A Princess's Trials - Part 5
A Princess's Trials
by Present Perfect
Part 5: The Griffon Lands
Tempest could not be sure which hurt worse: the blow to her pride at being thrown across a body of water by a dragon hopped up on adrenaline and greed, or the impact with the other side. At least Twilight had been able to teleport them the final stretch, after the land had come into view and they'd realized they would land slightly short of their goal.
Now, however, the Princess lay unconscious on the rocky shore, as Tempest and Skystar rose to shaking hooves and did their best to remove bits of gravel from their hides.
"I-is she okay?" Skystar asked, watching the alicorn fearfully.
Twilight's chest rose and fell, but Tempest still made a show of checking her for a pulse.
"She'll be fine. Probably magical burnout. The teleport was likely too much of a strain. We can make camp here, and she'll be recovered by morning."
"All right, miss Captain, ma'am!" Skystar gave a poor salute. "I'm ready to assist however I can! Just point me in a direction, and I'll go! Zoom, whoosh, pyow!"
Tempest clapped Skystar's beak shut. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm, Your Highness, rule number one is no unnecessary sound. We're all quite a long way from our homes."
Skystar gave her a sheepish, apologetic look. "Oops. Sorry."
"As for how to help, see what you can forage." Tempest pulled a large leaf from a tree further up the shoreline and fashioned it into a sack. "The southernmost Griffon Lands are covered in jungle, the same as the northern Dragon Lands, so there should be plenty of ripe fruits. Fill this up, and keep the beach or Channel in sight at all times so you don't get lost." She gave the princess a quick once-over. "Do you think you can handle that?"
"Yes, ma'am! Uh, whoops, quiet." She giggled. "I mean, yes, ma'am."
Tempest was really going to have to teach Skystar how to salute properly.
As the princess made her way off into the foliage, Tempest allowed herself the brief luxury of a long-suffering sigh. Then she got to work, making sure Twilight was more comfortable before gathering materials for a fire and shelter.
While she was half convinced she would be off tracking down a wayward hippogriff princess by sundown, Tempest had decided she would rather deal with being hungry for a few days than risk exposure. Left to her own devices here on the beach, even with an order to watch over Twilight, the young princess would definitely have gotten herself into trouble.
She was like the angry young dragon, Tempest thought: full of energy and roiling emotion that just needed some focus to be forged into something more sensible. All young creatures were like that, and not all of them turned out to be lazy good-for-nothings. Foraging was the right task to have given her.
As the sun started its decline and the pessimistic half of Tempest prepared her to dash off into the underbrush, Princess Skystar emerged on the beach, hoisting over her head a leaf that had been filled to bursting. She didn't even make a commotion, Tempest was pleased to note. She was, however, stuffing her face with something small, juicy and red as she approached.
"Wow, Tempest," she said through a mouthful of the berries, "you were right! This jungle is packed with food! I didn't recognize most of it, so I just grabbed a little of everything!"
She laid out the leaf, untying the top so Tempest could see the bounty. A bevy of smaller leaves, fruits, berries and a few mushrooms promised full bellies for all tonight. If not for one important thing, that was.
"Poisonous," she said, trying to keep as much disdain out of her voice as possible. She pointed to each offering in turn. "Poisonous, poisonous, edible but makes ponies gassy, poisonous, I'm allergic to that one, poisonous, deadly poisonous..."
Tempest was suddenly aware of the sickly sweet smell in the air. The smell coming from Skystar's beak.
"Sorry I couldn't find more edible stuff, but these are great!" said the hippogriff, holding out a clawful. "Want some?"
"Skystar." Tempest swallowed. "Those are poisonous, too."
"Oh." Skystar dropped the berries and wiped her claws on her chest ruff, staining it the same deep red as the feathers around her beak. She stared at Tempest for a long moment before offering her a sheepish smile. "Uh, oops? I guess I shouldn't have eaten so many. Maybe that's why everything's going all rectangle stork boooaaaat..."
Skystar collapsed.
Tempest stared for a moment as the hippogriff's body went completely slack. Then she let out a wail of anguish, frustration and pure, seething fury.
That absolutely tore it. This bubbleheaded idiot who dared call herself a princess had just poisoned herself and might, in fact, die. And it was Tempest's duty, her sworn duty, to make sure said idiot did not, in fact, die. Which meant finding the nearest source of fresh water. Which, if Tempest's knowledge of this part of the Griffon Lands was anything to go by, meant at least a day's trek north carrying both princesses somehow.
