Search for the Truth part 1
Shadow walked down the hallways of the castle with a stony look on his face. Each step felt a tad draining on him and his coat was still off color, but compared to how he was a short hour ago he felt like a whole new pony. This was all thanks to the castle doctors who had given him a blood transfusion and placed him inside a healing pod for half an hour which had healed most of his cuts. In fact, the only mark on his body was the scar on his forehead, something that he had refused to ever be healed.
As he walked, ponies would stop what they were doing to stare at him. Some would wave at him while others would salute him. There were those who whispered to each other as he passed, as if they were afraid that if they spoke too loudly he would get offended. The most likely reason being that word of what had happened planetside had spread to the entire castle staff. And since he was one of the survivors, they were approaching him with a new sense of awe and honor.
It was likely that rumors would spread throughout all the Domes before Princess Luna made a formal announcement to the press. Once that happened, it would be like the Deep Tunnel Tragedy all over again. But Shadow didn’t take any notice to this.
No, instead his mind was elsewhere.
-Flashback-
“What do you mean I’m not going?” demanded Shadow as he pointed a hoof at Princess Luna.
The Princess was currently sitting on her throne, looking over various documents. Shadow knew what they were. Many of them were about their troops and the specific training each one had as well as their special talents. There were also inventory sheets on their weapons and vehicles.
“I said you are to remain here during tomorrow,” repeated Luna, not bothering to look at him. “Your medical report says that you lost a great deal of blood and will need some time to rest. Therefore I have no choice but to have you remain here.”
“But I feel fine,” said Shadow as he held out a foreleg, as if he were hoping Princess Luna would look up and see that he was fine. He waited a moment before realizing that she wasn’t going to look up before lowering his leg and continuing. “Look, I know what you’re trying to do. You want to lead the troops when we attack Canterlot. I get that because of that you don’t want us clashing on who is in control. I understand. I am willing to let you call all the shots.”
“The decision has been made,” said Luna. “I am going planetside and thus your presence isn’t needed. Besides, I would prefer it if you remained here just in case something happens like the Sunset Shimmer incident.”
“Then have Shining Armor remain,” argued Shadow, his voice carrying a hint of anger and frustration.
“Shining Armor will have his own mission,” said Luna as she looked to a different document. “When the time comes I will inform you of what it is so you can be kept in the loop.”
“So you’re telling me that I am to remain here while all the other Captains and you go off?” yelled Shadow. “That my minor wounds have made me useless to the Republic?”
“Passing out due to blood loss is not a ‘minor wound’,” said Luna, irritation ringing in her voice. “And you are by no stretch of the imagination useless.”
“Then what is it?” demanded Shadow. “Don’t you trust me? The captain of your Guard? Is it because of what happened this morning? You know I am willing to make the sacrifices-”
“And that’s the problem!” shouted Luna as she slammed her hoof onto the ground, dropping the papers from her magic. Her eyes fixated on him, glowing slightly as they did.
At this, Shadow took a step backwards as a puzzled expression appeared on his face. Never before had he seen her act like this to him.
“You think that your life is something that can be tossed away,” continued Luna. “That as long as it is for the Republic, it’s ok. Well it’s not! And do you know why? Because of two mares, both of whom are in the medical wing right now. How do you think they would feel when they find out you died?”
Shadow stood there, as still as a statue as Luna’s words rung through him. Seeing this, Luna’s eyes, which had been fierce a moment ago, softened as did the tone of her voice.
“I know you would do anything for the Republic,” she said. “And I am sure that you believed that using your armor to create a bomb was the right thing to do at the time. But you didn’t let Shining Armor do anything for your wounds and, as far as I know, you haven’t visited Twilight or Scootaloo since you got back. Right now they need you more than the Republic does.”
Luna then began to levitate the documents once more. “My decision remains unchanged. You may leave.”
-End Flashback-
Shadow’s head hung low. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to see Twilight or Scootaloo. In fact there was no place he truly wanted to be. But with everything that was going on he had a duty to protect everypony here, including them. And if he didn’t do everything in his power to make sure the Republic wasn’t safe resulting in either or both of them getting hurt then he would never be able to forgive himself.
Yet he could see what Princess Luna was trying to tell him. If he had detonated his armor then he would have destroyed a good portion of enemy troops. But Twilight, the mare he loved, would have woken to find her fiancé and best friend dead. And Scootaloo would have found out that the first stallion she ever called dad was dead.
It was then that Shadow heard a noise that caused his ears to perk. Looking around he found that he was in the medical wing. But the noise he had heard sounded like the ending to one of the Pony Ranger shows. Try as he might, he couldn’t remember which one. A moment later he heard another noise.
“That…was…so…COOL!” came the voice of a filly. At first he thought it was Scootaloo, but shook his head after a moment. No, the voice was familiar, but it didn’t belong to his daughter.
When he got there, Shadow saw Dinky Hooves was sitting on the hospital bed next to Scootaloo with both of them staring at the wall which was playing the end credits to one of the Pony Ranger shows. A quick glance showed him that it was ‘Pony Rangers SPD’. Looking back at the two fillies, he noticed that Dinky had several wrappers around her. Scootaloo, he noted, had an open book on her bed which the filly was now glancing at. Next to her bed was a nightstand which held several more books as well as a tray of food and a remote.
“Hey Dad,” said Scootaloo as soon as she noticed him. He watched as she picked up the remote and pushed a button which caused the images on the wall to vanish, making it look like a normal wall once again.
Shadow let out a forced smile. He had heard that Land Share had been there for Scootaloo when she woke up. That he had done his best to comfort the filly. And while Shadow was thankful for all of this, it should have been him to do this. He should have been there for Scootaloo when she woke up, not Land Share. The feeling of shame that came with this was something that pained Shadow more than his wounds. While Shadow couldn’t change what was done in the past, however, he was here now. And that was what mattered at the moment.
“Well I’d better get going,” said Dinky as jumped off the bed before walking over to the wall. She pushed on what appeared to be a blank space on it causing a small hole with a three centimeter radius to open up. As soon as the hole appeared, a cylindrical crystal shot out of it which Dinky grabbed with her magic.
“Let me know if you want to watch anymore,” said the unicorn filly as she walked out the door to Scootaloo. “I own the entire series.” And with that she was gone, leaving Shadow and Scootaloo alone.
“Looks like somepony was showing you how to use the TV,” chuckled Shadow as he went to sit next to the bed.
“I haven’t been watching it that long,” said Scootaloo. “When I woke up I started to study until the nurse came in with my food. Then Dinky came in saying she wanted to keep me company and that she wanted to show me something really, really cool. I said I had to study, but she and the nurse just said that I need to rest. Honest.”
Shadow let out a small laugh. “It’s ok,” he told her. “Taking a break from studying every once in a while is a good thing. Studying is a lot like training your body. You need to give it a rest from time to time so you don’t strain it. The only pony I know who could study all day without a break is your mother.”
“Really?” asked Scootaloo.
“Yeah,” said Shadow with a nod.
Scootaloo seemed to relax a bit after he said this. “Good,” she said. “I don’t want to disappoint mom when I go to see her.”
“I see,” said Shadow uncomfortably. “Have you tried?” Of course he already knew the answer. Still, he wanted to hear it from Scootaloo.
The filly nodded. “As soon as I got up I tried to go and see her but the doctors won’t let me,” she said with a sigh. “The nurse said that she needs her rest and stuff, but she would tell me when she wakes up. Then I can see her.”
Scootaloo then looked down while turning her head away from Shadow. “I-I just can’t believe that she…”
Seeing Scootaloo act like this caused Shadow to become worried. ‘I should have seen something like this coming,’ thought Shadow. ‘Scootaloo was an orphan when we found her and never knew what it was like to have a real family until we brought her here. Finding out about what happened to Twilight must have hurt more than anything Sunset did to her.’
Once again Shadow glanced over at the textbooks before looking at the one on the bed and then finally at Scootaloo. Everything suddenly clicked. The studying and watching T.V., it had all been a distraction. Something to take her mind off of Twilight until she could see her. And now that those distractions were gone it was like an airlock beginning to open up, sucking out the strength of the filly.
At least Shadow was here now.
“It’s ok,” said Shadow as he placed a hoof on Scootaloo’s shoulder causing the filly to look at him, tears beginning to form in her eyes. “Twilight is going to be ok. The doctors say that she is out of the danger zone. I’m sure she’ll wake up soon once the medicine kicks in.”
“B-But what if something goes wrong?” asked Scootaloo. “Like what happened to me?”
“Then we do the only things we can do,” replied Shadow as he gave her a reassuring smile. “We trust in the doctors to do their job, we trust in Twilight’s will to live, and we don’t let fear make our decisions for us.”
Scootaloo looked confused as she wiped away a large tear in her eye. “I-I don’t get it,” she replied.
