Appleloosa was a growing town. For the most part, the ponies who lived here were members of the Apple family, who were working hard to keep the town feed. But, there were others who were constantly arriving. Mining ponies arrived to check and see if there was any potential for coal, gold, or any other precious metals. Then, there were ponies who had come to set up shops, banks, and other businesses that a growing town needed.
So, it didn’t seem odd to Sheriff Silver Star when two new ponies showed up out of nowhere. He had seen the two flew in on pegasus wings, while wearing heavy hooded cloaks that hid most of their feature. The taller of the two was light blue with a barely visible cutie mark of a lightning bolt in a bow. The shorter of the two was bright yellow with a quill cutie mark. They carried with them heavy saddle bags, which most likely contained all of their valuables.
At the time, the sheriff had been going around, making sure everypony was helping to defend the town, while they waited for help from Canterlot that they were sure was coming. They had been busy making pies to be used as weapons, building up their fortifications, and making sure that all of the young ones would be safe. When he saw the two newcomers enter town, Silver Star felt conflicted. While they did need everypony they could get their hooves on, it seemed wrong to force two newcomers, who didn’t have a stake in anything, to fight for them.
So, doing what he felt was the best course of action, he walked up to the two. As he did, he made sure that his sheriff’s badge was out in plain sight, so that they would know they could trust him.
“Howdy,” said Silver Star, once he was close enough. “Welcome to Appleloosa.”
“Thank you,” the blue pegasus commented with gratitude. Judging by the voice, Silver Star assumed that the blue one was a stallion. “We have been traveling for the last several days with little food or water. Finding this place is like a blessing from Celestia herself. Didn’t even know there was a pony town out here.”
“Was just built this year,” replied the sheriff. “Sadly, you picked a poor time to show up. We’re gearing up for a showdown between us and the buffalo and bat ponies.”
This got a reaction out of the two. At the same time, the two turned to look at each other before returning their unseen gaze at the sheriff.
“D-did you say bat ponies?” questioned the yellow one in a flowery sweet mare voice. “But, why would they even be out here in the desert?”
“That doesn’t matter,” replied Silver Star. “Because we plan on making sure that they won’t be here for long. We’re going to be ready for them and the buffalo when they show their faces. Hopefully soon, soldiers from Canterlot will be arriving, so we can drive them all out. Now, I know this isn’t really your fight and all, but we would really appreciate a few more pairs of hooves.”
The two pegasi looked at him for a moment, before they turned around and began whispering to each other. Silver Star tried to listen in, but their voices were so quiet that he couldn’t make out a thing. He didn’t really mind much that they were acting like this. This was a difficult situation and he wouldn’t be surprised if they said no. It wasn’t their fight after all. But, that didn’t mean he wasn’t hoping that they’d say yes.
After a minute or two, the couple turned around.
“If bat ponies are involved, we’ll help,” said the stallion.
“Good,” said Silver Star with a nod. “I’ll show you both around real quick. Please follow me, er…”
“Thunder Shot,” said the stallion. He then gestured to the mare. “And this is my wife, Dreamy Words.”
Sheriff Silver Star nodded as he gestured them to follow him. Yet, as they walked away, nopony noticed a pony flying above them as they laid their traps. This pony watched with a smile on his face as he flew back to tell the buffalo and other bat ponies what he had seen.
-x-
“Ok, Scootaloo, let’s try it one more time,” called out Shadow. The orange filly nodded as she prepared to give the current exercise one more goes.
After Twilight had left her in the care of Shadow Blade, the stallion had gotten to work showing her the basics of flying. The first was a simple exercise in controlling her height. Shadow flew up several yards straight up and told Scootaloo to fly up to his level, before hovering in place.
At first, Scootaloo thought this would be easy. Yet, to her shock, it was harder than it looked. Each time she took to the air, she would zoom in one direction or another. And, when she did go straight up, she shot right past Shadow.
Eventually, she managed to get to his level, but found hovering there to be difficult. She had to keep flapping her wings at just the right speed to keep herself in place. Anymore and she would begin to rise. If she slowed down too much, she would then begin to fall.
Falling wasn’t something that Scootaloo was worried about. Once she was in the air, the pegasus filly was under the watchful eye of Shadow. Whenever it looked like she was going to go out of control, the bat stallion would swoop in to catch her. Then, he would tell her what she was doing wrong and how to fix it. With him around, she felt safe.
