- Member Since 27th Nov, 2013
- offline last seen Wednesday
Synesisbassist
A washed up old writer who still tries to live in a heyday that has long since passed...
Synesisbassist
Joined 27th Nov, 2013 ·
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This is a great first start, I can't wait for more bro.
I like the previous two stories, so thumb up before reading
I enjoyed editing and reading the first chapter. A promising start...
I hope the princess of love shows the queen what a real man can do unlike a little stallion
Don't have the time to read this right this second, to much shit to do with moving and all that.
Though if the first two are anything to go by I will love it when I DO get the time to read it
You may hate my guts for some odd reason Syn, but it won't stop me from reading and liking your stories and nor will it stop me from commenting.
Finally the long awaited sequel! I loved reading this so much! Glad to see you back to writing Syn! Keep it up! Eagerly awaiting the arrival of the next chapter! 100,000,000 out of 10 keep it up!
So Shining is threatening to release national security secrets if he doesn't get his way, yup that would be me running him through right in front of all to see and damning the consequences, that is treason through and through and I wouldn't hesitate to let him live a moment longer. It was his own fault that he lost his wife and he has the balls to blame Anon for it, and then to go to a nation-wide wanted terrorist/foreign tyrant and try to force a peace deal? Nope Celestia and Luna should have grabbed him, broke his horn off and threw him in a cell before doing the same to Chrysalis.
Wow, I didn't see this coming. Impressive work
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Damn, 30 minute to read this 10k chapter.. worth it
Great chapter...
Looking forward for more...
Quality Content.
Enjoyable start so far, like you said there’s clearly a lot going on and im excited to see it develop.
One thing, I feel there are quite a few sections that could serve to be broken into another paragraph. There was occasionally a big ‘ole block of text that was a bit tiresome on the eyeballs. Otherwise good shit!
This chapter gave a lot of context on what's in Cadence's head and the mindset she had that caused her to cheat, even if her reasoning that Shining slept with a imposter instantly justifies what she did on her aren't exactly reasonable. What's still confusing is Cadence's lack of explanation on why she didn't bother to defend anon. She said that she tried to forcibly convince herself what she did was wrong, and that Anon's personality and actions swept her off her feet, but it still feels very disingenuous in a way.
Regardless of the situation, why would Cadence willingly allow an innocent person to be framed and punished for what she did, while knowing it was completely wrong to let someone take the fall and hatred? Isn't she kind and empathetic? Why did it take sex and getting caught to have her bother to defend someone she had strong feelings for? She felt strongly enough about him to abandon everything to be with him, but doesn't want to defend him prior to that?
It can't be indecision or any conflicting emotions or anything stopping her during that time as she said. The last story has shown her licking her lips and outright showing a lewd drawing in court and teasing anon. (And why did she think that flirting with anon was morally okay to do while he was suffering by being called a rapist from not speaking up? If Anon didn't have some negative thoughts about her actions, what she did could've been interpreted as outright mocking him in a sadistic way. With her vague ability to sense others emotions and feelings, it's like she didn't care at all what Anon felt through all the stress and misery he felt from his position for several days in the dungeon and being questioned in court.)
Cadence has shown to be one in the moment of wanting to get back at her Aunts and Shining especially (which she still holds strong and petty feelings of wanting to get back at him in this chapter). She officially announce she was with Anon right at the moment her revenge and rebellion had the biggest impact on others first and foremost BEFORE considering Anon in the equation and any feelings on him. Her actions and thoughts shows that she prioritizes these feeling over hers of Anon's, and I'm surprised Anon doesn't realize this or question Cadence on letting him be thought as a rapist for all of Equestria.
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I'll keep that in mind for the future chapters, though that's normally how I tend to write.
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Always remember there are two sides to every story in history, and sometimes there could be something changing that story behind the scenes. Insert evil laugh here. Not going to spoil too much, but there is still a lot more questions and reasoning that has yet to be shown. A lot more grey areas along with the most skewed moral decisions that need to be made.
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I'm really glad you've all enjoyed it so far, there is still a lot more to be covered as I've got at least 3 other chapters to go, along with a bonus "what if?" kind of chapter that will make some people pretty happy I think. Strap yourselves in and get ready for an adventure!
