I was flipping through the book of notes as I walked through the hallway, a snowstorm howling outside.
With the meeting over, I’ll be able to get some writing done later. The book was soon going to be done enough to send over to Twilight for editing.
Swashbuckling adventure with skyships and floating islands. Fully original work which was exciting.
I think it was pretty good, but that’s for other ponies to decide really.
Kind of looking forward to getting it back from Twilight once I send it and then having to rewrite the entire thing from the ground up.
Girl was scary good at finding errors, both grammatical and story mistakes. The fact that she was willing to be paid in being the first one reading a brand-new book was just icing.
Not that I didn’t make sure to get my best friend's marefriend an extra nice Hearth's Warming gift.
The question is what to write next.
How to tame your alicorn?
Nah, Luna would kill me. Grinning at that thought, I pushed the door open and entered the dining room, “Evening, Sunshine.”
“Evening, Page,” she said and looked up from her dinner, “Glad you could join me.”
“Love you too,” I said and sunk down on one of the pillows by the table.
She looked at me for a second and I flicked my ears before I frowned, “Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Wondering if I’m okay after going into the changeling hive and wondering if you should blame Skitter for it,” I said, “I get enough of that from Luna. My choice, I did it.”
Celestia smiled a bit and shifted her wings, “That’s not it. I have confidence that you can handle yourself and you are the best equipped to handle changelings out of of all of us.”.
“Oh.”
“I was actually wondering how you were feeling.”
“…Better,” I admitted, “Bit tired, but I’ll be mostly back to normal tomorrow,” before I looked at her in return.
Her wings were moving slightly, ears perked up, her coat almost seemed to have an extra shine to it.
“Something has you excited,” I commented, “Clear Skies coming to visit?”
Celestia nodded happily as my food arrived. Ooh, baked potato.
I waited until the servant was out of the room before I smirked at her, “Tomorrow? I’ll have time to buy some earmuffs then.”
“Why, do we make things hard for you?”
“Well, difficult to sleep if anything else,” I countered and poked my meal.
She gave me a dubious look, “Your tower is on the other side of the castle from mine.”
“Oh, I know,” I said with a smirk, “And so does most of Canterlot.”
That actually got a small blush from the alicorn along with a small glare.
Score.
Better enjoy my victory while I could, it was rare I got one over either of the sisters, more so with Celestia because I couldn’t just cheat and tickle her until she surrendered.
Deciding to be the mature one, she stuck her tongue out at me before returning to her dinner, “So, how are things going with your guard?” she asked after a moment, giving me the round.
“Pretty well, actually,” I told her and had some extra butter on my stuffed potato, “We talked about deployment to guard positions at the Night side of the castle today and finally picked a name.”
“Oh?”
“Ended up with the Dream Legion,” I shrugged, “Names are difficult.”
Not that twenty-five ponies were much of a legion. But I had to pick something, or they would!
Celestia nodded in agreement, “And their abilities?”
“Well, they are well drilled and practiced,” I said before I admitted, “But they aren’t really tested. But I think I’d put them up against your guard in equal numbers.”
She looked thoughtful as she chewed on a piece of tomato before she smiled at me, “Willing to put that to the test?”
I frowned at her, “How do you mean? Some sort of wargame?”
Celestia nodded, “We decide on an objective, your guard tries to complete it and my guard tries to stop them.”
That sounded interesting and would let them see if their new tactics were useful or not against an experienced force. Safely too.
“Sounds good. What’s the objective?”
She smiled, “How about… retrieving an item placed in the throne room? Start in one week and it will last for a week.”
I nodded in agreement, “They get the objective and we win. The Solar Guard keeps them from it and they win.”
Celestia nodded and eyed me for a second, “How about we raise the stakes a bit?”
“What do you have in mind, Sunshine?”
“We both join our forces in the exercise and we put a bet on the line.”
This was a massive fucking trap and even a blind pony would have been able to see it from the fricking moon!
What to do… no way in hell I’m backing down from her!
“Sounds good,” I agreed, “What’s the terms?”
Celestia looked thoughtful before she shrugged her wings and sipped her water, “Not sure. We can figure that out later.”
