//------------------------------//
// Unknown Knowns 
// Story: A War 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Starlight Glimmer scratched her head, sitting on the chair.
Before her and across the table, three ponies. Not a smile on them.
Under one hanging light.
Surrounded by glass walls.
On the table, Starlight's complete manifesto with every page inside, nothing left out from the book.
"I would like to have a good explanation of what happened over the past few days," Starlight said, quiet yet firm. "If you don't, then you know full well what I'll do to you."
Silence.
"I trusted in you four."
Looked at the three of them again.
"There would've been four of you if it hadn't been for your careless plans you think behind my back!"
Sugar Belle twiddled with her forehooves on the table, averting Starlight's angry gaze.
Party Favor casually made a balloon animal, focused on Starlight but with a worried look.
Double Diamond remained resolute, narrowing his eyebrows at her.
"And you think you're smarter than me, huh?" She raised the book with a hoof. "You think you're smarter than the mare who discovered and developed the very things we believe in?! Didn't I tell you that we shouldn't convince ponies by force?! The Princesses don't have the right...they have the wrong because it doesn't matter if what they say is good or not—they might as well threaten all of Equestria with dropping the sun if you dare to disagree!"
Tense silence.
Starlight got up.
"We're supposed to show ponies what's right by what we believe in and that only! The day we terrorize towns and villages because they don't agree with us is the day we no longer fight for what's right—we fight for whatever works!"
Double Diamond raised a hoof. "But, Starlight—"
"I didn't say you could speak!" Starlight yelled.
Slammed the book down.
Blam!
"Before now, nopony could rightly blame us for pressuring ponies to abide by our rules. What we did was show the facts and speak the truth—nothing more, nothing less. We had right on our side. They could hate us all they want, but they could never refute our arguments, could never see what's wrong with them—because there never was anything wrong with them!"
She groaned.
"But, now...now, they can throw reason out the window and speak ill of us. They'll say, 'Why should you hate the war like the inhabitants of that weird town? Don't you know they just murdered this and that, killed a hundred creatures, both ponies and non-ponies?'"
She rubbed her eyes, moaning.
Sat down.
"You know what? I feel conflicted. Very conflicted. You're the best ponies I've got. That's why I sent you off in those  missions where we could gather data and peacefully convince ponies of what's right. Did we have to hurt some ponies? Yes, but only out of necessity—when they're the ones attacking us, not the other way around."
Starlight looked at Double Diamond square in the eye.
"And, guess what? You're the one who's read the entire manifesto seven times over, and you didn't get it in your head that we should be doing things rationally? Without punching ponies everywhere you go?"
Double Diamond stood up. "Which is why I had reservations—kept a few things secret myself."
Starlight stood up, too. "Are you saying that you disagree with me, mister?!"
Pointed at him.
"Where do we disagree?!" Starlight demanded. "Maybe that's why you went overboard with this...killing and scaring ponies! If only you had consulted me—and, I was open! Everything was open! No need to be ashamed or to feel guilty—I will understand!"
Double Diamond sighed. "It's not working, Starlight."
Starlight took a step back, furious—irises shrunk, grating her teeth. In a restrained voice: "What did you say?"
"I said, it's not working."
Party Favor tugged at his mane. "This isn't the best time to make Starlight mad, uh—"
"Yeah, you heard me right!" Double Diamond shouted at her, ignoring Party Favor's plea. "I'll say it again: it's not working, Starlight."
Starlight rushed to the table, levitated the book, raised it over his head.
Double Diamond shuddered, trying his best to keep a cool face.
"What do you mean when you say it's not working?!" Starlight yelled.
He breathed in. "Our town's been growing, but it's not growing fast enough for Equestria to take notice. It's hard for them to get out of their comfort zones. They've been raised to always accept certain things and it's hard to sway those ponies out of them—at least, not without force. If you place a sword an inch away from their heads—" smiled, laughed a little "—everything becomes much easier."
"Easy for you to say that!" Starlight snapped, striking the table with her hoof.
Party Favor and Sugar Belle stood up and backed away.
Leaving Double Diamond to face Starlight alone.
