A story set in an Equestria that could have been...
Rarity, the personal student of Princess Luna, defeated Daybreaker with her new friends and reawakened the lost Elements of Harmony. With Princess Celestia's return, the long-lost tradition of the Summer Sun Celebration is going to be revived for the first time in a thousand years - but first Celestia will need to reclaim her power over the Sun!
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Don't worry, there's no previous story you missed that explains the setting. I was thinking of which characters could have their roles swapped, and I got to thinking - what if I just switched everyone? Depending on how people like this, I might write stories centered around other swapped pairings.
Written for the Secrets: A Swapped Roles Contest
Thank you to all my readers! I couldn't do it without you.
Celestia’s really enjoying Fluttershy there
I could use more of this 'verse.
Are you going to expand on this universe?
A fun introduction to a nifty AU full of possibilities. You did great work with swapped Fluttershy and Rainbow.
Mission accomplished, on all counts. Literally all the characters are interesting and plausible in their own right while also being bizarro world projections of the canon cast. I would be happy to read a story focused on literally any of them, or some combination, or all of them. Congratulations!
If you decide to write more of this, you have my interest.
Oh, I do love this. If nothing else, I'd love to see enough stories to meet each of the main characters.
I also love that everyone made sense; I get the impression that each character was essentially "themself, but with a different Element".
I really liked this story and hope to see more of this universe. Rainbow was like Star Trek's McCoy and the banter between Rainbow and Fluttershy had me in stitches. The characters were different but had some familiarity to them. Pinkie still was from the Rock farm but she's not a baker, that's AJ's role. Fs and RD where from cloudsdale but their history was changed. I liked how you didn't start the introduction of this universe as a copy of the first episode like so many other authors do but instead after and this is a novel adventure for these characters.
Wow. Really good job on this one-shot. The exchanges, characterizations and general wrap-up are all quite well done. Yeah, love how well you did swapping the Mane Six's roles, but not their personalities (for example, Fluttershy is the daredevil, but using the stuff she learned from the animals, Pinkie still being on the rock farm, Applejack is the baker, Rarity is Luna's personal student, Rainbow is the medic, Twilight is a mage-for-hire and Ember is in Spike's role). And, indeed, I could see this universe's Celestia asking Fluttershy and her friends for help here.
At any rate, I know you made this for a contest, but it is a beautiful entry and I would NOT mind a few sequel stories in the slightest.
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I hit the mark I was aiming for, then! McCoy was my number one reference for how to voice Rainbow.
Wonderful AU! I'd love to learn a little more about everypony else in the mane 6, if you ever write a sequel!
I love this premise.
I've never read the comics, so I found myself thinking that maybe there was one where Luna did this. So, mission accomplished?
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"Damn your Earth Pony logic, Mudbriar!"
Was the business about Twilight being really into potions a Pony Life reference? And speaking of which, which one of them is the element of Laughter? I'm not feeling the wackyness...
Awesome AU story!
If you ever choose to write more/expand on this world, that would be an awesome story to read.
Great submission!
An excellent AU story! All the characters are quite different, yet also true to their original selves, which is no mean feat! I really like the whole "raised by birds " idea of Fluttershy... I imagine her cutie mark has birds, instead of butterflies, in this Equestria?
Ask not the sparrow how the eagle soars! i.ytimg.com/vi/PldkVL1MXro/hqdefault.jpg
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Laughter doesn't have to be wacky, that might just be Pinkie herself. Remember, Luna was also the Element of Laughter, once. Honesty, Laughter, Loyalty.
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That’s why I gave this contest a rule banning retellings of the “Friendship is Magic” two-parter: they’re nothing new.
I won’t share my opinions on this fanfic until after the deadline, like with all entries.
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True, but she used to be a big prankster back in the day. Of the three choices of Element of Laughter, Applejack, Twilight, and Pinkie, none as much as cracks a joke, unless you count the bit with Twilight and the frog in her throat: Pinkie comes off as a bit Maud-ish, and might be the element of Honesty. Applejack maybe?
Well, this was an interesting AU. But then, there is a reason why I have follow you and not your stories, everything you write is interesting.
That was great! A lot of unique ideas, especially Doctor Rainbow Dash
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I was just about to send you this story...
Is lithobreaking a term used in the airforce? I rather like it. "Rock stopping", if I remember my Greek.
So is AK Yearling a mailmare?
You know, this version of Rainbow reminds me of Dr. Hiriluk from One Piece. Usual Rainbow attitude, but directed towards disease and injury instead of speed and flying.
Or a miasma of incandescent plasma. :P
I have personally used both songs to teach introductory astronomy.
...You, my good pony, are utterly mad. But then we're all mad here, ne?
