Unforeseen Consequences - The chaos carnival (pt4)

>What the hell is this place? Where are you? The only thing that you can tell about your current location was that you were inside of some sort of cave with purple crystals buried on the walls. It didn’t feel like a natural occurrence though, like if this was deliberately built for something.
>And that something may be that gigantic piece of glass in the shape of a tree. It was certainly impressive; the skill that should have been required to make this thing must have been astronomically high. The general shape of the thing was like a tree, but the form in which the branches sprawled out made the whole thing look like a giant star.
>Hell, there was even a star in the middle of it, that oddly…looked…like Twilight’s cutie mark. In fact, now that you think about it, at the end of each branch there were gems each one with a different color. Each one had the coat color of Twilight’s friends…of the elements of harmony.
>But what made you more disturbed were the two symbols engraved on the “tree” trunk: One was Celestia’s cutie mark representing the sun, and the other was Luna’s cutie mark which represented the sun…
>You take a glance at the giant sculpture and whisper in a sort of loud voice
“What is this thing…”
>”That “thing” is the tree of harmony, located in the Everfree Forest. As its name says, it holds the elements of harmony in place. The function of it it’s to secure that magic keeps flowing across all of Equestria and to protect everything that lives in it. I’m kind of impressed that your mothers never told you about it, especially considering who they are…” a soft but confident voice echoes across the cave to answer your question.
>You turn to see where it came from, but besides the constant glowing of that tree, the cave was pretty much in darkness. The voice was definitely female though, and it didn’t sound like, whoever that gal might be, was old…
“Are you the one who kidnapped me?! Reveal yourself!”
>”Oh my prince, please don’t call this a kidnapping, as I said, I just wanted to talk. Actually, you could take this as some sort of enlightenment” From the darkness the pony who gave you the box emerges. You see a blue glow and moments after her clothes are gone, revealing a pink unicorn emerges. She had blue eyes and a purple mane with blue stripes and was wearing a pretty worn down white saddlebag.
>Okay, calm down, if she wanted you death then she could have already fucking murdered you. That part about talking was probably bullshit for the most part. If anything, she must probably wanted to get a ransom of some sort.
>”My name is Starlight Glimmer, a pleasure to meet you my prince” The unicorn gasps for a brief second, covering her mouth with her hoof. She gives you a soft smile after that and sighs “Oh sorry, I forgot that you don’t like to be called by your title. That’s a commendable feature if I’m quite honest with you. Not wanting to be treated like some sort of superior but rather to be treated as…an equal”
>You scow at her while you start to look for a way out to escape
“Don’t you dare to dodge my question, Starlight Glimmer. I know that tactic; give dumb compliments in order to make the other party to forget what the main topic of conversation was. Why did you bring me here? I doubt that you went through the risk of getting arrested or being subjected to Discord’s rage just because you wanted a private conversation with me”
>Starlight lets out a chuckle as she starts to walk towards you “Brah-vo! That was very sharp! I’m quite happy to see that everything that I’ve heard about your intellect has been true. It would be a shame if you turned out to be as dumb as a rock, now, I will have to apologize in advance, but I want to test if the other things that I have heard about you are true…”
“How do you even know that kind of stuff about me? My private life isn’t that well know as far as I’m awa-“
>Starlight’s horn glows and before you could even finish your sentence she shoots a magical ball at you.
“NO!”
>Almost as if it was a reflex, you cast a shield bubble around you. Luckily for you, the blast bounces off and crashes into a wall, leaving a pretty deep hole, of course, the blast sent an electrical pain across your body, nothing major, but it still hurt.
>Starlight claps her hooves very slowly ”Amazing! It seems that not even that so called Princess of Friendship knew about how great are your magical capabilities. Once again, little Anon, you manage to impress!”
“What the hell was that?! Didn’t you just say that you wanted to talk?!”
>You turn to Starlight, ready to fight back with whatever thing you had. But you weren’t some sort of fool who forgets what his advantages are in the most critical moment. You reach for the necklace that Luna gave you and give it a mighty tap.
>The unicorn takes notice of this but just limits herself to smile “Oh, you certainly didn’t take me for a fool, did you? I knew what that necklace of yours could do the moment I saw it. And it’s not like I wasn’t prepared for something like that…”
“To be fair, I didn’t have to; you kinda proved that you aren’t very smart. I can tell that you are just bluffing. You can’t stop the signal from going to the outside. Heck, even if you could it wouldn’t matter, with that little stunt that you performed, I’m sure that Discord will get you before anyone else”
>Still, how did this weirdo know so much about you?
