Chapter 36
“Just have to focus,” Fluttershy said softly to herself. She sat upon her haunches, settled underneath the shelter of the hill. She breathed out, and she breathed in, and she focused on what was within herself. She breathed out yet again, and this time, pinkish power swelled out of her hooves. It rippled on the grass, over all the flowers, and where it billowed outward, flowers and green growth were spread. She kept delving deep inside, pushing further in, but- “Oh!” she cried, and the pink emanations vanished. The grass grew dull and dead again, the flowers wilted and then died. She blinked back tears. “I... I have to keep trying,” she said.
“No-” Pinkie Pie jolted forward, coughing up a flood of blackened goo, “No... no hope.”
“Yes, yes Pinkie, there's hope, there has to be hope,” said Fluttershy.
Pinkie looked out past Fluttershy's place beneath the gray and cracked hill. The land was dark and dead. The hill above them was so scraped and barren that it seemed a razor from the earth. The grass was dead, the trees were wrecked and ruined blackened boughs. Above them in the sky the darkened shadow billowed, covering up nearly all the sunlight. “No hope,” she repeated, then vomited up shadow.
“Pinkie, hold on,” said Fluttershy, tears springing to her eyes, “I'll... I'll help, somehow, I will! I can't give up, I won't give up!”
Her head sunk down onto the dirt. “Dead,” she muttered, “dead like the desert.”
Fluttershy pulled back from Pinkie. She sighed softly, settling beside her, sitting back beneath the hill. Silence reigned a while. Finally, she broke the quiet. “I think... it's beautiful.”
Pinkie raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“This,” she swept her hoof out, seemed to draw in all the gray and cracked terrain. “This barrenness... this emptiness... I love it, actually.”
“What? But... but you love-” she coughed- “you love animals, and nature.”
“This is nature. It's part of nature. The deserts are nature as much as the forests. Javier... the mule deer... they helped me realize that, and over time I've just recognized it more and more. I mean,” she glanced aside, “when I was younger, sure, I thought that only things that grew, things that were cute and gentle and bright- I thought they were the only things to nature. But that's not all nature- that's not all the wild.”
“But it's so... empty.”
“The world needs empty places too, Pinkie. There has to be balance. There are wastelands and farmlands, deserts and jungles, fire lands and lands of ice. There's even light and shadow.” She put a hoof to her chin. “I wonder if Reiziger's even sort of natural. I mean, Discord did say that the Wills allowed him to exist. Maybe he was always meant to destroy.”
“But why? Why would they allow him to make so many things die?”
“Death is part of nature too, Pinkie. Most things die in time. Even the high deer don't live forever.” A little smile curled her lips. “Death is beautiful, too.”
“So you want it to... stay this way?”
“No, no!” said Fluttershy quickly. “It's just... I guess...” she blushed. “It's hard to explain. I don't like death. Death is nasty and mean. But it's natural. It has to happen. All things go on their way. The life after this one calls everything to it. Ponies go on to the Summer Lands, animals and other creatures go where they're meant to go.”
Pinkie slumped onto the ground. She rolled onto her side, black fluids seeping out into the dust. “I don't want to die,” she said with grating voice. “I'm going to die, everything's going to die... but I don't want to.”
“And I don't want you to die, either. You're not ready to die yet, I think.” A faint, yet steady fierceness rose within her heart. “And that's why Reiziger's so terrible. Wastelands are good, but he creates them where there should be fertile fields. Deserts are good, but he makes them where there should be forests. Death is good, but he brings it when there's still supposed to be life. He's out of order. He's against how things should be.”
“So he's not natural?”
Fluttershy laid down beside her. “I guess he isn't. Or maybe... part of him is or part of him isn't. I don't know.” She sighed. “These things... they're all too much for me. All this stuff about the Elements of Harmony, about Hunger, about Death, about goddesses and the Wills and ancient magic. I guess I never wanted any of it.”
“I thought-” Pinkie coughed violently, whole body wracked with spasms, hacking up blackness and also leaking it from her back. “I thought...” her voice seemed weaker, “I thought it was... fun. At least at first.”
Fluttershy smiled gently. “I guess we have different definitions of fun. Fun, for me, is being peaceful and happy with my animal friends. Fun for me is sunning with Angel bunny, or sleeping with my bear and weasel friends, or flying low and slow with my bird friends. Fun for me isn't exciting. Fun for me is... slow.”
“So I guess you must hate just about everything that's happened.”
