The Conjuration Map, Episode Two, Epilogue.
Twilight Gets a Puppy
Season 5
By TDR
The Conjuration Map,
Episode Two,
Epilogue.
[ Cutie mark Vault]
Rahs flung a pony aside who wasn't fast enough to move out of his way as he entered the cave once again. A glance around showed that a number of ponies still hadn't moved from where they fell when their marks came back. Some of them were hyperventilating and others simply weeping. Those unaffected were trying to help those that were, or were getting in his way for some reason.
Rahs' attention however quickly zeroed in on his sister.
Twilight was sitting on Rarity's couch, hyperventilating as Witch-Jack, Rarity, and Fluttershy clustered around her. Witch-Jack was looming, glaring at any other pony in the cave that even looked like they were going to come close to Twilight. Rarity was doing much the same and with the shadows floating around her black furred form she was doing a better job than Witch-Jack. Fluttershy was humming softly trying to calm her friend with little success.
Dash was still scouting the town and Pinkie was trying to help the others in the cave.
Rahs strode over pulling off his coat and draping it over Twilight before taking a seat and pulling her into his lap, making sure she didn't feel bound, but could still tell he was there. He hadn't seen Twilight freak out like this in a long time. He could hear her muttering something under her breath, but she was going to fast for him to understand it. Her eyes were little pin pricks as she rocked against him not seeming to notice him for the moment.
Rahs let out a low sigh.
“Woof. Bark. Arf. Rrrr...” Rahs spoke at a low volume, slowly counting upwards for her, taking deep breaths as he did so, giving her two things to focus on.
After a few minutes Twilight's breathing started to return to normal though Rahs continued.
Rainbow Dash frowned, looking skyward from her perch atop of Starlight Glimmer's house. A number of ponies had shown up there either intent on burning the place down or taking something out of it. Rainbow Dash had prevented that, either with words, or her hooves. Given she was spoiling for a fight and was trained to fight, meant most of them left the place alone after a few ponies were sent violently to an unscheduled nap time.
Rainbow Dash didn't like waiting, but the training she underwent as a Wonderbolt, though not the full training, thus far included quite a number of ERT, or Emergency Response Team courses. One of the first things taught in the case of a crime was to ensure that the crime scene was undisturbed until a team could get there. While she couldn't secure the whole town, the house of the main perp was something she could lock down.
So she did.
It had only been maybe thirty minutes since Rahs had first shown up when she felt her feathers twitch as the air pressure changed over the town.
Looking up to the thick cloud cover again she saw why almost immediately.
The dark oak underside of an airship broke the cloud cover like a shark passing through a school of fish. A swarm of pegasi and thestril flowed around the craft as it rapidly descended.
The air ship was a newly launched warship assigned to the night guard, while it's construction wasn't complete in time to be used against Tirek, but it was finished soon after. It utilized crystal technologies, mithril hull reinforcement a series of ward patterns laid down by some of the best mages in Canterlot and was more protected than even Golden Oaks according to what she had heard. The dark blue envelop was divided in to numerous reinforced cells and even if the air bag was some how destroyed the ship could maintain itself in the air due to levitation runes, which would allow it to easily make an emergency landing either immediately or right after it took out what blew up it's air bag. It boasted minotaur cannons, balista, and other armaments while being both the heaviest armored and fastest airship of it's size in the fleet.
Princess Luna herself had christened it, The Waning Moon.
Standing on the prow of the ship staring down at the town, said Princess regarded 'Our Town' even as the swarms of Guards descended ahead of the craft to secure the place.
“Shit. Keep us informed they said......” Rainbow Dash muttered." They were ready to fuck shit up."
[ Later]
“Nothing of note was found. Starlight evidently didn't keep any journals or spell books in her home and aside from a list of town supplies and work orders there wasn't anything useful.” Luna stated to a large mirror that reflected the visage of Princess Celestia.
The magic communication mirrors were a rarity and while the Guard could very much use this sort of instant communication, the unweildly size and power cost to maintain them made it useless for anything beyond static locations having them. Or in this case, a massive warship.
“How is Twilight?” Celestia asked.
“Rahs says she is doing better. The shock to her system with the removal of her cutie mark as well as not being able to understand her brother or feel the connection any more threw her for a loop. “ Luna sighed. “ She is able to understand him again now, but that throws everything we thought we knew about our moon dogs connections to their partners out the window. The loss of a cutie mark should not remove the link. Moon Dogs pups pair with foals before they even get a cutie mark.”
