Amie could not return with Tailslide to walk the entire route back to Stella Lacus. Sending him with the food delivery team might as well be a requirement to strap flares to his back and show every step. But there was one step he insisted on taking, one so dangerous that Amie couldn't let him go alone.
"I'm going to tell the agent I'm leaving," he said. "The forge won't miss me—and I won't miss them. But that pony should know. I'm not running away; I'm not foalnapped. I'm going because I choose to."
Amie tried to persuade him not to for ten minutes at least, rehearsing all the reasons for danger that he already knew. No matter what she said, Tailslide just wouldn't listen. He had made up his mind. "I don't care how right you are. I'm doing it anyway."
So, she followed him through the city, all the way to the "Office of Internal Security" that hadn't been there during her last visit. It wasn't on the base, but instead was built by the police station. Amie had barely even interacted with Agate's uniformed constables, except to exchange the occasional polite greeting. She got the feeling they resented having their city under martial protection.
Regardless, the office was already lit, even in the early morning hours before proper sunrise. A secretary sat at their desk, and lights streamed in from rooms beyond.
"You probably shouldn't go in with me," Tailslide said, when they reached the doors. "She's not stupid. She'll know who you must be."
Amie spread her wings. "She might arrest you too. If that happens, I want to stay close to you."
The pegasus groaned, then held the door open for her.
The waiting secretary barely seemed to see them there. He shuffled several stacks of papers, then took another bite from his morning doughnut.
"Is your boss here?" Tailslide asked, politely. "I need to have a quick word with her."
Finally, he looked up. He nodded, then levitated the open box of doughnuts in their direction. "Hungry? She's in her office. Just make it quick, I know she's seeing someone at eight."
Tailslide took one with a grateful nod. Amie did too, mostly by reflex. Then she took her first bite and slowed. Her real body was demanding food again, to nourish so many eggs. But this one carried no young.
Even so, the taste was far less awful than she expected. Instead of warm dough, she tasted pride in quality, satisfaction from hard work. Under all that, she could just barely taste the flavors she remembered, the ones she missed so dearly. Sugar sweetness, warmth on her tongue.
"Thanks." She nodded in gratitude, waving to the secretary as they passed. The door was already open, and a familiar pony sat at her desk.
Sweetie Drops looked... deflated. There were bags under her eyes, her mane was disheveled, and she smelled like a pony who had spent more time working than cleaning up afterwards. Her wall bore a map of the city, covered in little pins and red lines. To Amie's chagrin, many of those pins clustered in the warehouse district. The Rent-a-Friend didn't have more than the other buildings around it—but the other parts of the city had almost nothing.
Sweetie Drops was narrowing in on her target. Would she have been so efficient if Amie hadn't given her bugs away? Pachu'a was right. And we're about to give her more reason to hunt for us.
The mare looked up as they entered, then saw Tailslide. She settled back into her seat, looking even more overwhelmed than before. "You're back. Reconsidered my offer?" Her eyes slid over Amie, settled on the doughnut she was eating, then moved past her again. "You shouldn't bring other ponies into this. Unless she knows something I need to hear."
Eating. That's how I escaped her suspicion when we first met. She doesn't think we can do that.
Tailslide dropped onto his haunches across from her. "She's just here for moral support. I needed to tell you: I'm taking a trip, and I might not be back for a while. If there's anything else you need from me, now's the time to get it."
She groaned, digging through her desk for a second until she found what she was looking for: a pad of paper. She settled it down in front of her, producing a quill and ink. "Contact address?"
"Changeling Isolation Zone," he said, pointing out the open window. "I don't know how their address system works."
"1 Prospector Drive, just off the I-5," Amie said, without thinking. As soon as she had, she wished she hadn't.
Sweetie's eyes fixed on her with sudden, furious intensity. She settled one hoof onto the table in front of her, so hard the wood groaned and flexed under the pressure. "Why would you do that, pony? Did you forget the Canterlot invasion? What we found in the occupied parts of the city?"
He shook his head sharply. "I didn't forget. I've given my testimony a hundred times—these changelings are different. They've never hurt me, never extracted love, never harmed any pony they met. I'm going to demonstrate that in a way nopony can ignore."
