Day came, as it always does, with the rising of the sun, its first beams poking through the curtains and finding Sunset's slumbering eyes with unerring accuracy. The unicorn grumbled and shifted in her bed, trying to dodge the rays of sunshine, but even turning around met with little success, the light bouncing off... something on the walls of her bedroom straight back into her slowly waking eyes. "I swear you're doing this on purpose" Sunset growled drowsily at the offending star.
"Not something I'd put past the Princess" a voice agreed.
Sunset's mind flared from 'slowly waking up' to 'rushed awake' at hearing an unknown voice in her room. She whirled around on her bed, stumbling as her hand failed to find purchase on the mattress. Her eyes scanned the room- and stopped.
Rushed awake is a funny state to be in. Technically awake, but still a bit slow when trying to process things. Scanning the room Sunset found a complete absence of her normal one-room apartment, instead she was in a bedroom made out off... crystal? It was a pretty big room, about the size of her apartment if not as high. It was pretty bare, containing only a bed (and a luxurious one at that, way more comfortable than her mattress), a closet, a nightstand with lamp and a rug. There were also two doors, one -she assumed- leading to a bathroom and the other...
The other had a small purple scaled and green finned dragon standing in its opening, with a wide grin on its face.
"Morning Sunset" the dragon said, and now that she was somewhat more awake she could finally place the voice.
"Spike?" she asked.
Spike's grin grew wider. "In the scales! Now 100% less dog and 100% more pure awesome dragon!" Sunset couldn't help but grin herself as the tiny dragon flexed like a superhero from a comic. "Anyway" Spike said as he puffed out and relaxed his stance, "Twilight told me to wake you up for breakfast."
Sunset blinked. "Twilight is making breakfast?"
"No, I'm making breakfast. Twilight told me you popped in for a visit last evening and went straight to bed, so we figured we'd let you sleep in for a spell. But breakfast is called breakfast for a reason, soooo..." Spike trailed off as he stepped to the side and waved at the door.
"Right, right, on my way oh mighty dragon lord" Sunset said with a grin and a roll of her eyes. She slipped her feet of the bed and got up- "Whu-whoa!" Sunset yelped as she struggled to maintain her balance, she almost tipped forward until she threw back her head and found some balance. She still felt like she could topple forward any moment, but at least she was standing.
"Uhh, Sunset?" Spike prodded, hesitation thick in his voice.
"Ye-whoa! Yeah?" Sunset asked, nearly losing her balance again as she turned to Spike.
"Not that I don't understand the pleasure of standing on two legs, but isn't four more comfortable?"
Sunset blinked and looked down at her arms- or rather, her legs. Legs with hooves, rather than hands. She blinked and slowly lowered them to the ground again, hitting the crystal tiles with a subdued clop. Now that her mind was no longer running on exhausted auto-pilot, she took a moment to just feel standing on four legs again. Everything suddenly felt taller as she halved her own height.
"That long ago, huh?" Spike's voice called from the doorway, dragging her back to reality.
"Yeah, I guess. It's like.. I don't know, slipping back into old shoes after wearing new ones for a while?"
"I'll take your word for it." Spike said as he wriggled the shoe-less claws of his feet.
"Right, one more thing to get used to again" Sunset remarked dryly as she looked back at her own unclad form. Human clothing had taken surprisingly little time to get used to. Ponies generally didn't feel naked because of their coats, but any pony who had lost some of their coat, in an accident or because of a surgery, would try to cover it up. Humans didn't have coats at all, so being clothed at all times felt... logical.
Now though? Sunset drew a deep breath and stretched, enjoying the feel of her coat rippling through the motion. It felt good.. Right in a way her human clothing never did. Well, except maybe her jacket. She did really like that one. Even after Rarity insisted on an 'image change', she refused to give up her jacket. "Going to have to look into getting one over here" she murmured.
"Did you say something?" Spike asked, still standing in the doorway.
"Hmm? Oh, nothing, just wondering if I could get a jacket over here" Sunset smiled and walked past the dragon. "Anyway, breakfast, right? Which way do we go?"
"This way, the dining hall is a few corridors down." Spike pointed as he ran up to walk by the mare's side and the two walked down the corridor.
Clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop.
Sunset's ear twitched at the familiar sound. Those were hooves, her hooves. She'd heard it on occasion, back when she visited Applejack's farm, but this was the first time in a long time that she could actually feel the beats as the keratin of her hooves made contact with the crystal floor.
"I have hooves again."
Sunset couldn't repress the grin making its way on her face, nor did she stop her legs as she moved from a slow trot into a canter.
Clipetyclop clipetyclop clipetyclop
"Wait! Sunset!"
A screech sounded from the crystal floor as Sunset ground to a halt, turning back her head to see Spike hurrying across the floor to catch up with her on his two little legs.
"Oh." Sunset said as she realized there was no way he was going to keep up with her. She smiled apologetically at the little dragon. "Sorry about that Spike."
"Yeesh, you're *huff* almost like a cooped up pegasus finally being let out" Spike grumbled.
Sunset reached up to scratch the back of her head awkwardly. "Sorry" she said again "I just felt like cutting loose a bit. It's been a long time since I had hooves."
Spike shook his head "no no, it's fine, just let me climb up first."
Sunset blinked and opened her mouth to ask what Spike meant, but her words dissolved into a yelp as tiny claws scampered across her flank and a small weight settled on her back. Sunset turned her neck back and levelled the dragon with a critical eyebrow. "Getting comfortable?" she asked archly.
Spiked crossed his arms and returned her raised eyebrow with one of his own. "Hey, if you don't want to wait for breakfast either slow down or take me along. Your choice."
Sunset snorted. "Alright, but don't blame me if you fall off."
"Oh don't worry" Spike replied. "Twilight's carried me around since I hatched, I'm used to this."
Sunset hummed. That made sense, it really wasn't that different from carrying a foal around. Not that she'd ever done that herself, she'd quite firmly set herself 'above' such 'mundane' things back when she was Princess Celestia's student.
"Well then, Sir Spike, hang on and show me where to go. We have a breakfast to catch, and we're going to do it fast!" Sunset reared and dashed off, skipping the trot and going straight for a full gallop. Spike remained expertly strapped to her back, holding bits of her mane in a gentle but firm grip and leaning in with her as he called out directions. Sunset felt elated, the sound of hooves on solid ground and the rush of wind through her mane brought back feelings of joy she hadn't even known she had missed. A sharp turn left, a fast sprint through a straight corridor, a flick of magic to throw open the doors, Sunset let out a cheer as she noticed a large table on the other side, dashing through the door and skidding to a halt. She drew several deep breaths as she stood there, a grin from ear to ear on her face.
"Well somepony is certainly feeling a lot better today" the amused voice of Princess Twilight sounded, making her ears flick as she turned towards one of the seats at the table. It was the first time, Sunset realized, that she actually got a good look at Princess Twilight Sparkle. The small chase in what she had later learned was the Crystal Palace hadn't given her a lot of time, and the rest was with Twilight's human form.
Twilight was calmly sitting on one of six low seats around a circular table, a purple coat with a blazing starburst cutie mark on her flank and a purple mane and tail that were not all that different from her human form's hair. Sunset's eyes trailed from the horn she knew Twilight was born with down to the wings Twilight had earned. The sign of a Princess of Equestria.
"So what got you two racing through the castle?" Twilight asked.
"Sunset wanted to see if her legs still worked" Spike said joyfully as he jumped of her back. "I didn't want to be left behind, so I hitched a ride."
There was a slight narrowing of Twilight's eyes, even though the smile never left her face. "Spike, what did I tell you about being a kitchen dictator with guests?" The tone was light, as if this was hardly the first time Twilight had told the young drake this, and knew full well it wouldn't be the last.
"Sunset's a friend, and friends don't count." Spike shot back, sticking out his tongue. He then turned to Sunset. "So what do you want for breakfast?"
Sunset paused. "Uhm, what do you have? I'm kind of out of practice with Equestrian breakfasts."
"Well, I could make an alfalfa salad, get some oats to cook or eggs and baked hay, maybe pancakes" Spike started counting the dishes on his claws, pausing for a moment and trying very badly to suppress a grin as he continued. "Or I could make some haycakes."
Sunset's ears sprang up and her eyes widened. "You have haycakes?"
Spike's grin threatened to split his face apart. "Great! Haycakes it is. And that means..." he trailed off as he took a glance at Twilight, who rolled her eyes in reply.
