Chapter Sixteen
Discoveries
In which plans are created,
discoveries of a scientific nature are made,
and some incidents of great significance
to the future of Equestria are uncovered.
July 9th, 1012 - July 12th, 1012
Equestria
Since Chrysalis's new hive was a matter of public record, no matter how well it had been buried in obfuscating bureaucracy, I saw no reason to pretend I didn't know about it. So, as an opening salvo, I wrote to her and asked for a little of her time to discuss the matter.[1]
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[1] Celestia, according to her nature, was working on the situation from behind the scenes. Luna had enthusiastically volunteered her services if things came to outright warfare.
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I had expected Chrysalis to offer any number of excuses and to try to dodge me at any cost. So, it was to my great surprise that I received a reply from her the very next day.
Dearest Princess Twilight Sparkle,
How very good to hear from you! I understand that you have been adventuring abroad, and I am certain that you must have many fascinating stories to relate concerning your trip.
I would dearly love to see you, but I am afraid I am not in Canterlot at the moment and will be absent from the capital for the remainder of the month. Nevertheless, if you are not too exhausted from traveling the world and can muster the strength to make another, much shorter journey, I would be delighted if you would accept my invitation to visit the Blueblood country estate. It is quite pleasant at this time of year and would only be enhanced by your presence.
I understand if you are not able to accept. You must have so many important matters to attend to that a visit to an old friend cannot take precedence. If you are unable to come, I will make it my first priority to contact you when the prince and I return from the country.
Sincerely Yours,
Queen Chrysalis
"It's a trap," Rainbow Dash said, reading over my shoulder.
From over my other shoulder, Rarity said, "I'm inclined to agree, Twilight. She's being far too polite!"
"She didn't write this letter," I said. "She undoubtedly has a secretary who fixes up her correspondence for her. Like what Periwinkle does for me."
"So… not a trap?" Dash sounded disappointed.
I shook my head. "The original was probably something like, 'I'm on vacation, Sparkle. If you want to blather, you can come to me.'"
"Yeah." Dash grinned. "That totally sounds like her!"
= = =
While letters went back and forth between Chrysalis and I, arranging the particulars of my visit, I spent more time with Luna and caught up with my Canterlot friends.
Most importantly, I arranged an intensive research party with Moon Dancer and Starlight Glimmer.
It was great to hit the books with a couple of congenial companions, but I've got to say, the expression on Starlight's face when I described the design structure involved in the Alicorn Amulet and the Talisman of Night was just a teeny bit unnerving. She's a wonderful pony and a good friend now, but she has tendencies.
"There isn't much known about crystal dynamics on the scale you're talking about, Twilight," said Moon Dancer. "There might be some more information in the Imperial Crystal Library."
"I think there's a scroll in the Starswirl wing of the Canterlot Archives that mentions something about resonant crystal engineering," Starlight Glimmer said. "I remember skimming it when I… uhm…"
When she snuck in to steal the time spells. At least she had the good grace to look embarrassed.
"Let's take a look at it," I said.
None of us slept that night, and by the time we staggered out of the Archive building in the late morning, we'd filled an entire scroll case with notes and drawings of several prototype devices that had nothing to do with the original thrust of my research. That's the way science goes sometimes.
But one of Moon Dancer's ideas did have direct bearing on what I was working toward. In fact, it was the key to what I had been thinking about ever since that horrible day onboard Nebula. She'd worked out a way to vary the amplitude of the power transmission between crystal nodes independent of the level of input. It didn't seem like a big deal until Starlight Glimmer pointed out that such a device could transmit information along with the power.
"Like a magical semaphore," I said, tapping my chin with a hoof. "How fine and how fast can the variations be?"
As it turned out, the only practical limit would be the ability of the artificer who created the paired crystals.
"Nopony could read a signal that fast," Starlight said, pointing to her calculation on a scrap of paper.
"But they don't have to!" Moon Dancer put in. "We could use the crystal vibration to vary a second power source connected to a speaker! We could transmit speech or music without using wires!"
"Hmn… the crystals would take an awful lot of magical power and skill to create. It's a neat trick, but hardly cost-effective," Starlight replied.
"Unless we could make it work over a very long distance," I said, fervently hoping that we could.
That triggered another round of furious calculating. When we all double-checked each other's math, there was a long moment of stunned silence, and wild hope surged in my heart. I remained silent while Moon and Starlight began excitedly discussing the possibilities of our discovery.
"We should call the device a rapid amplitude-deviation interpretive oscillator!" Moon Dancer said.
"That's a mouthful," Starlight replied. "Maybe something shorter?"
They kept it up as we made our way to Donut Joe's. They rambled on through coffee and doughnuts. They made plans to get together again after noodling around with the ideas independently for a while, and I grunted my assent. Before we parted, Moon Dancer asked me if this was what I'd had in mind when I'd come to them with my request for research assistance.
"Something like it, yes," I said, smiling back at her. "But we've done so much more than I expected… thanks to you both."
