• Published 31st Dec 2020
  • 1,918 Views, 69 Comments

Episode 222 (S9 E26): A Difficult Decision - StormLuna



After the defeat of The Legion of Doom, the Royal Pony Sisters have decided Twilight's time to rule alone has come. Twilight however, is having second thoughts about it for multiple reasons.

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Telling Her Friends

When Twilight got home, the very first place she headed was the castle since Starlight and Spike would likely be home. She knew well enough what Starlight would likely be doing given she was gone, studying magic. She headed into the library and sure enough, there was Starlight with a pile of books, studying the thing she loved the most.

Twilight had a huge smile on her face as she addressed Starlight, "Well I did it! Celestia understood!"

Starlight immediately embraced her friend, "Twilight, I'm so happy for you." She broke the embrace and added, "You certainly look less stressed."

Twilight exclaimed, "I am! You have no idea how happy I am right now."

Spike would then chime in, "I take it you told Celestia about how you are feeling? I'm assuming you won't be taking over yet."

Twilight replied, "Well it is more like I'll continue to be The Princess of Friendship and run my school. She has decided to not retire at all."

Spike gasped, "What? She's not retiring now?"

Twilight replied, "After I told her about how much I love my current life and how I didn't want to rule Equestria on my own, she understood and decided not to retire."

Spike had been looking forward to Twilight going on to rule the country and was slightly disappointed but he was happy to see the one who had been like a sister to him happy, "Well I'm happy for you Twilight. I was looking forward to seeing you rule but since that isn't what you want, it looks like everything turned out fine."

Twilight laughed, "Yeah, now the most stress I will have is winning that third trivia trot in a row."

Starlight asked, "You've won two in a row haven't you?"

Twilight replied, "Yep and I'm ready for number three but for now, let's go tell our other friends. I bet they'll be so happy!"

The three left the castle and headed towards Sugarcube Corner assuming that is where they were. Sure enough, when they got in there they all noticed a huge smile on Twilight's face. Applejack was the first to say anything, "Hi Twilight, you look happy."

Twilight replied, "Well I just got back from Canterlot and I have some wonderful news."

Pinkie immediately became excited, "Oooh, oooh, do we get to throw you a I'm the sole ruler of Equestria party?"

Twilight replied, "Even better, Celestia's not retiring and I get to stay here with all you guys!"

All five of them gasped in shock. Rarity gasped, "But Twilight, why are you so happy? I thought you wanted to be the ruler of all Equestria."

Twilight replied, "I don't and luckily Celestia understood that I enjoy the life I have and I don't want to leave any of you, I don't want to leave Ponyville and I don't want to leave the school."

Rainbow asked, "But Twi, wasn't this what Celestia had groomed you for, us for? So now we won't get to rule Equestria?"

Twilight replied, "Girls, I would have been the one that had to handle all her duties and I would be the one sacrificing everything I love. She did groom me to rule Equestria but I chose all of you over that. All of you mean so much more to me than ruling the country, which like i just said is something I don't want."

Fluttershy chimed in, "Uhm, well Twilight I am happy that you're happy." She turned to the others and said, "I know we were all looking forward to this but what matters is that Twilight is happy and leading the life she wants."

Twilight embraced her and replied, "Thanks Fluttershy, I knew you'd understand."

Applejack then became curious about something, "But if you're staying, what about Starlight being head mare? You promised her that...."

Starlight interrupted, "Applejack, that doesn't matter to me. Twilight being happy is what matters and besides, I'm perfectly happy remaining the school's guidance counselor."

Pinkie then pulled her party canon out, fired it and exclaimed, "I guess we get to throw a 'Twilight's happy she can stay' party instead!"

Twilight laughed, "Definitely and let's do that now! I'm ready to celebrate!"

Everypony agreed and headed to Twilight's castle to throw a party celebrating Twilight not leaving Ponyville. As they were heading there, something from when Twilight first got her wings so long ago crossed her mind. She thought to herself, "Everything's going to be just fine!"

Comments ( 64 )

I was honestly hoping something like this would happen in the show. Oh well.

Rainbow asked, "But Twi, wasn't this what Celestia had groomed you for, us for? So now we won't get to rule Equestria?"

Twilight replied, "Girls, I would have been the one that had to handle all her duties and I would be the one sacrificing everything I love. She did groom me to rule Equestria but I chose all of you over that. All of you mean so much more to me than ruling the country, which like i just said is something I don't want."

