While on vacation Emeral wrote a short story that expands upon and concludes Sheriff Silver Star's story from Elements of Insanty.

Here's a link!

Emeral is looking for a semi-canon status attached to Elements of Insanity; since EoI forms an important part of Twilight's story arc, that makes it important to give the story a once-over in the Quorum. With the new paradigm in place this basically means that we're trying to see if there's anything in the story that could come back and bite us later - though I think the story is too small in scope to have to worry about that.

It's 5/5/15 right now; Quorum discussion on the story will end on 5/10/15 as per the aforementioned new paradigm, where I'll decide where the story should go and how we should treat it. At the moment, though, I'm not seeing any problems.

Looks fine to me, having Silver being behind the scenes at Twilights Capture seems fitting, although maybe it could be mentioned they'd almost bumped into each other a few other places.

I don't think it have any real problem with continuity and give Silver and Loosy a happy ending (or at least a happy middle, they could be involved in plot again later) which is always good.

I don't see any problems with it, either.

Looks fine to me. I approve.

Don't see any snag! Though maybe Twilight could inquire about the rest of her merry band of misfits?

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I considered that my self while drafting, but couldn't find a place to work it into the dialogue without breaking the flow of conversation. Besides, I'm not sure Twilight has any reason to assume Silverstar has been in contact with either Clover or Snowflake. Especially as the last time Twilight saw either of those two at the end of EoI, it was when she told them to just forget having ever met her.

4339818 My only concern is how Emeral is apparently planning "something weird" with Frosty Mane but hasn't said what it is. I'm a little bit leery of introducing a character for something weird without knowing more in advance.

Otherwise, no objections. I don't really like the retcon to Crisis that Silverstar was kind of hanging out during the attempted arrest of Twilight but was never seen before, since it feels kind of forced, and I'm also kind of surprised that Emeral--who has consistently opposed anything even hinting at Night Court shenanigans--had Shining Armor basically invoking his political position to usurp the Shadowbolt's authority (as did Velvet via Silverstar). But in terms of continuity, no objections besides the Frosty Mane thing.

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Frosty Mane was already introduced back in EoI, though at the time she was merely a random background pony. Mostly her inclusion here is as much if not more so just a callback to that. Yes, there's something more I kind of want to do with her now, which I partially set up here, but overall it's not really relevant to the larger continuity of the Lunavers, and the story I'd be planning to deal with it in is one I'm not even sure needs to be canon. If you're still worried though, I'd be willing to discuss the matter privately with you... or any other senior member of the Quorum.

Anyway, Silverstar's inclusion also isn't really a "retcon". Nothing of what happened in Countdown to Crisis is altered by his presence. He's just been inserted as a secondary perspective to events Twilight hadn't been privy to at the time. This actually pretty similar to multiple sections from T&T's Climbing the Mountain wherever it has intersected with the events of other stories.

As for Night Court "shenanigans", my objection has always been more so towards the further use of such things in an overtly villainous context. Neither Shining or Velvet are acting as badguys here though, just concerned family members willing to do anything within their legal authority to get Twilight back safely. After all, neither of them are trying to get Twilight out of standing trial, they just want to make sure she gets their as peacefully as possible without any undue trauma. Besides, it was already canon from Countdown to Crisis that Shining and Haymaker were arguing about something outside of Twilight's earshot, I just fleshed out that concept.

4342538 : Shining Armor and Velvet are both trying to circumvent Haymaker's legal authority in order to arrest Twilight in a more comfortable manner. That privilege would not be afforded to any other random fugitive. Ergo, it's the same sort of corruption that you've consistently derided.

As for Frosty, I don't see any need to discuss it privately, especially since we disagree on everything anyways. But I do think it should be brought up to the quorum as a whole. Even though Frosty isn't 'weird' here, using the character now will likely get people (yourself included) more invested in the character, which would cause more problems later if the weirdness doesn't work out. So I think it's best for that to be publicly discussed now rather than later.

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That privilege would not be afforded to any other random fugitive.

Twilight isn't just any random fugitive, and her family aren't just any random ponies. Shining and Velvet are both ponies with substantial political influences and privilege. There's nothing innately wrong or corrupt with them taking advantage of the unique opportunities that affords them, especially when it causes no harm to anyone else. Yes, Shining is basically trying to pull rank on Haymaker, but he's not doing so with the intent to subvert the Equestrian justice system in any way, shape, or form. He still knows Twilight has to stand trail for her crimes, and still means to see to it that she does, he just wants to make the process leading up to that as comfortable as possible.

