Princess Celestia entered Secure Holding, a rarely-used facility of the palace. It had last been host to Worthy Wagoner, until he was transferred to a prison off of Manehattan Island to await international court. Today it was busier than it had been in a long time. Barrel Roller met her princess in the front foyer.
“Captain.”
“Princess. I’m sorry to say we had security breaches during the coronation. Three ponies tried to sneak up to the balcony during the ceremony.”
“That’s troubling. But seeing as how this is the first I’m aware of it, I commend you for stopping them quickly and quietly.”
“You might want to hold off on the commendations. Guards had little to do with it. Come on, I’ll show you.”
She led Celestia down a hallway lined with one-way mirrors. They stopped in front of one. Inside an interrogation room, a unicorn mare was seated in cuffs across from Shining Armor. She was dressed in a kitchen staff uniform. Barrel Roller read from a clipboard.
“Her name is Lemon Drops. We found her passed out in the kitchen.”
“Passed out?”
“Apparently she ran full tilt through the outside door, which was propped open, then at the inner door. But the inner door was blocked on the other side by a misplaced apple crate. She bonked her head and got knocked out.”
“And the uniform?”
“Looks homemade. Convincing work, too. But it’s the wrong uniform. The kitchen staff was wearing brand new outfits today- guess she didn’t get that memo.”
Inside the room, Shining Armor looked at Lemon Drops with disgust.
“Lemon Drops, what were you doing in the kitchen?”
“I thought it was the bathroom.”
“You entered a restricted area.”
“Nopony tried to stop me.”
“That’s because you were impersonating palace personnel.”
“This is just a fun costume. I love dressing up for big events.”
“As kitchen staff?”
“What’s wrong with kitchen staff? They’re as important as anypony.”
“Are you going to tell me what you were up to, or should I just let the four princesses decide what to do with you?”
“Three.”
“What’s that?”
“There are three princesses. Twilight is a phony. She doesn’t deserve a crown.”
“She became an alicorn in front of everyone's eyes.”
“Not my eyes.”
“She has wings now.”
“They’re fake.”
“The whole crowd saw her flying today!”
“A cheap parlor trick!”
Barrel Roller looked up at Celestia. “If the style coordinator hadn’t insisted on new staff uniforms, the waiter who found her wouldn’t have reported her. And if the caterer hadn’t left that crate against the inner door, she could have gotten further inside.”
“What a stroke of luck,” said Celestia.
“Unfortunately, the other two did get inside. When their partner was knocked out, they left her on the floor and pushed past the door. We found this one in the hall. His name is Flowrider.”
They walked to another mirror. Saguaro Shade was questioning a pale blue pegasus.
“… and why did you have this map of the tower?”
“The palace gives them out for free.”
“This wall is circled. Why?”
“I ‘unno.”
“This is serious, kiddo.”
“You don’t know the half of it. Twilight’s got you hypnotized. You and everyone else need to snap out of it.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You can’t just become an alicorn by making a new spell. There are thousands of spells- there’d be thousands of alicorns by now!”
Barrel Roller shook her head. “I didn’t even see the point of decorating that hallway- no one was using it today. But the decorator wanted to fill the upper arches with garlands, and Flowrider got tangled in them and fell right in front of a valet.”
“Hmm,” said Celestia, clicking her tongue.
They moved to a third mirror.
“Brace yourself,” said Barrel Roller. “You might recognize this one.”
Celestia peered at the third cuffed pony, a reddish earth stallion. He sat alone in the room, staring silently at his bindings. Celestia recognized him as a palace archive technician.
“Coppertop? Surely not. He’s worked here for years. I hired him. I trusted him. I’ve had tea with him.”
“I’m afraid so, your highness. He left Flowrider behind and used an old auxiliary key from the archives to get into your office.”
“My office? Why?”
“Get this- he was trying to scoot up the air ducts in your wall. He could have gotten to you on the balcony that way if they were clear. Only, there was a family of ferrets nesting in there. They chased him back down until he got stuck.”
“Ferrets?” asked Celestia. “From the menagerie?”
“Apparently. That’s not the only oddity. The rooftop vent he was trying to reach wouldn’t have worked for him anyway, because there was a brand new padlock on it. Maintenance doesn’t remember when it was added, and it’s not even the kind they stock.”
“What were these three ponies hoping to accomplish?”
“They’re claiming Twilight Sparkle’s transformation into an alicorn is a hoax. They intended to expose her wings as fake by pulling them off in front of the crowd.”
