Episode 118.5 ("Dark World" Rise Of The Alicorn): Fluttercruel's Punishment
Pony POV Series
Dark World/Alicorn Ascension
Chapter 33.5
"Fluttercruel's Punishment"
Optional-Canon
By Alex Warlorn
Edited By Kendell2
There was a knock on the cabin door. Fluttershy blinked at the noise, not expecting visitors. She kissed Fluttercruel on the forehead, "Mommy's just going to see who that is sweetie."
The mostly gray filly on the floor nodded. She went back to looking at the pictures of ponies her mother had been teaching her with.
Fluttershy opened the door revealing green fields and forests that went for infinity.
There was also a Draconequus standing in her doorway. One with paw of a dingo and the claw of a raven, the wings of a dragonfly and vulture, the legs of a coyote and fox and the tail of a rattle snake. "Hey girl, oh sorry, sister-in-law." He waved at her.
Fluttershy kept herself calm and responded politely, "Hello Anarchy. What can I do for you?"
"I'm here about my niece."
Fluttershy's eyes darkened, "I told you that if any of you came before she chose to come back besides her father that you'd meet the Queen of Cups' anger." The air around the pegasus darkened, and a massive shadow began to stretch behind her that had a horn.
Anarchy raised his hands quickly. "Sorry babe, you're overruled. Believe me, I'd rather be playing video games. Not coming within range of an Alicorn prepared to tear me to bits, vacation from killing Discord or not . . . did that little douche have to kill so many mortals? I'm stuck handing him off his death sentences until we work out the difference. The others are all busy except Pandora and she's too much of a sweetheart to do anything."
"Overruled by who? And your concern for the mortals Discord made suffer is not extending your lifespan."
"WHAO! Watch it babe! You do NOT want to go down that road. Trust me, I've seen parts of my family and yours go down it before and it was NEVER pretty! Most of the last ones killed were revolutionaries so it's not like I don't care. Look, I'll cut to the case. Some of YOUR family petitioned the Elders and They took a vote. They think you're not getting at the core of the issue with 'little Odyne' to keep her from growing up into another D____ or Morning Star...Well, three of Them, anyway, Mom just kind of said 'WHATEVER!' and went back to pretending She's the only Thing in Creation."
Fluttershy caught herself, and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I'm going to have to ask you leave. I've seen the brand of punishment your family uses, it won't accomplish what you want it to. Your Father agreed with me."
"Okay. You're the boss in this little corner of forever, so I gotta do what ya say, but this ain't the end babe, c ya." Anarchy left.
+++
Fluttershy played pattycake with Fluttercruel, her hooves touching her daughter's hooves and lioness' paw. It was nice to see her foal happy in a way that didn't involve hurting another.
Another knock at the door.
Fluttershy hugged her child and opened the door again.
"Hi." Rancor, the Concept of violence itself, waved back.
"Hello. Goodbye." Fluttershy said, perfectly hospitable, slamming the door in Rancor's face.
"OW!"
"There's a band-aid box right outside and some going away muffins."
"...Thanks."
+++
Fluttershy had been preening Fluttercruel, and showing her various animals hatching from eggs from alligators and crocodiles to birds and dinosaurs. Fluttercruel was showing a rapt interest.
There was a faint tapping on one of the cottage windows.
Fluttershy folded her wings around her foal, Fluttercruel doing the same with her pegasus and lovebird wings. "Just stay behind mommy."
"Okay mommy."
Fluttershy cracked the window open,
Pandemonium/Pandora/Desire Atë Typhon held a white flag in her green witch's hand, waving her bear arm at Fluttershy hesitantly.
"Uh, hello Miss Queen of Cups or is it just Fluttershy? I'm Imagination. I don't think we've been introduced formally. I just came to say that you really really really should just do what your family is suggesting. You see . . . karma's out of balance . . . or something, this is kinda outside of my sphere of reality. But the point is that little Odyne really needs to be disciplined after what she did for a thousand years. And you don't really seem to be doing that."
"I'm helping her heal. She was horribly hurt after what happened. And she already's been humbled like I said. And she -already- now knows what it's like to lose someone she loves in a horrible way."
"But that's not exactly the same thing."
"Whether you were reluctant to or not, orders from Your Father or not, you took part in hurting my daughter trying to remove my traits from her, I have no promise that you don't do something similar once you all get your claws on her again."
"That's why you need to punish. You're her mom, right? I know it's normally the dad's job, but Discord has his own punishment, and a LOT of entities have been thinking that you are, and by extension us, are all turning a blind eye to Fluttercruel's actions."
"That's for me to decide. She's in my care. I won't let anyone hurt her again. Please go."
"...For the record, I know what it's like...I've never had the heart to punish one of my family, I normally just go hang out with Venus...But even I know the punishment NEEDS to happen..."
"Once more, I will choose what she does and does not need...thank you for trying to be sympathetic, but please go."
" . . . this doesn't resolve anything. And you're only making it worse." Pandora said turning into a firefly and blinking away.
+++
The walls of Fluttershy's cottage were lifted up from their foundation, leaving the bare wood floor among the grass. Strife lifted the walls up, grunting, her handicap of having one stone paw not bothering her as much as it should have. Strife carefully and conscientious placed the cottage on the glass next to its exposed floor.
Fluttershy and Fluttercruel felt rather awkward finding themselves outside with their tea-set on the little misshaped wooden table between them.
Strife, Discord's eldest sister, and idea of darwinism, stared daggers at the pony and pony/draconequus.
With her flesh and blood forelimb she stuck out a spiked paddle, (shaped and sized for spanking disobedient fillies who left their shrunk down big sisters in monster filled forests by themselves).
"You can either take this paddle, or I can use it in your stead. Choose."
Fluttershy took the paddle. "There. I took it. You never told me I had to use it. Now please put my house back where you found it, and please help yourself to a cookie, and leave...And what you wish to do with your children is your business, but I did not appreciate you and your family trying to do the same to mine, understood?"
"You act as though I am doing this of my own decision, I am merely under orders. And I was going to put it back anyway. Know that you dig yourself in deeper and deeper by ignoring this truth. You march down an 'evolutionary dead-end' to apply an incorrect term correctly. You can not hold back the tide." Strife did as she was told, turned into a T-Rex and stopped away.
"Mommy, I'm scared," Fluttercruel said.
"Don't worry dear, no matter what concept comes for you, I won't let any Alicorn or Draconequus hurt you." She then kissed her child's forehead and got some more cookies for her daughter.
+++
The knock again. Fluttershy sighed. She steeled herself. Whether it was Havoc, Entropy, Sane Reality, or Fauna Luster Herself outside, none of them were going to hurt her child more than she already been.
She opened the door without fear. It was the Alicorns Justitia and Judicium. Concepts of Justice and Judgement.
Futtershy sighed, preparing herself for whatever confrontation would upon her. "Let me guess, you're here to punish Fluttercruel?"
"No. We are not here to punish Fluttercruel if you won't," Justitia said.
"They are." Judicium gestured with his horn behind them.
