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// An Aftermath 
// Story: Harmony's Parallel 
// by Xutiepops 
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It didn't take very long for Equestria to change completely. After a few days, the castle of Canterlot was completely rebuilt by rearranging the rubble of the old castle. 
The new castle was much more symmetrical, and the lovely queen inside it declared it be a nice shade of purple. The throne room sat at the very back of the castle, the thrones similarly placed to how Twilight made the ones in the old castle. 
And after that, many of the rooms weren't used. Mostly because they hadn't been there very long. A few wings of the castle were taken in custody of some of the rulers. The Dragon Lord shared a heavily decorated wing with Rarity, the two mended their relationship quite easily, surprisingly. The two declared they were just brats and became playful brats towards the other instead. 
A wing was given over to Rainbow. As she mostly resided in it, Applejack visited often. Though the wing was just a huge open space with a cloud home. They all assumed Rainbow missed her home. The mare even got a rainbow pool in her cloud home, they all had no idea how, but they didn't question it. 
Applejack was like a nomad, never picking one room to make her own and never picking one room to stay in too often. As she was majorly criticized, she didn't mind. She enjoyed wandering in the castle that stood for her trickery. Something that appreciated her skill instead of bashing it. 
Fluttershy shockingly didn't want a huge wing to herself, much to Chaos's annoyance, but he didn't go against her. She simply took a big room that seemed to be a simple master bedroom. Chaos made it quite obvious that her choices annoyed him, but he still didn't go against her. He then understood as she almost never walked inside the castle, sticking outside to the gardens to be alone. Her wish wasn't granted as he constantly annoyed her. 
The biggest wing in the castle was held by Pinkamena and Twilight, surprisingly, no one else was allowed inside. But Twilight decorated almost more than Rarity did hers. The biggest thing that stood out to Pinkamena was the long hall with the stained glass paintings of Harmony on the walls. She mostly ignored it though. 
After the castle came the city. Twilight ordered some unicorn guards to fix up the place under Rarity's orders. She spent days without sleep fixing up the place similar to the way it was before. But there was a sick twist to it. Everything was too perfect.
And with the city fixed in a new shine, ponies started venturing back inside, curiously. They were mostly single stallions who seemed to work in mines with the way they dressed. And they fell under Rarity's spell as she was still ordering some guards around. 
They told others about how they were rebuilding the town and more families waltzed back in. Twilight couldn't have been happier. She sent Rainbow and Applejack to spread the word of their new ruling to the other cities in Equestria. The two quickly left, deciding to work together. Two minds work alike, they said.
She then used herself and Pinkamena as the spokesponies for Canterlot. And with her announcement, many ponies tried to run out of the city, heading to the nearest train. But all their hopes of leaving the country were struck down by the huge magenta barrier that covered the city. The barrier changed colors a lot, which only told the ponies that this new Twilight had a guard system. 
Ponies headed home, Applejack and Rainbows guards leading them back to their respective cities. They were all horrified as the sun continued to rise and set, meaning this new mare either had Celestia or had her own magic to do so. All the signs pointed to the new rulers being legit. And the growing sign was the military built under Rainbows eye.
The new government had its changes as everyone prayed for Harmony to return. 
Curfews were thrown in, except if a guard deemed their reasoning okay. The only good reasoning, was domestic violence, medical emergencies, or if the ponies wanted to go out clubbing. 
Most cities were left to their own governing, as Twilight threw in an United Cities organization. But Rainbow had overall control of the cloud cities, Rarity had control of Manehatten, and Applejack had control of Ponyville. 
But whoever lived in Canterlot was utterly screwed. Many jobs were thrown out the window, most stallions and colts being thrown into the growing military for work. Many mares started to teach at schools and were asked to preform much more mundane tasks. 
If you were lucky, the stallions worked under Rarity's line of work, fashion design. They got the most money and could support their families the most. That allowed Canterlot to be the hotspot of Equestria's beauty.
Not much changed overall, but to the mares and stallions of Equestria, everything had changed. Their precious princesses were gone, their lovely elements from Ponyville were gone, their order was gone. Their Harmony was gone.
Nothing worked as it should've. Social Hierarchy didn't take too long to build as unemployment rates skyrocketed. But did the rulers care? No! They couldn't care less about the economical stability of their new country. It's not like it would fall apart without it, and they certainly weren't being affected. 
But a kind heart out of the few of them tried her hardest to fix it. Once the others ignored her, she decided to take care of it herself. Applejack was one of the biggest victims of her Equestria's poverty. She saw what it did to ponies, and whenever she visited this new Ponyville, it pulled at her heart strings.
So of course, she helped Ponyville become one of the more stable cities. Everypony there saw her as a prophecy, saying that one element remained. She, of course, coldly told them they were wrong. She was still evil, she didn't want to hide that. She didn't want to continue to hide what she was. 
They didn't listen.  They continued to spread the rumor that one last element of Harmony remained. It gave hope to the otherwise hopeless ponies of New Equestria. She didn't mind, only said it pushed what she was even more. A trickster, and one day, it'd fall down on all of them.
But some ponies did listen to her however. They didn't trust her, they didn't take whatever she had to offer to the village. But they did go to the Everfree Forest, and deep inside by the old sisters castle, they would sit by the Tree of Harmony for what seemed like hours. 
They wouldn't pray, they'd simply sit by it, hoping for their elements to return with their princesses. They'd get an icy feeling, everyone of them thinking different things. Many assumed they were dead, others assumed they were just never gonna come back. 
But a small filly with an orange coat, small wings, and a purple, spiky mane would puff her chest out in pride. She felt like she had the right answer. And she would cut her wings off to prove it. 
And her guess lied in the middle of the Crystal Empire.