Cleansing Fire
Gilda
Her talons drummed impatiently on the table. She'd never liked the hoity-toity-ness of the imperial palace. Sure, servants waiting on her talon and paw were nice, but it all just seemed so fake. As though they were simply waiting on you to turn your back so they could stick a dagger in it. She never liked the palace staff, either, save for the nanny that raised her.
"Your Grace, breakfast is served." A servant laid a silver tray before her, fried eggs and bacon sitting on a plate, picturesque enough to be in a cooking magazine.
Gilda eyed it, then the servant. "Yeah, take the rest of the morning off."
"Very good, Mistress Gilda."
She suppressed a scowl. This was one of the reasons she loathed spending time at the palace. Titles were for books and movies, not griffons. Everyone smiled, no one ever muttered a cross word, or denied her or her family anything. Of course, she understood why they would behave that way. At the word of her or her father, their heads would roll.
The clatter of her silverware on the plate echoed through the empty dining hall. The table was made to fit almost one-hundred dignitaries, heads of state, ambassadors, or guests of the Emperor. She, however, took her breakfast alone. The banners of the twelve griffon tribes united underneath the sigil of Gilda's father's house, (a talon grasping a lightning bolt) hung in the grand hall. The stained glass on each side of the wall depicted the glorious conquests of the empire, all the way back to the first griffon to unite the tribes.
Only a few bites into her meal, the large doors swung open, another in an endless line of faceless butlers walked the length of the table towards her.
"Your Grace, your father wishes to see you in his council chamber."
Gilda dropped her fork on the plate with a clatter. She shoved her plate away from her angrily and snapped her talons twice. "Bring me my flask with bourbon."
"Right away," he said, taking off toward the kitchen.
This, unfortunately, wouldn't be the first time she finished her breakfast with hard alcohol. Ever since the events of the past months, her outlook had gotten substantially more bleak. News from the armies in the Equestrian territories was dire. She put her talons over her eyes, cursing the gods themselves. Small, soft sobs echoed throughout the dining hall.
Gilda opened the door to her father's council chamber. A fire burned in the fireplace, casting shadows across the room. At the head of the council chamber, her father sat in an ornate high-backed chair, papers and official decrees scattered about.
"You wanted to see me?" She asked, pulling out a chair.
He set down his reading glasses and rubbed his eyes. "This is by far the most uncomfortable chair in the palace, next to the throne." He groaned, standing up and replacing the ceremonial chair with a more plain, yet far more comfortable one. "And yes, I did."
"Well?" She asked, leaning back in her chair. "What is it?"
"I know the trouble in the pony kingdoms has been weighed heavily on your mind."
Gilda rolled her eyes. She'd heard this platitude a million times before.
"But, I have some good news from Marshall Carrion."
She raised an eyebrow. What kind of news could even loosely be considered 'good' coming from a place full of mindless animals? "And that would be?" she asked, putting a paw on the table, leaning back even further.
"He has found three sentient ponies in Canterlot."
"So?"
"One of them, I believe you may remember."
Gilda's chair legs slammed against the floor.
"You... you mean, you found..."
Her father smiled. He had watched his daughter slowly spiral downward since the crisis began, and it was not often he was able to deliver news that brightened her day. When she smiled, she reminded him of the curious little hatchling that constantly found herself under-paw around the palace, but never lost her infectious smile.
"Yes, I believe he said her name was Rainbow Dash."
Spike
In his old life, he would have been horrified with himself. So would his best friend, but times had changed. Cradled in his arms was a rabbit.
A rabbit he had killed.
Much to his relief, he didn't enjoy the experience, nor did he feel the need to kill again. Holding his prize by its back legs, he roasted it quickly with a jet of fire. The crackling and sizzling was music to his hungry stomach.
He took his first bite. It was charred. Nearly burned, really, but it was his first try. Regardless, the meat was delicious. It satiated his hunger in a way gems and horse food never quite could. In no time, he ate the entire animal, bones and all. For the first time since this whole tragedy started, he felt full.