Fluttershy gasped. Her normal blue sky and green fields were gone. In their place was an infinite starscape. And a long, long line of ponies and other creatures.
At the front where Virgacorns, Hippogriffs, Earth Ponies, white changelings, and dragons, around the middle of the line, were humans decked out in the armor of space marines, some goats and donkeys, and at the far away (miles?) at the beginning, were unicorns, pegasi.
Almost right at the front, was a filly who was almost identical to Apple Pie except for an apple with a green skull face. Poison Apple carried dental tools on her back and a spiked mace in her mouth.
Also near the front was a mare with a canister of liquid nitrogen and a sludge hammer.
The very first pony in line was a purple unicorn with a jewel cutie mark.
All of them, glared hatefully at the filly behind Fluttershy . . . Fluttercruel wet herself at the sight.
Fluttershy panicked, "You, you wouldn't taint all these souls with something ugly like revenge would you?!" She said hoping it would work.
"As the idea of Judgement," "-and the idea of Justice-" "-any corporal punishment you instill on Odyne/Cruelty/Fluttercruel, shall not in any shape or form counts negatively towards your own karma." The Alicorns spoke to the long long line. There were more than a few cheers.
"You can't do this!" Fluttershy hollered.
"Tell THEM that!" Justitia pointed a hoof at the epically long line.
Judicium said, "There are punishments meant to be dealt out by a parent, and those meant to be dealt out by the law."
"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" Fluttershy cried out.
"YES IT IS!" Hissed an Earth pony filly in the line with a needle and thread cutie mark. Fluttershy swore the hate in that little one's eyes would have made a Windigo freeze her in seconds.
"Fluttercruel was DISCORDED her ENTIRE LIFE! How can you punish her when she was never in control of her actions?! That's evil!"
"Oh really?" Justitia ask. "Unlike the others who were freed of Discord's taint, she did not instantly turn upon her master. If anything, she became MORE fervent in serving and protecting her father and killing harmony's champions.
"The only true thing the discording she was born with actually did was mute your words of reason to her. She was born, she was simply rude and mean-spirited, she was cruel, as she was born to be, but she was not yet a vicious murderer nor believed harming others was an expression of love to her father and harming you was expressing her love to you! Those parts came later. What she developed from, what she experienced around her, what she taught, and what she CHOOSE FOR HERSELF."
"THAT'S NOT FAIR AT ALL! The discording became WORSE over time! MUCH WORSE! Of course she'd go from being just mean to being a monster!"
"Yes, it did. And in spite of that, there were timeline loops of the dark world where she became the Element of Kindness WITHOUT having her discording removed! How could Discord not have known if she had had it removed before? And these were of course right near the end of the loops! Where her discording had reached it's zenith, or better say it's nadir in the trench of depravity. And her attempts to befriend Angry Pie were nowhere near the beginning, when her discording was at its least!
"She may have been deaf, but she was not denied free will! If the discording controlled her every action and thought, then she'd have never desired FRIENDSHIP, the opposite of Discord's taint, from Chaos Bearer Angry Pie! And need I remind you? Liarjack's taint was just as black as Fluttercruel's, but she found it within her to sublime resist Discord."
"So Applejack was sinless?"
"Hardly. She was bloodstained as your daughter in her own way. But the she also showed that those infected by Discord's evil could still turn it in a direction of their choosing, not his. And more importantly, she felt remorse for her wrongdoing despite the taint."
"Her discording was different from Fluttercruel's!"
"There are many timelines where Liarjack turned as selfish and uncaring as the others after she was discorded, it was her choice. The discording was a PART OF ODYNE. In its own way, it actually kept her from becoming completely insane while it also blocked you from making her see the truth."
"So every single thing she did was her fault! Discord's taint which twisted so many ponies into parodies of themselves didn't do a single thing to her, so therefore she's responsible for everything and so is everyone else made to act the opposite of themselves! I guess Applejack must have always been a liar on the inside yes?!" Fluttershy's anger asked rippling inside her.
"Do not presume to dictate black and white to us, little one," Judicium said suddenly looking a bit larger.
"AND ALL OF YOU!" Fluttershy's anger snapped, looking at the long line of ponies, "You ALL KNOW ponies and loved ones who Discord's chaos magic turned into puppets who weren't themselves! Why are you judging my daughter different?! Because she was Discord's child, is that it?!"
Some of the ponies in the line looked at each other in doubt or confusion, other looked just as angry or MORE angry right back at her. The filly with the thread and needle cutie mark practically growled at Fluttershy.
"Paranoia does not become you, my little idea," Justitia said, "Every sapient being's choices are their own. Regardless of their parentage. Cruelty was not yet a concept, she did not fill any role in creation with her meaningless murder. While Cruelty no longer has such . . . restraints upon her growth . . . the fact remains the shape of her heart and soul is still that of the restraints."
"I AM CHANGING THAT! You just want revenge! Nothing more!"
"Revenge doesn't serve a purpose and does not change the offender's chances of causing harm later. This is punishment. And all you are doing is teaching her the virtue of life's struggle rather than the wrongness of granting harm to others."
"But she now REMEMBERS all the lessons I tried to speak to her but the discording blocked out! Of course she's learned! All these ponies harming her won't do anything but risk her reverting! Where's your justice now?!"
" . . . " Judicium sighed. Justitia narrowed her eyes.
"She even said '...Mother, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you before. I'm sorry," She whispered. "I was wrong. I...maybe I was always wrong,' she even told Mortis that she was finally beginning to understand! You're just dressing up revenge as somehow justified because she hurt so many that you won't feel happy unless you her back!
"And I thought ponies were judged for what their hearts and souls were like when they died, not for how they were before! All I see is you all bending the rules because you want to hurt my baby! Well you can just try it!"
The entire miles and miles of creatures all took a step forward. Judicium rose a wing, and they all stopped.
" . . . your daughter has not seen violence's real face, only worn it." Justitia said.
"What should that matter?!" Fluttershy retorted.
Judicium looked to her. "Our Father is all forgiving, but do not forget that Our Mother is Empathy Embodied. She lets life know how it felt to be the one they harmed...but some do not know Her Touch. And . . . because She Is empathy, She felt the pain and terror that your daughter inflicted on Her children."
"Still sounds to me like all any of you want is revenge."
"Do you see Rancor here, little idea?" asked Justitia, giving a snarl.
"I love my daughter but Venus isn't here!"
"You are so young and so blind, you STILL don't fully understand. If you love, then Venus is here!"
"Doesn't that defeat your own argument?!"
"Rancor regularly delivers vengeance for others within Her Father. It is part of her purpose, her existence; to balance blood for blood, an eye for an eye," Judicium explained, seeming more understanding of Rancor. "If unresolved vengeance was what this was about, she would be here."
"'Pain for pain!' Which is what ALL OF YOU WANT!" She snarled at the line.
"There's a difference, sister," said Judicium. "Rancor's Concept is 'an Eye for an Eye', Justitia's is that the wicked are not permitted to harm the innocent again. My Concept is that all are judged fairly."
