Chapter 36: Sunbeam Open
Velar felt the Stalwart Stratus accelerate beneath his claws, so rapidly that he expected the engine to tear right out of some distant housing. They tilted upward, so steep that he dug his claws into the ground, feeling his beak tighten as he held himself in place by the map. Princess Luna seemed entirely unaffected by the change, and the crew were all in their seats.
Starlight Glimmer squealed and nearly slipped down a sudden slope out the door they’d used to come in, but Velar was too quick. He snatched her out of the air with his claws, settling her down against the map. “Are you alright?”
She barely even got the chance to answer before one of the pony crew shouted from up ahead. “Their cannons should be ready now. Brace for impact!”
Starlight Glimmer wrapped one of her legs around him, shivering and closing her eyes. Velar didn’t move, just held as still as he could. Unity protect them.
The officer’s timing was almost perfect. Several bangs all sounded in series, so loud and close that the shock of impact followed almost instantly. The Stalwart Stratus rocked slightly to port, but less than he might’ve expected.
While the captain called out for a damage report, Princess Luna studied the map. Velar followed her eyes, which watched the pair of larger carriers begin a standard bombing approach. They aren’t going to land an army after all.
“They’re aiming for the palace,” Velar shouted, hoping he would be loud enough for the princess to hear over the chaos in the bridge. “Maybe they have something new they hope can kill an Alicorn.”
The princess nodded, without anger for him despite his words. “They are wasting their time. The palace is the first place we evacuated.”
And they should know that. What are you playing at, Santiago? Velar squinted at the map, but there was no way he was going to be able to see details on the level of individual birds on the deck. There were a few colorful marks moving around through the air that he thought matched pony cutie parks. Luna’s own moon followed the Stalwart Stratus through the air as it kept arching upward.
“Sunbeam is halfway charged!” called another voice, loud enough that Velar could make it out over all the others. “Target is still clear!”
“Count on another volley!” shouted the weapons officer again. “Brace for impact!”
Instead of a few distant thumps, this time Velar heard a terrible explosion, before being almost yanked off his feet. He wrapped his empty foreleg around the map, holding on for dear life. At least one pony wasn’t so lucky, and went flying right out of their restraints.
Alarms blared into the sound of blasting wind, as everything that wasn’t nailed down was buffeted about the room.
Then Princess Luna’s horn began glowing, and the wind abruptly stopped. Velar shuddered, letting go of the map and following her gaze again. Out into the access corridor a gaping hole had cut straight through the ship, and air poured in. Unity what kind of guns are they using?
Captain Blason’s voice cut through the sudden stillness moments later, clawing her way back into her seat. At least one of the ponies that had been wandering the room had fallen to a heap and stopped moving. “Damage… report…”
A pony set down the plastic thing she’d been holding. “Engineering says we’re losing integrity, we have to slow down!”
“Looks like they’re aiming at our guts!” yelled somepony else. “Sunbeam is intact. Almost charged now! Do you still want me to target the bomber, Captain? We can’t let them keep shooting us like this!”
“Yes,” Blason said, voice grave. “Signal the Lavender Spirit that we’re about to fire. If we hit, they can kill the destroyer.”
“Goodbye, Canterlot Castle,” Princess Luna whispered, her voice wistful. “You were my favorite so far.”
The first of the bombers began dropping its load. Velar could see the dark blurs falling from high openings, moments before flashes of light began appearing on the castle. At this distance the bombs seemed like toys—but the image on the table showed the truth. Little bits and pieces of the castle were crumbling. One particularly large explosion struck at the base of a tower, and it went toppling over the edge of the mountain into the abyss.
“Why aren’t you stopping it?” Starlight asked, apparently recovering from the shock of the explosion at last. “Princess, you’re an Alicorn! Couldn’t you bring the shield back yourself? Even if it was only for a second. Or Celestia, she could do it! Why are you letting them do this?”
“Because Prince Velar is correct,” Luna said. She sounded like she was mourning the loss of a friend. “Nothing will rouse the reluctant and fearful of Equestria to action more swiftly than an insult like that. All castles crumble eventually, Starlight. There is nothing carved from stone or wrought from steel that can compare to the lives it would cost if we failed today. This is a price we are willing to pay.”
