A flash, a flicker, and then Rarity awoke. Sitting up in bed she shook herself to clear the webs of sleep. “Oh my... what a terrible dream I was having,” she muttered. Pulling off her sleeping mask from where it perched atop her alabaster head, she rubbed her lovely sapphire-like eyes and shook her violet mane in its great ringlet.
She laid back upon her pillow, but removing her mask signified what she now knew deep down: she would not be returning to her sleep this night. Something in her mind and heart had waked her thoroughly.
“Oh, what now?” she muttered. Sitting up and crawling from beneath her well-tucked covers, Rarity formed a cocoon of comforter about herself as she sat up atop the bedclothes. She sniffed a breath, as dainty and as ladylike as she could manage as she wracked her brain for greater understanding. “I suppose I could read, or- oh, yes!” Now was perfect. She settled deeper into all the covers on her bed, opened wide her eyes, and Looked.
Stars began to flicker in and out of shape within her deep black pupils. First she gazed once more into the past. She looked upon the history of Old Equestria, upon the strange and feudal landscapes that had once been populated by those ancient lords and ladies of the realm. The shadows of deep forests, the glimmer of bright steel, the menace of the highways and the deep roads passed before her infinite consideration. Rarity next turned her gaze to her own time. She Looked upon the vast stretch of Equestria, saw the lights of Las Pegasus, saw with sadness all the wrath and devastation in Manehattan, saw the blackened rainbows billowing from Cloudsdale. Canterlot, at least, was still intact. Its white towers and gold-and-purple spires brought a sense of comfort to her.
Rarity, her normal eyes returning, breathed in deep. “Well,” she told herself, “here goes.” Stars appeared once more within her eyes, and then she turned her Sight into the future. All at once she was hit by a haze, a shadow crossing over all she Saw as though she had entered a dense fog cloud. She scrunched her nose, she blinked her eyes, she wished that she could-
And then she could. Her eyes grew open huge, and now they were completely black and filled with stars. Her eyes looked every bit like those of Falalauria. Rarity remained upon her bed, sitting quietly, as starscapes passed between and out her eyes. Minutes passed, first in bunches, then in dozens. All the quiet of the Carousel Boutique at night remained unbroken as its owner sat in silence, taking in the vision that had gripped her.
At last, with a shaking, Rarity returned to normal. She blinked hard. “Oh my,” she muttered. “Oh my... could that have been... was that real?” And yet she knew it was, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. “Oh dear,” she whispered. She crawled out of her bed. Trotting to the door, she went into the hall and down it, gently opening another door into another room. This was decorated in a style much like hers, but not so bright, not so overwhelming. It was more subdued, including the sleigh bed within the corner, where Sweetie Belle currently slept. Rarity came to her sister, and then nudged her gently. “Sweetie Belle?” She nudged again. “Sweetie Belle, do wake up.”
“Hmm? Mrgh...” with a yawn the little unicorn's eyes flitted open. “Rarity?” Her sister's face made her sit up. “Rarity, is everything okay?”
“It... I suppose so,” said Rarity. She smiled gently at her. “Sweetie Belle, you know that if you were in trouble, I would help you, yes?”
“Well, yeah.”
“And you know that if others are in trouble, I would help them?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“You...” Rarity sighed. “You know that, if it were possible for me to help everypony in Equestria, I would help them, yes?”
“Uh, duh,” said Sweetie Belle. “You're the Element of Generosity! It would be weird if you didn't want to help everypony you could.”
Rarity turned away. “Yes... yes it would.”
Sweetie Belle craned out her head. “Rarity, are you sure you're okay?”
“I am now.” She kissed her on the forehead. “Go back to sleep, Sweetie Belle.”
“Okay,” she said, and nestled back into her covers.
Rarity went back to the doorway, but stopped within it. “I love you, Sweetie Belle.”
“Love you too.” The little pony soon was fast asleep again.
