Canterlot. Built into the side of the Canterhorn Mountain, it was not the largest city in Equestria, but it was one of the oldest, and served as the shining capital of the nation. The mighty Galloping River which traced its source to the melting snow atop the Canterhorn bisected the city, before flowing off the edge of the cliff that Canterlot was built upon, its sparkling blue water plummeting to a lake that lay more than half a mile below – the tallest waterfall in the known world. The city itself was constructed of granite and darkened marble, its roofs capped in blues and greens and purples and silver that held the same glow as the moon, and everywhere the black-and-blue flag of Equestria, depicting a crescent moon and star holding back the treacherous sun, flew proudly.
Canterlot was sometimes called the Sleepless City. While the individual ponies who lived there did bed down eventually, of course, the city as a whole always had at least a third to a half of its population awake at any given hour of the day, depending upon the time of the year. The ruler of Equestria, Princess Luna, took care of the sun in the stead of her mad sister, but her true passion was for the beauteous night sky, and so she was nocturnal by choice, sleeping away the morning and a goodly bit of each afternoon, meaning that the government in Canterlot had to also be nocturnal if they ever wished to accomplish anything. It followed then, that other ponies had to be nocturnal: courtiers and lobbyists, newspaper journalists looking for an interview, the ceremonial guards, the librarians, and of course a number of store owners and restaurateurs who wished to feed all the previous ponies.
Needless to say, the city was constantly teetering on the edge of running out of coffee.
Duke Greengrass was not in the best of moods, and not simply because he had missed his evening coffee. He had been in a good mood, in fact, but the natural low-level paranoia that being a part of the Night Court bred had a way of killing good moods when he saw Princess Luna speaking in to anypony, especially a pony like Fancy Pants, one of Luna’s closest confidants and friends and, Greengrass suspected, her personal spy on the Night Court. His unease would double if he saw Luna talking to Viceroy Night Light, arguably the most powerful pony on the Night Court and certainly a force to be reckoned with. But most of all, Greengrass’ internal alarms were set off when he came around a corner on the way to his meeting, and he saw Luna talking to both of them.
The conversation was not quite whispered, simply kept quiet as the Princess trotted through Canterlot Castle’s halls. Luna was unaccompanied by her usually entourage of secretaries, adjutants, and even the Night Guard, leaving Greengrass wondering if she had pulled that split-body trick of hers to get alone time with Fancy and Night while a doppelgänger of her was elsewhere running the country…into the ground, Greengrass’ internal thoughts couldn’t help but append.
The trio of ponies stopped in the hallway, said a few last words to each other – Greengrass thought that he heard Luna say something to the effect of “I am disappointed” to Night Light, but he couldn’t be sure. Certainly neither Luna nor Night Light seemed to be particularly pleased with one another nor the direction of the conversation. Fancy Pants, meanwhile, seemed to be his usual jovial self, trying to keep the princess and her viceroy from breaking out into harsher, louder discussion. Fancy Pants liked to play the part of a fool, but nopony could be as vapid as he pretended to be and possibly survive the rigors of the Night Court.
Luna and Night Light parted ways before reaching Greengrass as he continued to trot down the hallway, pretending to take only cursory interest in what tidbits he could overhear which was, unfortunately, essentially nothing. Fancy Pants followed Night Light, leaving Luna and Greengrass alone in the hall.
The Duke bowed respectfully once Luna was close enough for protocol to demand him to do so – about twenty feet, give or take. “Your Majesty,” he greeted as Luna continued her slow trot. “I hope I’m not intruding, but I don’t suppose I missed something important just now?”
One of Luna’s eyebrows arched just slightly – not much of a betrayal of emotion, but Greengrass understood it perfectly as surprise that the Duke would attempt to pry into her personal affairs. He had been as polite as could be expected while doing so, though, so Luna only shook her head. “Nothing of importance, Duke,” she informed him. “Just a disagreement between old friends.”
The Duke offered his best consoling smile, falling into step beside Princess Luna once she passed him. “I hope the disagreement is resolved quickly, Majesty.”
“And I as well,” Luna said. “I do not wish to go to the Gala and have the general mood of the event ruined.” Luna looked to Greengrass. “In light of…recent events…I feel a sense of normalcy is important to maintain.”
Luna was referring, of course, to the escape of her mad elder sister from her millennial imprisonment within the heart of the Sun. Corona wanted the throne of Equestria, wanted to reign supreme over all Ponydom. Six months after her escape, and Corona had not yet been captured, nor even seen by anypony, and what strikes she had made against Equestria were only a fraction of what she – supposedly more powerful than even Luna – was capable of.
The last time anypony in Canterlot had seen her, she had been about to destroy the city, and only fortuitous circumstance had saved it. It was a considerable glare in the eye to live with that knowledge. The Duke could perfectly understand Luna’s reasoning.
He just didn’t agree with it. Not entirely, in any event. But, he kept such thoughts to himself as he and Luna reached another corner, and Luna found herself face-to-face with a deep blue alicorn, wearing the same black crown and royal regalia – a perfect doppelgänger of Luna, save that this one was flanked by two Night Guards. Neither Luna slowed down as their horns glowed and their eyes closed, then they stepped into each other, their forms and details becoming indistinct blurs. With a soft flash of blue light a moment later, a single Luna manifested, facing Greengrass with eyes closed.
Neither Night Guard reacted in the slightest to the display. Greengrass, despite himself, found that he had stepped back a pace. It was one thing to intellectually know that Luna sometimes split her consciousness up amongst several bodies; it was quite another to see it displayed, and so casually at that. When Luna opened her eyes, her face took on a slightly serene look – or perhaps, in fact more likely, a haughty smile. “If you will excuse me, Duke,” Luna said, “this is the closest to free time I am likely to have all week. Was there something important you needed to discuss, or…?”