Another round of cannon fire blasted around them, though this time was far less effective than the second round. Just a little rocking to the port side for a second, with a few minor damage reports. And they’re not firing back with their cannons. I saw the guns… what are they doing? Why wait?
“Sunbeam has reached saturation!” called the weapons pony.
“Hold for ten, then fire!” Blason called. “We don’t want that thing coming down on Canterlot.”
“They have armor too,” Velar shouted, emotion rising in him. “Nothing’s going to bring them down with one shot! Fire as often as you can!”
Blason looked like she was about to do something stupid—but then Luna raised a wing, gesturing away. Then she fixed her eyes on Velar. “Do not do that again. If you have information to share, do it with me. I will decide what orders to give.” She didn’t even shout, despite the din of the ship’s engines, the air whistling through damage in the hull. Even so, Velar found every other sound fell away to nothing as she spoke. She spoke with the absolute certainty of leadership, command with no need to threaten. What would happen if he disobeyed remained unsaid.
“Apologizes,” he said, lowering his head. It was the first time he’d ever done that to a pony—he hadn’t bowed for them during the negotiations. “It won’t happen again.”
“Firing now!”
The front windows became suddenly pitch black. For a second Velar wondered what had happened, what on Equus the ponies were planning blinding themselves this way. Then he saw light.
Like the ancient roar of Unity through the chaos of creation, a single shaft of order cut through the darkness. It was so phenomenally bright it briefly restored color to the window, cutting a straight line over Canterlot to where the bomber was pivoting around for their second pass.
Then came the crack of thunder. It was as though lightning had struck twenty feet from his head. He was momentarily deafened by it. A lesser creature might’ve been overwhelmed by the light and sound, but Velar had spent his life on the battlefield. He kept watching the window, empty except for the shaft of light across the sky and the carrier.
Then the light went out, and the window returned to daylight. His eyes were still fixed on the place the carrier had been, so he saw it clear.
The airship split in half. Molten steel from its armored broadside splashed away from the point of impact, and charred wood left a trail of embers in its wake.
Then one half exploded. Whatever the Equestrians had used, it ignited the powder magazine. Velar barely had time to recover before the sky went black a second time, and another line of light connected with the second carrier. He heard the secondary explosion before color had returned.
Massive chunks of wood and metal began to rain down over the mountain.
Unity grant that Equestria will show mercy, Velar thought, lowering his head in silent prayer. Carriers like that typically had a hundred birds as crew, along with maybe a thousand marines if they were carrying an army. All dead in seconds.
Maybe they really do move the sun.
“The Spirit is firing on the destroyer!” called the same pony from before.
Velar tensed, preparing for the final display of Equestrian air superiority. He would witness the deaths of these oathbreakers and traitors even as his father had witnessed the death of Accipio itself.
Terrible lightning turned the sky to darkness, headed straight for the destroyer. Then it hit, and abruptly went out. Light returned and the airship was still following them, its cannons preparing for another volley.
Another symbol appeared on the map, right above the destroyer. It looked a little like the symbols he thought represented pony cutie marks, except that this one was solid black. Lots of little lines expanding from a central point.
Velar saw it a moment later—a figure hovered above the destroyer, his armor glowing like liquid gold. Even from a distance he thought he could feel the power of it. Voidsteel didn’t just destroy the spells used against it—it incorporated their power unto itself.
I thought my father’s armor was the only one that could do that.
And so it had been. But so far as he knew, none of them had ever been struck with such incredible amounts of magic before.
“Lilac Sky is firing!”
“Don’t!” Velar said, this time to the princess. “You’re just making him stronger!”
“Tell them to hold their fi—” Luna began, but too late.
Lightning crossed the sky again, aimed straight for the destroyer. It was even less effective this time, not even getting near it before curving straight towards the bird in armor. He was glowing so brightly now that Velar could see him clearly even at this enormous distance. Not well enough to identify which set of Voidsteel he was wearing, or who he might be. It wouldn’t be Santiago, right? He’d never come on such a dangerous mission himself.