“How bizarre. Is she aware?”
“I assume so. Rumors spread quickly around the palace, and Spike always seems to know the latest scuttlebutt. I guess he just has one of those faces everyone trusts.
“Poor Twilight. Today should have been the happiest day of her life.”
“Ma’am, I’m embarrassed they got as far as they did. I put the blame totally on myself, and I accept any discommendation you feel is appropriate.”
Celestia looked down at her. “Their incursion path was highly creative. I don’t think anypony could have seen this coming.”
“One pony did, ma’am. For months now, Major Root has been submitting complaints about those areas- complaints which I dismissed.” Barrel Roller flipped through the pages on her clipboard. “He suggested the ventilation in the kitchen should be upgraded so the cooks wouldn’t leave the door open, and I designated that a low priority. He wanted checkpoints in the colonnades, which I rejected as redundant. He called for replacing your office lock, which I deemed sufficiently secure. And when he told me that the air ducts are big enough for a pony to crawl through… I told him he’d been watching too many movies.”
“I see. I take it you archived his suggestions?”
“Aye, ma’am. Coppertop had access to the files. He must have collected and correlated enough to make an infiltration plan.”
“Damn you, Coppertop. Captain, I want this handled by the book.”
“It’s a heavy book, ma’am. If Coppertop exploited his position to lead an assault on princesses, well, that’s espionage and treason.”
Celestia sighed. “Twilight’s first day as a princess, and she’s already dealing with this kind of thing. Captain, I want you to make a complete review of palace security, including all personnel. Then do the same for Twilight’s home security in Ponyville.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll see to it.”
“And Major Root will be assisting you.”
“... yes, ma’am.”
Celestia exited the annex. She flew over to the commons, where Radish was scanning the crowds.
“Good afternoon, major.”
“Your highness,” Radish said with a bow. “Congratulations. Twilight’s achievements are a reflection of your guidance.”
She glared down at him.
“I, uh, like your dress,” he said.
“Apples and ferrets, Radish?”
“I, uh… heh heh. Yes, ma’am. Wait, did something happen?”
“Indeed. I will be issuing a memo to the Royal Guard soon.”
“Is it serious?”
“Quite so. A staff member used your archived security concerns to plan an attack, which your off-the-books precautions have thwarted.”
“Wait, you’re saying that by reporting on potential problems, I drew attention to them… turning them into actual problems… which I ended up fixing?”
“It seems so.”
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“Don’t be. You did well today.”
“Thank you, princess.”
“Just keep alert, and stick by Twilight until she’s ready to leave.”
“I’m looking for her now.”
“Carry on,” Celestia said, and flew off.
Radish entered the reception hall and looked around. Ponies of note and notable ponies were milling and mixing. He didn’t know any of them, and he didn’t think Twilight knew any of them. She wasn’t there, at any rate. Radish backed out.
‘Come to me?’ A location would’ve been helpful, Twilight. But then again, Ranger hoof signs can’t really get building-specific.
“Radish!” called Twilight.
He looked around. Then he looked up. Twilight was airborne. She swooped toward him. Radish quickly did the math and realized she was going to smack into the wall behind him. She must have realized that, too, and she braked in the air, kicked off the wall, and landed on the ground in front of Radish on her hind legs. She flailed her forelegs and wings, and Radish grabbed her to keep her from falling over.
She hugged him. Her grip was immensely powerful, and he struggled to breathe.
“Look! Crown! Wings! I’m an alicorn! I’m a princess! I was flying!”
She pushed her wings into Radish's face. The feathers tickled his nose, causing him to sneeze.
“Well done, your highness. I’m proud of you.”
“No! None of that ‘highness’ stuff, okay?”
“Okay. But I’m still proud of you.”
“Thanks. It was a total shock to me.”
Radish put his hoof up to her forehead and compared her height to his. “Hey… you grew. You’re taller.”
“Uh huh!”
“Your horn, too. It’s longer and pointier.”
“Yeah.”
“Did it… uh… hurt to grow wings?”
Twilight smiled and looked back at her wings. She stretched them out upwards. “No. But I’m still learning how to use them. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash are teaching me all about pegasus powers.”
“And you have earth pony powers now too, right?”
“Yep! Applejack and Pinkie Pie are showing me the ropes for that, too! Did you have anything you wanted to tell me?”
“Yeah. Woody plants are really hard to grow for a first-timer, so start with something small and herbaceous.”
“I already know the first plant I want to grow- arabidopsis.”
Radish snorted. “That’s so nerdy.”
