The overall outlook of the situation seemed grim, to say the least.
I don't mean mine. Mine was looking pretty bad, but it was manageable. What I meant was Equestria's overall situation. As I wiped blood from my eyes, nose and face, I struggled to stand. Yeah, it seems that trying to load all the info I needed into my noggin in one go was actually a spectacularly bad idea: I lost consciousness for a bit, and woke up bleeding from my eyes, nose, and mouth. I'm surprised I didn't die.
But enough about my personal drama, I needed to get ready for the speech. With considerable effort, I stepped out of the throne room and called for one of the soldiers, to request a towel and some clean water.
Twenty minutes ago it would have surprised me that the guard seemed completely unconcerned by the fact that I was bleeding like I had hemorrhagic fever. Now, after that unpleasantness I'd just experienced, I knew more about Sombra and his army than anyone should ever know.
As I looked at the armored pony, I silently swore to myself that I'd do whatever I could to make things right. Simple self-preservation may have been one reason for not just releasing every one of Sombra's battle slaves immediately, but there were other reasons, as well: Removing those brain buckets is traumatic, especially since the ponies wearing them are still awake and aware, and have to live with everything those helmets made them do. Removing all those helmets at once would means thousands of traumatized ponies who needed counseling. There were about fifty psychiatrists in Equestria, tops. More to the point, the Crystal Empire, their home, had more or less been demolished in the process of preparing for Sombra's war, and Sombra, just to be a dick, had shattered a relic called the Crystal Heart, which was one of the few artifacts with enough power to defeat Sombra, and also had kept the frozen climate of the north from consuming the city. The Crystal Empire was gone, buried under mountains of snow by now: Release the battle slaves, and they'd be homeless, jobless, a drain on a nation's economy at a point in time when there was little enough left to spare.
Some of the information I'd looked at had either not seemed important to Sombra, or he just hadn't cared about the fact that winter might kill up to twenty percent of the Equestrian population. The good news was that it was currently early spring. The bad news is that Equestrian years are one hundred days long, so I might end up having to spend Blueblood's assets on food, clothing, and housing, unless I could find an alternate source of cash within the next sixty-five days. That, or I'd have to postpone winter, but that was a dangerous proposition, given what info I'd stumbled upon while force-feeding myself data.
Equestria may not have had naturally occurring seasons, but that didn't mean that the creatures here didn't behave like they did: Experiments regarding delaying, if not outright skipping, seasons had shown that it could easily wreck the entire ecology of the nation. Thus, winter, as inconvenient as it sometimes was, simply had to happen on schedulre, even if it might drastically reduce the population. Not having winter this year could easily result in losing fifty to seventy-five percent of the population next winter.
Look, I know this stuff can seem dull, but it's important, okay? Logistics can be insanely boring, but a good politician is supposed to have a keen grasp of the subject, or else he'll accidentally make promises he can't keep... instead of intentionally making promises he won't keep, which is the norm. Luckily, I had a very good memory, and a very good head for figures. If your father put a cigarette out in your arm any time you made anything other than an A+ in school, starting from kindergarten, you would, too.
Sorry, I said I'd leave off the personal drama for now. My bad.
There were other problems, and it was taking time for me to correlate the new contents in my skull so I could recognize them all, and come up with solutions. However, just at a glance, I had a good idea of what I needed to start with.
It was now four o'clock, Equestrian time, and it was time to give a speech.
` I was honestly impressed by the turnout. I thought that the numbers present at the Royal Entry were something, but this was absolutely incredible: Literally every pony in the city was here, and it is a pretty big city. Good thing I didn't have a fear of public speaking, or crowds, or I'd be terrified. As it was, I will admit to having been a bit unsettled, and the fact that I was still woozy from nearly explodinating my brain with an information overload wasn't helping.
Still, soonest started, soonest finished. I cleared my throat, and began.
"My fellow equines," I started, "I stand here before you today, not to boast, not to gloat, and not to beat my chest and bellow about how great I am, as many of you expect. Instead, I come before you to make an announcement, one I feel is long overdue."
