"I... I have to go now."
Starlight Glimmer sighed as her latest ex-friend walked away. The pony, Moondancer, would probably never talk to her again, just like all of the others who had said the exact same thing. She wouldn't let herself become too discouraged; it had been like this in the Equestria she knew, too. The first time, it had taken her years to gather a following large enough to retreat from civilization’s norms and begin practicing what she preached. Not that she had learned nothing from experience; this time, everypony would keep their cutie marks until she was ready to give up her own. If there was one thing that had turned her town against her besides that accursed Twilight Sparkle, it was her own hypocrisy.
She was drained from the day's efforts, but as she plodded along the dimly-lit streets of Old Canterlot—the new capital, established around historic ruins in what was left of the Everfree Forest—she continued with her planning. Perhaps tomorrow she would seek out her next set of contacts. It would be the day of the Summer Sun Celebration, the only day of the year—a gift of pure sunlight from Queen Luna, spoken of only in furtive whispers as Nightmare Moon, to her subjects. Ponies would be in high spirits, and ponies in good moods were more reasonable and willing to listen, at the very least. And ponies were easily reasoned with in general, if the right things were said. Starlight would have killed to wield Nightmare Moon's cold but silvered tongue; a fearful and uncertain Equestria had quickly come to heel with the right series of speeches, gifts, and promises.
There were freedoms, too. Starlight would have to remember those next time she founded a commune. Except for the lack of sunlight and a few new kinds of jobs, life in the capital hadn't changed much. Nobles still bickered and postured, though within new boundaries—Starlight appreciated that the Queen had seen fit to rein in their materialistic superficiality—and most businesses continued as usual, even bakeries, restaurants, and groceries. Food imports had been banned, forcing ponies to discover that their crops grew perfectly well in the nourishing moonlight, with the talents of skilled earth ponies, and by the magic of Harmony woven into the land itself. With food remaining plentiful, every material and magical art still flourished in Equestria, and most ponies without cutie marks of interest to the Night Guard were free to pursue their talents.
Starlight Glimmer finally reached the front door of her residence, one of the downsides of life in Old Canterlot. The door opened into her cramped single room, and she shut it behind her. It wasn't too wretched an affair; it had a working stove, running water, enough cabinet space for a few days' worth of food, just enough space for a desk, and a decent bed. Still, she had to wash in a community bath, and this part of the city would be considered a slum when the rest was built.
Not that it really mattered. Nopony went home for much except for food, sleep, or marital... interests. Everypony was employed and provided with encouragement and a little free time to satisfy their social needs. Outside her time spent trying to share her ideas, even Starlight Glimmer did work for the Crown; after a review of her skills, she had won a position in the Royal Library as a researcher, though she had no access to temporal magic—even reading about it was off-limits to almost everypony. And besides her, every living pony was considered employed in one gainful way or another. Most adults were employed in traditional work; the young were trained in proper eating and exercise, and “employed” either as students or as apprentices in any crafts they demonstrated an inclination towards; the elderly were typically employed as teachers to pass on their experience. Even the criminally insane were "employed" in their own healing, though they were sometimes executed instead.
Starlight shuddered as she threw together a simple meal of beans, rice, and sauce. There were differences in the new Equestria that she could accept, but still had trouble growing accustomed to. Nightmare Moon ruled with iron-shod hooves, and her stranglehold on public speech cast a grim shadow over social events. The executions always started with ponies who criticized her, followed by those who complained too loudly about her practice of putting the first group to death.
In her own village, Starlight hadn't—and wouldn't, once she founded a new one—ever actually tortured anypony, let alone killed them. Recalcitrant ponies didn't require that kind of treatment. The only touches they needed were a little social pressure and some time alone with an Infinite Echo spell of her voice. Not that she could say so to Her Majesty, for fear of execution. Bloody business aside, however, the Queen was a competent, even admirable leader; there was no need for a Twilight Sparkle to stop her, and there would be a few changes to Starlight's Town when she could find enough ponies and a good location again. She couldn't just use the same place as before; no doubt this timeline's Starlight Glimmer was already there, building the population of Our Town on hypocrisy. She wasn't ready to join the ranks of the de-marked just yet, and considering there had still been a changeling scare, it wasn't safe to show up where she was already known.
Starlight ate her simple meal with a sprinkling of salt—which had become a luxury when Nightmare Moon reassigned most miners to dig iron or coal, but Starlight’s position meant she could afford just a little—and fell into her bed. Until she could establish her new town, she would still face work again in the morning.
Disguised as a gryphon, Starlight wandered the streets and airways of the proud old city of Gryphonstone, enjoying the novel stimulation of air flowing over her wings. She was here to gather what little intelligence could be found among the Kingdom's common folk; she needed to know whether to open diplomacy with the gryphons or remain beneath their concern. There was still information that could be gathered by listening to the commoners talk about the flow of food and materials, and even from the state and number of the city guards. Of the latter, there were quite a few; hopefully that focus on "home" meant the Gryphon Kingdom wasn't currently preparing another military expansion or major raid.