“Oh, yeah? What was your first?”
“Kenbucky bluegrass.”
“A monocot? Well, I suppose that’s fine… for a kid,” she teased.
Radish smiled. Then, he checked around, leaned in close, and lowered his voice. “Hey, did they tell you about that… obscure earth pony ability?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nothing! Just a joke.”
“But-”
“Celestia said there was a security breach. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Spike is saying our precautions stopped three intruders. I’ve asked Shining to let me talk to them, but he’s saying it’s out of my jurisdiction.”
“Is that even true? You’re a princess now.”
“But he’s a prince.”
“Of somewhere else.”
“And he’s my big brother.”
“That matters?”
“Well, yes.”
“I could ask around, see how big this thing is.”
“You think it’s bigger than just three ponies?” she asked.
“If you’ve got three scorpions in your bedroll, check your boots right quick.”
“Is that a saying on the plains?”
“No, but it once happened to me,” said Radish.
“I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. Some ponies just get a little excitable on big days. Once Equestria gets used to it, I’m sure nopony will have a problem with having a new princess.”
“All right. Just let me know if I can do anything to help.”
“There is something you can do. You can hold still while I do this.”
She cleared her throat, closed her eyes, and raised a hoof.
“Major Root. For cleverly defending your princess on her coronation day, I hereby bestow upon you this favor.”
She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. Radish’s tail twitched.
“Thank you,” he said.
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Who could get used to that?”
“Flirt!” she said, giving him a shove. He flew and splatted into the wall.
“Ow.”
“Ooh, sorry! Now that I have earth pony strength, everything is suddenly so much lighter.”
“Makes sense. A princess needs to be able to push others around.”
“Ha.”
Well things are gonna get awkward once Light gets a twilight wig heh heh
Apples and ferrets and padlocks; oh my! It seems that Radish is now the unofficial X-Factor when it comes to security in an around Canterlot. I wonder if he's busy looking in the historical archives in order to draw up contingency plans for possible threats such as Queen Chrysalis, Tirek, and Sombra. If so, bad guys beware. This could be FUN.
/snerk
This is interesting chapter. Makes me wonder if we will see other ponies not accepting Twilight as a Alicorn for awhile since it would make sense for this story to have that. Also, awesome job about everything feels lighter for Twilight I don’t see that much take on earth pony.
I got Lemon Drops confused with Lemon Hearts for a second there and thought "why would one of Twilight's old classmates and unrelenting friend go against her like that?"
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/6/14/917052__safe_artist-colon-bluemeganium_lemon+hearts_pony_unicorn_amending+fences_cute_female_lemonbetes_mare_simple+background_solo_transparent+background_vect.png
11454396
I mean considering how dismissive/uninterested a few side characters were towards Twilight in S4 IIRC despite y'know, her having wings and all, I'd say it kinda sorta makes sense?
It kinda bothers me that Shining is still using his authority to exert his will on others. Why shouldn't Twilight go talk to the prisoners? He has no right to keep her from doing so as he's the prince of a foreign nation. He's only doing it because he's her older brother. And I'm willing to bet he's going to use what happened during the coordination to criticize Radish and say this is all his fault because of all of his complaints about the castle and others exploited it.
Shining in this story just comes off as that petty. Maybe his character doesn't mean to be petty intentionally, but his overprotectiveness of others, Twilight in particular, has made him short sighted as to how he might be negatively affecting other's lives. He was willing to sacrifice Radish's first real date night just so Twilight can have some extra company along with the rest of her family and friends
11454409
I thought the same when I read the name and for a moment I thought Big Mac was there. Actually, even old classmates can not like that you gain something that seems impossible.
11454413
This. It's why I have a massive love/hate relationship with this story. The setting and world building is fantastic, and Radish is mostly a great character and I love his relationship with his peers, Light, and The Mane 6/Spike. But the story comes to a grinding halt whenever Shining or Celestia enter the scene. They have both been incredibly petty and abusive to Radish and Radish just takes it like a doormat, much unlike his attitude towards any other character in the fic.
This wouldn't be so bad if the story didn't seem to be desperately trying to portray both of them as good and justified. Shining only received a stern talking to and a night on the couch from his wife for years of personal grudge and abuse against Radish, and not even a glance of disappointment from Celestia, and this chapter shows he STILL hasn't learned a thing from it.
