The Happiness and Peace of Mind Committee
Chapter 11: Heading Back
“Attention, my loyal subjects!” Princess Celestia announced over the raging crowds storming into Canterlot. She was as graceful as a swan and she shone like the sun. To her side was her younger sister Luna, who had the beauty and mystery of the night sky, her coat the color of a starless night.
“This is an outrage!” cried out an anonymous stallion. “Do you really expect us to listen to you at a time like this? You’ve ruled us for over a thousand years, and we’re tired of your favoritism and overall unfairness! We need a republic, not this monarchy!” Princess Celestia closed her eyes and her face became sullen.
“I hate to say so outright and risk staining my public image, but I see at this point that doing so would have little effect. You all already think lowly of me and my sister, so I can speak freely,” she replied. Luna stayed silent, since she was never good with public speaking, instead trusting her older sister’s judgement. “You all are in no place to protest. You know nothing of running a government, and once you overthrow us for your idealistic form of power, you will come to realize that no matter how good it sounds on paper, it is impossible for you to carry it out exactly how you plan. Most of ponykind has its flaws, and therefore if you want a government led by common ponies, it will also be flawed.”
“However,” Princess Luna spoke up. Everyone was a bit startled considering they had only heard her speak on very few occasions. “My sister is not claiming that we are perfect. Even as alicorns, we also have our faults. Just take my actions so many years ago into account, though many of you were most definitely not alive to remember. I let petty jealousy cloud my judgement, and that ultimately led to my downfall. But my sister is benevolent and forgave me, but it appears some of you haven’t done the same for me.”
“But that’s just the problem!” another stallion shouted. “You can’t forgive someone for that! If she wasn’t your sister, you would have blown her to smithereens!”
“And what makes you think she’d do something like that? I bet if you looked, for as long as she lived, my sister Celestia has never—” Luna snapped, but Princess Celestia raised a calming hoof.
“We are not going to argue,” Princess Celestia instructed. “It is not worth both the time nor the effort. Some ponies will always be stubborn, that is their nature.” Luna stared back incredulously, then nodded. The sisters turned unanimously and walked back inside Canterlot Castle. There were cries and hollers as the crowd realized that the two rulers they were so furious with had just up and left the conversation. They shouted, but no matter what they did the sisters did not return. The audience dispersed in a huff, their anger brewing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Hm? We’ve been summoned to Canterlot?” Rarity questioned, looking at the letter Twilight levitated before them.
“Yeah, I don’t get it either. But look! It’s signed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna! What do you think it could be?” The group of friends exchanged worried glances.
“Oh! Oh! Maybe they’re having a party!” Pinkie shouted excitedly, her poofy hair bouncing wildly as she hopped up and down.
“Um… why?” Fluttershy asked. “There isn’t any occasion…”
“Maybe it’s a ‘The whole country hates us’ party?” Rainbow Dash offered sarcastically.
“Ooh! That sounds fun!” Pinkie giggled. “Wait, no it doesn’t! That sounds super duper politics-y boring!”
“Rainbow does kind of have a point…” Applejack admitted. “That’s probably the reason why we’re going.”
“Aww…” Pinkie pouted. “Can’t we just stay here? Why don’t we throw a ‘Politics Are Boring’ party instead?”
“Sorry to say,” Twilight interjected, “but according to the letter we have to leave for Canterlot as soon as we receive the letter.”
“What? We have to hurry to catch the train in time, then!” Rarity exclaimed. The six wordlessly sprinted towards the train station, and boarded without question since they were going under royal summon. The train ride was short, but as they neared the capital the streets were getting progressively flooded with more and more protesters. Was the riot really as bad as the news had said?
They were quickly in the heart of town, right by the Grand Castle when they left the train. They had to wiggle through the crowds at every moment to make their way to the entrance, but by the time they had gotten there the two princesses were already out addressing the audience. Whatever they were summoned for must have been put on hold for the time being.
“Fillies and gentlecolts,” Princess Celestia began. “I know that we are not on the best of terms, and that you are here not because of what I have to say, but because you want to burn this castle to the ground. Nevertheless, I bid you lend me your ears. Over the past couple of days I have been talking with a Miss Emerald Joy, and she has proposed quite an offer. She has agreed to cast a spell over the country to put your minds at ease and let you listen to reason, so you may not let your fury get in the way of what is right. And now, Miss Emerald Joy?”
“Yes, thank you, Princess Celestia. It is an honor.” A young mare that could only have been in her mid-twenties took the microphone from the princess who in contrast was centuries old. Emerald was quite beautiful, with a nice green colored business dress to match her coat and her teal hair tied up in a professional yet still flattering matter, the stray hairs fluttering in the summer afternoon breeze.
