The Quiet Place
By: Aynine
[Disclaimer: I own nothing of the MLP franchise and all rights are reserved by Hasbro and the respective parties involved.]
Chapter 22: The Biting Black
Celestia's eyes darted around the memory's space, eventually settling on the sky as it manifested. The waxing moon was nearly full, and it shone brightly, bathing the forest in such a powerful glow that it distorted the color of the greenery. No doubt a marvel of Astra's creation. The flawless illusion built by Telos was fascinating, but she had had enough of studying it and eyed the younger Telos thoughtfully. The only substantial differences were has lack of a robe and darker disposition.
"It's never as beautiful as you," he said, stopping only a few meters from the princess.
Astra looked up and smiled. "Life. The glory in all that live deserve nothing less." She rested her gaze back on Telos, adding, "Do you agree?"
Telos nodded quickly. "Of course, Your Majesty."
Celestia gave a start when Astra groaned loudly and placed a hoof to her head. "We are alone, my dear. I do not wish to steal ourselves for the sakes of the small minded. You and I," she said, moving closer, "are alive. That is the mark of absolute liberty, and it should not be treated as anything less."
"Is it... is it truly alright, Astra?" he replied in a hush.
"I shall decree it so, my love," whispered the queen as she lowered her head to his. "And it shall be." Telos blushed as she closed her eyes. Their lips touched, and they moaned softly as she attempted to pull him closer with a foreleg.
"Tear yourself away from my sister at once, Telos!" The sage-to-be flinched and took a bounding step backward. Aurelius skidded to halt beside him and glared. "Your blood—your kind has no business with ours."
"I-it's not what you think, Aurelius!" protested Telos, holding his hooves up innocently. His demeanor betrayed his words as he fidgeted nervously.
Astra placed a hoof on her brother's shoulder and beamed once more. "Calm yourself, dear brother. There is no place beneath our heavens for your childish ignorance. I knew you would find out of our love eventually, but we do not rule nature's hand."
The prince's crimson cheeks managed to redden further with his indignity. "Sister, how can you say such a thing? We are royal blooded alicorns, the lords of our kingdom. How can you allow yourself the idea of a union with an earth pony?"
Astra's smile faded and she stared at her brother with a placid look for a long while. Somehow, it seemed to pacify him, his anger subsiding and his breathing diminishing to normal. "Telos and I are in love with one another, Aurelius. This will not change because you disagree with my wish. This is what fate has chosen for us."
Aurelius snorted. "Surely you jest, sister."
Astra shook her head, her smile reappearing. "Nay, little brother. We have been together for many moons now and I no longer wish to hide our love, fearing what others may think of it. Let them think, I say, for they do not know. Now, rejoice for your sister."
"Why an earth pony?" he asked shakily.
"Why not an earth pony?" Astra countered, her voice still gentle.
"A non-magical pony should not marry to the crown. Think of the implications! The future!"
Astra stared at him with bewilderment, but it shifted into amused regard a moment later. "My love," she said as she turned to Telos, "do you wish to rule over all that is our kingdom?"
The younger Telos nervously shook his head. "I-I don't know."
Chuckling, Astra returned her gaze to her brother. "Dear brother, the kingdom belongs to us for now, and I will outlive my lover, as you are fully aware of." Astra moved to stand beside Telos, draping a wing over him and earning a sheepish blush as he met her eyes. "Our bloodline is not eternally pure, and some day it will be diluted by the very races that you deem to be beneath us. Whether it is I who muddles it or a descendent matters not. Life exists within cycles, and so to shall the power that runs through those that succeed us. There are reasons beyond our grasp as to why our immortality is ultimately finite concept in itself. You are still young and naive, but I know that you shall one day understand that even we are not all."
The prince's eyes were wide as they stared at each other, his elder sister maintaining her reserved disposition. After a few moments he lowered his head in a solemn manner. "Forgive me, dear sister," he said in a growl, raising his head suddenly, "but your decision is an outrage to our kind!"
