Final Chances, Final Glories. These Are The Things, That Make Good Stories.
Celestia tried with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough. The purple body sailed down the street and tumbled over the ground with sickening thuds and crunches before sliding to a stop. The sun goddess put up a monumental effort to regain control of her actions but even with the might of a star, it was futile.
She couldn’t help herself. Princess Celestia started to laugh. She laughed because of the humor of the situation as well as in horror of it. She laughed at herself and at everything else while at the same time it was for no reason at all. She laughed but tears streaked down her face in stark contrast.
Those tears were actually a silent plea for help. The alicorn’s mind had converged on itself at the moment she had sent Twilight’s body, and with it the human controlling it, flying down the street. Every last bit of information in her mind been torn loose and thrown into a flurry of raw thoughts and random memories. The things that made up the pony she was were subsequently mixed into the other bits of information that swirled around within her. This information began to condense and gradually pile up forming an entirely different being. Somewhere, the things that made up the alicorn that had ruled Equestria since it’s formation remained, locked away, but not powerless.
What little of Celestia was that was left had recognized this for what it actually was. Luna had described the the events leading up to her transformation Nightmare Moon once during a late night. While what she described was vague and hard to grasp, it reflected the current situation perfectly. Just before she drowned in her mind, Princess Celestia had seen to it that her magic remained inert. Whatever she was to become would undoubtedly endanger the lives of others. Her final act, was not to fight the thing that was consuming her, but instead was to give her little ponies a fighting chance in the long run.
With her magic unused, Celestia was left an open target for a short period of time during the minute it took for her mind to fully succumb to the nightmare. The human response to her actions, however, had been immediate. And while being a goddess with the power of the star in which she controlled, she was immortal only by the statutes of longevity, not invulnerability.
Blood pooled on ground below her. The remaining fragment of the old Celestia would have smiled if she were in control of her body. Even though Shining Armour managed to shield her, the time it had taken him to do so was enough to allow the humans to do considerable damage.
Somehow though, a weak smile did make its way to the alicorn's face. A smile in the midst of a maelstrom of flying lead, arcane magic, and sand kicked up by the impact of both the former and latter.
Shining Armour couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“... and that’s the only reason we took these actions. Please understand that if the world and lives of countless other weren’t in peril we would have taken a more diplomatic route to solve this problem. But time is short and I must ask that you release Ashley Sebelius so she can perform her tasks.”
So there it was. The truth laid bare. The horrible, horrible truth. The stallion had harmed his little sister after all. The princess had convinced him that the biped was using the art of deception by using loved ones against him. He had been convinced by a few words and a memory the princess shared with him to validate her reasons for distrusting the human. He’d put her judgement over his own and Twilight had suffered because of his decisions.
Again.
The unicorn gave everything to keep himself from crying right there. Held his poker face with intense effort but his body told a different story as he trembled. He bit his lower lip to aid in his efforts to keep a hold of himself. Although he put on a strong face, a tear broke free prompting others to follow.
Shining Armor stood at attention with a determined look but silently shed tears all the while. What had he done?
If he had paid attention to anything around him, he would have caught the events leading up to the absolute last thing he could have possibly expected to happen.
Time slowed to a crawl as Shining Armour swiveled his head. One moment a purple unicorn had been standing there but was half down the road in the next. He picked out every little detail as he observed in the situation unfold in slow motion. The purple form hit the ground with enough force to become airborne once more. The white stallion shuddered.
Once more the horned mare hit the ground. He shuddered.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Time faded back to its normal pace as the living projectile finally slid to a halt. Then came laughter. Pained, manic, laughter... those erie howls from the alicorn punctuated the gates of tartarus opening to rain down upon them.
For what it’s worth, Shining Armour had dealt with everything quite well so far. An impressive feat, considering recent events. But a pony’s mind can only handle so much. He simply couldn’t process nor grasp the situation he was in anymore.