Anyway, this is one of the best things i've read on here, my own stuff included. You have a real talent.
I like the indirect addressing of Luna's size change. And it DOES feel like some alternate version of the series.
I am unclear on one thing, though: What does Pinkie Pie do in this reality?
Also not 100% on the title. I know it was in Kill La Kill, which was itself a reference to something else, but here it's really only appropriate to Fluttershy, not the plot overall... I think.
Very nice pony concussion test. Certainly a lot more fitting than "How many hooves am I holding up?" Though given that it's Dash, I suppose she could go with feathers.
Spellchecker. Spellchecker. I hissed at that.
Huh. Luna always having been taller than Celestia is one of the subtler twists to this worldline. Nice touch.
Literally, I'm sure.
More a miasma of incandescent... Darn, beaten to the punch.
Brilliant work. You didn't just pull role swaps, you made them work for who each character is at her core. Rarity still worries about appearances much more than Twilight. Pinkie still wants everyone to be happy. Rainbow's still devoted to her friends and pushing past her limits to help them.
And then there's Fluttershy. You've done truly incredible work with her. A little twist to her home life and she sought out animal friends at an even younger and much more impressionable age, creating this fascinating druidic figure. Outstanding work. Thank you for it, and best of luck in the judging.
Nice. Thank you for writing. :)
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Yes, indeed! I loved Dr. Dash. Unique take on her personality that also feels completely in-character: "Shut up and let me heal you!"
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Nah, lithobraking isn't Air Force. More Space Force. See, for a long time there's been this idea of "aerobraking" to slow down spacecraft by having them enter an atmosphere and bounce back out, to save propellant that would otherwise be needed to slow down. Someone noticed that you could substitute "litho" (that is, the Greek for "rock") for "aero" and get "lithobraking," which is a wonderfully understated term to describe what happens when a spacecraft crashes into a planetary surface. It then started to get used semi-seriously for spacecraft like the Mars Exploration Rovers that land relatively "hard" instead of slowing themselves completely to a stop (or almost to a stop) at the surface.
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'Course now Space Force has a different meaning.
Cool anyway. I do remember the 'bounce' rover from a few years back.
Love the alternate characterizations.
I really would have liked to see Celestia's POV during her taking control of the sun. That would have been interesting. I'd also like to see more stories with these character interpretations.
That was excellent.
Love how Rainbow's grit still shines through, and Fluttershy learning all her skills from animals is such a cool idea.
I think I might like this version of the mare in the mooon story better. If you ever do more stories in this universe, I'd love to see some about the princesses.
This won second place in Secrets: A Swapped Roles Contest! Expect a reading some time this month.
For the record I'm going into this in what I'm calling judgey judgemental Judge mode, so I'm both reading and absorbing this story differently from how I might ordinarily do it.
Swapping everyone around is something I've seen before, but it is always a delight when I do see it. I like how much of the Mane-6's canon personalities shine on through here; we never really lose track of who and what they were, but you also did a pretty good job with giving Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy new traits and quirks on top of that.
If I have one quibble it's in giving Dash an injury that inhibited her flying ability - with the universe already fundamentally different with Daybreaker instead of Nightmare Moon, I think things might have been a little better if things had simply been different for her without "justifying" it. That being said she worked quite well as a McCoy analogue.
Conversely having Fluttershy become a skilled, talented flyer due to having been taught to fly by countless species of bird was a stroke of genius, and it's easy to see how she could have turned that into becoming a stunt-flyer. With more of an emphasis on acrobatics than raw speed, I'm guessing.
All in all a great effort, and this universe is loaded with possibilities. I wish more AU authors wrote like this - started in media res, rather than re-writing the pilot episode. Congrats on scoring your 2nd-place win!
This was a really good read. I have always preferred seeing Luna interpreted as a victim of her flaws rather than a possessed innocent, and seeing that mirrored with Celestia here was fantastic. The odd twists of Fluttershy and Rainbow's fate was believable and worked well with their characters, as were the hints of backstory we saw in the rest.
If you ever seek a return to this universe (preferably with more Celestia, but introducing the other leads would be great too!) I would be very much signed up. Excellent job.
I just finished the reading!
Hrm
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Awesome! I just saw this pop up, sorry for the late reply. I love it!
What should we call this AU?
You know, I can picture Scootaloo idolising Rainbow Dash even more in this AU.
I really liked this. It's an extremely well-made take on a roleswap AU.
There's no way this can only be a single story. It's too good. I say you should start an entire series from this tale, including a prequel showing how Rarity came to meet her five friends.
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How about the Rarityverse?
11129063 There's already a sequel-ish called Love Bites.