Chapter 9 - Road Most Traveled
The moon and sun glowed softly as seven shadows floated across the deep violet sky. The shadows came to a stop when a foreign soul slowly approached them, the wind whistling sweet music in the air.
As the stranger came to a stop, the lead shadow with leaned back and forth slightly. A star, a young star, came forward. When the stranger came closer to greet the star, a lethal burst of power burst out of the star and the foreign soul was immediately eradicated into dust. “Well done, my child,” a voice whispered. “Well done.”
Discord opened his eyes, his fur matted with sweat. His shaky breath slowed down as he replayed this scenario in his mind over and over. “That..can’t be right,” he wheezed. He flapped out of his ceiling bed and flipped himself over, gazing at the moon. The Draconequus turned his head to gaze at a very old picture of him and six young mares he once knew. “That can’t be right!” he repeated. With every breath, he could feel their souls moving inside of him. Breathing...wriggling...panicking.
Starlight stepped onto the fresh snow and breathed in the crisp clean air. Today was a very special day. The day she had been waiting for since that fateful stormy night. With a cloak secured around her body and saddle bags strapped onto her back, she smiled to herself before turning to look over her shoulder. “Come along, ladies.”
One by one, her daughters trotted out of the cave entrance with a new air of confidence with just a little bit of apprehensiveness. Looking more closely at her family, Starlight noticed that they looked more like their old selves more than ever, despite their Equalized look. It had been five years since their first “Adventure” outside the mountain. The girls were now eighteen--official mares. Something about that clenched at Starlight’s heart.
Then it hit her. She did it. All of the late nights of crying, diaper changing, feeding, teaching, training...I’ve done it all, Starlight realized. All those years… are finally starting to pay off! She chuckled inwardly. Nothing’s impossible when you really want something. And now I’M going to get it! But I musn’t celebrate just yet. We have a lot more work to do. Despite this, they have the golden opportunity to make the world not as it is, but what it could be. What WILL be.
“My starlings,” Starlight said proudly, gazing at all six girls. “Today is the day your new lives begin. I want to congratulate you all, for not just understanding Equality...but for mastering the training I have put you through to take Equality to new heights.” Starlight paused and touched a hoof to her face, finding it wet. Moonlight came forward and hugged her mother, her own face glistening with tears.
“Thank you, mother,” she whispered. “Without you, I...I don’t know where we would be.” The others crowded around them in a warm group hug. Starlight smiled, feeling their hearts beating through her fur, melting into her body.
“This is so exciting,” Pearl breathed as they slowly broke apart. “We’re finally…” She swallowed, looking around at her siblings. “We’re finally doing it.”
“I still can’t believe this is all real,” Buttercup said, flapping her good wing gently as a breeze blew past. “It’s almost like a dream!”
“Like I have said before, girls,” Starlight warned. “What we plan to do will not resonate with most. These ponies' minds are so brainwashed with their beliefs that they won’t be able to think straight!” Her eyes grew serious. “They will say anything and do anything to keep living in a false fantasy. I really do hope you understand that this...this will change not only Equestria...but the world.”
A slight shudder of anticipation rippled throughout the group. Prism lifted her head and straightened her back with a sure smile. “I’m ready to prove my worth, mom. I’ll follow you anywhere.”
“Me too,” Sunshine said with a firm nod. “All of us will. We’ll do as much as it takes to bring a new dawn to Equestria.”
Sapphire wiped away a tear and sighed. “Take a good look, girls. It will be the last time we ever live here again.” Everypony looked into the darkness of the cave that led to the home they were raised in. Even though it was just a tiny hole in a big mountain… separating from the place they spent their whole lives living in was harder than expected.
Starlight wrapped her hooves around Buttercup and Sapphire. “Just shows how much you ladies have grown.” She paused. “How’s about one more hug for the road?” Her daughters smiled and wrapped their hooves around the mare they loved most, eyes closed in contentment. A small spark of magic shot from Starlight’s horn and showered over the girls, unnoticed. So they won’t recognize you, Starlight thought smugly. “Well!” she trilled, stepping back. “I believe it’s time to go, my dears! Everypony ready?”
