The
CONVERSION
â–ºBureau
CODE MAJESTE
By Chatoyance
3. Horse With No Name
The little gray pony was slightly singed around the edges. The tips of her cornsilk mane and tail smouldered in the stinging, acidic rain. The heavy metal ring was still clutched tightly between her teeth. As she regained her senses, the smell of burned hair and ozone biting her nostrils, she suddenly startled with renewed fear. She rose to her hooves; she felt wobbly but much more confident in her new body.
The damper ring. Lillian knew that she needed to get the band of metal over her horn again, and she had to do it quickly. She could not sense the strange feeling that indicated Celestia's approach, so it was likely she had not yet been traced. She stared at her clumsy hooves; if she had hands she could slip the ring over her horn in an instant. Then again, if she had hands, she would be a human, and the entire issue would be moot.
Lillian set the ring down on the dead, storm-flattened grain that covered the disturbingly flat landscape. It could be Alberta, or more likely Saskatchewan. Then again, it could be Iowa. Gray stalks stretched to the horizon; they had been dead for a very, very long time. The last crop ever grown had been perfectly preserved by a small error in genegineering; nothing could digest wheat anymore, neither animal nor bacteria nor fungus. The broken genes for the new wheat had spread quickly around the planet contaminating all the relatives of wheat. The last crop had become the tombstone for grains as a botanical family.
The little gray pony set her front hooves on either side of the ring, pinching it between them. She could feel the resistance of the ring in her... ankles? Knuckles? Whatever her new body parts were called, she reasoned that she could use her hooves to keep track of the ring's position on the ground.
Lillian lowered her head slowly, until she felt her horn touch the earth. Lifting and lowering her head again and again, she tried to work the tip of her horn down toward the space between her hooves, where the ring was held. She couldn't roll her eyes far enough to see the tip of her horn, but... wait. That must be the ring! And that curvature her horn was sliding off of was her right hoof! Carefully, carefully... that is probably it. That must be the center of the ring.
She slowly and ever-so-gently moved her head, tapping to feel if her horn was trapped within the ring pinched between her hooves. She felt faint resistance. The ring must be around the tip of her horn. Lillian pushed her head down, hard, digging her horn deep into the muddy, sterile soil. The itchy acid rain pounded her back and trickled through the feathers on her wings. Now what?
She had to get the ring to stay, and she needed it to fit around the base of her horn, just the way that Olivia had set it. Lillian lowered her body, her belly down among the crushed stalks and mud. Using her chest and hindquarters as a stable base, she slowly lifted her horn free from the muck, while simultaneously trying to drag the ring closer to her forehead with the edges of her forehooves. She felt the scrape of the ring as it slid down her horn. Resting now on her... elbows? she was able to fiddle about with the ring, finally assuring herself that it was on her horn and set solidly around the base, close to her skull.
She didn't feel any different. The metal ring seemed a little heavy, but other than that she could detect no change. Was the ring working?
Lillian scanned the horizon. It was flat in all directions, with no trace of mountain, hill, or building. The view made her feel dizzy and unsettled. Her eyes craved any difference in the landscape. For a moment she felt as if she might fall into the sky. How could anyone live in such a flat, barren place?
They didn't, of course. Not now, anyway. Once, though, she knew that this had been one of the breadbaskets of the world, when the soil was alive, when grains were still capable of nourishing life and were not filled with genetically engineered preservatives and pesticides. Back when plants could still grow at all.
Even so, the thought of spending a life in a perfectly flat land made Lillian shudder.
The tainted rain was hurting her eyes terribly. She carefully, delicately waggled her mane, trying to get spikes of it to hang over her face like the brim of a hat. She managed to get a large sheaf of hair to curve over just enough; for now the rain ran down it, and stayed mostly out of her eyes. Better. Much better. She blinked again and again, allowing her tears to clear out the stinging rain.
There was no pursuit. If Celestia could find her, she would have by now. Lillian let out a huge sigh of relief that turned into a moan. The moan became a cry, and the cry turned to exhausted tears.
Lillian cried in the rain for a long time. Eventually the fear and tension drained from her. She was safe. For now.
It was enough.
Thunder boomed in the gray sky, but Lillian saw no lightning. Still, it would be sensible to find some kind of shelter. The little gray pony... no, alicorn - she would have to face the fact of it - stood up again. Alicorn. The word seemed strange and alien. That was the species of monster she now was. Lillian Fogarty, the alicorn.
