This story is a sequel to The Stars Did Aid In Our Escape
Equestria may be the homeland of ponies, but it is not where they came from. Ponies came from a world so distant and far-gone that none now live who remember it. But this is not the story of that place.
Ponies move from world to world, though they spend so much time on each world that nopony ever knows they are not the first ponies to leave their world. And leave they do, for the ones who made them have a plan for the ponies, and they often test to see if the ponies have fulfilled the plan.
The test is a purple pony princess, a change nopony ever expects and, thus far, nopony ever accepts. This is the story of what happens when the Purple Pony Princess Test is given, and fails.
This is the story of Purple Pony Princess Test #7.
And of COURSE G3 gets destroyed. Screw them.
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G3 GETS DESTROYED WOOOOOOOOO!!!
Well. We know which ponies have their souls turned into Windigoes.
Well fiddlesticks.
6346720 Good for you! You get a cookie!
6346807 I read the comments section of the previous story. I had a heads-up and an idea of where this is going as a result. Nonetheless, I am interested in seeing just how this plays out.
Do Alicorns in this setting include the likes of hippocampus and crystal pony in the mix? Do they adapt those traits when brought into the environments that those other races naturally inhabit?
6347734 In this setting, an alicorn is essentially a genetic melting pot of every pony species. The traits of earth pony, unicorn and pegasus are all persistent and cannot be turned off, while hippocampus, crystal, thestral or other traits are activated by a conscious choice and use of alicorn magic. That way, you don't automatically become a seapony whenever you take a bath.
okay if this is a story before pony's came to the world we now know then how did this not happen again.
6362909 Assuming I understand your question right:
Because the ponies of Equestria aren't shallow jerks, their alicorns saved the world from chaos instead of causing it, and basically because the Great Old Ones finally managed to create real friendship. History repeated itself until they got it right, and as controversial as it is, Magical Mystery Cure is what happens when the Purple Pony Princess Test is given, and succeeds.
6362933 okay good to know thank you for letting me know
6362939 No problem. Thanks for asking!
If the entities organizing Twilight's ascension each cycle are the Great Old Ones, does that make Discord in the Equestria iteration Nyarlathotep? Is Twilight's ascension them trying to bring about the birth of another Great Old One? Or is Twilight closer to a benevolent version of Horus from Warhammer 40k?
6364315 Yes, Discord would almost certainly be the ponified Nyarlathotep.
Twilight's ascension is neither of the things you suggested (at least I think so; Warhammer lore is an impenetrable wall of text to me). Twilight Sparkle the alicorn is a game-changer, a stress test of a pony world. Think of the various pony worlds as social experiments, attempts to create true, lasting friendship that will endure all trials, and Twilight's ascension as the ultimate test of that world's commitment to friendship.
6364468 Horus was basically a paragon of good who was corrupted by all four of the chaos gods. The only time the four of them ever teamed up was to corrupt Hours and turn him against the Emperor. Once he was turned, they let him operate how he saw fit, merely providing power.
If I understand correctly, it sounds like Twilight was crafted by your G.O.O.'s to continue their plans, just that their plans are far more benevolent than the Old Ones and Outer Gods of Lovecraft lore.
6364571 Exactly. I honestly use 'Great Old Ones' more as a placeholder for ancient beings than any specific Lovecraft meaning.
Okay, I can accept that these ponies are all arseholes and jerks, and their friendship is as shallow as the reflection in a puddle.
It still seems awfully arbitrary that even her 'best friends' would turn on her like a pack of timberwolves without any actual reason beyond ancient legends. They know the real Twilight Sparkle and they can see she's as shocked by what happened as anyone.
Given the power, I would love to drop into this story and say a few things. Go up to Twilight Sparkle and offer to transport her to the universe of 'The Great Alicorn Hunt' where another alicorn would be welcomed. Or any of a hundred versions of Equestria where a replacement Twilight Sparkle could turn around a sad ending into a happy one.
Then I would go among the ponies, including her 'friends' and spake thus.
"Do not fear, the Alicorn Twilight Sparkle is gone, sent away to another dimension never to return. They have need of the power and wisdom of an alicorn such as she to save them from a terrible fate.
Of course, that now leaves you with a whole host of problems as she was the only being who could have saved you from half a dozen upcoming threats. Now you're all going to die. But them's the breaks.
