Everypony has a story. Every soul comes from a different background.
In the world of Skyfall, those stories run the entire gamut. Antecedents is an anthology of background stories from some of the more popular, mysterious, and important characters in the series. Follow your favorite characters on a journey to their pasts.
Side stories surround the characters of the Skyfall saga.
Smoke and Ash pre-read by Jake the Army Guy.
Do No Harm pre-read by k64speed.
The Captain pre-read by Jake the Army Guy.
Chapters (4)
Ooh, pony heaven? Oats and alfalfa everywhere...
Also, ANOTHER tragedy tag?! Dude, can't you PLEASE give these poor ponies a break?!
Blah. Dis gon b gud. I, for one, can't wait to see that handsome, charming, and devilishly witty pony that was yelling at Fleethoof...
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Fleethoof's story alone deserves the Tragedy tag. Not everypony's story will be sad though.
Hmm, I wonder who that could be...?
Also, memory spells? You know, that, uh... that end so well when Twilight tried it on Pinkie Pie...
good start. like the concept
Time for yet another rollercoaster staring my two favourite ponies!!!!! :D
This should be interesting
3281346 What's the phrase? Practice, practice, practice...right?
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Oh there are a lot of stars in this one.
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Wait a second, you aren't going to have this storyline CROSSING the main canon storyline which directly effects your main storyline as well as the other "star's" storylines?
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...Quite honestly, you lost me there.
This story is part of the canon Skyfall story, but it's made entirely of multiple characters' flashbacks and background stories. There is very little progression forward, little direct impact other than you learning who the characters' pasts, and a lot of character development.
3281966
Ahhhhh
Either way, I'll be reading / lurking / commenting
I must say, good sir, I found the format of the chapter beginning most entertaining.
I also had a bit of spoiler goodness dumped on my face, making me want to get to Treason even faster now. I liked the description of The Beyond as well; it stirs ideas. Oh, and I'll be sending you a PM with two/three nitpicks. 
God damn man. I really need to get through Dracula for school but I check my feed just once to see a new story. No Dracula tonight.
Aim High: Fly, Fight, Win
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I put a lot of thought into Elysium. It's times like these that make me wish I had some artistic ability too, so I could create the scenes I see in my head. Words also seem to do that pretty effectively, though.
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Fortunately it's a short one this time.
I think this story will become a great addition to the series. I find myself smiling as I remember all of Fleethoof's past adventures in this chapter. Hopefully, he can get some good therapy out of this too.
Silver out!
Man where did you learn to write so good, you get me every time with the emotions. This looks good can,t wait for more.
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I was very fortunate to have extraordinarily passionate English teachers that never gave up.
Wait a second.... Blazing Saddles... Lily von Shtup.....
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I've never given it any thought, honestly. I think that would be awesome though!
I suddenly find myself very hungry. Enough to eat a horse, one might say. Arabian back ribs, anypony?
Aye, a good chapter, sir. I now feel even more disgusted by that oily, smooth-talking prince. (Skyfall was really good, by-the-way!) I will admit I didn't feel as much horror in this chapter as much as I was aghast as what the horses did. Still an enrapturing chapter, though.
Is it just me or did you base the pony mossad loosely off NCIS?
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I based the pony Mossad off the real Mossad, which I got information about from the combination of a book... and NCIS.
So that was sad which it was supposed to be thanks again for the good read.
Really emotional chapter. Got borderline teary eyed for a few seconds there. I'm glad you're doing this project. It certainly gives the series a whole new level of depth that I am enjoyed immensely. Now we understand why Chaim was so defensive about the subject in Treason. Nice tie-in there. Man, those translations had me going back and forth to Google Translate only to find them already translated at the bottom of the page. Geez, man. Sure, the Karalians will speak German from time to time, but certainly not that much! So...you can't call me a hypocrite when I do it!
Where do all of these chapters keep coming from?! I can't keep up!
Silver out!
Needle-chest decompression! The newest vogue thing in Combat Life Saver class.
Was wondering what Blue Shield did during the war. Though, now I'm a bit curious about Blue's current relationship with his father and what his dad did during the war.
Though, my favorite bit was Skyfall...I guess it's not a surmise since I'm most interested in the griffins.
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Everypony in Skyfall will have their Griffon War story told soon enough.
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It's a very exploitable school. I like bringing pieces of the canon universe into mine, just to keep the two tethered together.
Best of luck with your first story! It's an exciting feeling!
Ah, flying flipper monkeys...
I KNEW I'd miss something!
Sorry about that...
That opening. It sounded a lot like they were going to... you know.
Once took a course in college in comic book writing taught by a professional comic book writer. We called that a "nonsexual love scene".
It's nice to see more of Cadance playing a major role since she's been sidelined for awhile in the Skyfall series proper. Is this the same memory spell Twilight used to undo Discord's power over her friends? Anywho, these side-stories look like they'll be interesting. I'm aboard.
