Chapter 29
AIRBORNE ALL THE WAY!
SOAR INTO GLORY!
ENLIST TODAY IN THE ROYAL EQUESTRIAN AIR FORCE!
THE ROYAL GUARD WANTS YOU!
MARES · STALLIONS
EARTH PONIES · PEGASI · UNICORNS
APPLY NOW AT ANY ROYAL GUARD RECRUITING AND INDUCTION OFFICE!
Sweetie Belle had been glaring at the two recruiting posters plastered dead-center on the hospital waiting room’s bulletin board with such intensity she had become unaware of anything going on around her. She could not take her eyes off of the R.E.A.F. poster; her eyes traced the young mare posing in one of their gray flight suits, chest puffed out, and with the most unapologetically smug grin this world had ever seen smeared across the pegasus’ face. It was almost the exact same smirk that winged lunatic had made when she buried the arrow into Twist’s side. Although they weren’t wearing uniforms it was painfully obvious that those three were R.E.A.F. airponies. They talked like them, moved like them, and were every bit as aggressive as them. There was no question at all as to who they were; the question was why. The raspberry-colored pegasus had said something about ‘yanking an arrow out of a friend’s shoulder’, but Sweetie Belle couldn’t believe Twist would have done something like that. Twist was a crack shot with that bow and wouldn’t hesitate to use it if need be, but she never went looking for trouble and would avoid conflicts wherever she could. At the same time, however, while the R.E.A.F. just loved to throw their weight around and would eagerly attack at the slightest provocation, it simply was not their style to go after a lone pony like that without a good reason. Killers or not they still were a military force and usually weren’t willing to waste the time and resources going after a target for no purpose.
“Ms. Belle?”
The sound of the doctor’s voice and the abrupt tap of his hoof on her shoulder was enough to jolt her from the hard plastic bench she had kept herself riveted to since Twist had been whisked into the back on a stretcher by a trio of medical personnel. “Is she going to be okay?” said Sweetie Belle as she fought her trembling body and tried to keep it still.
The doctor, a young beige earth pony, took a moment to straighten his glasses. “It’s very serious,” he said bluntly, “It wasn’t deep, but the arrow caused damage to her kidney and she has lost a lot of blood.”
“You don’t mean…”
“No,” he interrupted, “she is stable right now. The doctors are doing everything they can. Truth be told, she was actually quite lucky.” He produced a brown envelope and a clipboard from his saddlebag and laid them on the bench, taking a moment to read his notes. “It seems some scar tissue that was already present helped to deflect it. Had it not been for that, well, she most likely would not have even survived the trip here. That being said, I am rather concerned about her medical history and was hoping you could answer a few questions.”
Sweetie Belle sat back down on the bench. “I don’t know much,” she said softly, “Only that she can’t talk.”
“Was she in some sort of serious accident?”
“Not that I know of. Why?”
The doctor opened the envelope and spread a few x-rays across the bench. “We took these trying to assess the damage,” he said as he waved his hoof across the cloudy white image of bones and gestured small circles around various parts, “and if this scar tissue is anything to go by she suffered a savage injury to her throat.”
The white unicorn nodded for him to continue. Although she didn’t know what had caused it, she knew Twist wore shirts with popped collars to hide the large scar below her throat.
“From what I can gather…” continued the doctor, “It looks like she has suffered several life-threatening injuries over the course of her life, yet received no proper medical treatment for them. Considering the circumstances, this could be a good sign.”
A ray of hope hit Sweetie Belle as she thought about what the doctor was saying. “Does this mean she has a better chance?”
“Perhaps,” said the doctor with a smile as he sensed her burst of enthusiasm. “Earth ponies naturally heal faster than other kinds of ponies. From what I can tell, Ms. Twist seems to be rather gifted in that ability. I won’t make any promises, mind you, but there definitely is hope. We will do everything we can.”
