of thing that should have likely taken days if not weeks to hit a reputable paper.  Especially as no one in Ponyville, including Trixie, seemed to realize that the nomad that wrecked the town was a pony of any importance.  Heck most of eye-witnesses probably didn't even know her name.

Anyway I agree that Trixie is quite capable of being paranoid, but having somepony's use of your last name setting off that paranoia though is way too extreme.  She is the personal student  of the royal Princess, official liaison to the Night Court even if only for a small town nowheresville, and most importantly savior of all Equestria.  Trixie is a celebrity of a more than reasonable caliber and she has the kind of ego that revels in it.  She might hate ponies using her full name but the fact that they know it should fill her with boundless pride, not half-backed paranoia.

>>767369767369

Luna believes in a free press, but the nature of Equestria is such that the noble families (or Luna herself) can still manipulate when something gets released and where it gets released.

Ponyville may have been a hick town, and it still is to some extent, but the six saviors of Equestria live there, one of whom is also personally conntected to Luna. Information in general probably doesn't travel to or from Ponyville fast, but information directly concerning the L-6 would.

Total isolation of the Element of Loyalty from her friends for a period of three months?

Yeah, I think Trixie's paranoia sense is on to something here.

>>770110770110: Indeed. Seems a bit suspicious that this particular, uh, opportunity would come up for this particular Element...

>>770114770114

In all honesty, if it weren't for the whole 'no outside contact whatsoever for three months' part, I'd be of the mind that Trixie was probably over-analyzing the whole thing and the offer was on the level.

While I understand that certain sacrifices have to be made to meet obligations in life, deals that require you to give up everything you had to get something you want tend to sit poorly with me. I don't like to burn my bridges so readily.

>>770164770164: Well, to be fair, Octavia didn't quite say she couldn't talk to anyone. She said that Lyra would have to stay in Canterlot for three months, but not that no one from Ponyville could visit her.

Granted, visitors would be at the discretion of whoever would be in charge of Lyra's lodgings (and also, to an extent, the orchestra). We'll be learning more about Lyra's prospective host next chapter.

>>770207770207

Exactly. Being able to control where she stays for three months is just a step away from being able to control who she interacts with in that same time frame.

Octavia says 'no going to Ponyville for three months' and my inner paranoia hears 'no talking to any of your friends for three months'. I'm willing to bet my inner paranoia is more accurate than Lyra would like at the moment.

>>770273770273: Well, hopefully Trixie will be smart enough and savvy enough to think of these things and communicate them to Lyra in a calm, respectful, yet persuasive manner. Surely Trixie Lulamoon can manage that! :-)

>>770336770336

I almost read that with a straight face!

The only problem I had was the chapter name. It's not properly capitalized. i know that's small, but it's such a pet peeve for me.

>>770345770345 Ditto!

Way to handle things, Trixie. Maybe you're not doing as well with this 'friendship' thing as you thought.

I like the interplay between Octavia and Lyra. I play music myself (as an amateur) and really like reading/writing about musical characters, especially when they have the opportunity to just play music and lose themselves in it.

Greengrass is mentioned! He probably won't show up in this fic, but when/if we start writing out the Night Court, I hope he shows up. Quite the villainous politician, that one.

>>774622774622

This is a pony who gave Ditzy an in-universe version of "The Prince" so we can't expect her to be any more competent at this whole friendship thing as M!Twilight. Trixie's royal road to failure is, as has been mentioned, being an abrasive loudmouth; adding in her legitimate fear of the Great Game into the mix makes her a different sort of inept friend.

Dayum. Poor Trixie, poor Lyra. I hope this ends well for them, but somehow I know it won't...

The devil is, as they say, in the details. And details happen to be what both sides of the equation are sorely lacking. Trixie doesn't have them and Octavia either doesn't have them either or isn't volunteering them.

Chapter 2 already?  I don't have time for this; have to finish GOtL.  Will come back later.

PS: your writing speed makes me feel both jealous and ashamed.

An excellent beginning. I got swept away a bit.

And yeah, color me suspicious too about the whole 'three months' thing. I ponder that... something's going down, methinks.

Ouch... best of intentions for Trixie, but it blew up in her face like a nuke. Sad part is, for her, she's legit trying her best to be a friend. Damned Night Court. Wacky Hijinks, you're fired! ;)

>>775417775417: Indeed. She's trying very hard. She's just kind of bad at it. :-)

>>775100775100: Octavia is a bit taciturn, isn't she? Guess we'll have to see if Trixie can do something about that.

