Life and Lesson Plans
Twilight Sparkle repressed a shudder as she gingerly removed the last of the cobwebs. Even though she was only ‘touching’ it with her magic, it still gave her the creeps. A terrarium full of spiders, centipedes and other less than pleasant squatters—as she thought of them—from her castle sat beside her. As much as she loved Fluttershy, quirks and all, she didn’t really see why entire corridors of her castle should be set aside to become a spider habitat. “I think you’ll like living in the Equestrian Entymological Estate.”
“And I can finally sleep again!” Spike groaned in relief, his eyes red and bloodshot. He looked down at the glass case holding the swarm of creepy-crawlies and shuddered from his head-spines to the tip of his tail. “Eeuuugggh…”
“You know, considering your attitude towards these little guys, I think your friendship with Thorax is even more impressive,” Twilight observed as they headed back to the main section of the castle, the glass terrarium firmly held in her magic—far away from them.
Spike winced. “Please don’t make me associate Thorax with spiders and centipedes. I’ll never be able to get it out of my head. It’ll make the next time we meet super awkward.”
But the inner scientist in Twilight couldn’t help but comment. “Well, they are all arthropods…”
The little dragon frowned up at her. “Oh yeah? If that were true, then because you like me and I’m a reptile, you shouldn’t be afraid of snakes. How about if we go get some and bring them into the castle?”
Merely the mention of the S-Word was almost enough to make Twilight drop the glass case. “Point taken.” She cleared her throat. “What’s next on today’s schedule?”
Smirking slightly to himself, Spike consulted the almighty checklist. “Hmm. It looks like you scheduled in a meeting with your friends in the map room.”
“Right,” Twilight nodded to herself, a touch glumly. “They wanted to talk with me after Starlight’s … incident.”
Spike winced. “Um, maybe I should go do the … thing. At the place.” He looked at the checklist again. “Uh-oh, it looks like it’s scheduled for right now. You better hurry otherwise you might be—” There was a bright flash from behind him, and he sighed. “—late.”
He looked around, and sure enough, Twilight had teleported herself away and left him in the bowels of the castle. He sighed, having the unpleasant suspicion that he was forgetting something. It wasn’t until he heard the sound of breaking glass that he remembered just what it was. “The terrarium!”
Spike turned around, his insides twisting into a knot as the contents of the glass case had spilled all over the ground: dozens of spiders, centipedes, worms and other bugs all converging on him.
His response was perfectly rational: he screamed and ran, chased by the crawling horde.
Twilight Sparkle appeared with a start at her throne at the cutie map, startling her already assembled friends. “Sorry girls. I hope I haven’t been keeping you long.”
“Nothing of the sort, darling.” Rarity waved her off. “After all, if anypony is allowed to be fashionably late, it’s a princess.”
“I don’t think Twilight is the kind of pony who thinks that being late could ever be fashionable,” Rainbow Dash observed.
“Says the fastest pony in Equestria who still manages to show up late cuz she’s busy napping,” Applejack shot back, earning an annoyed scowl from Rainbow. “Anyways, you aren’t late Twilight. You’re right on time.”
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s good to hear. No offense to your sense of fashion Rarity, but I’d rather be on time than late, no matter how fashionable it might be.” She paused briefly. “So, I suppose you wanted to talk about Starlight Glimmer’s recent … actions?”
Her friends all looked at each other, giving Twilight a nervous feeling in her stomach. “It’s partly that,” Applejack admitted. “But I think—we think—the problem’s bigger than that.”
Twilight looked around. “I don’t understand. Was Starlight’s apology not good enough?”
From her place on Twilight’s left, Rainbow Dash facehooved. “Okay, two things—first off: no, it wasn’t. Second: that’s the problem right there!”
“Rainbow, I don’t think getting all worked up is going to help,” Fluttershy murmured soothingly. “We’re all friends here.” Rainbow bristled, but sank down in her throne without a word.
Twilight looked around, her confusion growing. “The problem … is that she apologized?”
“I think what Rainbow means is that the point isn’t how good Starlight’s apology was,” Rarity explained. “It’s more a problem that she keeps on doing these sorts of things. Forgive us, we know you’ve grown to care a lot about her—we all have—but after this latest episode, we cannot tip-toe around it any further.”
Applejack nodded. “We don’t doubt that she was sorry, but being sorry ain’t enough. Fact of the matter is, she don’t seem any better now than she did when she first came to Ponyville.”
Twilight sat back in her throne, looking surprised. “I didn’t realize you felt this way. But she’s made a lot of progress—with her magic, her friendship lessons…”
“Didn’t stop her from resorting to using feathering mind control on us when she couldn’t get her way, now did it?” Rainbow snapped, rubbing her forehead. “Sorry, sorry … but like AJ said, this isn’t the first time she’s done this.”
Applejack nodded. “Remember back when Trixie came to town and Starlight was trying to find a friend to take to yer dinner with Princess Celestia?”
“Of course I do.” Twilight sighed. “I caused that mess because I didn’t trust Starlight enough to make her own choices in friends. Nopony else in town was willing to give her a second chance. Not even me.”
Pinkie Pie, who had been unusually quiet, suddenly piped up. “Well, that’s just silly.”
“I know it was, but I—” Twilight was suddenly surprised when Pinkie, somehow, appeared next to her and gently covered her mouth with a pink hoof.
“I wasn’t talking about you being silly, silly,” she said breezily. “I was talking about you and Starlight thinking that her problem was that nopony wanted to go to the dinner with her because they didn’t want to give her another chance. That’s what’s silly.”
Rainbow Dash agreed. “Do you remember where we live, Twilight? Everypony in this room is responsible for trashing Ponyville at least once, and that’s not even getting into the messes caused by Spike, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or Luna. I’d say we’re a pretty forgiving bunch here in Ponyville.”
Applejack nodded. “The reason nopony wanted to go to dinner with Starlight wasn’t because of her past in that town. It was because she has this habit of usin’ magic to wiggle her way out of situations she don’t like. She don’t want to take two extra minutes to set a table?” She slammed a hoof on the table. “Bam! She uses magic to get it all done. My brother isn’t being enough of a conversationalist?” She slammed her hoof again. “Bam! She uses a spell on him so he can’t stop talking, whether he wants to or not. Ah recall having some words with her over that little stunt, which just makes what she did to us all the worse.” She sat back, seeing her hoof-slamming had caused Fluttershy to cover her ears. “Whoops, sorry there.”
Rainbow leaped back into the discussion. “Look, this isn’t just AJ being a magic-phobe like she was over your first Winter Wrap-Up—”
“That’s arcaneophobe,” Twilight interrupted..
