Chapter 9
***2 weeks earlier***
Rainbow Dash awoke with what felt like a hangover. She kept her eyes shut, not wanting to have to deal with light until she had gotten a firm grip on the dull headache and slight nausea. She felt sore spots all over her body.
Uggh. Was I in a mosh pit or something? Damn. Must have been one heck of a night.
As she moved to give a large stretch, she was surprised to find her motion suddenly arrested. A few experimental pushes confirmed the presence of several restraints keeping her in place. She paused for a moment.
Okay. Either I had a REALLY good night, or...
"Twilight?" she cautiously asked, eyes still shut.
"Unfortunately not" a strange voice replied.
Her eyes snapped open instantly. An unfamiliar unicorn stallion sat on a stool at the foot of her bed. A bed she was currently secured to by strong metal bands (thoughtfully lined with soft linen to prevent chafing) over each of her legs. The bed was not flat, but rather, had a slight incline to the back, likely controlled by the cluster of levers she could spot to her right. The walls were the standard cheery yet soothing hues of a hospital patient room, failing to distract from the myriad unidentifiable instruments and large overhead light attached by articulated arms to the ceiling, which betrayed the fact that she was actually bound to an examination table somepony had fused with a mattress. Her eyes continued to dart around the room, soaking in as much as they could.
"What?! Who?! Where?! Huh?!"
"Shh. Relax. Confusion and disorientation are some common after effects of the sedative. Just give it a moment." The unknown stallion gently reassured.
"Wha-? Twilight! Where's Twi-"
An image of Twilight falling out of a window came to her mind as memories began reforming themselves piece by piece. Fleeing from guards. Fighting. Losing consciousness and waking up in the forest. More fleeing. A sonic rainboom. Losing consciousness again and waking up...somewhere. A stallion in a lab coat saying something. Broken glass. Alarms. A prick in the side and losing consciousness once again.
She recalled something that doctor had said making her angry. Accusations about Twilight and mind magic. About her love for Twilight not being real. Treatment!
There was a brief second of silence in the room as the expression of confusion on her face melted away, replaced by a frown. The second passed and she threw herself forward with such force that, for a moment, it seemed as if she might tear herself free in a wrenching screech of twisted metal. The restraints held however, and the heavy bolts securing the bed to the ground kept the entire structure from jumping forward.
It was still enough to make the stallion visibly flinch. After composing himself, he patiently waited while Rainbow Dash continued to thrash about, alternating between incoherent screaming and threats of physical violence varying wildly in degree of anatomical impossibility. After two minutes of fruitless struggling, she finally decided to switch tactics and focus on trying to set him on fire by glaring, lack of horn be damned. Taking advantage of the lull, he rose from his seat and walked around to her side. She could just make out a cutie mark that resembled a pony's head with a strange red and blue wave pattern around it.
"Hello Ms. Dash, I'm Dr. Resonance Image. I'll be the lead physician attending to your case during your stay here."
Rainbow Dash gave a snort, not relaxing her death glare for a second. "You look kinda like some other pony I saw around here."
"You may be thinking of my brother, Dr. Neural Synapse. He's currently being treated for a concussion caused by-" he pulled a clipboard up from somewhere unseen "-martial use of an electrocardiogram."
"If you're looking for an apology, you're not gonna get one. I'd be more than happy to give you more of the same."
"Noted. Regardless, he should make a full recovery and be able to rejoin the team within a few days."
"Team?"
"Yes. Ten specialists from various fields of psychology, neurology, and arcane theory. Plus four nurses and a technician for all the equipment." Rainbow Dash's glare momentarily faltered with surprise. Whoever was pulling the strings behind this, they certainly had deep pockets. "Any other questions?"
"Yeah." Her sneer returned. "How exactly do you plan to get away with all this?"
