“We’ve finished commissioning the new portal facility, Your Highness” the project engineer said. “All that’s left to do is get the Australian inspectors to certify everything and it’ll be ready to go. I’ll have a crew doing the finishing touches in the meantime. Those will be completed in two days, tops.”
Prince Mark Wells gazed at the floorplan of the new building that had been constructed adjacent to the existing Alice Springs office and portal. The facility had two interdimensional portals, one on either side of a control station. One would handle outgoing freight while the other would handle incoming. This eliminated the bottleneck that developed when the rapidly increasing shipments caused delays due to the single original gateway. That one would now be reserved for priority and emergency transfers. The construction of the new building allowed easy expansion for two more portals, if that ever became necessary. For now, though, the new ones could cope well enough, and the layout of the yard enabled a free flow of the trailer loads to and from the transfer and inspection facility located outside of the Equestrian Exclusion Zone.
Mark nodded in satisfaction. “Good work, Sturdy Frame. I’ll schedule the inspection immediately. I anticipate that they will come out early next week. I’ll inform you when it has been arranged.”
“Very good, sir.” The stallion gathered up his documents and bade the prince farewell.
Mark checked the time on Earth to ensure that it was suitable. There was only a small degree of time drift between the worlds, so it crept up on you if you weren’t careful. Noting that it was office hours in Alice Springs, the alicorn placed the first of several calls before going back to his other work.
The tall man opened the door to let in his acquaintance. Leaving the guest in the living room, he went into the kitchen to fetch a couple of cold cans of beer from the fridge. He passed one to the visitor and sat down before asking, “Did you get the vehicle, mate?”
“Yeah, yeah, Barry,” the man replied as he popped the top of the can. He took a swig before continuing. “I told you it would be easy. Keeping it out of sight is the tricky part.”
“It won’t need to be for long. The Equestrians have booked the inspections for next Tuesday. Their ambassador announced their intention to hold a public opening ceremony immediately after they’re completed. Will your men be ready?”
“No problem. You worry too much.”
Barry glared at him. “Listen, Jeff,” he snarled. “You’re not taking those unnatural creatures seriously enough! I’ve been studying them for months and their security is ridiculously good. Between their demonic magic and hyper-vigilance, it’s practically impossible to get through them. They don’t even let any drivers take their trucks into the Equestrian Exclusion Zone – their earth ponies hitch a dolly up to the trailers parked in the freight transfer yard and they pull them to the portal. The few humans who get in there are thoroughly checked out. If I’m going to get to the horned demon, you and your men have to go in hard.”
“If their fucking security is as good as you reckon, what makes you think you’re going to get in at all, let alone kill the bitch?”
Barry put down his can and got up from the chair. He opened a nearby cupboard and lifted out a cardboard box. From it, he removed the elephant gun that he had acquired and showed it to Jeff. “Think you can off one or two of them with this?”
Jeff whistled. “That’s some gun,” he said with a grin. “Those beasts are going to have a real bad day, I promise you.” He then looked up at Barry. “That still doesn’t explain how you’re going to get to the main target.”
Barry smirked. “That’s already taken care of. I’m counting on you to provide enough distraction for me to do the deed. Here’s the plan…”
The tall man explained the details and Jeff grinned.
It was a foregone conclusion that the new gateway building would pass inspection with flying colors, so Mark had told Smolder to arrange a press conference to announce the official opening of the facility. The local Imparja television station had a small crew of trusted people who regularly covered Equestrian events and were allowed into the exclusion zone along with a few hoof-picked reporters from other major news outlets. Besides the normal Gateway crew, Mark, Chrysalis, and Smolder were present for the event, along with their bodyguards. They portaled over as soon as one of the facility’s staff had informed them that the inspection had been completed.
Chrysalis provided extra security for the event in the form of several changeling guards who would monitor the emotions of the visitors. She confirmed that everything was in place with the facility’s security officer before rejoining Mark and Smolder. Smolder made a short opening speech thanking all the locals who had assisted in the construction, then the inspectors signed the official paperwork in front of the cameras. Prince Mark began his speech extoling the benefits of the new facility, but just before he could declare it officially open, an ambulance with lights flashing and siren shrieking raced into the freight transfer grounds and was only brought to a halt by the guards at the gate of the Equestrian Exclusion Zone.
“What the buck is going on?” Mark demanded, looking toward Chrysalis for answers.
