Prologue: Broken unequal mare's freedom.
"In sameness, there is peace. Exceptionalism is a lie. Free yourself from your cutie mark. Choose equality as your special talent. Difference is frustration. To excel is to fail. Be your best by never being your best. Conformity will set you free. Accept your limitations, and happiness will follow. You're no better than your friends."
In the lower Canterlot dungeons, a unicorn lilac coat mare is humming to herself in depression.
"Sixty three bottles of cider on the wall, sixty three bottles of cideeeeeer. . ."
Her whole body is skinny from a lack of food & water, along with some of her mane mostly cut.
Months ago, Starlight Glimmer wasn't like this before. In fact, she was very healthy and while growing up, she settled in a town called Ourtown where her plans of equality with no cutie mark traits can come.
One after another, she has lured many unfortunate ponies to have them give up their cutie marks.
Starlight's plan of true Harmony is work as she maintains order of every cult followers standing beside her.
Then, later on in the days, a new opportunity arises when six mares approaches into her town.
Starlight notices that unlike the five ponies, one in particular is an alicorn princess.
Why, what more could any pony with one in a million shot chance of adding a princess in her cult army?
Nevertheless, Starlight wouldn't let this slip by and began to work on making a plan.
Only that she should've done her homework for a backup plan strategy in case she got captured.
Anyway, the six ponies introduce themselves to Starlight and her followers. They go by Princess Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity Belle, and Fluttershy. After that, Starlight & her followers talk about being equal without cutie marks as they sang along to avoid any suspicious.
When the six mares felt uneasy around the town and want to secretly investigate, Starlight merely played along as a dumb normal pony to not know of what they were doing. Even though she knew these strange ponies weren't like any others she came across her travels, she needed to keep an eye on them.
Upon learning the mares wanted to see the vault, Starlight smirked in her mind.
Of course one of her followers did slip up. On the one hoof, she wanted find out which pony gave the strange the information. Although, on the other hoof, this can be a good trap.
Making a decision, Starlight gave Twilight and her friends a tour in the cave of her cutie mark vault. In that moment, her trap worked as the six mares tries to escape and fight back, but she took six more cutie marks away from them to add in her fine collection.
She then took Twilight and her friends to be locked up in a solitary confinement house.
At first, everything seems great for a couple of days. Starlight even has another follower Fluttershy to join Ourtown. Though she also wanted the yellow mare to point out the snitcher and Party Favor is thrown in the confinement as well for his punishment.
Things have gone smoothly, one mare down and five more left to join her soon.
After a new follower joined in, Starlight took the six cutie marks from the vault to her house in case another intruder or one of her followers slip up again. She just needed to make sure they wouldn't get these special marks.
In the next day rolling around, Party Favor is forgiven and it looks like the young princess is wanting to join her.
Only the problem is, Starlight didn't know that Twilight Sparkle has made a plan earlier to have Fluttershy join Ourtown and finding out where their cutie marks were at and finding a way to free her friends.
When the yellow follower traitor poured water on Starlight, the hidden secret was out. Every pony in Ourtown, minus Fluttershy now knows the inks on Starlight's flanks shows her real cutie mark still intact. The town's ponies felt betrayed for not only finding out Starlight has her cutie mark not in the vault, but also the staff of sameness is just a piece of junk she has found in the desert.
Feeling that she's outnumbered, Starlight teleported out to go get trapped cutie marks in the jars and escape. The secret is out, her own followers found out, thanks to the meddling of six annoying heroes. No matter, she still has the treasures she wasn't planning to give them back to their original owners.
Although, she didn't anticipate the six heroes to follower her to get the cutie marks back. Including her own former followers Double Diamond, Night Glider, Sugar Belle, and Party Favor.
Starlight has used her magic to halt them with the environment, but it didn't work.
Eventually, they catch up and Starlight got avalanched by Double Diamond. The jars they were in broke, going back to the ones she has stolen.
Getting out of the snow, she realizes she has lost her treasures as her pursuers stopped her halt.
When trying to use her magic to escape, she never expected to be paralyzed by Twilight's spell and then tackled by the rainbow haired mare. The last thing she thinks before knocked out unconscious is the few ponies in her image, along with a childhood colt friend.
Hours later, she wakes up not only a prisoner in Canterlot, but they put a restriction ring on her horn.
She is taken to the dungeon by Equestria's princesses so that they can give her a sentence punishment.
Now here she is weeks later, alone as a broken mare and criminal of Equestria. All of her hard work; From losing her childhood colt when he got his cutie mark, plans of banning cutie marks, setting a base in Ourtown for equality to recruit followers, and a cutie mark vault.
It's all gone in an instant, thanks to the heroes she now calls as her enemies.
"Take one down. . . pass it around. . . . . . . . .blah blah blah I forgot again."
Starlight felt that it's been years since her capture and don't know how long she's serving time.
She couldn't tell if any pony would actually bail her out. No contact with her family, no idea where her colt friend is, and no pony at Ourtown. Even if the ones at the town would want to talk, she doubts none of them don't have the time to talk with her since she clearly betrayed the town's trust and taking away their cutie marks.
She never expected of being at the lowest point of her life with no pony nor creature to help her.
"What's the use? I'm never getting out of here alive."
