Preparing for the Worst
The halls where the Lunar Senate met were jam packed with various ponies. All thirteen senators sat in their seats with Princess Luna sitting in the middle. On one side of the room were members of the Royal Guard, lining the wall with their weapons in hoof. On the other side were members of the LBI, all of them dressed in black suits while wearing black shades. Shining Armor was there standing off to the side, ready to cast a wide range of protection spells on the Senate in case something happened. Shadow Blade was there as well, standing in front of Princess Luna with his eyes on the prisoners.
Standing in front of the Senate were the five mares from Equestria. Rarity, who was wearing one of her finest blue gowns with emeralds sewed in, stood with poise and dignity despite sporting a magic suppression ring around her horn. Both Rainbow and Fluttershy had their wings bound by a strange band that seemed to glow a pale blue color. All of them had their hooves bound to the floor by what looked like iron shackles.
Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Spike were there as well. The three of them were standing off to the side of the Equestrian mares looking untouched.
In the air was a black sphere, a recording device that was capturing every moment onto film. It orbited around the room, stopping from time to time on a random pony from the Senate or one of the prisoners.
“My little ponies,” said Luna as she addressed the room. As she spoke, the black sphere zoomed towards her and stopped a few feet to her side where it then simply hovered. “Earlier today, Assistant Director Twilight Sparkle was found by her fiancé, Captain Shadow Blade, in a near death state. An investigation was called and, standing before you, is one of the possible assailants as well as her associates. They all now stand before the judgment of the Lunar Senate. If found guilty they shall receive a punishment fitting their crime.”
“Now hold on one darn sec!” yelled Applejack causing all ponies in the room, as well as the black sphere, to look at her. “If this here is some kind of fancy trial, then don’t we get a lawyer or something?”
“The last pony who defended you is the reason you’re here facing a murder charge on top of everything else you terrorists have done!” snapped Gigawatt as he slammed his hoof against the table he and the other Senators muttered in agreement.
“Senator Gigawatt, please calm yourself,” said Luna before her icy gaze became fixed on Applejack. “The last pony who willing came forward to defend your group now lies in the hospital wing in critical condition. I doubt that there would be a lawyer in the entire Republic who would want to defend you. But do not fear. We have a method of determining the truth that has never failed us. Should we discover that the LBI has made a mistake you shall be released.”
Luna then nodded at Scorpio who stood up.
“The Senate calls for Director Sealed Document,” said the Senator from Dome One. When his name was called, one of the black suited ponies walked towards the middle of the room and stopped once he was standing right in-between the Equestrians and the Senators. He was an elder pinto earth pony with a folder for a cutie mark. He also had a black mustache which he kept perfectly trimmed. By the time he had stopped, the black sphere was now in-between Sealed and Scorpio.
“Sealed Document,” said Scorpio after he cleared his throat. “The LBI presented evidence that one of the mares from Equestria is responsible for what happened to Assistant Director Twilight Sparkle. We ask that you present this evidence.”
“Certainly,” replied the stallion. Instantly the room went dark earning a gasp from various members of the Equestria group. Then, a light appeared in the middle of the room from four square shaped images that seemed to hover in mid-air all by themselves. Each one of these squares was pointed towards a different corner on the room while showing the same thing, allowing everypony in the room to see what was going on.
After a moment, an image appeared in the boxes. It looked like a random hallway with nopony in it. Then, Applejack appeared to be walking in it just as Twilight and Gigawatt came out of the room yelling at each other.
“The castle security system recorded these events,” said Sealed as he muted the footage so that everypony could hear him. “While I and a few other agents were interviewing Senators Land Share, Gigawatt, and April Showers, I had a few ponies going over the security to see if anything was abnormal.”
“What did they find?” asked Scorpio as the footage showed Twilight and Applejack entering Twilight’s room.
“Everything was in perfect working order,” said Sealed Document with a sigh. “The computer logs showed that the teleportation redirection field was never deactivated so nopony could teleport into Twilight’s room. Thus we were forced to look at this footage with a filter that would try and spot distortions and body temperatures to see anypony was using an invisibility spell or cloaking device. We spotted none.” By this point, the footage showed Applejack leaving Twilight’s room.
“Thus, what you are about to see speaks for itself,” said Sealed Document as he began to fast forward the images. For a minute or two, nothing was shown besides an empty hallway. Then it stopped as Applejack once again began to walk down towards Twilight’s room.
Shadow pressed his ears against his head as he watched Applejack knock on the door. A moment later the door opened and Applejack walked in. Shadow scanned the image and saw that there was a time stamp at the bottom. According to this, Applejack met up with Twilight a second time a half hour before he heard Land Share scream. A few minutes later, Applejack left the room.