A sudden, eerie silence descended on the battle. The destroyer didn’t fire its next volley, no ponies called out damage reports. Every eye was fixed on that glowing figure. Then he yelled, his voice magically amplified by the power of the Voidsteel. Thanks to the infusion he’d just received, his voice was loud enough that Velar could hear it clearly even through the Stalwart Stratus.
“EQUESTRIAN COWARDS! COME OUT FROM BEHIND YOUR LITTLE PONIES AND SHOW ME HONOR! FIGHT ME HERE, OR I WILL DESTROY THIS CITY! SEND ME YOUR ALICORNS!”
“He can’t destroy the city with that,” Starlight Glimmer said from beside Velar. She wasn’t like the sailors surrounding them—she’d obviously been seriously shaken by the deaths. Her voice sounded very small, and higher pitched than before. “Two shots from the sunbeam couldn’t destroy a city, even if he could use all their magic perfectly.”
“No,” Princess Luna agreed. “But they could kill thousands. My sister and I have always put the lives of our ponies before our own.” The air beside them began to shimmer, then tore open. Princess Luna nodded to Velar. “You should witness this, heir to Gaius Renault. Join us.”
“Princess, no!” Starlight called. But she wasn’t clinging to the princess—she was holding onto him. “Don’t go! This is obviously what they were planning all along!”
She shrugged. The air opened onto the top of a distant ship, where griffons rushed about the deck, pointing rifles at the spot. They didn’t fire, though. Maybe they knew how useless that would be against a princess.
Not far away on the deck, the air opened again, and Princess Celestia emerged, her mane alight with red like the hottest July afternoon.
Velar pried Starlight’s hoof away from his foreleg, then followed the princess through the opening. He heard the crack of air behind him as his claws settled onto the deck of the griffon destroyer.
Lord Giovanni landed on the deck just ahead of them, his armor no longer black. It lit up so brightly that he could hardly look at it, had to shield his eyes with a wing. At least he didn’t deafen them with his words. “And now the weak have come to die,” he said. “After all these centuries, Accipio will finally have its victory.”
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Giovanni. Victory then. I doubt Santiago died an ignoble death on the other destroyer, so that raises the question... where is the the most treacherous of Accipio's snakes lurking?
And I do wonder... if I recall, Voidsteel has been noted to be damn-near legendary equipment in Accipio, handed down through families. Are the Princesses familiar with it? You'd think they are, given how we've just seen how ludicrously powerful it is against magic, and yet Equestria and its Princesses still stand.
"Face palm". Giovanni......you are an idiot.
If Voidsteel was magic nullification, you MIGHT have stood a chance here. Probably not, but still, better than the magic absorption qualities it apparently has instead.
For any anime watchers, the problem here is the same one in the Nomu vs All Might fight of BNHA. Namely, that with any absorption quality there is, by nature, an upper limit to how much can be absorbed. Once that threshold is reach, unless Giovanni can massively bleed the magic from the suit, it'll no longer be able to absorb magic......
And he's already absorbed two sunbeams worth of energy BEFORE entering the ring with Luna and Celestia.
9049931
On the other hand, if it has a way of bleeding off magic (particularly if that method is Return To Sender) then the Sisters are in big trouble.
... You know what, I this point I think it might be better if I just wait for all this story to be finished before I keep reading. I can't take all these cliffhangers.
All I'll ask is this... how the hell did they griffons know? This was obviously a plan to absorb the gunfire beam, so they must've found out about it somehow. What specs could they have possibly had? Who could they possibly have interrogated?
9049928
No doubt wanting to kill his father's killer himself.
9049941
Potentially, but I'm putting this down to quick thinking and balls of steel. If they knew voidsteel could absorb sunbeams, and that sunbeams existed, there's no reason why they would let the ponies blow up one of their ships. They could have just absorbed all shots. More likely Giovanni saw what happened to the first ship, realized he was up next, and very quickly positioned himself in-between the next shots.