Greengrass shook his head. “No, Majesty. In fact I have some business to attend to. With your leave?”
Luna nodded once, and Greengrass turned and left after a final bow of respect. He noted with a degree of interest that it was several moments before Luna’s own hoof-steps began echoing down the hall as well. He wondered if she had been simply collecting herself after…well, literally collecting herself…or if she had lingered while considering Greengrass specifically.
Luna could not only split herself amongst multiple bodies, of course – she could change her appearance as well. Not for the first time, the Duke found himself wondering the limits of the Princess’ abilities in that regard. Did she perhaps maintain alter egos within Canterlot? Was there a noble on the Court who was, in fact, Luna in disguise? Or was she hidden in a more innocuous place – as a servant or a guard or some other lowly position? Did she maintain entire false lives beyond Canterlot castle’s walls?
Greengrass elected not to pursue that line of thought – madness lay in that direction, or at least a headache. Instead, he focused on his destination, one of the many side-rooms and studies that Canterlot Castle was festooned with, the consequence of a millennia-old castle that was constantly added to and expanded. Many rooms ended up getting lost in the shuffle, not their location, but certainly their purpose. When that happened, they invariably ended up with almost identical appointments: Sitting cushions or couches arranged around a reasonable table, space enough for six or seven ponies in total, with a clock, a glow-gem, and a bookcase filled with whatever excess tomes the Royal Library wanted to move from its shelves but didn’t quite want to donate yet. The rooms made perfect locations for the clandestine meetings that were the bread and wine of the Night Court.
The Duke found that he had arrived first, despite his hold-up with the princess, though he had scarcely settled down before he was joined by a white unicorn with a blond mane –Prince Blueblood. ‘Prince’ was his name, not his title, that being viscount; the entire Blueblood family had a tendency to name their foals after noble titles or important positions always, Greengrass had noted, of higher rank than the family actually held, though Prince Blueblood represented a particularly high delusion even for that family.
When they had first spoken, Greengrass had taken the effort to make himself seem like a stupid, idealistic pony in the Prince’s eyes, in order to get Blueblood to do what he needed, and the viscount had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. That had changed over the past few months, however, when a scheme of Blueblood’s had failed rather spectacularly (admittedly a related one undertaken by Greengrass had as well, but he had recovered far better) and ended up indebted to the duke, a situation he no doubt found intolerable but which he could do little about. Blueblood acknowledged Greengrass with only a nod.
The duke found that to be decidedly unfriendly of him. “Good evening, viscount!” he said brightly. “How are you?”
Blueblood almost visibly winced at the Duke's joviality. “Just fine, Greengrass, just fine,” he said, taking a seat near the room’s window. This particular room looked out over the cliff face that Canterlot was set upon, offering a wide view of twilit Equestria, the vast fields and farmlands colored in shades of purple and blue in the sun’s fading light, and here and there the bright lights of a township or other settlement. “If you don’t mind,” Blueblood said after a moment, checking his hoof, “I hope we can make this meeting a short one. I have business to attend to.”
You have tailors to torment, Greengrass mentally corrected. Whatever his other faults – arrogance, stupidity, and a healthy additional scoop of arrogance – Blueblood was, at the end of the day, an excellent example of stallion physique, often considered to be one of the handsomest ponies in Equestria. He was aware of this and was planning to go to the upcoming Gala dressed accordingly, which meant that he had hired a virtual army of clothiers and tailors to design his suit.
“I don’t plan on it going on for too long,” Greengrass assured Blueblood, as Archduke Fisher joined them. Fisher was a slate gray unicorn, with a mane and tail of brown and bluish-gray, and who sported an impressive, thick moustache. He was slightly taller than Blueblood, which made him nearly a full foot taller than Greengrass himself. He also scowled an awful lot for a pony with his amount of power and influence in the Night Court.
Fisher didn’t offer any kind of nod or greeting. Instead, he jumped straight to the point. “Well?” he asked. “You called this meeting, Duke. Begin it already.”
Greengrass pursed his lips. “Not quite…” he said, though he did settle down more comfortably onto the cushions he was sitting on. “We’re still waiting for Puissance.”
Fisher offered a rare smile, though it was laced with sarcastic intent. “The vicereine is quite busy at the moment attending to personal affairs. She won’t be joining us.”
Greengrass blinked. “Ah,” he said after a moment. “She had her estate connected to the telegraph network and is too busy playing with it, then?”
Fisher didn’t offer a verbal response other than a slight chuckle, which Blueblood and Greengrass both shared. Vicereine Puissance liked having things, and used her power and position as one of the three viceroys, along with Night Light and Wallflower, to acquire said things. Or to put it more succinctly, she was a greedy old pegasus who nevertheless was enamored by the new and novel and things that weren’t hers, and whenever she acquired something new, tended to become quite lost in it. She, at least, seemed to use her position to enjoy herself, like Greengrass but unlike many on the Night Court, who became too lost in the quagmire of the Game to ever look around and just realize the fun that could be had. If not for the fact that Greengrass was going to have to, one day, remove Puissance from the Night Court, he might have almost considered her a role model.
“A telegraph, though?” Blueblood asked. “Who needs a personal telegraph?”
“Oh, there are any number of advantages, I suppose.” Fisher mused as he sat down opposite Greengrass. “None of them, however, relevant to the matter at hoof.”
Greengrass offered a shrug. There was important business to discuss, he supposed. “By now,” he said, as Blueblood took a cushion of his own, “we’ve all heard of the incident in Ponyville, yes? And the details?”