As for Celestia, she has completely reduced Radish to a broken mess twice, tried to tear apart Radish's relationship with Light, tore apart her relationship with Twilight, insulted every major noble and government agency, and many more, and yet, the fic has moved on as if none of that happened. Only a few minor mentions and even Twilight & Co seem to have forgotten it even happened. Twilight in particular was jarring, since I expected her to have a much stronger reaction to seeing her beloved mentor both act like that and viciously insult her and her friends. But nope, under the rug it goes. Time for the next arc!
I really do love this story, but if I'm being honest, it's getting increasingly frustrating when seemingly every major character moment gets forgotten and Shining & Celestia are able to just treat Radish as their personal stress ball while being portrayed as "good guys" by the narrative. These three, plus Light Fantastic and Twilight need to have a real heart to heart over not just the fight, but everything else like Celestia & Shining's treatment of Radish and Shining continuing to act like a power hungry asshat.
Again, I hope I don't sound like I'm just hurling hate at the story,I genuinely love it, but it's really frustrating that every "major" scene has no meaningful effect on the story and I personally think Radish needs to just throw his hooves up and leave the Guard if that's how he's going to be treated.
His superiors, Barrel Roller included, have shown that they can't get past their personal grudges against him, so let's see him go somewhere where he's appreciated. Maybe he can go to Ponyville with Light and guard Twilight instead? It would certainly be better for both his and Celestia's mental health.
Hell, at this point, I'd support Radish/Twilight LONG before Celestia. Although, at the end of the day, Light Fantastic is great and I hope she has a happy relationship with our boy! He certainly deserves it!
11454413
Twilight may be smart, but she’s also pure. It’s not petty of Shining for him to try and avoid having his sister talking to them if he honestly believes Twilight might actually take what they’re saying about a hoax to heart. Also… the perps said they wanted to rip off her ‘fake’ wings. I don’t call keeping her out of their cells petty when they still might try that, or worse, when she might offer to let them if she thinks it’ll convince them.
11454488
Again, that isn't his call to make. Twilight was the one they were targeting. And now that they've been safely apprehended and under watch by the guard he has no right nor place to tell her that she can or cannot talk to them. For all we know, by talking to Twilight they might slip up and reveal if there was anything else going on in the background and now Shining has denied everyone that. Shining has overstepped his boundaries and has been consistently doing so throughout the whole series by interfering with Twilight and Radish's lives. And he certainly has no right now to keep the newly crowed princess of a nation he is no longer in active government with out of an investigation that involves her personally.
11454463
I agree with what you said about Shining and Celestia. The previous arc in my opinion blew off the Radish vs Celestia confrontation a little too easily. Though I think part of the problem might be that the story is trying to stick to the main cannon as much as possible. The characters can't act or respond a certain way if you know they'll be perfectly fine in the in universe cannon arc next that Radish just so happens to be lingering in the background.
It's like watching a prequel series to an already established and finished series. I don't feel as much tension as I normally would because I already know how things would end up. Twilight always loves Celestia and Shining and that fact remains till the end of the show.
Personally I wouldn't mind changing up one or two details to the cannon to add more drama or expand on character conflicts but since I'm not the author of this story this isn't my call. I'm sure CocktailOlive has their own plan for the story and perhaps a big payoff for the recent events will be coming soon. I've enjoyed their work thus far and they've given me no reason to doubt them in their storytelling so I'm confident they'll be able to write a narratively good and satisfying conclusion to all these underlying threads hanging loose.
Keep up the great work CocktailOlive your doing great so far!
Radish did real good this time. Non-intrusive security measures, just like Celestia likes!
11454504
I agree with you on sticking to the canon. That's the #1 reason why I stopped reading the No Noses Know series. It was adorable and well written, but it's insistence on sticking to canon, even when it had negative impacts on the story, was too frustrating to ignore after a while. Conversely, The Changeling Of The Guard has been absolutely nailing this. It sticks to canon 90% of the time, but isn't afraid to change things when the show interferes with the fic, and it has become one of the best stories in the entire fandom as a result. Let's hope this one turns out like the latter.
11454496
Or, Celestia and Barrel Roller agreed with his assessment offscreen and decided to let him handle it as a big brother so Twilight would be less likely to poke in the cells on her own the same way Twilight took security for her coronation into her own hooves? Celestia, Barrel Roller, and Shining have years of experience with political stuff next to Twilight, while Twilight clearly has no regard for established protocol. If Barrel and Celestia don’t want Twilight talking to the prisoners, the best way to convince her not to is to have big brother tell her not to rather than giving any official orders. The story has repeatedly shown that Twilight and her friends are treated as basically civillians who happen to also be a wild card government asset because they are the elements. Not everything has to be Shining Armor being a dick.
