It had taken less than a day for Solaria’s display to reach the ears of the rest of the hidden community, and after a prolonged discussion with Starswirl about the virtues of precision and moderation, she was able to take a shift warming the fields. After showing literally no fatigue from the shift, Starswirl had tentatively agreed to increasing her area of responsibility in the field the next day.
The process had repeated itself several times over several days before they had come to a rather startling arrangement: Solaria would maintain the warmth of all of the fields for one day per week, thus allowing the regular team a much-needed break to rest and recuperate. The plan also was designed to give her enough time to recover her apparently substantial magical capacity, as well as help with some other duties in the town.
What she had not shared with Starswirl or any of the other unicorns was that she suspected that she could warm the fields for years before beginning to feel any strain from the fire spells she was casting. Even replicating the flickering flames several hundred times felt no more strenuous than the magic she used to maintain her physical form. The only problem that Solaria had encountered with the arrangement of her work schedule was the pony who was sent to ‘supervise’ her and make sure that if she needed help she would get it. Still, her ‘supervisor’ was proving useful in other ways.
“Are you really sure you don’t need to rest? It sure seems like it would be pretty tiresome to maintain this many spells all at once,” the pegasus calling himself ‘Prancer’ said as he walked in the next cultivated row beside Solaria. The younger stallion had never failed to miss an opportunity to talk with (or more accurately, talk at) Solaria, and seemed impervious to the frosty reception of his company. It had been nearly two weeks of such treatment before Starswirl pointed out that he was the same stallion who had helped her master the torch spell, and that she should probably be a bit nicer to him.
Still, she had found a use for the stallion. After she had discovered an elevated heart rate in him whenever she approached, she had run a series of test to see if her magic was somehow affecting his body. Through that, she had hoped, she could find a way around the Traveller’s curse so that she could resume her rightful place in the world. Solaria’s theory fell through when her magic continued to have no negative effect on her test subject, and the curious behavior of his heartbeat continued regardless of what magic she attempted to cast on him.
“The answer to your question is the same as the last time you asked: This work is no challenge for me,” Solaria answered, before idly attempting to disembowel Prancer with his own ribs. The familiar pull of the energy welled up within her, but the spell refused to execute. She resisted the impulse to scowl as she let the energy of the failed spell bleed into the torches around her.
“That’s amazing! I know the others on the field team really appreciate having a chance to put their hooves up and rest for a bit,” the stallion said, and Solaria once again felt the curious feeling of déjà vu right up until the conversation deviated from its usual path. “Before you came, they didn’t really have the opportunity to spend much time with their families and friends… and special someponies.”
“Then it is good that I require no such time for myself,” Solaria replied, and she threw an off-the-hoof attempt to teleport Prancer off the planet and into the airless void. When Prancer’s heart rate began to elevate again, she arched an eyebrow to witness what effect her attempted murder was having on the stallion.
Prancer face had grown quite red, and he immediately glanced away when Solaria’s gaze fell upon him. He squirmed under the scrutiny before stuttering, “I-is that because we spend so much time t-together?”
Nearly incoherent speech, increased blood pressure and heart rate… is this progress? “I have no such attachments, therefore I require no such time,” Solaria said as she again attempted to teleport Prancer while directly observing the test subject. Unlike the first attempt, Prancer’s vital signs began to level out. He tried to speak several times but failed to do so. I do so hate inconsistency in my results! Solaria complained inwardly before resuming her patrol.
“Oh… well… that’s nice, right? Lots of free time then,” Prancer finally managed to say as he recovered enough to trot back to his usual place. “Most of my days I have to keep the skies clear so the fields can get as much light as possible while the sun is up. The rest of my time off is spent here… with you.”
His heart began to race again, and Solaria felt a spike of agitation as she hadn’t even tried anything new yet. Accursed inconsistency! Perhaps it’s not my testing, but the raw materials I’m working with? I will have to pursue another line of testing to confirm this…
“Little Lulu seems rather attached to you. You must be a really good teacher! Starswirl’s been trying to teach her for as long as I’ve been here, but he has problems keeping her focused I think.” A brief pause was filled only with Solaria’s failed attempt to twist Prancer’s head from his neck. He continued to talk, oblivious to the ongoing attempts on his life. “You’re way too young to have been a teacher before all this happened. Were you a student in the capital?”
A spike of annoyance drove into Solaria’s concentration as another of the mortals made an assumption based on her appearance. “I am older than you,” she said, and some of her aggravation must have bled into her voice as the stallion actually winced at the words.