I always thought the bit in the season 9 premiere about the whole mane 6 & Spike ruling Equestria was a little forced. Even before the season 9 finale aired and confirmed it, it seemed pretty obvious to me that it would really be just Twilight ruling, at best with Spike's direct assistance.

Spike had been looking forward to Twilight going on to rule the country and was slightly disappointed but he was happy to see the one who had been like a mother to him happy

It’s actually sister.

10607958

Well that is what fan fiction is for, writing our own endings....and I think many of us would have rather seen something like this.


10607996

It did seem forced and the whole having Twilight take over seemed forced on her, like she didn't have a choice. In episode 26, it was pretty obvious that Twilight was the one handling everything while the "Council of Friendship" was pretty much just a glorified get together.


10607999

Thanks. I had always seen Twi as more of a mother figure....I suppose we all have different views on that.

10607996
Spike would also have to sacrifice the friendships he cares about just to assist Twilight. He's not even going to rule Equestria so that seems even more unfair.

-dances in happiness- X3

10608044

It is and remember how he eventually went traveling all over the place just to get other creatures to get along (the Abyssinians and diamond dogs)? That isn't something I see Spike really wanting to do.


10608218

I'm glad you liked it.

10608028
It's not a different view if show canon says he sees Twilight as a sister. Its just fact.

10608351
Thank you for agreeing with me.

10608351

Fixed it to say he saw her as a sister.

Managed to finish reading this.
Really nice that Twilight managed to change her fate like that.

Though aside from the problem I mentioned with Spike, there's another problem.
Luna, specifically the lack of her. Like shouldn't Twilight tell Luna about this too instead of Celestia whamming her off-screen with "Guess what, we aren't retiring!". How would she react to Twilight and such?
Like did Luna wanted to retire too or did she deep down didn't want to but had to because she would be separated from Celestia if she didn't?
What bothers me in the show is how Luna isn't bothered AT ALL that she's retiring too despite she didn't get to rule anywhere near as long as Celestia did. She didn't get to enjoy her destiny of raising the moon much long(she just got her own damn throne too)
The whole retirement crap was clearly Celestia's idea, she apparently didn't account that she would be screwing Luna over during this whole thing in more ways than one..

You've read the reflections arc, have'nt you?

10638568

Actually no. This is something that simply came to my mind. Part of what inspired it was a user complaining about the ending of the series and wanting to convince Hasbro to redo it. What I told them is that fan fiction is for writing our own endings....and I decided to do just that.

10638600
In issue 1 of the reflections arc, she did talk about being like Star Swirl.

10638645

I've heard other people talk about how they think that was what her goal was prior to being sent to Ponyville. Some people's take is that she never wanted to go to Ponyville (which is apparent in the beginning) and that she never really wanted to be a princess. I just figured that while none of the other stuff would change, that she could keep her life prior to episode 222.

10638661
How about you write a new chapter where Twilight goes back in time and prevents herself from excepting role and undoes all the damage Discord had done.

10638696

Well it would have to be a new story because this story is complete and wasn't written to include extra chapters.

10638702
Would you care to write that time travel story?

10641063

I could but for time travel like that, Starlight would have to agree....and with her now knowing how time travel can really mess things up, that would make her skeptical about the whole thing. Yeah Twilight can go back in time a week for a brief while, Starlight is the one who knows the advanced spell. I am working on another story right now but let me think about this.

10641191
I wish you could've written an extra chapter about Discord's reaction and Twilight chewing him out for all the damage he's done.

10642824

That didn't even cross my mind.

10642930
Would we see Luna's reaction too on all of this?

Was my other comment ok there?

10657750

Had I been thinking better when I wrote this, I would have brought Luna into it.

10657764
Yeah..
Guess we won't be able to see that then..

Really, it bothers the heck out of me on how the show completely brushed aside the issues of Luna retiring there.
There's no way she would be completely fine. In fact if they said she doesn't want to rule anymore due to fear of NMM and/or stress, it would spat on her character and make her look pathetic by being unable to overcome the trauma and the challenges(which ends up making her give up whats her freaking destiny)..

10657921

I agree. Yes Celestia ruled for over a thousand years but for most of that time, Luna was imprisoned on the moon. Why not give her a thousand years as the head princess instead? Celestia could go down to Silver Shoals and have food fights with Dusty Pages while Luna was able to rule. Also, when you think about it, Twilight has so little life experience compared to Luna.

