A Method to his Madness

by Luna-tic Scientist

14 -- Gin trap

Neighmann rubbed his muzzle against one foreleg, trying to work some energy back into his mind. What in Tartarus is going on here? There really should be something by now. He looked again at the data, scrolling through the plot and trying to see something that the algorithms had missed.

"You really should get some rest," Neon said, leaning against Neighmann's shoulder as she squinted at the data. "There's just nothing here. Give it time; it's only been a few days."

Neighmann stared through the enchanted windows at the time-bound Discord. "I know, but the equipment we have now is much better than what we had back at the Palace... and I know the quantum sensors worked before we moved him here. There should be something."

Neon rested her head against Neighmann's. "I know. Still, he is the Lord of Chaos. Perhaps he's never going to be predictable. Anyway, random chance should cluster, right? It's an outside shot, but it is possible."

"Everything's possible, but this is like winning an eight-way accumulator on the Cloudsdale to Manehatten circuit race."

"Data's data," she said, shrugging. "Give it up, Neighmann. Come on, there are plenty more bad movies to get through."

"Nothing will quite live up to 'Canterlot has Fallen'," Neighmann muttered. The funny thing was, Neon had been right. The film had been so bad that it had actually managed to distract him for a few hours, long enough that he could fall into an exhausted sleep. "Okay," he said reluctantly, "let's call it a night." Turning to leave, he paused as the screen flashed a message icon in the bottom corner. Another request for an update from the Palace, he thought, slumping. With a flicker of magic he opened the message, then all thoughts of sleep evaporated.

"Thank Celestia," he whispered, turning to Neon with shining eyes, "it's Libi. She's turned up on that airship."

"You're kidding! Why didn't they tell you before -- and where is she now?"

"I've no idea, and I don't care. She's just across town, in Canterlot General."

"Well what are you waiting for? Let's go!"

===

Being a pegasus, Neon had never owned an aircar, or even spent much time being driven. Neighmann grinned to himself at Neon's impatience; her wings kept flicking out and brushing his flanks as he charged the levitator and spun the electric ducted fan up to speed. What must it be like to know how much better you'd be at this? She'd flown him in that first morning; it wasn't an experience he wanted to repeat. Her instinctive grasp of flight had translated to the most frightening fifteen minutes of his life.

The flight over the city seemed to take forever; air traffic control was routing flights away their normal paths, forcing them to curve around the back of the city. As they flew, Neighmann looked down across the suburbs with their complex tangle of streets dating back the best part of a thousand years. Something was happening; ponies were in the streets, hundreds of them, running at a gallop. Here and there was the multicoloured flash of magic, and in several places fires were starting to spread through the old buildings.

Neon's happy chatter faded to a gloomy silence and she looked out of the windshield, staring down at the city. "What's happening down there?" she said in a small voice. "Neighmann? I don't like this. Can you feel it?"

Neighmann shifted nervously, hornlight flickering over the control panel, then turned to his friend. "I've lived in Canterlot for almost fifteen years; I've never seen it like this before." His eyes glinted with the reflected lights from the control panel. "I've also never seen it under threat of war... but this seems to be a bit of a strong reaction. There are stories about what happened when the Changelings sacked the city, back in Twilight's time..."

"Yes, but surely it was nothing like this." She gestured out at the plume of dark smoke just starting to rise from one of the bigger fires.

Neighmann shook his head mutely, then focused his attention back on flying.

===

Neighmann slotted his aircar into the parking structure -- a tall cylinder punctured with hexagonal cells that protruded from its roof -- then both ponies trotted down the central ramp and into the hospital proper. Harried staff at the upper level reception desk gave them curt instructions, and they worked their way through the confusingly similar passageways until they reached the floor Libi was registered to.

He'd been to the Canterlot General a few times recently as part of Libi's prenatal programme, and it had always seemed to be full of organised chaos, a hive of purposeful activity. This time there seemed to be something else overlaying that feeling of energy; a general sensation of anger and fear that was almost seeping from the walls. What happened on that airship? Neighmann thought as they walked past patient rooms. How were so many injured? The hospital was divided into small 'wards', holding five ponies each, and every single one was full. More ponies were lying on low gurneys down the corridors, some strapped in and obviously drugged; others had curled themselves into quivering balls of fur, burying their heads under bedding as if to block out the world.

