Ponies have spread to the stars thanks to advances in technology. In the advanced and luxurious Solar Explorer, Celestia travels to the first extra-solar colony world set up by her little ponies. Unfortunately, events elsewhere in the galaxy, unknown to them, have set in motion a cycle that has been repeated for countless eons… the reaping of sentient races. A Reaper dreadnought confronts the Solar Explorer, intent upon indoctrinating the leadership of the ponies and bringing them to heel.
Said Reaper quickly learns exactly why Celestia has earned the title Unconquered.
A Mass Effect crossover oneshot.
Chapters (1)
.........DANM! Forget the crucible bring Celestia!
where is twilight in this she need's to go to space to she is also a princess
Well when she fought her sister, heavily anchanted castle was turned into ruins. And there is not even a trace of city surrounding the castle merely thouthands year later... When gods fight, mortals don't suffer, contrary to some philosopher, they simply die...
So reaper was bit idiotic.
I think this fic needs some villains declaring what she's doing impossible to really be complete
6636687 nonetheless? Your phrasing suggests you're coming in expecting to be unimpressed. And calling people Bronies as an insult on fimfiction is weaker than any plot that could be written
i have a teory on that: Celestia is Solar powered. Being the goddess of the sun it would make sense that she would be more powerful afteer soaking some up. and what would be the best way o prevent her from doing so? perhaps keeping her indoors, getting fawned over by servants preparing her for the wedding ceremony?
Also, you know what they say....
6636772 Wat... I called people bronies as an insult? Really?
Yes I came in expecting to see something I've already seen. Trust me it's better to be unimpressed from things, than come in expecting the next J.K. Rowling.
Yes I saw the same excuses, the same pointless fawning over Celestia that failed to convince me she was that powerful. I cannot with good consience believe that the mare that was disabled by two measly vines, the mare that couldn't defeat the smooze because her horn was covered in slime, the mare that outright got defeated in ONE BLAST by Chrysalis is strong. I find it overall boring that people want Celestia and Luna that strong.
It's like taking "One Punch Man" seriously...
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At least "One Punch Man" ((which honestly this fic felt like a more "serious" one punch man)) has the sincerity to think of itself as a joke and it WINS because of it. Any fic that describes Celestia or Luna, as One Punch Man-esque creatures deserves a "Parody" and "Comedy" tag as a result.
I know you said this is a one-shot but I would like to see an attack on Equus that Luna would have to defend.
That and to see the recovery and aftermath of these stories.
This story was awesome!
"And to others she is Sol Invicta, the Unconquered Sun"
Very well done, just like the Reaper. Just like how I like my calamari, well cooked and not trying to eat me.
Military might the other form of diplomacy .
6636808 Shut your goddamned mouth you assclown.
Its because of people like you is why we can't have any fun every once in a while.
Well, all's i have to say is
THAT WAS BLOODY EPIC!!!
that's a 10 on the
itude meter if i've seen one recently!
6636842 s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/00/c0/d1/00c0d164a38bd5c86d33a03442dadbb8.jpg
6636876 I've had worse.
It is nice seeing Celestia in a powerful perspective as the show doesn't really exhibit how powerful she is or how powerful she should be.
Good Story, sir/ma'am. It is nice seeing a Reaper totally slaughtered.
6636815
I have the headcannon that where Celestia would be the Offense, capable of drawing power from her Sun and destroying whole armies and the like, Luna would be the Defense, Likely using the light of her Moon to bathe all of Equus with an impregnable barrier that would keep the Ascended at bay far long enough till Celestia Arrived to deal with them.
And I do mean, " Far Long Enough." Meaning Luna is probably sitting there playing her Ponystation 4 and not even TRYING to keep them out.
6636876
To be honest, I see a lot of the 'Celestia is weak' in the cartoon as well. That was actually one reason why I wrote this story, because I feel that we don't really ever see Celestia's real power. I provided an explanation as to why she lost to Chrysalis, and I like to think that in other circumstances, she either chose to be defeated for the same reasons or was taken by surprise. I just don't feel that any of that is doing Celestia, a creature that is probably immortal and is able to move a sun around like a ball on a string, any justice whatsoever in the power department.
That, and I wanted an excuse to hit a Reaper with a beam of death and have it die a horrible, horrible death like it deserved.
Yaay, finally, someone uses a decent part of Celestias power.
