"A demon can get into real trouble, doing the right thing."
— Crowley, Good Omens
"Where is she now?" Clyde asked coolly.
Twilight despised his tone but thought better than to call him out on it. She needed the heads of the rebellion's support if she were going to convince the majority of the ponies in the hideout to hear her out. She wasn’t going to be able to get away with flashing some wing and having them fall to their knees, begging for help. It might have… if it weren’t a queen she was trying to get them to accept.
So, instead of rolling her eyes or snapping back, Twilight merely gave him a level stare and stated, "A half mile away secured with my magic. She suggested that, by the way, as a show of good faith."
"That does little to ease our discomfort," Whisper Wind stated, shaking his head. "You have to understand where we are coming from."
"I do, I really do," Twilight said. "I get it... my friends have destroyed Equestria. No pony is denying that, not even Rainbow Dash. I wanted to push the blame to the abstract but Dash wouldn't hear of it. She wanted to take the blame because she is guilty. But it is not all her fault!" Twilight turned, gesturing for the others to hear her out. "Rainbow Dash was driven to do what she did by the same entities that have also turned the rest of my friends into the queens: The Elements of Harmony."
"I find it hard to believe that the Elements could do this," one of the former royal guards said. "The Elements have always been tools for peace."
"But it makes sense, doesn't it?" The Doctor interjected. "What other force out there would be so concerned with harmony than the Elements?"
Celestia clanged her hoof against the ground, drawing all attention to her. The ponies looked over at her, still startled by the fact that they didn’t need to crane their necks to look her in the eye. "You all must understand that it is not the Elements that are the problem; the Elements are merely necklaces and jewelry that are worn by the bearers. It is the abstracts that lend their strength to the Elements and the bearers that now cause the strife in the kingdom."
"I'm still not for sure I believe that there are such things as 'abstracts'," Clyde stated, chewing on his straw stalk in agitation.
"Believe it, good farmer," Luna told him. She looked at the others and they were surprised to find that though her powers had been taken and her sized diminished Luna still had the ability to hold their attention. "The abstracts have played a role in the fate of Equestria for the last thousand years. It was the aid of six that allowed my sister and I to defeat Discord: Honestly, Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Faith." Several opened their mouths to question the existence of ‘Faith’ but a cold look from Luna kept their mouths shut.
"And it was my failure in trying to hide the achievements of one that led to the fall of the final abstract and turned Faith into Doubt." Celestia shut her eyes; even after all they had gone through, her shame in her part in the corruption of the abstract still weighed heavily upon her.
"It was Faith, before he truly fell, who helped me... and gave me the power to become Nightmare Moon. His removal from the battle allowed my dear sister to banish me."
Twilight nodded. "Faith, when he was Doubt, traveled the world and created many of the greatest heroes and villains. Our lives would be so much more different if he had not been here."
"While that is well and good," Whisper said, "i don't understand the point of this history lesson."
"Those that fail to remember history are doomed to repeat it," Shining said softly. His voice grew stronger as he spoke. "Faith was merely one abstract and the youngest of the 6. According to what he told Twilight, he had little knowledge about his powers when he became trapped in Equestria… he wasn’t even for sure how to return to his own… well, for lack of a better word… world. And yet he still managed to do so much… I don't want to consider what older abstracts might be able to do."
"My friends are in the control of four immortal beings... and there is a 5th that we managed to purge from Rainbow Dash that is in the wind." Twilight began to pace. "So far, all of you have been reacting to the actions of the queens. Now we have a pony that was in their confidence and knows what they had planned. Rainbow Dash has information, locations and strategies... we'd be foolish not to utilize it!"
"Twilight, it is easy for you to say that... you have the power to face the queens. You can't be threatened by them or bullied," Whisper Wing gestured towards the rest of the rebellion. "But all of us? There is nothing we could do to stop a queen. Even if your friend Rainbow Dash has been cured she is still an alicorn... she still has the power to destroy us. How can we ever believe that we can talk to her... be in the same room as her... and not be threatened?"
"Well, you are doing it right now," Twilight said, her image shimmering. In her place stood Rainbow Dash, who fought every urge to smirk. The rebels squawked but before they could act the air beside Rainbow rippled and Twilight revealed herself to them.
"I'm sorry... but we had to do something drastic," Twilight stated. "Rainbow was able to walk right in here and none of you realized it was her."
"And we should be giddy because she tricked us?!?" Clyde snapped.
