CH 23.2 A Friendly Talk
Applejack sat there, the whole situation was unlike anything she had to deal with before. This Twilight, her Twilight, the Twilight all of them have spent all these years living with, was not the original. Her eyes tracked Princess Celestia as Cadence led her into the meeting room.
In a way, she was a copy, same as the mirror clones but made with Celestia’s magic. If Celestia had not admitted it right in front of her, Applejack would not have believed it. But she was also not lying about saying it was the only way to save Twilight.
There was a lot of pain between the two princesses that much was clear.
As soon as the door closed on the meeting room, Rainbow Dash rushed to the door, pressing her ear to it. She threw her hooves up in annoyance. “They’re using that sound bubble again.”
“Oh bubbles, I like bubbles,” Pinkie said.
Giving Pinkie a sideways glance, Rainbow Dash shakes her head. “Anyway, I really don’t like how this is going,” she said with frustration, “I mean seriously. Who does that to someone? Slicing and dicing their soul? I know I wouldn’t want that done to me.”
Applejack looking slightly miffed at the outburst, “Now hold up a gosh darn minute, Celestia already told us it was to save her life. She didn’t know any other way to save her.”
“Be that as it may darling, do we really know that to be true?” Rarity said, her face showing she didn’t want her friends fighting.
Applejack nods her head “I do know she at least believes it to be true. I can’t say one way or another whether there were other options though. I don’t know anything really about what’s possible with your guy’s horns.”
Rainbow seemed taken aback for a moment. “So, you really believe that it was an emergency surgery?”
Fluttershy spoke up. “ I know if I were in her position, I wouldn’t have wanted one of my animals to die. I would do surgery if possible to save them.”
Rainbow’s agitation faded for a moment. “Yeah, ok, I’ll give you that, but we aren't talking about stitching somepony back up after they get a cut. She went and basically created a Frankenmare soul out of the children of the original Twilight. That just doesn’t feel right. I mean you don’t go and kill five other foals to save one. You don’t even do that if six foals are dying.”
Fluttershy “Actually there are organ transplants, we kind of do.”
A slight look of horror on Rainbow’s face “Ok, I didn’t know that. That’s kind of freaky.”
Applejack raised her voice slightly. “Alright listen guys. If she didn’t do what she did, then we would not have Twilight at all. That much I do know. Now what we do have is at least the Twilight we do know. The only thing we can really do is be there for her.”
“It’s too bad old Twilight never got to come to any of our parties but isn’t the new Twilight still our friend?” Pinkie said, doing her best to look on the bright side even now.
“Of course Twilight is still our Friend,” Rainbow stated wings flaring.
“Darlings, where would the world be without Twilight? Nightmare Moon, Discord, Starlight and Tirek. Just think of the mess they would have made of things?” Rarity said in her most serious tone.
“You think she did the right thing?” Rainbow accused.
“What do you think any of us could have done against them without Twilight, without the Elements.”
Rainbow bristled, “We could have taken them.”
Applejack thought back to all their adventures, all the times they had saved Equestria. All the times Twilight had led them, guided them, helped them. She remembered all the trouble her stubborn streak caused before Twilight got her to accept help. When Twilight had brought them back to their senses after Discord had messed with their minds. The world needed Twilight. She thought.
Applejack looked at Rainbow. “You’d give a might good try… but do you really think you could win Sugercube?” She could see her friend wanting to say yes, but the lessons she had learned caused her to hold her tongue.
Rainbow looked down, the look on her face admitting defeat.
“Even I don’t remember the ‘original’ Twilight. I was too young when it happened. I think Shining Armor would remember though.” Spike pipped up. “That being said, I don’t think it’s really the question you guys are getting at.”