"Oh, I guess you read the book but didn't take it to heart!" Starlight continued, her voice a strident roar. "What's the use of reading my manifesto dozens of times when you don't even follow it?! I wanted peace for a good reason, and we'd end up being hypocrites if we use non-peaceful means to further our agenda! How many times do I have to tell you that?!"
"But, it's not bringing in the numbers!" Double Diamond retorted. "Ponies won't listen to us with boring speeches and dialogues over tea! What we need is an active military, an active guard so those who don't believe after we kindly tell them to must believe."
"That will only make them resentful citizens in our town!" Starlight answered. "They won't really believe in what we say—they'll just find a way to escape this village and then they'll find a way to complete their revenge on us! I don't want ponies asking me to be dead!"
"We'll be here to protect you, Starlight," Double Diamond said, now in a smoother tone.
"No!"
She flipped the table over with her magic, glowing it blue.
Book fell over.
Double Diamond jumped back, avoiding the projectile.
Party Favor and Sugar Belle pressed themselves against the glass walls, glancing at the door out.
"If you elevate me to leadership," Starlight rambled on, stepping forward, "then that defeats the purpose of why we're here! We're not just here to protest against the war, to be pacifists in a warring kingdom! We're here to promote equality by putting ponies in their place, making sure everyone gives equally and receives equally! That's why we left our old homes, that's why we moved here, that's why we made ourselves the ideal society!"
"You're too optimistic, Starlight," Double Diamond said, putting on a shrewd smile and pacing toward Starlight. "Ponies don't like our ideal society because it changes too many things. If you don't have me around, then our beliefs no longer have influence—they are only ideas. You're the one who thinks, I and my crew will bring in the action."
"Ridiculous!" Starlight yelled, levitating the table and trapping Double Diamond with it against the wall.
Cracking the glass wall.
Party Favor and Sugar Belle gasped.
Double Diamond struggling to get out.
Starlight keeping him in. "You're undermining everything we've built together! Can you just have a little patience and wait for true believers to trickle in later?!"
"It'll be t-too late!" he yelped, buckling under the pain of the table. "The war w-will end, and our cause w-will be lost!"
"We've had this little village before the war," Starlight reminded, never loosening her magical grip on her weapon. "We'll still have it when it ends."
"Starlight, have m-mercy on him!" Party shouted, galloping up to her. "If you give him a second chance—"
"He's been with us from the very beginning!" Starlight barked, fuming. "He knows everything! I could excuse a newcomer for stumbling so badly, but I can't let him go off scot-free!"
Party glanced at Sugar Belle covering her mouth and watching Double Diamond suffer. "What about her?! Punish him, but at least let them—"
"I already sent an arrest warrant!" Starlight shouted.
Kicked him.
Party Favor fell down, sliding along the floor.
Sugar Belle levitated him and put him back on his four hooves.
He staggered, leaned on the wall.
Sugar kept him standing.
Faced Starlight.
With those clamped teeth, those shrunken irises, her horn glowing ever brighter, ever bluer.
"You can't do anything about it!" Starlight yelled. "Double Diamond will be arrested! The guard's coming to put him in custody where he belongs, and I'll keep him fixed here until they arrive!"
"Starlight Glimmer," Sugar spoke, about to cry, "y-you can't do—"
"Oh, yes, I can! Equality above all!"
Starlight focused on Double Diamond.
Pressing the table further.
Blocking every whack of a hoof, of that failing suspect.
Door opened.
"Miss Starlight Glimmer," the guard at front said, reading off a piece of paper, "we'd like to—"
He dropped his jaw at the sight of Starlight trapping Double Diamond at the wall with a table.
Looked at his squad behind him. "Uh, am I missing something here?"



Night had fallen once again upon the Town of Efficiency. The moon shone upon the insensible dry land surrounding the village. Scaffolds had appeared before new buildings under construction, following the strict plans which made them look just as much the same as those before.
However, no one was working on these projects now. The power tools had been laid to rest, the architectural equipment had been set aside, and everypony who was still not under a whole roof were rushing to get to any house, speaking of parties and some anniversary.
In Starlight's house was a grand banquet. On the dining table were many pizzas, sizzling hot. Did any of the impromptu guests prefer thin crusts over the ordinary style? That did not matter, for both kinds of pizza were here. What if they did not like the toppings? They could content themselves with the variety of cheese-only pizzas which ranged from everyday mozzarella to a mind-boggling twenty-cheese mishmash. Was the pizza too raw or too burned for their taste? Easy—a unicorn or two could warm or cool a pizza by blasting it with a temperature spell, and Starlight volunteered to be one of them.
