Somehow they found themselves back at Max’s house, Fragrance wasn’t quite sure how; the last half hour or so was rather a blur. They had all been checked over the by guards and some medics, then released to return to their own homes. She wasn’t used to quite so much physical excitement, her wings still ached, although the loss of the outer layer of her dress made movement easier. Plus the punch may not have helped; not only had it been enchanted, but it was rather strong as well.
She and Max were splayed out on a couch in his sitting room. She had spent a few minutes tidying herself up in his bathroom. Her inner dress looked just about presentable, but she had removed the socks, much to Max’s displeasure; after beating around the bush for so long, he apparently didn’t have any problem telling her what he liked about her, and her legs were apparently high on his list. She’d acted shocked, but inside found it very flattering.
Now they had shared a companionable silence for a few minutes, neither of them seeming to want to be the first one to talk. Things had changed, the world had moved, they were not the same ponies they’d been only an hour ago. She and Max were... well, a couple? Their feelings laid bare for each other. In some way she should be thankful for being drugged – she didn’t think she could have revealed herself in that way without help, couldn’t admit her feelings even to herself. However, her life was no doubt going to become so much more complicated now. Her enemies had another reason to target Max now. Should they try to keep their relationship secret? Relationships between voting courtiers were complicated as well – questions of impartiality, of heirs, or organisation. It was so very very complicated.
Noting the lowering of her ears and the increased twitching of her tail, Max reached forwards and encircled her with his forelegs. The air went out of her lungs in one great sigh as her head lolled back onto his shoulder.
It was suddenly all so very simple, thought Fragrant. She would just lie here floating in Max’s arms for the rest of her life, feeling his heart beat next to hers, safe and secure. A tiny part of her mind tried to point out that there might be a few problems with this plan, but it was quickly outvoted.
A timeless moment passed as the two of them remained intertwined. Then the moment was shattered by a heavy knocking from the door, causing them jump apart like to teenagers suddenly caught by their parents.
“Go away!” hollered Max. “I’m not in!”
“Princess Luna Equestris has demanded that the Night Court attend her at the Selenic Cathedra,” came the reply, only slightly muffled by the door.
Fragrant’s ears pricked up. Demanded? That was a worrying choice of words. What could Luna have discovered from interrogating the creature which had disrupted the gala?
“Coming,” grumbled Max, levering himself off of the seat. “Um, do you want to go out the back door while I go with the guard?” he asked.
Fragrant frowned for a moment, then remembered she was only wearing half a dress, and a rather crumpled one at that. It did look rather scandalous. Maybe she should return to her home? But no, the guard had mentioned that the whole court had been summoned; no doubt there were more night guard at her home. She stood up straight and tidied her dress as best she could. “No, we should go together.”
Max grinned and made his way to the door. “Officer,” he said, nodding.
“Come with me,” replied the guard gruffly. He caught sight of Fragrant’s slightly bedraggled form and raised an eyebrow.
Ignoring him, Fragrant marched forwards, head up, with Max trotting just behind her. The guard fell into step as well and the three of them set off towards the castle.
Max and Fragrant trotted into the Selenic Cathedra, Luna’s throne room. The room was packed with nobles; it looked like the entire Night Court was here, from the barons all the way up to the Vicereines. The atmosphere was of quiet worry as courtiers quietly mumbled to each other about why they were here, what revelation the Princess was going to reveal to them. The Princess of Equestria herself was standing in front of her throne, now fully dressed and flanked by armed and armoured guards, her eyes glowing with moonlight. In front of her, similarly afflicted, was the unicorn who had caused such a commotion at the Gala only an hour ago, now returned to her fully equine form.
The grim aura of the room was almost enough to dampen Max’s spirits, but he was still warmed by the tingles emanating from his heart. He turned to Fragrant to ask her what she thought was happening. She looked perturbed and shook her head; she didn’t seem to know either. She turned towards the front of the hall, where the higher ranking nobles were standing. Max moved to follow her but she once again shook her head, but reached out and discreetly gave Max’s hoof a squeeze. He wanted to reach out to hug her again, but controlled himself and nodded, taking his place along with the most junior members of the court.