"Equestria is dying."
There was a ripple in the crowd, the kind you can only get when a large number of individuals hear something they weren't sure they understood. Whatever speech they were expecting, this was not it.
"I know many of you are probably assuming that this is my fault. I am sorry to disabuse you of that notion, but the truth of the matter is, this country has been dying for years, centuries even, but no one seems to have realized it. I, however, have seen the disease for what it is, and am prepared to treat it."
"What disease afflicts Equestria, you wonder? Well, before I answer that question, let me ask you all a question: Has anything been invented recently that changed Equestrian civilization as you know it? Can anyone name even one thing invented in the last hundred years that had a serious impact on the nation as a whole? Raise a hoof if you have an answer, please." I briefly paused, and when no one in the crowd did, I added, "I'm serious. I want to hear it from you. Please, just take a guess."
A pony raised a hoof, and then called out, "The railroad!"
I chuckled, and called out, "Invented one thousand, four hundred, twenty-three years ago!" Seriously. There was a railroad that literally led to the Crystal Empire, and had remained there, regularly maintained, for the entire time the city was banished from space and time. Sombra even had his own personal train, which looked intimidating as fuck. The railroad in Equestria predated the railroads that existed on earth. The rail system, and even the steam engine, weren't new. It just wasn't used to its full potential. "Someone else, please!"
Another pony raised his hoof, and then called out, "The Rainbow Factory?"
"Invented three thousand, fifty-nine years ago, although it would not reach its current form until about one thousand, two hundred years ago," I called back as I got a little jolt from a data download into my brain. It still amazes me to this day that ponies literally manufactured their own rainbows (And in spite of some very ugly rumors, no, they're not made from ground up pegasus bones, thank you very much). Weird. Awesome, but weird. "Anyone else?"
A very fat pony called out, "Easy Cheese?"
I paused. Literally nothing came to mind on that one, so Sombra apparently didn't even know that cheese in a can was a thing. "Okay," I admitted, "That one's pretty recent, but even if you really like portable cheese, that's not really gonna count as something that changed society as a whole. Anyone else?"
No one else had anything to offer.
"And that, right there," I said, going back into my speech, "is the problem. Equestria is stagnating: There's been no new magical developments since the days of Starswirl the Bearded. Now, common knowledge tells you just that Starswirl invented spells 'over a thousand years ago'. However, no one seems to realize that 'over a thousand years ago' in this case actually means FIVE THOUSAND, EIGHT HUNDRED, THIRTY-NINE YEARS AGO!!!"
That sudden shout was calculated to shock my audience, and it had the intended effect, right enough, and why not? The average pony didn't even realize that Equestria was more than a thousand years old. Much, much more. 'One thousand years ago' is mostly just a catch all phrase to cover all kinds of shit that went down in the past. Hell, the exact year that the first Hearthwarming happened is lost to the ages in modern day Equestria: At some point, it just turned into 'Pre-Celestia and Pre-Luna', which tells you jack shit about when it happened in relation to the modern day.
"Over five thousand years ago, the last bit of creativity when it came to magic died with the passing of Starswirl the Bearded. Over a thousand years ago, your collective scientific creativity died. And no one seems to realize it. And no one seems to have realized just how bad something like that could be."
"Don't believe me? Let me ask you, then: How else could a wizard from one thousand years ago have conquered your nation? My understanding of magic, technology, military tactics, more or less every aspect of society, should be woefully out of date. I should have been shut down in short order by weapons and spells you'd all spent a thousand years developing in preparation for my return. Instead, here I am, your king. That can only be because of the fact that, in a thousand years, NOTHING HAS REALLY CHANGED!! You are still struggling to deal with threats that you barely managed to subdue a thousand years ago, when you all should have found solutions to them well before their reappearance, especially since your ancestors sealed them away: Sealing things away doesn't make them cease to exist, it only makes it so that future generations have to clean up the mess you left for them."
