Chapter 18 - The Meeting
~~~~~????~~~~~
Fools.
The white cloaked pony stalked out of the inner door and sneered silently as he waited for the servant to undo the locks on the outer door. All of them, fools. Hokey religions and pointless philosophies. The substance of power did not lie in some pointless amalgamation of beliefs, but in the ability to wield those beliefs as a tool. The door swung open at the silent servant's touch and the white-cloaked stallion stalked through it without another word. Such individuals were useful tools, but ultimately were beneath him.
No, his true opponent was now in hiding - somewhere she lurked, watching his moves as much as he was watching hers. It had been obvious to him that she'd long since known his true allegiances, for how could she not? She was the supreme chess-mistress, artfully and elegantly diffusing every plot and dodging every trick. He had been more than certain his plot aboard the Commander Hurricane was flawless, and yet his plans had utterly failed - the town remained standing, if bloodied. The Elements of Harmony had vanished into the ether, and all of her most precious agents were now positioned in places of high power, far from where he could reach them.
It had been a simple trick to position that naive idiot Blueblood to take the fall for the failed operation, and then to ensure that the so-called 'Nightmare Queen' never even knew he had been involved. Of course, his work had been much set back now... but past failures provided for future opportunities, as his father used to say. So now, he worked a new angle - one which had great promise given the state of things in Ponyville at this present hour. I'd thank Blueblood's most idiotic memory, except that would be giving him credit for any of this.
In truth, he had no real idea just what sort of madness had possessed his rival of power to go through with this scheme. Were it not so patently ridiculous, he could half believe she had allowed the barely trained filly Twilight Sparkle to actually undertake actions of governance. Perhaps all of the incredible decrees that had been scattered across Equestria were merely distractions to keep him - and by extension, those like him - from realizing her true plots behind the scenes. Surely, she was already crafting some ingenious and cunning scheme to expose her enemies for the entire world to see and finally bring her Iron Hoof down upon them all.
If so, he could admire such a plan - true, there would be casualties and some damage to the nation. But when you were utterly immortal, what were a few lives in comparison to eternity? Perhaps Celestia had at long last learned that in order to attain true victory, one must be willing to make certain sacrifices... and align yourself with powers you'd much rather not have anything to do with. If that were so, then he would have to be very careful indeed - for it would mean that she had become the ultimate opponent to his genius.
Even now, he wondered what schemes she was concocting. Surely at this very moment, she was surrounded by her most capable advisers, planning his downfall...
~~~~~~Ponyville~~~~~~
The world swirled back into being, and Tia nearly staggered out of her chair as a wave of vertigo passed over her. She clutched at the breakfast-table, but found no purchase there for her to steady herself. So she instead leaned into Ditzy, who was both the closest pony to her, and the one most likely to be able to keep her from completely collapsing onto the floor. Ditzy dropped the fork she had been toying with the instant Tia's body hit her in the heavy manner of one who is not fully in control of themselves - and without a second thought, she flung her hooves around Tia's body and helped keep her from falling.
More incredibly, Ditzy had somehow turned the motion into something that looked like she had simply gone to hug Tia very enthusiastically. Thus preventing the rest of their friends from realizing Tia's not inconsiderable distress, for which Tia was... very grateful right then. That voice. Her mind whispered as she clutched Ditzy as close to her as she could manage. "Tia, shh..." Ditzy said in her quietest voice, her hoof adeptly hiding Tia's face from the rest of the table. "It's okay. Everything's okay." She insisted quietly, her gentle words were hot against Tia's forehead, and the feel of a gentle but firm hoof stroking against her back gave her something to focus in on.
Tia nodded minutely, the shock at the sudden vision and the sound of that voice slowly wearing away from her. She gently squeezed Ditzy back in a hug before slowly pulling away. Ditzy's face was a study in concern, and Tia wished - not for the first time - that she had any talent as an artist. That gentle, careworn smile and the softness of those eyes was a sight to behold. Tia gently squeezed Ditzy's hoof and mouthed the word "Later" to her - getting a gentle nod in return. Tia turned back to the breakfast table to finish her morning meal, her head still swimming from the rather... vivid vision she had just received.
