//------------------------------//
// Here we are in the future. 
// Story: Inspiration Manipulation 
// by PinkamenaGoneCrazy 
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Everything had gone all wrong. Every single bit. Why weren't Rarity's friends happy? Is it not perfect enough? Maybe she would have to motivate them! Surely, they won't mind. 


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Applejack wiped the sweat from her face. She sighed. Just another day. Ever since that fateful, fateful night. Everyday has been the same. Make, sell, get customers and now. . . The whole farm was gone. Now they would have to rebuild all the Apple trees. So much pressure and such little time. It was all Rarity's fault. . . If only she hadn't agreed. If only!-

"Applejack! Stay focused would ya?!" Big Mac groaned tiredly. Applejack scowled. Everyone had grown short tempered but Big Mac annoyed her the most these days. "Oh quit ya whining." She rolled her eyes, grabbing her shovel and continued digging. She couldn't be bothered. "Maybe if ya didn't sign that stupid deal, we wouldn't have to end up like this!" Big Mac grumbled. Applejack soon snapped. "It was to protect you guys! But y'all have to be so ungrateful!" She raised her voice. Big Mac froze. “Protect us? You ruin our lives!” Big Mac yelled back. Applejack scowled and without thinking, she threw the shovel at Big Mac. Big Mac stared down at Applejack, his nose bleeding. He raised his hoof and hit Applejack, knocking her to the ground. He walked away. She tried opening her eye but she couldn’t. Half of her face hurt. She groaned. She soon her a little voice.

“Applejack? Is everything gonna be alright?” Applebloom squeaked. Applejack sighed. “Sure it will, Sugarcube. Big Mac is just a little bit upset. It’s mah fault though. I should’ve never made that deal.” She lowered her head. Applebloom frowned. “It’s not your fault, it’s all that fancy unicorn Rarity’s fault! It’ll get better!” Applebloom encouraged her older sister. Applejack smiled softly.

“I hope so too.”


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Fluttershy sat in her chair, blank faced. Two stallions fanned her. She sighed. She hated them, always smothering her with attention. It was like a weak puppy dog and it disgusted her. She shooed the two stallions away. Is this how Princess Twilight felt? Come to think of it, Twilight had it just as bad, so many friends and no books for her to read. She felt like she was just rotting in Tartarus. She was suddenly approached by one of her ‘servants’. His name was Raven. He was just a stupid Pegasus like most of her guard fanboys. He had black hair and a grey coat. He was cold hearted but he seemed to fear Fluttershy. Fluttershy enjoyed his fear, it gave her some feeling of joy in this hell. “What do you want Raven?” She glared at him, seeing him sweat. Raven bowed down. “You have a guest Ms. Fluttershy.” He strained. Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Who? If it’s that dumb Rarity, tell her I’m busy.” She didn’t want to see the Unicorn who ruined her life. But Raven shook his head. “It’s not her. It seems to be a stallion, from what I can tell. None from our domain. . .” He stammered. Fluttershy sighed. “Let him in.”

A skinny, small Unicorn looked at her with a big smile. “Are you Ms. Fluttershy?” He asked in a cheery tone. Fluttershy glared, suspicious of him but nodded. “Yes, I am, and who are you?” The Unicorn softened his smile, looking at her with his dark brown eyes. “I am Zhang. I’ve heard about you many times! I have heard you take care of many animals!” He smiled. Fluttershy sighed. "I used to. . ." She scowled at the thought of Rarity and Zhang's stupid smile. "Why are you so sad? You should smile! It looks better!" Zhang chirped. Fluttershy looked at him confused. "What?" She stammered. "smile!" He replied. Fluttershy gave a small chuckle. "You are a odd one Mr. Zhang. But thank you, for cheering me up." She smiled softly.  "You're welcome! wha-" He looked at his blue watch. "Look at the time! I better get going! Goodbye Ms. Fluttershy!" He soon left her small cottage. Fluttershy sighed. She got up and looked out the window.

