This story is a sequel to The Fall of Night
After defeating the Necromancer, Trixie is settling into her role as the new Element of Magic. It's a difficult adjustment for her, made harder by the fact that she doesn't trust any of her new friends. After all, just a few weeks ago those very same ponies were trying to kill her. Have they really changed? How can she possibly trust anypony ever again?
Trixie's life takes a turn for the worse when Celestia decides it's time to right an old wrong. All Celestia needs in order to open the Vault of Shadows is a sacrifice – and the princess has not forgotten Trixie's role in the death of Twilight Sparkle. Would it really be so wrong to offer Trixie? After all, Trixie should never have become the Element of Magic in the first place – and it's only natural for the little ponies to sacrifice for the greater ones. Right?
Join Trixie and Celestia on what proves to be one of the most terrible days of Trixie's life. By the time Luna raises the moon that night, somepony will fall – and Equestria will be changed forever.
Not sure what to think of this story, I mean in the 1st story I always had the indication that Celestia grief corrupted her. People in grief can do some serious stupid things. But here, you made Celestia all villianous like some final fantasy antagonist. The hostility towards Celestia, considering that Trixie entire Alicorn amulet incident has been forgiven. I seriously doubt ponies as a whole race would hold a grudge, I believe they are more forgiven as race then that. And let's not mention Celestia herself, although she can be angered it's only when her subjects are in danger that Celestia shows any aggression. The only two beings Celestia acted hostile was Queen Chrysalis and Discord. Considering what both these beings were about to do with her subjects it's there for justified the hostilities because her ponies were in danger.
So what I'm saying is that both sides of hostilities are completely out of character. I'm talking both Celestia and Rainbowdash. The later never shown any signs of having trust issues with other ponies. The motives simple didn't match their personality. We know for a fact one of the few things about Celestia is her motherly like love for her subjects.
All though I must I enjoyed Trixie trickery it was already obvious what she and Twilight had done. I doubt not many readers will be fooled.
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See, I've always interpreted Celestia as a villain, from the very first episode. No one who actually cared about others would behave the way she does. I tend to depict her as evil in my stories because I think she really is evil. I don't trust her at all.
In the very first episode of the show, Nightmare Moon is about to return. Now, Celestia knows that Nightmare Moon is really her sister, but no one else in Equestria has any idea of this. How is that possible? Celestia hasn't forgotten, but somehow everyone else has. Not only did Celestia allow the memory of her own sister to be lost (after all, she could have told everyone the truth, but she deliberately hid the truth instead), but she also lost the Elements of Harmony. And she completely failed to prepare her nation for the arrival of Nightmare Moon - a pony she knew was coming back, and who might cause great harm. When Twilight found out and was justly concerned, Celestia lied to her about the whole thing.
If you are a competent leader and you know something is about to happen that could endanger many lives, the wise thing to do is to prepare the nation for it. You tell your citizens: hey, Nightmare Moon is coming, and things could get bad. You don't lose the tools you need to contain her; instead you protect them. You put your ponies in a safe place, where they can't be harmed. (You have a thousand years to prepare, after all! The whole nation could have been doing drills for years.) You be honest with everyone about who Nightmare Moon is, and what happened, and what needs to be done to defeat her.
And you explain to your best student the truth. There was no reason to expect Twilight to go to Ponyville and make friends. She knew nothing about friendship, and she didn't care about other ponies. She was just trying to save the nation. If Celestia really did believe that Twilight making friends was the way to save her sister, she should have had Twilight start on that a long time ago - and she should have told Twilight the purpose behind it all. Instead she put her entire nation in danger, and she gave Twilight a really good reason to never trust her again.
