"Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."
-The Doctor, A Good Man Goes to War
"You've been awfully quiet."
Spitfire looked up at Flim and sighed, poking at the biscuit that sat on her plate. Twilight had used one of her wishing stars to conjure up some food for the hungry troops, reasoning that ponies were more likely to listen when they had nice full bellies. From the way several of the ponies were shoveling the meal into their mouths, Spitfire had to admit that Twilight might have been on to something. But the flyer found no comfort in biscuits or salads. The pains she was suffering from could not be easily cured by a full plate.
Flim nibbled on the sandwich he had made for himself, knowing it was useless to press the Wonderbolt. The inventor and schemer had run into plenty of ponies during his long years on the road and prided himself on knowing when to push and when to back off. For some, they were begging to be led by the nose and one could easily lead them about like a puppet. Others required a more subtle touch; hinting words and coy little comments that would draw the target towards the answer Flim wanted them to arrive at.
But there were some, like Spitfire, who bucked against the trend. Trying in any way, shape, or form to get them to do what you wanted would cause them to clamp down and tune one out. That was only useful if your goal was to get them to NOT listen to you, and such situations rarely presented themselves.
So, it was better for him to wait her out. He had planted the seed and now he just had to see if it would grow.
"I don't want to talk about it," Spitfire stated.
"Of course not," Flim said with a smirk, returning his attention to his sandwich.
Spitfire glowered. "You won't get me to talk."
"You are quite right."
"I know you are going to use your reverse psychology or some mumbo-jumbo like that... but it isn't going to work!" Spitfire jabbed her hoof at Flim, who merely cocked an eyebrow. "You... you think you are so smart!"
"I think nothing... I know," Flim said with a smirk.
Spitfire glared at the scarred inventor, eyes blazing with a look that would have incinerated most ponies. "You cocky-"
"It isn't cocky if you can back it up," Flim stated calmly. "I tell you, I know your head better than you do!"
"If that is the case, then why I am I so upset?"
Flim scoffed, waving her off. "That is painfully obvious."
"Try me."
"Rainbow Dash," Flim said, holding his hoof up to forestall her next comment, "is not the issue. She is part of the problem, obviously, but she is not the main source of your aggravation."
"Then who is?" Spitfire grumbled avoiding his eyes.
"The rest of us." Flim shrugged, a slight smile tugging on his lips. "If your issue was merely with Rainbow Dash you would have dealt with it. And, the truth of the matter is, you already have. You tried to attack her and failed. You aren't one to do the same thing over and over and expect different results... that is the definition of crazy, by the way. No... your problem is that the rest of us haven't gone for her throat." His horn glowed and he brought up a biscuit, which he drizzled with butter before chomping down on it. "It is enraging you that we are not stringing her up now and reducing her into quarters. You see it as a betrayal of everything we do and everything we stand for that we let a queen live."
Spitfire trembled with rage; whether it was because of her rage at the rest of the rebellion or her anger that Flim had been able to read her so well was a matter of debate, even within her own head.
"I am not a good pony," Flim stated simply. "I could have been great... had things gone different I could have rivaled Fancy Pants in wealth and prestige. But life is fickle and so am I. I like the way my life as gone and I have enjoyed the path I have taken. But that does not mean I have been a good stallion. To quite a few ponies my brother and I could be seen as villains. We have schemed and tricked and deceived. We used our talent and our Creator-given gifts to make a quick bit. We have nearly ruined lives... and have ruined our own, if one wants to be bitter."
"Why are you tell me this?" Spitfire asked.
"I am telling you because there are plenty of ponies that should hate me... but they forgave me when I decided I wanted to help. Just as I forgive Rainbow Dash, now that she has come to her senses." Flim stood up, gathering up his empty plate and cup. "That, lovely lady, is true Harmony... the thing we are fighting for, if I am not mistaken. Wallow in revenge and self-pity all you want, but I tell you this: such actions only make the queens right."
Spitfire merely watched him go.
~MC~MC~MC~
Rainbow Dash looked over the magical model Twilight had suspended in front of them, circling it and giving it a critical eye. Of any pony, Rainbow Dash was the one most specialized to confirm that the model was correct. She had ruled the city as its queen only days before and in her youth she had called the place home.
