“Why are you doing this?” Starlight whispered so quietly not another soul could hear it.
Trixie just stood there, eating up all the attention she was getting. Her classic cape and hat somehow failed to look ridiculous atop her guard armour.
The sea of ponykind filled almost the entire throne room. Lavender fabric added a unified appearance to the crowd even as it clashed with some coat colours. Almost every pony had a leg band, sash, cloak or vest proclaiming their loyalty to Twilight.
Their expressions were just a little too happy for having so recently survived the blighted invasion. I know a cult when I see one, Twilight.
“Trixie Lulamoon, approach.“ Twilight commanded a thrum of power lacing her words.
"Why, Trixie?" She breathed out as her friend was called forward. How can you be so calm?. This was not some needed medical procedure, no this was an experiment plain and simple. She is going to cut up your soul and modify it. A single mistake, and you’re dead.
Starlight’s magic rattled in her core. It surged. Hours of talking, pleading and rationalising had done nothing.
As Twilight’s praise went on, the gathered ponies ate it up. The newly formed town militia and the few remaining night guards smiled even as they remained at perfect attention.
Rainbow’s cocky smirk looked out from beneath her goggles. The sleek flight suit practically glowed with all the protective magics on it. Twilight’s Mark prominently upon her puffed out chest and the hungry blade attached to her leg advertised she was not just ready for a celebratory airshow.
Twilight’s Captain Candice, the pony that just turned up out of nowhere, stood at rigid attention, some of Rarity’s best work covering her apparently healed body. Haunted eyes, the only thing breaking the mask of perfect formality.
Looking fairly good for a piece of pony charcoal… Inside the mare, thick bands of magic wove back and forth. The energy stitches looked like the only thing holding flesh to bone. What did she do to you?
Emerald Shade blinked, then snapped her gaze to Starlight. Deep green eyes like a wall of thorns glared back. ‘You will not doubt my master’ they screamed.
Why am I the only one that doubts her? Can’t they see this is not how our Twilight acts? Just listen to her word choices. She sounds just like Luna…
Starlight looked, truly looked at Twilight's body posture. It was regal. Refined. Archaic.
Luna can change her form. She proves that each Nightmare Night… Who are you?
A flurry of red dragged Starlight's eyes away. Twilight’s daughter, and the crusaders she enthralled, shot past, their cloaks trailing behind them as they slid to a halt. Only magenta magic stopped them slamming into the wall.
Little Star’s shadow rippled, permitting a little thestral colt to climb out. Like the rest of the foals, he was decked out in toys turned into lethal tools of destruction.
Starlight flicked her eyes between the two groups of personal guards. One had Twilight’s mark on them, the other the rearing pony motif. Like mother, like daughter.
Trixie struck a pose just as if it was one of her shows. “The Great and Powerful Trixie accepts. She will stand with Ponydom’s greatest defenders.”
Twilight loomed larger somehow without growing. She leant closer, intense eyes, almost sensual. “Then, I welcome you to my service, Trixie Lulamoon.” Glowing magenta eyes blazed white.
Starlight watched, just not in the same way as everypony else.
Three dozen analytical and passive detection spells transmuted her view to a complex moving diagram crisscrossed with equations and false colour highlights.
Twilight's presence, her very soul, reached out of her body as her large Alicorn wings imprisoned her best friend.
Magic, enough no mortal pony could survive, swirled and danced. A raging tempest of power. A shiver crawled down Starlight’s spine. She had felt that power, Twilight so casually wrapping the temporal viewing spell with her energy, pouring more and more in from her seemingly infinite wellspring.
“You, are, mine.” Twilight did not shout or even raise her voice, yet the words hit Starlight like a physical blow. Something in her just knew, even as she tried to reject it, Trixie, her Trixie, now belonged to another.
Moments later, the small light that was Trixie's soul winked out.
