Resolution
Shining Armor’s mind raced as he bolted through Canterlot. The lights within the city had all but gone out, leaving only the lamp posts to light the path to the castle. He slowed as he reached the courtyard, and cautiously made his way through the gate. Much to his shock, none of the guards made a move to stop him from entering, not even Captain Sterling. He shot Shining a frown, but continued on his patrol. The staff did seem a little confused when they looked at him though. Could it be Celestia never told them why he stormed out?
He put that aside as he approached the dining room he left earlier that evening, but hesitated at the door. He had to apologize, he knew that, but seeing Celestia so angry... she scared him. With a snort, he drew himself up and knocked. Whatever came of it, he would apologize.
The door opened a moment later to reveal Nightlight, Shining’s father, who smiled and stepped out of the way. Shining glanced around, looking for the Princesses, but did not see them.
“The Princesses stepped out quite some time ago,” Nightlight said, as if reading Shining’s mind. “They cited needing to raise the moon and the stars, but they haven’t been back yet. They sent dinner shortly after they left, and we were just finishing up, but there’s some left if you’re hungry.” He waved a hoof to the table where a large covered platter sat in the middle.
“It’s been fairly quiet so far, not much real discussion,” Nightlight trailed off, glancing somewhat nervously at the group out the side of his eye, “but watch out for the pink one.”
Shining raised an eyebrow, but Nightlight didn’t say anything more before walking back to the table, and taking a seat between Twilight Velvet and Spike. Shining walked over to his seat from earlier, righted the chair he, to his chagrin, must have knocked over during his earlier outburst, and sat down. He wasn’t particularly hungry, but he opened the platter and took a few pieces of fruit to nibble on.
“Hi there!” a perky voice said to his right.
Shining started, but quickly recovered. A pink earth pony mare stood to his right, bouncing ever so slightly.
“I’m Pinkie Pie!” she said. “These are my friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy!” she said, pointing them out in a row along his right.
Shining stared blankly before clearing his throat. “Hello, everyone. I’m sure my name came up after my outburst,” he said as he looked away briefly, trying to hide his blush, “but I’m Shining Armor.” Pinkie blinked, but otherwise didn’t move. She seemed to be waiting for something. “Nice to meet you?” Shining guessed.
“This is going to be great!” Pinkie Pie cheered, and Shining nearly fell off his chair. She wandered off rambling to herself about supplies she would need.
Shining glanced to the pony on his right, Rarity, a white mare with long purple hair. “Is she always that... excitable?”
“Hm?” Rarity said, glancing over as if she hadn’t noticed. “Ah, yes. You’ll get used to her. She’s Ponyville’s premier party pony, and she seems set on throwing one for you and your parents.” She paused long enough to tilt an ear and listen to Pinkie’s monologue. “It would seem you’re the guests of honor.”
“A party,” he deadpanned.
“Oh yes, Darling. Cake, punch, decorations; I’m sure you’ve been to at least one before.”
“Yeah!” Rainbow Dash called excitedly, doing a quick loop over her chair as she took to the air. “It looks like it’s going to be a big one, too! Kind of like she threw when Twilight-” Rainbow Dash sank down to her seat, a sheepish expression on her face. “Sorry.”
Shining shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m surprised to hear she went to a party. Twilight wasn’t much of a socialite before.”
Spike chuckled softly. “If you call locking herself in her room, trying to sleep while everypony else was having fun, then sure, she went to a party.”
“Hey!” Pinkie exclaimed, popping up between the two of them. “She did, too, attend the party! Remember how she tried my signature cupcakes topped with hot sauce?”
Shining gagged softly before turning Rarity. “I don’t think I could ever get used to that pony,” Shining said. He caught something out of the corner of his eye, a strange twitch from Pinkie pie. He glanced back at her. She seemed... sad. It definitely wasn’t the same jubilant smile she had when she introduced herself.
“No one ever is, Darling.” Rarity said with a smile as she took a small bite of a dessert and then used her telekinesis to dab her lips politely.
A soft rumble came from Shining’s left as Nightlight cleared his throat. “Since we’re just about done eating, and everyone is finally here,” he said, glancing at Shining, “perhaps we should get down to the reason we’re here?”
A thoughtful silence greeted him as the others all turned their attention inward.
“I think we should forgive her,” a soft voice finally said. Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus in the middle, shrank into her chair as all eyes turned towards her.
“Just like that?” Spike asked. He stood up on his chair, gouging the table as he clenched it in his claws. “She killed Twilight. That’s not something you can just forgive so easily.” He sat down and crossed his arms, glancing away from the table.
“I reckon not,” Applejack said, “But you heard it yourself. Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon aren’t the same pony.” She paused and scratched the back of her head, momentarily upsetting her hat. “Although, I don’t rightly know what Nightmare Moon was.”
“A monster,” Pinkie Pie said, uncharacteristically solemn. “Just thinking about what Luna went through... She was an artist, an alicorn, a Princess. And for all her efforts she was ignored.” Pinkie Pie hung her head and shook it slowly. “Then she was taken over and banished to the moon for a millennium; tortured and left, alone, with that... that... thing!” She looked up into the startled silence, as if just noticing the others were there. “She didn’t deserve that,” she said softly, turning in her seat to face away from the group. “Nopony deserves that.”
Fluttershy placed a comforting hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder, earning a brief smile in return.
