Orignal Story Notes & chapter fragments
I'm not sure when I'll update this again, but it seems rude just to leave you all hanging. I know I don't like having my favorite stories drop off the map on a cliffhanger.
So in the meanwhile, I thought I'd go ahead and let you guys know what I had planned to do with this story. Granted, what with the additions to the lore we've had over the past seasons, I might change a thing or two, but these are my original outline notes:
storyline: Daring Do and the Order of the Eagle
- - Author of the daring do series is a maimed and retired assassin
- - an old friend cautions her about her newest book featuring an order based on the assassins
- - sometime later, Twilight and friends read the new book
- - in the story Daring Do teams up with the assassins to recover a magical relic from ahuizotl and a changeling queen
- - ahuizotl plans to use the relic to make himself loved by all creatures, which would make him their ruler, meanwhile, the changelings get to feed off that love in return for helping him find more relics and wealth and becoming his army while their queen rules with him
- - ahuizotl may or may not have fallen in love with the changeling queen, and/or vice versa
- - as that story progresses, strange events begin to happen around ponyville
- - train tracks are run through sweet apple acres, but only one train car comes, and parks itself there, nopony notices it but the cutie mark crusaders who decide to watch and keep it a secret for now
- - Twilight and friends catch glimpses of strange ghost-like creatures on the rooftops of ponyville
- - the CMCs try to investigate the strange train car, but don’t have any luck getting inside, they overhear Twilight and friends discussing the daring do story and decide to become “a’sasprin” hunters, by using the methods they could see through the train car windows with their telescope. they also conclude that their “new neighbor” is an eccentric bird watcher, and therefore harmless, if really weird
- - they eventually do catch an assassin completely by accident, but don’t realize he’s what they’re looking for and apologize. the assassin takes it in good humor and tells the kids to be more careful
- - meanwhile, the rogue assassin, now an alicorn, is on the prowl, looking for powerful relics to add to his collection. he’s traced the elements of harmony and the alicorn amulet to ponyville, and is searching for them, which is why the brotherhood is out in force patrolling the town
- - meanwhile, shining armor finds twilight and informs her of the “night eagle” problem
- - the rogue assassin finds the elements of harmony but is unable to steal them due to celestia’s protection spell, and so goes after the alicorn amulet instead
- - zecora is injured in the attack, and left temporarily mute due to poison joke extract delivered by the rogue’s hidden blade, however, she later manages to communicate through pantomime and her magical green powder (from “Luna Eclipsed”)
- - to nip a future problem in the bud, and frame the brotherhood so that they’re too busy hiding to stop his plans, the rogue tries to assassinate twilight, as she wields the most powerful element of harmony. she’s saved by a brotherhood member, but suffers a concussion during the fray, distorting her memory of what happened
- - when she recovers, the main six try to find the truth behind the night eagles, and how twilight survived her assault
- - realizing he needs a more attention-drawing target, the rogue attempts a public strike at celestia, luna, and cadance when they attend the official release of the new daring do book
- - although the princesses survive the attempt, it has the desired effect, with every guard in the kingdom and empire on high alert for the assassins, making the brotherhood’s job that much harder
- - shining armor’s paranoia get even worse, zecora reveals herself to twilight as an assassin, while the other girls interview the maimed author and learn her secret as well
- - the main six are lead to the order’s headquarters and the situation is explained to them
- - meanwhile, the rogue assassin steals several spells from the canterlot archives and uses them and his enhanced power to break celestia’s magic on the elements of harmony, scattering them across time and space before using some final spells to send himself back in time
- - suddenly, shining armor busts into the place with a large number of guards! he reveals that he put a tracking spell on twilight after her attack. but before anything else can happen, everything around the main six and the brotherhood begins changing as history rewrites itself into an alternate timeline
- - discord suddenly appears as well, teleporting the remaining group out of the shifting room and into the everfree forest. he quickly explains what’s happening, but says although his chaotic powers offer him some protection from the time change, it’s only for a short while, and the same is true of the everfree forest. they only have a few minutes before it too will change
- - of the group from the order’s lair, only the main six, shining armor, zecora, the maimed author, and the author’s friend are left
- - using the last of his power, discord marks the locations of the elements of harmony, and combines his magic with a shield spell from shining armor to protect their group long enough to ride out the time storm
- - discord vanishes as the time shift overwhelms him, but the shield spell holds until the danger passes
- - in the new world of the altered timeline, the rogue assassin is tyrant king over all of equestria and the crystal empire, and the brotherhood have become his enforces (cruelty and ruthlessness of the templars mixed with the deadly skills of assassins)
- - the small band of heroes are given sanctuary by the cutie mark crusaders, and learn that discord, the princesses, and cadance’s family had joined forces against the rogue, but were defeated. sombra was also defeated, though his curse on the crystal empire never activated.
