It's Finally Over

My exams are finally over with.

Life goes on. Progress on ATF resumes as per usual.

Finally I have time to watch the latest two episodes too...

- Mike, astounded by the sudden surge in free time

Comments

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

Congrats, on all of that!

Can't wait til we get the next chapter of ATF (whose "initials", if you just stop and think about it are, weirdly enough, the came as the ones for the Department(?) of "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms"), and see what Twilight and everypony (and yes, that includes our dear Discord) are up to now!

Honestly, though, when are Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow and Shining gonna get their heads out of their respective asses and get it through their thick skulls that Discord is not manipulating those three and that they're with him of Their. Own. Free. Will?! And for their own reasons?!

Also honestly (again), if Celestia actually wanted to really fix all this, she should just come clean to AJ, Dash, Rarity and Shining about everything (including how she's manipulating them! Still!!!), then recall those stupid wanted posters and say that they were a mistake.

But, of course, we all know that she's not going to do that. She's just going to continue to make everything worse, and make Twilight hate her more with everything that she does.

So whatever happens to her, she's brought down on herself, and she, in my humble opinion, deserves everything that Twilight and Discord bring down on her head for Spike's death.

On another note, I've got an OC who just wants to buck some serious sense into a certain quartet of ponies so badly that it isn't even funny!

[Mikemarksman]

3175556
Department of ATF huh? Never knew that. I learn something new every day.

Heh, I'd say it's a safe assumption at this point that Rarity is growing increasingly disillusioned with her current situation. I don't know how well I've evidenced such in the story, but I've tried to show that Rarity isn't interested in bringing her friends back to Celestia, but is instead concerned with getting them away from the danger that both Discord and Celestia's forces pose to them. Whatever the case, Rarity is the most intelligent of the three, she's likely to piece together Twilight and Co.'s circumstances in the near future, if she hasn't already.

Rainbow and Applejack are more difficult to address, given their headstrong tendencies. That said, rest assured that I have a plan in mind for each and every character regarding a great deal of primary aspects of the story; their stance on Discord's involvement being no exception. I don't want to reveal too much this early on, but I can say that several incidents are going to have an impact on all the main characters' stances on the issue. It's going to take time, but I guarantee that their views will change. How, and in what direction, I'm keeping to myself for now.

Shining, being Twilight's brother, is a special case. I'll say this much - as I feel it's been made relatively obvious already - Shining is struggling to balance his duty to his family against his duty to his nation and its allies. In his case, I feel that his blaming of Discord is essentially an 'escape mechanism'; admitting that Twilight has had complete free will for the entire duration of this little ordeal would involve admitting that the sister he knew and loved is well and truly gone. Perhaps he simply isn't ready to accept such, hence the projection onto Discord.

Regarding Celestia's actions, I feel I've done a poor job of justifying the way Celestia has handled some situations so far. In particular, the political consequences and widespread panic that Discord and those with him might cause are arguably of such severity that they warrant more than a nationwide manhunt. Although do note that by 'political consequences' I don't mean Celestia pushing some sinister agenda on the sly, I'm referring to international politics...

Big events on the horizon in that regard, all I'm going to say about that.

Also, I assume the quartet you speak of are Rainbow, Rarity, Applejack and Shining? (Sorry, running on little sleep atm, I can't process information very well right now).

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

3175637 Yep.

And it's an American law enforcement agency; they're basically the guys who go after drug dealers, cartels; etc.

Put another way: you've heard of Revenue Agents? Better known to those in the illegal booze makers as Revenuers?

That's them.

I'm assuming that you're maybe not an American, and that's why you've never heard of that ATF, though.

And yes, you do.

Anyway, all that sounds great, and it's enough to keep me satisfied for now, til you reveal all that in their due time.

Which is something that I look forward to eagerly.

On a side note, I'm betting that at least some of Rarity's disillusionment is due to the fact that Prince Blueblood (who is not one of her favorite ponies under any circumstances, and hasn't been since that first Grand Galloping Gala back at the end of Season one) is going to be her instructor in fighting.

I think I remember that she was not very happy when she found that out.

(Well, neither was he, at the thought of having to be instructor to a mere "peasant", but I digress.)

And as to that last, yes, they're the ones that I meant by that. (I kinda forgot for a moment that Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Discord are a quartet, as well.

Well, actually, they are a sextet...if you count Angel and Pinkamena.

(Although I don't know if you'd count Pinkamena, given that she's actually another just (although separate) personality of Pinkie's, and not actually a sixth, separate being.)

And that's okay; I quite understand that. Been there, done that, myself.

Waaaaayyyyyyyyyy too many times, in fact.

So get some rest, if you haven't already. Mama Wolf insists on it.

[Mikemarksman]

3175822
Thanks, well rested now!

And yeah, haha, the whole issue of just how many individuals Twilight's group consists of is something that confuses even me at times.

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

3177877 You're very welcome, my friend.

Yeah, I'll just be it does!