Chapter 12 - November - Part 2
Catching a stampeding mob of VW Beetles made of meat is hard enough on any day of the week. But catching them in the dark, when it’s lashing down with rain, you can’t see your own hoof in front of your face, and the grass all around is slippery as anything, and you might be blasted in twain by lightning at any moment is like playing the Library level of Halo on legendary difficulty with every skull on except bandanna. In short, it’s tricky. The only advantage I had is that I had my magic, which let my throw out a bit of light for Applejack, Mac and I as we galloped to catch the herd.
Now, with a stampeding herd, the biggest risk is that the cattle will hurt themselves. Be that crashing through fences, trampling over each other, particularly calves, or just the old standby of running straight off a sheer drop like so many lemmings. Eventually, they would tire and they would naturally calm down. But with so many head of cattle, they could hurt themselves long before that. So the next best option was to try and turn them, steer them into a mill; get them running in something close to a circle and let them tire that way. That seemed to be AJ’s plan as we drew up to the front of the herd. It was no use talking to them now. You could see their eyes were wide in fright, and they were quite deaf to our pleas to stop.
“Alright!” AJ called over the wind, rain and thunder. “Mac, you get ahead of them, try and slow them. Bones and I will try and turn the leaders!”
“Right, Applejack!” Mac called, putting on a burst of speed to overtake.
Another big problem was that communication between the three of us would be tricky, and it wouldn’t be too hard to get separated out here. Still, at least we had a plan. Mac’s red hide soon faded into the darkness as he vanished amidst the charging herd. Checking stampeding cattle is no easy task. The only saving grace is that we had Winona with us. The collie was a natural at herding and quickly took to taking snaps at the herd’s legs to try and scare them into line. As she followed big Mac, she too vanished into the darkness.
Still, we occasionally caught glimpses of Mac and her weaving back and forth trying to keep the herd together. The only thing to make a stampede worse is for the herd to scatter. If that happened, in this storm, we could lose cattle out here. Applejack and I meanwhile, did our best to start turning the herd and get them milling. This time we didn’t use gentle encouragement either. Since they were a lot bigger than us, we took to pretty much ramming them, throwing ourselves into their sides, slowly forcing some of the cattle to turn up front. It was slow going, bruising, and tiring too.
“Horse apples!” I snarled as a wave of pain shot up my shoulder. “This ain’t workin’, AJ!” I called over the storm. “The herd’s too strung out to mill!”
We were turning them, but to get a mill going, it needed to be sharp and force the herd back on itself, so that the leaders would start following the ones at the rear. More to the point, we were covering quite a lot of ground now. The herd had probably covered a good five or six miles and showed no signs of slowing. Before too long, we would start hitting fences and woodland.
“Well I’m open to suggestions, Bones!” Applejack called back.
I tried to think. I only knew a little about cattle. Back home, having a dairy herd stampede was virtually unheard of. You were more at risk from a lone cow turning on you for getting too close to a calf than the whole lot turning on you or panicking. There was one idea though. Cowboys would often use their six shooters to scare the cattle to check them. I might not have an equaliser on my hip, but I had the equivalent of one on my head. I could use my magic to mimic something close to a flashbang. With any luck it might startle them enough to turn them.
“I’m gonna try usin’ my magic to spook ‘em!” I called. “I’m goin’ up front!”
And so I sped up a little and after pushing my way through the herd, found Mac at the head of the column with Winona, still weaving desperately to keep the leaders in line and the herd together.
“Mac!” I called out, catching the near exhausted stallion’s attention. “I’m gonna use my magic to try and scare ‘em into a turn! I’ll go ahead of y’all about two hundred yards! When ya see me stop and turn, you and Winona break off and let the herd come to me. With any luck we can get a mill goin’!”
It was a ballsy plan if I do say so myself. If my magic didn’t scare the lead cattle, given how spread out they were, I’d have pretty much nowhere to go. I guess that made for good motivation. In any case, Mac nodded in understanding and I powered forward.
I cannot begin to tell you how bowel emptyingly scary it was to see around thirty or so cattle charging straight for me. One alone was quite capable of killing me by accident. Still, I had my plan, and we needed to check the herd, so I dug my hooves into the mud and held my ground. I saw a red splotch that was Big Mac peel off to the right, Winona following him, and the herd got closer. I could now feel the ground shaking as they got nearer.
The timing on this had to be perfect. Too early and it wouldn’t check them, too late and they wouldn’t stop in time. I waited till what I judged was the last possible second and then fired off my magic.
