A Great Enough Need
Upheaval: Reckoning
Chapter 26: A Great Enough Need
“I’m telling you, that cellar you have over there is disrupting this farm’s ley network,” Copper Mane said. “Especially the ones involving fortune. So long as it’s there, your farm will always suffer from a shortage of money, even if you have a monopoly over high demand products.”
“And I’m telling you that we here at Sweet Apple Acres are doing just fine without your ley watchamahooey!” the yellow earth pony filly replied. She looked to her companion, a large, red, earth pony stallion who stared at Copper Mane with a mild hostility. “Ain’t I right, Big Mac?”
“Eeyup.”
Copper Mane shook his head, and turned away. He had come to Ponyville with high expectations when he heard that it was an earth pony settlement. Upon arriving, the dismay nearly made him leave. It was true that there were plenty of earth ponies in the village, and he was heartened to know that its leader was one. However, there was also a sizable population of goats, and birds.
His elders had warned him that the earth ponies of the Heartland would likely still be slaves without Rock Maven's teachings. As Copper Mane explored Ponyville, they were becoming increasingly right. These earth ponies were not wearing chains, but all the trappings of slavery were there. Earth ponies pulled the wagons and carriages, worked the farms, and did all the manual labor, while the goats and birds made themselves comfortable. This was a massive problem that he was attempting to attack, and he had no idea where to begin.
The elders insisted on an isolationist stance, despite the great changes occurring throughout Equestria, but Copper Mane scoffed at the idea. The barrier was no more, opening a clear path to the Heartland, and its inhabitants. This was the time to make pilgrimages to the Heartland. The True Earth Ponies should go out of their way to bring the chosen earth ponies into the fold. For his troubles, he received only scornful reproaches. He went on his own pilgrimage, regardless. If he returned to the Great Delve with a group of earth pony converts, he’d prove that he was right, and more pilgrimages would follow in his wake.
As a start, Copper Mane chose a small earth pony settlement. Ponyville was a strange sight. It sat on acres of arable land. It certainly had farms, but it didn't seem like a farming community at all. When he passed by the center of town, there were a lot of idle earth ponies, birds, and goats. This place must have started as a farming community, then later lost its identity when the birds, and goats settled. He had gone to one of the farms in hopes of using his channeling to help improve its lot. So far, he met no success. He made his way back towards the center of the village to see what else he could do.
“Let go! I still have to see my family’s rock farm!”
“I told you that we’ll take care of it! You've caused enough problems as it is, Pinkie Pie!”
Copper Mane turned towards the sound of the high-pitched shouting, and found a pink earth pony mare being lifted by magic. Several other ponies stood around and watched. That was the Legion’s barding on some of them. The others, mostly earth ponies, looked like ordinary villagers. “Let go of that earth pony, goat!” he shouted. When he saw that nopony else helped, he pulled out his channeling tablet, and focused.
The telekinetic hold around the pink pony broke at his sudden attack. Before anypony could react, he placed himself between the pink pony, and the legionnaires. One of them, a dark blue goat who had been maintaining the telekinesis, shook her head. A few of her mane’s ringlets fell across her face. She studied him for a while, eyes widening at his clothes. “This is Legion business, true earth pony,” she said. “Back away, and keep your weird magic to yourself!”
The pink pony didn't run as Copper Mane had expected. “That stone!” she said. “I got one just like it!” He looked behind him incredulously. A stone just like his tablet? Why would a Heartland earth pony possess a channeling tablet?
Before Copper Mane could even say anything, something struck his face hard. His channeling tablet skittered on the ground while he sprawled across the dirt.
“Oops,” the dark blue goat said. “I meant for that to be a warning tap. You really shouldn't ignore me after attacking my spell.” Her voice lowered to a menacing hiss as she walked closer. “I get really aggressive when I'm ignored.”
Copper Mane staggered to his legs. “You don’t scare me, goat,” he said. “I'll die before I let you oppress earth ponies!”
The goat raised an eyebrow. “Oppress?” she asked. “I wasn't oppressing anypony! Celestia drill my backside, you true earth ponies are so twitchy, you'd cry oppression if somepony hugged you!” She moved past Copper Mane, and went over to the pink pony. “Get to the Night Skimmer, Pinkie Pie.”
Pinkie Pie took another step back. She looked pleadingly at the goat, who was having none of it. “But my family--” she said.
