Sunny Starscout struggles to live in a world without Harmony. A world where the magic of friendship can't save you anymore.
This story is in Sunny Starscout's first-person POV.
Entered into the MLP Renaissance Contest. If the judges feel this story is not in the spirit of the contest, I can voluntarily withdraw my entry.
This is a work of fiction that contains fairly dark themes. Use your discretion, and make the decision that's best for you. Just so we're clear, Sunny Starscout does NOT die in this story.
Featured 7/14/21 and 7/15/21 
Chapters (1)
If you see any typos, please notify me by PM. Thanks.
Story notes.
YESSSSSS
G5 story time!
Oof. Harmony is almost like a religion here, one that was pushed into the background by the callous cruelty of the selfish when its true message conflicted too greatly with the current reality. Much like how many treat faith today.
WOW, that story got dark at the end. This is the first story in a year that I remember liking this much. Great job, dude!
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Faith that people use to give themselves power. And eagerly wetting their lips with lies to garner fear for the "faithful". Eager to hear that ounce again their is another enemy for the faithful. Even as tactics dictate they breed as many as possible. To stave off the encroaching godless conpassion and love. Fearing the day they can't control everything and that hating everything away doesnt make the world better.
Dark stuff. The 'every pony for him/herself' mantra that seems to drive this world shows how far the world has fallen since the Battle of the Bell.
Here's hoping Sunny and co can restore it.
[warnings: this comment may be slightly incoherent due to its length + lack of proofreading, hope you don't mind heheh]
Yknow, when I saw the tags and G5 I wasn't too terribly intrigued, but when I saw it was by you I decided to read it anyway. Best decision I've made all day. (And btw, I don't think it's detailed enough to warrant a gore tag so you could remove that but up to you)
I absolutely loved how you did Sunny's POV. It was a writing style that took a little getting used to but got comfortable fairly quickly. I like how you didn't portray something as grandiose-sounding like "the death of Harmony" as a huge battleground of sorts but rather something that everypony has gotten accustomed to already, and how this story is as if just another day-to-day incident in a modern pony's life. The little details you put into it made it especially engaging, like when you described Cherimoyas, the Filly Scout cookies, Sunny's savant classmate, they're all such intensely relatable things that make it so realistic. And when recounted through Sunny's voice? Perfection.
My only 'gripe' is how tragic it is, which is the point I suppose, but dayum, feeling like you're the only one against the world? And how, in spite of the noblest intentions, utterly powerless one individual is? Kinda be how I feel like about the climate crisis. I felt so bad for Old Dreamer, it just felt so unfair that this is how his kindness was repaid. Much like in the real world, sadly. All in all, this was a fantastic prelude-ish thing to G5, really sets the mood for what's to come. All the best for the contest!
Yes, G5 is indeed the day Harmony died.
10899741 Yes, because godlessness has made China such a lovely place. Except for, you know, the multiple genocides.
This basic premise would make a great opener for a new show. The people have lost their way in the millennia after the Mane 6's adventures, and society and technology has regressed as a result. It's up to Sunny to help get the world back on track.
...i hope it's this compelling, at least, and not some woke cringe that gets cancelled after one or two seasons
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Thank you so much for your kind words. I hoped that this story would be relatable to people. I'm glad that you found it to be so.
Oh and while you're here, I'm curious if you noticed the edited cover art I made? Or is it too subtle to see at first glance?
!remindme on september 24 when the movie comes out to cross reference your predictions. I'm doing it, i'm making it happen.
Tell Sunny to have my sincere condolences for the loss of her friend the old dreamer. When I saw this story, the title reminded me of the song "American Pie" because of the famous line "The day the music died".
"I would rather drown than let someone I dislike help me across a river, but I'll still blame you for my death."
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Whatever the result may be, my ponyfic could never match the prescience of this legendary story, which predicted Season 3 Episode 3 (Too Many Pinkie Pies).
I do not aim to be prescient, nor do I believe a movie intended for small children will be nearly as dark and tragic as this story.
- MLP: FiM
- Comedy
- Random
Pinkie Pie has an existential crisis about paint.10900795
That's actually (kind of) where I got the title from. That song is one of my favorites.
I really enjoy reading stories about Sunny
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Unexpected, but greatly appreciated.
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What did you do, desaturate all the Mane Six merch?
