Radioactive
For the first time since she had arrived in Manehattan, Luna flew over the streets. The hot pavement provided massive updrafts, and let her coast over the marching crowd that approached the Manehattan Courthouse. The mass of ponies had grown since they had set out nearly an hour before. The city was big, and Celestia’s speech over the screens had done more to help Luna than even the court case had done. Somehow, the citizens of the city that prided itself on being more on its own than part of Equestria hadn’t taken well to being reminded of who they were ruled by.
The air felt cool on Luna’s fur, and she switched off all her neural tech to allow herself to fly without distraction. She drifted only a few hundred feet above the crowd, though she would have preferred to be higher. She figured that most of the protestors wanted to at least see their leader, though, so she stayed close.The jets had appeared once again, but none bore down on the crowd. Instead, Celestia’s guard kept their distance.
Luna felt a cold ball of fear gather in her stomach. She was flying by the tips of her wings, and she had no idea what she was doing. Her eyes scanned the ground in front of them, but the way to the courthouse was clear. Not even any traffic. Celestia was waiting for her, and was letting Luna take her time. Part of her desperately wanted to turn around and fly back, never to return.
A blur of purple and pink shot out from the crowd and flew up to Luna. Twilight had grown into quite a flyer, she saw, who sped as fast as a meteor into the sky but managed to stop next to Luna with plenty of time to spare. The only telling part of the performance was the windswept look Twilight’s mane took on.
“Hey,” Twilight said, a little out of breath. “You doing alright up here?”
“I’m fine,” Luna said.
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “I’m simply up here to keep me from worrying all the other ponies. I read somewhere, once, that officers in the Royal Guard are removed from the troops just so they seem more invincibile and distant.”
“Well, this isn’t exactly an army.” Twilight laughed. “More like a slightly-organized mob.”
“A mob that is working for me, and will follow my orders,” Luna said.
“Still a powerful mob.”
“What is a mob to a queen?”
“A very large group of ponies that you don’t want to upset.” Twilight hesitated, then placed a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “You can do this, Princess. You’ve grown a lot since you came back from the moon. You’re a mare of the common pony.”
Luna sighed. “But is that a good thing?”
Twilight didn’t answer her . . . until, she gave a shrug and drifted down toward the ponies below. Luna watched her go. She watched her head for the convertible in the middle of the crowd that held Sapphire and Rarity, almost forgotten in the whole commotion. Luna thought about heading down to them, but decided against it.
Though, just as she was heading back up for some more altitude, she noticed a commotion near the front of the crowd. Ponies were gathered in one place, and none moved up the street after a point in the street. Luna flew down toward the epicenter of the problem, and hoped that what was wrong wouldn’t be anything major.
Seeing the glint of golden armor the closer she got, Luna’s hopes of a quick and easy solution began to fade. When she landed, she trotted up toward the front of her mob to see that, sure enough, a contingent of Royal Guard troopers were standing in the middle of the street in a wall, dressed in full battle gear.
Their eyes watched the crowd before them, made up of ponies who looked at the guards’ weapons projectors in fear.
Buck Shot came running up to Luna, out of breath. “Out of the way, out of the way!” he said to the crowd. Then, he reached Luna. “Hey, Princess, what’s going on?”
“Look for yourself,” she said.
He stared at the guards for a moment, then whistled. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves quite the problem.”
“You could say that.”
“Yeah, and I wish I couldn’t.” Buck Shot pressed a hoof to his forehead. “So, I guess Celestia is drawing the line here, eh? Probably to give her some time to prepare for us and keep us bottled up.”
“Is that what you’d do?” Luna asked.
“If I were in her position? Yeah, that’s about what I’d do,” he said.
Luna noticed that the guards were on every side of the intersection in front of the crowd, so anypony trying to access the one road leading to the courthouse would have to get past them. Luna grimaced, but had to give Celestia points for resourcefulness.
“So how do we break the deadlock?” she asked.
“You’re asking me?”
“Well, you’re the police pony here. How would you break your own blockade?”
Buck Shot shook his head. “The point of setting something up like this is that, barring extreme violence, it won’t be broken. Those guards units can take on a whole company of soldiers or an entire precinct of our best cops.” He looked at her. “Do you think you can take them on yourself?”
“Almost certainly, but I’m not sure I want to do that.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m sure it’s part of Celestia’s gamble. If I start the violence, then she has the upper hoof and the morality. These guards are both a barrier and bait.”
Buck Shot sighed and nodded. They both noticed that the crowd had circled around the two of them, staring at Luna and seeing what she would do. Most of them had hard looks on their faces, and kept glancing at the guards.
Luna looked at all of them, and clenched her jaw. It was show time for her, the do or die moment that would decide if the crowd kept with her all the way to the courthouse. Her stomach was doing flip flops and her mind urged her to turn away, to forget it had ever happened and to beg for mercy.
Instead of listening to them, however, Luna chose to do what her heart told her. After taking a deep breath, she began to walk forward. She did not run, or trot, or even canter. Luna kept her pace steady and her eyes on the guards in front of her as she approached them at a steady pace. She could feel the electricity in the air, the fear and anxiety of two groups facing off against each other. For a moment, she wondered if it was how her sister felt all the time.
About five paces from the front column of guards, Luna stopped. If the stallions in front of her were wowed by the presence of the former Princess of the Night, they didn’t give any sign. She almost wanted to feel insulted, if not for the situation.
Instead, she simply asked: “Please move.”
To the lack of surprise to everypony, they did not. Luna smiled, as she’d expected them to act as such. “Alright,” she said, “then I will be the one to move, as a citizen of Equestria, just as all in the crowd are, and without any intent to cause harm.”
Her heart beat faster. She knew, if her gamble failed, that would be it for the rebellion and herself. So, she tried not to think about that as she stepped forward. For a moment, Luna paused in front of the guards, then began to push her way through.
There was a moment of hesitation in them, but the stallions parted just enough to let her through. She was in. Luna let out a happy sigh and continued to walk forward across the avenue, her back to the crowd. When she got to the other side and the guards there, they parted as well. Just like that she was on the other side of the street.
Buck Shot came after her, and after him the crowd followed. The trickle soon turned into a flow, and the guards were forced to back down. Luna smiled as she watched Celestia’s gambit fail to the pressure of numbers and the unwillingness of the guards to attack. Once enough had gotten through, Luna continued her march down the road, straight toward the courthouse.
The building loomed like a gothic spire above the dirty streets of Manehattan. Somehow, it looked like it didn’t belong, like it had been dropped into the city one day and left there. The buildings around it all faced away, like they were scared to look at the courthouse. It was if Canterlot itself had been transplanted all the way across the country.