Luckily, breakfast proceeded from that moment without any further visitations of powerful forces and so Tia could finish her waffles in relative peace. Relative meaning lots of laughter and joking around, and the occasional ribald comment from either Vinyl or Cloud Chaser to punctuate her finishing off her breakfast. Once the meal was complete and the dishes cleaned (The aid of three unicorns in the room made the task much simpler than it might otherwise have been) the knot of friends made their way out into the main library... where all evidence of their previous night's party had already been bagged up and swept away. The library shelves were spotlessly clean, the books neatly shelved and all of the trash was gone.
Tia blinked in amazement for just a moment, until she spotted the whippy purple tail of a certain baby dragon, who grinned at all of them. "Morning, girls." Spike piped up happily, wearing a bright white apron with '#1 Assistant' embossed on the front of it. "Nice to see everypony bright and cheerful today!" He flicked off his apron and hung it by the doorway, then brought over a clawful of what looked like paper slips. "I've got messages here from the Mayor for Tia and Cheerilee, and uh... someponies who were looking for Vinyl and Octavia about a show." He handed these slips out, then scratched his head at the rest. "Bon Bon, the Cakes wanted to know when you were going to have their Double-bubble sweets ready. Cloud Chaser, your sister wanted to know if you were turning into Rainbow Dash... Oh, and Ditzy!" He exclaimed, with a rather big smile. "There's a big envelope by the door for you, and the message attached to it says you've been given three days paid time off!" The knot of ponies blinked at all this information coming out of Spike, who grinned slyly. "C'mon. This is nothing compared to how much mail I used to have to handle for Twilight."
Vinyl and Octavia quickly took their message and trotted out the door, talking brightly about the prospects for another show for them to perform. Bon Bon, having gone blank for a moment at the mention of her sweets, grabbed the slip of paper and ran out the door like a timberwolf was after her. Lyra just sighed, rolled her eyes and trotted after her patiently. Ditzy had wandered over to the table by the door and was fiddling with the envelope, while Cloud Chaser sighed at her message, hugged the remaining ponies and flew out the door at top speed. That left Cheerilee and Tia standing in the middle of the room, with a stack of parchment rolls sitting on a table in front of them. "Oi." Remarked Cheerilee, and Tia had to echo that sentiment. "Does mother never sleep?" Cheerilee continued crossly, and Tia whipped her head about in shock. Wait. Mayor Mare is Cheerilee's... Mother?
Cheerilee sighed and broke the first seal on one of the scrolls and began to read, leaving Tia and Spike.... not precisely alone but at the very least, there was time for a quiet moment. "Thank you, Spike." Tia remarked quietly, feeling the smile tug at her face. "You really are a remarkable young dragon." She continued as Ditzy's plot hit the ground near the door - a massive scroll slowly unrolling as she ran her slightly misaligned eyes down the document. Tia took in a deep breath and exhaled, making a decision on the spot. "It'll take me approximately a week to prepare the spell. I'll need a few valuable components, but I think if I word it right I ought to be able to requisition them from the Canterlot Library." Spike's eyes widened fractionally, as Tia continued in a soft voice. "All I ask is you help me get stable here, and help me find a replacement assistant before you go to do whatever it is you need to do. Deal?"
Spike grinned with bright white teeth. "Deal." He held out his claw, and she shook it firmly with her own hoof. "Thanks, Pri- Tia." He stumbled over the term, that big grin never leaving his face. "I'll take care of the library today." He eyeballed Cheerilee, who was now onto the third scroll and was now muttering angrily about something. "You're probably gonna have to go deal with the Mayor today, so good luck." Spike said, pitching his voice low for a moment. "My advice? Grab some of the Cinna-Deluxe cupcakes from Sugarcube Corner. She loves those things."