Blueblood and Fisher both nodded. “Allegedly,” Blueblood said, “that zebra minion of Corona’s placed a curse on the town.”
“I find it utterly preposterous,” Fisher put in. “Only foolish earth pony – earth pony farmer – superstitions. There is no such thing as a curse, as any unicorn would be able to tell you.”
Greengrass elected to not call out Fisher’s hardly-contained slip there concerning earth ponies. He instead only looked to Blueblood, one eyebrow raised.
Blueblood was staring at one of his own hooves, horn glowing slightly as he picked out dirt from it. He realized after a moment that Greengrass was staring at him expectantly. “Sorry?” he asked.
The Duke, through a heroic exertion of will, resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Curses. Apparently any unicorn could tell me that they’re not real.”
Blueblood offered a shrug. “Archduke Fisher’s special talent is magic,” he observed.
“Exactly!” Fisher said.
Greengrass eyed Blueblood, who had returned to paying more attention to his hoof than the conversation. Whatever – he was an idiot anyway. “It doesn’t matter much what it was,” Greengrass said. “Their claim remains the same, and the damage was extensive, to the tune of nine hundred thousand bits. They are asking the REMM for aid. But Viceroy Night Light has denied them aid.”
That got Blueblood’s attention, as he had Fisher looked between one another. “Surely the viceroy doesn’t think he can get away with that?” Fisher asked. “If it really was an attack…”
“If it really was,” Blueblood noted. “That is a rather large if. I am given to understand that Corona’s zebra crony escaped…and without her, the town has no proof. The curse – ”
“Curses aren’t real,” Fisher interrupted.
“The alleged curse,” Blueblood corrected, “supposedly caused the town to drink to the point of loss of control, but did not allow them to actually drink themselves comatose. For three days. I can scarcely imagine the damage…but the point is, there is no proof that this was an attack. It may very well be – from Night Light’s perspective – an attempt by a small town to not have to pay for their own damages from a festival that got out of control.”
“That may be,” Fisher noted, “but if Ponyville really is nearly destroyed, surely it is Night Light’s responsibility to render some form of aid.”
“Ah, but you forget,” Greengrass said, leaning forward, “that Ponyville is the home of Lulamoon – and that a few months ago, Night Light’s daughter had an…episode…there. Her whereabouts are still unknown, and Night Light, I believe, holds Lulamoon responsible.”
Blueblood and Greengrass both considered this. Trixie Lulamoon. Student of Princess Luna. Element of Magic. Representative of the Night Court to Ponyville. And a vain, egotistical, abrasive, and above all else stupid pony who had somehow managed to gain the ear of the Princess herself as well as becoming the living embodiment of one of the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful magic known to ponydom and the only weapon known to be of any use against the still-at-large Tyrant Sun.
So far, Trixie hadn’t yet tried to leverage what she had to her own benefit. But what if she did? Suppose Corona appeared in a province and attacked. Would Lulamoon not intercede unless offered something in return? If the province of a noble she did not like was attacked, would she ignore it?
The Elements could not, in all likelihood, be removed from their bearers, the six mares that now lived in Ponyville. But as long as Lulamoon was their leader, Equestria was not safe from the depredations of Corona. The Elements needed to be curbed, controlled, contained, placed under the hoof of a pony who wouldn’t abuse their power for personal gain as Lulamoon would. And for the past six months, Greengrass had been working towards the goal of being that pony. His nominal alliance with Blueblood, Fisher, and the absent Puissance, were all geared towards moving closer to that goal. Theoretically they were going to share control, but Greengrass doubted if any of them – except Blueblood – was stupid enough to think that would be the case. Still, before they could squabble over that matter, they had to gain control of the Elements first.
“So this is a revenge play by Night Light,” Fisher said at length. “Or…perhaps his own attempt to gain control of the Elements.”
Blueblood blanched, apparently not having considered that. “Oh dear,” he noted.
“Indeed,” Greengrass said. He couldn’t quite fault Blueblood for that slip – Night Light did not normally play the shadowy games of the Night Court like this, in fact was famous for being an upstanding example of nobility. Apparently exceptions were made where his own family was concerned, however. “Now, I am given to understand that later today – “ a glance at the clock in the room confirmed that it was, indeed, a matter of later today rather than tomorrow – “Lulamoon will be coming to Canterlot in order to make a personal appeal on the part of Ponyville to Night Light. If Night Light is going to make any move towards controlling the Elements, it will be then. Therefore, we must work to keep Lulamoon from Night Light. I also believe that we can use the incident in Ponyville towards our advantage. Nine hundred thousand bits is no small amount of money, but split between the three of us – ”
“Four, with Puissance,” Blueblood noted. Fisher and Greengrass both stared at him, waiting for him to catch up and realize that they were going to cut Puissance loose from their arrangement. “Ah,” he said after a moment. “Of course. Three ways, then.”
Greengrass’ eyes fluttered, and he had to shake his head to clear it from that latest bout of ineptitude from Blueblood. “Split between us,” Greengrass said, “I believe we can cover the cost of repairing Ponyville easily enough. Lulamoon will accept and return to her town as a hero, of course, her nature won’t allow her to do otherwise. And she will be firmly in our debt. As I understand things, the Elements are a set, where one goes, the other must follow – and Lulamoon is their leader.”
“A tidy scheme,” Fisher noted. “Keeping Lulamoon from Night Light may not be so easy, however.”
Greengrass offered a grin at that. “Oh,” he said, “I think we’ll manage.”
oh you bastard Greengrass.
You magnificent bastard.