Shouting beside and far below caught Starlight's ear. She turned to hover as a guard flew up into her face.
"You! You can't fly here!" The gryphon... stallion? Was that the right word? He had an authoritative bark that demanded Starlight stand to and salute.
"Yes, sir!" she shouted back.
"Land immediately! There's no flying or diving over auction sites!"
"Yes, sir!" Under the guard's wary eye, she swiftly spiraled to the ground. He softened the instant she folded her wings away.
"Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. It's for everyone's good and safety. We've had too many thefts by ruffians who think they're falcon-blooded. Those damned Peregrines and their air shows are ruining our youth." He shook his head. "I'm returning to my patrol, but completely off the record, you should be at the Breaded Boar this evening. I've always got the time for a cute little Owl-blood like you."
Starlight shook off the guard's winking advance, though not without a slight blush, as he launched himself back into the air. Regardless of him or anything else, there was no harm in stopping by the auction, now that she was nearby. It could prove interesting, and it served to gather a whole crowd of gryphons. She could drift with one of the larger groups when the auction was over, picking up more information. Maybe she would ask somepony—well, someone—where to find this "Breaded Boar," too...
Once she managed to position herself to see the stage, however, her jaw dropped incredulously.
With one of his talons, the gryphon speaking to the crowd held a short leash. The leash was attached to a simple, durable collar—one wrapped around the neck of a young pegasus filly. The sky blue foal was crying and struggling to get away from the gryphon, but a simple rope hobble kept her from running or spreading her legs to a flying posture, and her wings were bound tightly to her sides.
"Now, since the winning bidder has thrown in a little extra to have his meat prepared and shipped rather than do all the grisly work himself, we'll have a public demonstration that I hope all of you will find educational," the gryphon announced. He picked the helpless filly up by the rope that ran between her hind hooves, holding her in the air as she struggled and cried. He had to raise his voice to address the crowd over her wailing.
Starlight swallowed. Surely this was some sort of perverse show, a farce!
"Firstly, for the more sensitive souls among us, we must not be cruel to the prey. Not only is it the law, but too much adrenaline will ruin the taste. You only want a little, for that rich, gamey flavor; then you must end the affair quickly and without undue pain. This should be about right."
The gryphon drew a straight razor from a sheath on his right foreleg, and Starlight gasped. This wasn't happening! It couldn't happen!
"Mommy! I want Mommy!" the filly screamed. "I want—"
A quick slash, and blood erupted from the dangling filly's throat.
"Now, you must be sure to cut deeply and accurately as I have to ensure speed and thus preserve the best possible flavor, as well as to properly drain all the blood." The gryphon set his blade down as blood poured down the foal's face and out of her mouth. One of the filly's wings slipped free and beat the air furiously, but her struggles abated quickly as he spoke; the loss of blood that would soon kill her rendered her mercifully unconscious in seconds.
Under the butcher's voice, another spoke into Starlight's ear as a gryphon bumped shoulders with her.
"What a sight. It makes you hungry too, does it not? What say we contact the buyer to get a sample? You look like you can afford the split cost." Starlight shut her mouth and swallowed hard against a rising tide of vomit. Gryphons didn't drool, but with her mouth hanging open, her magical disguise had been doing the closest thing. "Aw, feathers. Don't tell me you're one of those animal cruelty people."
Starlight shook a hot tear off her face. No. No more. She turned to the butcher, who was lecturing about cuts as he carved lines into the filly's side, and shouted. More tears replaced the first, burning her muzzle; no matter.
"Stop! Stop this madness!" Murmurs rippled through the crowd; heads turned towards her. "Just—Just stop!"
"Well, then." The butcher turned away from the corpse on the stage and advanced to the edge of his platform, towering over the crowd. An empty circle formed around Starlight Glimmer as the crowd distanced itself from her, and she swallowed a knot. The too-familiar feeling of abandonment gnawed at her as she forced herself to meet the gryphon's gaze.
After a moment, the butcher snarled. "An Owl dares speak so to a fine, upstanding son of the Eagle bloodline?" Murmurs sounded throughout the crowd again—this time of disapproval. Then someone coughed.
"An Owl? My lord, that's a pony!"
Starlight froze in alarm. But she was disguised! She glanced at herself, and saw the pink mare she was familiar with from mirrors and shop windows. No, she had been disguised. What had happened? Gryphons didn't have magic! They couldn't have dispelled her glamour that quickly or easily!
"Well, then," the butcher repeated. He hopped off the stage, assisted to the ground before Starlight with a flap of his great wings. Up close, he was even bigger, at least twice her size; the mare took a few steps back out of pure reflex. "Well, well, well. It seems the prey got loose."