Just as he took his place, the glow in Luna and the unicorn’s eyes faded, and the latter slumped, her face a picture of dread. Luna nodded and muttered something Max couldn’t make out as the guards lead the unnamed unicorn away, before closing the great doors to the hall with a thud, leaving Luna and the court alone.
The Princess stood silent and motionless as a rock for a moment and the muttering amongst the court quietened. What was going on? Thought Max, was The Princess going to reveal what she had discovered from the unicorn or whatever she had been? Was Equestria in some way under attack? He shuffled from hoof to hoof for a moment.
Gracefully, the alicorn of the night began to move down the line of ponies, starting with Vicereine Wallflower. She locked gaze with the noble for a moment, and the normally boisterous earth pony looked shocked, her head slumping. Luna moved on to the next pony, and the next and the next. Each in turn she gazed at silently. Slowly, her face shifted from impassivity to a look of disbelief. By the time she looked at Max, she looked so old and sad and disappointed, both in her court and in herself. Her gaze cut to his core and he couldn’t meet it.
She knew! He didn’t know how she knew but she knew! She knew what he had done for Buttercup, all the mistakes and missteps he had made in the four months he had spent at court, she knew everything! How could he ever had thought he was good enough for her, good enough to help run Equestria. He was just a country bumpkin, how could he ever think he could manage this, he thought. He wanted to run, to run and hide; anything to avoid that sad, sad gaze.
Slowly, Luna turned and made her way up the other line of ponies back towards her throne. He saw Baron Fields turn grey as his monarch walked past. Then she reached Fragrant. It may have been his imagination, but he thought he saw the alicorn slump slightly as the pegasus was unable to meet her gaze. What was happening? Max could understand how he didn’t meet the Princess's standards, but surely not the rest of the court? Surely not Fragrant, not her?
She finally came to a halt, almost at the end of the line of nervous sweating courtiers, her gaze coming to bare at Archduke Fisher. Slowly her eyes traced up and down his form. “Archduke Bobbing Fisher,” she said, her calm tones sounding shockingly loud after so long a silence. “Did you really burn down one of your own factories?”
Fisher blinked. “Majesty, you can’t trust—”
“Answer the question,” she interrupted quietly.
“Majesty, I…” he began before dropping his gaze, unable to meet Luna’s eyes any more. “Yes, Majesty.”
Max gaped. What had the Archduke done? How could he...
His thoughts were interrupted as the princess turned to the old pony standing closest to her throne. “Vicereine Puissance,” she said, her voice still soft and calm. “Your youngest son, Lance. Did you falsify the evidence at his trial?”
Puissance stood tall, a look of almost annoyance crossing her face. “I did not!” she objected loudly, her voice ringing clearly around the chamber. “And – and begging your pardon, your Majesty, but I resent the implication!” Max blinked. How could the Vicereine speak like that to her ruler?
Luna stared, apparently unaffected by the outburst. Puissance was breathing heavily, sweating despite the chill of the night. “I… I must insist on an apology, Majesty!” she demanded.
The Princess stared a moment more, then trotted on. “Majesty!” continued Puissance. “You cannot honestly believe the lies that—”
Luna turned around and transfixed the old pony with a gaze, and Puissance staggered back, the truth of the situation finally reaching her. Her head lowered and she stepped back into line.
Luna resumed her trek, circling the chamber again. She stopped at one noble, then another, then another, asking each a question about corruption of themselves or of others. Some could not answer, some haltingly denied the accusation; most mumbled apologies. Max’s head was spinning. He couldn’t even make out what Luna asked him as she passed, just that he had apologized. To his shame he might have said it was Buttercup’s fault. But it was lost in a mist of confusion. He had begun to realise that the court was not the place he had once thought it was; that everything was so much harder, that many seemed to put their own good before that of their people, but this... this was...