Yep. She had something planned.
“Nothing that involves me taking over your job,” I pointed out, shifting my wings, “And a change of objective. I get on the throne, I win.”
“We capture you, we win.”
“Deal.”
We watched each other across the table for a moment before she spoke up again, “No asking Twilight, Cadence or my sister for help.”
“Same for you.”
“Agreed.”
How to go about this… hmm…
First of all, psychological warfare.
“So…” I started, “What’s your measurements? No, wait, never mind… Rarity likely has them on file.”
She frowned a bit at me, “How so?”
“I mean, she’s likely going to need at least a couple of days of warning before my victory to whip up a maid uniform that’ll fit you. Don’t think they have your size as standard.”
She smirked, “What make you think I don’t have one already?”
I blinked at her in surprise. Wow.
Okay, score to her.
DAMN, now that is Bucking Funny, Celestia with a Maid outfit in her size, I bet Clear Skies likes seeing Celestia in that outfit though.
Oh I love where this is going. It's so good to see Tia and Page sharing such a familial bond.
Ok, a fair standing of one each.
That back and forward was quite entertaining. Page is an idiot for agreeing to any sort of dare with Trollestia the cheater.
The Gamecube would like to have a word with you:
...
One thing for the war games. Capturing page would not be a instant win. Realistically he could break out or be broken out by his guard or use a capture to get close to the throne. So it would be more if they could capture him and keep him contained then they win not if he is captured.
Page really should know better than to play against Trollestia!
Kinky
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There was no way she'd let his little victory not be paid back tenfold.
She has a reputation to live down to.
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plus page has a changeling army and illusions.
well illusions at least, he should get some changelings though they'd come in handy
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"Ahem"
The DREAM CAST would like to have a word with you.
looking forward to the battle and if they're gonna turn it into a campains to test/live experience training, once per month, 2, 3, 4 or yearly so it does not interfere with work of the guards, princesses+prince, diplomats and court.
hmmm she didn't say the changelings couldn't join in
IT'S A TRAP!!?!
or maybe the changelings are gonna join in as a unknow(surprise) faction in the game?
Wow, somehow I feel that changing the objective just made it even easier for celestial in this case
Ohhhh, this is gonna be good! There's no way this isn't a trap, but it'll be fun to see Page have his ego served to him on a silver platter!!!
Also, good choice on the guard name, I was wondering how that would turn out.
Well, Page has finished the Original Star Wars and Clear Skies is coming to visit.
*Crosses fingers hoping for Clear Skies to be a former Human and tells him about the sequel trilogy and Rogue One*
Also, will it be possible for Page to write a Prequel that basically sums up the Star Wars Prequel trilogy into one book? Revenge of the Sith was the only decent one.
Page could easily win. All he has to do is hypnotize her Guards when they are asleep. They have to sleep sometime.
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He'd blanch at hearing about the new trilogy and facehoof hard as he wonders what bucking idiot came up with the new series with such an awful execution.
".......that was why I'm glad Equestria doesn't have a major movie industry."
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I like the sequel trilogy though.
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No one Owned the Dreamcast.
You know this whole wargame thing could show again that humans and ponies think quiet different.
Is it wrong that I really want the human lead squadron to dominate?
Human tactics are probably more effective, we have a LOT of experience w/ war.
“Okay, Sunshine you win, I hate to admit, but the Legion has a long way to go.”
“Don’t sell yourselves short. Your mares fought well, very cunning, and full of potential.”
“Alright, Alright, get on with it...what’s this going to cost me? A month of feeding the nobles? A visit to Yakyakistan?”
“No. No. Nothing like that.”
“What then?”
I want a baby.”
“NOPE! NNNOPE!!!
Jim Butcher’s Aeronaught’s Windlass series would like to have a word with you.
O this is going to get vary interesting.
In before Page and his guards' planning session was overheard and the nobles thought he's planning a coup.
"... and you three, position yourselves here and be ready to flank when Celestia's reinforcements arrive. If everything went according to plan, I'll be on the throne before the day's end. Mwahahahahahaha!..."
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*Sound of Imminent Danger.*
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What? The Force Awakens some great nostalgia to reinvigorate love for the franchise while introducing the new leads, at least the second half of The Last Jedi was pretty freaking good.
