"The town of Ponyville doesn't exist."
That's how this all started. That single matter-of-fact sentence is how this entire thing began. Because despite what the books say, despite what the maps say, despite what the princesses say, Ponyville does exist.
Lyra remembers. Her memories of Ponyville run perpendicular to her memories of growing up in Canterlot. But of course nopony believes the crazy conspiracy mare.
That's fine. Lyra doesn't need anypony to believe her. She just needs to find her way home.
Chapters (19)
Dude, this is amazing! Looking forward to more!
What an interesting story.
Tracking!
Definitely looking forward to more!
A great start to an intriguing premise. Allons-y!
Very, very interesting. Reminds me of Background Pony, in a good way. I'd love to see more.
But... Ponyville does show up on the map. See?
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Alternate Universe.
Running away from home can be one of the most stressful, fear-inducing experiences a person can deal with. And while you didn't hit the mark entirely, you certainly stirred up some deeply buried emotions in me, so kudos on getting the feel right ^-^
Wouldnt the History book cost less than a Necromancy book? Why did she have to do the switch?
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She had to do the switch so anyone who came looking wouldn't know what book she'd really been after. Basically the idea is that Lyra misled and tricked Wilted Lily so that anyone who comes looking will also be misled.
feels
This is one of the timelines Starlight screwed over, isn´t it?
8389282
Smart
So, some vague event from ten years ago wiped ponyville and the mane six off of both the map and the history books. And the fact that Lyra is labeled a liar instead of ignored and buried implies some form of memory wipe or equivalent instead of people just ignoring the event.
I wonder what could have happened.
8400730
Fleur was asigned to look over her. A bit strange, when Liar Lyra is considered by the public an annoying yet harmless wacko.
Maybe somepony among the higher ups is hiding the truth.
8400827
Right forgot that detail. Well it certainly makes sense, but it doesn't explain why news outlets would call her a liar, that's why I think it was some kind of memory wipe.
I take Celestia didn´t tell Granny Smith or her parents about those fertile lands near the Everfree in this timeline.
Hmm right... the official name is Fleur Dis Lee [Think it's for trademarking reasons]
So Applejack is unaware of anything, she's incapable of lying essentially. So what happened to Lyra? And Granny Smith for that matter, the exchange felt like more then just being helpful. It feels like Granny Smith also knows but has kept quiet.
It could maybe still be a memory wipe, but I'm less sure at this point.
In the canon world Lyra and Moondancer know each other from school in Canterlot. Here how it went?
At first I assumed the cottage belonged to Fluttershy. The twist surprised me, I admit.
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That will be revealed later.
So if Applejack is dead, does that the Apples in Appleloosa are... fake? Imaginations?
CHANGELINGS?!
Dose Twilight remember also?
And an explanation for equestria girls.
8456599 Obviously Twilight and Spike remember something otherwise the comment she remembers doesn't make sense.. Now are they all remembering the same things that is a question. Maybe they all remember Ponyville. Maybe Twilight and Spike remembers the whole story or some variation while Lyra bits and pieces
They are in trouble if Twilight is on the other side.
Plus it will make it so much harder for Lyra to remember without that picture of Bon-Bon.
What in the world happened? We've only seen a few of the Ponyville residents who could've been out fo town when whatever happened but Marble is seeing not a destroyed Ponyville or one that was suddenly abandoned there was enough time or warning before the event to board things up.. Apparently not enough to evacuate though
Economic crash due to a fungus infecting many, turning them into nests for the fungus to feed upon?
Perhaps a Last of Us situation.
who's
defuse
once
8500971
Fixed!
Good stuff.
I'm curious what Lyra's game is here. clearly she has no plan, no supplies, and next to no support from the people at her current shelter. And on top of that, she's still being monitored by...someone. So unless that someone is trying to help her and not just toying with her than there's essentially no future for her, just stuff that's happening.
And finally, at every turn you have people that are unwilling or unable to help her. Honestly the whole thing could just be some asshole game that the rich people back in Canterlot are betting on the outcome of.
So the real question becomes, why *didn't* she stay at the Cherry farm and make a new life for herself. It's not like anything she does is even slightly secret anymore.
Were Lyra and Bon Bon/Sweetie Drops dating in your headcanon? If so, I wonder how Marble (who seems to have a crush on Lyra) will react when she finds out Lyra's true motivation...
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Yes, they were. Or rather, the second set of Lyra's memories (the one about Ponyville) are of her and Bon-Bon dating.
I keep not wanting to return to my "rich assholes playing a game" that I shared last chapter, but it keeps making sense. In this instance Fleur is another piece in the game. The two players using her against Lyra despite their goals seemingly being similar.
The journey has just begun, good story so far! Keep it up!
Dammit, I want to know what's going on *so badly!*
Who's
remove one of the two
8557196
Fixed!
I wonder if Lyra knows her mysteries would get solved faster if she had a cool dog to follow her around?
Oooooooooooohhhhhhh...... YEAH. Here we go! You've got a choice now Lyra!
Ok, this makes no sense. Did Fleur actually let Lyra go with no reason? Unless she is actually motivating Heartstring into finding the truth as well
So what I get from this is that some pony cast a dark magic spell using the music box that caused everyone in Ponyville and some other towns to get moon sickness, which wipes out each town and tears the town from the fabric of reality, but still leaves several frayed knots and loose ends.
How many chapters long will this story be?
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Only two chapters left.
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So... the pony that collects rare and forbidden books of immense value - to the point where she lives in an abandoned orphanage and has a time-sensitive vault protecting them - doesn't have a record-keeping/filing system that would allow her to figure out what book she's missing?
Okay, so lemme see if I'm reading between the lines right... Spoilers obviously, even if a lot of it is conjecture.
How'd I do?
8616624
Wow. You summarized the whole thing a lot better than I did when I first planned out the ending. I actually like some of your interpretations better than what I originally intended. I was worried about leaving things too vague (it is an unfortunate flaw I often find in my own writing) but it seems I actually got the core points across while remaining subtle. Thank you very much for your comment
I like the idea that Lyra is giving items to people. If nothing else, it sets up the pieces for the next pony 'from' Ponyville to search for the Truth.
"Lyra the Liar suddenly goes missing, what could it mean? And the news is almost acting like she doesn't exist, where could she have gone, did she actually discover the truth for once?"
This was an excellent story. One I loved from the gate, and although I took a break part way through, I never once disliked any of what I read. Thank you for writing it.
I very much enjoyed how you handled the 'Moon Sickness' (which I won't go into in case a cheeky future reader decides to skip ahead to the comments to see what's been said) I love alternate takes on Nightmare Moon, And just alternate reality stories in general. I had a similar idea when I once conceived my story the Broken Mirror in the form of the Nightmare Fuel. Though obviously I want in a very different direction - and never ended up finishing that story myself - but I still love how you handled what you wrote.
I'm kind of disappointed that Marble left, I think it would have been great for them to stay friends, but that's just my internal cartoon fan speaking, how you handled it was actually very good. I also would have liked if there was no end, and that Lyra continued on and went on more adventures and *blah, blah, blah* you know how it is. But like with Gravity Falls, I highly respect conclusions over continuations. You got in, you told a story, and you got out, telling everything you needed to. If you continued the story instead of ending it, you'd be doing yourself a disservice.
Well I should probably wrap this comment up. Thanks again, and have a nice day ^-^
Quite the read.
Lyra: "I want the truth."
Fleur: "You can't handle the truth!"