Chapter Twenty-Four
Three Conversations About One Thing
I was fairly sure that my niece wasn't planning on assassinating me, but she had been acting a little distant since the confrontation with Big Bad.
"Uhmn… What exactly did Spike say to her?" I asked Loose Leaf.
She squinted and twisted her mouth to one side, thinking. "The first thing he said was… 'I'm a lot more than that, now!'"
I blinked in confusion, and then realized my mistake. "Leaf, why don't you just tell me the whole conversation as best as you can remember it."
She nodded, enthusiastically. "Of course, ma'am! First, the captain said, 'You're a good dragon, Spike! Why do you serve her? Why be the servant of an evil creature? You're a hero of the Crystal Empire and you could—' and then he interrupted her and said, 'I'm a lot—'"
"Right," I said. "You can skip ahead."
She nodded again. "Well, then the captain said something about you—I mean her being evil again, and the dragon said that they were partners and peace-keepers, and how could that be bad? Something about it was better to stop a war by killing a hundred ponies and making the rest fear a fiery death rather than letting thousands kill each other… And I've got to say that that makes a lot of sense to me, ma'am, but the captain didn't seem to think so."
"Go on," I prompted. So far, I hadn't heard anything that would warrant—I suddenly realized that, though I knew the term for killing one's uncle,[1] I could not bring to mind the specific one for killing one's aunt.[2] It's odd and irritating how gaps in my knowledge turn up at inopportune moments.
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[1] Avunculicide.
[2] I believe my confusion to be understandable, even though amitacide is now widely used in modern Equestria. Because there is no single word for aunt in Ancient Equuish, until recently, only the catch-all word for murder of a close relation, parricide, was used. There is some debate about which term is "correct," with purists favoring parricide. I prefer clarity to tradition, at least in regards to language, and so will use amitacide henceforth. (Hopefully, I will have little cause to do so.)
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"Well, they went back and forth for a bit like that and then the dragon said, 'This isn't just a philosophical debate, Flurry, this is serious!' and she said, 'What are you going to do, kill me if I disagree with you?' And he got sort of quiet and said, 'No, but…' and then he stopped talking. So the captain puts a wing on his muzzle and I was sure he was going to eat her, but I guess they know each other or something? I mean, she called him Uncle. That's not possible, right?"
"Long story," I said, remembering the day when little Flurry had first called him Unka 'Pike, and how proud he'd been. "Go on."
"She said she always admired him, and that he should be open with her. He still didn't say anything for a minute, and by then you… uhm… both of you had started to walk back, so he told her really fast and low about how one day a Bright Sparkle will show up, and ask her to work against you. He said not to do it. He repeated that and said how serious it was." She paused for a moment in thought. "Really serious. He told her she didn't have to join the Dark Twilights, but whatever she did, don't oppose them! Then he said, 'I hate it when I hear that one of you has been—' and then you were really close, so he stopped talking, but it was kind of obvious what he was going to say." She drew a hoof across her throat and made a shhhhhhkt sound just in case I was an oblivious idiot.
"So, from the way she was talking," Leaf continued, "I saw that she wasn't going to be sensible about it, and that if you were going to kill her sometime in the future, she could just avoid that by killing you now, and I thought I ought to warn you." She stopped talking long enough to draw breath and let her brain engage for a moment. "Which is a shame, because she's a really good captain, and you two seem to get along so well otherwise. I considered not getting involved, but after sleeping on it, I realized that if it's a choice between the two of—"
I held up a hoof to stop her flood of words. "Thank you. I get the picture." I lifted the needle in my magic again and held it up in front of my face, watching it shake erratically. I decided to put off the tattoo session as I had no desire to watch Loose Leaf bleed all over my deck.
I added the ink bottle and cloths to my field and passed them to Leaf. "Here, hang on to these. I'll do the tattoo after we get through the mountains. Wouldn't want to misunderstand any directions you gave us because of a swollen lip, would we?"
She took the items and stashed them under one wing. "Good thinking, ma'am!"
"Please go aft and report to the captain," I continued, in a remarkable steady voice. "Give her and the helmspony all the details about the approach to the pass. Tell Captain Skyla I will await her pleasure in the matter of a planning session to determine how we will manage the passage, if she cares to include me."
