The Conjuration Map, Episode Two, Part One
Twilight Gets a Puppy
Season 5
By TDR
The Conjuration Map,
Episode Two,
Part One
[Our Town, Outskirts.]
Rahs was driving the two guards nuts.
The moon dog had yet to stop pacing at the edge of camp and was wearing a rut in the grass.
The two guards had watched for a while before the pegasus, Slipstream, got bored and took to the air to do some perimeter scouting, leaving the unicorn mare, Snowy Path, to watch the moon dog pace like a caged tiger.
Thankfully after a few minutes, or sixty three back and forths, the pegasus came back.
“Not much of note around here besides the town. I spotted an old mine further up on the ridge there, though the path leading to it doesn't look well used. There's another cave near the base of the valley that looks more traveled, but it was closer to the town than I wanted to get.” Slipstream reported. “I poked around the mine though, and found there's a few caves marked with signs along this side of the mountain. Most of them are faded but the one I could read marked it as Snow Drop Mine, number three.”
“Any sign of the company name?” Snowy Path asked pulling out a map.
“I think Snow Drop was the company name.”
“It's not marked on this map, but the name sounds familiar. Pretty sure Snow Drop is a mining group that still operates out of Manehatten. I'm gonna send a message back with the information, see if any of the others have heard of it.” Snowy Path offered, before writing out a note and sending off a message with her horn with a faint wince.
Rahs paused, and looked back at the mare as she rubbed her horn. His ears flicking an apology.
“You're fine, though I'm gonna head over here a bit more to make sure any responses come back easier.” the unicorn muttered.
Slipstream watched Rahs start pacing again, then glanced down to the town watching the locals finally seem to notice the bearers trotting into town.
“What are you worried about? Can't you just pop in there if there's any trouble?” the pegasus asked.
Rahs frowned and shook his head, his ears flicking a little.
“Resistance?” Slipstream questioned rubbing a hoof along his amber furred chin.” How is there resistance in a teleport?”
“According to the information he doesn't teleport, it's more like a dimension door, he steps into another world that allows him to move faster, and then steps out where he wants to be.” Snowy Path offered.
Rahs raised an eyebrow questioning at the Unicorn Guard.
“Don't give me that look. Do you not think the Ponyville Guard wouldn't have a record sheet for every notable individual in town. You and your siblings have a whole file cabinet drawer on your own. We all had to study that before we were reassigned to Ponyville.” Snowy path stated. ”Seems Slipstream here just didn't read that part.”
“It's a lot of big technical magicy words.” The pegasus protested.” Besides I'm still stuck on the file cabinet sized notes for the Crusaders. There's no way three little fillies could have done that much.”
“One's the daughter of the Captain of the Wonderbolts, and her second. Ones an Apple apprenticing to a Zebra Shaman. And ones parents are RED, and that same one is is officially Princess Luna's little sister.”
“Yeah that sums it all up nicely.” Slipstream sighed. “Is it too late to change my posting?”
Rahs shook his head patting the pegasus on the back.
[Our Town]
“Welcome..”
“Welcome.”
“Welcome.”
“I now dub this place, uncanny valley.” Twilight muttered.
“Do you have the power to do that?” Rarity asked.
“I will find a way.” Twilight shuddered offering a small nod to another 'Welcoming' pony.
“This is a very pleasant place.” Fluttershy giggled.
“So much for adventure, thanks, map.” Rainbow Dash grumbled.
“Welcome. Pardon my forwardness, but are you an alicorn?” a blue gray unicorn stallion asked, his smile wide enough that the girls could see the town had a decent dentist if nothing else.
“Ummm... yes?” Twilight agreed eyeing the pony cautiously.
“So what brings you to town?” A pure white earth pony stallion with the same smile and very similar mane cut asked as he trotted up.
“We're not exactly sure.” Twilight admitted.
“I see.” the white pony nodded. “ Well all are welcome here in our little village. I'm Double Diamond and this is Party Favor.
“Well howdy. Ah'm Applejack, this here's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle.”
“Ahh, well and you all have your own unique cutie marks.” Double Diamond pointed out.
“Is he looking at my butt?” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“If you don't mind me asking. Has there been any sort of … trouble here recently?” Twilight asked.
“Trouble? I don't think we've ever had any trouble in our little community.” Double Diamond considered.
“Seriously? No big centaur guy stomping around draining magic?” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“Can't say I've seen any one like that.” Double Diamond considered.” We don't get that many visitors out here. Perhaps you'd care to speak with out founder, Starlight Glimmer.”
“She's here?” Twilight blinked.
