Trials and Tribulations

by Divide

Chapter Eleven

Trials and Tribulations
Chapter Eleven: Trials and errors

Princess Celestia had no idea how to react. The creature standing in front of her, Seth, had called her a false god. She did not know what a god was, but she could tell it was an insult.

Forcing herself to remain calm, she asked, "What is a 'god' of which you have called me a false one?"

"A god is an all-powerful being that can, apparently, influence the lives of others and control where they end up after death."

Celestia was confused. "I don't pretend to be a 'god'. I am the leader of Equestria, nothing more nothing less. I have no control over what ponies do with their lives or when they pass away, nor would I want that power."

Seth wasn't having any of it. "When I was in pony form, I looked into your eyes for half a second and felt in awe at your sheer power and majesty. I wanted to serve you until my dying breath and I would gladly give up my life on a mere whim of yours. And you're telling me that you don't have any control over anypony? I call bullshit. You raise the very sun that brightens their day, the sun that causes their crops to grow, the sun that causes all to be possible for fuck's sake."

Princess Celestia had never thought of it like that. She had always done what her position demanded of her. "I...I never thought of it like that before. I thought that everypony adored me because of my office and how I treated them..."

She shook her head, pushing her thoughts away for the moment. "I will have to make an announcement regarding that later, but for now I am interested in learning about you, Seth."

Seth was amazed at what he had done. He had sown the seeds of discontent in the ruler of Equestria in a single rant. No sense pushing even more, thought Seth. I've done more today than I could have ever hoped for.

Seth told her the tale of humanity. "We, as a species, evolved from primates. We also had a strong individual identity, but as the primates evolved towards depending on a community for cooperative survival, we evolved empathy for our own children first, then for the children of others, and finally for the adults. As our species grew more prolific, our circle of empathy had to grow larger, to include the large populations of each group. Finally, as our species reached its domination point, humans had to evolve something that no other primate had: a sense of identity with the group mentality so strong that it could swallow up the identity of the individual. With this group loyalty being as strong as it was, a human being could only have loyalty to one or two communities at a time. These loyalties founded the basis of the states and countries that we live in today. Sounds reasonable, you may say. But humans are not reasonable."

"Religion appeared, which was the worship of a god or gods as humanity's superiors. Entire nations, billions of people were killed because of what they believed in. The group mentality made it even worse. It let people become the weapons and tools of the select few controlling them."

Seth paused for a few moments to let Celestia absorb this information. "Now, with the technology to change the world for the better, we don't. We are spoon fed lies by the very government that pretends to care for us, all the while they are testing us, prodding us. We had all the information at our fingertips, but it's too late now. Humanity is dead, and in its place are mindless drones going about their daily business, laughing when they are allowed to laugh, crying when appropriate."

Seth was visibly shaking with anger at the end of his tirade. "And that's why, princess, I called you a false god. One who watches over everypony from a distance. Helping individuals before they are swallowed up by a group is what you must do. For it is individuals who will save the day, not the masses. It may not have started happening yet, but it will. Oh, it will. And Equestria will burn if it does."

Princess Celestia had never heard someone speak so angrily, so passionately about anything before. "May I look into your memories to see this for myself? It's not that I don't believe you, but I want to make the best decision I possibly can, for the sake of everypony."

Seth smirked and said, "If you think you can manage, go ahead. I'm not proud of some of the things I've done, but they were done out of necessity."

"It won't hurt, but it will knock you unconscious. You will wake up back in Ponyville. It was...intriguing to meet you Seth. I hope we can become allies in the future, as equals. Farewell."

Celestia called Luna into her room after she copied Seth's memories into the crystal in front of her. "Luna, please tell me everything about Seth that you learned in your brief time spent with him."

"Of course," Luna said. She explained everything she knew, from demeanour, to physical and mental fortitude, and finally his eyes, and the fact that after looking she couldn't lie to him.

Together, Celestia and Luna touched the crystal gently with their hooves, and delved deep into the humans memories.

They saw Seth's life. Saw it from his moment of birth. Saw him raised in a dysfunctional family, saw him being taught values he didn't accept. They watched as he was accepted into high school at age 12 after being tested as having 'mensa' level intelligence, which was one step from genius. He completed high school 3 years later and went to university for 2 more to earn his master's degree in medicine.

