Epiloge (In the Hooves of an Angry Alicorn)
The hinges to the freshly replaced doors to the throne room groaned as they were pulled open by two guards dressed in highly ornate ceremonial armor. In marched two guards of matching uniform stepping methodically forward in unison step, parading ahead of Twilight. She wore her regalia: a crown imitating the element of Magic, a small golden necklace similar to Celestia's hung around her neck, four golden shoes each with a six pointed purple star, and the most recent addition – two weary, bloodshot eyes. Twilight's shoulders slumped and she held her head slightly lower than usual as she wilted underneath the angry glares of hundreds of ponies, each staring her down with loathsome disdain. Every few steps she took carried her past another row of seats, another forty vengeful onlookers.
Behind her marched another two guards, both armed with spears, and behind them walked Princess Cadence who held a pensive, tattered expression.
Twilight counted the steps in front of her. Only another thirty, only another two hundred angry ponies to face before she was left only with two in front of her. Her eyes itched terribly, stinging a sharp cry for water, but they were dry. She had already cried all the tears she had left.
The rows of government officials, military officers, reporters, and honored citizens fell behind Twillight as she stepped in front of them all and knelt at the steps leading to the thrones of Celestia and Luna. The diarchs sat as if statues, staring down at Twilight below them. On the left, Luna, Princess of the Night, Moon, and Stars, cast a piteous expression on Twilight that was like moonbeams filtering melancholically through the rotting rafters in an abandoned building. On the right, Celestia, Princess of the Day and Sun stared impassively upon Twilight like the sun beating upon scorched rocks in a dry desert riverbed.
In unison, the two stood as they continued to look down upon Twilight and they stepped down to the small, flat riser a few steps above where Twilight knelt and hid her face. Behind her, Twilight heard a strangled sob which came from her mother – she had seen her and her father along with Shining Armor, Spike, and her five friends sitting in the first row. All but Twilight's mother had turned back to look at her as she had walked down the aisle, casting her pained, sympathetic looks. All except her father, that is, who radiated soul crushing disappointment.
“Rise,” the sisters ordered in unison, and Twilight obeyed. Standing, she looked up to the diarchs who towered authoritatively above her. The guards had moved to flank her, two on each side, once she had stopped walking and Cadence was by Twilight's side. Walking slowly in front of Twilight, Cadence turned to face her and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, “I am so sorry,” she quietly uttered before turning and walking up the steps to stand behind the two sisters.
Celestia raised her chin as she looked down upon her, “Twilight, because of your actions, because of your abuse of power, and the threat to us and Equestria that you created, you must face the consequences of your mistakes. The public outcry against the creation of the changeling queen has reached levels even I could not have expected and it is demanded that you be thrown in prison for the catastrophe you nearly created. However,” Celestia paused, “I cannot find it in me to follow through with the demands yet I see that you are not ready to rule Equestria. You lack the maturity, you lack the self control, but further yet, you lack the integrity for us to trust you to tend to this fair nation.”
“Therefore we-” Luna hesitated as she bit back against buried reservations, “shall remove the title of Princess which has been bestowed upon you. You shall be stripped of all royal power and responsibility until the day arrives that have learned the lessons required to no longer harbor secrets against Celestia, myself, Cadence, or any others. Clarity, honesty, and integrity, like in many other instances, is of paramount importance to the leading of a nation.”
“Because of this and because the public outcry against you is so strong, your title no longer will apply – it shall be as if it was never given to you in the first place. Therefore, once you have matured and learned the lessons we had thought you already had learned, you shall be able to regain the title of Princess.”
Celestia and Luna stepped down to the base of the stairs where Twilight stood and wordlessly lifted her tiara from her head using their magic and rested it on a pillow behind them. So too, they lifted the regalia from her neck. Twilight, head held low in shame, lifted her front right leg and the shoe was removed, then the front left, back right, and back left followed in turn. Each piece of Twilight's regalia, as it was removed, was rested upon the same pillow as her tiara and when the full set was collected, Celestia and Luna lifted the pillow and sat it inside a large mahogany display box with a glass lid, but not before Celestia levitated out a small, octahedronally shaped pendant, hollowed out in the center with a spherical crystal core. Luna gave Celestia a disgusted look and while Cadence stood looking on with a pale expression. Celestia held the pendant in front of Twilight's face and fought against the rising pain in her heart, “Though you no longer carry the title of Princess, the magic of Alicornhood still flows through you and therefore you are still endowed with the power associated with the Royal Position. Until the time comes that you have proven yourself capable of handling the position, you must submit your alicorn magic.”