After he had eaten, guilt washed over him. Did the rabbit really need to die? What had it done to deserve to be a dragon's lunch? Was it really necessary for him to take a life when he just as easily subsisted on gems?
The more he thought about it, the more sense it made. After all, there was no way he'd have enough gems to last all the way to the Crystal Empire, and the pony food from the castle needed to last the fillies at least as far as the next city. On top of that, Eros could probably live off of what he could catch.
Spike began the trek back to camp, making sure to wipe the grease from the corners of his mouth. As he walked, he considered his earlier thought. Could he be susceptible to what had claimed so many of his friends? His thoughts were clear as day, he felt no animalistic urges to eat, kill or fornicate. Long ago, Twilight told him that dragons were a creature unlike any other in the known world. They radiated magic, they were practically magical reactors with near infinite fuel. Once, he had grown enough, Twilight began his lessons in harnessing his own magic, and not just the natural magic used by the ponies.
He was a natural, a gifted mage from the start. Only a talon-ful of dragons were known throughout history to have ever used magic. Her theory held that the other dragons were either unwilling or unable to learn the craft.
By the time he reached the smoldering fire pit, the others were ready to leave. Spike packed the rest of his belongings and donned his gear. They walked out of the woods and found the road again. Spike gave one last look toward Canterlot before setting off. He felt it would be a long time before he would see it again.
Sweetie Belle
They'd been walking for hours down the dusty, deserted road. Spike said that they'd follow it as far as it would take them, until they had to navigate for themselves the rest of the way to Foal mountain. When she would misbehave for her parents, they would tell her that bad colts and fillies would get taken to foal mountain to live with the evil creature that haunts its slopes forever. Worse yet, they said none of the foals there would ever get their cutie mark!
Although, given the circumstances, cutie marks were the least of her concerns.
Along the road, the ruins of the time before the fall were scattered about the countryside. Everything from spilled luggage to rags, clothes and other various possessions flapped and fluttered in the breeze. The air helped cool them, but it also blew up dust from the road into her eyes. Every now and then, an abandoned cart sat in the road, most of the items of value already picked through, the unknown benefactors now long gone. Regardless, they decided to check every cart. Most of the food was spoiled, but there were a few supplies that were still viable.
A couple of cloths, bandages, and string were all they managed to salvage from the first three. However, in the distance, another cart sat in the middle of the road. This one, however, looked pristine. Where most of the ones they ran across were tipped over, or broken down, this one looked as though it had just been abandoned in the past few hours.
Spike stopped, squinting at the cart in the road. The others stopped as well. Spike looked around at the ditches along the sides of the road. "Something doesn't smell right..." he whispered. Spike held out a claw for them to stay while he checked it out. They were only a few feet away from the cart when Sweetie Belle glanced over her shoulder, a golden light peeking out of her saddle bag. The only sound was the whistling wind through the trees as Spike looked around at the contents of the cart.
In the blink of an eye, a fist exploded out of the ground by Spike's foot. The disembodied hand grabbed his ankle and violently yanked it upward, the rest of the owner surfacing before slamming Spike to the ground. Three more diamond dogs popped out of the ground, stripping the unconscious dragon of his gear before turning on the fillies and young griffon.
Eros shakily drew his sword, only to have it laughed at.
"Nice sword, whelp. Maybe I'll pick my teeth with it," The shortest one laughed. "Give us your gear, and we may spare your lives."
Spike lay motionless behind them by the cart, and didn't seem to be in any position to help. Without this gear, assuming they actually lived through this encounter, they would be as good as grazers. Sweetie had no knowledge of offensive spells, and had no idea if she'd even bee strong enough to use them if she did. She had no doubt they weren't the first ponies these bandits had attacked. How many other sentient ponies had these beasts doomed with their greed? The thought stoked something smoldering inside her.
Before she shrugged off her saddlebag, motion from her right distracted her. Eros swung his sword, scoring a cut across a diamond dog's arm, sending a spray of blood across the dirt.
