No Don’t Try to Stop Me, I’ve Made Up My Mind
“Alright, I’m a little shaky,” Twilight said, accompanied by her friends as she ambled out of the hospital, “But Equestria is counting on me. I hadn’t... anticipated all the possible complications of inflaming the Rift. We’ll just have to shut it down and find another way of tracking down Rosy Pink.”
“I think you may be missing the point, Twilight,” Fluttershy managed to say.
“You make it sound so easy,” Rarity whined, “Just shut down the Rift. What can we do that the powers of the sun and moon cannot?”
Applejack spun to walk backwards in front of Rarity and stared at Rarity meaninfully, while reaching into her hat, pulling out her cozy orange Apple necklace, and affixing it around her neck.
“Oh,” Rarity said, in a blushing huff, “Mmm, yes, quite.” Her horn lit up and her wardrobe chest flew up alongside her, out of which she retrieved a blue diamond set in gold. While the wardrobe zipped back into its normal spatial location, Pinkie Pie pulled her blue balloon necklace out of her hair.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had their red lightning bolt and pink butterfly tucked away in a pocket, and Twilight Sparkle being as much a pegasus as they were, could keep her magenta star necklace in the same place, as unsettling as it was to realize that you’ve grown pockets. (At least Spike made Twilight feel a little better about it, since he managed to rig up a seatbelt with them that helped with riding her safely in the air.)
Rarity was really the outlier of their little group here, as far as storing the Elements were concerned. She had a variety of ways to secret hers away such that it could be easily retrieved. Having a wardrobe enchanted to always be close at hoof was one of many tricks up her currently nonexistent sleeve.
They slowly increased their speed as Twilight felt more steady on her hooves, until they were beating along in the direction of the Rift at a good clip. “Just a warning, we should wait to focus our powers until after I’ve canceled my come-to-life spell!” Twilight stated, as they charged along through Ponyville streets.
“You used one a’those on the Rift?” Applejack blurted out in exasperation, her hooves beating the earth ...slowly, to keep back with the ambling princess.
“Not exactly!” Twilight admitted uneasily, “But the same principal applies.”
“What Applejack is trying to say is that your track record with such spells hasn’t been favorable,” Rarity spoke pointedly, bobbing along, too focused on their forced trot to shake her head in disapproval, “As a self-feeding spell it is not something many ponies would normally employ!”
“It is not dark magic,” Twilight insisted as another bass rumble crawled up their hooves, and down their ears, spurring them on even faster, “It’s... based on sound luminal principles. It’s just... somewhat dim magic!”
“Well that Rift sure is dark magic,” Rainbow Dash said in frustration, cruising along beside her gallopping friends, “So let’s blast it already!”
“I um... agree with that, at least,” Fluttershy remarked, in the air to Twilight’s other side, a lot more focused on flying than speaking.
“We’re comin’ on it!” Applejack declared, as galloping hard, they rounded the corner, “Everypony prepare to fire!”
The glow of—”No!!”
A grey pony in a lab coat tackled Applejack and threw her to the ground, “We have just got it stabilized!” the mare shouted, looking around at the Bearers, wild-eyed.
As the rest of them rounded the corner, they saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna on either side of a silvery egg, their magic blazing serenely as ponies scrambled around their hooves, putting up barricades, reinforcements, and shoring up the silvery spheroid being suspended in the center of it all.
Despite her horn’s engagement, Princess Celestia turned slightly to the Bearers and asked cooly, “Twilight Sparkle, would you like to explain what just happened here?”
“Princess!” Twilight said with a stiff fear in her voice, “I can explain! I deliberately aggravated the Rift to an inflamed state, because all other methods of scrying had failed, and I just... I didn’t think it would go straight through Ponyville!”
“And where did you think it would go?” Princess Luna asked equally cooly, her attention on them now.
“The... hiding place of Rosy Pink?” Twilight ventured weakly.
“And any other towns in the way of it?” Princess Celestia suggested.
“Oh no... I didn’t...” Twilight shook her head, “I’ve just... it’s been a really stressful week... month... and... I had to do something! Nopony can find Rosy Pink, and as long as she hasn’t returned home, this Rift will remain a threat to us all! It was only a matter of time before it metastasized. I just helped it along a little! I didn’t mean to do...” she looked around at the ruined town, the screaming horrors writhing in the streets. “...this.”
“Twilight, I am so sorry,” Princess Celestia said in a tone that conveyed not just disappointment, but great sadness, “I hadn’t realized just how impaired that Rosy had made you. I kept you involved in affairs that only hurt you, when you should have been focusing on healing, and easing your mind.”
She gave a meaningful glance to Luna, who said, “We are agreed that you, Twilight Sparkle, have shown yourself unable to make decisions for the good of Equestria. Do not think this is a punishment, because it is a burden we relieve from you, that we should never have put on your shoulders alone.”
“Let it be known that you are hereby relieved of your duties as a Princess of Equestria,” Princess Celestia said, “This includes the authority to command Equestria’s armed forces, the discretionary access to the royal treasury, and the right to adjudicate, certify, or make other judicial actions that you have not shown yourself eminently qualified to do.”
“You retain your status as the Element of Friendship,” Luna added, “And the privileges that come with that, but you may not act of your own accord with any royal authority, without the consensus of the other Bearers.”
Celestia smiled for the emotionally shattered former unicorn, saying, “You have well earned your wings, through your amazing acts of Friendship that saved the Crystal Empire from its cursed doom.” Her smile faltered though, as she added, “But I was too hasty in appointing you as a princess so immediately. You still have much to learn about your role in Equestria, and it is not my place, nor anypony’s place, to demand that you act with the knowledge and maturity you do not yet have.”
“Understand that this is a very new experience for the two of us,” Princess Luna said, shaking her head in bemusement, “Never since my sister and I has a pony been gifted with aspects of all three tribes, reborn as the avatar of a new fundamental force of which we had never seen. So long ago when my sister and I did the impossible and took reign over the sky, our leadership duties were thrust upon us without any preparation, and we too made mistakes we’d...” she looked away, “Rather not have made, before we knew enough to be the rulers that Equestria needed.”
“You have your whole life ahead of you,” Princess Celestia said warmly, “Your throne will be waiting for you, when you are ready for it. Until then, you are a little pony, nothing more than any other little pony, and the fate of Equestria is no longer your burden to bear alone.”
“Can she do that?” Rainbow Dash whispered not quietly enough into Rarity’s ear, “Can you get fired from being a princess?”
Twilight in the meantime had fallen to her haunches. Horse tranquilizers bedamned, there were tears running down her cheeks. “I...” she said at a loss for words to express the emotions rushing through her at the moment. “I... thank you p-princess, I’m so sorry I—” she wiped her eyes with a hoof, croaking out, “Thank—you I... I’ll be in the... the library if anypony,” her voice dropped to a whisper, “Needs me.”
Then she ran for her library as though the hoards of Tartarus were pursuing her.
As she ran, Twilight tried to understand how she was feeling by making a mental checklist of the emotions roiling in her:
• fear
• gratitude
• relief
• shame
• anger
• disappointment
• love
• spite
• hope
She ran out of emotions to list by the time she had reached the library, and leaned against its warm, wooden oak door, painted a familiar red that she’d gotten used to walking in and out of every day for years. And as she listed each emotion, they seemed to lose their momentum, feeling more like a manageable force than an unstoppable hurricane. It was, after all, a finite list, and that was nothing she couldn’t deal with.
• hatred
Nothing. She couldn’t deal with. Twilight Sparkle went into the library.
Meanwhile, her friends were kind of seriously out of their element.
“So, we don’t need the Elements of Harmony?” Applejack asked the princesses uncertainly.
“Because they worked so well the last time we used them on this rift,” Rarity remarked dryly.
“We’ll handle the Rift for now, my little ponies,” Princess Celestia replied calmly, “Twilight needs you more than ever, I’m afraid.”
Celestia’s eyes widened very slightly, as the oneun didn’t immediately go galloping off, but stood there fidgeting uncertainly.
Applejack spoke first, saying, “She does princess, an’ it’s our duty to take care of her and all, but...”
“We’re not exactly sure what to do,” Rainbow Dash filled in, “She’s been majorly messed up by that Rosy chick.”
“The one who won’t go through this Rift,” Celestia said with a cool gaze.
“There’s no time to hesitate. We have to hurry to Twilight, the poor dear. She was just rejected!” Rarity exclaimed, “Ruined! Chastened! She could be doing something drastic at this very moment! And we are to stand by and let this happen?”