Cloudsdale. The city of the clouds. Stronghold of the Rainbow Guard, Dash's elite fighting unite.
The prison which held the foals, fillies, and colts of Equestria.
"There have been several changes made to Cloudsdale since you last visited, Twi." Rainbow's own horn began to glow and she grit her teeth as she worked to reshape the model. Rainbow wasn't ashamed to admit that Twilight was simply better than her at magic and even if Rainbow spent a thousand years studying she had little hope she would be able to match the lavender mare. Twilight was magic itself and with time Dash was sure even Celestia and Luna would be surpassed by the purple alicorn, if they hadn't already.
Rainbow pushed down the twinge of guilt as she thought about Celestia and Luna. It did no good to worry about them and wonder if they would ever be able to become alicorns again. It did no pony any good to focus on things that were out of their control; better to focus on what few mistakes Rainbow could fix.
Number 1 being the rescue of the foals.
"We are using compacted clouds that are dense enough to hold the weight of a pony," Rainbow stated, motioning for Twilight to enlarge a section of the model that she had been working on. Where once had been a simple stretch of houses there now stood a long, flat building made of clouds. "They are safe and comfortable. Security measures were put in place to ensure that no matter what, there was no way that the foals could escape the building and end up on the weaker, fluffier clouds."
"What sort of measures?" Shining asked.
Rainbow pointed to the entryway of the building. "The building is made up of two walls sandwiched together. Between them there is set up a gale wind that is continuously blowing. Only pegasi with specially charmed armor will be able to pass through; if a foal tried to they would find it like trying to walk through a wall."
Twilight looked at the prison, deep in thought. "I suppose we could try and steal some armor..."
"But that still doesn't help us," Shining told her. "There are simply too few of us to stage an attack." His horn glowed and he began to do a count of all the fliers they had. "We have maybe 20 pegasi we can count on. Even with you and Rainbow Dash the odds will be against us."
"If Scootaloo keeps my squad up there then we are looking at atleast 150 pegasi," Rainbow said sadly. "And that isn't taking into account the normal citizens or the Wonderbolts."
The lavender alicorn merely smiled. "Don't worry, big brother... I have an idea that will not only even the odds but also give us the element of surprise. As for the foals' compound..." Twilight turned to The Doctor and Clyde. "I need to talk to you both about an idea."
A short one, but needed to lay the groundwork for The Battle of Cloudsdale, which is coming up in two chapters. I wanted to take a moment to establish two more characters and show a touch more of their personalities.
Flim nailed it right there... giving Spitfire a mouthful to chew on
Oh my God, did Flim just channel Vaas? He is now a badass in my opinion, hands down. Nice chapter, oh and when Flim ends a paragraph with "we have nearly ruined lived..." that should be lives, not lived.
You got this definition from Vaas?
Now SF is going through a goal crisis. Methinks she'll dissociate from the rebels...
Now SF is going through a goal crisis. Methinks she'll dissociate from the rebels...
Hmm... I've never had a favourite author, if truth be told, you might just be the one for that (when it comes to ponies, still, that's a pretty big award in my book)
I found you through Many Origins of Scootaloo and now we're here, gosh, you are really good at what you do.
Anyway, This chapter was great, the highlight probably being the definition of insanity. (Vaas is the best villain of 2012)
Vaas was quoting Albert Einstein (or Ben Franklin/whoever actually coined the phrase).
Situations like this always leads to drama. Rainbow Dash has joined the rebellion, but there's many who still hate her. I hope their hurt feelings don't affect their actions. It reminds me of Avatar: the Last Airbender when Zuko finally joined the good guys. It took them awhile to get over their hurt feelings and distrust of him. It will be hard for the rebellion to forvgive the queens for what they have done, even though it's not completely their fault.
my life has
Anyhoo, a great chapter. I can't hardly wait for the raid...
When everyone will say that this rebellion is a fight for freedom and justice. Flam as ex-villain know very well that those are just excuses to justify bloody revenge.
Twilight had her worse moments after the wedding, but now she developed into great and just leader, with her powers and wisdom she would be able to judge every pony fairly since she watch everything from many perspectives.
