Actor's Introductions
Celestia slowly opened her eyes from her nap at the sound of someone landing on her balcony. She yawned and let out a small smile as her sister opened the glass doors and walked in. “Luna, I’m happy to see you back and well. I took care of what I could in the Night Court and cancelled the rest. Well, after preventing the guards from trying to put the palace on lockdown due to your rather dramatic exit. Where did you go? Twilight and the palace guards were quite panicked at your sudden departure…as was I.”
Luna trotted over to the bed and gave her sister an apologetic nuzzle, resting their heads against each other for a moment before she pulled back. “We are sorry, dear Sister, but much has gone amiss for us this day. Our ancient domicile was broken into and an artifact of worrying power stolen from it.”
“Oh? Did you see who or what stole it?” Celestia raised her head as her expression turned to one of concern. ”Twilight and her friends will need all the information they can to track the artifact down.”
Luna gave Celestia a curious look “We haven’t even told you what was stolen yet Tia, why are you so quick to think that the elements should be the one's to handle its recovery?”
Celestia gave Luna a deadpan expression, her eyes up in a ‘are you serious?’ look. “Lulu, these last few years an old enemy we sealed away, or an ancient evil artifact we thought long lost seems to surface every few months. In each of these events it has been Twilight and her friends who safely defeated them, or recovered said artifact. Why would I think of sending anypony else?”
Luna snorted at her sister “You know Tia, you could instead, help us to try and recover the artifact without getting Twilight involved. It doesn’t have to always be your former student and her friends that take these risks.”
Celestia smiled back and winked “I agree Lulu, and we will take care of some of these issues on our own, just as soon as Twilight learns to say ‘no’ to me. As an Alicorn, she needs to become strong enough to refuse something even you or I ask of her.”
Luna grumbled a bit and laid down in Celestia’s bed, opening her sore wings and giving them a good stretch “Well we would appreciate if you helped her with that. Leaving Twilight in charge while we solved problems like this would get her prepared for the future. It would be quite wonderful if both of us could finally take that vacation to Los Pegasus.”
Celestia tried to suppress a shudder at memories of previous vacations with Luna in the distant past and gave her a nod. She thought back to the embarrassment of Luna’s drunken antics, the over the top jokes Luna would play on her, the noises at night from the bedroom they shared that drove Celestia to start discreetly having a second room prepared for her to flee to. Hopefully booked at the other end of the inns they stayed at.
Vacation with you? Fat chance Luna. Your actions were hard enough to hide when the media was nothing more than town criers. I can’t imagine the cost involved to keep you out of the papers now, not to mention having the photo’s burned before they got published. She’s always so regal and serious in public appearances and about her duties. However, she was the element of laughter, and by the stars it shows when she’s on vacation.
“So…” Celestia continued, changing the subject quickly. ”By the way you are talking and acting, am I to assume this artifact isn’t of immediate danger?”
“hmm?” Luna mouthed, lifting her head back up from where it was resting on the bed. “Oh, not really. The trigger won’t be of use for another week at least from its consumption. Though we would love to find and skin the pony whom dared to steal from us this very second, waking up Twilight now to retrieve it would be both rude and fruitless. That pony is somewhere in the Everfree forest, and until they emerge it will be next to impossible to find them.” Luna grinned at Celestia.
“So you’re on board with sending Twilight out to find it?” Celestia grinned back at Luna’s nod.
“Since this is part of your plan to train Twilight in her new role we will go along with it."
"Thank you Lulu. I don't wish to continue with her lessons after telling Twilight that she is my equal. But, she even refuses servants, let along guards!" Celestia let a hoof wildly gesture in the air in exasperation. "She understands what I feel is most important for a ruler, but not the...politics of it yet."
"Luna nodded along in agreement, having noticed the emptiness of Twilight's castle despite her having it for several months already. "Though what will you do if she starts to resent you for sending her and her friends out on these dangerous missions instead of her learning to refuse them?”
“Oh Lulu, that’s why she is graded on so many of her missions. And there is no shortage of stained glass windows in the palace I can have replaced. Especially if you continue to go through them.”
Luna chuckled at this statement “Despite your coat color Tia, you’re pure evil.”
