Liar
Anon stands in the center of the castle's large pantry with an exhausted expression on his face. He's been living here for quite some time now with almost no reason to leave. However, as of today, he is fresh out of food.
For a while, he contemplated going hunting. Unfortunately, his skill set doesn't exactly involve tracking and killing animals. Even if he could, he has no clue how to skin or prepare them. On top of that, he can forget about foraging. He has no idea what most of the plants in the Everfree Forest are, and from what he's seen, it would be a terrible idea to just eat Everfree flora indiscriminately.
Which means that his only option left is to go into town for groceries.
Anon sighs. If it were up to him, he'd never step foot in Ponyville again. But, the fact of the matter is that he has to eat. Surely those ponies can set aside their hatred of him long enough to do business, right? They wouldn't refuse him a service necessary for his survival, right?
He briefly considers going to a different town, but he quickly throws out that idea. Ponyville is far from the only town that would take issue with him, and the farther away from the castle he goes, the more likely it will be that he runs into trouble on his way back. Ponyville it is, then.
Anon sluggishly makes his way back to the entrance hall, but not before stopping by Nightmare Moon's room to grab his stash of bits. The castle's treasury had, predictably, been completely emptied out by thieves. However, not all of the treasure was kept in one place. Heck, during his cleaning, he found a few hidden caches here and there he didn't even know about, likely put there by members of the Lunar Guard or other castle servants. As a result, he has more than enough to support himself for a while.
...Well, here goes nothing.
He wasn't quite sure what he was expecting.
Anon stands in the middle of the Ponyville market, his arms crossed and his eyes half-lidded. The typical crowd that gathers here around this time has completely dispersed following his arrival. Many of the stalls and stands are suddenly closed or "out on lunch." The few ponies that have stuck around never take their eyes off of him, though whether that be out of fear or anger, he doesn't know.
Anon glances around at the few stalls still open. Of them, he can see that one is selling flowers and another appears to be selling hoof-crafted goods, neither of which are what he's looking for. That only leaves two other stalls. He glances at the first, but freezes when he sees the orange mare running it. A scowl on his face, he decides to push his luck with the other, which appears to be selling various vegetables.
The red-maned mare behind the counter glares at him before recoiling as he approaches. Seeing this and not being used to this type of interaction, Anon awkwardly clears his throat as he reaches the stall.
"H-hello."
"...Hi?"
"What are you... uh... h-how much for... the vegetables?"
"J-just take 'em and leave me alone!"
"..." Anon is an opportunist. However, even he understands how terrible of an idea it would be to do that. He's going to need to acquire food again eventually, and if he establishes that he's just going to stroll up and take food from these vendors, they're likely to stop being here when he shows up. He knows he can't fix his reputation (and frankly, he doesn't particularly care to), but he still needs to eat. "I'm not going to do that. I have the money."
"H-how do I know it's not... cursed or something?"
"Lady, it's money." As if to make a point, Anon places a handful of bits on the counter. "Do you want it or not?"
"H-here, take it!"
Wasting no time, she quickly grabs a bunch of vegetables at random, shoves them into a bag, and slides them across the counter to Anon.
Well, better than nothing.
"Thanks, I guess."
The mare is practically trembling in her seat, and Anon decides to turn around and leave before making things worse. He glances into the bag she gave him. It's a fair amount of veggies, but they're not going to last him very long. He briefly tosses his options around in his mind before closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh. Slowly, he turns to face the only stall left serving any sort of food: the apple stand.
Behind the stand, Applejack sits straight up. She carefully watches Anon without a hint of fear on her face. They lock eyes, and their expressions harden. Without looking away, Anon approaches the stand. Neither say a word until they're only a few feet away from each other. The tension in the air is so thick they can practically feel it. They stand there for a few silent moments until Anon finally speaks up.
"Applejack, right?"
"That's my name, yeah."
Anon takes a deep breath. There is a clear reluctance to every move he makes.
"How much for the apples?"
Applejack stares at him for another moment, though she doesn't appear particularly surprised.
"Depends. You want the normal ones or the Nightingale ones?"
"What's the difference?"
"Nopony wants the Nightingale ones, so they're cheaper."
"...Why don't they want them?"
Anon's voice is low and almost accusatory. Applejack's eye briefly twitches.
"I'm sure you of all creatures know exactly why."
Anon scoffs.
"Leave it to you ungrateful ponies to not want perfectly good food just because my lady was the one that provided it for you."
"She didn't 'provide' it, she FORCED it! YOU forced it! All for her weird... magic stuff!"
"Excuse me?"
"Don't play dumb, Anon. Do you want the apples or not?"
"No, I don't think I can just let that slide! What was that you just said about my lady?"
Both of their voices are gradually growing louder. The few ponies that hadn't evacuated the market upon seeing Anon watch on with morbid curiosity.
"The only reason she wanted anypony to eat these darn apples is because of the enchantment she put on them seeds she made us plant!"
"What enchantment?!"
"..." Applejack narrows her eyes at Anon before raising an eyebrow. "You seriously didn't know these apples are enchanted?"
"The only enchantment she put on them was one that allows them to grow in her eternal night. Don't know why you'd have a problem with that."
