S2 Ch 3: Returned
Twilight stepped into the royal chambers and gave a nervous look around. Dancer moved to sit at the end of the bed, starring nervously at the ruler. She then glanced to Nightmare Moon, gulping. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been brought into her private chambers. It did not bode well.
The alicorn glared down at her. “We will not be disturbed here. Discord himself could not break through the enchantments here, not as he is now. So, bard. Tell us. What did he do? What did he say?” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “And tell us. Did you betray us? Did you beg for him to save you from the ‘insane’ Nightmare Moon?”
Twilight shuffled her hooves, lowering her eyes. “No, I… he...” she mumbled, staring at the ground. “He… made us tea and crumpets.”
“And? What did he say?”
“He said that, err, him being a villain would… be a waste. That with you already being the villain, it’d be boring and just, not fun...”
“… And? That’s all? He did not harm you?”
“No. He… actually seemed a little sad.”
“Sad?” Nightmare Moon asked, before snorting. “He’s not sad. He is not capable of such emotions. He is an evil abomination that deserves to be purged from this world. Torn apart from limb to limb. My sis… we sealed him away long ago out of some noble belief that the monster could be saved. But we know that to be impossible. Should we get a chance, we will not allow any of him to remain to taunt us again,” she said with a growl. “He cannot show care for another pony. At all. He is a master of manipulation and trying to control you, just as he always has been.”
Twilight nodded. “Of… of course. I didn’t mean to imply that he was… that he--”
“And if you ever think of trying to betray us to him...” She leaned in, glaring into the earth pony’s eyes. “You know the consequences.”
Twilight squeaked and nodded. “O-of course, your highness. I would never think of… of betraying you like that.”
“Do not take us for a fool, we both know that’s not true. If you believed this creature could ‘save’ you from us, you would do it in a heart beat.”
“Y-your highness,” Dancer said, piping up. “I-I’m certain Twilight wouldn’t betray you in such a manner. She’s as loyal as I am.”
The ruler snorted and a cruel smile formed on her lips. “Oh? So your loyalty only lasts as far as you believe there will be no consequences from it?”
“W-what? No! Of course not, your highness!” Dancer said.
“Truly?” the ruler said with another snort, glancing over. “And if Celestia was before us, what would you do? Would you stay loyal to us, or would you instantly turn on us? Would you beg her to save you?”
Dancer froze, her mouth falling open. “I… well… I… I mean I...”
The alicorn advanced on the mare, making her walk back nervously, until she was backed up against the wall. “Well, student? What would you do? How long until you would turn on us? If you saw a way to escape us, to get out from under our rule, how long until you would beg to be saved? Despite the gifts we have given you, the magic we have taught you, how weak is your loyalty to us?”
Dancer shook. “Your highness, I never, I didn’t...”
“Do you really believe, for even a moment, you are loyal to us? Do you believe anypony is loyal to us? We hold no… beliefs that you, or any of your ilk, care for us. It is only our great power that holds you in sway. At least, for now.” She stood up straight, spreading out her wings. Thunder crashed in the background, making Twilight jump. “And Discord is far, far too weak to oppose us.” She turned her gaze to Twilight. “So I would remember where your loyalties lie, bard.”
The earth pony stared at the ruler, before feebly nodding. She was a foal. Why. Why had she made that mistake? She sighed when the alicorn walked towards her desk, shaking her head. Twilight waited a few moments, but nothing was said so she turned and walked from the room.
“I’m an idiot,” Twilight muttered. She thought back to what happened. Why had she said that? She was an adult. She was smart, wasn’t she? But all she could think about was how it had happened. She had saw Celestia, and suddenly she’d been a little filly again. She’d saw the alicorn and instantly she believed the ruler could make everything better. Realistically she knew the princess couldn’t do anything. But at that moment, she couldn’t see that. All she could do was see the ruler of her world and believe that she was going to make everything better. And set everything she’d done for Nightmare Moon back.
She missed last year. Her stupid mistakes back then only got her hurt. Now they could end up making everything worse. She let out a squeak when suddenly there was a snap behind her. She turned and shrieked when she looked at Nightmare Moon. Who looked annoyed. “We did not dismiss you, bard.”
The earth pony squeaked, paling. “I-I’m sorry, I thought you were… d-done with me.”
“No. We are not. We have something… else we wish to discuss with you.”
Twilight nodded and gulped, following her up to her room. To her horror, she realized Dancer was gone. It was just the two of them.