Astra moved to her brother, towering over him and casting a shadow upon him. She cast a dark gaze to him, and he let a shudder rattle his form. "Who are you to dictate the wishes of our ancestors and our unborn children?" She stomped her hoof. "Who are you to carry judgments to your elder!" She stomped her hoof again, the earth trembling. "You are no more than a child flaunting a crown wrought of selfishness. It is your insolence and ignorance of the world that leaves me to be the final judge of all that we preside over. Perhaps I was too hasty in granting you your birthright, but I yearned to have you stand by me as we guided all that we can towards prosperity."
"You are going mad, Astra! It is you who has lost sight of what we are, and what we must continue to be!" countered Aurelius.
Astra snarled and raised her hoof and unfurled her wings partway, but her hoof never fell back to the ground. She glowered at her younger brother. "You are unfit for your crown, Aurelius. I am hereby revoking your status as prince until a time in the future where I deem you prepared and capable of ruling in a more appropriate manner." In an instant, she was calm and composed, standing with her wings at her sides once more.
"I am unfit for the crown? You cannot take away my status. You are not a queen, Princess Astra, and you have no power or right to act as such! My word is equal to yours in power."
The princess tilted her head back and laughed. "Our subjects have titled me as queen. Do you know why? It is because I have ruled without fail while you were but a foal who wanted little more than a bed time story every night."
"Do not pretend that you can rule alone now with the uprising of—"
Astra turned and walked back to stand beside a shuddering Telos. "Then perhaps I need only pretend that I can rule alone, where you need only pretend not to at all," she said. "Control of the sun shall be mine once more. I implore you to take this time away from your duties to expand your views and gain empathy with the world. For now, the scope of both are sorely lacking. If you cannot understand every piece to our world, then how can you lay judgement fairly? Worry not, for I am not abandoning you, little brother. When I believe that you have gained the wisdom you need I shall return to you your heiracy. For that, you have my word."
"You have no—"
"This conversation has ended, Aurelius," Astra finished in a stern voice.
The former prince seethed before turning and storming away, shouting over his shoulder as he slipped into the shadows of the forest. "This is not over, Astra!"
She turned to the young Telos still shuddering by her side, and smiled. She nibbled on one of his ears and he gave a start, causing her to chuckle. "Oh, my love. Do not worry yourself with my brother's tantrum. He is no more dangerous than a mouse."
"A-are you sure? He seemed very upset."
She draped a wing over him once more and peered into the forest where Aurelius had gone. "I cannot give him the wisdom he needs. All I can do is set him on the path to find it himself. There will come a day when he will think me for what I have done here tonight." She took a deep breath and glanced up to the sky. "The evening is still young. Come, walk with me, my love."
***
The memory distorted briefly before vanishing, and the real Telos sat down, coughing furiously into a hoof. Taking in gasping breaths, he looked up and said, "Forgive me, Lady Celestia... but that is all that I can do... for now." The princess stared where Astra stood, lost in a daze. "Princess?"
Snapping back to reality, Celestia shook her head. "Huh, what?" she blurted. "Ah, I'm sorry. Thank you for sharing your memory, Telos. Princess Astra, your world... it was beautiful. I would have loved to see it," she finished, smiling.
"Oracle is a strange title," interjected Luna. "It would not have been long before a ceremony would have united you and Princess Astra." Luna stepped closer to the others, having been standing where the shadows of the trees in the memory would hide her. "And I see that Twilight Sparkle has returned, but what of... Nightmare Moon?" Her mouth twisted with distaste at speaking the Id's name.
"She is safe. As for my title... Astra wandered often despite her status. She felt that she should not be confined to one place and wished to be a part of her kingdom as much as possible. She felt it brought her closer to her subjects. I was very young when she passed through my home town, and I found myself... enamored with her. From then on, I chose to follow her and help spread her wisdom." Telos tugged his hood down, but not before his blush had appeared.
"So that was Soothsayer Astra, a former ruler and older sister of Aurelius." The three other ponies gasped in surprise at the voice. "And you were her lover." Twilight opened her eyes to Telos and raised herself on her forehooves, squinting to see. She scanned the room groggily, taking in the surprise of the others, but her eyes connected with Celestia's a moment longer than the rest.
Telos reset his hood and stared at her. "I see that you have already awakened, Twilight Sparkle. How are you feeling?"
