8. Zizanie Again
Prince Blueblood knew that he was not considered to be one of the brightest members of the Night Court. He knew, too – in his most private and weakest of movements – that he could sometimes be a bit of a fop and an idiot, that key details could slip under his muzzle. Indeed, even when he had all the right information in front of him, he could still make mistakes.
His special talent was direction, namely, making the correct choices about where to go, and not simply on street corners. Unfortunately, in the muddled world of the Night Court, even a pony with a special talent of making the correct choices could be stymied, as he had indeed been following his elevation from baron to viscount. Specifically, just because one knew the correct choices to make in the short-term didn’t mean that one knew the long-term consequences. Further – he had to admit to himself – he could be persuaded to make choices that he didn’t think were in his own best interest, if the immediate payoff was good enough. In short, he’d been ignoring his special talent for the past few months, and that had nearly cost him dearly – and as a result, he was biting down on the bit and paying attention to it more.
Even if he hadn’t resolved to do such, however, looking at Trixie Lulamoon, his gut instincts, his experience as a courtier, and just plain common sense, were all screaming the same thing at him: this is a trap, you fool. Send her away before you’re caught in it.
…but then again…
“I see,” Blueblood said. He glanced around. While the rank of viscounty was the second-lowest in the Night Court – well, technically third-lowest, but nopony counted baronets, not even the baronets themselves – he had managed to secure a rather expansive office and apartments within Canterlot Castle, nearly as large as those typically awarded to dukes. At present, he was standing in the waiting room before his office proper, and alongside Trixie there was also some of his staff whom were pointedly staring at their work and neither Trixie nor Blueblood, and certainly weren’t paying close attention…
Blueblood waved his hooves at his staff. “Leave. Come back in an hour,” he ordered. Several looked disappointed on not being able to eavesdrop on the conversation, but all of Blueblood’s staff nevertheless stood and trotted out the front door. Once they had left the room, Blueblood turned and trotted back into his office, Trixie following him. Once inside, he looked again to Trixie. “What makes you think that I would want to go to the Gala with you?” he asked.
“The fact that you’ve asked me six years in a row,” she answered without hesitation
“And suppose I already have somepony I’m going with?” Blueblood stood up straight, running a hoof on his shirt as he offered a grin. “In fact, I all but have free pick from the herd. There are dozens – hundreds – of ponies who would do anything to spend a night with me, you know, and this is quite last minute of you. What if I already have a companion?”
Trixie shivered slightly as some thought passed through her mind. Blueblood frowned at that. He was a fine example of stallion physique and had three front covers of EToday proclaiming such to prove it. Mares throughout Equestria got weak knees and hocks at the sight of his illustrious person. No small number of stallions, as well.
At length, Trixie gathered herself and met Blueblood in the eye again. “Do you have one?” she asked.
Blueblood offered a smirk. “No. Oh, I know of several ponies planning to try and vie for my affections at the Gala – ” this was in fact true, despite Trixie rolling her eyes – “but no set plans, as luck would have it. But what makes you think I would even want to go to the Gala with you now?”
“You’ve been trying for years,” Trixie pointed out. “Though let’s be honest, you were just trying to get closer to Luna through me.”
Blueblood’s eyes narrowed at that, as he decided he’d pranced around the issue long enough. “You’re not here because you’ve had a change of heart, Miss Lulamoon,” he said as he scratched an errant itch on his cutie mark. “You want something from the Night Court, and as you have no land, no money, no favors or connections, no power, you’re using the one small, sad thing you could possibly offer me as a bargaining chip.”
Trixie didn’t seem surprised that Blueblood had figured her out, nor did she react to his belittling her. “What do you know,” she asked instead, “about a unicorn named Zizanie?”
Blueblood paused a moment, feigning thinking about the name. “Nothing,” he lied. Inwardly, he felt more than a little panic. He had hired Zizanie on many occasions – was in some ways her best customer, or at least her most constant, ever since he had ascended to the viscounty. However, their working relationship had gotten off to a rocky start – thanks in no small part to Trixie, whom Zizanie had been attempting to gather blackmail material on for Blueblood. It hadn’t worked, but Trixie had never learned that Blueblood was the one who had hired Zizanie.
Or had she?
Trixie studied his features for several long moments. “Okay,” she said. “I’m going to make this as plain as possible. I’m sick and tired of the Night Court, sick and tired of my friends and my town being hurt. And at the center of all of that has been you and Greengrass and who knows how many other ponies, all because we’re the Elements of Harmony.”
Trixie put her hat back on her head. “I want Greengrass out of my mane, out of everypony’s mane, and I think that Zizanie can help,” she said. “And I think you know her, or know somepony who knows her, because that’s how the Night Court works, right? So that’s what the deal is. Get me in contact with Zizanie, today, and I’ll go to the Gala with you. And…well, I’ll owe you one.”
Blueblood’s smirk slowly returned. “I see,” he said. “I assume that this favor you’d owe me would come with the usual provisos…nothing you find offensive, and so on.”
“Yeah.”
Blueblood thought. Trixie was up to something – never a good sign. The last time she had been up to something, several thousand gallons of ice-cold water had created a second, if temporary, waterfall over the edge of the cliff that Canterlot sat upon. But, on the other hoof, there was no denying that this Trixie was…different…from the vainglorious, egotistical student of Luna that she had been six months ago. She still had those qualities, but they were tempered now…and she was eager to begin flexing her muscles in the Night Court, dip her hooves in and start her climb through its halls.
Blueblood considered that perhaps he should change his priorities: rather than trying to gain political control over Trixie Lulamoon, Element of Magic, he should instead perhaps be playing the role of patron to Trixie Lulamoon, nascent member of the Night Court. Less fame…but another ally in the Court, even one junior to himself, could never hurt.
And as to her specific plan…whatever it was, it involved ousting Greengrass. Getting rid of that slime was very high on Blueblood’s list of things-to-do. Or she might fail…but that would still leave her in Blueblood’s debt. He could see only marginal risk, and every possibility of some sort of reward, if he went in this direction.
