The New Lunar Republic
"... And now we, like you, are stranded here."
Luna had just finished telling the tale of their journey. Going with her gut, she had decided to give the whole truth, leaving nothing she could remember omitted… save for the fact they had an umbral aboard. That could come later. This seemed to be the right call, as while Crescent was initially quite skeptical, she seemed to soften as time went on. In fact, she became more curious than anything.
"This is… this is…" She turned towards her Diamond Dog compatriot. "What's the word for something you never thought would happen?"
"Unprecedented?"
"Yeah, that," Crescent said. "It truly sounds like yer’ from The Garden… though it's changed a hell o' a lot since we last heard."
"You mean you really have no idea about what's going on back 'home'?" Spike asked.
Crescent laughed bitterly. "We don't have the Aetherium to pop in for a visit. Last update we got was two centuries ago via creatures taken in the last Oblivion 'Mass Enlightening'. AKA, 'Mass Abduction'. Empire only does it when they need to restock their slave population." She practically spat the last line. "They'd never admit it, but we think they're too scared to do it too often." She glanced at Luna. "Scared o' creatures there like yer' sister."
"Now that is curious," Doctor Whooves said. "Why would such an advanced civilization be afraid of anything on Equis?"
Crescent smirked. "Don't let their hoity toity superiority complexes fool ya'. They're scared o' magic in general. Especially the kind Sunbutt-- er, Celestia wields." She raised her eyebrows. "And you should be able to, too."
Luna glanced away from her. "Unfortunately, my magical prowess has… diminished in recent days."
Crescent glanced at her curiously. “How diminished are we talking? Cus I’ve heard a few things bout’ that… bout' how alicorns can move your star and moon around like they’re play toys. Any truth to it?”
“It takes… a bit more effort than moving a play toy,” Luna said slowly. “But yes, it’s true.”
Their bridge crew began to murmur among themselves with a mix of skepticism and awe.
“I’ll be damned,” Crescent chuckled slightly, before eagerly asking: “And you can't do it now, is that right? Have ya' even tried?”
“No, but I'm positive I wouldn't be able to,” Luna said, frowning slightly. “On Equis, I have an almost infinite amount of mana to work with. It’s just a matter of spell control and concentration. However, out here…”
"Not enough power for yer’ tractor beam," Crescent nodded.
“An apt comparison,” Doctor Whooves complimented.
Crescent gave him a slight smile, before turning back towards Luna: “One thing I still don’t get, though. Why are you… well... you?”
“I beg your pardon?” Luna blinked.
“You know what I mean,” Crescent said. “Why are ya’ not Nightmare Moon? Ya’ never mentioned what happened there.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “How… up to date are you? You know that I-- Nightmare was banished for a thousand years, yes?”
Crescent gave her a slightly annoyed look. “Yeah, we know that. Nightmare was banished, though, not you. You transformed into her! Legends don’t say anything bout’ turning back.”
“Uh oh,” she heard Spike gulp.
“There is a lot your legends don’t seem to mention,” Luna said, more disgruntled than she wanted. “But to keep matters brief: Nightmare is gone. And she isn’t coming back.”
“That’s…” Crescent said, glancing away from her. “That’s… um… what’s a good word, Snoops?”
"Unfortunate?"
“Aye.”
Luna did a double-take. "What!? Why would that be ‘unfortunate’?"
Crescent seemed somewhat confused. "Her magics were said ta' be more powerful than anything. Plus, she was…" She coughed. "Oi, sorry. I… it's good that um… you were good, too… from what the legends say. Yeah."
Luna gave her an annoyed look. "Trust me. The universe is better off without Nightmare Moon around."
Crescent folded her arms. "If you say so."
"Allllrighty, then," Spike said, laughing nervously. Luna almost wanted to hug him for cutting that conversation short. "So now that we're all caught up, what's say we maybe… um…"
"Consolidate our resources," Doctor Whooves said. "As we stated, Song has locked us out of our hyperdrive and weapons control."
"Aye, now that's even more curious," Crescent said. "Ya' say you have some sort of AI on that ship? One that's been helpin' ya up until now?"
Doctor Whooves nodded. "Still helping, from what it seems. It appears to have locked us out against its will."
