The gnoll was quite reluctant to speak, more interested in cursing foully rather than giving any useful information. At least until Iliana stared into his eyes. "We need answers," she spoke quietly but sternly. "You will tell us what we need to know. By the gods above and the blood in my veins, I command you." She lowered her horn and touched it to him.
His scowl melted and he went slack, his resistance fading away. "Yes..."
"Good, tell us of your tribe, and the small ponies they have."
He seemed to try to muster that resistance, but it never rose above a stirring in his eyes. "They are scattered through the mines. There are many entrances. Most are working the new tunnels. T-tough, but unskilled. We teach... them how to mine better, decent workers."
"Why did you take them?" Iliana kept eye to eye as the others watched them. "Was it truly an attack of opportunity?"
"I..." His teeth clenched. "Orders come, we moved far and fast to make the attack. Very precise, very specific."
"Is this normal?" asked Iliana, a brow raising in doubt.
"No." He slumped.
"Do you know why?" Iliana rose upright. "Tell us, and you may yet be spared."
"I am a warrior, not a leader," replied the gnoll honestly. "I follow the orders. I do not make them."
"What entrance is least guarded and leads to the most short-legs?"
"Most small ponies deep in mines. All entrances same for that." He rose to his feet slowly, his bindings making it awkward. "I can show the entrance."
"Do so, then you will be set free," agreed Iliana. "Do gnolls accept members from other tribes?"
"Sometimes."
"Do you wish to join another tribe, or will you rejoin this one as soon as we free you?"
"I would rejoin my kin."
"Even if it resulted in your death?" Iliana raised a brow. "I am offering you a chance of life."
"Would you abandon your kin if it spared your life?"
Iliana recoiled. She had done just that, and having the gnoll of all things speak of it as if it were obvious made her guilt well up in a painful flare. She turned away. "Follow him to the entrance. Lead us."
The gnoll did lead them to a cave. Ixen marched up to him when it came into view. "Do I kill him now? He'll just run back home to tell them we're coming or turn against us the moment you stop using your magic."
Iliana shook her head. Her heart refused to order the gnoll's death. "You will fend for yourself outside these caves. If you see a gnoll, you will avoid them with all your skill and not speak to them."
"As you command." The gnoll left, fading into the underbrush.
Ixen made a soft click of annoyance. "Ah well, plenty of hyena-faces to butcher inside, let's get to work."
Morning shook her head. "It is a pleasure to serve under a lady with principles. How long will the gnoll obey that command?"
"We have plenty of time," assured Iliana. "By the time he breaks free of it, we'll be dead or gone back home. Either way, he will not be part of it. He's answered all of my questions."
Roll gave a nod as she approached the entrance of the cave, drawing her pick into her mouth as she spoke around it. "It is time to begin. There is no doubt this time. True's kin await deep in these mines, and we will rescue them."
True bobbed his head from Morning's back. "Thank you all, for helping us."
Sunset glanced off at the departed gnoll then took a deep breath. "Let's get this going."
And they did. The few guards they found near the entrance were no match for their combined power. Dragon's breath, bolts of ice and singing steel put them to violent rest as the group pushed onward.
"This is not my preferred way," spoke the voice between Twilight's ears. "That my blessing is causing death instead of new life makes my fur itch."
A cruel fit of laughter made them pause as a strange insectoid pony emerged from around the corner. "You should be ashamed."
Ixen moved towards the target, taking it as valid as any of the others. Fire washed over the long figure, but it emerged untouched. "This is for her, not you, dragon." It pointed at Twilight. "Your love has turned to death and violence. The gnolls here defend their homes, just as your little ponies tried to defend theirs. You say they were in the right, are these gnolls not?"
"They attacked first!" argued Lashtada, sounding angry and upset. "I don't hate them, I just want my children back."
The figure laughed at Twilight, who was caught in the middle. "And you'll see every hyena between them and you slain for it? I always knew your true colors, you pretty pink failure. Go on, lay out that bloody road, but none of your children are leaving these caves." She could clearly hear the silent Lashtada. "You're as predictable as you are wretched."
Roll swing her pick true and it caught the strange pony in the side, making them stagger back.
"Kill me, go on. You'll feel better."
Morning advanced alongside her metallic friend. "Your words are as empty as your heart." She brought down her blade, but a pink shield sprang up around the insectoid pony, protecting her.
"This isn't right," spoke Lashtada to Twilight. "She has done nothing but mock us. She wants us to kill her."
