Witches 12: The Coven
Dash stared blankly into Twilight’s eyes. One of them misunderstood what Twilight just said. Hopefully both.
Already trembling and shaken by her failure today, Dash simply couldn’t deal with this. She couldn’t tell if her nausea was from her physical injuries, her disgust with herself, or from this latest challenge but her stomach barely held together.
Why now of all times? She covered her face with a hoof and stepped back.
“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight ran back in front of her with a more concerned expression.
“Twilight.” Dash put her hoof down. “You get we’re both girls, right?”
“No need to worry about that,” Twilight spoke in the matter-of-fact voice she’d only used for magic until recently. “I looked it up and they made it so you can marry another mare. It’s called a lesbian.”
“Twilight, you clearly don’t understand!”
“Hm? What don’t I understand about this?”
Too innocent.
Dash took a step back, face red and heart beating. Had she given Twilight the wrong idea? This had to be some kind of misunderstanding. Twilight misunderstood everything! So that was it.
“Like…”
There wasn’t any nuanced way to explain this to her, was there?
“You have sex with the pony you marry,” said Dash.
Twilight blinked once her twice, her expression brief but painfully unreadable. She took a deep breath. Then.
“Okay.” Twilight nodded.
Dash could only stare onward. That was a perfect checkmate. Dash felt as if there were no way to even respond to such an answer. She gapped, but only briefly.
“Okay? Twilight… You…?”
“If that’s what we have to do to get married and stay together forever, then okay.” Twilight regained her determination. “I had sex with Flash several times, actually, so I know all about that. Though… I’m not sure how it would work without a stallion. But it has to be possible for two mares to have sex because otherwise why would they legalize it? Hm.”
She certainly wasn’t smooth. Bringing up your ex at a time like this…
And Twilight sounded so nonchalant about it all! Did she have sexual feelings toward Dash all along? Was she okay doing it with a mare or was this more misunderstandings?
Did Dash want…?
She paused to question herself instead.
Dash had never once had those kinds of thoughts about Twilight! She certainly never expected anypony to be interested in her of all ponies.
She gave up on dating ages ago. Generally, Dash just assumed nopony would ever be interested in default. Because who would be? Especially Twilight! The most powerful mortal pony who could have literally anything and needed Dash for nothing.
Had there been any signs? Had she grown that oblivious?
“Listen. Twilight?” Dash inhaled. Even that much was painful. Why the crow couldn’t Twilight have asked such a thing sooner? Or later? Dash had never been good at this kind of emotional stuff. Especially not now! “What do you think getting married… means?”
“Marriage is a legal and cultural recognition of a union of two people as partners in a personal relationship. It confers various legal and personal obligations and rights to the parties involved,” Twilight recited a definition from who knows where. “And most importantly, it’s a vow of permanent love and a commitment to stay together for life!”
“Yes. But like… there’s different types of love, right?”
Twilight smiled and tilted her head.
“Do you feel exactly towards me the way you did towards Flash? When you were still together?”
“Of course not! That was just superficial. I was clinging onto him because he was the first pony to ever even pretend to be interested in me. But you?” Twilight moved closer. “Rainbow Dash, I don’t know what’s going to happen to the world or what the right path to take is. But everything that’s happened to me since we met, it made me realize something. That you’re what really matters to me. More than anything else… I care about you.”
The most important thing was…?
Something clamped down on Dash’s heart. Something about that statement just felt too wrong!
Without even thinking about it, Dash took a step back and shook her head. No, no, no. Dash wasn’t…
“Dash.” Twilight stepped forward to meet her, more concerned than scorned. “Don’t you want somepony who will never leave you no matter what?”
Of course! But! But!
Dash couldn’t be what mattered to Twilight. She was–
Twilight was only latching on to Dash obsessively because she was the first one to be kind to her. No way in a million years Twilight would have chosen Dash if she came into Ponyville on her own. Wouldn’t have given her a second look.
There was no way Twilight could genuinely care about Dash… not without Dash taking advantage of her…
And she was, wasn’t she?! Dash wasn’t different from Flash! It was the exact same thing. Twilight was so powerful, and Dash was so–
Twilight had done so much, and Dash hadn’t done a damn thing for Twilight. Or anypony! She hadn’t been the one to defeat even a single opponent. All of it had been a lie! It wasn’t okay for Dash to just constantly take and never give anything in return!
She didn’t deserve any of this! She was nopony. She couldn’t fight or do anything. She was–
Never in Dash’s life had anything ever worked out! She got confident for one minute that things might be going differently but it was all hanging on the edge of a razor. This could all get so fucked up so fast. Everything could end up so much worse than before Dash stirred the pot. It’d be her biggest screwup ever. Even Twilight.
She totally set Twilight up for more pain, didn’t she?
Why the hell had Dash done any of this? She should have just… set Twilight free or something!
And…
“Dash? Are you okay?”
Crow! She had a tear in her eye now. She was trembling too much. At this point she wished she would just puke already. It’d be a relief! Dash opened her mouth slightly to talk but…
And…
Well, Dash just wasn’t into girls! That was it.
“Didn’t anypony ever tell you about like… like barn doors?” Dash lifted her head. “You know. Some barn doors slide side to side and others are double doors? Or something.”
“What’s a barn?” Twilight asked, completely innocent.
Dash cringed in pain both physical and mental. How was this getting more difficult?!
“It’s like… some ponies just don’t want to marry another pony of the same gender. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Because you’re just born that way.”
Twilight blinked absently.
“Twilight, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. I’m just… well I’m like the barn with one door. Maybe you’re like the one with double doors and that’s also okay. But uh! I just don’t want to marry another girl no matter how much I like her.”
Dash swallowed some pain and sniffled.
But that didn’t deter Twilight for one second.
“Well if that’s the case then I have a plan for that, too! I have transformation spells, remember? I’ll just turn myself into a stallion and then we’ll get um, normal married.”
“Twilight.”
“If it’s the only way, it’ll be worth it. Oh. Or did you want to be the stallion?”
“Twilight.”
“We could both be stallions. But can two boys get married? I only checked to make sure two girls could, so–”
“Twilight! Listen to me!”
Dash put her hooves on Twilight’s shoulders. For the first time, it seemed Twilight was listening.
But what was she supposed to do? Start bawling about how worthless she felt? That she was taking advantage of Twilight…?
What was she supposed to do? Start bawling about how useless she was?!
Nopony cared about you when you were weak. Dash knew that from experience. The only time anypony cared about her was just now… when they thought she was successful.
Dash couldn’t! She couldn’t be like that in front of Twilight! She…
She hesitated long enough for Twilight’s smile to begin to falter.
“You… don’t want to spend your life with me?” Twilight took a step back.
Dash couldn’t bear that look on her face
“No!” Dash ran after her desperately. “Twilight, you don’t understand! You are my friend! I… I do care about you a whole lot and… and I want to stay with you. But…”
“But what? Do you want to be with me forever or not?”