Shadow Blade tilted his head as the footage began to fast forward once more. Something didn’t seem right. What it was he couldn’t put his hoof on, but he felt like he had missed something. He glanced over at Applejack and saw that her eyes were wide with shock. Normally, he would assume that they thought they were smart enough to get away with the crime or something like that. However, mixed with the shocked expression was something else. Confusion?
The footage slowed down once again to show Land Share now walking towards Twilight’s room. Everypony in the room watched Land Share knocked again before opening the door. He then let out a scream and backed up against the wall.
“As you can see,” said Sealed Document as the image vanished and light returned to the room, “The only pony to enter Twilight’s room that night was the name known as Applejack. No other pony could have done so.”
“That’s a lie!” yelled Applejack. “Ah’d never hurt a friend.”
“Silence!” roared Princess Luna. “One more outburst like that and you shall be silenced until you are questioned. Is that clear?”
“But she didn’t do it!” yelled Rainbow Dash. “She couldn’t have. She was with us all night! I don’t know what we just saw but-” That’s as far as Rainbow Dash got as a red light washed over her and the other mares. Rainbow continued to talk, but no words left her mouth.
“Better,” said Luna with a nod. She then looked at Sealed Document with a slight frown. “Are you sure this footage hasn’t been tampered with?”
“It hasn’t,” said Sealed Document. “I verified it myself.”
Luna looked at him for a moment longer before nodding. “Are there any more questions for Director Sealed Document?”
“None from me,” said Scorpio. The other Senators responded similarly.
“Very well then,” said Princess Luna as she looked at Sealed Document. “You may step down.” Once he had done so, Luna addressed everypony in the room. “We will now allow the defendant Applejack to tell her side of the story underneath the truth light.”
“Just a moment Princess,” said Gigawatt as gained the attention of the entire room. “I would request that we start with the two who should have been under the truth light yesterday. I wish them to be questioned so that we will be able to see how deep Equestria’s treachery goes.”
“I agree,” said Land Share as heads turned to look at him now. “While I do hope that what happened yesterday was not intentional, I would still like to hear it from them.”
“This is unusual,” said Luna as she place a hoof on her chin. She debated over the issue for a moment or two before nodding. “Very well, we shall hear from Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie first. However, I wish to keep it brief.”
“As you wish,” said Gigawatt.
From his spot, Shadow watched as the light on Fluttershy shifted from red to neutral. As it did, Shadow thought he heard a very soft thud overhead. The stallion quickly looked around to see if anypony else had heard it as well. From the looks of it none of the other guards had reacted at all nor had any of the LBI. In fact, the only pony who did seem to hear it was Gigawatt who was glaring at the ceiling.
“Senator,” said Princess Luna. “The truth light is on. You may begin your questioning.”
This caused Gigawatt’s attention to snap towards Fluttershy. “Could you state your name for the court?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“F-Fluttershy,” she said.
“Good,” said Gigawatt with a slight nod. “Now, according to file submitted my Twilight Sparkle, you are in charge of the trees in Ponyville. Is that correct?”
As he said this, a few Senators turned and gave Gigawatt an odd look. Even Shadow, who kept his gaze of Fluttershy, wondered why he asked that question. Hadn’t he read the file? ‘Maybe he is worried about that noise from earlier and wants to make sure the truth light is working right,’ thought Shadow.
“Ah, no,” said Fluttershy as she shook her head. “I’m in charge of taking care of all the animals in Ponyville, not the trees. But I’d like to be a tree.”
A wave of not-quite humor rippled through the crowd, and even Gigawatt scrunched his eyebrows in confoundment at the yellow pegasus’ answer.
‘Well that was an odd response,’ thought Shadow. ‘But at least we all know that the truth light is working.’
“You are the one who brought a parasprite into the Republic, is that correct?” asked Gigawatt.
“Yes,” she said with a nod. “It had been given to be right before I arrived.”
“Interesting,” replied Gigawatt as a small smile appeared on his face. “By whom?”
“Prince Blueblood,” said Fluttershy. As soon as she said that, nearly everypony in the room began to talk at once. The Equestrian mares looked at each other in shock except for Rarity whose eyes narrowed. Silently she vowed to make the Prince pay for using one of her friends like this.
“Did you willingly release the parasprite, knowing what it would do?” yelled Gigawatt, his voice cutting through the rest of the crowd. The room then went quiet so all could hear Fluttershy’s answer.
“Yes,” she said as a shocked look appeared on her face. “I did it in the name of Celestia and for the good of Equestria.”
Angry voices filled the room while Shadow stared in disbelief at the mare. She looked horrified by what she had said and seemed to be on the verge of tears. He had seen similar looks before from other ponies who had confused under a truth light believing that they could get away with their crime. Yet while he had felt no pity for them, for some strange reason it wasn’t the case with Fluttershy. He simply couldn’t believe that she could have done such a terrible thing. Even the spectrum-maned pegasus was agape with a look of complete shock and utter confusion at her friend.