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Who knows, by the end they might.
I am apparently an expert at writing suggestive scenes where nothing actually happens. I don't know whether or not to be proud of that.
Rest assured, Cadence will play a major part in this story. As for the spell, indeed it is, or a variation of it, at least. Hey, Twilight had to learn it from somewhere, right?
Well that was an interesting trip into Chaim's past. Always wanted to know more about Learsi.
I never really stopped to think about shining armour in the original tale.
Awesome stuff :D
Thank you for writing this chapter, I was quite curious as to how twilight would take the fact that her brother had seen combat.
3600479 You're not needlessly getting my hopes up are you.
I had to write such a scene for the aforementioned course. It wasn't as subtle.
It's nice seeing the Griffin War from the perspectives of the other characters as well as their backgrounds and stuff. Stable is the same doctor from "Read It and Weep" right. I know I'm going to like this.
That was a great chapter, kinda been wanting to know what happened to Armor since book one. Also like how you threw Flash in there as well, was kinda funny and cool. Can't wait for more
I'm glad to see Shining Armor's side of the story from "The Griffin War". It's also nice to see one of the main characters in one of these stories, especially Twilight.
I like her relationship with Shining Armor. As an older brother myself, I can appreciate that.
Fleethoof can be quite unflappable sometimes.
Jealous much. He was waxing poetic over the last time he saw Cadance and about the possibility of rekindling a relationship with her. What's going to happen if she grows closer to Fleethoof? This is like Twilight, except better because they can shoot at each other.
Flash Sentry!
So he served in the Griffin War. I was hoping he'd show up in one of these stories. He could really use the treatment you've given to Shining Armor. I always felt he had a lot of potential. Let's hope he'll make an appearance in the series proper.
Equestria Girls joke!
I'm really enjoying these side stories in the meantime until "Overture" updates. Keep up the good work.
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I've had a few people ask me what happened to Shining Armor during the war. It seemed like the only logical choice to use as his background story, since the canon and comic books covered the time before and after his enlistment.
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You are very welcome.
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You never really know with me. The beautiful thing is that nothing is finalized, and there are still a lot of shades of gray I need to decide what to do with.
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Shining Armor is one of those characters that I wish had more of a background to them. That's the entire reason I had him as a main character in my stories. When people began asking for his side of the Griffon War, I knew this was the perfect chance. Twilight is my absolute favorite in the show, so she obviously had to make an appearance when it was right. I plan on using her and the others more in the future.
Hmm, maybe they will shoot at each other...
Yep! Flash Sentry has joined the cast. Rest assured, I have a bigger role for him reserved in the future that will explain how he got to his high position in the Crystal Guard.
3604777 Can't wait to hear that story about Flash Sentry.
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Run, Shining, run!
So...I liked part of this, but there were a couple of parts that really seemed...errr pretty sub-par for your work.
Firstly I was happy to see Twi meet Fleet...but I'm looking forward to seeing them actually interact a bit more then "Hey, nice to meet you."
Right...so the things that bugged me.
Pretty much the entire scene that goes from Shining practicing magic to the princesses returning from the capital telling the army that the war is continuing.
So lets start with the magic practice: this scene felt so ham-fisted and awkward. The first thought that came to mind was, "he's going to try and use magic later on." It pulled me out of the story and had me looking in on the story instead of submerging myself in it.
This scene was also the beginning of a rather frustrating trend. The use of magic for rather mundane things.
What I'm referring to is someone using magic to pass Shining a canteen or Shining using magic to lower the flag. I believe there were a few other instances of simple magic use. These instances really devalue the arcanate and makes the question; "why don't the unicorns use magic in the war?"
It also makes Shining's whole struggle with casting while fighting against the arcanate feel really weird. If he's a, supposedly, really powerful spell caster then what about the guy casting the multiple offensive spells? It raises more questions about arcanate rather than clarifying what this stuff does.
The other issues I had with this scene was the talk of "princesses" and Luna being around. I found it really odd at how accepting the ponies where that. The army treated Luna as if she'd always been there, but of course she'd been there for...how long? I went back to the chapter in your first story and after rereading that section it still feels really weird. Did the ponies really accept Luna that readily?
...ummm...something else that I literally just thought about was how the heck do Princess Celestia and Princess Luna get out of the Kingdom ahead of Fleet when Skyfall had been recaptured by the griffins before the war had officially started up again? Word of Skyfall's capture hadn't reached the army until after the war had started up again, so the princesses where trapped in the country just as much as the army was. How did they get through the Kingdom's blockade and to Equestira before Fleet and his unit did? And if the Princesses got through before Fleet and his unit did they leave poor Cadance behind trapped in a tower to play damsel in distress?