“Twilight! Look –!” Dash winced, then it began to come pouring out. “Do you honestly think you’d care about me if I hadn’t been the only pony in your life? Aren’t you worried that this is just the same as it was with Flash? And…”
She was about to say more but the look of horror on Twilight’s face made Dash realize she made a terrible mistake.
“No! It’s completely different than it was with Flash!” Twilight snapped to anger a little too fast. “How dare you say that?!”
“It’s not like that!”
Twilight’s patience was growing thin. She’d been too damn nice this whole time.
“I just… I just want to make sure that you’re not stupidly going along with whatever I say because you don’t know any better. Twilight, I’m not– I–”
There was more, it was just… so hard to force herself to say it.
“You want me to prove to you that I’m not just ‘stupidly’ fawning over you? Fine! I’ll solve this on my own. Then you’ll see that this isn’t what you think it is!”
She should have known Twilight would be more sensitive about this sort of thing.
“It’s not that! I just need more time to… to think about…”
“About if you actually care about me or not?” Twilight looked back.
Well yeah. That and…
“Yeah.”
Twilight teleported off.
“Ah, crow!” Dash’s pain went away at a very convenient time. Like all her injuries vanished. Now she could only feel her heart pounded.
She had to!
Had to find somepony! Dash couldn’t possibly deal with this on her own!
All the pieces were in place.
Screwball’s fleet was merely a hundred miles offshore. She couldn’t move them forward without serious casualties. Not yet. But once the elite four all began attacking one another, Screwball could swiftly bring her armada to the coast of the Everfree.
Then the ‘liberation’ of the Everfree and Festering Scar could begin. Not only would she kill her sister, but she’d take these lands under her control in the ensuing chaos! It wouldn’t be long until the Bloodstorm Cartel controlled even more land than her father had.
Daddy would be so proud if only he were here!
With a hum, Screwball landed on her flagship. A hulking, black ironclad with three billowing smokestacks. The enormous canons on deck were arguably the most powerful in the world, save one waiting back on Paradise Island. These were fearsome enough to force even a witch to approach carefully.
And yet the inside was cozy enough. At least Screwball’s chamber was built to look as though this were a wooden ship from the golden age of pirates.
“Well my albino parrot got loose,” said Screwball. “But other than that it was a massive success!”
Screwball sat down on her ship’s throne. Two pegasi from her harem, a stallion named Feather Bangs and a mare name Feather Dust, came to lean against either side of her.
“It won’t be long until my sister shows up to attack our fleet.” Screwball smirked in Pinkie’s direction. “And then the trap will be set.”
Pinkie sat tied in one of Screwball’s massive hourglasses, a psychic-suppression helmet affixed to her head. The sand had already reached her neck. A rope held the hourglass suspended over one of the few remaining Z-gate portals.
Before Minuette had her stroke, she did Screwball one favor. Her flagship here was outfitted with one of those Z-gates leading back to Paradise Island. She could easily return at any moment. The plan was for the chase to lead back there where the ultimate trap would be waiting.
“Hey. Are you sure you timed this hourglass right?” Pinkie asked. “I feel like it’s getting up to my neck a little too fast. Usually, when I’m in this situation, they set it up so that I get to this point just as somepony comes to rescue me. I wasn’t expecting such an amateurish setup from you.”
That was odd. Normally Screwball did set it up just like Pinkie said.
“Hm. She’s right. Stop the timer for now.” Screwball put up her hoof and it was done. “Who picked out this hourglass?”
Screwball turned to one of her bat ponies who grew concerned immediately.
“I set it up to the exact time you started! They really should have arrived by now.”
“That is true.” Screwball looked away, bringing him relief. “Where the crow are they, huh? I thought they’d come straight to the armada. I had all this stuff set up to separate them and get my sister through the portal just as the fighting started and…”
That same bat pony slowly raised a hoof. Screwball glanced back at them and they quickly lowered it again.
“Actually. It doesn’t look like they’re making any moves against us at all. They’re just fortifying their base. It’s as if they have no idea we’re even out here.”
Really? Screwball waited for a few beats, wondering how such a thing was possible. She made it explicitly clear that…
“Oh! Fuck!” She covered her face with both hooves and fell backward into her throne.
“What is it?” Feather Bang rushed to check on her.
“The parrot,” Screwball whined. “My albino parrot was supposed to tell them my fleet was here. And I don’t even know what happened to him.”
“Aw, we’ll find you another albino parrot. I have no idea how rare they are but–”
“That’s not the point, you sexy idiot.” Screwball sat back up. “Now I gotta improvise.”
Screwball tapped her head a few times before an idea began to form. She could just send somepony to tell them but the timing was all off. She had no idea who noticed the fleet by now.
She’d have to precipitate the fighting before luring Silverstorm out here. Get the elite four to fight. Demolish Equestria’s battleships and then…
She licked her lips.
Half of being smart wasn’t about being smart at all. It was just about getting everypony else to be dumber than you. Equestria was already on the brink of chaos. Silverstorm was already on the seventh. Just a tiny push to the eight. A tiny push to blow everything sky high.
And Screwball would be the biggest winner from the ensuing storm.
“Everypony stand ready,” said Screwball. “The invasion will begin within twenty-four hours!”
Sweetie Belle’s eyes flickered, and her vision shifted to a stray Sweetiebot out in the forest. Before her were the mercenaries Oaken Field sent, still at their camp just south of the capital. They were arguing more than they were preparing for battle.
They were worried enough to start arguing whether or not they should just give up on fighting and run away. The ponies had little confidence in winning against any serious enemy but couldn’t think of any safer place to flee to.
It sounded like word that Twilight was… Twilight had gotten out. And they couldn’t make up their minds about whether that was a good thing or not.
“If she’s a master witch and she’s on our side then we’re invincible. We have nothing to worry about as long as we stay put.”
“Yeah, I bet that’s what Manehattan thought. Look what happened with Toxco. A witch always has some self-serving motive and won’t hesitate to exterminate weaklings like us.”
“She certainly acts differently from the other witches! And if my only hope is that she’s sincere then that’s what I’m taking. There’s no way we survive if we leave this spot.”
And some of the ponies did resolve to fight.
But some of the ponies started sneaking off into the woods…
Sweetie Belle returned to her main body.
“Well?” Applebloom leaned over her shoulder.
There were more foals behind her. Sweetie Belle had no idea where these ponies came from. Then ten younger ones were surrounding the two adults they sent to babysit them all. But there were a couple of older ponies who gravitated to the three mainstays of the castle.
The rest of the fillies here didn’t look like they’d be much use when the chips hit the fan. Sometimes Sweetie forgot ponies her age weren’t always super-beings. All of them, even Applebloom, were looking to Sweetie Belle now for information.
