OK, look. Celestia certainly isn't perfect, in like, any way, but she's not the kind of person who'd keep information that could be quite important to public safety from everyone for no reason. I get that you're panicking, but do consider this.
90% of the big threats in the setting are things she has fought and then never mentioned to anyone until it was immediately relevant, or too late, the big exception being the Changelings, but she didn't actually know that much about them, just that there was some sort of threat against the wedding.
It makes complete sense for Celestia to act like that- especially since she totally does IN THIS STORY. Remember the report she got from people she has observing Voice, there is a whole pony black opps that deals with things that she doesn't tell the average pony about. That is a great addition frankly, because it recontextualizes the various canon threats into things that were either too big or too sudden for her preparations to deal with, rather then her having done little to nothing to prevent them. It also fits with part of Celestia's big issues, being that she is TOO good at smiling and reasuring everyone things are all right, to the point that ponies don't realize she is fallible, or in sunset's case, build a deep seated maladapted approach interacting with her built on a flawed interpretation of her behavior.
Ironically the most jarring issues Celestia's behavior has caused are due to the same strategy she uses to manage nobles, being calm and confident and observant to let greedy idiots overreach and ruin themselves and let smart kind ponies thrive, then we get ponies assuming her knowledge and preparedness and then leaps of logic from that assumption, when much of her success has been DUE to that assumption of knowledge and preparedness.
I have to wonder how many plots against Equestria were foiled, not because the dumb ones were caught by Celestia's preparations, but by beings convinced about what Celestia knew and was prepared for and just didn't go through with things.
Then we get her complacency with things like her personal protection, the security of TARTARUS, etc.
I know that we can rightly assume most of canon's events and villains to be irrelevent, by virtue of they happen during canon, but if I had to chose one to show up it would be Chrysalis. Now, does she make sense with the themes of the story? Does she have any particular reason to show up earlier? No. But, and hear me out here, bugs are neat, and I like the color green.
It makes complete sense for Celestia to act like that- especially since she totally does IN THIS STORY. Remember the report she got from people she has observing Voice, there is a whole pony black opps that deals with things that she doesn't tell the average pony about. That is a great addition frankly, because it recontextualizes the various canon threats into things that were either too big or too sudden for her preparations to deal with, rather then her having done little to nothing to prevent them. It also fits with part of Celestia's big issues, being that she is TOO good at smiling and reasuring everyone things are all right, to the point that ponies don't realize she is fallible, or in sunset's case, build a deep seated maladapted approach interacting with her built on a flawed interpretation of her behavior.
This is actually (somewhat) canon even in the original show, as Sweetie Drops (alias Bon Bon) is a disgraced member of a former monster-hunting corps dissolved after they let a dangerous creature (which she originally captured) out of Tartarus.
So we know there are secret organizations dedicated to hunting down and dealing with dangerous creatures quietly.
I know that we can rightly assume most of canon's events and villains to be irrelevent, by virtue of they happen during canon, but if I had to chose one to show up it would be Chrysalis. Now, does she make sense with the themes of the story? Does she have any particular reason to show up earlier? No. But, and hear me out here, bugs are neat, and I like the color green.
I know that we can rightly assume most of canon's events and villains to be irrelevent, by virtue of they happen during canon, but if I had to chose one to show up it would be Chrysalis. Now, does she make sense with the themes of the story? Does she have any particular reason to show up earlier? No. But, and hear me out here, bugs are neat, and I like the color green.
It's possible that Chrysalis went after Cadance the instant she discovered that there exists an alicorn with love as her special talent, and Cadance might make a public appearance sooner than her wedding with the rest of the cast's influence.
I know that we can rightly assume most of canon's events and villains to be irrelevent, by virtue of they happen during canon, but if I had to chose one to show up it would be Chrysalis. Now, does she make sense with the themes of the story? Does she have any particular reason to show up earlier? No. But, and hear me out here, bugs are neat, and I like the color green.
I dunno, I could see it. The introduction of Changelings could approach Sunset's whole empathy thing from a different perspective.
If they have an equivalent sense to better pick out prey, then they could compare notes.
