A public spirited filly took a hard look around.
Pony POV Origins
Starlight Glimmer
OPTIONAL CANON
I've been called many things: a mad-mare, a cult leader, a monster, a con-mare, 'power-hungry', 'evil.'
None of it is true.
I am perfectly sane. I lead a community, not robe wearing maniacs sacrificing animals to Nightmare Moon. I have no interest in wealth or power for its own sake. And 'evil' only in I have turned against what society had deemed something sacred when it was in fact the true monster.
I am a doctor, and I am treating a disease.
No, I am not like those lunatics from the myth of Sunnytown, who murder ponies for having cutie marks. They thought every cutie mark was the cutie pox. They were not completely wrong.
There is little difference between the cutie marks that appear on a victim of cutie pox, and the one that normally controls a pony their whole lives. The only difference is with so many conflicting commands at once, the pony finally NOTICES they are being controlled. This is a crude comparison I know, but ponies truly don't realize how much their cutie mark controls them even when face to face with the truth.
If you do something because your cutie mark is telling you to, then is it really your own choice? If you're only doing it because it's your 'destiny' then how can you even say you're free? Then what is the difference between having the 'right' cutie mark, or the 'wrong' cutie mark? In the end, you're just following its programming.
They say I'm an enemy of individuality and progress. I say I am alley of equality and freedom.
All foals are born equal, this is an undisputed fact. And I was no different. But we sadly don't stay that way for long. But I was one of the lucky ones, and had the good fortune to realize I was lucky. I was safe in the middle, and was not corrupted by extremes.
I was born into a middle class family, a middle child.
My mother ran a halfway house. You have no idea how selfless or brave she was, teaching ponies who had been made desperate by the unfairness of the world, reduced to 'everypony for herself', or society telling them to WANT MORE than they could possibly have.
No my father wasn't a middle manager, he was a psychologist. Helping troubled ponies through their pain and confusion, being the friendly ear and guiding light they needed. Poor ponies who thought their lives had no value, that there were so many better than them. The crushing pressure to succeed. All those ponies who suffered mid-life crisis', struggle with the cutie mark that was supposed to be 'best' for them but not feeling the satisfaction they should have, struggling to get themselves to believe its lies in the face of reality.
I saw my parents did far much more good than I ever saw the Princess ever do.
I saw my little sister desperate for attention, and my elder brother being given undue favor. Only I was granted the happy middle-ground.
I still remember that one morning . . . my big brother having so many building blocks, and my little sister having so few. So I equally divided them among them. My sister loved me for it. My brother disliked me for it. My parents said my heart was in the right place, but I had overstepped my bounds. That it had been my brother's responsibilty whether to share or not his toys. They never gave a reason WHY my older brother should have more blocks. Because he got here first? What kind of reason was that? Or why they hadn't made him share. Weren't adults supposed to make things fair for their foals? All I knew was that things had been uneven and I had made them even. Next day all five of us went out for a picnic and had ice-cream.
Oh I'm sorry, were you expecting some 'middle-filly' sob story?
My parents both loved me. We had a perfectly healthy income. I was respected by my classmates. And my parents were accepting of my choice to follow neither of their paths.
I saw the privileges of the highs, and the pains of the lows.
I once saw a filly spend an entire summer vacation trying to get a pinball-pro cutie mark, only to return to school in tears, not having hit the high score on any of the machines, and still a blank flank, it was the cutie mark she had wanted, and it wouldn't come to her, how was that supposed to be free will?
My brother would eventually marry into money. My little sister would learn to use every dirty trick in the book to get ahead, "everypony for herself." He had earned nothing, and she couldn't earn anything.
The unfair due to the high, and the unearned misfortune of the low.
All I felt was sympathy and disgust for the two extremes. Ponies who worked for nothing their whole lives, and those who worked their whole live sand earned nothing. This madness had to be opposed. If nopony else was going to bring equality and balance to their fellow ponies then I would. Not to say that I had formed my vision in a day simply because of what happened to my siblings, oh no, don't be silly.
There were many truths I learned over the course my life that led to Equality. It was simply one of many factors. What kind of mare develops her entire way of thinking (or abandons it) on a single incident? Besides, that happened when we were all well into adulthood. Like any pony, I developed my views and goals as I grew-up.
While my classmates would draw landscapes or kittens, I drew geometric designs that were perfectly balanced. My teachers said I had no imagination, I imagined much.
This world wasn't equal, wasn't fair, but I'd make it so.