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Everyone could use a little more Trotsky in their lives.
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The stuffs are grey? :0 Didn't notice it at first.
For all the good stuff that this fic has, it worths nothnig to me because of one question. Again?
It was in S2 as an already sovled problem, it suddenly popped out again in S9, and now, the thing repeats for the third time. And not only that. How did they got there? Why nobody but earth ponies can make food? Why they don't bargain as in the pre-equestrian story and why now, long in the future, earth ponies can't sustain even themselves? No answers, no cause, no motivation, just a cheap drama of how ponies hate each other.
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I was wondering if you would mind if I took a crack at doing an audio dub of this story?
Honestly, the title keeps making me think of the song ''American Pie'' with the line ''The day the music died"
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Both the author and BirdsBooksandBrownies agree with you.
>>>This story was ℝea||y*ℝea||y geat to readd~
Oh boiii that was dark, and awesome. A cool concept to be sure. Thought considering G5 had the three tribes completely separated, and magic is so far gone to the point that the Pegasi can’t fly I doubt you were going for a realistic idea of how the show would start, all be it with a darker tone.
A good yet tragic story none the less, nice work
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I've had some time to think about what you've said, and I suppose you have a point.
Here's the official blurb for the G5 movie:
It doesn't go on to explain why they separated. Perhaps the reason for the division be explained into the movie, but that wasn't really my intention for this story. My purpose was really to show the division of the pony races from Sunny's eyes. And to show how she processes it and reacts to it.
Also keep in mind that Sunny is a child/teenager. She may not fully understand why the three pony races separated. Even in the real world, does a child understand why people kill each other? Why do we hate? Why there's a coup in Myanmar, or a war in Afghanistan? Heck, historians and philosophers spend their whole careers analyzing these things, and they still can't come to a definitive conclusion. So we can't expect the story (being in Sunny's POV) to supply a satisfactory answer to your questions.
You can take my explanation with a grain of salt. I will concede that I'm a sucker for cheap drama
ever since I started watching K-drama on YouTube(just kidding).Congratulations on the bit! The Lorax reference is noted from your author's notes, since no one else has commented on it. The theme seems to partially retread the same "story space" as Rainbow Roadtrip with respect to sharing from the garden, but that's fine--nothing's new under the sun, it's done differently, and it makes sense.
It is a bit odd that Sunny would not know the name of a pony who almost certainly would be referred to by name by ponies complaining about him (I can't imagine everyone would refer to the old Earth pony only by negative appellations or that someone so important wouldn't have his proper name register in Sunny's memory. Maybe it would be better if Sunny's ditziness is played up or if Sunny has some reason for not wanting to say the name), but on a higher level, I get that you're going for myth, drama, and dramatic license.
It was great that Sunny pointed out the ponies may have *had* to cooperate before because of an external threat (the windigoes) but now they must *choose* to cooperate.
Sure, it's a bit melodramatic, but this reads like a "moral warning" piece. As one of those, it's plausible (maybe the pegasi and unicorns have been *trying* to cultivate gardens and recent years were particularly tough. Meanwhile, although it is still challenging for Earth Ponies to grow crops because of the land's increasing magic loss, the Earth ponies are basically self-sufficient and have little reason to trade).
I'm glad to upvote.
What did I miss? Why didn't I read this until now?! This is so painfully beautiful. I especially like the way you tell stories by stories. (Your other work Pegasus of Raphinae is fantastic too!)
I once became really depressed when the final episodes were about to come. I wrote some stuff to expel my sadness too, but they were in Chinese and probably were terribly done.
I hope to see more of your works like this. I really wanted to translate this, but I am afraid this will trigger my sadness again. So sorry.
Anyway, upvoted and faved. Excellent story.
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Although I'm sorry that I make you feel sad 
谢谢! Thanks for your kind words!
It also helps that Harmony in this setting is basically Smite Evil that can be applied as a tactical airstrike.
We don’t know much about her dad, but from what we’ve seen so far, I’m inclined to believe that it’s more than just stories to him, too. There's a reason why he's wearing an amulet with Twilight's CM.
Of course, at this point we only have a few canon breadcrumbs and for the sake of the plot it works better if Sunny is the only one in her family who believes that Harmony between the pony tribes is possible.
If the fear of dying/monsters is the only thing that kep t ponies from turning against each other, Equestria was already a lost cause.