The writers basically just had Luna agree to Celestia's "oh let's retire and put Twilight in charge." Throughout those discussions, it was easy to tell that Celestia was in charge of the decision and basically made it for BOTH of them. I personally think they could have done something with Luna as head princess. Her own magic school, her own way of teaching, her own protege.....one that isn't another Twilight and perhaps the creation of a mother/daughter relationship between her and this student.

Rather than having her student go off, make friends and defeat villains, Luna and her protege could take them on....perhaps alongside the Pillars. Yes it would be different from "Friendship is Magic" but it could have its own lessons to teach.

10657994
And Luna's bitter line of "we always do things your way" in Between Dawn And Dusk sure shows Luna is bottling things up.

10658071

I can't help but wonder if Luna still holds a bit of resentment involving her sister seemingly calling all the shots. You saw how she was in Sparkle's Seven, she seemed irritated with Celestia there too....and when they did go on vacation, for a while they always had to do what Celestia wanted until they split up. I personally think the writers shit on Luna throughout the whole series, she never got the airtime or the power she deserved.

10658134
I think she is also pissed about how Celestia wouldn't let her fight any bad guys.
She was forced to pass up the chance of redeeming herself(such as fighting Sombra).
And then there's the dumb "lets dump out magic in the chosen one er I mean Twilight" in Twilight's Kingdom.
I can't believe Luna agreed to such a flawed plan there..

10658136

As I look back at things, I really wish they would have let Luna have her moment of glory. I really like Twilight, I really do but I think Luna is by far the most underappreciated and underused character in the whole series. Most of the time they treated her like she was an afterthought.....they probably thought, "oh she is sleeping during the day so we can forget her." Hell she wasn't at either gala and I would think she would attend those. If I do the whole season 10 thing, I may just have Celestia retire at some point and let Luna take over.....this is the great thing about fan fiction....if we don't like something, we can fix it ourselves and make it part of our ponyverse.....especially now that the series is over, we can make our own stories about the future and make what we wish would be our canon.

10658146
She and Spike sure got underutilized.
Hell, those two clicked so good in Sparkle's Seven with how they teamed up like that.
They really got much in common. Such as often in the shadows of others.

10658148

I do like how they had Spike and Luna cut a deal there. Both weren't used as much as they should have and there were times where Spike seemed to be there more for comic relief than anything else.

10658152
I would never forgive on what Beginning Of The End did to him.
With him getting brainwashed like that and shoved into the girls' shadows hard due to he's not an Element Bearer.
HE stopped Sombra last time by having a hand in screwing him over, why is it so wrong for the writers to have him have a hand in Sombra's downfall in this one?
Whats worse is how its Discord's fault, he didn't account for Spike due to he's not an Element Bearer, just focusing only on the girls..

10658155

Yeah, if it weren't for him in the crystal empire episodes, Sombra would have won. In season 9, he was just shoved in the shadows. Also, it seems like they made it WAY TOO EASY for the Mane Six to defeat Sombra up in the Crystal Empire. They go from being possessed by Sombra's dark magic to blasting him away with rainbow power in less than a minute. It really makes it less enjoyable. At least make it look like Sombra has a chance for a bit before having him be defeated.

10658166
In fact, why didn't Sombra try to brainwash them again?
The Elements are gone so there's nothing to break them free from his spell.
Hell, it would cause all the ponies to freak out that the very heroes that literally succeed where Luna and Celestia fail are now under Sombra's control. The guy would go all pleasure-face meme at the sight of the ponies in ACTUAL fear without him using fear-spells on them, true actual fear that the very heroes who save the day are now taken out and turned against them.
Luna and Celestia trying to calm them down but the ponies ignore them due to they KNOW the sisters will fail, they have lost faith in the Royal Sisters. That would surely shake especially Luna up big time.

10658181

Ok, now to bring up Sombra. He is a villain I feel they did too little with. At the start of season three, he got to spend what, fifteen seconds in his natural form before being cast into the ether? Then in season nine, he was so much easier to defeat than Cozy, Tirek and Chrysalis were.

Oh and while I'm discussing season nine, I was not thrilled to find out that Grogar was simply Discord in disguise. They not only KILLED Discord's reformation but dashed the hopes of people like me who grew up on G1. I thought, "Sweet, another baddie from my day is back!" Granted he never came close to Lord Grogar of Tambelon but still, he was menacing in his own way. When that wound up not being the case, I wasn't thrilled to say the least.