“And what do you plan on doing once you make it there?” the goat asked. “Take on Sablesteel in single combat? You think they’re in danger? You’re putting the Elements of Harmony in danger by separating yourself!”
“I…I...” Pinkie Pie tried desperately to remain defiant, but her lips quivered. “I can’t just do nothing, Nightcanter!”
By the time Copper Mane recovered, he was already surrounded by legionnaires. One of them had his tablet. He tried to take another step towards Nightcanter, but several hooves held him in place.
“You won’t be ‘doing nothing’,” Nightcanter said, her voice took on more comforting pitch. “Leave it to us. We’ll get your family, the Cakes, and whoever else you think is in danger of being assassinated. We'll send them to Canterlot, or wherever you think is the safest.”
Pinkie Pie still looked deflated, but she followed meekly. Nightcanter glanced at Copper Mane before motioning for the other legionnaires. “Oh, and arrest that idiot, will you? Interfering with Legion business and all that.”
The legionnaires shoved Copper Mane roughly.
“Wait! I want to talk to that pony!” Pinkie Pie said.
Nightcanter let out a sigh. “Fine, toss him inside the Night Skimmer. Confiscate his tablet, though.”
The other legionnaires saluted, and led both Copper Mane, and Pinkie Pie away.
Despite Captain Nightcanter’s reassurances, Pinkie found it impossible to sit still inside the Night Skimmer. She barely slept a wink since last night. Every time she closed her eyes for too long, the image of Sablesteel’s wasp-like form standing over those twitching, half-melted corpses jolted her awake. She paced around the hold where Nightcanter’s Squad had tossed the true earth pony. His forelegs were bound with rope. Nightcanter agreed reluctantly to let her talk to him before going to her family’s rock farm.
The hold’s stifling heat, and cramped space suited Pinkie's mood at the moment. Her worries stifled her, and the Legion's methods boxed her in. Sablesteel could be anywhere, doing all sorts of evil things while she was stuck here. Other ponies set out to protect her loved ones, not her. It was the same thing happening since she followed Twilight into the Barrier Lands. While her friends did their part to protect what was important, she spent more time being scolded.
“Do you have any idea as to the sort of trouble you've stirred up, Pinkie Pie? Special Operations has enough on its plate without having to track you down every time you get it into your empty pink head to run off somewhere!” Nightcanter said.
Pinkie's ears flattened. “But Sablesteel said that she was going to kill the ponies who were precious to me!”
“I’m hurt that you’re not worried about me then,” Nightcanter said flatly. “Time to get back to Canterlot.”
“No!”
“I wasn't asking!” Nightcanter’s horn glowed, and Pinkie quickly found her forelegs pressed against her sides in a tight, telekinetic grip. She rose several feet in the air, and remained suspended there. Nightcanter walked closer. “Maybe you haven’t noticed, Pinkie, so let me clear things up for you. You’re not Pinkie Pie, the rock farmer’s daughter, or Pinkie Pie the baker’s assistant anymore. You’re Legionnaire Pinkie Pie, Bearer of the Element of Joy. You are expected to be there when called upon, ready to be at Equestria’s disposal when the time comes. You mess around like this, and you’ll be lucky if the only casualties are a couple of families.” Nightcanter and her squad left the bakery with Pinkie floating helplessly after them.
“Wait,” Carrot Cake said. “There’s no need to be so rough! Pinkie came back here because she was worried about us!”
“Good that you’re so concerned about her because you’re coming with us,” Nightcanter replied. “Pack your essentials, and let’s go, all of you.”
Both Cakes’s jaws dropped. “What?” Cup Cake exclaimed. “We can’t just close on the spot! And how long are we supposed to stay in Canterlot?”
“Until we can make sure you’re not being targeted.” Nightcanter looked back to Pinkie. “So who else should we uproot, and send to Canterlot?”
Pinkie’s lower lip stuck out as she glared at Nightcanter. Tears threatened to burst out of her eyes. “You’re a meanie,” she said. “I thought you were nice when we went to the Everfree together!”
“Why all the anger, Pinkie? Isn't this what you came here to do? You brought this on them, take some responsibility!”
Pinkie pressed her lips together. Responsibility. There was that word again. She thought that responsibility meant being able to take care of the twins, and running the bakery while the Cakes had to be off somewhere. Responsibility never included ponies getting hurt.
