“Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together.” So begins a tale with which we are all familiar; a story about six friends and their adventures, both fantastic and mundane. But what if...
What if Twilight Sparkle didn't earn her royal status by merit, but by revolution? Why would she do it? What could have caused her to turn against her mentor? How would she rule Equestria, now that it is in her hooves? This gives us a brief look into the throne room of the newly-crowned Queen Twilight Sparkle.
Chapters (1)
This does certainly raise some questions about the canon.
But then again, it is a kid's show. We only see a few fighting scenes, and they're certainly marvelous.
We have to rely on fanimations for more epic stuff though.
I like this, but you didn't kill them like I did...
And thus began the saga of Twilight Bitler...
(damn good story, btw)
Well this was a fun read. Not sure what's better. Celestia stagnation or Twilight's hitleristic policies. And we've seen how the later ones ended up in our world.
This was really good, I'd actually like to read more. It'd be fun to see how things develop - or perhaps not so fun, but a good read.
Probably a smart idea not to kill the former princesses though - Twilight's right, it's not like they would stop moving the sun and moon (and they can pick up the pieces when ponies realize how good they had it before. Nothing wrong with slow progress if you're peaceful, healthy and safe).
THERE it is. conflict, rage, ambition. all the hallmarks of a species intending to go places regardless of barriers. how loveably human. yet not quiet on our level i don't think. as she said, she's had but a taste of conflict. we've been at it from day 1 with no signs of stopping and as a result we're slowly but surely accending to our rightfull place of young gods, our reach long, our love desirable and our wrath terrible, soaring through the universe on wings of fire. queen twilight ponies by comparison, i believe 300 had a fitting qoute
"more brawlers than warriors. They make a wondrous mess of things. Brave amateurs....they do their part."
ok, fuck yeah humanity tangent done, rather interesting read, would like to see more to be honest. two stories perhaps. both the events leading up to this scene and the events spiraling outwards from it etc. other than that, thumbs up.
Meh, just seemed like this story was a medium to state the authors opinion on stagnation, nothing I haven't seen before.
please write more of this, this could be a really interesting story.
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Wow... I really didn't expect this kind of positive response, let alone requests for more like this.
You people like this idea, huh? Well, I'm not sure when I'd do it, since In Her Element is taking up most of my writing time, but if I were to write more about this version of our beloved Sparklehorse, would you prefer to see them as extra one-shot "chapters" added to this story, or published as independent one-shots?
3834407 chapters added to this one if you please.
3834407 Chapters added- that way we can favorite and let it do the work.
so she means to be a conqueror.
Kick her ass griffins, so Celestia and Luna can get back on the thrown
Personally, I don't think Equestria is stagnant. I think the lunar rebellion threw it into a thousand year dark age that they're just emerging from. The vast wilderness between cities, all the lost ruins, and the crazy mutant monsters everywhere scream 'post apocalyptic' to me.
3834407 preferably extra one shot chapters, its easier for me to find that way, but either way is fine.
3835341 This is my new headcanon.
Not bad. Not bad at all!
It would seem Twilight is actually the one missing the big picture. I mean the sisters are immortal, and quite old. Twilight has what 25 years of life behind her, at most. It is extrememly arrogant of her to think she is the one seeing the big picture more clearly.
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Of course! It's extremely arrogant of her...
Unless her accusations are true.
Sometimes, you can't see the forest for the trees.
And sometimes, you can't see the trees for the forest.
Oh my.
This certainly is a interesting glimpse of things...
I like. I like a lot.
~Skeeter The Lurker
I'm too distracted by the fact that the princesses' wings in the background look almost EXACTLY like the Wings of Freedom.
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Can't say that I have, no.
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Hah! I see exactly what you mean! However, I drew that image in October of 2012, well before Shingeki no Kyojin aired, so any similarity was unintentional on my part.
A little dialogue heavy, but no less interesting.
After finishing The Tyranny of King Washington yesterday, I'm most certainly in the mood for this.
3839684 Headcanon acquired.
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Yep, I noticed that too.
The sole "issue" I would take with this story is that Twilight's speech feels almost cumbersomely long-winded at times, like she's reading from a prepared essay or formal letter. She's clearly speaking from the heart, after all, and it takes more than a good education and royal grooming to be able to conjure up speeches like that on the fly.
... Unless she's been teaching herself spontaneous speech writing on the side for this very reason, of course.
At any rate, I loved this. It feels almost criminal that it's completed, though. I definitely see potential for a long-runner in this.
Hmm... this was interesting.
It feels more like a preface for a larger story, but it was good. I'm partial to dialogue-heavy script, as I find it more lively to read than descriptive prose, so that was a plus. The implications of the "true nature of harmony" (that's what I'll call Twi's thesis) really came as a shock to me, as I never really thought one could take it in that direction. This feels like some colt's interpretation of the diarchy of Equestria, submitted to Cheerilee as a report in government class.
Why am I overanalyzing this? Oh... right...
But anyway, a nice read.
Nothing like some good old fashion conflict to get the wheels of time moving again. The gears need to be greased with blood every now and then to keep it running smoothly.
