• Published 5th Jun 2015
  • 660 Views, 66 Comments

Identity - Hyper44



A young pony wakes up outside ponyville, injured and with her memory gone. A strange unicorn, a group trying to spread equality and ponies with evil intent eventualy all links back to her.

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A chat

Unknown to Twilight and Rainbow Dash Celestia was already about to make such a discovery. She walked down the corridors with serval guards in the direction of the hidden chamber.

"So defiantly crafty imposters then." Celestia said.

The lead guard pony nodded. "The five of them came and said that you had sent them to speak with the trio. Not only was that odd only one was among the guards chosen to be allowed go in there and he would have known better than to bring others with him. Nor did he know the right answer to the coded questions. This appeared to be the same ploy when they first tried to assonate Lightning Jolt. I didn't want them to teleport away again so that's why I let them go inside the hidden chamber then locked it behind them."

"You did the right thing." Celestia replied. "I have a good idea now just who the culprits might be."

They soon stepped inside the first room and Celestia cast a teleportation blocking spell over it before she opened the door to the secret chamber. The heavy door swung open revealing the ponies inside. The mouths of the guards hung open at what they saw. It was not the five guards they had let in but five young foals huddled up in a circle. They stared at them with teary and terrified expressions.

"What?!... their not...what... ?" The guard trailed off.

"Please don't hurt us." One of the fillies squeaked in a pitiful voice. "That mean guard locked us in here."

Celestia snorted and lit up her horn. A flash of green light washed over the foals and after it passed five changelings sat in their place. They stared for a moment comprehending what had just happened. Then they hissed and lunged but Celestia quickly caught them in a levitating spell. "I don't suppose any of you want to explain your reasons for trying so hard to kill a certain pony?" Celestia asked. She only got glares and hisses in response. Not surprised Celestia dropped them on the floor and shut the door.

"That explains a lot." The guard commented.

"That it does. We must find out how deep they have penetrated." Celestia replied. She was about to say more but another guard poked his head through the door behind them. "Your majesty." He said with a bow. "Sorry to interrupt but Princess Twilight sparkle and the element of loyalty have come to see you. They say they have information that is of the upmost importance."

* * *

Out of the main entrance to the castle two unicorns stomped out. "Can you believe it?!" Our audience with the princesses cancelled again! What could be so important that she keeps sending us away?!" The female huffed.
"I know." The male replied. "You would think that the security of Equestria was at stake."

* * *

Lightning Jolt sat on the fountain edge listening with ears tipped forward. Her mind was steeped in confusion. The way this pony Starlight Glimmer spoke of equality sounded so good. Everypony equal, no pony having more than another, it was just so ideal but something seemed not quite right as she listened. It was hard for she had been so gung ho about it such a short time ago but the more she listened with a new mind it just wasn’t quite right. Starlight used words like equality a lot but Lightning Jolt was not so sure that that was what she was promoting.

Right now Starlight Glimmer was going on about ponies who were not well off and the equality they could bring them. The thing was that it sounded not like a way to help poorer ponies whom she seemed so concerned for, but a way to stop other ponies from achieving anything, even ones who were poor. She didn't say it so flatly but the way she spoke if you were somepony trying to achieve your dream you were in the wrong. If you had a dream of owning a successful restaurant and went for it you were an evil pony because of all the ponies who didn't have one. If you wanted a better job and went for it you doing something very wrong because other ponies did not have it. Even if you worked your tail off for something, you were wrong to keep it because there were other ponies didn't have it. Giving was good but it is not wrong to enjoy what you earned. Sure some ponies were greedy but she talked like everypony who had something was. Now she was going on about talents. Lightning Jolt's face scrunched up even more. How could some pony achieving his dream of winning the Equestria Games be cruel to other ponies? Lightning Jolt almost shouted out her sentiment as Starlight Glimmer finished the example. His winning would put down the other runners and even worse to those who could not compete at all. He would take the win and promote himself above other ponies and breed conceit.

Lightning Jolt almost laughed. Sure there were bad winners and sore losers but there were plenty that were not. Should all competitions stop because some winners are snobby and some ponies were sore losers? The way she talked if you were a good runner and ran faster than other ponies you were being cruel. What was cruel was to keep a pony from doing what they were good at, from what they dreamed of. Lightning Jolt looked around wondering how so many ponies could be enraptured by this. Had she been? The ponies before hadn’t spoken this. Well, now that she thought about it for the most part they had. They simply hadn’t been so extreme and up front as this pony. Because she much more blatant each issue some of the ponies in the crowd were shifting with unease with similar feelings.

