Seize The Day
The rain rattled on the iron roof of Twilight’s carriage as it clanked its way through the streets of Ponyville. Twilight leaned against the side and stared out the narrow window into the perpetual darkness.
“You should still be in the hospital,” Dash said quietly, looking at Twilight. She looks pale. Tired. Should I be worried? she thought.
Of course not. She’ll make mistakes if she’s out of it. But...
“I don’t see why I should be,” Twilight said. “They discharged me, after all.”
“You didn’t give them much choice.”
Twilight turned towards Dash and smiled—an awkward, uneven grin. “Get used to it, Dash! Things are going to change around here. Especially now that the princess is in town."
“Change?” Dash asked, trying to keep her voice neutral. “How’s that, ma’am?”
Twilight raised a hoof and gestured around vaguely. “If I understand the princess correctly, she’s...” The personal student giggled a little, a short, sharp noise. “Ahem. The princess has rejected Governor Rich’s... approach to dealing with the sols. We’re not doing things halfway anymore.”
Spooky. “Oh?”
“Oh, yes. We’re going to take a more active role. Isn’t this exciting?” Twilight’s eyes were wide.
She can’t wait for whatever this is, Dash thought. There’s no way that’s a good thing. “Active, huh?”
“Active,” Twilight said, nodding her head repeatedly. “We’re going to smoke them out of their little, um, little hidey holes. Have you heard about what the princess has been doing in Canterlot?”
She can’t be serious. She can’t be. “Not really,” Dash said, not trusting herself to respond. Her face was a mask of polite interest.
“That’s good,” Twilight said. “Princess Luna said that most ponies wouldn’t understand why she has to do what she’s doing. Ooh, but it’s so cool!”
Dash cocked an eyebrow.
“You really don’t know anything about it, do you?” Twilight said, with a look of condescension. “Her sis—” Twilight paused. “I shouldn’t be telling you this,” she said softly, with a conspiratorial glance towards the window.
“Alright, ma’am,” Dash said.
Twilight smiled. “Loyal as always, Lieutenant. I think I can trust you with things like this.”
Right... “If you say so.”
“Can’t I trust you?”
“Of course,” Dash said, her tone a bit curt—‘Of course you can trust me. Why wouldn’t you?’
“That’s right!” Twilight said, clapping her hooves together. “We’re friends after all, aren’t we?”
“I’m not really sure—”
“Come on, Dash,” Twilight said, with a genuine, soft smile. “No need for pretense here.”
Dash tried to smile back. She couldn’t really manage it. “Pretense? Me?”
Twilight laughed. “I guess not. Oh, are we there already?”
“Looks like it,” Dash said, looking out her window. “Behind me please, ma’am.”
“You’re worried about an attempt on me twenty feet away from city hall?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Better safe than sorry.”
“Right.”
Dash dropped out of the carriage, taking care not to make contact with her injured leg. She looked left and right, and then found her eyes drawn upwards to the stolid mass of the city hall building. It was a imposing, blocky structure, built of ostentatious white marble that seemed to glow dimly in the night. The governor’s office rose up almost arrogantly from the rest of the building, hundreds of feet above street level. Governor Rich had it specially added, Dash recalled dimly. It didn’t look like it fit, in any case.
“Area’s clear, ma’am,” Dash said, glancing back towards the carriage. Twilight shifted herself towards the door, wincing and rubbing her head. “You alright, Twilight?” Dash asked.
Twilight? she thought. Idiot.
But Twilight didn’t seem to mind after all. “I’m fine,” she said, lowering her legs out of the carriage. She touched the ground gingerly, watching it as if it was a threat. She stood up on the wet pavement, as straight as possible.
Twilight gritted her teeth, and put a hoof to her head. “Dash,” she hissed. “Come over here.”
Dash trotted over to her side. “Yes, ma’am?”
“I need you to support me. My head—” Twilight winced, and hesitated to speak again. “Sorry.”
“No, no,” Dash said, pulling Twilight’s foreleg over her shoulders. “This is what I do for a living, remember?”
“Were there a lot of classes about hauling your invalid commanders from place to place?” Twilight asked, smirking slightly.