(OK I know this is kinda a rip off of Spider-man but I have to do it)
My 'This story needs a sequal of some sorts' senses are tingleing!
(Seriously. I WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENES NEXT DAMN IT!)
Luna- why hath we let this runt take over?
Celestia- simply because she is giong to wreck Equistria and send it to ruin with her war mongering. The ponies have forgotten why we have earned the blood of the three tribes, and why we are long enduring............. I simply wish i did not have to use tiwlight as a black martyr.
Luna-....... tis sad they forget. They always forget.
Luna once more-........what of the military you keep at equistrai's borders?
Celestia- she has no clue of their existence. She simply sees what she wants, that we have become weak and feeble in the harmony. She is blind to the constant conflict that alredy existed, the warding of beasts of old, demons new, and those who would claim our home and its resources. war with the gryphons will only drive equistria into ruin, for she will have to fight a war on all sides. So the border guard shall remain where they are and we shall stay our hooves.
Luna- for one bearing such guilt, you have truly set her for a grand fall, sister.
Celestia- i simply pray that enough pieces remain of her when she does, Luna. i pray with all my soul.
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Look at you getting all headcanon up in my AU!
Not gonna comment on its accuracy, though. That'd be spoilerific.
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Speaking of spoilerific, based on all this feedback, I'm definitely going to writing more one-shot scenes in this AU and adding them here as Chapters. I've always said the feedback fuels my creative furnace, and this feedback has given me a lot of fuel to burn!
3844847 how else could it be? twilight wouldn't have a chance in hell in successfully leading a rebellion against celestia. largely because, well, thosuand year old monarch. not to mention they could easily remove twilight. they ahve something FAR greater than mere political influence. they have actual power and have earned every muscle, feather, and spark of magic of that power. that is something twilight here could never, ever hope to achieve.
can't think of any other situation that oculd occur be honest. twilight is smart, but celestia is wise and old. and unlike mortals, the regal sistesr remember the horrors of war, and they will not forget them.
I don't think wars and conflict are necessary for the advancement of Equestria. I agree with Twilight that their nation is stagnated, mostly technologically and territorially. If you check out the Heart's Warming Eve episode, you can see that they still use the same candles they used 1000 years ago. If you check out the official map of Equestria made by Hasbro, you can see that there is a LOT of unexplored territory.
I think Twilight should try to maintain peaceful relationships with other nations while she builds up the nation. She should establish a Resource Based Economy and invest heavily in technology, civil and military, and also education and health. I'm pretty sure Equestria has enough resources to become independent of other countries.
Equestria would flourish and attract attention, but by then it'll be more than enough capable to defend itself. Perhaps they would even be able to completely anihillate their enemies.
If they are successful, they would continue to expand, and to evolve their technology, going out to reach the stars and maybe, one day, finding the remains of a self-destructive race of intelligent apes.
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The unique power that Equestria wields is control over the elements themselves, too.
There's been no suggestion yet that foreign powers have their own equivalent to pegasi weather teams or the freaking princesses, so they're at a grave disadvantage when things come to blows. RD can just kick up a tornado, snow flurry or both and send most opposing armies on their way.
Me thinks Twilight forgot how weak and easily frightened Ponies are.
Why did this have to be a one shot?! I need more of this! It's beautiful!
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I'm currently in the process of planning and writing the third chapter of my other fic, but once I take care of that, there will be additional one-shot "chapters" written for this story.
3861347 Ooh! Fun.
3848303 But do they not fight because they are weak and frightened... or are they weak and frightened because they are told not to fight. If you tell a hundred generations "trust me, I got this," and they never face any threat themselves, they are going to constantly fear that your power will fail, not that their strength will not be enough.
3862184 Maybe in the context of this story... but in canon there pretty much the lowest branch of the food chain constantly being terrorized by almost EVERY species they come across.
ATTENTION
If you enjoyed The Reign of Twilight and want to help shape the future of this series of one-shots, I would love to have your feedback on the matter. If you would kindly direct your browsers to This Journal Post, I would love to see your opinions on the question I pose concerning this story. To make the feedback easier to track, please leave your opinions in the Journal's comments, and not here.
Thank you for the feedback, and enjoy your reading!
~TLATopHat
3862451 Just want to point out, horses are omnivores...
They can actually eat meat...
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...
Wow.. how did you do that?
That was just about perfect... and you even made sense... in a way... Looks like we just got s close uo, pretty accurate peep at the other side of twilight (other than crazy Twi that is) 
~ Good Job accent and all!
I agree with Twilight here, but she's gone just a little further off the deep end than necessary. Yes, you should avoid stagnation, but she can't breed conflict like that. It'll grow on its own and trying to accelerate it in any way will result in the fall of everything she's worked for.
It's a shame she never hired a royal adviser...
And where's the rest of the mane six?
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Allied, and working for/with Queen Twilight in various capacities. I'm hoping to explore their perspectives in future updates.
Good, but way too short. I would like for this story to be made into a 200k word adventure with several chapters leading up to this moment.
4114996 so this will be continued?
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Yes, this will be continued at some point, though real life currently has me tied up. More of this AU will come at a later date, once all of my pressing priorities are dealt with.
4723114 yay!