“No one has reported an incident requiring an ambulance,” she replied. “Either someone has called one in to harass us or—”
The changeling queen did not need to finish her sentence because the driver of the ambulance and the passenger both jumped out and began firing at the security ponies. The suspicious and well-trained guards already had their shields up and the bullets were stopped dead, falling harmlessly at their hooves. Other guards were already moving in when the back doors of the ambulance opened to allow three more men to emerge. Two aimed at the approaching guards while the third took advantage of the covering fire to move up to the gate, carrying his huge weapon.
Jeff raised the elephant gun and fired it at one of the guards. With a pained cry, the changeling’s shield shattered and he fell to the ground. The man’s follow-up shot was deflected by a unicorn soldier who dived in the way before likewise collapsing in agony as her shield imploded. Before Jeff could complete reloading the massive gun, he was tackled by a griffon diving from the sky.
In the meantime, the bodyguards immediately placed themselves between the action and their charges – Penumbra and Gallus manifesting enchanted shields designed to stop firearms. Mark threw a spherical shield around the four of them and the reporters in front of the stage while calling back to Chrysalis to protect the inspectors and facility staff members behind them.
The changeling queen nodded and used her hive link to instruct her changeling bodyguard Whisper Wing. He moved to his queen’s left and they both raised shield walls. While neither could make a spherical shield large enough to cover all the bystanders, between the two, they blocked all lines of fire. Chrysalis reassured the humans that they were completely safe. Then she frowned. Something was wrong. Despite the chaos of emotions coming from the gate area, another hostile feeling was coming from… She whirled around a moment too late and cried out in pain as something struck her at the base of her neck, penetrating her natural armoring. She saw one of the humans holding a mini crossbow. He was already moving to place another bolt in the weapon when she blasted him with a magic bolt of her own. A changeling guard was upon him a moment later.
Around the ambulance, Equestrian troops yelled out, “Hostiles secure!”
Only then did Chrysalis drop her shield and turn her attention to the crossbow bolt. Mark came up to her, attracted by the commotion and with worry etched in his face.
“Sally! What happened?!”
“Would-be *argh* assassin among *ack* inspectors,” she grunted painfully as her magic tugged at the bolt.
“Get a doctor, now!” Mark yelled at the facility staff.
A unicorn mare said, “I’m on it!” and teleported away.
Mark turned his attention back to Chrysalis. “Maybe you should leave that in place until the doctor arrives.”
“No, it isn’t a fatal wound and I can begin healing myself with it out.” She cried out in pain as she pulled at it again. “But it seems to be stuck. Help me, husband.”
Against his better judgment, Mark complied. He winced when she shrieked as the bolt tore its way out of her. She then swallowed and focused her abilities. The wound started to scab over but then her magic faltered.
“Something’s not right,” she gasped. “My magic is not responding. The area is going numb. I’m… feeling dizzy.” The changeling queen’s legs collapsed beneath her.
Nasty laughter came from a few yards away where Barry had recovered from the blast and seen enough to appreciate his work. “She’s a goner! That bolt was coated with a neurotoxin. The demon will die within minutes,” he crowed triumphantly.
Mark turned to him with horror on his face. “What?! Are you insane?! Why have you done this?”
“Do you think we wouldn’t recognize evil when we see it? That demon dared reveal herself to us and you, her unnatural thralls, do her bidding. God told me to kill her before she spread her influence over Earth.”
“You bigoted fool!” Mark screamed at him before looking around helplessly. “Where’s that doctor?!” He turned his attention back to Chrysalis. Not knowing if his efforts were achieving anything, nevertheless, he persisted with the strongest healing spell that he knew.
Eventually, a unicorn mare turned up at Mark’s side. “I’m Mercy Dash, a paramedic. What’s the situation?”
“Chrysalis was wounded with a crossbow bolt coated with a neurotoxin,” Mark replied. “Her magic is failing, she’s feeling numb, and she’s just started struggling to breathe.”
The mare blanched. “Sweet Celestia!” She picked up the crossbow bolt in her magic and passed it to the unicorn guard who had fetched her. “Give this to the apothecary in Canterlot Castle. Report back with anything they find or any antidote, especially if it is broad spectrum.”
The mare teleported away once more.
“You have to do something!” Mark said desperately.
The paramedic’s horn lit up with a powerful spell. “Without an antidote or knowing the exact toxin used, the best that I can do is reinforce your healing spell with my own.”
Both ponies sweated with the intensity of the effort that they put into the spells, but as the minutes ticked by, they could tell that the changeling queen was not responding. Chrysalis’ breathing started coming in gasps and her slit pupils dilated to practically fill her eyes. She reached up with a trembling hoof.
“Mark, are… you there? I… can't see.”
The alicorn took her hoof and she gripped it weakly.