Celestia tsked at Luna “Twilight has never failed to learn a lesson I’ve placed before her. I am positive she’ll learn this one before she becomes truly upset with me. And if not, I will have others help nudge her in that direction as always.Twilight is too much like a daughter to me to hurt her intentionally like that.”
Celestia yawned and wrapped a wing lovingly around her sister. “Now, care to tell me what this ‘trigger’ you were speaking of is? It’s been a long time since I thought of all those cute little experiments you used to do."
Luna blushed and squeaked out a protest. "Cute? Dear sister, we were working to unravel the mysteries of magic and the world itself! Why would you say-" Luna's eyes turned to slits as she peered at her sister in annoyance. "You are referring to our days in the kitchen, aren't you?"
"You were the most beautiful little kitchen ghost!" Celestia gushed. "While I thought it was rude of the staff to call you a calamity, they did have my sympathies for all the white prints they had to clean up."
With a groan, Luna hid her head. "Let it go Sister. We learned long ago that the kitchen was not our place for experiments, and switched to a laboratory just as soon as Starswirl trusted us enough."
Celestia giggled at that. "So, what cute little items did you keep in your personal rooms? I admit to never wishing to go down there after you left...”
Luna cleared her throat and actually seemed to blush a little, piquing Celestia’s curiosity.
“Well, the-the thing is Sister, the Alicorn Trigger…”
‘Oooooohhh….”
Trixie did her best to keep her moans quiet, but the pain combined with her exhaustion prevented it. Blearily, she looked to the distant lights of Ponyville, thinking they were almost mocking her. Somehow, she had made it this far, despite the pain that had slowly encased her entire body over the last couple of hours. But now, her body refused her every command. If she hadn’t been lost in the forest for so long, she was positive she would have made it before this sudden explosion of agony began ravaging her insides. Trixie could feel the orb in her stomach, pulsing in time with her heart.
Trixie laid there for what felt like hours, trying her best to go unconscious so she wouldn’t have to bear the torture wracking her body. Despite the pounding in her head, Trixie vaguely noticed the sky start to brighten from a deep, dark blue to a pinkish purple as the two sisters brought night to day. All of a sudden, Trixie heard the sound of cheering and hoof stomping surrounding her.
“Ah now there’s the winning team in all her glory!”
Trixie made out a very disjointed vision of Discord’s face several inches away from her own. A huge grin was visible, as well as a blue foam hand with something written on it Trixie couldn’t see very well.
“So, tell your adoring audience how it went! Did you meet up with Luna? Was she mad that you stole her little marble? I bet she was mad, wasn’t she? What was your favorite play of this season?” Discord held a microphone up to Trixie’s lips, looking expectantly at her.
“Ooooooohhh…..”
“Hmm…fascinating. Riveting even! Let’s get to the in-depth interview later so you can hit the showers. No offense, but you look a little too….dead-ish right now to be shown in public.”
Trixie groaned again as she felt her body lift up from the ground and could merely twitch her legs a little as Discord levitated her body behind him as he walked off.
“Feeling like you’re burning up a little huh? It’s okay, no pain no gain after all! It’s just weakness leaving the body! It’s the sensation of victory!”
Trixie could do nothing but groan and listen to Discord as he continued to ramble off stupid motivational quotes to her, despite how much she focused on mentally telling him to shut up. She vaguely noticed that they were not in fact headed into Ponyville. Instead, they seemed to still be in Ponyville’s outskirts and headed to a distant cottage.
“Okay.” Discord stated as he stopped in front of the cottage’s door moments later. Looking to Trixie, he brought up a feather duster and proceeded to dust her off. Afterwards he straightened her hat and cape before giving her a once over. “Meh, it’ll have to do. Just let me do all of the talking, all right?” Trixie groaned again and tried to glare at him. “Good, glad we’re on the same page. By the way, you’re going to be feeling some strange magic surges in the next few days. Direct one of them at Fluttershy, and you’re going to be wishing Luna found you instead of me, got it?” Discord didn’t bother to wait for an acknowledgment as he turned around and snapped his fingers, causing him to suddenly be dressed in a pink nurse’s outfit with a blonde wig on his head. Discord proceeded to knock on the door several times in a random pattern, then stop, then start knocking again. He kept this up until the door opened a few inches to reveal the face of a yellow Pegasus with an eye-patch and a tired look on her face. Surprisingly to Trixie, the Pegasus’s face didn’t change at all as she stared at Nurse Discord.