Tip-tap
It was a gentle, quiet sound. However, Applejack was used to gentle, quiet sounds: the mewing of a kitten, the rustle of the leaves, the creaking of the wood that made the barn. To be a farmer was to specialize in gentle things, for such things often made the largest difference.
Tip-tap
So when the gentle tapping came again, it was enough to wake her from her sleep. “Wha?” she said, yawning as she sat up in her bed.
“Applejack?” The voice was muffled, but still clear.
“What in tarnation?” Applejack popped out of bed and turned toward her windows. Her eyes went wide: Rarity was standing on the roof outside. “Rarity, what in the wide wide world of Equestria are you doin' out there?” she asked as she went to the window, opening it up.
“Hoping to get your attention,” said Rarity. “May I come in?”
“Well sure,” she said, standing aside. When Rarity had entered, Applejack said, “I know Twilight wanted us all to meet here in the mornin', but I don't think she meant this early.”
“Oh, I know,” said Rarity. “But I needed to see you- just you. Our paths are about to diverge.”
“Wha?”
Rarity took a deep breath. “Do you know how I have had trouble with my Long Sight? My Gift of Generosity? Particularly, I could never See into the future.”
“I recall that.”
Another breath. “Well... not any more. I've had a vision, Applejack, a vision of the future. I know how everything is going to end. I know how Reiziger's war plays out all the way to its conclusion.”
Applejack's eyes nearly popped out of her head. “No way!”
“Yes!”
“Tell me!”
Rarity told her. The whole explanation took nearly as long as the original vision, dozens of minutes passing as Rarity related what she'd Seen in overwhelming detail. Applejack's eyes kept on getting wider, her jaw kept opening still more until she thought that it would hit the ground.
Finally, at long last, Rarity was done. Applejack sat down hard on the ground. “Lordy.”
“I know.”
“Well I'm glad it turns out well in the end. But gettin' there...”
“I... I know.”
Applejack abruptly stood and went to Rarity and wrapped her in a hug. “Are you sure there's no other way?”
“I am as certain of this as I've ever been of anything. This is the future, Applejack, the True Future. Lady Falalauria told me, that first night we met her in the Shimmerwood, that I might be able to someday See it even better than she. Well, I have- here it is.”
“We gonna tell the others?”
“No. It seems to hinge on them acting without awareness of it. Oh, I know it's hard... now I know how Falalauria must feel all the time. I told you because if I didn't, you wouldn't do what you must do.”
“And what...” Applejack swallowed, “what you've gotta do.”
“I'm not looking forward to it.” Those beautiful blue eyes grew firm. “But it must be done.”
“Guess you better get a move on, then.”
“I suppose I should.” She moved away, but stopped. She looked back at Applejack. Tears were in her eyes. “By sunset tonight, all of Equestria will hate me. You... you won't, will you?”
With a gentle smile Applejack moved up to Rarity and nuzzled her. “Nope. Can't never hate ya, Rarity. Willikers, if I could I woulda started ages ago. And if this here's the real, genuine future... then you gotta do what you gotta do. Can't hate a mare for doin' her duty.”
Rarity smiled broadly. “Thank you, Applejack. Go back to sleep- if you can, I mean.”
“Eh, I'm scared awake now. Might as well start packin'.”
With a nod, Rarity pulled up the window. Climbing out into the cool, clear night, she took a step and vanished off the roof. Applejack watched her reappear on the grass below, then take a moment to find her direction. Finally, with one last look at the old farmhouse, Rarity began to gallop, hurrying off toward main gate of the farm. Applejack tracked her until the darkness swallowed her. Then, closing up the window, she went to her closet and got down her saddlebags.
“It's gonna be great to see how these new training methods you want to test out work, Twilight!” Spike exclaimed, riding on her back as sunrise gleamed o'er the horizon. The sun was bloody red, casting orange and crimson light upon the apple trees and fertile fields. Sweet Apple Acres was a marvelous place early in the morning, when all the farm began to hum with life.