Twilight sighed. She had known this was a very risky move; it would have been easy for the rebels to view this as a trick and close ranks even more on Rainbow Dash, fearing that she could look like any of them. Shining and her had argued about it but in the end Twilight had realized that if they didn’t do something drastic the rebellion would waste days debating the issue and that was time they needed. Twilight wanted action, even if it was to learn that she couldn’t rely on the rebellion for aid.
"No... you should be scared because if it was that easy for me to sneak in, the rest of our friends could do the same thing." Rainbow leveled a cool stare at them. "I screwed up and I am ready to face my punishment... but don't waste this opportunity. I can help you get into Cloudsdale and we can get the foal and fillies and colts back. I can help you ward this place tighter than Fort Clops so that no other queen can get in. After that, if you want to throw me in a dungeon or banish me or banish me to a dungeon, go right ahead. But don't punish innocent children because you don't want to suck up your pride and ask for help!"
The others looked about, mulling over her words. Finally, one of the royal guard said, "Give us half a day to debate this."
"Ok," Twilight said; she hated the waste of hours but was gracious for the chance.
"But don't wait too long," Rainbow said, unable to stop herself from ruining the mood or voicing the fears Twilight held. "Every hour we wait we lose the advantage."
~MC~MC~MC~
"They... they were so vicious!" Doubt sobbed dramatically, covering her brow with one of her forelegs. She swooned and Rarity hurried to help her sit up, missing the dark little smile that flicked along Doubt's face.
"Cadence, how did they manage to escape?" Fluttershy asked softly, rubbing the sobbing alicorn's back.
Doubt, her voice mimicking Cadence's perfectly, whimpered in mock pain. "Oh... oh Fluttershy... I... I can't say! You'll think I am lying!"
"My dear, I promise you we will not think you are lying," Rarity said sweetly. "You are the victim here. We should have never put a gentle soul like you down there with those ruffians."
‘Cadence’ hid her frown at that. The dungeons had not been part of the plan at all when the queens had begun their takeover of Equestria. Prisons spoke of law breaking, which simply wouldn’t do in a magical land of harmony. The goal had been to awash the country in harmony and bring all the ponies peace. Of course Doubt had begun to select a few ponies to hook her claws into, infecting them with doubt so they could throw off the brainwashing and fight the new regime. She had come up so many wonderful plans, picking out housewives and business stallions that would become arsonists and rapists in their attempts to fight against the new rules of society. She had planned for years of slow burning dissent that would end with the bloody war that would see both sides dead and her the sole survivor.
But then, a month ago, something had changed. Doubt wasn’t for sure what it was, but the queens had been forced to convert ponies one at a time, rather than on mass as they had been. The ones resistant to the change would have normally been brought before all five queens… but instead Rarity and Fluttershy had simply begun to lock them in the dungeon.
Not that Doubt was going to complain. The prisoners were wonderful at stirring up trouble and had kept her nice and fed while they rotted away. But the way it went about caused trouble for the female abstract; in the beginning Canterlot had been empty (thanks mostly to the queens ruling that it should be abandoned and its subjects sent to Manehattan and Cloudsdale), making it the perfect base of operations for Doubt. The few guards assigned there were little more than honor guards that stood guard more in ceremony that to protect the realm, which meant Doubt could easily slip into their minds and spy then dart away, back into Cadence, who had become the perfect vessel for her to rest in… what brought on more doubt that the first flickers of love?
Then the dungeons had been opened up and Fluttershy and Rarity had begun to visit more and more. They had held tea time once a week, but now they spent nearly half their time in the castle and half in their domains (Rarity having set up her throne in Manehattan and Fluttershy preferring to stick with Rainbow Dash in Cloudsdale). It was Rarity’s guard that had ended up coming to help out the undertrained ‘royal guard’, but even with the generous amount of reinforcing there still hadn’t been enough to go around and most of the prison was watched over by ponies that had let themselves get fat, believing peace was at hand and there was no reason to worry about chasing after criminals. Rainbow didn’t help, even though her forces were some of the best, Pinkie had locked herself up in the Rocky Plains, Fluttershy’s were not suited for guard duty and Doubt hadn’t seen Applejack in ages. It was all Rarity’s forces and they were simply not enough… as the recent jailbreak had shown. All of Rarity’s ponies had been on the other side of Equestria, planning out their next march on Trottingham, when Faith and Trixie had led the escape.