Celestia's actual plan was: "I'm going to act like everything is fine, and send Twilight to Ponyville in hopes that she will accidentally make all the friend she needs - but I'm not going to tell her that making friends is the only way to save the country. Then I'll hope that somehow she'll see through all my lies and will figure out how to defeat Nightmare Moon in spite of me." Remember, Celestia knew how to defeat Nightmare Moon. She knew where the Elements of Harmony were. She knew what had to be done, and she knew that Twilight wanted to save everyone - but she deliberately kept all that information from Twilight and made her life as difficult as possible. If she actually cared about her country she would have had the Elements ready for Twilight, explained to her what had to happen, and helped her. But she did none of those things.
Why did Celestia invite Twilight and her friends to the gala? Because she expected them to ruin it, and she thought that would be funny. She surely knew they were expecting to have a great time, but she didn't tell them the truth - which is what a loving pony would have actually done. Instead she took advantage of them for her own kicks - and then she did it again, later, by inviting Discord. She wasn't appalled when Discord nearly exiled Treehugger to another dimension; instead she was entertained.
And let's not forget the Crystal Empire fiasco. When the lives of an entire empire are at stake, you pull out all the stops to protect those lives. You send in every last resource you have to make sure they aren't enslaved again. The one thing you don't do - unless you are a psychopath - is deliberately send in one pony in order to make the whole thing some kind of princess test. Playing with the lives of others is a sign that you see their lives as rather meaningless. Celestia could have sent the Elements of Harmony along; she could have allowed Luna to go; she could have gone herself. But instead she decided to risk the lives of thousands of innocents because she saw a good opportunity to test her star pupil. That is seriously demented. You should never, ever take chances with the lives of others. Ever.
I've never seen anything in Celestia that suggests she cares about anyone other than herself. I realize I am in the minority, and that's fine. But this is how I see it, and that's why I depict her this way.
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Your entire argument can be broken with one thing. "As shown in Twilights Kingdom, Celestia has foresight."Although it's not perfect it allows Celestia to measure the threats and possible outcomes. The entire Nightmare Moon incident Celestia was fully aware what was going to happen. And the reason why she altered the history so no pony knew that Luna and Nightmare Moon were the same being was for the love of her sister. So that when she would be freed she wouldn't be feared and hated in modern Equestria society. Celestia is the long term planner. In otherwords Celestia already knew the outcome of each event before they took place.
Celestia isn't evil but she's an manipulator. Kinda a puppet master. However she does it only to protect her subjects. And the crystal empire, do you really believed an armed force could have stopped Sombra? His only weakness was the Crystal Heart, but that thing needed to be recharged by the joy and happiness of the crystal ponies. If an armed force had been present then that would have caused tension, fear, etc... and then the Crystal Hart wouldn't have been recharged. Even if she and Luna would have gone themselves the Crystal Ponies would realize something terrible was about the happen and the same effect as an armed force would happen.
So in this situation Celestia hoof was tied and she did her best she could do considering the circumstances.
So what tells us about Celestia, that she's very smart and cunning. But has a good hart.
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I'm glad you replied. I've been wanting to have this discussion with someone who actually liked Celestia, but I never found anyone. My wife dislikes her as much as I do.
If that's the truth then Celestia failed spectacularly. Since Celestia hid the truth, and entire festival called Nightmare Night sprung up, which depicted Luna as some kind of evil monster who eats ponies. When Luna did return, everyone was terrified of her. (The look on everypony's face when Luna returned to Ponyville was one of absolute terror. The ending of the episode notwithstanding, no one but Twilight was happy to see her and no one was glad she was there.) Celestia could have prevented all of that from happening by telling the truth and teaching ponies to care about her poor sister, but she didn't. She allowed them to think that Luna was an evil monster.
Shining Armor and Cadence did a great job of keeping Sombra out, but since there were just two of them things got a bit dicey at the end. All they really had to do was keep Sombra out of the Crystal Empire until they could find the Heart. Celestia knew about the Crystal Heart; she wrote about it in her diary. She could have told Twilight about it but she didn't. Celestia once again made Twilight's life far more difficult than it had to be. If she and Luna had gone to help and provided the relief that Armor and Cadence so desperately needed, they might have been able to buy more time and save all those ponies those moments of absolute terror. As it was, they came within a few seconds of total failure.
