Chapter 51 - Painful Truth
As excited as she was about gaining her cutie mark, Laura remained in the skies above the new settlement -- which she realized would need a formal name at some point -- to ensure the storm stayed where it was supposed to be and did not provide more rain than needed. Eventually, she and the other pegasi had to break up the remains of the storm, which she had to explain to the others took a different technique than creating it had.
Her teammates had always looked to her as a sort of leader, but now it appeared she commanded a whole new level of respect. Her cutie mark was both a source of fascination and a symbol of achievement. She heard many whispered speculation as to what their cutie marks might look like.
Yet she also heard expressions of doubt and confusion, as if seeing Laura gain her mark had been a source of concern rather than joy. It didn't take her long to discover that many of them had either spoken to the alien ponies directly, or had a conversation with those who had.
Laura had to admit that this soured her view of them a bit despite their friendliness. Many of these ponies were well on their way to being like her, finding both happiness and a fulfilling purpose. Why muddy the waters and make them start to doubt themselves?
Nevertheless, she held her tongue. It wasn't her place to question their life goals. They had to come into their cutie marks on their own.
She had tried not to let the conversation with Jenny get to her, but that was harder now that she was done with her task and had to return to her family. Her eyes glistened as she recalled the inevitable conclusion she had come to before leading the effort to create the rain: that Sunny had outright lied to her about her origins and her intentions.
Laura glanced at her cutie mark. How could she not be proud of it? Hadn't she earned this for herself? Was this what Starlight had referred to when she implied there was no going back? Why would she want to go back?
Laura shuddered as she looked back towards the settlement. According to Starlight, she had been programmed to think this way. She had thought gaining her cutie mark would silence all debate, and for the most part, it did; she had a wonderful talent she loved, and nopony -- or human -- was going to take that away from her. Yet she still had questions that needed answering.
When the remaining clouds had ceased dropping rain and appeared that they would dissipate on their own, she led the charge back to the ground to the cheers of the other ponies as fresh water flowed through the formerly dry stream bed. Some unicorns and earth ponies had to adjust its path in a few areas, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. The stream stayed well within its banks the whole way.
Laura smiled. It was cooperation on a scale she had never witnessed before. There had to be at least a thousand ponies in the community, pretty much the whole town of Lazy Pines. Before, they all led separate lives, coming together in small but only occasional groups. Now they worked as one towards a common goal, and she was proud to be part of it. She felt a sense of belonging that had eluded her for so long.
She spotted her family, and she was given pause as her eyes fell on Jenny. This is all her fault. That was what Jenny had said concerning Sunny's involvement in Laura's life. Yet what could really be proven? Sunny wasn't exactly here to defend herself.
She took a deep breath and flew to the ground, landing with a sharp clop of hooves near her mother, and she realized she had no idea what to say. Instead, she simply gave her family a small smile and turned herself so they could see her haunches.
Laura was suddenly drawn into a hug so tight that it almost squeezed the air out of her, and that alone was enough to tell her who had reacted first.
"I'm so very proud of you," said Harold in a shaky voice heavy with emotion.
Laura hugged him back, both surprised and relieved at his show of support. When he eased off, her eyes fell on her mother. Sarah looked back with glistening eyes that betrayed a faint underlying hint of bittersweet, as if she knew something that Laura did not. Before Laura could call her out on it, Sarah smiled and surged forward, hugging her daughter almost as fiercely as her father had.
"As long as this is what you really want," Sarah whispered in a voice so soft that Laura was sure she was the only one who had heard it.
"Of course it is, Mom," Laura replied. "I've wanted this from the moment I knew I could fly."
Sarah hugged her a little tighter before drawing back, tears in her eyes, but a smile upon her muzzle.
Bob offered more subdued congratulations, but he did come and hug her without being prompted, something he would never have done as a human. Laura was again reminded how much better her family was now, and how much closer they were. Yet now her eyes fell on Jenny. She stood not far away, looking uncertain.
Harold looked towards her. "Is something wrong, Jenny? Don't you want to congratulate your sister?"
"Well, yeah," Jenny said. "I just ... um ..."
"It's okay," said Laura as she stepped up to her sister. "I'm sorry for the argument we had earlier."
"What argument?" Harold said with some concern.
Laura glanced at the rest of her family before saying to Jenny, "You didn't tell them?"
Jenny hesitated. "I told Mom about it."
"How much did you tell her?"
"Pretty much everything."
"Is this something I should know about?" Harold asked, though his tone implied that he assumed the answer was "yes."
"I'll talk to you about it later," Sarah said in a low voice. "This isn't really the time for it."
Laura understood her mother's reaction better. Jenny had likely cast doubt in Sarah's mind as well. "I just want everypony to know, I earned this myself. Nopony gave it to me."
"Why would we think otherwise?" Harold said in confusion.
"Yes, you did," Sarah said. "Maybe ... maybe the circumstances were arranged, but in the end, you're doing what you want to do."
Laura heard the doubt in her mother's voice and could see it on her face, but she could still tell that Sarah was proud of her. She held onto that; her declaration that she had earned her cutie mark herself had been for her own benefit as well as her family.
"I've already been asking questions about everything that's happened," said Bob. "Despite whatever the answers may be, the fact remains that we have to operate in this new framework, and we have to find a way to make the best of it. I think you already have, Laura."
Laura slowly smiled. Some things never changed, and that included Bob's tendency to examine everything with an overly-logical lens. She was just glad he had managed to make room for her feelings.
She turned back to Jenny. "I'm not ignoring everything you told me, but you have to understand something." She pointed a wing to her cutie mark. "This makes me happy, and nothing you can say will change that."
Jenny slowly smiled, and she gave her sister a hug.
Laura wanted to believe that Jenny's sentiment was genuine and not just an attempt to placate her sister. Laura had the uneasy feeling that there was still a lot left unspoken, and that Jenny was doing this for the sake of avoiding disrupting the moment. Laura couldn't help but feel a little proud of her sister. Had this been just a few weeks ago, Jenny would have had no qualms about being as disruptive as she wanted, heedless of what anypony else felt. In that, Jenny had matured significantly.
Laura turned to her mother. "Have you seen Doctor Conner recently, Mom?"
Sarah pointed a fore-hoof. "I saw him not ten minutes ago that way. Why?"
"He's always been so worried about us. I thought I'd show him my cutie mark."
"All right, but don't take too long," said Sarah. "It's almost dusk, and we should think about having some dinner soon."
Laura extended her wings. "I won't be long, I promise!"
