Flicker didn’t mind the isolation he found himself confined to, but the anticipation of Wicked’s judgment was killing him. Alone with his thoughts, he found himself thinking about the duel and all of the little things that he thought he had done wrong. In a moment of total honesty with himself, Flicker admitted that he didn’t trust his own rage. At some point in the fight, he had broken away because he didn’t want to engage Moonlit, not really, but he did want to scare him into submission. Upon closer examination of his own motives, Flicker worried that if he managed to hit Moonlit, he might not have stopped. He might have kept going.
This alarmed him.
The alternative had been chucking tables at Moonlit, and Flicker found that he hadn’t tried very hard. If he had really wanted to hit Moonlit, he could have. It was complicated, but Flicker supposed that the complications were the point to this exercise. Moonlit was his friend and fellow apprentice. He was given an explicit task of cutting his friend down. Was this part of some greater lesson trying to teach him that some orders shouldn’t be followed?
What was the point? What was he supposed to learn from this? Flicker didn’t deal well with abstracts and what not. Was this even about swordplay? The colt sighed, his withers rising and falling as he expelled his ennui. All of this felt wrong. Flicker didn’t want to duel his friend and fellow apprentice, he wanted to chop down rats. He wanted to be in the sewers, making a difference, or in the middens fighting a pitched battle against the real enemy.
Escape wouldn’t be hard. Flicker wasn’t locked into his meditation cell. He could slip out if he wanted to, grab his weapons, suit up, and slip off into the sewers. No more navel gazing, no more hoof staring, no more wondering about what great lesson was being taught here, Flicker could just go with what he knew. Action. His muscles twitched with the idea. Apprentice or not, he had the hard-earned right to bear arms and act on his own now. He had the right to hire out his services or act on his own accord.
There were questions that needed answers and left alone in isolation, Flicker faced down his own seething hatred. His sister’s face appeared in his mind and he thought of her; sweet, innocent, helpless. His emotions became a seething caldera and he thought of his standing in the guild. Then he thought of other things, Hennessy and Piper, then he thought of Moonlit, then, he thought of Cadance. Almost as if by some miraculous magic happening, the blue crystal heart around his neck became heavy.
Bending his proud, unyielding neck, Flicker slipped into fervent prayer, not knowing what else to do.
Walking with his head bowed low, his ears drooping, Flicker followed along after Mister Pepper, having been summoned to the conservatory. Prayer, much to Flicker’s shock and surprise, had settled his mind, calmed some of his rage, and had given him some clarity. As he prayed, the trinket around his neck had grown a little lighter, making Flicker wonder if some strange magic was at work.
The door was opened for him and Flicker was bade to enter, though it appeared that Mister Pepper would not be attending this meeting. Swallowing, Flicker went in and the door was closed behind him. Lifting his head, he saw quite a crowd of ponies, including one he did not expect, not at all—
“Princess Celestia.” He ducked his head down once more and adopted a submissive, subservient posture.
The big white alicorn clucked her tongue but said nothing.
“I ‘ad to go back to the source, ye see,” Wicked explained. “I didn’t feel confident passing judgment, so I asked for ‘elp.”
“So why is she here?” Moonlit asked, sounding very meek and foalish.
“Who do you think founded this order?” Princess Celestia asked, sounding somewhat amused. “Who do you think wrote those rules? Who built this guild hall? Tell me, who would have such a drive to protect and preserve life? Who would be so invested?”
Flicker almost swallowed his tongue. None of this was in the guild’s history. From the sounds of it, Moonlit wasn’t taking the sudden revelation so well either. Standing there, Flicker tried to remain as statuesque as possible and he was determined not to faint this time. It was very, very difficult to breathe though, all of a sudden.
“I made the first of the modern masks, an experimental blend of magic, technology, and science.” Princess Celestia lifted her head high, but her eyes looked sad. “I dug thousands of graves for plague victims. Long after my most faithful servants and dedicated followers fell to the ravages of disease, I continued, fighting for a way to save my ponies. I buried so many…”
Wicked’s ears drooped, and he bowed his head in reverence, prompting Moonlit to do the same.
