Original Story Concept · 3:55am Nov 22nd, 2013
So, I sorta kinda came up with an interesting concept while sulking in the shower, which just so happens to be my usual brainstorming facility. It is an alternate universe fiction wherein the mane six never exists.
But hold on... don't they?
Here is the little blurb thingy doohickey for the story...
"In Equestria, the human word "fiction" does not exist. There is no such thing as a lie. There is no such thing as a truth. The world simply "is". However, something changes one day when aspiring musician Lyra Heartstrings accidentally discovers a hidden library deep inside Royal Canterlot. While sleuthing the grounds, she happens across a strange television series never aired to the public. The piece is called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic", and it stars five superstar status ponies who were never once recorded into Equestrian history books.
So just what exactly has Lyra uncovered that could change the face of the country as she knows it?"
Yeah. So I've decided to keep the background characters (and Celestia and Luna and such), only the mane six are a fiction in Equestria. No, Equestria is not some doomsday dictatorship alternate universe world, it is the same Equestria you would see in the series, just without the mane six... and without the ability to lie or tell fictitious stories.
This project is a serious undertaking, and likely will not be started until after finals are over. I plan to have a shorter one-shot out before finals, and I will likely start this in place of my much longer one-shot "Dreams are Made of Little Wooden Houses".
So, wait. Is the television series a documentary that was hidden? Or is it the only work of fiction this society has ever created? If it is the latter, would they even be able to recognize it as fiction? Wouldn't they conceptually get that it isn't real? Or is that the point? By assuming the fiction is reality, it changes what they believe their history is?
No truths and no lies? Does that mean that if I say that I can run 100 kilometers an hour than it means that I suddenly can? But what if we say something is true when it is untrue and that constitutes as a lie, but if lies don't exists than wouldn't this just be a world of never ending paradoxes? My brain itches
1528443 I remember enjoying this movie, though I feel like I haven't seen it in some time...
1528600 This is what causes the controversy. Residents will believe that it is a part of pony past kept hidden from them because they have never heard of such a thing as "fiction". However, Lyra will discover something else out that nobody else knows.
1528648 Let's just settle on one thing right now, I'm not ready to handle a bunch of questions about this fic that I haven't even started planning yet, haha. Basically, the residents of Equestria don't know what a fiction is. They cannot create stories that aren't real, nor does a fictitious story even exist. The Mane Six do not exist, but their stories are archived in this library for some reason or another. Forget about the whole "lies-truths" nonsense, even the description will be changed in time.
1528782 So a world without fiction it is.
You're writing a Background Pony alternate ending! Let it be known hereinafter that I called it!
1529170 I see, I see. Actually, I read most of that story but never read the ending. How did it end?
1529551
I don't know! I have about 30k left of it.
I can't see how it can possibly end well for Lyra, but shortskirts has managed to blow my mind on many occasions, so I'm hopeful. Which means I'm falling for his trap.
Edit: I'm going to post a summary here since you'll probably never read the whole thing.
Lyra struggles for a while trying to learn the melodies. One of them takes her to another "realm" where she meets what is supposedly an alicorn on par with Celestia and Luna. The realm is dark and evil and thundery and full of zombies, and this other alicorn is trying to make her one of them. Somepony saves her, but she doesn't know how.
She eventually finds a book detailing the accounts of another pony (Alabaster) that went through the same curse a thousand years ago, and he never got rid of it. This pony was invited by Luna to discover the same tunes that Lyra is trying to piece together. The tune is useful for getting to that third alicorn's realm, and that alicorn is Celestia's and Luna's sister. Luna went crazy and Nightmare Moonish, probably because (this is implied) she went silly suffering through the same curse.
The curse exists because this third alicorn and her realm is not supposed to be known, as dictated by the Comic Matriarch, the one that created the Equestrian universe. Her realm is supposedly death.
Luna couldn't help Alabaster with the curse, so he turned to Celestia. Some explosion or time-rewrite occurs every time Celestia is close to finding out about this third alicorn that's supposedly there to prevent her from ever finding out about it.
This book also details some of the things Luna did to find more of the melodies. Apparently there are other songs with power when played with a special instrument (which Luna found, and which was passed on the Alabaster), such as one that allows Lyra to view the rewritten histories, and one that lets her gather ponies from far away temporarily.
Anyway, Alabaster goes crazy because his wife dies from malnutrition after repeatedly forgetting that she's pregnant. Alabaster eventually is able to play a variant of Third Alicorn's song to go into his own realm hidden from Third Alicorn. Lyra plays this on Special Instrument to visit Alabaster, who's been living for a thousand years in his realm in seclusion. It's suggested that he'll be suffering there forever and can't do anything about it.
There are repeated mentions of "Her Beloved" by this point. This turns out to be Discord. Discord eventually returns to bring havoc to Equestria. He finds out that Luna is special since he can't make her silly, and unfortunately for Lyra, Discord won't forget her, so she's stuck with him.
I'll continue this after dinner.
1529551
I said "Luna" in the last paragraph. I meant Lyra.
Discord and Lyra get into a PHILOSOPHICAL ARGUMENT, in which Discord tries to break Lyra. He eventually decides to go after someone that Lyra started caring about maybe halfway through the story. Lyra challenges Discord to a game to get him to stop. She can't think of anything while she decides this, so she keeps talking and ends up settling on "the oldest game": Lyra names something, Discord names something that can defeat it, loop and repeat until someone can't continue.
This game turns out to be way more epic than it sounds. I'm not going to spoil this part on the tiny chance that you decide to read it. It's Chapter XVI, Beloved.
I lied. I have 60k words left.
Although I don't really like Lyra (well, at least it's not bonbon), it would be interesting to see what kind of universe this creates. Also the mane six as some TV superstars, I want to see this.
1530773 That... sounds hideously complicated... I thought I had read a good chunk of the story, but considering the author I doubt I scratched the surface, especially if you have 60k words to go.
Thanks for the thorough overview. MUCH OBLIGED.
1532111 I think this story will be gloriously decent.
1537085
I just reread my overview, and I realize that I missed a lot of the plot. If anything seems weird or random, it was probably explained and heavily foreshadowed.
So... who was best pony?
1537264 Twist was best pony.