This party was a levelheaded party. Ponies clinked their glasses of sodas and juices, toasting themselves to another wonderful year for their town. A group of ponies by the wall were playing "pin the tail on the pony" with a blindfolded player holding a fake tail in her mouth and wobbling her way to the pony drawn on the poster, all while a stallion placed a record of party music on a vinyl player.
Starlight sat on the stairs, floating a slice of mushroom pizza to herself.
Chewed on it thoughtlessly.
A wistful face.



Starlight looked at her bed.
Sheets tucked nicely, blanket folded properly, pillows arranged carefully.
A dark bedroom save for the light of the moon.
That glimmering moon with its stars.
She sighed.
Looked upon the pictures shining under the moonlight.
There, Starlight smiling.
Her friends smiling.
Everyone else smiling.
Before the Town of Efficiency.
She looked away.
Hopped on to her bed.
Covered herself in a blanket.
Slept.



"Don't you end up hating each other?"
She heard the question.
Starlight turned round the corner of a house.
Over there, by the path, was Night Glider. Her mane in a bun, her tail straight, but she was there.
"H-Huh?" Starlight shouted, then covered her mouth.
Approached her.
"Y-You're n-not dead?"
Saw the table before Night Glider.
There, Party Favor and Sugar Belle sporting dirty cloaks and the same manestyles as Glider's.
"I should've listened," Party said, talking to the living pegasus.
"You're so different," Sugar said, looking at the six ponies who had just appeared at the table with a plate of twelve crummy muffins. "A moment ago, you were disagreeing, but now you're...agreeing."
Starlight trotted to the table, restless under the afternoon sky. "Th-This doesn't feel right."
She reached the table.
Saw her friends' cutie marks.
Their equal sign cutie marks.
She gasped. "You have...what is going on here?!"
Turned to the six ponies.
She recognized the Wonderbolt Rainbow Dash, but she did not have her armor, nor her scars—not even that mechanical wing. Instead, she had her two naturally grown wings and a flowing mane, untouched by military standards.
She also recognized the Rock Trooper Pinkie Pie, but her mane wasn't straight at all. It was all poofy and curly. There were no scabs or wounds on her, too—she was a bright, happy mare.
The other three ponies...that one had a farm hat over a ponytailed mane, this one looked like a fashionista and had three diamonds as her cutie mark, and that other one—that shy yellow pegasus...
Then, she turned to face the last pony at the table.
A purple unicorn.
A purple winged unicorn.
"A-An alicorn other than the Princesses?!" Starlight said, stammering and slowly backing out. "This must be a strange dream...what kind of dream is this?!"
She tripped.
Fell over.
Saw a purple hoof.
Grabbed it.
Got up.
"Th-Thank you, miss...uh..."
"Hi, Starlight!" the alicorn said, smiling.
Starlight took more steps back. "Uh, this is getting too unusual for me!"
The alicorn stopped her by the shoulder.
A serious, pained look on her face like it was asking Starlight to stay for a minute.
"Look, Starlight Glimmer. I don't know what you've went through, but I know you can't do this!"
"Do what?!" Starlight yelled, fearful. "What am I doing wrong? Is it this town thing—are you a figment of my imagination, or—"
"I've seen where this leads and so have you!" she continued, becoming desperate. "I've seen it a dozen times. Equestria doesn't turn out well without my friends!"
Starlight gulped. "I d-don't even know you!" She glanced back at those new ponies by the table—they were laughing with each other. "Are they your friends? I know Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie, but I don't know—"
"The differences between me and my friends are the very things that make our friendship strong!"
A magical poof on her back.
A baby dragon sitting on her.
"Is that a dragon?!" Starlight exclaimed. "Are you trying to teach me something?! Cryptically? Is there some kind of code I have to...decode or something?!"
The alicorn spread her wings and hovered over her. "So, try again! Make new friends, and if something you can't control happens that changes things, work through it together!"
She finished the sentence by putting her two forehooves together.
