In the dark of a Canterlot night, five cloaked and hooded ponies made their way to one of the smallest and least known castle entrances. High winds caused the arid air to swirl around them, filled with a bitter dust that made one of the smaller of the three mares cough; such was the misery of a thunderstorm with none of its sorely-needed rain. From far away in the hills, the five could see flashes of lightning and hear the booms of thunder, with the sickening pops and hisses that indicated more forest and farmland was now on fire. They glanced at each other, and the same desperation leapt in all of their eyes.
“Can you use your magic to open the door, Princess?” hissed one of the two stallions.
One of the mares gestured the others to step back, and directed a carefully aimed jet of magic towards the lock—but instead of going into the lock, the magic swirled three times anti-clockwise, once clockwise, and four times anti-clockwise again. The lock clicked open.
“Inside, inside,” the smallest mare said quickly, bustling them all in, then remarked, “it’s a good thing that the lock has not been changed.”
“It is a terrible thing,” the princess said sorrowfully. “The door was unprotected. I will change it until morning,” and she cast another protective spell upon the lock.
They hastened up one of the twisting back stairwells, clinging closely to the stone walls and prepared to drop to the floor if necessary, but fortunately, they were not seen, and reached the fifth floor in safety. Then the mare who had not yet spoken rapped gently at the stairwell door.
“May we speak to—”
“Allow me,” said the smallest mare, and she rapped on the door more firmly. “The Glass Council demands entrance and a royal audience.”
Two Royal Guards opened the door and held their weapons ready. “Nopony demands a royal audience at this hour with the realm in turmoil. It is the hour for sleep. The Glass Council, indeed!”
From the end of the corridor, a grayish-brown unicorn stallion approached, his mane swept back by a simple diadem and clad in a soft red robe. “Indeed, it is the Glass Council,” he said, smiling. “Welcome, my old friends.” The five cloaked ponies slid past the guards.
“Thank you for your diligence,” said the unicorn stallion to the guards. “But the Glass Council must always be permitted entrance when they ask it. And there was no royal slumber to be interrupted. You may go, and tell the next watch that they needn’t arrive until dawn. Do as I say,” he insisted, at their looks of concern. The guards dropped their necks in a silent bow, and withdrew.
The members of the Glass Council also began to sink into reverential bows, but he held up a hoof. “Please,” he said, “among friends, and you are my friends, I am only Sombra."
~~~
The King levitated a candelabra and led the way towards a private chamber near his bedroom—a comfortable room, with a round wooden table and well-worn chairs. One wall had four stained-glass windows, small replicas of those in the Great Hall four floors below. “Allow me to take your cloaks,” he said, gesturing towards the chairs. “I apologize for the lack of a fire, but I dare not risk the sparks from the chimney.”
“We do not wish for one,” murmured the blue alicorn princess.
Sombra brought back a flagon and a tray of glasses. “I can offer you refreshments, at least. Some of you I know will refuse food, but I must insist that you drink water.” As he filled the glasses, he looked from well-loved face to well-loved face, those of the figures in the stained-glass windows: the twin justices, Flim and Flam, the Elements of Fairness; the alicorn princess Trixie Lulamoon, the Element of Humility; and Lady Chrysalis, the Element of Love. The last was an unprepossessing gray pegasus mare, blonde, and with thick glasses. “Welcome, my Glass Council,” he said, “and my friends.”
The gray pegasus frowned. It was one of her eccentricities that she did not care to be addressed by her proper name. The reasons she gave varied from the superstitious to the caustic: “I’ve only got one name. Don’t wear it out.” But such was her wisdom—for she was the element of Wisdom—that all indulged this whim of hers, and did not press her. “I wish,” she said, “that your Majesty had not insisted on depicting me with my corrective lenses. Surely Wisdom has nothing to do with personal appearance, and I would rather appear as I am.” She removed her glasses, and her eyes rolled into their natural places, wildly askew.
