To split an Element is a crime against nature. It should be unbreakable. Indivisible. Perfect.
No wonder our world has shattered. Without the glittering illusion of Harmony, we fight with weakened flesh. Our goddess, bathed in fire.
The power of Kings has corrupted all that we hold dear.
And still more danger lies ahead.
5 1 4 2 2 9
__________________________
Clover's Corner:
You may be wondering what this subsection is, and why there is an annoying title cluttering up your neat and tidy screen. Good question! Under this introduction lies a series of explanatory vignettes from the 'wisest of the wise', Clover the Clever. Each of her spiels attempts to clarify some of the background mechanics of the world of Hexed.
Sometimes she might even answer reader questions.
While hopefully amusing, this section is not necessary for a casual reader. Highly spurious pseudo-science may be included.
Chapter A
Chapter B
Chapter C
Chapter D
Chapter E
Chapter F
Chapter G
__________________________
In other news, credit where credit is due:
Many cutie-mark images were borrowed from the excellent Maximillian Veers, whose gallery appears to have dropped off the face of the interblags. It used to be here. My condolences to his internet family.
Similarly, ZuTheSkunk has devised a wonderful quill vector, and Grendo11 a cloud, both of which I have used and thoroughly abused. They ended up pink, to my eternal shame. Mento2 has a lovely Clover The Clever vector, which I ruthlessly scribbled on, in order to make her green.
Speaking of Clover, she seems to enjoy her images, and has used a couple of screencaps to illustrate points. These are property of Hasbro, their design team, and all their proper affiliates and sub-affiliates. Etcetera ad infinatum.
Anything else was almost certainly the result of a fool attacking Photoshop. There were few survivors.
Yes, it is very epic. Can't wait to see what happens next.
P.S. your chapter break thingies are really cool.
It does have the feel of the start of something epic. I like your attention to magical detail, and the Clarification Corner is great. Fantasy lovers will find a lot to appreciate about this, I think.
All I can say is that it looks pretty damn awesome. Looking forward to the next chapter.
The Illiad was epic. Lord Of The Rings was epic. Gilgamesh was epic. I'll keep up with this story for now, but be very careful about welcoming yourself into the hallowed halls of "epic" fiction...
Now, this is going to be interesting. I'll probably have more useful feedback on the next chapter.
615049 What he/she said. (Never can tell on the Internet...) I almost didn't read this because of that self-serving description. Glad I did, though.
I look forward to seeing what happens next. From the looks of it, I'm expecting the magical equivalent of a matter/antimatter reaction. That, or some kind of thaumic backflow fundamentally altering the very nature of the Elements of Harmony. Or the universe as a whole. Or both.
Also, I love the Clarification Corner. Well, really, I love good technobabble, whether sci-fi or fantasy. You've got yourself another follower.
Oh, that is so not good.
The whole 'vanishing' thing, not the story. I loved that.
Nice, I like how u discribe things, it's a skill your born with, and u clearly were born lucky, u also have not bad grammar, that is something I'm not born with sadly. This story is really good and i can't air to read the rest. Do u have an estimate on how long it's going to be? Cuz in my opinion the longer the better
delete the spam please and nice story
also i thought you turned fluttershy into a tree when discord came out
615049
An excellent point, but I hardly imagine this will reach Homeric levels of literary merit.
After all, it's a fanfiction of a cartoon about ponies. Yeah.
This is going to turn out badly isn't it?
Interesting choices in characters. I smiled when the Doctor made an appearance. (Though part of me was, like, come on, Iron Will, Iron Will...but it was not to be.)
Your foreshadowing is nice, and I loved those short, powerful lines: "Enough to make a mortal into a god.
Enough to make a god into a monster." Spooky!
So, let's see if I've got this straight:
Kindness -> Emotion
Loyalty -> Absorption
Generosity -> Sacrifice
Honesty -> Memory
Laughter -> Distortion
Magic -> Power
Wow. That's... that's really frightening. The Elements seem more built on subdisciplines of magic than ideals now. I dread seeing what happens next, yet I can't wait.
631139you've made this clear as the damn sky for me. thank you. I actually kinda understand it now.
Wait... Celestia... Power? Weeeell SHIT
Awesome chapter. This story is pretty much amazing. Oh, and btw, FIRST POST YAY!!!
*Sees Mare in the Sun*
Ooh, that ain't good.
Hmm. It looks like certain concepts are the results of Elemental combinations. Compounds, if you will. Disharmony + Disorder = Discord. Logically, that would mean that each of the Elements are is intersection of its Orderly incarnation and some manner of Harmonic ideal. If those ideals could be somehow restored...
But I'm probably getting ahead of myself.
Let's hope mana-leeching Blueblood doesn't end up consuming Luna's power. That can't possibly end well...
Exciting things appear to be on the horizon. I'm looking forward to more.
This just keeps getting better. Love the Discord-Luna interaction.
674603 I agree with you!
Now excuse me while I wait in a corner for the next chapter...
