Fascist Russian Empire wrote:*snippy*Epilogue
Through the leadership and aid of the All-Maker, the rebellion continued to thrive throughout Equestria. Having widespread support throughout the Equestrian south, large stockpiles of weapons and supplies, a large force of ideologically driven fanatics, and the immense magical power of the All-Maker on their side, they were able to rapidly snowball into a huge problem for the government. The rebel army marched to victory after victory against Celestia's army, defeating multiple counterattacks and seizing control of several more cities and towns, further bolstering their forces as their territory grew. They were seemingly unstoppable, posing an undeniably major threat to the Celestial diarchy. Before long, the All-Maker and his army began laying siege to Canterlot itself, attacking the very heart of the Equestrian government.
Celestia knew she had to do something; she had two major enemies seeking her downfall, and was fighting a losing war on either front. Even if she managed to defeat the rebellion, her army would doubtlessly suffer enough casualties to guarantee the changelings would be able to easily triumph over the remnants of her forces, and even if she managed to defeat Chrysalis the rebels would almost certainly be able to defeat what remained of her army and fulfill their goal of a new government across all of Equestria. Realizing the desperate gravity of her situation, she went to the negotiating table with the All-Maker and other major rebel figures to discuss the terms of a peace treaty. Holding a great deal of bargaining power against her, the rebels demanded a number of major concessions. First and foremost among their demands was that every locality in Equestria would hold an independence referendum, and would have the opportunity to break away from the Celestial regime. Second among their demands was that the Third Treaty of Tripony be suspended throughout the duration of the war, effectively allowing the rebel forces to commit war crimes against the changeling community with complete legal impunity, and the Equestrian government would make no efforts to prosecute the rebels for the massacres they had perpetrated against the changeling community. Also among their demands was that her government would enact a series of anti-changeling reforms, including a total repeal of the Equestrian ban on making an accusation of someone being a changeling, protections on the free speech of anti-changeling agitators, total legalization of discrimination against changelings by private institutions, and legal protections of the Temple of Vision, effectively preventing government reprisals against the ToV and other anti-changeling organizations and ideologues. In exchange for these concessions, the rebels would cease their hostile actions against Celestia's forces and, instead, work with the Royal Guard in a joint offensive against Chrysalis and her forces.
[Insert something about Parliament debates and other government disputes]
[Insert something about Razor Wing and the reaction of the changeling leaders]
Though it was a very highly contested decision, the Equestrian government eventually reached an agreement that it was necessary to agree to the rebel demands. A peace treaty, known as the Peace of Canterlot, was signed and ratified, and Equestria came together in unified military opposition towards the changeling invaders. Between the combined forces of the Royal Guard and the rebel army, and the combined powers of the alicorns and the All-Maker, ponykind was able to create a truly formidable united front against changeling aggression. Over the course of the few months following the Peace of Canterlot, the Equestrian forces made dozens of vicious counterattacks against the Changeling Empire, winning victory after victory and liberating city after city. The desolate, barren, depopulated ruins of Cloudsdale, the little town of Hollow Shades, and the big cities of Fillydelphia and Baltimare each fell to the triumphant pony forces, the changelings facing defeat on every front. Throughout the process, changelings in the liberated cities were treated mercilessly; retribution-seekers, both from the violently anti-changeling rebel forces and from the liberated ponies (many of which had been instilled with viciously anti-changeling sentiment after the changelings had brought slavery and death to their homes), made relentless attacks against the changeling communities in the formerly occupied cities, with thousands of changelings being massacred in savage reprisals against their kind.
The Fourth (and, in all likelihood, final) Pony-Changeling War finally reached a bloody end at the Battle of Manehattan, a day which would live in both legend and infamy. The combined army of Celestia and the All-Maker descended upon the city, attacking it in a coordinated effort. The changelings had an artifact which disabled non-changeling magic; it mattered little to the advancing pony forces, who relentlessly struck at the enemy with guns and artillery. Thousands of fanatical martyrs from the Temple, led by the Prophet Visionary, swarmed Manehattan, showing a ferocity in battle the likes of which would frighten even the legendary warriors of griffin mythology, emboldened by the knowledge that their enemies were foul, ungodly abominations, and that they would receive passage to the greatest of afterlives if they died fighting them. Thousands of Royal Guards fought alongside them, filled with courage of their own, knowing that they were driving out the last vestiges of Equestria's nemesis, though their dedication paled in comparison to the pure fanaticism of the rebels.