Shadow tapped his chin with his hoof as he tried to think of the best way to explain the situation. Then he had a lightbulb moment. “Well, you know that show you were watching a little while ago?” he asked, receiving a nod almost immediately. “Well, in that season of the Pony Rangers, you aren’t following the best of the best. Instead it’s the backup team. The reason for this is that the Alpha Squad turned traitor and joined with the bad guys.”
Scootaloo’s jaw dropped when she heard this. She had been interested in the show, wanting to finish it later, and was slightly upset that he had spoiled that plot point. But there was something else that angered her more.
“B-But they’re the good guys!” yelled Scootaloo, waving her small hooves in the air. “Why would they do something like that?”
“They said they wanted to join the winning team,” said Shadow slowly as he closed his eyes for a moment. “Many fans have had discussion about this plot point and each has their own theories. Mine is that they were running away. When the villain was first shown, we saw him blowing up a planet. We later find out that he has conquered many other worlds, destroying them with his endless armies. Now he’s going after the moon. Imagine how the Alpha Squad must feel. They are the best of the best. All of the hopes of the moon rest on their shoulders. But many of the best of the best have tried and failed to defeat this guy. And so I believe that they were so afraid of failing that they switched sides.
“You see Scootaloo, when ponies let their fear make their decisions they do…stupid things,” continued Shadow as he thought of his actions on the planet. “Oh sure, fear can at times bring out the best in a pony or can help save their life. It can help keep you sharp on the battlefield or warn you away from a dangerous situation. But it can also destroy trust and bonds. It can make a pony do things that he or she wouldn’t normally do. And sometimes, the things that are done can never be undone. That also includes when you choose not to face your fears. Holding it in like that isn’t being brave. It just leads to hurting others. And…I’m no exception to that.”
“But-” began Scootaloo. However, Shadow gently placed a hoof on her mouth to silence her.
“I should have been here for both you and Twilight,” he said. “I should have gone to see both of you before I left for the planet. I wasn’t here when you woke you so I could be the one to tell you what was going on and to reassure you. But instead I kept focusing on my work, on my duty as a soldier of the Republic rather than being a good fiancé and a father. And for that, I’m sorry.”
“I-It’s ok dad,” said Scootaloo as she leaned over and hugged Shadow. “I knew that you had to be doing something super important or else you would have been here. But you’re here now and that’s all that matters.”
For a moment, neither pony spoke. They just stayed where they were, holding each other. It was simple, but the effects were greater than any technological wonder that the Republic had. Yet, sadly, it had to end.
“So,” said Scootaloo slowly as she tried to start up a more happy conversation. “You said left for the planet. Does that mean you were in Equestria?”
“Yeah,” replied Shadow as he scratched the back of his head.
“Did you do something really cool or awesome?” asked Scootaloo, her eyes wide with excitement as if she were hoping he went to go fight monsters in some glorified story. Shadow, however, didn’t answer at first as he was conflicted on what to tell her. He had considered outright lying to her, that nothing really happened or anything interesting. But he knew that sooner or later she would find out the truth.
And this time she would hear it from him.
After taking a deep breath, Shadow filled Scootaloo in on everything that had been going on since she was put to sleep. Of course he never went into gruesome detail, just an overall summary of the events. He told her about the trial and that Princess Luna believed that Blueblood was the mastermind behind Twilight’s attack. He told her about how they went to Equestria and a fight broke out and that some didn’t survive. He watched as the excitement in Scootaloo’s eyes faded and a look of shock appeared on her face as he finished his story.
“T-That’s impossible,” stammered Scootaloo.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” replied Shadow. “But it’s true. Trust me, I was there. Hopefully tomorrow’s battle puts an end to all of this.”
“You’re not going, are you?” asked Scootaloo, worry dripping with every word.
Shadow gave her a reassuring chuckle as he patted her on the head. “No, I’m not,” he said causing Scootaloo to relax. “Princess Luna wants me to remain here while she leads the army.”
“Thank Celes- er, I mean thank Luna,” said Scootaloo as she let out a yawn.
“I think somepony needs to get some more rest,” said Shadow. “And don’t worry, I’m not planning on leaving the castle so if you wake up you can call me.”
“Ok,” said Scootaloo as she got under the covers. Once she did, Shadow turned to leave. However, Scootaloo spoke up once again. “Hey dad?”
“Yes?” said Shadow as he turned to look at her.
“Do,” began Scootaloo before stopping and taking a deep breath. “Do you really think that Applejack did that to mom?”
Shadow opened his mouth to say yes, but for some reason stopped himself. Instead he found himself feeling…conflicted.
“Well,” said Shadow at last. “That’s what the evidence points at.”
“It doesn’t make sense though,” said Scootaloo. “I’ve met Applejack a few times before and she just never seemed like the type who would do something like that. She just seems too…nice to just attack Twilight for no reason. Isn’t there a chance the evidence is wrong?”
A feeling of uneasiness grew in the pit of Shadow’s stomach. He wanted to say that it was impossible. That the evidence had all been verified by the LBI and three mares confessed under truth lights. Under these circumstances there should be little doubt that they were guilty. And yet, for some reason, Shadow’s thoughts went back to the trial. Something about the footage and the sound he heard seemed-
Shadow quickly shook his head, trying to clear his head of these thoughts. ‘That’s just crazy,’ he thought in his head. ‘If there was any problem the LBI would have spotted it. Sealed Document, the head of the LBI himself checked out the footage.’
In the end, Shadow just reassured Scootaloo once again that the evidence was really strong as well as saying that Twilight would confirm it once she woke up. With that, he left for Twilight’s room so he could spend some time with her.
Luckily her room was just a few doors down from Scootaloo’s so it didn’t take him long. However, as soon as he got in, he noticed something different. He walked over to the bed, but kept his eyes on the IV bag. He was so intent on staring at it that he missed hearing a nurse enter the room.
“Oh, Captain Shadow,” she said with a small smile. “Didn’t know you were in here. Well don’t mind me. I’ll just check Assistant Director Sparkle’s stat’s and then I’ll be-”
“Is she getting worse?” interrupted Shadow, who continued to stare at the IV bag.
“Ah, let me check,” she replied as she walked to the end of Twilight’s bed. She then swiped her hoof over it causing a holographic image to appear in front of her. “Well, according to this, her life isn’t in any danger. However, Doctor Healing Touch noted that she should be doing better.”
“Is that why she changed the medicine?” asked Shadow as he pointed to the IV bag. When he had last visited the liquid in it had been green. Now, however, it was bright pink.
“No, she hasn’t-” began the nurse, but stopped as she looked up at the IV bag. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at the bag, then at the holo-screen, and then at the bag. “T-That’s not MI-392!”
“That’s what it says on the bag,” said Shadow in a worried tone. The nurse rushed over to him and pushed Shadow out of the way as she examined the bag. Sure enough, the label on the bag read MI-392.
“T-This isn’t p-possible,” she stammered. “I gave her MI-392 early this morning myself! Somepony had to changed bags and the label on the new one so that the machine read it as the appropriate medicine. Otherwise we would have been informed by the computer if a mistake had been made.”
“So what’s inside Twilight!” demanded Shadow, his eyes narrowing.
“I have no idea,” replied the nurse. “There are at least two dozen medicines that this stuff could be. But this would explain why she isn’t doing better.”
“Ok,” replied Shadow as he rubbed his forehead. “Tell me, who has access to the medicine.”
“Off the top of my head I can tell you that most of the hospital staff,” replied the nurse. “But nopony here would do anything to endanger a patient’s life. I-I’ll go and get her the right medicine and check the records on who else was in the medical storage room. Maybe that will give us some answers.”
Shadow gave a slow nod while his mind began to think about other events that had happened recently. “Right,” he said slowly. “But, while you’re at it, could you find out what’s inside that bag miss…”
“Soothing Voice,” she said. “And I can try.”
“That’s all I can ask,” said Shadow as he headed out the door. “I’ll be back later today after I…check up on somethings.”
-x-
Majesty walked down the streets of Canterlot. Normally, she would never consider taking such a long walk. Instead, she would have hired a taxi or have Scooter pull her around. The idea of walking like a commoner was just repulsive to somepony of her standings.
And yet, right now, she didn’t care.
As ponies ran around her panicking in the streets, Majesty walked in a zombie like trance. Her face showed almost no emotion. She paid no mind to her aching hooves nor did she show any interest to the ponies screaming about the horror while members of the Royal Guard did their best to calm everypony down. At one point she got knocked to the ground by some random pony but even that got no response from the mare as she got back up and continued her way.
Throughout all of this, only one thing ran through Majesty’s mind. ‘He’s dead. Scooter is dead…...’ Over and over those thoughts went through the mare’s mind as she walked on autopilot into her house. She paid her servants no mind as they greeted her and asked what was happening. She just kept walking up the stairs, her employee’s just shrugging.
She suddenly blinked and found herself in Scooter’s room. It was small, holding a single pony bed and dresser. There was also a closet that was half open and a window that had a good view of the castle. The air in here still had Scooter’s scent.