"Yes, that means amethyst cakes for you. Now get going you cheeky drake."
"I'll get started right away!" Spike said as he waddled of to the kitchen.
Sunset watched Spike waddle into the kitchen as Twilight chuckled. "He's always looking for excuses to sneak in amethyst cakes."
"Amethyst cakes?"
Twilight nodded as she waved Sunset over to one of the chairs next to her. "You know how dragons can eat minerals? Turns out they're a delicacy to dragons. Spike's perfectly capable of eating omnivorous meals, but gems? Gems get him drooling. So the first time I left him alone in the kitchen, he decided to start making gem pancakes and came up with the amethyst cake. But I didn't want him to stuff his face with only amethyst pancakes, so we made a deal: whenever we eat haycakes, he gets to make amethyst pancakes."
Sunset chuckled. "You sound like his mother."
"Oh no" Twilight said, shaking her head with a chuckle. "My parents are his legal guardians. I mean, I was only nine when I hatched him."
"Wait, you hatched him?" Sunset interrupted.
Twilight nodded. "Yes, that was my entrance exam for Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns."
Sunset's eyes widened "The dragon egg hatching? They gave you the dragon egg hatching test? And you passed it? That test wasn't even designed to be passed!"
Twilight nodded. "Oh yes, that was a doozy. Got my cutie mark when I did it too. I'll tell you all about it later, but first" Twilight leaned on the table, letting her cheek rest on her hooves and her eyes focused on Sunset "I think we should talk about your story. You did promise me answers last night."
Sunset sighed as she made herself comfortable in her chair. It took a bit of fiddling to find the right sitting posture again, but eventually her body found itself a nice position. "Yeah, I did promise that" she said, flicking her tail. "I just... don't know where to start."
"How about from where we left off?" Twilight suggested gently. "You've already told me most of what happened with Anon-a-Miss, how someone was using this 'internet' to make everyone think you were spilling secrets, and last night you told me you had 'found your family' when you came through the portal."
Sunset chewed in the inside of her cheek for a moment as she considered her reply. "After my friends told me they wanted nothing to do with me anymore, I felt... alone. Like I felt that night after the fall formal when I was at the bottom of that crater, only a dozen times worse. I mean, I always knew I wouldn't just get away with what I've done. I was an absolute tyrant for years in CHS, and the evidence -especially the photo's from my phone- were pretty damning. But... I wanted to change, I really, really wanted to change. And when I finally got friends, it felt like the best thing in the world."
"I know the feeling" Twilight mused.
"And when they turned their backs on me..." Sunset trailed off, her eyes moving from Twilight to the silverware on the table.
"Yeah, I know that feeling too."
Sunset's eyes perked and her head jerked to Twilight. She could practically taste the bitterness when Twilight said that. "You? but how-"
Twilight ruffled her wings and sighed. "I'll tell you later. They're not exactly the happiest memories for me either, but suffice to say I know a little bit about feeling like you lost all your friends." She levelled Sunset with a determined gaze. "But I also know a lot about getting them back."
Sunset felt her ears wilt slightly at the gaze, but shook her head. "I don't know, Twilight. Even when I swore that I had nothing to do with it, nobody believed me."
"Was there really nopo-nobody who took your side? Who listened to you?"
A memory popped to the front of Sunset's mind. Blue hair and a jacket, a worried face and an awkward hand scratching the back of his head. "...There was one." she murmered. "Flash found me right before I went through the portal."
"Flash Sentry?" Twilight's ears went ramrod straight as Twilight's eyes sparkled, but then dimmed as a questioning look passed her face. It held for a moment before she shook her head. "So did he try to stop you?"
Sunset shook her head with a smile. "No, he actually told me I was being too stubborn trying to stay and fix everything myself and told me to take a break."
"But he believed you. Believed that it wasn't you." Twilight noted.
"Yeah, he did." Sunset agreed. "He didn't say it in those exact words, but he did."
"And what about principal Celestia? Or vice-principal Luna?" Twilight pressed, sitting up straight in her chair and letting a slow smile spread across her face.
Sunset frowned at Twilight's newfound optimism. "Why would they even believe me? In all the years I've gone to them, it was always to frame someone else for something I cooked up. This would be exactly that, only this time they'd have plenty of 'proof' to believe it was me."
"But did you try?"
"Well, no, but-"
Twilight's hooves met the table with a clack as she reared up on her hind legs, wings unfurling in full and a smile on her face. "Then we should do that first! We'll talk to principal Celestia and vice-principal Luna, tell them your side of the story and-"
"NO!"
Sunset saw Twilight flinch at her voice, but her mind was elsewhere. Back in the hallway of Canterlot High, surrounded by glaring, accusing students. She shook her head to clear the memory, but even though it retreated the feeling of dread stubbornly remained.
"I don't want to go back Twilight. Not yet. I just- I just want to get away from all this, just for a little while." She could feel her ears droop again and her eyes started to get blurry. She wasn't sure whether it was because she was a pony again, or because she was with a true friend, or maybe even the conversation with Luna, but she felt a lot of the walls she had built up crack.
Sunset startled as two furry legs and a pair of wings wrapped around her. She could feel Twilight's head on her neck as the princess drew her into a hug. "T-Twilight?"
"I'm sorry" Twilight's voice tickled her ear, "I... get wrapped up in things sometimes, especially when it comes to friendship since it's kind of my duty now. I won't do anything if you're not comfortable with it. But... I just want to help. Not just because I'm the Princess of Friendship, but because you're my friend."
Sunset raised her own arms and returned the hug. "I know Twilight, and thanks. I just need a little bit of time, that's all. Like Flash said, just an early holiday."
"You're welcome to stay here as long as you like" Twilight said, pulling back from the hug to look Sunset in the eyes with a smile.
Sunset smiled back. "Thanks, Twilight."
The two friends just smiled for a moment, before a cough from the kitchen drew their attention.
"Well, now that the friendship moment is over, how about we start breakfast?" Spike said as he walked to the table, two plates with stacks of the most delicious looking brown hay filled pancakes in each of his hand and a third with a stack of pancakes with a purple glitter on his head. "Here you go Sunset" the dragon noted as he put one of the two plates in front of Sunset.
Sunset Shimmer felt the drool building up in her mouth and drip down, and she did nothing to stop it. Propriety be damned, stupid human body hadn't let her enjoy proper Equestrian food in years. Not even bothering with the syrup or silverware, Sunset let instinct and old memories take over and chomped down into the stack. She closed her eyes as the fluffy taste of pancakes and the firmer taste of hay hit her tongue and happily hummed as she chewed.
A double giggle drew her away from the slices of heaven on her plate as she turned to look at Twilight and Spike, who had taken a seat on Twilight's other side. Both of them were giving her cheshire grins. "I don't think I need to ask whether the haycakes are good" Spike quipped.
Sunset rolled her eyes, and rather than dignify the dragon's quip with a quip of her own, swallowed and took another bite out of the stack.
That was as good an answer as any, she thought.
Meanwhile in Canterlot, another breakfast was taking place. This one of considerably more propriety, as one would expect of a breakfast at Celestia's table.
Celestia herself had not yet started her breakfast, despite the many bowls of fruit on the table, waiting as she was for her sister to whom this would probably count as dinner. She had always found it amusing that she was the first of the two to rise, even though Luna had technically yet to go to sleep. But her sister took her duties as Princess of the Night seriously, and would not abandon her watch as long as ponies were still sleeping.
Even if those ponies were just trying to dodge Celestia's day.
Eventually Celestia could hear the clopping of silver shoed hooves approaching. Her ear flicked as she noticed a certain bounce in the steps. Somepony was in a good mood. The doors were opened calmly by the guard, and as Luna entered Celestia called out. "Good morning sister, had a good night?"
"Invigorating!" Luna called back. "t'has been a long time since we had the opportunity to help somepony so surprisingly close to us."
Oh? Now this sounded interesting. Celestia always enjoyed a good gossip or two, but her sister finding a pony close to her? Now that was just a juicy apple being dangled in front of her. "Really Luna?" Celestia purred as she steepled her hooves. "Anypony I know, by chance?"
Luna stopped and her ears waggled. This gave Celestia pause, as long years with her sister taught her to recognise Luna's signature 'I know something but I'm not sure I should tell Celestia' tick.
"Luna?" Celestia called. "Is everything alright?"
