Aftermath of A Fallen Star
By Rated Ponystar
Formerly Edited by The Unnamed Pawn and Commander X5
Pre-Read/Edited by: Magic Man, Chaotic Note, Darth Link 22, and Grand_Moff_Pony
Sinful Dreams (Luna’s POV)
****
I wasn’t surprised by what I found when I entered the dream. The throne room of Canterlot was a room I had visited many times. It wasn’t as grand as the old throne room we had in the castle that lies in ruins in the Everfree Forest, but it had its charm. However, I hated the decorations this version adored. The once great glass windows that showed the morning, evening, dawn, and dusk had been replaced with different sets.
The furthest left showed an armored earth pony, wielding a giant sword and shield, surrounded by what happened to be fallen enemies that consisted of griffins, dragons, changelings, zebras, and other non-pony creatures. Below it was a golden plate with one word: “Strength”.
The furthest right showed a lone pegasi, on a single cloud, facing a giant storm that was shooting out lighting and window. Nearby clouds surrounding the pegasus could be seen scattering into nothing. Despite the odds, the pegasus stared at her danger without fear and looked ready to dive deep into the storm head first. The word below it was “Courage”.
The nearest left showed a unicorn surrounded by books and scrolls, levitated by magic and sorcery as the stars swirled around him. He was dressed in robes that gave off the image of a master while nearby were other unicorns in smaller and simpler robes like apprentices. The word for this image was “Wisdom”.
The final one, on the right, showed an army of ponies of all races. The unicorns leading forward with the earth ponies behind them and the pegasi soaring above. They marched as one, a single unit despite their huge numbers while wielding the flag of Equestria proudly in the air. Only instead of my sister and I circling each other with the sun and moon beside us, there was a new image. To my surprise it was not the symbol of the one whose dream I was invading, but rather a triquetra with each loop showing a horseshoe and wing on the bottom ones while the top loop held a horn. The word below this glass window was “Discipline”.
I turned back towards the throne itself, now silver and white with red drapes instead of the blue ones we had. The final decorated window, right above the throne, showed all three pony races standing tall and holding their hooves in praise of the triquetra symbol I saw in the previous one, praising it as if it was Faust herself. It’s bright light was shining away darkened looking creatures that I soon recognized as the other races of the world such as griffins, changelings, and dragons. Strangely, there was no word below this image.
“Unity,” answered a voice that alerted to me that the dreamer had arrived. “The three races working in what they are deemed best to do. Work in the nature that evolution has granted us through its blessing and become one. The earth ponies feed the nation, become the hammer and nail that keeps the structure of the nation in tact while preparing to use their great strength to crush Equestria’s enemies. The pegasi, masters of the sky and weather, creating the perfect heavenly atmosphere for us and the hellish ones for the other nations. All of nature under their control, who water, warm, and storm for the better of the nation. Facing the enemy head forth with no retreat. And finally, the unicorns. Great in intelligence and masters of magic. With guidance and wisdom, they lead the others and plan ahead in everything. Their mastery of arts creates a unique culture that outlasts all. The three working together as one. Everypony in their place. Lead by a single concept: Unity.”
“And how is that any different from Harmony?” I asked, turning around as I saw Amadeus Blueblood slowly walked towards me without fear.
“Unity is like a series of lines. Straight and unbroken. Everypony does what they are born to do for the sake of the nation from birth to death. Everypony worries not about their own selfish desires, but the well being of their fellow pony. They go forward without wavering or doubt. They are each a piece of something greater... something whole.” He then narrowed his eyes. “Harmony is like lines that go all over the place. They have no guidance. They choose what they want, even if it’s wrong. They care about themselves first before their nation. It’s chaotic with temporary peace. Harmony comes to an end at some point. Unity has no end.”