“Oh no!” Pinkie Pie shouted, aghast, “We’ve gotta go save Twilight from becoming a crazy cat lady! Sorry princess, gotta run.”
Pinkie zipped off then, and the other four hesitated, but followed soon after. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were the last to head out, and Applejack said to Princess Celestia, “You did good in tellin’ that to Twilight. The whole princess business been weighing on her so hard, ah think she wasn’t sure whether to thank ya or apologize!”
“Yeah, until she learns how to read again, I dunno that she’s much up to taking on anything,” Rainbow Dash added, hovering beside Applejack as they headed off.
“I sincerely hope that a time shall not soon come when Twilight Sparkle has no choice in that regard,” the princess Luna said solemnly. She was only speaking to herself, though. She waited to speak until Applejack and Rainbow Dash were hurrying to catch up with the group, and the moon princess was left with her thoughts her own.
“Okay,” Twilight muttered out loud, pacing in her library foyer. “All I need to do is reinvent the fundamentals of magic and make a ground breaking discovery regarding pony finding. Easy peasy. The Rift is a bust, but it was sort of working. Perhaps I can rig some sort of extender to it that would...”
“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie shouted, bursting into the library, “Stay away from the cats!”
“Cats? There are no cats, Pinkie,” Twilight said in flat confusion.
“Oh, OK then!” Pinkie said with a happy smile. She didn’t bounce out the room though, because when she tried, the rest of the Bearers were pushing their way in, sliding the pink earth pony right back through the door. The other library goers from around Ponyville all looked on at the group warily, most beginning to edge for the exit, or the window, or any way out of this.
“Girls, I’m so sorry,” Twilight said earnestly as they approached. “I’ve just been so stressed lately, and I can’t believe I didn’t even think about the danger a moving Rift could pose to the surrounding community.”
“Twilight, you have nothing to apologize for,” Rarity said with a friendly nuzzle.
“Yes she does...” Fluttershy mumbled softly.
Glaring at Fluttershy, Rarity gave Twilight a broad smile, saying, “You’ve been trying your hardest to do the right thing. So you had a little slip-up. So what?”
“Not exactly a little slip-up,” Rainbow Dash drawled caustically.
“A really really really—” Fluttershy started to say.
“Okay, a big slip-up,” Rarity reluctantly corrected, “But you’ve been here before, Twilight. You won’t repeat this mistake, will you?”
“Oh no,” Twilight agreed passionately, “I would never do this again. The unintended consequences were far too severe.”
“Don’t you go on beatin’ yourself up over this neither,” Applejack said warmly to Twilight. “You were gettin’ worried over nothing. It happens. You got a good heart, Twilight, an’ you need to listen to what it’s tellin’ you.”
“It’s telling me that Rosy Pink needs to go home,” Twilight groaned miserably, “But I can’t find her. Nopony can!”
“I know you’ll find a way to fix things,” Pinkie Pie said confidently, “Because you’re Twilight Sparkle! You’re my friend, and you always know what to do... eventually.”
“Yeah, you’re... great, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said grouchily, crossing her arms and looking the other way from where she hovered in the room. She tried to figure out what to say that wouldn’t totally annihilate this conversation and make Twilight hate her forever, but she was just coming up blank here. There were no good things to say about this.
“Twilight, you’re the most superrific pony I know!” Pinkie Pie persisted desperately, leaning to the former princess and holding up a hoof, “Cupcake?”
Twilight took Pinkie Pie’s offered cream-cheese filled strawberry cupcake, because that sort of thing wasn’t really negotiable these days. Twilight didn’t want to eat it, because she didn’t want to eat... anything. But she did anyway. It tasted too good; she felt bad for enjoying it.
“Twi, hold on now,” Applejack said to Twilight, with sad, yearning eyes as she searched for her friend in that purple princess’s face, “Ah want you to know that your friends are here for you. Nopony blames you for what happened. You’re tryin’ your hardest, and you ain’t never done nothing wrong. It’s just your circumstances that’re gumming up the works.”
“No that’s...” Fluttershy mumbled unhappily, but nopony heard her.
“I know, Applejack. I just... I wish I could figure out what is the right thing to do,” Twilight fretted, ears low, looking for a place to hide the rest of this cupcake, “I’ve almost got it. I just need to stop messing up so much. I feel like I’ve done so many things that were wrong...”
“Aw Twilight,” Applejack said sympathetically, “It was an accident, what happened today! Everything you done has been to help ponies, even if’n it didn’t always work out that way. You ain’t done nothing wrong, and you know it.”
“No no no no!” Fluttershy fussed, a sudden flurry of flustered yellow feathers in between Applejack and the former princess. “Applejack, please,” Fluttershy begged with tears in her eyes, “Just... stop!”
“Finally somepony’s speaking my language,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, folding her forehooves up there.
“Stop whut?” Applejack asked in shock, backing up a step.
“Stop saying she did nothing wrong!”
Everypony stared at Fluttershy’s sudden frustrated shriek. The butter yellow pegasus seemed to realize how loud she’d been, and started to hide under her wings, but shuddering, she forced herself to stand straight, to turn around, and face Twilight Sparkle.
It took a few false starts, but Fluttershy wasn’t shivering with fear, so much as another barely repressed emotion. “Twilight, you...” she said to Twilight who looked at Fluttershy like a cute little baby bunny looks at a diving hawk. “You did something very bad, Twilight,” Fluttershy said quietly.
“What?” Twilight asked in a confusion teetering on disaster.
“Twilight, you hurt Rosy Pink,” Fluttershy told the former princess, “You hurt her, and it’s... it’s not okay. What you are doing is wrong. It’s always been wrong. And you’re just hurting yourself everytime somepony tells you it’s...” Fluttershy had to choke back a sob, “Every time somepony tells you it’s okay, because it’s not! And it never was!”
The poor pegasus had to take a moment to collect herself after that, and everypony else was afraid to speak, afraid to even move for fear of scaring her off. Fluttershy never got like this, except when it was really, really important.
“Twilight, I... hurt Rosy,” Fluttershy said, shoulders sinking. “There was nothing wrong with her. She was a perfectly sweet, caring, loving mare. I was the one who kissed her. Who made her kiss me. I was the one who pushed her away. It wasn’t part of her plan; she didn’t even know what was happening, and I just... hurt her. Because I wanted to be w-with her, even more than kissing because... because I like... mares.”
Fluttershy’s voice had died to a whimper, but in the stillness of the library everypony could hear what she had to say. Her passion recovered then, and her voice rose, as she said, “And then I tried to tell myself that it was her fault, that she m-made me feel this way. You did too,” she looked around at her friends like she was watching the tiny distant twinkle of a lighthouse, from the deck of a sinking ship. “You all told me that she did this, that she was p-perverted. You were just trying to make me feel better, but what you said was wrong, and it was so annoying hearing you say such good things about me. I just wanted you to... to tell me that I’m a bad pony, t-that I did a bad job. I still l-like mares, and I’m sorry but yes even s-some of you girls sometimes I wanted to be... with. The problem is still here, because I’m the problem, not her. And the more I tried to tell myself that wasn’t true...”
Fluttershy stared at Twilight with painful sadness in her teal eyes, saying, “... the more it hurt! I did something bad, and it doesn’t mean I’m a bad pony, but it did happen, and I can’t change that. The more I tried to tell myself I did nothing wrong, the more it hurt, Twilight. I can’t stand it! I can’t let you hurt yourself anymore!”
Wiping away tears, the yellow pegasus fought to breathe deeply, not in shallow gasps. “Rosy Pink belongs here now,” Fluttershy said as evenly as she could, “Trying to send her back was wrong of you, and you shouldn’t have done it. You hurt Rosy Pink, and other ponies, and you didn’t even care, because you told yourself that she’s the problem. That she’s not even a pony. Twilight, you’re the problem. You shouldn’t have tried to send her home. You shouldn’t have broken into her house, hurt her friends, hunted her like an animal, but you did, and that’s not okay.”
Fluttershy seemed beyond tears at this point, and just said softly, “Every time you or somepony told you it was okay, you’ve gotten worse, and done things that hurt ponies more and more. Not just Rosy, you’re hurting us now. You’re hurting your friends, Ponyville. Princess Celestia... is so disappointed in you. Not because you did something wrong, but because you won’t admit it, and e-even she can’t help somepony who won’t admit it. P-please Twilight,” her aqua eyes were full and liquid as she pleaded, “Please stop trying to send Rosy Pink home. It was wrong of you, it has always been wrong, and you need to stop.”
