After the timeline goes awry for the eighth time, Twilight Sparkle convinces Starlight Glimmer to journey with her through the most recent world she created, using her alicorn magic potion to safely view one of the tragic timelines. As the world spirals farther and farther out of control, Twilight fears the vision may be doing more to strengthen Starlight's resolve than to bring her to an understanding of her mistakes.
Starlight Glimmer vector by itv-canterlot on Deviantart
A good portion of chapters 1-3 debuted in the Writeoff event "Forbidden Knowledge"
Red tags for mild gore and fantasy violence.
Chapters (10)
This is a really cool story. Filly Rainbow Dash killed me, though
I'll give you a like, since you toyed with my feelings...
Omg
the feels btw i love it great tart
7374801 Thanks. Just a little edit I did. Found a Starlight Glimmer vector and edited her into the background of this scene with Twilight Sparkle and the potion.
Did you win?
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Heh. Right now, I can only dream of winning. I'm still an amateur writer using the Writeoff as a way to better my skills and receive constructive criticism on my stories and writing style. The Writeoff version of History Lesson had terrible pacing problems due to word count restrictions and because the story that I wanted to tell was waaaay longer than the story I actually told. I'm already over the Writeoff word count with Chapters 1 and 2, and I still have 3-4 more chapters planned.
Not to say that I'm not making progress. I made the finals two rounds ago, and I can already see an overall improvement in my writing! I looked back at the first Writeoff story I wrote and Yikes! Did I really write that?
Thanks for reading and commenting!
7384801 There was another Starlight fic that appeared around the same time as mine which basically said in the description "after 30 alternate worlds, Twilight finds one that isn't so bad." I tried to make it clear in the descriptions of History Lesson that my story would feature a "bad timeline."
As for Starlight, she still isn't accepting responsibility for the damage she's done to the timeline, claiming Twilight is trying to deceive her. If she doesn't believe she did it, she isn't going to feel the need to correct it. This theme is expanded upon in Chapter 3.
Sunburst or Sombra
I usually dont do stuff like this : “You’re not exactly the Great and Powerful you claim to be, at least not yet; but you’re resourceful and tenacious, and I admire that. You could prove a powerful ally, given the proper training.” Sunburst finished with a chuckle,
Before I read it, What is the Dark and Gore tag for ?
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NicLove asked me why HL was tagged for Gore and Dark, and while I realize this is a response to NicLove, I also am aware that more than just NicLove is going to be reading this comment. There is one minor spoiler for Chapter 4, which I have clearly marked. All other spoiler tags are only relevant for those who wish to read completely blind.
As this is a fallen timeline fanfic, you can expect to see a much more detailed version of one of Starlight's canon fallen timelines from the show. I approached the Season 5 finale very logically, asking myself how the fallen worlds came to be. For writing purposes, I decided it would be easiest just to create my own world, thus I had to have Starlight disrupt the Rainboom in a manner unique to any of the ways she prevented it from happening in the show. This gave me a unique set of results for the characters involved. For instance, ***Minor story spoiler ahead: Chapter 4*** Rainbow may not have a prosthetic wing, but by early to mid-Chapter 4, she's blaming herself for things out of her control. As such, she's stricken with grief and regret to the point that her character has been fundamentally altered. ***End spoilers*** As indicated by the cover art, Starlight and Twilight use the alicorn potion to go back in time, "for viewing purposes only," if you will. As expected, Twilight attempts to get Starlight to see the error of her ways.
Moderate gore: I try to be subtle with my descriptions where possible. Several characters won't make it to the end of the story, I'm afraid. Believe it or not, I try to keep as many characters alive as possible. Occasionally, I'll plan to have a character meet their end, but some deaths, for instance the one in Chapter 1, came from me writing myself into a corner. Again, I approached this story very logically, and it broke my heart that the first character to go was my favorite.
Dark tag: Described by FimFiction as "stories contain[ing] aspects that deal with grim situations where hope seems to be lost or the ‘good guys’ have lost the battle or are losing it with horrifying consequences. Tyranny, torture, war and death are common themes for these type of stories. While the tag doesn’t mean necessarily that evil ultimately prevails, it does heavily imply that it is for the most part winning. This tag may also apply to stories with particularly unsettling concepts, such as a character’s descent into insanity." The bold parts are relevant. If I had to rank them by order of appearance, it would be 1) generalized sense of hopelessness, 2) war/threat of war, and death, in that order, 3) mild tyranny, and 4) very mild descent into insanity by a single character (it's a subplot I gave a non-main character). I might add in "moral dilemmas" to that list as well, as I can think of one big one just off the top of my head.