“A lot of it... yes, I do.”
“All of it?”
Her expression changed. “Not all of it. Some of it's been amazing. Being around all the deer, all the high deer, has been wonderful. And seeing all the magic- even the destructive spells, they're beautiful and lovely. I can't do magic, but I've always loved to watch it. Even Reiziger's magic is... sort of beautiful, to me.” Her ears drooped. “But I guess I really wish that none of this had ever happened.”
Quiet again. The wind billowed over the barren lands. Fluttershy shivered, and curled up.
“Do you wish... you hadn't done it, right at the start?”
“Huh?” asked Fluttershy.
“The... the Elements of Harmony,” said Pinkie. Black tears were gently leaking from her eyes. “Do you wish you hadn't gone with Twilight that one day, to stop Nightmare Moon?” She edged a little closer to Fluttershy. “Do you wish you'd never gotten the Element of Kindness?”
Fluttershy drew back. “That's...”
“Do you wish we weren't your friends?” More coughing.
She didn't answer right away. She looked out on the endless gray expanse. It made her feel so small.
“I've thought about it.”
“Okay?”
Fluttershy swallowed hard. “And there are some moments where...” she turned aside. “I mean... you five are the greatest friends I've ever had, ever. I wouldn't trade our friendships for anything, even with everything that's happened.”
“But?”
“But... I do sometimes wish I could have stayed friends with you all without going to stop Nightmare Moon. I wish maybe we could have been seven friends instead of six, and then that seventh pony could have gone and gotten the Element of Kindness. Then we could be friends, still... without me being caught up in all this.” Fluttershy laid her head down in the dirt. “There are days I dream of what would have happened. I would have just kept tending to my animals, being your friends, living in Ponyville. I would have gotten old. I might have married, though I really don't think I could have. And some day I would have died, and the mule deer would have buried me quietly at the edge of the Everfree Forest, which is what I always wanted. It wouldn't have been an exciting life, but I think it would have been... nice.”
“I guess compared to everything else-” Pinkie vomited blackness- “compared to the darkness everywhere, that would have been a nice thing to happen.”
“Yes...” Fluttershy sat up. “But it's not what happened... is it?”
“F-Fluttershy?”
She looked into the sky. “It could have happened... but it didn't. Instead, I went with you all that night, and everything changed. There was no seventh pony,” her gentle eyes grew gently harder, “and that was meant to be. We, we six, weren't all just the first random ponies to stumble on the Elements of Harmony. We five weren't just the first five ponies Twilight happened to meet in Ponyville. There was something else going on... something we didn't understand when it was happening.”
“So... this was all supposed to happen?”
“Maybe sort of. I'm not Rarity- I don't have the gift to see the future. But I know that we... that I received one of the Elements of Harmony, and it was meant for me, and nopony else. And then no matter what I wanted... I was special. I had a job to do.” She smiled. “And it doesn't make me happy in the same way that living and dying quietly would have made me happy, but it does make me happy. It's a taller... higher kind of happiness.”
Black tears again ran out of Pinkie's eyes. “How can you be so strong?”
“Because I know we have a job we're meant to do... and I know that it won't fail. I believe in that.” She stretched a butter-yellow leg down. “Come on, Pinkie. We're the Elements of Harmony, and the world is counting on us. We won't fail- so let's not fail.”
Pinkie felt, just a little, that the black rot in her body got a little gentler. “I don't... believe there's any good left,” she hacked and coughed, “but... I'll go with you.” She stretched her muted hoof out, and allowed Fluttershy to pull her up. They trotted out from underneath the hill. “So where to?”
“I... I'm not sure,” said Fluttershy. “Let me think for a moment...”
Then both of them felt the pricking that came only with strong magic. Not being unicorns, they had no horns to sense it, but both felt it in the way of each one's kind: Pinkie's hooves itched, and Fluttershy's wings tingled to the edges of her feathers. They saw no one in front of them, but then they turned toward the east-
“Mae govannen, dear pony friends. Well met.”
There he loomed, huge and brown and gentle, blue eyes glinting up against the darkened sky. Fluttershy smiled, if only for the company. “Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo, O master moose.” She cocked her head to the side. “Your name is... Nordeshang, isn't it?”
“Yes,” said Nordeshang. “And you are Fluttershy, and you are Pinkie Pie.”
“Plea-” Pinkie hacked up blackness- “Pleased to m-meet you.”
Nordeshang sighed deeply. “You are very sick, Lady Pinkie Pie.”
