As originally posted on Equestria Daily!
After seeing something that he's certain can't be real, Equitech CEO Caesar seals himself away, researching, comparing, analyzing, seeing no one. After weeks, he eventually lets five trusted friends in on his findings. The result is a tyrannical spin on their world which sets them down a path battling the enigmatic Game Master, from which none of them will return unchanged, and some may not return at all.
Just a heads-up, the dark tag doesn't really apply until the later chapters. All central characters are actual ponies that have appeared in the background of episodes way back in season 1 and onward, not OCs.
Chapters (30)
Shouldn't that be Pegasus
2498625 That was in the first act, right? A bit of a confession, the entire first act was written up purely to get the idea out of my head from around midnight to four AM one night, then split into five parts, so there are a few things like that dotted here and there in them.
Oh, goody. A real changeling.
This is pretty good!
I have one thing to say:
.
DISCORD, IM HOWLIN AT THE MOON
Hmm... they (our protagonists) seem to be completely and utterly screwed.
Celestia goes from being a COMPLETE sadist, to on their side 'did it for the greater good' over a single healing? I'm sorry but I just don't buy it.
Okay, so I want to throw this out there to clarify everything and make sure there's no misunderstanding; earlier today, I published an update with Act V, Chapters X and XI. Unfortunately, what I published was a draft that I had been meaning to edit. I didn't realize this until much later tonight when I actually went and looked to make sure it had been published, and saw I had a comment about something I meant to take out of the draft and edit a bit(On that note, thank you Semblance for saying something so it could be fixed) I panicked, left comments trying to defend it this way or that way, but with the advice of a friend or two, decided the best way to go was just to take it down, fix it to the final version, republish it, and explain everything.
"...the Doctor, Who..."
I see what you did there.
Vinyl is surprisingly a caring pony. Considering she shares a lot of character traits with a friend of mine, I'm surprised she's not as much of a scumbag as he is.
Whelp. :I
I wasn't sure what to think at first, but this story is amazing and heart-pounding.
This chapter reminds me of the original (somewhat cheesy) Judge Dredd movie. Points for knowing what I'm talking about!
2657948 That was actually something I really wanted to experiment with in this. I see her portrayed so often as a hedonistic, sex-drugs-and-rocknroll throwback to the rockstars of the 70s and 80s, but with techno beats instead of rocking guitars. Which is well and fine, but it gets dull when you see it over and over, so I wanted to try giving her a very different characterization, giving her a ton of concern for the others, and almost making her like the group's moral compass.
Plus she makes a great foil for Trixie this way. The two of them are a blast to write for characterization between.
2661875 YOU BETRAYED THE LAW!
2664227 I had a hard time picturing the intended clone, which instead was replaced by the mental image of the Dredd clones. How lovely.
2664259 This has now made me picture all six of the main characters as Sylvester Stallone, but with skin/hair to match the fur/mane, and accessories to match the character(Trixie's hat and cape, Vinyl's glasses, etc.)
Good sir, you have made my night. Thank you so much.
2664427 Glad to have been of service.
As always, this is a great story, and I can't wait to see more!
Welcome welcome welcome~! Welcome to my group~! Adventuring's fun in the canon lands, but here's an Alter-U~! The idea sounds intriguing, and you've been featured on EqD? While I may not like the website, I'll give this a like, trial free~!
2692584 Let me know what you think. :D
2696206 I shall, don't you fret! I've read only a few stories in my group, but I've not read a bad one yet!
Well, the plot thickens.
2808135 It's already getting difficult to stir this thing, don't make me pull out the whisk!
Just out of curiosity, why do you make reference to the 11th Doctor 'Matt Smith', when the design of the character model that has become know as Doctor Whooves was only created because his design resembles the style of the 10th Doctor 'David Tennet'?
Also why do you refer to the land as America instead of Equestria?
Just wondering XD.
By the way I'm loving your story so far. It's one of the best background pony driven stories I've read In a while. :)
2908915 Technically speaking, they're both still The Doctor, and besides, with the fez in the first act, I've been making references to both with him as long as I've been writing the series.
Equestria is to the world in my head as earth is to us, and Amareica is the country in which everything takes place - hence most cities in the show being ponified American cities like Philadelphia/Fillydelphia, Manhattan/Manehattan, etc. - which really helps make the plans for the next story arc work. It's really just a "This works for the story so we're tweaking the headcanon" type thing, not something official.
Glad to hear you're enjoying it! :D
wait what... i'm confused... what's with the first person for the antagonists??
3037090 Foreshadowing!