“I gathered survivors and searched out the brightest minds. I looked for crackpots, for madponies, killers, thieves, and murderers. I gave them pardons. I bound them with geases. I constructed an army that was purpose built to fight disease and the causes of disease.” Princess Celestia’s wings flapped once against her soft, rounded sides, the sleek curvature of her belly.
“I wrote these rules for a reason!” The volume of the princess’ voice caused various items in the conservatory to rattle. “Every jot, every tittle, all of it was written down to preserve purpose and cause. These duels are supposed to teach enduring camaraderie through difference. Who can tell me what this means?”
Flicker said nothing, not understanding, and no answer seemed forthcoming from Moonlit either.
“No one?” Princess Celestia blinked once. “I am disappointed, but not surprised. From my understanding, both of you are rather thick-headed and full of yourselves! Dense little ponies!”
Flicker’s head dropped until his chin was inches from the floor. If the carpet was grass, he could be grazing right now. The words hurt more than any lash and Flicker was almost certain that he could feel his soul shriveling. At the moment, Flicker was tempted to flee the room, find a shovel, run to the Canterlot cemetery, and dig his own grave.
“Wicked!” Princess Celestia barked the word, and every ear in the room twitched. “How many times have you and Sterling Shoe disagreed?”
“Well, I… I don’t reckon... I don’t think… I’ven’t kept track,” Wicked stammered.
“Story time,” Princess Celestia announced in a sing-song voice, and Wicked let out a groan. “Once upon a time, there were two little foals that were headstrong and impetuous. Both were convinced that they were right and the other had to be wrong. Always fighting, these two, and there were so many bloody noses, torn ears, and one of them even set the other on fire once.” The princess turned a stern, menacing eye upon Wicked, who withered under her glare.
“I apologised,” Wicked grumbled.
“It grew so bad that I had to intervene,” Princess Celestia continued, still staring at Wicked. “I ordered them chained together with a magic tether, a clever invention of my own making. It delivers quite a shock when the two wearers get too far apart and that shock grows worse with each passing second.”
“Aye, it does.” Wicked bowed his head.
“And these two little whippersnappers learned about camaraderie through difference.” The princess turned to glare at Flicker, then Moonlit. “You’re going to disagree. You’re going to hurt each other. In heated, angry moments, bad things will happen and you have to learn to let past bygones be bygones so you can work together! That is the purpose of these duels! There has to be a winner and there has to be a loser! Afterwards, both of you are expected to work together and do your jobs! You learn to bear your resentments and get over them! Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Moonlit squeaked.
Flicker’s mouth was too dry to make any words, so he nodded and kept his chin to the floor.
The big white alicorn’s long legs allowed her to move through the room in a hurry, and she went to where Moonlit was sitting. Lowering her head, she stared into his eyes, her ears angled forwards, and the corners of her mouth were tugged down into a tight scowl.
“What were you thinking, throwing a chair at your fellow apprentice?” she demanded.
“It was a mistake!” Moonlit howled, and he tried to look away. A pale golden glow surrounded his face and he was forced to look into Princess Celestia’s baleful, furious eyes. “I panicked and made a mistake! I was scared! I confess to my cowardice, but I wasn’t afraid of losing the duel!”
“Start talking and make each word matter.” Princess Celestia’s command hung in the air like a suspended anvil just waiting to fall.
“I was just starting to become friends with Flicker,” Moonlit whined. “I didn’t want to duel him. I didn’t want to… fight him. I panicked and did something stupid. I thought that if I could distract him with a chair, I might be able to lunge in, score a light hit, and then forfeit the match so that Wicked could make a judgment call.”
“I see.” Princess Celestia’s voice was icy and her stare had the burning intensity of the sun. She held Moonlit’s face and continued staring into his eyes, causing Moonlit’s ears to flap and flutter like a trapped bird.
