The worlds are changed.
Where Equestria was set to follow a familiar path of harmony and friendship, the path is waylaid by the appearance of a creature out of myth, bearing grave tidings.
On Earth at the dawn of the third millennium, a war that should have never been rages between humanity and the ones who would seek to perfect it.
For down the road less travelled, Equestria is Empire, a dark mirror of what it once was and should be.
Lyra Heartstrings, musician and dreamer, previously content to spend her life in the shadow of Princesses or their faithful students, must now decide the role she’ll play in this new reality. But within the threads that connect us all, just as even Princess Celestia can have the humblest desires, the smallest person may change the future.
Authored by Team Spectrum, currently consisting of Sledge115, VoxAdam, and RoyalPsycho.
Cover by skysayl.
Our Group
Equestria Timeline
Dramatis Personae/Character Sheet
Story Outline
Side Stories
Equestria
The First Second of Eternity, by Sledge115.
A Sun in Winter, by Sledge115 and VoxAdam.
In Night's Garden, by Sledge115.
Celestia Regina, by Sledge115.
The Rose of Florentina, by Sledge115.
Wallflower of Canterlot, by Sledge115.
Sogno di Volare, by Sledge115.
Velvet Quill & Sunny Skies, by Sledge115
Joy to the Worlds, by VoxAdam, TB3 and Sledge115.
Earth
Story of the Asian Front, by Kizuna Tallis.
Snowbound, by DoctorFluffy.
The Slow Mutants, by DoctorFluffy.
The Light Despondent, Remixed, by DoctorFluffy.
Dissonance, by RanOutOfIdeas.
Starvation, by DoctorFluffy.
So, IT BEGINGS!
8189263 Yes, IT HAZ BEGUZ.
Not sure if making uppercase of the whole title. But, I shall watch regardless.
This is cool! I eagerly await the next chapter!
Oh my god. My heart is racing. I've booked my seat on the hype train. This. will. be. FUN!
Is this the new version of The other side of the Espectrum?
8189471 Yes
Oooooooohoohoohoohoohohohoh...
This is going to be something dark, twisted, and FUCKING AWESOME!
I like how we're getting the glimpse into Celestias mind and the thing from the original spectrum.
Hopefully this means queen!Celestia has some good left in her. I always loved a good redemption/sacrifice.
The description reminds me of the Other side of the spectrum
8189959 it's a reboot of that story, and so some similarities are likely
Why doesn't this story have a sex tag too?
8193360 Probably unlikely that we'll have any sexually explicit sequences involved. Should that change I'm sure the tag will be added
8193445 what were they like in the original?
8197737 One notable scene came out of left field and was barely mentioned again - straight up smut.
8197820 wow, so who's the main author of the reboot?
8197822 You're looking at him.
8197983
no way! Actually to be fair, the original spectrum was on your user, but you weren't technically the main author. Seeing this just shows how far you've come, quite exciting 
.
8197986 Depends on how you look at it, all eleven of us ARE the main author now.
8197997
... okay, wow that's a lot. Still, I wish you guys the best of luck.
Also, will you guys use the original cover art for this (speaking of who drew that for you), or will this story not have one?
8198004 Now, as to this question, that's something we'll have to decide :-) In an ideal world, I'd love the same artist to do cover art, but it's not always possible. I know it won't quite be possible to use the original cover art, because that was for the old story, and the new one has some different events at play
8198291 well you could try. I saw her page and according to that she said commissions are open. If you still feel you can't ask her though, I can recommend some artists if you're interested?
8197997 how close do you plan on following the original storyline cause the were a lot of things that worked really well and some that sort of fell through.
8212100 I believe the general consensus is to follow the original story to degrees, whilst also implementing the following changes:
- We're hoping to streamline the story so the "600,000 words in, haven't gotten anywhere" effect of the original doesn't get replicated. The intent being to have "A" plot events more consistently at the forefront, even as "B" plot events and side arcs happen.
- We've already made an effort to alter the mythology to introduce new and (we hope) fun concepts to the backhistory, as can be observed in this prologue. There will be more of this, not only to do with Equus' backhistory, but also the history of the conflict on Earth.
- There will be changes to characterisations - these will primarily focus on keeping characters foregrounded who should be foregrounded, making sure no characters who should be strong are weak (and vice-versa where applicable), as well as adjusting certain characters to be more consistent as a whole.
- There's also a lot of thought going into the resolution of the conflict: how that's to be achieved and what happens.
- As a side note, while this is less a change and more a resolution, we will be doing our best to make sure our characters are challenged throughout, morally and physically.
It's our hope that these changes will streamline and enhance the original concept and make it a distinct beast compared to the 'Classic' story, whilst retaining the flavour of the original that made it so popular.