10658197
Discord's plan would also screw up Luna and Celestia's reputations too.
On their last days as rulers, they ended up being failures and need Twilight to save the day AGAIN.

I am sure Cadance's got effed up due to how Sombra easily took over the empire like that.
The Crystal Ponies are most likely traumatized and can never truly feel at peace knowing that the very tyrant they thought was dead CAN come back somehow without warning and their leaders are absolutely powerless to stop him.

10658200

I never even took into account Tia and Luna's reputations. They did wind up going out as failures, being unable to protect their subjects on their own yet they are the ones who got to determine the fate of the Legion of Doom's fates like victorious leaders would. I honestly wonder, what if some villain had come along before Twilight and her friends got together, say even before Twilight was born. Had the REAL GROGAR came back, Equestria would have wound up in chains. The same thing would have happened with Tirek too.

Oh and one thing crossed my mind. Remember at the end of "Twilight's Kingdom, Part 2" how Discord gives Celestia some flowers and winks at her? I almost wonder if those two didn't team up to test Twilight. Perhaps THEY worked together to set Tirek free instead of him escaping when Cerberus left his post. Twilight did say that nothing had escaped in "It's About Time" in season two after all. Also, in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" Celestia did seem rather adamant on releasing Discord.

The more I look at things, the more I wonder about Celestia and her role in some things. At that moment anyway, was Celestia hiding something?, something that only a tyrant would hide?

10660520
Which is really bad for Luna due to she lost a 1000 years of ruling.
Ending up looking like failures again on their last days as rulers is just a cruel final blow to her.
And its all Discord's fault on that part there due to his plan.
His plan to boost Twilght confidence most likely obliterated what confidence Luna has left within her.
As for the trio's fates, its really bad. Due to its ultimately Discord who decided their fates(the very fool who caused the trio to wreck havoc in the first place. He essentially disposed of them like pawns he was planning on using if his plan didn't went haywire).
All that scene did is shown the sisters can't deal with any bad guys until after they are already beaten. It made them look absolutely weak big time.

If they did team up, Celestia has screwed Luna over even further and further than we realized.
She essentially shafted Luna hard in favor of Twilight "chosen one" Sparkle.
I love Twilight but I do hold bitterness on how the Royal Sisters(especially Luna for me) were handled poorly for the sake of her.

10660527

I think that Luna was shit on throughout the whole series, they never intended to make much use out of her other than constantly being in the shadow of the other princesses. There is a reason she is my favorite princess.....she got the shaft all the time and I can relate with her big time.

When it first happened, I thought there was something fishy about the interaction between the two. Discord BETRAYED the ponies and yet them he winks at Tia and gives her flowers? Something wasn't right there and I don't care what anyone says, I will always think those two were in on freeing Tirek so that Twilight could prove herself worthy of a castle. Had it been me, that would have been when I would have had Twilight ascend, after the defeat of Tirek.

I like Twilight but she was always given preferential treatment over the others it seems, especially Luna. When you come to look at it, Twilight really doesn't have that much life experience. I'm not sure what her age is at the end of season nine but assuming she is under the age of 35, she wouldn't even be old enough to run for president in the USA yet she is thrust into running the whole country? Yes she was groomed for it but still, years of life experience should mean something.

Also, she isn't just going to go from freaking out to being perfectly stable in ONE episode. She had a major league freak out in "Trivial Pursuit" yet then she handles things just fine in the next episode when Tirek, Cozy and Chrysi cause mayhem at the last Summer Sun Celebration. The Twilight Sparkle we all love, the REAL Twilight Sparkle would have had a freak out and blamed Discord. Well in a way he was somewhat responsible since he freed the Legion of Doom.

That is pure shit when I think about it when Discord was given say in the L.O.D's punishment. Hell he should have been turned to stone again since he was responsible for the whole mess to begin with. I am thinking of a story where Celestia is discovered to have aided in releasing Tirek for the season four finale. Maybe not stone worthy but definitely dethroning worthy....and give Luna her time to shine.

10660730
I wonder how Luna reacts when she finds about what Celestia had done?
And the fact Celestia basically taken into account for Luna when she was "grooming" Twilight like that.