“O-of course you are! I didn’t mean to imply that you’re inexperienced or anything!” Prancer said hastily, before apologizing again and floundering with his words. Solaria began to tune out his rambling as the pair continued their patrol of the fields.
It was only when Lulu’s cloaked form came bounding down the hill from town that Solaria finally perked up. The little filly made a flying leap between the rails of the fence that seemed rather reckless before skidding to a halt before the disguised alicorn. “Sunny! Sunny! Your shift’s over and I’ve got something for you to see!”
“But--” Prancer started to say before the little filly turned her blind gaze to him and stuck out her tongue.
“You’ve had enough time to try and flirt with Sunny, Pansy! I get to spend time with her now!” Lulu explained quickly, and right on cue the next shift of unicorns trotted down the hill to the fields. Their torch spells were already lit and they didn’t hesitate to take their usual places as Solaria extinguished her own spells.
“F-flirt?!” Prancer stammered, and his heart rate instantly ramped up again.
“Pansy?” Solaria asked, her attention split between the excited child and the test subject that was now so close to the heart attack she had been trying to provoke for weeks.
“That’s his name, silly!” Lulu said while pointing a hoof at the stallion before tilting her head. “What, did he tell you some other name like ‘Prancer’? Clover said that’s what he tells all the mares, but everyone still calls him Pansy.” The filly shrugged and didn’t seem to notice Pansy’s incoherent sputtering at the subject of the discussion. “Anywho, it’s time to go or we’re going to miss it!”
Lulu sped off, and Solaria trotted behind to keep pace. I wonder what this is about? she mused as the pair wove between the smaller buildings on the outskirts of the town before coming to lurk in the shadows of the central structure in town. “Lulu, why are we here?” the disguised alicorn asked.
“Shhhh! Stay quiet or you’ll spoil everything!” Lulu whispered, and she crouched down before peaking around the corner.
What is she doing? One would think she does not need line of sight to ‘see’ if she’s using a spell to make up for her handicap, Solaria asked herself as she watched the filly. The cloak she always wore was excellent camouflage against the side of the building and the stacked debris that was also there, but she was quivering in place. Her expression was carefully controlled neutrality, and Solaria couldn’t quite put her hoof on what it all meant until she lifted her gaze to look across the courtyard.
The building across the way was the small cottage used by Clover and Smart Cookie, and seemed perfectly normal at first glance. A second glance revealed some spellwork on the door, specifically enchanted to activate when anypony placed a hoof upon it. The inner workings of the spell were so slapdash and convoluted that the alicorn couldn’t make heads or tails of the spell’s intent, until she looked back at the filly lurking beside her.
It’s a trap meant for Clover, Solaria finally concluded before looking back to the doorway. I must admit to being somewhat surprised that one so young would be capable of such deception or intent. If she is mature enough to lay such a trap to eliminate a rival unicorn, then perhaps that mess of a spell is intentional to confuse its victim long enough to have a lethal effect? Why would she take such action though?
Any further pondering about the meaning of the situation was halted with the trap’s intended target cantered into the yard. Clover was wearing a far simpler cloak than normal, and was covered in dirt and pine needles from the trees surrounding the village. The fatigue from whatever work he was returning from must have been significant as he didn’t even hesitate for a second as he placed his hoof on the door and the spell began to activate.
Solaria tensed and the ghost of a smirk crossed her features. Perhaps little Lulu can be made my apprentice if one so young as her can be so cunning to remove a battle magi without direct conflict. Perhaps I need not directly exercise my wrath, as agents and assassins could prove just as useful…
“Sweetie? I’m home, and the wood stores are finally back up to a comfortable level,” Clover said as he opened the door, completely oblivious to the fact that his coat and mane were now lavender and purple.
What.
“Did it work, did it work? Clover was being a mean plothole because I played a prank on Starswirl during their meeting, so I wanted to get him back!” Lulu explained quickly.
Solaria’s confused gaze swept down to the young filly… only to see that the would-be ambusher was also afflicted with the same coloration. The purpose of the trap was to alter Clover’s colors, and the improperly cast cantrip affected Lulu too? That’s… that’s--
The first sign that something was wrong was the muscles in Solaria’s barrel tensing. The disguised alicorn was so distracted by the illogic of Lulu’s apparent ambush that she didn’t catch the sensation until it had migrated into her chest. A strangled sound escaped her mouth as she struggled to keep her thoughts clear and diagnose the symptoms. It was then that an insidious thought hit her. What if the target of the ambush wasn’t Clover, but me? A brief thrill of fear entered Solaria’s mind as the muscle spasms forced all the air out of her lungs, and seemed to be unwilling to allow any back in.
