We open to Li'lpip laying in the mud along the river bank. Her body pushed to far to move anymore, despite her concern for her friends. Calamity was stuck in the harness for the sky bandit, which was slowly sinking into the mud, and Velvet looked like she wasn't breathing. The panic of that gave Li'lpip just enough energy to telekineticly undo the straps holding Calamity in place. Trying to fight off unconsciousness, lasting long enough to hear Velvet start coughing, before passing out.
Her life flashes before her eyes as she dreams. Giving us a basic recap of what's happened before, Li'lpip looking at her actions, and taking another look at her friends, and just what each of them means to her. And, this is yet another scene that shows just why I love this character so much.
Of all the things I had struggled against – raiders and slavers, zombie zebras and even a dragon – the greatest threat had always been from myself. The darkness and the rage that hid within me. Addiction and failure.
Yes she has her flaws, but she realizes this, does her best to prevent these flaws from taking over. Yes she fails at that sometimes, but she never stops trying, and always, always doing anything she can to spare ponies any pain and misery. No matter what the personal cost to her. As much as her body, and even part of her mind, wanted to rest, to simply let go and drift off, the knowledge that there were ponies left that needed her drove her to fight her way back to consciousness.
She wakes up, and is instantly sick. Recognizing the same feeling as the pure mental and physical exhaustion that she had suffered when they first met Steelhooves. She tries to will her body to stop being so weak, not having the time to rest. From the other room she hears the rest talking, Calamity had acquired something that they could use to reboot Steelhooves armor, though the ghoul was a bit leery about letting Calamity do it, preferring to simply wait for Li'lpip to recover enough to do so. Xenith meanwhile...
Xenith’s voice chimed in, “Is it wrong that I want to stick him in poses?”
Yes, yes it is, and yet, who wouldn't?
She thanks the Ranger for helping to defend Glyphmark, as odd as it must be for a Steel Ranger to be protecting Zebras. His reply... well after a little talk about AJ's history with zebras
“Applejack would have wanted her rangers to protect all good people. Not just ponies.”
Once again, Steelhooves is pure, awesome. And he also has good hearing, being able to tell Li'lpip was awake and listening.
I also hated Steel Hooves just a little bit right then. Go ahead and put him in silly poses, Xenith!
Xenith comes in to check on her, telling her that she was out for less then a day, and that despite Li'lpip's insistence that they leave now, they would stay put until Li'lpip had recovered.
“I decide when we go, and I say: not until you are at least able to walk on your own and hold food. Only then will I consider it. Assuming that the medical pony hasn’t woken up by then and had you chained down until you are fully healthy.”
And, I could see Velvet doing that. And so could Li'lpip, groaning at the idea, loathed to lose more time, and let to weak to argue or prevent it. Though after another bout of nausea, she agrees to wait at least till she can hold food down, not wanting to subject her friends to a trip in that inclosed space with her spending the whole time puking out a window. As Xenith leaves, she asks the Zebra about her daughter. Xenith replies that she is fine, and that the town is as ready as she can make it, so she would be coming with the group when they left, though that her daughter did not know about Xenith being her mother, and Xenith wanted to keep it that way. Her reasoning, it's, it's not entirely flawed, at least once Xenith's normal mindset is taken into account, but it is rather sad.
While thinking over how glad she was Xenith would be rejoining them, how much stronger they were as a group then separate, she starts to worry over her plan. She has no idea what was going to happen, or if something had gone wrong with the plan that she doesn't know about, since she hadn't told anypony about the whole scheme, so nopony would be able to help. That thought making her pause and reiterate anypony... The Goddess' telepathy didn't work on Zebras.....
A smile broke across my muzzle. Ooooh, I was a clever pony!
She dozes off, Calamity sitting next to her when she wakes up. The two have a rather touching conversation where they do their best to comfort each other. Calamity of his feelings of having let them all down by not being strong enough to fly them all the way out of Canterlot, Li'lpip, well the whole host of shit she deals with all the time. And during it she finds out part of "the plan" was for her to go in to face The Goddess alone. Remarking to herself that of course she would do something like that.
She also finds out that Steelhooves misgiving about letting Calamity try and reboot his armor were well founded, as the stallion was unable to figure out how to do it. Li'lpip deciding that he had sat paralyzed for long enough. Trying to force her body to carry her over to him, but unable to stand, settling for Calamity dragging him and her tools in to her. She manages to get both his armor and her Pipbuck working again, curling up to sleep afterwards, though as he turned to leave, telling him what she saw in the Apple Orb. Trying to figure some words to try and comfort him, but not sure if they had any effect.
