Sixty-eight years since the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Twilight glared up at the clock on her wall as she sat at her desk with several files floating in front of her.
Inkpot was late that day. She hated it when he was late. When he was late, it meant that day court was going to start late, and when court started late, it meant that setup was taking longer than normal. That could only mean one thing: court was going to be more complicated than usual.
This had rarely been a problem before Sunshower retired, but these days it was almost a weekly occurrence. Twilight stretched, cracking her back, before settling back down to continue her waiting game. Her ears twitched at every sound, hoping each one to be approaching hoofbeats.
Finally, after another five minutes, her door swung open and the dark grey Earth Pony stumbled in.
“Sorry, Your Highness! There’s been a change of plans. Several of the Canterlot Superior Court’s judges came down with some awful bug last week and haven’t been able to take the bench,” he gasped, leaning against Twilight’s desk to catch his breath. “There was already backlog of sentencing cases, and now it’s getting worse. I had to cancel your normal court session; instead you’ll be passing sentences.”
“Unacceptable, Inkpot!” Twilight snapped. “I should have been informed of this days ago.”
“I know, I know! I only found out myself earlier today. I’ve spent the last two hours preparing briefings for you,” he groaned, holding out a stack of scrolls.
Twilight glared at the scrolls for a moment, but didn’t move. “So what you’re saying is you haven’t done any of the paperwork I gave you this morning.”
Inkpot blanched. “Well, no. No, I haven’t, but-”
“In that case, you can do it tonight. I hope you didn’t have plans,” she said, standing up and walking pointedly past him.
“Actually, I do...”
“Did,” Twilight corrected.
“But Princess, I literally didn’t have the time to do it! A-and none of it needs to be finished until tomorrow evening anyway!” Inkpot stammered, jumping in front of her.
“Yes, but I need to check it over when it’s finished to ensure you don’t misfile anything again,” Twilight replied dismissively, walking around him. “Have it on my desk by sunrise.”
“...You know what? No.”
Twilight froze. She took a deep breath before turning around and affixing him with a venomous stare.
“You heard me! File your own damn paperwork,” he growled, throwing the casefiles on the floor in front of her. “I haven’t misfiled anything in over a year and have been working thanklessly — and I really mean thanklessly — to make sure everything is exactly as you want it, and all I have to show for it is a few overpriced therapy sessions.”
Twilight blinked at him, stunned at the response. “Do you want to get fired?” she managed to get out.
“You’re going to fire me. Right. That’s funny,” Inkpot said, rolling his eyes. He turned around and sauntered off before calling over his shoulder. “I’m taking the rest of the week off. I’ll see you on Monday.”
Twilight could only gape after him as he walked away. She wasn’t sure what was worse; the fact that he had the gall to speak to her that way, or that he had the nerve to call her bluff. Either way, the result was the same, she was alone with a disorganized pile of scrolls and no seneschal present to give her a helping hoof.
She snatched up the scrolls with her magic and stomped away, grumbling to herself. She opened one and buried her nose in it. Sight wasn’t necessary; she knew the way to the Throne Room by heart, and there was nopony foolish enough to interrupt her reading.
Or rather, she thought that there was nopony foolish enough to interrupt her. The sound of a voice calling her name informed her that she was sorely mistaken. She lowered the scroll to find Luna staring at her sheepishly. Pursing her lips, she glared, waiting for the other Princess to speak.
”Hey, Twilight, can we talk?” Luna asked, rubbing her hooves uncomfortably
“I’m busy.”
“But-”
“Enough, Luna! I said no!” Twilight shouted as Luna shrunk away from her.
“Oh. Okay,” Luna murmured before turning around and slinking off.
Twilight shook her head and continued in the opposite direction. Arriving in the Throne Room a few minutes later, she took her seat on the throne and the room fell silent as a guard approached her, head bowed.
“Your Highness, would you happen to know-”
“Inkpot won’t be joining us today, bailiff. Let us begin.”
“Oh, I see,” the guard mumbled. He glanced over his shoulder before looking back at Twilight’s hooves. “In that case, let me explain what we-”
“I’m aware,” Twilight interrupted. “I want this over quickly, if this gets delayed for any reason I'm going to start holding ponies in contempt. Bring in the first convict.”
The bailiff frowned and gestured to the guards at the front of the hall. “Our first, ummm, defendant is Quintal Weight, who has pled guilty to fraud.”