In my class once were two fillies. They were best of friends. They weren't sisters, but their appearance was close enough. They had the same favorite color. The same favorite story (Repunzel). They had the same favorite animal and flavor of ice cream. They even had the same birthday! They even had the same dream of flying one day, and give flying to every non-pegasi! They even had it as their joint finals. Except, one wanted to fly using magic (studier gossamer wings, growing wings, etc) and the other wanted to use mechanics to fly, flying harness, flying machines . . . And by the time came for their presentation, it wasn't even done. They both failed. They blamed each other. Their friendship ended there.
I would see this a lot growing up, ponies whose friendships were built around a favorite toy, a favorite game, but as their cutie marks came in, and new dreams and goals called to them . . . they simply drifted away from each other. That is supposed to beautiful?
My own friends? . . . I had classmates I hanged out with. I wasn't a complete recluse. As I said, I was neither high enough to alienated those around me, nor low enough to possibly 'drag others down.' I was safely in the middle. Everything is about being equal in things after all. I socialized. I even helped at my mother's half-way house once or twice.
Then of course, having to leave my own friends behind to pursue my own cutie mark. (How I look back at myself that day and wish I could shake myself and slap her in the face and tell her how selfish I was being, I didn't need to be 'special' I should have just stayed average to be with them).
I was accepted into Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. And all I could think of while I was there was the unicorns who had tried their hardest, only to face the their parents' disappointment. I saw the few looks of envy, and my fellow foals hearts' crushed at being told they 'their best wasn't good enough'. How was any of that supposed to be fair?
And of course, my classmates who cut out their own hearts and place them on the altar of success, 'everypony for herself.' And the ponies who had 'just barely' made the grade, and were looked down on, teased, hazed. I gained a bit of a reputation as a protector for those poor ponies.
How was it fair that a pony whose cutie mark was for, say, card-tricks, had to struggle and burn the midnight oil, while those with a cutie mark for epic magic were able to breeze through without even trying?
Why should a unicorn whose magic is based on fruit, have to struggle to present one familiar for her class assignment, when a unicorn whose special talent is based on animals, presents three having spent half the effort? THIS was supposed to be 'you can become whatever you want to be?' More like 'you can become whatever you want to be, but we'll make the ones we don't want you to extra hard.'
She made one the size of a building when most animal based unicorns can't make one half that size? In a few days in a church with limited supplies?...I never heard of it. Shut up! If she had had a talent in that line of magic she'd be making familiars the size of Dracozilla by now if the effort she's put in! She shouldn't have to make a weak talent stronger to compete!
And . . . I saw the pain of "low-class" and the fear against "high-class" unicorns, neither of whom had any say in the matter.
I was lucky. Not powerful enough to be feared, but not so innately weak as to be patronized.
On a trip to Hoofington, I saw a blue unicorn filly be teased about her low level of magical prowess compared to her classmates.
And . . . being a perceptive filly, I heard about ponies who were afraid of a pegasus filly who had pulled off the impossible while at the same time others wanted her to become the youngest Wonderbolt in history . . . then was forgotten about the moment she couldn't pull off the trick a second time.
And there was a unicorns foals who were feared simply because they had been born with more power than others with no choice of their own. Didn't they deserve to have normal lives?
And . . . there was the pony who inspired that trend. I met her once, I was very young myself. It astounded me how much she got away with simply because she was Princess Celestia's ward. How she inherently saw herself as better than everypony around her. And none thought to tell her that she WASN'T better than those around her. And what she did to ponies for her own selfishness. Sunset Shimmer, if this world can produce ponies like you, how can any sane pony say it doesn't need to be fixed?
There was also when one of my classes had a substitute teacher while our regular teacher Ink Well was on a mandatory vacation: a white bearded gray unicorn stallion with a gray cloak. I felt sorry for him learning he had to struggle to get where he was because so much of his talent was 'stage magic' based. He had a way with everypony in class. He seemed more impressed than upset when I pointed out his slight of hoof tricks.
I was surprised when he wanted to speak with me after class, after all, I had been neither doing poorly or overwhelmingly good.
"This isn't a problem dear, just some advice from a stallion whose been around. You have a great talent for organizing groups with ponies with different styles and strengths, but I think you need to learn better when to compromise."
"I always make sure things are equal," I said.
"Equal and compromise are not the same thing," The old white-bearded unicorn told me.
"What difference could there be?"
