Chapter 218: Forget
Ranger
Chapter 218: Forget
By Wanderer D
"Well, this place is a dump."
Twilight glanced over her shoulder at Rainbow Dash who had just walked into the battered home. She and Alejandra had their weapons out ever since they had spotted the kicked-in door, and the several objects strewn outside the hut.
Galahad and Gabby waited outside, the latter peeking in from the window, while the rest of them investigated the place.
"Who lives here anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking around the place, her eyes narrowing with slight recognition at some of the objects.
Twilight smirked. "You haven't figured it out?"
Rainbow Dash blinked, slowly looking around again, while Gilda gave Twilight a curious look. "Why would Rainbow Dash know who lives here?"
"Wait." Rainbow Dash's voice was low. "No way."
"What?" Gilda asked. "This place is full of books and old stuff. Why would you possib—"
"What's going on here? Who are you?" A voice asked from the door, and the group turned around to see a heavily-dressed female pony slowly walking into the room.
"No way! No way!" Rainbow Dash gushed. "Y-you're A.K. Yearling!"
The pony made a disgruntled sound while Alejandra and Gilda shared a look of confusion.
"Who?" Gilda asked, to which Alejandra's response was a shrug.
"She wrote Daring Do!"
"She wrote what?" Gilda asked, glancing from the new pony back to Rainbow Dash.
"Daring Do! The best book series ever!" Rainbow Dash gushed, before her eyes widened and she stared at Gilda. "Uh, not that I would know! Hehe..." she gulped. "But I've heard a bunch of eggheads claim that!"
"Right."
The pony at the door didn't seem impressed. "That doesn't answer my question. Why are you here and what are you doing to my things?"
"I'm afraid your home was like this when we arrived," Twilight said, lowering her gun. "We're here to consult you on some ancient artifacts—" she stopped as AK Yearling walked past them to check on a fake book with a large, golden ring inside.
"It's safe…" she glanced over at her unexpected guests with a frown. "If you don't mind, I really have to—"
"Stop whatever you're doing and help us out," Twilight interrupted, eyes narrowed and not appreciating the earlier attitude. "We have lives on the line and very little time to help them. I need your expertise, miss Yearling, and I need it now."
"Figures. Somepony just gets wings, and now she thinks she's an authority." Yearling's eyes narrowed as well and she marched up to Twilight, glaring at her straight in the eye. "Well, excuse me, princess, but the bottom line is I'm not for hire for whatever inane friendship problem you might have. This here is one of the Rings of Scorchero, and I have more than enough problems with it because—"
"Oh, get over yourself!" Twilight snapped. "I didn't say a friendship problem. I said lives are at stake, literally!"
"Twilight," Laetitia said, walking into the house, and drawing a wide-eyed stare from Yearling. "There are a few ponies approaching the cabin. They seem to be…" she hesitated. "trying to look intimidating." She cleared her throat. "C'est tout simplement adorable."
Rainbow Dash gasped. "Are they here for the Ring?"
"Probably," Yearling said. "Now, if you could get out of my way…"
"No." Twilight said, stepping in front of the author. "Alejandra, Laetitia, take care of them."
"Right," Alejandra said, "you coming, Gilda?"
"Sure."
"Oh, and girls," Twilight called. "These ponies are probably not a real threat, so use as much force as necessary, but don't kill them."
"Your world, your rules," Alejandra said. "I've already gotten enough attitude for that giant lizard."
The trio left the house, allowing for Gabby and Galahad to step in. Yearling however, didn't pay any attention to them. "You're really getting in the middle of something you don't understand."
"Come on, Do," Galahad said, drawing the attention of everycreature in the room. "Don't be like that. Twilight does have a good reason to come here."
"Do?" Rainbow Dash asked. "As in Daring Do?"
"As I live and breathe," Yearling growled, taking off her additional clothing.
"A.K. Yearling is Daring Do!" Twilight and Rainbow gasped in unison, then Twilight looked at Galahad. "Wait, you know each other?"
"Hold on, hold on," Rainbow Dash muttered, looking from Galahad to Daring Do, then back to Galahad, then back to Daring Do. "Older griffon gentlecolt that happens to be an assassin..." she pointed an accusing hoof at Galahad. "You're Gefährlich?!"
