Mythomania
Chapter Two
“Mythomania”
Walks In Dreams was watching Twilight's reptilian assistant engaged in his perpetual endeavor of shelving books. Even with his adoptive mother-sister missing, presumed drunk and incapable, he was duteously adhering to the rota. His bulky yet surprisingly nimble frame scurried up ladders and scaled shelves with equal enthusiasm. Perhaps this one should have been the Element of Loyalty, she mused.
The Queen of Tides sat up from the specially embroidered 'Princess pouffe' Spike had retrieved from the attic for the occasion of her visit and trotted over to one of the library's windows, checking on the sleepy little township for the third time in the hour. Ponies were milling about peacefully. Sparrows and meadowlarks hopped between the branches of nearby trees, singing their melodious tunes to the world at large. Stall holders and their patrons alike were busy making the last trades of the day. Far too quiet. Far too quiet indeed.
Expanding the senses was an easy task for a Goddess, and as Luna did so she felt the numerous minds of the town appear around her like newborn stars attaining nuclear fusion for the first time. Immediately, thoughts of many natures bombarded her own, mostly to do with sex and all things of a rutting mood. She swam through it graciously, the erotic thought-haze still bringing a smile of adoration to her face. Nothing abnormal at this level.
Luna extended her mind further. The resolution dropped; now instead of individual minds, she could only see the general tone or mood of a place. Cloudsdale was a grand zephyr of exhilarated ebullience, the product of twenty thousand pegasus ponies and their rapid, precise thoughts. West Wingshade was a slow and subtle thing in comparison, but it moved with incredible purpose and finality, like a glacier.
Then she came to Canterlot. An icy chill ran down her spine. The city was a cacophony of discordant, shrieking atonality, so loud and shocking she instinctively pulled away from it. All of a sudden she was back in the still environs of the library, with only the sounds of Spike clambering up ladders laden down with heavily bound books filling the air.
The effect of the Nectars was spreading, even though they had not yet actually been brewed. Luna knew that this was the defence mechanism of the Universe, triggered in response to there being a reasonable chance of the drinks it abhorred so much coming back to life. Everypony would become more and more drunk, despite having done nothing to warrant it, until society collapsed. At least, that was what had almost happened before.
Luna shuddered. The memories of those pre-Nightmare incidents were still hard to recall. Every time she accidentally did so, it was as though she had found a shard of glass embedded in her skin. It was a good thing that she retained no memory of the time itself. If thoughts of a few Castle-razing episodes under the influence of too much of the Nectars come unto me like glass, the Princess thought. Then the atrocities of the Nightmare herself are surely to be a more divine torture by far.
“More tea, Princess?” Spike asked, cheerfully.
“Hmm?” Luna said.
“Would you like some more tea?”
“Oh, yes, thank you.”
“Is something the matter, Princess Luna?” he said, bringing the tea service in from the kitchen and placing it on the round table in the middle of the library, beside the pouffe.
“No, faithful reptile, 'tis nothing,” she replied, wandering back from the window and settling onto the big red cushion. She had not been forthcoming with the full details when it came to explaining where Twilight had gone, or why the other Elements of Harmony were now somewhat different to their usual selves. “We were merely thinking.”
Spike frowned, perhaps at the 'reptile' comment, but said no more and retreated back into the kitchen. Luna sighed. If it had been her sister sitting here on her rump doing nothing, it would only have been because the varied aspects of her latest scheme were charging ferociously toward completion. As it was Luna, it was because she genuinely had no idea what to do next.
The Elements were the go-to solution for Equestria's various existential-catastrophe level problems. Ancient Empire reappearing in the north? Send for the purple one, and her brother too. Wrathful snake-god from the deep past returned to wreak his terrible revenge on those who imprisoned him? Brilliant teachable moment, fetch the quills and the Ponyville address book. Who could possibly help when it was the Elements themselves that needed it?
This is no good, Luna concluded. If we want to help Twilight, we have to start thinking like her. But what would Twilight Sparkle do at a time like this?
“She'd probably sing a song, then go and remind her pony friends forever about the magic of friendship, or something.”