“Thank you, doctor,” said Sweetie Belle, sighing with relief and a new sense of hope from the doctor’s words. He silently gathered up his various charts and, with a sympathetic smile, returned through the double doors that Twist had been pulled through. She sighed heavily and silently wished she had a cup of coffee or anything to soothe her shaking body. The adrenaline from moving at full sprint with Twist’s surprisingly heavy body on her back had dwindled, leaving her at the mercy of the sore and aching body she now realized she had. She would even settle for somepony to talk to. Trying to take her mind off things she glanced about and spotted the window, instantly noticing it was unusually dark for this time of day. It took a moment to realize it was raining cats and dogs outside, which took her by surprise. She didn’t pay much attention to weather schedules but as far as she knew this whole area was due for sunshine until the end of the week. Unless—
“Sweetie Belle! Lambkin!!!”
Oh no, any company but her…
Sure enough before she could react she was seized by Ms. Daydream and roughly thrust into the lunatic’s chest with a near-suffocating hug. “I heard everything! I was sooooooooo worried!” she moaned as she unintentionally but nearly crushed the life out of Sweetie Belle in an attempt to comfort her. “Oh I heard about the bombs! About Twist! Oh I was ever so worried I couldn’t even think! I was so crushed I had to kick up a rainstorm just to lift my spirits! And you! You must have been sooooo scared!!!”
Sweetie Belle gagged and struggled, trying to breathe through the suffocating carpet of pink fur her face had been shoved into, and finally managed to wriggle free. Daydream was built like a model, standing much taller than most mares but with a very dainty and delicate-looking build, but she was deceptively strong. That, along with her foalish personality, meant a hug from her was practically a death sentence. Sweetie Belle glared at the pink mare but immediately felt her wrath drain away; Daydream’s puppy-dog face of worry was a very welcome sight after all that had happened and, loopy or not, she was at least some trusted company. “Daydream,” she said curiously, “Why are you here?”
“Some guards came to our office,” she said sadly. “They had a warrant for Twist’s arrest and were asking a lot of questions. They said she was involved in that nastiness in Broncton. I was worried about her and you and came by for a visit and your darling little puppies told me everything that happened and I—”
“They tried to kill her!” snapped Sweetie Belle. “Those pigs in the R.E.A.F! We have to do something about them!”
“Sweetie…” chuckled Daydream sadly, “Lambkins, listen. There is nothing we can do about this. We’re just a company that manages the weather. We have no say in matters like that; no political sway. If they say she’s guilty than she’s guilty. I just wanted to warn her to lay low and maybe, just maybe, we could find some way to convince them she’s innocent.”
“What are they saying she did?!”
Daydream swallowed nervously. “Shooting an R.E.A.F. airpony. Why, I don’t know, but that’s what she is being accused of.”
“Then it must have been self-defense! You know Twist! She wouldn’t—”
“Sweetie, please,” said Daydream in the scolding tone of a mother, “They don’t care if it was self-defense. I will do everything in my power to prove her innocence, but if they find her before then…”
“Already taken care of, Saliência,” interrupted Daydream’s eerie assistant. “I reminded the hospital administrator of your rather generous donation last year and he will make sure to lose any paperwork that identifies Ms. Twist by name. Though it would behoove us to make sure she is out of this hospital before the monthly inspection fifteen days by now.” His inequine eyes locked onto Sweetie Belle the moment he finished his report, “Ms. Belle. Always a pleasure,” he said with a nod.
Sweetie Belle nodded back and, for the first time since she had met that strange pony, smiled to him. Although Daydream’s assistant had never been anything but professional and polite, his mere presence made the hackles rise on her neck. He just looked wrong, somehow, with his shaggy coat, sunken eyes, and strange accent from some foreign land she had never heard of before. His most troubling feature, or lack thereof, was that he had no cutie mark despite clearly being older than she was. Sweetie Belle hated to dislike a pony for such admittedly prejudiced reasons, but she couldn’t help but just sense him as a threat every time he came near.
“Thank you ever so much Camélia,” said Daydream with relief, “You’re absolutely wonderful.”