And despite her hope, Li'lpip does dream, and it is, it is just so both surreal, dreamlike, and symbolic, no description can come close. Short version, it's a shout out to the off screen opening of Old World Blues. Li'lpip trapped inside a healing chamber, the sound of a saw coming closer, knowing that it would cut out her brain. The whole time the tube was filling with blood, the blood of Arbu, leaking from the mirror where Li'lpip saw her soul, a torn, dying, bleeding pony in filthy raider armor.
The whole time glyphs from The Black Book surround her, tempt her, try to get her to accept their power. And just as she was about to give in, to accept their power and save herself from the approaching saw, the Mane 6 appear, coming to her defense.
What follows, is, to surreal, and just to powerful to really describe. And is overall, one of the most powerful scenes in the story. While in the intro to Canterlot, Li'lpip said it was in there that she found the information that would change Equestria, find her destiny, the knowledge of what she needed to do. And on the whole, that was right. But while the knowledge came from there, THIS scene, is IMO, where she found herself, where she truly turned, became more then she was. I really cannot do this scene justice in anyway. Out of the entire story, this scene is my third favorite. The other two are yet to come.
Voices from Li'lpip's past come to mock her, to taunt her. Each of them being rebuked and silenced by one of the Mane 6. While they tell Li'lpip that she IS important, she IS a good pony. Showing her, though not in a way that makes it obvious until later, just what her talent truly is. What her purpose is. The dream ending with her looking at the mirror, at the bloody, tattered, dying mare in raider armor crouched there, pointing out that despite all the good things they said, THAT was what her soul truly was. Pinkie Pie agreeing that yes, it was, but, she was looking at it the wrong way. The dream ending before we learn just what it was Li'lpip saw at the end.
Like I just gushed, I LOVE this scene. Yes it's a dream and COULD just be some random fevered hallucination Li'lpip had, but I really doubt it. The Black Book was preying on her, tempting her while she was weak, and the mane 6, well it wasn't truly them, rather the echo of them kept inside the Ministry Mare Figurines Li'lpip had collected, stronger as a whole now that they are together then they ever were apart. Lending her their strength in a time of greatest need.
She wakes up nearly alone, the only one around was Xenith's daughter, who slowly tends to Li'lpip, washing off some of the grime and sweat. Telling her as she does so that she knows Xenith is her mother, but that while she loves her, she is glad that she will be leaving, that she knows Xenith has enough issues simply about taking care of herself, let alone anyone else.
The reason the rest weren't around was the Velvet had finally woken up, and they were with her. Li'lpip forces her self to get up and join them, though nearly collapsing from the effort by the time she reaches them. Though unable to actually enter the room, overhearing a rather emotional conversation between her and Calamity. Calamity trying to talk Velvet into not idolizing Fluttershy, reminding her of "the one great truth of the wasteland" And letting slip that Li'lpip knows something about Fluttershy's own deed that she regretted. And before Li'lpip slips away, she overhears a comment, that whether intentional or not, reminds both her and Velvet about Silver Bell. Warning Velvet about the dangers of trying to become your idol.
Heading outside she runs into Ditzy. The pegasus having already started to set up a trade agreement and route with Glyphmark. And the young filly Li'lpip had just been thinking of was with her, giving Li'lpip a drawing she had made of her and Homage
I floated the parchment up and gazed at the painting. It was a crude child’s painting… and it was the most beautiful picture I had ever seen.
Li'lpip starts crying over it, assuring Silver Bell that she did indeed love it. intending to find something to keep it safe in til she could secure it at their home in Junction R-7. Ditzy gets her attention, asking Li'lpip if it was possible for a horn to grow back. Leading to Li'lpip running back in to get Velvet to find out.
Figuring that a horn as basically bone (And yeah, for the most part it's never really considered bone, but rather some other material, but, well.... plenty of ways to work around that if you have to.)) She tries a healing spell, and Silver Bell's horn does indeed grow back, though none of them can say whether or not she'd ever be able to actually use it for magic again.
And after that, the group heads off, Li'lpip knowing that she should rest longer, but unwilling to suffer the delay. While flying near Ponyville they come across what looks like two small groups of raiders fighting each other, Calamity circling, but unsure what to do, since they actually learned a lesson with Arbu and aren't sure which side, if either, they should help. Velvet telling him that there are more ways to help then simply shooting one side or the other. She puts a shield up between the two groups, then magically enchants her voice to call out to the both of them. One side stops shooting and answers them, saying the other side was raiders, and had just slaughtered a town nearby. The other side, commencing to attack the group flying over them.