Loud arguments occasionally broke out, shouting matches between the medical staff and patients. In one room-- Neighmann swallowed heavily, pausing despite himself as he caught a glimpse of a doctor stabbing a syringe into the throat of a struggling earth pony, the patient's muzzle held shut by a haze of copper magic. The sheer panic in the pony's eyes held Neighmann as surely as a noose around his neck, and he took a hesitant step forwards.

"Doctor? Is everything alright?"

The medic, a deep red-brown unicorn stallion, glared back at Neighmann. "This patient has been aggressive towards the staff and others. He's being sedated for his own protection." Beneath his magical hold the other pony relaxed with a sigh, all the tension leaking away from his limbs. "Are you questioning my medical judgement?" The stallion took a step towards them, light starting to collect at the tip of his horn; Neighmann could feel the odd twitchy sensation of undirected magic.

"N-no, Doctor, I didn't mean--" Neighmann backpedalled hastily, his apology cut off when the door slammed shut just in front of his muzzle. Confused and more than a little angry, he nudged at Neon and they both hurried on. "They've got my Libi in this madhouse," he half shouted. At his side, Neon said nothing, just huddled a little closer, so close that her tightly folded wings rubbed against his flanks with every step. And when did you get to be so clingy? he thought, casting an irritated glance at the chestnut pegasus. She didn't meet his eye, seemingly captivated by the patch of floor between her hooves.

Libi's room was one of the quieter ones. Two of the other patients were deep asleep, obviously drugged considering the general level of noise in the hospital. The other two were cowering on their sleeping pads, pressed firmly against the low panels that surrounded them, each trying to put as much space between them and the tan mare as their restraints would allow. Libi herself was deep in conversation with another unicorn, a sunny yellow mare with a mane cropped so short it looked like a line of bristles down her neck.

All of Neighmann's building anger and confusion was swept away in an instant by the sight of his mate. Ignoring everything else, he rushed forward, only to be stopped dead by the sudden expression of malice on Libi's face when she turned her head to stare at him. "So, you're finally here, are you?"

His mouth dropped open and his eyes fixed on the stump of Libi's horn. "W-what have they done to you?" Neighmann took a hesitant step forward, quailing before her rage. She'd always had a bit of a temper, and he'd even been on the receiving end a few times, but the hatred in her eyes was completely alien to him.

Her gaze flicked to Neon, who shrank against Neighmann's side. "And you had the nerve to bring her with you..." she said, "I should have figured you'd be the type to go for a featherbrain. Anypony stupid enough to fall for your lines long enough to lift her tail, eh?"

Neighmann's stunned brain finally processed what Libi had said, and his mouth snapped shut, a spark of anger kindling amid his rapidly fading joy. "What are you talking about? This is Neon, my assistant, you've met her -- you know there's nothing between us!"

"Oh, I know all about you two. I checked with your work; Silver Star was very helpful. Exactly how long ago did all this start? This must have been a dream come true for you; your little plan to get me out of the way really paid off, didn't it?" Equilibrium was spitting the words, leaning forwards against the loose straps holding her into the medical stall. Her head dipped, and she came up with her mating band, its edges ragged where it had been cut off sometime earlier, and she flicked it in his direction.

The little loop of dirty fur struck him on the chest, then fell to land on the floor. Neighmann stared at it for a second, mouth opening and closing, then he stepped forwards to the bedside. "How could you even think such a thing! When I first heard that you were missing, everything fell apart for me -- Neon kept me sane, stopped me from doing something stupid. Whatever happened to you out there has messed with your head." Neighmann reached out to touch her cheek, only to have his hoof batted away.

"Should have known you'd be blaming me for this, when I can see with my own eyes what you two have been getting up to." Libi stabbed a hoof at Neon, who was pressed close against Neighmann's flank. "I suppose I should thank you. This makes things so much easier." She nodded to the other pony, who pulled out a sheaf of heavy looking papers and thrust it at Neighmann.

"I'm Affa Davit, of Mako, Lemon and Whitetip. On behalf of my client I'm serving you with legal notice of court proceedings against you. Have a good day, Doctor." She stepped back to Libi's side, her smile widening as Neighmann unfolded the document packet.

"What is this?" he demanded, fanning out the papers. Reams of complex legalese covered the papers; it might as well have been in Zebrican for all the sense it made.

"Separation proceedings and a restraining order. My client is also forbidding you access to her property, effective immediately--"

"Lucky you've got somewhere else to stay!"

"--and your initial court hearing dates are on sheet fifteen. Failure to attend will result in automatic forfeiture. I'd get yourself a lawyer, if I were you."