Tia blinked as Spike gave her a jovial wink, then sauntered off while whistling some strangely familiar tune. Where have I... nevermind, more important things. She turned to Cheerilee, who looked like she was torn between bemusement and fury. "We've got something of a problem, Tia." She commented drily. "Ditzy, are you going to be okay?" Cheerilee continued, and Ditzy waved her hoof in their general direction - apparently still reading through the monstrously thick scroll. "Good. Come on, Tia. I'll explain it on the way."
~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first, Cheerilee hadn't been sure what to think about mother's pile of scrolls - but as the knowledge from them percolated down through her system, she began to get really, really angry. Mother was turning a somber, difficult situation into a political circus - and for what? Cheerilee did not know - she was not sure she wanted to know, but she no longer had that particular luxury. She was... politicizing children being in danger from some madpony wielding unknown powers! It was madness!
"... So she wants us to come in to her office, she's going to arrange some kind of..." Cheerilee groped for the words as Tia followed somberly in her hoofsteps. "Parade or speech or something. I don't know!" Cheerilee growled out in pure frustration, shaking her head back and forth as though trying to shake off the insanity of the situation. "I cannot believe she would do this! There is a line!" She stomped her hoof as she walked, Tia remaining... quiet while Cheerilee vented. She was thankful for that, the last thing she needed was any number of reasonable things Tia likely could tell her right now.
So she huffed and puffed and by the time they reached the end of the street, her head sagged in weariness. "I know that the town is not precisely... unified given all of the difficult changes we're going to have to make, but she's rubbing it in the faces of everypony! This is going to cause a riot!" She exclaimed at the last, then leaned against one of the newly installed lamp posts - made of wrought iron and topped with a gas lantern, much like was used in Manehatten. Tia gently touched her shoulder, then trotted across the street and into Sugarcube corner.
Cheerilee stared after her, uncomprehendingly for a moment, until Tia emerged a minute later floating two large cups and a neatly tied up white box. The smell of fresh sweet tea reached Cheerilee's nose as Tia gently nudged it into her hooves. "Mom always said Tea is the cure for all ills." Tia reminded her with a smile, sipping at her own. "Relax, Cheerilee. We cannot hope to prevail over the lack of sense being displayed here if we ourselves are without sense." She said, in that oh-so-reasonable way of hers. So Cheerilee drank her tea, and was immediately thankful for it. Where did you come from, I wonder? She thought, her thoughts turning to the strange little unicorn who had upended all of their lives. Why did you come here? Oh certainly, the story was that she was the student of Queen Twilight... but Cheerilee was beginning to doubt that story more and more.
She was in fact, beginning to suspect that Twilight had sent her here for far different reasons. It's obvious there's something hidden about her. She carries some secret, some weight upon her shoulders. It was something other than what she'd already been told about too. What could you possibly still be hiding from us, Tia? Cheerilee wondered for a moment, then noticed the sweet tea she'd been drinking was all gone. She shook her head and disposed of the paper cup. I always have to pick the complicated ones. Sheesh. She thought with an amused sigh... and..
And then Cheerilee realized just how easily Tia had diverted her. Her anger had significantly cooled, and she was no longer full of mindless frustration. She turned an astonished look on her unicorn friend, who was smiling in a surprisingly serene way. "Better?" Tia asked, and Cheerilee nodded cautiously. "Good. It so happens that I agree with you that any celebration of what occurred yesterday would be.... premature at best." Tia continued archly, plucking up the tied up white box from the ground. "Yet the Mayor undoubtedly is trying to make the most of a bad situation. It may be difficult to... change her mind about things."
Cheerilee shook her head ruefully. "You've got that right. She's as stubborn as Princess Celestia." she muttered softly, and Tia's tail... stiffened for a moment, before she continued walking as normal. That's odd. Perhaps... did she know the Princess? That was a possibility that she had to consider, even as she walked close to Tia. Hmm. Only one way to find out more - she isn't going to tell me unless she's emotionally distressed, so maybe I can pick up on the little things if I poke. "So, I take it you've had experience with politicians before?" Cheerilee ventured quietly, hoping to turn up a bit more information.