I don’t—was that a joke? Dash chuckled politely. “You’d be surprised, ma’am.”
“Twilight.”
“Sorry?”
Twilight glared. “I told you to call me Twilight. Remember?”
Why would she... “Yes, m—Twilight.”
“Good,” Twilight said, with a lopsided grin. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
“I guess not.”
“There we go! Anyways, you will never guess what happened to the governor...”
Dash didn’t look at the yellow pegasus that walked next to her. It was still raining: a warm, languid storm from the dayside that lashed the cracked pavement in slow, steady bursts, like the beating of a heart, and the air was so thick with moisture that Dash sweared she could feel it drag past her as she walked through the empty streets of the East District.
There was a small shop ahead, its windows shattered. Glass shards were still scattered over the pavement. Inside, the cheap tiled floor was smeared black—a fire, or maybe some kind of bomb.
“Everypony’s still gone from here,” Fluttershy said quietly, “ever since the sunrise.”
Dash didn’t say anything, picking her way through the glass.
“Were you followed?” Fluttershy asked.
“I don’t think so.”
“You didn’t check?”
“Of course I checked,” Dash snapped. “I can make mistakes.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “You said you needed to talk to me as soon as you could?”
“Yeah,” Dash said, glancing behind her. “Twilight says that things are going to change a lot. Like, with a, uh, active approach to us.”
“What does that mean?”
Dash didn’t say anything for a few seconds. The rain fell softly around them. “Canterlot was mentioned.”
Fluttershy gasped—a quick, subtle sound. But it still scared the hell out of Dash.
“So... the rumors are true,” Dash said.
Fluttershy nodded.
“It as bad as they say?”
The assassin looked away, and shook her head. “It’s probably worse.”
“Shit. Why would it be worse?”
“Um. The ponies telling those stories are still alive,” Fluttershy said without any particular emphasis, like she was talking about the weather. “Everything I do hear scares me, Dash.”
“What have you been hearing?” Dash said, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, they say everything below 42nd is just gone,” Fluttershy said. “Nightmare sent in multiple regiments to clear out everypony.”
“And by clear out...”
“Yes.”
Dash exhaled slowly. “This is bad.”
Fluttershy placed a hoof on her shoulder, carefully, keeping a wary eye on Dash. “It might be time to do it, Rainbow.”
“You don’t know that would help,” Dash said, just a bit too quickly. “She’s barely settled into her new role as the princess’s representative plenipotentiary.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow—although it was hard to tell behind those innocent bangs. “What is she now?”
“Representative, uh... imperial plenipotentiary...” Dash said, sounding out the last word. “If she says something, it’s basically like the princess said it.”
Fluttershy stared at her.
“Shy, I know how this sounds, but killing her now won’t do anything. The princess isn’t relying on her for anything. She just got out of the hospital.”
Fluttershy raised her pace, leaving the lieutenant behind.
“What are you doing? Shy... Fluttershy! Come on!” Dash said, running to catch up with her.
The assassin turned around. “If you haven’t done it the next time I see you, I’ll report you to the Night Guard and then kill her myself.”
Dash’s mouth opened and closed, but she found herself unable to form words.
“I mean it, Dashie,” Fluttershy said, hiding behind her mane.
“We shouldn’t have to act like this,” Dash said hoarsely. “This is wrong.”
Fluttershy didn’t say anything, just stood there and watched the rain fall onto Dash. “I know,” she said, and walked away.
Rarity and Spike followed the alicorn through the halls of the solar headquarters. They were crowded, busy—a electricity in the atmosphere, with dozens of ponies rubbing past the bare concrete walls. The lighting was dim and uneven, with only the occasional electric light illuminating the halls.
“So,” the alicorn said, looking back at the pair, “you’re ‘extremely valuable assets’? And why exactly is that?”
“If we didn’t have anything to offer—” Spike started.
“Spike, darling,” Rarity interrupted, “if you’ll let me do the talking? Thank you. Now, to answer your question...”
Rarity paused in the hall, her eyes wide. “It is Princess Cadence, isn’t it?”
Cadence smiled wanly. “Just Cadence now, I’m afraid.”