A pair of guards led an aged stallion up to her, and he immediately prostrated himself before her. “Your Highness, I-”
“Bailiff, if he speaks out of turn again, muzzle him,” Twilight growled, finding and unrolling the scroll detailing the case. “Now give me the short version, I really don’t feel like going through this entire thing.”
“Y-yes, Your Highness,” the bailiff gulped. “Mr. Quintal was the CFO of the Manehattan Mutual Trust, and was recently accused of siphoning millions of the company’s bits into his own accounts. He pled guilty to the charges as part of a bargain, the terms of which can be found at the top of that scroll.”
“Section twelve of the Equestrian Code of Financial Law states that the penalty for that particular violation is ten to twenty-five years in prison, and/or monetary fines,” Twilight muttered, glancing at the scroll.
“B-but, Your Highness, I made a deal! I was supposed to avoid prison,” Quintal Weight whined.
“The Manehattan Trust recently received a loan from the Equestrian Financial Bureau; a loan they haven’t been able to pay back. In short, by stealing from them, you stole from me,” Twilight snarled. “Twenty-five years without the possibility of parole. In addition, your assets will be seized to pay back the money you stole. Also, any assets you’ve transferred to your family and friends since you started committing your crimes will also be confiscated, just in case you’re hiding any money with them.” She glanced towards the bailiff. “Get rid of him.”
A restless murmur passed through the assembled crowd as a pair of guards arrived to lead Quintal away while the next prisoner was led in. Dissent, mixed with scattered approval. Many of the nobles present weren’t entirely happy with the way Twilight had treated one of their wealthy brethren, but others seemed to follow her logic.
At least they weren’t all hopeless.
“Next is Ms. Wingding. She worked at the Weather Factory in Cloudsdale and was caught stealing rainclouds red-hoofed. Then she was subsequently convicted,” the bailiff started.
“Rainclouds?” Twilight muttered. She frowned down at the cuffed Pegasus. “Of all the things to steal, why rainclouds?”
“I was selling them to the buffalo. They rely on natural rain to fall on their grazing lands, but they’ve been in a drought. I was trying to help,” Wingding replied tearfully. “I know I was wrong, but they needed help.”
“I’d like to add that the Factory’s foreman has asked for leniency. He said they wouldn’t have even noticed that anything was missing if she hadn’t been caught,” the bailiff interjected. “And the Equestrian criminal code does not require prison time for petty theft, community service is the traditional option here.”
“Right...” Twilight sighed. “Tell me, Wingding, how much did you make off of the... merchandise?”
“N-not much. I didn’t really ask for much, though,” Wingding whimpered.
“Oh for the love of... Four to seven years in prison,” Twilight groaned. “Next!”
“What? B-but you can’t!” Wingding stammered.
“I can and I have,” Twilight grunted. “I said next!”
“The Princess has spoken. I’m sorry Wingding,” the bailiff said to the pegasus as he led the heartbroken mare away. He came back a minute later with a young Unicorn stallion. “Alpha Delta, convicted of harassment and third-degree assault.”
“Who was the victim?” Twilight asked.
“A young mare who-”
“Thirty years,” Twilight interrupted. “Next!”
“Your Highness, witnesses said that he never actually touched her, nor did he try to. The assault charge was a technicality,” the bailiff protested.
“He’s right! I was drunk and never meant for anything to happen. I’ll never drink ag-”
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Twilight growled.
“Princess, there’s never been a thirty-year sentence for first-degree assault, let alone third. Are you certain you..?” the bailiff began before sighing and shaking his head. “Yes, Your Highness. Follow me, Mr. Delta.” The bailiff led the stallion away.
Twilight groaned when he didn’t immediately return. Of course there would be complications. Why wouldn’t there be?
Growing impatient, she unrolled one of the scrolls Inkpot had given her and began to scan it, hoping to get a head start on the evening's work. She made it a fifth of the way through before her thoughts were interrupted by an eruption of cheers from a small crowd of ponies gathered in the back of the room, causing her to drop the scroll.
She glared towards the door as the bailiff led an Earth Pony towards her.
“Princess Twilight, Mr. Cherry Split,” he said, gesturing to the shackled stallion.
“And he’s been convicted of..?” Twilight asked, barely keeping herself from losing her patience as the crowd cheered again with the announcement of Cherry’s name.
