With all the delicate caution of a pony who had constructed hundreds of ships in bottles, performed oral surgery on dragons, and negotiated international politics for millennia, Celestia gently laid her now sleeping sister down to rest on her bed. The tenderness of her motions as she placed a kiss on Luna's cheek and pulled up the sheets belied the storm of fire and fury that raged within. Something had harmed her dear baby sister, and that something would pay dearly.
Celestia had long played the smiling diplomat, slow to anger and quick to laugh, while her sister took the more severe and militant role. Back in the old days, when conflict was more common, Luna had been the proverbial steel to Celestia's silk, responsible for meting out the crown's justice by night as her sister offered beneficence and mercy by day. Their adoption of such roles had owed a great deal to individual temperament; Luna had always tended toward terse and commanding, while Celestia had a long fuse and a penchant for small talk. However, part of it lay with the results when the end of that fuse was finally reached. When she had experimented at being the steel rather than the silk, it coincided with the introduction of the term "scorched earth" into common parlance.
Sickly crimson light spilled in through the window from the setting sun, flooding the room with the bloody tint of a battlefield. Celestia sighed and attempted to stretch a sore spot out of her neck. The day's ordeal had certainly been as physically and emotionally exhausting as any battle she had ever participated in. Unfortunately, there was no time to rest or celebrate victory. The consequences of canceling an entire day's schedule needed to be faced. Appointments needed making up and rescheduling. The Night Court needed informing (in a way that wouldn't cause panic), that Luna would be absent a few days to recover. Most importantly, there was a perpetrator out there that needed a large helping of divine wrath.
After casting one last look down at her peacefully sleeping sister, Celestia turned to leave. Taking a final moment to compose herself, she dropped the wards surrounding the room and opened the door to find one of her guards waiting patiently on the other side. From the fatigue visible in his stance and the slight grumbling of his stomach, it appeared he had been attentively waiting for her exit for the better part of the day.
“Your majesty! Urgent news from mid-morning! My apologies for not relaying it sooner, but you were otherwise occupied and physically unreachable.”
Celestia gave him a reassuring nod.
“No apologies necessary lieutenant. I set those wards myself and was engaged with an issue of the absolute highest priority. Now, what is your news?”
“Facility R-1 has been attacked. No recorded fatalities as of yet, but numerous injuries and extensive damage to the facility itself. The crystal communication system is still undergoing repair, so updates have been limited to physical messengers. ”
Celestia forced herself to stop clenching her jaw, lest the sound of her grinding teeth disturb the entire castle.
“And the primary subject?”
“Escaped, along with the assailant, identified by staff as Twilight Sparkle. Current whereabouts of both individuals remain unknown as of the latest update.”
Back to square one then. Damnit! If Twilight has Rainbow Dash back and under her thrall, she’s likely to go to ground and never stick her head up again.
“Have a chariot ready to depart in 10 minutes.”
“One is already prepped and ready to depart on your order.”
Eight minutes and a rapid briefing of critical personnel later, Celestia made her way to the flight deck. She stifled a yawn and chased it by draining the coffee mug levitating beside her, grimacing at the dark liquid that was more suited to her sister’s taste. Caffeine was needed, but there simply wasn’t time enough to enjoy a proper cup of tea. One more thing Twilight had taken from her this day. Tossing the now empty mug to an aide behind her, Celestia stepped into the vehicle which took off into the sky the moment she reached her seat.
Sitting in silence as the wind howled and the land below rushed past at a dizzying pace, Celestia wore an expression that shot straight past pensive and directly into brooding. As much as she wanted to believe that Twilight wasn’t the one responsible for Luna’s condition, that theory was looking ludicrously implausible. Even leaving aside the fact that she could count with two hooves the number of ponies beside Luna and herself who were familiar with that kind of dark magic (and one of them had been disintegrated by the Crystal Heart), it would take some seriously willful blindness to discount the timing as a coincidence.
An attack on the secret facility holding Rainbow Dash during the window when Luna was incapacitated and she herself fully occupied with treating her? The time when it would be most difficult for Canterlot to organize a speedy response? No. It was definitely Twilight. Whether it was a premeditated tactic or simply an attack of opportunity hardly mattered. Twilight had done this to Luna, and for the first time, when she thought of Twilight’s name, the phrase “faithful student” was not reflexively appended by her mind. Instead of images of a smiling bookish schoolfilly and daughter figure, there was only a collection of facts, like a mental dossier. Skills, habits, and motivations. Nervous tics and tells. Possible physical weaknesses or psychological blind spots. Fears and insecurities to be exploited.
As the chariot began its descent, Celestia was pulled from her thoughts by the view below. The thick overgrowth of thorny vegetation that normally concealed the outpost was gone. Everything within a half mile radius had been knocked flat, as if by an immense shock wave. In the center was a hole like a gaping wound in Equus itself. A wound in the process of scabbing over with a series of tarps being set up by a small group of guards below. It was at least something to keep any passing pegasus from wandering in out of the sky.
Stepping out of the now grounded vehicle, she saw a familiar well muscled pegasus approaching to greet her, sporting several alarming new bruises and bandages.
"Your majesty." He snapped a smart salute, not betraying even a flicker of discomfort from his injuries.
"Commander." She returned a brief nod. "What's the situation?"
"Terrible, but slowly getting better. We've at least finally gotten the work crews started clearing debris and patching things up, though it'll be a while before we can do anything substantial about that." He pointed a hoof toward the massive hole. "It was a real mess earlier. Those of us who were still in a state to move around when all the action was over were busy dragging the rest to the infirmary. Add the fact that we're still trying to get the blasted comm system fixed, and well, we only managed to get an engineering corps team in here to start a proper cleanup about 2 hours ago."
"My apologies for my unavailability commander. There was an...incident in Canterlot that required my attention."
"I figured it had to be something big. The castle was a powder keg of nervous tension. Was it related to the attack here?"
"I strongly suspect it might have been."
"Your captain had his hooves full quelling rumors and maintaining order, and I'm sure I didn't do him any favors by barging in looking like death warmed over and requisitioning the nearest dozen ponies with sufficient security clearance along with two wagons of medical and construction supplies."
"You made the flight yourself?" She cast another look at his bandages.
"It's not as bad as it looks. I also slept a good part of the day before waking up in the infirmary and figured I'd rested enough."
"And the chief medical officer just let you go?"
"I had to go. Needed somepony with the rank to bark orders around and get reinforcements from Canterlot. That, and the good doctor hadn't woken up yet."
"I see. Shall we get to it then? I'd like a full report and a tour of the damages."
"Of course." He turned once again to the breach. "I suppose that would be the obvious starting point. Our first guess was some kind of meteor strike, but when we investigated the bottom of the shaft, we detected unusually high levels of gold with some residual magical energy. As best we can tell, it was some kind of artificial slug thrown at high speed from a great height."
Celestia peeked over the edge of the maw, the bottom too deep to be seen in the last fading rays of sunset. "What did it hit on the way down?"
"It tore straight through the main generator. It also destroyed the relay switch two floors down that was supposed to activate the backup generator, so we had about 2 minutes of blackout before somepony managed to hit the manual override."
The commander spread his wings and started a gentle glide down the shaft. Celestia silently followed.
"Along with the scorch marks, we've gathered enough accounts from those who directly engaged with the intruder to reconstruct a route and rough timeline." He stopped at one of the floors and turned into the adjacent hallway. "We believe she came down here, all the way to stairwell B, where first contact occurred shortly after the power was restored."
The tour made a brief stop at a room filled with exhausted looking unicorns fussing about a gigantic flickering crystal, scribbling notes on a white board, and opening up the panels of a dozen different consoles to go over every inch of their innards. A tired expression came across the commander's face.
"Any progress yet?" he asked with an apparent lack of optimism that the answer would differ from the last several times he had asked it.
"If by progress, you mean progressively driving me up the bloody wall, then yes!" came a response in a heavy Trottingham accent. The slender blue unicorn with a cutie mark of a matrix filled with ones and zeroes continued to rant, not bothering to turn around. "It defies all sense and reason! We get a signal for about five seconds, then the frequency goes all wobbly. Every time we implement a fix to lock it down, it resets itself and the spell network kicks back some error message about needing administrator permission. I am the bloody administrator!"
"Sabotage?" Celestia asked.
"Obviously! But we've swept every inch of every console twice and fuck me over afternoon tea, but I can't find where it's coming from!"