Max’s head shot up as Luna came to a halt in front of Fragrant. No, no, not Fragrant, not her, she couldn’t be corrupt, she’d be the one good mare, she’d be better than him, surely.
“A bribe?” Luna’s words dropped from her lips like lead tombstones.
Posey immediately fell to her knees in tears. Fragrant was crying! “I… I’m sorry!” she exclaimed. “It was years ago! I… I was young and Cloudsdale needed the bill to pass and it was only once—”
FRAGRANT WAS CRYING!
“Only once?” Luna asked sarcastically “Only once? That is a great relief, Duchess Posey, that you are pony of such integrity.”
Fragrant buried her head in her hooves and sobbed.
FRAGRANT WAS CRYING!
Max’s hooves tried to rush forwards towards his... whatever she was to him, but for some reason he couldn’t move.
For a moment there was a flicker of regret on Luna’s face, but her visage quickly hardened and she turned away from the weeping mare.
FRAGRANT WAS CRYING!
There was no sign of the strong vibrant mare he admir... that he loved, just a feathery pile of misery. He had to help her, to bring her back, he finally moved a hoof forwards...
Luna had finally reached her throne again. She stood back to the crowd of shell shocked nobles before spinning on her hooves.
“IS THERE A SINGLE HONEST PONY AMONGST YOU?”
Around him, nobles from the highest viceroy to the lowest baronet whinnied in fear – Max included, as his body reacted automatically – but he hardly noticed because FRAGRANT WAS CRYING!
“Liars! Imposters! Cruel, worthless, vain, selfish, undeserving MAGGOTS, every single one of you!” cried Luna, a wild stamp of her hoof shattering the stone of the floor as the stars of her mane glowed with rage. “You are supposed to be the high-born, the great leaders of Equestria, born and bred and trained for your positions. But you are all corrupt! THE WORMS OF THE EARTH HAVE MORE TO OFFER EQUESTRIA THAN YOU DO!”
Some noble – somepony Max didn’t recognise – tried to raise an objection, only for Luna to shut him down, but it didn’t matter because FRAGRANT WAS CRYING! She was slumped on the ground, her normally glittering eyes dull as rivers ran from them onto the cold unfeeling stone below.
“I have a mind to purge every last one of you! Throw you all in jail, dissolve the Night Court entirely and try something new for Equestria!”
Yes, maybe she should do that, because then he’d be able to move again and could comfort the duchess and she would stop crying and maybe – just maybe – the world would return to something that made some sort of sense.
“But – but the laws of Equestria, Majesty! Laws you yourself are beholden to – they say that only the nobility or gentry of Equestria can—” stuttered some unnamed noble.
“Then it is fortunate indeed, viscount,” Luna said as she reached the throne, turned around, and sat at it with her wings still spread wide, “that every mayoral office in Equestria was bequeathed a Lordship hundreds of years ago!”
Yes! Maybe Piste would do better than him, he couldn’t do worse, couldn’t make more mistakes, couldn’t be trapped only a few yards from a weeping mare and not able to do anything about it…
“This ends,” Luna said, her voice returned to a more normal volume but still just as audible. “The corruption. The degradation. The ruination of so many ponies’ lives. The bribes and blackmail and gossip campaigns, the thefts and threats, the spies and saboteurs and all other acts of petty gain. They are finished and done and I will brook no argument on the matter. You may consider yourselves to be on probation. You will act in accordance with the letter and the spirit of the laws of Equestria. You will work honestly and openly and fairly. If you have issue with your fellow members of the Court, then you will bring those issues to me, and I shall arbitrate and my decisions will be final. You will do this, because if it begins again, if the slightest whisper of corruption from any of you reaches my ears, then I will dissolve this Night Court, strip all of you of your ranks and titles, and create a new body of ponies who are willing to work for the good of Equestria and are capable of doing so without defiling the very ideals that this nation was founded upon! Do I make myself clear?”