“Ah, there you are… my stallion. Know… know that you kept your promise… and never neglected me… or our children.” She paused as she struggled to breathe. “Know also that… I am filled with joy... my love.” Then the last of her breath left her with a sigh and she ceased moving, her eyes staring unseeing at the clear blue Australian sky.
“NOOOOOOOOO!” Mark screamed in anguish, his eyes filling with tears. He slammed his hoof into the ground and several beings nearly overbalanced as the shockwave shook them like an earthquake. The alicorn turned to face Barry, fury etched on his expression. His horn lit up and his magic grabbed the man and hurled him halfway across the yard.
The man landed hard, unable to do more to save himself due to the manacles on his wrists and ankles. He sat up, spitting out the red Outback dirt, sneering at the pony.
Mark advanced upon him, snarling. “Do you know what you have done, you miserable man?”
“I rid the world of a demon like I swore I would,” Barry replied with satisfaction.
“No! You took the life of the Queen of the greatest changeling hive in Equestria. You deprived her children of their mother. You. Murdered. MY. WIFE!”
Even while his ears were still ringing from that shout, Barry smirked back. “I think humans will see otherwise. I’ll be sure to let the world know the truth even if those cameras don’t do the job for me.”
Mark glared at him. “So, you’re not satisfied with killing my beloved and intend to spread your hate further?”
The man laughed. “I’ve surrendered, not resisting arrest, and entitled to a fair trial. Everyone will hear what I have to say. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
Mark paused before smiling maleficently. “You think you’ve figured it all out, but you’ve forgotten something. You committed your crime on Equestrian territory, therefore you’re subject to Equestrian law. And do you want to know who has ultimate judicial authority?” He spread his wings and lightning arced between them and his horn, building in intensity. “It’s the Triarchs. I, Prince Mark Wells, Triarch of Equestria, for the crime of regicide, sentence you to death!”
Smolder called out, “Father! Think of the consequences!”
“To Tartarus with the consequences! Let the sentence be carried out!”
Barry’s eyes went wide and he turned away, covering his face with his arms in a futile effort to protect himself. The enormous lightning bolt that Mark unleashed not only killed the man but also left his corpse blackened and shriveled.
Mark turned away from the body and went back to Chrysalis. Picking her up in his magic, he then carried her toward the facility to return to Equestria, tears pouring down his cheeks.
Penumbra said to Smolder, “I have to go with them. Can you handle this mess?”
The dragoness nodded. “It’s my job. Go! He needs you more than ever.”
The batpony hastened to join Mark as Smolder turned her attention to the chaos. She raised her voice. “Ladies and Gentlemen – I require that you all leave this facility immediately and promptly. No questions will be entertained at this moment. Portal shipments will be suspended until this tragic situation is dealt with. Guards – please escort all visitors off Equestrian territory and bring those five terrorists to the portal. They will face trial in Equestria for their crimes.”
Jeff and his cohorts all quailed in fear after seeing the result of Equestrian justice. Smolder had no intention of reassuring them.
As everyone hastened to comply with the dragon’s orders, Smolder sighed, knowing that the repercussions of the day’s events would reverberate for weeks. In the meantime, she had a herd-mother to mourn.
Princess Diadem tearfully took possession of her mother’s lifeless form and carried it into the hive that she would now rule as their new Queen. Her connection to her mother through the hive was unhindered by passing through an interdimensional portal and she felt the moment that Chrysalis had died. It was sudden and traumatic for the young royal changeling, but she had every one of the hundreds of Canterlot changelings there to share her grief and give her support. The younger changeling princesses, Sybilla and Esperanza, grieved even as they realized that they would have to grow up faster without their matriarch to guide them.
Mark, despite being the titular King of the Canterlot Hive, could not share that support. However, he had his herd. Trixie, Penumbra, Celestia, and Steady Flight all comforted him as best they could even as they too mourned the loss of their co-mate. Rarity soon joined them after she was informed, and Loopy was woken from her sleep in her universe to complete the herd. Their children also did their best to help their father, but it was Lacewing who empathized the most. As both a changeling and as one of Mark’s immediate family due to her Companion bond with Allura, she experienced the overwhelming grief of both sides of her heritage.
Mark was excused from royal duties for a few days. That left it up to Trixie, Twilight, and Smolder especially to deal with the aftermath. With no extradition treaty yet signed between the nations, Smolder politely declined official requests to release the conspirators into Australian custody. Mindful of the last exchange between Mark and the assassin, the dragoness likewise refused to turn over the murderer’s remains. The killer’s grave would not become a pilgrimage for like-minded humans.