Lulu asked something, but the words barely registered as Solaria ran a magical scan over her assumed shape. No spells appeared from the scan, and the convulsions doubled in severity in seeming defiance of her findings. She attempted a dispel incantation but her concentration continued to be interrupted as her lungs began to ache from lack of air. Solaria tried to fix the accursed filly with a glare promising a slow and painful death but her vision blurred with tears as the muscle spasms reached her face.
“What’s going on here? Is Sunny alright?” Clover’s voice asked from somewhere.
I am not alright, simpleton! This filly is trying to murder me! Solaria mentally screamed as her legs began to shake with the rest of her body.
“I… I think she’s laughing, but she doesn’t know how?” Lulu answered back.
“Okay? Well, let me know if she needs help. Also, why are you purple?”
“I’m not purple, you’re purple!”
A moment of silence.
“Lulu! You fix this right now!”
This is LAUGHTER? Why would anypony willingly put themselves through this!? I swear I will get you for this, Lulu! Your ‘laughter’ will be a thousand times worse! Solaria swore as she was finally able to drag a lungful of air in, before losing control of her breathing and her body to another fit of strangled guffaws.
Despite the struggle to draw breath and the full body spasms that took several minutes for her to recover from, Solaria couldn’t deny that she felt better for the rest of the day.
Morning folks! I had originally intended to post this tonight but I figured why not now? :D
I... Originally I felt only loathing for Solaria... but now? I feel sadness for her.
Sooner is always better than later if it's already ready... Well for the impatient it is at least
At some point... we're probably going to run into a chapter called "Guilt"
But for now lets laugh our asses of at Celestia who doesn't know how to laugh XD
It hadn't occurred to me before just how oblivious Solaria was to equine emotion before. How slowly it's coming to her makes me hesitant to attribute its emergence directly to Discord's magic, though. Maybe it's just the first opportunity she's had to properly experience emotion? Or maybe not...
Poor Sol- what am I saying? She's a mean pony who is getting much BETTER than her just deserts, and who will one day become fourth-best princess!
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*insert Tidus Laugh video*
Slightly reminded of why DC Death goes human for a day. What need is there for emotions for a "goddess"? Here's to guessing she hits the whole spectrum of emotion before getting back to normal.
Also, still can't stop seeing Celestia!Lulu as Snowdrop.
Hmm.. if Dissy is the Traveler, I wonder why he would willingly get himself stoned for a millennia. Methinks it was a test and he used a stunt double. Or maybe he ran into the XCOM aliens early and went mad.
While Solaria is laughing at the fate that shall befall her toy version, I wonder what fate has befallen the rest of Equestria...
Terror. Terror in the night. The whipping, howling unforgiving winds crash into the clouds and rain falls no matter where you turn. There is no escape. No escaping the true horror. A sudden silence. And then SCREAMING THUNDER! Lightning, floods, tornadoes, vermin, PESTILENCE, fire, EARTHQUAKE! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!
...Giving way to hazy afternoon sunshine. I'll be right back after this with your five-chapter forecast!
tests
peeking
Not knowing what laughter is?!?! That would probably give pinkie a heart attack...
It appears that her spell has more leakage than even Celestia thought. I appear to be effected as well.
5835194 i.imgur.com/XS5LK.gif
Laughs don't come from spells. They come from inside you as your body's response to delight.
It's never been a secret that the hints of Celestia having a dark past in Stardust were always my biggest gripe with that story. "Celestia being evil until Discord made her good, because Celestia is the villain and Discord the good guy" has frankly been done to death and is, in my opinion, a disservice to both characters.
This, though? I actually find myself really liking this approach. It's not so much "Celestia was evil" as "Celestia was just so far removed from mortality that she just didn't know any other way". It's not evil, it's ignorance, ignorance and simply not getting it. As a god, she knew and understood so much of the grand design, that she simply did not get the small details. They were all cogs in a machine to her, not understanding that these were not cogs but living creatures with their own feelings and desires, and not comprehending the value of such.