“Sombra,” said the King. “Not ‘Your Majesty.’ And you are quite right. But for your comfort, dear lady, please wear your glasses. I’m sure you didn’t come here at such an hour to discuss art.”
Flim, Flam, Trixie and Chrysalis all gazed at each other uncomfortably. They knew that the suggestion they were to make would not be received well. They turned to the gray pegasus, who nodded and drew out a small stack of books, filled with carefully-placed bookmarks.
“We know what keeps your Majesty sleepless—or we think we do,” she amended, as he looked up sharply. “It is what concerns us all—the misery of our land, our ponies, and all of Equestria.”
“The land is sterile,” said Chrysalis.
“The ponies grow hungry,” said the justices, “and with hunger comes lawlessness.”
“And those of my tribe can no longer provide rain,” finished the pegasus.
“We are dying,” said Trixie.
Even in this solemn conversation, Sombra smiled to himself. Princess Trixie never used the royal “we.” When she said “we” or “us,” she meant the ponies of Equestria. She thought only of them, and asked nothing for herself. It was an endearing characteristic, he thought, and he was very proud of her. Then he brought his mind back to the matter at hand. “I know,” he said. “That is what Celestia and her sister have brought to us, and the havoc they have wrought. I thought I was trying my best to protect my ponies. It isn’t enough. I will redouble my efforts.”
The council members glanced at each other, and the gray scholar spoke again. “We thought perhaps,” she said, “that our common misery does not arise from Celestia’s cruelty, or at least, not entirely so. Your Majesty—”
“Sombra.”
“My friend. Perhaps you know of the theory that the king and the land are united—that the pain of one is the pain of the other. When the King suffers, we all suffer. The King and his ponies are one.”
“I . . . have heard of such a theory,” the King said cautiously.
“Then perhaps,” she said gently, “it is time to give way and accede to Celestia’s offer. The King’s misery is afflicting us all.”
Sombra knocked over his glass. “You know, then,” he said. “You know of the other world.”
Flim nodded. “It was the Gray Lady who deduced that there must be another world, and that it was Celestia’s greed to acquire it that was motivating her attacks.”
“We called the others and we met in our chambers, where she explained it all—the other ponies, the other Canterlot,” said Flam.
“And the other Celestia,” said Chrysalis. “The one you love. I am sorry, King Sombra. I have done my best to keep your secret, but when our friends here had all the other pieces of the puzzle, I felt I had no choice but to tell them.”
“And we beg you, your Majesty,” said Trixie, with a rustle of her feathers, “please to accept. Your unhappiness may be the cause of our misery. If she is right, and you are happy with your princess, perhaps the land will heal itself.”
“Our Celestia may honor her promise—” said Flim.
“Something I never thought we’d say,” said Flam, finishing his brother’s sentence.
“And if not, we would still rejoice to see you happy. You’ve sacrificed such a lot, for such a long time. You’ve made your ponies’ unhappiness yours. Please let us make your happiness ours. In this sense, the theory is true. The king and his land are one,” said the gray scholar.
“And how can love, especially love that has lasted over a thousand years—how could that bring anything but what is good?” said Chrysalis.
Sombra smiled faintly. “There was a time,” he said, “when I would have said exactly what you have. But my answer is no. There must be another way.”
“But, your Majesty—” said Flim, but Sombra cut him off.
“If you know that there is another world,” he said, “then perhaps you know that there is a counterpart for each of us, just as there are for the two Celestias. Your two,” he turned to Flim and Flam, “are petty shysters who care nothing for the truth. They have your cleverness, but none of your morals. Yours,” he said to Trixie, “wastes her magical talents on cheap tricks and thinks of nopony but herself. You, my dear,” he said to Chrysalis, and paused, for he did not want to hurt her.
“Must be a monster,” she said softly. “I can imagine. I know.”
“As for you, Councilor,” he said to the gray pegasus, and smiled, “there is no world in which you are anything but good, simple, and wise, though perhaps not as appreciated as you ought to be.”