Once she had gotten the hang of the first exercise, Shadow began to set up the next more. In the air above the training fields, there were several cloud poles that Shadow had moved so that they were spread a bit farther apart than usual. The point of this exercise was to weave back and forth between the poles. In order to do this, Scootaloo would have to shift her weight from one side of her body to the other.
“I think you can handle this one,” Shadow had told her at the start. “It’s very similar to how ponies ride a bike or, in your case, a scooter. Just shift your weight to the right or left, depending on what direction you want to go. And take your time, there’s no need to rush it right now. Just worry about getting the basics down.”
That had been six tries so far and Scootaloo felt like she hadn’t made any real progress. The first time she tried, she leaned too much to the right and ended up doing a barrel roll. The second try she didn’t lean to the side enough, which caused her to fly right into the first cloud pole. After that, she got a little better but still ended up hitting the second.
“Just like riding my scooter,” muttered Scootaloo to herself, taking off again. This time, she tried going a bit slower. Leaning to her right, she avoided the first pole. As soon as she passed it, she began to lean left and avoided the second. As she went, she could hear Shadow shouting out encouraging words to her, telling her she was doing great. By the time she was finally done, she felt so tired that she began to fall slowly to the ground.
Luckily for her, Shadow caught her and helped her land.
“You’re doing great, Scootaloo,” said Shadow with a grin.
“Really?” asked Scootaloo, who was a little surprised by this.
“Definitely,” answered Lightning Dust as she flew towards the two. “Kid, let me tell you something. Back when I was learning to fly, it took me a week before I got to where you are. But, then again we were learning it as a class, and the instructors couldn’t watch everypony like Shadow is with you.”
“That could be it,” said Scootaloo as she looked over at Shadow. “I do have a great teacher.”
“Thank you,” said Shadow with a grin. “And, speaking of teachers, I think it’s time you took a short break and did some studying. Your mother would be very unhappy with the both of us if we spent all of our time having fun.”
“Sure thing, Dad,” said Scootaloo without any hint of sarcasm in her voice. Truth was she had begun to think of him like a father figure ever since he told her about Genetic Code. And after today, he fit the bill of what she believed a dad should be.
A father, to her at least, does all the fun outdoorsy things, like teaching his foal how to play hoofball, going camping, or teaching them how to fly. A father tells his kids the hard things, like when Shadow was telling her about what Genetic Code did. A father protects with actions, rather than words, like when Shadow scared away Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when they were bullying her.
Besides, he and Twilight were going to be getting married soon, thus he was going to be her father soon anyways, so he might as well get used to being called that.
If Shadow was shocked to hear this, he sure didn’t show it. To be honest, he hadn’t expected anypony to call him that for a few more years. Heck, he didn’t even think he’d be ready by then. But, hearing Scootaloo call him that didn’t make him nervous in the slightest. Instead, he felt proud to be called that.
As Scootaloo walked over to the side of the training field to get her bags, she noticed a group of ponies heading her way. A moment later, she was tackled to the ground by two fillies.
“Scootaloo!” cried Sweetie Belle, wrapping her hooves around the pegasus’ neck. “I was so worried about you!”
“Heavy,” groaned Scootaloo as she tried her best to push her friend from Ponyville off of her. “Can’t breathe.” As the two got off her, Scootaloo took a moment to notice who the other filly was. It was Apple Bloom, a filly she had seen in class back in Ponyville, but never really spoke to. The only thing she really knew about her was that she lived on a farm and didn’t have a cutie mark.
“Howdy, ah’m Apple Bloom,” introduced the earth filly as she reached out a hoof. “Sorry for tackling ya like that.”
“No prob,” replied Scootaloo as she hoof-bumped. “The name’s Scootaloo.”
“Is it true?” asked Sweetie Belle. “I heard you got adopted!”
“Yep,” replied Scootaloo with a nod and a grin. “And my new parents are really awesome!”
“Not as awesome as I am,” said a voice from above them. The three fillies looked up and saw Rainbow Dash hovering above them.
Scootaloo felt a little nervous being this close to the mare she idolized for so long. In fact, for the longest time, she wished that Rainbow could be something like a big sister to her. But now, things were a little different. And, in a strange sense, she felt a little different. After everything she had seen and done in the Republic, her definition of awesome had been expanded upon.
“And who are you?” asked Lightning Dust, walking over to the rainbow-maned mare.
“Rainbow Dash,” proudly come the reply as she landed on the ground. “Fastest pony in Equestria.”
As Twilight and the rest of the ponies from Equestria walked over, they could hear Lightning snicker at the comment. In fact, many of the other lunar ponies in the area had an amused look on their faces, like they had heard somepony tell a really funny joke.
