//------------------------------//
// 0: The background chapter 
// Story: Adventures in Kingmaker 
// by Meadow_Dawn 
//------------------------------//

Meadow Dawn was not an adventurer by choice. She grew up as a foal in a peaceful land when an artifact came to her parent's bar that they didn't recognize. Merry Grain took it as payment for a customer's tab, though Charmed Scotch has his own reservations. Little did they know the artifact was a message. The artifact caught the building in a blazing inferno, and Meadow awoke to smoke pouring into her room as she coughed, stumbling around.

She started to pass out as she leaned against her bedroom mirror, feeling quite sad that she didn't get to spot her parents in the end, when a voice asked, "Are you lost?"

A dark pony-shaped form stood nearby. She was only 8 years old, and nervously stood her ground, "W-who are you?"

"I am a teacher, and a guide... do you wish to go home little one?" He asked.

"I want to go home, and my family safe." She said, thinking of the smoke, her fears already coming to her throat.

"That will not be an easy task. You left your world behind... but there is another world where you may yet find your family, though they would not be the same. Or, should you gain the power needed, you can return to your world. What do you choose?"

In the end, after a good cry because of homesickness and grief, she agreed with the guide's plan, to go through to another world to find a way to return to her home and to bring her family back if they had passed away.

Years passed in this new world. She was left near a brewery so very similar to where she had grown up all along, but the family there was not familiar, and they were skeptical of her claims. She worked hard to gain their trust through employment and eventually became like a child's cousin who lived with them. 

Eventually, though, her ability to gain power and knowledge was not enough after she reached apprenticeship age. She heard many adventurer's tales serving there, both prosperous and disastrous. She hoped that she was ready to adventure, but she took all of the money she had gained after her apprenticeship started, invested in the necessary starting equipment, and became a mercenary.

She never got past her fear of fire, as it engulfed a caravan she was trying to protect, but she never gave up. Now she looked for a place of growing power, to gain further prominence as an accomplished mercenary, to build networks and gain more ability so she could accomplish her childhood dream, from which she never wavered. Her purchases were few and directed, ensuring she would stand the best chance of survival and ability to purchase the things needed to arrive home.

Dawn was a Magus, one who struck a balance between the physical abilities of a fighter, and the arcane arts of a wizard. She was average in terms of her strength compared with other ponies, between the brute force of an earth pony yet not as weak as pegasi tended to be.  She was as agile as an earth pony which came to no one's surprise, but her intellect and fortitude were her strongest points.  They helped her get out of many troubles in spite of an impulsive action or twenty.
Dawn invested slowly in her equipment. She knew she had to get the best things possible.  She saved up for a chain shirt at first, and by the time she was about to join the Savage Lands, she wore an enchanted Agile Breastplate. It cost her nearly all the money that she had to get it, while still getting a light quickdraw shield made of mythril enchanted to a small degree and a scimitar of the same level.  She trained herself to be able to endure and rely on her magic more than most magi.
She knew how to improve her defenses, at the expense of accuracy. She ensured she could use her magic to hold two items at once, thus letting her wield a sword and a shield without risking losing a spell. She had a fox familiar that was more for companionship, as she never let it go into combat.

Dawn met Cyrus, the unicorn leader of the kingdom growing in the Savage Lands, while exploring in the direction the townsponies pointed, following their trail.  She tracked them down to a crypt and heard the sounds of battle, but despite her charge, she only just arrived as they struck an undead pony down.
Cyrus questioned her of her intent, and she spoke plainly. "I wish to join your group, I lend my services to those that can pay well, or help me in my quest to return home."

There was some reservation from the rest of the ponies, who put her ill at ease, but the unicorn smiled and granted her permission, 'hiring' her and talking with her on the way.
Her next day with the group did not bode well.  They continued along the river, exploring the kingdom when they discovered a water fey had charmed two loggers and were holding them hostage.
The king wanted to settle it diplomatically, and Dawn was far too eager to assist. She tried to be diplomatic, but when that failed, she drew her weapon and threatened them to stay in place because their ruler required it.

Sadly, despite the unicorn's attempts at negotiations, one of the party proceeded to cast a spell at the fey, enraging them and causing her to drag the men deeper into the water in order to drown them.  The loggers blamed the group for the loss of their comrades and proceeded to attack.  It was a bloody struggle for them, and despite her and the unicorn's attempt to not kill, the others were not so forgiving. Soon they all lay slain and the unicorn king infuriated.


