This story is a sequel to Memories of Shadow
For the last year, Moon Gazer's life has been nothing less than idyllic. Of course, when she thinks about it, her entire life has been idyllic, and the few bad times have been bleached away like bones sitting under the sun. No, the only problems she has to deal with now are a few pesky migraines and a co-worker who has a hard time grasping the idea of a "professional relationship," and to be fair, the co-worker isn't that bad.
So why does she have that nagging little doubt that she forgot something... or someone important?
Chapters (1)
I'm still against the mindrape, I would rather still be me, than be someone else living a happier life.
5051649 A fine position too take. I still don't like saying what I think is the correct interpretation of the situation and instead wanted to leave that judgment up to the reader. However, I did want to explore Celestia's motives and make her a touch sympathetic.
YES!!! I was in the middle in another story so I'll save this sure-to-be master piece!
This a great piece of fan fiction. The pacing is a little jumpy but overall it is a great piece of writing. You didn't disappoint at all.
I hate it when some fanfic writers portray Celestia as a bloodthirsty evil tyrant or simply a troll. You made Celestia into a sympathetic leader who has taken a lot of punishment and will do anything to make her subjects lives easier even if it means her life miserable.
Damn it, now I need to give Celestia a hug she looks like she could use it.
5051931 I agree the pacing was a bit odd, I struggled with it a lot, but I didn't want to bore the reader by rehashing already known details, and I feel that Moon Gazer's Act 1 took way too long to get started. I debated showing more, but couldn't quite make it work so I instead just worked with what we needed to see. Hopefully the ending was satisfactory, I really feel that bit worked.
5052045 Well you did a splendid job with this story overall. You did a fine job. It was a fantastic story.
So is Celestia going to become Sunny the Alicorn? Cause the ending kinda makes you think Luna is using the same magic on her.
That being said it is nice to see that Shadow/Moonie is having a better life. Having her entire being rebuilt like it was could have been awful but it seems that both versions of her liked the place they were in. They just didn't like the way they got there, and the inability to see what was and wasn't truly themselves.
All in all fine work. Still a touch disturbing with the mindbending going on, but thats the nature of the story itself.
Hugs for Celestia.
I'm not into mind warping, but when I do I take off the mask...
*SPOILERS* I was the villain all along!
Umm, did I miss something? or did Luna just randomly show up in the room with Celestia and Shadow right the hell out of nowhere? Did something get left out by mistake?
5052685 There should be a scene with Luna chasing after Skies and Moon Gazer where she sees Skies fall and moves to catch her before chasing after Moonie.
So, another chapter in our twisted story of the worst-ever case of treating the symptoms without addressing the root causes?
Yeah, a lot of people are products of bad environments. So you know what you do? Fix the environment in the first place. Not brainwash people.
5052788 Yeah that seems about right, did you accidentally cut it or was it intentional?
5053138 Remember that ponies make up the environment they live in. By washing minds Celestia was able to create that almost ideal environment.
Even better than the first! I liked how we got much more insight into Celestia's side of the story, so people hopefully won't think she's just some sick brain-raping tyrant again
. I really want to find out what happens after that rather confusing ending. Is Luna going to join in, so Celestia doesn't have to suffer alone? I don't think Luna trying to take away all the bad memories Celly has taken on over the years would be good for anypony, it might bring another NM incident. So, any chance of making this a trilogy? 
5082251 Wait, you found the ending confusing? While I was shooting for ambiguous in some regards, I didn't want it to be confusing. I wanted there to be ambiguity about how complicit Luna would be in the reharmonizing program, and if Celestia would be the last victim of the program she started, but I didn't want it to be confusing.
5077655 No, she wasn't. Silent Shadow had an absolutely shitty childhood, and Celestia attacked the symptom rather than fixing the problem.
5082458 Sorry, confusing was the only word I could think of, but ambiguous is much more appropriate
5082721 Oh tell me, how was Celestia supposed to to fix this problem? To me Silent's childhood was the root of the problems, and it was too late to fix that, so she fixed the problem for Shadow. Thanks to Celestia, Moon Gazer was able to live a happy life in the end.
It's like saying that you shouldn't treat a cancer because the person shouldn't have been exposed to asbestos in the first place.
I agree that Celestia's method isn't very ethical, but she's doing what she can to create this perfect society she wants.
Well, if there was any thoughts that Celestia was doing the right thing, they should be mitigated by the fact that she doesn't seem to be very good at it. I would hope she would have drawn on her experiences and reused memories from others long dead rather than trying to make something up on the spot but then I guess a complete overhaul isn't something she often does. If nothing else, she shouldn't take up writing. Her work would be full of Mary-Sues and no conflict.