- - it’s decided that they need the elements of harmony to restore the timeline, but they need a time spell to reach them first
- - twilight is able to manipulate the time spell with some difficulty, and so the group journeys across time and space to recover the elements of harmony while fleeing the rogue’s apprentices: assassins who have been specially trained to follow their prey through time.
Chapter fragments:
Meanwhile, back in the real world...
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TRAIN WATCHERS YAY!”
Five minutes later...
“99 buckets of oats on the wall! 99 buckets of oats! You take one down, pass it around, you got 98 buckets of oats on the wall!” sang out Sweetie Belle as they waited. “98 buckets of oats on the wall! 98 buckets of oats! You take one down, pass it around, you got 97 buckets of oats on the wall! 97 buckets of oats on the wall! 97 buckets of oats! You take one down, pass it around - !”
96 buckets of oats later...
“This. Is. So. BORING!” moaning Scootaloo, throwing her hooves up. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle nodded glumly in agreement. Just then, Daisy Joe walked past them, contentedly chewing her cud. “Why hello there girls!” said the cow cheerfully, “Lovely day for watchin’ trains ain't it.”
The three fillies just stared at her, dumbstruck as she walked by. Once she was out of sight, they looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to watching the train tracks again.
Five more minutes later...
“Know where we can find a few proton packs at this hour?”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS GHOSTBUSTERS YAY!”
...............................................................................................
Chapter:? Alternate Reality - Assassins Rule Equestria
“No! Sweetie Bell, don’t!” cried a voice from the mist, just as a foal-sized shadow came hurtling towards them, plowing into Rarity and clutching at her in a death grip.
Rarity, acting on instinct, held the trembling body close to her, stroking the tangled mane and gently shushing the sobbing little pony. She stared at the others in shock, utterly at a loss. Had that voice called the filly, ‘Sweetie Belle’? It couldn’t be her little sister! This pony felt half starved under Rarity’s hooves, and the coat was much too coarse and ragged.
Clearly the others had the same thoughts, because Twilight and Shining Armor moved closer, so that their lit horns cast more light on the pair. The rest of their group gathered around as well, staring in disbelief. But there was no mistaking the color of the unicorn filly’s mane and coat. It was Sweetie Bell.
Two voices rang from the mist now, calling Sweetie’s name, but she didn’t seem to hear them. An instant later, they appeared, galloping flat out towards the group, only to stop suddenly at the sight of them. It was Scootaloo and Apple Bloom. Both looked as ragged and thin as their friend, but most shocking of all were the looks on their faces.
Apple Bloom’s expression was a strange mix of shock, disbelief, and longing as she stared at Applejack. Her stance was tense and rigid, as if she wanted to rush forward as Sweetie Bell had, but was holding herself in check.
Scootaloo’s face, however, held only fear and hatred as the shock ebbed away. “Sweetie Belle!” she yelled, “Get away from them! It isn’t real!”
“I DON’T CARE!” Sweetie wailed, half screaming as fresh tears streamed down her face. She buried her face deeper into Rarity’s fur. “I don’t care if it is an Assassin trap! I just want my sister back!”