>>775606775606

Unfortunately for Trixie, there is such a thing as trying too hard. Looking out for your friends is a good thing. Trying to control their lives is a bad thing. She's leaning just a little too far towards the latter for Lyra's comfort level it seems.

>>775642775642: Yep. Politics, it is a tricky thing, and Trixie doesn't seem to be doing very well at it right now.

>>775105775105

That makes two of us...

Oh wow, this is really tough for Lyra! It's like the usual Element of Loyalty getting an offer to join the Wonderbolts but finding out she has to spend three months in Cloudsdale, away from Ponyville.

>>776377776377

Make it three....

Trixie you idiot, just get her a room at the palace or something. Heck I bet you still have a room over you could lend her! then you can be a good friend and still protect her from Greengrass!

There's another pony that needs rescuing from Greengrass: Octavia herself. Trixie should remember that and use it to her advantage, don't you think?

>>780665780665: That could be very easily construed as refusing Greengrass's hospitality. It's an option, but it would give Greengrass an opening to be 'offended' and retaliate in a more direct capacity.

>>780680780680: Well, she doesn't really have any way of knowing if Octavia is being forced into this or if she was just all, 'betray my friend for the sake of my career? Score!' But perhaps more to the point, Trixie barely understands how to care about her friends; she's got little hope of caring about somepony she's barely met like Octavia.

Aw, buck. Octavia hypnotized Lyra, didn't she?

"Would You Kindly play the festivial with me, Lyra Heartstrings?"

Yeah, just music at the magic school my plot.

>>780845780845, >>780904780904: Well, Octavia is an earth pony, so she can't cast magic. And her cello's not magic either. Octavia takes great pride in being able to perform without needing 'assistance,' of that sort. She doesn't object to others that do it, but it's not for her.

So she's not a magician. But she is a phenomenal musician. And Lyra herself is very sensitive to music. I imagine part of her talent is being able to 'get' music at a deeper, more instinctive level. It's more real to her and affects her more deeply than most ponies. And Octavia knows that.

So Octavia didn't use magic... but she did, perhaps, if Trixie's suspicions are right, play a particular song with an eye towards inducing a particular emotion -- a sort of fuzzy, warm, pleasant agreeability -- in a pony who would be the most vulnerable to it. Which is still a form of hypnotism, I suppose.

Incidentally, now we know how that Trixie will occasionally do the right thing. She simply has to try and fail at doing all the wrong things first.

I like the contrast between the scheming Trixie, whose plans just get worse and worse (and end up causing her some injury), compared to Octavia, who appears to be so kind and considerate of Lyra's feelings. Octavia might not be a politician, but she seems to be better at persuading others than Trixie, at least so far. Hopefully Trixie will find some way to even the score.

The link is an explanation of the 'forcing a choice' trick that Trixie used against the mayor. Hopefully it's clear enough; if not, I can explain it in more detail.

>>780994780994

I've actually read that hypnotism is primarily about rhythm, particularly in how you modulate your voice when speaking to a suggestible subject. So, yes, I have little difficulty believing that a musician of Octavia's caliber could induce a mild hypnotic state which would allow her to 'suggest' to Lyra something that Lyra already wants to do. All the better because Lyra trusts her completely, which is often another thing needed to make real life hypnotism work properly.

>>781041781041: Exactly. Octavia's sense of rhythm and tone is extremely advanced. She could easily replicate a particular rhythm in her voice. And all those other things -- Lyra being tired, Lyra having had a couple glasses of wine, Lyra trusting Octavia -- only help. :-)

>>781074781074

And don't forget the part about Lyra wanting to do what Octavia's suggesting. Pretty much every single problem with the success of hypnotism, magical or otherwise, comes from trying to make an individual do something they don't want to.

If I try and make water run uphill, it's going to fight me every step of the way. If I try to make it run downhill on the other hand, it's all too ready to comply.

I'm reminded somewhat of the first half of Lesson Zero here in how Trixie's somewhat missing the point. On the other hand, that last bit does bode ill for Lyra if she goes, so...

Yeah, no matter what, this will probably have some bad consequence.

>>780830780830 it's not a matter of whether Trixie cares about Octavia really. As someone who tends to look at an argument from any angle I can, including the other person's side, I can confidently say that you don't have to actually care about someone at all to invoke their personal interest as a reason to do something. There's a difference between Trixie really caring about making sure Octavia doesn't take a fall for Greengrass and Trixie convincing Octavia to withdraw from the plan before she does take the fall for him. The first one is caring about Octavia, the second is just using Octavia's own interests to convince her to do stuff.