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It'll be interesting to see what other reasons there are for Cadence's actions, and what's with Anon's tendency to allow her to take advantage of him or have his insecurity be somehow a bigger issue for him than being accused. Not going to lie, I'm not sure how you're going to make Cadence's lewd and flirty actions from the last story come out as morally gray, without her coming off as completely selfish with her taking her side of things being more important than Anon being falsely punished. That being said, I eagerly look forward and am excited for future chapters on how you handle this.
EDIT: I just realized there's something else that Cadence said that contradicts from what we know how she acts.
If she was trying her best to get sex out of Shining, and desperate enough to give some of the most obvious signs in history, why didn't she just ask and talk to him upfront? If she was trying her to best to be a good lover like she was raised, what was stopping her from just talking for several years?
Also, apologies for being blunt, but why didn't she just rape him either and get it over with? In the first story, Cadence's heat was so severe that it made her desperate enough to physically attempt to restrain Anon for sex and directly told that she WILL rape him, if she has to, to get what she wants.
(Surprised that Cadence admitted she didn't feel bad or have regrets for what she did afterwards to Anon about losing control of her body and nearly raping him. Cadence still hasn't apologized for forcing herself on Anon in the cave. I can't help but feel that she's a pretty terrible individual for that not being one of the most immediate things to come to mind to her to apologize to Anon about. Maybe there's a reason she hasn't spoke about it, but if she's that paranoid of losing Anon, then the two reasons I can only think that would explain this, is she forgot about it, or she thinks what she did was okay. Neither a good sign).
I assume that she's had several heats before growing up, but why didn't she try to do the same with Shining during all those years she stayed frustrated?
I find it hard to believe that her issues of feeling pressured would stop her, or that she had the patience to stop from acting irrationally, with how little she cared about Anon or the consequences from the first story.
Not trying to be too harsh on finding any and all issues to these stories, which I do like. I just have a tendency to not be satisfied with characters not addressing issues or ignoring the reasons behind other characters' said actions.
You forgot the Second Person tag.
awesome start to the fic so far, can't wait to see what happens later, I just hope Anon and Princess Cadence are able to catch a break, and have some serious alone time lol
I'm... not sure about this.
I absolutely HATE it when canon characters get randomly turned into assholes so the OC can steal their waifu. Hate it. With a burning passion.
So, I HOPE Shining Armor gets the decency of being more than a cheap, one-dimensional hate-sink. There are some possibilities, but the narrative is so heavily tilted towards Cadance and Anon, I'm very unsure about it. Like, if Shining Armor was indeed mind-controlled, then Cadance has no right to judge his actions.
If he was tricked into thinking Chrysalis was her and made love to her under this false premise, then Chrysalis raped him. Yet Cadance only has anger and disgust. Cady, he got legally raped. Do you... ever think about anything?
I've seen more than one story hammering the narrative into place no matter how little it fit to make the Anon/Cadance ship work. I want to believe this'll be better.
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This Cadance is unblievably petty in her actions, that much is true. She did not just use her position as a princess to forcefully divorce Shining Armor, she also took his job away and gave it to her new squeeze—like the only true requirement is whether she currently thinks you're a good f*ck. Like his accomplishments don't matter. All the three princesses threw him away like toilet paper, so why does anyone wonder he's not as loyal to Equestria anymore than he used to be?
Seriously, I hope someone will take Anon and Cadance to task for all the crap they're pulling.
I loved the first two, but there is something off with this one. I don't like it because it feels off somehow.
No offense but everyone seems far too cringy, both the MC and Cadence seem out of character.
I just figured it out while trying to type this. Its all whining and hand wringing. There is far more negative in this story than there is positive. there is no balance to it. The longer I read, the more I wanted to make an excuse to walk away. You have to break up the negative with spots of positive moments, or spots of humor. Even if it is dark humor. This really read like talking to the Goth chick in class. The story is almost completely negative.
I know the point of the story was to break the "Happily ever after" schtick, but I think you did it wrong.
The Monk
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I agree, but in the fandom, both Shining Armor and Blue Blood are portrayed as assholes. Shining is portrayed as primarily racist and narrow minded. Blue Blood is portrayed as shallow and privileged and classist. So this portrayal is actually in character for Shiny.
As I stated in the post I just made, I really don't like this addition to the previous two stories. Its off as a piece of literature and has no positive traits to balance or buffer all the negativity and hand wringing. Reading this story is like talking to a depressed alcoholic ex. I can't fault your opinion of the story.