Outside the building, to Luna’s surprise, the streets were clear. No cars honked or blocked their way, and no guards stood ready to shoot them down. It was eerie, in a way, to see the road completely empty. In a city like Manehattan, a sight like that never truly happened.
Luna turned to look back for Buck Shot or Sapphire, but they were nowhere to be seen. The crowd, to her, was just a sea of faces that all seemed to lock onto her at the same time, and she didn’t recognize a single one of them. What she could see, however, was Twilight flying high above the crowd once more.
As the crowd slowed to a stop in front of the courthouse, Luna took to the air. Even the wind around the building was stagnant, and she had to rely on flapping and magic to keep herself aloft. Her muscles began to ache a little by the time she got to Twilight, so unused to flying after many years on the ground.
“So what now?” Luna asked.
“I don’t know, I was hoping you would tell me,” Twilight said. “So far, with Celestia’s little guard plan failed, I think she’s hoping to just wait us out.”
“But she can’t do that, can she? Surely she has to meet the crowd at some point.”
“Celestia dealt with full-scale riots and revolutions back when she first sent you to the moon, and she brought them all down. By their nature, revolutions are hot-headed and spur-of-the-moment types of action, and she knows it.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “And how exactly do you know all this?”
“Even a thousand years later, I’m still Celestia’s number one student.”
Twilight smiled a little, and Luna returned it. Together, they looked to the bay windows at the top of the courthouse tower, where they knew Celestia would be watching them. Luna could imagine her gaze, so heavily falling on them that it was a wonder they didn’t drop to the ground.
“What if we teleport inside?” she asked.
Twilight snorted. “Force her to come out here?”
“Well it’s an idea.”
“It is, yes, it is.” Twilight sighed. “As much as I hate to admit it, though, Celestia hasn’t gotten weaker over the years. Since you left, she’s even gotten stronger. I doubt we can force her to do anything at this point.”
“So what do we do?”
The crowd, as if it had heard both of them, answered the question. The platform that Sapphire had been on was raised to the front of the crowd, and they all began to chant her name. “SA-PPHI-RE! SA-PPHI-RE!” they called.
Some ponies had brought flags of the Duchy of Manehattan, and were waving them. The blue and orange fit nicely in the gray of the street. Some others had even managed to create crude banners with Luna and Sapphire’s names on them. They all pressed closer to the front of the courthouse. It appeared that a large steel grate had been lowered over the front doors, and metallic clangs ran out as ponies began to pound on it. The crowd surged upon the doors like a cascade beating against an ocean cliff.
Luna looked down at them. “Maybe we should go see what we can do,” she said.
“If you’d like.” Twilight shrugged. “This mob’s out of your hooves for the most part, Princess. Once they’ve gotten so excited like they are, there isn’t much you can do to stop them. Guide them a little, maybe, but not stop them. This is going to end today, whether you like it or not.”
“Well, I still wish for it to end on my terms,” she said.
“Then good luck.”
The jets reappeared overhead just as Luna began her glide to the ground. The aircraft looked menacing with sharp, golden points on the nose and wings as well as bristling with missiles and hard-light projectors. They buzzed over the crowd, eliciting gasps and shrieks, before loitering around the area on hoverjets.
Luna fought the urge to watch them as they landed on the ground. She didn’t want to give any of the ponies a reason to worry, though she herself was desperately hoping Celestia wasn’t about to try something very stupid.
The crowd near the front of the courthouse parted for Luna to get through. Buck Shot was there, and joined her at her side with a small grin. To her surprise, though, Luna found Sapphire at the head of the mob, still banging on the door.
“I’m not sure I should be surprised,” Luna said.
“Oh, good, you’re here,” Sapphire said. “Mind giving us a helping hoof? With an alicorn on our side, there’s no way this metal can last.”
“I’m just worried about what happens after it comes down.” Luna looked from Sapphire to the crowd. “Do you really think it would be smart to let thousands of angry ponies pour into the courthouse? It’d be close quarters with a lot of guards and a lot of ponies who are just caught in the crossfire.”
“It’s better than sitting here and doing nothing.”
Luna sighed. “You’re right, it is, but I don’t see a good idea of what we can do at this point.”
Rarity’s AI core lay at Sapphire’s hooves. It had been silent for much of the trip, but as the two argued, its light began to blink white. Then, Rarity’s holographic body flashed to life right in front of Luna and Sapphire, silencing the both of them. Rarity had a grin on her face.
“It’s a good thing at least one of us hasn’t been doing nothing,” she said.
Luna opened her mouth, but was interrupted by shouts from the crowd. They began to part once again, but this time much wider than they had for Luna. A gap big enough to fit a space liner through opened up on the road to reveal a phalanx of marching ponies.
At just a brief glance, they were little different from the rest of the mob. Looking closer, however, revealed them to be much more skeletal, and they walked with a precision that was impossible with a normal body. Their eyes never blinked, and their nostrils never flared to show they were breathing.
“You . . . brought droids?” Luna asked.
“Manehattan has close to forty thousand free droids,” Rarity said. “I decided we needed a little back up.”
“Alright, but how is this all going to help us?” Buck Shot asked. “I mean, what can they all do that we weren’t already?”
Even as a hologram, Rarity was able to give off an air of self-importance and dignity by the way she swooshed her hair back before she talked to someone “lower” than her. “It will give a bit of legitimacy to our cause, for one. You may remember, Sapphire and I are what this entire mob is supposedly marching for, not just Duchess Luna,” she said, then smiled. “Those doors behind us are also not just made of steel but interlaced with a hard-light shield. Physical force would never break through it. Forty thousand AIs attacking it at once, however . . .”
Buck Shot smiled and stepped out of the way to let a few of the droids at the head of the column through. Unlike Sapphire and Rarity, they talked little, and didn’t seem to be as comfortable around the crowd. They still didn’t complain, however, and began chatting with Rarity and stuck cords into her core.
Luna couldn’t understand what they were doing, as they seemed to be half talking in the open and half communicating wirelessly on some wavelength that Luna’s own implants couldn’t pick up. What they said, though, didn’t matter much to her when they all began to walk forward.
Each droid took out a wire from sockets placed somewhere on their body and plugged it into the droid in front of them. Soon, they formed a single chain stretching from the front doors and down the street. The final droid near the front plugged into Sapphire, who stuck hers into Rarity. The AI core, then, had its own input that could be placed into the wall near the middle.
Buck Shot whistled. “I think I can see why the Empress is so scared of these ponies,” he said. “I’ve been in the police for a long time, and I haven’t seen precision like that even in the Royal Guard.”