"No way!" Twilight gasped, her professional face dropping. "You're the griffon that took down the Saddle Arabian Guard while Daring infiltrated the castle to steal the Crown of Gil the Mesh!"
"Gilgamesh." Daring whispered to herself. "Stupid editor thought it wasn't a real name."
"And then the two of you escaped together and hid in a tiny compartment in the Sultan's own boat!" Dash squealed excitedly.
Galahad smirked, and bowed. "I did like that nickname," he said, winking at Daring, whose scowl did not fade at all. "Although you left out a lot of what happened when we got to spend the night in Foaledo."
"Y-shut up!" Daring snapped. "You disappear after the temple comes down, and then you just show up as if nothing happened years later?! What's wrong with you?"
"Assassin." Galahad shrugged as if the statement explained everything.
Daring was about to reply when two very loud noises were heard outside, followed by an obvious scream of pain.
"Fuck." Twilight muttered. "I thought I told you not to kill anyone!" she shouted, turning around and hurrying to the door, followed by the others.
Outside, they found a bunch of terrified and beat up ponies, being tied up by Gabby along with a slightly sick-looking Gilda. The younger griffon looked conflicted, glancing from the group to one of the ponies—who was dressed in better clothes than the others—and was squirming on the ground, screaming in agony every time he moved his left hind-leg.
"What the hell, Alejandra?" Twilight asked, pointing a hoof at the injured pony.
"He tried to stab me," the griffon replied. "I told him to put the knife down, but he didn't listen. So I shot him in the leg."
"He'll live." Laetitia added. "Alejandra's shot should have gone mostly through muscle at the point of entry, and the blood is not spurting like a serious wound would."
"You're trained soldiers!" Rainbow Dash shouted, staring at the fallen pony. "Couldn't you have just—"
"Twilight," Alejandra interrupted. "What's a soldier to do when a hostile comes rushing at them with a knife?"
"We're not going to risk our lives unnecessarily," Twilight took a deep breath. "Fine. But unless it's imminent danger to our lives, let's try and not shoot anyone else, alright?"
Alejandra looked away. "If that's what you want, but if anyone… any creature of any sort threatens you—"
Twilight patted her shoulder with her hoof, and walked up to the downed pony. "You. What the hell do you want?"
"Help me!"
"No."
"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash gasped, face pale. "We can't just—"
"Listen Dash," Twilight interrupted, shaking her head. "This guy attacked us and was willing to use a knife against trained soldiers, so whatever it is he's after, he believes it's worth his life. Our hero, Daring Do, is clearly more concerned with her own adventures to help us out, and since I don't have the inclination to shoot her too, I'm just going to take what I can get and solve this as quickly as possible so we can get this over with."
Rainbow Dash didn't look happy, but stepped back. Daring Do walked over, standing next to her. "Uh… I thought Twilight was the Princess of Friendship?"
"Was." Rainbow Dash whispered bitterly. "Then she went to war."
"Listen up, uh… you."
"That's Dr. Caballeron," Daring provided, still looking at Twilight dubiously.
"Right," Twilight acknowledged. "Caballeron. I'm sure that hurts, but that's a good thing. It means you're still alive. Right? Now, I know you want my help…" she pointed a hoof at her chest, "and I want to help you, but you have to help us. Why do you want the ring?"
"Please, I'm bleeding here!"
Twilight took a deep breath. "Yes. I can see that! It is a very bad thing! And guess what? I have magic that can heal you. So why don't you do us both a favor and tell me what I need to know so I can use it?"
"Twilight," Gilda spoke up, "come on. This guy's one of the bad guys, but he doesn't deserve this."
"Princess…" Caballeron whined, lifting a begging hoof to Laetitia. "Please help me…"
"Oh, mon petit cheval, I'm afraid that is not my decision."
"Twilight." Rainbow Dash hissed, pulling her friend back. "Remember where you are. This is Equestria. This is a pony… a bad pony, sure, but not one of your killer monsters. You need to snap out of it!"
Twilight reared back, blinking and looking from Rainbow Dash to Caballeron, to the others. She gritted her teeth then turned around. Her horn flashed and Caballeron stopped squirming, still moaning in pain. "The wound is shut, but there's nothing much I can do for the pain." She licked her lips. "I… I need a moment. Someone get the info out of him."
