Equestria is dying.
There is nothing anyone can do about this.
The sun has shined too long. The Age of Sunlight must come to an end. But Celestia refuses to let it extinguish, and the land is shrouded in everlasting dusk. And now, among the living, are seen bearers of the accursed Darksign. Those doomed to die, again and again, until their minds fade away and they turn hollow, forever seeking the souls of others for nourishment, in a futile attempt to regain their lost memories and lives. But there is now only one way for their suffering to end. Celestia must be slain, so that the Age of Dark may take its natural turn.
Co-created by Akumokagetsu
Cover art from PonyChaos13 on DeviantArt
'Dark Souls' crossover.
Chapters (8)
If its a dark souls crossover, you should mention that in the description.
I like this so far! Its really good, but with a few grammatical errors. If you'd like, I could proofread later chapters.
This is wonderfulmazingtastic
4113360
Which ones did you see? I thought I got them all.
I'm interested to see how this turns out. However, I never heard of 'Dark Souls' before today.
4113847
The first game came out about three years ago. The second one came out last week. I hold the franchise as one of my top five favorites. It takes some learning to get used to the rules, but once you're in, it's addicting and awesome.
4113847 This should explain it.
4114156
It does an excellent job of explaining the game, actually. Until you figure out all the attack patterns and timings. That's actually what I used to introduce one of my friends to the first game.
4114156 I liked the credits. Short, sweet, and most importantly, fast.
Well hello there. I'm Andre of Astor- I mean, my name is Rarity. How may I help you?
(I may or may not play Dark Souls too much for any normal human to handle...)
4114622
I've got you beat, then, because I definitely play too much for a normal human.
Praise the sun!!!
Seriously, loving this story so far! Poor Twilight has no idea what she's going up against. I eagerly await the next chapter, though I must ask: will there be a Solaire pony? Twilight may need some jolly cooperation!!!
I'd like to actually get involved with helping you out on this if you're looking for those who can. I can say I know my stuff about the game and lore -- quite a bit of both, actually -- and I'd love to get involved with a story such as this.
4114714
Not quite. Trust me, I wouldn't even dream of writing this without a Solaire replacement, and I think a lot of people are going to enjoy who I've picked.
Well this is, how you may say? Unusual, but none the less awesome.
4113532 Some of the dialogue never found its way onto a new line.
4115159
Such as? I'm not sure what you mean.
4114731
Well, if you're going to so blatantly give me a way to test that, then obviously I have to at least see if you're not just bragging.
If you know your lore as well as you say, then you should have no trouble identifying which Dark Souls character the pony Sweetie Belle was describing is based on.
4115183
See, this is wrong. There should be a new paragraph after Rarity's first quote, as well as after Twilight nods. Otherwise, its difficult to keep track of who is saying what, no to mention it is hard on the eyes.
Also, I believe Sweetie Belle is talking about Tarkus, yes?
I haven't ever played dark souls before,(even though I have a friend who is addicted to it and talks about it all day)but this story is going to be amazing,I can tell!
There's too much explaining going on to give the story that Dark Souls atmosphere. Imagine that, instead of just flinging a corpse down your cell, Oscar took the time to stay there and tell you all about the dark sign and what it does as well as what you're supposed to do, and about hollows. And gave you a choice of armor and advised you about light and heavy armor. The sense of isolation and mystery is already lost just so the story can tell the reader "yes, this is a Dark Souls crossover".
4115822
Have you played Dark Souls 2 yet? Because they do that almost right off the bat, and it still works. Also, I'm working with other character personalities along with it, so I have to put at least some of that in as well.
4115222
Ok. I had been under the impression that wasn't required, but you seem pretty certain of this, so whatever. It's not the first time I've been wrong.
Wait....
Crap. Now I have to go back and fix my other stories, too. That's just...
4115907 Don't feel bad! Think of it as...a setback.
Of course, every minor setback in dark souls usually costs your life....
4115196 If we're basing this on Dark Souls 1 lore, the only character I can think of with such a thing would be Black Iron Tarkus. I lack knowledge in the DS 2 lore as it were, as I'm waiting for the PC release.
4115980
4115940
Yes, it's Tarkus. I don't think there even is any black armor in the second game. Although, the Greatsword looks far more impressive than before.
4116035 I got my Greatsword to +10.
Pure strength, baby
4116035 So who gets to help you then, of Jot Notes, or I?
4116056 I'll duel you for it :P
4116088 Yeah, me and my shitty Canadian ping might whoop ya. +15 Washing Pole, +14 Claymore, Canvas Talisman, +15 Grass Crest Shield, +9 Wanderer set (+6 Thief Hood).