"But, I know that!" Starlight said, frightened. "What are you trying to tell me, fake Princess?!"
"That's what friendship is!" the alicorn went on. "And, it's not just my friendships that are important to Equestria—everypony's are!"
She looked down.
"When yours ended, it led us here...but, just imagine all the others that are out there waiting for you if you just give them a chance!"
"What others?!" Starlight retorted. "Who are those others? Are you sending me off to do something? Are you Princess Luna in disguise? Oh, n-no...look, I didn't order the invasion of Canterlot—it was a disaster on Double Diamond's part, but I should've seen the signs and got him and talked to him! Consulted him and—"
"I guess it's up to you to make sure they don't," the alicorn said, landing on the ground with the baby dragon still holding on to her neck.
Extended a hoof.
Starlight blinked.
Shook her hoof.
"So, can I wake up now and—"



Fell down again.
Felt the hard surface.
Freezing cold.
Groaned, standing up.
Saw the surface.
Crystal surface.
Looked around her.
Crystal thrones, crystal walls, crystal lights hanging from tree roots above. She squinted her eyes, trying to see what exactly those things were inside—moving...
Shook her head, hopped out of the table.
It was a huge room. Wooden doors of brown and green, a purple carpet.
"So, I'm still sleeping," Starlight said. "This isn't good."
One of the doors opened.
Starlight turned around.
Those six ponies again plus that one baby dragon.
"OK, let's settle this once and for all," Starlight declared, stomping a hoof on the floor, half irritated and half scared. "If you're just a part of my stressed out imagination, then...alright. But, if one of you is Princess Luna, then please show yourself because you're not making this clear to me and—"
"Friendship connects all of Equestria," Twilight said, facing her friends, "and undoing one group of friends made its magic less powerful!"
"I'm getting out of here!" Starlight yelled.
Budged the six ponies out of the way and galloped out the room.
"No, Starlight, wait!" she heard the alicorn shout.



Starlight busted the doors open and fell down the stairs.
"OK, where am I now?"
She rubbed her head and stood up.
Gasped.
A delightful village of cottages by green fields and tall hills. On her left, a waterfall cascading into a beautiful lake. Above, the morning sky.
She galloped again, toward the village. "Maybe my way out of this dream is in that—"
Bumped.
Fell down again.
"Ugh."
Saw the pony down there.
Picked her up.
"Oh, I'm sorry...Rock Trooper Maud?!"
There was Maud, but she was not wearing her famed Rock Trooper uniform. Instead, she had a blue cloak and looked peaceful.
She ran past her.
"There's no way this dream is gonna get—"
Bumped again.
Fell down yet again.
"Ow!" Starlight attempted to stand up.
A blue hoof helped her.
"You may have just made my Great and Powerful magic show even better!" this new pony shouted, grinning donning a magician's costume. "Which I didn't even think was possible!"
"Get away from me!" Starlight shrieked.
Running closer to the town.
A Crystal pony blocking the bridge there.
Starlight knocked him down, advancing forward.
Glanced back.
Saw him glow and turn into a changeling. "Wait, Starlight! It's me, Thorax!"
"Changeling!"
Screaming, she ran on.
The ground faltered.
Tremors.
An earthquake.
Slipped.
Ground giving way.
Falling.



"Oof!"
Grabbed hold of the rocky ground.
Dirty, dusty, musty.
"You both look the same!"
Turned around.
Against the backdrop of a gray sky, a blue dragon.
"Agh!"
Ran away.
Bumped and shattered a window.
Falling over.
Down a hallway.
Feeling the soft red carpet.
Before her, a table and Princess Celestia at the other end, levitating a pancake.
She took a bite and ate it, then looked at Starlight.
"It's a small way to say..."
Celestia levitated another plate of pancakes for her,
"I care."
Table tipping over.
Starlight screaming, falling to the doors.
Table fast approaching.
Doors opened.
Starlight fell through the hallway.
Saw it crowded with cut manes of different colors.
Landed in a library.
Crystal walls.
"This looks familiar..."
Whirled her head around.
Saw the alicorn, the magician, Maud all dressed up like dragons and hopping around on books near a makeshift cutout of a volcano. Also dressed up as a dragon was an orange stallion with rumpled hair. Wearing glasses, a little orange goatee on his chin...