She realized that she was something else that had never happened before. She was the first newfoal to ever regret their conversion. And she did. She regretted it so much. That was supposedly impossible. Newfoals were universally filled with positive feelings, as though they were high all the time. According to some things she had read, that was not far from the truth.
Lillian was not at all high. She felt no special feeling of wellbeing. As far as she could tell, her thoughts were as dark and moody as always, more so today, considering all she had been through. She could imagine the most horrible ends for herself. That too, was supposed to not happen for newfoals.
Apparently, alicorns didn't get the automatic gift of happiness and serenity that normal ponies received. Lillian just felt sad, regretful, and miserable. And afraid.
Shelter. Lillian began to amble in an arbitrary direction. There was nothing to see, wherever she looked, but standing still was pointless. At least if she moved, she might run into something.
Suddenly, Lillian realized she had missed out on lunch. She had never gotten to have the coveted 'First Meal As A Pony' party that made morning conversion so much fun. Her belly rumbled with hunger. All around her was kilometers and kilometers of wheat, the ripe grain still on the stalks, and not a bit of it was food. She laughed, bitterly, as she walked. "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to..." Lillian froze.
That was a building. That was absolutely a building. It was gray against the gray sky, but it rose above the gray fields. It was faint but it was there, not entirely hidden by the mist and the downpour. Lillian began to move faster, her amble rising to a trot. Soon she was galloping.
It was a corporate farming facility. It must have been abandoned decades ago. As she approached she could see the rows and rows of automated silos, the three concentric chainlink fences, the razor wire on top. There were the automated turrets, and the guardhouses. She slowed her pace; no, no. Careful now. Or not. The turrets, the defenses... they would all be dead now. No power. No maintenance. It had to be safe by now. They'd probably removed all the ordnance in any case. No one would bother attacking a production center that produced nothing. The days of food riots and anti-corporate resistance were long gone.
Lillian began circling the fence, looking for a way in. There had to be a gate, somewhere, because there had to be a road, or roads, leading in and out. The stark, angular buildings and curving silos looked eerie and strangely beautiful in the rain. Above all, it was somehow a delight merely to have something break up the monotony of the flat landscape.
The gate, when she finally got to it, was busted open. Sometime in the past, someone had apparently run a heavy truck through the gate, probably to pillage the abandoned facility. Lillian felt grateful to that long ago scavenger; she had no idea how to get through the triple fences on her own.
The complex was huge. After the gate were guardhouses; these contained nothing but broken glass and stains. Lillian ambled down the crumbling concrete roadway. On both sides were now rows and rows of compact apartment blocks, the housing for the corporate prisoners who had once served as the workforce here. An idea stirred in Lillian's mind.
Camouflage.
While most ponies did not wear clothing, some did, especially on the Earthly side of the Equestrian barrier. Newfoals were notorious for clinging to the wearing of clothing; hats, coats, scarves, even pants. Newfoals commonly did not grasp the cultural significance of clothing to native Equestrians, despite the efforts of the classes held at the Conversion Bureaus. Wearing clothing, for ponies, was uncommon, and where it was not functional or ceremonial, it was remarkably sexually provocative. In Equestria, the equivalent of a strip-club involved the putting on of clothing, not its removal.
Lillian had entered one of the apartment blocks, and was searching the apartments one after another. In one she had found a hard hat, but it was too small and would not serve to hide her horn. In another she discovered a stray pair of boxer shorts; even if they were not ripped and filled with holes, they would have been utterly useless.
One apartment held a holophoto of a family, a mother, father and two daughters smiled out at Lillian. They all wore the same corporate worker jumpsuits, but they appeared glad to be together even so. She lay down on the floor there, for a while, and sobbed. She wished she could talk to her mother, she wished she had a family now. Her mother would never accept her as... this thing she was.
When she had regained herself, she continued her exploration. Outside the acidic rain continued to beat down; as she entered each apartment, she could smell it as it fell through shattered windows and splattered on the bare, plascrete floors.
Finally, in one closet, Lillian found the jackpot. A trenchcoat. A marvelous, dark gray, intact trenchcoat. How had it been left here? Who would ever leave such a thing in the post-collapse world? Lillian wondered at the owner, a corporate prisoner, wearing nothing but assigned jumpsuits for their entire life, unable to leave the farming facility, yet possessing a fairly decent trenchcoat! Or had someone been allowed a visitor, one who left behind their coat? Had an elite taken an interest in one of the prisoners - some kind of dalliance or romance behind the razor-wire? The coat held provocative mysteries that would never be answered.
But the coat also held promise as a way to hide her wings.
