"Dexter," Derpy asked over the intercom, flying over vast stretches of forest to reach fort Bezzer, "How are my vitals looking?"
"Hmm? Oh. Heartrate's fine, blood pressure a tad high, RMS magic output fairly steady."
"And the transducer?"
"All systems are still operating at peak performance."
"Excellent, what's my ETA?"
"At your current velocity... three minutes, twenty seconds."
"Anything coming up on the sensors?"
"I'm seeing nothing on your radar, ambient magic is just background noise after the transducer is accounted for, nothing out of the ordinary."
"You sure about that? The ranged ticker is throwing a fit!"
"I'm not looking at that one, hold on, let me check the profile."
"I'll aim right for the source, you getting anything?"
"Yeah, a fairly high magic signature. Well above anything I've ever seen. You sure that's not just feedback from the amplifier?"
"Fairly sure," Derpy replied, "it's only coming from one direction."
"Maybe there is something interesting at Fort Bezzer after all."
"I'm starting to worry, Dexter."
"I'm here for you. And remember, you can turn around at any time."
"But I can't. The Doctor has taught me so much about Elements... I couldn't live with myself if I knew I had a chance to do something and I didn't!"
"It sounds like the Doctor is getting you into a big mess all over again. How many more times are you going to be stuck solving his problems?"
"But they aren't his problems! Nobody forces him to solve them, he just goes. And he helps. He can't be here this time, so now I'm going to follow his example and go this one alone."
"Why can't he help you?"
"He won't explain it to me. He just said that he can't. He said that 'he had changed too much already,' by taking me with him, and that 'he needed to fix it.'"
"Sounds like a pretty lame excuse."
"I don't expect you to understand, Dexter, it's complicated. I just want you to trust him. Trust him like I trust him; the same way I trust you."
"If anything happens to you and he doesn't swoop down out of the sky in that ridiculous blue box of his to save you, I swear, I'll tear him a new one."
"Don't say that, Dexter. He does his best to save everyone he can, but sometimes he just can't. Sometimes ponies just have to die and it can't be helped. And if that's what happens to me today..." Derpy took a pause and gulped, "There wasn't anything else that could have happened."
"Well, he's just full of excuses."
"Don't be that way, Dexter."
Dexter sighed on the other end of the intercom. "You should be seeing fort Bezzer about now, keep your eyes peeled for the source of that magic signature."
"Aye, aye. I can make out the walls, don't see anything strange yet."
"Signal's getting stronger, you're definitely close. Let me triangulate the source."
"Got it yet?"
"Yup, East wall. Something big."
"I see it!"
"What is it?"
"A big white unicorn!"
"Celestia? That signals way too high for her!"
"No, it's some kind of baddy, this has Elemental magic written all over it. She's even got some kind of perception filter up. I think she's mauve, actually."
"Be careful, you're getting pretty close and you haven't practiced combat in that suit much at all."
"Combat is fifty percent smarts, Dexter, I've got this."
"Yeah, but the other fifty percent is practice. And fifty is still a failing grade."
"You underestimate me, Dexter... I'm going in!"
"Good luck!"
"Whoa, they see me!" Derpy exclaimed, charging a bolt of magic up on her artificial horn.
"Ambient magic is through the roof! Watch out!"
"Oh, I'm not the one who needs to watch out!"
"It's really weird, isn't it?" Twilight asked rhetorically, "I mean, the ocean is frozen over. It's totally pointless. The griffons can fly. They could just fly over the ocean. But for some reason they froze the whole thing. I don't even know how griffons would go about doing that."
"Must be those artifacts Celestia was talkin' about." Applejack suggested, "Ah've never heard of anything like 'em."
"But they don't just give creatures the ability to do magic beyond their means. They would make a griffon a strong flier, but wouldn't let them do unicorn magic. It's just weird."
"You know what else is weird?" Pinkie asked.
"What is it now, Pinky?"
"That!" She said, pointing at a strange pony-shaped object in the sky, headed straight for them.
"What in the hay is that thing?"
Oh, Twilight. Hi. It's the Element again. That's just a buddy of mine. Pay him no attention.
"I don't know, but I don't trust it, what's it doing?"