“—but this is a whole different kind of cloud,” Rainbow finished. “What she did was seriously messed up.”
Rarity nodded. “As much as it pains me to admit, Starlight is very much the poster child of a unicorn who uses her magic irresponsibly and unethically. And I’m not confining myself to remarking about her time before she came to Ponyville.” She paused, brushing her mane out as she readied her next remarks. “Truth be told, I’m not even sure why you were teaching her more magic and spells at all. She’s already proven her exceptional ability in that regard; what she desperately needed tutoring on was friendship and basic decency.”
Twilight flattened her ears. “I know, and you’re right. I should’ve spent more time making sure Starlight was focusing on her friendship lessons.” If she expected this to reassure her friends, she was to be disappointed. Their expressions only became more concerned, confusing Twilight further. “What’s wrong?”
“See, that’s the other thing…” Pinkie tapped her hooves together delicately. “And we kiiiiiiiinda think that maybe, um, maybe—Fluttershy should tell you!”
Fluttershy squeaked, crouching low in her throne at being suddenly put on the spot. “O-oh my. It’s just that, while we all think that you’re a wonderful teacher, maybe some of Starlight’s, um, problems come from being put under … pressure?”
“Pressure?” Twilight repeated.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, then over at Pinkie and Fluttershy and nodded. “See Twi, some ponies thrive under pressure and some some crack under it.” Rainbow rubbed her neck. “And there’s no shame in that! You just have to make sure the way you teach works for the pony you’re trying to work with, like you did with me and the Wonderbolt entrance exam?”
“And you don’t think what I’ve been doing with Starlight is working?” Twilight surmised, trying not to feel a little hurt.
Her friends quickly caught on. “Look, Twilight we know you’re a wonderful teacher,” Applejack reassured her. “What you did for my sister and the Crusaders, plus Dash here has been nothing less than amazing.” She fidgeted, her smile fading. “With Starlight, though…”
“Do you remember how worked up you got when you believed that Princess Celestia wanted your findings on friendship to follow a weekly schedule?” Rarity asked delicately.
A plume of red erupted on Twilight’s cheeks. “Yes, of course I remember.” She resisted the urge to bury her face in her hooves, albeit just barely. “How could I not think of the Want-It, Need-It Spell after what Starlight did?” A small sniffle escaped. “Maybe I am the wrong pony to teach Starlight about responsible magic use.”
Pinkie Pie hugged her. “Aww, Twilight, that’s not true at all!”
“You made a mistake once, in the heat of the moment, after getting more and more frantic when nothing worked,” Rainbow pointed out. “And you tried to stop it almost immediately. Starlight resorted to using magic on us in two minutes flat.”
Rarity concurred. “You felt awful and guilty even before Princess Celestia had to say a word to you because you recognized for yourself that what you did was wrong. Starlight didn’t get even realize that until after you spoke with her. Spike told us she was still examining the spell she used to try to get it ‘right.’”
Applejack grunted ruefully. “Yeah. Even her apology was just ‘Things got a little out of hand’—whatever that means—until Rainbow snapped at her. Bad as the whole Smarty Pants thing was, it really ain’t comparable to what Starlight did. You made everypony want a doll, but we were still us. She took away our ability to think and act for ourselves in any way.” She shuddered.
Fluttershy spoke up. “But what I meant was, you thought that because you had to have a friendship report every week you put yourself under a lot of pressure. That’s what caused you to let things get a little out of control.”
Pinkie’s ears drooped. “Too much pressure makes some ponies do crazy things, like yell at their friends and hide in a luggage compartment.”
Twilight looked around the table. “So, you think part of the problem is that I’ve been putting too much pressure on Starlight? I thought you said I needed to focus more on friendship lessons with her and less on teaching her magic.”
“It’s both.” Rarity tapped her hooves together. “I think we’ve established by now that Starlight does not react well to pressure—that doing so makes her more inclined to, shall we say, revert to her old ways of handling her problems?”
“That being to throw magic at it until it stops being a problem,” Applejack clarified.
“Yes, we got that.” Rarity rolled her eyes. “Spike told us that before we went for Flurry Heart’s Crystalling, you insisted Starlight meet and try to reconnect with an old friend of hers. From what he told us, she didn’t take it well. I daresay, the near-destruction of the Crystal Empire came almost as a relief for her.”
Pinkie Pie leaned forward. “And you asked Starlight to come up with a new friend to take to dinner with Princess Celestia. That same day as the dinner.”
“Then you wanted her to come up with a friendship lesson by the time you got back from your talk in Canterlot.” Rainbow Dash added. “Also, that same day. You don’t think that might’ve put some pressure on Starlight?”
Twilight felt her heart sink. “I—I didn’t even realize. All the pressure I’ve been putting her under … I’m responsible for what she did to you!”
Applejack’s raised eyebrow spoke volumes. “Say what now?”
“You know what they say,” Twilight groaned, slumping forward. “There are no bad students, only bad teachers.”
“Well ‘they’ are a bunch of idiots,” Rainbow declared. “Take it from me, there most definitely is such a thing as a bad student.”
Applejack nodded. “Shewt, you know how much learning I remember from school? Hardly a thing. Think it’s the teacher’s fault I can’t remember all them fancy mathematics?”
Rainbow made a big show of rolling her eyes. “For the last time Applejack, it’s called addition and subtraction. It’s not that fancy and it isn’t magic.” Rainbow started to crack up under Applejack’s annoyed glower, and Pinkie Pie wasn’t far behind.
In an attempt to bring things back on track, Rarity daintily cleared her throat. “Darling, while we do think that while your method of teaching Starlight could use some refinement, it in no way excuses her behavior or makes you responsible for it.”
“Yeah! I mean, do we blame Celestia every time you make a mistake?” Pinkie asked. “Nope! Because you’re your own wonderful pony and your achievements and mistakes are all your own! Maybe somepony can help you accomplish them, but in the end, they’re yours.” Everypony stared. “What? Do I have a stray cupcake hanging out of my mane again? Because that’d be really good right now!”
“No, it’s … that was very profound, Pinkie,” Fluttershy said. “We’re really impressed.”
Pinkie beamed. “Aww, shucks! I got that from Gummy. Oh look! I do have a cupcake in my mane!” She quickly pulled it out and loudly devoured it.
Twilight shook her head. “Right … so I shouldn’t put so much pressure on Starlight when it comes to her friendship lessons.”
Rainbow raised her hoof. “Yeah, see, that’s something that’s always kinda threw me.”
“What is?”
“What exactly is a friendship lesson?”