“Mine,” he said, “is, or was, the worst of all: a tyrant who tortured and enslaved his ponies and reveled in cruelty and greed. Celestia has not told me whether he is alive or dead,” he mused, tapping his hoof to his chin. “I think she assumes it would upset me. If he was half what she says he was, I cannot shed any tears over his death, and I would hope that none would shed tears over mine, were I to become like him.”
“Celestia’s ponies have borne a great deal from ponies like us, and if there is happiness and kindness there, can’t we take comfort in the fact that it exists somewhere? Why should they live with our misery? What have they done to deserve that?”
“What have we done to deserve this?” exclaimed Flam.
“That, too, is fair,” said the other justice. “And think what would follow for your ponies, with a wise and kind princess by your side. The land healed, our cities restored—”
“—an heir to the throne,” Justice Flam hinted slyly.
Sombra slammed his hoof down on the table. “Enough!” he snarled. “Do not tempt me!”
His friends and councilors saw the gleam of red in his eyes, and they felt something they had never felt before in his presence. They felt fear.
“Do not tempt me,” he repeated. “I do not know how the other Sombra became what he was. Perhaps his tyranny began like this, but I know mine would. Small indulgence after small indulgence, all with the lie that whatever pleased me was for the good of my ponies. Petty acts of selfishness, each one leading to the great selfishness, and the destruction that a king or a magician can wreak with unchecked power; and I, like him, am both. For all I know, his corruption sprang from what he would have called love, although I certainly wouldn’t give such greed and cruelty such a lovely name. In any case, my answer is no.”
His councilors all surged forward, speaking over each other in a babble of reasons he should accept, reasons he should give in to the great temptation of his life, and in his mind, the image of Celestia sprang up, too, for she was never far from his thoughts. “No!” he roared. “Why are you all torturing me? Is this all for me, or is it something you want for yourselves? You, Trixie—are you hungry for a real court filled with celebrations and feasts, where you would receive praise and honor, instead of the daily misery that makes you place the needs of others before your own?” Trixie flushed. “Chrysalis—do you want to feed on love, as your kind in that other world do? To see happiness and suck it away?” Chrysalis looked at him, reproach in her eyes, but did not speak. “As for you, Flim and Flam—would you live through me? You know my great secret, and I know yours: the private sorrow of your bachelor hearts. The singing and dancing may deceive the world, but it does not deceive me. Would observing a happy marriage relieve some of your pain?” Flim and Flam’s mouths tightened. “And you, Councilor—” he paused, “I cannot think what your motivation is. But my answer to you all, now and always, must be no.”
“What we counsel—we have only done so out of love,” whispered Trixie.
“I know,” he said softly. “I know. And I know I have said cruel and unforgivable things to you all. I would never have said them if I were truly a good king or a good pony, but I am neither. I do not dare give in to myself on this. Do you understand? Do you forgive me?”
“That other world,” Flam muttered, “they have magic that we do not.”
“They prosper and we perish. How is that just? How is that fair?” said his brother.
“We cannot bear to see one more foal with a big belly and thin legs, and eyes too big for its face. It hurts our heart too much, your Majesty,” said Trixie, the alicorn princess, and she gave way at last to tears. Sombra stroked the blue mane.
“Not you, Trixie,” he murmured. “You are our hope, should something happen to me. You, of all of us, mustn’t give up.”
“There must be a better way,” he said to all of them. “There is another way. She promised to send help, and she has never failed me, not in over a thousand years.” He rose and gazed at them all fondly. “As for you; you are true friends to me, and very good and kind to suggest that my happiness would be yours, but you know in your hearts that it isn’t true. Please stay with me tonight. We can say our proper goodbyes in the morning.” He opened the door for them all with a bow. “Lady Chrysalis, would you please remain with me?”
The Element of Love waited patiently until all the others had left the room. “Chrysalis,” said Sombra, walking back to the table and seating himself, “I require your services tonight.”
“Your Majesty is too weak,” she replied, shaking her head.
“Not for this,” he insisted, loosening his cravat. “Never for this.”