“Um! Well they seem to agree that we’re in the safest spot!” Sweetie Belle announced to the other foals.
One colt desperate for optimism ate that lineup. The others found little comfort in it.
They kept asking questions. Constantly. Non-stop. But it wasn’t so bad because it gave them something to do.
Everypony just suddenly decided it was okay to not care about Twilight’s identity being secret anymore. At least Sweetie Belle and Applebloom were completely open about it now. More than anything else, they assured the other foals that Twilight was a good pony who was on their side and would protect them.
Not that they were easily convinced despite desperately wanting to be.
“Hey, what did they really say?” Applebloom whispered to her in the eye of the question storm.
Sweetie Belle whispered to Applebloom everything she saw down there.
Applebloom nodded, the news going off her back like water off a duck’s.
“Go back to Rarity,” said Applebloom.
With nothing better to do, she did.
Rarity really didn’t want Sweetie spying on everypony like this, flicking to every vantage point. But her sister was simply too busy to stop her, so it was what it was.
One thing Sweetie Belle learned in her espionage was where all these foals came from. And that it looked like they were about to get some more.
A long tail of ponies was flooding in, and a literal line had formed, to swear their loyalty to Rarity or Twilight in exchange for protection. There were just so many and Rarity agonized over which ones to let join them. Blue Blood and Fancy Pants were the two ponies by her side as she sat in her chair, rubbing a hoof against her head.
“I say we should let anypony who brings a gun to stay and fight for us,” said Blueblood.
“Don’t be so gullible,” Rarity warned. “I’m certain that at least some of these ponies are working for the Bloodstorm Cartel. Or worse. I’ll take in any foals but… the rest will have to keep out of the castle itself until we can vet them all. Maybe we could form all of them into a militia camp.”
The latest pony in consideration was a hulking stallion with rough fur and teeth that nearly fangs themselves. He wore the furs
“Rarity, I believe my past actions will disqualify me from such suspicions,” he said. “Some werewolves see the Cartel as a means to freedom, but my people have been fighting them for generations now. If you seek to rid us of such scum, then we will fight passionately for you until this war is over. I care not if you have a witch on your side.”
Flicking through the castle, Sweetie Belle saw he brought a significant number of werewolves with him. Easily a thousand. Though she was bad at estimating that sort of thing.
“Swift Claw has been at odds with the Cartel for a long time,” Blueblood whispered to Rarity.
Rarity nodded.
“Very well. I need to trust somepony right now. I accept your pledge of loyalty.”
Sweetie Belle went back.
“It looks like some more werewolves just showed up. A lot,” Sweetie Belle announced. “Do you know a uh… Swift Claw.”
“Not all werewolves know each other.” Applebloom rolled her eyes at the idea. “But yeah, Swift Claw is my ninth cousin twice removed.”
It didn’t seem to matter to Applebloom if the news was good or bad. And the information never seemed to make her feel any better. She just needed news.
“Um.” Sweetie Belle decided to tell her something she noticed but didn’t want to say until she was completely certain. “I can’t find your sister anywhere.”
“Oh.”
That look as if she just stepped in something, was feeling her hoof sink deeper and deeper as she stared forward at an oncoming train.
“I’m sure she’s fine.” Applebloom shifted her eyes. “Is Twilight back yet?”
“Applebloom! What’s going on?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Nothing. Other than war and stuff.”
“Applebloom! I’m telling you everything I know.” Sweetie Belle marched forward to be muzzle-to-muzzle with Applebloom.
“I uh. She’s. You know. On a mission.”
Sweetie Belle didn’t flinch.
“From the Darklord.”
Sweetie Belle kept her glare up.
“She’s gonna free the element of honesty and then things will be peaches! Or apples. Maybe even both.”
“I don’t know what that means but isn’t that something you should be telling somepony?!”
“Tell who? What are you gonna do with that information, huh?”
“I! Okay, that’s a fair point.” Sweetie Belle finally relented. She just wished Applebloom wasn’t all smug like she’d won that one.
The other foals her age was upon her again soon as Sweetie Belle turned back.
“How far away can you look?”
“Can you see if my brother is here?”
“Did a group of ponies with like… green hats show up?”
Sweetie Belle was getting a bit overwhelmed by playing news anchor. She had to find some tidbit to feed these piranhas. Partially for her own sake as well.
She flipped through several Sweetiebots before…
“Rainbow Dash is back!” Sweetie Belle announced.
“Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo sat upright for the first time in a day or so.
She hadn’t been far off but also hadn’t been commenting much. Ever since she’d given that parasite a name, she appeared a bit ill. Said she was tired and had trouble focusing.
“And Twilight is with her?” Applebloom asked.
Then everypony held their breath waiting for Sweetie Belle’s answer. She had to flit about to get an answer herself.
“I don’t… see her.”
Disappointment everywhere.
“But I’m sure she’s doing something important!”
“Those two are never apart,” said Scootaloo. “So Twilight will be here soon.”
Dash certainly looked… frazzled and in a hurry for something. The sight of an army forming outside their home didn’t help much. It wasn’t long until Sweetie Belle learned what Dash was looking for.
Scootaloo. She was in a big hurry too, rushing down to their room in a matter of minutes. But she did stop just before the door to compose herself and straighten out her hair before coming in. It was never a good sign when adults were trying to act like everything was fine.
Dash opened the door and looked briefly surprised at the number of ponies now present before going straight over to Scootaloo.
“Hey, Scootaloo! You’re awake.” Dash sat down next to her on the couch. “Have you been up for long?”
“I feel a lot better now!” Scootaloo looked more awake than she had been. “I gotta lie down a bit still but I’m not passing out every few minutes.
“Well, at least somepony’s doing okay.” Dash sighed.
“What does that mean?” Scootaloo looked up at her with big eyes. “Did something happen?”
“Er! Nothing! Lots of ponies are doing okay. We’ll get through this, I promise. But uh.”
Dash frowned at all the other fillies and colts before taking Scootaloo aside with a wing to whisper to her. Sweetie Belle doubted any but her heard the next part.
“I hate to ask but this is kind of urgent. How hard is it to have somepony redo a conversation again?” Dash asked without making eye contact.
“That depends on like, whether I’m there when it happens. But um…”
Scootaloo shifted her hooves.
“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Dash snapped out of whatever nervous funk she was in to feel Scootaloo’s forehead. “If anything is off you can tell me. I know you just went through something crazy. Do I have to find Twilight right away?”
“You don’t know where she is?” Sweetie Belle’s voice squeaked.
“Of course I do! But… how do you feel?”
“I feel a lot less tired than before,” said Scootaloo. “I’m just not sure if my powers are like… the same anymore? I’ve been trying to do a couple of things but… I’m not sure what still works?”