All Lillian really needed to do was to hide one aspect of her being. If she could hide her horn, she could pass as a pegasus. If she could hide her wings, she could pretend she was just a normal unicorn. Lillian took the coat carefully down with her teeth; it tasted of mildew and ancient pollen.
There were the remains of a bed in this room. It had mostly rotted away, but the frame was intact. Lillian lay the coat down on the metal frame to study it. If she was to use it, she would need to put it on somehow. Clearly, one forehoof would have to go down one of the arms of the coat, then the coat would need to be tossed over her back. Lastly would come inserting her other forehoof down the remaining arm.
Lillian took the neck of the coat in her teeth and sat down on her haunches. Using her teeth and her other foreleg, she worked her right hoof down the ample right arm of the coat. It was fortunate that the coat had been made for a male adult human; this made it large enough for her hoof to fit the tunnel of fabric.
She trapped the opposite side of the coat with her left forehoof, and pressed into the coat; her right hoof popped out of the arm. One part done. The coat was partly draped across her back now, which was a good start. Lillian craned her long neck and tried to nab the left side of the collar with her teeth, but it was impossible. Instead she settled for the middle of the left side of the coat. No. That wasn't going to work either. This was a problem.
Finally, after much struggle, Lillian managed to wriggle her left hoof down the left arm of the coat by spinning about on the floor while resting on her haunches and leaning back. This hurt her tail, and it bruised her flanks, but with enough short, sharp spasms and a bit of wrestling, she managed to jerk the coat all the way onto her back, and her left hoof all the way down the arm of the coat.
Lillian lay on her side, panting. It had been exhausting trying to put the coat on. She did not want to imagine how difficult it would be to take it off again. If she even could.
It struck her suddenly that... she was a unicorn. Well, partly, anyway. She had a horn. Suddenly she felt stupid. Unicorns could lift and manipulate objects with their magic. Telekinesis was normal for unicorns. Duh.
Lillian looked around the room. There was a chunk of rotted foam on the floor, once part of the bed. It was about the size of an orange. Lillian's stomach growled loudly at that; she had enjoyed some marvelous oranges back during her fourteen days at the Bureau. Oh, how she could use just one of those shining fruits right now. Enough. That only made things worse. Time to concentrate.
Move, she thought. Move, foam. Lillian tried to reach out with her mind, she tried to pretend she had an invisible arm stretching out from her forehead. She imagined beams of energy tractoring the lump of rotted bedding. Nothing. Not a glow, not a feeling inside her head, nothing.
She had managed to teleport! She had teleported herself all the way to... wherever this was. Probably Saskatchewan. Lillian Fogarty of Surrey, magical alicorn, had teleported herself all the way to Probably Saskatchewan without even knowing how, and she couldn't move one little piece of freaking foam!
The ring. That must be it. The ring on her horn.
It wasn't for hiding her. That was just a side effect. Why would a Conversion Bureau even stock such a thing?
To control new unicorns that could not contain their power. That was the real purpose of the ring. To keep frightened, out-of-control newfoal unicorns from harming themselves or others if their magic expressed itself dangerously. Lillian had heard stories; occasionally some newfoal unicorn would turn out really powerful right from the moment they woke up. There had to be a provision, a protocol for that eventuality. That was the point of the ring. It blocked magic completely. It wasn't a cloaking ring, it was a damping ring.
That it hid her from Celestia was merely a fortunate benefit to shutting off the fount of magic.
Rested from her struggles with the coat, Lillian stood upright. The coat dragged a little on the ground, but overall it did the job. Her back and sides were covered all the way to her tail, and her wings were entirely hidden. She could wander now as an ordinary unicorn. A unicorn dressed in an old trenchcoat.
Beyond the worker apartments was the main building of the corporate plantation. These had been the offices of the corporate drones that ran the facility, the overseers. There was one thought now in Lillian's mind: food. There must be old vending machines in this place, and there were certain snacks said to be impervious to the passage of time.
It did not take long to find a cafeteria in the structure, and as expected dozens of vending machines crowded the walls. Most were partially full, some were empty, one looked as if it had been filled the day the complex was abandoned. Lillian studied the selections carefully; she did not want to eat something that could make her sick.
Could an alicorn get sick? Just how unusual was this body of hers? It was prudent to avoid unnecessary tests of her status, she concluded.
Nanobars. Fruity chewy Nanobars. They had been one of the first commercially successful nanoconstructed snacks. A smart advertising campaign combined with clever endorsements had overcome public distaste for entirely artificed food. Nanobars contained nothing natural but the atoms from which they were woven. And they were woven, out of threads of protein, carbohydrates, and flavoring molecules, all stitched together with nutrient complexes.