This was his opportunity, what he had been waiting for to unseat Greengrass and make the path from viscount to full count that much easier, and he was going to seize it. Blueblood stepped forward. “Very well,” he said. “I’ll get you in contact with Zizanie, but I expect you to meet me, here, to go to the Gala for eight. And you shall owe me further. Agreed?”
Trixie nodded, holding out one hoof. Blueblood touched his own to hers, sealing the deal.
---
3:00. Cliffside Hangar. Come alone.
– Z.
Raindrops looked down at note again. “You’re kind of not alone, Trixie,” she pointed out as she, Trixie, and Carrot Top trotted through Canterlot, towards the Cliffside Hangar. What ‘cliffside’ meant was easy enough to figure out, since Canterlot was built alongside a cliff face, but neither she, nor Trixie, nor Carrot Top had ever heard of a ‘hangar’ before.
Trixie looked to Raindrops. “Zizanie’s crazy if she thinks that I’ll actually come alone.”
“And I wouldn’t let you,” Carrot Top said firmly. Ditzy, Cheerilee, and Lyra were all getting their manes styled, their coats brushed, and just generally readying themselves for the Gala. Trixie needed to meet with Zizanie, however, while Raindrops looked better with a somewhat-messy anyway, even for so formal an event, and Carrot Top was quite adept at quickly styling her mane, the money she spent on keeping it in good condition being her one true vice. “Worst comes to worst,” Carrot Top continued, “she doesn’t show up, and the plan’s cancelled.” She looked to Trixie. “Right?”
“Plan doesn’t work without her,” Trixie confirmed as the three ponies reached the edge of the cliff that Canterlot sat upon. It was guarded by a tall, sturdy wall to prevent ponies who couldn’t fly from accidentally tumbling over the side, but the wall opened up at several points to stairs that lead down along the cliff face, to a select few structures built into the side of the cliff itself. Trixie had been to several, most notably a restaurant set right behind the Canterlot waterfall. However, they were fairly far from that location – instead, the directions they had acquired to the Cliffside Hangar were taking them down the northern slope of the wall (Carrot Top hugging the cliff wall tightly and looking very grateful for the rail set into the stairs), down hundreds of feet before finally leading the trio to a set of doors labeled “Cliffside Hangar” and a guard shack. The guard shack, however, was empty, and the doors were slightly ajar.
“Creepy,” Raindrops noted, as the three made their way forward and through the doors. There was a twenty-foot corridor leading to another set of doors, and on the other side, Raindrops, Trixie, and Carrot Top encountered the offspring of a balloon and a whale.
Raindrops blinked. The three found themselves standing atop a long catwalk inside a cavernous chamber. One end of the chamber had the cavern wide-open, revealing the wide open plains of Equestria beyond, while most of the interior was hewn from rock, with crystals along its length, crystals that had been enchanted to glow brightly, illuminating the…thing that sat, or hovered, in front of them. It was more than a hundred feet from end to end, a long tube of fabric over what looked like some kind of skeleton that tapered off to a point at either end. The rear – Raindrops assumed it was the rear, anyway, as it was located at the rear of the chamber – had what looked like a ship’s rudder, except there were four of them, one on the bottom, one on the top, one let, and one right. The entire ship was silver, though towards the front it looked like somepony had begun to paint it in blues and purples, but hadn’t finished yet. Attached to the underside of the tube, meanwhile, was some kind of cabin or gondola, constructed of metal and glass, though she couldn’t see inside. At the rear of the gondola, and in a ring around the middle of the tube, were propellers. The catwalk that the three were standing on led to the gondola’s main door.
But that was not what struck Raindrops as odd. What got to her was that the thing was hovering, held in place only by tethers attached to the chamber floor and swaying to and fro slightly. Yet Raindrops could see no wings, no flame for hot air, no telltale glow for telekinetic magic (though what unicorn could possibly have the magic to lift this thing?)…it just floated, defying all reason and sanity while doing so.
“It’s called,” a voice said from somewhere in the chamber, “An airship.”
Raindrops’ wings raised in challenge at the voice, as she, Carrot Top, and Trixie looked around. Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “Zizanie,” she informed the other two, who had not yet met the professional blackmailer.
“It’s really quite amazing,” Zizanie continued, from wherever she was hiding. “The balloon is made of cotton. Inside there’s a light metal skeleton – I forget what kind of metal – and rubberized cotton gas bags filled with helium. It can lift more than fifty hot-air balloons could, and can travel faster and further. It’ll cut the cost of importing stuff up to the pegasus cloud cities by a factor of ten, at least, and let earth ponies and unicorns fly across the country without needing expensive spells.”
The door to the gondola opened, and standing inside, wearing a dark cloak with its hood down, was a white unicorn with a purple mane – Zizanie, Raindrops presumed. The unicorn trotted out from the gondola, stopping about halfway towards the three of them to turn around and look up at the ‘airship.’ “I’m going to be honest, I think I’ve fallen in love. I was hired to sabotage this thing by certain interests who don’t want the cost of surface-to-air imports to plummet, and I have, but I think after it fails to launch I’ll swoop in and rescue to the company from bankruptcy. Gotta put all those bits I’m paid to use, right? I want to see this thing fly.”
Zizanie turned back around, looking at Raindrops, then Carrot Top, then lastly Trixie. “So…you were supposed to come alone,” she pointed out.
Trixie blinked a few times, tearing her eyes from the airship and focusing on Zizanie. “I didn’t,” she said instead. “Is that a problem?”
Zizanie stared at Trixie for a few moments, then shrugged. “Not really. You can’t afford to meet my price no matter what you’ve got planned. I’m only meeting with you at all ‘cause Blueblood shelled out some bits to make me.” She smirked. “I think that was very nice of him. You’ll make a cute couple. Think you could name one of the foals Zizanie?”