"No, no it wasn't!" Anon clenches his fists, but he waits for Applejack to continue talking. "These apples do somethin' to your body. Make you more susceptible to all that mind control business she was up to!"
"Th-that's not true!"
"Yes, it is! Ask Twilight, or any unicorn for that matter! We all knew about it, but it's not like she was givin' us much of a choice!"
"No, that can't be true, because she would have told me about it!"
"What in the hay are you talkin' about?"
"She said she made them so that Equestria wouldn't starve!"
"She was lyin' to you, Anon. In case you didn't know, for all the trouble her night brought us, it didn't actually harm our crops none. Otherwise, darn near the whole country would be dyin'."
"N-no, I know she wasn't lying!"
"How?"
"Because she wasn't a liar!"
Anon is practically yelling at the top of his lungs now. His face has gone completely red, and he seems incapable of standing still any longer. Applejack, however, doesn't move from her seat.
"First time I've ever heard someone say that. You actually think she just told the truth all the time?"
"Yes, I do! That's the whole reason I was loyal to her in the first place!"
"Didn't she lie to you about the reason she wanted you to hurt Twilight's friends back at that school?"
"W-well, no! She just... didn't give me all the information!"
"You mean like with these apples?"
"You..." Anon's breathing quickens. Sweat begins to bead on his forehead. Whether he wants to admit it or not, she might have a point. ...No, of course not! She has to be lying about the apples! "You're the liar here!"
"You're really sayin' that to the Element of Honesty?"
"I couldn't care less about your self-given title. I won't hear you slander my lady any more than you already have!"
"Anon!" A voice rings out from behind the disgruntled human. Both he and Applejack turn their attention to the new arrival, only to be met with a surprising sight. Standing in the middle of the market are Twilight Sparkle and Princess Luna herself, both with serious looks on their faces. Twilight was the one who spoke up, and she looks livid. "I'd like it if you stopped yelling at my friend."
"And I'd like it if I could go one day without having to hear garbage spewing from the mouths of the ones that killed my lady!"
"Will you shut up about her?! The country is still trying to recover from what the two of you did! No wonder she's fresh on everypony's minds! What right do you have to be mad about that?"
"I have every right! She's dead!"
"SO IS MOONDANCER!" Twilight's voice cracks as she shouts as loud as she can. Tears begin to form in her angry eyes as she loses her composure, her head drooping to the ground and her voice now quiet and filled with sorrow. "And you were the one that got her killed."
"I did exactly as my lady commanded."
"Why?! How does that justify anything you've done?!"
"Why don't you ask your friend, there?" Anon nods his head towards Luna. His focus has been almost entirely on Twilight, so he has failed to notice until now that, unlike their prior meeting, she has not looked away from him once. Her serious eyes have been locked onto his own since she arrived, and a scowl is spread across her face. "She remembers every minute of it! Not that she'll actually talk about it! Heavens forbid someone actually threw me a bone for once!"
"What makes you think you're obligated to anything, you... you..."
Anon grunts in frustration.
"I'm going home." Anon tries to leave, but as he does so, he notices movement above him. Two familiar mares stare down on him, one with anger, one with fear. He knows those ponies as well, what with them being two more of the mares that killed Nightmare Moon. Rainbow Dash lands on the ground in the direction he was planning to go, while Fluttershy stays in the air. A quick glance behind him reveals that both Rarity and Pinkie Pie have shown up as well. Rarity looks just as angry as Rainbow Dash, while Pinkie Pie just looks concerned. Anon laughs incredulously. "What is this, an intervention?!"
Once again, Twilight responds, having now wiped the tears from her face.
"Rainbow Dash told us what happened at the castle. Luna and I were planning to go have a chat with you, but we figured it'd be safer for all of us to go as a group later in the day. Then, well... you came to us."
Anon frantically turns in place, unsure of if the ponies staring at him are threatening him or not. He isn't sure why, but ever since Applejack started talking about those apples, a weight has been building in his chest. Now, it only continues to grow. He's gotten out of worse scraps than this, so why is he getting nervous?!
"And what, you're gonna keep spewing the same nonsense you've been telling me this whole time? Go on, shout from the rooftops about how 'evil' I am for having someone I care about! It won't change a single thing!"
"The fact that you think that's what any of this is about shows how delusional you are!" Rarity shouts from behind Anon, and her words cut him deeper than they have any right to. Why do her words bother him so much? Why is he sweating so profusely right now?
"Y-you have no idea what you're talking about! None of you do! Just leave me alo-"
"SILENCE!" Luna's voice echoes throughout the space, almost certainly aided by the use of magic. It's so commanding, so powerful, that even Anon cannot help but shut up and listen. In a way, it reminds him of Nightmare Moon. A mixture of emotions hit him all at once, with half of him feeling a harsh reminder of the mare he loved, and the other half continuing to be as uncharacteristically nervous as it has been for a while now. "I was hoping I'd never see you again, Anon. I was hoping we'd never have to see each other again. But I can't just let you go on like this."
"..." Slowly, a strange, eerie smile creeps its way to Anon's face. "Heh. Heh! Let me guess, you're finally gonna admit that you love me just like she did?" Anon lets out an unhinged-sounding laugh. "Hate to break it to you, but I don't feel the same! You aren't half the mare she was!"