Max tried to make his mouth work. He understood he had to be better, because not only would Luna be angry, would the whole of Equestria change, but FRAGRANT MIGHT CRY AGAIN! But he couldn’t get his mouth to work.
“Do not make me ask again,” hissed his monarch again.
Suddenly it seemed like the mouths of the whole court started to work at once and a babble of agreement rang out.
Luna dropped into her throne and her horn glowed as the door sprung open again. “Leave. Now,” she intoned.
Max found he could move again and rushed forwards towards where Fragrant was still slumped. He might have jumped over another noble in his haste, but he couldn’t remember. Then she was there in front of him, then in his arms, her head buried in his mane for a moment. He hugged her as hard as he dared, wanting to surround her with his body to protect her from the world. Then she shifted and turned, pulling away from his grasp and trying to stagger towards the foot of Luna’s throne, standing only with his aid. “Please... please... haven't I suffered enough? Why her? Why not me? She was innocent, my princess,” she moaned, looking up at the princess, who sat cold and unmoving like a statue. “Please... tell me what I can do to be better, please, not again, please don’t take any more!”
Max didn’t understand what the duchess was saying, but he joined her in pleading to the princess. Other ponies gather around to add their voices to the hubbub. He recognized Wallflower almost in tears herself, Nobility, Jet Stream, Mellow. Behind them, Baron Fields was trying to hobble through a crowd of fleeing ponies towards the throne.
“Go and earn your forgiveness,” intoned Luna, not looking down at her courtiers.
Max gently tried to turn Fragrant away from the throne. He suddenly realised how rubbery his legs were and that his face was wet from his own tears. Fragrant slumped against him, almost knocking him over. He had to be strong! Fragrant had taken care of him, had taught him so much these last few months; now it was his turn to look after her. He had to be strong. Reaching inwards, he felt the core of himself, the magic that flowed through him and all of his tribe; the strength like that of the earth, like that of the mountain, strength of both body and mind. He spread his legs for stability and stepped forwards towards the door, Fragrant’s form on his side, as light as a feather and at the same time an anchor dragging him down. He had to be strong, to give her strength. “Come on, Fragrance,” he whispered into her mane, gently kissing her cheek. “I’m here. Let me be your strength.”
Together, supporting each other, the couple marched through the door and through the castle out into the streets of Canterlot.
The area immediately outside the castle was in chaos; nobles ran here and there, some in panic, others in a daze. Max noted Viscount Blueblood rushing away, flanked by a bouncy pink mare. Intermingled with them were many members of the press, apparently informed of the meeting of the whole Night Court; they were attempting to get some sense from the nobility. Next to him, Max felt Fragrant jump each time a flash bulb went off. She hated being disturbed by the press, and given her current dishevelled state, it would hurt her even more if a picture of her were to appear in Canterlot Night, or some other publication.
“Fragrant,” whispered Max as gently as he could. “I need you to be strong for a few minutes. We need to get past the press. Then we can get back to your estate, where it’s safe.”
She looked up, incomprehension showing in her still streaming eyes. He hated to see her like this, hated there to be a world where she could be reduced to this. “Please!” he begged. “You’re the strongest mare I know, you can do this, it’s not far. You can do this, you’re Duchess Fragrant Posey of Cloudsdale.”
“Cloudsdale,” she breathed and straightened up. Still leaning against Max, she drew herself to her full height and raised her head.
Good, thought Max. That was the Fragrant he knew, that he loved.
“Duchess Posey,” yelled a newspony as Fragrant and Max pushed their way through the expanding crowd of nobles. “Can you give us a statement on what just happened? What did Luna tell the court?”
“No comment,” yelled Max, brusquely pushing the reporter aside. Fragrant’s air chariot was only a short distance away where they had left it, what felt like days ago now.
“Duchess?” repeated the reporter.
“No... No comment,” said Fragrant, head up and looking into the distance, every inch the icy noble. Max could feel her body trembling against his flanks, but she didn’t show it.
