There is absolutely no way that a child managed to doom all of Equestria, right? Especially not all on her own! Something else is at play here. Something deeper, stranger, and now, said child has been punished to the full extent of the law.
Well, this will not stand. Twilight Sparkle needs to rescue this foal secretly-- No child should suffer this heavy of a punishment. But to keep appearances, she will have to put this task on a trustworthy friend.
Now it's up to Starlight Glimmer to find a way to break into and out of Tartarus, all to rescue a child they presume to be innocent.
Chapters (7)
What’s the slice of life tag for?
Hell yay prison break
The Evil Unicorn Polyculetm, Cozy Glow, a prison break
I didn't happen to commision this and then develop plot convienient amnesia, right?
Considering Neighsay... yeah that checks out, he WOULD be petty enough to do this, especially when Cozy got him kicked out of the school position he took in SR, on top of that she's a pegasus, and It's pretty blunt in the series finale that Neighsay is specist first, tribalist second, and classist third.
So naturally he WOULD immediately seek repercussions ASAP, his ego rivalling the size of Luna's extended vacation spot wouldn't tolerate anything but immediate "legal" revenge.
"Smolder is in her thirties!"
"Which is underage for a dragon."
"And you're trying an eight-year-old filly as an adult."
"Miss Sparkle, this was already decided offscreen."
"Fiiiine..."
"Objection! Only one of the six stolen artifacts was of pony origin!"
"Miss Sparkle, one more outburst and I will find you in contempt of court."
"My objection, Your Honor?"
"Overruled. The focus of this trial is Cozy Glow, not how the artifacts in question came into prolonged pony possession. You may take that up with Princess Celestia."
"Oh, I will..."
Also, I don't believe either prosecutor or defense attorney passed the bar, but that's neither here nor there. We have an irredeemable monster to save. (And by save, I of course mean transfer to juvenile hall.)
"'Accessory to murder' is such a cold, clinical term. Trixie prefers 'gorgeous assistant to murder.'"
My own reservations about Cozy Glow aside, this looks like it's going to be one heck of a heist. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.
Well if they are making a "formally evil unicorn" team, Tempest would be a good choice. Strong, Blunt, probably thinks of Tartarus as a pleasant sunday trot, and probably itching to get some "redemption points" so saving a child is right up there. Also Stygian, since he probably has loads of experience with dark places if you know what I mean
Now if they expand those horizons to "Unicorns twilight turned to the light of friendship" then Moondancer is a decent pick for intel and history know-how, probably well-versed with all the myths and lore behind the various foes locked down there. Heck she's basically a twilight that went on to read rather than make friends for much longer, meaning she may actually have more stored mental trivia than Purple Smart herself.
But I don't want to get ahead of myself, for all I know that team is gonna have Flash sentry, Zephyr breeze, and Timber spruce.
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Funny enough I did consider the fact that these objects obviously don't belong to ponies lol. But Chancellor would absolutely think those are pony artifacts. he's the british museum of MLP characters.
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"Why, If we returned every artifact not of pony origin from a museum we would be left with an empty building!"
-Neighsay, talking out of his plot.
God I love Trixie.
In all fairness, the school kinda...DOES need a rethink? None of the teachers actually have degrees and are juggling two or three different jobs, they have a massive faculty shortage and almost no substitution system, it's questionable how any of what they're learning will help them get jobs in the current economy, and let's not forget the number of times the teachers have seriously endangered the lives of their students for petty, stupid reasons.
And at least one member of the faculty is a felon with a long rap sheet.
Twilight trusts Trixie?
TRIXIE?
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The school of friendship is literally just a house of cards lmao
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It's not a question of whether he's right about this, it's a question of whether that's a bad thing.
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God I love atlantis.... Peak movie
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With a serious case of nepotism, on top.
To think Twilight never considered hiring Cheerilee, you know, the actual teacher on town with a degree.
YES! I´ve been so exited for this ever since I heard the Idea in your Post :3
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To be fair, I think that was mostly because the School of Friendship was never meant to replace the elementary schooling Cheerliee's classroom was meant to be giving. Hence why she was also not hired, and besides, what did she know about friendship that the Mane 6 didn't?
But yeah, while I personally always liked the idea of the School of Friendship, to the point I thought it was definitely an idea worth trying, even I admit that I would've gone about the idea differently too if it had been me.
write longer chapters you really fell off.
Cosy glow was in it tho so 11/2
With a little help from some old friends~
Even tho I like Cozy Glow as a villain, I am curious to see a version of School Raze where Chancellor Neighsay was the villain. And also how would the legion of doom dynamic be like with Neighsay instead of Cozy Glow. A team up of Chrysalis, Tirek, Neighsay and Grogar would go really, really hard.
Since Starlight and Trixie going to Tartarus, is this story going to explore the deeper layers of Tartarus (like for example, a layer where all the dead villains like Sombra and Storm King reside) and possibly even Elysium?