"Uh…" Leaf shuffled her hooves uncertainly. "Aye aye, Ms. Nightshade." She waited a moment to see if I had anything to add, and then turned and trotted for the quarterdeck.
I blew into the speaking tube for the cupola, and when Ao answered, I asked if there was anypony else up there with her. When she told me she was alone, I stoppered the tube and flew up to join her.
"Did you happen to overhear the conversation between Skyla and Spike last night?" I asked her.
"Only the very last part," she told me. "Until you came back to the group, this one was in the air, keeping watch on the pegasi in stasis against the chance that the spell might fail."
I nodded. It was just like her to self-impose that sort of watchfulness. It was one of the many things that made her such a good adventuring companion. Another of her sterling qualities was an excellent memory.
"Ao, can you tell me exactly what you overheard?"
She did so, and my budding suspicion of a multi-dimensional Bright/Dark war evaporated, only to be replaced by a much stranger hypothesis. In that context, what Midnight Sparkle had said to me took on a whole new meaning that staggered me with its implications It was insane, unimaginably ambitious, and utterly mind-boggling… But it was also very much me.
"Are you well, Majesty?"
"Huh? Oh… uhmn… yes, I'm fine, Ao, just fine. I… I think I ought to go down and convince my niece not to assassinate me now."
"Majesty?" Ao's right forehoof had reflexively gone to the grip of her sword, and a bit of its blade shone clear of the scabbard in the evening light.
"What? Oh, right… no, it's fine." I stared off into space, wishing I could grip the cosmic wheels of that world and pull them to a stop for a while. Just a year or so. Time to think. But you know what they say, "If wishes were fishes, there'd be trout in the hayloft."
"Trout, Majesty? This one becomes concerned."
"Oh, did I say that out loud?" I asked.
Ao nodded, cautiously, still gripping her sword.
"No, honestly, it's okay. I just figured out something, and it's a bit of a shock." I shook out my wings and shuffled them back neatly at my sides. "I think Skyla's gotten the wrong impression about the... situation, and I need to go fill her in."
"Shall I accompany you, Majesty?"
I shook my head wearily. "No, and please stop with the 'Majesty' bit for at least a little while. I'm not a queen. I don't think I'm even a pawn… not yet, anyway."
Ao pushed her sword fully back into its scabbard with a little click. "As you wish, Twilight Sparkle. But you are not yourself, and this one will accompany you until this one is satisfied nothing untoward will occur as a result of this shock you have suffered."
I opened my mouth to reassure her, but she interrupted me. "If you are not a queen, you may not command this one."
Well, I was first mate, and she was… second mate or bosun; we'd never really formalized our positions. Because none of us had ever actually signed on, her argument for disobeying my orders had some merit, and I was much too tired and muddled to argue the point.
I sighed. "Hoist with my own petard," I muttered.
"As you say, Ma… Twilight," Ao replied. One glance at her aggressively neutral expression told me that she had not the slightest idea what a petard was.
Ao called up one of the unicorn rebels to take over the watch, and we flew down to the quarterdeck together.
Skyla looked up as we descended. "Trouble?"
Trouble? What an understatement! It was trouble on an enormous scale. "Not really, no," I told her. "I just need a couple of minutes to clear something up with you. Alone, if possible."
She gave me a wary look that made my heart ache. Loose Leaf was standing on the deck behind her, and gave me a little surreptitious high-sign with the tip of one wing. I wanted to smack the bloody-minded pegasus.
"Very well," Skyla said. "Ms. Ao, take command. I will return shortly. Keep us on this course; east by north." She turned to me. "Will my cabin do?"
Ao obeyed, but gave me a very stern look, which I understood to mean, "Try to keep a lid on the crazy, please, and yell if you need me."[3]
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[3] My readers might think it unlikely that I could divine such specific information from a single look, but Ao and I had a lot of history together, and unfortunately, she'd had occasion to use the same expression a few times previously.
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Skyla led the way down to the captain's cabin. She walked to the desk and turned to face me, unsmiling.
"I would never, ever hurt you, Flurry," I said. "I know what Spike said to you and he's wrong. This whole—"
"War isn't nice and neat, Twilight," she snapped. "Ponies get hurt. Ponies get killed, even if—"
"It's not a war!" I shouted. I hadn't meant to to raise my voice, and Flurry's reflexive start made me ashamed of myself. "I'm sorry! But honestly, I've figured it out. It's not a war."
