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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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What a month...
A small update. I'm working a season job this year, so my writing isn't as quick as I'd like it to be. Big thanks to Bro, Heartshine, and Icyshake for taking the time to fix all this. It was a real mess. Also thanks to Kkat for creating the world in the first place. Thanks to everyone that's kept up with this mess up till now. And thanks to everyone supporting me on Patreon. Even one dollar adds up.
Lots of talking this chapter. I really expected everything to go faster, but I wanted to take the spot light off scotch and open things up with the rest of her friends. Next chapter should have stuff moving again. I hope. Cross hooves.
With luck, I'll be moving in January. I really hope I'm moving in January...
8546309
Well, good luck then! For me, it's always worth the wait and you never fail to impress, you're pretty good! Machines able to talk, that's amazing!
I really liked how Scotch Tape and her friends played in the water, showed that they can have fun, even in the wasteland. And enjoy their childhood while it lasts.
Greatr work, Somber!
Poor Pythia. I'd say she needs a hug, but that'd probably only ratchet up her anxiety...
It's nice seeing them all interacting in moments where they're not about to die (Sky Lord and Majina exvepted...).
My first reaction to seeing this wonderful story update: "Oh, next chapter of Homelands! Grr, it's so late and I wanted to play PS4 some more... oh well, I guess- wait what?! Speak got updated too?! NOOOO! Why, Somber, Heartshine, why are you two doing this to me?! I've got work tomorrow!!! *sob* W-well, better get to it then..."
Anyway, wow, that really started as a good day, with them all playing in the water, and then it just went... well, into the usual. Still, really enjoyed getting to know Scotch's friends some more, it was interesting to see them in the spotlight for a change. And Pynthia... damn. Really liking where that is going^^
So how old is her soul? About as old as... what's his name, the Legate was? You know, the betrayer. Oh, and let me guess; she was the zebra who screwed up that ritual that caused her tribe to lose the power over the rest of zebras? Oh, I just love reincarnation done well^^
I very much enjoyed this chapter.
Nice too see that the foals can play and chat without utter horror and death somewhere in the chapter. Also nice to have a change of whos perspective, an excellent change of pace for a chapter overall, but what now with the cliff hanger.
Always eager for more.
8546896
Going to be a long night... Sleep well. Going to read Speak another day too far into the early hours for me.
so now scotch is spirit touched just like blackjack? but by which spirit and what does it want? the plot thickens!
You know, there is something I don't understand. The Zebras are all about Spirits and souls, right? Wouldn't the Bone Legion, and desercrating the souls and spirits of the dead, be something far more worse than the Starkatteri? Because while Starkatteri are dealing with higher level spirits, they at least aren't defiling the body and spirits of their own people.
8546309
Good luck, Somber!
(I don't presently have time for more detailed comments on the chapter, but I did enjoy it. :))
8547459
Not quite.
A bone legion necromancer can desecrate the dead and animate their remains. That's bad, but not much worse than a blood legion swarm pouring through your settlement or an Iron legion blasting it off the map with a long range artillery barrage.
A starkatteri like Atropos can curse you and every zebra in the settlement for generations. You won't even know its happening as one bad thing happens after the next, wearing you down until finally you break or die. You can destroy an animated corpse. How do you fight corrupted fate?
8547679
Well my point is that a pony's, or in this case Zebra's soul is attached to their body, right? Souls are basically spirits, correct? So wouldn't the Bone Legion using Necromancy on the bodies of other Zebra, either mutalating the body's souls or forcing corrupted spirits into those bodies, or any number of other bad and horrible things to 'Animate' and 'Control' those bodies be bad?
Even if not as bad as Starkatteri, you'd think they would be the second most hated Tribe, and most hated Legion, for that reason.
Cause Zebra aren't Unicorns, they don't have spells or magic, they use Spirits to do things like reviving the dead and controlling them. So that would be seen as a very big no-no in Zebra Eyes, no?
Or when people die, do Zebras just not care about bodies anymore, and generally don't care about spirits or Necromancy?
Awesome chapter!!!
8547708
Now there's a degree of speculation here, but I suspect there's not much to object to, soul-wise, there. One of the things we've seen in PH is that on death (and certain other events usually related to necromancy performed on the living), the soul leaves the body. So messing with a corpse is maybe disrespectful, but it's not doing anything to an existing soul/spirit, apart perhaps from making some kind of deal with a spirit to animate the body. And unless that's something that would upset other spirits it's not obvious why that would result in worse stuff like censure or curses, as opposed to the more general costs associated with making deals with spirits that Scotch has now been (vaguely) warned against.
