Staring at the ceiling, I briefly contemplated rolling over, but decided it wouldn’t help anyway and remained lying on my back. It was past 2300, and sleep, once again, refused to come, but insomnia wasn’t the sole reason. My mind was so preoccupied with the upcoming attack that trying to sleep was proving futile. Though I’d been released from the infirmary, Tovey had not, and as far as I knew, he was still unconscious.
While I was conscious and mobile, that was about the only advantage I had over Tovey. I had a wonderful new ache throughout my body, though they, Heartmender and Dr. Needles, had said it would eventually fade. The pain wasn’t as bad as it had been when I’d first been taken to the infirmary, but it was still there. The doctor had done everything he could for me, so till the pain was gone, I was just going to have ignore it as best I could.
Unable to tolerate lying down any longer, I stood and stretched. It didn’t feel as good as I’d hoped, but what could I do? When I started pacing a few moments later, Clipper groaned and moved from his place across the hall, to the side of the cell where he wouldn’t have to watch me. He and Private Breeze were now the only guards of the night shift, the other two assigned to something more important, or something. Neither of my two guards were visibly armed, and hadn’t spoken a word since they’d taken their post, which had been fine with me.
While I paced, I tried to think of things to distract myself, but my mind kept returning to the attack, and possible outcomes, usually worst case scenarios. On one of my iterations, as I turned at the front of my cell, my right leg cramped and I lost my balance. Reaching out, I grabbed a bar to steady myself. Damnit. While I stretched the bad leg, I heard hoofsteps and looked over to see Breeze crossing the hall.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” I answered flatly, looking down at my cramping leg
“Are you sure?”
Giving my leg one last stretch, I straightened and glanced at the bat pony.
“Yeah. Just a cramp.”
“That’s not what I was referring to, and you know it.” Breeze sighed. “But you shouldn’t really be pacing right now. Maybe you should lie back down.”
Now that she mentioned it, I began to notice the soreness in my body had intensified since I'd started moving. Maybe I should… Moving back to the bed, I sat down and began removing my boots, which I’d left on for whatever reason.
“What makes you think there’s something wrong, anyway?”
“Your camp is going to be attacked in a few hours, and based on what we know about you, I’d bet a month’s pay that you’re worried about your friends. In your position, I’d be going through the same thing.”
Pulling of the first boot, I dropped it on the floor, then started on the next.
“Zero points awarded, because that’s obvious.” I said as I pulled off the second boot. Taking a deep breath, I began flexing my toes.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Pausing, I looked up at Breeze. Looking her over, I couldn’t find any indication that she wasn’t being sincere. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and glanced over to see Clipper eyeing the private.
“No.” I answered, looking back to Breeze.
“Why do you care, Private?” Clipper asked, speaking for the first time. Good question.
Looking to the sergeant, Breeze answered, “Because he’s still our prisoner, and per the regulations, we have to take care of him. Plus there’s nothing wrong with showing compassion.”
Her answer surprised me. I didn’t think any of them would care at all at this point.
“And why should we?” Leaving his place next to the cell, Clipper walked up to Breeze. “After what they did, they don’t deserve anything resembling compassion.”
Breeze stood her ground.
“Oh, so we just condemn them all for the actions of the few?
As interesting as it was to see Breeze arguing in my defense, and humans in general, I was suddenly more interested in something else.
“Wait, are you’re talking about the civilian deaths? That actually happened?” I asked, looking between the two guards.
Their argument stopped instantly, and they stared at me.
“... What?”
“You didn’t think it happened?” Breeze asked.
I shrugged. “I thought the princess made it up, and I was inclined to believe she did… at least I was really hoping she did.”
Both guards raised an eyebrow, looked at each other, then back to me.
Clipper spoke up this time. “Why in Equestria do you think the princess would make up something like that?”
“So she’d seem justified when she tortured me.” I answered slowly, once again looking between the two.
Breeze went from looking baffled, to completely mortified, bringing a forehoof to her mouth, while Clipper’s eyes slowly widened.
“Princess Celestia tortured you?!” Breeze gasped, her hoof still covering her mouth.
“Yeah. I’m honestly a little surprised you’re talking to me. I thought you’d be on orders not to interact with me.”