"No…" Starlight started before her brain kicked in. Think Starlight, think. You know how much power Twilight has. She would not stand a chance. She switched her attention to the notations related to Trixie’s body and health. Medical spells and even a few necromancy ones leapt to the forefront of Starlight’s mind.
Breathing is slow but steady. Heart stopped. Stopped!? Blood flow and oxygenation are good. Starlight remembered to breathe. Alright, how? Oh, I see a life support spell.
Twilight’s wings shifted, parting just enough to let Starlight’s magic see a bit more.
Magenta veins of magic flowed through Trixie’s body. It coiled around and thickened each set of leylines. One unicorn, one earth pony.
A ball of power embraced Trixie’s single well spring. Then, with small touches, rotated it. Twilight pushed more and more power in. She crushed it tight, keeping it confined, allowing it a faint glow to become a glaring beacon.
Twilight's eyes met her own, still just two pools of glowing white and yet somehow they seemed to say 'I hope you are taking notes, my student'.
Those beautiful, those terrible eyes turned back to their task, dismissing her.
A cloud of vital green flowed from Twilight's hoof as she placed over Trixie’s heart.
The showmare did not even flinch as the energy forced its way into her chest. Here Twilight was, doing the impossible, again. Doing something that should, by everything Starlight knew, disintegrate Trixie. Who the buck cares what the laws of magic say or even reality itself?
As if in answer, Twilight opened her wings, returning a now larger Trixie to the world of the living. Trixie dropped to a bow. Twin stripes of lavender were now clear in both her mane and tail.
“Rise, my chosen.”
Trixie elegantly stood to her new height, now at least half a hoof taller. Even her armour seemed to fit better now, as if originally made for her new stature.
The crowd erupted into cheers as a sinking feeling dragged Starlight’s heart down.
This was good, the only problem:
it was waaay to short!
Starlight being kept in the dark about matters with Twilight can't be good. I feel like if something isn't done to ease her worries soon, she may do something drastic and make the overall situation much worse.
Mage-sight, an indispensable trick for the wise practitioner. And, often the source of alarming perspective.
Not to mention the occasional case of accidental blindness...
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I never really had a problem with candice ( she never was my favourite character but she was fine) , until her last chapter, where she came across as very annoying and...irritating? I don't know how to describe it better.
That chapter just starts off with: "oh yeah Candice is back!" And my first thought just was : why? The Story was doing fine without her and I just assumed that she would stay in stasis at least a LITTLE bit longer.
I mean you could say that this just demonstrates that Alicorns can just do whatever they want, whenever they want.
But it still feels wrong in a way.
Starlight needs to know who shares Twi's body. otherwise she might do somethign stupid
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They are not
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They aren't
I think Starlight is afraid of endgame-level magics after season 5 and doesn't know how to handle them now. Life was easy when her mentor disliked them as well, but now that she tosses them around all willy-nilly Starlight feels once again lost and betrayed and is currently at the tail end of the bargaining stage of her grief. Even now I can see her slipping down that slippery slope. I hope Maud and Trixy realize and can get through to her before she does something drastic.
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I agree with not liking Candice coming back so soon, but for a different reason; it takes ALL the tension and drama away. She was a burnt-out husk being kept alive in a temporal stasis spell because we (Twilight and Little Star included) didn't know how to fix her and didn't know how long the process might take once they figured it out. Now, less than a week later, she's back, fully upgraded and only Starlight sees the "stitches" holding her together. This makes her sacrifice meaningless. "Oh no! I broke my friend! Let me get my Deux Ex glue...all better."
I love the ideas and world building in this story; Celestia being the last of the Alicorn Tyrants, the rules of magic, the way fragments and bastions work, all brilliant. Rainbow's rebuild was amazing. OP Twilight is breaking the suspension of disbelief; she seems to color outside the lines way too much lately, with Candice and Trixie as prime examples. I've felt the same way about Little Star for a while, but was willing to give her a pass due to the way she was created. Twilight is pushing that boundary too far.