The Monk
“Because we killed all of the monsters we ever ran into, save for ourselves and Death. What better way to respect death than to give it the form of the only monster we could never kill?" - WhatMustIDo
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There is a scene in "A canterlot wedding" that every reaction video host responds the same way to. The outdoor restaurant table argument where she "Spreads Love" by brainwashing the arguing couple. Almost to the host the response was a unanimous, "Thats really disturbing." Now think about it, why would you have to care about someones feelings or personal thoughts if you can send a pulse of magic and they instantly love you no mater what you did to them? Cause them to loose their job, or get beaten half to death as a rapist? no big deal. Pulse of magic and they are rubbing your feet and screwing you crosseyed in bed. That IS her power.
The Monk
"I-I'm sorry, did you just say 'blowjob'?" Jesse had to think seriously hard about this.” -An Intricate Disguise
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That's not quite how it works. For example: When Maud's picture came out, when people realised she existed, the most common fan theory was of her being a mental retard. Writing her that way now would not be "in-character", would it? We know she's actually fairly intelligent.
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What does fandom interpretation have to do with any criticism of Shining being written as some one-dimensional villain so far invalid? He never said that the interpretation of this Shining was wrong or correct at all. Just that he disliked how heavily Shining is made to be disliked so far.
There are numerous possible fandom interpretations of characters anyways. It's up to an author to give us a sense of how their interpretation of a character is. It's not up to fandom to decide what is or isn't in-character in a story and makes it correct in writing fanfiction.
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I'm not sure I understand your point. Are you saying that Cadence inherently acts a certain way due to canon? The point never was that Cadence can't be someone who wouldn't care about boundaries, or that she can't be such a person to not care about what she does to others to such an extent. I never claimed any of those things.
Remember, that this story is suppose to contain morally grey concepts that will be revealed to us in future chapters. We are suppose to see her side of things and sympathize enough to be uncertain of what she did was right or wrong.
My point that I was trying to get across was that all of Cadence's actions up to this point is going to make it very difficult to consider Cadence someone who didn't just do such objectively horrible things to Anon that could be somehow justifiable to the readers. Not to mention all the lack of explanation of the various activities Cadence could've done with Shining.
The interpretation you've given her goes against that end goal. I'm just honestly interested in seeing if the author is able to juggle and answer several of these issues I brought up, and get me to be uncertain of Cadence and change my mind. It's going to be a challenge getting all that across, I won't lie, but it'd be some feat.
Since they're practically powerless and in their custody (not to mention that he DID commit trrason BY threattening to release national secrets) I'd like to know if Twilight knows a truth spell, to ask if he ever had any real feelings for Cadance, and maybe why Celestia pushed them together as well, because as far as I can tell so far, he's practically a sociopath
I have to say, the way this story bends over backwards to vilify everyone so it can justify Cadance cheating on Shining kinda only accomplishes the opposite for me. I can't really sympathize with Cadance when the story keeps telling me "No! Really! It's okay that Cadance cheated on Shining, divorced him in the worst way possible, took his job and gave it to her boy toy because she never really loved him in the first place!" Like... what? No! That's vile. If you don't love a guy just tell him, don't ruin his life to prop up your new boyfriend. That really just makes me feel like Shining was the one speaking truth when he accuses Cadance of treating love like a game for her to play at her leisure.
Now there's an interesting story that can be told here, but it requires a little less justifying Cadance. Imagine, for a moment, that Shining's love for Cadance (which in the show was powerful was powerful enough to let Chrysalis 1V1 Celestia) was genuine in this story as well. Cadance, being the Princess of Love, knows this. But she also knows she doesn't love Shining, but she goes along with Shining, because that's what a Princess of Love would do... right?
Then she meets anon and falls in love with him, but she knows that following her own love would require she break the heart of an all round nice stallion who genuinely loves her, and while Cadance doesn't love Shining, she does very much care for him and doesn't want to hurt him. It's a classic love triangle that doesn't require anyone to be the bad guy, as the drama of choosing between your love or your desire not to hurt a friend can carry the story instead.
Considering the sour note that the last story ended on (IMO), I’ll just wait until all the chapters are done, then read all the reviews to see what the general consensus is at the end.