“I know you were in the infirmary again, but that…” Clipper shook his head, his expression hardening. “No. You’re lying!” He accused, pointing a hoof at me. “The princesses would never do such a thing!”
“The thing about never, is that it tends to happen more often than you think.”
“Enough!” The sergeant stomped his hoof, the sound echoing slightly in the empty cell block. “I will not stand here and listen to this slander! Keep your mouth shut, Corporal, or I will shut it for you!”
“Listen to yourself, Sergeant!” Breeze shouted, getting her partner’s attention. “Are you going to do what Scythe did? Assault the prisoner because he said something you didn’t like?”
Clipper’s anger visibly faded and he stood there looking out-of-sorts. This time, I didn’t interrupt and just observed.
Lowering her voice, Breeze continued, “What if he’s not lying? It’s obvious the conflict is having a negative effect on us the longer it goes on. If it’s happening to us, it could happen to the princesses.”
“... But the princesses are–”
“Perfect?” the private interrupted, “They’re not, and you know it. They’re susceptible to their emotions too. Nightmare Moon is a prime example. Plus, I’ve heard no reports of anything that would have sent both prisoners to the infirmary. Something happened, we just haven’t been told what it was.”
Looking down, Clipper appeared to be considering something he would rather not. After a few moments, he turned and slowly started down the hallway.
“Stay here, Private.”
“Sergeant? Where are you going?”
I heard Clipper stop before responding, “Just down the hallway. I need a little time to myself. Shout if you need me.” His hoofsteps resumed, slowly heading away.
I found myself feeling bad for the guy. I didn’t think my mentioning the torture would have this kind of result, but at the same time, it was still surprising they were allowed to talk to me at all. I would have thought the princesses would have wanted news of their actions kept under wraps.
After a few seconds of silence I cleared my throat. “Should you be letting him go?”
“He just needs a minute.” Breeze answered. She watched him for another moment before turning to give me a dirty look. “He adores the princesses. Did you really have to tell him they did that?”
Raising my arms defensively, I replied, “Hey, I just answered the question. I didn’t know I’d get that reaction. Besides,” I dropped my arms, “you’re the one who used logic on him.”
Sighing, Breeze sat down, looking at the floor glumly. “I know. I didn’t want to, but if the princesses really did resort to torture, that’s something ponies need to know.” Looking at me, she continued, “While I don’t want to believe they did, there are a few things that support and contradict your claim.”
“Like you still being permitted to talk to me.”
“That’s the part that makes me question what you said, but then there’s the lack of reports surrounding your latest infirmary visit.”
“Well, it happened. The princesses retaliated for the deaths of your civilians. Is that such a big deal?”
“Yes!” Breeze exclaimed, jumping to her hooves. “Never in Equestria’s history has anything remotely close to torture been used, ever! How will ponies react when they find out?” She paused, looking at me, her brows furrowing. “And why aren’t you upset about being tortured?”
Closing my eyes, I laid back, clasping my hands behind my head. “I was for a while.” Opening my eyes, I stared at the ceiling. “But in the end, being mad at something beyond my control won’t change what happened, and is just a waste of energy.”
“How do you do that? Everything that’s happened to you here, and you just… let it go?”
I laughed. “What am I going to do? Surprise Celestia with a punch to the face next time she’s in arms reach? Probably wouldn’t leave a mark, and I’d just get skewered on a spear for my trouble. Take out my anger on you guys? That won’t end well either. There’s nothing I can do in this situation, so rather than stew on everything that upsets me, I’ll save myself what little sanity I’ve got and try to forget about it… though it’s easier said than done.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever figure you out. You say you were tortured–”
“By the princess, not you, or any of the other guards… though I’m not thrilled that four of them just stood there and watched.”
“What did you expect them to do? Defy the princesses?”
“Well no, but they could have said something… At least Heartmender apologized for his inaction.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. That’s how he is.”
Wincing as my back popped, I sat up to look at the bat pony.
“You’re a hard one to figure out too.”
Breeze tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?
“After all the problems I’ve caused, everyone I’ve upset, you still talk to me, and treat me decently.”
Breeze looked down for a moment. “Your surprise to our confirming the civilian deaths speaks volumes, and after all the time I’ve spent guarding you, I can see you’re not really a bad pony, er, person. I want to show that not all ponies are unreasonably upset because of what’s happened and what’s going on.