“But...” Rarity said, trotting quickly to catch up with Cadence, “I had thought you were dead. I adored you as a filly! You always had such a poise, a elegance, a... a je ne sais quoi to you. It was quite...”
Cadence didn’t respond.
“Forgive me,” Rarity said, “I do have a habit of rambling. But I would have never expected to find you somewhere like here! I thought...”
“That I was Nightmare’s shill?” Cadence asked.
“Not as such...” Rarity said quietly.
“No, that’s fair,” Cadence said. “I was when you had heard of me. I didn’t have much of a choice about it, though.”
Rarity nodded. “I take it, then, that the official story about your disappearance was...”
“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,” Cadence said, smirking. “Solar terrorists, right? I was supposedly abducted and killed?”
Rarity blinked. “Well, yes.”
“Abducted, I guess,” Cadence said, rounding a corner. “But usually that’s a bad thing. It wasn’t for me. Oh, we’re at Shining’s office.” She opened the door casually. “Hi, honey.”
Rarity’s eyes barely glanced at the unicorn, but locked on the other pony in the room. “You!” she hissed.
Fluttershy looked bored. “Hello, Cadence. What’s the escort doing here?”
Cadence said, “I’m not actually sure.”
“I...” Rarity started. “I want to help you. We’ll talk about my motives later, but in the meantime... Spike, would you be a dear?”
Spike reached behind him, grabbing something out of the pack he carried on his back. Blink and you’d miss it—Fluttershy already had her gun out and pointed at Rarity. “What are you doing?”
He put his hands up in the air, one carrying a suitcase.
“This suitcase,” Rarity said, “has been filled with thousand-bit bills. Spike is carrying two more just like it.” She smiled. “And as far as I’m concerned, it’s yours.” It was a practiced smile, an expert one. “But as much as I’m sure that will be helpful, my real wealth is in... well.”
She smirked, and tapped the side of her head. “I have a vast network of connections—favors owed, secrets kept.“ She winked. "Or not kept. In short, I have a great deal of influence which you have never heard about before, but is, however, very real. You may confirm this with whomever you like."
"She wants something,” Fluttershy said. “She always does. It’s how she operates.”
Rarity leveled her smile, and an ice-cold glare, at Fluttershy. “Be that as it may, I am only looking for two simple little things, which I’m sure you’ll agree are well worth the benefit of my services.”
Cadence mouthed the word “services,” and chuckled.
Rarity cringed, but recovered her composure quickly. “Well, Mr Armor? I was hoping we could come to an agreement tonight.”
Shining Armor watched her for a few seconds, eyes flickering away from her face. “What do you want?”
Rarity smiled. “First, I want to leave to Manehatten. I know that you have ways of getting ponies places. Second, I would dearly appreciate it if the princess’s... what is she now? Twilight Sparkle, in any case, needs to die.”
Shining sighed. “I think we can make that happen. Cadence, get that information from her. Fluttershy... I’m putting you on the Sparkle thing. Ask the dragon how you can make that happen.”
“I’ve never seen a dragon before,” Fluttershy said, walking through the halls of the solar headquarters.
“Well then,” Spike said.
“I didn’t know you could talk.”
“And how,” Spike intoned.
“Um. It doesn’t seem like you talk much, though.”
Spike shrugged.
“Oh. If you could come in here, please,” she said, gesturing towards a door. It lead to a bare concrete room, with a plain wood table and two cheap metal chairs. “Um, maybe you could take a seat, but...”
“Yeah.”
“So,” Fluttershy mumbled, pulling out a pad and pencil, “how long have you known Twilight Sparkle?”
Spike raised an eyebrow. “Why would knowing that help you?”
Fluttershy sighed. “Um, well... I operate in sort of a different way than most ponies who do what I do. Please, just trust me and answer the questions.”
“Most my life, I guess,” Spike said, scratching his head. “So... eight years?”
“You’re eight years old?”
“I don’t look like I am, do I?” Spike said, scratching the ceiling lazily with a barely raised arm. “They do a bunch of different stuff to dragons like me. Chemicals. Magic. I don’t know, stuff like that.” He swung his arm down. His hand hung nearly down to his knee. “I should be what, like this tall right now? It’s weird.”