Nightcanter was right. By sending her loved ones to Canterlot, she was going to uproot them. She didn't want to uproot anypony. She just wanted them safe. She wished with all her heart that neither the Cakes, nor her own family had to be involved in all of these things. She wished she could be cast a magic spell like Twilight Sparkle, and keep them all safe without making their lives harder. Or she could cast a spell to make Sablesteel not want to hurt anypony. But she wasn't a unicorn. She wasn't even a strong earth pony like Applejack. All she had was…
“Um…do you need something?” the true earth pony asked.
In a blink, Pinkie was in front the true earth pony, grasping his head, and shaking him. “You’re one of those true earth ponies, right?” she asked. She showed him the tablet that had confounded her for several days already. “Can you tell me how to work this thing? I saw you use one! Can I do magic stuff with it? Something like those shields that Twilight makes? Please, please, please, show me!”
“Hold…on...ow!” He yelped when his teeth clamped down on his tongue.
Pinkie let go and backed away. “Sorry, true earth pony,” she said. “Will you show me how to work that tablet now?”
The true earth pony steadied himself, then examined his tongue. “My name is Copper Mane, not ‘true earth pony’. How did you get a channeler’s tablet? Are you a true earth pony? Which clan are you part of?”
“I’m not a true earth pony,” Pinkie replied. “Wait, I am an actual earth pony, but not a true earth pony like you. I mean, I am an earth pony like you, except not like you with the masks, and the weird magic, and the thinking unicorns are goats thing.”
“How did you get this tablet?”
Pinkie quickly narrated her earlier encounter with the true earth ponies. Copper Mane’s eyes widened at the mention of the masked pony. “An elder,” he said. “You said Fangbreaker Fortress. That is all the way up north. You must have met Elder Treefield. He answered the call for reinforcements to that place.”
Pinkie nodded. “Yeah, he was kinda creepy with that mask, and he was always whispering to his friend instead of talking to me. Do your elders--” Pinkie stopped, and shook her head. “What am I doing? No time for random questions!” Copper Mane shrank back when she stepped closer. “Tell me how to put up a shield, or be able to tell if somepony’s going to get attacked. True earth ponies have that weird magic right? Elder Treefield said that I was some kind of channeler, or something. Teach me!”
“I will if you promise not to shake all my teeth loose!” Copper Mane said. He threw his forelegs up, and kept them there until Pinkie backed away. “I’m going to teach you because I respect Elder Treefield a lot for venturing forth unlike the other elders. He must have seen a great deal of talent in you, but apparently couldn't follow through with teachings. I warn you, I’m still a student of ley channeling myself. All I can offer are the basics.”
“Okey do-- Yes,” Pinkie said as seriously as she could. She sat down, and held the tablet Treefield gave her. “Let’s start with a basic shield then!”
Copper Mane looked at her disapprovingly. “Let’s clear some things for you first, Pinkie,” he said. “First, we’re not goats.”
“Duh! Of course we’re not goats! We’re ponies! Wait…you mean unicorns, don’t you? Why do you keep calling unicorns goats?”
Copper Mane frowned, and tried to loosen his restraints. “Because unicorns are a type of goat.”
Pinkie frowned. “No they’re not. They’re ponies!”
“They resemble earth ponies only in the same way lizards resemble dragons. Regardless, keep in mind that we are not like them. Magic is what these goats do. They possess a personal store of power, which they use to bend nature to their wills.”
Pinkie's brow furrowed further. “You think lizards are dragons?”
Copper Mane ground his teeth so hard that Pinkie could hear them. “Fine!” he said. “For the sake of moving past this point, I’m going to call them unicorns. Will that make you happy?”
Pinkie nodded just to please this grouchy pony. Why he was so hung up with names to begin with? Still, she needed a way to protect her loved ones. Nightcanter was right; what was the point of getting to her loved ones if she had no way to stop Sablesteel?
Copper Mane cleared his throat. “As I was saying. Unlike go-- unicorns, earth ponies do not have this personal store of power. What we have is a natural connection to the vast power within the earth that flows through ley lines. Through this connection, we can direct the flow of energy to help us. This is why we do not ‘use magic’, we 'channel ley energy'. Magic is selfish, and unnatural, channeling is harmonious, and part of nature. Do you understand that?”