Trixie sputtered at that, stepping back several paces at Zizanie’s implication. The white unicorn’s smirk grew, though at the sight of that Raindrops snorted, and she stepped forward. “Don’t,” she warned.
“You should at least hear us out,” Carrot Top interjected, before Zizanie could bait Raindrops, an action she would most likely regret.
Zizanie sat back on her haunches, horn glowing lightly. A pocket watch was lifted out from her cape, and she considered its face. “Alright, you’ve got one minute to wow me,” she said.
Trixie had recovered from the bleak thoughts Zizanie had implanted in her mind of her carrying Blueblood’s foals. She looked the white unicorn in the eye. “I want to use a truth poison on the Night Court so that I can blackmail them into leaving me and my friends alone.”
Zizanie blinked a few times, and she put away her pocket watch. “That has wowed me. With stupidity, mind, but wowed me nonetheless.” She waved her two front hooves. “Continue.”
Trixie reached into the folds of her own cloak, producing a vial of greenish liquid, which she floated over to Zizanie, who took it into her own telekinetic grip. “That’s called Truth is a Scourge,” Trixie said. “It’s a zebra truth poison. Give somepony a few drops, and they can only speak the truth…and have to speak. Even worse, they say exactly what they think, the moment they think it.” Trixie tapped her hooves together. “I’ve modified it a little so that it doesn’t go into effect immediately, it can be activated as long as it’s in the drinker’s system. And it can turn it off, too. I’ll show you how to do that.”
“Neat,” Zizanie observed, considering the vial. “And it works?”
“Drink it and find out,” Raindrops challenged.
Zizanie smiled. “I don’t think so. But I think I’ll hold onto it and test it later.” She looked to Trixie. “How do you turn it on and off?” she asked, horn glowing slightly as she got ready to observe
Trixie demonstrated how to do so – it was just sending a tiny bit of magic into the potion, not even a true spell. Zizanie was able to duplicate it in just a few minutes. “So assuming it really does work,” Zizanie continued, “how would this go down?”
Trixie tapped her hooves together. This, Raindrops knew, was the hardest part of the plan, requiring a careful balance of truth and lies told to a pony who dealt in lies as a basic part of her profession. “I said the Night Court,” Trixie said, “but really I’m just talking about a few ponies at first. Duke Greengrass, Archduke Fisher, Viceroy Night Light, and Blueblood.”
Zizanie’s eyes widened a little. “Oh my,” she said. “Betrayal already? You’re taking to the Night Court like a fish to water.”
Trixie ignored Zizanie. “I want to get more, though. I want to get everypony on the Night Court who’s done wrong…who’s likely to just step in and take the place of Greengrass once he’s been embarrassed. So that’s the first part of where you come in: I’ll need a list of ponies like that. I’m sure you can think them up.”
“And the second part?” Zizanie asked.
Trixie looked to Raindrops and Carrot Top, both of whom grimaced. “I don’t want to just spike a punch bowl,” she said. “I don’t know if you’ve heard, but the venue’s changed at the Gala at the last minute, and there's a bunch of Ponyvillians coming. There’s going to be a lot of innocent ponies there. So me and my friends are going to be going around, getting drops of Truth is a Scourge into the drinks of everypony we want to target. Then I’ll activate it…and from then, until I end the spell, I want you to go around to as many ponies as you can, in disguise, and just start collecting blackmail information.”
Zizanie thought, her smirk dropping at last as she considered. “First point,” she said. “Why all this? In my line of work it pays to have some information on each client I take, just in case. An insurance policy, basically. So why not try and just get that from me?”
Trixie shook her head. “Because all that information you have is useless if somepony else has it and plans on using it – blackmail only works if the victim isn’t exposed. This way, the ponies I’ll be blackmailing will know that it was because of something that they let slip at the Gala and won’t suspect you. They’ll know I'm the one who embarassed them at the Gala, I can ruin them forever, and they’ll also have an example of what I can do to them if they don’t leave us alone.”
“Ah,” Zizanie said, nodding. “You’re sending a message. Fair enough, but that leads to my second point: how are you paying me?”
Trixie shifted, as did Carrot Top and Raindrops. This was the other vulnerable point of the plan. “In cash silver,” Carrot Top answered for Trixie. “How does a hundred thousand bits sound?”
Zizanie stared, her face incredulous. “It sounds like a vicious lie,” she answered. “I don’t recall any of you Elements being made mention of as millionaires, so you’ll forgive me if I don’t think you could manage that.”
Raindrops sighed. She hated this part of the plan, but she had to try and sell the lie, which she couldn’t do if she let Trixie do all the talking. “It’s real,” she said. “The REMM is sending cash to Ponyville to pay our relief. It’d be pretty easy for us to get access to it.”
Zizanie blanched. “You’re stealing your own relief money?” she asked. Apparently even she thought that was low.
Trixie shook her head. “Borrowing it. Once we get the blackmail information, we could extort it back easily.”
“But at the moment, barring your robbery, you don’t actually have access to it.”
Trixie nodded. “If you help us,” Trixie said, “I wouldn’t expect you to give us any of the blackmail information you get until we actually paid you. That’s fair. And, you’d have your own blackmail information on us as insurance – the fact that we set everything up to begin with.”
Zizanie considered, both her hooves pressed together in front of her, weighing her options. For several long minutes, there was no sound at all within the vast chamber that held the airship, apart from Trixie shifting occasionally from hoof to hoof, Carrot Top humming slightly to keep calm, and Raindrops shifting her wings.
Eventually, Zizanie looked back to them, and held up her vial of Truth is a Scourge. “If this works when I test it,” she said, “and if you show me how to make it afterwards…then alright, Lulamoon. You’ve got a deal.”
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No insults are intended with the following joke song.
Having said that, IAH, you could only have played the initial Javert.
Larger
i48.tinypic.com/34zn7mb.png
(NB: Um...despite the above, it probably won't be one day until chapter 9 goes up. I just wrote that up and wanted to post it).