“I just hope they start working better,” said Fluttershy. “It feels like all of our training is starting to drag on without making any headway.”
“Well I'm excited!” said Pinkie Pie, trotting merrily behind them. She tried one of her usual bounces, but immediately winced, the bandages around her torso grew that much more stained with black. She paused to cough.
“You've had that cough for days now, Pinkie,” said Twilight Sparkle. “Do you want me to take a look at your throat?”
“No, no, I'm fine!” she brightly said.
“I still think you should be resting,” said Fluttershy.
“But I've been resting and I haven't got any better. So maybe by not resting I will get better!”
“That... doesn't make any sense...” said Fluttershy.
“Trust me, girls,” said Pinkie with a gleaming smile, “I'm super-peachy-keen.” She stopped and coughed with violence. Looking at her hoof, she winced to see black goo on it. She quickly wiped it off onto the ground.
“Well, I'm just excited to start giving these new methods a try,” said Twilight. “I pulled them from an old manual on magical conditioning. They should- Applejack?”
Twilight stopped abruptly, the others with her. Applejack was on the lawn before her house, going through her open saddlebags. Even as the four of them observed, she finished, and she nodded. Then she turned and picked up something with a glimmering green spot upon it- a champron! Then they noticed she was covered up in armor, reddish leather armor stitched with golden thread. A crest of three branches of grass was sewn into the crupper on her flanks.
“Applejack!”
“Oh!” she cried, turning to them just as she completed buckling on the champron. The emerald in the middle glinted in the reddish light of dawn. “Howdy, y'all.”
“Applejack, what are you doing?” Twilight said. “Why are you... why do you have your old Gildedale armor on?”
“Gonna need it,” Applejack said. “Gotta get goin'.”
“What?” cried Fluttershy.
“Holy moly, why?” asked Pinkie.
“Things are about to get bad.”
“Um, I think things are pretty bad already, actually,” said Fluttershy.
Applejack looked at them all. She was deadly serious. “Not as bad as things are gonna get. Equestria's about to get hit by an even bigger whammy o' Reiziger than it has so far.”
“So you're leaving?”
“To get help!” said Applejack. “We been fightin' this war on our own too long. It's time we got some allies, so I'm off to go find some.”
“But... who? Where?”
“Goin' to Gildedale, for starters. Figure the Daleponies are gonna be happy to help. Then gonna talk to the pronghorns, then prob'ly the griffins-”
“Applejack, the griffins are not going to help us,” said Twilight.
“It's worth a try! We need all the allies we can muster.”
“But... hold on, if things are going to get so bad, we should stick together!”
Applejack sighed. “That's the thing, Twi. We can't.”
“What do you mean?”
“And hey, where's Dashie and Rarity?” said Pinkie, head perked up.
Applejack winced hard. “They're... they're gone. Not for good, but for a while.”
“Gone?”
“Into darkness.”
Fluttershy crept backward, mounting horror on her face. “Applejack... what's happened?”
“Somethin' bad,” said Applejack. She flipped her hat onto her head. “Somethin' that means it's time for me to get out and get us all the help we can find.”
“I... I... but our training... the Elements...”
“In case y'all ain't noticed, my Element o' Honesty is in good shape. Likewise for Rainbow and Rarity's Elements.” Applejack smiled gently. “Us three... we got our training already. We had our journey. It's time for you three to have one too, even if it's gonna be different than the one we had.”
Those three- Magic, Kindness, Laughter- turned gentle glances on each other. It only now occurred to them that that adventure, that grand journey taken by Honesty, Generosity, and Loyalty, had bound them as much as it had bound the others. Not as closely- indeed, not nearly as closely- but it had set them on another course, and now it had united them again.
Applejack drew in and wrapped Twilight and Fluttershy and Pinkie one-by-one in hugs. Then she slid her saddlebags onto her flanks. “Gotta get goin' now,” she said. “I'll see y'all 'fore the end o' the world, I hope.” She reared back-
“Wait!”
