"The state of being is a near universal law; we exist, that is impossible to disprove. But what is not impossible to disprove is that the style of decadents and poverty is the lowest form of living. It is hard to put into exact words, but put simply the idea is this: 'when you are in the dirt, the hounds can not smell you. When you are in the air, your scent will travel further'. This is not to say that being on top is not preferable, but instead that each way of living has its advantages." - Star Swirl the Bearded.
Ponyville; Colony Two; it didn't matter what it was called, it was a basic hell. The streets were clear, clean, and well swept for the guards that marched through them in the wee hours of the morning to the setting of the moon in the evening. Very few mares or stallions would step a hoof out into the morning or noon, afraid that they may break one of Solaris's laws. However, the fillies and colts were given nearly free range outside the safety of their parents' homes. Children were the future in Solaris's eyes, but everypony knew that there was no future... There never was going to be one. Yet they lied to the children and allowed them to go to their classes and learn of Solaris's greatness, how she gave us the world and how her many laws keep us from straying. Many spoke fear and loathing for their Queen, some even brave enough to tell a guard or two to the face; but not a single mare or stallion had the bravery to say a word before "them".
"'Solarium: The full works and history of Solaris', in beautiful condition still too," low was the mare's tone yet still at a volume for her and the drake behind her to hear her.
The drake, seated at a wooden table behind her lazily scribbled down the name and condition of the book he was told. The few glints of dawn light that slipped into the musty old library showed the violet mare the way to her next stack of books, carelessly hopping over to them by using other stacks as her stepping way. Each hopping clop sent the stacks teetering over and collapsing down onto the young dragon, "Twilight!" was all the mare heard before a powerful thud.
The mare briefly looked back and offered a barely audible apology before going back to her studying. "Hmmm... Ah! 'The Compendium of Solaris'! A wonderful piece!" once more her eyes darted a look back just in time to see the dragon squirming his way from under the books, "Brush yourself off and take a note of that... and please put those books back up in their stack. Solaris did not leave me this library so you could leave it in discord!"
"Twilight..." was all the dragon said before carrying out his given task, visibly dragging his off-put leg in the process.
"While you're at it, make it a nice new order... Oh! 'Disharmony in Six Parts' in mint! How exciting!" Spike, Twilight Sparkle's dragon assistant looked up at his negligent master and fought back a tear.
Not a day went by that he did not have to clean up her messes and mistakes that somehow were his. And more so, not a day went by that he did not wish that he could escape this world. But those wishes were never to be so; Twilight was his only family... And despite the animosity that she fed off of her ignoring aura, it was the only life he could ever reside in.
It had been written in history's past that there was a time when equality was shared between the two royal sisters. However, a day came when Queen Solaris took hold of the Elements of Harmony that she and her sister once used to vanquish the chaos demon Discord and perverted their power. The once beautiful and colorful gems that once represented blissful and vibrant harmony had become listless and dark. Solaris's sister had made the attempt to stop her sister's continued abuse of the elements and was justly banished for the act until such a time that she could understand the good that came from absolute control.
Thus, the Elements of Harmony became the Elements of Disarray. However, Solaris found that she could not control the elements herself anymore, so she sought out the six who would embody her new order of elements... The Six most greedy, deceitful, treacherous, cruel, scorned beings that had ever lived; or at least lived now. Six souls that would be bound by the tether of fate... Even if fate had to be perverted itself.
"Three bits?" shaking head, "four bits?" much of the same, "alright. Nine bits."
"Madam, this truly shocks me..." low was that mare's cackling laugh as her blue magic scooped the fabric before her up, "I was to assume that you were a mare of substance and class. Yet here you are, attempting to -as the foals say- stiff me on such a magnificent garb."
The garb was indeed magnificent to the eyes; it shimmered in the right lights, the shading was superb, and the feel was simply heavenly against the body. "I have to agree... It is beautiful..." as she said this she was quickly overcome with the sight of the mare selling the garb to her coming ever so close to her; almost to the point that she could smell her sweet breath against her nose.
"Oh it really is... But not so much as you..." the garb, still hooked in the magic hold brushed up against the flesh of the startled mare, sending a wobbling sensation through her limbs.