Celestia noted Luna chewing on her lip for a moment more before sighing. "Oh fie, you would discover swiftly anyway." Luna took her place at the other end of the table and started. "Last night I had the pleasure to help a most interesting young mare with her nightmares" she noted, picking a few choice pieces of the many fruits of the bowls for an impromptu salad. "As it turns, your former student, Sunset Shimmer, has chosen to temporarily return to Equestria."
Celestia started, her wings ruffling out almost to their full length and she all but leapt from her chair. "Sunset is back?"
"Indeed, she is at Twilight Sparkle's castle right now. Though before you jump out the window to join your former students, know that Sunset's return is not entirely of her volition."
"She was banished?" Celestia asked shocked.
"No" Luna replied bluntly, but paused. "And yes. She is facing trouble in the world beyond the mirror and felt she needed to retreat to Equestria for a while."
Celestia's eyes widened. "She's in trouble? I have to go! I have to help!" the Princess turned around to the nearest window, the one leading to the open balcony, but before she could even take a single step she could feel a firm tug on her mane.
"Calm thyself sister." Luna said as she poured herself a glass of juice. "The problems Sunset Shimmer is facing are those of friendship. She is already in the right hooves for the situation."
"But-" Celestia protested, but Luna did not give her a chance to finish.
"You would waltz into Twilight's domain?" Luna noted archly. "Do we not remember what happened the last time one of us tried to press into another Princess's domain?" Luna shook her head. "No, sister, leave this to Twilight. There are many pains, both old and new, that haunt your former students. And lest we forget, you yourself are part of those pains."
Celestia flinched as if struck. "I just want to help her..." she muttered.
"I know, Celestia. But I have seen her dreams. Sunset will need time to tackle her current problem, and she cannot do so if she has to tackle you at the same time."
Celestia sighed. "Can you at least tell me what dreams plague her? If you were there they must have been nightmares."
Luna shook her head. "You know I cannot. The dreams of our subjects are their own. And while it is my duty to enter their dreams to guard and guide, it is also my duty to keep those dreams private." Luna rose from the table and made her way to her sister, sitting down next to the mare and pulling her into a hug with her wing. "Have faith in your students, Celestia. Twilight will never give up helping Sunset, and Sunset herself has taken the first step in returning home. But both will need time."
Celestia nodded and leaned into Luna's embrace. They weren't words she wanted to hear, but Celestia knew they were words she needed to hear. Celestia remembered with crystal clarity the events that led up to Sunset's self imposed exile and she knew full well the part she had played in it. If there was any bad blood remaining on Sunset's side, pushing her would only lead to disaster.
Celestia turned to stare at the sun she had just raised, the fiery orb reminding her of a certain student's mane and tail.
"Sunset..."
Shoot! while i do love the newest chapter, i was hoping to see what up in th eHuman world.
And if Susnet fears about the human counter parts of the Princesses did belive she was guilty or innocent.
8446904
Well there will be plenty for you in the next chapter then. This chapter was all about the morning, next chapter is when the day kicks in and school starts.
8446940
I wonder if this means the Humane Five will go to Equestria. If they do, I wonder how they'll react to their pony counterparts and how their pony counterparts react when they found out what they did to Sunset in the Human World?
8446966
Well, as Twilight hinted, they've done that to her too, even though the circumstances were different.
Plus, the reality is that while there are many similarities, they aren't the same people. The differences would probably be highlighted as much as the similarities.
Can't wait for the Humane 5 to find out how badly they screwed up, when they find:
A) Sunset not at school;
B) Flash telling them where Sunset went;
C) Anon-a-miss striking again, despite Sunset not existing in their world anymore.
Yeah, that'd be the ultimate proof of her innocence - the bad thing keeps happening, despite the supposed cause having left, and there being no way for said cause to do said bad thing from where said cause is.
Oops.
...Just as long as Bloom, Belle and 'loo don't find out about Sunset's AWOL.
That was a fun chapter. Still, Luna didn’t seem to have any problems with sharing dreams in the Apple Bloom episode with the cutie mark nightmares and Twilight’s friends only ever abandoned her when they were under Discord’s influence. Compared to Sunset’s friends completely throwing her away without any prior suspicious behavior, Twilight hasn’t really had a similar experience.
So I just realized that hay is the Equestrian analog to potatoes.
8447048
Twilight's friends and her mentor abandoned her at the rehearsal for Cadence's wedding.
Interesting
That's a lot of commas in the description. Hoping the story proper is more restrained.
8447048
That Dream Privacy thing probably has a few loopholes, for example, if showing another's dreams is the best course of action, or if the Dreamer on some level consents to the Pony she shows(Either verbally or through Magic), or if she is bringing ponies into a Shared Dream.
And as for a similar experience: remember the Canterlot Wedding? Twi's friends and family abandoned her and insulted her because everyone thought she was just being protective of her brother(Right nor not, they should have helped her out). Of course, by the time they found out about it, the Changeling Invasion sort of took priority so.... but it still counts.
8447059
wat makes ya say that?
8447262
8447232
There was never any established rule about Luna not sharing dreams, that was fanon. Actually, every appearance of the ability after the first episode it was in (except maybe the Sweetie Belle one, I don’t remember it) had shared dreams.
As for the wedding, at no point did Twilight’s friends break end the friendship. From the start of the episode, Twilight was acting jealous, not having ever mentioned Shining Armor or even knowing Cadance’s name not helping. Everything she mentioned was shrugged off or explained away without her ever really making a concrete argument before running in and shouting Evil! Twilight’s actions and the build up to them destroyed her case. She sent fake Cadance running away in tears the day before her wedding after acting jealous the whole time. Her friends and Celestia are extremely disappointed in her, but at no point does anyone other than Shining yell at her and none of them ended the friendship. All they (sans Shining) did was go and comfort the bride and leave Twilight to think on her actions. Compare that to Sunset, who hadn’t acted suspicious or different at all, suddenly being shouted at without being given a chance to defend herself and left in tears, all her friendships destroyed. The two situations aren’t really similar.
8447281 Toasted hayfries have the consistency of french fries, while a bunch of hay in a small lump are basically hashbrowns and haycakes remind me of latkes.
Nice chapter.
8447334
Here's the thing, Twilight wasn't all that overprotective before being legitimately suspicious of Cadence. Her only concerns were 1. that Shining was marrying a mare that(Since the invites used Cadence's Legal Name instead of the Nickname everyone knows her by), Twilight thought she had never met and 2. the fact that Shining didn't even tell her there was a wedding. She learned the day before because of an invitation. Those are legitimate reasons to be upset, but once she figures out 'Mi Amore Cadenza' is Cadence, and Shining has an explanation for why he hadn't told her, she is very on board with the wedding isn't having any issues.
After that, she realizes that 'Cadence' is acting very different. She brushed off the fact that 'Cadence' didn't recognize her, and maybe the fact that she's using her Legal Name, but then she's being terrible. Not even 'bridezilla-this-is-my-dream-wedding-it-needs-to-be-perfect' terrible, but just generally a rude bitch. But when she brings up these concerns, her friends take 'Cadence's' side.
Like, they know Twilight. They trust her. And while they know she can sometimes get a bit paranoid, they also know by now what her paranoia can do if left unchecked(Want It Need It spell anyone?). So what they should have done is actually help calm her down, let her talk through the things that are bothering her about 'Cadence', whether they are unfounded or not. But they just go 'You're purposely seeing her every action as rude because you're possessive of your brother, because there's no way this mare we met today and talked to for three minutes is a jerk. You're the jerk for not giving her a chance.'.
Then of course we get the wedding rehearsal. She brings up the things she's seen, and gets shut down. Because obviously 'Cadence' being 'stressed' gives her a free pass to say horrible things to others, but Twilight is in the wrong for pointing out that it's what she's doing. Her friends then leave her sobbing. Even if she had gone too far, her brother just disowned her, they should have stayed to comfort her and help her figure out a way to fix it because, again, they can see that they don't need to 'let her think about what she's done', it's already hit her because she's freaking sobbing. Instead, they glare at her and walk off to comfort the mare they just met. They might not have physically said 'our friendship is over', but their actions said it for them.
Sorry for the long reply there, but yeah, you don't have to physically say the friendship is over, you just have to decide to hate them instead.
8447381
oh shit son good catch
You know, there's no faster way to invest me than to have good interactions featuring Spike. Well played.