There was a brief beat of silence as he placed the newcomer's voice, then whirled around in utter mortification. "P-Princess! I-uh-welcome! Repairs to the communication system have unfortunately hit something of a snag."
"So I've gathered. Do you mind if I try something?"
"Um, of course. Go right ahead."
Celestia closed her eyes and reached out. The room buzzed with dozens upon dozens of interlocking spells running from the network of machinery. Each major component hummed with its own unique flavor, heavily based on it's manufacturer and further made unique by a lingering influence of any past unicorn who had serviced or operated it. Finding a specific bit of malicious spellcraft in that network would be akin to the proverbial needle in the haystack. Unless of course, the piece one was looking for hummed with a flavor that one was intimately familiar with. Then it was like searching for a needle dyed bright purple and doused with lavender perfume.
Celestia's horn lit with a golden glow, and down from the crevice of an overhead crossbeam joint floated a small crystal. She held the device in front of her for the gathered ponies to see, then encased it in a translucent bubble, cutting off the signal.
The effect was immediate. The large crystal ceased flickering, followed by a row of flashing red lights on several consoles switching to a solid green. The technicians hurriedly sent out a few test messages and several cheers of relief and enthusiastic hoof bumps when they came back positive. The blue unicorn from before simply stared dumbfound at the now isolated spell crystal.
"All of that trouble because of this little thing? And it wasn't even hardwired into the system! Remote hijacking of the initialization protocols? How is that even possible?"
"I suppose being the chief designer of the underlying architecture would be a start."
"What? Wait...you mean..." He quickly pulled over a pair of saddlebags and took out a well worn tome emblazoned with the title 'Piezoarcanic Telecommunications Field Manual'. Directly below was the author's name, T. Sparkle. "Huh."
Celestia turned back to the commander. "Shall we continue?"
The pair resumed their tour, following the path Twilight had taken through the facility and noting small white x's marking where various incapacitated personnel had been found. A frown crossed the princess' face as something become increasingly apparent. Twilight had taken a direct path to Rainbow Dash's room.
"She knew the layout in advance."
"It definitely seems that way. We haven't the slightest clue how, though. If she was able to get in to do any recon, I doubt she'd need to blow her way in so dramatically. Everypony here is professionally tight lipped, and floor plans are a strange choice for idle chatter anyway. Add the fact that we've all been stationed here and living on site for the duration of the project, and nopony would have even had the opportunity to leak anything."
Troubling. How would Twilight even get the location of this facility in the first place, much less the floor plans? Access to somepony on the original construction team? But how would she even get the list of names to even begin tracking one of them down? How would she find the proper project code name and relevant files for a facility she didn't even know existed?
It didn't make any sense. Twilight would have to have actually been there during construction, or had some informant on staff at the time. Twilight didn't seem the type to be secretly running and maintaining a subversive spy network for years. There was certainly another who fit that profile though. One Twilight had apparently encountered recently. Celestia resolved at the next available opportunity to check the construction staff roster against Twilight's little 'gift' from a few days back.
Thoughts of the considerable purges that still needed to be orchestrated based on that document were interrupted by their sudden arrival at what had formerly been Rainbow Dash's room. Celestia took a moment to stare in awe at the destruction and gaping jagged hole that had once been the door.
"A bit inelegant, but I suppose I shouldn't be terribly surprised given her choice of entrance to the base itself."
"That's what we thought at first, but upon closer inspection, we determined that the door was in fact blasted open from the inside. It turns out Rainbow Dash managed to somehow get out of her restraints during the power outage, knocked out the doctors, then got into the general anesthesia supplies and blew the door. She pocketed a hooffull of syringes of sedative and carved her own completely independent swathe of destruction. Given that Twilight Sparkle wasn't with her when she came charging into my office, it's likely they just missed each other."
"Oh?" Celestia said nothing more, with only a slightly raised brow inviting him to continue.
"Yes, well, it didn't go great for me, as you might have guessed. Few things let you know just how old you're getting quite like getting KO-ed by some hotshot academy rookie, no matter how good her training scores are. Moving on, I've been informed that after I was out of commission, she grabbed the intercom controls to do a bit of gloating. After that, we don't have any direct eye witness confirmation, but we assume both Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle left through the breach. We can't confirm whether or not they actually encountered each other before or after leaving."
"Is Dr. Resonance Image alright?"
"A bit black and blue, but he's doing fine now. He should be waiting for you in his office."
"I shouldn't keep him waiting then."
Celestia made her way to the familiar office, which happened to be in one of the few locations untouched by the conflict. Two quick, authoritative knocks elicited a "come in" from behind the door. She entered to find the room already prepped for a meeting, projector warmed up and ready with a series of slides and various documents lined up on a table. Waiting patiently behind a large desk, and wearing a slightly less form fitting lab coat than she recalled, was the lead neurologist and project director.
"Ah, your highness. welcome. Please, have a seat."
"I hear you've had quite the eventful day."
"That's one way of putting it. Too many more eventful days like this, and I'll be in an early grave."
Celestia found a comfortable seat on a nearby couch.
"So, now that I've got the general overview from security, what was the medical situation of our patient right up until the unfortunate disruption?"
"Well, to start, I could not think of worse possible timing. As you know, we had previously tracked the influence of the enchantment to a small bridge of tissue running into the amygdala. Despite dispelling the original magic, the patient's condition remained unchanged. We decided to move ahead with a surgical procedure to destroy that bridge with a neuroscope. We were in the process of conducting the procedure when the catastrophic power loss occurred."
An alarmed look shot across Celestia's face. "Oh my. Is she...?"
"We didn't have much of a chance to do an examination, as she was loose by the time the lights came back on, but we are confident that there are certainly no impairments to her speech or motor functions. As for emotional stability and regulation of aggression, well, we've been sorely lacking a baseline to compare to. Spatial and analytical reasoning seem in good shape, given her inventive escape from the room. I'm confident there was no significant unintended damage stemming from the disrupted procedure."
"Unintended?"
"There still remains the question of whether the primary goal of the surgery was accomplished or not. The power went out right as we were completing the destruction of the tissue bridge. As soon as I was mobile again, I scoured the remains of the room for the printouts."
He adjusted the projector, displaying several pages that looked like they had been to Tartarus and back. Some parts were crumpled, torn, singed, or had something spilled on them, sometimes all at once. He pointed at a line on a graph that rose steadily before coming to an abrupt halt.
"Here's where the power cut out." He pointed at the sudden flatline. "Now, what we expect to see when excising the target tissue is just this sort of build up, followed by a sharp dip the moment the target is destroyed. Unfortunately, from the look of this curve,—"
"The dip should be right around where the power cutoff occurred," Celestia finished for him. "
"Exactly. It's down to a matter of milliseconds. I've poured over it again and again, but we just don't have the kind of resolution to say with absolute certainty whether or not the target tissue was severed before the power went out. The best I can say is there's about a 70% chance it did."
"And we're still not certain what, if any, behavioral changes such a result would correspond to."
"Indeed."
Celestia helped herself to a glass of water provided on a nearby table while she focused her thoughts. If Rainbow Dash remained unchanged and devoted to Twilight, and they were reunited, there was very little that could be done. They would go deep into hiding and it could be years before they were found. If she was still under the effect but separated, they were all back to square one, trying to catch one or both of them while they stumbled about in search of each other. Finding and tailing Rainbow Dash covertly might in fact be the best way to find Twilight. If Rainbow Dash was freed from the spell's influence, then what? Would she eventually turn herself back in and help in capturing Twilight? Try to exact retribution herself? Would she just want to go home and think things over?
Maybe there was something she was missing? Some middle ground? If the procedure had some effect on Rainbow Dash, surely that would be cause for concern to Twilight. She'd want to know more, perhaps as much out of legitimate concern for her marefriend's health as for maintaining hegemony over her mind. Where would a desperate, and increasingly bold Twilight turn?
A plan of action began to form. It was a long shot to be sure, and it was likely nothing would come of it, but it was at least proactive and something a step better than 'sweep Equestria and wait for something to turn up'. With a bit of luck, it might just send Twilight running right into her hooves.
***
“Dash? Dash, where are you? I told you not to wander off!”
Twilight swept her eyes over the forest canopy above in her fruitless search for the troublesome pegasus. Hadn’t she heard her detailed speech on why they needed to stick together from now on? The last thing they needed this close to their goal was to get separated and maybe spend a few more months trying to find each other again. She really didn’t want to keep pushing her luck with breaking into and out of highly secured areas full of guards.
