Puppets of Tragedy

by Iridescence T Wind

There Ain't No Strings On Me.

I found myself humming a tuneless song as I waited for the time to pass. Luna would be receiving me shortly after the dinner bell. I had bid Shining Armor good night after being released again to a new set of quarters within the second tallest tower of the castle, and while climbing it on foot had left my legs sore, it was certainly worth it. While somewhat barren I had a modicum of privacy now that I hadn't had in the past few days. Wide and spacious the half spherical room was mostly carpet with a bed framing the space on its own slightly elevated island that followed the back wall leaving about a three meter indent of a channel where a variety of empty shelves framed circular portion of the walls, only interrupted by a large desk on the closer end and a door to a massive balcony that circled around the tower. The desk itself was made for writing, and was posed in a way that a sudden intruder wouldn't immediately be able to read what was on it, as a pair of room divider screens provided a cover both at the desk and the bed in the event either someone came in while I was changing or writing something sensitive.

Oddly as I checked the dresser I found a variety of clothes already present. What more they were all already my size, a perfect fit at that. The look of them super fancy too. The fact that they must have had taken my exact measurements for these disturbed me and made me wonder both how much they had done in the hospital, but also how far along Celestia had planned this. These clothes must of cost a small fortune, and it was clearly not any hand me down type sets either, the gloves in one of the drawers were tailor made for my hands. Closing and vowing to myself to never open those drawers again, I had moved to try and get a work station set up at the writing desk, a card acting as both a table and as an emergency tool storage should I be interrupted. It took five more cards to block out the window after having ventured earlier to the balcony and realized that I did have a fear of several hundred foot drops, and that the balcony around actually did lead to my new neighbors door as well.

Speaking of my neighbor, Star Swirl the Bearded was also staying in this tower, and as I debated asking him if he knew about Celestias spell, I decided to let it wait as Luna was a far better judge of his character than I was. In the meantime, however, I was now at work. Crafting some replacement masks yet again, a constant trend in which I was sorely tempted to just build five of each so that the coming days would see at least one survivor villain other than Nox. The Nox puppet had lasted a surprisingly long amount of time in the field. While I hadn't recovered him during my brief bout of unconsciousness, it had been returned with my marionette tool when I had visited the other dimension. It worked well to have at least a second measure of personal security at least, and the time based master was usually in reserve anyway.

As the time passed, I managed to put together yet another replacement for the Aku masks I had been blowing through between fights, before sending him out when the paint dried to retrieve more supplies for a wig. Thankfully the small motor that powered my tools didn't require a fresh gemstone for a while, and there had been a nice stash of bits inside my crafting case thanks to Yoko presumably. I was normally one loath to recreate the same prop over and over again, but I did put in the effort to make another two backup masks of Aku considering how much of a frontliner the ultimate being of darkness had been put through. Which was understandable that he'd be rapidly targetted as Aku was the sort of being to be an unpredictable threat on the battlefield. Once they were done though, the first of the Aku masks had returned with the supplies I needed. Mainly in the form of a long blond wig, which I was soon trimming into an anime-esque pixie cut. Taking fine use of a mixture of irritating methods to make sure such things as the proper style and the odd cow-lick like strand of hair that many an anime character claimed as an emotive piece when they were too short for the camera to fully display on screen.

The fact this wig would normally be extremely uncomfortable with the amount of glue I applied was only counteracted by not actually feeling the prop being worn while it was in use, which made discomfort for as long as it was reasonable, far more bearable. The mask that went with it, one might mistake for a little girl, if being a sadist was normal. The grin was particularly fun to make, as it had been a while since I had used the human-like ballistic gel and plastics required for it, and using a mixture of soft skin-tone primers, ballistic gel compliant paints, and careful detail work, it was completed. The reason for the ballistic gel was simple.

Ballistic gel was the closest texture to actual human flesh that I could get my hands on without attempting to find a magical analogue. A few theories had pulled itself over the weeks and been tested with, but the mask, while unfeasible for my own personal wearing would fit perfectly fine over a puppet, the main agonized subject of the experiments. From what I had noticed, the closer and more true to the character the prop was, in intent. The better it turned out when converting my own power into the animating fuel that drove the prop to behave like its fictional counterpart. While I'd likely never be able to emit the powers of an actual god, driving such villains as Darkseid, or Thanos's infinity gauntlets into discarded idea piles... Theoretically if I wanted, say a proper lightsaber that didn't drain large amounts of energy like a cross country delivery truck chugging fuel... Making such a thing out of components it would actually be made out of would make it dozens if not hundreds of times more efficient than making it out of plastic. Unfortunately for me, maybe reaching a hundredth of what it normally cost for a plastic model might be impossible for a large number of objects, since things like Kyber crystals didn't actually exist, or spaceship grade metals, but it did mean a lot of the lower technology options were easy to make far more better on my Mana economy. Hence the experiment.