Neighmann stood there dumbfounded, then a wild rage bubbled up inside him and he leapt at the lawyer, only to sprawl muzzle first on the floor when her telekinesis tangled his legs. Too angry to focus on his own magic, the stallion thrashed about, trying to reach the still-smiling Affa. Dimly he heard the sound of pounding hooves, then a pair of burly orderlies burst in and pinned him down.

"...and that's assault. Thank you Doctor Neighmann, you've been most helpful," Affa said, the smile reaching her eyes for the first time since he'd seen her. "Get him out of here, he's disturbing my client."

The orderlies marched him back to the parking structure, one pony on each flank to stop him from doing anything stupid, with a nervous and shell-shocked Neon following so close that she kept bumping into his rump. They left them at the bottom of the ramp, and Neighmann stamped his way up to his aircar, not looking at Neon.

"I'm sure she doesn't mean it, Neighmann, she's just traumatised from losing her horn. Give it a few days and I'm sure she'll reconsider."

Neon's tone was sympathetic, but just made him more angry. Stupid nag, did that look like a pony who was just lashing out? She planned all of that, did it just to get to me. Neighmann ground his teeth, side-stepping away from the pegasus when she tried to hook a wing over his withers.

"Neighmann, please, talk to me," she said, her tone pleading. "I'm sorry if I made things worse back there--"

"Yes, you did," he snapped, "Celestia knows what will happen now. You know how the courts always side with the mare. I'll probably not be allowed to see my foal until it comes of age!"

Neon gasped, stumbling to a shocked halt. Neighmann ignored her, popping open the driver's door and dropping heavily onto the shaped pad. A touch of magic and the hatch slammed shut, then he threw full power to the turbines, launching the aircar into the sky like a missile from a tube. In the rear view camera he caught one last glimpse of Neon, a small and huddled figure lying on the floor of the bay.

===

Princess Celestia stepped out of her personal chariot, the pegasi Day Guard unhitching themselves from the traces and falling in around her. She'd received the first report, light on detail as they always were these days, just after she'd watched the sun rise. There had been an outbreak of violence and panic at the arrival of the Canterlot Dreaming; something that had immediately set the tone for an increasingly grim morning.

The news kept coming in, none of it good. By accident or design, fires had been set in several parts of old Canterlot, and only now were coming under control of the combined efforts of the weather teams and ground-based response units. The pall of dirty smoke still lingered over that quarter, the ash having been trapped by the rain clouds still being used to dampen down the now smouldering ruins. A dirty rain was falling over the white and gold stonework, leaving black streaks that would take an age to clean off.

Efforts by the Triumvirate to restore calm had proved futile, and the panic seemed to be spreading to the more staid members of society; even ponies who had received special training -- the Guard, police and emergency staff -- were starting to feel the effects. Rumours of war with the gryphons were on everypony's lips, and with every passing report the ideas became more sensationalist. The early morning news bulletins had spoken of little else, other than the relative sizes of the Equestrian forces compared to those of Razorclaw, even going so far as to play on fears of the gryphon's carnivorous nature.

Celestia had waited long hours for the Triumvirate to ask for her assistance, but the mechanisms of government seemed to be in just as much turmoil as the pony in the street. After that initial report, little had reached her apart from public media reports, things that had become more hair-raising with each passing hour, and in the end she had taken matters into her own hooves and ordered this little trip. She would have gone before, but they were decades past the point of impromptu escapades, especially after the last flight she taken with Luna had ended in the formation of a new area of badlands where the Crystal Empire once was.

Since then, the Triumvirate had passed a new set of laws to restrict her movements without an escort. The aftermath of that particular outing still affected international politics to this day; to reduce the tensions she'd agreed to the rules, no matter how chafing she found them. Not that they could stop me, Celestia thought sadly, but if I appear to obey the will of the government there is at least a chance the other states won't try to nuke my people. The gryphons and the zebra had never known how to deal with her; it was far better they should accept the polite fiction that she was subordinate to the will of the ponies of Equestria.

...and in a way, I am. Any unsanctioned deviations from policy would result in a loss of trust and an increase in tensions. I have no desire to rule a world covered in ash and dust that won't cool for hundreds of years. Once was enough.

She didn't like to do it, but playing the goddess card was sometimes the best solution to some of the more intractable problems. Ponies who'd been deadlocked for weeks would suddenly find amicable solutions with little more than a raised eyebrow from her. She was a source of stability in Equestria, the one thing that had been a constant in the lives of generations of ponies; she was in their history from before the point that they knew how to write things down. It was hard to overestimate the effect that kind of presence had.