“Just as you wish,” she murmured, and she touched her horn to his.
The Lady Chrysalis’ gift was perhaps the most peculiar of all. She ate love, or rather, not love, but the thousands of small meannesses that masquerade as love: pettiness, jealousy, envy, vanity, possessiveness and shame. All of these she removed, and left only that which was good, selfless, and noble. Even the Gray Scholar could not explain by what alchemy she and her kind turned this ill into good, and for this sustenance based on transmutation, they were called the Changelings. But the process was painful, and few submitted to it willingly. Sombra had done so countless times. He did not cry out, but he paled and the muscles in his face tightened. When she had finished, he did indeed seem weaker, but far more at peace.
“Thank you, Chrysalis,” he said, gesturing towards the nearest chair. “I could not bear this if it were not for you.”
“It is no burden to me,” she said. “For me, it is merely food. I only fear that I and my kind cause pain.”
He shook his head. “You remove pain,” he said. “The sting is short. I wish Flim and Flam would speak to you, but they confuse the pain of love with the reality of love, and I think they fear they would forget. I could tell them that isn’t true.”
“It is their decision,” said Chrysalis calmly. “And your case is unusual. Yours is—difficult.”
“Say ‘hopeless,’ Chrysalis. I don’t really mind.”
“I don’t like that word applied to love, but they must have more hope than you.”
“No,” said Sombra, “and they will never speak, for the happiness of one brother would mean the unhappiness of the other.”
“They love the same lady?” said Chrysalis in surprise.
“Exactly,” said Sombra, rising and steadying himself against the table. “The one they love is no longer the honest country mare she once was, but if she ever were to become so again, they still wouldn’t speak. One of them might be unhappy. And that, as Flim once informed me when he had had a bit too much cider, wouldn’t be fair. I think they would even humbly accept half her heart, but they still wouldn’t ask it of her! Are all of us mad?”
Chrysalis smiled. “I think we must be,” she said, “if trying to be good and noble is mad, but we follow your example in everything, sire.”
Sombra nodded and tried to smile, but hobbled back to the table and half lay on it in exhaustion. “Someday, I am going to ask you to take my heart, Chrysalis. But then again, I can’t, because it is hers. Never and always, never and always. There must be another way.”
I always enjoy your stories! Thank you for writing them. fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/001/c/9/clapping_pony_icon___princess_celestia_by_taritoons-d5pozf0.gif
Oh no ... the Fair Flim Flam brothers are in love with Liar Applejack?!!!
4595569 Thanks for reading them!
4595730 Maybe they sense that there is another Applejack out there. . . whom they will probably never meet. Maybe we'll find out tomorrow, and maybe we never will.
Oh goodness... This was rather sad and sweet.
As for the rush job, if anyone notices anything to correct, you can always edit it. I didn't see anything that stood out right away, except two paragraphs snuggling, but then I'm tired and going to bed I think. (I would point out which ones didn't break properly, except sleepy. I'll find it tomorrow if no one else noticed.) I'll try and double-check for anything else that may have slipped by tomorrow.
This was definitely interesting though, seeing their side of the conflict and how they're getting desperate. It's only natural. I really like the good king being more approachable and close, not unlike Celestia or Twilight.
Poor Flim and Flam... that's my fault, but I'm deeply intrigued to see how that came about. Of course, I'm also curious about the Apples, but I'm guessing part of what changed her was the land wasting away and the farm producing less and less. That could explain why Big Mac and Granny were dressed posh. What if the rest of her family gave up on the farm and sold it while they could, but AJ refused and went into denial, not unlike the Discorded AJ? Hrmmm... perhaps too close but not impossible. Although she may or may not be dealing with the fall-out, since she's Wanted, like the rest of her friends, for following Celestia.
Thoughts... so many.
My version of Trixie is very willing to follow and learn from an admirable older male who has won her respect. Good!Sombra would perfectly fit the bill. Also, though she usually winds up loving such a person, it can be platonic love -- it was with White-Beard the Grey, who was a father-figure to her. Since the various alignment shifts are probably supposed to be naturally-caused within each universe, the explanation here may have been that Sombra was Trixie's mentor, and he set her firmly on the path to goodness and Ascension. And she paid attention to him, because he had won her deep respect.