"Unngh," she moaned. "Where's Trixie?" Twilight took a moment before she could raise herself to standing, and her legs threatened to buckle as she did so. She watched her wings slowly furl up before giving an answer. "I feel—" Her eyes widened suddenly, and she became fully alert, frantically throwing her head in every direction. "I-I... I can't sense Nightmare Moon!" Nightmare? Nightmare! "What happened? Where is she!?" Answer me! She froze while staring at the floor, her panic evolving into pure fear.
"Calm down, Twilight," said Celestia soothingly. "She is safe." Twilight whirled around and glared at her.
"She is perfectly fine, Archmage Sparkle, I assure you," chimed Telos.
She turned and faced him, narrowing her eyes as she recognized the sage. "I can't talk to her anymore. Where is she?" she said in a calmer voice.
"She is right,"—he procured the black Philosopher's Stone and held it in an outstretched hoof—"here. Within this gem."
Twilight stared at in awe at first, but soon her eyes widened again. "What happened?" she demanded.
"Nightmare Moon was left as the dominate soul in your body after the battle with Aurelius," explained Luna.
"Nightmare Moon was suffering from bouts of illness while you were incapacitated. I surmised that both of your souls within the same body was affecting one another. I gave her the choice of whose soul would be placed within the gem, and she chose herself."
Twilight gazed at the gem sadly. For a moment, she imagined Nightmare's face grinning back to her, and it made her grin back briefly. You did that for me...? "So... what happens now, now that we're separated? Are you going to give her back to me?"
"Twilight, that may be too dangerous," said Celestia. "We're not sure what exactly was causing Nightmare Moon's sickness."
"I'm surprised you even care, Princess," Twilight retorted as she turned around. "What, did you two become friends while I was resting?" Celestia shot her a hurt look and folded her ears back.
"Enough, Twilight," said Luna.
Telos shook his head and stood up. "I intend to have my staff rebuilt, and have Nightmare Moon's soul act as the new catalyst and spire. However, unlike my old staff you should be capable of freely communicating with her."
"Unlike?" Twilight turned once more to face the sage. "What do you mean by that? Nightmare heard it was something like a prison. I... don't really remember anything she did very good now that I can't sense her."
Telos snorted. "Forgive me, I had forgotten that much has occurred during your absence. My staff, as a whole, was mine and Aurelius's prison, with the spire being his and the shaft being mine as well as a seal. I had previously designed it so that you could not communicate with his soul, and only a part of mine could be accessible."
"And Aurelius's prison? If you're free, then..." she trailed off with worry.
Telos looked to the floor in a pause. "I am afraid that he roams free in your world as we speak."
Twilight stared at him, wide-eyed. "N-no... That's impossible! I killed him! I... killed him..." This can't be happening. "Nightmare and I, the princesses, I used Holy! How... how can he still be alive after that?" She held her hooves up in front of her, shaking as nausea flooded her stomach.
"You destroyed a piece of him, Archmage Sparkle. Alicorns are unique, and he has done terrible things to further his powers. You have no doubt diminished at least one of his facets."
Twilight shook her head and slouched. "Aurelius is free, and stronger than ever before. This is... this is my fault! If I hadn't used so much power... If I hadn't..." She buried her face in her hooves, continuing to shake her head.
"Twilight, this is no more your fault than it is mine," consoled Celestia.
"You should just speak for yourself, Princess." Twilight whirled around and shot her a heavy stare. "Can you at least do that without lying?" Celestia blinked and recoiled in herself, wincing. Her eyes watered as she gazed back apologetically. "Telos, I need Nightmare back. I need her strength." I just... need her.
"I am afraid that it must wait. I have exhausted myself enough for one day. While Aurelius's impending reinvasion looms over us he will be too weak to make an attempt for a while. His strength will return to full faster than my own, but there is time to spare. Nightmare shall be returned to you as soon as a new staff is constructed." He levitated the gem to Luna.
The moon princess nodded. "I will begin the preparations to have it reforged at once."
"There is something I wish to teach you after I have rested. I shall begin making arrangements tomorrow morning." With that, Telos and Luna left.