Now, after the Collapse, virtually the whole of humanity lived entirely on nanoreconstructed, recycled food. It was the crowning achievement of human civilization: an entire planet fed, no human ever went hungry. Of course, a diet of small, awful tasting gray and brown rectangles could not be considered exactly good living, but, for the first time in all of history, everyone everywhere ate at least one meal every single day.
Some had called it the golden age of Mankind.
Nanobars would do. They never degraded so long as their packaging was sealed. It was said that a cache of Nanobars should last for centuries in perfect condition, so long as they were kept properly. Lillian's stomach was growling like a beast.
The trenchcoat hindered her hindquarters a bit, but a few good bucks with her strong rear hooves opened up the front of the vending machine easily. Using her front right hoof, she scooped out stacks of the Nanobars onto the floor. Laying down in the fading light from the intact windows, Lillian bent her head and picked up one of the bars by the edge of the wrapper.
Lillian held the bar between her forehooves and used her teeth to rip the end off of the bar. Hunger had made her feel a little shaky, so it took a few tries before she succeeded in opening the wrapper. The smell of artificial fruit essences filled her nostrils. It was disgusting to her new senses, but she was so hungry she simply did not care.
After the ninth Nanobar, Lillian was getting quite efficient at manipulating the small objects. She snagged the tenth bar with only one hoof, balancing it in the cleft of her frog. In one swift motion, she clasped the bar between both hooves and neatly tore the wrapper open. Once in her mouth, the fruity bar was vacuumed out of the wrapper in an instant, and wrapper number ten joined the growing pile on the floor. Lillian munched contentedly; she had been through so much and food helped. Food definitely helped.
After twenty bars, she finally felt full. The cafeteria was dry, the windows were intact, and the storm still raged outside. It was late; Lillian had no way to tell what time it was but it surely must be evening by now. It was desperately dark now. She felt sure that human eyes would be entirely unable to see. What she could make out seemed to shine unnaturally; it crossed her mind that she might be perceiving more of the spectrum than humans, or ordinary ponies, could see.
Then again, it could all just be her imagination. Right now she wanted to believe that she had some kind of power, some kind of extraordinary means at her command. As she hopefully studied what she could see of the room, she gradually came to the sad conclusion that while her eyesight was better as a fresh new pony, it was not magical after all. The realization somehow felt far more depressing than it really should be.
She lay down on the floor. There was nothing else to be done. She was exhausted, but she was full. In the trench coat she felt a little uncomfortably warm, but she did not want to go through the hassle of trying to remove it, only to have to put it on again. She lay partly on her back, careful of her bruised wing, and spread her legs wide to allow her belly to cool.
What next? Where was she supposed to go, what was she supposed to do? Olivia had made it clear that she could not flee to Equestria. Besides, that was Celestia and Luna's home turf. They would surely be at their most powerful there. Without question the place was the very source of magic itself.
The human world held its own dangers, though. All large cities and operational complexes were constantly monitored; cameras everywhere, corporate eyes in every room, on every street, in every space. It was a pity that there was no living wilderness left. Lillian could imagine running off to some forest and living comfortably as the little pony she was. But all the forests were dead, as were the seas; the only places that plants could grow now were in controlled environments.
This meant that if she wanted to eat, she had to deal with the cities. She would have to find a way to get into the food queues. If she kept herself covered, and moved regularly to new locations, in theory she could remain hidden. As long as she kept the ring on, presumably Celestia would not be able to track her down. Presumably.
It was not much of a life, but it was survival, and right now that was everything. Lillian recalled the look on Celestia's face.
According to the holo on Equestrian History and Politics she had seen at the Bureau, Celestia had exiled her own sister, Luna, for a thousand years because of a squabble over how day and night should be apportioned! Supposedly, Luna was an alicorn, a full and true goddess, and equal to Celestia in power, more or less. If this is how she treated her own sister, then what would be the most likely reaction to the existence of an upstart wanna-be alicorn like herself?
Lillian didn't feel like a goddess. The thought was laughable. She was just a pony with wings and a horn, a freak, but nothing more. She had no special wisdom, and her alicorn powers consisted of being able to put on a trenchcoat and rip open Nanobar wrappers easily. Not much of a resume for a goddess.
And teleport. She had somehow done that. Lillian had no idea how, and no idea why it had happened. But it had, there was no denying that. So, maybe one little hint of magical wonder there.
That said, though, if she ever wanted to try such a stunt again, she would need to remove the damping ring, and if she did that she would become visible to Celestia, and she had no doubt, no doubt in all of both worlds, that Celestia could wipe the floor with her and never even break a sweat.