Even from this angle, Cheerilee could see Tia roll her eyes - a subtle tension in the shoulder muscles. Physical memories of frustration, anger... maybe amusement, based on the half smile she had? "Oh yes. More than enough for a dozen lifetimes." Tia replied drily, her tone redolent with disdain for the whole breed. "If I had my way, I'd have them all sent to little filly daycare the way most of them act." She continued with a twitch of her tail. Not just familiarity. She's dealt with them directly then.
So. Tia wasn't just some novice librarian with a talent for magic. "Oh yes. Mother is perhaps one of the worst of the breed." Cheerilee sighed dramatically. "She means well, though, I am certain of it." She continued - keeping a keen eye on Tia's body language. Tension in the shoulder and neck muscles, a slight hunching of her chest forward. She was preparing for a fight on the subject - or maybe for a fight with the mayor. Mmm, she's had bad experiences with something like this before. She's worried about a confrontation, mentally and physically preparing herself for a fight.
"Meaning well or not, we must convince her of the error of her ways." Tia snapped out - her voice going tense along with much of the rest of her body. There it is again. Every time she becomes extremely certain of her words, her entire body language changes. It's like she's a different pony. The tension drained away a moment later, Tia's voice coming much softer. "With fortune, she has not already taken any irreversible steps." And once again, the tension comes - along with it, a total and complete certainty in the rightness of her actions. Immediately followed by a withdrawal into her emotional shell.
It wasn't hard to draw the right conclusions, and the pieces began to come a little closer together. Tia, likely under some other name, had become involved directly in political affairs in Canterlot, possibly in the process of attaining some high academic position. Her political and academic needs had crowded out her personal life to the point of nadir, and created a feedback loop of stress. Cheerilee did not doubt that Tia had to have been exceptional at her job - so good, in fact, that she likely had possessed very few peers. With no one on her professional level to socialize with, she became isolated - which inevitably led into a mentality of 'I can do no wrong'. The results were likely tragic, emotionally damaging, and incredibly traumatic. Some decision was taken from her - or perhaps some grand project she had created to provide meaning for her day to day life. And then, something had been thrown into the works - some wrench, some snag, and the whole thing came crashing down around her ears.
Cheerilee would not have been surprised if there'd been a suicide attempt or two in the middle there. Certainly, there were no scars or obvious signs of it, but such things could be - and likely had been - healed away. Tia was like an onion - little by little, Cheerilee was peeling away the layers that surrounded... what? What had driven her into that life? What had made her decide to sacrifice all manner of personal connections with other ponies in favor of books and politics? Cheerilee did not know. She was certain no one knew save for two ponies - Tia and Twilight Sparkle. For the first time since Tia had come to Ponyville, Cheerilee was beginning to consider a letter to her former colleague. Tia was deeply, deeply wounded inside - somepony needed to help her.
Luckily, Cheerilee was pretty good at that sort of thing. Now, if only she could convince her mother to not do anything stupid in the meanwhile...
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Mayor Mare has insisted, Miss Cheerilee. I am very sorry."
Tia sighed expressively, and laid a hoof on Cheerilee's shoulder. "It's alright. I don't mind." She tried to reassure her infuriated friend, who looked like she was about ready to pop. "Cheerilee... be calm." Tia insisted a moment later, and the teacher deflated - all of her outrage flowing out of her like water from a broken vessel. "I'm certain she simply wishes to meet with me formally, and ask a few questions without the specter of family hovering over things. It'll be quite alright." Tia knew she was bold facedly lying at this point, but Cheerilee accepted it was truth. That was best for now. Tia had no idea why the Mayor wanted to speak to her in private, nor why she had been invited into some inner office far from public eyes. She did know, however, that such a meeting could not be merely about questions. It would be about the shield.. and more importantly, it would be about how she knew to respond to the attack.