A new chapter already? Awesome!
Interesting Blueblood seems competent, poor Trixie so creeped out, can't blame her though, I was surrpsied when she was for Zizanie, sans the hint the chapter title gave me.
... SO that's why you were so mysterious about the airship!! Awesomally done, I loveed Raidnrops's description, it sounded to alien to her, which makes perfect sense.
I'm right with Trixie there all the way.
Zizanies speech about the airship was really cool I'm not entirely sure why, I hope she does save it, heh maybe she's planning on retirement.
ug BluueBlood and Trixie
Why do I get the feeling Zizanies being manipulated as well?
Interesting plan, though I'm not sure how Trixie and CO and get the truth poison into everyone they need to's drinks, but it's certainly a better plan than spiking the punch bowel, still I somehow feel Trixie has something more up her sleeve/cloak/cape/what ever. As it stands I have some concerns about Trixie's plan but I'm willing to wait and see.
Hooray I made it into the song! Thanks
Wait, am I the women in the blue dress?...
High Five!
And the plot thickens
Ooh, airship... I love me some zeppelins...
...and so the plot thickens. Mostly just more transitionary build-up though, not that such is a bad thing, and my anticipation to see this whole thing play out grows.
1930479 Don't say that to Rarity, she will be driven to diet.
So, we're not poisoning hundreds of people, we're just delivering a nasty little message.
1930626
Or are we?
1930324 Given this is pretty much the one musical I've seen live, I'm chuffed to have made it out of the chorus.
Naturally, it only sets the precedent for one day chapter turn-around and a song....
Regarding Trixie and co., this is a dangerous game they are playing. I have a theory, which I will keep to myself since it's probably wrong and second-guessing an author from the cheap seats just seems tacky (even Zizanie would think so), but there is more to this scheme than at first blush, eh?
Trixie is up to something.
Well, yes, obviously, but there's definitely something not accurate about what she's telling Zizanie. She wouldn't tell her the real plan, of course, and then there's the Unspoken Plan Guarantee. I have my guesses, but... they don't make sense yet. I suppose I have until the next update to come up with a workable theory. For now, let me just say... I think there will be exactly one pony at the Gala under the effects of truth poison.
We shall see what tomorrow brings! For the record, I don't feel that the fic needs "salvaging".
Well, everything is better with airships. Then again, my very first thought when it was introduced was "Trixie, please don't crash that airship into the gala! It won't just harmlessly melt like the ice palace!"
Careful balance of truth and lies, huh. So that means we know part of the plan, the trick is picking out how much of what she said was to throw Zizanie off.
There's a part of me that wants Night Light included as one of the targets so he can be vindicated of any wrongdoing other than the one instance they already know about.
Edit: I made the song, sweet! That was a pretty awesome thing to wake up to.
I'm liking where this is going.
Oh Blueblood, you try so hard to be a schemer.
Though you know what, Prince Slimeball continues to grow on me. Sure I wish him a boatload of pain and misery but he's hit that note of ineffectual villainy that's kinda fun to watch ( Sort of like Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown)
The bit with Zizanie was good. I could tell that Trixie were up to something the moment they flat out told Zizanie the plan to Blackmail the Night Court right off the bat. Saying something like that is blackmail material in and of it self but anything less would raise suspician. Though frankly I think Zizanie is letting the fact that's its Trixie and the prospect of getting a new blackmail tool blind her.
Not sure what the actual plan is but I'm looking forward to finding out.
Though just for the record. When the big reveal happens I am going to be playing at least the first 5 seconds of this
Great chapter and looking forward to the next one
1930324
Loved the song. Thanks for giving me a part in it
I personally don't try to think too hard on conspiracy stories. I know some readers love to discuss, question and theorize about every little detail but I'm one of those guys that likes to sit back and just enjoy the ride. I'll figure it out when the time comes.
With that, looking forward to the big reveal!
Part of me thinks that everything Trixie told Zizanie is a lie.
I have a theory...it could be bunnies.
Arg, I am stricken pretty badly with Wild Mass Guessing Syndrome. I currently think a lot of this is a smoke screen. Trixie seem to prefer tricks and schemes based around "sleight of hand", of making you assume something fundamental that was never true in the first place. Trixie likes to play the shell game with three Jacks on the table and the Queen up her sleeve, or under her hat, as it were.
1930324
That song...so beautiful...
Actually, this chapter wasn't bad at all. Trixie's evil scheme seems to finally be coming together. I'll be waiting to see how she plans to screw Zizanie over...and how she'll get away with it afterwards.
Oh, and airships are cool.
1931304
Not only are they cool, but in Equestria on a fundamental level they're more practical than airplanes for cargo transport to pegasus cloud-cities! After all, you can't land a plane on a cloud, at least not without pumping serious magic into it, but an airship can just hover in place.
Airships are, in fact, better than planes in every respect save speed. They're more comfortable, quieter, don't have to worry about turbulence, more fuel-efficient, longer-ranging, and, believe it or not, safer. Hindenburg disaster aside, airships have a much better safety record than airplanes - Hindenburg's sister ship, LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II, flew enough to have circumnavigated the world five times, actually did circumnavigate the world twice, and from its construction until the Nazi bastards tore her apart for scrap metal, she never once experienced any safety issues or problems. This despite being filled with hydrogen and painted in the same flammable paint as Hindenburg. Even better, the company that made airships for Germany, Deutsche Luftschiffahrts-AG, was extremely anti-Nazi and fought tooth and nail with Hitler to not put the swastika on zeppelins. They ended up losing the battle, unfortunately, but that still gives them Cool Points in my book.
We only fly planes today because we put so much value on speed that we're willing to be crammed in like sardine cans. But me? I've flown enough to absolutely despise airplanes. I'd much rather take 24 hours to cross the Atlantic and get to do so in comfort and luxury, then spend 6 hours crammed between the fattest man in the sky and the noisiest baby mankind has yet produced.