>>782083782083: Fair enough, although Trixie still doesn't really think like that. That's part of her problem; she sees Octavia as an obstacle to maneuver around, not another pony with her own motivations. Hence her not really being good at politics yet.

This raises a rather obvious irony: a pony we know who has no interest in playing The Game would be better at it than Trixie...as evidenced by Ditzy's constant asking of armor-piercing questions. This also means that when the crossover happens, both sides can compare notes about their incompetent leaders.

Trixie finally beats someone at politics! Sure, she beats a cellist with literally no political training, and only after getting beaten up, but still. Progress!

Poor Lyra. It probably sucks to know that your mentor betrayed you for her own gain.

For those wondering why Lyra can hear Octavia and Trixie over the tin-can telephone, but not vice versa -- if you've used a tin-can phone like this (yes, they do work in real life), you'll note that it distorts the sounds going through it. This is because the medium that the sound is traveling through is different (a string, instead of the air) than we're used to hearing. Octavia can probably hear something from the other end, but it's distorted enough that even she can't recognize Lyra's breathing patterns or heartbeat, so she doesn't notice the green mare.

Damn, Octy, you're good... I love her hearing and how she used it against Trixie, there. Nice touch! And Trixie... the right reasons, wrong methods. So close, so far.

>>786780786780: I really like the idea of a musician character with such good hearing that they can use it to break through a lot of visual-focused illusion magic. It seems to me that being able to basically 'hear' other pony's locations, and identify them by their hoofsteps (or, sometimes, breathing patterns) would probably be useful for a whole variety of tasks...

...

...brilliant! A tin can and wire! Who checks for a tin can and wire? No one! Seriously, I am in awe of that twist, that idea.

So Octavia is kinda like Daredevil.    The Mare Without Fear.  Has a nice ring to it.

>>786806786806: Teehee. Now all she needs is a law degree. And Charles Atlas-style martial arts prowess. Although... she did kind of pummel Trixie, so maybe she's already working on the latter. :-)

The way I picture Octavia's hearing working is this: when she's not playing music or paying special attention, she has very good hearing -- good enough to hear most things going on around her, and to identify ponies by their hoofsteps the same way we might identify somebody at a glance -- but that's about it.

But when she's playing music, or specifically doing nothing but listening, I figure her focus and hearing are good enough to hear almost anything that's possible to hear. Including things like the echo problems Trixie's illusions have, or the cracked window. Or other ponies breathing. She's quite difficult to sneak up on normally, but it's almost impossible (without really good magic, or a trick like with the tin-can phone) when she's focusing hard on listening.

>>786802786802: Thanks!

Great. Now that Lyra has had her first taste of the Great Game, I'm guessing that she ain't fond of it. Imagine her reaction to something that isn't a low-grade peeing contest between two non-entities.

Lyra needs a hug... and some ice cream. Mostly the hug, though. And yeah, I've used the tin can before. Memories...

>>786939786939: Yep, turns out that the Great Game isn't as fun as it sounds from the outside. It's not all parties and soirees and owning a castle. Sometimes it kinda sucks. And it's not even over yet for Lyra, because now she has to figure out how to evade Greengrass's dasterdly cluthches.

>>786958786958: Well, hopefully Trixie will be empathetic enough to realize this and, instead of rubbing in how she was right and Lyra was wrong, will react with compassion and grace.

I mean, we can dream, right? :-)

>>787035787035

And we can all be drinking that free bubble-up while we're eating our rainbow stew.

>>787035787035 I think at this point... she would. She's not that heartless or insensitive, especially to her oldest friend.

>>787055787055: I would certainly hope so. Trixie does seem to have realized how important Lyra is to her, especially given her near breakdown at the thought of Lyra getting messed up because of Greengrass. I think she'll be a little bit more compassionate than, say, she would have been before LNLD.

But you'll have to tune in tomorrow to find out for sure. :-) That's when the final chapter (and probably the short epilogue) will go up.

Poor Lyra.....she needs a hug. And maybe a tub of ice cream.

Alright, finally got around to chapter 2, and of course I see you've release two more chapters in this time.    You know that jealous/shame stuff I mentioned?  Yeah, mix some unbridled hate in there.    Wait, that sounds harsh.    Good job, but way to make a guy feel inadequate.