I'm still loving the story, and I'll stay until he end, but a couple of things here don't fit in the world being built. Sorry for the "rant"...
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Interesting point.
Surprisingly, I'm okay with alicorns wielding great power to their whims. It sort of fits as one of the major themes for this story. What interests me is seeing what the unintended consequences of using that power are. There's some hints to that in this chapter already.
If Candice were to be nerfed by the mental trauma of almost dying and being rebuilt so quickly, I'd do a 180 and consider her one of the best characters in this fic (maybe I'm just a sadist ).
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Personally, I still dont know how to feel about Candice. I wouldnt go as far to call her a 'Mary Sue', as in she has flaws.
She's prone to relying heavily on her intellect and internal calculations, which is certainly a strong point about her, except when she is dreadfully missing key information that only reveals itself to her after she bites off more than she can chew. IIRC, it happened in the warehouse, and it happened with Twilight and Nova. Granted, she made the correct decision, but based off a grave miscalculation. Had she had the full information, she may not have thrown herself at Twilight, and may have pursued a similar but not not as drastic course of action, and then we really can't say how that would've turned out either.
As well, as a result of her being an overqualified talent being thrust into the proverbial broom closet out of prejudice, she has something I would almost liken to Detective McNulty from The Wire - she only follows authority that treats her as an equal, or to the level she believes she ought to be treated at. While this can be beneficial for both parties involved, such as with Nova, she's constantly clashing with Night because of their conflicting views as to whether any mortal should be able to stand on the same level as an Alicorn. Case in point, she conflicts with Night because she denies Night the overt fealty and gratitude that is expected in regards to an Alicorn's generosity on the level Twilight did, whilst also shutting off her emotions for the sake of getting a better grip of the situation, to the point that her response to such 'royal generosity' is akin to a mediocre Christmas thank you card.
I don't believe Candice is a Mary Sue, but I believe she hasn't had many situations that expose and work against her above-described flaws, or whatever flaws the author actually has in their notes. She's experienced prejudice in the past, but now its basically the ultimate gimme-win because the prejudiced nobles/Canterlotians are easily trounced and made fool of. Her conflicts with Nova and Night, for the most part, put her at the moral highground and are more instead wedges in the character flaws for Nova and Night, rather than for her.
If in the future she had more situations where either her overconfidence in her analytical abilities leads her into rushing into situations where she was caught lacking because she didnt have all the information she thought she did (similar to Moonlight Scroll's current predicaments), or situations where her need to be treated as an equal or at the level she believes she ought to be with her high qualifications leads to conflict, I could open up to her a lot more than just being at 'discontent indifference'.
Trixie got taller, that’s going to be an ego trip for her. But more importantly, man I am really excited to see what she can do now. this has always been a side plot I’ve been keeping an eye on, it feels good to see it pay off.
For Starlight I feel like this could go one of three ways, A conversation, a fight where Night says something to the effect of “You dare defy me!” Or a fight where Night says something to the effect of “Finally, I’ve been wanting to have a good fight with you.” Personally hoping for the latter. No matter the scenario I am pretty sure Starlight is the key for Twilight to realize she really can’t hide this from her close friends anymore.
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That is very likely, however I still believe that even that arrangement would be very dangerous to starlight. In a world like this one the only definitions for good and evil are written by Celestia and there are no known repercussions beyond federal laws for heinous actions. Thus Starlight could easily become a hindrance towards Twilight's goals (and by alicorn definition, evil). The arguments of morality alone could destroy Starlight.
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Cygnus? I don't think Starlight is going to be flying into any black holes any time soon.
its actually crazy how much we already know about Celestia !
if you compile a list of all the little things that we learn about her in this story it actually adds up to quite a bit .
I now have an actual working theory on a lot of Stuff that involves Celestia.
and because Im evil im not gonna tell you,
im just gonna say fragments and leave you with that.
At least Starlight sees the change.