Concepts and Creations – As One Falls

More common tropes to tackle!

And we’re back to my abandoned babies. This time we’re going to talk about a story that does, in fact, already exist. The original As One Falls was an entry for a Writeoff and was largely agreed upon as interesting, but serving only as the introduction to a larger piece. So where would that piece have gone?

As with so many stories, this one operates under a familiar thread: what if Starlight won and Equalized all of Equestria? In this planned AU, Starlight succeeds in brainwashing Twilight and the others with the dogma of equality. Then, abusing Celestia’s and Luna’s total trust in Twilight, she arranges an ambush and manages to Equalize the two of them before they even realize what is happening. But the Royal Sisters are far more advanced mentally than any mortal, and thus are easily able to resist Starlight’s attempts at swaying them to her cause. So Starlight has them imprisoned together in a cell beneath Canterlot, devoid of all contact with the outside world save for an endless wave of re-education material that just can’t do the job.

But Celestia and Luna are patient. They know that Starlight never equalized herself (because villains like her are remarkably predictable in their selfishness) and her rule is a temporary thing. Assuming Twilight doesn’t snap out of it and stage a rescue, eventually the un-equalized Starlight will die, and then Equestria will have no choice but to free the diarchs.

Decades later, their expectations come to fruition. All of Equestria has been equalized, leading to widespread famine, illiteracy, and general misery for all (but hey, at least they’re all equally miserable). Starlight took control of the Sun and the Moon and lived in luxury; it’s nice to be more equal than others, after all. But then she dies of natural causes. The rest of Equestria is still equalized. The Sun and the Moon have stopped moving. The citizens struggle to lead themselves.

Foreign powers soon decide to invade the beleagured nation, not out of conquest, but for survival. They all know that without the Sun and the Moon cycle the entire world is doomed. The only choice is to rescue Celestia and Luna and return to them their rightful powers. Starlight’s loyalists are fiercely determined to stop them but also must deal with rebels who fully agree with the invaders’ line of thought. Equestria plunges into chaos and civil war.

And then, Celestia and Luna are freed.

But they are still equalized, and the chaos of the civil war is ongoing. The former diarchs must find and regain their cutie marks before they can help anypony. This might be easy if Starlight hadn’t created dozens of Cutie Mark Vaults across Equestria and left no indication whatsoever of where any particular mark is hidden.

This would be bad enough if Celestia hadn’t learned of the death of Twilight Sparkle.

The story ends up being an adventure starring both Celestia and Luna, each with their own goals and motivations. It is also a “Fall of Celestia” story. Celestia is driven to fury by the death of her beloved student who, having been made an alicorn, should have been immortal and by her side forever. This fosters a growing hatred within her for Starlight and all who supported her, but also for the minotaurs who killed Twilight via military action. As other political figures external to Equestria try to take advantage of the situation, her ire only grows.

Luna is the better half in this story. Realizing that Celestia is well on her way to becoming Daybreaker, a big part of her story involves trying to form safeguards against that possibility. She focuses her attention on rallying those who opposed Starlight, but also in smoothing diplomatic tensions, forging alliances with those who may help her against Daybreaker if needed, and positioning herself for a leadership role if, Elysium forbid, she has to rule Equestria alone in the near future. A big part of this is finding new ponies to wield the Elements of Harmony, and maybe gather some other artifacts that could help.

And while all of that is happening, they still have to find their cutie marks before the stationary Sun and Moon destroy Equus entirely.

The story was set to combine political intrigue, military strategy, worldbuilding, adventure, and above all else, a continuous cat-and-mouse game of shifting trust between Celestia and Luna as their individual goals clash. It could have been such a fun story, but alas, I just don’t see me being able to get to it.

An aside: I don’t think I ever determined what happened to Discord in this AU. If ever someone were to write about this, I think making sure he was properly addressed would be of significant importance.

Comments

[Crack-Fic Casey]

I find it incredibly difficult to believe Starlight's Equestria could last her lifespan, seeing as Equestria's current philopshy has granted them so.many good things and her brainwashed legions are intentionally worse than everyone else.

I'd enjoy it since we're only accepting Equalestria so we can get to the good stuff though.

[PaulAsaran]

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I agree 100%, but to work with any Starlight Wins scenario we have to pretty much accept the concept at face value. I was far more into this for the “Celestia Falls” element of it than anything else.

[Super Trampoline]

We need more Celestia and Luna journey stories.

I do want to make sure you understand that Starlight’s dystopian vision represents a cynical caricature of actual communism.

Communism is simple: From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs. Starlight was all about neutralizing ponies’ abilities though. This is because she didn’t understand the magic of individuality. The goal of Socialism is a collectivist society, but one that celebrates our individual talents and quirks and abilities, rather than surpress them like Starlight originally sought.

[Crack-Fic Casey]

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I'm pretty sure that Starlights town was more about teaching kids about cults than it was about communism, specifically.

Though frankly any system that has someone in charge of taking things away from people is going to inevitably become screwed up, assuming it doesn't start screwed up.

[SpitFlame]

i.redd.it/dowvxzfnuooy.jpg

[KorenCZ11]

Wow. That sounds awesome and now I am upset that it will never be a thing. If/when you ever go into original fiction, I hope this idea resurfaces because I would love to read it. Though, I almost think it would be more fun if Starlight ended up dying in a bloody revolution a la Romania 1989. As is always the case, the fatal flaw of communism is the human (pony) element.

[Super Trampoline]

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No it hasn’t. Capitalist countries have thrown trillions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives at crushing every nascent socialist movement that has dared popped up in the past hundred years. And even then,

1. Cuba has no homelessness, barely any poverty, and more doctors per capita than any other country on earth
2. Over the course of a few decades, the USSR under Lenin and Stalin and China under Mao went from backwater feudal punching bags to industrialized world powers, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the process.