A super spoilery peek into the future of The Chase · 7:53pm Mar 15th, 2015
Warning, read ahead at your own risk. This short story has some major revelations for The Chase and future events. It has characters not introduced just yet. But for those who read carefully and pay attention, it is a revealing look at what is to come. The comments are bound to be full of spoilers, so read this posting at your own risk. Thorough discussion and dissection is encouraged.
At last, it was time to spend a quiet moment alone with his wives. The foals were all sleeping, from the oldest to the youngest, leaving the house quiet. Everything was perfect and life was good.
Moonbow was back from her excursion to the Shetland Isles military academy, Boadicea had returned from Canterlot, and Sentinel was glad his entire family was once again under one roof. It was difficult to be apart, but each of them had their duties.
Sentinel gave a hopeful glance to Diamond Tiara. The earth pony mare looked exhausted. It was Diamond Tiara that looked after everything, ran the house, and scheduled the family’s many responsibilities. She still had her glasses on and her mane was pulled back into a tight bun that sat just behind her ears. She was the prettiest when she was businesslike.
“Can you tell me a story?”
And there goes the entire night, Sentinel thought to himself. Looking down, he spied a little sooty pink filly standing between his front hooves, looking up at him with wide adoring eyes. She was almost a duplicate of her mother, only her pelt was a muted shade of pink, something she got from her father.
“Sentinel, of all the things you had to give to our foals, one of them had take after you and be nocturnal,” Diamond Tiara said in a low mutter.
“Persimmon Punch, you should be in bed,” Sentinel said as he stared down at the filly staring up at him. He heard snickering from across the room. “Persi, we spent some time together earlier… we adults haven’t had a chance to spend time with one another for a while… this was supposed to be our time together.”
“Are you going to make more brothers and sisters for me?” Persimmon asked.
More snickering. Looking up, Sentinel gave Boadicea the stinkeye before looking down at Persimmon. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with your grandmother, Berry Punch.”
The filly nodded. “Yup.”
“Go to bed… please?” Sentinel asked.
“If you want me to go to bed it is going to cost you,” Persimmon replied.
Rolling his eyes, Sentinel summoned his patience. “If I tell you a story, you’ll just ask me for one more. You always do. Why should I believe you?”
“Just one story this time… please?” Persimmon wrapped herself around her father’s leg and clung to him, knowing that he was far too gentle to even try to shake her off.
“No scary stories about wolves,” Diamond Tiara said.
“No stories at all,” Sentinel said in reply. “Help, I have something on my leg.”
“Serves you right. You just wouldn’t leave me alone that night.” Reaching up with her foreleg, Diamond Tiara released her mane from her bun, shook her head, and allowed her mane to fall around her neck.
Persimmon squealed as her father began to walk across the room. When they neared the sofa, she let go, watched as Sentinel laid down upon the sofa, and then jumped up onto the sofa to be with her father. With a bounce, she climbed up on his back and laid down, getting herself comfortable for story time.
“Once upon a time, there was a foal. He had adventures, fell in love, became a knight, grew up, and tried to live happily ever after, but he had a very annoying filly that didn’t know when to go to bed. The end.”
“Daddy, that’s not a story,” Persimmon said.
“Yes it was.” Sentinel turned his head around and looked at Persimmon. “You never said it had to be a long story.”
“Am I going to have to get a lawyer?” Persimmon asked.
“A lawyer?” Sentinel gave an incredulous stare to his filly. “Where do you come up with this stuff?”
“Mama’s a lawyer. I stand at the door and listen.” Persimmon looked over at her mother and smiled. “Now… story please?”
Heaving a resigned sigh, Sentinel tried to think of a story. Persimmon’s small body was warm against his back. He could feel her breathing on his withers. She smelled of lavender and pine oil soap.
“How did you become a knight?” Persimmon asked.
“Oh no… that’s a scary story,” Sentinel replied. He became aware of three sets of eyes staring at him. Moonbow was smiling. Boadicea the griffoness was sharpening her riphook. Diamond Tiara shrugged. Sentinel, confused, wasn’t sure what to make of Diamond Tiara’s unspoken communication.
“Sentinel, just give her the short version. And don’t make it too scary,” Moonbow said.
“You can’t give me the short version! And I want a scary story!” Persimmon insisted.
“Look, if I tell you this story and add in a few scary parts, will you go to bed?” Sentinel asked. The sofa was soft and Sentinel was feeling weary. It felt nice to just lay down have a quiet moment.