Now, I expected at this point there to be a fairly loud bang and a flash of light. The spell was a simple light show, not too dissimilar to a firework. What I got though was significantly louder and brighter than that. The effect on the cattle was near instantaneous. Their headlong flight was instantly checked at the sight, and instead of milling, the entire herd came to a sudden, sharp halt, bunching up together in alarm. For my part, I was baffled at what had happened. I mean, I know I have something of a knack when it comes to magic, but that was Twilight levels of epic. It wasn’t until I turned around that I realised what had happened. It was not my magic alone that had stopped them. Instead, not ten paces behind me, there was a patch of burnt earth where lightning had struck the ground.
Needless to say, I didn’t sleep for a week afterwards.
The good news though was that we managed to get the herd back under control, and by the time order had been restored, the storm had abated. Given that it wasn’t too long until dawn now, Applejack went back to fetch Granny, Apple Bloom and the wagon. Since, for some reason, no one, cattle or pony, was the least bit sleepy, we intended driving the herd home by the early morning light.
We finally made it back to the farm a little after six. We were wet, tired and covered in mud. But we had brought the herd home. The cows for their part, were deeply apologetic for the mishap, and the five of us were understanding. After all, if I’d known what had gone on behind me, I’d have probably bolted for cover too.
Fortunately for all of us, bringing in the cattle marked pretty much the last major task on the farm before we started preparing the farm for winter next month. We had been planting carrots, lettuce, and some other things every week to have a continuing harvest of fresh produce, but we’d stopped in October and finished the last harvest by now. The brief respite gave Applejack and the others a chance to put the idea we’d discussed on the drive into action.
Twilight had now been on the throne for getting on for two months. The transitional period was coming to an end and ponies were settling into the new way of things up in Canterlot. As such, regular court was now a thing again and the mare herself would have at least some free time, though not enough to come down to Ponyville. So instead, her friends would travel to Canterlot to visit her. I rather fancied tagging along myself. I know I’m not necessarily as close to Twilight as the girls are, but I was nonetheless affected by her absence. After all, she was the one who helped kickstart my study of magic and helped me learn how to control my own magic in those first early months. I regularly found myself in Golden Oaks library, and later in her castle, pouring over tomes and texts whenever I had some free time.
So I managed to tag along with them when they all caught the train up to Canterlot. I hadn’t been up here since the coronation. In addition to seeing Twilight again, the visit would also give me a chance to drop in on Dad, who now worked as Twilight’s legal advisor, and there was something else I wanted to do as well.
Arriving in the glittering capital, Applejack and I parted ways for a time. The girls deserved a chance to all meet up together and I didn’t feel right butting in on that, so I instead took a stroll up to my Dad’s office, getting escorted by one of the guards. I found him busily working on some legal document or other. Twilight has apparently decided to do what Celestia has been trying to do for over five hundred years and reform the tax code. He was certainly glad for the reprieve my visit brought.
“Bones!” he exclaimed, getting up from his desk and coming over to greet me. “I heard from Buttercup you and the others were in town. What brings you my way?”
I briefly propped myself up on my hind legs to hug him for a moment. It felt like an age since I’d seen him last, except perhaps in passing in Ponyville.
“Applejack and the others have gone to see Twilight,” I said as I dropped back down to all fours. “Or Princess Twilight I should say.” Dad quickly jumped on that.
“Bah, stow that, my lad,” he said reassuringly, waving his hand. “Twilight’s just like Tia and Luna when it comes to titles. Petitioners, guards and nobles call her Princess Twilight Sparkle, or Princess Twilight if they think she likes them. But her friends call her just Twilight, same as we always have. After all, she’s hardly a mare to forget her roots, now is she? The only royalty in this castle who insists on title is that one chap who doesn’t really deserve it.”
Now there’s a thought.
“How is Blueblood adjusting to the changes anyway, speaking of him?”
“Eh, not too bad. To tell you the truth, I shouldn’t speak so ill of him really. The lad really seems to have turned a corner this year. Between the rather humbling experience of losing his allowance for six months and the way he pitched in during the whole Bell incident, he seems to have really turned a corner. Who knows, he might even start wooing the mares again if his reputation really clears up. But enough about him, what about you, my boy? How come you aren’t in there with the rest of them?”
“Eh, I figured those six ought to get some time just with each other,” I replied with a shrug of my shoulders. “Celestia knows that it’s gonna be harder for them now. Aside from Twilight runnin’ Equestria, Rarity has her stores, AJ and I have the farm, Dash has her duties as a Bolt and the Weather Patrol, Fluttershy has her animal sanctuary...”
“And her pet draconequus,” Dad chipped in with a knowing grin.
“True,” I agreed. “And Pinkie’s got her job at Sugarcube Corner. And that’s forgetting their jobs at the school.”