Tia nodded to the aide, who led her back through the maze-like hallways of the temporary town hall. Offices and desks were scattered and set up wherever there was sufficient space for them. Earth ponies populated most of those desks, though a fair number of pegasai were present as well. Odd. Only one or two unicorns. Well, perhaps not that odd. The unicorn population in town was notoriously small even before Twilight had arrived four years ago. Yet these were minor details - a side show to the true point of their journey. A heavy wooden door that swung open at the touch of a guardspony, and a grey maned earth pony sitting behind a desk with her hooves folded together.
It had been nearly fifty years since Celestia had first met this earth pony, begging her for a chance to prove her worth in the halls of power in Canterlot. Fifty years since Tia had looked into her soul, and seen somepony who needed to be amongst the common ponies - there she would learn to temper her knowledge with experience. She would never be able to walk amongst the halls of power in Canterlot, but surely she could rise to become the mayor of one of the great metropolitan cities.
And yet, like so many other things in Celestia's life - her inaction had broken things beyond repair. The mayor had been emotionally and mentally devastated and unable to reconcile her dreams of service to the crown with the realities of noble politics. She had fallen into obscurity, and never even so much as attempted to gain office outside of ponyville. What a waste of a mind. Tia thought sadly, as she perched upon the chair in the office. The Mayor was silent as she sat there, and Tia wondered what thoughts could be crossing her mind.
Whatever she had been expecting though, it hadn't been this. "What a world we live in." the Mayor observed quietly, her eyes closing. "To think of all the nights I spent agonizing over what I might say, what I might do faced with just such a situation." Her words rolled out smoothly, but Tia could hear the sharp pain in her voice. "And yet, here we are - and all of my hard words and conviction lay at my hooves like so many shards of shattered glass. My kingdom, such as it was, is ruled now by another. And I?" The Mayor looked up - and Tia felt every muscle in her body go rigid at the flash of green in those eyes. Yet the Mayor's voice was soft, almost pitifully weak. "I stare the one who destroyed my life in the eye, and marvel at the irony of a world in which I must come to her, begging for her aid."
Tia licked her lips, noting they had gone as dry as chalk and tried not to panic. Impossible. Insane. She is.. she is.. "A Sorceress. How?" Tia whispered, her mind racing with a thousand and one defenses... all of which were utterly useless in such a tight, enclosed space. She had no time to summon her power, and none of her friends were close enough to bolster her. I must have gone senile. How could I not have seen this?
The Mayor chuckled ruefully. "Don't beat yourself up, Celestia." The mayor said softly, shattering any hopes Tia might have had that perhaps this was simply a lucky guess. Twilight must have told her. Why? To keep an eye on me? "And quit looking like I'm going to murder you. I have no doubt that if I tried to so much as harm a hair on your mane, my Queen would obliterate my mind." The mayor descended into mutters, her eyes... soft. "Yet even without that sword over my neck, now I would not. You may be the only hope this town has of surviving what is to come."
Tia bit at her lip softly, then took in a deep breath and exhaled. She is a Dissonance Sorceress! her mind shrieked at her, as she calmly placed her hooves on the arms of her chair. "I see." Was all she said. She has lied to you! Deceived you! She sold her soul to darkness.. her mind stopped.. Because of you. Was all the thought could do to complete itself. Because you broke her dream, Celestia - and you did nothing to aid her in the seeking of another.
Tia Sunbeam looked into the eye of Scrolls, and spoke gently. "I think you'd better tell me everything, then."
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i like were this is going its good that celstia is begining to see the more direct consiquences of her actions
2879065 In fact, forget the foam! Bring me the stick!
Twi should bite someone soon, in public :s
Ah, another truth laid bare before Celestia's eyes... and her mind still screams attack! attack! attack!
Bring out the learning sticks, cause Celestia is gonna need another dose of reality teaching her a lesson.