Sweetie Drops stood up, looking between them. "This is her, isn't it? The queen, Amie Blythe."
Amie opened her wings, keeping her posture as relaxed as she could. She didn't think this mare would attack and kill any prisoner she had. But if the “worker” died, that meant one family back on Earth who would never see their kid again.
"Not quite. I'm a messenger. I could show you, but you've got an open window. I don't want to cause a panic."
The mare rolled her eyes. "Because your kind care so much about the well-being of ponies. Clearly."
Amie shrugged. "Amie didn't have to say anything. You didn't know what she was, you'd never know."
The mare glared back. "That's what you say? Not the part where her drones had me alone and helpless?"
"No. That part was... a failure. She wanted to talk, not threaten you. She's not proud of how that went."
Tailslide glanced between them, puffing out his chest. Amie could read his growing anxiety without magic. He was terrified for what might happen, afraid that someone might get attacked. But who?
"The best hopes of peace are vain, changeling. Fools strive for harmony, without success. The princess has a blade poised above your queen. It will soon fall and spell the doom of your race. It cannot be prevented."
Amie froze. In an instant, Sweetie's despondent state became clear. If the pony realized that Amie wasn't evil, but was powerless to help...
"Why?" Tailslide asked, flaring both wings to either side. He stuck one out directly in front of her, protective. As though it would make a difference against an Alicorn. "After everything you've seen..."
The mare turned away from them both, staring out the open window. "It was not my choice. Commander Path... his report was more convincing. They considered recalling me completely, said my judgment was impaired—but they need somepony here to track down any infiltrators once their queen is dead."
She flicked her tail towards the door, dismissive. "I won't stop you, Tailslide. Go and be with her. You'll only be watching her die."
"How?" Tailslide demanded. He stormed over to the window, glowering. "You know this is wrong. There must be something we can do to stop it. Some petition to send to the princess..."
"The spell is cast already. A knife that flies in dreams and pierces the heart of every guilty soul. Even the changelings need to sleep eventually—when she does, she will perish."
True sleep... had Amie ever done that? Her brother did every night and hadn't been attacked by mysterious magic. So the princess's weapon wasn't an indiscriminate killer. The other bugs didn't have to worry—but she did.
Amie had only one dream since the transit—the time she met a mournful demigod, after her first night with Tailslide. Weeks had passed since then—when would it happen again?
"Unless she doesn't," Amie said. She backed towards the door. Both of her wings were open too, but not protectively like the stallion in front of her. She was ready to flee. Foolish of course, she still didn't know how to fly. "Amie isn't trying to colonize your world, she's trying to get back to her own. Your knife won't cross worlds."
The mare didn't turn around. "Ponies are supposed to be better than this. The Council of Lords are so eager for revenge... their knife finds the wrong neck. The queen told me the truth about one thing... she is our only chance for peace."
Amie was late returning to her true body. None of the campers would know—and she wouldn't tell them.
Beth and Wes are on it. Ivy has our way back. I just have to hold on until then.
She put out her lantern, then stumbled out into the growing hive. Tailslide's devotion refreshed her magic, but part of her still felt as drained as Sweetie Drops. Her bugs treated the ponies of Equestria with respect, harming none. Instead of mutual understanding, they sent an assassin.
Maybe Kaya is right. Pachu'a, all of them. Peace is impossible.
"Amie!" Someone pounded on the door, smacking it so loud it splintered. "He's coming, Amie! You need to get out here now!"
He. Only one person could bring such terror. Even if he flew straight there, Tailslide wouldn't reach her this quickly. Director Albrecht was on his way.
Amie closed her eyes, focusing her magic into the most difficult transformation she had ever performed. If the cruelty of Equestria wanted her dead so badly, then maybe she should abandon its rules completely. She still remembered what she was supposed to look like, still had a lifetime of memories to rely on.
The magic faltered, fading before she even started changing. Amie pushed anyway, forcing more power into the transformation than she had ever used before.
She got taller, leaner, more familiar. She couldn't hope it would work, that faded almost instantly. Her wings grew feathers, instead of vanishing completely. Her horn got sharper, and her fur remained.