"You want the truth?! Fine!" Luna's horn begins to glow. Suddenly, Anon sees an apple levitating in front of his face. "Go on. Take a bite."
"I... what is this?"
"One of her Nightingale apples. You've never had one, have you?"
"Well, no. We had much better food at the castle than-"
"Eat it!"
"..." Anon glares at Luna for a moment before angrily grabbing the apple out of the air. That anxious feeling only continues to build as he brings the apple to his mouth and takes a bite. Ultimately, it just tastes like a normal apple. But then again, that's not really the point here, is it? "Well? What was that supposed to prove?" Quietly, Luna's horn begins to glow a gentle blue color. Everypony in attendance watches as that same color begins to envelop Anon. His eyes grow wide as a tingling feeling begins to overtake him. Slowly, his body starts to rise. It keeps rising until he is nearly six feet into the air. "Wh-what is this?!"
Just as suddenly as he started to float, he is lowered back down to the ground. As he is placed back on his feet, the magic surrounding him and the magic coming from Luna's horn disappear simultaneously.
"I told ya," Applejack says with a somewhat smug look on her face.
"N-no... no, I'm resistant to magic."
"Not after eatin' one of those apples you're not. And for us ponies, who are already effected by magic? I think you can imagine how Nightmare Moon would have gotten some use outta them."
"B-but..."
"Anon." Luna speaks once more. Her voice is cold and direct. However, she doesn't look quite as angry as she did a moment ago. "You want the truth, right? Then let me tell you the whole truth for the first time in my... or her... life."
"..."
"Anon, I don't love you. The only thing I feel for you is pity." Luna slowly walks towards Anon, whose head slowly begins to droop. "Pity for the man who was so easily manipulated, and only continues to be so."
"..."
Luna sighs.
"Anon, Nightmare Moon never loved you. Not when you met, not when you did her bidding for her, and not when Twilight and her friends defeated her. From the very beginning, she was manipulating you."
"...Y-you're lying." Anon's voice is weak to the point of being almost completely inaudible. "That can't be true."
"You loved her because you thought she was honest. She knew that. She also realized how useful you would be after you helped her quell that rebellion in my sister's school, so she got right to work making sure you stayed obedient. She read you like a book. She did everything in her power to appeal to you, knowing a mind control spell wouldn't be quite as effective even with an apple in your system."
"..."
"A nice room for the man who clearly had nothing. Fancy meals for the man that just wanted to survive. Some... shall we say, 'companionship' when she felt her grip on you was slipping."
"She... she wouldn't."
"She preyed quite easily on your tendency to make assumptions. She was surprised at how much you assumed the best of her, even as she continued to demean you and remind you of 'your place,' so to speak. You assumed she was telling the truth. You assumed her victims deserved what they got. You assumed she cared for you as much as you cared for her. Well, either you assumed those things, or you just convinced yourself that they were true."
"N-no."
Compared to the yelling and anger that filled the space before, the gentle, one-sided conversation between Anon and Luna sounds extremely quiet. A cool breeze washes over Ponyville, and Anon doesn't even register himself falling to his knees.
"...But you already knew all of that, didn't you?"
Anon is silent for a few moments. When he finally speaks up, his voice is shaky and his eyes are filling with tears.
"It's not true. It can't be true."
"And why not?"
"Because... if it is, then..." Anon squeezes his eyes shut in an attempt to stop the flood of tears. "Then everything I've done-"
"NO!" The quiet, somber moment is interrupted by Twilight, who looks absolutely livid. "You don't get to say that! You have no right to act remorseful now! Everything you did, you did of your own free will! Luna was being influenced! Her mind-controlled followers were being influenced, if not threatened, to do what they did! Only you did any of that willingly! Do you really think 'love' justifies ANYTHING you did?! Ponies are DEAD because of you!"
"I-"
"So you did all of that because you 'loved her?!' What difference does it make if she didn't feel the same about you?! That doesn't retroactively make anything you did justified!"
"You-"
With her own eyes filled with hot tears, Twilight stomps up to Anon. Her horn glows, and she lifts him slightly off of the ground, forcing him to look her in the eyes.
"You can't undo the damage you caused! You can't fix the lives you ruined! You can't let Fluttershy see Angel again! You can't..." She sniffles. "You can't bring Moondancer back! You weren't sorry before, so don't you dare try to act sorry now!"
Twilight drops Anon as Luna gently pulls her away from him. Finally, she breaks down completely, unable to contain her sorrow any longer. Meanwhile, Anon stares at the ground, his eyes shut tight as tears fall from them onto the dirt below.
He wants it all to stop. He wants everyone to stop talking. He wants the thoughts and the memories to stop flooding his mind. He wants the voice in his head that's yelling, screaming at him to just shut up. He wants everything to be quiet. He wants them to be wrong. He wants them to be lying. But in his heart, he knows that they aren't.
Because he's seen this before.
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Twilight loved her, and you killed her.
Go fuck yourself, you piece of shit bootlicker.
Oh, did you misjudge her? Why imagine my shock.
How does it feel to have everything you put yourself toward be for naught but a pile of broken bodies and pools of blood, filled cemeteries? Chasing the dragon of a soulless demon's calculated "affection," instead of strengthening the sliver of a soul you had when there was a way out?