The six young mares nodded, and with one last look at the cave, they followed their mother down the path of the mountain for the last time. A green vine sprouted out from the snow, twisting and curling as it trailed across the path behind them. Sunshine glanced back and frowned. “Is that you or me?”
Buttercup blinked to the growing vine and gasped.
“Keep it contained, Buttercup,” Starlight called back.
“Sorry, mother,” the pegasus replied, mentally willing the vine to shrink back.
****
“Do you ever get the feeling that something bad’s going to happen?”
Apple Bloom turned and raised an eyebrow. “Whaddaya mean by that?”
Sweetie Belle visibly sagged a little and continued to stir her tea with a helpless sigh. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I just...I’m just having these lucid dreams lately! It’s so weird. I’m starting to get them every night and--ew!”
“What now?” Scootaloo deadpanned, taking a big bite out of her Daisy sandwich. “Your seat wet again?”
Apple Bloom lurched forward and guffawed at the memory while Sweetie exhaled indignantly. “No, there’s like a caterpillar in my salad! Waiter! Excuse me! Waiter, there’s...ugh, I swear!”
Apple Bloom shook her head, still giggling while Scootaloo lightly tapped on the top of the mushroom they were dining on. “Guys.” She cleared her throat. “We need to think about our plans for next month.”
Sweetie banged her empty glass of iced tea against the mushroom top over Apple Bloom’s sharp exhale. “Gosh, Scoots,” she murmured with strained cheerfulness. “Why do you always have to dampen everything, huh?”
Scootaloo ran a hoof through her bushy purple mane. “I’m sorry. But whether we like it or not, July 20th is--”
“Don’t even talk about July 20th,” Apple Bloom spat harshly. “I don’t even wanna think about it. Got enough trouble as it is.”
“It’s hard on me too,” Scootaloo fired back. “But I’m not just gonna turn a blind eye and push it in the back of my mind. It’s our job to organize Remembrance Day, and every year you try to act like it doesn’t exist!”
Apple Bloom slammed both hooves on the mushroom top, knocking over her drink in the process. “I don’t WANT to remem--”
Sweetie quickly stood up and held out her hooves to keep her friends apart. “Ladies, ladies, let’s just calm down, okay?” Her green eyes shined with anxiety as she spoke through her plastered grin. “We’re making a scene.”
The two other mares looked up to see a few ponies glancing over at them in concern. Scootaloo shot them a glare, turning their heads right back around. Apple Bloom rubbed her temple and closed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Scoots. I didn’t mean to yell at’cha like that.”
Scootaloo’s eyes softened. “No. I’m the one who’s sorry, Apple Bloom. I shouldn’t be bringing things up like that out of the blue...especially with your condition.”
“Don’t worry about it. Please. Can we get out of here?”
“Sure thing.”
“Good idea. If only the waiter would come and give us our check!”
Scootaloo stood up and stretched her wings. “Just leave it, Sweetie Belle. Want us to help you get up, A.B.?”
Apple Bloom waved a hoof. “I got it.” She grunted and stood on her hooves while Sweetie Belle left the right amount of bits. “Ooh,” she said with a smile, rubbing at her plump stomach. “Felt a kick that time!”
“I can’t wait until he or she comes out,” Sweetie Belle gushed as they trotted off.
“I sure hope it’s a she, for Twist’s sake,” Apple Bloom chuckled. “Girl’s already knitted an entire dress line before the seed’s even born!”
Moonlight had never been anyplace as busy or chaotic as Manehattan. The smoke, the pollution, the traffic, the rude poines….the cutie marks.
“Never have I ever seen such selfishness,” Sapphire murmured as they exited the city.
“Everypony pushes and shoves without even an apology,” Buttercup whispered. “That stallion back there wouldn’t let a mare ride a taxi when she was in a hurry--he didn’t even offer to share it! I just can’t understand it! Why can’t ponies be kind to one another?”
“Things will be better once we show them the way of the Equalist,” Moonlight assured her sisters. “Remember, these ponies spent their whole lives living as cutie mark puppets. They know nothing else. These things take time, you know.”