Anyway, I really and truly genuinely enjoyed this chapter.  No forcing myself, no hoping it will get better, just pure delight.  It made smile from beginning to end.    I just loved the way you captured everypony as Lyra set about asking if it was okay to leave, and the interplay with Trixie was just fabulous.    I can really empathize with that last mistake Trixie makes.  I somewhat the kinda guy who would also state a "manipulating would be me saying" type line, not because I'd ever do stuff like that, but because I just come up with stuff like that and blurt it out before I have the time to consider how someone else might interpret it.  Part of why I'm prone to typing long statements.  I often feel the need to try and clarify to the point that my exact meaning is beyond doubt.

One very minor quibble, really more of a pointlessly silly nitpick.

Uh, you’ll write, right?

While people do talk like this it still reads a bit awkward, maybe "Uh, you’ll write, won't you?”

So I guess the room... was wired?

>>787274787274: Oh no, I'm being pun-ished. :-)

>>787258787258: Glad you enjoy it!

Alright, take my whole comment about what I thought of the last chapter and double all of it, including the part about hating you.

Seriously though, this is good stuff.  A bit short on narrative description at some spots maybe, but the dialog is just so spot on I find myself hardly able to care about having to mostly imagine the scenery and actions from scratch.

You sir have me enthralled me.  Please keep it up.

That said, I do have one minor quibble.  As seen in LNLD, invisibility + silent-steps is one of Trixie's most basic and practiced tricks.  It shouldn't be particularly taxing on her magic reserves.  Also, she already knew Octavia had good ears, so she should have gone for the combo right away.

That was some dastardly politics by a guy who has yet to physically show up. I never even considered the political weight of having the elements under your control that was some clever writing there.

Octavia is in deep, poor mare Hope that eventually she can be helped out too. But for now they have to help Lyra without getting the ire of the Duke to fall on Octavia for failiure.

>>788192788192: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the political stuff. I like the idea of a noble trying to control an Element; it brings the Night Court shenanigans into Ponyville, which is always interesting.

I agree, it would be nice if Octavia could be rescued as well. She certainly doesn't seem happy to have been dragooned into working for Greengrass. But, at least for the moment, they'll have enough to do saving Lyra and possibly preventing Octavia from ending up like those who fail the Duke usually do. Actually extricating her from his clutches might need to wait.

>>788149788149: Glad you're enjoying it!

Trixie probably should have started out with silent steps. I chalk it up to her being stressed, tired from running literally over town, and underestimating Octavia's 'illusion busting' ability due to the cellist not having magic.

>>788294788294 It's certainly a plot we can re-use to our advantage. At some points our fearless Luna 6 will need to have some political clout in their corner proper, possibly Fancy Pants or maybe Fragrant Posey? Hmm...

Is Duke Greengrass an earth pony? That seems like an earth pony name and we don't have any earth pony nobles yet.

>>788338788338: I do like the idea floated earlier of Fancy Pants serving as a counselor to Luna and thus kind of on Trixie's side, although he's certainly not going to just do everything for her. But I could see him being useful.

I think I wrote in the bios thread that Greengrass is a unicorn, but I kind of like the idea, now that I think of it, of him being an earth pony. No illusions or magic, just sheer political wilyness. Well, he hasn't actually arrived yet, so there's still time to change it. :-)

>>788379788379 Plus being underestimated by the snooty unicorns might be a boon for him.

Oh, this was brilliant!

Poor Lyra, though...

>>789058789058: Not one of her better days, I'll admit. I'll have to echo the earlier commentators -- she really needs a hug now.

I think Trixie, for all her Trixie-ness, will hopefully know to give that hug.

I'm privately amazed by how many insidious plots ultimately fall to pieces because they rely on the target being every bit as greedy and selfish as the instigators.

The plan Octavia was outlining would not have worked on Lyra. Ever. I mean, you're counting on the Element of Loyalty to uphold a bargain that is struck on the premise of severing pre-existing loyalties? Really?

Octavia and Greengrass would have been lucky to leave with all of their teeth in the same zip code.

Gotta agree with RDD here. For a moment I thought that Octy had all the cards, but then Trixie outsmarts her with a children's toy. Great stuff.

This chapter gives wonderfully perspective to so many things. Elements as a political weapon, Trixie's status in some ponies' eyes, Octavia's motives, more Greengrass' characterization (good ol' "Sauron villain" type: effective even when no one has seen the guy), maybe something I've forgotten.

Also once more, your Octavia is friggin' badass. Brilliantly stuck between ambition, pride, career and friends. I love it.

Won't lie, I was a little disappointed with this chapter.

