Hey, all!

It is I, your fearless former administrator. CK-Faux is now your overlord supreme, but I thought it might be fun to pop in once more and ask a question: If you were in charge of rewriting the Equestria Divided concept with factions led by ponies OTHER than the Mane Six, which characters would you choose and what would their factions, units, etc., be like?

For example, what if instead of an Equestria ravaged by a war between Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie (posthumously), Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy, it was an Equestria ravaged by a war between Vinyl Scratch, Octavia, Bon Bon, Lyra, Time Turner (toned-down Doctor Whooves), and Derpy (Ditzy Doo, Muffin, whatever you want to call her)? What would their forces, rule, and such be like?

That's a difficult question. I'll have to think about it.

Hmm... well, Octavia and Vinyal would probably war over the better type of music.

Honestly, I could see Derpy naturally being the head of a faction trying to defend the rights of all ponies, regardless of what tribe they came from. The feel good underdog of the setting that might not be warlike enough to win against all the other factions but you still can't help but hope that they hold out long enough to pull through.

Designating the main characters as the leader of each of the factions is enough incentive to the mind, 5412139, though it must not lack the most crucial part which is the cause to it being so. Since this is Equestria Divided, the canon background story (i.e. the Disappearance) still applies. Now since it's not the Mane 6 who's leading the charge, there must be alterations.

My first thought is that along with the princesses, the Mane 6 disappeared as well? The resulting strife would definitely be more violent without the Elements of Harmony, and we might end up with something even more grimdark than we already have.

Now let's look at the characters, specifically their affiliation.
- Vinyl Scratch = A DJ..? or a Vampire..?
- Octavia = A cello player..? or a Mafia..?
- Bon Bon = She's basically a monster hunter. Anything else I have to say?
- Lyra = She's a fellow student along with Twilight, and possibly a human enthusiast.
- Time Turner = He might have something to do with clocks... or time itself IF there's something to balance it out!
- Derpy = She's likely relatable to the common folks, probably charismatic in her own way.

And remember that the three pairs of ships present here is probably more prominent than the Mane 6 themselves.

5412139 Well, if you ask so kindly:
Vinyl Scratch - cultists of Slaanesh, dubstep cannons, mutation and rave music
Octavia - napoleonic warfare with a tinge of artistic graphic
Bon Bon - a changeling hive with Bonnie Queen
Lyra - Underwater pony civilisation alongside some Vodyanoi humans.
Doctor Whooves - Dalecks and Cybermares
Derpy - Undead Breadponies

5412139

In it's simplest, skeletal form, it might look something like this:

Octavia would lead or somehow be involved with what was left of the upperclass elite of Equestria, trying to preserve the Old Class System that was in place during the princesses' rule.

Vinyl Scratch would be the sub-opposition to Lyra and main opposition to Octavia, having been scorned by her once best friend (or lover or maybe no relationship at all, depending on what canon you adhere too), leading or involved in a Ponie's Revolution of the lower class (think communist revolution).

Bon Bon would be allied with Vinyl, while being the sub-opposition to Octavia and main opposition to Lyra. Though they work towards relatively the same goal, Bon Bon leads the socialist movement of Equestria and so is content with keeping with Vinyl's faction until both the Octavia's and Lyra's factions are destroyed, turning on Vinyl once their mutual goals are achieved.

Lyra would be tentatively allied with Octavia, leading the majority of unicorns in Equestria after having assassinated their previous leader, Twilight Sparkle, in a stroke of madness. Deviating from Twilight's vision of personal deliverance through Alicorn Ascension, Lyra believes all unicorns will find salvation in the creatures of old. Having taken the Crystal Empire, Lyra uses the enslaved Crystal Ponies for labor in building great machines to be sent out into the uncharted parts of the world, hoping to find and bring back something or someone who might tip the power-scales in her favor. Privately, Lyra experiments on both unicorns and non-unicorns, though none are sure what her goal is in the venture.

Derpy, in all her kind and destructive ways, watches over and leads the nomadic remnant of those who flee from the previous factions. She does all she can to take care of those who come to her and shelter them until the Civil War ends. She is has no known alliances with the factions of Equestria.

Time Turner leads a tiny band of researchers against every faction involved in the war. No pony knows why or how, but some rumors tell of their terrifying exploits as "sophisticated killers for hire". In addition, they tend to kidnap and experiment on ponies in an attempt to achieve multi-dimensional travel. Though, by all accounts, he and his band have been unsuccessful so far.