“That’s the way of the world,” Dad said sagely. “Earth or Equestria, you get older, it gets harder to keep in touch with your mates. Those six will stick though I reckon. Fair weather friends don’t end up wielding supernatural magical objects powered by friendship itself, after all. Tell you what, how about you and me go for a walk in the gardens? A trip around there will give the girls plenty of time to catch up, then I’ll take you to the throne room to see Twilight.”
“Sure,” I agreed.
It had been a good long while since I was last in the castle’s gardens. Famous throughout Equestria for its wide variety of flora and fauna, it was like a miniature version of Sweet Feather Sanctuary. Of course, unlike Fluttershy’s shelter for all creatures great and small, the gardens here were also dotted with numerous statues, depicting heroes from Equestria’s past.
And then of course, there was the newest addition. It was placed in the spot where the ‘statue’ of Discord had once stood. It was certainly strange, knowing that it was three petrified beings that were on display now. Rather macabre for a land of Sunshine and Rainbows. It reminded me of how they put Cromwell’s head on Westminster Bridge after his death and trial (in that order I might add, they dug up his corpse and put it in the dock. We’re a vindictive race us English). Tirek and Cozy were cowering in fright. Only Chrysalis remained defiant to the last. Even petrified as she was, I still felt a twinge of fear as we walked up to it.
“I’m still not sure what to say about this, Bones,” Dad said, looking up at the trio. “I know I wasn’t ever exactly a proponent of reformation for all, but this makes the rope seem kind in comparison. Summary too; no trial, no nothing. They’re even trying to think of something to call the bloody thing, like it is just a statue or a work of art.”
“What are they thinking of calling it?” I asked. Dad turned to me and grinned.
“Well, I suggested ‘Death on the Rock’ since there are three of the beggars, but your mother said it was in poor taste and ponies wouldn’t get the joke anyway.” I found myself chuckling darkly at that.
“Real shame about Chrysalis though,” I commented. “I kinda would have liked to see her reformed. If nothin’ else, it would be cool to see what she looked like all multicoloured and all.”
“Never gonna happen, Bones,” Dad said, shaking his head. “Tirek was a complete muppet, and Cozy was just a bonkers kid, but Chrysalis, she was a vindictive old bitch. Couldn’t let go of a grudge for love nor money.”
“I always thought she was more scared of what would happen if she did,” I said, looking up at her. “Worried that if she changed like Thorax did and accepted ponies, she wouldn’t be a powerful queen any more. All she ever wanted was power. And the thought of losing it spooked her.”
“Hmm,” Dad said, putting on his best Yoda impression. “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate...leads to suffering.”
“I just wonder what would have happened if things hadn’t gone our way,” I mused.
“Well,” Dad replied. “I imagine we’d all be dead now, including these three, magical powers or no.”
“But what would they have done if they had won?” I went on. “That’s what I never got about any of this. Chrysalis had a plan to turn Equestria into her feeding grounds the first time, and then covertly by impersonating royalty the second time. But what was her plan here? After they’d destroyed Equestria, what then? It was the same with Sombra, Tirek, almost all of them. What were they going to do after defeating the heroes? Who would raise the sun?”
“Well, you can hardly ask her now, Bones,” Dad reflected. “She took that little titbit with her.”
I found myself pondering that point as we would our way through the gardens, and eventually up to the throne room.
It was great to see Twilight again. I found myself resisting the urge to let out a d’aww when I saw the little alicorn sitting on the much larger throne, intended for a pony Celestia’s size. She reminded me of when Lizzie and I were kids and she would play in my dad’s swivel chair in his office. Aside from the crown on her head, she was very much the same pony I’d always known, and very glad to see me again. And she had quite the interesting bit of news.
Twilight, in her comparatively short time as princess, has passed many decrees, laws, and edicts, many of which related to books and libraries. Contrary to my early fears, Twilight hadn’t turned Equestria into a dystopian state built around books, with the death penalty for anypony who returns a library book late. But in addition to the various reforms she was working on, including a potential Equestrian version of the UN, she had come up with a rather unique idea. She had formed today what she called the Council of Friendship. Consisting of her five closest friends and fellow bearers of the Elements of Harmony, it was to meet regularly to discuss matters relating to friendship. In short, she had found a way to allow her friends to see her, without having to duck her duties, or theirs. The new roles for each pony were quite real, and outranked any other obligation. No matter what, there would always be some time for the six of them to get together.
It made me smile to know that the six of them wouldn’t be broken up by Twilight’s coronation. Like I said, it was an all too common thing to happen in life; friends got older and you just fell out of touch. Not so with these six. After all, as recent events have proven, there doesn’t seem to be any force in this world that can drive them apart for long.