"Looks like it's fixin' to attack us!" Applejack replied as the strange pony's horn illuminated.
"Neither princess mentioned anything about this, so it must have something to do with the griffons!" Twilight declared, charging a bolt of magic on her own horn to match that of the oncoming pony.
The unidentified creature responded to the threatening gesture by unleashing a magic bolt in their general direction. It missed the Elements of Harmony by a small margin, blowing a hole in the wall. It was on. Twilight retaliated by firing more bolts into the air, all of which missed. The creature, which had the silhouette of an alicorn, was diving straight for them, casting more magic bolts. Twilight reared up and prepared herself for magical combat.
The alicorn-like creature landed on the wall across from them. Twilight hardly had a moment to take in the sight of the strange, metallic beast before it attacked again. She deflected bolt after bolt as it bombarded her and her friends with magical attacks, not even giving her a moment to respond in kind with a spell of her own. Twilight was overcome by the incredible speed and strength of the creature as she began to appreciate the bits of living pony still visible through the suit. Most striking were two yellow eyes, just visible through the visor.
The unicorn guards in the base could only watch in awe, they could tell that this was a battle beyond their capability, and even attempting to interfere would probably result in their immediate incapacitation.
"She's very strong, whoever she is," Derpy reported to Dexter.
Back at the lab, he was frantically looking over the instruments, hardly capable of understanding numbers of the magnitude being presented to him. One-quadrillion is not a number that comes up too often, even in his line of work. "Eh... Keep it up?"
"I can almost see through the perception filter now, it seems like it wasn't doing anything other than changing her coat color. She's definitely mauve. Did you know that that's the universal color for danger?"
"I think thats red. Just like all the red flashing lights in this room, warning me of all the danger your in."
"That's just ponies, silly. Everyone else uses mauve. Hold on, I'm gonna try wearing her down." Derpy stopped assaulting Twilight with magic for a short moment, just long enough for the latter pony to catch one of the eyes behind the visor drift up out of alignment with the other one.
"Derp—" Twilight began to ask, before her opponent's mechanical horn began spouting a persistent beam of magic. With little other choice, she matched the attack, holding a steady equilibrium of magical energy between the two of them. Twilight could feel that the machine she was up against was maxed out; by pushing herself near the Element's limit, she was able to shift the impulse back towards Derpy. She was in control now, she just had to figure out why she was being attacked.
"DERPY! IT'S ME! TWILIGHT!"
Derpy reported back to Dexter. "She's trying to say something now, can you pick it up on the mic?"
"No," Dexter replied, "It's all being washed out by the noise of the magic beam."
"DEEEEEEEEEERPPPYYYYYYYY!"
"Where did this unicorn even come from?" Derpy asked, "I thought we were supposed to be fighting griffons!"
"I don't know, I—" Dexter paused, "What color did you say she was again?"
"Mauve, that's how I know she's dangerous for sure!"
"You're fighting a really tall lavender unicorn?"
"No, she's mauve. Definitely mauve."
Dexter rested his face in his hoof. "That's Twilight, Derpy"
"Who?"
"Luna's project. She was giving an Element to Twilight."
"Dexter, how many times have I told you you need to be more open with me? Your secrets are getting me into trouble now."
"I didn't think you'd just start attacking somepony out of nowhere!"
"Why didn't you tell me when I first saw her?"
"It just— I don't know, it didn't occur to me!"
"Well, what do I do now?"
"Um.. I don't know, you have to show her you're friendly... somehow. Try lowering the intensity of the magic beam."
"But—"
"Look, we've gone over the theoretical limits of the transducer, and I know for a fact that she is well beyond them. If she wanted you dead, you would be. Just try it!"
Derpy complied, exerting less magical energy. Instead of being rapidly overcome by Twilight's attack as she expected, she found that her opponent responded in kind, keeping the impulse between them in perfect equilibrium. She kept reducing the power until she could finally hear Twilight.
"DEEEEERPY!"
"YEAH, IT'S ME!"
"WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING ME?"
"I THOUGHT YOU WERE SOMEPONY ELSE! MY BAD!"
Derpy continued reducing the intensity of the beam until they were eventually both able to stop completely without being obliterated by the other.
"What are you even doing here, Derpy?" Twilight asked, slightly exhausted from the ordeal.