She raised an eyebrow at me.
"Didn't Big Bad Twilight seem kind of wimpy to you?" I realized what I was saying and shook my head angrily. "Okay, yes, she and Spike burned a fleet from the sky, but why did she do it? And why did she give them all a chance to parachute to safety? Why didn't she kill us for trespassing in her world?"
My niece was frowning at me now, but in puzzlement rather than anger. "Why don't you just tell me," she said.
"According to Ao, Spike said, 'It may be just a game to them, but it's deadly serious to the ponies around them.' Is that correct?" She nodded and I went on. "That wasn't hyperbole. It actually is a game."
Her head went back and she gave a little whinny of surprise. "What? That doesn't make any sense!"
"Big Bad isn't a simple villain with a hyper-developed appetite for power. She wants this world to be peaceful and egalitarian. So what does the good side want?"
"That sort of sounds like what we were working towards," Flurry admitted.
"Yes, and I'm betting the Bright Sparkles are no different. The two sides don't have different goals, they have different techniques." Flurry's mouth worked a bit, as if she were searching for words, but I rushed on. "I've travelled the worlds enough to know that if there were a war of that scale going on, I would have seen some sign of it. The two sides, bright and dark, are competing, but not fighting."
Flurry's expression softened, and I could see she was thinking it over. "But a game? With ponies' lives at stake? That still doesn't make sense to me."
"If there are two competing theories, their respective predictive abilities are what ultimately determines which is correct. Stern and ruthless authoritarianism focused on punishing wrongdoing, or shining examples of high moral character and a scrupulously fair government. Which approach is more effective at making the best world for ponies?" I opened a drawer in the desk and floated out my chess set. "Set up the boundaries," I said as I placed the board on the desk. "Lay out the chessponies, bright and dark" I said, as I placed the pieces on the board. "Play the game… and see who's right."
She shoot her head. "That's… That's… Even if you're right, that's monstrous!"
I shrugged. "Maybe I'm wrong. Ask the Bright Sparkle that comes to recruit you."
Her expression fell. "If I say yes, what will—"
"Nothing!" I hissed through my teeth. "The answer is nothing! I wouldn't harm you for any reason, Flurry. I love you, and I will protect you from any number of Dark Twilights if they try to remove you from the board."
"Remove? You mean kill me, right?"
I shook my head. "I don't think so. Maybe Spike gave you that impression, but I just can't see her being so ruthless with a family member when she had concern for enemies she didn't even know. If Big Bad was that callous, she would have killed us for interfering, rather than saving us from the fleet. Exile to a low or non-magic world for the duration of the game would be just as easy. For such a huge contest, the rules must have a lot of leeway in them, but I imagine that employing such a powerful magic user as you to tip the balance in borderline worlds has to be way over the line."
"I… I'm still not convinced," she said slowly. "The bright side has to be obviously better, right? Why would they need a game to figure that out?"
"Call it an experiment then. Science doesn't accept obvious answers, it only accepts hard evidence." I swept the chess set back into the drawer. "Equestria is a bright world, don't you think?"
"Of course!"
I nodded. "The old changelings, Discord, Sombra, Tirek, the Nightmare, the Storm King, Grogar… shall I go on?"
"But we beat them all! Reformed some of them, too!" She was actually so indignant that she stomped a hoof at me.
"Only by a hairsbreadth, and I've seen timelines where we didn't." I chuckled mirthlessly. "Random chance plays a part, so only in the aggregate can the most effective method be determined. First pony to ten thousand peaceful and prosperous worlds wins."
"It's nothing to be sarcastic about, Twilight! Even if they are trying to make things better, I don't like the idea of something so cold-blooded at all!"
"Well, maybe I'm completely wrong," I said, shrugging. "Time will tell. I just wanted to let you know that I'll never, never be a part of what you thought Spike meant. I don't like this grand game either, and I'll do whatever I can to keep our home world out of it."
Flurry lowered her head and said, quietly, "I… I'm sorry Twilight. I should have realized…" Then her head came up suddenly and she said, "But you do it too!"
"Huh? Do what?"