Because the crimes took place on Equestrian territory, the prisoners would be incarcerated in a Canterlot jail until they went on trial for their roles in the murder of a member of Equestrian royalty. Fortunately for them, both guards shot by the elephant gun survived. While their shields had shattered, they had done enough to slow the bullets to prevent the wounds from being fatal. On the other hand, the accused all faced multiple charges of attempted murder. After witnessing what happened to the one person who succeeded, none of the humans were in a hurry to get tried and sentenced.
Smolder held a press conference two days after the assassination. She announced that the five would likely get life sentences without parole. She declined to release their names as she did not want them used as martyrs for their bigoted cause. However, she was unable to do anything about Barry Fletcher.
It did not take long for investigators to learn that the man had been on the inspection team, and they traced him back to the government department where he had worked. After questioning his co-worker, they determined that Barry had bribed a colleague to take his place on the inspection team, taking advantage of a tiny flaw in the Equestrians’ security. When asked what reason Barry gave for wanting to do the job, he had been told that he “wanted to meet them up close and personal”. The colleague shrugged and said, “I did last time, so it seemed reasonable to me.” He was subject to internal discipline but, because he had no direct involvement, was not charged with a crime. Soon, every detail of Barry’s past activities and social media posts were dug up and broadcast, stirring up controversy in communities across the world.
As Smolder had feared, Barry Fletcher became the poster child of the humans who saw the Equestrians as an existential threat to the world. This attracted every muck-raking reporter and sensationalist blogger on Earth. Smolder was busy with damage control for several days and gave multiple interviews responding to many of the same questions. The much-practiced self-control that she had developed for her role as ambassador had worn quite thin by the time she ended up doing an interview on Megan Nightly for the Truth First Network.
The host, Megan Mandel, began innocuously enough with some of the common questions, but then abruptly switched tracks. She demanded that the conspirators be allowed to speak to her “so that the real truth can be told”. Smolder coldly informed her that since the crimes took place on Equestrian soil, they could tell their “real truths” to an Equestrian judge.
“And will they be executed like Barry Fletcher when he tried to surrender?” Megan asked snidely.
“Fletcher did not surrender – he was captured in the act.” Smolder frowned. “How do you expect someone to react when his mate is killed horribly in front of his eyes and her killer boasts about it? He admitted guilt – he received just punishment. His actions were carried out on Equestrian territory and his fate was legal under Equestrian law.”
Megan persisted. “Even the accused have a right for their opinions to be heard.”
Smolder leaned closer to Megan and bared her teeth. “That's really why you’re upset, isn't it? Prince Mark Wells robbed you of the chance for a ratings boost from interviewing that piece of filth. And you don't care about the consequences at all, do you? Such as the two copycat murders soon after your channel’s 'exclusive interview' with the Adelaide Strangler.”
“That has nothing to do—” Megan began.
Smolder cut her off and stood up. “Fuck off, Megan. This interview is over.”
Over the next few weeks, "F*ck off, Megan" was the buzz phrase that took over social media, calling out BS at every level.
# # # # # # # # #
That got beyond my worst expectations.
Wasn't Chrysalis one of the oldest and influencing Queens?
What nation did that filth come from he is not a black ops agent is he?
Than again that gives the Equestrian a president case to make sure assassins of any nations and sabotaging personal get very swiftly dealt with.
Im going to back off this one as well, given other stories covering other Chrysalis after deaths that eventually Mark will meet up with.
Pinkie. Youre up.
SQUEAK.
Shows the mentality of conspiracy nuts and media scavangers, is they refuse to accept their media is comsuming them in return, dissolving them from the inside in order to propagate itself, just like many other paracites.
New security rule:
Every singel human, no matter the position and function is strip searched and their clothing is inspected for any dangerous things.
The only mistake they did was to put human security over non human security, that needs to be fixed as well.
It truly is deplorable when you have those that care for nothing but committing Hate and Death. While Chrysalis before was a massive egomaninical bitch, in due time she became much more and a true changeling for Harmony. To have her killed and for humanity to sensualize it was a disservice to Equestrians.
May she rest in peace:
A tribute to best Bugwaifu:
Also:
Guess we know now where the drama tag comes in to fit the story.
This legitimately pisses me off......
It a sad and destructive act took away an amazing changeling from Mark and fellow equestrians.
May she rest in peace .
What in the holy...
Smolder to her assistant: Buy up any stock in 'Truth First' you can. Then, when we have enough to have a controlling interest in it, we can change their programming over to something that should please the Triarchs.
Assistant: Edutainment?