Twilight and Celestia watched them leave, then looked at each other. She wanted a reason to leave the princess alone besides simply hating her for the time being. Her prayers were answered when Trixie hobbled into the throne room, a large white bandage wrapping her abdomen. She winced with each step, but managed a smile when she saw Twilight.
"That bastard teleported me to the infirmary! I'm sorry I didn't get to be here when you woke up. I came as soon as they would let me go," she said.
Twilight beamed and trotted over to her, wrapping her forelegs around her. "Trixie! I was wondering where you were."
"Ye-ouch! Not so tight."
"S-sorry," Twilight said as she released her hug and giggled. "It's been... a stressful day. I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat in the city. That is, if it's alright with you, Your Majesty." She turned to Celestia with a regarding expression.
"Yes, of course," she replied softly, maintaining her typical serene demeanor.
"Alright, then let's go," said Twilight. The magician turned and headed for the door, but Twilight stayed and threw one last glance at Celestia. She gazed back with a hurt look, and slowly reached out a hoof to her. Twilight looked to the floor before turning and leaving. You earned this.
So Twilight is still quite vexed by all of Celestia's deceit. I think Miss Sparkle needs a time-out so she can calm down and try to see what would have happened if Celestia had just told the truth. How much would it have changed things? Or alternatively, would she have even believed the truth?
Another chapter in the same week... Color me appeased. I shall look forward to seeing more chapters in the near future, hopefully.
3570633 Oh, she knows the truth. It's just that she is RIGHT, and Celestia is WRONG. It's one of the few things I love in this story that is rarely ever seen in a story where Twilight isn't evil. The only other one is The Immortal Game. or was it Ponies Make War? I can't remember which is the original name and which it switched to later. Anyways, usually Celestia does something horribly bad to twilight and twilight just goes: "Oh... ok!" and is all happy and forgets about it.
3570887 Ir was originally Ponies Make War, but its name got changed to The Immortal Game. And as I recall, the real issue was Twilight wondering if Celestia really cared about her, or if she was nothing but a pawn. Thankfully, Princess Luna was able to help Twilight realize that Celestia actually did care about her, and that she didn't view any of the Equestrians as pawns.
3570633 3570887
Twilight is being all pissy and is refusing to see the fact that Celestia has had ZERO choices in all of this mess.
A prophecy that tells her "do things this way or the entire world will die" limits her options on precisely One and no matter how much she hates it That is the road she must travel.
If Celestia had any other choice She would have faced the dragon king herself. If Celestia had been given a choice Twilight would Never have been through the rites.
IMHO hurt Twilight (allow Twilight to be hurt) or Kill the World ... is NOT a real choice....
3570887 3570925 You two have no idea how giddy it makes me to see you guys on opposite sides of the fence in the Twilight-Celestia drama. :3
3571295 Telos accuses the princesses of ineptitude for making Twilight an alicorn at all.
Food for thought: Had Celestia and Luna not ascended Twilight into an alicorn, Aurelius would have likely won the war as he had already accounted for their powers.
3571295 But it IS a choice! by rules usually governing prophecies in most works of art, When a prophecy is known to someone, the one who knows it usually HAS to make it come true OR ELSE. Well I say bullshit to that! Let the Or Else happen! But Celestia didn't, she chose instead to blindly follow the prophecy, which I might also add might OR MIGHT NOT have come true, and not in the ways that are expected when they do come true.
Basically, Celestia had 2 choices. Ignore it and maybe everything ends up dead or Hurt Twilight and everything might STILL end up dead. If I remember, the Prophecy was only up to the Dragon Wars, it was how to prevent that. But it FAILED! by ending the Dragon Wars in the way they did, they caused a much more powerful evil loose into the world that makes the dragon wars look like a board game for 5-8 year olds!
So in the end, Celestia is wrong! Her choice hurt Twilight and caused even MORE harm to come, and already read the finished story before this rewritten one, caused mass amount of unneeded death and destruction too!
Twilight - 1, Celestia - -2
That is all.
3571955 The story wasn't complete at the conclusion of the old chapter 22. (In fact, I immediately wrote the drafts for 23, 24, an unnumbered chapter much further than that, and the beginning of another unnumbered around that.) I just felt that it was a good stopping point at the time to go back and spruce everything up.