“You’re doing a good job of that.”
Breeze gave a small smile. “Thanks. I think our countries could have worked things out if they’d have just tried.”
“Yeah, but after the last diplomatic incident, I don’t think anyone was feeling particularly willing to talk things out.”
The guard nodded. “That didn’t really help with the growing tensions, did it?”
“Things could have been handled differently,” I agreed, leaning down to remove my blousers. “But there’s not much that can be done about that now. At this point, I’m just gonna sit back, wait, and hope someone decides to be reasonable.”
“Me too.” Breeze paused. “This might sound kind of odd, but can I ask a favor of you? I’ll understand if you say no.”
Dropping my removed blousers, I sat up, raising an eyebrow at the bat pony. “What kind of favor?”
Breeze hesitated to answer, looking down the hall. A few moments later, she looked back to me.
“Could… could you tell me about your home?” She paused again. “I’ve heard some of the guards that have been there talk about it, and I’d like to know more.”
“Haven’t I told you about it already?”
Breeze shook her head. “Not really. If you weren’t trying to sleep, you were asking myself or Sergeant Clipper about bat ponies, and avoided talking about anything else, really.”
“Right...” Fuck it, why not? This war’s almost over anyway. If there was going to be a chance for peace between Equestria and the US, it needed to be shown that we actually could get along. It had to start somewhere, even if it was just myself and Breeze having a conversation. There would be those that would try to raise all sorts of hell for me over this, but I didn’t care. She just wanted to know things about home, and I didn’t see anything wrong with that. At the same time, I could make comparisons and learn more about Equestria.
“What do you want to know?”
Yawning, I looked blearily ahead and wondered what anyone could possibly need me for that couldn’t wait till later. Neither Heartmender nor Stormfront were forthcoming with answers, so I was once again being left in the dark.
I’d fallen asleep at some point while talking to Breeze, and it felt like it had only been a couple hours since then. After being woken by Heartmender, I’d been fed, taken to the showers, and now it appeared I was just being taken back to my cell. The prospect of lying back down evaporated as we turned up the hall to the interrogation rooms. Groaning in annoyance, my temper flared, but dwindled quickly. I just didn’t have the energy. Our destination also reminded me of something.
“How’s Tovey?”
“He’s doing fine. We’re just waiting for him to wake up.” Heartmender answered. “I checked on him before my shift started.”
“That’s good to hear.”
There wasn’t time for anything else, because we came to the first room, and I was ushered inside. Aside from the usual table and chair, the room was empty. Looks like I’m waiting for someone. Taking a seat, I folded my arms and closed my eyes, letting my head fall forward.
It didn’t take long for me to start nodding off, and sleep was pulling me in when the door opened a bit later. Glancing up sleepily, I saw Celestia and Luna walking to the other side of the table.
Closing my eyes, I waited till they stopped moving before I asked, “What do you want now?”
“To apologize.”
Opening my eyes again, I looked up slowly. “What?” Now that I was really looking at them, I noticed they weren’t wearing their usual neutral expressions. I they looked perturbed, and Celestia looked like she may have lost some sleep.
Celestia spoke first. “It never should have come to torture. When the deaths of the five ponies was confirmed, I allowed my emotions to dictate my actions.” The princess looked away. “Since I could not punish the actual perpetrator, I took my anger out on you, the thorn in my side, believing that it would somehow make things better.” When she looked back, I could see the remorse in her eyes. “I was wrong, and I did not realize this till it was too late.”
“I am also at fault for what occurred yesterday.” Luna began when Celestia finished speaking. “I too was upset with the loss of our ponies, and made no attempts to stop Celestia from torturing you, only intervening after the act was done. We have wronged you, Corporal, and brought shame upon us and Equestria.” Pausing, Luna bowed her head. “Because of this, we offer our sincerest apologies.”
Celestia followed suit. “Can you ever forgive us?”
I sat there staring at the two of them, unsure how to respond. I came to a decision a few seconds later.
“I can.”
The two of them straightened slowly, staring at me with wide eyes
“We had expected you to be more upset about this.” Luna stated, not bothering to hide the shock in her voice. “This is most unexpected.”
Resting my arms on the table, I leaned forward. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told Private Breeze earlier this morning; being upset about something beyond my control won’t change anything, and is a waste of time and energy.”