"I'm here to help fight the griffons!"
"Nobody said anything about you being here... How do you even know about the griffons? What's that thing you're wearing? How are you doing magic?"
Derpy flipped up her visor and thought for a second, fully intending to answer all the questions in one run. "Nopony knew I was coming, I decided to do it on my own; I have some connections with ponies who are in the know; this thing is called a transducer and it's something I work on in my spare time; and the transducer lets me do magic. Any more questions?"
"Yeah... lots. But they'll have to wait for another time."
"Princess... Suit..." Rarity interjected, prompting a quizzical glare from Twilight.
"Yup, this is what Sweetie Belle was talking about!" Derpy responded, "Not exactly high fashion, but it's... practical."
"I'd say so!" Rarity replied.
"Ah still have no idea what's goin' on."
"Can I ask a question now?" Derpy asked.
"I guess so," Twilight answered.
Derpy got up close to Twilight, as if she was trying to see something. "It's a bit odd, but your armor seems to be a little radioactive..."
"I suppose that would make sense; I just sort of made it out of thin air. Probably just some residual radioisotopes from my sloppy spell work. I know I could do it better with a little practice..."
"You mean that you magically fused atomic nuclei to make this?!" Derpy asked, frantic, "You pretty much just proved my doctoral thesis!"
Twilight was shocked by what she was hearing, but she was even more surprised by the sudden onset of a hug from the bionically-enhanced pegasus.
"But how did you coordinate the neutrinos for the inverse decay?" Derpy asked, tilting her head almost sideways. Only Twilight seemed to have any clue what she was talking about, everyone else's eyes had instantly glazed over.
"I didn't have to. I used a self-organizing toroidal magic field to increase local neutrino density, and basic statistics took over from there!" Twilight explained, beaming.
"With a magnetic stabilizing field to prevent redundant interactions?"
"Exactly!"
The two ponies jumped up and down like excited schoolfillies, both completely thrilled to even be having such a conversation. After a moment, Derpy's expression quickly jumped from one of joy to one of worry, as though she had just remembered something important.
"You seem to be rather clever, but... An Element? How'd you manage that one?"
Twilight laughed nervously, acutely aware that the princesses had just come out of the royal bunker, drawn out by the commotion. "What do you mean?"
"I'm just curious, how is it that you're still... you?"
Twilight's ears twitched. "Who else would I be?"
"Well, not yourself, I would expect. If what I've heard about NightMare Moon is true, I suspect you borrowed Luna's."
"Maybe so..." Twilight replied cautiously, "why does it matter?"
"Well, that one isn't anything like the Elements of Harmony, there's no protective layer in place. How is it not driving you mad?"
"Believe me, it tried. But I held myself together, and eventually it gave up."
Derpy's gave twilight a look of bemusement. "Elements don't just 'give up.' Almost three-thousand years of history says that you can't bind to an Element unprotected without being turned into a monster."
"But I know I'm still uncorrupted, the coupling frequencies proved it!"
"Coupling fre—" Derpy sighed, and began speaking to the air, as though someone invisible were listening in.
"Dexter, why didn't you mention the coupling frequencies?"
She paused for a moment, as if listening, then continued to have half a conversation with herself.
"Of course I would know what it means. Every detail is important, and you've kept getting me into trouble by leaving things out..."
"Because the Doctor told me about it..."
"Look, I know how you feel about that. Are her CFs clean or not? ..."
"uh-huh... uh-huh... I see... Alright, thanks."
Everyone within earshot was staring at Derpy as though she had just declared that the Earth actually orbited around the Sun.
Applejack broke the uncomfortable silence, asking, "You feelin' okay, sugarcube?"
"Huh?" Derpy responded, "Yeah, of course I'm okay... Sorry Twilight, Dexter didn't tell me they did CF scans on you. I didn't even know machines to measure that even existed anymore!"
Luna was deliberately avoiding looking at her sister, but she could feel Celestia's eyes burning on her back. The Sun-Goddess was definitely learning more secrets than Luna had cared to divulge, secrets that were going to lead to some difficult conversations later on.
"You know that nopony around here is named Dexter, don't ya?"