But, at the same time, a part of him was saying that it had to be true. Nopony before had been able to keep a secret or tell a lie while standing underneath a truth light. Gigawatt had even done a warm up question to make sure that the light was working. What she was saying had to be the truth no matter what he personally felt.
Meanwhile, the light on Fluttershy turned red as the tears began to run down her face. As it did, the truth light above Pinkie Pie activated. Gigawatt opened his mouth to ask his questions but was cut off by April Showers.
“I’m going to cut to the chase,” snarled the Senator as she glared at Pinkie Pie with obvious hatred. “Did you purposely dump our water into the vacuum of space?”
“Yes,” said Pinkie Pie. As soon as she said that, she began to shake her head ‘no’ while she continued to talk. “I did it in the name of Celestia and for the good of Equestria.”
Once again, all ponies in the room began to talk. Most were yelling angrily at the pink mare while a few others seemed to whisper darkly to each other. Shadow, for his part, felt his jaw drop slightly due to shock. He couldn’t believe it! He quickly glanced around to the room to see if anypony else was as shocked and confused as he felt. Most just looked angry.
Gigawatt, he noticed, had a looked of triumph on his face. ‘Not surprising,’ thought the bat pony. ‘He said we couldn’t trust Equestrians and now it looks like he’s been proven correct.’
It was then that Shadow noticed the Senator from Dome Three. Land Share seemed to look saddened before he turned his head to look away. ‘Poor guy,’ thought Shadow. ‘He was always the one to give Equestria a chance. It must feel like a buck to the gut to hear this.’
It was then that Shadow noticed something out of the corner of his eye that made him cringe. Princess Luna as raising her right front leg. The captain of the guard quickly brought up his forelegs to cover his ears just in as Luna stomped on the ground creating a noise like thunder. Everypony in the room suddenly went silent as she looked at the crowd for a moment.
“I believe we are done with Miss Pie,” she said slowly as her chilling gave fixed on Pinkie Pie. “Call up Miss Applejack so we may finish this.”
“Y-Yes,” said Gigawatt as Pinkie Pie was enveloped in red light.
A half second later Applejack found herself under the truth light. She could feel herself becoming lightheaded, but did her best to fight it and stay focused.
“Please state your name and profession,” said Gigawatt.
“Mah name is Applejack an ah’m farmer from Sweet Apple Acres,” replied Applejack automatically.
“Now, let’s get right to the point,” said Gigawatt. “Earlier in the trial you witnessed the footage submitted by the LBI. Did you visit Twilight Sparkle a second time that night?”
“Y-” began Applejack, but then she stopped. Sweat began to pour out of her body and she shut her eyes tightly. After a few moments and with a look of strain Applejack blurted out, “Y-Yes.”
“When you went to see her that second time, did you attack her?” demanded Gigawatt as he ignored Applejack’s reaction.
“Ynn…Ynnghh-YES!” screamed Applejack as she fell to the floor, tears rolling down her face as she clutched her head. “I went there with the apple peeler hidden under my hat and I stabbed her!”
“Why?” demanded Gigawatt.
“Princess Celestia ordered her death for ruining the merger back in Ponyville!” cried out Applejack so that all could hear her though her face was still twisted in agony. “I did it the name of Celestia and for the good of Equestria!”
As the chamber erupted in angry shouting and hoof-stomping, Applejack then opened her eyes and for a moment they locked onto Shadow’s. It lasted only seconds, but in that time Shadow felt a deep unease. Her eyes seemed to beg to him. Telling him that what she said wasn’t the truth. And then Applejack’s eyes rolled to the back of her head as she collapsed onto the floor convulsing.
“Turn it off!” yelled Shadow as he approached the twitching mare to check her vitals.
“Do it,” said Land Share, looking sickly green at the mare lying on the floor in her own sweat and spittle, as the light changed to red. “We…we have what we need.”
“Yes,” said Gigawatt, ignoring the fallen mare, as he turned to Princess Luna. “Princess, you have heard their testimonies while under the effect of a truth light. They have admitted to not only assault and attempted murder but acts of terrorism as well. I beg you to call for the death vote!”
Princess Luna closed her eyes. “You are correct,” she said. “We have heard them admit their guilt. And based on the evidence, I know what I must do.” Slowly, Luna opened her eyes. “All those in favor of the death penalty please raise your hoof.”
The Equestrians watched in horror as hooves began to raise. The first was Gigawatt’s which shot into the air with lightning speed. One by one their hooves raised until Land Share remained. He looked around and then he to raised his hoof. When he did, Princess Luna nodded.