A sudden and very welcome fic! Cadance is best pony and her leaving shining armor for a human is top Teir. That said, I really want Cadance to be questioned by Celesta about what she did, literally telling him that if didn't fuck her, she will MAKE him.
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I'm thinking that one of her biggest issues is that he didn't see through the disguise, and in that I can actually see where she's coming from, because her acting was atrocious. The first time we see her is her showing utter contempt for and disregarding Twilight, and even that didn't cause any warning bells. Twilight was able to realize something was off right away (even if she thought it was Cadence herself who was evil), and she isn't someone who has been with Cadence for so long like Shining. And he hadn't been fully brainwashed by that point either.
Honestly Anon is the only one relatively blameless in this series.
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Fully being the keyword. Because yes, she was already in his mind. He already had the headaches that popped up whenever he did something contrary to Chrysalis's desires. Putting more power into the barrier? Headache. Disagreeing with her over a sash he wanted to wear? Headache, and zapped with mind-magic right after.
How people can claim he was in full control of his faculties is beyond me. I have never seen anyone make a compelling case for it. People just want it to be true so they can write accusation fics.
As for Anon: He's a jerk who feels nothing over the fact that Shining Armor got screwed over and he rewarded simply because Cadance likes his dick better.
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That really isn't true at all. In the first story, anon, after a lot of physical pressure and begging from Cadence, decides to allow himself to go through the deed, ignoring the consequences or who he's hurting out of some sense of duty and sympathy.
In the second story, once again anon, gets convinced by Cadence to have sex, but it's even less excusable this time. He knew Shining was pissed and hurt from what he heard about him allegedly raping his wife. Yet, all it took is some sweet words from Cadence that were rather weak, and some crap thrown at Shining from her mouth, and anon decided to go through it with even far less resistance than last time.
After they were caught, and Cadence decides to do a rather brutal and immature revelation that she couldn't resist rubbing on Shining before firing him (and hitting him which adds further immaturity to her), Anon just stays quiet and goes along with it. He doesn't feel regret or bad from he did at that moment, nor does he care enough about getting Shining's side of the story, to really do anything about it afterwards. Even when he got his new position.
Even now, he feels guilty because he feels like he doesn't deserve Cadence. There is NO mention whatsoever that any of it stems from what he did to Shining. Not even seeing him once again brings up a hint of any of those feelings around him.
I would consider him to be the biggest victim in these stories, besides Shining (at least from what we know so far). Cadence does so much to violate and play around with his feelings, and she doesn't communicate to him about anything that transpired that got them together. Anon just submissively accepts his duty and lacks any self-respect to care for himself. He can't even admit to Cadence this chapter that she hurt him, and redirects more blame to himself about not communicating.
An interesting start and an interesting look at Cadence's mindset. I look forward to the next chapter.
Kinda thinking that Shining was always in league with Chrysalis. Didn't touch Candy at all with how long they were together, etc but rails Chryssy for the period she was impersonating Cadence. Sure, can go with the whole mind control deal but what if she wasn't? What if Shining was in on it from the get go and had been with Chrysalis from before being with Cadence. Would explain the indifferent attitude toward her. Either the invasion was plan A, and this is plan B if it failed or this was the plan the entire time. Invasion stopped and because Shiny has all the military secrets Chrysalis has a hell of a card in her hand. Hoof.
Would be amusing to just see Celestia laser beam a hole through the back of Chrysalis' head and throw Shining in the dungeon for treason but that won't happen. Please let it happen
When is the next chapter
Wow, this story is divisive...cool!
Me personally, I excuse Cadence's actions in heat (though her talking about it with Anon would be nice), since in the fandom it is pretty solidly established that you literally cannot think rationally when you're in it (thank goodness humans don't have anything like this), and the only way for another member of the species to resist is to physically stop them. Kudos to Anon for trying and almost succeeding, he rocks!