Seriously, this was a nice chapter. I really enjoyed it.
8447465
The thing is that they told Twilight she was seeing problems that weren’t there, like when Twilight thought Shining was marrying a complete stranger. She was also accusing a pony who she hadn’t seen in years, whose full name she didn’t know, and was in a high stress situation (wedding that was under threat of attack) if acting differently and being rude. She didn’t do a good job of convincing them something was wrong and they had every reason to believe Twilight was jealous (remember, they only interacted before Twilight met fake Cadance, during the check up, and when they ate before the rehearsal). Yes it was a dick move that they didn’t really talk things through, but Twilight didn’t even try talking to them again or to Celestia before her barge in.
Also remember that this complete stranger was also Celestia’s niece, and Celestia sided with her. Twilight has been known to overreact and create problems out of nothing, and her friends (poorly) tried to talk her down. At the same time, Twilight was saying that there shouldn’t be a wedding because she found Cadance to be rude and insincere. Then Cadance offers the bridesmaid positions to them for working so hard.
As for the rehearsal, Twilight’s friends already thought she was overreacting and fake Cadance did show appreciation for their hard work in the end, Shining was under mind control, and Celestia only saw Twilight’s outburst. All of her arguments were completely and logically countered after she sent the bride off in tears. The supposedly horrible things Cadance did were either just being rude (not even extremely rude), replacing dishonest bridesmaids, and using a headache curing spell. Yes two of those were lies, but Twilight’s friends had no way of knowing that and Twilight wasn’t able to argue against it. Twilight had absolutely no legs to stand on. Plus, Shining never disowned her, he told her not to show up to the wedding after sending off the bride in tears over suspicions. Twilight’s friends went to check on the person the pony who was sent off in tears right before her wedding, Celestia never disowned her as a student, and Twilight didn’t start crying until after her song, which was after everyone already left. At no point was she disowned by anyone. It wasn’t even implied (heck, Applejack was much more vitriolic when Twilight used magic during Winter Wrap Up). Sure Twilight’s friends could’ve handled the earlier part a bit better, but they were all busy and Celestia didn’t see anything wrong.
Anyways, the point was that Twilight’s friends went to support Cadance because of Twilight’s actions and at no point ended friendships. The worst she got was disappointment from friends and mentor, and anger from Shining with a ban from the wedding (with very good reason for that). Yes, Twilight and her friends got played, but that doesn’t excuse Twilight’s actions. Meanwhile, Sunset did nothing suspicious whatsoever, she was just enjoying not being alone for the holidays (Applejack saw her being very melancholy before as well). On the first suspicion it was her, they yelled at her until she broke down in front of them, didn’t give her a chance to talk, broke off the friendship right in her face, called her a liar that faked everything they’d been through, and later even discussed what Sunset did being potentially unforgivable even for family.
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1. Your brother marrying a complete stranger isn't a 'made up problem'. It brings up a whole bunch of questions because usually if someone doesn't introduce their fiance to their family, it's because there are major issues that would usually have them not talking to their family at all. Also, it's understandable to not know someone's Legal Name. Like, I know people who went by a nickname very different than their Legal name, for many reasons. Some liked the name better, some were jokes that stuck, and others were transgender.
2. Twilight did try and talk about it rationally, at their dinner thing, and they just shut her down. After seeing 'Cadence' use the mind-control spell on Shining, she runs to tell them, but knowing that they brushed her off earlier, she realizes she's on her own and hopes that the dramatic will work better since rational talking didn't. And again, let's pretend that there was no Changelings and Cadence really was just being a total bitch because of stress. That's still not okay, and she would have deserved to be called out for that.
3. Considering that Celestia was fooled by Chrysalis's disguise, either she was too busy to spend enough time around the fake to see the differences, or she doesn't actually know Cadence that well despite being family, or Chrysalis put effort into her acting around her because Celestia would know her and is a bit harder to hypnotize.
4. High-stress situations don't change who you are, they just enhance a part of your personality. Honestly, if the real Cadence was like this under stress, then she'd need to work through some issues before getting married because hot damn is that a fast pass to the therapist, especially for the future kid(s). So I think saying that there shouldn't be a wedding is a good idea.
5. Twilight.... technically didn't even do the wrong thing? She tried talking calmly, she tried the emotional outburst, what else should she have done? Like, they just ignored her no matter what.
6. As for the disowning, when you kick your sister/best mare out of your wedding? That very much has a 'you're not allowed to see your eventual niece' vibe. People have cut others out of their lives for less. And again, she was broken before they walked past her. Everything about Twilight's body language says 'message freaking received' and the realization of having screwed up. However, they just glare and purposely walk past her and add the extra salt in the wound of 'we're going to check on the princess' and 'you need to think about what you've done', purposely to hurt her. They've gotten her so out of whack, that she believes she was just making it up out of over-protectiveness. Which, again, she's not.
7. As for Sunset's lack of suspicious behavior, well, the whole point to Anon-a-Miss was her previous behavior? The blog was started because of who she was in the past, and everyone assumed it was her because of who she was in the past. Despite Sunset having changed a bit and trying to be calm and tell them that it isn't her using various logical arguments, they ignore her because of past actions. That's what they did to Twilight. She's been paranoid before, so obviously she's being paranoid now. Very boy who cried wolf here. TBH the lesson of that tale should be less 'don't be a dick' and more 'sometimes people are paranoid, sometimes they're not. Better safe than eaten!".
Again, sorry for the long rant.
8447048
Well she won't hesitate to share dreams if it'll help the ponies in question, but there's a difference between showing a dream to help a pony and gossip about a pony's nightmares. It's fanon, yes, but I'd like to think that Luna takes her duties as Princess of the Night seriously. Walking into someone's dream is a very serious invasion of privacy, and while Equestria as a whole is grateful for Luna watching over them and trusts her with their dreams, I believe Luna treats that trust with the respect it deserves.
8447241
I do like comma's...
But seriously though, English isn't my first language so I might slip on the grammar here and there. If you spot some of that overly excessive comma use, by all means point it out and I'll fix it.
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Something I slightly pointed out in this chapter and will come back on later, but Sunset had some very damning evidence painting her. The second secret revealed were the photo's she had taken on her personal smartphone. There are a very limited amount of ways that one can be interpreted.
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Spike deserves nice things. He's a smart kid who takes care of his friends.
Yay for updates, hope to see more soon. :). I know Celestia and Sunset interaction isn't the main story, but I hope you go back to it at some point, maybe with Twilight to help calm Sunset.
Yay this is back
Lovely story. Can't wait to see what happens next!
Oaths? I think you mean oats.
8447502
Yeah, it still kinda throws me off seeing Spike actually made good use of in stories rather than being just a joke or playing second... err... maybe thirty-seventh fiddle to other characters. XD
I love how you write Twilight and Spike in this story, it's so adorable!
8447695
The thing about the smart phone pictures is that that’s exactly how Sunset broken them up before, sending texts from their phones and emails from their emails. How exactly she did it, we don’t know, but the only option they consider is that she lost her phone which either isn’t what happened to them, or makes them not talking in the first movie even worse, plus makes it even weirder that she didn’t use pictures from the other girls’ phones. If you came up with better evidence for the fic, great, can’t wait to see it, but the comic handled it very poorly.
8447682
Well, Twilight’s first problem, Shining marrying a stranger, turned out to be completely false. Twilight specifically said that no one wasn’t questioning if there even should be a wedding because Cadance... didn’t like Applejack’s appetizers but said she did and was disinterested about the dress. She also yelled at a bird who was very off key. That’s a list of her being a “total bitch”. Her friends did try and talk her down and said she was making something out of nothing.
You’re completely overplaying Cadance’s actions and underplaying Twilight’s. Cadance never did anything particularly bad (that was caught and not twisted). Twilight did try to talk rationally, but she also ignored everything her friends said. They tried to explain she was overreacting, but she brushed them off. Yes, they probably should’ve seen her outburst coming (this would be the fourth time she’s gone overboard), but maybe they were treating her like a rational pony who would listen to them? They definitely didn’t handle the situation perfectly, but that doesn’t excuse Twilight’s actions in any way.