"You little shit!"
Eros seemed stunned that he had scored a hit, superficial though it may have been. He was so stunned, in fact, that he was in no way ready to block the haymaker coming from his attacker. It caught him right in the eye and lifted him off his feet, sending him flat on his back, his sword flipping through the air before sticking straight in the ground.
"Eros!" Apple Bloom shouted before she and Scootaloo ran to his side. Sweetie Belle felt an anger build inside her. She didn't survive the blades this long just to get mugged by diamond dogs! One reached for her saddle bag, and she recoiled, the special book Spike had given her tumbling onto the ground and opening, as if opened by an invisible reader. It opened to a page with two words in that strange language the rest of the book was written in.
For a moment, time seemed to stop. Sweetie Belle glanced up at her attacker. This anger was unfamiliar, but somehow... comfortable. Like an old sweater reserved for winter, it felt as though she had been here before. The diamond dog in front of her began to move, but Sweetie Belle anticipated his every move. She was at an obvious disadvantage, especially without magic. However, the weird book flipped to that page for a reason. She had no idea what the words meant, but there was no other recourse, other than to read them. She had recalled from studying with Twilight that some older spells have incantations that need to be said for them to work, and most of the incantations were in a dead language.
She glared back at her attacker and drew in a breath. She had no idea if this would work, or if she would be a diamond dog's dinner. But, there weren't any certainties anymore, and it was their last chance.
"Purifium ignis!"
For a moment, she was blind. The world had been wiped away, replaced with nothing but a bright white light. It felt like hours before her vision returned. As the light dimmed, the diamond dogs were gone, nothing left but an outline of their shadow's scorched into the road, and the gear they had stolen from them, and no doubt countless others. The dogs themselves had been completely vaporized.
"What in tarnation was that?" Apple Bloom asked, rubbing her eyes and blinking as though she'd just woken up from a nap.
"It was Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo chimed. "I saw the whole thing! The book fell out of her pack, then she said some weird words, then boom! Everything was white! You totally saved our butts!"
Sweetie Belle looked back at the book before her. The Valuntas Domini's pages were blank again. She picked it up and put it back in her bag. "I'm not even sure what happened," she said softly, walking over to Eros. His eye was nearly swollen shut, and a bit of blood stained his plumage. Other than being unconscious, he seemed to be alive.
"I'll go check on Spike," Scootaloo said, trotting over to him as he lay beside the cart.
Sweetie Belle knelt beside Apple Bloom as she began to apply bandages.
"Good timin' on the magic, Sweetie Belle. Ah thought Twilight said there wasn't any unicorns left that could do somethin' like that!" she smiled, though the thought of just having claimed four lives began to set in. "Good thing she was wrong, huh?"
Sweetie Belle smiled politely, but knew what Apple Bloom was referring to. Offensive spells were strictly controlled, and knowledge of one required extensive training, and a license. In fact, only the most skilled ponies in magic were even able to pull one off. Normally the larger cities would have one or two magical specialists in the police department to handle anything that got too hairy for the garden variety restraint magic most unicorns could use.
Like it or not, one thing was for certain, and she knew it. Sweetie Belle had killed.
"Yeah... good thing."
Grand Marshall Carrion
There serenity of his study was rivaled only by his personal quarters at the imperial palace. After the dinner, he decided to retire for a dram of scotch. Though it was small, the closeness of the fireplace and made the room quite warm. The rich mahogany and dark woods added to the comfort. He sat in his favorite chair, the fire crackling behind him as he poured himself a glass of amber liquid.
He sipped his scotch and suppressed a wince. Not his favorite vintage, but it would do, considering the circumstances. Before him hung a portrait of the Emperor, dressed in full regalia, above a banner with the ruler's house sigil. A knock at the door drew him from his thoughts.
"Come in."