1627287 Oh, hell yeah. I'm really getting into the motivations and the logic of GG's strategies in this tale. Given Luna's demeanor and apparently hooves-off method of running the place, I'm not surprised he's decided he can do better.
It is colossal hubris, of course, but I can sympathise. Cheers, RDD.
Possibly my favourite thing about the entire Lunaverse so far.
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i see him more as a chess-master or manipulative bastard, though he is close to a magnificent bastard
By Celestia's fiery beard! A dastardly plot to get the elements in his debt by *paying them lots of money*. The fiend!
Ooh, I really liked this chapter. I love a good villain dialogue.
Few comments:
Love the bit about the forgotten rooms. That's a very Greengrass thing to do. Also like where Luna seems to be watching the Duke leave.
Descriptions of Blueblood are absolutely perfect.
Heh. Indeed, Fisher is a serious, grumpy fellow.
Nice. I think this is an interesting difference between Puissance and Greengrass: Puissance loves having things, but she likes putting her things in vaults and cases and protecting them so they never damage or break. That way her things are safe. As opposed to the Duke, who would rather use the stuff he has. He's a gardener, so he uses his best tools and such to improve his crop; Puissance is a... I dunno, a hoarder, so when she gets a treasure or magic trinket she locks it away. (This also fits in with some recent comments on the boards from Emeral and others about how Puissance would be wary, cautious, and canny.) She plays with her stuff in safety; Greengrass takes risks with his and uses it.
(Hey, maybe that's why she isn't at the meeting? She's cautious enough that she'd rather let the Duke and Blueblood drive everything, so if it blows up in their faces she's nowhere in the vicinity? She definitely wouldn't want to risk all she has, or really any of what she has, by moving any more openly than she needs to.)
(Also, as for becoming 'lost' in things, while this is likely true, I don't think it would extend to dereliction of her actual, official duties as a Courtier and as the leader of the Province of wherever. To be a Vicereine, I would imagine that she is incredibly good at her job. Not that you've implied that it has so far, but just in case it comes up later).
At the end of Symphony, when Greengrass wrongly thought that Trixie had helped Octavia, he seemed to have a higher opinion of her than this (at least regarding the 'stupid' part). Fisher probably still thinks this (if we go by how he was designed on the boards), but not so much the Duke.
Greengrass, I had thought, does plan to use the Elements for his gain. He wouldn't tell them not to help someone, so he wouldn't 'use' them in that sense, but he would seek to have his control of the Elements elevate him still higher on the Court and such. Placing him in charge of important committees, usurping their 'ambassadorial' duties to fall under his domain, etc. The only pony in the group who would sincerely use them for the good of the nation, as he thought best, and wouldn't seek any sort of personal gain at all from it, is Fisher (assuming the current descriptions of them on the board are what you're going with). Greengrass wants them, and he would ultimately use them to help the nation (he can't rule the nation if Corona burns it to ash), but he'd try to obtain personal gain from them as well.
(Granted, Greengrass could be lying to himself here, although I'm not sure I like that interpretation).
Blueblood is of junior rank, and his house has been disgraced for a millenia. Does he actually have three hundred thousand spare bits?
Overall, I really liked this chapter, and I'm eager to see the rest of what you come up with.
Wow....what a bunch of %@&)@%!!! Sheesh! Remind me, WHY does Luna have a Court again? If all they do is think about how to out maneuver and control on another, what's the point? It's a pretty sad sign when they're so enveloped in their politicking that they ascribe how they think to other ponies, like Trixie. Whatever else Trixie might be, she's not so callous as to let a town or province fall into ruin because she doesn't like the noble. And describing her as a "vain, egotistical, abrasive, and above all else stupid pony," is just off. While the first three are a definite match, the last is just right out.
PLEASE tell me someone drops a house on these losers?
Fantastic story as always RDD. Can't wait for more.
Well, that ought to put to rest the theory that it wasn't Night Light who killed the disaster relief funding, unless there just happens to be a completely separate issue that is causing Luna to be disappointed in this stallion who is "famous for being an upstanding example of nobility".
Really looking forward to finding out Night Light's full plan, surely it's not as simple and petty as "deny funding, cackle evilly". I hope we get a viewpoint from him before this is over.
1627480: This is four bad ponies or so out of... I think we decided on 243 total seats? There's lots of good ones. But they're boring, so we don't focus on them.
And it's also worth noting that Trixie used to be crazy manipulative, as seen in LNLD. She just wasn't any good at it. So it's not at all unreasonable for someone like Fisher, who likely hasn't seen her since she melted the ice palace, to think that she's still the same.
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Yeah and one of the three viceroys is blatantly denying aid to a town in need: whether it be due to a grudge for what happened to Twilight or just plain old noble arrogance that the commoners are just trying to wheedle money out of the government, it still doesn't speak well for them....243? That's...a lot. Somepony better go trim the fat. *greases up the guillotine*
Hey...
Random thought. What if she's taking that thought to its logical conclusion and isn't going to do anything to help Greengrass at all? She told him she'd help him, thus encouraging him to go ahead since he thinks he has powerful support. Then she makes herself unavailable for silly reasons, which the Duke figures just makes it easier for him to cut her out of things later, and he's not overly suspicious of this since he seems to think that Puissance gets easily distracted (and he's already committed, so he's not going to back out). Lastly, when it all blows up, she's nowhere in the vicinity, and one of her major rivals in the Court just went crashing down in flames without her direct involvement.
After all, Greengrass thinks he's smart enough to pull this off, and Fisher might think it's vital enough to get the elements under sane control that he's obligated to try, but Puissance is canny... maybe she put some thought into it and was all, "Yeah, this will never actually work." So she just lets Greengrass self-destruct, and that's the end of one of the ponies gunning for her position.