Starlight gulped down another knot. This was bad. This was so, so bad. But she had survived worse, hadn't she? She continued to meet his eyes in defiance. She had magic; he didn't.
"Stay back! I know battle magic!" she shouted. For emphasis, she cast a spell, blasting every gryphon around her back a few steps. Or, that was what she had meant to do. Instead, her magic gave the eagle-gryphon a decent, if ineffective, telekinetic shove. "What?!" She glanced at herself again, and recoiled.
Her cutie mark was gone. Upon her thighs now rested a familiar grey double-bar. Her own symbol, and her doom.
"How adorable." With one huge bird-like foot, he reached up and pet her mane affectionately. "Look out, everyone! We have a little war mage on our claws! It's a dragon, cleverly disguised as a pony, even more cleverly disguised as a dirty Owl! She's going to burn me alive!"
Most of the crowd gasped in mock horror. Starlight thought she heard support for burning the "fop," but it was nowhere near loud enough to gain any traction. She didn't need a cutie mark! She could do magic just fine without one! She lit her horn again to burn the taunting gryphon, and as she did, he staggered backwards, clutching his chest.
"Woe! I am slain!" he cried. "I burn! I burn! If only I had known we were graced by the presence of a dragon!"
He did not, however, complete his act. Instead of flopping over onto the cobblestones and playing dead, he lowered his shoulders into a predatory crouch and grinned.
"My turn," he purred. "Run."
The crowd parted further. A distinct, straight path formed along the street, lined by whole flocks of gryphons murmuring with barely-restrained excitement.
"But—I—This isn't—"
"Run!"
Starlight only needed to be told twice. Visions of herself on that horrible stage danced behind her eyes as she screamed and launched into a flat-out run. After a few seconds of hoof-cracking flight along the cobblestones, she collided with a strong chest and fell backwards, screwing her eyes shut and curling into a defensive ball. She sobbed, begging somepony, anypony to save her—
—and was swept up, into... a hug? She didn't dare open her eyes. She was going to be butchered, her throat cut open like an animal, but she accepted this last comfort. She hadn't even made it fifty feet.
"Please don't k-kill me!"
"Starlight Glimmer." The voice was no gryphon's. If anything, it was more terrifying—the body she was desperately clinging to was that of Nightmare Moon!
"Nightm—I-I mean, Your Majesty!" Starlight hastily disengaged herself, and the dark alicorn let her go. The gryphon village had disappeared; they were alone in a starry void, just the Nightmare, Starlight, and her lingering tears. She prostrated herself on the invisible floor. "Queen Luna, I didn't mean—"
"I take no offense from the witless." Nightmare Moon smiled as her insult made Starlight flinch. "And I know you are witless, because tonight you told my dear student Moondancer everything."
Starlight could have kicked herself for not making the connection. Moondancer hadn't said anything explicit about her mentor, but she had mentioned that she was "learning magic from the best."
"But you understand, now, why ponies celebrate the curse of cutie marks, their 'destiny' and their narrow talents, inflicted upon us by Discord all those centuries ago. You have seen the world of my youth through my memories and the lens of your own fearful dreaming.
“Even a dated calendar is right on occasion, however. Without cutie marks, we are more ourselves. Without them, we are free." The Queen stepped forward. Starlight swallowed. Her Majesty's tone was not at all suggestive of praise.
"And we are helpless," Nightmare Moon said. She lowered her head to meet Starlight's eyes, their muzzles almost touching.
"And we are food."
Starlight scurried backwards, and the alicorn straightened up to tower over her once more.
"Your Majesty—"
"Be silent." Starlight swallowed again and nodded. Nightmare Moon went on. "You must be a changeling, because I executed your double two years ago. No matter. When you awaken, you will find yourself confined within Canterlot's asylum for the... dangerously maladjusted." The alicorn paused to chuckle. "Celestia's reign has certainly had an influence on language. Don’t you agree that ‘criminally stupid’ fits so much better?"
Starlight cringed, unable to quite voice her protest, and Nightmare Moon rapped her hoof hard against the floor.
"Now. Your doctors assure me that if you do not resist treatment, they can have you straightened out within four years. You are not particularly intelligent, but you possess skills, creativity, and zeal. It would please me to see you become a productive member of my state, Starlight Glimmer."
At least the Queen didn’t care enough to rigorously investigate Starlight’s identity, and the unicorn was relieved that being a changeling wasn’t a capital offense, given she had been very officially mistaken for one. Still her stinging cheeks moved her mouth, almost by reflex, and she knew she would regret what she blurted.
"And if I do resist?"
Nightmare Moon's voice, already chilly in the best of moods, took on an icy edge. "I will have you executed. You are a criminal, convicted of spreading ideas fit to subvert the integrity of Equestria itself. Do not convince me that I am wasting time and resources on you.
"Now wake up."
