Intrologue · 5:38am Sep 12th, 2018
Love was dangerously intoxicating. Or perhaps it wasn’t love that left Twilight Sparkle lightheaded; perhaps it was the relief of letting go. During a simple conversation over a candlelit, romantic supper, so much had been said; so much had been accomplished. Twilight felt that she had done as Applejack had said to do—she had said to let go and so Twilight did. The change was immediate and strange. All of her hangups didn’t feel as though they were impossible to overcome. What had once been insurmountable obstacles were now funny things to laugh at.
It felt as though more progress had been made in about a half-an-hour than had previously been made over the full course of their relationship. All of the things that Twilight dreaded, everything she feared, the minutiae that had caused her such anxiousness; all gone, and replaced by a restorative catharsis.
The entirety of the bake-off had been a trying experience, and as for the conclusions that she had reached—they were uncomfortable, if not downright unsettling. Some truths were unbearable, unwanted, and upon discovering them, there would be no going back to the state of being one had pre-truth. A bell could not be unrung. The Equestria that had formed because of the miracle of Hearthfire, the nation birthed from Hearth’s Warming—it had died with the Founders. It could only survive for as long as they did. Everything that came after was an imitation, an attempt to take everything new and frame it somehow so it fit with the Founder’s ideals.
With every generation that had passed, with every immigrant that had arrived upon the shores, with every demagogue that rose to power and attempted to thwart or somehow usurp Princess Celestia’s rule, Equestria changed. What had started with a confederation of three tribes changed with the meeting of the First Tribes. What clash of ideals had taken place? The confederation of the three tribes had not even lasted a generation before it was struck down and replaced with a unified kingdom. Had the Founder’s original vision died then, at that moment?
That unified kingdom eventually grew too large and fractured into fiefdoms. These grew corrupt and Equestria, an actual nation at long last, very nearly tore itself asunder. Then came the reform and the feudalistic contracts that changed the entire world. Equestrian Feudalism and the Covenant of the Three Tribes as it came to be known, sent ripples around the world. The Darks and Twilight Sparkle’s own ancestors were the authors of this mighty, world-changing contract—the reformers that brought light back to the world after the lights almost went out.
But this was not the Equestria of the Founders.
Yet again, as it had in the past, progress had come to a standstill; whatever came next would be Twilight Sparkle’s Equestria, and not the Founders.
Pastryarchy is almost done. Everything will soon go sideways. Discuss.
Long live the pastryarchy! I shall defend it and make it survive until the end of time!
In all seriousness, I can see the lead up to another story in this one (and others) I’m honestly excited to see where this goes!
I believe that there is nothing wrong with having independent contests for baking for the three tribes, each one has a specific way of baking and should never be judged on a scale that’s equal, because frankly, it isn’t.
Earth ponies have to learn to do everything by hoof/mouth.
Pegasi have to learn in a similar fashion but are also able to use their feathers for extra dexterity
Unicorns have an easy button installed and just need to learn the right spells to bake anything
Unless they are limited to using only telekinesis