“L-Lady?” Pinkie actually chuckled a bit. “I'm not a lady, Mister Nordeshang.”
“Well, if I am called a lord and am really just a fleabitten old moose, then surely one of the very Bearers of the Elements of Harmony deserves the title of 'lady.'”
“Aww, you don't have to do all that, Lord Nordeshang,” said Fluttershy. “You can just call us F-Fluttershy... and Pinkie Pie.”
“If you will only call me 'Nordeshang,' I shall agree.”
“What are you doing all the way out here, Nordeshang?” asked Fluttershy. “Shouldn't you be with the other Deer Elders?”
“I have... fallen out with them,” he said. “I have broken with them over my unwillingness to slaughter. Lord Fëanor will soon put his plans for attack against the Herd Lord into motion. I did not want any part of it.”
“W-Why?” asked Pinkie, then coughed for near the thousandth time.
Nordeshang sighed. “The Herd Lord will not be stopped through violence. I have seen that. So has Fëanor, though he tries to ignore he ever saw it.”
“What did you see?” asked Fluttershy.
“We fought him, Fëanor and I. We fought the Herd Lord, along with twenty-eight of our fellow high deer. We fought him all across the world, and we fought him in the darkness, for he had already killed the Sun and the Moon. We brought all the power we could muster to bear upon him. We used spells, we invented new spells on the spot, we wielded such magics that the world has never seen and will not see again... but it was not enough. Each time we thought we had beaten him to death, he rose up stronger and blacker than ever. Eventually we were able to corner him in a mountain range and seal him in the most powerful binding spells we had. But kill him? Defeat him? There is no way, not with the magics we in this world possess.”
“But... then how will he be stopped?”
“With the Elements of Harmony, of course- they are what all tyrants and dark lords fear.”
Fluttershy nodded. “I think that too. But I'm... I'm trying to make my Element work, and it's not... it's not strong enough,” she turned away.
A soft but heavy hoof fell on her shoulder. “I know how difficult it can be to wield the Element of Kindness. I know the challenges... I too have the burden of being a Healer.”
“How do you do it?” Turquoise eyes swung up to him. “How are you able to heal the impossible hurts?” Her eyes flickered to Pinkie Pie, who was listing dangerously, black bile running down her back.
Nordeshang's antlers shimmered blue. Pinkie and Fluttershy were lifted off the ground and slowly settled on his massive back. “Come with me,” he said, and took a step- and vanished.
They reappeared in a much darker, deeper, blacker portion of what once had been Equestria. The hills had not just been stripped bare, but scraped, as though some monstrous thing had sharpened up its claws upon the earth. There was a buzzing- as they all watched, changelings flitted through the air and skittered on the ground. They scraped across the barren earth, searching for some sign of life that they could drain the love from.
“Ugh,” said Fluttershy, wincing. “Changelings...”
“They are only doing what they can to survive,” said Nordeshang.
“But... but they help Reiziger. They're his servants.”
“Even so, they wish to live. That's not so different from you ponies, is it?”
Fluttershy frowned. “I guess not.”
As they watched, one changeling scraped open enough dirt to expose some root. He started flickering as he searched it for love, but no sooner had he found it than he was attacked by all his fellows. They writhed and rolled, they bit and scratched. The root was soon forgotten as they fought each other in their hate. Nordeshang sighed. “Poor creatures. They do not deserve to suffer for their master's actions.”
“But... but doesn't he control them?”
“Yes- and more than that, he created them, though he could not spin them from nothing as the Wills do. All of the Herd Lord's creations, all his creatures and species, lack something. The changelings lack love. The wyverns lack inner self. The fell beasts lack tenderness. The ungoliants lack satisfaction. This is because their master, too, is lacking. He lacks everything they individually lack as species. From depravity comes only depravity.”
The changelings were now draining what little love they themselves possessed, stealing from each other in their hate.
“But... that does not make them evil. Or, it does make them evil... but not totally so.” He stepped forward. His antlers shimmered soft yellow, and pink waves started emanating from them, rippling in silence through the blackened air. The changelings stopped their fighting. They looked about, they skittered and they tripped over each other, but they did not more attack. Slowly, their faint quivering, their trembling from so long without love, stopped. They buzzed their wings and rose into the sky, flying far away.
Fluttereshy's eyes were enormous. “I didn't know the Gift of Kindness could... could make love.”