"Sunburst?!" Starlight blurted out. "Playing Dragon Pit with a fake Princess, a crazy magician, and a Rock Trooper?!"
Felt a grip on her tail.
"Hey! Don't you—"
Pulled away from the spectacle.
Past the doors.
Slammed shut.
Starlight turned around.
The throne room of Canterlot Castle with its columns, its banners, its carpet, its windows, its royal grandeur.
He saw that alicorn again plus her five friends and seven more ponies she did not know—they were all standing before Princess Celestia right at the step of her throne.
Then, the bearded one spoke:
"I simply cannot believe how tall you've gotten!"
"Star Swirl?" Starlight whispered to herself. "I think?!"
Placed a hoof on her head.
"I've had enough of this wacky dream! Maybe I'm still too riled up about Double Diamond and what happened...yeah..."
Laughed to herself.
Letting the words spoken before her drown.
Most of those ponies hugged each other.
Felt a grip on her tail.
"What?! What's going—"
Pulled away.



Fell once again.
She swung her head up and looked around her.
Panting, gasping for breath.
It was night.
That familiar town of hers.
Chilly.
"Whew!"
She wiped the cold sweat off of her brow.
"But...I'm n-not awake yet..."
Then, the alicorn walked into view.
"Starlight...time is ticking."
She got up, facing the strange pony on her level. "I don't get it...what's the point?!"
"This...time..."
"Look here!" Starlight yelled, pointing at her. "Tell me a little about yourself! Why are you here?! I haven't even seen you before!"
The alicorn gulped. "My name is Twi—"
She stopped.
Looked over Starlight's shoulder.
"Your name is Twi...what?"
Starlight then looked behind her.
Princess Luna.
Moon shining behind her flowing and sparkling mane, its rays glowing.
Starlight shuddered, bowing down before her.
The other alicorn bowed, too.
"Get up, Starlight," Luna said, serious.
Starlight got up. "Princess Luna, I'm very sorry—no, I apologize for what happened back in Canterlot and then at Sarcidano Base. I apologize for all the deaths I've caused without even knowing it! Your Highness, please forgive me—"
"You are forgiven," Luna replied, sober. "But, you must come with me. I have to talk to you personally about your...dream."
Starlight took a step back, opened her mouth but did not say a word for a while.
Luna looked at her. "What is the matter?"
"I...I don't like where this is going. Does this mean my dream is...dangerous? Is it a nightmare?"
"It is more than a nightmare," Luna said, "for I do not know where this dream comes from."
Starlight gasped. "But, you're the Princess of the Night and—"
"We must get out of your dream now!"
Luna grabbed her.
Flew upward.
Rush of the wind.
Starlight breathed faster and faster.
Climbing up.



Luna opened the door.
Inside was an average room. The fireplace and a few lamps lit up the little cottage, the former providing warmth to combat the evening freeze. A few couches were gathered around the fireplace, several paintings of verdant landscapes hung on the walls, and shelves contained a variety of knick-knacks and what-not's.
Outside, Starlight could still see the calm night and the infinite plains of grass around the house, around that cottage.
Luna closed the door.
Locked it.
"You do not need to sit down, Starlight," Luna said, "but it is quite alright."
Starlight proceeded to plop down on a couch, exhausted.
Luna levitated one of the books at the shelves, skimmed through it, closed it, and floated it back.
Turned to face a tired Starlight.
"Tell me everything you can remember from that dream," Luna instructed, her figure against the light of the hearth.
Starlight sat up. "I'm sorry for not doing it right away, Princess, but...what's wrong with my dream?"
Luna sighed.
Stared past the window, beholding the night sky with its stars and moon.
"While I was roaming around the dream realm, I noticed your dream. At first, I overlooked it, for I thought that it was merely a dream of confusion—produced out of a mind disorganized by the day's events. Then, I happened to get closer to your dream, and I felt something...odd."
Starlight brought her hoof up to her chin, listening.
"It was not a sweet dream," Luna continued, "but, it was not a nightmare, either. I cannot perfectly describe to you what I felt when I approached your dream—it is something that only I can experience and understand fully, for, as you know, it is my duty to protect ponies in their sleep—but, I detected...a different quality. A quality that I have never encountered in a very long time until now."