7842907 Did that explanation clear the tags up for you?
I so hope AJ holds on, And part of me wants Twilight and Starlight to somehow get sucked into all this. then maybe Starlight will realize in this universe how much she done BUCKED up, if you know what i mean :). Good job on this man.
Do the deleted scenes/bonus content come before or after the next story in this series comes out?
8052903 Definitely before. I'm very roughly planning History Reimagined to be ~50k words, and the bonus material will be around one tenth of that. One deleted scene is just that: deleted; I ripped it straight out of the story and stuck it at the bottom of the word doc to be uploaded as a deleted scene. At least one of the others will be a bonus scene. It's not entirely necessary for the story and it doesn't quite fit anywhere, but I still want to write it.
Nice to know that the Pie family hasn't changed much...and that Pinkie's ability to nreak the walls of reality is still somewhat intact.
D-damn... i never knew you could feel so bad for fake characters. I literally cried at one point. And thanks for fixing the starlight redemption thing. I didn't like how she turned out at all.
Very good story, I began to read and could not stop reading until the ending... Hope to see more...
I have to ask... Did no race tried to help Equestria? Minotaurs, Griffons or Zebras for example.
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The griffons' golden age is long past, and their society is barely holding itself together. As for the minotaurs and zebras, we've seen exactly one of each in the show. Not to worry; I've got some plans for other Equestrian allies yet to come...
That's not the way time travel works. Those timelines existed before Starlight traveled through time. So none of them are her fault.
The multi-verse is proven to exist in MLP.
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There isn't actually one singular way that time travel can work. In the episodes, Twilight and Starlight both seem to be under the impression that changing the past creates new timelines. Free will is, in Hasbro's interpretation, given to the time-travelling individual. It might also be that the very act of going back in time serves as a sort of "master reset" for the timeline, since Starlight and Twilight never run into themselves in any of their back-travelling. Or maybe there's a completely new unaffected timeline created each time they go back. (I don't know. I didn't write it; I just have to work with/around it.)
Hasbro seems to want to sweep the multiverse theory under the rug. Though never explicitly stated, Twi and Star operate as though only their universe is real, so who cares what happens to the other ones. They're no different than a "what-if" scenario according to them. I would take up the opposite side of the argument, thus I write fanfiction. Starlight created them; now she gets to go fix them. (And the act of fixing them wouldn't actually require time travel, only universe jumping. But I digress...)
The question isn't "How does time travel work?" but rather, "How does time travel work in this story that I'm reading right now?" whatever that story happens to be. The video below was trending on YouTube the week it was released. It discusses different ways time travel works across several works of fiction better and more concisely than I could.
was this made before we see adult Starburst? Because if not then you got him all wrong. He has got knowledge not power.
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My theory on that: Star Swirl was shown to have limitations directly linked to the fact that "he did not understand friendship as [Twilight] did." Presumably, this statement transfers over to other ponies as well. Here, alternate Sunburst basically is becoming Twilight, i.e. learning friendship and all that. With friendship comes magic. Without friendship, higher levels of magic seem to be locked.
It's my belief that regular Sunburst's power stopped increasing after he left Starlight. Since alternate Sunburst is Celestia's pupil, you can expect him to look a lot like Twilight.
7384801
Agreed, one of the weaknesses of the finale is that if Starlight did research she know how key the mane 6 are.
Uumm the fact that she attack and held twilight and the others against their will she is already charge with treason.
Twilight you forgot to buy the T-shirt
Hmmm...
Hmmm the blues' intelligence is somewhat wrong....
Lyra was discovered to be a Green though? Unless it was just a temporary disguise. Yeah, well go with that...
8749460 Chapter 4, fake Lyra. Chapter 6, real Lyra.
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That's what we said?
Well that was fun.
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Glad you enjoyed! Thank you for adding it to your favorites!
Fallout: Equestria for the WIN!
pre00.deviantart.net/4b08/th/pre/f/2014/088/9/a/ministry_of_morale_propaganda_poster_by_dirtpoorriceking-d7c4m7g.jpg
8846525
Heh. I deliberately didn't read any other dystopian/apocolyptic alt universe stories until I had solidified the type and level of new magic/technology I'd be using for the "History-verse" (so I could give it my own uninfluenced touches). Great minds think alike, I suppose.
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7384801
Do either of you know what mental illnesses are?
8988993
Yes and while Starlight has issues she was still able to run a town, modify a time spell so studying Twilight as she did she should have at multiple points see how the mane 6 saves the country many times.
This sudden change feels, I don't know, anti-climatic.
"Believe" "NO! I hate you!"
"Believe" "NO! I hate you!"