"Fluttercruel WON'T hurt anyone again! I'll make sure of it!"
"Can you?" Justitia asked. "She is a CONCEPT now. She now has the power to hurt ENTIRE PLANETS."
"It seems to me that you're just using that you're Judgement and Justice to justify hurting my child instead of giving a REAL REASON!"
Judicium gave a sad, sorrowful sigh. "...I did not want to mention this, sister, but did Mother want Morning Star to be imprisoned in Hell? Did She want him to become a Fallen Alicorn? Do you think I wanted to have to say 'I find my brother, Morning Star, guilty of threatening all creation?'...If you believe I do not care for Fluttercruel, you are wrong. But the ability to allow my family bonds to cloud my judgement is something that I do not have. Every time I look on a being, I can't make excuses for any crime they have committed. I cannot say 'they're family.' Yes, I CAN say 'they were brainwashed', or 'they were coerced', as a matter of fact I found your friend Rainbow Dash innocent of A NUMBER of her wrongdoing because she genuinely had no choice in the matter, for example. So if I say 'her Discording does not absolve her of a crime', I MEAN it. But that doesn't make it less painful to give a verdict that hurts someone I care for. It merely means the ability to let that pain make me judge wrongly is one I do not possess."
"And may I remind you what your child's special talent is?" Justitia said sternly looking at the cowering filly who had said nothing in her defense. The blades shaped like a heart.
"That doesn't mean anything! A pony CHOOSES what they do with their special talent!"
"Exactly."
"She was led astray by Discord and I wasn't allowed to tell her the truth!"
"You think she is the only child in history that was led astray by a wicked parent and kept away from the parent who'd have taught them what compassion was?"
"The taint KEPT HER from learning! YOU KEEP IGNORING THAT!"
"And you keep ignoring your daughter showed signs of empathy and friendship and knowing that harming others was wrong, she simply applied it ONLY TO HERSELF AND HER FATHER AND ANGRY PIE! She twisted it in her mind that they were a special case, NOT the blindfold over her soul!"
"She's my daughter, my responsibility, what right do you have to say she should be punished?"
"If you ask what right? I have every right, being the idea of justice. But you are asking what reason we have up until now. Which we have been trying to give you."
"Well you haven't been doing very well."
"And you haven't done a very good job of listening. PLEASE little idea! This isn't just about Fluttercruel, it's also about those she's wronged. You have turned her discording into an excuse."
"Little idea," said Judicium. "Mother is the Concept of Empathy, the Mother of All Things. She is WHY you are capable of feeling Empathy, because it is what She Is...But She still punished Celestia and Luna for the Windigos...And She allowed Morning Star to be sentenced to imprisonment because of his crimes...Mother's heart still aches at having to condemn him to his fate, but if a Being Who's Heart loves the smallest soul in creation with a Mother's love will punish Her children, or see that justice is done to one, is it not your duty to do the same?"
"Let me at her already!" Shouted the mare near the end of the line.
Fluttershy looked at the liquid nitrogen and hammer the mare was holding again. "She froze you to death?"
"Ask HER what she did to me! She murdered me for her own fun! And my children were left to FREEZE TO DEATH in the next flash winter! If I had been alive, Fate told me that my body heat would have saved them! Instead my son froze to death first, then . . . then . .. then . . . my daughter was . . . by my son's walking corpse! How DARE you say that little monster you're protecting is somehow 'even steven' with what she did to my children by killing me?!"
Justitia looked back. "I will say this; 'even steven' is not why you are allowed to do this. Justice is not An Eye For An Eye, it is that the wicked do not harm the innocent and are punished for their crimes. This is about Odyne's punishment for her sin, so you may have closure and rest in peace, so you know she did not simply get 'kicked upstairs' and instead had justice done to her for her crimes. Justice will be served, even if it is vigilante justice, but there is a difference between that and a lynch mob, and you are NOT to be that. Are we clear?"
The souls sighed and looked at each other grimly, and slowly nodded down the line. Poison Apple shivered in disgust as she did however.
Justitia looked back to Fluttershy. "There are many types of Justice, little idea. Not all are good ones. A criminal who can not be contained or rendered harmless being executed is justice, a criminal being imprisoned is justice, a vigilante taking down a criminal is justice...but a criminal willingly doing community service is also justice. Your friends seeking to atone for their crimes by saving the world is justice. Justice is atonement, it is punishment, it is closure for victims and ensuring crimes do not repeat ever again. Pinkie Pie is in Heaven right now, despite all her crimes. Do you know why? Because she spent the rest of her life atoning for what she'd done, desired that every SECOND she had left was spent making it up to others what she'd done. That is Justice. Had Fluttercruel done that, then we would not be having this conversation."
"But she said she was sorry! She said she was wrong! You keep IGNORING that! You monsters!"
"...What did she do right after she said that?"
Fluttershy gave a small gasp and looked down. "..."
"Say it, little sister"
"She was a filly! She didn't know any better!"
"Say it. What did she do?"
"...She tried to possess Twilight and continue the fight..."
"And was her Discording gone then?"
"...Yes..."
"Was her father encouraging her to do it?"
"...No..."
"Was anyone forcing her to do it?"
"...No... She was just being loyal to her father."
"That is the logic of Nightmare Manacle."
Fluttershy's face was the picture of dismay, unable to form a retort.
Judicium looked serious. "...I will make this simple. As Concept of Judgment...I have already heard your arguments, and theirs," he said, putting his wing out over the crowd. "...I find Fluttercruel, my niece...guilty of the crimes of which she is accused...But. It is your choice to decide how she is to be punished. But it is mine to say if it fits the crime. If you will not punish her, the line before you decides for you."
"That's blackmail."
"That is reality. It doesn't change my decision. No matter choice you make, Fluttercruel will face punishment for her choice. That is the reality all parents have to face. If it was blackmail, I would be trying to force one decision on you. I am not."
Fluttershy tapped Fluttershy on the head. "There she's punished."
"This is not a plea bargain," said the idea of Judgement.
"First in line-" Justice itself called.
"WAIT!" Nature begged.
"The punishment must fit the crime Fluttershy, a REAL punishment, not the kind the corrupt hand off to those they favor. Luna was reset because THAT was the best way to punish HER. Celestia was sentenced to always suffer the cycle of remembering because that was the best way to punish CELESTIA."
Judicium gave a sympathetic look. "I know as the Concept of Mercy and Kindness you cannot help but show it...But look at it this way; is it Kind to them not to have closure?" he asked, pointing to the crowd. "To not be able to have peace because their murderer got off without justice being done?"
Justitia said, "And you have overlooked a very simple reality. This is not about Cruelty just being punished or giving closure to her victims, it is about making Cruelty see the true reality of herself and her actions."
"...I am giving you the chance to give Cruelty SOME mercy," Judicium stated, simply. "Because she IS a child in many ways, and you ARE her guardian. But this does not magically make her crimes non-existent or trivial. This crowd will be far less merciful while remaining fair, but there are other acceptable punishments that will spare her some pain. And that is Mercy, is it not?"