May I offer for next time, that she combines it with the Elements Of Harmony, so that she doesnt have to mess around with prolonged volumes of slow moving mass energy, but can cause it to bunch up into an encapsulating compressing plasma shield, which then collapses to a point.
Basically, makes a star core Mass Relay, destination, Everywhere?
Always fun when you pump enough energy into an attack that it spews antimatter due to pair production from its outer edges.
6636687 When gods fight, it is the mortals who suffer. You forget two major factors. One, it's a kids show, two, if they don't hold back to a certain point then they likely WOULD turn Canterlot into a pile of slag. Celestia is not the main protagonist, nor is she meant to be. She's meant to be the mother figure/teacher who tries to redeem everybody she can- she isn't SUPPOSED to be a fighter in the show. However, when you think about the fact that she's ruled for over 1000 years, you can fill in the blanks with so much. Plus, there are villians EVERYWHERE, both appearing for the first time and breaking out of thousand year old prisons, so you KNOW she has power of a sort, to defeat the likes of Tirek, potentially Sombra, there are likely hundreds of others she's faced with Luna before NMM, and there are most certainly more that we've never heard about in universe. Plus, there are the wars that would inevetibly happen- after all, some races are too stupid for their own good. When you get to the show's day and age, she's had over 1000 years of experience to try and stop the fight before it happens in the first place- usually by befriending the enemies. This will likely to have led to the degradation of fighting skills, but even so she still moves the fucking sun. She still has a shitton of magic power, AS SHOWN WITH TIREK. You've seen what Twilight could do with the power of 4 alicorns in that fight- and that was with her not being anywhere near used to that much strength. Even putting Celestia's part in alone, you'd be able to destroy a good chunk of the mountain Canterlot sits on if you don't hold back. When you see her beaten in the show, Smooze and the vines are BY PLOT DEVICES, Chrysalis has some legitimate strength draining love from someone who is loved by, and loves, ANOTHER ALICORN- and yes, they'd still be holding back with that beam struggle both as a kids show thing and to not kill everyone there, NMM is her sister whom she doesn't want to hurt... Give her an opponent in the middle of nowhere that it is proven can't be redeemed, and they would likely be fried on the spot. Believe what you will, Celestia and Luna are NOT weak- they get fucked over by the writers more often then not. By all means, try to prove me wrong- I love a good debate.
6636923 Well the problem is you turned Celestia on the extreme.
You have no idea how many times I've had my OC have a bunch of spells that are overpowered. I've had to nerf her twice and she wasn't that strong... The thing is yea I understand that Celestia is strong, and that she isn't done justice, but the charm of a character lies within overcoming said obstacles, and not in some sort of anger-driven power fantasy which I thought this fic to be ((it is in a way and your comment does say so a bit)) but the point is that I see that "she chose to be defeated" as an excuse. It's the same excuse people use to justify bad writing when Discord was forgiven for TREASON, when Twilight brainwashed a whole town only to receive more homework later, and when Luna is okay psychologically to rule after we saw the Tantibus incident.
People try to keep their idols stacked up high and cannot admit that even they are... ponies ((human doesn't really apply here)). They are ponies with faults, with weaknesses, with sins, with interesting and complicated lives that are FAR from perfect! You know why those "Celestia are Weak" stories are so good? Because they provide struggle, they provide conflict, they provide CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! They honor the characters that are Celestia and Luna far more because when you say that someone is a badass you need to PROVE he is a badass.
6636951 No. They can't turn Canterlot into a pile of slug. They didn't when Nightmare Moon and Celestia fought. And if they were so powerful they wouldn't need the elements. Kids show or not when you require Deus Ex Machina to win then you are not allowed to call yourself powerful.
YES Celestia and Luna ARE strong, but they are NOT gods when I can do the same thing they do with 11 more of my friends.
You know I like how you say thousands of stuff would have happened but the thing is "That's your headcanon" and there's "Occam's Razor" that says assuming all this is... well pointless. Besides the imprisoned villains I can't believe that Celestia or Luna OR the Equestrian army have any amount of skill when they are CLEARLY warned about an upcoming threat, elevate the city to terrorism level security, get attacked BY THE OUTSIDE, and STILL LOSE.
Celestia and Luna being rusty is an acceptable thing but none seems to accept even that. So yea... you can understand my frustration.
Wow. This just... I can't even...