If for nothing else but the fact that the pegasus cloud-cities would make airships more practical than planes, I would want to live in Equestria.
So Trixie makes a deal with Blueblood, then plans to betray him within about five minutes of making that deal.
She also (or at least Cheerilee) has an identical motive/end goal at this point to one of her targets, Fisher ("I regrettably must use immoral actions to take down $BadPony or else Corona will murder everyone"), but doesn't seem to see any problem with justifying her actions based solely on the end results while at the same time wanting him destroyed for doing that.
And she's going to be having Zizanie control who gets poisoned by giving her a list... even though Zizanie, for all Trixie knows, could just include ponies that she doesn't like, or that are making things hard for her (by, say, investigating her activities) that might have unpleasant, albeit not illegal, secrets of their own. So she can't even guarantee that all the ponies hit by this are bad ponies; she's trusting Zizanie entirely.
Plus, I'm guessing she's going to betray Zizanie somehow (sneak-poisoning her, perhaps) instead of paying her with the relief money. I can't imagine she'd really waste the money on Zizanie, and it fits her modus operandi at this point.
...yeah, I think we're getting very close to a villain protagonist, if we aren't there already. Her actions at this point are indistinguishable from the ostensible bad guys. I get tat it's ironic to take down Greengrass, whose biggest virtue is loyalty to those under him, by betraying everyone she comes into contact with for more than ten seconds, but all it does is make her look like the newest menace in the Court that needs to be taken down. If both sides are bad, what does it matter who wins?
Sorry.
1931436
I'd buy an airship if I could.
Agreed airships rock Loved the history lesson and it makes sense they are more practical in Equestria on numerous levels
1931474
to be fair we still don't know the full plan and they are at least targeting bad/criminal ponies as opposed to just stomping on innocents the way GG & CO have been doing.Sorry, Good point about Zizanie being able to trick trixie though.
1931487: That's my points:
1. She has no idea if the ponies are good or not. She's relying on Zizanie, of all ponies, entirely. (Oh, and Night Light; he's the one who told her that Fisher broke the law to get at her, and she has only his word that he's done anything worse than hang out with the Duke and glower at her).
2. Furthermore, if she's okay with breaking the law in a big way for a good reason, she doesn't seem to be extending that consideration to anyone else; she's not considering that any of the 4 who she thinks targeted her have what they considered to be 'good reasons.' It's hypocritical.
1931514
1. To be fair just hanging around the duke and trying to extort/bribe Trixie is probably enough. I did agree with you that her relying solely on Zizanie was a bad idea, I was Just noting that she only intends to go after criminal/bad ponies.
2. To be fair they kinda don't and they are targeting and threatening civilians who have done nothing wrong or have nothing to do with the matter, BB has at least tried to extort her with fake information and she knows about all the stuff GG's done to try and get her and the other elements. And that doesn't excuse any of the other innocents they've hurt in matters entirely unrelated to her, Trixie was terrified of the duke when she heard he was involved with Tavi and well BB is, well, himself.
I'm not saying everything she's doing is right, just that it might not be as bad as it seems and isn't being done selfishly.
1931514
Intriguingly, Trixie can actually depend upon Zizanie here. If Zizanie takes a job and doesn't follow through with any part of her end, including giving her a legitimate list, then Trixie can spread the word that Zizanie is an unreliable agent, that she is willing to subvert jobs for her own personal gratification or because she doesn't like her employer, and then Zizanie will never have a job again, at least not as a free agent of the Night Court.
In the game that Zizanie plays, money is only a secondary concern; reputation is everything. This is the same reason why you can depend upon mercenaries, at least good ones, to actually be loyal to the cause they've been paid for, and not switch sides simply because they're offered more money. A mercenary company that can be bought out by the other side will never be hired by any side since they can't be relied upon. The same is true, again, of bounty hunters tracking down targets that could pay them a hundred times more than the bounty on their head. A bounty hunter who does that even once will never live it down, be treated like scum by other bounty hunters, and never be able to work on contract.
The contract is sacred, basically, and never to be violated, because you can only do so once, and after that, you're out of a job.
1931530: For all Trixie knows, he was investigating the Duke. Or he was considering working with the Duke but wouldn't actually do anything really illegal himself. Or it was an imposter that just looked like Fisher; Trixie knows that the Duke has done that before (he did it to set up Octavia to play the symphony; Octavia told Lyra, who I would assume told Trixie). Perhaps the Duke and Night Light are working together to get Trixie to attack Fisher and make another powerful enemy; Trixie doesn't know whether or not that's the case.
Also, from Fisher and Night Light's perspectives, Trixie herself is a very bad pony -- should that make her fair game? From the Duke's perspective, Trixie is a legitimate target (in that she's a political entity and a voluntary player of 'the Game'), so does that make her fair game? If they can't decide who's bad or justifiably targetable, what gives Trixie the right to do so?
1931545: Provided anyone believes Trixie, and provided that Zizanie isn't able to make a good explanation why such a pony really should belong on such a list. I would find it likely that Zizanie could dig up a little something, even something that wasn't really their fault or truly illegal, on almost any noble, and use that to justify naming them.
ALso, Trixie can't really say that without confessing to high treason, which she probably will be reluctant to do.
1931578
I'll concede the Fisher point, sort of anyway.
The difference between Trixie and the others is she's only targeting those who have hurt innocents/her friends, she also doesn't know Fishers motive and Nite Lights is pure spite. GGs excuse doesn't really fly with me sorry. and again beyond be a bit of a jerk Trixie hasn't really done anything terrible to anyone yet, they all have, thus making them villains, Trixie as it stands is in the Well intention d extremist category.
That's just me though.
1931578
And for all we know, she knows exactly what kind of pony Fischer is and what he'd do to get the Elements under his control. She pegged Greengrass' intentions in M&D almost immediately, knew why Night Light was withholding the funds, and has in general proven herself knowledgeable in how the game operates. And for all his posing about wanting to "train the Elements," that would be the perfect way to get them to line up with his way of thinking, get them in his pocket, and make them his little foot soldiers whenever he wants.