Pinkie nodded again. She didn't really understand, but she was anxious to get to the part where she could defend her friends. She was beginning to think that these true earth ponies may not like unicorns as much as earth ponies, so it was important for Copper Mane to say that what he was doing wasn't magic.
“Alright,” Copper Mane continued. “Why don’t we try some basic channeling? Hold the stone that Elder Treefield gave you.”
Pinkie sat up straight, and did as she was told. “Okay, what’s next?” she asked.
“Concentrate on your connection to the earth.”
“My what?”
“Your connection!” Copper Mane snapped. “You must have felt it at least once when you accidentally channeled! How else would Elder Treefield have known that you had the gift?”
Pinkie shrugged. “Dunno. He just came out of nowhere after I saved Sharpfangs from a jar of salt falling on his head.”
“And how did you save this Sharpfangs from getting hit by a jar of salt?” Copper Mane asked.
“Oh, that’s easy.” Pinkie grinned. “My Pinkie Sense warned me!”
“What in the hay is a Pi--" Copper Mane shook his head. "Never mind what you call it. Concentrate on it, try to will it to happen.”
“But I can’t just make it happen! It just does when--”
“Hush! Forget about what you think triggers it!” Copper Mane stared intensely at Pinkie, his eyes suddenly knowing. “You've had this ‘Pinkie Sense’ all your life, correct? For all that time you thought that it was just some random, amusing thing that happened to you, and it happened to be useful. You've never needed to find out more, or develop it. It was some quirk, and you were fine with it being that way. Now, you need it to be more than a quirky, helpful thing. You need it to be effective against your problems. Most of all, you need it to be there when you want it, not when it wants to.”
Pinkie pouted, and avoided looking at Copper Mane. She didn't like how close he got to truth. It didn't help that it was only a few minutes ago that Nightcanter was telling her something similar. “Twilight tried to find out more about it,” she muttered.
“Hmph! Let me guess, this Twilight isn't even an earth pony is she?”
“She’s a unicorn.”
Copper Mane snorted. “How sure are you that she didn't find out anything then? She may have found out a lot, and refused to tell you lest you surpass her power!”
“That’s not how Twilight is at all!” Pinkie said. “You haven’t even met her!”
Copper Mane turned his nose up. “I don’t need to meet her. Goats are all alike. ”
“You’re doing it again! Unicorns aren’t goats!”
“We’ll get nowhere with that. Go back to willing your power to come forth. Concentrate!”
Pinkie held the tablet, and stared at it hard. She stared until the muscles in her face ached, and drops of sweat dripped down her chin. “Nothing’s happening,” she said at last.
“That’s because you weren't concentrating,” Copper Mane said. “You were just staring at the tablet, and trying to frown your eyebrows off. Try to recall the last time you used your power: the sensations, the state of your mind…try to will them forth.”
Pinkie was about to go back to the salt jar incident when she suddenly remembered that something more recent had happened. There was that time inside Clover the Clever’s home. What had she been feeling back then? There was a deep curiosity for what was going on, and this heightened awareness of all those beautiful colors. There was…
“There!” Copper Mane said.
Pinkie looked down, and saw that the gems embedded onto the stone tablet were indeed glowing. As soon as she looked down, however, the light faded, and the gems became inert once more.
“Don’t stop!” Copper Mane said. “Keep doing what you were doing a while ago!”
Pinkie tried again, harder this time. The floor beneath them suddenly lurched. “Did I do that?” she asked.
Copper Mane looked around him. “Perhaps,” he said. “Or this vessel is moving.” He hopped over a nearby porthole to check. He swallowed a lump in his throat, beads of sweat already forming by his forehead. “We’re flying,” he said. “Nopony said anything about flying!”
“Duh!” Pinkie said. “We’re in an airship. Relax! Tell me what to do next!”
“This is unnatural!” Copper Mane said. He huddled by one corner. “Birds fly, not earth ponies!”
It was Pinkie’s turn to raise an eyebrow. “Are you scared of flying?” she asked.
“S-scared? No! I’m indignant! This is no way to transport a true earth pony!”
Pinkie shrugged, and went back to concentrating on the tablet.
“It’s useless now,” Copper Mane said. Pinkie glanced at him, and saw that his eyes watered a bit. He looked a little green around the edges as well. “If we’re flying, we’re far away from the ground. You can’t channel here.”