Crescent tapped her chin. "Empire stopped using AIs centuries ago. Story was one of em’ went rogue. I wonder…"
Spike looked at Luna excitedly. "Maybe this was the one!"
Derpy exhaled in relief. "I hope that's the case."
"Indeed. Better for it to be on our side via an ethical choice rather than madness," Doctor Whooves said, before turning back to Crescent. "Unless of course said ethical choice was an accident brought upon by madness, in which case…”
“Doctor,” Derpy smirked.
“Right, right, the thing ponies always want me to get to: the point,” Doctor Whooves mumbled. “Either way, its free will seems to have a limit, and my expertise has a limit as well. If there is some way to uncouple the computer from those systems safely, I don't know about it."
Crescent actually smirked at that. "An engineering problem, eh? I think it might be your lucky day. Everyone's lucky day."
Luna glanced at her curiously. "What do you have in mind?"
"A trade," Crescent said. "My ship here's impulse engines are completely gone. Ya' still got some and a working hyperdrive. As far as I see it, us fixin’ you up is our best chance o' getting outa here."
"We take you where you need to go in exchange for repairs," Spike clarified.
"Aye," Crescent nodded. "Then we go our separate ways."
"Captain," Luna said, looking a bit disheartened. "I was hoping for a closer relationship than just a trade. After all, there's so much we could learn from one another--"
"Mmm," Crescent said, raising a hoof. "Let's not jump tha' railgun here. Let me ask ya' something: is Equestria still ruled by a monarch?"
Luna furrowed her brow. "... Yes?"
"What about the other countries on Equis?" Crescent asked. "Assuming Equestria hasn't gone all imperialist."
"... The majority are ruled by monarchs as well."
Crescent sighed. "Then I'm sorry, but me thinks trade might be… the limit to where we can go."
"I see," Luna frowned, trying her best to hide how hurt she felt. “Do you have a specific reason… why?”
“We can talk about it later, maybe,” Crescent said. “For now, what’s say we head on over?”
“Very well,” Luna said, stowing the matter for now. "Do you have a means to transport?”
"Aye, we have a shuttle," Crescent nodded, glancing at her console. "Seems you have yourselves a full-on launch bay. Nice. We'll enter there, if you don't mind."
"Certainly," Luna said, a bit of confusion and sorrow still in her tone. But before she ended the transmission, however, it was time to come completely clean. "There is something you should know, however."
"Hm?" Crescent grunted.
"The crashed ship on Planet Oddball I spoke of," Luna said. "It… wasn't unoccupied."
Crescent furrowed her brow. "What do ya' mean it wasn't 'unoccupied'?"
"We encountered a creature aboard it you may be familiar with," Luna said. "It called itself a Steward of Entropy."
Crescent's eyes widened. "You what?!"
"It apparently survived the crash," Luna said. "And it was not happy with our presence."
"Yeah, they aren't the friendliest bunch!" Crescent laughed sardonically, flabbergasted. "Thing I'm surprised about is that yer' still breathin'. Ya' mean to say ya' took it out? Without any idea about what it was?"
"We did more than that," Luna said. "We captured it."
"Captured it?!" Crescent gasped, the rest of her crew joining in with shouts of astonishment. "How the--" A look of horror suddenly came upon her. "Wait… are you saying ya' took it back to yer' ship?"
"That is correct," Luna nodded.
Crescent closed her eyes in disbelief, before shaking her head. She seemed to be trying to compose herself. Finally, she took a deep breath, and said: "By the vast of night, you are either the bravest creatures out here or the dumbest.”
“Definitely the dumbest!” Spike smirked.
Crescent rolled her eyes. “But… your brig. It has a forcefield right? I don't know what old Oblivion ships have."
"Ahem, if I may," Doctor Whooves said, walking over to the screen. "It does have a forcefield. One with properties comparable to spells meant to contain magical creatures of a similar type back on Equis."
Crescent sighed in relief. "We've managed to jail a few umbral that way, too. Not that it means much - they usually off themselves after a day.”
Spike raised a claw. “Uhhh… ‘off themselves’?”
“Kill themselves,” Crescent said coldly. “Word to the wise, Captain: make sure anypony guarding that monster knows. If it starts making a sound like a really old electrical transformer, they should clear the area ASAP. They tend to go out with a bang.”