However, Celestia's decision isn't driven by some prophecy--just the words of a divine encounter. The story will dig deeper into her decision much later.
3572019 Well it was like what, 2-3 years ago since I read it? Heck probably been months since I read the chapter before this one, so I don't remember everything. Just vague idea of what happens and why. Mainly cause I loved the Twilight vs Nightmare Moon battle the most.
3572378 That was definitely one of my favorites to write and it was meant to be iconic. The unnumbered chapters are dedicated entirely to other important battles. I'm quite excited to do some more. Somehow the fight between Derpy and Rainbow in the forest (which isn't *too* far away now) just didn't quite meet me expectations.
The Celestial Knight combat was something I wanted to make unique between them. I hadn't fully explored their status or their strengths, so a lot assume they were, in some ways, overpowered. Bonus: Derpy is actually the third strongest Celestial Knight of her era in terms of overall power.
3571955
OK lets assume that Celestia tells the world to buck off and decides to not use the rites on Twilight. What happens?
Luna still gets forced into becoming NMM again. (but this time it is permanent as no one will change her back to Luna)
Celestia still gets her ass beat by NMM and Aurelius. (no sun means Celestia = powerless)
The dragon empire still kills and eats the vast majority of ponies in the world (followed by the rest after Aurelius takes care of NMM).
What did Alicorn Twilight do that was so bad? she freed the Corporeal form of Aurelius from the gem (his spirit was already free in a dragon corpse).
Remember Aurelius has been around as a spirit for better than ten thousand years. What would have been different if Twilight had not done the rite? After Celestia and Luna are disposed of, finding the staff, breaking the staff and freeing his corporeal self becomes simple.
no alicorn Twilight means everyone looses. Alicorn Twilight means a chance (a small chance but a chance) at success.
3571975
3572700 They are not in the story yet, but there were still the 'The Celestial Knights'. Really, think about it. War is going to happen, it is pretty much set in stone, NOTHING will stop it.... So what do they do? Send in the best of the best? an army of The Celestial Knights that one by itself could take on an entire army? Send all of them? Send one? Nope.... No... Not going to do anything. Just gonna... Send a mage, a weaker mage, and a guard in training... the guard in training and the weaker mage hating each other and the two mages being lovers. Nothing can go wrong!
..... Seriously.....
There WERE options. But Celestia was told this is the only one that will work... and she believed it 100%, didn't question it at all, and spat in Twilight's face without a care in the world.
WE, the readers, WE knew Twilight was a badass and was needed, and is best pony. Celestia didn't know that tho! She took a chance, rolled the dice happily, didn't give two cents about anything else.
Oh, ps. to 3570925 if I remember right Twilight never forgave Celestia. She learned later that Celestia disguised herself as Luna during that talk, still manipulating her and using her as a pawn!
Anyways, back onto my rant. Where was I? Oh yes! Ahem.
As we will soon see real soon, Celestia had a bigger better trained force she could have used, but CHOSE not too. What's more, she KNEW how Twilight would react and just takes it anyways, making it even worse! If I remember right, Celestia never actually does get punish for her betrayal. She get's hated by Twilight, but sadly that's it. Celestia, in every way, is in the wrong.
3572813 I believe the absence of the Celestial Knights had been pointed out once before (barring Rainbow Dash).
However, think about the scattering of the Brood's forces. Canterlot wasn't their only target. Minor spoiler: Though it hasn't been mentioned, yet, Derpy's summons in Chapter 11 was ultimately to quell a pre-emptive assault by the Brood. Since she's the fastest and most mobile CK, she is chosen. An additional subtlety is that CK Minuette's brief appearances have always been near the princesses, to contrast Derpy's. Of the four knights in active service, they are the most contrasting in every way.
And, in defense of Celestia, friction began with the Brood around the same point as her message.
So many angles, so much to explore. ^^
3572813 I admit, I did get the two rulers mixed up.
But Celestia disguising herself as Luna actually had the opposite effect from what you seem to recall. It allowed Twilight to realize that Celestia really did love her. Because what did Celestia do in Luna's form? She comforted Twilight before the final battle.