Doubt didn’t like it when twists were thrown into her plans. It was hard enough managing with her slipping sanity without new wrinkles being added in. Still, the female abstract rolled with the punches. The dungeons were here, Fluttershy and Rarity were in the city more often… she could use all of those things to continue her plans.
All of this flew through Doubt’s mind at a speed that would have shocked most ponies. Part of being an abstract was thinking quickly; the mare wondered if Twilight Sparkle realized just how long it took Faith in abstract-time to come up with his little ‘off the cuff’ speeches.
"You're... you're sister has betrayed us." Doubt sniffed, giving them her best ‘hurt’ face.
Rarity blinked in shock. "Are... are you sure? Sweetie Belle would never... could never..." She shook her head, confused. "That makes no sense... Sweetie Belle embraced harmony..."
Realizing that she was overplaying her hand, Doubt began to backtrack. "I think they did something to her!" The female abstract nodded quickly, trying to convey rapid shock. "Yes... yes that is it! I think that horrible Faith did something to her!"
"But we put a magic dampener on Doubt's horn!" Fluttershy said in surprise, turning towards Rarity. Only Doubt heard the tint of accusation in her tone. It had been Rarity who designed the magic dampeners. "How could he do something without his magic?"
Doubt fought back a scowl. When she had discovered the other elements of harmony they had been under the delusion that their baby brother was still corrupted. She had used that to her advantage, as she knew that none of the abstracts would have ever moved against Faith if they knew he was himself again; of all their flaws, laziness was the worst one abstracts had. Because of their prolonged life they felt that they had forever to accomplish a task and thus it could take centuries for them to act. The five members of the Elements had, after all, not moved to save their brother in a thousand years. Their slow reaction had caused Faith, who had always been unlike his brothers and sisters and had a nasty case of 'impatience', to steal her name. Their failure to act had doomed the true Doubt and thus the female abstract had sought to destroy the five siblings along with their baby brother.
She had lucked out to find them finally preparing to deal with Faith when he had elevated Twilight. That act had drawn them out of the sloth and Doubt had been more than willing to point them in the right direction, taking on the guise of a kindly, helpful abstract.
The only downside was that the five siblings, and in turn the five queens, still referred to Faith as Doubt; this was something that the true Doubt took umbrage too. She had to bite her tongue each time she heard them use her moniker in relation to the wrong pony, lest she scream in rage.
Still... it was a small sacrifice.
Rarity and Fluttershy said a few kind words and then motioned for one of the guards (one of Rarity’s boys, Doubt noticed) to take ‘Cadence’ back to her normal room. The abstract nodded, covering up her laughter with a cough when she saw Fluttershy and Rarity rapidly talking, gesturing at each other and debating about what had happened and how. It wasn’t a fight… not yet… but the seeds had been planted.
There wasn’t much harmony in Canterlot that day.
But there was plenty of doubt.
Ladies and Gentlemen... the return of The Abundance!
This chapter at first, I am sure, appeared to be a bit 'fillerish'. But I feel it is incredibly important, and not just for everything we learn from Doubt (which shows alot of stuff and foreshadows like hell). I think it was just as important to show the contrasting views of the Rebellion and how they aren't all one big happy family... they disagree and even if they take Rainbow Dash on won't be viewing her kindly for quite some time.
To let you all know, I am moving to a 4 day posting cycle so I have two days off to relax and work on my novel Bull Island and its sequel Thunder Valley.
FINALLY!!!!!!!
That last line... (takes out Snaredrum and Cymbals)
Badum tish
Saber: Only warriors can find glory in destruction! Of what worth is a king who fails to protect the powerless? A just rule , with just laws… Those are the true duties of a king!
Rider: So you, the king, are a slave to what is right?
Saber: That is acceptable. A king is a martyr to their ideals.
Rider: That is not how a person should live.
Saber: If I rule the nation as king, I cannot ask to live as a person. King of Conquerors, you seek the Holy Grail merely for your own benefit. You could never understand… You who became a ruler only to satisfy your endless greed.
Rider: A king without greed is even worse than a figurehead! Saber. You said you would become a martyr for your ideals. In life, you must have been a pure saint. A proud and noble figure, certainly. But who can truly admire the martyr’s thorny path? Who dreams of such an ending? A king… The king must be greedier than any other. He must laugh louder and rage harder. He must exemplify the extreme of all things, good and evil. That is why his retainers envy and adore him. And why the flames of aspiration, to be as the king is, can burn within his people. Proud king of chivalry… The righteousness and ideals you bore may indeed have saved your nation once. However, I’m certain you know what became of those who were saved, but left to themselves.