The mare remained stunned as she absently allowed this salespony to continue her acts; brushing the soft, tantalizing fabric against her body and taking in that mounting scent of the mare herself. "...Twenty bits?" her voice had cracked and the sapphire eyes of the mare before her glinted before darting back to her station.
"Very well... I'll part with it for that much..." the salesmare submitted, starting the transaction.
As the other mare placed her bag of bits down and tucked the fabric into her saddle bag, she couldn't help but find her eyes cursorily drawn to the mare she bought from once more. "For now?"
"Oh yes. For now. You see, Rarity knows that that garb will be tucked around you at some Gala or party... But she also knows that you will be discarding it the moment she comes knocking at your door to see that lovely, toned body once more..." Rarity, the salespony, purred hypnotically low.
Dazed, confused, and a bit intoxicated by the actions, the other mare turned away and left the boutique, still wobbling in her legs. Rarity remained in her place, listening closely to the chime of her door closing once more so she would be alone in her store again.
DING...
"Hm... It will certainly look lovely on you," Rarity's lips curled sickly as she listened to her own voice, "But much like everything, it will and would look better on me... Oh well. Rarity always collects when she wants..." She then left her sales table and moved to look at herself in a wide panel of mirrors.
The mare studied herself lovingly, entranced with her own form and appearance by every aspect. Velvety mane, soft white coat, trim toned body; she was indeed beautiful. But in truth, and though all knew it and ignored it at times when they saw her; greed was never beautiful deep down.
For those of you who are waiting on other updates... In time... namely tomorrow or Monday. And for those of you who like this?
TELL ME WHY!
Can't wait for more. The whole concept of your story intrigues me and you do a good job of painting this darker version of Equestria. Keep up the good work.
Bwahaha! Amazing as expected! Good world building is good. And good characterization. Really, as long as the characterization and story stays awesome, you're set. That and the novelty of the premise of this story is awesome as well. Tell me, will the Canon!MLP ever interact with Mirror!MLP? On another note, this proves my theory on the assumption that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It may not be where you are, but somewhere, its affecting something. We're just seeing the divergent courses.
~With Regards, the Current Student of the Second True Magic.
1203210 Perhaps they may... As we will find out, the two worlds are connected through one being. And if you enjoy the mirrors of Twilight and Rarity, wait to you see Fluttershy and Pinkie...
1203243 Ohh good lord in heaven. . . Is- . . . is it going to be Cupcakes. . . level? -Shudders- I can't wait to see that gap between worlds connecting. Who will be right in the end? Peace through total domination? Or peace through harmony? Only time will tell.
1203262 Wanna sneak peek?
And it's a matter of do you want a world where you are free but danger is present; or do you want a world where you have no freedom but you will never be hurt?
1203290 Sure. I don't mind slight sneak peaks.
1203290 . . . That. . . that was. . . dark. . . NOW I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!
1203358 So instead of making her a crazed killer, I made her the worse thing Pinkie could ever be...
1203371 Exactly. . . I shudder to think where that thought came from . . On another note, I applaud you for originality!
1203375 But either way, we'll cover that when we get there... just hope I get more views and comments before that.
1203381 Yup yup.
As to the question before the one where I accepted the sneak peak, I think I'd rather live in a place where I was free but there was still danger. It would be dull otherwise.
1203398 If you lived under Solaris, you would've been in trouble... She doesn't take well to disobedience.
1203405 Nah, I'd probably be dead already. Or in hiding in some remote corner of the world. I wouldn't go down without a fight. After all, if you're going to die anyways, might as well go out with a bang.
1203409 Yeah... Changelings said the same thing... Look how they turned out.
1203415 Exactly. Rather hard to fight a nearly all powerful goddess figure with access to absurd amounts of power.
1203418 Oh right... I didn't talk about what happened to them yet...
1203420 With the way this world works, I don't think it will be pretty. . .
1203426 Solaris is just in her own regards... They went without pain or suffering...
1203433 . . . Somehow that scares me even more than if it WAS messy. . .
I can only imagine what you managed to do with Dash, Applejack, and Flutters. . . The anticipation is building!