“I understand,” Twilight's voice resonated hollow in her chest. She closed her eyes and focused inwards. Though Twilight's horn began to glow, this was no spell or enchantment she was casting; she was looking at her innermost being and pushing a piece of it from herself. It was an excruciating experience, but not on a physical level. Imagine the emotional pain of being handed a sword and being told you must kill one of your two best friends who is standing in front of you: much the same way Twilight was feeling cut in half -split down the middle- as she tore the alicorn magic away from herself and felt it siphon into the pendant in front of her. Twilight felt her everything slip away through her horn as it was devoured by the pendant. Images of her time as Princess flickered in front of her eyes only to drain away like water circling down in a maelstrom into oblivion. Attaining Alicronhood and becoming a Princess had been the crowning achievement in her life and, despite her reservations, could not imagine life apart from what she had been. She despised the disappointment she had brought Celestia and Luna almost as much as she loathed the pain she had wrought upon them. How easy was it for her to create chaos with her magic? Certainly, she did not need to have alicorn magic for that that to happen.
Twilight knew that there was nothing she could do to bring comfort where she had brought pain, and she wished she could express her deep sorrow for causing everything that had happened.
However, there was one way she could show just how sorry she was.
In a final act of penance, Twilight took one last feel of the half of her magic which remained. And then she let go of it as well. Her mouth gaped limply and her eyes rolled back in her skull as memories of her life flooded her consciousness.
She saw her ascension, she relived spending time with her friends, she remembered studying for a magic test, she heard the howls of Nightmare Moon being struck by the elements, she recalled the excitement the first time she saw her cutie mark.
Convulsing, Twilight collapsed to the floor in a heap. Cadence yelped while Shining Armor and Nightlight jumped to their hooves, ready to race over to Twilight. Celestia and Luna reflexively stooped to Twilight when she fell to the ground, Celestia quickly cradling Twilight's head.
Twilight's eyes opened to show that they were now gray. Celestia and Luna said something to her, but she couldn't understand them. Looking to her flank, she saw her lavender coat minus her cutie mark and suddenly felt extremely hollow like she had lost her purpose in life.
Turning her dull eyes to Celestia and Luna, Twilight quietly uttered, “I give up who I am for both of you.”
[Linebreak]
Celestia sat in her chambers contemplating the many mistakes she had made in her long, tiring life. She could still remember Luna's descent into madness as if it had only happened a day ago despite the thousand years since its happening. How many little things had she done to cause that? How many tiny affronts had Luna suffered before she died a death of a thousand paper cuts and plunged into darkness? Celestia doubted she could count how many times she had wronged Luna, but she could recall no time she had ever purposefully tried to hurt Luna. Even after the betrayal, Celestia would have never imagined taking vengeance, even if she could have while Luna was banished.
But now what of Twilight? Both of them had made mistakes, in both cases some were deliberate. Infidelity, secrets, lies – those are not things that just happen. Likewise punishment, defamation, humiliation: those are deliberate. The blame truly does go both ways.
Crossing her front legs, Celestia rested her chin on them and stared at the glass window and carpet which had melted and scorched in exposure to her fury. It had been a week since that had happened, so why hadn't she had it replaced? Perhaps it was a reminder that pain can go both ways.
Outside, the sun told it was ten in the morning but Celestia could not force herself to attend to her duties. Twilight had lain in the guest chambers resting for the past two hours since she gave up every last iota of her magic. Like anyone, Twilight was weak and frail without her magic, but somehow she was worse than average.
Celestia's heart ached badly. This was her fault. None of this would be happening if she had been rational, and damn her to Tartarus, she had made Luna an accessory to this cruelty. But this was what she wanted, wasn't it?
Her heart ached worse. Twilight had hurt her so much... so terribly, awfully, agonizingly much. Her very spirit was in agony. Celestia wondered if it was so wrong that she lashed out like she did and if it was so terrible that she made the choices she did?
Yes, it was. Where Luna had acted out of rage and lost control for the briefest of moments, Celestia had actively made the decision to hurt Twilight and take revenge for how much she had been hurt. It was petty. It was immoral. And it was eating her alive.
Tears stung her eyes as streams of hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She had gotten exactly what she had wanted. Twilight was now certainly in as much pain as she was, but now to what benefit? She was physically broken and had been seeking forgiveness ever since that terrible night... and what had she, Celestia, done? She had said there could be forgiveness while actively plotting payback. The duplicity was revolting. Celestia, having no witnesses to see her tears, cried harder.
She had thought she had gained the upper hoof in this exchange, but all she had done was heartlessly destroy Twilight. It would be years before she recovered from this, if ever. Luna was pissed, rightfully so, that she had been reeled into ruining Twilight and had reconsidered her choice. If she didn't fear splitting the diarchy, she would have already come forward with the true story and absolved Twilight of her punishment. Cadence earlier had been threatening to terminate communications until Celestia treated Twilight justly, though thankfully she was levelheaded enough to not drag the Crystal Empire's politics into this mess because the silence would only be on a personal level.