“Yet Harmony grows from the strength of those individuals who work together for greater goals,” I countered. “Harmony allows new lines to come into play, creating new paths to be made and discovered. It allows paths that have ended to come together into a new path. New feelings and new directions open new ways of life. Everyone is happy for what they are and what they become. They learn to care for others and spread that care to all. Unity’s lines have no room for such things. It never changes. It follows the same path, but never rises to something greater.”
“That is because there is no greater. And even if it was, it is better to stay to one ideal then to allow opposite to grow and weaken the balance.”
“Is that why you ally yourself with the traditionalists to cause this chaos?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.
“I only ally with them for mutual reasons. I happen to not care for their cause. I seek to give Equestria a new way of living. One that will have us be ‘dominate’ and not ‘equal’ to those who have taken advantage of our ‘friendship’ in the past or threaten us just by their nature alone. A world based on a single principal ideal. Not by princesses or gods or idealistic philosophies. But the binding truth that can help us grow and become better,” replied Amadeus as he walked past me, as if he was ignoring the fact that I was even there. “I thought by now the ship would be past your zone of dreamscaping. I suppose I should have taken the Dreamless Sleep Potion just to be sure.”
Once again, I had cursed that potion. It had been created during my... Nightmare phase. I had easily entered the dreams of Celestia’s top generals, warriors, and mages during the war and gave them such horrible dreams they died in their sleep from terror alone. An alchemist countered that with a potion that put a barrier around one's mind when sleeping, preventing one from dreaming at all. My “return” saw the remaking of these potions. In public, it was to just help ponies sleep without nightmares. In reality, it was pushed by politicians and criminals who didn’t want me entering their minds to find out their plans and secrets. It hurt even more when regular ponies purchased them because they were afraid “Nightmare Moon” would steal their souls in their sleeps. It has lessened over the years, thankfully, due to my subjects trusting me. Yet would they trust me again if they learned what I have known in this vast conspiracy for so long?
“If I hadn’t been focusing so hard to find you, I might have missed you,” I answered, turning around and glaring at him. “You might have fooled most with that sad mourning act when your wife died, but I wasn’t fooled for a second. I take it you had something to do with her death?”
“It was necessary,” replied Amadeus with a sigh that I would have thought sounded regretful, but I knew better.
“Your son and your wife. Dead by your manipulating,” I muttered, shaking my head. “You are a monster.”
“If I’m a monster, then so are you,” said Amadeus, turning around with a smirk. “You have just as many sins in your soul as I do, Princess Luna. How many died in the Nightmare War that you brought upon Equestria that is rarely mentioned in actual books due to your sister’s wish to hide the fact that one of Equestria’s princesses was the cause of one of the bloodiest moments in our history?”
“... I do not deny what I have done as Nightmare Moon was horrible... but I have changed,” I replied, closing my eyes. Even in dreams, we were playing the game. I knew he was looking for a way to hurt me. It’s how the game is done. Play your insults, your quips, your points of logic and find the opening you want. Then strike.
“Really?” Amadeus smirked. “Because Twilight Sparkle’s death is as much your fault as it is my planning.”
I flinched and cursed myself for doing so. My heart began to grow heavy, but I steeled it as quickly as I could. Trying to not be bothered by the image of Twilight’s eternal sleeping face that was a result of my... carelessness.
“You could have told anypony,” continued Amadeus. “Celestia. Cadance. Her friends? Even Twilight herself. All you had to mention was that she was in danger of being killed based on word of mouth your spies heard. Instead, you sent a double agent to try to expose them while trying to find evidence of further involvement. Why?”
I didn’t answer. I had no need to answer. That was the question Shining Armor had presented to me when he learned about Gallant Heart’s real mission that was ruined thanks to the stallion in front of me. I closed my eyes and remembered the reason I gave Shining Armor. The only one who knew why. He promised to never speak of it... but he made it clear that I was dead to him for my actions.