Her eyes grew wide. "Ponyville and Twilight Town. Bright and Dark."
"What?" I jerked my head so far up in surprise that my horn hit the overhead. "No, no, no! That's not the same at all! Twilight Town was an accident! I'm not running any sort of experiment with them!"
"But you keep up the appearance," she said, pointing at me. "You play the game! That's why you look like that now!"
"Ponies like what they're used to. I just—"
"They're happy, aren't they? The Twilight Folk, I mean. Most of them are pretty prosperous, right?"
"Well, yes, but so are most Ponivillians!" I protested.
"So who's doing a better job, the Princess of Friendship or the Queen of Twilight Town?"
"I… uh… Look, that question isn't even meaningful. One place isn't better than the other…"
"Oh, sure! No difference." She scowled at me. "Then why don't we ask Ao if she wants to move to Ponyville?"
I could see that we were getting nowhere. "When we get back, we're going to have to discuss all of this. We'll need a royal summit to figure out what to do about… well, everything. I will make sure you're included, and we will debate it all then. Will that satisfy you?"
She scuffed a hoof on the deck. "I suppose. But what if Mother decides I'm too young to—"
"Steal a ship, go pirating across the dimensions, and topple an empire?" I grinned at her. "Then start your own free city and declare yourself queen. That way, you'll outrank her."
Flurry snickered and the tension in the air fell away. "Don't tempt me!"
I grinned. "Well, we still have to get back, and there are a lot of dangers between us and the gate. We can worry about the seating arrangements at the summit later."
"Yes, and the Empire may be listing a lot, but it isn't quite toppled yet. We still need to—"
"Oh holy stars!" I cried out, interrupting her. "I completely forgot! Wait here, I'll be right back!"
I dashed out of the cabin and down the ladder to my own. I hurriedly rummaged through my files, grabbed a folder and galloped back.
"Here!" I said, thrusting a folded paper at Captain Skyla.
"What's… Oh, it's that silly declaration of war you made me sign…" She trailed off as she noticed the second signature at the bottom.
"Yep," I said gleefully as I passed over the agreement of unconditional surrender. "Both officially signed by His Glorious Imperial Majesty, Emperor Fauvel the Seventh."
She looked up at me, and I positively wallowed in her opened-mouthed expression of absolute shock.
"Congratulations," I said. "You won!"
= = =
We worked our way slowly through the twisting smuggler's pass. The moonlight was helpful, but Ao and I flew ahead with shuttered lanterns to help mark the way through each leg. There were parts so narrow that Sirocco had to pivot the steering fins as far up as possible to clear the granite cliffs to either side.
Five hours later, we finally made it through to the high plains, and Loose Leaf guided us to a safe mooring ground as the eastern sky was beginning to lighten.
The plan was to stay hidden for the next couple of days while we made comprehensive repairs to Nebula. Then we would do a lightning run through the Western Territories, dropping medallions as we went, until we reached the Badlands gate.
Then we would go home.
Well, that was the plan, anyway.
= = =
=
I always wish, at the end of every chapter, that I could upvote this again.
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Of course. Of course. If a large collection of Twilight Sparkles (or possibly Twilights Sparkle) can't come to an agreement, of course they'll turn to science to provide the solution. Even if that means turning the multiverse into a massive applied sociology lab.
Once again, I must ask if there are T-shirts involved. Though I suppose team jerseys might give away the game to the experimental subjects. And really, of you're toying with billions of lives to answer a philosophical point, you're probably in the wrong regardless of the outcome.
In any case, looking forward to seeing how things fail to go accordig to plan. And what, if anything, this particular Twilight can do about the Bright/Dark contest.
"even though amitacide is now widely used in modern Equestria"
Is this a... common problem, then?
"me with it's implications It was insane"
"me with its implications. It was insane"?
"that I could devine such specific"
"divine"?
Perhaps, but science has also learned, through painful and all too frequently bloody experience, that some evidence is not worth the price of acquisition.
I had a feeling the signatures she got from the emperor equated to surrender. It's smart on her part. At least the "war" (if you can call it that) is over then.
Edit: I find Ao's protectiveness of Twilight oddly endearing. She's still my favorite character of the series, lol.
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…unless the particular experimental worlds are actually simulations.