>Starlight’s soft smile turns to a smug one after you say those words “Seems like what I heard about your arrogance wasn’t a lie either. Such a shame, and here I was thinking that maybe my little conversation wasn’t going to be required…” Starlight shrugs “But whatever, I love teaching everypony the right path to achieve harmony. As for your deductions, well, just because I actually have respect for you as my equal is that I will tell you why you are wrong”
>You glare at Starlight who now was walking around you. You don’t say anything, since you were actually curious about her explanation
>”Of course that signal can’t be stopped, that spell was performed by the very Princesses of Equestrian. But that’s not a problem since the Guard it’s too busy with the mayhem that it’s going outside the chaos dome that Discord casted. Especially with the fact that they have to take care of an entire crew of young and attractive foreign mares…”
“So that airship was your fault… but how could…”
>”Don’t overthink that one much...” Starlight pats you mane but you immediately push her hoof away “Because trust me when I say that it was very easy to pull off. You see Anon, when you travel as much as I do you end up meeting many ponies when you travel, for example, a young prench captain with a thirst for adventure. I honestly just had to send a letter telling her about the carnival and that was it”
“Alright, so you assume that the guard won’t be able to come in time, but you forget about Discord. I seriously doubt that he will keep his arm crossed. For starters, I’m his friend, and secondly, I’m one of his carnival main attractions, you can be sure that he will come here and erase that smugness from your face”
> Starlight giggles at your answer “Luckily for us, I know lots and lots magic, you can consider that a passion of mine. That same passion it’s what allowed me to cast that teleportation spell”
“So what? I can teleport too, that won’t stop Discord to come and get you”
>”Ahhhh, but here’s the thing, Anon. There are different kinds of spells to bring a pony to another place, and the one that I used in particular was created during the time when Discord reigned as king. It was specifically designed for him to not be able to track the ponies that used that spell”
“How did you get such thing? That doesn’t sound like something that it’s written on school books”
>Starlight lets out a chuckle and gives you a cocky smile “You can thank the Canterlot Archives and the…ineptitude of the Royal Guard. I’m still amazed by how easy it was to steal that armor, and you would be amazed by the kind of spells that you can find at the archives…”
>No, that can’t be true. She must be bluffing. She has to be! And that didn’t matter, because even if that was true, she kidnapped you right in front of Twilight. You were sure that since she was an alicorn, she would come up with something to track you down.
>”You must be thinking about that pesky Twilight Sparkle, are you not?” You notice a hint of venom in Starlight’s voice when she pronounced Twilight name, but it was only for a second since she quickly regains her composure
>”To tell you the truth, I am counting with her to be able to find you. Because as I said, I just brought you here to talk, that’s all. After I finish what I have to say then I will leave, that’s why I took so many precautions, so nopony could interrupt us.”
>You raise an eyebrow and let out a sarcastic laugh
“Really? Because that sounds too much for just a talk, and the fact that you are “counting” on Twilight to eventually find me sounds like such an obvious hole in your elaborate plan that I just can’t buy it”
>Starlight finally decides to stop walking around you and sits in front of you “ I’m just counting on Twilight to find you because sadly, after we finish our talk, I will have to leave immediately. I know that you don’t know Ponyville very much, let alone the Everfree Forest, so I don’t want you to get lost. I mean, you could get hurt or worse”
>”Sooo Anon…” Starlight stretches herself a little before adopting a more comfortable position “Will you listen to what I have to say?”
“Depends, what happens if I say no?”
>”Then I’m afraid that I will have to leave and you will have to stay here until that Twilight comes and “rescues” you” Starlight answer was much more mundane than what you actually expected, which of course took you by surprise
“Really?”
>Starlight nods “Really, it would be a shame though. I’m actually proud of the plan that I came up with, it would be a shame if it was for nothing but…” Starlight shrugs “If you don’t want to hear what I have to say, then I won’t force you”
>That sounded oddly suspicious but at this point… it was the best bet that you had. Let her talk, make her go to great lengths explaining what she has to say. Her plan has a glaring flaw that she’s not counting on, a certain pony that she didn’t take into account; you just needed to give her time to do her work.