It was a mistake to make Twilight an alicorn, destiny or not. She needed more time to adapt to being a leader. Learn more about politics and its way. My sister was too naive thinking she would be accepted when I could see the disaster. I warned her, but she didn’t listen and I went along with it. Twilight was so sheltered and saw the world is such an optomistic light that when the reality of ruling came she fell and shattered. I doubt few saw how broken she was in the first few months as a ruler. How her dreams and ideas that she had wanted to make Equestria better had help drive the country apart while faced with attacks by those who outright rejected her vision.
Struggling so much from building the changeling nation to making her vision reality, combined with the pressure of the nobles, I feared the knowledge that they hated her so much to want to kill her would finally crack what little sanity she had left. I couldn’t trust Celestia with this as she was too protective with Twilight. She would make the real instigators go into hiding with her actions. I needed to keep it to a few. A small number, but even that number had been exposed by traitors.
A thousand or so years ago, I could have taken Blueblood’s head, and the heads of his family, without anypony stopping me. Now I needed proof... and even finding proof in dreams was harder than normal.
Before, I could have said I saw the ambitions of a rebellion before it even started in the psyche of a single pony and have them arrested. The “council” my sister so foolishly made to share power and duties with made it a quick law that anything in dreams was dismissed as ‘imaginative evidence’. An invasion of privacy they called it. Because of that law, every rapist, murderer, and criminal who dreamed of their evil deeds with pleasure was scot free because a few politicians were scared I’d find them dreaming of them cheating on their wives or making deals behind Celestia’s back.
This new world disgusted me so much. Yet not as much as I disgusted myself.
“You’re right,” I replied, lowering my head. “A part of Twilight’s death is on me. If I had told somepony instead of keeping it to myself, she might have lived. I will live with that for the rest of my life and when the time comes I will tell the world and accept whatever punishment.” I growled and lit my horn. “But that will not happen until I stop you. I know what you want, Amadeus Blueblood. You are lucky I vowed to never kill in the dreams of another living being again or you would die screaming in your sheets.”
“One day you will regret making that vow if you haven’t already,” he muttered before smirking. “You don’t know anything about my true plans for Equestria, Princess Luna.”
I smirked back before answering, “Would it have to do anything with the little alicorn daughter you have sleeping in the room next to you?” The very look on his face was priceless. I think I can claim to be one of the few ponies who managed to make Amadeus Blueblood’s mouth drop in shock and horror. “Oh, yes. When I looked into her dreams last night it all became clear to me. I already told Celestia and Cadance.” With a single spell from my horn, I tore a hole in this dream reality showing a different dream not to far in the dreamscape. It showed a little alicorn filly, Majesty Blueblood, playing with some blocks while surrounded by toys of all kinds. A simple child's dream. “The potion is too strong for a baby to take, even if she is an alicorn. I take it she is the one who you want to have the throne. And since you're heading for Unicornia, a land we have a very fragile peace with, I assume you wish agreed to marry her to the royal family’s newborn son, Silversteel, right?”
Now it was his turn to grow and glare at me. “If you do anything to her...”
“I am not like you,” I replied with equal venom in my tone. “I will not hurt a baby just to hurt you for all you’ve done to my family and subjects. But I promise you this. I will do everything in my power, by whatever means, to see your dreams of ‘unity’ separate into nothingness.”
“... then I suppose the stage is set,” replied Amadeus.
“The players are placed...” I replied.
“The die is cast...”
“And the final game begins.” I made my way to the portal that would lead me to the dream of my... niece, before I stopped. “Oh, one more thing. I had almost forgot.” Raising my hoof, a small purple orb with a back flame coming out appeared before me. It’s surface reflected that of the universe itself. “This is a little invention I made called the Tantabus. I had originally thought of using it on myself... but I think it would suit you so much better.” I let it drop to the floor and melt with the surface. Already I could feel the dream changing to the Tantabus’s purpose.
Slowly, ponies began to melt out of the walls. They were dream versions of the Elements of Harmony, my sister, Amadeus's son and wife, and finally Twilight Sparkle. All with looks that could kill as Amadeus, alarmed by this, looked around with worry.