Applejack glanced back at Twilight, who was breathing heavily. “If... if you really are going to leave... if things are really about to get even worse... take Spike with you.”
“What?”
“What?” Spike shouted.
“I don't want him to be put in any more danger. It... I don't know how you know, Applejack, but I know that you do know the truth about things getting worse. I trust you. You wouldn't lie. And in that case, I want Spike to be protected. He'll be safer outside of Equestria than inside it.”
“No!” cried Spike. He jumped from Twilight and he stood before her, small fists clenched. “I'm not leaving you!”
“You have to!” Twilight said. “I... I should have sent you away at the start of things, it's not safe, it was never safe-”
“But if it's not safe for me, what about you?” Tears were budding in his eyes. “You... you can't! I won't let you!”
“Spike, please,” said Twilight, tears in her eyes too. “I... I can't bear the thought of something happening to you. Go where I know you'll be safer.”
“I won't leave you!”
“You have to!”
“Twilight!”
“Spike, please!” Twilight pulled him close, wild desperation in her tear-soaked gaze. “Please, Spike, please, I'm begging you. You mean more to me than anypony in the world. It...” She cupped his face in her hooves and made him look up at her. “If... if something happened to you... if you d... if you di... if you d.... if something happened to you it wouldn't be worth it for me to live any more!” The others' eyes went wide. Twilight hugged Spike tightly to her chest. “I'm begging you, Spike. I'm pleading with you.” She was sobbing. “Go with Applejack.”
“O... Okay,” he softly said. She let him go. He backed away, eyes not leaving hers. “Promise me I'll see you again.”
“I promise. I swear.”
Sniffling, Spike turned to Applejack. “Well... okay.”
Smiling gently, Applejack lowered herself. “I'll be mighty glad for the company, Spike.” With halting moves, Spike climbed onto her back. “I'll take care of him, Twilight,” she said, standing up.
“I know. I trust you, Applejack.”
“You don't mind a little cold, do ya, Spike? We're goin' up into the mountains first.”
“I'm fine,” he said, not taking eyes off Twilight.
“Well... I'll see y'all later. And it won't be just me and Spike when I come back.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Hold on tight, Spike.” When she felt his claws gripping her fur, she reared back and released a mighty whinny. “Yee-haw! Giddy up!” She broke into a gallop, heading from the lawn onto the road.
Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie sat in silence for a moment. “Well,” said Fluttershy at last, “that was certainly-”
“Spike!” cried Twilight. She flapped her wings and burst into the air. “Spike, I love you!”
“I love you, Twilight!” Spike shouted.
“I love you, and I'll see you again! If I have to go all the way to Tartarus to find you, I'll see you again!”
“I love you!”
“I love you!” Twilight called a final time. She watched them go, first down the road leading from the farm, then onto the main road, then onto the rolling hills beyond. She watched them go until the landscape hid them from her sight. Then she fluttered to the ground, and there she cried.
The sun maintained its reddish color for some time beyond the sunrise, glowering a rusty hue as it huddled in the distant eastern mountains. Rarity had run all night, crossing fields and vales and valleys with a speed that had left even her surprised. She supposed those three years of conditioning were still within her, making her more fit for longer journeys.
Now, at last, she'd reached her destination. The changeling hive loomed up within the valley, black and chitinous and ugly. Seeing it filled her with dread, but she had come too far to turn back now. She rounded a bend, descended a short slope, and then was in the vasty space before it. “Yoo hoo!” she cried out. “Hello-ho!”
With buzzing bursts of sound five changelings swarmed out of the hive, flying swift to Rarity. Though she was afraid she did not light her horn with magic. She knew they would not harm her. She knew everything.
“I say,” she said as they drew close, “is your master anywhere abouts? I was so hoping to speak to him, and it is rather rude to keep a lady waiting.”