The doctor blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean the whole ponynapping thing. Particularly, ponynapping ME. I've got friends. You know, Elements of Harmony, national heroes, saved the world a few times, owed a few favors by the Princesses. Heck, Twilight's part of the royal family now since her brother became prince of the Crystal Empire! My point is, when my friends and whatever army comes with them find me, you better hope you end up in official custody quickly, cause if I get my hooves on you first, there won't be much left to send to the moon."
There were a few seconds of silence as the doctor stood there, eyebrows knotting in confusion before clearing with a dawning comprehension.
"Ah. I think I see the problem here. There seems to be somewhat of a misunderstanding. You see-" He was interrupted by a strange buzzing noise. "Ah, excuse me a moment." Glancing down to a coat pocket, he levitated out two small flashing crystals held together by some kind of chain. He pressed one to his ear and held the other in front of his mouth. With a quick pulse of magic, the flashing stopped and he began talking.
"Hello? Yes. Yes she's awake now. Okay. Alright, send them in." Returning the pair of crystals to his pocket, he turned back to face Rainbow Dash. "Hopefully, this should clear a few things up."
Rainbow Dash was about to ask him what he was talking about when the heavy steel door on the far side of the room slid open. The pony who walked through shattered any semblance of sense that happened to remain in Rainbow Dash's world.
"Princess Celestia?!"
She was on the short list of ponies Dash expected to show up at some point, though she had imagined a somewhat more forceful entrance, with a lot more smiting ponies with beams of righteous solar flame and fury. From the way she smiled and nodded at the doctor as she strolled into the room, Rainbow Dash got the distinct impression that smiting was not on the agenda.
"Hello Rainbow Dash. It's good to see you." Celestia greeted her cordially.
"Yes. We are all thankful to see you safe and unharmed." Luna appeared in the doorway behind her sister, following her into the room and taking a place by her side. "It has been a trying few days, but we can all rest a bit easier now that you are here."
"Indeed. How are you?"
Rainbow Dash's mind was a turbulent mess of conflicting emotions and questions forming a pileup as they tripped over each other to spill out her mouth. She searched for the right words to properly articulate her state of mind and answer Celestia's question.
"...What?"
It seemed to be enough for Celestia, who nodded knowingly in return.
"Yes, it must be very confusing. I'm sure you have many questions, and I promise they will be answered, but there is something very important I need to ask you first. Do you know where Twilight is?"
"N-No, sorry. We got separated. I haven't seen her since...since we were being swarmed by royal guards! Now will somepony please explain what THAT was all about?!"
Celestia quickly quashed a frown of disappointment. "Right. Where to begin? What has Twilight told you about the situation?"
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Though we didn't exactly have time for a conversation what with all the flying and fighting. Then suddenly I'm waking up alone in the Everfree Forest!
"Yes. The reports mentioned that she hit you in the back with a sleeping spell. I'm not sure how you ended up in the forest though."
"Why would she do that? Wait, reports? So those guards actually DO work for you?" Things were only making less and less sense by the second.
Celestia nodded. "Yes they do. As for why Twilight would do such a thing, my guess is that you were in danger of learning something she was trying to keep secret."
"If-if that's true...I'm sure she had good reasons..." Rainbow Dash replied, not sounding entirely convinced herself. Marefriends weren't supposed to keep secrets from each other. She knew Twilight would never knowingly do anything to hurt her, but it stung to think there might possibly be something that Twilight didn't trust her with.
To the extent that she'd rather knock me out and fight six guards alone than share it with me. Rainbow Dash tensed as she prepared to ask her next question.
"And this secret, would it happen to be connected to why we were being chased in the first place, and why I'm..." she gestured around the room with her eyes "...here? Wherever here is."
Celestia gave a grim nod. "I'm afraid it is."
"Oh, by Orion's Belt!" Luna exclaimed. "Sister! Would thou please cease dancing around the issue like a courtier at a ball? We shall be here all day at this rate." She turned to address Rainbow Dash directly. "Twilight Sparkle is wanted for the high crime of casting forbidden mind affecting magic on a pony."
"What?! When?!...On who?!"