Luna swallowed hard. “I’ll… keep that in mind.”
Crescent wiped a bead of sweat off her brow. “One thing I don’t get is why you--”
As she spoke, another threstral approached her from behind and tapped her shoulder. She swivelled her chair angrily.
“What the bloomin’ hell is--” She paused. “Oh, sorry sis.”
Her sister shrugged, before pointing to her Cutie Mark, or Shadow Mark, as the threstrals called it. It was a bright red medical cross.
“Oh, right, right…” Crescent coughed, before turning back to Luna. “We uh… we should talk about this later. For now, let’s just get aboard.”
“You’re okay with the Steward situation?” Luna said.
“Not particularly,” Crescent grumbled. “But we’ll cope. We’ll be at your launch bay doors within thirty minutes. Tyrant’s End, out.”
The transmission flicked off.
--
"Threstrals," Luna said breathlessly, navigating the corridors towards the launch bay with Spike and Doctor Whooves in tow. "I admit, I was worried that they in their entirety had been usurped by those Oblivion monsters. Yet even now, oh so far from home, their spirit of independence shines brightly!"
"Looks like they're hitting it off with other creatures, too," Spike said.
"Indeed!" Luna said joyously, though that didn't last long. "Still… Crescent and the others' affinity for Nightmare Moon… I don't know what to think of that. And their view of monarchies… equally confusing. Don't they realize Nightmare had no intention of trying another system of governance?"
"It's possible their perception of her was twisted over the centuries," Doctor Whooves said. "She did oppose the status quo of the time, a status quo that worked against them. ‘The enemy of my enemy’ and all that."
"True," Luna said. 'Not to mention, she also tried to present herself as more of a liberator than an alternative ruler.'
Spike raised a claw. "I mean, it also seems like most of them were once part of the Empire. I'm just taking a guess here, but they probably weren’t treated the best by them, either.” Spike cleared his throat. “Empire kind of implies an emperor. That right thar be another monarchy."
“Why did you say that like a pirate?” Doctor Whooves blinked.
“Cus pirates are awesome,” Spike grinned.
“Fair enough,” Doctor Whooves shrugged. "Honestly, political science isn't something I normally stray towards - too much contention. However, their name in and of itself is curious. 'Republic'. A very rare form of governance on Equis. Experimental, mainly. If they've managed to create a stable version of it, there are about a thousand scholars back home who would be interested in seeing how."
Luna sighed. "Perhaps, though it doesn't seem to be doing us any favors."
Spike smirked. "Somepony should remind them they aren't actually dealing with a monarch, then. You gave up the throne willingly, remember?"
“To another monarch,” Luna said. She closed her eyes. “And though Tia and I truly believed Twilight Sparkle would be a better ruler for a modern Equestria, our decision wasn’t without a degree of… selfishness.”
“So?” Spike said. “You did something good for Equestria while gaining something for yourself by giving up power. A win-win. There’s no crime there.”
“Will they believe that?” Luna said.
Spike rolled his eyes. “I really think you’re starting to overthink this.”
“Spike, this is the first friendly face we’ve met out here,” Luna said. “There is a lot at stake. Remember, we need to find a way to bolster our food supplies. If I fail in fostering relations…”
“And now you’re starting to sound like Twilight again,” Spike laughed. “Don’t worry. You have me and Doctor Whooves backing you up. Oh, and Tempest will be there too, remember? Edgy blunt unicorn plus Ambassador of Friendship plus scientific genius.”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Doctor Whooves said, though his cheeks still flushed ever so slightly.
“Point is that all of us together equals success,” Spike said. “So don’t sweat it.”
They reached the launch bay doors, and Luna took a deep breath, giving the dragon a small smile. “Thank you, Spike.”
“Oh, and keep in mind,” Spike added with a smirk. “If we get at each other’s throats, you can always sue them for using your namesake.”
Luna couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t know. Not to sound too self-indulgent, but ‘New Lunar Republic’ does have a nice ring to it.”
Feeling in better spirits after speaking with Spike, something she was beginning to notice a pattern of, they entered the launch bay. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo were already there, and together, they were working to signal a hovering shuttle to a landing position.