As they continued along the road, a hunched-over figure sitting at the edge of the road caught Pearl’s eye. “Mother, look! It looks like it’s a colt...oh, he’s so sad!”
Everypony looked at the sniffling pony down the road and the sisters stepped forward, intending to comfort this pony when Starlight held out a hoof, head tilting in thought. “Pearl, it looks like he could use some cheering up. Why don’t you go see what’s the matter? We have time.”
Pearl looked over at the pony, compassion and sympathy propelling her forward. The colt's head snapped up when he heard the soft clopping of hooves nearing towards him. He couldn’t have been more than six. “Hello,” she said sweetly. “What’s your name?”
The colt looked up at her and quickly wiped his eyes. “Motha says I’m not ‘sposed to talk to strangahs."
Pearl only giggled. “Well, she’d be right, wouldn’t she?” She leaned in close, and dropped her voice into a whisper. “That’s what my mom always used to say." She gestured to her family. "But then I think to myself…’If we’re never supposed to talk to strangers, how are we supposed to make new friends?’”
The youngster grinned with his mouth closed. “Heh...I don’t think she mean’it like that, but...I guess you’re right….wait….” His hazel eyes widened and he took his hoof away from his mouth. “Friends? You...you want to be my friend?”
“Well, sure, why not?” Pearl replied cheerfully. “You seem like a really nice pony. I’m Pearl. But I don’t understand why a nice colt like you would be crying on such a nice day. You should be out playing with your friends!”
The colt frowned, his eyes downcast. “I don’t ‘ave any friends,” he murmured. “All th’ kids at school make fun o’ me cause I ‘ave this stupid gap in my two front teeth.”
Pearl reeled back. “W...what?”
“It really sucks,” he sighed before wincing. “Sorry. Pardon my French. But it does! Every day they laugh ‘n call me names. I tried telling the teacha but afta she punishes them, they go right back to teas'in.” A tear trickled down his cheek. “I hate school now,” he admitted. “Maybe I should ask my Ma n’ Pa if I could be ‘omeschooled.”
Pearl’s mind reeled. How could anypony tease a fellow pony simply because their appearance differs from theirs? What kind of world was this?
“Little boy--”
“Fiah Brand.”
“Fire Brand, I may not know too much about how public schooling works because I’ve been homeschooled myself. But I don’t want you to miss out! It’s not that the kids at your school are bad by any means...they’re just afraid of what’s different from them, and that’s only natural. The problem is that they make fun of you because of that. They just don’t know what else to do, or how to deal with it.”
“I...nevah thought of it that way.”
“That’s right. And maybe if you asked your parents to get your teeth fixed, those ponies at school won’t have anything bad to say about you.”
“R-Really? You think so?”
“I know so.”
Starlight came forward, pleased to see the colt’s mood lightening. “Someday, little one, there will come a time when nopony will ever be made fun of ever again.”
“A-And everypony will only have something nice to say,” Buttercup added.
Firebrand smiled wider. “I’d like that...I’d like it very much, actually.”
Pearl tapped a hoof under the colt’s chin encouragingly. “Now come on. Let’s have a real smile, huh?”
Firebrand hesitated a bit before parting his lips and showing off the tiny gap between his teeth.
“Ooh, aren’t you handsome,” Sapphire cooed. “With just a bit of chiseling, your smile will match everypony else’s!”
Firebrand’s grin broadened. “Wow. I wish everypony were as nice as you. I’ll be sure to t’ ask my parents about my teeth.”
Starlight chuckled. “Knowing that you’re on the same level with others is a wonderful thing, my child. Equality these days is hardly fought. But kindness and fairness always starts with you. And that could grow into something beautiful. Now then, starlings, we must be off!”
“You’d better go home now, kid,” Prism suggested as they started to depart. “Your folks might be getting worried.”
Firebrand nodded and turned to the mare with a white coat and a blonde mane and tail. “Thanks for cheerin’ me up, Pearl,” he told her. “I can’t wait until my teeth are fixed.”
“Aw, you’re welcome, Fire. I hope we meet again soon…” She paused before smiling with a bit less enthusiasm, knowing they probably would meet again soon.