Anyways, Twilight drove the bride away in tears the day before her wedding. That’s not a small thing. Twilight potentially destroyed the wedding because she didn’t like Cadance the day before it happened. Why shouldn’t they go comfort the innocent pony that was sent off in tears? They were all rightly pissed at Twilight at the moment, of course they would help the victim. Why would they go to Twilight first (there’s no reason to assume they wouldn’t go to her later). It was still sinking in to Twilight how badly she screwed up anyways. Also, at no point did Shining say he didn’t want to see Twilight again or to stay away from Cadance, and he was absolutely pissed at that point, so he would say what’s on his mouth mind. Heck, during her breakdown, Twilight thought she might have lost Shining, but at no point did she even consider she might’ve lost her friends.
Twilight’s friends didn’t ignore her and they didn’t choose to comfort Cadance because of past actions, it was because Twilight made an ass out of herself at the time. It was entirely Twilight’s actions that they were against. Sure they didn’t handle the situation perfectly, but why should they be expected to, especially when Twilight handled it so much worse? Compare that to Sunset. She was judged entirely for her past actions, except even then the account didn’t match her past actions. This was after Rainbow Rocks, when they all used the magic of friendship to defeat the sirens, after Sunset had been showing for awhile (implied to be a season) that she had changed a lot. The two situations are different in just about every way.
8448186
That's not exactly a point in Sunset's favour. They know Sunset is capable of pulling a stunt like this, but not of anyone else.
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Doip. Corrected.
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I think part of Spike's comparative absence is because he's a lot harder to animate than ponies. And sometimes the writers just aren't sure what to do with him. But he has had some good showings over the years, so it's not all bad.
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It’s more of an issue that Sunset’s friends never even considered it an option. Heck, they were already certain it was her before they asked if she lost her phone. They were broken up the exact same way as before, someone impersonating a friend and them not being willing to even attempt to talk or consider the person might be innocent. It didn’t even match Sunset’s past behavior as she gained nothing and it painted a giant target on her back. They never even considered why she might’ve done it, if she really had faked everything, what she would’ve gained, or even why it was so sloppy. The only thing they considered in the days it took place over is that she may be unforgivable. It took Sunset begging a second time and invoking Twilight’s name for them to even begin considering they might be wrong. The entire thing was an insult to all of Twilight’s efforts through the first movie, Sunset’s efforts since then, and Sunset’s intelligence. Maybe if they had considered actually trying to talk to her or were at the very least shown to feel genuinely bad about it at the end of the comic, it would be different, but as is, they weren’t shown to even attempt to work things out, exactly what broke them up in the first place.
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Actually they did assume Sunset was innocent at first, with the website and the piggly wiggly they never suspected her. AJ even flat out shoots down Applebloom for trying to hint at it. Then when the photo's were uploaded, the first thing they did was ask Sunset if she'd lost her phone recently. When Sunset answered she hadn't, that's when they jumped to what is really not an unexpected conclusion. And even then they had their doubts.
8448432
They basically ambushed her after the pictures and were talking as though she was guilty. When did they consider it might not be her? They weren’t even slightly surprised or shocked that it was her. Let’s say under the heat of the moment they didn’t think everything through and jumped to conclusions (they were never shown thinking anything through and all of their accusations made no sense besides the pictures, which was exactly what happened to them before). They were at no point shown trying to consider other possibilities, no point wondered why Sunset would’ve done it, never wondered if the girl sobbing on the floor that the rest of the school hates again might not be guilty, and never tried talking to her after the initial encounter (they tried to yell Sunset out of the cafe, Sunset had to practically beg).
The closest thing they did to considering it might not be her is Fluttershy asking Rainbow if she really thought it was Sunset, Rainbow saying she didn’t want to believe, and then both immediately going back to talking as though it was without a doubt her and how she backstabbed them. So to sum up, Sunset had no motive, didn’t show any suspicious behavior, wasn’t given a chance to defend herself, was accused of having faked everything since the first movie (including all of Rainbow Rocks), none of them even considered another possibility, never tried to find out why she would do it, completely forgot the same thing happened before (without considering how, or that they were able to talk it out), wouldn’t give Sunset a chance until she practically begged, and never even apologized to her (but instantly forgave the CMC). The Apple Bloom example also doesn’t really help, as all it shows was how completely they were willing to flip on Sunset (100% support to 100% against in one upload).
Edit: looking through the comic again, Applejack never talked about it being unforgivable, not sure where I got that from, my bad.
8448488
Sunset had no motive that they knew off for her first reign of terror either. Sure, the comic isn't the best in establishing the process, but it does show from them going from being sure of her innocence to doubt to convinced of her guilt. I do think people are a tad too quick to throw the humane six under the bus when it comes to anon-a-miss stories. These are people that have been burned by Sunset for several years, and are suddenly faced with several cases of incriminating evidence, one of which being very hard to disprove. Guilt has been assumed over less in many a story, and if the comic had been a tad better at telling the story I don't think it would have gotten as much ire as it does.
8448535
She did have a motive during her reign, she wanted to be on top. Sure it’s a crap motive, but it was there and pretty clear. She couldn’t get that with Anon-A-Miss, in fact the account took her from near the top to the absolute bottom. As for her reign of terror, how long did it last? How long were the mane 5 broken apart? It definitely wasn’t years as they’re at most juniors in the movie near the start of the school year and were pictured as friends as freshmen in the yearbook (which was most likely not from the start of the year).
When did the comic show any transition for the mane 5? They went from 100 in one direction to 100 in the other the next in a page. They were never shown doubting Sunset, only being completely convinced it was her. The closest thing to doubt was to ask if she had lost her phone, which they didn’t expect she did, so they weren’t doubting it was her.
As for the evidence, only one piece is remotely incriminating. The nickname could’ve easily been accidentally leaked as multiple people knew it and at least one used it, the colors of the profile being Sunset’s was counter to how she was acting (why would she advertise it was her and pretend it wasn’t at the same time?), and the pictures was exactly what happened to the mane 5 before, so it should’ve at least been questioned. Sure the pictures would be hard to disprove, but they didn’t even give her a chance.
She could feel Twilight's head on her neck as the princes drew her into a hug. Typo
8448186
I feel like you're underplaying 'Cadence's' actions and overplaying Twilight's.
1. In theory, pretend that 'Mi Amore Cadenza' really was some random mare that Twilight had never met. If you think you have a great relationship with your brother, and then find out that he never told you about a girlfriend, much less a fiance, you wonder what you did. Because no one proposes before meeting the family, unless they have a reason to not be talking to their family. So Twilight is internally freaking out about what she might've done wrong, but she's sure she knows Shining well enough that she can go up and ask 'what in the hay?!" and there's also the fact that she got the invitation the day before the wedding(Seriously, who does that??), so it turns into anger instead of fear. it's not an 'imaginary problem', it's a real problem. Once she figures out that 'Mi Amore Cadenza' is Cadence, she's 110% on board all sing-song and giddy.
2. As I mentioned last time, there are many reasons why someone wouldn't know a friend's Legal Name. Either they like the Nickname better, it was a joke nickname that stuck, or they're Transgender. Cadence seems to be the first option.
3. Twilight actually knows Cadence fairly well? Like, yeah Cadence had been her foalsitter a while back, but considering that if Cadence was dating Shining she'd be around a lot, the fact that Twilight has been in the Castle with the other Royals for years and probably talked to Cadence every day or so, and the way they interact once Twilight finds the real Cadence and in all of her subsequent appearances? Twilight knows the real Cadence, including how she reacts to stress(Lets be real here, itty bitty Twily was probably an occasional cause of stress), and the stress-reaction she expects is what we see in later episodes with Cadence keeping things together and being calm, reasonable, and still nice. What she doesn't know is that Changelings exist. As far as she knew, there isn't some creature that can magically replace a Pony, so the logical conclusion is that Cadence is choosing to do this. And while she doesn't understand why she changed so suddenly, there isn't another explanation for it. So, yeah, what do we call someone who chooses to be rude? A bitch.
4. It wasn't just 'not liking the appetizers' or 'wanting the right dress' that was 'Cadence's' rude actions. It was lying to AJ's face and throwing the food in the trash, yet being demanding about the dress. That's honestly what made me suspicious on my first watch through, because I thought with the food thing 'maybe she's a bit awkward and didn't want to say she wanted to change something', but then she's perfectly okay telling Rarity to change all of the dresses. While I didn't guess 'Changeling' it definitely made me suspicious of how she acted.