And you failed to break the cycle. And there's nothing that you can do to fix it or take things back. It would never have been worth it even if it were all "true love."
All Nightmare Moon did was stagnate any personal growth Anon ever could've had. He fundamentally remained the same person for four years, remaining the same at best, and devolving at worst.
And now he has to live with the fact he chose Nightmare Moon over Twilight, despite the multitude of red flags involved.
What can you do, at that point?
Poor Twilight. Her rant was 1000% justified.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/9/21/726245.png
So Nightmare Moon was playing Anon like a kazoo. That was one theory I had, so seeing it... yeah. *sigh*
Honestly, I can't be mad at Twilight for calling Anon on his bullshit. He was acting on bad assumptions and committed atrocities because Bad Mare was 'nice' to him.
Still no sympathy for Anon. He kept digging his own grave. He shouldn't be surprised when someone boots his ass into it.
Be careful, boogieman. You just ate some nice delicious Apple Kryspinite. Designed by your Lady Fair no less! And you lost your one big advantage.
Meh, the apple bit seems kind of plot bullshit honestly.
Oh no, the Supervillain who lived for a long time used a vulnerable new arrival--and one who seemed like one who lived as a low-level goon for his entire life--for their own end with obvious threats on life and limb just like Anon's former employers!
How totally unexpected!
I can't see this self-deluded Anon going too far after this whole perspective-breakdown where he finally gets the hint that yes, his self-serving attitude and self-deceit led to this disaster.
Well, unless he goes full villain and takes Luna out in revenge at least.
After all ... it was her who harbored NMM from the beginning, right? It can be basically be laid upon her hooves, correct?
Self-delusion replaced successfully!
honestly at this point? i kinda hope anon doubles/triples/quads down and is just now anon: villain for hire. like his skill set is still brute force and take over, and i doubt any pony feels bad for him... unless we also wanna double down on anon pity?
11737217
I'll agree with that a bit. It's not bad, just kinda extra.
I had this as roughly one of the outcomes I was predicting, but I'll admit I had it at a lower rung on the list. That original meeting with Celestia and Luna where Luna couldn't answer anything well kinda threw my predictions off. If she'd answered anything like she is now, we'd be in a different place at the moment. Which would would have sucked some of the drama out of the story I suppose :P
So now we have a couple different ways this can end up. The last couple of paragraphs give me some hints, but given that I currently think that Romance tag is a big ol trap, who knows where we're going now
EDIT:
Apparently can't keep from thinking about this till next chapter hits. Gonna spoiler, just in case.
This next chapter is totally going to be some pre-equestria background for Anon. I feel like there are some core things its gonna have to cover.
He needs a reason to have been desperate or blind enough to have accepted Nightmare at face value. We know he was a "street rat", which leaves lots of options for who or what might have picked him up and made use of him in a brutal and/or de-humanizing way.
He needs a reason to have considered the rebellion a doomed venture from the get go. The fact that Nightmare knew they existed and where is easily part of it, but kinda hoping for some pre-Equestria experience with failed rebellions or good intentioned idiots.
And I suppose now he has to have been betrayed or mislead before.
I've been pretty happy with the story so far, but my feeling is that this next part is going to be a kinda load bearing structure for the rest of the story. I think Runic's going to pull it off, but boy am I anticipating next chapter. Gonna be a long day tomorrow...
11737217
I kind of agree. I think it would have been better if NMM was actually nice to him and the ponies were just prejudiced. The magic apples that get around his innate magic immunity is a bit much. I suppose I'll enjoy the future making up with the Mane 7 and Luna, but the story had a lot of potential for a subversion of the usual tropes I was kind of looking forwards to... oh well.
This is the one and only moment when Anon can change for the better, but seeing his reaction:
I doubt it.
Luna:"If I have to hear one more time how you did it for love-"
Anon:"I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was. Really... I was alive."
Well, alright then, I knew that Anon was in for a rude awakening sooner or later, but I wasn't quite expecting this chapter to be quite so direct for it, or for Anon's world to be crushed quite so absolutely. I imagine this exchange was quite cathartic for Twilight, she's been holding on to this hurt for a long time now. It was certainly satisfying for me, and I have to admit at least partially because of some of the discussions that have been going on in the comments for the last several chapters.
Wonder if we'll still get people trying to suggest that Nightmare Moon's rule was legitimate or benevolent still? At this point I don't think there was a single redeeming factor of her regime.
Honestly wasn't expecting that level of total sociopathy from the Nightmare, even with my already dim view of her character from past chapters. I'd always figured she was at least fond of him, even if it she didn't view him as an equal, but it does fit with what we've seen of her. I did guess though that Luna wasn't secretly pining for Anon this whole time, and in fact is just as horrified by his past actions and unimpressed with his current behavior despite her own sense of guilt.
And ultimately this story's title stand: it is indeed for the best that Nightmare Moon is gone for good, no matter how much it hurts Anon to realize it had all been a lie.
11737244
My favorite part about the following passage in Chapter 5:
...is the fact that Nightmare Moon never actually lied to him here.