“The Gift of Kindness can do many things. Did Falalauria not tell you that it could heal all hurts? It can, and to do this it is tremendously powerful. It is perhaps the most powerful of all the Gifts, save that of Magic in the hooves of an elk.”
“But I...” she hung her head, “I can't do any of that. I mean, I can heal some things, and some ponies, but for some reason my Gift won't...” she glanced at Pinkie, who was now coughing gently, “it won't work on the things I really need to heal.”
“That is because you do not love them.”
“But I... I don't hate them! I try not to hate anypony!”
“And that is good! But not hating is not the same as loving. To love something, you must see in it something worth loving.”
Fluttershy flapped her wings and fluttered off his back. She looked around, at the darkened sky and blackened earth. “What's worth loving in all this?”
“That it exists at all.”
Pinkie slumped backwards. She nearly fell off Nordeshang, but he caught her with his magic and set her gently down. She was coughing softly but constantly, hacking up blackness, while her back spewed more dark fluid than ever.
A screech suddenly hit Fluttershy right within her heart. She squealed and jumped into the air. She was about to fly away when Nordeshang raised up a hoof. “Come.” He lifted Pinkie with his magic, and with her beside him he went up a hill. Fluttershy cantered after him, and when she crested the hill her eyes went wide. A fell beast was sprawled out in the dead grass, long neck and snakelike head swaying gently to and fro. She saw the reason it was stuck almost immediately: its right wing was in shreds, torn up and destroyed by Celestia knew what. It gave another fear-inducing shriek, its pain and sadness only magnifying how much terror that possessed.
“I mentioned,” said Nordeshang, “that the Herd Lord cannot create from nothing. He can only create from what is already existent- he needs love, life force, raw materials, something with which to base his nightmares on. Only the Wills That Draw the World can spin life from pure nothingness. And that life they spin, even when twisted and perverted by the Herd Lord... that is good.”
“Just because it's there?”
Pinkie vomited up black fluid. She wasn't moving near as much as she had been a while ago.
“Yes- simply because it is there. Everything that is, insofar that it is, is good.” He trotted gently to the fell beast. “This creature... it is lacking. It is in pain. It perhaps wishes it had never been born.” His antlers shimmered pink. The fell beasts stopped its shrieking. Its head swung toward the massive moose, but it did not move to attack. “But it exists, and that existence, that being, is a gift from the Wills. It is the first good, and the last good, and the highest good of all. To be is a very great thing- the greatest thing, even amid all the miracles and mysteries of magic.” Nordeshang's front right hoof glowed bright pink. He pressed it up against the fell beast's side, and waves of pink light started blossoming across the creature. Fluttershy's eyes went wide. The beast's wing healed and regrew, new bone and muscle and leathery skin swelling out over the injured portions. In a few minutes, it was completely better, and the fell beast hefted itself to a standing pose.
Fluttershy partly wanted to take off and flee, but her courage- and her fascination- kept her there. “So, even though it's... it was created by evil... and wants to hurt us... it's worth helping, just because it exists?”
“Yes,” said Nordeshang. He smiled. “But who says it wants to hurt us?” He reached a hoof up and rubbed the massive creature's head. To Fluttershy's amazement, the fell beast leaned into the contact. Its thin tongue came out and licked Nordeshang's hoof. “And that is the marvelous thing about valuing the mere existence of something. Such value is not forgotten. Such love is not ignored. You will often find that merely by caring that something- or someone- is there, you will cause change that you could never have anticipated.” The fell beast pulled away at last, flapped its massive wings, and flew away.
“But Reiziger...” the idea slowly blossomed in her mind, “Reiziger wants there to be nothing.”
“Very good,” said Nordeshang. “Yes, the Herd Lord's true darkness is that, in his hunger, he wishes for nonbeing. He desires death, and not even the death that brings new life in the next world- he desires ultimate nonexistence, which is the only true, real evil. He only values things insofar as he can wipe them out.” He chuckled. “And yet, if he wiped out everything else in the universe, he would still exist, so there would still be some being, and so there would still be good. So even the Herd Lord, for all his power, could never wipe away life and goodness.”
“I... I think I understand,” said Fluttershy. Nordeshang turned to her. His sapphire blue eyes glittered in the twilight. “It's not enough to... to care about somepony in spite of the things you don't like about them- or, to only care about the parts of them that you like. You have to care about them- you have to l-love them even with the parts you don't like, the parts that are bad, the parts that... scare you.” Her cutie marks began to twinkle.
“Yes,” said Nordeshang. He moved his massive body. Pinkie, who could now be seen, was breathing raggedly, black goo billowing out of her open mouth.