As for her attitude in the second one, I would wager what Cadence said was...mostly true. She was convincing herself that what they did was wrong, and it would be kind of hard to just speak up when everypony is convinced of his guilt and they are all right next to you. The flirting likely was her true feelings (which I'd say she wasn't really fighting as hard as she thought she was) coming out, and her probably planning to do what she did later anyway come to think of it. Considering the current story, if we're to believe Cadence, she was desperately trying to just go back to her normal life and forget what happened, but she couldn't shake her feelings for Anon, and Shining's words and/or lack of actions to help or respond positively to her just added fuel to the fire (that probably is another reason she's so mad at him, he really had a chance with her on some level, and when she needed him in more ways than one and he had every reason to be there since she had just escaped from imprisonment and they had just saved Equestria from a hostile foreign race, he wasn't and even may have been hostile to her as well as cold). That in mind, she likely was intending to do something from the start of the trial or at least was considering it, and the head shake was probably both not wanting the hammer to fall on her for her own sake and Anon's (though that one I'm not sure about, and might well be unnecessary). As someone on that story pointed out, when Anon chose to take the blame, he showed Cadence he really did care about her, much more than Shining Armor ever did. Add all that together and Cadence went through with what she might've been intending and any vestige of what she was trying to believe shattered (and she fucked Anon again
).
As for Shining, I'd say since he has willingly partnered up with (and possibly more) with the very same Queen that was brainwashing/trying to brainwash him, and had threatened the lives of his superiors, his nation, his little sister and her friends, and he is now threatening the stability of Equestria for her sake, I don't see where the sympathy for him is coming from. I get that seeing his side of his and Cadence's relationship is good, but Shining is essentially no better than he accuses Anon or Cadence of being here. He could've apologized to Cadence when she called him out, no matter how hard it was, if he really cared about her as much as she cared about Anon. If I'm missing something on why a guy who clearly seems to be so enamored with the thing that he has no practical reason to care for that he would go as far as he has, please enlighten me, because a revelation like that is too good to pass up
Also, in regards to the job, I'd say Anon is qualified to do it being a guard himself, or at least that ways for it to work can be done, and that since marrying Cadence is the only authority outside of Guard Captain Shining had, he has no say in the matter. The whole thing with Chrysalis and her changelings does show he might care about others as he does in the show, but it seems he can be just as petty as Cadence said he was, as he is also ignoring the harm he is risking his fellow ponies, including his own family.
All in all, based on what I've read so far, I'd say Cadence's issues are a lack of confidence and conviction unless pushed, especially when it comes to a relationship (which fits nicely with her reveal of her issues with Shining). What worries me though, is that if I'm right, this will not end well with Anon being so down on himself (not that I don't get why he's feeling this way, Cadence isn't communicating with him anymore than she likely did with Shining, and unlike ponies, words are just as important as actions to a human like him) as Cadence's enthusiasm for her new and better relationship will likely make Anon feel useless
All in all, I like where this is going, as this is a story I see as having the ponies be distinct from humans, but not too disimilar when it comes to relationships. Shining Armor and Cadence aren't a walking "happily ever after", and Cadence herself is not some Love Goddess who knows how to perfect any relationship (if this Cadence did use her love magic, I would wager she might have just as much discomfort or at least uncertainty with it as the fandom does, but doesn't speak up). I can enjoy stories like that, but seeing this is very interesting, just like Cadence in A Minor.
Well...I’ll see where this is going, I guess. In part because I’m hoping for answers to a couple of questions that have started to bug me a bit:
1,) Seriously, what’s up with this version of Shining Armor? I mean, I absolutely get fan fiction taking some liberties with canon (which is, after all, kind of the point), characterization and all included, and one could certainly quibble about the portrayal of other ponies if so inclined as well, but with this guy in particular I wouldn’t be entirely surprised right now if upon ending up suitably cornered he were to pull off a wig and sneer “Fools! It was I, Prince Blueblood, all along!”...and I figure there has to be a reason for that.
2.) How was the changeling invasion even defeated in this universe? If we’re to take Cadence at her word, then I’m not really convinced that her and Shining Armor’s relationship would have had the necessary oomph to power the kind of big ‘love explosion’ we saw at the canon wedding to begin with.
Any idea of when we will see more to this story?
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Late reply, to be sure, but I'll try to explain. Here goes. This is all assuming things went down like in the series, with no hints yet that they didn't.
Shining Armor was raped by Chrysalis. That's the legal definition of what happened to him. In the best case scenario, he just didn't know it wasn't Cadance; worst case and she used her powers to make him have sex... and that latter option is the more likely one since we know he had been in her thrall for a while before the wedding itself.
Afterwards, Cadance threw herself at him but he didn't bite. She's super-pissed at this and decides that's enough to ruin his life over. Instead of perhaps considering if there is some lingering trauma from, you know, getting brainwashed and raped and all that.