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The main character is a Mary Sue (Luke couldn't do anything near her until Return of the Jedi but she somehow got super high level force powers before the end of the 1st movie without any training and she's as bland of a personality as Flouride Toothpaste), the black stormtrooper was useless through most of the movies with little character developement, Kylo Ren just screams Edgy Emo Teen, the villain is weak and got pushed aside in TLJ, the old cast got terrible treatments that are out of character for them and killed off in the most unheroic ways, the new 'rebellion' is lead by idiots, the stories have plot hole after plot hole that makes no sense in the universe that they're in or what has been established, the feeling of the movies are all over the place from campy millennial comedy to dry melodrama, and do I even need to go into the disgusting anti-male and anti-white gender\diversity politics (both on screen, behind the camera, and on the corporate level) that are hamfistedly crammed into the movies now?
I'm retconning history saying that Lucasfilm went bankrupt in 2012 and nothing else existed or happened afterwards.
Nothing Disney-owned is canon.
I'm going back to reading the old Expanded Universe books from the 80's and 90's that are supposedly much better, like the Thrawn Trilogy.
You can like whatever you want, but expect people to get heated and disagree with you a lot.
...Yeah, this was a terrible idea on so many levels. Not only is he walking right into trollesitia's trap and leaving tons of obvious loopholes for her to exploit, but he's also completely ruining the military purpose of this exercise by getting the two of them personally involved. Oh well, the disaster should be hilarious and adorable, and I'm curious to see who Celestia convinces to betray him for the lulz.
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...And he still manages to be the best thing in the new movies.
I won't claim to have been a big fan of Star Wars because I don't like the oversimplified black and white morality the force tends to create, but The Last Jedi was the last straw for me. It was just too much of a mess on too many different levels, and at this point I just don't care any more.
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Well, I won't go TOO far to say Hollywood is Anti-male and Anti-white. I simply want to have good actors in good roles. And the casting department did a solid job there. The only time I hate diversity politics is when it becomes preachy. I actually feared Wonder Woman was going to go the preachy route, but it didn't. I consider it one of the best movies of 2017 because of that, considering it would have been an easy trap to fall into.
I would argue Rey is in a very similar boat as Anakin was in the Prequel Trilogy, almost like a foil, even. Both Anakin and Rey exhibited gifted abilities due to their connection with The Force. Rey was tempted with the Dark Side, just like Ankin was, but unlike Anakin, Rey refused. She's trying to find her purpose in life. She was just a junk collector on Jakku at the beginning of this series, now she's training to become a Jedi.
Finn, meanwhile, I actually don't think he's completely useless. He's still going through his character arc. In the beginning, Finn wanted to escape the First Order, escape all the fighting. But in the end, he kept getting dragged back into it. That's why he wanted to leave in TLJ. He didn't want to fight anymore. His arc is about him realizing that there are things that ARE worth fighting for.
As for Poe, his arc is essentially needing to learn to respect authority. He's irrational, he's reckless, and while he may be skilled enough to make up for those, that can't change the fact that it could still get him killed. His character arc is about him trying to come to terms with that. Know when to be reckless, and know when not to be.
As for the original characters being treated badly, I agree with you that Leia felt very underused, but I completely disagree with Luke and Han.
I would say that Han mellowed out in his old age, especially after becoming a Dad, which is why he let himself be vulnerable to his son in The Force Awakens. Unfortunately, Kylo's vision of his father was ruined because Luke's decisions. Kylo Res felt abandoned by his family when Luke tried to kill him, which is what led him to join Snoke in the first place, and the anger and resentment he exhibits now stems from that abandonment.
As for Luke, I interpret his arc as he hates being the hero. Hear me out, Luke just helped destroy the empire... and was a key part in it. Luke may be an exceptional Jedi, but he's still human. I feel like Luke loved that feeling so much that he started turning into a "Means justify the Ends" kind of guy. So, he starts the Jedi school... but when he thinks he sees Ben Solo exhibiting ties to the Dark Side, he becomes nervous. He's supposed to be THE HERO. He wants to keep everyone safe. But after trying to kill Ben, he realized his actions didn't help anyone, it made everything worse. So, disillusioned with himself and he Jedi way, Luke decides that he's better off not interfering with the galaxy if he's going to make it worse.