“Dash! If this is some kind of joke, it isn’t funny!” A brief jolt of panic struck.
What if she changed her mind about being with me? What if she recovered her emotional connection, but it’s all negative and she hates me now? What if she got eaten by a monster? What if she ran off with an evil version of me visiting from another dimension? What if I’m the evil version and she ran of with the GOOD version of me from another dimension?!
“Relax, egghead,” a voice called out from above. I can tell you’re doing one of those ‘what if’ cascades in your head again. I just went to gather some berries and nuts. Now let’s get these back to Applejack and Fluttershy so they can turn it into lunch.”
Twilight looked up and gave a sigh of relief, just in time to see her once and soon to be marefriend get blindsided by a beam of golden magic.
“Rainbow Dash!” Twilight spun around to find the source. What she saw caused her jaw to drop and her heart to attempt leaping up past it.
“Hello there, Twilight.” Princess Celestia stood serenely in a patch of golden sunlight streaming down through a hole in the treetops. She wore a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“P-P-Princess! H-How did you—?”
“It’s a beautiful day outside,” Celestia remarked, ignoring Twilight’s sputtered question entirely. “Birds are singing. Flowers are blooming.” She paused to examine a butterfly that had momentarily landed on her outstretched fetlock before sending it on its way. “On days like these, fillies like you...”
In an instant, everything was fire. The surrounding vegetation burned as Celestia’s mane and tail transformed into a raging inferno. A small blue flame flickered in the center of her left eye.
“...should be burning in Tartarus.”
Twilight bolted awake, flailing and thrashing in fear and confusion as she became tangled in her sleeping bag. The others were quickly awakened, partially by the noise of all the commotion, but mostly by her inelegant tumbling into them in the close quarters of the tent designed for two ponies rather than four.
Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash were on their hooves and braced for a fight within a second. Fluttershy had reflexively shot to the top of the tent and retreated to a corner to cower. A magenta bubble shield quickly popped up around Twilight as she teleported herself out of the tangle of bedding and back onto her hooves with her back to one of the walls.
After a few dozen racing heart beats passed, the group began to relax as it became clear they were not under attack. With a glower that expressed in rich detail her lack of amusement, Applejack turned to Twilight.
"Twi, what in tarnation was that?"
"I-I don't know. I guess I, uhh..." embarrassment began to creep in as adrenaline drained away, "Sorry, I think I just had a bad dream?"
"Oh my," Fluttershy called down from her corner where she still cautiously hovered. "Do you think it's...?"
Twilight shook her head. "No, I don't think it's Luna. I didn't feel any attempt at a trace, and I've taken certain precautions against that anyway. I think it's just the regular old fashioned kinda nightmare."
"Wonderful. Now that that's resolved..." Applejack settled back down on her end of the unzipped sleeping bag the four of them were sharing as bedding and pulled the blanket back over her head. Dash was already snoring, having wasted no time crashing back to sleep as soon as it had become clear there was no imminent danger.
"Right. I'm just gonna go stretch, maybe get something to drink. I'll be right back." Twilight moved to exit the tent.
"Um, me too." Fluttershy quickly followed Twilight out, zipping the entrance shut behind them.
The two began a slow circuit of the campsite, the dull roar of crickets and cicadas providing accompaniment to the sounds of their soft hoofsteps. Fluttershy urged herself to say something, to take advantage of this rare window of being alone with Twilight since this entire ordeal had begun, but she came up empty.
"Uhh, Fluttershy?"
"Hm?" She snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see Twilight wearing an awkward expression as she glanced between her and the row of bushes up ahead. It took her a moment to catch the hint. "Oh! Um, sorry." She quickly backed up a few paces and waited behind a tree for Twilight to finish her business.
Say something!
What? 'Hey, I'm still really into you. Wanna make out and/or run away together?' What would that accomplish? I already KNOW she doesn't feel the same way about me. Stating what she almost certainly already knows, because she's not utterly oblivious and I'm not a master of deception, isn't going to change that.
Approaching hoofsteps signaled that Twilight had finished her business, and the two soon resumed their walk. Eventually, Fluttershy scraped together the courage to speak.
"Twilight?"
"Hm?"
"I've got a question. A magic question."
"Shoot."
"It's about how your spell works. The one you used on Rainbow Dash."
It would have taken an expertly trained eye to see the ripple of tension that passed over Twilight in the dim starlight. It passed quickly, resulting in only a deep inhale and exhale through the nose.
"What do you want to know?"
"I know you used it to make Rainbow Dash love you, and it seems like you could use it to make a pony fall in love with somebody else, or at least Chrysalis certainly seemed to think so."
"Yeah. That would be done pretty easily with a minor adjustment."
"What I'm wondering is...purely theoretically...would it be possible to cast the same spell on yourself? Make yourself..."
"Make myself fall in love with somepony else."
"Yeah."
"I'm not sure, though even if it were possible, it would probably be a bad idea for the same reason it's a bad idea to perform surgery on yourself. Doubly so for brain surgery."
"I see. Well, I'm ready to go back to bed. Goodnight Twilight."
"Goodnight Fluttershy."
As soon as Fluttershy disappeared back into the tent, Twilight let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, relieved there had been no hypothetical followup questions.
It was true that she wasn't certain if casting the spell on herself was feasible, but it wasn't as if she had ever tried to put any thought into it. She was inventive enough that if it were possible, she probably could have figured out some kind of safe means of doing so had she tried. But the thought had simply never crossed her mind until now. That instead of changing Dash, she could just change herself and sidestep all the ethical problems. Reprogram herself to reciprocate the feelings she knew a certain pony already had for her. She would have jumped at that idea once.
So why hadn't she? Once she had decided to cross the line on magically altering a pony's mind, why was it Rainbow Dash who had to change to fit her desires and not herself? Something in her simply balked at the idea of simply not loving Rainbow Dash anymore. It seemed too much an abandonment of a core part of her identity. Even as she rationally recognized that learning to not love Dash had been exactly her goal for over a year, that she wouldn't miss that love when it was gone, that she would be just as happy with Fluttershy or whichever pony she enchanted herself to love as she would be with Dash, because that's how she designed the spell to work. There shouldn't be any difference between what the spell induced and the 'real' thing, because it was real.
Unless of course, she thought her own love for Dash was somehow different. Some extra special thing ordained by fate that took priority. Some self-absorbed notion that her own unrequited feelings were intrinsically more important to satisfy than those of anypony else, even if she should theoretically end up just as happy either way. Maybe she was just a massive hypocrite who talked a good moral consequentialism game when it came to mucking around with the brains of others, but still considered her own head inviolate.
Given the storm this line of thinking on a hypothetical possibility had already unleashed, Twilight decided to place the academic question of whether self-casting her spell was actually theoretically feasible at a very low priority. It was better if it stayed 'probably not possible anyway' a bit longer. She turned back toward the tent. It wouldn't be long until morning, and there was a long day of travel ahead of them.
***
As the pair of shears snipped neatly through the last of the thorny vines, a soft magenta glow enveloped the flower, guiding it into a waiting jar.
"That's one down."
Twilight delicately placed the container back into her saddlebags with a victorious grin. It was unusual to find Heart's Desire growing this far north of the heart of the Everfree. She had hardly believed her eyes when she spotted a distinctive violet shape at the edge of the dry creek bed where they had stopped for a rest. Perhaps luck was turning her way for once.
"Cool. What else do we need again?" Rainbow Dash asked from where she hovered overhead, snacking on a cucumber and daisy sandwich.
"A dragon scale and some hydra blood. At least that's what I used last time. Any sufficiently acidic venom should work, and I might be able to make do with a couple wyvern scales, or anything in the draconic family. The Heart's Desire is essential though."
"So I guess we're a third of the way there, then. Nice."
"Yeah." Twilight began to walk back to where Applejack and Fluttershy were packing away the remains of their lunch, but paused as a thought that had been nagging her all morning returned. "Say, Dash?"
"Yeah?"
"This is what you want, right?"
Rainbow Dash swallowed the last remnants of her sandwich and gave a confident nod. "Absolutely. I'm 100% behind this."
"Would you be willing to put that down in writing?"
"Sure, I guess. Why?"
"Well, I want to do things right this time. Properly documented consent and all that. Something to show that this was actually your choice. Not that I think it'll make up for what I'm definitely guilty of, but I'd rather not be accused of it twice. Also, maybe there's a slight chance it might stop them from immediately trying to 'cure' you against your will."