"The cancer that has afflicted Equestria all this time has a name. It is called Complacency. At some point in time, your ancestors decided that there was no new ground to cover, that there was nothing left to learn or discover. Everything was perfect, so there was no need to improve further. And they passed on that false sense of perfection to all of you, and you believed it, even when all around you was evidence to the contrary. You've all been asleep for the last thousand years or more, thinking that nothing was wrong with there being no real progress, while this affliction has slowly eaten your country alive from the inside. Now is the time for your wake-up call."
"Back a thousand years ago, I'll admit that my intentions were selfish in conquering the Crystal Empire: I wanted to rule over Equestria for the sake of stoking my own ego, and that city was the first step. However, I was sealed away for a thousand years, which gave me plenty of time to reflect on my poor choices in the past. Were Equestria a different place, I might have simply walked away, and tried to start a new life elsewhere. However, when I broke free from my imprisonment, and saw the current state of the nation, I knew something had to be done. However, the only way to solve the problems facing this country was to take the reins of power away from those who were leading this country over a cliff, and change course before we all went past the point of no return. Equestria's well-deserved hatred of me would prevent anyone from paying heed to my warnings, so the only choice was to take the country by force, so that it could be saved."
"You all hate me. Fine, feel free to do so: The fact that you're all powerless to do anything but glare daggers at me as I walk past only further illustrates my point. One thousand years ago, Celestia and Luna were the only ponies powerful enough to stop me. The only thing that has changed since then is the fact that Celestia has run herself so ragged that not even she could stop me now. But she should not have been required to do so. A better Equestria would have been able to say, 'Go home and take a nap, your highness. We've got this.' Instead, she had to play mother to a nation too set in its ways to change anything, even when it was clear that doing things the old fashioned way was killing your princess by inches."
"I know of a dozen ways, at least, that I could have been stopped, none of which required the presence of Celestia on the battlefield. If anyone of you had shown a little ingenuity, a little initiative, a little imagination, I am certain you could have come up with dozens more. Instead, you've all relied upon the great mare in the sky to solve these problems. I'm sorry to say that, while Celestia is a strong pony, carrying an entire country on her shoulders is too much to ask, especially when she's been doing it for a thousand years and more."
This was not hyperbole: I can give you one example, right off the top of my head, of how Sombra could have effortlessly been defeated. In the sporting event, the Equestrian Games, ponies use an anti-magic field powerful enough to block even alicorn magic to prevent cheating. If a trap had been set up with that anti-magic field, during one of the battles against King Sombra, then all it would take is maybe half a dozen earth ponies to run in and stomp the ever-loving shit out of the dreaded tyrant once his magic was gone, and the nation would have been saved. Hell, the changelings have a throne made of a mineral that provides a similar effect, making it impossible for anyone other than a changeling to use magic. It can allegedly block even Discord's magic. It can even block the effects of spells cast outside of its effect and then brought in. If such a mineral exists, why not just dig some up, take a big chunk of it to the site of the Crystal Empire and use it to negate the 'Banished From Space And Time' spell that Sombra used, rather than having it be lost for a thousand years? Or maybe make arrowheads of it, and use it as a kind of 'Mage Killer' weapon, for any time a powerful magic user gets too uppity, and tries to conquer the world: I mean, just knowing that all it would take is one shot from a sniper and you're no longer a reality warping demigod would make even Discord stop and reconsider messing with Equestria. Or, instead of trying to overpower Sombra in a fight, why not teleport his head off of his body? Or teleport him into an active volcano? Or to the bottom of the ocean? Or transmute the oxygen in the air around him into a poisonous gas? Or into molten lead? Or use a Come To Life spell to animate his cloak, and have it strangle him to death? Or use a Want It, Need It spell or a love poison to make him fall in love the princesses, and make him their obedient servant? These are just a few potential examples, off the top of my head. I'm sure there's a million more creative ways to stop Sombra.
Seriously. Equestria has so much amazing shit at its disposal! It's just that no one has ever had the imagination to use it properly!
