This is meant as an alternate/speculative take on what Season 3 might be like, drawing heavy inspiration from the third season of ReBoot.
During Shining Armour and Cadance's wedding reception, Princess Luna speaks with Twilight in private, to warn her of an impending Changeling attack on Ponyville. She then assumes the role of Ponyville's military commander, with Derpy serving as her second in command.
Ponyville has become Equestria's first line of defence against the Changelings.
Using this map by Aurebesh for reference.
Cover art by Rando-Meeks
Note: This fic does not fit with the canon map of Equestria. In this, Ponyville is the westernmost settlement in Equestria, Appleloosa is the easternmost with deserts stretching beyond pony territory, and the Everfree Forest covers Equestria's western border.
Second note: As I started writing this before I heard anything about Season 3, there's no reconciling this fic with Season 3.
Good start! My one suggestion would be to expand a bit on Twilight's inner thoughts in future chapters. That's something I'm also working on, and it seems to help give the story more depth by developing the character and the situation. I look forward to reading more!
P.S. Reboot was an excellent choice of inspiration. That show is amazing!
A good and simple star. I like it
Night gave birth to love, eh? Interesting start but not a lot has happened yet for me to weigh in much of an opinion. I am looking forward to where this will go though.
865585
It's not a major plot point, and I was just going by promotional materials that referred to Cadance being Celestia's niece.
"Strong Understanding of the layout "
Gun turrets at Fluttershy's huh? That should be fun. I wonder what ammo they're packing. Could have a Bunny-fed acorn belt.
Competent Ditsy/Derpy, huh? Seen that show up in only a few places (My Little Denarians and Pony Psychology come to mind). She's got her work cut out for her, although I think it'd be easier for her if she managed to find Time Turner's Fob Watch.
Also, that's a pretty nice Story pic you've got there, very dramatic.
935660 Fixed that little mistake. As for the story pic, it's a work in progress.
I can see lots of potential here, but with this kind of story it can be difficult to stay true to the behavior of the characters. You've done a great job with that sort of thing so far it seems, but what's with Princess Cadence being Luna's daughter? Did I miss something?
For a creature called "changeling", they don't really seem to be doing much changing. Justified I guess, because they seem kind of dumb without a leader (changelings mindlessly ramming Shining Armour's Barrier).
I have to wonder where all these guns and mechanized vehicles are coming from though, as they don't seem quite MLP's fare (and as you mentioned, the Ponyville defence setup is kind of antithetical to the equestrian way). *Edit* I mean assuming Flim and Flam built them, where would they even get the idea/technology for this? *end edit*
I bet Twilight really wishes she'd taken the time to learn Shining and Cadence's repulsion spell just about now.
935981 Well, promotional material referred to Cadance as being Celestia's niece, so Cadance being Luna's daughter seemed like the simplest explanation. Don't worry about those, it's not something that has a big effect on the plot.
936011 The way I see it, their ability to change form is something that is most effective when used for infiltration and sabotage, but as shown in the Season 2 finale, it's not so useful when attacking in force. As for the technology, most, if not all of it, would have been designed in Canterlot, under Luna's command.
Oh, dear. I wonder which one of them turns into Matrix. (Probably Twilight.)
Heh, Twilight Matrix and Andeya Doo. Off to battle across the... I don't know.
A taste of her brother's medicine? That shield thing? Or that banishment spell that Shining and Cadence cast?
961680 Yeah, it was more the banishment/repulsion spell, although in practice, I think they were actually the same spell. The difference being it was aimed at a specific target, rather than everything hostile in Canterlot.
Huzzah, the action is picking up!
And outside, Derpy is asking if somebody's drones have personality chips.
Now we just need Time Turner and those Flim Flam fakers :D
1145435 You mean the same Flim Flam brothers who shot Twilight in the eye, killed Mayor Mare, and sold Ponyville out to the Changelings? "Time Turner" will be in soon enough, though.
Special thanks to keikoandgilly for advising me on the Doctor's regeneration scene.
I can practically hear the Prisoner-esque music from that episode of Reboot in the background.
Wow, Arrival to Fall Out to Number 7 and replacing the golfball with Rover.
Brilliant!
1442289 The best part is my only real experience with The Prisoner is part of the first episode, and the tributes to it on ReBoot and the Simpsons, though it's not like Twilight could just pop Rover with her horn.
Ah. Sombra has made the scene. At least you've got him doing more than going Bwah-hah-slaves-grrr-arrrrghh.