“I may have vowed to never kill in dreams again, but that doesn’t mean I cannot make you suffer, Amadeus,” I whispered in satisfaction. “For the rest of your life, every night that you sleep, you will have nightmares that will get worse and worse each time. No spell or potion will be able to stop you from suffering from your darkest nightmares. They won’t be so bad so that you don’t die... but you will never have a peaceful sleep for the rest of your life. Sweet dreams.”
I left through the portal just as the first scream echoed in my ears. Closing it behind me, I stared at the little filly who carried my sister’s blood. She didn’t even bother looking at me and focused on the blocks without a care in the world. This was the one that Amadeus was sacrificing everything for to be ruler of Equestria. To dethrone me and my sister.
I could have ended everything that night. I could have scared this baby so easily that its heart would stop and it would die. Amadeus’s plans would go up in smoke. Who knows how many lives I can save by killing this one child.
It was then the filly looked at me with such innocent and pure eyes that I slowly closed my own and turned away. She had done nothing wrong. She was just a tool of her father’s plans and free of any sin. With my work done, I began to exit the dreamscape to let my sister know of the Blueblood’s family whereabouts though it would matter little. With them so close to the ocean border of Unicornia it would take a full week for any ship or even pegasus to reach there. No, they would escape justice for now, but I would make sure Equestria was ready for when they returned.
War was coming and it would be a war that would shake even the gods.
***
Many years later, the Night Princess would think of the little alicorn
She would think about the innocence she once held
Before becoming the Black Star that came with death in her wake
The Night Princess would only then regret not killing her
That was very good Luna!
The Princesses have already crossed so many lines, with things like torturing confessions out of suspects and then burning them alive, that I just can't take them seriously when they say things like this.
I think I loved reading this chapter the most just to see Amadeus get his comeuppance. Well written, and looking forward to the next ones
Just read the chapter. Watching Luna and Amadeus debate about whether Harmony and Unity was an interesting philosophical scene. I got to say that, in this context, while Luna was right that Twilight wasn't ready to be an Alicorn yet, the fact that she acknowledges her silence led to Twilight's assassination was sad. Still, the highlight of the chapter was the fact that Amadeus finally got screwed over. He can't hide the fact that he has an Alicorn daughter from the princesses, thus losing the element of surprise, and Luna cursed him with the Tantabus (amazing way to incorporate that idea into the fic) to suffer never ending nightmares for all the trouble he caused. This chapter made me smile so much because that smug prick got some comeback, especially since I feel his mental condition will worsen in the sequel. Now the final 3 chapters are coming and it seems Majestic won't be the paragon of virtue Amadeus hoped she'd be based on the prophecy.
Question, how do you think Celestia feels about the fact that her own descendents with the original Blueblood pretty much dedicated their lives to create an Alicorn to overthrow her? I bet it'd feel awful knowing that her granddaughter will be her enemy. Also, would there be a scene showing Luna telling her fellow Princesses about Majesty?
7569846
Honestly, it tears her apart because Blueblood was her favorite husband. And no, we don't get a scene
7569851 Favorite husband? So Celestia was married before?
Well, I sure as shit hope we get to see her voice that regret in the future.
Moral high ground is no place for a coming war. Sometimes, only sometimes. Just effin shoot 'em.
7569892
She's been married four times. Blueblood was her second husband
Well, innocence doesn't last very long. At some point, that cute little kid is going to be a living weapon.
.................. I want to like this story. Honest to God I really do....... but this chapter.... despite how Amadeus gets done in by Luna and how you acknowledge what she did was wrong I still feel nothing but negative feelings because you're basically saying that being an optimistic person who tries to change the world for the better is just going to basically get you killed and that you should be as down and dirty as your opponents who are by and large almost monsters.... I can't really bring myself to read the rest of this. I'm sorry.
Am I doing myself any favors waiting for this to be completed before reading, or should I just slap it on my schedule and not wait for that?
