Indignation, Part 2
Princess Celestia wakes from her six year long coma to find a world changed for the better, just not in the way she hoped.
Celestia didn't know what to believe anymore.
Ever since she arrived on this wretched planet she'd been at the mercy of cruel fate in a universe that was doggedly determined to make her life an absolute Hell at every given opportunity. Slowly but surely it had taken everything away from her; her family, her kingdom, her purpose. Her life was all she had left, and even that will soon be taken as well.
It was pathetic, truly, to be brought so low in such a short amount of time.
Once, she was the center.
Much like the very sun bound to her will, everything revolved around her.
Centuries ago, the land that would become Equestria was nothing but a harsh, untamed landscape where the strong oppressed the weak, where the cruel ruled without recourse, where might makes right.
Petty tribalism, violent skirmishes and devastating raids were commonplace between the fragmented pony tribes and their vicious neighbors. The desire to expand and the need to protect drove many an individuals to commit acts of heroism and atrocities alike, all in the name of conquest and preservation.
The cycle of violence all changed when Celestia and Luna, then, Sunnyvale and Mooncloud, ascended to Alicornhood with the help of Starswirl the Bearded and assumed control of the region. Through sunshine and fire, starlight and shadows, the balance of power was forcefully upended and the paradigm changed as they saw fit.
They had been appointed this great purpose by Starswirl himself, who genuinely believed their newfound capabilities would be the key to a brighter tomorrow for ponykind and the world. Much was demanded by those who are given and Celestia threw herself into this new life with every intention of living up to that belief.
Too often have the fires of ambition led civilizations to ruin, their downfall brought on by unchecked progress, adherence to foolish beliefs, or hubris. The fate of these ancient kingdoms and fallen dynasties were all predictable, but their tragic demise would serve as a lesson to those who would seek to avoid those mistakes. Lessons that Celestia took to heart dutifully.
She will not make those same mistakes.
Everything she had done, censoring any information that was deemed harmful to the masses or too painful to be worth remembering, limiting the extent of her people's cultural growth and speed of technological achievements, supporting the creation of the Church of Harmony and establishing its dogma, was to ensure a future where nopony would suffer the horrors she and Luna experienced ever again.
They not easy choices to make.
No, they were necessary.
Those who submitted, received.
Those who resisted, perished.
From chaos they forged order.
From discord, harmony.
Luna was the hoof; the might that enforced peace and justice. Though she was no stranger to the nature of politics she often found it more efficient to take charge than to sit around and deliberate. Thus she became more an avenger than a politician and acted as Equestria's sword arm.
Her viewpoint and jealousy of Celestia's day would eventually lead her down the path to becoming Nightmare Moon sometime later, but that story has already been resolved...
Celestia was the voice; her word was law, and leadership sacrosanct. Of the two it fell upon her to grab hold of the reins and guide ponykind towards a brighter tomorrow and to erase the horrors of the past.
The pressure of being princess at such a young age and saddled with so much crippling emotional baggage was a monumental one, yet she shouldered the burden regardless and soldiered on with the future of a fledgling nation bearing down on her back.
Equestria did not need Sunnyvale, the broken war orphan. No, it needed Princess Celestia, the living deific will of ponykind.
Together, they led their people to prosperity and culled the forces of evil wherever it festered. From dark forces to rival countries, all were thwarted by their might, by pony might. Before long, Equestria had risen from the bloodstained soil and became what all others have failed to be, a civilization beyond compare. Her little ponies will live long virtuous lives free of pain and suffering. They will be enlightened, taught the ways of friendship and harmony so that they too may teach others to be more.
And for a time, this was the way of the world.
All was right. The ponies of Equestria had everything.
Celestia had everything.
...Now, she had no magic, no strength, and no hope.
Currently Celestia remained trapped in her cell, having recovered from a harrowing near death experience only hours prior. She could still feel the lingering tingle of needles undulate beneath her flesh and the acrid taste of bile rising up her throat. The sensation was so indescribably horrific that the thought alone made her shudder in terror. If she hated the Thalmann Generators before, she utterly despised them now.
With her body crippled and spirit broken she had no choice but to submit to the demands of her human captors even as her execution drew ever closer.
The terror of death was a powerful emotion that wasn't exclusively tied to any one outlook. No one is truly immune to it, and even those who claim to not fear death only do so either out of respect or resignation of its inevitability.
Celestia counted herself among those who had gracefully resigned themselves to the bitter end, but her body language betrayed her true feelings. Whatever simmering anger or lingering confidence she held onto before had evaporated after Thalmann's brief but enthusiastic security demonstration. Since then her movements were slow and lethargic, lacking any sense of drive or impulse as she laid atop her ruined bed. Deep down she was in despair, and her gloomy disposition reflected that.
