Confrontation
"Wow! So you girls took out the whole entire factory by yourselves?"
"Yep apple blossom, and Spike here helped whip up the brew that made all those ponies in Ponyville feel better!"
"Uh, no offense AJ, but could I tell this part of the story? I'm in it, after all..."
"All right, Spike... I've checked over the ingredients you told me to put in the mixture quite carefully." Spring Fever, Ponyville's town doctor asked the Dragon, busily working away at a mixture with her mortar and pestle. "Are you certain this concoction will flush the poison out of their systems?"
"That's what it said in one of the herbal remedy books I found in the castle." Spike replied uncertainly, as the pink pony doctor mixed the powdered medicine packets into warm cups of tea. Taking them out onto the clinic floor, she began administering them to the sick mares and stallions one by one.
"Here, Sunny, drink this." Spring Fever offered a steaming cup to the visibly ill mare, who picked it up in her hooves and began to sip it slowly. "You'll feel better soon, I promise!"
"Thanks, Springs..." The normally cool mare replied weakly, and Rainbow Dash fluffed her pillow. "... you're the best."
Nodding, the doctor pony then trotted over to where Pinkie Pie was standing next to Twilight, and offered up a another cup of the steaming hot liquid.
"Here, Pinkie... now give this to him slowly." Spring Fever cautioned, as Pinkie took the cup from her. "If Twilight swallows it too fast, it could burn the poor stallion's throat!"
"Ok, thank you so much, Dr. Fever!" The pink earth pony up to the stallion's mouth. "Here you go, dearest, let's take it nice and easy."
As the worried mare slowly gave the drink to the sickened stallion, the pony physician trotted her way around the clinic, passing out more cups of the warm liquid. As she worked her way around the room, the mare noticed that many of her patients were already starting to look a little better. Rushing back over to where Spike stood, the small dragon notice a smile spreading across Spring Fever's face.
"Spike, your cure actually seems to be doing something!" The medical mare beamed excitedly, looking around at the quickly recovering ponies. "I've never seen anyone recover from a disease this fast!"
"That is usually the way with magical cures, they tend to work faster than normal medicinal remedies." The dragonling replied smugly. "But I would still give them about a week or so to recover, before giving them a clean bill of health."
"I'll make sure to keep them under observation." Spring Fever agreed, before remembering something. "Say, Spike... have you seen Kimono or Applejack? Minty and Waterfire were in here earlier, and they said the two were away from Ponyville to deal with some kind of problem."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry about those two much." The dragon replied thoughtfully. "I heard A.J. saying something about touching base with an old friend, I'm sure she and and Kimono are just fine!"
...
Canterlot Castle had changed very little over these past few years, save for a darker atmosphere more befitting a rulership of the former princess of the moon. The surrounding city had undergone major renovations however, the poorer and middle class sectors of the city having been demolished to make way for more high-priced real estate that the rich and powerful to live in. Some say that the rich and powerful now live in isolation here, untroubled by the concerns of a growing unhappiness throughout Equestria as a whole. There were even some who said that when Princess Celestia had died, the true spirit of Equestria had died with her.
In the throne room. A group of royal guards knelt before the throne of Princess Luna, giving their reports to the alicorn who now sat on the throne.
"And so, your majesty, we still have no idea what caused the gizmonk facility in the valley to explode, though royal investigators are certainly looking into it." The Captain of the guard told her, taking his helmet off. "Also, there is some murmurs of discontent among the commoners, which my soldiers are having a little more difficulty hushing up than usual."
"Make certain that it is quieted up, commander." The regal winged unicorn upon the throne replied coldly. "I'll not have the Equestrian wealthy fearing for their safety, just because for the mutterings of a few uppity malcontents."
"So that's how you view your subjects now, Luna!?" And angry voice filled the room, seeming to come from everywhere. "All they are is a few angry rebels, just because they don't agree with you?!"
"Who dares speak to the Princess of Equestria in such a manner?" Luna shouted, switching to the royal Canterlot voice as the guards snapped to a defensive position. "SHOW THYRSELF, INTRUDER!"
Suddenly, a red pony and a purple purple pony appeared from nowhere, and the guards charged at them, weapons in hoof. The pair of mares moved like lightning, one moving with a flurry of karate hoof chops and spectacular flips, while the other relied on good old fashioned farm pony blows from Bucky Mcgillcutty and Kick Mcgee. Several quick blows sent all of the guards crashing to the ground, knocked unconscious (Kimono and Applejack were careful, so as not to harm any of the guards while taking them down.)