Ooooooooo this chapter was a doozy! I was so happy to see that jerk finally being punished somewhat. I'm really looking forward to the Spike chapters.
Nothing, nothing, is more satisfying than seeing a smug snake get the worst slap in the face they could possibly get.
Fuck you, Amadeus. May you suffer for eternity as you watch everything you held dear crumble around you. My only regret is that it seems there was no chance for Majesty to become something better.
There's a reason I wouldn't be a hero in a story like this.
Being completely willing to do what's necessary to win a war is no longer considered the actions of a hero.
story makes me so sad and mad
Evil triumphs when good men do nothing.
Yes, Luna was abiding by the law, but it was those actions (and quite a bit of inaction) that's going to cost Equestria dearly.
So to clarify, it was the fear of Twilight mentally breaking down that prevented Luna from telling her that there was a plot to kill her?
7570102 I don't know, I think the worst slap in the face for him would be for his carefully made plans to go completely up in smoke...something that doesn't happen when Luna doesn't act (again). He still gets what he wants which is a baby Blueblood alicorn to march right on in and take the throne to potentially impose his "vision".
7570111 Smad?
7570182
It was that, and the fear that the real ponies behind the plot would hide underground or evade capture
Well...shoot.
Glad that she at least left a parting shot to torment Amadeus with, but I still would rather that she had killed him instead...
7570185 yes Smad
7569912
Who was Celestia's 1st, 3rd, and 4th husbands?
7570333
The first was of the line Cadance is decedent of, the third and fourth really have no series plot. Besides, they died out
I hope Amadeus will get more than just nightmares from Princess Luna's Tantabus in the future. As soon as war breaks out in Equestria, I'm sure he'll pay the ultimate price for his cruel infamy.
Hmph, it's more than what Amadeus deserves...
War is innevitable, but thankfully, Amadeus won't get his oarma houdini
You know, Luna COULD just trace where Amadeus is sleeping, kill him right there, and get his daughter and teleport back to Canterlot.
Problem solved.
So Luna doesn't act again. Pity. I pegged her as smarter than that. You know what would happen if she killed someone attempting to bring war to the whole world? The innocence of the filly she didn't kill would be relatively preserved. She had the opportunity to strike and end it all quickly but she didn't because she wanted to preserve innocence. It's the Dumbledore effect. In HP, as Dumbledore admits, Harry's happiness is paramount. He even says something along the lines of "who cares how many innocent beings die as long as Harry is happy?" I mean, he says that while admitting that he was totally wrong, but the point applies here, too. So Luna wanted to protect the innocence of Twilight and Majesty, and in doing so she has some blame in the death of what could be millions. A war that will shake the gods. One spell. One quick spell ends it. One fatal nightmare for Amadeus Blueblood. Then war is averted.
Luna always struck me as the more pragmatic of the two sisters. The one who was a little more willing to get her hooves dirty. Heck, in the Season 3 opener, she even says to Celestia that she can go to the Crystal Empire and deal with it herself. She knows what Blueblood is planning. She knows this is a threat that will destroy the world. But she can't stop it in two seconds because she doesn't want to sack up and kill Blueblood because she made a promise. Or kill Majesty because she's innocent. I can see why she can't kill Majesty, but not killing Amadeus is inexcusable. At the risk of invoking the wrath of Goodwin, Killing Majesty now would be like killing Hitler as a baby. Killing Amadeus now would be like killing Hitler as he's drawing up his invasion plans of Poland. If she can't kill Amadeus by dreams, why not utilize one of a hundred other ways to kill him? Pay some servant to spike his drink with something that makes it look like he had a heart attack. Something other than "oh, I can't do it through dreams so it's impossible."
This isn't like she just suspects that Blueblood is up to something. She knows his whole plan. She knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that if she doesn't kill him, that will lead to what seems to be the most destructive war in the history of this world. She knows it, and doesn't stop it because she wants to preserve the (temporary) innocence of Majesty. But hey, as long as Majesty is happy right up until the moment she leads Unicornia to war against you to kill you.