Not that any of that mattered anymore. During the week long span between Twilight casting the lust spell and the dishonoring ceremony, the gears of public inquisition were turning. Questions were asked, stories unearthed, journalists raked up mud. At the very time Twilight was being stripped of her Princesshood, the truth was circulating after having been discovered in the days prior.
Laying on the couch in front of Celestia where she rested her head, was the day's newspaper, and the three Princesses were the front page headline.
There, for all to see on the front page, was a hazy picture of them, Luna, Twilight, and herself, tussling together in the bed.
Royal Scandal
During day the sun never set, three Princesses had an affair
We all were frightened by when a large shield suddenly surrounded the Canterlot Towers and the sun never set that. We all rightfully assumed it was another threat to Equestria. Nightmare Moon, Discord, the out of control Everfree Forest: each of these threats was a disruption to the established order of day and night, and each time we were on the precipice of disaster. This time, our leaders claim the threat was a queen of changelings unleashed by our youngest Princess, but countless sources have confirmed this is a cover story for something far worse.
All this began when the cutter ship Wayward Winds arrived from port about thirty miles away. It is the newest vessel in the Air Navy and is equipped with an advanced telescopic camera. The Sun had failed to set for about an hour by the point it arrived as it had taken the ship that long to be crewed and unmoored because it had been in for some maintenance and the regulars were on shore leave at the time. By this point, the Royal Guard had called in their mage reserves and were already attempting to break through the shield which had formed around the towers. Several members of the air division had already tied to look through the shield into the tower using binoculars, telescopes, and other peering devices but their sight was obscured either by the shield, the tower itself, of the glare coming off the sun.
The Wayward Winds is equipped with a high powered telescopic magical bore camera capable of looking to the horizon and picking a pony out from the surrounding terrain once the plates are developed, so the ship was moved into position and a series of images were taken. The photographic plates then sent to be developed in the navy's chemical labs. The process took over fifteen hours for this particular type of plate, so they were placed 'on the back burner' and forgotten about until the time came to see the image. Needless to say, this particular chemist was shocked by what he saw but nonetheless was compelled to show the images to his superiors who then later ordered the prints redeveloped to ensure against tampering. When the images came out the same, the plates were destroyed along with many of the developed images, but not before one copy of each had been smuggled out and delivered to us by the a chemist who has requested his/her name be withheld. The image shown in the headline is one of the only we were able to show, as all others were deemed to graphic for viewing and have been destroyed out of the respect we still have for our leaders.
That said the images are, unfortunately real and they tell a real story which we take little pleasure in detailing, yet as honest journalists, we must bring this information forward. But where does this story begin? Well, from what we can ascertain, for the past few weeks quite a stormy affair has been brewing between Princess Luna and Princess Twilight as several members of the janitorial staff and maintenance crews have reported the two princesses spending much time together behind locked doors. As one staff member put it, “You walk past the door and you hear... well, you know what you hear. And I know I am not mistaken because others hear it too and they know what those sounds are. I've been married for twenty years, so I know what those sounds are. One day, I came home and heard those sounds coming from my daughter's room, and I proceeded to beat the living tar out of the colt that was in there being 'cozy' with her.” We want to point out at this time that this is not what the reporter was looking for in the interview, she had been asking questions about the changeling queen and if anyone had seen it, but the interview quickly took a turn for this subject when the staff said there were absolutely no signs of the queen and the journalist asked 'has anything out of the ordinary been happening these past weeks?'.
But the story does not end there, the same staff member went on to say, “About two weeks ago, I heard those sounds coming from Princess Celestia's chambers as well. You know, you don't really want to hear those things and you pretend that you don't, but when someone else hears it, you can't ignore what is going on. The two Princesses are wonderful leaders and I couldn't ask for more as a citizen, so I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. But there isn't any doubt in this case.”
Another staffer on duty the day the sun failed to adds onto this story, “I've worked all around the castle and recently have had the honor of servicing the upper towers. I was with [name redacted] the day she heard the sounds coming from the Princess' room, but I told her she must be mistaken. Then I heard them too. We both blushed and quickly got out of there. Then, on the day it all happened, I was dusting the leisure chambers next to the Princess's personal bedroom and living area when suddenly in come all three of them. I was astonished to say the least and I bowed before them. All three of them were acting very strangely and were saying things which I don't want to repeat here. Anyway, they rounded me and the other staff up and sent us all downstairs. On my way down, I heard a magical humming and the hair on the back of my neck stood up, so I turned around and saw this massive shield blocking the hallway just feet behind me.”
The newspaper goes on to detail more eye witness testimonies and the writers start making conclusions about what was happening while expounding that the whole changeling queen story was a lie to cover whatever was going on here.