“Uhhh... Mayhem, Your Highness. He’s committed just about every non-violent crime on the books and several that were written just for him. Impersonating a Royal Guard, reckless use of a carriage, loitering, trespassing, breaking and entering, health code violations via secretly slipping cats into restaurant kitchens, stealing every piece of green cloth in Canterlot, defacing Crown property... The list goes on and on,” the bailiff said, gesturing to a scroll in front of him.
“He doesn’t belong in jail, he belongs in an institution,” Twilight muttered.
“Those are for crazy ponies! I’m not crazy!” Cherry chirped. “Everypony knows Starswirl looks better in yellow!”
“Th-that was you? You painted Starswirl’s statue?” Twilight screeched.
“Yeah and it’s too bad they caught me! I was going to come back with a chisel and change the plaque to say-”
“Enough!” Twilight bellowed. “Give him the maximum sentence and get him out of my sight!” She was immediately met with a deluge of jeers from Cherry’s seemed fanclub. “Hold them in contempt as well!”
“Next on the docket is Broken Fence. She stole classified documents from the Ministry of the Interior,” the bailiff said, nodding towards an approaching Earth Pony.
“What documents did she steal?” Twilight asked.
“Files pertaining to our trade deals with the minotaurs; financial data and stuff,” the bailiff replied. “You have the files with your paperwork.”
“Oh. This is... sensitive information,” Twilight muttered after looking over the evidence. “This isn’t good Fence. You’re in a lot of trouble.”
“I was only bringing it home! I was going to bring it back the very next-”
“Quiet, traitor!” Twilight interrupted.
“T-traitor? I-I-I was only showing it to my colt, he’s really interested in that stuff. He’s only thirteen, he wasn’t going to tell anypony!”
“Throw her in the dungeon, she’ll be tried for treason in military court,” Twilight proclaimed.
“Good gracious, you can’t be serious!” Broken Fences squeaked as she was dragged away. “Please, Princess! Have mercy, please!”
“L-last for today is Saccharine,” the bailiff read, shifting uncomfortably as he avoided looking at Broken Fences. “Pled guilty to ponyslaughter. He confessed to killing his wife.”
“He confessed to killing his wife and only got ponyslaughter? How? Who’s the attorney who made that deal?” Twilight asked bewilderedly.
“I-I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened!” Saccharine answered sadly. “She was hitting me with a rolling pin and I just grabbed the closest thing to try to fend her off and- and...”
“He hit her once, Your Highness. It’s all there,” the bailiff explained, gesturing to one of Twilight’s scrolls. “A neighbor who witnessed the fight through a window corroborated his story, as did the autopsy; he grabbed a cutting board and swung it at her without looking. It hit her right in the temple, she went down, and he immediately called for help.”
“That’s awful,” Twilight said distastefully.
“I’d like to add that it was not the first time she beat him like that. We have multiple hospital records, dozens of witness statements, and the testimony of their three foals, all stating that she was a habitual abuser,” the bailiff sighed. “Honestly this is a major failing on our part, law enforcement should have stepped in a long time ago.”
“Be that as it may, he killed his wife,” Twilight said, staring down at Saccharine. “Twenty years, possibility of parole in ten.”
The bailiff sighed again and tried to lead Saccharine away, but the stallion held firm. “P-princess, what will happen to my foals? I don’t have any relatives to take care of them!”
“They’ll be cared for,” Twilight said coldly, already standing up to leave. “Court adjourned.”
She stomped out of the Throne Room, making for her office with a long trail of papers following her. As glad as she was that court was over, having taken less than an hour, it only meant that she had to get to filing that much sooner. Not that she hated filing, in fact, she remembered a time when she had actually loved it, but these days it just seemed so... tedious.
She pushed her way to the office and was surprised to find that it was occupied by none other than her nephew.
“Dusk? Weren’t you supposed to be going home today? You’ll miss your train,” Twilight said.
He jumped slightly when Twilight spoke and turned around to face the Princess. “Yeah, I know. Something important came up though; too important to put off,” he said, uncertain at first, but increasingly confident as he spoke.
Twilight sighed internally as Dusk approached her. Yet another problem to deal with. “I suppose you’re here to tell me all about it?”
“Something like that,” he growled. Alarms began going off in Twilight’s head a moment too late as her nephew winded up and slapped her across the face. “How dare you yell at Luna like that!”