“I was so scared that I wasn’t thinking clearly! I just didn’t want to lose the progress I had in making Flicker my friend!” Moonlit kept trying to look away from the princess, but she maintained her grip on his head. “I wasn’t even trying to hit him with the chair, honest! I just wanted to distract him! If it was actually going to hit him, I was going to bat it away, honest! Everything that happened afterwards was just me trying to defend myself because I thought Flicker was going to murder me! Honest!” The colt’s voice was now a shrill, frightened screech.
Flicker didn’t lift his head, he didn’t dare, but he did listen.
“At least your mother raised you to be honest,” Princess Celestia said as she let go of Moonlit’s face with her magic. “Though I must say, ‘tis a pity that she did not raise you with courage.” Eyes narrowing, the matronly alicorn began to cluck her tongue while she shook her head from disapproval.
Turning away with a snort of disgust, she crossed the room and went over to where Flicker stood. Reaching out with one wing, she lifted Flicker’s head, but he did not look her in the eye. Princess Celestia stood there looking at the colt, then reached out her other wing, and touched the blue crystal heart hanging from his neck.
“How odd to see this upon you,” she murmured.
Trembling, Flicker said nothing and remained at attention.
“The last warrior that devoted himself to her service went on to do amazing things. Fantastic things. He endured such teasing though.” The princess let out a sniff and shifted her weight. “If you will pardon me for just a moment, the triplets are giving me some trouble.” She stood still, her wing still lingering with a light touch on Flicker’s neck, and she continued to stare at the pale blue crystal heart.
Blinking, her eyelids fluttering like butterfly wings, Princess Celestia waited a moment to sort herself out. She then continued, “So then, for what reason did you start chucking tables at your fellow apprentice and why didn’t you move in so that you might finish the coward off?”
Flicker’s ears stung at the word ‘coward’ but he didn’t dare disagree. He stood there, trying to think of words as he stared straight ahead at the wall. A soft nicker, his namesake, escaped from him when Princess Celestia shook him, hoping to encourage some words to come out. More gentle shakes followed the first, and Flicker found it hard to form a coherent sentence.
“Angry,” Flicker blurted out, it was the only word he managed to say.
“Yes, Flicker SMASH!” Princess Celestia nodded her head in a knowing manner.
The colt’s face turned beet red and his hooves began to shuffle around as his composure broke. The big alicorn was scary, she wasn’t a princess, she was something worse, and Flicker felt his own courage just slipping away as he suffered a urethra-shrivelling moment of terror. To make everything worse, he could feel her breathing on him.
“I was angry,” Flicker managed to say in a somewhat choked voice. “I didn’t trust my rage so I kept my distance and chucked stuff. I wasn’t trying very hard to hit him, I guess. But I wanted him to fear me… because… for some reason… that… felt right. I wanted him to cower... and knowing that I… that I had scared him… it made me feel better.”
Shaking her head once again, Princess Celestia clucked her tongue several times.
“Looking back on it, I don’t know if I would have been able to stop chopping on him with my sword,” Flicker confessed.
“Cowardice and rage,” Princess Celestia spat out in disgust and her muzzle contorted as though she had tasted something foul. “I will not allow a draw to happen, not in this instance. There is just too much to be learned here. There are lessons here that must be learned, and by goodness, if I have to instruct you in these lessons, I will!”
Flicker gulped. “So this means I—”
“Yes! You will be fighting again!” Princess Celestia snapped as she drew herself up to her full majestic height and towered over Flicker. “Tonight even! Right now!”
“No.” Flicker couldn’t believe the word coming out of his mouth, or that his mouth had betrayed him.
“What?” Princess Celestia looked down in shocked disbelief.
Flicker thought about all of the times that his teachers had tried to tell him that some orders were not worth following and he tried to swallow the enormous lump in his throat. It felt as though his bowels were about to turn to water and his heart began racing in the most painful way as he felt his testicles retract into his abdomen.
“No.”
“No?” Jerking her head back, the princess looked quite surprised. “I am giving you an order… I am still one of the masters of this guild and you will obey me!”
Flicker snapped to attention, going rigid. “No.”