As the changeling forces began to crumble and their defenses were breached by the pony attackers, things very rapidly went downhill for Chrysalis and her army. A major slave revolt broke out against the changelings; tens of thousands of pony slaves and resistance members, seeing the vulnerability of their oppressors, took up arms and struck at the changeling menace, full of contempt for them. The changelings swiftly found themselves surrounded on all sides by enemies, and it quickly became clear that they were fighting a losing battle. The Equestrian armies advanced swiftly through the city, and, before long, Chrysalis' palace was stormed by the attackers, its inhabitants being massacred, at which point fanatical retribution-seekers (from the ranks of both the revolting slaves and the Temple's holy warriors) started destroying every last trace of the changeling regalia, starting with the throne of Chrysalis. The magical black throne was shattered, and the changelings' anti-magic shield evaporated; what followed after that was nothing less than a total and utter bloodbath. Finally able to utilize his powers against the abominations, the All-Maker unleashed his full fury against the enemy; he cast a magic spell across all of Manehattan, disabling the shapeshifting powers of the changelings, and he began unleashing a series of terrifyingly devastating magical attacks against them.
Ponykind had suffered innumerable atrocities at the hooves of the changeling race; hundreds of thousands of ponies had been killed, and millions more had suffered from the vile institution of slavery. Death, oppression, and unfathomable cruelty had all been perpetrated in immense volumes against the innocent; the changeling race was responsible for some of the most heinous crimes the world had ever seen. Ponies didn't just want to punish Chrysalis; they were out for blood. The changeling race had defiled Equestria, and it was time for retribution. Changelings were indiscriminately butchered in droves all across Manehattan, with thousands of ponies, especially the former-slaves (who had developed a special kind of hatred against changelings, after what they had been subjected to), joining the All-Maker in inflicting vengeance upon the abominations. The changelings were utterly massacred; over a hundred thousand of them were slaughtered in the single largest act of genocide in recorded history. Chrysalis fled the city, alongside what little remained of her decimated army, finding temporary refuge in the Griffin Kingdom before returning to her hidden hive. Tens of thousands of changeling civilians attempted to flee northwards to the Crystal Empire, to escape the fury of the retribution-seekers; thousands died in the process, with the All-Maker raining fire from the sky upon them, killing a great many of the fleeing refugees. It wasn't just the changeling people who were targeted, though; iconoclastic fury swept through the ranks of the victorious and vengeful ponies, who demolished countless buildings the changelings had erected, destroying every trace of changeling architecture they could find.
Though a great many pony soldiers died in the process, the Battle of Manehattan proved to be a major victory for Equestria, the final setback for the invading forces. The war had cost the lives of innumerable ponies, and its political ramifications left Equestria as a polarized and sharply divided realm, but there could be no debate; ponykind had won a glorious victory against their enemy, safeguarding their land against the evil menace which sought to enslave their race. On that day, in that city, where vast numbers of changelings lay dead with triumphant ponies desecrating their mangled bodies, ponykind had proven that it would not take a single step back; if anyone perpetrated violence against Equestria, its denizens were willing and able to respond with violence in equal or greater measure. Equestria was not afraid of violence; they had proven that, should anyone attack their country, they would fight with unyielding ferocity to drive the invaders from their soil no matter the cost.
The Changeling Empire was completely shattered from the Battle of Manehattan, and Chrysalis's power was forever broken. Her army had been almost totally wiped out during the war, and her subjects had been butchered in droves, leaving her hive as a broken, depopulated husk of what it once was. Chrysalis herself barely escaped the fury of Equestria; many other changeling nobles had no such luck, being indiscriminately killed during the massacre. Though she would live on, the prospects of her ever being able to fulfill her ambitions of conquering Equestria were dimmer than ever; her empire was in total shambles, and her prestige among her fellow changeling royals fell to an all-time low after her miserable failures in the war. She had become known as a failure of a monarch, and, thanks largely to the All-Maker and his utterly merciless acts of genocide against the changeling race, almost no other hives would be willing to join her in the future; she was incompetent, and other rulers wouldn't risk having their subjects be exterminated at the hooves of raving hordes of anti-changeling fanatics for her sake.