5. There was more than the appetizers and dress. It was also 'pretending' not to not know Twilight and glaring at her when Shining says 'we're glad to have you here!'. There was the way she silenced her Bridesmaids, who are supposed to be her closest friends, for liking their dress colors. It was just a glare, but the three of them are terrified. Like, I have seen that reaction before, in people who have been abused and/or expect to be abused by the person in question. That says volumes more about 'Cadence' than the demands on the dress(But kids show so they can't actually state that out loud). Then there's her comments on Pinkie's reception plan. 'Perfect! ...If we were celebrating a six-year-old's birthday party.'(Of course Pinkie doesn't get it because Pinkie, but it still stands). And the yelling at the bird, well, first off who yells at a bird? Unless it's Yelling Bird don't yell at the Bird. Secondly, Flutters has been known to underplay things a lot. It's more likely that 'Cadence' went on a full rant at the bird.
6. Again, stressed or not, 'Cadence' does not get a free pass to be a jerk. Take it from someone who grew up with people who used that excuse a lot, it doesn't matter. It still hurts, it still messes you up. "I can treat you however I want because I have other problems" is never okay.
7. If it was just one incident, maybe saying the wedding should be off is overreacting. But several acts combined with the fact that, as far as Twilight can tell, 'Cadence' is choosing to be like this of her own free will(refer to point 3). And this 'Cadence' is unfit for a relationship.
8. Twilight wasn't being over-protective. Like, she didn't misinterpret things or twist them around to fit her vision. 'Cadence' was being rude and suspicious, and Twilight gathered the evidence and presented the facts at their dinner. But instead of believing that Twilight noticed a change in the mare she's known for years, they're the ones judging the mare they barely know and saying they know her better than Twilight does. Instead of saying 'hey, you're obviously upset about this, and while we think it's stress you should talk to 'Cadence' about this because it's a big deal for you', they call her irrational and say she's making things up out of brother-issues.
9. Again, what else should Twilight have done in this situation? Let's pretend that it wasn't a Changeling and it was just Cadence deciding to be terrible like Twilight believes. , 'Cadence's' behavior is a major problem and needs to be addressed before the wedding continued. She brings this up to her friends, and they accuse her of being irrational. She goes to her brother to try and talk to him about it, but she sees 'Cadence' using mind control on him for a disagreement about an outfit. Like, mind control to make your partner do what you want? That's straight up abuse, and also considering what couples do, potentially a bit rape-y. But when she goes to tell her friends about this, she sees that they're too caught up in the wedding to care. So her outburst at the rehearsal was a last desperate attempt to keep her brother from entering into an abusive marriage. She didn't count on 'Cadence' being good at manipulation without magic, or that 'Cadence' would have set up lies for if someone had seen her casting the mind-control spell, or why her bridesmaids were missing
(Side note, about the Bridesmaids: first, Bridesmaids are supposed to be your closest friends. Someone should have realized that either 'Cadence' chose ponies she didn't know as Bridesmaids or that her closest friends wouldn't have been 'using her to get to royalty'. and 2. Twilight knows those bridesmaids. It was Lyra, Minuette, and Twinkleshine. Even if she wasn't that close to them at this point, if they were the 'use someone to get to royalty' type, Twi's the better option. So again, more ways to see through the lie.). She tried to bring up more points and the things she saw(AKA: that wasn't a headache spell!), but Shining cuts her off to yell at her and then kicks her out of the wedding. It leaves her broken and speechless, so she couldn't even say anything to anyone else.10. While no, Shining doesn't say anything about after the wedding and her friends don't say the friendship is over, it still leaves the impact. Twilight herself says she 'could have gained a sister, but she lost a brother', meaning that she's sure he's not going to talk to her ever again. And in that pretend scenario where there's no Changelings and it was all just stress and misunderstandings? There isn't a way to fix that. She's forgiven because she was right, but if she were wrong, who knows what could have happened.
11. As for her friends, again, actions speak louder than words. The glares, the comments, and the walking away as she starts crying. Because, even if Twilight had been misinterpreting 'Cadence's' actions, she had been trying to do the right thing. She truly believed that 'Cadence' was a terrible pony who used mind-control spells on Shining to get in a relationship with him, and that's what she was trying to stop. She wasn't being 'overprotective' or 'mean just to be mean', she was trying to help someone she loves from what she saw as a real threat. And while Shining is angry at her and his fiance currently takes the priority(And is also being mind-controlled), her friends don't have the same excuse. They aren't as emotionally invested in Cadence, due to only knowing her for a few hours, so they shouldn't have been too angry to listen to reason, and they also wouldn't be a good comfort for 'Cadence' as they barely know her, so it's pointless to go check on her, especially since Shining's already doing so. And, they know Twilight. They know that she's not the type to be mean just to be mean, they know she's reacting to what she believes is happening. They see her getting kicked out of her brother's life over a misunderstanding, see her broken and speechless and beginning to cry at the realization that she screwed up by trying to help, and what do they do? They glare at her, they're disgusted. They turn their backs on her, and go off to try and comfort someone they barely know. And they comment on the situation as if Twilight had intended to make an innocent cry. Again, do you think they would have just gone back to normal if she wasn't proven right by 'Cadence' being a Changeling?
12. Sunset actually got a better treatment in Anon-a-Miss, oddly enough. Because they believe her at first. When Anon-a-Miss first shows up with AJ's nickname that only her family and Sunset know and the blog designed to implicate Sunset, they believe that it's not her. Applebloom suggests that it's Sunset, but AJ shuts her down immediately. It's only after more evidence is added that they turn on her. By the point they turn on her, they have 1. Sunset's past actions, 2. the nickname, 3. the blog's design, and 4. pictures that could only have come from Sunset's phone. Honestly, Sunset is the only one person who could have done it. But that's the thing. 'One Person'. They don't think Anon-a-Miss could be multiple people. Because maybe one of AJ's siblings could've told about the nickname, but none of them could have gotten the pictures from Sunset's phone. And on the reverse, no one who had access to Sunset's phone would have known about the nickname beforehand. And the only one who had a history of doing something like Anon-a-Miss was Sunset. Like, out of the other girls, Flutters and Pinkie are too nice to make a blog for trashing people, Rainbow might but wouldn't do it anonymously, AJ was first to have her secrets posted, and while Rarity is most likely to gossip she wouldn't purposely embarrass someone and her stuff was the second post, and the Crusaders are Freshman who, as far as they knew, didn't have a personal vendetta against Sunset due to not being a direct victim.
8448679
And you missed my (admittedly poorly explained point) point. I never supported Cadance’s actions, I was saying Twilight handled the situation very poorly and it was her actions that turned everyone on her. All those terrible things Cadance did, who saw them besides Twilight? Obviously Rarity didn’t notice the terrible behavior, nor did Pinkie, Applejack, or Rainbow Dash (and Fluttershy would stand up for animals, so she didn’t notice anything too bad either). All Twilight says to her friends is about the appetizers, dress (not the treatment of the bridesmaids), and the bird. She doesn’t tell them more, and just gives up when they explain it away as stress. She doesn’t try to push, she doesn’t try to explain it doesn’t make sense, she doesn’t try to do anything other than talk to Shining and crash the wedding. Twilight gave up on them.
As for knowing Cadance well, she didn’t know Shining and Cadance were dating at any point and never mentioned her before. As for the full name, first you’re assuming names work the same way in Equestria that they do here, second, Cadance is a princess, you’d think her name would come up from time to time, or at the very least Twilight would be able to connect the dots between princess Cadance and princess Candenza.
Seriously though, look at the situation from the characters’ eyes. They didn’t see the worst of Cadance’s actions and Twilight didn’t tell them. Wedding’s are infamous for causing the bride or groom to act like an ass during preparation and this was a royal wedding under threat of attack (the city was on lockdown), so Twilight’s three weak examples aren’t enough. Then Cadance goes and makes up her poor behavior to them by giving them the bridesmaid positions after apparently being betrayed by her old ones. Twilight at no point confronts anyone about it (heck, she didn’t even remember she was friends with them until season 5...) before the crash. All they saw was Twilight making something out of nothing and tried to talk her down, then seemingly calmed down, she bursts in and sends the bride off in tears, all her justifications countered. Of course they would be disappointed in her and go comfort the bride (the one who they thought was under a lot of stress) and may have just had her wedding ruined by her future sister in law. They’re body language was, “Dude, seriously, what the ****,” not “We never want to see you again”.