The mask of the psuedo-German character before me was an odd case of a mix between interests to befriend on the behalf of the genuine like for Luna, and the desire to have a bit more of an area of effect capable air-fighting force among my puppets. As oddly, most of mine puppets lacked a good air option, or those who had them either took to the air themselves, as a giant target, or had a silly minion such as a winged version of a basic ground mook. While I was loath to introduce Equestria to guns, it made a good reserve troop in the event of say, flying changelings, pegasus armies, dragons, or in the worst case scenario, Alicorns. But the mere thought of Luna sent what I was now referring to as The Shackle attempting to influence me again. That Celestia was of good intention, and that I should try to be even more outgoing towards Luna.

I promptly mentally slapped the shit out of the suggestion and renewed my vice grip upon it.

With my limited view on magic, I was tempted to visit the library, as asking another unicorn about this might just tip Celestia off, and for how much I enjoyed the stage magician who had put herself into my home, Trixie was hardly an expert on Celestia tier magic. There was another option, I had been debating. But going to that particular stallion was a hit or miss, as I was unsure where his loyalties may lay after a thousand years of being dead in stone. The fact that he was now my neighbor was eating me inside, as I put aside the newest mask alongside a small carving of a waterfall that my hands had messed with as a break between Aku masks. The topic of Starswirl was something my mind had considered a strayed point. The Show was clearly different on the matter, as my other self had seen a bit more of the mlp verse, only scraps in comparison to the first few seasons, but enough to witness the whole pony of darkness arc, and that apparently this stallionwas supposed to be sealed in a magic circle of rocks somewhere until released several years past this current point. Given that Celestia had also appointed him to being my aid during Training, was not helpful as well in the slightest.

Instead, as I fiddled around with my new belongings, awaiting the dinner bell, and thus the start of Luna's day. I found myself drawn to figuring out what I could of the chain. Focusing on it while my hands fidgeted with the objects in my grasp. Moving over from the now unproductive workstation, to sit cross legged on the bed as I closed my eyes to the world around me. Letting Cards return to normal sizes, and puppets vanish as I focused upon the chain that was trying to restrict my flow of thought. Initially I could only feel a few shackles, around the mental collar that was attempting to compel my obedience to the crown. But as I grabbed onto it, and began to search like a blind man for a coin he dropped upon the gorund, or a needle within a haystack, I soon found another... Then another... Then another...

Tick Tick Tick, went the clock, as I fell into the trance of trying to find the next link, again and again. Focusing, studying as I searched. My breathing deepened, as I lost track of time, and was startled when a knock on my door interrupted me from my focus. Senses rapidly returning, I opened my eyes to find the sun already near setting outside, and dinner being brought in by a castle maid, who looked absolutely petrified to be serving me, "Leave it where you like." I told her, and she gulped and placed it literally on the nearest surface before bolting back out the door, closing it shut behind her as she went. Sometimes I forgot how alien I could loo-.

I could see the chain.

Blinking, and rubbing my eyes, to make sure I wasn't just seeing things, I could see the chain that was binding me. A light yellow little thing, floating in the air like a parallel to the ghosts of Christmas past's regrets from a scourge movie. Only these were no thick iron chains, merely thin strands of links leading from me to some missing end point in a density that made them look like it belonged on a fine necklace. While I could see the fine chain, across the room, it ended just short of the door itself, and as I gave it a slight tug with magic, it simply floated towards me as if air, raveling and making more chains as it approached me, before slowly sliding back from a jumbled mess into a more or less loose straight line, approaching the way it was facing, caused more of it to simply phase out of view as I approached the door, proving that these chains had an ethereal property to them, and that I really needed to get a second opinion of what spell I was under.But given the maid had just delivered dinner, It would be rude to just interrupt the sagely wizard while he ate his own delivered meal most likely.