The Princess of Friendship was a bit perplexed by the question. “Um, it’s a lesson about friendship?”
Applejack snorted. “Ain’t that hard to figure out.”
But Rainbow Dash ignored her. “I get that but—how do you go about planning and scheduling a lesson about friendship?”
Twilight’s confusion only grew. “The way you plan anything, I suppose. You set some time aside for somepony to learn a lesson about friendship.”
“Any lesson about friendship?” Rainbow Dash flew up, hovering over the map. “Or is there a specific one you want to her to learn when you start?”
Twilight sighed. “I try to make sure the lesson is relevant to what’s going on around her… I’m sorry, I don’t understand where you’re going with this.”
Rainbow paced in the air, trying to marshal her thoughts. “Look, I’m no teacher or Princess of Friendship or anything, but I think you’re going about this the wrong way.”
“What do you mean?” Twilight was genuinely curious now.
“Maybe it’s just me, but life isn’t a series of lessons you just learn, you know? You don’t decide what the lessons are, that’s up to everypony to figure out for themselves based on their own experiences.” She rubbed her neck. “Yeah, not everypony is going to make good decisions and they’ll make mistakes and learn the wrong things sometimes. But I don’t think I like the idea that you can just shape events into teaching a lesson that you think someone else needs to learn. You draw lessons from life, you don’t treat life like it just exists to teach these predetermined lessons. It’s taking away their ability to choose, to think and to learn for themselves.”
Applejack whistled. “That’s two philosophical gems today. Am I gonna have to come up with one of these chestnuts next?”
“If we’re waiting on you to be philosophical, AJ, we’ll be here all day.” Rainbow snapped.
Twilight saw the agitated twitch in Rainbow's wings. "This is something that you feel strongly about, don't you?"
Rainbow didn't try to deny it. "I—it's just that ..."
"Rainbow Dash." Twilight flew up to look her in the eye. "If this is something personal, you don't have to be nervous about sharing it with us. Whatever it is, we'll listen."
With a deep sigh, Rainbow lowered herself back down. Once Twilight returned to her own chair, Rainbow started again. "Okay, look. I'm still ticked off at what Starlight did. I mean, a lot. A lot a lot. But at the same time—I feel like I've been where she is, with having these 'lessons' built around me, with other ponies trying to 'guide' me to the conclusion they want me to reach, but apparently not trusting me enough to figure it out for myself." She looked to Twilight and the others meaningfully.
"How ya mean?" Applejack scratched her head.
Rainbow hesitated. “It feels like, sometimes, when you guys are trying to help me, you act more concerned with getting me from Point A to Point B than helping me figure things out for myself. It comes off more like you’re telling me what to do instead of helping me.”
“When have we done that?” Twilight frowned in confusion.
"Look, maybe I shouldn’t have said anything—” Rainbow rubbed the back of her head. “We should probably just stick to talking about Starlight Glimmer.”
Twilight shook her head. “Rainbow, just because we’re talking about Starlight doesn’t mean that your concerns aren’t important. If we’re going over ways to make sure she does learn about the importance of friendship, it’s all the more important you talk to us about things you think we can do better on.”
“Alright,” Rainbow sighed. “Remember the qualifying round for the Equestria Games at Rainbow Falls?"
"You mean where the Wonderbolts turned out to be bullying jerks who cared little about their own teammates or their mental well-being, to the point of undermining their self-confidence over a demeaning nickname that made them question their own self-worth?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Oh wait, no, that was a different time. You meant something else."
"Er, yeah." Rainbow looked to Twilight. "When I couldn't decide whether to fly for Ponyville or Cloudsdale, you were, well ... not exactly a lot of help."
Twilight frowned. "I was trying to give you advice, so you could make the right decision for yourself."
Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Twilight, on one hoof you said you couldn't make the decision for me, and then on the other hoof you went on and on about how if I didn't fly for Ponyville then our friends would be sad because of the work they put into the uniforms, snacks and cheers. Sorry Twi, you all but told me that the only right thing to do was fly for Ponyville while trying to pretend that you weren’t telling me what to do."
Applejack raised an eyebrow. "Um, wait what? Twilight, you do know that I could've still made apple brown betties and whatnot for our team—or any other team—even if Rainbow didn't fly with us, right?"
Rarity nodded to Twilight. "I must say that when Rainbow puts it like that, your advice does seem a little … heavy-hoofed."
"That’s what I thought," Rainbow looked around. "And then when I pretended to be injured so I wouldn't have to choose, all Twilight said was 'choosing not to choose isn't really a decision.'"
"Well it's not." Twilight countered, her ear twitching in annoyance.
Rainbow crossed her forelegs over her chest. "Really? So if, say, I get a ticket to take somepony to something awesome, I should choose which one of you I want to go and leave the rest of you behind?"
"Please don't argue," Fluttershy urged them.
"Why not?" Rainbow asked archly. "Shouldn't you pick which one of us you think is right? Choosing not to choose isn't really a decision, after all."
"You've made your point, Rainbow." Twilight frowned at her. "So, you think my advice at Rainbow Falls was bad then, that you should've flown with Cloudsdale?"
"That's not what I'm saying." Rainbow ran a hoof through her mane. "I mean, the Wonderbolts were lying to me and Soarin' and were being really..."
"Rude, insensitive bullies?" Pinkie deadpanned.
Applejack looked at her. "I'm getting the feeling you really don't like the Wonderbolts."
"Nooooooooooooo." Pinkie shook her head before whispering loudly to Fluttershy, "And by that I mean 'Yes.'"
"Anyway," Rainbow raised her voice, feeling a headache coming on. "It's not about that. You never even considered that there was any other choice for me except to fly for Ponyville, and that's why your advice was so one-sided. Instead of being given facts in order to think for myself, I ended up being told how to think. Even if you were right, you didn't trust me enough to make the decision for myself, so you tried to steer me to the answer you thought was right."
“I see,” Twilight sighed. "I'm sorry it came off that way. I'm your friend, Rainbow, and sometimes that means telling you when I think you're about to make a mistake."
Rainbow nodded. "I know, and I appreciate that but—you were pretty much trying to make the choice for me, but trying to pretend it was still my decision. That’s not right.”
Applejack hummed to herself, tapping a hoof against the map. “That does kinda sound like what you’ve been doing with Starlight, sugarcube. You did say you were gonna give Starlight more space to make her own decisions after the Crystalling mess,” she reminded Twilight. “But you’ve had some trouble following through on that; first with letting her be friends with Trixie—not that I blame you—then with trying to get her to come to Hearth’s Warming Eve.”