She took off in the direction Sarah had indicated, and it wasn't long before she was joined by Emma and Joan. When Laura told them where she was going, they asked if they could tag along.
"Of course!" Laura said, smiling. By now, she considered Emma and Joan to be not just her friends but her wingmates as well, almost like a second family. She had a feeling she would be spending almost as much time with them as she did her blood relatives.
"I think that's him up ahead," said Joan.
Laura had already spotted him. Next to him stood a suited man whom she had earlier overheard referred to as "Mr. Heller." Similarly dressed men stood around them, as well as Secret Service and a few army soldiers. Before them were the alien ponies, save for Starlight. There appeared to be an animated discussion going on, with the ponies looking distressed and anxious.
Emma's ears rose and swiveled forward. "Something's up."
Laura's ears had done the same, just in time to hear Applejack stomp the ground and say. "We gotta go get Twilight right now before we start lookin' fer her!"
Laura remembered how the soldiers had reacted when she and her friends had first shown up unexpectedly, and she signaled her friends to stop and land at what she hoped was a safe distance away.
"We have no idea where Sunset has gone," said Mr. Heller.
Laura's eyes widened. Sunny was free?
"She can't have gone very far," said Rarity. "Twilight told us that teleportation has inherent distance limitations."
"And she hasta know where she's goin'," said Applejack.
"If only we had Rainbow Dash here," said Fluttershy. "She could find Sunset really fast."
"Let's get ta Twilight first," said Applejack. "Then we can--"
The rest of her statement was drowned out by the soldier who now stepped before the trio of pegasi. "I'll have to ask you to step back, and no flying over this area."
"All right," said Laura as she turned away. She hovered long enough to lead the others a safe distance away, which took them out of earshot.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Joan asked.
Laura stared at the alien ponies. After exchanging a few more words with the humans, they dashed off towards a waiting military vehicle.
She thought back to her conversations with Sunny, about how much Sunny said she liked living in Colorado, and the activities she claimed to have done since she had settled in Lazy Pines. More lies to round out her background, or genuine affection for things she had really done?
"Laura?" Emma prompted.
Laura turned to them. "Do me a favor and go tell my parents that I might be a little late for dinner. I have something I need to do."
"Is it something we can help with?"
As much as she craved being with her friends, Laura shook her head. "I have to do this alone. I'll explain later."
Laura took one last look at the departing alien ponies before launching herself into the waning sunlight.
Sarah uttered a small, nervous sigh as she looked off towards the west, where the mountains were surrounded by a hazy orange glow as the sun set behind them. Towards the east, the last rays of ruddy sunlight had already faded from the remnants of the clouds that her daughter and her friends had created earlier.
She caught a flare of light out of the corner of her eye, and her ears swiveled towards a distinct crackling noise. She turned her head to see a campfire flicker to life, having been carefully created within a ring of stones. She smiled faintly, as it reminded her of when she had taken her family in times past to camps created near the site of digs when she worked into the early evening hours compiling notes.
She heard a buzzing sound, and she glanced towards what looked like yet another drone aircraft circling in the distance. That had been the fifth one she had seen in the last hour. At first she had assumed they were launched by the emergency zone staff to keep an eye on the settlement, but they had soon scattered beyond it.
Harold turned from the fire and trotted over to her. "You okay?"
Sarah sighed. "I'm worried about Laura. Where is she?"
"Emma and Joan had stopped by to say she needed to do something and would be late."
"Yes, but what? The storm she created broke up over an hour ago. And what's with all this drone activity?"
Harold looked around. "I'm a little worried about her as well, but she's shown she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."
Sarah looked towards the campfire, where other ponies had started to gather, including Jenny and her coltfriend James. "Where's Bob?"
No sooner had she spoken when she heard hoofsteps cantering towards them. She turned to see Bob approaching, his horn glowing, something small held aloft in his magical grip. "I'm here!" he called out as he skidded to a stop. "Sorry, but I had spotted something earlier today when I was helping Kelly look for more rocks and wanted to go back and check it."
Sarah looked towards him curiously as he presented what appeared to be a small shard of dusty brown material. "What is this?"
Bob smiled. "Take it."
Sarah's horn glowed as she wrapped her magic around it, and at once she uttered a small gasp. Just touching it in this way immediately gave her more information than fingers and eyes alone had while she was human. She could already sense it was a shard of pottery, and the only question that remained was how old it was. Yet as Bob's magic withdrew, and her own acted unimpeded, she already knew it was old enough to predate any of the current settlements in the area.
Sarah's eyes glistened as she brought it closer to the light of the fire. "When we first moved to Lazy Pines, I had found some records at town hall that said this valley may have been a waypoint for some of the Native American tribes in the area just before the European settlers came, but it was considered just some old tales. Nopony had any proof." She looked at Bob. "Where did you find this?"
"It'll be easier for me to show you, but it might be better to wait until morning," said Bob.
Sarah stared at the shard, turning it over in her magic as easily as she might have with her fingers as a human. Only then had she become truly aware of the ache that had settled in her heart at the idea of leaving a field she had dedicated her life to.
When the still all-too-familiar wonder of discovery came over her, she realized Twilight had been only partially right. It wasn't a case of finding her own destiny so much as it was accepting the destiny she had already made for herself. Why else could she so easily see how her levitation spell could be adapted and expanded for the work she had already poured her life into?
For Laura, it had been finding her purpose; for Sarah, it had been accepting it.
Yet before the same sense of assuredness could come over her that had happened to her daughter earlier that day, her thoughts were interrupted when a phalanx of FBI agents led by Anthony Heller approached her.
Harold frowned. "What's going on now?"
Sarah lowered the shard, her heart skipping a beat as the campfire revealed his serious face. "Doctor Tanner, we need to take you and your family into protective custody immediately."
Sarah's eyes widened. "What? Why?!"
"Sunset Shimmer has escaped."
Sarah swallowed hard. She glanced over to the side where an FBI agent was shepherding Jenny over to them. Other ponies were looking towards them with concerned looks, but other agents were forming a ring around the Tanners as if to isolate them.
"And we believe your daughter Laura is looking for her," said Anthony. "Given Sunset's previous relationship with your family, we want to ensure your safety and--"
"What about my daughter's safety?!" Sarah exploded.
"Are you actually looking for her?" Harold demanded.
"We actually know exactly where Laura is," said Anthony. "A drone has been tracking her as soon as she left the settlement."
"Tracking her? How about telling her to get the hell back here?"