“But I attacked you, made it personal.” Celestia said, more surprised than her sister. “I’ve seen how capable your kind is of holding grudges, especially over something like this, and yet you just forgive us?”
“Yeah.”
“So easily? Why?”
“Two reasons.” Leaning back, I stretched and yawned before continuing, “I’ve been where you were. While I question that you care about each individual pony in Equestria that much, I know exactly what it’s like to lose someone you care about. I lost my two best friends when our truck was hit by an IED in Afghanistan. I don’t know how, but I survived and was deemed well enough to return to duty a couple weeks later. I got back to my unit and spent the next several weeks unreasonably pissed at the Afghans, even the civilians that were working on the base. Every mission I hoped for an engagement so I could kill as many of them as possible. I got my wish on several occasions. Eventually, I came to the realization that no matter how many of those guys I killed, nothing I did would bring back my friends, and my anger was only making things worse for me.” I looked to Luna. “I survived. That’s where that guilt you saw comes from.”
Luna and Celestia exchanged glances.
“You have never been this forthcoming before.” Celestia commented.
“Yeah well, you never asked for my life story, and things change, which brings me to reason two.” I said, holding up the corresponding number of fingers. “I realized last night, while talking to Breeze, that unless someone starts making an effort to change, our countries are going to continue fighting.”
“We agree, which is why we called off the attack and are instead keeping an eye on your friend’s location.” Celestia informed me.
“Wait… you what?”
“We decided to cancel the attack.” Luna answered. “Once we had the chance to calm down, and realize where that course of action was going to take us, we came to the same conclusion as you. As we were the ones who refused to return to the negotiation table, we feel Equestria should now take the first steps.”
“Will you help us set up peace talks with your commander?” Celestia asked.
Leaning back, I paused to consider for bit. This could turn out well, or get me into all sorts of trouble.
“How do I know you’re being truthful? You haven’t exactly done a lot to inspire trust, lately.” I asked, looking at the two princesses.
“We understand your suspicion, but we have information that we believe will help gain your trust.” Luna said.
While I was still suspicious, they now had me intrigued. What information could they possibly have that could convince me to trust them?
“Go on.”
“Your capture was no random chance.” Celestia explained. “You have a traitor.”
featured again today
.................................No idea what to think about this....
Intrigued.
Interesting development, Radiant. :P
What matters is that you finally updated with a new chapter. What a twist, a traitor....
Ehehehe...Yankees are good with waging wars against defenseless countrys. They are especiallly good with doing it under economical pressure against their ruling elite from little rich middle-eastern bastard countrys like Saudi arabia or Qatar. So in this storys dogs of Rokfellers... i mean Democracy fights against colorful horses, yankees doing ridiculous things - is acceptable, they are doing it every time they are going outside of their country, but this is taking a prize.
6744002 I'm going to make vague politically charged comments on a My Little Pony fanfiction website! Screw basic grammar and rules of diction, those are for scrubs! I sure am an expert on foreign policy, maybe I'll be the Secretary of State one day!
So do you actually have something to add, or are you just gonna spout poorly worded and thoughtless babble?
6681881
Well yeah, after 1k+ years vanilla sex is going to be pretty boring. Gotta spice things up.
Just when you thought it was over, it gets more interesting.
Fuck you for leaving this on such a tremendous cliffhanger. This story is like a drug for me damn it!
I'm reminded of a joke.
Q: How can you tell when a politician is lying?
A: Their lips are moving.
Selling out a spy working for you is genuinely considered extremely bad taste, so I'm not sure what to think of this twist, assuming it is true and not lies.
Is this... do they expect him to pretend it didn't happen, so the ponies will continue to believe that their Princesses have "never" tortured anyone before? I mean, if it wasn't mentioned in the past for the same reason, then there will forever be the knowledge that it "never" happened, even if it routinely did.
Yay more chapters, and as always this story gives you so much delicious speculation material.
So there is traitor in the US ranks? Could not him/her have told the ponies where the base was earlier? Did the traitor kill civilians to force Celestia to more aggressively end the war sooner? Will Celestia sell out the traitor as a peace offering? (Which is a bit of a dickish move since the informant would have helped to save pony lives.) Is the spy a changeling human that is feeding information to both sides? Can US commanders even sign treaties without contacting the government first?