10660822

I like Celestia but when I start thinking on a deeper level, I don't think she was a really good sister. Luna was always in the shadows, the lesser princess and never really had any say. Hell when ponies would bring Celestia up (Twilight especially), they would refer to her as THE princess, as if she was the only one.

I had been thinking of doing a ton of Starlight x Twilight ships, they have such a wonderful dynamic but I might try and work on a "Celestia was discovered" fic instead. Perhaps at some point between season three and season four she talked to Discord and had him free Tirek the same way he did to start season nine. I am thinking that maybe one of the Mane Six ask Celestia what her interaction with Discord was about. Getting an admission out of her would be tough but in the end, she would come out and admit that she did it so Twilight could get her castle.....hell maybe all of season four with the keys and everything was tied into this.

And I am CERTAIN they knew that Tirek's medallion would be Twilight's key and Discord betrayed them on orders from Celestia. I know I'll likely catch heat from people for thinking this but it is my theory on it.

10660845
And the fact the ponies(Twilight included) forget that Canterlot Castle is Luna's castle too.
Than just Celestia's castle.
And they kept saying "Oh my Celestia!" or something most of the time.
Luna didn't get to have much impact on Equestria due to the lost 1000 years, and that festival Twilight changed the Summer Sun Festival to will not fix that problem.
I wonder why did Luna agreed to such a stupid plan of dumping their magic onto Twilight?
In fact I feel like the Tree Of Harmony planned everything too so its "chosen one" becomes ruler too.

10660854
Just going to point out the Tirek episode is the one that showed Celestia has prerogative abilities so its entirely possible Celestia saw how the events would play or needed to for th best outcome and so that's why Luna went along with the plan.

10661185
That's still dumb though.
The plan is actually riskier due to Tirek might have done something worse to the sisters.
Even if they had no magic for him to take, he could have killed them or even use them as hostages to force Twilight to give up the magic.
While Celestia had the dream of Tirek running loose, it didn't look like she saw the WHOLE future there.
And the plan is still dumb due to Tirek can easily figure out Twilight has the magic due to many factors.
Tirek was already out and most likely heard about Twilight becoming an Alicorn, he has Discord would just spill the beans and there's literally a stain-glass window of alicorn Twilight. Tirek could have easily figured out they dumped the magic onto another Alicorn.
Heck, Discord would have sensed the disturbance with all that magic now in a being that it shouldn't be in(other than Tirek's case I mean).
Hiding their magic in Twilight is riskier due to Tirek can get all the magic in one fell swoop(which literally happened).
Luna essentially trusted Celestia apparently and it ended up taking away her dignity due to the embarrassment that has happened here. Its just stupid anyway Luna agreed to that plan. Heck, she even questioned about not being allowed to help fight Sombra, so she should have voiced her opposition on this dumb magic-hiding plan.
No way she would be fine about this.

10660854

Agreed. Of course from the very beginning it was Faust's plan that Twilight be the chosen one, something that was carried on after she left having anything to do with the show. When it comes to the Tree, it is obvious that Twilight has been the chosen one ever since it started to grow given what the primary element looks like.

Poor Luna though, shit on throughout the whole series. Hell it seems like Cadence even got more love and outside of the Crystal Empire, she is pretty much irrelevant.

10661250
I kind of wonder if the tree even counted on Luna becoming NMM so it can use her as a "starter villain" fodder for the "chosen one".
I mean, after the sisters lost the Elements, that was it. It felt like the tree essentially tossed them aside big time.
And Luna sure got the short end of the stick worse than Celestia in that there.

10661198

she should have voiced her opposition on this dumb magic-hiding plan.
No way she would be fine about this.

You literally change from she should to she would.

You can't even keep your stance straight.

Also love how its cannon she did not oppose the idea so no she would not have because that is what is Canon.

But let's address this.

Tell me which is better to use, a normal deck or a stacked deck becuase using a destined hero is using a stacked deck.

Its basically sending a video game character to handle a threat which is far better then anyone else to use since they have the highest chance of winning g do to being destined.

Don't know about you but I'm using the stacked deck.

10661250
You mean besides the fact Luna got more episodes where she is the focus then the other princess excluding Twilight?

Yes not much love having more episodes dedicated to you then the others.

Quick question as it will answer a few things.

Does this fit you?

"Luna shouldn't have retired because she didn't get much time"

10661382

"Luna shouldn't have retired because she didn't get much time"

She shouldn't have retired. She should have taken over the primary princess role.

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