Still, the mention of Celestia had perked up a number of ears. I smiled, and continued, stating, "Celestia, I am certain you'll be happy to hear, is alive and well. She's resting, and in a couple of days, she'll be up and about, I'm told. At that time, we'll begin working out what her role will be in the ruling of Equestria. While she will no longer be in charge, I do not intend to cut her out of your lives entirely."
I could see the wide eyes of surprise on the faces of many of my subjects, even from up there on the balcony. I was fairly certain everyone in the courtyard was expecting an announcement of her pending execution, if it hadn't already happened. Telling them that she was alive, and would still be a part of their lives actually caused a ragged cheer to come up from the crowd.
Okay, there's the carrot. Now for the stick. (As opposed to what I did with Blueblood, which was basically showing him the carrot, and then beating his fool head in with it.)
"Of course," I added, keeping my tone even, "while I intend to make the transition as smooth and painless as possible, there will be a few changes that not everyone will like. I know this, and accept it: I hope you will, as well. As I've said, Equestria is sick, and the best medicines often leave a bad taste in your mouth. I ask that you trust that Doctor Sombra knows what he's doing, and swallow any bitter pills I give to you. The first change you've already heard about: Prince Blueblood is persona non grata, as of today. He has been stripped of rank and privilege, and all of his assets are being seized by the state as we speak."
This actually got a bigger cheer than hearing Celestia was still alive. I think that if anyone else had announced this, there'd have been dancing in the streets as ponies began singing 'Ding Dong The Prince Is Dead'.
"Yes, yes, I know you're all pleased to hear that he is no longer a part of the Equestrian government," I said with a chuckle I didn't need to fake. "A pony willing to sell all of Equestria out to save his own skin has no place calling himself a prince, or a stallion, or even Equine. While Blueblood may have been an extreme case, part of the transition will involve fixing much of what's currently broken in Equestria. Of course, if it isn't broken, it doesn't need fixing, but in the case of those like Blueblood, things that refuse to work... get broken."
The menace, and the wicked smile, I put into those last two words, was chilling. There are advantages to looking like a unicorn that had crawled out of the deepest bowels of hell. For one thing, it meant a metaphorical +10 to all intimidation rolls. The entire crowd shuddered as a single entity. If anyone was questioning whether I was actually Sombra after that speech, they weren't now. They were too busy trying not to lose control of their bowels.
Returning to an expression of serene calm, I said, "But for now, go home. Be with your families. And rejoice. Your future is in the very best of hooves: Mine."
And with that, the speech was over. I turned and left: Sombra wouldn't expect applause, and wouldn't care, even if there was, so I didn't bother to stay and listen for it.
As I walked back into the throne room, after giving that speech, I was ready to just plop down and go to sleep on the throne. However, there was a bespectacled earth pony inside who, in spite of looking slightly terrified, seemed intent on getting my attention.
Who...?
Raven Inkwell
Sex: Female
Race: Earth Pony
Color Scheme: Off-white coat, dark brown mane and tail, brown eyes.
Cutie Mark: Pen and an inkwell.
Bio: Princess Celestia's personal secretary. No further data available. Regardless of all inquiries into her history, nothing has come up concerning her origins. However, an absence of evidence is not an evidence of absence. I am naturally suspicious of any mystery, but the probability of her being anything other than what she appears is low. Low, but not non-existant.
Threat Level: Currently unclassified.
Ooookay. Well, best to see what she needed, I supposed.
I asked, calmly, "Can I help you, miss...?"
"Secretary Raven Inkwell, at your service, you highness," she said, introducing herself. "In the interest of maintaining the stability of the nation, I am here to offer my services to you until such time as Princess Celestia regains consciousness. I understand you are most likely in need of rest, so I'll try to keep this brief." She pulled out a folder from... fuck, I don't even want to guess, ponies sometimes just make shit appear, I don't know how. Using telekinesis, I gently took it, and read the contents.
Wow. Just... wow. I hadn't even thought of acquiring this stuff during that info dump, but having seen it, I realized just how badly I would need all of this.