Maybe that's why she isn't at Greengrass's little secret meeting. :-)
1593495 (This would also fit with the ideas Emeral had on the board about her being cautious, wily, etc, and a master of the subtle manipulations and schemes in the Court, as opposed to big, brash plans like the Duke.)
...
...
I really hope she's just disappointed he won't be able to make the Gala or something,not that she's disappointed that he's punishing an entire town due to hating one particular member of it. because then I'm pretty sure I'd legitimately start rooting for GG to take over.
Huh, interesting. Unless Loony is disappointed in Night Light for something unrelated, it seems a bit... sociopathic, even for her. Greengrass is, as always, pretty awesome, though I hope there's more to his evil plan than just 'pay them a whole bunch of money' Also interesting is his whole bit about getting the elements to keep Trixie from abusing her power. A bit hypocritical, yes, and built on hubris, but interesting nonetheless; for all his scheming and self-admitted underhandedness, he also has a secondary motivation that is surprisingly noble. I really like that! (Of course, we know that Trixie probably wouldn't pull something like that now, but given that he doesn't, it makes a lot of sense. ) Kudos to both you and G&C2.
Also, I loved that line about the coffee.
It’s an update, it’s an update, what’s happening in the plot, who’s doing what, Who’s going to win? I have to know I have to know! This is getting exciting!
Sorry needed to make that reference.
Will be interesting to see what Luna is disappointed in Nite Lite about, hope he doesn't come across as to much of a bastard... well maybe.
It seems a little off that Luna hasn't somehow intervened on Ponyvilles behalf I wonder what the explanation is?
I loved the description of Canterlot, especially the coffee line!
Loved how the two Luna’s combine by simply walking into one another, I love that kind of casual magic, plus it’s a cool mental image.
It’s certainly interesting to consider the idea Luna might lead “alternate” lives if only temporarily through her abilities.
Liked GGs oh so villainously thinking he would think of Puissance a s a role model but being oh so villainously planning to remove her like anyone else who's a threat to him. so conceited, suits him perfectly.
Not sure I really agreed with GGs monologue about “being that pony” mostly because he’s so far to me at least read as an entirely selfish individual, who wants to control the elements for political reasons as opposed to any sense of duty or morals. Though I could imagine him using that sort of argument to justify his action he’s seemed pretty honest about his backstabbing self-serving way so far.
You did a good job showing Blueblood as stupid and vapid without going overboard or drawing to much attention to it.
I was right, or at least partially so, heh I love the misunderstanding they’ve come to about Trixie and the elements, won’t they be surprised when nothing goes as planned… we still need an evil smile emote on this site.
Anyway short, but cool chapter.
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Or we could do what Luna is going to do: watch them make such a repulsive display of themselves that they'll be forced to resign in disgrace so that she might recruit a nobility with nobility.
Sigh...another Greengrass plot? I simply don't care about him anymore. He had his shot. He failed. Really disappointed to see him still around. Would've preferred this was Element-centric with their own creativeness on display to get aid, as well as in a smaller way being between just Trixie and Twilight's parents. The Night Court getting involved makes this over complicated. Guess I'll see how it goes, but I really don't like this setup...since we've seen it before.
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Greengrass might not mean "stupid" in the sense of not intelligent, so much as not canny, or unable to put her intelligence to good use.
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Political rank =/= net value. And while his House has been in disgrace for millennia, that quite possibly only extends through politicking in the Court and not the business world, which tends to move at a faster pace and forget things quicker (the "two year rule" and all that). I actually imagine Blueblood as being quite wealthy, certainly at least as much as Filthy Rich.
Again, this isn't exactly pocket change for any of them, except maybe Fisher, but they can afford it if the gain is big enough.
Okay this chapter, well it almost makes up for the last one. I simply loved the world building details you squeezed into just describing the city itself, and the way you handled Duke Greengrass seemed perfectly spot on. He's a snide and callous snake, but his ambitions are still driven by a desire to build a better world, even if his means of doing so are absolutely deplorable. Blueblood also seemed spot on being clever enough to reach all the appropriate conclusions while consistently slow on the initial up take. Lastly, Fisher is finally coming to some semblance of life and so far I'm pleased with the results (though I can't be more specific than that just yet).
Please keep up the good work; I want to like this story after all.
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I don't think Night Lite is being anywhere near that bad. Ponyville literally has no proof of any kind that Corona was in any way involved in the damages, and on paper at least, cursed alcohol sounds like a pretty flimsy excuse. It's entirely reasonable for him to believe that they just let their own festival get totally out of hoof and are now looking for excuses to avoid being stuck with the bill for their debauchery. Trixie isn't really the reason he's ignoring the town's trouble, so much as she is the reason he doesn't even feel it's worth the effort of investigating the claim.
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This is the seasonal climax, where all the schemes and plot threads that have been built up come crashing together in one glorious epic confrontation; it's supposed to be overly complicated.
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Keep in mind that Greengrass had in almost all the stories he was in referenced a plan for the Gala, and this is the story is the one that all those hints were building up to. Night Light and Trixie's interactions are defiantly going to be a major part of this, but in all likelihood there is going to be a LOT going on with and between the other characters as well. The way I see it this story likely serves a few purposes in the long term Lunaverse story:
-It resolves (or at least some what deals with) the political nebulousness of the EoH in the Night Court.
-Concludes Greengrass's term as the primary villain for Season 1.