Heh, Twilight can even do better then Celestia and Luna as sole ruler of Equestria, because in time of crisis Celestia and Luna send mane 6 to do dirty work and they are not much of help, and now when Twilight is Alicorn, she fight alongside her troops or even fight instead of them so they wont get hurt, and she have a lot of great plans and strategies in her mind.
I wish Celestia and Luna would be as useful when they were in power how Twilight is now.
1920200
You make a good point
Hmm, I wonder which Queen will show up at Cloudsdale this time. We haven't heard much of Applejack or Pinkie in a while so my guess is one of those two for sure. Either that or no Queen will show up and they will just capture Scoot and the Wonderbolts.
On a side note is it still Scootabuse if she deserves it?
1920200
Good point. Though if Twilight were to lose in battle, because she was in the front lines with the troops to raise morale, then ally morale would drastically drop almost to the point where ponies would start giving up. Celestia and Luna may be more useful on the field; however, there's more risk that comes with a general out on the field than a general guiding the troops from the back. Plus there's the fact that your troops become too reliant on you if you were to do the fighting for them. What if you weren't there? Then everypony/body would be screwed. Though that's just how I see it and I'm a pessimist.
I have to say I'm rather glad that you've taken Flim and Flam and made them into something other than a "muahahaha! I'm an evil businessman! ...er... pony! Fear me!" I've only read one or two other stories where that's the case and it's very refreshing.
1920200 Would you please not pick on Celestia and Luna the reason they can't do much is becasue they no longer are connected to the Elements of Harmony otherwise they'd glady have taken down Discord and Sombra themselves.
Still at a time like this revenge is most certainly not the answer, as I believe Gandi once said "An eye for any eye leaves the whole world blind."
So perhaps instead of going up against Fluttershy we're going to be facing Comander Scootaloo, it might be intresting if Queen Fluttershy gets invovled and asks Scootaloo's forces to merge with her own only for Scootaloo to refuse saying that her army serves no one now leading to a three way between the rebels, Queen Fluttershy, and Comander Scootaloo.
1920440
The point is that Alicorn have a lot power and durability, they can survive something what can kill even strongest ponies easy, and guiding your troops behind the line will do more bad then good because leader wont support her troops with huge amount of power when enemy will overpower them, and in the end once troops will be out of the way, leader who was behind the line will be attacked by both army and enemy leader at the same time.
The clue is balance between how much you assist and how much you lead your troops and how much you let them do on they own, and when you read chapter with Twilight vs RainbowDash fight ( quick wound healing, black hole, thunders from the sky, you can easy see that sending troops to fight that when you stay behind the line is like sending them to pointless death ).
I like Twilight because because she not hesitate to use her powers, how much I would like to see Luna cooperating with mane 6 again villains in fanfic or in MLP episode.
Also if you not noticed, so far every pony was counting on mane 6 to solve all the problem, what difference between making princesses handle all problems and mane 6 solve all problems, both situations lead Equestria to the same result, even mane 6 in wedding episode beat up more changeling's on they own then army of armoured and trained guards off screen ( mane 6 beat 100 changeling's on they own, if 1 royal guard would handle 10 changeling's on they own, entire invasion would fail without mane 6, Shinning and Cadence saving everythink, also only because changeling's are infiltrators, it does not change the fact that mane 6 was in the same situation what guards, both were expecting attack and were ready to fight again it, but mane 6 had to fight more then they can handle just because guards failed, and changeling's were defeated only because Chrysalis let her enemies do whatever they want far to many times ).
Badass quote, very badass.