“Perhaps it is something unique to Twilight and Rahs. The two of them did ascend together after all. It may also simply be that the magic traveled the link to Rahs and the removal of the connection was what it affected with him.”Celestia considered. “I still find it odd that a spell like that would have worked on the goddess of magic.”
“We had a team look over what was left of the ritual area. It is quite complex and clearly designed for those who might be strong enough to resist. Though to be fair, just because one is a god of something does not make one immune to it.” Luna offered. “Hence why you have such issues with sunburns if you are out too much in your own sun. What bothers us the most is it was also designed for individuals like Applejack.”
“Like Applejack?” Celestia blinked. “Witch Wolf infected ponies?”
“Indeed.”
“That means there are more of them out there as she had to learn that from some place.” Celestia frowned.
“We already knew that.” Luna added.
“What? How?”
“Rahs has gained the major portfolio Witch Wolf, to go along with Moon Dog.” Luna pointed out.
“When?”
“During the Tantabus situation.”
“Why didn't you tell me!?”Celestia demanded.” This is serious, as far as we know there has to be at least twenty individuals for there to be a god of a race.”
Luna raised an eyebrow at her sisters demand.
Celestia blinked then flattened her ears with a sigh. “Fair enough, but still.”
“What part of Rahs is the god of Witch Wolves did you not hear. If they are out there and they are a problem do you not think they would have been found by now? Do you not think Rahs wouldn't deal with them if they 'became' a problem now?” Luna asked.
“Fine. I will leave that to him and likely you to sort out, but keep me informed. Though on the subject of moon dogs, you mentioned that Rahs said he couldn't find one connected to Starlight?” Celestia asked.
“Indeed, we looked ourselves when we arrived. Starlight does not have a moon dog connected to her. She does not show up in the dream realm as the Sparkles once didn't.” Luna explained. “We have mentioned this before that not all individuals are paired with moon dogs. Some creatures simply do not dream. But without moon dogs eating the over abundance of magic that creatures produce,if they can adjust to the power they can become quite potent. Your friend Thunderbolt has no moon dog. Neither does Rhederic Pelt. Both of them are exceptional individuals, and there are several members of the Guard like that as well we are watching. Far more that we expected in truth, even if the numbers are still only in the single digits. It is not impossible that Starlight controls such power because it has backed up within her. We would need to capture her to find out for certain.”
“What of the rest of the towns ponies?” Celestia considered.
“Out of the sixty eight towns ponies, four of the most recent are foalnappings who were converted against their will. We found a house rigged up with a speaker system that piped in 'positive messages.” Luna frowned. “A few of them are reported missing ponies as well. The majority of them are upset and feel they were tricked, yet there are a worrying number who still feel the same as they did before, that their cutie marks are a curse. A couple are also being detained for now until their involvement in this becomes clear. Like the Empire we will probably need to have a large number of psychologists and therapists speak with every pony here.”
Celestia was silent for a moment before she finally spoke again.
“Pride?”
“We believe so. We have Guards checking the mines where she escaped to. Progress is slowed as they are infested with monsters. We are unsure how Starlight might have gotten through, or if she did at all.”Luna frowned.” Ponies are posted at each mine exit we could find, but thus far no luck.”
“I see. I'll have some posters made just in case. Was there anything else?” Celestia questioned.
“Yes.”
“Oh?”
“Rahs borrowed Dr. Choppy before they all headed home.”
“That does not sound good.”
[Ponyville, the next day]
“BORK!!!” Rahs snapped, brandishing a very large ax as he strode into the map room.
Sunset yelped as Rahs burst in, she hadn't heard any one having come back yet.
“Rahs what is going on!?” Sunset demanded.
“BORK!”
“He is rather upset that Twilight was injured in the mission I sent them on.” the tree offered.
Rahs and Sunset paused at that statement, Rahs being surprised at the tree speaking. Sunset surprised in what was said and that the tree could understand Rahs.
“1670 degrees to 1713 degrees Celsius.” Sunset recited her eyes narrowing.
“For the last time Sunset I am not interested in Rahs that way.” the table stated in a way that included an eye roll from something without eyes.
“WOOF!” Rahs snapped.
“As I told Sunset I do not know what you will find when a mission comes up. I can only tell when there is a problem, where it is, and who would be best sent to deal with it when the problem arises.”the tree offered.
“It has a premonition power, like the Pinkie Sense and what the god Velkorn supposedly has. Granted it seems to be limited.” Sunset explained. “Also enough with the ax, you're threatening something that's the equivalent to a newborn.”
