Myths and Birthrights
By Tundara
Book One: Awakening and Arrivals
Chapter Fifteen: The Serpent’s Lair
Upon rising to the heavens that balmy dusk, Twilight was greeted by Celestia and Luna lost in a deep conversation just above the equator. Neither seemed to notice as she drifted to a stop just a short distance away. Back and forth, they debated the merits of some plan or other that, without any context, Twilight was at a loss to understand. It took clearing her non-corporeal throat to gain either sister’s attention.
“Ah, good, you’re right on time, Twilight,” Celestia said as she swung away from Luna. There was something off about Celestia’s aetherial form, a certain resonance about her that was at once calming, and yet unsettling nonetheless. Celestia’s edges had an odd crackle to them, like she were floating next to Sol, rather than halfway across the heavens. “We don’t want to alarm you Twilight, but tonight is going to see a bit of a… shift in the heavens.”
“A… shift?” Twilight tried to keep the uncertainty from her tone.
Laying a tendril that would have been a hoof on Twilight’s back, Luna explained. “We are, finally, doing away with a spell enacted long, long before Celestia and I were born.”
“A spell? What kind of spell? And what has it been doing?” Twilight attempted to blink at her cousins as she processed all the thousands of implications, more questions bubbling up as a result. “It shouldn’t be possible for it to be older than you. No enchantment could last so long without renewal. Or, it’s drawing on magic from something. A ley-spring, perhaps? Even then, how is it maintaining its structure? Is the linking of the structure itself adding resiliency? Though, if it is as old as you claim… Could it be a sigil?”
Part of her thoughts applied the reasoning to her own puzzle waiting for her on Marelantis. The door’s wards should have faded in a time before antiquity, yet they were as healthy and hearty as the day they’d been cast.
Stifling a laugh, Celestia grinned at Luna, “I told you we wouldn’t get through this quickly.” Addressing Twilight, she continued, “There will be time enough for full explanations later. Can you be satisfied with the bare essentials for now?”
Twilight pressed the energy comprising her muzzle into a flat line as she thought. She was terribly curious to know everything about what Celestia and Luna were doing, from the how to the why. But she was also pressed for time herself with the door on Marelantis. A little, niggling thought had persisted throughout the day to ask in some round-about manner for Celestia’s thoughts. There wasn’t a great chance that Celestia or Luna knew anything pertinent about Marelantis, and if they were busy with their own troubles…
“I suppose,” Twilight finally said, trying to keep her curiosity out of her voice, “but you’ll tell me everything soon, right?”
“Of course,” Celestia agreed at once, with perhaps a touch too much enthusiasm.
Letting out a long, worried breath, Twilight waited for the explanation. When it didn’t come right away, and both of the sisters began to hum and click their aetherial tongues as they pondered just how to proceed, her impatience got the better of her, and she pressed them with a forceful, “So?”
“You’ll be the sole Shepherd of the Night starting this eve,” Luna said in a rush, followed by a slight wince at the hint of bitterness in her tone.
“Wait, what?” she almost shouted. “I don’t… what?”
“It’s very simple,” Luna continued as if Twilight wasn’t sputtering a series of confused noises. “We will be undoing the Nauta Anar Isilye. Our mothers created it to keep Sol and Selene opposite each other. Its removal will have a plethora of effects, one of which will be that ushering in the night shall fall squarely upon your withers alone.”
Had Twilight a head, it would have been spinning, and had she a body, she’d have needed to sit down. Lacking both, she settled for spreading out like melting icecream.
“There may also be a very short period of… magical instability up to, and especially around, noon tomorrow,” Celestia added, plainly gaining some amount of pleasure from Twilight’s reaction. “We didn’t want you to be worried.”
“I’m just… this is a lot to take in,” Twilight admitted. “And on top of Lev—” She quickly shut her mouth and looked away, embarrassed.
“On top of what, Twilight?” There was a mischievousness to the question, a little extra happy spark in Celestia’s playful tone. “What could you be up to on a boat in the middle of the ocean.”
“Oh, just, uh, some stuff I’ve found while translating the Book of Spring.” Twilight hated to lie, but she couldn’t say anything else without endangering Pinkie. It wasn’t a complete lie, as there were things from the book that Twilight would love to discuss with her cousins. She shook her head, and then, to deflect their suspicions further, asked, “Why are you doing this now?”
Celestia’s essence grew a little dimmer, more constrained. “Tyr’s is sick. Somehow the Fostering has become corrupted and is slowly consuming her essence. Or it was always corrupt, and I just refused to see it before. If something is not done to rectify my mistake, she will be destroyed.”
“An error you were warned against,” Luna huffed and extended a comforting touch. “It is not yet too late to undo the curse; and so we shall.”
“Except our plan requires you to be the one to make a sacrifice; not me.” Celestia shrugged off Luna and set about pacing in a wide, meandering circle. “You always suffer for my actions. After we awakened, at Airegos, the winter, Equestria, and on and on. I wonder if I did not cost you the stars as well.”
Luna let out a brusque laugh. “You are being unjust, Tia. I made my choices, and in no way could you have cost me the stars. Besides, I did not lose them, we gained yet more family. As with all the trials before, this too will be overcome.”
“I wish we knew the cause. The spell was cast perfectly; I know it, and there was nothing wrong until the Gala of the Stars, yet…” Celestia rolled her essence as she would her wings, the cadence of her energy dimming a few moments before returning to the crackling form. “If I had listened to the advice you and Cadence gave…”
“Could it have been Leviathan?” The question slipped from Twilight before she was fully aware it had formed, and her energy constricted at once in reproach of her error. Any hope that it would have slipped the sisters’ attention was lost by her inability to hide her worry and self recrimination, the emotions manifesting as a hissing pulse from her core.
Watching Twilight closely, Luna hummed to herself before answering. “She certainly has the power and wherewithal. But such would require her to awaken and get close to Tyr, which we’d have sensed at once.”
“Twilight…” Celestia prodded with her ‘concerned teacher’ voice. As always, it made Twilight squirm and feel even more ashamed.
A litany of possible excuses or deflections came to mind and were quickly discarded. Lying to Celestia was categorically impossible for her. Steadying herself with a non-existent breath, she muttered, “She might have paid me a visit the other day…”
“Truly?” Luna’s form trembled a little. Not with fear, anger, or even curiosity, but with excitement. “To be silent for so long, only to emerge now? I think I envy you, cousin, to be able to lay the oldest of the disc’s monsters low. How I wish we could lend you assistance. If you require us, we could be there in but a few minutes.”
Twilight began to shake her head, while Celestia mused to herself. “But, why would she reappear now?” Doubt, mixed with concern, pattered across her form like rain on hot cobblestones. “Are you certain it is truly Leviathan? There have been others that have made the same claim.”
“Fairly certain,” Twilight answered with an uncomfortable laugh. “I am on Marelantis right now.”
Luna almost pranced on the spot at Twilight’s reply. “Marelantis itself! The tales mother told of that place! If I could get my hooves on their forges for just a day…”
“Sister, this is hardly the time to indulge in fantasy,” Celestia chided softly.
“There is more.” Twilight cringed, and if her hooves hadn’t been incorporeal gaseous aether she’d have wrung them to help steady her nerves a little. “I can sense another alicorn on the island as well.”
“One of the interlopers seeking to ally with the serpent?” Luna fairly simmered with indignation, while beside her Celestia grew colder.
She constricted a little in on herself, a slight pop of doubt rippling from her core. Celestia twisted around into a knot, and then unraveled in a heavy exclamation. “No, it’s mother.”
Luna twisted around, her essence rippling with uncertainty and something Twilight did not recognise. “Mother? She is gone. Your unwillingness to accept this worries me, Tia. As does your need for her to return and shower you with praise again. We looked everywhere, and there was not a sign of her presence on the disc.”
“We never searched the bottom of the oceans. And if She is also a prisoner, that explains how Tyr’s fostering became twisted.” Celestia shook off her sister’s words with a casual ease. “Luna, you must go help Twilight. Cadence and I can resolve matters here in Sparkledale, but Twilight and mother will need help.”
“But you can’t!” Twilight snapped, a flash of exasperation making itself known in spidery, ruby lines. “I already told you; Pinkie and the others will be hurt if anypony else gets involved. Just talking to you could be too much. Who knows when dealing with the emotions of a demon. Besides, if Faust is this other alicorn—which is far from certain—then if I can find her, rescue her, then she can help me. Right? But, there is no guarantee that it is her in the first place. All we have to go on is the knowledge that I am not alone on this island.
“Furthermore, how do we know this isn’t Leviathan’s plan? Maybe she wants me to draw you to her as well. We can’t second guess ourselves, not now. This other alicorn changes nothing. We stick to the plan. If things get too dangerous, I will call for you.”
Neither Celestia nor Luna looked at all pleased with the idea, but neither did they have a response. Both were torn between the events in Equestria, and those on Marelantis. Celestia was effected the most, her practiced composure useless in her aetherial form, doubts and conflicting desires blazing across her soul.
Letting out a resigned huff, Celestia drew closer to Twilight. Almost touching, Celestia’s raw, crackling power held an altogether unnerving heat, Twilight’s own essence squirming in response. Peering deep into Twilight, Celestia said, “You must be extremely careful when dealing with mother. She is… different.”
Snorting, Luna boiled and drifted off a short ways. “She isn’t ‘different’, she is a cold hearted, manipulative, deceitful coward who tosses her family into the path of pain and hardship without a word. Everypony is just a stone to be placed on the board, maneuvered this way and that at her whim. If it is her, then how do we know she isn’t in league with the demon?”
“Because she is our mother. I have to hold onto the faith that she is good, if at times incomprehensible.” Celestia crackled in a steady pulse and drew Luna back towards her.
“Your faith in her is misplaced,” Luna sighed with resignation. “Not that I believe it to be her. There has to be another explanation.”
“Then we will find it together once our current predicaments are resolved.” Form settling, Celestia smiled, and with a slight pause to signal the end of that particular topic, asked, “Twilight, do you want our help?”
“You can’t. If you, Luna, or Iridia get involved…” Twilight gulped, unable to finish the thought. All her experience told her that Pinkie would be okay. Pinkie was Pinkie, after-all. Yet, Twilight was well aware that testing Leviathan’s warning was not wise. “I can deal with Leviathan, just like I healed Luna and stopped Discord.”
Celestia released a drawn out sigh. “Then I will trust you. In the event you require our assistance, have Polaris contact Selene or Sol and we will come immediately. It’s just as well, we have our own concerns at the moment.”
Twilight sagged in relief. Crises averted. A long, overly theatric yawn from Sol drew their attention to the distant west, hovering in perpetual dusk, while Selene’s flowering impatience to begin the night covered the east in a silver glow. Many of the stars had started to awaken as well, their lights a little hesitant on noticing that the Sun remained among them.
Nodding in agreement, Luna reached out to the east while Celestia held Sol in place. Twilight hovered in surprise when no ritual was performed, no ancient runes utilised to unravel the Nauta Anar Isilye. Luna heaved, her entire form rippling and snapping from the strain of pulling Selene into the sky, while Celestia likewise crackled brighter still with the effort of forcing Sol to remain in place.