“Fastest in Equestria, huh,” said Lightning once she had stopped. “Is that an official title, or just something you like to say?”
“Hey, I am the fastest,” said Rainbow defensively.
“It’s true,” said Applejack. “Rainbow here is one of the fastest mares ah know. Defiantly the fastest in Ponyville. Wouldn’t surprise me none if she was fastest in Equestria.”
“Thank you, Applejack,” said Rainbow with nod to her friend.
“Whatever,” said Lightning, rolling her eyes. “Like being the fastest in Equestria is really something to brag about here. Around these parts, I’m the fastest.”
“You mean second fastest now that I’m here,” said Rainbow as she locked eyes with Lightning Dust. The two mares then began a stare down, actually beginning to sweat as their looks grew more and more intense.
Sensing that things might go the wrong way soon, Twilight thought it best that she stepped in. Shooting Spike had gotten things off to a rocky start and she didn’t want things to go any further downhill. Also, she didn’t want one of her best friends to get into trouble. So, taking a deep breath Twilight stepped forward.
“Ok, how about we-” began Twilight, but stopped as the two began to snort at each other like bulls.
“There’s only one way we can settle this,” said Rainbow Dash. “A race!”
“Fine!” shouted Lightning Dust as she began to take off her armor. “First to do ten laps around the castle wins.”
“You’re on!” said Rainbow.
Twilight looked at the two and then at everypony around her. For the most part, she seemed to be the only pony worrying. The Royal Guard seemed to be taking this very lightly as they were passing bets between themselves. The mares from Equestria seemed to be cheering on their friend, who was stretching her wings. Quickly, Twilight trotted over to Shadow.
“Aren’t you going to stop this?” she whispered in his ear.
“I don’t see why I should,” he replied with a shrug.
“Because a member of Princess Luna’s Royal Guard is about to race against a representative of Equestria for no real reason,” hissed Twilight.
Shadow shook his head. “Trust me, Twilight,” he soothingly declared, placing a hoof gently on her shoulder. “They need to do this.”
Sighing in defeat, Twilight looked at the scene in the hopes that nothing went wrong. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Scootaloo was standing near the other two fillies and Spike. It seemed that both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were both staring at the pegasus’ flank with jealousy.
“I don’t believe it,” whined Sweetie Belle. “First Spike gets his cutie mark, and he’s not even a real pony! Then, when we find you, we find out that you’ve got one as well! How did you get your cutie mark?”
“Laser tag,” said Scootaloo simply.
“What’s laser tag?” asked Apple Bloom.
Before Scootaloo could go into the details, somepony blew a whistle. All head turned to see the two speedy pegasi standing in front of a big red line. Both of them were wearing similar expressions of confidence as they crouched low to the ground, their wings up and ready.
In front of them was a guard pony with one of his front hooves held high in the air. The two pegasi mares watched the hoof with the same intensity as a lion watching its prey. Then, in a split second, it was lowered, signaling the start of the race.
Rainbow was the first to spring into the air, while Lightning seemed to be waiting. Thinking that the lunar pegasi was chickening out, Rainbow smirked as she started her first lap at a medium pace for her. There as she turned a corner, she thought to herself that it was too easy.
“Is this really what the best flyer in Equestria can do?” asked a voice above Rainbow. The multi-maned pegasus looked up to see Lightning Dust flying on her back with her hooves behind her head. From the way she was flying, she was easily keeping up with her. “If this is the best you got, then you might as well just give up now.” With that said, Lightning righted herself and took off, leaving Rainbow Dash far behind and took the first lap.
“What the hay?” shouted Rainbow in surprise.
Lightning Dust looked behind her and grinned. “There’s a reason they call me Lightning Dust,” she gloated. “I move as fast as lightning and I leave everypony else in my dust!”
“Oh yeah,” called Rainbow with a grin. “Then, you’re going to have to change your name after this race!” With that, Rainbow sped up to her full speed. At first, it looked like it wasn’t enough. But, with each second, she inched her way closer and closer to her opponent.
This didn’t go unnoticed to the trained eyes of many of the ponies below. Many of the guards were cheering not just for Lightning Dust, but also Rainbow Dash. They could clearly see that she did have the skills and the speed that a true racer had. Many of them began to believe that if Rainbow hadn’t taken it easy, then Lightning would have already lost. But, in the end, it didn’t matter for they were right now watching a very close race.