Celestia made it clear that her priority was testing Twilight, not saving an empire. She should have put her own goals aside to save those who were in danger - which is the lesson she claimed Twilight had learned by letting Spike help.
Which brings us to this:
Twilight's Kingdom was the last episode of Season 4. I started watching the show long before that, so by the time that episode came around my opinion of Celestia had already been formed. I didn't see any evidence in the earlier seasons that Celestia was following a careful plan - that the future had to happen a certain way. All I saw was an incredibly foolish ruler who made terrible decisions.
If the show had said up-front, at the very beginning, that Celestia knew how things would turn out and did what she did because there was no other way, then I might have been able to buy that (although that sounds an awful lot like a cop-out to me to excuse incredibly poor decision making). But I'm not willing to accept that retroactively, after four entire seasons. It's much simpler to believe that Celestia's dream about Tirek was the first time that had happened, and in all the earlier cases she just got incredibly lucky and succeeded in spite of herself.
My brother put it this way: Celestia is a lot like Princess Bubblegum from Adventure Time. They seem to be nice, and the characters in the show think that they're nice, but I am not at all convinced that they actually are nice. I think they've lived for so long, and have had complete power over their subjects for such a long time, that they've grown cold and indifferent.
But that is just my opinion, and I understand you don't share it. I do understand where you are coming from, though, and I'm glad you took the time to explain. I'm just different, I guess. I just can't imagine treating my own children or nephews the way Celestia behaved, no matter what the future foretold.
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To say I like Celestia is a bit too much, rather I can say I understand her character. I personally like the more flamboyant type of characters such as Trixie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Though booksmarts characters such as Twilight are also appealing.
Correction it depicted Nightmare Moon as the monster not Luna. Also the entire incident at Nightmare night was also Luna's doing. I mean her entrance really screamed all evil overlord. Considering her past and well you know what happened..
Back to Nightmare night it's a celebration about the Nightmare and not Luna. It would otherwise have been called Luna Night. So who knows how old this holiday is? It might even pre date the founding of Equestria itself. Kinda like Haloween at the USA?
Correction only Cadance love shield was able to keep Sombra out. Shinning Armor himself said his magic was useless against Sombra. So it's safe to conclude that Neither Luna or Celestia would have been useful to keep Sombra out.
Naw precious episodes already hinted in a very subtle way that Celestia had foresight. Also Luna kinda confirmed this was not the 1st time Celestia had them.
Certain scenarios could only make sense and happen if she had. Also let's not forget one important fact. She has been the sole ruler for over a thousand years. And so far by our knowledge Equestria had not had a major conflict after the Nightmare Moon Incident till her return. How can you possible keep a nation that long stable, peacefull and prosperous unless your ruler has an advantage she can exploit?
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If you were the ruler of a country and you loved your sister, would you allow a national festival that depicted her as an evil cannibal? I would have put a stop to that long ago. In fact, I would have gone to great lengths to make sure everyone understood that I had failed my sister - that I had turned her into a monster by not caring about her and had been forced to banish her. I would have told everyone it wasn't her fault and asked them to be kind and understanding - that she wasn't bad at all, and just needed love and respect.
When she then returned and wanted to go to Nightmare Night, I would have gone with her. I would have explained to her how to not be terrifying, and that you didn't use the Royal Voice anymore. By accompanying her to Ponyville I could have reassured the citizens there that everything was fine, that there was nothing to be scared of, and that my sister was a friend, not a foe.
Celestia did none of those things. If it hadn't been for Twilight, Luna would have gone away deeply hurt.
As a fan I can accept "she did it because that's how the future had to be" maybe one time, at most. But not as a continued thing. If you want to have a good character then have her do good things; don't have her do evil things and use foresight as an excuse. If you want to have a wise character then have her make good decisions; don't have her do crazy things and use foresight as an excuse. It's incredibly unsatisfying and is very lazy writing, at best.