“Oh…g-good morning Discord. I wasn’t expecting you to come home till later this week. Umm…would you like to come in?”
Discord’s quickly snapped his costume away as his face went from mischievous to serious. He grabbed Fluttershy’s chin in his paw and directed her gaze up to his face.
“Fluttershy, what happened to your eye?”
Fluttershy looked a bit surprised at this statement, bringing her hoof up to the eye-patch as if just remembering it was there. She then smiled a little shyly up at Discord. “O-oh, this? W-well you see, those raven’s were awfully hungry. A-and since I couldn’t let them have yours…well…”
As Discord’s face started to freeze up in a horrified expression rivaling the one he was first placed to stone in, Fluttershy let out a little snort and giggle. She then flipped the eye-patch up, revealing that her eye was in fact not in the gullet of some bird.
“G-gotcha…”
Discord’s face remained locked in the same expression for several more seconds. Cracks began to appear all across his body until he shattered, leaving a large pile of brown and grey shards where he once stood. Fluttershy looked down at the pile and proceeded to give it a few prods with her hoof.
“U-um…was…was that too mean?”
Less than a second later, Fluttershy gave a surprised squeak as Discord picked her up from behind and proceeded to give her a noogie as he laughed.
“My dear Fluttershy, you actually pranked me! ME! The very essence of chaotic actions! Do you know what this means!?” Discord held Fluttershy at arms length and grinned at her as she caught her breath.
“Th-that you’re a b-bad influence?” Trixie managed to mutter out despite the pain.
Discord looked over to the Unicorn floating in the air several feet away “Oh, you can finally do more than moan now? Good for you. But no! Well, yes, but no!” Discord stretched out one paw to the sky and moved it to indicate a large area “It means that it’s time for me and sweet little Flutters here to take a road trip! The places we’ll go, the pranks we’ll pull, the things we’ll turn ponies into!” Discord put Fluttershy down and snapped his fingers, causing a large open suitcase to appear in the air next to him. Nearby animals started to float over to the suitcase from inside the cottage and the fields around it. Most were quite alarmed as they were placed into the suitcase and disappeared from view, particularly a large brown bear.
“D-Discord? W-what’s Trixie doing here?” Fluttershy approached the floating Unicorn. Seeing Trixie’s face wincing in pain, her expression quickly changed from slightly scared to concerned.
Discord stopped packing the animals and looked over at the two ponies “Oh. Right. I still have THAT little detail to take care of. Sorry everyone, looks like the trip will have to wait for another day.” The suitcase turned in the air and deposited the distressed animals in a large pile on the ground. Many of the animals were too dizzy from the rough treatment to run off immediately, though one particular white rabbit hopped up to Discord and gave him a solid kick before walking back into the cottage.
“Discord, what’s wrong with Trixie? Did something happen? Bring her inside this minute!” Fluttershy ran into the cottage to retrieve her medical bag.
“…and now Pegasi are bossing me around. Yep, I was right. Everything with wings in Equestria is after me in some way.” Discord continued to grumble as he walked into Fluttershy’s house, Trixie floating in behind him.
“Pr-I mean; Celestia, Luna, you said you needed to see me?” Twilight said shortly after taken her seat.
Twilight, Celestia, and Luna were all sitting in one of the conference rooms. Guards were stationed by the closed doors to assure their privacy, making it clear they were not to be bothered.
“Twilight,” Celestia started “We apologize for having to cut your meetings with the ambassadors short…” Twilight snorted at this, making it clear how little she was actually bothered by this interruption. “But it has come to our attention that somepony broke in and stole an artifact from our ancient home. We need you and the element bearers to track whoever has it and bring them to the palace.”
A curious expression came over Twilight’s face at Celestia’s phrasing of her mission. “You didn’t mention anything about bringing back the artifact, just who was responsible for stealing it. And why did they take it?”