"Equal doesn't need to compromise, compromise is both sides accepting that neither is one hundred percent right or wrong and they need to come to a solution in which both benefit. And sometimes, it's simply best to agree to disagree and admit the other side is just as right as you are."
"Then a unicorn and an earth pony should agree to disagree that Earth ponies should be 'grateful' for Unicorn helping 'civilize' them during the three tribes era as unicorns are 'clearly' grateful for their manual labor? Or agree to disagree that pegasus are superior to earth ponies because are one with three of the material elements, while earth ponies are only one with a single element? Or that earth ponies are superior to others because they are one with the planet while the rest just live on it?"
"My little pony, you misunderstand me. There's a difference between a time when there's a CLEAR right and wrong and you shouldn't compromise AT ALL, and one where there's NO true right or wrong and compromise truly IS the right thing to do."
" . . . Thank you teacher . . . I shall keep that in mind."
And . . . of course there was Princess Celestia . . . I saw how she acted, so friendly, so coy, so playful, and yet ponies were too scared of her, or too wrapped up in her 'superiority' to them to see the mare on the inside. She smiled at me and wish me good luck when I told her some day I'd make it so everypony wouldn't see her as superior to them. I could SEE the pain of isolation it gave her.
Yes, I dared approach her a few times, she did visit HER OWN SCHOOL more than once, even if her focus was upon her apprentice. And there was one time . . . where she let me on her secret, where she transformed into Sunny Day, and let me spent one afternoon with her. And I saw, I SAW how happy it made her, being the same as everypony else! And nopony would ever let her live this life for real, because the expectation of her to be their princess was always there. I saw her joy in being just another pony, and the pain of others never letting her be one.
"Can't you just give it up? And be Sunny Day all the time?"
"Oh my little pony, while such a thing would make me happy, I have responsibilities. I am a ruler and mother to a nation. I love my little ponies, but I also look forward to the day, be it years or millennium, when I can step down as leader because they have grown enough, but for now, I am also the sun, and always will be, and the sun must rise. A sun must nurture those caught in her sight."
I felt my heart crack at those words. Being just another pony is what made her happy, but she didn't think she could escape her role.
I'll admit, one of the most satisfying things I did as a rebellious and selfish teenager had to do with a part time job I took at a pizzeria. It wasn't about the money, I just wanted to experience what other ponies had to who couldn't make ends meet with their special talent. Oh don't tell me! You didn't REALLY THINK every single pony whose ever asked you 'would you like hay fries with that?' had retail, fast-good grunt, or cashier as their special talent did you? Don't make me laugh!
You have any idea how many ponies' whose special talent is writing? How many have their special talent as music? Acting? Do you really think that they all succeed at what destiny has pinned on their rear? The Manehatten Best Seller List. The Top 10 songs? For everypony who reaches the top, there are countless ponies in the same field who fail to even be published.
Yes that was a bit of a tangent, the pizzeria. A group of ponies came in and ordered a large pizza. No, a family size. No, medium size. Olives and peppers. No, half pineapples, half tomatoes. Stuffed crust, no, raised crust. They just continued to bicker, not caring in the least for the growing line of others customers behind them. When I finally just gave them a plain cheese pizza, that shut them up, and the other customers actually clapped. Was I fired? I'll leave that one for you to figure out.
It was an educational experience though if I do say so myself.
I took a hard look around.
Cutie mark for taking garbage vs cutie mark for opera singing. These were supposed to be even?
A stallion whose special talent was war in peace time. Were we supposed to start a war just for him? Were we supposed to have peace at the cost of one of our ponies being miserable and unfulfilled?
Yes I played some role-playing games with others once as I grew older. I did not enjoy Ogres and Oubliettes level base and character class system. I much preferred the point based systems where no character was truly cast in one role.
Huh? Have I ever tried playing a campaign in any role-playing game with all identical characters? Yes...we got slaughtered by the second boss. Why? Because the game is unfair! Any character should be able to win if they've trained hard enough!
I enjoyed fiction, same as most ponies, but I didn't care that much for heroic epics. A single character who solved everything, with the rest of the cast just there to make the hero look good, it was a downright infuriating to read.
But my true interest was in reading history, but not 'modern' history, or pre-classical. I read further, not to the Age of Myths. My interest was in the Age of Wonders, even if many ponies considered accounts of that time exaggerated and as much fiction as say Aquestria (and I have my doubts about the fiction of that). I dug through the archives. I read about a time when the ponies tribes were separate but equal. When the racism the three tribes age was infamous for did not exist.