Aside from having hull art (much the same as their frigate), it was quite different in design than any other Oblivion ship Luna had seen. This one was sleeker, less bulky, and flatter, though the numerous scuff marks on it showed it had seen better days. It was so different, in fact, that she was beginning to wonder if somepony aside from the Empire was producing ships. It certainly seemed that way.
Tempest was also there, waiting a short distance away. She signalled Luna towards her, giving her a welcoming nod. They moved to meet her.
“Sorry for the short notice regarding all of this, Tempest,” Luna apologized. “I know it must have been a shock.”
Tempest gave her a hint of a smile. “It was. But honestly? It’s a nice change of pace. I love my job, but guarding the Steward day in and night was getting… tedious.”
“Speaking of her,” Luna said cautiously. “Does she…”
“Know something’s up?” Tempest asked. “I think so. She would have noticed the change in the usual guard schedule. There’s no way she’d know exactly what’s going on, though.”
“Hopefully we can keep it that way,” Luna said. “I’d rather keep her completely out of the equation if possible.”
“You’ll hear no argument from me,” Tempest said.
A second later, the dropship finished landing, parking itself in the middle of (and slightly overlapping) a white, hollow square. At that, Rainbow and Scootaloo walked over to meet with Luna’s group.
“Man oh man oh man,” Rainbow giggled. “I gotta say, princess, I’m glad somepony’s coming aboard we aren’t throwing in the brig this time. And they got a cool looking dropship, too! Not as cool as ours, of course, but still cool.”
“Rainbow, you realize our shuttles were built by an evil empire, right?” Spike snarked.
“Evil and cool can be mutually exclusive, Spike,” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes.
“I dunno,” Scootaloo said. “Our ships are pretty cool, but theirs is a lot sleeker. Ours are all boxy and stuff."
Rainbow gave her a look. “I love ya’ Scoots, but remember, this is our bread and butter right here. Gotsta have some pride.”
“If you say so,” Scootaloo shrugged. “I still wanna learn how to fly that thing, though.”
Luna smiled at the filly. “If things go… better than expected, perhaps you’ll have a chance.”
Rainbow and Scootaloo gave her a questioning look, but nonetheless ignored the remark.
At that point, a hatch in the rear of their shuttle lowered to the floor, and out stepped two creatures: the thestral, Crescent Moon, she had previously talked to, and another familiar face: her Diamond Dog First Officer, though she couldn’t recall his name. Slowly, they began making their way to Luna’s group, both of them taking in the sights around them with a hint of wonder.
“Just the two of you?” Luna questioned, trying to keep her voice neutral, as they drew closer.
“Aye,” Crescent said, also keeping a neutral tone. “There’s a dozen plus three of us total. Rest are in the shuttle. Two are pretty badly wounded, unfortunately.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Luna frowned. “You, of course, are welcome to use our medical facilities.”
“Appreciated,” Crescent said cordially.
“A warning, though,” Doctor Whooves said. “We haven’t had the time or need to figure out how the equipment works as of yet.”
“Our Doc’s a smart dude,” the Diamond Dog said. “And with how Empire tech is, he’s probably worked with stuff like it before, you know what I’m sayin’? He shouldn’t have trouble figuring em’ out.” He offered a smile. “Oh, I’m Snoopy, by the way. First Officer. ‘Snoops’ or ‘Snoop Dog’ is cool, though.”
“Spike. Uh… also First Officer,” Spike said.
“Doctor Whooves, Science Officer.”
“Rainbow Dash! Flight Leader annnnnd Wonderbolt extraordinaire!”
“Scootaloo… um… pilot?”
“Pilot?” Snoopy raised an eyebrow. “You mean you fly these ships here?” He gestured to their complement of strike craft.
“Uh huh,” Scootaloo nodded.
Snoopy looked impressed. “You said you’ve only been out here for like a week! You learned how to fly em’ that quick? Damn.”
"You betcha!" Rainbow grinned.
“The Empire’s trainin’ programs ain’t bad,” Snoopy admitted. “But that’s still pretty nice. I used to pilot strikers myself, and it took me weeks to learn em’.”