Twilight blinked as her brain struggled to process what had just happened. “E-excuse me?”
“I was there! I was right around the corner. Luna asked to talk to you, and you yelled at her,” Dusk hissed. “You had absolutely no right to do that!”
“Dusk, let me explain something to you. You just hit me. I could call the Royal Guard and-”
“I don’t care!” he screamed. “I hate what you’ve become! You’re a miserable wretch!”
“You listen here, Duke-”
“No, you listen. Have you ever wondered why I don’t bring my grandfoals here to visit? Because of you!” Dusk interrupted. “Because I don’t want them to grow up dreading having to see you and I don’t want them to remember you as some old bitch who can’t stand to be around anypony.”
Twilight was speechless. She was only able to stand there with her mouth hanging open as Dusk pressed his attack.
“It’s almost as if you like making other ponies unhappy. You sit here in your office all day barking at anypony who comes in, making decisions with no input from anypony else, then, when you’re done with that, you emerge, complain all through dinner about anything and everything, then go to bed to do it all over again! And if the rest of us are lucky, you might grace us with a short visit to berate us for some small matter we had no control over!”
Twilight opened her mouth, but Dusk cut off her retort.
“Seriously, the only one who can stand to be around you anymore is Luna, and you treat her like dirt! Worse than dirt! She receives more of your abuse than the rest of us put together.” He stomped a hoof on the floor, shaking with fury. “Let me ask you something, when was the last time you did something that made somepony happy?”
Dusk waited as Twilight stumbled over her words before giving a mirthless laugh. “That’s what I thought, you can’t even remember. You make me sick,” he sighed, sitting down and shaking his head, unable to look at Twilight. “There. I said what I needed to. Do what you have to.”
Finally able to get a word in, Twilight advanced on the stallion, ready to lay into her with every bit of frustration she had built up, but found herself unable. There was something stopping her; the expression in Dusk’s eyes relayed Twilight could never have expected to see.
Fear.
Twilight’s nephew — her own flesh and blood — was terrified of her.
“Have I... really been that bad?” Twilight whimpered.
Dusk blinked once, then glanced up at Twilight, bewildered, but only for a moment. The briefest glimmer of hope flickered in his eyes. “You’ve been... distant since Fluttershy died, and after we lost Applejack, it became downright difficult to be around you. It only got worse after we lost Rainbow Dash,” he murmured. “We’ve all been so worried about you, and you’ve done nothing to alleviate that. In fact, everything you’ve done has made us worry harder. We tried to reach out to you more times than I can count, but you always ran away. You just hid in your books and ignored us like... like dad said you used to when you were a filly!”
Twilight collapsed to a sitting position, thoroughly ashamed. Dusk stepped forward timidly and continued, “About what Rainbow said at Applejack’s wake, the thing about Celestia... she was wrong to say it, and I can’t stress that enough, but she only said what we were all thinking. You’re not the pony I remember from growing up, and it really hurts to see you like this.”
“I... I don’t know what to say,” Twilight whined, but Dusk wasn’t finished.
“You remember, don’t you? How excited I always was to come visit you? I lived for the times when dad took us to Canterlot to visit Aunt Twilight and Aunt Luna, and when I had foals, I made sure to keep the tradition going because I loved it and I knew they did too,” Dusk sighed. “You were my idol. I wanted to be like you in every way and all that work I put in was so that I could be like you. I loved you as much as I did my parents; I still do, but I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.
“The fact that I have to keep my grandfoals away from you? It hurts, Aunt Twilight. Watching you turn into this grouchy old mare hurts! I’m sorry I hit you, but I’m at the end of my rope and it hurts so much and I don’t know what to do anymore!”
“I guess I have been out of sorts,” Twilight said quietly.
“You’ve been ‘out of sorts’? That’s it?” Dusk replied, his voice dripping with disappointment. “Aunt Twilight, you’ve been ‘out of sorts’ the way Discord makes things slightly disorganized.”
Twilight flinched at the barb, but didn’t respond. Dusk returned to Twilight’s desk and gestured to an ornate box sitting on it. “I want to show you something.”
“How did you get the Elements out of my room?” Twilight asked, approaching the desk cautiously.
Dusk ignored her and gently poured the Elements out onto the desk. “I still remember the first time I saw these, like it was only yesterday. I was six and we took a camping trip to Rainbow Falls, all of us. Do you remember it?”