As the colt headed back for Manehattan, their mother spoke.
“Nicely done, Pearl. This will be good practice for you girls as we continue on. We still have a ways to go, so I will continue training you during nightfall. It is important that we are ready to help those in need of guidance, especially children. That one back there doesn't have his cutie mark yet, so there is still hope in him yet.”
The Glimmers nodded simultaneously. This would indeed be their biggest challenge yet.
*****
“I want to join the cheerleading squad, but I can’t join with these dorky glasses on my face!”
“Why don’t you try contacts? That’s what I wear.”
******
“The bakery is high on tension these days. Everypony’s so competitive over who is the best...I can’t decide!”
“Why not have them follow a simple recipe...like muffins?”
****
“It’s even colder than usual here in Fillydelphia. My kids are so spoiled, they want the best coats for prices I can’t even afford!”
“Why don’t you go for something more modest? Why, just look at the cloaks my daughters are wearing, and they’re as humble as pie.”
****
“...I don’t feel beautiful at all.”
“Oh, dearie, of course you are. Everypony is beautiful in the eyes of Equality.”
*****
“My boys get more injured practicing than playing on the field. Parents are getting worried.”
“Why don’t you stop making them compete against each other and maybe help them practice together and work as a team? Or better yet...why have Games like Hoofball in the first place? I mean...if that’s okay with you.”
“Something strange has fallen over the plains,” Luna said, staring intently outside her window. “Something is not right.”
“...Huh. I think I feel it too,” a voice said. “Like some dark energy starting to rise. What do you suggest we do, Princess?”
Luna pondered a moment, her flowing mane glittering in the night sky. “With my sister visiting Griffonstone for council, we shall have to deal with things on our own. I will not trouble her on a mere feeling...not yet, anyway.”
“I can survey the area if it would make you feel better,” the voice suggested. “Could use a night fly anyway.”
The Princess of the Night held a hoof to her chin before nodding. “Very well. I shall keep watch over things.” She gave a small, caring smile. “Be careful, Spike.”
The dragon that now stood a foot taller than she climbed onto the window sill and looked back with bright green eyes. “I will, Luna,” Spike replied before spreading his large wings and taking off into the night sky.
Ohmygosh yes. I feel like Lesson Zero Twilight trying to get things done 
The next few chapters, stuff is about to go DOWN. Buckle up 
I'm very tired but also very happy to finally finish this chapter 
Everything will be explained soon. If you have any questions or concerns, or have suggestions of what I can do to make impovements, please let me know. 
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And more and more of Starlight's stupid ass plan is coming into play. Oh joy. And let me guess until towards the end nobody is gonna stop it. I'm sorry if I'm such a sour puss but I've started reading stories similar to this and they always go that way.
AGAIN, I really hope Glimmer isn't teaching her daughters to be murderers.
"With every breath, he could feel their souls moving inside of him. Breathing...wriggling...panicking."
Discord took the souls of his friends and stuck them inside him?! Discord, there's this thing called letting go, Lulu and Celly can tell ya about it!
"Something about that clenched at Starlight’s heart."
Both a proud mother, and sad seeing her babies leaving the nest, same as any parent, even if her master scheming side won't admit it. I still wonder if her motherly side will get her to do the right thing at the end.
How old is Glimmer now? In her 40s? 50s? These girls ARE her legacy now.
" Starlight noticed that they looked more like their old selves more than ever, despite their Equalized look."
You think she would have found a way to change their colors around or something. Since even a 60 second conversation with anyone who knew the mane six (in particular the immortals) will blow everything. Glimmer can't be THAT stupid to NOT think about THAT!
" Nothing’s impossible when you really want something."
In spite of everything, Glimmer at her core is an idealist.
" take Equality to new heights.”
What new heights would those be?
These ponies minds are so brainwashed with their beliefs that the won’t be able to think straight!”
Pot calling the kettle black.
The irony is... after seeing cutie mark be the same in those alt timelines in spite of living such different lives... you have to wonder if Glimmer is right and cutie marks are just collars fate uses to chain down ponies.
So they won’t recognize you, Starlight thought smugly.
Hopefully that won't backfire.