Smolder: Exactly. We remove a source of hate, and bring education and fun. If this works, then we'll see about turning that American tabloid news program into an Equestrian news program.
Assistant: From what I've heard, the viewers of that wouldn't even notice until you put Ponies in place of the Humans.
I mourn.
Rest peacefully, Chrysalis. You will be missed. May your wisdom guide the Hive.
Fuck off, Megan. I'm going to have to remember that. Things is gonna get fugly for a while. How will the Earth authorities weasel-word their way out of this one? We'll find out.
People like Barry seem to actually believe that they and they alone are God's chosen one. Oh I'm sure he was a good little boy who said his goodnight prayers and always went to church but if he had his way, every man, woman, and child would worship him or die. Oh and I should note that this option only applies if they are white and Christian. Anyone else gets death.
As to the media, they only see the world in varying shades of green and gold if you catch my meaning. 👍👎 for the bloggers.
A truly good shake up chapter. It really has alot of impact. Chrysalis is a character I will miss, she was in many cases a realist and the one willing to do what was necessary in cases, the loss of that mentality following this could be problematic. I do wonder if anyone is going to think the position of Mark's aid to camp is cursed though, this is the second time he's lost one to enemy action, so I wonder who will next fill that role.
One can assume Mark is now perhaps going to have second thoughts on his choice to open up relations with Earth, perhaps he will blame himself for Chrysalis death.
Besides the pollical fallout even if they avoided the killers from being able to voice their opinions for the world to hear, they've just proven that the Equestrians aren't invincible, they can be caught unaware and killed and that certain weapons are effective against them. For anyone else looking to do them harm that is an encouragement following all of the spectacular abelites they had to date been demonstrating. There will no doubt be consequences from that.
I can definitely see Equestrian security following this being kicked up a notch. Should be interesting to see what form that takes.
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Tragically, humans have proven time and time again that is you remove one source of lies, filth, and hate, another five will spring up. The like-minded and sympathetic audience doesn't care who provides them with “entertainment news” that reinforces their biases.
I wanted to read this before going to bed. Man, how can you do this. This will be short night.
Damn.
Chrysalis and Mark have created a entire subrace of Changelings. Their Drones become 'Companion Lings'.
I think they should introduce them to the public in topics around Chrysalis next talk on Earth.
That terrorist just destroyed a entire origin of subrace of Lings that scientists could prove increased the life quality, happiness and probably life expectations of a individual.
That should help get the religious zealous organisation on earth to get even under more socially exuded pressure.
Imagen the millions of people that love Startrek etc, they be extremely pissed that the creator of the Snuggel/Cuddle Bug companion was murdered by a mentally condition biast wanne be hero.
To bad, i hoped for Bean verse Chrysalis & Mark verse Chrysalis to meet at least once more.
I guess i was simply never to be...
Barry got off easy.
I hope Chrysalis rests well, knowing that her work is done and her children and husband shall carry the torch forward.
Honestly, as soon as I realized the death wasn't going to be a fake-out, my willing suspension of disbelief and engagement with the story utterly collapsed and I had trouble even finishing the chapter.
Death of "named" characters is a very specialized and highly misunderstood narrative tool and has an intrinsic gravitas that requires a lot of set-up to be used properly. When used incorrectly or out of context, instead of achieving its aims, it just causes the experiential/emotional/tonal/atmospheric side of reader engagement to collapse, which causes everything else to collapse as it clutches at curtains and other set dressing in an attempt to arrest its fall.
Most notably, you have to foreshadow it being a possibility in the tone you set from the beginning, because, once the reader has read about 20,000 words (there's a reason that's the recommended length for an Act 1), their expectations for the tone of the story and the set of compatible actions have ossified.
In this story's case, you actively built an expectation that character death wasn't a hazard by spending a great deal of focus on showing how competent they were and having them outmanoeuvre a character the reader's mind will toss in the same bucket.
(Even professionally published works screw this up. See, for example, Voldemort's return in the Harry Potter series or L's death in Death Note.)
Among other reasons, the whole "truth is stranger than fiction"/"readers never truly forget there's an author shaping things" side of things means that, the "more named" a character is, the more valuable we recognize them to be as a storytelling tool and, thus, the more we're predisposed to assume the author will recognize the amount of value that has been poured into building up said tool. When you see someone given a brand new laptop, you don't expect them to smash it with a sledgehammer.
(Our relationship with fiction is very deeply shaped by the cultural expectations we've been raised into, because fiction isn't the paint, it's the paintbrush... the concepts and expectations already existing in the reader's mind are the paint. You're not actually writing "the story"... you're writing a sequence of inputs to cause it to emerge from what's already in the reader's head.)
