I've been contemplating the Luna chapter for a bit now, and I'm still not sure what to do with it. My original idea was to have the Amulet appear as Nightmare Moon, and then Luna could have a philosophical debate with it.

Then I tried a different approach; the Amulet appears as Nightmare Moon, only it presents itself as forlorn and morose, consigned to its death. It then accuses Luna of enjoying its appearance, says that she is happy to see it die. It tries to twist her guilt into protection, saying that putting it on will redeem her. I also considered changing it to be Celestia instead of Nightmare Moon.

This may be at odds with the other chapters, however, and so I thought I would ask if anyone else had other ideas or input.

If the idea of this anthology is that the Amulet tempts ponies with something they want, and then the pony rejects it because they don't need that thing, then this would fit that pattern. (Luna wants redemption, but realizes that the real Celestia already gave it to her.) But from the chapters I've edited so far, that theme/idea/pattern is not omnipresent. I want Luna's chapter to reflect and conclude the ideas in other chapters, if possible. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.

5994965
Maybe Luna should be the one running the reverse temptation instead of Pinkie?

5996268 I considered that, but didn't want to steal your thunder. If you want, we can try trading; you write a Luna chapter involving reverse temptation (/edit your current one to star Luna instead of Pinkie) and I can try rewriting my chapter to be about Pinkie instead of Luna.

5997402
Let me put together a few pages for Luna first- just to see where it's heading. Then we can see which is more interesting.

5997402
Actually, I realised something. Discord is a former villain with a dark side that enjoys playing the trickster and is omnipotent. Isn't he the obvious choice for this?

5997910 I dunno. My angle with the Luna chapter was that the Amulet was preying on her guilt, and that's where the conflict came from. While we know Discord is capable of guilt, most of the time he seems pretty blase about his past actions and morality in general

Also, considering Discord's generally OP nature, I don't think the Amulet would be able to offer him very much.

5998060
My angle for the Amulet is... Well...

Okay, most of the time, tempters and temptresses are always superior. They know how the 'real world' works and it's up to the innocent newcomer to barely manage to escape. I guess what I really want is for someone to say to somebody like that; "You're wrong, and I can prove it. Moreover, this is really self-destructive, and if you don't stop you'll be stuck as a mini-boss for heroes to beat on their quest for all eternity. Do better."

5997910 5998060

Wait, why can't Discord jest puff the Amulet, out of existants ?

5998222
Chaos magic directly attempting to disappear something that highly charged with normal magic could have unforeseen consequences.

5998060
After some thought though, I do think I'll try and make Pinkie's work. If Luna is supposed to be the finale, perhaps a breakdown explaining why exactly the Amulet is about to die?

5994965
The temptation isn't going well at all. I have no idea what they’re supposed to talk about. I have no idea what direction any of this is going to go, or how to shape it. Bleh.

I'm going to try troubleshooting your problem for a bit, see if that helps me any.

Okay, what has Luna gone through?
She's faced temptation twice now. The first time she craved power and became Nightmare Moon, the second she wished for her sins to be gone and created the Tanabus. The Amulet won't really have an in that she hasn't seen before.
So, what would it do?

It's still a machine, one in denial about it's own sapience. It'd try the same process it always has, but Luna built something similar to this when she made the Tantubus. So maybe she recognize what it is?

Perhaps it gets partway through, and then Luna uses her Dream Magic to knock the whole thing off the rails, and then asks the Amulet about its origins? Finds it out doesn't remember?

She realizes how broken it is and extends compassion, and it doesn't know what compassion is, and then it has a breakdown and try's to kill her, and then dies? That'd be intense.

6000199 My stories generally tend to avoid violence. Partly because it is hard to do in prose, and partly because it doesn't fit a lot of the characters I work with. The Amulet suffering a Villainous Breakdown could certainly justify that, but given its nature and waning power level, it would have to be quite a breakdown.

The way my chapter currently is structured, the Amulet tries to portray itself as a victim and fails. Perhaps this is the wrong approach, because Luna sees herself as the one who needs forgiveness, not the Amulet. It tries to disarm her with guilt and faux-vulnerability, but she's too cynical for that.

Perhaps the Amulet appears as Celestia or NMM, and when Luna confronts it, all the Amulet says is "I forgive you." naturally, Luna scoffs at this.

"You? Forgive me? As if a doppelganger like you, a tempter and charlatan, could ever offer forgiveness."

It's smile remained the same. "I still forgive you."

"And even if you were the real thing, who would you be to offer forgiveness? I thought your temptations were supposed to be enticing and intimate. You should know better than to try something so far removed from reality!"

"I forgive you."

"Do you have nothing else to say? Nothing of substance?"

"I forgive you."

"I do not need or want your forgiveness!"