Lillian understood that the only reason she was even still alive was sheer luck and the clumsy response of the humans to whatever a 'Code Majeste' was.
Majeste. It sounded familiar. Lillian thought for a moment, unable to sleep. Majeste. Lese Majeste! That was it! Lese Majeste. The crime of insulting or diminishing royalty. Treasonous thoughts, speech, or deed. Merely failing to show proper deference was Lese Majeste. Historically, the crime was serious, and the punishment often dire.
That was Code Majeste, then. A direct insult to the Crown Of Equestria. Her very existence was that insult.
Lillian began to cry, softly, then more loudly. The thunder and wind seemed to weep with her; and for the rest of that night she desperately clung to the strange and irrational comfort that the storm was somehow trying to be her friend.
Man, I just want to reach into the screen and give her a hug. Excellent work Chatoyance, you made me poke my screen trying
Ahh, self discovery is always hard.
I like young Lillian here; smart and resourceful. I do hope the best for her as we continue on.
Oh my god, the Dressclub, my bastard child.
WHY?!
Awesome chapter though.
Noooo!
124881
Your Dressclub is a rational extrapolation of the given scenario, in my opinion, and that makes it good speculative fiction. Science Fiction in a nutshell; take a change to the world and extrapolate the rational, logical implications.
It is my opinion that some of your inventions are more intelligent, clever and reasonable that you yourself perceive them to be. I cannot ignore them.
Your speed is incredible. Two chapters in one day? Jeez.
Thanks for the update! Really wish I could make these comments longer, or have something to critique on. You got an excellent story going for you, personally I think it's better than The Taste of Grass. (at least on the exciting aspect, I was hanging on every word)
124935
>Dressclubs
>Rational extraploration
>Rational
>RATIONAL
I think my brain has some what imploded.
124987
Consider, Krass - they did the same notion with the Ferengi on the various Star Trek franchises; the Ferengi have a strongly patriarchal society where women are diminished by being forced to remain naked at all times, trapped in their homes. Culturally, clothed women are forbidden, therefore exotic, and ultimately erotic; many episodes dealt with Ferengi males being excited at Federation females wearing clothes, others considered this perversion.
Equestrians do not need clothing; they have a coat of hair covering their bodies as well as great amounts of mane and tail. Their native environment is essentially climate controlled; they know what the weather will be because it is manufactured to spec. The only times we see ponies wearing clothing is for show, for display, on special occasions, or during winter -scarves and the like. Beyond saddlebags and the occasional hat, ponies are nudists because that is only rational for them.
What is rare is exotic, and what is exotic is often exciting, and the exciting easily becomes the erotic. Humans dress to accentuate or enhance their sexuality, reasonably, so would ponies. Clothing is decoration as much as it is protection; for a species already cloaked in a coat of hair, clothing would become almost exclusively decoration.
Decoration is for beauty, and the primary value of increasing individual beauty is to attract others, especially potential mates, thus the most rational outcome would be that clothing would be erotic to Equestrians, even more so than it already is to humans.
Since being naked is the norm, and being clothed the exception, it is totally rational that the exception, being the more exotic and exciting, should also be the more erotic. This your Dressclubs make absolute rational sense.
That is my reasoning.
125084
1. Star Trek is a work of fiction.
2. As we have seen in recent episodes, the denizens of Canterlot wear clothes all the time.
3. Since when did you become a psychologist?
4. ????
5. PROFIT!!!
Wait.
Dress Clubs... Socks... Maid outfits...
Stupid sexy ponies.
125227
Challenge Accepted!
1. Star Trek is a work of fiction.
Written by professional writers that make use of their education which involves the history of storytelling as an artform as well as a general study of human psychology as well as many other subjects relevant to the profession of writing.
2. As we have seen in recent episodes, the denizens of Canterlot wear clothes all the time.
They are the elite, wearing fancy, sexy fashions in order to demonstrate their wealthy status just as the elite of our world do, and did, throughout history. Clothing has always been a decorative badge of status; consider the toga of ancient Rome.
3. Since when did you become a psychologist?
Since my two doctorates were awarded. Only one is in psychology and human sexuality, but it is enough. (Not really. Or is it?)
4. ????
!!!!! ! !!! !!!! !!!! !
5. PROFIT!!!
LOSS!!!
Hmm, going by some things in Lillian's description(especially if the title photo is consistent with the story itself)I may have an idea where this fic may end up, but I don't want to say anything in case I'm right(or wrong)...