The Temple of Vision became utterly vilified by the changeling race, and the great massacre of Manehattan was extremely virulently condemned by the liberal elites of Equestria and by the populations of the more tolerant cities. Elsewhere in Equestria, especially in the cities that had suffered under changeling occupation, the soldiers of the Temple were hailed as heroes for having inflicted a killing blow to the Changeling Empire and successfully exacting vengeance upon the abominations which had wrought so much devastation upon ponykind. Equestria became more polarized than ever before, regarding the changeling issue; whereas Celestia and the other elites were determined to force Equestrian society to accept changelings, the general population experienced a surge of anti-changeling fervor. Vehement hatred of the changeling race flourished along the frontier and in all the cities where the changelings had perpetrated mass-murder and slavery (especially Cloudsdale, which became a true hotbed of rampant opposition to their race), which would lead to surges of separatist sentiment when the independence referendums started.
Celestia's government was more deeply unpopular than ever before, among almost every demographic. The Temple of Vision and other anti-changeling groups despised her for having tried to force the failed policy of changeling-integration upon Equestria, and for her repeated failures in protecting Equestria from the changeling menace. Liberals and reformers, alongside many changelings, held her in contempt for having surrendered to the rebellion and allowing wanton acts of genocide to be perpetrated against the changeling community. As a consequence, the Celestial regime completely crumbled once the independence referendums took place; city after city broke away from the principality, and Equestria fragmented into numerous smaller states. But Celestia's fall from grace, and the decline of her power, went farther than that; whereas once she was idolized in Equestria, to the point where her imperial cult was the dominant religion in Equestria, she had become very widely opposed by a plethora people from every race and nearly every ideology. Her cult of personality, which had formerly dominated Equestria in every level of society, vanished into obscurity, with her apotheosis being rejected even among the liberal elites which once rallied behind her; alicorn worship became a thing of the past, with ponies committing apostasy in droves. In place of Celestia and the old faith, many ponies turned to the Temple of Vision, with the All-Maker, known as an Equestrian hero for his role in destroying the Changeling Empire, being increasingly worshipped in place of the Princesses. The ToV would become Equestria's fastest growing religion, thriving, especially, along the eastern coast (among the ponies who had the most reason to hate changelings), though its rival faith, led by Peacekeeper, would find popularity in the Crystal Empire and in some of the other more tolerant corners of Equestria.
Of course, Equestria wasn't the only nation to undergo major political upheaval. Across the sea, in the Griffin Kingdom, a massive change in the political climate had taken place, one which would rather seriously jeopardize Equestrian interests in the region. With the support of both Chrysalis and the local griffin aristocracy, Lord Philip Blackwing made a second bid for the Throne of Griffonstone, the Griffin Kingdom erupting into civil war over the crown for the second time. Equestria, having been occupied with their own civil war and the changeling invasion, was able to offer almost nothing to the rapidly crumbling Groverian dynasty; King Guto's forces were swiftly outmatched by the Blackwing rebels, who had significant resources at their disposal from their numerous aristocratic sponsors. Having both superior leadership and a substantially better funded army, the Blackwings decisively defeated the Groverian loyalists, winning victory after victory, striking a killing blow against the ancient royal family.
In a matter of months, the Griffin Kingdom was under the complete control of the Blackwing Clan, their opposition being shattered after a number of major defeats; Guto himself was slain by Lord Philip in battle during the war. The surviving members of the Groverian dynasty fled westwards, into Equestria, along with the talon-full of noble families which had supported Guto during the war, where they formed a government-in-exile. Back home in the Griffin Kingdom, though, His Royal Majesty, Lord Philip Blackwing, King of the Griffins, had secured total dominance, consolidating his hold on the throne and solidifying himself as the indisputable king. With the support of almost all the griffin nobility, and the respect of a great deal of the peasantry, King Philip set about bringing his vision for the Griffin Kingdom to life. A series of major reactionary political reforms were created in the kingdom, greatly empowering the aristocratic elite and establishing an official feudal hierarchy revolving around birthright and noble privilege, with the Blackwing monarchy revolving around the concept that the highborn nobility rule through divine right.
Unfortunately for King Philip's ally, Chrysalis, his victory, while overwhelmingly decisive, came too late for the kingdom to intervene in the Pony-Changeling war. The last of Guto's forces were defeated a week after the changeling defeat in the Battle of Manehattan, just after the fall of the empire. Philip was a griffin of his word, and he had an honor-bound obligation to repay Chrysalis for the assistance she provided his army, but not even the fearless warrior-king was going to attack Equestria all on his own, especially after the triumphant ponies had made a bloodthirsty example of the defeated changelings. The terms of his agreement with the changelings were renegotiated; rather than invading Equestria, as he had previously agreed to do, Philip would indefinitely owe one favor to Chrysalis, redeemable at any time for anything he was capable of providing (short of giving up the kingdom he had worked his entire life to claim, that is).