If I honestly believed that Celestia was deliberately making poor decisions time and time again because she had the gift of foresight and that's how things had to happen, then I don't think I'd watch the show anymore. I just can't take that. But that is just me.
Well, it is the Castle of the Two Sisters, Trixie. Maybe Celestia just wants to chill out at her old home.
Going off the synopsis, however, I doubt that.
This chapter got a little bit confusing. Rainbow Dash goes from badmouthing Trixie to Trixie's face (without realising it was Trixie), then later on she defends Trixie and threatens Celestia with outright mutiny of the Pegasus race if she should harm Trixie.
Of course, I have to wonder why Celestia would leak plans to open some ominous MacGuffin artifact so that her guards would hear about it and then tell the Wonderbolts. I suppose she didn't realise the extent Equestrian popular opinion turned against her, and said it to somepony she thought would go along with it, but didn't. I guess nobody got around to telling Princess Luna or Cadance, though.
So did Twilight and Trixie switch forms? I guess we'll find out later when Celestia tries to pull a fast one and sacrifice Trixie or whatever, but I suspected that as soon as Twilight said Trixie should be the one to cast the shield, again when Twilight didn't land properly (but Trixie did), and further when it's Trixie who starts babbling all excitedly about the sentinel.
Looks like I was right about Trixie and Twilight changing forms. Hopefully when the pegasi find Trixie she explains it quickly enough before they think they were lied to. Poor Twilight though. She trusts her mentor and gets a knife to the neck for it.
But damn, I suspect Celestia may be going down. Especially once Luna comes out.
Aaaaand backstory.
It looks like Twilight's gonna have to start raising the sun earlier than expected the way this is panning out.
Looks like Celestia managed to step back from the brink. Then she swung all the way to the opposite extreme.
I wonder what havoc that's gonna do to Trixie's Cutie Mark, for that matter.
A little bit surprised I guess that there wasn't really anything to be said about how plans changed so Trixie will be raising the Sun now instead of the Moon. Of course, I suppose if Celestia could transfer that power over to Trixie, then if Luna gives her power unto Twilight they could always swap roles in the future. Trixie does have a crescent moon as part of her Cutie Mark, after all. Given they're in Discord's good books they'll certainly be starting their reign off a little bit better.
A little thing I noticed it Trixie talking about becoming Equestria's queen, as opposed to their princess. Was that intentional?
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Sorry for the delayed response! Yesterday was really busy. Let me see if I can get all caught up here.
I think this is a fair point. You could make a good case that what we're really seeing here is a severe distrust of Celestia instead of a deep regard for Trixie. (Rainbow certainly isn't very nice to Trixie.) Rainbow is the symptom that Celestia isn't trusted anymore.
Celestia has never faced any kind of genuine opposition before. For a thousand years she's been used to having everypony agree with her and just go along with whatever she wants. This is something new for her.
Yes, they did. I tried to make it obvious. Trixie just isn't good at flying and doesn't have Twilight's magical abilities. Her ability to imitate Twilight for any extended period of time is pretty limited.
She seems to be the only one who still trusts Celestia. Of course, Twilight was dead during the events of The Fall of Night, so she never saw Celestia at her worst. She remembered what Celestia used to be like, and that's what she based her trust on. Trixie tried to tell Twilight that she wasn't there when things got bad, but Twilight just didn't really believe her.
I almost changed Trixie's cutie mark, but then I remembered that when Twilight got Celestia's magic when Tirek invaded, her cutie mark didn't change. Since Twilight didn't change, I left Trixie alone as well. Trixie's special talent is still magic; she just has a lot more power to work with now.
I was wondering if anyone would notice that. Yes, Twilight was expecting to replace Celestia, and had slotted Trixie in Luna's role. Now, though, the future is uncertain. Since Celestia could raise the Sun as well as the Moon, it's possible Trixie could still take that role - or maybe not. Trixie has options now; it'll be up to her. She has a lot to learn, though, before she makes a decision. That's why I didn't go into any detail here; I thought that discussion wouldn't be held until the future, when Trixie had settled into her new life and had some time to talk it over with Twilight and Luna. It's not the sort of thing they needed to decide right then.