Camélia bowed his head politely and left through the front doors without so much as another word. Sweetie Belle sat silently, still shaking and trying to get ahold of herself, and Daydream moved closer and coaxed her into a cuddle. This time Sweetie Belle didn’t even bother to resist and just let it happen; she hadn’t been the touchy-feely type in years, but she hadn’t felt so very helpless for a very long time either. Not since the crushing realization all those years ago that Rarity wasn’t sleeping. “What can we do?”
“Hope,” said Daydream warmly.
“But what’s the point?” said Sweetie Belle on the brink of tears, “Why are we even doing this for them if they’ll just turn on us like this?”
“We’re not doing this for them,” said Daydream with a rare note of scorn in her voice, “At least I don’t. I do it for everypony. It’s the only way I’ve ever been able to make them like me.”
Sweetie Belle looked up at Daydream, who was staring off out the window and at the falling rain. The loony pink mare acted so foalish and immature most of the time that, in the rare events she was serious, it always caught Sweetie Belle completely unprepared. Even she tended to forget just how intelligent Daydream really was behind that normally silly zest for life she had. After all it wasn’t everypony who could take over an entire company with nothing but some money in her pockets.
Daydream ran her hoof down Sweetie Belle’s mane. “Loneliness… is the most terrifying thing there is. It’s like floating in the center of the ocean and slowly sinking beneath the waves, all the while knowing that nopony cares. Years of this went by. I was alone, unappreciated, and unloved.” She turned her head, hiding her face behind her long rose mane in a way that made Sweetie Belle think she might have been fighting off tears. “Never again,” she mumbled, “Never ever again no matter what.” She turned back and met Sweetie Belle with the warmest smile the unicorn had ever seen. “It took me a very long time to find my way, Sweetie Belle, and it is something I would never have found without your help. I’ve lived a long life, much longer than a lady would be willing to admit, and you are the first and best friend I have ever had.”
Hearing Daydream’s moving claim made something stir within Sweetie Belle that she hadn’t felt for a very long time. It was a part of her she thought had died along with her sister, a part she thought she’d never feel again and was better off without. Although she was fond of Twist and Daydream, and of course the Diamond Dogs, she had never given much thought to their relationship other than considering it professional at best. Fighting to outrun the reaper and get Twist to this hospital, and hearing Daydream’s rather heartfelt claim made her feel as if she had just been stabbed. For so many years she thrust her past behind her and trudged straight forward, and in that she had found a numb kind of peace. Now, with all that had happened today, after learning she had actually touched somepony’s life in such a way, she only felt hollow and unfulfilled. So empty she felt as if she was going to collapse into herself.
Daydream’s grip tightened on her, and for the first time ever a hug from her actually felt nice. “So when I say there is always hope, believe me. Even in the darkest black you can find a path, if you only look long enough.”
“Thank you, Daydream,” said Sweetie Belle warmly as she let herself relax in her friend’s embrace.
“All we can do right now is hope that Twist will pull through, and I believe she will. Which reminds me… I don’t suppose I ever told you why I hired her in the first place, did I?”
Sweetie Belle cringed on impulse at the suddenly chipper tone of Daydream. She knew that voice, that almost chirp that seemed ready to burst with enthusiasm. It meant one thing: one of Daydream’s inane stories. They were always long, made little sense, and usually went absolutely nowhere, except this time around Sweetie Belle found that she was actually hoping for one. Daydream was right; all they could do was hope at this point and she wanted something, anything, to help put her mind and heart at ease.
“Destiny,” said Daydream in the kind of tone a mare beginning a rehearsed speech would use, “Tell me, do you believe in destiny?”
“I believe if such a thing as fate exists…” said Sweetie Belle as she considered the things that had happened as of late, “then the powers that be are sick.”
“Not fate, lambkins. Destiny.”
“There’s a difference?” said Sweetie Belle skeptically.
“Of course there’s a difference!” said Daydream with a scoff, as if it should have been common knowledge to everypony. “Though they are quite similar.” Sweetie Belle’s eyes followed Daydream’s to look at her cutie mark, a sun with a cloud passing in front of it. “They say cutie marks are a symbol of our connection to our destiny. Now tell me… is this a… good thing?”
