YMMV / The Negotiations-verse

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Regarding the degree Celestia was responsible for the atrocities committed.
  • Was the pointless destruction of the non-ponies fleeing Equestria done under Celestia's orders or at the whim of her fanatical supporters without her consent or knowledge?
    • Choice reveals that it was done by a fanatical supporter who acted without orders, and that Celestia had no prior knowledge of the destruction. She did, however, decide to use it as a way to further radicalize the population of Equestria, though, and praised the attacker.
  • Was Celestia responsible for her subjects' fanaticism against humanity, or did they choose to blindly follow her out of the loyalty she earned prior? And did she encourage this, thinking it was their only chance at fighting against humanity?
    • The answer appears to be both. Warfare reveals that there are religions based around the Alicorns, considering them to be goddesses, meaning that ponies like Halberd think that they can do no wrong. Earlier entries and Twilight herself show that ponies followed her because they genuinely thought she was right. Choice also reveals that in addition to capitalizing on goodwill and the church, Celestia had secret police put in place, used propaganda speakers to shut down dissent, and was willing to place blame on the humans for horrible things done by ponies (such as the barge of all the non-ponies that was sunk by the Equestrian Navy). Captain Parabola mentally confirms that this would make ponies even more zealously fervent towards Celestia or be too terrified to speak out against her.
  • On another note, did Celestia ever truly care for Equestria and her little ponies, or was she simply trying to preserve the image of Equestria as a "perfect society inhabited by perfect people" that she'd spent centuries building up?
  • In the "Radicalization" chapter of Choice, Lightning Dust is portrayed as fanatical about the EFF's cause of "restoring the true Equestria" and believing that they'll be able to kill Twilight and restore Equestria to its pre-war glory. By the time of "Stress Relief", she is portrayed as more jaded and somepony who doesn't really care about the cause, only having joined up because she needed a job and a home. One could chalk this up to Depending on the Writer, but another explanation is that after years of fighting and terrorist attacks that brought them no closer to their goal, and especially Princess Celestia's execution, Lightning Dust lost her faith that they would win. Alternatively, it's possible she didn't wholeheartedly believe in the cause from the beginning, but since the higher-ups in the EFF like Sweetie Drops were fanatical about their cause and would probably turn out any dissenters or half-hearted believers, she acted like she was just as fanatical to fit in.
• Arc Fatigue: Many feel "Regeneration" has gone for far too long robbing Choice of other interesting plot points it could cover. While some fans enjoy the story, others think it's went pass its course and believe it should be its own story rather than be apart of Choice. zelkova48 would later announce that they and Ponystar, after seeing the feedback to its inclusion in ''Choice'', have agreed to have "Regeneration" be its own story after 2022.
• Base-Breaking Character: This work takes the stock TCB portrayal of Celestia and goes to lengths explaining what could feasibly cause her Face–Heel Turn from canon (discounting Brainwashed and Crazy). Whether this is sufficient to address the usual criticism or if she's fallen farther than even that can justify is a matter of debate.
• Designated Villain: Flash Sentry gets a lot of harsh treatment from Spike for how he broke up with Twilight... despite the fact that Twilight willingly went along with Celestia's genocidal plans. And yet in Rest Spike still gives him the cold shoulder years later, not even letting him speak with her on her deathbed.
  • Another example of this is shown in Chapter 9 of Words of Advice from the many worlds of Twilight, where Rainbow Dash and Applejack's counterparts acted as though he was in the wrong for doing so.
• Friendly Fandoms: The fans of the Negotiationsverse are fans of the Spectrumverse and vice versa (helped by the fact that some of the co-authors of the latter have expressed an appreciation for Negotiations). It helps that both are deconstruction fics of the highly controversial Conversion Bureau story, albeit with radical differences in tone and focus.
• Genius Bonus: The three Abrahamic Religions uniting over Jerusalem. After all, while the destruction of Mecca and Vatican City were horrific on their own, they were central to only the followers of Islam and Christianity (respectively). Jerusalem, though, is extremely important to all three of religions - for Jews, it is the core of the Jewish faith. For Christians, it's the place where Jesus preached, died, and was resurrected, not to mention their shared history with Judaism. For Muslims, not only did it play a role in the life of several important figures, it's the spot where the Prophet Muhammad ascended into Heaven. There was absolutely no chance that the three religions wouldn't team up to defend it from invaders.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Applejack in Useless. She's become a ruthless terrorist, a remnant of a country that had attempted to commit xenocide on one species (and left several others to die back on its homeworld), and by her own admission has killed numerous innocent people, humans and ponies alike... but she's also lost her whole family, all her friends besides Rainbow Dash, her life, and her innocence even, and is stubbornly clinging to the past. She has already crossed far over the Despair Event Horizon, and is completely accepting of and at peace with the fact that she's either going to be killed or taken prisoner.
  • Halberd Wings, the protagonist of Warfare. He's a self-righteous borderline fanatic for Equestria and the princesses and is revealed to be quite racist towards not just the humans, but the other non-pony races as well. But the amount of sheer hell he goes through during the war and the toll it takes on his psyche still makes it hard to not feel some sympathy for him, especially when he still tries to hold on to some form of hope that Equestria will come out on top in the end.