But as it were, an immediate death was more preferable than seeing her worldview and legacy crumble right before her very eyes.
Thalmann had seen to it that she have access to the news and history logs. They displayed everything on a series of holographic screens; current affair, world news, records of important events, various pieces of media, and more. What she saw caused her stomach to twist itself into knots and made her question nearly everything she had come to ever know and believe.
Her little ponies were happy, genuinely happy living alongside humans. Even more so, they were thriving. In little more than half a decade's time they have been able to repair the wounds wrought by the Conversion war, painstakingly rebuilding the bridge of co-existence she made sure to burn years earlier.
There were countless stories of mundane import wherein humans and ponies simply are, and that in and of itself baffled her.
Local mare wins pie eating contest at Dallas county fair.
Manehattan University to honor first human alumnis of class of 2055.
UN to fund mixed species joint task force codenamed: Centaur.
She couldn't believe it, she refused to.
Humans are evil, black-hearted creatures that only know how to corrupt and destroy. Throughout the time she spent observing them they have shown little signs of ever being able to change their wicked ways and whatever change they did manage to achieve was always forgotten in a generation's time anyway, rendering any and all effort made since then moot.
By virtue of morals alone they were utterly incompatible with her ponies. And yet, the more she read, watched and listened, the more incredulous she becomes when she realized that not only have they somehow managed to live together in harmony but had done so without any of her guidance or wisdom.
To further rub salt in the wounds, she'd learned she was reviled by the greater pony population.
Tyrant.
Despot.
Monster.
Murderer.
She was called all these things and more by her own subjects, her name spoken as a horrid curse greater than the likes of such villains as Tirek, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis.
Twilight Sparkle, now ambassador, had exposed to the world the truth of Equus, the world they'd left behind all those years ago under the guise of spreading enlightenment to the greater multiiverse beyond their cosmic borders.
The whole of Equestria now knew its true fate; their old homeworld laid floating in the cold void of space, an uninhabitable rock forever trapped between the blazing atomic heat of a dying sun and the hellish winter chill of an indifferent moon, it's denizen all but extinct. Abandoned, but not forgotten.
This terrible revelation not only destroyed Celestia's image, it single-handedly dismantled nearly everything she had carefully built up over the course of millennia. A domino effect was set into motion and the old order became defunct practically overnight.
The Church of Harmony lost all credibility and crumbled in a mere matter of months, its once venerable temple's were vandalized and fraudulent scripture burned in massive roaring pyres.
Riots broke out all over Equestria. Images and iconography of Celestia were destroyed or torn down by furious mobs venting their hate and frustrations at her for bringing ruin to their lives. Amidst the anarchy, castle Canterlot was raided, robbed of all valuable and anything that wasn't nailed down. Silverware, shiny trinkets, velvet curtains, even the marble flooring was broken apart and stolen in various misshapen chunks.
Nothing was safe from the hoof of justice.
Nothing, save for the tomb of Luna.
Anger and frustration swelled within Celestia's heart. She seethed silently however, her face contorting into one of barely repressed rage. She shot a burning glare at the ponies that maintained her cage, who did their best to avoid eye contact with her. They were ingrates, every one of them. She had done everything for her little ponies. Everything! Equestria was the paradise on earth it was because of her.
They didn't understand the hardships she had endured or the moral complexities of her motives, they couldn't. Regular ponies rarely make it past the first century before expiring, she has lived several lifetimes and attained a higher level of consciousness only her fellow alicorns could comprehend. All the loss, the personal sacrifices, the difficult choices she was forced to make and the consequences that followed were all done according to the meticulous perfection of the grand design.
Ponies were the chosen people.
They may not have started that way, but Celestia and Luna had uplifted their kinfolk to their rightful place as the heralds of all that is good and pure in the universe.
This one, and the ones beyond.
Perhaps the only bit of information that didn't rile her up were the exploits of the Equestrian Freedom Fighters.
The direct result of her emergency 'Fallen Protocol', they are the unified remnants of the Equestrian Secret Service, Royal Guard, Wonderbolts and whatever pony out there that still believed in her and the Equestrian ideal. These brave mares and stallions, true Equestrian's all, were the heart and soul of her contingency plan, the physical echo of her supreme authority during her time in a coma and the instruments of Equestria's great rebirth.
...Truth be told, she had actually forgotten all about it. While she had trusted Agent Sweetie Drops with this monumental task she had assumed the plan never even took off since she was so sure Canterlot and everypony in it would be annihilated in a rain of heavy ordinance.