She opened her eyes again a few seconds later, frustrated. Blonde mane blocked her vision, the same color as her hair should've been—but still a mane. She brushed it aside with magic and found that worked too. Her wings extended to either side, flaring with her annoyance. She still had wings! Amie had become an Alicorn!
"Amie, please! We need you!"
She sighed, then levitated the door open. Several bugs clustered in the hallway—scouts she had left outside to watch for danger, and a few who had appointed themselves her guards. They looked briefly confused by her appearance, but any significance was lost on them. How could they know what it meant for ponies?
"Amie, good. Thought you were hurt or something. It's Albrecht—his truck is almost here! There could be soldiers inside!"
"Get more guards down to the holding cell—make sure his secret police don't hear about this. I don't want to fight from both sides at once."
She broke into a trot, passing through the hall. She walked down the stairs, into the gift shop. The other bugs scampered after her. A handful of “workers” appeared from the dark hallways nearby, sensing her distress. She could have ordered them back, but she didn't.
"Get ready to collapse the entrance. If they attack me, you can seal it. Send a message over the intranet. The hunters in Agate might be able to help."
"You're going out there?" one kid asked—Amie didn't know his name yet. But he was brave enough to carry a bow, even when it looked like they would be attacked soon. "Why?"
"He's not our biggest enemy," she answered. She gestured back at the entrance, urgent. "Get inside, but don't do anything unless you hear me call out."
It would be wiser to use one of these workers for such a dangerous mission—Amie no longer felt wise. She walked alone through the gift shop, then peeked through dirty glass out into the parking lot.
Albrecht clambered out of a pickup truck. There was no one in the passenger seat. He wore only a satchel over his shoulder—no obvious weapons, or vests of explosives. More importantly, no army of soldiers followed nearby. Amie felt only fear from him—no fermenting betrayal, no pleasure at some clever plan about to come to fruition.
Amie levitated the door open. She remained inside the building, just in case. If there was some marksman hidden, the least she could do was minimize the number of viable angles to kill her. "Director Albrecht. I didn't expect to see you here."
He turned, then started walking. "Amie. You must be her—how often will you change your appearance?"
"It's me." She held still, blocking the entrance with her wings. "What do you want?"
The Transit concealed this man's age. He could've been another of the young counselors, if she judged on appearance alone. But his shoulders sagged in a way theirs didn't, borne down by the weight of responsibility.
He remained silent, until he was standing in the doorway, facing her. "To turn over Stella Lacus, of course. I surrender."
This is a trap, quite obviously. He has something in the bag, and it's not terms for surrender.
The story gets better with every update
11606256
I hope not even forgoing the fact that without Aimee there's no next gen his leadership was shaky and held together only by shear force of will to survive even if it meant giving up some younglings with Aimee's better way in food shelter Intel and outside comms he would be an idiot to kill her and with her powers it she's impossible to contain with no magical knowhow
11606277
We haven't heard from Ol' Queen Chrissy yet, and it wouldn't surprise me to see her pop up now. Kaya's changelings got in unnoticed. Whose to say hers didn't as well and grant him guaranteed control and the education to care for the camp in exchange for loyalty?
I don't trust him completely considering his pride kept him from facing that he needed to follow not try to lead and this isn't his game it's hers. I might accept but I would have my loyal followers keep an eye on him as well as make him tell everyone that he lied the whole truth about everything concerning her.
Sweetie drops thinks maybe there can peace but the problem is getting people who have the power to change things to listen.
11606256
i agree this smell's fishie, i bet celestia is bog'd down by her own government of Chieming noble's too
The dream blade thing doesn’t make any sense. Why couldn’t Luna have done that to any of the existing Queens this whole time? Why choose Amie as a specific target? Or is she not the only target? The “guilty souls” bit seems almost too particular not to believe that it’s going to miss Amie specifically because she’s not at all guilty in practically any kind of way.
11606293
It kinda sounded like once she fell asleep they would send in Luna who still has a fiercsome reputation near the borders and while she is she's not going to pull the trigger before some mind games and it's a lot harder to lie in a dream. Plus Celestia is a fan of convoluted plans like telling path the threat is being neutralized after hearing a strange story about a changeling named rainfly and sending her sister to unsort the nonsense.