Rainbow Dash nodded once, as if confirming something to herself. “She’s right,” Rainbow said softly, but grew in passion as she continued. “She’s right! Princess Luna has gone through so much, we can’t turn our backs on her for what that monster did!”
Fluttershy nodded. “The poor dear... She is as much a victim here as Twilight was.”
The rest of the Bearers nodded, as did Shining’s parents. Spike didn’t, but he also seemed more relaxed, looking glum rather than defiant. Shining found he couldn’t really blame Princess Luna either. It’s not like she had control over it. Besides, Twilight had forgiven her, and so could he.
“What about Celestia?” he said, surprising himself along with the others, and drawing their attention.
“I beg your pardon?” Rarity asked.
Shining paused as he gathered his thoughts. “She’s the one who sent Twilight, sent all of you, against Nightmare Moon. She manipulated the situation, Twilight... everyone into this confrontation. Doesn’t that make her to blame for it?”
“Who else could she send?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It’s not like there were a lot of options here,” she said, glancing at Shining.
“So, you’re saying she just sent Twilight off and hoped for the best?”
Rainbow Dash shook her head. “Princess Celestia had no other choice. Remember the scroll? She said she couldn’t control the Elements of Harmony anymore.”
Applejack nodded. “She searched for centuries tryin’ to find a way to use them to bring her sister back.”
Shining nodded reluctantly. More than anyone, he could definitely understand that. What would he do if there was a way to bring Twilight back? What wouldn’t he do?
“Why didn’t she find another way to stop her, then?” Twilight Velvet spoke up. “She’s an alicorn. Why couldn’t she fight Nightmare Moon?”
“Because Nightmare Moon had the one thing stopping Celestia from even trying,” Shining said, and let out a long sigh. “As long as Nightmare Moon possessed Luna, Celestia was powerless.”
Nightlight nodded to himself.. “Looking at it from that perspective...” he trailed off, turning to face his wife, “it would be like asking Shining to fight Twilight.”
“Yeah,” Spike said with a nod, “all she could do is make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time, but she couldn’t have known what would happen. There’s no way she’d hurt Twilight on purpose.”
Twilight Velvet started weeping, and Nightlight held her closely, but they both nodded, acknowledging the truth. The princesses weren’t to blame.
“So it’s agreed then?” Shining spoke up. He looked around the room, waiting through the lengthy silence for any sign of disagreement. “Very well, should I have Captain Sterling ask the princesses to return?”
After a nod from the group, Shining walked over the door where Captain Sterling was standing and asked him to tell the Princesses that a decision had been reached. It didn’t take long for them to arrive, but Luna hesitated in the doorway as she saw Shining Armor. He cringed a bit, but gave Princess Luna a bow, welcoming her to the room. She took her seat next to Celestia nervously, glancing between Shining and the door, repeatedly, as he took a step forward to address them.
“Your Highnesses, I would first like to apologize,” he said. “Princess Luna, my actions were entirely uncalled for this evening. I didn’t mean what I said. Deep down I knew you weren’t a murderer, and I most certainly shouldn’t have attacked you. For that, and so much more, I am sorry.”
He paused briefly as he looked to Celestia. “I know how much Twilight meant to you, Princess Celestia, and I’m deeply sorry for my words.” He bowed his head and sank to his knees before them. “I hope you both can accept my apology.”
Celestia and Luna both nodded. With a sigh of relief, Shining bowed once more. “Thank you.”
“Captain Sterling tells me that you’ve all made a decision?” Celestia inquired, looking to the rest of the group.
The group nodded as one, and turned their gaze, one by one, to Shining. He groaned internally. I should have expected that, I guess. He cleared his throat, and turned to the Princesses. “It seems I’ll be speaking for us on that.”
Shining glanced at the group once more, seeking confirmation. A few of the ponies nodded back at him, but no one spoke. Shining took a breath and turned back to Princess Luna.
“We forgive you, Your Highness.”
“You... do?” Luna asked hesitantly.
Shining nodded. “Yes. We all agreed that you weren’t Nightmare Moon. I realized that myself earlier tonight when I was out, but bottom line is I didn’t know if I could forgive you, and no one here really did until we started discussing it. The Nightmare took advantage of you, manipulated you, and ultimately took over your body. Despite your emotions, that was not your fault, and neither is anything done while it was in control.”
Luna nodded once, but kept her head lowered. “Thank you... thank you so much!”
Shining smiled and nodded back, then turned. “Princess Celestia,” he said, “you also believed you shared some blame for what happened the other night. However, we disagree.
“You knew,” he paused and cleared his throat. “You knew what Nightmare Moon was capable of, but you didn’t send Twilight there on a whim, or due to carelessness. You sent the only ones who could defeat her.
“Whether or not you could’ve defeated her yourself doesn’t matter. Even if you succeeded, you would have lost your sister permanently.” Shining cringed as those words left his mouth, his head momentarily lowered as he thought of Twilight.
“Twilight was one of the Elements of Harmony, and only she and the others could possibly return your sister to you.” Shining’s voice cracked at the end, but he refused to look away. “You didn’t gamble with Twilight’s life, and you certainly didn’t send her there to die. The only gambles were whether or not they’d be successful and if Princess Luna would survive.” Shining swallowed the lump in his throat.
“This isn’t easy for me,” he continued, “and part of me is still upset, but I know the blame doesn’t lie on you two. Every way I look at it, Nightmare Moon was the only one who had any control over what happened.”