"Of course, silly, he's still in Ponyville! There's a two-way communication system built into my gear."
"You mean you can just talk to him, all the way back in Ponyville, just like he's standing right in front of you?"
"Absolutely! Normally it wouldn't work over such long ranges, but I worked out a way to boost the signal!"
Having listened quietly for a time, Celestia finally broke into the conversation. "I must say, you are quite a brilliant pegasus, Miss..."
"Hooves," Derpy replied, bowing. She leaned a little too far forward and almost tripped over herself, but she recovered in time to continue, "and if I may say so, it is a great honor to hear such a compliment from the Princess herself!"
"Tell me, do you have any formal training in the sciences? You are very well-versed."
"I studied at the Canterlot Academy for seven years, now I research... independently."
"So you're a doctor then?"
"I'm afraid I never received my degree," Derpy responded, thinking carefully about how to explain why, "due to administrative issues."
"Well, that simply will not do! I insist on making you a royal scientist. And you shall be knighted, as well. Surely your brilliance could be put to good use in serving all the ponies of Equestria."
"Do you really mean it?" Derpy asked, glowing with excitement. She was prancing a bit, almost jogging in place.
"I am very certain that I want you on my side." Celestia added with a smirk.
Luna and Twilight made eye contact briefly; they were both aware that it was unusual for Celestia to be endorsing a common-pony's knowledge of the Elements, or any other pre-Equestrian technology. Of course, given how much Derpy already knew, it seemed she had very little choice other than to place Derpy under her own direct supervision.
"And you're not only well-informed on science, either, you seem to have quite a handle on current events. Tell me, who is this Dexter fellow you have on the other end of your... communication system?"
Luna swallowed hard. That was the question she had been afraid of. Dexter had been her trusted scientific lackey, and she had confided some very sensitive information to him. If Derpy knew this much, the thought of how much information Celestia could extract from him made the night-princess' skin crawl.
"Just... some stallion..." Derpy replied, slyly.
"Some stallion?"
"Never met the guy in person. Mostly communicates through letters, and, lately, over the wireless intercom. I don't even think his name is really Dexter."
"And you trust this stallion whom you've never met before?"
"Well, he usually knows what he's talking about."
"I see," Celestia replied, clearly frustrated, "Well then. As you seem to be aware — more so than I can hope to reasonably explain — we are currently under attack by an army of Element-bearers. Is it safe to presume that you are here to help defend Equestria from the oncoming hoard?"
"Quite correct, princess. I know exactly what we're dealing with and came to help as soon as I heard what was coming."
"Well, I must salute you for your bravery and loyalty to the state. My private assistant will make sure you are provided with any amenities you require to prepare for battle." Celestia said, sending a guard pony she had at her side to approach Derpy.
Derpy bowed again, and thanked Celestia for her hospitality as she walked off, asking her new assistant where she could find someone to speak to about military strategy. Celestia glowered at Luna, and then retired back to the royal bunker to resume whatever business she had been tending to before Derpy had distracted the entire fort.
"Am I missing something?" Rainbow Dash asked her friends, "I mean, what did I just see?"
"Apparently Derpy's some kind of genius..." Twilight responded, a little dumbfounded herself.
"But she couldn't even hang up a banner at town hall without blowing a hole in the roof!"
"She is pretty clumsy, Ah saw her trample somepony's garden just a couple days ago..."
"Sometimes the smartest of us can be the most absent-minded..." Twilight offered, "I mean, I once went a whole week without remembering to wash myself."
"So that's what that smell is..."
"This was years ago, Pinkie."
"Uh... I think it's now, too."
Twilight laughed uncomfortably. "I guess it has been a couple days..."
"Seriously, though, Derpy? The mail-mare?"
"None of us ever took the time to get to know her, how would we know?"
"It's just... weird, is all..."
"I won't tell you it isn't weird, I mean, that machine was something else. Even with my new... abilities, that machine made her almost exactly as strong as I was. But stranger things have happened!"
Rarity broke back in to the conversation. "Wait, Applejack, do you mean she trampled the flowers across the street from my house? Right after you left, and before she came to see me?"
"Yeah, those are the ones, why?"
"Did you get any sense of why she was there?"