-Start's a long term change in the Night Court and(?) the Equestrian government. RDD said that L!Equestria goes through the same rise to power, golden age, decline, reorganization or dissolution cycles as our states, with Luna guiding the cycle to make the golden ages last longer, the reorganization quick and relatively peaceful, ensure that the rise to power and decline phases goes along pleasantly without something morally abhorrent occurring (like the killing off of the Lakota in the USA's rise to power) and prevent dissolution from occurring. RDD stated that Equestria is in the midst of its reorganization phase so in all likelihood what happens politically in this story will have lasting impact for the rest of the Lunaverse.
-As a result of the interactions between Twilight's parents and Trixie, Trixie will end up coming to some form of resolution about what she plans to do about Twilight that will act as a set up for her actions, personal motivations, and/or emotional state during Crisis on Two Equestrias and/or (if the fic is not considered Lunaverse canon) another Trixie and Twilight centric story.
All in all I'm expecting this story to tie up some plot threads as well as provide set up for Season 2 and maybe some for 3.
1629439: Right, I would classify as Night Light as more 'skeptical and obstinate' than 'chaotic evil' right now. (I also don't think Luna would be so nice about her displeasure if Night Light was actually out to screw over Ponyville).
1627541
243 is about (+/- 10) the number of Senators and Representatives the US Congress had in 1880.
1628140>>1628369
Keep in mind all we're catching is what might be the end of a conversation. For all we know Luna just spent the past hour and a half chewing out Night Light for denying aid to Ponyville and ordering him to stop being so petty and helping the town in need, and what we caught was her saying, after having said that she won't strip him of his viceroyalty out of respect for his House and his still-upstanding son*, something to the effect of "I knew Starlight Shine, the founder of your noble House. He was one of the loyalest and honest ponies I have ever had the honor of knowing, and he would be dissapointed with you, Night Light. I am dissapointed with you."
I'm not saying that it was, simply that I haven't given you enough information yet to really know.
(I know IAH thinks I might break out the immortal card a little too often, but you have to admit it makes for wonderful insults. "Your ancestors would be ashamed that their line eventually came to you. I would know, because I knew them.")
-------------------------
*Not entirely sure what Luna would think of Shining Armor's plan to just string up red tape to make Trixie's life difficult. Probably just tell him to stop, but I don't think she'd get really angry.
1630381: huh. If not for those things, would Luna strip Night Light of his title over something like this? There's no evidence that Zecora was really there, so Night Light's decision is probably at least arguable.
I guess I'm wondering how 'fragile' titles and such are, then, if even a viceroy is one questionable decision away from being booted.
1630465
As said, that was just an example.
1630381
And I'm honestly hoping for the opposite of that to have happened, because I'd like to think that at least one of the 3 most powerful court members would be able to do their damn job without being either petty, stupidly greedy, or a non-entity.
1630558: It's not Wallflower's fault that no one wants to write her... :-)
(I was half-seriously considered a sort of jokesey 'CSI Canterlot' tie-in in the Lunaverse, which would feature Wallflower cameos since she does justice stuff, but I decided not to since folks kept saying they were tired of Canterlot/non-L6 stories.)
And Puissance isn't stupid greedy. She's smart greed. Stupid greedy is Flim and Flam. Smart means you get to run a province and play with the fancy new telegraphs.
1630572 And then get hopped up on magic stuff and splatter yourself on a wall. Or is that not going to be her end anymore?
1630623: I think it's still a bit early to say for certain. At this moment, though, in the series, I think she should still be very sane, very smart, and very wily. She likes stuff, but she knows she has a very good thing going, and she's not going to endanger it by doing anything stupid or rash.
1630637 Fine. I won't call her stupidly greedy, I'll just call her regular greedy. The kind that ends up being far worse for the state of things.
1630681: According to the brainstorming on the boards, she's almost certainly very good at her actual job. Her province is flourishing and rich; there's no indication that she's been neglectful in her duties to the Court. If she's personally greedy and rich beyond any sort of measure, but she's still the best pegasus to be vicereine, what's wrong with Luna giving her the job? Even if the only reigns on her greed are her self interest (knowing that Luna will smack her down if she starts seizing stuff wholesale, or neglecting her actual job to play with her new toys), if that results in a good governor who just happens to go antiquing and treasure hunting a lot and has amassed a vast fortune in silver, gold, and ancient relics, that seems... well, maybe not optimal, but not bad either.
(I mean, I'm still hoping that the reason she's not in Greengrass's planning party is that, thanks to her intelligence and caution, she decided not to actively aid Greengrass. Just talk it up enough that he thinks she will and kicks off his plan, and she's there to watch when he goes down trailing smoke and fire).
Greengrass: "Luna's discovered me! She'll take my seat! Quick, Notary, telegraph Puissance! She promised to help me, and I'm calling in my favors!"
Automated response: "The telegraph you have contacted is currently not available. It may be in use by another client, or out of service."
Greengrass: "Curses!"
Automated response: "Feel free to try again after you lose your seat, Greengrass."
Greengrass: "Wait, what? How could her answering machine know I'd lose my seat? That I'd call Puissance? Was it so obvious that I would fail that Puissance could set her answering machine to fill in her side of the conversation in advance?"
Automated response: "Yes, it was so obvious that you would fail that I could set my answering machine to fill in my side of the conversation in advance."
1630688 Because putting someone in power who has a weak, liable to end reason to stay loyal is not someone you put into such a high seat of power.
1630756: What's liable to end about it? As long as she has her stuff, she wants to protect it, which means not deviating too much from what Luna wants. It would only end if she lost everything, in which case she couldn't do anything anyway, or she somehow took over the country, which is somewhat unlikely.
1630760 Or someone offered her a better deal.
1630768: Better than being a vicereine? What could be better than that, besides being princess? And that job's taken, and even a hypothetical conqueror would be unlikely to offer her the job.