“I-” Celestia said, then hesitated. ”I honestly don’t know what else to say, other than thank you. And while we’re on the topic of apologies, I’d like to offer my own to you for how I reacted earlier today.”
Shining sighed and started to nod, but stopped himself and shook his head instead. “You don’t have to apologize for that, Your Highness. I was way out of line.” A silence hung between them for a few moments until finally he glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, eyeing her warily. “I just hope I never have to see you that angry again,” he said with a sly smile.
Princess Celestia blushed lightly and nodded, then cleared her throat and looked over the group. “You all have been rather quiet. Do any of you have anything you wish to add?”
The group exchanged glances amongst themselves.
“Seems not,” Applejack said. “We all agreed on what Shining Armor over there said. Nothin’ more to it.”
Celestia smiled and nodded once more. “Now, I’m sure you five have had a long journey from Ponyville, and I’ve taken the liberty of having the guest rooms prepared for you, assuming you wish to stay.” Celestia stopped and looked at the time. “Actually, I don’t even know if the trains run this time of night.”
“Now that ya mention it, it is rather late,” Applejack said with a yawn. “That’s mighty kind of ya, Princess.”
“I’ll have Captain Sterling show you to your rooms, then.”
Sterling nodded and gave Celestia a quick bow before turning to the group. “If you’ll follow me, please?”
As everyone left the room, Celestia turned back to Shining and his family. “I know I said it earlier, but thank you, again. I doubt it means much, all things considered, but knowing that you all were able to forgive us...”
Twilight Velvet shook her head sadly. “It’s okay, Your Highness. If anything, it does help a bit with closure.”
Shining nodded. “I... really am going to miss her, though. She always had the biggest grin on her face whenever she learned a new spell.” He chuckled.
Nightlight grinned. “Even as she got older, she still jumped around like a filly when she got excited. Always screaming ‘yes’ over and over again.”
“Remember how hard she worked at her magic when she was young?” Twilight Velvet smiled fondly. “She’d spend hours staying awake long into the night reading. I can’t tell you how many times we found her asleep and drooling into her latest book.”
A soft chuckle came from the other end of the table where Celestia stood next to Luna. “After she came to the academy I found her much the same way many times. Though in most cases, when she woke, she’d be horrified by the damage she’d done to the book.”
“Yeah,” Nightlight said with a smile, “that does sound like Twilight. Speaking of the academy, remember her entrance exam?”
“How could I forget?” Celestia laughed. “It’s not every day a simple hatching spell escalates into causing a full grown dragon to tear through the roof.
“I can’t help but remember just what it felt like to turn into a cactus. I’d never been so thirsty in all my life!”
“There was this one time I’ll never forget,” Shining said. “It was back when Twilight was still a filly, and I had just eaten the last cookie out of the jar. She was so upset she spent the next three hours researching manifestation spells. I assume she wanted to refill the cookie jar herself. Much to her dismay, she never found a way, but watching her repeated attempts is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”
Shining laughed along with them for a time, but then slowly withdrew to the window while the rest of the group shared their memories of Twilight.
He glanced out, stargazing as he searched for the constellation of his sister. As soon as he found it, he spotted another shooting star that streaked across the sky above them, and gave it a lopsided smile. With a glance back at the room, he noted the others had moved to sit around the table, still reminiscing, and he rejoined them.
Although he knew no one at this table was completely okay with what happened, he knew that, in the end, things would be okay. They could never return to how they were, but, eventually, it would be okay.
Also LikedSimilarAuthor
- BlueAzura · 62k words · 839 31 · 20k views
- Spacecowboy · 14k words · 709 33 · 12k views
- NintenES · 59k words · 475 29 · 11k views
- Ecko7 · 7.6k words · 436 32 · 24k views
- Field_Marshal_Luna · 7.4k words · 549 36 · 16k views
- Listener · 34k words · 760 46 · 14k views
- Azure Sandora · 7.2k words · 329 23 · 4.3k views
- GlassAlicorn · 33k words · 113 8 · 6.1k views
Stats
Page generated in 0.19 seconds
Total duration
584 users online
1,046,466 hits today, 2,782,760 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
It would be ok, until Discord returns. Then on the off chance they beat him there's Chrysalis, and then finally Tirek (not counting everything else that happens between super villains). But until then, it would be all ok.
Let's say that was the case, that Celestia sent the only ones who could defeat her.
Alright.
So nobody's mad that she decided that half-assed 'vaguely point her in the right direction with no inkling of anything' was worth risking the lives of six civilians that she as princess has a duty of care instead of making a personal sacrifice and NOT getting Twilight killed?
Or that she failed Luna so utterly as a sister as to give NMM an in?
Or not fighting NMM while they used the elements to buy them time?
Nobody? Nobody at all?
Ok...
"she has has"
what
So.... disappointed in this ending and story. It had serious potential. Soory for saing it...
This is really bad pacing Shining armor and her parents would never forgive celestia and luna. Not to mention there was no explanation as to why twilight was in the astral plane and for why shining armor felt a "presence" in his mind.
7048457 Never? As a family, I know how it feels to lose someone. But even when someone is to blame, once you get over the initial rush... You find... You can't hate them. Especially when logically, their story makes sense.
I hate open ended stories author, but this? This is how it should end, with the rest of the journey in our mind.
Liked.
This is how fanfiction is done. Epic win, buddy.
Well worth the wait.