Moreover, in this scene in particular he's speaking in the heat of passion, nor is the argument ever fully resolved one way or the other before Twilight escapes.

the character now will likely get people (yourself included) more invested in the character,

I'm already "invested" in the character, and was mostly just making such known. For the purposes of this story here and now, however, she's just same as she was in EoI, another one of Lemon Hearts' orphan victims. Anything more than that is irrelevant until I actually write more on it, which will be in separate story and so subject to separate canon review (should I even decide to pursue such).

I'm not trying to keep secrets from the Quorum, but I also want to avoid public spoilers.

4342375 Maybe it should be Silverstar, after hearing that Loosy came by, who would ask if anybody else came to visit Twilight?

4342402 So... basically you're worried about a story that doesn't exist yet? So the ACTUAL story we are curently reviewing would be fine as a webisode? Whatever it is Emeral has planned with Frosty Mane, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it, no need to worry about something that might never be written.

4342571 Wait, they are? I knew I should've done more than a quick read after a hellish day at work...

I raise an objection to that! A BIG objection!

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4343345 You guys are both forgetting that NO one would be able to catch Twilight unless it was someone she knew. None of the regular law enforcement would be able to talk her down like Silverstar or Shining Armor would, and Shining's shield spell was only circumvented by BREAKING A HOLE THROUGH REALITY! Any other peaceful method would have to deal with her mastery of teleportation. Do you expect any regular law enforcement to be able to do that? Wthout hurting her severly in the process? It makes perfect sense to try to send someone she knows to avoid a dangerous escalation.

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I'm with Emeral on the 'Frosty' issue I don't see that it's important to know where he might go with the character in future (although I'm curious), at the moment she's just a name for a random character and may stay that way or may become important in the future. I think we've all done something similar at some time or another, I certainly know I have backstories for some characters who have just said a few lines and might turn up again later.

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Maybe as a compromise it could be that Shining may well have legal authority in this situation it's just rather wobbly and would likely be overturned by Luna if she happened to be there?

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it could be that Shining may well have legal authority in this situation it's just rather wobbly

That's sort of what I was going for. Shining and Haymaker are basically just engaging in a jurisdictional pissing contest, each attempting to assert their own authority, even though the result is more or less the same regardless of who actually makes the arrest. It's actually a pretty ordinary and mundane dispute. Of course which of them actually has the superior legal high ground isn't really what's important either.

Haymaker does pretty much make a fully legitimate point that Shining probably isn't very level headed at the moment, that he's letting his emotional frustrations get the better of him, as can be seen in him lashing out not only at Haymaker and Silverstar, but even at his own mother. Conversely, from Shining's own perspective he's just now vindicated his own belief that if he'd only been allowed to be the one to go after Twilight from the beginning it wouldn't have taken months to catch her in the first place, so it's easy to understand why he'd be reluctant to hand her over to anyone else. Regardless, Shining wanting to take personal responsibility in this matter and attempting to pull rank to do so doesn't make him bad or corrupt, it only makes him "human".

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Quorum discussion on the story will end on 5/10/15 as per the aforementioned new paradigm, where I'll decide where the story should go and how we should treat it.

So it's 5/12/15 now...

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Crap, sorry.

"Regrets and Reluctance" seems fine as a webisode attached to Elements of Insanity; and I don't see any problems with having it be semi-canon (i.e., canon unless someone writes something that overrules it).

Have you published it to FiMFiction yet?

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Not yet, still need to give it a last few editing passes for spelling/grammar.

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So umm... not to accidentally start any further arguments, but as I'm going over my final editing pass for this story I remembered that I presently just have twilight generically mention some rare items her mother sold to Puissance. I'd always wanted to try and come up with something more specific though, that is before we all got distracted by other topics.

My initial inclination had been to refrence Meadowbrook, but as we still don't really know anything about her eight enchanted item that's something that could all to easily comeback to accidentally bite us in the ass. My next idea had been Starswirl, but he's kind of overplayed. Red Magician was a third possibility, but considering his spotty reputation I'm not sure if Twilight would really be all that troubled by the loss. More recently though I actually started considering alternatives that might be relevant to either or both of you.

RK; I was thinking maybe I could lay bit of foundation for your eventual Golden Horseshoes story by having this be were Puissance acquired the first of them... and/or maybe just Mimic's journal or some such which could be used in the later search for the rest?

