A prequel to Racing to the Rainbow (set during Season 2), in which Twilight Sparkle (in her old home at Tomorrowland) says that she will go to Moondancer’s party.

whoa what the fuck

@BlackPuma  
And as long as nobody claims theirs is right.

The elements require their bearers to be very connected to the virtues they are associated with; even if they could have bonded to the ponies other than the mane 6, that doesn’t mean that any group of five friends plus Twilight would have worked at all. It’s incredibly unlikely that Twilight’s Canterlot friends embody the right virtues.
 
This is compounded by the fact that the only known book that had the location of the elements was in Ponyville, and that the elements were in the Everfree Forest.

@BlackPuma  
You can argue any number of things. As you yourself just said, we don’t know the forces in play. As such, this speculation is even more baseless than is typical around here. ;P

@Background Pony #30AC  
Destiny or not destiny, there is always chance of failure. Current Mane 6 succeed several times for various reasons, but that’s not means another Main 6 will too.

@BlackPuma  
In this case wouldn’t it make more sense for DESTINY to work with whoever rose to meet the challenge rather than having to require 6 individuals from across the planet to all some how converge to do it.  
Thats why the mane 6 are all ponyville locals, with the exception of twilight, since ponyville was where it was twilight set off to find the elements from, with whoever was around at the time. Logic would suggest twilight could just as easily have set off from canterlot with 5 different friends, to find the elements and confront Nightmare Moon, and gotten the same result.

@BlackPuma  
Alternatively, it could be Twilight who’d get replaced. Or, if it’s really destiny, fate might have found some other way to drag Twilight into the place it had chosen for her, putting things back on track as though she had never taken this little detour

@Eeveeinheat  
why wouldn’t they?

@Background Pony #30AC  
I doubt it.

I’m not really seeing how this would have been doomed Equestria.  
Wouldn’t it just have meant that Twi, Lyra, Colgate, Lemon Drop, Twinkleshine and Moondancer would have been the mane 6 instead of the regulars?

 
Dalek Time Controller is not pleased.

@TheAntiCat  
that’s true

@Evowizard25  

 
And you know this… how? For all we know, Princess Celestia had an entirely different plan in mind. But when Twilight wrote to her, freaking out about Nightmare Moon’s return, Celestia changed her game plan.

Also, we know what would have happened: >>930724

@aj55  
That’s assuming that they could have even used the elements. The main 6 are the bearers for a reason.

holy crap fancy seeing this here, forgot it existed

@Evowizard25
 
Twilight was not sent to Ponyville so she could confront Nightmare Moon. She was sent to find friends who could help her use the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon. Or at least that’s how it seems from where I’m sitting.
 
With that being the case, if Twilight had shown herself capable of finding those bonds in Canterlot, would Celestia have sent her to Ponyville?

… Moondancer, Minuette, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine… and even Lyra… could’ve been the elements of harmony… all they needed to do was go to Ponyville, get the elements at the castle and reform Nightmare Moon…

@Scrounge  
Hmm, not true. Celestia knew Nightmare Moon was already coming, so whether or not ‘Twilight’ did was irrelevant. She’d have sent her anyways.

@Antonyourknee  
@Scrounge  
I probably should have mentioned that in this scenario, I’m not sure Twilight would have been sent to Ponyville at all, since she never sent the letter to Celestia about Nightmare Moon.