“Very well,” she said. “The vote is unanimous. The five of you shall be put to death which will be set at a later date. The method of death shall depend on whether or not Twilight Sparkle lives. Should she pull through, you shall be granted a quick death via vacuum of space once Twilight is awake so that she may witness it herself. However, should she die, the five of you shall be placed in prison pods and then ejected towards the sun. It will be a long, painful, and maddening death as the prison pod keep you alive for years as you fly towards the sun.”
The mares looked horrified by this declaration. However, their fear was ignored by most of the ponies in the room. Many of they cheered and stomped their hooves in agreement with their sentence.
“Princess Luna,” called out Senator Scorpio, cutting through the celebration. “What of the others?”
“What others?” asked the princess as the room began to quiet down.
“I am talking about the fillies and the dragon,” replied Scorpio. “We know that they snuck into the Republic. We cannot rule out they were also sent here to assist their older counterparts. We also know that Celestia sent us a dragon which Assistant Director Twilight Sparkle wisely shot with a DNA nanobullet to neutralize its potentially catastrophic threat. For now it is a pony, but there is a chance that it will return to its draconic state and go on a rampage. I believe that in the interest of national security that they should share the same fate as those five.”
For a moment, nopony spoke. A few ponies around the room looked like they were considering it which shocked Shadow. He looked over at Shining to see that he had a look of disgust on his face.
Meanwhile, Applejack opened her eyes to look at her sister and her friends as she laid there on the floor. All three of them looked both shocked and confused by what was going on. ‘No,’ thought Applejack as she tried to move her body. ‘They won’t hurt mah little sis.’ Sadly, her body refused to move due to the pain and disorientation she was experiencing.
“Perhaps it might be for the best,” said one of the other senators.
“That, of course, includes the Equestrian filly Scootaloo,” continued Scorpio. “For all we know she was an advance scout of some kind.”
“That is outrageous!” yelled Shadow as he turned around fully to look at them all.
“Is it?” yelled Scorpio as he pointed a hoof at the captain. “Not only did the Equestrian slip past all of the Republic’s security, but it also managed to ingratiate herself with two of the highest security-cleared ponies within the Republic! Not only that but she has been graced with our technology which now resides with her body, nicely tucked away so that when she returns to Equestria they will be able to study it and reverse engineer it. Now you will be silent! This is a matter for the senate to decide.”
“No, I will not,” said Shadow as he stretched out his wings. “Twilight brought Scootaloo to the Republic to help her fly in the heat of the moment. She never had any idea where we were from so your theory already has a huge hole in it. And, if she was some kind of scout, then how was she supposed to contact Equestria? Heck, how was she supposed to return?”
“Well…” began Scorpio, floundering.
“I agree with Captain Shadow Blade,” interupted Luna. “Since Scootaloo came to the Republic she has done nothing to warrant something this serious. Nor have the other two fillies. As long as I am your princess, we will not execute ponies on mere suspicion. Is that clear?”
“Yes Princess,” replied Scorpio. “But all the same, something should be done. Perhaps, in order to have Scootaloo better adapt to the Republic, we should have her sentenced to the Living Death. Perhaps we could do the same to the other two fillies so that they can become members of the Republic.”
“She’s a filly!” roared Shadow as he flattened his ears. “You can’t do that to her!”
“And we won’t,” said Luna as she glared at Scorpio. “Scootaloo has, from what I have heard, been adjusting to life in the Republic just fine. She has shown great courage during the Sunset Shimmer incident. And I am sure that Twilight would be furious with us if we tampered with her daughters mind.”
“And what about the other fillies from Equestria?” asked April Showers. “We could make them members of the Republic and they would never know about their time in Equestria.”
“That is unacceptable,” said Gigawatt as he stomped his hoof. “Using the Living Death on fillies is simply wrong.” He then looked up at Princess Luna. “Princess, please consider this. Allow me to take in Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. I am sure that my wife would be fine with it.”
Luna nodded. “If that is true then I have no problem. At a later date we shall decide if they should remain or be sent back to their families after our dealing with Equestria are over.”
“And the dragon?” asked Scorpio. “It still poses a danger to the Republic.”
Luna tapped her chin a few times before answering. “We shall send him to Director Bunsen Burner. Perhaps he can make the change permanent. If that proves to be impossible, then he can study the dragon in order to improve on our anti-dragon defenses. Once that is over he shall share the same fate as the other mares. Court is adjourned.”
-x-
About an hour later, Shadow found himself standing next to Twilight’s bed. She was lying there with her eyes closed while wearing a breathing mask. There was also an IV drip sending a green liquid into her body. In the background he could hear the steady beeping of a heart monitor.
“Hang in there Twilight,” said Shadow as he moved some strands of her mane away from her face. The doctors had told him that Twilight was almost out of the danger zone, that they were confident that she would wake up within a day or two and then she would be fine.