"tomorrow is another day."


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"Take two!" Photo Finish yelled out. Rainbow dash sighed, getting back into the right position. She gathered herself onto the stool, doing the pose she had to practice about 50 times. The photo clicked and she sighed. It was finally over. "Good. Take break now." Photo Finish said to Rainbow. Dash knew she was calm, but her voice made it so hard to tell. She walked to the dressing room. In there, she saw Stormy Wings, a friend she made while in this so called prison. They both agreed that this place was nothing but a living nightmare, and they had similar interests so it worked out. "Oh, hey there Dash!" Stormy Wing chirped as she trotted over to her friend. "Hard day?" She said in a comforting voice. Dash nodded, she just wanted to lie down. "Photo Finish still wants me to work on this stupid shoot." Dash groaned, fixing her hair. Stormy nodded. "That's Finish for ya! But don't worry, you're only here for two years right?" Stormy grinned.

Dash looked up. "Uh, yeah. What about you?" She looked away from the mirror and at her friend. Her friend smiled sadly. "oh. . .I'm going to be here for 5 more years." She sighed. Rainbow looked at her, she frowned. "Well, you said it before, those 5 years will flash before your eyes! I believe you can do it!" Dash encouraged her friend. Stormy smiled softly. "Thanks Dash, you're always enthusiastic. You're such a great friend." She smiled. "Speaking of which, what were your friends like back at your home?" Stormy tilted her head. "Well, they were nice. There was Pinkie Pie, she was always hyper and threw parties for every occasion. I remember she had this huge goof off with this one pony who visited. They're good friends now but man. Was it intense!" She laughed. "There was also Twilight, but I'm sure you know her." Dash looked at her friend who nodded. Twilight was a princess and almost everyone went to her coronation. "Then there was my farmer friend Applejack. She owned an apple farm, they have the best apple cider and apple. . .edibles ever!" She grinned. "I can only imagine!" Stormy looked up, thinking about all the delicious apple pies and ciders. It did sound appetizing. Suddenly, Photo Finish slammed open the door.

"Rainbow Dash! We need you now! The photography ponies are here, get ready!" She shoved Stormy out the way and pushed Rainbow to the changing rooms. Rainbow grunted but got changed. Photo Finish pushed Stormy. "You too! Get ready!" She exclaimed. "Ok! Ok!" Complained Stormy as Photo Finish left the room for them to get dressed.

After getting dressed, Stormy and Rainbow stepped out. Many other ponies stepped out too, such as, Stormy's cousin, Soot Splash. They went to Photo Finish, who was talking to two stallions with cameras around their neck. "We have come for a photo shoot for the Equestrian Magazine." The taller one said in a deep gruff voice. "Then let us begin!" Photo Finish exclaimed. The Photo shoot was many poses, Pretending you're on a boat, in a field of flowers, having a picnic, or just photos in general. After what seemed like Decades, the stallions left. Photo Finish didn't say a word to any of the other ponies so they all went back to their rooms. It was tiring, Dash was sick of it. She's decided she has had enough.


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"Are you ready Ms. Pie?" The director asked the pink pony. Pinkie sighed and nodded, heading onto the stage with her violin. “Yeah.” She rolled her eyes, heading on stage. ‘I’d rather put a gun and my mouth than have to do this again.’ She’d think internally. She soon got on stage, getting ready to play. She soon got in the chair, picking up her violin. She played what seemed like a lonely tune with many arpeggios, it felt like a growing sibling meeting a lost one for one final time. She sighed as she finished. It felt the same as always, the applause cheering after she finished such an “important” song. But really, she couldn’t care less. They were just random ponies that come and go, why should she care. “Excellent Ms. Pie! Another great performance.” Her director smiled. Pinkie put on a smile and cheerfully responded, “Thank you Mrs. Kaiyan. I really had fun playing!” She grinned. Her director smiled sadly. “You know Ms. Pie, I’m so proud of you. You’re such a good player. I wish I could play if I hadn’t fracture my hoof.” Pinkie looked at her and smiled. “Don’t worry Mrs. Kaiyan! It’ll heal in no time!” She grinned as the two walked off.