Calm rippled out from her like oil being spread on a stormy sea. Everypony that saw her stopped what he or she was doing to just stand and watch. Walking through the temporary camps, she talked to the patients and praised the doctors and emergency staff, taking the time to be seen by as many ponies as she could. Her own personal magic, normally tightly controlled for fear of overwhelming anypony in her presence, was unfettered. Princess Celestia glowed with the shifting pastel hues of the aurora, and behind her she left a trail of harmony that lifted a little of the darkness that had fallen over Canterlot.

News of her impromptu tour spread fast; even an overheard comment about her presence would be enough to distract ponies from their new-found paranoia and mistrust. As much as I want them to rule their own affairs, I admit that I have missed this, Celestia thought, as she knelt down on the grubby tent floor to get closer to a colt who'd fractured a foreleg in the panicked stampede from the Dreaming. I will have to have words with the Triumvirate, convince them that there's more to my sister and I than just keeping the heavens on track. It wasn't anything to do with a desire to rule -- no sane pony would want that if there was any alternative -- but the simple contact and the ability to make the world a better place.

Luna had thrown herself into her work as patron of the sciences, while Celestia had become more and more isolated from the ponies she wanted to serve. It had been a subtle thing, a slow creeping nopony land composed of layers of bureaucracy, a distraction by subcommittee. Is this how it started for Luna, all those years ago? This... insulation from those we swore to protect? At least her sister had made a name for herself in academia; the work of the teams she sponsored had done an enormous amount to shape modern Equestria.

The wide-eyed colt and his nervous dam thanked her and she ruffled his mane before climbing to her hooves and stepping back into the bustling bridleway between the row of tents. "The hospital next, I think," she muttered to her equerry, Charter.

"Yes, Princess." The green earth pony trotted to keep up with her long-legged stride, nodding to the discreet circle of the Guard. Three unicorns formed themselves into a triangle and headed the group, while pairs of pegasi circled overhead to ward off the curious and give Celestia a little room.

So much pomp and circumstance, even for a trip inside my home city, Celestia thought, but this really is the least I can get away with. If it wasn't for the emergency, any event like this would have been carefully managed by one of the many working groups that had an input on how her time was spent. Her customary gentle smile wavered slightly, then returned in full force before anypony could notice. There would be repercussions for this, there always were. The polite and oh-so-reasonable suggestions that they must be allowed to assist the Princess with her schedule, to prevent disruption to the delicate machinery of state, or how her very presence was such a distraction to productivity.

Celestia ducked her head slightly to clear the doorframe -- a habit developed over long years of catching her horn tip on ceilings and fixtures not really placed with a pony of her stature in mind -- even though, like all public buildings, the hospital had been constructed to allow the movement of heavy and bulky equipment.

The staff of Canterlot General had been given plenty of warning of her approach; the smell of fresh cleaning fluid and the subliminal tingle of newly cast antibacterial magic filled the air and she wrinkled her muzzle in an effort to stifle a sneeze. Celestia accepted it all with a good-natured smile and a sigh that she kept to herself.

===

"Princess? You might find this one interesting," Charter said, looking up from the chart posted outside the next ward along.

Celestia poked her head into the small room, sweeping her gaze over the five ponies within. Two earth ponies and a pegasus, all asleep and, if the rest of the hospital was anything to go by, under sedation. So many given drugs, she thought, her muzzle creasing in a slight frown, I can't believe this is normal. Of the remaining two, one was a lilac pegasus mare, huddled against one side of her stall, the other a cream earth pony. The pegasus-- Celestia paused and stared at the earth pony. You are familiar, where do I know you from? The pony was staring back at her with an unnerving intensity, holding her gaze with an almost hungry look on her face.

She glanced sideways at Charter, raising a questioning eyebrow. "That's Equilibrium, Director Neighmann's mate; she's the one the gryphons sent back, ah..."

He tailed off as Celestia nodded slowly. ...without a horn. The intelligence analysts were still wondering about that; the best theory she'd been privy to was that it was a message, something to ward off any potential intervention. She was also the source of the accusations about pinioning the pegasus prisoners. The Princess shivered; the gryphon kingdoms always had a different view on crime and punishment than the one she'd strived to instil in her ponies. Sometimes I wonder if there was more I should have done, back in the early days. Luna and I saved them all from Discord's reign, but did we spend too much time with our own kind? How much modern suffering could we have averted if I'd pressed them for a truly integrated society?