Records were spares. Apparently ponies of that era had used a type of record keeping that let them keep libraries worth of text on items the size of a bit. But sadly, without the proper spells (calls 'operation-soft-where') they were less than paper weights. They had turned from paper records, their newest books and entertainment not even having a yard existence, merely stored on 'flashing-drivers' whatever those were and 'servers' whoever those were.
So much knowledge lost forever. And, after the great destruction, I could see it. So many ponies with cutie marks cutie marks for 'electrisitian' (whatever that was) in a society where 'electronics' no longer functioned. Ponies whose talents had been in 'programming' but there was no longer anything to 'program' wit the end of their civilization, doomed to spend the rest of their lives with worthless cutie marks. Why can only I see the madness in this system we've clung to?
In exchange for super-powers, all one little mark asked for was to ponies completely and totally surrender their freedom, and it had been going on for so long ponies didn't even think about it.
I also read about her. She had caught my interest. I dug as deep as I could dig. Going through records that were more fragile than dead leafs, older than history. Many records called her a monster, a mad-mare, a fiend in pony shape who had lured ponies with a false promise of a better world only to enact their destruction, laughing evilly as the world was destroyed and herself with it. Or a delusional dreamer who captured all in her wonderland fantasy and lured pony civilization over a cliff.
But I dug deeper.
I separated fact from fiction. Lies from the truth. And I may or may not have found a little book. And what I found, was a mare who had loved her friends, whose friends had loved her. A mare who had wanted to give to the world more than anything, who was able to bring ponies together. A mare who saw herself as no better and no worse than anypony else. A mare whose only dream was to bring the power hidden away for so long back into the hooves of the ponies. To make a better world, one where all would be happy and equal.
And because she had tried her hardest and failed, they chose to blame the mare who couldn't speak her side. I cried for her.
"Is something wrong?" The archivist asked, a green mare with a blond mane.
"Everything," I said closing my eyes, clenching my teeth at this ancient injustice. The archivist, as tenderly as she could, moved me away so my tears wouldn't damage the fragile ancient records. I don't blame her.
I won't say I wouldn't have taken up my mission if I hadn't learned about her, but I will say that she was one of several pillars that I leaned on for strength in the hard times. I had never met her. But I read what precious there was about her that existed underneath the exaggerations and agendized accounts. There was the tiny fact she had been friends with Saint Sweetheart, a little fact left out to make Sweetheart seem more pure and her more evil, to fit their narratives, their roles, their purposes that had been given them.
In all that time, I felt like I had come to know her, and I thought of her as my teacher.
I had not changed my name when I first got my cutie mark, but it was still my legal right, since there had never been a stature of limitations put on a pony choosing a new name after they got their cutie mark.
I had been born Pane Glimmer. Now my name would Starlight Glimmer.
She was cursed upon and was named a monster, and why? Because she tried to make a better world and failed.
I would succeed where she failed. And so by proxy she'd finally succeed. She deserved that much for what she had tried to do for everypony, and the monster ponies had painted her as when she was dead and couldn't share her side of things.
Starlight, watch, and I will fulfill your dream. I promise.
I severed ties with my family, they wouldn't be targeted by those who'd violently cling to how things were, rather than how things could be better. Those were scared to live their lives without a script, too scared to live their lives without their cutie mark telling them what to do.
I was a doctor, I would make ponies better, I'd cure us of the disease that had controlled us for so long. Cutie marks had dictated who became what for far too long, they had decided our history, our present, our future, not us! No more.
There were country ponies who saw the hard work high class ponies put into being attractive, speaking and acting a certain way, knowing a mountain of dos and do-nots, as a waste of energy and arrogant snobs. And the high class ponies looking down on country ponies, ignoring the hard work it took to keep a farm running even with the best of equipment and modern techniques, and saw them as uneducated bumpkins. Those who worked hard and started from nothing, no match for those who ALSO worked hard AND were born into money. WAS I THE ONLY SANE PONY IN THE WORLD? Was I the only who say our nominally 'free society' had divisions that needed to be torn away?!
A pony whose cutie mark was for entertaining foals, would have a completely different definition of beautiful from a mare whose job was to carter to weddings, with the result EVERYTHING would be seen as ugly! A pony whose cutie mark was for lumber-jacking, would have a different view of what was 'enough trees' than a pony whose cutie was nature preservation. Fur hunter vs veterinarian. A cutie mark for street art vs classical painting (and what happened when both were out of style?!). Envy! Jealous! Elitism! Egotism! Prejudice! Nepotism! Favoritism! Want! Cutie marks turned ponies against each other!!! I'd bucking fight fire with fire if I had to!!!