What? You don’t do sociological experiments with multiple separate subjects unless you can make them repeatable!
I wonder how the control worlds, in which neither type of Sparkle exists, are doing.
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Fix'd, thanks!
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Just take a look around!
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Well, we know how Twilight tends to "snowball" problems when she's stressed. Just think what might happen when she's got more of herself to amplify the problem! As Flurry said, "Even if you're right, that's monstrous!" "
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…i.e. if neither Sparkle is available, ponies die out and/or devolve into animals, that’s what you mean?
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Yup! Aaaaaand it's all downhill from there!
Ooh, nice philosophical-y-ness. Nice chapter. Can't wait for more!
Btw, iisaw... have you seen this EQD post? Cause awesome.
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Thank you!
Super awesome! The three Walmarts within reasonable driving distance of me don't have it... yet!
Okay and right into finding out what made loose Leaf think that, and why she's misunderstanding. Also, thought, was the tattoos to fool other Black Lips, or random Imperial patrols? Still, Spike, what did you do?
Meaning yeah, he said something that's hit her hard, not seeing 'try to kill Aunt Twilight' hard but still hard enough to set her on edge.
So damn literal.
Oh 'peace-keepers'? Right, well for a certain definition of 'peace' that in no way also includes 'Harmony'. But, seems Twi's gotten him to go LN and just focus on order and 'peace' at any price.
Or you prevent it, byt fiding a way to make the two sides not WANT to fight, if all they are doing is acting out of fear of you.... that's not going to fix anything, and if you ever slip....... But yeah, it makes sense in a narrow point of view, but is still wrong.
Do I want to know where Twilight came up with this? Or, is there a Pony Hamlet that used it?
Only Twilight can pause a story about how Flurry might be plotting to kill her, to discuss the lingual roots of the proper term for what Flurry is planning. Also, there are enough cases of this for ponies to have 'common usage' of those terms?
Yes, it IS serious, but it is also a philosophical issue that is at the heart of this, and simply ignoring that is what is leading you to do all this to begin with.
D'awwwwwwwwwwww Well Her and Spike are pretty much siblings so makes sense.
So "Dark Twilight's" versus 'Bright Sparkles' and he just assumes our Twi is a 'Dark Twilight' because of how she looks. Guessing this is what happened in his world? And it didn't end well I'd take it...
Ah, and this is the 'right' side why again Spike? Still nice to see Spike needs to do a WHOLE lot of repression and denial to feel good sticking with his Twilight.
Yup, massive misunderstanding, still hearing there are ANY version of Twilight that would do that......
Probably a good idea.
Fair enough cover.
Loose of course taking that as "Send her to me so I can kill her before she's ready.' Boy is she going to be surprised.
Also, that she is awesome!
And you aren't going to tell us this..... and doing so in such a cheating manner. AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Why you play keep away with this stuff!
And what else cold she have overheard? Is it all one big group that works together, yet at cross purposes? What? WHY YOU NO TELL US!?!?!?!?
...... Twilight..... You know you'd find a way to break the world doing that.
Or maybe find out this world is so low magic because the majority of it is being used to imprison something even more powerful and deadly then the Red Queen within this world that you would set free on the multiverse doing that.
Okay whatever this is has REALLY unbalanced her..... and is just making it being kept hidden all the more aggravating.
Yes, that is understandable when you don't have all the information. This better have you telling her what you found out. Where we can hear it!
Wow, that big a deal huh? I'd say, give it time, but given you are up against other Twilight's.... well some of the stuff you lot get up to..... still you are one of the more awesome ones. So give it time.
Ao! Is! AWESOME!
A siege explosive named after French flatulence.
Not a maxim, but still manage to slip a Schlock Mercenary reference in!
Just be glad you are adorable Loose Leaf
Yup, I believe it.
Because deep down, she's still Twilight Sparkle, and truly believes she is doing good. She is ruthless, she is harsh, authoritarian, but she does it believing it's the best in the long run. Possibly more as an act to keep up fear then a true desire for that fear.
Ah, so gotten so above it all, they see others as mere pawns, pieces? Still trying to do what's right, but more about spreading their own....
Oh shit..... is this a Vorlons/Shadows type deal?