The words of discouragement threatened to smother the sliver of hope that Pinkie had been nurturing. With a defiant shake of her head, she concentrated even harder. She was starting to get what Copper Mane was talking about. It was like…it was like moving a limb she never knew existed, like a fifth leg or an extra head. She was getting somewhere, and she didn't want Copper Mane’s pessimism to ruin things.
Then, as if answering her stubborn optimism, the entire hold began to glow softly. Faint rainbow colors, just like the ones she saw back inside Clover the Clever’s refuge, lingered around the wooden walls. Unlike the previous time she saw them, the colors didn't flow like water, and seemed barely there. “I did it…” she whispered. She looked at Copper Mane, unable to keep her face straight as excitement flooded her. “I did it!” The gems on her tablet shone brightly.
Copper Mane stared at her, his mouth hanging open. “That’s impossible,” he said. “Miles from the earth, what could you possibly be channeling?” He dragged himself forward and looked down when his forelegs struck the wooden floor. “Of course,” he said. “Ley energy flows into trees, and small quantities are retained in the wood…” He looked around. “Probably in the metal too. I’ve never heard of being able to channel with such minute quantities.” He looked at Pinkie, his eyes narrowing. “Try to do something with the ley energy."
“Do something?” Pinkie asked. She was put at a loss so suddenly that the gems on her tablet began to wane. With a gasp, she concentrated for an entire minute before daring to say anything else. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Look down,” Copper Mane said.
Pinkie did so. The wooden floor swirled with faint colors, as if she was standing on a very shallow pool. Suddenly, the colors below her face rippled, gently at first, then more violently as it went on. Her tail twitched. On impulse, she moved her head slightly to the side before staring at it. It seemed that some of the ripples somehow climbed up her leg, and was flowing through her tail.
Copper Mane’s drinking glass struck the floor where the rippling was, and shattered.
Pinkie’s eyes widened. “What was that for?” she asked.
“Well, you can now replicate what you did before,” Copper Mane said.
“I can do that without the fancy swirling colors!”
Copper Mane's eyes narrowed. “You've barely scratched the surface of what you can do,”
Pinkie grabbed Copper Mane’s head with both hooves again. “Then, help me scratch the surface!”
“No shaking!” Copper Mane said. He put his forelegs up before she could even begin. “I’ll help you. It’s my responsibility to make sure that a channeler with so much potential grows in the true earth pony way.”
“Wait,” Pinkie said with a tilt of her head. “Does that mean we’re friends now?”
Copper Mane looked at her suspiciously, his lips seemingly halfway to “yes” when he stopped himself to think. “You are friends with creatures that I do not wish to be friends with, Pinkie Pie,” he said. “But I think I can be your friend.”
Pinkie answered with a smile. “Well, it’s a start!” she said. The cheer quickly melted away. “Oh no…that means Sablesteel will try to kill you now as well…”
Copper Mane stared at her in alarm. Before he could say anything, however, a pony called out from above decks. “Canterlot in sight!”
Pinkie dashed towards a nearby porthole, and poked her head out. The white spires of Canterlot were indeed by the horizon. She let the breeze blow her mane about, reveling in the wave of coolness that blew away the stagnant heat of the hold.
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my god. I hate him. I was waiting for Pinkie to tell him to stop insulting her friends "Or Else." only, she would say it with her Pinkamina way, scaring the fuck out of copperballs.
> “I’m telling you, that cellar you have over there is disrupting this entire farm’s ley network, especially the ones that affect fortune,” Copper Mane insisted. “So long as it’s there, your farm will always suffer from a shortage of money even if you have a monopoly over high demand products.”
well that explains a lot, no wonder the Apple family keeps having money problems
hmm, guess the threat of Pinkie being brainwashed by the True Earth Ponies hasn't gone away, though at least this Copper Mane, seems to be at least somewhat progressive
inb4 Pinkie is some kind of 'Chosen One'...
and since when was Pinkie the element of Joy instead of Laughter?
I get that they're basically the same thing, guess Joy is a shorter word then Laughter, or maybe it's Heartland vs. Barrier Lands?
switching to a different plot line after a pretty big cliff hanger: check
introducing yet another plot line/bringing an old one back: check
Nightcanter doing/saying suggestive stuff: uncheck...
True earth ponies seems to use their magic at their own advantage, as is they were superior the the two other kind of ponies.