Ixen didn't hear, and likely wouldn't care as she fell on the insect, tearing through the pink barrier to start ripping her asunder. As life fled the one that barred their way, she faded with rolling laughter and her blood formed a rune on the ground that glowed with divine magic.
Iliana hissed as she frowned. "Sacrificial magic."
"The presence of the other god has faded, but their magic remains. I'm afraid their threat may yet be true," spoke Lashtada with increasing worry.
Iliana gestured forward with a hoof. "We have nowhere to go but forward. We will not be turned away."
They pressed deeper, slaughtering those that came to oppose them. Even spellcasters tried to slow them, but did little more than that. Their blood spilled to join the rest as they marched deeper and deeper, marked with cuts and blue lines from Twilight's healing, but ready to continue.
They faced more gnolls, but these had shaking arms and were armed with knives and brooms rather than actual weapons.
Ixen moved to charge them, but Morning put out a hoof. "Wait. Gnolls, who are you?"
Iliana nodded. "You do not appear to be warriors. Why are you here?"
"We're protecting our homes," said one female, her voice trembling as badly as she was. "And our children. You will not pass... while we are alive."
"I can't stand it!" spoke Lashtada. "Ask them for another way around. Don't kill mothers and children, please!"
Twilight shook her head quickly. "We want to get deeper, how do we get there? We're not after you, or your children."
The gnolls shared nervous looks as the 'leader' by dint of bravery stepped forward. "You're not here to kill us as you have our husbands?"
Iliana shook her head firmly. "Battle is an ugly thing. If we can go past without it, we would rather that. We have come to rescue others."
One barked out something in gnollish and charged at them, face twisted in fury.
"Stop," ordered Iliana, and the gnoll did, tears of rage and sorrow flowing from her eyes as she tried to step forward vainly and swung her cooking knife at them to no avail. "We will pass you without harm, which way do we go?"
"You killed her husband and sons," spat another. "She deserves to be angry." She pointed down a tunnel. "Go and don't come back."
True looked over Morning's back at the gnoll wives as they passed from sight. "I will be glad when this is over."
Sunset shook her head. "This whole thing is crazy, but they won't trade for them, not like the other tribe we met."
Illiana nodded towards Sunset. "And so violence wins this day... Sometimes I fear we live in a terrible world, but we do what we must to make it better." She quirked a smile. "Come, let us not forget that we are liberators, not raiders."
"The difference is narrow in this case," spoke Lashtada. "Please, fetch my children and we will leave."
They penetrated to where the mines were extending outwards and found the first short-leg, a pony dirty from all the mining. He blinked at the force come for him. "You're... here for me?"
True pointed at himself. "We're here for everyone. Come on!"
The short leg fell in behind the party, shell shocked but obedient.
Soon they had gathered up about twenty small souls, but for each they gathered together, the more the caves seem to close in around them. The way back became fogged and hopelessness descended on the party.
"What she said, it is coming true... If we gather all of my children, we will never leave. I fear even getting one out... Who is this god that hates me so?" Lashtada sighed out gently to Twilight. "We cannot continue as we are."
"We can't continue," agreed Iliana without hearing or knowing she was agreeing. "The sense of magic is only growing stronger, and my attempts to dispel it have been fruitless. We've been cursed powerfully."
Roll raised a hoof. "There is a way free."
Morning raised her ears. "What way is that, my clever mechanical partner?"
Roll pointed at Twilight and Sunset. "We send them with those two. That will bypass the caves." She turned to Twilight directly. "If you can do that, goddess."
"But... Then my children would not be here."
Twilight frowned a little. "Would you rather they be dead or captured?"
"No... I... I can send some of them, but not my entire tribe. I will use you two to set the harmony, then... I can send perhaps twelve with each of you."
Twilight looked to Iliana. "Lashtada says she can send about twelve with me and twelve with Sunset."
Several hooves went up among those they had rescued. They did not hurt for volunteers to stay behind, if it would protect their friends.
"No, me..." A short mare advanced. "It was me that told on my friends, I deserve to be left behind."
True blinked and hopped down, quickly closing with the mare that shrank back. Despite her flinch, he hugged her, tightly and fiercely. "I'm so glad you're alright."
She smiled a little. "You were right, from the start. You found allies when we wouldn't be them, and here you are." She pushed him back. "Go. I don't deserve you. I ho--"
He kissed her, mashing muzzles together. Both of their eyes closed. Despite any emotions or complexities, the kiss said more than their words could manage. He loved her, as a kin, and a living being, and he forgave her entirely.