I do have a question though, why would you say the rebellion is led by idiots?
Politics spoiler: I do think that's the case for much of Hollywood and the real Moderates\Classical-Liberals\Conservatives are keeping their mouths shut for now just to keep their jobs. Even Tim Allen remarked recently (with slight hyperbole) "working in Hollywood as a Conservative is like being in Nazi Germany as a Jew before the War". I don't think it's full Illuminati conspiracies, but it's a bunch of idiots pushing very Far-Left politics on their platforms and companies pandering to those people to make money. It's infuriating because you can see a lot of those identity politics in every piece of media today, especially in comics, and I've started being hesitant supporting or liking anything if it has a woman, black person, or LGBT in a story, because I can almost guarantee they aren't put in there to make the story better.
Symptoms of it I've noticed is LGBT folk are portrayed as nearly Perfect in every way. Women are given incredibly Masculine characteristics, features, proportions, and abilities that out-performs most other, if all, men. The biggest symptom I've noticed recently is The Black Panther, its fans, and supporters. Anyone that doesn't say it's another mediocre Marvel Super Hero movie (that's pretty much the best objective and non-political opinion I've found) and gives it high praise as an Oscar worthy movie of the year (or else you're a racist), that is someone to be cautious of because I know they're being political.
I would have liked to see Wonder Woman, but got burned out of Super Hero stuff a few years ago. From the clips I've seen, it looks like an amazing movie. It's on the backburner for now.
As for the actors in the new Star Wars, the cast is good and they do their jobs well. But I can kinda tell they're struggling with the script and direction of the 2 different directors so far.
For Rey... Hmm, that would actually have been a good character moment for her if it was handled well and came out in a manner that was understandable. The last time I saw the first movie was in theaters several years ago, and it didn't seem like they delved into her character too much and allowed her to show some real emotional vulnerability there. It would have been a great time to have Luke there as her Obi-Wan.
Finn I know is like the series R2-D2 and C-3PO characters combined into one. He started out great as a Storm Trooper who abandoned his post after a crisis of conscience, but he doesn't have more character moments after that. The big problem I feel is the films go too fast as if we would get bored of it. Great example was the monster Han was smuggling in another ship. It didn't feel like there was a big enough lul to catch our breath and establish more things. I didn't catch the last part of Finn's arc right there.
I'll be honest, I didn't watch The Last Jedi. Just reading the reviews, watching some interviews, and some commentary, it became clear the movie was a dud and I would have forgotten about it shortly after or be angry.
I don't even remember Poe Dameron from the first movie. I had to look him up again to try and jog my memory about what he was in the movie. That's the problem I have with the new movies, the characters aren't memorable enough for me to remember their identity. Qui-Gon Jin was a boring unremarkable character, but I don't even remember Poe being in TFA. I feel like we should have gotten another movie to go on another unrelated adventure with the new characters just to flesh them out some more, make a Empire Strikes Back of the new trilogy, but after hearing about TLJ, it was an obvious mess to me that I didn't even bother watching it.
You have better interpretations of what was put on screen from what I can tell and I think it would have made the movies better if there was more backstory to them. Sadly, I don't think we'll get it unless there's a massive shift in leadership and the franchise is rebooted. I have been hearing some rumors that people like Kathleen Kennedy and Rian Johnson are going to be booted from the franchise permanently because of their online toxic behavior and general poor performance. Good riddence, but it underscores how much of a mess Star Wars and Disney has become.
As for the Rebels being idiots, it was when Holdo decided to keep critical information to herself that other people needed, even Poe. I know it seems like he was being either kept on a short leash and him not being a part of the plans, but that would have killed Poe. That decision got a lot of Rebels killed. It's something that can be considered a plot hole too.
That, or he could try Lord of the Reins.
ONE WEEK LATER...
*entire city of Canterlot is covered in shaving cream, feathers, and chunks of apple pie*
Celestia: I...think we escalated this a bit too far...