Twilight’s eyes widened to the flare of auroras across the breadth of the disc, formed from the sundered spellwork of the ancient ponies. Pressure built in the lines, aether condensing in deep, iridescent light at weak points. Tracing the patterns of glowing sheets, Twilight could just make out the lay of the spell’s weave. It was frightening in scope and nature, massive yet subtle, reworking the very fundamental principles of the disc. Together the sisters let out a mighty cry, and across the heavens the lines snapped. Not all at once, but in a rolling cascade of fire and brilliant light that clung to the velvet darkness.
“It is done,” Luna panted as Selene rose, shimmering with uncertainty on spotting her sister just dropping to rest beneath Ioka. “This time, may it stay broken. I am not reforging that damned sigil a third time.”
Panting as well, Celestia quipped, “At least it will be simpler with Twilight and Cadence to help, if recasting it becomes necessary.”
“Why was it even created?” Twilight asked, most of her attention on fully bringing out her stars’ lights.
“Oh, a whole myriad of reasons. Keeping Selene locked into a single phase kept many doors barred, and others forced open. There are many spells as well, rituals really, that were made impossible; mostly those best not attempted.” Luna waved an airy hoof, ready to return to the disc and whatever task had precipitated the sisters’ actions.
Parting ways, with Twilight promising to take care and call on the sisters if she required help, threat or no threat, they all returned to their corporeal forms. Twilight did not return to the disc alone, Sirius and Polaris both making the journey.
‘Do you not think you’re being a tad too cavalier about the dangers Leviathan presents? Polaris seemed to fidget, making her light sputter and crackle.
Lifting her wings in a shrug, Twilight returned her focus to the door’s many locks. The puzzle of the locks was something that she could deal with far easier. Logic and methodical thought took over, blocking out the gnawing worry for Pinkie Pie alone with Leviathan.
If she allowed herself to worry after Pinkie, she wouldn’t be able to open the doors and rescue her. Naturally, in the course of things, Leviathan would be stopped in one manner or another.
Sirius and Polaris were not alone in coming to Twilight’s assistance. She pulled many stars from their places over the next half hour, asking each for advice. The Puzzlestar, the Rubixstar, the Gatestar, and the Wizardstar all provided little tidbits of advice that together filled the gaps in her own knowledge.
The Wizardstar was particularly useful, going on and on about different spell matrixes used in the Dark, Ancient, and even Lost eras. If she hadn’t been so pressed for time, Twilight could have listened to the star ramble on about this or that long forgotten method of spellwork for days, perhaps even weeks or months.
‘Yes, yes, those unicorns of the Lost era were something else! Very little understanding of runes at all, and nothing on how to put them together, just the basic manipulations of magic; yet they gave rise to all this. To Marelantis, and the greatest practitioners of magic ever seen. The leaps of understanding required! To have so much willfully destroyed, lost, or suppressed; it is a tragedy of the first order. Even our delightful cousin is so miserly with knowledge. Celestia has such a habit of hiding information away and hoarding it for herself.’ Tutting softly, the star then drifted back through Twilight’s mane and returned to the night. From there, Twilight heard, ‘When you desire, mistress, I will tell you all about the great sigils. Such feats of spellwork that could make the greatest artificers of this age blush with envy.’
Knowledge collected, Twilight took a deep breath and readied her final attempt to crack the door’s locks. Polaris took this opportunity to excuse herself and return to her proper place up in the heavens, her sisters needed her more than Twilight at that point. Twilight thanked the star for coming down to help before Polaris slipped through her mane back up into the night.
She’d just started to pull at her magic, directing it down her horn and towards the wards when Rainbow came up beside her, and asked, “What’s taking you Twilight?”
Startled, Twilight’s magic fizzled with a little hissing snap, one that echoed in the still air and down into her head. Wincing, she turned a little glare on her friend.
“I think I might have the answer now.” Rainbow nodded twice, and Twilight was about to restart her spell, but was stopped by the green pallor beneath Rainbow’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Me?” Rainbow touched a hoof to her chest and put on one of her cocksure grins. “Never better. Itching to go kick that snake’s flank, that’s all.”
“You look…”
“I’m fine,” Rainbow said, a little too much force put into her words, as if she had to convince herself more than Twilight. “Just a little lingering sea-sickness.”
Twilight shook her head and frowned deeper. “No, you really look terrible. Maybe you should go back to the ship, Rainbow. If Leviathan did something to you as well—”
“I said I was fine. Sheesh, you’re as bad as my dad, sometimes,” grunted Rainbow, the vehemence and acerbic tone of her words making Twilight step back. “And don’t you even think about sneaking off alone into that place, like Daring Do in the The Sorceresses Gambit. Not after we just went over this on the ship.”
About to counter her friend’s assertion, Twilight checked herself and then let out a little laugh at her own foolishness. Frown washing away, Twilight gave Rainbow a playful nudge and a small nod before she returned her focus to the door.
Once more she gathered her magic and went to work.
Unlocking the door, now that Twilight knew just what she was doing, was unsurprisingly easy. The ancient Marelantians had made it so knowledge was more a requirement than brute force. By applying magic in the right order to key points, the door’s wards began to unbind themselves. Mechanisms from within the door itself clattered and clanked, counterweights dropping to swing the heavy barriers open.
“Right, let’s do this,” Rainbow issued the words in one of her low growls, a challenging glare leveled on the growing gloom between the doors.
She took a step past Twilight, only to come to a stop with a shocked grunt. Entire body rigid and locked, Rainbow strained to move, eye twitching and teeth clamped hard with the effort.
“Rainbow?” Twilight reached towards her friend with a wing, “What’s the matter?”
“I can’t move,” Rainbow snapped in response. She strained harder, wings a-jitter against her sides as she fought to take a single step closer to the door.
For a half-second, Twilight wondered if she’d missed something when she’d countered the wards. A device or another layer to the palaces defences. Cautiously, she took a step past Rainbow, ready for whatever defensive magic was at work to take hold, but nothing happened. Nothing leapt up to hamper her movements, and even Sirius continued to bob along at her side.
“I’m sorry Dash, I made a mistake. There must have been something I missed.” Twilight cast a spell on Rainbow to identify whatever magic was gripping her, but the spell turned up nothing. No, not nothing. Two distinct, subtle traces of magic worked to bare her entrance.
The first, and far more powerful, spread across and through Rainbow’s every sinew. Where it originated was hidden, subsumed by the magic. Twilight almost began to panic and worry that it was something Leviathan had done to Rainbow on the ship, but the magic didn’t have the characteristic bite of something harmful. Narrowing her eyes, Twilight peered harder at the flow of the energy, and found that it was very slowly pulsing as it drew on Rainbow’s own magic, and those ambient within the air.
While slightly concerning, it did lead her to the real culprit of Rainbow’s inability to step closer to the doors. Spreading down from the magical centers at the base of her wings, Rainbow was being locked in place by spider-webs of a flashing, ruby red aether. Twilight didn’t need a second to identify the spell, or the cause. It was a very typical binding spell to hold a subject in place, similar to what many guardponies learned in the bigger towns where crimes were sometimes an issue. Far more telling, was that the magic was the same as the Element of Loyalty.
“Okay, this is going to be tricky, Dash.” Twilight licked her lips as she peered closer at the magic holding her friend in place. “It looks like the Elements don’t want—”
A deep, clanking boom interrupted Twilight, preceding a long groan as the doors to the palace began their slow, inexorable closing. Darting a look at the doors, Twilight reached out with her aura to hold them open, only for her telekinesis to slip off them. Changing tactics, Twilight instead went to pick up Rainbow and carry her inside, only for the Element’s magic to flare and drive back Twilight’s attempt.
Darting a look between her friend and the door a few times, her mind raced through a dozen different options and discarded them all. Had she time, Twilight was certain that a solution would present itself.
“I’m sorry!” Twilight said before darting through the doors, calling back as she did, “I’ll find Pinkie! I promise.”
There was only a moment to look back and see Rainbow staring after her with pained resignation. “Hey, You better kick that snake’s flank for me!”, Rainbow shouted just as Twilight slipped between the doors and they slammed shut, the hundred locks within spinning and clanking as the ward re-activated.
To Twilight’s relief, she wasn’t subsumed in darkness the moment the doors slammed shut at her tail. Streams of haphazard light bubbled through the windows and skylights, what little could find its way through the shroud of filth on the palace exterior. A quick look around gave no evidence of water ever having entered the palace.
Whether it was from some spell of the Marelantians, or Leviathan herself, the palace was almost as it had been the day the city had been destroyed, touched only by the slow withering breath of time. Broken mosaics, of such faded beauty that she felt her breath catch in her throat, greeted Twilight. Heraldic tapestries on silk so fine that the still shimmered as they settled from the breeze created by Twilight’s entrance hung down the five massive columns holding the roof aloft.
Warm golden light spilled from Sirius, giving everything a soft, wonderful glow as they slowly trotted the room. ‘Mistress, you should not go alone,’ Sirius said as she float before Twilight.
For her part, Twilight frowned and gave the star a death-glare.
“You, little lady, should have gone back home with your sisters. I can’t risk you, or any of the others. Not when Leviathan can steal you from me.” She made to grab the star, but, like in Canterlot before, Sirius darted away.
‘No. I am not a foal to be matronized or protected. I am your Firestar, and my sisters need us. I will not abandon them.’ Sirius burned brighter, turning a reddish-orange tinge that gave their surroundings a hellish, foreboding air.
Seeing that arguing was pointless, Twilight released a resigned grunt and then indicated that Sirius should follow.
Little was said between them as they went deeper into the palace. Ghosts hung thick in the air, every wall home to mosaics made of glittering gemstones held in brittle mortar and barren planters, sitting in little nooks set into the walls. Twilight could have admired the scenes for years, each done in a sweeping style she’d never before seen. There was a vague similarity to some of the Thuelesian artifacts Twilight had seen in museums. Those urns and wall fragments had been haunting, sadness lingering in the stone and history they only partially preserved. Even those seemed more like imitations of a memory pulled from a dream compared to the majesty emanating from the walls.
Then the mosaics began to move, their surfaces a fluid dance that stole Twilight’s breath away. Rooted to the spot, she twisted this way and that trying to catch everything at once. Each stylised play showed Marelantis’ history, or stories and legends of note. The lost city’s myths played before her eyes in a dazzling display, and she needed to see them all.
Glued to the scenes, her attention was held firm not just by the scholastic wonder they invoked—the history that could have been recovered!—but as with the palace doors, the spell-work involved was beyond current understanding.
If modern Equestrian enchantment techniques were akin to the crafting of gears in a clock, each spinning and working together to create a greater whole or effect, then the Marelantian enchantments were like the clock’s bells, each shaped and molded to create a single effect. The size, quality, and purity of those bells, however, were unlike anything Twilight had thought possible.
The nearest comparison Twilight could conjure was Canterlot Castle taken as an aggregate whole. If she discounted the haphazard, clunky nature of the castle’s myriad layers of wards and enchantments, and put aside that what she was seeing was a single, beautifully crafted enchantment, rather than a thousand working in concert. Or that she couldn’t begin to detect the usual base-frame-cap structuring.
So, nothing like the castle, in retrospect.