"Princess Luna," Applejack stated coldly, all of her former respect for alicorn royalty clearly gone. "we have to talk."
"I have nothing to say to would be assassins!" The Princess leapt up from her throne, taking to the air, and firing a powerful energy blast from her horn at the two mares. The blast hit Kimono dead center, sending the unsuspecting mare flying back into a pillar. "Your kind will not take me, as you did my sister!"
"Umph!" The earth pony mare groaned in pain, as her back slammed into solid marble.
"Luna, ENOUGH!" The red mare yelled out, nearly jumping up into the alicorn's face. "It's me, Applejack!"
"F-fair Applejack, the farmer?" The princess asked in disbelief, powering down her horn as she noticed the red coat on the farmer pony was a dye job. "What are you doing here? And why didst thou seek to come into my presence in such an extremely violent manner?"
"Your guards weren't exactly willing to let us in, 'you majesty'." The red mare snorted, looking back at her friend. "Kimono, are you all right?"
"Yeah, I've been hit by worse from Minty." The purple mare groaned, rubbing her hoof against her sore rib. "That actually hurt, you alicorns really do pack a punch!"
"Princess Luna, how could you just let those Gizmonks into Equestria like that?!" Applejack demanded, getting straight to the point. "Those ornery critters were pollutin' Ponyville's whole ecosystem! To say nothing of turning Ponyville Ponies into glue!"
"What?! Impossible! Doctor Strangehate did assureth me that all of the ponies inside of Ponyville were long deceased! That is why I did let him build his factory to help improveth Equestria's declining economy!" She stared at the ancient earth mare for a moment, before narrowing her eyes. "Saaay, art thou certain that thou art not just trying to stand in the way of progress because thou art a pony farmer? My development of the land doth be good for all of the kingdom!"
"Wait... you're taking the word of a sneaky simian over one of your own subjects?" AJ snorted, stamping her hoof angrily. "This isn't just about farm land being turned into factories, your own subjects are being ground up into paste!"
"So this is the great Princess of the moon, huh? The pony that let my friends get ground up into guacamole?" Kimono asked, looking at the winged alicorn in contempt. "Guess she's not as regal and noble as all the stories said."
"ENOUGH!" Luna roared in the Royal Canterlot voice, her eyes glowing. "WE WILL NO LONGER LISTEN TO ANYPONY'S BASELESS ACCUSATIONS! BEGONE FROM HERE, THOU FOOLISH PONIES! WHILE I STILL ALLOW YOU TO LEAVE UNHARMED!"
"They were right, Princess Celestia's death has changed you." Applejack said in a saddened voice, the last of her faith draining away in the betrayal before her. "You are not the pony you once were... and your not half the pony your sister was!"
"I'm not scared of all your yelling, you stupid alicorn!" Kimono took a fighting stance, a glow forming in her right hoof. "And I'm certainly not scared of YOU!"
The earth pony mare jumped at the royal princess, who shot another energy blast at Kimono. But this time, the earth pony's hoof punch cut straight though the blast, smashing into the surprised Luna's face, and sending her slamming back into the wall behind her throne.
"Aieeeeeeee!" The former princess of the night wailed, as she hit the wall with an audible CRACK, before sliding down into her throne, unconscious.
"You-you just took on an alicorn's magic, and won!" Applejack noted in utter shock. "How the hay did you do THAT?!"
"Earth pony chi, AJ, focused through my martial arts." Kimono snorted, cracking her hooves as they stared down at the unconscious princess. "Most other pony types forget we earth ponies do have our own special type of magic. All it takes is my life energy directed in the proper spot, and I cut cut through even the most powerful magical attack like a hot knife through butter." Kimono shook her head. "Sorry about your royal princess there, but I just couldn't stand there and let her tell me my friends who had suffered and died didn't exist."
"Don't worry about it, Kimono. She's not my princess, not anymore." The mare replied with a sigh, as they both galloped for the door. "C'mon, let's get back to Ponyville before her royal brattyness there and her guards wake up!"
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Are you sure that isn't one of mine? All of my fics share the same universe.
Luna's gone off the deep end it seems.
5529220 OH, you're THAT pony author, My sincerist apologies, I saw your stories on Fanfiction.net and I'm a HUGE fan of what you manage to discover on G4 being first and G1 being last! I didn't even recognize you for a second.