“Alright…speak…”
>Starlight can’t help but to smile, an actual and genuine smile ”I knew that you would make the right choice, believe me Anon, you won’t regret this. I’m going to show you something that will change your mind about Equestria. It’s time for you and everypony to learn about equality”
>Her horn begins to glow and a scroll comes from her saddlebag, she gets surrounded by her magical aura and her eyes are now covered by a bright white light. The darkness of the cave disappears completely.  You turn and see that the tree of harmony was responding to Starlight’s magic with its own light
>The scroll floats towards the tree and it becomes attached to it, firmly held in place by both Starlight and the tree’s magic. The gemstones that were in the branches and the scroll light shooting a magical beam to Starlight, shortly after that a similar beam it’s fired to you.
>You try to stop it with another bubble shield but it doesn’t work as the beam breaks your spell with ease and makes a direct hit…But you are not disintegrated, it didn’t even hurt. Instead, you and Starlight begin to levitate.
“What is happening? What are you doing?!”
>Starlight turns to you and gives you a smile, which was rather creepy considering those bright eyes that she had at the moment “Don’t worry Anon. It’s just part of the spell… you see, I tried talking before but it never actually worked. I’m sure that it wouldn’t have worked this time either, so instead of telling you simple words, I’m going to show you…”
“Show me what! What it’s so complicated about that equality of yours that it needs this spell!”
>You hear laughter coming from Starlight “Oh Anon, this is much more about equality. The elements themselves can see it, that’s why they are responding to me! I’m going to show you how I achieved true harmony! Can’t you see it? The elements of harmony, the REAL elements, are pleased by my findings, and you are going to see why!”
>The gemstones light up again and this time they fire a rainbow colored beam towards you and Starlight, enveloping the two of you completely.
“You are crazy, you knew that! Forget this! I rather risk my butt on the Everfree than…”
>You notice that you are in a different place now. You were no longer in the cave but instead in outskirts of a small town in the middle of nowhere. It kinda brought you memories of New Mexico since the landscape was fairly similar…nothing but sand, canyons and more sand going for miles.
“What is going on? Starlight?! Where are you?!”
>”I’m right here Anon…” Starlight appears from nowhere and walks to you “Follow me please, I have so many things to show you…”
>You cross your hooves and sit your butt firmly on the ground
“I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what’s going, and how are you doing all of this. Is this real or an illusion? And what was the deal with the scroll and the tree of harmony?”
>”Aaaah, I like how you think! You are a no non-sense type of pony…” Starlight gives you a calm but confident smile  “that’s right up in my alley! Very well, I shall explain everything to you, because as I said, I just want to show you the true path to achieve harmony, and I can’t do that if you don’t trust me. So please, follow me and I shall explain everything to you”
>Starlight motions you to follow her to the little town. You sigh and do just that, remember, you need her to talk. You have to get as much time as possible and as much information as possible.
>As the two of you enter the town, you notice that it was in pretty bad shape. And everyone was discussing about everything. Some were discussing about where the town hall would go, others about a play park. Others were discussing about such stupid stuff that it was baffling.
>”Oh, so you don’t like my muffins? Well, then you can make them yourself!” A pink earth mare yelled at a white stallion
>”Why do you complain that it’s always sunny! This a desert you dumb-nut!” A pegasi yelled at another
>”Oh, you don’t need to have such a grumpy face!” Starlight tries to cheer you since she took notice of your mood “Now about your questions. You could say that this is an illusion, but that would be partially wrong. What we are witnessing it’s the past, but we are not actually part of it. Imagine one of those moving pictures that foals sometimes watch at school. I’m sure that you have watched a few of them, considering how prestigious your school is”
>So this was sort of like when Luna showed you when she got pushed into transforming to Nightmare Moon…
“Okay, so these are previous events… I kinda have experience with that. We are just spectators right? We haven’t REALLY traveled to the past. But how are you pulling this off? What has the tree of harmony to do with all of this?”
>”Questions! I love them! That means that you are actually putting attention!” Starlight claps her hooves “Remember that scroll that I pulled out?”
>You nod
>”Well, that scroll it’s actually a very powerful spell that was written by Starswirl the Bearded himself! It lets you tap into the past in a number of ways, as for why the tree of harmony, you see. In order to perform the spell, you need a “catalyzer” so to speak, a source of magic so powerful that it can power the spell. And let me tell you, I was initially scared about using the tree of harmony first…”
>Starlight looks at you as if she was expecting an answer…or a question. You roll your eyes and continue walking.
“Alright… why were you scared about using the tree of harmony?”
>”Yay! I got your curiosity once again! We are progressing!” Starlight claps her hooves once again “Because, I thought that it wouldn’t answer to the spell. The elements aren’t just artifacts that can be used as you please. Nooo! Far from it! My research has taught me that they have a mind of their own!”