Well yeah, I figured that was the case from the start, at least by the time Midnight was done and after hearing her. And yeah totally feeling like some Babylon 5 type stuff.
This makes sense, she's likely seen the results of them, but never the cause, guessing they tend to work from the back, manipulate, only making a show of things when needed, and so keeping it low key. Just pushing a few pawns around as needed. Hell, maybe some of the Twi's she met were in on this, and just figured she'd be to young to get involved yet.
That..... that really is very Twilight. Granted a Twilight that's gone WAY over the deep end if they are seeing other ponies as just pawns and game pieces.
True, so how long is this game supposed to go on? And yeah, this is totally a Vorlon v Shadow's type deal. Both sides having the same goal, but differing ideology on how to achieve it, only for, over the centuries, that goal to fade away, and it more being about proving your side is right and the other wrong, till the goal of helping the rest is lost and they become collateral damage and nothing more.
The funny bit is, neither was really a 'Shining Example' type. It was more 'Order" versus 'Chaos'. Vorlons being the 'light' ones, but all about Order, and wanting the younger races to obey, to follow the rules, to do as they are told. The Shadows were about Chaos, being very Darwinian. Instigating and pushing for war, conflict, making races either improve themselves through battle, or if they are to weak, be wiped out to make room for the strong.
True, it might just be the Dark Twilight's that see it that way. And yeah the Light are fully in the right here. Yes it's not perfect, but it is WAY better then fear and terror being the only things keeping them in line.
Ohhh, so, Shadow Twilight? Grey Twi's? Between the two sides?
Though really, she's hardly authoritarian there, yeah she HAS that power, but she never really uses it.
It's not a 'game' she's just doing what makes them most comfortable.
Both have their own unique needs. But, also a good point, generalities only go so far, each case really needs to be looked at in it's individual details.
Don't give her ideas.
Heh, gotta deal with the Emperor after all. Also the whole declaration of war thing.
.......
The fucking idiot didn't even READ it did he?
You and your plans..... well what screws this one up? Or is it the 'dropping medallions' part that doesn't work out because the Empire already gives up and all that?
Still that... that makes a lot of sense for the fight and, really can't wait to learn more about it. It does make a LOT of sense though.
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Seeing as how I quote the play later on in the chapter, you must be psychic!
Hey, there was Aubergine Meunière and a chocolate soufflé waiting for him! The kid's got priorities!
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Its not science thats learned that but Ethical and Moral considerations. Most scientists have peer reviews and ethic committees before they do experiments large experiments take alot of money so they have to get grants or the support of corperations
If the former Emperor surrendered to her, does that make Flurry the new Empress?
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Imperial Regent, at least!
Great story, and I got a good laugh from the Petard joke, recently had to explane that to someone else while playing D&D.
Well I guess no pony is going to get the black spot.
Now for a silly question, Would you say the pilot makes proper charts, but still uses a rudder to record the journey.
Certain ironic lack of self-awareness here.
I love it. Only an enterprise of such massive scale and altruism is worthy of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight is not the sort to screw up a world, shrug her shoulders, and move on to the next one. I would venture a guess that every one of those worlds is better off than it was before a Bright Twilight arrived.
That may or may not be true for the Dark Twilights. Probably the Bright Twilights want to stop them - but the only valid way to do that is to demonstrate the rightness of their position by science and by example. To use force instead would be to concede that the Dark Twilights were right all along!
implications. It
Bright Sparkles? Dark Sparkles?
Have none of them considered, perhaps, at all, in any way shape or form...
Twilight Sparkles?
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In the multiverse, all things are possible.
I can't help but be reminded of bad clickbait pop-ups.. Was this intentional?
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No, but I love it!
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::THWAP::
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Ah, the multiverse, where if it's at all possible—however improbable—it exists somewhere. Which means that—in addition to the broad spectrum of Bright to Dark Sparkles who each joined or stood apart from the Great Game of their own free will—there are those that are pawns in a Greater Game who are manipulated by Celestia or Daybreaker, Luna or Nightmare Moon, or Cadance or …Loveless? And some of those players in turn are pawns in a Still Greater Game, and so on and so forth.