Pleasant developments aside, the meeting also let me just catch up with Twilight as a friend. Dad was right about her views on formality and protocol. One quick bow from me and Twilight told me I only had to do that in front of other ponies, never when it was just friends. The two of us chatted about my own studies in magic, what was happening on the farm, how Mac and Sugar Belle were getting along, pretty much everything really. It wasn’t until towards the end though that the subject of her newest statue came up.
“I’m surprised that you left the old Legion of Doom out in the gardens,” I said curiously. “After Discord’s first escape, I’d have figured you’d have that thing under lock and key.”
“Oh, believe me, I do have ponies keeping an eye on it, Blade Star,” she said reassuringly. “Although, I doubt they will be escaping. Even Discord needed an extra boost of local chaos to fully break the spell, and that spell had degraded over the thousand years after Luna was banished, and she and Celestia lost their connection to the Elements.”
“I was actually quite surprised that you left them all there too,” I admitted. “I know it was Celestia, Luna and Discord who cast the spell, but I expected you to have a go at reforming them.” Twilight shook her head.
“I’d love to say I could,” she replied. “But as much as it hurts me to say it, there are some ponies that are just beyond redemption. Chrysalis was offered the chance to change her ways, so was Cozy Glow, and Tirek ignored his own brother in favour of pursuing villainy.”
“I just wish I could get into their heads,” I said as I walked over to a stained glass window picturing this latest triumph. “Find a way to understand them, work out what makes them tick. After all, nopony truly thinks of themselves as a villain. I mean, look at Discord. On the surface, he was an unrepentant jackass. But after Fluttershy got to know him, he eventually turned things around. The same can be said for Starlight, or Trixie even.”
“It would be interesting,” Twilight admitted as she stepped down from the dais and walked over to join me. “But it would also be much too dangerous letting those three loose again.”
At that moment though, inspiration seemed to strike the little alicorn.
“Hey, that gives me an idea,” she declared.
“Well, let’s hear it. Don’t keep us in suspense, your highness,” I said encouragingly.
“The spell the princesses used is the Stone Sleep spell. Remember, Rockhoof wanted me to use it on him. It effectively puts a pony to sleep while they’re petrified. Only powerful creatures like Discord can remain conscious. Since they’re asleep, they must dream at some point. Maybe Luna could link our dreams, and let us talk to them without putting ourselves in danger. We could talk to them, and try and talk some sense into them like you said, maybe even reform them.”
Whoa, this was some inception level stuff. Entering another creature’s dream to effectively plant an idea in their mind. Well, it was no more messed up than petrifying them, or sending a filly to Tartarus. Of course, it wouldn’t be quite like that. They would be aware of us from the get go after all. But still, it represented an interesting idea.
And Twilight did say “we”.
I quickly agreed to the idea. Twilight called Spike over and quickly wrote a few lines to Celestia to pass on to her sister. Spike still retains his ability to send messages to her by his flame breath. Although I discovered that like his big sister/mother figure, he has rather moved up in the world, having been made a friendship ambassador, primarily working with the dragons for the moment. I never figured Spike for a statesman, but as the passing years would show, he was very suited to it.
It was a couple nights later that our little experiment/psychological interview began. I found myself standing on the ethereal nebula-like road that wound its way around the dreamscape. All around me were various doors, each representing the dream of an individual. And standing before me was Luna. The alicorn smiled at me as I came to my senses. It was a little strange to see her without her crown, regalia or horseshoes, but it was her nonetheless. Standing beside her meanwhile, also without her crown, was Twilight.
“Excellent,” Luna said as I joined the two of them. “Now that you are both here we can begin.”
“How are we gonna do this?” I asked curiously. Twilight explained.
“Luna will help us locate the right dreams,” she explained, and then link them all together before connecting us. That way, all five of us will share the same dream, with Luna looking after things here.”
“Indeed,” Luna went on. “I shall see to it that, while you have a degree of control over the dream, our foes will not, and I will retain overall authority, including being able to wake up all of you if needed.”
This really was like Inception. We were already dreaming, but we would be going into a dream, whilst still dreaming ourselves. I wonder, would Luna give us a kick to wake us up?
Activating her magic, Luna began to browse through the many dreams that were present. It was nice to see her still looking after things here, even if Twilight now looked after the moon. While she was occupied with that, I took the opportunity to ask Twilight a question that had been bugging me since I arrived.
“Where’s your crown anyway, Twilight?” I asked. “I know you didn’t wear your old one much back when you were the Princess of Friendship, but I figured you’d wear your new one.” Twilight tittered adorably.