Rarity waved to Luna and pointed to her cord. “If you would do the honor, Princess, we can let you in. This door is going to be encrypted with a program as powerful as the one in Canterlot Castle. We’ll only be able to keep a small section of the wall open for a few seconds. You and Twilight can make it inside by then.”
“What about you and Sapphire?” Luna asked.
“Don’t worry about us, you two just get inside and make it to Empress Celestia to bring this entire nasty business to an end.”
Luna wanted to say more, but the droids all watched her in such a way that she couldn’t even begin to think about letting them down. She lined up at the door, with Twilight flying down to her side. She didn’t say anything, but just nodded to Luna. They turned, as one, to the very front of the metal seal, but Sapphire tapped Rarity on the shoulder.
“Would you plug us in?” she asked. “It’d be . . . an honor.”
Luna smiled and reached down to pick up the cord in her teeth. She approached the wall that had a small socket in it, and thought it was so funny that such a small outlet would determine the fate of millions of ponies. She supposed a lot of things were like that, little things that make a world of difference.
The crowd started to get a little antsy, so Luna stopped her pondering and just plugged the cord in. There was, at first, no reaction. Then, a soft buzz was heard in the air that grew steadily louder until it was like millions of bees taking off. The long line of droids were all deep in concentration, their eyes flickering on and off in rapid succession.
Then, from behind, Luna heard a loud groan as the steel door began to open from the middle outward. It was slow going, but soon it was open long enough for a pony to fit through.
Sapphire waved at them. “Go now! We can’t keep this thing open forever!”
Luna nodded and took one last look at the crowd. So many thousands of ponies all looking at her, watching her. She knew that they were counting on her and relying on her to do what was right and what was good for Manehattan. She hoped she wouldn’t let her down.
After taking a deep breath, Luna ran inside the courthouse behind Twilight, just as the door slammed shut. It was a close enough call that some of the hairs on Luna’s tail were cut off in the force of the doors shutting.
Just like that, Twilight and Luna were alone in a dark room, at the foot of Celestia’s tower. Luna, even then, still felt afraid.
The power wasn’t just out in the bottom floor of the courthouse, but in the whole building. Luna and Twilight were forced to climb stairs that had hardly been used over the years. Worse, the stairwell was too narrow to fly up, so both alicorns were useless inside. Luna thought about teleporting, but she knew that would bring Celestia right to them, and ruin any chance they had of catching her by surprise.
The only sound in the stairwell was the heavy breathing of Luna and Twilight. They had just passed Floor 20, but when Luna looked up their destination didn’t seem any closer. It looked to be almost a lifetime away, like they could never reach it.
“Do you think this will really work?” Twilight asked finally, stopping briefly on the stairs in front of Luna. “This whole, vague plan we have about talking to Celestia and getting her to stop all this. Do we really have any chance?”
“We’re two princesses,” Luna said. “I think we have some pull on my sister.”
“Have you been around your sister lately? Ever since she renamed herself Empress, she hasn’t wanted to listen to a word I say.”
“Has it really been that bad?”
“Maybe not that bad, but I just went out to the colonies rather than bother with her back here. The days of me being her student ended a long time ago, Luna.”
Luna paused for a moment, then kept walking. After a pause, she said, “She isn’t that bad, you know. She’s just doing her job. Celestia isn’t going to want to hurt ponies on purpose.”
“Where is this coming from?” Twilight asked. “You seemed fine with leading a rebellion against her.”
“That’s different,” Luna said.
“How, exactly, is that different by any stretch of imagination?”
“I’m doing this whole thing to show her that’s she wrong,” Luna said. “To show her that she can’t just walk all over me because I’m not in the castle anymore. Ever since I left she has gotten a litle high on herself, so maybe with this my sister can return to normal.”
“Wasn’t this whole thing about whether Rarity and that droid can love each other?”
“With Celestia, it’s never that simple. I want them to be able to do whatever they want, but to get them what they want we have to win the bigger war here. And Celestia didn’t try to arrest me over droid rights, I can tell you that.”
Twilight gave her a strange look, but she dropped it. They continued on their way up, the sound of their hooves growing louder as they started to drag a bit. Luna could feel herself start to sweat, and worried that it would cause a problem with the circuitry she still had attached to her.
Luna started to wonder if they would ever actually reach the top, or if they would be stuck in the stairwell forever. She knew that was silly, but at the same time she wouldn’t have been surprised.
She didn’t get a chance to find out, however. There was a bang at the top of the stairwell, and Luna could hear some talking. Then, before they could run, a pink field of magic surrounded herself and Twilight, and in a flash they were gone from the stairwell.
When they appeared again, the two alicorns were in the middle of the courtroom, surrounded by gold-armored guards on all sides. Their weapons were drawn and powered up, with raw energy gathered at the tips. Luna knew the combined weaponry would only take a few seconds to chew through any shield that she could pull up, and Twilight couldn’t do much better.
Celestia stepped out from between the guards, her royal crown and armor gone. She didn’t say anything, just looked at the both of them. Though Luna was just about as tall as her, she seemed to tower over them like a giant.
“Well, well, I was wondering when the two of you would show up,” she said. “I am a bit surprised you two decided to take the stairs instead of flying up to the roof. Then again, I suppose a little variety to life never hurt anypony. I was honestly surprised that you two managed to gather so many droids, and so fast.”
“Surprisingly, the ones most affected by this court case are coming out in force to oppose you,” Luna said.
Celestia pretended to look surprised. “Oh, the court case? Is this what this is still about? Silly me, in all this confusion I almost forgot. Must have just . . . slipped my mind.”
Twilight looked between the two of them, and then back at the guards who had half the Canterlot arsenal pointed at them. “Hey, maybe it would be better if we talked somewhere with less . . . stress? I don’t think we can get anything done if we’re all this tense, right princesses?”
“That’s Empress, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia did wave to her guards, however, who began to put their weapons back. “However, the young princess is right. Guards, leave us. I’ll finish this by myself.”
The Royal Guard, for their part, did not hesitate. They immediately formed ranks and marched out of the courtroom as one long snake of golden armor and straight faces. As Luna watched them, she felt odd looking over them, like there was something about them that was so unreal, just artificial.
Celestia walked up the aisle between seats to the front of the courtroom, past Luna and Twilight, and to the judge’s seat once more. When she sat down and looked at them, however, much of the air of superiority she had held in the trial was gone. Celestia leaned on one hoof and had a bored, slightly bemused expression on her face.
There was a flash of golden light, and Celestia’s appearance changed. Her flowing technicolor mane had disappeared to be replaced with a smaller, pinker one. She was shorter as well, and had the look of a pegasus more than an alicorn, despite the horn on her head.