Just... gonna leave this with a download and a sour taste in my mouth.
6636966
I make no claim that Celestia is perfect. I like her, I admit, but she does have flaws; she is easily forgiving, so much so that she leaves herself open to betrayal from those she has forgiven (Discord the obvious here). She's unreasonably optimistic and overconfident at times, especially when it comes to Twilight; sure, it's worked out so far, but seriously? Sending one mare off to a town with a cryptic message and hoping that she manages to defeat someone who is basically a demigod of nightmares, and that's her whole plan? Sending six mares off to try to defeat a stallion who managed to enslave an entire city? Yea, Celestia isn't perfect by any stretch. She may have the power of a demigod in my mind, but she is as fallible as any other pony.
That being said, I believe you can make a story out of characters of any power level. Just because Celestia has a hugely overpowered attack doesn't mean that it's automatically a bad story, the same way having Celestia be weak enough that she's basically a normal unicorn with wings doesn't make it a good story. This isn't meant to be a character development piece, it's a oneshot about Celestia's power levels. There is no overarching plot or villain, it's right there in front of you, go punch it in the face. The obstacle to overcome is very easily overcome, because I purposefully gave Celestia a target that I felt was within her power to destroy. This isn't a character piece where the character is supposed to develop; Celestia is static in this story. No, this is a oneshot about just how powerful I feel she is, nothing more, nothing less.
I always liked the interpretation that the big obstacle to Celestia kicking all sorts of ass with the power of the sun is the fact that she'd kind of like there to still be a country to rule after everything is said and done.
Earth-like environments generally do best when they can get to enjoy the power of the sun from a fair distance! Roughly one (1) astronomical unit of distance has worked pretty well for humanity, so far.
This is independent of any other personality interpretations, of course, of which there are many.
Off-topic, but 'Behold, the Bringer of Light' always reminds me of the Nuke Cannon artillery from C&C Generals. We bear gifts!
6637009
Of course they didn't display that kind of juice when Celestia and Nightmare moon duked it out. Both wanted ground standing afterward. Celestia because she cared about "her little ponies" and Nightmare Moon because she wanted people to worship her and they cant do that when they are dead (don't use the "eternal night would kill everyone anyway" argument either, beyond all the various ways that might not actually be true, its also a lot further in the future and Nightmare moon is a rather "in the now person").
Also, if you look at what it Mass Effect cannon it takes to knock out a Reaper it isn't honestly that much firepower. So Celestia wouldn't even need to be that strong to down one.
And even further: Yes in the show she doesn't actually demonstrate that kind of power. Even the moving the sun in the show can be explained by the sun not working like our own sun in the real world.
But this isn't the show. This is a crossover story with Mass Effect, and therefore by the very premise of Equestria being a star system in the Mass Effect system its sun most operate on the general principles observed in reality. Which means that its freaking huge. Which means that anyone doing anything meaningful to it has to throw around a lot of power. Which means Celestia has a lot of power in this world. Since in a world where this story happens the previous must be true, things in the show must be explained away to match those facts.
Seeing as how the simplest explanation for Celestia's lack of showing off the brute force the crossover aspect of this story requires is for her to be wary of collateral damage, it makes perfect sense for her to be a-ok showing off in space. Space is big. Lots of room for energy to get slung around and not hit friendlies.
In short:
The fact that this is a crossover with Mass Effect in which Equestria is a star system is the Mass Effect universe requires that certain assumptions about how the setting works based upon the facts of the Mass Effect universe not the one from Friendship is magic.
These assumptions require that Celestia be powerful to keep manifestly true fact of "Celestia moves the sun" true in some form or another.
The fact the Celestia is powerful by the requirements of the setting of this story in no way has to be a declaration that her power is the same in the show.
Hahahaha! Yes!
I've been waiting for this.
I admit I cackled as she let loose. But that stems more from my fondness of the idea that Celestia is powerful but in a way that she has two "power" settings: on and off.
6636687 That's a daft comment. Everything you've said is your interpretation, nothing more. The things we know about Celestia and Luna are:
1. They can move the sun and moon; Celestia can do both. Source: Season 1, Episode 1.
2. Each was able to use three of the six elements of harmony. Source: Season 4, Episode 1 (Zecora's potion). Likely not to their fullest extent, although that could be due to the nature of the elements, requiring six individuals to use correctly.
