Some things never change, but some things never stay the same.
The second is especially true for a mismatched group of individuals who, through pure coincidence, wind up being the only thing standing between their world and disaster.
But they just might have a shot at becoming heroes, if they can figure out how to work together.
Or just run off in completely different directions. That works too...
Sequel to a previous story of mine, Through a Glass Mirror. It is highly recommended that you read that first, or else you will likely not have any idea what's going on. If you have read that story, then I hope that you will take the time to read this one, as well.
Please ignore the cover-art for the time being, it is in the middle of being fixed.
Chapters (10)
Thou must train thy cat in the ways of the Technomages, thoust can profit greatly from this rare ability.
In all seriousness, a very good start. I loved the touch you gave for how Garble lives and works in Equestria society, a glassmaker. I'll admit that I never thought of that, nice job. And now, I wonder, what's Big Mac going to do in Canterlot? Is he Discord's personal student (my gut says no). Really, I have no idea what to expect since I'm not sure if you're bringing back Celestia and and Luna as villains this early (if you're gonna bring them back at all).
My guess is that you're gonna group all the mane characters together in Canterlot, and when the crisis hits, they'll just fall into each other's company. Oh, and I'm enjoying your OC so far, but we've only seen her twice so I'll save real serious judgement for later.
I really enjoyed the confrontation between Gilda and Garble, they probably would normally grate on each other so much that they'd devolve to trying to claw each other's eyes out within two minutes. Just lucky Big Mac was there.
You're off to a very good start.
Well, I was certainly wrong. Oh, and Big Mac is a Royal Guard or something like that, huh.
Very interesting way you've taken it. Part of me feels you could've gone a bit more into detail when it came to the obvious battle in Canterlot that occured (or wherever it happened) but instead it got left offscreen.
But make no mistake, I still enjoyed this. I wonder how you're going to do things next.
"What does 'Arrivederci' mean?"
Something tells me that the two sisters relationship isn't all loving, maybe they care about each other to a certain extent, but Celestia seems to be a might bit abusive. Probably has to do with her apparent ego. Not that this excuses Luna from all the evil she's doing, it might make her a bit more sympathetic, but it doesn't change the fact that she's going along with all this.
Good job, can't wait for more!
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I was originally planning on adding that scene, as well as several others, but I couldn't get them quite how I wanted, so I left them out. Plus, we've already seen the whole Discord vs. The princesses thing. I feel like it would be a bit repetitive to throw that in there again, so soon after the first time.
If it makes you feel any better (or worse), Luna was actually the one to take Discord down, in the original version.
My goodness, even their relationship is reversed. Usually, Celestia is portrayed as the intelligent, far-thinking planner while Luna is usually impulsive, plans for the moment, and stumbles into success.
Truthfully, I get the feeling that Luna goes along with Celestia because she's weaker and could be easily forced into going along anyway, but because she's also concerned that Celestia is just one "cunning plan" away from losing a kidney.
In other words, Celestia is the Prince, and Luna is Sir Edmund Blackadder, Esquire.
Which I guess leaves Cadance floating around the world,somewhere, the ever-unlucky but ever-hopeful Baldrick Baldrick.
3009301
Frankly, Celestia's usually as much the problem as the solution (remember the whole Nightmare Moon incident?).
Luna at least takes things seriously, rather than betting the fate of the world on whether or not her student learns a lesson. "Twilight, make friends or the world will be thrown into eternal night."
Thanks Celestia.
Awww, it's so cute how you have it so that whenever-
*THWACK*
OW, what the heck! Suddenly a big bat flew in threw the window and slammed into my head!
Well, anyway, good so far. I just wonder if you have some special reason why everyone offered up help so quickly. Probably it's because Celestia and Luna are so well known and so feared that nobody wants to waste time arguing when they're free.
I hope to see some pretty epic ways to get the Elements of Progress. Though I do wonder, in the original story the Elements only cancelled out the Elements of Harmony. Maybe they're gonna use them to free Discord.
Good Job!!!
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Each of them has different reasons for joining. Some were mentioned in the story already (Vanilla just being that kind of person, and ****** wanting to get Gilda back AFTER it will actually matter), others are simply suggested (focus on Trixie), and others will be gone over more later.
So ****** is gonna be like Hokuto's lackey from Cromartie High School? I'm ok with this.