“And your relation to Sparkle?”
“Uh. I don’t know. Former employee, mailbox, pet, slave, maybe br... I don’t know.”
“What’s she like?”
“I thought you’d be asking me stuff like where can I find Twilight Sparkle? and how many ponies are in her personal guard?”
“Where can I find Twilight Sparkle?”
“Beats me.”
“How many ponies are in her personal guard?”
“It’s probably changed—I don’t know anything about that.”
“So...” Fluttershy said quietly.
“It isn’t going to help you to ask me those questions,” Spike rumbled. “Got it. What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about her.”
“Shit,” Spike said, rubbing his face, “where do I begin?”
“Oh, the beginning is usually a good place, I guess,” Fluttershy said.
“Uh, okay. I got assigned to Twilight as a baby. She was... I guess a new student at that point.”
Fluttershy scribbled in something in her notepad, then, past the pencil: “Student where?”
“Luna’s School for Gifted Unicorns. It’s in Canterlot.”
“Right. Does every student there have a dragon?”
“Definitely not. I think it was just Twilight.”
“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “Alright. Why is that?”
“The princess likes her.”
“Why is that?”
“Lots of reasons,” Spike said. “You know how she was born in a prison camp?”
Fluttershy nodded.
“She didn’t talk a lot about it, but she’s terrified of getting sent back there if she fails. It’s... it’s pretty much impossible, but that’s how she is.”
Fluttershy sighed. “She certainly does seem capable.”
“I guess.”
“Oh, you don’t think so?”
Spike shrugged. “She has really powerful magic. She’s very smart. But...”
“Yes?”
“She’s crazy. I mean it. There’s something wrong with that mare.”
Fluttershy leaned in, some intensity burning behind her eyes. “Like what?”
Spike closed his eyes and sighed, breathing deeply a couple of times. “The competition in that school is insane. And Twilight was at the top of it. She had to be the best at everything. Everything.”
Fluttershy didn’t write anything down, just looked blankly at Spike. “And?”
“She made me do a lot of stuff so that she could keep her place. Bad stuff. You can probably guess.”
“Rats,” Fluttershy said.
“What?”
“Oh, I was just, um, thinking about rats. They’ll eat pretty much anything if they’re hungry enough. So if you get a bunch of them in a small space...”
“They’ll eat each other,” Spike finished. “Cute comparison.”
“Oh, but that’s terrible,” Fluttershy said. “Those poor little rats.”
“You don’t really care about the unicorns, then.”
“Not really,” Fluttershy said. “So Sparkle grew up in a camp and then a really nasty elite magic school... what were her parents in the camp for?”
Spike whistled low. “I think I know what you’re trying to get at.”
“Just answer the questions, please.”
“They were sols. Not like you, though. They just thought things would get better once the sun came up.”
“How do you know about this?”
“She says things, sometimes. She’s gotten used to me being around, so I hear a lot of stuff.”
“That makes sense,” she said mildly. “What does she think about her parents?”
“Oh, she thinks they were naive idiots who deserved what they got.”
“Were,” Fluttershy repeated. “They’re dead.”
“Oh, well yeah. That’s how Twilight got the princess’s attention in the first place.”
“How’s that work?”
“Her parents kept up some solar... stuff... in the camp. They tried to celebrate the summer solstice, stuff like that. Lowkey, of course, so the guards wouldn’t catch them.”
“But Twilight did.”
“She reported them to the guards when she was like nine.”
“Wow,” Fluttershy said softly.
“Yeah.”
“The princess talked about what she had heard from the camp administrator a lot. Apparently Twilight stormed into his office, this little nine year old filly, and demanded that all three of them be hanged. The way the princess always told it, the camp administrator was so terrified of Twilight that he had it scheduled for next night.”
“That doesn’t sound very likely.”
Spike shrugged. “Maybe not.”
“Alright, well... wait, you said three of them?”
“Yeah. Her mom, dad, and brother. Why?”
“I didn’t know that she had a brother,” Fluttershy said.
Spike shrugged. “She doesn’t talk about him. Like, ever. He would have been, I don’t know, twelve, thirteen, fourteen. He’s dead, though. Why does it matter?”