Rainbow Dash watched Twilight trot away behind the house and grimaced. "Uh, excuse me. I'll be right back."
"Twilight is under a lot of pressure, Daring," Galahad said gently. "She really does mean it when she says lives depend on this."
Daring Do clenched her mouth, her eyes fixed on the blood.
o.0.o End Chapter 218 o.0.o
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Twilight has changed more then a realized
Heavy.
This chapter drives it home, she's not the same pony who followed Sunset through that portal.
Oh if Daring had ANY idea of what they're dealing with she wouldn't be so recalcitrant in helping them. Or be able to ever sleep again, probably
And damn, Twilight needs more therapy, the warrior is still too strong in her, but both Earth and Equestria needs a princess of friendship, not of battle.
Also Luna would be pissed if Twiggles stole that title from her
Yeah, as a Human I don't see the issue, and it seems the older Griffin doesn't either. Gilda's reaction is interesting, however.
Rainbow is going to be very shaken by this. And it's probably a really good thing Fluttershy wasn't there.
9440888
Twilight not being a princess of battle? I'd say that ship has long since sailed. Being in any sort of warfare changes you, and has lasting effects on the psyche, after all as the old saying goes "You can take the Soldier out of the War, but you can't take the War out of the Soldier." Which. . . Rather ironically it seems to sum up Twilight's situation quite nicely. . .
- Thunder
War changes People, even someone like Twilight. And nice Touch with Rainbow speaking German
Aww, I was hoping that we'd get to see Twi ripping somepony to shreds.
Twilight is walking on the eightfold path and that path leads to the skullthrone.
Btw Miss Do Twilight doesn't just think she has authority because of her wings, the other princesses gave her the authority.
Hehe, Yearling is floored!
EXACTLY what situation I thought was taking place... with a couple more highly trained soldiers than show canon... yeah, this is NOT the same Twilight. Shes been trained and experienced combat and death to the point that shes forgotten what a sugar coated, pastel world she comes from.
9440998
I don't think she was. I think gefährlich is just the name that galahad got in the book. While it is german RD uses it as a name like any other word, I even doubt she really knows what it means.
I love this setup. Ahuizotl is gonna have a bad time.
We really need to help Twilight back to her old self or at least closer to it than how she is right now. There is not much of the friendly harmony loving pony left to see right now. Hope she gets better.
I wonder how this scene is going to be worked into Daring's next book. She used to be buddies with an assassin, though, so I suspect she's not super shocked at the blood she's seeing.
And yes, Galahad is a dangerous one indeed.
9441124
Blood for the blood god!
"Galahad, and Gabby waited"
"Galahad and Gabby waited"?
"The younger griffon looked conflicted, glancing from the group to one of the ponies, dressed in better clothes than the others squirmed in the ground, screaming in agony every time he moved his left hind-leg."
..."The younger griffon looked conflicted, glancing from the group to one of the ponies, who was dressed in better clothes than the others and squirmed on the ground, screaming in agony every time he moved his left hindleg."?
That sentence didn't parse well for me, though, so I'm not entirely sure that's right, sorry.
9441258
I think Do is more surprised that the goodie four shoes princess of friendship isn't fazed by the blood than the fact there is blood on the ground.
9441257
Yeah. Rainbow, it just reminded me when She said Gesundheit in the Show, you know?
*Elongated Darth Vader cry of NOOOOOOO* I ran out of chapters to binge read! Love this story, can't wait for the next chapter.
I have no problem with what happen in this chapter.
I'm not sure if I'm impressed or frustrated by Daring not even acknolwedging Luna's presence. Well, Luna's body's presence, but still, Bookhorse brought Moonhorse. It's a pretty safe bet that this isn't a fluffy friendship mission even before seeing Twilight's enhanced interrogation methods.
At least Daring Do and the Black Powder Princess has a nice ring to it.
9441124
Hey, if she gets far enough she gets to hang out with the coolest bro in the Galaxy, Kharn. Always brings the good shit to parties...
The Daring Do book series just got a lot more interesting.
I can ship it.
IMO Dash and the others are coming down a little too hard on Twilight. If Caballeron wanted prompt and timely first aid for that bullet wound he shouldn't have been living a lifestyle where he would expect he could just stab people with no consequences.