They watched as he discarded all attempts at making friends. Watched as he met someone during university, someone he thought he cared for. They felt his pride when his daughter was born, and his contempt and hatred for everyone around him after his ex-wife divorced him. They saw his choices, his whims, his ethical choices laid out in front of them. And they were afraid. Luna and Celestia were afraid of who he was, who he could become if he was pushed. All it would take was a push and a shove, and Seth could, would, change it as he saw fit.

After reviewing Seth's memories, the two princesses discussed whether or not he was to be trusted.

************************************

Seth woke up lying on the floor in Rainbow Dash's living room. He got up and was going to check on her when he almost tripped over her. What was she doing sleeping in the hallway? thought Seth. Confused, Seth picked her up and carried her to her bed. She immediately curled up, pinning his arm in the process.

Seth looked down at the adorable blue pegasus sleeping and felt guilty about trying to move her off of his arm. He sat down on the bed and looked around for something to read that was in reach. He noticed a pamphlet on the 'Wonderbolts' and decided to read it to pass the time until she woke up.

Rainbow Dash woke up, feeling as if she'd slept for two days. She stretched and felt something under chest. Hey, she thought. I thought I put that away...

She was startled when she felt the object in question slide out from under her. She jumped out of her bed in response and tumbled onto the floor.

"Sorry for startling you, but my arm was pinned by you for almost an hour now and I need to get the blood flowing again," said Seth while clenching his fingers.

It took Rainbow Dash's brain a few seconds to process this. The question that was inevitably asked was, "What was your arm doing under me in the first place?"

Seth laughed and said, "I nearly tripped over you in the hallway, so I picked you up and brought you back to your bed. You curled up and took my arm with you." Seth looked at his watch. "Although to be honest, I'm not sure what you were doing sleeping in the hallway at 6:45 in the morning."

Rainbow Dash stretched her wings and said, "What time is now then?"

"7:42."

Rainbow stopped stretching and looked at Seth incredulously. "Are you sure? It feels like noon to me. That's generally when I wake up."

Seth had to agree. "I feel surprisingly well rested considering what happened last night."

Rainbow Dash had a shocked look on her face. She barely managed to squeak out, "What happened last night?"

Seth laughed again. "I made Princess Luna faint, I transformed into a pony, I met Princess Celestia and practically insulted her, I had my memory reviewed and I've had my arm trapped for about an hour. A fairly interesting night, if I do say so myself."

Rainbow Dash stared at Seth for half a minute before regaining her composure. "Alright," she said eventually. "Start at the beginning."

As Seth and Dash were walking through Ponyville, he told her about what happened. Most of the stores were still closed and few ponies were walking about. When Seth got to the part when he accidently transformed, Rainbow Dash said, "I think Twilight should hear about this too. She should probably be up by now."

Seth agreed and the two of them went to the library. Seth knocked on the door, and heard Twilight respond, "Coming!"

She opened the door and her smile turned upside down. She pointed accusingly at both of them and said, "You both have a lot of explaining to do!"

"Wha-" Seth started to say, but was cut off by Twilight.

"But I-" Rainbow Dash attempted to speak, but was also cut off by Twilight.

Twilight led them to what could be considered the living room. She made them sit on the couch and sat in the chair across from them. Twilight cleared her throat and said, "What the hell were you two doing for two days!"

Rainbow Dash turned bright red.

Seth wondered which book she learned 'Hell' from. He also wondered what she meant by 'two days'. He voiced his opinion.

"What do you mean two days?"

Twilight glared at him. "I mean, you've been at Rainbow Dash's house for two whole nights!"

Seth looked at Rainbow Dash. "You think I should tell her what happened?"

Dash could only nod.

"Well, you see..." started Seth, only to be interrupted by Twilight again.

"No! I don't want to hear your excuses! You two are in serious trouble! I don't even want to know what you two did for two days, nor do I care!"

Seth could tell that she did in fact care, seeing as she was blushing more as the conversation went on. Rainbow Dash attempted to sort things out with Twilight.

"Twilight, we didn't-"

"I'm not done ranting yet!" exclaimed Twilight.

"You are now," said Seth in a voice that brooked no argument. "I think it's time you heard what happened to me last night--or nights, rather."

And so, Seth told the events from his perspective to Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

Comments

[Agile Swift]

sorry for outurst last chapter was really tired and didnt understand

[Divide]

Hello everyone. I'm glad that my story has been well received here. I am literally brand new to this site and hope I am not causing offense by writing a comment on my own story
If I am, I blame my relative awkwardness in posting on my own stuff.
Anyway, I will be uploading two more chapters as soon as I can, and hopefully another chapter daily.
Words are hard.
Goodbye.