We shared a hug and went our separate ways. My mind was still racing as I plodded up the High Street toward the palace. With modifications and the addition of certain adaptive structures, the device could be made to carry matrix information as well as linear. It would take incredible levels of power. It would take a base structure so huge that it boggled the imagination.
But it could be done, I was certain of it.
Tirek's evil spell could be mechanized, automated, and turned to the service of good.
= = =
It was a bit of a shock to meet Sesseressia at the gates to the Blueblood country estate.
"I'm head of Her Majesty's personal security detail, now," the ex-changeling general told me, as she ushered me into the foyer of the mansion.
"Well, I'm sure that was an easy decision to make. Is Jigsaw still at the University?" It was as close as I wanted to come to asking if they were still together.
"Oh, yes. On the tenure track. I'm very proud of her. If you'll please wait here, Your Highness, I'll inform Her Majesty that you've arrived."
I thought she had put particular emphasis on the titles. A not-so subtle way of indicating how she thought the two of us ranked relative to each other?[2] Maybe I was just being over-sensitive. Still… having the "muscle" meet a visitor instead of a steward or butler was a breach of etiquette, and was not something usually done by mistake.
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[2] Chrysalis was still technically "Queen-in-Exile." Though, with the new hive, the qualifying "in-Exile" might justifiably be dropped.
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The foyer was gilded to within an inch of its life, and appallingly expensive paintings and knick-knacks occupied every available space that wasn't taken up with displays of the Blueblood coat-of-arms. That message was very clear, and one I was used to seeing in the homes of most of the old noble clans: "We are an ancient, wealthy, and powerful family… don't forget it for a second."
"Princess! It's so good to see you!"
I turned… and was completely stunned. Fortunately, my mouth worked pretty well on its own. "Your Majesty! You're looking well."[3]
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[3] No courteous fib, that. She was looking amazing. She'd taken on the form of a gorgeous slate-gray alicorn with an emerald mane and tail. Her cutie mark was a convoluted symbol in black that somehow invited association with the changeling race.
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"Yes, I am, aren't I?" She smiled at me. "But please, there's no need for formality here! You must call me Chrysalis."
I was completely off balance. She was being so nice. Maybe the letter hadn't been written by her secretary after all. Her manners were practiced and perfect. "And you must call me Twilight, of course."
"That's so kind of you!"
"Not at all."
Oh, ponyfeathers. My cheeks were beginning to hurt from keeping my smile from becoming a rictus.
Chrysalis' grin was just a bit lop-sided. I assumed that was because she was taking some sort of perverse pleasure out of all the forced niceties. She was a creature that thrived by deception, after all.
"Won't you come and have some refreshment on the terrace? Our chef makes a wonderful saffron-infused lemonade, and there are some splendid tea cakes."
"Aaaagh! I can't stand it any more! What the hay has gotten into you?"
Chrysalis threw back her head and laughed. "Point to me, Twilight! I've out-Canterlotted the nicest princess in the land."
That was more like it.
"I was beginning to suspect that some evil creature had kidnapped you and taken your place," I said.
She took a second to parse what I'd said, and then laughed again, longer and louder. "Ah! Much, much better, Twilight. Believe it or not, I miss having a little snark aimed in my direction from time to time. I'm so respectable nowadays that ponies are unfailingly polite to me."
"Any time," I muttered.
We walked the grounds and gardens as we made small-talk. I duly admired the statuary, fountains, and topiary, and we ended up on a spacious terrace overlooking an artfully channeled trout stream. Blueblood's little country place was bigger than most townships and must have taken a fortune to maintain.
Chrysalis hadn't been joking about the lemonade. As weird as it sounded, a bit of saffron in the drink gave it an intriguing flavor. Knowing Blueblood, I supposed that the fact that saffron was hideously expensive played a big part in developing the recipe.
"So you haven't become a pirate, then?" she asked when I finished relating a condensed and heavily edited version of my trip to Zebrica.
"What? No! How did you even hear about that?" I hurriedly shuffled my wings back into place at my sides.
"It's the hottest gossip in town, Twilight. The mysterious Captain Blackmane, who nopony's ever heard of before, and who seemed to have disappeared as soon as she sold her cargo? A delicious mystery! Accused of piracy and murder, but saved by the unprecedented intervention of Princess Luna. Why, it must be a conspiracy at the highest levels of government!" Her pony form had a sweet, honest, and open smile that completely hid the fact that she was thoroughly enjoying twisting the metaphorical knife.
"That's all nonsense!" I protested half-heartedly, recalling the look on that poor pony's face as I…
Chrysalis let her over-done grin drop. "Yes, of course it is. But the nobility are so unbelievably bored by their ridiculous lives that they'll fasten on anything at all to enliven them."
"But you know it's all a mistake." Mistake, yes, but not completely false, I reminded myself.
"True, but enlightening the twittering class would mean breaking my confidence with you, and I'd never do that!" She tossed her head, looked out over the stream, and took a sip of her lemonade. "Besides, knowledge is power, and I am loath to relinquish any of either. Marechiavelli advised as much in The Princess. She put quite an emphasis on the necessity of good information. 'The more unlikely it is, the more highly it should be prized.'"