It was Discord again. His voice was coming from somewhere beneath her. Luna peered down between her forelegs.
“Oh no, don't get up,” the pouffe said. It had materialized a pair of waxy yellow eyeballs. “I'm quite comfortable like this.”
“It isn’t very nice to intrude on the thoughts of others,” Luna chided, levitating the cup of tea Spike had brought up to her lips and taking a sip. “Is that really what Twilight would do?”
“Absolutely. That totally sounds like her. She did it to me, you know. I had some perfectly wonderful mind altering spells going on and she just waltzed in and trampled all over them. Don't you read the letters she sends your darling sister?”
“The friendship reports? Sky above, not those things. Celestia obsesses over them. We have no idea why. They are the most boring of texts, and it's not as though Celestia even needs events summarised like that. She can just ask the mind of the nation to replay the memory.”
“I imagine she feels they are more for Twilight's benefit than for anyone else.”
“You could be right there,” Luna agreed. The day's twists and turns had soothed her usual dislike for Discord, it seemed. “So you've the experience with her methods, we take it? How would we go about reminding them that the magic of friendship isn't as dead as they think it is?”
“Something sappy, I don't doubt,” Discord sighed, rolling his eyes. “You could probably ask the dragon.”
“That's not a bad idea!” she exclaimed, glancing down again. “Since when were-” she paused. The eyes were gone.
“Who were you just talking to?” Spike asked, nervously. He was standing on the other side of the library, holding a tray of cookies in his claws.
Luna said nothing and drank her tea.
*
Dear Princess Celestia, Soli Deo, Rex Ex Sol, etc,
Just where do you get off thinking you're so high and mighty, anyway? Who made you so exalted? I'll have you know that as a senior member of the Equestrian Hay Board...
Celestia chuckled quietly and folded closed the letter, carefully adding it to the growing pile. Her citizens had been airing their drunken feelings on various matters of state and nation for the better part of the day. Most hadn't been so literate, and not all of their imagined grievances had been aimed towards her. Between episodes of amiable carousing had come some rather unpleasant fights, looting, arson attacks, sharp object centric settling of old scores, and one incident of attempted regicide involving an oversized courgette.
Everything was going according to plan.
There was a polite knock at the doors to her chambers. Celestia frowned. The Helian Court had been suspended due to an 'ongoing national crisis', and in any case, most of the castle staff and councillors hadn't even shown up. “Come,” she said, disarming the anti-espionage seals engraved into the frame and opening the door wide.
“Your Highness,” a soft and collected voice replied. Its owner was a grey bat pony dressed in the black and silver mail of the Night Guard. She came trotting in, confidently. “I am First Lieutenant Zo Nar. Captain Kite sent me to retrieve our orders.”
“Did she?” Celestia asked, puzzled at the appearance of a bat pony in her lofty, sun-loving realm. “Whatever for?”
“Surely you're aware of the situation?” Nar said, looking surprised.
“Of course, I have already sent for the Elements of Harmony,” she lied. “But surely you have your own standing orders?”
“We do, ma'am, but Captain Kite received an urgent request for help from our division from the station chief of the Canterlot Civilian Guard. They're taking a real beating from whatever this affliction is. She wants to know if she's free to render them assistance.”
“Why not ask my Day Guard for help?”
“I believe the station chief already tried that, ma'am,” the bat pony fluttered her leathery wings uncomfortably. “It would appear that most of your guard have joined in with the fighting and looting.”
“I see,” Celestia nodded, trying to look as grim as possible. “And yourselves? How many of your number are incapacitated?”
“None, ma'am. Some of the newer recruits report feeling a bit light-headed and drowsy, but we're in top fighting shape!”
“Hmm,” she nodded. This was unexpected. Nobody was supposed to be resistant to the effects of the imminent completion of the Nectars. Certainly it would take time to spread fully, and not everyone would be affected at once, but Canterlot was at the epicentre of it all. “Well, the nation expects you to do your duty, First Lieutenant. Please inform your Captain that she is to defend the citizenry at all costs until help arrives.”
“Yes ma'am!” Nar shouted, snapping off a smart salute before leaving.