Seeing all of this with the knowledge of what had happened to Scooter was too much for the mare. It didn’t start with a sniff or a teardrop, but instead a full on wail as she charged towards the bed. A rapid river of tears began to flow down her face as she clutched the sheets with her hooves, holding them close to her heart which felt like it was about to break.
She cried out for Scooter, not caring who heard her. Her husband could have walked in right that moment and she wouldn’t have cared. Nor would he for that matter. Their marriage was only one of convenience after all. Scooter was the only stallion who she could say she cared about. The only stallion who was honest with her, never sucking up or lying to her for his own personal agendas. Their relationship might have started out as a fling, but it had become something so much more over the years.
And knowing that it was over made Majesty cry all the harder. There were so many things left unsaid. So many things that, looking back, she wished she had done. But instead Majesty had chosen to ignore her heart in favor for wealth and a title that she now realized meant nothing. If she could, she would give it all away just to be with Scooter. Sadly she knew that it was impossible. She would have to live with her choices, stuck in a loveless marriage.
She laid there crying for what seemed like an eternity, the sheets becoming soaked in her tears. It was then that a cloud that had been covering the sun began to move in the wind, causing a ray of light to move from her face towards the closet. Majesty looked up in mid sob and stopped when she saw where it had stopped before fading. It was the crib that Scooter had bought for their daughter.
Tears still running down her cheeks, Majesty slowly got up and walked over to it. “After all these years he kept it,” she said while gently placing a hoof on the crib.
New shame washed over her, threatening to cause her to bawl all over again with renewed force. She remembered how, when she was pregnant, he had offered to take care of their child all by himself in order to save her from scandal. At first she had agreed, but then the paranoia set in. she had grown up in the world of nobility where anypony would use any form of dirt they could get their hooves on as blackmail material. She feared that Scooter might do the same and so, after her child had been born, she left her at an orphanage and lied to him saying that she had died.
It was then that an idea flashed in her brain, causing her eyes to widen. Hope bloomed in her chest. There was still one piece of Scooter left! In a flash she raced out of the room in search of a servant.
“My lady, whatever is the-” began one of the nameless maids as Majesty approached in a hurry.
“Send a message by magical fire to the local sky taxi service,” said Majesty, interrupting her. “I want their fastest chariot here to take me to Ponyville in five minutes!”
-x-
Princess Luna was currently in the throne room with Shining Armor, going over his mission to search and rescue Princess Cadence as well as her daughter. She didn’t know if the pink alicorn was actually in danger, however it was more of an educated guess. As she had feared, Blueblood had been the one sitting on the throne when Derpy went to Equestria to deliver there declaration of war. This meant that either Blueblood had found a way to dethrone her or had done something more…drastic. However, based on the fact that Cadence hadn’t been standing besides Celestia when Luna confronted her there was a chance that Cadence was simply away at the moment.
To that end, Luna wanted Shining Armor to take a shuttle and a small group of soldiers to find and locate the alicorn of love and bring her to the Republic where she would be safe until this mess was all over. To aid him, several scientists from the Department of Research and Technology were modifying the shuttles scanners to detect alicorns as well as alicorn magic.
While going on a search and rescue mission was not a part of the Shield Corps duties, Shining Armor was an excellent choice for a mission like this. When she had talked to the Senate about this part of the plan, Land Share had nominated Shining Armor saying that his shields would be able to protect them should they encounter any difficulties. And, as an added incentive, Princess Cadence already knew him well and that they shared a bond meaning she would be more likely to go with him willingly. To this Princess Luna agreed.
There was only one major problem: the range of the scanners. The Republic’s shuttles scanners had a limited range. Because of this they could not remain in high orbit, but instead fly relatively close the ground while scanning. This would also mean they would be flying around blindly, hoping to pick up Cadence.
As they two worked out a flight path that would hopefully narrow down their search, a member of the Guard entered the throne room with a stony expression.
“Forgive the interruption, Princess,” said the Guard. “I was sent to inform you that the prisoner that you brought back from Equestria just woke up.”
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Any time! I really enjoyed this chapter and editing it.
oh look, a celestia hate fix.
seriously, thi story is completely imbalanced. it makes no god damn sense.
5935770 Then can I ask what might be a stupid question: why have you been reading this story for over 50 chapters?
5935792 read it a bit more recently.
and just because i dislike it far from means i do not have reasons. the story presumes that luna would in fact be a better leader than celestia. that would be okay i suppose, maybe she just needed to spread her wings. however they make celsetia utterly incompetent in comparison to her sister. she managed to keep equestria together and strong for a thousand years by herself, so how come luna somehow turns the moon into fucking corouscant? how could she be THAT much better?
it is nonsensical. even for a story featuring pretty pony princess demigods, its nonsensical. it ultimately, and completely, relies on making celestia an incompetent leader, regardless of the fact that equestria is prosperous with celestia alone. not to mention making celestia bitter and bsaically out of her typical character without good reason.
also the biggest issue is that it apparently goes by the...... strange, strange assumption that starswhirl's incomplete spell alters reality or something.............
Luna's armor in that pic looks AWESOME!!!!
A NEW POST! I LOVE U!
Just wanted to say thanks again to Darthvalgaav for letting me edit and to Golden Sax for helping!
5935827 It's not that the story is making Celestia incompetent, it's showing how she normally is: an affectionate mother. She tries to be the caring mother figure for her ponies instead of a leader, meaning she tries to let them act for themselves instead of acting for them. The ponies of Equestria fear change, which is why they have barely made any technological advances. Luna's ponies however aren't bound by the stigma of science being bad. She actively encourages them to study and learn more. When she left she took quite a few free thinking ponies, and after a thousand years of more ponies being born who constantly worked to better their lives it eventually ended up with their city being the way it is.
Equestria is prosperous, a paradise even to some. But with Celestia doing little to help ponies lose their fear of change, of things being different from what they are accustomed to they will never be like the lunar ponies.
5936058 ........... that is contrived dude. celestia is a teacher as much as she is a mother. teachers, least ones that are not working in the american education system, try to teach others.
Yes. Shinning is going to get Cadence and Shadow now understands that some other pony is trying to kill Twilight. Thanks for the chapter. Also I'm a big fan of Power Rangers SPD!!
5936105 She is not their teacher, she is their leader. A leader leads, makes the hard calls that no one else can make. If she was a teacher then she would be in a classroom, not perched on a throne with the title 'Princess' in her name. It's the reason why Luna has had more success, she acted as her position dictated. Being a teacher or a mother or a leader is great and all but can't be any if you put one above the rest. The proof is in the pudding
5935827 It's not just the leader that makes the country, but the citizens running the system underneath the leader that ensures the country thrives. Luna took the best of the best in technology and knowledge with her to the moon, and with them created a system that would allow them to rule more effectively, Luna saw a broken system in Celestia's government, and took measures to eliminate the possibility of corruption in her system, keeping it clean and well oiled. Down on Equestria, Celestia tried to better her ponies, but she has been blinded by her pride and allowed corruption to fester and grow to the point where she is more of a head figure that the nobles use to keep the commoners in line with their desires and Ideals. Celestia may change some policies, but the majority of her power is shunted by many noble family's having years to perfect the ability of manipulating and bypassing Celestia's system of thought, and the Icing on top of the cake is that Celestia's Ideals keep her from purging any of the bad apples she does find instead she tries to better them with a hooves off approach. It's absolutely amazing that Cadence came out the way she did, instead of being transformed into a fellow sycophant by Blueblood and his noble lackeys
A mage such as Starswirl would have many incomplete works, as would be the nature of one like him, they master the creation of many things but in the end, age eliminates them before many of their other works can be completed.
So overall this chapter was well done, the only thing I would bring attention to is your dialog between Shadow and Luna being a bit clunky, ie not really flowing naturally, but a huge step up form the previous chapter overall.
This will probably be long so sorry in advance.
5936058 5936176
How dose the story not make Celestia out to be incompetent? Off the top of my head she literaly did nothing for 1000 years to fix problems that she knew existed, can't notice a coup happening right around her, thought mind raping her sister would lead their mother to make Luna reconcile with her, gets politically outmaneuvered by the comically evil Blueblood at every turn and has been portrayed overall as a dunce, a well meaning dunce but a dunce none the less, this is ontop of her being groomed to rule by her parents and Luna not receiving any training from them. It has been so one sided that she could not even serve as a legitimate foil for Luna. Combine that with Darths own comments on the mater and I don't see how you could argue that she has not been portrayed as anything but incompetent to the point that she should never wield power of any kind, even the things Darth claimed she was good at she has been shown to fail at utterly.
Out of curiosity were did you get "affectionate mother" from? In the show she has been either been a teacher or little more than an exposition machine, in the comics shes still a teacher or a guardian who has taken to passing the mantle on to the new generation, but still willing to throw down when she is needed, and in the Diary she was the bad ass that dropped the hammer on any threat to Equestria, surprisingly Luna was actually more like Fluttershy than anything else back in the day. Although I guess from what we have seen in the flashbacks her being the hammer should not be that surprising.