And he didn’t. After registering the unicorns mind failing, his body took over and acted purely out of reflex and placed a shield around himself and the princess. Protecting her had became an instinct akin to breathing over his years of service. Even when the captain’s mind had finally given out, he still performed his duty.
From within the shield, Captain Shining Armour numbly observed the scene unfold around him. He watched the flashes of the humans weapons as the launched tiny, but deadly, projectiles into whatever they were trained upon, namely the shield the stallion held up. Each time the metal bits impacted the barrier, it would ripple and crackle. The rate of fire the humans produced made it so it looked as if purple electricity was arcing across its surface.
Suddenly one of the bipeds produced a tube and knelt on one of its legs. In a burst of white smoke an object was launched out and rapidly closed the distance. The ground rumbled and fire washed around the spherical shield in stunning explosion that reduced his hearing to only pick up a high pitched ring.
The smoke cleared and he noticed what fire wasn’t directed towards the shield was going past him. The unicorns among the equine defenders were the only ones able to offer any kind of effective resistance. Horns ablaze, the horned ponies fired beams of raw and dangerous magic. A simple combat spell really as the magic is coalesced to point of reaching temperatures able to melt metal.
Winged, and earthbound counterparts only drew fire away from their magic able comrades. Projectiles and magic flew between opposite sides of the street. For the hooved combatants, it was a fight for survival.
They ground suddenly felt moist under Shining’s right forehoof. The stallion absentmindedly lifted his hoof up to inspect it. It was covered in blood. He looked over himself and found that he was losing some of the red fluid himself from a hole in his armor’s chestplate, however, the blood on his right hoof did not belong to him.
The armored unicorn blinked.
Shining Armour snapped his head to the right. His eyes fell upon Princess Celestia lying on her side in a pool of her own blood. He white coat had been stained red in many places as she bleed from wounds she’d received as a consequence of her actions. Although the alicorn was convulsing slightly, there was a weak smile on her face as she stared off into space with unfocused eyes.
Looking between his bloody hoof and the downed princess repeatedly, it took him a few moments to put two and two together to make twenty-two. His hoof started to shake.
At that moment, every bit of sadness; every bit of pain, loss, hurt, and anger; both for himself and for what happened to those around them surged forward and found release in the form of a defiant yell of anguish and rage as his magic failed and his shield crumbled.
“I’d do anything for you, kid. If anypony ever laid a hoof on you, they’ll have to answer to me. I’d chase them through tartarus if I had to.”
“I know that. But it doesn’t explain why you want to join the Royal Guard! We’ll see each other less than we already do with my studies and all. Don’t you care?”
A slightly younger version of myself looked up to my older brother. The stallion placed a comforting hoof on my head and smiled sincerely.
“Of course I do, kiddo, but that’s why I want to join the guard.” He paused a moment before continuing. “Remember the time you had came home crying after those older colts had hurt you and taken your things?” The white unicorn looked away reminiscing and didn’t wait for an answer. “I couldn’t stand the fact that you’d been hurt and I wasn’t there to protect you. In fact, I was supposed to walk you home that night but because I was so stupid and irresponsible, I didn’t think for one second that you could have needed me so I decided to go out with friends instead. I wasn’t there for you when I should have been.That’s wh-”
“Just stop it with that whole “I wasn’t there to protect you” bit. It wasn’t your fault. So you made a bad choice; you didn’t or couldn’t have known that was going to happen. Don’t blame yourself.”
“You never let me finish. That’s not the only reason I have for doing this. It’s a main part of it but there’s more. It was my fault that you’d gotten hurt. I wasn’t there to protect you when I should have. That’s why I want to join the Royal Guard. I joined so I can protect ponies when they can’t protect themselves. I also joined because I need to be a bit more disciplined. You know dad was always nagging me about how I lacked it. Over time, I began to understand what he meant by that.”
“So you thought the only place for you to go was the guard?!”