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room as both princesses stared at her. The silence was broken only by an equally uncomfortable cough from Celestia. The gears of Rainbow Dash's mind turned and pieces fell into place as she remembered what the other doctor had been saying before she smashed an expensive piece of medical equipment into his head.
"Wait...no. No no no no no! Uh-uh! No way! You have got to be kidding me!"
"Rainbow Dash..." Celestia gently pleaded.
"NO! What is WRONG with everypony?! What is so fucking insanely unbelievable about me loving Twilight that me being under some kind of mind control is the most plausible explanation! Where are ponies even getting this idea?!"
"Yes. I know it seems difficult to believe, I didn't want to believe it myself, but please let us explain." Celestia reassured while shooting a brief glare to the side at her sister, who gave only an unapologetic huff. "It was Princess Cadence who first sensed the presence of some sort of spell on you. It was faint and well hidden, but she claims that it felt similar to a unique form of magic she had seen Twilight cast before."
Rainbow Dash glared back, unimpressed. "I know I'm not a unicorn, so I may not know much about auras and magic, but are you telling me that all of this", she rolled her head at the entire room, "is because Cadence just had a feeling?"
"Not exactly, no. Though Cadence is somewhat of an expert in the area, and her impression alone does carry quite a bit of weight. Certainly enough to pursue the issue further, which is what we tried to do. We summoned both you and Twilight for further questioning on the matter."
"And? What did she say?"
"Unfortunately, we were unable to get any kind of statement from her. She jumped out the window before we could ask her any questions and we haven't found a trace of her since. Finding you is our first substantive lead. Hopefully, we should at least be able to learn more about what Twilight has done once we run some more in depth tests on you."
"And any information you could supply that would expedite her capture would be greatly appreciated." Luna interjected, looking up to see Celestia giving her one of her desperate 'please stop talking and let me handle this' looks, usually reserved for meetings with foreign dignitaries and their confounding modern rules of etiquette, so easily breached by a simple veiled threat of military action. "Though of course, the recovery of the victim remains the foremost concern" she quickly corrected. Celestia winced.
`"Victim?!" Rainbow Dash shouted back. "I'm FINE! Look, I don't know what's going on here. I'll admit Twilight has been acting strange, and I'll be sure to ask her all about it the next time I see her, but I TRUST her and KNOW she would never do anything to hurt me. Whatever is going on, you can be certain I'm on HER side of it. You're crazy if you think I'm going to turn on her, especially for some ridiculous story like that! Even if this 'love spell' theory of yours was anything other than complete nonsense, you don't HAVE a victim. I'm certainly not pressing any charges! The whole thing is moot anyway!"
"Unfortunately...that's not quite the case." Celestia replied in her most soothing voice, in an attempt to calm the pegasus as she uncomfortably prepared to explain the subject. "Use of such magic is illegal in and of itself. For fairly obvious reasons, the opinions of the...target of a mind manipulation spell are inconsequential while they remain under its influence. Once they have been cured, then-"
"Cured?" Rainbow Dash interrupted, attempting to swallow the icy lump that began to form in her throat.
"Yes. Rest assured that we are completely dedicated to your full recovery, and no expense will be spared in the pursuit of that goal. You are in very capable hooves."
"Notsigninganything!" Rainbow Dash suddenly blurted out.
"Pardon?"
"I'm not signing anything! I know you need patient consent to do anything, and I absolutely do NOT consent to ANY of this! No! No way! Absolutely not! In fact, I want it noted that I object! Vehemently! Or whatever word means that, but more so! Now let me out of here!
"Ah, yes...you see..." The discomfort in Celestia's face was now plainly visible to all. "Your consent, while very much desired, is..."
"Not in any way required." Luna finished. "Being under the effect of a mind altering spell, you are considered, by definition, to have impaired judgement and be incapable of making medical decisions. In this situation, discretion regarding treatment of the victim falls to the crown."