"Contained is a list of what you might call a 'who's who' in the Equestrian government," she explained. "Ministers, heads of vital agencies and departments, and so forth. I can arrange meetings with whichever ones you wish to see, although it might be wise to wait a day or two before doing so: Everypony is still a bit in shock after this morning's events."
"That's fair," I admitted. Besides, it would give me a chance to see who, if any, were willing to actually give the new government a chance. I expected at least a few of them to, ah, vacate the city the moment I requested their presence. At least this way, they'd get a chance to pack their bags first, rather than fleeing in the middle of the night.
I checked the list, and while I found just about everything I expected (And a few that I couldn't believe. There's a Ministry of Silly Trots here? Really? And they have THAT big a budget? Dafuq?), there was one individual I couldn't find. "And the Royal Spymaster?" I asked, giving the secretary a cool, measured look.
Raven, an eyebrow raised, asked, "I beg your pardon?"
"Oh, I don't know what Celestia calls the position," I explained, "but no matter how good or just a ruler might be, no one remains in power without someone keeping track of, and sometimes removing, all the hidden potential threats that endanger the kingdom. While most anyone else on this list can wait, I need to speak with that individual immediately."
Especially since, if anyone was going to try and assassinate me tonight, it would be on the orders of that individual, whoever that pony may be...
Raven gave me a long, measuring look. After a moment, she reached into her hair, and pulled out a small, blue crystal. "One moment, please," she requested, then tossed it into the air. It hovered, and then began to glow. After a moment, she nodded and said, "Alright, it should be safe to talk, now that an anti-eavesdropping enchantment is in place. What did you need to discuss?"
I raised an eyebrow, the only outward sign of the confusion and surprise I was suddenly feeling. What the hell?
She laughed in response. "What, you thought I was just Celestia's secretary?"
8202395
The thing is, if a paradox was possible, then it would inevitably occur at some point in time: A million monkeys banging on a million typewriters for a million years will produce the works of Shakespeare. A universe that has an infinite amount of time in it would mean that a paradox is inevitable, simply because the dice will be rolled an infinite number of times, and must eventually come up snake eyes in all but the most unlikely scenarios. And if a paradox were to occur at any point in time, it would destroy all of time. Forward and backward. Everything that is would never have happened. No one and nothing would exist. Thus, the fact that we exist in spite of the fact that an inevitable paradox would have already negated our existence proves that there are only two possible conclusions: Either time travel is impossible so a paradox is impossible, or time travel is possible, and the universe has a means of preventing paradoxes from occurring.
8202602
Just did. Enjoy your feast.
Huh. Found this in the featured box and read it, then went to your stories to check out what else you had and saw you updated in the span of a few minutes. Of course, this has given me a WORSE cliffhanger than before, but it works...
fucking cliffhangers can suck my dick...
Continue, Deus Vult!
The train would actually look like it came out of a Mad Max world if it were Sombra's.
................
FANART GO!!!!!
Also, Raven is the Spy master of Equestria?!
Makes sense though, seeing that she's so close to Celestia herself.
Yay a update!
That was admittedly a good speech, and a better angle than I expected. Equestria really is the nation of complacency. And, call it a personal thing, I do like that you didn't for the 'Celestia is the reason why you're complacent' argument. She being the nation's mom trying to take care of her slacker kids is a much more hilarious (and sad) approach.
Honestly, from I saw the 'currently unknown', I figured Raven had that position. Hypercompetent Butler/Stewart/Maid is a trope after all. Why wouldn't Celestia have one?
Good work as always my good sir make sure that it stays that way
And following...
XD
Of course! Of course Tia keeps her Head Shpee right next to her. It makes PERFECT sense!
....somehow, that train's grill reminds me of ukanlos chin, good chapter btw
Does Twilight exist in this univers, I wonder.
In the vault, that I'm imagining, is there a machine that goes *ping*?
So much awesome...
That train needs more skulls. And fire. Lots and lots of fire
He arrived, he adapted, he achieved
NotSombra is a better leader than Sombra could of ever been.
Let's travel to space!
Just not the moon!