Also, it's worth noting that the Bone Legion isn't unique in this regard: the Orah have their zombies, and presumably have been doing that for just about forever.
So, in a nutshell, it's all Tanit's/Pythia's fault?
Is this already finished or what
so i've been rereading ph whilst i wait for updates to this story. and there have been some discrepancies with Precious (besides her not being a unicorn dragonfilly anymore) which overall are minor but she does know why she's a dragonfilly and all that. so i was more curious if you are just reinventing her character and fleshing it out much more properly or something along those lines? or am i missing something?
Curiouser and curiouser...
Xharo’s really stuck in his beliefs, isn't he? Wonder how much of it is genuine belief and how much of it what has been blasted into his head while being really young.
That fight Majina just went through... phew, that was a blast. Shame the Dead Legion retaliated quickly afterwards. Maybe it was unrelated and a coincidence, but I highly doubt that.
Poor Pythia, though... such an infodump, and all of it such a significant thing. That couldn't have been easy, and she didn't even get enough time to digest anything before something else happened.
Such a seemingly little thing led to such disastrous consequences... It's always the little things, isn't it?
The butterfly effect is very real in this story.
Wow, Pythia's aunt, Atropos, sure has delusions of grandeur, doesn't she? Still wanting pining of what could have been if the Betrayer didn't betray them. She certainly is quite a bit more manipulative too.
I'm actually a little surprised the Bone Legion put in the effort to come here. From the sound of things, it seemed like the Legion liked to take it's time here. But I suppose it wouldn't do if their victims that didn't pay their price made it through to tell about it. And this convoy is just too atractive a target to lose.
I love this. Shamanistic mechanical repairs! It reminds me of the Adeptus Mechanicus and their "machine spirits" from Warhammer 40k.
A tale that's only happy gets boring pretty quick, don't you think?
Ooh, ouch.
Ouch again! I'm loving the way she uses her opponents' actions to her advantage in this sequence.
I'm slightly disappointed that Skylord didn't do the "I am so turned on right now" bit, but okay.
It just now hit me that the faux-Bloods in Greengap called Skylord "Target Pink". Implying that they know his true feather color and history... which I guess makes some sense given that Xara had two of his former talonmates in her entourage, except that they didn't expect to see him. They were surprised to see him alive. So either Xara didn't see fit to brief her bodyguards on the target, or someone's playing their cards strangely close to the vest for some reason.
Hmmmm... you don't say... but if she's not a product of Chimera, then... what?
Uhh. Okay. That was close to my guess, but much less... well... deliberate. Unless it was deliberate, in some long-forgotten past life...
I guess that means a previous iteration had twins, then?... Yikes.
Hmmm... doesn't that potion require alicorn magic? ...or are false alicorns sufficient to the task?
Something screwy is going on here. This had to have been a setup to get an inexperienced seer to tell the Caesar what he wanted to hear without recognizing the danger of listening to Ashur. But why is the Caesar so eager to hear her prophecy in specific? Is Crux is playing some deep mind games by seeming to try to protect her while dangling her in front of the Caesar's nose?
"Incandescent"?
Zebra shamans always remind me of the Aes Sedai from the Wheel of Time series. Always obeying the letter of their promises while subverting the spirit of it. Finding ways to sneak past the wrath of the spirits but still do whatever they want. They take it as par for the course, but it seems so dishonest. I wonder what the original shamans would have thought of all this. Did they wear masks to hide from the spirits? Did they extract as much work as possible before offering anything in return? If you treated another person this way, you'd be rightly branded as a cheat, a skinflint, and an extortionist.
No wonder the spirits act the way they do. When a shaman shows up, they can't expect anything but being used and cheated. The shamans won't face them directly, won't have a personal relationship, but deal only in coercion and contract. So of course when a bargain is offered, they have to drive the hardest bargain they can, and when they're offended, they have no reason to hold back or forgive. I note that the friendliest spirits we've ever seen are also those who interacted with unmasked shamans -- Lumi, Granny, and Arion, specifically.
8549451
Aware of the break from PH of Precious being a unicorn. I think that was dropped basically for balance reasons.
8556121
Well, it all depends on how you do it--after all, you wouldn't think someone who could only tell silly stories to have something to say about every topic either, right? :p
I'm not sure it's quite the same thing. Or the old soul might make up the difference somehow anyway. Could even be that's the actual requirement (old/powerful soul), and being a true-blue alicorn is just the only case of that ever really happening in Equestria.