8212100
What Jed R said.
8212161
8215443
Well, I enjoyed the original, what I read of it, and while I was sad to hear it was canceled, I'm pleased there will be a reboot, as I really liked the concept of "Conversion Bureau, but there are good and bad ponies and the Equestria we know is there as well."
I also want to give a bit of quick feedback on why I stopped reading the original, though I imagine you're already aware of the underlying cause. Basically, I was reading it, and it directed me to a side-chapter or side-story or something to give insight into the main story, but I couldn't get into the other story and thus I stopped reading the whole thing...
8236966
I can assure you that you won't really have to deal with that this time.
8236983
Excellent. Bloat was definitely an issue with the original - although length itself isn't a concern for me if it's paced well. With the right fic, I can be gripped so firmly I'll be reading it until dawn... not that I actually want that to happen, but you get the picture.
8236989
At worst, you're just going to read supplement material to expand your experience of the world.
You may wan't to create a blog announcing that it's here and attach the old story to it because this went complexly over my head and I don't wan't this to die in the cradle due to the wrong perception that no one is interested.
8239952 We have 41 Likes so far, I think people know we're here.
8239952
8240117
Still worth making a blog reiterating that it's here - maybe when Chapter One goes up? 🙂
8240141
Okay then.
8240190
Yeah, I for one had no clue this was up. Only that something was being debated
Ah, no matter how much people pour through a story there's always typos or grammar weirdness
an old, half-forgotten path
Storywise it seems to be off to a good start. Good luck!
Well, I can safely say that my own issues these last few months (my father passing on, getting let go from a job I should have Rage Quit years ago, etc.) had at least one benefit: I missed the tail end of the cluster rut that prompted the reboot. So much to toss out, so much to keep and stitch back together.
8240502
And so many folks with different ideas about which is which. Still, we're all muddling through somehow 😁
Commiserations about your difficulties. I hope things get better for you soon.
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders were, in fact, just passing by, and would later attest that the entire house-tree had jumped in the air, performed a “totally awesome!” roots-over-branches flip, and landed neatly back in the resulting hole, none the worse for the wear."
Gotta say this part defintly made me smile.
Thanks for the update!
Havok and Krampus, huh? I have my suspicions for the former, but the latter? I can't wait to see what you do with him in an uncorrupted time line.
8243405
Yes, presupposing we get to do all we'd love to do with this, once we've finished ironing out the recycled backstory, Jed has his plans for Havok, as do Sledge and I for the Krampus, although, you may want to keep an eye out for what the creature could be up to in the "bad" timeline especially.
8244846
I suspect that The Void will have a greater say in Havok than I will (Havok as a figure in history was his idea initially). My purview is elsewhere (on which, more... at some point?). Vox and Sledge definitely have a host of ideas for the Krampus, though, so that's something to look forward to.
8244891
...huh. It is starting to sound like Havok isn't an old name for Discord. Good to know.
Is this Amulet Research going to be a Chekov's event?
8248448
Maybe 😉
8248992
I mean, it doesn't seem very relevant to the plot right now. Kinda distracting, really. Since you guys seem to know what you're doing there's probably going to be some epiphany down the line.
8249000
I'm a pretty big believer in the Chekhov's gun principle as a rule, even if I'm not perfect at putting it into practice, but even if I slipped up (And I do have an idea of the Amulet's relevance, personally) we've got an 11-person team, and someone's gonna have a crazy-fun/fun-crazy idea 😁
8248448
That, and an excuse to open on Twilight doing Twilight things, while establishing the approximate period of the show's canon this is set in.
But our "prime" Equestria is not the exact same as the one from the cartoon, either; for example, as Twilight regretfully exposits to Dash, Trixie got into a lot more trouble for her power-trip with the Amulet.
Foreshadowing abounds surrounding the Amulet's history as a corrupting influence, the kinds of enemies we know our heroines shall be facing, and the question of how right it is to condemn someone under mental control; the last of which I'd long argued to see more thoughtfully applied to Queen Celestia in the original story.
Thought it started out a bit on the slow side, but knowing what this is, I'm glad I stuck with it. It's good to get a sense of normalcy before it's utterly overturned, and that human showing up is a good way to flip the table.
I particularly liked Twilight and Dash's conversation early on. I wonder, was that deliberately a jab at the old troubles that lead to this story being rebooted. Seems pretty transparent knowing what I do.
And it seems our new friend didn't come through the portal alone. Oh dear, is that Weaver? Craaaaaaaap.
Who made this cover art?
8267212
Me: same general principle as the stuff I do for my own stories
8267600 impressive, what made you decide to draw it yourself, instead of asking someone else? Not that I'm complaining, and if I did it would just be nitpicking, but I am curious.