Fluttershy pipped up, “Spike is right. It isn’t ‘is she our friend’ it’s how do we feel about what happened to her and how does that change what we feel about Celestia? I think that maybe what Celestia did was needed. But what she didn’t do is where she was in grave error.” She sees the look of confusion on her friend’s faces and continues, “She didn’t tell Twilight and she should have. Had she known then, she wouldn’t be mad at Celestia for messing with her mind now.”
Several glances among the gathered friends showed that they were considering her words and it took all of five seconds for them to agree. Nodding Applejack said, “Then if we are going to help heal the rift between them, then we need to get Celestia to see that she was in error and want to make right by her.”
Seeing no disagreement from the others, she continued. “Thing is, with as old as she is, she might be just a tad resistant to change. Not that I don’t have my own experience with that. I’m sure she thinks she is well justified in her actions and honestly, she might be, even if it doesn’t sit right with us emotionally. But talks need to be had or the rift will not heal. What do guys say? Have a sit down with our Solar Princess?”
Rainbow, looking excited at the prospect of settling things, “Yeah that sounds good. We can just ambush her on her way out.”
“Really Rainbow? We wouldn’t be pouncing on her. Just insisting that we sit down and talk.” Said Rarity.
Sometime later, Applejack sat calmly waiting. There were things she could do on the farm, but being here for Twilight was more important. The conversation was over and now each of her friends were killing time in their own way.
Rainbow was a ball of restless worry, constantly in motion.
Rarity was sketching new designs, taking a glance, Applejack could see some of them were for Little Star.
Pinkie Pie kept running off and returning. Last time she came back with a tray of snacks this time she now had a board game set up. As always, her friend was so random.
Fluttershy just lay still, her mane concealing her thoughts from the rest of the world.
The hum of a magical aura announced that finally, the doors to the meeting room opened. Applejack looked to them, noticing in the corner of her eyes how Rainbow was now hovering, her endless flying back and forth paused.
Cadence left the room first, smiling. She nodded warmly to Applejack and the rest of the Elements before turning down a hall heading deeper into the Castle.
Less than a minute later, Celestia left the room turned towards the elements and made her way towards the exit.
Rainbow looked into the room where Twilight sat snuggled under Luna’s wing. Applejack could see Twilight eyes tracking Celestia for a moment before her magenta aura closed the door blocking Rainbows attempt to enter who grumbled in annoyance.
Applejack got to her hooves and blocked Celestia’s path “We need to talk Princess,” she said in a firm tone.
“Certainly, about Twilight I assume?” Celestia’s tone was calm and friendly as she moved to gracefully settle down near the rest of the elements.
In a blur Rainbow as muzzle to muzzle with Celestia. “Why the hay did you do that to Twilight?”
Rarity’s reproachful glance gave Rainbow enough of a pause to allow the Princess to answer.
Celestia took a breath, “As much as it saddens me, it was truly the only viable way to save any of her from what was very likely an almost successful assassination.”
Rainbow almost dropped from the air, almost.
Applejack could feel the eyes of her friends upon her. She nodded, confirming that there were no lies hidden there. Only viable, what other options were there? She thought still with some suspicion. Remembering that Twilight had accused Celestia of creating her as a tool.
“Who would try and assassinate a little filly,” Fluttershy asked. Looks of horror flashing across the Elements' faces.
Celestia’s calming voice answered, “There are many threats to Equestria that would have prefered if the Elements of Harmony were never restored.”
“Only viable option? That implies there were other ways. What other ways were there?” Asked Applejack
“Few that would barely have had a chance of saving anything of who Twilight was. I used the one that let me save most of who Twilight was. The pieces that she was rendered in to would have disintegrated in days at most, seconds at worst.” She paused a sadness crossing her features. “And it was the only way that would have protected Equestria.”
Again Applejack knew that Celesta was speaking the truth. Rarity seemed to grimly accept its necessity. Pinkie's mane deflated slightly at seeing Celestia sad. Fluttershy was surprisingly calm.
“Fine! Why the buck didn’t you tell her? If you had then she wouldn’t be an emotional wreck right now and sitting in that room hating you.” Rainbow Dash almost yelled.