A servant appeared at the entrance, dressed in a suit and jacket. "Sir, a courier has arrived from the capital. He was instructed to give you this letter." He walked over and set the sealed scroll on the table in front of him.
"Thank you, that will be all for the evening."
"As you wish, sir."
Carrion looked at the scroll. It was sealed with red wax, instead of the imperial black. Another house's sigil adorned it as he set down his scotch and grabbed the letter. He broke the seal, and began to read. His eyes scanned back and forth, his expression staying as solemn as it ever was.
He stood from his chair with a sigh, and grabbed and inkwell, quill and parchment from his writing desk.
She is alive, and well. It seems your unlikely gamble has paid off. She is currently on the way to the capitol, and ready to fulfill our needs as soon as we establish her in the palace. Vivat et imperium.
He rolled up the parchment, and stamped it with his own seal. He set it on the table beside him and picked up his drink.
Carrion took one last glance at the emperor, before downing his drink and retiring for the evening. The next few weeks certainly had the potential to be very, very stressful.
Twilight
The dinner with the Marshall went by without incident. In fact, it was one of the most delicious meals Twilight could remember. Not a speck of food remained on her plate when she was finished. For the most part, she tried to keep the talk light, but there was not much on her end in terms of small talk. Her entire life for the past few months had been solely focused on the blades, and the slowing or stopping of the sickness that followed.
As they ate, the Marshall told them the plan for when they arrive at the Empire. The three of them would live at the palace, free to come and go as they pleased, of course. Twilight, however, was asked to assist the griffon scientists in their work to find a cure. She agreed without hesitation. With more eyes than just her own examining the data, a breakthrough might come sooner, rather than later.
Once back into her quarters, Twilight headed straight for the bed. With a sigh, she let herself melt into the sheets. For the first time in what felt like ages, she allowed herself to relax.
"So, how long did he say the trip was gonna take?" Dash asked from her makeshift bed across from Twilight's.
"A few days. The sea crossing is what's going to take the longest."
"Great, that's just what I want; to be stuck on a boat with these guys." Dash lamented.
"Now, Rainbow Dash, they've been nothing but kind to us since we joined them. I think you should give them a chance."
"Nothing but kind? They were shooting at our house when we met them!"
"Girls, please!" Twilight interrupted. "Rainbow, Fluttershy's right. Our two nations may not have seen eye to eye in the past, but that doesn't mean we need to be adversarial now. They came to help us, and until they prove otherwise, they're really the only choice we have."
Rainbow huffed. "Alright... I'll go quietly. Just, promise me that the bad feeling I have about trusting them is just me being paranoid."
She couldn't promise that. Griffons were known for their cunning, and some kind of sick charade was certainly not within the realm of possibility. But, Rainbow Dash sprouting a horn during the night was also technically within the realm of possibility, so Twilight was near certain her fears were misplaced. However, as her old science teacher at the academy had once told her 'there are no absolutes'.
"I promise. I'm not going to stop until I figure this thing out, and put everything back the way it was."
Dash smiled at her. "That's my girl."
Twilight fell into a fitful sleep that night, the rich food rumbling in her stomach occasionally waking her. For a few brief, glorious hours, she managed to get solid rest. It was during this time, she dreamt, and two ponies she'd longed to see appeared before her. Overjoyed, she hugged them both, their coats just as soft against her own as she remembered them.
"Princess... is this real?"
"Does it feel real?" Luna asked.
"It does, but..." She sighed. "It isn't. This is just a dream." She turned away from her mentor.
"That may be true, but there's something we need to tell you, Twilight," Celestia said, stepping towards her, putting a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "Our time is over. You've tried your hardest, and we know you have given everything you have, but sometimes, things happen that are beyond even our control."
Twilight turned around. "How? I've read your journals, your diaries, every scrap of information I could find about this, or that ancient ritual you and Luna and Discord are supposed to do, and you just let it happen!" Twilight felt an anger boiling up inside her. "You knew the consequences of inaction, you knew what was going to happen to all of Equestria if you didn't prevent this, and yet you let it happen anyway! How could you be so selfish? I looked up to you!" Tears were streaming down Twilight's face as her jaw clenched. "My friends, my family, all those innocent ponies, turned into mindless animals, yourselves included, and for what? You just 'got tired' of letting us continue to live as sentient beings?"