... Need more. NOW
During the scene with Rarity and the customer, I was faced with some difficulty pinpointing who was doing what. Something else that seemed a bit sudden to me was not only is she a sex fiend (that's understandable) but she's also a lesbian?
Now for something that does make bucking sense to me:
"Thus, the Elements of Harmony became the Elements of Disarray. However, Solaris found that she could not control the elements herself anymore, so she sought out the six who would embody her new order of elements... "
Solaris is lawfully evil, and has a pessimistic view of how ponies act and how to control them, and puts faith for the future into the power of vices. Why would she name them after Disarray, the thing that she strives against? I know you want to emphasize that these characters are opposites/inversions of their Equestrian counterparts, but this seems to break character.
1205003 One: Yes, I know that part was a bit jumbled. I wanted to change it, but I never turn back on a concept. And as for the lesbian note, there's more to it or less to it than you would think... Depending on how you look at it.
The Elements of Disarray serve as controlled enemy for her. Not only does she now control everypony's safety, but with the control of Disarray through other mediums she now also controls unparalleled the very thing she hates: discord. In this way it's a way of her having absolute control over everything, even what she must destroy. Do you follow what I'm saying?
1205250
One: "...there's more to it or less to it than you would think... Depending on how you look at it." That... does not tell me much.
Two: Actually yes, that does make a lot of sense to me. It's great because not only are the aspects of the characters inverted, but so are the relations between them (have you read any of the Lunaverse series?). But I think that needs to be made clear in the context of the story, not just you going out of your way to explain it to me in the comments.
1205753 One, what I mean to say is that Rarity's character (although explained later) isn't sexually attracted to anything except herself. Everypony else only exists for her to gain something or feed her greed. And a known means to gain is to allure a person.
Two, no, I haven't read Lunaverse. And it will be explained later, at this point it's just supposed to raise questions in people and piece together possibilities to why this or that would happen.
In the end, this world has only one difference in it; one action that changed the entire path between these two mirrored worlds... The question is: who knows what the answer is?
I clicked the thumbs-up button 20 times... it only gave you one...
1205250 Geez, remind me not to visit Caballussia without my Hyperspace Arsenal full of Immortal Slaying/Anti-Divinity/Execution Class weaponry and an equall amount of Void Barrier/Anti-Magic/Elimination Rank defenses. I'd need at least that much just to survive. A Reality Marble/Marble Phantasm would help too. . .
1228156 Why? You wound't be hurt.
1228171 Well, partially because I would rather have something and not need it, partially because I have a tendancy to make the most powerful beings angry with me, partially because I'd rather live freely, and having the means to fend off an angry sun deity/dictator would go a long way to help with that, partially because I'm fairly sure I'd unintentional / intentionally aggravate the Mirror!Mane Six, and mostly because reading Tv Tropes made me paranoid about such situations. I forgot adding an I-Pod crammed with my favorite music as well. And headphones.
1228228 Solaris is a peaceful leader... There is no violence or killing in her kingdom.
1228247 Then I guess its to make me feel safer. I dunno, being a lone human in a place like that without protection is just tempting Murphy's Law into doing something. Despite the peace 'nd all that. Something ends up trying to kill me usually. I would avoid confrontation if possible though, actively looking for trouble isn't my thing. Trouble usually finds me though. Meh, being a wanderer would be interesting, regardless if I fought or not. I've always liked the unknown.
1228247 Mayhaps I should learn more about Caballussia before I decide what to bring to it if I ever went there. Still would include the I-Pod and headphones. Maybe a hand-and-a-half sword as well. I'll have to wait and see. .
1228247 Sorry for the triple reply, but as usual, it was a pleasure chatting with you Flinx, it was rather fun actually. I have a wedding to go to tommarow, so turning in early.
Going to be honest. I like this Rarity better than the real one.
this Rarity is ten times better than the original
because lesbians
Oh man. The Mane Six are now a bunch of heartless assholes. Will they ever meet their counterparts, I wonder?
I like this. Your prose is reminiscent of an epic or some sort of tale along those lines. I also like the Starswirl quotes. Very classy.