[Insert something about Chrysalis and the status of her post-war hive]
[Insert list of all the Equestrian districts which declared independence, and the new governments/nations they formed]
Salt-Lick City, Appaloosa, and Dodge Junction, the heartlands of the Temple, were among the most unanimous districts to declare independence from the Celestial regime. Unified through their mutual religious zeal, the ponies of the frontier, alongside their buffalo comrades, created a unified kingdom, establishing an elective absolute monarchy; they would have a hero of the people rule with absolute authority from the people, with no democratic process to hold back progress. At first, the Prophet Visionary (who had become revered by anti-changeling elements throughout Equestria as Saint Visionary the Changeling-Slayer for his heroic involvement in the Battle of Manehattan; even among the irreligious, he had became a famous and beloved symbol of resistance against the once seemingly insurmountable and omnipresent changeling menace) was the most popular choice for a ruler to lead the frontier kingdom, with a large majority of the population voting to crown him, but Visionary rejected the offer, insisting that he was simply a humble servant of the All-Maker and was not worthy of the honor. After some further deliberation, the denizens of the frontier chose to elect the All-Maker himself to lead their nation, an honor which he accepted. He became the God-King of the frontier kingdom (which he had named the Kingdom of Lethe), quickly leading it to a golden era.
The Kingdom of Lethe was a...rather strange country, to say the least, blurring the lines between secular monarchy and divine rule. The All-Maker (who had readopted his old name for secular matters, adopting the title His Heavenly Majesty, God-King Letum of Lethe, Shield of Righteousness and Sword of Justice) was a living relic of a long-gone era of ancient history; an era which he attempted to revive in his new kingdom. Everything about the new realm, from its laws to its cultural values to its architecture was completely new to ponykind, with the frontier region starting to take on a very unique cultural identity separate from normal pony culture. The ruins of Salt-Lick City, a city which had taken a great deal of damage during the civil war, were rebuilt using ancient pre-changeling architectural styles, giving the metropolis an appearance very much so reminiscent of the scattered ruins throughout the Forbidden Jungle. Dress codes, literature, diets, entertainment, and other customs from the pre-changeling era made a similar revival under the All-Maker's watch, though his legal system was perhaps the most intriguing part of the kingdom.
The All-Maker was a hard-ruler, to say the least; under his legal system, almost all crimes were punishable by slow and painful deaths, with truly minor crimes like petty theft being punishable by public torture followed by permanent exile from the Kingdom. Yet, at the same time, he was extremely lenient in what was considered to be a crime; the KoL outlawed very few things, with the All-Maker having very little involvement in his subjects' personal lives, creating almost no regulations (relative to what the Celestial regime had established, anyway). Citizens were allowed to do almost literally anything they wanted, outside of theft, murder (though honorable duels to the death were legal, and vigilante murders of known criminals were legal), rape, and slavery; as long as you weren't a changeling, an alicorn-worshiper, or a Peacekeeper, or sympathetic to any of those three demographics, you could do just about whatever you wanted.
The All-Maker was the arch-nemesis of the changeling community, which he declared hostibus suis imperpetuum, enemies in perpetuity, and actively perpetrated genocide against them at every possible opportunity alongside everyone sympathetic towards them (including the Peacekeepers, who were active supporters of changeling-integration, and alicorn-worshipers, who venerated Celestia, a known changeling-sympathizer). Needless to say, this put him at odds with the remnants of the Celestial diarchy, and created conflicts between his forces and pro-changeling forces; it wasn't uncommon for violent skirmishes to break out between his army and liberal/changeling forces. For everyone else, however, the Kingdom of Lethe was a paradise, where anybody could do anything; just about everything that didn't physically harm another civilized creature, from same-sex marriage to narcotics usage, was freely allowed. The region quickly attracted numerous entrepreneurs and investors, with hundreds of new businesses being opened over the next few years; the near-total lack of laws and regulations, in addition to low taxes, made the frontier a very attractive location for ponies to start business enterprises and for rich ponies looking for a tax haven. Members of the homo and bisexual community, also, flocked to the frontier, where they found a great deal of acceptance (thanks largely to the efforts of the All-Maker and the Temple of Vision, which actively taught that homosexuality was a normal part of society and should not be condemned). It was a strange country, unlike anything ponykind had ever seen, yet it managed to be successful; the influx of wealthy investors helped create a strong economy, and the exceedingly harsh punishments (alongside mass-monitoring of society undertaken by the state Inquisition force, led by the apostle Deep Insight) kept order in the streets.