Unsettled, Celestia stepped into the room, smiling and talking with the pegasus until she smiled back and started to relax. All the while she talked, Equilibrium was staring fixedly at her, barely taking time to blink. Finally she turned to the unicorn, her normally unflappable smile faltering. "I'm so sorry for what happened to you, Equilibrium, but you can rest assured that you are safe from that particular nightmare. Have you had a chance to talk this through with your mate? I know he was very worried about you."

As Celestia focused her attention on the abused unicorn, she felt the faint tickle of magic, some enchantment that she was sure she'd tasted before, but so long ago that it was a distant and fading memory.

"Neighmann, yes." Equilibrium laughed, a hard, cynical chuckle that ran through the Princess like a lance. "Let me tell you about my mate..."

Equilibrium continued to talk, an outpouring of venom that would have made Celestia step back in shock if it wasn't for her centuries of experience with the worst ponies could do to each other. After the first few insults and snide remarks, she tuned the unicorn out and opened her magical senses to examine the world's arcane dimension.

The hospital with its bustle and noise faded to shades of black and grey, the sounds becoming distant and vague. The tentative, subliminal patterns of magic that laced the building popped into sharp relief, filling the machines and instruments with rainbows of light. The ponies became little moving shadows, each clade marked out by the way their power manifested. Her pegasi Guard became jewelled insects, great crystalline wings of light sprouting from their flanks. The unicorns were more indistinct; all of their magic was concentrated in their horns and it formed a hard, laser-bright glare of colour at the top of each head. Earth ponies were some of the most beautiful; glass sculptures lit from within by the gentle magic that filled them from hooves to muzzle tip.

"--with his assistant, that featherbrain nag--"

Equilibrium was different. Celestia had seen ponies mutilated in any number of terrible ways, by accident or design. The concentrated magic of unicorns had resulted in some truly evil practices employed by individuals and groups with no understanding of what horrors they were perpetrating. The disbudding of unicorn foals at birth, back before she realised the practice went on among the superstitious pegasus and earth pony tribes in prehistory. Dehorning as a punishment for prisoners, the list went on and on.

"--so if he thinks he's getting anywhere near--"

This unicorn mare showed all the classic signs of traumatic horn loss. The directionless rage that came with any profound injury -- shifts in personality that could only be fixed by therapy or the understanding of those close to her, ponies willing to wait out the mood swings until the magic returned. Celestia focussed her shadow sight, examining the remaining horn material. The doctor's preliminary work looked sound; what was left had been smoothed off and there was no damage to the horn bed. With this much loss it would be a long road to recovery for Equilibrium, but it would happen.

"--my lawyer is going to take him to the cleaners--"

Celestia frowned; there was something else here, almost like a fragment of the unicorn's power had been displaced into her brain. Something twisted between the neurons, so faint that she could barely see it. Her own magic flared, reaching out to examine the strange pattern. The hint of deja vu, still directionless but stronger than ever, returned. It was an old, old memory that surfaced, something from the deep past of the world, of a spell that bound a pony's power and bent it to another's will...

"--I'm going to make sure that that faithless bastard suf-f-f..."

Equilibrium's voice stuttered and she tailed off, then the pattern suddenly bloomed, rushing outward. Celestia jerked back, blinking in surprise and sweeping the surroundings for any sign of the magic. Nothing around, and nothing in Libi's head, either. Uneasily, she dropped out of her shadow sight, staring at the unicorn. Libi was gazing back at her, blank eyed and open mouthed.

Did I just imagine all that? Like a dream at the edge of waking, the memory was fading, the pattern and its sudden half-seen, half-guessed at expansion disappeared under the oppressive atmosphere of the hospital. "Libi? Are you alright?" Celestia asked, covering her nervousness with a practiced half smile.

The unicorn slowly closed her mouth, looking confused. "I... I'm sorry, Princess, what was I talking about?"

"You were telling me about your mate, Neighmann." Celestia watched fascinated as the confusion was washed away and Libi scowled.

"The sooner I'm rid of him and his spawn the better I--"

A sudden flash of unaccustomed anger flickered in the back of Celestia's mind. Something must have shown on her face, because Libi abruptly fell silent. A glow started to fill the room; not the warm dawn or dusk hue that normally surrounded her, but the hard, unsympathetic white of the noon-day sun. "You should be silent now. I have heard more than enough." Celestia felt her power rising and struggled to control her anger. So much hate, she must have suffered greatly. Remember, it is not her fault.