I began. This spell was my own invention. It wasn't my special innate talent, who cared? I pushed my abilities to their limit in creating this new type of magic.
Hypocrites? Are doctors hypocrites for using vaccines when they're made of dead or part of a virus? Is a Guard a hypocrites for flying fast after a speeding chariot in a slow flying zone? Are those who use violence to defend themselves and their loved ones from violence hypocrites?
Violation? Is using a spell to break brainwashing a violation? Yes,there's some momentary discomfort, but that's just because that parasitic spell is ingrained too deeply in them to be removed. It's like a tick. But you aren't the first one to ever believe it is that, I've heard that from many particularly stubborn cases.
And it was ready. I'd tried to infuse my magic into an object that could be used without me, but it proved beyond my abilities. I didn't dare trust this secret with anypony. They would only see the 'gifts' cutie marks gave them, not the control they had over their lives I was freeing them of.
Separating the pony from the cutie mark, removing their talent. Cutie marks were clinging things though, they insisted that the pony they claimed was theirs, they would never let go of their slave, so into a container it went.
And in its place, a new special talent was given, the Equal Mark. Ponies whose special talent was being equal. A new message, a new destiny. Free of the roles fate had cast them in. Now they were equalized. Now they would be inspired to live as equal rather than endlessly trying to out do each other in an endless cycle of one-up-mareship, never knowing happiness. Now, that nopony was better or worse than any other, there was no role they couldn't choose to fill. No pony was superior or inferior. There were no losers, now everypony won.
I found a place separate from the rest of Equestria, somewhere safe and sound, nowhere were I could bring together those that I could share the truth with. Collecting raw materials and supplies in a sublime matter was another challenge. We would have to be self sufficient. No if, ands, or buts. Not until my little ponies were ready to spread the truth to the rest of Equestria.
And my little ponies found me. Like moths to a flame? What a crass thing to say. Cutie marks had failed them, betrayed them. The evils of exceptionalism had led them all down the path of misery. But they had clung to the lie, even as it dragged them to the bottom of the ocean. And I saved them them from drowning.
One pegasus who couldn't stand the constant pressure by everypony around her expecting her to be the next captain of the wonderbolts.
A unicorn whose balloon sculptures were deemed 'so last season' and 'infantile' by self important art critics.
A baker whose had to close her shop in the face of a chain store's larger, cheaper, and better quality pies and muffins. Crushing the competition is no fun when you're the one being crushed. When we didn't compete against each other, everypony won, why did I have to explain this to them?
And of course, an earth pony stallion, Double Diamond . . . I met him alone in those mountains... he had no friends. In his passion to become the greatest skier ever, he had alienated his friends, family, and his special-somepony. He hadn't cared as they abandoned him one by one as he pursued his dream, until he suddenly found himself alone.
Together the two of us would form Our Town.
I gave them a home, a place, a purpose. I freed my little ponies of the cursed marked that had brought them unhappiness. Ponies everywhere, locked into roles, unable to escape them whether they wanted to or not, I'd be their liberator.
Yes I secretly kept my mark, don't call me a hypocrite! I was a necessary sacrifice on my part! ONly with my magic could I free ponies, give them equality. I couldn't have my little ponies suffer knowing I kept this burden that I freed them of.
Don't trust my ponies? I wouldn't go that far! Not at all! I just know no pony is perfect, we all need each other's help to resist the sweet lies cutie marks whisper to us even when sealed away.
My 'Education House?' That's just for those who need help, who don't want to listen to reason, who refuse to see the truth. It's merely to break the brainwashing done to them by a life time of cutie marks. After all, there are concrete medical reports of ponies who had been freed of mind control magic, but still needed help to be true free of the control they'd been under. It was merely to speed up the process, and remove the cutie mark's brainwashing now that it could no longer reinforce it.
We were happy, we were together, we were one, we were whole, we Equal. I had made one tiny corner of Equestria the true definition of friendship and harmony. We had no fighting, no violence, no thievery, no mares or stallions who didn't get 'no meant no', no unhappy marriages, no bickering siblings, no schoolyard bullies, no wage slaves. No elitists. No thieves who wanted something for nothing, and none who worked so hard but never reached their dreams. We were complete and totally free!
Not to say Our Town hasn't faced its equal share of threats.