“Now calm down a bit Sugercube, let her talk.” Applejack admonished.
“Thank you Applejack,” Celestia said, bowing her head in thanks before continuing in a sombre tone. “I had planned to. After she had a chance of living as close to a normal life as possible. I wanted to let her live without that hanging over her head at least for a while. I had things set in motion for her to find out in about ten years.”
“Ten years from now? You should have told five years ago.” Rainbow said more incensed now than she was before.
“To what end? For her to know she wasn’t completely whole? To know that she is a prime target for assassination, having her constantly worrying about that? You saw how she was when she thought she was behind on friendship reports. Can you imagine what she would have been like if she had potential assassinations to look out for? How could she have been expected to make friends if she was always fearing for her life like that?” Said Celestia.
Rainbow just looked at her with narrowed eyes for a moment. “She was an alicorn five years ago. She wouldn’t have been nearly as vulnerable as when she was a unicorn. Besides she would have gotten over that with our help. We were already her friends. All that’s beside the point anyway.”
“How is all that besides the point? Am I missing something here?” Questioned Celestia.
“Apparently you are.” The frustration on Rainbow Dash’s face still showing. “It doesn’t matter what reasons you had to not tell her. By your own laws on life-saving procedures, she had the RIGHT to know. That isn’t something a doctor can withhold from a patient.”
Rainbow pressed closer to Clesistia “It was something done to her without her consent. Yeah, it saved her life, but by your own law that you put in place, you were obligated to tell her. I can understand waiting until she’s knowledgeable enough to understand, but you can’t say that as an alicorn she didn’t know enough to understand.”
Celestia held up her hoof pausing Rainbow, who folded her forelegs impatiently. “Twilight’s family were told, everything they were allowed to know by law. That Twilight was in a magical incident and I had to save her life. That she had learned forbidden magic and the knowledge had to be sealed away. If the seals failed, by the laws she would have to have been imprisoned or banished, two things I did not want to happen to Twilight.”
“Ok, fine, that validates not telling her while she was a unicorn. All those restrictions vanished when she became an alicorn though. The day she ascended you were still legally, and at least in my opinion, morally obligated to tell her. And had you she wouldn’t be in there still hating you for what you did to her.” Rainbow said, looking around and noting that all her friends were nodding in agreement with her sentiment.
“And that’s why I was going to tell her when she had settled into her new role. I honestly believed she would have been happier in the long run without that knowledge had recent events not happened.” Celestia stated with honest regret.
“That being said, I understand your point about the legal side and your point that if I had, she wouldn’t be in the emotional state she is now.” Celestia said and she lowered her head. “So how do we proceed from here? I would sincerely appreciate any help in making things right with Twilight.”
“I reckon you should write a friendship report,” Applejack answered with a friendly smirk on her face.
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Hmm... not sure how I feel about RD in this chapter. It sounds a lot more like a sort of Rarity thing (knowledge on law), or Applejack (brutal honesty about everything / moral compass.), even the wording is just a little... off.
9923451
Thank you for the comment, I am always happy to get criticism or advice.
My thought was RD being a bit more formal than normal because she was talking to the Princess and the knowledge of the medical law is because she is in the Wonderbolts. As RD was the most angered by what had happened she was the one to drive the conversation against Celestia, which was also bolstered by the fact she was the element of loyalty.
9923522
A fair point, but even in the show when she talks to the princess, she is still very informal and Rainbow Dash-y.
The law thing makes a little bit of sense, but perhaps make it a, 'I'm pretty sure this is the law' and then have one of the others validate it.
9923451
If it has to do with medical procedures, expect a professional athlete to have brushed up on at least the major highlights: almost no one is more likely to need such medical intervention at some point, except perhaps the Royal Guard if they were ever actually deployed into a serious combat situation.