As soon as she was gone, Celestia surveyed the scene from her balcony. A dull roar of cheering and singing hung over the city. Columns of black smoke rose from a dozen places. Pegasus buzzed around in erratic patterns between their high perches, swooping and diving here and there. Those bat ponies will be trouble, she thought. I should have known she would rebuild them to be immune to these effects. Tartarus take her, what else has Luna been hiding from me?
*
Agreeing to go with Whom to one of her infinitely numerous castles had been the only way to get her to stop talking about them for five minutes. In any case, the intense battle was showing no signs of abating soon, and there was one other ingredient to be found on the moon. Twilight's one concession was that they not fly there. Doing so in a microgravity environment was extremely bizarre, and her own experiments had lead to a distinct feeling that an errant twitch of the wings or a mistiming of magic would send her spiralling into the cloying void above.
They'd only been walking for about five minutes when Twilight felt the landscape around her begin to change. The silvery white regolith took on a more subtle, darkened hue, as though it had been spray painted in a hurry. The previously non-existent atmosphere started to present more resistance to her passing, becoming thicker somehow. Her hoofsteps even started to become audible.
Presently, something appeared over the horizon. From a distance it appeared to be a tall platinum wall, but as Twilight and Whom drew closer to it, the construct began to positively loom. Its surface seemed to be in constant motion, a never-ending shock wave that ran the entire length of it. There was no way round, and Whom looked quite content as to the fact that they were going to pass through it. Twilight, however, was not as convinced. She paused as she came within touching distance and set her mind to work on the problem.
Strange images in microscopic detail were present in the wall, a sort of bas relief. Though at first they were monochrome, as she followed them more closely they revealed hints of blacks and blues. Twilight began to recognise some of the scenes. Ponyville, covered in snow. Canterlot on a bright summer’s day, decked out in festive regalia. Ponies, chattering and laughing, playing seasonal games ranging from croquet to snowball fighting.
“Don't mind the Gap, Twilight, it's generally harmless,” Whom said. The pink alicorn was regarding her with a concerned look.
“The Gap?” she asked. “What is this?”
“Something Luna made. It catches dreams so they can be looked after.”
“Catches dreams?” Twilight snorted. “How preposterous. Those are just imaginations. Memories. They're not really tangible. Chemicals and electricity.”
“That's what they are,” Whom shrugged. “The Nightmare used to say she had to remember everypony's dreams, but that sometimes she didn't have room, so they'd have to go in here. Her face would go all funny and she'd stick her horn in the wall like this,” Whom poked her horn into the wall. It entered easily, as though it were completely immaterial. “And then she'd look much happier and less sad. I don't think she liked being reminded of what she'd left behind.”
“I see. Why do we have to go through it?”
“The Gap runs all the way around her private domain. It's where me and my sisters live.”
“Sisters? There are more of you here?”
“Yeah, but they don't talk very much. Come on, the castles are this way,” Whom sighed, and trotted through. Resisting the urge to hold her breath, Twilight followed.
The Gap itself offered no sensory clue that it was even there, and was as thin as a sheet of paper. As she passed it, Twilight suddenly felt warm sunlight on her face, at a contrast to the searing heat that her alicorn nature had been toning down. A familiar sensation presented itself beneath her hooves. It was grass, black as the night but otherwise normal.
They were now standing in a large field surrounded by tall, obsidian trees. They were covered in shimmering silver leaves, and their branches ran at stark, mathematically perfect angles. Each tree seemed to be a carbon copy of the last. Twilight glanced behind her and saw that the wall was gone, replaced by the other end of the field.
“Sweet Celestia,” Twilight whispered. “Where are we?”
“The Nightmare used to call it the Selenite Principality, but only if she was really angry, or drunk, or writing fake letters to her sister or something. I just like to call it home.”
A breeze moved through the trees and over the field. Immediately, a sound like a million wind chimes filled the air. It was strangely soothing, like a sonorous river slowly flowing over a waterfall. Twilight shook her head. Eyes on the prize.
“Right,” she said, using her magic to pull the ingredient list out of her panniers. The third item seemed to make more sense now. Twelve Solanaceae Selenarum flowers. Lunar nightshade. “Lets go find this castle of yours.”