>A thought comes across your mind... that was the same deduction that you made after witnessing the whole Nightmare Moon fiasco. You were right… you were absolutely right…and that made you more angry than excited…so those things have a mind…and they decided to banish Luna…to petrify Discord…for a millennia…they gave them a destiny far worse than death.
>”Anon? Are you okay?” Starlight asks with some concern
“Yeah…I was…just processing what you just said. So anyways, let me put the rest of this. You thought that the elements would reject this “true path towards harmony” that you are about to show me. That’s why you acted so surprised when the spell worked, right? You were nervous that the elements would reject your vision.”
>”Mmmhmmm! Absolutely correct!” Starlight replies with a cheer “But the fact that the elements completely agreed that I’m in the right has given me a security that I didn’t have before! So with that said, let’s begin! Tell me Anon, what have you noticed since we entered the town?”
>Starlight was smiling from ear to ear expecting your answer. You turn to the town and see nothing but ruined buildings and ponies arguing with each other about stupid, meaningless stuff.
“Well, besides that whoever built this town had an absolutely horrible sense of geography and future planning since we are in the middle of nowhere. The town it’s in shambles, and everyone seems to be arguing with each other about anything they can think off, I have just seen this level of disorganization before, and just like here, it was absolutely dreadful…”
>Fucking Tijuana dude. You still feel some anger towards Catherine and the boys for talking you to go to that shithole…Catherine…
>”Yup! The town it’s in complete chaos and it’s doomed to perish in its current state. But you see Anon, this can be AND was changed for the better!” Starlight’s horn glows and the two of you are dragged into what it looked like the same town, but with the difference of
“Hey! What happened? The town is now…completely fine…”
>All the buildings went from what you would see in a BBC documentary about the Belgian Congo to an actual presentable state. All the ponies were smiling and being cordial to each other. The difference was that…
“Starlight, why does every mare has the same mane cut as you, and every stallion has the same dorky mane style and… what’s up with their cutie marks? They all are an equal sign”
>”Ah so you noticed! Yeah, all of the mares decided to have my fabulous style after I saved them from certain doom” Starlight takes pride in her fairly bland mane style as she speaks
>“You see Anon, when I arrived to this little town I found it just like you just saw, in shambles and in a state of pure chaos. But instead of turning my back on these poor ponies I showed them the way to achieve true harmony! I made their lives so much better!” She stands on her hinder legs as she raises her front legs to emphasize how great her action was.
>You roll your eyes and sigh. Yeah, your plan was working out but… Jesus Christ, this mare was fucking awful at explanations.
“You know, I’m sure that I can come up with a drinking game about you. Every time that you say “the real harmony” or something like that, I’ll take a shot. I don’t know if Equestria has vodka, but my god, I bet that not even Catherine would be able to stand sober after hearing you talk.”
>Starlight slowly goes back to standing on her four hooves. She raises and eyebrow and tilts her head “What?”
>You chuckle and give Starlight a cocky grin
“I mean that it’s clear to me that you never had any form of superior education. But don’t worry my friend, because I’m here to help. You came with this over convoluted plan to show me what “true harmony” means, right?”
>”Yes, but…”
“Well, that’s fantastic and all, but you really, REALLY need to cut out the filler. You keep saying “true harmony this!” and “true harmony that!” that I simply don’t get what you even want to say. So okay, let’s go to the top. The town was an absolute joke, no one could agree about anything, buildings were falling apart, and it was nasty for everyone. Then you appeared and taught them about your “true harmony” you see you had to explain that first before going all excited like a little filly. Because for what I get from all of this it’s that you just gave them a bad hairdo and changed their cutie marks to an equal sign…”
>”I was going to get to that part! AND MY MANE STYLE IT’S NOT WEIRD!” Starlight snaps back at you with so much fury that it makes you flinch for a moment…
>But you already knew that she wasn’t all smiles. You just need to keep being yourself, because that way, you can manage the flow of the conversation, making it last as long as you please.
>You hold your hooves to her and give her a smile
“Alright, alright, no need to get all pissy, missy, I was just giving you some markers so you could improve your speech next time. Because it would be a shame if you tried this with another pony and you lost him as hard as you have lost me, that whole part about the ancient spell and the elements was pretty impressive, so just because of that, I will keep listening to your story, but please…no more self-indulging, I get enough of that from Discord”
>”You little-!” Starlight takes deep breathes to calm herself “Oookay… you might be right…maybe I got a little overboard…where was I?”