9049941
Most likely, their records include instances of the Princesses using such a devastating beam against them in the past. The difference being, in the past, it had been a spell cast by the sisters now being artificially produced in the present.
That, at least, would be my theory.
9049936
From what I recall, the abilities of voidsteel seem to remain self contained. Meaning increases in strength, amplification of other aspects, but (by it's very nature) should not be able to focus as much magic OUT since it seems to actively draw it in, unless they can switch it from input to output mode.....but that seems unlikely. Not out the question, mind you, but unlikely.
If this is the case, the Sister should keep their distance, but close to the ground as to not egg Giovanii into flight, since I imagine self levitation it's using is very inefficient in magic. Even in one on one, stay mobile, teleport, and pepper him with energy blasts until the Voidsteel either stops being able to absorb magic, or breaks under the strain of trying to absorb over its limit.
Well, I'm impressed with pony weapon tech, at last. But if this clown manages to maim or kill an alicorn with their own ship's weapons against them, it'll more than a little dismaying. Excellent chapter, though.
9049960
Certainly makes more sense than anything I can think up.
Im assuming the gryphons planned just about every piece of this attack. Im assuming the ship that was just destroyed was being primarily manned by slaves. They knew they were going up against the alicorns. I couldnt see them reasonably wasting quality gryphon soilders in such a plan to sacrifice their own ships.
RIP the castle. Better than losing ponies.
Nice.
Two out of two. Did Vengeance bring anything else?
Ahh, speaking of.
That seems bad. Daybreaker bad.
9050032
That would be a rather overly elaborate waste of resources though. Ships like the ones blown up don't seem to be dime-a-dozen, judging by Velar's reaction to their destruction.
I hope ponies are not going to just idly observe the duel instead of blowing griffon ships up as soon as possible.
9050067
But if they managed to replicate the emperor's voidsteel armor...
And able to start mass production...
9049941
I think it's less the sunbeam in general and more the armor absorbs any kind of magic. The sunbeam cannon was magic based. It probably won't stop normal bullets or swords though.
9050165
Even then, two carriers filled with troops or slaves would still be a tremendous waste of resources to simply sacrifice like that. I have no doubt a lot of thought went into this plan, but I highly doubt the destruction of the two carriers was part of it. A risk, naturally. One does not go hunting for alicorns and expect to get out without a scratch, but part of the plan? I doubt it.
Plan A) Celestia to Luna, "Time to send House Victory back to Accipio. They can rule there."
Plan B) Luna to Celestia, "How far can we teleport the trash?", she asked, ponting a wing at Giovanni.
Plan C) "Who has the camera running and the radio link to Gaius open?" says a voice from the background.
Plan D) Celestia" What has been given can be removed." she says to Giovanni.
plan E) None of the above (the most likely case)
I'm impressed, Starscribe. Damn, you're good.
Note how Lord Chucklefuck is screaming cowards this and weak that and only managed what he did so far by stealing pony magic with an armour design that belongs to someone else, and only after he had to use an entire ship worth of pawns as a sacrifice. And in a smaller manner, Velar, who is still in camp "Maybe they raise the sun".
They all denser than the ships' hulls.
9050214
We don't know the personnel composition of the ships (beyond flying the ships and firing the cannons) but I guess the armor was more a backup plan if they foresaw the equestrians having superior weapons.
It would have been better if they put the armor in the front so the ships wouldn't have been wasted.
Either way, it's not likely the materiel lost would be a major blow to vengeance's master plan. Especially, if they manage to wound or kill an alicorn in exchange. Much like the second rate nobles fighting the emperor now. They're all expendable. I'm assuming the more valuable forces are with Santiago, doing whatever they're doing to execute Vengeance's plan.
This has to be a trap
While I commend the author on increasing the levels of believably, there's still that itch that things don't quite line up. Maybe not enough background before hand, but a mini civil war by attacking the one country willing to shelter you (from a disaster that WILL cause mass starvation unless working together)....there's a point where there has to be a line of suspense of disbelief.