In large, there was much speculation, but Celestia noted that a disturbing amount of it was correct. Subsequent articles and editorials made points about incest, inappropriate teacher-student relationships, speculation about Luna having corrupted society with ancient and immoral beliefs. But the most scathing of all the speculation were the three articles blasting Celestia and Luna for revoking Twilight's Princesship even though they were attempting to appease the tens of thousands of angry protesters raising Tartarus across Equestria. The theories postulated by these articles didn't end until they each suggested the anti-coronation was some kind of cover up.
Celestia knew full and well that they opinion writers were correct – she was not trying to appease anyone other than herself. Wiping her eyes with her foreleg, she smeared black mascara all over her pristine white fur. Knowing full well her face must be covered with smears, Celestia could not bring herself to care. She had been petty enough recently; caring about her looks when things were as grim as they were was so shallow.
Standing, Celestia wrapped her magic around the newspaper and carried it with her as she shuffled listlessly to the doors leading to the hallway outside. Opening them, no fewer than twelve ponies, some nobles, some governors, the rest journalists, all turned from Kibitz and simultaneously hounded Celestia with questions.
“Silence!” she ordered, and only on repeating it a second time did they all stop talking, “I am emotionally unfit at this moment to answer the questions in a way that you deserve, so until I have regained my composure, I shall only say that while the speculation in this,” she waved the newspaper in front of them, “is largely incorrect, the every testimony is true.”
The journalists and nobles, unlike the governors who knew better, immediately began yelling their questions over eachother.
“That is all I am saying for now.” Celestia quietly ordered, then turned to Kibitz as they continued to yell their questions, “Thank you for bringing this to my attention,” she nodded towards the newspaper.
“Of course, your majesty,” he bowed and Celestia silently thanked him for his undying respect.
“Please escort these supplicants out. I have personal matters I must tend to.”
“At once,” he bowed again and began corralling the news-hungry journalists.
Down a floor, Celestia entered into the guest chambers where Twilight lay unconscious. Her parents, Cadence and Shining Armor, along with her five friends and spike all were crowded in the room with Twilight Velvet and Cadence at Twilight's bedside. Every member of Twilight's family, including Cadence, gave Celestia a dark look which she knew she more than deserved. Ignoring it, she walked to Cadence and gave her the newspaper saying quite simply, “You need to read this.”
She did, and as Celestia sat down next to the bed and put her hoof on Twilight's, she heard Cadence gasp and looked back to see her covering her mouth. In a few minutes, she was going to have to explain to Twilight's parents, brother, and friends the questionable things that they had been doing as well as rationalize the false story she had given. For the first time in centuries, Celestia felt like a little filly who was in trouble and had to give an account of herself to her parents. The cold, nerve racking feeling was one she had not missed.
Looking back to Twilight, Celestia stared blankly at the pendant which now hung around Twilight's neck and glowed a gentle lavender in color. It contained all her magic. Every. Last. Bit. She had completely drained herself, and Celestia knew well enough why she had done it. Remorse, pure and simple remorse. Though Twilight had done wrong and hurt Celestia terribly, Celestia now knew she had hurt Twilight worse.
She had never fully stopped crying, but suddenly a new wave of tears began welling up from within as a surge of emotion overcame her. Lacking the willpower and too tired to fight the urge, Celestia sobbed aloud and openly cried in front of other ponies for the first time in over five hundred years.
Twilight was asleep, her body was fighting the ravages of magic depletion which would leave her weakened until she took back some of what she had given. In the end, Twilight would awaken in a day from her comatose state, but until then, that did not stop Celestia from hugging her and crying loudly, “I'm so sorry, Twilight. I'm so sorry.”
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I quite enjoyed this sequel! I hope there's another.
Anyway, it seems there is a formatting error though. The Cadence finding Twilight scene happens twice with different endings. The first one happens before we find out she's even flying to Canterlot.
6691730
Glad you liked it.
Anyway, I accidentally had a mix up with an old doc I sent to a proof reader with the one I meant to upload. It is fixed now.
Well that was... heavy I wasn't expecting something like this when I read the first story.
welp I gotta say, first and foremost. I hope for a sequel. I think we all need closure from this. Perhaps Twilight getting her magic forced back into her, and a timeskip to when equestria finally cools down. I can see the nobles and other ponies turning to Cadence as their new regent as she is perceived as the proper non-scandalous one. This brings me to my second point.