“I...” Fluttershy's ears drooped, “I haven't been able to heal Pinkie because I haven't liked her with her sickness. I didn't hate her... and I didn't stop being her f-friend... but I wanted to only keep the parts of her that weren't sick. I was s-scared that if I got to close to her, close enough to care, I'd get sick, too. I didn't want myself to get hurt, so I didn't want to give myself to helping her.”
Nordeshang nodded.
Fluttershy's cutie marks were flickering, pulsing like twinkling stars. She stood up. “But a real healer gives everything. A real healer realizes that until the world's hurts are healed, they're sick even when they seem fine. A real healer knows that things that are dark... and scary... can't be stopped by being scared, and can't be stopped by being dark. They can only be stopped with light... and love.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes went wide. “I was right... before. I was right that I had a duty to do what had to be done. But now I know what has to be done. The Element of Kindness... it's about being kind when everyone and everything else is cruel. It's about being kind when everything inside you tells you to run away, or to hate. It's about being kind when it doesn't make sense to be kind... because it does make sense. Being kind always makes sense, and you can't be afraid to be kind, no matter what.”
Nordeshang smiled. “Very good, Fluttershy.”
Light was rising around her. “Oh my!” she said. Her cutie marks were gleaming, blazing in the darkened air. She looked down. Her hooves were flashing, pulsing, swelling with pink light. She stared down hard at them. Then she looked at Pinkie, who was no longer moving. She looked upon her hooves again. Then she looked at Pinkie yet again.
“Go on,” said Nordeshang. “You can do it!”
Fluttershy trotted to Pinkie. Where she walked, the grass turned green again. Looming up above the pink earth pony, Fluttershy took a deep breath. Her body was coated in black goo now. Her mane and tail were limp and scraggly. Her eyes were blank and open, bloodshot. She looked deathly ill, and it was clear that touching her was dangerous. Fluttershy almost stepped back- but then she held. It is dangerous. I am scared. But that doesn't matter. She raised her glowing hooves. I'd rather get hurt so she can be healed. She reared her hooves back. I'd give up my own life for her life back! She shoved her hooves against Pinkie Pie's blackened back. Pink light swelled and blossomed outward. The blackness swelled up Fluttershy's front legs, coating her like ink. She did not stop, however. The blackness came into her mouth, but she did not pull off. It stretched over her cutie mark, she'd been wrong, she wasn't strong enough, she was going to be rotted away but she did not care because she loved her friend enough to give up everything- there was a rainbow-
Twilight whirled about, fluttering her wings to hover. “I felt it again!” she cried.
“No time!” said Fëanor. “Come!”
Applejack spun round inside the airship. “Y'all feel that?”
The thestral and the mythicorn reared back and whinnied.
White light, like sunshine, blazed across the darkened earth. Nordeshang sniffed; there was the smell of clean water. He breathed in gently, and his old and tired heart felt suddenly young and new. His sapphire eyes sparkled. “Fluttershy?”
The golden light pulled in. All the space around them had been healed: the grass was green, flowers bloomed, even the sky seemed a little bluer in all the blackness. With gentle steps, Fluttershy turned round. Nordeshang smiled. She had changed and grown. Her legs were longer. Her torso was both larger and more lovely, her neck was longer, her head had gotten larger. Her pink mane and tail were longer and more wispy, more ethereal. Somehow there was a flower tucked behind her ear. “Oh my,” said Fluttershy, looking down upon herself. She spread her wings. These had gotten larger, and more beautiful. They were so big now that when she folded them again they stretched up and behind her at an angle, like those of an arctic tern.
“You did it!” exclaimed Nordeshang. “I am so proud of you.”
Fluttershy's eyes widened. “But what about...” she turned around. There was still some golden light behind her. It finally cleared-
I'm BACK!
A pink blur shot into the air. Fluttershy watched it rise, then stop, then fall, and when it fell it bounced high up again, not quite as far, and fell, then bounced, and fell, then bounced, then fell, then bounced until at last it gave a springy hop and stopped completely.
“I'm back!” said Pinkie Pie. “I'm back, I'm me, I'm totally normal!” And she was! There was no speck of blackness on her. Her body was soft pink, her mane and tail magenta fluffs like bursts of cotton candy, her eyes were lovely bouncing baby blue, and when she smiled all the darkness and blackness around them seemed to vanish. “I'm back!”
“Pinkie!” cried Fluttershy.