Oh, now this is very interesting. Looks like Pa'chua was right. The enemy you see is a lot less dangerous than the one you don't.
But he was also very, very wrong, because from the looks of it, Amie really did convince Sweetie Drops. Plans are going ahead, but Sweetie disagrees with them - thinks that ponies are in the wrong, now, and that Amie is the best chance any of them have for true harmony. That's enormous! We have a traumatized changeling victim ideologically siding with the changelings! Right now she's too hopeless to act, but if Amie can convince her there's still a chance for a better outcome, she might become her most useful and powerful ally yet. And if not, there's still hope that Sweetie Drops will show leniency to any changelings that she finds. Hard to go full zero-tolerance when at least a part of you truly believes that these creatures are just innocent and scared dimension travelers.
But this spell... that's interesting. Because what definition of guilty are we working off of? Guilty of plotting and hungering for power, guilty of hurting ponies, or guilty of being a changeling queen and consuming love? Amie might be safe from the actual hit and she might not be, but there's no way out of this except to escape home (unlikely), reform (unlikely), or to talk to Luna again. And Luna wasn't very receptive to her offer of peace the last time around.
I had wondered for a while why nobody used their changeling powers to turn back into a human, but I'm not surprised that it just doesn't work. Otherwise the other hives would have certainly kept it as a tradition. Very interesting that the attempt created an alicorn disguise, though!
After everything that's just happened, Albrecht's surrender feels almost underwhelming. Which is fitting, because he was never the true enemy here. He might have one last trick up his sleeve, but at the moment I'm inclined to believe him. He never wanted to be in the position he's in, watching everyone he's responsible for die in a no-win situation - even if he hates Amie, there's relief in casting off the impossible responsibility and leaving the blame in another's hands.
Dream magic is powerful, but if that could have worked (and they were desperate to try it) why has it not done so already? Is Sweetie misinformed?
Now is the time for friendship to shine through!
The whole thing with the dreamblade is a bit weird. It's clear that they haven't done this with Chrysalis yet which raises the question of why. It wouldn't surprise me of the dreamblade thing doesn't actually exist.
Is the fight between Amie and Albrecht truly over? Either way, there are much greater concerns now.
Luna...
The question remains on the exact nature of this Dream knife. Whether it's a real weapon or an outright lie and litmus test to see what Amie will do. The definition of a "guilty soul" and why it was deemed necessary to use now if it is a real weapon. Amie will need to prepare her camp for the worst case. If she will not survive, she needs to find a way to make sure her camp does.
On and on, over and over, until the truth is laid bare, and you are finally free.
11606325
S.M.I.L.E Propaganda ?^^
I'm thinking the dream spell is a bluff to manufacture "proof" of innocence because Bonnie and Ivy got through to the princesses (as well as Luna looking back on her one dream with Amie, or maybe spying on the rent-a-friend manager) but they had to appease the war hawks. It's too much of a win button against far more overtly aggressive enemies to have not already used on them. Luna would be well aware that lings don't seem to sleep much if at all - she found Amie instantly the one time she slept. And if the spell has presumably been up for a while now, Amie's been taking bugs out of a starvation coma just fine. Hell, Luna may have been able to talk to them too, and depending on when they fainted she might even know about the other hive's aid mission.
And while Amie doesn't know the princesses' usual behavior, to the reader it's incredibly unlikely either of them would automate a spell that broad and deadly under any circumstances, much less a case of conflicting reports. Especially since depending on when this is happening, Luna's potentially already had a runaway dream spell disaster that almost blew up reality when it was only supposed to target herself, so I'd expect her to be leery of the concept at all.
The average or even very high ranking pony is not going to know Luna's limitations. If she says she can genocide on the spot through dreams, someone like Path is probably going to buy it...at first, until it doesn't happen. And then in his prejudice he's going to (inadvertently correctly) assume it's because she didn't do it rather than because Amie wasn't a valid target. Then he's probably still going to attack regardless. Glory seekers tend to create their wars no matter the evidence.
I have to agree with others here.