[Insert status of Celestia and the remnants of the old government]
[Insert post-war status of Razor Wing and the other independent changeling societies]
The world had been changed; all the major powers, Equestria, the Griffin Kingdom, and the Changeling Empire, had experienced drastic changes. An era of newfound nationalism, separatism, and political polarization had swept Equus, and its effects could be felt everywhere, shaking up the political landscape, and even the most concrete of ancient regimes would crumble under its weight. The world was a delicate house of cards, and, through opportunism and luck, a few interested parties had been able to collapse it from within, creating a divided world in flames; a world up for grabs, where new players could enter the scene of global geo-politics, and anyone could make a rise to power from the ashes of the once-unified old order. Nations would rise and fall, leaders would come and go, and life would go on in the shattered world that ponies, griffins, changelings, and buffalo alike now lived in.
Alrighty, here I go:
It's definitely a downer ending to this part of the saga. A logical one, but still a downer. I can't say I have any serious qualms about the plot (save for one) that aren't really based off my own regrets about not doing something about the Temple sooner.
So the All-Maker will actually be meeting face-to-face with Celestia? I take it that means that the All-Maker's conversation with Visionary wasn't just furthering a smoke and mirrors act as might be implied by the "magic-sentient" theory mentioned in Looking Into the Light. (In other words, the All-Maker really does predate the establishment of Equestria and is not just a conglomeration of byproducts from the unicorn wizards of the past who were in fact very anti-changeling.) Granted, I realize that that theory doesn't explain various aspects about the All-Maker, such as the artifacts in the forest. I just want to be sure that that aspect of this RP is resolved.
For some reason, I'm not exactly fond of having a siege on Canterlot trigger the peace talks. I'm wondering if an alternative would be to have it at Whinnyapolis, the gateway to the Crystal Empire. I understand that overthrowing the central government is a goal of the Temple, but it seems secondary to its changeling hatred. So long as the Crystal Empire retains a measure of sovereignty separate from that of the rest of Equestria (that is, Canterlot cannot preempt Crystal Empire law (so long as it is not in direct contradiction to the Constitution) or exercise jurisdiction over its residents, without Princess Cadence's consent), changelings will remain safe there. At least some sectors of Visionary's army, I would imagine, has their sights set on the Crystal Empire to further the divine genocide. Not to mention that Princess Cadence is a lot more zealous as a changeling progressive than the other princesses and had repudiated her former changeling prejudice that she once helped foster. (Celestia and Luna express support for more changeling integration but do little themselves besides sign bills, and Twilight's campaign seems to be mostly limited to Ponyville and occasionally Canterlot to give advice on changelings (though she is not terribly enthusiastic to do so, thinking that changeling leaders are in a better position to do so), and she has no real political power.). So the fall of the Crystal Empire would be more salient, at least symbolically, to the Temple than the fall of Canterlot.
In that case, Princess Celestia will see the siege of Whinnyapolis as a stepping stone to the Crystal Empire, which it had been using as a "safety valve" for changelings (and perhaps even aiding the Peacekeepers in bringing them there, in a more enlightened version of Lopesy Neigh's evacuation plan). Hoping to save the lives of the hundreds of thousands of changelings that have found refuge there, she calls for a temporary ceasefire and then sits down with the Temple to work out a deal. In this situation the Temple doesn't make independence referenda part of their initial conditions. Celestia tries to keep the Crystal Empire a safe haven despite her other concessions, but the Temple finds out about the legal implications of the Crystal Empire's peculiar status, and demands that the concessions apply there too. Desperate, Princess Celestia realizes that she has no choice but to divest Equestria of the Crystal Empire and asks Parliament to authorize a Crystal Empire independence referendum. Princess Cadence, who had originally considered using the Crystal Empire's own forces to fight the Temple, agrees to this plan despite her husband's loyalties to Equestria (although Shining Armor too reluctantly goes along with it). The Temple, despite doubts about Princess Celestia's commitment to her concessions, also agrees on the condition that other municipalities in Equestria have independence referenda of her own, to which Princess Celestia reluctantly agrees. The Crystal Empire referendum returns an overwhelming yes, and the Crystal Empire becomes fully independent. With more free rein to build an army, the Crystal Empire prepares even more for a Temple attack. The debate is more contentious in other cities in Equestria, even Salt Lick City (where Sapphire Quill has taken Visionary's "here to help Equestria" words a little further than perhaps intended). They too, of course, will get their independence down the line.