“I desire to speak to you of this,” the ruler said, her horn glowing before she pulled out the book. Twilight was sure she was imagining it, but was there a small claw mark on one of the corners? If it was, the ruler didn’t notice it.
“Y-yes, your highness?” Twilight asked softly.
“We finished it a… few days ago. We just… did not wish to speak to you.”
Twilight nodded, giving her a nervous grin. “Did, err, did you enjoy it?”
The ruler stared at the book, then glanced back up to her. “We enjoyed parts. Hated others. And some others fed us with so much rage we wished to turned all of the surrounding mountains to rubble.” Twilight gulped nervously. “But, it has served its purpose. It will… tell the ponies who we are. What... I am. We will permit it to be sold.”
Twilight nodded, glancing to the side. “Thank you, your highness.”
Nightmare Moon nodded, turning to walk to the balcony of her room. She stared out over the lands. Twilight wondered if she was dismissed, but didn’t dare walk off until she was sure. After a few moments, the ruler spoke up. “It doesn’t make any difference though, does it?”
“I’m sorry?”
“Our ponies will always want her over us, won’t they?” Nightmare Moon said, the words so soft she could barely hear them. The earth pony didn’t respond, she just stood there and waited. Finally, the alicorn turned back, her eyes cold as ice. “Soon the ponies will know and understand who we are. And they WILL learn to accept us, or they will suffer for it. And… if they will not, then we will wait. Patiently. A hundred years. A thousand. Until our sister is but a myth as we were. Now, about you.”
The earth pony gulped, staring up at her ruler.
“We have heard you have gone to visit Tirek, more often of late.”
She nodded. “Y-yes. It’s about the book I’m working on. I figured if I created a book to explain who you were, well, I-I should write one about him, too. So ponies aren’t as frightened. I might do one about Discord after, too. Err, I--”
She was silenced with a wave of the alicorn’s hoof. “Very well. We… have no objection to this. If you desire to know more of that creature, we will not oppose it. However, we still believe it is a foalish endeavor. Tirek is a monster. But a helpless monster.” She was quiet for a moment longer, staring at her. “We… will also permit you to leave the castle again.”
Twilight’s eyes lit up. “R-really? I can go where I want?”
“No. But you may leave the castle. Do not leave Canterlot, or your punishment will be swift. Do you understand?”
She nodded her head. “Of course, your highness. Thank you.”
The ruler nodded, moving her back to the mare. “You are dismissed.” She was quite for a moment, before whispering under her breath, glancing towards the book. “Why must you, of all ponies, know me so well...”
“Your highness? I didn’t catch that?”
“We said you are dismissed!” the ruler snapped.
Twilight nodded and turned tail, quickly racing from the room. Once she was on the stairs, she sighed. Her book was finally going to be out, ponies were going to finally have a glimpse of just what was going on. Just how much danger they were all in. But also how safe it was, at the same time. She wondered how awful her reputation was by now. She imagined the papers were being less than kind to both of them. She’d probably be seen as someone who was just taking advantage of the whole situation to make bits.
The whole thing left a foul taste in her mouth and she began to wonder what the point was. She could try all she wanted, but things wouldn’t change. Their ruler couldn’t save them. She’d lost any and all progress she’d made with Nightmare Moon. She just wanted to go back to her home and crawl into bed to wait for the world to end. She snorted and wondered if it would be happening soon.
She gave a sigh and made her way through the castle, following the all too familiar path to Tirek’s cell. It’d be a while before the book was ready. She wondered if she’d even have any fans then to read it. She struggled to avoid banging her head on the wall. “Ugh, why are you so stupid?” she muttered to herself.
“Heh, if you’re stupid, what does that make the rest of us ponies?” Rainbow asked when she trotted around the corner, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Applejack following a moment later.
Twilight’s eyes widened. “Girls? What are you doing here? Oh! Nightmare Moon didn’t try to make you--”
“What, two of our buddies end up getting foalnapped and you think we’re going to just high tail it out of here and wait for things to blow over?” Rainbow asked with a snort. “You should know us better than that by now.”
Twilight nodded and smiled despite herself. She should have. She stepped forward and felt the warm embrace of her friends. Even though she didn’t know all of them very well, it still felt wonderful. She then snickered when she noticed Spike was standing off behind them. “Spike? Do you want to join in the hug, too?”