Lightning looked to her side and was shocked to see that she and Rainbow were almost neck and neck. Using all of her might, Lightning tried to push more speed out of her wings. She managed to get another inch ahead of Rainbow as they made their way to the final lap.
Yet, Rainbow only responded by pulling out even more speed. Finally, in a blur, the two crossed the finish line. Once they did, the two landed on the ground, sweating up a storm and panting hard. Together they looked at the others.
“Who won?” they both asked at the same time.
“Ah don’t know,” said Applejack. “Looked mighty close.”
“Dear, I couldn’t even make either of you out, because you were both going at such ridiculous speeds,” exclaimed Rarity.
“It was a tie,” noted Shadow with confidence. He then looked at the two to see if they would argue with his verdict.
At first, the two just stared at him with a ‘you gotta be kidding me’ look. But then, after a moment, the two just looked at each other with a bit of respect in each other’s eyes. Lightning was the first to hold up her hoof and point it in Rainbow’s direction. Smiling, Rainbow lifted her own hoof and the two bumped.
“It was a good race,” said Lightning as she lowered her hoof. “We should do it again before you leave.”
“Yeah,” agreed Rainbow. “Next time, it’ll have to be more awesome.”
“Totally,” agreed Lightning. “With some explosions and obstacles.”
“Wicked,” said Rainbow as the others either cheered or shook their heads.
:|
3604480 intentional, and extremely uninteresting. not ot mention unlikely. this is a world of magic. the reason why technology is all over the place is because it only comes up when a niche needs to be filled. why don't the apple family use at ractor? because theya re earth ponies, and by working directly with the earth they make it fertile and healthy, and their apple trees and plants flourish by their efforts, with only four ponies even. more than likely put a device inbetween them and they would not be as successful. like trying ot knit while wearing mittens, a tractor, while it would tear up more earth than big mac's plow, would get in the way of the ponies and the earth. now in an area with less earth ponies, then a tractor would be useful, but not able to replace an earth pony.
technology is not prevalent because tehcnollogy is inferior to magic in mlp. it only pops up when needed. your super tech, if anything, is trying far too hard to complete goals normal ponies can overcome themselves. and even then, it should be having detrimental effects on the ponies. rely too much on the crutch and you will lose strength in your own legs. largely, if an earth pony cannot work or walk on the earth, then they are likely losing their magic that makes them stronger than normal beings and able to grow plants. pegasi will lose the ability to walk on clouds and craft the weather. in the end, if anything happens to the repuglic, they would be incapable of rebuilding. however if some disaster befell equistria, they could easily rebuild.
my biggest problem is that Luna is more imperfect than celestia is, who is already rather flawed, as a character. makes her more interesting, but likely makes he less competent as a monarch. she is NOT as stable as celestia is. think of it this way. she relatively quickly lost herself to loneliness and insanity. she became a monster. forced her sister to trap her on the moon for ten life times.
however, think of what Celestia has endured. for ten life times, she was alone. for ten life times she could not find the comfort of a being as enduring as herself, her little ponies like candles, burning brightly yet eventually melting into tallow as their very souls burned their bodies away. for ten life times she was forced to watch funeral after funeral of those she dared get close to, to let warm her heart. for ten life times she endured the guilt of failing her beloved sister, with uncertainty of how and when someone who could use the elements to save her, the time always ticking to the point where she knew her spell would fail and nightmare moon would return, forcing her to hurt luna ocne more. for ten life times she had to stand alone as a sentinel against the darkness of the world, fighting of demons and tyrants, armies and assassins, the countless threats she was sure she would have luna at her side to help fight against. for ten life times, again and again and again, she held the summer sun celebration, her heart bleeding as she was forcefully reminded what she did, and why she was alone amongst those delicate candles.
despite all of that, Celestia remained sane and enduring. patient. she endured a great torment, yet never denegerated into a nightmare, never became a blight, never lost herself.
who would be the better monarch alone? the one who brought stability and kept her sanity for a thousand years, or the one who brings change yet could not withstand the loneliness of perhaps only a few lifetimes of pony kind? Harmony is the theme of mlp, and it is not one side being better. it is two sides of great difference coming together and managing to cooperate.
You know what I just realized? Equestria is turning into Marvel-verse!
Well what do you know, in this universe it isn't full of quick removal of rivals. Instead we have a blossoming friendship while at the same time, neglecting cultural and tolerating others.