He shot her a glare, but didn’t wait for her to answer. “The first night we were there, we all gathered around the fire and you, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Applejack told the story of how you all became friends. You went all out, and by the end, you were practically putting on a play. At the very end, you brought these out. I’ll never forget it; the way they shined, even in the dark. It was almost like they were alive.”
“I remember that night...” Twilight murmured. “You couldn’t take your eyes off them.”
“And look at them now,” Dusk growled, waving a hoof over them. “They’re practically dead.”
“Yeah, they’ve been like that for years... After our friends started dying, they started to fade. Almost like they’ve given up-”
“That’s a lie.”
Twilight blinked a few times before turning to Dusk, only to meet an angry sneer. “They were fine until you started pushing us away. You’re acting like they just up and abandoned you.”
“I’m the only pony left with a connection to them and they resist any attempt I make to reach out to them!” Twilight snapped. “They did abandon me!”
“Yeah, well maybe they feel the same way about you!” Dusk snarled back.
Dusk’s words cut through her like a hot blade, cutting off Twilight’s retort before she could even put it to thought. “Wh... What?”
“‘The Elements picked our friends to wield them because those five ponies were living embodiments of what they represent.’ That’s what you taught me,” Dusk explained. “You also said that the connection went both ways, that not only did the Elements work through our friends, but that they also drew their power from our friends. You know what that means, don’t you?”
Twilight didn’t speak. She had utterly no idea where Dusk was going with his point.
He gave a frustrated groan and continued. “That means that since you’re the only pony left with a connection to them, they need to draw their power from you, but you’ve been acting in ways that are the opposite of what they represent.”
Twilight continued to gape at him. As much as she wanted to deny everything that he was saying, she just couldn’t bring herself to.
“Think about it. You’re miserable and haven’t even made an attempt to be happy in years, you’re mean and spiteful, you don’t think about other ponies anymore and haven’t done anything for anypony else in who-knows-how-long, you haven’t been honest with any of us about your feelings, and you’ve been too absorbed in your own pain that you haven’t been there for the rest of us when we needed you,” Dusk stated, pointing to each Element as he spoke of them. “It’s no wonder they’re acting funny. And Magic- Magic can’t function without the rest of them, so it’s probably hurting the worst of all of them!”
Then, it happened. For the briefest moment, she could’ve sworn that Magic had been shining, as if the Element was trying to speak to her. As if it was trying to tell her that Dusk had spoken the truth.
And it was the truth. Every word of it.
She had been acting against everything she had ever learned, everything her friends had taught her and that she had taught them. She had told Rarity that she would look after her foals, but when was the last time she had seen any of them? She had promised Pinkie to keep smiling, and she had broken that promise.
She... had let them down; she had let them all down.
A lump formed in her throat and she could feel her eyes burning as her world came crashing down around her.
“D-Dusk, I... Oh, Celestia, what have I done?” Twilight whispered. “Dusk, I am so s-”
Dusk Shine held up a hoof, cutting her off. “You can apologize to me all you want later and when you do, I’ll accept it, but right now you need to go find Aunt Luna. She deserves an apology more than anypony.”
“Y-yeah. Yeah, you’re right,” Twilight replied softly, turning to leave. “Tell... Tell the bailiff to inform the ponies I sentenced today that I’m going to go over their cases again and resentence them. Today- Most of the sentences I gave out today weren’t really fair. And Dusk? Thanks.”
Twilight galloped down the hall at top speed, ignoring anypony she came across until she came to Luna’s room.
“Luna? Luna, I’m sorry!” she called out, bursting into Luna’s room without hesitation, only to find it empty.
Not only that, there was a distinct buzz of dark magic in the air.
welp, guess its time for another 1000 year wait...
god I hope I'm wrong...especially since Twilight's finally got it through that thick head of hers to stop being a grouch.
uh OH
Oh dear... Nightmare Moon returns.
Luna: "April Fools!"
For a moment, I was really beginning to despise Twilight...
I pray she will be able to turn herself around finally, now that her eyes have finally been forced open.
Du du dunnnnn
Well, dammit. This bodes ill.
nightmare moon the sequel
6929098 And the cycle restarts, history is repeated, and in 1000 years there will be a new faithful student sent off to ponyville to make some friends on the 1000th summer sun celebration.
Oh. Oh god. Oh god no, is this going to happen again? Are you going to make this go down again?