Princess Luna spoke up “To answer the first part, it is because the artifact is most assuredly in the gut of whichever pony was foolish enough to steal from us. Once you corner the unfortunate soul who dared steal the Alicorn Trigger and bring them here, we will…remove the artifact from their miserable body.”
Twilight’s fur stood on end at Luna’s words, getting a sense of foreboding from the Princess’s tone.
“Luna, you’re being as…particular, with your choice of words as Celestia. What exactly are you planning on doing to this pony once we bring them back here?”
“Well, if they are lucky, and we choose to be in a forgiving mood, we will only take a few weeks to extract the Trigger from their body. After that, we would not mind a new hoofstool in our bedroom.”
“Luna!” Celestia scolded, turning to Twilight with a soothing smile. “Don’t listen to Luna, Twilight. The artifact stolen is very personal to her, so she is quite upset over its loss. She won’t really kill the pony in question over this. However, as they consumed the Trigger, it will take Luna quite some time to remove it from their body, and it will most likely be a painful experience for them.”
Twilight eyed the scowling Luna a little warily, but relaxed at her old mentors’ calming tone. “All right, could you tell me what we’ll be up against? You called it the ‘Alicorn Trigger’, does that mean it’ll be similar to the Alicorn Amulet incident?”
Celestia shook her head and turned back to Luna questioningly. Receiving a nod from her sister, Celestia turned back to Twilight.
“Please understand Twilight, to fully explain the trigger, we will have to impart to you some information that cannot be made public. We have yet to share this information with even Cadence. If this was spread, it would cause an untold amount of chaos among ponies and quite likely put the element bearers at risk.”
Twilight’s ears lowered at the thought of her friends being injured from her own actions and nodded to Celestia. “I promise, if this secret is so dangerous, that I will not tell anypony.”
“Very well.” Luna stood up and started to pace the room as she spoke. “Understand that, as far as we are aware, there are in fact only three ways one may become an Alicorn. The first is through birth like us and our sister. Despite past attempts by others, the birth of an Alicorn can only occur between Alicorns. Due to the lack of males, this option is currently closed. The second is...well...problematic” Luna stopped her pacing and looked over to Twilight.
“Magic is….fickle in some ways, we suppose. The three tribes were unexpectedly blessed with a unique chance that no other species has. Very, very rarely, a pony may be born with a unique brand of magic wrapped around their soul. A chance at a unique destiny. Think of it like a seed if you will. When cared for correctly, the seed will grow, causing the magic to tightly entwine itself with that ponies soul and natural energies. This will cause said pony, with help, to become an Alicorn.” Luna paused slightly and smirked as Twilight’s eyes widened in recognition of how she ascended.
“If looked for, an Alicorn can sense this seed in a pony, but it is literally like looking for a piece of hay in a needle stack. Only once have we seen more than one pony with the possibility of ascension within every century.”
Celestia cut in. “The seed, if never grown, is still of use to the wielder. It gives them an edge other ponies do not have, the ability to dig down when desperate and find the power they need to deal with many situations others couldn’t. A Pegasus being able to outfly an athletic friend despite being a poor flyer themselves, an earth pony growing a fruit or vegetable dozens of times larger than they should be capable of, and a Unicorn capable of hatching a dragon’s egg that was never meant to hatch in the first place, are all past examples of this.“
Celestia patiently waited for Twilight to come out of her paralyzed state. After a moment she began to grown concerned, and lightly tapped Twilight with her hoof, causing the pole-axed mare to let out a strangled squawk as she fell out of her seat. Celestia spent the next few minutes coaxing Twilight to breath and return to her seat, only speaking again once she was sure Twilight was no longer in danger of fainting.
“Hopefully now you understand why this is kept hidden. Ponies would start coming to the castle in droves with the hopes of being told they held such potential all day, others would think we were lying to them, and still others would hunt down those known to have these seeds and try to remove them.”
“So you mean, my friends, they all could be….?”
Celestia nodded, though her eyes held a soft sadness to them “They could Twilight, but Luna and I have no plans to carry out the ritual on them. Becoming an Alicorn is as much of a blessing as it is a curse. Could you see Rarity watching Sweetie Belle age and die before her eyes? What of Applejack and Apple Bloom? Not to mention the upheaval that is still going on at your own recent coronation. To add five more Alicorns to that list would panic the country to no end. You alone were trained and taught to one day join my sister and I, Twilight. I’m sorry, I know it hurts, but that is how it must stay.”