Daydream’s sudden and almost sinister tone caught Sweetie Belle a bit off guard; it was so rare to hear anything come from this pink earth pony’s mouth that wasn’t utterly and aggravatingly cheerful. Hearing Daydream talk about cutie marks made a few images of Sweetie Belle’s past surface; still and ancient images of her foalhood and of Scootaloo and Apple Bloom surfaced and for a brief moment she felt a rare nostalgic pleasure she hadn’t known in a long time. With that came an almost burning guilt for the way she had driven those two away.
What’s done is done. Stop it.
Daydream tittered as if Sweetie Belle’s silence had answered her. “Not an easy answer to give when you actually consider it, is it? Here, cutie marks are simply a way of life and seen as a coming of age.”
A few more fractured memories of her foalhood friends surfaced. “That’s for sure,” Sweetie Belle said absent-mindedly as she remembered how determined she and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had once been to acquire them.
“There are places in the world…” said Daydream solemnly, “where the very idea is horrifying. Places where ponies lack cutie marks and believe an ancient being took them from them, freeing them from the manacles of destiny and leaving them to choose their own fate. In such places they refer to us as ‘moura encantada’ and look at us with a unique blend of pity… and distain…”
That explains that eldritch Camélia. Though I wonder if that ghastly complexion of his is the norm for his kind as well…
“Of course, these stories are nothing more than tales told around fireplaces in the dark of the night in a country far far away…” said Daydream happily, “although here, in this country… tell me, have you ever heard of a ‘Neophyte?’”
“Can’t say that I have,” said Sweetie Belle, suspecting that Daydream had completely forgotten she set out to tell of how she met Twist.
“According to legend, these Neophytes altered their fate to such a degree…” Daydream trailed off for a moment and looked right into Sweetie Belle’s eyes, “that they forgot how to die.”
Sweetie Belle stared back in confusion and could take no more; this tale was weird and made no sense even by Daydream’s Tales standards. “I don’t get it,” she sputtered, “You mean they were immortal? Or just lived forever like the princesses?! What does any of this have to do with why you hired Twist?”
“Neophytes identified themselves with a unique brand over their cutie marks.”
It took a moment but finally Sweetie Belle realized what Daydream was getting at. Twist’s scars, the two nearly identical scars that were centered over both of her cutie marks so perfectly that she couldn’t help but notice them. “You mean to tell me,” said Sweetie Belle in disbelief, “that you think Twist, our Twist, is one of these ‘Neophytes’?”
Daydream threw her head back and howled with near hysterical laughter, catching the attention of everypony within earshot. “What?!” she managed to spit out amid her childish chuckles, “You think— Of course not, lambkins! Neophytes don’t exist; they’re just a fairy tale!” She laughed a few minutes more with tears pouring from her eyes before pulling a handkerchief from her blouse and dabbing at the running mascara from beneath her eyes. “No no no, I had just finished reading a book about them when I first met Twist. With those scars of hers I figured it had to be, well, fate.”
Sweetie Belle felt so thoroughly humiliated she just wanted to thrust her face into a cushion and scream, but managed to bite her tongue. Daydream was just being Daydream, and didn’t mean any offense. “You’ve never seemed like the type who believed in fate, Daydream.”
Daydream waggled her hoof back and forth as if to say she wasn’t really sure herself. “Well, whether it’s real or not, whether our fate is completely predetermined or not, it doesn’t really matter to me. The most important thing in life is what we feel. Joy, hope, love, friendship, these things exist no matter what and they are what is important. “She giggled and flailed her hooves about, gesturing randomly at their surroundings. “Look at how much things have changed over the years, yet ponies have not. Deep down, I think all ponies know what’s truly important in life.”
“Maybe your right,” said Sweetie Belle softly, “Thank you, Daydream, for sharing all of this with me. I mean it.”
“Huh?!” gasped Daydream as she dramatically threw her head back. “Since when do you like my stories?! Who are you, and what did you do to Sweetie Belle?!”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile. “Daydream, I need to ask something of you.”