Her ideas on how to stop bitterness was even worse. Just don't have different ideas or opinions. How could you make everypony believe the same things and think the same way? That was impossible and even if you could, whose way of thinking would it be? Looking at Starlight Glimmer she had a pretty good idea. All of her friends, old and new had different opinions on so many things. Yes, they argued sometimes but they were all still friends. If everypony had to believe what Starlight believed then where was this equality? If nopony was allowed to have their own mind and forced to think how they were told then there would be no peace. That was what would make ponies bitter.

"But the best news that I have come to bring you is that I have discovered a state of true equality." Starlight Glimmer announced as she neared the end of her speech. Everypony leaned forward to ensure that they heard it clearly, even the ones who had been getting uneasy. "I have seen it work and create a beautiful society. One of such utopian peace."

"One where no pony can pursue their dreams?" Lightning Jolt thought.

"All we have to do as a society is give up one thing. One thing that keeps us apart and creates strife. We think it gives us purpose but it really causes such terrible division." She went on fluffing up the point before she stated what she meant.

"Starlight!" One of the other New Wave ponies hissed angrily at her from the back of the stage but Starlight Glimmer ignored her. "Your Cutie mark. You must give up your cutie mark."

Everypony, even those who had been the most eager and rapt listeners now sat slack jawed. Give up what?! What gave them strife and kept them from a perfect society? Lightning Jolt waggled a hoof in her ear making sure that she had heard right. She was not the only one. What that pony had just said was just so out there. Nothing was more inconceivable to a pony.

"You cutie mark makes you think that your better than everypony else. Think about that!" Starlight Glimmer accused.

"Starlight!" Two stage ponies hissed louder.

"Everypony thinking that their better than everypony else. Don't deny it. Each one of you believes that your cutie mark makes you special." She went on regardless, "Don't you deny it!"

She actually had Lightning Jolt starting to look at her cutie mark with guilt, as were many ponies, for that was true. All of then thought that their cutie mark was special. Then a young foal with a fresh cutie mark piped up in a high pitched but clear voice. "Just because I think I'm special it doesn’t that I think I better than anypony." His few words stirred everypony out of their daze.

"How could one give up their cute mark anyway?" A stallion called up. "They’re a part of us."

"Magic put them there and magic can remove them." Starlight Glimmer replied to a growingly agitated crowd. "I have successfully preformed the spell myself."

"Then why do you still have yours? If it's so good to live without one why do you yourself not do it?" The one question brought everypony into one focus. Starlight Glimmer was lost for words. She started stuttering an answer but suddenly a group of other ponies from the New Wave group rushed up and surrounded her. One began talking to the crowd, reassuring them that no pony should give up their cutie mark. The other tried ushering Starlight Glimmer off the stage. She resisted at first but after a few angry whispers she finally went. They left the stage and the pony at the microphone kept speaking to distract the crowd.

Lightning Jolt wasn’t interested in what she had to say and hopped off the fountain. She slipped through the crowd. Ponies hardly noticed her and she was not the only one leaving. Instead of going back to the church and refugee camp she slipped around the stage and the small building behind it determined to see what going on behind closed doors. She didn't have to sneak in the back though. As she rounded the corner she heard the back door slam and angry voices in the air. She ducked back behind the edge of the building and listened.

"I told you Starlight, don't bring up the giving up of cutie marks!" An enraged female voice hissed.

"Which do you want to do Light Hooves?" Starlight hissed back. "Play around or bring true equality? Cutie marks are-"

"I didn't say I disagreed with you!" Light Hooves growled back. "I said that it is not a good time yet. Ponies are like frogs in hot water, you can’t go and charge straight into changing them and their ways of thinking. You have to ease into it. Getting rid of cutie marks is too extreme too soon. If you move in little by little and keep promoting each move as for the good of all, then you can change a culture, you can take away what they think are freedoms, yes you can even make them think their cutie mark is a bad thing and they will even cheer you on. You can make them do anything but if you try it all at once you will fail. Eventually you could murder a foal in broad daylight and they'll not only turn a blind eye, they'll defend you if somepony complains. If you ease into the matter making one small change after another they will grumble but they will not rebel. If you continue to remind them of how it is for the good of all ponies then they will soon turn a deaf ear to naysayers. For each new generation the changes will be normal and their starting point from which you can go further-"

"Well I'm sorry but I don't think society can wait that long." Starlight Glimmer interrupted. "I've already made it work in a group on the edge of Equestria. If you would just come and see for-"

"I don't doubt you." Light Hooves replied. "But those ponies are not like Equestrian ponies. Now I am not having you ruin all our hard work. Until you learn to behave you are not coming back to speak here. Go back to your little town."