“Everyone! I understand how you must be feeling right now, I really do!” The crowd kept silent for the young lady, but still clenched their teeth in anger at the prospect of having a spell put on them to ‘let them see reason.’ Were they suggesting that the only reason they were like this was because their emotions were getting in the way? That was just an outright insult!
“But please! Suppress anything you might be thinking to the very back of your head for just a few more minutes and listen to me with an open mind! I have been studying a type of magic that releases certain chemicals in the brain to make an individual as happy as they can be, with absolutely no negative thoughts! Impossible, you might say? I say otherwise! I’m going to cast it on all of you, alright?”
While the others seemed to have loosened up a bit to the idea, Twilight got even more tense at the prospect. She turned to her friends.
“Girls. We need to leave. Now,” she instructed, her tone as serious as she could be. Her friends immediately understood, and hastily followed after their friend. They pushed their way desperately through the crowd, then snuck into an alleyway. Twilight shifted her eyes back and forth, then pointed her horn towards the sky. Out shot a large plume of magic, and a glistening pink force field surrounded the six ponies.
"What's going on, Twilight?" Fluttershy cried.
"No matter what happens, we can't get that spell casted on us!" Twilight warned.
"Why not?" Rarity asked. "Being happy sounds really lovely right about now..."
"You don't understand," Twilight replied. "That spell isn't just a simple one that manipulates the endorphins in your mind like she explained. To simplify, it's more akin to mind control than anything else."
"Why are they putting everyone under such a wretched curse, then?" Rarity lamented, pressing her hooves against her flawless cheeks in shock. But there was no time to answer, as the group looked on in wonder as a ripple of magic flowed out from the center of city, affecting all that it reached. It didn’t seem to be losing momentum as it wafted off into the distance, likely affecting all of the ponies in the country.
Once the spell seemed well away from them, Twilight recalled her forcefield. They sprinted back towards the heart of the city to see what the devastating effects were. Even before they got there, they could tell that the enchantment had worked it’s magic. Everyone they passed was smiling ear to ear, relaxing their bodies so they slumped over like zombies. It was unnerving to say the very least.
There was only one question that was currently running through Twilight’s head: what were the princesses thinking? Surely after their thousands of years of experience they would know about how the spell works, so why were they letting this ameteur enchant the whole country that they were running, and in this pivotal point of the rebellion against them?
By extension, what was this Emerald Joy character thinking? Why would she approach them with such an outrageous proposition? Did she think that it would give her some sort of political position? Twilight scoffed. She know that Princess Celestia would never appoint a unicorns like her as any sort of political figure. But considering that she decided to let Emerald Joy brainwash all of the ignorant citizens, Twilight found herself questioning the judgement of Princess Celestia. She felt filthy for doubting her own princess, but she could hardly suppress the voice in her head telling her to shout out all of her grievances.
The six mares pushed their way to the heart of the city, tired and out of breath. Emerald Joy was standing before the crowd with an overjoyed grin on her face, but it almost came off as manic. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stood behind her, their heads hung slightly and their faces sullen. Maybe they did understand the gravity of the situation that they had gotten themselves in? But why were they forced to go to such lengths?
Princess Luna’s cold blue eyes lifted to survey the crowd filled with all of their subjects, lifeless smiles plastered on their faces. When they came to rest upon six members of the audience that were not sharing identical expressions with the rest, and those six being Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity no less, her eyes dilated and she inhaled steeply, but caught herself from shouting. Instead she brushed a hoof past one of her sister’s to get her attention.
Princess Celestia lifted her head slightly and looked over questioningly to Luna, who directed her vision to the crowd with a nod of her head. Princess Celestia followed her gesture and also caught sight of the small group of friends. Her face softened, and a small smile danced on her lips.
Twilight noticed the silent communication going on between the two rulers, her eyes dilating in response as she saw them look straight at her. What could possibly be going on? Twilight’s mind swam with questions and utter confusion.
Princess Celestia turned to re-enter the castle, and she nodded her head for Luna to do the same. She was facing away from the crowd, so nobody was able to see the tear roll down the sun goddess’s divine face.
Betrayal.
How the mighty have fallen to lose to resignation! This dream will only waken these ponies in death.
Why have you forsaken them?
Awaiting further releases.
3702479
Unless I'm mistaken, you're the one who replied to my subjective comments on the 'KillerRarity-verse' stories.
I'm usually more objectiv e(and when I'm not I do at least try to mention that I'm being subjective and that I mean no offense.)