"I am sincerely sorry, but we can't do that. Where Sunset is capable of hiding herself from human senses, we can't take any chances. We're hoping Laura will lead us to her."
"Stop using our daughter as a pawn!" Sarah screamed, her eyes tearing. "I don't want her to have any part of this anymore!"
Anthony gave her a pained look that she wanted to believe was genuine as he said, "I'm sorry, Doctor Tanner, but this is out of my hands. Sunset Shimmer is considered the greatest threat this planet has ever faced, and we have to do everything in our power now to bring her down."
Sarah whimpered and lowered herself to the ground, the shard falling to the side, forgotten.
Laura pressed on her search despite the failing light. She ignored the spectacular array of reds and oranges that stretched out along the horizon above the mountains to her west. Instead, her gaze occasionally flicked to the encroaching velvet blue twilight from the east. Her larger eyes had given her the ability to see more detail from a greater distance, but the landscape below her was fading further into shadow.
She fought back tears as she left the third place she had tried in an increasingly vain hope of finding Sunny. Laura clenched her teeth as she realized just how much she had hung on Sunny's every word during their talks, that she could remember with such detail every place that Sunny had described where she (allegedly) liked to visit.
Just more lies.
While her ears had managed to pick up a distant buzzing, she had little time to worry about it. She knew drones were in the area, but she had paid them little mind. Yet with her search coming up empty, she had been about to turn her attention more towards the noise when she caught a flicker of light in the distance, halfway up to the summit of Ute Mountain, one of the two mountains that flanked the "back way" into Lazy Pines, the same road that Aunt Eileen had taken to enter town.
She almost disregarded it. Had this been any other context, she would have assumed it to be campers. Yet she flew towards it anyway, and her eyes widened when she realized what she had seen were not the embers of a campfire, but the glow of a unicorn horn. Her heart pounding, she went into a controlled dive, her wings held steady and slightly back to minimize resistance.
The ground rushed at her, and she backwinged at the last moment to land neatly and quietly. Her heart lurched as she traced the horn glow to the achingly familiar yellow and red form that she had previously come to know and love. Even now, Laura could not help but feel a small surge of renewed affection for the pony that had helped her realize her potential, and it again became easy to disregard the warnings from the others.
Only when she shook herself out of this brief reverie did she notice that Starlight was here as well, but she remained strangely quiet and absolutely still. If it were not for the failing daylight, Laura may not have noticed the faint glow surrounding Starlight's body.
"There," Sunny said with satisfaction. "I've established a link to the device via one of several ley lines I put down when I first moved to Lazy Pines. The humans likely think the first thing I'm going to do is retrieve it myself, so that should buy me some time."
"And what makes you think that Twilight won't stop you from doing that?" Starlight demanded.
Laura tilted her head. Starlight was standing rock-still despite using her voice. Even her legs were positioned as if she were in mid-stride. And why was there a nervous quaver to her voice?
"Don't be stupid," Sunny scoffed. "Twilight is an alicorn. I spent a better part of my life studying them. I know how they affect the ambient magical field. I can tell she's not on Earth right now."
"That's not going to last for long after she finds out you've escaped!"
"Long enough for me to do what needs to be done."
Laura's heart pounded. This didn't sound like the Sunny she knew. Sunny sounded every bit as cool and calculating as Laura had been led to believe. This would be the kind of pony who could indeed accomplish some grand scheme in which a single pony like Laura had very little meaning other than just another cog in a giant machine.
Starlight's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, and I think I know exactly what it is you're going to do."
Sunny stepped closer to Starlight. "Is that supposed to impress me? Sure, you had a spell I didn't expect, kudos for that. It didn't take me long to figure out how it worked, though, including that it never completely severed my connection to my cutie mark. And before you congratulate yourself on getting the 'big bad Sunset Shimmer' into talking about her plans, I honestly don't care who hears them. So don't consider yourself oh-so-clever for engaging me in the native language. Maybe I won't realize my original goals, but I can at least ensure there's a chance that--"
Only then did Laura notice the wounded leg, and despite pressing a hoof to her muzzle, she let out a small gasp.
Sunny suddenly jerked her head in Laura's direction. Her horn flashed, and a beam of light shot from it like a flashlight. It swept over to Laura, who squinted and raised a fore-leg to shade her eyes.
Sunny uttered a gasp. "Laura??"
"What?!" Starlight cried, her eyes sliding towards Laura as far as they would go, but she was turned just far enough that it was unlikely she could see anything but the barest glimpse out of the corner of her eye. "Laura, if that's you, you shouldn't be here! Get away now while – mmph!"
Starlight went silent, her jaw as much a statue as the rest of her.
Sunny cantered over to Laura. Laura swallowed hard, backing up a half step, a fore-hoof raised and her wings unfolded as if she truly wanted to flee. Instead, she simply glanced between Sunny and Starlight in abject confusion, allowing Sunny to close with her. "Starlight is right, you really shouldn't be here."
Suddenly Sunny's voice was all warm and friendly again, as if all she truly cared about was Laura's safety and well-being. Laura wanted to believe this was the true Sunny, and what she had seen here upon arriving was the facade. "Sunny, what's going on? What's wrong with Starlight?"
"Starlight is unharmed," Sunny said with a small smile. "It's just a freeze spell, a bit of advanced magic."
Laura glanced up. Sunny's horn was still glowing, more so than to account for the simple light spell.
"I won't try to hide who and what I really am anymore, Laura," Sunny said in a contrite voice. "As I imagine you've been told about me by now."
"Yes, I do know," Laura said.
Sunny craned her neck slightly, and she smiled broadly. "You have your cutie mark! I thought you might be one of the first to get one. I'm really happy for you."
Laura only then realized her wings were still extended. She folded them to her sides. "And ... a-and were you the one who designed it for me?"
Sunny's smile faded. "I don't understand."
Laura paused to fight back tears. This was the pony she had trusted to help her during what had been the most difficult time in her life, somepony who she even now had trouble believing had only her own interests at heart. "Sunny, you ... you lied to me! You lied about everything!"
"Not everything, Laura," said Sunny in a soft voice.
Laura glanced at Sunny's horn. It seemed like it had grown even brighter. "And how am I supposed to know what to believe about you anymore?" Laura said in a quavering voice.
"When I tried to encourage you, when I told you that you could do whatever you set your mind to, I was being sincere."
Laura's heart ached. The memories of those moments came back to her now in cruel clarity. "Y-you want me to believe you? Then tell me the truth right now!" Laura demanded, her vision watery with tears. "Did you cause that storm ten years ago?"