  • Twilight Sparkle in Regeneration. Following the battle at Osaka and the firing of the Harmony Cannon, Twilight has become cold and distant from everyone around her. But you can't help but feel sorry for her after everything she has lost. Her brother and Pinkie Pie are both dead, her parents are wallowing in grief and unable to come to terms with Shining's death. Princess Celestia has locked herself away while Luna and Cadence are trying to maintain order in the country. Her best friends have alienated themselves from her and even Spike has outright rejected her following a very nasty argument between the two of them. And then the Doctor shows her the prosperous and harmonious future that could have happened if Celestia hadn't rashly transported Equestria to Earth and now is lost forever.
  • Even Princess Celestia has shades of this. On one hoof, it is absolutely her fault that the Conversion War happened, billions of humans and ponies were senselessly killed, and all the other races on Equus died because she decided to teleport Equestria to Earth without trying to find some way to save them too. On the other, The Chains of Commanding weighed incredibly heavily on her, and her losses are almost unimaginable. Before she'd even done anything wrong, she lost her beloved adopted daughter Sunset Shimmer after letting her go to Earth and witnessed Sunset getting killed and eaten by a tribe of hunters. She is the one who has to bear the guilt of dooming all of Equus to save her beloved little ponies, and she knows how much blood is on her hooves as a result. She also lost her sister, nephew-in-law, niece, and grand-niece in the war, and after being defeated, imprisoned, and put on trial, she goes to her execution knowing her name will be cursed for generations by humans and ponies alike. Her last conversation with Twilight (who makes it crystal clear that she'll never forgive Celestia either) has her revealing the truth to her student while requesting that she never reveal Celestia's reason for bringing Equestria to Earth, because she doesn't want to risk destroying the fragile post-war peace that humans and ponies have managed to make.
    Celestia: The world is united in their hatred for me. I am the villain. The one who almost ruined two races because of whatever reason the press can think. If they knew the truth, it might damage that unity. It might not; but I’d rather not risk it. I’d rather die hated and be forever labeled a demon if it means my ponies can be forgiven for following me.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Celestia had crossed this when she decided to save only the ponies and Equestria from death of their original home world's sun without informing the other species, thus dooming them to extinction. While she had understandable reasons for doing this and would have saved them all if she had the ability to do so, it was this action that led her down a path of committing even more atrocities, up to and including starting the Conversion War when it became clear the humans were not going to willingly change themselves, resulting in mass death, destruction, and suffering that never needed to happen.
  • Applejack crossed this when she started to sell innocent ponies to the ESS to keep Sweet Apple Acres financially afloat.
  • Twilight Sparkle in Fallen: Twilight Falls crosses this during her Roaring Rampage of Revenge by, after brutally assassinating Celestia, going on a killing spree that kills countless royal guards and her former friends (except for Rarity and especially Fluttershy, who she spares for being right the entire time), culminating in her destroying Canterlot in a magical nuclear explosion that eliminates Celestia's supporters but also countless innocent ponies.
  • Twilight crosses this in "Regeneration Part 8" when she uses the Harmony Cannon to nuke the East Coast of the US and part of Canada, killing 85 million humans. She shows no remorse for it, is proud of what she's done, and is even willing to use the Harmony Cannon again if she thinks it's necessary.
• Squick: In Fallen, Fluttershy mentions that she and her human lover Martin have had sex. It's not bestiality because the ponies are sapient, and no details are given, but for some, it's still gross to think about.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: From one of the endings of Fallen, Harmony was supposed to be a benevolent deity who righteously punishes and calls out Celestia and others for their wrongdoings, cures the newfoal transformation, and had in motion the means that would have prevented their sun's death if not for Celestia fleeing with Equestria and dooming their world. But Harmony never revealed the latter before, causing Celestia to know no other way to save her subjects, and Harmony never intervened to stop them from falling to villainy or prevent their atrocities sooner despite it being well within their power. This caused many readers to see Harmony as similarly guilty of, if not directly responsible for, Celestia's mistakes and wrongdoing and Harmony's calling them out reeking of the same arrogance that's condemned in Celestia. A unique case in that the author, while not intending, expected the character would be seen as such, making them for the sake of having a fun ending while knowing the character wouldn't stand up to scrutiny, thus always intending for there to be additional endings without them for those inclined.
• The Woobie:
  • Twilight. The poor mare lost just about everyone she cared about during the war, wrestles with all sorts of guilt and self-loathing throughout the series, and it's not until she's on her deathbed that she is finally able to forgive herself for all that she'd done in following Celestia.
  • Spike. The poor little guy also loses several of his friends and family during the war and then finds out that he's the Last of His Kind afterward.
  • Cadence in Choice. She's lost her husband, can only watch as her only daughter descends into despair, and gets manipulated by Celestia into using the Crystal Cannon (when before she had clear reservations due to the death and destruction it could cause). In the end, she and her only daughter die in a nuclear bombing as retribution for using the cannon in the first place.

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