If only he could stay here so that he would be the first pony she saw when she woke up. Right now he was lucky to be here at all. After the trail, Princess Luna had called a closed session of the Senate to discuss how they would proceed now armed with this new information. Right before the meeting began there had been a call from the doctors saying that Twilight had just come out of surgery. While Princess Luna couldn’t leave due to the meeting, she did allow Shadow to go see her for a short amount of time.
“I have to go now Twilight,” said Shadow as he gently kissed her cheek. “I’ll come back as soon as I can.”
He lingered for another moment before he forced himself to leave his beloved’s side. It took him several minutes until he found himself in front of the doors that lead to the throne room. He opened them to find only two ponies in the room: Princess Luna and Land Share.
“There is no need to apologize Princess,” Land Share was saying. “I was a suspect at the time.”
“It was hard to see you as such,” said Luna as she lowered her head slightly. “Believe me, I would have never of-” Luna then turned her head towards Shadow’s direction. “Ah, Shadow. Excellent timing. How is Twilight?”
“It looks like she’ll make it,” replied the bat pony as he walked into the room.
Land Share let out a sigh. “That’s good to hear,” he said. “Now, if you don’t mind Princess, I’d like to pay her a visit myself.”
Luna gifted him a gentle smile. “Of course you may.”
“Thank you,” said Land Share as he made his way to the door. “Poor mare. S-She didn’t deserve what happened to her. If only it had never come to this.” And with that he left the room just as Shining Armor entered the room.
“Well, looks like we’re all here,” began Shadow who was still somewhat unsure about what he had observed during the trial. He knew there was something off, but he just couldn’t put his hoof on it. Still, he thought it best just to at least mention it and see if the others noticed something was off as well. “Princess, there is something I need to talk to you about.”
“It’s about the trial,” said Luna with a smile. “I thought you would notice something was wrong. I would have been very disappointed had you not.”
“You noticed it too?” asked Shadow.
“Yes, that odd phrase they all used,” replied Luna. “I find it very odd that they all said ‘I did it in the name of Celestia and for the good of Equestria’.”
Shadow brought a hoof to his chin as he thought back to the trial. It was true, they had all said the same thing. Funny he hadn’t noticed it until Luna had brought it up.
“But what does that mean?” asked Shining Armor.
“I believe that it is meant to make us believe that my sister ordered those mares to attack Twilight or cause trouble for the Republic,” said Luna as she slipped out of her formal regalia and into another set with micro-circuitry extensively lining the interior.
“Yet,” continued Luna as she locked the regalia pieces together, as they glowed and hummed briefly with the connected lines of energy that then faded, “the more I take a step back and look at this situation, the more it seems that somepony else planned all of this. Remember what Fluttershy said, that Blueblood gave her the parasprite? It is my belief that he was the one giving them orders and telling them that Celestia had approved it. That, or he used a spell on them. We’ll know more once Twilight wakes up.”
“Is that why you postponed their executions?” asked Shadow who was slightly awed by his Princess’ thinking.
Luna nodded. “When Twilight wakes up, she will be able to inform us of everything that happened in that room. If Applejack looked hesitant or seemed in a trance or anything out of the ordinary. If something odd was going on we can hold a retrial and then lessen their sentence.”
“So what do we do in the meantime?” asked Shining Armor.
“We are going to Equestria,” said Luna as her face hardened slightly. “The three of us, along with several others from both guards, are going to have a talk with Celestia. I discussed the situation with the Senate in a close session after the trial and, while they aren’t thrilled about it, they realize we are in desperate need of food and water. And while I’m sure they would all love to see those mares ejected into the vacuum of space, it would do us little good if we starve shorty afterwords. So, we are willing to consider letting them return to Equestria in return for the food, water, and Blueblood.”
“Consider?” echoed Shining Armor.
“It depends on what we find out from him as well,” replied Luna. “While I find it extremely unlikely, I cannot discount the off-chance possibility that Celestia may have indeed planned this.”
“And if she refuses our demands?” asked Shadow.
Luna sighed. “We will have a backup plan,” replied Luna. “Of which I have orders for the both of you.” The two captains straightened into attention.
"Shadow," Luna nodded to the bat pony, "you are to have Sealed Document report to me immediately. He is to bring all the security camera footage we have from our Embassy in Canterlot, both interior and exterior of the facility."
"Shining," continued Luna, turning to the white unicorn, "you are to inform Captain Starway report to me as well. She is also to prepare the Crescent Hope for departure to the planet before reporting to me for her own mission details."
"Finally," said the alicorn as she took a step back, "you both are to personally select your best ponies to form an Honor Guard to provide escort for our mission to Equestria. Be sure they are fully prepared for anything we may face in Canterlot."
Luna's face wore a frown, "Our relations with Equestria are at an end," she said grimly, "and if my suspicions are on track, there may not be a diplomatic solution to end things cleanly between our nations. Even from my sister..."