“I’ve thought about this decision for a long time. It’s just something I need to do, Twilight. I’ve already enlisted so there’s really no turning back now. I ship out to Fort Stalliongrad tomorrow morning. I’ll make sure to see a soon as I get back from basic training. It’ll be the first thing I do.”
The younger me looked down and tried to hide the sadness in her voice. “How long will you be gone?”
“About seven months. I’ll be back just before you thirteenth birthday.”
“Just stay safe.”
“I will. I think I can take what they have to throw at me. Look, I need to get out of here and get things ready for tomorrow. I’ll try and stop by before I get on the train. Alright?”
“I’ll miss you... And I’m gonna kick your armor plated flank if you forget about my birthday when you get back.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it, little sis.”
I still remember that day. He’d told mom and dad already and they both were ok with it. The last one he told was me. I missed him at first but I got over it quickly. Just another memory my mind decided to play through. Every memory my mind has played keeps pointing me towards the ever growing possibility that I could be wrong.
It was at this point that I realized I had been dreaming these memories. The darkness the existed between each memory gave way to dimmed light and ambient sound. Funny, I don’t remember falling asleep but that didn’t really matter.
I was sore, cold, and uncomfortable. Upon opening my eyes, I found myself on the floor of what looked to be an empty barn of some sort. Vegetation grew through cracks in its stone foundation and light spilled through holes in the aged and unmaintained wood of the structure. It was empty for the most part besides a few rusty tools hanging on hooks in the wall.
The armored pegasus from yesterday was sitting boredly at the entrance of the structure. Her helmet rested on on the ground which revealed her head. Free of the helmet’s enchantment, her coat from her neck up wasn’t the default white of most of the pegasi guard. Her coat was hot pink, a common color. The mare’s short and wavy mane however was a golden blonde. Not rare to see on a pony but it was a little uncommon.
She hasn’t noticed that I’ve woken up yet so it gives me a little time to think. Should I even risk trying to trust the ponies who are claiming to help me? Could this be real?
My mind screamed yes. It would be nice to have somepony to lean on for a change. But is it truly worth it?
A train sat at Ponyville’s heavily guarded train station in idle as its many passengers boarded. The train itself was not of Equestrian origin but was made by the humans who boarded it. It’s destination: Canterlot. Just before it left the station, a pair of dropships flew to the cliffside city as well to pave the way for the locomotive to arrive without complications.
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Burn baby Burrrrrrrrrrrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn hehehehe...............
Any way you can put these out a tad faster without it suffering from quality loss?
Don't make their magic shields unbreakable, They should all have their strengths and weaknesses...
But otherwise good.
Shining should be captured seeing as he may be more use to the humans alive rather than dead.
Celestia went insane then was shot up like swiss cheese.
German panzers must be in this battle.
Forwards Männer! Schicken Sie diese Ponys in die Hölle! Für die Erde und Vaterland!
2231458 Of course not. Everything has a weakness... except the internet. However, Shining Armour's special talent, makes him the "best of the best" with defensive magic. So he's the best you'll see in shield conjuring besides an alicorn. Besides, this one was much less OP than the one placed at the wedding. He just endured with this one and it did break.
2231740
Sorry, I'm being a little bitchy today...
But it seemed like his shield only broke because he was stressed out over Celly's injury (And Twi, of course...)
Oh gee, this is getting bad...! Thankfully it seems Celestia decided to made up for her foolish actions, by preventing her Nightmare persona from causing any trouble. However, things are not looking too great for pony kind in the long run, all because of these humans' warmongering stupidity. All this could have been avoided if they went a different route, rather than the sadly typical get-ready-to-blow-something-up routine. True, Celestia would still be upset with them, but she would have at least tolerated their sorry butt enough to help out (mostly out of keeping up her image and making her subjects happy), right before kicking them out of the pony world once again.
C&C:
Luna had described the the events leading up...