“Anything!” declared Daydream, “Anything within my power is yours.”
“I need to go and—”
“Ms. Belle,” said the same earth pony doctor from before, in a sad voice that sent a jolt of worry through Sweetie Belle. “Ms. Belle, I… I’m sorry. We did everything we could, but there was a complication. Ms. Twist went into cardiac arrest and the shock to her system was just too great.” He looked away, silently searching for the right words, “I don’t know how to tell you this… but… she passed away.”
After those words there was no sound, and the air around Sweetie Belle became heavy enough to crush her. The doctor continued to speak and Daydream’s hoof rested on her shoulder, but she could barely hear or feel them. She shook and shuddered as she breathed and, without a single word, turned and walked out the front doors of the hospital. Camélia ran to her with an umbrella but stopped when she gestured to him to stay away; she couldn’t feel the rain nor the warm tears running down her face. All she could feel was Daydream’s ocean of despair, slowly pulling her beneath its waves.
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except that you have a character recovering and suddenly make them die like that. it makes little sense.
more than that i have tried giving the story some chance but it just does not fit very well. there is no thoguht on cause and effect at all. no thought of how tiwlight could outsmart a monarch a thousand years her sueprior, and hwo would be far more powerful than her magically. nor how the elements would sitll link to her if she could be so easily swayed to darkness.
cause and effect. can this trigger this event to happen and so on. jsut does not work from what i can see. especially as eliminating two eldritch beings like that would not be a deterent to most dark forces, but an invitation. tiwlight would spend most of her time fighting powreful threats than anything else.
Aww, so sad to see that Twist is dead. It felt a little abrupt, I must say, because she seemed to be doing fine, then did a complete 180 in just minutes.
I'd also love to see the Rainbolts. Do you plan on bringing them in?
I have to ask: is there gonna be a plot, like are any of these characters gonna try to overthrow the current government, or is it gonna be one of those rare future timeline stories where what's going on is just how life is now and the characters are just trying to live with it? I ask because, to me, it doesn't seem clear where this story is going, if it's going anywhere at all. I'm sticking around because I think it's well written, I'm just wondering what kind of conflict I should be looking at here.
4834783 Pound and Pumpkin have already been mentioned, IIRC. Since Fluttershy is still alive, According to the Hessian Sackheap, I'm going to assume that Scootaloo is going to go meet up with them soonwise
4834763 Dark Magic answers your question as to how she could Out power Celestia. Celestia isn't attuned to the elements of Harmony, nor does she have the crystal heart or any sort of Power of Love to drive away a dark magician. As to how she could retain control of the Elements of harmony? They're inherently harmonious, but not necessarily inherently good. As long as she stayed in harmony with ponies who embodied the virtues of the elements, She'd be ginchy. And .Loyalty, Honesty and Laughter aren't traits exclusive to good guys. Nor are Kindness or Generosity, for that matter. Even if they WERE, it could be that Twilight's new bearers are good ponies, who just so happen to think Twilight is in the right. It's possible to follow an Evil bitch and still be a good person at heart. However, it doesn't say anywhere she's still in tune with them, as far as I remember. Just that she still owned the Tiara until it was stolen. Just because you can't use a powerful magic artifact, doesn't mean you can't swan about with it on your head. Just to keep it out of the hands of people who could use it against you, if nothing else.
Also, someone who could Kill a pair of Alicorns would definitely be someone to stay the everliving fuck away from. They're ridiculously powerful, Had millenia of experience and were likely thoght to be immortal. If you were immortal and were going to go up against someone you knew to have slain a Pair of Immortals, Likely in battle, Likely simultaneously, Said immortals having probably having kicked your teeth in at some point themselves to get you to stay away from their magical happy land of sunshine and smiles, you'd be wary.
static.tumblr.com/3hb1bz2/aJln9naq7/cry.jpg
4835562 iu already brought up the example of dark magic and determined it moot. they defeated sombra without use of the elements ,as the elements owuld have likely put a more permenant end to him. more so they were sitll basically children back then, and were still developing more than likely. in other words they were probably even more powerful than they were back then. for reasons why they would not fight him are the obvious. they would probably wreck half the crystal empire if sombra did not simply banish it again.