“I had no other choice!” Twilight begged of Fluttershy and herself, “Rosy has to return home. There’s no other way!”
“Did you even try to find another way?” Fluttershy replied coldly.
Blushing, Twilight said, “Y-yes! I... not exactly, but how else would you... okay maybe I haven’t tried to find another way, but there’s already an easy solution! Just send her home, and the problem is solved!”
Twilight became aware that the other four were looking at her now, not at Fluttershy.
“It ain’t no easy solution,” Applejack said to Twilight frankly, “Fluttershy’s right. You’d be hurting her, and all her friends who knew she had nothin’ but sadness to look forward to. Twilight, ah’m her friend, and I don’t want Rosy to go home if’n she don’t want to. Is hurtin’ me an easy solution? Is hurtin’ anypony an easy solution?”
“I can’t believe Fluttershy said this first,” Rainbow Dash said dejectedly, sinking to the floor and refusing to meet anypony’s gaze, “I should’ve told you it was wrong. I felt it, just... not in words. I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything. It was just like the show. You were wrong about locking it up, and until I told you, things just got worse between us.”
“You seriously never even considered any alternate methods to close the Rift?” Rarity asked absolutely incredulously of Twilight Sparkle, “Rosy was never my friend, but... she never did anything to hurt me. I just thought she was so... I hurt her, without provocation. I was wrong,” Rarity’s eyes widened in realization, as she repeated, “I was wrong. I should never have thought of Rosy as anything but a real pony. Oh, that does feel good to say.”
“Fine,” Twilight said tensely, “I was w—” her voice caught in her throat as a terrible fear welled up inside her. Why couldn’t she say it? It couldn’t be true! “I was not wrong,” Twilight said desperately, “I was doing the right thing. I—I had to break into her house! I interrogated her friends! She asked me to let her go and I h-hunted her down. I had to, though! It can’t be wrong! If it was, then I—I’ve done nothing but try to do the right thing!”
“Twi, if Fluttershy’s right, an’ she feels right to me,” Applejack said, frowning, “Then the longer you go without admittin’ it... ah mean just look outside! Th’ town’s a wreck! You done wrong, Twilight, and we done you wrong by not letting you admit it. Ah just don’t want...”
She took off her hat, holding it on a hoof.
“Ah don’t want nothin’ to happen to you, Twilight,” Applejack said in a trembling voice, “You ain’t gettin’ better, and somethin’ needs changing. Ah don’t wanna say you’re doin’ wrong, or you got the wrong idea in your heart, but if’n you are wrong then maybe y’need to just... suck it up and admit that you done ruined everypony’s day.”
“Could you at least try to find another way to close the Rift?” Rarity pleaded with a wince, “I feel just awful knowing that all this might have been prevented if we had just thought a little... outside the box.”
“Of course!” Twilight said, standing sideways to Rarity, “I mean, yes I’ll look for alternatives. Not like I have anything else to do, right?” She laughed uneasily, “No... Princess duties and all.”
“Excuse me, are the Element Bearers in here?” a new voice called out. It was a pink haired, white coated earth pony with a nurse’s hat on her head, poking in through the doorway to the front of the library.
“That’s us,” Applejack said, turning to regard the mare trotting in, “What can we do you for?”
“We’re just... having some difficulty with some...” the nurse glanced between them uneasily, “...ponies who got hurt by the rift, and they’re requesting your presence.”
“Why, to yell at us?” Pinkie whined, “Because I’m tired of yelling at us!”
“No, it’s not that,” the nurse fidgeted, “It’s hard to explain. They need your... moral support? Perhaps I can tell you on the way?”
Everypony looked to Fluttershy, who sighed, wings sinking to her sides. “Yes... we’re done here,” she said, “As done as we can be. Please Twilight, just...” she looked at Twilight again, “Just think on it, okay?”
“Okay, Fluttershy,” Twilight said with a half smile.
“Great,” the nurse said, turning her rear to them, “C’mon, the medical tent is just out of town!”
She trotted off, followed by the rest of the Bearers, all 12 of them together for once in quite a while. Not since the humiliating failure in Las Pegasus had they all come together as a team. Had it really been that long?
The winter snows had not yet come, but it was a chilly night outside. Everypony was sagging weary from exhaustion, but it didn’t look like they were going to be able to rest just yet. The 12 walked gingerly through the exploded buildings and plants, and glasslike ruts melted in the ground, left by the rift’s passage. Every... Void thing they encountered was lying quiescent on the ground, with some ponies watching over it. No idea what was going on there, the nurse didn’t let them stop to look but instead kept leading them on. Towards the outside of town, things finally started to make a little sense.
“The ponies seem confused, out of touch with reality,” the nurse explained anxiously to the weary Bearers, “They keep telling us to drop the act, as if they thought we weren’t who we are! They won’t trust us, or do anything we say, until we stop lying to them, they said, because they say it’s ridiculous that ponies like you might even exist! It’s made these patients completely impossible to deal with!”
“Exposure to the Void can have unexpected effects... not many of them good,” Twilight said uneasily, “What I really want to make sure is that it’s not another Void monster taking hold of these ponies. Does everypony still have their Elements on?” Oneun voices called out a yes.
“I don’t know the exact details,” the nurse said, “They’ve been bringing in ponies with these... strange injuries that just seem to correct themselves.”
“Like what?” Pinkie Pie asked concernedly.
“Like dislocations, or poorly set bones,” the nurse replied, “It almost seems as if Equestria itself is healing them. I’m honestly mystified. I’ve never seen anything like that come from the ambient magic field.”
“And they want to see us, why?” Rarity asked uneasily.
“I don’t know,” the nurse sighed, “But they keep claiming you can’t possibly exist, so it’s the best anypony can think to do. Hold on, we’re almost there.”
There was a large medical tent hastily erected in the fields approaching the White Tail Wood. Ponies carrying a stretcher would trot in from the woods now and again, to vanish into the tent to deposit injured ponies.
“Oh thank goodness you’re here,” a grape colored pony with a teal mane said, trotting up face to face with Pinkie Pie. She had a stethoscope around her neck, and a heart divided by the asclopian as a story mark, definitely a doctor. “Things are getting pretty bad in there, and somepony needs to help set those ponies straight before things get any worse!”
“What can we do?” Pinkie Pie asked, backing up a step in surprise.
“Lift their spirits?” the doctor pleaded desperately, “Help them understand what’s happening? With luck they’ll recognize you and the others.”
“Why would that matter?” Applejack asked suspiciously.
“Just...” the doctor rubbed a hoof on her forehead, “Follow me into the tent. It should be fairly obvious from there.” Lifting the flap, they entered the medical tent.
“What?!” somepony shrieked as they entered, a lavender unicorn mare with teal hair. It was quite well lit in this tent, with genuine glowstone filling the area with a bright clarity, but the mare didn’t even see them come in. The Bearers were met with the sight of a blue nurse pony trying to hold the struggling lavender mare still, while she twisted in confusion on the cot, senseless of the world around her. “What?!” she repeated in utter confusion, staring at her own outstretched arm as she flailed around, “What?!”
Besides her there were several unconscious ponies lying on cots, and many ponies that looked scared, lost, angry, puzzled. One dusky red pony was laughing uncontrollably, curled up in the fetal position on her cot.
“I don’t know any of these ponies,” Pinkie Pie whimpered fearfully, looking from pony to distressed pony, “Where did they all come from?”
“Ah still don’t get what’s goin’ on!” Applejack said with a stomp that attracted notice from several ponies. A murmur of “Applejack...?” came up among those who were conscious. A white-coated doctor who looked like she was all official-like walked up to address Applejack: in the lead for now, with her friends assembled behind her.
“We’re still trying to understand it ourselves,” the doctor told them, “But all these ponies... are not...um...ponies.”
“Well what are they then, doc?” Applejack griped, “Spit it out already!”
“Humans,” she replied in a quiet voice. The room seemed to shrink around the Bearers, as the doctor explained almost in a whisper, “They’ve been... falling through, ever since the Rift started moving. It purportedly caused quite a mess over there on their end. But everypony who falls through...” the doctor gestured at the perfectly ordinary ponies who didn’t seem coordinated enough to get off the beds they were lying on.
“Are you saying these ponies are all like Rosy Pink?” Rarity shouted in the doctor’s face in horror, “All of them? Every single one?!”
“Yes?” the doctor said desperately, backing up. She didn’t have to retreat far though, because Rarity was already falling to the ground in a dead faint.
“They’re not all like Rosy Pink,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the ponies on cots with a critical eye, “Look, those four are pegasi!”