"Said she was lookin for somethin'. Had to do with our little sisters somehow... And she had some kinda baton that could measure magic."
"Small, spherical objects..." Rarity muttered, recalling the warning Celestia had given earlier. "Oh my..."
Twilight was starting to get an idea of what Rarity had just realized, that Derpy now had an Element too. She could hardly believe it, though. "What? What is it?"
"I had a... This thing. A little round rock with bits of gemstone set into the surface... Derpy must've... Wait, Twilight, what did Celestia mean when she said 'you already know why?'"
All five of the other ponies looked at Twilight at that moment, and her ears fell back against her head. There was no sense lying to her friends. They had already worked it out.
"I... Those rocks... They're called Elements. They're similar to the technology used by the Elements of Harmony, but... They're dangerous. They manipulate the minds of their hosts, and make ponies into monsters."
"Is that what got yer saddle up in a bunch two days ago?" Applejack asked Rarity, slightly amused with herself, "Some dumb rock?"
"They're not dumb, Applejack, they are very, very, serious. Any pony who binds to them is subject to go mad."
"But Twilight..." Fluttershy interjected, "Derpy said you had one. That you took Luna's. Are you okay?"
Realizing the implications of this discovery, Applejack added, "how can we know you're not gonna go all NightMare Moon on us?"
The others looked at Twilight expectantly, as though they took Applejack's concerns to heart. Twilight stepped back, clearly hurt by what she had just heard.
"I'm different, okay? I fought it! I was able to fight it by remembering you! I fought it for you" She began tearing up. "And I still have to fight it. I have to fight it every minute of the day, and it hurts! I just want to give up, so much. Letting it take me would be so easy, but I'm doing this to protect you! The Elements of Harmony won't be enough to fight the griffons! Luna and I did the only thing we could!"
Twilight's eyes illuminated brightly as her hair began blowing around her head, causing her friends to inch away. She began speaking with a much harsher tone. "And now you're afraid of me. You think I'm going to be just like her! That I'll try to kill you!"
Twilight's sadness evolved into rage as wind began blowing more strongly around her. The wall they were all standing on began shaking slightly.
"How could you do that to me?! Don't you realize how much I care about you?! ANSWER ME!"
"Ah'm sorry Twi! Ah- Ah didn't mean it! Honest!"
Twilight seethed. "LIAR!" She stepped towards Applejack threateningly. All the ponies except for Fluttershy backed down, paralyzed with fear.
"Twilight..." Fluttershy said, in the calmest, most soothing voice she could muster, "We care about you too. We were just worried about you. We just want to know you're safe."
Twilight furrowed her brow as she processed her friend's words. The wind around her died down and her eyes dimmed. "I... I..."
She fell back on her haunches, very disturbed by what had just happened. With some coaxing from Fluttershy, the others gathered around her and comforted her. The nagging pain of the Element faltered, and her mind was clear again.
"I'm so sorry..."
It would only be another hour before the griffons would attack.
Good job AJ! Keep poking Twilight's buttons when she is fighting to keep from going crazy.
What could possible go wrong?
1557730
She's just being honest. It's her job, after all.
imageshack.us/a/img33/5764/likethischapter.jpg
1558014
I've got two huge school papers due on the 12th and the 15th, and I need to make sure to set aside 44 minutes to watch the Season 3 premier!
Then again, I can never stop procrastinating, and working on this story is one of my favorite ways to procrastinate. So there's that.
1557730
But isnt that exactly what Mr. Morden would do in this situation?
1558189 Oh? When is the premier?
1561610
November 10th.
8 minutes of the first episode have already been leaked. I couldn't stop myself from watching it. Looks like it's gonna be awesome.
1561610
Next saturday!
hmm... this is interesting. I'll have to sample some aspects for use in MLPRPM alongside "Backwards Through the Mirror's" psycho-reactive plane and what we already have as fanon for Nightmares.
Also, Derpy is a genius ditz? hmm... sensible.
I do have one suggestion/problem though. As the Elements of Harmony embody a particular concept, wouldn't the other elements do the same? What are the elements the griffons and Twilight have/Luna had? That detail would be a nice touch, as it would portray the elements as unique and deepen the immersion a bit.
1578417
I'm sorry, but you lost me somewhere in that sentence.