I'm sorry, but I am not seeing the Villain Protagonist thing here. If anything, Trixie's actually working very intelligently to target only the ones causing the most trouble. She isn't endangering civilians, she isn't dragging the whole government down to suit her needs, and the last chapter indicated that she and the others were willing to face whatever punishment comes after this scheme. By the logic you've been putting out, the Mane 6 should all be thrown in jail or executed, not to mention 95% of all fictional heroes ever written ever.
1931632>>1931594>>1931578
And we've now all said our piece; let's drop this before another 150-post argument begins.
Unless we want to argue for 150 posts about who's best pony, I'm cool with that.
1931657
ok I'll stop, sorry. I need to sleep anyway.
Trixie is best pony or Raindrops, do Alicorns count then it Celestia or Cadence or Zeocra I can't pick!
1931670
The best pony is
TrixieLunaRainbow DashDerpywhoever I currently think is best pony.1931706
a good call, you can't be wrong with that mentality, well at least it's a lot harder to be wrong
1931594: Yeah, but she's about to do something terrible to a bunch of folks, and she has no real idea if they 'deserve' it (even if we assume for a moment that she has the right to do bad things to folks that deserve it).
1931632: Who says Fisher isn't also willing to face the music for what he's done? We haven't seen that much of him to know that. (It would be kind of interesting, actually, if after talking to Night Light, he also talked to Luna... one thing I kind of wished we'd seen, if Fisher was going to be prominent in this, was Fisher discussing his concerns about Trixie with Luna. Maybe even admitting what he did {he seems to have enough respect for Luna to know that he likely won't be able to get away with something like that for very long} and saying he honestly wishes he didn't have to do it, but he felt it was either that or Corona shows up and murders everyone because, in his professional opinion as Minister of War, Trixie is not currently a useful asset to their forces, and maybe even pleading with Luna to make Trixie get trained up before it's too late.)
(Actually, that could be interesting for another reason. Fisher, and frankly Trixie too, is basically starting down the same path Corona did, albeit with much, much less power -- total 'ends justify the means' fanatic. But Luna can't admit that because of the whole myth that Corona was possessed. Seeing Luna dealing with that dilemma could be interesting.)
As for training the L6 into his soldiers, setting aside that he's not in the military and wouldn't be controlling them directly (except insofar as he designates war objectives, but it's not like he could actually send them around on his personal missions), that's what he believes is best for the nation. (And he arguably has some good points; Trixie has lost fights to Bonbon, Octavia, Ditzy, and random lizards by now, so he might well have a point that Trixie will have trouble if Corona shows up with a literal army and Trixie has to fight with the Guards through it to get to Corona). He's willing to break laws, but only to Do Good and Save The Nation. Or, in other words, what Trixie and co. (particularly Cheerilee) are willing to do. I can't see anyway to condemn him as evil (and thereby validate Trixie) without also condemning the L6.
95% of fictional heroes commit high crimes to get rid of their enemies? First of all, I kind of doubt that. Some do, particularly those in more realistic worlds, but not all. Second of all, this is MLP. The characters should not have to commit high crimes like treason and assault (which is what an attack with the truth poison would likely be treated as) to win. Minor crimes, sure, that can be excused because this is kind of a heroic fantasy -- I didn't object to Cheerilee picking locks in Tales of Oaten, or Fleur stealing from a bank vault in Symphony. But assault and high treason? No, not in MLP. In MLP, the characters should be able to rise above corruption and evil, act justly and righteously, and defeat their enemies through their skill, morals, and friendship. Not by sinking to their level and just 'playing the Game', as the Duke would put it, better than they can.
1931657: Just saw this. Alright, I'll simmer down.
1931657
Do you mean best show pony or best Lunaverse pony? Because both answers would be quite different and I don't want to get them mixed up.
Nice song. And I swear, if the money doesn't go back...
Not much i can do, but what I can I will. Also, please let Zizanie's sabotage plan about the airship fail so the company get off the ground.
1932018
Either, both, neither, your pick.
1932036
To be fair, Zizanie herself said that she'll step in to save the company from bankruptcy.
1932085
In that case, the answer is obviously Twi and CT. I'm pretty sure you can sort which is which.
1931757
...Actually, I can see where you're coming from now. I disagree with you completely, but at least I understand. In any case, let's agree to disagree and move on with our lives.
1931657
Scootaloo is best pony, regardless of which universe it is! Isn't that right Scootaloo?
Anyway, one other thing I like is the fact that everyone involved in the court has no idea how dagerous Trixie is. Theynall see her as some idiot who has squandered Luna's training. Her time in Ponyville has been good to her indeed. I am looking forward to the moment of realization when everypne realizes how wrong they are about Trixie.
1932118
...okay, again, I just can't get you anymore. I thought you hated Lunaverse Twi.
Ah, a scheme which requires the schemers you are working with to attempt to double-cross you. Pretty much a safe bet when working with the Night Court. Ideally this will result in a double-double-double-cross where *everybody* blames everybody else...except those who were playing by the rules who won't be touched.
The key word for this whole scheme will be 'Trust.' Good people/ponies can trust other good people/ponies, but the bad guys trust nobody.
You guessed it folks,
It's ZIZIANE OUT FUCKING NOWHERE
You never know what that zany half-draconequis or whatever is going to do next, but what ever it is, you can know one thing for sure.
The basic concept of her character is really really dumb.
Also, I'm disappointed that we're not going to get a more "Mikado Rugamine" type of solution out of Trixie.
1931594
What have we seen GG do that is illegal as opposed to morally wrong?
The other major redeeming feature is that he doesn't want the elements for personal reasons. He feels that he could direct the elements more effectively than Trixie, and he's probably right.