“Oh, thank you Fluttershy!” cried Pinkie, zooming up to her and wrapping her in an enormous hug. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!”
“You're so welcome, Pinkie,” tears welled in her eyes. “I'm just so happy you're okay!”
“Me too, sister, you have no idea!” said Pinkie. She smiled even wider. “And look, you've totally gotten Cadence-sized like Twilight! Your Element must be super powerful now!”
“Yes, I should imagine it is,” said Nordeshang. “Welcome back to health, Pinkie Pie. I am glad to see you.”
“And thank you, Mister Nordeshang! I wouldn't be good ol' Pinkie Pie again without you!”
“I helped, perhaps,” he glanced aside, “but it was not I who healed you. Indeed, I wonder if I would have been able to do it.”
“That's because Fluttershy is the best, kindest, greatest, most awesome healer in all the lands of Equestria and beyond! She's super-spectacular, ultra-colossal, hyper-con-”
A great rumble shook the earth. Far off in the south, a blast of golden light erupted so brightly and enormously it bathed the heavens everywhere. This was followed by yet more eruptions of great power, making the ground thunder once again.
“Wuh-oh,” said Pinkie. “What's that?”
Nordeshang sighed deeply, hanging his great head. “The start of Fëanor's foolishness.”
Stats
Page generated in 0.041 seconds
Total duration
997 users online
1,922,733 hits today, 2,244,100 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Well, Honesty and Kindness are in play....Laughter is next......followed by Generosity, Loyalty and (bringing up the rear) Magic.
It takes at least two events to start a pattern. And I am definitely noticing a pattern here. This is what we've been waiting for, folks.
6026677 He took down most of those Balrogs too, he died to Gothmog the Lord of all Balrogs and Melkor's Field General.
oh, what BS. Give everything is a situation like that and there is no reason it shouldn't kill her instead.
hopefully not THE Ungoliant
... That Authors Note. Wow.
This is the wrong mood but:
(I think I love these two's reaction the best so far. (They know what's goin' on.
))
And the Element of Kindness has fully awakened, Pinkie is healed of her affliction, and Flutters finds her place in the circle that will assure Reiziger's inevitable defeat and demise.
Two down, four to go, and all will soon be right with the world.
Oh, wait.........
Right. Forgot about Fëanor the Fool there for a minute.
Oh, come on, Twilight! You twit, open your eyes, trust your heart, and get your silly butt back to Celestia and the others in the Crystal Empire before it's too darned late!
If it isn't already.
Which I hope that it isn't.
Ahh, so Nordeshang came to help Fluttershy and Pinkie after taking leave of Fëanor, now that was a good plan.
Oh hell yeah, rainbows all over!
Now that's what I'm tolkien about!
Now things is looking up, even with that ending. Slowly, but steady, I can see the possibility of a happy ending. Maybe, even, with some Changeling and other dark allies. Hopefully, Fëanor's action won't cause too much of an issue...
C&C:
I was s-scared that if I got to close to her, close enough to care, I'd get sick, too.
> Replace the first 'to' with 'too'.
Pinkie!!!!
Oh man. The Author's note.
So the Sun and Moon died. Is this why Celestia and Luna stepped into the roles of Goddesses or were they born to replace what was killed, I wonder? That one little comment is so intriguing and suggests so much more. I love these little tidbits and want to know more.
Fantastic chapter!
6030028
Sadly, Generosity and Loyalty are permanently out of the picture. If you know anything about Tolkien, you'd know that in his universe, nothing, and I mean NOTHING, comes back from the dark side.
So Reizeger is still the victor.
6030774 true, but this isn't Tolkien here. It's inspired by Tolkien, yes, but the author can put his own spin on it.
6030774
If there is one thing I have learned about darkness, that it doesn't have to be evil. True darkness is neutral, as is light, it is how we define it in ourselves that can truly shape it, positively or negatively. They don't have to leave the dark side...all they need to do is hit the jerk with it and show him that it can be the hero just as well.
6030774
Come on, It's "My Little Pony" world, not an explicit "Lord of the Rings rip-off" world.
6030901 I really wish it could end well, but I don't think I have much hope. The villain is just too powerful. I mean, he completely destroyed Chysalis, Rarity and Rainbow Dash and he could mind rape an entire country effortlessly. What can possibly defeat something like that short of destroying Equestria?
And in case you missed it, it's heavily based on the Silmarillion. And that book reaches Game of Thrones level of grim (while keeping it in the Middle-Earth canon).