Flim and Flam ... In the main universe they are probably some sort of Apple kin -- distant cousins of the Sweet Apple Acres Apples (I think "distant" because nopony at Sweet Apple Acres recognized them when they first showed up in "The SSCS 6000" (I refuse to write out that whole title!), who have probably been more or less disowned as "black sheep" by the rest of the Apple Clan, who seem to be mostly a decent bunch, with Applejack being the most honorable of her honorable family.
In the alternate universe, I would guess that the Apple Clan are known as untrustworthy desperadoes, kind of like the Beagle Boys from the Carl Barks cartoonverse (Duck Tales and Darkwing Duck), and Flim and Flam are the "white sheep" of their family -- with Applejack being one of the most black-hearted and vicious of a cruel clan.
A major tragedy like a famine might even bring out the best in the arrogant and egotistical version of Trixie. I again point out that in "Boast Busters" she was actually willing to risk her life to save Snips and Snails, even though from a coldly utilitarian perspective she had no reason to do so. I think she has the seed of heroism in her, though I doubt the series writers are going to have things go that direction, if they ever use her again.
I totally agree with that analysis.
I'm guessing that this version of Chrysalis led her Changelings out of sterile parasitism into symbiosis with Ponykind, instead of leading them on a suicidal war of conquest against them, and is as kind and loving as the main Chrysalis is cruel and hateful.
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Never and always, eh?
It feels like cheating ta say that Derpy isn't different in this universe when everyone else is. Ah'm jus' gonna assume Sombra was tryin' not ta hurt her feelings by callin' the other her foolish. The Derpy we know an' love is a silly pony, a klutz, an' in all honesty not that bright; that's what we love about her. Also, what, she doesn't wanna be called by her real name that happens ta sound insulting, but she does want the image of herself depicted accurately even if it makes her look bad (even though, since the corrective lenses are apparently a thing she wears frequently, it technically is accurate anyway)? Seems kinda haphazard there.
That aside... ah like where this is goin'.
Oh, and one more thing ... there's even a weird resonance here to Good Sombra improving Trixie's life and character, given my theory that the Evil Sombra made the Alicorn Amulet in the first place ...
Excellent work as usual! Lots of love sent your way!
4595730 "Love is blind, deaf and ever so dumb." I like how they're apparently so evenly matched with their affection that they can't bear to impose on the other; one story I read had them feel this way about their childhood friend Trixie.
4596358 Derpy is still a blank slate to us. What she is for real is unknown. (In The Best Job in Equestria, I gave her a very unexpected lifestyle.) I'm not sure what the comic writers would try to say with her mirror opposite being a paragon of wisdom, though. The mirrorverse fanfics primarily show her as dignified versus the original's being silly, but there's no crime in that. 'Wisdom' in general is very hard to peg, and is rarely associated with book learning.
Beautiful work, as always, scoots. Such a shame this will be your last story in the Mirrorverse, you seem to do wonders with it. I especially like the idea of Lady Chrysalis taking away pain, that's so beautifully bittersweet! All in all, as expected, you have my upvote and fave.
Hey, guys--I'm glad you've enjoyed this. I am probably going to write an Epilogue, which will be clearly marked for spoilers. It's too interesting to resist. There are no spoilers in this comment. If anyone does want to comment and if you've read the new issue (issue 20), would you please put in a spoiler tag? It is only bracket spoiler bracket, bracket backslash spoiler bracket].
4598087 Actually, I'm thinking strongly about writing an Epilogue after I've read and absorbed today's content. I wanted to keep Chrysalis as close to her regular counterpart as she is, and I thought of all the unpleasant things people feel and do and call "love," and then I had it. And I'd think turning love into something that unselfish would be very painful in the process, but better in the end.