1630688
I love it!
1630987: :-D
It's only a model!
It's really good to see the Night Court movers and shakers first-hoof and actually understand their plans and motivations. Politics was always tricky for me to keep track of. This looks like it's shaping up to be a tough night for the whole court. It looks like the little conspiracy is going to make its own bid for Ponyville after all. Let the bidding war begin!
Great idea! Do you know any ponies like that, Duke Greengrass? 'Cause I sure don't see any in this room.
There's an interesting question. Does Duke Greengrass really believe his own story, that he's a patriot using "whatever means are necessary" to keep Equestria safe? If so... that's kind of scary. You know who else thinks she's doing whatever is necessary to protect Equestria? Corona. (Does Equestria have its own version of Godwin's Law?)
Ah, so at least some ponies are aware of just how messed up Twilight Sparkle is. None of them seems exceptionally surprised by this news.
I may be late to the party, but I've just figured out the way in which everypony, including Trixie, has misjudged Trixie's political ambitions. She doesn't have any. She thinks she does, but honestly, she doesn't. She's more likely to abuse her position as Luna's student or the Element of Magic to get a free pizza than she is to use it to achieve political power. That's what sets her apart from Greengrass, Blueblood and the rest. She won't ever think on that level, and the world is better off if she doesn't, and so is she.
There are so many different ways that this could work out! Very eager to see how it plays on the night.
Well, this chapter was...a chapter. Yep, certainly a chapter.
...
Oh, all right.
There's really not much I can say here, other than having an entire chapter about Greengrass isn't exactly wowing me over. Even in RDD's hands, the guy is just flat and lifeless. Fischer isn't exactly winning any awards, either. And if that conversation was what I think it was, it's a miracle Shining Armor turned out half as well as he did. Oh, wait, he's doing the same thing. Yeah, the entire Sparkle family is full of bastards.
Just one other thing I would like to point out, though, and it's bugged me for a good while in the Lunaverse. About a third of the chapter is just summing up things that happened in prior stories, and while that's nice and all for new readers, it gets on the way of the present story. Also, much like "Greengrass' Night," you spend a lot more time telling us how awesomely dangerous these guys are rather than showing us. Even worse, for all his professed scheming abilities, none of Greengrass' plans are even remotely clever or have any sort of originality, barring perhaps his attempt to get rid of Octavia. I'm sure we'll get something when Greengrass almost wins, but seriously, watch out for that.
And no, knowing how it ends does not invalidate my criticism.
1630688
Again, show us her province is flourishing. Show us some more of these supposed good Court members. Give us something other than Greengrass, Fischer, Puissance, Blueblood and Night Light being bastards. If this is all you have to go on, then you have no one but yourselves to blame when people come away thinking this entire government is crap.
1630688
Agreed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with greed in and of itself. If Puissance likes to have things, as long as she legitimately buys them with her own money without stealing them from others or raising taxes in her province to ludicrous levels, then there's nothing wrong with that at all.
1631490
Oh, come on, there's a world of difference between "denying aid to a town" and "doing a total security check even though the full procedure takes an hour and we normally abbreviate it for ponies we recognize."
The latter is more like...
...hmm, I was going to include a comperable clip from Babylon 5 with Londo Mollari having difficulties at a security checkpoint because it's staffed by Narns and he's the Centauri ambassador and, more to the point, is very much responsible for the Narns losing the Narn-Centauri war. But I can't seem to find it.
[Mollari has just spent the past three minutes complaining about the Narn to someone else who's in line, calling them inefficient and that they must be watched constantly]
Narn: How strange. The computer does not seem to recognize your identicard.
Mollari: Please! You know who I am!
Narn: I do, yes. But the computer does not. Perhaps I have entered it incorrectly! We Narn are, after all, very inefficient, yes, must be watched constantly at all times.
Mollari: Now look here -
Narn: In a moment. I'll have to ask you to step out of line, ambassador, so that we can process everyone else trying to come through.
But I can't find the full scene on YouTube. So, instead, Here's Londo unleashing the full fury of the great Centauri Republic on a bug
(I think it was non-sequitor scenes like this that made me love B5 so much)
1631160
Agreed about Trixie. She's more interested in the fame than the politicking, as we've seen.
1630835 So you're saying it'd be impossible for her insatiable greed to cause her to betray her own country And that it in no way in makes her less suitable for her job? So really all it is is nothing but a generic trait to attempt to differentiate her from the other samey politicians?
1631160: I'd hope that Greengrass doesn't believe that he's really just some noble dude who'd be the best one to possess the Elements, since the 'righteous zealot who will do anything to advance his cause' spot is already held by Fisher and, to a certain extent, Corona, and we don't want to be repetitive.
Trixie seems to have political ambitions. She wants to move higher, and she was certainly crazy manipulative when we first met her. Hero of Oaten also goes into her manipulative past.
1631490: I think bits with the good ones are coming up.
Besides, there's not space for everything. The bad ones are doing stuff right now, so we need to focus on them.
1632245: Sure, she's probably less suitable than an otherwise identical, but selfless, pony. But in this case, she's better for the job then the selfless alternatives, because she's a better governor than they are. There isn't a pony just like Puissance but without her greed.
1631776
It depends. If Shining Armor, say, gets involved in the scheme to keep Trixie from meeting Night Light (whether he knows it or not), then he's aiding his father in letting Ponyville rot. He's very blatantly abusing his position as a means of revenge against the pony who helped ruin his sister, and I'm sorry but that's a pretty damn awful thing for somepony that highly ranked to pull. Really, so far the only possibly redeeming quality in your entire Sparkle family was Shining pissing off Corona, and that almost ended with her nuking Canterlot.