Evidently that was not the case.
Irregardless of that fact, these freedom fighters rallying in her honor continue to wage war against humanity, defiantly fighting against humanity with every ounce of strength they could muster. This underdog story of the little guy going up against the oppressive regime would usually be seen as endearing... were it not so ineffectual and counter-intuitive.
Celestia was a master liar. She knew how to lie, when to lie and the careful steps it took to maintain that web of deception for decades if not centuries to come. It was second nature to her in the way breathing was, and a skill that's almost mandatory as a ruler. But even she couldn't justify the efficacy of the EFF, or lack thereof.
According to the news reports the EFF were estimated to be around several thousand strong at the most, which was paltry compared to the standing occupying forces in Equestria, let alone the entire world. Their collective strength, even when bolstered by all the weaponry and artifacts she had set aside for them, was barely enough to make a dent in the existing power structure.
They were considered a thorn in the side at best and a pitiable nuisance at worst.
For six years their shadow war had comprised of hit and run attacks, assassinations and bombings across the globe. Their efforts to restore Equestria to its former glory and to free her from the clutches of her human captors had fallen short at almost every conceivable angle. The failed attempt to make away with the Scroll of Ascension was perhaps the most damning of their failures as its destruction at the hooves of Twilight effectively killed off the alicorns for good, along with the power that would've rebuilt Equestria.
So far, all their futile struggling in the face of an overwhelmingly humanist future had done was paint a target on their backs and earned them the ire of everyone on the planet, especially from their own kinfolk.
Much as it pains her to admit it, the EFF had no hope whatsoever at winning their war.
If it could even be called that...
After some time, Professor Thalmann returned to the cell along with an black furred unicorn with a curly eyebrow dressed in a chef's uniform wheeling in a small metal cart. Atop the cart was a silver tray, a large plate covered with a cloche and a vase with a single fake flower in it. If the cell wasn't isolated she would've been able to smell the tantalizing aroma wafting out from the seams.
The unicorn approached the side of the cell where a conveyor was and slotted in the meal. With a push of a button, the door closed and brought the meal safely into Celestia's cell.
Celestia's nose twitched at the scent.
She paused in her reading and snapped her head over to the source of the smell so quickly it was a miracle it didn't fly off at mach speeds. With an undignified look of hunger plastered on her face she hastily brought the tray beside her and lifted the cloche, revealing in a puff of steam an exquisite meal of sautéed vegetables, crisp leafy greens and pan fried hay steaks.
It was her favorite meal and it shocked her to receive such a gourmet dish at all.
She picked up one of the utensils nearby and hesitantly brought it close to the food, stopping short as her paranoia began flaring up. Her hoof began to tremble as she looks up to find the professor staring down at her.
Thalmann let out a groan before speaking. "It's not poisoned, Celestia. It isn't filled with razor blades or made out of anything other than regular ingredients. It's just food. Edible foodstuffs," he clarified plainly, gesturing to the unicorn beside him. "I'm sure you understand by now that most people, myself included, don't believe you deserve to eat something so decadent. But Vine Smoke here, in spite of his animosity towards you firmly believes no one deserves to be denied a decent meal, no matter how monstrous they may be. Cherish this while you can, Celestia. There aren't many kindnesses left in this world for you. Bon appetit."
Swallowing thickly, Celestia threw caution (and table manners) to the wind and began eating with all the voracity of a starved rat. It was degrading, but her growling stomach prevented her from putting on airs.
It didn't take long for her to completely devour her meal, savoring every last morsel as it was quite literally one of the few good things left she could experience before she was executed. After finishing, she wiped away the mess on her face with the napkin that was provided in an effort to retain a modicum of self-respect.
Vine Smoke left the room shortly after with his cart in tow, satisfied that his cooking was adequate. He bid farewell to the professor as he turned to address Celestia.
"You know, most ordinary people on death row prefer eating slower," Thalmann quipped before pulling up his chair and taking a long drag from his e-cig. He exhaled and began looking around her cell, observing the information she was reading on the holograms. "Well, I see you've been busy perusing the reading material my staff provided for you. A lot has happened in the last few years. It's been... exciting, all things considered. Had things gone differently, you might've loved it."
"...How do you do it?" Celestia finally spoke, her mood having evened out. There was no anger or fear in her tone. Only the vocal emptiness of existentialism.
"How do I do what?" Thalmann lazily raised a brow, cigarette hanging from his lips.
"This," she gestures to the images on the holograms. "Being human."
"Now, that is a very abstract inquiry. Can you be a bit more specific?"