She wanted to rage. She wanted to kick and scream and throw things. To stamp and stamp and stamp her hooves until this whole stupid rock beach was nothing but a flat expanse of sand.
But Tempest Shadow was not a mare who let her emotions get the better of her. Not when they could be put to better use, like, for instance, destroying the shelter she had so painstakingly made for them in order to convert it into a sledge. Princess Twilight only groaned softly as she was lifted onto it.
Tempest was in control.
The going had been extremely slow. Tempest was strong enough to pull two creatures as large and heavy as herself via a rough wooden sledge over rougher terrain, but that didn't mean it wasn't tiring her out. She was pacing herself as much as she could, balancing the need to get Skystar to water quickly with the possibility of them not getting anywhere at all if she succumbed to exhaustion.
To temper her own anger, Tempest set her mind to blaming Queen Novo for everything. Yes, things would have been better if Skystar had not eaten poison berries. Yes, things would have been better if Twilight had let them finish the swim across the Griffish Channel themselves. But none of it would have been possible if not for that half-baked harpy who dared call herself queen and her idiotic kangaroo court.
She wondered if she shouldn't have acted at some point, instead of silently following Twilight's lead. She could have saved them both if she'd only lashed out at the right time, kicked those guards out of the castle, or dived them both out of the chariot or started a scuffle outside the halls of Mount Aris. What could they have done, started a war? She would have taken them on.
Tempest missed her armor. Yes, it would have meant an extra weight to drag around, but it would have been a weight she welcomed. With her armor, she wouldn't be jumping at shadows and starting at every sound that filtered out of the jungle. She wouldn't feel exposed, and she wouldn't have been trying to psyche herself onward by imagining fighting hippogriffs.
Which wasn't to say she was incapable of defending herself. She had been able to intimidate a Bugbear that had ventured surprisingly south of its natural territory with a simple threat display. But she couldn't help think that it wouldn't have approached them if she had had her armor. Armor would have made her a less enticing target, even with the two unconscious creatures being dragged slowly behind her.
The armor would not have helped with the insects, however. She needed to get to that river soon. And start growing her tail out.
With every slow, scuffling step, she was aware of just how ragged and shallow Skystar's breathing was. The poison had coursed through her at lightning speed, and Tempest could do nothing about it, not least because she knew nothing about hippogriff biology. In fact, she admitted to herself, this entire operation was borne of desperation because she felt she needed to be doing something until Princess Twilight woke. Yes, she was counting on Twilight to save them. No, she didn't like it.
She really missed her armor.
The sound of bodies moving through the foliage caught her up short. Ears perked, she craned her head to spot two figures not very far off.
There weren't paths as such through this jungle, though creatures definitely passed through regularly enough to leave impressions in the foliage. To the north, on another such animal track, stood what could only be two hippogriff guards. Tempest recognized their helmet plumes, similar to those worn by the pair that had brought her and Twilight to Mount Aris. They were obviously scouting the land, each looking in a different direction.
Ducking, Tempest unharnessed herself from her sledge. A few seconds of silence told her they hadn't spotted her. No doubt they were out looking for their runaway princess and escaped criminals. What would happen if they were seen?
She could just hear Skystar's voice, fretting about being dragged back to her mother, hyperbolizing about the punishments that would await all three of them should they return. While part of Tempest knew it would be hyperbole, so too did she know she had no choice but to avoid detection and capture at all costs.
Dragging the sledge and its occupants precluded avoiding detection. There was but one course of action left her.
Keeping her body low to the ground, she crept into the undergrowth. One of the guards' ears swiveled in her direction, but his attention was quickly diverted by the biting insects. She crept forward leaf by leaf, breath hushing in and out of her nostrils, timing her movements to the slaps of the guards' tails at their hides. It was the work of five long minutes as they meandered down their path, but by the time she was on them, they still had no idea they had company.
Charging her horn, Tempest crept up behind the rear guard as close as she dared. At the last second, she discharged a blast of raw magic into the back of his skull, and he dropped like a sack of rocks. The other guard whirled at the sound of the blast, but he was too slow. She had started for him the moment her spell had loosed, and she was on him by the time he had faced her.