"If it means avoiding anymore extended involuntary hospital stays, then I'll sign anything! Get me a quill and I'll do it right now."
"Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to be quite enough."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, aside from the four of us, nopony really knows that you're not still under the effect of a spell right now. Actually, Fluttershy and Applejack don't really know either. They kinda just have to take our word for it. As for the rest of Equestria, they really wouldn't have any reason to think that I didn't just enchant you and then have you sign whatever I wanted, or that the first spell was never actually broken in the first place."
"And they'd ignore anything I said, just like the first time around."
"Exactly."
"So, we just need some kind of proof that my head is currently spell free! You can do that, right? Do some spell to take a picture of my brain or something?"
Twilight gave a nod. "I can, but not here. I'd need specialized equipment to both resolve the picture, and stamp it with the right metadata to show it was authentic and not something I just drew up."
"So where can we get this equipment?"
"Well, we're coming up on Balitmare soon. The Baltimare General Hospital should have a neurology ward with a neuroscope and imaging setup that would work for us. The tricky part would be getting inside to use it without getting caught."
"So let me get this straight, now I need to break INTO a hospital so I can be strapped down and have a pony poke around in my brain?"
"Only if you're up for it."
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes hard enough for them to pull the rest of her body into a barrel roll as she let out an exasperated sigh. "Sure, why not? It's not the craziest thing I've ever done. And if it means I'll have evidence to throw in the faces of any ponies saying I can't make my own decisions, then I'll do it."
Twilight gave a relieved nod. "We should reach the outskirts of town in about an hour. I'll have thrown together some kind of plan by the time we get there. Hopefully one that doesn't involve a smoking crater and a pile of battered medical personnel."
***
Mane, tail, and coat freshly tinted black from the last of the stage dye she had 'borrowed' from Trixie, Twilight peeked over the edge of the cloud to study the city streets below.
"So what's the plan?" asked Rainbow Dash from beside her, whose utterly conspicuous mane and tail remained too wild to be tamed by any amount of dye. "Do we wait to ambush two of the doctors or nurses, knock them out, and steal their uniforms?"
"No need. Take a look." Twilight pointed a hoof out toward a small building with a sign displaying a variety of hats, helmets, goggles, vests, gloves, and general work attire.
"Wait, you're telling me you can just stroll in and buy a nurse uniform?"
"Well, it's not really a uniform so much as just a hat, but essentially, yes."
"It's just...I thought there was some kind of law or licensing thing? Like, you have to show you're actually a nurse to get one? They don't check ID or anything?"
"Nope. They don't particularly care. They even usually have sales around Nightmare Night and Hearts and Hooves Day."
"Huh."
"Alright, I'm gonna head in, then go to that art supply store over there. When I give the signal, drop down and meet me in that alley.
There was a bright flash, then Twilight was on the ground and entering the shop door. Rainbow Dash pushed the cloud over the mentioned alley and watched Twilight emerge with a small shopping bag before walking a few blocks up and entering another store adorned with images of paint brushes and chisels. Two minutes later, and Twilight had made her way to the alley, levitating a large parcel. She gave a quick snap of her tail, the signal for Dash to quickly drop out of the sky and join her.
"Okay, so what's in the box?"
Twilight removed the lid, revealing a large amount of white powder. "Plaster. Now hold still."
The pair of saddle bags Rainbow Dash had been carrying rose off her bag and tucked themselves into a hiding place behind a nearby dumpster. Two water bottles floated out from Twilight's bag and emptied their contents into the powder, transforming it into a wet mush as Twilight stirred it with her magic. At the same time, strips of cotton bandages rose from the bag and began to wrap themselves around Dash's head and hindquarters, spreading across most of her body until she was almost entirely encased and her mane and tail were completely hidden. Large globs of wet plaster floated up and began smearing themselves over the bandages. Within minutes, the plaster had hardened and Rainbow Dash was encased in a full body cast, completely unrecognizable, save for a pair of magenta eyes that spoke of mild irritation at the sudden restriction of movement.
"Perfect"
"Ugh. And how long do I have to stay like this?"
"Just until we get into the cranial imaging room. I can teleport us right out afterward. In fact..." The soft purple glow rose over her horn as she set down an anchor point behind the dumpster. "There. Now there's only one thing left that we need. Wait here."
Unable to do more than shift slightly in place, Rainbow Dash waited as Twilight disappeared around the corner, trying desperately not to think about her current inability to scratch any itches that might arise. After an unknown amount of time that was likely no more than a couple minutes, but still enough to worry about whether Twilight had been caught and whether she would be stuck in this alley for days until somepony found her, she spotted Twilight turning back around the corner with a wheelchair in tow. She soon found herself hovering off the ground and gliding gently into the seat.
"Okay, so we're just gonna walk right in. Don't say anything. Just sit tight and let me handle it."
Unable to nod in agreement, Rainbow Dash uttered a quick "Got it."
It was only a matter of a few blocks until they reached the hospital, though measuring by the pace of their heartbeats would suggest it was closer to a 10k marathon. Near the entrance to the squat, flat building stood a line of wheelchairs like one of the cart returns in a big city supermarket, likely the source of their pilfered transportation. The doors parted automatically as Twilight, nurse hat sitting neatly on her midnight black mane, pushed the chair bearing a now undeniably itchy Rainbow Dash through the entrance.
Twilight held her breath, hoping nopony would stop her to ask why a patient in full body cast that should clearly be in a room already was being wheeled in from outside. That would lead to a hastily constructed lie about a transfer from another hospital, which would likely lead to paperwork checks, which had a very high chance of ending in taking the building by force when her freestyle fabrication proved ineffective. Suffice it to say, she held a strong preference for the scenario that didn't involve blasting up a hospital.
Fortunately, the pony at the front desk proved inattentive, incurious, or both, and Twilight and her 'patient' were allowed to keep moving. Once clear of the reception area, she spotted a pair of plastic receptacles attached to the wall and stocked with spare clipboards, pencils, and blank patient sheets. She quickly snagged one of each in her telekinesis and began scribbling some improvised patient notes while keeping an eye peeled for the neurology ward.
Come on. Come one. Where is it? Radiology? No. Poison control? No. Trauma? No.
She was weighing the relative risks of stopping to ask someone for directions vs looking increasingly suspicious by continuing to wander around blindly, when a dark hazel pegasus bearing a doctor's coat and name tag turned the corner in front of her, bringing them face to face.
"Oh? What do we have here?"
"Flying accident. Three broken ribs, multiple fractures in each wing, dislocated shoulder joint on right foreleg and sprains on the other three, and a lost tooth." Twilight recited her cover story with all the perfunctory precision of a guard report.
The doctor gave a low whistle. "Must have been some accident to cause all that." He glanced down to the still silent Rainbow Dash in the chair. "What happened? You fly into a wood chipper?"
A cold sweat formed on the back of Twilight's neck as she rushed to improvise something. "She—"
" Just trying to do a phoenix fall into a triple mongoose twist with a reverse quarter pitch on the down stroke." Rainbow Dash piped up, seizing on the initiative. "I almost had it. It was going great until the ground got in the way, then that brick wall, then that second brick wall, then those trees."
Though it seemed little more than gibberish to Twilight, the doctor seemed to understand. "I've heard of recklessness, but that could give the notorious Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. You're lucky to even have all your pieces close enough together to reassemble."
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine, I swear! Swear to Cell...Sally...Celestia." Rainbow Dash insisted, a bit of a mumbling slur creeping onto the end of her words. Ms. Uptight here insists I need to go get my brains scanned. Something about routine check blah blah post-cranial trauma blah blah bruising blah. Waste of time if you ask me. I'm fit as a cello. Speaking of which, morphine is awesome."
"It is indeed." The doctor gave an empathetic nod and then turned his attention back to Twilight. "I'm guessing you're looking for one of the imaging techs to get you set up, right?"
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Having a bit of trouble tracking one down though."
The doctor gave an exasperated sigh and shake of his head that appeared well practiced.
"Figures. I swear, those guys are flakier than the entire dermatology clinic." The barely suppressed smirk betrayed the fact that he had been dying for an excuse to try out that line for some time now. Twilight gave a polite snort in response. "Don't worry, I know one of their common loitering spots."
Twilight quickly fell in behind him as he turned and began a swift march down a nearby hallway. Keeping her eyes forward, she leaned down and whispered to Rainbow Dash.