> Remove the extra ‘the’.
*pokes Celestia with a stick*
2231963
Or if they'd started with diplomacy instead of stealing one of her subject's bodies. It's like trying to break into a bank to steal money for something they need, then when they get caught, pleading their case and asking for a donation...
2231963
They seem to have been behaving relatively reasonably, given the situation. The lives of billions are at stake, after all. Furthermore, what they knew of the ponies before launching their attack was... less than pleasant. They learned that the ponies are quite willing and able to ruthlessly torture people to get information out of them, whether or not they are guilty.
Celestia is the one who has screwed up the most, and it was because of her going all Nightmare that this newest shitstorm just happened.
The humans were wrong to borrow Twilight's body without permission, but BOTH sides fucked up incredibly. I don't get why the humans are getting almost all of the blame from some people here, or why they still seem to think that the humans are any better or worse than the ponies.
Tolerated their sorry butt? Really? Why merely "tolerated" them? It's not like they are any less ethical than she or her ponies, considering the events of the story. And why would she have the right to kick them completely out of their world? It isn't JUST the pony's world, remember. There are other species living there, too.
2232737
Or stealing a loaf of bread or medicine to feed your starving family, then the police accidentally capture the wrong person and proceed to torture them, and then when you finally do get caught you explain why you did it and then the police chief starts beating you to death.
2232737
That is so true, that it hurts...badly. But sadly, they was moronic enough to do it anyway. They could have saved enough face, however, if they didn't march on like an invading army. Seriously, they are not making a good impress at all when they was doing this, the idiots!
2232847
The proper comparison would be the police chief arresting and imprisoning the guy, actually. So far, the Equestrian response to the humans has been rather well within the standards that other human nations would be held to in similar circumstances:
I'm not excusing torture. That is wrong. It seems very out-of-character for these ponies (Though I understand AU can mean things have changed). However, torturing some other third party as a result of a person's actions doesn't excuse that person's actions. They came to Equestria, and rather than even attempting dialog, they sent in an agent, who then stole the body of one of Equestria's citizens (Pretty much the most thorough violation of a person you could do). When their attempt failed, then they decided to use open dialog... after attacking (And by the implications presented, killing) several of Equestria's citizens and occupying Equestrian territory. They're acting like warmongering bullies.
Not only that, but the pony who's body they stole was one of the citizens that is vital to Equestria's most powerful weapon. When an individual does that at the direction of another state here on earth, it's called espionage. When it's involving our most powerful weapons, people caught doing that are typically put to death. No earthly nation would be under any compulsion to hand over such a criminal, much less to then give over what that agent had attempted to steal. And when another nation launches a massive military force to occupy another nation's territory and then makes demands of that nation, it's an act of war, and a war of aggression (A "Crime against Peace" to use the human term for it. And that's not even counting the indications of war crimes we've seen).
Regardless of what Equestria does, the humans approached this in an overly aggressive manner that was practically guaranteed to foster resistance. They started right off with thoroughly violating an Equestrian citizen. The torture didn't come about until after that (In fact, as a result of that). That neither of them look good is kind of irrelevant.
2232847
> Not saying they wasn't. True, they are not showing promises, but considering humans' past with them, I can't really blame them. Heck, it would probably humans that show Celestia how to torture, probably by having it done on her. However, don't think that I agreed with it...I am frowning greatly at poor Twilight's situation and what they did to her. And, as far it goes, only Celestia and Shining are the only one shown so far that did any tortures (the guards might have, but they are probably doing so under the Princess's order).
> Again, never said she wasn't at fault. It was wrong of her for what she did. However, not enough information has been seen yet, as to say whatever she was or wasn't mentally affected by the humans, just before she was able to banish them.
> I agreed, and once again I never said that they wasn't at fault as well. However, remember that humans began this whole mess in the beginning, the moment before Celestia banished them. The humans did not leave a very good impression on Celestia, which later means that she is the only one who is there to paint the picture for the other ponies of what humans are like, and it obviously wasn't a very nice picture.