Her hoof struck home at the seam under his right arm, and he dropped his spear. Recovering with what she had to admit was at least above-average training, his left claw balled into a fist that he swung at her horn. But above-average wasn't good enough; he was moving by rote, not reacting to the reality of the opponent before him. She barely had to duck as his left hook sailed into her mane.
She sent a series of body-blows into his chest only for them to be repelled by his armor. He fell back but didn't stagger as much as she'd anticipated, and he wrapped his right claw around her hoof. She trapped it against her other pastern and yanked. He went over sideways, and she bucked her back legs up and around his shoulders.
He was hers now.
Her weight and momentum sent him fully to the forest floor. She wrapped her back legs around his neck, pulling his left arm around his back. His right fist beat futilely against the dirt, but she never relaxed her hold, and there was no referee to tap him out.
Part of her made note of how easy it would be to snap his neck from this position. To take out some of the frustration and anger she'd been feeling all day on a target who more than deserved it, the symbol of the very queen who had left them in this mess.
Choking that part of herself back came easily enough to surprise Tempest; maybe Princess Twilight was making a good impression on her after all. Though she also wished she could have had time to threaten him or send a message. No doubt, when the guards awoke, they would go straight back to their queen with news of the escapees in Griffon Lands. Stars only knew where they would be by that point.
She struck the guard in the back of the head, and he went limp. She lamented that hippogriffs wouldn't have an airship or other conveyance nearby for them to hijack. Natural flyers never did. Besides, it would be too convenient.
Breathing hard and shaking the dirt off herself, Tempest set about gathering more vines.
When Twilight Sparkle awoke, it was to a full-body headache, the sensation of being pulled along the ground, and an upside-down view of the muscular rear end of a very tired-sounding Tempest Shadow. At least something around here was pleasant.
She tried to say something but emitted little more than a harsh croak. It was enough to catch Tempest's attention, at least; the dragging stopped immediately and the unicorn looked back at her, not a small amount of relief on her face.
"Princess, you're awake," she said, voice not sharing the relief. "Here's the situation.
"You've been unconscious all day, since you teleported us halfway across the Channel. Princess Skystar has poisoned herself. I've been pulling both of you through the jungle on a sledge, and it may not be long before I succumb to exhaustion."
She swallowed. Twilight could only boggle at how matter-of-fact she was.
"What..." Her voice came out harsh and dry. "Poison?"
"We need to get fresh water to Skystar hours ago. If you have any strength to fly or use magic, you must fetch it from the river to the north. It will expedite the process of saving her life."
Something electric shocked through Twilight. She stood bolt upright and flared her wings, though every muscle in her body screamed in fierce protest. "Y-yeah," she said, voice failing her once more. "You said there's a river to the north?"
"Yes, Princess. Please hurry, it shouldn't be far. I can make a leaf carrier if it will help."
Magic flowed into Twilight's horn, and she was pleased to find no resistance or pain. At least something was painless. "I'll carry it back via magic. I'll fly north, then teleport back here, all right? Don't strain yourself anymore, Tempest, just wait here."
"Very well, Princess." Tempest bowed her head, and the rest of her body followed suit. Fatigue ebbed from her haunches into the forest floor, and Twilight experienced an intense of wave of gratefulness. She was incredibly lucky to have this mare with her on this trip.
That alone was enough to put a fire in Twilight's heels. Still achy, but willing to push it all back for the sake of her friend -- she had made a point not to look at Skystar on the sledge next to her -- she took off, flying above the darkened jungle. The river soon came within sight, and after ten or so minutes of fevered flapping, she teleported back to the random patch of greenery she had left, a bubble of water held in her telekinesis.
In that time, the sledge had been dismantled, and Tempest was converting into a shelter. She was visibly running herself ragged, but Twilight couldn't have been prouder in that moment, to see her working so tirelessly to protect someone she'd not only just met a few days ago, but hadn't exactly gotten along with. She poured the water into the rolled leaf Tempest offered as she reappeared and started nursing Skystar.
"Is she running a fever, Tempest?" Twilight sighed in relief as the first drops of water made their way down the hippogriff's throat.
"Not that I was able to notice, Your Highness." Tempest cleared her throat. "I have been rather busy today. There was a rogue hippogriff patrol that required subduing."
"What?"
Twilight hadn't meant to be that loud. She actually jumped at the sound of her own voice.