“I’m really sorry!” Scootaloo bowed her head. “My old powers would have been really useful right about now. But…”
“Don’t feel bad about that!” Dash hugged her. “I’m sure you can do something just as amazing as before! I guess it makes sense this would happen. I mean all these other parasite things have hyper-specific abilities, right? So giving your thing a name probably did something similar, I’d bet.”
“Maybe!” Scootaloo spread her wings out. “But I don’t know if I can use alicorn magic at all right now! I don’t want to be useless now of all times.”
“Don’t say that. This isn’t your responsibility, okay? We were never going to make a bunch of foals fight in a war. You let the adults like me sort things out and then everything will be uh…”
Dash drew a blank.
“Peaches and apples?” Applebloom offered.
“Yeah. That.”
“And how are you going to do that?!”
Everypony turned to the unfamiliar voice. One of the colts was pointing at her accusingly.
“My dad was saying you’re a total fraud! That you’re just a loser who can’t fight at all. You can’t fight off anypony, can you?”
And that got to Rainbow Dash. She cringed and froze up in place. Only Scootaloo’s worried look got her to break out of it.
“Uh! Well, who the crow is your dad?!” Dash turned aggressive quickly, jabbing the colt in the chest with a hoof. “Nerd!”
“Uh…” The colt lowered his hoof and backed off immediately.
“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”
Dash inhaled deep and turned to the foals.
“Listen up! If I’m a fraud, then I’m the most successful fraud who ever lived, yeah? Did your Dad fraud his way to defeating two witches?”
The colt, his courage gone completely, merely shook his head.
“Exactly! I frauded my way this far and I’ll fraud my way out of this too! We’re going to crush Screwball, her stupid cartel, and Starlight and every last pony who poses a threat to you and the rest of my friends!”
Save maybe one embarrassed colt, the spirits of the room lifted ever so slightly then.
Suddenly, Sweetie Belle felt a little less nervous. Dash could definitely do this!
Rainbow Dash hurled into a toilet. At least she managed that much. It was the most satisfying puke she’d ever had. At least she could still intimidate small children.
“There’s no way I can do this. Now without…”
Okay! Her relationship with Twilight was important, right? Dash would just… talk to somepony with more life experience and find out what to say to salvage all this.
Fluttershy was busy. Pinkie needed to be rescued… who was left? Rarity.
She was so busy but dammit there was nopony else!
Though there was a literal line to see that pony right now, Dash had no choice but to push through it all on her way to what may as well have been a throne room at this point. She found Rarity deliberating about who to let in and who to turn away with two other white ponies, names Dash couldn’t bother with at the moment.
Dash flew right up to them.
“Rainbow Dash.” Rarity could only spare half a glance with how busy she was. “We have many, many situations to worry about! I’ve heard unconfirmed rumors the Bloodstorm Cartel’s main armada isn’t far off the east coast. Ghost Adder has an army of some two thousand strong just south of us. Starlight has assembled an air fleet that’s a little too close to us as well. The general army is being mobilized but it’s hard to say who they’ll be taking orders from come tomorrow. And then–”
“Rarity… I know now’s not a good time, but I have a bit of a problem.”
“Yes, I heard about Pinkie,” said Rarity. “But we can take solace in this much: it would be highly unlikely Screwball will actually hurt her without trying to extract something from us first. She won’t be in any real danger until we at least hear her terms… which I’m surprised we haven’t already. If you can get there fast enough, you should check that rumor I mentioned.”
“I’m not talking about Pinkie! It’s about Twilight,” said Dash.
“Yes. Everypony very clearly knows her true identity now,” said Rarity. “Seems to be a bit of a double-edged sword. Ponies want our protection but we have some new enemies now. Somepony will be attacking us in the next day or two.”
“Not that!”
“Did she get hurt?” Rarity gave Rainbow Dash a full glance for that. “Where is Twilight?”
“No! She… She asked me to marry her.”
Annoyed, Rarity rolled her eyes and went back to work.
“Well that’s wonderful,” said Rarity. “But unless it’s going to be brief, we’ll have to postpone this ceremony for some months.”
“Rarity! We’re not getting married! I think. Guh!”
“Please don’t tell me you said something stupid.”
“I didn’t!” Dash flared her wings out, then dropped them immediately. “I think. I just said I need to process this information. I mean, I’m not crazy, right? Twilight’s just being overly sensitive. And this is a bad time to be talking about all this, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is an absolutely horrible time. I am preparing for the possibility of multiple armies attacking us right now.”
Rarity kept stern eye contact with Rainbow Dash throughout that entire statement. They maintained it for a
short, but uncomfortable, period afterward.
“Okay. I get it.” Dash was the one to avert her gaze. “But it’s not completely unimportant, is it? Twilight is supposed to be our ace. If she gets all over-reacty on us–”
“I am positive Twilight isn’t going to abandon any of us. Least of all you.” Rarity put a hoof on her forehead. “Rainbow Dash, I think you should find Twilight and tell her that you love her and aren’t going to leave her, but that you need time to think about the exact nature of your relationship.”
That would have been a good idea. Why was Dash so bad at this kind of thing?!
“Yeah… if I see her that’s what I’ll say. Thanks.”
Dash trotted off in defeat. Rarity was briefly torn between her and preparations for war. But comforting Dash had to come second right now. Dash could hardly disagree.
So that was also a bust! Somehow even a bigger one.
Dammit! Why was Dash more worried about her stupid feelings than the threat of looming death? Everything was falling apart in the nation and Dash’s main concern was maybe Twilight was angry at her.
Did Dash feel that way about her? She felt like she was going crazy.
“Why couldn’t she just give me two days?!” Dash yelled at nopony in particular. “What did I do wrong?”
More than anything, Dash just wished she had somepony to talk to about this. Somepony not important enough that Dash would just be wasting their time. But also somepony who knew anything about her. Where the heck was that Applejack pony?
One familiar face passed her by swiftly, in a slight canter.
“Derpy!” Dash grabbed Derpy and pulled her aside. “You’re perfect!”
“I am?” Her face lit up in elation. “Wow! Thanks, Rainbow Dash!”
“I mean, you’re the only one I know who’s in a relationship. Tell me! If Soarin was suddenly turned into a girl, would you still marry him?”
“Uh! Um… oh wait. Did Twilight get turned into a dude? And like, you’re so gay you don’t love her anymore?!” Derpy gasped.
“Derpy I’m not gay.”
That only made her gasp louder.
“What made you think I was gay?” Dash asked. “Remember how desperate I was to get with Soarin until you started dating him?”
“I thought that was just you being a crazy maniac desperately trying to get attention no matter how stupid you had to be,” said Derpy. “You know. Like normal.”
“Well.” Dash let go of her. “Yeah, I guess that checks out.”
“But if you’re not gay why were you dating her?”
“I wasn’t… I mean I didn’t think–!”
Had Dash been giving everypony the wrong impression the whole time? Had she been giving… Twilight the wrong impression?
She swallowed hard.