He snorted, his cheeks turning a little red. “What? No. What makes you think I--” He yelped when he was grabbed in Rarity’s magic and pulled into the hug, his cheeks burning. “F-fine, whatever.”
Twilight sighed when they pulled back. “So, has Fluttershy explained what happened?”
“Yeah. This whole Discord thing seems pretty weird,” Rainbow muttered. “But eh. He’s not joining forces with her royal darkness up there and isn’t causing us grief, so maybe he’s not so bad.”
“He makes very good tea,” Fluttershy said softly.
Applejack gave a shrug. “Honestly, ah ain’t met ‘im yet, but ah get a bad vibe judgin’ by what Fluttershy told us. But… well, if he don’t wanna cause problems, ah ain’t one tah judge a pony who ain’t done nothin’,” she said with a nod.
“Yeah, he seems like he’ll be a bit of a headache,” Twilight said with a shrug. “But nothing really too bad. So it could be a lot worse. Sorry about the picnic.”
“It’s quite alright, darling,” Rarity said with a smile. “Nopony could have expected something like this happening and you can hardly blame yourself.”
Twilight nodded, before grinning. “Well, you’re all here. How about we go down to Canterlot Park and have a real picnic?”
“Canterlot Park?” Rainbow asked. “I thought you weren’t supposed to leave the castle?”
“Nightmare Moon has rescinded that order. I am now allowed to leave the castle,” she said with a nod. “Just… not the city.” She gave another sigh. “Hopefully she doesn’t get mad at me again...”
“What’d she even get mad at you for that time, anyway?” Rainbow asked with a frown. “The party was a success! Still not up to her standards? What, did she want you to turn the whole country into her loyal minions overnight?”
Twilight shook her head, feeling that pressure as the spell started to exert itself. The truth would do her no good here. “It… wasn’t something like that,” she said with a shake of her head, trying to look for a proper lie, her eyes glancing off to the side. “I over stepped some boundaries I really shouldn’t have and I really, really hurt her.”
Rainbow snorted again. “So? She’s a big girl, is she going to throw a tantrum every time you say something she doesn’t like?”
“Probably,” Rarity said with a shrug.
“Totally!” Pinkie added.
“Ah only known her a short time, but ah’m pretty sure that seems tah be the way of things,” Applejack said with a huff.
“Oh yeah, all the time,” Spike said, nodding.
“Well… n-no… okay, yes,” Fluttershy added softly. “Sorry.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Yes, she does do that a lot. But this time I really hurt her, a lot more than I meant to. I acted without thinking and it was a foalish thing to do, okay?” she said, shaking her head. “I just would rather not talk about it. So, picnic?”
The others nodded and the seven of them started walking towards the main entrance. As they did, Rarity glanced over. “So, darling. Far be it for me to pry too much… but…”
Twilight glanced over. “Yes?”
“Well… I can’t help but notice that you haven’t been at her highness’ side in ages. It used to be that she had you there for all her meetings. But I’ve seen a number of courts now that you have been nowhere in sight. I didn’t want to say anything, but… this… matter you mentioned...”
Twilight sighed and shook her head. “No. Yes. Sorta. Honestly? I… don’t know anymore. I don’t have any more ideas on what to do with her,” she muttered. “I feel like we’ve hit an impasse. I don’t think she’s going to end up destroying the country. But I don’t know how to improve her or make things better for her and everypony else,” she muttered. “I really don’t know how to connect with her anymore.” She mentally berated herself. If she’d just not acted like a school filly running to the princess like that, everything would be so much easier.
Rarity nodded. “I see.” She was quiet for a long moment, before finally speaking up again. “Then… do you believe this is for the best? For Equestria?”
Twilight almost stumbled and she noted the others moving a little faster then as well. They didn’t look back, but she could feel all of them listening intently. The earth pony was quiet for a long, long time before finally speaking up. “Yes. I do. I believe this is the best we can do. The best we can hope for at this time. Maybe… Nightmare Moon isn’t so bad.”
Rarity nodded, silence once again encircling the group.
After a few moments, Applejack coughed to the side. “So… Trixie’s been doin’ okay.”
Twilight perked up. “Really? She is? That’s great!”
“Ehh,” Applejack said with a shrug. “Ah mean, jus’ okay. She still gets into a mope every so often. The other day Cheerilee went down there an’ caught the unicorn burnin’ an oddly Nightmare Moon shaped effigy.”