Rahs frowned resting the ax on his shoulder as he growled.
“No. I do not know what happened. I also do not know if you being there changed the outcome. I know sending the six out there had the best possible outcome, with you and the guards there, that might have changed.”
“BORK!”
“Really? That may have been why I felt sending all six was best. If the issue was that bad simply sending them all did have the highest chance of succeeding.”
“WUFF!”
“Nothing is stopping any of you from ignoring what I say, but the chance of the situation getting worse is a real possibility. What would have happened if this Starlight's plans had continued?”
Rahs growled.
“So you see my point. We have no idea if the outcome would have been different from you being there or not, and thus while you see your actions as having fixed the problem, I can view that running Starlight off as you did may have made things worse in the long run. Perhaps the others could have convinced her that her plan was bad, or convinced the villagers that following her was bad. Instead you brought up a violent solution which may or may not have made things better or worse.” The tree continued. “ In fact, by your own description of the story, your sister did not start to freak out until she couldn't understand you. Had you not been there to speak with her, perhaps she would have never known that your connection was gone and been fine.”
“BORK!”
“I don't understand the context of that. I am a tree and do not possess the ability to self reproduce as you suggest. Nor do I understand why you would tell me to do so.”
Rahs growled flattening his ears to his head before finally just slapping his face with a paw and muttering something.
“Why are you counting?”
“Hey, Seshat. Sorry I threatened to set you on fire. “ Sunset offered drawing the trees attention to her. “ I'm pretty sure he has less than zero interest in you now, so thanks for that.”
“You are... welcome?” the tree offered.
“Woof?”
“No, I cannot make any one do anything they do not wish to do. I can only direct on what I feel is correct for the situation. As such while I would strongly suggest the ones I select to go, I cannot say that they are to be the only ones. I can only suggest where ponies are supposed to be. Hence why I pointed out that Sunset was to stay at the farm.”
“Well you got me on that one. Where the Crusaders learned about nitroglycerin is anyone's guess.” Sunset sighed, before grinning.” But setting off what they made at the edge of the farm was damn fun! It only blew out three windows in town.”
Rahs looked at Sunset and sighed.
“Ruff.”
“As I said I cannot stop you if you decided to go along, just know that unless I feel you are supposed to be there I will not suggest it and events may change.” Seshat explained. “Though as a side note I have installed the master bathroom attached to the large room by the stage as you wanted, as well as the hallway to another bedroom for Sunset as she requested.”
“You weren't supposed to say that part!”Sunset stammered.
“To repeat the phrase you used before, hardened crap.”
Rahs blinked looking at Sunset as the mare buried her head in her hooves.
“She means, tough shit.....”Sunset growled.
“Is that not what I said?”
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*snickers* i like the tree already, it reminds me of data early on in TNG.
its going to be interesting seeing how not revealing that starlight was being a hipocrite effects things...if at all.
Trixe/Saturnia/Jynx/Applejack : Hey, that was cheating!
Trixe/Saturnia : Trixie/I demand one too!
Jynx : I demand you make an underground passage to my tunnel!
Twilight : No, no, and no! I will not have my resident become my brother's hen house.
Applejack : [thinking] Maybe Ah should make the top floor of the crystal barn into a mini theatre and a bedroom...
D'awwwwwwwwwwwww
They know what Princess Twilight Tuesday Sparkle getting taken down, even for a moment, means in terms of threat response needed. Again... take note Adagio! Also.... that is a freaking epicly badass airship.....
Hmmm, interesting way to explain Starlight's power in this 'verse/ Though, there never really was a need to 'explain' it, she's simply on the extreme upper end of the Bell Curve for magical potential.
Like I said..... this wasn't the sort of issue that just beating up Starlight was going to fix.
How is Sunset allowed to be near the CMC? That's like storing fertilizer next to a firework warehouse.
Okay that wrapped up nice. Good to see the story making clear that Rahs showing up may have screwed things up rather hard. Do still feel the story went a bit out of it's way to make things darker then needed and that we have no evidence for, but it's still better then it has been about that.
Also.... Twilight has a castle that can alter it's own interior..... cool... and let us hope Spike never learns of this, we do not need the CMC getting their own super secret lab.
The fact that Startlight's spell removed Twilight's link goes with my headcanon that Starlight's spell does more than remove the cutie mark, it takes a chunk of the pony's soul and/or magic with it. This is shown when she swapped Celestia and Luna their magic colors were swapped as well. They weren't just using each other's abilities, they were using each other's magic.