I sure hope Pinkie will be able to master it, and use it to help her and her friends in many way, giving her a more important role throughout the story, because, like you said in this chapter, she was kind of.. doing nothing while in the Barrier lands...
Also, I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO DASH, AAAAAHHHHH
Very nice, as always.
Nice, i didn't have to wait for it to update on EQD.
Well, this is probably a good development. Pinkie needed a TEP mentor to teach her about using earth pony magic, and this guy sounds young and flexible enough to potentially be influenced by her to have less stupid opinions about pegasi and unicorns. A friend in need indeed.
inb4 Pinkie becomes a racist (or would it be specist?)
In Pinkie we believe.
Tell me why, with stats 320-6, Upheaval wasn't shown in the 'Featured Box' even once, while some $#!&, dull shipping stories with under 5k words hover there indefinitely. It deserves 10x more attention than it gets right now! My hope in most people is lost...
Fuck yes
dl.dropbox.com/u/12875849/reactions/40135a.png
1050178 It has been featured once, actually. That's how I first found this story, but it was a few months ago.
1050178 IIRC, the featured box works on how many views/thumbs up/favorites a story gets over X amount of time and though while Reckoning does have 1,490 views (highest number one chapter has gotten), it accumulated those likes over the months since it got posted, instead of under a day/a few hours that is required to get into the featured box, plus not having cover art probably dissuades some from taking a look at it
1050999 I also vaguely remember it being in the featured box
1048814
Well, many people have different names for the Elements. In some stories, I have heard of "Laughter" being called "Joy," or "Humor." Or, "Magic" being called "Friendship." I guess it's all really just names though. The effects are the same no matter what it's called.
1050178
Speaking as someone who has been reading/writing fic of various sorts since the days of Usenet and email mailing lists, the sad truth is that shipping stories, regardless of quality, will always win out in terms of number of views over almost anything else.
Yeah, if Copper Mane is an example of a typical True Earth Pony, then I lost all confidence in that group. They seem nothing but a bunch of racial supremacists. In fact, I worry about what might happen when Copper finds out that the Cakes' foals are a 'goat' and 'bird'.
Gaaaaah I swear, if that Copper Mane guy is going to appear regularly and doesn't get an attitude adjustment at some point, I'm going to somehow break reality and slap him silly.
But at least Pinkie's finally making some progress in channeling.
I would love to see Luna ram her horn up Black Rose's ass and................then.........Light the magic up. *Evil grin*
1050178
A number of reasons. Trying to match shipping stories for popular approval in most fandoms is a waste of time, for one.
And secondly, Upheaval's an extremely unpleasant story. Note that I do not say 'poorly written' - it's just that it's all about horrible things happening mostly to ponies that don't deserve it, with the vague hope that our heroes will win out in the end and the grim certainty they will have a whole lot more shit smeared all over them between now and then. The vast majority of FiM fans don't want that in their fanfic, no matter how well written a story may be (And Upheaval's damn well written). So Upheaval's going to lose out even to non-shippy stuff that doesn't spend all its time drowning the Mane 6 in their own manure.
Don't mistake choice of content for writing skill. If you gave Upheaval's plot skeleton to one of the bad writers on this site to flesh out, the resulting work would be just as shitty as it was grimdark. Give Visiden any basic shipping plot to work with, you'd get something good, because Visiden's actually good at this.
1056001
Ehh... sadly, I have to agree. It's a shame that not many people like stories like that.
The contrast of seemingly innocent characters thrown abruptly in the world of pain is why Upheaval is so appealing to me... oh and the worldbulding, I love the worldbuilding *drools*
I plan to write my own story in the near future and it will be grimdark as buck (when my two favourite movies are "The Thing" and "Aliens", you can guess how much bloody mess it's gonna be). I just hope that I won't be discouraged to continue it, when it gets little attention because of the content I choose... maybe I should force myself to write some random ship to gain followers first... hmmm
1049164
I think racist. They are all species of ponies ... huh, you know it's kind of a grey area ... i guess both could be correct
1056135
It's not a shame - it is what it is. I do not and cannot fault people for refusing to read stuff they don't like, and in writing grimdark stuff you just have to accept that unless you are very, very good, your potential reader base is massively reduced because you are writing misery porn. There's a short list of grimdark stories I have begun reading, found to be bloody well written, but have put away unfinished because the quality of the writing couldn't make up for the stinking morass of misery the content was to wade through - and, to be honest, this upcoming 'ophidite slavery' arc with Rainbow will be the testing point for whether I add Upheaval to that pile, too. It'll be a shame - I've followed Upheaval from the start - but I won't read actively unpleasant crap just because it's technically well executed. Cupcakes was well-executed, after all.