Luna has a weapon that can assassinate anyone she want's and she's using it on a minor, possible, threat? Instead of, oh, the ones who actually attacked Canterlot?
And the wording is questionable. Sounds like something that could have a lot of collateral damage.
well ok i did not see this coming.
He remained silent, until he was standing in the doorway, facing her. "To turn over Stella Lacus, of course. I surrender."
and yet i smell a rat.
11606359
He was a simple temporary antagonist I believe, now that his power play has been ended he wants to just do what is right for the camp as was his original intentions, it's clear his method failed while Amie's has succeeded thus far, better to throw his lot in with the campers that are aligned with her and face the world together.
He always came across as a guy who doesn't want to lose anyone but because he's a bit dogmatic it would happen anyway (the whole triage system was a failure because he was applying human medicine basics to creatures that aren't human and have totally different needs)
One word.
EXTERMINATUS
11606503
i like this word like make it the word of the day
That's some very peculiar wording for a spell there, but I wouldn't exactly trust that being innocent would avert it. Anyway, if this is for real, that's several levels of overkill considering they could've just charged in with an army and butchered everyone. Conveniently though, this spell is great for keeping clean consciences. No pony would ever even have to learn just what atrocities they committed.
With the knowledge that this is a story that's going certain places, we can be pretty sure though that this isn't going to come to pass. Whether there really isn't such a spell or whether it will be averted some way. But I'm very sure it won't be averted by Amie's plan here coming to fruition. She's not going to just find a way back, these kinds of stories never provide a way back when you want or need it. Not to mention that simply moving out of range of a homing WMD wouldn't make for a good conclusion to a story that's essentially about establishing peace between long-warring factions.
11606503
YOU CANNOT TRIUMPH AGAINST THE GREATER GOOD
How does this spell determine guilt? It's crazy that Amie didn't even try to ask. That would've been the first thing out of my mouth after being told I was being targeted by a spell that does something as vague as 'piercing the heart of guilty souls'. There's no way Amie doesn't end up falling asleep after the undoubtedly exhausting process of laying those eggs, so if she does fall asleep after that and nothing happens, it's gonna be hilarious.
11606339
Or because Chrissy is not the Queen who made the mistake of contacting Luna in her dreams. Lulu may have Amie's "signature".
The theories posited here seem sensible, that the spell is just deliberate miss-information to assuage peoples fear or bloodlust. And that checks out given what we know about luna and celestia, the fact that Luna was able to find amie that one time she slept, and given how changelings don’t normally sleep.
But just to play devils advocate here, Luna being able to cast such a spell in these circumstances and not others doesn’t seem to out there. Since unlike with other changelings or threats like discord or tirek, they literally know exactly where they are. At least most of them, within a general area. and they aren’t super powered supervillains that would be more likely to be able to shrug off such an attack. Plus If the criteria for getting smoked is “you killed someone”, which is what ponies in this story think changelings need to do to transform and eat, as well as them thinking changelings are just ruthless and murderous like that in general, that probably would not be a difficult thing to probe someone’s mind for. And the spell wouldn’t need to be automatic or preset. We’ve seen in show that time in dreams doesn’t cleanly line up with time in the real world, so luna could have more time to do the deed than she would have otherwise. And even if not Luna would still have the whole night to get the job done. Or at least set something up so that the changelings die in their sleep or at the moment they wake up.
11606690
It's also possible that this is a test for Amie to see how she reacts with the "knowledge" of her imminent death. See if she goes off the rails or if she keeps pushing the peace angle.
11606799
that seems so stupid like wow if that really is the case it blows my mind like that's risky that or they don't care if they are people they care that their changelings they just want to remove them as a risk and are trying to create a justification
11606301
Honestly it wouldn't work for any villian either none would feel guilty about their actions
Oh, one more thing I should like to say. If this whole spell really is just fake, meant as a test like a lot of people seem to believe - I really don't like such games being played with lives here. There's a much simpler way to find out if peace is really possible, which is to just talk to your enemy.
As it stands, ponies have been aggressive against this hive since the beginning, and now they're learning that that hive is interested in peace (which they could have learned a lot earlier if they hadn't killed all potential messengers on sight). So what do they do with that information? Do they seriously test the limits of the queen's dedication to peace? They could very well find out that she really was after peace, up until their threat to magically nuke the whole hive.