Oh please no. Please let me be wrong about what I fear is about to happen.
Oh, FRAKK. History repeats itself. Way to go, Stupid Starbutt.
well shit not luna ..... NO WAIT NIGHTMARE
SHIT
"Bring in the first convict."
Ah, Twilight is channeling the Red Queen, I see.
Really went out of your way to turn us against how Twilight was, didn't you? Especially since this more or less came out of nowhere.
I'm surprised she didn't kick ten puppies on her way to the throne and have guards assigned to kicking the rest of them all through the hearings.
Yay for new chapter!
6929686
I don't think her taking a turn for the worse came out of nowhere. I mean, after losing her friends I could certainly see her becoming more bitter, for a short while at least.
6929686
Though I will admit Dusk's hitting her feels like a tad too much.
6929686
Twilight was already starting to seclude herself back when Fluttershy died 13 years ago.
She was acting angry and ready to lash out at Applejacks funeral 9 years ago.
When Dash died 3 years ago she was rude to her help, cruel to Luna, making poor decisions and growing violent and lashing out.
Not exactly "Out of nowhere". While we've only seen it getting there from 4 chapters, it's been building for nearly 15 years.
Well... things are going bad fast.
WOW, Twilight really went dark and oh Crap Nightmare Moon returns.
6929989
Depression was expected. Angry lashing out, etc. But years of being a heartless tyrant, abusive to those who cared about her the most? Throwing away the lives of her subjects?
The only word for Twilight at that point was 'evil'. If it'd been anyone else we'd have been waiting for the friendship laser to wipe them off the map. (The one that isn't coming.)
THAT is what came out of nowhere. I expected a slow decline in her personal health and damages to her relationships, sequestering herself away except for the most important of official work as she fails to come to grasp with her losses. This... THIS is out of left field.
6929538
Technically, she's the second star butt to do this. Damn star butts... making moon butts cry and turning them into dark magic tyrants. For shame!
Uh twilight
maybe you should apologize to all the ponies that you just threw in prison without a thought
. . . am i the only one thinking about the poor kids
Oh, no.
Please brace yourself, Luna. Don't fall in dark side again.
Well you know what they say about history having this way of repeating itself. And now you have to reap what you sow. Question is, will this utterly destroy twilight and everything she is. Or will she have the strenght needed to face this coming trial. The crown of a monarch may look like a decorative piece. A symbol of authority. But the weight that comes with it. It's enough to drive one mad. Heheheheh We shall see wich hand fate favors.
6930240
Isn't that exactly what happened? Like 6929989 said, she's been in decline ever since the first of her friends died, we've just only seen small snippets of the last decade or so. I may not like the choices she made or how she turned out, but I don't think I can necessarily blame her. These where her first huge personal losses of her life, her closest friends for 50+ years. I don't know about you, but I've never had anything come close to this, so I honestly have no idea how I'd react to this situation.
To be honest, this feels like the kind of situation that could have been resolved if someone, Luna, Dusk, SOMEONE, close to her, simply punched her in the face during one of her outbursts and gave her a speech like this one years ago. If one of your closest family members/friends/confidants punching you in the face can't get the message that you're going off the deep end across, then I don't know what will. However, I don't feel this would work until all of her friends had died for 2 reasons: 1) she wasn't far enough over the proverbial line that she'd have the realization and snap back or 2) her next friend dying would just set her back down the path again.
Anyway, she made bad choices and is now paying the price for them. Hopefully the prices aren't too steep, but they're not looking great at the moment.
Dark magic, uh oh
Well, here we go again...
The happy came back too late! IT CAME BACK TOO LATE!!! *sobs*
OH Hell No!!! You can´t. You just can´t YOU MONSTER!!! HOW DARE YOU!!! HOW DOUBLE FUCKING DARE YOU!!!!!! ( oh god why you play with my emotions this way man)..............Tahankyou, now i gotta have a drink.........oh god.
Oh...oh please...no...
Why do I get the feeling I'm going to go sit in a corner and cry for a while when this story concludes?
6930854
You took that out of context. That's meant to be read with the part about not expecting her to become an evil tyrant.