1933921
extortion, the creation of false information, con artistry, bribery , he also hired someoen to mind control Cheerilee, and he's framed other ponies for his or his minions crimes.
I personally don't agree with the idea that he wants them to protect Equestria at least anymore that him wanting to protect what he one day wants to conquer, I.E he's not doing out of the goodness of his heart. That's just me though.
That airship scene! So classy
Nice work there! Though they should have first tried to purchase Zizanie's services by selling her the Truth Serum formula, that kind of stuff oughta be worth millions of silver bits! 
Obviously the plan can't go down like this, it was exposed outright!
1933836 Eeeeh?
1934307: Isn't it available in an (albeit untranslated) spellbook?
1933921: The only thing so far that's definitely illegal, so far as I know, is framing FlimFlam for treason, which I'm probably going to edit into something like "He brought evidence to light of their other crimes, and perhaps finagled things to get them stuck in solitary," because I realized later that it was out of character for him to break the law so blatantly. He's a bad guy, but he's good at staying within the letter of the law -- hence him not being arrested yet.
As for the rest of it, I don't think there's anything that's verified as illegal. In M&D, he did nothing illegal; it's quite legal for him to get Octavia concerts/be her patron in return for her running messages for him, and to offer Lyra a job through Octavia. He did nothing else illegal in CTS; it's perfectly legal for him to send ponies to aid a farmer in a competition. Flim and Flam went off the rails later, but that wasn't anything he wanted or asked for (and to blame him for what they did would be like blaming Luna for what Greengrass himself has done; I don't think an employer is necessarily responsible for the illegal actions of an employee unless they help or coerce them somehow). It's probably legal for him to send a pony to try to seduce Cheerilee (without magic, just standard romantic stuff); mind-control love spells are probably not legal, but I would imagine the Duke is wily enough to not actually tell Moonlit Night to use them, rather he'd just say, "I want you to convince her to run away with you," and let her take it from there. (Slimy, sure, and probably closer than the rest of the stuff he's done to breaking the law, but it'd be tough to make a case for it. If he didn't tell her to use magic, and he can argue that he didn't even know Moonlit Night was anything besides a very talented lothario, it could fall back under 'minion doing something stupid without the Duke knowing'). Leaking a fake rumor that Octavia is going to play the Symphony is underhanded, but also probably not illegal (again, no reason to think that lying itself is illegal in pony land). Nothing he did in GG's Night is illegal as far as I know; he flattered Blueblood, lied to Mounty, and basically unleashed a flash mob on Lightning, but there's again no evidence that lying is legal. He accepted a discount from the Builder's Guild, which might be bribery but could be seen in other ways (this is probably closer than the other acts, but there's a fine line between 'bribery' and 'standard sucking up to powerful nobles' and it'd be tough to show that the Duke crossed it) And in this fic, most of what he did was basically throwing ponies in Trixie's way, and I don't see why it'd be illegal to basically get a bunch of ponies to talk to Trixie and bother her. He's done loads of slimy, corrupt stuff, but not much of it actually violating the laws, is how I see it.
EDIT: One more thing I just remembered, him offering to alibi Blueblood at the end of Symphony. Lying to police is probably illegal. However, the Duke being a master of rumors and circumlocution, I think his preferred strategy there would just be to spread around the idea that Blueblood had been [other place] that night, to get the police thinking that by other means and head off the investigation. That's more his style, and with his command of the presses and rumor mill, I think he'd be much more likely to do that than just lie to the cops.
1933941: Not from the goodness of his heart, no. He wants to grow something great because he enjoys growing, and what he wants to grow is the nation. He wants to lead it into a new age of prosperity and glory. It's a purely selfish goal -- he's doing it because he thinks he'd have a blast leading the nation into a Golden Era -- but, if he actually performed that goal, the results would be good for others than himself.
It's selfish, but not in the hedonist, money-grubbing sense. One thing I was going for with the character was a selfish villain whose goals aren't entirely undesirable by the masses.
1934587
Which story is Cheerliee lured away in? I think I might have missed it.
1934614: It's in the very beginning of Symphony for Moon and Sun. We just see the very end of the plot -- Moonlit Night breaks into Trixie's office to screw with some paperwork to have Cheerilee fired (so then he can sweep her off her feet and spirit her away to a glorious new job in Caneighda), but the Elements surprise him and say they already de-charmed Cheerilee. Moonlit Night hits Trixie with a confusion spell and flees into the night, and has not yet been scene again. Joining, I suppose, Heavy Hitter as the other 'minion of the nobles that has never been heard from again.'
1933921
That's what all megalomaniacs say to make themselves sleep better at night. There is nothing GG has done or said that truly suggests he has benign motives for wanting control of the Elements; they're just a way to advance his aims of taking over Equestria itself. Sure, he wants to make sure Corona's dealt with, but that's because he's royally screwed if she takes over. Only the truly insane would want their home to be totally destroyed, so that hardly counts as a redeeming trait.
As for Fischer, same thing. He claims he wants to train the Elements, but what happens after that? He goes down as the one who trained the heroes who defeated Corona, uses his fame to catapult to the top, and grows his own power base simply by being proxy to the ones who did the actual work. It's all a matter of how you spin the story to the press, and given the Night Court we've seen up to this point, the only way Fischer could have gotten - and stayed - where he is today is to become as good at weaving a tapestry of lies as anypony else on the Court. Again, just wanting to stop Corona is not a redeemable trait - it's just common sense.
Night Light might not have such grand plans, but he showed himself to be perfectly complacent with the system and willing to abuse it to punish those he deemed his enemies.