If that gravitas and "fits the setup"-ness isn't respected and the necessary context-building isn't done, then character death turns into the red and black alicorn OC of narrative techniques.
I'm reminded of a line from Jacob Geller's video essay, Every Zelda is the Darkest Zelda, which expresses problems in the same vein: "Being messed up is not a theme. Darkness is not a narrative. Violence on its own is not mature."
Character death is the tip of an iceberg, built from decisions made to shape the reader's expectations... a punchline that only becomes a joke when put in the context of the correct setup.
(Or, as Joshua Essoe says in his guide to writing action sequences and sex scenes, like an action sequence or a sex scene. You can't literally start right into the action without wasting the narrative power of the action scene, because action sequences and sex scenes, as emotional and narrative tools, gain their efficacy from the process of expectation-building. They're the culminations of larger patterns.)
Either way, it was such a narrative record-scratch for me that, in one fell swoop, it took me from looking forward to this story to being disinterested enough that, even with the entirety of writing and proofreading this to mull it over, I'm still unsure whether I'm going to stay subscribed (it normally takes truly horrendous writing for me to unsubscribe from something) and whether my "you want to read the next chapter" impulse has been derailed so thoroughly that re-reading something like Destinies would register more as "the next chapter" than whatever actually follows.
Well, THAT came out of bucking nowhere.
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Equestrians aren't invincible? What a redicules idea.
Nothing that exists is invincible. Beside imaginary gods that don't exists, but people insist telling people to do shit...
If they even hinted at it than they would not need personal guards, security personnel for installations or any shield magic.
Frankly I find it redicules, everything and everyone that actually exists have one weakness or another.
Really hoping the terrorists get put into isolation cells and die due to total isolation.
Something Luna/Nightmare Moon somehow overcome.
That said, their security will get tighter and if at all, their only remaining weakness is their caring for human lives.
If Mark had not focus on human guest safety priorities, the assassin would not have even get to shot his arrow at Chrysalis.
It's been quite a while since I last read your chakat universe stories but If I remember right the main charakters fled from Earth to Chakona after someone got killed(this chapter reminded me of that storyline).
I hope in contrast contact will not stop going forward.
That has everything to do with it.
War Were Declared.
So long, Chrysie! You did good, and you'll be missed!
And you'll still live as long as we remember you.
One aspect about holding the conspirators, Luna can still do dream interrogations to find any other operatives running about.
....then quietly go hunt those guys down....and their friends...and their friends...and so on...and so on...
Did kot expect.to lose sally
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While I can't argue with you literary analysis of how many stories are written, I just wanted to offer this view.
I felt that this approach really adds a sense of realism to the story, that their isn't forewarning, no one calling out to Caesar to beware the ides of March. Thought there was lead up of hints that there would be those who would act against the Equestrians for their own reasons throughout the work which I think qualifies.
But yes the death simply come unexpectedly, which is just as it is in reality, even the most well trained and herculean figure can be laid low and brought to deaths door by a moment of carelessness. The same as a any of us could lose their lives in an unexpected accident.
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Bloody fine idea, I approve!
Luna and Chrysalis where close friends, not only Mark lost someone very special to them.
Empress Trixie will not be pleased that her bugglyhuggly herd mare was murdered, I expect this will severely limit any humans coming through portals to Equestria.
...As in butt naked, so they can't smuggling weapons or stuff.
Including politicians, no exceptions. Because one thing the CIA is well known for is that when they train people that go rogue, it always hit someone hard.
Like 'Bin Laden' for example.
Best example for CIA trained operative slapping everyone once turned rogue.
A unfortunate routine America has running for decades, to this very decade.
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A tragic trope is again reinforced:
The most powerful and successful leaders are killed by poisoning.
The Humans are LUCKY that the one who killed Queen Chrysalis was a rogue agent. If he had been sent by a government, Mark would have declared WAR, then likely have had the leader(s) of that government seized by Changeling agents who likely have been in place for just such a situation for a good while now.
Kind of hoping this isn't permanent and she'll somehow be back...but if that's the case, also hoping the explanation won't be something along the lines of "yep we planned this secretly and didn't tell you Mark, so your reaction would be genuine, tee hee silly stallion" :P
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That's actually one of the reasons I included that mention of "truth is stranger than fiction"... because, just as we expect video games to play fast and loose with realism in the name of ensuring that they're more fun than reality, we also expect authors to play fast and loose with reality in the name of playing into our learned expectations for "the rules of good fiction".