Luna's own invitation for later tonight, aproximately three more hours from now had also been delivered to my room at some point, and that left about two and a half hours of time where I could attempt to ask Starswirl his thoughts. Once my meal was done, a fine sushi experience, I waited about another ten minutes before poking my head out of my room front door, and fought the urge to blink again.

Of the four guards that were standing guard over the two doors that had people living in them, I could see dozens upon dozens of chains. All centered on them, and leading to other people including each other, floating away in various directions. Was Celestia such a paranoid dictator that she bound all her guards to relating to each other and then some? Disoriented, I shut my door, attempting to calm down as I wondered how far this folly ran. Luna was going to have to see this for herself, I'd lend her my own damn face to show her on purpose this time. In my head my voice snidely commented, Magic is Friendship and for one I had to angrily agree that by this logic, should it be what I feared, all these friends people made with each other were all based on lies and magic forcing compliance. No wonder groups of ponies could break out into synchronized song, and dance at a tip of the hat, or find highly unlikely friendships such as that between farm pony and fashionista. I had long wondered what the heck 'Magic' had to do with friendship, and my interest for the show had waned from being a season bringer due to Twilight going mary sue with wings without any actual explanation of why it was an element of friendship, or how did she earn her wings for essentially fixing a problem she herself caused.

Recollecting my thoughts and tempering my growing rage, I took the step out, crossing the hallway and doing my best to ignore the trees of chains around me as I knocked upon Starswirls door, receiving a gruff 'come in', a few moments later, and gladly sighing a breathe of relief as I entered, and shut the door behind me. I did notice among the guards one chain in particular that was pink instead of dark golden in color, but it only took a small theory to place it on Cadence. After all, the show had artfully shown Cadence doing much the same as Celestia had been doing in the Canterlot wedding part 1, when Cadence settled a couples argument by force of magic to return them to a lovey dovey state in, as Twilight put it, the name of 'spreading love wherever she went'.

As I turned, both clearing the growing list of unpleasant thoughts, and to gain my bearings into the room I had just entered, I was unsurprising to find Starswirls study and bedroom to look more akin to a library, albeit with modifications to account for his flaming facial hair. The signs of a messy writing desk that made up most geniuses supposedly and an oddly left painting easel near the window marked the artistic and scholastic sides of the master mage of magic that had ruled the dark ages of Equestria as the mage-supreme. Supposedly he was the teacher to Celestia, and like me he bore few chains, but seemed to be unaware of them, as one was idly slapping him in the eye, as it tried to face itself back towards the direction Celestia was in. That or he had a good poker face.

"Starswirl, pleasure to meet you properly today." I spoke, first greeting.

That earned a casual chuckle from the wizard as he sat at his desk, chair still turned towards me, "Well do feel free to make yourself at home, and sit down to stay a while. To what do I owe the man who saved my life so recently ago their visit at this hour?"

"I've come with a few questions in regards to magic, among other things, and I seek an answer for them. Things that you are uniquely suited for and might find issue with others in regards to their wanton use." I studied the stallion, whose face was practically unreadable, from the wise expression that reminded me of just about any old man wizard, and the flaming beard making it hard to stare at his face without burning a phantom image of his beard into my eyes for an extended period of time.

"Oh by all means, I do have my own questions in regards to you as well, if you don't mind." Starswirl nodded to me in agreement, waiting until I sat down near him on the step of his own rooms island before giving me the go ahead.

"I would like your opinion on mind altering magic." I asked, and that broke the facade, as Starswirl went from being about to take a sip of tea he had procured from somewhere within the mess of his desk, to staring at me in mild surprise.

Given the expression... This was going to be a long night.

Comments

[xDHannibalxD]

So to recap the new mask: blond, sadistic grin, german, guns, flying...
Please tell me it's Tanya Degurechaff, I love her (his) character. That would be really awesome.

[god who fallen]

Given the expression... This was going to be a long night.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[Fireeaters]

I wonder if what he's seeing is natural bonds between people

[Veo Skride]

Tanya is definitely a villain of some kind.

[Mitril]

So it's Tanya von Degurechaff?
So it's time for rebelling against so called, self proclaimed, wanna be "Gods"

[Chibalt]

10221452
Given she's a gifted strategist, brutally efficient, just a tad bit sadistic and generally incredibly capable? Wouldn't surprise me, it's a great choice frankly.