“Oh yes. Her house is right here at the end of the road.” Double Diamond gestured to the odd house at the end of the road before he started towards it.” Come on, I'll introduce you.”
“This place is very friendly.” Fluttershy smiled.
“This place is very wrong. Somethings rotten in Our Town, not our town, our town of Ponyville but this place called Our Town out here... though given Ponyville's track record there might be something rotten there too. I think I forgot to put the eggs away ….” Pinkie rambled.
The stallion rapped lightly on the door of the house. “Starlight. We have some new visitors.”
“Be ready, anything could come through that door.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
The door opened and a lilac furred unicorn mare stepped out looking the group over, her purple eyes settling on Twilight. Her dark purple with light blue streaked mane was done up a bit fancier than the other mares they had seen in town and she didn't have the vest that made Rarity wince, but her cutie mark was exactly the same as the others.
“Welcome. I'm so pleased to have you here.” Starlight smiled.
“This is Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash , and Twilight Sparkle.”
“Forgive my bluntness but I'm assuming it's Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Starlight questioned.
“I'm not a princess!!” Twilight snapped.
“Ignore that, it's a bit of a hot topic with her dear.” Rarity offered.
“Err right, sorry, we don't get many alicorns out here.” Starlight continued eyeing Twilight warily. ”Sooo how did you hear of our little village?”
“It's kind of a long and confusing story, let's just say we found a map.” Twilight sighed.
“Well, however you found us, we're happy to have you! We're happy to have any pony who want's to experience true friendship for the first time.” Starlight explained.
“Say what” Applejack questioned.
“Oh, indeed. That's what's so unique about our village, you see. Around here, we don't flaunt our special talents because we don't have any special talents to flaunt.” Starlight continued.
“Is that what's going on with the cutie-marks?” Twilight questioned.
“Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!” Starlight offered.
The six of them blinked as a odd drum cadence started up from somewhere.
[Ponyville]
“What the hell!?” Sunset demanded.
“I don't understand the context of that query.” The tree responded.
“Okay, what the Tartarus?”
“I still do not understand. What does that phrase even mean?”
“It's slang!” Sunset pointed out. ”Common slang at that.”
“Miss Shimmer I was only born a week ago. How much slang do you think I could learn in that time?” the tree protested.
“Yeah I suppose you're right on that...... wait a minute.” Sunset frowned. “Are you messing with me? You've got a pretty complex vocabulary for something born a week ago.”
“Define,' Messing with me.”
“GAH!!”
[Our Town]
“Well.... I now know how Sombra feels about random songs like that.” Rarity shuddered.
“I'm more worried she expects us to give up our cutie marks.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“She does seem rather convinced they are a bad thing for some reason.” Twilight sighed.” Though I have serious doubts that we were sent here to join this town.”
“There's no need to be so suspicious. They do seem to be rather happy with their choice.” Fluttershy offered.
“Don't believe the smiles Shy.” Pinkie growled.
“What in tha world is a false promise of a cutie mark. This whole thing is weird.” Applejack muttered.
“It seems we have a bit of another issue. We are being watched.” Rarity offered, the others trying not to notice the plethora of purple eyes that opened in her mane to watch in all directions at once, thankfully they weren't that noticeable past a certain distance. “Not only is Double Diamond hanging close but there are quite a number of other ponies watching us and trying to stay out of sight or pretend they are not.”
“How many?” Twilight questioned.
“Most of the town is, though they are being blatant, some are trying to pretend they are not.” Rarity grumbled the eyes fading before she whipped around to a shop and the stallion there pointing a hoof at something on display..” Oh my stars. WHAT. IS. THAT!?”
“It's the local fashion. We have cloaks this month!” the stallion announced.
“Wha— Ooh, er, perhaps another time, good sir, thank you. “ Rarity shuddered muttering to herself.” No wonder most of them aren't wearing anything.”
“Ah can't believe we ran to the end of Equestria before we even knew what that map was.” Applejack sighed.
“If we were at the end of Equestria, we'd be sitting on a big 'A'! “ Pinkie chimed up. “Get it?”
“Pinkie Pie this is hardly the time for jokes.” Rarity huffed.
“It is always time for jokes.” Pinkie nodded solomly.
“Yes well, why were we even sent out here?” Rarity asked as the group took seats around a table out side what they expected was a cafe.
“Well something is clearly wrong here.” Twilight muttered.
“Way to state the obvious Twi.” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Is this a bad time?” A mare asked as she walked up to the table to take their order.
[ Ponyville]
“ Okay... now is everything settled, or can I expect more bullshit after I explained slang, swearing, and phrasing?” Sunset growled.
“I think so fucker.”