“I don’t know yet,” Fluttershy said, “but... I think it might be important.” She smiled at him, a sweet and real smile. “Thank you for your time, Spike. I should know everything I need to know.”
“No problem.”
Discord didn’t announce his presence, but just smirked and stood in front of Shining Armor’s desk. Shining didn’t look up for some time, scribbling out instructions onto anonymous sheets of paper.
Discord sighed. “All work and no play makes Shiny a singularly dull colt,” he intoned. “And I don’t just mean boring.”
Shining’s head snapped upwards, and he drew his firearm instinctively. “Who the hell are you?” And then he took a double-take, staring at Discord, who spread out his arms expansively.
“Like what you see?” Discord asked.
“I don’t know yet,” Shining said. “Again, who the hell are you?”
Discord looked disappointed. “I’m Discord!” he said. “Surely you’re familiar: avatar of chaos extraordinaire, professional shananigan-maker, a being of strange and powerful... powers.” He frowned. “No? Not the slightest glimmer of recognition?”
“You’re the person Pie went after in Canterlot,” Shining said.
“The little pink firebug?” Discord asked. “A mare after my own heart, that one, more or less. But, anyhow, speak of—well, me—and I shall appear!”
Discord snapped his fingers, and was replaced by a plain cardboard box. “Give a few days for shipping and handling,” he said, muffled by the box.
“Days,” Shining said. “So you sympathize with our cause already. That’s good.”
Discord sprung out of the box, and leaned in towards Shining. “What an incorrigible nincompoop,” he said. “I like that about you, Mr Shining Armor.”
“Pinkie never mentioned that you were a jackass,” Shining said.
“Oh, but I’m a delightful jackass,” Discord said. “And more to the point, I’m an extraordinarily useful one to ponies who can... amuse me. And from what I’ve heard, I like your style, such as it is.”
“I assume you have a point to this.”
Discord pouted. “Not everything has to have a point, you know. But in this particular instance you’re mostly right.”
“Alright.”
Discord was suddenly wearing a trim black suit, and sat down in front of Shining’s desk, mismatched limbs resting on it. “So let’s talk business, shall we? Darling Luna has set up this sordid little system.” He almost spat that last word. “You don’t like it. I don’t like it. We don’t like it. Our interests therefore coincide for the time being. And so, I think I might just help you.”
Shining nodded. “What can you do?”
“What can’t I do?” Discord shot back. “But I suppose I’d have to have a sense for what you want to accomplish.”
“The complete and utter destruction of Nightmare Moon and all of her minions!” Shining cried.
Discord looked bored, and dismissed the thought with a wave of his paw. “Yes, yes. I had already surmised as much. What next?”
Shining took a second to respond. “We’ll bring the sun back.”
Discord yawned.
“Is there a problem?” Shining snapped.
“Hmm? What’s that?” Discord asked. “I seem to have fallen asleep for a moment. You have the opportunity to shape an entire world and you settle for some diurnal rejiggering. I had expected, I don’t know, some modicum of ambition.”
“You have a funny way of making friends.”
“I'm a funny draconequus,” Discord said. “But you have been badly mislead if you think I have the slightest intention of making any friends in this process. Still, I do have something of a... quid pro quo for you in exchange for such assistance as I feel inclined to offer.”
“Like what?” Shining asked.
“Oh, you’ll find out soon enough. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed. But!” he said, “I do require you to get this through your unimaginative little brain.”
Discord gestured towards a large sheet of paper floating in midair, with a set of pieces of jewelry drawn on it. “Do you know what these are? No, of course you don’t. No matter. You don’t need to know what they are or what they do. They’re called the Elements of Harmony, and in the event of your... victory... I’m going to need you to find them and give them to me.”
“I’m not sure I can guarantee that,” Shining said.
“Oh, nonsense. Aren’t you the leader of this Solar Liberation Army or whatever silly thing you’ve decided to name it?”
Shining’s head bobbed from side to side. “Sort of.”
“Oh, you mean Celestia is? Honestly, Shining Armor, I’m disappointed in you.”
“I am an incorrigible nincompoop.”