6031007
Thanks goodness I haven't read the Silmarillion.
But, in all honesty, I'm still keeping my hopes up for the better. We'll see what happens.
6030774 This may be based on Tolkien, but it is also built on a foundation of Faust's world-building. Don't forget that Luna was purified of the Nightmare way back in episode two, and that event is still in canon for this story. We know that the Elements can rescue ponies and other characters from the dark side.
Wait, hold up. Feanor knows the Reiziger can't be destroyed through violence and yet he STILL TRIES IT?!?
...
Fail. FAIL! F**KING FAIL!
6031047 The difference is that Nightmare Moon was an emotion that grew out of control. Reizeiger personally broke and transformed Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Just like Melkor twisted elves to create the orcs. And THAT is permanent.
6031506 This. Isn't. Tolkien. It may be based on Tolkien, but unless we see Frodo make a cameo there is zero reason to expect all of the rules of that world apply to this one. There's every indication from the story (the two recent rainbow scenes, not to forget the author's blanket statement that there will be a happy ending) that the Elements will be purifying Rarity and Rainbow when the story gets to that point. Hell, we just saw Fluttershy use that power to save Pinkie from the black infection. We also saw Discord basically flip a switch and (temporarily) restore Trixie just a few chapters ago.
Frankly, you're making far too big a deal of this, and I say that as someone who, just like you, has read the Silmarillion.
Now I remember the G1 movie, when Tirak corrupted Applejack and other ponies. Seems similar to what Reiziger did.
i1270.photobucket.com/albums/jj605/kaylathehedgehog/Earth%20Ponies/Applejackcorrupted.png
6030490
Gosh darn it, I love Twilight the most and it kills me to see her brainwashed by Feänor like this! C'mon, Twilight, use your big brain and come back to us!
I hope you're right!!
6030028
I don't know--remember, Twi already awoke a lot of her element. She was the first to grow, and she has all three pony types active. She isn't the last one to power up...but she might power up again later to the most powerful, and I could see her being the last to come around
6032200 She has to actually SEE her new idol get his horns handed to him in order to realize what her lack of FAITH is costing her.
6031968 Remember what happened when Discord slipped a sort of perception filter over Trixie? She went from "Gollum" to "Showboating Loudmouth" in a Canterlot minute. Same deal with the other two elements. Also, Tolkien had a little concept kicking around called Arda RESTORED you should remind people of.
6030037 And then made his sons promise to do absolutely everything to get the Silmarils back, dooming them and causing further grief to everyone for centuries.
6032346 Feanor is proof positive that even Tolkien didn't believe that High Elves = Deserve to be arrogant over everyone else. Because so many problems of the first age come about due to how many of them were straight up Stubborn.
6032498 Yep. And it looks like this Feanor hasn't learned either.
Of course, a difference between the deer and the elves is that the gods didn't keep Morgoth around to PUNISH the elves. Especially since it wasn't their fault he existed in the first place. While I admit the Valar could be kind of negligent, they weren't assholes and actually showed up to help when push came to shove.
Also, I actually liked the good elves whereas here I've stopped caring whether the deer live or die.
6031968
You do have a point there. But even if we stick to the rules of this fanfic, there is still no chance of victory. It's already established that Reizeiger can effortlessly counter the gifts (he blocked Rainbow Dash's and is invisible to Rarity's vision (she didn't saw her capture coming)). I expect the elements to be an hope spot at best. And any character powerful enough to act won't lift a finger (but then again, if Tirek could subdue Discord, Reizeiger can probably do it too).
I really can't see an happy ending and I'm not sure I'd want to. Every single good character is written as either useless, an idiot or an asshole.
And it hurts because it started so well.
6032587 Given that Reizeiger has yet to be faced by the Element Bearers fully powered up and united in one purpose, it is way too early to declare his victory.
And you don't know that Rarity's gift failed. All things considered, it's entirely likely that events are proceeding exactly as she foresaw. You may not like that plot point, but that does not mean it isn't happening. Dash failed pretty spectacularly, true, but that was telegraphed as likely to happen from way early on.
6032517 Actually the Valar didn't, but Eru did in a way.
He didn't actually keep them around to punish the Elves, but to show the price of evil and hatred. Eru himself basically made it clear that his actions and his very existence is left there because Eru allows it.
6032638 Yes, but once Morgoth was locked up (a second time) he STAYED locked up and he wasn't allowed to exist solely to punish the elves by tormenting humans and dwarves, which doesn't make any sense, because they didn't care that much about humans and dwarves, just as the deer don't care that much about ponies or non-deer.