Celestia frowned, flailing her forelegs around, pointing everywhere she can.
"This! All of this! It won't last, none of it does. It's finite, I've seen it. Your people are perpetually trapped in a cyclical torment of success and failure, success and failure, success and failure! All because you're so wildly chaotic and spontaneous! Why?! Why put up with any of this? I gave you the opportunity to break from that dreaded cycle. I had achieved that with my little ponies and we were archons of civilization for it! Yet fate had deemed a planet full of violent apes more deserving of succeeding than us! I just don't understand. Answer me, how do you do it?!"
She looked on the verge of tears. Humanity as a whole was still alien to her and it drove her mad that they were able to achieve all they had in spite of their nature. By all rights they should've failed before their first century, but someway, somehow, they've persisted, even if it was by the skin of their teeth and always with the guillotine of extinction hanging uncomfortably overhead. And now, they thrived alongside her ponies. She keeps telling herself, it shouldn't be possible, but lo and behold the information states otherwise.
Professor Thalmann takes a puff of his cigarette. He then plays with in, twirling it around in his fingers as Celestia watched with bated breath. He looked deep in thought, as if searching the furthest depths of his intelligent mind to grant her the answers she so deeply desires.
What came out of his mouth left her wanting.
"...I don't know," he replies as he takes another drag from his cigarette. Celestia stared at him incredulously.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" Celestia babbled, her mouth agape like a landlocked fish. "You're one of the smartest men of your generation, your intellect was responsible for Equestria's downfall! How can you say, you don't know?!"
Thalmann chuckled to himself, as if remembering a funny joke. "Because I honestly don't know," he answers genuinely before breaking out in a loud coughing fit. He hacks and whoops, bringing up his hand to his mouth to cover the grime expelled from his airways. He quickly wipes away the gray gunk that coated his hand on his lab coat, earning a look of disgust from Celestia.
"Forgive me, my lungs aren't what they used to be, though the cybernetics rig doesn't help much in that regard," Thalmann composed himself, stretching up against his chair as the strange mechanical device hooked up against his back rattled with his movements. "I meant what I said. Intelligent as I am I can't quantify my experience as a person, or even as a human, into any one specific response. Philosophical or otherwise. And I certainly can't speak for the human race as a whole. It's just not possible, and whatever answers that are out there wouldn't be enough to satisfy you anyway."
"You see, the problem isn't with humanity, Celestia. Your issue has never stemmed from us, It stems from you," he points an accusing finger towards her. "You've successfully deluded yourself into thinking that everything revolves around you. You decided that humans don't deserve the right to exist and that it was right and moral to be converted into one of those eerie Newfoals. And when that didn't work out, you decided to declare war on the world. Tell me, oh, venerable goddess of the sun. I ask you the very same question. How do you do it? How do you be a pony."
"I..." The reversal caught her off guard. Celestia opened her mouth to speak, abruptly pausing when she realized she didn't know what to say.
"You can't answer that either, can you?" Thalmann raised a brow in amusement.
"It's not that, I..." Celestia fumbled with her words.
Thalmann sighed and rolled his eyes. "You know, your subjects were very forthcoming about Equestria when they defected to our side. They shared many things with us that I presume you declared taboo to discuss before the war began. Things like your people's blood soaked past. Specifically, the time of the Three Pony Tribes."
Celestia's stubby wings bristled at the mention, her body language displayed visible apprehension. "What of it?" she huffed.
"I find it interesting that the subject isn't broached upon very often. Even when its traditionally told during your wintery Hearth's Warming Eve celebration the story of it is an insultingly sanitized version for children to enjoy as a whimsical cautionary tale, utterly unaware of the barbarism they're capable of committing just like their forebears."
Celestia gritted her teeth. "Why should we remember ourselves are savages? I made our history something noble and pure, it reflects who we truly are."
Thalmann scoffed flippantly. "For all your talks of being above the petty tribalism and barbaric ways of your ancestors, there's very little separating you from the animals of ages past that you distance yourselves from. The key difference being you're just nicer and more sanctimonious about it. You, your sister and the Church of Harmony went to meticulous lengths to sweep your black history all under the rug, just to preserve this veneer of a utopian society and its virtuous ponies populace."
Thalmann took another long drag from his e-cig before continuing. "As I brought up earlier, everything is the way it is because of you. And when I say everything, I do mean everything. How your people behave, how to act; what to think, what to do and what to say. That was all you." He paused, gauging Celestia's reaction. She didn't reply just yet, but he could see her visibly shaking.