Yes, that absolutely was intentional. Trixie is still Trixie. She's not very humble, and things like absolute power and the loyalty of an entire country could easily go to her head. Trixie is being given more than she ever imagined; how wisely she will handle that position is an open question.
I really appreciate the comments. Makes me wish I had them when I was writing this, so I could have changed some things. You bring up some good points.
Thanks!
My judgement over this piece... would be harsh.
The whole thing with the five was quite interesting. The whole concept of reality being shattered! I simply loved the whole idea. Your version of Celestias past was really fun. Yet... Celestia felt so weird. I could only think she was either sick (so old she started having mental problems) or she got a parasite like the Nightmare. Having a good explanation over why celestia went "bad" would have been... good.
In Fall of night it actually makes lots of sense. I loved your corrupted celestia there. It was a condition already seen in the show and you used it quite perfectly. She is literally afflicted with something, and twilight's death, her beloved student was an explanation good enough of how the near-uncorruptible sun monarch actually could fall.
Here? Hrm... I don't know so much.
If anything, I like the part where she is with the keeper, the single discussion she has with him, how blinded she is to the point she is not able to see through the illusions. And how she realizes how evil she is being.
However that single moment doesn't make up for... well... all the weird stuff happening at the same time. Free teleports into the shadows realm. instant armies(let's remember, we're supposed to believe that in a matter of weeks RD put all the pegasi against Celestia!), weird loyalties and a free alicorn ascension with weird happy ending. Who would have thought that Twilight would forget about her old mentor so easily... And everything happens in just a day!
Not that any of said events would be implausible, but...
I could say a lot, and I would like to discuss, But I prefer to tell you to keep writing. You have interesting ideas and I don't want to risk demoralizing you. I tend to be a terrible critic, so I hope this doesn't strike so badly.
Ok, this story is pretty good but Celestia is way out of character I understand you don't like her. The Prequel to this, I would at lease understand why she acted that way because she is in grief, and makes you feel all kind of things. But is a bit too extreme in my option, I mean you already made her responsible of many things twisting the elements. Making everyone hate the last hope, putting salt in the wound, you just have make the Celestia is an evil Tyrant and Luna can do no wrong trope and turn it up to the extreme.
I don't mean to be mean, truly I don't but honestly this way too much.
6562459 well, that's part of the problem of releasing everything at once. I don't have an issue giving comments chapter by chapter, and while mine get pretty short for more popular stories, I'll be more indepth for things with little feedback. I'm an author too, I know how splendid it is to wake up overnight and see 7 new comments on a 7 chapter story
That was kind of a bizarre twist. It felt rushed and Celestia seemed out of character. Also dumping all of that on Trixie?!
More bizarre turns of events. Not only does giving up all her power like that make for a very out of character Celestia, Luna's words and actions don't make sense either. Being an alicorn is Celestia's birthright (although the exact nature of the action is unclear). Would Luna give up the moon or appreciate Celestia advocating that she lose it forever? Trixie is also being very trite and frivolous despite the implication that she ought to have matured a bit by now.
It would make more sense for Luna, presumably possessing some wisdom, to tell Trixie not to dwell on it for the moment (she now has a responsibility to the world). And also that she does not need to give it back, but that she will have to make that decision herself.
Also for all he instability, Celestia is presumably far more experienced in many things pertaining to daily ruling that Tricie is ignorant of...
I'll have to re-read from the beginning, but having Trixie be the element of magic and Twilight somehow still manage to be around and the 'Princess of Friendship' doesn't make a lot of sense and doesn't seem to contribute much to the story.
That last "Twilight" line channels the heck out of Aang.
Heya ol' buddy ol' pal!
I saw you made a sequel to The Fall of Night, so...
Surprise!
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Oh, she is Royally done for once Luna comes.