2879144 Old habits do die hard.
But Hark... She realized what an insanity that thought was all on her own. Perhaps she is learning better than you think?
Typical chessmaster assumption: All shit happens because him or any schemer like him make it happens. The truth is, sometimes shit simply...happens.
2879160
...
NOT FAST ENOUGH!
Ok, so she is sorta learning but this particular instance is more a slap in the face cause she caused it by her own inactions and recognised it for what it was. If she came across a run of the mill dissident user (who obviously wasn't OP like a certain baron might be or "evil" in any sense of the word) I'm doubting that line of thought would have stopped given what she was thinking (I have noted that she treats the more powerful users as either frenimies or like family [seeing as how one of them is and married to another...])
So, new behind the scenes bad guy shows up. Also, Cheerilee just keeps on hitting nail after nail on the head. This is the same mare that is almost always portrayed as a "simple" rural school teacher, and here she is deducing nearly as well as Tia herself. Guess apples don't fall all that far from the tree after all.
2879217 I've always felt that Cheerilee was a much, much smarter character than most people give her credit for.
Being a teacher is hard and since Cheerilee would be the teacher for all of the town's foals up to the age at which they go to get job training either with their parents or in their cutie mark. That would mean she's teaching them from preschool age to at minimum 9th grade level education, and probably more. Given that she probably has to deal with limited local resources, and a lack of administration to handle the inevitable paperwork, she'd have to be pretty darn sharp to survive as a teacher.
2879086 Closest thing I could find:
iambrony.jsmart.web.id/mlp/gif/66433__safe_princess-celestia_princess-luna_animated_molestia_artist-theparagon%20(1).gif?1347571401
Finally. Finally. Celestia finally sees the result of some of her action. She needs to see those, and fast. The reason why she becomes like this is probably because she didn't see what is the effect of what she did to other ponies. Hopefully this will make a big impact towards her way of thinking.
And oh, another Chessmaster here, things are going to hit the fan. And it's going to be AMAZING
Didn't Twilight tell Tia that the Mayor would know who she is?
2879508
Not really. What Celestia is seeing is yet another example of the simple fact that ponies turn to dissonance when they don't get what they want, be it power, attention, or even answers. Granted the top examples of such involve Celestia being the focal point of why they didn't get what they wanted, but the why is really irrelevant when compared to the fact that something got in their way and they didn't like it. Chrysalis did it, Mayor Mare did it, Twilight did it, Luna didn't - but we all know what happened when she didn't get what she wanted, and Sombra essentially did too.
Mayor Mare, or Scrolls, is even worse than the others since Celestia actually had a decent understandable-by-anyone reason to block her (as opposed to those reasons involving plotting, where one can start laying serious fault on Celestia's actions) - in this chapter it even states that she believed Mare needed more experience first before she could move up to bigger things. That's not 'Celestia dickishness', that's 'Mare was obviously not experienced enough for what she wanted'. That and even if Celestia didn't stand in her way I doubt there was any hope in hell of her breaching Canterlot in a meaningful manner given Mare has no real titles to speak of and i doubt anyone without titles is going to be taken seriously by the kinds of nobles we know live there.
Mare's situation is practically on the same level as saying: "I didn't get the promotion to manager that i wanted because I've only been with the company for a month, so I decided to go become a terrorist."
All this ties in to the biggest issue I have with dissonance, the whole semipsychic link thing... Ponies like Mare, Sombra and Chrysalis are, to keep things PG, gits. And their link influences those below them to be gits since dissonance forces have repeatedly been said to be influenced heavily by those that lead it. This in turn likely feeds back and encourages the ones at the top to be bigger gits than before.
Case in point: Twilight, her friends, her friends becoming gits who use threats to get their way, and Twilight becoming a bigger git who does things like make her own brother actively afraid of how she will force him into doing what she wants if he refuses to do it.
2880252
Okay, whoa, calm yourself there. I'm really more onto Dissonance side, with Harmony mixed in (I find that both side is actually quite reasonable actually, there's some things that make each more appealing, so it's really more of your preference and things).