Belatedly, Twilight Sparkle fell to the ground in a dead faint.
“Well, that was the best possible outcome,” Pinkie Pie remarked, looking unappreciatively back at her fallen friends.
While Pinkie Pie dragged the unconscious Twilight Sparkle out of the medical tent, and Fluttershy cradled the insensate Rarity, fanning her face with a wing, Applejack tried to make sense of things. “These ponies are supposed to be human like Rosy?” she asked the doctor, “And we’re like celebrities to ‘em or some such, on account of the show?”
“You know about the show?” a recently awakened purple pegasus filly exclaimed in a squeaky voice with wide pink eyes of surprise.
“You know about the show?” Applejack countered, squinting at the filly, “Don’t tell me y’all wanna stay in Equestria!”
“What?” the filly squeaked, “No! This was a disas—is this my voice?” Totally distracted and ignoring them, she lifted a hoof to her throat, eyes crossed as if she could look at her own voice box.
“How did we survive...?” said one sandy coated mare with familiar looking curly orange hair, “It was a... it was a naked singularity!”
“No way,” the purple filly shouted at the mare in correction, forgetting about her high pitched voice for now, “If it was a singularity, the gravitational forces would have torn the entire planet asunder in seconds!”
“That’s not the... I can’t believe I’m arguing with a my little pony about gravitational physics,” the mare said with a harsh laugh, trying and failing to get up from sitting on her side.
“This is crazy,” the filly insisted, “This is impossible. This’s gotta be some kind of freaky dream or living daydream or ...stuff.”
“I... I can’t believe...” a blue haired grape colored unicorn said, reaching vaguely for the Bearers, “I can’t believe the show is real...”
“What’d you expect, aliens?” a green colt said, rolling his eyes.
“Yes, frankly!” the unicorn replied, looking away from the Bearers to glare at him, “Aliens using the show as a way to try and translate their advanced thoughts into terms we can comprehend would have been way more sensible than...” she swung a hoof around at the room, “...this!”
“Do you at least believe we’re ponies now?” one of the nurse ponies said with a pained grimace.
“Uh...” the orange haired mare said, looking from the nurse to the Element Bearers and back. “Yeah...” she said, blushing from where she lay.
“Well I don’t!” the purple filly squeaked, managing to climb to her hooves on the bed, standing there and staring at the Bearers suspiciously. “This proves nothing!” she shouted in increased agitation, “It could all be a trick! They’re just dressed up as ponies from the show! How do we know any of this is even real?”
“Yes, but please settle down, little filly,” one of the other nurses said, trying to approach her, but the filly snapped her wings out and squealed,
“I am not a little filly! ”
“Okay buck this,” Rainbow Dash grumbled, then blasted off from where she stood beside Applejack, zooming right up to the filly’s face, shouting, “Hey, kid!”
When the filly stared at her dumbstruck, Dash didn’t seem to know how to continue, backing off and saying, “Hey, uh, I can’t tell you what’s real or not, but uh, here.”
Rainbow Dash twisted around then and pulled one of her secondaries right out of her own wing. When the filly didn’t take it from Dash’s mouth, Rainbow Dash dropped the sky blue pinion right next to her.
“That’s for you,” she said to the filly, “Whenever you don’t know what’s real, try to find something that you didn’t make up. That feather didn’t come from you. It came from me. So, you know at least that’s real.”
The filly lay a tiny hoof on the feather, then looked up at Rainbow Dash with a defiant glare, saying unrepentantly, “I could be making you up too, and your feather.”
“Yeah, but solipsism is a bankrupt philosophy,” Rainbow Dash said, with a shrug.
“What?” the filly asked in confusion.
“What?” Dash replied, equally confused.
Without answers, Rainbow Dash broke the uncomfortable silence, saying, “Anyway I just thought it might help ya. So can you be good for the nurse ponies?”
“I... yeah?” the filly asked, eye twitching.
Applejack stomped for attention, speaking up, “Anypony else think that we’re not the Elements of Harmony?”
Outside in the dark night, Twilight Sparkle was opening her eyes saying, “Woo... wha? Why am I outside? Pinkie Pie?”
“Twilight, I need you to promise me you won’t panic,” Pinkie told her immediately.
“Panic?” Twilight said, struggling up to sit, “What happened? Why should I be panicking?”
“No, you shouldn’t be panicking,” Pinkie corrected. “I just want you to remember to take things slowly. The last time you didn’t take things slowly, you blew up Ponyville. Everypony can wait, there’s no danger in waiting. There’s plenty of time to decide carefully what to do with them, and it may be a disaster in the future but right now there is nothing wrong, and everything is okay. So can you pleeeease not panic?”
“I uh... if what you say is true, then technically yes, I can avoid panicking,” Twilight allowed, staring at her worried pink friend, “But ponies say stuff like that when there really is a reason to panic, and they just want ponies to—”
“I Pinkie Promise there is no reason to panic!” Pinkie shouted. Then she recited automatically, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“I trust you, Pinkie,” Twilight frowned, as Pinkie went through the motions of her peculiar oath, “But what am I supposed to be not panicking about?”
“Well see... you... sorta let loose the Rift and it sorta went through Ponyville,” Pinkie Pie said cagily.
“Yes, I remember, Pinkie,” Twilight said tiredly, “And I’m sorry about that. I... it wasn’t my best idea.”
“Well, um, so... abunchofhumansfelloutofitandnowthey’reponies,” Pinkie blurted out.
“What?” Twilight asked, flicking an ear.
“Maybe a few more humans came out of the rift, and maybe they’re sort of a little bit ponies right now,” Pinkie said, wincing as Twilight’s face fell in alarm.
“There’s no reason to panic!” Pinkie reasserted shrilly.
“How is this not every reason to panic?” Twilight asked, hyperventilating.
“Because they’re just ponies!” Pinkie Pie replied, “They’re just some very scared and weirded out ponies, and they’re not doing anything dangerous. They’re just lying there all confused and stuff. It’s going to take them a long time to get dangerous, so you can just relax and decide what to do later. Even Rosy isn’t all that dangerous. It’s you who’s...”
Pinkie Pie didn’t finish that sentence, so Twilight finished it for her: “Dangerous.”
“Yeah kinda,” Pinkie said with a wince. “You can do things other ponies can’t... things that could hurt ponies. I don’t mean you are dangerous, just that you have to be extra more careful than a n-normal pony.”
“With great power comes great responsibility,” Twilight murmured.
“I didn’t know you read Spider Stallion,” Pinkie said, her eyes widening a little.
“I might have read a few,” Twilight said uncertainly, “But that’s from the Prench revolution. ‘grande responsabilité est la suite inséparable d’un grand pouvoir.’”
“You know Fancy?” Pinkie Pie asked in surprise.
“A little, yeah?” Twilight said bemusedly, “I minored in it in my magic studies. Why do you ask?”
Pinkie wondered, “Does Whatnot know you know Fancy?”
Twilight’s eyes also widened at that. “I should check, if my Prench Fancy is scrambled,” she said hopefully, “If not, that could... that could be a real breakthrough! Thank you Pinkie!”
“Well, don’t thank me yet...” Pinkie Pie said, blushing crimson.
“For now, maybe we should... take a look at these... humans,” Twilight said reluctantly.
For Twilight, this was an experiment in self-torture. She stared at the ponies as she entered the tent, the ponies who seemed like just normal, average ponies, but within their skin were crawling these otherworldly humans. She saw it in their eyes, their stares judging her, mounting her, reducing her to nothing more than a toy for their debaucherous passions, to be used and discarded once she was worn out and broken. Just like she learned from the Internet.
Twilight didn’t want to talk to them, but a little voice in her head... okay, a big voice who sounded like Fluttershy, was basically telling her, “You’re wrong. You did wrong. You’re doing wrong, and you know it.” So Twilight just... didn’t trust herself very much right now. Twilight felt wrong, so she tried to feel right. She tried to put on a pleasant face, and give everypony, and everyhuman, the benefit of the doubt. Twilight was definitely out of her element though, and for her that spelled trouble.
“Well, my name is Dr. Andrew Jameson, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,” the little purple filly continued to state as fact, “I doubt you’ve heard of it, but it’s a pretty prestigious institution. Most of my um... colleagues managed to escape, but I got pushed into the anomaly in the scramble. I’m a... really young pony, aren’t I?”
“It would be generous to call you 100,” Twilight said frankly, “A scholar such as yourself would normally be around years SQ—er—1200.”