“What did I say about the appropriate timing?” Sunset snapped.
“Sorry.”
“Right. Now then. I have some questions of my own.” Sunset sighed. “ First off why did you send the others to that little town on the map?”
“Because something is wrong there.” the table replied.
“What's wrong there?”
“I do not know.”
“What?” Sunset demanded.
“I do not know what is wrong there. I only know the ones I sent are the best ones to solve the issue. Rahs going might alter that some how though and I am no longer certain if it can be solved.”
“How do you mean.”
“I can pin point a problem to a fairly small area of a quarter of a mile. I do not know what the problem is only that it is something that cannot be solved with out outside interference.” the table offered.
“Hmmm. A disruption in harmony perhaps?” Sunset offered.
“Yes. That sounds correct. “
“Okay that makes a bit of sense given whose seed you sprouted from. I guess Harmony wanted a bit more insurance.” Sunset considered. “There's precedent for that sort of prediction with the zebra god Velkorn, Pinkie's Pinkie sense, and Rahs' dramatic timing.”
“I also have a vague understanding of who would be best suited to go. Which may be a problem as I do not think Rahs was supposed to go with them.” the tree table offered, there didn't seem to be any one source of where the tree spoke from and while it bugged Sunset, she was trying not to dwell on the fact she was sitting inside a sentient creature, tree or not.
“Alright. Well, we'll have to see how that turns out. But now for the most important question.” Sunset nodded.
“What is that?”
“Are you interested in trying to date Rahs? Cause there are already far too many and I don't want another one.” Sunset demanded.
“I'm a tree.” the table responded.
“At this point something like that hardly seems to matter.” Sunset snapped.
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That’s not a no.
If you don't like then you don't need to. Personally, I don't like the whole Starlight's business. It is one of the dumbest reasons I've ever heard for someone to decide to become a necessary villain.
I just had a thought, what if Glimglam went through the same thing as Twilight, in having a magical surge (possibly caused by the Rainboom, because Manehattan and the Pie Family farm are on opposite sides of Equestria, so she'd sure have seen it) that pulled her moon-dog out of the Oneiroi?
That would complicate any relationship Seshat has, also the possibility of her being the child of Harmony and Twilight/mane 6.
I hope the alteration of things is simply that Rahs stops Starlight from getting away and so none of the stupidity at the end of the season happens. :P
Tres and canines have a very close relationship?
How else Timberwolves?
10678294
Starlight is clearly a sociopath in canon.
They can become villains for really dumb reasons, like being bored or making bet about getting away with murder.
They are also have chronically bad judgement, often risking their lives or imprisonment. (very poor long term planning)
Also, she built the god of the performing arts a literal stage for him to put on his shows…
And the goddess of books a library…
And Spike a convention hall…
Clearly she wouldn’t have gone to that much trouble if she wasn’t interested in Rahs.
(R)etired and (E)xtremely (D)angerous....... awesome reference and a great movie.
And so the Turing Test begins! What happens if Sunset fails?
Could have been worse; could have been the The Last House on the Left.
To be fair that's a very valid worry.
Oh you poor sweet summer child......
Good name.... and well..... if you were a Princess..........
Is something that should not actually be something ponies really have an taboo's or the same issues with we have IRL given what a large part of self and non-self identification Cutie Marks are and their placement.
Best part is, you can't tell if it's trolling or legit and either way it's hilarious!
AKA Listen to the damn Tree!
So, more pushing that Rahs being there is going to derail this into Starlight becoming another Rahs suitor. Fun times ahead!
10678449
No, Starlight has issues, but sociopathy is not one of them. She very much does care about others and does feel guilt when she finally realizes she's hurt them. The issue is she doesn't quite get boundaries or what is or is not appropriate and so doesn't realize that what she is doing is wrong, not that she doesn't care if it is or not.
Compare to actual potential MLP Sociopaths like Lightning Dust or Cozy Glow, who clearly, knowingly, and repeatedly give no fucks if others are hurt so long as they get what they want out of it.
10678294
She didn't 'decide to become a villain',she fell into way of thinking that led to her truly believing this was the right thing to do.
Sets up a popcorn stand for the gods.
One bucket 5bits for death and her husband one hug everyone else
10678660
A good call:
10678807
No... no...... it is not...It's a load of cynical idiocy that is too worried about making A POINT!!!!!! and being all topical to give a shit about the actual in 'verse context and details in favor of overly simplifying everything to bitch about it.
10678893
Eh, maybe. Still, the point that Starlight doesn't change, and continues to over-react to everything are valid criticisms of the character as she's written. It'll be interesting to see how TDR plays her, but I don't think it could be worse than the garbage she was OTL.