In a way, one could argue Solaria was the machine. Very much like a computer, in fact. Making the logical decisions, devoid of any feelings and emotions and not understanding said emotions. You could argue "but she felt anger and annoyance!" but that was annoyance and anger born from a lack of understanding something that was illogical to her. She's a computer, a machine, she opperates by logic, she only knows and understands logic and does not comprehend why anyone would not want to live by logic.
Personally, I blame this on the fact that she seemed to be very much alone. When your only speaking partner who is on equal power standing with you is Discord, well, it's no wonder she had issues. She was, for all intents and purposes, alone and, as far as we know, never knew what it was like to have family, the basic comfort and pleasure of a mother's warmth and love, or the adoration of a younger sibling. For goodness sake, she didn't even know what laughing was, or understand its purpose. It's hard not to feel sorry for her. You could argue she was a monster who did monstrous things, and while I'm not denying that, it was never out of any sense of true malice, but ignorance stemming from her, for the lack of a better word, upbringing. She was alone. Nobody ever told her or taught her different. Sure there was Discord but even he seemed to only have sporadically appeared in her life, not enough to really make her understand.
I feel for her, I truly do. And far from being annoyed with Discord (and Solaria) as I had originally been in Stardust, I'm actually almost grateful towards him for what he did. Not just because of what it meant towards the ponies, but because of what it meant to Solaria. By taking away her ability to kill, he gave her the chance to not only appreciate life, but to live. How can you not feel sorry for Solaria? She was a machine. She kept her order, kept the 'peace' of the world, because it was what logic dictated she should do. But did she ever feel contentment for her work? Did she ever feel pleased, or happy with a job well done? I doubt it. Ironically, she was as much a cog in the machine as she considered the ponies to be, albeit the biggest cog of them all. She must have been terribly lonely, but worst of all, she probably didn't even realise that she was unhappy.
What this is, is a god becoming mortal kind of story, basically. A god learning what it means to be mortal and how to deal with it. While Solaria hasn't really become fully mortal and still has all her power (she just can't use it in one specific way anymore), she still has to take on a mortal guise and pretend to be one, at least for the moment. It just so happens that I love these kind of stories. Fish out of water stories, especially if they involve divine beings learning about the simple pleasures of daily life, are my favourite subgenre of fantasy.
There are, of course, still a few things left that remain unexplained. Luna's place and origin in this universe is still a questionmark. Solaria didn't seem to have a sister and little Lulu might be hinting that Luna was an ascended alicorn all along, but it's hard to reconcile that with the impression the show gives that she is a celestial alicorn like her sister and on a different level than 'ascended' alicorns like Cadance or Twilight. Similarly, I'm wondering how the Tree of Harmony fits into all of this. Did it already exist at this point in time? Given how Starswirl says that the virtues of Honesty, Laughter, Kindness, Loyalty and Generosity invoke a sense of 'empowerment', as if they have a force behind them, it seems to imply that the Tree already exists. But if so, it's strange how Solaria would not know of so powerful an artifact in her world.
I'm also most curious now how exactly Discord's reign of terror fits into this universe. I hope that that won't be retconned, I know we only have Celestia's word for it in the show, but I really don't think her words of his rule of misery and despair are lies. We must not forget Discord was a villain and that he himself also did not understand the concept or power of simple, mortal friendship. His concern for the mortals in the universe seems to stem more from how he finds them interesting in the sense that they amuse him, rather than genuine care and compassion. He loves mortals because of the chaos that inevitably comes with their existence and how fun it is to watch that, not because of any feelings of love or affection.
In a sense, I'm wondering if the Elements petrifying him wasn't a bit of payback for what he did to Solaria, a counter-curse if you will. By placing his curse on Solaria, he basically forced her to see the world as he did, at least to some extend. Her beliefs of order and stability are shattered and her life, as well as the world around her, seem to have become nonsensical and illogical to her. Now if one were to look too deep into things, as I am wont to do with things I like, you could almost think the Elements turning Discord to stone is their way of forcing him to see the world as Solaria did it: through stability and order. Can't get more stable and orderly than being an unchanging piece of rock.
If that truly is the case, then we can count our lucky stars that the Elements did that instead of giving him a sort of curse or disability that forced him to take on Solaria's mindset. Can you imagine a being with Discord's power, combined with Solaria's beliefs and views of order and stability? It's honestly quite terrifying if you think about the implications of that.
I do have to wonder how far Discord's curse reaches, though. So he took away her ability to kill, either by magic or by using her body. Okay, I get that. Now, this may sound silly, but what if Solaria had simply put ponies in an isolated cell where only she could reach them, and did not feed them to let them starve to death? Would the curse have forced her body to bring them food? I know the mental image is ridiculously silly, but I couldn't help but wonder! I wanna knooooow!!!