"That book isn't in general circulation. In fact, it's almost impossible to find a copy." Was that a little twinge of jealousy I felt?
"Well worth the effort and cost, though. Very insightful. I can see why Celestia might want to suppress it. I'll loan you my copy, if you'd like."
"Thank you, but I've already read it."
"I imagine that was some time ago," she said, casually refilling our glasses. "If I were you, I'd consider going through it again. With more experience under your hooves now, you might get more out of it."
Rarity wasn't the only pony that was getting fencing lessons. Why was Chrysalis telling me all that? She was as much as admitting to me that she was up to something. I tried to keep my ears from pinning back and only partially succeeded. "I'll bet it's full of handy tips on how to undermine an enemy while appearing to work within the law."
Chrysalis laughed, and demurely covered her mouth with a hoof. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but you're terrible at this! And you've completely got the wrong idea."
"Have I?"[4]
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[4] Yes, I can recognize a desperately defensive conversational gambit when I blurt one out, thank you.
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"Of course!" she said, waving a hoof in airy dismissal. "I'm not trying to hide another invasion swarm. If that was my plan, there are far more secure locations to create a hive. I am doing what I can to unite the changelings and ponies in peace and harmony."
"Yeah, right." By then my ears were fully flattened and I was trying not to snarl at her.
Her smile got even wider. "Will you take my oath on it?" Her horn began to glow.
It was horrible manners to insist on such a thing, but with the security of Equestria at stake? "Yes, if you don't mind."
We wove our magic together and she said, "I give you my oath that my new hive was created as the first step of my plan to unite the changelings and ponies into a common society, coexisting in peace and harmony."
I lifted my horn from hers and the magical bond flickered out. She was actually telling the truth.
"Oh, the expression on your face, Twilight!" Chrysalis laughed.
"But… but… how… no, why?"
"Would you believe it's selfless generosity on my part?" She actually batted her eyelashes at me! Before I could begin to find a way to express my outrage, her normal, predatory grin reappeared. "No, of course you wouldn't. Whatever else you are, Twilight Sparkle, you aren't a complete fool. My motive is selfish. When my subjects are an integral part of pony life, I will be one of the de facto rulers of Equestria. It's as simple as that. As I said, I'm quite fond of power."
"Wait," I said, trying to get my mental hooves under myself. "You mean this is a plot to take over Equestria?"
"A small part of it, at least. I tried a more ambitious plan, but that didn't work out... thanks to a certain meddling little unicorn." At least she was smiling when she said it. "But now, I've discovered that many ponies are willing to take the very thing I tried to force on them. More lemonade?"
"It… it won't work! Ponies won't… won't…" I trailed off. I had started speaking from pure emotion and had nowhere to go with my thoughts.
"Ponies have, Twilight," Chrysalis said, calmly refilling my glass. "Many highly placed and important ponies in Canterlot have made use of the services my subjects provide, and have even come to depend on them. It is quite an equitable situation, sustainable and satisfactory to everyone involved."
"That's disgusting!"
"Oh, you think I mean the sort of shape-changing games that you and Luna get up to? Well, that's a part of it, yes," she said, casually selecting a tea cake from a golden platter and deliberately not noticing my growing anger. "But a surprising number of ponies just want to have somepony to talk to… somepony they aren't able to, ordinarily. Love frustrated or lost can be a powerful motivation."
I stood up, barely able to keep from shouting. "Maybe a few of the jaded Canterlot nobles have fallen for your tricks, but most good, honest ponies will never—"
"Like the ones in the Smokey Mountains?" Chrysalis gave up the pretense of politeness and sneered. "The salt-of-the-earth ponies who seem to be not much more than a life-support system for crooked teeth and five-pound eyebrows? They know my drones are there. Who do you think helped to dig out the caves? When a pony has a choice between a cousin who's so stupid he has a bag of hammers for a cutie mark or a handsome, witty, and attentive stallion, who do you think will come out on top? The more ponies come to associate with changelings, the more normal it will seem. It will be a very slow process, but I have time, and I've learned to be patient."
"Celestia will put a stop to this!" Wait! Don't say that, my brain told me just after my mouth had blurted it out.
Chrysalis shrugged. "Perhaps, but I don't think so. What harm is there in what I am doing? Not one pony who has entered into a relationship with one of my drones will say that they are unhappy with the arrangement. Ask them yourself if you don't believe me. What was the phrase the minister used? Ah, yes! 'A symbiotic relationship.' I'm sure you know what that means. The nobles and ministers who understand how valuable my subjects can be will be opposed to Celestia making peremptory use of royal fiat, and my new family has considerable influence and wealth to fight against any such misuse of power."
"Your new family? You don't…"
"Oh, didn't I tell you? The prince and I will be married at Midwinter. The ceremony will be held in the great hall of Canterlot Castle, as is the custom for royal weddings. You are, of course, invited."