I hate cheaters. Having suffered through seeing the effects of an unfaithful father, my sisters first two relationships, and my brother (who's betrayal was one of the factors that lead to his death), I have no pity for people who cheat. Cheaters and those who hurt their alleged significant others are the scum of the universe to me. If I see someone who beats his wife/husband or cheats on them, on fire, I wouldn't even spit on them to save them. But you managed to make me feel very, very bad for Twilight. I know very well what it feels like to be violated by another person, and the "triggering" feelings of that where eclipsed by just how bad I felt for Twilight. The remorse was palpable like a dollop of rotten aloe vera on the tongue. I honestly, want to see a "good" end to this. Things can never be the same, but they can be good again, with time. People can learn to forgive and forgive themselves.
It is my sincerest of hopes that we will get to see Twilight in the future, mended, and pursuing a healthy relationship.
Now my third point. I can tell people will be in a stinker over the anti-homosexuality in this. Before anyone accuses me of being some white cishet male misogynist or any other useless jargon the millennial kiddies like to use to silence differing opinions. Think of what kind of world we see in MLP. Most of the ponies on screen are female, even with the latests of episodes, the ratio of males to females is still skewered. Males form most of the Guard, thus are directly in danger of dying, and Equestria itself can only be called a Death World. Forests full of monsters, both mythical and meme-tastic (bumble bears), parasites that devour everything, ancient chaos gods, centaurs that devour magic, changelings, flora that maims you by playing "pranks". The list goes on. This is a world that from a realistic, screw your feelings standpoint, could, possibly, not afford to let non-heterosexual relationships be a norm. Ponies are a prey species, no level of sentience, magic, colors, friendships and rainbows will change that.
None of this applies to our world as we are an apex species, and frankly, by most beliefs, we are overpopulated. Do not attempt to force your human-centric systems of morality on things not human. I'm female, I fancy both sexes, I lean more towards my own sex, and to be honest, the anti-LGBT mentality in Equestria, theoretically is not misplaced. In fact, I'm sad to say this, but if a major catastrophe would to ever hit mankind, whatever gods may or may not exists never let this come to pass, we may see the civil/social right to love who we choose to taken away for matters regarding the preservation of the species and/or its genetic diversity. So please, put the LGBT flags down, and enjoy this work for what it is.
Now the rant that will get me tons of hate mail and downvotes aside. I feel broken. This is the first time a fanfic has hurt me. I have cried tears of joy from some, I may have gotten sad due to occurrences in some fics bringing back bad memories, But this one really hurts. This is without a doubt one of the best fanfics I have read since my time on this site. Thank you for writing this Voltage Drop.
woow, that was..quite a shift from the first arc. You were right to put tragedy on this. I really hope you continue and make a sequel, this ending sucks. I mean, it's powerful, and very emotional, but it really, reallllly sucks for this to be how it all ends. Twilight is no longer an emotional wreck thanks to, well, having almost all life sucked out of her, the press and rest of Equestria know of the cover up and will soon learn that Twilight was, more or less, a martyr, and I don't see the three remaining Alicorns mending the situation between themselves with what happened.
I was a bit relieved when you didn't have somepony later find out that Celestia received all those pleas for help that Twilight was sending, and chose to ignore them. I was kinda getting that vibe from her for a bit. Cold, calculated rage is very ugly, and Celestia has it in spades in this.
This story is really well done, and I couldn't put it down until I got to the end, but, damn that ending.
This story broke my heart, but it's a testament to how well crafted the tragedy was. I can readily relate to the panic attacks Twilight experiences and the troubles caused. Thanks for sharing this story with us.
Well, that was jarring ways I didn't even think possible. You know how to gut someone and drag them around by their innards, I'll grant you that.
Unfortunately, your unnecessary polemic against homosexuality is delivered with the subtlety of a Chick Tract and effectively neutralises my ability to care about what comes next or anything like that.
I actually enjoyed the first half of this story, but it all fell apart when I got to the part about Celestia's speech. At that point, the story basically devolved into a big contrivance to force as tragic an ending as possible and I loath that kind of shitty emotional manipulation in a story.
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Your logic doesn't make sense.
Firstly, you claim Equestria is a death world, but most of those threats you mentioned are limited to a small portion of Equestria that it is specifically mentioned no one really goes to. All the rest are relatively rare external threats, not exactly the kind of thing that could shape a society. The rest of Equestria has been shown to be relatively peaceful and monster free.
Secondly, the whole argument from gender ration always bothered me, because that is clearly just a result of the animation process. Treating that as canon is ridiculous. No one treats the weird clones that keep appearing, sudden alicorns that only appear for a few seconds or random body parts disconnecting as canon, so why this?
Thirdly, even if I give you the gender thing, your argument still doesn't make sense. You argue that a species as endangered as ponies, with a gender imbalance, would place more importance on heterosexual reproduction. However, you then immediately point out that the guards are mostly male. This doesn't make sense. If society so heavily valued males for reproductive service, and the world was as dangerous as you say it seems, you'd think the opposite would be true, that males would be barred from service and only females could serve. Again, this is just an animation thing, it's easier to make a few guard models are reuse them. It's not canon, and if it is canon, then your theory makes no sense.