11454508
It's a shame to hear you stopped reading the No Noses Know series. It is indeed an adorable read and well written but you did point out a glaring flaw and that it's trying to stick to cannon as well so relationships with cannon characters and characters made for the story can't fester. In one of the recent chapters I was disappointed in Chrysalis that she was starting to act shady again after two stories of building up her and Hokey's relationship and she was bettering herself overtime. But since the season 6 finale is around the corner in that series she needs an excuse to start acting up.
I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised considering the author has already deviated greatly from cannon in certain events because I don't want their relationship to be ruined. I've been enjoying watching it develop more than Bean and Celestia's tbh. Celestia never got with anyone and had a child in the show and Luna wasn't half the population's great great time a million long lost grandmother because she had a child 1000 years prior. So hopefully the author of the No Noses series can change this too.
Nice
11454455
yeah but that seems more like a Moondancer reaction than a Lemon Hearts reaction tbh - IIRC Lemon and the other Canterlot girls were super excited for Twilight's coronation and readily accepted her for who she was, which is more than I can say for Lemon Drops
Endurance. They just go, and go, and go... 😉
new and improved Twi be glade she did not decide to pat you on the back Radish.
You know, calling flying a cheap parlor trick has at least a little bit of weight in Equestria. Magic does exist after all, so it's not completely insane to assume that there's some way of faking flight.
11454960
Plus Twilight has literally made wings before. Adding some illusion magic to make those wings look natural isn't a completely impossible possibility
Weren't All Three of the security flaws that Radish Patched things he's Mentioned to his Girlfriend? Hrrrm
Shiny, you left equestria to rule the crystal empire, you don't work for the government anymore, if anything, you quite literally have no legal jurisdiction (yes the crystal empire seems to possibly be a protectorate of equestria but they're distinct enough to be separate entities) unless your services were called upon (twilight please wake up to the fact your brother is a dumb jock )
11454463
Shining I'd agree with.
But I disagree with your assessment of Celestia.
This Story's strength is that it sounds like a bad idea. The description makes it sound like a bad clop fic. A really bad one. You think it's going to be some cringe inducing story about how a stallions special talent is fucking princesses and instead you get this story that takes an absurd idea and rolls with it to It's logical conclusions and tells a compelling story about great characters with a baffling premise.
And one of those logical conclusions is that Celestia is *totally* pissed off about it because as much as she tries to pretend otherwise she is an still an ordinary pony. And the mark on Radish is deeply humiliating. Perverse. She has every right to be outraged. Pissed. Angry. Upset. It's a complete joke. A cosmic joke. Fate itself has plastered deepfake porn to her employee's flank who has (at first) joined the ranks of the hundreds who feel entitled to her body and this time fate itself seems to be taking a side and not only is She expected to be civil she has to be the paragon of virtue and grace whilst daily confronted with an almost ritual humiliation. She's been objectified and sexualised literally thousands of times through the years, but this takes the cake.
And you know something? That Sucks. In her place, I would resort to violence and alcoholism. I mean, seriously, think about what that would feel like for a moment.
It doesn't matter how much she tries to be fair, decent, and kind about it. She isn't perfect and occasionally her anger, resentment, and humiliation win out. She says something she regrets. She takes action cooler minds would have advised her against. She behaves irrationally out of fury. Out of anger and humiliation.
But she has a right to be angry. She's entitled to feel humiliated . It isn't Radishes fault and She isn't necessarily blaming him. But whoever said she should be calm about this? It's fucked up. She should be throwing things. Yes she's acting out of character, but we behave irrationally when we are emotionally compromised. And She has very good reasons to be emotionally compromised by all this. She has been victimised by fate, and is expected to just grin and bare it as if a cutie Mark of being rogered from behind was in any way a normal or rational thing.
I think Celestias characterisation here is great. She has emotional depth behind the serenity she projects: She's angry, hurt, bitter and ashamed. And for once is completely powerless to anything about it.
11455287
You're absolutely right. My problem isn't with Celestia's behavior. Everything she has done is perfectly in character for this story and written very well. My problem is every other character's response to all of this. The entire rest of the cast is watching this and just...ignoring it. They look at Celestia's deteriorating state and pretty much shrug and move on as if nothing happened.