To other comments, yeah she was fixing the environment, not just for the pony being "treated", but others around them. Such as Celly's first victim's filly (who, granted, might not have existed without the meddling) and any future victim's of Shadow's. She's trying to break the chain, but in what's generally considered a morally reprehensible manner and not always doing so well.
But if the alternative was death, what's so bad about the treatment? "You" are dead either way, but you can be of more use as a "better" pony.
That argument falls apart with the reveal that Skies was asked first, although it's not clear if the details where explained (uninformed consent isn't consent), and whether or not Skies was facing a death penalty. Skies apparently didn't need to be rewritten as thoroughly although I'm guessing the pony-slaughter was wiped and preferences changed.
Would Equestria really have a three strikes and you're dead law? If I read correctly she said she never changed the old laws so it might have been a harsher place back then, but still.
Celestia in this story and the previous one essentially murders Ponys and creates fake versions. The body lives, and the soul either is sealed away or dies and a fiction takes its place. Its actually quite horrid, sort of like a story I once saw on Babylon 5 with its Death of Personality storyline. "How can one meet there maker and confess there sins if they don't even know what they are?" The ending is ambigious in what Luna does to her sister, but Luna is the Justice of Equestria. She enforces the laws. Does she kill her sister? I don't know. I would like to think she doesn't but I could see her doing her job, and doing it without violence and just letting Celestia fade away into sleep to die there. And be damned herself for following the law. I kind of hope there is a third part, but this is a good enough ending I think.
5146425
I'd think it was quite clear what Luna did, what Celestia did in the same situation, used Celestia's memory erasing spell to eradicate he sister's memories of creating that spell in the first place. Justice is a complicated concept, above mere right or wrong, as demi-goddesses regular justice can't be applied to Celestia or Luna, they are more than beings they are forces of nature. By erasing the memory of the spell a little part of both sisters has died, Luna can no longer look at her sibling as some kind of paragon of virtue, she is flawed. The feelings Celestia felt in "saving" her little ponies from "evil" are also lost, and the harsh toll of dealing out justice is back.
What is right in the end doesn't always lead to a happy ending.
I really liked the first fic in this story and I enjoyed this one too.
I wander if Celestia realises that she isn't really eliminating suffering and hardship from Equestria, just from those who's suffering and hardship lead to negative results, where everypony that channels their misfortunes into positive ends still has to live with them? She's actually an example of positive channelled hardship herself since her desire to help everypony, misguided and ultimately monstrous though it may be, is born of her sister becoming a monster and having to banish her to the Moon.
The ending was...interesting. I don't think I've fully processed how I feel about it at this point. I'm against what Celestia did and all though seeing more of her side of things and that she more-or-less understands what she did was wrong makes what Luna may have to do seem harsher than I think she deserves. It's ambiguous and Luna's last line does make me think she isn't going to go through with it. I think I'd rather Celestia face a less extreme form of punishment and personally I'd like to think she redirects her desire to help ponies into becoming adept at counselling ponies with their problems, perhaps in tandem with Luna's dream walking.
I remember being completely against Celestia in the first fic since she was ignoring more legitimate options from my perspective but now I get why she did it and I'm actually sympathetic toward her now. Well done.
It's nice to get a look at Celestia's perspective on this whole debacle. The original story had her portrayed like a Machiavellian tyrant of ideals too pure to be true without some sort of morale transgressions involved; this sequel at least made her a character I could sympathize with.
But the star of this chapter is the chase and flight of Moon Gazer - Shadow. Pure gold.
A fractured perspective. Warring narrators over the same action and plot - foils of truth and lie - telling the story different ways.
Possibly my favorite passage of writing involving a mind-screwed character!
5233097 That's what I thought happened, but... you know, what do I know?
that last line... It's makes Luna's actions so unknown. Did she create a new Celestia? did she put Celestia into an eternal slumber? did she offer her support? I hope there's going to be a sequel.
On another note, this story was great. The constant battle between silent shadow and moon gazer was amazingly written and riveting, constantly showing us the same story from two different points of view. I like the part where Celestia somehow made her abhor thievery by implanting the idea that she had been robbed when she was younger. To me, it added a bit of realism as, due to the flimsy nature of mind altering magic in Equestria, it made sense to install a fail safe. After all, if a loose memory is all that is needed to awaken the old personality, It wouldn't do to have Moon Gazer interested in thieves. Imagine if she had pursed the articles about silent shadow's career due to interest.