Trixie finally apologizing and talking to Lyra and speaking sensibly with her was great.  Getting her to reason through it all rather than just trying to force her to take Trixie's word on the matter really was the way.  Unfortunately, after that we're just back to more of Trixie under estimating Octavia.  It's a bit of different, but so much more of the same.  We'd already covered this last chapter and so I just found myself getting bored in the middle.

Then Trixie finally found the chink in Octavia's armor and the confession starts.  And what a confession it is.  You managed to make her both compellingly sympathetic and yet utterly contemptible all at the same time so bravo.

Not sure I'm buying the whole tin can bit, or your excuse for why it worked, but I'll write that one off for plot convenience.

>>788192788192

True, but it also proves how ultimately ill suited the nobles are to this concept.  The Elements only work as a whole.  The only thing securing any one of them nets is the ability to prevent their use, or in other words to do exactly what Octavia was saying the nobles are afraid of Luna pulling.

Not that such a fact changes a damn thing.  It's still a race for the nobles to each try and get an element in the pocket, because denial of their use is still a type of power that can be leveraged for political gain.

>>792517792517: Glad you liked the confession -- that was challenging to write. I did want to demonstrate that Octavia does have motives, without sliding into 'therefore she's totally justified.' I mean, she's still a traitor, just perhaps a more understandable one.

I didn't want to have Trixie be winning for the entirety of the confession scene, if only because I feel that she's probably still not realistically good enough to do that. I also don't like the trope where the main character has a moral epiphany and suddenly they're just 'better' at everything. Trixie was able to cool down and come up with a better plan, but I didn't think that should mean that she's suddenly able to outmaneuver Octavia every time, given what we've already seen of her political skills and Octavia's savvyness. Still, I can see how it's a difficult balance to strike.

(Plus, for someone as proud as Trixie, I think that having her illusions fail so utterly might lead to interesting things in future stories where she's trying to make them even better. Keeps her from getting complacent).

>>792903792903

Of very much agreed.  Trixie needed to fail before finally getting Octy to confess.  I just wish it hadn't been such an obvious rehash of how her super hearing makes her immune to illusions.  That point was driven home well enough already in Ch3

Well, there will be others. And it won't just be Lyra they're targetting. Hmmmm. Thundering Posey would like to get his hooks on one, wouldn't he? Doesn't matter that his daughter Fluttering Posey is probably hiding away because she got jammed up by the Night Court, Daddy still wants to play the Game.

Well, at least we've got another on-going story out of this. It'll be the Luna Six versus the greedier, stupider nobles in a huge game of keep-away.

>>793028793028: I wouldn't call them stupid. Greengrass lost basically nothing by attempting this plan (Octavia lost a lot, but that's not his problem), and if Trixie hadn't been so suspicious, he stood a decent shot of at least getting Lyra to Canterlot and being able to try to bribe or bamboozle her into swearing that she'd help him (and he's good with words, so he figures he could probably trick her into making such a swear). The plan failed, but I wouldn't call Greengrass dumb because of that.

Now, the point could well be raised that having Lyra wouldn't really do much for Greengrass since the Elements don't work like that, but having her would give him lots of leverage with other nobles who didn't know that the Elements don't work like that, so it would probably still work out well for him.

Is this the last chapter? I like to download completed stories, so having a story which is still marked as incomplete tends to bug me. Or is there an epilogue coming to show what happens to Octavia or something like that? Because as far as the Lunaverse 6 go, the story is basically completed at this point.

>>793089793089: Whoops, forgot to change the status to 'complete.' Fixed now. Yeah, it's done. :-)

Damn, heartbreaking. Thanks for keeping Octavia... mostly noble, throughout. Also, great frame-up by the Luna Six. They're starting to gel, methinks.

I don't think that Luna "controls" the Elements, and I certainly don't think it's something that Trixie would see her as doing. Yes, in a political sense, Luna's holding the cards, and likes to make that impression, but at the very least in a private correspondance I don't think that Trixie would use the phrase "your control."

Too bad Trixie didn't get hammered. Lulamoon is fun. But probably couldn't of held the ruse together.

Great ending, there. Good on Trixie, too! I like seeing her and the others develop,

>>793120793120: Control is probably the wrong word; I edited and fixed it. What I was going for was along the lines of "Luna can contact them and say, 'hey, there's a demon invasion to the south, so please get on that and use your elemental powers to save the day,' and they'd do it." So I changed it to make it more clear.

Now that was a great story! Your Trixie is much more likeable than mine well done!