Yeah, thats what happen when you put someone who was forged in the crap sack world that is X-com 2 and then send them against common thugs
9441124
9441719
9441259
Not to be a downer, since while I realise it's a joke (a clever one at that) and like the Chaos Space Marines as much as the next Warhammer 40k fan, but mixing 40k and XCOM don't mix too well. . . *shudders* the flashbacks. . . By Emperor and Omnissiah the horrible flashbacks. . .
- Thunder
9442152
But just think about it: Xcom gets help from the Inquisition - Deathwatch with all their toys, the Grey Knights to slap some sence into Sunset and last but not least the Adeptus Sororitas will strike down the heretics and cleanse this world.
9442383
Eh. . . More likely the the inquistition would simply shoot Sunset for being not just a Xenos but a Xeno-Heretic. . . actually since this is set during XCOM 2 The Inquistition would have a field day killing XCOM, ADVENT, Elders and their allies left and right. . . though I can imagine they'd have trouble deciding whether or not to perform Exterminatus on Holy Terra even if it's not their version of Holy Terra. . .
- Thunder
Oh dear, so much to unpack here. First off there's Alejandra showing why soldiers shouldn't be doing police work. Military isn't trained to handle civilian level threats.
Then there's Twilight. Hoo boy, Twilight. What we're seeing here is a glimmer of Fluttershy's fears made real. Her realization that she needs a moment to herself runs a little bit deeper than just "omigosh I overreacted" when we stop and realize what Twilight just did: She tortured one of her own subjects for information. A criminal subject, sure, but still, she tortured one of her own subjects. And she didn't do this because she had no other choice, but because she wants to save Sunset and was annoyed that Yearling blew her off as 'the Pretty Pony Princess', so she turned to Cabaleron and pressed him for info while withholding her healing because it was easier.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Sunset walked down that road with her blood magic, and now needs saving. I think Twilight just had a little taste of just how easy going down that road is, and just how far her experiences have made her go down that road already. It's a good thing Rainbow is with her, because right now she needs friends who aren't completely jaded like Alejandra or Laetitia are. She needs friends who can pull her back and remind her of who she used to be, she needs a moment to reflect and see if, even if she can't ever truly go back to who she was before this journey, at least take a few steps back and become Twilight Sparkle: Princess of Friendship again.
9442444
You rush at a cop with a knife and you will get shot. Knives are some of the most dangerous weapons that police encounter. If anything, he's lucky to still be alive.
Twilight you need to be more Paragon and less Renegade.
9442444
Afraid I have to disagree with you on a few things here, First off Alejandra. She isn't doing Police work in the first place and regardless of that fact, an armed Police officer would open fire on an armed suspect if they not only refused the officer's demand to drop their weapon but proceeded to attack.
Secondly Twilight's actions against Dr. Caballeron. I think you're overthinking her reasoning a little here, it's less likely that Daring has anything to do with her level of harshness toward Caballeron (other than being associated with him by way of them being rivals), in all probability Twilight is much likely to simply be defaulting back to her Training with XCOM, a faction whom indeed do perform such actions out of necessity. This actually ties into my next point.
Thirdly Twilight going too far/following in Sunset's footsteps. As I already adressed in my previous point Twilight is still in an XCOM mindset, it's less that she's in danger of going too far, more she's reacting like soldier not adjusted to life away from the battlefield. And as I've said in an earlier comment
This last point about being away from the battlefield is Rather moot though. Since it's already been heavily implied that even while her friends don't really want to lose her again, Twilight is still going to go back to both help save Sunset and rejoin the XCOM war effort.
- Thunder
...
Well, Twilight...
...
You've changed. And as necessary as that might have been, don't go too far down that path. My only wish is that you retain the very core values and principles you had before you went through this mess.
...
Celestia this is a mess. I don't know what to really say. I want to tell her to stop being like that, but then it'd be too idealistic, and if I tell her to just go on it would be too cold-heartedly pragmatic for her in my opinion. I can't find a good way to describe that in-between, even with all the ideas whizzing around in my head.
Gah! Philosophy and ethics and morals and whatever in wartime are a *****!
... I'll just have to take this as a compromise for now: you can take it out on damn ADVENT – the root of the problem lies with those *insert witty insult* – but please, I want you to... espouse the qualities of the Elements of Harmony as much as you can otherwise.