3. Combined with Twilight and Cadance, their powers are at least equal to that of many, many ordinary ponies. Source: Season 4, Episode 26 (Twilight fighting Tirek). Note that Twilight is highly inexperienced with so much magic, and is likely using it less effectively than might be physically possible.
We also see Celestia beaten twice (Chrysalis and the Plundervines), and it implied that she is beaten a third time by Nightmare Moon (Luna on steroids, so that doesn't count). The usual explanation for Chrysalis is given in the story, and the Plundervines had been growing, leeching magic from the tree of harmony, for a thousand years.
That's what the show gives us, now it's up to us to draw our own conclusions. "Celestia is weak" is not really the conclusion I would draw from the evidence, but that's just me.
6637130
There was NONE at the castle! There was NO REASON to hold back! And what the hell do you mean we don't know if that would kill them? How would they even survive? Don't you DARE use the excuse "Magic". There is no canon fact in the show that Equestria can survive for a long time with the sun and moon in imbalance.
I've played the game. I am aware.
That also means at the same time that since 12 unicorns can do the same thing as she can ((it's written in a book somewhere)) then it means that they DIDN'T EVEN NEED HER.
The problem isn't that she is able to do so... the problem is that she's treated as a power fantasy.
To be fair, there is no such thing as overkill when Reapers are involved.
6637053 True. But it takes work... it just doesn't impress me is all... it requires a lot for me to even enjoy this given how short it is. Which means that if I'm not already into this kind of thing I wouldn't enjoy it anyway.
6637207 If you read my later comments I admit I was overreacting but I have a serious trigger button when people assume Celestia is "One Punch Man".
6637009
It is a kid's show. If Celestia and Luna were powerful enough canonically to blink half the cosmos out of existence with half a thought, they'd still get taken out by someone throwing paint on them. The entire point is worfing the 'old, powerful mentor' so that the characters the kids identify with seem strong, even when they're pathetically weak by comparison.
If you already knew you were going to dislike this, why'd you read it? Barring that, why comment? You knew this was a place your comment was going to generate hatred. There's precious few stories that don't treat Celestia like shit or a sex object. You come to one of them and start throwing your personal and wildly opposed views around in one of the few places people who actually want a powerful Celestia get together at, you're not going to be praised and you're not going to change minds or sway opinions.
Putting forth an unnecessarily hostile and/or diametrically opposed opinion in a place where it will be violently rebuked, when you don't even like it to begin with means you KNEW this would happen and did it anyway. You invited the negative response. Which is essentially the very definition of trolling. Come on Nion, you're better than this.
6637289 You know well my initial response wasn't good I get it. And also I've seen the excuse "It's a kids show that's why they aren't doing it" a thousand times, even used it myself. But then comes Ocam's Razor and says "No...".
In general the suspension of disbelief is challenged with a sledgehammer smashing glass.
I should have thought better in my initial response.
However! I want you to know that I generally come expecting something bad, because if that happens then I haven't lost anything. However IF I am surprised there is the "pleasant surprise effect" that earns thumbs up and likes and favorites from me.
Oh and I guess I'm really vulnerable to trigger buttons.
I like you. Pm?
6636912 The combat styles I usually imagine for Celestia and Luna are raw power vs. subtlety. Celestia can bring down the fire of the sun and incinerate a battlefield, but when Luna goes to war the shadows themselves turn against you and things turn into a horror movie on a large scale. Patrols vanish without a trace, gibbering monsters from the id lurk in your trenches, and officers go mad from the nightmares afflicting them.
6637244 That is actually a wonderful comparison. Perhaps a crossover should be made?
6637213
You wound me. I would never use the excuse "becuase Magic." Its a terrible excuse and mockery of the art of debate.
How about this:
Luna's, and by virtue of being Luna, Nightmare Moon's goal was to have ponies appreciate her night. To adore her the way they did Celestia. They can't do that if they are dead. Luna is presumably not a complete moron and realizes that. So her method of reaching her goal , aka bringing about eternal night to force ponies to experience it rather than sleep through it, makes no sense in that regard. From this we can assume that Luna/Nightmare Moon had a plan to prevent this. This plan could range from shifting the farming to crops that don't need light such as mushrooms(yes its a horrible plan I know), to putting the sun back up every now and then. The second of course requires that she be able to move the sun and the moon, but sense Celestia could do both and Nightmare Moon was by all accounts more powerful than Celestia there is no reason to think she couldn't do both as well. Yes the second is rather contrary to ETERNAL night, but that could just be a case of hyperbole or a statement to who would be in charge.