Lightning Jolt heard the door slam followed by an enraged, "Auugh!" From Starlight Glimmer. From that the disguised pegasus knew that she was alone.

"I'll show her, I'll show everyone." Starlight Glimmer snarled. "Maybe if I could get some famous ponies to see my way then they would-" She stopped when she saw another pony step out from behind the corner. It was that little grey earth pony that she had seen talking with a guard just before she had left to come speak here. A light stir of recognition triggered in her mind as if she knew this pony but no, she knew no grey earth ponies. She probably just looked like somepony she may have known.

"What do you want?" Starlight Glimmer asked her. "No pony is supposed to be back here except New Wave ponies."

"Why do you think that to be equal everypony has to be the same?" Lightning Jolt asked. "It doesn’t make sense."

Starlight Glimmer rolled her eyes. "You not being able to understand it doesn’t make sense." She replied. "When ponies can do things that others can't it causes problems. It causes jealousy and creates ponies who think that their better. Don't you ever get jealous of pegasus with their wings or unicorns with their horns! Don't deny that you do."

Lightning Jolt almost laughed. "No I've never been jealous of wings and at times I thought about how great it would be to have a horn but there are also unicorn and pegasus that marvel at the strength of earth ponies."

"Then you see, these differences cause strife." Starlight Glimmer concluded.

Lightning Jolt was taken aback. "That's not what I meant at all! A horn would be neat to have but I don't hate you because you have one nor does it make me any lesser than you. Nor would taking it away from you make me any better. Everypony has something special. Differences make us who we are and-"

"And other ponies jealous." Starlight Glimmer interrupted.

Lightning Jolt took a deep breath to keep this pony from making her loose her temper. "Do we not consider it good parenting to teach foals not to be jealous of what other ponies have but instead to use and appreciate what they've got? You could sit there and complain that this pony has more friends than me, that pony had more money than me or those ponies can run faster or jump higher than me and try to take it away from them or you could use your talents to make a good life for yourself. Focusing on other ponies and what they have is what will hold you back and taking things away from them will not propel you forward."

"You mean those snobby ponies who flaunt what they have over other ponies?" Starlight Glimmer said. "Have you seen how the elite of Canterlot act? Or winning athletes. Disgusting."

"Yes but they do not represent every pony. Yes, there are snobby rich ponies and stuck up winners and full of themselves celebrities but there also good ones. Good ones who help other ponies-"

"If they wanted to help other ponies then they would give up what they have and be like everypony else." Starlight Glimmer interrupted again.

Lightning Jolt glared at her. "They are like everypony else. Those things do not change that. If you’re so into this then why don't you snap off your horn so you can be like every earth pony who doesn’t have one? If you really wanted to help them then you should give up what you have."

Starlight Glimmer looked at her with an unreadable expression then went on completely ignoring the question. "When everypony thinks differently there will be arguments, hate and bitterness. When everypony agrees this will not happen and there will be true peace."

Lightning Jolt felt like punching her in the face. Of course she was not going to answer that question. "No, when you try to force everypony to think the same way there will really be hate and bitterness. Yes there is going to be arguments sometimes but if ponies of different opinions can't get along then we're lost. Even with ponies who have views that seem so wrong to us we can get along!"

"Why?" Starlight snorted, "Why try to get along with ponies who have wrong ideas? That's stupid!"

"Because every idea that turned out to be good seemed wrong and stupid at some point. How about because without them we can't test our own ideas and see if we're actually right. Because sometimes we can believe that we are right so fervently and yet be wrong and we will never know it! Because even if we are right forcing ponies to agree will always make us wrong! I'll debate with you and try to change your mind but I won't tell you that you can't think how you want."

"Good, because you’re already lost." Starlight Glimmer replied. "I will make this world equal. How can you think ponies being unequal is a good thing?"

"That is not what I'm saying! I do not want ponies to be unequal!" Lighting Jolt cried.

"It sounds like you do."

Lightning Jolt though hard trying to think of something that would show her. Some example to make her understand. Starlight Glimmer waited while looking down at her with a critical eye.

"The sun and the moon." Lightning Jolt said finally. "You could look at them and could think their unequal but they are not. I know that there was some argument between the royal sisters years ago but they didn't both realize their equal differences and importance."

"Differences cannot be equal." Starlight Shimmer replied flatly.