That was more or less the concept I started with, but it felt too stale and I was having a hard time building a story around it. The reason the Elements of Harmony embody specific concepts, as per this story and my overall fanon, is because Starswirl the Bearded never wanted their power to be used for chaos. The way they're set up, even if his experiment with an anti-Element weapon was a failure, at least his disciples wouldn't fall into madness themselves and continue to use the Elements, becoming exactly what they sought to destroy in the process. The other Elements were built as sources of raw power, with little in the way of safety mechanisms, because they didn't know to be worried when they started manufacturing them.
Plus, I like to assign more of the uniqueness of each villain to their characteristics prior to degeneration. Gives them more personality, so you feel like you're seeing them as individuals, rather than simply puppets to another personality.
1579005 1578417
Well, the Element that Twilight received evidently has a grudge against royalty.
Luna as Nightmare Moon imprisoned her own sister, now the Element is suggesting that Twilight should kill Luna - as the only method to atone for her transgressions
1580348
Is it the Element doing that, or was it really Twilight's idea? She knows that what Luna's told her is something Celestia wants kept secret. We know that her drive to please the Sun-goddess can, and has, pushed her over the edge before. What if there is nothing dark and malevolent behind the Elements? What if it's simply the divine god-like power that morally blinds you?
Or maybe Luna was right. Maybe there's a beast on the other side that wants to destroy absolutely everything.
Honestly, nobody knows. Nobody's stayed sane long enough to work it out. Will Twilight?
1580604
Okay, so what causes the constant reminders ("You're just Celestia's pet"), the nightmares and the two-chapter "The Void" scene with the pseudoalicorn?
Also, a very good example of being blinded by godlike power is shown in the last third of The Immortal Game and we don't see any signs of something similar here. A full face-heel flip caused by godlike power would be going into Grimoire territory... and that story needs a grimdark tag.
1580634
You think a lot. I like that.
Twilight herself concluded that the pseudoalicorn was "the darkest side of her." I'm not saying she's right, but that's what she thought at that particular moment.
1580787
So, Elements are more like the Dark Mirror from Apprentice of the Stars?
1580820
You read a lot, too.
I've not read any of those fics, so I don't know how much they're like the Elements I've penned up here. I'm trying to avoid spoiling the rest of the story, so I sadly can't be any more specific than I have been.
1581035 Faust and I both read alot. I've kept my mind busy with some other material though, and as awesome as Backwards Through the Mirror is, I don't know if it has any bearing on this conversation. The Quiet Place doesn't go into the topic much either, though from the material displayed, it paints Nightmare Moon as a homunculus and therefore independent of Luna.
My gosh I just looked at my favorites list. That thing is ungodly long.
1581035
Time for the fic recommendation wall-of-text...
1581438
Interesting...
1581646
Oh my! I'm a bit overwhelmed right this second, but when I find the time, I'll need to get to reading.
And I just checked out your profile, to find that my fic has been placed in your "Beautiful fanfiction of beautifulness" category.
What's this warm fuzzy feeling in my chest?
1581646 Ahem... I can't thank you enough for burying me with text. Now my readlater list is over the 60 I was working so hard to keep it under.
1581838
This story may soon land the "Best of OP Twi" category, too
okay, finally UTD with the story now. and i have to say; i love it!
i hope twi maintains control, in the end im pretty sure that she will have to do something to seperate the element from herself, making her less badass again (she will still be plenty badass, but less is less).
im a little concerned about celestia as well not sure what my take on her is...
oh, and i wish there was a romance tag for a twiluna, that would have fit in so damn good!
1585860
I have tried so very hard to fit that in, but I've set the story up in such a way that it's almost impossible without going back and changing key facts in previous chapters. I have a version of the next chapter that treads lightly into ship territory, but it feels a little weak, in my opinion, and I think it would leave TwiLuna shippers disappointed more than anything else.
1640759
Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe Derpy will derp and accidentally turn all the griffons into changelings. Who knows?
1641851
What would the Elements do to Changelings, anyway? They'd either die from negative emotion overload or conversely, they might be extremely susceptible to manipulation through their main food source, if the Elements are sufficiently flexible.