1934676 : Remember, titles are inherited. It's not necessarily canon, but the backstory I had in mind for Fisher was that his father was already a Duke, and Bobbing Fisher did something meritorious during his trials (when they send him out into the world as a young colt to prove that he's worthy of the Fisher name) to justify being raised higher. In my headcanon, he was thus an Archduke before he ever took his seat, at which point he held onto his seat through his sheer zeal -- I see him as the kind of guy to work eighteen hour days, detesting parties and socials, and scorn slacking as 'weak' -- enabling him to do a staggering amount of work for the nation, his factories supporting so much of the Equestrian industry, and his strategical mind enabling him to fend off anyone who challenges him. (I would also see him as one of the more independent nobles, more prone to call the others out when they're being stupid as opposed to going along for nonsensical gain, and Luna probably appreciates that. He does not tolerate fools.)
And sure, a pony could get the Elements trained, then use that for political gain... or a pony could choose not to do that. We haven't seen enough of Fisher to know which sort he is. Personally, I think he's far more interesting if he genuinely doesn't care about personal gain or even rank (perhaps thinking that whatever meritorious thing he did that wound up working well for him was going to blow up in his face, but not caring). It gives him added facets and makes him more than just a cliche General Ripper kind of character. Plus, it both makes him more dangerous (if he cares nothing for rank or riches, then the L6 can't hope to block him by threatening those, and if he sees himself as purely righteous, he becomes very hard to stop) and more reasonable (if he truly cares about the nation, he'd be more willing to listen to reason than someone who was just greedy) than otherwise.
Actually, it might be interesting if Trixie misunderstands him:
Trixie: "Aha. I'm going to take down Fisher like so: I'll pretend to agree to everything Fisher wants me to do, getting personal trainers and all that, but in a way where he doesn't get any credit! He'll reject it, and then all thenobles I have hidden in the next room will here how he doesn't care at all about the nation but just wants credit!"
(Later)
Fisher: "So, you'll sign a contract agreeing for you and the other Elements to get training under some neutral third party?"
Trixie: "Yep!"
Fisher: "Awesome. Here's the contract."
Trixie: "...wait, aren't you upset you won't get credit?"
Fisher: "Not really. It's more important to save everyone's life."
Trixie: "...are you sure? You don't want to protest a littel? Blueblood would."
Fisher: "Blueblood's an idiot."
Blueblood (from next room): "Hey!"
1934728
...So wait, Fischer's supposed to be a good guy now? Because nothing you said, wrote, proposed, or even mentioned up to this point has given me any indication to think otherwise. Even that story with him and Night Light gave him only enough characterization to move him up from cardboard to dry toast. I've only been able to go on the direction your stories have moved in, the ideas you've posted on the forum, and just the kind of tales you write. Forgive me if I am simply incapable of reading your mind.
Point is, if Fischer really wanted to help train the L6, then why hasn't he done anything to move towards that goal? He might not like these six having the Elements, but a reasonable pony wouldn't risk Equestria's safety by ripping them from the only ponies known to make them work in the last thousand years. Luna might suggest he bring along a couple other officers or officials to make sure she isn't seen playing favorites, but she'd probably be willing to approve of something to help defend Equestria. Trixie might need some talking to in order to convince her this isn't a trick, but she'd ultimately go along with it anyway to make sure she and her friends are better equipped to survive Corona's later attacks (or just the destruction Ponyville naturally draws to itself). And as much as he may dislike Trixie, that would be all the more reason to work with her and guide her back on the right path, or at least as he sees it. Instead, the only thing he's done is ally himself with the nobles we know are trouble to shut down Trixie in her quest to get her town some relief funding. If he truly gave a damn about Equestria, he would have done something to help them a LONG time ago.
1934960: Oh no. He's not a good guy. He's not pure evil, but he's willing to do evil to accomplish what he sees as a Higher Good -- the Elements getting the training to defend the nation. (Y'know, like the L6 are doing right now).
The way I see Fisher is: According to Hard Bargain, Luna issued a dictate saying essentially 'hands off the Elements.' This prevents Fisher from directly sending them trainers or whatever -- it would look like bias. He also figured that Luna was vouching for them, probably saw something he didn't, and so he'd trust her judgement. If Luna thinks Trixie can develop/grow on her own, he'll go with that. She's a wise princess, after all.
But months have passed. Trixie is still, in his eyes, a lazy moron who cares only about herself. He's watched her in Ponyville with agents and she isn't dong the physical or mental or magical training he thinks she needs. Most significantly, Corona recently attacked the town and leveled it with a zebra curse and Trixie was entirely useless (that event was probably the catalyst that pushed Fisher over the edge -- Trixie cannot beat a single solitary zebra, nor remove its curse until the town is destroyed, so how can she be useful in the coming conflict?) Corona is still gathering power and growing stronger by the day. He is aware that they're all running out of time, and increasingly thinks that Luna is just too blinded by love or pity for Trixie to realize how useless she is. He also thinks Trixie is so morally bankrupt that she'd never agree to training voluntarily; even if he got a bill passed assigning Spitfire (as a completely random example) to give the L6 combat training, he doesn't think Trixie would actually do it because he thinks she sucks. Plus, the political situation is such that he's concerned that other nobles might try to grab the Elements; he's become aware of what the Duke is doing and is also worried that one of them will succeed, endangering Equestria by basically locking the Elements in whatever province they live in. So he resorts to what he sees as desperate measures of working with (and then later on double-crossing) Duke and Blueblood to get the Elements trained, and also hopefully block the other nobles from getting them.
(Also, according to FitD, he knew that what he said in the papers wasn't going to influence Night Light and would have no affect on the relief funding anyway).
Good guy? No. Like you said, if he was more trusting, he could probably have just talked to Trixie from the beginning. He's too used to seeing himself as the only good, righteous pony in the area, and he's grown too used to justifying bad deeds by appealing to a greater good. But chaotic evil? No. He wants the Higher Good deep down. That's what motivates him.
Is he wrong to do what he did? Sure. That's why he's a villain. (Of course, I"d argue that Trixie is equally wrong to be doing what she's doing now, but let's not go there again).
And, er, you know the whole 'ripping the Elements' thing was a grimdark idea, right? No reason to think he'd actually do it in canon, esp. as it's impossible.