1056225
Would you mind to mention some of those bloody well written grimdark stories that you dropped? I find myself highly resistant to any stinking morasses of misery, so I don't mind to wade through them in order to enjoy a particularly well written story.
Some people read/watch "kind" stories to escape their cruel reality. I, on the other hand, prefer the darker ones because then I can see that my life isn't as bad as I think it is... it could have been A LOT worse
Oh and the 'ophidite slavery' arc featuring RD and SR is something I am really looking forward to... dunno why
1056310
'Everfree' would be the big one. Vietnam War-style war stories about a campaign to uproot a Luna-led insurgency in the Everfree Forest. The Mane 6 are heavily OOC, but in a way that's clearly extrapolated from their base characters, it's very evocatively written - and it's just fucking horrible. I think you'd rather like it.
And I do apologize if I come off preachy - this sort of thing hits a nerve for me.
1056376 I can seem to find 'Everfree' through the search, care to provide a link?
1056709
I think it's this.
1056819
That's the one.
Finally some progression on the Pinkie front! I have to say that the only gripe in the previous story was the lack of Pinkie and this story is much better, though still painfully slow on the Pinkie. Still I eagerly await a new chapter with more Pinkie learning on how to be effective and hopefully her doing something important (other than creating new enemies to deal with).
1066262 oh god, you're right...
Visiden's probably either facepalming or laughing his(?) ass off because someone finally got that after 3-4 months of it slipping under the radar, amazing job Visiden *slow clap*
and isn't crimson just a shade of red anyway?
Is it bad I'm waiting for a true earth pony to pull out a bong? Or get a drum circle going? Because these guys seriously strike me as hippies.
True Earth Ponies would be cool if they weren't the pony version of the KKK, geez
1068182 I have to agree with Ninja_Fish, the True Earth Ponies strike me more as a KKK group, rather then hippies, given all the racism, though I can't really find a real world group to compare them, because they have both 'unnatural' powers and are racist
I love the way Pinkie Pie's story is going... but those "true earth ponies" rub me the wrong way! I'm partly waiting for Pinkie Pie to give them a deadly look and just say "Look I've been tolerant for a while. But enough is enough. Cut it... or else...
"
“As I was saying. Unlike go-unicorns, we earth ponies do not have this personal store of power. What we haven instead is a natural connection to the vast amount of power that flows through the earth through ley lines. Through this connection, we can direct the flow of energy to help us. This is why we do not ‘use magic’ we channel ley energy. Magic is selfish and unnatural, channeling is harmonious and part of nature. Do you understand that?”
If i understand this right, then Unicorns using their own magic pool which is inside their bodies is selfish and unnatural, but using the magic whcih flows through earth, grass, metal, trees and stone is supposed to be harmonious and part of the nature?
If it really would be part of the nature then why didn´t the Earth ponies in Equestria ever made a way to use that earth magic?
Oh well, i hope Pinkie starts to grow not only in strength but also in characters as it is true, she needs to take more responsibility for her actions/words.
Up until now I absolutely loved the True Earth Ponies. Then I realized they were Druids and I
. Who cares about cure spells when you can turn everything around you into nothing but fire and lightning with arcane magic?
It makes you wonder why Terroto hasn't developed ley energy magic for the legion seeing as how
1. He rules the earth giving him a very strong connection to it
2. He likes earth ponies
3. Presumably he'd always be on the lookout for new weapons the legion could develop
Unless there's something inherently evil about it, I'd think he'd have developed channeling far stronger then the true earth ponies and would teach it to his legion.
>What we haven instead
I think you mean "have"
I don't like "true earth ponies" calling unicorns and pegasi, goats and birds. Because somepony is gonna end up calling Luna
A GOAT BIRD!! And then I am gonna have to beat somepony to death with his/her own spine.
Omg man I love this story so far and one thing I'm going to do for my dnd group when I finish it is run a barrier lands campaign!
1693440
seeing as how "racists" the channelers are, i gess it would be hard to bring them in an army that need all three ponykinds
Boy, this sound familiar. HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHM! I WOUNDER WHY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!