[Bold Promise]

While somewhat barren I had a modicum of privacy now that I hadn't had in the past few days. Wide and spacious the half spherical room was mostly carpet with a bed framing the space on its own slightly elevated island that followed the back wall leaving about a three meter indent of a channel where a variety of empty shelves framed circular portion of the walls, only interrupted by a large desk on the closer end and a door to a massive balcony that circled around the tower.

Tl;dr.

[Kukulkrow13]

Seeing who I could only assume is Tanya Degurechaff being brought into the roster kind of makes me wonder if Ainz Ooal Gown from Overlord could be added as well.

[Divan1229]

10221589
Did you thought the same about Taya?

[Kukulkrow13]

10221741
She is really the only curly blond haired "pseudo-german" that I can think of lol

[Earthpatriot117]

Short with nothing really interesting happening, but a good build up for the exciting chapter to come. Xd

[CrAzY FaLcOn]

10221589
He did say he couldn't copy anything, I'd say Ainz is a little too high level but I might be wrong.

[Kukulkrow13]

10222440
I hope not lol

I want to see Celestia and Luna react to The Goal of All Life is Death.

[Iridescence T Wind]

10222440

10222485
Ainz Ooal Gown is an overpowered but brilliant anime character, and one of my favorites, but I've been avoiding it due to the power scaling of the shows 'protags' for the same reason I've avoided props like the Infinity Stones, or One Punch Mans Saitama. Puppet Master has a limited supply of magic, and has to put effort with his reserves into copying higher level stuff. Much like attempting to copy the power of an 'Infinity' would just kill him, he could theoretically use a mask of Mormon, but it wouldn't last very long given that the guy likes to use spells that say: rip apart reality, stop the universes time, kills 70 thousand people in an instant as a sacrifice to summon literal Lovecraftian abominations, etc. At this point I'd say he'd have to drain Tirek after said villain had gone around draining the entirety of Equestria to be able to 'fund' more than a single spell of the lower ends of Mormons op god like spell powers, or drain Skargor who is literally a self made ork god displaced in this fic. I've considered the other characters of such over powered works, like Albedo, or Mare, but I couldn't figure out a good use of them due to their dedications to either Mormon, or lack of character outside of being 'holy sht Saitama' when they actually witness him fighting. Back to the subject of Overlord, I've considered the 'world items' and other artifacts/magic items of the show, novels, and manga, but I've yet to figure out a good use for them aside from the same reason I've been wary of using a character. Most of those world Items are like weapons of mass destruction in the wrong hands.

[Kukulkrow13]

10222985
Ah, unfortunate.

[CrAzY FaLcOn]

10222985
So I was right then. Ainz (and almost anything form Nazarick) is too strong for him to copy.

[Silver_storm_iron]

Can you make scp 049

[Regret12]

A question, have you considered to add Sephiroth to your roster of villain? He's a tragic one too

[Eon Dragon]

10223228
If he did, could Puppet Master make puppet Sephiroth fall into the life stream of Equis and get infinite magical power?

[Iridescence T Wind]

10223115
I tend to avoid Scps, especially keter types and euclids for a very good reason. Given that a good portion of scps can shoot a fic straight into the Mature/adult rating if done how presented in their own works. Especially ones who murder, then necro-tize other humans into hard to kill abominations. Albiet, the plague doctor has a soft spot in my heart for his interaction with the shy guy being one of the only vs's that ended nicely rather than badly for the poor fellow.

10223228

10223865
As for Sephiroth, Clouds eternal foe. I don't think he really qualifies for lesson teaching material. I mean his 'tragicness' was kinda blown away by how omni-genocidal of all life he decided to become, attempting to summon a giant meteor down upon the planet to wipe out all life in existence far outweighs his tragic story, especially since he doesn't seem to regret the decision, or have anything particularly redeemable outside of a bad boy redemption fanfic writers wet dreams, which I tend to dislike since he isn't the type to suddenly want to stop destroying the world at his mothers behest because some hot piece of action walked onto scene. His use as a combat doll also lessens even further considering his repertoire of spells are aimed towards either mass destruction(Read Collateral damage or Friendly Fire) or stabbing someone with his over-compensating blade to the hilt. Not to mention his 'end tier spells'(Meteor, Aga series, etc.) would hit Overlord levels really quick, especially in his 'final form', making ironically Vivi, Kefka, Golbez, Gilgamesh, even the Archadian Judges, all far more suited in both story telling potential and combat use. I'm particularly fond of Golbez, albeit he went his own redemption arc by the end of the 4th game.