This ending is pretty meh. It feels very rushed and everybody seems to be stumbling over themselves to apologize. What's more is that Celestia and Luna should be cognizant of their roles in Twilight Sparkle's demise. I would like to think that they could at least apologize for the circumstances, etc. They come across as shrugging their shoulders in a 'it was inevitable' way and the ponies as just sort of buying it and moving on right away. The emotions don't feel anywhere near raw enough. It's not impossible to believe that the proto-mane six are mostly just sad, but Shining Armor and his parents seems less shocked than they should be if the reality hasn't quite sunk in and far less distressed than they ought to be if it has. Also, I'd like to think that Celestia would see Twilight as more than a disposable Luna retrieval mechanism. By that measure these things should really, really bother her a lot more even if there was little she could do about the circumstances short of endangering herself and, indirectly, Equestria as a whole.
I'm afraid I'm kind of with StormyVenture there, for once. It's not really up to the level of the rest of the story. Still, it's nice to see an ending to it anyway.
7048457
7049507
7049909
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Personally, I can honestly saw I'm of two minds regarding this...
As a tragedy, this ending works moderately well. It's not perfect, but it's also not overplayed.
It's a good place to end the story if you want to keep it as a tragedy, though I could see a sequel hook in the form of Discord's escape. Discord screws with the laws of reality and loves it, but in the canon confrontation he's more crazy than anything else. If he came back and decided to be a bit crueler... well, he could always bring Twilight back from the dead to haunt Celestia, Luna, the remainder of the M6, and her parents... only to be lost again when discord is resealed by the elements. Another tragedy story, but with a bit more closure...
and if you really want a happy ending, after Discord is reformed by fluttershy he could always bring her back permanently after that.
Heh, Twilight'd get the reputation for just NOT STAYING DEAD.
He not mentioning Twilight feels kinda wrong. He saw and talked to her, and forgiveness came only from that. Other than that, nice story, just read it all.
What makes me curious is just when would she be needed, and what she'd do then. Would she ascend, coming back to life? Would Discord do it? Would it be Sombra's necromancy, if he has it on this 'verse? Or would simply appear whenever needed for the elements to act, passing on when they'd be given back to the tree? Become a manifestation of harmony with the rainbow power, maybe? Yeah, not what the story is about, but one can't but wonder.
Oh, and congratulations on your perseverance! I can't say I have any idea of the hows and whys you took so long to finish this story, but the fact that you didn't give up speaks volumes about your will to finish it. Well done indeed, good sir!
7048457 There is an explanation for why she's in the Astral Plane. The Astral Plane is the world between life and death where spirits who haven't moved on yet stay, according to Luna. Luna also says that a really determined spirit can reappear briefly in the real world, which is how Twilight was able to speak with Shining.
Pay a little more attention to what you're whining about before you whine about it.
7053674
I hope the author removed that line. Celestia makes like she intends to save Twilight and then doesn't.
7051898
No offense, but the only tragic part is Twilight's unnecessary death thanks to the cruelty of NMM. Nobody else seems to care on more than a surface level. Kind of "Oops, the purple pony died. Oh well, back to business as usual." if you know what I mean.
Good fic. Although a part of me wonders what'll happen once Discord shows up; or Sombra; or any of the other villains / big bads.
Well... End of an era.
7060519 Pretty much the season finale with glimmer and those time paradoxes. No Elements to save the planet.
7075370
I honestly never liked that Season finale. In one timeline NMM was defeated, never mentioned how. In another Discord is beat as well as NMM. In others everyone was defeated till Tirek. But it was never mentioned what happened to all of those others, or how Equestria survived till then.
It was like the writers throwing all the villains just for lolz.
7075640 It all has to do with the butterfly effect. Perhaps NMM never got to return, or the Empire ever returned, etc etc, or Celestia actually tried to get off her flank and do something for once. War was obviously fought. Just chance who won. Actually it was quite cool to try and imagine scenarios on how they lost/overcome the enemies in those worlds. I like things that make you go in awe like that.
7075937
But the butterfly effect is more than that.
The thing on Luna was pre-ordained and prophesied about a way before the bearers were born. So she was destined to come back.
Discord's seals were weakening, and only took an act of disharmony to awaken him. Something that would have happened if Luna was beaten and things went normally up to that point.
That and while Dashie never pulled off her rainboom. We see that her and her other friends were there with each other in most timelines. The only pony missing was Twilight throughout all of it.
A true Butterfly Effect wouldn't have as many changes to things that were set up to happen anyways. Yes the Changeling Invasion might never have happened, Nightmare Moon would reign, and Discord would be free. Those possibilities are do possible. But NMM would first need to be defeated to stop eternal night; the EoH would be needed to fight the Discord's release; Sombra I can kind of see, since Spike was the one to save the Empire. As well as crucial in stopping Discord.
But by stopping the Rainboom, wouldn't cause so many different problems without earlier problems that were destined to happen changing as well. And those changes weren't part of the Rainboom. Now if it was a longer multi-parter than they could've done it right. But as is, it was poorly done. With very little time to actually explore the changes. Simply, Twilight went into a timeline where a Villian won. No explaination, no seeing how big a change things were. Just a very small, never explained change after the other. Show casing the MLP Rogues Gallery.
7075990 You should be right but since time travel never happened you can't know how cut and dry it is... And you could explain it easily as this: The Twilight that time traveled already had the elements and had friendships, etc, so the "time traveling" could also of been dimesion hoping. And dimesions are close but never exact usually. Timey-whimey whibbly-wobbly. Everything is up to interpretation.