Rainbow Dash stared back in disbelief as she attempted to process what Luna had said. "So let me get this straight. You're planning to keep me here against my will, poke and prod me with a bunch of fancy equipment and magic, and muck around in my head until I don't love Twilight anymore. Have I got that right?"
Celestia shifted uneasily. "Well, I certainly wouldn't-"
"Yes." Luna interrupted.
Celestia raised a hoof to her face as a moment of silence filled the room, broken a second later as Rainbow Dash resumed thrashing and cursing with renewed vigor. Celestia sighed and turned to the doctor who had been patiently waiting to the side the entire time.
"Keep us apprised of your progress" she said with a nod as she turned back towards the door, Luna following close behind. As they stepped out into the hall, the thick door slid shut behind them, cutting off an aggressive suggestion that they place their respective heavenly bodies between their cutie marks. "Well, that went about as terribly as expected."
Luna said nothing in response.
"She'll thank us later" Celestia assured, the words fading quickly under the sounds of their hoofsteps echoing in the hallway.
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At this point, removing the spell would be worse than when Twilight originally cast it. All she did was nudge Dash in the right direction. Everything she's done has been of her own free will, not because Twilight made her. What they would be doing here would be forcibly changing her mind to something they think is right. I really want to see more of this story!
Just going by the previous chapter and this one, this latest chapter stands well as its own chapter. That may change with the next posting, but I suspect that the shorter chapter here will continue to stand on its own quite well.
Excellent chapter, btw.
"She'll thank us later"
This is the statement made by tyrants acting in "your best interests" everywhere.
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If they were to simply remove the spell, it would have no effect on Rainbow Dash whatsoever. All that the spell was doing at this point was reinforcing things. The connections are all there and natural.
It would be harder to make her not love Twilight than it would be to have her not like Fluttershy.
It will be invasive and awful and exactly the kind of thing that Twi is being accused of but much much worse.
----
At least Luna had the respect to be HONEST here.
Well, that's worrying… It would be one thing if they were to actually figure out what the spell is and did and realize how hopeless it is to do anything, but if they're actually just going to "poke around in her head until she doesn't love Twilight any more," then that's just… messy and abhorrent.
5629036 I disagree. Based on the very, very detailed description of how Twilight designed it to work, the spell is effectively mind raping Dash 24-7 by constantly fucking with her biochemistry; it's a targeted mind-altering drug turned up to 11. The claim that Dash still has free will is merely Twilight's self-justifying delusion.
5630072 You could interpret it that way, but I'm really rooting for a happy Twidash ending.
People here are actually rooting for Twilight and have no problem with what she did to Dash?
Did some of you miss the 'Dark' tag on the original and the sequel? It's there for a reason. Manipulation of a person's mental state by actual existing techniques, such as gaslighting, is considered repugnant by the world at large and universally considered a form of abuse. Just because Twilight can skip all the ugly steps and jump right to the end result using magic doesn't make it better. It makes it that much more terrifying in its ease and efficiency.
No way does this story end up with a happy, saccharine sweet ending.
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Those were Dash's words, not Celestia or Luna's. Luna just didn't have the patience to argue with someone that was unwilling to even entertain any counter arguments. Quite rightly as well considering you can't argue someone out of a belief that they have no choice in, given Dash's brainwashing.
5631222 Exactly. Consider that in the real world, simply being drunk is sufficient to (temporarily) void your ability to refuse consent to medical procedures; medical professionals are in fact guilty of patient abandonment (which is a felony crime) if we allow a patient who is mentally altered refuse treatment. Any person subjected to a real-life version of what Twilight did to Dash would be declared to have diminished capacity due to the influence of a persistent mind-altering substance; a legal guardian would be appointed to handle their affairs and they would most likely be held as a ward of the state until such time as successful treatment is developed and applied.
What Twilight did is one of the most vile crimes imaginable (under both real law and Equestrian law), and she herself knows this. She was just so arrogant that she decided she could get away with it.