Twilight tilted her head and stared harder at the murals as they began to repeat for the second time. For a single enchantment, on its own, to create the murals defied conception.
“What the professors at Celestia’s School would do for five minutes examining this,” Twilight whispered with a little chuckle. “Or Rarity. She would adore this.”
It wasn’t a lack of complexity to Equestrian enchantments. Defensive wards, in particular, could be highly involved and intricate, with redundancies and false runes creating traps for would-be attackers. What was laid before her, however, was true artistry of a sort that defied all previous notions of what was possible with magic. Were she a musician, it would be like writing simple lullabies all her life, and then hearing for the first time a symphony.
In retrospect, the palace doors had been far closer to modern spellcasting, with hundreds of wards acting in concert. The runes in the doors were easy to spot, as were their positions within the enchantment’s structure. At the core were the base, from which the frame radiated, and then was capped at the extremities. Here, Twilight had trouble discerning one rune from the next, so that they blended together to form a single, monolithic rune of sorts.
“Which way did they go? Have we rediscovered their methods, linking spells together, or do those doors represent the old, and this their later works?” Twilight ran a hoof along the murals, and was surprised as a tingle worked its way through her frog and up her leg. Not an unpleasant tingle, and certainly nothing that struck her as dangerous, rather the sort of sensation Twilight got whenever she was about to open a book for the first time.
Responding to her touch, the murals changed, began to show mages in their towers, pouring over stacks of books and crafting new spells in their chambers or wandering through twisted woods while a dark figure flitted by overhead. Twilight’s eyes widened, a little gasp escaping her lips. Her own life swam into being, formed into sweeping and grand displays identical in style to those before. Already it had reached Discord sitting on a twisted throne with a glass of—presumably—chocolate milk in one claw and a scepter in the other. It moved onto the battle with the changelings, depicting the events with her central, but as a guiding figure above Cadence, Shining, and the battle, rather than as the defining player. From there, the mural took a shape that was Twilight alone, wreathed in her stars with her eyes closed and wings spread wide. Other ponies began to appear along the bottom edge, heads turned up and hooves clasped in prayers.
Then the mural restarted it’s displays from, Twilight conjectured, the very start of Marelantis’ history.
“It added me to it’s history?” Twilight looked down at her hoof in surprise. “That’s amazing! How is did it manage that? The variables, the sheer fact that it’s making stylized images of my past, and choosing how to display them… Is the mural alive? No, a single enchantment can’t gain semi-sentience regardless of how powerful it may be. There isn’t the number of enchantments in this area for their energies to bleed together enough for the area to gain a will of its own.”
Just to be certain, Twilight scanned the hallway again, coming up only with the illumination spells and the murals. Catching her lower lip between her teeth, she refocused on the murals.
“Unless that is the point of this spell’s structure. Could they have been making their spells actually aware? That’s impossible… Isn’t it? I wish I had time to really examine this place.”
It took considerable force of will, and a stern self-reminder about Pinkie and her stars being in danger, to pry herself away from the mural. Casting a last, whimsical look over her withers at the shimmering walls, Twilight followed the trail.
Mistress… Do you make a habit of talking to yourself? There was a note of amusement to Sirius’ question, the star floating along beside Twilight as they headed down the lit passage.
“Not often. Sometimes. Only when I’m stressed. Or… Okay, yes, I talk to myself.” Twilight sent the star a sour look.
The murals were not the only relics left in pristine condition by the long roll of the ages. Everything within the palace was amazingly well preserved, especially compared to the desolation on the surface.There wasn’t a speck of dust to be seen. Even the air was clean, carrying a slight scent of some ancient, extinct flower with a hint of incense. The finest army of maids could not have created such spotless perfection. Enchanted crystals embedded in the walls or overhead cast light without the smoke of torches. It all came together to make Twilight’s mane prickle.
Every now and then she came to an abrupt stop. Somewhere in the shadows there were eyes watching her and Sirius. Sometimes the sensation came from behind, other times it lingered ahead, hidden beyond shadows dancing at the edge of her star’s light. But there was no sound of hooves, paws, or feet that could belong to something following the pair.
Deeper and deeper into the palace, they marched, the pull of stolen stars drawing Twilight onward. Her pace hastened as she drew nearer, quickening until she was galloping breathlessly. They were so close, just around every bend, and when they weren’t, the pull was that much stronger that surely the next corner would reveal her stars.
A final bend brought them to a simple, round door made of balsa wood. Beyond it, Twilight was certain, were her stars, Leviathan, and the unknown alicorn. An old ward, faded and worn, was carved into the very center of the door. From its dull lustre and utter lack of aether either in the wood or the runes themselves, the ward had been broken a long, long time ago. Finding the cause of the break was easy enough, half the runes that made up the ward’s glyph were charred and scratched out by a single, long claw mark.
As with all the other spells Twilight had seen in the palace, the ward had once been impressive, and far different from anything Equestria was capable of producing. A shame it was damaged beyond repair or even basic study.
Turning her attention away from the broken ward, Twilight found a slight problem with the door’s design; there was no latch or lever with which to open it. Even the hinges were hidden or missing. Leaning forward to see if there was any way to open the door, Twilight was surprised to find a scent wafting through the wood.
“Basil?”
At the word, there was a click from beyond the door, and then it slid soundlessly out of Twilight’s path.
On the other side was Leviathan.
In her pony form.
Smiling.
And wearing an apron covered in red stains and the phrase ‘Envy is thin because it bites but never eats’ emblazoned across the front in bold, green letters.
“About time, I was beginning to wonder if my court hadn’t gotten to you. Better late I suppose.” The demon’s fangs glinted in the light splashing through the door. “Come in, come in. I do insist.”
Swallowing a retort, Twilight stepped through the door, wings slightly splayed for a fight and Sirius just above her head.
Leviathan’s inner sanctum. The number of beings who’d set hoof in the place were few, the amount that had left alive fewer still. In ages past, poets and philosophers had debated on the nature of Leviathan’s den. Whether it would be a place of despair and loathing, or a frightful palace of bone and eternal night. Some claimed it to be a sweeping plane of green fire and choking, poisonous vapors. Still others painted a sunken temple in the darkest reaches of the ocean.
It turned out to be a mess.
A complete and total pig sty.
Twilight’s mouth fell open as she stood just inside the open door, eyes wide, staring out at what she could only charitably describe as a dump. It was as if half the museum’s in Equestria had taken all their pieces and artifacts, and tossed them into a warehouse without any thought.
Bits of armour from a dozen eras, in three times as many styles, were scattered across the floor. Swords, spears, and shields strewn here and there, forming rolling heaps of blade and plate. Some were semi-organised stacks, but most were only in vague lumps. Stacks of faded newspapers or mounds of gemstones acted as walls between sections of the room. Statues and busts of ancient ponies, griffons, and dragons abounded in one alcove, while the next over was a semi-clear living area with three couches around a tea table, all overflowing with empty cartons of neighponese take-out and grease stained pizza boxes. Above the table, suspended by cords of rope, chain, and bits of coloured string, were painted skulls of everything from equines to a great dragon. Another dragon skull had been turned into a wardrobe, the doors impossible to open for the clothes piled up in front. Over in another area were crates of silks enough to make a hundred dresses. One side of the chamber—Twilight was fairly certain at one time the room had been circular in nature from the curve of the walls as they met on the ceiling to form a dome—stood an entire unicorn galley from the pre-classical period, complete with oars and masts knocked down and placed across the deck.
The south side of the room was more open, pathways through the junk leading to different areas, or perhaps ‘rooms’. Screens were erected as dividers between a couple beds, another open space holding an ornate Stones board, complete with pieces arrayed as if in the middle of a game. The final area was home to a kitchenette and a table formed of a flattened oak stump.
It was from the kitchen that the smell of basil originated, a large pot of some bubbling sauce, spitting above an open flame on a four hundred year old stove.
Trotting briskly along the aisle, Leviathan hurried to the stove.
“Dinner should not be long. You do like spicy Roamen, yes? It’s about all I know how to cook. Faust tried teaching me some classical Thuelesian dishes a few centuries back. I found her use of poison toad extract a little cheeky though. Oh, here I am babbling away! Can I offer you anything?” Leviathan glanced over her wings to where Twilight stood dumbfounded just inside the room. “I have wine, brandy, gin, whisky, rum, and several different ciders,” the ancient demon queen, one of the seven most powerful evils in the cosmos, looked around her home at a loss, “… somewhere…”
Twilight found words hard to come by, her mouth working silently.
Of all the scenarios Twilight might have anticipated, this… none of it… she didn’t…
“W-What is going on?” Twilight shouted after a full minute of gaping at the complete disarray surrounding her.
“I don’t understand the question,” Leviathan replied with a click of her tongue. “I know it’s a little late for dinner, but you were rather slow getting past the outer door, then you spent ages staring at the murals or lost in the upper-levels…”
“No!” Twilight stamped a hoof, causing a small rockslide in a nearby gem pile. “What I mean is… aren’t we supposed to fight or something? That’s how this has always gone before!”
“Oh, there will be time for all that later.” A dismissive wing waved away Twilight’s question. “All the pieces aren’t in place yet. No, the monologuing and ‘You’ll never get away with this!’ and ‘Soon, my vengeance will be complete!’ and the rest of that nonsense will come later, don’t worry. Plenty of time to get to know each other before you try to rip out my throat, I think.”
Leviathan hummed as she stirred the sauce and poured some noodles into another pot.
Unsure what else to do—Twilight didn’t think that she could just attack Leviathan… could she?—she went to one of the chairs at the table. “Where is Pinkie?” she asked as she sat down.
“Around. I believe she used one of my portals to get some fresh coriander and cake for dessert.”
Twilight had to rub her head, an ache starting to form just behind her ears.
“You mean she’s free? You let her go?”
Leviathan chortled as she left the stove to join Twilight at the table. “Yes. She’s served her purpose… mostly. Tomorrow I’ll hold her ransom while we have our little show down. Bisquit?”
A plate of butter cookies and chocolate covered crackers were presented to Twilight. After staring at the plate for a bit, she took a stick of shortbread. She did not eat it, rather inspected it closer while she groaned, “I am so confused right now. I should just… I don’t know…”
“Attack me?” Leviathan supplied. “But, what have I done to deserve such treatment?!” She pressed a hoof in faux-shock to her chest.
Twilight glared at the mocking tone in Leviathan’s laugh. “Oh, I don’t know; kidnapped one of my best friends? Stole three stars? Hurt my guards? Threatened everypony?”
Her laugh growing louder, more natural, Leviathan snatched up a couple crackers, and around them said, “Pah, a typical Monday.”
‘You stay true to your principles, mistress,’ Sirius seemed to shrug, and hover closer to Twilight’s horn. ‘This is all certainly part of her game. But if you just attacked her you would regret it, no matter the outcome. No, you have to make certain to give your enemies every chance to repent and correct their ways. That is just who you are.’
Sirius was correct. For all Leviathan had already done, it wasn’t within Twilight to attack without cause and evidence that such action was her last remaining recourse. “Traitor,” Twilight huffed, Sirius taking a hurt, blue colour in response. “So, what now? You seem to have this all planned out.”