Also, "In Equestria, the equivalent of a strip-club involved the putting on of clothing, not its removal." This...brings up...implications, when it comes to ponies like Rarity's parents, especially her mother. No wonder she finds them embarassing.
I see this Celestia as being a similar character to Baron Wulfenbach from Girl Genius (great great great webcomic. Go read it. No really, go, I'll wait), and her situation with Lillian is a lot like the situation the new Heterodyne puts the Baron in.
Baron Wulfenbach is a benevolent tyrant (despite what his rivals may tell you), who cobbled together a tenuous peace among the constantly warring Sparks, through complete and total military domination. For the first time in centuries, the only wars are small uprisings. Suddenly, there appears on the global stage a new Heterodyne, a powerful Spark and the heiress to a beloved and feared line of rulers. The many friends of her father and uncle will of course flock to her as a rival to the Baron. Her very existence threatens the peace that the Baron has worked so hard to maintain. He has no choice but to do everything he can to prevent her from coming to power, even though she has not done anything wrong.
m i the only one who see's a simple solution? send her out to another planet or dimension. also i seriously doubt the element bearers would hurt her themselves, not even under orders from celestia.
lastly ive been curious as to what could cause a human undergoing ponification to become an alicorn and i have a few possible reasons.
(1) there is a condition where different dna is present in one body. this is known as chimaeraism(not sure i spelled right) and if ponification serum turns you into one of 3 due to dna code..... multiple dna could cause it to turn you alicorn.
(2) dammit HLF WHAT THE FUCK YOU PUT IN THERE?
(3) dammit GOVERNMENT WHAT THE FUCK YOU PUT IN THERE?
125629
The events of The Taste of Grass imply that each conversion creates a new pony soul, which then enters the cycle of universal rebirth. If you assume that Celestia and Luna are natural features of the universe that they come from, you must conclude that some pony souls are also goddess souls. My theory is that every new soul created has a small non-zero chance of coming out as a goddess soul.
I agree with Tychomonger now I've had time to ponder about this story some more. Celestia does come off quite a bit like The Baron (Girl Genius is one of my fave comics btw).
I'm wondering a bit about PER, and what they would do to Lillian, she's like them a former Human now a Pony/Equestrian, she doesn't seem to have the same sort of feelings other Newfoals in your work's have. i.e. that sort of happy, high, euphoria but it's obvious why she isn't feeling that way, with Celestia trying to hunt her down and all. Would PER see her positively or negatively, they're already rebels, forcibly converting people against Celestia's wishes and discovering Celestia trying to kill one of their own turned Pony could have some very interesting potential in your story. Possibly turning PER hostile against Equestrian authorities as they protect Lillian.
Also Celestia's actions against Lillian if discovered by HLF could have the potential to ignite a whole new movement of hate and intolerance against Equestrians. Consider how the HLF could spin this, pointing out if you're too powerful Celestia herself will casually snuff you out without a second thought. And they have living proof Lillian being actively hunted by Celestia would be a major PR victory for HLF. So Celestia will have to tread carefully when hunting down Lillian, or risk alienating the rest of Humanity and potentially causing the deaths or capture of her subjects on Earth.
Also I'm wondering how Luna would react, granted in the dream she and Celestia seemed to have a unified front against Lillian but we don't see Luna trying to actively hunt down and kill Lillian like Celestia. Granted I know she's the younger of the two, but she was willing to fight and kill her own sister and bring about the eternal night when she was Nightmare Moon, and I imagine she was willing to fight against Celestia before she was Queen Moon. In Short Luna's no pushover. So I can even imagine Luna trying to protect Lillian or find some sort of compromise short of fighting her sister again.
And then what if the Elements of Harmony find out about Celestia trying to kill a Newfoal? We see the Elements overseeing Conversion's but would they be so willing, knowing that if the Newfoal is too powerful or an Alicorn, Celestia will personally hunt them down if they escape. I can't imagine Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash willing to serve under a ruler who has no qualms about killing Newfoals simply because they MIGHT! be a threat. And the rest of the Elements probably wouldn't want to keep serving under Celestia either, and should the Elements of Harmony themselves find Celestia's action appalling what sort of message does that send back in Equestria. Celestia as an unfit ruler has potential to spark unrest and possibly Civil war, and who would make a better ruler? Well to the billions of Newfoals Lillian would seem an ideal choice, she's an Alicorn, a former human and represents all their hopes of Equestria.