G&C; I remembered that Ink Blot's Fireruby from Icehearts was supposed to be part of a set of seven, and I seem to recall it was inferred Puissance had more than just the one piece. So would it maybe work for one of the artifacts mentioned here to be another gem in that set?

Oh, and...

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Just keeping you in the loop in case this would require additional canon evaluation. Or for that matter if you had any other ideas for some artifacts/rarities to name drop, maybe even something specifically significant to Latigo? I'm really more of a character writer, while you're much better at inventing historical world lore.

4360716 : Red Magician has a spotty reputation re: music, but I don't think anyone's ever impugned his spell casting abilities. That said, Puissance and/or Velvet might shy away from owning his stuff just because Luna publicly denounced him.

Anywho, yes, the Fire Ruby was part of a set of 7 (and was the first one that she got, having done so when she was much younger). Puissance, as a completionist, would very much want the full set. If it was literally decades between starting the collection and having the chance to obtain the last one (from Velvet), she would likely be very pleased and willing to 'overlook' a little trespassing.

(She would still want another piece of the set even if it wasn't the last one she needed ,but she'd be much happier, and much more willing to overlook Silverstar's misdeeds if Velvet could give her the last element of a set which she had started collecting decades prior.)

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but I don't think anyone's ever impugned his spell casting abilities.

True, but short of Vazak's aborted crown story, I don't think we ever established him as creating any major relics. Certainly the greatest spellcaster of his time, but no lasting legacy of note outside his embarrassing musical flop. It'd be possible to reference him here, but he'd still be pretty much a bottom tier choice for me.

If it was literally decades between starting the collection and having the chance to obtain the last one

Well, this fic, and more importantly EoI where the sale happened, predate Icehearts and I couldn't recall if Puissance was supposed have the whole set by then or not. As you note though, completing a set she'd been working on for decades would certainly thrill Puissance to no end, so I'd certainly be game to write it that way if you were as well, otherwise maybe it would just be the second two last and maybe leave open the potential for some future story about her seeking the final piece of the collection

If RK bows out and RDD has no other ideas, I might for simplicity sake just make it the last TWO gems. I did after all specifically want it to be two items; one to replace the lost Alicorn Amulet and a second to placate Puissance so she'd agree to pursue no further attempts at retribution against the thieves. Either way, would you have any particular preferences as to what other gems are in the set?

We've already got a fireruby, so maybe a starsapphire?

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We've already got a fireruby, so maybe a starsapphire?

I've always seen her more as an orange lantern, her in a Star Sapphire costume could be nightmare inducing.

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Indeed, she's all Orange Lantern strait down to the core of her shriveled prune that passes for a heart.

Although, insofar as the costume alone goes, she could have maybe pulled off the Star Sapphire look a few decades ago. Or at least I'd wager Rolling Fields would think so, seeing as he described her as having been one of the most attractive mares in the court...

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Oh yes, she was a looker in her day, although that day was a long time ago.

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I guess if we wanted a court member that could actually suit the proper emotion, Fragrant might not be a bad choice, and Max might certainly appreciate the costume too, especially if her niece is anything to go by.

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So the Canterlot Corps?

Red - Rage - Fisher?
Orange - Greed - Puscience
Yellow - Fear - ??? Greengrass (Had to put him somewhere)
Green - Willpower - Luna
Blue - Hope - Max
Indigo - Compassion - Buttercup
Violet - Love - Fragrant

4360804 : Ice Hearts had her obtaining the ruby decades prior, from Red Rose as a gift for getting her in touch with the Niqab monastery. So although EoI precedes Ice Hearts, Puissance obtaining the last gem(s) in EoI is after her obtaining the ruby in the flashback in EoI.

That said, her obtaining the last one (or two) gem(s) in EoI could be really cool. She'd be thrilled about finally getting her chance to complete her collection. Probably put them in her most prominent museum and host a big party so everyone can look at them and marvel at how she's so awesome for having them.

As for what else is in the set... I know nothing about gems. :-) So I don't really have any ideas there. I figured there would be 7 colors represented, the usual rainbow ones, so probably an emerald and an amethyst for green and purple, but beyond that I got nothing. They should all have some kind of magic spell or power, though, just like the Fire Ruby can... well, warm Puissance.

4360716 Now that I am finally back from Concord-mother had eye surgery and this site doesn't load too well on my phone-that doesn't sound bad, thank you.