It's a bit hard to keep score when the points are multiples of lesser and greater infinities. And when the ideological positions of the sides in conflict are relative to where the referee is standing from moment to moment, quantum chromodynamics begin to look simple by comparison.
i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss52/DoctorWho99/nowgetthehelloutofourgalaxy.jpg
Ahhhhh...
Swashbuckling!
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FOR SCIENCE... you monster
---GLaDOS---
Anyway a question here
will you make a print of this one as well?
Possiy would you consider to buy one full set then and sign it before send it to me for appropriate price?
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Having just re-read the Mallorean this week, one has to say that sometimes, that does appear necessary.
Conversely, though, Vorlons and Shadows, so...
The reveal of the grande experiment is one of the best things ever. I love the Twilight that you've created, so this works perfectly. It'd take quite awhile for our Twilight to turn into Tyrant Sparkle, but I could totally see our Twilight participating in some sort of grand, not quite ethical, experiment. Maybe not now, but give her a few decades.
Or, Twilight could be wrong about the whole thing, and she's merely come up with a way to come to grips with the fact that she could easily turn into another Tyrant Sparkle. Honestly, that feels more likely.
In any sane government, there would be elements of both "bright" and "dark," carefully placed and measured out on a case-by-case basis.
I don't have an excuse for taking so long with this one. Been distracting myself with other projects, but I could easily have spent the two hours here instead of elsewhere. Sorry!
"You've gotten bigger since I last saw you!"?
Yeah, fun as it may be to piece the conversation back together, that might be the more helpful info.
Even better. And true.
Ah, that's where Midnight's path turned. I wonder what war it was that pushed her over the edge. It's not going to be anything from another world; she doesn't care enough for them to make that large a sacrifice until she goes fully dark. Maybe it was Midnight's introduction to the Council and the Army, but that's a bit more aggressive than the implied conflict between them has felt and I really doubt that Twilight would be able to kill a hundred of her selves. Local to Equestria or its environs, then, and Spike does say "ponies" which makes it sound like there weren't other species involved. I've got nothing, but am intrigued.
That's both amazingly cute and, given the situation, really painful.
That's not quite the "the Council is not blameless" I was imagining, but that is a really interesting turn. It has to be once Twilight becomes active in the conflict, probably on the sidelines leaning Dark unless it's someone else stirring up trouble; I don't really see a Twilight not only getting involved in local politics against another but also getting third parties involved, though there might be some sort of preventative measures each side takes to try to steer more to their "correct perspective". Asking Flurry to work against her aunt is not preventative.
And from everything we've seen, Flurry is definitely the type to emphatically oppose them.
So this seems to be the end of the conversation. None of that seems amitacide-worthy, but maybe it's the fact that a Dark Twilight will kill her readily enough and a Bright Twilight will push her into being killed? Neither side has her interests at heart?
Of course, all this is assuming our Twilight shows a tendency toward Dark. I just finished Ageless myself, and I'm seeing a lot of parallels between the Archmage's choice and the path leading to joining the Twilight Army; a seemingly small choice that slowly leads to an arguably bad future. Our Twilight hasn't left her friends behind yet – and, actually, training them to fight makes it less likely she tries to keep them safe on the sidelines – but her pirating has probably made that first hurdle easier.
And that goes back to the kill-a-hundred-ponies making more sense to you than to her.
It's not affection. Pragmatics, maybe, but that doesn't really explain being colder to Twi at breakfast. Don't let the side more likely to lose know the role you played in case things go wrong? Could also just be trying to drive a wedge between them, but she seems a bit too amicable for that.
Now Seraphem's comment's becoming a bit clearer. Still not entirely sure what all's going on, but I don't think it can be completely fabricated – from Midnight, sure, but Spike's playing a part as well. This is going to be fun!
Shoulder/torso armour?
...ok. Wasn't expecting a bomb. That's not what I'd expect "hoist" to go with, but it apparently being Shakespeare definitely explains the wordplay.
Oh, no, I fully believe it. Ao's awesome, and the two of you together are awesome. The "please" really sends it home.
Ah! An eternal game of chess to pass immortality!
That is a nice insight. So would the Twilight of the Tower actually be Dark? Her technique seems pretty much exactly like what Midnight was proposing, even while her relationship to her ponies is definitely the other side of the coin.