"Of course, some pain might be exchanged for another, but some pain can be more constructive than others." Justitia added, just as simply. "So what say you? Will you show responsibility as a parent? Or do you seek just the idealized image of parenthood?"
"..." Fluttershy's wings flattened against her side, her head fell lower, her mane covering her face. She gave a sorrowful look at the assembled crowd, at her siblings...And sighed sadly as she finally looked to her daughter. "Fluttercruel, please come over to mommy."
Fluttercruel, terrified, but unable to resist, slowly trotted towards her parents.
"Mommy?"
"...Fluttercruel...I love you, I won't let these ponies hurt you...but they're right, you need to learn...And no matter how much I don't want to do this, I have to...This will hurt me, I'm not sure if I can honestly say if I will hurt worse...but I know I will hurt along with you..."
Fluttershy sighed with a heavy heart. "...Fluttercruel's punishment...is to be inserted into the timeline and...and..." Fluttershy began to cry. "...And live life under her father's rule...and..."
Judicium and Justitia came to her side to show what support they could.
"...live life as one of her victims...who suffered..."
Judicium nodded. "I will allow this punishment on one condition: she shall be a victim who lost the most. Who suffered the most. She shall be inserted into a family who was killed by her, and she shall be among the last. That way she knows the pain both of those she killed, those she left behind, and those who leave others behind. And unlike her father, she shall not regain her memories until she is in our presence again; her father devoured his mortal side, that will not be an option to her. She may be my niece, but Judgement is blind to such things."
Fluttershy sighed and gave a nod. "...That is her punishment..." The concept nuzzled her daughter. "...Fluttercruel...momma will be the first thing you see when you awaken again..." she said, a transparent horn forming that she touched to Fluttercruel's head, causing the child to fall asleep.
Fluttercruel's form turned into a ball of light, her outline turning to a shadow and dissolving into her. The ball floated to Fluttershy. Nature kissed Fluttercruel's light of existence goodbye. It floated over to Judgement.
The alicorn stallion's horn glowed, and the little light of existence shot like a shooting star into the starscape.
"It is done," Judicium said turning to the line of victims, "She will now experience the same evil she has done unto all of you. This is myself, this is Judgement."
"Return home." Justitia said, and in the next instant the star scape was completely empty, except for the filly with the thread and needle cutie mark.
"No," said the filly curtly.
"As you wish then," Judicium sighed at the filly.
Justitia turned and bowed at Fluttershy, "May we speak under kinder circumstances when again we meet, little idea."
"Indeed," Judicium spoke.
And like the line of creatures previously, the two Alicorns were gone.
"Huh? But wait! But what about . . . but what about her?" Fluttershy looked at the one remaining Earth pony.
The filly glared at Fluttershy. "She deserved a lot worse ya know. Much worse. She caused several lifetimes of pain, her getting one lifetime of pain in exchange is a cheat. You dang concepts, playing favorites. A flesh and blood pony who wasn't one of you who did all that would go straight to Pony Hell, no debate."
"She was a filly, just like you, and foals . . . they . . ." She hugged her wings, "they can be the worst monsters."
"No! She is not the same as me!"
"What's your name?"
"Stitches."
"You were a seamstress? I mean, going to be- that is-" Fluttershy felt herself shoot herself in the hoof.
The filly shook her head. "My special talent wasn't sewing cloth together, it was stitching ponies back up."
"Oh. So you had to cut or hurt ponies sometimes, but to heal their wounds?"
"No, I was the apprentice of an evil mad scientist who wanted to create another Frankeinpony monsters- YES I helped ponies stitching their injuries back together."
"...I know it seems unfair, that Fluttercruel was treated special...But let me ask you this...was it a burden knowing that pony's life was depended on the needle in your teeth? That if you did one wrong move, they could die?"
"Of course it was a burden!...But I liked the feeling of knowing 'they're alive because of me'...That I saved their life...But it was stressful... I wasn't supposed to be doing so much, but there was nopony else to help out. There were always so many ponies that needed help, and there were so few of us . . . so few."
"...A Concept carries a burden as well...but unlike a mortal's burden, Eternal Rest is forbidden to Concepts...Fluttercruel is a Concept now, even if me and Discord are as well...Pinkie Pie is in Heaven, but she can't ever join her. Her mortal family will be in Heaven, but she can never join them...I suppose in that way, this punishment is even worse...I...I gave her a family she can never truly be with again, only have moments of speaking with them..."
"...Do you regret it?"
"...I can't, even if I wanted to...A Concept can't regret and that is another part of our burden..."
"Sounds like a cheat to me. And are you even really a concept?"
"...It would be a cheat if we could feel regret...because now we have the power to change the past. If a Concept could say 'I wish I'd done this instead of that'...they actually could go back and change it. And then a Concept would never learn from their mistake, they'd just keep undoing their mistakes...So a Concept has to live with each and every choice they make, knowing they could change it, but being incapable of considering the possibility."
"REAL fair to the ponies who suffer from those mistakes. And if a concept can make mistakes, then they're no different from a mortal with too much power on their hooves!"
"Concepts can't make mistakes within themselves, since once they decide something is that way, it was always that way, so it's physically impossible for them to be wrong, but that only applies to their own concept, not to the infinite number of concepts outside of it. And undoing a -concept's- mistakes means undoing reality, and that means undoing the ponies within it, is that fair?
"...But that is also part of the burden...Every choice we make, whether we fix it with another choice, or it was a bad choice...We need to make absolutely sure we're truly making good changes, good choices...if our needle slips, it doesn't just end one life...it could end thousands..."
The little pastel pony sighed.
"No matter how old or worn my dolls would get, I'd always stitch them back together. Even if I had to let them go I'd stitch them back together first, it felt like surrendering if I didn't. Then one day, I was looking at one of mom's patients, who had been caught in a silverware storm, and I couldn't bear to just stand there, and took my sewing kit and began to stitch all his hurts closed."
"And then came your cutie mark as soon as you were done?"
"No. It came when I looked at all the other ponies hurt, and thought to myself I wasn't done. 'Do you really want to stitch ALL of them?' I asked myself, 'There are so many.' My cutie mark came when I said 'yes' in return.
"My mom was a doctor, my father a tailor. Our family used to live in a thousand year old building in the middle of the Chaos Capital Ponyville. My brother took time to talk to the equinquins in case they used to be ponies.
"We got driven out at random one day by Rarigreed and her golems. The crazy mare kept screaming we were trespassing and it was all hers. We had to start over from nothing."
"You still had each other."
"Life was always a burden to us, that's how it was. But we welcomed it. Or we took it without whining. Struggles make you stronger dad said. I saw ponies who were broken shells that sat there or trotted about aimlessly.
"They didn't ever care what happened to them or anypony. Dad made me look at them, and told me never to be like them.