Oh Twilight, you hypocrite :D
1617682 I'll say it now. It's not Sombra.
1618085 We're all hypocrites in one way or another, so whatever it is was not something I consciously thought about.
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"I know that just as well as you do, but one thing that shouldn't change is the colour of your magic"
Twilight's magic was white in episode 1, but changed to deep magenta later on.
1618342 Sometimes production errors should be taken as part of canon (like Derpy). That is not one of them. I thought it was something serious. The general rule about magic colours is that it either matches the unicorn's eye colour, or a prominent colour on their cutie mark. Ergo, there's no reason for Celestia's magic to be green.
1618385 I know what you're getting at, productionwise, and I don't disagree. Still, I found it ironic that she's the one who said it given that she's the exception to the rule.
Yet the argument that the green/shadow glow is exclusively Sombra's doesn't ring true. Twilight and Celestia are both capable of producing the same effect. Wait... I guess you never did state that the villain was our new antagonist, so for all we know this could be a male changeling. Then again, Twilight never did make such an accusation. I guess I'll have to wait to see how things play out.
1618531 1. I'm pretty sure Sombra's dark magic and all that is a special case anyway.
2. Minor spoiler: "Celestia" is a male changeling, not King Sombra. I had planned a lot of this way before I knew about Sombra.
1618577 Oh, I see. The "I never said you were a changeling" was more of a "Aha, you just admitted that the first thing you thought I thought you were was a changeling, therefore you are one" than a "Aha, you would like me to mistake you for a mere changeling, wouldn't you?" Good show, Twilight, good show.
I guess that we're working with an unreliable narrator though, since it's stated that they saw that no changelings had set hoof [in the capital] since the Battle of Canterlot.
1618639 That's the best kind of narrator.
We're getting the band back together :D
2069645 For a moment, I inferred from what you wrote that Pinkie Pie met Gummy shortly after killing somepony.
2071245 Well, from the sound of things they met sometime after she started taste-testing the rock shovels. For whatever happened in between... who knows? Nobody ever listens to the middle of a Pinkie Story anyway. Certainly would explain why she has a lethal weapon stashed in her mane though. After all, no pony dares break a Pinkie Promise.
2071313 It was more just her comment about meeting Gummy, right after Applejack and Big Mac saying that they didn't want eachother's blood on their hooves.
Oh, my........while it's a good thing that Chrysalis is gone, the price is kinda high.
2189665
What is the price of freedom? The blood of innocents.
Earth has been through innumberable battles and wars, from minor household ones to our entire planet, every time the price is the same, lives lost, ruined or maimed. The price is always too high and yet every time it is paid as somethings are worth the cost in blood and lives. I'd imagine ponies will look back on this war and think the same, the price was far too high, but they couldn't not pay it.
2192260
I do know that, at least. They were all willing to pay that price.
Well, at least there wasn't the musical number at the end. That always bothered me about how Season Three of ReBoot ended.
2255382 That was one of my favourite parts, but I don't see a good way incorporate a musical number into a fic like this.
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Especially since everything is NOT alphanumeric. There's a lot of crap left over from the war and there is no way to reboot Equestria back to normal.
2255443 This is true. I never had any intention of reverting Equestria to its canon state.
This needs a sequel, and it was amazing. You go, man. (Stargazer says hi)
2258299 I have two in mind, both of which were hinted at in the Epilogue.
ha i see the musicians of ponyville reference
i think you need to rewrite some of the scenes in the story because honestly while i'am enjoying the story everything seems just too rushed i mean that you should take the time to explain some of the characters emotions and add more dialogue, like for example when twilight got together with rainbow, pinkie and applejack they took no time to express there emotions and immediately started planning on attacking the hive THAT IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS. and for another example when they said that Trixie was killed they just shrugged it off in less than a millisecond i would've liked some more detail and reaction to her death. and thats just about it please take the time to consider what i just said and remember that i'am only trying to make you a better author
good day sir
865585>>935981 I found this long after finishing the fic, but it's as good an explanation as any.
THank you good sir for your support of my group. May the lords of chaos, time, and space smile upon you and your descendants!!!
Should I be worried that I read Larva's lines in Megabyte's voice?
3792309 Given that he was quoting Megabyte directly at the start of Chapter 10, I'd say no.
Hmm...
...I actually can see Cadence as being Luna's daughter...
................On some levels.
Great story so far, anyways!
'Commander Twilight Sparkle'~
This war took hold really fast!
And the picture of Fluttershy using the turret was cool, other then the fact that she has..HANDS...instead of hooves.
But a really good story, in all.