And I think that, it's more like, well, since Harmony won't give me what I want, Dissonance give me that, I can be who I want, based on my capabilities. That will attract people right there, especially if you believe yourself to be good. I'm more of going, since Celestia is so often the focal point, it's possible that maybe she's better off, you know, trying to say some things better? Or even you know, say things like, maybe you should talk to this, this, and this ponies (since she won't have that much time to talk to individual ponies, and she's likely to know a lot of ponies that have relevancy towards the problem).
But we don't know what can possibly happen if the other thing is done, if Celestia just let her did it. Maybe she'll be crushed? Maybe she'll more accepting of Harmony because of it, by clearly seeing that being in Canterlot is actually not as good as she think it is? Both of us are going into 'what-if' possibilities here, so it's better not to be. (although by Celestia denying her, ponies are quite alike humans in a way that, they will blame others, especially in the beginning (some didn't, but a lot will). And it feels a lot like coddling, but then, I don't know their character exactly, we are guessing this character based on some events, and our perception is going to alter a lot of things.)
But at the same time, it's quite different. Although... yeah, I can see the connection there. Okay, I kind of accept that one. Although it also carry the connotation that, by believing in Dissonance, she essentially become a terrorist (although at that time, yes it is). Which probably is not what you want to say, is it?
That's true actually, (while I believe we'll disagree with them being gits, because it implies they suddenly become idiots...), those semipsychic link will essentially reinforce what is being thought by the leader, it's essentially a loop, and things only can change through outside interference. And it's also a probably thing that they are acting different, because you know, they are influenced by Dissonance now and not Harmony?
Okay, I'm sorry if I offended you.
Another awesome chapter.
I enjoyed seeing this other Chessmaster at the beginning. I had a feeling someone very smart had set up the events at the end of the last story so seeing him still around was interesting. I also like how we have been shown a stark contrast in the followers of Chaos. We had Screwball who was just crazy, and now we have Mystery Pony X who comes off as a genius manipulating everything from within the government itself. I'm very curious what other Chaos followers there are out there.
I've often wondered why Twilight told the Mayor Tia's true identity. It seemed like an odd thing to do and no real reason was given for it.
2879206
Habits are hard to break and Celestia has thousands of years worth of bad habit to break. It will take some truly monumental events to truly break down all of Celestia's old ways of thinking, though it looks like we might just get said events very soon!
2879231
I love the way you present Cheerilee in this story. I also agree that being the sole teacher in town requires alot of intelligence and dedication tempered with patience and understanding. It can also be a time consuming and lonely occupation, and Cannon seems to back that one up with the whole Hearts and Hooves day episode.
2880309
Ah no, no, I'm not offended or anything.
I'm just mildly irritated that so many comments seem to like making everything Celestia's fault when, y'know, it's really not her fault every time. When it is her fault i'm happy for her to be blamed, but so many people are too eager to jump on the 'dissonance is cool and right because twilight said so' wagon.
Dissonance, in old Luna's time, may have been a fine balance for Harmony. But now? It's been poisoned to hell and back by the people in charge of it since and the reinforcing nature between leadership and members just makes it worse. Harmony too has been poisoned (by Celestia's views) but because of it's less connected nature the poisonous elements don't necessarily taint the whole thing - just the parts that let themselves be poisoned (by listening and espousing Celestia's specific views).
This has allowed Harmony to bounce back much faster while Dissonance has shown itself to still be toxic for the most part (but it is clearing up, the problem is that those at the top are the carriers of this poison and could ruin the whole healing process at any time - and with the way Twilight + co are acting this is horrifyingly possible).
As to my metaphor... yeah, terrorist was probably too harsh (though given the climate at the time essentially true), maybe joining a gang would be more accurate?