> I know that it wasn't just the pony world, I was just posting and I was too tired and lazy about the technical side of that statement. People do that, so please stop nitpicking at that. I know there is also dragons, griffins, donkeys, zebra, and many more beings.
As for the ethical of the ponies, how do you even know the full depth of their ethic, just from Celestia's and Shining's actions?
Like I mention, Celestia's actions are probably created from a horrible ordeal with the humans. Does it excuse her actions...no, far from it. Shining was just following order and trying to find his sister...again, actions is not excusable, but he was still just following orders. And, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance seems to be showing a positive sign of ethic. There just isn't enough information to fully determine the full depth of their ethic right now.
Anyways, I am not going to excuse the humans' actions. It wasn't their world in the first place, and they had no right to do what they did. You can even throw that 'we doing it to save our world' excuse out the window as well, that was just a selfish excuse, especially when you think about how they are not even consider the consequences of their actions on the pony (and the others, if you still want to nitpick) world.
How do you think everything will come out? Even if the humans' world will be save, how will the other side fare? Is it right to trash one world to save another world?
I don't want the ponies that hur Twilight dead.
I want them to suffer.
To live with the terrible guilt.
2233003>>2233132
In hindsight, my comment/post/argument was... pretty shit.
That'll teach me to read and respond to stories and comments at 1:00 in the morning when I am on the verge of falling asleep.
I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night, but I'll try to remember to read over everything and hopefully post something that doesn't suck sometime tonight or tomorrow.
2234656
Eh, it's okay. You did raise a few good points, nonetheless. So, don't let it beat you down. Besides, you kept me from getting bored, so a big thumb up on that note. Heh heh.
I am pretty much a night owl...I will stay up almost, if not, all night long. Sigh...it is a very bad habit, but I just lost interest in waking up in the morning, when nothing is on and nothing to do.
2234656
Heh, it's okay. I get what you mean, at least.
I think I should point out that the reason people probably aren't calling out the ponies' actions as much as the humans' is because we don't really need to be told that torture is bad (I hope), but there seem to be quite a few people who don't see what the humans are doing, or at least don't see the problems with it.
Unless I missed something, though, I didn't get the impression that anybody knew about the torture, outside of those involved. Mind, I also find those ponies to be the least believable to be involved in such things, but that's a different matter.
NYES.
Ok, Luna totally needs to Nightmare Moon this and send all the humans straight to the moon, with NO AIR! The "humans" in this universe don't possess a shred of humanity and ought to be obliterated.
2322889 Why should Celestia be invincible?
C'mon, Roaminghooves... this fic hasn't been updated in 7 months!
I understand procrastination, but this is ridiculous. This fic is too good to die!
Please please PLEASE update... soon! I'm begging you!
Even Fluttershy wants to see an update!
How can you say no to Fluttershy?
Writing this from onboard the USS MOAR NOW, currently en route to Fort Procrastination to enforce this "request,"
-ClosetBrony4
3494830 Secretly... I'm alive.
I've been dealing with some life stuffs but I'm getting back into the swing of things. I was just about to nuke my profile and everything else before I caught this comment. So, you know what? I won't. This will stay here but I can't guarantee that I'll be working on this one anytime soon.
...
OK, this story hasn't been updated in nearly a year and a half, and it's been over four months since the author has even logged into the site. So I am regretfully figuring this story for dead and removing it from my reading list.
3654696
Are you?
3654696 images.wikia.com/spongebob/images/a/a5/Manymonths.jpg
Seriously though, packing it in without telling your reader base first is bad Karma!
5256947 Eh, I know. Still weigh the question of nuking everything. I'll let everyone know if I do. I'm afraid for my life. I'm pretty sure you all will be out for my blood if I do...
5545180 Sigh... there goes another one. And its always the good ones too...