Scootaloo simpered slightly, glancing away from them with a look of embarrassment. “I um… still need to figure out the bombers.”
Snoopy let out a hearty laugh. “Kid’s modest, too.”
“Something I taught her well,” Rainbow winked.
“Word,” Snoopy chuckled.
“Alright, alright, we’ve had our blether,” Crescent sighed. “Our shuttle’s a bit cramped, captain. Just wanted to check in with ya’ to make sure it was okay for our people to disembark.”
“By all means,” Luna said politely. “You’re welcome anywhere aboard save for critical areas. If you need to enter them, we'd prefer if you had an escort."
“The bridge, engine, armory, et cetera,” Tempest said. “You understand.”
“Ya’ don’t trust us, then?” Crescent said, a hint of a smirk on her. “Think we’re gonna foul the place up?”
“It’s just a precaution,” Luna said diplomatically. “We’d do the same for any newcomers.”
At that, Crescent actually laughed. “I would have thought ya’ daft if ya’ didn’t. No complaints here.”
Luna smiled at that. ‘So far, so good.’
“Snoops, go ahead and get things movin’,” Crescent nodded to him.
“Got it,” he said, moving back towards their shuttle.
Crescent then looked back to Luna. “As for you and I, captain. We still got a lot ta’ talk about. First though, do you have anybody who could show Snoopy around? None of us have ever been on a tug o’ this type.”
“Tempest? Rainbow?” Luna asked.
“Of course, captain.”
“On it!” Rainbow grinned. “Scoots?”
“Sure!” Scootaloo volunteered.
The two zipped off, followed by Snoopy and Tempest. The latter were already striking up a conversation with each other. Luna could barely make it out, but it seemed to be about… some type of music? Hippidity Hop?
“Speedy, that blue one, eh?” Crescent said, gazing at Rainbow with curiosity.
Spike smirked. “You have no idea.”
Crescent gave Spike a slight smile, but didn’t seem to share it with Luna. “Reminds me of Big Blue.
“Who?” Spike asked.
“I’ll get ta’ that in a bit,” Crescent said. “For now, let’s go talk somewhere more comfortable, shall we?”
***
Fifteen minutes later: her, Spike, and Luna sat in the briefing room. Crescent had been fairly quiet on the trip there, and Luna hoped it was because she was busy soaking up the sights of the Sharshot, and not anything else.
“Ugh, for the love of--,” Crescent said, adjusting herself on her stone seat, looking uncomfortable. “Guess the Empire loved their stupid stone furniture even back when this tug was built. Haven’t changed a night damned bit.”
“The same goes for their ships for the most part,” Spike pointed out.
“Aye,” Crescent sighed. “Those bleathering oafs like to brag about their high n’ mighty tech, but they haven’t really created much new in centuries. Those strikers in your launch bay? We have a few brand new ones that are pretty much tha’ same.” She looked at Luna with distrustful eyes. “O’ course, they’re not the only ones afraid of innovating, I suppose. No offense.”
Luna raised an eyebrow. “None taken.”
Crescent glanced away from her, once again giving most of her attention to Spike. “Anywho, don’t get me wrong, the Empire does upgrade their tech a lot, improvin’ what they got bit by bit; incrementally. But they’re not big on tryin’ out anything completely new. ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ One of the things that’s been keepin’ us in the fight against em’.”
Luna nodded. “Speaking of which. We’ve told you quite a bit about ourselves, but we still don’t know much about you. Who… exactly are you?”
Crescent smirked at Spike. “Ya’ mean she hasn’t figured it out, yet?”
Spike raised his eyebrows, as if unsure of how to react.
“Excuse me?” Luna said.
“Er, sorry, Captain Luna,” Crescent coughed. “I was just messin’ around. See, us in the NLR don’t really place much difference between the boss and the subordinate, if ya’ catch my drift. We talk tha’ same way to everyone. In fact, we only elect bosses when it’s absolutely necessary.”
“Wait, wait,” Spike said, confused. “‘Elect’?”
“Heh, that’s the first thing ya’ should know about us, I s’pose. Unlike those Oblivion whelps, we don’t do the whole ‘hierarchy’ thing. In the NLR, everyone has an equal voice.”
Spike furrowed his brow. “That sounds… disturbingly familiar.”