1699140
I'm not sure. My personal canon for changelings is that they use the bond of love as a highly efficient siphon for magic, which is their primary food-source, so binding to an Element would essentially free them from needing to feed. The drones don't seem to be very clever or emotional in canon, though fans seems to enjoy depicting them as fairly complicated creatures capable of feeling very real (if rarely exercised) feelings. If they are emotionally lame, the Element wouldn't have a significant psychological effect, and that particular changeling would just be an effective worker, sharing the magic to help feed his or her hive. If they are equal to ponies in their mental faculties, but trapped in a hive-mind and compelled by parasitic instinct, the Element would likely drive them away from their hive and forge them into even darker creatures who feed on love for the sheer hell of it, rather than to satisfy biological compulsion.
I don't know what would happen if Queen Chrysalis got a hold of one. When the first Element of Love was damaged, she essentially became undead, and needed a steady supply of magic to keep herself among the living. Already possessing a penchant for love-manipulation — just like her successor, Princess Cadence — she moved to the only available energy source that could sustain her; the love of powerful ponies. If she acquired an unshielded Element, anything could happen...
1712520
Oh snap, indeed. More Whovian lore yet to come. I wonder if I need a crossover tag?
1712971
So derping the griffons into changelings isn't such a good idea after all
1712992
Nah, probably not.
... If she needs to make them more not-changeling, what if she made them into double-griffons? Then they'd be twice as much not changelings, which means it's a double-good idea!
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"This is a very smart idea."
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1749068
Just a couple more weeks, then final examinations are over, and I should be able to work on this story. It needs several hours of my undivided attention to really polish it up so that it's good enough for publishing.
And I will finish it, regardless of what happens in season 3. I'll probably have to throw an alternate universe tag on it by then, but it'll get finished.
I like the latest chapters more than the earlier ones. I'm interested to know what element Twilight is wielding exactly, or if it's not really important.
To anyone who read the comment that used to be here, remind me to read the story before leaving a comment like that
2080587 That's not always the case, and just because it's easy for you doesn't mean it's easy for the rest of us. Everyone's abilities are different, even if we don't have magic tattoos on our butts depicting them.
2038178
Maybe the Element is special, maybe Twilight's special, maybe neither, maybe both. All will be revealed.
2080495
Now I will go on for the rest of my life wondering about the comment that never was!
I'm glad that you seem to be enjoying it, though. And yes, genius Derpy is indeed best Derpy.
2088712
In the comment, I assumed before actually reading the story that Twilight would learn the truth about the Sun Tyrant's past, and overthrow her. Oh, the deliciousness of irony The Sun Tyrant's ex-student uses the very powers taught to her by the Sun Tyrant HERSELF to OVERTHROW HER!!! That would be
Edit: Help comes to those who ask for it. More often than to those who don't ask for it, mother... (Venting at IRL event that happened right after making this comment )
2562202
This was the very, very, very first piece of fiction I've ever written (at least, the first piece that I can remember— it's been at least a decade), so I'm not surprised I made some rookie mistakes. Plus, I had hardly even read any fiction (fan-made or not), prior to writing this... I'd like to think I've improved a lot as I went along, but it seems you only read the first chapter, so I'm not sure you would have noticed.
That said, I'm quite pleased by the response this fic has generated so far— I didn't expect 200 people would read it, much less favorite it.
I'm looking forward to releasing the next chapter and seeing how people react to it, even if Season 3 made it obsolete.
Anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll keep it all in mind as I edit chapter 13.
Is this dead?
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No, I'm still writing, I promise! There's a good 30k words sitting on my hard drive, constantly getting worked and re-worked whenever I can find spare moments.
Grad school is just killing me, is all.
Also, I changed a major plot-element, and the whole second half of the story had to be restructured— I'm still patching up plot-holes and trying to reduce and hopefully eliminate any deus ex machina plot devices (a few may be necessary, but I'm doing my best to blend them into the background.)
2830099 Oh why doesn't education take writing about cartoon ponies into account
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I know, it's almost like they don't understand that ponies are the most important things in the universe!
I know I'm getting close to publishing; I'm demonstrating all the usual symptoms. I wonder if experiencing physical pain as a result of publishing stories about pastel-colored ponies is cause for concern...
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(I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it I hope they like it )