Also, in the show Discord is clearly guilty of altering the minds of the main six. yet he was still viable to be 'reformed' as opposed 'punished' via imprisonment. Thus, I think the death penalty for mind alteration is a bit out of place.
5233404 Well, remember, Twilight's first thought was to just use a "reform" spell. The germ of this story actually came from asking "Why do they have reform spells?" Memories of Shadow as my answer.
As for sequels, if I get a good idea for one, I'll write it, but I'm happy with this story where it is right now.
Wait that's it? What happened next?
5083111 Technically, she is trying to fix the problems. She had a list of names from Silent shadow's memories and the story itself says that she'll go after them. It's the best she can do, given that she's not onni-anything (she seems to get beat down a lot by unexpected threats), but at least she's trying to help(or alternatively fix) those she can find.
5082458 Oh, okay
5233311 So, the canon ending is that Celestia is now mindwiped? I suppose that was the most logical choice, Luna would hardly just do nothing right? Especially after her words towards the end of the story. Still though, I was always hoping that Luna would think back to her words earlier and decide that since they are truly happy (probably only because the unhappy ones were rewritten) there was no need for her to interfere with her sister's methods. Since she does however, I wonder what the new system for lawbreakers will be?
5233467 There are lots of possibilities, and I really wanted the reader to come up with their own conclusions on what happens next due to the... divisive nature of the story. However, I want to make it clear that no pony really wins in this story. The only pony who comes out of it not brainwashed is Luna, who just saw her sister fall from grace in a spectacular way, can pretty much never have an honest conversation with her sister again, has several lifetimes of bad memories to deal with, and also has to either reform the Equestrian justice system.
Actually... The more I think about it, the more I want to write this story.
5233832 and thus, the mission 'get Distaff Pope to write a sequel' is completed! Right?
5051649 And if you're not a criminal, you get to make that sort of choice. Once you break the law, the people in authority get to do stuff to you against your will.
The only non-technological limit even in modern society is that it can't be 'cruel or unusual'. They can take away your stuff, enslave you (although of course they don't call it that), lock you up forever, even kill you.
5234428 Uhmm... Maybe? I mean, right now I have Princess Luna's Academy and Welcome to Pony Vale to deal with , and the sequel idea is just that, an idea, and I can't say for sure that I'll write it until I know where the story is going, but I can definitely spend some time turning it over.
5236011 Thanks. Question: What do you mean by the mindset of TCB Celestia?
5236318 Ah, see, my main experience with TCB comes from... I think it's called Year One or something like that? Where Celestia is portrayed as way more in character since the rift/void thingy is expanding without her influence and if they don't convert, they'll be killed.
I personally would like to see more if the author wants to delve deeper into this. Each and every interpretation of the ending can be expanded upon by anyone really, that's the beauty of fanfiction, and if you want to keep the mystery then read no more sequels.
5236639 "Year One"? Where can I read that story?
5283193 The story's proper name is "The Conversion Bureau: The First Year." I think it manages to do away with a lot of the "Humans are Bastards" tone of the original and paints the conversion process as more of a necessity since the bubble is expanding of its own volition and super lethal to humans.
What does Nihil Sub Sole Novum mean?
5286432 Latin for "Nothing New Under the Sun." I always liked the phrase, and considering the story's focus on both returning to a previous state and Princess Celestia I thought it was a good time to use it.
wow, just wow.
5291179 Is that a good wow?
5291183 It is. I was confused to where Luna came in with Crimson, but still, wow. I love your style of work.
Eh, I prefer the original.
I quite enjoyed this story. The first story was pretty bland and read like a premise that had a couple characters applied. This one actually reads like a full story and jumps off of the first nicely. The possible multiple interpretations of the end was also a nice touch.
5343025 Thank you, I guess? I'm going to go ahead and say the compliment outweighs the critique. Also, I'm tickled by the fact that your comment is right on top of a comment saying the original was better.
5345538
I wouldn't necessarily say that this one was better than the other one. Simply because I wouldn't really consider them separate. It felt to me like they were two chapters in the same story. The first sets up the plot and introduces the characters but not much more, the second plays things out. I would certainly say the compliment outweighs the critique.
I found that rather amusing as well.
Wow. Great story. I love the idea of altering pony's memories to make new ponies. I do have a request. I agree with no sequel, but what about side stories. For example, what actually happened to Red Skies? What about other Celestia's victims? Those would be interesting to read. Good luck with future stories.
WAIT WHAT?! that ending...it insinuated that luna just......and celestia just let her....NO! no nononono! I...i liked the story up until that point....didn't actually expect anypony to...grrr.. I give you nine/ten stars....cause that ending was both unexpected and unpleasant.....