"Then the giant walking blender grabbed him and tossed him inside and set itself to low speed . . . the last thing he said was mom's name... then it offered me a smoothy of... of-, 'Try stitching THAT back together,' Discord laughed, 'It's not Sass Squash, but I'm sure it tastes fatherly.' "
"Discord then began firing a bazooka, candy came out of the explosion, not harming anyone. 'Free candy!' He shouted. Some very hungry foals came close, he fire more rockets. One exploded, and was full of shrapnel.
"'Oops! Sorry! Some have free spikes, not like mine of course,' he laughed. My mother and I were pulling the small bits out of metal of the survivors for days. We, didn't have time to grieve!"
"I'm sorry. Your family was very noble."
"Some called us the 'Prolongers of Pain' and that we secretly worked for Discord. Some Apple Pie Family ponies seemed to appreciate us though...before he died dad always respected them, that they'd never quit... With dad gone . . . mom knew we were all she'd have left after she was gone, her whole life became teaching us, her foals, everything she knew. She became harsh, making sure we'd know everything she did. When she healed ponies, she was like a machine."
"And mothers must be harsh sometimes...that is a fact I have had to accept...I'm sorry you had to see that..."
"I thought you couldn't feel regret."
"Regret and guilt, sympathy and empathy, are all different things. Sympathy, empathy, guilt? I can feel those things, My Mother is Empathy embodied after all and the Major Arcana all live mortal lives to develop Empathy for mortals, and gain the ability to sympathize with them...If we could not feel guilt, then we would not be able to care we made a mistake or the wrong choice enough not to make it again...But this isn't about me, it's about you...And I'm sorry for the suffering you've endured."
"What did you DO about it?"
"Everything I could! I TRIED to speak to my daughter, so many times! But . . . she couldn't hear word."
"You should have tried harder."
"I did! And then I tried even harder! . . . It was never enough."
The faded color filly didn't respond. "That was the story of everypony Discord sat on for the fun of it."
"I know."
"Discord noticed the change in how mom acted too . . . the night came where he turned her into a clockwork pony. She just kept doing our lessons and being a doctor to ponies who needed it, but we had to help her whenever she had to learn something new or had to break from her routine. I wonder deep down, if Discord really did like that we kept his playthings alive, if we really were just making ponies more unhappy by not letting them escape Discord the only way any of us could now with Avalon gone. Great-grandma told me, when she was a little girl, she heard the old ponies say that Discord was contained to just Equestria because of Queen Cadence and Queen Tiamat and their changelings and dragons. But with Avalon gone, Discord spread to the rest of the world."
"I wasn't around after that."
"Then came the day, Fluttercruel found us. 'Hey! I worked hard making all those carvings! How DARE YOU erase them all! You're gonna get it now!' She tore my mother apart . . . she then put herself back together and got back to work like the ticks of a clock. Cruelty did this a few more times, more frustrated and angry, ripping more into smaller pieces, but she'd always just piece herself back together one cog and gear at a time. One of my brothers, Goodwork, laughed at it . . . Angry Pie found him.
"It became part of mom's routine, but when that ... winged creature with the face of a pegasus came again . . . she put a rain cloud above mother . . . it rained WATER . . . saltwater. 'There! I'll take away the raincloud if you stop undoing all my artwork! You philistine! Or have fun rusting!'
Mom didn't stop. Not for an instant. Even when we tried to stop her she didn't. She just continued her lessons and her work . . . We actually tried to oil her, but it just washed off without doing anything. Until, in the middle of a procedure . . . she just, stopped. I had to finish the surgery. Then she fell apart . . . and stayed that way. The raincloud didn't leave the spot until . . . there was nothing for us to even bury."
The pastel pony whimpered, tears in her eyes.
The cream pegasus put a wing over her. "...Your mother was a strong pony...It takes a lot of resolve to refuse to quit helping others even if it costs you your life..."
"I'd love to know that, instead of thinking she was just a machine doing what she was now programmed to."
"...I am Mercy and Kindness...every act of it is in my presence...has always been, even before...before I became as I am now...I can feel your mother's acts of kindness and mercy as easily as you can feel a leaf landing on your head...And they didn't stop until she died...I can't tell you what her mental state was, but I know this; her heart was in it."
The filly nuzzled her, "Thank you."
"What were your parents names?"
"Patchwork, and Charity Work, I didn't like how some ponies began calling her Clockwork. . . . After our parents were gone, we just kept going, it was the only thing in the world we had left of them. This didn't make the pegasus demon all that happy. My oldest brother, Hardwork, offered to be Angry Pie's new apprentice if she'd spare us. She strangled him saying 'I like Angry Pie, not Fake Angry Pie that comes out whenever she has one of those brats with her. You won't corrupt any friend of mine.' That was only the beginning."
"...Discord...he's sorry for what he did..."
"Yeah, I know...his sister, Pandora I think came to each of us who died or lost someone because of him with a handwritten apology from him..."
"I'm sure he'd have-"
"I know, it included the lines 'I'm sorry, I'd deliver this in person but I'm being punished for what I did to you right now and I deserve it', along with a detailed list of everything he did to my family...it was kind of shocking to be honest...to see the big bad evil overlord send me an apology and said he deserved to be punished for it... AND HE DID!"
Fluttershy couldn't argue that. "...Could you perhaps continue? Let's leave Discord's punishment to his family...they're doing an ok job of it..." 'By their standards...'
" . . . That Nag. She said if we had a drop of common sense, or survival instinct, we'd stop what were doing, undoing all her 'hard work' we'd stop undoing all her 'creativity.' We moved away from the chaos capital, to Cloudsdale, Sweetrock Acres, Upside-Left Town, we split up, came back together, and split up again. We hoped she'd just forget about us and move onto something else. But no, we had become a CHALLENGE for her, something to hold her attention. She didn't do it in any particular order, just whatever her impulses told her to. We were a game to her: we weren't ponies. We were just pictures on a dartboard to her . . . When I was born, I was the youngest of five, when dad died, I was the big sister of three more. It ... it wasn't that strange, ponies who had children knew their chances of growing up were slim.
"There were seven of us left when we left Chaos Captial Ponyville. . . . And that number kept getting smaller . . . and smaller. She'd tear to shreds anyone who got in her way. And she did it quickly to them, that was the scary part...so long as there was one of us left, she had no interest in anypony else...Oh, she enjoyed killing them, but she didn't relish it...she couldn't play with any other toys until she'd broken the ones she'd decided to play with...
"Then there were only three of us left. My two younger siblings, Fair Work, my youngest, she was already gone. We were scared to stay with anyone...knowing if we did, she'd just go right through them... She had stopped killing us on the spot long ago . . . instead, she took us, to the castle . . . and we never knew what became of them. She came for me in the middle of the night, all thirteen seconds of it. I never saw my sisters again...Anything of this ringing bells yet?"
"I told you . . . after Avalon was destroyed, I wasn't with Fluttercruel anymore." Fluttershy didn't say how she had hoped for death's sweet embrace to take her and her daughter by that time.
Stitches Work sighed. "...She told me when she got me that 'you're the one who was doing most of the erasing, weren't you? You and your mother...Hehe, oh, this is going to be so much fun!' I'd have been insulted if I didn't know I was going to die. ALL of my siblings helped ponies out! I knew it wouldn't end with me, my little sisters were going to be next.