Lol simp
11737217
Yeah, kinda agree. If one appple made him so susceptible to magic, who's to say he wouldn't be under NM'S control after eating them for breakfast lunch and dinner?
A cool twist, if a little forced.
I'd say this would be enough to make a person in Anon's shoes suicidal. But this is rated E and there's no suicide/self-harm tag so I assume the story isn't going to go in that direction.
I do wonder what will happen now though. If Anon will still be able to live in the ruined castle or if he'll move out somewhere else.
I would think he'll become even more secluded to the point he starts starving himself or something out of guilt and grief.
Also, the ponies are very wrong. Anon was being mind controlled, but not in a way they'd recognize. Abuse and manipulation will make victims do things for their abusers they would never in a million years do if they weren't being manipulated.
The fact Anon anon had magic resistance doesn't change the fact he was dropped from one abusive and manipulative situation on Earth directly into NMM's hooves. The ponies don't recognize it because of all the harm he perpetuated, and it doesn't excuse his actions. But he wasn't just doing it for cold-blooded fun.
SHEESH
11737256
That's true, but, as you said, Anon still possesses moral agency, and Nightmare Moon had tried to kill him within the last day or two before he set off to his first mission.
It may have had textbook manipulation tactics involved, especially as time went on, but it's not an excuse, only an explanation.
He was unempathetic as hell from square one.
This is the guy on his way to his first mission, not very long after he had her try to kill him for speaking out of turn.
He still easily rationalized what he did as an opening act to the point he could bring himself to genuinely laugh at people dying.
Not once does Anon specifically go out of his way to extend kindness to anyone else at all. He never tries even half-heartedly to persuade Nightmare Moon to be a little lighter.
The only reason he didn't kill Moondancer on the spot was because he thought Nightmare Moon would've preferred she'd be taken alive, to then have... however she died likely involve agony, to better instill fear into the populace, for having the audacity to cause a little headache to her.
It was not because he didn't want to kill her, or have so much as a problem with it — and in fact he slashed Twilight right before, showing no regard for her life.
(ETA: "As you said")
11737255
Yes, but the thing is if eating them makes him more susceptible to magic it also removes one of the main things that was making him useful to her. Which is that he's immune to magic. So why would she want him to eat them, especially when she get's by just fine with good old emotional manipulation?
11737263
Ugh, can't believe I overlooked that, great catch!
Anon: "You're never going to see Moondancer again."
Honestly figured this was how it was gonna go. Especially given the title. And theres a real risk of this confrontation breaking him. You can only be pushed so far after all. And all these back to back revelations are likely damn near leaving him teetering on the edge.
For now I'm just going to assume Luna is lying because otherwise all the interesting parts of the story are pretty much gone.
The premise of a HiE falling for a evil NIghtmare Moon, and her in turn falling for him. Then having to live in the aftermath of her being dealt with by the EoH was really neat.
I can't help but feel Twilight is just making everything worse with her "NO!" and everything that followed. Anon was in a delicate emotional state that that point. Her outburst just gives her catharsis, and everypony else a scape goat.
Luna I can see as trying to fix the mistakes of her past, even if she does disassociate from her time as Nightmare Moon (NMM). She's trying to make her last soldier give up the cause before he does something stupid. Anon has the potential to start a Nightmare Moon cult or become an asset to an anti-Equestrian army (Sombra, Storm King, Changlings, etc). And she had just barely gotten Anon to the point of giving up on that.
Then Twilight jumps in with a need for revenge and retribution, not giving him a chance. No chance to come to terms with what just happened. No chance of forgiveness. No chance of rejoining pony society.
If I were Anon and got away from this scene and had a chance to think... Well, suicide or depression is definitely an option. But I'd consider an alternate viewpoint. The princesses, the elements of Harmony, Equestria's best and brightest minds, and Trixie could have combined forces to either make one apple break through Anon's powerful magical defenses that survived being a high-value target for years, or just make it appear that they had done so. They said they were planning to confront him anyway. Or that a common foodstuff grown for a logical purpose had sinister mind-controlling properties.
I would be easier to blame the old enemy, than believe their words (lies) about the love of his life.
good chapter
11737262
My theory for Anon's past is that he was in the mafia on earth. Probably doing whatever was necessary so that he wouldn't find himself at the wrong end of a gun. If that's the case, then it would explain his lack of empathy as well as the rest of his actions.
You can't ask questions, because then people might think you're a rat and kill you.
You can't empathize with the people you hurt, at least not for very long. Human brains aren't good at handling feeling bad for doing something and continuing to do something. He probably learned very early on to compartmentalize whatever part of him felt bad about what he did so that it wouldn't interfere with his survival to the point that in the scenes of the past, his thinking feels extremely instinctive. He's not putting much thought into what he does because the walls in his brain will crumble if he does.
And, if you let your feelings get in the way, people can take advantage of you. You can't let that happen in a world like that.
Also think about things from his perspective: You wake up in a strange place with no idea where you are. You're instantly taken to see the ruler, who is also the most powerful being in the land and tries to murder you in cold blood. Turns out, you've been in situations like this before. You know how to get out of this though. Make yourself useful before they try killing you a different way. You're then sent from one place you don't know anything about, to another. You have no idea of where you are except for your spatial memory and the vague instruction of "look for this building." You then encounter your targets. They're nice, but it's probably a ploy. People aren't nice to you for no reason. After all, you know your place. Good people don't exist, otherwise, that'd mean you didn't have to be hurt the way you were.