“What exactly happened?” Derpy asked.
“Twilight asked me to marry her and I wasn’t sure how to respond and stuff. To me, it’s like this came out of nowhere.”
“And she turned herself into a guy to propose?” Derpy asked.
“No! Well she offered to do that if it’d make me comfortable. But I just said I needed time to think… and… maybe some other stuff. But mostly just that first part!”
“Okay. So like.” Derpy looked at the ceiling. “You’re not into that sort of thing but Twilight is? Is that the problem?”
“Yeah!” Dash nodded, relieved somebody finally got it.
“Are you sure that’s all that’s going on?” Derpy asked. “I mean… if she really can turn herself into a stallion is the answer still no? Because you two seem good together and if that’s the only problem then I say give it a try.”
“That’s not the only problem!” Dash flared her wings out.
“It’s not? Then what is?”
Dash blushed. She felt that sensation of her heart stopping again. She… She just couldn’t!
“I mean. Okay. It’s the only problem.” Dash lowered her head.
Derpy hummed, head tilted.
“Then I say you should go on a date with um… him? I am like so sure this would work out! If he’s willing to be a dude for you then this is worth a shot. Do you think he needs a new name, though? Maybe we can call him Dusk?”
“Derpy, you’re getting way ahead of yourself.”
“Well alright. How do you feel about Twilight, then?”
“I honestly never thought of her like… well like that. I’m not sure how some gender swap spell would affect things. But at the same time I do…” Dash felt like even this much was a struggle, “love… her in a way that I don’t think I ever felt before. Like with Soarin I had a crush on him, yeah. But with Twilight I do feel like I want to spend all of my time with her. And that I can be more myself around her than with anypony else but… I don’t think I wanna bang her.”
That’s really what Dash should have said back then, wasn’t it? Why did she always think of better ways to say things after the fact?!
“That sounds really weird, doesn’t it?” Dash asked the ceiling more than Derpy.
Derpy hummed to herself for a moment before answering. At least she didn’t shout ‘cringe’.
“Well you know. One time I read this book that talked about this kind of stuff. And the book said that sexual and romantic attractions are like… different things. You know? And there are all kinds of different relationships that we can’t even imagine. Like demisexuals.”
“What’s a demisexual?” Dash blinked, suddenly wondering if that’s what she was. “Are you saying I’m… whatever that is?”
“I don’t remember what a demisexual is. But um… back in… well I don’t remember when but in North Equestria for a long time some ponies would marry somepony of the same gender, but it wasn’t like a gay thing. It was just a romantic thing, you know? Yeah! It was aromantic, asexual. No, that wasn’t it.”
That was an interesting way to look at things. Dash had the privilege of never making such distinctions until now.
“And what did that book say I should do?” Dash asked.
“I dunno! I didn’t read the whole thing. It was kind of boring… but it had a good point on this one thing. I was just wondering if that sounded right to you. Like you’re romantically but not physically attracted to her?”
“I think.” Dash nodded. She did feel herself perking up ever so slightly. Maybe things did make some kind of sense. “Maybe. Yeah. But then what do I do?”
“Well. I’d go on a date with Dusk Shine.” Derpy shrugged. “Either that or you tell Twilight that you’re only into her in like a… well we’ll have to find that book and look it up. But yeah, you can totally have an.”
Derpy paused like she was trying to get the words to a song right.
“A (space) romantic but asexual (no space) marriage? Thing. I can tell she loves you so…”
No!
Dash felt herself lock up again at the thought. She couldn’t just let Twilight…
Derpy’s smile faded as she saw that reaction.
“See there it is again.” Derpy pointed at her.
“What is again?”
“That look when I talk about you two getting married. There is something else!” Derpy stepped closer. “Tell me!”
“No!”
“Well at least tell Twilight. She deserves to know, doesn’t she?”
“Look! There’s nothing else going on.” Dash backed up. “I’ll tell Twilight about the… demisexual… whatevers. Okay? And that’s that! I just need to be alone to think about this for a minute.”
Dash started walking off again.
“Wait! Dash you shouldn’t be alone right now!” Derpy ran after her.
‘Yeah, but I need to!” Dash yelled back at her.
Maybe even deserved to.
Derpy tried to stop her but Dash broke up into crows and flew off in every direction. No way Derpy could chase after that.
The crow that turned back was the one who got to the portal room. There was only one place Dash could go right now without being bothered.
Twilight wasn’t entirely sure where she was. Somewhere in the Everfree forest. Somewhere high up. Somewhere away.
She trotted about in small circles as the sun began to come up, slowly painting the forest red. Her mind bounced between so many scattered points. She tried to steady herself and focus on something easy. Something that shouldn’t have been easy but seemed that way now.
Pinkie Pie, Pinkie Pie…
Twilight needed to go save Pinkie Pie.
Why?
Twilight bit her lip and winced.
“I’m okay. I’m okay,” Twilight whispered to herself. “I just need to…”
This was something Twilight could do. Apparently, that was all she was good for…
She was done playing around now. Twilight would circle out from this spot until she found Screwball. The pirate witch had to be somewhere not too far off, Twilight Imagined. And then Twilight would destroy her. Completely. She wouldn’t hold back this time. To the point nopony would dare attempt this again no matter how much money was offered.
Twilight nodded and took a firm step forward but didn’t make it any further than that before doubt gripped her again.
No. She’d just rescued another one of her friends. Was the world truly that frustrating? Somepony killed Bloodstorm and another pirate lord showed up. Twilight saved Derpy and another friend gets targeted.
Twilight retracted that one confident step.
“What am I trying to do?”
There would always be somepony else, wouldn’t there? How could Twilight ever solve a problem? What even was her problem? She hadn’t cared about the world before so why now?
Twilight could just… leave. She could find some way to escape. Her original problem had only been the world catching up with her but… now she wondered if that would be a bad thing in the end.
To become nopony of note. To not be powerful. To not have anypony expecting her to know the answers to unheard riddles.
It seemed so strange that she could even think in such terms now. That something other than power could matter. Why had that idea of having a peer been so terrifying to her back then? Wouldn’t it be freedom in a way?
Of course, it was Rainbow Dash she learned that from…
Twilight took one step instead towards the river she hadn’t known was named after her until recently. One step back towards home.
But. No.
Twilight rejected that step as well.
She couldn’t go back to how she used to be. She was no longer blind and couldn’t unsee the things she’d seen. That wasn’t her home anymore. There was no blissful ignorance to be found sitting by the river.
Where was her home, then?
Loathe though she was, Twilight would have to decide.
Twilight had seen so much more in the past year than she had in the centuries before. That was true. But perhaps she’d seen too much. She had too many viewpoints now and no way to know which was right.
She had four answers given to her. But which was the truth?
To have a peer would be to have freedom. That thought echoed in her mind once more and Twilight knew the right answer. Of the four solutions presented only one would truly solve the problem.