The entire fight scene, for example, was gutwrenching but written beautifully, and would have set a perfect stage for bigger events in the aftermath with the guards, other royals, Rangers, nobles, Mane 6/Spike, even Radish & Light. And yet, just like the halcyon arc, all that happened was apparently a round of off-screen apologies and the fic moved on as if nothing happened.
Hell, Radish was with the Mane 6 for nearly the whole previous arc, but that huge event that seemed to be a major turning point in the whole story is apparently no longer important enough to warrant even a small conversation.
I love 90% of this fic, but when pretty much every major development in the story fizzles out and we return to the status quo, it gets a bit grating. That said, I hope the author makes me eat my words later and has a plan for all this, But Celestia and Shining (and increasingly, Barrel Roller) both having next to no fallout or growth after all the last few arcs is getting a bit old.
11455287
This. That’s a very apt description. Celestia is just a pony so I don’t really get everypony thinking the few times she lets stuff slip—when placed next to literally every other peaceful encounter where she manages to stay civil—makes her abusive.
And with Shining, well… yes, he’s overprotective of Twi, but I feel like the real reason he butts heads with Radish so much is similar to Celestia’s problem. Radish walked in and transferred to the Guard out of nowhere, and a very large premise of Radish’s character is that he was a Ranger and Ranger’s do things differently than normal guards. He never shook that mindset, and so in that sense, Radish and Shining have very different ideas of what might keep the Princess safe. They were bound to butt heads from the beginning because of ideological differences, but Shining isn’t so important a character as to focus on and give us his personal perspective like Celestia is.
Seriously. Think about the fact that this chapter says Radish already had submitted complaints about ‘security’ problems before the coronation even came up? If he had made such small and paranoid observations about one building, how many more buildings has he done that with, and how much more extra needless paperwork has he sent up the chain to Shining and other officers? Barrel Roller said she was the one to veto his suggestions, so he sent his complaints pretty high up. His observations very much were the sorts of things very few ponies would think to exploit, and only probably became issues here because he raised awareness of them, and there are plenty of other points in the story where he has absolutely no fear in making his opinion known, even when it might be best to think like a guard rather than a ranger. Heck, now Barrel Roller might be forced to dig through all those complaints he made and be forced to address them before anypony else thinks to do the same. If I were Barrel Roller or Shining, I’d be pissed at how Radishes own paranoia almost compromised the coronation. If Twilight hadn’t thought to ask Radish for advice—pure serendipity at its best—the coronation would have been ruined.
And mind you, Im not mad at Radish. I think he did good. But I feel like there are plenty of reasons for why Barrel Roller, Shining, and other ponies higher up the command get so exasperated and tough with him. It isn’t all just Shining being an overprotective big brother.
2001th comment
11454413
11454463
Haradion already explained the point with Celestia rather well, I think.
Shining Armor, yes, to an extent. On one hand, he's been an annoying, unprofessional ass to Radish. On the other hand, people seem to expect too much from karma. People like that exist, and they get away with being dicks to employees all the time. When Cadance found out, she was unhappy, and there were consequences. However, none of the things he did go over the line in any way that would allow Radish to file a formal complaint of any kind, and we know that he's not the type to complain anyway. Then, there was the fact that Radish did disgrace his uniform by fleeing his post while he was still a rookie, so in their minds, that might give them "justification" to be hard on Radish to "keep him in line".
11455405
Paranoid? It's not paranoid if every single one of them is correct.
This sounds a lot more like they're butthurt that he's pointing out their incompetence with his skills that he gained in the Rangers. His defense of Luna's tower is the only reason she didn't get captured, and it was fortified entirely according to his "paranoid" analysis. Yet when the danger was over, all his concerns were brushed off.
My analysis of Shining Armor in this situation with Celestia is that he's being a bit of a Karen/white knight to her, the most disgusting person ever: One that gets offended on behalf of others, even if that person doesn't actually care, or has moved on, like Celestia seemingly did. That likely trickled down through the lower officer ranks, too, though they appear to be slowly acknowledging that Radish is actually quite competent now that Shining is gone.
11454409
Yeah me too ^^;;;
11454409
Yee, same. I thought it was a setup for a reconsiliation subplot.
Also my personal opinion on why characters react to Celestia's occassional fits is because most ponies understand Celestia is simply pissed that the porn mark exists. They talk it out with her, have enough wisdom to not touch the subject or simply read newspaper propaganda (for a lack of a better term) that smoothes their opinion on the events. Celestia didn't publicly have that much outbursts at Radish and he is getting paid to do orders, so I can understand her not getting slack.
Shining tho propably should have a really bad reputation of asstick.