"The entry way into the castle, I remembered it for the rest of my life, no matter how much I didn't want to, it was like all of Lord Discord's games squeezed into one hallway, the things I saw . . . she actually let me lay on the carpet in a fetal position in shock for a bit until she whined Twilight Tragedy into fixing me enough so I could appreciate what came next. Her playroom."
Stitches couldn't stop shivering even when Fluttershy held her close, they rode out the flashbacks together.
"Inside . . . she . . . introduced me to my brothers and sisters . . . 'Come on! Give your baby sister a kiss!' She laughed, pressing the skull against my face, 'Don't be shy, she tastes great! I know!' "
"Stop." Fluttershy said, "Please stop. You don't need to say anymore. Please. Please stop."
"C-can't h-handle, what the monster t-that came out of you did?" Stitches asked.
"It's hurting you to repeat all this."
"S-she cut me so I couldn't move my legs, but I could still feel everything. She even put me in a dress a few times and dragged me around the room, tossing me in the closet whenever Liarjack or Angry Pie visited. She wanted me all to herself. The only time I saw any of the other Chaos Six being involved was when she asked Tragedy for advice on 'how to keep a pony alive as long as possible'...I knew I was never going to see the sky again, but that was when I realized, this was only going to end when she let it end. So I tried to cheat her and bite my own tongue off . . . kept me stable long enough for Rargireed and Tragedy to save my life, she cut my jaw's motor controls from then on. She'd put me in a diaper and sowed a wig on my head after shaving my mane if she was feeling-"
"Please stop!"
"She cut away at me, piece by piece, slowly, making sure to cauterize the wound each time so I didn't bleed out. She put salt on her blades, both to prevent infection...and to make it hurt even more when I was cut, until half the time she spent on me was just to keep what was left of me alive. I lost all track of time. She'd ramble on about the other Chaos Six, Angry Pie, and Discord who she talked about like she had a crush on him. That room, and her, became the entire universe. But every time I started to retreat into insanity, she'd remind me the moment I stopped being fun, she'd go find one of my siblings to start playing with. It became another part of the torture, keeping my mind together or she'd discard me. My family was the only thing that kept me from turning into a masochist doll of hers. But it got harder, she had to spend more time keeping what little was left alive, and-"
"NO MORE PLEASE!" Flutterchy cried, literally cried, moving her hooves to her folded ears. "This is killing you all over again! It's killing me! I understand! I've ALWAYS understood! My baby was a monster, whose father was a monster! The only reason he's not STILL a monster is because a BIGGER monster MADE HIM feel loss for so many years only the ELDERS can count! I knew death was the only way to stop her if I couldn't speak to her! I saw what she did to you a hundred times over with so many other innocent sapient creatures! Ponies, humans, dragons, didn't matter! As long as they could feel pain! She loved Diamond Dogs BECAUSE they could hold out against pain for so long and she could play longer with them! I had to WATCH HER grow from a tiny monster I could have saved into something as ugly and obscene as her father! And I am sorry!!!"
"Don't be . . . please... she made all the mistakes. Not you...She tortured you too...she tortured you longer than anyone else..."
"And . . . the worst part is, if she had just said she was sorry, that she'd never do it again, that she'd help instead of hurt and meant it, I'd have still forgiven her, on the spot . . . And my baby never did."
Stitches nuzzled her, pressing herself against the much larger pony's body. She began crying too. "I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. She loved you, but all she did her entire life was hurt you. How could anypony call themselves your daughter after doing that?"
Fluttershy hugged her and folded her wings around her, feeling ashamed at turning to a foal for comfort when it should have been the other way around. "...And even if she's the Concept of Cruelty, there's more kinds than Cruelty towards innocents, right?"
"...Right...Concepts are all parts of it...Anarchy isn't only the bloodshed of Revolution, Rancor isn't just Violence against the innocent and all consuming Revenge...Anarchy is Freedom, he's the Oppressed Freeing themselves, Rancor is Violence to PROTECT the innocent, Revenge even when it's just settling for punching someone once and leaving it at that...I'm not just Mercy for good, but Cruel Mercy to punish evil...Cruelty would also be Cruel to be Kind, Cutting Off The Limb To Save the Bo-"
"Please, no more words." Stitches whispered. "Just no more words."
The two ponies just hugged outside the cottage in the middle of the starscape, alone together, and closed their eyes. Listening to each other's heartbeats, sharing each other's warmth, feeling their coat against the other, the rhythm of their breathing. None of it was 'real', they were both spirits, ideas, they weren't flesh and blood. But the expression those gestures and feelings had, couldn't have been more real. Perhaps even more real than it would have been. No physical time to get in the way. To call them away from each other.
Fluttershy couldn't help feeling like a mother holding their child...even if she knew this wasn't her baby girl...It just felt right.
And the little filly coat became a yellowish gray, her mane became magenta, a pair of yellow wings, one larger than the other grew from her back, one leg changed into a lioness' paw, and another into a kimono dragon. Her cutie mark, changed into a heart shape formed out of curved blades.
Fluttershy felt the feathers, and opened her eyes. "Stitches? . . . "
Blue slit eyes opened, and looked up at her, "Hi mom, I'm back."
"F-Fluttercruel?"
"Mom, you are so dense. I thought you'd figure it out the second I was the only one left."
"But-but you were there, in the line, from the beginning, did you possess Stitches or something? Share her life?"
Fluttercruel slammed her lioness' paw into her face. "No . . . I was always Stitches. It was my life . . . And I stole it from myself all for some cheap thrill! . . . You know what? . . . When I was finally dying, I didn't waste it on her, I thought about my family. She was some twisted unknown horror, like a force of nature almost, something you couldn't reason with, like a shark-tornado. I wanted to be with my family when I met the Thestrals, but they said I couldn't. They wouldn't even explain why. They told me about payback on the monster who hurt me and my family. Then I was in the line. I was in the presence of those two Alicorns. AND I HATED HER BUCKING GUTS!" The dam burst. "BUCKING NAG HAD A CHOICE! SHE DESERVED EVERY SINGLE THING SHE GOT! STUPID NAG! ALL SHE EVER BUCKING DID WAS HURT EVERYPONY AROUND HER! She loved her dad? That was HER excuse for hurting MY family and everyone else?! Oh, and I CHEERED Rarity! Cheered her for putting down the mad dog twice! I took back every bad thing I ever said about her! ...And I thanked you for trapping her so the rest could end that menace once and for all!"
Fluttershy was horrified to hear such self-hatred, such language, come out of her filly's mouth. "Fluttercruel, please stop, do you, do you hate me and your father now?"
"I CAN'T!" The filly hybrid fell back to her backlegs and ran her paw along her foreleg, leaving cuts behind. "That's the worst part! I DID IT! I DID ALL OF IT! I CAN'T MAKE EXCUSES BECAUSE I KNOW WHY I DID EVERY SECOND OF IT! I MURDERED MY MOTHER! I TORTURED TO DEATH MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS! ALL BECAUSE THE ONLY THING I SAW WHERE TOYS WHO WOULDN'T BEHAVE LIKE TOYS!" She dug her claws in deeper.