“It’s so strange that you have two different numerologies,” the filly mentioned curiously, “And one of them composed of... letters of your alphabet?”
“Well, your world has Roman numerals,” Twilight countered, “It’s just not common practice for you. Ponies use the Clever numerals in common practice. They’re very useful for representing large numbers, where hoofcant starts getting too long to remember.”
“Oh it makes sense, just it’s weird to see that sort of thing from an outside perspective,” the filly replied in a puzzled tone.
“How would you and your colleagues feel,” Twilight said uneasily, “If I were to stabilize the portal enough to let you all return home?”
“You can do that?” she asked delightedly, “I thought we were stuck here!”
Startling in surprise, Twilight asked hopefully, “So, you do want to go home? You want to return to being human?”
“Of course I do!” the filly declared grumpily, “As novel as it is to em...” she looked down at her purple furred belly, “...this, I’d like to have my hands back, thank you very much.”
“I dunno,” another pony protested, a red pegasus mare, “This is such a scientific opportunity. We have a whole world to explore!”
“Yes, but your world is vast too,” Twilight added hastily, “Surely you could explore there, instead?”
“You think our world is unexplored?” the mare replied incredulously, “People have explored the bottom of the ocean! The tops of the tallest mountains!”
“And have you been everywhere in your world?” Twilight countered smoothly.
“Well I—no, but,” the mare stuttered, taken aback. “I suppose I could explore my world. But I mean... why not explore your world?”
“Because you’re not supposed to be here!” Twilight exclaimed anxiously, “You have families, and homes, and lives that you can’t just put on hold to wander around here all willy-nilly.”
“Okay, okay! Calm down!” the mare exclaimed back, “I don’t want to start a diplomatic thing again. We’re scientists and engineers, not lawyers!”
“I’m a lawyer actually,” a tannish stallion called over, “I was just passing the building. That thing went right through my car!”
“We’re already planning on returning as soon as we can,” a brick red filly stated somewhat dispassionately to Twilight, “So why are you getting so much on our case about it? I don’t want to be this stupid little girl pony any more than you want me to.”
“I don’t know if that’s possible,” Twilight grumbled.
“So you’re studying the rift,” came Rainbow Dash’s voice to Twilight’s animate left ear. Rainbow was talking with another of the ponies, it seemed. “Isn’t it sorta invisible on your side?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Not quite,” a yellow furred mare with white hair said, “We’re really not at liberty to discuss it though. You should be talking to an ambassador. I wouldn’t know where to start in terms of classified information.”
Everyhumanpony murmured approval at her, and Twilight trusted them even less now. Of course their empires would all have dark secrets that they couldn’t share with the world.
“Twilight Sparkle,” a familiar voice declared, as the Princess Celestia herself came ducking into the medical tent. “Did I not just say Equestria’s burdens were not yours to bear alone?” the princess said in a disappointment that wilted Twilight’s tail like a sad willow tree.
“Hey, they specifically asked for us!” Rainbow Dash protested, hovering defensively in front of Twilight, “Twilight didn’t do anything you didn’t say that she shouldn’t’a did.”
“Cool it Charlie,” Applejack said, after biting Rainbow’s tail and pulling her to the ground. “Awful sorry, Princess,” the farm pony said to the regal two, “We’re here as the Elements o’ Harmony, an’ Twi’s with us. She ain’t oversteppin’ no boundaries. We’re not here to do anything crazy. We’re just here as friends.”
“Thank you, you two,” Princess Celestia said, looking from them to Twilight, “If she meant no harm, then no harm was done. There’s no harm in simple curiosity.”
“I was curious about these new human ponies,” Twilight said sheepishly. “I–I still need time to think about what you’ve told me, but I would never do anything you specifically told me not to do.”
“I know you’re worried about these ponies, and whether they’re returning home,” Princess Celestia told Twilight Sparkle, “But you need worry not, because my decision has been made.”
Princess Celestia turned to face the ponies in the tent and announced, “Everypony here from the other world must return immediately.”
A few protests rang out at Princess Celestia’s pronouncement. At least two were stridently protesting her rash actions in the face of scientific discovery, though most of the ponies on cots were staying noncommittal, and a few were only grumbling.
“I realize you wish to study our world, for your own benefit,” the princess continued, “But I in turn wish to protect my little ponies. It doesn’t matter how very much you want to stay here and live with us. They are not ready for your presence in this world, and you are needed back in your homes. This was never meant to happen, and I’m afraid you cannot stay.”
A brick red filly among them shouted in exasperation, “We don’t want to stay, you crazy horse!”
A few Equestrian ponies loudly and stridently protested that, and all the ponies got to bickering among each other then. Princess Celestia merely nodded cooly and turned to walk out of the tent, careful not to hit the top of the door on her way out. The others stayed to try to calm the situation down, but Twilight trotted out after the princess. There, Celestia was meeting with Princess Luna, and conversing in soft tones.
“Princess, I... I’m sorry,” Twilight told them.
“There’s nothing to be sorry about, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said in her most loving voice. “What happened to you was—”
“No, I—” Twilight interrupted, “I think I may have done something really bad to Rosy Pink. I did what I had to do, but I... I hurt her in the process, and I don’t think you should punish her for... for what happened to me.”
“You are a wonderful mare, Twilight,” Princess Celestia replied with a smile, “You always think the best of other ponies, even when they have wronged you. That’s why what Rosy did is such a terrible—”
“Fluttershy’s right, that really is annoying!” Twilight realized in surprise. She blushed beet red then, and stammered with a low head to Princess Celestia, “I-I-I-I didn’t m-mean that you were annoying I-I just m-meant—”
“Cease with thine obsequeties, Twilight!” Princess Luna said disapprovingly, making Twilight shy back, ears going flat. “It is not you who should be bowing to us, you who have saved us from our own folly!”
“Luna...” Celestia said, giving her dark sister a torn look. Looking back at Twilight, Celestia smiled and said, “Twilight can bow if she likes. She isn’t a princess, after all, now is she?”
Luna took in a slow breath, and said, “I have yet reservations at your decision sister, but very well.”
Twilight looked between them, unsure of whether to feel scared, ashamed, guilty, or sad. She never expected the feeling of gratitude to well up in her heart. It wasn’t a proper feeling, nor an acceptable feeling, yet... it was her feeling. “Thank you, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna,” she said bowing in relief.
“Rest assured, we will take your advice into consideration regarding Rosy Pink. Best of luck to you, Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said in her warm tones. When Twilight looked up to acknowledge them, the princesses were gone.
Turning, Twilight trotted back into the medical tent to help her friends.
Twilight Sparkle felt a strange sense of serenity after the events of that day as she trotted alone down the familiar Ponyville streets, once again back to her library. She was starting to realize that the reason she was no longer a princess wasn’t because she’d done anything wrong. Twilight had done something... wrong, and now her power was taken from her, not to protect Rosy from her, but to protect Twilight from herself. It was a burden she hadn’t even realized she was bearing, being Princess Celestia’s peer, and now, Twilight could focus on other things, such as making amends with poor Fluttershy.
Fluttershy had a very good point, in fact. Twilight hadn’t looked into alternate solutions to the Rift besides finding new and more creative ways to reunite it with Rosy Pink. Twilight owed it to Fluttershy, owed it to all of them really, to at least make an attempt to find some other way. She was fairly sure that there was no other way, but Twilight had been fairly sure before, and she was quite suspicious of her own tendancy for sureity.
So, Twilight retrieved various books on hyperversal theory that she had ordered for the benefit of herself and any of the university ponies who wished to learn more about past ponies’ experiences there. She lay them out around her on the floor of a reading room, then sighed and stood from where she’d sat down on the pillow. Trotting off, Twilight returned to the room with a hefty Equestrian dictionary floating behind her, as well as a foal’s guide to parts of speech.
She then began to study, very... slowly.
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Finally Fluttershy has said what we have wanted to say to twilight the past ten or so chapters!
So Fluttershy admitted she was pulling the victim card. Good.
They've broken it into Twilight that she fucked up. Now it remains to seen if they've managed to cement it in there.
Though she looks to be seeing "we'll those humans want to go home so you should as well!".
Princess Celestia is still enabling her.
Sorta of sad to see the humans return. It woulda have been fun to see them interact with other ponies.
#rekt
now about the Princesses
Well think Twilight deserved losing her princesshood I just wished she was teamed a public danger and carted away to the happy hotel. I wonder that the humans were studying from the rift and what they gleamed from it. I am happy to see that Twilight's friends finally had the balls to tell the princess.
Yay! this is possibly the least dark chapter since the very beginning!