Ah, yes, we must always maintain our manners, musn't we? In a flicker he was there, black and cruel and terrible. Eyes ablaze, his white teeth glinted as he smiled. “Hello, Rarity.”
“Hello, good master Reiziger,” she said.
Leave us, he thought, and the changelings buzzed away. “Now why would the Element of Generosity wander into my clutches like this? Not that I am not fond of the company.”
“Well, I suppose I am here with an offering, your grace. An offering I believe you'll find it very hard to turn down.”
“Is that so?”
“Read my mind, if you will. You'll learn everything you need to know.”
Reiziger's eyes glinted, and a vaguely pinkish aura wrapped his antlers. Rarity only now realized that when he used his Gift of Laughter he had often had a pinkish flicker round him, and come to think of it, when the white-tails used their Gift of Honesty there was a burst of orange power. Did the Elements all have auras that matched their Bearers' coat colors? That would be something. It made Rarity wonder if she and her friends were the colors of the Elements, or the Elements were the colors of she and her friends. Which had come first in the plans of the Wills?
“Interesting,” said Reiziger, the glow diminishing. “I believe you are wrong, of course.”
“Wrong?”
“About what is going to happen- about the vision you've had. I do not see myself losing in the end.” He smiled. “Indeed, I don't believe a thing of your so-called 'vision.' I believe you made the whole thing up, or merely dreamed it.”
“Oh, well, you're welcome to believe what you wish,” said Rarity. “Though I do wonder why you would deny someone trying to show you the whole outcome of your war.”
“Because I have heard it before!” he crowed, stalking round her. “Countless red deer have foretold my demise, some in great detail, and they have all been wrong. What makes you think a mere pony could be more accurate?”
“Oh, nothing I can quite explain,” said Rarity, her voice still light. “Just a sense I have. Call it faith, if you will.”
“Faith is for fools.”
“I suppose I am a fool, then.”
“Well that is plain.” He chuckled. “You know, if I am right and you are wrong, Rarity, future generations will curse your name forever.”
“If you are right and I am wrong, your grace, I don't really think there will be many future generations. I know your ambitions.”
“True enough!” He laughed. “Go on, then, Rarity. Do what you have come to do.”
Rarity bowed low. “I pledge myself to your service, Lord Reiziger.”
faith? Love? Tell me! please?
the only word that matters in this story is the one going unsaid and that word is STUPIDITY!!!
Is it, "Wills" ?
Sorry to cut it to you, Rarity, but it won't work. Your enemy has already shown that he's both omniscient and omnipotent. He'll see right through you.
Face it. He has won.
This reminds me of brisinger of the inheritance cycle
When the fortune teller actually foretold the person losing but says that they will win
Thus they wins due to their trust in the fortune teller
Universal placebo
I really hope you'll address this message if you see it, but where is Discord in this second coming of Dangerous Business. I vaguely remember him being introduced, and even here being on another tier of ability and power than even Reiziger. I'm not looking for a cop out, oh Discord's more powerful, just press the easy button, but I do find it extraordinarily strange how utterly absent he and his particular brand of chaos is in this story.
Also, my monies on will or faith. =3
OH OH also, I just want you to know It's a Dangerous Business, Going Outside Your Door was my first MLP fic read ever, and my favorite to this day, though this continuation is quickly closing ranks.
Though I have such a profound dislike reading anything involving Feanor. Strange really when even Reiziger's parts are extremely entertaining. What's up with that conniving Feanor I wonder that rubs me the wrong way.
5895291
What do you mean by "He will" (/He'll)? If I read this correctly, that's exactly what he did just now.
Wait......what?
*insert what the **** face here*
Am I seeing this?
Why is everyone in this story so STUPID
I mean seriously, Rarity goes right up to the Big Bad and tells him how to lose. Not only is this incredibly stupid, but he completely refuses to believe it. EVERYONE IS A MORON.