...and now...now I'm wondering why Princess Cadance was coming to the Kingdom when Celestia and Luna were already there. Having all three of your nations rulers in a hostile nation doesn't seem very wise. Maybe this is just me with hind-sight 20/20 with my knowledge of how the war plays out, and further world building done with you, that makes me wonder why all 3 alicorn princesses where there, however I feel this is something that you might want to remember for future works.
Anyways...overall I did enjoy this chapter. It was nice to see stuff from Shining's POV and to see the Kingdom again. Now that I'm finally done with this semester I'm looking forward to getting my own content of the Kingdom up and underway. I want to explore this world you've created even more now.
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All valid and good points. Let's begin addressing them one at a time by going back to the original story this chapter is a part of. As for more Twilight and Fleethoof interaction, well... that's not exactly for the side story. That's something more for the plot proper.
Anyway...
Can't really address anything with this. I'm going to have to say that this is a matter of perspective on this and that we'll have to agree to disagree on this matter.
Because that is literally ALL they can do with it. Arcanate doesn't stop magic, it buffers it. Powerful unicorn spellcasters and the members of the Guard that had been enlisted longer have had training around it. I refer you back to Captain Phalanx's expanation:
It isn't impossible for the ponies to use magic, but it takes a great deal of effort. Next point...
I'm just gonna leave this here as my answer.
static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130106001126/mlp/images/0/09/Princess_Luna_smiling_at_her_sister_S1E02.png
I refer you back to The Griffon War, Chapter 8:
The simple answer is yes. The complicated answer is: two high value individuals and a small band of bodyguards facing a platoon of advanced griffon soldiers. You don't need to be a military strategist to know what would happen if they attempted anything.
The Griffon War, Chapter 9:
Political propaganda all around. That, and a dash of alicorn charm to break Alaric's charismatic hold of hatred. Celestia and Luna appeal to the leader while Cadence uses her abilities to sway the public in favor of the Equestrians peacefully. Also, Cadence isn't a ruler yet. She's an Equestrian ambassador. Celestia and Luna are the only rulers in the diarchy.
In regards to this, thank you for taking the time to write all of this out. It's things like this that help keep me pushing to do better and better. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what you have in store for the griffons in the future. They certainly haven't made their last appearance in my work yet.
3629890 I figured there wouldn't be more Twi...just something I'm hoping to see more of her.
And what I meant by the magic practice being ham-fisted was that there was no build up or transition to the moment. Shining was focusing on the city and the up and coming siege when someone called out to him that he should practice his magic. His response is to keep musing about his current situation, as if he hadn't heard. Then he does a 180 and shows that he had heard and had been paying attention to the calls for him to practice magic. It's the disconnect between the dialogue and description that made me go:
But why would the unicorns bother using simple magic? You've described using magic, particularly with pro-longed use, to be painful. You've also described it as making the caster extremely nauseous and dizzy shaking the caster to his core.
This is for a powerful spell, cast be a powerful spell caster. Wouldn't a simple spell simply fissile out, without major concentration, effort, and some pain on the spell casters part, because it wouldn't have the power to punch through the buffer? You set up the arcanate as a major deterrent to use magic, but when you compare the struggle Shining underwent to cast his shield, a spell with the strength to power through the arcanate, to using something small like levitation it seems like the arcanate has no affect on that stuff. But when you wrote me out that sheet about the purity of arcanate and it's affects on spell casters the chart implied that the more arcanate or refined arcanate there was the more powerful the spell caster and her spells would have to be, because without that power they wouldn't be able to punch through the arcanate's buffer. It's just this chapter has me asking more questions. Before I'd felt like I had a good understanding: More power and skill means you're going to punch through the buffer. Less power and less skill and your spells will be hampered, maybe even shut down completely.
However, with small spells being used so nonchalantly arcanate feels like it losses it's effect until something important happens.
As for the Luna bit...I'll see you're picture and raise you an episode: Luna Eclipsed
An entire episode about working to get Luna to make some friends and to not have the entire town quiver in fear of her.
And even if the army was perfectly trusting of Luna...wouldn't they at least be a little curious as to who this new princess is? These soldiers have grown up with Princess Celestia and Princess Cady and no one is curious about the new ruler of the night? ...anyone? ...no?
And thank you for clarifying the return of Celestia to the capital...though I still think having all three of your rulers in a hostile nation is poor planning. Even if Cady isn't a "ruler" she's still a Princess and in my head-cannon if Celestia and Luna were to vanish or be out of commission, my natural reaction would be to turn to Cady and say, "Welp, looks like you're up to bat kid." By having "Prince" or "Princess" in your name it pretty much guaranties that you're next in line...especially when you've wing and a horn.
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Oh, there will be more of Twi.
I think the easiest way for me to answer this with all the background knowledge I've given you is through a message. I'll send my response right away.