also the problem with that statement is that the elements seek balance. darkness comes not only from the opposite of the virtues of harmony, but zealotry as well. to become consumed by a virtue, no matter how pure, is to fall out of balance. if tiwlight was so imbalanced then she would never be chosen to begin with. not to mention she murdered most of her friends, as the core of the element of magic is unity, then she is less of a choice than before. and if she became evil against her iwll it would be obvious, and the regal sisters would have been forced to take her down. let us not also forget that they have cadance as well. there is no conceivable way she could fight three alicorns. not even discord could possibly combat three.
And that's the reason that I love this story (and GoT for that matter).
I truly have no idea what will happen next, and that coupled with the extremely well written chapters and the interlocking plots makes this a ride that I don't want to get off of. I cannot stress that enough.
Words are not enough, but I will still say it: Amazing job.
4835656 I determine your moot-determining moot
"The elements would have put a more permanent end to him?" Just like they did to Nightmare Moon and Discord then? Sombra Vanished for 1000 years, then came back to try and take over the place he used to rule, Like NMM and Discord before him,Though, admittedly Discord's sojourn was longer than the others. In all Likelihood, Sombra got Elemented and had cursed the Crystal Empire to vanish just in case something happened to him.
There's also no reason to assume "they were basically Children." They're, as far as we can tell, Functionally Immortal. For as far as canon tells it, we can just as easily assume they're as old as the Sun and Moon themselves. Unless and until this fic asserts otherwise, we can't use their age as any sort of guide for their power
Assuming the elements seek balance is supposition. There is very little canonical evidence either way for such a thing to be considered a definite Fact Which Is True or not so I'm not going to try to pull an argument out of thin air. Your headcanon, I guess. What I can rebut is your claim that "if Twilight was so imbalanced then she would never have been chosen to begin with." Twilight Sparkle is an Imbalanced individual. Lesson Zero proves my point succinctly. She becomes stressed to the point of what can only really be described as insanity, very, very easily. Give her a task she can't complete and she's a ticking timebomb. The only reason that Lesson Zero ended with a ticking off from Celestia and a return to status quo, rather than serial escalation is that she wasn't at all subtle. If her plan had involved anything other than "make a prolem ASAP, Solve a problem ASAP" shit could have gone down
Add to this Twilight's inherent drive for Knowledge and learning. She would Jump at the chance any sort of Magic and would continue, even past the point where other people wouldn't, for fear of disappointing Celestia. I'm going to assume from the cover art that Twilight learned Sombra's particular brand of dark magic. It can be inferred by the way Sombra acts like some sort of Windigo Wannabe that using his magic is somewhat corrupting. Say that manifested in occasional bouts of anger, or rage. If Twilight noticed them, then she'd likely dismiss them as frustration. If they kept up, she'd ignore them because Her devotion to her studies and her fear of disappointing Celestia would drive her. It might even be reasoned that she killed Celestia specifically so she could never disappoint her again. It makes sense to the twisted sort of logic one has when is angry and under duress, though that's just me guessing at this point.
As for your final argument, you are, once again, assuming. My own assumptions differ, as follows. Discord is obnoxiously powerful. (and, for that matter, powerfully obnoxious) He could probably stop anyone and anything he put his mind to, short of the elements of harmony themselves. Discord can alter the Fundamental Forces that govern the universe. If he was ever to be goaded into a proper, beat down, drag out fight, rather than playing games, like he does with everyone and everything, he could easily just cause the bonds between the atoms making up their bodies to disappear, causing them to disperse into a cloud of base elements. He had absolutely no problem removing Twilight and Rarity's horns and Dash and Fluttershy's wings. If he had taken them at all seriously, he could have removed their heads just as easily. The only limits Discord has are self imposed. Or so, I think.