With a few drops of moisture, she backed away. "Good luck." She fled away from the others. She would stay in those mines.
Poor True. I feel sorry for that unnamed mare, yes she did something bad but she should have tried to find repentance.
7394774 She found it.
Gotta love the hypocrisy attempt by "evil."
"I attacked you and you fought back! This means I have the moral high ground!"
That's not... how it works.
Although it's fueled by the "pacifism = the ultimate good" narrative lots of morally upstanding folk say, only to defend themselves with violence (as is natural) when violence is mete upon them.
So... next chapter they are going good to try to send the girls home? And we get to see if that's the end.
7394864 They murdered someone who ultimately did nothing but mock them. You can spin the gnolls easily enough, but the guy, a bit less so.
7394752
...I'm actually on True's side in this matter. I've been defending his actions and behavior as a product of how he was raised, and made sure to make note of the fact he is interested in a long term relationship with Twilight. His heart is in the right place, and he's willing to go at Twilight's pace, so I saw no issue with what I've said in his defence thus far.
7394871 It's not "spin" to say that the gnolls got what they deserved.
The heroes could have at least attempted to negotiate, or infiltrate, the mines rather than go for a kick-in-the-door style, but there's credible evidence to suggest that neither of those approaches would have worked. Beyond that, I agree with RadicalDisonesty that the portrayal of the gnolls as being victims of pony aggression is exceptionally hypocritical; a rescue mission has great moral virtue whereas a slave-gathering raid has none, and moreover the party isn't going out of its way to kill when they don't have to. (That instance with the doppelganger pony at the cave entrance was...suspiciously uncharacteristic. Roll is cold, but not that cold, to say nothing of Morning.)
Yes, war is ugly and leaves loss and hard feelings on both sides...but gem gnolls are creatures that are typically Chaotic Evil; I question how normative it would be for them to have stay-at-home mothers who are willing to die for their children. (Hell, the stereotypical D&D depiction of gnolls is that that of being cannibals and carrion-eaters; I'd expect the mothers to go and eat their dead offspring and mates rather than mourn them.)
That said, I'm rather surprised (in a good way) at the idea of sending Twilight and Sunset away with two dozen short-legs. So Lashtada is going to try and plane-shift them back, or at least to some other plane? Interesting way of avoiding a continuity issue...now there will still be short-legs, but not on Everglow. Of course, that means that we'll be leaving Roll, Morning, Ixen, and Iliana behind...but given that we know what Iliana does anyway, Ixen has little attachment to the party, and Roll and Morning have already made sure to talk about their future, this won't be too much of an unresolved plot thread.
Was the sacrificial drone at the entrance a mind driven living being, or homunculous, awakened or otherwise? No matter which is direct divine intervention, if not only overlooked through a technicality?
Having a reality distorting curse during aplane shift might make it safer to take the trip in a bag of holding, because at least it ends on a single given plane?
If the combat behaviour was so high quality during the raids, then why were they sent against the invaders in small groups but to kill them off quickly and easily and so get the cubs to learn to hate and be even more bloodthirsty and efficient? Vetinary would have a reasonable chance, seeing its Gods based, of calling for a mercy cull of all but the youngest, then giving the youngest to Angua to train.
Thats an awful lot of sacrifice feeding that spell. Every Gnoll fighting and dieing. Only way to go through cleanly wouldve been with Arachnids, to web and restrain quickly and definitely.
I was hoping for True Shot and Ixans Egg to be called Spike.
Gotta love armchair morality scenarios. I used to game a lot in the day and I have to say that this is really popular with those that have never had to face the reality of this kind of thing first hand. I guess sheltered, cushy, privileged, and entitled types enjoy fantasies of anguishing over these kind of things without the baggage that comes with having seen it.
7395124 It's always fun watching someone else show their low self-esteem by desperately trying to convince other people that they have some sort of special insight, especially when it's plain to see that they have none. Pitiable to be sure, but at least it's free entertainment for the rest of us.
7394864 Those who think Pacifism automatically equals good have never seen how that mindset affects Fallout New Vegas...
7394962 I've always seen gnolls depicted as being very loyal to their tribe, although they'd happily kill gnolls from other tribes (as well as anyone else ever). So having noncombatants wasn't too weird. Of course, even the noncombatants are evil and enjoy inflicting pain and suffering, they're just not as good at it.
Kobolds are the ones who barely acknowledge that they have lovers or children. They lay eggs everywhere and the eggs eventually hatch or not -- at least according to the monster manual entry. Actual kobolds depicted in fiction and the games I've played are usually chaotic neutral comic relief.