“Flicker, lad, I don’t know if—”
“Be quiet, Wick Chandler!” Princess Celestia barked. Her eyes narrowing, she wrapped her wing around Flicker’s neck and drew him closer. “Mister Nicker, your career, your profession, and your future is on the line. I ask that you reconsider.”
“No.” Flicker’s refusal came out a shrill, embarrassing squeak. “If there is to be a duel, then I concede the match to Moonlit.”
“Very well. Congratulations, Mister Gambit, your cowardice pays dividends.”
“No.” Moonlit shook his head. “I refuse to accept Mister Nicker’s concession.”
The princess let out a very disturbed sounding sigh and her whole body went stiff. She looked at one colt, then the other, then focused her seething gaze upon Wicked, as if she blamed him for this headache. Wicked, like a scolded foal, turned away and could not look his monarch in the eye. Stepping away from Flicker, Princess Celestia began to pace about the room.
“If there is one thing that truly irks me, it is soldiers who fall out of line.”
Flicker’s ears drooped and made an expression as if he had been struck. Wicked remained hunched over and stared down at the floor. Moonlit too, studied the floor with great intensity while Princess Celestia paced back and forth. Flicker lifted his gaze a bit and dared to look at his monarch.
“Mister Chandler, as far as I am concerned, here are our options. These colts can agree to a duel, or they can be flogged, or they can take their walking papers.”
“Majesty, forgive me, but I’ll not enforce that,” Wicked replied as he raised his head, his courage blazing in his eyes like live coals. “Now, I ain’t one for stepping down or quitting, so I suppose I’ll be the one taking a flogging. I’m alright with that, I am. Might I suggest Mister Balister, ‘e’s quite thorough about these things.”
The princess’ eyes narrowed, and she focused her imperious stare upon Wicked. Flicker tried very hard not to piss himself and he struggled to keep drawing breath. Moonlit was wheezing with panic, and Wicked somehow managed to return Princess Celestia’s stare. Flicker felt himself growing lightheaded, he worried about fainting and pissing himself.
“Camaraderie under duress,” Princess Celestia said in a voice devoid of emotion. She turned to look at each pony in the room in turn, then continued, “I am impressed, but you have not escaped punishment for this debacle. You have, however, reduced its severity. I feel that some leniency is in order here, as a lesson has been learned.”
Moonlit let out a sigh of relief, then pitched over in his chair. He tumbled to the floor, limp and unmoving, his legs tangled in a heap.
“He fainted,” Princess Celestia announced in a very matter-of-fact voice while she pointed with her wing.
“Aye, ye have that effect on yer wee li’l ponies.” Wicked’s voice was still filled with uncertainty.
“A year of remedial sword training, spent together,” Princess Celestia said to Wicked. “This is their punishment for failing to have a proper duel. I want a clear message sent that guild traditions are to be preserved. You cross swords in a duel, not hurl furniture at one another. I want an example made of them.”
“Aye, Majesty.” Wicked nodded his head.
“Now, what to do, what to do.” The big white alicorn turned about to look at Flicker with her head tilted off to one side. “Continuing with the theme of punishment, I want more responsibility given to these two. For so brazenly defying me, I want both of them made prefects, with all of the hard work, duties, and responsibilities such a position bestows. Let it be a millstone around their necks. I want them to know the pain of leadership. Make them ache with it, Mister Chandler.”
Sighing, Wicked gave the princess a faint nod, his head moving just once.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I must be going.” Princess Celestia beamed and her smile was like the sun. “Also, congratulations are in order for not fainting this time, Mister Nicker…”
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
jeez, Celestia is a fuggin hardass.........
What was he thinking, throwing a chair at his fellow apprentice?
Well, obviously he was trying to follow the rules and win no matter what. That is what "no holds barred" means, after all: Maneuvers and techniques are unrestricted.
It really does leave us in a curious state of affairs: You set the rules, and then admonish them when they follow those rules, which makes it appear as though they are supposed to learn from the exercise that they will need to know when to obey and to disobey, i.e. to understand that some orders should not be followed.