“Oh I do, Blade Star,” she replied. “I just haven’t integrated it into my dream projection. Another month or so and it should show up with my dream self.”
“I must confess,” Luna chimed in, turning to me. “That it took a conscious effort on my part to assume this form when dreaming. And prior to you and I meeting, your brief, unstable dreams portrayed you in your human form, although I’m sure you don’t remember it too clearly. Ah, here we are.”
Before Luna, three doors appeared. Two looked rather menacing, one having a black and green design, bearing the malign seal of the old Changeling state, while the other, built out of wrought iron, looked more like a jail cell than anything else, with two large horns embossed on the door front. The third, in contrast, resembled that which you’d expect to find in any family home in Equestria, being a soft pink covered in hearts. While the other two were unsettling, this third one seemed too sickly sweet.
Using her magic, Luna connected all three with a strand of white light, which occasionally sent pulses back and forth. A moment later, the alicorn briefly vanished, returning a moment later, along with a fourth door that stood before the other three.
“There,” she declared. “The link is established. Simply pass through this door, and you will enter the shared dream. You can leave by the same method, or I could pull you out if needed. I’m not sure what you hope to find though. These are three of the most evil and irredeemable beings I’ve ever encountered.”
“I remember Starswirl said something similar on the subject of Stygian,” I replied. Luna hesitated at that.
It was no secret now that she was retired that Luna had cultivated something of a relationship with the former Pony of Shadows. I was a little harsh towards my friend, but it demonstrated my point. In his former guise, Stygian was considered beyond redemption. Surely there had to be something or some way to do the same for these three. As Twilight opened the door, I turned and looked up at Luna, who remained off to the side.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean that,” I apologised. “I just want to try and understand the ‘why’ to these three. Call it part of my studies on dark magic.”
“You show a great deal of compassion, my little pony,” Luna replied with a small smile. “Just take care in there.”
With that, I followed Twilight into the shared dream.
Initially, there wasn’t much to see. It was as if we had stepped into a void. There was ground underfoot, air to breathe, and it was warm enough. But there were no visible boundaries, and the only light seemed to be coming from ourselves, since, despite the lack of light, I could easily see Twilight standing next to me.
Advancing a few steps, the world seemed to slide into focus. The blank void receded as we drew nearer. Underfoot, vegetation grew, the black emptiness gave way to blue skies, exotic palm trees, and the previous silence was replaced by a light wind and the sound of flowing water. You could even feel the heat as the two of us walked into some tropical landscape.
We were on a flat, grassy plateau, surrounded by palm trees and other exotic plants. Further ahead, there was a modest rocky outcropping. And it was here that we first saw our three interviewees. And their day was not going too well. Each had been hog-tied and was laying on their side. Connected to their bonds, along a length of rope, was a rock about the size of my barrel. And standing there, with one such boulder in claw, chatting not too amicably with Tirek, was Discord. Evidently, we weren’t the only ones to think of using a dream as a means of chatting with these three. Only with Discord, I doubt he was angling for reformation.
He was currently kneeling to be eye level with Tirek, and his lion paw was holding Tirek’s chin in place, forcing the centaur to look at him. The rock, and the rope attached to it, were dangling over an abyss. Far below, judging by the sound of water, there was a pool. Twilight and I stopped on the edge of the place, unsure of what Discord was doing. Reformed or not, when he is upset, this being, not too far from a god, is prone to violent temper tantrums.
“Did I ever tell you, Tirek,” Discord asked, his voice barely more than a whisper, yet still clearly angry beyond words. “The definition of insanity? Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting the result to change. You tried to steal Equestrian magic once, and Starswirl and your own brother stopped you. You broke out of Tartarus and tried again, and the ponies stopped you again. You conspired with a filly to destroy all magic, and you were stopped. And finally, even with power not too far behind my own, you still failed. No wonder your father saw you as a disappointment.”
Tirek said nothing in reply, his eyes seemingly glazed over. Discord released him a moment later, and moved on to Chrysalis.
“Chrysalis,” he continued. “Let’s see. You tried to steal love, nearly succeeded and then paused to sing. Then you flawlessly kidnapped all of Equestria’s heroes, and paused to gloat. You had the opportunity to do away with all of your foes once and for all, and instead just made cheap copies of them. And then, when given power beyond anything love could give you, you just take them all prisoner and gloat some more. Personally, I’d have learned to stop cackling until I was sure I’d won after the second time.”
Chrysalis just hissed in response. Her serpent like tongue flicking in and out and she glared daggers at the draconequus.