"Truth is stranger than fiction" is actually a bit of a funny saying because it's reversed from what's actually going on. Truth is "the baseline" and fiction isn't allowed to be as strange as truth because fiction has an underlying purpose, while reality just happens.
Hence the thousands of years of philosophers tying themselves in knots trying to understand, rationalize, or justify the motivations of [insert fictional deity here]. Essentially the same problem as Bryan Cantrill humorously laid out when talking about his existential crisis about understanding how un-nuanced Oracle and Larry Ellison's motivations are.
There's a difference between "act against" and "kill". How special-case the killing of named characters is (and how much subtle preparation goes into setting up for it) cannot be understated.
...and that'd be fine, if the proper expectations had been set. Does it help if I analogize it to having someone get shot in the face in a graphic and gory manner in a movie that somehow received a PG rating, which is a spin-off of a G-rated setting? ...because that's roughly analogous.
Well there goes my smile
Did not see that one coming, i mean yes i saw the attack coming... not the death though
Rest in peace Chrysalis, you loved and was loved
😵😭
I think i prefer the Path verse
𝓯𝓾𝓬𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝔀𝓮𝓼𝓸𝓶𝓮...
This is where shit is going south, Equestria made contact with many dimensions, yet it was Earth who cost them the most dearly.
Freedom of speech and religion is one thing, using it to spread lethal chaos destruction and death is not and should not be supported in any way.
Earth has proven to be the Klingon in violence and the deceptive nature of the Romulans, if we speak in Star Trek examples.
Though what I could imagen is humans to be Ferengi as well, especially in regards to their rules of acquisition.
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We're worse then ferengii in my opinion. For example, everything about their culture caters to the constant flow of latinum, that is to say, money. Nothing is off the table in regards to one thing: theft of anything but latinum. No one has ever starved on fereginar. But there humans who will pay a guard to take a cattle prod to the wedding tackle of the slave they bought to rip the food out of children's mouths
Hey Goldfur, you might want to add religious nut cases to the story introduction on the story page after your newest chapter...
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something you said reminded me of what someone said about Dick Tracy:
Dick Tracy himself would never die, but ANY other character might!
so when Tracy's daughter was missing, she was REALLY in danger!
that REALLY heightened the tension!
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Did you miss the buildup Barry had in the chapters before this?
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It's possible, given that I've been reading as it was released, rather than in one big read, but I don't think so.
In my experience, stories that do named character death well establish its possibility strongly enough and early enough that I don't wind up overlooking that sort of thing.
Yep, execution for the others for terrorism, multiple counts of attempted murder, and multiple counts of attempted regicide. But not public executions, not where they can be seen or heard and try to make a final message for their cause. A quiet execution with official witnesses only and their bodies (or whatever remains there might be afterward) put in unmarked/unnamed locations.
*EDIT*
After thinking over some coffee about it, they all planned, coordinated, and acted together as a single entity, which makes them all co-conspirators. Which means they can be hit with the following charges as well; conspiracy to commit terrorism, conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, conspiracy to commit regicide, as well as actual murder in the first degree and actual regicide. And those are just the charges worthy of a death sentence, not to mention all of the much smaller possible charges that pale in comparison to the aforementioned ones.
Hard for history to repeat itself when immortals as rulers have first-hoof experience of horrors of war and peace times. I can see many demand their ruling, unlike company payed short lived politician.
Immortals will still have to life through anything political decisions result in afterwards, including environmental preservation.
The war humans started and ended resulted in poor outcomes for everyone, no matter the side.
So poorly that the peace treaty became nothing more than a ceasefire in the bloodiest conflict of humans historical recording spanning ever millenia.
Mark Wells and others personally would try to never sentence a sapient being to death if feasible, but that only once the concept is at least a few decades old. Humanity is slow to change.
I would guess also to never sentence a individual to a life where they would never have a chance at freedom. At least one chance should be given under restrictions of being roughly watched.
However all of this is beyond any frame of reference they would have on humans yet official. Instead one could wish to talk about what comes after.
There is always a after, especially for immortals.
Is quite clear that the horrible crimes committed over the centuries to one another can not allowed to happen again and again, like it has for centuries.
We cannot bury this fact of incidents repeating periodically. Wars of our past have always the same reasons and motives.
We must learn from it and we must be better than it, with Mark Wells as a leader it can be accomplished.
He knows human abd Equestrians.
To forget the pain we have inflicted on each other is to let it all happen again. Humanity has proven that hundreds of times. Especially in this chapter...
We can agreed on a general course of action, but they have not lead to a satisfactory result, or will anytime soon.