What she couldn't figure out was Tempest's expression. She looked... hurt. As though she were afraid of disappointing Twilight, and the outburst served as proof that she had.
"They were obviously looking for us," she said quietly, "no doubt to take us back to finish out our sentence. I promise you I dispatched them with non-lethal measures. I left them tied back-to-back to a tree, with one claw each free. They'll be able to escape with some effort. I just wanted them to get the hint and not come looking for us again."
Twilight nodded and let a small smile show as Tempest finished her tale. "You've done a good job, Tempest. You've done far more than I ever could have asked of you. You rest and watch Skystar, I'll take care of the fire and finish the shelter."
For a moment, Tempest looked as though she would protest. But, with a sigh, she settled down on the bracken pad she had crafted outside the lean-to, nodding to Twilight.
Later that night, Twilight and Tempest sat, watching the fire crackle and occasionally shooting glances back to Skystar, who slumbered in the lean-to. Thanks to the less than ideal lighting, Twilight had found precious little in the way of edibles, and though Tempest was obviously tapped, she refused to sleep before Twilight. They were both a little on edge, though they still huddled close to each other to conserve the warmth.
Twilight was starting to nod off when Tempest said, "I was just thinking of what you would do."
Starting a bit, Twilight looked to her companion. "Oh?"
"When I attacked those guards. It would have been simple to leave them as corpses for the jungle scavengers to find."
A shiver ran down Twilight's spine.
"But I knew I couldn't. I knew you wouldn't want me to. And I knew... I knew it wasn't the right thing to do. Despite what the hippogriffs have done to us, for all that they might report back and give away our location, it was better that I leave them alive."
"We'll just have to make an early start and keep moving, then." Twilight smiled and placed a hoof against Tempest's side. "You really did do the right thing, Tempest. Queen Novo might be angry with me, but the hippogriffs aren't our enemies. Sometimes, friends quarrel. I guess that can be true for entire kingdoms, too."
Tempest nodded and poked a stick into the fire. "Now that I have time to, I've been thinking a lot about what you did. Why you would go along with that sham of a trial." She closed her eyes and stretched her front legs ahead of herself. "If I may be frank..."
"Always."
Tempest gave her a wry smile. "At first, I thought you were being silly about the whole thing. Just ignore the summons, let them have their little fit, go on with your life. But I realize that what you did was a gesture of goodwill. You showed them what kind of person you truly are."
Twilight grew aware that Tempest was analyzing her like Twilight might analyze a sample of crystal. She scooted away from the mare, just a little bit.
"You may not be a ruler, Twilight, but you are a good leader, and a good princess." Tempest's smile grew wider. "I made the right choice in pledging my loyalty to you. You're someone worth following."
Cheeks growing hot, Twilight looked away from Tempest. Stars above, she could even be intense about compliments! "I-I, I'm glad you think so, Tempest."
"Awww!" said a groggy voice behind them.
The pair looked back to see Skystar sitting up, eyes bleary and bloodshot, body wavering. She gave them a drunken smile, her words slurring together.
"You three are sooooo cute together!"
With a groan, she collapsed back into the shelter.
Laughing, Twilight gave Tempest a relieved smile.
"I think she'll pull through after all."
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As touching as it all is, Celestia better have something to say about Novo taking Equestria's greatest and most important defense out of working order by her direct action, to say nothing of the fact that there's no way she authorized the punishment Novo decided on, or will approve of what can only be called a farce. This is without even touching on what Twilight means to Celestia personally.
Ignorance can be no excuse for the severity of Novo's transgression against Equestria. She didn't even have the authority of circumstance to try Twilight as a Seapony. Novo may have offered Twilight refuge, but she never accepted. She was never under Novo's jurisdiction. She wasn't a refugee either, since it was established almost right after Twilight ascended that she had become a link in the royal chain of command.
If Celestia and Luna are out of commission, and Cadance is either busy in her own country or visiting and also out of commission, royal authority falls to Twilight. She wasn't a refugee, she was the defacto ruler of Equestria at the time, and she was petitioning another ruler for aid. The request was denied, but just as Novo has a responsibility to her people, Twilight had one to hers, and it would not be denied.
Twilight never stopped being a citizen of Equestria, and the governmental system of Equestria was not abolished for the duration of the Storm King's conquest because Twilight was still an acting force. She wasn't in her territory, but she still had authority among her people. Novo's insistence on trying Twilight, and using a kangaroo court to do so, from start to finish the old Hagfish was throwing her crown around, and she wasn't even doing it right.