I just... eh. It doesn't make a lick of sense.
I will say though that Luna siccing the Tantabus on Amadeus was a stroke of genius. That part I think is awesome. Heck, why can't her doing that prevent the war altogether? Just drive him mad to the point where he can't act out his plans. Amadeus is going to have soul-scarring nightmares every night for the rest of his life. How can he deal with plotting a war when he's going to be slowly going mad? You need sleep to survive. Read up on what happens when you don't get good sleep for a long period of time. Amadeus is going to hit a point where he'll be too scared to go to sleep. It'll literally drive him mad. He'll be a babbling mess within a year, if he's lucky. I peg him as dead before Majesty is even old enough to know what her place in the world is. That'll throw a serious wrench in their plans.
Overall, there were a few good moments here, but the fact that Luna had her metaphorical finger on the trigger and could have ended the war before it began with a little twitch is frustrating. There had better be a good payoff. I'll keep reading, of course, as I am interested to see where this goes.
I do wonder, though, considering how far this story has come, how much of this was planned? Did you plan on the story taking this direction from the moment you thought up the story line?
So Luna still won't explain why she made such a stupid mistake in sending a double agent to infilitrate Blueblood's conspiracy and thus allowed for Twilight to be killed? And she also won't even think to maybe trace the new alicorn's dream presence to a real world location and abduct her? Heck, even if she killed either the child or the father, she would be perfectly justified in doing so because she'd be preventing a war and without the risk of Amadues or his child becoming a martyr for the cause.
This "conspiracy" worked better when Prince Blueblood was the mastermind behind it all, no overly complicated schemes or contrivences to keep the princesses from thwarting it, just something that legtimately felt like they had no way of noticing.
how can she not get physical evidence to prove what she is seeing in dreams. honestly this chapter enters in alot of plot holes.
that was a pretty powerful chapter Rated. Princess Luna already started the torment on Amadeus. Though the mistake of not going after Majesty will come back to haunt Equestria.
Meantime I need to return to my AU and complete chapter 4. Just waiting on the Spike chapters cause I'm not sure where he'd be though I want to see what you do with him first.
It's that last bit that makes me think of the question: If you could go back in time and kill Hitler before he started WWII, would you? It's a very difficult question to answer since A) time travel is impossible, and B) parallel universe theory. By going back in time and killing Hitler, you could very well prevent the death of many, but what then? What if among those who died would eventually become, or be a parent of, someone much worse? There was a book I once read that actually had something akin to this happen (Wheel of Time series, can't remember which book) that a man who could see the future did nothing to stop a tyrant because his actions would lead to the death of such a child. There's just far too many what if situations that there can't really be a right answer, just what happens and the result of what happened.
7570672 I completely agree. It so frustrating to see that Luna could've ended it right there but chose not to because of some misguided need to preserve the innocence of a baby that she knows is going to become a complete monster and bring war to Equestria. A war which is going destroy a hell of a lot more innocence than what little she spared might I add.
7571006 Exactly. "Oh, there are hundreds of thousands of grieving, traumatized orphans, widow(er)s and parents who lost children, not to mention the entire communities that got wiped out. But it's all okay, right? This one random filly got to have a happyish foalhood. She got to keep her innocence for ten years or whatever, so I totally made the right choice."
7570432
You're saying that Amadeus deserves a less severe punishment?
7571039
While killing one being to prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands is sound logic, you're talking about killing a baby. If you were locked into a room with a weapon in hand and a baby in front of you, a baby that you were told would kill many people when grown up, would you actually do it? Would you actually have the resolve to kill that baby immediately, prepared remember that moment for the rest of your life?
If you say yes, holy shit you're a psycho.
Point is, Luna could not justify the action to kill baby Majesty in her sleep just because of the potential she has of becoming the worst villain to antagonize Equestria. There are existing variables to which Majesty may not actually grow up to be evil, variables that Luna probably gambled on in hopes of achieving the better future. One such variable could be Majesty rejecting the idea to wage war against Equestria. Stuff like that is why Luna couldn't bring herself to be completely sure that Majesty will turn out to be a terrible pony.