Though you think Glimmer would have done better if she'd told her daughters the truth at this point, in her own twisted way, they love her so much I doubt it would have mattered.
And an enchantment can fail, unless it's instantaneous magic rather than permanent magic.
Permanent magic is where you change something blue, and the enchantment is there to keep it always blue.
Instantaneous magic is when blue is simply that object's new natural state.
“Sorry, mother,” the pegasus replied, mentally willing the vine to shrink back.
WHAT IS THAT?! Buttercup, a pegasus, is able to manipulate plants?!
“Your seat wet again?”
0-0 How did THAT happen?
especially with your condition.”
Whose the lucky stallion?
What were they doing in Manehatten?
We have time.”
Time for what?
I can't believe Glimmer would spent 18 years raising her daughters, and then gamble it all on one move in Canterlot or something.
“Someday, little one, there will come a time when nopony will ever be made fun of ever again.”
Glimmer's taught them how to properly plant the seeds. I wonder if Glimmer is smart enough to continue playing the long game.
knowing they probably would meet again soon.
Hm???
“Like some dark energy starting to rise.
I don't know if the ideas of Equality in of themselves count as 'dark energy.'
The thing is... if Glimmer's daughters gets everypony to follow Equality of their own free will, is it really something evil?
Glimmer has a VERY POWERFUL weapon in her arsenal, and it has nothing to do with magic or scheming, it's a simple social fact. There will always be fewer 'haves' than 'have-nots' and Glimmer's daughters are speaking to their 'have-nots' of evening things out, why WOULDN'T they listen to them?
It seems Glimmer DID learn her lesson from last time, now she's doing her hardest to make Equality a force and idea onto itself, so even if she goes down, the idea is now out there, and you CAN'T kill ideas.
Who needs brainwashing huts when you can offer ponies in a fix a reasonable and pleasing sounding solution? Then they share that idea with others and they share that idea with others, etc.
6910477 If you look at the Equestrian Map:
4.bp.blogspot.com/-uj5l0C_W9Ps/Vh9gxWnaXKI/AAAAAAAAA98/kYLCGxpkHmI/s1600/eq_map.jpg
Since they are coming from the mountains, Starlight took them around her old village so that she wouldn't be recognized by those who live there. They cut through Manehattan and travel over the hills to stay as low-key as possible. Even though she is only known by Spike, she likes to take extra care of where she steps
Aaand the plot thinkens!
Since when was Joshscorcher in this?
Commander Firebrand and the Fiery Joker are the legal property of a Mr Joshscorcher, and you will be hearing from his lawyer when he finds out...
6910488
So it was just a matter of staying low key. Got it. Hopefully Glimmer knows that challenging the princesses is insane, and the better option is simply to get the people themselves on her side.
Omg spike, this could get very interesting
Added Dark tag, guys. Sorriieeee....
6911160 uh oh.
OMG I really hope this turns out well for everyone. I can't blame Starlight for using such modest means for teaching equality. I never really did to start, but this feels like something that will soon become a series of events that spiral out of control leading to someones untimely demise, usually the villain.
But since the kids are so with their mother I wonder if given the chance to remember their past lives would they stand with her or against her after everything they've been through? And what will Spike adn Luna, heck everyone else do if they found out? It's too tense I can't wait!
6910477
It's actually kind of sad to think this cold end badly for Starlight and her children. I can imagine they rediscover themselves from their past and turn on her easily. But it makes you wonder if they would? Applejack might not, I know Fluttershy would never hurt her, Pinkie maybe, the others I'm not so sure about.
I really hoping this ends well for everyone. I don't like it when greatly written characters die off, or at the very least don't die like a bitch. That happens way too often.
6911545
Yeah, in spite of kidnapping and robbing them of everything they were before, I still end of cheering for Glimmer to win here.
I sincerely imagine if she was forced to speak The Truth of why she didn't reveal their origins to her daughter, she'd reply that she didn't want to lose her babies, this would shock no one more than Starlight Glimmer self.
great chapter
, can't wait to see how starlight plans to equalize Equestria 
6910419
REALLY?! I'd like to read them. Pretty much every single story I've read had her scheme implode on her about five chapters ago. Can you direct me to them?