“I told you—”
“I’mmmm back!” Boxes perched on her head, Pinkie popped up with her signature grin behind Leviathan. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted the chocolate double glazed fritters, or double chocolate glazed fritters; so I got both! And the lemon filled maragnes, some strawberry strudels, a coconut pie, tiramisu, and, of course, a Black Forest cake. Also cream puffs, Nanaimo bars, and some peanut butter crumble.”
With each name Pinkie spread the corresponding desert out on the table until it was heaped higher than Twilight’s horn with sugary treats. No sooner was she done emptying her seemingly bottomless box then Pinkie was in the kitchen stirring the pot of simmering sauce, sprinkling the coriander in with a happy swish of her tail.
Twilight spent the time waiting for dinner studiously not looking at Leviathan and instead focused on Pinkie. There was something off about her friend, like Pinkie’s smile was just ever so slightly forced, and the skip in her step was hesitant. When Pinkie thought Twilight wasn’t looking the veneer would slip a little, and she’d dart a furtive glance upwards and catch her lower lip between her teeth.
“What did you do to Pinkie?” Twilight demanded as the food—a wonderful smelling pasta dish with a thick sauce liberally spread atop—was served.
“Silly, she didn’t do anything to me,” Pinkie laughed, but the sound was fake. Her ears drooped a little on seeing the suspicious look Twilight gave her. “I’m just worried about a whole lot of ponies.”
“Of course you are; you have a good heart.” Leviathan reached over and patted Pinkie on the shoulders before demanding, “Pass me the salt, Twilight. But you shouldn’t worry so much Pinkamena. You mortals were created to die. It’s all a matter of the ‘how’ and ‘when’.”
All thought of conversation died with this, and the meal grew sullen and miserable. Leviathan did not seem to notice, the way she happily told one sided stories of this and that. Twilight tuned Leviathan out and instead focused on locating her stars. If she retrieved them, she could teleport herself and Pinkie back to the ship.
Then what though? Leviathan would just chase them and more ponies would be put in danger.
Grumbling to herself, Twilight pushed a tomato around her plate.
Even if she didn’t return to the Bellerophon, that was the most likely place for Leviathan to look, and Rainbow was with the ship.
Back and forth, around and around, Twilight went with her thoughts, never able to find a decisive conclusion to her problem. Leviathan was the villain. The villain needed to be stopped, and/or reformed. The villain wasn’t acting especially villainous. She was even being accommodating and, Twilight hated to admit it, if it wasn’t for taking Pinkie and her stars, she’d have been enjoying the novelty of the evening. Even the conversation would have been… entertaining. Leviathan was putting out a fine flow of divergent topics, giving anecdotes from prehistory, various adventures, and encounters with famous individuals. Even the jokes weren’t terrible, never realizing—or choosing to ignore—the morose cloud hanging over the table.
It rankled Twilight deeply.
“Well, this has been a delightful reprieve, don’t you agree?” Leviathan dabbed at her lips with an embroidered silk hoofkerchief after Pinkie cleared away the deserts. “I had a bed prepared for you, since we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, and you’ll want to be well rested for what is coming.”
“And what is coming?”
“Just a little game.”
The grin Leviathan wore was one that could only be called enthusiastically frightening. “This is going to be so much fun! You’ll see, Twilight Abigail Sparkle Tuilerya, Goddess of Stars and Wishes, the Third Shepherd, Princess of the Taiga, Countess of the Everfree; Oh, saying your titles gives me tingles. Perhaps I’ve found a worthy opponent again.”
For the first time in forever, sleep did not come easily to Twilight.
It was an understandable state, what with the mounting worries for her friends, Leviathan’s plans, the fuzzy murmurs she could only just make out from her stars, Pinkie’s regression in sullen, forced happiness. Twilight couldn’t shake the sense that she should have confronted Leviathan at once and finished the fight.
At the same time, she couldn’t shake the final moments of dinner, and the happiness that had been flitting like a lost, uncertain puppy behind Leviathan’s big, emerald eyes.
A quick check of her internal chronometer told her that it was only a few minutes until dawn. She hoped Polaris would be able to wrangle the stars into sleep without her. Whatever the spells or materials worked throughout the palace, they did a far too effective job dulling her connection to her stars.
The feeling was odd, to say the least, and she squirmed some more beneath the centuries old and mildew covered quilt. Calming herself, she detached spirit from body and attempted to float up to the heavens. She received a nasty shock on reaching the domed ceiling, sparks shooting out where she’d tried to pass through the stone. From somewhere far off through the clutter Twilight heard Leviathan snort in her sleep, followed by a heavy thud as she presumably rolled out of bed.
Cringing, Twilight hovered slowly back to her body, ludicrously afraid to wake the demon queen.
Fed up with waiting, and since there were no explicit rules saying she had to stay in bed when in the lair of a colossal demonic serpent that ate islands, she pushed herself out of bed. In fact, it seemed rather stupid not to do some poking around while she had the opportunity. Who knew what she could find that might tip the balance in her favour.
A yawn from behind Twilight’s ear reminded her of Sirius. She didn’t debate whether to leave the star behind or not; and instead moved her deeper into her mane. There Sirius was as safe as could possibly be on the disc.
First on Twilight’s list of mysteries to solve was to find other alicorn. She’d grown almost certain that Celestia’s guess that it was Faust to be correct. A small part of her held out, however, wondering if she wasn’t being misled. It wasn’t impossible Leviathan had captured one of Tyr’s relatives from Gaea. Who, however, Twilight could not decide. To the best of her knowledge there was one somewhere in the east, another could have been anywhere on the disc, and then there were the remaining shades. A shiver worked its way up Twilight’s back at the memory of the thing that had attacked her back in Ponyville.
She tried not to dwell on the cold touch and dread instilled during that encounter. The shade had tried to leach magic from her, to take her stars. To take them… back?
Twilight pinched her brow at the fleeting thought and turned down into a section filled with ancient scrolls and rolled up tapestries. At the far end a set of narrow steps ascended to a hole cut into the side of the galley.
“Take them back… She can’t take them back, they’re mine. They’ve always been mine.” Twilight huffed to herself as she slipped slowly into the galley, boards groaning underhoof.
Nopony could separate her stars from her. Even the ones Leviathan had stolen weren’t truly gone, just caged. Twilight could still feel them, along with hundreds of others that were not in the heavens but on the disc.
Slowing, she picked her way through the galley, past where earth ponies would have been made to row in ages past. The benches on which they sat were now home to bins of yarn, knitting needles, and rolled up carpets, all labeled and categorized by size, colour, and material. She hardly made note of the way everything had been ordered and neatly placed in stark contrast to the chaos outside the ship.
Yes, there were others. Many others. With the stars in the heavens dulled, Twilight could detect those that had fallen with something… not exactly clarity, but notice them among the other stars. She’d been aware for some time that stars fell, from time to time. It was how she was supposed to grant wishes, afterall. Still, being able to sense the fallen stars came as a bit of a surprise.
Just to be certain she stopped her wandering, closed her eyes and sorted through the thousands of connections she possessed. Dimmed by the palace wards, it was easy to sort through the ‘proper’ stars and find the connections that were damaged or faded.
Touching a cord gave her a muted song, and in that song knowledge of every aspect the star. Everything was laid bare to Twilight, who she’d been, her hopes, dreams, and fears, even her memories. The first she touched, because it was a thorny strand of cracked obsidian glass, belonged to a star named Algol. Cruelty was found in equal measure with honour, and a shattered heart. Algol was a star that fell because she’d fallen in love, but had been rejected. Worse, betrayed. Captured and sold as a slave, broken and made to wage war on ponies.
Twilight withdrew from the connection, her thoughts numb and a part of her crawling like she’d been reading somepony else's journal. Centuries of memories, or the impressions of memories, lay waiting within the fractured strand. The final one Twilight had sensed, just as she broke the touch, was of Algol’s final moments, and the relief the star had felt to at last descend into oblivion and to know nothingness.
Trying to shake of the melancholy that threatened to prowl at the edges of her mind after touching the bitterness of Algol’s memories, Twilight reached out for the closest, most lively strand available.
She expected good memories, warmth and joy. With the vibrancy of the strand, and given the damage to the first one she’d touched, it seemed a logical conclusion.
Instead Twilight was struck by cold, and fear, and pain. Her body ached from running, and bruises formed along her flanks and shoulders where she’d been hit by… something. A big something that was stalking her and…
A stab of worry pierced Twilight to the quick.
Unlike Algol, this star was still alive, somewhere, and in danger. She was running through a wood or forest. There was a filly next to her; dark silvery-grey, with a two toned mane of white and black. In the distance an old castle appeared like a hulking monster out of the gloom. She didn’t slow, altering direction at once, heading towards the castle.
Scrunching her eyes up more, Twilight probed the connection. She could see her own magic in the cord, but also magic that was not her own. Unlike with the stars, there was no doubt that it was foreign in nature. None of the usual ‘hers and not-hers’ at the same time.
She needed the star’s name. Twilight could sense it there, hovering just in front of her nose, waiting to be acknowledged. A little push was all it took.
“Trixie?” Twilight yelped, losing her grasp on the cord, eyes flung open, and stumbled backwards into the galley’s main cabin.
There was no time to ponder why she had a connection binding her to her one-time sort-of-nemesis. Nor why magic seemed to be flowing along it from her towards Trixie. She wished she could analyze why she was able to get Trixie’s thoughts, and even what she was seeing and hearing.
Unfortunately, Twilight had found the missing alicorn, and she was distracted from pursuing the issue any further. In a deep sleep, Faust laid on a circular bed, rust red mane draped casually down her neck and wings, head resting on silk pillows. A few strands of light ghosted between threadbare curtains onto her stretched out wings, and played across her pointed chin. Twilight had found Faust, her aunt, and she was currently being used as a pillow by a sprawled out Leviathan.
Twilight didn’t know whether to beat a hasty retreat or to shout and wake the pair. Her entire being recoiled at the thought of the venerated Namegiver sharing a bed with Leviathan.
Another part of her squirmed, overcome with a sense of intruding in a place she should not have gone. The room had a warm, earthy sense about it. Beside the bed stood a ponyquin with a dress laid out on it. From the high, opal ruff to the rich red silk fold and scroll casing hanging over the left side, Twilight guessed it to have been from the pre-classical period. It was also a dress favoured among artist depicting Faust during her last few years among ponykind. Further along stood boxes of jewelry, vials of perfume, and a partially open wardrobe through which Twilight spotted a dressing gown on a hanger. Even Faust’s peytral was present, and everypony knew she’d stopped wearing it following the collapse of Thuelesia.
That tiny, decent part of herself was silenced by a surge of ire as her eyes fell on a birdcage sitting in a corner. Within the cage, their lights dim and flickering, hung her stolen stars.
Twilight took a hurried step towards her stars. Beneath her the floorboards creaked, and Leviathan’s eyes shot open.
“What are you doing?” The demand was spoken in a menacing softness, one heightened by Leviathan slowly pushing herself up and over Faust in a protective stance. Descending from the bed, Leviathan stretched out her wings to form a barrier between Twilight and Faust. “Don’t you have any common decency? Walking into another being’s room like you own the place. If I didn’t have plans for today, I’d rip out your throat for this invasion of privacy.”