She began to pack up her stuff, her eyes getting dull again. “Pathetic. Me, a good player? What a joke.” She growled. If anything, Pinkie hated the show business more than ever. It was just so tiring and pathetic, she didn’t have time to put up with it anyways. But, it’s not she has a choice. She grabbed her violin case and headed out. As she left she heard squealing. She guessed it was a fan pony, and it was. “Are you Pinkie Pie?” The mare grinned. Pinkie smiled. “Yep!” She grinned as the mare pulled out pen and her photo album. Pinkie wanted to sigh and just throw it in her face, downing her. But she couldn’t,  so she signed the paper and watched the mare leave.  She sighed and walked off. Ponies were getting more and more pathetic. It was a waste of energy.


When she did return to her apartment she turned on the TV. Just society being stupid. Stupidity, Corruption, Morally wrong ponies and more. She wondered when the world would be endangered so her friends could fight it. She rethought about it, realizing there was one pony she wanted dead. It wouldn’t work well explaining it to the others. If friendship is so magical, why does she want to put out that magic so much? It felt so inexperienced. She groaned, her head was hurting from thinking to hard, she got up to get a drink. She wanted to take her mind off of this. Just forgetting about it with no worries.



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Twilight snored, she was so exhausted . Everypony wanted to hang out today and it tired her. She tried keeping awake, she had to read this magazine her ‘friend’ had sent her, but couldn’t bring herself to finish. Still, she wouldn’t just let someone be disappointed. She was the princess of friendship! She picked her head up and continued reading. It talked about how models are leaving because of their co-workers. Apparently to the pony who sent her this, the models were being over dramatic. But Twilight could see why they’re quitting, Co-workers yelling at each other and just being violent. As she finished the magazine, she headed to bed. Tomorrow is another day.



She didn’t get much sleep, it felt like a quick few seconds. She sleepily arose to pounding on her door. She walked out of her room, opening the door. “Twilight! You’re finally here.” A mare with blonde hair and purple eyes smiled. Twilight sleepily smiled. “Hello Violet Shine, how are you?” She yawned. “Sorry, I just woke up.” She apologized. Violet Shine smiled “No worries! Not everypony is a morning pony. Did you finish that magazine I sent you?” Violet tilted her head. “Yeah, last night, come on in let’s talk.” Twilight invited her friend in. As they walked to the dining room, Twilight brought out coffee and tea. Violet Shine took the tea and began ranting. “But like, they should’ve known, it’s their fault anyways.” She talked about how models are so problematic and dramatic. “Well, it’s not like you can tell a pony’s personality just by looking.” Twilight said gently, which resulted in a scowl from Violet Shine. “Are you disagreeing with me?” Violet raised her voice. Twilight flinched, that woke her up. “No, I’m just saying you never know really what’s going on with a pony until you truly get to know the,-“ Twilight was cut off by Violet. “Oh and of course you agree with them because their pretty!” Violet rolled her eyes. ”Sorry Violet. I guess you’re right.” Twilight tried apologizing while Violet smirked. “Good.”

It had been a long, exhausting day for Twilight. She didn't know it was so hard to keep everyone happy. She felt trapped. This isn’t what friendship is supposed to be like. She sighed as she walked to her bed. Spike looked at her sadly. “Twilight? Is everything going to be ok?” Spike asked meekly. Twilight forced a smile. “Of course Spike, I can fix this. Even if it gets worse and worse. We will all fix this.” Twilight didn’t even believe in herself. But she had to comfort spike. She went to her bed and fell asleep. Spike sighed, he knew this was all his fault. And now he will live with this guilt forever.

Until the day he dies.


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