Gotta say, Twilight, you're not doing too well on that since turning Pirate. Definitely a long ways from Dark still, but not really living up to the Bright ideal. That's probably why Midnight was interested in you, actually.
I want to see that. Doesn't seem to have enough on the surface to make a main-series fic out of it, especially given Twilight's refusal to play (though I wouldn't put it past you being able to make it the eighth of the trilogy), but it seems a good size for a Quest-like sidestory.
Just as easy for another immortal alicorn, at least.
Barring more forgotten lands in the mountains, that's going to have to be an expeditionary force. Luckily you're good at recruiting ponies for your wild schemes, and I can think of at least one potential ally who'd be happy to help get the economy up and running.
Or you can get an entire Empire of your own ready-made. Economy's still going to need the help, though.
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Just to get it out there, I kind of judge my commentary depth on yours. Only six/eight screens, depending on how you count? Feels a bit short at first but with you only at nine yourself, I guess it's just a shorter chapter.
I'm kind of impressed by Loose Leaf's ability to be perpetually surprised by Twilight's mercy. Though given that she's only ever seen Nightshade and the situation in this world, it does make sense.
That is a scary thought. And given her luck, I'd almost say it would be likely. Luckily she doesn't know where the entrance to the world mechanism is here, so she never has to figure out, and this world can simply remain naturally low-magic.
That is one of iisaw's more beautiful passages, though.
Babylon 5 has been on my list for a while now. I apparently need to bump it up a couple places.
I was thinking that as well, but it might still count even if it's just the legends of you that are authoritarian? She was rather hands-off back when she was recovering as well, but that was more due to the townspeople being happy enough to adopt her; she probably would have been a bit fearsome if any of them had crossed her.
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I'm not sure how they do it. Same thing happened a couple chapters ago. I'm just assuming that's true and trying not to give any reason for turning it on me.
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Hey, I really enjoy your commentary no matter when it shows up!
One of the hardest things for me to be certain of—as an author—is to know if I'm having the impact on my readers that I intended. That's why it's critical to have pre-readers/editors, but even then, comments, particularly the blow-by-blow feedback that you and Seraphem have taken the trouble to provide, are always invaluable to me!
Oh... my... god... At last it all makes sense; it all makes horrible, horrible sense. An experiment; a grand experiment about how to create the perfect society that has been going on for so long that it has developed its own momentum beyond any search for results. I wonder: Has it reached the point where the two sides have started to value winning over finding a evidentiality-supportable conclusion?
The Vorlons ask: "Who are you?"
The Shadows ask: "What do you want?"
Neither of those questions are entirely right. What matters is this: An image in my mind's eye of a far older Spike talking to his and Ember's hatchlings and telling them a very important true story:
"I was there at the dawn of the Third Age of Ponykind..."
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I need to frame this comment!
I love your scene with Father Spike.
Is that second "too" supposed to be "to"?
I don't know how to feel about all the multiversal stuff. On one hand it adds plenty of new opportunities for stories to be told but on the other hand, the stakes of any story told in just one universe seemed diminished to me.
The groups of Twilights remind me of the Council of Ricks in Rick and Morty.
Yeah, it may be a game, but apparently the twilights are all hitting on each other.
Better point, where are all the OTHER immortals?
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In this "world" i think it's because the magic is soooooo low that celestia and luna didnt exist and discord is practically made of magic( idk if thats the case here tho) and remember wen even twi had trouble calling enough dark magic just to illuminate her eyes and horn? Yea sombra didnt happen. Chrysalis was queen of a magic based insect society whether draining love or changing forms take a good amount of magic. Also the "big bad" twilight from what i read i believe she came from another world just like "Ms. Nightshade" hence they along with flurry( assuming she is immortal born) are the only immortals
... Omg i sound so nerd
[1]: At the time of this story's tenth edition, my book, "The Princess, a Retrospective of Marechiavelli's work through the eyes of an Immortal" has been published. It has also come to this author's attention that Flurry has a longer memory then I expected when it came to this particular argument, and very much pointed out she gave me the idea to study my long term effects on both these communities 100 years ago.
The fact that my conclusion at the end, that both systems were equally valid and produced equal, if different outcomes and should be applied on a case by case basis in no way satisfied her. Nor did my assertions that taking either system to extreme was where the true problems lay.
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So very Twilight!