As for your rant, there are two major flaws to your idea of sending in the Celestial Knights. First, if they were sent in, who would repel the attacks that the Brood has launched? Because the Royal Guard probably wouldn't be able to handle the Brood on their own.
Second, there's the small issue of how much attention a whole army would attract vs. how much attention a team of three ponies would attract. That is one of the key factors in missions where someone has to be sent into enemy territory. The longer they can go without being detected, the better their chances of success. And an army of Celestial Knights wouldn't have even been able to cross the border before the Brood was aware of their presence.
So if they had tried it your way, the Celestial Knights would have easily been found and slaughtered by the Brood, and Equestria would have been defenseless. I bet by now, you're feeling ashamed because you never considered those two factors.
I'm sorry, but Twilight's a bitch. Her anger is not justified. It's not even raw enough to be justified.
3572813 Also, it's kind of difficult to mobilize an entire army of Celestial Knights when there are only a grand total of four Celestial Knights in service, thus making it a necessity that only one of them be sent to the dragon lands while the other three help protect Equestria from attacks launched by the Brood.
3573464 3573475 4 knights that were protecting the population.... One of them being the fastest thing alive, all 4 of which could have easily went to the dragon lands before the war and assassinate the dragon king, which they find out later was the wrong thing to do! Why would it have worked anyways? I can't remember if they explained why killing the ruler of a land, suddenly makes every other dragon so scared shitless they will suddenly stop the war right then and there. I mean, heck how did Celestia, goddess all about peace and love and so on, instantly go to "Lets just kill the king!" And only do it AFTER the war started, after the dragon invades and slaughter who knows how many ponies, and in the end he was being controlled so it didn't even matter anyways! Heck, how did the dragon live with an undead dragon, that I believe Starswirl explained last chapter as having much weaker magic than the common normal dragon, and not notice him, or not notice the king acting very differently, and so on!
3573809 images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131001224135/aceattorney/images/5/5b/Silence_SHARPENED.png
Jirodyne-dono, in the heat of battle, it seems you did not notice, but your sword appears to have been broken.
Once again, I must point out the fact that sending all of the Celestial Knights would have left them defenseless.
As for the decision to kill the dragon king, they only knew that the Brood was preparing for an attack. Naturally, any leader in their right mind would believe that the most expedient way to resolve a situation such as that would be to kill the enemy leader. Because by the time Aurelius revealed himself to be the mastermind, Twilight had already departed on her mission, which she was given based on the belief that the dragon king would be the one behind the assault. They do say that hindsight is 20/20.
Face it, your thrusts keep missing their mark. Or do you have some actual evidence that would be able to overturn my argument?
3573852 Ah, but they KNEW the attack was coming, that is why they ascended Twilight, they knew there wasn't going for peace. They were training Twilight to be an assassin to assassinate the king. But why didn't they do it months/years before Twilight Ascended?! It's wasn't a, 'Oh shit they attacking! Quick ascend Twilight and send her off within 5 mins!'. No, they had it planned for a while. So why couldn't they have sent the knights BEFORE the attack?! No matter the battle, or war, whoever has Surprise usually has the advantage, and Celestia never uses a surprise attack of assassinating the king before the war happened!
3573869 images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131001224135/aceattorney/images/5/5b/Silence_SHARPENED.png
And how many of their subjects would it have cost them to do something like that?
3573920 NONE! Maybe 1 of those knights, AND THAT'S IT! It would be BEFORE the war, There was nothing to defend, no dragons to fight off, no Civilians to hold the hands of! Worse that might have happened is they would attack back if it failed, which would have been the same with Twilight! Think about it, technically Twilight DIED in that mission, Celestia sent her to her death, and if she didn't revive and was a complete badass and best pony, the world would have been killed off by the alicorn prince anyways! A 1 out of 1658476211895489651789847435215698715687461 chance of Twilight somehow surviving and being revived, Celestia didn't even know she would live, and Twilight's 'death' was meaningless as the King was being controlled anyways proving again Celestia was in the wrong!