8202731 Only if it runs out of blessed .30-06 M2 ball ammunition
For some reason after that speech, I can't help but picture this worlds Twilight becoming a huge fan of Equestria's new King. Maybe even developing a crush on him, much to the horror of her family.
Holy fuck, spy master Raven... that is more fitting than I realized.
Also your telling me wubs are over a thousand years old? I seriously doubt Sombre was listening to the sick beats on his vinal player, also hot air balloon probably wasn't a thing back then. But ponies are sheep, and probably would believe it.
8202395 I'm saying that a linear timeline could be altered without multiple universes and not necessarily cause a paradox.
If I'm understanding you right, you're saying that -
Meteor hits - Dinosaurs go extinct - you go back in time - stop meteor from hitting
You say that because of this you wouldn't come to exist further along in the timeline, so you wouldn't be able to go back in time to stop the meteor, so the meteor hits, etc...
But I'm not sure if that would have to be the case with a linear timeline. You go back in time and you stop the meteor. Why would future you even need to go back in time at that point to stop the meteor? The you in the past already stopped it. Why would anything need to be validated in order for you to exist? You're already there, you don't need a time in the future to originally come from because the time you're in exists despite the future being altered. So it'd still be one timeline, just altered. You'd essentially be replacing the old timeline with a new one, and you'd still be in the new one. That's why I say you'd be "displaced", you'd be from the old timeline but residing in the altered one, even though the old one no longer exists short of what came back in time to alter it in the first place (you).
This story reminds me of part of one of the endings to Dishonoured 2. You had the chance to replace a violent dictator with his body double while making a deal with him, with it bringing back the country from the brink of destruction and entering into a new age of prosperity for all.
I wonder if he can do the same.
As much as I hate seeing the princess in her current position, NotSombra is doing better then she could have ever done. Great story so far!
Keep em coming
10/10 didn't expect the last part
Yay Politician-ing!!! :D
This is very well written. Looking forward to more.
8202644 thought those were just bugs that ate at the paradox until it were gone.
It can't be shattered. Why would Sombra hide it if he could shatter it?
8202785 the problem in your theory is that ultimately, if it a singular, linear timeline, Any and all actions of an individual in the past have already occurred. So therefore in your example, stopping the meteor would only allow the present to confirm a meteor was not the cause of extinction for the dinosaurs. In your attempt to change the past, you've merely written history as it is already written.
The butterfly effect is real. A change to the past has radical consequences on the present. For your actions in the past to not create a paradox, they must not alter anything in your life leading up to you getting access to time travel and going into the past. Back to your example, let's say you prevent the extinction of dinosaurs. Well you better hope your ancestors don't get killed by one before having kids. Otherwise you suddenly never exist exactly as you do, and your own past is changed. Goals, thoughts, everything changes.
There is the trousers of time theory. Stating two methods of time travel. First process, you can change nothing. All actions of you in the past already happened, so your attempt to change the past ultimately makes it happen exactly as it did. This method lets you return to your time period.
Second process, you go back. You make a significant change. You split the universe in two as it prevents itself from imploding on the paradox. Your previous timeline is lost to you forever, and it has lost you from the point you left onward. What you do in the past is your new present, in this version of the universe.
8202644 Infinite dice being rolled infinite times. Not only is a time pardox impossible, it must happen/must have happenned, yet time must/will go on. When dealing with infinity, all impossiblities must be possible. Consider the multiverse. If there exists an infinite multiverse, there must exist infinite universes identical in every way to ours, and infinite univers that are completely opposite to ours. That would mean that there would exist a universe where that is outside of the infinite multiverse, as being part of a multiverse is a characteristic of a universe, much the same as how a characteristic of a toe is being part of a foot. Infinity naturally contradicts itself because it rolls all the dice infinite times. For every snake eyes there is a pair of sixes.
Raven head one of my fav back ground ponies her beehive do, and glasses and tie really amuse me and lvoe to meet a woman like that in real life.
Beinga spymaster wow!
Can't wait to see what happens next.