Sunny's eyes widened, and she frowned slightly. She opened her mouth, and Laura braced herself for a denial. Instead, she glanced at Starlight before regarding Laura with a softened and even sad gaze. "It was an accident."
Laura's mouth dropped open, and her heart sank. She stumbled back a step as if she had been struck across the muzzle.
"I don't expect you to understand the explanation, but I was searching for a means to store magical energy needed for the transformation, and I experimented with using Earth's weather," said Sunny. "It obviously didn't work well."
"And so you made me a pegasus just as a way to make it up to me?!" Laura exploded. "How can you think you could begin to do that after what it did to Jenny and me?!"
Sunny gave her a pained look, but now Laura had to question whether this was all just a facade, that Sunny could don this emotional mask as good as any accomplished actress could, and this was just another sort of stage for her. "But look what you have done with it, Laura! You've achieved your dream of finding a purpose, something you really like to do."
"And how do I know you didn't just pour that into my head? How do I know I actually earned this cutie mark?"
"Your cutie mark is yours. While I can help smooth the way to ponies earning their marks, I can't control which ones they get. You earned it, Laura."
Laura wiped away tears with the back of her hoof. "But only after you disrupted my life in the first place."
Sunny's eyes glistened, but she said nothing in reply.
"And Jenny saw you, didn't she?!" Laura shouted. "She saw you, and you made her forget seeing you, and she became so scared that it completely changed her personality, all because you--!"
"I steered the tornado away from your house!" Sunny cried in a voice tinged with desperation, as if even now she wanted Laura's approval and love. "When I realized I couldn't dissipate it, I steered it towards an empty house. No one was killed."
Laura frowned. "Except a life that could've been. I didn't have to go through everything I did for the last ten years. It was all your fault, wasn't it?"
Sunny uttered a long, sad sigh. "Yes, it was."
Laura simply stared. She had no idea what to say or even feel. She almost wished Sunny had adopted a classic villain persona. It would've been so much easier to switch her love to hate. Despite everything that the vision had told her, it would've been far easier to disregard any hope of forgiveness for this alien pony.
"But now you can have a new life," said Sunny.
Laura looked back at her cutie mark, something she had been so proud of just a few short hours ago.
"Yes, I am responsible for how your life turned out, and I am truly sorry for how you and your little sister have suffered."
Laura snapped her gaze back to Sunny and squinted at the ever brightening glow from her horn.
Sunny smiled faintly. "If it helps any, Laura, you were best suited to be a pegasus from the start. I really didn't have to push you in that direction."
"You're almost making it sound like I somehow earned the 'right' to be a pegasus." Laura said, bitterness creeping into her voice. "I don't feel like I've earned anything anymore! I feel like I got here because you decided who and what I should be! The fact that I don't even find it unusual or strange even after knowing all this just makes it all feel that much more surreal." Laura squinted and raised her foreleg before her eyes. "And you can please dim your horn a bit?"
Sunny stepped back, her horn bathing the surrounding area in an eldritch glow. "I'm sorry, I can't. I'm building up energy for a spell."
Laura's heart raced. "Wh-what spell?" She backed up, and her wings flared. "What are you going to do to me now?"
Sunny smiled. It was not the smile of a villain about to see her evil plans realized. It was the smile of genuine achievement, like that of an artist about to put the finishing touch on her masterpiece. Somehow, that made Laura shiver. "My original plans have been disrupted. I likely won't see them through to completion, but I can give at least a significant part of this world a chance at a better future."
Laura did not hear the other hoofbeats thundering up the hill or the sweep of pegasus wing accompanying them until Sunny suddenly jerked her head towards the sounds herself. Sunny hastily backed up a few more steps, and she closed her eyes in concentration. Her horn suddenly blazed, bathing the hilltop in light so bright it seemed almost like the middle of the day.
Laura turned away from the brilliance, only to have it quickly fade away, leaving the hill in the dimness of deepening twilight. A new horn provided light, coming from a purple pony Laura had never seen before, one with both wings and a horn. She was accompanied by the alien ponies she had seen earlier, plus another two who were strangers: a cyan pegasus with rainbow hair and a white-coated unicorn with a musical note surrounded by stars as a cutie mark.
The purple pony came to an abrupt stop. Her mouth dropped open, and her pupils shrank.
Sunny turned to her. "Don't bother, Twilight. You're too--"
The purple one called Twilight clenched her teeth. A beam of light erupted from her horn, which struck Sunny dead-on. Laura screamed when Sunny slammed into a nearby tree and slid limply to the ground.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!" Twilight roared.
"Oh my gosh!" Fluttershy cried.
Applejack rushed up to Twilight and threw her fore-legs around Twilight's barrel when she threatened to advance. "No, Twi, stop! She ain't worth it!"
"I-I've never seen her this angry before," said Pinkie, her hair appearing slightly less poofy than before.
"Twilight, get a hold of yourself," Rarity pleaded. "Starlight looks to be in distress."
Laura's heart hammered, her glistening eyes on Sunny. Even now she fought the urge to fly over and help her. Sunny slowly picked herself up and hobbled away from the tree.
Twilight took a deep breath and turned towards Starlight. Her horn flashed, and Starlight began to move like a movie taken off pause. She frowned and cantered over to Twilight. "I'll tell you what she probably just did. I found out her transformation spell has a accelerator on it. I imagine she can trigger it to speed up the transformation. She said something about linking to her device."
"Only as a power relay," said Sunny. "So I could protect my magic far enough."
Twilight frowned and marched forward. "Is Starlight right? Is that what you just did? And don't even think about trying to shield against me or teleporting out of here. I can tell that your magic is spent right now."
Starlight glanced over to Laura. "Twilight, I don't think you want to continue until we clear the area a bit."
"I'm not going anywhere!" Laura cried. "I came here to find out the truth about what's going on."
"It's not safe for you," said Fluttershy.
"Stop telling her nonsense," said Sunny. "Unless you do intend to fight me again."
"Starlight, keep Laura from getting any closer for her own safety. There's no time to get her out of here," Twilight said. Before Laura could protest, Twilight turned towards Sunny. "You don't seem to understand what's at stake here! The American military knows exactly where you are right now. The only reason they're not here is because I begged them to let my friends and I come here first."
Laura's eyes widened. "Did somepony follow me here?"
"It was fer yer own good," Applejack said.
"I'm sorry, but they were desperate to find Sunset once they knew she had escaped," said Twilight.