"Where did all that come from?"
Rainbow Dash whispered back. "Ponies keep forgetting that I'm kind of an expert when it comes to head injuries, particularly ones caused by feats of awesomeness. This isn't anywhere near my first run through the system."
The doctor stopped a few paces ahead of them and turned into a small break room that was barely larger than a utility closet. Twilight briefly wondered if it had in fact been a closet that some enterprising ponies had converted via the addition of two chairs, a small table, and a vending machine. One of the chairs was occupied by an ashen grey unicorn with a neon green mane, currently engrossed in a magazine. A loud clearing of the doctor's throat sent the startled unicorn scrambling to his hooves.
"Who's she?" he asked, fixing a confused stare at Twilight.
"Oh, I'm n—"
"She's somepony who needs you to actually do your job for once," the doctor cut in, "now get examination room A prepped."
"Fine." With a roll of his eyes and a belabored sigh, the tech walked out the door, throwing Twilight a gesture to follow him.
Twilight braced for a series of questions that never came. Their guide could not have been less interested in their names or stories, and remained silent as he set a brisk pace to their destination, presumably operating under the philosophy that the sooner this job got done, the sooner he could get back to slacking off. By the time Twilight followed him around the last corner, he had already retrieved the appropriate key from his ring and was busy turning it in the lock of a large set of double doors. When opened, they revealed a harshly white room with a large reclined chair surround by banks of machinery.
Once inside the room, he moved even faster, flicking switches, turning knobs, and checking calibrations in a storm of activity. After about two minutes of frantic fiddling, he turned to face Twilight.
"You trained on how to work this thing?"
"More or less?"
He let out a pained sigh and pointed at a block of controls. "Directional controls are there, but you'll just want to use magic for the direct movement. Center wheel controls depth." He pointed to a large screen with a prominent button below it. "That prints the current image. Got it?"
"Yeah."
"Need anything else?"
Though she didn't detect any magic at work from the unicorn, she could still feel every pore in his body willing her to answer in the negative so he could leave. Fortunately for him, that suited her just fine.
"Nope. I can handle it from here."
One would have thought he had just found an oasis after days of wandering in the desert, from the wave of relief that briefly washed over him before he was out the door without another word.
"Great, he's gone. Now get me out of this itchy thing!" Rainbow Dash called from her seat.
A magenta glow encased the plaster shell around her moments before it split apart with a resounding crack, freeing the trapped pegasus within. At the same time, the double doors closed and locked themselves, with a nearby desk and filing cabinet repositioning themselves as a makeshift barricade for good measure.
"Alright, up in the chair! Let's hurry!" Twilight ordered as she moved to take a closer look at the controls.
Rainbow Dash hesitated as she approached the vacant chair. The hair on her back stood on end as she stared at several familiar looking pieces of machinery hanging above it. Gritting her teeth and pushing back the unpleasant memories, she took the last few steps and climbed into the seat.
"So, uh, how...invasive is this going to be? You going to be doing much poking around?"
"Not at all. This is just imaging equipment. It's not even capable of doing any kind of surgical work. At least, not without some serious modification." Rainbow Dash gave a small sigh of relief, but her hind legs continued an involuntary fidget. The sooner they were done and she was away from anything even resembling a hospital, the better. "Alright, I'm about to start, try to keep your head still so I can get a good focus."
The moment Twilight focused her magic into the controls, some kind of strange power surge pulsed through the system. A bright golden aura flashed over the machinery for a fraction of a second before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared. It had come and gone too quickly for Twilight to make heads or tails of it, but something about it triggered her instinct for trouble. It could have just been a sign of poor maintenance, a blown arcanic capacitor or an unaligned resonance chamber, but the part of her that had kept her alive and out of a maximum security cell in Canterlot was screaming at her to get out. She looked back to the controls. There was no telling when another opportunity like this would present itself.
"Let's make this quick."
***
Princess Celestia sat in her chambers, sipping tea while reviewing security briefs. Repairs on the Hoofington facility were proceeding well. As for the changeling threat, loyal forces were almost in position to seize all the infiltrators in one sweep, minimizing the risk of any slipping away and assuming a new cover.
There were no updates regarding the search for Twilight. After her initial check in at the bunker, she had moved quickly on a long shot plan that relied on Twilight being just the right amount of desperate to know exactly what the doctors had been up to. She had visited every major hospital within 50 miles of the bunker as part of a "surprise secret royal inspection" and personally buried a small silent alarm spell in all the imaging equipment, keyed to respond to Twilight's unique magical signature. A similar cantrip to the alarm on the restricted section of the library, but of significantly longer range and tied directly to Celestia herself. There was more than a strong chance that it would never pay off at all, but at least it was something proactive.
She was just about to pour herself another cup of tea and move on to signing transfer orders when a beacon lit up in her mind.
Baltimare!
The teapot fell to the table, taking the cup with it as it tumbled over the edge, spilling its contents across the carpet as Celestia spun and lunged for the nearest window. Fortunately, for the window's sake, it was already open as Celestia vaulted through it and spread her wings.
It was possible, even likely, that Twilight would have bolted as soon as the alarm tripped, but Celestia held out hope that, with a bit of luck, she might be able to get the drop on her former student. At the very least, if she could just get within a few hundred meters, she should be able feel out Twilight's magical signature as long as she was actively looking for it.
She had already weighed the merits of sending a message ahead to the town's guard force who, despite being woefully outmatched, could still throw up an interdiction cordon around the town. She had ultimately decided against it. After witnessing Twilight's tampering with the crystal hub at the bunker, Celestia couldn't ignore the possibility of Twilight tapping the communication lines. On the chance that Twilight hadn't fled as soon as the spell had been tripped, it was better to maintain silence until right on top of her. That was why the spell fed to Celestia directly instead of broadcasting to the local garrison. This was something Celestia needed to put an end to herself.
***
"Careful now. Steady," Applejack coached as Fluttershy cautiously wielded the tongs in her mouth and approached the large metal box sitting over a fire that served as their makeshift oven.
While Twilight and Rainbow Dash were off on some kind of heist like secret mission (of which the only information shared was "the less you know, the better"), Fluttershy had gone into town to shop for the necessary supplies for her current, no less nerve wracking mission. Attempting to bake a banana cream pie via campfire.
She worked the tongs around the handle and gently pulled open the door of the small compartment. A wave of hot air escaped and hit her in the face, pulling a bead of sweat out of her forehead that raced down toward her right eye, prompting a squint to avoid stinging disaster. Reaching further in, her tongs found the edge of the pie tin. At a glacial pace, she moved backwards, extracting her prize and working to keep her head absolutely level. Her neck might as well have been a steel rod, an extension of the tongs gripped between her jaws that ran uninterrupted down the length of her spine.
Slowly placing one hoof in front of the other, she approached the flat rock that served as their counter space. Once the pie tin was over the chosen position, she ever so slowly bent her knees, setting the newly formed pie crust down with all the gentleness she would normally bring to bear in bandaging the wing of a baby bird. Once it had finally come to rest, she dropped the tongs, stepped back, and wiped the sweat from her brow with a relieved sigh.
"Mighty nice work there sugar cube. That's perfect pie crust if I ever saw it."
"Thanks," Fluttershy responded, still looking as if she might faint from the tension at any moment.
"The rest should just be a trot in the park in comparison. All cold prep. Just gotta fill in the fruit, custard, cream, and all that good stuff."
"Sounds fun."
Fluttershy's prediction proved correct as the next few minutes transformed the empty crust into a fully realized banana cream pie.
"I think we should add just a bit of cinnamon on top," Fluttershy assessed. "Twilight and Rainbow Dash both love cinnamon."
"Shoot, who doesn't? I'll see if we've got anymore left in the bag."
While Applejack dug around in their supplies, Fluttershy took a moment to admire the monument to her domestic skill. Her imaginings of Twilight's face upon returning to lovingly prepared baked goods were interrupted by a bright flicker on the horizon. No, not exactly the horizon. It was most of the way up the great Canterhorn mountain. Right where Canterlot would be. A bright fiery glow like a shooting star, only it wasn't arcing across the sky, but growing bigger. No, it was growing closer.
Fluttershy couldn't help but worry that it had something do with Twilight and Rainbow Dash's errands for the day, and that her provisional dinner plans would be taking a hard rain check.
Stay safe Twilight.