You even mentioned Cadance in A Minor youself, where this topic gets explored.
She blames him for his rape; she doesn't accept being mind-controlled as a valid excuse. There is literally no better excuse in the world for doing something you wouldn't normally do than you were made to do it against your will via magic. What she's doing is like blaming somebody for having dicks drawn on their face after someone knocked them out with a roofie. She's literally blaming the victim. I know I'm using that word a lot right now, but it's perfectly valid here.
When Cadance divorced Shining Armor, she did so in a particularly petty and vile manner. She physically attacked him, spat in his face, insulted him, humiliated him, took away his career and life's calling... because he didn't have sex with her, mind you. Instead, she handed it to her boy toy, who did have sex with her. Calling this nepotism would be generous. And nobody stood up for Shining Armor, not then, not now either. He gets treated like absolute shite by everyone, like he's not worth the dirt under their hooves. They expect him to take it all and be happy with it, and when he's no longer loyal to them they're totally shocked and surprised—when not one of them showed an ounce of loyalty to him at any moment during the entire narrative.
And finally, his introduction mentions his scars and how he looks dirty. Meaning that his life hadn't improved after Princess Cadance threw him away like toilet paper and the other princesses just sat by and watched. He'd need to be a saint to not have a grudge after what they all did to him.
So, perhaps he cares for Chrysalis because she is the only character in all this who acts like she actually cares for him. Nobody else does.
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Yes, I did mention Cadence in A Minor. In that story, we see Shining's point of view and quickly learn that he is crushed by what was done to him, and irrationally resents Cadence for both reminding him of Chrysalis (due to the shapeshifting thing) and the way she and others are treating him making him feel useless and emasculated. The key difference between that Shining and this one is that, despite genuinely feeling a lot like how you describe, CiAM's Shining never runs back to the creature that raped and used him, then threatens the safety of the nation and his loved ones on her behalf. I already brought that up in my first comment, and I don't see how Shining theoretically being much more hurt and vulnerable than he seems refutes or excuses that, because not every person who is (at the very least) deceived into sex with the wrong person and is then divorced from their wife when he for whatever reason does not treat her as he should, and according to Cadence blamed her for getting kidnapped! Also, up until Cadence's divorce from him, Shining believed, as did everypony else, that Anon raped Cadence and they were all against it...and yet not one bit of empathy from Shining on that along with being left to rot in a maze of darkness with no food or water for presumably weeks?
Essentially, my point and response boil down to this: Though you (and others who agree) could be right, you are clearly assuming sympathy for Shining to the point of (at times) demonizing Cadence and Anon (and even the Princesses) and ignoring the flaws and failings I have pointed out above in him, just because he might be considered a rape victim (I mean in an emotional sense, in a legal sense as you said Chrysalis' actions are countable as rape regardless). As much as you all are entitled to your interpretations, and I will of course be very surprised (and if done well, interested) if any of what you have presented is true, I find readers like you who jump on sympathy for the character with (currently) the least/most clearly negative given characterization personally annoying, as you do nothing but cry out for the character everyone else does not and should not care about all based on assumptions that are flimsy at best and in more extreme cases based on nothing more than "I don't like this character/like this one, so there a perfect angel and everyone else is horrible!"
To give a bit of background to my point, here are the following tropes that so far seem to be in play with this debate in my book: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RonTheDeathEater & more importantly https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DracoInLeatherPants As I said in my original comment, Cadence (not confident unless pushed, clearly emotionally vulnerable and impulsive), Anon (broken self-confidence thy name is Anon), and the others (do I even need to say it? Assume rape and without actually investigating thoroughly, as the trial seemed quite rushed and they jumped to it apparently just from Twilight's blabbing) are not perfect, but they all have shown and even (with Cadence at least) admitted some of their flaws and are (hopefully) going to deal with them, whereas for Shining you and others only have a Shining who so far has (by my own admission, we only have Cadence's word but I see no reason to seriously doubt her until we have proof) dismissed his supposedly beloved wife's feelings and even possibly blamed her for it without concern, and went running to the creature that, as you said, raped him (that's really healthy and understandable for Shining to do if he's traumatized and does nothing to undermine that doesn't it?) and is willing to threaten the safety and security of all of his loved ones only on her behalf...I simply don't see evidence for Shining being the tragic hero you and others seem to see him as, as even if I grant what you said, Shining should break off this ridiculous idea and be wracked with guilt immediately or have some other massive revelation to get any sympathy from me for his actions so far, as he is the one alongside Chrysalis who is threatening the safety of the nation he just stopped her from conquering.