9050698 The point is, while they have to rely on them for food if they didn't do anything, killing the Princesses and taking over all of Equestria of their territory would stop that from happening, as they'd have access to every farm. Think of it like a last gambit, all-or-nothing sort of thing.
And that's even assuming they're thinking that far ahead. Maybe they just want war for the sake of it.
9050698
reality is worse than sense of desbelief may allow sometimes.
Refugees coming into foreign land create tension which causes war that turn into occupation of another country, then leads to incursion by another? Happened in reality.
Rebellion against military dictature turns into same dictature? Happened.
National minority installs nazist regime, eradicating any mixed blood residents? Happened.
A foreign country supports internal freedom-fighting surgents , then helps acting government to eradicate them? Happened.
Logic of agenda might be not apparent when situation is created by those who pursue only personal gain without regard to their reputation or nation well-being.
Even with Voidsteel, I doubt anybody could go up against the fury of two Alicorns for too long.
You'd best hurry up with the next chapter. Also I expect Luna to fight dirty. Velar may give her shit about it but IMO it's much less "honorable" to fight fair and let your people down than it is to cheat and save their lives.
9050276
Lord Chucklefuck.
Dude, I'm here for the story, but that just made me start laughing from how unexpected it was.
9050698
I'm with you, I'm suspecting that something much bigger is up than what we're seeing.
At the same time, however, the behavior of the gryphons isn't too different from what we see in the USA. We've got tens of thousands of illegal immigrants pouring across the border, into states who're willing to bend over backwards to cater to their every whim by shielding them from ICE, providing them with jobs, healthcare, tuition, driver's licenses, and even the right to vote, and what to they do? They show they're ungrateful by doing nothing but complain about how bad America sucks, committing all manner of crimes against the people who willing took them in, and turn where they live into cesspools.
9051093
I'm saying the overall situation is what borders on the suspension of disbelief. Not the actual civil war/ect. It's the fact even if the griffins win, they will likely die due to starvation. Immediately fighting a war with a country that takes you in is not only bad tactics, but is short sighted on every front in terms of a natural disaster.
...then again, very few people even have 3 days of supplies in real life. So...."shrug" Is just the view here.
9051036
And that's just it; if that WAS the plan, there is no hint of it, which is part of the issue. There's the HINT of SOME plan. Or, as easily not. A plan would make sense. This sudden civil war doesn't
9051558
....I'm just going to leave this here. As an American who isn't the biggest fan of the current Government. https://i.imgur.com/ULX1KnK.jpg
9051859
A broken URL?
9051859
Judging by what Velar told Starlight, they seem to be under the impression that they can win immediately if they take down Celestia and Luna, that the moment those two are defeated Equestria would either just lay down arms and surrender en-masse, or be so easy to defeat the following conflict would barely be called a war.
9052275
Hmm. A fair point...
9051940
http://i.imgur.com/ACrGMov.jpg
Saying all immigrants are scummy/lazy/ect, as an American, is about as ill-informed and un-American as you can get. We are a melting pot of people and founded by immigrants. All people of races and creeds have scum. But that is the minority.
9051859
nah, that's stupid but possible if rebelling faction leans on idea that they will not share their spoils. Essentially, rebelling house expects that Equestra and ruling house will bleed each other enough to be destroyed and they should have some ace to neutralize princesses. Note: gryphons do not believe in whole sun/moon thing.
Again, such suicidal strategies were known in reality. Fall of Rome was started with such.
9052515
Did I say all immigrants? No I didn't. I said illegal immigrants. Those who are completely bypassing the established immigration system and demanding all the benefits right now, without investing any of the work to actually earn it. The ones who're making a mockery of the work of those who want to do things the legal way because they honestly want to be here. The ones who're drawing the ire of legal immigrants for cheating and tarnishing things for everyone.
As to the whole melting pot thing, anyone who's done metallurgical work can tell you there's always slag that has to be removed, otherwise the finished product will suffer greatly.
9053082
True. I think building up a semblance of what their plans were; even short, nondescript hints would have helped. A takeover during a natural disaster could make sense from a military perspective, but is borderline foolhardy.