I know when to shut up rather than voice petty concerns that matters little when compared to the story as a whole.
Those comments you left there telling me that it's a teensy bit unethical to root for a psychopathic murderer and wish for the death of a mostly benevolent ruler? Those were a bit welcome and nice.
These immature complaints and this unyielding 'I-know-better-than-you' attitude is not.
Your views are entirely subjective and one-sided. That's fine, but the way you present them is obnoxious and quite frankly rude.
Better yet, you dwell on the issue several chapters after the event and complain about it.
Oh and "maybe they're still plotholes" isn't very nice either.
To say something obvious: Please leave if you can't bear to read the story without whining about every single detail you don't agree with.
Continue instead reminding people to be objective elsewhere while you learn to be objective yourself.
Also, please uphold a readable syntax.
3875459
I appreciate this a lot
3703048
I tried reading this out loud.
I felt great anger from this post.
3875468
Thank you~
You are most welcome.
3875482
I was (and still am) pretty fed up
3875487
So was I. That happens.
........... why does everyone depict the regal princesses as stupid, incompetent, and not as thousand year old monarchs that earned every feather, inch in height, and spark of magic when they make a story when they are overthrown?
I am sorry but now I am lost. I can somewhat forgive inaccurate depictiosn, especially in this scenario where they are suffering from some level of manesia...........this is not good writing at all. you made the regal sisters incompetent, stupid, and corrupt just so the story would work. if twilight realies you can't trust the oc that is pretty much just lyra with a longer mane, then celestia would have spot it the moment she entered the room and suggested zombifying the populace.
you just can't make characters stupid just so your oc seems intelligent. that goe the same for any writing. you made the regal ones idiots, and less like millennium old buhdda like beings who earned their power and more like two politicians from our world giving authority of their level.
ask yourself. would the show celestia have chosen this course of action? or would she have had lyra-with-longer-mane arrested for even eventing such an evil spell and announced to her beloved ponies that she and luna will stand down and watch? that they would continue to protect equistria, but they would let the ponies rule themselves. which is more Celestia?
3875737
Well it appears you don't know how to interpret the story so you decided to rant about how you misinterpreted it. Good job, mate
3875737
Oh dear...
3875737
Your annoyance is directed at the wrong entity.
Blame the character and not the writer, please.
Everypony makes mistakes, whether you have lived for a millennium or ten years. If we didn't, how would there be conflict in fiction and how would we be flawed?
Celesta's wish is to grant ponies peace, whatever the cost. Sometimes, good will can be misguided— and that's when your experience fails you. Because you aren't perfect either.
Please understand what we're trying to tell you.
3875737
In addition, this story is tagged 'Alternate Universe'.
3875737
and considering Emerald (who you refer to as longer maned Lyra for some reason which cracks me up) was extremely vague about the spell beforehand, it doesn't make the princesses stupid for trusting her, because they were agreeing to making the others happy, not to having them brainwashed.
Also, I'm pretty sure I hinted well enough that they have something else up their sleeves, but all in good time
3876113 ...yes it does. how could they not realize the magic would surpress the minds of their ponies? they obviously would. the only being in equistria who would have the capacity to cause altered emotional states without harming somepony's concious mind is Cadance, and that is because she affects what is already there. to force a pony to be happy short of havign some connection to the raw force of happiness, is to brainwash them. that might fool a normal pony, but they are alicorns a thosuand years old. if twilight knew something was up, THEY would know. she got her knwoledge from celestia.
.....sighs. this story makes three major fanfiction errors. A, killing characters to try and create a darker environment. this is unnecessary, the writing should create this. suffering does not mean ponies dying. and often it leads to very contrived deaths; whenever someone has ever hurt fluttershy'sf riends, she becomes aggressive towards the enemy.
B. making thecharacter act out of character to further the plot. such as pricnesses not seeing through sociopathic green lyra look alikes; luna has dream walking powers, could see her inner desires in the dreams, etc.
C. lording your oc over the other characters without making it convincing. mane0iac is a more compelling villain and she was a god dman parody. you do not take into account making the enemies of the oc actually competent. you make them incompetent and easy, and it weakens the villina. not to mention her actions lack anything resembling logic. she does not need to be mustouch twirling nor insane. in fact being insane just makes me even less convinced that she owul have the metna faculties to outsmart the regal sisters let alone b e able to maintain a government without destroying it within a decade.
3876196
I was trying to figure out what you were saying but the lack of grammar and sense hurt too bad
And I'm sorry that I don't follow your headcanon about how magic works, and that you can't seem to grasp that stuff will be revealed later in the story. I'm not going to explain every single thing right when it happens, because that completely ruins the story. Why do I have to keep reminding you of that?