The interplay between pony relationships (love) and their magic could be better studied through a creature that directly interacts with those phenomenon as a matter of course.
Or, if they're presented solely as antagonists, then perhaps getting drained could teach Sunset something about herself. Either about her enhanced senses, or about her own emotions.
Of the two I honestly see Unchecked Order as being more dangerous than Unchecked Chaos. Unchecked Chaos by its definition cannot destroy all rules, because there being no rules is a rule itself. As such there is always the chance to beat Chaos, to one degree or another. Unchecked Order on the other hand has no such internal logic and it can and will binding everything down in rules, with the only thing being able to escape that fate is Chaos itself.
Yes. But: the spread of the two is inherently different. Think cancer: all limits removed, it operates outside of a system and seeks only self-replication. It doesn't require a system to survive.
Order however does. As such, it is inherently more fragile and slower to spread.
Chaos isn't in of itself the issue, it's how it can just spread and replicate and replicate until everything is replaced with itself without reason.
Order you can stop, but chaos? It is everywhere. It's already inside you, right now. In both your body and your mind: order and harmony are islands within those things.
And just like the ocean, these islands can be reclaimed by this endless force.
Order can be stopped.
Chaos can only be delayed.
And that's what it's threat is from.
It's the same reason why the fear of disease is more justified in the modern world than the threat of nuclear war.
But it does, though. It can't survive by itself, it needs a functional envitonment to survive in, be it the body of a living being or a laboratory with scientists willing to add nutrients to its flask.
In fact, I would argue that life in general and cancer specifically are inherently orderly, philosophically speaking. It is, after all, a bunch of chemical logic that processes either unstructured chemistry or other chemical logic outside of it and turns it into another structure more similar to itself.
A small, throughly humiliating squeak escaped me as Celestia squeezed harder, apparently deciding that the solution to hugs not working as intended was to apply more hugs. I hated that it was working.
Celestia interrupted me by simple virtue of squeezing hard enough to make me once again imitate a squeaky toy. In the process, I heard Cadance release a giggle, and I immediately vowed vengeance.
One begins to wonder if VOID is perhaps better at multilayered plans than Auntia. The latter at least claims that the meeting of Sunset and Flighty was an accident. Or perhaps VOID is just very good at planning on the fly. I don't feel like she meant it to be this traumatic, but hey, now Sunset has to learn to be social and a better friend.
Author's Note: Beta-read by @ensou. Happy holidays! Unsurprisingly, Illuminating Invitation fell a bit behind its main competitor. If you haven't voted already, I would greatly appreciate the support; every vote counts, especially when it's this close! (Best Ongoing Fic) || (Best New Work)
Sunset Shimmer
The next several minutes somehow grew more uncomfortable as time passed. Helpless uncertainty remained dominant, but my attention did inevitably drift while Flighty worked the tears out of her system.
Drifting attention meant noticing details of my surroundings, such as how rightfully guilty Voice looked, or the fact that the forelegs wrapped around my neck actually featured quite a bit of muscle. Noticing that much seemed to trip something strange in my brain, and a good minute or so was wasted doing little more than discreetly examining Flighty before I realized what I was doing. Why I was examining her, I didn't know, but I felt confident that it was a waste of time. Flighty was healthy, fit, and hadn't been visibly scarred by her work, and a cursory inspection was enough to reveal all that during her prior visit. Bursting into tears wouldn't spontaneously change anything — although I supposed I might have been instinctively checking for tear-inducing injuries? Something like that.
Really, I wasn't happy that this situation had come about at all. It sounded like Voice had looked at Flighty's budget concerns and unfettered worship, thought that the situation was ripe for demon-style bargaining, and somehow decided that it was appropriate for Her to act like a more traditional Outsider for Her own amusement.
To say that I was disappointed would be an understatement. I had thought that Voice was better than other Outsiders, was actually properly benevolent rather than just focused on Her own entertainment no matter the consequences. The young mare wrapped around my neck proved that wasn't a safe assumption, and I had nopony to blame for it but myself. Voice had even told us that 'Demon' was one of the names She took, and I'd easily accepted that it was a name given to Her by those opposed to Her and Her anchors.