In hindsight that was probably a huge mistake.
To strange to be a coincidence, but it can’t imagine Sunny befriending them would result in them (or rather their parents) moving to another town.
It’s my headcanon that this is Hitch.
"If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia."
Because it increases your harvest up to 50 %? Understandably it’s hard to let go of prejudice. Especially if you only know Pegasi as (starving) thieves stealing the food you need to survive. But they are actually willing to pay for the food by providing you with a service that increases your yield. It's a win-win for everypony.
Whatever their reason was, they basically screwed up things for every other Pegasus by murdering the one Earth Pony in town who was willing to give them food. I like to think that if the other Pegasi ever found one who did it, these two would be in for a world of hurt.
Can’t really blame them. Old Dreamer had no relatives and they are starving. That was their last chance to get some food before somepony less kind took over the plot and installed anti-Pegasi devices.
Surprising to see that this story did end with a glimpse of optimism.
It was pretty obvious from the get go that this story wouldn’t have a happy ending. It’s a take on what (most likely) would happen if the idealism of the show had been applied in a more realistic setting. Thankfully the story avoided being overly cynical or tried to “teach” the reader how pointless the core message of FiM was. It struck the right balance between tragedy and optimism.
I also couldn’t help but notice that the story ignored quiet a few things we already know about G5. Like Pegasi no longer being able to fly. Not that it really bothered me, but it will be funny reading this story again after the movie has aired.
All in all, it was a short and enjoyable read.
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Thanks for your detailed comments.
You're headcanoning my headcanon of G5. I'm both honored and confused.
Maybe Sunny Starscout is actually insane and this whole story is a lie
Really, they can't fly? I didn't know that.
Well then how do you explain this screencap of Pipp Petals appearing to be hovering in midair?
1.bp.blogspot.com/-JhtDZQZa4II/YHB8TWgCroI/AAAAAAADdI0/YEq2xFiPHFsDNNw4EBYjG3iZvIt_JYwNQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1335/MLP%2BNetflix%2BMovie%2BPipp%2BPetals.JPG
It was supposed to be a coincidence. And at least from my own life experience, I don't find it strange at all.
Glad you enjoyed the story.
Okay putting this one into a spoiler tag just in case.
Wires.
No really, according to the My Little Pony Annual 2022 the Royal Family uses them to pretend that they can still fly. I love it, because it’s exactly the kind of thing of thing RL nobility would do to put themselves above the "dirty peasants".
Which means every image showing Pipp or Zipp flying, is either them using wires or must take place after the heroes saved the day and somehow restored magic. Or alternatively the book just made that part up. Because it's only mentioned in the text of a maze puzzle.
Look like I was jumping to conclusions. It just felt weird that not one but two of her bullies would move to another town shortly after she tried to befriend them.
I kind of like that this story has a ridiculous collection of comments.
Maybe one day Sunny will believe in harmony again. Maybe a certain unicorn will help with that.
Great story.
I think the most painful part of this story is that while earth ponies learned a “Bad” lesson, you can’t necessarily say it was “Wrong” either. Charity killed Dreamer, opening his doors created too many mouths to feed. When he couldn’t feed them all they eventually turned on him, leaving him to die alone in his garden. You could argue that it just needed more support, but theirs no way to be sure (at least from the earth ponies perspective) that would have been enough. Additionally even if it was enough for the local Pegasi, how long until others showed up and overwhelmed them? They were a small village (at least it’s implied here) there’s little they can do to change the situation. So they are forced to tread water and hope something comes along to make things better… or at least more livable.
I’m more curious about the Pegasi's situation as well, it sounds like their situation isn’t sustainable. Especially since in the past (G4) their cloud cities were heavily dependent on the centralized weather production to stay afloat. Now without it it sounds like their cities are crumbling relics of a bygone era. Maybe their inability to let them go is part of the issue, additionally they might depend on them for security aswell, have to wonder if Pegasi are as strong as earth ponies or unicorns here… maybe they fear being wiped out if they live on the ground? Additionally the learning curve for farming might seem insurmountable to them, since it takes years to gain the skills needed for a decent harvest. Which is difficult when your living day to day, as it’s implied in this story they only steal what they can carry in their front hooves. Sounds like without harmony they are on a slow march to nowhere…
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I had a similar idea and posted it on Reddit.