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uh oh Looks like things are as bad during the cuband Missile crisis, anyways great chapter, well done. Really surprising. I mean that Blueblood gave Flutters the Parasprite I can belive that, but afterwards I really had my doupt. So what is it a mind control spell of Blueblood which has made them into Zat'arks( Unsuspecting Ponys that have a secret comand in their underconcius. The idea is from Stargate) or one of the Lunar Senators had his hove in the game?
Keep going
Oh, Blueblood is so going to get burned.
nope
as said before (I think): too OOC Characters, too dark w/o Dark or at least Sad Tag, The Original Premise of "let's see how an alternate Timeline would look" has never been touched again (in an Interlude or sthg...) you know, that the "Original" Characters reflect on what their alternative selfes are doing...
also, this whole story gives me a bad vibe and well it always seems to reoccur: Celestia is at fault for the Reason of....
It's clear to me that there was something up with that Truth Light thing.
personally, i just hope celestia will finally "wake up" and sort out her own ponies, i mean seriously who in the right mind would put up with a douche' like blueblood?
(well, maybe that flirty, lunar stallion at the embassy, but besides him anyone else?)
...This is gonna end in war, isn't it?
Unless I missed it or something, why didn't they check applejack and company for any mental manipulation magic? Hypnosis or some changeling style brainwashing type thing? Seems like a glaring oversight to me.
One major flaw in all 3's admission of guilt (under Geas/control/domination). All three said Celestia, not Princess Celestia, as all three of them would naturally call her. It's all but ingraned into their existence to call her Princess Celestia, not Celestia. It's obvious they've been manipulated in some fashion.
Of course, with a line like "This method of revealing the truth has never failed us." You just know it's not going to work this time, because that would have been too easy. You can't just implicitly trust a truth spell like that, and this is the reason why.
I`m waiting for next chapter.
5083156
Ah, but it's magical powers make you say the truth so do not think otherwise and could be cliche.
Tl;dr: it's magic ho.
5083072
But that isn't right, sooo, politely do that.
Unless the truth detector was tampered with it should've been going off every time they said 'For queen and country' (and for those of you who will say something because you can't understand the joke, I know that isn't what they said exactly). If Blueblood did use magic to influence their decision then they didn't do it for Celestia, but rather because Blueblood forced them too. So by saying 'I did it for Celestia and Equestria', they are lying.
And thus, the paranioa deepens!
Discord gun haffa field day wid dis!
Lets get it on!
you clever person
you made sure that the ponies in the truth spell were asked their names apart from Pinkie Pie
and all the ponies in the republic know her as Pinkie Pie but her name is not really Pinkie Pie
It's Pinkamena Diane Pie
if they had asked her name
she would have been forced to say Pinkie Pie
Awesome chapter. That idiot Blueblood has no idea how big of a mistake he's made.
Awesome chapter. That idiot Blueblood has no idea how big of a mistake he's made.
5083288 I think it's supposed to be pretty obvious to the readers that it was tampered with, since there was the unusual 'thunk' in the ceiling where the 'truth light' was coming from that only Shadow noticed.
He tried to tell Luna but she misinterpreted it as suspicion that their actions were caused by mind control magic because of the odd wording.
I am still betting on changelings being behind everything.
Blue Blood, you done messed up!
And it is once again shown that foregoing forensics in favor of a magical technological doohickey is witless at best. Also, I cannot see an ending to this story that doesn't include the Mane Six going to Luna and Celestia, describing the New Lunar Republic to them, and assuring Luna that whatever evils she did as Nightmare Moon, things could have been horrifyingly worse.
I'm still wanting to know something, though: how does a merciless totalitarian police state come out of the circumstances under which Luna left Equestria?
wonderful chapter sad though but you can tell something was off.
i didn't know neutral was a colour
5083288
To lie, your brain first analyzes the situation, decides what the true answer is, decides if what is true is a good response to the situation, and finally constructs a fabrication. Assume that the light inhibits your ability to create false information and withhold true information. The only information you can say is true information. Here's the problem: imagine your a little kid, and I tell you about my trip to Franchia, a country out in Europe that has the strangest of architectural designs for its buildings. There are arches, arches everywhere, criss crossing the narrow alleyways through which a quiet wind blows. You, as a Kid, have no way to disprove me, nor a reason to not believe me. That I went to Franchia is true to you and you will say as such under the truth light. If blueblood modified their memories...
Furthermore, It wouldn't feed you true information: you couldn't be asked a question for which you have no answer, but made to give the correct answer anyway. Impossible.
5085054 I do have a way to find out if you're telling the truth or not: The internet. I can simply look it up and see if you're right or you're lying to me. But that's something else.