Hey now, that is needlessly insulting towards harpies.
In any case, quite the diplomatic incident awaits when the three get back to Equestria. The question is who will take the brunt of it all. I can only hope Novo ends up with a significant quantity of egg on her face. A goodwill gesture is one thing. Lying down and taking flagrant abuses of power is quite another. Friends may quarrel, but Novo was hardly acting friendly.
Ah well, we'll see what happens soon enough.
Well, that’s the explanation on Twilight’s side. Now we need an explanation from Novo and her lackeys. And it had better be a good one.
9815121
Agreed with all of this.
9815301
Haven't even caught up yet and I agree with it.
9815121
9815301
Same. It's nice that Tempest is hand-waving away the actual effects of the trial by saying, "You showed you're a good person by accepting pointless death to soothe someone's fragile ego", but when that all comes to light there really does need to be hellfire and consequences.
And saying, 'The hippogryph patrol was out there looking for Twilight and Tempest (and maybe Skystar who they had no reason to assume was with Twilight and Tempest) to make sure no deadly harm came to them' is bypassing the fact that deadly harm already tried to come for them in the form of the tiger sharks they were powerless to defend themselves against. We've already seen that there was no safety net in place for this. Twilight might be espousing "forgive and forget" here as the arc demands, but if Novo wanted to pretend to be legitimate and lawful with the extradition treaty farce, then there needs to be legitimate and lawful consequences against Novo for attempting to execute a foreign head of state and her liberator.
9815324
...okay, I’m totally saving this missive somewhere so that I can use it as reference at some point. Yoink.
Oh, although Celestia should be “Sol Invicta”. Invictus is masculine. Likewise should Luna be “Nox Impavida” and Cadance “Amor Aeterna”.
9815326
Wait, was it said why the patrol was out there? Because I just assumed they were looking for Skystar without necessarily caring about Twilight or Tempest.
9815330
No, it was not explicitly stated what their purpose was. However, reading between the lines and applying some meta-filtering to it, I came to that conclusion. Here's why:
Tempest says,
Now, we, the readers, have not seen anything that indicates the hippogryph patrol's purpose in being out there. Presumably, neither has Tempest. Therefore, she is assuming that the above is their purpose. Going off of earlier statements by the author (and a hunch) about incomplete information, my only conclusion is that they are not there for the purpose Tempest assumes they are and are in fact there to show that things were not so wildly out of control as we've been pointing out for a few weeks. Unfortunately, it's coming after things have already happened.
9815330
Shouldn't Twilight be Stella Eximia as well, following the trend?
9815402
Good point, I missed that one.
In most countries, it is not illegal to escape from prison as long as no property is damaged or person harmed, so technically they probably haven't broken laws... although Skystar's condition would land them in hot water.
...Yeah, Twilight, I don't think you can call Novo a friend at this point.
9815506
wait even though she did it to herself
9815506
Excuse me what?
9815572
There are several countries, where escape even from prison isn't a crime (for example Germany). I wouldn't say most countries, it is more or less exception, but it is true. These countries consider "attempt for freedom" as standard human instinct which is not punishable. In these countries, if you try or escape from prison, you are sued for other crimes you did on the way (for example damage to property etc.) but not for the act of escaping itself.
9815642
So out of curiosity I looked into this, and much counter to what 9815506 said, there are three countries, not most, where this is technically correct; Germany, Austria, and Mexico. https://postitrandom.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/these-are-the-countries-where-prison-breaking-escape-is-legal-and-not-punishable/ Most notably this only applies to individuals, not multiple prisoners at once, and only in that the act of escaping is itself not a crime, not that it suddenly absolves you of needing to serve your sentence. If/when caught, said individuals would still serve out the entirety of their original sentence only so long as they had not committed any crimes while escaping, i.e. damaging their cell bars, stealing their prison uniforms, trespassing in restricted areas, knocking out or subduing guards, etc.
Even then, what that poster said doesn't apply here. One of the conditions that was common is that it's illegal to help someone else escape from prison, which Twilight and Tempest were not incarcerated in. And since Tempest did assault, subdue, and kidnap those two guards, she committed additional crimes against the nation of Seaquestria during the course of her and Twilight's not-escape from banishment, which would result in additional punishments anyway.