= = =
"It was a trap," I said to Rainbow Dash when she swooped down to fly alongside me as I approached Ponyville.
"Huh?"
"I don't understand it, either," said Spike from his perch on my back. "It all seems weird and icky to me."
"Not a bad summation," I muttered.
"What happened?" Dash demanded.
"Let's wait until all the girls can join us. Then I'll only have to go over it once. Can you round them up and have them all meet at the castle this afternoon?"
"Sure thing, Twi!" Dash flipped herself over into a power dive and then did a snap turn and zoomed toward Sweet Apple Acres.
I continued on at a more sane speed, and touched down on the little balcony outside of my bedroom in the castle.
"It's good to be home," Spike said, hopping off my back.
I felt the same way until I entered the throne room and got the shock of my life.
"Hey, Twilight, what's wrong?" asked Spike when I came to an abrupt halt. He was standing behind me and I blocked his view.
I reached out with my magic to try and sense the flow of energy within the castle, and found… nothing. "The thrones, Spike," I choked out. "Look at the thrones."
He walked around me and glanced at the slabs of inert crystal. "What? I don't see any… oh! What happened to the cutie marks?"
"They're gone, Spike. They're gone because the Tree of Harmony knows. It knows, and it's decided I'm not a good pony anymore. I…" I choked on a sob and tears burned in my eyes. Spike didn't understand. How could he? But he could see how upset I was and rushed to hug me.
"I've failed, Spike," I sobbed. "I've failed!"
= = =
=
Yeah, when talking about a spice that's worth more than gold per ounce, I'd say 'palatable' isn't worth it.
Point to Chrysalis, indeed.
Hm. What is going on with the thrones?
i wuv ou.
Horse puns and Italian political philosophers are my weakness, it seems.
Got the name wrong there.
I stand by my statements that the entity behind the magical table cannot and should not be trusted, because it is either an automated computer system - or a judgemental, lazy, cowardly sentient/sapient entity that can't be bothered to get off it's own arse, but is perfectly happy to cast judegement on other for doing things it CLEARLY could step in to prevent, but can't be arsed (or worse, considers itself above). Harmony is a [RICHARD].
(Just like the Force.)
Have I mentioned how much I really loathe that sort of thing?
(Starlight Glimmer's inclusion made me wince as well. I really did not like that last five minutes of the finale.)
QQ i wuv dis.
Thank you for the report. :3
Oh wow, so the elements are out as a solution to problems then? What does that make Twi the princess "of" then?
Dun dun duuuuuuuun! Twi isn't a good pony?! Well, guess it's okay if she wants to brainwash other ponies now. Whoooh!
In today's chapter: Magical unicorns accidentally invent the radio, Chrysalis keeps being Chrysalis, and Twilight breaks even more things.
Tune in next time for explosions.
6863770 You mean the thing that HAS to sit on its roots because if it didn't and eldritch magical forest that NEEDS a harmony god sitting on it to keep it still would spread across equestria?
Who would probabluy not annex all the cutie marks if only twilight was fucking up. Or test her to prove she can pull herself out of this hole?
Yeah this direction i find hard to swallow. Like swallowing a watermelon hard.
By our powers combined, we are the reformed Unicorn Villains!
I like how OP uses footnotes just like Twilight does...
Twilight's freakout over Chrysalis genuinely doing the right thing (albeit for the wrong reasons) is amazing.
I'd be sooorta willing to believe Twilight personally might have been deemed unworthy for lashing out at serial murderers, but the other Elements seem to still be as much paragons as anything. Honestly, I'm more worried something happened to whatever power is behind the castle.
Now, if this takes place after the zebra mission and Twilight sucking up a Nightmare artifact, something probably broke really badly. But IIRC the spice run was just a test run or something, wasn't it?
6864883
Perhaps some sort of acronym would be a good idea?
At least we know who the villain will be now, Starlight Glimmer. It's only a matter of time until a relapse and she will be knee deep in a world altering experiment when she does.
6864909
Sorry, sorrry, sorry, sorry...........I am so drunk rught now...
*Sigh* Yes, she said she was going to peacefully unite the 2 kingdoms. Did she say who she thought would be ruling the new kingdom?
And then Twilielmo Sparconi invented radio.
6865174 Technically, that's an initial-ism not an acronym, since it doesn't exclusively use the first letter of each word.
Still, I for one welcome this new RUDE-DERPILLATOR technology.
WOW! Did NOT see that coming!
I, madam, I made radio. So I dared. Am I mad? Am I?
6865384
Certainly not worth it, at least with actual Saffron. I mean, 10USD per gram of Saffron at best really doesn't allow much use...
I'm tempted to say good riddance, as being forced to follow orders blindly punches my buttons, but...
That line give me doubts about Twilight's moral compass.
6867473
A pinch is often a pretty good approximation for a gram, and there are RL drinks that cost much more than 10 dollars. I don't see a problem with it if you're the equivalent to a billionaire, as Blueblood seems to be in this story.