3105656
No. ****** is going to get named EVENTUALLY (maybe the last chapter), but I'm going to keep that as a running gag for right now. It's sort of a nod to the show, since he's never actually named in it.
Also, please take a guess for the contest. I probably should have mentioned that the story won't be updated until someome gets it right, huh?
Wild guess here but I'd say that Vanilla might be a changeling.
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Make of it what you will; there ARE other explanations, after all.
I assume there are so many stairs because Sombra's only other option was Super-Fun Happy Slide... of DEATH.
I am enjoying the differences we see between the story and the canon story. For instance, we actually see that Sombra and company took some measures to safeguard the Elements of Progress. Contrasting with Celestia, who just left the Elements of Harmony sitting out in the open where any Tom, Dick, or Harry could take them.
Although I am still waiting for Luna's sudden but inevitable betrayal when she realizes she might be too intelligent to effectively help her sister.
3183054
As was mentioned... it's a deep chasm.
I'm trying to highlight the differences, so that's good.
Begin the crescendo event!
I don't think this is Nightmare Moon, although that's obviously what we ought to think.
Although I do see that my earlier prediction seems correct, and that Celestia is brash, impulsive, and doesn't think things through, and that a good portion of Luna's time was spent cleaning up her sister's cock ups.
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I actually never intended for the whole Noghtmare Moon thing. She's not gonna be showing up, by the way.
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That would follow, since NMM represented Luna giving in to her darker desires. Kind of already happened here.
Which just means, more likely, that all that happened was them triggering one of Sombra's traps, further underscoring his intelligence because he implemented traps that don't need to be reset after every use.
I imagine Luna is off somewhere else being competent. Or maybe trying to negotiate a lighter sentence for herself and Celestia. The sense I get about this Celestia is that she's a "gimme gimme gimme!" sort of brat who isn't actually evil; just incapable of understanding that she, like Luna, Discord, and Sombra, lives in a world made out of Builder Blox, and that she's actually hurting anyone (Luna, by contrast, seems to realize this all too well, and is focused mainly on trying to rein her sister in).
Took me a while to get to this, and lo and behold, I have nothing productive to add at all.
I’m uncertain how I feel about the short chapter lengths. I mean, I absolutely understand the length; they’re focusing on specific individuals, and end when that part of the story has been told. I think I’m uncertain how to feel because I wish I had more to read.
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I wish I had more to write.
This chapter was exciting, and served as a reminded that if even a small change (Celestia going insane instead of Luna) can yield big differences, anything can happen when the whole universe is say on its head.
It is good to know, all the same, that in this universe, Big Mac and Gilda are certifiable Bad Dudes.
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Bad a**es? Bad flanks? I don't even know anymore!
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“Bad flank” doesn’t even make sense. The flank is the space between the last rib and the hip. And you can’t say “badass” either, because in Equestria, that would be racist (sort of).
Face it, bro. The closest that ponies will ever get to “badass,” is “bad dude."
3793960
Fair enough. I gues it's better than "bad hind-quarter."
Me, specifically?
3830917
Yes, you. Who else would I be talking about? The one other person who reads this story?
3833221 Hey, I'm here too!
3836854
What the..? When did you get here? Whatever, I guess that makes you the "one other person."
Thus far, I do like how this is not a simple retelling of “Friendship is Magic,” but actually showcases all of the actors demonstrating why they deserve to be the heroes.
Mac and Gilda stand in for Applejack and Rainbow Dash, in the sense that they are the team’s resident bad dudes, but neither one feels like a clone, or cheap knockoff.
Flim and Flam, being largely blank slates, demonstrate their intelligence and cleverness. They don’t need to be magical powerhouses; there’s no need to outmuscle anything you can outwit, after all.
What I’m most interested to see, though, is how our draconic friend will play into all of this, whatever his name is. He hasn’t really seemed to do much so far. I shall call him Pierre, after the dog of the hero from “A Fable Experience.” Pierre the dog didn’t do much either.
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Oh, he has a name. We just don't ever let him say it on account of how he's never named in the show. Seriously though, he might actually get named sometime within the next, like, 3 chapters.
Maybe.
He has a name!
He still hasn’t done very much, though. Which can only mean that when he finally does do something, it’s going to be awesome.
3850480
That was a typo. Totally a typo. Yep.