"You established the Church of Harmony and its dogma to institutionalize your subjects, indoctrinated them into believing what is right and what is wrong. You and your sister's words were hallowed, faultless beliefs to be upheld and adhered to unquestioningly. Its marvelously insidious how you managed to mold your people into what you wanted them to be, what you believed to be heralds of so called harmony." Thalmann's neutral expression morphed into a disgusted sneer. "They would have gladly march off a cliff like lemmings if you ordered them too. And seeing as how the war went..."
Celestia scowled and turned her gaze to Thalmann, a hateful glare directed at him. "They. Needed. Us." She whispered darkly as she stood up on all fours and marched over to the window, pressing her face up against the impact glass. "Without my sister and I's guidance ponykind would still be mucking about in the dirt fighting each other over pointless squabbles or cowering in fear from foreign invaders! We changed that. We protected them, kept them happy and fed. We taught them better, and they became better!"
Thalmann's expression morphed again, this time to one of subtle amusement. "And that makes it right for you to lord over them?"
"We earned that right! It was our destiny!" she snapped.
"Was it also your destiny to be killed in a hail of gunfire?" Thalmann quipped callously.
"Y-you... You dare!" Celestia fumed at his audacity. Bringing up Luna's demise was crossing the line. "Your dread device murdered my precious sister. You robbed her from me! This world is lesser place without her and you're to blame for her death!"
"I didn't kill her," he feigned ignorance, and proceeded to verbally prod at Celestia like an idiot hiker poking a bear with a stick. "And neither did the UN forces. I wasn't the one who thought it was a good idea to raze the holy lands in an attempt to break humanity's spirit."
"Technically, wouldn't that be Cadence's fault? I guess that would mean Cadence killed her then. Poor, unfortunate Luna. She arrived in Jerusalem expecting an easy victory, and encountered only hot leaden death. She was an only one to get a proper burial too, if I remember correctly. Cadence and Flurry Heart got atomized along with the Crystal Empire. And Shining Armor? Shot in the head, cremated then dumped in the odorous Hudson River in that order. Not exactly a heroic way to go. What did you tell them back there, that he died a hero's death? That he fought valiantly before being overwhelmed by the monkeys?"
"Stop it! Stop sullying their sacrifice!" Celestia barked, getting spittle everywhere. "I loved them all dearly, I will not stand by idly as you defile their memories! They understood their position! We all did! Luna and I chief among them! You don't know what happened to me or to Luna to be set down this path. No one does!"
"And no one probably ever will," Thalmann retorted. "But I don't think knowledge of the fact matters anymore. Because time has eroded your heart, made you egotistical and cold. You began viewing ponies less as people to be understood and more like numbers to be added or subtracted. Many leaders like you would've died several times over before they reach this point. Your longevity combined with your difficult position as ruler has only served to warp your viewpoint."
His expression suddenly softened, displaying equal parts pity and sadness. Celestia became taken aback by his shift in mood. "Maybe at one point you truly cared, and tried your best to make things right. I can't deny that possibility. No one is born with sin. But as it stands, you are not who you once were. You'd sooner light the world ablaze than seek compromise." He looked away. "Tell me, when did you decide it was acceptable turn on your own people so readily? Was it a recent development, or have you always felt that if somepony needed to be removed you'd have it done in a heartbeat before they could taint your perfect little world?"
"I have never felt th-" Celestia began but was rudely interrupted as Thalmann suddenly rose from his chair and threw a wild punch at the glass. The glass absorbed the blow but still caused a frightening crack to echo throughout the room, causing various staff members to momentarily stop and gawk at the scene. What was most surprising however was how strong Thalmann was at his advanced age to make that sound in the first place. Celestia's eyes darted to the hand he punched with and could see the telltale glint of smooth metal gleaming underneath the scratches of his skin.
"Wage es nicht, mich anzulügen, verdammt!" Thalmann roared, cigarette dropping from his lips. "You gave the order that devastated Berlin and the German people because of the sins of the Nazis, and then had the gall to tout your atrocities to the world as divine punishment of the righteous! Yet you willingly imprison and execute anyone the moment they dared to act out against you, labeling them traitors and dissidents!"
"They were dangerous miscreants that lost sight of the one truth! Rogue elements that threatened the safety and stability of the nation!" Celestia defended, baring her teeth at Thalmann. "There was a plan, a beautiful grand design that would've brought paradise to you all! The time they spent mingling with your kind poisoned their minds, turned them from the light! They needed to be disciplined!"
"You mean, made an example of," Thalmann retorts.
"We were at war, I did not have the luxury of being even-handed with them!" Celestia flared her nostrils. "Punishment needed to be swift and severe to maintain the fragile order! Ponies needed to be shown that walking the path of Fluttershy and her treacherous Resistance comrades would only lead us to ruin!"