8202865 he hid it last time 1000 years ago..this time he just said screw it and broke the thing.
Kinda like Sauron wouldn't have died so pathetically if he didn't order the creation of the One Ring. Seriously...in the flashback ,he gets the finger with the ring chopped off from the rest of his body..and his entire body just exploded. Terrible weakness huh?
8202865
I beg to differ. Flurry Heart shattered it, thus it is shatter-able in canon. Sombra refrained from shattering it in the past simply because it was what kept the city from being snowed in. Once he abandoned the city, he shattered the Crystal Heart to make sure no one had the bright idea of sneaking into the Crystal Empire behind his back and using it against him.
8202910
I know, right? I mean, it was the ultimate in lucky hits, and probably the only thing Isildur ever did right in his life. Up until that point, I don't think anyone even realized just how critical that ring was to Sauron's existence: I doubt he made a point of mentioning to anyone, "Hey, don't go trying to cut this ring off my fingers, or else I'll explode for no apparent reason." Hell, maybe even Sauron didn't know just how vital it was, or he wouldn't have worn it outside his armor, where everyone could see exactly which finger needed to be severed for him to lose.
Maybe if, instead of keeping his power in that ring for so long, he extracted it again once it had served its purpose, he might not have been so easily beaten.
Sombra in this story, on the other hand, isn't Sauron, so he only allows a weakness or a potential threat to exist as long as is necessary for him to complete his goals. The moment he has what he needs, he destroys that weakness or threat and moves on.
8202947 then again,it's possible he was actually channeling ALOT of the rings own magic into his body during the fight(to be able to keep fighting so long),and without the ring,simply lost all control of a crapton of magic....
8202967
And the winner of Most Downvoted Comment On This Story goes to...
Ah, but seriously, every country thinks that their alcohol is the best, and that all others suck. Thing is, most countries have a drink that is distinctly their own. America has whiskey and bourbon, Russia has vodka, France has brandy and champagne, the list goes on and on, really. Thing is, though, I don't go to Germany trying to tell Germans what is and isn't beer. Please show the same courtesy: If you have an opinion, feel free to state it, but please don't put it in the form of an insult. Saying 'I feel that American liquor is inferior in quality to liquor in my home country' probably won't win you any friends, but saying what you just said is definitely going to get you a lot of negative attention.
8202785
I'll just assume everyone else will find this by following the bread crumbs, but what exactly do you mean by "linear timeline"? To a three-dimensional being, all time is linear; they aren't able to move in more than three-dimensions, and time is a fourth (not necessarily the fourth).
On further rumination I'm actually fairly impressed with how this turned out. The protagonist successfully managed to talk down to the audience at their level while still remaining in a position of strength and authority that they have to at least respect if not like. He got them to cheer, if not for him than for his actions at least, and gave them a good bit of hope that the new regime won't be so bad. He also managed to paint himself in the best light possible, and so long as he very carefully manages his image, his worst crimes will remain 'knocked out Celestia, made war on Equestria out of a misguided sense of responsibility'.
Remember, most people aren't going to know about all the terrible, awful things that Sombra has done. Like the brainwashing for example. All they know about him is that he's a dark wizard from ancient history who made war on Equestria and won. Equestrians aren't well known for keeping good records, or for keeping track of history at all for that matter. You can probably blame some of that on Discord, but it's worth noting that over a thousand years later ponies still know almost nothing about dragons. This is despite the fact that they have a treaty with them, live next door to them, and are visited by a large migration of dragons every year; oh, and that's not even mentioning the few who decide they want to lair in Equestria proper, probably to escape any competition with other dragons over food and/or resources.
8202967
Then you good sir have never partaken of a man's own personal stock. Just like you don't walk on down to Walmart and expect to purchase a five star dinner, you don't hop on over to the liquor store for more of that rough, mass-produced toilet water they like to call booze. My own family has been churning out mason jars filled with fine spirits for ages, and while you'll never see their work on a shelf at your local store, I can guarantee you it's the good stuff. It's the kind of difference a personal touch makes.