10678807
Ahhh, Lily Orchard. Fairly good character analysis videos. Horrible writing advice.
10678919
IKR like how Fluttershy was still shy and anxious after one ep of dealing with it, and Applejack was stubborn at any point after Applebuck Season, and RD still had ego issues after MMDW all prove they are shit characters who never change!
That's pretty much the same logic being used for the "Oh Starlight did something bad because she didn't think things through! proves she didn't change!" argument. Yeah, Starlight continues to do things stupid things due to not fully thinking through them and/or failing to consider how others involved might take it. Just like AJ is still innately stubborn, Fluttershy is still an introvert, and RD still has an ego. It's simply who they are. And it is something Starlight does improve on over time.
The only time Starlight did anything with actual malice behind it was the season 5 finale, and that was mostly driven by anger and rage at Twilight destroying everything she had built, from her perspective Twilight was the villain. Which is why her reforming fits and makes sense, Starlight never wanted to hurt people, she was just really bad at maintaining perspective on things.
FIM has always been a show that fully understands that changing who you are takes time and that somethings, are simply part of you and won't change, it's about learning how to better deal with them and use them to your best advantage. Rather then just fully changing the core of who you are in the space of 22 minutes and having that last forever. So yeah, it took Starlight awhile to figure out this whole "Actively understanding all the consequences of my actions before doing something" thing.
i cant wait till twilight get back to the castle and learn that the tree speak......
also i suprise that sunset has not ask about the throne, i was hope tree castle would replay "oh the throne shall form in any place she sit down save her bedroom, "
...in what way is the creepy smiles, barely living crops, boring color scheme, and the constant unsettling "Welcome" in any way "pleasant"?
Warning:
Much of what comes after this point is going to be me ranting about Starlight, feel free to ignore it if you find that annoying.
Which it really shouldn't have, since that would mean that they all have to be decent dentists
You know, the one house that isn't equal to all the others
Well would you look at that, she's different from all the others in town, and she lives in the one building that stands out from all the rest
That is her full name yes
The BS detector is going of
You don't have any skills either, since, you know, Sugar Belle who's probably been baking most of her life can't even make a quarter decent muffin, despite having no doubt years of experience
Yeah so?
10678346
Possible, but the Sparkle siblings meet their future selves due to time traveling shenanigans, so will see
Fluttershy wants to be a tree!
10678935
She still gets a free-pass on literally everything. Seriously, after the Season 5 finale she should have been facing jail-time and a Sombra-grade level of counselling. And yes, the other characters still had their flaws (though Fluttershy's Social Anxiety Disorder did seem to clear up after It Ain't Easy Being Breezies), but OTOH, said flaws never actually endangered Equestria did they? The show was often inconsistent WRT character development, something with TDR has done pretty damn good on so far (with the possible exception of DT, who seems to be a psychopath), so I'm sure we'll get a Glimglam that actually works.
10679025
And when has anyone in Equestria actually acknowledge the existence of any kind of penal system to jail her in? The only place in all of Equestria we've even seen anything resembling a prison is the one room jail house in Appleloosa, outside of that town the concept doesn't seem to exist, and that was more there because it plays into the Wild West themes those eps are built on. The only other option for detention in the country appears to be going straight to banishment to Tartarus, and for the really bad, tossed in a cell in the place they are banished to. And that is reserved only for those beings that are proven to be massive, intentional threats to the world,and who are utterly unrepentant and who imprisoning is the only way to prevent them from doing it again.
That does not apply apply to Starlight, both on the 'intentional' and the 'unrepentant'. She had no idea her messing with time travel would fuck things up the way they did, nor was she trying to, and while that's part of her larger 'not thinking things through' issues, it was finding out the scope of how badly she'd fucked up that made her realize she'd gone too far. She neither meant to do anything of the scope she did (And looked at from a larger context, as far as anypony aside from Spike and Twilight is concerned she really didn't do anything to them) and she was sincere in realizing she'd fucked up and wanting to be better.
At that point.... even if Equestria had a penal system.. what is the point in just locking her away? At best it leads to her doing nothing, at worst it just leads to her growing resentful and relapsing. Versus have her actively working to make things better and help others while being supervised by a pony able to take her down if she does slip back into being a threat.
In the end, it's firmly established well before this that Equestria simply does not operate on the same idea of 'punishment' as we do IRL. The only thing incarceration of some form is seen as needed for is as a last resort to prevent some creature form harming others that cannot be stopped any other way. With a full devotion to reformation above all else and trusting those who have realized they fucked up to try and do better.
