(3-4) The Solution
“Oh, hey Twilight!” Starlight called as the mare entered their room. “How’d your talk with Cadance go?”
Twilight sighed, flopping onto her bed as she explained, “Not well. She wanted me to believe her when she said she wasn’t guilty.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She told me that she was admitting what she did and told me how she knew it was wrong, and yet said she wasn’t guilty. Like, just… not guilty! I don’t know what we’re supposed to do about this or how to approach it!”
Starlight couldn’t help but chuckle at that as she said, “I remember feeling like that. When you first talked to me, I knew what I was doing wasn’t changing anything or helping me make friends, but I didn’t actually realize what I was doing was ‘wrong’ per se for… a little while…”
“That’s different because you didn’t know,” Twilight countered. “She’s saying that what she did was wrong, she knew it was wrong, and she just… doesn’t care! She thinks we should just ignore her because she won’t change her mind! And I don’t know what to do! She thinks that he’s doing all of this to humiliate her and make ponies hate her!”
“Twilight, calm down,” Starlight said as she got up to put a hoof on her friend's shoulder to stop her from starting to hyperventilate. “Even though I didn’t say it out loud, those first few weeks you were with me, I thought every single one of those things. I thought I did nothing wrong and that you were just doing this to humiliate me in front of everypony. It only seems scarier now because she’s saying her thoughts out loud rather than keeping them internalized like I did.”
“I know, I just…” she trailed off, catching her breath before continuing, “She’s my sister, and I’m really worried about her. It really feels like she doesn’t care. I don’t want everypony to hate her forever like she thinks they will.”
“I’m pretty sure everypony doesn’t hate her, and even if they do, they certainly won’t hate her forever. I mean, look at Discord, or Princess Luna, or heck, even Alex. Not everypony hates them and they were all in the same position as Cadance.” Starlight paused for a moment, then smiled, saying, “I’m sure she’ll be fine as long as she works at it. I believe in her, and so should you. She just needs time. I mean, look at me! She didn’t do half of what I did, and now I’m a counselor in the School of Friendship! And it’s all because of you. I’m sure we can get her to come around, especially with how close you two are.”
Twilight smiled back at her, telling her, “Thank you. Hearing that does make me feel better. Thank you Starlight.”
“No problem. Although, bringing up Alex, do you think using Cogeria would be a good spell to try and use on him? I know it should be combined with something, but I just can’t think of what… although I know it shouldn’t be Fiducia Compelus or Persuadere. I already learned that lesson.”
“A spell for what?” the alicorn asked, before catching herself. “Oh yeah. That. Ummm… I’m not sure that’s a great idea, using Cogeria. Although I do want to talk about that, too.”
“Well, I was thinking that Cogeria could be used to try and make it so that their mind is available for us to work with, but um, what did you want to talk about?”
“I was just wondering how you… plan on going about this is all.”
“What do you mean?”
“About this spell, I mean,” Twilight explained. “Just wanted to know what you were going to do. Are you going to let Sombra take control? Or dispel him entirely?”
“Oh, well, I’d let him make that decision,” Starlight answered simply, giving a small shrug. “But what do you think about combining it with a spell like Duciere or-”
“Wait, what? You’re gonna let him choose? Why? That’s not- why?”
“Well, at first, I was thinking what he was telling me about him and how he felt was a sign of two separate personalities, but then I wondered if actually we were dealing with two entirely separate conscious beings in one body. Well… probably conscious anyway, very close to it at least, just based on what he described.”
Twilight gave her a look like she didn’t know what she was talking about, letting the silence hang in the air for a minute before simply getting out, “What?”
“I was just thinking about it all day, just the what if, and how much sense it made to me. I mean, think about it. From what I understand, personalities don’t come with memories of things that didn’t happen, and they certainly don’t know that they’re a separate personality.”
“Okay, but where-”
“I talked to Princess Hope a few hours before the trial and asked her about it, and she mentioned that he was completely tied up on the inside. I think she described it as a wire? Or string? Or something like that. But anyway, she said that he asked her to untie it, and the string broke completely instead, and she tied it back later.”
“Yes, I know that, but what does-”
“And so from there I got to thinking: what does that string have to do with a personality spell? And then it hit me! What if that string wasn’t a spell, but his actual consciousness? What if-”
“Starlight, you’re a genius!” Twilight said enusiatically as she gasped, clapping her hooves together excitedly as she finally realized where she was going and jumped ahead of where Starlight was at in her story. “You’re saying he tied off part of his consciousness before he cast whatever spell he used so that way only a small part would be affected by his spell, and then once it was untied, he was going to undo whatever he did to himself on his own!”
“Exactly! But when he broke the string, it took the part of him that he was using the spell on and created it as a whole, entirely separate being! That’s why he’s conflicted with himself! Not because he has two personalities, but because he’s literally two ponies in the same body who are trying to control it at the same time! It explains everything! Why he wasn’t conflicted before, why a certain draconequus wasn’t able to do anything to him, everything!”
“That’s great Starlight! But what do we do about it?”
“Don’t you see, Twilight?” she explained. “We don’t need to find a way to send some creature away or change his personality or anything like that! All we need to do is find a spell that’ll place one of the consciousnesses in his body under stasis, use it, and that’s it! Everything will be fixed! Is this great?”