“Luna’s speech... Some sort of scandal? Comment on... Duchess...” thundered the crowd as the pair reached the chariot and began to board, the chauffeurs pushing back the press. They had only just got in place when the vehicle lurched into the air. For a moment it was followed by a small crowd of press pegasi, but they quickly turned back in search of easier prey.
Max collapsed back in his seat, feeling exhausted. What a night!
Fragrant curled up next to him and began to gently sob again.
The chariot quickly took them back to Fragrant’s manor and Max dismissed the chauffeurs. The house seemed empty – maybe the servants were all asleep, thought Max. He was glad for that; he was sure Fragrant wouldn’t want them to see her like this… he didn’t want to see her like this. He didn’t understand why the Princess’s words had hit her so badly. They hurt, he knew they hurt, to find that he had failed his ruler, that the whole court had; it cut deep, but he could take it for the moment. Maybe having to think for another pony helped. But why had it reduced Fragrant to this state?
He gently led Fragrant through the house and into her rooms. As they went, she recovered some of her strength, her sobs slowing but still not ceasing. “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I’m sorry for being so weak. What Luna said, what she told everypony, it was true, I bribed an official to help put through a bill to aid Cloudsdale. It just seemed to take so long to do things properly. But I thought I’d already been punished, punished so badly, my... my princess... why?” she sobbed again, collapsing onto the bed and curling up.
Max knelt down next to her. “I... I helped another member of the court cover up something illegal they were doing. I know I shouldn’t have, I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway. That’s far worse. It didn’t benefit my people or Equestria.”
“Oh, Max! What are we going to do?” she wailed.
“We have to do better! We have to show the Princess she can trust us, that we can do what is right!”
“But how can we? Everypony, the whole Night Court. None of us were clean, none of us were good enough.”
“Then we all need to work together to be better. All of us.”
“I wish I could believe that.” She shook her head slowly.
“You’ll see,” said Max with more certainty than he felt. “Things will look better in the morning. A little sleep and you’ll feel better.” Please feel better, I can’t bear to see you like this. He stood and started to turn for the door.
“Max!” she cried, almost in a panic. “Please, can you... can you stay?” She continued, her voice levelling a little as he turned back. “I... I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to feel so alone.”
A slight blush grew on Max face. Did she... no, she didn’t mean that. She just needed somepony to comfort her. “Of course,” he said. “I’ll stay as long as you need me.” He moved back to the bed and gently drew the sheets over the still clothed form of Fragrant, tucking her in as if she were a little filly before trotting around to the other side of the bed. He clambered onto it a little awkwardly, and shifted over on top of the sheets until his body was almost in contact with hers. He’d dreamed of a moment like this many times before… He looked up into her still wet and miserable looking eyes. …but he’d never wanted things to be like this.
“Please, can you... can you hug me?” she asked. “It... it makes me feel better.”
He reached out his legs and at first cautiously pulled her body next to his, his head resting on hers. He felt her stiffen for a moment, then relax. “Thank you,” she mumbled.
“Don’t worry.” He kissed her gently on her forehead. “I’ll always be here, as long as you need me.”
He kept holding her for a long time. He felt her heartbeat – even through their clothes – slow as she fell asleep and her face relaxed. He still kept her gripped tightly in his arms even after he joined her in temporary oblivion.
Damn. This perspective throws whole new layers of heartache on Fragrant's loss, if she thinks that karma or the universe or whatever took her child from her as punishment for her lapse all those years ago.
I still believe that the court as a whole deserved the threat of Luna going Old Testament on them, but seeing it from the POV of these two characters, it's also rather sad that in so many cases among the nobility, the capacity to feel guilt and shame over the things they've done wrong seems inversely proportionate to the weight of those wrong-doings. But at least it's heartening to know that the ones like Max and Fragrant are the ones who'll best be able to make good on the restoration of the Court's good name now that Luna's brought the Hoof of God down.
Man, Luna is such an ass in the castigation scene. Corrupt Night Court be damned, Fragrant did not deserve that, probably a fair number of the other ponies didn't either, especially since the court is only as corrupt as it is because Luna herself let it get that way through cowardice and willful blindness. Worst princess.