“Indubitably! But let me let you in on a little secret of mine.”
Shining raised an eyebrow. “Shoot.”
“She’s just a pony,” Discord said. “Well, perhaps not just. But those prophecies you pore over like they’re your wife’s private diary—” Discord waggled a finger at Shining. “Quite a nasty, clingy habit. Cadie should be quite upset. In any case, those prophecies could apply to any... white-coated, magical pony. One wonders where a stallion of your stature and color and magical capacity might be able to find such a creature.”
“Keep talking,” Shining said.
“And feed into your already disturbing sense of self-importance any further?” Discord asked. “No, I do believe I’ll pass. Consider my offer, though. Look for a... show of good faith, on my part. I think you’ll enjoy it.”
And Discord was gone.
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Now we're playing with power.
Intrigue power.
i think ill pass on anithing that says "alternate universe" for now on ...
4586951
Aw. Why's that?
Interesting. I look forward to seeing Celestia hung out to dry and I do hope Twilight kills Fluttershy.
Up with the Lunar Dominion!
4586980
Interesting assumption you're making.
4587006
Okay then: I hope her faithful stab her in the back and NMM ends up using her skull as a hood ornament.
Better?
4587023
A bit bloodthirsty, but certainly clearer.
I make no promises.
You know, I'm worried about Dark Twi. She's not going to get out of his alive, and Dash will be scared by it.
4018248
It lives.
4587060
Not like she deserves to live, she's been nothing but a sociopathic monster.
4587129 So pretty much Twi in a world ruled by fear and rumor?
I'm really happy to see this update. I enjoyed the chapter thoroughly, even with the unbearable suspense.
Nevertheless, nitpicks!
They were crowded, busy—a electricity in the atmosphere, with dozens of ponies rubbing past the bare concrete walls.
an electricity
Also, this seems incomplete. Perhaps something like "there was an electricity..."?
a elegance
an
you have been badly mislead
misled
*continues cheering for the villainous Mane Six*
Also, one thing that you did right is that there are no real good guys, only deeper layers of evil. Well, excluding Princess Celestia and some background ponies, of course.
4587149
Not so much, her actions are more borderline sociopathic as if she were incapable of actual empathy, the actual medical definition of it so to speak rather then her thoughts and viewpoints being raised in such a situation.
4587156
Serves me right for not contacting an editor for this chapter.
4587439 I meant she snapped instead of not doing so do too Celestia and her parents love. We see that even canon Twi was sitting on the edge for a while there
4587439 I dunno, she seems pretty friendly with Rainbow Dash.
On a related topic, I wonder if this hypothesis is helpful:
Suppose that Twilight-Filly was Lawful Netrual. Raised in Celestia's Equestria, she became Lawful Good; raised in NMM's Equestria, Lawful Evil. But the appearance of Celestia, equal in power and authority to her Princess, could conceivably change the game.
I haven't really thought the above through; I'm just throwing it out there, for whatever it may be worth in provoking thoughts in others.
4587616
She seems pretty friendly with her after gaining actual Brain Damage. Which would be an indicator of..something I suppose.
4587645 Hit her on the head with a hammer: instant friendship. Repeat as necessary.
I'd like to have most of those ponies shot in the back of the head and dumped in a mass grave. Is this normal?
Not Twilight, though. She's fun.
So... Is Shining about to get royally screwed? Please say yes.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/df/B5_morden.jpg
As much as i think this version of Twilight is a complete sociopath I really do want her to form a real friendship with Dash so that Dash can pull her over to the light side.
That and if I know one thing it's that Twilight is very hard to kill.
Hes only there for a few short hours and already hes trying to undermine everypony...well-played once again
This chapter makes it very easy to sympathize with Twilight's actions. I don't agree with them, obviously, but I do understand them...and I also wasn't a nine-year-old who grew up in what was essentially a concentration camp. Think about things from Twilight's point of view. She was born in the camp, so for her entire life, she's only known a place where ponies get tortured or killed for practicing Sol beliefs. She's only a foal, so she doesn't care about things like standing up for your beliefs or resisting tyranny or whatnot, all she sees is mommy, daddy, and big brother doing things that they know could get them, HER included, all punished or killed. So yeah, is it any wonder that, after presumably years of terror by remaining silent about it since she could understand the relationship between ponies getting punished and the Sol practices, that she finally snaps and turns her whole family in to get rid of the terror? And from her point of view, her family are all idiots who got what they deserved, because they could have avoided everything just by not doing the things that eventually got them in trouble in the first place.
