The Only Chapter
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I've realized neither of us were right.
-Your Student, Starlight Glimmer
That was what the letter in Starlight Glimmer's room said when Spike found it early in the morning.
At first, Princess Twilight thought that finding Starlight Glimmer would be hard, she had evaded capture for a year before. Instead, it was like Twilight was being led on a trail of breadcrumbs. Twilight for a moment wondered if this was a trap... but it didn't feel right. There were far less elaborate ways to isolate Twilight from her friends and get her to a remote location.
It led to, of course, the Everfree Forest. More than that. It led straight to the Castle Of The Two Sisters.
She found Glimmer inside the main hall. She was in the middle of a rune engraved into nearly the entire floor, with others engraved into the walls. They were so complex that Twilight knew there were maybe half a dozen ponies in Equestria alive who would be able to understand them.
"Hello Twilight," Glimmer said, not looking surprised, as she did some final adjustment and checking and rechecking her work. "I'll admit I was being selfish in my letter. I knew you'd look for me. I just had to show off my work." She gave an ironic chuckle. "Not very equal of me is it? ... Didn't bring the others? ... I guess that's for the best."
"Starlight... " Twilight hadn't figured out what the spell was yet, but she recognized the individual components plain as day. "Starlight no. Please no. I thought you understood! I thought you finally understood how vital to living free will is!"
"I'm doing this BECAUSE you taught me how important free will is!" Glimmer shouted.
"What?..." Twilight's jaw dropped.
"I knew my equal marks smothered free will... if I could have a village full of friends with no differences to drive them apart, I thought it was worth it. Then you destroyed it... and all I had left was revenge... and that revenge ended up destroying the world. So I had nothing left. You gave me something when you had every right to leave me rotting in a dungeon till the end of my days. And for that, you have my eternal gratitude."
Twilight Sparkle pleaded to her friend. "Starlight! Just because friends are different doesn't mean those friendship are going to end! You can't keep living in that one moment where Sunburst left you!"
Starlight stamped her hoof. "This isn't about my egocentric abandonment issues! Princess Twilight! Do you remember what we talked about last week?"
"... I told you about the other timelines I saw."
"And remember what I asked?"
"You asked... about the cutie marks my friends had in those worlds."
"Exactly. And what did you tell me?"
"... That they were all the same."
"Exactly... every timeline, no matter how much things changed, no matter what roles they had, no matter how different their lives were... the same cutie mark, over and over, and over again. IN SPITE OF THE FACT that they NEVER GOT their cutie marks on that day of the Sonic Rainboom! If events had continued on IN SPITE OF my efforts, I could accept it... EXCEPT! The entire POINT was how my meddling was spiraling reality further and further beyond recognition! Our destinies are what we MAKE IT Twilight Sparkle! Otherwise we're just actors playing roles! When you told me about when you scrambled your friends cutie marks, I figured it was because they were cutie marks they hadn't actually chosen themselves that they were unhappy, lacking the actual skills and abilities they thought they were supposed to have. Instead...
"You've taught me, the cutie mark is the self's reflection. The self is supposed to be determined by our choices and experiences. Yet ponies had the same cutie mark in spite of living completely different lives? It's a mockery of free will Twilight... we're just puppets. It HAS TO END!"
Twilight slowly shook her head. "So that's it? You give up on everything you've seen and learned? Just like that? You go back to slapping an equal sign on everypony and think it'll make them happy?"
"No equal marks, no cutie marks, we'll all be blank flanks, and we'll be free to choose our fates, instead of them being decided for us. It's the only way Twilight, that anypony will ever be truly free."
Twilight Sparkle gasped in horror. "You can't! Without her cutie mark! Celestia! The sun!"
"Cutie marks don't define our abilities... the way your friends utterly failed at each other's lives showed that. My equal mark SUPPRESSED any exceptional talents ponies had.
"I was so afraid of differences destroying friendships, that I didn't realize what I was doing. If I had simply left ponies with no cutie marks, they have pursued any path they wanted, not just the path fate had given them superpowers for. This way, ponies CAN be what they want to be, not what fate decided they would be before they were even born. Instead my equal marks crushed individuality, and limited ponies in how well they could do something..."
Starlight laughed. "You know! The idea I had originally, was for every pony who was made Equal: they'd just add their talents, skills, and abilities to the whole! Everypony would be equal, because POWER was distributed equally, powerful unicorns like US would be brought down to 'average', but ponies who suffered from sub-par abilities would be BROUGHT UP to normal instead of being crippled! And the 'average' would only keep rising as more ponies added their strength to the pot. The equal marks would all be connected, evenly distributing power among the community, no superiors or inferiors, and no need to crush ponies to below average.