Now I don't know if you have noticed any of my other comments but the differences between the Republic and Equestria have been the biggest problem for me, and unless the massive build up of the Republic is leading to an epic fall I can't see the tech difrence being anything but short hand for Luna being superior to Celestia. As for your explanation for the difference well it really dose not work, their are 3 things that have historically governed tech development. First Accesses to food/resources, your not developing new tech if your starving or lacking raw materials to develop or use the tech with ie developing steel without coal, next is size of the population, the more people coming up with ideas the more ideas turn out to be good. Finally contact with outer groups/nations, say you come up with a fishing net but your village is isolated, you die and that knowledge is lost, but if your village is not isolated and you share that with someone form another village and the knowledge of fishing nets spread, well the death or loss of any one person or village wont mean the loss of fishing nets, universities often actually send their doctoral candidates to other universities just to get fresh perspectives and to prevent academic inbreeding. The reason I bring this up is because Darth has actually had the Republic and Equestria go in the opposite directions of what they should have, all the hard work and forward thinking in the world wont overcome a lack of numbers and resources or an influx of new ideas from an outside source.
Having said all that I can still believe the tech difference more than I can Equestria not changing socially in 1000 years. I know I'm repeating myself but that just does not happen, the next generation always questions the previous generation, new ideas always are introduced, living with previously feared minorities leads to them being more accepted over time, even active repression of new ideas does not work, Imperial Russia could not hold back European ideas nor could china, even North Korea cant keep the rest of the world out. I mostly blame this issue on people in general not appreciating just how long 1000 years actually is.
This is an interesting thing for you to say since from were I'm siting the Equestria of this story is quite terrible, its stagnate everyone in charge is either incompetent or evil and the citizens are all ignorant and racist, and cannon Celestia seems to be the opposite of what you suggest she is, or are you talking about this stories Celestia. I know earlier on in the story Equestria and the Republic were both supposed to have pros and cons, ie even though Equestria has all these problems it has lots of food and wealth, and the Republic with all the tech was supposed to be quite harsh with massive resource problems, that never translated over into the text of the story, Equestria has a few good individuals but nothing more, while the Republic is essentially a Utopia with like one bad person in it and the resource problem was not even mentioned until chapter 49 and then it was like one sentence at the end. I do still hold out hope that Luna's and the senators blood lust gets called out but I have my doubts.
One final note directed your way. I know Darth said he based Equestria off of a feudal age kingdom and used that to explain the tech difference and you brought up this notion of Equestria thinking science is bad, the historian in my dies a little bit when I see stuff like that. Science did not stop in during the middle ages I know its a popular notion but it really and truly did not stop or even 'slow down' if such a thing could even be measured, there is a reason medieval historians don't use the term 'Dark Ages' anymore, its not even close to accurate.
Sorry but I do like my long rants.
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To be fair I think the spell functioned more like the 'What If' machine from Futurama, since it concluded that Luna having supporters leads to a horrible soon to be war torn alternate timeline there is still a chance it ends like Furturama what if episodes, with everyone being killed in a comedic fashion.
5936263 Celestia wanted her ponies themselves to change, not force change upon them. She wanted them to see what they were doing was wrong and not be told they were wrong. Celestia is powerful, she is smart, but she is not omnipotent. It's hard to know what goes on behind closed doors because the doors are closed. If you don't suspect something is happening then nine times out of ten you won't see some of the signs, especially if they're subtle about it. How effective would a coup be if the ruling body instantly knew about it? As for the instance with the mind thing . . . in Celestia's eyes it was a necessary evil to hopefully reconcile with a long lost sibling that she close to losing again.
She refers to them as 'My little ponies' that she 'loves equally'. How can anyone but an affectionate mother say that? I'd imagine it's pretty hard not to see the ponies as her children since she is much older than them.
Tradition is a very powerful thing. If the older generation pounds it into the head of the younger generation while they are still young then it is quite easy to keep the same line of thinking strong. Kids tend to imitate their parents, and when kids see their parents bashing new tech and non-ponies they too will act the same.
Of course they seem evil and stagnate because they pretty much are. They have been raised on tales of how bat-ponies and lunar ponies are pure evil, and that how technology is bad because what they have now is good. The Republic had several bad ponies, not just one, there's even one (or more) trying to assassinate Twilight right now, and the resource issue wasn't introduced right away as it wasn't relevant at that point of time. The food issue can, and is, an arc all on its own. Trying to fit that in early on when everything else was going down would be trying to force a book and it's sequel into one massive book, attempting to tell both stories at once.
5936263 true i guess.
and it seems people do not like that critic.
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I can see where you are coming from in certain parts and I hope I can explain some things.
1) I see what you are getting at with the 'middle ages' comment. However, let me point out that nopony in Equestria ever said that technology was bad. Instead it looks like it was slowed down greatly. Early on in this story it was mentioned that the steam power was just begining to be utilized. They are far behind where they are in cannon, but it isn't as bad as you make it out to be.
2) Celestia can be explained as being stuck in the past. I once commented that Celestia and Luna seem to represent the different generations with Luna being the younger, who are more willing to change, while Celestia seems to belong to the older, wanting everything to stay the same. We saw that very clearly in one of the earilest fashback's where Celestia believes everything is fine. And as long as everything seems to be running smoothly there is less of a reason to change things. And where is she getting her information? From her nobles and spies, ponies who can be bought or are willing to lie to her for their own gain. Thus, as far Celestia is concerned, she has little reason to update the approach her father taught her a thousand years ago. But I will admit, from the way Molten Fury was portrayed he would teach Celestia to goveren like this.
3) I think of the Republic more like a think tank. Having so many ponies being asked to produce new ideas, being rewarded for them, being praised for original thoughts. Also they seem to be competitive, wanting to outdo others. But that's just what I see.
These are just a few points I wanted to make
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I agree that that bit was a little clunky. I rewrote it about a dozen times and that one just sounded the best.
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See I think your being unfair in just define her as a mother, she has been shown to be many things in cannon, sure if we leave it to just this story, i guess I could see your point on that, but, to say the story has not been hammering on how terrible she is at everything is just inaccurate, she is not depicted as wise or smart at any point in the story, ya Darth threw her a bone and made her stronger than Luna, and she still lost the fight. For an excelent example as to how she leads and is a teacher to her subjects check out her comic, in it a bunch of parents wanted to oust a teacher, they thought she was to old and had nothing to offer, Celestia could have just forced them to keep the teacher on, instead like a good teacher she presents them with the information and helps guide them to the correct conclusion.
Im sorry but Blueblood and his faction have been anything but subtle, that is one of my major criticisms of this story, Darth really needs to work on putting some nuance and depth into his characters particularly villeins. That mind rape thing was actually Darth attempting to portray Celestia in a more positive light, at the time he thought he was doing a better job with her Charachter. Again I must go back to the 1000 years, for 1000 years she did nothing, that is the single most damning thing about this depiction of her, there is no way to organically bring her back from that.
There has not been a generation in our history where the kids as a collective whole did not think they know better than their parents, honestly if there ever was one I would be quite worried, yes what you say is true to a degree but again it is a relentless force, over time, especially 1000 years (again gonna hammer on that) progress will win out.
That was written in response to your claim that Equestria was a utopia, in cannon it nearly is, in this story not even close. With the Republic Im not convinced that there is more than one bad pony in it, at least as far as the story is concerned that that is the digitized mind of Sunset Shimmer, there may be one other but Im not sure, my point stands that Equestria is horrible with like a couple of good ponies the Republic is awesome with a couple of bad poines, a little to on point I think. That being said I also consider Luna and the government to be warmongers full of blood lust, I don't think the story will agree with me, It did not agree when it was clear Luna was a terrible diplomat, and I am sure it will want me to think Lunas reasons for war, the invasion itself and Candace as a puppet are not insane as well.
Ah now we get to the heart of one of my major criticisms. It most defiantly was relevant from the story, hell it should have been the primary reason that Luna was even willing to make contact with Celestia, from the moment Darth made the comment the Republic not having resources I knew that would lead to a war, that was the reason I kept harping on about it. It's much more effective if you introduce a key plot thread early on and let it develop over time, instead 50 chapters in after seeing how perfectly awesome the republic is we get a 'oh by the way there is a resources shortage and that will lead to war'. Its the same reason I was saying he should tone the tech and Luna 'sueness' down while stat redeeming Celestias character all the way back around chapter 20, because now at chapter 58 we have a Republic that gets more and more new tech for no logical reason, a Luna that is near perfect as far as the story is concerned a comically inept Equestria and Celesita, a Blueblood so over the top evil he may as well go around burning orphanages to the ground while kicking puppies, and a war that wants me to believe that their is dramatic tension to it. Im still here mainly out of curiosity at this point, I want to see how Darth wraps this up and if my remaining predictions come true.