Also, about the changeling thing, that’s kind of irrelevant with the existence of mind control. She could’ve argued that Cadance was under mind control, but never did, just that Cadance is suddenly a terrible pony (which also makes the point of whether she knew Cadance well before completely moot). Heck, all she had to do was ask Celestia to check for mind control just in case because of the threat, or at the very least talk to Celestia or Luna at some point.
Again with the Sunset comparison, Twilight was turned away because of her actions. She had potentially ruined a wedding and sent the bride off in tears due to being overprotective (what actually happened isn’t important, it’s what the characters saw). They at no point, body language included, cut her off for good. Sunset had done absolutely nothing suspicious, in fact she offered to help. The pictures shouldn’t be definitive proof for them because the last time they had that kind of “definitive proof”, they were completely wrong. They were the ones who attacked Sunset and didn’t give her a chance to defend herself, similar to what Twilight did to Cadance. Sunset’s past actions don’t work as evidence because Anon-A-Miss didn’t match how Sunset acted before, offered no goal (in fact it made Sunset’s situation worse), and completely ignored everything post first movie. They didn’t say she went back to her old ways, but that she faked everything (even though she was trying to get them back). Add to that that the color scheme is completely counterintuitive to how Sunset was acting, her past, and any kind of motive, that someone else could’ve shared the nickname, and that they’ve had their phones used against them before, their case boiled down to “I can’t think of any other way, therefore it must be Sunset” without attempting to find any alternative or even question Sunset. They hated her and left her completely alone (and they knew she had no one else in that world). Heck, it wasn’t even really Sunset that caused the CMC to act, it was Applejack and Rarity. Yes, Twilight was manipulated and right, but it was her actions that caused everyone to side against her (and not actually breaking the friendships, the body language didn’t imply that) and her friends didn’t handle the situation perfectly (but Twilight handled it so much worse). Sunset quite literally did nothing besides enjoy time with her friends before being shouted at and left completely alone with the entire school hating her for days.
With Twilight, she screwed up and turned everyone against her for the situation, with no clue how they would’ve acted later, though no reason whatsoever to assume they were done with her. It was an on the spot reaction. With Sunset, she was thrown away in a premeditated ambush, and the others made it very clear that they’ll never trust her again and that the friendship was over. They pretty much told her they hate her and completely forgot all the time they spent together. It wasn’t driven by Sunset’s actions and it wasn’t spur of the moment so that they weren’t thinking clearly and acting on emotions (but they also made it very clear that they flipped on a dime as they had no suspicions the night before, but were 100% against her that school day).
Very nice chapter, good work.
8448838
You missed a chunk of my point, because due to the 'overplaying' thing I had to focus more on the fake Cadence's actions, but that's only half the point.
1. The others noticed'Cadence's' actions. Well, AJ rarity and Flutters did, because Pinkie is Pinkie so she didn't 'get it', and Rainbow didn't interact with Cadence yet. But they each saw part of what she had done. Even if Twilight hadn't mentioned it, Aj or one of the others in the kitchen would have noticed the bag thrown away. Rarity saw the thing with the Bridesmaids, and Fluttershy saw the bird incident. Actually, Fluttershy brought up the bird thing herself, which is strange. The incident was obviously big enough for her to feel like adding it, but she still felt like she had to justify it with the bird being off-key. Now, if they hadn't told one another of the other incidents, maybe they'd think 'eh, it was just a one time snap from stress'. But considering that they discuss incidents happening four times in the short while they were there? Someone should've done the math that she was like that with all of them, which gives more support to the fact that she's being an overall jerk.
2. Twilight did tell them everything during the dinner talk, but they all dismissed her. She tells AJ that 'Cadence' lied to her and threw her food in the trash, Aj says 'she just didn't want to hurt my feelings'. She brings up the dress demands. And, like, okay, this is a kid's show and you can't exactly say "Hey, the Bridesmaids had an abuse victim reaction to her", but the Bridesmaids is exactly what she's talking about when she brings up the demands. Because 'add beads and make the train longer' is simple, but the 'demanding' was for the Bridesmaid dresses. And considering that Rarity was there and saw it, Twilight probably didn't feel the need to go into more detail when talking to her about it. But again, Rarity brushes it off with 'it's her wedding. She's allowed to be a bit demanding'. Except now we've herd two versions. We've heard 'afraid to tell AJ she doesn't like the food' and 'aggressive about getting Rarity to change the dresses'. They should have realized that's far to conflicting, because either she should've also been too nice to change the dresses, or she should've also demanded changes for the food. Flutershy then brings up the bird, but then immediately justifies it. Twilight starts to ask Pinkie, but Pinkie is Pinkie and doing her own thing, so she does give up on that because Pinkie didn't really understand she was being insulted in the first place. She then asks Rainbow, but Rainbow admits that she's been flying so she hasn't had a chance to interact with her and notice anything off(I legit want to write an alternate/added scene where she does). But they all shrug it off. Twilight does say that 'hey, she's done all that today, isn't that a sign?', but that's when they pull out the 'you're being irrational and seeing things that aren't there because you're being overprotective'. For whatever reason, they've decided that's the truth and are ignoring everything she's saying. So she gets frustrated and runs off.
3. She then goes to try and talk to Shining, but before she can say 'hey, she's been acting like this all day don't you think that's weird???", 'Cadence' comes in and pulls him away to do the mind control spell. She then goes to tell her friends, but they're caught up in being the new Bridesmaids, and she remembers how they didn't listen to her before. What would they have done if she runs in and says 'hey she's totally mind-controlling him!'? They would've said 'Yeah, you probably saw something and misinterpreted it because you're being overprotective.' So she realizes that she's on her own and has to do something drastic if she wants to get through to anyone.
4. Again, Twilight and Cadence definitely know one another well based on their interactions in both this episode(well, at least with the real one), and in ones after that. Yeah she didn't mention Cadence before, but then again, she didn't mention Shining before either! If she didn't know Shining and Cadence were dating, then it was because they purposely hid it. Probably to keep Shining and his family from being harassed by reporters wanting a scoop on the Princess's love. Then again, we don't know if she knew or not. We know she didn't know of a 'Mi Amore Cadenza', but the only thing that might indicate time apart is the exposition of who Cadence is, but that's because this is a cartoon for children so characters have to talk about things they already know. Or perhaps Shining and Cadence weren't exactly dating. Like, I've heard of couples who are friends for years, realize they're in love and start to date, but realize they've sort of already been married in all but name for years so they decide to actually get married right away. Maybe they were like that. We don't know.
5. Also, she didn't consider the idea that Cadence was mind controlled for many reasons. Firstly, 'Cadence' is the one using the mind control spell. Also, like, yeah there's a threat to the city, but what's the point? Someone is enough of a threat to have the entire city in lockdown, and they manage to mind control one of the Princesses. What do they do with it? Make her act like a jerk....... I mean, personally, I would've used her to assassinate Celestia and/or Luna, or even just kill Shining and get rid of the shield. (Side note: Chrysalis, the hell was your plan here? Why didn't you just stab Shining once your cover was blown?).
5. Okay, that 'assuming names work in Equestria like they do here'. Other than the type of names and the fact that they tend to match talents or personalities, they seem to work similar enough. You're given a name by your parents and sometimes you get a nickname (Twilight Sparkle: Twilight, Twily, Twi. Applejack: AJ, Jackie. Rarity: Rares, Rarebear. Fluttershy: Shy, Flutters. Rainbow Dash: Rainbow, Dash, RD, Dashie. Pinkamena Diane Pie: Pinkie Pie, Pinkie, Pinks). Last names are confusing. If you have two names you get called Ms./Mrs/Mr. *Second Name*, but if you have one you're Ms./Mrs/Mr. *Whole name*? Mr. and Mrs. Cake both happen to be named Cake, but Spoiled Rich was once Spoiled Milk? Pinkie's full name is 'Pinkamena Diane Pie', but her nickname is 'Pinkie Pie' so is she using her last name as part of her nickname or does she have three given names and her parents gave the sisters 'Pie' as a second or third name since neither of them have 'Pie' in their name? Actually, thinking on that, Pinkie! Her full name is Pinkamena Diane Pie, but everyone calls her Pinkie Pie. The only ones to call her 'Pinkamena' are her parents, and we only saw it through flashback, Twilight probably doesn't know her legal name either!