Celestia and Luna looked at each other before her mentor stepped forward. "I have been alive for one thousand, nine hundred and seventy four years. Luna, Discord and I, we all knew this day would come. Nothing lasts forever Twilight. To you, my actions may seem selfish, and you are right. I acted out of my own self-interest. But know this, my dearest student," she whispered, lowering her head to Twilight's level, tears beginning to well up in her eyes as well. "I am so very proud of you."
Twilight awoke with a gasp, bolting up in her bed. Beams of sunlight shone through the carriage windows as she looked at the clock. It was well into midmorning, and both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were still asleep. Twilight rubbed her eyes, intending to go back to sleep for just a little while when something nearly startled her out of her coat. It was a distant, and massive release of magical energy, she could sense it. The kind she would feel when Princess Celestia or Luna would cast a powerful spell. She knew of only one unicorn left in her right mind.
"Sweetie Belle!"
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So... wait, Celestia, Luna, and Discord could have stopped all this? Uh...
The light of hope yet shines, more literally for some than others. Sorry, Celly. Inertia is a powerful thing, and there are yet some ponies who'd like keep thinking.
........ that is just contrived bullshit. they just LET it happen? are you fucking kidding me? they all lost their souls because she just stopped?
for fucks sake man, that is beyond ooc. nothing last forever, but that does not mean things just vanish. they chance, take on new shapes, not revert to what was before.
that is what chaos is for.
and there is no fucking way celestia would have just LET it happen. she would endure for a time longer and then find the solution that owuld allow her ponies to continue on without it. THAT is celstia. not this selfish idiot who let her kind fade away.
not to mention after about two thousand years it seems unlikely that the magic could JUST go away from them. it had become ingrained in them for generation after generation.
seriously dude if that is true, then this story has taken a nosedive. its core concept relies on celestia not being celestia.
for some reason my comment posted twice. sorry bout that.
5913426 think you should be more than slightly bothered that celestia would jsut LET this happen. that ain't celestia. that ain't the pony who teases others for treating her as important and does not look down on anyone. that is the action of a self righteous zealot fool, not celestia.
5913461
This isn't news. It's been clear that Celestia knew this coming and chose not to do anything about it for a while.
5913480 ........ then there has been a contrivence that i have missed for a long time.
that ain't celestia. and this isn't how that hwole nothing last forever thing works either. reason why that happens is things will change. and reverting to an animal is not change.
seriously dude, this is kinda irritating me now. i thought that it was something beyond celestia's control. but nope, could have been prevented, and would have been prevented by celestia if not for this contrivence.
for fuck's sake, why would she do this just when luna came back? there is no sense to this behavior at all. she basically caused genocide for her entire species, just when she got her sister back and everything was going right. there is no cause for her to let this happen in the slightest.
it becomes more and more contrived every time i think about. who gives a damn about these feels when something so contrived and foolish is the cause of it all?
...... oookay that reaction was more than slightly extreme.
the problem i have is that there is NO motivation for celestia to not help her ponies out here. she had what was basically a daughter who saved equestria, her sister had returned after a thousand years, healed. the strength of equestria grew and grew. everything was going right.
then she just let it all die......... it makes no fucking sense at all.
5913437 it was only Celestia that didn't want to continue. Luna was willing, jury is still out on discord, but also keep in mind that isn't really Celestia. That is Twilight talking in a dream to a projection of Celestia her mind created. Twilight doesn't want to believe that there is no hope, that nothing can stop what is coming, she wants someone to blame for all this, something she can point to and say 'this! This is the reason all these terrible things are happening!' So far, she's had nothing to blame, no root cause, other than a single cryptic diary excerpt from Luna, who is in no position to explain herself.