That caused Twilight to blink in surprise. “Really? I left the choice with Starlight over what to do.”
“You read the Hearth’s Warming Tail story and cast Starlight in the role of the villain who wanted to get rid of the holiday and doom the world,” Pinkie Pie said. “That’s a little leading.”
Twilight blinked “How could I have cast her in a—”
“Spike says you do voices,” Pinkie informed him her flatly. “Which, if I was going to be read a story, is the way I’d like to hear it! But I don’t think making Starlight feel like a villain because she wasn’t into the holiday spirit was really fair.”
Applejack tipped her hat. “Not everypony has the same traditions when it comes to things like Hearth’s Warming Eve. Some folks like to party and celebrate with friends and family. Or hide rocks. It might seem weird, but there you go.”
“And others like to be left alone, and that’s fine too!” Pinkie nodded. “But you see what Dashie means?”
Twilight sighed. “I guess I do.” She looked back to Rainbow. “Is there anything else you wanted to say?”
Looking a bit more at ease, Rainbow nodded. “Well, as much as I thought things at Rainbow Falls could’ve been handled better—there all you did was offer advice that was really leading. You didn’t try to arrange circumstances just to try teach me something, like you did with Mare Do Well."
Pinkie Pie let out a hiss. "Oooh, she went there."
Twilight rubbed her face, feeling her own headache coming on. "You don’t think we should’ve set up a friendship lesson like that?"
"In a word? No," Rainbow put her hooves on the table. “You wanted to teach that bragging was bad. But why was that?”
“Aside from being downright unbearable to be around?” Applejack asked dryly.
“Just because we’re friends doesn’t mean you’re legally obligated to be around me,” Rainbow shot back. “You could’ve just avoided me if you didn’t like how I was acting.”
“Fair enough.” Applejack adjusted her hat. “But the important thing is that when you’re busy patting yourself on the back and boasting, you’re getting over-confident and that means you’re likely to make mistakes.”
“Like thinking you could harvest an entire apple orchard by yourself, or produce cider faster than a high-tech cider-making machine?” Rainbow deadpanned.
Applejack frowned at her. “Yes. Like that.”
“Okay, fine,” Rainbow conceded. “I’m not gonna argue that. But here’s my problem with what you did: if you think that bragging leads you to making mistakes, then you should’ve let me learn that for myself. Because right now, I just have your word to go on that what you said is true, since I didn’t experience it myself. You manipulated events so you’d get the end-result you wanted. If life experience really shows that over-confidence is bad, then you shouldn’t have had to set anything up to teach me that.”
“You were engaged in saving ponies’ lives, Rainbow,” Twilight pointed out. “That’s not the sort of thing we could just sit back and wait for you learn through trial-and-error why overconfidence is bad.”
“Sure, let’s just pretend for a second that’s what your motivation was—and not that you were just annoyed by my attitude.” Rainbow Dash shot back. “Since if you wanted to prevent me from messing up and getting somepony hurt, you could’ve just skipped all the time you wasted putting together costumes and sneaking away and focused on only helping ponies. Because I’m sure all that was a big help in that regard. It doesn’t change the fact that you never tried to suggest that’s what you were concerned about. No, what you said the whole point of your little masquerade was ‘Real heroes don’t brag.’ That was your justification, nothing else.”
Pinkie Pie interrupted them by getting up to give Rainbow a hug. “You know we weren’t trying to hurt you.”
Rainbow Dash twitched, then sighed. “Yeah. I know.”
Seeing an opportunity to defuse things, Twilight took a calming breath of her own. “So, you’re saying that when we set up planned lessons, it cheapens the impact somehow?”
“Exactly.” Rainbow nodded. “This is kinda your thing Twilight, you like to plan everything out. And a lot of the time, that’s really good. For you, at least.”
“Nothing wrong with being prepared,” Twilight said neutrally.
“But because you hate leaving anything to chance, you try to make things happen a certain way,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “If your lessons are right, if life shows that whatever you’re trying to teach is good—then let life teach that, in its own time. Not on some schedule you drew up. And if life doesn’t demonstrate that your lesson is always right then you shouldn’t try to ‘fix’ reality so it ends up the way you want it to.”
Twilight leaned back. “You’ve been thinking about this for a whole, haven’t you?”
Rainbow nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat before continuing. “Right now, it seems like if somepony isn’t drawing the lessons you want them to, you’ll arrange events behind their backs so that they’ll end up reaching the conclusion you want them to reach. It’s … it’s just wrong, okay?” Her voice suddenly became choked up. “It’s like what you did to the Crusaders with your doll, or what Discord did when he tried to make you feel jealous. It’s manipulative, it’s dishonest and when it comes down to it: it feels like you don’t trust other ponies to be smart enough to come to your conclusions. And when I see you regularly doing this sort of thing to me, but not to any of our other friends—it makes me think there’s something really wrong with with me.”
Twilight felt her eyes widen. That … that hurt. But there was a small part of her that wondered if that wasn’t the case because it was partially true. “I—I had no idea you felt this way.”
Rainbow shrugged and tried to wave her off, but Twilight spotted a slight dampness building in her eyes. “It’s … it’s nothing, I’ll get over it. I’m just saying, maybe you should rethink trying any of that stuff with Starlight, you know?”
“No, it’s not nothing, Rainbow Dash.” Twilight stood and went over to hug her friend. “I never meant to make you or anypony else feel like you weren’t smart enough. I only wanted to help.”
“I know you did.” Rainbow hugged her back. “But you have to let ponies have the opportunity to make their own choices. Life isn’t a big lesson with one right answer at the end of it. If they find answers that are different than yours—well, so long as they aren’t hurting anypony, it’s no different than ponies learning things different ways, right?”
“Only no rap songs.” Twilight giggled.
Pinkie, inexplicably wearing her golden chains and flatbill hat, pouted.
Twilight let go of Rainbow and looked to the rest of her friends. “What do you think?”
“Since she put that all out there, I think Rainbow’s right,” Applejack stated. The others nodded.
“It isn’t fair that we keep doing this to Rainbow Dash, but not anypony else.” Fluttershy spoke up. “I know I wouldn’t have liked it if you dressed up like dragons to force me to get over my fears of them, or tried to act like an even bigger bully back when I took Iron Will’s lessons too far.”
“Also, kiiiinda hypocritical to respond to behavior you don’t like with even more of that behavior,” Pinkie commented. “Like we did with pranking Rainbow Dash into thinking that we had all become zombies, or going to a parade to celebrate how great Mare Do Well was or—”
Applejack cleared her throat. “Alright Pinkie, we get the idea. But the issue right here is Starlight. Now, I think Rainbow’s got a point. It’s a little rump-backwards when you start with your conclusion first, and then make a lesson to prove it right; especially when you don’t give ponies a chance to work it out for themselves first. S’like giving kids the answers to a test before they take it. They aren’t learning anything if they don’t figure it out on their own.”