***
"Almost there..." Twilight's tongue poked out of the corner of her mouth as she kept her eyes glued to the screen. "Just a little...bit...more..." She increased the magnification by three percent and attacked the focus knobs, fighting to keep the picture clear. "Got it!"
There it was. A patch of amygdala with the faintest bit of scarring around a protrusion that might once have been a neural bridge, now severed.
"In fact, I think I might be able to...if it's been recent enough....yes, yes!" Several more knob twists and dial turns brought up a series of filters. "If I can just find the right tracer spell they used, it'll be perfect."
One last button press brought up a filter that showed the area saturated in a sparkling pink effect, the remnant of the tracer the doctors had used for targeting during the initial procedure. Such routine medical spells would normally fade away harmlessly over the course of a week, but with the procedure still so recent, there was enough of it left to serve as definitive proof that this was an image of the target area, and the operation had been completed successfully.
Twilight slammed a hoof down on the print button, snapping up the still warm pieces of paper as they came out of the tray.
"Okay, let's go!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" Rainbow Dash replied as she vaulted over the seat to land next to Twilight.
A violet flash enveloped them both as they disappeared and reappeared at the marker previously laid down in the alley. Retrieving the hidden pair of saddlebags, Twilight stuffed the papers inside before handing them off to Rainbow Dash.
"Alright, I'll teleport us back to the tree line and the path back to camp."
After a quick nod of acknowledgement from Rainbow Dash, there was another flash and the filthy brickwork of the alley was replaced by the greenery of the lightly wooded hoofhills outside of town. Twilight nearly fell off her hooves as she gave a sigh of relief.
"We made it."
"See? What did I tell ya? Nothing to stress over, egghead. In and out without a hitch. Didn't even have to bust any heads."
Twilight shot Rainbow Dash an amused look. "I seem to recall you being just as concerned about all the possible things that could go wrong."
"Nah," Rainbow Dash dismissed the accusation with a wave of her wing. "You must have been imagining things and hallucinating from all the paranoid worrying."
Twilight gave a slight chuckle in response. "Well I suppose I can get a bit carried away sometimes. You're right, though. It did all go off without a hi—"
Their conversation was interrupted by what was presumably a meteor striking directly in front of them. The shock wave knocked them off their hooves and the air was suddenly filled with dust and smoke from surrounding vegetation that had burst into flames.
Before Twilight had even finished finding her hooves and wiping her eyes clear, she felt an interdiction field wash over the area. A gust of magical wind cleared the smoke, revealing the form of Princess Celestia standing tall, even amidst the smouldering indentation left by her landing.
"Hello, Twilight. Be advised, if in the next three seconds the next words out of your mouth are anything other than 'I surrender', you are going to have a bad time. Do you want to have a bad time?"
Yay, Celestia!
Aaaand it lives! Not exactly a personal fan of undertale references, but at least they aren't out of place here. Otherwise, it was definitely worth the waiting.
8425796
HELL YEAH CELESTIA!
More damage has been done in life by not "leaving the hell alone" than just about anything else.
There is no way Celestia would listen to reason even in the face of formal evidence that Dash is of sound mind and body and actually does want this. Heck, if they were any good at lying they could have said that she was up for this the first time.
8426065
The fact remains however she was mind broken into wanting this. This wasn't done with consent and Twilight should face her punishment like a damn grown mare unless you want this rapist, yes she is a rapist because she had sexual actions against Rainbow's will since she was MIND CONTROLLED into doing them unless I misread a chapter in this, to actually escape justice for some fucking reason.
Why do I have the feeling that what Fluttershy asked is foreshadowing and Twilight will have her RD thoughts replaced with Fluttershy.
4377363
Of course you're okay with excusing a rapist.
4864977
She'd also not be on this road IF SHE FUCKING LEFT RAINBOW DASH ALONE.
5064419
You COMPLETELY missed the first novel where she ruined a happy relationship for her own selfish sake. Oh but as long as TWIDASH happens who gives a shit right?
5758155
Yes. Yes it does.
8051995
No it makes it needlessly long not interesting.
a...a new chapter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uW47jWLMiY
8425857
Yeah, I'm modestly ashamed of that, but between Star Wars, Les Miserables, and whatever ones I may have forgotten at this point, I have to keep seeing how many references I can sneak in. This one was rather lacking in subtlety though.
8426118
If you're talking about Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Twilight didn't break them up. There was a 1 year time skip between them breaking up on their own and Twilight developing her plan.
As for the whole rapist/mind control angle, I tried to lay out the argument (according to Twilight, so make of that what you will) that it's not "REALLY" mind control. Just a slight tweaking of base parameters that still leaves Rainbow Dash as an autonomous individual making her own decisions, with no alterations to her personality beyond an attraction to Twilight. Analagous to altering someone's taste buds so they suddenly love the taste of a food they previously didn't care for.
There is of course, plenty of room to argue that that is semantic hair splitting, self-serving bullshit.
8426874
It is. It really is. It doesn't really matter what her excuses are she still fucked with Dash's mind. She's really pushed the envelope and I'm scared you're just going to just let her off with no repercussions for her actions.... I've actually seen that happen in my family with one of my aunts and to this DAY it has fucking made me mad. So sorry, not sorry, I hate Twilight and this story won't convince me otherwise.
Oh, sweet! It's been so long, and I still get just as excited whenever I see this update as I was when I first started reading! Really looking forward to the next. ^^
Funny, I had been wondering about this story just earlier in the day. Fantastic to see you continuing it, and with the showdown between former student and former mentor, it's getting even more delicious.
Keep up the great work.
8426900
Projecting IRL issues on the story that has nothing to do with them is bad manners at the very least, but whatever.
- Twilight has never 'ruined' any relationship either in this story or in it's prequel. Her's and Fluttershy doesn't count, as she gave it a try and understood that it simply doesn't work.
- It's not a mind control, though it may count as brainwashing and it's actually arguable that it doesn't affect free will of Dash, so lack of consent is an only real issue in this case. (There's use of forbidden magic, sure, but it's more of a instrument/method here, so if action done with it would ever be proven 'non-malicious', it either shouldn't count at all or should lead to a rather soft punishment, considering Twilight's persona and her deeds for the country)
These are facts. You may disagree with them on emotional basis, but it won't change anything.
Here's a tiny little preview of the next scene I'm currently writing. Just a line of dialogue from Celestia that I particularly like.
8426874
Sounds like an excuse to say something like the 'Want it Need it' spell isn't mind control. It still sounds just as wrong as that spell was.
8427893
She has stil royally fucked up and should have done a shit ton of things differently and the emotional abuse she put Rainbow through is horrid enough that honestly it's disgusting that people want to overlook that just because 'TWIDASH IS THE CUTEST THING EVAR!'. I'm still agreeing with one of the comments earlier. If this was a guy we'd be leaping down her throat but it's TWILIGHT and A GIRL, so we don't think on it because it's less horrid.... honestly it's even MORE horrid! And would anyone here be as lenient if this was, say, Flash Sentry doing this to Twilight?
8428173
*sighs* While it's perfectly normal to be emotional towards the story, putting all these emotions in the comments while disregarding everything else is a different thing. Let's go over your 'points' in the rational manner with some additional comments of mine.
- First, there was absolutely no abuse of any kind inflicted to Dash by Twilight at any point of the story. Yes, it was theoretically possible with some alteration of the spell that Twilight used. She could, say, do horrible things to Dash and make Dash love it, she could force Dash to forego any other relations in favor of being with her all the time, and so forth. But she has never done anything like that. What did the spell actually do? It made Twilight initially attractive to Dash, increased the weight (or well, priority) of Twilight related thoughts and connections in Dash's mind.. and that's for the most part it. Yes, it's a free will manipulation. Yes, it's not exactly the most ethical thing to do without consent, but it's nowhere near 'love me despite anything' love-potions/spells and nowhere near any real abuse. If anything, in regards to the actual abuse I have far more questions to the 'doctors' that locked dash up disregarding her rights and flat-out zeroed all emotional connections between Twilight and Dash (it being the collaterial of the improper procedure termination is the only justification for them as far as I am concerned)
- Now, as for 'shipping' issue. Can't say anything about others, will answer for myself. I'm not a TwiDash shipper to begin with.