Tl;dr escaping from prison in three specific countries is not a criminal act in and of itself, but it doesn't mean you're suddenly free to do what you like as you are still an escaped convict eluding justice.
story started out great.
tempest finding her place, making some bonds, slowly growing into what twily said she should be.
then the whole pearl thing reared its head and seems it baffled everyone who reads your stories.
i'm always on the side of "dont like, don't read" and its the authors prerogative to do what they want.
so i'm gonna bow out and cherish that moment between scoots and tempest at the lake.
9815330
9815402
Thanks for all your advice! I've edited my ultimatum to reflect that.
Guess I should've known Latin would have feminine and masculine adjectives, seeing as French has similar stuff too...
Ah, the downfalls of using Google. It sounds cool until someone who knows their stuff comes along.
Also, RainbowDoubleDash didn't miss the "Stella Eximia" part, seeing as I edited it in after the comment.
Anyway, thanks for the appreciation!
9815535
But can they prove she did it to herself? Also, it wouldn't take much mental gymnastics for the guards or queen Novo to interpret it as them taking her hostage. Plus, she's a ditz. And you don't send an inexperienced person out foraging when she has no way of knowing what is poisonous. That makes them responsible for her well-being.
9815759
I stand corrected. And yeah, it isn't escaping from prison yes there is no confinement and all you have to do is swim away. Although considering Sky Stars condition, there's no way they would not have been implicated as kidnappers and potential assassinators.
I am completely here for Tempest starting a small war instead of letting these events develop as they have.
9816542
Oh ok thx for explaining
9816086
This is, in seriousness, a very good stance to take.
...buuuuuuuuut on the other hand it could be argued as doing a disservice to the author or story. I tend to view literally everything as a learning experience, and without criticism no one would ever improve. It’s one of the reasons why I’m a vampire for responses to my own work. I want people to point out where and how and why I fucked up, so that I can fix mistakes if possible and avoid them in the future.
When you just drop something, I feel like you’re saying “this cannot be made better”. Or worse, “I don’t want to see if it can be made better”. Which is fine...but it’s also a bit despondant.
I’ve had a lot of time to think about this recently, you see.
9816553
They had no means or opportunity to kidnap Skystar, plus Tempest has already assaulted and kidnapped the two guards so the hippogryphs don't have to invent wrongdoing on the ponies' part. Also, that last word you used, is not the right word. It's like saying someone is a racialinator, or racistinator, or masticatorinistialist.
9816542
You mean like Novo did to Twilight and Tempest?
9817021
#facepalm Yeah, I know the correct word is assassin's and I was being stupid. And the hippogriffs couldn't know they didn't kidnap her, and in this case it seems Novo would take the opportunity to frame them just because. Also, I'm thinking their banishment was intended to be a death sentence.
9817197
I agree, which is one of the things that's been sticking out so much about this whole thing. Forcible body transformation into an unfamiliar form with no means of self-defense, exiled to an area with no idea how to survive, no idea what's even edible, with carnivorous predators and no guards or escort, and with Skystar saying Novo intended them to be out there for a long time. That's absolutely a death sentence, either through starvation or being eaten.
9817906
More than you.
(Don't take this seriously, too, for 'tis in jest as well. I'm not very fond of Dumbledore bashing, I think people underestimate his burdens.)
People are really thinking hard on this punishment thing.
Imma just roll with it, but if I had to theorize it would be this was supposed to be a lesson and a means to punish even a princess and element of harmony in good faith to the Hippogriffs. No one is above the rules.
The theory for me though is she was meant to really be out in timeout, then released back to Equestria again. It sounds like the kind of harebrained (no offense to Angel) scheme some rulers-acting-like-fussy-parents would do. It also sounds like something Celestia would actually approve of, rather than real permanent consequences.
Buuut, they escaped somehow, and now this punishment got blown up under a microscope and became a bigger deal than it was supposed to be.
That's just my theory anyway, and it's as likely to be wrong as it is right I think. We'll see how this plays out, but I won't hold any outcome to too much moral or legal scrutiny.