4595897 I did find some snuggling paragraphs and fixed them, though I can't be sure that those are the ones you meant, of course.
Good King Sombra is a lovely character, and he's not like any other character I've written for. He's approachable in the comics, too.
4595953 To a certain extent Trixie, and definitely her amped-up counterpart Sunset Shimmer, seem like the sort of young woman who does not Play Well with other women. That's not a personality trait I can identify with, but I know it exists. And it didn't make sense for an Alicorn Princess to have no relationship to the King.
I'm not sure about Flim and Flam, although I do recognize the apple cutie marks. I'm not even sure they have the SAME cutie mark in the Mirrorverse, although Trixie and the Gray Lady do. There was a hint in the last one about Applejack and the family farm being some sort of gangsters, and she does wear a black hat, so I don't know if Flim and Flam were in love with her and she became corrupted or whether they're sort of in love with Applejack as they sense she should be.
I'm pretty sure Trixie helped fight off the Nightmare Forces in the Nightmare Rarity arc, but she's also been shown as her old boastful self in a few since then. As the Element of Humility, though, she would have to identify with her ponies, since humility doesn't mean shyness or self-deprecation--it's more like being "down to earth." And a Princess who was watching her people starve would be truly humiliated, or I'd hope so.
This Chrysalis has butterfly wings, and wears adorable little glasses. Normally, I have no interest in Queen Cheeselegs, but like Sombra, the "good" version of her has been so interesting that it's begun to color my view of the "bad" Chrysalis. Another reason why this arc is well worth a read.
I always thought King Sombra made the Alicorn Amulet, and was disappointed when we didn't seem to see any connection, but I'm not sure that there isn't one, either.
4596358
4597491 I was stuck with her depiction in the stained-glass window. There she's shown with her glasses and reading a book. Personally, I'm not nuts about the idea of "wisdom" being allied to book learning, either, so I thought that in this case, she might be wise in BOTh places but in different ways. And I have made her direct and no nonsense and one who does not suffer fools gladly, which is different, so I suppose there are different ways to gloss "opposite." Both Flims and Flams are song and dance types--they just use it in different ways. But that is just my take.
4597491 I can't really take credit for the Flim/Flam/Applejack ship, but figuring out how it would play out in the Mirrorverse and the Justices' characters--that was fun. Hey--they do everything else together, so it only makes sense.
4596521 Thanks!
4596962 Agreed! He is much more interesting.
I went with a modified version of Alex Warlorn's background for Trixie, meaning that she has an assertive, dominant mother; a submissive but loving father, two brothers who mostly avoid their kin -- and four sisters who look very much like Trixie and are part of a group showbusiness act. Trixie's quest for attention and distinction is largely a revolt against subsumption into her own family.
She hence tends to look for love (both romantically and platonically) and friendship from males rather than females,and only from some males at that -- those who impress her with a certain kind of gentle but definitely dominant and protective personality. Trixie is what would be called a "demisexual" -- she does have a sex drive but it's fairly weak, and there are very few males she can even potentially be attracted to sexually -- and these all, for obvious reasons, fall into her preferred male type for friendship. Weaker males she regards as potential "minions" (or, when she gets a bit more sane and mature, secondary friends). Her problem with most females is that she sees them as competition for dominance, though it's not impossible for her to have female friends -- it's just that her relationship with them tends to be stormy.
Since my Equestria is rather sexually-conservative, and my Trixie even more sexually-conservative than most Equestrians (mostly because there are very few stallions even potentially in the running for her love), my Trixie's not very experienced even though she lives at times a very precarious and random life. The only reason she slept with Piercing as fast as she did is because he's exactly her "type" and they got drunk together; Trixie was then so disgusted at her own behavior that she fled the situation. It's probably obvious from my other writings about her and Piercing that they are eventually reconciled and wind up together; for at least the first three-quarter centuries of her life, he is the only lover Trixie ever takes (they marry and she is eventually widowed). I haven't even decided yet what happens next, aside from Trixie going into a (much less destructive than in Substitute Mentor) Nightmare State in which she deludes herself into thinking Piercing is still alive by projecting illusions of him all around herself.