"I didn't come here to lead an attack on her!" Laura protested.
"We're trying to prevent just that. This is her last chance."
"Stop trying to scare her," Sunny protested.
"Sunset, you have no idea how desperate the humans are to stop you!" Twilight shouted. "They have a cruise missile readying for launch if I don't stop you from interfering any further!"
"Uh, what's a cruise missile?" the rainbow-haired one asked of Applejack.
"Not sure, but it don't sound good," said Applejack.
Laura's heart thundered. Was this really being treated as a sort of invasion? Had she so lost sight of the original crisis that had brought her here that she could not see past her own fur and feathers? All of the vitriol she had spent trying to reconcile how her life had turned out had been without regard to her body, but maybe she needed to start considering that as well.
"That's how bad this has become," Twilight said. "They'll do anything to eliminate you as a threat."
"It doesn't matter anymore what they do to me," Sunny said. "I've done all I can. Maybe you've managed to prevent me from realizing my plans of a planet-wide pony civilization, but I can make damn sure there is a large enough population of ponies on this world that they can't be ignored or swept out of the way. And the way to do that is to ensure that whoever has started transforming will become a full pony in another day or so."
Laura felt like her head was spinning. She was trying to piece together everything that was going on, but where she had been so focused on herself and what she could do, she had not stopped to understand how she got here. She had sought truth, but part of her wished she had left it well enough alone.
Twilight turned to Starlight. "There's no way she could make that spread to the entire transforming population all at once. It must be designed to jump from person to person."
"What difference does that make now?" Starlight said. "We don't have time to stop it."
"Not unless Sunset tells us how."
"And what makes you think I'm going to do that?" Sunny said.
Laura fought to remember what she had gone through those first few days when she had no idea what was happening to her, when she felt increasingly like some sort of half-horse freak. She forced herself to recall the anxiety, the tears, the panic, at least until the point when she started to feel more pony than human without ever realizing it.
Her eyes widened as if they had only just been opened to the reality. She looked at herself. A body that had been made for her, not so much to wrap around her persona as to try and shape it like a mold. She looked at her cutie mark. It was hers, whether earned or dispensed, and she was going to have to live with it.
"That's what we're here for," Twilight said in a lower voice. "Not to force you to do anything, but to hopefully help you understand."
"You can talk all you want," Sunny said. "It won't change how I feel."
"I know I have no words that will persuade you, but we're hoping to send you to somepony who will."
"And, again, I ask you, just how do you propose to do such a thing when you can't contain me? And don't even think of trying that little unmarking trick again. I already have a defensive spell against it."
The white-coated unicorn with the note-and-stars mark surged forward. "Sunset, you idiot, do you even realize who these other ponies are?"
Sunny's gaze flicked over them. "I can sense they're Equestrian ponies with a fair amount of magic, but what of it?"
"They're the living embodiment of the Elements of Harmony! I seem to recall you scoffed at them as 'unreliable relics'!"
Sunny hesitated. "And what of it? I'm not ignorant of Harmony magic. I know perfectly well it won't work here."
Starlight stepped over to Twilight and said in a soft voice, "Did she just call your bluff?"
"No," Twilight replied. "I'll explain it later." She turned towards Sunny. "You think you have all the answers, Aunt Sunset, but you've only shown just how painfully ignorant you really are." She glanced at her friends. "Now."
Twilight and five of the other alien ponies moved to space themselves out evenly and closed their eyes. Laura felt her fur rise and buzz with something akin to static electricity as a supernatural wind suddenly swirled around the six. She gasped and stumbled back when the first of the wide beams of bright rainbow light shot down from the heavens, striking Twilight and enveloping her in sparkling magic.
When the beam vanished, standing there was a version of Twilight who exuded more power than Laura could ever have imagined. Her hair, fur, and feathers were detailed in rainbow accents, and she virtually glowed with a confidence that matched her power.
More beams thundered down, each one striking the ground as if like a pile driver. Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and the cyan-furred pegasus in turn were similarly transformed.
"How the hell did you manage that?" Starlight muttered in awe.
Sunny's eyes widened. She glanced between them and backed up a step. "I don't understand what's going on here."
"And that's the problem," Twilight said in a sad voice. "But I'm hoping you soon will."
"Wait!" Laura heard herself yell, and she flew towards Sunny.
"Laura, stop!" Starlight cried.
"Get outta the way, sugarcube!" Applejack cried. "This ain't your fight!"
"Please, Laura, we don't want you to be hurt!" Fluttershy pleaded.
Laura's heart pounded. She had no idea what was going to happen, other than she felt this was the absolute last time she would ever get a chance to talk to Sunny.
"Stop making me out to be a monster to her," Sunny snapped.
"They said you're speeding up more transformations," said Laura in a quavering voice.
"Yes, I am. This will be for their own good in the end. They won't feel so awkward for as long as you did."
Laura let out a shaky breath. Sunny was back to the pony that she knew, the one who could soothe her nerves or encourage her with just a few words. Yet she had to assume that this Sunny was fake, that the real Sunny was the one who had just argued with Twilight. "But did you ask them first?"
Sunny hesitated. "Ask them?"
"Did you ask anypony first? Anypony at all? Or did you just do it?" Laura paused. "Like you did me and my family?"
"Your family is better for it, Laura," Sunny said softly. "You're better for it."
"Only because you had to fix something you messed up."
"You would be better for it even if I had not accidentally interfered with your life. That's the point. That was always the point from the start."
Laura's eyes glistened. In those few words, Sunny had shattered the illusion she had built around herself. Maybe she had genuinely cared for Laura, but only in a greater context that suited her ends. Laura took a deep breath and let it go as a shaky sigh. "Maybe I still do like what's become of me and what I can do, but ... you ... y-you have no right to make that kind of decision for people."
"I had my reasons, Laura," Sunny said in a soft voice.
"I don't care!" Laura cried, flaring her wings. "Maybe I do still feel better about myself, but only because you forced it on me! I'll never know whether I could've achieved this on my own. I'll never know what's really mine and what you manufactured for me."
"Does it really matter if it means you can be happy?"
Laura glanced towards Twilight and her friends. While they were obviously poised to do something to Sunny, she saw no lust for justice or revenge in their faces. If anything, they looked sad, like this was something they were forced to do.
Laura turned back to Sunny. "They're right. You don't get it. I'm going to be as happy as I can, and be the best pegasus I can be, but not because of you ... but in spite of you."
"Laura, you don't mean ... Laura, wait!" Sunny called out.