1920521
Good points all around but I still think that even though alicorns do have more power boosts all around they can still lose and may become powerless. Hell, if they were able to sustain a lot of damage and cannot fall then Celestia and Luna would still be alicorns and not powerless. You make a good point that there needs to be good balance between being in the front and leading but like I stated before, if a strong warrior do all the work then the troops backing that warrior would be stagnant then in the case the warrior do fall then the whole brigade would too as they would not be as prepared as they would've been if they'd actually do more work. You even made the statement that the guards did pretty much poo against the changelings in the wedding episode but I doubt that they had a lot of war and fights before that invasion which made them weaker and more susceptible to being over-runned. In Equestria it's mostly sunshine and rainbows, canon wise, after all. As for the mane 6 doing more damage to the invasion, they have Celestia's student, the self-proclaimed best flier that can produce a mythical rainbow, a rock farming baker who can break physics, a farm pony who kick trees for a living and was pretty built for physical labor, a pony who has the finesse of a thief, and a pony who controls animals to the point a dragon bows down. Yeah, might be a little overpowered compared to bridgades of guards in times of peace. Celestia did try to fight back in that episode; however, she failed and was captured which means alicorns are not all powerful. They are powerful but they may fall in which case what would the subordinates do? Fall as well because of lack of experience or fight as well. Besides, they were changelings whose to know that half the guards and most of the civilians aren't already captured so the guards would be facing a surprise attack when their back is turned and their shields are down because of the wedding.
she is gonna turn the doctor and clyde into foals to infiltrate isn't she? awsome job btw
The Revolution has finaly begun to hit full scale!
flim why are you being awesome
stop that
1920454
Sombra was not defeated by elements, mane 6 was not even equipped with elements when they were send to they mission, and Celestia was holding Luna behind.
I would not go again Celestia and Luna so much if they would cooperate with mane 6 instead of being just a plot device.
At last in this story 1920672
If Alicorn can be defeated, then what about mane 6 ?
If you read fight Twilight vs RainbowDash ( in Alicorn forms and when they were not Alicorns, you can see huge difference, when as Unicorn vs Pegasus they demolished club, as Alicorns they demolished towns, and fight took faaar longer ).
Did it even crossed your mind that mane 6 as element bearers are meant for KO boss or final boss once they get close enough, they are not meant to survive everything.
If Nightmare Moon wanted to kill them, she would just jump on them and annihilate them any time, how long it would take for Celestia to burn Twilight with her power if she wanted too before her friends could get close enough.
Nightmare Moon or was powerless after she returned form banishment ( Celestia would capture her easy, and then let Twilight and her friends to recover elements and use them as cure ) or she not wanted to kill any pony, she could raze ponyvile in the name of revenge, she could kill 3 guards who attacked her, she could anihilate mane 6 anytime, but she just tried to scare them off, I bet that she had plan B how to not kill ponies with eternal night because it would be stupid and Nightmare Moon/Luna are not idiots.
Luna in this story wanted to destroy entire world and autor said to me that Nightmare Moon lost only because she had only little fragment of her powers after she returned from her banishment, but it mean that Celestia would capture her easy, instead of risking Twilight life.
The only reason why Discord not destroyed mane 6 was because he prefer to troll, heh, he could easy get rid of elements instead of giving mane 6 chance to find them.
Chrysalis invasion was rather peaceful, she could just kill Shining Armor and Cadence any time ( shield would go down and invasion would start ), she could kill Twilight instead of imprisoning her, and her changelings did not kill anypony, when I am sure a lot changelings died from Shining Armor shield spell what kicked them away, and those what not died from crashing into walls or gorund just died from starvation.
Again Sombra princesses would beat Sombra easy, they had power and informations, but Celestia hold Luna behind to train Twilight Sparkle and test her, but it only show up that Twilight breaking under pressure is result of Celestia testing her, it was also weakpoint when Twilight opened door, fear of disappointing Celestia was Twilight biggest fear, and I am more then 100% sure that having entire empire in danger is not a good time to pass test, when lives are on the line you should focus on saving them, not think about it as one big test you must pass for some good grade.
And if you are afraid that Alicorn fighting on front-line is bad idea because he may fail, then why sending mane 6 without any backup is a good idea, heh, they are not Alicorns, they do not have huge raw power and great durability, they can be killed as any Royal Guard, they can be captured, elements can be stolen from them, it is like glass cannon, they can hit really hard, but they can be destroyed even more easy.
The most logical situation is to keep mane 6 behind lines of trained guards who will fight a way to enemy leader so mane 6 can finish him off, because if mane 6 would face enemy who do not hesitate to kill, they would be dead long time ago.
Also keep in mind, Royal Guards even in time of peace have some basic fighting training, mane 6 has none, they are just group of ponies, sure, they have great talents, but they still have limits, mane 6 can not fight better then 20 Royal guards in battle formation, it make no sense.