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4597491
Ah would tend ta think of learnedness bein' a result of wisdom. A fool can have knowledge for knowledge's sake, but wisdom includes bein' able to identify what it is you really need ta know. An' we do have canon Derpy scenes, y'know. Ah also don't think the Flim an' Flam thing is really analogous, because the "song and dance" isn't the point. Mirrorverse Flim an' Flam are "Fairness", an' regular Flim an' Flam are anything but. This is what ah'm sayin', an' you even pointed out in the story that their respective attributes are all complete inversions of their "normal" selves, but then you pulled your punch on Derpy's account. Doesn't seem fair to the rest of 'em. Anyway, ah'm just sayin' all this for the record an' it's not like it ruins the whole thing. It jus' really bugs me.
As far as the Alicorn Amulet, ah guess where it would be in the Mirrorverse would depend on what it does. Does the Mirrorverse invert the alignments of artifacts, or just ponies? If it's the opposite of the "normal" Amulet, turnin' the wearer good (and making them either stronger or weaker in the process), then it would still be made by the Mirrorverse counterpart of the original. On the other hand, if it still turns the wearer evil, then obviously it would have to be made by somebody else. Ah kinda doubt Good King Sombra would create somethin' like that.
Out of curiosity... Why isn't the Champion of Equestria, hero to many, ultimate protector of hope and everything good, Captain Goodguy, part of the Glass Council? (for those who don't know, Captain Goodguy is a Mirror-Equestrian masked superhero, whose secret identity is Lord Discord.
4599997 Well, Twilight is the most learned character on the show, but she has plenty of moments where she's being a fool despite (or sometimes because of) this. Practically everypony has their episode where they're being foolish and somepony else has to be wise. Wisdom is circumstantial, I guess; some are wise about certain things.
Derpy is still a blank slate because the show gives little to no insight to her motivation. The Last Roundup showed her somehow wrecking town hall and being oblivious about her actions. So is she stupid, retarded, just clumsy, having a bad day and being a little distracted, genuinely helpful but the victim of unlucky circumstance, intentionally playing the klutz in order to destroy the town hall on purpose, or what? If going by "She's clumsy and a bit dimwitted", then having her mirror counterpart be thoughtful and considerate would certainly fit the bill for wisdom.
4600075
I'm kind of curious about the personalities of the Evil Mane Six. There are many ways to be "opposites." I noticed that they all cheat at cards ...
4600075
But ya can't play that "dimwittedness" off as bein' a matter of intelligence rather than wisdom. Shouldn't a wise pony see the destruction she's causing? Shouldn't a wise pony know when to stop? These are not matters of book learning, they are matters of sense - of wisdom. An' it's a chronic thing with her; in Feeling Pinkie Keen she drops three separate items in quick succession an' never even stops ta notice the pony she's droppin' 'em all on.
An' come ta think of it, with the destruction she causes, it's really not fair ta call her "underappreciated" at all. Ah wouldn't appreciate someone who's always obliviously injurin' folks an' causin' property damage for their "wisdom", an' ah'd be right not to.
4600151 Yeah, that's exactly my point. Intelligence is not a factor in wisdom. Assuming that Mirror Derpy is thoughtful and wise - a pony who considers actions consequences and how the world is affected by them - it would mean that Canon Derpy is thoughtless and foolish; she doesn't consider consequences, she doesn't consider how her actions affect the world. She knocks over a pillar and it falls down on Rainbow Dash; she says "Oops, my bad!" and then stops thinking about it. She drops a bunch of heavy furniture, and her main concern is that her boss is now mad at her; she doesn't consider that the things she dropped are now broken, or that it may have landed on somepony. The only relevant factors are the immediate ones.
That said, I like to think that there's more to her (and thus by extension her mirror counterpart) because it makes for more interesting stories, not to mention that idiot characters are overall an overused staple and rather unpleasant to read about.