In regards to Luna again, I can only answer that by going back to The Griffon War:
So it isn't as big of a surprise as you think. Skepticism may have been in the hearts of some, but I can't think of a soul alive that would be unhappy to see someone trying to save their lives. I personally dislike Luna Eclipsed simply for the fact that none of it feels right. I find it very difficult to believe that the ponies that had one regaled her return with celebrations and flowers were suddenly frightened to death of her. I've always personally chalked that up to her swooping in like a bat out of hell (pun intended), dressed like an assassin, screaming at the top of her lungs. I don't believe the citizens of Equestria are truly afraid of her, but were more frightened by her affront nature during a holiday that was centered around her darker side.
You are correct! That is the head canon I hold to as well—at least until Twilight makes a claim to the throne. But in a constitutional monarchy (or diarchy in this case), the senate and congress of Equestria would also have political power, and in my mind would govern Equestria democratically until a suitable adjunct could be placed on the throne. It probably was poor choice to trust the griffons in a time of war, though.
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I'm not sure the celebration was really for or even about Luna. She was more or less there, while the Celebration was more about Celestia's return. Luna more or less happened to be there.
Not to mention Luna looks a lot different in Luna Eclipsed compared to the image we see of her in Season 1. Actually Digibrony talks a bit about this in his thorough analyzes of Luna Eclipsed.
Also...I don't mean that the army would necessarily be scared of her...but is no one curious about her or what she's like? She literarily came from the moon. No one is curious about her and wants to ask questions? It's just...Luna's presence already feels common place. But I digress.
Due to my curiosity, I read this chapter prior to the other ones; I just had to know about what Shining Armour had been up to in the capital!
Well, while I was expecting a Stalingrad take down the bunker CoD style kind of operation, I wasn't disappointed. I can certainly say I feel that Shining earned his stripes, while in the main story I sometimes had to wonder. Course, I'm sure his new desk job is a tad safer (just wait till your wedding bro
) than the front lines.
I think my only critique, really, is when Shining's group had pinned those loyalists in that building. He seriously just shouted for them to surrender, knowing damn well that they would rather "eat a bullet than lay down their arms". At this stage, you would think Shining would be past that ridiculous notion of giving this lot a chance to surrender. He knows, or believes he knows anyways, who/what is left.
They are not going down without a fight, so asking them to surrender seemed either superficial or unnecessarily haughty to me. But other than that, not much else that I could poke too much fun at, though I was a little surprised to see Flash Sentry not just in Skyfall, but also in Asgard. Apologies if that had been mentioned in the original story, but for some reason, I was caught a little off guard. No grievances though, not much is known about Flash anyways in the canon, so some fiction with him not wanting to romp Twilight is not a bad thing.
Good side story, it really cleared up what Shining got promoted for quite nicely.
I really hope you decide to continue this, it really adds another dimension to the story and makes it that much more enjoyable.
I don't know if the horseshoes and hoof-grenades thing is an actual saying, or if it comes from that one Green Day song. I like the latter choice more!
6061963
“Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades,” is an actual saying that I’ve heard and read about for decades, while coming into existence long before the “Horseshoes and Handgrenades” song. That common expression means that you get points in horseshoes for coming close even if your horseshoe doesn't circle the post. Examples: A live shoe that is not a ringer, but comes to rest six inches (6”) or closer to the stake, has a value of one (1) point (alternate scoring methods give 2 points if the horseshoe leans on the stake, called a "leaner"). Likewise, you inflict injuries with a grenade that lands close but missed hitting the exact target.
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Don’t forget the time during “My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legend of Everfree” when Sunset Shimmer used a memory spell on Pinkie that also didn’t go well. This is what Sunset saw in Pinkie’s mind.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/4/40/Pinkie_Pie_skipping_through_a_crazy_mindscape_EG4.png/revision/latest?cb=20161030151658
Imagine if the same Chaos Magic that Pinkie uses is the same magic that Cheese Sandwich and Discord uses. Dusk Quill should use that idea in his stories; have the Skyfall team hire a pony that can use Chaos Magic the same way that Pinkie, Cheese Sandwich, and Discord uses Chaos Magic.
Imagine what a soldier who has Chaos Magic in an army platoon could do to enemy combatants, appearing next to them instantaneously, making objects appear out of thin air, or using creative interrogation or persuasion methods similar to what Pinkie did to Lord Tirek during the episode “School Raze - Part 2”. I’ll leave the details of such interrogation or persuasion to you, as you have more practical education and experience in that subject.
vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/3/31/Pinkie_pouring_tea_for_Lord_Tirek_S8E26.png/revision/latest?cb=20181017021822
I’ve decided that an original, party planning pony that is not Pinkie or Cheese needs to join our Skyfall team. Dusk Quill, I command you to make it so, make this Brony’s dream come true.
Is Blue Shield like based of Desmond T. Doss¿?