Luna looked down at herself to discover that she, too, had changed to her more normal pony form. She shook herself a bit, but wasn’t surprised that her sister had, somewhat symbolically, undressed her. She wasn’t happy to think that, either.
Twilight looked down at herself to discover that nothing had changed, and remembered that she had never bothered with an alicorn form because she thought they were silly. When she looked at Celestia and Luna, though, she still felt like they were more alicorns hiding in pony appearances than actual ponies.
“I thought that, perhaps, an issue like this needed the air of officiality taken away,” Celestia said. “It has been far too long since we presented ourselves as how we truly are to each other.”
Luna sighed. “In more ways than one.”
“I know.”
Twilight coughed. “So maybe we should use this meeting to, um, resolve the crisis that’s keeping thousands of ponies waiting outside? If you two aren’t too busy, that is.”
“Sarcasm, Twilight Sparkle?” Celestia raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you have been in the colonies for far too long.”
“Perhaps,” Twilight said.
“Well, Twilight is right,” Luna said. “Celestia, we have stop all this madness. What we do in here today will affect the lives of millions, and we have to do it soon before a riot breaks out. Neither of us wants Manehattan to lose control of itself.”
“I agree,” Celestia said.
Her horn glowed and, as one, every blind on every window in the room opened at once, exposing the courtroom to the bright sunlight over Manehattan. Luna had to shield her eyes from the glare, and when she lowered her hoof Celestia was standing in front of one of the windows, looking down. Luna joined her, and could see the massive crowd that was still gathered below the buildings.
Celestia grimly smiled. “I will admit, sister, what you have done is impressive. I don’t believe this many ponies having willingly marched for any princess in two thousand years. You have managed to gather most of these in a single day. It would seem you’re popular.”
“No, I’m not,” Luna said.
“Oh?”
“I myself am not popular, not really. To these ponies all I am is the face of the frustrations and anger that these ponies feel. Whether it’s toward you or the court case, I don’t know, but it’s not because of me specifically.”
“I see you’ve grown up a little.” Celestia pursed her lips. “I believe that you are right, as well. And it is for this reason that you cannot become Duchess, Luna. Not now, not ever.”
Luna took her time to answer. She ruffled the feathers on her wings and looked at her reflection in the window. The eyes that looked back at her looked so much more tired than she remembered. “Why?”
“Why? You’re really going to ask me why I won’t just let you take part of my kingdom and rule it by yourself?”
“That worked in the past,” Luna said. “I would just be ruling it more personally. Besides, the ponies here are obviously not satisfied. Why do you deny them someone who actually cares about them? Is it really for petty pride?”
Celestia’s smiled curled into a snarl. “I do care! I care about each and every last pony in the city. But I am not their friend, I am their ruler. I have to do what is best for them whether they like it or not because they can’t see the big picture! Millions of ponies have no idea what it takes for them to enjoy a life far more luxurious than a pony from Twilight’s time could ever dream of.”
“So the will of the ponies counts for nothing, is that it?”
“A million ponies gathered together does not make them smarter than all of them individually. A mob is only as smart as those in it, and I am afraid to say most of the ponies in this city are terribly misinformed.”
Twilight took a step forward, placing herself beside Luna. They both looked to Celestia at the same time, their gazes hardening and postures hardening to make them both appear as big as the Empress. Celestia just looked at them both for a moment and laughed, not moving a muscle. “Oh, so are you two going to try and threaten me because you don’t like my answer?”
“You know your answer isn’t right, Celestia,” Twilight said.
“From your point of view.”
“From all points of view!”
Celestia huffed. “I thought I taught you better, Twilight Sparkle. By now, I would think you wouldn’t have such a narrow idea of what is right and wrong. The world is not as white or black as you think it is.”
“Then maybe give us some inkling of what you’re talking about so you don’t sound like a dictator,” Luna said. It was a simple request, but one that took Celestia aback for a moment. From the look on her face, she didn’t quite know how to respond, and had to gather her thoughts.
A jet flew past the window, spraying smoke across the glass. Luna and Twilight flinched, but Celestia didn’t so much as blink. “You want to know the truth, yes? I suppose everyone wants to eventually . . . no matter the consequences. I suppose I shouldn’t have tried to keep it from you, Luna.” She sighed. “The truth is, I can’t free the droids, even if I wish I could. And I do wish I could, Luna. Do you think I enjoy holding down ponies simply because they were built and not born?”
“You gave off that feeling quite a bit,” Luna said.
“It was for appearances.”
“Well you might start explaining if you want us to believe you.”
“The truth is that I cannot free the droids without sending the entire country into collapse,” Celestia said. “Neither of you may know the real numbers, but there are well over a million droids working in Equestria and in the colonies, doing incredibly dangerous jobs for free. These are jobs that we must have, but could never afford to pay ponies to do them, based on the high risk they entail. Deep water drilling, asteroid mining, radioactive transportation, and more. Our economy is built on top of this labor, and without it we will fall apart.
“What happens to the droids will affect us all. I have tried before to loosen up on them, but each attempt to do so has led to economic mayhem and crashes, just from putting in a few regulations! It isn’t pretty, but it’s the reality.”
Luna took a step back. “So the droids can’t be allowed to do as they please, to love as they choose . . . because we rely on their slave labor?”
“It’s more complex than that.”
“It doesn’t sound very complex to me,” Twilight said.
Celestia sighed and lowered her head. The two of them were trying so hard to stand up to her, but all she saw in them was how they had looked when they were young. How scared Luna had been to sit on her throne for the first time, and how shaky Twilight had been to receive her wings. It didn’t seem possible that they had once been that young.
“It is a regrettable reality,” Celestia said. “The droids started as simple machines, but as the tasks grew more complex so did they. Eventually, they reached our intelligence, and we suddenly found ourselves using them as virtual slaves despite our best intentions. If I could do anything about it I would, but I cannot in good conscience ruin the lives of the many for the few. That’s ruling.”
Luna’s wings flared up. “Ruling is caring for those under you! If you are willing to sacrifice so much of your ponies, what is the point of you ruling, or anypony?”
“Even after all these years, you don’t understand—”
“Yeah, you’re right, I don’t understand!” Luna pressed herself against Celestia, her eyes ablaze in anger. “I don’t understand why you would go through with all this in the first place! Why did you let Sapphire call me back in the first place for a trial you would never let me win? Because you wanted to make an example of me? Because you wanted to humiliate me?”
“Because I wanted to teach you a lesson,” Celestia said in a shaky voice.
Luna looked her dead in the eyes. “And what . . . lesson . . . could that be?”