Page: .....yeah...
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Not saying if I agree or disagree with you, but where did that come from?
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He wanted to know why and seemed confused that I didn't like the new Disney Star Wars trilogy. I mean, it should be a little obvious there's a lot of detractors against the new movies. It's a variety of reasons and there's usually a long list of them.
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I see. I didn't realize it was a response. To me it seemed like a comment that just came out of nowhere.
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡ °)
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He was actually responding to me. I think he just replied to the wrong comment.
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I noticed.
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Well, I'm not confused per se. You have the right not to like something. I just think that blindly not liking something isn't the way people need to live.
I can understand where you're coming from with the Far-Left stuff in Hollywood right now. No arguments there. I actually didn;t like Killmonger's death scene because he just up and brought up slavery out of nowhere. THAT'S what being preachy looks like. I still like Killmonger as a villain because he was personally wronged by T'Challa's family, but that one moment I did not like.
Personally, I think the film didn;t spend enough time on the story itself and elected to spend it on worldbuilding, which isn't BAD, but still.
I also didn't like Shuri calling Ross "colonizer."
Contrary to what I've said, Shuri and Killmonger are actually my two favorite characters in the movie, T'Challa coming behind them, but both of them exhibit the "out of nowhere" jabs at past racial tensions that it doesn't fit with the story. I liked Wonder Woman better than Black Panther in that regard.
Black Panther isn't a BAD movie by any means. Worldbuilding-wise, I think it's FANTASTIC, but its not worthy of an Oscar unless it's for set and costume design.
As for Star Wars, I think you actually should watch TLJ. Maybe you might not like it, but it's better to be informed about something before you dislike it, you know? Poe is featured a lot more in it. The first half is a drag, I;ll give you that, but the second half is AMAZING.
As for the rebels being idiots, Yeah, I agree there. That was definitely not a smart decision. Bad writing there.
We're in a very volatile time right now. However, this is just a change, and we need to adapt to it. The best way to do that is to be calm and flexible. People want to make sure minorities are represented, and that's fine. Representation is good. However, I like to point out this clip from a Sonic cartoon.
I like that quote. We need to stop fussing about minorities being cast in movies, because otherwise it will be seen as an acceptation, and not the status quo. We need to treat minority groups the same as we would anyone else, because if we treat things as an exception, we're either going to be seen as racist OR we'd be in danger of entering preachy territory. So, if a movie decided it wanted to have a cast full of minorities and no whites. That's fine. That's the movie they wanted to make, and I will judge them based on their work.
One way I love to demonstrate this is with the Disney Cartoon, Ducktales. In the 2017 reboot, Fenton Crackshell was changed for his original self to be Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera, hispanic. Does it come up in any conversation? Does it play a role in anything? Nope. It's just who he is. THAT'S what Hollywood needs to do. Don't make a fuss about a character's race, just be sure that the actor stays true to who the character is on the inside.
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Now, there CAN be exceptions to that rule. Period pieces can cast based on race because it's history, and they need to be as authentic as possible. And there can be movies about LGBT characters coming out, because that's an interesting story. But again, just as long as it isn't preachy.
People need to break out of mob mentality and focus on the individual. A dynamic character isn't supposed to represent an ENTIRE race or group of people, they just need to be well developed and feel like a real person that has had unique experiences.
Page, she’s been playing this game for over a thousand years.
s.newsweek.com/sites/www.newsweek.com/files/styles/lg/public/2016/04/05/admiral-ackbar.png
Don’t do it. I know your going to, but I want to be able to say I warned you.
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You mean besides Sega? Whom this game is also Presented by?
I just wanted to note that Skies of Arcadia was originally on the Dream Cast and then rereleased on the GameCube.
I'm just guessing, buuuuutttt....
Celestia captures him by chaining him TO the throne.
He has to take over LUNA's job, not Celestia's.
And Celestia already has all the changelings working for her.
Chrysalys' maid outfit made out of whipped cream really wasn't Celestia's idea, but Celestia's willing to take credit for it.
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I was gonna comment the exact same thing.
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One of my favorite games I own. Ahh, nostalgia.
We are One.
We are Dream Legion.
We are always on the same page