Will they do a prisoner exchange? The US would most likely have had to take prisoners of their own. How does one hold a unicorn prisoner?
So much food for thought.
Coming back at 2 AM, I think Celestia is still playing games, presenting herself as repentant and reasonable compared to her previous actions. There may not be a traitor at all, or an attack planned in the first place. The guards could simply be acting as well.
Maybe they should castrate him. Let's see if he applies the same rules of forgiveness.
This story got me back in to reading agein. thank you for making this grate story
“Your capture was no random chance.” Celestia explained. “You have a traitor. and this is where the story goes to shit
Excellent chapter. It's nice to see that the protagonist is trying to peacefully interact with the ponies. Still, I'm surprised that Celestia decided to call out to attack and admitted that there was a traitor that ensured that he was captured. Hope to see the next chapter soon because that cliffhanger was amazing.
While I could possibly forget the torture, could. I would never say that I forgive them.
Okay, even if he does feel he has to make the first step, it's hard to buy him just forgiving physical torture and some kind of magic mind rape that easily. Either this guy is Jesus, or he's putting up a front.
Man, another great chapter! I hope you continue this story but the last thing any of us want is for you to be put under stress about this story.
So why don't you take it easy? I find personally that when I write, I can write a lot better when I am relaxed and not worried about things.
Cheers mate!
6744795
I can actually see myself doing it. Not because I'm that nice, but because I want to be a good person. Even if doing so would probably be as pleasant as swallowing offal, I like to believe that I'd force myself to "do the right thing" and take the higher road.
But I wouldn't forget it. And I'd make sure they didn't, either. If they feel any sort of guilt about it, they shouldn't be permitted to forget.
Wow! What a twist! Lol
Seems to convenient if you ask me.
bomb? DROPPED.
Now that I've thought about it... I'm actually nursing a different theory of what happened.
I suspect Tovey is dead.
That would greatly explain Celestia and Luna's turn around from seeming nowhere, as well as the desire to move things forward as quickly as possible (else the protagonist suspect something is amiss and cease any chance of cooperating with them.)
Note how they reacted to his story of becoming bitter and holding the death of his comrades against the people of their killers, even if they weren't the ones who did it, or are even on the same side.
Aw hell no. Somebody gonna get their ass kicked when Duran gets back to base
6745012 I would happily allow them to apologize, but forgive them? no. With my fickle memory, I will forget, as such; I choose to never forgive. I can treat someone I hate like a friend or a stranger I've never met before.
Of course I would never be in a situation where I would be tortured. I would willingly give them the information as I have little nationalism, pride or motivation and would never be in the military unless drafted.
6744194
Depending on how Radiant has planned the world's backstory, the princesses may truly have never done such things before now. Equestria can directly access friendship, an immaterial concept, so their world is likely fundamentally different than ours. Torture, as a possibility, might not have even existed for the princesses until Earth-reality mixed with Equestria-reality.
6744795
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6745012
I think he's answered their specific question literally.
Can he ever? Yes, he could.
Has he, or will he soon? He didn't actually say.
6745165 We are saying what we would do in his situation.
Why do I feel the changelings are involved somehow?
Xd
6744500
And this is where your comment goes to shit too, apparently
6744002
Boy, you have actual autism, don't you?
MOORREEE
6745165 A decent point, though honestly I wouldn't even be that kind.
6744194
Not to mention discorages any other from trusting her Highness again, and reinforces loyalty in the enemy side . That's why Machiavello adviced against it.
6744242
For what purpose? She already has what she wanted.
6744002 It's time for you to stop.
Very nice story, a bit naive interrigation techniques from the ponies but could be they are not ruthless enough to have learned the lessons about such things most humans would have. But then again they are ponies and might not consider such things.
Am a bit introgued about this traitor, it cannot be one of the soldiers as they would have ample opportunities to leave message about the base location. It must be part of the gate support staff and since they are stranded there due to the gate issues it is not hard to see how the said traitor could be behind it all. But i wonder how said traitor could make it possible to lead a patrol walk into an ambush.