So I don't think it's a stretch that a pony prone to high levels of stress and anxiety would look for, or even come up with a reason as to why this is happening. She's a scientist, and she can't accept that this plague is happening 'just because'. She needed a reason, and now she has one, whether it is based in reality or not.
5913530 also, Celestia knew something the others didn't, thus the reason for her seemingly apathetic behavior. that something will be revealed in time.
I'm feeling that the writing style here is starting to stray into "telling instead of showing" territory.
5913530 I agree.
I mean really? They are bored with living so they kick start the apocalypse?!
Yeah all things do come to an end, but there is a big difference between the inevitable happening and letting the inevitable happen.
what Celestia and Luna did is no different than murder suicide.
Seriously what they did is like waking up one day and saying "I don't feel like living anymore, so instead of performing that ritual where I eat to stave of starvation and death I will just let myself die after all it was going to happen anyway right?"
Celestia pretty much forced everyone to drink the kool-aid...
If this story does end up with the end of all ponies I hope Twilight or Sweetie ends the world for the other races as well...If I was Twilight I would have that as a back up plan, and if/when the end came I would look Celestia in the eye as she asked 'why?' and tell her "What's the big deal? The world was gonna end anyway right? I just figured I would follow in your hoof steps...after all Genocide is Magic!"
5913826 it have doubts it will be plausible. or that the circumstances are better off causing the mass extiction of her species rather than preserving them and figuring out an ACTUAL solution to the problem.
this would never be celestia's solution. unless there is some other circumstance here, that it is part of a scheme to prevent something terrible yet somehow estore her ponies, she would not do this.
Wait, what about Cloudsdale? Is there even grass there?
5913826 its just that it is nigh impossible to see any reaosning for this action. there is no species that deserves extinction, to become animals like this. and celestia is not a character who would let that happen, and would go to extreme lengths to ensure that.
unless she had some plan going on here, this is basically not celestia. this is cruel and stupid to do. and as celestia refusing to have faith, and basically act out of character, is central to the conflict of this story, it is really impacting how i view it all.
5914019 understandable. I can't predict if you'll agree with the direction I take this story, but not all the cards are on the table yet. But, at the very least, thanks for taking the time to read this far.
5914005 there is no grass there, you are correct. But, is grass eating the cause, or just a symptom? That's what twilight wants to know.
5914059 all i can say is that nothing deserves what is happening to the ponies. it is utterly unspeakable. especially since we do not know where their minds and souls are going to begin with. they are just hollowed out and left as soulless shells. it is implausible to think they would cease to exist, as each pony had a core to their being, something their cutie mark reflected. so where did they go?
the idea that celestia would let this happen is just implausible. unless she had a plan to restore them, any other fate would be preferable to what is basically lobotomization. their complexity, their dreams, their personalities, all removed from them. they are not better off this way. if anything they are in a whole lot more danger now. an earth pony would have the mind to be able to fight off timber wolves. in this state they are unable to realize how to best fight a threat and will blindly flee.
thjere is no argument that this was an acceptable thing to let happen, philosophical or otherwise. unless celestia had a plan to at least restore their sapience, whatever doom would have come otherwise would ahve been preferable, as it is a doom they could face as themselves.
5914005 That's actually a very good question right there.
5914059 i can say the circumstances do get some emotions out of me. yet the circusmtances behind it feel out of character for celestia, and the resulsts are cruel beyond comprehension. they are losing their minds and souls here. becoming less, becoming basically nothing at all. it is basically labotomy.
unless celestia knew this had to happen to prevent something worse, and had a plan to restore their minds afterwards, some gambit to save them, then this is simply cruel and idiotic a decision, most unlike herself. death would be better as it would be as themselves, and not animals.
there is far too little knowledge about these events. to the point that things are not adding up at all. for starters, WHERE have their minds gone? ponies are more than just bodies filled with magic, they have their cutie marks, and a soul that the mark reflects. there is a core to their existence, all but inalienable. them simply ceasing to be, soul destroyed, is implausible. so where are they going?
