Ranger
Chapter 219: Friendship
By Wanderer D
Rainbow Dash went around Daring Do's home, a thousand thoughts and harsh words on her mind, which faded when she found Twilight, sitting down and leaning her head against the trunk of a tree, repeatedly bumping her head on the tree and muttering to herself. She looked miserable.
"Hey, Twilight?" she ventured, slowing down and stopping behind her friend. "Are you okay?"
Twilight gently smacked her forehead against the tree once more. "No, Dash. I'm not."
Rainbow Dash sighed, walking up to her and sitting down to her side. "Wanna talk about it?"
Twilight rested her head on the trunk and glanced from under her bangs at Rainbow Dash. "Not really."
"But you're going to, right?"
Twilight closed her eyes. "Yeah."
"So what happened back there?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Hostile unit got shot, he has information we need." Twilight said dully, "So I didn't help him and let him fear for his life because I have better things to do than negotiating with terrorists."
"Really?"
Twilight sighed. "Rainbow, you've read the books. What do the Rings of Scorchero do?"
Rainbow frowned, concentrating for a moment before her eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh! They can bring blazing heat that covers all of the ancient Tenochtitlan Empire!" She shook her head. "Is that why you were kinda torturing him for? To stop that?"
Twilight chuckled. "No. But it's one of the many reasons I told myself to justify doing that. Along with Sunset's life being on the line. Along with Laetitia's life being on the line. Along with 'what would Chrysalis do?' and I'm not even sure she'd do that. Every time Caballeron screamed, I thought reasons for why it was okay that I was doing that."
"Twilight—"
"Equestria is not Earth." Twilight turned around, resting her back on the tree trunk and looking up at the sky past the forest around them. "Here I'm a Princess, not an XCOM soldier. Today I showed everyone around what type of ruler I could be."
Rainbow Dash shook her head. "You stopped."
"Because you were here," Twilight said. "Can you imagine, if you hadn't come? If it was only Alejandra, Laetitia, Galahad, Gabby and Gilda?" She sighed. "The last two couldn't stop me. I barely know them and they barely know me. The first three would support my decision and justify it.
"On Earth, the fight is so desperate, that more than one person or resistance group has completely given up on their morals and turned to ruthless torture of anyone that refuses to help them. XCOM comes close a lot of times… hay, I think Vahlen crossed the line if you listen to what Bradford and Tygan have to say about her experiments.
"There's always a very thin line of what is acceptable there… but even they respect that. And that's on Earth. Over here… who tortures or allows their subjects to suffer?" She levitated and threw a small rock. "Sombra." Another small rock. "Chrysalis. Not shining examples of what makes us good, are they?"
Rainbow Dash leaned onto her friend's shoulder. "Come on, you're not that bad."
"Now, but I could be." Twilight licked her lips, looking down at the forest floor. "I brought you because you love Daring Do's books as much as I do. But I almost left you behind with the others."
Ears perked, Rainbow leaned back so she could look at Twilight. "So you left the others behind on purpose? It wasn't because they weren't around?"
Twilight laughed, a bitter, self-recriminating laugh. "Oh Rainbow. I could have made an effort. But I knew that I might have to do things to get what I wanted that they wouldn't approve of." She sighed. "It was easier to leave them behind than to force myself to face the fact that there are different ways of doing things here in Equestria. I knew the others would not have approved of me sending Alejandra out to "take care" of the bad guys." She shook her head. "When I gave the order, I knew. I knew shots would be fired."
"So you left them behind because they would have stopped you."
Twilight nodded. "Worse. Because I knew that this was easier and faster. Alejandra, for all her training, is just like me Dash. We're really rookies. We're both better trained than your average pony, but we're still green. We're still learning as we go. Tala would have handled things differently. Sunset…" she grimaced. "Has been on Earth too long, but if she wanted to, she could've taken the group by herself without really injuring anyone."
"And if the girls had been here?"
"I'd terrify them." Twilight whispered. "And I'm terrified of that. I'm afraid I'll lose your respect. That Fluttershy will hate me. That Applejack will lose her faith in me. That Pinkie would never see me and smile. That Rarity would be disgusted." Her ears flattened and she bit her lip. "That I've turned into someone different. So different, that none of you would want to be with me."
The pair remained quiet for a few moments.
"You changed, Twilight," Rainbow said eventually. "Nopony can look at you now and see the innocent egghead who would close her eyes when she got into any sort of confrontation or beg others for peace and understanding." She sighed. "That pony is gone."
"Oh."
Dash put her hoof on top of Twilight's. "But you, Twilight Sparkle, are still here. And you're different. You've grown and seen things nopony else has. You survived where just about everypony we know from Ponyville would probably not. You earned the respect, admiration and friendship of everypony you met on the other side of the mirror who was willing to listen." She smiled. "That's something only the Princess of Friendship can do!"
Rainbow Dash stood up and beat her wings, opening her forelegs to encompass everything around them. "You came back! You're trying to do the impossible, not to destroy enemies, but to save your friends. You might be Battle Princess Twily now, but that doesn't mean you stopped being the Princess of Friendship." She pointed at Twilight with her hoof. "Just because you changed, doesn't mean you're not yourself! Nopony else can do the things you do. Nopony else can solve the things you can!"