The two ancient alicorn sisters didn't fight because they were alicorns, they fought because they were jerks who could not understand the concept of friendship and harmony. In your treatment of Twilight Sparkle you have proved that you are truly their descendents, as it is clear you have learned not one blind thing from their fate.
I would suggest you devote your remaining days to building an ark to take you to another planet. This one is going to become very unfriendly now you've lost the only being who could have protected you. Basically, running away is your only hope.
And don't look to me for help. Normally I'd be pulling out all the stops to help ponies, but you have demonstrated that you're so far from being everything that a pony is supposed to be that I couldn't care less. Farewell, unlikely as that seems."
Of course, I'd just be blowing smoke, but they wouldn't know that. Yes, I'm not a nice person.
6382986 Yeah, I was afraid someone might bring up how arbitrary their betrayal is.
I have no excuses. The original story got away from me and suddenly became an analogue for the Twilicorn debacle, and somebody asked for a sequel. I am afraid that I cannot defend the logic of her friends betraying Twilight, beyond the blanket excuse of "yet another failed attempt by the Great Old Ones to create friendship that would withstand all trials".
I will, however, say that your hypothetical speech to these ponies is awesome. I especially like the line "You have proved that you are truly their descendants", and if this version of Twilight has enough of a spine, I'd be honored if you'd allow me to use that line.
On an unrelated note, HOLY SHIT YOU WROTE LUNA'S RETURN TRAJECTORY! I love that story! Man, you are just the coolest! If I may nerd out, it is an honor to have you here.
Okay, last thing, I promise. Do you think this story and the one that came before need an Alternate Universe tag? Because someone brought up that they don't really assume anything different than what we already know from the show, and I could use a second opinion.
6383538 Maybe if you make it less arbitrary. Her friends are scared of her, but they don't immediately turn on her. She manages to convince them to at least give her a chance to prove she isn't like the alicorns of old.
However, when they get out among the rest of the ponies, any attempt to defend Twilight meets with hostility and threats. 'You've been tricked', 'you've been mind controlled' they say. Having to choose between supporting their friend against the emnity of the village, not just against themselves but their families, and taking council of their own fears, they cave in, using the idea that Twilight somehow Jedi mind tricked them as an excuse to salve their feelings.
Then you have the confrontation, Twilight distraught and angry because of their betrayal, the others secretly ashamed of their actions, but getting angry and defensive about it and using the same slurs the rest of the ponies are using because it's easier to do that then admit they're in the wrong. I know it would take a lot more writing, but it would flow better,
Equestria version, if the townsfolk started saying Twilight was some kind of threat, Applejack would proceed to verbally rip them a new one, threats or no threats, and Rainbow Dash would have to be held back from doing it physically. Rarity would cut them down with a few well chosen words, and Pinkie would be trying to convince them that thye were all wrong, and if they all had a party together they'd see that. Even Fluttershy would be a quiet but determined No Sell.
Feel free to use anything from my comments you see fit.
As to 'Luna's Return Trajectory' yes, that's one of mine. I'm sorry it hasn't been updated lately, but real life has no been kind to my free time, and I have so many other ideas. One I may have a go at is 'You Can't Take the Sky From Me', (not a Firefly crossover). It's my own rejection of the standard Scootacripple memes.
The doctors tell Scootaloo and her parents she will never be able to fly. It's not the size of her wings, it's a congential disorder with her magic. Many ponies have traces of other tribe ancestry and show other traits, such as a pegasus who understands animals, an earth pony with wacky spacetime distorting powers or a unicorn with an affinity for gem finding. But the traits are rarely destructive. In her case, her wings channel earth-pony magic rather than pegasus magic, though her hooves and body are normal, allowing her to manipulate cloud.
Her magic core is strong, and her wings do channel that strength, which is why she can buzz them like a bumblebee and almost lift herself into the air by sheer dint of main strength and awkwardness, or haul several times her own weight at a a pace faster than a locomotive. Plus earth pony proprioception and pegasus reflexes means she has the insane 'cat on a hot tin roof' hyperkinesthesia that would make her an excellent star fighter pilot if Equestria had star fighters. Hmmm... a crossover with the Last Starfighter, after all Equestria has video games...