After all, what good is you not dying if you die in your mind...
This reminds me of the fact that both these expressions exist: "the ends justify the means" and "the means justify the ends". But above all, "There are no winners in war, only losers."
P.S. How does the moral debate compare to Stardust?
I've got you at last dari.... *bang* * bang* .... twilight looks at everyones shocked face .... " What he's a known criminal who's attempted genocide on a global scale .... kidnapping .... attempted murder ..... theft ... he needed to be put down .... if it wasn't for the flack I'd get from fluttershy I'd put his cats down too." but princess ponies don't do that .... "That's why innocent ponies suffer because you let criminals escape ... daring .... he only needs to succeed once ... and that's it ... game over." "Don't judge me daring dont forget ... your a criminal who's probably wanted in other countries for theft of national artifacts .... as allies I would be within my right to put out a warrant for your arrest for stealing from the Saddle Arabian king. " sorry got a little into it .... plus RD better get used to such actions if she's gonna be a wonderbolt ... or she might wanna make other plans. Their just as much soldiers as they are stunt fliers.
9442688
Er, not... really? I mean, I'll admit that's a likely case in America (and there's a ton of complex reasons behind that), but in many European nations cops are trained to first try and de-escalate, then disarm without shooting. Shooting is a very rare, last chance scenario. Heck, there's nations where cops don't even carry guns, just tazers at most.
I'm not blaming Ajedandra for how she reacted. She reacted the way a trained soldier would, leniently so even given that Cabaleron is still alive. I'm just noting this as an example of why having armed soldiers patrolling an otherwise peaceful nation is not always going to be a good thing.
9442718
Soldiers aren't allowed to torture their enemies for information either. XCOM might, because XCOM is in a backs-against-the-wall scenario, and because in fiction torture is somehow cool when it's done by the heroes, but it's not a thing soldiers are allowed to do. Heck, it's not even a thing Twilight would be trained to do, as even XCOM left interrogation in the hands of its science staff, not its soldiers. There is no part of 'soldier training' that explains or rationalizes why Twilight did what she did.
We need to look at other things than just "she's a soldier now, it's her training" to explain why she did what she did. Her actual experiences on the battlefield, for example. Her first mission involved being betrayed, seeing her entire squad get killed and ending up getting captured by the enemy. That complete and total betrayal of friendship embittered Twilight greatly, putting a big crack in her previously openly trusting nature. That lays the foundation. Now as for why she specifically did this to Cabaleron, let's look at this exchange:
Twilight is clearly upset at Daring for blowing her off. Cabaleron was an alternative, and she actively refused to help him until he gave her what she wanted because she wanted to 'solve this as quickly as possible.' Then Rainbow Dash gave her a cold shower and made Twilight realize that what she was doing was wrong. And Twilight realizes just how far she was travelling down a deep and dark path. Willing to hurt one of her own subjects for the sake of expedience.
I know fiction has a tendency to make torture look cool when the heroes do it. It's cool to watch Batman punch villains until they tell them what he needs to know. But replace Batman with, say, Two Face? Or in this case, replace Twilight with, I dunno, Chrysalis? Or Sombra? Suddenly the very same actions aren't heroic anymore, just criminal.
And that's the root of Twilight's shock and realization: she's not a hero for trying to get things done quickly and damn the pain and agony she causes along the way. Her intentions are good, saving a friend caught in the grip of dark magic is exactly the kind of thing Twilight would do, but the actions she was taking were going too far. Like how Chrysalis wanting to feed her subjects did not justify the invasion of Equestria, so does wanting to save Sunset not justify torturing one of her own ponies, even a criminal one. Twilight was slowly inching closer to becoming what she always stood against.
Chrysalis would love the irony.
I was wondering how hard Caballeron was going to get stomped on. If he isn't reevaluating his entire life then he is at least making a note not to ever draw the attention of alicorns or their associates.
This really begs for Dr.Who reference
Twilight was mentioned as the Princess of Friendship multiple times in previous chapters, but it just occurred to me that Twilight didn't get her title until the end of the season 4 finale.
9498866
Hey, canon and fanfiction can deviate a little.
Lmao, fair 'nuff
I think Twilight did perfectly fine. A bleeding wound is a great timer to get someone to get his lips move faster.
Someone attacking with killing intentions should be ready to be killed.