Also, it's perfectly possible that Twilight killed Cadence in her sleep or something to stop her from Crystal Hearting her. If someone has the only known weapon capable of combating your, even the least tactically savvy dunce'd realise it'd be a good idea to neutralise it
4836449 so the automatic evil deflecting thing would not just immediately repel....................
even if my words are suppostioin, yours makes no damn sense.
4836459 As I said before, there is absolutely no reason to believe that the elements of Harmony give a flying buck about good or evil. You will likely never, in your life meet a person who believes themselves to be evil, regardless of how monstrous they act. The ones that do consider themselves evil generally aren't the ones out doing things like Murdering people and Blowing stuff up. Good and evil are entirely relative. What I may think is a good thing to do, others could decry as the foulest act possible. It's all a matter of perspective. Twilight isn't sitting on her throne thinking "Nyeck-Heck-Heck, I am the evulest evel to evol. I do hope no Good guys come along and blast me with their beam of Not-Evilness." Well. I hope she isn't because that's poor writing and would make for a lackluster climax.
Hamonic and Good are not the same thing, though they are both contextual. Something being Harmonic just means it fits in with what everything else is doing. Something going against the flow is Disharmonic. Say there's a town where Everyone lied, all the time, where all they did was lie, where everyone knew everyone else was lying. Regardless of its status as one of the element's virtues, If you dropped Applejack and her element of Honesty into the middle of that and she wandered around telling the truth, She'd not be a single harmonious note in a Cacaphonic blat of music. She'd be an element of discord, sowing confusion and anger in her wake. It's the exact same principal as Pinkie at the Gala, really. Her values and the Values of the general populace clashed, causing disnance. If Twilight gathered Six ponies who believed her rule was right, that Celestia and Luna being dethroned was fine, Then the Harmony they wrought would be different, but no less harmonic, than one called up by Six who considered Twilight's very existance blasphemous. The reason The mane 6 have a Big Ol' Rainbow of "Make Everyone Happynice" is they live in a saccharine world where most everyone IS Happy and nice. Add a few years of misery and dismay, break the common conception that everything is Lovely just because it SHOULD be lovely and your harmony would be different.
A final point, If you were right and the Elements of Harmony Did instantly reject anyone they disagreed with, How the hell did Discord, Antitheses of Harmony, manage to carry them off?
I think you mean "pegasus' face". Pegasi is plural; pegasus is singular.
I think you mean "... choose their own fate".
Okay, enough with the Word Crimes.
Is Ms. Daydream somehow related to Pinkie Pie? And she has one of those Spook ponies as an assistant.
Well, unfortunately somepony died. I wonder how Sweetie Belle will react to this. I look forward to the this story's next installment. Keep up the good work.
4836816 no becaue she is spreading misery and creating strain on the world by her actions. there is an imbalance. this is not harmony, this is not balance, this is chaos pretending to be order.
so your undrestanding of the elements is intentionally contrived and your argument weakened because of it.
besides we have discord in this situation too. he would have been released already and detrhoned twilight. mainly cause while a being of chaos, he is not a being of destruction.
4836826
Thank you so much for the corrections; They're always appreciated.
As for Daydream herself, well, I'll give no hints...
4835726
To me there's nothing more boring than a plot where you know characters are safe. It just amplifies all the emotions: I'm that much more worried when they're in danger and that much more relieved when they pull through. It's what attracted me to Fanfiction: the complete freedom with characters and plots.
4834843
Most of the plot is based on the characters themselves and how they're living in this world. But I will promise right now it's all building up to one huge conflict where the characters all come together.
4834931
I don't know why you feel like a total dick. I'll give you a hint in that the Core 6 have all already been introduced, and none of them are OCs.
Spike might show up too...
4834783
It was rather abrupt, wasn't it? We didn't see it so we'll just have to wait and see if that's what actually happened in that back room. Now the question is am I giving a hint, or just messing with you to cover a bit of sloppy writing?
4834763
But did she kill Celestia, and did she use the elements of harmony to do it? You're going to have to wait and find out for real.