Also the simpler reason is that Luna isn't a goddamn child murderer. She appreciates the young. The Luna CMC episodes and Luna Eclipsed clearly stand against your argument of "Luna should have killed the filly".
"Wind", I think?
Soooo... Luna is a monstrous idiot and hypocrite, then. Wringing her hooves over her past and her vows not to kill in dreams, while standing aside and allowing her friend and saviour to die under the knives of those who would destroy Equestria, and happily committing torture. Having the end of the treachery in her grasp and not acting, paving the way for untold deaths in war.
I think I should also point out that, if pony physiology is even remotely like ours, that potion would kill its user within the first few weeks of use. If madness doesn't take them, hypothermia would.
7570985 No, because going back in time and killing Hitler never works.
This chapter starts off well with the philosophical debate between Luna and Amadeus, but everything which follows comes off as back-to-front.
Amadeus, who hitherto has been depicted as an alert, forward-thinking master planner, has to forget one night to set up his defenses against Luna in order for the chapter's events to unfold. While it's a well-worn villain trait that overconfidence on the brink of victory causes them to slip up, this cannot apply here, since if anything, he should be more cautious than ever while on the run.
As others have pointed out, Luna's claim to the moral high ground is tenuous enough in light of the knowledge that in this version of Equestria, her government employs torturers and enforces capital punishment.
Yet now, her deeds should warrant her another banishment to the Moon. As far as I'm concerned, Luna has become directly responsible for the ensuing tragedies, in addition to the assassination she failed to prevent.
There are many other paths Luna could have taken if she didn't want to kill Amadeus for fear of losing any sense of ethics. Instead, she sicced the Tantabus on him, the kind of action best reserved for after the villain is roundly defeated and awaiting punishment, not when they're still in a position of power and capable of causing harm. Being raised by a father who isn't only manipulative and power-hungry, but certifiably insane, will likely not have a positive effect on Majesty. Nothing Luna did in this chapter benefitted anyone except her own self-gratification.
Sparing a baby was her only kind, unselfish deed, and should it give her cause for regret, it ought not be for the reasons she thinks.
7570672
The main reason she refused to kill either of them in their dreams is what she mentioned before in the chapter.
When she was Nightmare Moon she used to do this, and has sworn to never act like Nightmare Moon again. We've seen how far Luna goes to distant herself from being Nightmare Moon or even punish herself for doing so. The whole chapter was also written as I had planned for a long time. Most of the chapters are. As for why Luna didn't do this? Well, why didn't the Doctor destroy the Daleks forever when he had the chance? It's the same concept/flaw, that is in people. Sometimes they cannot bring themselves to do the horrible thing, even though they know it might bring disaster. When faces with the reality of the situation, your mindset is different. It's like practicing how to use a gun against using it on a person for real. It's not a target, it's a human being.
Amadaus will feel effects from the Tanabus and trust me they will hurt. However, there are other family members in the Blueblood family besides him. He's the Tywin of the group, sure, but he's not the only one with vision.
7570800
Dreams are a series of thoughts, images, and sensations occurring in a person's mind during sleep. How do you physically bring those to the real world? And even if you did, how do you know these are actual intent and not desire? It's like dreaming of trying to kill the president, but you have no desire to really do it.
Tell herself?
Even if Luna regrets not killing Majesty when she had the chance, at least she got the satisfaction of cursing Amadeus with the Tantabus. Now that is some great karma.
7571280 She has enough to see that it isn't some basic dream. If he is dreaming about his plans real info would appear and something she can look for in the real world and get him that way. I don't think this chapter works as well as you thought it should. For me the reason Luna never picked it up was Amedeus never had a nightmare involving it thus never knew till it was too late. Canonly we have only seen her enter Nightmares wih the exception of the Tantibus event.