1632840: There's no reason to think he's aware of any of that. Being an obstructive bureaucrat's not a nice thing to do, but it doesn't rise to the level of the Duke, or even Night Light.
Besides, if he's technically supposed to give the full search to everyone who shows up at the castle anyway, he's arguably being more proper than if he just waved her through due to her political connections.
1631490: ANd, hey, wait a minute. Whenever I want to write a tie in or something about the good guys in the Court, I get told not to because that's too much focus on court stuff. Y'all need to make up your minds. :-)
1638747
The court pretty much has run this season. You can argue percentages all you want, but the theme running through so many of the episodes has been about the dangers of the Night Court (not just Greengrass, but the whole thing) getting hold of the EoH and using them to their own ends. This story is supposed to mark the end of all that nonsense, which is pretty much the only reason I'm still reading it after such a disappointing start. Perhaps next season we can actually start redeeming the court, but even then the focus has to be on our heroes fighting Corona and her schemes, not Fischer or Puissance launching take-over grabs. At most, one episode and a webisode.
(By the way, why are the Lunaverse 6 referred to as the Elements of Harmony anyway? From everything else I can tell, the EoH are just the actual jewels they use, not the ponies. Or is this one of those things that'll piss me off come Crisis?)
1638844
A little from Column A, a little from Column B. It's a (reasonably) popular fan theory that Twilight, for example, doesn't just use the Element of Magic, she is the Element of Magic. That is, the rocks from Ep1 contained them, but after Nightmare Moon shattered the rocks them they've moved into and reside in the ponies. The necklaces are focuses for their Elements, but not the Elements themselves (This doesn't grant them special powers or abilities, though).
I dunno, I liked the concept so I ran with it. In practical terms, though, all it means is that I refer to Trixie, for example, as "The Element of Magic" rather than "Holder of the Element of Magic."
1638844: Neither of those two are interested in taking over, though.
About 75% of the episodes this season have been or will be slice of life (I think a problem here is we still have 4 open slots, and while no one plans on those actually being Court-based, their not being written yet means people don't tend to count them when thinking of how influential the Court is in S1). The Court was the season arc, but it still only took up 4 episodes or so.
As I recall from 'Family Matters', the Bearers are also considered the Elements in some sense. They aren't just the Bearers, they also embody the principle of the Element, and are completely inseparable from it (barring something like Discord).
1638929
I'm not just counting the episodes that involve the Court directly. I'm counting every time they've been mentioned as a significant force in the background, every time a thread or story idea got derailed to being the ploy of some noble's agent or spy, the way everything builds up to this story. Even if a story isn't about Blueblood or Greengrass trying to hatch a plot, they're still the driving force behind much of this season.
Personally, my problem with the whole Court was that found it boring. Political intrigue stories are such a dime-a-dozen that it's very hard to make them interesting or cool anymore. Then I found out how Luna runs things, and I got infuriated. And then I got that one possibly interesting story with Celestia taking over for one episode in season 3...and you came along and killed it.
1638927
The Elements of Harmony are very clearly labeled in the first episode as being the artifacts themselves, nothing more. Twilight says that the spirits of the Elements of Harmony (that is, what they represent) are there with her friends, but the actual artifacts are a completely separate thing.
To be honest, I'm not sure what pisses me off about the connotation in the Lunaverse so much. Maybe it's because of some other comments I've read, or I'm reading way too much into it, or perhaps it's just because I have a sinking feeling about Crisis and where it could possibly go. Or maybe I just need to stop hanging around this story until it shapes up into something that doesn't snap at my nerves.
1639077: Why does it matter? It's just how the ponies are referred to; it doesn't mean they're weaker or stronger or anything. I like using that sort of shorthand myself.
I guess we just disagree on the Court stuff. I figure, utopias are boring, so I'm fine with the government being at sort of a nadir at this point. Given how well it seems to function 99% of the time, it certainly doesn't seem like Equestria is a dystopia, or even as screwed up as human politics. Ponyville is having really, really bad luck at this point, and Greengrass is kind of a problem, but frankly, the Equestrian government seems to be more functional than the American one at some points.
(Also, it seems like a 'solution worse than the problem' situation. If Luna just smashes the Court to cleanse the corruption, she's following her sister's path, and that could lead to all kinds of chaos. This sort of corruption may be preferable to an alicorn tyrant ruling everything; sure, neither is optimal, but there's no reason to think that an absolutely perfect government is possible, even in Eqeustria. Luna may be an alicorn, but there's no reason to think that even she can have 100% perfect and wise ministers, or that she can govern everything without falling like Corona).
1639509
By this point, I'm willing to just forget about the damn Court. I'm just really sick of the whole thing by this point. So far the only stories related to it I've truly enjoyed have been despite its existence, not because.
I'm just not sure what it is, but there's something about it that bugs me. Okay?
1639558
That's fair. Like I said, it by and large doesn't come up except for making sentances a little shorter, and is just a little thing I put in 'cause I like the concept. I never really planned on using it in any meaningful way. It's similar (except that these are actually important) Dinky being Ditzy's daughter, Lyra & Bon Bon being in a committed long-term relationship...
...Cadance being an immortal alicorn, Twilight being a little crazy...
minor nite...
I believe that should be 'waiting'. If not, please ignore. Also, yes. Loved the telegraph reference. Yay for technological progress!
Otherwise, at this point I'd like to shove Greengrass into the path of a tractor trailer. Same with Night Light, too. Also, Puissance... will be finding her tipping point sometime soon. Oh, yes. *Steeples fingers*