A Note on Personality Modification: (From the Canterlot Magical Archives)
There are several spells out there in the world that purport to be able to reform a personality, to remove undesirable traits within the target and impress upon them a new way of thinking. Care must be taken in the application of this magic, as the mind is a very complicated thing, which nopony has ever truly figured out. While a sheer volume of magical influence may create convincing short-term effects, long-lasting change will always take time, no matter the strength of the pony casting the spell. Over the course of this time, it is very important that the target be given ample positive reinforcement in their environment, so that they can learn the error of their original ways.
Without such reinforcement, the risk of the original personality relapsing is high. Even with it, a sudden change of circumstance that encourages the original behavioural pattern can lead to a full relapse. If the target was an enemy of yours, we advise that you use utmost caution.
And then Equestria and precious Princesses will burn!
MUHAHAHHAHAHAHA!
Aw its done? bummer. Good story, though the whole "mind rape" thing seemed criminally underrated. Seems like anyone and especially someone with a vengeful or spiteful attitude would be A lot more upset about being controlled like that. Its a shame we don't get to see the fruits of her plan come to fruition, I do love a good revenge story.
Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh
(Mind fried)
Huh. I liked the idea of the government questioning Sunset. That was cool. The only thing that really bothered me was that the end result of Sunset desiring revenge on Twilight seemed to be too much of a jump. I can see that happening, sure, but given the context of this story, it seemed a bit... rushed? contrived? I'm not quite sure what the right word is, but it just didn't feel quite right.
In any event, this was a really interesting story.
The NSA intercepts and decrypts foreign communications. The CIA gathers intelligence from human operatives (spies) in foreign countries. The agency most likely to contact Miss Sunset Shimmer is the FBI, which is domestic federal law-enforcement. The overarching agency of Homeland Security would be behind the actions of the FBI.
6280938
You are correct in that. I believe that I was writing this story around the time of the big brouhaha around the NSA (specifically, I think, after allegations came out that they had had operatives undercover in World of Warcraft to monitor it for possible terrorist activity). At the time, I thought that implicating them in an affair like this didn't even sound too far-fetched, and was a subtle jab at an agency clearly over-reaching its mandate.
6281510
The NSA over-reached its mandate. It is supposed to monitor foreign transmitions, whether analogue, digital, wired, or wireless. It is not supposed to perform warrantless wiretaps in the USA. The FBI is supposed to perform warranted wiretaps domestically. The NSA acted illegally when it wiretapped everything and everypony.
When Mister Snowden whistleblew, congress should have given him immunity and held hearings about the abuses of the NSA. This probably would have lead to the repeal of the USAPatriot-Act. Instead, republicans called for his head, along with a few democrats from purple states. As a result, Mister Snowden fled to Russia. The cost for sanctuary in Russia is complete details about the NSA, which is a massive security-breech. Now, we do not know the extent of the abuses of the NSA, Russia knows everything about the NSA which hurts our national security, and we still have the USAPatriot-Act. We live in the worst possible world.
The NSA does not send NSA-Agents to private residences in the USA. The Department of Homeland Security probably would order the FBI to send FBI-Agents for contacting private US-Citizens.
6283324 This is why we should just abolish government all together.
You can has review!