And then, when they follow that lesson and don't obey an order that they are clearly supposed to question, you punish them for it so that they will learn to never question the orders given to them.
And the reformers wonder why Equestrian society seems paralyzed with indecision over obvious choices.
7996945
But the lesson of the duel was learned. Flicker and Moonlit came together and stood together in camaraderie, even though they had just suffered a violent disagreement. The end result was achieved, even if there was a roundabout way of getting there. As for the punishment, it promotes growth and encourages development. Everyone involved learned something. In particular, Flicker finally learned that some orders aren't worth following.
Holy sheeyit we haven't seen this side of Celly in a while.
I... uh... that is to say... Um, wow?
I didn't expect that, and damn, I do believe Tia was just slightly miffed over all of that.
But lessons were learned. And the reward for all the learning? MORE RESPONSIBILITY!
(Flicker's going to love that. It will involve lots of thinking.)
I fully expect Celestia to find somewhere private and to begin laughing her ass off at her own cleverly delivered lesson
7997016
It wasn't the triplets that was bothering her.
7996959
The end result was achieved, yes. And all it took was for the Guild to realize that as long as they all stand united, they have at least as much political capital as the Crown does, because they are equally necessary for the continuation of society.
I'm not convinced that is an equal exchange.
That alone made the whole chapter worth reading.
7996959 True, though the lesson might have had a bit too much "Tyrantlestia" flavour, considering the lesson of learning that some orders shouldn't be followed.
I'll chalk it up to Celestia being Celestia, and not doing things by halves. When she hams it up, she really Hams it up.
Thems some balls of centaur steel there, Flicker.
7997125 Hey, the old girl doesn't get to cut loose and have some fun very often. I've always seen her as the mother of a million ponies.
7997229
In the Weedverse, she is.
7997125
She was dealing with a pony that had a record of being monumentally dense. There are half no measures. Celestia is an experienced schoolmarm that knows how to reach a student. There is also the fact that she isn't dealing a student in the traditional sense, but more of a military academy sense. She does the same thing to the guards in training.
She's had over a thousand years to perfect the act.
Not only was the lesson learned (Flicker shouldn't follow orders that are unconscionable and Midnight should not do things in half-measures, plus the whole "You can disagree and still be friends" thing), but they both ranked up.
The audience were shouting that. If you want "camaraderie through difference", may I suggest having an audience who don't shout that...
7997355
Meh, you can have both. You create the ritual to teach the lesson and over time, participants will add their own touches to it. It doesn't change the ritual, not enough to affect the base lesson. It's no different than jarheads learning how to march in formation and singing disgusting songs to keep time with.
They sing horrible songs, but somehow, miraculously, they somehow manage to march in cadence. The lesson is still taught.
7997125
It could have been worse. Luna could have founded the order. Now there's a ham who could stand up to the supreme ham, the almighty Brian Blessed. I suddenly have an image of Luna and Brian have a contest, seeing who can cause the biggest Avalanche just by shouting "Gordon's Alive!".
7997387
How could Luna have done it? She was on time out, stranded on the moon.
7997391
How old is the order again? Didn't they have plague in pre-time out times?
7997448
Oh, they had the plague for a very long time, but the order formed after Luna was banished.
7997455
Fair enough. Anyway, I was talking about hams, and as Luna is "la grande fromage plus fort", I'd say she is the bigger ham of the two.
Not sure of I wouldn't of fainted myself
7996888 Not playing isn't an option. Just like you can not, not make a choice. By deciding not to decide you have decided
So Celestia is pregnant, congratulations and may the foals live happy and full lives.
Well played Celestia, force them into mutual adversity and leadership. If they don't learn how to work together and with some level of authority while still maintaining their sanity they'll have to take their walking papers. Friendship or bust~!
Also, hot damn can that Princess be intense, though I'm left wondering if it was mostly an act.
7997648
Thank you for this, by the way. This is the direction I was trying to nudge things and for most of the night, I've been worrying if people fully understood what was being done here. Celestia is a chessmaster sort of ruler and she positioned two pieces on the board.