Hmm. I'm not sure how to feel about how severing the connections to their Elements is affecting the Mane Six. I mean, it certainly adds an interesting wrinkle to the story, especially if it's progressing in the way I think it is. On the other hand, you're taking away the talents and abilities that define them to the point of being their personal iconography. A connection to the Element before finding the physical object? That I can buy. That that connection would so pervasively influence a pony to the point that breaking it means she loses her special talent? Now you're pushing it.
Still, your story, your choices, and you've only just begun with this twist. I suppose I should defer judgement until you offer more information. Still, wanted to make my opinion clear. I'll get off the soapbox now.
682577
Despite appearances, the Mane Six have not, in fact, lost their talents.
Pinkie Pie is still a whiz at parties, Rarity can still detect gemstones.
Applejack still... apples?
But for Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight? The loss is more painful, yes. Their talents heavily depended on a pool of magic that can no longer refill. Finding that out in such a stressful way hurts.
That doesn't mean their talents are gone - rather that their gifts have been injured, in a sense. They were used to their bodies acting in a certain way. Losing that is hard for anyone.
I'm hardly going to leave them crippled, though. Any good story requires character growth.
Making a diamond requires heat and pressure.
Look at the chapter titles. We have a long way to go.
683897 Oh. Ohhhhh. Derp.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why you should always give authors the benefit of the doubt. Just because they do something you don't like doesn't mean they don't know what they're doing. And no, I have no idea who I'm addressing.
Also, Applejack apples apples applely. Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.
684540 I am mindf*cked. Suddenly I hate buffaloes so, very much...
Hmmm... Lemme see...
Kindness can get you friends, allies, slaves just by twisting their emotions into liking you;
Generosity comes with a sacrifice, getting other people/ponies to do it for you proves their generosity;
You can't lie if I can see your every memory;
Someone truly loyal will sacrifice their mind and body for you;
Laughter can shape the world;
And you explained power and what is more powerful than magic?
Interesting how since the elements are now indipendent, there is no right or wrong to them.
we can ask questions??
ok ,why isnt pinkie pie fat from all the sugar she eats!? lol
bcuz if i ate that much cake id be totally round!!
answerr me clover!
777942
Clover has received your question. Or at least something pretty similar, with fewer spelling errors.
It goes,
Dear Clover: What's with all the sugar?
Congrats on figuring out that you could ask questions, by the way.
Expect an answer in Chapter E.
Ridiculous amounts of sugar instead of the protein and fat of meat to catalyze brain development? Huh. There's a neat idea.
You've definitely got me looking forward to the next chapter. Things are looking especially grim right now, so I can't wait to see just how they get better. Or worse, which appears to be the direction a few storylines are headed.
My only complaint is Rainbow Dash. You'd think someone as obsessed (and as frequently injured) as her would at least have a good working knowledge of how her own body works, especially when it comes to flight. Maybe not all the terminology, but a decent sense of the ins and outs.
785639
Exactly my point.
Rainbow has an excellent sense of her own body. That's why having her wings turned backwards, or losing them entirely, freaks her out no end. She can feel how wrong it is. That doesn't mean she can explain it.
I always got the impression that Rainbow, while a prodigy at flight, learned more from trial-and-error than anything else. I don't think she got the highest grades at Flight School, and she probably seriously exasperated her teachers. She even seemed to be at odds with most of her classmates, likely pushing her to associate with the similarly-outcast Gilda.
Dash isn't dumb, though. Instead of lecturing her, a teacher only needs to let her try something for herself. She'll pick it up faster than anypony else. That's because Rainbow is a physical learner, and has a subconscious disdain for anyone who needs to research or plan out their moves in advance.
"Geez, what eggheads," she thinks. "Who needs to do math to figure out 'loop-de-loop, then cloud-swirl'? It's easy, right?"
Basically, she thinks like an anti-Twilight. Planning is lame, practice is key. In this story, our little pegasus learned how to fly in a fundamentally different way to the Wonderbolts.
Spitfire's going to be surprised.
789003 ...
You know, you'd think after a while, I'd learn to just shut up and trust that you know what you're doing. Guess not.
791259
Exceptionally dangerous line of thought there, buddy.
Your comments have been incredibly insightful. If anything in a story seems unclear, that is the fault of the author.
Don't berate yourself for my mistakes.
Besides, it's always valuable to receive input on how the audience is reacting. Sometimes I can't see the wood for the trees.
Yes! A new chapter! I love what you're doing with Twilight and her friends here. It's like they've been Discorded, only differently. I love how they are falling in with friendly faces. A blind Rarity with Fancy? A mind-wiped Applejack with Twilight's parents? A flightless Rainbow Dash with Spitfire? Interesting scenes lay ahead...
I'm curious how the ponies that are on their own, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow, will do compared with Twilight, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, who are still together.
Oh, and your scene with Twilight's ribbon was very cute.
796775
Equestrian hospitality, eh? Nothing like it. What good luck our divided ponies have, finding such nice people to help them.
But they have become rather distracted, haven't they?
I do hope that doesn't come back to bite them later.