[Royal7]

I had long wondered what the heck 'Magic' had to do with friendship, and my interest for the show had waned from being a season bringer due to Twilight going mary sue with wings without any actual explanation of why it was an element of friendship, or how did she earn her wings for essentially fixing a problem she herself caused.

A few things here
1) I don't think she is a mary sue even after getting her wings. She is still flawed is has a good character with relatively the same power level she had before. If anything starlight is closer to a mary sue because of all the unearned power, I mean for god sakes she banished discord from this the school... THE LITTERAL GODS COULDN'T DO THAT BUT SHE CAN?

2)I think "friendship" is just a really powerful emotion that enhances magic. Esencaly, making friends into batteries. That is the secret of friendship it isn't magic, it is just the most powerful magical booster because of how it can use many people to boost it.

We know that "love" can boost magic, we see that with cadence and shining when they blasted the changing army back. Friendship is platonic loved, and it can be shared by many beings at once so even if it is weaker then true love it can be used in much grater quantities.

Actually, this could explain why pinkie seems to have discord level powers. She is friends with everyone, and without a horn, her magic comes out a different way.

3) I think she just became an alicorn because of the spell supercharging her. We see that anyone supercharged with enough magic can become an alicorn from cozy glow, so the spell itself made her an alicorn. Honestly, it is possible that twilight was always close to being an alicorn because of that giant magic explosion she did as a child. The spell just completed the transformation. That and she gained no real power from the spell. She never said she was stronger afterward, so it is possible that it just changed her physically by triggering her body's metamorphosis.

10221489

Here is a funny option. What if he did copy Saitama, and because he didn't have enough magic, the puppet just has normal human punches. You said that the better a mask is, the stronger it is so theoretically if he half-assed a Saitama's mask that would limit his power in the same way.

[Iridescence T Wind]

10224406 There is a bit of a doozy with this. Let me write a bit of my thought process...

My main issue with Twilight is she causes more problems then she help solves throughout the show, and her magic is always backfiring instead of helping in almost every situation besides Trixies initial episode. For an element of 'friendship' having magic only function for nonsensical matters (putting a baby to sleep, becoming a breezy to help the flock for some reason, when a bag and the use of the future wonderbolt Rainbow Dash probably would of been a lot faster), and that Twilight was essentially rewarded wings for solving a problem she made within her own element. This leads me to being irked that it wasn't something more 'friendship' oriented like the other elements. Sharing a laugh, being honest to each other, sticking it out with loyalty, being kind to each other, and being generous by helping out with no payment in return all builds friends. Magic just goes, 'hehe ho ho i'm magic' and doesn't fulfill a function at all. Heck even villains (pre-redemption Sunset anyone?) can use the element of magic for mind control without being attuned to it. It's the odd child of the bunch. Whenever Twilight is involved in a problem, she usually has to let go and let one of her friends deal with it, and rarely ever got a moment where 'she' was the solution throughout the show. Starlight being a sue doesn't mean other characters can't be as well. Though I will admit Starlight grew on me after a while with her friendship with Spike and Trixie and suffering through the same problems as Twilight with the magic must fix something dilemma that she grew out of.

I don't mean to sound like I hate Twilight, her existence in the show is fun, and she helps tie the group together... Its just what she is supposed to 'represent' that annoys me to no ends. Its much like the fans wondering if Applejack and Rainbow got the wrong elements with each other, with Rainbow often being extremely blunt and honest, and Applejack working her butt off in loyalty towards her family. But this is all ends up becoming something that snaps in to twigs when Starswirl explains what the elements were supposed to be named(Strength, Bravery, Healing, Beauty, Hope, and Sorcery), which then gets contradicted by the elements and all it stands for being thrown out a window by Twilight realizing that they were essentially a glorified emblem despite, you know, the tree of harmony supposedly being magic itself to make the castle and the map, and stopping the plunder seeds...

As for half-arsing the Saitama mask, it comes in the same problem that Quality = Efficiency, theoretically Puppet could just get a blank mask with no holes in it, and just draw Saitamas low quality face often seen in the manga, and call it good, though doing so would waste tremendous amounts of magic for little result as theorized. The real question would be why waste mana, rather than trying to make as realistic a mask as possible and get a far better output, if still nowhere near that strength. However this does give me an idea for a joke way way later on down the line.