"Fluttercruel stop!" Her magic levitated the filly, willing some bandages and disinfectant into existence and treating the claw marks. She looked down in horror at the wound...even after admitting her baby had done such horrible things...she was still her baby who'd just wounded herself in a fit of self loathing... "Don't hurt yourself . . . please don't hurt yourself . . . it's done. It's finished. It's over. You've been punished enough now. It's through now. You don't need to inflict more pain on yourself."
"My family, I did it to them! Me! No one else, mama. No one else even KNEW what I was doing! Applejack didn't know! Rainbow Dash didn't know! Pinkie didn't know! Rarity didn't know! Twilight didn't! Even DAD DIDN'T!...It was all me...There wasn't a law saying 'ponies who heal others die', they just clopped me off and...Oh the Elders...the law..." The foal sunk to her hunches. "The one law in that whole chaotic hellhole! All those ponies who died for practicing magic and for what?! So I could kill them! So I could make the OTHERS kill them WITH me!...Dad wanted NO LAWS, but I MADE him make a law just so I could kill MORE ponies...Dad didn't really want to hurt ponies anymore...he hurt ponies when we were together, when Eclipse let him off his leash...not because he wanted to...but because I wanted to...Rarity was right...I was alone...and I thought the problem was with everypony else but it wasn't...it was with me...it always was..." Cruelty started sobbing and Fluttershy hugged her and let her cry into her fur.
It seemed all the little filly could do was cry. And all the mother could do was hug her and let her cry. So that was all they did for so long.
The filly whispered . . . "The . . . the worst part is . . . none of it would have been possible if not for Nightmare Paradox turning everything into soup. The living DO work on the law of conservation of matter . . . the same soul shouldn't be able to exist in two places at once . . . but Nightmare Paradox changed the rules . . . or . . . that's how . . .that's how I think it is . . . maybe? I dunno. I don't know anything. I never did."
"Hush now, quiet now-
"Mama, don't, no . . . I . . . I don't deserve your love."
"You are not permitted to say that young lady," Fluttershy said her voice never raising or becoming harsh in the slightest.
"Cruelty isn't something that should ever be loved."
A massive winged and horned shadow rose from behind the Pegasus, glowing cyan eyes gazing down upon the two as she spoke, the shadow extending from Fluttershy, or maybe Cruelty's mother was extended from the 'shadow', Fluttershy's voice took on a slight echoing tone as she spoke.
"I am Compassion, Fluttercruel, I decide what deserves it and what does not...Nothing deserves Compassion or Kindness, or Mercy, because you don't earn them. Father says Forgiveness is to be given. Venus declares love is to be given. And I, the Queen of Cups, say that Compassion, Mercy, and Kindness are to be given."
Fluttercruel opened her mouth to talk...then sighed. "...I literally cannot argue with that..."
"I'm sorry dear. I don't mean to be so forceful, but I'm your mother, I'm not allowed to let you hurt yourself, or continue to torture yourself now that the punishment is over."
"...Dad's still being killed over and over, why should his punishment be longer than mine when he had MORE reason to do what he did than me?"
"His reason was not having a reason, he did it because there was no reason to do it except his own pleasure...I know that sounds overly judgmental, but he sang multiple songs about it...And you only took one thousand years plus an...unfortunately short lifetime to realize you were wrong, he took several trillion years."
"Tell that to ponies who took only a few decades to realize they were wrong about something."
"And you, in a thousand years, were still but a child half-deity. If a race of ponies that lived only twelve years, but became able to think and reason when they were four years old, does that make them not responsible for their actions when they die? Fluttercruel, I know I'm overgeneralizing a little, but the reality remains. Your punishment is OVER NOW, Judgment and Justice themselves AGREED it fit the crime. You've LEARNED YOUR LESSON. That was the point of all this, and I've learned my lesson too...I love you, Fluttercruel, and you love me too...I don't think either of us wants to see the other beat themselves up...So lets say lesson learned and move on, ok?"
"...Yeah...Thank you mama." She nuzzled Fluttershy.
"You're welcome dear." She nuzzled her daughter back.
Fluttercruel paused, looking out thoughtfully at the starscape... "I've been punished . . . but I don't know if I've been forgiven."
"I'm sure they'd say punishment and being forgiven are two separate things. But for now, please, I beg you, just be my baby, be my little foal, so I can teach you how wonderful it is to help life grow."
"Alright mama . . ." Fluttercruel whispered. "...Please, can we go to one place first?"
" . . . Depends on the place dear."
+
The filly Fluttercruel stood in front of Pony Heaven, and Pony Heaven looked down upon her in utter calm, not a trace of hostility upon it. Its form was that of an infinite sized Alicorn, that was made up of the sky, with countless stars within it. But those weren't stars.
Fluttershy stood behind her, as close as she dared be for this.
Fluttercruel actually felt a little sickly being so close to this place, half her blood twisted at this presence. She worried her blood would turn to stone if she got too close.
"Everypony. Please. I'm here. Please, let me see you."
"Do Not Fear Child. They Shall," Pony Heaven itself spoke.
Ten stars, all different colors and compositions, came from within the starscape, as they got closer to the edge, the threshold, they took on the shapes of ponies.
Fluttercruel recognized them all.
"Mom, dad, Fairwork and Farework, Hardwork, Goodwork, Dreamwork, Lovelywork, Kindwork, Artwork. Uh . . . Hello?"
Fluttershy couldn't take this. She didn't give a flying feather if this moment was private or not!
"Why hello there! It's so wonderful to meet all of you! Our daughter has told me so much about all of you! It's nice to be able to meet you all in person. This is very nice to have us all together like this. I must say it is an honor!"
Charity Work blinked. "Well . . . then I must say it is an honor to meet you too." Her voice sounded a bit awkward.
Fluttercruel tried to make herself look smaller. "Mom....Er...ok...lets just get this out of the way, how will you two know which mom I'm referring to?" she then gave a nervous chuckle...
Fluttershy blinked. "...Good point...Um...Father...I'm assuming this happens to You and Mother a lot..."
"Not As Often As You Think." Everypony shuddered at The Father of Alicorns actually responding to that one.
Fluttershy sighed, and looked back to Charity Work. "Look...I just wish to say, that you did a wonderful and exceptional job of raising her under unfair circumstances, and she held onto everything you taught her to the very end." Fluttershy said hugging her child.
"Um...yes..." Charity Work replied, rubbing her head. "...I suppose all I can say is...thank you for saving her, you stopped her from repeating her mistakes when you could, and thank you for giving her to me, she was always a joy as my daughter."
"W-wh-wha-wha-WHAT?" Fluttercruel was shocked to her core. She'd expected shock, panic...not...not this... "MOM!? YOU KNOW?! I'm sorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" She grovelled on the 'ground.' She looked to the rest of her family. "I-I-I...I'm sorry..." She closed her eyes, looking down.