Whew... damn this is just... honestly, hard to really relay what I got going on in my head. But I love it! This is going awesomely, and I'm eager to see how this plays out in the next chapter, hehe.
Good show man, good show!
I really enjoyed this chapter, I liked the different POVs, and the party getting to know eatchother outside Sotch's perspective.
This was a really great chapter, but...
This stuff with Pythia... It kinda hurts. Like, a lot. Moving past that, this was a really good chapter for character interaction. It had a lot of ins for genuine affection between the crew to blossom. Majina earning Skylord's respect, Charity coming to grips with the shallowness of her way of life, even Pythia coming one step closer to realizing the importance of her role in the grand scheme of things. Scotch is still clueless, of course, but that's just how it goes.
It might not have seemed like it at a glance, but I feel like this has been one of the most important chapters so far in the story.
Shine on crazy diamond, I'm still Loving every word.
Huh. We finally get to so Charity's perspective on things. That was neat.
8547459
Have you already forgotten the chapter of the Orah? Theron? No, death and spirits are not treated like you think. Spirits exist. The most basic have wants and needs, like the little snow sprite or the lock. Others have drive and understanding, like the town of blood and bodies. Creating a contract or agreement with the dead in order to fulfill their wants or needs is no different than enslaving the world to give you a motor. It is the same, especially since they wouldn't listen to you if you didn't offer something they wanted.
Those bones want revenge. Non-specific, unguided revenge. The town of blood writ large, but without the whole motive and betrayal thing. The wasteland, personified. Unsure, existing to exist, surviving, with no greater purpose than that.
In other words, The Dealer is home.
Oh, darn. I've caught up to Somber. Now I'm gonna have to wait for updates!
Story is great so far, dude. If I were a shaman, I would've tried to tame that butchered town immediately. No deals, just ask it to follow me and witness the death of the legions. And you know, meddling in that goal if it wanted. Having a death aura around yourself that willfully targets your enemies would be bad ass as all hell. Heck, I would've invoked its presence immediately when those guys showed up talking code names. Oh well, not my story, not my actions. Scotch Tape wouldn't be that ruthless.
The Orah were cool. Wish they were more relevant, but they are a bit out of the way now. Another place to be abused as side story fodder!
More recently, the sphinx was cool. You've made some neat oddball characters, from all of that to the bounty hunters and more! Can't wait to see more stuff. As for the main story, it's progressing well. Looks like the party is heading over to Bastion - can't wait to see that in about, oh, 3 chapters or so!
8661486
It just seemed a shame to write off that character, though. Like I said - not many badass raiders in these fics with decent writing. A conflicted character like Vicious would've been a fun write, but now I know why he did it. Gotta sink those ships if you've got an OTP in the works...
8658231
Scotch has demonstrated repeatedly that would end up being a really piss poor decision.
8664454
How so?
"Get everything for free from the spirits when you can." When you are dealing with a vengeful spirit, you don't need to promise them anything but what they already wanted. You don't even have to give guarantees...have vengeance, will travel! Just ask the semi-conscious spirit if they'd like to witness the end of the Legions...not that you'd end it - just if they want to see it for themselves. Leave everything else up to the rage filled ghosts. I mean, it's what they want, and you wouldn't attempt to stop them if they killed some Blood Legion for kicks...
8664602
Then you're not really comprehending what you're reading. I advise going back over her talking to the blood spirit again. And every other spirit.
The blood spirit was invoked by Haimon to deny Greengap to the legions.
8665256
The blood spirit called her selfish, and her questions were selfish at the time. Scotch didn't give any kudos to the spirit or what it was created to do - kill legionnaires. True, the spirit was envoked to prevent the legions from getting into Greengap, but...what better way to deny the legions access than to wipe them out personally? Or, failing that, sending part of itself to cause mayhem within said legions? There are ways you can get spirits to do things without creating agreements, or nullifying agreements that had already been contracted.
I do comprehend the absolutely horrifying act that created the spirit...I also comprehend that it may be convinced to do more than just mope around one area, and that it wouldn't take much to make it budge. As long as you gave it more blood, it wouldn't have to be yours.
Just saying. It's a neat idea that will probably not be explored here.
EDIT:
He didn't envoke it to kill legionnaires at all. The spirit did so because it wanted to.
8656338
I could see the latter making some sense, thank you for your input.