She laughed again. "...But I couldn't figure out how on my own... and because I have such a huge messiah complex, and I didn't trust other ponies to begin with, I didn't even TRY to ask for help on how to make it work! So I took the easy way out instead! And you saw the end result."
"WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK FOR HELP NOW?" Twilight cried.
"... I've been on both sides now Twilight... maybe I am just crazy, maybe I've been crazy since the day I lost my home, or maybe since Sunburst left me without a word, but I think it's given me a new sense of clarity. Or maybe... I was scared to do this.
"This spell is black magic of course... meaning it requires a sacrifice." Glimmer took out a rune covered knife.
Twilight's eyes widened, she took a trot back, and charged up her horn, preparing to defend herself. "Starlight... how can you still hate me so much?"
"Not you Twilight. I can't ask this of anypony else. My idea. My sacrifice. Thank you for everything Twilight."
A great flash of light from Starlight's horn blinded Twilight's vision. When it cleared, Starlight was on the floor, the knife clearly sheathed inside Starlight Glimmer.
"STARLIGHT!"
The unicorn whispered, dimly looking at the Alicorn. "... I hope... you can forgive someday... Twilight..."
Starlight Glimmer's body turned to ashes, and a shockwave of magic covered Equestria.
And across Equestria... cutie marks vanished. Every last one of them.
What happened next, was no longer up to fate.
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I'm reminded of Story of the Blanks.
*sigh* Nope. Not even going to.
6690345
That had more to do with them mistaking it for an outbreak of cutie pox.
6690346
End result is the same.
6690348
I don't see any zombie ponies or foals being tossed in fireplaces.
6690352
I see all cutie marks gone due to the actions of someone who should be in psychiatric care.
6690353
This story was me addressing some existential fridge horror from the episode.
6690355
I suppose, though my personal theory is that those are unstable timelines that don't really exist normally, are came about as a result of Starlight screwing with the Rainboom via tampering with an already risky time spell, so not all the details, as such, are correct.
i am soo confuse with the time loop here
I think they always have the same CM because even without the rainboom, they are still the same ponies with the same aspiration. For exemple AJ still come back to the farm, Rarity still become an outfit designer, etc... They would eventually discovered their talent but without all the mane6's destinies being interconnected.
And you doomed the world again! In fact, maybe this is even the barren lifeless future we saw! Nice job, Starlight. Nice job.
Their cutie marks are all the same because their path in life doesn't change what their greatest innate talents are. Why would it? Your cutie mark is stated to be a reflection of your true self, and nothing beyond extremely powerful and invasive magic that alters that can change it.
Your cutie mark does not determine what you do, but merely represents what you're best at and find most fulfilling, which is a trait you're born with in the Friendship is Magic world. Starlight's tirade about free will misses the point of the cutie mark, and even if their talents weren't emblazoned on their flank, most ponies would end up doing what they would have gotten anyway, since it's natural for people to seek out methods by which to feel most fulfilled.
I liked this. It even gives new meaning to the fact that it took SO LONG for the CMC to get Cutie Marks. They loved doing their own things so much that they unconsciously decided a Cutie Mark would take that away from them, so their bodies didn't give them a Cutie Mark until they realized what they REALLY want to do. Now, they're stuck helping others with their Cutie Marks. No more "Cutie Mark Crusaders (dangerous activity)! Yay!" just...helping others.
I also think Fluttershy would have had a great career as a seamstress if she weren't stuck with animals. After all, "freaky knowledge of sewing". Rarity could be a great actress, Pinkie Pie could...uhm...do anything since she defies the laws of the universe, Twilight could be an amazing librarian/scientist, Applejack could be a baker or business pony ala Filthy Rich due to her marketing skills, Rainbow Dash could be a motivational speaker or even better, a superb drill sergeant in for the military...the possibilities for changes like that would have been an amazing future they could have shown us.
Problem not within interpretation, problem within attitude.
If starlight could change the past, why didn't she make it so. sunburst remained friends with her?
6691560
Good question. Could be she thought that pain had 'enlightened her'. And was the reason she had built her perfect town in the first place.
6691378
???
6690776
Uh, no.
6690438
It's about how in every timeline they had the same cutie mark, when cutie marks are supposed to reflect the self, and the self is SUPPOSED to be from our experiences and choices.
6693484 .... you do realize that only happen in two world yes? and one of them was the changeling one.
6693484 ah i see thanks
'Scuse me Twi, but I'mma gunna go destroy that now...
6690502
Actually, by all accounts, there's only one known timeline where Applejack went back to the farm. Which itself doesn't make much sense given that it was the Rainboom that leads her to the decision to go back to Ponyville.