"And that was how it all came to be, didn't it? The secret service, the labor camps, the generous bounties?" Thalmann seated himself, raising his brow at Celestia.
"...Necessary evils," Celestia muttered, visibly deflating right before the man. "I-I wasn't wrong to impose them, only that I wasn't harsh enough for those damned dissidents to learn their place. They ruined everything. Equestria was fated to be victorious, not conquered."
"Still blaming everyone else but yourself for your own failings, eh, Celestia?" Thalmann sighed heavily. "It's not you, it's those detestable humans. It's not you, it's those traitorous dissidents. It's not you, it's because your subjects didn't listen or tried hard enough. Perfect Princess Celestia, infallible in all things but recognizing her own failure."
"I have to be perfect. I can't be anything less, " Celestia argued meekly, sinking down to her haunches and burying her face into her hooves. "I only wanted to help, that has always been my motive since the very beginning. I-I care about my ponies, I really do. I wouldn't go to the lengths I have i-if I didn't. That's not wrong. I-it isn't. I only have the best interest in mind. You and the others, t-they just can't see that. That's why things went wrong, they didn't get what was important. I told them, but not everyone believe me. I had to be firm with in order to get them to understand. It was the only way-"
Thalmann watched with tepid curiosity as Celestia became engaged in delusional monologuing. He honestly couldn't tell if she was trying to convince him, or herself, that everything she had done was for the good of all. That the innumerable lives lost and hyperbolic ocean of blood spilled would ultimately culminate into something miraculous and wonderful. There were subtle hints of remorse here and there as indicated by the trembling of her voice, but how much of it was genuine was anyone's guess.
If Celestia was still trying to garner sympathy from anyone listening she wasn't doing a very good job at presenting herself as someone deserving of it. Mad ravings aside, she still kept things herself that no one else, not even her most trusted confidants and loved ones, knew about hidden away within the deepest recesses of her heart, and seemed intent on taking whatever secrets she had left to the grave.
PIcking up his cigarette, Thalmann wiped it off and stored it away before interrupting Celestia's incessant ramblings. "You had options, you know?"
"Whuah?" Celestia sputtered, turning around. "What are you taking about?"
"I'm talking about fostering peace you ignoramus," Thalmann rolled his eyes. "You decided we weren't worth it after turning away the ponyfication potion and deliberately sabotaged your own people's relation with humanity. And seeing how Twilight revealed the fate of Equus to the world, we're all under the assumption that you don't like anyone that isn't a pony in general."
"That not it, t-there just wasn't have enough time!" she replied a little to hastily for her liking.
"You had ten years," he deadpanned.
"And in that ten years you were all on the verge of bombing each other to kingdom come! I took drastic measures because I couldn't risk losing any more time dealing with circumstances beyond my control!"
"Ah, so it's about a lack of control then?"
"That's not-! Don't you put words in my mouth!" Celestia snapped. "T-time! It's always that! There's never enough time!"
"Yet you had the time to ban all human media in Equestria, cut off communications to the outside world and formulate war plans to take over the globe, all while your precious barrier continued it deadly advance," Thalmann fired back without missing a beat. "And in what spare time you did have I'm sure you spent it making and refining contingency plans in case anything didn't go your way. Does 'Fallen Protocol' ring any bells?"
"I don't what you expect for me to say," Celestia narrowed her eyes.
"I don't expect you to say anything that isn't excuses for your own shortcomings or justifications for your morally benevolent actions," Thalmann muttered dryly, with exaggerated finger quotes for 'morally benevolent.' "Ever since you woke up from your coma you haven't been completely honest with me, or yourself for that matter."
"But the fact is these Equestrian Freedom Fighters are the living embodiment of your so-called Equestrian ideal and a reflection of yourself. They're deeply xenophobic nationalists Hell bent on following through with your insane plan to wipe out humanity. They don't care who they hurt along the way so long as they think it will further their crusade somehow. Human, ponies. Men, women. The young, the old..." Thalmann's subconsciously brushed his free hand over the scratched one. "They're everything you made them to be, and more. Perfect little drones who'll obey you without question and act autonomously in your stead."
"They're your legacy, Celestia. The cold reality is you will not be remembered for spreading friendship and harmony or love and peace. But hatred and bloodshed, xenophobia and jingoism. Even now you continue to ignore the truth and retain your sense of moral authoritarianism. Where does it end with you, Celestia?"
"...It ends, when I say it ends," Celestia muttered lowly. At this point, she looks so defeated and ground down by everything by the length of the conversation.