Twilight gasped. “SHE DID WHAT?!”
“Err, ah think they put it out, nopony saw.”
“SAW?!” Twilight snapped. “She works in a library! A LIBRARY! What if some of the books had been burned?! All that knowledge that could have been lost, the stories, the passion, the emotion, all of it, gone in an instant! I’m going to have to have a long, STERN talk with that mare,” she said huffily.
Rainbow gave a snorted. “Twilight, you egg head. They’re just books. Who cares if-- eep!” She let out a squeak as suddenly the earth pony was in front of her, a hoof pushed to her chest.
“They are not just books. There is no such thing as ‘just books’. Books are passion, they are energy. They are a connection to past lives, to new worlds, to emotions and feelings and thoughts different from our own. Every single page is filled with a small snap shot of a person’s mind! A book is the heart and soul of its writer! To destroy one is unthinkable!”
The pegasus squeaked, giving a small nod. “R-right. Unthinkable. Don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Are you going to throw her into a wall, too?” Spike asked.
Rarity managed to barely suppress a giggle with her hoof, drawing red to Twilight’s cheeks. She stormed back down the hall, her cheeks feeling as if they were on fire. “L-let’s just go. And don’t let her burn any more things in the library, okay?”
The others nodded. Rainbow glanced towards Spike. “Is she always like this?”
“Oh, no,” the dragon said with a shake of his head. “Usually she gets a lot angrier when there’s talk of burning books.”
Rainbow nodded, then… “So, the whole story about her throwing Nightmare Moon into a wall… it was true?”
Spike nodded. “Oh yeah. I didn’t see it, but if you go down to the library and know who to ask, you can see a crude sketch of the whole thing. It’s pretty funny. And I think the dent is still in the wall. I don’t think Nightmare Moon has been there since.”
Rainbow nodded, a grin on her lips. “I’ll need to make sure to see that.”
------
Twilight gave a soft yawn as she trotted down the stairs into the dungeon. She rubbed at her eyes and stretched, grumbling softly. “Sometimes I swear...” she muttered.
Hanging out with her friends had actually been really nice, far nicer than she expected. But Pinkie was exhausting. She was mildly thankful she didn’t live in the same town as her. She was also trying to find out how in the world she counted as Pinkie’s ‘best friend’ when all the others seemed to as well. It didn’t make any sense. How could a pony have multiple best friends? On top of that, they’d only just met each other recently. A part of her wanted to study the mare, but she wasn’t sure she had all the tools, the energy or the time required for such a feat.
So instead she’d focused on just trying to keep up with the mare. Which had involved a lot more running than her, seemingly sedentary, life had left her prepared for. She wasn’t out of shape by any means, but in the end only Applejack and Rainbow weren’t left in a pile of sweat and panting.
But by Nightmare Moon’s over pointed glare, those cup cakes were delicious.
She gave another soft yawn and then glanced towards the cell. She expected Tirek to be there, reading a book. She did not expect him to be sitting on his bed, arms crossed and smirking at her. Life in captivity was fairing well for him, at least better than Tartarus had. He was more muscular and larger, he somehow managed to look younger as well.
“All things considered, you’re looking good,” Twilight said with a smile. “How are you feeling? Chipper?”
“Oh, indeed. I see the Lord of Chaos has escaped his imprisonment as well.”
Twilight’s smile fell. “Oh. You mean Discord. You’re… aware of him, then?”
“Oh, of course I am. I am almost as ancient as he. And magic such as his… well, it fills the air with the most delightful of tingles,” he said with a low chuckle. “I take it her highness is none too thrilled by this development?”
“Can you blame her?” Twilight said.
He laughed again. “So, tell me. Has he laid siege? Do the fields run with the taste of chocolate and marshmallows? Or has he perhaps turned the outside world into a giant bowl of soup?”
The earth pony stared. “What in Equestria are you talking about? He hasn’t done anything.”
That gave the centaur pause. “What? He hasn’t… you expect me to believe that Discord has freed himself and hasn’t sought out vengeance on the one who imprisoned him?”
She shrugged. “If anything, he seems scared of Nightmare Moon.”
He stared and, to her delight, she saw actual bewilderment on his expression. Then disbelief. “You’re lying, pony.”
“Isn’t that my line?” she said with a cocked eye.
“That spirit would not stand idly by after waiting for so long.”
Twilight shrugged. “I never said that. He just said he didn’t want to be a villain if Nightmare Moon already has it covered.”