I suppose we could go the route of "Chrysalis is actually somewhat what Shining is saying she is" and felt she had no choice but to invade or something of that nature, but I don't think we know enough yet.
Shining Armor in this story is essentially a traitor, a jerk, and apparently uncaring about his supposed loved ones over the creature that slithered her way into his life...and unless we see more on him, I see no reason to look at him any other way, and the reason you gave has no apparent evidence beyond conjecture
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I have little sympathy for Cadance as the reasons she gives for her actions are, as far as I can see, horniness rather than vulnerability. She didn't get sex from Shining Armor, therefore he gets treated like a villain. Never mind that Cadance proved in the prequel she will lie when it's convenient or comfortable for her.
Yes, there's Ron the Death Eater going on on all sides. However, even if Shining Armor did not offer the emotional support Cadance demanded of him, it doesn't justify how she treated him in return. If we take Cadance's point of view as gospel, then he's been uncaring, and in return, he had his life ruined, got hurt, spat on etc, and nobody gave a f*ck about it. That's not an assumption, that's what happened.
Yes, I am assuming some things. We need to since the story hasn't revealed the truth yet. As far as I can see, at the moment, going back to his maybe-rapist kind of makes sense considering how mistreated he was by everyone else. Cadance laments her supposed feelings, but unlike Shining, we know she lies and nothing in her actions make me believe she actually cared. His betrayal of them now? Frankly, unless we learn they tried to look out for Shining Armor after what Cadance did to him, their shock and outrage is kind of silly.
Though I will give you one thing: I also believe the story is trying very hard to justify what happened to Shining Armor and make him out to be a bad guy. It's just failing miserably at it. It fails to convince me of the message it probably intended and instead sends the opposite because it doesn't understand what it actually shows.
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Also, if he does care about the changelings, he could've presented this differently rather than the much harsher way he did, so I wonder if he has an explanation for that...
So the emotional parts that Cadence shares here about Anon holding her up through their time in the caverns mean nothing to you? And the fact that Cadence lied to get Anon out of being imprisoned for something he didn't do and is extremely amorous in her behavior invalidates everything she says? Also, I left myself open to your idea, along with anything else the author might do, and yet you have no problem rigidly writing off a character as unsympathetic based on...what? I may be being harsh on Shining Armor, but him getting a happy ending would be fine by me, though I don't see how his life is so ruined nor how the others aren't allowed to be shocked or angry at his betrayl. This is exactly my problem, you and the others all fall to defend Shining Armor, and you still haven't given a proper excuse for his actions that is based on evidence, to reiterate: He is throwing away his people, his rulers, and his loved ones for the creature that he just was protecting them from, and if being divorced and humiliated justifies that, then I have no idea what to say to you or to him if he were real, as Shining is supposed to be a soldier, and a soldier puts his duties above himself
Aside from that though, I refer to my original comment, which still stands as valid as far as I can see.
Like you said, the story is only just beginning, so I am simply flabbergasted by everyone rushing in one direction when we literally don't have the full story yet, and if what you've said about it is any indication, it isn't based on much at all...
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It's based on what we have. Which isn't much of anything yet, really.
And part of why I and perhaps others "rush to defend him" is because we see the hallmarks of a story where one character, in this case Shining Armor, is made into a jerk and vilified so the OC can get with his waifu, a cheap writing trick—while at the same time nothing is made of how much he was screwed over to get to this place, and nobody in-story cares. We're annoyed by how everyone in the story and even the story itself acts like he deserved all he got. We're defending him because nobody in-story does even though some of them logically should, if we're supposed to think they are good people who actually care.
And just to make clear: No, I do not think what he's doing is in the right. However, after how he was treated by everyone in that room, I perfectly understand why he would have a chip on his shoulder; and I worry it's just going to get brushed under the rug for the glorious Anon/Cadance romance. If not, great! But if we don't point it out now, it might. I've seen it happen many, many times.