That is kind of a plot hole, now I come to think of it....
6693484
They also didn't always have the same cutie mark. In fact the only one who's cutie mark I can recall seeing in the finale during any of the alternate timelines is Rarity, which was probably deliberate. So we can't actually prove that anyone had the same cutie marks in any of the alternate timelines at all. Rarity was the only one who did, and that was probably because her talent emerged in a different fashion. We never saw the marks of any of the others. They always had their flanks covered.
6692747 In what way is the world NOT doomed?
I don't know how to feel about this.
6690795
That is perhaps even worse, that nature alone determines your skills, and no effort, no dream, no anything can change that. Ultimately your either stuck with the marks being representational, chosen (consciously or not), or destined. It is irrelevant whether the destined set is skills or preferences, nothing with destiny in it allows for freedom
6694109
In what way is it? He already addressed sun/moon. Having to work equally hard to become competent at any skill doesn't prevent them from attaining mastery. It just means they must have an actual understanding instead of abusing magic/fate.
6694401 And in the meantime society will collapse because nobody will know how to do that.
6694396
That's how it's like in real life. The cutie mark does not measure your ability to do something, but your aptitude, your natural talent at it.
People in real life have natural talents just like that, things that you learn to do easier and faster than other things. Training or practicing doesn't change natural talents, it only builds upon them.
The only differences are that cutie marks make your greatest natural talent obvious when you find it, and that the activity you find the most fulfilling is always one in the same as your greatest natural talent (while in real life, you can often find what you're best at to be unpleasant or worse).
I think it's a good ending here.
They are better without their slave marks.
Now they can choose for themselves instead.
6691560 Hey, THAT'S something Josh Haber should have considered. But no. His writing was always too weird.
6693863 Pinkie Pie's mark can be seen briefly as well actually in the Changeling timeline. Not certain about Fluttershy.
6693863
Rarity had the same cutie mark in the NMM future, Pinkie Pie had the same cutie mark in the Chrysalis future, and Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity must have had the same cutie marks in the Chrysalis future in order for the changelings to imitate said cutie marks.
Yeah, this is totally something Starlight would do. She wants to fix everything, but doesn't trust anyone but herself to decide how. She's going to use dark magic and make decisions that affect everyone without consulting them and that's kind of evil, but she'll kill herself to balance it out. Fanatics don't change much, I guess.
The really sad rodeo clown clumsy horse bloke could be really happy, a lot of people seem to say the cutie mark is what you're best at, rather than fate's will, most ponies will end up doing what their mark represents, If there are no Cutie marks however, Ponies can pursue whatever path they chose, life is up to them now, not their flanks.
Starlight is best hero.
Well, now. This can only end badly.
Why? Because every single time something tried messing with Cutie Marks, the result was bad. Switching them was bad. Equalising them was bad. Trying to gain one by way of magic was bad.
And now Starlight rips it right off of everypony's soul. No questions asked, no exceptions.
Well that's only because Fate, aka you the Author Alex, isn't continuing this. so of course it's no longer up to you!
6696052 You know that existentialist dread humans get because we don't have any clue to what we should do in life? Multiply that by everyone having marks that told them until someone ripped them away and left you drifting in destiny's winds...
This type of ending depends on perspective if it is good or bad.
Some say "good" because they have the freedom to do what they want without cutie marks, but is this really any different from when they had Cutie Marks? They could panic and try doing what their Cutie Marks once represented and still be just as good and more then likely will continue to do since they are familiar with it.
Some say "bad" because they lost a vital part of who they are and what they were proud of doing. Or is this something they learned to accept and eventually enjoy? Instead of wallowing in their bitterness they embraced it.
Tell me, in the end, can we really say who was right? and who was wrong? Ponies can't read eachothers mind and decide this is what that pony wanted or didn't want from the very beginning, so in the end we have to trust the pony loves what they are doing until they say otherwise.
Damn. That bitch is crazy.
6697727 Destiny's winds are no longer present, it's what they choose to do that will guide them.
6699446 Yes, but she just destroyed a pillar of their civilization! She erased something from existence that all ponies took for granted!
6699588 they will live without, and come out far greater.
6700020 -cackles- That is the argument that leads to burning down a house so the people inside can learn to survive!
6700052 laughs insanely Their despair will grow and grow, until they learn to live, and a glistening new hope will spring forth, and Equestria shall be a far greater country.
6700091 -eyes narrow- Not sure if Griffin or Dragon..
6700099 Draconiquus baby.
6700133 ah, of course.....
6700139 Also a wizard.
6692741 well why didn't Starlight then make it so her Equalist plot succeeded? Heck, she could have gotten help for it!