Murdering the changeling was bizarre. I mean, the dragon was the one that ultimately killed it, which you'd expect because the dragon is a bloodthirsty monster, but why did Roll attack? OTOH it was an avatar of Kara so it was already going to die no matter what by the end of the day.
7395249 I can see why you'd think that. More power to ya I suppose.
7395270 Trust me, everyone reading your comments can see why I think that.
7394871
To be fair, that was more a matter of a dragon killing someone who mocked her, which I believe most societies who live in the same area as dragons consider a form of suicide. Of course, the magic just cared about the messenger getting killed.
But yeah, driving gnolls to perform a slave raid on a peaceful, loving town, subject them to grueling labor on pain of death, and then try to call the rescuers hypocrites when only two of them even worship Lashtada? No. Just no. That kind of logic just doesn't fly, and I'm pretty sure the smarter half of the party could dissect it given the context and inclination, especially Sunser. She's probably tried to present a similar argument in the past.
Specious, self-serving arguments aside, this looks like a general success. Heck, there's a chance that the remaining short-legs might help the gnolls survive enough that the two species may form a more healthy relationship. It's so slim it's almost two-dimensional, but it's there, especially if the slavers want to follow through on that appeal to sympathy.
Evil begets evil, you don't get to kill and enslave others without recourse. If those gnolls cared about their husbands so damn much maybe they could have considered the families they destroyed in their greed. This is what violent solutions are for, the impenetrably self-righteous and the insane.
7395274 I typed what I typed because this is something that ticks me off and I said so. You saw someone attacking your boy, so you stepped up. I can see why you'd do it, I'd do it for my people too because it's the right thing to do. I get it. None of this makes either of us more right then the other, just two wrongs. This don't change my thoughts any, nor will mine yours.
7395303 Could you two go argue someplace else, please?
7395303 Yeah, no. What you wrote was a general a statement of condescension for anyone who has an opinion on a moral situation without meeting your personal criteria for doing so, as though your approval matters. What I wrote was pointing out why you deserve to be mocked for being so full of yourself (because you do).
7395310 I apologize for before; I let my frustration get the better of me.
7395360 Right... so "Fuck off, bitch" is not what you meant? We can use both of you as an example of typing before thinking. Can we stop now, please?
7395367 No, it was absolutely what I meant at the time - and I definitely thought about what I was writing before I posted it - but I regret it now, and I'm sorry.
7395367 Yes, sorry.
And there goes the stable time loop (sorta), meaning they can both rescue (some of) the short legs, and still be enough of them left for the two Princess Twilight and Co. find to descend from and also maintain the history of the short legs being wiped out. Now I wonder where they'll end up. Depending on who Lashtada uses for the spell, they could end up back at CHS...or Equestria, and see some of my previous comments for how the latter could be a tad complicated...
7395035 Ahem, I will not ruin it, but suffice to say the sacrifice of the insect was made before the ponies killed them, slaying the being that they did was likely meaningless in the grand scheme of things. If you wish to know what exactly was happening there, you would probably want to read Princess Luminace's Guide to the Pony Pantheon.
7395922 He is not a mind reader, or endowed with modern sensibilities. Unless firmly told 'No', he sees no reason not to press. Some people adore being chased romantically, some don't. How can he tell which this is? He can't, and what he knows is to keep asking until a crystal clear answer is given, which it was, and he accepted, even if it wasn't the one he wanted.
than giving any...information, at
await
Did they? This is the first mention of it.
badly
pony dirty
but for each
Come to think of it, there's another way to circumvent this curse. If they kill every living thing in the caves except the short legs, they can leave them to find their own way out, one by one. Probably not what Kara was trying to accomplish, but it's not like she'll miss her pawns anyway.
So the count it off. The knows butchered or enslaved everyone in the innocent village, forced them to work in the mines, starved and beat them if they refused, mutilated True for being annoying, ATE those too weak to work, and tried to kill anyone who came near the mines.
But because they fuck and have babies it is suddenly evil to kill them while trying to save the innocents they ENSLAVED AND TORTURED AND ATE. Yup, A+ morality.
7396317 I'm unsure what the ambiguity is here. They murdered the dude, who was not a gnoll, and didn't stop them, and wasn't armed, and didn't actually do anything. Stop thinking about the gnolls. They were just grist for the wheel.
The guy dared them to murder his face, and made it clear enough that it was a bad idea to do so. Ixen did so anyway.