Laura had already taken flight, her vision a watery mess. She had always thought she would never know what a broken heart felt like until she first had a coltfriend dump her or have a close family member pass away. She had been proven wrong in the worst possible way.
She landed a short distance away and had only just turned around when she saw Twilight and her five rainbow-powered friends rise into the air, energy surging and swirling around them. A ribbon of rainbow-colored magic passed from one pony to the other until they had circled back to Twilight, as if channeling everything through her. The purple pony's eyes glowed brilliant white, and an almost blinding beam of more rainbow light struck Sunny.
Laura cringed, her ears flattening against the scream that never came. Instead, there was simply a bright flash of light that left purple dots floating before her eyes, and when the brightness had faded, Sunny had vanished.
I'll try to make this the last cliffhanger, I promise! 
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Ah, the final Equestrian contingent. The Elements of Harmony. I should've seen that coming.
In any case, you've outdone yourself, ASGeek! This chapter is awesome. I can't believe we're so close to the end. This is just too good.
And here we are, with a few points already resolving themselves towards the end of the story, like the storm revelation. And Laura... It must be devastating in reality to have to rebuke and denounce a person/ pony you once called friend.
But now the question I ask is, what did the Elements of Harmony do to Sunset Shimmer?
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I believe it has something to do with what Celestia was planning with Triss.
She got what was coming to her.
Am I wrong in thinking that the Elements of Harmony are almost the easy way out for Sunset? She has several issues obviously but a "scrubbing” like this will hopefully cure her but still it feels like she will be getting off easy. Also does anyone know who the pony with the musical and star cutie mark is?
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^
This, honestly, is how I felt about these last two chapters. Plots within plots within ...
I am sorry to say, but this last twist of events made the story less enjoyable. If Sunset was already two steps removed from being Batman before, then you just had her plow straight in to Mary Sue territory with wheels screeching and exhaust flaming.
More super secret, super potent layers to her spells that no one had noticed before, enough potency to break through the sedatives miliseconds after being reunited with her mark (which was only possible thanks to a defensive spell she cobbled together in seconds while under duress against a type of magic she didn't even know existed before), enough reflexes and presence of mind to overpower all the soldiers after having just woken up from being sedated, and then enough magical might to overwhelm Starlight (who is already an overpowered individual) like a petulant little child in a manner that probably Celestia couldn't pull off, despite being just awakened from prolonged sedation and being shot through a limb ...
And she could only be "stopped" after she spend all of her energy herself (probably would have kicked Twilight's ass otherwise in roughly five seconds and minimal effort, while keeping Starlight immobilized at the same time) and accomplished all her objectives, because the universe can't help but bend backwards to accommodate her plans, and even then needs to have the freaking Rainbow Power pulled on her to seal the deal (probably a fifty/fifty if they end doing anything to her anyway.
I am sorry, but is this a unicorn or Discord in disguise? She's the biggest, most obnoxious case of Mary Sue I have seen in a long time.
I am sorry for the tone, but these chapters genuinely upset me, because while reading through it I could physically feel what has used to be a great and gripping story turn to "Whatever! *throws up arms*" in my mind, because it's hard to take anything seriously if Sunset is this level of bullshit.
I am really of two minds on the use of the elements and it comes from my misgivings of how they have impacted ponies in the show. With Sunset and Luna at least in the show when the elements were used on them it literally stripped away part of their personality; it stripped Sunset of her ambition and stripped Luna of her resentment and jealousy. It has been argued by some that it may have stripped some of the more menacing aspects of Discord as well and we have no idea if there were personality impacts on Tirek since he was immediately thrown back in Tarturus. But signs show that their targets minds are fundamentally changed against their wills. It is to the better of everyone it is easily argued but it is the same arguement this version of Sunset Shimmer has made for what she did. So the use of the Elements is in fact a violation of the very ideals that those who stand against Sunset have pushed from the start.
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While you could see it in that light, that those who oppose Sunset's ideals of taking control away from the individual to force a new destiny upon them, I think it could also be seen as an ironic reversal: Sunset falling under the very effect she was forcing onto others for their own good. Now she had something forced onto her for her own good.
An interesting question is if it will make any difference to the human authorities. The justice system both does and doesn't believe in mitigating circumstances. That's the point of parole and leniency, after all, but at the same time Sunset's crimes are pretty extreme, not even counting vigilantes that might try to wipe her out if they feel justice is denied. Still, maybe they can pass off what happened as a death and rebirth of sorts. I really am unsure how the justice system would handle that kind of thing. There have been cases of people convicted for crimes they have no memory of committing, and the fact they didn't remember was taken as fact and not disputed as part of the ruling.
I might say something to the effect of her hiding away in Equestria because she'd be killed if she returned to Earth, but I refuse to believe that the Equestrians would close off relations with Earth since they put them in a terrible spot, and it is indeed Equestria's fault as a whole. If it can't be reversed, then relations would have to stay, and be greatly expanded. And the fact is, that if relations are expanded, it's hard to see a scenario where Sunset is being given sanctuary in Equestria for her crimes and not be poisonous to the new relationship forming with Earth.
It looks like they transported her to Triss I believe by story implications. Yet I am concerned.
It does seem Sunset is nigh mary sue or is. You stacked a lot of the deck in her favor. So much that Equestria's line of defense against severe dangers like Tirek has to be used. A defense she scoffs at.
Though their use is sparingly and only when there is little other option. Yet was there an another possibility considering the stacked deck?
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You mean Star Singer? Little Ms. Oracle of the Stars, Pony Biology Expert?
Oh, this is fantastic. Twilight finally getting one up on Sunset - heh, who thought Rainbow Power would be good for anything but a cheap toy line? And I loved Laura here, finally figuring out the truth and moving on. Realizing that being a pony wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, and what Sunset was doing was wrong. This was very, very satisfying.
I just hope Sunset didn't teleport away at the end. That would be cheap.
Twilght said that they would send Sunset to someone who would hopefully be able to convince her to change her way of thinking. I guess Sunset is now in the plane of Triss, and/or where Celestia is now. So she gets double the lection. But the Elements surely saved her life just now. The humans were bent on killing her as the greatest threat to them and the Bearers pulled her head out of the methaphorical snare.
I hope that in the end Sunset fully realizes what she did was wrong and manages to earn Laura's forgiveness.
Damn... Things went pear shaped....
ok i did not see this coming at all.
Laura is taking the truth really hard but i thing she was getting threw to sunset also.
now we weight for 14 days to find out just what happened for sure.