Frankly, and I am sorry if this is comes off as rude, but if Darth had not spent so much of the story with massive speeches either about how awesome Luna is or how terrible Celestia is and cutting down on a lot of the redundant dialog there would have been plenty of room, he has gotten much better over time, this chapter may be his best for it, but that is still a weak excuse for not including establishing a key part of the setting that would lead to a major plot point.
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Hey you are getting much better as I said this is probably your best chapter for dialog yet, I am sorry if I come off as an ass or to repetitive in my comments, I do only mean to help
So it's finally completely out of doubt that somebody from the Republic is also messing with things. I mean, evidence was already pointing in that direction, since Blueblood wouldn't have been able to predict or plan Pinkie ejecting the water. He would have also had a hard time planning the "Light of Truth" confession. True, he might have just altered their minds in advance, just in case mind magic was used, but this is highly unlikely.
Instead it seems that only the parasprite was planned by Blueblood. The water ejection was probably just Pinkie being Pinkie.
Our mysterious attacker seems to have used both incidents and tampered with the confessions to create enough tension for a war. The attempt at Twilight's life was either added as an extra to hit Luna personally and ensure her reaction, or it was the originally only plan, that was later extended, when the attacker realized the potential of the other two incidents.
Since the attacker would need a lot of power to pull off both the assassination attempt and the fake confession, a senator would be rather likely.
With his obvious contempt for Equestria, Gigawatt seems to be rather suspicious in this situation. Still, while I wouldn't put it past him to fabricate an incident to provoke war, possibly even at the expense of the Equestrian Mane 6, his friendship with Twilight appeared rather genuine and it seems unlike him to murder her for his schemes, especially when he knows her role in defeating Discord. (Except if maybe activating that Umbrella thing at Equestria is his final goal anyway)
I also don't know who else might have a motive...
5936553 How exactly is calling Celestia an 'affectionate mother' unfair? I cannot think of any point in time where 'affectionate mother' is used as an insult or as a derogatory term.
Blueblood is being subtle (loath as I am to admit that) as he has not been found out. He framed griffins as culprits in a murder, managed to manipulate AJ and the others to sabotage their diplomacy mission, and so on. Just because you realize what he is up to doesn't make him unsubtle.
Ponies aren't humans. Don't try to compare us to them and them to us. Humanity has a wide, variety of cultures scattered across the globe. Equestria is a single continent with little to no interaction with any of the other races present on the planet. Keep it contained and ideology is easy to pass from one generation to the next, especially with new ideas being quickly smothered. Also, this a work of fiction based off a fictional show. Just because something happened in the show or the comics doesn't mean the author has to change his/her story to match it perfectly.
Equestria is a utopia. Little to no disease, famine isn't a problem, they even haven't had any big wars. You don't need the inhabitants of a land to act all nice and sweet to ruin the utopia.
Luna and the other councilors are not 'filled with bloodlust', just resentment and quite a bit of bitterness. If it were bloodlust then diplomacy would never have entered the picture.
If you honestly do not like how the story is going then leave. If Darth didn't want to introduce the resource problem right away then it's his choice, not yours. There's a difference between criticisms and outright saying 'no, you can't do that because it doesn't make sense to me'. It goes doubly so when you start tossing around words like 'organically' out of context. How do you 'organically' redeem someone?
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I have to agree that Blueblood has been somewhat suttle. Not only is he smart enough to find out about Celestia's spies and bribe them, but his original plan was never to aquire the throne but more personal power. It was by dumb luck that he is ruling Equestria and I feel like he is playing it by ear.
Then there was the bit about the resourse and this leading to war. I will admit that I feared it would come to war I was surprised that the reason for war wasn't about getting those resourse. Hell, while Luna was talking to Celestia she had her ponies go to the frozen north to get ice. I think if she wanted she could easily get tons of food and other such things that the Rebulic needs via stealing. But she doesn't. She is trying her best at diplomacy with Equestria. What really set up this war was the attack on Twilight and even then Luna didn't go in with guns a blazing! Resourses may play a part but they are not the full reason. If anything, with the amount of shit Luna has gotten from Equestria, I'm surprised way didn't start right away.
Great chapter
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I would Say its unfair to catogorize her as JUST a mother figure there is a lot more to her hinted at throughout the show and the comics so reducing her to just one aspect and using that aspect to justify a version of her that his this terrible at everything really is not fair. I think the intent was to have her be a foil for Luna but, since she has been comicly bad at everything it really hurts the story. A hero or portagonist needs a credible challenge to help drive the story, Celestia, Blueblood and Equestria cant be that for Luna and the Republic.
Why should we not compare ponies to humans? the Ponies in cannon are written by human writers and on the whole act like us, the ponies in this story are written by someone who I feel safe in assuming is human and act in a recognizable manner to us. Equestria is a large country about the size of Canada and the us if the map is anything to go by and it clearly has relations with other nations such as the Gyphans....as does this equestria, even we our own countries try supressing the outside world has never worked. Even if what you say is true that has not been explained in the text of the story to any real degree.
Read the part were Luna and the senators are planing the war again, it starts with one simply wanting to wipe Equestria off the map, ones concerned that that 'might' make the Equestrians resent them, they go back and forth reminding themselves how much a threat Equestria is to them then Luna decideds for reasons that do not make any sense to invade, the way she and the senators discuss the invasion it seems clear that she just wants to kill equestrians with her own hands, I cant come up with another reason she would purposefully put her army at any risk when its clear she does not have to. Before that she talks about how much she wants this war. Keep in mind that Equestria literally can not be a threat to the Republic unless the Republic actively lets them be one.
I never liked this attitude of telling people to leave when they offer critisiem its not just you but something I see all over the site. When did I say 'no you can't do that' I've been offering my opinion that the story would be better severed if he established something so critical to the plot early on, he never did and now I feel the story is suffering for it and have stated as such. As for organically well I do hold a fear, given the way many other issues have been resolved to quickly several times in the story the story that after, 1000 years and 60ish chapters Celestia will suddenly realize the error of her ways after one conversation and change her whole self around in the space of a single chapter.
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We will have to disagree about Blueblood the stuff hes been doing right infront of Celestia that she has simply gone 'huh thats weird' to me has been very obvious, also by lacking subtly I also mean that he has as much depth as an 80s cartoon villain at this point I think Darths writing would be well served if he worked on adding depth and nuance to his characters. As for Luna's diplomacy being bad, well the narrative thinks its good, I still think its bad, she did just give Equestria 24 hrs to give her an insane amount of food and water, otherwise it would be war, and repeated the same insane demands in person, no negotiation of amount or a better time line, just a demand that could not be fulfilled int he time she allotted.
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Ok guys, please calm down. I am flattered with all this talk, both the good and the bad since it can only help me as a writer as well as show that there are people who realize what I am trying to do here. I said this before and I will say it again, this is the first time I have ever done a major story like this. In the past I have done simple retellings with different backgrounds for some characters (and believe it or not, one of the first comments I got on fanfiction.net was that I should kill myself for writing such crap). Any feedback I get I feel I can use and I don't want you people to stop. I want to hear this so I can continue to grow. I also understand that people can get emotionally attached to a story that has been going on for a LONG time. I just don't want this to get into a full on war.
I will say that there is a ton of stuff that I had planned on putting in this story that, saddly, will never see the light of day. For various reasons they were removed and I kick myself each and everyday for not including it. Why don't I go back and make the changes? Well, I find it annoying in other stories when the author does that and I don't want to do the same thing. So, one thing I am planning on doing is writing a blog to inform everyone about the origins of this story as well as all the things that were tossed out.
Oh, one more thing. The Celestia comic? I was on the side of the angry parents since, judging by the art, it seemed like she wasn't getting through to the students because she hadn't updated her teaching methods. Ever. Take Mr. Hollands Opas for example. Mr. Holland, in order to reach his students, decided to use rock n roll in order to teach them despite many people beleiving that rock was evil. So my thing is this: what is that teacher trying to do to reach her students and show that she is still competitent? Well...she's nice. Ok, she see's the best in others but her magic, or more likely the way she uses it, didn't seem up to snuff. I think maybe Celestia should have talked to her and maybe instead the teacher should have became a guidence councilor or something instead.
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I think you are the first person to see that.
5937039 Who said I labeled her just a mother figure? Just because I called her one doesn't mean I am automatically saying she is nothing else. And once again, we are not talking about the comics, the show, the trading card game, the musical, or anything else. We're talking about a fictional story written by a fan of the show. Stop trying to compare fanfiction Celestia to canon Celestia. Who here is the hero/protagonist? Luna, estranged sister and the leader of the Republic? Celestia, ruler of Equestria and emotionally torn elder sibling? Or perhaps Twilight as she is the main character of the show? There is no defined hero of the story regardless of what you say. There doesn't need to be a 'threat' to the hero for a story to press on just because you say so.