Also Alicorn is like a tank, huge fire power and great armor, but if fight without help, it can be ambushed by enemy who is well Equipted to deal with it.
If officer in the tank will stay behind the line, soldiers he send to fight will have no cover from bullets, and once they are dead, tank will be main target.
Tank and soldiers working together is better, soldiers can hide behind tank when enemy shot rain of bullets at them, but soldiers can protect tank from enemy soldiers with missile luncher's weapon.
Mane 6 are like soldiers with missile luncher's or RPG, they can destroy tank, but they will have hard time to hit enemy soldiers and may be captured or killed by them, that is why they need to be escorted by other soldiers or even hide behind the tank.
Long story short, cooperation between mane 6, Princesses and Royal guards would teach all sides team work and will work better then if Royal Guards and Princesses stay behind when mane 6 do all dirty work, or if Royal Guards will expect princesses to do everything for them.
1921063 You saw what Celestia and Luna had to do when Sombra was defeated right. That's why they didn't go themselves. Plus like Celestia said this was a test to see if Twilight was ready for the next level of her studies.
I get tired of people accusing them of doing nothing when they are given plently of reasons for why they don't get involved. And besides if they did get involved who would take their places on the throne?
1921107
This would not be an issue if Celestia and Luna got more screen time for character development and to show that they actually do something.
In the show to my disappointment they are just plot device, I got hard on them because I think they deserve more, they deserve to have more character development, they deserve to be shown useful, cooperation between princesses and mane 6 would really make a good episode.
Also what would happen if Twilight would fail her test, empire and mane 6 would be enslaved or even killed for opposing Sombra, same for Shinning Armor and Cadence, and even if Princesses would beat Sombra again, who know in what mental shape mane 6 would be left, they would probably be tortured and broken.
I think that mane 6 already is getting enough experience how to deal with crisis, but guards and princesses don't, Luna was on the moon 1000 years, and even now she miss all important events, Celestia was doing fine for past 1000 years, but it seems that 2 years of vacation from dealing with major threat made her bad fighter, there would be so many tactics she would use again Chrysalis instead of laser fight ( Celestia deserved more then 15 second fight after what she fail ).
I go hard on them because I fell they deserve more then they get, but I am not going to go easy on them in fanfic where they fail to prove themselves, they are powerful and durable Alicorns, with power come responsibility, Twilight even without so huge power is doing fine, so princesses with much more power should do far more.
1921143 It is true they are underdeveloped a little but I think personally we've already seen enough to know they aren't weak. They just perfer not to fight for the sake of it and wish to try peaceful solutions first. The last thing they want is for their subjects to start fearing them.
1921063
I'm not saying that the mane 6 should be sent out by themselves. Quite the opposite in fact. Though if you were stating facts from the show then sure sending them alone would be fine because who the hell from the developer crew would plot a full blown war with blood and gore in a kid's show. Well if they did then they didn't want audiences for sure. I have not stated anywhere that soldiers should rush in individually and have only stated that they do have to get their hooves or hands dirty to gain experience from battle. Hiding behind a large and imposing force do not let them get well enough field experience to deal with situations where they do not have a tank or whatever backing them. I was stating that it would be more efficient if you do not send in heavy fire power in the front of a fight. Yeah sure there are some who do that but they usually have it backed up with other heavy duty artillery like the Blitzkrieg strategy where they air raid, tank then infantry. The main point I'm getting at is that yeah sure you can have alicorns in the front line it'd work and the other soldiers can be on the side holding a line but if the alicorn do fall then what happens to the other soldiers? It's like your analogy with the tank. You place soldiers with a tank and they work simultaneously then what happens if the tank gets taken out but the other side still have other forces to deal with your heavy artillery such as snipers and other tanks. Your forces may fail or it'd be pretty hard pressed to continue on. However! If you were to put a bridgade that is heavily trained to deal with this type of situation without heavy artillery and have taken out companies with this disadvantage then they'd have the upper hand even without rocket launchers, tanks, or whatever. If you place that bridgade with a tank then it'd be even harder for them to lose in such situations. Can they lose? Sure. Can they win? Absolutely. It'd all depend on situations and factors involving the situation. As for the other facts about the show then it's just that. The situation revolves around it being a show. Who in the right mind would send six untrained women, not being sexist it's just facts, into a fight with an enemy general with dark powers? If it was reality then Celestia would be insane and demented but the fact is this ain't reality so sending six mares with friendship powers work. Yeah I know they ain't invincible where have I said they are? Yeah I know any enemy can kill them, well Discord can make them nonexsistent but whatever, where has I said they won't die? Yeah the mane six do not have basic training like the guards but they do have experience dealing with massive foes. Sure they defeated each in a shot but at least they had the experience dealing with it unlike the guards. Would you rather send in an experience but weak soldier or the trained but ignorant commander? I'd pick the soldier because at least they'd know what they were getting into and how to deal with situations should they arise. Finally, the changeling can kill yes fine I know. Is it smart? Hell no. Love is their food thus ponies are their food. If they killed everyone then they'd starve. Chrysalis knows that why kill Shining and Cadence when they're her most powerful source of food? Shining the pony whose desperately in love and Cadence the Princess of love herself. As for the others, same thing. Ponies = food, food = we don't die.