“Me? I want my stars back, and I want to know why Faust is here!” Twilight countered, her indignation overcoming her embarrassment. The limits of her patience well past breaking, Twilight pulled together the beginning of a spell. No sooner had the first two ruins been joined than the burgeoning matrix cracked, the pieces tumbling in motes from the tip of her horn.
A pleased smirk pinched the corners of Leviathan’s eyes as Twilight took a hesitant step backwards, her mind fumbling over what had just happened. “I’m surprised you’re just trying a spell now,” Leviathan snorted, picking up the cage with Twilight’s stars and moving them next to the bed. “Before you ask; no, I have not done anything to your magic. It is merely an effect of the design of my home. Within this place magic answers to me alone.”
Twilight set her withers and swallowed the retorts that leapt to her tongue to counter Leviathan’s boast. Mind racing towards possible ways arround whatever was impacting her spellcasting, she indicated the bed with a sharp glare. “Has she been in league with you all these years?”
Surprise mingled with disdain flashed across Leviathan’s face, twisting her lips up into a cruel sneer.
“Ha! In league? Faust? Are you so foolish?” Stamping a hoof, Leviathan made the galley tremble with her foul humour. Her lips twitched into a smile, the same one she’d worn following dinner. “I see no sense in hiding it now. Yes, she is ‘in league’ with me, though not in the manner you think.”
“Don’t presume to know what I’m thinking,” Twilight growled back, falling into an aggressive stance.
“And don’t presume that I am the villain!” Leviathan countered in a bellow, rattling the galley. “You aethyr, gods, alicorns—whatever you call yourselves this century—you always make the rest of us out as the bad ones who ruined the Far Realms. The quus with their primordial chaos. The archons with their self-righteous, domineering benevolence. And you lot, trying to make everything fit neatly into your little boxes. Say what you will about demon-kind; we didn’t have to help you with the quus, but we did. It was the alicorns who committed the first betrayal. The beings of perfect order betrayed those of the egoism. The irony was not lost on us the eons we rotted beneath Tartarus.
“I am Envy, Twilight Sparkle, and I am not the villain.”
Leviathan began to pace as her rant grew in volume. Her wings continually snapped in and out, her teeth clacked with every few words, and her tail sliced the air with enough force to crack like a whip at each turn. Behind the angry demon, Faust didn’t so much as stir.
“I’ve tried to be amenable. To be friendly. I could have killed all those mortals on the ship. I could kill them still. Some of them have already died this night, others this moment, and more will this day. But, such is the price for ignoring the very strong warning posted right in front of their noses. Do you blame the wolf for attacking when you stumble into it’s lair and stomp around next to her pups?”
“What do you mean, ‘have died’?” Twilight asked in a breathless rush, her heart twisting with worry for Rainbow and the others. “What have you done?”
Ceasing her pacing, Leviathan let out a snort. “Me? Nothing, except allow it to happen.” Waving a hoof up towards the roof, she said, “You did that when you improperly opened the doors and woke the city’s defenders. The ancient Marelantians jealously guard their secrets even now. Not that they are their secrets to keep, everything they learned gleaned from my brothers, sister, and I. They were to be the means for our escape, but the others are too narrow minded. If they are allowed freedom whole worlds will burn.”
Panic rising, Twilight started for the door, only to be called to stop.
“Return to them now, and I will keep all I have taken,” Leviathan said spoke with a playful bounce, one that maintained only a hint of the anger she’d radiated moments before. “Your three stars and Pinkie will be forfeit. It is a little early for the game to start, but since you are so eager, who am I to deny?” Coming up to Twilight, she laid a wing over her withers, and in a voice like silk dipped in an adder’s venom, asked, “Tell me, Twilight, what do you possess that I should envy?”
She wanted to kick Leviathan, or rush to her friends’ aid. Yet, a portion of her said that the best way to help was to deal with Leviathan civilly. If it meant playing along for a little while, then so be it.
Twilight considered the question only a few moments. Her first guess was her stars. Leviathan had stolen three and kept them caged. But, Leviathan’s interest in them seemed only as tools to draw Twilight into her lair. The demon hardly acknowledged Sirius’ presence, and by rights she should covet the Firestar above the others as it was the most powerful Twilight possessed.
No, the answer wasn’t something physical in nature.
“My friends,” Twilight finally decided. “You envy my friendships.”
Leviathan returned Twilight’s answer with a flat stare and broke away to march up to the bed with Faust.
Spinning back towards Twilight, she slashed the air with a wing and a snort. “Really? That is your answer? ‘Friendship’? Friendship is nothing. A mere shadow. I may have given you some credence if you’d said ‘Love’. Now, there is a powerful force! But friendship? Pah. It is a mere transitory state, fleeting and easily cast aside, smothered, or crushed.”
“Oh, really?” Twilight put on her best ‘I have you’ smile. “What of the friendships I have with Pinkie, Rainbow, and the others? What of the Elements of Harmony? Our friendship has saved Eque—”
“You poor, naive thing.” Leviathan cut Twilight off with a pronounced sigh, hoof lifted up to rub the bridge of her muzzle. “What you have with them is not friendship.”
“Of course it is friendship!”
“It is not. They are your sisters. Not by blood, but by choice, and that makes it all a more potent love.”
“But… Friendship is Magic!”
“If I ever encounter the mare that come up with that insipid phrase I am going to eat her…” Leviathan growled to herself. “No, Love is Magic, friendship is merely a transitional familiarity bred through interaction and shared interests. But friends can be discarded. They fade and wither and the hole left behind will be filled by new friends. But those you love? Those that transcend beyond mere friendship? Long after they are gone you will lay awake and stare up at your stars and remember them. Their betrayals will cut deepest, and their smiles will be the most heartening.”
“You’re being pedantic about terminology now.”
Again came Leviathan’s flat stare.
“And you’re one to talk about being pedantic with terms, Miss ‘I am a scientist’.” Leviathan flopped down onto a cushion next to the sleeping form of Faust. “There is a reason why the translation of the old knightly orders is ‘sisterhood’ rather than ‘friends’ or ‘pals’ or something similar. Ask Cadence when you return to Canterlot, she’ll confirm that you love your so-called friends.”
With the gentlest caress of her hoof, Leviathan brushed back Faust’s mane so as to allow her to lay a kiss upon the sleeping goddess’ brow. Twilight cringed, and it took all her remaining control not to leap forward. Every fibre of her being screamed against the sight before her.
“Once, before the first grains fell within the hourglass of time, when all was as dreams and thought was the brush that painted reality, I had found a sister in the most unlikely of places. Side by side we brought war to the greatest of foes, and I have never been happier nor more complete than in that moment. As all things before the birth of the Second Realm, it lasted only the sweetest instant, and for a hundred eternities.”
Leviathan looked up from Faust, and Twilight was shocked to see tears forming poisoned green shards upon her cheek.
“She was wrenched from me, and then all my kind were betrayed by the alicorns. Your mother stole Faust, casting them both to the void rather than have her be sullied further by our love. For a time uncounted I waited, plotting within the prison your kind constructed for mine. Through the cracks I sent agents, until they came upon this pitiful world, and I knew the time of my reunion with Faust was at last come. And when I found her, when I tore my way from Tartarus and rose up in all my glory before her; I found she had forgotten me. She had cast aside all that she’d been and knew, taken a frail, mortal shell, leaving her grandeur faded and sullied.”
A long, weary sigh rolled from the demon before she said in resignation, “I will not allow you to steal her from me as your mother has done once already, just as you can not leave her here with me.” Pushing herself upwards, Leviathan used a wing to guide Twilight towards the living area. At the same time she picked up the cage with Twilight’s stars, holding them on her far side as she walked. “Come, I have something to show you, something you’ll find rather interesting I think. The time has arrived to raise the curtains on our little game.”
The moved in silence, Twilight debating what would happen if she tried to fire a spell at Leviathan. On entering the main living space, magic lit along the demon’s horns in sickly flames that were like talons being dragged down Twilight’s own senses. Before them appeared four shimmering, silver disc, their faces rippling like the surface of a disturbed pond.
As each began to calm they gained clarity, opening windows onto distant scenes.
The leftern most showed Rainbow, mane bedraggled with sweat and blood, her posture one of profound weariness and exhaustion. She took long, laboured breaths and, with a hoof, wiped at her eyes.
On the next window was a wooded area, and from the gnarled trees, clinging fog, and mountains in the distance just being lit by the coming dawn, it had to be the Everfree. Rarity was there, stumbling back, a crevice behind her. Silent words were spoken to somepony, or something. A pained expression twisted her friend’s face, Rarity rocking from side to side and giving her head a determined shake.
Between this window and the last was an image Twilight knew well, as it was the grounds of Sparkle Manor. She could see her entire family, old and new, along with a few other ponies. Velvet stood with princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, as well as Revered Speaker Blessed Harmony. Arrayed around the five were Twilight’s foster sisters and brothers, the manor’s servants, the princesses’ guards, several Sisters of Names, and Iridia. All of the assembled ponies stood around Tyr, the filly placed at the heart of what looked like a casting array.
Another grim sight awaited Twilight on the final window, this one showing her Trixie and the dark silver filly she’d seen just before finding Faust. They were in the castle now, both darting looks into the shadows. It was from one such shadow that a face emerged that Twilight could not identify. A white halla, Twilight assumed from the antlers and snippets she’d read of the race. Trixie and the filly relaxed on seeing the halla, then all three jumped at something not shown, the adults both calling on their magic.
She knew of the spell, learning of it from one of her mother’s diaries. A Seer’s Window; but that could not be right. The spell was meant to only be able to peer into the caster’s own memories. These were clearly showing events as they were happening.
“So, who shall it be first?” Leviathan purred from her spot. “The friends and faithful you lead into danger? Perhaps those you abandoned in Ponyville? Or the family who raised you, guided you into becoming the noble mare who thinks nothing of challenging gods and demons? Or maybe the trickster?”
“What are you going on about?” Twilight demanded, turning her back on the windows with a stamp of her hoof that sent cascades of jewels and flotsam tumbling from the piles of junk.
“Why, within which mirror will somepony important to you die first, of course.” Before Twilight could react, Leviathan continued in her playfully threatening tone. “Here is the game; in each ponies dear to you are in mortal peril. You are free to go racing off to help any you so chose. Do so, however, and I will keep one of the things I have taken from you. Your stars, Pinkie, so on and so forth.” Leviathan waited long enough for the cold dread of her threat to mingle with a burning hatred in the pit of Twilight stomach. “For each that runs its course without your leaving, I will gladly return one of the things I took. Should you stay for them all, why, I’ll even apologize for my wicked ways and promise not to bother you, those you love, or any pony for that matter for… say… a century.
“So, is it a deal?”
Yeah I can understand why the hesitation. Not to thrilled with this at all.
First I knew that Celestia doing the Fostering was bad even before this. Seriously how did this version come to rule if she makes such stupid choices. The simple fact that Luna AND Cadance, both who at the time were not on the best of terms were in full agreement to not do something. THEN YOU SHOULD PAY ATTENTION. Now Luna has to pay some price. AGAIN for your mistakes. She should abdicate for she clearly can't rule.