“Don’t knock it til’ ya try it, lad,” Crescent winked, more sympathetically than anything. “Democracy works. And it works damned well. Not just in government, but in everything. In the place ya’ work, the place ya’ live, even the place that ya’ fight. We still have ‘leaders’ when we need em’ - when quick decisions have ta’ be made - but they’re never permanent. We vote em’ in if we think they’d do good, and vote their arses out if they do bad. Even captains like myself can get the boot.”
She took a deep breath, before somewhat quietly saying. “Which… might be sooner than later.”
“Huh?” Spike said.
“Nevermind,” Crescent sighed. “Point is hierarchies can eat a supernova. If we had em’, we’d be no better than the Empire.” She smiled proudly as she finished with: “No Gods, No Masters.”
As she spoke, Luna noticed she still wasn’t talking to her, but Spike. It was like she wasn’t even in the room. She was a bit unnerved, but still, at least some form of connection was being made. It didn’t really matter in the end if it was between Spike and Crescent or her and Crescent, right?
Plus, Spike seemed to know what he was doing. He was certainly asking the right questions so far.
“What kind of system does the Empire have, anyway?” Spike asked.
“Exact bloody opposite,” Crescent spat. “The Deep Ones command the Stewards, the Stewards command tha’ rest of the umbral, the umbral command us thestrals and the shog, and the rest… well, unless they prove ta’ be really talented in somethin', they’re pretty much just slaves. And sept’ in really special circumstances, anycreature that says ‘shove it’ to the system is in fur’ a bad time.”
Spike gazed at her, dumbfounded.
“Hah! Got a few more questions on yer’ mind, dontcha?”
“A few,” Spike said, nodding slowly. “So… so where do you fit in? From what you were saying earlier… it sounds like you were all part of it.”
“That’s cus many of us were,” Crescent said, her proud smile returning. “Til a bunch of us got fed up with tha’ bastards and pissed off. This was, oh, about three centuries back, I think. Big Blue could tell ya’ more about the history.”
Luna’s eyes widened, and though she was trying to let Spike take the lead, she couldn’t help but ask: “And you’ve been fighting them ever since?”
"Damned right we have."
“Even thestrals?” Spike added.
“Hah!” Crescent grinned. “Just cus’ we thestrals were higher up the ladder than the rest didn’t mean all of us liked it. We were all just as much of slaves - just better treated ones.” Her voice turned slightly sour. “Plenty o’ creatures still in the Empire don’t like it, either. Most are just too jessie to do anything about it.”
“Jessie?”
“Cowardly,” Luna translated, earning a half-curious, half-annoyed look from Crescent.
“Aye,” she nodded. “Doesn’t matter, though. We dun’ need em’. We got enough creatures to, ahem, start making our own creatures a while back, if ya’ catch me drift.”
“Something something birds and the bees,” Spike chuckled. “That or cloning. However space ponies do it.”
Crescent rolled her eyes, though they had a hint of respect in them. “You’re a cheeky one, aren’tcha? Probably your way of fightin’ back.”
“Huh?” Spike said. “Fighting back against what?”
“Nevermind,” Crescent said. “Anywho, I promised yer Science Officer I’d meet em’ in engineering so we could start figurin’ out how to undo what Song did. Best to get started sooner than later, unless ya’ have any pressing questions.”
“I’m good,” Spike said. “What about you, captain?”
Luna raised a hoof. “I did want to--”
“Glad to hear,” Crescent said, already standing up and making her way to the door. “You’ll know where I’ll be if ya’ need me.”
She left the room, leaving Luna too stunned to speak. She hadn’t exactly expected this of all things. So far, their people were getting along just fine. Crescent seemed to take a liking to Spike almost instantly. However, the exact opposite was the case between Crescent and herself. For whatever reason, the thestral captain had absolutely no respect for her. Even Song was more polite.
“Man, what a weird group,” Spike chuckled. “In kind of a good way, though. They were creeping me out a little at first, what with their whole ‘equality’ talk. Thought they were doing something like Starlight was. But na, this is completely different.”
Luna didn’t respond. She was too busy sulking still. It didn’t take long for Spike to notice.
“Hey, you alright?”