3876285 sighs........... in the show what has often happened when someone has their emotions affected with magic? the one time it was discord, and they were completely altered and harmed mentally. fortunately twilight figured out how to reverse it. cadance was able to cause love to thrive by affecting the love that is there.
basically we have discord altering perspective and cadance directly influencing emotion. those are the factors the show has given us to give an idea how that magic works.
and ultimately the regal sisters would be suspicious of this so called miracle magic that breeds happiness. to make the not suspicious is to make the ignorant and out of character....... seriously if they are not willing to let the ponies govern themselves why would the entrust a unicorn, one of thse very ponies, to do such a dangerous bit of magic.
it just raises too many questions. and not good, i wonder how it is done,questions. it is the, are you freaking kidding me, kind of questions.
3876321
Emerald was like the only pony at the time that majored in influencial magic (as explained in a few chapters), so I don't think trusting her to do what she's been trained to do is that far fetched
Cadance is able to completely change someone's thoughts, and Discord is, well... Discord. Influencing and completely changing are two very different things.
And letting a unicorn do her job is much different from having a whole country go into disarray
3875838
you onlt blame a character for actions if those actions are in character. If they are OOC then it just makes the characters the victim of the writer
3877375
...I say this because this debate has already turned into a game of 'last word' whereas one contestant replies with slightly hostile and petulant fallacies.
3877375
I'd like to stress that a story never reveals every detail right away and instead creates strange situations and red herrings in order to force the reader to contemplate the next event.
I'm afraid this is what most stories do.
sighs................ it had me at first. it had a fairly interesting concept and abit of mystery. when fluttershy died, i questioned it; girl outshouts a dragon and tames the god of chaos after all, but i guess since they have amnesia it is more acceptable.
.............you lost me completely when you had applebloom killed, and applejack did nothing........... oh dear lord did you lose me there. you did not seem to properly grasp her character at all. basically if family is involved, this goes through applejacks mind.
fuck all consequences.
she would have bashed through that glass and made a run for it............ and would ahve succeeded in escaping completely. because that is the kind of beings the mane six are. even without memory, applejack's love for her family is too deep rooted, too powerful, for her to ignore, and it would take nothing short of a changeling queen to stop her........... the girl pulverized part of an army of changelings and is seen to be exceptionally powerful even by earth ponies standards.
her not only not throwing all caution to the winds and pissing after it, her even leaving her little sister to die alone, is short of character assassination.
............ sorry if that was a bit impassioned. but that is a major, major mischaracterization. if she behaved as herself, and not as.... whoever the hell that was, she would have saved applebloom and managed to escape. hell thinking applebloom is so stupid as to yell at the homicidal unicorn is also a mischaracterization and makes the entire situation very forced. if any characters acted as they are, that would never have happened.
i know it is your idea, but since you are using characters that already have characterization, you need to follow through with that characterization or as accurate of one as you can. because when the chractes act stupid it ruins any amount of drama because they are being stupid. i was completely lost to the tragedy because i know applejack would have saved her. there is not a force short of celestia that could stop her. fluttershy i could excuse as her bravery coming from her experience, but applejack's love and honesty is far too deep rooted.
..........sighs. also i have some problem with the latest chapter.............. i read through some of the other comments and i hate repeating these things, but celestia would have stepped aside. that is in character for her. the pony who just wants to be treated as a typical guest and teases ponies for continuously filling her tea cup would not decide to brainwash her populace. and if anything luna would have curbed that idea. luna would be the most resistent on such measures considering what happened to her. she nearly become a tyrannical monster. she would resist anything that oculd lead to that.
smallest problem i have os far.............. Emerald is not compelling. i cannot get even a small grip on any actual personality. she is more of a persona of various villainous triats and often these traits clash. she kills a filly but does not try to kill a pony she suspects is an enemy? an usurper fears being usurped more than anything. it is just not consistent.
so basically she is mostly bland and it feels less she has the capacity and more the plot just gives her what she needs to succeed. also i can't help but feel this whole plan was doomed to fail within a few months.............. i mean, the alicorns are seemingly gone. the elements are sealed away. basically now any being at least as powerful as chyrsalis could waltz in and take over whenever they want. no effort, just kill emerald and sit on the throne and, poof, ruler. even if she is smart enough, somehow, to do all this intelligence won't help against a powerful being. she is sitll only a unicorn, no match for dark mages, demons, and tax collectors.
also i am calling shenanigans that no one but emerald realized it was a brainwashing spell. thta is just not how study on a subject, any subject, works. being the best does not mean you re the only one that knows about something.
ultimately i had high hopes, but majorly flawed characterization has greatly lowered those hopes. i could not be convinced even at gunpoint that the character would have made those decisions.