And no, I can neither condone nor understand this. I've lost more than many people will in this life, but she is the MONARCH. The leader. When she has a bad day she's supposed to stow her shit for the good of her people. This was much more than a bad day, so I expected a decline in her work running the world's most powerful nation, and someone snapping her out of it before it got much further. She went full on tyrannical bitch. Seriously, go back and read the penal hearings. A man was a victim to his wife's constant beatings and abuse, and the apparently one time he fights back he accidentally kills her. Thirty years! Now not only is his wife dead and this pony having to sit with the fact he took a life, now he's in prison for thirty years and separated from his remaining family - kids who are likely going to have to be put in a home or an orphanage or something until they're of age to work. They are going to grow up without their parents. That is /evil/.
For Twilight to go THIS far is unexpected. I really think you and the others are downplaying just what she's done to others simply because this story's about her and thus non-main characters don't particularly matter as much. But hell, look at the guy who messed up Starswirl's statue - clearly the people are cheering him as a mutinous hero. If the people are that happy that someone is opposing Twilight, how far away are they from open revolt?
6931480
I can see your point there. But i guess that a couple of decades are not time enough to get the
strength to see what have been the most important thing for you die and knowing that you must live to overcome that pain without being prepared doesn´t help that much. I know she is an All mighty demigod now, but that doesn´t detract from the fact that she is still young for her title. Is estimated that when Luna became NM she was about 1000 years old... Twilight is what? 88?....90 max. I don´t know i stil belive is not enough time.
Side note: Now thinking cool headed now, i guess that the dark magic scense in the last paragraph smels more like a lesson to be learned the hard way than Luna becoming an evil Overlord of Darkness again.
6931480 I didn't read it like that at the time, so sorry about that. But, again, didn't she have a slow decline and this was the tail end of it? She didn't turn tyrant overnight, it gradually happened over the deaths of her friends, didn't it?
About having to stow her shit, I absolutely fucking hate that this is a thing. I get why leaders have to do this, but I can't stand that they have to. Aren't we all told to not bottle our feelings for mental health reasons?
"You have insomnia/panic attacks/severe anxiety/etc due to stress and repressing your emotions for too long."
"But I'm the leader of my people..."
"Oh, sorry, then you're supposed to do that."
"But I need help!"
"Yes you do, but if your people see you as anything other than perfect, they'll freak out."
And I agree that someone should've snapped her out of this years ago. But no one did. I can't remember, but didn't some people try talking to her about her friends and what they wanted her to do, or something like that? Anyway, like I mentioned before, I don't think anything short of slapping her in the face, physically or otherwise, without letter her get a word in edgewise, would work. She dug herself in so deep (or had her head so far up her ass, take your pick), that she couldn't see the light. Just trying to talk her out of it wouldn't work due to her just digging herself deeper.
I still think she can be forgiven. Granted, it would take a really long time, but she has finally been dug out. If she couldn't be forgiven. then she shouldn't be a ruler. Granted, we don't know if she'll get said time, so we'll have to wait and see.
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If you're a good leader, you're never healthy. You're struggling under the impossible weight of everyone else's problems. YOU do not matter, only what you can do for the good of everyone. A lot of people lust after leadership thinking they'll be old European kings, using up everyone else's wealth and doing nothing. A good leader sacrifices the self for the needs of the many. It hurts. It hurts a lot. It's lonely, and it's nothing but stress and hard work. Without going into my life story, I should have died several times now from the stress of my own experiences with leadership.
It sucks, trust me. We can agree with that. But it has to be done. Taking into account Twilight's general naivete, I expected her to slowly lose her will to live and have someone remind her that there are still people who love and need her, and a whole country that depends on her to wake her up to her sense of duty and commitment. But this... this is a grave violation of everything she stood for, everything her crown stands for, the hopes and dreams of Celestia, and a betrayal of the trust and admiration of her subjects.
She went too far. Too selfish. Perhaps, with time, she can serve a penance that will make up for the absolute horror she became.
uh oh not again
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Don't be ridiculous. If there's one thing that's been made clear in this chapter, it's that she doesn't believe in delegation.
In any case, it looks like Nightmare's back and this time she's the lesser of two evils. Twilight might have to do her crying for eternity from the inside of a dungeon cell after she gets overthrown. If not from her former lover, then from a populace immiserated by her weirdly dutiful severity. Most tyrants would be satisfied to screw the backlog and go enjoy some sybaritic pleasures. Not Twilight!
well... it seems that history is about to repeat itself.
Anyone else feels a Deja Vu?
After all, this is eerily similar to Luna's first fall. Remember that?