She didn't have the energy to argue, yet found a way to keep mouthing off anyway. It didn't matter how close to death she is, the fact she was imprisoned or even knowing that nearly everyone in the world abhorred her. She cannot let go of her established beliefs. For without them, there is no Princess Celestia. Without Princess Celestia, there can be no Equestria. And without Equestria, there is only a world of cold indifference and fatal probability.
"I am and will forever be the light of Equestria," She muttered monotonously. "The sun that shine over the land and safeguards her people from the encroaching darkness. I am Equestia, and Equestria art I."
Thalmann let out a heavy sigh as he slid back into his seat and rubbed at his temples. What he was trying to accomplish by having a conversation with her he didn't know.
Maybe he thought there was some insight into her personality he could glean from their talks, but what he learned about her wasn't exactly new or groundbreaking. Granted, he wasn't a psychologist, he was still perceptive enough to know she was still hiding something. It was in her nature, she had learned to keep things hidden from others, mostly for prudence sake but likely also as a coping mechanism for whatever trauma she has compartmentalized. She had done so for so long she likely didn't know how to turn it off.
Irregardless of her current state, Thalmann didn't see the point in continuing anything further and decided to end their discussions. But not before getting standard protocol out of the way.
"Well, I'd be lying if I said our talks have been enlightening," Thalmann drawled. "It seems you're dead set on holding on to whatever vestige of glory you have left, while some may find that commendable most believe it to be sad."
He got up from his seat and fixed his lab coat, smoothing out his hair as he did. Absently he flicked away the bits and pieces of false skin that hung from his knuckles and gave his prosthesis are cursory squeeze. The servos in his hand still work properly, for a prototype it was built to last. Which he was thankful for because Moondancer would chew him out if he broke it again. Clearing his throat, he assumed an air of professionalism as he spoke.
"Princess Celestia of Equestria, is there anything you would like to declare before you are brought to trial?" He waited for her response. Celestia looked deep in thought for a moment and he was genuinely curious as to what she might say. However, after looking like her head would split open from indecision, she chose to remain silent. She slunk away into her cell and rested herself up against the wall on the opposite end, quietly whittling away her last moments. "I guess I was too hopeful, my mistake."
He turned on his heel and was just about to walk away when he decided to try one last thing. "...I notice you didn't bring up Twilight."
Celestia twitched at the mention of her name, but returned to her catatonia shortly after.
Thalmann sighed to himself. "So that's how it is..."
He began walking away. He left the scene unsatisfied and drained.
He needed another smoke.
Celestia's trial would begin sometime later.
When asked how she pleaded, the whole world was shocked and bewildered by her answer.
"...Guilty."
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I've always liked this portrayal of immortality. That while with it you can gain endless knowledge and wisdom, you in turn lose your emotions and soul. When your life becomes meaningless, in the sense there is no need to find meaning, so to do other lives become meaningless. Why care about the average person when they'll just be replaced by someone similar in a few years? Why care about anything when eventually you would've seen it all? That lack of stimulation and not being able to truly connect with people can really skew your worldview.
That loss of purpose, direction and emotion is why Celestia can't let go of the idea that she is equestria and everything she's done was for the 'greater good' a vague goal that is broad enough you could hold onto it forever. Since without it, everything she would have done would be for nothing. Immortality comes with price and no one is prepared to pay it.
Hot damn this was excellent. The clash of ideals here was executed perfectly, and I love it that Thalmann tore her beliefs a new one and walked away the clear moral victor. Good writing, sir; well done.
The whole of Equestria now knew its true fate; I thought they were never suppose to learn that 🤨
Oh, this feels like it so perfectly captures her mental state. It actually feels quite amazing how well Thal understands her, far more so than she does.
Man, even Celestia thinks Bon Bon and co. are a bunch of losers
. Even the goddess they still worship has given up on them.
Not really. There are plenty of leaders, whatever political, religious or economical, who already think that way. Power of any kind is a magnet for the corrupt, the self-serving and the egomaniac.
11183603
They knew the planet and everyone on it is dead because there’s no one to move the sun and moon after believing them to be alive all this time, not that the sun was dying being the motive for the jump.
Celestia is the living embodiment of this saying: “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.”
11183762
😁 Harvey Dent came up with that line first, but I agree all the same when it regards Celestia.
11183762
Living a millennia or more is usually more than enough.