Yep Princess Celestia behavior felt stiff and unnatural. That's not even a criticism. That just what she does. Hm now im wondering how Celestia would react to reading some of her own fanfic.
Hm deserved or not taking away Twilight's princess hood? ness? whatever, felt like grasping at straws, If she used her "royal" authority to make the situation worse I dont remember it, I mean she got the science team off the rift, but I dont think that was that big a deal.
I dont expect it to matter very much in the long run, possibly it will serve as an obstacle in the future.
WWWWWeeeeelllll. Hm the trend has gone on long enough I feel like calling it. Twilight uses her friends as a social meter. When they told her she should have gone after rosy pink she did, now that they stopped she "learned her lesson" Which will probably last as long as they dont tell her something different. Persona! that's the word I was looking for!
Celestia amusingly seem uninterested or straight up pissed at Rosy. Which is really just funny to me now (maybe a little sad).
Luna thinks this is a terrible idea, but isn't going to do anything about it. Shame, but this story is not about Luna. Unless your jumping view points again.
Also yeah finding deep web porn of yourself is probably disturbing, I imagine cupcakes would be pretty traumatizing if you came from Twilight's background. I certainly remember some of the stuff I had read disturbing my mind for weeks, not fun.
Shame though, fics always love digging into the porn and depravity. I would have liked to see twilight's reaction to Past Sins or Fallout Equestria. I imagine she would have had a great reaction to Past Sins.
8362331
I knew there was a reason we kept her around!
8362348
She wasn't pulling it so much as having it shoved down her throat. It is possible to be too supportive of someone...
Yep, that's pretty much what she does.
8362379
And let them spread the depraved evil of lolcat memes? I think not!
8362445
what about the Princesses?
8362532
You'd be surprised how reluctant doctors are to put people in those things. They've got enough crazies to deal with who can't be reasoned with. But yeah, if she keeps going down this road, Tartarus might not be out of the question.
8362638
What about the chapter where Pinkie Pie was hunting down Rainbow Dash for hiding away in the cellar so she could watch the show?
8362786
I love playing around with that. She's been guarded so long, she does it out of force of habit. Unshakable to a fault. It lets me throw in some very subtle nuances to her behavior, where the slightest twitch of an ear means a lot, because she's always in control.
8362786
Well, she kind of commandeered the city of Las Pegasus for a bit, and she's been doing a lot of warrantless property searches. Ultimately, it's her authority as a princess that determines whether or not she has the right to make decisions for others, such as whether a pony gets to stay in Equestria or not. when two ponies disagree, the princess is the one who knows what sacrifices should be made for the greater good. You're right that it's largely symbolic, but she has always idolized Princess Celestia, and to be raised to the level of her as a peer... Twilight's never going to be able to live up to her own expectations.
Honestly, Princess Celestia is just doing it in hopes that it might help.
How else is she supposed to know when she's crossing the line?
It's not clear how aware Celestia is about Rosy's situation, but if you heard that someone seriously injured your dear friend in order to leave your kingdom in dire peril, you might not be so friendly towards them. She has lost a lot of confidence in Twilight though, as of late.
Having reservations but agreeing to something isn't the same as thinking it's a terrible idea...
It's certainly not helping things. I thought it was funny how Rarity had the strongest reaction to Cupcakes though.
God, Fluttershy, I could kiss you, though I won't since that's how the trainwreck that's been Twilight's character arc in this story got started. It's about dammed time someone told Twi to cut the shit...only for Celestia to just about fuck that back up. At least she was smart enough to actually take away Twilight's authority though.
However, before Celly starts having her guards buck Twi's latest victims back through the rift, maybe she should do something smart and inquire about Rosy's human life, since there's at least a chance they might know somthing a little more substantial than the souless computer records Twilight looked up.
Eh while this chapter is the road to righting the wrongs there is a HUGE way to go.
Twilight bucked up big time and she wont own up to it and now Celestia and Luna are still hunting Rosy.
Rosy did what she did to protect herself, against a alicorn level crazy nutcase like Twilight there is not much she can do but take her by surprise and escape from her single minded obsession to return her to her world.
If this is not made right by the end of the story i will be VERY upset.
While entertaining to a degree the whole circle jerk of the past 10 chapters is, and it shows some progression between them it also shows ponies as immature idiots who cant get a hint and have knee jerk reactions and jump to conclusions and stick to them for the better or worse. AND a pletora of other things i dont want to write about
(which in this case is bordering assault, abuse of authority, downright lynching and ostracization and hunting her down like an animal, not to mention failing to inquire about her ''condition'' as a transsexual since he/she has been immediately set as a depraved and psychotic pony which means she has been downright stigmatized from the beginning)
It might be interesting if one of the about-to-depart scientists innocently makes an offhand comment about the death toll from the ongoing wars, leading to Twilight getting hammered with the realization that she's sort of the biggest mass murderer of sentient beings of *in the entirety of Equestrian history*.
You have no idea how long I have waited for Fluttershy to say all that!
Really? Celestia had to have that about rosy spelled out? You'd think be g as experienced as her -she could connect the dots. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for now. Twilight's view of the humans is cored thru rose glasses still. Good chapter. Like dash said- wrong when she looked it up.
I wonder if the humans will discover all Twilight has done?
8362982
Welllll...
Huh, I suppose so. Fortunately I can spare you all that boring explanation and exposition, since now they're keeping the Bearers almost completely out of the loop!
8363207
I don't want to harp on it too much, but yeah it looks like this house of cards is starting to topple.
Well, they come from a different world... human society can't deal with a semiannual monster attack, and ponies can't deal with tragedy and failure.
Hm... depending on your definition of right... *wanders off mumbling*
8363316
Heh, I'll think about it, but they've got a few distractions at the moment that might take time for them to get bored with.
Y'know it's funny how people have been looking for ways to demonize Twilight, because of how nasty she's been towards Rosy Pink, but do you really think that she was the only one involved in the fomenting of this conflict? She didn't even know how serious it is, so there must have been at least one other person dealing with that info. Soldiers are the lowest scum, but otherwise people typically don't kill each other without a very good reason to do so. Her involvement is serious, and she will feel terribly guilty over causing so much harm, but you can't start a fire with wet wood. We don't know the full situation, so it's hasty to even speculate that she might have a lot of blood on her hooves.
Besides, you really think that there aren't huge mass murderers in Equestrian history?
Well, it can't be longer than she waited
8363717
I'm pretty sure Princess Celestia knew exactly what was going on when she asked for an explanation. The only thing that really caught her off guard was hearing that Twilight was the one who set it off.
Don't you mean Rosy colored glasses?
Give them some time to learn how to walk first.
I notice a lot mention twilight and a death toll from wars. I'd like to say - twilight started these wars herself. Thinking from her world's version of a conflict. Wet wood or not. She is to blame for that. And whatever death toll comes from it. She had access to all the info humans have. And she doesn't know how they fight? Ignorance is not always a good thing. She prides herself on studying and being thorough. But. Anytime it's important- she falls short of getting any info first or skips the book under her nose that has the answers. I agree- there will be a death toll on her hooves.
8364935
I used to love studying, a lot like Twilight Sparkle. But as we enter the Information Age, there's more and more information coming at us, more than anyone could possibly handle. I've got a load of textbooks that I can't do anything with besides burn for kindling, because all the information they contain is highly valuable to someone I guess, but not me. That's the true tragedy of this day and age, how we heartlessly and thoughtlessly crush the Rennaissance generalists, because with one commercial and one valuable lesson, it's easy to tell which is which, but with a million commercials and one valuable lesson, the knowledge seeker will inevitably be overwhelmed and lost. And nobody cares because they're "just" commercials, textbooks can't "possibly" have bad information in them, and the guys running the asylum no doubt "have our best interests in mind."
So no, I'm not surprised that she didn't get to the point of reading the news, when she was trying not to get involved with the world, and only search for information on Rosy Pink.
8364970
Thus I can at least agree with. But I'm curious - what then of when the wars started? Would casualties be a concern? I guess being as far gone as she was she dismissed the idea that it was a possibility?
8365047
It's just money. Who ever killed anyone over that?
8364917
Just to clarify, I don't think Twilight is objectively solely responsible for the death tolls from those wars, but she's going to think of it that way when she realizes the consequences of her actions. Especially since she was fully aware that she'd started wars, and she explicitly laughed about it because she thought human wars were like Equestrian ones.