In conclusion, while this doesn't change my own headcanon of Celestia's origins, I do have to say that this is one of the most interesting takes on it that I have seen so far. It takes the premise and the characters of Hearth's Warming Eve as presented to us by the show, and builds upon them in a very clever way. Solaria is an interesting character and honestly, I found reading through these chapters to be very heart-warming. I know that may not be the emotion you aimed to elict from your readers, but it's honestly what I feel. I cannot bring myself to hate her or be disgusted with her, I'm just filled with too much sympathy and sadness for her character for that, and it just makes me happy knowing what she will become and how much better and fulfilling her life will be as a result of her change.
A big thumbs-up to this and I'm eagerly looking forward to more.
P.S. : As I wrote this, it struck me how incredibly presumpteous we mere mortal humans are. Isn't it fascinating how we, or at least I, are moved to pity for a god because she does not see or experience life as we do? If you think about it, that is incredibly presumpteous of us, that anybody who does not or can not experience human emotions like love or friendship as we understand them, somehow lives a more unfulfilling life than we do. For all we know, Solaria was perfectly happy and content with her way of life. Who are we to say that her ways were wrong and that her not experiencing our mortal emotions makes her pitiable? The arrogance of such a presumption is staggering, heh heh. Food for thought, no?
P.P.S. : I know that by posting this I broke my promise of not defiling the comment pages of your stories ever again, but I truly could not help myself. I really had to write down how much I loved this and why I loved it so much, so I hope you can forgive me this one transgression.
Solaria casually trying to murder heart-fluttery testsubject Pansy dozens of times and then suspecting a successful assassination attempt because of Lulu-induced laughing. Glorious.
I suspect the 'fun' part of Solarias transformation may peter out when it comes to shame, guilt and heartbreak though.
All the more reason to look forward to the further development of your main character. Love this.
The double-purple is still making me chuckle as I type this.
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Let me be the first to say, welcome back. :)
I regret that I blew my stack at you earlier (heck, it's been almost a year) but it was a bit of a stressful time for me and I was getting a bit frustrated with people offering criticism about the current state of things rather than waiting for my plans to come to fruition. I certainly hope this is proof enough that I have LOTS of plans for the future and it all plays together.
PLANS. I HAS THEM. /Tzeentch.
I love the idea of this story. I mean it almost perfectly explains why Celestia does not fix things herself...because she can't.
I look forward to more of this delightful story!
Lulu... turning Clover into a male version of Twilight Sparkle... and making Solaria... laugh.
I can't... Oh God! MY HEART! IT'S ACTING UP AGAIN!
i874.photobucket.com/albums/ab302/Church0/HNNNNG_zpsd4y0wylq.png
Looks like I'm off to the E.R. again for sudden cardiac arrest. Thanks a lot, Lulu! Looks like analysis will have to wait.
And, despite the infamous Tidus laugh being appropriate, Solaria's encounter with the physical act of laughing immediately brought Data from Star Trek to mind.
Ahh, young ponies awkwardly flirting/attempting to murder.
Good thing for Pansy that he has no idea what was going on, and most likely never will.
Hahaha!
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Also, I haven't done a word count but your Comment might be longer than my chapter. :P
I hope that Solaria gets her powers back, but only when she has been "transformed" into Celestia for good.
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but it is tonight...
really just set yout clock to a normal timezone.
5835140 I been saying this since the beginning the spell it self did nothing to her emotions. All it did was make her unable to kill forcing her to pay closer attention to her subjects and in doing so coming in touch with them for the fist time.
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Some on has been playing the Sims a bit much lol walling them in and watch them starve to death, take away the means to clime out of the pull to drown them and so forth heh.
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Hey, it's a genuine thing to wonder about and the story doesn't really make it clear! Can she kill through negligence or not? For another example, if there was a very sick pony, who could not be cured by any means known to ponykind, but Solaria could through her power, would she be able to not save him, or would that count as 'murder' too? Does the curse prevent her from making decisions that might indirectly lead to ponies dying? Heck, can she even still command troops in battle? I don't know! But I wanna knoooow!
Dear author, clarify this for your audience, please!
If it will be clarified in future chapters then just say that and ignore me.
PS: as a matter of fact I have never played any Sims game.