1921173
But at the same time they prove that mane 6 are like pawns they can manipulate, Celestia knew from the beginning that Discord will corrupt mane so she prepared letters in advance, she risked Twilight life like on a gamble to safe her sister just be luck that Twilight will get friends, recover elements, unlock last element and not get herself or her friends killed before she could cure Luna.
Not to mention how much information Celestia hide from Twilight, how a lot of people accuse Celestia to be troll, and how badly they are with rewarding heroes.
Twilight and her friends saved her sister from corruption ( after 1000 years of pain and loneliness Luna and Celestia finally reunite ), they defeated Discord who would overpower princesses and turn Equestria into his playground.
After all Twilight did, Celestia not even believed her student instincts and wisdom, hurting Twilight as the result " you have a lot to think about ", and in the end she not even said " sorry ", only lesson " you should always trust your instincts " yea, great lesson, a lesson what she already knew and used, but no one believed her, Chrysalis would just kill Twilight because of this.
After everything Twilight has done, she and her friends were not rewarded, nobility still look at mane 6 as mere mob, they not received any reward in bits for risking they life for country, no ground, no fame, even Trixie failure in Ponyvile was more popular then mane 6, heh.
And do I need to mention lesson 0 or it is about time, Twilight is very unstable, she fear to disappoint princess, she fear princess " she will banish you or thrown you into dungeon, or banish you and trown into dungeon in place she banish you too ", this does not come from nothing, and I am sure it was Celestia fault in the first place, and yet she not try to change it, how after so many years together, Celestia never got a chance to explain Twilight that she is not like that.
Twilight is just Unicorn, Celestia is powerful Alicorn, and yet Twilight do everything in her power to impress princess, but it seems saving the world twice was not enough to even make princess trust her enough, " she saved Equestria twice, who cares, her friends left her hurt, who cares, her brother made kicked her out of the wedding, why should I care, I am disappointed that she is so stupid to mistake headache killing spell with mind controlling spell, and even if I know that my words will hurt her more then anything Nightmare Moon thrown at her, not my problem ".
Do you see where I go with this, show give to many negative proves and to little positive, that is why I want Celestia and Luna to do something, to cooperate with mane 6, to show that they do not risk they life's for ungrateful Equestria, that they are not the only one fighting to keep Equestria safe.
1921223 To be fair Twilight and her friends never really go out of their way to remind ponies about their accomplishments. I'll admit Celestia of all ponies should never have doubted Twilight when she knew she was right about Nightmare Moon and should have remembered from the reports that Twilight is not one to make rash decisions. But Celestia was not aware of Twilight's mental breakdown until Spike wrote to her about it and it was not her fault Twilight's friends didn't take her feelings seriously. That was what drove Twilight over the edge.
Celestia was supposedly defeated by Nightmare Moon or she might have not been willing to fight her own sister, and like I said earlier without the elements she and Luna didn't have enough power to take down Discord. Imagine what might've happened if Discord had corrupted her?
Go Flim, way to read her.
1921251
Celestia was not defeated, she was behind the scene wondering do Twilight will heal her sister or die trying, did you not noticed how fast she got into scene after Nightmare Moon defeat, she was not even confused, it was like she prepared speech for this very moment.