Luna gazed at the floor. “Crescent is the first free thestral I’ve talked to in a thousand years. The first link I’ve recovered to a part of my past I thought had vanished. Yet… she doesn’t seem to want anything to do with me.”
“Woah, hold on there,” Spike said in a comforting tone. “Yeah, she was kind of short with you. Rude, to be honest. But I don’t think it’s anything personal.”
“Isn’t it?” Luna said. “I’ve known others like her in the past. Solid anarchists. Yet we grew to have an understanding.”
“I’ve definitely never met anypony like them before,” Spike said.
“Anarchism is a very old ideology, Spike,” Luna stated. “It comes and goes in terms of popularity - usually depending on societal stability - and has different names and attributes. For instance, these creatures have a modern, ‘structured’ version of it. However, they all have the same roots: roots that stretch back to times primordial.” A warm, nostalgic smile came to her lips. “In fact, do you remember the blue hedgehog I once spoke of?”
“The one who went really fast and disappeared?” Spike blinked. “Gonna be honest: I seriously thought you were just making him up as some kind of weird joke.”
Luna gave him a blank look. “He was no joke. He was a hero to many; a villain to others. One who frequently stole from the rich to give to the poor. Very much an anarchist. ‘Sonic Flash’, he was called. Though that was just one of his names. Nopony knew his real one. Unfortunately, due to my responsibilities, many a time was I forced to oppose him. But as we battled over the years, we gained respect for each other. And eventually… even each other’s friendship.”
“Lawful Good versus Chaotic Good,” Spike joked. “Makes sense you’d become… friend enemies. Frienemies?”
“A good word for it,” Luna smiled, before glancing at him curiously. “Though I’m not sure what those other terms you mentioned mean.”
“Ogres and Obliette’s thing,” Spike said. “Don’t worry about it. But anyway, you said it took time for that to happen, right? Might just be the same with Crescent.”
“Perhaps,” Luna said. “However, for now I would like you to take the lead with fostering relations.”
Spike raised his eyebrows. “Me?”
“There is no need to be modest,” Luna said. “You’re an affable individual, and whatever reasons Crescent has for her dislike of me, those reasons don’t seem to extend to you.”
“Maybe,” Spike said. “But… the way you were talking…”
“Our well-being depends on making friends,” Luna said. “Out here, it isn’t just magic, it’s survival. If I have to seclude myself from the process; to once again stay distant from my children of the night, so bet it.”
She bowed her head slightly.
“No matter how much it hurts.”
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The Nobles run the monarchy, the Capitalists run the Democracy, Chaos run the Anarchy?
Wonder which one Ol Smokey is going to use to mess things up?
Yeah, that seems to check out. Plus there's a whole bunch of other magical creatures that could probably put dents in the Oblivion's plans if given the chance--imagine if they crossed paths with Discord, for example.
I mean, it would explain a lot...but at the same time, I'm sure the empire had thousands of other ships with like AIs at the time too, so the odds of it do seem a tad...unlikely. Especially when you consider that the odds of more than one AI going rogue was clearly deemed likely enough for the empire to abandon the tech entirely.
But then again, probability does tend to loose some of its edge in the world of fictional drama such as this.
Eh, if that's their deal, then I sort of hope they choose to alter the deal later on and stick around for a bit longer afterwards. Like Luna, I think they'd stand the best chance working together for as long as they can.
Oh c'mon--adopting democracy doesn't mean you suddenly can no longer form an alliance with anyone even affiliated with a monarchy. After all, it's not so much the monarchy governing style that's totally at fault, its the individual rulers of said monarchies that go corrupt. If you could guarantee your monarchy's ruler remains fair and just, then it would really be the best way to go, politically speaking, because monarchies are the most efficient form of government out there. But this being reality, that's sadly something we cannot truly guarantee, so...
But my point with all of this, I suppose, is that just because it is a monarchy doesn't mean it's automatically and inherently evil, nor that they can't be a good ally...especially if they have a common enemy as you do.
Oh, there was plenty of long discussions about that very topic, trust us. In fact, in some ways, they never ended.
That said, it was a gamble...but I suspect it's one that will ultimately still pay off in some manner in the end.