And I fail to see how faith has been helpful considering that all this could have been avoided if everyone had NOT BEEN AN UTTER IDIOT. Or is faith an excuse for them being stupid? Not to mention Twilight seems to sure have a lot of faith in the wrong guy right now, as does Trixie and all the ponies who've given into Renziger.
Rarity has faith in something: Reiziger being the biggest idiot of all. She didn't feed him her real vision, not by a long shot.
We don't know what Rarity saw. Only that she saw him lose. Also, when did Reiziger become omnicient?
That farewell from Spike and Twilight... I didn't think I'd get choked up but... I did. Their closeness was shown a bit in this story but it was never really... hammered home until this. Add that to the fact that, in the show at least, they haven't said those words to each other... the impact was real, for me.
And... yeah Rarity seems like a crazy person. There better be a logical reason why her defecting leads to something that leads to Reiziger's defeat, and not some kind of chaos theory butterfly effect thing.
5896282 Rarity is worst pony, and her being on the enemy's side can only help Equestria?
So plan only works because Rarity saw the "future" of it already working ?
So there's an original possible timeline where she just betrayed them anyway, Applejack buggered off; and it worked out for the best that's what's she's copying?
5895965
the way things are working out for him he pretty much has to be
Huh. Interesting.
And that's how Rarity destroys Equestria. And saves the world.
Ah. So we're at this part of the story then. Moving on.
Wow...for a chapter about having faith, so little to be found in the audience.
Personally, I can already see at least two reasons that would require someone to infiltrate the enemy in order to find fixes for. And as for Reizeger being a massive idiot? Uh, in addition to being a living black hole, he's also a massive racist with an ego the size of an Ursa Major. Of course he dismisses Rarity's vision out of hand. After all, she's just a PONY, a barely sapient slave race. How could SHE possibly correctly predict his defeat when every DEER seer hasn't been able to?
5895841 She HAS to. He can read ALL of her mind, she CAN'T hide parts of it, it's impossible.
The big deal here is, is that every other 'vision' of his defeat has 'failed' Again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again. But this time, it will NOT fail, and he will be all 'What?1 Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Then bam, story over.
5897621 To quote Babs Bunny, wake the kids and phone the neighbors....we have a WINNER!!! He isn't going to take a mere pony's vision of his defeat seriously any more than Sauron expected the White Council would decide to destroy the One Ring. Some suuuuuuuuper genius. The only thing his plan is lacking is a sign for free birdseed.
Just when I finally get caught up with this story, it updates again.
Well, I think it's appropriate for the Mane 6 to separate as they did. As Applejack said, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie need to go on their own adventure to finally get a handle of the Gifts of their own Elements. I look forward to seeing Applejack visit the Daleponies again. They have been noticeably absent since this story's inception.
I just wonder how Rarity pledging her allegiance to Reiziger is going to be his ultimate downfall.
Anyway, I look forward to this story's next installment. Keep up the good work.
*still holding out for the unlikely event where the changelings perform a heel-faced turn*
5895291 5896282 5896605 5897783
What better way of ensuring your prophecy comes to pass then to be at your enemie's side, making sure he does everything you predicted he would and ensure his defeat.
5898423
And that would be a logical reason for her to be there...
However, Reiziger knows what she believes is going to happen. Would he allow her to stay if she was planning to do something intentionally subversive? If she was going to do something to change it all?
He might, out of arrogance, or out of the idea that he will stop her right before she is able to, or she will fail at the critical moment. Or it might be that she is not going to betray him, and her presence has another effect.
I'm just hoping that effect is something that is clearly worth it.
Argh, you tease! It's always frustrating when the protagonists hide their plans from the readers. And yet, it's a necessary evil in this story. If the readers knew everything Rarity did, it would spoil the ending.