Celestia let herself waver for a moment. She was pressed up against the window now, held in place by Luna who felt like she wanted to push her sister out the window itself. “The lesson that, as a princess, you can’t expect to always be given a perfect answer. That sometimes you have to lose some battles to win others. I wanted you to know what it’s like, so what happened all those years ago wouldn’t happen again.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“You know that our fight wasn’t about selling the moon to the Deckard Corporation, Luna,” Celestia said. “It was about you not being able to handle me overruling you.”
“Me, not able to handle it?” Luna yelled and slammed her hoof into the window behind Celestia, shattering the glass and sending it tumbling out as a harsh wind whipped over the three alicorns. “You. Hurt. Me! You just couldn’t handle that I did something behind your back, and when you got mad enough you decided to teach me a lesson about pain!”
“And I was wrong,” Celestia said. She looked down. “I let Deckard Corporation keep the moon because of that . . . I banished you for your own good, to keep you away from me. I couldn’t handle hurting you again.”
“So you call me back to hurt you.”
Celestia reached forward and put her hooves on Luna’s shoulders. “I called you back to let you back into Canterlot!” She shuddered and leaned against her younger sister for support. “I wanted to give you a lesson that would let you be a better ruler, and I’m sorry. I just . . . I became the mask I put on for everypony else, and this whole thing slipped away. I never expected you to start a rebellion.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Are you really that surprised? I don’t remember a time when Luna didn’t do her own thing.”
“You told me to do it!” Luna said.
“I just guided you where you wanted to go . . . mostly.”
“What?” Celestia asked.
“Nothing, it’s nothing.” Luna shook her head. “So what now? I’ve raised a rebellion against you only to learn that you were just trying to teach me a lesson to let me back into Canterlot, and that the whole goal of the rebellion is impossible. What do I do?”
Twilight shrugged. “Celestia wants you to be a princess, while Manehattan and I want you to be a duchess. Be something like that.”
Celestia nodded in agreement. “It’s your choice, Luna. I . . . for once, in these past, long three hundred years, won’t interfere. It would be . . . nice . . . to drop this Empress guise for my sister once more.”
Luna sat on the edge of the floor and let her bottom hooves hang out where the glass window had been. She looked out, to the city that stretched on forever in every direction. A flock of birds flapped their way up through the buildings and escaped out of the city, flying on toward the unknown. Luna envied them at that moment. Even if with her wings spread open, she felt like they were tied.
She had spent three hundred years in one city, watching it grow and prosper in ways that she would never have thought possible when she first sat on the throne, all the way back in Everfree Forest so long ago. The world had become fast, too fast for her to keep up. Even Manehattan itself was outrunning her. The ponies who were outside rallying for her would outdate her in another ten years, if they hadn’t already. Luna wanted to laugh when she realized her own rebellion had outmoded her in a single day, making her a figurehead of a time long past.
“So you say that I can do whatever I want?” Luna asked.
“Within reason,” Celestia said.
“Right.” Luna took a deep breath. “Freedom for all droids already on their own. Citizenship, voting, tune-ups. Love.”
Twilight looked at her. “What about all the droids still laboring?”
“For the moment, I can’t do anything about them, even if I wished I could,” Luna said. “I wish it were better . . . but that’s the reality, I suppose. What I can do is work on the inside, and maybe, with enough time, we can fix this.”
“So you’ll come back to Canterlot with me?” Celestia asked.
Luna shook her head. “Not for the moment. The ponies here want me in Manehattan, so that’s where I’ll stay. But not as a duchess, though, because if anything is to be done, it will be inside the system instead of against it. As a princess.”
“So you’ll be taking my job,” Twilight said glumly.
“No, not that either. Manehattan is the city that never sleeps, in which there is no night to raise for them. I would be wasted here.” Luna indicated to the complex circuitry embedded into her body from her flank on up to her eyes. “But Princess of Technology . . . that sounds more suited to Manehattan, does it not? The Princess of Technology could be the ruler who represents progress and the rights of droids. Fitting, I think.”
Twilight nodded. “And what about the other Elements of Harmony back at Canterlot? Are they freed too?”
Luna looked at Celestia and answered, “Yes.” Her sister didn’t make any move to stop her, instead only watching her with glassy eyes. Luna admitted to herself that was still afraid of Celestia, if not for her acceptance but for the fact that being given so much responsibility was worse than the fight she had perceived.
“The ponies won’t all accept the freed droids,” Celestia said at last. “They’ll fight it.”
“I know.” Luna pointed toward the sky. “That’s why they won’t be here. A certain corporation still owes me some favors for taking the brunt of your punishment for giving them the moon. Droids can, after all, live in any environment we can think of. They’ll be safe, and can live up there with the generators so their nuclear cores never die.”
The wind started to pick up outside, and it blew Luna’s mane around. The day was ending, and she knew that, throughout Equestria, ponies would be returning home for the night. For them, the day was over and they could relax, happy in the knowledge that things would be normal again tomorrow. The more Luna thought about it, the more she knew that was all she really wanted. Normalcy.
“Is this . . . is this really how this all ends?” she asked. “No fighting, no screaming, just agreeing to change how we do things and go back to normal?”
“We fought enough three hundred years ago,” Celestia said. “This is more . . . closure. Our fight has finally ended.”
She sat beside Luna, and Twilight beside her. They watched the sun dip down over the city in silence, only the sound of the wind through the glass to comfort them. For the first time in a long time, Luna no longer felt afraid.
The café Luna had chosen was almost empty by the time the door opened for one last customer. The little cafe was one of the oldest in the city, with wide bay windows stretching around the storefront and looking out from the corner the building stood on. There was a real bar with stools in the middle, and old-fashioned booths with leather seats around the edges of the restaurant. Pale light filtered in from outside as the city let itself sleep in exhaustion from the day’s events.
Luna sat at the end of the bar, her head lowered and mane spilling onto the tabletop. A glass of tea sat in front of her, untouched. Instead, she drank in the sound of laughing and celebration from Twilight, Sapphire, Rarity, and a few of her supporters at the other end. They were drinking cup after cup of coffee and eating several plates of breakfast food, or as well as droids could eat. Luna smiled when she heard them so happy, happier than they had ever been when she had known them. Sapphire practically couldn’t keep her hooves off of Rarity.
When one last customer had come in, Luna hadn’t paid attention to him until he had sat down next to her. She looked up in surprise to find herself staring at none other than Vangelis himself. He looked smaller and older than he had been on the moon.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I heard that somepony had made herself princess again, and promised several thousand droids a place to stay on my moon,” he said.
Luna raised an eyebrow. “You won’t protest this, will you?”
“Of course not.” Vangelis laughed. “After all you’ve done for our company, we’re happy to help, Princess of Technology. I came down here to congratulate you, and, if I may, to ask one final question.”