This continues, until Luna gets so incensed she prepares to strike the Amulet, and its smile widens.

"For someone so replete with forgiveness, you seem to be quite violent." The doppelganger leaned forward. "Perhaps you are in need of forgiveness after. Someone, something to soothe your soul, to remind you that you are still a good pony, underneath all your sin." Its body curled around Luna, and its mouth crept next to her ear. "I could be that someone, that something, if you let me."

It turned over a hoof, and the Amulet, the real one, sat on top of it. "Noone would need to know."

"I would know..."

"Yes, that's exactly my point."

Maybe it's a Whole Plot Reference to The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe?

6000199 Here's a thought: the Amulet's goal all along was to teach ponies to be better, by tempting them and letting them win. It doesn't tempt them out of a desire for power, but as a way to make them better.

This would make all its temptations two-fold. We need to ask what ponies need to learn from the Amulet, and what it offers them that contradicts this.

In Pinkie's case, it's easy. She wants to help ponies, but she needs to learn that not everyone can be helped. It's also easy in Luna's case; she wants to be forgiven, but she needs to learn that only she can forgive herself.

Perhaps the Amulet straight up tells Pinkie all this (leaving it ambiguous whether it is lying). Then it offers her a choice; either reject it, and learn her lesson. Or succumb to its power, and thus recharge it. After all, that would give it more chances to help other ponies, so really Pinkie would be helping others. From a certain point of view...

6000338
I don't like insinuating that what the Amulet does to people is a good thing without devoting time to how driving people to tears and leading them on rampages are bad things.

I mean, if we stopped to acknowledge that its just a little hypocritical, it could be interesting... hm.

I do like your Luna pitch a lot.

6000540 Well again, that's why you make the Amulet the one presenting the idea. If it seems hypocritical, then perhaps that hypocrisy is what makes its temptation fail. Admittedly, I was sleepy at the time I had the idea, so it may be more plot hole than good idea.

6000267
Okay, I finally have a draft I think I can finish, which was a lot harder than I thought it would be. It isn't finished yet, but it's far enough in that I think I've know what's actually going to happen in it. Since the Amulet is so weak, it can't maintain an illusion, so it and Pinkie go back and forth psycho-analyzing each other. Pinkie Pie spends her half deducing the Amulet's fragile mental state and trying to convince it that it needs help. The Amulet spends its half showing Pinkie pieces of her past and trying to convince her that she should take it up to help ponies by showing her how bad her past was, and around that point I realized I wasn't writing Pinkie Pie, I was writing the Doctor.

So, I was wondering if you had anypony who could fit Pinkie's spot better. Is that joke Princess Celestia chapter still in the works, for instance?

(here's the link, but it's not done yet. Sorry. Don't feel rushed, get to it when you get the chance. Thank you so much!)

6005509 So far, the only change in the character list is that Rarity is available (the person writing it had real life stuff).

If the idea is that the Amulet is preying upon the victim's unsavory memories of difficult times in their life, then that implies a few things. The victim had some difficult time in their life, and is fine now. I don't know if Pinkie Pie fits that description. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a canon pony who fits that criteria. But I can look over the chapter tomorrow and get a clearer idea of the themes you are going for, and see if a different protagonist comes to mind.

5994965
I think this is a good idea. To me it works best if the amulet is actually being truthful about its plight when it appears to Luna as someone who's run-down and resigned to an inevitably approaching death: Luna is the amulet's last chance, the only pony it has enough power left to offer a meaningful temptation to before it fades out completely.

There's a lot of interesting potential here for Luna to be confronted with conflicting sympathetic emotional urges about wanting to save and redeem something evil (because she was given that chance herself), in opposition to more intellectually knowing that this is not a pony or something with the potential for good inside of it that merits saving. The challenge for her is taking the principled stand to do something that rends her heart but she knows in her head is right and must be done, by allowing the amulet to fade and 'die' while she watches and resists caving in to its last pleas for its life. This should be a very hard and emotionally taxing trial for her, in order to be a suitably dramatic finish to the story.

Probably works best if Celestia's chapter is just her pretending to be under the amulet's influence in order to get a day off from responsibility, but could also work if this is left ambiguous, as well. The Celestia chapter could also be played for comedy between Luna and Celestia if Luna (with growing exasperation) keeps trying to confront Celestia with accusations about faking because she knows (or thinks she knows) that the amulet is 'dead' at that point, but keeps getting redirected, brushed off, or pranked instead of taken seriously.

6005509 Access denied (which means you forgot to change the permissions )

6006706
I think this link might fix it?
I was thinking Starlight Glimmer might be both smart enough to play the Amulet and have a tragic backstory. Is she taken?

6006893
I'm writing a chapter for Starlight Glimmer.

6006998
drat.