“That might be part of the problem,” Rarity mused. “You worked splendidly with our little sisters, but they were children and needed more guidance. Starlight Glimmer—her appalling lack of judgement notwithstanding—is our peer. You can’t treat her the same way you would a foal.”
Twilight held up a hoof. “Okay, I think we’ve got an idea about what not to do by this point. What do you think I should do when it comes to Starlight?”
Rarity hummed slightly as she tapped a hoof to her chin. “As much as I hate to say it, I think the best thing you could do is try to not structure her education in friendship with your usual … thoroughness.”
“Sounds about right.” Applejack sighed. “I know this must be frustrating for you, seeing as you work so hard at everything—being a teacher, a princess, a friend—but sometimes you get too carried away when it comes to planning and preparation.”
Twilight felt her shoulders slump. “That’s what it keeps coming back to, isn’t it?”
“There is nothing wrong with who you are and what you do,” Rarity insisted. “Merely that you have to moderate your instincts sometimes.”
Pinkie nodded vigorously. “Yeah! You just need to give her space, the way Princess Celestia did for you!”
Twilight nodded glumly. “I suppose. It’s just … it’s hard to compare yourself to somepony like her. She’s had thousands of years to learn how to guide ponies without taking away their ability to choose for themselves; had so much time to learn subtlety and improvisation and … I don’t. Even if I was going to live as long as she has, I don’t think I’d ever be able to do what she does.”
Applejack shook her head. “We ain’t saying be like Princess Celestia. We’re saying, take what you learned from her and apply it in your own way.”
“‘Apply it in your own way...’” Twilight murmured to herself, her brow furrowed in thought. Her eyes lit up, and her friends knew she’d struck gold. “That’s it!” She looked around the table. “My mistake was trying to teach friendship on a mentor-student level the way Princess Celestia taught me magic. But that’s now how I learned about the value of friendship; that came when I was with all of you. We’re strongest when we work with our friends.”
“What are you thinking?” Fluttershy asked.
Twilight turned to her. “Fluttershy, you know what it’s like more than anypony here to struggle with feeling uncomfortable in group situations. You can help Starlight get used to the idea of trying things outside her comfort zone with other ponies. Applejack, you can show Starlight the importance of hard work, and not relying exclusively on magic.” She looked around the table. “I think my mistake has been teaching Starlight on a one-to-one level, with her seeing time spent with all of you as an obligation to be fulfilled or a lesson to be learned. Right now she sees you more as friends of a friend, rather than friends of her own. We need to change that. Each of you has a unique perspective you can impart to her, without it being a prepared lesson with an assigned moral.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Pinkie beamed, before frowning in confusion. “A plan to—not have a plan, which is still sort of a plan … I think. I’m confused.”
“Maybe we should take a break for some snacks, then take some time to come up with ideas for what we can each do.” Twilight stood, stretching her wings. “Now if Spike could…” her eyes widened as she realized she had left him in the lower halls. “Uh-oh.”
“Twiliiiiiight!” A panicked wail drew their attention to the doorway, where Spike was running past. Spiderwebs were strewn across his body as the spiders and bugs maintained their stubborn pursuit of their quarry.
Twilight facehooved. “Okay, so here’s a totally unplanned friendship lesson for everypony: how to get a ton of really creepy things off a traumatized baby dragon and then offer said dragon a truly groveling apology for leaving him with them.”
“You know this might be a good time to let Starlight get in on these free-form friendship lessons,” Rarity suggested. “Merely putting the idea out there, mind you.”
Everypony laughed.
THE END
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Not bad for an obvious discourse on the treatment of Rainbow Dash by the writers over the past few seasons. I'm guessing by its exclusion from this story that you still haven't watched 28 Pranks Later, either?
7625796
While I obviously can't and won't hide my feelings over the treatment of my favorite character, it's not just about the fact that several episodes featuring her were awful (which is why I didn't go into detail about everything wrong about each of those episodes). It's more about how Twilight's portrayal as a teacher, and Starlight's as a student, made me question how the show was going about in "teaching" friendship lessons.
The writers' approach to Twilight this season has not sat well with me, and this is an attempt to explore some of those issues, plus the older ones with Rainbow Dash, to see what the common mistakes were.
I've read it and I just felt like skipping the second half when it got into it because it just turned into another "Rainbow Dash is the victim" type things and I've seen enough of that especially considering they're incredibly biased, short-sighted, etc that like to minimize or remove her accountability in each of these scenarios and push the blame onto someone else.
But let's ignore the bait-and-switch and stick with the Starlight Glimmer aspect.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash are incredibly narrow minded.
Does Starlight Glimmer immediately go to magic for her solutions? Yes but it makes sense. She's a unicorn so casting magic is something they do often. She's also incredibly talented at it so of course it's going to be her go to solutions. She also has a LONG shady past so it's not surprising she doesn't understand basic ethics sometimes.
It's like dealing with a person who has been smoking for 20 years. Even if you convince them that smoking is bad for their health and those around them and to stop, they're not just going to stop immediately. It's a habit. One that is ingrained in them (+addictive chemicals). They'll most likely relapse so you've got to be there to set them back on the road. Not throw massive fits at them because they messed up once or twice. (Seriously, Starlight only had two messups.).
And really, the girls shouldn't be talking about the Want It Need It spell.
First, I don't remember any of the girls actually being put under the spell so I'm not actually sure how they'll know what it's like to be put under it.
Also, they're trying to make excuses for Twilight. You see, no one put pressure on Twilight Sparkle for the friendship report, except Twilight Sparkle and she did it by coming up with a bunch of ridiculous, exaggerated, and unfounded fears. She may have tried to fix it in the end but it should have never gotten there in the first place.
7625807
Season Six has been all over the place, and some of the friendship lessons have been majorly Broken AEsops, and Every Little Thing had a huge one, which you addressed well.
Seriously, baking a cake with Pinkie Pie is not the friendship lesson. It's spending time with your friend. The big friendship lesson of the episode should have been that the way she was using magic was unfair to her friends, and not just the accidental brainwashing part (I might be more forgiving about that bit than others). I was more disturbed by her trying to use magic to make everything go faster so she could move on to the next "lesson." Rainbow would have had it right if the writers had let her just say it: Chillaxing. The lesson isn't in doing it so you can move on, it's about the time spent with the friend. The fact that Starlight asked how long she had to "chillax" for showed (to me) that she still hadn't learned her lesson even at the end. I mean, seriously... "Don't use magic on your friends" is like saying a one inch gopher moat won't stop a rampaging bear.