9053208
I've spoken/met with illegal immigrants, and many hard-working individuals are just that. Don't get me wrong; there is a bad element to any society, that not withstanding. But with the legal path so broken, and many fleeing violence, I can at least understand. (I am not saying it's right or excusable) But calling all of them lazy/ect, isn't correct. There's just as many legal individuals doing the same thing or worse.
.....in other words, many humans always kinda suck. Yay ponies.
9053476
It has, though. The arrogance of the griffon belief that Equestria could be conquered in no time has been apparent since the first chapter. Their belief that the only reason they hadn't wan before was because of the alicorns has been sprinkled around various chapters, and even we did not know what ponies were capable of in military terms until recently. And we were grumbling about how the griffons would crush ponies with their technological superiority for chapters on end. If we, who lack griffon arrogance, were convinced that Accipio would win a war with the levels of technology on display, the griffons would be even more convinced they could just steamroll Equestria.
9053652
Ah, that's a very good point. Perhaps I missed that, since that has been hinted at vs a concrete plan.
9053208
You're not talking about metallurgy, you're talking about people, you're talking about scraping people off of the finished product. That's the kind of thinking that leads to the worst in humanity, when we forget to think of our fellow human beings as people.
9055180
Well let's analyze this, shall we? What exactly does the melting pot theory suggest? Different cultures and different ideas coming together to form one that's superior to the parts that went into making it.
But that's not what we're seeing with regard to illegal immigrants. We're seeing a whole lot of standoffishness, with significant numbers of them making no effort to blend in with others. They make no effort to try and learn the language of the country they want to reside in, instead they stubbornly maintain their own native language. They don't take pride in the country they want to reside in, instead they maintain pride in the country they fled from.
There might be standout individuals who honestly want to invest the effort to become full citizens because they're proud of the USA. But they're being drowned out by those who only want the perks of living here without doing any of the work to get it legally.
I remember a time when the comments were more focused
Guys. Anyone want to discuss the story?
9057304
Do you think the way the birbs justify the slavery makes sense?
9057378
Yes, there's a definite miscommunication when they refer to slaves though because they have rights and opportunities however grim and slim they may be. They are running a culture ingrained with indentured servitude at every facet of their society from family servants to public officials. their culture makes sense of how it operates not that I particularly agree with it on any level but I do understand it.
9056227
You want to analyze? Fine, first question, do you know how difficult it can be to illegally immigrate? People often go so far as to give up all their life savings to move somewhere else, they'll hide on tiny ramshackle boats or in the cold cargo holds of planes for days on end to get to a new home, those are not the actions of lazy people, they are the actions of desperate people.
These people are often fleeing very real fears of death, through starvation, persecution or even just random acts of violence, they often move not because they want to leave their homes, but because they think they need to do so in order to survive, or to save their families, and are often willing to give up everything to do so. And when they get there these immigrants can often face (extremely) low paying jobs, extremely expensive lodging, persecution because of their home, and this comes with many of these immigrants trying to support their families they brought with them. They deal with people angrily shouting at them to go back the hellholes they just gave up everything to get away from, people telling them that their culture is inferior and that they should just give up every value and belief they previously held on the basis of it being perceived as inferior, and a very real fear of being forcefully deported back to their old ruined homelands. Of courser a lot of these people react with violence and stubbornness, and many of them didn't even want to leave their homes, so why would they give up of the cultures they grew up with and never even wanted to abandon? Now that might not be how you see it, but it is how a lot of them see it.
Does this excuse the worst behavior from some illegal immigrants? God no. But its a mistake to lump them all together as acting the same way, because these are people we are talking about, and there are many different kinds of people out there. For every immigrant who skipped home to avoid taxes, for every immigrant who decided to join a terrorist group and lash out at the people trying to help them, there's another family man who just gave up his house, life savings and mother's ring in a desperate attempt to get his family somewhere safe, there's another three year old child who has been suddenly taken away from a home blown apart in some fight they don't understand, and taken to a new land where the people there look down on them because of their old home. And I think you might find there are quite a few more of those people earnestly trying to make a living in their new homes than you think, they aren't stand up individuals.