Twilight nodded dumbly to Celestia, too overwhelmed with this new information to make any argument with her decision for the moment. “S-so, you only mentioned the first two ways to become an Alicorn, I take it this trigger is the third way?”
After giving Twilight's face a once-over to make sure she should continue, Luna nodded. “The Alicorn Trigger; we experimented with the tree of harmony for a long time before coming up with it. Unfortunately, the experiment proved too dangerous for the tree, and only one was ever completed. We kept it a secret from our sister...” Luna blushed a little and looked to the floor. “It-it is capable of making a pony without the seed into an Alicorn. We kept it in case we or our sister found a special somepony to spend an eternity with. We wished it to be a surprise in case our sister found somepony first.”
Celestia stood up and nuzzled her sister lovingly, hugging her with a wing. “I thank you for your intentions, sister, but as of now I am more than happy for the next few centuries just having you returned to me. And now with Cadence and Twilight joining us, so long as we support one another I think we will have no cause to feel alone again.”
Twilight silently mulled over what she learned as the two sisters had a tender moment together. She spoke up only when she saw them break apart. “So, the Alicorn trigger allows somepony to go beyond their normal limits when pressed, and to become an Alicorn if they have the ritual. Is that right?”
Luna nodded, focusing on Twilight as she sat down next to Celestia, touching by the barest of margins. “That is for the most part correct. The Trigger we designed is capable of a bit more than the normal seeds however. After a week of excruciating pain as the trigger bonds itself with the users magic and soul, the user gains a small boost of all three tribes magics. To run along clouds and survive long falls with little injury like a Pegasus; a touch of the stamina, strength, and hardiness earth ponies are blessed with; and finally, the capability to use stronger spells and store more magic in their body. Admittedly, the third is of little use if the user is not a unicorn. We are, however, very positive that we sensed traces of a unicorn’s magic in our old rooms.”
Luna continued. “Even if the trigger becomes bound to them, we know how to unbind it. It’ll be painful for them, but better than the alternative Celestia will most likely forbid us from doing. We have little fear of them having, or even being capable of the ascension ritual. The powers needed to perform it are beyond even the strongest unicorn. As of this age, the only ones we know capable of such a ritual are Alicorns, Discord, and, with enough love, perhaps Chrysalis. Of these, Chrysalis is the only enemy Equestria still has, but it is still very suspect to think her capable of this, considering her recent defeat and desire to not share power. This pony most likely doesn’t truly know what they stole, and is merely using it to boost their own magic as opposed to seeking Alicornhood.”
A slow clapping was heard echoing in the room. The three Alicorns tilted their heads to look all over the room warily before spotting a miniature Discord resting on a duck float in Twilight's cup of tea.
“Congratulations! I thought it was going to take you two the next few weeks to explain the situation to little Twilight there. And what an interesting little device you lost Luna! Tell me, are you sad that someone ‘swallowed’ your precious seed?” Discord waggled his eyebrows at Luna as he emphasized the word.
Luna pointed a hoof at Discord and glared angrily at Celestia “See? This is EXACTLY why we were opposed to the seed explanation! The first time a weak minded pervert hears it, and already we are being accused of activities befitting a harlot!”
Celestia ignored Luna’s outburst and focused on the little Draconequus. “Discord, why are you here? This conversation does not involve you.”
“Oh poor misinformed Celly, this conversation involves me far more than you realize.”
Celestia raised an eyebrow at Discord, her friendly tone dropping a few levels. “Oh? And how are you involved in this mess then?”
Discord looked up in shock at Celestia “Involved? Why what would make you say such a thing Celestia? Aren’t we friends after all? I merely meant I have a way to help you recover Luna’s lost marble.”
Celestia looked taken aback a little at Discord’s words. “I am sorry if I sounded like I was accusing you Discord. If you have a way to help it would be very appreciated.”
Discord waved a paw at her “Already forgotten my dear cake craving comrade. And I will happily aid Twilight in this adventure of hers. Buuuuuuut! There’ll be a catch.”