*
Black Ode sprinted down one of Canterlot's wide thoroughfares, hooves clattering over the cobbles, heart pounding in his chest. Some tremendous force coursed through his body and soul. Had he been thinking straight, he might have described it as inexorable in spirit and undeniable in purpose. That was the sort of pony he was; wordy and fanciful.
“Come, my friends, 'tis not too late!” he shouted, to the world at large. “To feel the blood run through the veins and tingle! Where busy thoughts and and blind sensations mingle! For we are the movers and shakers of the world!”
“Shut up, you tosser!” somepony said. “We're trying to have a quiet drink!”
Ode was so taken aback by this that he fell over, crumpling into a heap of flailing limbs. Struggling up, her turned to see the source of the voice. Sandwiched between two tall townhouses was a tiny pub, fronted in black and brown ponyoak panels, windows filled with old fashioned glass panes. The sign hanging from a post above the door read 'The Nag's Hede'. Sat outside it on a series of sturdy looking trestle tables were two old ponies. Ode racked his brains. He was more than familiar with this area of the city; he'd grown up in Canterlot, after all, but for the life of him, he couldn't recall ever having seen the place before, or its curiously misspelled sign.
“Yeah, you great poofy git!” the other chimed in. “Can't you see it's the end of the bloody world?”
“Hey, I will have you know, I am not a poof!” Ode said. “I have been with many mares. They speak most highly of me to their friends. Their marefriends!”
“Sure you have, pal,” the first one grinned. “Why don't you come have a pint with us?”
Ode blinked, and cocked his head, then felt himself wander over to them and sit down.
“I'm Michael, and this is Nick.”
“Michael? Nick? What kind of names are those?”
“Oh yeah? So what's yours then?”
“I am Black Ode, senior member of the Earth Pony Poets and Bards Guild.”
“Hah, see, I told you Nick,” he said, looking over at his friend. “Total poof.”
“So what're you drinking?” Nick asked, before Ode had time to look offended again.
“Um. I'll have whatever it is you're having.”
“Good lad, bitter is then. Sally'll be out in a minute.”
Ode examined the contents of their glass mugs curiously. As an urban poet, he'd drunk more than his fair share of booze down the years, but never before had he seen or even heard of anything like whatever it was they were refreshing themselves with. It was a deep amber colour, almost terracotta, and foamed very slightly when shaken. Apparently some sort of beer, he thought. Though what closeness it has to our own native lager, I don't know.
“So, this end of the world business then,” Michael said. “What'd you make of it, Ode?”
“It's nothing so bad,” Ode said. “Probably just some magical mishap somewhere. This is a unicorn city, after all. I'm sure the Princesses are working on it as we speak.”
“Haven't you seen the way everypony's carrying on?” Nick said. “The guard are barely holding the line around the castle. The Avenue's like a no-pony's land 'cause someone set fire to the Quills and Sofas warehouse. It's bloody anarchy. Got to be the end of the world or something like it.”
“Yer right there, Nick,” Michael nodded, taking a swig of bitter. “Even when that lass whatsherface, you know who I'm talking about, big green wings, black as coal...”
“Queen Chrysalis?” Ode suggested.
“That's her. Even when her lot were here, getting their feelers on everything, it weren't this bad.”
“Those Elements of Harmony ponies will be here soon, no doubt,” Ode said. “They fixed everything last time, and the time before that. They'll sort this mess out, if the Princesses can't.”
The door to the pub opened before anyone could respond, and a shapely yellow earth pony came out, balancing a tray holding three glasses of bitter on it. She carefully placed it on the table, and Ode began to fumble for his wallet.
“Don't worry about that, love,” she smiled. “It's the end of the world, everything's on the house.”
“Oh, right, thank you.”
“Cheers, Sally.” Michael said, finishing off his previous drink and swapping the empty with the new mug. He passed Ode his drink as Nick did the same.
“No worries, lads.” Sally replied, then carried the tray back inside.
“How did she know what I wanted?” Ode asked, as soon as she was gone. He slipped a hoof inside the handle of the glass and sniffed the drink suspiciously.
“Sally's good like that,” Nick said. “Not to mention everyone here drinks bitter.”