Really? I find it difficult to believe that the Tree is interested in mortal concepts like 'good'. However, I do believe that it is possible that all the magical merging back and forth may have rendered it unable to recognise Twilight anymore. Maybe, what she needs is to rediscover herself and her true nature rather than all the roles and attitudes she seems to have acquired from other ponies with better or worse agendas for manipulating her mind and soul.
6868574
These are perfectly reasonable reactions at this point in the story.
6868600
This is from Twilight's POV, so her immediate gut-reaction shouldn't be taken as a valid assessment of what's going on. And yeah... that last bit? That.
Unfortunately not my favourite chapter so far, too much politics and starlight glimmer...
The overwhelming question is "Is this what's really happened?" and the fact that we're the ones asking this, instead of Twilight, is a big clue. Twilight didn't come out with "I don't understand!", or "This can't be happening", or "This isn't fair!" - you know, the stages of dealing with loss: denial/anger/bargaining - she skipped straight to acceptance.
Why this might be so is interesting. I think she's been expecting something like this ever since she heard from Celestia that it could happen. The other reason we're asking this is because we, as the viewers, know somethings that Twilight doesn't.
1 - This is not the first time the cutie marks have vanished from the chairs. In Season 5, when Discord is trying to drive a wedge between Twilight and her friends over the 'you had to be there' situation, Discord changes the marks to crowns (although the implication is that he would be king). Nobody noticed at the time. This is also not the first time Discord's been showing messing with Harmony - the whole reason the elements had to be returned to the tree in the first place was because of Discord's meddling just before the two sisters had to petrify him. Finally, it took Discord pointing out all Rainbow Connection's in season 4 to get the castle to appear in the first place (kinda). So, for all he's supposed to be the spirit of chaos, Discord has a much greater connection or understanding of Harmony than he's letting on.
2 - ALL the marks have disappeared. That would mean that, in theory, the rest of the girls have fallen from grace as well. We haven't seen anything that the rest of the group might have done - or have we? [1]
3 - The castle and the map still exist. That means that whatever is driving the elements still believes in the group.
4 - Since we know that Celestia and Luna created the elements using an engine, and Twilight just visited an engine, I'm going to speculate that Twilight's actions with the world engine - and the requirement for her to have Alicorn boosted friends - 'did something' to try to 'fix' the world, so that it's idea of good and bad better line's up with Twilight's ideas [2].
5 - Celestia is the one who told 'us' that she can't use the elements anymore, thus giving Twilight the idea that it was possible to lose them. We don't know if that's also true for Luna, and we also don't know if Celestia lied. [3]
6 - The element of magic only appears when the other five are present. If one of the other girls has legitimately fallen, it might have cost Twilight her element. However, we haven't seen anything like that I could think of, so I'm kind of ruling this option out.
[1] - I'd expected Twilight to fall from grace due to something she's doing in Future Twilight's world (the one where she's rapidly working her way to exile on the Moon-or-Sun), so I was surprised to see it happen now, despite the previous chapters "when I first found myself...unworthy" comment. The incident people are focusing on as 'the reason' would be her petrification and execution of the pirates. Some people have spoken in defence of Twilight - however justified, we have to remember that Harmony never benefits from killing. Princess of Friendship. We can simply use the yardstick of "What would have happened if this was a real episode?" to work out the path of Harmony.
So, what do? Pirates have boarded the ship, and the friendly and kind gentlecolt is bleeding out on the ground.
This should have been a Rainbow Power moment. Twilight used Rainbow Power to help her changeling friend waaaay back in the Celestia Code, and she should have turned to it this time, as she had all the girls there, and the only thing to lose was their cover.
Even failing this, and being unable to save the mortally wounded pony, Twilight's decision to kill/petrify the rest, isn't something you'd ever see on the show. In-show Twilight would have placed them under arrest and/or lectured them. Then they'd face trial in Canterlot off camera, Harmony would be preserved, and justice would be served.
While Twilight was the one who lead this action, the rest of the group were present, and didn't object or give another plan. Element of Kindness, Fluttershy, especially should have spoken up.
Recall the alternate names for the elements. Charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and leadership. These did not motivate Twilight when she acted - she was motivated by anger, pain, revenge, and an overwhelming need to solve the problem. This was not the way of Harmony, even though she may have been perfectly justified within Equestria's legal view.
If Twilight's fallen from grace, this is what I hope it would be because of. Other actions - absorbing Nightmare Moon, her actions under accidental dark magic - were not intended.
Or it could be something completely oblique, such as her relationship with Princess Luna. Perhaps Harmony does not approve of this relationship [2].
[2] - Fixing the world engine.
Check out that line of text underneath the story title, "Twilight sets out to learn more of the ways of the world, and soon decides that the whole planet is disorganized, insanely dangerous, and desperately needs to be fixed. And she's just the mare to do it... with a little help from her friends." Fascinating.
We've learned from Celestia that she made the elements with Luna (if I recall correctly) using an engine, almost certainly the one that Twilight has been fiddling with recently. We don't have a motivation yet for Twilight to have been messing around with this, especially when she's apparently trying to keep it a secret from, or in opposition to, Celestia.