Twilight rolled her eyes at him. “Of course there would be. What is it this time? Another maze? A rhyming puzzle?”
Discord shook his head at Twilight. “No no, nothing as difficult or unoriginal as that. All I require is for you to take on this task on your own. You and yourself, sans friends, viva la alono.”
Twilight looked at him with both confusion and anger on her face. “What!? Why would I agree to that?”
Discord grinned up at Twilight, taking a sip of the tepid tea he was lounging in “ Poor little Twilight, you ARE an Alicorn now, yes?” Looking a bit quizzically, Twilight nodded to him. “And yet, all of your achievements beyond simple tests would have been failures if you were on your own. From what Luna said, this pony isn’t becoming an Alicorn anytime soon, if they even know they can become one. So what easier task to start off with on your own than getting back this artifact? The compass I give you will lead right to them so this task is fairly straight forward.”
Celestia looked at Twilight’s crestfallen features and nuzzled her gently. “It’s okay Twilight, you don’t have to accept his help if you don’t wish to. Simply discuss what is happening with your friends and head out from Ponyville when you can.”
“Tut-tut Celestia, you really need to stop coddling her like this. Twilight?” Twilight lifted her eyes to gaze into Discord’s far tinier ones. “Yes, you are the-" Discord gave a gagging sound "princess of friendship. However, don't you think you need to learn to at least be able to do the smallest of tasks on your own?" Discord's voice became much louder as he peered at Twilight, frowning. "You. Are. Immortal. Barring a few unlikely incidents, you are going to outlive your friends. What good are you going to be to anyone if you haven’t learned to function on your own by that point, hmm?”
Twilight’s pupils contracted at Discord’s last words, causing her eyes to look like two large glistening mirrors as she turned her head towards Celestia. Twilight stared at Celestia for almost a minute, clear to everyone that she was waiting for her mentor to say something comforting, or to deny Discord’s claim. As time passed, a few tears started their trek down Twilight's face as Celestia stared at her with a sorrowed expression, causing Twilight to realize the truth in Discords words. Half blind, Twilight stumbled to her legs and headed for one of the doors as she mumbled a few words to Discord in a very subdued tone. “No…you’re right. Just...get me the compass when you can and I...I’ll head out…e-excuse me...I need to get ready…”
Celestia quickly got up to follow Twilight out the door, glaring at Discord as she made her exit. “That was too far Discord. She’s too young to have worry about such things. Do not bother appearing before me again until you’ve apologized to her.”
Discord looked over to Luna as she got up and headed for a different door. “Should I assume you aren’t happy with me either right now?”
“Do not get us wrong Discord. We believe you are right in what you said to Twilight. But it does not mean we think you any less of a dick for saying it.”
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I'm rooting for Trixie here. (Well, obviously I would be, but even without personal bias I'd take her side.) Luna isn't exactly garnering any sympathy with her over-the-top viciousness.
Loving this.
Yup. Sending Twi to those crazy adventures and dangerous missions against mad gods and evil unicorns, passing her Starswirl´s spellbook without telling the poor mare the consequences of ascension, like immortality or political power, or giving her the option of saying NO...
... you didn´t learn anything of the Nightmare incident, do you?
DFQ?! So Twilight doesn´t have family or friends she will miss after the inevitable departure? How did you prepare Twi to endure losing the ponies YOU manipulate into befriend the day you sent your "faithful student" to Ponyville for the Summer Celebration? And why alicorns must automatically be crowned into princes/princesses? In the words of Monthy Python "strange women lyin' in ponds distributin' swords is no basis for a system of government."
Of course, blame Discord for pointing out the elephant in the room, your highness.
4143323
It builds character.
Hey, she has her sister n law.
Bah, guess I'll give one of your questions a semi-serious answer. If you could make someone into an immortal for all time, with the power to fairly easily take out most creatures that stand in your way over anything, you would be pretty frigging picky. Or at least I would.
Plus the big issues of what being an Alicorn represents to the world at this point. At one point, they may have been considered just a powerful race. Now? An unknown Alicorn could pop out of the woodwork, claim to be a Princess, and the majority of ponies would believe them. Even if they didn't call themselves a princess, ponies would bow anyways and not question whatever they say. They represent rulership in Equestria at this point so even if they aren't officially announced as a Princess, its most likely they will be treated as one.