“And then we have Cozy,” Discord went on, picking the filly up in his magic and suspending him before her. “I must admit, I really do not get you. Why does a filly even want power? What were you going to do once there was no more magic left in the world? Why in Equestria would ponies follow you anyway? These two morons at least had some sort of fall to darkness and evil. You just seem to come screwed up straight out of your mother. Tell me why, Cozy, before I do away with you all for good.”
Okay, I’d seen enough to know where this was going, and so had Twilight too. With all the authority she could muster, she stepped into the scene, with me following behind.
“Discord! That’s enough!” she barked.
At that, the draconequus spun around, returning to his usual jocular self. It made his earlier actions even more unsettling. Particularly when he smiled a genuine smile at the two of us.
“Why, Twilight! Bones!” he exclaimed gleefully. “And here was me thinking I was the only one who thought to use dreams to practice enhanced interrogation techniques.”
“Discord, leave them alone!” Twilight ordered sternly.
“Don’t worry,” he said reassuringly. “You can have your turn just as soon as I’m done with them. Bones too. I’m sure you’d love to have a crack at Chrysalis here.”
“No,” Twilight said, putting herself between Discord and the trio of tied up villains. “They’ve been punished for their crimes. I’m not about to let you hurt them just for your own amusement.”
“Then what are you doing here?” Discord asked, folding his arms across his chest.
“We came here to talk to them.”
“Talk?!” Discord exclaimed.
“I want to try and understand them,” I explained. “Learn their motivations. Maybe even reform them.”
“Never!” Chrysalis snarled. “I will not surrender myself to such pitiful ideals! You may have twisted this foolish idiot, but you will not do the same to me. I will get out of here. I will break free. I will regain my kingdom. And then I will destroy you! All of you! In fact, since this is a dream, and I know that I’m dreaming, why don’t I do that right now?”
With that, Chrysalis suddenly transformed into the form she had when imbued with a portion of the bell’s magic. Breaking free from her bonds, she lunged towards us. At any other time, such as during our last meeting. I would have been terrified, and for a brief moment, I was. After all, when a six foot tall bug horse with fangs lunges at you, hissing like a demon, it’s hard not to. But she was mistaken in her thinking. Luna was controlling this dream, and we were just as lucid. Effectively, that made us evenly matched.
The former queen was soon joined by her former cohorts, who also dreamed themselves free of their bonds. Rushing past Discord, who was understandably unphased by their attack, all three charged at us. Twilight was suitably unimpressed.
Just before they could get to us, still leaping through the air, all three were encased in her lavender coloured aura and suspended in place, before quickly being returned to their true forms. Tirek and Cozy retreated back to their former frightened state. But again, Chrysalis remained defiant, screaming threats at the both of us. I figured she’d stop, but she kept it up, despite how hopeless her situation looked. Discord walked over to join us. He has a knack for scaring ponies if you ask me. The jocular chaos spirit can go full Silence of the Lambs when he wants to. And as I was about to see, his earlier scare tactics were peanuts to what came next.
He stood in front of Chrysalis, staring her dead in the face, his expression unreadable. He just kept his eyes locked on hers. Finally, after the intense stare had got the changeling rattled enough to be silent, he spoke.
“Nopony can hear you,” he said, in a plain, emotionless voice. “Nopony cares about you. Nothing will come of this.”
The now silent Chrysalis held his gaze for a few moments, but it was clear who would win the little battle of wills. In a way, it was more scary than the nightmare he was weaving for all three of them before. I’d never seen the changeling look truly scared before. A moment later, Discord turned away, his usual joking, care free attitude returning.
“There we go,” he said with a slightly sinister smile. “I think that should put them all in a more communicative mood.”
And with that, he snapped his talons and vanished, leaving Twilight and I alone with the villains. I’m not sure who was more scared; us or them.
I’d had the idea in my head of what I wanted to do; I wanted to understand why these three did what they did. What I didn’t know, however, was “how to start things?”. How do you ask someone why they are evil? So after Discord left, silence prevailed amongst our little group. We were like kids at a school disco, Twilight and me standing on one side and the three villains on the other, with neither side sure of what to do next. Even the dream landscape faded back to a void. Ultimately, it was Chrysalis who broke the silence. She always did seem to act as the leader of the trio.
“Are you planning to say anything to me, Twilight Sparkle?” she demanded coldly. “And why have you brought this other whelp with you?”
“I wanted to talk to you,” I said, trying to keep my voice from wavering. Dream or not, Chrysalis and Tirek were still plenty intimidating. The psychotic filly not so much, but you get the point. “I want to know why you did what you did.”
“We’re villains,” Cozy sneered. “It’s what we do.”