Because the move for a Crystal Empire independence referendum demonstrated that Princess Celestia didn't completely yield to the Temple, it might help mitigate against the backlash she will suffer down the line.
A final minor nitpicky point: you mention that the rebellion has "widespread support throughout the Equestrian south." I don't think it's totally inaccurate, but Appleloosa, Dodge Junction, and Salt Lick City are more of the mid-west and non-coastal west.
So the All-Maker will actually be meeting face-to-face with Celestia? I take it that means that the All-Maker's conversation with Visionary wasn't just furthering a smoke and mirrors act as might be implied by the "magic-sentient" theory mentioned in Looking Into the Light. (In other words, the All-Maker really does predate the establishment of Equestria and is not just a conglomeration of byproducts from the unicorn wizards of the past who were in fact very anti-changeling.) Granted, I realize that that theory doesn't explain various aspects about the All-Maker, such as the artifacts in the forest. I just want to be sure that that aspect of this RP is resolved.
For some reason, I'm not exactly fond of having a siege on Canterlot trigger the peace talks. I'm wondering if an alternative would be to have it at Whinnyapolis, the gateway to the Crystal Empire. I understand that overthrowing the central government is a goal of the Temple, but it seems secondary to its changeling hatred. So long as the Crystal Empire retains a measure of sovereignty separate from that of the rest of Equestria (that is, Canterlot cannot preempt Crystal Empire law (so long as it is not in direct contradiction to the Constitution) or exercise jurisdiction over its residents, without Princess Cadence's consent), changelings will remain safe there. At least some sectors of Visionary's army, I would imagine, has their sights set on the Crystal Empire to further the divine genocide. Not to mention that Princess Cadence is a lot more zealous as a changeling progressive than the other princesses and had repudiated her former changeling prejudice that she once helped foster. (Celestia and Luna express support for more changeling integration but do little themselves besides sign bills, and Twilight's campaign seems to be mostly limited to Ponyville and occasionally Canterlot to give advice on changelings (though she is not terribly enthusiastic to do so, thinking that changeling leaders are in a better position to do so), and she has no real political power.). So the fall of the Crystal Empire would be more salient, at least symbolically, to the Temple than the fall of Canterlot.
In that case, Princess Celestia will see the siege of Whinnyapolis as a stepping stone to the Crystal Empire, which it had been using as a "safety valve" for changelings (and perhaps even aiding the Peacekeepers in bringing them there, in a more enlightened version of Lopesy Neigh's evacuation plan). Hoping to save the lives of the hundreds of thousands of changelings that have found refuge there, she calls for a temporary ceasefire and then sits down with the Temple to work out a deal. In this situation the Temple doesn't make independence referenda part of their initial conditions. Celestia tries to keep the Crystal Empire a safe haven despite her other concessions, but the Temple finds out about the legal implications of the Crystal Empire's peculiar status, and demands that the concessions apply there too. Desperate, Princess Celestia realizes that she has no choice but to divest Equestria of the Crystal Empire and asks Parliament to authorize a Crystal Empire independence referendum. Princess Cadence, who had originally considered using the Crystal Empire's own forces to fight the Temple, agrees to this plan despite her husband's loyalties to Equestria (although Shining Armor too reluctantly goes along with it). The Temple, despite doubts about Princess Celestia's commitment to her concessions, also agrees on the condition that other municipalities in Equestria have independence referenda of her own, to which Princess Celestia reluctantly agrees. The Crystal Empire referendum returns an overwhelming yes, and the Crystal Empire becomes fully independent. With more free rein to build an army, the Crystal Empire prepares even more for a Temple attack. The debate is more contentious in other cities in Equestria, even Salt Lick City (where Sapphire Quill has taken Visionary's "here to help Equestria" words a little further than perhaps intended). They too, of course, will get their independence down the line.
Because the move for a Crystal Empire independence referendum demonstrated that Princess Celestia didn't completely yield to the Temple, it might help mitigate against the backlash she will suffer down the line.
A final minor nitpicky point: you mention that the rebellion has "widespread support throughout the Equestrian south." I don't think it's totally inaccurate, but Appleloosa, Dodge Junction, and Salt Lick City are more of the mid-west and non-coastal west.
Since I'll be working on a big project for school this week, I don't expect to be writing any formal contributions to the epilogue until Saturday. I'll keep updated, though.