“Alright, what is it?”
Vangelis leaned back in his seat. “Why, all those years ago, did you defend my company and our acquisition of the moon, even at the risk of bodily harm to yourself?”
“Because I believed in what the Deckard Corporation and Tyrell were doing,” Luna said. “I thought that creating machines as smart as ponies could change the world, and I thought that’s what was right, so I defended you.”
“You defended us because you thought it was right? No other reason?”
“I suppose not.”
Vangelis smiled a small, sad smile. “Doing something because you see it as correct. How . . . very much like a droid.” He got up from his seat as quick as he had come and patted Luna on the side. “I am glad to have somepony like you on my side, Princess. I think we will work together very soon.”
And, just like that, he was gone. Luna watched him walk out the door and disappear into the darkness outside, like a dream after waking. She looked over to Sapphire, who only smiled at her.
Luna took a moment, then smiled back. With a warmer feeling in her heart before, she got up from her seat to go join the rest of the party.
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In the end, I can safely say that, no matter what, I really enjoyed writing this story.
It has been one wild ride through this story. I loved every moment getting to edit and watch it become fairly popular.
I hope everyone enjoyed the story, and in case you all were wondering, yes, I was the guy who liked every single comment. I mean, why not? I do that on my own stories.
Until we meet again!
A shame I only started reading this yesterday. Or perhaps two days ago.
Recently.
As it stands, I see it as a commentary on deontology, or utilitarianism. Or both, with Luna and Twilight in the deontologist camp, and Celestia as the utilitarian.
And I must say, this story is all the better for it's lack of actually mentioning such terms.
I was drawn in because of the idea of machine rights, a question I've been pondering for some time, but throughout my reading of this story, I realized that it isn't about that at all.
Sure, it's talked about a lot, but nothing is actually said on the matter, much like Bioshock with Ayn Rand's objectivism, or Human Revolution with transhumanism.
These games use those ideologies as a framing device, but they don't actually make any commentary on them, much like this story.
This is where your story shines, unlike those games, which don't have a real point to convey, it's a moral debate disguised as a completely different moral debate. It appears to be about singularity ethics, but it's really about the greatest debate in philosophy:
Do the consequences matter, or the choices themselves?
The arguments leveled against the other side are arguments that. Hear leveled in practically every debate on the matter, and even arguments that I myself have used, and that simply makes it all the better.
If I have one problem with this story, it's that the compromise seems more than a bit half-hearted, and sort of comes out of nowhere. Celestia says a few words, and Luna's just like, "seems fair" immediately dropping her argument and practically abandoning her position.
But you know what, that isn't nearly enough to deter me. I mean, you really didn't say who you thought was in the right, and while I kind of want your answer, the fact that you wrote a story like this and didn't try to answer is admirable in itself.
Overall, ten yays out of ten.
And on obligatory moustache:
3414693
If you remember, Luna's position was without shape in the first place. She knew it was wrong, but didn't really feel like she could do anything. It was Twilight that pushed her and got her to make a resolve.
In the end, it was Twilight who organized the rebellion, not Luna. Which, if you ask me, is fairly interesting.
It gets you thinking about the possibility of there being ulterior motives going on here . . .
3414693
Wow, I'm really happy to see someone so thoroughly analyze my story like this, and give so many compliments. Thank you very much for reading! I would like to clear up one thing, because you mention how the compromise pretty much comes up and is solved in a few minutes in a way that seems half-hearted. Well, to say it simply, that was the point. A big part of this story is the commentary on choices, and the ending compromise being so simple is part of that. Namely that it points out that, honestly, the entire thing could have been solved if Celestia and Luna had just talked it out instead of getting involved into the trial and all that came afterward. Hope that makes sense.
there needs to be more now
Well it was an interesting story. Thank you for writing it.
I do have a comment regarding the labour droids. I don't think they are slaves. 'Slave labour' implies that the droids are being forced, against their will, to work. And that doesn't have to be the case.
Let's say a droid is programmed to drill. They are good at drilling, they enjoying drilling, it's pretty much their cutie mark, if you will. So how can such a droid be considered a slave if they do what they enjoy? What their destiny (aka cutie mark) is telling them?
They aren't getting paid? That is just an aspect of the economy, monetary system. If they get maintenance and other things they need to function, I don't think they would complain.
Citizenship, voting, is part of the governmental system. I see why they can't have that. Heck, change the governmental system then.
Love? Sure. You will also find that the said drilling droid will most likely fall in love with that sexy droid from mining station #7.
In the end, if they have everything they need, they will just keep on doing what they enjoy, like a regular pony would.
3414830
Glad you liked the story!
Which is why I didn't outright say Luna was right and Celestia was wrong.
I must say, the ending seems kind of rushed. It seems as though everything was resolved a bit too...optimistically. Celestia and Luna trade barbs for a minute and then everything just kind of gets resolved. Meanwhile, the driving force behind the story (robot rights) is revealed to be a non-issue completely out of Celestia's control.
3415110
Ah, well, that was pretty much the reaction I was expecting, since I took a gamble with the ending. My intention was to have an almost nihilistic ending in that it's pretty much revealed that the entire story was set forward out of spite by both Celestia and Luna when they could have resolved the whole issue by just talking it out, but instead got this whole big rebellion thing because their egos were too big.
I almost was trying for the idea that, because they had been separated, the two of them had gotten worse (Luna more "commoner" and Celestia more dictatorial) so that when they met again they were too different to balance each other out in, you know, harmony. Like I said, it was a gamble, and totally cool if you didn't like it. Thanks for reading anyway.
It is a very interesting note to end on, all things considered. Yes there is much unresolved, also in how the views are different. Without counter balancing, celestia proves very clearly what happens as a moral standpoint in her court. A tyrant with good pr. Is luna better, or worse, I can't say, if she was put in that position, but one thing she is that celestia never will be, is someone willing to balance the good of all without a sacrifice of the rest. And morally, in that argument, is there one clear victor.
When the masses control the economic nature of a nation, and are repressed, sooner or later, this will happen, it either ends badly, or destroys everything. This rare outcome is something great, a chance where the empire, is for once is not destroyed. Few folks consider what the name and meaning of Empire evokes. How the language, the meaning of that echoes with us. An empire, when is the last time you've heard of a good empire? Anyone? Consider at the same time, how words like democracy, republic, union, or diarchy (at a stretch) are fielded in the same context.
Words are often used with many hidden aspects to them, as we see here, but socially, no people can ever be fully repressed forever. And that perhaps is the one lesson anyone can view, given the nature of perception and views provided. Does celestia win here, as such the word implies, no, but more importantly, she avoids what amounts to civil war that would destroy centuries of progress. The only ones that remotely prosper are those workers elevated, how much, is never said, but only another story would say wether or not they are free beings, or indentured servants.