Flighty gradually started to recover while I brooded, still not sure what I should really be doing. Just standing still and letting Flighty hug me seemed to be working out pretty well, but I was sure I could be doing more. Only when Flighty's breathing started to return to normality did Voice speak up again, immediately provoking a flinch from Flighty.
"I really am very sorry about this, Flighty," said Voice. "I had assumed that you would communicate with Sunset and the 'prank' would therefore be revealed quickly enough for my actions to be harmless. I even told myself that it was a justified 'payment' considering how generous I thought I was being overall. My original calculations have been rather neatly stymied by virtue of making you believe that you needed to give up on your dreams. This was excessive, and I am sorry."
Flighty stayed silent, and honestly didn't seem as though she was in any state to take the Outsider to task for Her mistake. I was allowed to me miffed on her behalf.
"And if what you did to Flighty tilted the scales..." I said pointedly.
Voice winced, but nodded.
"For the record, Sunset, it is generally ill-advised to attempt to gain further concessions from an apologizing individual until after they have demonstrated that they are not taking adequate measures at compensation."
I opened my mouth to retort, but She continued before I could.
"That being said, yes, I do intend to grant Flighty more privileges to compensate for my mistake. Just to start, I will properly respect Flighty's privacy again and neither visit nor spy upon her when she is alone unless she specifically invites me inside. I had already intended to assist her in learning a few enchantments, so although she did not specifically bargain for such, that would not be suitable compensation. I will need to think further on what might qualify."
Considering that entertainment derived from spying was the main reason for Voice to make any agreements in the first place, that was indeed a large concession. Flighty swallowed and finally removed her forelegs from around my neck, gingerly returning to standing on four hooves.
"I thought you'd ruined my life," Flighty confessed. "Or rather, that I'd ruined my own life by being stupid and greedy, which was even worse. I don't think I hate you anymore, but I'm still not comfortable and I think forgiveness might take a while."
And here Flighty was, acting more forgiving than I felt right now. Admittedly, she might have the right of it. Discord was known for twisting ponies according to his whims, and most commonly, to foment his namesake: discord. Turning friend against friend, brother against sister, spawn against sire. It was unlikely that Discord had been able to meddle whilst sealed in stone, but the timing was suspect.
Getting distracted by Discord was a good excuse for being unable to reverse her 'prank' once it started to hurt Flighty, especially since this was Discord we were talking about. Luring Her away from Her prior plans in such a way that somepony got hurt was exactly the sort of cruel activity that Discord was known for.
I had to admit that I was making excuses for Her, but at the same time, I wanted her to have an excuse. Voice had improved my life immeasurably by virtue of making me a proto-alicorn Ascendant and granting me immortality. Mere days after Voice's intervention, Celestia was adopting me and seemed to be at least trying to be less flagrantly unfair to me in general. I didn't want to worry that Voice might do anything worse than cheerfully making me uncomfortable via her ridiculous maid-mode. After this mess, though, I might need to.
"I understand," Voice acknowledged. "I will try to make it up to you. Perhaps by starting with breakfast?"
On cue, Flighty's stomach growled, and the mare flushed.
"That would be nice, thank you, but, um—I should be getting home. I didn't bring any supplies at all!" Flighty fretted, and turned to look at me. "I know you might have been planning to do a repeat of the court and arrive to your adoption announcement with just the pendant, but that's–"
"–Not a big deal," I interrupted. "The adoption isn't anypony else's business, really. They'll act like it is, but it isn't. I'm not even positive that I'll need to be present for the announcement."
I almost offered to teleport over to collect Flighty's tools, but not knowing what to pack would make the venture slower than just sending Flighty home. Voice seemed to be trying to sneak out while Flighty and I spoke, too. Since she wasn't going so far as to force us to forget Her, I chose to politely ignore the attempt.
"But Princess Celestia almost never makes important personal proclamations unless a targeted pony is present," Flighty pointed out, then froze. "Wait. If you don't know, does that mean I interrupted your preparations?"
Flighty looked just about ready to pass out on the spot at the mere thought. I was quick to swipe one forefoot in negation.