If Twilight is messing with the world engine, which she is, then that means there's something that she perceives is wrong with the world, and she wants to fix it. I have a pretty high opinion of Twilight, but we have also seen her make some pretty poor choices, especially when she's desperately fatigued, and she has a terrible tendency to internalise problems and assuming she's the only one who can solve it. As a software engineer, I can sympathise. Lesson Zero is an interesting contrast here, because then, she asked her friends for help, and they ignored her. This time, though, she used her friends without telling them (although she intended to). I think the consequences of this will come back to bite her in the ass.
I want to guess that Twilight is messing with the engine to 'fix' whatever thing she thinks went wrong with the Elements. If that's the case, though, that's Lesson Zero all over, and I want to think Twilight has moved on from there. Also, if Harmony has decided Twilight is unworthy, and Twilight's solution is to edit Harmony, that pretty much underscores she's not worthy to be a bearer. So while this seems to be the most plausible, I also hope that it's not the case. It also begs the question of why Celestia didn't edit Harmony herself much earlier, if it was so simple.
So that's why I think it's something different. I threw out Harmony disapproving of Luna/Twilight's relationship as a kind of thing that I could see Twilight trying to over-ride Harmony, although the reason Harmony might disapprove could be simply because the relationship is secret, and not because it's female-female like Twilight might have believed.
Ultimately, though, I think that line at the top is the true reason Twilight is here: "the whole planet is disorganized, insanely dangerous, and desperately needs to be fixed".
I think whatever happened to prompt Twilight to come to the engine hasn't been seen in the story yet. I also think Twilight is a pretty smart cookie, and seeing as she's already editing the world engine, might have made a few more changes on a personal or friendship level. Starting with finding out why she's made her friends temporary Alicorns.
[3] - It's possible that Celestia unknowingly lied. It may be that she found herself unworthy even though she was absolutely justified using the same yardstick - it happened in the show, and was shown as Celestia's final option. Failure to act would have resulted in her death and the surrender of the pony nation to a power-mad and evil ruler. Celestia didn't try to overpower of kill Luna; she trusted in Harmony and Harmony pushed Nightmare Moon away until there was a time she could be healed properly.
We're told that Harmony judged Celestia.
I'm not so sure. I think Celestia judged herself unworthy, and the elements trusted her as their creator. Then Twilight, reflecting on her past misdeeds, in particular what happened with the pirates, and knowing that even Celestia could be found unworthy, believes herself unworthy, and the elements act accordingly.
In which case, the way to solve this problem, is a good old fashioned slumber party and a whole bunch of feel-good-montages.
By the way, I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of Starlight Glimmer, and the nod to the season 5 finale in the previous chapter with reference to Zecora's truth-vision-dust. I think it's a tiny bit of a risk since we don't really know what Starlight's up to, other than knowing that if she really wanted to beat Twilight back in the past, all she had to do was steal her cutie mark again and leave her for dead. Incidentally, Starlight Glimmer has demonstrated all of the requirements to becoming a princess in her own right, and just needed to find a group of friends, having rewritten Starswirl's time-spell, effective leadership, and managing flight on her own; a group of friends Twilight has recently provided. So if Twilight really is kicked out of her castle, perhaps it's about to become Starlight Glimmer's. Sunset Shimmer might have a thing to say about that, too.
I'm not real sure what the deal with mass-producing Tirek's spell is going to be. I can't remember seeing it being used in Future Twilight, other than her using the evil version of it, so I'll be interested to see how this pans out.
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Wow.
I'm pretty sure you're going to be pleased with how things turn out.
Interestingly, someone mentioned Sunset Shimmer, and it occurred to me that if Twilight was drifting off the path, it might take an intervention by Daydream Shimmer to fix things. I could see Celestia writing to Sunset despite their much-delayed reunion issues, if she felt Twilight needed help that only someone who's been there could provide.
Of course, if that happens in this story, that raises another wrinkle. Who's to say Future Twilight isn't SciTwi? After all, who would be better than the Human magitech genius to feel confident enough to reprogram a world-sized computer?
Edit: Just had a crazy thought. Even if it isn't SciTwi messing with the computer, what if the other girls were convinced somehow to come across and pretend to be the Mane Six for some reason, so that no one in Equestria realizes that when the infamous Captain Blackmane shows up, Twilight and her friends mysteriously aren't reachable for half a year...
UNWORTHY!!!!
-Insert obligatory Game of Thrones reference here.-
And now back to the past, to see just how we got here a bit more, how many of Twi's friends want to join in on the fun of taking out the Sky Pirates, and just what the Princesses are going to do about Queen Cheese Legs.
Well assumed that, curious what ones, and, well, this is going into Twi's freakout later isn't it?
Fair enough opening, and yeah can't claim you want to keep something a secret after going to those lengths to use public stuff to make it happen.
And both of these make sense. Have Celestia work on gently guiding things along without being overt about it, Luna ready to just crush the bugs the moment they become a threat, and Twilight trying to do the "Make friends" bit. Which yeah this is Chryssi so, know that isn't going to work.