7625881
One of the biggest problems with the episode, besides the huge moral event horizon that Starlight crossed, was that it made me realize that 'teaching friendship' was a ridiculous idea on the face of it. While I know this story may come off as just another chance to stick it to a bunch of Rainbow Dash episodes that I hate, the issue is deeper than that. Most of the really bad Broken Aesop episodes (Mare Do Well, What About Discord, etc.) are the result of a character or characters deciding that they were going to "teach someone a lesson" i.e. force them to accept some conclusion that they wanted to get across. I question if you can really do that in general, but when it comes to issues of friendship in particular, that is a really awful idea.
It made me question if giving Twilight a student even worked. On the one hand, it brought her character full circle. But if Twilight's the Princess of Friendship, having her be a Celestia-style mentor doesn't work. Remember, she was Celestia's student for years and didn't learn a thing about friendship until she was away from her.
I was perfectly okay with Starlight joining the Mane cast, but I had severe misgivings after "No Second Prances." After this episode though, I questioned the entire premise of this season, which highlights why I think it was so bad (again, besides the huge moral event horizon thing).
7625899 I think your being too harsh here. Yes twilight seem to be causing the trouble she new to this teaching thing celestia had possiblty of practice for it. Yes there going to be a few stumble but she is learning like starlight is learning.
7625881 considering spike didn't know what the hell chillaxing was either, i think starliight asked a fair question. furthermore considering twilight mind control magic four times, want it need it, parasprite, vampire fruit bat and even attempted discord, (yes the last was arguably a sane thing to do considering what discord was like when he was bad, even though him getting piss when he break free far outweigh the good in that scenario) but twilight kept using it as a first resort even though the mind magic keep backfiring horribly, she should at LEAST use it as a last resort, like teacher like student though. heck don't think she apologize to the town after the want it need it spell.
also the golden ticket thing? first of all twilight was experiencing never asked ANY of you to do that shit for her nor be mobbed by the entire town. she didn't even know she could ask for more tickets for pete sake. the only one that suffer from it was twilight not you, you hypocrite.
More gold. You never disappoint.
I liked it, but it got a bit boring towards the end.
Still a quality piece of fanfiction. Thumbs up.
7625977 Er, no, she was not "new to this teaching thing." Each of the Mane Six has been an exemplar or teacher since Season 4. That was the point made by each key episode. Twilight in particular had episodes like Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 and Twilight Time which established her as being well-versed in multiple teaching methods (though with obvious preferences) and not half bad at getting ponies to learn things. And that's not even going into Equestria Girls. No, the problem really is that Starlight, like Trixie before her, brings out the worst in Twilight.
“I think you’ll like living in the Equestrian Entymological Estate.”
Feed'em to the frogs!
“Bam! She uses magic to get it all done.
Using your natural talents and abilities to make mundane tasks simpler isn't a crime.
and some some crack under it.”
and some ponies crack under it.”
You made everypony want a doll, but we were still us.
Yes, Twilight made the whole town want to beat each other to a pulp over a doll.
“That being to throw magic at it until it stops being a problem,” Applejack clarified.
That sounds like season 1 Twilight Sparkle. Starlight Glimmer is more 'it's for their own good' mentality. And a real flaw was that the mane six never EXPLAINED what was wrong with Starlight's idea of equality... but that's the problem, THERE IS nothing wrong with equality! But she's gotten it into her head because of what happened that equality is bad. In other words, she has every reason to become a Ryanist.
And Starlight's spell I think was supposed to get them to LISTEN to her and get things to go over smoothly, but she overpowered the spell.
And to be frank, while I doubt Starlight's about to force her beliefs on others again, they need to remember that Discord STILL looks for any excuse to use HIS magic and they aren't calling him out on it.
"You mean where the Wonderbolts turned out to be bullying jerks who cared little about their own teammates or their mental well-being, to the point of undermining their self-confidence over a demeaning nickname that made them question their own self-worth?"
And you just lost me.
Rainbow Dash has no one to blame but herself for not bringing up that nickname carried emotional baggage for her. In particular that ALL the Wonderbolts have humiliating nicknames to keep themselves from getting swelled heads and is an actual air-force tradition in real life!
It's the same as immature types who still blame the mane six as 'trying to make Rainbow Dash's life miserable' when they were saving their butt as Mare Do Well whenever her grand standing let the situation deteriorate!
What would Rainbow Dash have done if Mare Do Well wasn't there at the dam?
Twilight frowned. "I was trying to give you advice, so you could make the right decision for yourself."
Rainbow Dash was the one who made the selfish choice of letting down BOTH teams so she wouldn't have to chose between them. She came to that conclusion on her own.
"That’s what I thought," Rainbow looked around. "And then when I pretended to be injured so I wouldn't have to choose, all Twilight said was 'choosing not to choose isn't really a decision.'"
AND IT WAS THE MOST POWERFUL ARMOR PIERCING LINE TWILIGHT COULD HAVE SAID! And Rainbow Dash isn't KNOWN for being able to digest complex and long winded dialogue, so Twilight saying it that was was the best choice!
"Rude, insensitive bullies?" Pinkie deadpanned.
Only the ones who exist in your mind Pinkie PIe. Only the ones who exist in your mind. And it doesn't feel like PINKIE PIE hates them, it feels like the AUTHOR hates them, and it's a BAD THING when you begin to hear the author instead of the characters!
“You read the Hearth’s Warming Tail story and cast Starlight in the role of the villain who wanted to get rid of the holiday and doom the world,” Pinkie Pie said. “That’s a little leading.”
I'm VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY VERY SURE that we were seeing thing as STARLIGHT imagined them! Starlight PUT HERSELF in the role!
No, what you said the whole point of your little masquerade was ‘Real heroes don’t brag.’ That was your justification, nothing else.”
It sure sounds nicer to tell her than, "YOUR STUPID EGO WAS GOING TO GET SOMEPONY KILLED YOU JERK!!!"
And seriously, this entire story migrated from being an accusation fic about Starlight's latest screw up, to Rainbow Dash reading a list of accusations. While she got her ass clean away when she destroyed the whether factory, which damaged more than just Ponyville. And instead of TALKING to the Wonderbolts about the bad history about the nickname, she engaged in an inane scheme about trying to get a NEW nickname, and THEN involved Scootaloo in a stunt that ruined a show and could have gotten herself killed!