Which was enough for Li'lpip to decide which side to help, much to their Oh, Crap! as soon as they find out that sky carriage they were attacking, had a Steel Ranger in it. The Black Book reaching out to Li'lpip, tempting her with the blood weapon spell the alicorns had used, and nearly getting her to use it on the survivors of Steelhooves initial attack, though just as she was forming the spilled blood into a weapon, she manages to refuse, to break the spell.
After the fight, they land to tend to the wounded on the non-raider side, learning that they were a group of young ponies, inspired by "The Wasteland Heroine" to do what they can against raiders. And that the ones they had just killed were part of a group that had killed all the adults in a nearby town, and captured the kids, taking them, to what from the description, could only be Fluttershy's cottage. Li'lpip is quite embarrassed by the way the ponies idolize her, though nopony reveals just who she is to them. And despite not having wanted anymore distractions before heading to the Goddess, she wouldn't leave the foals in the clutches of the raiders.
The group finds the place, Steelhooves confirming that it is indeed Fluttershy's. While Calamity does a fly over to see if there are any surprises, Li'lpip works out a strategy. Steelhooves, Xenith and the young heroes would attack the front, drawing them off. Having to be reminded by Velvet that one of them shouldn't be sent into combat because they were wounded, and Li'lpip agreeing.
The fact that I regularly charged into combat wounded didn’t mean it was smart.
While she Calamity and Velvet snuck in the back and freed the foals. Li'lpip warning Velvet that it would be very very bad inside, remembering what the Library had looked like. But she says she's going in anyway.
The three slip in through an upstairs window and start sneaking down to the main room, but the sight of what the raiders were doing, making the foals fight to the death for their amusement, taunting hem with letting whoever wins getting their parents bodies back, made Velvet snap. She takes her shotgun and eradicates the group inside, Li'lpip thinking this would be her Arbu, her darkest moment, though at least there would be no question that these ponies were evil.
Now, yet again we get to a rather controversial part of the story, Velvet's actions. Really, I can't see how what she did could be wrong. Just look at what the Raiders were doing, what they had done. The one bit that could use some discussion is Velvet's
“I’ve never killed a pony before, ... Far as I’m concerned, I still haven’t.”
And many may remember that, yes, she HAS in fact killed a pony before, way back on the train escaping Appleloosa. No this wasn't Kkat making a mistake, this was Velvet lying, possibly even to herself. She, like all the ponies, is not perfect. It entirely possible she completely blocked that memory, not willing to think of it, intentionally forgetting about it. She has flaws, many of them, and this displays most of them. She will try so so hard to make the world conform to her idea of "right" in her own mind, twist things till they fit with her ideals. Such as deciding that she wouldn't kill ponies, but these things clearly aren't ponies. Which oddly enough was the same exact thing Li'lpip had decided about raiders way back when she first encountered them. But, the reason for it are different in each case. Li'lpip, was to horrified by how evil they were to even think a pony could do that. She had to label them non-pony, to keep her view of just what ponies are intact. Velvet, it was more to soothe her own conscious. She wants to kill them, but she won't kill ponies, so they must not be ponies. Not that what she did was wrong, but it is interesting the mental hoops she jumps through to justify it to herself, when there really isn't any justification needed.
Once the raiders are dealt with, Li'lpip leaves the safety of the foals in the hooves of the three young hero wannabes, the group fixing up some of the raiders weapons for them, and getting a cart ready they can use to transport them all to New Appleloosa. Li'lpip a bit uneasy at sending more ponies there, but it was the only safe place close enough to get to.
Velvet meanwhile was starting to breakdown, what had happened starting to crack the final bits of armor off her world view, her need to make everything fit. Trying to figure out just why anything would be this evil, wanting to know how to fix the problem of raiders, yet not understanding what caused it, seeing no reason possible for anypony to act that way.
The group heads off towards Splendid Valley, stopping at what had been a camp of Redeye's soldiers. Meting with them being part of "the plan" but they had all been killed by alicorns. While the group speculates both over why, what this means for Redeye and The Goddess' relationship, and also if this just killed Li'lpip's plan, Xenith disappears. She comes back and tells them that what they needed was still here, and the plan was still on track. Calamity insisting that they leave Velvet behind with Steelhooves to guard her, that she was in no emotional state to deal with The Goddess, and Li'lpip agreeing. Also finding out that as part of the plan, she would have to be blindfolded till they got the Maripony.