So Levi. You had fallen in love with Faust but Irdia didn't like it and you ended up in Tartus. You have her back even idf she doesn't remember but you decide to steal from Twilight who has done you no wrong and threaten to keep Pinkie and her stars or watch those she cares about die. How about you grow up.
Not thrilled at all. First real major flag for this story.
6720643
So... you don't like dramatic irony, then? That's what your first complaint amounts to.
Your second one makes similarly little sense - from what we see here Leviathan is quite clearly intended to come off like that, and I suspect the next few chapters will introduce complexities into the dynamic. What appears to be the personification of envy acting selfishly is not surprising or bad storytelling.
I must say I quite liked this chapter, especially regarding the ancient magical stuff. Your descriptions of how they differed from what Twilight was used to were very well-executed.
As always a well written chapter. Thank you, I enjoy these stories.
Poor twilight, stuck making a deal with a demon.
gotta agree with Twilight the whole "it's not friendship it's love" thing Leviathan goes on about really is a terminology argument. of course Twilight loves her friends, friendship IS Love. Also in response to Admiral Q, yea Levi's response it's childish but it's fully understandable, Faust is the only friend she ever had, the only begin she ever loved, love isn't likely common among demons, they would respond to it like children would. That childishness is part of who Levi's character, and she's a DEMON, demonic deals are ALWAYS unfair especially when honest. Levi is acting like.. well like a demon, she acting like what she is.
Any... So your still using the frankly unnecessary Janus attacking the ship and crew from the initial take. I think Twilight needs to change the game... Not really sure exactly what Levi's motives are but she is clearly disturbed. No doubt all four situations will end up resolving themselves but I wonder if Twi could cheat and use stars as proxies. Though they are technically her as well...
Levi is in a position of strength with the magic only obeying her... Not sure how the deadlock breaks.
Awesome chapter! So Leviathan is a victim of sorts, but she's gone a bit batty over the eons. Shame, that. I almost hope she attains some manner of peace by the end of this arc... but then again, she is largely responsible for the deaths of quite a few ponies, and apparently delights in sick and twisted games with ponies lives. So maybe she doesn't deserve peace. I think the biggest thing that caught my eye though was Trixie. Is she actually a fallen star, or a descendant of one? If it's the former, does she remember what she is? It doesn't seem so from what I recall of her parts of the story. Honestly, my only problem with this story has ever been how long it takes for you to churn out chapters, because the wait is a killer!
6720794 the thing is. She does have Faust right there. It isn't like she's locked somewhere away. Yeah the memory is gone but you can make new ones and both being immortals have all eternity to do so.
6720697 Just annoying that i called it at the begining for being morally wrong and stupid considering how would Zeus and Hades react to what Celestia had done. Then turns out she's dying because of it and now Luna has to pay the price to save Tyr. All because Celestia had to be TRADITIONAL AND STUPID. It's the second thing that annoys me more since since the Fostering arc was clearly going to backfire.
Levi, YOU HAVE Faust. Heck played them right and no pony would have ever known.
6720815
Yes but again Levi is a DEMON, just cause she old doesn't mean she's matured or really understands friendship. And of course she's unfair, she's again A demon. Levi is the villain because is is immature and makes unfair deals. Levi is the bad guy not in spite of her flaws in thinking but because of them. She's not badly written she is written as someone who IS bad.
6720857 Demon sure, but this feels unnessecary. She's got her main reason to do this sleeping right there.Being bad for the sake of being bad is just uuugggghhh. Why do you think NMM or Chryssy are so liked by the fandom. They had real reasons to do that crap.
6720876
I disagree that Levi's reason isn't good is all, I agree it's childish and short sighted, but I don't think it's unreasonable, It feels more like that childishness and shortsightedness is a failing of her as a person. She's the bad guy because she has those failings, her plan is what it is because of her failings. Her motivation isn't as thought out or strategic as a villain like Chrysalis, she not a bad villain she's a different kind of villain, one who's plan is petty and shot sighted and only about their immediate emotional gratification. She's not evil for the sake of it but for petty emotional reasons.
6720914 this will be where you and I disagree.
This line:
inspired me to write this little story snippet:
In a voice like silk dipped in an adder’s venom, she asked, “Tell me, what do you possess that I should envy?”
"I have naught that you should envy, but much that you would. I have not a coin to my name, yet I have wealth more than could be spent in a thousand lifetimes. For I have the most precious of commodities; I have understanding; I have happiness; I have honor. These things you would envy, yet these things are useless in your possession. My understanding will not give you knowledge, my happiness will grant you no satisfaction, and my honor will bring you no respect. Each of these things is more valuable than all the treasures on the earth, but they are worthless to all but myself. To envy is folly, because that which can be given or taken is fleeting, and that which is truly valuable can only be found in the depths of one's own soul."
"Do not presume to tell me what is fleeting, mortal. I have lived countless eons to find that the only wealth that lasts is that which sparkles. I grow tired of this drivel, if you truly have nothing worthy of envy then you are wasting my time."
"It's true that all that lasts in this world are those treasures that glitter, yet this is because they are of so little value as to always be left behind as we make our journey into the next world. I am a beggar, yet it is not I who am the pauper here. For you I have no envy, only pity. Your store rooms are filled to bursting, yet your heart is barren."
If only I had more time, I could build that up into an entire story of it's own and add in more than just dialogue. Unfortunately, Leviathan and the beggar will have to wait for someone else to pull it out of the aether, or maybe me in the distant future. I really love this story of yours by the way, it's pretty awesome how you just took all those different conflicts and story lines and wove them together in just a couple lines, not to mention that line that could be a story all it's own.
Going to do a round of responses, though it may not be the best idea as I've had a rather stiff rum and juice tonight. I blame fuzzy brain for any ensuing oddity in my responses as a result! >.> ... <.< Thank you in advance everyone for taking the time to respond and even debate things. I just ask to please keep it civil as you have been doing.
6720643
On Celestia and Luna; That is part of the dynamic of the pairing. Luna gets the worst off for Celestia's mistakes. Not always, and some of Luna's have come to hit others harder than herself. As an aside, my brother made a comment some time ago to me while I was bouncing ideas off him that the regular ponies would be much better off without the gods. The gods mistakes have had a lot of destructive consequences for the mortal ponies, from the Long Winter, to the War of Sun and Moon, and a few civilizations have met their end through either carelessness or a wrathful alicorn. I just smiled, as these are Hellenistic inspired gods. Their triumphs are grander, as are their mistakes.
As for Levi and Faust... there is a lot more to the story than Leviathan gave, naturally. She is Envy personified, but is not a slave to envy either. Her depiction is a big part of my worries over this chapter. I needed to balance making her an /almost/ sympathetic villain, a counter to Twilight physically and mentally, while giving her actions more of a reason than simple 'I am a demon'. Never was I going to feel close to satisfied with the outcome.
6720697
Thanks for the compliment on the descriptions! I worried I was going to heavy on them. :3
6720753
Thanks! Makes me breath a little easier. :)
6720794
Personally, I see both sides in Twilight and Leviathan's positions. Both have their merits and come from differing ideas of what constitutes 'friendship'. To go to an example outside mlp; Kirk and Spock in the ending of Wrath of Khan. Twilight sees the purest expression of friendship, and yes, love. Leviathan sees it as having transcended mere friendship, and to apply the term is to degrade and sully the bond between them, and Spock's sacrifice. They are both right, from their own points of view. This is a case where I leave it up to the readers to decide who is right and wrong, as to me there isn't a proper answer. It depends on you. :)
6720803
The Janus aren't unneccessary, in my opinion. What they are is a little different compared to the original story, but that will be brought up in the next couple chapters.
While Twilight has her hooves full and is in a bad position, she isn't completely hemmed in either. Can't say much more for fear of giving things away.
6720804
Ah, Trixie... Wont say what is going on between her and Twilight, except that there are hints elsewhere in the various Myths side-stories. I'm almost certain you've seen them but might not have made note of them. I do see you comment a fair bit. Glad you still enjoy the stories, and I'm so sorry for the long wait. 6 months is unacceptable to me.
6720815
There are assumptions you are making with regards to Faust and Leviathan and their 'relationship'. It will come out how both sides see things, and the differences. You aren't wrong in that if Leviathan had done things differently than she could have had a friendship and relationship with Faust, but her flaws and nature squandered that.
As for the Fostering spell, there wouldn't be any drama if there wasn't complications. As for Tia being traditional and stupid, she was written true to her history and choices. She isn't meant to be perfect and always make the correct and proper choice. To do so would make her far less interesting in my opinion. It also goes against the Hellenistic inspired style of alicorns I use.
6720857
Yes and no. Leviathan is more complex than just 'She is a demon, therefore she is bad.' At the same time, she is the antagonist.
6720697 The thing here is the action is not representative of envy, no it is more representative of Cruelty, and anger. The envious reaction would be to have twilight trade, what she wants to Give Laviathin in return for the stars and Pinkie.
6720959 Still i think this is among the worse Celestia's that isn't a tyrant. She clearly hasn't learned from what happened between her and Luna with the whole Nightmare Moon thing.
You almost have her where I like her. Sometimes doing the wrong thing for the right reasons but here it feels a little too much. Again you have both Cadance and Luna who story wise have a massive rift with Cadance not really likely her mother much both saying the exact same thing you should really take notice, especially if it seems a growing trend that Celestia screws up and Luna has to pay the price. NO FREAKING WONDER NMM HAPPENED.
Levi you almost have it. If Faust was elsewhere and Levi can't reach her then you have it. As is i see no real reason she has done this to Twilight. Levi is the first major flag in this story which only really has one other flag so well done there. So i have to agree not the best chapter.
okay jsut read the second part of your response. i never expect Celestia perfect just wiser then she's acting in this.
Let's look at the fostering thing.
1:Tyr is from another world and culture and though has been hit hard they have a good clue that her family is looking for her and in there culture they don't do Fostering Hence I was waiting for it to blow up in her face when Zeus and Hades showed up. Really dumb move in one who should be very diplomatic savy.
2:Again the fact that Cadance and Luna are against her using it. if i had two people i know they don't like each both telling me the same thing I take notice of it.
3: Celestia does it for the sake of 'tradition'. There's no real reason for her to use it on Tyr other then the fact that it's always done on this world. Completely ignoring the fact that Tyr's world didn't and there was potential that her family would show up.
4: i get you want imperfect alicorns but it feels a bit too much here then add in that Luna has to pay for something she was against to begin with.
Thus why that's a minor flag because it's only a tad annoying.
6720928
fair enough
6721057 Note i have not quit this story in the least. these are just things I would have changed if i was the writers. Seen far worse, seen better. As of now this story only really has two flags against it. one minor, one major.
And again I find myself liking Leviathan rather than hating her... Even her deal with Twilight is pretty fair seeing as Twilight wouldn't even know about the others being in danger without being shown.
Actually, now that I think about it, this deal pretty much stacks things in Twilights favor. If she chooses, she can help others and the cost may not be anywhere near as bad as she thinks.
From what's been shown, I'm not certain anyone would actually be in danger if Leviathan kept them. Granted I'm not certain they'd be safe either.
... I think this may be the longest comment I've left on fimfic... Damn good story.
P.S. If I need to hide any of this under spoiler bars just let me know. I tried to be sort of vague but I probably failed miserably.