The blame game is a game with no winner, because once you start, EVERYONE'S screw ups are brought to the table, and it's never a pretty site. That's why it's better to forgive, forget, AND MOVE ON!
or what Discord did when he tried to make you feel jealous.
Discord didn't 'arrange' anything, he just took advantage of an opportunity to go to town with his magic.
Neither Discord nor Trixie truly had any 'evil plans' for what they did, they just had a bonus in one-upping Twilight.
Like we did with pranking Rainbow Dash into thinking that we had all become zombies,
Rainbow Dash was bloody ASKING for that one!!! Pranking FLUTTERSHY?! Knowing what a fraidy cat she is? And her scheme of stealing a mountain of cookies and replacing them with the prank cookies? She'd EARNED that one!!!
But the issue right here is Starlight.
Oh, the story actually remember that? Interesting.
. “As much as I hate to say it, I think the best thing you could do is try to not structure her education in friendship with your usual … thoroughness.”
I think you could chop out about 50% of this fic and it would be much better for it.
Ya know, in real life, I've realized, people DON'T bring up a list of personal grievances their friends have done to them over the years... it comes across as someone who is petty and small. (Which ironically was part of the point in My Melody, where the antagonist DOES keep a journal of every slight done to them by the hero: trivial to major, imagined or real, intentional or accidental.)
hard work, and not relying exclusively on magic.”
And you lose a point. Magic IS hard work. If magic was easy, there wouldn't need to be several levels of education for it.
7625899
I found all the mind control fun!
excuse me, but any pony who has a problem with a unicorn setting the table with magic is being tribalist
I don't think you can condemn Starlight over Twilight because of the greater depth of Starlight's mind control spell, because Twi knew exactly what would happen and Starlight's spell was an experimental mixing of multiple spells
7625977
I don't think anyone in the group besides Rainbow knew what chillaxing was until they sat down to actually do it. Maybe Applejack, but she would have called it something else.
7626331
Exactly.
7627193
You are correct. It was childish, curt and wrong.
7627290
One is entitled to one's opinion. I'm not obligated to agree, however; nor are you.
Taking a step back though, I suppose that I've been very frustrated by this season and how it's portrayed many of the Mane characters--not just Rainbow Dash--but even characters I have no great affection for. A lot of the subject matter, lessons, or depictions are of a more heavy nature, compared to previous seasons. It's not as light-hearted and touches on deep issues of what constitutes moral behavior in one's eyes.
I can be forgiving of things I consider misdeeds or injustices when they're visited upon me. I cannot be as forgiving when it happens to others, even fictional characters, to say "yes, they deserved this or that." It sends a wider message of what constitutes appropriate behavior on a fundamental level, and I cannot agree with much of what was done this season. I do not enjoy seeing people torn down for the sake of a lame joke or a force-fed moral. That's not what attracted me to the show and I don't believe it does anything to better the characters, the people who enjoy the show, or the world as a whole.
That's pretty much all I have to say.
7627324 That doesn't excuse your earlier brattishness, you could easily have just said that or at the least, 'let us agree to disagree.' if you wanted avoid further argument.
I feel the need to point this out. I think how Twilight's actions during the Heath's Warming Eve tale were exactly the way to go about including someone that wasn't sure.
She asked why Starlight didn't want to participate, offered her a different story, which I doubt she actually casted Starlight as the villain, and when the tale was done said her goodnights and left the invitation to join in open. During the scenes when Starlight was on the couch, she wasn't nodding odd, frightened, or looked bored. She paid attention to the story and even asked "What happens next?" That wasn't forcing anyone into celebrating a holiday, it was a way of giving them a different taste, then seeing if they liked it.
28 pranks later. I wish I knew of a different way of handling that situation. Rainbow pranked someone who didn't see any humor or amusement in it, Fluttershy, and when she was asked to stop, she dismissed it, and kept doing it. And kept doing it, until the entire town was fed up. The way Rainbow acted wasn't the way of a prankster, it was that of of a bully.
7627668
Plus it was Fluttershy, who had been off limits during Gilda's first visit...
7626323 You might have, but did the people who got mind controlled?
7627968 and Fluttershy is years tougher now compared to then.
7628958
True... before, she might not have even stood up for herself the way she did. Dragonshy took place after Griffon the Brush off episodically, and there were issues with the amount of respect Dash had for Fluttershy in that episode.
This was good at the start, but then it started to veer off course when you started using the ponies as your mouth pieces to bash Rainbow Dash episodes you don't like. This was supposed to be about Starlight, and honestly you admit that Twilight being skeptical of Trixie was justified (to an extent it was, she just once again jumped to conclusions without any solid evidence to back up her suspicions). And you're saying it was wrong of her to give Starlight friendship homework, when it was Starlight who foolishly chose to combine all five lessons at the same time on her own?
It feels less like you wanted to actually address the issues of Starlight Glimmer, and more that you wanted to just bash a couple of episodes you didn't like. It's fine to not like an episode, but people don't like mouth piece fanfics.
To Trinary,
Do you think that when you rewrite the Equestria Girls movies, you can change something for the Friendship Games? We know that Dash has both parents in this universe, but since a lot of Dash fics have her as an orphan, can we do that? A scenario is that Dash's parents were family friends with Twilight's family and were, along with Twilight's parents, high ranking students at Crystal Prep. Then one day, Dash and her parents are driving home from having a dinner at the Sparkle residence when their car is hit by a drunk driver. Rainbow makes it through, but sadly her parents pass away on the way to the hospital.
Since Twilight's parents were made Rainbow's godparents, she was adopted into the Sparkle family. Over time, the crush that she had on Shining Armor fades into a brother/sister relationship and she treats Twilight like a sister while helping Twilight in getting Cadance and Shining Armor to hook up. This Rainbow Dash is still an athlete, but she's more book smart than Equestrian Rainbow. She also attends Crystal Prep, but the legacy that her parents left at that school hangs over her, leading to feelings of wondering if she's worth being a part of Twilight's family due to not being as book smart as Twilight.
When the Friendship Games between Crystal Prep and Cantorlot High come around, have Ms. Finch summon Rainbow to her office, but without Shining Armor and Cadance there to give her sympathy. Ms. Finch could go on about the legacy that Rainbow's parents left for the school, and give her an ultimatum-win the Friendship Games, or Twilight will be withheld from going on the Intern Project.