8658198
I think Dealer's is fate. Or, at least, part of fate that is of our making. Spirit of Change, of Doom, of Reckoning, depending on what you are doing. A neutral party between Harmony and Discord.
With Harmony subdued, with guardian spirit down, with Discord being absent Dealer gained unrivaled power to touch ponies, being only reflecting of their lives and wishes.
8668744
Neat theory. The Dealer is pretty ambiguous. All we've seen him do is ask questions, show cards, explain some mumbo jumbo in ways that don't make sense until shit happens...and then he disappears for a bit. I simply see him as the avatar of the wastes because his major attributes are: Indifference, questions without answers, and the visage of death and decay. All of these things are found in the wasteland. His questioning of main characters is simply the nature of his beast - the longer you stare into the abyss, the longer it stares into you. His very existence causes ponies to question their standing. After all, didn't all these ponies live in a world of Friendship and Magic before...all this? Can they really believe that?
As for Fate or any of that, we haven't seen him act in a way to change it so far, so we wouldn't know if he actually has any power over fate, and he hasn't tried to bring about any doom, either, so...the jury is still out on those interpretations.
8666997
I'm military, so acronyms and alphabet soup always means something to me. Gotta print my 567's from CAS and whatnot, IAW AFI21-201, ensuring compliance with MLSTD-129.
And all that jazz.
8668941
I guess, militaries of all countries have same desease.
Oh! There is a brilliant writer, Christopher G. Nuttall
who made several references to this acronym addiction.
8668932
You may spot the statement that "spirits are reflections" of living ones. Personifications. In this world spiritualistic ..em.. equinomorphic personifications of concepts or objects are real.
That means, whatever the majority would believe in is real.
Dealer says that he lives inside of each. And I believe that he never lies. He doesn't say all truth, Because truth is malleable , biased concept as well.
He's spirit of enthropy, spirit of change, reflection of burned out, enthropic parts of those poor souls. The part created by what they had done and what has been done to them. THAT is fate.
Why ponies are disconnected from it? Someone had done that. Maybe with best intention in mind, to protect them from dark side of ability to strike deals with universe. If you do not believe, if you do not seek, you'll never be seen. Very... "Skeleton Key". Maybe after seeing what happened to Starkatteri, what happened to those known now as Shadow Ponies. Maybe it happened after tribe unification. Maybe , otherwise, great split was result of disconnection from spirits.
8668977
I think ponies ceased acting in accordance with spirits after the Pony Unifications, and the rise of the Princesses. With ponies like Celestia and Luna living among you, why would you believe in any other spirit? They were deities themselves for a thousand years or more! So, anything resembling the Windigos or other angry spirits were simply...forgotten. Ignored. Explained away by a combination of 'science' and magic. Heck, just look at Scotch's reaction on the boat. She was presented with clams with bad vibes and immediately said "They're poisoned by radiation numb nuts." Ponies are simply out of touch with the spirits because they are not required to commune with them - the pegasi control the weather, unicorns the political landscape, and earth ponies the land itself. Their Goddesses controlled the heavens themselves.
Why would anypony ever question the existence of a Tree of Harmony in the middle of the Everfree forest? Nopony even thinks about the ramifications of such a thing, if they think about it at all. Nopony has cared for the natural world for longer than even Celestia remembers. That isn't to say the Tree of Harmony ceased existing because nopony remembers it, but they DID stop looking for the signs that such things DO exist. That's my opinion on why they don't know about spiritual things - they simply forgot those traditions existed, and personified everything through Celestia instead. After she and Luna 'died'...yeah. Things went horrifically bad. Censured, even.
8556121
I hope that becoming hero on her own isn't against Zencori rules. They are allowed to impersonate, but to create own tale being its hero?
Does such thing as Zencori Proditor exist? Though , I think it would be better than Majina trying to impersonate Blackjack (and her ruthless approach badly reminds one of Blackjack's).
On other hand (claw, hoof, tentacle) for quite a while a question bothers me. How her name is pronounced? In my head I pronounce it as [Ma'hi:ne], usin spanish j = h. Is that right? Should I put stress on second syllabe?
8670820
Oh, I have no doubt that they can be heroes. Consider Taliesin in Irish myth. I suspect the journalistic faction would frown on interfering with events, but what better way for the storytellers to plug into the emotion of the events than to get involved? Must all stories be about someone else? It's not safe, to be sure (may you live in interesting times,) but for those with the guts and skill... why not?