Ode took a sip. It certainly was bitter, but as he rolled the flavour around his mouth a great many different flavours emerged. Hops, cherries, a subtle hint of lemon, freshly baled hay on a summer's morning. It seemed to appeal to his earth pony nature at a primordial level somehow.
“Mmm, this is good,” Ode smiled, taking a bigger sip. “Why haven't I had it before?”
“Well, that's because the pub's in Canterlot at the moment,” Michael said, waving around at the city in general. “You guys don't have bitter. What is it that they have here, Nick?”
“Lager,” he replied, as though talking about an unpleasant bodily function. “D'ya remember, we had some the other night, over at that Prince's Arms place.”
“I see,” Ode nodded, drinking more of the bitter. “Well it's certainly something we should have here,” he said, then furrowed his brow in confusion. “What do you mean by 'at the moment'?”
Nick shot his friend a glance of alarm, to which Michael made an exaggerated grimace of apology then took a deep draught of his beer.
“What we mean is 'us', it's us who are here at the moment,” Nick said, hurriedly. “We're here on holiday.”
“And you brought this stuff with you?”
“We're big fans.”
“Where are you on holiday from?”
“You wouldn't have heard of it.” Nick said.
“Other side of the world from here.” Michael added.
“Can't you tell by our accents?”
“Well, try me. I'm a stallion of the world myself, I've been all over,” Ode said. “And, don't take this the wrong way, you both sound like you're from South Canterlot. How else would you have known about Chrysalis?”
“Oh, right, of course we do. And we were here on holiday then too,” he scratched the back of his head. “We haven't had much luck with holidays recently.”
“Mm hmm, yep, that's where I was born, South Canterlot.” Michael agreed.
There was an awkward silence at the table for a brief moment, which allowed Ode to drink more of the surprisingly delicious bitter. Some moments later, the spell was broken by a loud thud from somewhere behind him. Nick's eyes had gone wide, and as soon as Michael saw he turned his head and gasped.
“I thought I'd find you two here.” Princess Celestia's unmistakably regal voice said.
“Oh cripes.” Nick whimpered.
*
“The Great and Drunk Trixie will not be trifled with! Have at you!”
The pillar Zo Nar was hiding behind exploded in a shower of splintered masonry and tiny bunches of roses. Damn unicorns, Nar cursed, reaching for her spear, which she'd dropped when the blue mage with the pointy hat had ambushed her. I guess a dignified attack would be too much to ask for.
“If you come out now, Trixie may yet spare your worthless bat pony life!”
“I am heavily armed!” Nar shouted. “You have one chance to comply before I put you down. Cease your spell casting immediately!”
“Nopony orders the Great and Powerful Trixie around!”
Another of the big pillars holding up the front of the First Equestrian National Bank building blew apart, this time accompanied by various multicoloured fireworks. Luckily, the aim was so bad the resulting fragments barely bothered Nar. I don't have time for this!
Nar raised her spear and dove out from cover, adopting a low-in-the-haunches stance before throwing the weapon. Her aim, unlike the unicorn's, was perfect and true. Just before it struck, the narrow head detected the presence of a magic user and blossomed open, releasing its enchanted payload of four hundred grams of spider silk woven with a simple nullifying cantrip.
The unicorn squealed in dismay, then with mild pain as the shaft whacked her on the nose. Nar had wasted no time, however, and followed up the disabling attack with an angry pounce. The unicorn went flying. Within a few moments, the bat pony had her prey hog tied and helpless. Almost forgetting, she plucked up the now headless shaft of her spear and screwed on a new tip, readying it for use again.
“Now, be a good filly and stay there.” Nar said curtly, before trotting off.
“You can't do this to the Great and Powerful Trixie! She will destroy you! Untie her this instant!”
Her complaints fell on deaf, tufted ears. The situation in the centre of the city had gotten worse in the short time it had taken to meet with Celestia and start on her way back. The streets were a bizarre tableau of violence and debauchery, a mixed platter of vulgarities apparently inspired by the worst revolutions and the best parties in history. One road or side alley would be carried along in good natured drunken cheer, free love and wild singing. The next would seem like a battlefield, littered with injured ponies, or choked with smoke from the fires that had been set.