Then, Anon's fight or flight response kicks in when Moondancer discovers the dagger. If they hadn't discovered it, Anon might have chosen to stay "undercover" for longer, giving him more time to realize he didn't have to stick with NMM. Instead he had to make the decision of "trust an unknown who may or may not want to kill me that I don't know how to deal with" or "work for the evil I know because I can survive it." in an instant.
Also, I'm not sure that the invisibubble was a minor inconvenience for NMM. If there's any characters that can't be trusted, it's her. So why should we believe that the bubble was just a minor inconvenience because she said so? She has a vested interest in keeping Anon's self image low enough that he can be easily manipulated while keeping his view of her as an unbeatable force that he has to deal with or die.
Finally, Anon has been shown to be an unreliable narrator who lacks emotional intelligence. He can't recognize when he's being manipulated and he had no idea Dash wasn't loyal to NMM in the first place. He says he didn't feel anything. Yet in every past scene confrontation, we've seen Anon spare pony after pony. I don't think Anon really believes NMM would've cared if they lived or died. I think that's how he rationalized things without admitting he has what he would see as weakness. So far, the only creature we know he actually killed is Angel Bunny, which he saw as an animal unlike the ponies.
Also, what makes you think you would try to halfheartedly persuade NMM into being less cruel if the first thing she did to you was try to kill you?
Anon still hurt ponies. But I think you're missing parts of his character.
People have been wondering why Anon put so much trust in Nightmare Moon when she's so blatantly evil, but at this point I think it's because she's so blatantly evil that he latched onto her. Anon seems to hate liars more than anything, and he seems used to being treated terribly and has such a cynical perspective in general. He seems to be the kind of guy that would assume that any show of goodness is fake in someway, that someone would only be kind for ulterior motives. I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight's unconditional kindness is actually part of the reason he didn't trust her and sided with Nightmare Moon instead.
If you assume that everyone is really bad and selfish deep down, then somebody like NM must come off as a really honest person with how open she is about it all. Sure, she didn't really care about him at first but he got something out of his arrangement from her which is apparently more than he got before, and once she started showing care and affection he assumed it was real. Because if she's honest enough to be so blatantly evil, why would she lie about her affection? It'd also make sense with his whole "They probably had it coming" aspect of his mindset, which was really a flimsy excuse to justify himself but could also stem from that belief of everyone being bad deep down. It'd also make him feel better about himself, after all if everyone is really selfish and only cares for themselves and potentially their close loved ones, he can't be that bad a guy can he? He's just more honest and on the winning side, that's all.
He was desperate to be wanted, needed or liked by basically anyone, and he latched onto the first person who gave him a semblance of that who he felt he could trust because she was so "Honest". And hot, since one of the first things he thought was that she was beautiful. Seems like we're gonna get his backstory soon though, so I guess we'll see for ourselves what led to his fucked up mindset and then it'll be easier to really understand him.
The ponies fail to realize that Anon has always been a victim of circumstance; used and abused by everyone around him for their own gain. They don't know that, though. They don't want to know that. It's easier to demonize, blame, and hate instead of trying to understand why he is the way he is. It doesn't justify what he's done, but it explains how he got to this point.
Anon doesn't do stuff because it's the right thing to do. He does stuff to have a roof over his head, to have food to eat, to avoid being a punching bag again, and be rewarded for his work. He's desperate. He wants to be on the winning side for once in his life and Nightmare Moon, liar or not, gave him exactly what he wanted. Food. Shelter. Authority. Rewards. A chance to be a winner... and all he had to do to get it was do what was asked of him.
It doesn't matter if Nightmare loved him, because he didn't love her. He was intoxicated by everything she gave to him, but he doesn't understand that it wasn't love since love isn't something he's ever had the chance to even begin to understand as a concept. In reality, she was just another abuser, even if she was nicer than all the other ones he's had. He's misinterpreting the loss of everything he ever wanted in life as the loss of a loved one.
I do not know what other people think about this person, but I am completely on his side based on the fact that all this is the fault of Celestia, stretching back more than 1 thousand years ago, and who made another, no less fatal mistake, deciding that she would cope alone. Anon in this work is the same victim as the others. You won't blame a dog that bit others, because the person who picked her up when she was dying cured her and made her happy and took care of her, albeit in his own way?
Oh, boy... damn, did it all ever come crashing down...
Feeling some LOKI vibes, a lot of deception fixed that title
I honestly don’t like the fact that nightmare moon didn’t like him, I mean I get it but it changes things, like this anon had to comes to terms with the fact he did evil things and wanted a tyrant to return because of his own greed, now he just realizes that she is completely evil.
Why would applejack be selling nightmare moons apples if they had such enchantments?
And people still crying out for
to stop being aggressive against anon…
‘Hey you stupid purplesmart stop being angry at poor anon! He helped that tyrant killed your friend(s) and lashed out against anyone who dared speech against that tyrant but who’s care!?