Camaraderie is magic. Or in this case, esprit de corps. Those words are such a lovely summation of guild culture and martial culture. People bound together through shared suffering and forming an unbreakable bond. See French Foreign Legion.
7997371
Yeah, but the marines don't pit each other in one on one battles where breaking a limb on a person who just started puberty is a valid way to end the contest. This isn't a fencing match, it's a blood sport with the teachers themselves braying for blood and gleefully waiting to torture the loser for a year.
This is my whole issue with the rat guild. They take children and thoroughly abuse them physically. If they fall out of line, they beat the shit out of them. Then they put them in contests that have them beat the shit out of each other. The loser gets the shit beat out of him even more for a year just to do it again.
And now I learn that Celestia started this all herself and NEVER updated the guild's practices.
If you heard of a guild or anyone really doing this today to children, you would be horrified.
We see child soldiers as a horrible thing, but for some reason the ponies and Celestia don't. And this is especially an issue since Night light is the husband of Twilight Velvet who in the Weedverse has dedicated her life to making things better for children and families. How can she condone this sort of thing?
I understand that find their cutie-mark basically shows them what their purpose in life is and I get that they need to be trained and disciplined in preparing for that purpose. But getting beaten like is what is threatened and alluded to in story is not the way to do it.
I'd imagine that if Pebble had become a member of the rat catcher's guild and Maud and Tarnished learned that she was beaten after failing a task or getting beaten to a pulp in a such a contest as this one and then beaten for losing, there wouldn't be a rat catcher's guild anymore or at least not this chapter.
I'm sorry. I had to vent. I usually love your stories but this story irks me horribly on certain issues AND no one in story has any issue with it.
7997704 If one thinks of the Rat Catcher's Guild as less of a guild of professionals and more as a monastery of warrior monks, it fits better.
I don't think anyone in the story has any problem with the guild because of the narrow range of focus as well as the tacit secrecy. Everyone we've encountered either doesn't know exactly what goes on or is sympathetic. It could very well be that Velvet has some ponies working on updating some of the guild policies but we just haven't seen that yet. And also, I don't think this story is meant to contain dissenting points of view, there's no room for it in the very tight scope without making a mess of the narrative and pacing. Almost all of this is from Flicker's point of view or his very close friends, all of whom have accepted how things are for now. We might see more in Underwatch once that comes out but for the purposes of Masks I don't think it's appropriate to include.
7997671 When she mentioned that they would both take remedial sword training, that made sense. It's the prescribed punishment for "failure" and will almost certainly help strengthen their friendship. The fact that they would not yield to one of the Diarchs for fear of damaging their camaraderie, that not even Wicked would do it implies that they have already learned the important lesson to the duel. However, they still refused an order, which means punishment. But to for punishment to be more responsibility? That's not just punishment, that's a test and an opportunity. It's like someone in the army saying, "You think you're hot shit? Let's see how you do with a command, soldier." That they'd be forced together in failure, and forced to work together with "punished" leadership? Celestia's just seeing if they have what it takes to become permanent leaders in the guild. If they can survive this intact then there's hope for them to become even better.
"Did you hear about Flicker Nicker?"
"That's Canterlot Guild Leader Flicker Nicker, don't forget."
"Right, right, still, hard to believe some punk from the sticks became the leader of the Canterlot Chapter."
"He even failed his dueling exam."
"Heck, if someone like him can make it, maybe I can."
"Sure, dude, sure."
"Oh screw you, you'll change your tune when I'm ordering you to clean out the middens!"
7997704
Different cultures and different times. Victorian era culture is horrifying to us now, but it was the height of civilisation for them. They didn't see it as being wrong, because so much work had gone into it to make it right. It was the beginning of great social change, the beginning of equality, where people began to think, to question, to wonder what was right or wrong in society around them.
Equestria exists in much the same position. We are seeing the beginning of a great reformation. Their civilisation has brought them to a place where they have the luxury of change and the means to evolve into something else. They have the social capital to make these changes. They can experiment and try something new without the worry of all of life falling apart.