The glow faded and Celestia stepped back from the medical stall, suddenly embarrassed by her surging emotions. "You should rest; I can see this has been very stressful for you." She turned, not looking back at the now quivering Equilibrium, only to come face to face with Charter.

The earth pony stared back at her, ears folded flat, then backed away, bowing deeply. "Perhaps we should go back to the Palace, your Highness."

Charter, don't look at me like that. She'd known her equerry for decades, knew his moods and body language like almost nopony else, but never had she seen that look before. Don't be afraid of me. His face had closed down, any hint of expression gone.

"Yes, perhaps that would be a good idea," Celestia said softly.

===

They flew back to the Palace in silence. Charter was by her side as always, while the unicorn Guard were in a discreet spellcraft airtruck that maintained pace with her chariot. Three times Celestia started to talk, to try and apologise to her equerry, but each time a glance at his stiff face and posture made something freeze inside her. In the end she settled for staring gloomily out over the beating wings of her pilots, trying to unpick what had made her lose her temper.

There seemed to be no obvious reason, other than the accumulated weight of years acting like a calm, wise matriarch finally getting the better of her. She looked again at Charter, more openly this time. Judging me, you are all judging me. Locking me in this padded box, then getting all shocked when I make the slightest action that doesn't fit that mould you have cast around me. You have no idea how much Luna and I did for all of you, how much we sacrificed and how much we suffered.

Her gloomy mood started to lift, pushed aside by a spark of irritation when the earth pony's ears drooped under her scrutiny. I think even Luna has more freedom than I do, these days. She's not tied down by the machinery of state, and nopony is surprised when she loses her temper.

I am tired of being constrained by the wishes of others. The thought hit with the force of a thunderbolt and Celestia jerked upright, jaw slack at the revelation. The endless mire of the bureaucratic process, filling her time with the minutiae of policy decisions and diplomacy. They want me out of the way... want me to stay away from pony affairs, do they? I made those laws to give them their freedom, but perhaps this experiment has gone too far. She looked down over the side of the chariot, seeing a fresh fire starting in the streets far below. This is what has come of it. The society I thought was strong is falling apart after one little incident.

All these years I've been working towards letting them walk on their own four hooves, and this is the result. I have let them go too soon; even after all these centuries, they are still not strong enough to weather a crisis. The flight went on and Celestia brooded, mind turning back to the events in the hospital. Everything was fuzzy, tinted with the surge of unexpected emotions that had overtaken her, but she finally remembered. There was something in Equilibrium's head -- I suppose I could just have imagined it, but what if it was real?

That pony was specifically returned to the Dreaming; it must have been for a good reason. Everypony is assuming it is a warning not to interfere, but the Panopticon has been wrong before -- and what about the sheer level of panic on that airship when it docked? The reports had been clear; the only reason the ship had made it to the airfield at all was because the crew had locked themselves away from the passengers. Panic is contagious, but perhaps someone has found a way to help it spread?

Celestia thought about all the battles and horror she'd witnessed over her very long life; such minor things would never affect her. Taking that as a starting point, there was only one logical explanation for all the recent events in her city. Mind control, or at least manipulation. Not as comprehensive as she was familiar with, but the effect was the same.

This is deliberate. We are under attack.

Comments

[Q07]

Oh fucking dammit, really! At least Celestia still has her wits about her somewhat. I have a feeling that things are going to get so much worse, and I will not be able to take it! In other news, I saw a commercial for the new "has fallen" series. And boy does it definitely have a plot of some sort. I can't tell if I should even endeavor to grace my eyes with such a thing, even for free.

[Luna-tic Scientist]

9812384
Based on my experience of the first one, life is too short. Perhaps worth watching with friends and while slightly drunk? I have found shouting at the screen to be quite cathartic. Netflix's "Another Life" is another example of terrible writing. Arguably worse, because the series is longer...

[Cedric Bale]

Finally, someone notices; hopefully the story will start to move along. Now to see if Celestia recognizes that it's effecting her, too. It seemed like she did, with that line about panic and whatnot being too little to effect her, but the Discord's little plague has been shown to be able to make it's victims completely forget what they were just thinking about before.

[EverfreeSparkle]

Oh no, Celestia may have figured out something was wrong, but not before Discord got what he wanted: her. If she doesn't keep a cool head and figure this out, fast, we may just have a nightmare Celestia on our hands...