The point was that Mare didn't get what she wanted so promptly joined a group in which she was able to get what she wanted, control, at the expense of, essentially, basic pony decency. Ignoring the legal climate of it Mare rose in this new group via force, threats and seemingly pure subjugation of others (if her original treatment of Twilight, her views on Celestia, and her various moments of privacy we see are any indication).
No matter how you slice it this is not a good thing and is why Dissonance can be said to be poisoned, because it keeps encouraging this kind of behavior even though supposedly this isn't the point of it at all.
Sure Mare runs ponyville - but she's crippled herself of any chance at doing more far better than being rejected by Celestia ever did. After all, Celestia at least believed she could have got herself to be mayor of a major city - manehatten for example - with some experience, just not Canterlot (and as mentioned it's likely due to lacking a title, or the right family, or connections... much as Mare seemed to think she could I doubt Celestia could have just made her into someone important in Canterlot on just a request).
Mare herself was the one who got herself limited to just Ponyville, because as a sorceress she was now never going to have a hope of rising without being caught.
Hell. Even her 'gang' deposing the ruler of the country has left her... stuck in ponyville. Great advancement there for Ms Mare.
PS: I only said gits because i had a harsher term in mind and wanted to stay PG, ahah. It's nothing to do with idiocy... but yeah, it's a self reinforcing loop that we see in action which is what's ruined Dissonance.
Presumably if we had someone nicer in charge then the whole structure would be nicer (provided they can resist the poison coming from below until everything below them changes enough).
I'm seeing a scene down the road of the main villain gloating to Celestia.
"You've avoided every trap, foiled all my schemes, you have been a most worthy adversary my dear Celestia. But now you will finally fall!"
"What? Just who are you?"
Sometimes the chess master's greatest enemy is their own sense of self importance.
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That Twilight bandwagon thing? I bet it is. My way of thinking is this: Dissonance is more of Passion type, you can create your own clan, you make your own rules, but that doesn't mean you can cross the other clans! While Harmony is this: You can accept what is given to you, you have people to support you, you don't need to worry too much, because the rules are there. Both have their own Pros and Cons, :) And I guess I also like to blame Celestia a bit too much, it's just that, our mind is currently set on "Twilight as Protagonist, and so the one who oppose is Antagonist" and people like it when the Antagonist is wrong ;)
Oh yes, that is so true. Dissonance is pretty much need to be cleaned out by some of those things. It's sad that in the past, Dissonance is much, much better than it is right now, because it is much more like a shadow of its past self right now. Although if I'm not wrong (I'm probably wrong at this, correct me), the problem started when Dissonance was eradicated by Celestia. Before it, the Dissonance believer didn't have the 'survivor' mentality (which still carry over until now, and which make Dissonance no longer the balance of Harmony), that's my view anyhow.
Yeah, at that time, it's right to call them terrorist. And saying she go into a gang is probably better (Although there's good gangs as well! XD)
Yes, I agree with you here. In a way, Dissonance is not that good, and sometimes, even Harmony isn't. There just need to be some balance between them... Maybe instead of each identify with one, maybe it should be one to identify with both of this? They believe in both Harmony and Dissonance.
Although, yeah, it's possible that Celestia is even encouraging Scrolls to maybe like, make Ponyville better? Or just, become a mayor on a major city like you say, that's probably what Celestia thinks Scrolls will do. So, it's more like, Celestia forget (or just don't realize) that her way of thinking is different, she probably thinks that if she's on Scrolls' hooves, that's what she will do. Maybe that's her mistake, forgetting to see how other's see something, the perception of things.
Yes, I think so too. Dissonance is probably this kind of beliefs that only can be broken by outside influence, because it's more of a closed group, there needs to be a change in leadership for it to change.
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I like Lyra´s perspective of things, wise and simple:
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Lyra's perspective is indeed, wise. :)
FINALLY! A "good" chapter! I was beginning to give up on this sequel! This is the first "good" chapter since The Code's Apprentice!!! The chapters in this sequel were looking utterly bland in comparison!
The mark of a great story: readers who create multi-paragraph, almost page-long comments about their theories on the story.