I just realized what bothers me so much about this story. There is way, way, way too much seemingly pointless buildup.
The author clearly has an endgame in mind and much of the narrative seems to be feeding into it. But from the readers perspective it's like being told the 'orange you glad I didn't say banana?' Joke for the whole story.
I kinda want to get to the punchline, because my desire to see the resolution is rapidly waning.
I must say, this story is quite engaging.
I read the first chapter out of mere curiously and I couldn't stop until I finished them all.
Great job, I can't wait to see what happens next.
Well... Things continue to happen.
There's more than one griffon agenda, then....
5914730
I'm...kind of coming around to this as well. The mystery was what really drew me in here, and what I care about. This latest gryphon subplot is...well, if the chapters were coming out more than once every 3 months it would be fine, but as is it feels a bit aggravating, like...very little happened here. We know some gryphons are scheming, we do not know why but they're definitely set to give bad vibes, and...Sweetie Belle incinerated some Diamond Dogs.
I want to know the history of all this, the what and why. And...everything else is...well, it is a bit more frustrating than satisfying after nearly 2 years.
I'll stick it out to the end regardless, but there is a definite element of 'The narrative is in service to the endgame even at cost to itself and established characters'
5914730 Actually, I rather like the sedate pace of the story. Part of it's charm is that it's not a breakneck pace thrill ride. There are mysteries floating about, and getting answers only serves to make further questions arise. It also underlines the sort of eerie, ghost-town-like ambiance of an abandoned world.
It would be nice if the chapters came out more quickly though. I worry that the fandom will die before the story is even halfway finished at this rate. Writing quality stories isn't easy, and it is done in spare time after all, but even with that in consideration the time between chapters is still kinda ridiculous given their relative length.
looks like somepony is going to get her cutie mark in eldritch incantations.
5913437 also, doesn't it say in a prior chapter that part of the issue was that the spirit or whatever they were doing the trade with just denied them or something? I remember it being more complicated than just "I'm sick of living, Celestia out!".
5915518 is not that it denied em is that they cant use the elements anymore so they cant strike another deal, also it seemed candance and twilight would be able to perform the ritual but celestia decided to not tell em, for whatever selfish reason she had
5913499 celestia and luna couldnt perform the ritual whatever it was anymore, they needed two alicorns for that, it seems the ritual has some kind of side effect that she didnt wanted twilight to experience so in order to protect twilight she doomed everyone else, for all we know this is something that has happened before, maybe is the reason there are only 2 alicorns left until it happened again, now i wonder why the carnivores are unaffected by this
5915831 oh right, that's what it was. well, who knows. even if it is contrived, I'm at least mildly interested in what happens next.
I'd love to see some proper reasoning why Celestia didn't want to keep going anymore.
It was written that the continued peaceful existence would be possible but for a terrible price. What is this price? We'll probably find out later, but it keeps bugging me.
Still, another great chapter, and yay for Sweetie being able to still cast magic! Even though she did take lives... but it was her & company or the dogs. Let's see how she handles the aftershock anyway.
Throughout this story's course I've found more then a few complaints about it especially about events and/or tone within the story. I think part of the (but not all of) the issue is that people are not approaching the story with the right mind set. A good number of people seem to be reading this with the same mindset as they would the numerous FIM "epics" stories that while mature still have a strong sense of hope and/or the infallibility of many of the moral centers of the FIM universe as well as that they are effectively incorporable without outside influence.
This strikes me a exactly the wrong way to approach the story. I think you have to have a mindset more like the one you would approach the back-story of the Dark Souls games with.
5915502 The time between chapters will get better, my job was taking up a lot of my time lately, but I'm getting more spare time nowadays.
5918438 Thanks, as the poster above liked to mention "ponies don't deserve this", I have to agree. But I think you're right about some folks just being uncomfortable with the infallible rulers and seemingly cemented morals starting to show cracks. All I ever wanted to do with this story was practice world building and try my hand at setting an ominous tone. What it has become is really just gravy. Thanks for your continued reading!