He gave a low growl, rubbing his chin. “Discord, you crazy abomination… what are you playing at? Is this another one of your insufferable games?” he asked, beginning to pace back and forth. “You were supposed to be my ticket out of here...”
“Your what now?” she asked, cocking an eye.
He glanced back to her and snorted. “Nothing you need concern yourself with, pony,” he said bitterly.
She stared for a few moments, then frowned. A moment later it was replaced with a look of sadness. “Oh. Oh Tirek. I’m so sorry.”
He stared at her. “Sorry? For what?”
She stepped closer to the bars. “You thought Discord would be your way out, that in the chaos, you could escape your prison and be free, didn’t you?”
His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t speak.
“I’m not going to mock you,” she said with a sigh. “I… am just sorry.”
He stared at her, then turned away. “Bah. Do not waste your regrets on me, pony. Were the tables turned, I would do naught but laugh at you in this situation.”
She nodded, but made a mental note to have the cooks bring him an extra large parfait for dessert. She couldn’t imagine how much it must hurt to lose his hope like that. Then, a moment later, she realized she knew exactly how it felt. “I know how you feel.”
He snorted. “Oh? And how could you know that?”
“You feel… abandoned. Weak. Like no matter how hard you try, things just won’t get better. That… there’s no master plan or great gesture you can make to fix things.”
He cocked an eye. “Oh?”
“That those you wish to… to help you, to save you, can’t anymore. That they--”
“So you’ve found Celestia.”
Twilight froze in place, her mouth falling open. She then shook her head. “No!” The spell entwined her, making the words fall out of her mouth before she could stop them.
He snorted, giving a smile as he looked to her. “Magic is my specialty, Twilight. I can feel it working on you.” He then gave a low, booming laugh. “I suspected you’d found her after all. But no, you need not confirm my suspicions. I can already tell.”
“No, I didn’t find her. I don’t--”
“Silence,” he snapped, glowering at her. He then laughed. “But the feelings you had for your ruler do not mix with my own. I viewed Discord as nothing more than a tool. Something I would use to manipulate my way into my freedom. If… that is no longer an option, then I will merely find some other way to gain my freedom. That is all. No more, no less.” He gave another soft snort. “Though your sickening desire to ‘help’ me is noted. Dismissed, but noted.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. She then pulled out her pen and papers. “Of course. Now, would you mind if we continued the story? I believe when last we left off, we were discussing your families vacation to the dragon lands?”
He blinked a few times before sighing. “Very well. It was… hot. There was a lot of fire.”
She nodded, jotting things down as he talked. At least he didn’t fight her as much during their talks anymore.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
919 users online
700,397 hits today, 2,814,898 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Sorry, random thought even as I thoroughly enjoyed this chapter!
"So why didn't you invade Equestria instead? Like, impersonate royalty to get a quick boost in power?"
"Equestrians have no love for their Princess. It would have been like trying to sate one's dying thirst, by gorging on broken glass."
But yeah, cannot wait to see what shenanigans Discord conjures up!
Poor Tirek.
Poor Nightmare Moon.
Poor Discord.
Everypony is just breaking down, aren't they?
8138834
Dunno about poor Discord, got a feeling he's planning to help Twilight, in his own chaotic way. He seems to remember the cannon up to the current season, and Twilight gave him another chance when he needed but didn't deserve one. After Tirek Twilight became his real friend. Though Terik... yea Discord is going to work to keeps him in Tartarus, probably even taunt him and he's not going to know why the Spirit of Chaos went from apathetic toward him to outright hostile.
8138829
I get the feeling Chrysalis might could do it if she was a decent actress. Just "liberate" portions of Equestria in Celestia's form and feed on the love for her until she can take Luna.
Oddly enough, I wonder with this one. If twilight isnt going to simply let tirek take the magic and be done with things. Then blab where celestia is, and watch the panic happen naturally when folks go and investigate.
You get what you want, you actually twist the knife with things, and the chaos you cause empowers the one person capable of actually standing up to her if it came to that, especially if you took a shot of having him save your friends.
Discord may not be the Hero they deserve, They deserve better, but he is the one they need.
8138601 oh yeah i totally agree discord is beyond pissed
my favorite part of the newest chapter was when twilight said this to tirek (“You feel… abandoned. Weak. Like no matter how hard you try, things just won’t get better. That… there’s no master plan or great gesture you can make to fix things.”