I think it's more a problem of her being highly untrustworthy than them being unable to swallow their pride. Especially after she tricked them.
I think the entire encounter between the rebels and Rainbow Dash was handled pretty badly on Twilight & Co.'s part, actually.
1897393
Luna was forgiven, and she wanted to destroy all ponies with her own free will, and she not hesitated to hide that fact, blaming everything on corruption.
RainbowDash was manipulated by something what no pony in the world would resist, and yet she not search for excuses and take blame she not deserve.
All I would say is, let Twilight use her whisper trick on rebels for 10 minutes, and then ask " unless you can withstand it for a week's, you have no right to refuse RainbowDash help, and if you are afraid of her power, then why you are not afraid of my, you trust that I will help you save Equestria what I try to d with all my power, so why it is so hard to trust me when I say that RainbowDash can be our greatest ally, and by not trusting her, you are losing a great ally but gain nothing ".
Now seriously, if they would not trust RainbowDash because of her powers, what would that accomplish, if RainbowDash was indeed on they side, they would lose a great ally, if RainbowDash was still on Queen side, she would attack anyway, and unless they can resist abstract influence themselves, they have no right to call RainbowDash traitor, anyone of them would end up in her place with even less effort from Abstract side.
1897633 that is a very good point, it's logically the best way to persuade all the rebels and since Luna is right there Twi can just point it out and say "Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon because of a abstract and you have begun to look pass it, why can't you do it for Dash" and then give them puppy dog eye.
1897605 best way to teach a child is to scare them. Is it better to baby them into a false secuity, or force them to realize that its ether acceptence or falling, its a effective way to to make them even consider taking the information Rainbow Dash has. corse there is no perfect or sure fire way to handel it, and as such every way has a flaw but all holds water in some form or shape.
Keep being awesome defender!
Gentle breeze guide you home, and a warm smile to welcome your return.
1897633 It's because most ponies, and people, are idiots. They saw Rainbow as the one hurting them. They don't care about the how, why, when, or the where. She hurt them, she must pay, no matter what the situation is around her. She hurt them, thus she must die a slow and painful death, preferably by their own hands. Something slow and cruel, like maybe hanging after breaking her wings.
Woohoo! I can finally start hating the queens/doubt again
But honestly, glad to see it is back finally.
1897605 That line there is what we should be saying to Congress, it's so sad that for years now we've disapproved of them and they have not changed. I'm hoping that the Fiscal Cliff deal has changed that. The GOP realized they can't keep complaining and demanding and expect to get anywhere so now the Democrats must do the same.
In today's world there is no room for idoicy.
And you bring up a good point, so they trust Twilight but they don't trust Rainbow Dash, isn't it obvious that if she really was still evil she would've attacked by now?
And of course I sense that Fluttershy will likely be the next Queen to fall since she runs Cloudsdale. And Rarity given time will slowly crumble as well. Which leaves us with Pinkie Pie and Applejack both of whom are holed up somewhere, building up their armies, they'll be the hardest of all to take down.
I can sense something is going to happen with Applejack (like she is able to see the lies of 'Cadanece', or even the manipulation) and she is going to realize this is wrong... CommanderX5, you bring an interesting point in terms of Luna (how she willingly tried to destroy Equestria and was forgiven... and how the girls have been manipulated to change Equestria yet are hated none the less)... lets hope Faith doesn't die hey
I'm a tad confused on this line-
Wouldn't it be like saying 'the children and the girls and boys'? It seems it would make sense with either 'foals' on 'fillies and colts' but not both(which just seems redundant).
1897941
it is easy to think like that until you are on the opposite situation, then it is not that easy any longer.
You know the saying, the best way to learn about someone is to be in his shoes.
in my opion AJ may not have been seen cause honesty couldn't go through with this. it is honesty after all likely within it's very heart it realises that what there doing is wrong. AJ may be trying to deal with guilt.
First off:
"converting on mass" should be "converting en masse"
"You're... you're sister has betrayed us." *Your
1897993 "Which leaves us with Pinkie Pie and Applejack both of whom are holed up somewhere, building up their armies, they'll be the hardest of all to take down."