Also their are the governments of the world to consider, they are in what I see an uneasy alliance with Equestria forced to compromise and deal with a God. With Lillian they could hold more sway and power, force entry into Equestria and thus hold the threat of Atomic war against a fairly primitive culture, technologically. Whose to say the Government wouldn't try to nuke the sisters and see if that would kill them. I mention using Lillian to gain access to Equestria because as mentioned in another Conversion Bureau Story, Celestia allowed certain probes access to Equestria and has since kept out all non-equestrian elements, excluding Newfoals of course.
And these are all just the obvious threats and worries to Celestia, their are also political entities back in Equestria that would likely love to rally around a New Alicorn and remove Celestia and Luna from the Throne. In theory, they'd have a single Alicorn that could with time take over the Day/Night cycle, thus eliminating the need for the Alicorn sisters.
I imagine there are other factions on both Equestria and Earth that you have yet to reveal to us, that would use Lillian. Background forces, illuminati style factions who if they had Lillian would likely seek to make more, since you said your conversion verse is as all-inclusive as possible, cloning is a viable and frightening reality that could see an army of Alicorns set loose against the Alicorn sisters.
Also I realized Lillian reminds me of one of your characters from 27 Ounces, the Newfoal Carmine who had a bit of a mental break due to being able to feel guilt over her heinous actions as a Human.
Both Characters had negative reactions to being Ponified, Lillian must now run and hide from Celestia in order to survive whilst Carmine shuns the greater Pony society for reasons of seeking to be worthy of Equestria. I could totally see these two characters meeting and possibly getting along, since both have nothing and both are in their own way, running from Equestria/Celestia. Of course I'm not exactly sure if they've been ponified around the same time as each other, but I think it's relatively close, according to my rough estimates from reading the time of the setting of 27 Ounces and Code Majeste they seem to happen rather close to one another.
I know you don't normally do tie in stories, they only character I can recall as being in more than one of your fics in person or merely mentioned is Doctor Pastern. And the sequel story Taste of Grass had Alexi and some of the other Newfoals in Summerland village. But I can see plenty of potential interactions between Carmine and Lillian, you did do the sequel A taste of Grass after all, so seeing Carmine again would be really neat.
125689
TL;DR dude
124757
Missed this earlier. Very plausible fannon, makes for a deep Tyrantlestia. I like it! Still technically doesn't match up since it's out of line for the tone of the show, and Faust did say that Luna became Nightmare Moon mainly because something made her that way. Also, I really disagree with you on Lesson Zero. I think this is an easy misinterpretation that I've seem a few times. Twilight may have caused chaos, but it's on the same level as Spike destroying half the town: Bad thing to do, but not a, uh, very bad crime. (I don't know the correct terminology, sorry.) Those kinds of disasters (apparently) get fixed fairly quickly. Anyways, when Twilight is talking with Princess Celestia, even though Celestia is doing the whole parental talking to thingy, she still says that Twilight is a wonderful student. Then when the friends come in, INSTANT PRINCESS POKER FACE. She goes from Mentor to Princess instantly (like a boss.) If Twilight's friends hadn't intervened, then Twilight would have gotten a learn-not-to-do-this-again talk, and then punishment on the same level with whatever Spike probably got for his destructive (but mostly harmless) greed-ramapage. (Community service, anyone?)Twilight didn't permanently mess with anyone's mind, she just influenced ponies. Nopony is shown as being injured at all, and there's no property damage either. Just because Twilight can use very powerful mind-magic doesn't mean she should be punished for what she could have done. If a skilled martial artist accidentally injured someone, you wouldn't execute him because he did a small crime and therefore might kill people. Anyone is technically capable of doing horrible crimes whether they have weapons or not. Therefore I don't see almost any Celestia, fannon or not, turning Twilight to stone for her want-it need-it spell.
Heh. Does this count as a lecture?
124867
I really want to give her a hug too...
125689
Great thoughts and observations! When this is over it will be quite interesting to look back on all of the comments here and see how readers perceived the story as it progressed.
I love how TCB stories, especially Chatoyance's, really get the community thinking and questioning the events, characters, and situations.
This is grand!
To be honest, I really don't like this all that much, just because of the interpretation of Celestia. The only thing that lets me want to keep reading is Tychomonger's comparison of Celestia to Baron Wulfenbach. Let's say two more chapters, then I'll comment again on what I think so far. This isn't a slight on your ability or imagination, it's just that tyrant!Celestia shouldn't exist in my mind.
126082
If I say anything concrete, I will spoil everything. Just accept that my characters always have reasons and that there are no true villains in my works; every antagonist believes they are doing what is right, and they have good reasons for their actions which can be supported from a certain point of view.