The endless night . . . the ultimate proof that Equestria was broken and needed to be cured. Princess Luna. Because of her unequal treatment by the ponies of Equestria, had gone mad. Yes . . . Nightmare Moon's rampage was the ultimate proof that what I was doing was right and needed. Inequality, and all the emotions that came with it, envy, jealous, resentment, egotism, had nearly destroyed Equestria. It would be madness for me not to continue my mission. I promised myself one day, day and night would truly be equal. The pain they had both endured from inequality was too much to allow to continue.
Discord couldn't get close to Our Town, without puking his guts out, apparently we "stank" too much of order. He excused himself saying he'd 'deal with us' later.
We also once had a new arrival who said he had found our town from the love in the air, and how he wanted to join us.
He was more nervous and tense when I was about to free him of his cutie mark. And he was outright SHOCKED and CONFUSED by the sight afterwards much more than a typical convert.
He also screamed, a few had before, but his was louder, and it felt like I had DUG into him far deeper than I should have with my magic. It almost felt like trying to use my magic on a blank flank, almost. But a medical examine didn't show anything amiss.
Speaking of which, our population of foals was reaching the age where cutie marks would appear. But our little treasures embraced the truth their parents and I had reared them on. We were all looking forward to seeing their equal signs when they'd appear, there was no doubt in any of our minds. Equality was their destiny. I could envision it as clear as day.
He was acting scared and confused, unsure, like his world had been turned upside down. But we made him feel loved, we welcomed him, let him know he was an equal, that he was one of us now.
A few weeks later (after his house was built), he was banging on my door in the middle of the night, sobbing. He showed me what he truly was. Changeling.
For the record, no matter what form he took, our Equal Mark remained.
He found our home, and saw it as easy pickings. After all, us all looking alike, acting alike, should have been effortless to infiltrate.
But ... instead he had been struggling with the Equal Mark I had given him, and what it could mean... that it was even possible.
Ad how, we constantly reminded him of the Hive, how none was greater than the whole, and how like their Queen who had eliminated their cast system and given common changelings the right to have names. Just like I had had he said, freed ponies of what arbitrary fate had dictation them to be.
Oh right, he also told three of my little ponies had been replaced, and plans to replace me were already in the works. How long were they replaced? What does that matter? We move and act as one,, the imposters were in the reeducation house in fifteen minutes or less! We also recovered our replaced herd mates.
They cursed and snarled at him, calling him a traitor and cattle lover.
He said he had a new Hive now, and soon so would they.
They lasted much longer than most... but slowly starving to death from lack of love helped break them, and they joined our community. Meanwhile, he sent back false reports to Chrysalis.
They screamed even louder than he did, and I had to dig deeper than before than I had with him. It was tiring, I nearly gave away the 'Staff of Sameness' was just a wooden prop.
But in the end, it tore out of them what enslaved all ponies and added them to the vault. They were left complacent and meek seeing those strange ink drawing like marks that had emerged from their bodies.
He assured me only the Queen and those here knew Our Town existed. Good.
He warned me that if Queen Chrysalis ever did show up, the best course of action was simply to run and take the town with us, at least at our current state. Chrysalis had apparently slain a being capable of killing a dragon in single combat and her skill made his and the other three look pathetic in comparison. While such an injustice against equality would need dealt with some day, I put an escape tunnel underneath my bed at my house, if Chrysalis did show up before I was ready to deal with her, the town could escape out that way.
I was interested in the uplifting process used to turn other equines into changelings. It would bring Sameness to a level like never before. But spies had no idea how it worked. Only the Queen and Alchemists knew.
No, I am not telling you which ones they are, they are part of Our Town, that is all that matters.
They're my little ponies after all, my friends, my family, I would protect them from outwards threats that would try to corrupt them.
Starlight, just as you protected and cared for your friends, so do I. I will let nothing harm them or corrupt them now that I've set them free.
Your legacy lies safe with me. I like to believe I carry your spirit with me, my teacher, my friend. And I shall bring our dream to reality. Even if it's taken several thousand years to recover from a rampage of selfishness, I shall break the shackles of cutie marks, and bring true friendship to everypony. We failed once to bring not our dream, but true freedom and happiness to everypony, and was branded a monster for it. But we wouldn't give up, and now, my friends know and understand too. Even if they still need my help every now and again, it's all about baby step after all. Just as I know they'd help me stay pure. They're my friends after all.
I am Starlight Glimmer, and Equality Is Friendship.