3604480
And it's an absolutely terrible point. The author is dealing in absolutes - Luna is good; Celestia is bad, the NLR is an inclusive representative government; Equestria is a bigoted backwater, all the smart, forward-thinking ponies are on the moon; none of them are on the planet, etc. Absolutes like this are highly unrealistic in and of themselves, but when they're also paired with characters that wouldn't otherwise let them be (Celestia) and an obscene passage of time with them in place, then this comes across as thinly veiled hero-worship. Lumping all these amazing things on one side, while saying that not everything is perfect, is highly detrimental to the story. I've honestly never seen a more perfect in-story portrayal of a Mary Sue like the NLR in this story. Every problem has a solution, the 'bad guys' are ham-handed at best, and the setting is unrealistic.
Even if you compare this story to real-world examples it's still incredibly lacking. Afghanistan is as bad as it is because an insular, totalitarian group moved in, took over, and made it that way. Equestria in this story is the same way, but without the influence of such a group/leader. Or are we to beleive Celestia is that way - her characterization completely broken? Wait, it is... If I had to compare this version of the princesses to anyone, Celestia would be Caligula and Luna would be Jesus.
And I have to ask why. Why is the story this way? Was Luna's banishment so integral to Celestia's development that without it she would never have matured? Well Luna left anyways and Celestia apparently never got the message - somehow. And what could we possibly learn from this Lopsided portrayal?
I'll admit up front that I've read the comments and little more than a few snippets of the actual story, but what I've read makes me want to avoid reading any more.
3612445 not really. I would nto be surprised if the princesses have their hooves in what daring do does. the writer of the episode did mention that likely the princesses know of what do is doing. far as we know daring do is a secret agent more than an archeologist, ensuring that the dark things of the past before the sisters does not come to harm the present..
3612493 if you don't like it then don't read it
cool
3612531
I won't, but that's not my point. I commented because I would like to see it become a better story. I was trying to support a reader, 3596534, who apparently wants the same and was being attacked for it. He's not the only reader with the exact same response either.
Yay Scoots she's learning to fly now :D
While I am enjoying this story I am STILL waiting for the cracks and flaws in the Republic to start showing, with each chapter chances are skipped or ignored. One thing is, well Earth ponies from Equestria should be both stronger physical and more magical than their Lunar counterparts, I would argue that both Earth Ponies and Pegasi on the moon would be physical weaker and many would lack their cutie marks well into adulthood. The rapid advancement of technology in the republic also can not have come with out a cost. You did seem to hint that the Lunar senate is actually as prejudice as their noble counterparts, perhaps to the point of being willing to sabotage attempts by the sisters to reconcile. That they are ready to just take resources with out considering ANY other country. I've commented before that while I feel Luna's choices are understandable and serve the story, many are still wrong, I say this because well, the consequences should make them selves known. I am not saying this story is bad, or beyond hope, just that well I think it would be better by far if the darker side of republic came to light and the sisters attitudes and ruling styles showed flaws in Luna's case and merits in Celestia's case.
Good chapter. Keep up the good work.
Mane 6 Comments:
That was awesome!
Soooooooooo fast! You were like flying and she was like flying and you were like "I'm going to win!" and she was like "I'm going to win!" and then both of you went all blurry!
I could of beaten both of them!
Really now... how would you beat your alternate self? Wouldn't that be like bucking two apples of the same size off the tree from the same height and then seeing which was faster?
Well obviously I'm more Rainbow Dashish then she is!
Um Dashish isn't a word Rainbow Dash.....
Yes it is Twilight! Its like Dashing or Dashed or the Study of Dashology which is only taught at the University of Stalliongrad for some odd reason...... but Dashish means a very fast fish that moved so fast it dropped of the "f" at its house. But that makes me wonder why Dashie thinks she's a fish......
Anyways.... Pinkie, Rainbow Dash does not think she's a fish.
I'd like to be a fish
What?
Great chapter.
Thank you for not letting Lighting Dust win that one easily. Holy shit, I would have been pissed if you did. Other than that, still waiting to see some of the Republic's flaws. And hell, you have a perfect time to do it, what with Equestrian ponies on the moon. It'll be the time to show some of the more unsavory traits the Republic has.
Here's hoping this doesn't continue the NLR Propaganda setting you have so far.
imagine rainbow dash ruining the dome by performing a sonic rainboom in the race that would have ended badly
I've been enjoying this fic a lot. While I think that the Lunar Republic's tech might be a little much, I don't think it is as bad as some say. I would have not given them nanotech, for instance.
The reader comments about the LR's penal system, however, seem to forget one thing. The LR is resource-strapped, and was even more so when Luna founded it. When your existence is precarious, laws tend to be draconian, simply because the resources are not there to support more lenient systems. I would love to see more flashbacks to the early days of the LR, where Luna and her little ponies were struggling to survive.