I'm sure proditori exist in all the clans. For Zencori, I would expect it to be someone who feels they have to conceal, destroy, or falsify a story for the safety of the world or the happiness of its inhabitants. A Lovecraft protagonist, as it were.
I think Majina is pronounced "mah-JEEN-ah" [mɑː'dʒi: nɑː], as Zencori names seem to trend pseudo-Swahili.
8672183
Taliesin? Which one of them? *smirks* One that goes by "The Tale of Taliesin?"
Oh, I do not question idea of bard warrior. But our brythonic friend wasn't restricted by Zebra tribe mores :P
8668991
Scotch's explanation of reason was right as well, as thus she was able to see the threat. Consider what Propoli shaman said. The line between material reason and spiritual cause lies where detectable casual link is (seemingly) absent. Which largely depend on level of knowledge. Essentially it is where science ends and faith begins. Arcane sience (and if to think about it, primary meaning of root arcane means "hidden", "dark", "secret") is some kind of pony mask against spirits. Yet every magic user still have their form of censure ( remember, burnouts may be damaging or even lethal).
p.s. one of early attempts to describe machine uprising to literature was based on similar spiritualistic idea that every material may become somewhat alive, given proper form. As proof of it were given abilities of metal to "tire", electrcal currents being "capricious", etc. It was unfinished work by russian writer Valery Bryusov (along with his essay on the matter) and it predated RUR by few years. Curiosly, Bryusov later wrote an adaptation of Chapek's RUR for thetrical scene. Maybe idea of truly alive and sapient machine, a golem, had overridden his original idea.
8672267
True. Comparing burnout to censure might be a stretch, though, since burnout is linked to exhaustion in the caster themselves. It would be like calling on your own spirit to do things - if it can't do it, it can't do it. It's not trying to get back at you for some kind of spiritual failure, or for copping out of a deal - you're just too damn tired to cast the spell.
But otherwise, yeah. The knowledge was lost. The causal link between spirits and real world happenings was forgotten.
8672183
I'm not even sure if that would qualify as a Zencori Proditor, though. We can infer from Sakashi in PH that instruction is a legitimate usage of stories, and we know from the two recently seen factions that fidelity to what really happened isn't necessary. In fact, it was basically the stance of one side that supporting propaganda (or general cultural chauvinism) was a legitimate reason to quash/ignore investigation or testimony of a story.
8673670
I understand what you're saying, but Baruti said the schism was based on whether to emphasize truth or feeling, not whether one or the other was unimportant. Embellishing a story for dramatic effect is one thing, but altering its underlying nature, I think, would be anathema to both factions. We certainly saw that the story spirits were angered by the falsity of propaganda, and Taliba said Jahi kept it only as a counterexample. Of course, purely fictional stories (and, I assume, fictionalized accounts) are acceptable, as long as they're understood to be fiction.
I'm positive that a Zencori who wrote and distributed something deliberately misleading would be punished, though I'm still not clear on whether being marked as proditor can be a punishment, or if it's always voluntary.
8674377
Becoming a proditor is always voluntary. You can't be kicked out of your tribe. It's anathema. Part of being a proditor is a protest against your tribe. A zencori proditor would be one that essentially challenges the official canon of the tribe. Most of the tribe elders would try to get them dismissed as a crank or madmare; after all accusing the tribe of history lying is a bold claim. However, it does happen and it's essentially proclaiming that you care enough about the truth to take the red.
8675012
Interesting! Thanks! I don't know why I hadn't considered someone who challenges the accepted facts rather than one who deliberately falsifies them, but I guess that's why you're an author and I'm not.
8674797
...You are brilliant. It's grass, not vines! They could've terraced over the whole thing, no problem. Why didn't I think of that?!?
8675012
Hello Somber!
So Starlight, Murky number 7, Heroes, Commonwealth and Wild Arms - are they canon to Project Horizons or not?
8678700
They did. Razorgrass isn't a single seed, root, stem. It's a rhizome with billions of interconnected roots and stems. If you covered a part, the stems would die temporarily, but the root system would be perfectly fine. When you uncovered it, the stems would almost immediately start to transport water and silica up to restore the leaves. Even if you successfully killed off the rhizome in an area, digging it up and separating it from the dirt, it would immediately start to encroach again. And worse, Razorgrass depletes critical nutrients in the soil. The Razorgrass can survive on minimal nutrients, but most other crops can't. This requires the use of artificial fertilizers, which Carnico charges a hoof and a tail for.
8679140
Not really. I never read them while writing it, so any references are more shout outs. Still, if it works for you, you can think of them that way.