The gnolls have nothing to do with this.
7395967 Fix'd!
7396397 The man who stands safely inside the cave of murderous slavers while surrounded by divine magic of the force that is clearly implied to be behind the enslavement and torment of innocents while deliberately provoking the people trying to save innocents lives and a goddess who shouldn't even be noticeable to normal eyes. Yep, totally an innocent that has nothing to do with anything. He was just out to get his groceries you see, totally not a servant of whatever force was orchestrating this. The assertion that people should never reach logical conclusions from the information in front of them isn't the same as the believe that one should keep in mind reasonable doubt.
If I stand directly INSIDE a group of violent pyschopaths that are in the middle of raping and beating someone and taunt you for trying to stop them then it is 100% reasonable to assume that I am 'with' them. I don't have to lift my hand to help them or hurt you. I have clearly chose to associate with monsters and by my own words I am aligning myself against you for the explicit reasons that you are trying to prevent suffering. A man that orders the deaths of innocents is a guilty as the one that pulls the trigger. He could not and would not be in their mine at the time of the rescue with full knowledge of both their actions and Lash's presence and have opinions on the futility of their cause if he was not directly involved with the matter and as such just a guilty as the gnolls who carried out the crimes.
Not carrying a weapon doesn't absolve one of evil, and choosing to work with those that perpetrate evil and mock those that try and help the good does in fact make you evil. They was no ambiguity or immorality in killing the servant of an evil force. The repeated attempts of 'trying not to become monsters like them' has faceplanted as hard as it possibly can the past few chapters, to the point of harming the overall quality of the story. The fact that the story starts with a goddess trying to mind control and rape Twilight and then everyone in story just rolling their eyes and go 'that Lashtada' was a red flag about bad understand of morals in the first place and having Ill just abandon other slaves to suffer only for a footnote in her thoughts a chapter later and respecting a gnoll that was part group of slavers and murders and who literally just tried to kill them just because he said he was loyal to his family, and now trying to make us feel like the heroes were wrong and bloodthristy for attacking the servant of an evil goddess and killing slavers. Everyone has families, they are still evil for enslaving others. Boo Hoo my murderous husband was killed for being a murder that makes you a monster. blah.
This ham handed preaching is three chapters in and three chapters too long.
7396317 There's no need to be obscene. That kind of language would only be appropriate in a story rated mature, so it's likely that some of the people willing to read this story are not looking to be exposed to that in the comments.
7396428 You also make the mistake of assuming the force involved actually gives a damn about morality on that scale. They are quite evil, and wove a terrible curse with a lot of death. That it wasn't death they had to cause was just a cherry on a very dark cake. You can preach at them all day long about morality, but it wouldn't... do much.
It did prove that her opponent is a moron. The person they murdered, no matter how deplorable and deserving, was a source of valuable information they'll never have.
The master behind that figure laughs wickedly as Lashtada wails at not knowing who hates her.
Go on, complain about her morality some more.
7396432 A story that contains slavery, mass murder, and having someone's throat cut out for talking back is targeted at an audience that would be corrupted by cursing? I would argue that this story is rated wrong if it is being marked as one for pre-teens and kids.
those they rescued - those they had rescued
*****
Feels like things may be wrapping up, I have to wonder now what the short legs will look like in the EQG universe...
7396444 I think what Inabit was talking about is that your heroes are behaving as if there is a moral dilemma when there is none. There have been sufficient strikes against the gnolls and their allies that a paladin could exterminate them without remorse and use his smite ability while he did it.
7396455 Fix'd! Do you know who their enemy is?
7396459 Who/what are you talking about? Who was specifically sad, besides Lashtada?
7396468 Iliana, mostly, but also Twilight and Morning on occasion
7396475 Quotes?
7396444 The problem of morality has nothing to do with the curse. It has to do with the Queen and Twilight angsting over the morality of killing slavers in order to save innocent lives. Twilight blathering about not judging all gnolls as evil because the first group they found only had two slaves instead of the dozens they were looking for and how going in guns blazing would make them monsters like the slavers. Or how Lash is excused from moral responsibility for charming and trying to impregnate Twilight without her consent because 'that just how she be' Or the Queen only mentioning that she feels bad about leaving slaves to suffer as an afterthought in her own mind.
The characters are having moral dilemmas where non should exist and no dilemmas when they certainly should. Even the curse feels like a contrived author punishment for the characters not following the proper pacifistic moral script. Its all so ham fisted and worst of all boring.