Everything Rarity does is based on her foreknowledge of how others will react. So she must have known that Reiziger would dismiss her prediction that he will lose. But it's also possible that she didn't tell him everything she told Applejack. Rarity could easily feed him false information or sabotage him in other ways. Yet, even though Reiziger is going to lose, I can't help thinking that the heroes' victory will feel hollow. It's not like they've merely fought in a few battles that were barely victories. Reiziger has already committed genocide against the ponies. That's going to take generations for the gentle ponies to recover from. And Rainbow in particular is going to be emotionally scarred for her apparently immortal life after she gets through this.
Anyway, I've been wondering about the Daleponies - glad to see you haven't forgotten them. Have they suffered any loses from Reiziger and his minions? In any case, I'm excited about AJ's and Spike's journey.
5897621 the writer has given the audience no reason to have faith. He's told us it'll have a happy ending, I have no doubt he'll write one. It will be an emotionally hollow asspull of grand proportions, undoing none of the misery he's wasted thousands of words on
I'm trying really hard not to loose interest in this story, but these last few chapters are making that pretty hard. As has been said by several others the villain is far over powered and it has crossed the line where a happy ending is no longer possible. Too much has happened and been lost already. Plus any defeat of the enemy will seem unreasonable due to what has already been written.
Well, that happened. Here's hoping Rarity really does know what she's doing, and that everything turning out well in the end comes with the restoration of her character in the eyes of Equestria as a whole. It's not really a happy ending if we get to the end and she's despised by anyone and everyone. That's just a formula for her eventually getting murdered in the street as a traitor.
I'm really curious about how AJ's journey is going to go. Well, AJ and Spike's.
5897621 Excellent analysis.
Oh ho ho, the plot thickens! Rarity joining up with the Big Bad to make sure the foretelling of his loss goes to plan? Applejack returning to Gildedale and other places to call for help? Twilight, Pinkie, and Fluttershy starting out on their own journey?
Can't wait 'til the next chapter!
5899622
Well, it's like Rarity said; if she's wrong about this, then there won't be anyone left to hate her. Reiziger fully intends to consume the entire planet and everyone on it eventually.
5897621 Is there a reason that you colored those two particular words? RBD and Pinkie, perhaps?
5898990 I have to disagree. Even when an author does notexplicitly promise a happy ending, a reader knows that a happy ending is generally the way a story turns out. What keeps the audience riveted is the question "How?" I, for one, want to see how Rarity's defection could possibly turn out to be of any good for Equestria. Having read Dangerous Business, I highly doubt that this author will resort to anything even closely resembling an a**pull at the end.
5901412
No, I meant Trixie and Starlight Glimmer.
is the important word faith?
5901419
At this point I believe any sort of happy ending, no matter who is involved would be an asspull. He's built the villain and torn down Equestria far to much
5901637 Well, did walk right into that one.
So I've read this story and got to Chapter 27-28 and I can see why there is major dissent among comments. Its like Oprah suddenly appeared and just started handing out Idiot Balls.
I know its always "Darkest Before Dawn" and all that jazz, but assuring us that things will get worse than they are now and then saying there will be a happy ending feels like a Deus Ex Machina will appear.
5895291 Noooooo? If he were Omnipotent, He'd not be bothering with the war. He could just turn off existence with a thought. If he was Omniscient, He'd know exactly what to do to become Omnipotent.
5896899 No, Rarity's Visions show the future, and in the future she acts on the knowledge she gains in the vision she's having at that moment. The Vision acts on the assumption that she's having the vision she's having. If she Didn't have this vision, the Vision she's having wouldn't be this Vision but another one that had the results of that Vision being that vision instead of This Vision. Being that she is having this vision rather than That vision, the Vision she's Invisioning has her having had envisioned this vision instead of That vision leading her to envision herself as having had envisioned this vision rather than that vision.
That clear things up for you?
It has to be "the", I've seen that word repeated many times throughout all of this story, even through its prequel! Only recently I've started to notice it, and now I'm convinced. The is the answer. Everything has gone according to The's design, and I'm sure it will be made evident very soon.