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for the record,
There you have it. It's not Brute Force, its Inception. The neural pathways she formed henceforth were natural, not some artificial programming. Ironically, the best way to undo that might've been to just tell Dashie the truth and leave her alone to stew in anger at Twilight. Let those love neural pathways die off the natural way - in anger at your ex betraying you lol.
Instead they're gonna try to directly tamper with magic they don't understand via committee. RD sure has enough Free Will™ left to know that sounds like a bad idea.
What Twilight did was horribly evil, but what the Crown is subjecting Rainbow Dash to is unjust in its own way. The spell has not made Dash a zombie and there is no cause to treat her as such. How long are you gonna keep her there against her will while the science team hypothesizes? Years?
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Living Wills for the win.
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YES I am rooting for Twilight. Her rationalization was correct here even if her methods stank. Twilight LOVED RD. RD WANTED to Love Twi and liked her a lot. The spark just was not there. What Twi did was shoot cupid's arrow with magic. That RD liked Twi was always there, all this did was set up the passion part. I would even say that RD loved(little l love) Twi before which essentially makes the removal even more of a travesty.
People do things like this every time they try to do something like hypnosis to stop smoking. They intellectually want to quit, but their ability to do so when the moment comes is insufficient. They are looking for a way to get to that point that they can't do on their own.
Which brings us to "Was there consent?" The letter RD sent Twi would make for an interesting legal argument that would at worst partially mitigate Twilight's culpability here. "If we could pick who we loved, things would be so much simpler. I would be hard pressed to find a better choice than you." The question is, if Twi could have convinced RD at any moment to sign something more binding.
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"I just added a little something to her drink to enhance her mood. She already said she loved me, what's the big deal?"
If you don't see the similarities, I don't know what else to say.
Also, its likely Dash had 'the spark' for Applejack during their relationship, but it didn't last. They eventually grew apart and decided to end it. It happens every single day. Except in this case, Dash has no choice in the matter. She has a constant magical force overriding her emotions. You're taking a very simplistic stance on relationships. One where once you're in love nothing changes.
Dash has been programmed to never fall out of love with Twilight. In what sane world is that seen as a positive?
EDIT: Holy Shit! I just went back and reread the letter (had originally only skimmed the original story). The way you put it I thought maye Dash at least had some feelings for Twilight, just not enough to consider dating.
That was standard rejection letter 101. All 'you are a great person' and 'would be lucky to have you, BUT'. Dash had ZERO feelings for Twilight. Twilight even admits she was making love from nothing in the next chapter.
Sorry but this is TCB levels of disturbing mind control.
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I'm curious as to what the cure is before passing judgement on its supposed brutality. This magic doesn't seem to be foreign to them considering Cadence picked up on it right away and there are laws on the books banning its use.
As for telling Dash the truth and letting her sort it out, wouldn't really work. Per your quoted section, she's constantly being fed feel good Twilight emotions while her brain creates fake memories and justifications to reinforce them. Abuse victims rationalize away any ideas of blaming their attackers in real life everyday without magic constantly reshaping their memories. Dash has no chance of breaking it herself.
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I don't want to get into suggesting who's right or wrong because
1. Possible spoilers.
2. A lot of it is meant to be ambiguous.
3. I derive entirely too much enjoyment from watching people debate the issue.
I will mention that the whole reasoning regarding Dash's rejection letter was supposed to be an example of Twilight really reaching to find some justification for the answer she already wanted. Not to say that it completely fails. It kinda works....sorta...if you squint a bit. There's a chance her interpretation could be right, but it's definitely tenuous and highly motivated reasoning.
Also, a small clarification regarding
She is being fed feel good Twilight emotions, but there's no memory manipulation involved. The brain just naturally interprets this sudden onset of feeling as evidence of romantic attraction. Still manipulative, but not memory rewriting levels of horrible.
Just an observation as I look over what I have written so far of the next chapter. As time goes on, I seem to be hitting an upward trend in frequency and intensity of ponies swearing (not sanitized pony versions either, Bucking is for trees people). I considered adding a tag for language, but there isn't one. I know some people write stuff into their description for T rated stories, since the sex and gore tags only seem applicable to M stories that are straight up clop or graphic mutilation, and T covers pretty much everything short of that.