I don't think Equestria has never, ever, ever had mass murder, but I'm willing to bet they haven't had a mass death event within living memory, considering the entirely serious border conflict between the buffalo and the ponies involved weaponized pies which were visibly knockout weapons and not lethal. Twilight is clearly under the impression, from what was previously written, that human wars are like that. When she finds out they aren't, and that she is therefore at least partially responsible for sentient beings being horribly mangled to death, she's going to freak out about it. Horribly.
8365047
I don't think she dismissed the possibility, I think her cultural background led her to automatically assume that human wars are on the same tier of behavior as pony wars, which are physical conflict without an actual death toll.
8366037
Well, suffice to say Celestia runs a pretty tight ship, and there are some consequences to that.
8366358
Yeah, exactly. That level of violence is unheard-of in Equestria because Celestia has succeeded at *making* Equestria that way, not because Equestria is like, literal plot magic. So Twilight is legitimately ultra-sheltered in that respect, but I think that's going to make it that much worse for her when she realizes. She's not entirely culpable but she's kinda gonna think of herself as Pony Hitler when she realizes, and she's genuinely guilty enough that Celestia isn't going to just go "there there". I mean she will, but she will also have to enforce consequences.
8366037
WhileI can agree with this -the fact she knows they have a different culture should have been reason to at least look into it. Someone who is usually smart like her would know from the gryphon and dragon cultures. Far more aggressive in nature- not to mention she wwould hAve knowledge of equestrias more bloody times.
8366718
Look... I don't know how to break this to you, but Twilight thinks that dragons greet each other with chest bumps and unironically use the word "totally" as an interjection. The last time ludicrous amounts of gryphons died was over the Idol of Boreas, and Twilight had no idea they didn't even have it anymore. There's a difference between being good at studying, and being good at finding the right thing to study. It is not unreasonable for Twilight to underestimate the severity of a conflict in another universe, when her view of it was through a pinhole hundreds of miles away.
That is if the conflict even is as terrible as people imagine, from her very brief mention of it in half a letter.
Alright, getting to it a bit later than usual, but new chapter!
re "pockets":
...Interesting. :D
Oh, and:
"magenta star necklace"
Also interesting.
edit later but before posting:
Ah, but in looking back to search for something else, I found that this was already mentioned.
"You used one a’those on the Rift?"
Missing space?
"as galloping hard"
When did Twilight switch to galloping hard from ambling?
"“Let it be known that you are hereby relieved of your duties as a Princess of Equestria,” Princess Celestia said"
Oh, I'm sure Twilight won't take that badly at all.
"Until then, you are a little pony, nothing more than any other little pony"
At. All.
"“Because they worked so well the last time we used them on this rift,” Rarity remarked dryly."
Having looked back a bit, is she talking about when Ponyville was attacked by shadows? I'm not seeing or remembering another instance that might have been it, but I didn't think they'd actually used the Elements on the Rift then.
"with her thoughts her sister and her own"
I'm not sure what this means/was meant to mean, sorry.
"It tasted too good; she felt bad for enjoying it."
Oh, now that's interesting. What happened to Twilight's sense of taste? As recently as the chapter before last, she was still having trouble with it.
Also, feeling bad for enjoying it? Huh.
"and we done you wrong for not letting you"
"wrong by not"?
And Fluttershy finds the strength to intervene here. :)
...Ohhh dear.
"a heart divided by Asceplius"
Hm.
"a heart divided by the asklepian"? Is that what you meant? Or was there a pun I didn't see?
...And the "oh dear" hypothesis grows more likely...
"are not...um...ponies"
Yeah.
"Humans"
Yeah.
"They’ve been... falling through, ever since the Rift started moving. It purportedly caused quite a mess over there on their end."
It was moving there, too? Oh, yes, I'll bet it caused a mess. One bigger than the one it already did, that is.
So, Twilight! In summary, your latest attempt to subract one from the number of transformed humans in Equestria has partially destroyed Ponyville, gotten you demoted, caused even more destruction on the other end of the portal, and in fact subtracted a negative number from the count.
"said desperately backing up"
"said, desperately" or "desperately, backing"?
"and Fluttershy cradled the insensate Rarity, fanning her face with a hoof"
...Uh. Wouldn't a wing be better for fanning?
"nurses said trying to approach her but the filly"
"nurses said, trying to approach her, but the filly"?
"The filly lay a tiny hoof on"
"laid"?
"“Yeah, but solipsism is a bankrupt philosophy,” Rainbow Dash said, with a shrug."
:D
"The last time you didn’t take things slowly, you blew up Ponyville."
No, no, nothing as bad as that! That was the second to last time she didn't take things slowly; last time she just fainted!
"Pinkie Pie said testily"
Eh? Why is she testy all of a sudden? Did you mean something else? I could see "testily" being meant as "in a testing manner", but as far as I know, that's not a usual definition of it and significantly different from the usual.
"Pinkie Pie didn’t finish that sentence, so Twilight finished it for her: “...dangerous.”"
...Ooh. Yeah. Uh. Right. This aspect of this hadn't occurred to me before, but... yeah. Case 1: Rosy is a terrible danger, just for being a transformed human in Equestria, who Twilight has been entirely justified in fighting, and now she's directly responsible for bringing multiple additional transformed humans to Equestria. Case 2: These new ponies aren't a problem, because transformed humans aren't inherently a problem, meaning that Twilight really has been pretty in the wrong in at least large portions of this affair. So... not... really any easy way for her to dodge thinking she did something very bad, anymore.
re the language thing:
Neat!
"of Massachusets Institute of"
"of the Massachusetts Institute of"?
"years SQ—er—1200"
Eeee!
Mind, Twilight might have cut herself off before finishing, can't just say SQ=96, but it is more data!
"I was just passing the building"
Oh, I'm surprised there still was a building; I thought that the previous blast had taken it down. Unless this was a new research and containment building?
"I don’t
want to be"
Extra line break?
"to Twilight’s animate left ear"
As opposed to her... other, inanimate left ear? Or is this meaning that Twilight's ear reoriented to point at the sound?
"princesses,” the farm pony said to the regal two"
Luna wasn't mentioned coming in, but I guess she was behind Celestia?
after reading a bit further: Except... she didn't come in at all? What was going on here?
"in your homes, This was never"
"homes. This"?
That conversation with the Princesses seemed to me a bit ominous.
"as she trotted alone down the familiar Ponyville streets"
"Sure, the town was half ruined, but as any Ponyvillian would tell you, that was pretty familiar too."
"She lay them out around"
"laid"?
"with a hefty, Equestrian dictionary"
"hefty Equestrian"?
re the author's note:
:D
8364917
"Soldiers are the lowest scum, but otherwise people typically don't kill each other without a very good reason to do so."
...Uh. At the... risk of getting into something potentially political, I'm really pretty sure that it's only a small minority of soldiers who are actually in it for the killing, and the majority would say and genuinely believe that they do have very good reasons for doing so. You can say that they're wrong about that, but that wouldn't make them scum, just misinformed.
8367436
I was hoping someone would notice that, back when they first used the Elements. I think it really conveys a sense of solidarity among each other.
They were slowly speeding up as they left the hospital, and I wrote it wrong.
Well yes, Twilight said that the Elements closed the Rift last time, and she was... a bit off in her assumptions.
Last minute bad decision I think.
Everything started tasting bad. I thought this was pretty clearly established...
It's a sign of improvement.
No, I just spelled it wrong, but now that you mention it...
Fluttershy's not very good at being a pegasus. But I suppose she wouldn't be that bad.
She's not Twilight Sparkle after all.He good scientist! He no need use articles in speech!
I don't think there ever was. She managed though, with the help and support of her friends.
I am so glad someone noticed that.
Rifts can't melt steel beams. But no it just blew the roof off mostly. If it'd taken down the building, then what would Twilight have to land on?
You wouldn't like Princess Celestia when she's angry.
Oh, no I actually have a little respect for those soldiers. At least they're doing what they like. But what kind of horrible person would kill people for no other reason than being told to do it? Some people see duty as a noble sacrifice, a gift of your very free will to a higher authority, but I just... can't.
Rosy was right!
layve princes twalaght alone!
all y'ponies want is maore maore maore!
8369065
"I was hoping someone would notice that, back when they first used the Elements. I think it really conveys a sense of solidarity among each other."
Aye, instead of "Magic and the five lesser Elements".
"They were slowly speeding up as they left the hospital, and I wrote it wrong."
Ah, okay; thanks and sorry.
"Well yes, Twilight said that the Elements closed the Rift last time, and she was... a bit off in her assumptions."
Thanks. I didn't think that they used the Elements on the Rift directly, just that they were interpreting the Rift's apparent absence as an effect of a proximity hit, as it were.