I think you've got it backwards; I suspect these two will be the easiest to take down (if the hardest to locate / get to). If they didn't already have armies of soldiers, I don't think they'd need more. AJ wouldn't want to build a secret army--as the Element of Honesty, she'd want to keep all her activities visible. And the Army of Laughter doesn't seem like an excellent fighting force (as was mentioned in this chapter). If I led the rebellion, I'd go after Pinkie and AJ first (in that order) before marching on the remaining queens in Cloudsdale, Manehatten, and finally Doubt in Canterlot.
1898625 We don't know what Applejack and Pinkie Pie are up to right now. Their plans have not been made public yet, Applejack would more likely spill the beans being the Element of Honesty but that also means she can't lie so if she says her army is near impossible to defeat than you'd best believe it. And Laughter has the element of surprise to use against us.
But even if all the Queens do join we have the original Doubt to deal with and she's controlling Cadence so we have to find a way to force her to come out of hiding.
I love you man
(No not that way, grow up)
Youre stories are beautifull and enthralling
PFff.... For the almighty chessmaster on the opposite end, Doubt's pretty incompetent. At this rate she's gonna fall on her own sword. She doesn't realize that whole "doubting" shtick works both ways. Methinks that Fluttershy is doubting the fake Cadance's story. This isn't a criticism, just an amusing observation and speculation.
That, or Fluttershy and Rarity will end up turning against each other.... hmm... that would be interesting... the two most docile of the Queens causing inner strife...
Hey, wait a second. Weren't the Queens on the way to Winniepeg? Or... more likely I missed something.
I KNEW IT!
1898159
you know i think that you are right about that
1898991
Hmm, I thought I mentioned that they turned around once they received news of the jail break... I'll have to put that paragraph in the next chapter.
1899647
Like I said, I might have missed it.
Took ya long enough!!!
Geez, everyone is so caught up with their own personal issues they don't even realize the real threat at hand. This is serious.
Ya.....
Doubt is definitely not the badass evil mastermind you usually see and expect in fics like this.
Oh there's still going to be all of the suspense, action, tragedy, and whatnot you would expect as Doubt still is rather manipulative and powerful and basically in the position she wants to be in right now.
But, considering her personality, that of Faith's, and of course her slowly growing insanity... I can forsee much hilarity ensuing.
1898991 "Methinks that Fluttershy is doubting the fake Cadance's story." That was quite possibly the worst pun EVER...
1906728
What? What pun?
I freaking LOVE this fic. MOAR please.
1908609 Because cadence is doubt.
1914716
Wow. I made a joke, it was explained to me, and I still don't get it.
I suck.
1914782 Well you make good fanfics so you can't suck that much.
Yay, back to this fic now!
Well, I agree that it did seem like filler in the beginning, but it was good for demonstrating how the rebellion would feel, even if they learned the truth like Twilight and her friends and former rulers had last chapter. I dunno, the whole transformation/disguise like a Changeling thing seems like bit of a stretch, given how they couldn't do such things in Magic Duel, even though Twilight's shown and demonstrated that can turn objects into other things, but those were objects and not ponies. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/sillyfilly_Twilight_Sparkle.png Hopefully, if have the rebellion turn Rainbow Dash down at first like bunch of idiots, she'll do something worthwhile to prove she's now on their side. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/shrug_Rainbow_Dash.png
In the Canterlot scenes, was nice to learn a bit more about the Queens, even if wasn't much in a sense.
I'm curious of what this thing before current point in time is that changed things in Doubt's plans, right now I'm thinking it has something to do with the thing in the Everfree Forest that almost took Twilight or what you mentioned then, about there being forces in Equestria older than the former Princesses and/or Abstracts, if I recall correctly; which haven't mentioned anything about in some time or even hinted at, dunno if I guessed it. I still don't completely understand what Doubt's purpose is in doing all of this, if she's to be the only one left alive after all these supposed plans and won't be able to establish Doubt anymore, even if you've established that she's freaking nuts. Especially with some of her intended plans before the force that made her change her plans, apparently. *shudders* Arsonists and rapists? That's a little dark, even if it's nothing new (at least the rapists) to me as far as more disturbing MLP stuff in fics goes. //dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/eenope.png
Referring to when Faith makes his attempts to instill doubt in ponies so they can be the best they can be? Or something else?
Well, now to see how the attack on Cloudsdale will progress from here after shaky start this Act is getting off to, and how I assume the rebellion and now Twilight and Rainbow Dash will save the kidnapped young ponies and Fluttershy next, I'm presuming.
Good chapter and it is nice to now see what Doubt's motive is and I am looking forward to what plans she has and how this will unfold.