I'm not giving up on the story, but I have to agree that this arc may not have been thought out sufficiently. It's true to point out that these aren't human characters or human governments, but that's not an excuse for the characters to behave in ways that don't make sense to humans and run counter to human experiences unless the author provides a lot of cultural or background information to explain the behavior. Locking up a princess, a high ranking individual in the Equestrian government, as well as a key element of the defense against calamities that have been coming frequently in recent years, for 100 years is something that Equestria as a nation can't just go along with unless the ponies are honestly too stupid to live. On a personal level, having Celestia, Luna, and Cadence go along with this runs counter to everything established about their relationships with Twilight.
On the other end, if Novo is really serious about this, then Twilight and Tempest escaping and "taking" princess Skystar with them is grounds for war on her part. That this happened in the first place requires few too many things to be handwaved away and now there doesn't seem to be a way out of this that either won't be equally unbelievable or involve either a war or a complete breaking of contact between the two nations.
Those plants create a lot of poisonous fruit when the fruiting body is supposed to entice an animal to eat it to spread the seeds.
9827549
There's poisonous fruits in the real world y'know. Something poisonous to humans, or equines in this case, isn't always poisonous to whatever animals typically eat those berries.
Reminds me of a scene from Tenchi Muyo. Two contestants in a food battle managing to collect every possible poisonous item from a forest. Twice.
9827549
Also some of the things we eat are poisonous in larger doses. Nutmeg comes from the same plant we get mace from and is hallucinogenic in larger quantities.
The more I compare this to TTGL's farce trial the more it fits. A death sentence to soothe the people after a mock trial for the same purpose. Yeeeah now they feel strong again, like they totally weren't hiding away doing nothing for the past century. This of course applies in particular to Novo. Despotic moron...
It has gotten a helluva discussion going though. Some for her actions, most against, and almost everyone being rational and calm about it. Honestly pretty damn cool, though I doubt PP was going for that. But hey, it's a reflection of the investment we have, and that says something good.
For me... well like I said... despotic moron. Guilt without proof, because she decided Twi was guilty. Any decent lawyer would scoff.
"She didn't remove the item; can you prove her intent to do so? You cannot. Any admission or confession of guilt after the fact of the 'trial' is obtained under duress and inadmissible. Your *cough* Honor... my client sought to study the artifact in an attempt to reproduce its effects. As you know, she is reknowned for her skill with and knowledge of magic. But before she could even get near it, much less attempt any theft you allege, and I remind the court my client has no criminal record, she was assaulted by your overbearing and frankly inappropriate security system! We have eyewitness accounts that will stipulate to the fact that my client was molested by your device during her innocent attempt to examine a magical artifact that YOU left on clear public display! It is YOU who should be on trial here, and that's before your first mistrial resulted in attempted regicide! How do YOU plead?!"
"I-"
"IT DOESN'T MATTER HOW YOU PLEAD! As you clearly don't believe in due process or fair representation, Equestria hereby finds you guilty under the same precedent your customs create. YOU ARE HEREBY BANISHED TO THE MOON UNTIL YOU SUFFOCATE AND DIE!"
...Or you know, something slightly more level headed. Thing is, this isn't a knock to characterization (which has been consistently top notch in this story). Novo was a short sighted, self absorbed jerkass in the movie, and she is here, too. As long as she gets comeuppance in the end it's fine.
Having said that... and disregarding the odds of those two guards being right in their path in the middle of relative nowhere (How the buck...?)... the current situation is kinda on Tempest. She knew, and said as much not long ago, that Twi and Sky weren't suited to roughing it. Hell, Skystar isn't even really used to walking yet, not long distances. It's a minor miracle, given her mother, that she's only a well meaning ditz and not an active saboteur to their efforts. So why did Tempest send her off alone to forage without even warning her about poisonous foliage?
The Narrative Casuality (with thanks to Novel Idea) here that put Twilight down for so long is countered by the same when it let Skystar get back to Tempest before collapsing... instead of the (much more likely) dying out in the jungle somewhere after eating enough poison to make her easy prey for whatever predator happened by. So call that a wash.
Overall an interesting chapter with a lot of good character growth for Tempest and a bit for Twilight. We're obviously still not moving past this Novo stuff for awhile (not possible while they're still imperiled I mean really) but there's more than enough here besides that... so long as she gets a buck in the face (figuratively... or not) at some point.
Why do I have the sudden urge to get all up in your face and kiss you?
you know that 'trial' feels like something out of worm, a politician wants to look big and smart so they railroad someone to a biggest sentence than was needed.