She felt a hoof be placed gently on her shoulder...from the opposite 'direction' of Fluttershy. She looked up into the smiling face of her other mother. "Baby it's okay, I forgive you, we all forgive you." Charity Work reached out, and nuzzled her child across the threshold of heaven.
"Y-you all do? That's all? Nothing to it?" Her saw her family all nod. "But-But-But-"
"What? Were you expecting some quest? Baby, it's alright, you were hurt as much as any of us. It doesn't make sense for us to hurt you for that. You're forgiven Stitches, mommy forgives you, we all do."
Fluttercruel broke down in tears. "T-thank you, mama." She was then hug tackled by her eight siblings...and returned it as gently as she could. Their laughter echoed everywhere.
"And thank you," Fluttershy said, "For helping my baby girl."
"I would never do anything less." Charity Work smiled back. "And before you say I'm a better mother, which I can tell by the look on your face you're wanting to, you tried hard to reach her no matter how hopeless it seemed, fighting uphill against her father's taint. And you still made a difference. We're both her mothers, we both want what's best for her...and we've both done our best. So in my book, we both did good."
"And as her father, seriously, thank you for giving her the tough love she needed." Patchwork said to the point.
"Oh, well, welcome." Fluttershy nodded, blushing brightly. She felt like a mother at an old family reunion, she was grateful for something so natural and warm for her foal. It made her as a mother and the rest of her she was a part of proud.
The Father of Alicorns merely smiled proudly down at His children, and grandchild.
Fluttercruel shed tears of joy. Heavy weights lifting from her heart. She knew she'd have to go home eventually. She knew this moment was finite of the finite, and could never repeat. She was a concept, and this was forever denied her in its true form. But this moment, she was reminded, she was loved. And she would never forget it, and for that she was grateful. She would be true to all her family.
And she heard her mothers sing.
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed
"Drifting off to sleep
The exciting day behind you"
Let the joy of dreamland find you"
~New Beginnings
Stats
Page generated in 0.036 seconds
Total duration
664 users online
695,268 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Wow we're getting ad bots here now too?
Anyway... For like the entire chapter all I could hear in my head was this.
Everything about this chapter felt melancholy to me,the scenery,the events,everything.
And while Stitches was recounting her story..I know I've recommended this song for another point in Dark World...but it just works here too.
^That.
Get rid of that.
Also that^, should be this↓
Due to some very disturbing scenes in this chapter that almost made the commenter lose his lunch, there will not be a summery for this chapter. Just know that both Fluttercruel and possibly Fluttershy both learned very important lessons about their actions and its effect on others.
3005294
Ad bots? Where? And I'll admit that is very interesting and powerful music. This chapter was MEANT to get emotions running. Though it was more to address the idea that Fluttercruel was somehow innocent of wrong doing by some readers.
3005310
Why should I get rid of that?
And why should it be changed?
3005536
It .. . it is sort of a call back to blacker than black dark world looked when we first visited it, isn't it?
3006242
You're right about that, but at least back then we weren't directly told what Fluttercruel did to her victims.
3006628>>3006242
Because A, it completely undermines the whole tension of the entire story. We, as readers, are not supposed to know that there is a happy ending, as this is a dark story, a happy ending is something we are supposed to hope that is coming, not just know it is. You, as the writer of a Dark story, are supposed to drag us along in spike effused choke chains until finally letting us go free at the end. If we just automatically know that everything is going to be fine, then what's the point? You've already given us the key.
And B, This isn't a Comedy, its a Dark, one of the polar opposites of Comedy, so you are not allowed to do those sorts of things. It's only alright to put *actions* in unserious stories, and I for one can't take any stories with *actions* (especially if they are joke actions, like *Liarjack face* or *Fluttersquee* or *Rarityworstpossiblething*) seriously. You really must choose your words wisely.
Also the way I have written it gives it more confusion, and actually intertwines the question with the paragraph, the way it looks now make it look like a last minute add-on. Especially with the *action* splitting up the paragraph.
3006309
Now you know why Twilight Tragedy said "you don't want to know."
I laughed so hard at this.
Some nice ruminations here on the nature of mercy and justice, revenge and punishment, and above all forgiveness.
3008463
I'm happy to know I didn't break the joke with that last part.
And happy to know that it came across as actual THINKING rather than 'pseudo-philophy.'
3008583
Now let's keep this polite.
[looks at Optional Canon listing, closes mouth]
...all I will say is that you have reaffirmed my existing preference for living in a universe where there are not entities responsible for universal phenomena
I can also say that my disquiet is testament to your storytelling skills, but what else is new?
3010212
The idea is about the universe being FAIR, and that everyone eventually gets theirs.
Karma?
Our universe, in our understanding, we don't know if virtues really exist. I haven't seen anyone prove this to me and it is not needed. It's not point I think. This story they live on in a fashion that we can understand. Not all ways good are pleasant and not all ways bad are repulsive. So, karma? Cause and effect is never simple. Getting that off my mind...
I am glad that this chapter was written. 'Cause I was wondering what happen to Miss Cruel.
Very nice,the scenes of Fluttershy clamming the door in Rancor's face was hilarious, she may be a draconequus who killed Discord but she is a geniuinly nice person, though this was also quite heartwarming. FLuttershy being a concept and having Fluttercruel as a foal? What the heck did I miss? As far as I can remember, this didn't happen anywhere in the previous POV "novels".
I'm sorry, but I'm actually in agreement with Fluttershy here. The torture of Fluttercruel serves no purpose except making her victims feel better. Which is complete hypocrisy. "How dare she hurt me for her own pleasure! That's pure evil! I'm going to hurt her for MY own pleasure!"
This chapter's subject on the principles of crime and punishment, distinguishing between justice and revenge, and the need for justice to exist, was profound, in-depth, and WELL articulated. The principles that were expressed by the Justice sisters is absolutely correct, and you did a great job articulating it in a way that is both understandable and shoots down counterarguments. Well written.
This was a very emotional chapter, I can't say it any better than that. However, what did it mean when it said "the rest of her that she was a part of" was that a typo?
8959673
Thanks. *searches page* I can't find that quote anywhere.
But this was mean to address Louis' remarks at how Fluttercruel was let off way too easy.
7140907
THANK YOU!!!!! THAT MEANS A LOT!!
6590703
Actually it got Fluttercruel to wake up. She saw nothing wrong with all the evil she'd done under Discord's encouragement in her thousand year life.
4103683
Remember this is the Dark World timeline.
This Fluttershy is the one whose spirit left the physical world centuries ago... She might also be a combination of all the Fluttershies who became Princess Gaia in all the different timelines... with this Fluttershy being the Fluttershy of the final cycle. It was meant to be up to the reader to decide for themselves.
3019313
Happy the chapter filled in that question. Though... there IS another 'Miss Cruel' of another Fluttershy that we haven't seen yet...
"You're a sadistic little fuck, aren't you?" I replied as a comment.