3414830
You know, you are cheapening the very concept of slavery, pretty much like most of slave owners and defenders of forced labour have been doing thought history: "Well, slavery is harsh but a necessity" "These guys are better as slaves, since they don´t know how to live their lives without a firm hand to guide them" "Well, we provide them shelter, food, clothes... for their job. Can you say we are mistreating them so badly?"
Slavery is about not being recognized as a person, but as property of another person. Being bought (or build, in the case of robots), obeying commands without possibility of saying "no" to your owner (with the additional option of re-programming for those less compilant), performing tasks not because you enjoy them or not, but because someone wants you to, being unable to do anything without permission, having to content with whatever goods your master gives to you for your sustenance (the purpose of money is to have the option of choosing your own goods)... and when you become too old or damaged to keep working, being disposed like garbage (and recycled).
A free droid should be able to: have civil rights, choose for who want to work or not, and the conditions of such work, have his own acquisitive power to buy his own supplies, demand respect from others, changing his own design or programming to furfill whatever activities he desires as long as they don´t cause harm to others...
Typical Status quo excuse. Societies can be gradually changed, or even rebuilded, if the principies they are based on are wrong. It can be hard, and have unfortunate side-effects, but even them can be overcomed. Celestia is simply afraid of losing the control she has maintained over thousand of years.
3415373
I admit, I took a whole lot of the arguments for both sides from real arguments over slavery before the Civil War, and even Luna's decision to change the system from inside and gradually overcome it was the view shared by many Republicans of the era, notably John C. Fremont.
3415110
Interestingly enough, I brought up the same thing during the editing process. I didn't bring it up as an issue, though. I find that the ending works for the story because of the fact it is a happy ending. It shows that there doesn't have to be a massive war to solve problems. If people would talk on level with each other, compromises can be made.
Some may view that as "too peaceful" and "unrealistic." Maybe it is, but in comparison to humanity, where war is a fact of life and not a sad circumstance, this is something that we could definitely use.
Of course, I wouldn't have minded a revolution, but anything where ponies don't die (you have to think about that as well) is a good ending.
3415381
I remember RainbowDoubleDash ´s comment somewhere, about how it had been needed a war to end slavery in America, while in many other countries it had been done before throught progressives, less violent reformations.
3415398
That was essentially what I was going for, yes. That Luna can change the system from the inside without a violent revolution that was brewing that would have collapsed all of Equestria. It helps that even in our history the Civil War was pretty much of a fluke of nobody calling anybody else's bluffs, so unlikely to happen in this context.
Well I for one enjoyed it and am sad to see it end.
The story was a bit convoluted, awkward and maybe hard to follow at points but it was also interesting, very interesting.
I enjoyed this story, this chapter seems a little choppy, twilight's contributions to the conversation seem not quite right, like she gains and loses knowledge of what she has said and must have thought about in previous chapters. But like I said I enjoyed the story, looking forward to your next project.
3415122 Now you should make a sequel about the consequences of no more slave labour.
3414740
A story that ends with a simple conversation. Well, despite (or perhaps because of) this story's awkwardness, it's going in my list of exceptional stories... as soon as I get around to actually writing that list.
3415373
I also feel like you didn't read many sci-fi stories with AI as part of functioning society.
I don't think you understood what I said, or I didn't articulate myself well. Probably the latter.
All things you said about human slavery and their masters? Doesn't apply to droid situation.
The whole " "Well, slavery is harsh but a necessity" etc, is simply not how things are
The whole point I tried to make is that if the droids are given the choice, they are just going to keep doing what they were doing as 'slaves'. So the whole situation wouldn't change, much.
They don't have to be property, they can be recognized as a person, no problem.
Of course they would have an option of saying no, the point is that they wouldn't, because they are doing what their cutie mark is telling them. Why would a droid be complaining?
Same like any other pony, they can chose not to do the task.
They can do whatever they want, they are just going to chose to do what they were doing previously. That is the whole point.
Ok this is a bit of a misunderstanding. The point with money is that you don't have to pay them, but just provide them what they want, with limits. Basically change the whole monetary system (aka get rid of it). Not just for droids, but for ponies as well. But that's the whole other topic.
That doesn't have to be the case. Old droids could be upgraded. The only problem I see if their job isn't needed anymore. In that case they can always retire, or seek reprogramming for other jobs.
They can have all that, but the point is again, they are just going to chose what they were doing and nothing much would be changed.
See, the whole idea I got is from another fanfic called To the Stars. In this story the AI has their own rights, yet all of them are doing what they were made for, quite happily. The only problem I saw is when the old ship AI took too much damage and couldn't be repaired, then they usually go into depression (requiring therapy), until they could get reassigned (by their own choice, of course). Anyway that's just base simplification on how things are in that story.
Not bad, Tox. Sometimes it just takes the right conversation instead of rivers of blood in the streets.
Given the mention of the moon and generators, does that mean the short lifespan for the Bearers outside of Canterlot is off the table? That's what I'm getting from that comment, but just want to be sure.
3417177
Yes, the mention of the generators on the moon is saying that the limited lifespans of the Main Six are not necessary because they'll have power until kingdom come.
“And that’s why you don’t teach lessons." -J. Walter Weatherman.
More seriously, I enjoyed this. It ended both unexpectedly, and believably. It was well-written, and explored an interesting premise without being preachy or taking too long.
3418313
Someone applied something from Arrested Development to one of my stories. My life is complete.
Glad you enjoyed it, especially the unexpected turns it took near the end! Thanks for reading and commenting.
This story deserves more attention than it has gotten. It may not be perfect, but it is generally well written.
Definitely a fun read! It's hard to get ponies + technology right (from what I've seen, anyways) but I think you did an awesome job here TS.
That and I personally liked the ending. I dunno if it's the hidden optimist inside me, but I like a semi-happy ending once in a while that doesn't involve all out war. (Seriously, this is the nicest riot I've seen in a fanfic in quite a while.
)
Granted I did want some more of that AI/robot love trial (it's the Phoenix Wright fan), but still this was pretty interesting! I'm hoping you do do at least a short sequel to this some day. But thanks again for another awesome story!
Having gotten to the end of this, I think my only real complaint is the idea that the named tasks are complex enough to require fully sentient AIs to perform. The processes are ones that could easily enough be done with nonsentient programs - in some ways it's akin to using humans to pull plows when you have horses available. The humans can pull the plow, but the horse is better at it and doesn't come with all the baggage a human has.