If I were to stand under the light, and be asked if you went to 'Franchia' I would answer, truthfully, I don't know. This isn't a 'yes or no' question but 'do you know if you went to this place'. If I said 'yes' then I would be lying because I have no honest idea if you went to Franchia or simply the next state over. Just because something is your truth, doesn't automatically make it my truth. You would have to prove to me, without a doubt, that you went to Franchia for me to accept it as a truth.
Also, there's always a correct answer for a question that has none: I don't know.
5085185
No, what I mean is that given information presented as true for which you currently poses no contradictory information and have no reason to doubt the source, then you are likely to see it as true until proven otherwise. BTW, this is how religion works; since you cannot scientifically prove the nonexistance of anything without searching the entirety or reality (impossible), you cannot disprove God to anyone who believes him real.
Also, a null response is not an answer. Just ask any programmer or linguist, of which I am the former. "I don't know," is an admission of a lack of knowledge, which cannot answer the question, unless the question is "do you know?", in which case that would be an answer, false.
Interesting new chapter. I'm very glad that Luna didn't automatically accept that what AJ, Fluttershy and Pinkie said was true. I am a bit mystified as to why she is willing in any way to accept that Celestia ordered the death of Twilight. Even though they've been apart for a thousand years, Luna should still know her sister and ordering the gruesome death of another pony is very out of character for Celestia. It's also rather strange why everypony, besides Shadow and Luna, automatically assume that the words spoken under the truth light are the absolute truth when the three's body language clearly indicated that something was very wrong.
One final very tiny nitpick, and I'm sorry but I must bring this up.
There is almost never a case where 'would have never of~' is grammatically correct. It's possible that Luna's words were simply cut off and she was going to say something to the effect of "...I would have never offered~" or "...I would have never offended~." It's also possible she was going to say "...I would have never, of course,~" which would have worked. Otherwise 'would have never of~' is just bad grammar.
5085312
So you're saying just because I can't prove you wrong that you're automatically right? If you say 'I don't know' isn't a valid answer unless under certain context then everything anyone says would be taken at face value unless they, at that moment, possess contradictory evidence that proves beyond a doubt they are lying. How can I, someone who has no prior knowledge of who you are or what you are talking about, accept anything you say as truth?
This is about a device that proves you're either lying or you're not. The girls obviously did not willingly commit the acts that they did (although it is slightly hard to believe that Blueblood somehow managed to set up Fluttershy to release a Parasprite into the domes and have Pinkie release their water into space without having any knowledge on what's exactly happening on the moon). So when they say they did for Celestia and Equestria they are lying because they are doing it because Blueblood used his magic to make them do so and it should have set the detector to go off.
Unless of course one of the councilors used their magic to influence them and the device in which case all arguments are moot point.
5085054 Or the truth light was tampered with...
5085656
Rephrasing: any situation in which you (as in, people in general) willingly acquire information, you work under the assumption that it is true. Otherwise, no information could ever be conveyed; people would always assume that it is a lie. In the isolated system of your mind, anything your mind defines as a true statement, whether or not it is actually true, can be recited without creating a lie. Thus a person who only possesses information that is false, even maliciously so, can only unknowingly lie under the truth light because it is the only "truth" they know. If Blueblood changed their memories so that they think they agreed to do it and they think they were doing it for Celestia and Equestria, then that's what they would say; they don't know any better.
But yeah, we should just wait for the next chapter.
Also, because I cannot be proved wrong doesn't mean I'm not wrong; it means your asking the wrong question. You shouldn't try to prove non-existence, but to prove that something mutually and collectively exclusive exists instead.
5086670
Obviously, we should form a mob, storm the author's house, and demand the next chapter to find out.
5086679 Sounds Good!
I've finished reading all 53 chapters finally! I started some time yesterday and finished at around 2:30 a.m. CST. Now, I would like to give my thoughts on this:
1. This story did a good job at hooking me. At first, I thought, oh I'll just read a couple chapters and maybe put it on my read later list. I was wrong in that assumption. Instead of reading just a couple of chapters, I ended up reading the entire story! Each chapter had me wanting to know what was going to happen next.
2. I am curious as to why the canon Equestria Mane 6 haven't shown up again yet. I'm figuring that what you have planned out is to have them show up again once the events of the story have finished. I'm not upset mind you, but I am intrigued as to what you have planned in this regard.
3. It seems like to me that Luna has a better concept of respecting another country's traditions. Sometimes, to show that you remember a country's traditions and customs can go much further than just simply the typical meet and greet.