>>793187793187: Thank you! I like Trixie best when she's likeable even though she's kind of a jerk. I've read a few stories where she's just all jerk (or, worse, Always Chaotic Evil and 'bwa ha ha-ing' as she summons a horde of locusts to eat Ponyville), and that's no fun. Trixie can be mean, crude, manipulative, and insensitive... but she's also got a real heart, and I think that's important to show.

Tin Can You Hear Me Now! I never would have dreamed of that coming up in serious political maneuvering! Brilliant! It would work, too - I really can't see even Octavia being able to hear Lyra's breathing over the low-fidelity, single-receiver link of the twine. Lyra may have been using magic to amplify her own hearing, too. Octavia's blindsense is generally pretty amazing, too - I always love seeing earth ponies outperform unicorns with their "completely mundane" talents.

Greengrass's plot was pretty nasty, too, and well thought out. Yes, the Elements aren't any use individually (as far as we've seen), but what happens when Luna says "Don't use the Elements to protect Greengrass's duchy until I say so," and Lyra says "Uh, guys? I kinda already promised Greengrass I'd help him out with this,"? I have a feeling that either the six of them would go against Luna's wishes for Lyra's sake, or Luna herself would back down for fear of disrupting the Elements' integrity. I'm also not 100% sure that Luna would even do that, either - she takes protecting her little ponies very seriously and isn't going to let any opportunity to maybe talk some sense into her sister slip by. However, I am 100% sure that the nobles are 100% sure that she would.

Finally, poor Lyra.

I really do feel bad for Octavia here, but Lyra's right - she should have come clean to Lyra, and they could have come up with a plan together. I love the interactions between Lyra and Trixie in this story - it shows just how hard Trixie is trying to be a good friend, even though she's not very good at it, and the extent to which Lyra will stand by her friends (eventually - the performance was a huge temptation for her) even when they're being jerks. Great story, A++, would read again!

>>793045793045

This is why I loathe individuals like Greengrass. They reap all of the rewards and yet somehow manage to take none of the risks.

>>795384795384: Glad you enjoyed it! The Lyra/Trixie bits were fun to write, for precisely that reason. Trixie tries so hard. She's just... not very good at being a friend, sometimes.

Yes, while I'm sympathetic to Octavia, Lyra is absolutely right. If Octavia had just been open about the whole thing, it's likely that they could have come up with a similar solution to the one they did, and Lyra wouldn't have been at risk to falling into the trap. But Octavia put her career first, and while understandable, it wasn't the right move.

Ah, well. Now she has to live with what she's done. I foresee a few restless nights in the future for our favorite pony cellist.

>>795444795444: It will be interesting to see what happens if/when he runs out of minions and has to take direct action.

This was really quite nicely written.  Did expect a bit more redemption for Octavia at the end with maybe her volunteering to do what Trixie is forcing her to do at the end.  Still an excellent and highly enjoyable story.  Added to my favorites and archived onto my Kindle.

>>797235797235: Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Octavia is a bit too proud to redeem herself right away, and she's also got a bit of self-loathing (and Trixie-loathing) going on too. But in a future story, maybe Octavia can find her way back to the right side. That seems quite probable. :-)

Bravissimo!

Loved the way Lyra proves her Element.  It truly takes a good soul to stand by an old friend through something like that.  Also enjoyed the scheme to get Lyra off the hook without ruining Octavia.  Trixie getting drunk for realies was great fun.  Lastly, she really is showing some political savvy by recruiting Octavia.

I'm a little hesitant about using the L6 for all the play actors in the mock trial though.  If Octavia was really sent on a recruit an Element mission, I'd expect her to have been briefed on the others well enough to recognize them.  I'm willing to write it off for plot humor plus Octavia being stressed, but it's still stretching my suspension of disbelief a bit, not as bad as the whole "how many ponies do you think know my last name part" from earlier did though.

Oh, and I'll agree with Fizzy, you did a great job capturing Trixie's better half.  Almost made me ashamed I didn't show more of that in my story.  Then again part of the point of that fic was that all the major players were being some variety of jerk.

I'll close off by supporting setting up for it, but not actually redeeming Octavia.  Gives us all the chance to maybe play with this morally compromised version a bit more.

Nicely played, and poor Octavia. In a way, thisstory is a turning point in the Lunaverse's arc, as Greengrass is starting to show interest in the Elements.

"We'll deal with them too."

Great episode.

Excellent story. Not the most exciting or funniest Lunaverse fic, but by far one of the strongest in storytelling and characterization.