Well, like she would pass up a chance to gloat about how clever she is, and make thinly veiled, if at all threats about not screwing with her, and you all are going to regret making her mad etc....
Also, fuck you Blueblood. You just know he's going right along with her schemes for his own ends.
Ohhhh yeah, she is being WAY to nice, she has something nasty in the works and thinks she's about to totally pull one over on the Princesses.
Doubt it. She wouldn't do anything THAT overt that soon, she knows if she touches a single hair on Twi's mane, Luna will CRUSH her... likely literally. No, she just wants to gloat and try to manipulate things into going her way so she can deal with all of them at once.
See. Though might be a more long term trap, wanting her to come to set some tiny thing in place to bring up later.
.... Huh.. that... that would make sense too....
Yup, only, maybe with a few more bits of colorful dialog in there.
YAY! Remembering she DOES have friends, and also a marefreind. Granted would love to actually be shown more of her and Luna then just told it.
..... You know... I am not the least bit surprised by this. And yes the very thought makes me
Ummm, why and how? What about it set her off? Or, just kind of similar to her Cutie Mark removal spell?
Twilight......... wow you are just, totally not even trying to take any hints are you? Even from yourself.
Was looking for a way to turn back time? Also wasn't that wing sealed? Or was it just a, late at night thing? Or, she's just better and infiltration then Twilight is.
Kind of like you when centuries from now, Luna and Celestia are still bring up your whole Sky Pirate phase.
Also not the least bit surprised.. how ever... why does she need this? Didn't she already HAVE the Gem ready, just, wasn't in a good mental state to wait no she DID lose her power that so, what are they even researching? Unless, she already knows about Celestia's Crystal Engine and is working out what to do with it? but how? from where?
Ooookay, I speak most nerd dialects, but this is Equestria so, some bits I'm not quite getting but, if they are talking about what I think they are, either they just invented Equestrian Radio, or those gems Twilight implanted in her friends are making them a LOT closer then they think.
Okay, pony radio. Still, not trusting she doesn't have other things to do with that. However, confused, why is she looking into this if it's related to the Crystal Engine, when it seemed one of her reasons for being pushed was the Tree of Harmony declaring her 'not worthy', which we haven't seen that one yet happening.
Get some marketing ponies to help with the naming your three.
So, what exactly WERE you going for?
Like the Crystal Engine. So does she know about it yet, or is this just her having ideas that snap into place afterwards when she learns about it?
What..... what the buck did you DO Twilight!? Okay, using Tirak's spell.. transmit information.. reverse it..... is she.. okay three are a large number of ways that could be going and.... just what the bucking hell are you planning!?
Wait, what, WHY!? Why go back to her? What about Jigsaw?
So they are still together? What the hell is going on?
Yeah thing is, one of those is a self styled title everypony else only really uses to humor her. Also, so, what is going on?
Also, fuck you asshole. Twilight, feel free to burn this place down, accidents do happen.
Huh, why bother with an disguise? Or, is this just her getting used to being vain again?
Okay.. something is REALLY up.......... Twi, be ready to blast the bug.
Which might be the entire reason, just to keep you off balance.
See, using that to describe Queen Bug herself, PERFECTLY valid because, yeah that's who she is.
She just really really wants to make you be the one to act 'improper' and present it as the mean old Princess being unreasonable versus poor, pathetic little old her, who is just trying to help her children survive after Princess Twilight caused their exile..
Or this. Yeah she's nice, but it's a genuine niceness, not the forced 'politeness' that stuffy rich assholes pretend to use.
You know... I can actually believe that.. a bit of good banter is quite engaging and fun.
Yeah that is going to put quite the large amount of speculation on the whole thing. And yup, going to be all kinds of theories. Still, those guards were being assholes about it. Gratned Twilight did not help much but, she really was not in a mood to deal with them.
Not unless she could deny it later, and is sure to get something very large and good for herself out of it.
Because of course. Both that exists, and Chryssi is a fan.
Well not to surprised by that either, and you just KNOW Blueblood has his own first edition copy.
Well... can't say she is entirely wrong on that account.
Because she has an ego larger then Celestia's ever expanding, cake filled plot. And she can't resit making these veiled little hints that she knows prove nothing, but make her feel all the more clever for pulling one over on the Princesses while waving that fact under their muzzles, and still getting away with it because she thinks she can play this game better then them.
A bit to blunt there Twilight, she already knows you know she is up to something.
Yes, yes she is. At the playing little "i know you know I know but I'm going to pretend that I don't know, while making little hints I do know," layers upon layers of deception and careful wording and all that.
No... no she hasn't. She just knows you.
Like Chryssi said, you really are bad at this.
Assuming you don't have another hive hidden as well. Also you know if you tried to keep it secret, somepony would find out eventually, and you'd have four REALLY pissed off Alicorns at your gates.
Still should have explained these thing back with The nightmare. And Twilight, still don't trust her. You know she's going to word it JUST right.....