This is easily the best chapter thus far, solely because I got to see the mc being a politician, and gaining access to Equestria's Spymaster. Also, gaining some proof that he could be a brilliant mage the moment he decides to upload Sombra's spell list to his brain fills me with confidence, especially once he makes his own Phylactery...
8202995 A single, point A to point B timeline. At least that's what I believe he was talking about.
8202995 time in not a line... time is a circle. That is why clocks are round.
8203052
............
I'm proud of you.
Give...
...me...
MOAR!
But seriously, though, this story is incredible. I couldn't click Like, Favorite, and Track hard enough. I'm recommending this to all of my friends, too!
8202916
Right. Forgot about Flurry Heart. The fanon-destroying devil.
dat train tho
imagining the window purple like the smoke and maybe some steel grey on the wheels or something
You're right, it's pretty aggressive lookin aint' it?
That speech was so good that even I would be cheering Sombra's name. Well done!
8202967 I live in a rural portion of Virginia and many of the locals simply want to get drunk every weekend and American beer is one of the cheapest ways to go about it. At least for those who don't have their own still.
The thing that gets me about Equestria in MLP:FIM is that, as time has went on, it looks less and less like a utopia, and more and more like a country in a long, slow death spiral, but no one seems to be able to recognize it for what it is, or seems willing to do something about it.
in the first season, it seems very idyllic, a wonderful place where seemingly nothing can go wrong. Then Nightmare Moon shows up, and tries to depose the ruler of the nation. She's stopped, a new princess is thrown into the mix, and Equestria has heroes who can help with further problems. But then a hydra appears in a nearby swamp. A massive, carnivorous monster lives within walking distance of Ponyville. And absolutely nothing is done about this creature, in spite of the fact that if it got hungry, it might march right into the middle of town and start chowing down at literally any second of any given day. Then Discord comes out, and we see that there are creatures out there that not even Celestia can fight head-to-head, and the only thing that could stop him had been resting in a ruined palace for a thousand years because no one could use it (Which would mean that if he had broken free any time before the Elements had been reclaimed, Equestria would have been f*cked). Then there's the changeling invasion, and that only gets stopped because Twilight Sparkle knew Princess Cadance personally (Which would never have happened if she'd not been Celestia's student) and saw through the illusion. Then King Sombra comes out, and he is presented as a one-pony army that can only be stopped by being double teamed by alicorns. Then we learn that there's been zero new magic since Starswirl the Bearded, whose existence predated the formation of the country (Since he trained Clover the Clever, and she helped form Equestria, he has to predate the existence of Equestria). Then Lord Tirek breaks loose, and makes every soldier in Equestria look like hopeless scrubs. Then we see Griffinstone, and it turns out that a neighboring country and longtime ally to Equestria has collapsed into near-barbarism and Equestria was completely unaware, even though this had clearly been going on for years. The list goes on and on...
The evidence keeps piling up to demonstrate that, in spite of how perfect Equestria seemed in season one, the country is tapdancing on a tightrope over a bottomless pit, and only the existence of Twilight Sparkle and her friends has kept it from falling... so far.
The thing is, that seems more and more like a stopgap solution, rather than addressing the real problem. I mean, Twilight has been to another world where the technology there makes Equestria's best magic look like parlor tricks in comparison. Imagine how much good she could do for Equestria if she went to the local book store, and brought back books on subjects like Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Telecommunications, etc. Hell, she could skip a lot of the problems that Earth has had, since rather than relying on fossil fuels and other inefficient power sources, they could go right to magic power, which shouldn't have any messy side effects like pollution. Instead, she just went home and never tried to implement any of the amazing discoveries (Like the internet) that she found there. "Equestria's perfect. Why would we need all of these things that could dramatically improve the quality of life for literally everyone everywhere forever?"
Am I reading too much into things? Possibly. But good fanfiction takes what the source material gives us, and builds off of it. And what I keep seeing is a country that is barely getting through disasters that are repetitions of things they've encountered in the past... and I can't help but wonder, why?