6032899 Actually he was to return after the 4th age, though that's himself being freed rather then some sort of punishmen.
Here, the gods are pretty much as dickish as the Deer, which may explain where the Deer's arrogance and uncaring for others nature comes from. Bad teachers get bad students!
6033006 Yes, I know of his destined battle at the end of the world.
And yeah, fuck the deer and the gods.
Hey, I just thought of something. Jetfire keeps saying the story will have a happy ending, which seems unlikely given everyone's stupidity and incompetence, Renziger's Villain Sue status, and Rarity telling him the future so he should, in theory, be able to know everything that's coming and plan for it in advance. But then it hit me! If Renziger wins, kills everyone, and destroys the world, it WILL be a happy ending…for him! That's the only thing that possibly makes any sense.
Finally, things are starting to get better! ...Although the last few lines of the chapter have me concerned. Still, I'm gonna enjoy this happy moment while it lasts. Applejack was onto something after all, since Fluttershy grew Cadance-sized right after she did. And it was even harder for Flutters to use her Gift enough to level up - she actually put her own life in danger. But she had to overcome her legitimate fear to save Pinkie's life. I'm so relieved to see Pinkie back to her old self.
It was getting hard to watch her dying for chapters and chapters.
6032634 The thing is, we do know that Rarity has failed. She was surprised that Reizeiger corrupted her (instead of letting her being a willing servant (that was really stupid on her part)). She DIDN'T see it coming. And that pretty much invalidates everything the vision showed. Not only that, but Reizeiger SAW Rarity coming, meaning that he does have the same gift (just like he has the same gift as Applejack: forcing the truth in ponies mind via mind rape, only on a bigger scale). If that pattern is correct, he basically has every single gift the mane 6 have, only amplified.
So, yeah. The vision failed.
6034796 Where exactly in the story did that even happen? The last we saw of normal Rarity was the end of chapter 29, here's the very last line:
And nowhere in that scene was she transformed or was surprised by anything Reiziger did. And then in chapter 30 she's destroying Fillydelphia as a monster along with Dash. At what point do you think she acted in such a way that it indicates she was surprised?
6035393 They don't WANT to see the happy ending the author's got in mind owing to a mistaken belief that Tolkien is British Urobutcher. When it DOES happen, they'll be all about it being a cheat despite a Scooby Doo villain being better at hiding the key points where Reiziger is set him up the bomb.
6037410
the villain losing does not automatically equal happy ending. Even if the Elements put everything back to much has been lost. There has been to much trauma.
The only way you can get a happy ending out of this is a total reset button
6030405
(2:58 for the relevant part)
6038152
Yes, that comment is a homage to the part of the song from Magical Mystery Cure, plus it is my actual reaction when Pinkie is healed by Fluttershy.
So yes, the reference just came on top of my head when that happened.
6032200
Sure Twilight has been powering up, but she's also been powering down. She's got the raw magical power sure, but then she's stepping away from Harmony. It's been pretty clear that the magic of Harmony is going to win the fight after all, not raw magic. That's what Reiziger has, and that's why Feanor is going to lose.
This, this freaking chapter right here. God I've needed this chapter for so long. Things are finally starting to look up and I can see a light at the end of the tunnel.
6033138 Well, actually, we don't know if Rarity told Reiziger what she really Saw. In fact, I would with great certainty guess that she didn't, because no one would do that.
6043716 Given how mind-numbingly stupid many of the heroes seem to be, I absolutely believe she would. And can't Renziger read minds? I forget.
6043716 Also, didn't they do the same thing in Twilight to get out of a battle by telling the villains how horribly it would go? I think I heard something about that.
And of course, How it Should Have Ended showed us WHY that's a phenomenally stupid thing to tell the bad guys, hence why I can't fathom how Rarity doing it could realistically end well.
6043774 I suspect that if Rarity saw what would happen with absolute certainty, she wouldn't just tell Reiziger what she Saw unless it was specifically outlined. Pledging herself to his service was, for example, already outlined and part of the plan. It seemed as if she was going to do everything she had Seen. Rarity has seemed to commonly be the Only Sane Mare, as far as I remember.
6043780 Which is why she wouldn't.
6043815 Or maybe she'd do it because of FAITH, which is supposed to be the most important thing in this story but to me seems a justification for doing stupid things because you have FAITH it'll be okay.