And then she finally gets removed from the camp, by the Princess no less. This not only pretty much forever makes Twilight grateful to her for getting her out of there, it also sets up a new kind of terror: being sent BACK. So yeah, it's no wonder that she's done some horrible stuff to stay on top, because she's TERRIFIED that if she isn't, Nightmare Moon will send her back to the camps. This really makes me pity Twilight more than hate her. Also, I worry if she is redeemable. Dash might be able to do it, but only if she treads very carefully. And if she goes through with an assassination attempt and fails...that'll probably be the final shove over the edge, since I can see Twilight completely snapping if she finds out about Dash's Sol loyalties that way.
4587748 Something tel's me he already has, if you know what I mean.
T
Blegh, hopefully Fluttershy does her job well... they have the element of surprise, so if she fails they're screwed...
4589811 Doesn't seem to justify her actions whatsoever though.
4590564
Justify? Of course not.
Explain? At least partially.
4591112 Um, it just seemed like the guy I replied to was maybe, just a little bit, trying to say it was okay for Twilight to do those terrible things because she was in stupifying terror for her life, that she even deserved redemption in the face of the sadistic and downright cruel things she did.
It bothered me a bit is all, what about what ever terrible things she might have done to other people, things she didn't need to do ya know? Like Spike for instance, she made him live in terror, beat him, forced him to do things with the threat of violence, or Rarity, I don't need to say anything about what she did to Rarity.
Bottom line is it bothered me, so I wanted to say something to him or her.
4592482
Just trying to engage in the discussion, Pyro.
4594648 Oh um, I wasn't angry or upset or anything if you think I was, but I was just ya know, explaining my opinion like you asked.
I just get so passionate about my opinions sometimes, I forget that it might look confrontational.
My bad dude.
I spotted many references. I don't know if too many of them is a good thing. Makes the story less serious, you know?
Also what the hell is Discord doing? He's just sitting there, not doing chaos. He probably has a scheme, but still: bringing the elements back won't do him any good, and nothing's stopping him from spreading chaos everywhere already.
I hope there's going to be a reasonable explanation for this.
Seriously the odds feel like they are too heavily stacked against Twilight and Luna. It doesn't make this fun to read if the supposed good guys always win. Let Twilight obtain some victories. Honestly I really hope Twilight and Luna win. Yea they haven't been the nicest ponies but from what I read so far the other guys aren't exactly saints either.
All I'm saying is that there are two sides to every story and so far we've only heard one of them. The author hinted in the beginning of chapter two that there might be some greater purpose or reason for why Luna is doing all this. It is also clear that Luna cares about Twilight more then she lets on and that Twilight plays a big role in her plan so I kind of want to see were that leads to.
Congratulations, Discord. You've managed to not take over the instant you got free.
I have no idea why, but good on you for self-control.
So, the rest of the Mane Six want Twilight dead.
And now Shining Armor is being tempted by Discord.
...wonderful.
Roughly translates to:
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And for those reasons, and a few others, I find myself in the mentally compromising sitiouation of rooting for both sides. Honestly, Every Luna/Nightmare Moon and Twilight scene, I'm at the edge of my seat seeing how they will attempt to adapt to their defeats. For every sol scene, I cheer at their victories over the night. I find this state of mind both extremely annoying and imersive for the story.
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I'd actually say that each side has good and evil, a very realistic view of things. Then again they've all killed multiple ponies, so I can see your point of view quite clearly.
Ah, good ol' Discord up to his tricks. And I don't have to pretend he's totes reformed for realsies like I have to do for canon where he's still an incorrigible jackass who somehow still has friends, quite refreshing all things considered.
Carpe diem, m****af***ers.
4587674 Wait. That isn't how you make friends? Blunt force trauma? Damn, I have wasted my life...