We're seeing Amie start having doubts about her approach to this war, and if I was in her position, I'd have given up on peace long ago. There's nothing evil about caving under the kind of pressure Equestria is applying here. If Equestria has any interest in peace at all, they should worry less about proving beyond a doubt how dedicated their enemy is to peace and start proving that they themselves aren't completely opposed to it.
I'm sure peace will be established by the end of this story, there will be peace, but whatever Luna is doing with this spell, it can't be the basis for that peace. This isn't how you do diplomacy.
11606845
You're right. What I said would be incredibly stupid if it's the actual intention. But it could be a cover story. All the ponies that might believe Amie are meant to believe that the fake dream blade is just a test for Amie to see if she's truly peaceful, but anyone who would actually inform Amie of such a threat to her life would necessarily intend to incite Amie to violence as a means to obtain justification for extermination of Amie's changelings.
oh hey! he actually has common sense!
so how long into the story are we? is there still a bunch of chapters left or is it the endgame?
Good chapter. Im wondering if this assassin is a certain princess. If so there's hope
11606921
I think the issue is whether ponies think of Changelings as people. Or whether they can even interact with them diplomatically. That being said, a real dream knife would make sense if Luna really thinks Changelings are irredeemable demons. I would love to see the force of Harmony rebuke her hard on this.
You're certainly right on the practicality of a fake dream knife. If it is a test of character, then it is a horrible, HORRIBLE one. The only ones who'll "pass" this test are beings who are utterly incapable and ignorant of violence. Back everyone else into a wall with this and you'll get what anyone should expect: a very scared, very angry, very violent animal.
It would be self-defense at this point. That being said, one last chance at peace may come with better contact with Celestia herself. Ivy's a good start but it's still very limited. It seems Luna may have aligned herself with Path and the zealots but the other princess might not be so militaristic. Only separated from the situation. That would honestly be beyond the call for Amie at this point but it's there.
I can't tell if he's lying or not...don't trust him too easily, Amie
So the Princesses went ahead with the kill order huh? Just mass murder a bunch that Luna already KNOWS want peace. The die is cast and Albrecht is there with some kind of plan. This will end in tragedy one way or another despite Amie's best efforts. Seems the older Queens were right. Most of the Ponies really are barbarians in this universe.
11607857
in their defense, i'm pretty sure this is just one huge ass misunderstanding.
luna does know they want peace, yes, but as told before she just thinks changelings literally cant be friendly, even if they want to.
plus most of the ponies think that all changelings are like the tribe that attacked canterlot, which isnt exactly helping.
The question, of course, is how the spell defines “guilt.” And just how broad the targeting parameters are. Sweetie’s report may have been more persuasive than she realized, and Commander Path may recieve a mist dishonorable discharge.
As for Albrecht… We’ll see. It’s another test of character: What’s more important to him, petty power or the well-being of his campers? Either way, Amie physically confronting him could go very wrong. We’ll see what happens there.
11608075
There's a line between misunderstanding and willful ignorance. The question is whether the most important ponies are even attempting to investigate (even in the most cautious, skeptical way) the apparent anomaly they see in changelings. We know there are some willing to check it out though the biggest problem seems to be that the militaristic ponies (Path, the Council, and maybe Luna) are trying to guide the populace to war. They are the true villains of the story.
11608075 There is no justification for genocide and mindless racism.
11608299
Well, actually, if ponies, griffons, hippogriffs, changelings etc. are to be considered different races, it makes sense to be "racist" in the sense of being discriminatory. You're not going to offer hay to a griffon or a blood shake to a pony. You're not going to ask a pegasus to teleport bread or an earth pony to fly to Cloudsdale.
As for genocide, I would say killing all the hostile aliens in XCOM makes sense, or at least in that case, presumably there's no such thing as innocent civilian Chryssalids or whatever, so since they would all automatically be hostile combatants, it makes sense to kill them all.
The Equestrians are essentially treating the changelings like Chryssalids. Automatically hostile enemy combatants by their nature. Of course, what ponies don't realize that most of what they "know" about changeling nature was made up/guessed without sufficient evidence and everyone just ran with the made up bullshit because none of them were in the mood or position to verify the facts.