Twilight knew who she would ally with in this battle.
She didn’t bother with a first step this time, instead opening a portal to travel far off.
It wasn’t too hard to figure out where she was. Sunset had holed up in a military base not too far from the Everfree, from the main action.
Twilight teleported inside. A few ponies noticed her as she zipped about the facility, but they weren’t fast enough to do anything about it.
Before long, she found herself in a room with a huge table, maps covering both it and the walls, all marked up with pins, markers and figures.
Sunset and Moonlight stood side by side, huddled together over the maps. Trixie was there too, but they put her off in the corner.
Sunset and Moonlight turned to Twilight in a panic, ready for a fight just in case Twilight had decided to side against them.
“Sunset Shimmer!” Twilight declared. “I’ve decided that you’re right and everypony else is wrong, so I’m siding with you.”
They kept staring for a
minute afterward, their postures not entirely relaxed.
It was long enough that one of the soldiers in the base came to warn Sunset of an intruder only for Sunset to dismiss him and finally address Twilight.
“You… you did?” Sunset asked.
Moonlight Raven gave her a small rap before Sunset Shimmer could gawk too much.
“I mean, of course you did!” Sunset regained much of her confidence. “I was preparing for outright war. But.”
Sunset Shimmer looked at a map she had posted up on the wall. Twilight didn’t know what all the markings, consisting of little triangles and x’s inside of squares, meant. But she could assume the different colors meant different factions, Sunset’s likely in orange. There were at least five different colors.
“With your help, we can summon Golden Feather… potentially tonight.” Sunset nodded at her map. “It will be the only way to end this conflict without bloodshed. We’ll save countless lives, Twilight. And not just by avoiding a war.”
Desperate for any kind of reassurance, Twilight nodded firmly. True that wasn’t what she’d considered in making this decision, but it was a good point.
Trixie alone watched skeptically.
“What made you change your mind on this?” Trixie asked.
“I think my conversation with Flash Bang.” Twilight shook her head. It wasn’t a lie, exactly. “She brought up a good point. In a world like this, the strongest pony will always take control. And Nailbat taught me that this isn’t always a good thing. The only solution to all this is an immortal, perfect ruler.
“What? Like you?” Trixie asked.
“Not like me, no.” Twilight all but snarled at Trixie. She had no patience for anything right now, let alone snark. “I don’t want any part of this political nonsense. I don’t know anything about the ruling and I’m not willing to learn. I just want all of this to go away!”
Twilight took a deep breath to compose herself.
“So… let’s make it go away.” Twilight smiled.
The other three grew quiet, that part somehow giving them all pause.
“Well I won’t complain.” Raven turned to Sunset. “My goal is to fulfill my mission.”
“I agree we can’t turn something like this down,” said Sunset.
“But where’s the Rainbow Dash?” Trixie asked. “I’ve literally never seen the two of you apart.”
What was with Trixie today? After all Twilight did for her. Couldn’t she just shut up?!
“I’m making this decision on my own,” Twilight turned her nose up. “But Rainbow Dash will be fine. We’ll talk about things… ‘later’.”
“Ooo. Trouble in paradise?” Trixie leaned forward. “Now’s not really a good time for you to be having your little relationship problems, is it?”
“I know.”
“Mm. What actually happened?” Trixie asked, with a little smile.
“Trixie. Can you just shut up?” Twilight tilted her head. “I think you owe me that much.”
Despite everything, Trixie did look Twilight dead in the eyes, standing firm and more seriously than she normally did.
“Listen, Twilight.” Trixie spread her forelegs to show off her containment unit, the armor binding her, and the leash. “Being forced to live out somepony else’s bondage fetish let me think long enough to realize something. Half my problems in life just came from me being stupid and doing things on an emotional high. I got so used to doing things out of spite and fear that it just became a reflex. Going to jail was the best thing that ever happened to me because… I can’t do that anymore. You get what I’m saying?”
“No.” Twilight snorted.
“I’m saying don’t do something just because you’re angry! You don’t want to be like me, and you know it.”
“Yes, that’s great advice.” Sunset pushed her aside. “Even from you. But we don’t exactly have a lot of time to deliberate. My agents are saying a civil war is imminent. Not just the elite four, but all kinds of forces are just waiting for somepony to pull the trigger.”
“Yeah…” Twilight kept her eyes on Trixie for a moment longer before turning back to Sunset.
“I know you’re in a precarious position,” said Sunset. “Maybe it’s not fair but you will have to make a decision soon. If you’re serious about this, we need to act immediately. But there won’t be any going back. So are you completely certain?”
She did feel a little calmer now. It wasn’t entirely an emotional decision. Twilight had to make a choice fast. And this really did seem the best one available to her.
So…
“You’re certain that Golden Feather’s reign would be better than what we have now?” Twilight asked.
“She is like the sun itself.” Raven closed her eyes with a reverence Twilight had only ever seen toward Starlight. “She is the light of friendship and wisdom incarnate. If she’s even half the pony she used to be there is no doubt in my mind that with her, taking control of the situation and bringing Equestria back to what it was would be effortless.”
That was all the reassurance she was likely to get.
“Then I’m certain,” said Twilight. “If I have to choose a path. This is it.”
“Good,” said Sunset Shimmer. “Do you know that Nailbat is the last of the Nocliesecent family?”
Twilight nodded again.
“Then you understand why we have to kill him,” said Sunset. “His family needs to be wiped out completely for the last of the two seals to break. With you on our side, that part should be easy.”
“Wait, wait! I’m trying to not kill other ponies here!” Twilight objected. “Is there no other way?”
“He won’t die for real,” Moonlight reminded her. “His family was ‘blessed’ by my queen’s sister, Star Feather. They have a one hundred percent chance of becoming ghosts when they die.”
“Really?” Trixie asked. “Shouldn’t everypony have at least a tiny bit of royal blood by now?”
“They’ve purposely kept the royal blood from spreading,” said Sunset. “If it spread too far, it would cause the blessings and the seal to weaken and eventually vanish.”
“So what we’re asking,” Raven cut to the point. “Is if you’re willing to help us kill him.”
Even knowing he’d survive, Twilight hesitated.
“We can likely take care of that part without you,” said Raven. “Your support will only end the fight sooner and with less bloodshed.”
Twilight looked at the floor, upset at herself. Already she was reluctant to go through with a plan she just declared support for.
“It’s fine if you won’t commit to that,” said Sunset. “The more difficult part of this would be the destruction of the element of honesty. But you’ve destroyed an element before, yes?”
“I cast the element of magic into the outer realm,” said Twilight. “But… I think part of it lingered behind. I’m not sure where, exactly.”
That was a lie… Twilight knew exactly where it was hidden now, after that vision.
“Can you do the same with this element?” Sunset asked. “I’m sure that would break the other failsafe.”