Swearing doesn't really bother me, and I assume I'm not exactly alone, but I'm wondering what the general consensus is. Does anyone find ponies dropping f-bombs jarring? Do you think such things should be noted in the description?
Probably going to move this to a blog post actually.
Whether its the spell manipulating her memories and justifications directly or the brain creating its own rationalizations in order to compensate for the magical tampering, it's still the same thing. Twilight says as much in the above quoted passage. She's relying on this for her spell to work. Saying it's not really the magic causing it doesn't mean anything when it's not only a known side effect, but one that is completely necessary.
I understand that you're trying to go for an ambiguous story, but I just don't see it. Not sure how you plan on ending it, but I can't see any kind of 'happy' ending here except Twilight wins and lives in seclusion with Dash for the rest of their lives (or somehow everyone forgives her which would be way too unbelievable). That or a deus ex machina style ending. Something like it's revealed at the end that Twilight is under some kind of magical compulsion herself and not at fault for any of this and it ends with a cured Dash and Twilight falling for each other. Really not hoping for something like the latter as it would feel forced and contrived simply for the sake of a happy ending.
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I'm not saying that it's any less manipulative because it exploits certain natural subconscious processes, just more subtle. I'm just clarifying on the mechanics involved and noting that Dash's memories are not in any way altered. She may be experiencing strong emotions that color her perception, but she's not remembering events (before or after the spell was cast) substantially differently from how they happened.
And yeah, ending things is going to be tricky. The "everypony forgives and forgets" ending is so untenable that even Fluttershy dismisses it as ludicrously implausible.
Oh Luna, you are not the diplomat of the family, that much is clear.
Another awesome chapter! The right/wrong arguments are... weird, to me. Personally I don't think we have enough information to make a judgement call one way or another, also it's all up to the writer anyways.
On that note, very interested to see where this goes! Looking forward to more!
Please keep writing, I'll keep reading!
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Thanks. But I hope you don't mean that the author is the final judge of whether a character is justified or not. Sometimes they're just wrong, and nothing ruins a story faster than an author declaring a character to be justified (or at least sympathetic) and completely failing to make the case for it. It could be simple telling and not showing, showing that's actually contradictory to the telling, plot holes, faulty logic, extreme OOC, etc. A good example would be Chains where the author (or at least the narrative) really wants us to see Celestia as a tragic but sympathetic figure who had no choice but to enslave all the humans, but totally feels super bad about it. Unfortunately, the chapter that was supposed to explain everything botched it so hard that she comes of as not only extremely cowardly, but so unbelievably incompetent that it's amazing she is even able to keep breathing. I'd say at least half the people following are just hate reading by this point.
5664564 Not so directly as that, moreso that the end decision of whether or not it was justified will have to rest on what happens in the rest of the story, which only exists in the writer's mind. When it comes down to it, how the story is written will ultimately decide which we choose, and debating it now is pointless because there's just not enough to go on at this time. Unless you like debating such things, then, by all means.
Surprising turns in the last few chapters. I like.
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So, any chance of seeing Twilight becoming Anakin with Chrysalis as her Palpatine?
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Well Chrysalis would certainly like that. Though if that did happen, hopefully Twilight would jump straight to Vader and pass over as much whiny bitch Anakin as possible.
Great, now that I'm thinking about Star Wars again, I want to find some way to make someone say "I have altered the deal, pray I don't alter it further." I already had Luna find something most impressive, Celestia emphasize no disintegrations, and Twilight find a diamond dog's lack of faith disturbing.
Side story time~
An unneeded quotation mark.
Well, they [the princesses] are handling it quite poorly. I also want to know why, if Twilight is not allowed to do this, Cadence is
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Because she is an Alicorn? Is it not within her right, mess with minds of puny mortals?