Just because Equestria is large doesn't mean they have interactions with foreign nations. In the entirety of this story how many griffons (besides the diplomatic party) have been encountered? How many are residents? Or how about in the show you just love to keep referring to? I remember only two and neither are residents of Equestria. We do not see griffons peddling their wares or even out for a casual stroll through the town. It's not explained because it doesn't need to be, because it's not important at this point in time. The author cannot go over every single possible detail and still keep the story interesting.
Ah, but the fact of the matter is that war has not affected Equestria for over a thousand years. They do not wish to 'kill them with their own hands' (as they do not have hands but hoofs) but simply cow them into submission and get the supplies needed to replace those that were lost. Just because some of them are chomping at the bit to go fight doesn't make them bloodthirsty. Despite the fact that the Republic has better training and gear doesn't make them invincible. Equestria's army outnumbers them severely, and while skill is great and all, it takes one lucky shot to kill someone. War isn't simply walking out into the battlefield and finding out which side has better gear, it's about who wants to win more. As proven with the small battle between the few Republic guards and the Equestrian soldiers numbers can win a battle.
Criticism? What you're doing isn't criticism. It's telling the author 'I don't like that, change it to something I deem appropriate.' I bet if the whole bit about resources wasn't even mentioned in the story at all you would have never even thought about it. And seeing how you keep chopping up your grammar I can see that there's no point in continuing this as I've come to realize you're one of 'those' type of people. The kind that, regardless of good the argument and the facts presented, refuse to ever see themselves in the wrong.
5936583 I myself believe that it's the Changelings. We've heard they're a threat, but nothing else about them.
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Sorry I got the impression that that was what you were arguing, also we were clearly coming from two very different places, I have never not used Celestia as depicted in cannon as a referencing in my comments as this depiction is , from my understanding meant to be a reasonable approximation of her character. I'm also going to have to disagree with you on the lack of contact as well, while the diplomatic mission to the Gryphon Empire is the only direct depiction of Equestria interaction with another nation, the story has given me the impression, recently in fact that Equestria has diplomatic relations with other nations, they may not be very good right now but I don't think its reasonable to assume that they have been isolated for 1000 years. In the show again its more implication, for example the Euqstrian games had a Gryphon team compeating and Celestia was off on a diplomatic mission to Saddle Arabia during Magic Duel, the Crystal Empire may even been a seperate nation, I'm not sure on that but it appears to at least be a different culture, so it seems like they are dealing with other cultures/nations. I've also never argued that Darth go over ever single detail, I've actually suggested that he has gotten lost in detail a bit to much in previous chapters, again something that has definitely improved, and although its probably not your intention, there really is no need for the attitude there.
On the war itself I will just say that I disagree, and if I am right we probably wont see much of it as I think we are about to see the Republic take a big hit from Sunset Shimmers digital mind and Discord.
I am genuinely asking, were have I said that? If I have or implied it I would like to know so I can alter my tone as that has never been my intention. I will admit I have said I think he should do these things but I don't see how that is demanding anything. I also have been mentioning the resource thing since chapter 19 or 20 I think. I'm sorry but I think its a real technical flaw to not set up a plot point in some way before its sprung, that dose not mean I wanted Darth to go into exhaustive detail on it, even a single minor mention of it being an issue to help lay the groundwork for the crisis would have help a lot in my mind. Also I may be wrong or I could just faltering myself but there have been a few instances in the story that seemed to be a response to something I had commented on, again I could be wrong but I do like to think I have helped, even if its in a way I did not intend.
Ya I knew that last post was bad, I was kinda rushed at the time, I also don't think its fair to decide that someone is one of 'those' people just because they disagree with you. Look I know I am in the minority with this but I really don't think your arguments are that good, so I guess we will have to leave it there.
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Sorry I did not mean to come off as angry or anything like that, but i guess at this point I probably should just comment on the current chapters and for the sake of everyone's sanity, I'll stop with the long rants about parts of the story long past. On the comic, I can see your point on the teachers lack of competence, I disagree and I think the story going the way you suggest would run counter to what I see as the point of the comic, showing how Celestia takes action to correct a perceived injustice without imposing her will directly on her subjects. I was actually primarily using that story as a counter to bloodwolfs' point about her not getting involved although I now see we were arguing from to separate places.
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Well, that would be one hell of a twist.
They actually would have a lot to gain from ponies fighting with themselves.
Still, I find it a bit unlikely. If there were Changelings in the Republic all along, why strike only after a thousand years? But it would be very cool, I agree with that.
5939516 He really is. Just started reading?
5938387 Well who knows, maybe one just found their way into the embassy and in the transporter pad without being seen. All I know is, I find it HIGHLY unlikely Applejack would try to kill anyone, especially the mare that just defended her friends in a court of law. So, we must ask ourselves, who can make themselves look like literally anyone they want to look like?
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Well, I'm rather sure that it is someone from the Republic. They have all kinds of freaky technology, so why not some kind of holo-disguise. There is also the matter of faking the confession in court. For that, specific knowledge of how the light of truth works is mandatory. The light is obviously regarded as completely untrickable by highest Republic authority, as they accept it as sole source of evidence.
Only an expert that is very familiar with the technology, or has insider information would be able to still find a way.
The more I think about it, the more suspicious Gigawatt seems to me. My theory on how things happened (I am about 75% sure on most of this) would be the following:
The parasprite incident is a short sighted scheme by Blueblood, who abuses Fluttershy's kindness for his plan. However, he only wanted to harm the Republic and does not care what happens to Fluttershy. He has nothing to do with the fake confession.
Pinkie ejecting the water is an accident. She wanted sweets and guessed the password with Pinkie-weirdness.
Gigawatt is obviously on vendetta against Equestria. No matter whether out of misguided patriotism, or personal reasons, his hate against the planet has clearly reached unreasonable and possibly fanatic levels. To him, the two incidents were a direct attack to the Republic, to which only war can respond. However, his plans are impeded by none other than Twilight, whom he had previously regarded as an ally to his cause (after all it was Twilight who prevented the initial merging.) Worse still, she confesses forming friendship to the Equestrians and defends them against what he sees at rightful justice.
This leads to his falling out with Twilight. Shortly before the attack on Twilight, both of them are shown in a heated discussion, which almost escalates to a physical fight. Gigawatt is described leaving the scene in rage. He realizes, that in order get Luna to agree to a war, Equestria seemingly has to attack something dear to her. Twilight is the perfect victim, since she is very he close to Luna. In that moment he is also furious at her, which helps coming to a decision he would have maybe taken differently in a normal state of mind.
Applejack was also present during his fight with Twilight and annoyed him, so she ends up as the one framed for everything. Gigawatt (or an ally) attacks Twilight while maintaining some sort of disguise. Whoever does the actual attacking does not care whether or not Twilight really dies, or not (since the outcome is identical) and leaves Twilight half dead.
Gigawatt, realizing that the light of truth is about to be used, somehow uses his connections (or his own skill, if he is that good) to fabricate a confession. He realizes that the effect will be even greater when Fluttershy and Pinkie appear as voluntary offenders as well and meddles with their confessions too.
I expect Gigawatt to also be the one responsible for switching Twilight's medicaments. Whether they are supposed to be deadly, or just delay the waking is a very interesting question and one of the things I look forward to most next chapter.
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That makes sense. Add into the fact that Gigawatt is also the former head of the LBI making it more likely that he would have access to that kind of technology. He might also he holding onto Apple Bloom and Sweatie Belle as added insureance.
However, there is the fact that the current head of the LBI said he checked for any kind of concelment
It's difficult to decide what to think about this work. I always have the pressure relief valve of not a single part of this being real or true; until stated otherwise, this is all a "what if" story, and that helps take the sting out of any issues I might have. I also have to applaud this story for showing how Luna's fall to the allure of Nightmare Moon is a historical inevitability, with the form of the fall and the form of the Nightmare being the thing that changes. The original canon version of Nightmare Moon is much more of an explicit and obvious evil, a literal fall to the darkness within that ends with her being imprisoned in the moon for a thousand years for whatever reason. This version of Nightmare Moon is a slow corruption and there is no point at which Luna take a suddenly shift from being herself to a dragon-eyed black-coated meglomaniac, and yet if you take the two versions of Luna side-by-side, the Luna of 1000 years ago would be horrified by what she has permitted herself to become. She is the Dear Leader of a technocratic totalitarian government right down to the secret police and using the menacing glow of perverted science to rip "the truth" out of criminals. Only in an environment like a totalitarian state can make would the first resort in a righteous cause be "burn them into the ground" followed by "hurt the innocent until they weep for mercy", and the obvious solution to the issue of putting someone on the throne being to pick someone they trust to do what they want... and then have her rule with a gun to the head. No state in our own real-life history has been as evil as this Republic: not Nazi Germany, not Soviet Russia, not Vietcong Vietnam, not any of them. When a grisly monster like a Hitler or a Stalin vowed to put the world under their thumb, their first resort was to turn to the generals and say "conquer my enemies" instead of turning to their air forces and saying "crush my enemies into dust" or the navy saying "starve them until they beg". I find this Nightmare to be more deep, but no less wicked or dangerous.