[Royal7]

10224692
1)
You are right. Whenever twilight tries to use magic for a problem the show acts like somehow she is cheating and tries to tell her not to use magic. But magic is supposed to be the main element of friendship so it makes no sense. I get the metaphor is that the element of magic represents friendship as a whole but they never say that in the show and it gets really confusing when they have actual literal friendship that can be used for evil with no friends in sight.

As a side note twilight isn't a mary sue. You are right about her being a not so well written character but that isn't what mary sue means. A Mary Sue is by definition "a type of female character who is depicted as unrealistically lacking in flaws or weaknesses." Twilight has a LOT of flaws and weaknesses.

2)
The thing is that star swirls explanation makes perfect sense and actually fixes your earlier point if you think about it this way, Celestia is a liar. Celestia gave the elements their name. She named it the "tree of harmony". Celestia found it and started making all of this up. The tree is just a living magical item that attunes to beings that have the traits of the ones who created it. It has enough magic to make the castle and map but that is just pure power it isn't an embodiment of anything. Its power grew for thousands of years and at this point, it is just strong enough to do things like that. It is absorbing the "friendship" from ponies to make itself stronger but I think it can do the same with any emotion. It absorbed the mean six while there were angry and from that, the elements turned black. It gained enough power from that hate to start moving and actually attack as we have never seen before. It is even possible those dark emotions are the catalyst that caused it to grow all the way to twilight's school and gain a mind. The spirit of the tree said that it grew and changed to gain this spectral body. The episode with the mean six was just earlier in that season so we know the timelines sink up. Hell even if the tree of harmony says it is all about friendship that still might be because Celestia told it so. The tree just gained Consciousness and the only things it seems to know is what it has been used for and what people call it.

Wait when did someone say that the tree of harmony was "magic itself"?

3)
the less powerful Saitama was just supposed to be a joke anyway so it is good to hear something similar might happen later on. Though if you want him to experiment with some things that could be a great joke do a list of knock-off infinity gauntlets.
There are many but these two are my favorite.
This is from Danny phantom.
memeworld.funnyjunk.com/comments/Me+leaving+the+raid+with+the+real+gauntlet+_5c41d2f8113540383d1e4e285eead9f1.jpg
and this does put a smile on my face.

[Iridescence T Wind]

10224818
The Sueness doesn't come From lack of flaws in twilights case but rather from the lack of serious repercussions and failure to learn lessons that would have another thrown out of social circles at minimum. The show for some reason thinks that an entire town of ponies wouldn't have problems with being brainwashed( Lesson Zero), fates over written leading to life hazards(such as Rarity causing unnatural disasters and a major food source being run into the ground by the episode twilight got her wings in), and that a hot head like rainbow dash would be perfectly okay with the drastic over reaction and horrid way they handled her ego in Mare Do Well. The lack of any repercussions on a constant basis makes Twilight a a sue for celebrating her serious fuck ups with decision making and magic (parasprites anyone?) And her getting her wings for a rehash of lesson Zero then promptly being two faced about starlights methods being essentially the same sickens me.

[Royal7]

that>>10225057
I agree with all your points, but the only problem is with the definition. You are using the term "Mary Sue" to mean something it doesn't. It does actually have a dictionary definition that twilight doesn't fit in to. It is officially in the Oxford English Dictionary. Unfortunately, the Oxford definition page is locked off to me, and to see it requires buying The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction. So here some alternatives.
https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/mary_sue
https://grammarist.com/new-words/mary-sue/

The show for some reason thinks that an entire town of ponies wouldn't have problems with being brainwashed( Lesson Zero)

Huh, you ever think they would be ok with it? We know a few things about magic, and on thing is that mind control spells might be more common than we think. That "want it, need it" spell didn't seem restricted in any way Celestia was just angry that she used it to cause chaos. Those "Reformation spells" that twilight wanted to use on discord were in normal library books, and from what I could tell, there were a lot of them spread through a lot of books.

I went back and looked through the episode... 19. She had 19 books with some type of Reformation spell in them that all seemed to be part of the main library. Plus, they each had one or two pages taken out, so they weren't even books just for mind magic; they were general spellbooks that just had this spell in them. Then you get to starlight's use of two different mind control spells. One was on purpose and the other on accident. The first time the main six seem angrier that they have hangovers and had to fix a lot of things after they got free. The second time everyone was just ok with being possessed by rage. Actually, there was a third Time in the shorts where starlight pulled out a book called "magical hypnosis," but twilight asked for it, which might prove my point further.