4. Finally, we get to my thoughts on the the most recently completed chapter. Something is definitely wrong here. You just don't have all three mares say the exact same thing without automatically thinking that something is fishy about it. It was obvious that the truth light was tampered with. My guess is that thump noise that Shadow Blade and Gigawatt heard was the operator of the truth light being knocked out and somepony else takes control of it. Also, while I do believe Blueblood had the parasprite sent up to the Lunar Republic, I don't believe he was responsible for Twilight's current state. Blueblood technically only had direct contact with Fluttershy. He only saw Pinkie and Applejack before they left. So I don't think Blueblood did anything to them. My guess is that one of the senators who has a great distate for Equestria, came in after Applejack left, stabbed Twilight, tampered with the video footage to make it look like Applejack did it along with the apple peeler, and then had another pony or two tamper with the truth light during the proceedings of the trial.
Interesting story, I really like how Cadence has been handling everything regarding the bat ponies, and you have got yourself another person to watch your story.
~ Super-Brony12
P.S. I hope everything clears up for Celestia and Luna.
5083182 forgive my ignorance, but do what?
5087328
"wake up" blueblood, have someone talk to him harshly in a polite manner.
Well, great going Blueblood. You've started a war that could easily tear everything apart.
5087353 To heck with talking. I'm taking care of Blueballs for good
: http://lonewolf3878.deviantart.com/art/Is-There-A-Problem-466925232
5091183
There definitely is a problem.
"DO THEY SPEAK EQJESTRIAN IN WHAT?"
BB: "what?"
I am really enjoying this series so far. I wonder how many more "Red vs Blue" references are gonna get thrown-in before the end?
5087034
I have a few theories as to why we haven't seen the mane six. One is that, since this is a new spell, that something went wrong. For all we know Twilight altred the time line or something. The second comes from Faeries Landing, a really good manga that I highly recomend that sadly was canceled.
Anyways, the two main characters in that went back in time and got stuck in the bodies of their past lives so that they wouldn't alter the time line too much. It is possible that something like that occured.
5094908
It is possible and those are both good theories.
5082984 Clearly someone was messing with the truth ray, which is why applejack, as the element of honesty, was physically hurt when it forced her to lie. Blueblood is still an evil bastard though.
Gigawatt you scumbag, sabotaging a truth light? Sick I thought corruption was supposed to be impossible for the senate.
5105118
Okay.
5105118
The author has a point in what he says about Celestia. Basically every problem that has come up in canon has, in one way or another, been Celestia's fault. She has three default methods of dealing with problems A) sweep it under a rug (encase Discord in stone, send Nightmare Moon to the moon, send Sunset Shimmer to another dimension) B) Throw it at someone else, usually Twilight (Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra) C) Throw Twilight Sparkle at the problem (Sunset Shimmer). Heck, in Rainbow Rocks Celestia completely absolves herself of any responsibility to Sunset. You'd think that she'd want to keep Sunset's journal, which is her one and only connection to her precious former student, but no she just throws it at Twilight.
I'll give Celestia credit for the wedding fiasco. Weddings are crazy, busy and stressful the closer one is to the couple getting married. I don't blame her for not noticing or brushing aside Cadence/Chrysalis' out of character actions. Celestia at least attempted to solve the problem herself before pawning it off on Twilight.
5105217
Celestia had nothing to do at all with Sunset going to that universe. Sunset went of her own volition for rather stupid reasons.
She gave Twilight the journal because Twilight gets through to Sunset better than she does.
5105293
My point still stands that all of the big problems Equestria encounters are basically put off until later or dumped on someone else. Discord is sealed in stone, but placed in an easily accessible place where three children arguing could break him out. Celestia waits until the very last day to try to send Twilight to Ponyville to make friends. Instead of dealing with Sombra directly she taught Twilight the dark magic spell that was crucial in finding the Crystal Heart. When Tirek is discovered loose in Equestria Celestia relies on the very newly reformed, capricious and whimsical Discord to save the day. If the generally agreed upon timeline between Sunset's disappearance and the events of the first EG movie is correct, Celestia had at least two chances to try to work things out with Sunset. In each of these cases, Celestia either makes bad choices or completely fails to do anything at all.
And I don't buy that Twilight gets along better with Sunset than Celestia, or at least that that was Celestia's motive in gifting Twilight with the journal. Sunset is genuinely sorry for her actions at the end of the first movie, but that doesn't suddenly make her great friends with Twilight. Trixie is genuinely sorry after the events of Magic Duel, but that doesn't automatically make her friends with Twilight. Sunset is completely broken at the end of the first movie. That would have been the perfect time for Celestia to attempt to mend fences with her precious former student. Instead she shoves her off onto Twilight because Twilight had the more recent interactions with her. Even then Twilight still doesn't fully trust Sunset at first, but comes to trust her because the other girls do. The other girls trust Sunset because they were the only ones to actually stick around and help her pick up the pieces of her life.
5087034
Have you looked at some on Darth's other stories? Be careful, The Last Goodbye will make you cry but in a good way.
5105118
What Darth was trying to do was let us know why he is portraying Celestia in this way as well as giving us his personal feelings. People are allowed to have different opinions on things.