Seriously, if your bullshit excuse is something along the lines of 'The needs of the many, out way the needs of the few' Then you need a good smack for being too stupid to know any better. There is NEVER a situation where it is clear cut down the middle black and white. Celestia might have been, in the eyes of the stupid, morally 'right' by putting them above a pony she loved as a daughter, but she still wronged that pony and trained her and sent her to die when she didn't need to! Only because she believed something she was told and didn't look for another option!
3574437 There is clearly only one way to settle this. And that is for the author to personally rule which of us is correct.
3571296 You are the only one who can hope to resolve this debate. I really don't care one way or the other, but because Jirodyne-dono insists on white knighting about it, I demand a ruling. And you are the only one who can provide it. So what is the verdict?
3574437>>3574873 Oh, stop it you two. I still love you both.
The Celestial Knights will be explored substantially later, and you'll come to understand why they don't band together and take on the Brood's army as just the four of them.
With that said, you're both right and both wrong because the argument over which character is right/wrong is more complex than what is shown so far. And that's all I'm gonna say.
3577321 I have never read it myself, but I'm sure some of the others have. It's a common story among my readers' favorites.
Awesome.
3573869
In Celestia defence, I assume that the tactic was:
Lets wait for the war to start and when almost entire enemy army is invading our kingdom, our assassins will slay unprotected king.
But the fact that the king had tons of guards even after the invasion and the fact that if 4 knights could protect entire Equestria from the invasion, why they could not assassinate enemy, it kind of seems hard to explain.
Also, why ever keep 7 archmages to defend the capital instead of sending them to assist Twilight is odd considering that Celestia and Luna expected this to be a lost battle ( they sacrificed 7 archmages to protect themselves and all they accomplished was slaying 2 mere dragons ).
( Sending small elite force to kill enemy leader is good tactic, keep small elite force to fight entire army of invaders is stupid tactic, small force is best undetected and with hit and run tactic, the all out war you leave for an army ).
3576707
Here is my question.
If the 4 knights and archmagi are like an elite force, why they were kept behind.
The goal of small elite force is to hit and run tactic, using mobility and small numbers to get the job done, to do special missions, you never used elite forces to all out war.
All out war should be left to an army, protecting populace of thousands should be left to an army, you do not send 4 ponies to hold up entire invasion.
Also, if the defence of capital was a lost fight, why Celestia and Luna kept 7 archmagi to protect them ( they knew it is a lost fight ), because Celestia and Luna were useless and powerless, they could not do anything useful to assist their best and most elite ponies, all they could do is watch how they kill 2 random dragons and get murdered one by one. Should not they be kept somewhere to form a resistance, should not they go and assist Twilight on a dangerous mission, and where were other knights, should not they assist Twilight on her mission, should not they go and kill the dragon leader before the war even started ?
The only excuse I can find why the assassination took place after the war started was to get all enemy army to Equestria and let assassins kill the king when he is unprotected, but in the story he had entire army of guards so waiting was kind of pointless.
If it was trying to get as many years as possible to train Twilight, why not send knights who are already trained. Why not send knights and Twilight together with archmagi, even group of 10 ponies is still an small mobile stealth force ( if it was suicude mission, why Twilight didn't got more backup. I mean, better to send Twilight with archmagi and knights to increase the chance of victory, than send Twilight with 1 knight and Trixie with low chance of vicory, and next when they die, send knights alone with low chance of victory ).
Long story short:
1) Why 7 archmagi were left to protect capital when battle was expected to be lost instead of assigning them to Twilight or sending somewhere to form resistance.
2) Why Celestial knights did nothing this entire time despite all their experience ( such small force cannot protect entire population against an army, small elite force should do important missions, not wage all out war or chill out somewhere and do nothing ).
3) Why wait until the war begun before assassinating the king ( I didn't saw king's protection to weaken because of war, if anything, Dragons were even more on guard than ever ).
And I am not talking about morality of Celestia risking Twilgiht's live and turning her into killing ninja, I am talking about tactical mistakes what were made.
Twilight, stop being such a bitch to Celestia already.
3774511 Trust is not easily regained when lost. Celestia has lost Twilight's trust.
Twilight has no reason to be angry at celestia, she never lied to her about what she had to do or that she could die in process , twilight was given a choice and she chose to become a Alicorn and kill the dragon king.