So the types of and laws surrounding various emergency medical procedures are exactly the sort of thing you'd think athletic training manuals and personal trainers would skim over so that an injured athlete isn't learning about their options from a state of zero previous knowledge in the middle of dealing with whatever has befallen them.
Especially if certain procedures might be things that would disqualify them from competition, since they may also qualify as unfair enhancements to said athlete. And athletes would definitely want to know if such a procedure was done to them in an emergency without their knowledge, because that's potentially a career-ending event.
9923637
I guess, it just doen't sound very... Rainbow Dash to me.
9923642
Eh, she's perfectly capable of going egghead.
See her knowledge regarding Daring Do or her encyclopedic knowledge of Wonderbolt history after Twilight figured out the learning method that works for her if you doubt me.
Just missing a P there, the more i look at it, the more I think it should be Piped up, instead of pipped up, but I can't say for certain.
Very nice chapter, though I can't help but wonder how celestia's reacting under her mask.
And I understand what people are saying about RD being out of character, but it's really not too big a stretch because twilight was seriously hurt by it, so of course she would take it seriously and furiously. I think she was showing her element very well, might be due to the new mental connection the elements have together with twilight. Makes me wonder if they could learn some basic mental communication with eachother.
I also loved the snark applejack had at the end of the chapter.
9923637
When we were going through this, that's pretty much exactly the reason for RD to know what she knows that we had.
9923677
Thank you for your comment and spotting the error.
There is a hint that some communication might be possible in previous chapters.
I think I saw Spike being written as "Sike"
9923451
I think that the problem is that we as a culture like to toss people into nice little boxes. When we see a fast food employee, we get thrown off when were talking to one and realize, This guy has a masters degree level understanding of the Aztec empire. Or that a Janator had a medical degree. Or the 7-11 homeless guy that was a paralegal. Its just not what you expect and it throws you off mentally. So when the hyperactive, ADHD, rainbow dash starts quoting Medical law, it feels off. Is it expected....no, is it unreasonable...no. Don't forget, Dash is head of the districts weather team, so she has to have University level courses in meteorology.
The Monk
“Puberty was a curse for those inflicted with it, and boundless amusement for others who survived the process.” -Scarheart
I'm really starting to lose some interest in this story. The quick love formation of princess luna, the lack of anymore real tensions between characters. What happened to psycho/genius twilight? It just seems like alot of lost potential to me. No twilight coming up with crazy over ingenious spell work or over thinking plans far to many steps ahead. There are no true drawbacks to having so many minds in one body, headache, possibly nosebleeds, memory loss. Maybe I'm the one over thinking things. Just my two cents.
So Celestia really didnt defend her position, saying that she told Twilight's family is meaningless especially since she lied to them about what actually happened. Twilight was a minor and as such any and all medical information MUST be made available to those legally responsible for her wellbeing. What the law deemed right for them to know should've been the truth, even if they couldn't handle it. Unless theres a law that says Celestias allowed to withhold any information she deems important we're talking about a coverup of a legitimate conspiracy in the equestrian government.
On top of that, not telling her and having her find out on her own is the second worst idea I've ever heard any take on Celestia come up with. All she'd be doing is making an enemy of her friend, as she ended up doing.
This is a review and contains spoilers. If you haven't read the story up to this point, Don't read my review
OK, now I'm going to do my review of this story. (Up to this point) First of all the writing is good, the plot and story ark/flow is good as well. I never felt the story got bogged down or lost its pacing. Also the Author never did the writing sins that are common on this site. Never dumbed down the characters, or had the characters make suicidally stupid decisions to steer the story. None of the characters is sexually phobic. And thats a BIG problem on this site. Its one thing for a character to be nervous when trying to start a new relationship, but its another thing for the character to have a pants wetting, hyperventilating into a paper bag , panic attack at even the "thought" of kissing. I really wish Authors would stop that crap.
This Author is awesome, because all those writing sins I listed, don't show up once in the 93,000 words of this story.