Twilight's smile dropped a bit as she waited a second before hesitantly answering, “It absolutely is, but I think we should talk about it with Princess Luna first.”
“What’s there to talk about?” Starlight asked. “We just find the spell, cast it, and that’s it. Easy as that.”
“Well… I guess you’re right… but I really think we should run it by Luna first and see exactly what she would want to do.”
“Is there something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing. It’s all good. It’s just… it’s nothing. Everything is perfect. I’m just… I’m just a little bit concerned, but it’s nothing. I’m probably overthinking.”
“That’s okay, Twi. I understand. I just can’t believe he was able to manipulate his consciousness on his own like that, and to that extent… he must be one of the most powerful unicorns who ever lived, maybe even more powerful than Starswirl the Bearded! Just thinking about it makes my head spin! We’re gonna need to put this in library books.”
“Absolutely,” the purple pony agreed, continuing carefully, “Although, let’s make sure to not tell him, or anypony really, until we have a spell all picked out and developed. We want to make sure we don’t hurt anypony or get their hopes up.”
“Oh yeah, I understand. I mean, that is how this whole mess started anyway, right?” Starlight chuckled to herself, continuing, “I can’t believe this! I really do impress myself sometimes.”
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That's throwing up more red flags than a Soviet military parade in Moscow. At this point, if she praises herself one more time then I'll be convinced that what Starlight has actually done is invent a thermonuclear warhead and is about to smash it against a wall as hard as she can.
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Then she is HIGHLY Stupid and Suicidal if such a thing happens.
And behold! A third personality! It goes by Arbmos and Xela! Have fun Axel and Sombra.
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"You only have to kick in the door and the whole rotten structure will come crashing down." - Adolf Hitler, two days before the launch of Operation Barbarossa.
The rotten structure would not, in fact, come crashing down, but instead unleash its hidden final form, and rape and pillage most of Central Europe back to the Stone Age.
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i mean what could possibly go wrong smh
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Probably nothing
-Starlight
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she's way too smart and perfect to make mistakes
you know Starlight had the right idea of telling Alex and Luna about it. So Alex knwos the risks and it might not be perfect. Tell him and Hope so they won't be seen as scheming. Cause telling him much later when you're already ready to zap him will send soo many red flags and shatter more of his trust. Like ok bad Twily, don't hide secrets from someone you want to help
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Pssst. I see you reading other stories you have good taste
Um, that sounds like a horribly bad idea. The big question I have is; who goes into stasis? Will it be Somber or Alex? Alex would be against this because he's already had been mind rape till the cows come home, and I doubt he'll jump on board. Hope will be thoroughly against this because she loves Somber if cadence catches wind of this. She'll bring Sombra's personality to the forefront to prove her point.
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Oh no I'm afraid that what she's done is far worse, remember Radiant hope is from the IDW comics meaning we are looking at the same universe where the Umbrum come from, and that is a can of worms that could really screw with everything. Especially with Rabia coming into play. If those morons end up releasing the Umbrum because they were stupid enough to fix what wasn't broke, Rabia could have two puppets heeding her call for the price of one.
Worse it might convince Alex that he is in fact another umbrum with sombra's memories built in or something even more dumb. Mess with his head to the point it might just be enough to stop being a wuss and do something about it which means that most of the drama of the plot comes from.
I’m glad this chapter shows Twilight is learning the depth of Cadence’s problem. While Starlight was able to offer a point of view that is valuable, I feel that it’s still coming short. Starlight really believed she was making a better society, misguided as it was from her experience. Cadence on the other “hoof” wanted only what she thought she was owed, regifting the Crystal Empire to her daughter like an ice cream maker. She didn’t want it, so let her precious “accessory” have it.
I know this post will likely get me some heat but think back to how she left her baby alone for hours. Nevermind not showing and concern for her until it became apparent she was going to be taken away from her. Her reaction to Shining Armor only helped me come to this conclusion when he announced his divorce. While I’d like to say she “cares” about them, the truth is Shining might have been chosen because he was the easiest for her her mold into the ideal husband, with similar plans for her daughter I’m sure. I’m wondering if she picked up this manipulation from Celestia, who while misguided as well. I would hope largely used it for Equestria’s benefit, but it’s hard to say for sure.
Im all caught up, and this has been a awesome read. I can't wait for more.
I have to hend it to Twilight, she's really taking this seriously. Although giving him the xhoice isn't really a good idea at all since there's the two of them jammed together, and Alex has no desire to be Sombra at all. Alex is innocent of Sombra's crimes and trying to combine them woukd just be corrupting and sacrificing an innocent victim. Sombra on the other hand is unrepentantly evil.
Some might say sacrificing anyone is a bad idea, but the only real alternative to killing Sombra to let Alex take control is to condemn Alex for someone else's crimes. And that's something we KNOW Fluttershy won't help with.
Honestly Starlight, you're too humble.
Because it's a free country? And he's the king of a free country at that?
Well...she's perfectly aware that the only reason Sombra isn't being Sombra is because of Alex...separating the two without some sort of plan would be a dangerous prospect indeed.
Well, increasing the divide might look like a solution, but it really.... Isn't.
I FREAKIN KNEW IT! So somehow Sombra managed to grab the consciousness of another living being from another world... dang Sombra is a magical prodigy to be able to do that... though honestly he's not even a pony and is a an umbrum tranformed into a unicorn so... yeah...