6912722 I apologize. I was having a rough day the day I commented on that and I unjustly vented on the chapter. I apologize.
6910730
Nyx has a definitive source, as do the Blanks of Sunny Town, yet lots of people write recursive fanfics about her. This is the BRONY community, I always thought we share and share alike as long as it stays within the herd.
6911531
Indeed. Will they be loyal to their past lives or their current lives if/when they find out? The irony is, MOONLIGHT would see the logic in their mother not telling them where they came from. This is one of those rare stories where you end up rooting for the 'bad guys.'
i was wondering aand wanted to ask will Sunset Shimmer get involved at any point? it would be interesting
Just keep going your doing great!
6913053 Anything can happen
Oooooh, boy... maybe it's the Dr. Pepper talking, but this is EXCITING. I've been... really interested in thought experiments of this kind, where Starlight's proposal for an equalized society is actually given serious consideration. Because on the surface, it does make quite a bit of sense. There's even the fact that Starlight wasn't truly mind controlling/brainwashing the ponies in her town before at all, which is proven by even her most trusted supporters challenging her resolve and commitment to her own ideals, and even going so far as to smash open the "Cutie Mark Vault" to get all their marks back. And even before that, there were several dissenters who willingly gave information to Twilight's group of total outsiders. This means that Starlight got them all to willingly submit to her social ideals, even if it meant giving up their precious cutie marks that they've known for a long, long time. No mind control: Just charisma. Pure, simple ideals and charisma.
That's what I like about her as a villain. She forces you to think. Her rhetoric isn't just "Rah-rah-evil-evil-gonna-take-over-Equestria", like we see with several others throughout the show. Starlight is the kind of character who attacks your resolve, rather than using brute force. She challenges your very beliefs that you've held to be true for years because you had no reason to think otherwise. It's a lot more difficult to fight back when someone like that can make you question what it is you're even fighting for. What if she's right? What if her way is better, and will ultimately make everyone happier than keeping to the status quo? Starlight wields doubt in one hand, and offers the other in friendship. Attacking, but also rebuilding. Removing the old, popularly accepted ways, yet planting new seeds of change in their place. And she does it masterfully.
I'm nervous. I'm excited. I'm nervouscited! What is going on with the Mane 6 apparently having powers over nature? What is this "dark energy" that Luna speaks of? More installments, please! I really want to see what's in store for the Glimmers next!
i just realized you won't have to make up a name for Cadance's daughter as its Flurry Heart now taking that out of the way i love this fanfic! Really!
This is really exciting, Starlight taking her girls on the road. It feels like one of those 19th century revival movements.
6910477
You've brought up the fact that cutie marks for characters don't seem to change in vastly altered timelines before, and I've been thinking about how to refute it, because I find it really disturbing that ponies don't really have free will. Unfortunately, I'm not sure I can.
I was going to point out how the Mane 6 were right about that age to get their cutie mark when Starlight Glimmer changed the past each time, so even if the cutie mark is the same, it might indicate that cutie marks come from the unconscious mind of ponies, and the Mane 6 always got their cutie mark relatively soon after each new timeline, before circumstances could really change their identities. But then I thought about EqG world. Clearly humans in EqG world have cutie marks, even if they don't actually have them physically manifest on their bodies, since everyone seems to have the icon on their clothes. And Celestia and Luna, Principal and Vice Principal respectively, have a sun and a moon that looks just like their alicorn princess counterparts. I actually find this to be way more compelling a "slave of destiny" argument. I could come up with some elaborate whiffle about how being a Principal is metaphorically like the sun, and being a Vice Principal is metaphorically like the moon, but we both know that would be weak sauce.
So if your cutie mark can't physically change, maybe it doesn't mean what we think it means. Maybe all a cutie mark really does is appear, signaling a pony has entered puberty, and the special talent that accompanies it is also set at birth (the fact that Rarity is an interior decorator for NMM suggests special talents are predetermined as well). You know what's really creepy? Some ponies like Troubleshoes, Diamond Tiara, and a lot of the residents of Our Town don't seem to like the cutie mark fate has chosen for them. So fate seeks to crush opposition by appointing a trio of "Cutie Mark Counselors" who will persuade those unhappy with their cutie marks to give in and accept the will of destiny.