WhY Don’T yOU shUt up aNd smile hE’s nOt WRoNG ReeEEe!?’
…friggin psychopathic ghouls . Or too emotional to have rational thought.
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Didn’t mean you could lashed out against innocence people who have nothing to do with you. The moment blood of bystanders on your hand is when you become an aggressor, and now it’s you’re in the wrong too.
And hey, by your logic. All ponies who were hurt by Anon are justified at treating him badly. It’s him and his lady fault they got intimidated and hurt, right?
Aunque me gustó este giro de drama, me hubiese gustado que en verdad haya habido un romance entre Anon y NM, pero ueee, hay otros fanfics que se encargan de eso.
Ahora estoy muy seguro de que no habrá romance ente Anon y luna así que el final de esta historia va ser o un final agridulce o un final malo
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You really think knowing the explanation would change anything? He'd still be Nightmare Enforcer, just with backstory. Which nopony will care about because he chose to work for the Tyrant Moon, who tortured, killed, stole livelihoods, and so on and so forth.
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Gotta do something with them. Not the best choice, I admit, but Apples aren't about to let apples go to waste.
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Except dogs can't make moral choices. Dogs can't look at the morality of a situation and decide based on their emotions. Anon is not a dog. He chose to hurt people in the name of love.
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You'd be surprised by how much a little bit of understanding can do.
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Pinkie has already shown she's willing to give him a chance. She invited him to a party after all, and considering Fluttershy's nature as the Element of Kindness I wouldn't be surprised if she forgave him too, even with how deeply he hurt her. Luna also clearly wants to help him, she's indicated she wants him to be free. Likely because she feels guilty, since while Anon is responsible for his own choices and is a bad person in his own right, it's also undeniable that he is a victim of Nightmare Moon as well thanks to her emotional manipulation. She recognized he was vulnerable and in a bad state of mind and took advantage of it.
An explanation won't excuse his actions or undo what he did, but it'll make them understand him better and those who want to help or are willing to forgive will know better what to do to get through to him. For those unwilling to forgive, it probably won't change anything, and that's entirely justified and fair, they have every reason to not want to forgive him. But he's free and if the goal is to make him see the error of his ways and stop clinging to Nightmare Moon, and perhaps find a new life for himself where he won't continue to hurt anyone and can perhaps have a chance to find some kind of contentment then they need to know what his deal is.
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There are no innocents. Ponies began to have a direct relationship to the Main Character (as he himself did to them), as he began to interact directly with them. As for aggression, everyone shows it, only society sets limits and duality, making some types of aggression not aggression. Even the inanimate shows aggression. Your body, what it consists of, shows aggression to everything every second of its existence and also uses it as the same society in the case when aggression as such is not, otherwise the organism would kill itself. Aggression means nothing to me until I know what it comes from and for what reason and what is the essence of this reason. I stick to tactics: "Do not judge and you will not be judged, and if you decide to judge yourself, then judge others as yourself." And in the case of our hero, he is another simple circumstance for which I have no compassion, but I also do not believe that he is guilty, because the creation of a Nightmare Moon is a consequence of their actions, not a person. If it didn't exist, with a high probability, the Nightmarish Moon would simply kill most of the elements of harmony, which for some reason no one thinks about. All the wedges do not converge on this person, he is only the one who performed what would be performed by other people.
According to my logic, the pony should put the muzzle of a gun to his temple and remind him who Anon is and what he is. I personally would not stoop to the level to which the ponies have lowered themselves. When a stray mutt barks and then bites you (and you don't know if it's infected with rabies), you either kill/neutralize it or run away. The main character is a lost dog that nobody needs, and taking out all the evil on her so that she doesn't do it is a direct announcement that some kind of yard dog is capable of breaking you. Twilight burst into tears in resentment like a real child. In fact, she remained alive and practically no one died. And those who were dear to her died because of their weakness and short-sightedness. If you go against an Evil alicorn and a creature that does everything for her, then it is very strange to be surprised if it does something in your direction that will be real evil for you.
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Morality is a relative concept. And dogs, like other creatures similar in terms of brain development, have their own concepts of what can and cannot be done. A person differs from a dog only in that it is just a development taking into account the physique of his body.
Your phrase about love is funny, and not because you said it, but because it can be said in the opposite direction. Everything is relative, do not forget it. Either you put absolutes, or you have relativity and even diversity in relation to some things.
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You disturb me.
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This happens to everyone sometimes.
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valid, but in anons world there were no good people, his whole life conditioned him to believe that there are only people who want to use him and are honest about it and those who lie about it, nightmare moon brash and callus maner made him believe she was honest about using him while twilights hospitality and kindness made him believe she was trying to trick him, maybe there could be a different outcome if moondancer didn't arrive so soon after his meeting with twilight and he would get to know her better or maybe if he understood that it wasn't about if the bad guy was honest or not but rather that he shouldn't trust bad guys at all, but again that thought was too alien to him
does it absolve him of his crimes? no
should he be forgiven, not likely
it is tragic nonetheless
thank author i like your story
edit: hope this one very bad interaction with a stranger won't paint all other twilights interactions with strangers with suspicion, twilight was very kind and generous in first meeting with anon and that this one event didn't kill those traits in her forever, but some scars are hard to heal
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Consequences of whose actions? Those ponies who wronged Luna already perished for centuries sans Celestia.