5529754
Is ok, glad you like my stories! I'd say check out all of my stories, because they ALL fit together as smaller parts to a much bigger story!
:D
This is so wonderful! Kimono is the best pony ever! :D
It seems that Luna's trauma over her sister's death hardened her heart to the point of turning her into a cold despot.
This chapter, while pretty clean-cut, needed more time to bring out....
You know what? I think I figured out what I truly hated about this entire arc. I don't know whether it was intentional or not(most of it was in a "drug-induced state"), however, this entire arc felt really shallow in the character development area. You did extremely good jobs in previous arcs and made me feel more invested in the storyline. This arc was almost the complete opposite.
Luna's confrontation with Applejack should have lasted an entire chapter, yet it barely fits three paragraphs and Luna wasn't drugged, just depressed. I can forgive Applejack's actions as I believe her to still be drugged, but not by much as being my best pony, I have higher standards for her than others.
Luna and Applejack are certainly different from when they last encountered each other, but I bet even an estranged Luna would have longed to get caught up with somepony else who remembered Celestia as she did. If Applejack cared about what had happened to Luna, she would have tried to bring forth from Luna's memory why Celestia was so loved. Whether Luna would have lashed outward or inward from the pain of the memory or the reality she created for herself is still open for the author to choose.
I felt that you did a great injustice to Luna by turning her into a two-dimensional villain. I'm still following, I know you can improve next arc if this was not your intention, however, this is your writing and they are your fingers hitting the keyboard. Heck, maybe the next major villains need to be two-dimensional for the sake of the narrative.
5544179
All very good points. HOWEVER, let us look at exactly what we are dealing with here; an exhausted, partially drugged, still horrified A.J. who is trying to psychologically swallow the horror of seeing the closest thing she has to friends being turned into glue. Meeting with- for only a few minutes, I might add- a still grievingover Celestia, emotionally unhinged Luna, who has a dozen problems to worry about, and has a pony she hasn't seen in centuries come barging in, making accusations about a business entrepreneur Luna herself invited into the kingdom, accusing Luna of being complicit in allowing her subjects to be murdered.
This is a case of Applejack jumping in angrily and stubbornly- in character for her- opening her mouth and spewing out a lot of angry words without thinking because of the stress she is under. Luna probably would have been happy to see A.J. and the two would've been able to talk about this in a much more civilized manner had AJ not come blasting in with Kimono like that. Luna's threats are an emotional reaction to two ponies just jumping in and attacking- she really didn't have time to form a reaction to a pony she hadn't seen in years.
Luna is NOT the villain here. Strangehate tricked an emotionally vulnerable princess by promising to help equestria's economy, and she thought she was helping her subjects. Now an old friend suddenly comes bursting in, making accusations with no visible proof. And yells at Luna calling her bad and taking a threatening stance like she and her unknown friend were going to attack. So Luna, already in an emotional state herself, threatens the two to get them to stand down until everybody can calm down, Kimono, meanwhile, is not familiar with Luna, and only knows AJ's accusations about the death of her fellow ponyville citizens being this mare's fault, reacts defensively.
It's simply a matter of two friends getting angry, and just yelling at each other before both both storming out. notice AJ did not attack Luna at any time, just yelled at her. And unless aj did try to attack, Luna would not have turned her horn on Applejack, either. If Kimono hadn't been there and violently intervened, the two might have actually calmed down after a few minutes, and actually tried to talk, albeit talked aggressively.
5544266
And that's fine. I appreciate the clarification. Like I put in my comment, I wasn't sure if the shallowness was intentional because of the drug-induced state. That makes me appreciate your skill for not dismissing your own elements of storytelling by creating glaring plot holes.
I only called Luna a "two-dimensional villain" because I couldn't fit another term to her condoning, by inaction or turning a blind eye to, the rest of the kingdom to be run by those monkeys. I know she's more than that, but in this arc, she doesn't rise above that classification to my view.
Same for Applejack, this arc is probably her worst arc so far. As more arcs come out, that may change. I remember when I thought her worst arc was a previous arc and that eventually changed. It may change again in the future. Keep writing.
That's a thing you have to do with immortal characters; they need to change or they become fixtures like Celestia(before whatever killed her) and that's a little boring.
Luna?
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next time in captian planet !!
Yeah that all I couldtgink of ATM