4600138 Isn't that just Fluttershy, though? Unless the others are just less obvious at it.
And now I have a silly idea for an AU story with reversed personalities, where Twilight Sparkle (an illiterate book-hater who despises her mentor, Celestia, for constantly playing nasty pranks on her) gets sent to Ponyville to mess up the preparations for the Summer Sun celebration, and more importantly, make some enemies. Where she meets Applejack (a shyster who constantly tries to sell overpriced bad apples), Rarity (who demands payment for even the smallest favor), Rainbow Dash (who constantly shirks weather duty so she can train to become a Wonderbolt, and then have the rest of the fliers kicked off the team so she can be the main star), Fluttershy (a vicious hermit who hates animals) and Pinkie Pie (who constantly ruins any fun she happens across). By the end, she realizes she hates them all, and Celestia decides to let her stay in Ponyville to study the Magic of Enmity.
4600226
Well, we're not readin' about her, we're readin' about Sombra. "Normal" Derpy doesn't even have ta factor into this at all, so whether an idiot is less interesting to read about or not doesn't really matter because we could jus' as easily not read about her. But someone who's foolish can have more to 'em without takin' away that foolishness. It's not uncommon ta see a character who's kind enough ta make up for it. Plenty a' heroes are fools, but do what they need to anyway through sheer overwhelming conviction.
4600034 Again--I'm kinda stuck with the stained glass! I'm sure they must know and be in communication with him, though, so if I allow myself to get sucked into more of these, Captain Goodguy is bound to show up. What's more, I'd think Discord, like Loki, would possibly be one of the few beings who could easily go back and forth from universe to universe, and for all we know he's been "Captain Goodguy" in a parallel existence the whole time and finds it all very amusing.
4600138 I've also noticed that they make poor Pinkie do all the cooking--and that they seem to be piled into some kind of hideout. And that Tank has a mustache. I suppose this could be looked at as "how dare they not fill in the holes!" or "ooo! stuff for me to do!"
Anyway, I really think I want to play with this some more, and I'm really hoping that more people do. Cook and Price just opened up a vast amusement park, showed us the entryway, handed us the keys and said "here ya go!" And like Equestria Girls, I keep hoping fan artists and fan writers will pick it up and do stuff, only this is a better 'verse than EG. Oh, well. If other people do, I'll cheer 'em on, and if I'm the only one, then more for me.
4600297
4600297 Again--I'm stuck with the stained glass. What the "mirror opposite" should be isn't really germane here. I have a picture with the grey pegasus wearing glasses, reading a book, with a caption reading "Wisdom." I'm not exactly a fan of Drama Pony, to be honest, or rather, the heat that she engenders: as a background pony, she's rather cute.
It's obvious that it's not as simple as black is white, up is down, which would be boring, anyhow. What WOULD the true analogue of the Alicorn Amulet be, anyhow? A good artifact that Twilight Sparkle tried to steal? A good artifact that Trixie learned to master? A bad artifact that Trixie tried to destroy? All of these are potential "opposites." What happens between those ideas and the bits and pieces we have is fanfiction, and my explanations can (and probably do) differ from yours.
--as far as I know, for example, I'm the only one who came up with the idea that Cheese Sandwich is a traveling mortician who makes everypony really depressed, but I got that idea from other fanfiction. At one point, there were so many Pinkie-Pie-dies-and-Cheese-throws-her-funeral fics that I used to call them "Pinkie dies, Cheese cries, details at 11."
It's a new sandbox. We should revel in it.
Allright, you have my attention. :). I happen to like the alternative universe situation, where the good guys are evil, and evil guys are good.
4600276
Hm, now ah'm thinkin' ah should put up another snippet of a story inspired by an evilverse RP ah did...
Who is this reader and critic?
It's official, Derpy is best pony in any universe.
This is really nice, I do enjoy mirror universes, they're so fun!
Awesome
I must say, the love triangle idea for Flim and Flam is ingenious. It's so representative of their element even as they are tempted to stray from it.