.....Mmmmaybe. Reading this chapter, I was reminded of that movie The Wave. Social movements always start out voluntary by necessity. Heck, logically Starlight Glimmer's original equalism had to start out voluntary, it's not like she could have forced other ponies into the propaganda hut all by herself (well she could, but not without revealing her powers). Once the majority of ponies have embraced Equalism, what about the minority who really love their cutie marks and seem happy to have them? Social movements at the beginning are built on pure zeal, and zeal rarely stops at the voluntary level.
6916426
That's the price of living in a free society based on the vote, sooner or later the majority will vote in a way that geometrically opposed to something you hold as common sanity.
6917196 True indeed.
6917334
And the alternative of course is letting all your choices be made FOR you.
"Democracy isn't the best government, it's the least sucky government." And Anarchy is a death sentence.
Here's hoping Glimmer's daughters bring some trace amounts of sanity to their mother's vision.
It SUCKS that Manhattan is still a rude and crude city after 18 years. I wonder if Coco's good works took.
Did Glimmer strike around the same time as the season finale in the series? Or before that?
6919092 Starlight took the mane 6 a little after Luna's encounter with Tantabus. So in actuality, Rarity and Applejack never got a chance to go to Manehattan and give advice to Coco. If anything, Manehattan's gotten even worse than before. Everything after "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" never happened.
6919474
Did the CMC still get Diamond Tiara to come to her senses? (Since that was ironically the trigger to getting their cutie marks.)
Or it's better to say, those events happened without the mane six involved.
The Hooffields and McColts then are still going at it logically.
Gilda is still a jerk? Or did that happen before that episode?
So Countess is still a media puppet?
6920660 The Crusaders and Diamond Tiara reconciled shortly after the mane six's disappearance, for Diamond saw how much pain they were going through and apologized. In turn, they helped her realize the purpose of her own cutie mark.
Gilda is still reformed since this occurred before the incident.
Countess Coloratura remained a puppet for Sven Gallop until he eventually dropped her for a newer, younger, brighter star, forcing her to retire.
6921036
So did Moon Dancer continue to spiral deeper into darkness I take it? (Oh wait, that happened BEFORE Magic Sheep.) So did Moon Dancer and Trixie become students to Celestia and Luna?
Did the Pies and Apples ever meet and cross culture? (With Big Mac and Marble Pie... though I still imagine Cheerilee and Marble had sparks fly.)
So Sassy continues to wander from store to store, not realizing that portfolio diversity is business survival.
6921060 Can't reveal too much! I'll get to that soon
For now, we know that ponies' lives didn't turn out the greatest since the mane six weren't there to help them.
6921171
What ticked off Glimmer more than anything in the finale was the idea that there are ponies who are 'more important' than others.
And the idea that some of the Mane Six's well meaning meddling was always for the best. And of course, the idea that there was no alive who could rise to the challenge.
So it looks like Discord senses something, this can only end badly.
Okay same gender shipping = pregent ..bull shit !! Sorry can't help it .
Anyway great story so far . I can't really can't write paragraphs like others here but still compelling .
Alt equel doesn't mean a thing in a creative sense cuase companion drives imaginations so her whole thing is still flawed . Bit alas ponies are slaves to ther destinys in this world .
One more thing I don't get is how when Aj got her mark replaces with equel sign why did her strength go . That an earth pony trait not a talent. What the hell
This story is amazing! I can't wait to see what happens next! However I understand that you're busy so feel free to take your time.
7026371 Hello there! Thanks for reading, and funny you should mention, I am almost done with the next chapter, and it will be updated soon
Can't wait!
... Goddamn it. I just finished the entire story up to this point, now I want more. I binge read, sooooooo, I WANT MOAR!
I'm glad to see Spike and Discord getting involved.
I just hope spike doesn't find twilight first
I have to say, I haven't had a story grip me like this in a long time. Also, I'm not the only one rooting for Starlight here am I?