“On the part where you saved the town by giving everyone a bad hairdo…”
>”YOU BETTER STOP WITH THAT!” Hah, watching her get angry was more fun than what you expected, but you better not overdo it
“It’s just a joke… please, continue”
>”Yeah, yeah, well this ISN’T a joke but whatever… I’ll show you” Starlight rubs her temples and takes a deep breath “Anon… are you seriously not impressed by that change? Because if you ask me-“
“I never said that it wasn’t impressive. At first glance it is amazing what you accomplished, if it was really you of course, the town went from a third world slavery camp to what it looks like a nice place to live. I already said my points, but you still haven’t answered my questions, and more importantly how did you manage to do that?
>”Oh! I’m sorry, you see, I thought that you were just mocking me…” Starlight clears her throat “I suppose that I’m not used to your style of humor, but moving on…I’ll have to answer your question with another question: Why were all of the town ponies discussing?”
>You adjust your glasses and rub the back of your neck
“I honestly can’t tell, they were discussing about everything and nothing. Some were fighting over doing actual repairs over the town, others were discussing about the location of parks and such and others were simply arguing for the sake of arguing”
>”So would you say that they didn’t know how to put their differences aside right?” Starlight regains her happy mood when she asks that question
>You nod
“Yes, I think that’s the perfect way to summarize it. They all wanted different things or wanted to do things in a different way but these ponies didn’t seem to understand the concept of “Keeping your mouth shut and listen to others” so it’s easy to deduce that their team-work or lack of, almost doomed them to live like an African child…”
>”You speak funny, but I have heard that you are not from around here, like REALLY not from around here” Starlight giggles and shrugs “oh well, yeah, you are right but the concept that you are looking for, the one that this town ponies didn’t know, was “equality””
“Come again?”
>”Yeah! You see Anon, when you look at other ponies as if they were lesser or more than you then you start to stop looking at them as if they were your equals. I’m sure that you can understand that sentiment, considering how much you seem to not like being called by your title…”
>You slowly nod, in your mind the same question was being repeated over and over
“How do you know so much about me?”
>”You aren’t precisely a random foal, Anon. Your mothers are the rules of Equestria” This time it was Starlight the one with the cocky smile “But that’s going off-topic, what I wanted to say it’s this: The root of this town problem was the differences between all of these ponies. So I just did what it was needed to be done: I put those differences out of the map”
“You know that knowing so much about me kinda makes you a creep, right? But whatever, you eliminated their differences, the question remains, How did you do that? And what does the equal sign cutie marks has to do with all of this?”
>”Oh, this is where it gets really interesting!” Starlight exclaims with excitement “You see, since the problem of the town was that they couldn’t put their differences to the side and learn to work together then I went even deeper. I’ll ask you another question, and please, no snarky remarks this time, okay?”
“That would make me lose my charm, but okay…”
>”Great! Okay Anon, What it’s the thing that makes everypony different from others? The thing that everypony tells you that will make you “special”?”
“Their…cutie marks?”
>”Bingo! So wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that if we got rid of everypony cutie marks, then everypony would be equal?”
“In theory…yes…Wait, so you forced everyone in this god forsaken town to get rid of their cutie mark? How?”
>”But it’s not just in theory, because that’s what happened! And pfffft! Of course I didn’t force them! I talked with them and made them see the error in their ways. This wouldn’t work if I just forced everypony to change, nope, that’s not what Starlight Glimmer does!” Starlight proudly puffs her chest
“So everyone…just agreed?”
>”Not at first, there were some…dissident ponies who still wanted to argue about nothing, but once they saw how powerful equality was, they joined in! It was beautiful Anon, everypony, working together for a common goal! No arguing, no fighting and all because there were no differences among them, it was pure order created by equality. Now you must see why I called it true harmony! Just imagine how Equestria would be if everypony learned about equality!”
>Starlight’s eyes were beaming with hope but you…you had your doubts
“Okay…I get that this pilot experiment worked in this little town, but…it’s just ONE town, Equestria it’s another story since we are talking about a nation. I’m a scientist at heart, so I have to ask what are your bases to think that your ideology would work outside this town?”
>Starlight’s face beams with a big smile “I was hoping that you would ask that! Follow me! Or rather, let’s follow history!” The scenery begins to change again, this time you were in a city made of some sort of black crystal-like material, a dark and menacing castle was looming on the distance