It is a good, but challenging medium for growth, but it can be difficult to look back on these sorts of values with our modern eyes. Painful even. It mirrors our own world to a great degree. This is how our world operated for the longest time. Because we operated this way, civilisation thrived and survived to the point that we have what we have now. We live soft, comfortable lives now, because we've driven out much of the barbarism that used to plague our civilisation, for most the most part, though people in other parts of the world are still bothered by it. We live soft, comfortable lives in the laps of luxury, never having to worry about the Moores rampaging through Europe and putting everybody to the sword, or Attila and his Huns come for visit in the Roman Empire. We live in a post-martial culture and even our armies have softened up quite a bit.
People have free agency now, but that wasn't always the case. The cold hard fact of the matter is, some people gave up their free agency so that the softer, better parts of civilisation could survive. They bore the brunt of the brutality that the world had to offer so soft people could sleep in soft beds. They lived lives of unimaginable violence and lived by a code of conduct that people in modern times have trouble comprehending.
Should the thin veneer of civilisation ever be stripped away, we'll go back to those times, but it will be worse, much worse, because we'll have forgotten so much of our martial culture that made mobs of armed, violent men manageable. Already, Napoleonic era discipline seems unimaginable to us now and fantastical to most, and people are happier pretending that such culture never existed. Our civilisation that we have today exists because of that culture, and the cultures it descended from. It is a refined code of conduct, the soldier's charter, and it has roots going back all the way to Sparta.
Even if it isn't liked, it should be respected. Period.
7997718
I suppose that I am asking too much for a guild that by Celestia's own admission was formed using madponies, killers, thieves, and murderers. Of course they would be monstrous in their methods, because they are monsters. It could be at one time, the duel was more benign and more akin to a fencing match with higher stakes. But it might have eventually been perverted by the guild heads over time to be more to their tastes.
The blood of rats wasn't enough for them, they wanted to see the blood of children.
Celestia must be silently cheering inside her head even if she has to play the part of disapproving leader for the sake of appearances. Rules have to be maintained but pretty sure she is happy with the overall outcome. Ponies who are willing to stand up and say no to an order are hard to come by.
7997738
It shouldn't be looked on as a good thing either.
7997741
What's better?
A test of brutal combat with a cold, unfeeling monster in a filthy sewer, or a test between two students in a controlled environment where medical help is readily available? With your line of thinking, you would send untested recruits against such monsters, and the cost of failure would be so much higher. How much more needless, horrible death would be caused by your soft standards? Suddenly being thrust into combat with real stakes tends to take a lot out of a person. The knowledge that it is suddenly real.
Dueling allows a person to experience that reality in a controlled environment so that they might get a check on their emotions. They understand the consequences of failure better, and thus, they work to avoid it. With the right training, they also work together to avoid it, and each man on the line knows exactly what the man next to him is feeling. This shared sympathy is the key for forming company unity. Each man on the line knows what a punch to the face feels like, a cut, a bruise, they understand pain. And as Napoleon discovered, just as many before him grew to understand, men who understand real, true pain will fight like lions to prevent the man next to him from feeling that pain. It makes them ferocious fighters with a focus on working together.
The bad news?
We're losing this understanding and this connectivity. What does that mean in the long run? Who knows.
7997765
It's why police officers in the US have to be hit with a taser and/or mace before they can use it on others. It's why US army soldiers experience tear gas in boot camp and generally share punishments as a group. It's why US special forces endure intense training and hardships as a unit. It's why squadmates will get matching tattoos. The list continues ad nauseum.
Some changes might include upping the minimum age for the guild as the society embraces more reform. I doubt they'd change much else.
7997775
Seeing as the guild functions as a school, getting them as young as possible is still preferable. But yes, changes to keep the youngest a bit safer would be good.
7997781 Aye, it's one of those small but important details from the story to keep in mind, that one of the things that helped stop the bureaucratic revolt in Canterlot, besides Flicker and Piper's rat tidal wave gambit, was the fact that many of these governmental employees witnessed children called up to the militia, something they didn't realize was still on the books. They were so horrified by this the thought of reform no longer seemed unwarranted.