6. Perhaps from the other's view 'Cadence's' actions aren't that terrible, or that it's just stress. However, Twilight is comparing her actions now to how the Cadence she knows would act in this situation. Again, itty bitty Twily might not've been purposely getting into trouble, but she is hella curious and that is almost worse. Also she has a dragon. She has definitely seen stressed Cadence. And while weddings in general are stressful, hers is not as stressfull(Changeling invasion aside). Like, a Princess has the money to get whatever she wants, so there's no freaking out about the budget. Everything is happening at the Castle, so there's your venue. Invitations have already been sent, so that and the guest list(and probably seating arrangements) are out of the way. Plenty of staff to set up everytihing. She clearly handed off choosing music, the reception host/planner, catering, entertainment, dressmaking, and general wedding planner duties to Celestia(who handed them off to Twilight). While she still has some stress because she's making sure it's all good, she has more than just herself doing this and a pretty limitless budget. What's worse? That, or itty bitty Twilight and Spike testing out how much Dragonfire her dad's fireproofing spells can handle? Back to the point: Twilight knows stressed Cadence, and this isn't it. But since Mind Control is ruled out and she doesn't know about Changelings, the only option is that Cadence is doing this on purpose. And that is the point she is trying to get across. That is what they're not getting. She's not 'just stressed', she's being a jerk for no reason, and she doesn't want her brother marrying that version of Cadence.
7. Whether or not you, personally, believe that being stressed is an okay reason to be a jerk, it doesn't matter. What matters is that the other characters think so. Because that is their only justification for thinking 'Cadence' is innocent in this and going to her. Like, 'Cadence' is a jerk, Twilight calls her out on it, Twilight is in the wrong because 'she was just stressed about the wedding!'. How about 'Spoiled Rich treats her daughter terribly. Diamond calls her out on it. Diamond is in the wrong because her mom is 'just so stressed trying to raise her'.' or 'Principal Cinch blackmailed her student, Sugarcoat outs her crimes, Sugarcoat is in the wrong because Principal Cinch was just stressed about her reputation and winning the Friendship Games!'. Or what about Five girls believe that their ex-bully/new friend faked their friendship to get materiel to humiliate them online so they disown her, then they find out they were wrong and it wasn't her and all the evidence was expertly faked. Well, they can't be held accountable because they were just so stressed by the harassment they were getting from others and the idea of their friend betraying them!". Oh wait, that's why we're here in the first place. But yeah, wedding or not, 'Cadence' was purposely being a jerk and someone needed to tell her to stop.
8. As for talking to Celestia or Luna: With Luna, she doesn't know Cadence enough to pass judgment on if she's acting weird, and doesn't know Twilight well enough for Twilight to trust that she would take her more seriously than her friend. With Celestia, she was there at the rehearsal. That was the first chance Twilight had to talk to her after seeing the mind-control spell. And even she ignored what Twilight was saying in favor of the 'Cadence' who isn't acting like Cadence. And that's almost worse because even if Shining is Mind controlled, and the other five think she's just misinterpreting things from over protectiveness, Celestia knows that Twilight absolutely adores Cadence, and how much Cadence adores her back. How can she not know? So she most of all should know something more is going on when not only does Twilight suddenly believe Cadence is evil, but even 'Cadence' starts saying things that sound off. 'Maybe we should just ignore her.', because Cadence is too nice to day that. 'Why are you doing this to me?', because Cadence is diplomatic, even under the worst of situations, and would have talked calmly to see what went wrong. Yet Celestia ignores it.
9. During the rehearsal confrontation, it's actually 'Cadence' who cuts Twilight off at first. As soon as Twilight starts to bring up the mind control spell, she cries 'why are you doing this to me?!" and runs off, derailing Twilight's testimony into answering instead. After that, it's Shining yelling at her. She interjects and attempts to explain further, and he keeps cutting her off. Then, once he kicks her out of the wedding, she can't speak. She can't even stand. She drops down, thinking over everything and wondering if she really was just being overprotective, wondering how well she actually knew one of the few friends she'd had back then, and realizing that she'd screwed up. Go and actually watch this scene on youtube or whatever. She looks back at her friends with this heartbroken, three seconds from tears expression that just says 'I'm sorry, I get it, I've fucked everything up and ruined it all. You were right. Please, for the love of god, help me fix this because I can't.". They look at her, look at one another, then say 'let's go comfort the princess'. Look at their expressions as they walk by, ignoring her looking even more devastated, ignoring when she finds enough of her voice to try and beg forgiveness, as she fully starts to cry. Upset Bride or not, why are they comforting 'Cadence'? Not that she wouldn't have needed it, but why them? They are ponies she barely knows, ones she's been rude to most of the time they've interacted. Who needs their comfort more? The mare they barely know who got called a jerk on her wedding day and is already being comforted by her fiance? Or the mare who is their best friend, who thought she was trying to help but royally fucked up, and has realized that too late to fix it on her own? I know who I'd help, but they chose the former. They abandoned Twilight at her lowest moment. Not cool.
10. Back to the Sunset comparison: You asked me to look at this from the other five's Point of view? How about we do that here? Sunset was terrible to the five for several years, but after being blasted into a crater she seems to want to change, so they give her a second chance. They grow closer, defeat another evil with friendship magic, and consider her family. Then Anon-a-Miss goes up. Now, at first, they defend her. Because she's their friend. True, she was a jerk in the past, and the site does imply her image, and she was one of five people who could have known the secret posted. But she's changed and one of the Apples could've accidentally told about the nickname. Besides, who would design a blog to implicate themselves? And she has no motive since they're friends! Of course, then comes the pictures from Sunset's phone. Well, obviously Anon-a-Miss is someone who A. knew about AJ's nickname and B. had access to Sunset's phone. Well, only Sunset and the four Apples knew the nickname. Granny, Big Mac, and Applebloom couldn't have gotten Sunset's phone, as they were several miles away! And why would Applejack post her own secret? The only thing she gains is humiliation and harassment. So that leaves Sunset. After all, it was her phone, and she knew the nickname. And while the blog implying her could be to frame her, perhaps it was designed because 'what kind of idiot would implicate themselves?'. But she's changed... hasn't she? After all, she did use the magic of Friendship. Though, we're just humans who know little about magic, so maybe anyone can use it? She is from there after all. And if she hasn't changed, that would be her motive. She was just using us the whole time!
Of course, both situations were handled poorly because 1. Miscommunication and being an idiot is the bane of happiness and 2. this is a kids' series that needs some sort of conflict, and the story wouldn't be as interesting if there wasn't anything going on. 3. the whole point is that they were not called out for their actions and never properly apologized, even though these would have huge therapy bills in real life. But that's what we have fanfics for and literally why we're here discussing this.
Another solid chapter!
I bring minor corrections:
Should be she.
Remove this the.
Capitalize Sentry.
Sunset will confront Celestia when she's ready, right now Celestia needs to keep her distance.
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This got very long, so my (most likely) final response to this:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vFS0ut1rm088IAwowP9GPu6iReS3diV5l8lPh-ggvPk/edit?usp=sharing
Anyways, can't wait for the next chapter and to see where this goes, especially with Celestia and Sunset.
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Okay, I do not have the energy to continue shouting at a door here. Like, we've spent an entire day going back and forth about something that, in all honesty, is up to interpretation. It's a fictional cartoon about magical ponies, and everyone is going to interpret things differently. Obviously I still disagree with your viewpoint, but you know what? It doesn't matter. You have your way of seeing how it played out, I have mine. And that's chill. Worst that can happen is that you write a fic addressing the problems in the episode(trust me, if I had a dollar...)
I'm not going to spend more time typing about this. Stars know we've probably annoyed the writer with out back and forth shenanigans.
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I hang around on a forum called Spacebattles, this is peanuts compared to the type of pointless debates I tend to get involved in.
Trailed off.
Also, technically, it's called breakfast for a reason. It's the meal where you break your fast. Because you can't eat while you sleep, so the time since you had dinner was fasting. But fasting isn't tied to time of day. If I get up on my day off and don't eat until 6pm, I'm still breaking my fast. So I'm still eating breakfast.
There's only one acceptable response to that.
*hugs the sparklecorn*
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Oooh, thank you. Fixed.
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My sister and I keep telling eachother that as well when we start out 13:00 'breakfasts.' I don't think either of us is buying it.
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Hah.
Fine. Just for that, I'll tell you about the other spot you did that in.
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Be my guest, my puns are for the public
...They do say 'home is where the hearth is'.
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Hit you over the head with a thick book for bad pun...