“Will you tell me how you lost your eye?” Persimmon asked. “Nopony will tell me.”
“That’s a different story… that came after my knighthood,” Sentinel replied.
“Oh…” Very much against her will, Persimmon yawned. “So… what happened?”
Closing his eyes, Sentinel lost himself in a moment of quiet reflection, thinking back to a springtime that felt like a lifetime ago. His parents were celebrating their first anniversary. Both sets of twins had just been born. Equestria was recovering from the worst winter since the time of the windigos. With spring, a dark shadow fell upon the land.
“I was still a foal myself. I was very young… looking back, I can see why my father was so furious with me, but at the time, I didn’t not understand why he was so angry. It was the spring of Sombra’s Shadow. A group of cultists began to worship Sombra’s fallen form, and he was gaining strength. Nopony knew it at the time. Once Luna realised there was a problem, Sombra’s fallen shadow had become quite strong.” Sentinel paused for a moment, trying to get his thoughts together. “It was supposed to be my task… to hunt down Sombra’s fallen shadow and put an end to it if I could. I was being prepared for it… trained. It was something I would do once I grew up… but it did not happen that way.”
“Where you and mama married?” Persimmon asked.
Sentinel blinked. “What? No… not yet. Persi, we were still very young. We were still trying to figure each other out. But your mother is a part of this story.” Taking a deep breath, Sentinel wondered where to begin. “I found out about the danger and discovered that Sunset Shimmer had been asked to hunt down and destroy Sombra’s fallen shadow. My father’s life was in danger… your grandfather…” Sentinel fell silent, unable to speak.
“I’ve listened to your orb thingies. I know who grandfather is,” Persimmon said. She pressed her face into her father’s neck, trying to ease her father’s sadness.
“You never got to meet him,” Sentinel said in a raspy voice. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, my father was in danger. And so were my siblings. They shared Sombra’s blood. And Sombra’s shadow was supposed to have been mine… my fight. When I found out that the revenge I was being prepared for was being taken away from me, I was a very naughty colt. I willfully defied my father’s instructions… I disobeyed Luna’s commands. I did some very bad things, but I did them for what I believed to be good reasons.”
There was a clang of metal as Boadicea set her riphook down upon the table.
“I wanted revenge… I foolishly believed it was my right, I believed that it was owed to me. It shames me to admit this, but it was something I fixated upon, even though nopony knew it. It was the goal that defined my foalhood. It was the reason why I did everything I did. It was why I worked so hard and gave everything I did my best effort. I had some lofty aspirations.”
“Revenge is never good… it never makes things better, daddy,” Persimmon said.
“I know,” Sentinel replied. “I know… now where was I? Ah yes… I began to plan. I focused all of my energies hunting down Sombra. Sunset Shimmer had been given his horn, his physical remains. It worked like a compass, always pointing to the direction where Sombra’s shadow was hiding. It was then I did the first of my many offenses… I committed theft, and it wouldn’t be the last time either.”
“You stole the horn?” Persimmon asked.
Sentinel nodded. “Yes I did. I used my shadow magic… and I stole it. I had everything planned. Stealing it wasn’t enough, I had to get away with it too… meaning I had to leave home.”
“You ran away from home?” Persimmon’s eyes were wide as she stared at her father.
“I did more than that. I enlisted the help of my sisters and my friends. With the Cutie Mark Crusaders, I stole my father’s airship. It was actually your mother’s idea. Scootaloo was our pilot. We took The Scorned Mare and we headed north, going where the horn pointed.”
“And you just got away?” Persimmon asked.
“Well, I thought we did. I thought that everything was going to be okay somehow. Nopony stopped us. Nopony boarded us. We made it to the Crystal Empire,” Sentinel replied.
“And there we discovered that we had not got away clean. Shining Armor seized control of The Scorned Mare and forced us down. Twilight Sparkle was waiting for us… and she was mad… the worst of her anger was reserved for Scootaloo. Scootaloo got the worst of the wing slapping, but there was plenty to go around,” Diamond Tiara said as she reached back and began to rub her backside in an absent minded manner.
“And just when we thought it could not get any worse—”
“Luna showed up. And she brought me with her,” Moonbow said, interrupting Sentinel.