"No, no, nothing like that," I insisted. "I'd just finished breakfast after sleeping in a bit. I'll admit I was going to find Celestia to ask about the itinerary, but you weren't interrupting anything, don't worry."
Flighty did not appear as reassured as I'd hoped. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned my prior intention of seeking out Celestia. Really, I liked it much more when Flighty's energy was dedicated toward excitement rather than anxiety. I quickly searched for a distraction and seized upon the first excuse that came to mind.
"So, you don't have to tell me," I said, "but I am really very curious regarding what you got from Voice. My original summoning of her was based on a misunderstanding, but one that worked out rather favorably for me."
It took me until the middle of my question to realize that Flighty might expect me to tell her what I got, too. I was reluctant to say. Yes, the summoning was indeed the product of a great deal of effort and skill, but I wasn't positive that other ponies would see it that way.
"Health, knowledge, and some power, Your Grace," Flighty almost instantly admitted. "I knew I wouldn't be able to get the Crown to fund everything I wanted to include in your regalia and was unwilling to take the time away from my work to ask wealthy loyalists for contributions, especially given the potentially problematic politics involved there. Devou—Voice offered to teach me how to manually rearrange imperfect materials into their superior, more magically compatible versions, plus granted me some extra magic so it would be easier for me. She even threw in a guarantee that, once I grow old, my mind will stay sharp and my body mostly free of aches."
Offering far less than She had given me, then. No immortality — which was actually a bit disappointing, since I actually liked Flighty quite a bit — and just a few valuable tricks rather than ongoing services. Admittedly, it was a trick that would save her money throughout her career. Magically inert versions of gold and gemstones were far cheaper than the magically compatible versions, and being able to transform the lesser versions into their superior variants was one of the unattained goals of alchemy. The closest ponies had gotten to making magically compatible minerals themselves was via rock farming, and that was an infamously difficult and time-consuming trade. Maybe, once Flighty was reaching the limits of her craft, we could even bargain for Voice to 'lock' the feat like she had for me.
"Or perhaps I should call it a capability rather than 'knowledge,' Your Grace," Flighty mused. "I won't be able to share that which she has promised to grant me, and the ability to share knowledge with others is normally part of what makes it valuable."
I extinguished the last dwindling embers of jealousy over needing to share my Visitor. Flighty wasn't being given nearly as much as I was, and couldn't until she'd worked hard enough to fulfill related criteria for ascension. It was still a very good deal.
"I'm surprised that you were really that bothered by needing to operate on a smaller budget," I noted. "Voice is one of the only benevolent examples of entities similar to Herself, but that you attracted Her attention at all makes me think you were really upset. That is, upset by budget constraints, not upset by her. I figured out that second part."
I hadn't intended for it to be a jab, but Flighty still colored with embarrassment and glanced away.
"As the daughter of Princess Celestia, you are a princess in all but name," she admitted. "To provide you with anything less than my best would haunt me for the rest of my life."
I would be happy about the lengths she was going to, but she'd just spent several minutes crying. Not that I'd really minded the part where she clung to me, but my helpless uncertainty wasn't nearly as pleasant.
"Yeah, we might have been rather excessive on that front," I noted. "I mean, Celestia never needs to swap out her regalia, but she's fully grown. Me, not so much."
Flighty froze, wide-eyed. I continued anyway.
"I'm going to keep growing for several years yet, and then I expect to grow quite a bit more in the decades after I ascend. So, we're going to get multiple tries at this. Which, honestly, I think is rather fitting? You're good, but we're both still learning and growing, and it will be several years before my pendant is replaced with a version likely the size of my Cutie Mark. That's something I'm going to be wearing at all times, although I feel like it would be better if the completed gem had a better housing rather than just dangling on some chain."
I almost mentioned how Celestia would be the one to make said pendant, but opted against it. If Celestia thought that it was inappropriate to discuss the ongoing enchanting project outside of her chambers, then neither would I — and considering how weakened she was left after each session, I could understand the hesitation. Really, it might be good for me to check her wards and reinforce them in every way I could conceivably think of. Knowing Celestia, her existing wards probably just stood there and accepted blows rather than even trying to fight back.