I also like the depictions of Celestia and Luna. I've always thought of them as complements... They each wielded half the Elements of Harmony after all. (From screencaps of Princess Twilight Part 2, it seems Celestia had Magic, Generosity, and Kindness, while Luna had Loyalty, Laughter, and Honesty). Apart, they have their limitations, and I think that this fic has done a good job of showing both. Celestia is too kind and generous to be effective at times, and Luna is too honest and loyal to be diplomatic at times.
I don't think that the LR is "too perfect," I just think that we haven't seen all its warts. I suspect that Gene Splicer and Dr. Robotnik are two symptoms of what goes wrong in the LR... unrestrained change leading to mistakes. Yes, the LR is more tolerant and has better tech, but I suspect that it has made (and learned from) some horrible mistakes along the way. (Perhaps the first nanotech breakthrough came with a terrible lab accident, a "grey goo incident.") But they have to keep pushing the ragged edge of the envelope because the LR is trying to survive in a very hostile environment.
Anyway, I've rambled enough. Looking forward to the next fix (and thewookie's Mane 6 commentary!)
"Awwww, somepony likes us!"
"Pinkie? Where are we? What just happened?"
"Silly Twilight, we're just in another Reader's comment box!"
"What--never mind, I don't think I want to know."
"Eeyup."
"Big Mac?!?"
"Just a running gag, don't worry about it."
3621588 I think the dome is big enough to handle it, if a Fighter craft, Traveling faster than Mach II wasn't able to crack it. Considering the sonic rainboom is just a magically laced version of the Sonicboom created by an aircraft achieving speeds Faster than sound.
3612660 indeed. this story's biggest problem is to completely whitewash most of luna's faults or trying to downplay them, while attempting to demonise equestria as a whole. I personally don't think Equestria is on the whole racist (after all, we haven't seen enough of it to make that judgement), or that Celestia is THAT manipulative or incompetent. However, if the author doesn't want to show the Republic as having a lot of flaws, then what they should do is show the GOOD points of Equestria, because all that's been focused on are the flaws. Show us what clestia has done that is for better for the country, rather than just focus on her being incomeptent, manipulative and lacking social skills.
One of my favourite alternate universe, the Lunaverse, is actually a good example (YMMV). several characters and groups are flawed, and luna especially is shown to be a good but flawed ruler, making mistakes or making incorrect judgements. The main character, Trixie, is shown to be different from ehr canon selves while still retaining some of her flaws, but still is sympathetic and likable. The story does try and make us want to root for the heroes and sympathise with luna, but it isn't afraid to show they AREN'T perfect nor is their society. I feel the author could learn a lot from reading the Lunaverse series.
I never thought I'd say this but I really wanted Lightning Dust to beat Rainbow Dash
4743127 Well to be fair in terms of being racist, there's not a whole lot the other story can do to show racism. The only other real sentient race that is shown for more than an episode, besides dragons which mostly stick to themselves, are donkeys. Even that doesn't work due to the fact that they were never descriminated against much in the show. At worst they'd be like Mexicans pre-Trump in the US.
Here we have a valid reason for racism: After all the stories go that Nightmare Moon, spawner of Batponies set homes on fire and ATE BABIES. I mean we have already seen the Apple Matriach as just ONE Sympathizer along with Cadence. The problem is that the country as a whole has a LOT that screams "These types of ponies are bad to evil!". I mean just look at the attitudes of most Southerners on African Americans after the civil war. Many of them felt that justified in killing them or other kinds of evils. It's not so different here. The propaganda is just too strong over decades of time.
Hell all one needs to do is look at how Appleloosa treated the Buffalo. They HATED them an did NOT want to compromise or anything. They were willing to go to WAR against them.
The more you look at the Canon the more you realize: Ponies are racists against Non-Ponies. Also, there's DEFINITELY Classism that exists with the Nobles/Rich in Canterlot.
Now in terms of showing Celestia's GOOD points, along with Equestria as a whole, THAT is something that I DO agree upon. Though the problem is that considering the sheer AWESOME that is the Lunar Republic, it's going to seem like the song "Anything you can do, I can do better, I can do anything better than you". Which would then cheapen what little good points Equestria has. Even if you take Equestria an make it as perfect as the show Canon, what can they really offer? "Oh look we have ponies living peacefully in Harmony. Oh wait Lunar Republic doesn't have Racism, unlike Equestria."