And admittedly, if you molded this public outlook on Alicorns intentionally, would you really want five others not acting like Royalty ruining it? Showing the public how flawed Alicorns can really be?
Bloody peasant...
I know right!? That elephant was doing it damndest not to be noticed and Discord just ups and goes 'Da faq's up with that elephant?".
4143095
I kinda agree on the Luna thing. I tend to think of her as the more aggressive of the two sisters, and the one who used to be in charge of the weightier punishments. Maybe another reason why she wasn't the bearer of kindness, and why when she parties, she parties hard.
4143804 I think a lot of the conflict people make over the whole "alicorns get to be princesses" thing is that the viewers' idea of a princess (looks pretty in a dress and gets married off) is not the same as Equestria's idea of a princess (chosen by destiny as a leader and power).
For that matter, some fans wonder why Twilight doesn't seem to have any royal duties (and in a lot of fics, she actually gets to handle unspecified "royal matters" and paperwork off-screen just to 'rectify' this) or rule anything, and think that this means she's not a real princess. To which I'd argue... she's the Princess of Magic. Besides defending Equestria against threats, she'll have duties far higher on the cosmological scale. Why should she have to deal with paperwork and holding mundane court when Celestia has done just fine on her own for the last thousand years? She's got bigger fish to fry.
4144028
Yeah, I try to go with that outlook on them as well. Twilight deals with alot of the threats to Equestria using her powers and is looked on in a very positive light to the masses. Celestia's personal student, leader of the elements of Harmony, etc,etc. Right now, that is her duty. If Celestia or Luna went out to handle it, then Twilight would need to take over their duties. I guess in a less positive light you could look at Twilight as an enforcer for Equestria almost.
And as you said, she is if anything the Princess of Magic. So what does she do? Studies frigging magic and makes new spells! And maybe for comedy sakes she is also in charge of Equestria's library policies.
4144177 One of my headcanons is that Celestia has essentially fine-tuned most of Equestria's bureaucratic machinery over the last several centuries so she could handle it herself without being overwhelmed. Then Luna returns, and with her handling a few duties just so she can feel like she's contributing, Celestia has it even easier, which is why she can waste time on dropping in on Ponyville now and then, gorge herself on cake, indulge in her student's project, etc.
And then Twilight becomes a princess too, and there's literally no reason for her to have to get involved. Especially since the mysterious six-key box seems to be a much more intriguing subject for her to focus her attention on.
Oh I cannot wait to see how Twilight reacts when she finds out it's Trixie!
Okay, finished this up. Overall... more positive than negative. I liked Trixie. Really liked her. Good concept, good execution...
And thank you SO much for reminding me why at the end of Magical Mystery Cure I felt Celestia needed a punch to the face with the Infinity Gauntlet. Fuck you, Celly! Fuck you with an antimatter-powered chainsaw, you manipulative bitch!
Did Celestia think to maybe, I don't know, actually ask the others if they wanted to be Alicorns; you know, instead of just deciding what's best for them?
It's sad, but true, that you never really can know another person on such a deep and intimate level as to know how they'd react in any given situation, if only because people constantly change; you can learn more about someone, but really, truly knowing them is a completely different kettle of fish. Many people don't even know themselves, let alone others. And just walking in another person's shoes isn't enough either, we are complex, contradictory beings, and cannot be so simply broken down into easy to sort categories.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that it really bugs me that she's not even giving them a choice, just a 'Yeah, I could make you all immortal, but it's kind of problematic for me right now, so I won't; thanks for saving my life, my kingdom, and everything I love several times over though! I'll be sure to give a touching eulogy at your funeral.'
I'm really liking this so far. It's a very interesting story and it flows nicely.
Just one thing; Twilight isn't immortal. I get that she had to be or else this story would have had to go a bit differently, but the writers confirmed that since she wasn't born as an alicorn, but turned into one using magic, her lifespan is that of a normal pony's.
But besides that little thing, it's great! Keep it up!
So we finally find out what the thing Trixie stole is exactly, a marital aid.