DUN DUN DUH
That would pretty much be us eating pig fetuses for breakfast.
Of course, according to that logic it would be acceptable for griffins to eat animal fetuses, so take from that what you will.
Yes, Sweetie Belle, give in to the dark side. Let it consume you and show you the way to true salvation.
I would like to smack this Celestia with a neutron star.
Her reasoning is akin to that which a madman uses to justify murder.
For instance, I know that all humans alive today will die in less than 120 years. Does this then make it right for me to kill them all right now and get it over with? I know that the Sun will not shine forever, does this give me the right to put it out?
Or for the best example: I know a person with terminal cancer will eventually die from it. Does this mean I should deny treatment if they wish to live as long as they can?
5918558 It's not that they are 'infallible', it's simply that it seems they just randomly decided to give up for no rational reason whatsoever. Now, while we might consider this 'possible' for Discord... though this would mean he'd lose his favorite toys... for Celestia especially, this is an uncharacteristically senseless decision.
She has gone suddenly from loving her ponies, caring for and raising Twilight, teaching them all... and then arbitrarily says, essentially, "Eh, fuck it all!"
Did she have PMS or something that day?! It doesn't add up, not at all.
5913822
Eh? So Twilight knows exactly how old Celestia is? This wasn't framed as a 'dream'. This would be more in keeping of the classical presentation of a 'vision'. Plus, we the readers already know of Luna's dreamwalking ability... therefore we have no expectation that Twilight is only dreaming this and not interacting with the Sisters in whatever realm they've fled too like pathetic whiny babies of angst, thus further proving why I SHOULD RULE EQUESTRIA WITH AN IRON HOOF AND CRUSH ALL OTHER NATIONS TO DUST!!
Especially those caribou... Imma slaughter them.
Why do I feel that in order to stop the blades required doing something that ponies might have considered morally questionable?
Well, that depends. Was the rabbit named Angel?
5924088 if only, lol
5918558
See, I can understand Celestia being unwilling to take up whatever burden it is again. And I can understand her not wanting to throw it on Twilight. But to then go 'and thus, I will let the entire world decay' is where the breakdown happens for me. She choosing to forgo the trial for herself, I get. Yet...why, then, would she not say, explain to anypony the cost, what it involves, and allow Equestria itself to choose / fight for its right to exist?
Like I can say right now that if the cost to keep humanity sapient was some sort of horrific torture I must suffer, I would still walk into it without hesitation. And yes, I know she knows Twilight would to and wants to spare her that. So...she instead is choosing for Twilight, and dooming her student to lose everything she values, loves, and cares about - including, ultimately, herself. She's choosing to kill everything Twilight is in order to spare Twilight some kind of pain.
The logic there is really really twisted, and that's the part where I find a breakdown. Celestia happily grass-munching herself? Fine. Heck, I want to see all that in-story, because seeing how she/Luna handle that process would be a fascinating look into their psyches, and I really hope you plan to write that part of the history out because it's a wonderful worldbuilding opportunity to see the process from the inside, and see -why- they would choose to accept it with docility rather than fight to retain themselves as long as possible.
I hope you weren't actually expecting that to actually count for shit, sunshine, 'cause you're still a fucking monster and there ain't enough warm fuzzies in the universe to shift that fact an inch in any direction.
I honestly think that the Princesses and Discord were aware of this, but had nothing they could do to stop it.
6203013
I suspect as much as well. Even if I supposed they could have, there is an implication that all of them would have considered the price too steep. Ultimately it is of the author's contrivance that it be unstoppable. I am still waiting for a plausible/good/? reason behind all this. Their actions still seem suspect though. It frequently seems as though they knew something and wouldn't tell anyone.
Frankly, given the degree of crushing doom, I'm surprised Twilight hasn't decided to just eat grass until it finally takes her away,