This may have been really, really hard on Laura but if Sunset does cares about her like a daughter then this may be just what Sunset needs to get her into a mindset to listen to Triss and would be an important first step to her redemption and like I said I hope that when all is said and done Sunset is able to earn Laura's forgiveness and affection, and hopefully talking to Twilight will help Laura come to terms with all this and be willing to give Sunset the chance to redeem herself.
I am starting to grow worried about the direction you're taking the story, ASGeek. Like some of the other readers have pointed out, Sunset's abilities in the latter two chapters seem to be artificially inflated for the sake of upping the conflict, which is starting to wear thin in my mind. Additionally, the EoH seem to have either A) taken her to Celestia and Triss or B) done nothing because Sunset teleported away herself. I trust you enough to not consider the latter possibility (though the way she's been acting lately, I'm not ruling it out), but even the former concerns me.
Let's say that Celestia and Triss do manage to talk her out of finalizing her last-ditch effort to permanently transform those affected by the ETS. Suppose that Sunset fully repents and manages to at least partially resolve the mess, at least by stopping the latest waves of ETS transformations. Even if she helps revert everyone back, none of this would atone for her crimes, not in the humans' mind. I am hoping, if this is what will happen in the following chapters, that Sunset will submit herself to their authorities and allow them to judge her actions. That is the only way that I can see this working, other than perhaps Sunset telling Celestia and Triss to suck it and try to further her efforts of xenocide.
You can do a villain reform, but don't excuse her out of all of her crimes. Please, don't let Sunset get off the hook with a slap on the wrist.
The only way you could keep this promise is if the story ended in the next update. Please don't do it
On Sunset, I don't think she's a sue. They didn't use the elements on her because it's the only way to defeat her, but because they hope to defeat her. Twilight could most likely curb stomp her with the rainbow power, and win even without it.
What Sunset has over Starlight is experience, education and training. Starlight is a progidy, but one that didn't get to be taught by Celestia for years nor did have canterlot's resources at her disposition. Also, at least a couple of decades of experience.
I think Sunset shows more of the true potential of a top tier unicorn that knows what it's doing, has the power and not half of the moral compulsions Twilight and even Starlight have. She can cast fast, she's a genius, she's powerful. But I'd she can't escape and all bets were off, she wouldn't last long against the duo. The ponies reluctance to kill or straight out cause harm and magic' superiority towards technology contributed way more to the Sue feeling than her actual power.
Well, I bet Starlight is feeling rather dumb for stopping then from destroying the original device now.
I wonder, what will Sunset do when faced with a being of humongous power showing her exactly why she's an idiot and how she might have doomed this world and even hers in her mad quest for point power. Oh, and how she'll be an eternal monster to both. Because really, no amount of sorry can get you out of this one.
Kill 'er. She's beyond helping or saving, and even if she turns herself over and pleads guilty on all charges, what she's done and the danger she represents is on a universal scale. They should have killed her much sooner when they realized the magnitude of the danger she opened up for Earth.
Sunset's insane not evil, she needs a good psychologist along with love and support far more then she needs a jail cell or an executioner.
8430315
Would YOU want to try to reform someone who made it their goal to exterminate an entire group of people? I'm talking about Hitler, of course.
What Sunset did was even worse; she basically intended to make an entire SPECIES go extinct, and that is a LOT worse than just killing one specific part of that species. Even if that is the only thing you accuse her of, and you completely ignore any of her other crimes, that still puts her solidly on death row.
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venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/phelpsface2.png?strip=all
So you're saying that a person that was willing to commit biological terrorism that would lead to xenocide just needs a good therapist with plenty of love and support?
Look, I'm all for reformation over punishment, but even Sunset's gone beyond than doing an 'Oopsies'. She needs to pay for her crimes, buddy.
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Laura had a good deal of bottled up resentment to Sunset that has slowly been growing since she first learned of "Sunny's" real identity. Her trying hard to justify Sunset is more her trying to justify it to herself because she knew on a fundamental level what Sunset did was wrong and things keep piling on that further tainted her views of Sunset. She caught Sunset at the exact moment that every possible one of those resentments would seem most justified. So Laura's turn on Sunset is not surprising.
This doesn't mean Laura is of any changed mind about being a pony though. If anyone tried to change her back to human she would fight it fiercely with everything she had but she won't fight others willingly being changed back to human. It is all about choice for her.
On another note Twilight's plan seems like it could break the connection to Equestria making the need for the permanent pony population on Earth a necessity. If Equestria can't come to aid except for once in a extremely rare time and the devourers get to Earth before the human population has evolutionarily developed magic to a point it can be used to detect the threat then there has to be ponies permanently living on Earth.
Turning countless people into ponies, changing their minds, manipulating the lives of a family, and condemning a soul to a fate they didn't want...........................So Sunset, want to have a Bad Time!?
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I'll likely go back and edit this chapter at some future point to make things a little less over-the-top and believable. Most of what Sunset has done up until this point is in line with her being a very strong magic user who's had twenty years of planning behind her, but I can see where some might consider it going a bit far.
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Definitely keep any discussion of this to PM's, please. I really don't want to see this comments thread erupt into a magic-vs-technology flame war (because that's where those sorts of discussions almost always seem to go). Where I have no reference from the writers stating magic's strengths as compared to tech, I had to choose how powerful to make it, and then try to remain consistent through the story.
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I'm mostly basing my stance from what I've seen in the show, but I'm entirely fine with taking any discussion of the sort to PMs.
You do know that if the end of the world happenings before the next chapter relist date. You would be responsible for one of the biggest cliffhangers of all time.
Sunset Shimmer will your heart burn and break when you see the bodies of half transformed corpses because you sped up your spell just to spite the council of others who had a point about the wrongness of your actions?
From
the stormDerpy to her Fail deadly contingency, Sunset expected to be forgiven and thanked later for her self judged Heroics.Sunset Shimmer you are the disaster/monster, not some nebulous thing predicted by fortune telling and all because you had no faith in others to overcome the dangers the roll their way.
8430085
Sunset didn't scoff at the Elements. She scoffed at the idea of being in the cross-hairs of the Elements, since she was doing the right thing in her own mind.
I spent the past four days unable to get this story out of my head until I'd caught up on it.
This feels like the most, for lack of a better word, realistic take on the 'human turned pony' concept. The reactions of the human characters to what was happening to them felt perfectly believable, and I love the cultural interactions going on between the two worlds (especially the bits where ponies pick up human swearing, it's so precious!) It's obvious you've done a lot of research, and put a lot of effort into keeping the story mechanics consistent.