And true that "forgiveness" came a bit too easy, and in the end it does not matter. If there will ever be peace then this needs to be resolved, using Torture on POW is something that will NOT fly. While Equestria MIGHT not have accepted the Geneva Conventions and the Decleration of Human rights they WILL be brought to Hague for this. Not only for torture but repeated assaults on the said prisoners by the army personnel, and repeated invasions of their minds when they were in weakened state from the said attacks.
Then again it could end up in cold real-politics and noone might end up caring what princessess did, welcome to the world politics you two. A bit of blood on your hooves only makes you one of the cool kids.
PS: Really love the story, is a good read.
And there's no reason for them to have either. I'm sorry but this upsets me. The princesses clearly were supressing their morals but the first thing they go for is torture instead of mind control. That just smacks of idiot-ball, it's torture for the sake of making the princesses in a bad light.
WHY?! Luna tried to usurp Celestia, kill or at least do bodily harm to Twilight, and tried to, well, kill everyone because she 'felt' unloved and Celestia forgave her. Torture is nothing compared to THAT.
Welcome back idiot-ball. The entire plan was to round them up, kick them off the planet, and try to negotiate again later when heads have cooled. Instead they're going to try when there's a hostile force invading their country, when everyone's angry as hell at each other in the hopes that maybe they can defuse the tension.
This is a good idea for a story and well executed, but the more this goes on the more I'm aggravated as to how monumentally stupid you're making everyone act.
I am undecided about the story over all, but I will say this. It's very refreshing to see a story with pony-v-human military conflict where the author *doesn't* write that "my preferred side would stomp the other into a fine paste just because I think so". Making them more or less evenly matched is a nice change of pace.
6747841
You assume physical torture is better than mind-control or even the mind-reading they talk about. In the first and general sense, I would say no. In the specific instance of their mind reading, it's pretty obvious that it places extreme strain on the person, likely equivalent to torture, hence they couldn't use it after torturing him.
Because there also other implications in torture and Nightmare Moon. Torture implies a level of cruelty and intention that merely killing someone to remove them does. As for Luna, see any idea about not being in her right mind via madness, possession, dark magic, etc.
Nice coverart
6747841
This is just how it ends up when I write. I'm not doing it on purpose, I swear!
Okay, that's enough. Am I going to have to start policing the comments? I'm fine with debates and discussions, but I'm getting tired of seeing these stupid arguments. Cut the crap, because if I have to come in and start deleting these pointless comments on a regular basis, I will.
6747841
Recent episodes, some of the debatably canon printed material, and even the clearly non-canon comics all make it clear that Luna's betrayal was much more complicated than just her feeling unloved. Also while Lauren Faust stated Nightmare Moon's plan would have killed everyone. The recent season finale retconned that.
Also while I would normally agree that characters acting stupid for the sake of plot is a terrible writing device... It makes complete sense for them to be acting stupid here. This isn't a situation they have had to handle before, and therefore it's quite likely they wouldn't be handling it well. I mean just read some actual war history and you will see that even people whose entire job is to handle interrogations and oversee PoW's occasionally make monumentally stupid decisions. The funny thing about "idiot plots", is that they do in fact happen sometimes in real life, as anyone whose have worked a management position in real life can attest to.
6744194
Traitor does not automatically imply "spy". It's possible a deal was made on the front lines that the princesses wouldn't approve of... Also third parties could be involved, etc... Lots of directions this could be going.
media.giphy.com/media/HtBKcjpHfD7s4/giphy.gif
Nope. I don't believe it. She's playing a front. The ponies believing the princesses to be infallable is some straight up god worship that's creepy on a North Korean level. If Celestia and Luna had the opportunity to kick the humans out and put themselves out on a serious advantage, they would have done it. I'm not going to give Duran too much grief if he buys it, being in a pow situation is taxing and your bound to make mistakes. I should know, SERE training sucks. I can't imagine the real thing. It's probably Tovey they are pawning. Most likely, the humans moved or were more fortified than thought.
Nothing like a bit of leverage!
"Yeah, I forgive you. Sure would be a shame if I told anyone what their princesses did, though. I wonder what all the ponies would think? Especially after those guards were dismissed for attacking me."
This is a good fic and i'm really enjoying it. Keep it up
son of a bitch i can't wait for the next update
6515794
If you want to make the soldiers seem monstrous and validate the Princesses' crap treatment of Duran , then yeah, maybe.