Twilight shook her head. "But I was about to—"
"About to make a mistake!" Rainbow Dash interrupted. "Everypony makes mistakes. I've made mistakes, and so has Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, you and Rarity. Don't tell me you already forgot all your friendship lessons?
"So you were close to making something worse. But you didn't. When I got through to you, you stopped. It could have been a lot worse. You could have simply not held back. Or ignored me! They could all be dead instead of tied up. You're not perfect Twilight, but you're not Sombra. You're not Queen Chrysalis." She got close so that she could stare at Twilight right in the eyes. "You're not a monster."
Twilight smiled a little. "So what now?"
"The way I see it, you're still in charge," Rainbow Dash said, flapping her wings so she could give her friend some space. "So you might as well get up and talk to the others. Just remember that you are the Princess of Friendship… and that we're all here for you. Everypony. Old friends and new."
She leaned forth, offering Twilight her hoof.
The princess smiled and took it.
o.0.o End Chapter 219 o.0.o
I assume you meant rainbow dash?
Great chapter, even if it was just character building. It’s these kinds of chapters that really add weight to the decisions characters make, and make us readers truly invested in their fates
Why is Rarity there?
Another great chapter! I'm really looking forward to seeing how everypony/griffon reacts to Twilight after that display. I suspect Gabby may be bottling things up a bit, and we've seen in the show how that goes.
Also: "Rarity put her hoof on top of Twilight's. "
I think you mean Rainbow?
Great chapter indeed. You did very well in showing twilights Doubt
True, true.
Commencing squeal of approval and fluff.
Squeal!
Thank you, Rainbow Dash, for making things simple and being there for Twilight in her time of need.
... and thanks for stopping my inner moral crisis debate.
Honestly doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me. Caballeron pulled a knife and got 1 upped. Refusing to treat him for a minute was not right (although justifiable), but it's not like Twi stomped on the wound. As outside observers with a somewhat omniscient viewpoint, we know he'd let a whole land whither for some gold, so it's hard for me to empathize with him, and therfore hard to relate to Twilight being down on herself about giving him what he had coming. That's my perspective as a reader anyway.
9444909
It’s not a big deal on Earth, not at all, but they were in Equestria at the time, so certain concessions have to be made.
You know, I’ve just thought of something. The fundamentals of what Twilight has been through the last two chapters are like “Rarity Takes Manehattan”.
Of course, it’s on a much darker and consequential scale, but I think something can be said here. No matter what the the world throws at you, don’t change who you truly are, even if adapting a bit is necessary. Heh, seems like the friendship lessons of the show actually stuck.
Anyway, that’s some food for thought.
That's some quality loyalty there.
It's time like this that Rainbow is the best.
And this is why Rainbow Dash is the Element of Loyalty. Even when Twilight went too far, Rainbow Dash was there to stop her, to catch her, and to bring her hooves back to the ground.
"And that is Earth over here… who tortures"
Missing text?
"a bitter, self-recriminating, laugh"
"a bitter, self-recriminating laugh"?
"Rarity put her hoof on top of Twilight's"
...Er. "Rainbow put her hoof on top of Twilight's"? Or is something strange going on?
Pep talk. First step is recognizing you have a problem...
Hold on a sec... Did Rarity went too? Am I blind to have missed who came?!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!
images7.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED631/59a499d96f3d3.jpeg
9444816 9444818 9444825 9445035 9445155 9445270
I get it, I get it! I mistyped a name.
Rarity's generosity is omnipresent, always there when needed. She can put her hoof on Twilight’s for comfort even when not present in the scene if she wants to!
9445299
Sorry!
I didn't see the other comments when I put mine up.
Battle Princess Twily! With Kung Fu bucking action and spring-loaded missile launcher!
... Darn it, now I want Beast Wars-style pony/human Transformers.
In all seriousness, a very well-named chapter and an excellent showing from Dash. Hopefully this wake-up call will help Twilight recalibrate her methods for Equestria.
Darn good Chapter. Rainbow was at her best here and that is always good to see.
9445299
Heh, sorry. :)
9445030
I'm not usually petty, but I do feel rather uncharacteristically pleased/relieved that you, I, and everyone else were at least partially wrong wrong about Twilight's reasoning in our own ways. She wasn't angry after all, just desperate. . . Now that I think about it that might be worse. . .
9444909
9444913
Now these sentiments I completely agree with. After all XCOM's world is almost as much a Crapsack world as the one the Fallout Universe has, so some concessions have to be made for how Twilight is acting, it would take anyone time to mentally adjust to such a change of environment.
- Thunder
9444909
Well, there's a lot of reasons. Twilight pointed out several, but chief among the other reasons is that none of this was necessary. She could have just as easily patched up Cabaleron, put him under guard, then turn back to Daring Do and gone "now that that's handled, what's the ring for?" Or she could have healed Cabaleron and asked him "there, you're healed. Now I've got questions about what you're doing here." There was no good reason to make Cabaleron suffer, and not stomping the wound does not make that any better.