Of course Luna/Nightmare Moon may well have been insane enough to not care about the "everybody dies" part of the plan. We don't know for sure. But I think that the dichotomy of "wanting everyone to admire her" and "causing everyone to die" is sufficient that it leaves some room to doubt whether Nightmare Moon beating Celestia would have actually resulted in everyone dying.
Now as for the "no one at the castle" thing. Ok sure. But how about outside the castle? In the neighboring villages? What is the collateral damage range should they choose to step up their firepower? We don't know. And the conditions of this story and the nature of the crossover force us to accept, at least for this story, that the answer is a lot. Another explanation is that throwing around any more power than we see them do in the duel presented in the show may take more time is available in a fast paced duel. Celestia's reaper-be-gone spell seemed to take some time to cast in the stroy.
Honest curiosity. Where is this stated? I've never actually seen this number used for the "how many unicorns does it take to move the sun?" question before. If this is the cannon number than that does indeed put darn heavy damper on anyone wishing to have Celestia be able to throw around a lot of power and still be able to claim that they aren't in non-cannon territory.
Maybe she is. She certainly is elsewhere and I can see an argument for her being treated as such here(I personally view it as a thought experiment on would an entity who can manipulate a star to whatever degree take on a reaper and win, but I will admit to occasionally having a rather abnormal perspective on things). But is that an inherently bad thing? Isn't that in the end what large amounts of fiction is? Perhaps its not your cup of tea, which is A-ok, but I don't think that it inherently makes a story bad.
I would also like to point at that this is the first time you've mentioned the "power fantasy" angle. All of your previous comments have been decrying the possibility of Celestia having the power needed to pull off something on the level we see here.
6637375 Sure. A parody perhaps. I'd love that actually.
Cool. I love these kind of epic badassery stories.
I have a question however: What's up with Twilight and Cadence? i understand that the story didn't really need any depth of their current situation, but they deserve mention at least, given how far into the future this is.
6637378 Sure if you add a thousand ifs yes. But then I can respond with "Occam's Razor" and say it's too convoluted to work.
As for the number it's in a book that's a wee bit questionable in matters of canon. It's 4 in the morning and I want to sleep. Maybe later?
As for the power fantasy thing. Yes... for the most part power-fantasy is the indication of BAD fanfiction. I have no problem with it in it's entirety but at least let us be self-aware a bit.
I'm leaving the story a 'like' , however I would have liked to see the Reaper's response to suddenly having the tides turned against it. One final act of arrogance and/or fear.
6637399
I personally don't see Nightmare Moon not actually desiring the death off all life on Equestria as unlikely enough to necessitate the use of Occam's Razor, but I feel that that is a matter of opinion thing.
I'll agree that obvious power fantasy's do have a higher likely hood of being bad stories than those that are not. I certainly didn't mean to imply that it cant be, I only meant to assert that power fantasy doesn't automatically equal bad story.
Have a nice night.
6637400
That's easy.
"Aw, fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-"
6637461 Sorry man I just don't exactly have the energy to get into a crazy ass debate right now and I'm sure I've dissapointed you with this. t_t
So much angst over a story. Just because someones head canon doesn’t match someone elses.
In the wedding Celestia was in the position of trying to swat a roach with only two choices a fly swatter or a 220 cm Hellbore. ( see Bolos or “Legacy” by Nfire).
In the story “The Sun Burns Brightly” by Eakin Celestia is outside without a crowd of beings around her and she is able to use some of her real power. That amount used in the throne room would have killed everypony there except her and Luna and possibly Cadence.
I loved it. Best MLP/ME crossover since the Equestrian Equation. Too bad it's a one shot, but still a great story.
6637130 This, people, is what I think of Every. Faust. DAMN. TIME a fight breaks out in the comments of a story
I imagine that I am not alone in this regard...
Nice little oneshot. I enjoyed it.
Also, in reference to the comments section...
I am reminded of "We didn't start the flame war" by College Humor, only with a little less foul language.
6637316
That's a good headcannon as well, I love our fandom. We're just a bunch of psychopaths capable of thinking up the most demented of things while also being the most loving and forgiving lol