Well, it is nice to see that Reiziger has picked his turn on the idiot-ball holding, but, unlike the others, it's entirely in-character and inescapably, too, because of who he is. Because if Rarity's vision is indeed true, or even if someone came from the future and said "no, dude, seriously, that's totally what happens..." He still wouldn't believe it, would he? You could give him all the proof in the world, but he'd just keep his mind closed to it, because, like all evil beings, he believes that, ultimately, he is right and all else is wrong, even if everything else if flatly contradictory[1], that he can beat the universe just because he wants to. He simply CAN'T believe it is the truth, because to do so would fundementally against his nature. If he was capable of believing it, he'd be capable of understanding he can't have what he wants - which he isn't.
Which will make his final moment of panic, disbelief and despair as he realised that, yes, he was pretty much told exactly what would happen and he went and did it anyway, with all the wisdom of a child ignoring "don't touch that, you'll burn yourself" so much more satisfying. I do like it when the people can get lied to by the truth by their own minds.
Little miffed Spike appears to have been sidelined again, though, if we're not going to be following AJ.
(That said, I am thinking of another story or do I vaguely recall Celestia or someone telling Twilight to explicitly keep him close by? I read so much of this sort of fiction sometimes I can't remember odd details.)
[1]In my case of course, unlike all those poor OTHER fools, I do, in fact happen to be actually right.
A... A word...? Oh dear, I won't remember because I read so fast and the chapters have been published quite far from each other due to the fact that they're all amazing . I'm absolutely loving this, and now that I've finished every Lord of the Rings work I can find, with the Silmarillion done yesterday (OK, so maybe not EVERY one; there's something about Durin, I believe) I can appreciate all of the references and I love them . So, uh, Gildedale is, hmm, Rivendell? I know Rowan is Rohan and the Shimmerwood is Lothlorien... In some ways I prefer Falalauria over Lady Galadriel- at least her eyes sparkle when they See, not go all creepy like Galadriel- in the movie at least. As for the books, I'm not sure how Tolkien imagined her... Ok, uh, back to the word. Elements? Must do? War? Reiziger? Ugghhh... Oh! Oh! Uh... Love? Leave? The end? The Wills?
So, How many chapters are we expecting to a complete story?
Loving the story so far
I'll stick my money on faith. I would assume that faith in one's friends will be the big winner here.
I have my own little theory about what just happened. Firstly, I don't believe that chess has been brought up without reason. The move Rarity just made is a sacrifice that will force and allow other moves to occur. Long term strategies in chess occasionally call for the sacrifice of one or more pieces. It is very much like Reiziger said in one of the most recent chapters, about the sequences. Although it sounds VERY counterintuitive to sacrifice herself now, or ever for that matter, it means that now there are more things on Reiziger's own side that can go against him now. There is also now room and motivation for others on the "good" side to improve. The most apt chess analogy I can think of would be purposely losing one's queen to allow a pawn to hit the back row and become a queen on the enemy's back row.
As for the actions everyone seems to be labeling as "stupid." I don't know if anyone else has seen disaster footage before, but people under extreme duress ARE idiots. Just think about what would happen, what has happened, when people cease to believe that their government is worthy of the trust put in them. We like to call those riots. When under stress, you can almost always rely on people to do The. Worst. Possible. Thing!
I guess that's the long way of saying I'm enjoying the story, keep it up.
A word? At a guess, faith.
Meh... this smells of Xanathos Roulette.
"In memory of a Patriot, who saved the world."
Awww yis.
Reiziger is now Colonel Volgin.
As for the word, I predict something that nobody else has even considered yet. It would be an interesting tie-in with your other two stories. The lesser known ones about Rainbow Dash and Rarity.
Nightmare. Just to go against the grain.
I may be wrong. I may be very wrong. But I'm sure I've seen it a fair few times at least.