In route, Li'lpip being Li'lpip, she peaks. Though luckily not seeing anything in the wagon that would ruin anything, but then shifting to a window, wanting to see a battle that was taking place between alicorns and a hydra. And what little we see, damn would it have been an awesome fight to see. Li'lpip quickly replacing the blindfold as Calmity notices she's moving around a bit to much.
They soon land, the Goddess welcoming them, Li'lpip waiting till she gets Calamity's all clear before taking off the blindfold. A pair of green alicorns waiting to escort her to The Goddess. Calamity getting ready to fly off, pointing out the Griffonchaser that they had flew from Old Olneigh and telling her that would be her ride out of the place. The Goddess' demands that she come down get more insistent, Li'lpip heading them, going over the last bit of instructions she had about her plan.
Keep your Eyes-Forward Sparkle up, stall and wait for the signal.
She is brought before the Goddess, and deals with her insane ramblings for a time, trying to figure out how she would stall, the Goddess reading her thoughts, and dismissing any idea that anything Li'lpip could do could hurt her. Which Li'lpip agrees with, feeling foalish, sure that whatever her plan was, it would fail, and The Goddess would gain possession of The Black Book. Though, her thoughts drift to what she had learned in Canterlot about The Goddess, and the ponies that made up the gestalt, those memories triggering something in The Goddess, making her want Li'lpip to recall everything she could about those memories, till The Goddess had had enough, telling her to stop, though obviously effected.
And then, Li'lpip gets the signal, and her plan falls into place. Xenith, has planted Redeye's Balefire Bomb under Maripony, and it was set to detonate in 38 minutes. Li'lpip quickly realizing why her instructions to herself had been so specific about bringing The Black Book to Maripony, so that it would be destroyed in the megaspell explosion. She tosses the book into one of the IMP vats, starting to try and flee, when her exit was blocked by the arrival of several pegasi in Enclave armor, their leader addressing the Goddess and offering her an alliance. The very thought of anypony allying with her nearly breaking Li'lpip's mind.
The Enclave ponies say that Redeye has become a threat to them because of his plans with the towers, and they offer to ally with the Goddess, helping her wipe him out, and giving her all of Equestria to rule below the clouds, while they return above. Li'lpip panicking as time runs out on the bomb, and still unable to escape, while The Goddess simply scream for her children to flee.
Finally Li'lpip bolts for the safe room that had saved Twilight from the first explosion, hoping it would still work, one of the Enclave goons following her, demanding she explain herself, getting trapped inside once Li'lpip finds the trigger to seal the room.
And we end with a broadcast from DJ-PON-3, telling about a megaspell detonation in Splendid Valley, and that the Stable Dweller had been seen nearby shortly before. Asking anypony with news to contact him. His broadcast being overridden by a much more sinister one
“Greetings, citizens of the Equestrian Wasteland.
“This is the Grand Pegasus Enclave. We have commandeered this broadcast to deliver an important message to all ponies:
“Do not be afraid. We are here to save you!”
Oh, Crap! does not begin to cover it.
Thoughts- DAMN! Okay I had the megaspell thing spoiled for me before I got to it, but it was still amazing. And then the sudden arrival of the Enclave... the Wastes are so fucked...
Okay, the scenes in Glyphmark, are all great, and I already said how much I love the nightmare/vision Li'lpip has with the mane 6. And a little disappointed we didn't see what she saw in the mirror at the end. Though we do find out later. The Raider camp, well first off, the fact that other ponies are being inspired by Li'lpip to do whatever they can to save ponies, it is just so so good. Showing exactly how big an effect just a single pony can have. Velvet's actions, I already covered. But from what we will see next chapter, this is where the final cracks in the wall she tried to build to keep the harsh reality of the wastes out begin to form.
And then Maripony. It was, was, I need a better thesaurus, hmmm, exceptional? Li'lpip's plan was genius. And then suddenly Enclave. Which I'll probably get more into them later, but okay from just a narrative/dramatic/how things 'should' be written perspective, yeah they did come out of nowhere seemingly. But not really. We learn later just what brought them there, though yes the precise timing was a bit coincidental. Showing up JUST as the bomb was about to go off. But why they were there, we already got foreshadowing of the back in the MAW basement. Li'lpip taking about the war that was to come because of her messing with the computer. And The Enclave as a whole was well established. So no it works perfectly fine for why they were coming down now. Just a bit of a surprise till we find out what that reason is.
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