I really like this, very different vibes from your other stuff, but in a good way :3
My favorite mare? Saving my #1 Missed Potential Villain? At the behest of Twilight who admits this was an astronomical miscarriage of justice but can't back down? Where has this been all my life, when it should have been at the top of my list?
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To be fair, Trixie DID help save Equestria that one time when everyone else was already captured or compromised. She's not a bad pony, even at her worst she's just a braggart with a big ego (which I would argue is literally her job as a stage performer.) The one time she was intentionally harming Ponyville she'd been possessed by the alicorn amulet, which she bought from a guy who just had it in his shop no less, and she only did that because she wanted to make Twilight look stupid.
Considering how lenient Equestria is shown to be when your crimes are by, or of, mental compulsion, I'd say it was Twilight being irrationally mean towards Trixie starting in No Second Prances.
Tartarus is still just a big empty cave in this story, right?
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nope. I ain't going the show's route on this one. It's going to be bigger and weirder and a few other things.
Can't deny the power of Fizzlepop and Glitter drops, those two are absolutely cavity-inducing together. I like Temptlight a lot but I'm not gonna say a breadfruit is bigger than a jackfruit when compared side by side
Besides, Templight isn't even my top Pony Twilight ship, but that's neither here nor there.
Now onto the actual fic: Loving the heist film vibes this is giving off, best part is that it's mostly about the thrill since none of them have a believable reason for a double-cross twist at the end. I can't think of a single one of them Neighsay or a Tartarus denizen could actually reach nor appeal too...
... That is... unless Cozy struck a deal with the chancellor before the trial to set up a trap that will expose Twilight's involvement. Which would give Neighsay leverage against her in politics by ousting her usurpation of the law. I'll keep that in the back of my mind, but something tells me He is too specist/tribalist/evrything-ist to allow anycreature other than his own reflection stand as an equal partner... and only if the mirror catches his good side at that.
I also love how you play into the plan's complicated nature to give the audience more natural exposition, while not giving away everything at once. balancing that out can be tricky but you certainly know how to make the story flow.
"Starlight... filly... after the third time you needed to clarify you and Trixy are "normal" it becomes time to just fess up and admit you have unconventional tastes, nopony who matters is going to hold that against you."
"Easy for you to say Sunset! You have a perfectly normal... Gurl... friend? is that how humans say it?
"You mean the one who is deathly afraid of quesadillas, needs to be broken out of her more passionate lectures with shiny objects, and probably violated half a million ethical restraints building a machine that can think for itself to determine the release date of the next Daring Do movie?
"At least yours didn't try to rally a petition that forced every castle to include a wagon-accessible set of doors to ensure, and I quote, "no lonely wagon riders would need to gallop through the rain to answer their lover's carnal needs" Faust she drives me crazy sometimes"
"Yeah, but let's take a page out of our respective Applejack's books, and be honest: would we love them if they weren't the kind of people who would do those things?"
"...No, I suppose not, heres hoping maybe we can get them to get along for a double-date sometime after we make it out of Tartarus"
"Not likely, they seem to be in a shouting match right now"
"Huh, Trixy made it to the five-minute mark, she's improving, technically it's not "her" Twilight, but progress is progress"
-Meanwhile
"Well MY Great-and-Powerful fillyfriend resorts to dark magic to solve simple problems, Time travels to establish societal regimes, and gets constant threatening letters from a dethroned changeling queen! She is clearly the weirdest and therefore the best!"
"I can assure you my collected data on Sunset proves she is far more atypical of the status quo! Her very existence caused me to devote my research to something I can't publish without winning myself a straight jacket. She turned into an angel with an abnormally long frontal horn to stop me from ripping apart reality. And her empathy magic accidentally had us watch our inner demons connect in our dreams and lose their virginity before I got the chance to!"
"Nice"
"Not what I was getting at!"
"Very well. But my dear sparkle, I still have one piece of undeniable proof I have the weirdest Fillyfriend!"
"And that is?"
"SHE, Chose to date ME"
"I... genuinly don't have a counterargument to that"
"YES! Trixy has it weirder than you Sparkle! I win!"
"...Do you?"
Time to go in the hole!
"Must have been the wind."
"There's been a lot of that tonight."
But seriously. Fun chapter.
Heehee shenanigans.
Wally, you nut job.
"These powers really are amazing! Honestly if I realized how useful they were I might have been more focused on being a jewel thief or something before I decided to go after you."
"Hilarious, anyway the rest of the team should be here now."
"Sunset! you got the key!"