But let's look beyond Cabaleron. Imagine what would happen if news of this got out? When ponies learn that crossing Twilight Sparkle, or just having something she wants, means pain and agony? How much would her title as Princess of Friendship be worth to the creatures around the world? When Twilight talks about showing what kind of Princess she could be, that's not hyperbole.
And where does it stop? Twilight herself admitted she was on a slippery slope. If this torture had worked, would have done it again? Would she have done worse later? I'm not sure if 9443123 was joking, but that scenario he/she posted is a terrifying vision for a potential future of Equestria. Starlight would not survive such a Twilight, and even Thorax's health would not be certain. Which in turn means no help during the Crystalling, potentially dooming the Crystal Empire, no redemption for the Changelings and the Pillars remaining in limbo.
9445821
To be completely honest, I have absolutely no problem with changelings staying black and moody. Seriosly, What kind of soap/crayons did they eat to have that many colors? Other points are really solid, I have nothing against them.
Now that I think about it, some or many of those things should not happen. It's not a time travel by any means, but butterfly effect should still hold true. While killing one butterfly would not make a difference, but ponies in different places should have an impact. For example, "baseline" Twilight always believes Celestia, when she says that Twilight must do a test alone. But she still comes through, when she's pinned, and just tags Spike in, test or no test. This Twilight would have more confidence in team play, and more skeptical of the task she was given. Not to mention, she would likely held her own against SOmbra, and/or would not be affected by mindrape to the same extent... Differences just pile up, until the chance that any other action but(meaning - anything but) the default one will be taken goes up to 100%.
9446072
Black, moody, and with a habit of kidnapping ponies in green goo. The later is decidedly unhealthy with XCOM operatives on the prowl.
9446121
Let's just say they had a purpose back then, maybe they could have stayed black, many stories did that. Changelings are redeemed. Not magically, but in their world view. I don't like MANY canon things. Let's just stop at that.
9445821
There are plenty of logical reasons why it's wrong and a bad idea, but that doesn't describe my emotional reaction and subsequent disconnect from Twilight's self loathing. I guess I feel like she was being too hard on herself? Something just didn't quite jive to me with her reaction to it all, and it was off putting. I suppose it should feel that way, with the state she's in.
After re-reading the previous chapter to make certain, there is one thing I realised we've all overlooked. Twilight didn't actually "torture" Dr. Caballeron, she simply refused to heal him, which don't get me wrong is in some ways just as bad, but it does fall in line better with pragmatic XCOM (read: Non-Standard) military doctrine that Twilight was taught, a "you scratch my back and i'll scratch yours" type of deal if you will.
If Twilight was still on earth, XCOM and by extension Twilight herself would be fine with using such tactics on a hostile. Case in point, In "Enemy Unknown" XCOM did a lot worse in the Alien Containment area of the base, and they were still an official if top-secret government organisation back then. . . Of course, on earth invading Alien forces wouldn't be granted the same rights that a human would, not to mention XCOM's Standard Operating Procedure toward hostiles (Especially during XCOM 2) wouldn't exactly discourage Twilight taking such an action.
9445821
All good points, though I still feel I must disagree on one thing, while Twilight may have had "no good reason" to treat Caballeron as she did, this point seems to assume Twilight was thinking clearly, which clearly (pun intended) she was not.
. . . If there isn't one already, someone should really open some kind of proper discussion thread, so people can properly debate things like the morality of Twilight's decision to let Dr. Caballeron suffer, Sunset's Reasoning for Becoming Fugue (Including if it was even her who decided to become Fugue in the first place), Laetitia's Fate, and all that other good stuff. As long as we were all to remain civil in such a thread, I imagine that it could be quite enjoyable.
- Thunder
9446618
I think that's because so much media loves portraying normally 'bad' things as okay when its done by heroes to villains, so we kinda just disconnect the morality of it all.
9446758
Picture this from a different angle instead: a mobster goon shoots a rival in the leg, leaving a very painful wound. Then the boss walks over and withholds treatment until the rival answers the boss's question, leaving the rival a choice of either suffering the painful wound or answering the questions. We'd generally qualify that as torture, even though the boss didn't fire any shots nor is he actively hurting the rival.
But yeah, she wasn't thinking clearly. Trauma does have a tendency to do that to people. Which is why it's a good thing she has Dash along to keep her grounded.
Ha, great read, now I'm stuck waiting for chapters.
Awesome pair of chapters. Twilight making a mistake that could have gone much worse, and Rainbow coming alongside her to help her find a productive way to see it.
9446758
Hmm. Sounds good, but I don't know quite where such a thread could be hosted. I guess in the forum for one of the groups related to this fic, like the group for XCOM crossovers?
Interesting going back through an episode and seeing how the newly hardened Twilight handles things. I can really sympathize with her approach and wanting to leave everyone behind as well. Wonder how some others might turn out as well, assuming that the mane six still need to find their keys to potentially stop Tirek of this world.
Very deep, pragmatic is not always the best chose to make it seems.
Reminds me of Batman unwilling to use lethal force against humans, because it would be to easy to cross the line...