So instead of Plundervines, Discord's seed did something else?

6073307 Yes, and it's the reason why Lyra's afraid of peeled potatoes. The entire thing happened at some point before Twilight's arrival and she's unaware of the event because everypony has agreed to not talk about the Starch Swarm. For the children, of course.

So, I was going to wait for my eyes to not feel like they are about to roll out of my head, but after just finishing reading through what chapters are currently up my half dead brain decided sleep didn't exist and i should write a comment, and here i am. First i want to say i love both the story's writing and its premise. I find the writing spot on throughout the story in terms of grammar and character interaction and i need to really dig deep to find anything wrong and most of it is nitpicking, comma instead of a period, the little things that are easily missed. I cannot express enough how I wish there where more stories with Nightmare Moon as the good guy or about her redemption, so already this story is a'okay in my books but this story puts a little more icing on the cake by having her disguised in a different persona, which is something i haven't seen all that much of and makes me want to read more.
What can i say about the personality you've given to each character? I'm sure i must sound like a broken record with all the praises I'm singing about this story but the characters are done really well. It can be both easier and more difficult to write for what are essentially background characters with one or two lines of dialog, easier in that there is no need to conform to preset standards and more difficult in that there isn't much to base the initial characters on but they're still canon so there are some personality traits that need to be present. I especially like what you did with Nightmare and Blueblood, while Nightmare is still 'evil' and Blueblood is still 'arrogant' it can be argued that they hold the moral high-ground where as if it was purely canon no such arguments could ever be made.
Now its time to take you off that high horse I've put you on, get it? *snicker* High horse because ponies? and they're small? *sigh* I know where the door is. While your story is good it does have questionable things going on, the first is how did Nightmare become friends with Vinyl, Fancypants and Fleur? From the readers point of view Nightmare had one or two interactions with them and then poof, friends where made. I'm not saying to rewrite chapters or fix it now but maybe down the line later in the story go back and write some side chapters about how they became friends.
This is more of a nitpicking sort of thing on my part but why was Nightmares' acceptance into the royal court so lackluster? there was so much lost potential in the interactions that could have been, what efforts did Nightmare go to to avoid the mane six? Or if they did meet up what was said? Why didn't Vinyl congratulate Nightmare? like i said nitpicking but still frustrating.
If you are concerned about your story not getting many views try adding it to one or several groups centered around the theme of your story
Now its on to some questions that I have, don't feel obliged to answer its just some things i don't want to wait to find out:
1. Is Octavia mute?
2. how long do you plan for this story to be? <100'000 short, 100'000 - 250'000 medium, 250'000 - 500'000 long, >500'000 marathon.
3. If you have one who is your favorite pony?
The other half of my brain just died and I'm about to become a very human shaped potato so in closing I love the story and cannot wait to read more and see where it leads, if you ever need someone to bounce ideas off of I would be more than happy to help. Keep up the good work

6078948 First off, thank you for the praise; I appreciate the in-depth explanations you give for what you like and dislike. There were some chapters that were rushed compared to others and left out some stuff that viewers may have wanted to see; your suggestion for side chapters is a good one, and I might implement them as the story continues.

Now, to put your mind at ease:

1. Octavia is mute. Equestrian medicine and the Arcane sub-school of healing magic is not yet sophisticated enough to cure it.

2. That's a tricky question as I have a dozen other chapters that just need to be revised and edited, but still have plans for more. Definitely over 100, 000 though.

3. My favourite pony would have to be Nightmare Moon. I've always had a fixation on villains we know almost nothing about on a personal level, yet they obviously have had a significant impact in-universe. A blank slate like that is prime writing material and I've already planned out what Nightmare Moon's origins are and why Luna chose to be her host.

Seeds, or did he plant raisins instead?

>Lyra was prevented from hitting the basement floor by a shroud of lavender light encasing very part of her body
Do you mean 'every'?

I think that Discord misplacing Plunder Vine caused Caramel musplacing seeds during Twilight's first Winter Wrap-up as a butterfly effect.

6079992
Wait, what? Octavia is mute? Why?

Rainbow Dash spread her wings. “They had these babies, but like a bat’s or… or those ponies that hang around Luna.

Rainbow Dash just called Luna's guards a bunch of babies.

“I’m sure he can, but I asked him to get a book from Twilight; poor Angel’s so sick.”

Waitaminute...what if it's a weird magic disease that changes animals into weird bat creature things?

o h n o