How many metals in a melting pot chose to be there? How many of those metals even care about being there? How many of those metals have any opinions on anything at all? Metaphors only take us so far, there's a point where you have to stop and recognize that it is still a metaphor, and the reality is different, these are not unthinking, unfeeling and uncaring metals, they are not slag, they are people, people are complicated, and should never be treated as slag.
Jesus Christ this is getting out of control
9058163
That may very well be the case. But even if that is the case, I still have to look at things, and base my position on what the law itself says.
Now, before anyone reason this back and forth exchange decides to dismiss me out of hand as one of those who hides behind the law, excusing it as being the law is the law and thus immutable, a little background information on myself first. I'm the type of person who has has to base my position on what's legal, rather than what I might feel to be right or wrong, because otherwise I'd currently be in prison right now, convicted for multiple counts of first degree murder, including that of my own defense council for trying to argue I was not guilty because of mental disease or defect. There are a lot of domestic abusers, a lot of child molesters, and a lot of corrupt officials in the surrounding area, and if I based my position on what I felt was morally right, on what I thought would ultimately be beneficial overall in the long run because of how I felt, I would have gone out and killed every last one of them.
I don't mean that as hyperbole, or a statement of frustration with the system not working, I mean it as an honest declaration of what I would do because of the moral injustice of it all.
But I can't go that route. I can't allow moral outrage to guide my hand, because I know myself well enough to know that if I got started, I could morally justify a lot of truly heinous things as being done for the greater good of the community at large. I have to go by what's legal, and what the law itself says, because we all have to live by it, rather than living by what we feel to be right.
I used to feel sorry for the suffering of foreigners who thought they could find a better life here. I still do. But at the same time I had to recognize that a lot of people in a lot of countries absolutely hate our guts, and would like nothing better than to see the US become the same level of shithole standard as every other country that has people fleeing for their lives.
I also had to recognize that we as a country aren't much better off than most other countries, although we've fooled ourselves and everyone else into believing otherwise. We have to straighten out our own affairs before we can start considering the affairs of everyone else. Hell, we can't even take care of our own people, much less countless others who're fleeing where they live because they believe the propaganda we're putting out to fool ourselves.
We as a nation are over 21 trillion dollars in debt to nations we can't pay off, because of funding mismanagement by corrupt politicians who're funneling money to either their own personal pet projects, or to their personal bank accounts rather than the communities they represent. We have veterans who gave their all to serve their country, and we as a country are basically discarding them and saying they don't count for anything, because we're not providing them with the care and support they both deserve, have earned, and ultimately need. They're languishing for months on secret waiting lists, waiting to be seen by physicians the VA is willing to pay, and a lot of them simply can't wait that long. Or they're homeless because they're not getting their benefits, and not being provided with the help they need to transition back into civilian life. Our country is being run by known liars who are more interested in holding office and not having to get a real job, rather than serving the people they were elected to serve, and who keep their positions because the public is gullible enough and desperate enough to actually believe their lies. We aren't Mexico yet, but we're damn close to being it.
Maybe they really do move the sun.
You don't know how pleased I am to see that someone realizes just how badly all this could end
The armor apparently absorbs power, that's what I'm getting here, so the princesses will have to fight the griffin physically.
But, the major flaw in all this is that in this chapter Luna at least is portrayed as a soldier, one with centuries of experience, and it stands to reason that Celestia also has that fighting experience.
Earth ponies are noted to actually be stronger than Griffins, and, being Alicorns, they are definitely stronger than him. Hell, Celestia could probably melt the armor if she wanted to.
Failing this, the Equestrians have a strong relationship with yaks, changelings, Buffalo and dragons. They also have Discord and Rainbow Power on their side. I don't think Vengeance thought this through.
Unless, for some stupid, contrived reason that Giovanni manages to beat two Gods, which I highly doubt, he's going to get his ass kicked.
Also, I briefly thought the Sunbeam was actually the Elements, and spat out my drink. So, thanks for that. I assume that was Celestia's doing?