Flighty still wasn't moving, though. I narrowly resisted the urge to prod her with one hoof. We'd already committed a grievous breach of protocol by virtue of the earlier embrace; any further contact would imply a degree of closeness that wasn't supposed to exist yet.
"I did adequately emphasize the we, didn't I?" I asked. "I wasn't using the royal 'We' for that. I am planning to keep you on retainer."
My wild guess turned out to be the right one. Flighty exhaled with relief, visibly relaxing.
"Right, I'm sorry. I think I missed that," she admitted.
Her smile was still just a small, relieved thing, though. She was relieved that the worst had been avoided, not properly excited. Not like yesterday. I still didn't think that we needed to rush to make me something, but at the same time…
"Do you want to make something for the announcement?" I ventured. "We don't have enough time for anything approaching a full outfit, but since you're already here…"
The gleam of excitement finally returned to Flighty's eyes, the mare straightening and smiling brightly.
"A work in progress sends its own message!" Flighty 'finished,' the mare reaching back for saddlebags that weren't present.
Not quite where I was going with that, but okay.
"I can help!" Voice's suddenly-present self chirped.
Both our heads whipped around to stare at the smiling Outsider, who had apparently decided to once again skip distances in order to return with a cart of food for Flighty.
"I don't normally make materials," Voice continued, "but since it's my fault that you didn't bring your own…"
The world outside our little privacy bubble was already blurred and distorted. With a performative stomp of one hoof, Voice soon ensured that the interior soon started to blur, albeit to a lesser degree. I wasn't fooled by her justification. Distances were something that happened to actual ponies, and retrieving tools from Flighty's house would certainly be easier for Her than wholesale creation of matter. Voice was just taking the excuse to try to return to favor — which, admittedly, was better than pretending it had never happened, but it was still a cheap attempt.
Unlike my summoning of Voice, the momentary distortion likely didn't last for more than five seconds or so. When space returned to normality, a leg-sized ingot of some unfamiliar, shimmering cyan metal laid on the floor before Flighty. My eyebrows rose. Whatever Voice had just created, it didn't feel to my magical senses like anything– which, considering it had just been created, was actually rather impressive. Whatever it was, it absorbed magic quite well.
"Um," Flighty said timidly, gingerly poking at the ingot with one hoof. "I don't know what this is, and I'm sure it's some amazing material…"
Voice nodded happily.
"…But if I don't know how to work with it, that slows things down more," Flighty finished. "Sorry?"
Voice deflated, and despite flinching at the mere sound of Voice's voice mere minutes before, Flighty hastened to reassure Her.
"I'll be happy to use it later, and the thought was nice!" Flighty added quickly. "Just, not right now? I need the supplies and tools from my house–"
My privacy field distorted and broke altogether, a number of tools and even displaced furniture abruptly intersecting with its boundaries and settling down with a floor-vibrating thud. I raised one hoof to rub at my head. Voice could just get just a bit hasty when desperate for forgiveness, it seemed.
Perplex
Perplex was not having a very good week, and the changeling infiltrator could lay every last problem at Sunset Shimmer's hooves. Years of bubbling resentment had turned Sunset into a volatile firework waiting to go off, and it had been obvious whom she would attack when hatred finally boiled over. Celestia was resented, certainly, but Sunset didn't hate her. No, hatred was reserved for the Princess of Food Love, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.
A discreet bit of beguilement had ensured that no pony knew of the tome that Sunset had removed from the dark magic section of Canterlot Castle's library, and the longer it took her to study it, the more obvious the inevitable explosion seemed like it would be. By the two-month mark, they'd started bringing in extra infiltrators in case Sunset's project proved especially damaging. Even Queen Chrysalis Herself had set up in the crystal caverns beneath Canterlot!