This also explains why AJ, Rarity, and Fluttershy went berserk when their marks were removed, as it took chunks of the pony part of their souls creating an imbalance that let their other side (witch-wolf, tantabus, and vampire fruit-bat) take over. The equalizing effect is probably what the spell fills in the missing space with.
Bottom line, on examination Starlight's spell is hella scary...
Unfortunately as satisfying as seeing Starlight get the crap beat out of her was, I think Seshat is right in that this may hurt long term. Since Starlight was never revealed as a hypocrite, she might still have willing followers on her side when she shows up again.
10692160
Yeah, that's always been what makes the most sense, since it's been driven home over and over that a Cutie Mark is not some mystical add-on that grants a pony new skills, or forces them to act in certain ways (Not counting conditions like Cutie-Pox of course), all a Cutie Mark is is a symbol of who that pony is, so pulling off the magical dye job on their flank alone should do nothing. But, if instead that spell is removing that core identity of who the pony is, the part of them tied to why they have the mark they do.......
10692160
the question is would raves and the guards being absent changed things? i dont think anything massive would have changed from the present proberbly we would have seen the 6 detained more by starlight but even with raves absent he would go as soon as twilight's link to him was disrupted.
There is something i think was glossed over for this mainly how the ponys reactid to starlights spell. dont get me wrong i think if some things were more like the show then calling the 6 of them would work but due to rarity, applejack and fluttershys new states and twilights link i think this was doomed for failure in the tree's eyes as if the tree calling them by cutie marks is calling the being who is the cutie marks owner then maby the link would be ok but the tree then had 3 rouge elements in her calculations of witch jack, nightmare rarity and batty shy. i dont remember if their marks changed to accomidate these new bits of them but if they dident they like raves they were likely not in the calcualtion of sucsess.
O i am going to love Seshat in season 5.
this is a grate chapter and the snark is out standing.
Waning Moon?
Aint that Penswords blade?
Which location suffered the sudden effects of a Gojira Rampage?
Why is the tree-castle named after the Egyptian goddess of wisdom? I mean, thematically, it makes sense, but why? Was "Athena" or "Minerva" a little too well-known or on-the-nose?
10692217
Book horse decided to be smart.
10692202
First off, it's Rahs. Second, that's a possibility. I think the main issue is that Starlight wasn't revealed as still having her own mark, showing her to be a hypocrite to the ponies that were actually all in on her anti-cutie mark rhetoric, but we don't know if Rahs alone stopped it or the others changes meant it would never have happened anyway. If it is true that Seshat hasn't taken the altered states of half the mane 6 into account, then it's possible than any of the other missions involving them might not go as planned either.
lol
10692226
so in short yea im not sure why i wrote raves maby thats what my mind thought he was called? also it might not all be bad that starlight wasent reviled as while admitidly her not having her hipocricy exposed leaves some followers and her message alive it also makes it so if the movment grows and then it is exposed they might assume that she took her mark back and take that as a sign that she was admiting weakness without it that way. also i dont think there as been any real mention of anyone who hates the gods unless it was sombras dad (forgot his name) so since starlight is loose maby we might see some anti god group form. im pointing this out as since apparently the only way to kill a god is through draining them dry (like the past dimond dog god) or having them give up their portfolios and die then it is likely with starlights spell as a example then they might soon have a spell or method to app a way to end a god.
10690768
wait that was a major portfolio? i though it was a minor one? did i misread it?
10692154
But why? If their moon dogs and Luna keep track of their “inventions” and “ideas” image what the advancements to warfare would be like.
Interesting titbit, being a racial God means there's at least twenty individuals of that race.
10692271
Do you really want the Godamn CMC creating a nuke?
Heh, the tree being it's own character is great! Looking forward to more Seshat.
Also, how different will Starlight be now that she knows Rahs wants to kill her?
"Princess Luna herself had christened it, The Waning Moon."
Love all your subtle Stories in stone reference's
Starlight is gonna be cadaverific by the end of this isn't she. No redemptions here, just a magic bolt between the eyes if she's lucky.
10692266
3rd, dude, brush up on capitalization and punctuation. Your posts are hard to read.
10692307
YES
10692416
yea sorry not my strong suit. i try and keep things breif for the most part so it is less irritating
Shouldn't have stopped Rahs. There is going to be no chunks taken out your butts, you are going to find that when this comes back it is simply going to REMOVE your ass.
A LOT has changed since Twilight got a puppy.
10692214
Hey, don’t look at me, I avoid settlements
...........