Ah, right, a school, good point. Maybe an initial duel with much less bodily trauma to parse out combat potential and make a formal duel a graduation requirement. Just a thought.
7997793
Right now, you are reading the story about those who will ultimately reform and recreate the guild. They'll understand how to best implement the changes because they grew up in it.
7997798 Indeed. That's one thing I've come to understand and trust with your writing. If it seems odd, problematic, or confusing at the moment that's alright. There is a reason, there is a purpose, there is a larger context beyond what we see, and it will be made clear in due time. Patient Mac understands the value of waiting.
7997808
BIG FAT JUICY SPOILER!
In Underwatch, the guild is divided into two parts. The science division, who focus all of their energies upon the advancement of tech and medical research in the guild, and the Underwatch. The martial position of volunteer soldiers and mercenaries who come together to battle the terrible threat that lurks in the deep dark. Flicker is responsible for the creation of the Underwatch, and it is given to him to grow as he sees fit. It's all about the cutie mark, really, and the blind faith this society places in a magical butt tattoo of destiny.
7997815
I'm going to skip this one, thank you for the warning.
7996984 the "good" side... Love it
7996945 it's a case of the "spirit" of the law vs "letter" of the law. Yes it wasn't against the rules but that wasn't the idea behind it
7997038 that and anger issues... Flicker is pony hulk
7997125 she explained it. She is the founder of the order. She made it due to necessity and she used whatever she could... From that point traditions were made and kept to keep the order going
7997815 soon
7997765
I'm sorry, I don't understand how telling two children to pound on each other until one stops moving is a valid "test" or a lesson in camaraderie.
My whole complaint is that they are children. I don't care what Napoleon understood about MEN or the armies of Sparta, or the camaraderie between grown soldiers and what they went through in basic training together. That's all fine and dandy and I understand that.
Hennessy, Piper, Flicker, and Moonlight are children. Flicker just started puberty what? three or four chapters ago?
Oh man... I hope Pipsqueak didn't get a cutie-mark in chimney sweeping in this 'verse...
7997798
You know if you said that instead of waxing poetically on how soldiers used to be treated and should be treated now and how the Victorian era was great because people knew and understood pain together while orphans died in chimneys as chimney sweeps or got black lung in coal mines, I would have been totally happy with the answer as it address my concerns.
I want it to be clear that I do enjoy your writing and I am enjoying Flicker and his friends. This story just presses some buttons the other ones didn't.
7997835
This is a situation where the spirit of the rules is directly contradictory to their letter, but I've decided after thinking to let it slide and just move on because I have all the evidence that I need now to conclude that in this instance, Celestia is wrong and knows it.
I had a whole other paragraph right here, but I decided not to add it.
7996959
I've changed my mind about this chapter; turns out I just needed to write my thoughts down to get them in order. I still do not believe that Celestia's method successfully delivered the lesson learned, because it didn't. Her plan to deal with Mariner didn't work either, for largely the same reasons, and I've come to think that's rather the point that we're supposed to learn through reading this.
Thank you for giving me the chance to work through these thoughts, even if it took me rather longer than it maybe should have.
7997923
Celestia has realised that society has changed. Childhood has been extended from what it was in the past. There is a good deal more social capital available, there is more food and more stability than ever before, and there isn't such a pressing need to put the very young on the front lines.
She's not wrong here. I'd like to make that clear. She's found what she's been looking for and that will soon be revealed. The rules that were once so very necessary no longer reflect what society has become. She seeks a catalyst for a violent, sudden act of change. It takes courage to make changes in such deeply rooted traditions in a culture that resists change.
7997938
Well, if she's looking for violence, she's come to the right colt.
7996959
Plus the little fascist actually said "no" to his God queen, for friendship. Twilight might be proud at least.
7998065
May be partly because Cadance is his new god queen...
Hot damn, she sounds like a Drill Instructor, or my dad either or. And shit flicker, you just said no to a near immortal being with the power of a very large ball of plasma, you got some brass ones on you.