Now the themes in this story. THIS STORY IS DARK. it covers some disturbing shit. You've got right to live issues. You have a serial killer cult leader. You have mind control issues, and Celestia in this story is a serious honest to god sociopath. She chooses on her own who lives and who dies. She intentionally installs mind control and memory blocks on most of the high ranking people, she routinely digs through the mind of most of the people she deals with professionally, even her friends. And she breeds people like a dog breeder setting up family lines to improve "The Breed" through the generations. She only considers there to be four categories of people. Players, Pawns, Tools, or unimportant. (I'll be honest, I've considered Celestia to be a sociopath for years.)
Well done and thought provoking Keep up the good work.
The Monk
“On her doorstep was Twilight Sparkle. While Derpy deeply respected the mare, like most in Ponyville, they wished she'd either switch to decaf, or start hitting the harder stuff.” -Dan_s Comments
What Celestia demonstrates here, is a masterful example of spin control. She'll walk out of here with her standing with the bearers largely intact, all for the rather low price of writing a nice letter that won't really change her or Twilight's opinions on the matter.
Reiteration, the master of retention! It’s nice to see the main 6 reconciling with Celestia who, as bad as it may seem, I kinda agree with? You know... space out mind blowing revelations and the such. Becoming an Alicorn isn’t exactly the right time to spring even MORE shattering revelations. ‘Hey Twilight you got yer wings cause you were assassinated! Not only that, it was mostly successful! The old you is permanently gone! By all means, you’re not technically the real Twilight!’ Maybe it could be put better but... still. It’s better to take things slow than rather quick. But then... Celestia did wait a LONG time. Maybe too long... 5 years of nothing happening would be the best to expand horizons. But oh well, I’m not Celestia nor Twilight so keep on writing that great story and Onwards we go!
I believe the term here is , BOOM
well, that's not how you write celestia, but it gave me a good laugh, may take it and use it somewhere.
9925320
I was going to bring up this interesting misspelling but good to know someone else caught it.
Now try to pronounce it.
9923973
Well, we are in a pretty big lull in the story, compared to the opening, which started with Twilight being sacrificed, then escaping, there hasn't been much action. But that's not a bad thing, the character conflicts are good enough, and Twilight wasn't the one creating spells, it was Star, and i'm pretty sure she's still doing it.
Turn about is fair play.
9925775
As evidenced by her golem designs.
9925320
Thank you for spotting the error.
A couple errors I found
Rainbows -> Rainbow's
were -> was
pff
All Celestia's words are nice and all that, but they sure are hollow.
She can talk all she wants about best intentions and the restrictions of the law, but she's trying to dance around the fact that she's merely acknowledging that her actions are having terrible consequences while said actions are still continuing.
She has made no offers to remove the seals placed in Twilight's mind, nor to provide Twilight with any help to remove them herself. She is unapologetically withholding the very secrets she admitted it was wrong to withhold.
Dash surprised me a bit but then again if she is a wonderbolt super fan and had hopes of joining then it would make sense for her to know that as there could be couse for her to to preform field medicine (as the bolts are military branch while not medic some first aid is drilled into them)
10087526
Pretty sure she’s a reservist as well, by this point. While military law and civilian law are different, there are enough similarities for Dash to safely assume/guess legal matters and spout them at Celestia. Even a common soldier needs to know basic law. My dad did when he was in the Army, and he worked on computer networks and stuff.
it's an interesting direction you've taken in this story. one I rarely see. I dont like it to be honest but it's the kind of dislike one feels for a particularly nasty villain rather then the narrative itself. good work.
11315810
Dot was, (great zog has it really been almost three years?) a while back, refresh my memory on what she did?
Medical lawyer Dash is fun. Honestly, it reminds me how in some arties a lot of soldiers do paramedic training to get an automatic raise. Would absolutely fit Rainbow to dk it.
Awww, that's actually really cute! I love that!