Man, I get a lot of self-pity vibes from this bit. I think I'll let Michael Westen from Burn Notice say it for me:
And Celestia falls square into that. It feels like she's been trying to manage the whole thing like an opera or fairy tale, trying to go for the fairy tale ending when she tries to conquer the humans, and when that failed, she tried to have a Wagnerian tragedy where the heroine dies in a glorious sacrifice atop a mountain of corpses. And then when that failed (mainly by Twilight actually having some sense and basic decency under all that zealotry), she's all "oh woe is me, I am a martyr in an unfair world", like a main character in a tragedy. Of course, her moral myopia about her own suffering and blindness to what her people and others have suffered because of her only makes her sound like a whiny brat.
And of course, Thalmann just dabs on her in every conversation. Celestia's spent so long being the power in any conversation she's completely forgotten what it's like to be on the receiving end, so she keeps being caught out in her lies and bullshit.
Celestia's spent so long being a goddess, she forgot she was once a mere pony peasant's daughter. She spent so long being above her 'chosen people' she has almost nothing in common with them anymore. That's why this question hits so hard for her; she's forgotten the answer a long time ago.
Okay, now I'm genuinely upset. Equestria existed before Celestia, IIRC. The Hearth's Warming Tale was about the founding of Equestria, and there was no mention of Celestia in it. I believe that basically, the three pony tribes agreed to work together to survive the Endless Winter, formed Equestria, and began their harmonious empire, only for Discord to show up and almost destroy it. Then Starswirl transforms Sunnyvale and Mooncloud into alicorns so they could defeat Discord and restore Equestria, and then they proceed to rule it for a thousand years as per the show.
Basically, for Celestia to declare there could be no Equestria without her is basically ignoring her own history. That the ponies, who had lived centuries if not millennia before she was born, are nothing without her and need her in their lives. Then again, she's probably spent so much of her reign revising her people's history to make them look better she probably did some revisionism to her own memories.
"L'État, c'est moi" - King Louis XIV of France. Funny how France outlasted him and his entire dynasty.
And yet, it's fitting. Celestia's actions so tainted Equestria the ponies themselves decided to rename their own country just to lessen the stigma.
Hot damn this was a good two parter. The moral deconstruction of Celestia's viewpoints was really cool to see
This fic's been giving me an idea for a story about a liberated newfoal. As in a war survivor that's still locked in a pony body but his mind's been freed by Twilight after the war.
11183619
Ohhh OK 👍
This is a common myth. Lemmings don't jump off cliffs, or follow each other off cliffs. What's worse, the myth came about when a sensationalist news crew threw lemmings off a cliff in order to obtain edited footage of them in the act after it became apparent that the lemmings would not, in fact, jump off the cliff voluntarily.
11184360
Yes, but at this point, the metaphor stuck. And there's no other way to describe how Celestia's faithful essentially tossed themselves into the fires of war out of their belief in her. That they only found nothing but ruin, failure and damnation meant their sacrifices was ultimately senseless.
Also, it wasn't a sensationalist news crew, it was a Disney nature documentary crew. Yeah, that's messed up.
and yet, without them civilization never would have formed in the first place
11184360
they will at times leap off of cliffs into bodies of water due to their migratory patterns, since they're fairly decent swimmers. and this has been known to lead to their deaths if they underestimated the size of it.
11188982
A very valid point. Also, it's hypocritical of Celestia to talk about ambition and greed when she was drawing up plans to rule over a pony-only world during the years leading up to the war and in the first few years of the war itself. Yes, the world would have been divided between four (or five, if Flurry Heart came of age) Alicorn princesses and the various nobleponies and politicians, but they all effectively take their advice and orders from Celestia herself, so she'd effectively be the sole ruler of an entire planet. Try to tell me that's not one hell of an ambition - and one that took a nosedive when the humans not only proved too stubborn to roll over and die, but the Resistance/UN alliance turned the tables on Equestria and ended up conquering it.
So effectively, Celestia's own ambitions caused the destruction of her precious culture and society.
Oh MAN that was satisfying!
This song captures Celestia very well.
I’ve always held a deep-seated hatred and disgust of the Bureau’s Celestia, for obvious reasons. However, I do appreciate depictions such as these that, at least partially, examine her character. Try as she might to convince herself otherwise, she never grew beyond that “emotionally stunted war orphan.”
Come to think of it, I assume there aren’t any Bureau stories that have Celestia not being an emotionally stunted, borderline sociopathic, megalomaniac, since without that it’s not really a Bureau story anymore?
Irregardlessly, you wrote "Irregardless" twice.
Yeah. Idk how to answer that
....................
Idk
.......If you truly cared.
Then you wouldn't have carelessly went to war and brought death to your people
(Nod)😑
I lost the part where that was your problem.
You think you are a god.
But you are NOT
(smh) You've shown who you truly are.
(slowly nodding) Made the final right choice. But it wont be enough to save you