"Oh, yes they can." Lightning Jolt said. "They both have a different but equally important roles. The way you talk the sun should be the same as the moon or the moon the same as the sun. It doesn’t work that way, it can't work that way. We can't have too suns or two moons. I know either way it would kill us but let’s pretend that it wouldn't freeze or burn us to death. We and many plants would not get both the warmth and light we need and the beauty and peacefulness of the night. The day is bright and bold, it lights the earth so we can go about our business and helps the plants. One could think it was more important but where would we be without the night? It signals a time of rest and gives cool beauty that the sun does not have nor could ever have. I don't think ponies of the past shunned the night as Princess Luna once thought. They rested in the peace it brought.

"Night and day are part of the same whole only because they are different. Different and equal. They both provide different but equally important things to us. They exist together in a beautiful of balance that can only exist if they are different. The differences between them make that balance. You could try to make them the same thing but it would not work because they were meant to be different and the differences make it work. I mean Princess Celestia and Luna could try to make two of the same type celestial bodies work and make a system that holds but it would not give us the things that we need from both the sun and the moon. There would even be no point in having two guardians of the sky. You could want two of the same but no matter how much you tried neither could not fill the roll that the other could give. Differences make balance."

"Well lucky for me I'm not trying to change the sun and the moon. Whatever gave you that stupid idea? I'm trying to change ponies and make them equal."

Lightning Jolt just stared at Starlight Shimmer. She wanted to shout, "It was just an example!" Thing was, Lightning Jolt knew that Starlight was well aware of that. It was clear that no matter what she said the pony would not listen. She just would not listen. She would "believe" her stance whether deep down she truly believed it or not. It didn't matter what facts you could give or what you could prove. Starlight Glimmer would never be wrong on this. It was the idea she liked to believe and that was that. Lightning Jolt didn't understand this attitude and shook her head turning around. "Equal and alike are not the same thing and this world was made to work with differences and opposites even. Only differences make balance." She said as a parting shot. “Equal and alike is not the same thing.”

"No, being the same is perfect!" Starlight Glimmer snapped. "Why don't you come back with me to see my town?" Her voice was now growing into a warm and inviting tone. "I'll show you how much better it is."

Lightning Jolt didn't answer but walked out of sight around the corner. She was not going anywhere with that pony especially to anyplace that ran the way she thought up. Did she herself really come from a place like that? She knew Starlight was more extreme but how much more than where she and Smog had come from? She had to find that unicorn again and ask him many more questions. At the moment though, she as going to find Ember Light and Valentine so she could pull them aside and tell them all that she had learned.

Author's Note:

I thought that it would be interesting to make Lightning Jolt and Starlight Glimmer to have come from the same background and yes they did know each other.
I wanted to use this to make my own headcanon back story for Starlight. It is this: The society that she and Lightning Jolt came from is similar to the town she made in the cutie map episode only Starlight wanted to take it farther. Since she couldn't get the New Wave ponies to do things her way she went off on her own eventually creating the town that Twilight and her friends went to. The new wave ponies are from Cinder's Islands and believe that Equestria should be like them.
I tried to keep what Starlight said to the things I saw in her town. One of the things that stuck out for me in the Cutie Map was the unicorn who couldn't understand how Twilight and her friends could have different opinions and even argue but still be friends so apparently Starlight taught that you couldn't have different takes on things. From the look of it I also assume that no pony was allowed to advance, that each pony that seemed to have a business was probably just assigned those positions because someone needed to fill it. If they were allowed to run their own businesses then they would accumulate different amounts of wealth and Starlight probably wouldn't allow that. Then of course was the idea that no pony could have a talent or at least use it. That seemed the cruelest thing of all.
One of the biggest things I noticed about Starlight's was of creating equality was really just a way to keep ponies from doing anything. It doesn't bring anyone up but brings them down and keeps anyone from advancing. It keeps them from ever growing or accomplishing dreams. Like rainbow Dash would never have discovered her ability to cause a rainboom or Twilight would have never become a princess if she had been in Starlight's town. It makes me wonder if she intended it that way so she could be in charge or if she really believes it.
(This was written before the Cutie re-mark and her backstory. I was actually rather disappointed at her reason. For a pony as intense, driven and determined as her the reason that the writers gave her seemed so weak in contrast to her character during the conflicts. I guess if I make a second story I'll try to make incorporate her show backstory with this one for that alone is just too weak.)
Anyway please no spoilers in the comments.
"Like and equal are not the same thing at all." A Wrinkle in Time. The Cutie Map made me think of that line a lot.