I kept excitedly giggling throughout this chapter. I seem to have very much liked it.
So... the fostering is corrupted now? I'm kind of confused about why that subplot even exists at this point. It's just adding more and more unlikely plot-(in)convenience with no payoff that I can see. 'It's totally safe and good in the long term but inconvenient for you' makes some sense to have there for tension, but just randomly corrupting the 'totally safe' procedure to make one side absolutely wrong is stupid.
"Oh yes by the way you can't even try to fight me because I have an invisible invincible spell that completely disables your magic without you noticing, even though you were walking through this whole place specifically looking at and interpreting all the magical effects in enough detail that I remarked on how long it was taking you." The heck?
...that said, I did really enjoy the chapter, and these are relatively minor things. I'm doing the thing where I only find the bad stuff worth talking about again, apparently. Sorry.
6721144
https://www.fimfiction.net/story/83082/velvet-sparkle-and-the-queen-in-stone
It's in the stars, Twilight. You cannot stop the the shipping. You cannot stop the Twixiening.
Leviathan is likeable, indeed. Her disorganized collection of things both unique and mundane made me think of Amethyst's room, in Steven Universe.
“I already told you; Pinkie and the others will be hurt if anypony else gets involved. Just talking to you could be too much."
Was there some part cut out where Twilight told them about Leviathan's threat? She said she already told them, but she hadn't, and Celestia and Luna make no reaction towards Pinkie being in such peril.
6720815
You know that two people that have a grudge with each other agree isn't some kind of miracle that means they "must" be right, or even that they're likely to right, yes? Luna and Cadance are not contrarians that disagree with one another on things of importance just because they're at odds with one another. That's not even counting the fact that Cadance wasn't even truly against it like Luna was; she was merely wary because of what she didn't know about the process and the normal consequences.
Celestia had zero way of knowing that the spell could become corrupted, that it could hurt Tyr, or that it could hurt Luna. Luna and Cadance didn't, either. If the results of a decision cannot be logically expected in any way from the decision itself, then you cannot blame the one who made the decision for said consequences. Let's say that I'm debating with a friend on what driving route is safer. I say he should take 100 Jackson Street, because there's less traffic and less risk of an accident, but he thinks he should take 100 Washington Street because it goes through a part of town that is considered safer. If he follows my decision, and then is killed because an earthquake collapses 100 Jackson while leaving 100 Washington intact, does that mean that I was wrong to give that advice? No, because there was absolutely no way that either of us could have predicted that, and the chances were just as good that 100 Washington could have killed him in an equally unforeseeable way.
"What would their parents think" isn't an unassailable argument either, given Tyr's accounts of just how callous several of the alicorn she knows are, and how Celestia and Luna don't know if they're looking for her, or even able to look for her. Parents do not always know or even want what is best for their children.
Both sides had their pros and cons; neither were objectively correct, and to put Celestia down like she ignored obvious signs that Tyr and Luna would be hurt like this is absolutely ridiculous. If you think Celestia did not have strong reasons of her own to do the fostering other than tradition, you need to reread that chapter again.
On the topic of Leviathan and Faust, we have no idea what their relationship is right now. Maybe Faust doesn't love her, and can't leave because of the enchantments, or maybe Faust is mind controlled, or maybe Faust is in a coma, or any number of other things.
6721872 My counter. What's happened to Tyr and Luna is just icing on the cake.
I point out the fact that even having both Luna and Cadance firmly agree on something should at least make her pause and think about what she plans to do. However she doesn't and goes right ahead. The intial issues I stated was that one Tyr would hate her and likely never forgive her for doing that. Celestia in essence commited a form of rape. Then add in Zeus and Hades. They have just lost a good portion of their families and are now searching for them. When they fine Tyr how do you think they will react to what has been done to her? note just the fostering, alone not the sickness she now has.
Celestia should no better then to do that to a foreign alicorn considering the political implications of doing it.
Fostering was a bad move at the start and has only gotten worse as the story progresses.
6721892
No, Luna and Cadance agreeing shouldn't raise a red flag in the least. There's absolutely zero indication that they rarely agree when it comes to decisions like this, and that's not even mentioning the fact that Cadance wasn't on Luna's side at all. Cadance was arguing for "I don't know much about the procedure; are you sure this is the right thing to do?", while Luna was arguing for "this is a bad idea". Cadance was on Celestia's side at the end, albeit half-heartedly.
If the fostering spell had gone the way it had every other time, Tyr would have had her cutie mark and grown up normally within a decade or two, instead of being forced to be a foal for unknown centuries, and she'd have a much greater appreciation for mortals. If anything, after the resentment wore, Tyr would be incredibly grateful to Celestia for doing it. Tyr is mentally a child, and does not have the full capability for long-term, goal-oriented thinking that adults do.
How would Celestia know that Zeus and Hades are going to find them any time soon, let alone that they're even looking for her? Celestia doesn't even know anything about them other than from stories Tyr tells her. For all she knows, Zeus and Hades's civilization is in an entirely different dimension, and it's impossible for them to get there. She doesn't know what they're doing, or if they'll ever show up, so she has to do what is best for Tyr in the now, and deal with Zeus and Hades if they show up. It's not like taking the other choice is really any safer; what happens if Tyr, a perpetually weak alicorn foal, has an accident or is killed, when fostering would have caused her to grow up and into her powers much quicker? I'm sure Zeus and Hades would be much angrier if she was dead than if she was temporarily turned into a normal pony for her own good.
6721908 Again two people that don't like each other thus don't hang out yet are basically coming to the same conclusion. Celestia should atleast pause in ther thinking, but she doesn't.
Tyr would would not be grateful. The difference between her, Twilight, and likely Cadance was that Twilight and Cadance were fostered as new borns. Trya has already lived over a century with her alicorn state. What Celestia did was essentually rape.
And the possiblity that Tyr's family is should have been considered. Heck the fact that she and two others showed up on their world points to the possibility of Tyr's family showing up at some point is big. So Again how do you think they would react to seeing Tyr Fostered?
6721892
What exactly do you want?
I ask because you've said all of this before, multiple times across multiple chapters, over and over again. We get it, we really do. You think Tia was wrong. Fine. I get that. But this... this has to stop. So, please, what do you want from us?
The Editor.
6721608
Really? Well, that's an annoying oversight on my part. Thanks for bringing it up.
6721942
The fact that they don't hang out with each other means absolutely nothing, since neither of them are petty enough to let their grudge affect important decisions. Them agreeing being something to take special note of implies that them agreeing is a special occasion, which has never been implied. And again, Cadance did not agree with Luna any more than she agreed with Celestia. Cadance was neutral and indecisive about both options. She only had an appearance of being against Celestia because the scene started with Celestia having the advantage, and Cadance wasn't sure what was best.
Have you seen how many times Tyr has bemoaned that she's been a child for over a century, and how much she wants her domain and full powers? If she was mature enough to understand the situation, she would be ecstatic about being practically guaranteed to be fully grown in a decade's time. Children such as her do not have the mental ability to make the best decisions for themselves, which means it falls to their guardians to make decisions for them. At that time, Celestia was her de facto guardian, and it was her responsibility to do what is best for Tyr. Rape is a ridiculously bad analogy, considering rape doesn't help the victim in any way. This is more like a parent making their child go in to have their cavities fixed even if said child doesn't want it because of short term pain. Do you think I hate my parents for forcing me to go in for eye surgery, even if I didn't want it at the time? Absolutely not.
Who says it wasn't considered? The fact that Tyr and the other two showed up points to the possibility being non-zero, not to the possibility of it being big. That's not even considering the fact that even if they showed up, it might not be for decades, long after the fostering spell would have ended. Plus, blindly obeying the wishes of their parents merely because they're her parents is a faulty argument. There's a reason why parents can have their children taken away from them in the real world.
I'm sure they'd react to a fully grown, adult Tyr in a much better way than if she had been killed or murdered because she was stuck as a foal for decades, especially as an alicorn foal that could be a target for assassination.
6720932
Your post is worthy of some Citizen Cane slow clapping. Very nice, and thank you. Very, very much.
Leviathan enjoys sadistic games and really needs to be put down a bit.
Twilight shouldn't give Leviathan satisfaction by playing it like the monster wants.
6721971 By the fact they likely not normally hang out with each other. The fact they find common ground on something again should at least take pause. I certainly would.
Tyr may bemona the fact but she made it clear that she doesn't like Celestia for doing that to her. And rape does apply, she was violated against her will and had something important taken from her. Add to the fact she has nearly DIED from it after surviving what happened to her family. Yeah I doubt she ever be grateful to the Fostering.
And you still haven't answered the question on how Zeus and Hades would feel about it when they find out.
6721961
In pure honestly I feel that Celestia wouldn't make this move. She's politically savy and should be more aware of not only the political issues that doing this would result but also the fact she should be more aware of consequences after Nightmare Moon.
I hope she never ever does this again.
The bigger issue is Levi. Her move makes no sense at all. She has what she desires with Faust. heck nopony even knew where Faust was and has been missing for a long time. She could have lived peacefully but instead she takes Pinkie and the Stars. For what reason? Twilight wasn't even born when all that happened. If Faust wasn't there then i find it more believable.
6722030
AGAIN, Cadance did not agree with Luna. And AGAIN, even if she did agree, all that means is that they view things differently than Celestia. That would have almost zero indication on whether Celestia is right or wrong, or whether Luna and Cadance were right or wrong, and does not require a "pause". Argumentum ad populum is a logical fallacy, you know. I could grab two people and ask them what 2+2 equals, and I would not be required to "pause" and reevaluate my thinking if both of them said three.
Yes, she doesn't like Celestia doing that to her because she's a child, and she doesn't understand that it would be better for her in the long run. Rape absolutely does not apply, because rape is not done to help the victim overall except in the most deluded of rapist's minds, and Celestia is far from deluded. I did not want to undergo eye surgery, and I hated when my parents did it to me for a while, but now that I'm an adult, I can say that it was the best decision, despite what I thought at the time. Because I was a child, I could not see that the long term benefits far outweighed the short term suffering. Tyr is the same; she can only see the negatives (her temporarily losing two of her magic types, and having to associate with mortals), and is ignoring the benefits (finding her talent and domain, growing up in a fraction of the time she would otherwise, and learning to appreciate the value of mortals) because she's immature. She might be angry at Celestia for it nearly killing her, but anger is not always a rational emotion, and that situation is not Celestia's fault any more than it's my fault for killing my friend in my hypothetical in my previous post.
How can I answer, when we don't have direct evidence of what they're like? Maybe they'd declare war, maybe they'd be ambivalent and would merely take her back, and maybe they'd be understanding and thankful for Celestia taking care of Tyr. However, I can confidently say that they would react a lot better than if Tyr had died directly due to Celestia picking the non-fostering approach, which is stated to be a real possibility.
As for Faust, Faust merely being there is not what Leviathian wants, so I don't know why you're saying that she has what she wants. Faust could be in a coma, she could hate Leviathan and is being imprisoned, or she could be mind controlled and not giving Leviathan true love. We have too few details on the situation to say anything definite about Leviathan's and Faust's current situation.