11606302
Honestly, that does sound JUST like Celestia. I think you're onto something.
11608447
Note that the hostile aliens in XCOM were mind controlled via the psionic network, and supposedly some join the resistance at the end
Reading the comments, this definitely seems like a misdirect by Luna - I suspect, in order to encourage Path to chill, buying time for the (literally) big mares to do the talking.
Whether Albrecht is really surrendering or has a knife hidden behind his back -which I find likely - the next chapter is sure to be something. Also, the reveal of this dream knife spell is really interesting, if it's not a hoax like some people on here are suggesting, I'm really curious to see how Amie deals with this potential threat.
Regardless of what happens, I can't wait to read more.
11608620
True. Also, I should revise my previous argument. While killing all hostile combatants is justifiable, it doesn't count as genocide, so there's still no justification for genocide. Genocide is indiscriminately killing combatants and non-combatants alike, with no intention of leaving survivors.
Separately, I just realized something that might completely change our collective analysis of the strategy behind the dreamblade thing. Who was actually meant to hear about the dreamblade??? There's two scenarios: One where the dreamblade is real, and one where it's fake.
I'll start with the fake dreamblade scenario. In this scenario, it's very unlikely to be a test for Amie to see how she reacts, namely because of how Amie is learning about it. She got the dreamblade intel from Sweetie Drops, who was almost certainly not meant to relay it to Amie. If she was, it was clearly only if the higher ups believe Sweetie Drops to be mind controlled, because there's no way that they could expect Sweetie Drops to successfully contact Amie again unless she's under Amie's control. Though it seems far to risky to scare Amie like this if that is the scenario we're dealing with.
More likely, Sweetie Drops was informed of the dreamblade due to her position, but she was not meant to relay it to Amie. In which case, the fake dreamblade must be meant to deceive someone like Path instead of Amie. If Path were informed of the dreamblade and ordered to hold off on assaulting Stella Lacus until the Queen is dead to minimize risk, Luna (or whoever came up with the fake dreamblade idea) could delay hostile action indefinitely (or as long as necessary to advance talks with Amie).
The other scenario is that the dreamblade is real. In which case, yeah the analysis is fairly simple. Obviously, Sweetie Drops in this scenario is still not intended to relay the intel to Amie, but also in this scenario the Equestrian intentions are clear, though it begs the question of why hasn't the dreamblade been used on any of Equestria's more threatening enemies.
Seemingly, the most likely scenario, which a few other people have mentioned in this comment section, is that the dreamblade story is fake, and that it was meant for Path, not Amie, in order to create more of a possibility for peace talks.
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It does seem like the fake dreamblade scenario was intended to assuage Path's and the council's fears and desires for revenge. Though it would make more sense for Luna to simply stand Path down and tell the council that the Princesses are personally handling the situation. That should be enough. The necessity for deception (especially if it's only intended to be heard by the zealots) may mean there are out of control rogue elements acting on their own amongst the Equestrian military.
I don't remember hearing anything about how involved Celestia is. Beyond Ivy, who knows how much information actually gets to her. Perhaps Luna has more control of the narrative in this situation than the other attacks. And she's willing to dirty her hooves this time.
By the way, was the donut offering at the Office of Internal Security a subtle way of detecting changeling suspects? Or are the ponies specifically tasked with detecting changeling infiltrators really going to have such lax internal security at their Office of Internal Security? Because frankly it just looks like they had no security.
I agree with this. They seem awfully bloodthirsty. I can only guess Chrysalis's invasion was far worse than in canon for them to be so quick to go for blood, but at the same time they seem to know that Amie isn't Chrysalis, and yet they refuse to even entertain the notion of peace. Which is pretty damn stupid.
That is like blaming all Russians for the actions of Putin, or all Muslims for the actions of the extremists. I apologize for bringing real world BS into it, but I can't think of a better way to make comparisons here.
When faced with indomitable odds, sometimes surrender is the better option. Humiliation may follow, but at least you’ll be alive at the end.
Besides, Amie’s the one with the food and has the backing of the locals.