Luna breathed in.
"I was able to know the last words that mysterious alicorn conveyed to you," Luna said. "Her emphasis on 'time' makes sense."
Starlight sat up straighter. "What do you mean?"
Luna looked back beyond the window. "I could tell when a dream is about to end or if it has only begun. But, when I tried to know if your dream was closer to its end than its beginning, not only did I know that it was nearer to its end, but that it was also...after its end."
Starlight's eyes got wide. "Are you telling me I dreamed about the future?!"
"That is where things become bizzare."
Looked at Starlight.
"At first, I had thought the same as you did. Then, as we traveled to this place, I pondered over your dream and its framework. It turns out that you dreamed about the future...but, it is not this future."
Starlight tilted her head a bit. "You mean I dreamed about a future that could have been?"
"Precisely."
Starlight tapped her chin, thinking. "But, what's so bad about it?"
"I have said before that your dream is not a normal one. You were not imagining about what you think could happen in the future. You were imagining about what might objectively and undeniably happen in the future."
Starlight shivered. "Did I dream about the end of Equestria if someone out there made the wrong choice? Is there a way that you could stop it?"
"Which is why you must tell me everything you saw," Luna said, firmer.
Silence.
Starlight breathed in.
"First, I was in my town and I saw several of my friends and co-equals—they had equal signs for cutie marks and their hair looked the same. Then, they were talking to six ponies—Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were there, but they looked different—they looked better, happier. One of those ponies was an alicorn just like you but this one was purple and wasn't that tall—smaller than Princess Cadance, I think. Then, she talked to me about friendship and making new friends...next, I ended up in some kind of room with crystal things and those ponies came back—oh, the alicorn had a baby dragon, I don't know why...wait, where was I? Ah, I got out of the place, found myself in another village—it had grass and all—and I...got to Maud—you know, the sister of Pinkie Pie—but in her civilian clothes. Then, I bumped into another pony—a magician—and then I got to a changeling whose name was...was Thorax!"
Breathed in.
"I fell and saw a dragon who said that I looked the same with...somepony. Somehow, I got to your castle and saw Princess Celestia eating pancakes and offering me some. I fell to a library—it had crystals, too—and I saw Maud and the other two ponies—that alicorn and the magician—they were wearing dragon costumes and were playing a big version of Dragon Pit...the board game. Then, I saw Sunburst—I think you know him—but...I used to be friends with him until he moved to Canterlot to study at the School for Gifted Unicorns..."
Breathed in.
"I got pulled into your throne room and saw lots of ponies there including the alicorn and they were meeting with your sister and there was this gray pony with a beard—I thought he was Star Swirl—"
"—the Bearded!" Luna blabbed. "He could return?"
"How am I supposed to know?" She shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know if there's a hidden meaning to all of this, of if I should take it literally—"
"Keep going."
Starlight sighed.
"So, finally, I got back to our town, but it was night. The alicorn was talking to me, and then you came."
Breathed out.
"And, that's all I could remember, your Highness."
Luna looked at her.
Breathing slowly, tired.
The Princess approached her.
"You asked for the alicorn's name. What did she say?"
Starlight looked up, seeing her troubled face. "She said 'Twi' before you arrived. I'm sure that's not her full name."
"It is not," Luna said.
"Wait, you know her?"
She nodded. "Not as much as Celestia did, but I knew her."
Starlight gasped. "That means there's another alicorn?! Another Princess?!"
"I do not know why she is an alicorn in your dream," Luna went on, "for she is a unicorn in the real world."
"But...how could it be? Why wasn't she a unicorn when I was dreaming? Who is she?!"
"She is a unicorn known as Twilight Sparkle," Luna said. "And, that is all you need to know."
Starlight eyed her strangely. "Why? Did she do something bad?"
"The fact is, you have seen her—in a dream, but you have seen her. It is only a courtesy that you know her name, since apart from that, information about her shall not be disclosed—it is a royal decree."
Starlight let her head hang.
Waiting.
"I am afraid I have to tend to other ponies," Luna said, spreading her wings. "In other times, I would not have spent so much time with you, but...we are not in those times."
The Princess of the Night flew out of the window.
Starlight watched her fly in the sky.



Starlight woke up.