In addition, characters can have multiple desires. As a personification of envy, Leviathian naturally wants what others have that she does not, and even if she had her greatest desire, this does not mean that she doesn't have multitudes of other desires. Right now, she's messing with Twilight because one of these desires is to establish her superiority over the newest alicorn on the disc by humiliating and torturing her.
6722030
You can not pass judgement over a character's actions until such time as the whole of the story is complete. If, by the end of her involvement, you find that her actions don't make sense, then yes, we can discuss that. Until then, don't presume to know anything about a character's motivations or desires, especially a villain who was only just introduced.
Edit: And again, your objection has been noted and does not need constant repeating.
6722064 All three are princesses and all of the same rank. Cadance didn't think it was right, and Luna firmly believed it wasn't right so they are in agreement. Her peers are disagreeing with her thus should pause on what she is about to do. Heck the process itself is morally questionable. It may have good intent but the road to hell is paved with such things. Fostering violates and takes away the alicorn state from a pony. And this was done against Tyr's will. She will grow up in time since there are adult alicorns in her world.
Then we get to Zues and Hades. They come and find out that Tyr was fostered. Considering what they had just lost they are going to be protective of her and the fact she was forced into a procedure that wasn't medically nessecary and now has almost cost her her life i'd say they won't shrug it off.
REAL LIFE has proven doing this kind of thing is stupid and danergous. Justinia Pelter comes to mind.
6722096 you asked i answered. The rest is just debates.
6722064
Thank you for your support. However, all of this has been hashed and rehashed over multiple chapters with nothing new being presented on either side. With no way forward, I suggest that we all just let the issue drop, please.
6722106
In this story, Celestia has more legal authority than Luna and Cadance. Just because their ranks have the same names does not mean that they have the same authority or responsibility. No, Cadance thought that she felt that it wasn't right, but that it might be required for her well-being if the other option was worse. She was not on the same side as Luna, and she reluctantly acquiesced to Celestia by the end. That's not even mentioning that peers disagreeing with you is not any more a reason for her to pause than Celestia disagreeing is a reason for Luna to pause (which she isn't). The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but so is the road to heaven. Tyr does not have sovereignty over herself because she is a child, and is not mature enough to know what is good for her. Do you know what would happen if parents or foster parents never did anything that their children wouldn't like? They'd never get educations, they'd never eat healthy, they'd never brush their teeth, and they'd be dead or helpless in the world by adulthood. Young children, which Tyr is, both mentally and physically, are fundamentally incapable of making the correct decisions in terms of their future well-being. Yes, she can still grow up, but it would take many centuries of an existence that Tyr absolutely hates, and she's extremely vulnerable to being killed for every year that she's a child with minimal powers, especially in a foreign land. Her not being fostered could easily be the direct cause of her being killed.
Or maybe they'd be happy that Tyr was able to become a full-grown and competent alicorn in a fraction of the time that she would have under their care, and that she was still safe despite being missing so long. In comparison, if they came and found that Tyr had been killed because she had not been fostered, then I think they'd be pretty pissed. Both fostering and not fostering carried great risks towards Tyr's safety and the reactions of her parents if they eventually find her.
No, real life has proven the exact opposite. For every example of authority figures doing something well meaning to the child that overall hurt them, like in that story, there are thousands or millions of examples of them doing something well meaning to their child that greatly helps them despite what the child wanted. Every time a parent makes their child go to school, brush their teeth, eat their vegetables, go to bed on time, have medically helpful surgery, etc, they're doing exactly the same thing as Celestia did to Tyr, only on a smaller scale. Small children are, on the whole, incapable of making beneficial decisions for themselves like these, which means that their guardians have to make them for them despite the child's initial displeasure, and the same goes for Celestia and Tyr. By your logic, my parents should not have brought me into eye surgery, despite me being almost legally blind, because I was afraid of the pain, and I would technically have been able to live my whole life like that.
6722148 What proof was there that she would die if she wasn't Foster? I see none.
And not having the same legal authority? Kinda calls out Celestia as a liar since she said rule together.
Justina Pelter is a perfect case. AN institution thought they knew best and took her away from her parents and forced her into a treatment that made her condition worse not better.
At best Tyr is a refugee not orphaned. Her family is looking for her. This should be considered a possibility to Celestia.
How would you like it if your child was put into a treatment that radically changed them and was done so not only without your permission but also when there is no medical issue?
6722182
No proof that it would definitely happen to Tyr, but it's known that alicorns have died before because they weren't fostered, and spending centuries as a nearly powerless filly or colt makes you very vulnerable to death, especially in a country you don't understand. All it would take is a single lucky or skilled psychopath or accident, which is very likely over hundreds of years of vulnerability, especially if their alicorn-ness isn't disguised and they're even more of a target.
Ruling together is not the same thing as ruling equally, you know. The US Presidents rule American along with Congress, but they're certainly not equal to any individual Congressman in terms of legal authority.
Not only is that not the same as this situation, as Tyr's parents are not here demanding that Celestia give Tyr back, but that is one example of it turning out badly, as opposed to thousands of children being taken away from abusive parents because said parents don't have their child's best interests at heart, or are incapable of acting in their best interests.
Who says she didn't consider that possibility? There's no guarantee that it will ever happen, or even that it's even likely, so Celestia needs to plan for the eventuality that Tyr must live there forever.
Tyr being abnormally vulnerable to death for hundreds of years and being in a state where she's miserable for much of the time is an absolutely gigantic medical issue, as well a state that Tyr hates with a passion. If my child was living with a disease that made him or her much more vulnerable to being killed, much like how perpetual childhood does, then I sure as hell would give my child to the care of a hospital if they told me they had a likely cure.
I don't see why people are complaining about levi. There are more colors of people than there are colors. Levi is flat and selfish because envy is flat and selfish.
6722214 not quite powerless though. She won't get sick as an alicorn and she is just as vunerable in either form to other threats.
Actually seperate but equal is what the government was meant to be. Each having assigned roles and checks to each other. So the three should be on par with each other.
We don't know the details of that one death but as far as Tyr is concern Fostering was not nessecary. And yes under CERTAIN conditions a state can do that. But they have to be met. That are not met here at all. Tyr is a refugee and there are signs that her family may still be alive. Also Celestia is not legally her guardian. Cadance is. So she really has no real legality to do this.
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Alicorn foals are stated to be extremely vulnerable as compared to adult alicorns. Adult alicorns are implied to be able to take on foes that can destroy mountains, while a normal pony with a knife, or even without a weapon, could kill Tyr before the fostering. If she was fostered, she would start growing to adulthood in a couple years, as opposed to decades or centuries of vulnerability. Normal ponies have the advantage of being that vulnerable for a fixed, relatively short period of time, which Tyr has already surpassed more than five times over with no sign of her finding her domain.
Separate but equal applies to the branches, not the individuals within the branches. The individual positions have never been equal, nor have they ever been intended to be.
We know that someone snuck into wherever Namyra was residing, and said intruder is heavily implied to have murdered her. Tyr is little more safe than Namyra was. Celestia was her legal guardian by default because of the absence of her parents and the lack of evidence of when or if they will ever return, so it was her duty to do whatever is best for Tyr until her parents return (assuming they ever do). In that vein, Celestia chose to do an operation that makes Tyr much safer, and after a couple of years, much happier and much more well-adjusted, instead of condemning her to decades or years of being miserable and at risk as a near-perpetual filly. Cadance wasn't her guardian until she adopted her, which happened after the fostering. Until then, Tyr was a ward of the state, and thus Celestia was in charge of Tyr's affairs.
I just wanted to make sure that you know that I don't think that Celestia's decision to foster was 100% the correct decision to make, just that both fostering and not fostering were both reasonable decisions to make with the information they had at the time.
6722269 The princesses should be checks to each other it's as simple as that.
Fostering is morally grey at the onset. Tyr's situation goes right to the bad area because she is not all a standard case. She is royalty of another kingdom and while currently having refuge in Equestria she still is a forgien national. Then again the fact they her family is looking for her adds more into the situtation. Her kingdom does not practice Fostering and considering what happened to her kingdom her family would be overly protective of her. Then finally that fact that Fostering her has nearly led to her death anyway. So much went wrong here and Celestia should REALLY listen to her sister and niece.
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Take this somewhere else.
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I personally feel that fostering is solidly morally good, and it's only Tyr's situation as being a foreigner that makes it morally grey. Different opinions for different people.
6722560 That's my main issue that she is a foreigner.
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One of the editors of the story (Honeymead) already asked this of you once, but seeing as neither of you seem willing to listen I'll try.
Stop this argument. You are both stubborn as all hell, and neither of you will relent to the other, or even just agree to disagree. Admiral, you're trying to persuade Fwelin that what Celestia did was wrong with, quite frankly, very faulty argumentation and dubious claims. I don't mean to be rude, but you very obviously refuse to see any other point of view than your own, despite having been reminded of every single piece of evidence (that I can think of) that points towards your claims being unfounded.
Fwelin, while I'm partial to your side of the argument, you simply don't know when to stop. It was obvious from the first few comments that Admiral Q would not relent, and so you should be wise enough to simply stop at that point. There's no use continuing it if neither of you are willing to take the first step towards considering the other's opinion.
Really, you should both just stop. You get nothing out of arguing with each other except getting exasperated. It's a waste of energy.
For Tundara:
I must say, Envy/Levi is quite the interesting one. She claims not to be a villain, despite having done villainous things (trapping stars, kidnapping Pinkie, etc), and even then she also shows traits that are very much not villainous in nature. The whole dinner invitation and such. You said that you wanted to make her a not-quite sympathetic villain, and I'd say you've succeeded in that. I don't have sympathy for her, but I do understand her, which is something I find to be much more worthy of praise than simply striking a balance between character traits and actions. The best of villains are always the ones whose thought process you can follow, which is why villains like Heath Ledger's Joker and Bane from the Batman trilogy were so well liked. The audience understood them, how they thought, and why they did as they did. I feel as if you managed to lay out the cards of Levi's personality, what and who she is, and then used that to describe what she had done in a manner that made it easy to understand why.
It's hinted that Faust is in a coma or something of the like (the bit where Levi snapped her tail and Faust didn't even stir), and that Levi is most likely keeping her there in this coma/enchanted slumber. She's shown that she cares little for morals and ethics (letting the ponies outside of the palace die, when she could help), which points us towards the fact that she wouldn't lose any sleep over forcing Faust to stay with her, even if she were only asleep and, despite Levi's wishes, not the one who had loved her all those eons ago. And more... why would she do this? She mentioned how she would have given Twilight a point for trying (can't remember the exact words) if her answers to the question had been "Love" instead of friendship. What could Leviathan, someone who is the very concept of Envy, want more than anything? Why, the very thing she once had but no longer possesses, yet comes so easily to every other living being. Love.
All those little things, coming together to show us why Faust is there, in Levi's lair. And while it's only guesswork as to why she is actually there, I find it a legitimate enough guess that I'll wager it as being the truth
In short: I like Leviathan. She's not a sympathetic villain, but she's a good villain. Even if she claims not to be one
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Hey guys, while I appreciate a lively debate, lets leave it here. It's okay to have differing opinions.
If things heat back up, or grow uncivil, I'll have to break out the Mod-Hammer; Modjolnir. I really, really, really don't want to have to resort to such tactics.