Nopony appreciated her night, she started to withdraw and then...
Celestia didn't have time to listen to Luna's worries.
It's like the Elements are being betrayed again.
At least this time they did not turn into stone...
Although that might be bad...
because if what I think is going to happen will happen next...
Let's say the title of the story will be fulfilled.
Damn fracking right Twilight had that coming.
I'd cheerfully damn her for just not listening, never mind the arbitary punishments she's taking out on everyone else because of what's she become by her own hand.
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[qutoe]About having to stow her shit, I absolutely fucking hate that this is a thing. I get why leaders have to do this, but I can't stand that they have to.It's a fact of life, just as onerous and inevitable as old age and losing your friends over the years.
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Indeed. Leadership is a responsibilty, not boon.
The long and the short of it is, if you don't want to have to deal with that responsibility and suck it up when required, if you'd rather place your own feelings above the good of the people under you[1] - then it's time to step down, because you can't do the job properly.
(Frankly, I think in this continuitiy, Celestia rather screwed up this time, since this Twilight does not really appear to be up for what is asked of her.)
[1]And true Evil starts the moment you start treating your feelings as more important than other people's lives - which is basically what Twilight did here. (Start down that slippery slope and that will lead to her being the next Sombra; not getting redeemed, but blown apart by whoever has to use the Elements against her.)
You've done it now, Twilight. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the good work. Deus tecum.
Ah man
Nightmare moon 2:
Shadow bugaloo
In this chapter;
Shady kek mare 3: a new edge is born
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The puppies all ran away beforehoof. Animal instinct and all that.
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"The Kickening is upon us. Flee! Flee my littermates! Stop for nothing! Leave behind the stragglers so that the group may escape!"
This about sums up THAT.
...That's it? Seriously? After decades of Twilight's so-called "friends" ignoring her pain and throwing hurtful comments in her face, it takes nothing more than a brief non-apologetic acknowledgement of her feelings and yet more hurtful comments to snap her out of it?
Seriously?
Sooner or later, Twilight is going to have to stand up for herself and start pointing out how everyone basically abandoned her. Otherwise, this story may as well be renamed Twilight the Punching Bag.
EDIT TO ADD: Uh oh, looks like some thumbs-down trolls don't like it when someone has a different perspective. Sucks to be you, children.
Oh damn it. Not again. Twilight. You just HAD to make history repeat itself didn't you? If what I think is about to happen, turns out to be true, then I'm REALLY going to be angry with Twilight. I mean COME ON TWI! Were you so wrapped up in your own self moping and self pity, that you forgot one of the most important things? Like, I don't know, your MAREFRIEND? Your marefrind who is also the same exact pony who turned into a vengeful Nightmare entity that was hellbent on shrouding the entire planet in eternal darkness over 1000 years ago?!
I guess this saying from a comic strip applies here perfectly: "Those who do not learn from history, are forever doomed to repeat it. Yet those who do learn from history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it."
Twilight Sparkle, based off of assumptions and how this chapter ended, is pretty much repeating the same type of mistakes that Celestia made so many years ago. Both Celestia and Twilight have ignored Luna in some regard. Celestia did not pay attention to Luna when Celestia was getting praised for the day, and Luna was getting disregarded for her night. Twilight has ignored Luna and lashed out at her when Luna was only trying to be there for her when Twilight needed her the most.
So unless something happens next chapter that disproves what all of us are assuming is happening right now, and I sincerely hope that we are wrong, then congratulations Twilight. You not only have made Nightmare Moon come back, but you have also just lost the most important pony to you. I can only imagine how your friends and Celestia are extremely disappointed in you. Everything that you have learned, has all been for nothing.
I hope you can fix your mistake Twi. All of us do.
With my tirade towards Twilight finally over, I can now say that I am REALLY anxious for the next chapter now! You sir, have me on the edge of my seat, and I am hoping and praying against all odds that this situation can be rectified.
~ Super-Borny12
Hope asylum is ready for half his likes to become dislikes with this shit. Luna doesn't deserve this.
Twilight just needed one good kick in the ass and you're telling me her friends never did that well enough once over the past few years is stupid.
I just had 3 relatives die in as many weeks and had to put my dog down earlier today at age 15. If this story goes this route and hasn't been marked tragedy then I'm rioting. I was really needing this story to update on a good note considering this is one of my favorite stories, and happy twiluna is the greatest thing.