The only thing left she can think of is a last resort like other prisoners do in their prison cells.
Starlight goes over to her bed and ties the bedsheet in a knot for her whole head.
Before going to put it over her head, a sudden tremor interrupts her suicide attempt.
"Huh? What was that just now?" Starlight wondered.
Her question is answered when she heard some commotion outside of her cell.
"Halt! Who dares enter the-ack!"
"Intruder! We have an intruder breaking-oof!"
She then flinches as a small blast of magic has broken her cell door. Coughing up from the dust, her eyes were seeing some pony figure in a robe with a mask on.
"Sheeesh so Chimera! Guess I owe the screwy bimbo one hundred and ninety bits." The pony figure said.
Judging by the voice, Starlight can tell it's a stallion, but can't tell on who it was.
"Hey there, I'm here to break you out."
"W-Who are you? Why are you breaking me out of jail?" She asked him.
"One; That's classified. Two; It's a long story. Three; My anonymous contractor have paid me some large bits to break you out and escape from the Equestrian government. We can talk more later, but right now I need to get you out of here."
Perked at the sign of freedom, Starlight tried to get up, but plops back down.
"I-I can't escape, I haven't enough strength to walk from my lack of food and they restricted my use of magic."
"Have no fear mare, I can carry you with me and then after we escape, I can take the ring off."
So the robe pony figure picks her up and onto his back before galloping away.
Another tremor occurred and Starlight glances up at the ceiling walls.
"What's happening outside?"
"It's our productive weapon prototypes. My team is using them as decoys in the separate areas of Canterlot to lure out the guards and princesses. You can thank my contractor for that since it seems you're very valuable to rescue. Now keep quiet, we're almost out and I'll teleport us out of the Canterlot's dungeon."
The robed pony figure who's carrying Starlight gallops up the stairs.
However, he slows down when a few solar guards is blocking the exit.
"Halt! Stay where you are and give up the prisoner!"
Not listening to them, the robed figure pulls out a potion bottle from his pockets.
"Good luck on filing this report to your ruling, lying, bitches. Starlight, hold your breath and muzzle."
She nods and holds her breath as the robe stallion throws the potion to the ground.
The potion splatters and the smoke clouds are blinding the guards.
The two paired ponies appeared in the woods as the robed stallion gently puts down Starlight.
"We should be cleared enough away from the government's eyes. Hopefully, the plan worked with my team getting the signal and run off away from Canterlot. Heh, I'll bet the princesses are really pissed off on the aftermath and they'll probably lie to the public."
Meanwhile for Starlight, she's coughing up from a few smokes she has accidentally inhaled.
"Okay, now that I'm a wanted criminal and fugitive, do you mind explaining to me on what in Tartarus is going on? Secondly, why bother to help me escape since I have done many things wrong in my life and ruined every pony by making them give up their cutie marks?"
The robed stallion sighs before turning to Starlight.
"I don't know if you know this, but the Equestria you've seen is rapidly changing fast and it's leaders as well. In less than a few months, I fear that all of it is walking towards a dark path ahead with no way of turning back the time. I'll tell you everything the next time I come back. However, in the meantime, I need you to isolate yourself from Equestria until I return. Make a shelter if you have to, but stay away from any guards or mercenaries looking for you. Understand?"
Starlight looks down, not sure on what to make of it.
"I-I'm not so sure, but what about-"
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot."
The robed stallion grabs the ring from her horn and smashes it in his hooves.
After destroying it, he pulls out several potion bottles out on the ground in front of her.
"Consider this a 'thank you for rescuing me' present. These potion bottles will allow them to make some supplies appear for a year of food and drinks. Remember this, your life is more important than you may think. Don't think about killing yourself cause the pain you have won't help heal you."
The robed stallion turns away before glancing behind him.
"Instead, learn from your past mistakes. Like with equality, it may be different from Harmony and Chaos, but you need to learn on what true equality's peace is. Train yourself in order to make better decisions life and to one day, forgive yourself and to others you have wronged. Be what you truly are as a unicorn mare, Starlight Glimmer. Not what others may think of you in their own eyes."
Giving her these wise words, the robed stallion gallops away as she reflects on herself.
'Be who I truly am. . . ' Her mind says.
'Have I really neglected of not knowing what equality is?'
Starlight looks up to see nightfall is approaching.
'Maybe I did, my own actions were too focused on hating those cutie marks that I didn't know the results on what would've happen to their original owners. Oh how could I've been such a foolish mare? Get it together Starlight, there's no point in trying to rewind time of preventing my mistakes. Like he said, I need to be a better mare and to train myself before one day of forgiveness."
Determined, Starlight grabs the potion bottles to set up a shelter.
Unaware of the dark journey Starlight will go into and what unknown future she's about to face.
Question is, can she be able to handle it and the dangerous around each corners?
Author's Note
It took me some time, but with some different decisions, Rated Ponystar gave me permission to let me work on this one finally. So yeah, it's an alternate universe of the NegotiationsVerse on what would happen if Starlight Glimmer didn't die in the Canterlot dungeons. Hence forth, her journey starts now in the war between Celestia's forces and Earth's Humanity.
Let me know on what do you think and Merry Christmas everyone.