On Twilight's ribbon - did you know that Pinkie and Fluttershy have the same mane-color? It certainly surprised me.
Made me want to have our resident party aficionado say something about Team Pink-head. That sounds... weird, though.
618363
Accept my most sincere apologies, my friend! I somehow overlooked your comment, even though you had a genuine question. Now I feel terrible. Let me try and answer you now. Okay?
Okay. How long is this going to be? Well, there is a lot of subtle word-play going on in this story...
Then there's the really unsubtle stuff, like the chapter titles.
They're alphabetized. Meaning we've reached E, and headed all the way to Z. At an average of around 9000 words, this story seems to be headed for about 234,000 words, or 936 pages. More or less.
So yeah. A decent novel.
806385 wow ok, I had completely forgot about this fic, my account The_Guy got banned, soooooo i saw in this my email and here i am,
I have not read a single chapter sense the first one =D. o well, now i have something to do when i'm not working 
Oh damn. That came out of... well, not nowhere. Gilda was obviously there the whole time. But still. Damn. Looks like she even shocked Clover the Clever into silence. (EDIT: Never mind. Missed the move at first.
)
Also, very interesting development with Dash. Rainbow hair a sign of her connection to Loyalty? I wonder what other physiognomics are fading...
Meanwhile, Rarity is now apparently Daredevil. I wonder if this means she'll have to start a law practice.
And as for Applejack, I really hope she wasn't in Blueblood's area of effect...
In any case, a fantastic chapter. As always, looking forward to more.
1215709
FOME, on most of your points, I can't give anything away. I've been debating it, but I really can't. Spoilers, you understand.
But Rarity? She might not be an ace attorney, but being blind gives her so many snappy law-related one-liners you have no idea.
No idea.
1250133 I wasn't really expecting response. The review was more reaction than question, just getting my thoughts out for you to see and appreciate. And by "appreciate," I mean "witness the mental turmoil thou hast wrought, so that thou mayest wax mighty upon thy reader's woe and lamentations."
...Huh. May have gone a bit too heavy on the subtext.
What indeed
And we all thought she was naturally mentally unstable. Jokes on us.
Hard fought, hard earned. Well done, Fluttershy. Though Twilight's mountain of psychic scarring is horrifying. What did Celestia do to her?
Also, it seems Distortion's effects are influencing all the Crusaders. Worrisome...
Did.. did Apple Bloom just turn into a Gadgeteer Genius type of pony?
Somehow, I have a feeling that Pinkie won't try to take her Element back immediately, but instead, cause shenangians all over town using Apple Bloom's machines.
Wait a tick, is that Pinkie? What is she do- OH CELESTIA HELP ME SHE HAS A DIAMOND CHAINSAW THAT SHOOTS KEVLAR.
Soo... Updates... How often?
Gosh, sorry this is so late.
Usually I try to reply within a few days, but I've just had weeks of technical difficulty with computers in general. It ended poorly for the computer, and not fantastically for me. So, apologies all-round!
2145697
Indeed. *smokes pipe*
2146009
I like to think the joke's on Twilight. She has terrible luck, you see.
2153948
Oh, don't worry so much. I doubt everything is as bad as you think!
…
To be honest, it's probably worse.
2156291
Hmm. Seems legit to me.
Although, you're assuming Pinkie hasn't already built her own crazy devices with which to wreak untold havoc.
On a completely unrelated note, a cannon can fire anything put inside it, right?
2228541
Since I self-edit, and write depressingly slowly, infrequently at best. I really am sorry. As a new writer, I'm still coming to grips with scheduling and the like.
Although, if you're okay with smaller, less-graphically-fancy snippets, I do have a small thread on a fairly popular forum where I post the portions of the chapters as I write them. They're not quite as snappy, but because they're kinda unedited and only a few pages each, they come much quicker than the real McCoy. But, I mean, quicker than what? Very slow? That's still pretty slow.
Sigh.
2263739 New... Writer? Damn, you seemed more like a very experienced one... Hmm, well then. On the note of updates, I think I can be patient and wait for the higher quality longer versions. Thanks for the honest reply though.
Best of luck... +1 Watcher
Don't blink, please, just one referance, you don't hve to though
2267059
Goodness, what praise! Stoppit, you're making me blush.
Challenge accepted.
"Fantastic," grinned Doctor Whooves. "Bow ties are cool."
9th Doctor and 11th Doctor have fused together!
His magic bowtie could be more sonic though.
2335449
But it is a cool tie, right? Right. All shiny, and everything.
Yeah, Whooves is sort of a fusion of Doctors Nine through Eleven. Whatever suits the plot at the time (or whatever I find the funniest) will determine which one is the greater influence. Unfortunately, he won't be getting a sonic screwdriver – his power has to be limited to timey-wimey shenanigans for anything to make sense.
A long time ago, he went to the effort of making a mnemonic screwdriver, but it turned out to be pretty useless.
It's not all that important, but I must say it delights me when anyone uses Rose in conjunction with the Doctor. It's so rarely done. I must say, this magnificent work of fiction has captured my interest. I do hope to see more chapters out soon.