On the other hand, yay for Fragrant and Max's relationship progressing a bit more.
5192200
I really wish Climbing the Mountain had been, in some form, being worked on throughout Season 1 - in that it's a fic focused on the inner workings of the Night Court featuring a far, far more balanced view of it then what we actually got. Then I wouldn't have been in a position wherein I felt that the castigation needed to happen.
From an outside perspective, Luna comes across as grossly incompetent and unable to control the Night Court because I never wanted the Night Court to be villainous. The few remarks about its corruption in my fics prior to Gala were supposed to be like how we in the real world complain about corruption in our own governments. But, unfortunately, at the time the only fics we had that showed us any of the Court's inner workings, were all ones from a villainous perspective, which necessarily made Luna look incompetent for allowing this to happen. It was also acting like some kind of Kudzu weed spreading across all of the Lunaverse far beyond what it was ever supposed to do. It needed to end.
Gala was, in other words, my solution to the Kobayashi Maru.
Beautiful stuff. This is always stunning t'read.
5192618 Maybe from the inside it looked like that, but from a reader's perspective looking in I never felt like the Night Court was unrecoverably corrupt until ATGGG canonicalized it as being so. (Admittedly, there are one or two S1 fics I haven't read, Hero of Oaton and G&G2's AJ story I think, so there may be context I'm missing. Also, time may have dulled my memories and opinions, I'm old.)
If the goal was to beat the Kobayashi Maru, I'm not sure it was really a victory given what it did to basically all of the characters involved from Luna down. We went from a handful of nobles working behind Luna's back to literally all of them.
But, all that said, the story in question is like two years in the can and this horse is very, very dead.
You know, I had to pause and walk away from my computer a few times before finishing this. Not you, Talon. The effin' Castigation pisses me off so much, even now. I wanna slug Luna in the face with an ocean liner and escalate from THERE! I wanna verbally rip her head off and...
I am stopping now or I'm gonna go on for a very long time. Dead-on serious, too.
5192200 : See, the reason why I think this scene works well here but didn't work in AtGGG is, while Luna is a jerk in both cases, here the story acknowledges that. AtGGG reads like it's entirely on Luna's side, so there's issues with protagonist centered morality ("Hey, is it just for Luna to drive Posey to tears for action X when both Trixie and Luna herself do worse than X and get off scot free?") and it reads as... unfair, for lack of a better word. Whereas here, we see Posey's tears in much more detail. We see Max's indignation. The story is on their side, and the castigation isn't treated as some kind of righteous vengeance, but as a catastrophe (albeit possibly a necessary one) that is hurting these ponies we care about.
In AtGGG, the story reads like we're expected to cheer Luna; when we don't want to do that because we know intellectually that she's hurting good ponies, the chapter feels off. Here, it reads like we're expected to feel for Max and Posey. They're good ponies, so I do feel for them, so the scene works for me.
5195682 Well, if the point was to piss us off at Luna, it seems to have worked for RK and me. So, success?
The only real problem I have (with the story) is, I came to the last chapter. I dont see how it only got 28 thumbs up. Now you had a couple of days off, get back to it.
Yay for Fragrant and Max, along with Mrs G. All characters you can get behind. They really do mean well. But for some reason, every time Max climbs onto Lunas roof, I picture him as sitting like a dog and looking shaggy. And I really don't know why.
5189157
She must really be tough to keep going despite all she went through. And still not become a bitter nag.
She was wrong with the bribe, but if she only did one thing wrong in all that time, she's way ahead of the rest of them. I would think her and Jet Stream putting their futures on the line to bring Ponyvilles trouble to Lunas attention should have gone a long way towards undoing any hard feelings about something 20+ years ago.
I get where some are pissed at Luna, she did go overboard, like what happened to Fragrant. But in her defense, the Night Court was so much worse and a bigger disappointment than she thought it was. Here she gave them the chance to do good, and they threw it back in her face. I get the impression that she feels personally betrayed by their actions. And the abuse the ponies went through because of it, make her feel like she let them down also.