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Yet, as you admit, there is no precedent for serious sympathetic motivation yet, Shining has only suffered a blow to his position, and nothing more and as I said he could've risen above it rather than turn away, as well as that any failings from his marriage are clearly as much his fault as they are Cadence's, at the very least. You have a valid point that that can sometimes end badly when the Ron the Death Eater trope is used poorly, but that does not make a story terrible by definition. That would be like me rejecting all romance stories just because they have a character not go through a long process of falling in love every single time, rather than on occasion be quick but beautiful.
I have enjoyed stories personally that make a particular character into a bad guy/girl or an idiot, as long as it is either given some solid establishment (i.e. is not blatantly just a plot device that is never used for anything else) and/or is given explanation, or is in some other way believable in its execution, and this story so far has done that for me by giving Shining reasons that are unsympathetic but believable for his character here, and if the story goes that way I will have no issues. If it were to turn out that Cadence was misunderstanding Shining's behavior all along, and Shining had shown better character by then, and he still was treated poorly based on actions he'd taken on impulse rather than resentment and pettiness, then I would have problem. What would be even worse though, is that he stays the self-centered jerk he seems to be in this story, and then is given no punishment or losses just because he doesn't totally go along with Chrysalis if she turns out to be solidly evil. Also, if you're issue is with Anon and Cadence being together so abruptly, then why are any of you still here? That was what happened in the first couple stories already, and now they are facing the consequences of it...which I am looking forward to. They are both so in for it, especially with Shining and Chrysalis in the mix!
I try my best to take a story as it comes, while still giving myself room to form some reading of what's going on. With this story I read the characters as I detailed in the beginning, but leave it that I could be wrong. What a character does, the consequences of said actions, and what they are clearly shown or solidly implied to have as reasons for doing it are what speaks to a character in a story, not how they are treated by the author nor what a reader presumes about them or the story itself. Shining will show who he is soon enough, as will the others, and if how that unfolds is done well enough for me and others, then I will still be confused as to what the problem is for those who have raised hell for him, because what you have stated still does not clarify the responses I have seen at all. It still seems to be just honest assumption based on a personal concern in a meta sense rather than about the characters, and if so, just say that, not demonize the characters or white-wash the petty jerk of in the story
And now I'm done because I've run out of ways to state my points, interpretation, and continued confusion any further, good day and I enjoyed the back and forth
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Well, since you have stated to end your side of the discussion, I bid you farewell too. Just, allow me to point one thing out:
No. He got divorced, without any input from his side; he was insulted and assaulted in public; and he was thrown from his position so the guy who his wife cheated on with could be put in it instead. Careful that you don't miss things in the story either!
Addendum: This was not in any way meant to be insulting to you, so if the tone comes across as such, I apologise. Not my intent.
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I noticed them, but they weren't significant enough to matter. Cadence has every right to leave a relationship if she doesn't want to stay in it, and has the authority to do so. Also, a slap is not a big deal considering the context is Cadence venting her anger. If she'd kept doing it or outright knocked out his teeth then it would be a problem. More importantly, none of those things justify blatant treason, and Anon getting his new position is Cadence's decision not his, and she will be responsible for it.
I actually was worried I was coming off as too emotional in this myself. I just want to say plainly though, nothing you said in any way countered what I said nor makes Shining Armor look better (if anything it makes him look worse when you put him on a pedestal prematurely, as I have been defending everypony else even though I know that they certainly have been colossal idiots in this...seriously, as messed up as Shining's behavior is WTF was up with Twilight? Let alone the others for believing her? What authority does she have on whether it was rape or not? Even if we assume Cadence did more than refuse to answer, what possible reason could they have to jump to that without testing Cadence or investigation?). That disappoints me a bit
And now I'm done for good.
In any case, I suspect we both will be surprised in what this story will bring. I shudder (in both fear and anticipation) at the thought of what the comments will be like if the story becomes as tangled and as much of an emotional battlefield as I think it will...
Hrm. Everypony is guilty and in the wrong, no exceptions.
Dead?
Will this story continue?
I worry the controversy in this story, that I added to, has stalled this story...
Or perhaps I'm being foolish, and this story is just stopped for other reasons. Considering your recent blog, it is likely that, so I hope you're better. I hate knowing people are suffering...
Either way, Synesis, I would love for you to continue it, so take all the time you need if that is what is needed. You've made something great here, with a lot of emotion and depth
When will we see a new chapter