4836959 and if she did kill them then its reasoning will be highly contrived.
it just don' work for me or as a narrative. the regal sisters are just too damn powerful and too damn experienced for tiwlight to overcome, and the elements would have rejected a tiwlight with this capacity for evil.
from what i see it was not twilight that killed the regal sisters, it was the plot. just as the plot is what killed twist rather than realisticallyu succumbing to injuries she was healing from and having the advantages of an earth pony.
4836959 sorry if that was overtly cynical. have a tendency to lean towards cynicism these days.
4837223
Not at all. Where's the fun in a story if we can't be cynical and pick at it?
4837233
Ah, okay yes I misunderstood you.
Let's just say unless I've flat-out confirmed their death, don't assume they're dead. And even then, keep in mind the chapters are from the POV of the characters, and they're not always right.
I love being vague. How about this: I'll promise you, that aside from Twilight and Fluttershy, at least one other of the Mane 6 survived. I won't say who, though.
Nopony is safe eh?
Lets the games begin...
4836449 It's also always possible that Celestia DID just die of some other cause, and grief over her death is what drove Twilight insane. Or Twilight killed Celestia with some sort of elaborate magical poison or something that she had also started using on Luna, weakening her for the final fight. Even IF Twilight was a lot weaker than the Regal Sisters, careful planning and a well - timed betrayal can compensate for a big power imbalance, like with Tirek and Discord.
4841144 a thousand years of likely attempts like that kinda negate that potential. not to mention tat they would immediately think something is wrong if they suddenly have a dip in theri health like that and thus would counteract it and figure out who did it............ and saying tiwlight being close to celestia would probably not be applicable.
a thousand years means basically experiencing betrayal is inevitable.
4842152 You're assuming there were all these assassination attempts and betrayals over the last 1000 years. I find that fairly unlikely actually, discounting the occasional lone nutter. After all, Celestia is the only being on the planet for that millenium who could raise and lower the moon, who would be dumb enough to kill her? Unless they thought they had the magical power to move the sun themselves, like Twilight Sparkle. It's the same reason the Royal Guard seems fairly small and has antiquated equipment compared to the early 20th-century technology throughout Equestria, Equestria is like the USSR in Dr. Strangelove, they have such a powerful deterrent actual threats are very rare.
4842173 entities that have enough mystic horsepower to move the celestial bodies yet not enough t odefeat celestia.
and no i would argue that if you create a world with a darker potential celestia, and similar beings, ahve had to adapt to this world. and celestia since others haqve been able to move the moon and sun before celestia, that does not provide adecuate defense.
she has simply had to deal with treachery of every kind. aq thousand years is far too long a time to not experience such things.
4842212 What entities? The entire unicorn tribe moved the sun and moon, as far as we no no one but alicorns, unicorns and Discord could do it. As such, Equestria for a millennia held the de facto monopoly on heavenly bodies, acting as a deterrent.
4842846
Ignore lordofmyth, he loves to start flamewars and is generally, as in, all the fucking time, a idiot
Steals 300th comment
Hmm interesting. I'm curious on how this Daydream works. First I thought she was saying something to Sweetie Belle some sort of secret in the government or from the REAF. But hmm I'm not sure. I might be wrong.
Oh no Twist!! What's Sweetie Belle gonna do now? Good chapter.
This is getting good, so far.
To start, I like the concept. The new Equestria kind of reminds me of the city in "Mirror's Edge".
I also like how the characters are. It all feels like a simulation of what would happen if this happened to all of them.
Finally, the story's interesting. It's well paced, well written, so, yeah, I'm liking this; And I look forward to reading more.
Poor Twist, another victim to bad luck
Yet, I've been wondering what became of Pinkie or did I happen to miss that part
Poor Twist, I hope Sweetie Belle joins with Scootaloo, and Applebloom, if they do get back together
No....just no..not Twist.
Wow...I mean this moment has to given Sweetie Belle a bit to think about. I mean what's going to happen to her now that Twist is....dead.
Please do keep up the good work upon such a great tale like this one.
Cry 'Havoc!', and let slip the diamond dogs of war!
I agree with shy sad Diamond dog war
NOOOOOOOOOOO, I REALLY LIKED TWIST IN THIS STORY