7078248
Well that and the Element Table of McGuffins was with her everytime, carrying her. So yeah, less time travel and more dimension hopping. But as for time travel as a whole. A good version of a Butterfly Effect in action is the Persona series of games [especially 3 and 4]. As well as Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor.
Although with all the alt-Mane 6 AU's I find it disappointing that things happened as they did. But meh. Dimension hopping is screwy, and as you said, whibbly wobbly And is up to interpretation, I'm just disappointed the writers flubbed a good premise with limited time constraints.
7105688 I do not regard EqG as relevant to the main series, mainly because the writing was so terribly sloppy in the first movie especially.
Sunset Shimmer was a poorly-conceived antagonist, no matter how you look at it, which made assumptions about Celestia not even the show ever properly addressed.
Which... kinda emphasizes the need for a Celestia episode to explain plot threads that have been blowing in the wind since Season 1.
Frankly, the writing overall for show's continuity and background is so weak, I can't take much of it seriously anymore.
7107492
My big gripe about Sunset Shimmer is the implied age gap between her and the Mane 6.
Sunset would have had to have gotten in and made significant progress (which involves several years time). Sunset would have left/dropped out before Twilight took the entrance exam as a fillie, for Twilight to have absolutely no idea who Sunset was.
With that in mind, why was Sunset hanging around a highschool at the same grade as human Mane 6?! She would have had been in grad school working on a doctorate by the time Twilight became an Alicorn!
Though I do like the implication that Celestia had a running program to mold a new bearer for the Element of Magic. It would appear that she was too heavy handed/ blunt with making friends and relationships with Sunset. With Twilight (Celestia's absolute last chance), Celestia was subtle about it.
Regardless, Equestria Girls is a bit sloppy.
I too desperately want an episode where Celestia has center stage with the Mane 6 doing something in the far background. The 6's actions known about, but not affecting the episode that much if at all (kinda like episode 100. Everyone knew that the 6 were fighting the bugbear, but the fight didn't affect everyone else's day beyond some conversation.)
Continuity is best served by ignoring the comics and books (moon creatures making dreams inside of vats?!
), even if it means giving up some of their fun and good parts (Twilight singing "Call me maybe", and Star Swirl versus the Sirens). The only comic that is allowed as canon is the Power Ponies one, and that's because it's the actual
Power Ponies. So it's fiction within fiction (also, 'My Little Donkey').
I just saw the episodes with not-Skyla/princess baby (I can't remember her name) a few hours ago. I almost flipped my desk when they said that alicorn babies have never happened before.
It took away Celestia and Luna being life long alicorns, and only gave us solidification of Cadence's story in the first book.
Give us back lifelong alicorn Celestia and Luna!!
7078287 7078248
The argument could be made for the 'parallel time lines' variation of parallel universes, but the ones we see (aside from NMM's) seem to have an astrick in regards to NMM & Luna.
The explanations that I can think of for the ones that made it past the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration are the following:
1) Celestia had the EoH set to 'destroy' rather than 'imprison'. Celestia used the EoH to destroy the Nightmare entity, but Luna got killed in the process (similar to how Luna got depowered and physically regressed to a younger age when the Nightmare was removed). This is likely to have happened with the Sombra time line, since there is a day and night cycle, it's past the 1000th summer sun celebration, but Luna isn't on the battle field like Celestia and Sombra.
2) Luna got the praise, attention, hugs, and love that she deserved 1000 years ago and so didn't succumb to the Nightmare. Likely to have happened with the Discord timeline since we see Luna with Celestia running for Discord's amusement (though the Discord one also has the possibility that the EoH were never found and he never lost his rule).
There is also the possibility of the villains showing up out of order, or not getting released, escaping, or getting killed by their first encounter with the sisters.
Discord not getting released by the CMC, or killed by the sisters.
Sombra killed by the sisters 1000 years ago rather than sealed.
Chrysalis got double teamed in the wedding fight and got killed, and the changelings were repelled/killed by the Canterlot garrison.
Cerberus never left its post and Tirek didn't get out.
Also, the villains never showing up in the first place
Though this explanation gets wonky kinda quick, and involves a LOT of killing.
Though with the explanation given by Zecora, that her people don't belong, leads to the timelines being temporary and/or simply glimpses of what could have been.
I was incredibly annoyed and angry with the repeated skip over of NMM in the different lines. At one point, I was shouting at the screen "and what about NMM?!"
I reacted that way since I like NMM and her sexy evil seductress voice.
I just realized something. None of us are pointing out or complaining about the absence of Cadence in all of the time lines.
7110050
1) Not possible. If that the changes happened post-Sonic Rainboom. Then the same NMM / Luna thing would have happened. That and it's a hub event (or a timeline event that if X variables line up, will always happen. In other words, since Luna fell, Celestia would have accidentally sent her to the moon. And things would be set up for the EoH to heal her. Something Celestia would have known about for a 1k years.)).
2) The premise of the show was, One event didn't happen. And the Element Map being there, shows some degree of connection. And with all of those differences, then Twilight going back would mean that all those parallels would have had to be there when she shifted. Since they weren't / didn't, then that puts it out of wack (although is less ultra grim-dark as #2).