"Believe" "NO! It's fake!"
"Believe" "NO! I hit you."
"You hit me!" "Sorry."
"Believe!" "Maybe."
I haven't seen anything that would make Starlight shift her position even little bit.
Emotions are going haywire... I've just read a sad story, and now I'm reading another one. Why do I torture myself?
8846525
You do realize that ministry of morel was really from the book “1984” first , right ?
9292206
Did not know George Orwell had added a "Ministry of Morel" alongside his Ministry of Morale, but, then again, that could just be a spelling error.
Orwell's 1984 has humans. Kkat's Fallout: Equestria takes place in the pony world. Specifically, Equestria.
Both have a Ministry of Morale, and it may even be that Kkat modelled her's after Orwell's original. That being said, whereas one has upright walking hairless apes, and the other has little pastel colored horsies that talk, fly, and do magical shit, which one do you think better fits this story involving little pastel colored horsies?
Besides, Orwell's writting feels kinda dry compared to Kkat's, in my personal opinion. Also, Fallout: Equestria is my all-time favorite novel. Which one will I most likely reference?
Ho-ly F#@÷! THAT WAS AMAZING!!!
Seriously man! 10/10 grade A gold! TAKE MY UP VOTE! TAKE A SPOT IN MY FAVORITES! HELL, I'D GIVE YOU A TRIP TO THE BAHAMAS IF I COULD! Keep up the good work.😃
So at least what I'm seeing from this first chapter, some ponies got off better, others got off worse. Twilight got off worse. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy got off a lot worse. Sunburst got off better. Rarity maybe got off better, but she seems to take Generosity to an extreme? Cute that she has two tag-along dragon friends, but I wonder if they were separated from their parents in the real timeline, being that the Sonic Rainboom in this timeline took place later. Things to think about for Twi...
Burned-out, with craters? Maybe Rarity's dragon friends got spurned or their parents returned and were angry before listening to reason.
So far, I don't know what your interpretation of Season 5 Starlight is. It could very well be that she's anti-monarchist as well, and so would view Celestia and Luna's death as a not bad thing. That was a number of people's interpretations. If anything else, this vision so far at least shows that Equestria really only stumbled through based on some coincidences (like Twilight being the sister of the groom at the Canterlot Wedding), and that if it weren't for the Elements or coincidence saving the day again and again, it would have long fallen. In other words, Equestria is fairly weak in absolute terms.
Oh, I guess my idea of dragons causing it wasn't correct. Starlight's still refusing to accept what she's seeing is real. Though to be fair, it's like Twilight in Feeling Pinkie Keen. If it's magic she's not familiar with, she doesn't believe in it
Bon Bon knows AJ is still alive, but doesn't reveal she's a changeling. So either Bon Bon doesn't know, or is herself a traitor. Given that she's able to easily turn into a green changeling, she could also be a green easily able to turn into a blue, after all...and oh dear, poor Sunburst when he finds out about Spike. At least Starlight is slowly opening up her eyes, no reference to the movie song intended
Actually, I expect Starlight to backslide because of this chapter. With the way things are going, it proves that even if they don't have magical doo-dads that always miraculously save the day, ponies have grit such that they will always come out on top, and you just have to trust in their resilience. Things just won't always be tied up so neatly with zero deaths is all.
As soon as it was mentioned that Sombra had conquered Fillydelphia, I flashbacked to earlier in the chapter when Trixie said she was off to Fillydelphia. And lo and behold, there she was. Somehow, I really can't envision Sombra taking a unicorn in and training her up, but I suppose he could do it for shits and giggles.
Hopefully the Elements glowing means they actually accept their new Bearers. Otherwise, that could go wrong when it's time to face off against Sombra or Chrysalis again.
Really, this story is actually turning into a nifty narrative device to tell the story of an alternate timeline, with Starlight, Twilight and Spike basically as background commentators at this point.
The most unrealistic part of this story is that the changelings were actually able to ambush Maud Pie! If we're just to go off of Maud's appearances in canonical episodes up to Season 5, she would be powerful enough to kill changelings easily. They'd basically have to knock her out before she had a chance to react, with something like gas or whatever.
Way for Spike to lay it on. I wonder who's masquerading as Spike, since unless I missed some clever wording, the real Spike is dead.
Well, they're not really in deep yet in this timeline. Equestria is still in a fairly uneasy stalemate that they could break out of with one or two contrivances, such as Sunburst becoming an alicorn. Or something. But yeah, the fellowship of the Element Bearers is slowly becoming split up. Poor Sunburst. He's really become a thing with Rarity just as soon as all his close family members have finally left him.
Also, guns in Equestria? That's not gonna end well.