7571644
And the reason she can't even actually see into the dream is because of that potion that allows people to not have dreams when they sleep the law that was created preventing her from getting any evidence from dreams is just a backup plan in case somebody forgets to actually take the potion or doesn't use it
7571280 Not totally sure it's the same. The Doctor is a man who would prefer to avoid violence if he can. Luna is a warrior princess who has millions of subjects to keep safe. It's a flaw sure, but I'm not sure it's a flaw that makes sense with her character. Distancing herself from Nightmare Moon is all well and good, but like I said: if she can't bring herself to end the war right away through dream murder, then pick one of a hundred other options to assassinate him and anyone else in his family that could be a threat. Or heck, someone in the comments suggested abducting Majesty. Why not do that? They just seem to give up. Also, how early did they figure out Amadeus's plans? Was he still in Equestria, or was he already on the ship? If they suspected that Amadeus was up to something, why didn't they have Luna dreamwalk in his dreams when he was still in Equestria?
Speaking of things back in Equestria, why didn't Luna just give Twilight a heads up that there was an attempt? I get the whole "preserve her innocence thing" but if she's so desperate to have her keep her innocence for a short period of time, it would have been lost eventually, that was unavoidable, then why not increase security around her? Also, if Luna had an insider in the assassination plot, why didn't she just have the ponies she knew were involved arrested, then interrogate them to see who rolled on the top ponies? It's not like they didn't use more unorthodox methods to get their information. They employed a changeling torturer, for goodness sakes. Somepony would have implicated Amadeus. Heck, Blueblood is too much of an idiot not to. If nothing else, she saves Twilight. It's the Dumbledore effect all over again, but while that trait made sense for Dumbledore's character, these actions do not make sense for Luna/Celestia.
I dunno, I'll keep reading because I'm genuinely curious to see where this goes, but it's becoming less believable with each chapter dealing with the future.
In terms of killing Amadeus not being a surefire way to end the upcoming tragedy as there are other ambitious family members, how many of them have Amadeus's brains? How many of them are privy to his entire plan? If I have his character right, he wouldn't have shown all of his cards to them because that would risk somepony doing something stupid and ruining it all. There are a few things he would have kept to himself, and if he dies, those plans are ruined. It weakens them immensely if he's dead.
7571754 Bit of a random thought on my part, have you ever read "The Catcher in the Rye"? Because all this talk about Luna wanting to preserve the innocence of Twilight and Majesty is really starting to remind me of Holden Caulfield. Of course I absolutely hated Holden because he was a hypocritical douche who wouldn't man the fuck up, but that's neither here nor there.
7571882 Yeah, years ago in high school.
cue evil laughter
LOVE THIS CHAPTER!!!!!
7571754
Luna wasn't physically there to abduct Majesty right away. Plus Amadeus is now aware that his daughter is no longer a secret, so no doubt once his ship reaches Unicornia he'll have heavy amounts of security and protection surrounding Majesty. To send someone on an abduction mission for Majesty is to ask of them to cross overseas, infiltrate the defenses of Unicornia, somehow sneak off with Majesty without being detected, and then cross back overseas to Equestria.
Quite the suicide mission. No doubt they have at least two decades to attempt this before Majesty becomes a fully realized threat, but it'll require tons of ponies sacrificed to make this happen.
Of course, some readers might not actually appreciate this since I've read that they don't appreciate the _darker_ side of this story.
Killing an innocent to spare millions in the future....
Babies are so cute & cuddling, the problem is when they grow up. Some grow up to be monsters. And some of these monsters grow up to lead a nation.
7572444
Always kill Baby Hitler. Always.
7571882
I cheered when that pimp whooped Holden's ass
7573101
That has resulted in some interesting arguments if someone could time travel, quite heated sometimes. Problem is... you can't see the future.
Besides, if you go to the past, & kill baby Hitler. How would it effect the present day? You are probably familiar about the time paradox this would result.