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NO YOU DON'T. /Creed
5836164 I think a big clue is how the aliens where put in suspended animation on the sun when she banished them she could not leaved them there unprotected to burn by the suns heat so the Banishment spell had to have a protection element to it. so I think leaving ponies to star in a dungeon would be the same as leaving them on the sun to die
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At first I was going to post a comment, but he sums up what I was going to say a lot better.
Also, Solaria causally trying to kill Prancer while he's all heart fluttery around her was hilarious.
How does the nightguard telling this story know so much though? It would appear he knows top secret information about Celestia's history and Xcom.
As a person who has experienced laughter so intense that I thought I was going to suffocate to death, I can sympathise.
This is great.
The casual murder attempts are amusing and horrifying and the ending, where she swears to punish Luna with laughter adorable.
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The answer is in the first chapter. Just have to look for it. :D
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Oh, now I get it. Thanks!
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That's actually pretty subtle, assuming you mean the 342 word first chapter and the one thing there that suggests who the guard is
I've been watching a lot of Voyager lately, so I couldn't help but automatically read all of Solaria's parts in Seven of Nine's voice.
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I'm going to spoiler this just incase you haven't read 'Stardust' and 'Mente Materia', which this story is a sidestory of.
Celestia hasn't regained her power to kill, at least until present day Equestria. It was the one thing Discord did throughout the years that she was never able to reverse.
I love this line. It's the best promise of revenge ever written.
5835343 Suppose that Discord himself is subject to a similar restriction. Have we ever seen him physically hurt a pony in canon? Chaining Solaris could have been a way to try to make her realm dissolve into chaos without expending the effort himself. It will certainly have more amusing results on Solaria herself than assassination would have. (Imagine an alternate path events could have taken, where the ponies try in futility to get their revenge, while Solaria remains nigh-omnipotent except for that one little detail: a hilarious impasse.) Then, when she somehow managed to come back with a "sister" to rule the land with harmony instead of fear, he took matters into his own hands ... until they found a way to put him on ice.
5839661 Yes.
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In Stardust/MM-verse, Discord has directly/indirectly caused the deaths and injuries of various creatures. In the second chapter of MM, he manipulated the battlefield several times to cause mayhem amongst the aliens (from something as tame as tossing a bar stool infront of a running Berzerker) to farking with the guidance system of a Blaster Launcher so the shot would hit the aliens instead. Of course, he then turned into Jaws and ate a Berzerker.
Then there's the shenanigans he pulled with the EXALT squad moving to assassinate Celestia..
5836673 I don't. To avoid spoiling anyone, could you please PM me?
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5841139
My impression of Discord (both here and in canon) is that he doesn't like killing, because it's boring. You can't torment someone when they're dead. However, the aliens "Don't count", because they're essentially mindless/enslaved monsters, and, also, are busy killing peope much more entertaining than them.
5841139 Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking about that stuff.
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I'm a bit worried that Solaria originally took Luna to use as a hitmare. She can't kill, but she can teach another to kill.
And I wonder if Solaria has ever tried to kill someone by hoof through the heart.
Also, this Celestia backstory is terrifying.
And thus the weekend was invented.
I had a hunch about this pegasus stallion when he so eagerly volunteered to help the young, pretty newcomer…
Oh goodness, that ending made me laugh.
[youtube=sZrgxHvNNUc]
crouched down before peaking around the corner
1. Peeking. Still there.
So since she gave all other fieldworking Unicorns time off while she warms the fields... she's giving them a day of rest, Sunday?
Well that was a great story so far I still don't see how this is in the Stardust world but it is interesting to say the least So I have this itch that I can 't scratch because I think the rest of the chapter will be Kindess, generosity, loyalty, honesty, and Magic not in that specific order but Magic will be the last chapter of the story I'm sure I WANT MOAR SOON! If that is alright with you
Poor Pansy! He likely never knew that he was attempting to seduce a megalomaniac homicidal psychopath who was desperately trying to kill him. It's sad, in a way, that Solaria's life experiences were such that she only understood hate, killing and the like as forms of interpersonal interaction.
Now, Lulu has taught her Laughter. The first of the Six.
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*Long slow blink*
*Another long slow blink*
*One more long slow blink just to be sure*
*And a head tilt for good measure*
...huh. Really should have seen that one coming.
Well... that was the most humourless chapter on Laughter I have ever read.
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OBFUSCATED STEALTH MOUNTAIN
(peeking)
Oh no she's Laughing! Our queen is going insane!