"Last minute bad decision I think."
Ah, thanks.
"Everything started tasting bad. I thought this was pretty clearly established..."
...Isn't that what I referred to in the next sentence? I do think it was well-established, which is why I was surprised by its sudden unremarked absence here.
"It's a sign of improvement."
...Huh. Not following, sorry.
"No, I just spelled it wrong, but now that you mention it..."
[looks at chapter]
:D
"Fluttershy's not very good at being a pegasus."
I did think of that, yes...
"But I suppose she wouldn't be that bad."
But also that.
"
She's not Twilight Sparkle after all."...I think think of multiple potential interpretations for that line. I assume that that was intended. :)
"He good scientist! He no need use articles in speech!"
:)
"I don't think there ever was. She managed though, with the help and support of her friends."
Yeah...
"
"
:D
"I am so glad someone noticed that.
"
...Eh? It... wasn't subtle, though? Dash just says it. Am I missing something? Or are you concerned that the entire line would get missed, or something?
"Rifts can't melt steel beams. But no it just blew the roof off mostly. If it'd taken down the building, then what would Twilight have to land on?"
The building might not have fully collapsed immediately. But good point.
"Oh, no I actually have a little respect for those soldiers. At least they're doing what they like."
Oh, interesting.
"But what kind of horrible person would kill people for no other reason than being told to do it? Some people see duty as a noble sacrifice, a gift of your very free will to a higher authority, but I just... can't."
I won't say that there aren't any who see the orders as the reason, but, again, I think that that's a minority. Most of them, as far as I know (outsider's perspective, admittedly), regard the orders and obeying them more as means to achieve the desired ends. For some, that might be something like wanting to support an ideal vision of a nation, or protect civilians from an enemy they believe (rightly or wrongly) would harm them if not for the soldiers in the way. From some it might be to support their fellow soldiers; for some, just a paycheck or a way to avoid getting punished, potentially lethally, and potentially, lethally or not, with repercussion on family or friends, for disobedience.
To draw a comparison, firefighters coordinating on a large fire wouldn't be following instructions because they really love following instructions and are willing to put a fire out in service of that love, they'd follow them because they believe that it's bad the building or forest is on fire and following the instructions is the best way to fix that. Or a police officer might feel a need to enforce a particular law even if they personally think it does more harm than good, because that one law is part of a larger structure which they think overall does more good than harm.
"Rosy was right!
"
yay :)
"layve princes twalaght alone!
all y'ponies want is maore maore maore!"
:)
8369138
Maybe one day I will find it in my heart to forgive you.
Either way Rarity really figured it should have done more than jack diddly squat.
Before this, she was unaware that things tasted bad because she felt bad about herself, not because there was anything wrong with them.
Well, there is one pony who's worse at being a pegasus than Twilight, but I generally don't like to acknowlege her existence.
And yet you're the first to mention it. I was starting to think it just wasn't notable.
I don't think I've ever met a soldier who didn't respect a man for putting duty and honor before his own self interest.
Those are intrinsic values, but soldiers are trained that the call of duty is the way to achieve those values, despite its history of... doing the opposite. It's a very worrisome way of thinking, since they're easier to manipulate that way, by the rich people promoting this propaganda.
8369265
"
"Maybe one day I will find it in my heart to forgive you.
:)
"Either way Rarity really figured it should have done more than jack diddly squat."
Aye.
"Before this, she was unaware that things tasted bad because she felt bad about herself, not because there was anything wrong with them."
Ohh, okay; I, ah, hadn't picked up on that being the reason either.
"Well, there is one pony who's worse at being a pegasus than Twilight, but I generally don't like to acknowlege her existence."
(Oh, oops; typo in there. It was meant to be "I can think".)
Ah. :)
"And yet you're the first to mention it. I was starting to think it just wasn't notable."
Ah. Well, I do tend to leave some more-than-averagely-thorough comments on this story.
"I don't think I've ever met a soldier who didn't respect a man for putting duty and honor before his own self interest."
Duty and honor don't always match orders received, though.
"Those are intrinsic values, but soldiers are trained that the call of duty is the way to achieve those values, despite its history of... doing the opposite. It's a very worrisome way of thinking, since they're easier to manipulate that way, by the rich people promoting this propaganda."
Oh, it is certainly possible to find evidence of soldiers being ordered to do things, and carrying out those orders, that really seem, to an outside observer, to be against both their own interests and the things they believe they're fighting for. I would not call the soldiers in those cases scum, though, merely misled and exploited. If Party A, knowing it's false, convinces Party B that, unless Party B goes out and kills Party C, Party C will horribly murder Party B's innocent loved ones, Party B doesn't seem to me like the most scummy of the three.
8369308
Hm... I wonder how I could make it more clear, then.
And thank you for that!
The mentality is that you're respectable for following orders without being so arrogant as to judge for yourself whether those orders should be carried out. The reality is that there are only two reasons to deliberately dismiss your own judgement: if there's no time to judge before acting, and to make it easier for others to trick you into going against your own values. Neither of those reasons are very respectable at all, yet you'll often run into a character demonstrating their selfless loyalty by following orders.
I think it's kind of pitiful honestly. Soldiers in the trenches didn't hate each other, yet they killed each other heartlessly, and helplessly. Now people are calling that a virtue, rather than a mark of shame. It's just repeating that hurtful mindset that caused so much despair, back when Tennyson wrote his "Charge of the Light Brigade."
8370540
"Hm... I wonder how I could make it more clear, then."
I don't know, sorry. Hm. Having it mentioned that her taste systems are physically fine might help, but I'm not sure how to do that without it feeling forced, given she doesn't seem to be telling anyone about the problems she's been having with taste.
"And thank you for that!"
You're welcome!
"The mentality is that you're respectable for following orders without being so arrogant as to judge for yourself whether those orders should be carried out. The reality is that there are only two reasons to deliberately dismiss your own judgement: if there's no time to judge before acting, and to make it easier for others to trick you into going against your own values. Neither of those reasons are very respectable at all, yet you'll often run into a character demonstrating their selfless loyalty by following orders.
I think it's kind of pitiful honestly. Soldiers in the trenches didn't hate each other, yet they killed each other heartlessly, and helplessly. Now people are calling that a virtue, rather than a mark of shame. It's just repeating that hurtful mindset that caused so much despair, back when Tennyson wrote his "Charge of the Light Brigade.""
Hm. Sorry.
(I think that we might have exhausted the fruitful discussion on this topic for now, though I am glad we had it; I'm not thinking of a large reply, at least, though I am currently rather tired.)
8370746
Yeah I don't really want to debate it or anything. I just wanted to communicate my feelings better, so people could see I'm not a total jerk. Thanks... and maybe the answer to that confusion lies in her telling somepony about her taste problems. As acknowledging them sort of busts through her denial, I thought she'd just not feel like explaining it; to get help, you have to admit something is wrong after all.
8371045
"Yeah I don't really want to debate it or anything. I just wanted to communicate my feelings better, so people could see I'm not a total jerk."
Thanks. :)
"Thanks... and maybe the answer to that confusion lies in her telling somepony about her taste problems. As acknowledging them sort of busts through her denial, I thought she'd just not feel like explaining it; to get help, you have to admit something is wrong after all."
Aye. Are you proposing this for a future chapter, then? I could see that; I just wasn't sure how to retcon that in given, as you say, it wouldn't be just the simple question and answer in isolation.
This is why, if you EVER end up in Equestria amongst other humans turned pony, you should get out of the area immediately. Hitch a ride on a train, gallop out of town in some direction(after trotting for a while so as not to look suspicious), anything to get OUT of the containment area before they can restrict/detain/return the others.
After a few days you can read the newspaper looking to see what was done with them, and only then can you make an informed decision on how to deal with your trip.
8399491
In this story's Equestria? Yeah... living in Ponyville was not one of Rosy's better ideas.
To be fair, the current crisis is making ponies a little extra unfriendly towards Travellers, with the whole Rift thing destroying the town. When Rosy first came over, they did give a large window of time for Rosy to have her "adventure."
I'm almost disappinted no pony was disgusted at Fluttershy for being a flillyfooler. I mean, with what they said to Rosy, you'd expect at least some form of bigotry. Hypocrites, the lot of them.
Still, amazing chapter!
8511904
I wouldn't say I'm appalled, but it does seem oddly inconsistent.
*raises eyebrow slowly*
I've read this far and I'm still not sure if I enjoyed the story or at least got some enjoyment out of it. It's confusing me.