The wrongs we have committed must be made right... eventually.
Mark would be instrumental with his immortality.
The tenets of real peace have been irreversibly broken long ago, we must agree on the right course of actions to make amends and learn from the past.
And not willful ignore its teaching for personal gain.
Though many in power on earth understandably might feel otherwise, given they be on the chopping block, or rather their position.
If someone asked me to forgive one of those who made it their monetary rewarded business to fuck other over, I don’t think I could give them a chance.
Just like a baker is producing bread to feed others.
So do politician get payed to obtain their position and help corruption to prosperity. It's not even a secret.
A nationwide failing, world powers are openly practice it, perhaps a good example is how america has laws supporting it, refusing to change their obvies flaws.
We in germany have the same problems...
Russia don't even pretend with laws, they just do it openly in the streets.
Human government wisdom brought from centuries of corruption have ruined us very thoroughly.
Everyone knows it, knowing when someone would stop fighting it, they suffer lethal accidents, financial ruine and suddenly not to subtile media smoke campaigns.
But we must be better than those we accuse of, something longevity would be great for!
Like that of true immortals towards time beings.
We just have to tighten the security as seen here.
Especially for the fact that future trials will be very... delicate.
Something depending on nation can be passive physically and mentally torturous.
Not to mention social or actual death afterwards.
The last thing Equestrian want to do is give religious folliwers a blank check on security concerns.
We all should know exactly just how much can be labeled as security of the state.
Especially a currency ruled one.
They refuse to allow this concession simply because it is a boon for them.
That in exchange for a token effort like lije citizens stamp, everyone be efficiently be treated a slave to the system, but a slave none the less.
A slave not noticing the cage it is hold in, will not try to break free of its cage.
The safety of a entire economy of corruption is hard to dismantling. Any idea how mutch churches make alone?
The entire species on earth will have to give more than token efforts to get anywhere.
There are a lot of subversive elements within the world, if given the chance they rip organisations and individual working against their machinations to shreds and slaughter any survivors.
Immortals are obviously their go to target.
Getting called a group of radicals or terrorist to add salt to injury.
Villains of one faction are hero for another one...
It is not even some secret organization or society of supremacists or a mysterious 'something else at work', we make literally books and movies out of the shit for entertainment, because its so widely known.
Many not even give any intend to find out how this happened, because that would only lead to ruling government factions.
Dismantling the most powerful weapon in their arsenal just because you asked nicely will not work.
Mark Wells and his allies have one Tarterus of a uphill battle before them.
The triarchy must make concessions for the sake of cooperation and financial support, every movement needs funds to move anything beyond individual belives.
The ability to propagate is a major tool to use to make or break the law.
Humans politician thrive after being given such impunity.
With Equestrian ambassadors eventually settled, I think the next matter is jurisdiction, citizenship, and legislation. Especially after that chapter.
Because even the simpel minded see the issue that will come from it.
Any being to reside within any nation will be expected to follow the nations laws.
If reasonable, something that is actually a entirely three dimensional puzzle in itself...
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And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? [5] And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
And when the great tower falls and Babylons gardens burn, as the consorts and wives of the powers fall to the throngs of the vengeful and their children cast upon the raised pikes and bayonets of the wronged, when the titan rises and the tyrant falls, as they must... will you bandy such ideals then?
You are not wrong with saying the world is a broken place, but your solution is one I shudder to see made in this world. Not all wisdom brings joy Herr Black. And you of all people should know better.
https://m.11848269
Mortals to my knowledge are worse than God's, my the simple fact that 'gods will suffer the aftermath' if every major development.
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👍
👍
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Let me put another way: bad for us, worse for Mark.
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No... The War has started:
The feathers gloves come off...
Is will be a time of pain...
Here come the Equestrian Spec ops to the ones that have declared war officaly:
If they are worse off, the Changeling inquisition comes for a visit:
But we readers have to wait for the next chapter until than:
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I want to see the real Elton...
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camo.fimfiction.net/EDomHj9C9yToeBV9O-YgUN5u4Fw_FivNWA1XTdYrNac?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tumblr.com%2F52cea8464266170c7a52df45b1a94a21%2Ftumblr_inline_mfi5vhwNQY1rtf8yz.gif
Making a example out of them is important, they be nameless and graveless criminals.
Maybe Mark should make comparisons about a, 'Adolf Hitler' or 'Bin Laden' in his next speech about the people that attacked him.
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The one with this Chrysalis from Quantum Gallop?
chakatsden.com/Pony/nightmarecrysalis.png
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She got better .