Cyrus, A unicorn prince from another world. He doesn't hide the fact he is a prince, though the way he acts doesn't really tell people he is a prince, nor does he really tell anypony he is a prince do to nopony actually asking. he is currently looking for his sword that went missing when he woke up in this world, the sword that is the proof of his lineage, only he can unsheathe the blade do to it being enchanted so that only those of Cyrus' blood can wield it, looks like a short sword with a gilded handle with the family crest on the sheath.

While Cyrus somewhat acts weird in pony standards, he is actually still trying to get used to his current form, as he was originally a human in the world he had come from. When he first awoke in the strange world he ended up in, he woke up near a river, he had his hoof on his forehead as he woke up with a headache. "Huh?" he noticed that something was off, as he felt something on his forehead that wasn't supposed to be there. He felt it with his hooves and to him, it felt like a horn, "W-what!?!" he was starting to get unnerved by this discovery as he looked at what were supposed be his hands, but found that instead of hands, he found hooves. "No... no no no no no no, Gods no!" he was starting to panic, he sees the river and proceeds to see his reflection seeing not a young man in a red tunic wearing a bandana on his head. Instead, he saw a white unicorn with a blonde mane wearing his clothes (oddly enough his pants were missing).

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs at what he had been turned into and freaked out, his yell being heard miles away. After a few minutes he calmed down. "Ok... OK, this is not... a big deal... I just need to find another person who can turn me back... yeah... that easy..." He says as he was still having a hard time grasping at the reality of his situation. He then reaches for his regal sword, staring at the crimson blade always seemed to calm him down, but finds that the sword is missing. "God damn it!" he shouts as he now realizes that he just lost his family heirloom. He looks around to find it, but the sword seems to have vanished as it was nowhere in the immediate area. He then wandered, alone, with no one to help him. 

He then finds a village and goes in horrified that the inhabitants of said village were nothing but ponies like him. Though he finds that there weren't just unicorns though, some of said ponies didn't have horns, instead either wings or none of the two traits. He walked clumsily as he is not used to walking on all fours yet, hell he couldn't even walk on just his hind legs. He immediately assumed that he was in a different world, because he would have known about sentient ponies back where he was from. He then finds a flyer about exploring a cave full of centipedes he buys a rapier to arm himself with and heads out.

There he started traveling with a band of adventurers where they explored uncharted lands, eventually taking out a band of thieves that resided in the area. Once they completed that the blade lords granted them rights to start a kingdom of their own. Cyrus was going to let someone else lead the kingdom since he wasn't planning on sticking around since he needed to both find his sword and find a way home. Fate was cruel as everyone in the group picked the young prince to be king, Cyrus could do nothing but accept.

During his reign, Cyrus and his friends managed the kingdom, debating on what they should and should not develop first. though his was more painful than he thought as his comrades kept coming and going essentially giving him the sense of loneliness he felt, back when he first arrived in this world, and back when he was a boy, as no noble wanted to be his friend. 

Eventually he and his two loyal retainers, Hidle and Aegeon, went to explore a cave, where they were attacked by plants and a giant Owlbear. They managed to take care of the Fungi and plant monster no problem as Cyrus created a floor of fire with grease and Spark to keep them from being overwhelmed. eventually both Hilde and Aegeon charge in to fight the Owlbear but it was too strong and Cyrus stood hopelessly watching as his friends were outmatched, the told him to flee and live. Cyrus didn't want to but saw that it wouldn't make much difference if he did join the fray, so he did as he was told and fled, tears streaming down his eyes as he heard the Owlbear mutilating them. When he got back to the kingdom, he shut himself in his chambers, angry at how useless he was, at how he couldn't save his friends... he was in severe depression for days, as it felt it may have been his destiny to be alone, forever.

Eventually he met some new companions, even one of his old ones came back after a journey of enlightenment... supposedly. They explored a crypt looking for treasure to help develop the kingdom. During that campaign, after they dispatched the undead king, Cyrus taking its broken rapier as his own, Bolster was unfortunately just a figment from his imagination. But then he meets Meadow Dawn, a Unicorn like him who came to aid them but was disappointed that she was too late to be any help. Cyrus welcomed her into the group with open hooves, as he is always eager for another friend.
Though he was proving to be a terrible leader, as he was always used to Tom being there to help him make his decisions as he was a pacifist by nature. Twice things have gone horribly wrong because he couldn't keep things in line with his companions. It wasn't until Dawn confronted him about how he did things where he realized how he couldn't rely on others to do things for him, now having more determination then ever to lead instead of being dragged. They were good friends since, he even shared a few tales of his past life at times when they were alone together though omitting parts that said that said he was once a non-pony.