The final climax of the film will be as Twilight is almost absorbed by the magic, Rainbow pulls her out and takes her place. To have an idea of what Rainbow's design can be, look up pictures of Nightmare Rainbow Dash and base it off that. Corrupted by the magic power, Rainbow's inner demons come out to the forfront and its Twilight that allows Sunset to get the upper hand when Rainbow is momentarily taken out of her power trip. Sunset may relate to Rainbow in thinking that she feels like she isn't worthy Equestrian Rainbow's friend after everything that she's done. With the acknowledgement that she shouldn't feel like she's of low worth just because she isn't like Twilight, Rainbow Dash is saved and the battle ends.
There's my take on how you can do the Friendship Games, and please tell me if its any good for at least a plot for the movie.
I honestly loved this. You are by far my favorite writer of all. You have voiced my opinions so well on the episodes that involved Rainbow Dash. I can't even..............keep up the good work my friend. I'm looking forward to more stories from you that involve Rainbow Dash and her internal conflicts.
Yeah, I can tell where this is going...
Let me start with its a pretty good story. That raises some good points. Like how Twilight was channeling her inner Sun-Butt with the surprise dinner and such. And her need to micro manage everything in life.
Can't say I liked the cheap shots at Trixie, who re-acted to their actions first time they met.
She also tried to stop the Ursa, unlike the rest. (aside from Twilight). And all she got for her trouble was losing everything, and being eternally damned for acting no better (or worse) than the mane6 have acted. If she's to blame for the amulet than Rarity should be thrown out of town for her diddling with dark magic, along with Spike, who enabled her.
And Twilight should be held to the same standard for the want-it need-it. Actually, since she mind fucked small children first, she should be sitting in jail. But all she got was a talking to, and her work load reduced and spread out among her friends. Who were fine with it, so they can shut the hell up about Starlight Glimmer.
And Nightmare Moon did worse than anything Trixie ever thought of.
Or because of who they are, an Alicorn & Chaos God. Both have the raw power to do pretty much whatever they want. So I guess they were smart enough not to push the issue.
As did Discord.
Both of them were forgiven. Why? Because Sun-Butt said so?
The biggest problem I had was....
Says the pony who uses magic for everything. At least when she isn't having Spike do it.
Screw you Twilight. And screw the rest of you for wanting Starlight to deny her birthright (magic) and behave in a manner THEY like. For that matter, who the hell do they think they are? If she wants to learn more, that's no one elses business.
ACTUAL friends helps each other become a better a person, not make them change to suit their whims.
So, all of Ponyville kicking the crap of each other over a doll was just my imagination?
That Twilight just decided to return the tickets after her friends spent the whole day discussing, then fighting, then it got spread to the whole town was just my imagination too?
Now seriously, seems to me that you're starting to enter a mentality that "Rainbow-Dash-is-Always-right". Please, don't fall for this trap: your Dashverse stories are among my top favorites, and I'd hate to see then becoming a character shilling fest.
7625810
Well, at least Rainbow Dash was—right before Twilight immediately covered her eyes and forced her to look away.
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/5/5e/Twilight_Sparkle_closing_Rainbow%27s_eyes_S2E03.png/revision/latest?cb=20120514151604
She even started to have the hearts in her eyes.
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/4/48/Rainbow_Dash_eyes_S02E03.png/revision/latest?cb=20120223101719
Also, they're not excusing Twilight. They're pointing out how Twilight handled her situation much better than Starlight.
Also, Fluttershy even points out how the pressure was something Twilight brought on herself.
AJ and RD are not "throwing massive fits" either. They aren't saying this stuff to Starlight's face, and it would seem that they would reasonably be disturbed by what Starlight did to both Big Mac and them. Simply telling her to stop it hasn't done anything so far.
7628958 But Rainbow Dash is never like, "Oh, shoot, I thought you could take it now." Instead, she outright says, "You're too easy. You're scared of everything." Applejack even says that scaring Fluttershy is lazy.
7626318
Uh, no. Rainbow Dash should NOT have to put up with that shit in the first place. Saying that she did because she kinda made herself a target is awfully sadistic.
Actually, it IS a choice to not choose between teams. Pretending to be injured was not the right way to go about it, but the inherent idea of simply not choosing isn't wrong to begin with.
I'm groaning reading this. Did you want to hear the author or something? It's pretty clear from the outset that it was going to be a fixfic.
As the STORY ITSELF points out, TWILIGHT DOES VOICES.
7766258
It's not a fixfic, it's an accusation fic.
7766258
In regards to the nickname thing...that's apparently a real Air Force thing, and if Dash had just spoken up about her bad history with the name, she could have received a different name that was still humbling but not humiliating.
7789676 Conversely, Dash isn't the kind of pony who would admit that someone is hurting her feelings so it's understandable why she wouldn't speak up. Her ridiculous impersonations were never a good idea to begin with, but it's very much a 'Dash' thing to do.
7789916
I see what you mean. Still, I think Trinary's being a bit unfair ragging on the Wonderbolts like that. True, Dash isn't the kind to speak up, but because of that, the Wonderbolts had no idea just how deep their nickname cut Dash...
7631543 Those "mouthpiece fanfics" have a name, it's accusations fics.
I actually want to see a fic of What About Discord? where he tells her that he manipulated events behind her back and that she is no different. After all, she did same thing in TMMDW and Rainbow Falls.
Liked the story, but again, it rankles me here as it did show wise one thing: repercussions.
Part of Starlight's problem has been there haven't really been any consequence for her actions. Like, at all. While you may be able to squeak by with the whole time buggery those lines no longer existing and thus no harm done (although I think the laws should be enforced regardless... existing or not, she still caused harm to a sapient life for no reason other then her own gain) her actions afterwards warrant at the very least community service, probation, a smack in the bucking head, anything!
She is, for lack of anything better, something of a high functioning sociopath. Thankfully she's not completely void of empathy, but she is decidedly "tone deaf" to how her actions affect others
A good fic... until it veered off into bad Dash episodes. Yeah, Dash has been screwed over multiple times with bad characterization. But I think we should focus on the sociopathic unicorn. ;)
8420736
it's called
celestia:there are no crimes in my land so therefore no reprcussions nyeh
7670449
Ultimately, there was the same motivation both times. Rainbow Dash doesn't want to choose certain people over other people for fear of disappointment. Twilight is the same.
Also, choosing not to choose was still a choice either way, so Twilight created a false dichotomy.
Actually, what Twilight did was worse. Those ponies would have killed each other if Celestia hadn't stepped in.
So the author us going to ignore the numerous times Twilight has resorted to magic right away, far more times then Starlight.
This story was so good back during season 6 because it perfectly accounted for a huge problem caused by the terrible writing style of season 5 and 6. But after that, it just seemed kinda pointless? The show wasn't (and won't in the short time left) gonna get better, so reading this now seems more sad than triumphant.