6920666
Heheh, Yeah, I know the ending was rushed, but it wasn't because I was trying to manipulate emotions. I started writing this during a month long contest and by the point I got to Celestia's speech, I running close to the submission deadline and had run out of ideas. Pretty much, day to day, I was writing this by the seat of my pants as I struggled to keep the plot moving while meeting a 50k word goal (which I sadly couldn't pull off, but it was a personal record number of words).
A dark part of me half-hopes that the magic depletion is fatal; not because Twilight deserves it, but because Celestia does.
loved the first part but this one doesn't get a fav the ani-lez is just stupid its Tabo not wrong
6921436 I don't think the princesses are against it, the nobles are. and usually the common world is the one that disparages homosexuality, as it does nothing to further the base species as a whole. However, ponies have an out from that limitation, in the form of magic, a properly skilled mage could create a temporary member for same sex couples to have children with( - Gay males).
People need to calm down, im not antigay but i still enjoyed this story and hope to see more from the author. Another episode would be much appriciated.
Twilight got off lightly. I don't know why anyone would sympathise with her when every problem in this story was entirely her own fault. For me this story was ruined because you expect us to sympathise with her and see Celestia as cruel. Also again the anti lesbian stuff served no purpose at all which is why so many people complain about it. There doesn't need to be any added controversy to the fact that Twilight forced two princesses to have sex with her so why bother including it especially if it is never addressed properly.
Excellent story. It definetly needs sequel.
Throwing the story under the proverbial bus because the author dared to write a character/setting that doesn't dance to the tune of something you like, makes the story all better.
This story and its prequel were unbearable slogs. If there really is an anti LGBT tract in the rest of the story to go with the bullshit of condemning pre marital sex from the last story, then I'm glad I stopped.
(Side note: I can't believe I'm actually dissecting any story to this level - I despised this stuff back in high school. I'm such a hypocrite!)
This was a very emotional story, both for the characters and the readers. I am going to first say three things:
1) I will recommend this story to people - it is very good.
2) The comedy tag does NOT apply to 'Under the Heavens Above'. I would go for Drama myself.
3) Current version needs some editorial review (nothing major, minor typos and a few missed words here and there)
On to more important stuff…
Just wow… that's how I felt reading this story watching the turmoil build and build and not knowing where, when, or how it was going to blow up.
Now, let's discuss the manticore in the room, namely, the anti-homosexuality undercurrent.
There has been a question of whether this story is anti-homosexual piece. I'm not sure, and I'm honestly not sure it matters. Personally, I didn't feel like the author was shoving "DO NOT DO THIS" down my throat like some authors in the world do. (Jack Chick anyone?) Yes, Cadence has an anti-homosexual stance and she has her reasons. Now I don't feel that her reasons were completely and clearly defined by the author, at least, I didn't clearly follow them (granted it was 2am when I was reading everything and I was bloody well tired!). I will say that on its own merit her stance added nothing to the story as a whole and as such it honestly doesn't need to be there.
However…. she also implies that this stance reflects the view of a large part of pony-culture and thus it adds weight to The Bad Thing (™) that Twilight has done and adds another nail to her coffin she's already built of lies and deceit against Celestia and Luna. So, in my opinion, it can be argued that it does serve a purpose in the context of the overall story by increasing the magnitude of her mistakes. But this is still a rather weak reason for it to be in there in the first place and still doesn't really add anything to the story at this level.
Where this stance DOES start to add to the story is the fact that we learn from Luna via Twilight's recollections, that in the olden days physical relationships were not only common but encouraged between all members of the royal guard, regardless of sex! This implies it was accepted - at least on some level - in the past. And now we add one more tidbit: the fact that at the end when Celestia and Luna both explain that they fell for Twilight not because she was a mare but because she was now immortal and the sting of losing another loved one was removed, and Cadence did not fault Celestia and Luna for this reasoning:
So, now we have dueling opinions here - one the one hand, per Cadence, homosexuailty and pre-marital sex is bad, but homosexuality has been accepted on some levels within Equestria in the past, and Cadence has accepted it within the context of what has been going and she did not flat out reject that reasoning! So how do you resolve this duality? I have no idea, because it wasn't resolved with "Under the Heavens Above" or "Royal Affairs". To me, this is another plot point for a future sequel: just how does the populace of Equestria handle homosexuality these days? Does anypony really care or think like Cadence does? Do they have an opinion in regards to their immortal leaders playing "hide the feathers" with each other rather with stallions? This may become an important point in the future of the story, but only the author knows for sure. But it's from discrepancies like this that conflicts comes from and conflict is what makes stories move forward.