Anyway I just like when heroes get some back up and cooperate with background characters, it make it look like they fight for something, that they do not fight alone.
Better if everyone team up and work together then have most of characters sit down on they flanks and let heroes do all the dirty work, because it unfair for heroes and it only teach everyone that they do not need to do anything since heroes will always safe the day.
1921636 Celestia has important duties to attend to as ruler of Equestria and spends her time interacting with her subjects. She wants to be like one of them and the same holds true for Luna. They are not pushovers though.
I really wish more rulers could be like Celestia and Luna, spending time getting to know their subejcts so they know what their subjects want instead of just looking out for themselves.
1921646 and trolling around, come on, as much as you like Celestia and Luna, many people see her as troll and manipulator.
I am neutral in this case, I got hard on them because I think they deserve more in the show, and I am disappointed that they are just plot devices, but I do not agree with you that they are great rulers, they have flaws and they lack in team work with mane 6 is disappointment.
Flim and Flam get a ton of flack. They're actually my favorite antagonists from Season 2. They weren't bad guys; they were just shrewd and cunning businessmen who got in over their heads. They could have easily been good guys. I'm really glad you portray them sympathetically here, because I so would.
And dat speech, Spitfire just got burned! No pun intended. Honest.
And curse you and your setups. I hate it and love it when you do that.
Hey, wait a second. I thought RD was the queen of Winniepeg? Or was she just stationed there to ambush the gang? Or was she the queen of both?
1921675 I'm sure that given time we'll see some more teamwork from them either in the Season 3 finale or in the rumored DVD movie.
1921691 She was just stationed there to set up an ambush. Sadly she underestimated Twilight and that proved to be her downfall since she went in alone.
1920442
My view is that Flim and Flam are brilliant ponies that are lazy. They could easily have been rich if they just put in a bit more effort and had a bit more tact, but instead they chose the easier route.
1921691>>1921830
Correct. Winniepeg was a point of interest but had no queen, which is why the rebellion snuck in... they never realized that Celestia and Luna were there. Rainbow Dash, however, was smart enough to realize that Twilight would go after Winniepeg and laid a trap.
1921819
Considering what I saw so far, my hopes are not to high.
Awesome referance too.....
God dang it i cant remember its name
1921954 That trap backfired. Or perhaps to quote G1 Optimus Prime "A booby trap that actually catches boobies." (Meaning that you'd have to be a boob to fall for the trap. And in this case Rainbow Dash was the boob and Winniepeg was the bobby trap) /
1921941 I'd say that's fair... also I've noted that you reply to a lot of comments. For someone who has a lot of comments (at least it looks like it to me xD ) I have to say I'm impressed!
1922747
Thanks... I tried to comment to as many comments that I can, though I still can never comment to as many as I want.
Damn Flim... really nailed it there. He shamed me a bit actually...
Is Flim going to be our replacement Faith while the Lord of the Gray is making out with Trixie?
Hmm... Some people seem to think Flim's definition of crazy came from Vaas. Nah. I'be been using that definition for years, Farcry just made it popular. Tell me you didn't get it from Vaas, good sir.
Side note: You tease!
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Didn't even know who Vaas was until I looked it up. I first heard that statement from a Dilbert comic strip.
Dang! Last two chapters are pretty good. Even though they are only story development chapters, they still point out key stuff for us (the audience) to know about. I also would have to agree with Treilacl, Flim and Flam may not be my favorite antagonists, but I'm glad that we're seeing a side of them we don't see.
Flim's little tid bit of wisdom for Spitfire I thought was good too, because she needed to hear something like that. My guess is once the rebellion has rescued the foals and has successfully converted the Wonderbolts and citizens of Cloudsdale back to normal, maybe Spitfire will loosen up on Rainbow a little bit more. I don't, however, expect her forgiveness to come very easily though. Rainbow Dash is going to have to work really hard to gain Spitfire's forgiveness.
I would like to see more screen time from Faith, Trixie, Sweetie Belle, and the rest of the prison gang because I'm curious has to how they're doing at the moment. It would be nice if both halves of the rebellion could join up together. But I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see.
- Super-Brony12
good chapter liked it