Yes I completely agree with sunset here
10679141
Yeah, and let's count the other things we didn't know of until they slapped us in the face, Discord, the Changelings, the Crystal Empire, Tirek, The Yaks, the Hippogriffs, etc. Hells, we know they have a prison in Appleoosa, so they obviously have some sort of police force, even if the Mane 6 doesn't interact with them.
As for 'not thinking things through', no, sorry, anyone who's done enough research to figure out how Twilight and her friends acquired their cutie marks should be more than capable enough of figuring out that messing with that would lead to lots of bad things happening. The fact that she went ahead anyway, for the sake of petty revenge means she was perfectly happy to screw all of Equestria over for her little scheme. Also, I did also mention counselling. Prison would be a simply a place you stick her in-between counselling sessions.
10679458
Said 'police force' consisting of a single sheriff in a single town in the middle of the desert. Outside of that, no matter what goes on and despite several occasions where it coming up was warranted, no mention of anything else even remotely related to it outside of Tartarus. Trying to say "Well other stuff didn't exist till it did" is pointless cause yeah... things don't exist in a story till they are brought into the story. But the in over nine seasons, the only time any form of incarceration was brought up as a recourse for wrong doing were in cases where their was a clear and present danger to others and the threat was clearly not going to be stopped by any other means then being physically incapable of continuing.
Is it impossible that there is in fact a robust and extensive criminal justice system that we've simply never seen? Sure. But there is also no evidence of it existing on either on anything above, at best, a few towns with their own sheriff, and so the "Just through her in jail!" arguement requires making the assumption based on no given facts that Equestria even has that sort of system to facilitate such an action.
Beyond that.... it doesn't matter if it does or does not because doing so would also require the characters to not be who they are. Why would Twilight do that? We've seen the Mane 6 be willing to forgive way worse then what Starlight did to them. On the level of actual harm done to others, Discord eclipses Starlight by several orders of magnitude, Nightmare Moon would have led to the death of nearly all higher life on the planet (Whether or not what Starlight was doing could have requires knowing exactly how what she did worked, branching time lines, multiverse, etc... which we do not know), and if Chryssi had accept Starlight's offer at the end of There and Back Again, they would have accepted that as well. This is just who the Mane 6 and Princesses are that they will forgive and trust others like that.
On the other details..... her research into Twilight that revealed this deep truth.... was showing up to part of a lecture Twilight was doing on that topic. Further, Starlight wasn't exactly rationale at the time so trying to base agreements that are predisposed on thinking about things rationally and logically don't really work.
As to 'Counseling" what do you think the lessons Twilight was giving her was for? To help her develop the social and interpersonal skills she was lacking to function in society.
10679506
Eh, I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree, because this it getting out-of-hand. Nevetheless, I'm interested in seeing how much better Glimglam is this time around than she was in canon.
10678955
“ Here’s the throne “
L Have you checked the bathroom? “. Heheh
10678552
fun fact, the movie was actually based on a comic... funner fact, they had a retired cia agent advise on the movie.
"Welcome."
I get that from more than two random passers-by IRL, and I start wondering if they're of the Body, and where Landru might be hiding.
Right....this character. I'd almost forgotten how much I despise her. Hopefully Twilight won't be fooled by crocodile tears in this universe. She's a lot more canny and wise to sociopathic crap like her in this universe.
That character is the biggest reason I still have been unable to tolerate the show long enough to finish watching the later seasons...regardless of how much I may like the setting and the earlier seasons.
Well, it has been about a month-ish since I've found this series. Well, it was an amazing month. Should have been reading slower, now I have nothing :c
10688713
i usualy post quite fast. This chapters been slowing me down a bit.
RED?
I saw this.
Can ich call her Siri?
10678660
Sociopathy isn't really a recognized term anymore. The current DSM lumps it into antisocial personality disorder.
I couldnt see this end coming... PRICELESS ♡
10689733
If you are asking what RED means then I believe it is a reference to the movies R.E.D. which is an acronym for Retired and Extremely Dangerous.
10934805
Damn fine movie...
We know that Harmony (a Tree), had a romance with Law (a Alicorn). So Sunset Shimmer has a point.
Ok... If a week old Crystal tree joins the romance game i call under age or at least not mature enough
10678255
Good point. Than again... Literally a week old...
10678294
Good point but, and read ne out: Kids show...
10678329
Good point... Hope Celestia don't murder that one...
10678552
I wonder if the steer a armored Carriage by shooting its main gun while falling from the air...
10678955
Sesha be trolling Twilight for the crap she pulls in the future? Legit
That didn't stop Harmony and Law
Sunset the pyromanic
11340061
That is a very good point... Still infant in maturity though.