Nar had been very tempted to just fly out of Celestia's balcony, but the aerial side of things was somehow even more dangerous than the ground side. Swarms of pegasus, their ultra-competitive, hyper-aggressive natures showing true, were having racing competitions and pinionwhip fights between the various roosts of the city. Thankfully nobody had been coordinated enough to pull off a sonic rainboom yet, though not for lack of trying. Nar had personally witnessed several unfortunate young flyers fail to pull up in time and collide with the ground at several hundred miles an hour.
This has to stop, and soon, Nar thought, grimly. Otherwise there won't be a citizenry left to protect.
*
Double Emboss' thoughts were straying more and more back toward that night twenty five years past when he'd helped Princess Celestia deal with a serious problem. She'd come to him, a newly minted clerk of the registry office, with a just-born foal in her hooves and her eyes full of something he'd never seen before in a royal, nor since. Fear. Of course, he had gladly agreed when she'd asked him to conceal its identity. He'd entered a fictional name and lineage in the logs, introduced her to a couple he knew who'd only recently had a child themselves, persuaded them to adopt the purple infant as their own.
If only I'd known. All this, whatever this is, this impending Thiasus, could have been prevented. I should have refused. But how could I have? She was, and still is, my Princess. And she would only have found another.
There had been more favours after that, of course. Altering the genealogies of the long dead House Cupid to show that the dam of the child, a pink unicorn, was a member of it, and thus an alicorn by way of birth, rightful heir to the Crystal Throne. I should have figured it out then. Celestia and Tartarus-damned schemes and magicks. At least I stopped talking to her after the Empire returned and she crowned Twilight Sparkle. Thanks be for small mercies.
The benefits of a life lived constantly in debt to a Goddess had not been inconsiderable. Emboss was currently pacing around the study of his fifteen bedroom manor house, which stood in a hundred and thirty acres of land just outside Canterlot. Its opulence was quite beyond what even a senior clerk like himself could ever have possibly afforded, but he'd always played it off as the family pile, inherited from some great uncle.
Emboss tugged out the stopper from a cut glass decanter with his magic and poured himself a glass of scotch. He'd managed to escape from Canterlot just in time. The northern Abraxis Gate had collapsed after he'd passed through, engulfed by some errant burst of magic, and without it only the Praxis Gate remained as a way out. However, that exit descended down to the opposite slope of Mount Avalon, which would have left Emboss on the wrong side entirely.
It wasn't that Emboss disagreed with most of the outcomes of Celestia's plans. It was the way she went about it. He'd grown up truly believing, like every other pony, that Celestia was the height of pure minded righteousness. He had seen what she really was, a benevolent sociopath, and wished that he never had. Every Summer Sun Celebration was mired with lies to his wife and children about why he didn't want to go, every Hearth's Warming Eve when toasts were made to the Sisters a fog of half-truths.
“Mr Emboss? Are you home? It's not like you to stray and roam.”
Dunya had entered the room, quite unannounced, in her light and airy Zebrican way. Emboss had employed her as a tutor for his foals since before they had been born, but more than that, she was probably the only individual he could really call a friend. He'd even confided in her of his favours for the Princess, though he wasn't sure she believed him as much as he would have liked.
“Something has happened in the city, Dunya,” he said. “Something very magical.”
“From your tone and depressed nature, am I to assume we're all in danger?”
“I believe so. Princess Celestia has triggered some sort of event. Most ponies in Canterlot seem to be affected. It's like they're incredibly drunk. Everything is collapsing. That's not the worst of it though,” Emboss felt his heart start to race, and his words along with it. “This is just a build-up to something she calls the Thiasus, which is apparently like a parade, but run by a God, and sweet sky above, Dunya, I think she wants to have sex with him!”
“Slow down, Mr Emboss, and take a breath,” she cooed, sidling in behind one of the big lounge chairs kept in the study and pushing it closer with her head. “Sit down before you die a death.”
“Good idea, great idea,” Emboss muttered, crawling onto it, feeling utterly miserable and powerless. “Say, you were born in Zebrica! Land of Knowledge! Do you know anything at all about this Thiasus?”