In every story I read, Fisher is a straight up dick.
I still think he's a war profiteer. I'd bet half my fingers and all my firewood, companies he owns/has a big interest in get all the military contracts. Hell, he even said (in not so many words) if he were in charge the way Fragrant was, Equestria would have been a police state.
Fascist bastard. Luna should punt his ass into the sun. Night Light and Shining Armor too.
I hope Dirt Digger gets his comeuppance too.
5199344
I agree with this point, for the most part. After all, this scene took place very soon after Luna was given a HUGE infodump on all the dirt Zizanie had collected. It's too big, even for an alicorn to process all at once. In a sense, she isn't addressing individual ponies, but the Court as a gestalt body. Yes, it's brutal and painful and devastating for those courtiers like Max and Fragrant who have functioning moral compasses to be on the receiving end of her wrath alongside the Greengrasses and Fishers, but my impression of the castigation is that it wasn't just about Luna's anger at the nobles for all having the taint of corruption on them, even if only a little bit. It's anger at herself for having created a system that corrupts those who engage in it.
I don't think anypony in Equestria blames Luna for the Court's shortcomings more than Luna herself does. The Court isn't just a governmental organization, it's meant to be an extension of Luna herself. Her mechanism by which the nobility could address the needs of the people under her rule. But she let her fear of winding up an absolute autocrat like what Celestia tried to become, of knowing that she would have become the villain if her sister hadn't fallen first, poisoned her judgement. Just look at the scene in AtGGG following the castigation. She breaks down. Not just out of anger over the nobles, but because she failed them by assuming that she had more time before the corruption spread as far as it did. Because she allowed those who were genuinely corrupt and malicious in their dealings to set the tone in the Court and create the sense that 'that's just how things are done.'
It's just my own feeling, but I'm pretty sure that's why she lashed out as harshly as she did. It wasn't to say to the Maxes and Fragrants 'you're just as bad as the worst of the scum beside you.' It was pain and shock and guilt, and a need to tell Equestria that the Court as a whole had gone too far, and that allowing the corruption to continue was unacceptable.
5199344
Well I've actually got the next 4 chapters written (That takes it to the end of season 1) however, they sort of swamped my editor so it'll probably be a few weeks until they go up.
Season 2 is probably due to start next year.
5199599
That was the point I was trying to make. Only you did it so much better.
Thanks
(take 2 ponies outta petty cash )
5200342
......
This is the innerwebz dammit! I demand instant gratification!!!!
J/K.
I can't wait to see what kind of mess Max drags poor Fragrant and Mrs G into.
5202984
Very kind of you. *takes Derpy and Trixie and makes them kiss*
5195682
Funnily enough, I think it might be an even worse case of PCM here, seeing as how, by showing it from Max and Fragrant's perspective, we only get to really see how it affects the Courtiers that we like, thus it would lead one who reads this scene without the larger context AtGGG provides to think this was a 100% awful thing that was in no way needed to reign in the rampant corruption/complacency that ultimately made up the early Night Court.
I'm not saying AtGGG was perfect, but I just find that both takes on this scene serve to complete one another, as opposed to one being strictly better than the other.
5203538
5254695
Well it doesn't help that I know nothing by economics but my idea was to ensure it was expensive to export clouds so that there would always be enough clouds to meet Equestria's needs (they can produce a lot due to their high Pegasus population) before any exports take place.
5254835
Well 3 tribes so technically 81 members per tribe (might have been true once but probably not now, plus there have probably been more positions added to the court over the years, like Max's)
5254835
The actual number itself was reached when I randomly chose a session of the U.S. Congress from history and ended up with the 41st, which had 243 Representatives (plus 74 senators and 9 non-voting members), and decided that Equestria had a like number of nobles in its Night Court.
5274020
And now you know, and knowing is half the battle!
GI-JOE!