:offtopic: I'd rather prefer Sunset/Twi and Chrysalis/Twi, but the latter done right is present in like a single story on the whole site, and decent Sunset/Twilight with Sunset being unnreformed and still having a decent motivations and characterization without 'edge' or mary-sueisms and/or dumbing down everyone else, just flat out doesn't exist, so... :offtopic:
I mean, I don't really mind the Twi/Dash pairing if they are a secondary characters, or if it's a secondary theme in the story, but I definitely won't read the story just for the pairing alone. Why I find this specific story interesting and appealing to me? Because the premise is different from the usual (They loved each other, but were afraid to confess and pretended otherwise while suffering and some other random stuff may or may not have interfered in their relationship, but in the end it all worked uo in a most climactic way and than 'happily ever after', 'the END', credits) and thus interesting. None of the characters , feels OOC or 'dumbed down' or is made villain out of the blue for arbitrary reasons. All actions DO have consequences (and it's not just because of the authors fiat)... I can go on, but my main point is that the way how the TwiDash pairing is presented in the story is likely to be significantly more interesting/attractive/unique to the readers than 'TWIDASH IS THE CUTEST THING EVAR!', and dumbing it down to the latter is a gross oversimplification.
- Now for the latest thing - comparison with Flash. Well, obviously readers would likely complain if you would have Flash made similar thing to do to Twilight, Duh. Though it actually has way more things to do with Flash having either a strongly negative reputation or being completely disregarded in the fandom. Him being a Pegasus doesn't help the premise reversal either. Now, if you would pick either a complete OC (though it won't be easy, as it would require to build him a credit comparable to the Twilight's within the show) or somepony like a Blueblood (given A LOT of character development and/or previous behavior rationalization) I can actually see it working.
Ah, my favorite story that hasn't been abandoned or completed has been updated.
yay
I must say I dislike the Undertale Easter egg. I feel like it cheapens the story a bit, and adds nothing of real value.
This is all my opinion and not a fact; the rest of the chapter was excellent and I liked it very much.
8428624
And you know what I'm done... I honestly wanted to go through this story but if people keep wanting TwiDash to win and let all of Twi's crimes to slide then I'm done with it. I tried. I honest to God tried.
Is this the ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny? lol
8428026
I understand Celestia is very pissed at Twilight right know. But how far is she willing to go against her? killing included?
8428954
Just some moderate maiming. She's not looking to kill Twilight, but as she said, she can bring a pony back from some pretty severe damage, so there's not going to be a lot of punch pulling. Anything that doesn't straight up vaporize her or stray into chunky salsa territory is fair game.
8428741
Thoroughly understandable if you don't like the direction the story is heading, though I've always been kind of baffled as to how the comments section could have any kind of input into one's enjoyment of the actual story itself. For me at least, those seem like completely independent things.
8429064
Because if you end it with Twi losing everyone will just badger and badger you and any comments who disagree with them instead of enjoying her getting punished for actions accordingly.
8429072
Well, on the plus side, the ultimate ending is already set (obviously not telling here). Nothing about the actual plot (as opposed to say, simple typo corrections) has ever or will ever be affected by anything in the comments section. If someone's prediction or wish comes true later, they just happened to make a good guess as to what was already planned.
That's certainly not a guarantee you'll like how everything turns out, but it won't be in any way the fault of the comments.
8429095
Okay. Bye then.
8429072
If there's anything we've learned from MLP through recent seasons, ponies can get away with World Destruction, Enslavement, and even Mind Control, and get off without punishment simply because they were convinced to change their way. (Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer, and the Changelings.)
I never liked those sudden outcomes.
8429100
Starlight Glimmer wants to change and actually become better for it, Sunset was actually haunted by the events of EqG 1 and has sought to ensure she never goes down that path ever again, and the Changelings had ZERO control over themselves or say in any matters regarding Chrysalis and even after they became better still struggled with renegade factions who weren't eager to go away from what was clearly an abusive relationship.
Twilight isn't going to see what she did wrong. Twilight is going to constantly insist she's completely innocent and no matter what they try or do she'll always be convinced she's the hero of the story when she's clearly the villain.
8428624
8426874
Mind control is mind control, no matter how you try to slice it. No matter how "subtle" of a "nudge" she put in Rainbows mind, she's the one who put it there. She still made her do something that she wouldn't have done on her own free will. Twilight made RD "want" her despite her own feelings on the matter.
It doesn't matter how little she "tweaked" about her, she's still technically manipulated RD's mind for her own needs, and anything she did to her after that can easily be considered RAPE.
I suggest you change the outcome you have planned if it involves Twilight getting away scot-free in any way shape or form, otherwise your story will become the equivalent to this (skip to 27:40):
I'll say it again, if Twilight had to manipulate ANYTHING within Dash's mind, then that still counts as mind control, and letting Twilight get away with it in this otherwise serious story is simply a smack in the face to everyone who's been rooting against her. Specifically since you've MADE us route against her and you've given us nothing to make us want to see her succeed.
8429107
That just makes it even worse, doesn't it? Doing something wrong, and then refusing to accept that you did something wrong. Mind control may have brought happiness, but then again, so did a lot of the mind control instances that's happened in the show. Starlight Glimmer's town showed happiness in everypony's faces, even if it was more false happiness. Her manipulation with the other Mane Six's minds showed they were happy to listen to her. The love potion for Big Mac and Cheerilee, they couldn't be happier. And the Want it Need it spell?
Yeah, most of that showed happiness, but that certainly never made it right. The logic of Twilight being innocent for using a similar Mind Controlling method that brought happiness, it's no different than what the others have tried. I certainly don't see Twilight being innocent.
8429144
And like VampDash pointed out: if it had been a male character doing this like say Flash Sentry, or another unicorn like King Sombra, Shadowlock (from the comics), or even Sunburst, everyone would be calling for their heads.
8429144
I really wouldn't call the ponies in Starlight's village happy. Their clandestine meeting with Twilight and her friends showed pretty clearly that they were mostly kept in line through fear of Starlight (and a heavy helping of good old social pressure from the rest of the cult). Once exposed the rest of the town turned pretty quickly on her. We even saw what passed for her initial conversion strategy, which consisted of involuntary confinement with constantly running propaganda (possibly also serving the purpose of sleep deprivation). The original fic far predates the appearance of Starlight, but at one point Twilight notes in one of her internal arguments that she could easily get a pony to think whatever she wanted with enough isolation, sleep deprivation, and conditioning, but that involves a quite a bit of physical coercion and harm, which she's looking to avoid, because she actually cares about Dash's well being.
As for the Love Poison and Starlight enchanting her friends, we don't get much of a glimpse as to the victims' internal feelings during it (aside from them not remembering anything once it's over, implying they weren't really 'there' at all) but they're definitely not themselves. The mane cast under Starlight's spell had no autonomy at all and were little more than puppets. If the personalities of Cheerilee and Bic Mac were in there, they were completely swamped by the effects of the spell. That's why Twilight explicitly brought up and rejected anything like the Love Poison. She wanted Rainbow Dash as herself, not a mindless puppet, not 'controlled' by anything, with no parts of her personality repressed.
Again, none of which makes her spell "okay", it's just a lot closer to psychological manipulation than overt "mind control". Like mixing a bit of vanilla extract into your perfume/cologne because you know your target has fond childhood memories of visiting a grandparent to make vanilla cupcakes and you want to draw up those pleasant memories and subconsciously associate them with you. It's devious and manipulative, but rather categorically different than locking someone in solitary confinement with loudspeakers repeating how great you are, or casting a 'dominate mind' spell that strips away any free will.
Yay, new chapter
8429117
Nope, it's not a mind control. Sure, as usual, there may be someone's description that would fit, but it doesn't change anything.
Chrysalis spell, that she used on Shining is a mind control. Sirens ability also can qualify as such. Sombra uses it too. The main implication is about either subsuming the free will of the target entirely, or forcing it to follow a certain orders (be them set in advance or in process).
Again, what Twilight uses in a story may be qualified as a relatively minor case of brainwashing, not a mind control, as while having influence on Dash's decisions it never _forced_ her to act a certain way despite wanting otherwise.
8429775
8429564
Those words right there, brainwashing and manipulation, no matter how you try to phrase it, it's still wrong and Twilight had NO RIGHT to do it. Twilight still MANIPULATED HER, she pull something in there that WASN'T THERE BEFORE which in turn made RD make a choice SHE WOULDN'T HAVE NORMALLY MADE!
Twilight has long since crossed the moral ground her, NOTHING about what she did was acceptable. No matter how you swing it she used magic to make RD do something she wouldn't have done otherwise under her free will.
And the worst part about this is; there wouldn't be this much controversy.... if consent was taken into account.