I'm going to say that I have no idea if the author intended this to be an anti-homosexual piece, but I just don't see it. I think if he (she?) did then I don't think that Cadence would be so understanding of Celestia's and Luna's reasons for becoming involved with Twilight, and I think that there would have been more of a negative fallout from the royal guard being overly promiscuous in the past. But I didn't see anything negative come from these points. (To clarify - L+C having sex with Twilight was proven to be bad, but mares having sex with each other was NOT proven bad within the story.) So, from my standpoint, when I read these stories the anti-homosexual bent was just a plot contrivance and not the author's personal attack on homosexuality. (That begin said, IF it was an outright attack then the author failed because I, as his reader, was able to ignore it and move on. So, go me!)
So, do I know what I'm talking about? Not really. This is just my take on this story. You can take it or leave it, it's just my opinion. But, to me, the author is either really horrible at convincing people that homosexuality is bad or there are really interesting plot points that are just begging to be resolved. Personally I think the author just really wants to beat Twilight with the "Fate Really Hates You" stick a lot.
Moving on to other things…
I want a sequel. The author - yes you, Voltage Drop - has got this story stuck in my head so deep I can't stop wondering what the hell is going to happen next. How do Celestia and Luna resolve their feelings towards Twilight? Towards each other? Towards the populace at large whom they felt they had to lie to about a changeling attack rather than tell them the truth of what happened? (well, OK, that was all Celestia, Luna just went along with it grudgingly). And what about Cadence? Does her feelings on love and relationships apply equally to immortal alicorns compared to the little ponies? And what does this mess do to her relationship with Celestia and Luna. And for the love of Discord (whom I'm assuming is still a statue in this story) what in Tartarus' smokey abyss do Twilight's friends and family make of all of this?! Oh, and what happens when any of those notes Twilight fired off asking for Celestia to save her from Luna get found? I can only imagine they will stir the political pot should they ever be found.
And finally, what is to become of our now greying, non-magical, blank flank of a former alicorn? My money says she recovers enough from magical drain to realize there's nothing left for her in Equestria except pain and grief and hatred. So she then leaves Equestria and permanently moves to the Crystal Empire to be with Cadence and Shining Armor followed very shortly thereafter by Spike and her parents. (Personally, I'm pretty sure that Spike's going to be on a round the clock, panicked suicide watch for a long time to come…)
For me, these stories go in the Favorites folder.
eh… that's enough out of me for now, I guess.
6922787 Agree on all points. Also want to add that Cadence stance on sex has place if stallion to mare ratio is about 1:1. But statistically it looks about 1:5
Also Cadance was a little concentrated on the fact that Twilight was sleeping with both Princesses. Like any coin there is another side to it. Twilight was seduced by both Princesses. It's not like she could seduce both of them. (Yeah i can see Twilight barely 20 years old seduces TWO Princesses thounds years old). Also Celestia and Luna both come out here not old, wise etcetra, but like little foals. CMC seem more mature than those two in the story. If i give estimates Luna is about 10 years old and Celestia is somewhere beetween 5 and 7,5.
That's really... sad. I mean, imagine if the two person you loved with all your heart decided to gave up on you because of just ONE mistake! While, it is a rather large one, i think the princesses acted WAY out of the line... It shows that while they didn't manipulate or have been using Twilight for their own twisted pleasure, they are willing to gave it ALL up, it shows that they don't care of loosing Twilight and shows that Twilight are of little use to them and therefore can be pushed away whenever they pleased!
It's... tragic really, i think they hurt Twilight FAR more worse than the latter had to them. Its true that they've been hurt greatly by Twilight, but its all physical! and all hurt to them is their goddamn prides! Its not like they we're humiliated in front of THOUSANDS MAYBE EVEN MILLIONS of people and looked down upon in the time span of mere seconds. Being stripped of your title, whom you spend your whole life working for, in front of millions of people... While Twilight on the other hand, was hurt. Emotionally and Physically. Like i said earlier, being hurt physically is really no big deal. Atleast, when its compared to being hurt EMOTIONALLY, being mentally or emotionally hurt is far more painful and often last your whole lifetime and perhaps even more.... I think they hurt Twilight to the point that to her being killed seems the better punishment.
Being stripped of who you are for just one mistake is just... sad. Tragic even.
6924721
actually to what i heared is the ratio would be 1 to 37.
and yes i think in pictures 
)
i can be wrong ofc but just saying that might aswell be the case.
( i see it infront of me 1 stallion having to please 37 mares
as for the story i must say the writer should continue cuss this story ended on a way that is not a real ending.
so i suggest either tag as incomplete and continue or tag discontinued cuss tag as complete doesn't fit in the slightest.
so continue pls?