“I can but…”
Twilight swallowed. There was something she would have to confront now, something she knew to be true since that nightmare.
“There’s something we’ll need,” said Twilight. “A doll at my house.”
Zest dropped Sonata, far from the battlefield by still not yet in a place where plants, save some sad, lonely shrub, would grow. Sonata plopped onto all fours, coughing water out of her doll. She’d just dried this thing off and now it was worse than ever! It had so many rips on it and she was so badly soaked it’d never come out.
“I didn’t think this through at all.” Lemon Zest floated not far from Sonata, her chains nearly depleted. She wouldn’t be able to fight. “I saved you to keep you out of the hooves of the enemy… but now what do I do with you? You were supposed to die back there.”
“Hey! I don’t see how that’s a problem. I can still help.”
“Okay. Name one time in your entire life you’ve ever done anything right.”
“Well.”
Sonata paused.
“Of course when you phrase it like that it’s going to sound bad!”
“How the hell did you manage to survive anyway?” Zest asked. “What were even the chances of that?”
“Yeah. I had unusually good luck today,” Sonata admitted. “Normally my luck is horrible! Like even when I play board games I always roll a two. What were the chances of…?”
Sonata paused. That was right. There was no way her luck had just been that good on its own.
Something had to be up. But what?
“You’re trying to think.” Zest pointed to the look of consternation on her face. “I don’t like that.”
“Hold on a second. I’m on to something.”
There was something in common with each time Sonata had gotten lucky.
“Okay! What are the chances that an albino parrot shows up?”
No sooner had she said it than a white bird with red eyes landed just in front of them. Sonata and Zest both stopped to stare. Sonata had no ability to identify birds so should be completely certain it was a parrot unless…
“Spread those wings, cutie,” said the parrot.
Then it flew off.
“You see?!” Sonata turned to Zest, fluttering her broken wings. “Anything I ask for comes true! The luck gods decided to start making it up to me!”
“Sonata, even I know you shouldn’t rely on whatever’s granting you wishes. And I’m an idiot.”
“Yeah, what is giving me this power? I don’t think there is a luck god on second thought.” Sonata hummed more than thought about it. The only thing she found recently…. She put a hoof on her chest, where she’d stuff the coin. “Oh! That coin the crow gave me. That has to be it. Boy was that a good trade.”
“Crows are really bad luck.”
“Not this crow. Or, its coin wasn’t.”
“Sonata!” Zest grabbed her cheeks. “Even if using this was a good idea, there is a one hundred percent chance you’d screw it up. Just give me the coin.”
“Okay. Well. What are the chances that I’m not going to hand over the coin or screw up and instead actually do something useful for once in my life? Huh?”
Sonata smiled and looked left. Then right. Nothing appeared to happen.
“Maybe that one takes a minute. I gotta be more direct I bet.”
“Don’t.”
“Relax! I’m going straight for the jugular. I’ll use this power to destroy all of those ponies. Eh? What’s the chances that I use this power to destroy those ponies? See?”
Sonata started backing away from an approaching Lemon Zest. Nothing was happening again.
“You don’t even know where half of them are!”
“Well, what are the chances I find out where half of them are?!”
Both their ears perked up. They could smell it. The body heat of a predead.
A pony landed not far from them. He was a young stallion, couldn’t have been over twenty, and was dressed up like a ninja. A ninja who wore a bright yellow scarf. He looked left, then right, then dashed into a camouflaged dugout. He didn’t seem to notice the ghost, who had a significant eyesight advantage, in the dark.
Zest and Sonata shared a look. Even if she didn’t like it, they would have to check on that pony, just in case he was following them or had overheard something important.
They move underground to find that ninja meeting up with a second assassin, wearing the same getup but clearly much older.
“Well we know the locations of half of them,” said one of the assassins. Sure enough, they had a map of the locations of half of them.
Sonata turned to a glowering Zest with the smuggest grin her life had ever allowed her.
“We just got confirmation that Rainbow Dash is back in Ponytown… and Silver… whatever the hell her name is now ain’t up there. Nor is Pinkie or damn near any S-ranker or anypony else we gotta worry about. They’re are getting ready for all-out war.”
“And those two have the biggest bounties on their head,” the second finished for him. “We’ll be freaking rich once this is all over! Plus, we can finally get back at Rainbow Dash for bounty-cucking us with Trixie.”
“That is a good plan,” Sonata whispered to herself, now convinced to go for Rainbow Dash first. “Now I just need. Okay. What are the chances that I find a way to teleport to Rainbow Dash?”
“I can assure you we’re not the only ones with this idea,” said the younger of the two. “How are we going to get all the way to Ponytown before somepony else strikes? We’d have to teleport there or something.”
Sonata leaned forward. Yeah!
“Dash got shot in her house a few days ago. I snuck in afterward and licked her blood up off the floor.”
“Dude.”
“No! It’s not like– gah.” The first took out a fancy dagger with a bone hilt. “See, this is a special dagger that’s bound to… well you drink my blood off of it and it’ll send you to the last person whose blood I drank off it.”
“That’s gross. But for a billion bits I mean…” He looked up, then down with an intrepid look. “Just hold up a sec. I suddenly have to pee so bad!”
That first assassin could only grumble as his younger compatriot ran off into the bushes. But he was already preparing, running the knife along a leg to coat it in blood. This was Sonata’s chance that the coin had given her! She stood up. Zest grabbed her from behind.
“Hold up. If you’re going to do something stupid can’t you at least get the biggest threats? Like Twilight?”
“Ugh. Okay. What are the chances something horrible will happen to Twilight Sparkle?” Sonata rolled her eyes. “Happy?”
Then she charged forward. Catching him off guard, Sonata managed to lick the blood off the dagger.
Maybe it wasn’t the best idea she’d ever had but Dash needed to be alone right now and her house was the only place to go for that. She probably was safer in Ponytown anyway. If the enemy had gotten to Ponytown then nowhere was safe.
She decided to just go for a short walk and try to clear her head of all this nonsense. Surely she could handle going for a short walk on her own…
Though somehow Dash lacked confidence even in that. And the looks she was getting didn’t help much either.
When Dash first got to Ponytown she’d been a rockstar. Ponies were showering her with gifts, crowding around to get her attention. Everypony loved her back then!
But now ponies were pretending to not see Dash or turned their noses up at her as she trotted by. Had news traveled that fast? This was still just on rumors alone. When they found out the whole truth, that Dash was that useless… what would be left?
The sun was only just rising between the mountains adjacent to the steep hills of Ponytown. Dash sat down next to a fountain by one of its many cliffsides.
It was obvious that marrying Twilight was what would be best for Dash in the short term at least. But…
“Ah. Crow. What am I going to do?” Dash rubbed her face.
If she was a hero, wouldn’t she be thinking about all the bigger stuff going on right now? Or rather, if she were a hero wouldn’t she be able to do something about it? About anything?