“Many books my mother owned, and many books aside I own,” Dunya said. “But never once in reading them, did I read of what you ken.”
“Worth a shot.” Emboss shrugged.
“But if the knowledge does exist, I know of those who can assist.”
“Who?”
Dunya told him. Emboss didn't believe her. She told him again. After a few minutes of silence, the concept of the Thiasus occurring became the second most outrageous thing he'd heard all day.
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Still quite confused over where this is going and just what Celestia's plan is though I think it's because she has too many of them. Also I liked how Emboss refers to Celestia as a "benevolent sociopath", which in a way does fit.
2982487
All her plans will be revealed in good time! I hope I can keep people guessing as to the true motives of her cunning schemes (beyond wanting to scratch a millennial itch) until they actually happening. We shall see.
I've always thought of Celestia as a benevolent sociopath that everyone just thinks is inherently morally good. She isn't.
2982522
Celestia as the benevolent sociopath is not one I usually see nor is it described as such but I do agree that she is not as morally upstanding as she appears to be especially with all her trickery.
2982766
Aye, that's why it has the AU tag. In the show Celestia IS actually a paragon of inherent moral goodness, whereas here she just goes to great lengths to appear that way.
Well Emboss is at least half right. Celestia is a sociopath and I think even canon wise that is somewhat an easy conclusion to make. Oh dear, Luna I hope you can get the other elements back on board to help with this problem. Letting old Dio into Equestria is just asking for problems.
2985380
I think you can draw all sorts of different conclusions on Celestia's state of mind and alignment from the show. I've just always thought of her as a benevolent sociopath and decided to put that in the story.
Dionysus is coming - and neither he or Celestia will be denied!
Lets hope indeed that the magic of friendship can win out.
2985416
I'll admit I do have a question. Was both of those alterations Emboss did for Cadence or was the first one placing Twilight with her family? I got kind of confused by that portion of the story.
2985445
The first is placing Twilight with her family - in this universe they're not her biological parents. The second is to do with Cadence and her not-so-royal roots being disguised so Celestia had someone to take control of the Crystal Empire.
If she'd attempted to do so herself, the international situation would have deteriorated as it would have been seen as imperialism. By contriving a 'legitimate' heir to the kingdom that she could control, she ensured the Empire situation would be dealt with satisfactorily.
2985517
Ah, thought so. I just wanted to make sure I was reading it correctly or if I had somehow gotten lost. Thanks for clearing that up.
Lovely story so far. There aren't too many depictions of the Princesses as beyond-ancient omnipotent beings, more akin to the likes of Nyarlothotep or Azathoth than the average pony. (I'm being slightly hyperbolic.)
This is certainly the first story I've read with a drink so powerful that even the mere intent to brew can put an entire city into a drunken stupor. So points for that.
This line should be rephrased. Celestia's the one asking favors, so she's in debt to Emboss, not the other way around.
2985416
Na im hoping it escalates to the point where it put the nightmare moon incident to shame (if i understood correctly then nightmare moon was only luna drunk on the nectars....and twilight is brewing her batch)
It then end with twilight in the sun celestia on the moon and then you make a sequel when they come back
2986263
Thank you for the comment! I too hadn't seen many depictions of the sisters as actual Goddesses either - I was going for something of a bit of a benevolent lovecraftian feel so I'm glad that came through.
Totally didn't notice that error - doh! Thanks for pointing it out, will correct it.
2986801
It certainly will escalate - but maybe the Thiasus is a good thing for everypony concerned? Even Goddesses have needs, after all...
2988721
yeah but if you party hard (wich thiasus probably is) you sometimes wake up at strange locations with no memory what happened.^^
2989364
I think that may rather be the point. The Thiasus is a party of the Gods, after all. What else would be attracted by the brewing of the best divine booze in all existence?
I love all the different names being used for Celestia and Luna.
The moon continues to be awesome.
Headcanon established.
And now it looks like we have some sort of interesting origin for both Twilight and Cadance. Based on the comment about fear in Celestia's eyes, I'm guessing that Twi wasn't 100% according to plan.