The "master bathroom" is it supposed be that or is it supposed to be "master bedroom"?
Also, really liking Seshat it should make or an interesting addition to the cast
10692154
I'd like to point out that some have made good points on that the course of the story had already changed.
One point I'd like to repeat that has been commented on before is that there were three rogue elements, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack. Due to their transformations, things could have gone awry fast.
While Rhas's methods were not the best, nor perhaps the most optimal, in this case we can say it may have been a less unfavorable outcome. Though I do believe that it'll have its own consequences, but we'll see.
It can be said that the tree made a potential grievous error in the accounts of their transformations and alter egos. Lets just hope that next time Seshat can account for it and make better decisions. With such changes, I do believe that it would have effected the outcome either way.
10692315
She knows Rahs is after her (though she doesn't know who he actually is), but she might not know that she's now the most wanted mare in Equestria.
10692266
(The God of Buffalo was drained and buried under a mountain and still survived, this is because while he was drained of his magic he was still a God and thus immortal.)
Keep in mind that this is just my speculation on how it was with Forth, I could be wrong.
Forth's case was a bit unique as he was only just barely the God of Diamond Dogs due to their ancestors crossbreading with Witch Wolves.
As such there are no "pure" DD's alive which caused Forth to become something similar to the ghost of a god, or an entity that could only exist due to what little power he got from his portfolio that, at this point, seems to have only held Diamond Dogs as they were before they crossbreed with Witch Wolves during the War of the Night.
This means that when Tirek drained Forth of his power there was no longer anything fueling his near non exsiting existence and so what was left of Forth just faded away and his portfolio went to another.
I don't think the tree's premenitions included witchjack, nightmarity or fluttershy(dunno what to call her altered state) having the reactions they did to the spell. This mission was doomed to have a violent resolution right from the very start.
10692764
I believe her altered state is called flutterbat
10692220
Hey, rereading from the beginning (while reading the current chapters) did you allude to the still being alive witch wolf all the way back in Pony and Dog Show,
epilogue 3 (season 1)?
10692696
True, things were always going to go off the rails, it's just the way it happened felt.. too rushed and too much like the story was just trying to get this over with ASAP. Also the whole treating the spell like it was outright mind control that ponies snapped out of once they had their mark back and suddenly half the town were foalnapped and mind controlled to be there kind of set me on edge about things to begin with. The epilogue did fix some of that by making clear most of the ponies were still true believing cultists, but we have zero evidence that anypony in Our Town hadn't chosen to be there. Granted likely after a lot of persuading and a number of the same tactics that IRL cults use to convince people into joining them, but not the "Grabbed off the street, cutie mark drained, and suddenly a loyal little cultist this implied was happening.
It's mostly the combo of both those things that makes me dislike that way the story ended thing. Though again, the epilogue does soften both of those issues rather well.
Honestly, Starlights entire skillset is pretty rushed as is, from CM manipulation, to TIME MAGIC, then to emotional manipulation ( Her own TBF ), then to more CM manipulation, so it's not like her skills are unprecedented. That being the case, I hope she actually survives considering this story has a pretty much "No own dies, everyone lives" type of vibe
Speaking of dying, man is Storm King going to get his ass wrecked, so very, very wrecked
A warship. Well tempest won’t be steam rolling cantetlot.
I love how most of these situations are solved far faster than canon through the liberal application of gratuitous violence.
10692929
Nah first mention of that was in the daring do episode
The tree should be a fun addition and goddamn the storm king is gonna get his ass beat if he invades.
Unless he takes the Warships construction into account and sends more forces then in cannon.
10693572
right now there is one.
10693632
One ship can do a lot of damage with the right commander
10693638
One Twilight can do a lot of damage with the right amount of anger
10693243
She'll be taking on at least five (maybe more) gods, none of which are going to be passive about being invaded. The only reason Tempest will get out alive will be the fact that TDR has been loathe to kill off any of the show characters (the only actual casualties thus far AFAICT have been Butch and his pack, and Forthe), even the ones who died OTL.
10693957
Cause it's a comedy show this time. But yes i have only killed off OCs thus far. Unless you Count canon Ships i've sunk. All hands lost.
10694134
Well as with other great authors (T. Pratchett, Ursula Vernon, etc.) the comedy is inherent, but comedy is not the only point the story hits, there's also drama, romance, etc.
10693810
I think that can safely be said for all the sparkles at this point
Seshat is funny.
10692217
I would have gone with Hypatia or Mnemosyne.