If this had been a different case where RD was conflicted about her own feelings and went to Twilight for a spell that would bring them to light, if Twilight made sure she was absolutely sure if she wanted to go through with this and then did the spell, then I MIGHT have given her a little leeway, but she DIDN'T.
Twilight did this to her without her consent. Regardless of whether it was tweaked or manipulated in some way, she did it without her targets permission or knowledge, and therefore anything after that cannot be seen as anything other than RAPE. She TOOK away RD's CHOICE in the matter no matter how small or subtle the manipulation was.
Twilight is 100% WRONG in this story. No matter how you phrase it she brainwashed and mentally manipulated her friend and she deserves whatever punishment Celestia has planned for her.
8429793
Well, I do not dispute Twilight being wrong here, though the degree of being wrong matters and is disputed by me.
My point is, that considering all the circumstances and the exact effect of the spell it is a minor transgression, and if not for lack of consent there wouldn't be any at all.
8429812
So it's suddenly OK for Twilight to go around forcing certain thoughts into certain ponies just because she wants them to think the way she does?
She forced RD to suddenly be crazy about her, it doesn't matter if something "built up over time", she put something in her mind that wasn't there before, without her permission or consent. That is NOT. MINOR. That right there alone is a violation of personal space and her rights as a pony, and abuse of power, and considering whatever romantic escapades they may have had during the time she was under the spell, RAPE can also be added to the list of charges.
Consent is sitting her down, both of them having a long discussion about whether or not to go through with this, getting friends and possibly family involved just in case things go south so at the very least one can say it wasn't an isolated event and very sources can back certain factors up in order to avoid disastrous.
Twilight did none of that, no one is going to care whether or not the "romantic feelings build up over time", she cast the spell that made RD do something she wouldn't have done otherwise, something she had absolutely no right to do.
Therefore, her actions in this story warrant several years of jail time, a restraining order, and as far as I'm concerned being stripped of her magic.
8429831
*shrugs* It is a minor non-permanent influence and thus a minor transgression. And it's a transgression only because it was made with forbidden magic and without consent. I'd say some community service and a warning, especially considering who Twilight is and her 'deeds for the country' (tm). Use of forbidden magic by itself and Twilight's later actions may be a bigger issue.
If you do not agree with it - well it's your opinion and you are fully entitled to having one. I have no particular obligation to prove it otherwise.
8429564
8429775
All Twilight had to do was convince her through talking. If she had to cast a Spell period, for any little reason that changed something in her mind, it's Mind Control that unwillingly messed with her mind. If you claim that it's not Mind Control, then she would not have needed the spell in the first place. Whether she retains her memory or not makes no difference in that light.
8429860
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You don't "shrug" at RAPE.
And unless you've forgotten, it was permanent. Had the doctors not gotten to Dash, Twilight would have gone through life with her ill-gotten relationship, never once lifting the spell or having any second thoughts about what she did. Or did you forget that she never indicated that she had any intention of lifting the spell at any point during their relationship, or the fact that she openly stated she was only sorry she got caught!? So yes, it is a major transgression!
Simply giving her "community service and a warning" is letting her off easy, and the sad part about all this is that the writer just might do that just for the sake of keeping TwiDash canon in their story.
*Sometimes I wonder, why do I even bother to repeat anything that many times in vain hope that people would see the reason? Perhaps cause I have a lot of free time and nothing better to do by being a loser? Maybe.*
8429876
Well, if you simply refuse to acknowledge what exactly 'mind control' is, despite multiple examples from show's canon - there's no point to continue the discussion.
8429882
If you believe that the effect of the spell was permanent - then you probably weren't paying enough attention to the story. The purpose of the spell (once again) was to make Twilight intially attractive to Dash, then make the latter to think about Twilight more often ... and COMPLETELY dissipate afterwards. What would happen afterwards - entirely depended on Twilight's actions towards Dash and the spell by no means could replace a genuine affection if there was no place for one.
And the main reason why the jerkass doctors were having trouble was exactly because after they removed all the traces of the spell from Dash the affection that Dash had towards Twilight had nothing to do with the spell anymore.
Mind you, there was still no guarantee that their relationship would last 'happily ever after', because people (or, well, ponies in our case) do change and can simply become incompatible at some point (Though it's far less likely to happen in Equestria than IRL, but still).
8429905
And just like that, you completely contradicted yourself:
A spell that shouldn't have been cast to begin with for starters, and a spell that made her think of Twilight in a way that she wouldn't think normally under her own free will.
Except it did, RD only had any sort of affection towards her after spell was cast, Twilight's actions further enforced the effects of that spell and made the affection continue, therefore by all of this logic the effects of the spell still forced her to fall for her.
So yes, it placed an affection that wasn't there. Again, brainwashing and manipulation.
"Traces of the spell"? That just proves that the magic was still in effect. Even further proved by the fact that RD was basically going through withdrawal at this point, because the emotion that she thought were real still held a small place in her mind, which wouldn't have ended up there if Twilight hadn't cast the spell. The way she was acting was the same way a drug addict acts when they're trying to kick the habit. In this case the habit was Twilight.
The doctors were doing their job, the only problem is the fact that the affection still remained because at this point it had welded its way into her mind, again thanks to Twilight's manipulations. So yes, it still had EVERYTHING to do with the spell she cast.
Stop trying to justify Twilight's villainous actions in this story. She's 100% wrong, she mentally manipulated her best friend just to get what she wanted without any regard for what her friend or anyone else would think, and she deserves to be punished for her actions to the full extent of the law.
8429926
So, you fail at reading the story and ignore the detailed explanation of events by the characters just to replace it with your own interpretation thereof, just so you can feel 'righteous anger' accusing Twilight with 'RAPE (yeah, high register only)? And even after being pointed at it, you still hold on your delusions just to have an artificially better 'higher moral guard'.
Well, GLHF and all that, there's nothing more to speak about then.
8429939
Don't talk down to me. You're the one who's justifying every wrong action she's made here Just because it was "minor". It's still mind control and it's still wrong. Don't believe me? Let's go to a few points in the previous chapter where Twilight explained exactly what happened when she cast a spell:
While she was asleep, no consent, no hesitation, she just did it while she was asleep and had no way of stating her opinion on the matter.
She set it up so the spell would activate at various points in time so Rainbow Dash would be repeatedly attracted to her whenever she was near her or thought of her until she convinced herself that she was in love with her.
She put something there that wasn't already there, therefore she manipulated her.
She doesn't regret a single thing she did, even though it was wrong and she had no right to force something like that on her, she did it anyway and would happily do it again.
She's already stayed at the pretty much every fact and went out of her way to make excuses for it by drawing parallels to others who didn't have spells placed on them at the beginning. There's no other way to interpret it, she mentally manipulated someone without their consent or permission, set it up so that they slowly fall in love with her over time without their actual feelings being genuine. And no, you're not allowed to say that they so slowly became real, if she had to set up a pulse that happened every time she thought of her that would slowly trick the brain into thinking those feelings were real, then it's not genuine.
So tell me, if someone cast exact same spell on you without your consent or permission, would you be perfectly okay with them manipulating you into loving them? If so then the really deluded one here is you.
You've got no leg to stand on it this point. You're simply defending the villain of the story despite all evidence pointing to her being a hundred percent in the wrong and deserving of punishment to the full extent of the law. So I suggest you quit while you're ahead and stop embarrassing yourself.
8429939
And you fail to claim that any of the points addressed are invalid. Twilight casted a spell on Rainbow Dash that messed with her mind without her permission. Any actions she did afterwards that didn't involve removing the spell was her taking advantage of the spell's effect.
And then there's this from your words:
Twilight was the one who casted the spell, and she wasn't the one to remove it. Her actions purely resulted in taking advantage of the spell's effect, which manipulated Rainbow's mind. She had no intent on removing it, otherwise she would've been the one removing the spell, and not the doctors. Again, if it's not manipulating her mind, then she wouldn't have needed the spell in the first place.
8429976
Like I said, you read the text and then disregard/ignore the parts of it that doesn't fit with your 'righteous anger towards a villain in a simple black and white world', be it my words or that of the story proper. Can't be helped at this point I suppose.
If for some reason having a last word in this "discussion" would be satisfying for you, have my congratulations.
Though if you, or well anyone else is reading this story just to see Twilight punished in the end - well, you have my condolences as well. There's much more in the story than just that and you're missing out.
GLHF!