Yes, with changelings on top and the ponies knowing their place as your food and servants. It all depends on what definition of 'peace and harmony' you mean. Or, More like the Ponyfinder city of Blevik, where it IS one of the most peaceful, successful cities in the world, because the Doppelgangers that secretly run it, make sure to keep it that way by manipulating everything and 'dealing with' anyone who challenges them. (Do have to love how they deal with invading armies. Open the gates, let the army come in and take over, welcome them, replace all their leaders with Doppelgangers, and hey look, now THEY have their own army.)
Not even the most gullible pony on the planet would buy that.
That does make sense, if she has total control over a good portion of the population, she will have a large amount of power. But I still don't trust she is not up to something, or won't be abusing the fuck out of that power once she gets it.
In the long term, yes, in a way.
Not exactly, but I see her point. Also, typo, you missed a space in there.
They are nobles and/or politicians, of course they are.
Okay, so that is still a part of it, fun fun.
This does make some sense... and yes I could see Changelings working out quite well in this type of deal and being accepted, finding their place. The issue is NOT them, but having Chryssi pulling the strings on them.
Again, love the complexity. the overall things being done, not bad, but how they all fit together into a scheme to let CHRYSALIS have more power, very very bad.
You are very, VERY bad at this. And yes she will, but she can't be overt about it.
And, this is overlooking, again, that Celestia is very VERY cunning, and will know better then to bring down the hammer, but yes she is far to smart then to let you take power like that. But yes love just how complex the situation is.
Yup, just the social kind, called it.
And the map is gone. Gee, I guess the Power That Be don't feel like trusting a pony who says 'Screw you all, I'm doing what I want and you can't stop me!" while neglecting her responsibilities. Still, nopony from her staff happened to tell her about this?
Well, yes, but we know you won't take this the right way, and instead will decide the Tree is wrong, rather then working out what you did wrong. And yeah saw this coming from last chapter, and again, on the whole, not a huge fan of this type of story structure, but DAMN do you make it work. So yeah that explains her reactions a bit more, now to see just what her plan was altogether.
6878104 Hmmm, those are all fairly good theories, but missing one important fact. See, me first thought is it's not any of that, it is not ANYTHING Twilight did on the trip, rather this is a result of her "Buck my responsibilities, I'm doing what I want," Attitude that made her take the trip in the first place. Or that along with a whole lot of things, and it is not just one act.
Also, yes ye s yes yes YES! I am 1000% behind and fully FULLY agree, on every level, and have already made a case for it being CELESTIA no longer saw herself as worthy to wild the Elements, not that other way around.
Yes, I'm certain that I would be very irritable reading this story in a serial fashion. They just keep on coming!
spacing
Have I mentioned that I absolutely love the way you write Chrysalis? 'Cause I do.
Ouch. I thought before that Twilight was just being paranoid about the Tree rejecting her, but I guess not.
…Wait. Is this what Present Twi did with the crystal machine thingamajig? "Hack" in and force the Elements to accept her and the others again?
R -apid
A -mplitude
D -eviation
I -nterpretive
O -scillator
Iiiiiiiiis!
It's not just ponies that'd drink such a combination.
There's actually a cardamom and saffron recipe for lemonade.
1 and ½ cups sugar,2 cups water,1 cup lemon juice,½ tsp. cardamom powder,7-8 saffron strands.
Take the sugar and water and make it into syrup over low heat, bringing it up to a simmer for a minute at the end. Add the powder and saffron and let the whole thing cool down.
Once it does, stir in the lemon juice, strain the mixture and bottle it in the fridge.
You can take 3 tsp or so of the result, add a dash of salt and pour it over ice cubes into your average glass, add cold water and there you go. A lemonade fit for Canterlot nobility. (Garnishing with a few mint leaves for extra style points.)
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I'm going to try this, thanks!
I note that there's no promise the ponies will benefit by this change.
Independent of the level of input? If I'm reading this right, that should be dependent.
Just buy a headset from whoever sold a set to Iron Will...
8238857
You mean his decorative headdress? (I am firmly ignoring bluetooth headsets in a world that can't manage wired telephones.)
This chapter causes the previous chapters taking place in the future to make even less sense. With a warning sign like being cut off from the Tree of Harmony, how can anyone think about doing what Twilight later does?
With a quick google search, I found a number of different meaning for semaphore. Could I ask for clarification?
Am I missing something about Chrysalis's plot? I don't understand Twilight's issue.
Really, I'm kind of surprised it took this long. The deliberate, premeditated betrayal of the Nightmare at the end of The Luna Cypher has got to be an offense against Loyalty.
She has a point. As much as I love Twi, I just can't see why this is a bad thing.
Maybe, we can shorten it to R. A. D. I. O. We can just call it Radio.
So now, the Tree does not find Twilight worthy. From the perspective of Twilight, It seems that the Tree is being stupid because nothing is wrong with killing murderous pirates. It seems frrom my perspective that it is not the killing of the murderous pirates, but the the sadistic glee and bloodlust of Twilight.