Interesting explanation about the magic seeds. Though it certainly raises some suspect implications, with that whole letting her friends die so they dont have to watch their friends die. But I feel like it was sufficiently explained to be able to understand Celestia and Luna's motivations, even if you might disagree with them the reasons work for them.
I do love how it explained away one of my biggest nitpicks with the series. Sure Fluttershy outflying RD followed the Rule of Cool/Funny and Berserk Button tropes so we are supposed to not look too closely at it. But having an actual explanation for once sure helps.
I love that little peek into Tia and Lulu's history. I don't know if Luna actually held the element of laughter, I could not help but think about that time she came back during Luna Eclipsed and spoke the words "Fun? What is this "fun" thou speakest of?"
Of course, now I'm thinking Luna was pranking them all, who lives for decades and never heard of fun? Oh them ponies are so gullible.
Discord is so great in this story so far, everything he does is perfect for him which seems hard cause he's supposed to be random as all get out with a certain flavor. Every scene he's in has this interesting balance of him acting out and varying degrees of some undertone of his actual intention that I really enjoy.
Also his protectiveness of Fluttershy was just so great. Threatening Trixie, the eye patch. Fantastic. Especially how that ended.
Now then, let us begin our counter attack!
First let me begin by quoting from the rules of comma usage.
Titles, or vocatives, would include things like "Sister" I believe.
As an especially nice example of why that might be confusing, the following sentence.
Twilight has a sister? And this sister keeps pushing all her own lessons off on Twi?
To be fair I guess Twi's brother also came right the buck out of nowhere, so it might be a family trait.
Other examples: (Originally I colored the added comma's, but t was practically invisible, instead I decided to crank the size up to max)
You also did it correctly of course but I can't list those.
It does happen a lot. In fact with such regularity that I am wondering if perhaps I am the one that misunderstood the rule.
While we're still on comma's anyway.
I believe this could use a comma after dangerous.
I hesitate to point this one out since Luna talking a bit awkwardly is a thing.
That's about all I have to say on this chapter. I'm looking forward to my next bit of free reading time, this story has been very entertaining so far.
I wonder what will happen to Trixie now that she's at Fluttershy's house, easily one of my favorate locations to put Trixie.
I wonder if the compass will actually work as advertised, Discord appears to be helping Trixie quite a bit here in actually ensuring she had Twi's full attention and no interruptions.
I wonder if the pill is going to turn Trixie male, cause presumably it was designed for one.
Her actions were hard enough to hide before media was nothing more than town criers. I can’t imagine the cost it will be to keep
before when the media and cost involved to keep
choose to be in a forgiven
forgiving
fear on them
fear of
And the pieces are being set up.. What does Discord want out of this?
Well don't be silly. Chaos is its own reward. Right?
4864640 Hiya, thanks for the many comments and error mentions. As my week is a bit stressed, I've not been able to get to much story stuff yet, but am correcting as I can.
Oh, Discord is quite enjoying all the chaos this is causing, and he has a front row seat for it to boot.
can you imagine Rarity watching Sweetie Bell age and die
Why yes, quite vividly because I'm apparently going to have to watch my dear friends wither and die.
You could have come up with a better reason then that one.
Hm. Luna as the Element of Laughter, eh? I think it's typically attributed to Celestia for her seldom-seen wild side, but it definitely fits with the crazy, rambunctious side of Luna we've seen in Luna Eclipsed and in the comics.
The whole scene with Fluttershy's(!) prank(!!!) was delightful.
And, the seed thing seems... viable, actually. I mean, if a big, crystal tree (God, I hope that thing gets blown to bits before the end of the series) in a cave somewhere wields the ultimate power in that world, who's to say what makes any kind of sense?
It's not all bad Twilight.
Sure you'll out live most of your friends, but you'll still have Spike and Cadence!
Gotta think positive!
hahahahahaha
8059801
Trixie as well if she suceeds.
a curious neat little tale so far. granted it's odd imagining my little ponies cracking out words like dick and fuck and making seed swallowing jokes as if they commonly did in the show. it's rather offputting honestly. sure, all people may express themselves one way but I'm used to fics sticking with that kind of dialect when the situations remain similar enough to the ones in the show. ehhh.