Mind affecting magic might just be a normal part of pony society, and that is a frightening thought. They might not know Celestia is doing it in your fic, but they might know that anyone with a horn and enough skill can just find these spells in a library.

[Iridescence T Wind]

10225229
Equestrian law regarding magic is weird. We do know access to some spells are restricted such as time travel spells as seen within the episode ' its about time ' which is apparently locked behind lock and key in the star swirl the bearded section. But given that twilight isnt reprimanded in the slightest for doing so, in starting to wonder what horrors are actually not ok in equestria other than, say necromancy.

[Royal7]

10225457
is necromancy not allowed? In the "hearts warming tale" episode their version of scrouge, Snowfall Frost said that she didn't cast a spirit summoning spell. That is casual necromancy and they never say it was a bad thing.

also, what do you think about my "Celestia just made up the tree's name" idea? Whenever I tell people I get mixed reactions But I do think it makes sense with star swirl's story about how he made it.

[Iridescence T Wind]

10225873
I think making up the name goes for all parties involved. I tend to go after the order theory that no one else really prescribes to that much, (Where Twilight is 'Leading', Applejack is 'Determination', Rainbow 'Confidence', Fluttershy 'Willpower', Rarity 'Wit', And Pinkie Pie 'Coorperation'. While the element spells 'Force' order into a disorderly situation rather unhealthily similar to Accord was doing when Discord was hit by the power of a passing order comet and flipped into a being of order rather than disharmony in one of the comics. Albeit I didn't learn about Accord until just recently, it seemed a neat mirror image.

For Celestia making up the trees name, she likely tried naming it herself, unaware of its origin given the episode that starswirl and co return. Its not like the tree ever, you know... talks.

[Royal7]

10226180
The tree not talking is exactly the point. All Celestia knows is that she found a tree, and it has magic gems as fruit. That is all she knew, yet it has something to do with friendship? Her making things up to push her idea of "friendship and harmony" makes almost too much sense. Plus, it would explain why spike didn't work as the element of loyalty in discord's two-parter. If it was actually about loyalty spike would be a much better candidate then rainbow dash and the elements should have worked... well for him anyway. On the other hand, it makes sense that bravery would reject him. Not saying he is a coward but he is a lot more skittish than most when something goes wrong.

[Mimic Kairatta]

When you read this latest set of chapters, the other chapters really starts to make sense.

Puppet Master wanted to impart morally grey implications and ideas upon the heroes to give them better experience and wisdom in their lives. Not exactly the best way to do things, but it's not the wrong way either. For all intent and purpose, it should have worked. Yet somehow, it seems to shift away and they barely learn anything, if anything at all in the end. Only what friendship lesson was supposed to be taught in that instance. All of it pushing it aside in a way that was believable in the setting but unusual under normal circumstances. This rubbing out to nearly every pony met so far.

IE: Rainbow Dash, after the Mare Do Well, should have been very upset. Her friends had taught her a lesson in humility in such a hazardous manner that could and would have ended a friendship or damaged it to a variable degree. Yet by the end of it, she just took it at face value, she and her friends saw nothing wrong with it. Even after Puppet Master hammered it home as to how wrong it was and invited her into his home, Rainbow Dash still ratted him out and saw him as a bad guy. Granted, she was still sore about her friends. Though, as Shining once said, "Given their luck, it'd likely be a song, a sob or a life-threatening danger that returned them to the status quo, probably with some sappy comment about how they should never have done X or that they should of done Y."

For a long time, we just accepted this as just the setting. Now we know why. A spell that gently pushes the thoughts of an entire society in a certain direction. A Collective Subconscious spell. I've seen this kind of thing in a few stories and media. A good example of it in action is within Persona 5, where something within "Mementos," place of public collective thoughts made manifest, was being used to push everyone into a line of thinking that best supports the views of the one who drove it. Such as collectively forgetting certain events despite evidence to the contrary. This is one of many examples and with the reveal of the golden strain, it all falls into place.