6924786 yeah epiloug seems like nightmare continuation of dialog overheard by Twilight that made here cast the spell. And again like i preveously stated the Princesses react way out of proportions. Okay the spell made them have sex with Twilight and each other but the alternative was puppy love to Twilight!!! Basically by doing what they've done they recreated fact that cracked Twilight.
6924937
I know right!? Also, Celestia is a , pardon my uncouth words, bitch in this story!
Anyway, still looking forward to the continuation of this story!
6924952 more like a child that places blame on anyone but herself. At least in the last paragraph she gets a little better but still she matured from 5 year old to 8 year old. Hell my sister isvmore mature the Tia in this fanfic. Also Luna aparantley has ether anger managment problems or she dose first thinks later. Seems like second one by the way.
Damn, this was a rollercoaster of feels. Thank you, Voltage Drop, for writing this; spent a good part of my free day reading this and its prequel. And damn, that ending was bitter (not the bad bitter, but bitter-sweet without the sweet.)
EHHHHHHHHHH....... From how you've built up Luna I can't believe she would allow this to happen. She was on the verge of rebelling against Celestia in the the last fic. This is too far. She would straight up fight Celly before she let this happen. Or at least just tell the press the truth. She was adamant about even tarnishing Twilight's reputation, and was willing to admit the truth to even just prevent that. To save her from this, I can't imagine she would stay silent.
the punishment was a crime far worse than that which was committed to begin with
7308459 Agreed. It was an ending which, in retrospect, I wish I had written differently. I have some alternate endings in mind, so there may be a well needed update in the near future.
I like how this story came out. While it does stretch the personality of both Celestia and Luna beyond what they would actually are, the idea that Twilight would give up all her magic in repentance is appealing to me. I hope you can write more on this story plot from that point, it would be interesting to see where the Alicorn sisters go from here with Twilights life hanging in the balance.
7310545
So...about that well needed update
Damn Celestia, you messed up here. Man do i feel rage for this whole conclusion. Hope we see a sequel one day.
This fic made me hate Celestia for how irrationally she is acting. Twilight made a mistake, and her panic attack made it worse, but instead of telling the public the truth, she made up a story that put only Twilight in a hole- one even worse than the situation actually was, and it was all out of jealousy, because she thought that SHE was the hurt party.
I would have Twilight's back the entire way on this.
Though Twilight had done wrong and hurt Celestia terribly, Celestia now knew she had hurt Twilight worse.
Mistakes like this happen in relationships all the time, and what angers me most is that Celestia is trying to deny that she is still prone to them happening to her own. Twilight had done no wrong other than, panicked and at a loss for what to do, tried to keep from disappointing Celestia- as she always had in the past. The lust spell was the result of a PANIC ATTACK, for crying out loud.
In the end though, she is right. If Twilight wakes up, maybe she'll see and choose Luna instead.
6921838
A bit late, but here's your answer:
If a commander orders his army to kill your family and sack your hometown, will revenge-killing him restore the city and bring back your family? In all honesty, the magnitude between crime and punishment in this example is reversed in the story but it is still the same concept.
Revenge will not solve anything. Even if the loose ends are tied, the problem is not solved. You might have even made things WORSE. That commander's now leaderless army is running rampant and harming other innocent people, your family is still dead, and your city is still in shambles. In this story, Celestia and Luna still had sex with Twilight and each other, Twilight still cast the lust spell out of panic, the truth of their relationships has been uncovered, and Celestia made things even worse for herself and even Luna by lying and defaming Twilight in order to get revenge for Twilight hurting her. Twilight started it out of a teacher-student complex and fear, but Celestia thinking that she could have the last laugh made things only worse for all of them. Twilight at least sought forgiveness and felt remorse, doing something short of killing herself to show how sorry she was. Celestia lied about forgiveness and offered only payback.
Revenge is ultimately useless, tying you down in the grave you dug. Forgiveness, though, even if the person who hurt you is now your worst enemy, will set you free. Celestia might not have wanted to speak to Twilight for awhile, feeling contempt, but it wouldve been better than the effects of revengeance eating her alive like the story says they were.
Just got done reading this story again, it's too bad Voltage never got around to writing a sequel to this. Does anybody know if there happens to be a spiritual sequel about this story anywhere written by someone else?
Wow, what a horrible fic. I really can’t see this any anything other than some homophobe writing a little wish fulfillment in which a bunch of gay people get hurt because of them being gay. The only main character that doesn’t get hurt is an explicitly homophobic straight girl. Awful, awful fic, completely irredeemable.
I would ask for a sequel but the Author hasn't been online in 5 years, this can't be how the story ends right? Twilight gives up all her magic and is now in a coma? And the truth is now out in the open, jeez you might as well end the story with Twilight dying, this is probably just a fate worst!
If there's a fan made sequel to this, not just on fimfiction but on any site, please let me know, I hate to know this is how the story ends.