This fic has been a wonderful ride from the beginning and I can hardly wait for more.
Good Celestia. Thiscard had to be pulled. Had to go with the thoroughly unrepentant, delusional to the point of no treatment or cure mare getting hers the ultimate way. Once again, I find this somewhat OOC of her. We never had a case of potentially permanent TF in FiM nor EQG, so it's tough to say what she would and wouldn't do concerning it. However, even when she was antagonistic, she was still portrayed sympathetically. The first EQG was a drawn out, contrite snoozefest where plot was concerned, even if the art and music wasn't, largely due to the plot hinging on an ineffective antagonist, idiot protagonists who had technical smarts, but not mush wisdom, and natural universal events that played too conveniently. SS was at best a petty thief and a bully. But she had real standards. She couldn't just take that tiara and be content with it, she had to win it. And she openly admits she hated violence, and only went after the group after her mind was corrupted by magical jewelry. All this was because she didn't think Equestria was well managed, and that she could do a more adequate job of it. When she did that to the students and faculty, she only controlled them directly, like pulling a joystick for a machine. She didn't overwrite their minds with any permanent intent. Once stopped, they went back to normal. She didn't give them objectives and hope they would follow through no matter what. And most of all, she wasn't OP (overpowered).
Miss Tanner must now live with this for the rest of her life, but the others, namely Robert, Fred and Sarah, who always seemed questioning to begin with, don't have to. That seems to be the bright side of this. Those who trapped themselves seem to legitimately want to be ponies. And willing to live with it if they had their minds cleared and understand how biased they were.
I want to see Anthony and Doctor Connor turn out alright. I want to see them get what is coming to them, and that's being at her trial. I doubt she was incinerated, as it appeared Twilight was in the show. I think Anthony would love to prosecute, and watch her hang. Connor wouldn't enjoy it, but I think he'd be mature enough to grasp it needed to be done.
We've never seen devours which prompts me to question whether her visions are truly accurate. All of them consistently left out crucial information, and seeing things in the future never helped nor harmed efforts of any type anyway. At best, they made self fulfilling prophecies. This vision may have lied, and there aren't any. Or they would solve themselves one way or another, in spite of those visions. I don't fully trust that deity, but I'm fairly convinced she has only good will intended. It would be too obvious for her to be a traitor, or a two faced deceiver, especially with us already having one of those. A twist done too often, and not one of our strongest plot twist types.
Laura getting CM kind of reminds me of the time PAP character Sudden Storm got hers. Except that was a CM played strait. There was no twist on it. I wonder if that in any way influenced this.
8430479
True. Yet being a target of Equestria's most powerful line of ldefense means the bearers have to get to the danger in question.
And if you neutralize the elements by keeping even one of the bearers out of the fight, you stop the elements of harmony. Chrysalis knew this as does Discord.
In other notes:
At this point Sunset did not care about any attempt to convince her of any other path. And she did not flinch at the threat of the US military dealing with her lethally as she has accomplished partial victory not if her full goals.
A tomahawk cruise missile is a long range precision guided weapon system. I figure with her arcane reserves spent, Sunset would of not survived a tomahawk strike.
MOAR.
Laura has just learned the most valuable lesson about vengeance, the best form of it is a life well lived.
there is an old saying. one who seeks vengeance should dig two graves. one for the target of said vengeance, and one for them self.
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Quick note, the only reason she had to win it was thanks to Twilight's interference, it bounced out of the portal first, and onto Fluttershy, who recognizing it as the Winter Formal crown, handed it into the Principal's office. That was what Sunset was having a go at Fluttershy about at the beginning, she never meant to win it in the first place, she meant to steal it, take it through, and immidiately use it's power.
I am drunk and my heart is thundering but I stand by EVERYTHING I said in the previous comment.
I really wouldn't want to read more if you weren't such a bloody genius at characterization.
Motherfucking bastard. Why couldn't you have let me absolutely love this?
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No story is perfect, and I am definitely not a perfect author, so all feedback is appreciated.
Chapter 50 will likely undergo some revision at a later point, just not right now. When I was posting my previous story, the chapter and scene rewrites I did as the story was being posted stressed me out to the point where the writing almost wasn't fun anymore. I want to avoid that here. Any editing I do to the chapter won't really affect the story in the upcoming chapters.
I appreciate your other positive feedback about the characterization. I feel that if I got that right, that's half the battle right there.
The Elements have a thing for ironic punishments. It would be quite fitting turning Sunset into Sadie Sommers permanently, severing Shimmer from Equestria and her own magic.
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Well Twilight did say they were going to have her talk to someone who could get through to her, so perhaps the element simply teleported Sunset to Celestia?
Two birds, one stone. Sunset is in a place that can actually secure her (and also keep her safe from trigger happy humans) and proper teacher/student scolding, realization, rehabilitation and reconciliation can begin.
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inb4 irony vs poetic justice debate
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The big question is if this will be held over the heads of the ponies that advised against killing Sunset or removing her horn. That's so many more people affected now, after all. The only way, literally the only way to make up for it is to reverse what Sunset did and prevent any more forced transformations. If her last ditch effort came to not, then it won't be held against them. But if it doesn't work completely, or it kills people, that's on Twilight Sparkle and Starlight and Star Singer's heads. Almost as much as Sunset's.
8430328 Indeed, a madman with power is vastly more dangerous than a homeless person shouting at a wall. They can only be neutralized by the cessation of their existence. This is pure logic. Great dangers cannot be permitted to exist. Complete eradication means the elimination of the danger. That which is a great danger must be eradicated.
8430060 Indeed! And so, as I have oft said, it's FAR more humane to simply kill the villains!
No ethical or moral quandary at all! (Alondro is a merciless creature of pure obsessive drive...)
8430328
She's insane and cant tell that what she did is wrong for punishment to have any effect she needs understand that her actions are immoral, she needs psychological help more then anything else at this point.
It's very easy to do what you want to do when what you want to do is pre-programmed.
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That thing said, I absolutely hate victor's justice. So much schadenfreude and hypocrisy. If she was put down like a dog while completely ignoring what she has done to help fix things after a talk with Celestia/her mother, I would rage. Even lifetime in a jail seems like a waste. I don't care what other bloodthirsty readers have to say, I think it would be unsatisfactory ending if she were murdered after a court.
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Gotham city certainly would benefit if they did that.
I beg to differ.
Rainbow Power: ACTIVATE!!!!