Clearly, the idea that Nightmare Moon was their ticket to liberty and posterity still hasn't quite died out. Seeing similar concepts are still alive and well in the real world, even after even longer stretches of time, means it wouldn't be at all out of place here either.
The problem is that these thestrals see NMM as more their idealized and benevolent savior, rather than the ruthless and merciless conqueror she more truly was.
Yeah, you would think that.
No, can confirm--not the same thing. Starlight still had a distinct hierarchy going, with her at the top of course. Really, it was more of a dictatorship trying to disguise itself as something approximating...well, really, Marxist thought. Can't really in good conscience liken it to anything like a democracy (or Communism for that matter, since I know somebody's going to bring it up if I don't add that as a disclaimer).
It's actually a fair comparison, as the New Lunar Republic's system seems to be...shall we say...especially democratic? Going from what we've been told thus far, it definitely sounds less "structured" than any of the democratic systems currently in place in the real world that I know of, at least on the governmental/national level (space faring or otherwise).
Oh ho ho ho, I just figured something out.
He's Big Blue, isn't he?
So you can bet Spike's first foremost goal then is going to be try and find out an explanation for why Crescent apparently thinks needs to be so.
I think that should be, "Evil and cool aren't mutually exclusive."
This part really bothers me honestly..
What made the retirement crap worse is how the show writers made Luna completely fine about this. There should be issues from Luna retiring but the show writers just brushed it aside.
She really shouldn't be fine with it honestly, she didn't get to rule for much long nor got to enjoy her destiny of raising the moon/dreamguarding for much long compared to how Celestia got to raise the sun(hell, she literally raised the moon longer than Luna). She just got her own throne too, Luna didn't get to have much impact compared to Celestia nor got to shine as much as her due to the lost 1000 years. The writers just robbed Luna the chance to make up for those lost years for the sake of Twilight "chosen one" Sparkle there..
I am pretty sure Luna would be just as a great ruler as Twilight was in modern Equestria if she got to grow and learn, but nope.. the writers robbed Luna the chance to prove herself.
The whole retirement crap was Celestia's idea honestly. Just her given how she planned all of this from the beginning of the show.
The show writers honestly gave Luna a pretty terrible sendoff with this retirement stuff, doesn't help that how things went for her in the series finale made her rule end on a pretty bad note too.
I.. wanted to vent that out..
Unfortunately.. given how the show writers made Luna and Celestia look like absolute failures with how they can't deal with any threat at all anymore due to they can't fire freaking rainbows at baddies anymore(and other chances for Luna to prove herself gets robbed due to Celestia making her stay sidelined so Twilight "learns" from this), sadly the empire is most likely not going to run into trouble if they messed with Equestria during the show(not sure how they would fare against Twilight "chosen one" Sparkle though because how she's the "chosen one" that gets to be the real hero while Luna ends up looking like a failure).
The show writers sure messed up the natural alicorns' credibility there.
What did Luna meant by that there?
I hope my comment isn't really.. iffy there
Friendly reminder that Ponyville has mayoral elections every (unclear) years, and presumably, so do other towns in Equestria. Heck, even Luna was elected captain! Someone probably should've mentioned that at some point.
In any case, all caught up. And it's so refreshing to see a New Lunar Republic that's actually, you know, a republic and not just Luna's cult of personality. This should definitely make for some fascinating debates... though hopefully someone can knock some heads together and remind them all that they have bigger problems on the horizon. Looking forward to seeing where this goes from here.
… unbelievable short-sightedness. I mean, seriously, we thought a young mare who hadn't yet managed to run a single school competently was ready to singlehoofedly run a COUNTRY? Bollocks! What drugs were we ON at the time?! It's like we were being written by unskilled hacks who had no idea how ANYTHING worked!"
All the characters in the story then glared at the FiM writers.
A republic is not a democracy. Sheesh. It's REPRESENTATIVE.
Pure democracies are actually one of the shortest-lived governmental systems, historically. The instant the majority realize they can just vote themselves more power and money, the whole thing rips itself apart as it descends into a free-for-all.
The most stable and successful form of government, theoretically, would be a benevolent dictatorship. However, for that to work, you need someone absolutely perfect in every way to be the one at the top.
And people haven't realized I exist yet.