Anyway, Scootaloo has massive depression, has a lot of hurt/comfort from her friends and eventually comes to terms with being handicapped.... No, no she doesn't. She gets angry and decides she's not going to accept it. To start with she starts investigating ways to fix her wings, starting at unicorn magic and going up to Alicorn, Chaos and Elements of Harmony. She can do that as she has access to Princess Twilight Sparkle, Discord (who owes the Crussaders a solid for breaking him out of the hoosegow), and could influence several Element bearers.
When none of it works (because of narrative causality and all the writers who've used the permanently crippled Scootaloo plotline for cheap feels), she gets Rainbow to teach her how to hang-glide. Which she is awesome at, but it also gets her interacting with clouds. And that's where things get interesting. She turns out to have a talent for cloud manipulating, and figures out firstly a way to make herself cloud booties to stand on in the air (clouds seem to support arbitrarily large weights), figures out how to infuse it with magic so it can be interacted with by solid objects (allowing her scooter to be rebuilt into a hoverboard, and cloud safety jackets - life preserver style jackets filled with stabilised cloud that make the wearer fall like a feather, and ultimately how to draw water vapour out of the air around her hooves to create a support for her to walk on.
Her wings now only have to push her forward as she effectively cloud walks across the sky. So she can become the awesome flier she wants to be, invents several amazing things and generally wins.
6384455 Ah, that's a very good idea. Will take a bit of a rewrite, but definitely worth it.
Also, that Scootaloo story sounds great.
Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but of the three questions I asked, one was not answered. In your opinion, does this story and the one that precedes it need the Alternate Universe tag? My apologies if the answer was just so obvious to you that you didn't bother answering.
6385080 Sorry! Not really, as this is some previous incarnation, not Equestria. Maybe set up the backstory of the duelling alicorns earlier to make it clear why they are held in such fear.
6385107 Perhaps the duelling alicorns backstory would work better as a separate prologue?
6385109 Possibly. Maybe as a quote from a book, to show it's ancient 'wisdom'.
6385116 Alright, rewrote the chapter. What do you think?
6391224 Much better. I'd have done it differently, having a slower build up, with multiple ponies doing Rabble Rouser's role, but I'm not you. This way works. I look forward to seeing where you take this.
6391593 Glad to have the attention of someone so intelligent.
So, uh...
Who's Nyarlathotep?
'Scuse me while I Google tha--OH GOD WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!
6400194 AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
6400849
MY EYES DIED SCREAMING OH GOD.
6400888 And he's the subtle infiltrator of the team.
6401024
GG.
Great story.
6649528 You really think so?
Well, I won't stop you.
Interesting premise here for sure. Wonder where it will go from here.
Good call I think. I applaud you for at least closing it rather then just abandoning it like so many others do without letting people know why. you have made the right choice.
I'm sorry you have felt that way Ever since you started this story, and even though I really like this story and would like to see more. I understand and don't want to see more if it makes you unhappy. Because I would feel bad about it so I hope you have a good day as well as a happy holiday.
6756239
6756380
Thank you both for understanding.
B-but I wanted to be a self-entitled brat who thinks fic-site authors owe him everything!
But yes, like the Simpsons had for a Reader's Digest motto: "Brevity is ... wit."
6756806 Oh, please, nobody's stopping you. It's been ages since I've had a good workout.
Oh noes! You simply must continue this masterpiece of wordmanship!
But seriously, don't write things if you have to force yourself. That rarely ends up in quality words. Plus, the plan is to have fun writing, no?
Unless you miraculously hava an insight on how to turn this into something you like: abandon boat!
6757190 So glad nobody's protested this yet.
...Great, now I want to know your flame war capacity .-.
6862035 No, you don't. I have a capacity for hatred that can match any villain you care to name, and I'm more than petty enough to turn the full force of my hatred on people purely for little things like trying to make me finish this story.
I beg you, do not make me your enemy.
6862549 Well... while I still am very curious, I will take your word for it, I guess... (if you ever happen to be in a flame war for whatever reason, I'd still love to see the results... I blame it on my curiosity).
6862602 I will do my best to remember this and link you to my next flame war before someone deletes it.
6862614 Thanks^^
I'd like to think that most of the likes I've accrued since this chapter went up are just people going like, "that sure was a good rant".
But I'm probably getting my hopes up.
7083309 I just liked this when I saw this oh so wonderful rant.
7761622 That's acceptable.
Y was it so sad?