“But why?” The trio silently conferred for a moment before Tirek spoke up.
“Well, we’re bad; evil. Isn’t that reason enough?”
“You see yourselves as evil?” I asked curiously. This threw all my previous reasoning out the window.
“Of course we’re evil,” Chrysalis snarled, stalking over to me again. “Did the scary eyes, dark colours and sharp fangs not make that all clear?” I tried to rephrase my question.
“I see you as evil, sure,” I agreed. “But surely your own value system paints Twilight here as evil for opposing you.” Chrysalis let out a laugh.
“This little paragon of goodness,” she asked, gesturing to the alicorn. “She’s worse than Celestia on that front. There’s not an evil bone in her body.”
“So Twilight is good, and you are evil; that’s how you see yourselves?” Chrysalis rolled her eyes.
“I really don’t see what is so hard to comprehend,” she said crossly. “But evidently your pony mind is too feeble to understand.”
With that, she turned and strode away, her two former allies preparing to follow suit. I knew the hardest thing about this would be establishing rapport. But their responses just didn’t make sense to me. No ‘villain’ really thinks of themselves as a villain, right? Everyone is the hero of their own story, and yet these three quite happily and openly admitted that they were evil. Were they not so boastful about it, I would have attributed it to a defence mechanism. But they genuinely seemed to believe that they were evil. I tried one last time to try and dig down to the root of this conundrum.
“What was your plan anyway?” I called out to the trio. Chrysalis turned around.
“What?” she asked curiously.
“After you won,” I explained. “Say you had defeated Twilight and the others, what were you going to do next?”
“I would rule all Equestria,” the changeling boasted.
“Don’t you mean ‘we’?” Cozy piped up. Chrysalis just growled softly and sent a glare in the filly’s direction.
“But how?” I prodded. “What would you do? Stuff us all in cocoons? Were you going to try and retake your old throne? How were you going to stop the Windigoes? And what about your two ‘friends’?” Chrysalis said nothing. Twilight, seeing what I was driving at, asked the same of Tirek.
“What about you, Tirek?” she asked the centaur. “What would you have done if you had stolen all Equestria’s magic? When Starlight and I travelled to the past, in one of the alternate timelines, you were still blasting the land with your magic.”
“And you, Cozy?” I went on. “How were you planning to rule a world bereft of magic, and beset by out of control weather, no food, and half the country suddenly inaccessible?”
None of them said anything. Could it really be?
“You know, I figured Sombra was goading Twilight and the others when I heard how he just holed himself up in Canterlot. But after this, I’m starting to think none of you really had a plan at all. You just wanted to defeat Twilight and her friends.”
“That is what villains do, pony,” Tirek pointed out.
“How can you just casually refer to yourselves as villains though? I mean, take Chrysalis. You could argue her attack on Canterlot was just her trying to feed her hive.”
“No,” Chrysalis denied. “I knew that taking love from Equestria would make me more powerful than I’d ever been. True it would feed my army, but that was just a happy coincidence.”
“I was only ever out for power too, really,” Tirek agreed. “Ruling over ponies would be a lot of work, especially when they had no magic of their own.”
“I just wanted to be worshipped like any evil overlord,” Cozy said brightly, with a shrug of her shoulders.
Baffled, I stepped away for a moment to talk with Twilight.
“Well, this is weird,” I said once we were out of earshot. “I’m surprised they’re even talking to us to be honest. Do you think this is all just some kind of trick?”
“I don’t think so,” Twilight replied with a shake of her head. “It is fascinating though. I never thought that these three could give us so many insights.”
“Twilight!” I snapped. “They call themselves villains. They openly acknowledge that they’re evil. They have no idea what they’d do if they beat you beyond the act of winning. That makes no sense!” I looked back at the villainous trio, who were taking the opportunity granted by the lucid dream to entertain themselves. “Hang on, I want to try something.”
Leaving Twilight behind for a moment, I walked over to the three of them.
“You three understand the concept of friendship, right?” I asked.
“I spent a whole year studying it,” Cozy boasted proudly.
“And we almost got suckered into it up on Mount Everhoof,” Tirek added
“Don’t remind me,” Chrysalis agreed sneeringly.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
And so, the trio explained. Under orders from Grogar, they scaled Mount Everhoof to get the bell. Working alone, none of them could overcome the defences. But by working together, they could. The final obstacle to overcome was a magical shield protecting the cave the bell was hidden in. None of them had enough power to break it, but if Tirek had more magic, he could make a hole big enough for Cozy to fly through. That meant Chrysalis had to give up her magic. After they got the bell, Tirek considered keeping Chrysalis’ magic, but ultimately chose to return it, and the three realised for one brief moment the magic of friendship. But, as before, they rejected it a moment later, Chrysalis in particular. It baffled me. I understood her throwing Starlight’s offer back in her face; that was pride. But I couldn’t wrap my head around how they could ignore it then and there. Even the most self-interested villain had to see the advantages. I tried one last time to get through to them.