Only now was she beginning to realize… no matter how hard she tried she’d never be on the level of somepony truly great, the level of a real hero. He witch training and even that clawblade did nothing.
Would it really even matter if Dash just… didn’t show up again?
She absently watched somepony down on the bottom of her cliffside. They opened an umbrella. On a perfectly clear day.
“Uh oh.”
In the face of death, Dash’s will to live made a sudden reappearance.
She cast the murder spell as gunfire erupted in her direction, enough to smash the fountain to pieces. Most of her crows got away, but it just kept coming.
She flew behind one building and turned back only to find a second wave of armed ponies waiting for her there. Another round of crows and a hail of fire put her behind some poor pony’s house as a literal crowd of assassins formed behind Dash.
They weren’t even dressed the same. Two of them were dressed up as ninjas with scarves, there were more ponies from Ghost Adder, some dressed up in suits or like punks…
How many ponies hired assassins to kill Dash?! Was the entire town out here?!
One of them boldly revealed herself to Dash, flying down to the roof of the next house over… Sonata Dusk?! How had she gotten up here so fast?
“Hey Rainbow Dash!” Sonata smiled down from the roof above. “Were you wondering what the chances of a hundred assassins showing up to kill you was?”
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Nice.
Also it's pretty funny about that luck thing. I wonder if dash can get her hooves on it
Sadly, I got work today, so I won't be reading this today, but I'll be reading it tomorrow with some good food.
Loving everything about these series.
11662532
Dash already had the lucky coin. The more you use it the more bad luck you get when it inevitably slips away from you. But IIRC Dash didn't use it that much whereas Sonata is spamming it.
Well, schmizz is about to hit the fan, and our heroines are all on their own! I just hope they make it out alive
(Also the appendix is currently before this chapter, you may want to fix that, mate :p)
The fluctuations that all factions produce on the swing of fate will sooner or later lead to equilibrium.Or lead to the complete destruction of the Planet
Sonata is going to have a BAD time when she loses that coin.
11662617
Oh you're right. Cools
None of them, they're all terrible and will likely cause more harm than good.
What you need, is a fifth option... well okay a sixth option really, since option number five is to just leave and let world sort itself out
...that is a very concerning sentence
And I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for the fact that Raven is a fanatic, Sunset being desperate and no one really listening to Trixie's opinion, then someone would likely try to make Twilight stop and sort out her feelings before committing to anything.
The sun can burn, and more dangerously the sun can blind... and you look pretty blind
In retrospect, Dash probably should have seen this coming considering how poorly things ended the last time Twilight's relationship fall apart.
11662633
Just how much of her lifes bad luck so far has teh coin managed to draw on? That was a heck of a deposit, and even more if Sonata manged to corrupt th spell so it calculated back intrest on the principle deposit also.
Rainbow Dash is going to have to John Wick this nonsense and fast.
On the other hand, I wonder how much of Sonata's bad luck deposit is going to fall on her and how much is going to fall on Nightmare Moon? She is mind controlled right now, albeit barely. Does that make a difference to the coin? I feel like it might.
Let me guess, Twilight now has to talk to Trixie about her feelings for Rainbow Dash
11662633
Well, it depends. As long as someone with good intentions finds the coin it could lead to Sonata being freed instead since from her current mind controlled perspective, that would be the worst case scenario.
Feather bangs? Apparently he's a pegasi in this universe lol.
Also girlfailure dash again <3
Sonata is going to have a bad time.
applejacks mission, sonata's bet on the coin, the darklord's warning
things are not looking great for twilight
11662835
That is an interesting point. How does the coin factor in its user being mentally enslaved by someone or something else? To showcase a hellraiser 2 scene.
Also I will say that the odds of a hundred or so killers going after Dash in this moment were... honestly pretty good. She does have a massive bounty on her head and a lot of mooks that want to suck up to the Screwball and her Cartel.
Another chapter, another banger. I love Twilight's directness lol
Also, ace mention!!!!!!!! aro mention!!!!!! demi mention!!!!!! Literally epic
Also also, the part with pinkie and screwball was hilarious
11662748
There’s nothing wrong with Nailbats plan other than that he’s so bad at selling it people automatically assume he’s scamming them.
The only argument presented against it was ‘what if someone stronger shows up and overturns your government’ but that’s a weakness of everyone’s plans. Flash bang can say that power rules the day but Starlight is living proof that system doesn’t work. All Flash gets out of their ideology is being the smuggest person in the mass grave.
Sonata has purchased herself a massive future dose of bad luck. From her current perspective, what would be the unluckiest unlucky thing that could possibly happen?
The complete destruction of Nightmare Moon and the return of her freedom. From her current perspective as a mind controlled slave, this would be the worst possible thing.
It has also been established that this is how the coin works. From Trixie's perspective, being rolled by Twilight would've been the worst possible thing ever though long run it made her better off.
Also, everything the Dark Lord said is coming true. The Dark Lord's influence can be felt all the way at the beginning of the story when a nameless voice whispered to Rainbow Dash to go look for Applejack, the Dark Lord's minion.
11663706
Wait, there are so many plans going around, what was Nailbat's again?
11664154
Oh my GOD YOU'RE RIGHT
God I hope Nailbat's faction is able to make it out of this mess alright, he's the only member of the Elite 4 with a non-awful vision of the future. Starlight wants to kill 99.9% of people to save the few who are "real", Flash Bang wants to subjugate everyone under an eternal fascist empire, and Sunset is banking on everything being fixed by summoning the creator Goddess who left the planet long ago. While a revolution of the outcast and oppressed to instill a true democracy may have teething issues and flaws, it's still leagues better than any of the current alternatives.
Trixie is absolutely on the mark about Twilight's mental state and what it means for her decision making process. She's falling back on peer=equal in power for "a peer means freedom", since her actual desired peer in Rainbow Dash (who wasn't an equal in power), seemingly rejected her.
And while I'm not sure about where Rainbow stands on the ace/aro spectrum, it's pretty clear that it's a far secondary issue in comparison to her crippling self-esteem issues when it comes to her relationship with Twilight. She cannot even comprehend why someone like Twilight would genuinely like her without it being the result of manipulation/naivety. Even if she returns the feelings in kind, she feels that she cannot accept them without it resulting in her taking advantage of Twilight.
Do ponies in this hedonistic era even COMPREHEND that you can love someone WITHOUT IT BEING ROMANTIC IN NATURE?
Sheesh, 2000 years BEHIND where the Greeks were at comprehending this stuff! Imma blow up their planet. And then this one.
BECAUSE I CAN!!
Uhm, is this cut off for a reason or..?
-from the latest chapter
Can't tell if this story is genuinely going to put them in a relationship or not yet, but this is pretty interesting character development. It's sad that Rainbow can't believe someone genuinely likes her and isn't just confused or lying.