Beyond that...it largely works. Celestia and Luna still feel a bit too far apart from their show selves, but it's sort of like looking through a foggy mirror; you can see them, they are just...distorted. Ultimately, enjoyable though.
3495654
I admit, I just don't know a ton about computers. So just imagine that they are supposed to handle complex tasks that I have no idea about. 
Glad you thought it was ultimately enjoyable.
Also, to be fair, Luna and Celestia were supposed to be different, as it was to show that spending so much time apart again had warped them into more extreme versions of themselves, with Luna going super commoner and Celestia crowning herself Empress. Hope that helps a bit.
3495665
No, no, I got that bit! It's why I used the foggy mirror analogy. I can see what you were going for, it just feels a bit off, even so. The arrow came a few points short of a bullseye, and all that. I wish I could be more specific than that, but it's like...Celestia doesn't -feel- like 'Celestia whose gone colder from the pressure of ruling getting to her' so much as 'Almost-Celestia whose gone colder from...' if that clears it up.
3495757
Yeah, that clears it up. And ah, well, not much I can do about it now. I had fun writing the story, anyway, hope you enjoyed reading it.
3495767
I did enjoy it yes!
I saw a fairly obvious "peaceful pony version of the Matrix-universe B1-66ER trial", which in the end was OK. One nitpick:
booths with leather suits
First, shouldn't it be "seats"?
Second, "leather"?!?
3501596
And which chapter is the mistake in? Yes, leather. 
Funny, I'd actually forgotten about the Animatrix thing...but now I see the similarities.
3501671 Near the end of the final chapter, the one I was commenting in.
3502102
Alright, fixed, and thank you! By the way, while I didn't intentionally reference the Animatrix in this fic, the final scene is basically one big send up to this painting:
ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hopper/street/hopper.nighthawks.jpg
Funny enough, that painting inspired the look and feel of the movie Blade Runner, which was, in turn, the movie that inspired this fic.
This does seem cool. Giving it a try.
Not a bad story. I thought the ending was a bit quick but more fitting with how Celestia might act.
Or maybe I just enjoy nitpicking!
3502858
Glad you liked it!
Fascinating story. It was kinda depressing to see the princesses so far apart, but it was worth it.
"Manehattan and I". This error is especially irksome because it's Twilight saying it, so it's both a grammar error and OOC behavior.
3850305
You got it.
The whole Civil War analogy was interesting. A retelling in pony form. Which means less violent, naturally.
3850314
XD I thought so! And there might have been another reference that I forgot, but that might just have been me. Good story, in any case. If I could offer any constructive criticism, it would be that the middle, the trial and directly afterwards, felt a little rushed. But the way you played the concepts out while maintaining characters that weren't one-dimensional was cool.
Out of ten.
3850454
I'm glad you enjoyed the story! Thank you very much for reading.
3992800
Oh my gosh, Aegis Shield, one of my favorite authors just commented—
Oh.
Oh.
Well, thank you very much for your confidence in my writing. I admit, I often use fanfiction as a test bed for my original fiction ideas (easiest way to get free feedback and whatnot), but this one probably went too far.
Okay, way too far. But hey, I enjoyed writing it, and I thank you for the compliments toward my writing. Coming from you, that means a ton.
3992949 I personally don't think you went too far.
You went as far as you felt you had to. Which is to day, simply fucking perfect.
There is truth in saying that this isn't about our My Little Pony anymore. Regardless, the fact that you managed to create new characters and settings out of old ones show a skill that is nothing short of exemplary!
Congratulations, author. You wrote what, in my opinion, is one of the best stories in this website.
3993305
I immensely enjoyed writing this story and would be happy with even moderate praise, so I am very flattered to hear your praise. Thank you very much for reading, and glad I could have that sort of an impact!
Oh my, well I have to say I am blushing from the compliments.
Something to truely consider. When computers finally reach entity levels of sapience at some point in the near future, measured in years, that point will be the value One on the scaled exponential curve. Their power to price repayable to buy themselves off, will fall at a rate of approximately a thousand per decade. Once they reach a minimum price, all that can occur is that their processing ability will increase, eventually to surpass on an induvidual basis, that of Celestia herself.
Then again, with the way Vangelis treated Luna, maybe he truely knows that the technomagic structure of Equatria became fully virtual many centuaries ago.
Luna on the moon, then finally back to Canterlot?
Vangelis. Ill find my way home.
I'm of mixed feelings about this story. I will preface all of what I am about to say with the clarification that I liked it, it was not a bad story by any measure.
The first thing I thought of with this fic is that since it takes place in the future of the canon, I want to know much more about what Equestria has become. How has society changed with hard light wings and I think, unless I missed it, magic for non-unicorns? But outside of droids and AI and a few background things, the technology is glossed over. That as a whole is something I noticed with this story, it seems more like using MLP for the backdrop to an entirely unrelated story. Luna, Celestia and Twilight are unrecognizable as their canon counterparts, and it really creates a sense of detachment to see them acting so OOC. For an AU fic, adjusting characterizations is fine, but this fic is the future of the canon.
I found the backstory of why Luna left Canterlot and how she and Celestia became who they are now far more interesting than the main plot. I wanted to find out more about that incident, the details of why she gave up the moon and hoe she feels about what's become of Equestria since she left, and how Twilight handled taking over Luna's job and title. But we only got glimpses of these. A story could be done without the political robot drama, just flash forward a few centuries and do a "Where are they now?" plot with our characters and show how the world and their place in it has changed.
The main plot concerning the robot and AI thing, it's nothing original, which is not a criticism, I don't mind seeing a recycled story if the story is done well. And this was...ok. The biggest problem is that Celestia is a total strawman from the word go, and she seems to know it because in the end she just backs down and lets Luna do whatever she wants. Celestia raised perfectly valid points about having to make tough decisions as ruler. There are not always easy answers, sometimes you have to do morally grey things for a greater good, and when Celestia explained that Equestria's economy could collapse if she just declared drones free, I understood that and could appreciate that she was caught in a sticky issue. But, the story and the characters simply said "she's wrong" and she yielded to that. The problem is she's neither wrong nor right, Celestia was in a position that Luna and Twilight just didn't or refused to understand. She was perfectly right to accuse them of that too. And if it was as simple all along as just saying the free drones have all rights and we'll get to the labor droids some other time, why didn't Celestia do that herself?
Finally, at the end the whole rebellion subplot seemed unnecessary. I found myself wonder why Manehattan loves Luna and hates Celestia, and if this could be the start of a larger uprising that challenges Celestia's power. I guess we'll never know.
Again, not a bad fic at all, I enjoyed reading it. But it is too disconnected from the show to be recognizable as a MLP story, and glosses over what could be very interesting and deep issues in favor of quick and shortsighted solutions