7396476 I'm not going to reread all three chapters, but it is there:
7396504 That's crazy talk Albedoequals1 those gnolls they were about to lay into only had two innocent sapient beings enslaved they totes are just misunderstood. The girls are right to feel bad about almost killing the slaver gnolls and freeing them. /s
7396464
I presume it's the other 'love' goddess that became more fashionable once Lashtada was forgotten and whose followers will in the future try to stop the half pony girl, whose name I have regretfully forgotten, from retrieving the book with Lashtada's teachings in it, if I'm remembering correctly. That particular goddess seems to be more of scorn and jealousy than actual love, as opposed to Lashtada who seems more fixated in the physical expression of love.
7396585 Love is a tool. One Lashtada wields crudely. Some just understand it better.
7396504
7396528
So... are you saying that because the gnols committed a crime/have slavery in their culture that they should all be butchered like cattle and Iliana, SciTwi, Sunset & cia should do it without a shred of remorse? They would have to be quite the sociopaths for that to fly. Killing is no small deal, PTSD is around since forever for a reason.
People have feelings. Yeah, the gnols are somewhat civilized monsters and their culture is abhorrent to their beliefs... as would be the Aztecs. You know, with the ripping hearts from their own citizens and other human sacrifices. Still, if a grieving widow fearful for not only her life but of their children reacts just like one of your people would it becomes a rather hard thing to ignore. Killing them is all fine and dandy while you believe them to be just monsters like any others... but when you discover that they are actually people, no matter if doing things you consider absurd, it becomes harder. They become a loyal soldier defending his home from invaders, a mother worried about their children, a child that will grow without a family because a bunch of genocidal killing machines decided that how you live your life is wrong and proceeded then to systematically exterminate your tribe. Because those are adventures.
Basically, morality is only black and white in the upper planes... actually, not even there. If Planescape teaches you anything is that sometimes angels and devils sit to negotiate things. Just because you do feel your cause is just it doesn't mean it's going to be easy or your hands won't get dirty.
Now, having said that all, they would be justified on the moral code of a "medieval" fantasy kingdom & dragon to slaughter them all. The gnols attacked their allies/protected ones/those they cared about, they should die for it. Now, on OURS? They should be arrested and judged. Most likely put behind bars for decades. Killed in cold blood? Never. And SciTwi (& Sunset) come from that second set.
Iliana is just too NG/LG. Not everyone needs to be bloodthirsty or like killing.
TL;DR - People and proper characters are not murderhobos, killing sapient beings is always a moral corundum.
7396841
It's not in cold blood. They are killing a superior number of armed enemies. You only put people on trial if they surrender.
7396841 Gnolls may have feelings but that doesn't make their action less harmful, less wrong, in fact it make them moreso because they have the ability for compassion and yet they still choose to inflict such suffering on others. Even with that though they don't deserve to be butchered just like the short legs don't deserve to be enslaved or Twi and Sunset don't deserve to be trapped in that world. What one deserves has little to do with what one gets, and they are all stuck in a flawed and altogether brutal world and they have to do what they can to live by what they believe is right.
Things like Justice are ultimately concepts we as civilized beings strive for but never truly attain. They are 'perfect' ideas that only truly work in 'perfect' worlds but we are flawed people with flawed understandings of them in flawed situations. We just have to do the best we can. Twilight and to a lesser extent Sunset haven't been truly exposed to that harsh truth and their coming to grips with it should have been the moral dilemma.
They don't have an army, they can't just arrest all the gnolls, they can't sing songs and hold hands and suddenly everyone loves everyone. What they can to is use their swords and spells and arrows to free what few innocents are left from those that would cruelly and willingly harm them. It is a burden upon one's soul to take another life but instead of everyone going along with Twilight's naive statements it should have been the harsh realization that they would have to either kill those in their way to save the short legs or leave them to suffer, stain their souls with blood for the sake of innocents or turn away from their cries for help. Instead Morning and Queeny whatserface became more naive and uncomprehending of the necessities of their task, instead of Twilight having to come to terms with her limited idealistic views of the world and the fact that things won't always turn out the way you want like its a game.
That is before Twilight and CO started murdering everyone gnoll in sight just after talking about how much they were embracing peace and compassion. The last three chapters have been a failed attempt at a moral quandary, and the fact that it was just slightly off the mark from what is actually a good point is what makes it all the more annoying.
7396608
I'm curious now. It would be interesting to learn a little about the Pony Lashtada was before she ascended and how she ascended, for that matter.
7397322 She is the child of the Moon Princess and another god.