“So even after that experience,” I asked. “You still see friendship as a bad thing?”
“No, it’s a good thing. We’re bad,” Chrysalis responded.
I’d had all sorts of expectations coming into this, and I figured by the end, I’d have a better understanding of how these three thought. I knew it wouldn’t be a pleasant experience, but I wanted to gain some insight. It was only now that I saw how little there was to gain. These three were genuinely evil, for the sake of it. They were not people seeing the world from their own point of view. They understood right from wrong and consciously chose wrong, understanding that it was wrong. They were villains who knew that they were villains. Their goals of conquest were just that; conquest and nothing more. They were like...like dogs chasing the post van; they’d have no idea what to do if they caught it.
The whole thing raised more questions than it answered. It certainly made one thing clear. In Equestria, unlike Earth, there was such a thing as pure evil.
There was nothing to learn from them, no alternative point of view. There was certainly no hope of reforming them, which actually saddened me more than I care to admit. Whatever else I might say about them, Chrysalis in particular, it would have been nice to find some way to turn them around, even if it was just to make them like Discord; a barely trustable ex-villain who you could never be entirely sure which side he was on. But with Discord, at least there was something to work with. He was chaotic, rather than outright evil. He acted the way he did out of boredom and for his own amusement. When Fluttershy first reached out to him, it sparked something good in him that made him that irrepressible Q stand in we have today. You could say the same out of any reformed villains, from Trixie right up to Stygian. These three though, there was nothing to build on; the very basics were missing.
With little else to gain, Twilight and I left, returning to the dream realm with Luna and returning to the waking world not too long after. It had been a strange experience. I’d doubted that I’d be able to make much progress on any of them in just one encounter. And I knew it was pretty naive and egotistical of me to assume I could reform any of them. But I never thought I’d be so utterly stumped. Even Twilight was surprised when she learned of their motivations.
And so the one time Legion of Doom would remain forever incarcerated as statues, trapped together forever, as villains. Despite everything, I couldn’t help but feel a little depressed about that.
Stats
Page generated in 0.021 seconds
Total duration
1,080 users online
1,748,958 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
You probably could have gone further, asking them WHY they decided to be evil villians in the first place. But that would probably be something to make up a whole story on its own I think.
Hoo, next chapter is the last. Don't know whether to feel excited, or resigned and depressed.
10624489 Well, I hope that you'll like it, as I've finally tried to address fully the great elephant in the room that is Discord and Lizzie.
It would be interest to explore villainy further, but as you say, I could probably do a whole story on that. Might be an idea for another day though. Celestia knows I want to move away from HiE stories after this and work on something new.
10625489
That's good to hear. It may seem like q small thing to get hing up on, but there isn't any real way that it could actually work for what happened to be "how it was meant to be" or right. It only makes sense either as mind control, or the cast making an arbitrary exception from their own morality.
Why are you evil?
Our existence demands it.
Even when your actions in pursuit of evil counter your self-interest?
Our interest is in our existence, without it our purpose is not met.
This is what I took away from that meeting. It is depressingly sad to have a character acknowledge they exist for the purpose of being evil. They have no reason to be, beyond as a foil for another.
It is a sorry life to only existence as a part of another's story. not to have an equal scope of life that they do.
When you are not, in fact, the hero if your own story, but the villan.
And you know it.
10688031
You know, this one aspect of the show I really disliked. It would literally take all but two minutes to make a plausible motivation for them, fuck I'll do it, and I'll time myself.
Tirek: saw equestrians as well as their ways, weak. So he sought to rule them. Scorpan instead developed a better rapport and decided that Tirek's plan would ruin something incredible. After Scorpan's betrayal Tirek wowed revenge and the years in tartarus only served to worsen his psyche.
Chrisalis (this one is even easier): she felt the hunger of her species on a personal level and saw Equestria's prosperity as an afront to their misery. Centuries of hunger drove her to madness.
Cozy Glow: as a daughter of a merciless high Duke outside of equestria she saw friendship as a means to power. After her father's empire collapsed and her father's rage at princesses, apparent, ignorance of the situation, Cozy decided that she will use Equestria's own ways against them.
There, done, took about a minute.
Mind you I have nothing against evil for the sake of evil, but ffs even Lex Luthor has an agenda.