Simply put. That episode made 0 sense. And while it could be a potentially interesting premise. Was utter crap in its execution. Twilight never explored anything. Saw her friends there, but didn't do anything to fix them or see what lead to it in the first place, never spent more than a few mins there. Then left. As I aforementioned it was a lazy excuse to bring out the Rogues Gallery, and the ending fills me with hate. Especially after the raw deal Trixie got, and still has. Starlight Glimmer instantly becomes the friends of the Mane 6, and a student to a Princess, after everything she did.
7109266 Next, try to figure out how the human world has a Celestia and Luna considering that the Equestrian versions are well over a thousand years old.
It really made no sense at all.
7110265
). 
......Truth be told, I never thought about the two principles.
The not-Skyla episode tells us that the Royal sisters weren't always Alicorns (that nugget of information feels like a splinter being drivin underneath my finger nails!!
While the movies takes place before not-Skyla, but if we were to apply that information to Equestria Girls, then EG Celestia and Luna would have died of old age during the height of their Rome equivalent.
That or the EG Celestia and Luna were born recent enough to be old enough to be high school principles, but young enough to not look old as fuck.
EG is established to be mundane like us in real life, so thousands old sisters are out of the question.
Also, being high school principles would be a waste of their first hand historical knowledge and inevitable wisdom, if they were thousands of years old.
7110050 This is why I love time travel stuff. This whole comment thought process!
7110111
It would have been even better if we knew what the Yaks involvement was in that scenario. Since their location in relation to the Crystal Empire would have made the Yaks Russia, the CE Germany, and Equestria as Europe collectively. Though that parallel to the WW's assumes that the Yaks were also fighting the CE, and the CE was in a two front war. (I like WWII history if that's not completely obvious
)
(though that should never be a cop out for not going balls to the wall and not being smart with your writing (remember, Faust as a little girl, thought that 80's MLP could have been so much more)).
I agree with you that the premise could have been SO! MUCH! MORE! With additional screen time and thought put into it.
I LOVED the quasi-WWII variant of Equestria with the war against Sombra and the slave army!
I would have eatten up multiple episodes of the Sombra slave war. Heck, I would be ECSTATIC if they did a full season or made a spin off with that scenario!
In the end, we are watching a cartoon aimed at little girls that is rated Y-7
Also, the NMM as the ruler scenario should have been the only one that existed. Though NMM would have had to deal with the same problems that Celestia would have in the other scenarios.
Because that would be dope as fuck!
You would be a liar if you say that NMM's Equestria vs. Sombra and the slave army would not be awesome.
As for Trixie and Glimmer.
(she was already in crazy town towards the end of the episode since she was 'suspicious about wheels')). She came back, to get revenge for getting shown up by a stronger unicorn.
Trixie Lulamoon is an illusionist showpony and pyrotechnic with some above average unicorn 'strength'. Conflict started around her since she was being a blowhard. She came back and tore shit up after getting a magic multiplier amulet (that also drove her mad
Trixie got her forgiveness and left since she wasn't a threat to the populace at large.
Starlight Glimmer is a strong unicorn with advanced arcane knowledge, that stole cutie marks because they were perceived to have ruined her close interpersonal relationship with her child hood friend. Glimmer modified a time traveling spell, stole the cutie mark off of an alicorn, is persuasive, and is at least competent with the execution of her plans. In addition, Glimmer has ambitions beyond "check out my hype abilities!"
While the forgiveness granted is entirety too quick and easy for Glimmer, and it is pretty damn bullshit. There is some validity to having Glimmer around, since Glimmer is Twilight at the beginning of the series, but with a dark past and history to repent for.
Twilight likely wanted a student of her own, and to monitor Glimmer's reformation. Which leads to Glimmer being a student/ intern of friendship.
7110749
Yoish, NMM and Sombra in a war would be awesome. If not for the fact that NMM doesn't have the restraint and love for life Celestia has. NMM would just Alicorn Nuke Sombra, then collect the slaves and heart from the rubble XD.
And even possibly a Dissy one if he broke free. I can see him breaking Celestia free and freeing Luna from NMM just so he could have fun rubbing in his power in their faces. Then even occasionally releasing the Nightmare to possess Tia or Luna for a time just to have some additional chaos. Before ripping that power away from them.
__________
But yeah, while originally and for the most part it started off Y-7 and aimed at little girls. There has been some brony pandering, and shows that were a little more than than Y-7 (slavery, a fantastic and delicious death on screen (technically, kind of. With Sombra), War, and other actiony - violent bits). But it feels like a cop out using that though. Especially when they utterly blundered Magic Mystery Cure.
________
As for Trixie. She was a showmare. An entertainer, whose show was pay by donation (since she didn't charge admission). Was Heckled by Rarity, then rudely joined in by the two other performers AJ and Dash. All on her Stage Persona. And if you've seen Performers deal with hecklers, you know that Trixie was practically tame in getting the show's focus (and her sole source of income) back on her.
Heck Rares even got away with Vandalizing her store / home. Then you have the horrible parenting Skills of Ponyville. Allowing two colts to go into Pony Murder Forest, awaken and annoy a massive carnivorous Celestial Beast. And not only do the kids not get in trouble it ends with Twilight saying that she hopes Trixie "learned her lesson".
Now. All of that, the fault was on Ponyville. But they spread rumors, and it was bad enough that any attempt to get herself a new home / caravan ended with it destroyed, and there were even towns where ponies ran her out with pitch forks and torches. She was utterly ruined because parents of Ponyville are negligent and want to punt the blame onto someone else. The "lying braggart".