It seemed a certainty that Cadenza would be attacked by Sunset. In the aftermath, the Princess of Love could be discreetly replaced with Queen Chrysalis, with any perceived changes in personality explainable by the traumatic attack on 'Princess Mi Amore Cadenza.' Changelings could subsequently take their sweet time replacing figures in Celestia's government without anypony being the wiser. Even Celestia could be replaced in time; the cost of raising and lowering the Sun and Moon might exceed even the harvestable love Celestia's subjects had for their ruler, but Queen Chrysalis would be more than able to compensate via changes in national policy favorable to continued changeling dominance.
Then this, this — prissy pony princess decided to undercut all that concentrated resentment by adopting Sunset! A plan years in the making devastated by one single decision! Worse still, Sunset's new 'hoofmaiden' was obviously a spellslinger of some significant skill, judging by the ability of this 'Voice' to repeatedly traverse much of Canterlot Castle with a dining cart full of food without being seen. Proxy attempts at physical intimidation and social pressure had been met with hidden amusement and delight. Not one single iota of concern for her own personal safety. Obviously, this 'hoofmaiden' was actually just thinly-veiled justification for a bodyguard among the notoriously weak ponies.
Replacing Princess Cadenza before she was provided with a similar bodyguard had rapidly become now or never — but now was not an option, as noling liked the idea of trying to take on the Princess of Overwhelming Raw Power without the element of surprise. That element was lost when Cadenza had uncharacteristically decided to actually start bringing members of the Royal Guard along with her on forays into the city. Those guards could be replaced come nightfall, but knowing how matters had been going lately, Cadenza would most likely have her own bodyguard by tomorrow morning.
Even if she didn't, Cadenza was busy. Equestria's lesser princess had gone from spending her days on petty, easily overlooked tasks noling cared about to running around like someling had set her tail aflame. She and Sunset showed the weakness typical of ponies and had apparently chosen to fowgwive each other, spending hours on end away from prying ears. Overall, any replacement would come with a conspicuous disturbance in Cadance's schedule, one that the meddling mares of S.M.I.L.E. would not overlook. The Hive had worked hard to make Celestia's 'monster'-hunting organization believe that changelings dared not invade further than Equestria's most obscure outlying settlements, and noling wanted to be the one who ruined that mistaken belief.
Ponies were still pathetic and vulnerable, of course. All defusing Sunset changed was that Queen Chrysalis's subjects would need to return to their old plans of gradual replacement and sabotage rather than a beautiful decapitating deception. Conquering Equestria had simply returned to its original timeframe of perhaps another decade or two rather than mere months.
And should Sunset's bodyguard succumb to the pressure and resign her duties, or Sunset break and attack Cadenza after all? The Hive would be waiting. Until then, Perplex would simply content herself with doing her part. She certainly had plenty of fun with it.
"So," Perplex drawled, effortlessly smiling at her unicorn pony roommate. "How much of Lady Shimmer's new hoofmaiden have you seen so far? She's surely around our age, and seems perfect for your tastes in general."
"Shut your trap, Garden!" Silver Needle barked, features flush from embarrassment. "I'm not that bad!"
"I know, I know. The 'bad' mares are the ones you look for."
"Do you want me to hide your manega on the roof?"
Despite Silver's objections and threats, her delicious love for Perplex's disguise still flowed unabated. Ponies truly were insane.
Ooh, replacing a guard seems like it would be fraught. They communicate telepathically when on duty, so figuring out how to emulate their banter while pretending to be them would have to be done on the fly.
Ooh, replacing a guard seems like it would be fraught. They communicate telepathically when on duty, so figuring out how to emulate their banter while pretending to be them would have to be done on the fly.
Ooh, replacing a guard seems like it would be fraught. They communicate telepathically when on duty, so figuring out how to emulate their banter while pretending to be them would have to be done on the fly.
This is an infiltration decades, or more likely centuries, in the making. You don't replace a cadet, you replace someone a few years before "they" sign up. In addition those servant lines that pride themselves on having served for generations could very well have been infiltrated for generations. There's no sudden shift in behavior because it was you all along, and when someone tries for a more influential position than palace servant you have an airtight family history to provide references.
Also, I really like the explanation for why Celestia didn't know why Sunset took something out of the forbidden section. It could have just been left as Sunset hiding it but it's neat to have it woven into this new subplot.