He cocked an eye. “Oh?”
“That those you wish to… to help you, to save you, can’t anymore. That they--”)
i also loved tireks response of “So you’ve found Celestia.”
8138834 People do a lot of things they believe are for the greater good.
...
I'm... actually kind of surprised that Discord didn't keep Twilight as a bargaining chip, or at least alter her personality. It would have been interesting seeing how Nightmare Moon would have reacted to Twilight if she just didn't give a shit about anything and just stared at Nightmare Moon with a bored expression as the ruler of the kingdom tried everything in her power to get a reaction out of her.
8139307 I think NNM would have ripped Discord a new one if he had done that.
damn insecure super villians
Geez Twilight you screwed up big time with Nightmare Moon. Not only did Twilight broke her trust, the jaded feelings trickled down to Nightmare's relationship with Moondancer as well.
I wouldn't be surprised if Nightmare Moon starts keeping more vampire and were-ponies on her side for her counsel instead of Twilight. At least those ponies are directly benefiting from Nightmare Moon's rule and their support would feel more genuine.
Please tell me Luna overheard Twilight talking to her friends! I need her to hear such words! And tell her how adorable she was when she ate that tub of ice cream.
Great chapter. Thanks for spoiling us.
~Nachtschwalbe
You know, Discord is in a good position, chaos is now the perfect course of action...
YES
You should've known that you gotta play the long game Twilight.
So... basically that whole chapter in that book of her's is nothing but a thesaurus of this sentence repeated
I really want to hit these guys with a clue by four. They are just so dense.
As a reader, this is what I see:
1: Luna, you have to be willing to listen to other people, without turning them to rubble. If Twilight had been in that room when you were reading it, would she have survived? If the answer is no, or even if she simply thinks the answer is no, then she can never talk straight with you, and what you want -- for people to respect you -- will never happen because people are too afraid of you.
2: Both of you have no clue about loyalty. No, Twilight is not loyal to Luna. Luna is not loyal to Luna. Twilight is not loyal to Celestia.
Both of you are loyal to the ponies of Equestria. Both of you care about the future of the ponies. You might have different ideas as to what is best for them (the beauty of tonight, the shine of the sun), but this is the key point that you both need to understand. You can work together.
Luna clearly cares about the well-being of ponies. She might have an unusual way of showing it. She is willing to defend her ponies from anything that would attack them or cause them harm. Even Twilight is willing to attack anything that would cause harm -- see library wall for details.
If you can get over the whole concern of, "you like my sister more than me! That means I can't trust you", and instead make it a case of, "all right, what do I need to do to get people to like me instead of fear me?", you would do wonderful.
But for that, you need to realize that sometimes getting people to like you mean doing what they want, instead of forcing them to do what you want. And just because they like the sun doesn't mean they don't like you.
I fully empathize with Twilight on the topic of books. And it's often even worse with online fanfictions. When an authot deletes their works from a site, often that was the ONLY place it could be found. Several years back, one of my favorite authors on this site deleted ALL of her works here. The level of betrayal I felt was like a red hot dagger plunged directly into my heart.
That is what I love about physical printed books that I can hold in my hand... feel the texture of the paper under my fingertips... and if I take care of my copies, they can be passed on to the next generation of bibliophiles. And I can always, at any time I choose, (and I often do) read them over and over again. The same cannot be said about the fimfictions written by Twilightclopple, for when she deleted all her works... they became lost forever.
11026181
As a writer... yup. I can definitely understand that. The saddest part is, often, it's wayyyyy more expensive to have a physical book sold than an e-book. Not to mention a lot more work, so usually physical copies don't sell very well, making them a lot of extra work for not a lot of benefit. Then with fanfiction, which you can't really sell, making a physical copy isn't really something you can do. Fortunately, fimfic DOES have a 'save' option, so if you really like a story and wanna save it forever, you always can just save it in case.
But yeah, story destruction always makes me sad. Even in stories. :(
9868131
The problem is, there's only a few things that would get people to like her. Like, I dunno, bringing back Celestia and the sun. And that's not even going to make them like her, just a "finally, the nightmare's over".
I think the one thing she should've done to massively boost her popularity is making a day/night cycle. Even without the sun, it should be possible by brightening the moon considerably during the day so the stars disappear, and dimming it during the night so the stars comes back. Actually, it would look really cool like that, ngl.
Ahh. A man of many words.