Celestia is not a cruel or evil tyrant in my universe - far from it. But she is a ruler, with all that implies, yet she cares absolutely about her universe and all life-kind.
126650
Alright. I suppose I shouldn't be judging this before it's done anyways.
126082
Good on you for giving the story more chance. :)
I just re-read everything and, with one small exception at the end the second chapter, all of Celestia's actions have been shown through the eyes of Lillian. So, really, we have no idea what Celestia's intentions are and we could simply be projecting Lillian's fears of Celestia onto her.
During the dream, their expressions are 'indecipherable' and we don't really know it was Celestia and Luna doing anything, or if they were what it was - the crushing sensation might have been the very fabric of Equestria for all we know.
The PA getting pulled back into the room: again, we don't know what happened. That might have been Celestia trying to protect her from potential harm if Lillian's untrained powers should decide to vaporize the building.
Celestia using the term 'usurper' is a bit pointed, but again we really don't know what's going on.
The devious little plot-twisting voice in my head is going positively bonkers with the directions this could still go. She keeps pointing at the Luna icon on the story and whispering "We ain't seen nothin' yet.". :D
126689
I foresee eight different ways this can end off the top of my head.
1. Lillian gets killed
2. Lillian gets altered to be one of the standard varieties of pony
3. Lillian gets exiled to somewhere else (where I don't know)
4. Lillian becomes the third ruler of Equestria
5. Lillian gets to live in Equestria as a normal pony
6. Lillian is on the run until she dies
7. Celestia and/or Luna dies
8. All the alicorns die
MORE FUEL FOR THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD
126742
We can rule out 4, 7, and 8 based on other stories Chatoyance has written.
126762
If it's The Taste of Grass, then I wouldn't know. I didn't finish that. Otherwise, this could be later chronologically than all her other stories. It's not exactly stated.
I think Tychomonger and Tonto the Trotter have clarified why Celestia, regardless of how benevolent she truly is, can not allow another alicorn. Especially a former human. The best of the newfoals would rally to Lillian as their own goddess. The worst would control and use Lillian as a tool to dispose Celestia and Luna and turn Equestria into New Earth. Additional factors: Newfoals will likely outnumber native Equestrians, and the existence of the P.E.R. shows that the government can create newfoals that retain the killer ape mentality. The Plutocrats still control Earth and will conquer Equestria with modifed newfoals. What Celestia and Lillian want doesn't even enter into this.
So what's left is to see how Celestia and Lillian choose to do about this.
126765
Teacup, Down of the Farm takes some years after Purification, and this one is clearly before Purification. In Teacup's story, Celestia and Luna are still rulers of the land.
126787
126742
Haha! Thank you. :)
Being as this is a 'shared universe' I'm certain Chatoyance will have to avoid flipping over too many tables and/or killing anyone who isn't 'hers'.
I don't want to go into any specifics out of courtesy, but the web that can be woven with the events we have seen so far is really quite immense.
126828
Thanks for the reminder. I'd forgotten about that.
126765>>126828 and at the epilouge for the taste of grass "the permutation bureau" (((SPOILERS)))
its also implied that luna and celly can shapeshift into non ponies when they talk to wind feather and tell him to drink pontifallonication serum and become a pontifaloon (think pony+plus that airship thing from aeon flux)
oh god poor girl if you dont give this girl a happy ending ill personally come to your house AND RIP YO HEAD OFF
am i the only one that thingks Celestia don't want to hurt/kill her? And realy hummans are good at making a upproar about small things -_-
Technically (and I do mean technically) Lese-Majeste should be hyphenated (discounting the accents, of course).
Now that you do mention it, I kind of wanted to kick myself for not putting 2+2 together after reading the first 2 chapters.
Love that song ^_^
This is super-depressing so far. Perhaps taken as a whole, with the ending included, the fic won't ultimately qualify as that. But right now, as of this chapter, that's what it is to me. It takes time to read a story, and whatever may be true of the whole does not discount the journey of getting there. This journey is what I was afraid of, why I wanted to put off reading this, because I am really not in a state yet where I can handle that sort of emotion. It really doesn't matter how pleasant the ending is if the process of getting there crushes me. I'm sorry, but I'll have to continue reading this another time when I'm better prepared to handle it.
Finally less than a day behind Toksyuryel in reading these stories ;)
Early attempts at the potion must've been quite the surprise before they thought to add a miniature Barrier in the pony's mouth to convert atoms to dweons whenever they ate Earth food.
I want so bad to hold Lillian and tell her it will be all right.
But it won't.