Honestly, it was probably the best method Celestia could have done to keep herself from running ragged while keeping a country safe while dealing with whatever troubles that enter her domain. She had over a thousand years to deal with all this, so she must have done this in the early portions of her reign in a time where stress was at it's peak: The loss of the Crystal Empire, dealing with all the baddies to clean up after discord's rule, losing her sister, and then trying to handle the internal affairs as well as external ones while trying to move the sun. She probably did this at first to keep herself from working herself to death. Using the spell on nobles to have "The Game" be easier to keep track, sprinkling it on a large business to have the boss and CEOs generous and keep workers content, drop it down upon foreign rivals to make sure they play nice. Little influencing here and there to lighten the load, until she just kept doing it on reflex because of how well the results became. After all, with how peaceful things are, and the only slight nudging the spell does, what harm could it do in the long run?

Well, here we are to the present day. Guards are inept at their duties, villains and bad guys are comically uncoordinated, black and white point of view where the simplest answer is seen as the best one, everyone spontaneously singing when emotions run high, making everything seem like a Saturday morning cartoon. Celestia ruling over a kingdom that had a long time of peace, but has not prepared for when something outside her influence invades cause they don't play by her rules. She is so used to using the spell that she even cast it on her mentor and little sister without a second thought. There's a reason mind magic is often a dangerous thing to use, cause you're fundamentally changing the aspects of individuality and cognitive thought. It can cause problem-solving and lateral thinking to become stunted or altered in ways we can't even imagine. Even relationships themselves, when it shouldn't work normally, somehow just work after some talking and/or relative solution. Hell, even the GIANT MAP TABLE that Twilight has could be explained with this spell. Using its connections to find out who is not playing by the rules of the spell and generally "too far gone" to be influenced. It's scary to think about as that would mean that Celestia affected people beyond just Canterlot and Ponyville, reaching nearly the ends of the map.

Think about that: Her spell influence potentially goes all the way to the cult that Starlight Glimmer is located. All the way.

[Royal7]

10234114
I agree with everything but there are a few points to add.

1)Celestia's spell isn't just about harmony, it is about her above all. While in the puppet master's base she met so many people he helped. Ranging from the sea ponies to the on of her hero's in the wonder bolts. This means that he has been spreading harmony and she sees that, but he is against Celestia so the spell activates anyway.

2) You talking about the table being connected to the mind control spell makes a LOT of sense but here is the twist you missed. Iridescence T Wind and I were talking about how the tree might have nothing to do with harmony and Celestia just named it that, but the map using the mind control spell would fix that. We know the crystal heart can "spread love" so if one magical crystal object can do that then the tree could too. The tree is her power booster. That is how she is connected to everyone even that far out.

[Iridescence T Wind]

10237123
We really don't even see the heart spread 'love' either, The only instances of such happening have been either the op god baby being a jelly bean of love energy, or the one instance when cadence was first introduced to the show way back in episode 2 as filly-twi's foal sitter, far before the crystal heart is even introduced to the era proper, (Though it was shown to exist in the episode about the first hearths warming with Clover the clever 'creating' it to deal with the windiegos), I've a theory that Cadence is why Twilight picked up the 'want it need it spell' as a lesser itteration of Cadences own love enforcement spell, though I do wonder how often she missfires the love spell and end up with normal friends bickering about things turning into a steamy romance(And if any of the ponies already had romantic partners with anyone else first, oh no) or worse, siblings arguing getting caught up and resulting in Taboos, or if she just flat out forced two ponies who were rivals or bitter enemies into romance. Since she just blasts people with that heart willy nilly and now that I think of it like that, I wonder if Cadence is to blame for Twilight attempting to blast everything with magic to solve problems...

For the scene, It was when Twilight was first talking about the best foal sitter ever in the first part of the Canterlot Wedding right before the fake cadence showed up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve5xxSUeOH8

about 1 minute in, I mean literally who just notes an arguing pair of ponies, and not even asks them what its about before brain washing them right there in broad daylight.

[Royal7]

10241068
Ok good to know we all agree the idea of brainwashing magic items is interesting but I want to say two things here.
1)

(Though it was shown to exist in the episode about the first hearths warming with Clover the clever 'creating' it to deal with the windiegos),

I never realized the heart was connected to that episode but it does make sense. Anyway Here is a video about what the crystal heart actually is. It might be true or not but it makes sense. I don't agree with the heart making them like dragons more but this could explain where the heart came from.

2)

I do wonder how often she missfires the love spell and end up with normal friends bickering about things turning into a steamy romance(And if any of the ponies already had romantic partners with anyone else first, oh no) or worse, siblings arguing getting caught up and resulting in Taboos, or if she just flat out forced two ponies who were rivals or bitter enemies into romance.

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