“So there we were, just outside of the Crystal Empire, a bunch of foals that had just gotten themselves into the sort of trouble that becomes the stuff of legends. We survived a Luna lecture… she was using the Canterlot Voice… it stretched on for hours,” Sentinel said.
“But if you got caught, how did you become a knight?” Persimmon asked.
Straight faced, Sentinel craned his head around to look Persimmon in the eye. “Luna told us that we were going to finish what we had started… that we were going to put an end to Sombra’s shadow… or that we would not come home at all. She had us all outfitted and supplied… and then she sent us north, up to the top of the world.”
“She sent me along to look after them,” Moonbow said.
“It was the worst punishment that could have been given to us,” Sentinel said. “The top of the world is covered in endless ice… and it was the hiding place of Sombra’s shadow…”
Welp, Bucky obviusly dies
2880336
Perhaps.
2880339 Implying Sombra's Shadow, Implying bucky does the paiting thing in the future
2880341
No, Bucky does die. The Chase ends with a funeral. I was just being silly.
2880343 I always knew you were a monster Kudzu, so whats the name of the sequel? The End?
2880346
This was just a snippet of story I had floating around. There is no sequel.
2880352 Kudzu the destroyer of hope
There's a lot to take in here. And this is just the sanitized, Persimmon-safe version. It should be fascinating to see it as it happens.
I've just realised how far the hooks of this story have sank into my heart. I had a vision of sentinel swallowing misty-eyed as he tries to think of how best to tell the story to his daughter.when this saga finally reaches it's end I do believe that I will have to have a little bit of therapy to recover.
Huh...
*coughs* I freaking hate you. KUDZUUUUU MY FEELS HAVE BROKEN I HAVE BEEN SQUEEING FOR THE PAST 10 MINUTES WHY DID I READ THIS WHYYYYHYHYYYYY *sniffles* Anyways... There is a lot here. You must have posted this because drastic changes will happen recently, namely the foals being born. I feel like Boadicea is the result of either Lugus and Yew or Bucky and Belisama, but I feel like leaning towards Buckysama (Official ship name now). I get the unshakable feeling that everything will change upon the foals being born and the caring that ensues. Yay. Speculation. Fun. *cries*
thats it... i hate kudz... he showed us too much...
now we will have to wait for long time to see this stuff happen... this is some heavy shit
you can't just drop this on us
2880421
Boadicea is not Sentinel's sister. She is his wife.
And no, she does not come from Lugus and Yew.
2880428 Yeah, Kudzu you have no right to drop a feels-bomb on us. Even if you warned us before reading... YOU CAN'T DROP THESE BOMBS
2880437 Oh there was no real specified age ugh this is why I don't like speculation *dies*
2880437 now it's worse... we need to guess who she is, how did they meet... does he have more wifus like his dad? does he have more foals?
2880457
Read the story... what does the story say about other foals?
So another side story?
2880490
Nope. Just a short snippet of a story. A peek. This is not part of a another story... just a story that wanted to be told.
2880504
If I could jump into your mind to just know the whole story I'd still not be satisfied because then there would be nothing to know
Glur...glarg...gush...gasp....
"I hope to recover my talking skills eventually...."
Typo? Or does a certain old griffon now roam the world without an eye?
2880457
Tannis and Agnetha, perhaps?
2880996
Bucky was dead... he had no need of it. And Sentinel is now one of the kings of the griffons...
2881022
Ah, ok. I hope losing an eye doesn't become tradition for Bucky's royal griffon line.
Diamond tiara is obviously one of Sentinels wives and also a lawyer apparently. Sentinel found himself a nice griffin to settle down with named Boadicea. My guess is she is a raptor hence the riphook. Moonbow is likely an instructor or cadet at the Shetland isle military academy. Most likely instructor, or she might be helping build it.
2880343
you always say that but you never say who's funeral
2881294 Actually he never said it was a "who´s" funeral...it can be, very well, Equestria´s funeral, its final day, while the lasts immortal gather to watch the end of everything....
2881294
This little segment of the story.... when are we right now in the timeline? 20 year later from the current chapter?
I feel like Bucky is either dead, or banished somewhere
Also I feel like a terrible person, but i found a typo in this... in the last part 'It' instead of 'I'
Well... the only spoilers here for me are the name of his filly and that he's lost an eye.
We all know Bucky will die, and you've hinted a a griffon for Sentinel.
Edit; The BCF, is it a point where it does not contain spoilers?
2880346 Don't forget he still has the prequel that he wants to finish writing.