All of that praise of the subtlety aside, this story has the peculiar problem of becoming more shallow as more detail is added. Every chapter makes it clearer and clearer that Equestria is inferior to a degree that rips the guts out of suspension of disbelief and pisses on the twitching corpse. It's made as clear as possible that the creme de la creme of Equestrian soldiers are simply playthings before a freaking infantry squad and on top of that, Republican technology is powered by magic of such extreme power that two of its components can be overloaded to exceed more power than a demigoddess can throw around, making it more powerful than a matter annihilation reaction, what you get if you empty a tubule of antimatter onto ordinary matter. When an author goes out of their way to make it clear that there are no stakes because there is no risk, because there is no threat to one side, then the story has absolutely no momentum sits in the comfortable space of being pointless. I wish it was otherwise, because this is a work I want to like and am determined to stick by to the absolute end. But when I can sit back and say "next chapter, the bad guy tries something and fails because success was impossible" and have a high probability of being right, then there's no longer a rational reason for me to stick by it, other than sheer stubbornness.
5942113
Wow I must really be out of practice, you've just said what I have been saying for a while now far more eloquently then any comment I've made about this story. I think you may be a bit hyperbolic in saying that the Republic is more evil than Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union under Stalin, but other than that I am right there with you. Also I have to say I never looked that this depiction of Luna as just another more subtle and insidious version of Nightmare Moon, that was a bit of a shock to the system and I would be very happy for that to be what all this has been building up to, however I do not have high hopes for that.
On the topic of the lack of stakes due to the imbalanced portrayal of the two nations, I am holding out hope that the author is setting the Republic up for a major fall, if that turns out not to be the case then I can't see a point to having the threat of war hang over the entire story, as you said all that build up will be pointless.
5942275
I sort of explained this as the fact that Hitler and Stalin both stated genocidal wars by thinking first of a conventional land war, whereas the Republic's first impulse was to bomb Equestrian cities off the map, its second impulse was to starve them to death, its third was this Umbrella project, and only when they dismissed all of those did they settle on a conventional war ending with a puppet ruler on the throne of Equestria. Thus, in my eyes, the Republic is the more evil.
It's just my private interpretation of what I'm seeing. There are many forms of evil; a cackling megalomaniac is one, a monarch ruling over a corrupt totalitarian state is another.
I doubt that. The record of this story is every challenge that the Republic confronts is swept tidily under the rug in one chapter despite repeated attempts to convince the readers that there really IS something at stake.
5942303 Well, I disagree. With the V2 Germans had a damn suborbital missile that could strike with relative precision. So did they use it for strategic strikes against gatherings of enemy troops? No, they used it to shoot at London, which at that point of the war had no strategic value whatsoever, except to simply kill as many enemy civilians as possible.
Please also take a look at what the USA did at the end of the war. The mass bombardment of German cities was not necessary to win the war. Neither were the two nukes on Japan. That being said, I can't say I really say I blame them. They were tired of the damn war and it was a convenient way to tire out the enemy with minor losses of their own.
The only reason none of them tried something like what the Republic thought about was, that they did not have the necessary technology. With what Hitler did with the V2, do you think if he had the option of large scale orbital bombardment he wouldn't have used it?
Both the USA and Soviet Union considered nuclear first strike offensives against each other in cold war. Can you claim that they wouldn't have decided differently if there was no danger of retaliation?
The first purpose of a ruler is to protect his own people. With Equestrian troops outnumbering the Republic by a scale of probably about two magnitudes, can you really blame their leaders for considering means of attack that don't put their people in danger and for them are probably are easier to achieve than a conventional offensive? Especially against a population that hates them as a whole for something they are not responsible for? In war it's pretty easy to see your enemy as "just the enemy" instead of individuals.
What is important is that in the end humanity won out. While yes, they did consider all these things, in the end Luna decided against it, mainly for Equestria's sake.
Don't blame them for thinking about things that every technologically advanced nation on earth has to consider when facing war. It's their job. (It doesn't mean though that Gigawatt, Land Share and Stock Market wouldn't get a fair share of my opinion if I ever met them)
Now, about their justice system, that IS in fact something way more controversial which I'm willing to discuss. But at least they have something resembling fair justice, which is more than both Hitler and Stalin did. So don't ever suggest that the Repulic is worse.
5940895 That is a very well thought out idea. I like it, and can very easily see it happening.
5941229 True he did search for concealment spells and I am sure devices. However, if, adding this to my orginal theory, he was say in touch with the Changelings. With those connections, he could have called for even a single drone to come up and carry out his dirty work. After, he could use his connections in the LBI to have someone tamper with the truth light, thus explaining why he was one of the only two ponies to hear the thunk, and he did not seem suprised or curious about it.
5942465
Hitler invades Poland with ground forces in 1939.
The USSR (whom I use Stalin to represent; it would have actually been Trotsky and Lenin) attempts to invade Poland in 1921 with ground forces.
The V2 was not developed until the mid-1940s. So how does this refute my point that Hitler initiated a genocidal war by first using conventional ground forces rather than calling up the Luftwaffe and having them carpet-bomb everyone he didn't like (bombarding cities into the ground)? Or blanket every square inch of the water around England with magnetic mines (starving them until they beg)? Again, conventional land war was the FIRST impulse of a monster state like Hitler's Germany and the THIRD or FOURTH impulse of the Republic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotha_G.V <- WW1 tech, used by Germany to bomb British cities.
http://www.history.com/news/londons-world-war-i-zeppelin-terror <- WW1 tech, used by Germany to bomb British cities.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinkel_He_111 <- Designed in the early 1930s, earliest version had the fuel range to reach England.
Moving right along...
The Cold "War" was distinct for not being a declared war, whereas the Lunar Republic did declare war. How is the behavior of combatants in an undeclared proxy war relevant to the behavior of a nation that has declared war and is considering strategies?
Yes, I can. If you're so severely outnumbered that genocide is the only viable way to level the playing field and you declare war anyway, implicit in the decision is that your intent is mass murder. If anything, this makes the Republic worse than I'm saying,
Yes, in the end the absolute ruler said no. In other words, it was their last impulse. Genocide was their first.
Show trials also resemble fair justice. So do kangaroo courts. Hitler and Stalin and their ilk were forced to rely on primitive methods like sodium penthahol and torture to get at the truth and the only apparent reason the Republic does not use those methods is that they have developed a more effective one. Hitler and Stalin and their ilk were forced to rely on primitive methods like reeducation camps and propaganda to brainwash and "readjust" those they didn't like, and the only apparent reason the Republic does not use those methods is that they have developed a more effective one. You do not need a "truth beam" unless you intend to rip the truth out of someone's head by force, and you do not need a Living Death unless you want to reformat someone into the ideal citizen. The invention of these methods tells us volumes about the Republic, just as developing effective methods of torture and reeducation tells us volumes about real-life monster states. This Lunar Republic is very shiny and the fandom adores the character of Luna, but a shiny monster state headed by a ruler we like is no less evil than a dingy one headed by a ruler we do not.
On top of all this, I can almost promise you that we're soon to see my point compounded rather convincingly because war typically leads to MORE evil and totaltarian impulses than would ever be permitted during peace.
5942303
5942275
Your idea of Luna in this story is interesting. However there are parts in the story where I can see, for lack of a better term, 'goodness' shining through with her. She has refused to hurt children, refused the idea to turn her nation into cyber ponies, seems very apporachable by her subjects, and ultimatly does love her sister for whatever reason. So, going by what you said, I am interested to see what happens when she crosses a line. When she does something so evil that she becomes horrified at what she has become.
Also, I still find there to be tension with this war since the author is using the old protoss vs. zerg approach from the original Starcraft game. The protoss build is slower so their number will be lower, but their technology makes up the difference greatly. The zerg having an army the spans planets, but have no real technology to speak of. I remember playing the game and either side can win. And, in this story, it looks like Hot Pants is starting to take hold of the reins and might pull out something interesting.
5940895
One more thing you should consider are some of the other senaters. Like April Showers or Scorpio
5943063
Well, the situation is entirely different. Hitler and Stalin wanted land in Poland. It was a war for territory. Territory is hardly won through bombardment. You need troops to actually conquer anything, so a ground offensive was the only option.
In WW2 the Lunar situation is more alike to the German-British relationship. Hitler did not actually want war with England (at least not at once) They were ruled by the "European master race" and he had no real interest for their island, so he would have gladly left them alone, had they supported his ideology. Instead they chose to support his enemies. His reaction: send bombers to attack British cities.
Similarly, the Republic has no interest in Equestrian territory. Instead they want some retaliation for the attacks against them and to scare Equestria into not defying them.
I also don't really get why in your eyes a conventional war is somehow "less evil" than a bombardment. Does it really make any difference whether Hitler invades Poland and lets his soldiers kill the "lesser people", or instead just throws bombs on them? I bet the victims of such attacks would beg to differ.