So yeah. Her revenge scheme is pretty reasonable after having her life destroyed by the city of Ponyville and the vitrol they gave her. As for forgiveness. Twilight gave her a pittance of forgiveness. Not the others. And definitely not all of Ponyville. For all we know her life's infinitely worse, if she's not stuck in a jail cell somewhere.
_________
As for Starlight Glimmer. That's putting the BS to "Invent new magic = Alicorn" right there. She invented magic capable of removing Cutie Marks. Something that should not be possible. She then reinvents Time Magic, not just a spell, but completely reworks Starswirls' knowledge of Time Magic on its head.
Yet doesn't ascend. She does more crimes, illegal acts, and even crimes against nature, and while Trixie as shown above gets the shaft. Shimmer has no probation, no community service, no punishment at all. She gets a room in a castle, all of Ponyville, and the Mane 6 (the latter whom she personally wronged more than Trixie ever did) like her and are her friends.
And she has a completely clean slate. Yes Twilight wants a student to mold, and Starlight is exceptionally skilled. But when put side by side with her crimes and acts against Trixie. All the good that happened to her feels forced, and it just makes me want to have an aneurysm fueled by pure rage at how poorly done it was.
7110601
Thank you!
You like all of the discussions involving trying to fill in the gaps due to the changes caused by time travel?
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey for the win!
(Only the first couple of minutes in the video are relevant)
[youtube=XGGQROJEYYo]
7110838
, rather than using an alicorn powered Kame-ha-me-ha wave type attack.
If NMM was clever and elegant, then she would drop an astroid or two from space to get a nuclear weapon equivalent type explosion
I like the style of your Discord.
Very clever, evil, and has good ideas on how to multiply chaos with what he already has!
-------
At least Trixie didn't respond with racial slurs like Kramer
(which would have been weird since Rarity is a unicorn like Trixie
).
The thing with Trixie as a showmare, she was acting as if levitation was unique and hot shit, but every unicorn does it regularly after a certain age to eat and do lots of mundane tasks.
With human magicians and showmen, slight of hand, subtle misdirection, and illusions via light and mirrors, are hard. They require unique skill, steady hands, attention, and a handful of tools (The ones that make cards appear in a stranger's pocket are mind blowing).
Trixie levitated rope and tried to sell it as if she just cured cancer.
While Ponyville parents are pretty shiitty at keeping track of where their kids are at, Snips and Snails going into the Ever Free Forest is more "high schooler sneaking out at night to meet with friends and booze it up" rather than, "sure son, you can visit the registered sex offender's house that is two blocks away with only your friend in the middle of the night, have fun and bring me back some of his candy".
)
They are a reward for patience and masculinity!! (Waiting for mine to get long enough to style into a handle bar so I can bring back old school class
))
Also, Snips and Snails drew aggro on the Ursa Minor since Trixie said that she could beat up Ursas (also, those two are dumber and thicker than a sack of bricks
I agree that it is pretty bull shit that those two aren't punished (Staches aren't punishments!
When did Rarity vandalize Trixie's wagon?
Everyone seemed pretty chill with Trixie within minutes of her losing the Alicorn amulet and Trixie seemed pretty chipper on her way out (aside from face planting of course).
As for Glimmer, I agree that it feels forced and her redemption was way too easy. It would be better if she was working the debt to society off over the course of the current season via community service, a tracking bracelet, and bitch work (repetitive manual labour and menial stuff that interns and secretarys do, not prostitution
(the show would take an incredibly dark turn if her parole involved prostitution!
))
7110487 Yes... which is why it makes no sense at all that a Celestia and Luna equivalent exist currently in that EqG world. It's so contrived to set up parallels with Equestria that one might think it was written... (that's generally a sign of bad plot contrivance when details exist so impossibly that the only way it makes sense is to assume that they've been deliberately designed that way by gods/the writers)
7111317
Are you saying that the EG writers purposely wrote poorly (as in writing "Spiderses"), or that the writers phoned it in and slapped it together with no regard to details or continuity, so they could make it to happy hour?
("fuck it, let's make the ponies into humans and do a 'highschool musical' knock off. Let's get hammered cheaper."
"Okay, but what about Cele-"
"Make them the principles! Now let's go, you're driving!"
"But the princes-"
"Shut up scrub!")
7111103
Here's the thing about Trixie though:
1) Her audience minus the Main 6. Were eating it up, and she was doing more than just levitation. [She was doing Fireworks, summoning / sleight of hoof, Pony charming (like snake charming but with a pony), turned light into a physical substance, the first non-pegi to do weather magic.).]
2) People forget that the second her show started. Rarity was insulting her for doing her show as was Spike. Then Rainbow Dash rushed the stage and started insulting Trixie in her own show. But everyone was liking Trixie's showing them up. (as for Rares vandalism. 8:34 - 8:38.)
3) Her show gained money via how much money ponies were willing to give her. The fact that the Mane 6 (other than Flutters, Pinks, and Twilight) were heckling almost the very second the show started, and were rather aggressive about said heckling (see Rainbow Dash rush the stage and talk down and insult Trixie) was literally draining bits.
and
4) Everything she did was a gimmick to be remembered compared to the other showmares in Equestria. And can you honestly say that Trixie is forgettable?
__________
As for the kids. Sure they snuck out. But it says something that you have ponies who are just getting to the point where they are learning magic (and even then only a night light on their horn), and the parents not only don't care enough about them to know where they're going at night.