Do you believe the sins of father passed down to son? That’s the only logical conclusion why they are guilty.
Those innocences ponies become victims who didn’t even know about the existence of Luna, got subjugated and forcefully fed brainwashing magic apples.
We are of the same opinion in this one, but the whole point of this fanfic is ponies want to forgive anon but drama! So…
…but ponies died.
And contradict with yourself instantly…
You’re twisted, you know that, right? This is comparison to real world.
“Hey! Those freedom fighters who fought against NAZIs are weak, am I right? They won’t die if they lays low and let’s NAZIs pillages their home. What’s a bunch of moron, right?”
You know, even in real world, the freedom and luxury of modern life you have also came from blood and sweat those ‘short-sightedness’ type of people who fought against farcist.
Yes, Nightmare Moon is a farcist. Governed by fears. Her ranks filled by moraless psychopaths, leader worshippers, and those who were beaten to submission. State surveillance. Perpetual paranoid of traitors and censorship of information. The different from that iconic posterboy of facist is she haven’t brought out racial supremacy card(yet)
Speaking of NAZI, and farcist in general.
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I still feel this chapter should have been executed better, it feels shallow and without much thought put into it. Magical apples for mind control and to bypass his immunity?? Oh wow....
Lets just sht on Anon and everything he stood for, Twilight wouldnt definetly do ANYthing Celestia asked of her, nope nada, definetly not. Luna being there and finally yaking THE TRUTH when she was silent like a drowning rat on that table a few chapters back.
Hypocritical chapter full of bs and tossing blame and angst for the sake of angst. Emo mode definetly hit ya hard in this 1.
Mane 6 saints chosen by Faust epitomes of virtues of their elements came down to lowly trash level to speak words of wisdom unto thee.....
Are u serious???
Ok....
Oh come on!! Is the story going in that direction?! The obvious she was just pure cartoonish evil and nothing more...?
Lame... I'll take back my like thank you very much.
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Thank you for responding, it was nice to see the screenshot of the post from Twitter thrown off by the link. I thought that today I would never smile with a kind smile.
I will start from the beginning to answer your words for convenience. To begin with, I do not use the concept of sinfulness in its modern sense, and therefore the children of their fathers can get in their side what was intended for their fathers.
The ponies knew about the Nightmare Moon, because they celebrate a whole holiday in her honor every year. They were slaves before that, remaining loyal to Celestia (do not forget, they have subjects under an absolute monarchy/diarchy, which means they are de jure slaves). As for the apples, I can say that they had a choice - to eat them or not to eat them. Well, the fact that sometimes they could not refuse, since they were most likely forcibly shoved into their mouths - this is another matter, where I can say that such ponies were simply unlucky or to blame themselves, hesitating before choosing to kill themselves or do otherwise.
Yes, the ponies died, but a lot more and scarier could have died, which, most often, almost everyone forgets about, as in our world. How many ponies died in the end? A couple of tens, hundreds, tens of thousands, millions? There is no information, but I did not find in the text that the number of deaths exceeded even a couple of thousand. As for me, no fewer ponies died because of Celestia's mistakes than during the entire reign of Nightmare Moon.
I do not contradict myself, I can combine contradictions, since they are the edges of one thing and are closer to each other than one of the extremes to the middle. And I didn't see any contradiction in my words. Your loved ones climbed into direct opposition to outright evil and died through their own fault. You can cry about their death, but they themselves were to blame that they were unlucky/weak/short-sighted.
Giving an example of the struggle against ultra-radical nationalists-racists and fascists is not correct, at least because their idea of the exclusivity of the white race was supported by almost half of central and western Europe, especially a huge percentage of higher positions. It is worth remembering only which personalities were for cooperation with the 3rd Reich in the UK.
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They don't care, they just want to get off on their moral grandstanding.
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Yeah, the apple taking away his magic immunity was freaking stupid and a ass pull.
No offense author.
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Agreed, what a waste of good story potential.
I knew this chapter was going to be a gut puncher, but it went further than that! At this point, I’m curious what’s going to happen to Anon. From what I’m reading, the ponies had Anon between them and a wall with these revelations, but they decided to BLAST HIM THROUGH THE WALL! And due to that, he’s on the edge of the abyss…
Let’s hope Luna is lying about some of the things she’s saying, otherwise Anon might not be part of the land of the living for long, especially with his guilt and backstory coming at him like a freight train.
Really.....? That's how this is going, some asspull magic apple that immediately makes everything for naught? Waste of story potential to be honest......
Usually like your stuff dude, but of all the stories I've read of yours, this is the first one that has missed.
Oh boy...the comments are crazy. Gonna be a lot more constructive with this.
I honestly don't like that we were all told in this chapter that NMM was just an evil being that lied and cheated (even though that's her entire character in the original TV show) and had no actual feelings for Anon. That kinda ruined the story.
The apple part could've been done better. Maybe instead of it destroying his magical immunity, it should've just...not worked, further enforcing Anon's beliefs that they did not brainwash ponies.
There's a million other things to talk about this story honestly, but I don't have time for that (although certain commenters seemed to have time to do so).