Well, before the declaration of war, Equestrian-Lunar relations were -at least in the harsher phases- not quite that different from the Cold War.
The difference between both of them is that while the Cold War stayed cold, the Lunar-Equestrian conflict escalated. I can also guarantee you that, had the real Cold War ever escalated (which it almost did several times), the first reaction on both sides would have been to send nukes against the enemy.
Wait, since when are we talking about genocide? Even in the dismissed plans the goal was always to kill just a few to scare the others in submission. That is not genocide. I'm not saying that this is actually good. Had they gone through with one of the earlier plans, I would disagree too. But they didn't go through with them. They chose a different path of action. You can't blame them for considering the bombardment though, when it is such an easy and obvious solution to the conflict.
Absolute ruler you say?
This heavily implies that Luna is dependent on their decision.
Also, again, Genocide was never planned. And I would say that what your fist impulse is matters little compared to the actual decision. Or would it be better if they thought of a conventional attack first and went through with the bombardment later?
Please don't twist the words in my mouth. What I mean is that the Lunar system is insofar fair, as that they only convict ponies for things they have actually done (at least when nobody is abusing it like with Applejack Pinkie and Fluttershy) and that the same rules apply to everyone.This was not guaranteed with Hitler and Stalin.
That being said, the Republic's means of truth acclamation and punishment conflict with human rights and that IS a big issue with their system, but at least their goals are sincere.
And let's say you had a light of truth. You also have five possible suspects, one of which you know is a mass murderer. You have no other strong evidence. Or you possibly still have the lives of hostages at danger. Would you outright refuse to use the light, even if it could mean saving an innocent from falsely given lifelong prison, or even death?
5943088
Well, the identity of the one responsible (if it even is a single pony and not a group) is actually one of the things I'm the least sure about. Still, in order to fit Gigawatt into that role, you have to make almost no big logical leaps and quite a few open questions in the story suddenly are answered, which means that due to Ockham's razor it's a rather likely theory for him to be at least partly responsible.
5942646
Who says that Gigawatt isn't a Changeling himself. It would explain, why he wants war with such ferocity. So far we are missing real evidence for this though, so it's just speculation.
Edit: I just realized this is rather unlikely. In that case he would favour a large scale invasion against Equestria over orbital bombardment. With a bombardment the Republic only weakens Equestria and not itself. The Changelings would want to weaken both to become more susceptible to an invasion.
5942303
Oh believe me I know, I have been pressing him to balance out the Republic/Luna and Equestria/Celestia since chapter 19 I think for this very reason, so its a very slim hope but it all I have left.
5942465
Ah yes this is one of those issues I have seen come up repeatedly. While it is true that with hindsight we know that the allied bombing campaign in Europe did not break the the German moral and industry like the allies hoped in fact German output increased until the allies started conquering it directly and it had the opposite effect on the German people moral. Having said that on the whole it was not done out of some attempt to wipe the German people out, well you could probably say that about Bomber Harris but he was a bit crazy.
Now with Japan it is a bit of a different story, to be fair its impossible to assign an absolute value to the damage done to the Japanese economy by bombing alone, due to their also being a massive naval blockade in effect, as well as the failure of the Japanese rice crop in 44, but when interviewing Japanese military and political leadership after the war they overwhelming claimed that the prolonged air campaign including Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the main driving force behind their surrender.
I am not so sure about both sides considering first strike attacks against each other, there was a lot of propaganda from each side claiming such but remember on the whole we are talking about two states comprised of rational actors, yes there were a few close calls but neither side was suicidal so neither side wanted to be the one who pushed the button first.
Ya this may be more of a problem with Darth's depiction of that scene, I found it to be a big step back from his previous improvements, but when the senators talk about leveling all of the Equestrian major cities within an hour:
and the main concern is not the massive civilian casualties but how the survivors would have anti Republic feelings, ya they are talking about genocide. In fact at no point during the discussion is such an issue brought up, it was all concerns about how the Equestrians would not 'learn their lesson', that the environment would be damaged making getting the food they required difficult, or that other nations may be upset with them for employing such methods, granted they did slightly care about what Operation Umbrella would do to everyone who was not Equstrian but it seems if you live within Equestrias boarders you not worth the dirt on their boot. Even Luna rejecting wiping them out from orbit was not based on any moral issues with killing so many innocents.
One last thought about that , but dose no one else find what she is saying there more than a little insane? Why would they think that? and even if they did who would care, they could not do anything about it even if they did still think they had a chance.
5943083
it's not so much that I think that Luna is another form of Nightmare Moon in this story, its more that there have been several times I have seen her say things or act in certain ways that the narrative really should have called her out on, but never did, so now that DualThrons has floated that idea, I find myself really liking it.
Now your Protos vs Zerg analogy is interesting but I feel it falls apart simply because as I think I have said before and DualThrons just pointed out the Republic tends to breeze though everything Darth has put before very quickly and with little challenge. The only time it has not achieved a perfect victory or success thus far was the one battle that was still so lopsided it was actually kinda funny. More importantly Darth took the time in the previous chapter to make sure we knew that that small guard was not using its best tech, the armor being a few generations out of date, and that the next larger force they sent would be that more powerful on an individual level. Heck that so called out of date armor gave Luna a clear win over Celestia, and now Celestia has been removed from play in the upcoming battle that will include Luna. We also now know that Equestria has no allies to call upon and that any decent or somewhat competent leadership in Equestria has been removed, they are now at the point where they are throwing their wounded out on the street and threatening anyone who questions them with death. A better analogy would be me going to fight Mohamed Ali in his prime, hell throw 10 of me at Ali if you want.
5943083
True, Then again, for a mad moon goddess who was about at Celestia's level, Nightmare Moon is remarkably harmless towards the Mane Six. Steven Magnet, the destroyed bridge, and the scary forest were much more deterrent than dangerous, and the manticore may have been possible to outrun although its' unclear. The only time they were definitively endangered was the collapsing cliff. One could argue that her strategy of more deterrence than attack was some goodness shining through Nightmare Moon in the show canon, so moments of goodness from this "Nightmare Moon" would be keeping to the character.
I suppose, although to a vastly greater extreme. This is like Dynasty Warrior hero vs. mooks rather than protoss vs. zerg. When I saw the setup of the lunar guards going with Luna, my conclusion was "there will be mass slaughter of Royal Guard and none of the show-canon characters will die". Lo and behold. I pretty much read the battle waiting for Luna to win because MacGuffin and the space ship to appear to save them.
5943402
That only happened when British bombers attacked German cities. Prior to this, the Luftwaffe was pointed at purely military targets.
When you exclude the details, any position can sound unreasonable. Bombardment in and of itself is one thing; terror bombing with the intent of destroying all major cities is a completely different thing. I'm clearly discussing the second because that's what was discussed in the chapter.
Whereas I can guarantee you that that was the last possible resort. Both sides spent the entire Cold War thinking only of retaliation if the other person attacked with nukes; using nukes first and thus inviting mutual obliteration was never even considered. For almost the entire Cold War, even researching defenses against nuclear missiles was outlawed because it might remove the mutual motivation for good behavior.
Freezing and starving the ponies to death by blocking the sun is a method that is impossible to apply surgically. If you consider such a tactic, you accept that you will kill far, far more than you intend. And if they didn't submit in time, was the Lunar Republic going to be merciful? Mercy seems antithetical to everything they stand for.
Yes, and then I'd let all five go free because I could not convict them.
5943463 Well you never know. From what we've seen, the Changelings do like their orbital bombardment.
5944097
Ok can someone here point to me the chapter where it says that the armor was out of date? Because I don't remember seeing it
Also, calm down. You are trying to bring real world events into a world where celestia bodies are moved by alicorns, the weather is taken care of by pegasi, Pinkie Pie defies logic, a god of chaos is allowed to walk around, there are ponies made of crystal, and so on. Yet you keep ranting about how so much doesn't make sense.
You what, never mind I don't fucking care! This story might end and be deleted soon. I'll read it again myself and you can do whatever
5944290
Well, conventional occupation of a country and what Hitler did in Poland are also different things. I'm pretty sure that killing most civilists you encounter while marching through does not make Hitler's plan more humane than the mass bombardment the Republic planned.
Maybe not officially. But if I remember correctly there were some leaked documents that stated that several US Generals and Senators were in favour of bombing Russia after WW2, before they could develop their own nuclear arsenal. In the end the President and American leadership (and thus America as a country) decided against it, just like Luna and the Council (and thus the Republic as a country) decided against it. Does this make the country as a whole evil?
Let me answer with a quote:
Does this sound like someone planning genocide to you? While yes, the entire plan is pretty bad (as April Showers points out), it wasn't formed with maleficence in mind.
And thus a mass murderer, possibly intent on murdering even more would get free. Okay. What if the case was even harder?
You have absolutely overwhelming evidence against one of them. From your point of view the thing is completely clear. But he claims to be innocent and asks you to use the light on him to prove it.