But when their negligence causes damage, they and the rest of Ponyville blame the pony who lost all of her worldly possessions. Then further attack her by spreading rumors that end up with her life perma-ruined. (and Yes, epic 'staches aren't punishment. Heck even Spike was getting in on that to look more manly. And good luck on bringing back the Handle Bar mustache. That really is one of the more manly and epic of 'staches.)
____________
And Ponyville wasn't chill with her after what happened with the Amulet. Trixie had to be slinking about, and ran after doing Twilight a solid from the shadows. Ponyvillians are still asses to Trixie. With even more reason to be hating on her than last time. The only one chill with Trixie is Twilight. And even than it came across as more pity than friendship, which she didn't outright offer.
7112079
Less wanting to make it into happy hour. And more were snorting mountains of sugar off the bellies off of puppies. And while Pinkie Pie levels sugar high, just slapped it together and called it a day.
7112609
I'm going to need to rewatch the Trixie episodes to refresh my memory on the finer details. Tried to watch it on YouTube, but apparently the episodes aren't posted like they were originally.
I did find a part of Boast Buckers, but it was in reverse so things are kinda nonsense.
I did see the part where Rarity ripped part of Trixie's curtains, and yeah, that was a dick move. It explains why Trixie had Rarity make those banner flag things when Trixie showed up with the amulet. If the staff meant to do that connection, then it was subtle and clever.
7112613
)
(MLP writing staff team after hanging out with the Littlest Pet Shop writing staff team while snorting sugar off of puppies
pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1255000676/image.jpg
The LPS team know how to party and/or have smoke breaks.
7115500
http://www.watchcartoononline.com/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-episode-6 I get almost all of my little pony episodes from there, youtube, or random sites for free mlp friendship is magic online, as brought to you by Google.
And yeah, everytime I see that episode I can't help but think of how big a dick the M6, and Spike are being. I mean yeah, bringing up an Ursa Major (Minor), into a show as a shock in awe thing is a good gimmick, but not necessarily smart when near the actual Everfree, in the town that gave rise to Snips and Snails. That was just a recipe for her downfall.
Oh! Oh! Oh!
. Hasbro owns both Littlest Petshop and My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. So that pic is probably more accurate than you know. LP supplies the snortfest petting zoo, MLP supplies 'Ze Magix!' 
7112079 Yes. That.
7115985
Long and tiring.
Even if she was doing it via human 'magic' techniques.
I wasn't able to look up the episode today.
As of late, I've been downloading and watching episodes off of Yay Ponies. I do that since my friend in Kansas and I (in Texas) like to watch the new episodes synchronized, and having it downloaded gets around streaming issues.
I remember the first time I saw the episode, being unimpressed with the premise of a unicorn stage magician in a country where 1/3 of the pony population cast magic.
I was in Spike's corner with being unimpressed with Trixie doing magic.
Now if she was an earth pony and doing the same stuff, then I would be super hyped about Trixie!
Though like I said, I need to see her episodes again.
For now, I shall leave you with pictures of MLP an LPS writing staff parties:
t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTMZFQ_317JczMUV511Mg1jlSPk3Y7jZIDsudt-GRJdzOR4DWqU
new4.fjcdn.com/pictures/Spawn+of+cocaine+bear+oc+please+enjoy_75aeda_3570428.jpg
7116551
I FUCKING KNEW IT!!!
Wait, are you going with the 'Spiderses' or 'happy hour' explanation?
7118443
Most of her stuff was sleight of hoof. And you have to take into consideration that of the unicorn population. Only 5 are known to be able to do tons of different spells. Most unicorns are only able to do spells based around their Special Talent. Of those 4 you have Twilight Sparkle, Starlight Glimmer, Starlight Glimmer's friend that drove her to communism, Sunset Shimmer, and Trixie.
All the rest only really need levitation, and magic needed to do their special talent. So anyone able to do more is impressive, and the crowd was eating up her act like it was crack. But yeah, her act, was just that an act. Which means that enough ponies prior to the Mane 6 enjoy it enough to be profitable.
But yeah, watch it when you have the time. Here's a good link for you.
7118448 Everything.
7048271 I have seen many people with problems about this story, and who say it had a bad ending, or something like that, and although I see where they're coming from, I don't agree. At all. This story was the first I ever read on fimfiction, so that kinda leads to some bias, but even without considering that, it had good description, a great plot in my opinion, and incredible emotional scenes. It hooked me from start to finish, and I stayed up past midnight just reading it (even though it was a school day). Easily 10/10 for me, and among my favs, if not my fav on this website.
8012671
Thanks for the comment. I also understand where a lot of people were coming from. This was the ending I wanted, the one I always tried to go for. It took a long time to get it to the point it is now. I may be a little disheartened from some of the comments, but I agree with them, too. There were plenty of other ways to end the story that would've been better, but none that I felt like fit the idea I had in my head.
This is still the story I'm most proud of writing, and really appreciate everyone's feedback.
Thank you for your comment, again. :)
A good story.
👍
Needs resolution for Twilight in the astral plane though.
Hint hint
*cough* Sequel *cough*
8382721
My idea of the resolution was that when Shining looked over that last time and she was gone, she had moved on.
Glad to see you read it so quick! A sequel will most likely not happen for various reasons. But in the end, this story still makes me happy to have seen completed.
8407180
I get where you're coming from with the end, but it's not implied, just that she's appeared like three times and never says a goodbye or anything to say that she's moving on.
But that's just me.
I liked it.
😃😀👍