3891662
Hello again lordofmyth
Honestly, is it really worth it to make a new account to keep commenting because I banned you? Why do you find so much pleasure in cutting down on my story?
You're not telling me anything on how to fix the problems, so it's not constructive criticism, so there is literally no way to justify this ridiculous behavior.
I'll report your account for going around my block if you continue commenting, because feeling the need to go this far to cut me down is just stupid.
3891662 I smell faggotry in this here woods
3891770 ..............why does everyone think i am that lord of myth guy? you are the second person to claim i'm him! and i will give you the evidence of WHY that is not true that i gave him. put simply i joined weeks ago. why the hell would anyone create an account to troll someone and wait a few weeks before they strike? that is an awful damn lot of planning just to be annoying and let alone to annoy one guy.
seriously i gotta stop commenting wherever he comments. this is getting ridiculous.
though i would argue i am not trolling. i determined the reason why i dislike it and voiced it. the characterization of applejack was so out of character that it kinda touched a nerve. she is one of my favorite characters. and i had to agree that between luna and celestia, they would never decide to use that kind of power on the ponies.
i repeat, i liked this story at first. however as things progressed my enthusiasm died out. terrible characterization with applejack and the sisters. and emerald simply confuses me than compels me. i would not downvote it though. i do not think it is that bad. it is well written, it just misuses its characters.
when i read a fanfiction, when most people do, i guess we have an expectation that the author will write the characters as to character as possible.
3892379
everyone thinks you're lord of myth because you act exactly like him :I
You have the same annoying grammar and the same ......... tendency
I mean if you really aren't him then I'm sorry, but reiterating all of his points and acting pretty much the same as him kind of makes it seem like you're the same person.
I'm sorry, I guess? It's just that he really has been pissing me off for continually making extremely long winded rants about how much my story sucks without helping at all every time I update and I just don't want to have to deal with his crap anymore
It's actually really scarring, to be honest, fearing to update a story because of the terrible comments, even though there are many people that I know love it. It's one thing commenting once, but it's another continually commenting over and over and over saying the same things each and every time. How will that make me want to listen to a point any more?
Though I highly doubt you're not the same person (and I mean HIGHLY ) I'm terribly sorry if you're different people.
But if you aren't lordofmyth, maybe you'll take my advice?
Please use good grammar in the comments section on a fanfiction site
3892311 if two guys state the same thing as a problem, maybe its a problem..........
seriously, this is the second time someone has thought i am some troll account made by lordofmyth. second time. how does a guy get accused of that twice?
either way, i am not. i made this account a few weeks ago. so either i am lordofmyth and left it sitting in wait just to use it on this flanchan, which seems an awful lot of preparation just to troll........ unless there is actually a variation of troll who is actually willing to make multiple accounts just to do that.
3892443 ...and that is the same reason why the other guy thought i was him......... i gotta start spellchecking or something.
i simply stated what i disliked about the story. in a story one of the most important parts are the characters and how they are portrayed. this gets even trickier in a fanfiction using character already with their own distinct persona. it creates an expectation that this character is gonna act at least fairly accurately to the show.
the problem here is that the entire narrative stands upon a very shaky foundation. it relies completely on the celestia and luna behaving well out of their normal characterization. if they maintained their characterization from the show, then this narrative could not function. they would never agree to it.
however i cannot just give ideas. i could think of several ways to improve it. yet this is your story and i cannot be certain what parts would completely change it and force a rewrite. i certianly know the part with the regal sistes has the stay the same or else the narrative ceases to be. i truly feel the things i stated are major flaws, but it is still your story. i will not downvote or anything, i do not think it deserves that, i just feel the characters are being misused. and often when i see it, there is other problems with the story as well.
at the very least the problems with the narrative center around characterization. the writing is good and the reasoning is sensible for the most part. we have not had major lapse of judgement or outright stupidity................ trust me, i have read stories that bad. i literally read a story once where one of the mane six was murdered and the killer, known to be villainous in nature already, was in the same house as the mane six member............ not a damn soul apprehended the bastard, but thought it was a good idea to accuse another member of the mane six for the crime........ it would have been hilarious if it was a comedy, but instead it was played dead seriously.
this story is nowhere near that level of bad.
Hold up...
I thought Fluttershy died in this story.
Why is she back?