"... uhm actually I got the ke-"
"Of course Sunset got the key Glimmy, my decisive and tactful team-selection process would never steer us wrong"
"I'm pretty sure it was Twilight who set up the team"
"... speaking of misappropriated credit-"
"This is beside the point you three. We've done enough waiting and I'm ready to storm Tartarus, sitting idly like this is making my hooves itch"
"... four"
"I still don't know why tunneling isn't an option, Maud, from what I've heard you can punch through solid stone"
"The caverns of Tartarus surpass ironstone. While I can break it with appropiately applied force, it would take weeks and multiple earth ponies of equal strength and precision to properly carve out a hole big enough for a pony to crawl through to reach the inner tunnels.
"Yeah, that's not happening"
"Also Wallflower has been trying to get your attention, she's been here with Sunset since before we arrived"
"Who?"
"Who?"
"Who?"
"eep!"
'Right, no off switch...'
if i may, Gideon the Ninth?
okay, on a level between shoplifting candy from a dollar store and stealing the declaration of independance, how far does wallflower's sneaky powers reach?
These guard ponies would be very welcomed in Skyrim
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She may be powerful, but now she was just lucky her items weren't behind big steel cases lol. If she had to drill something or even hammer it, it'd be a bit more difficult for the scrawny girl.
Wallflower Blush ritual casts pass without trace
On third time I expected Wallflower to just straight-up ask the guards where the right key is, them telling her and immediately forgetting the whole conversation and her existence. :P
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FUN FACT That was the original gag I planned, lmao! It was going to be a gag where they are helpful and generally not caring much about her, but then the punchline would them all tackling Sunset, heh. I flipped a coin between the Celestia moment and the gag of the guards just helping Wallflower out passively, and a bigger Celestia involvement won, heh.
Always good to see a fellow comic reader. There is so much outstanding material to be had there, and both Glitter Drops and the Nightmare Knights storyline are among the best of it. It's almost a shame that Dropsy won't be tagging along and running into an old classmate. Also, Wallflower observing from the bushes like some combination of cryptid and wildlife documentarian is fantastic, to say nothing of Maud poking out of solid rock like the world's most stoic Diglett.
Heck of a team you're putting together. On to the next chapter!
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It's still so tragic that one of the few cameos we get of Sunset in the comics is stuff like this-- Sure she had a backstory comic, but c'mooooon I craved so much more...
Adorable overachieving baby tho.
"I feel like you just contradicted yourself."
"If I have to. Which I won't, because you've got this!"
Not to pile on, but the "women with broad shoulders" gag is still fantastic.
And yeah, Wally is twelve pounds of stealth in a six-pound bag... which is why there's no room for self-confidence. Lovely to see Baconmane and Quietshrub get up to shenanigans together. Looking forward to further developments.
Got through the first three chapters and loving it.
Your multiverse is showing...
Anyway I like the eye on Cozy, keeping up with her P.O.V. since she will be separated from the mane group for at least half of their trip. Tirek's rundown on what separates them from freedom makes me wonder how he made it out the first time, though I imagine he had a great deal of time to prepare, (at least a thousand years), Cozy doesn't exactly have the luxury of an extended lifespan to do the same.
"Sunset, I hear that the younger generations refer to me as a "milf" do you happen to know what that means?"
"Oh... um... well you see... I'm kinda on the other side of the mirror, so it's not like I would know the slang-"
"She knows what it means"
-Le baconhorse glare
"Splendid! I assume it's an acronym?"
"Thanks, Wallfower. Right, it means... 'My!, I... love... uh...fun..."
Everytime i see this story update, i feel a weird urge to read it.
It's weird because i think Cozy did genuinely deserve to get sent to Tartarus, but i do feel curiosity about what happens in it
I won't ask for spoilers for this story.
Instead I'll ask:
Did you genuinely think Cozy didn't deserve to go to Tartarus, or did you just use that as an excuse to write a wacky story?
(I don't know if that's the right way to word it, but it was the best way i could think of)
Thank you for writing Trixie like this, I'd start pulling quotes but I dont want to put a third of the fic in the comments.
this one is def my fav tho
Yeah I can't figure out why Twilight would happily send you to hell Trixie
Years of working under the storm king can do that to you.
Thank goodness Ceberus is a goodboi
That's a hell of a hop (pun intended)
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...I think the writers thought cozy deserved to go to tartarus, so they decided to write a story around it.
I don't think any kid should be sent to prison, much less, even less, literal hell. But hey I'm crazy like that. They purposefully wrote her with simple motives and no backstory whatsoever so theres no way most watchers could question why a child would be toe to toe with some of the worst millenar beings of evil in Equestria, so everyone can unanimously agree that a child deserves to be sent to hell or turned to stone.
And again
A child
Sent to straightup hell
I don't agree with that in like, a simple ideological way. And idc how much the show forces it to seem justified, rly. She was a pegasus, too. Literally no threat.
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"...Man, I love, um, fishing."
"Wonderful! A few centuries ago I did take up fishing as a hobby! I should try it again-- I would love to take you."
"I don't think the boat could handle the weight of her ass--"
Sunset stands up, grabs Wallflower by the nape of the neck like a cat, and takes her back to the damn mirror portal.