4116056
Don't know yet. I'm still waiting for a response from Akumogetsu. Once I have his opinion, I'll let you know.
4116047
That's what I did, too. Makes life much easier during an ambush if I can hit almost everything within arm's reach of my character. I also bought a second Greatsword, and infused it with magic. Once I get my stats high enough, I'm just going to dual-wield them. COMPLETE OBLITERATION OF ALL WHO WOULD OPPOSE ME!!
4116094 Giant Chest Piece +5
Giant Gauntlets +5
Giant Leggings +5
Mask of the Father
+5 Chaos Zweihander
4116101 I love strength builds. Not because I can't use magic, but because I hate magic.
4116129
Havel's Helm
Black Iron Chestpiece +5
Stone Gauntlets
Havel's Leggings
Havel's Greatshield
Black Knight Greataxe +5
I also started a lightweight greatsword build recently.
Mask of the Sealer
Elite Knight Armor
Tattered Cloth Manchettes
Crimson Skirt
Zweihander
Bastard Sword
I forget how far I've upgraded everything so far.
4116291 Awesome. I found a build for a lot rincess Celestia build. I might try it out when I come back to DkS
4116124
If you're going to play heavy be a real man and register for your Big Truck license today!
Giant Dads....
Paid for by people who support Big Truck builds everywhere and abhor dirty magic using cheesing buckers. Note; the Big Truck group does not abhor Mages, only "Clerics" who don't bow & spam Wrath of the Gods.
4116343 Ah...Rosie...
Also, I'm building a Pure Dark Magic build in Souls 2, only I'm using it for good, not evil.
4116035
There is. Darkwraith armor
Anyway, kinda mixed feelings. On one hand, fellow Souls fan/crossover writer. On the other, this was pretty on the nose. I'm having trouble with that too but it's still something that needs to be thought about heavily. Though i have the problem of creating new lore that still borrows from Demon's/Dark Souls instead of just adapting already made lore.
Honestly I'd get rewrite that whole explaining the Darksign bit to be more obscured. In my Souls-esque story I usually write a regular explanation of stuff and then rewrite it to be more mysterious and vague. Though there's a few places where I dropped the obscura to make the backstory clear due to reasons.
The fact that you're integrating the fate of Lordran into Equestria instead of forcing a Souls character into Equestria or vice versa is promising. If you can come up with a good explanation for the Darksign's appearance in Equestria that's even better.
I'm hopeful that you're going to bring in some black phantoms. They've been in all three Souls games, and it wouldn't be right with out one. Or a Yurt expy. And you gotta have my girl Priscilla in there somewhere. Fluffy tail wife.
Anyway, that's about all I can think of to say. Unless you're playing DaS2 on PS3 in which case we should swap info and do some jolly coop.
4116431
I actually did the Darksign bit quite purposefully. I didn't like the fact that the first game barely said anything about it, and while I did put quite a bit of information in there, I still have plenty up my sleeve. As for how it showed up, don't worry. Two of the first rules I learned in world-building are these:
1. Everything has a reason to exist.
If something only exists in a world because you want it to, it probably shouldn't be included. Jar Jar is a perfect example of this.
2. Use what's available.
If something already exists that would fit the role you're trying to fill, put it in. Don't try to come up with a perfect facsimile. Working off a source material can actually lead to a far more original creation. Again, Star Wars is a perfect example. George Lucas originally wanted to do a Flash Gordon movie, but he couldn't get the copyright. So, he took the basic framework, and started moving things around, changing bits and pieces here and there until something entirely new was born.
As for black phantoms, yes, they will be making an appearance or two. I just don't know when. Certainly not for a while. And Priscilla... I don't know. It's doable, but it's gonna be a hell of a long stretch, and I don't think it'll be worth it. If I can do it without making it feel forced, I'll try, but it's not likely. Sorry.
4116552
I hope they aren't filthy clerics!
And I hope there is Patches here.
4115893
That may be, but consider how you dispense information. Your story description alone gives away lore that a Dark Souls player only learns when Frampt and Kaathe enter the picture. Not only that, it favors Kaathe's interpretation of events when Dark Souls was careful to remain ambiguous about the whole thing.
Twilight's examination of the bonfire was about as subtle as being bludgeoned with a chunk of ham. The fire is mysterious, yes, but better to bring out its mystery slowly throughout the story instead of Twilight getting all these vibes "somehow".
Rarity explaining the memory thing also hurts the mystery. Why not just have her not remember Twilight at all and leave it at that? That would compel the reader to push on with the story to find out. Let the horrific nature of the darksign play out slowly, perhaps through multiple deaths, instead of front-loading all the info in the opening chapter.
4114125 Well if you count Demon's Souls then the series has been around longer.
This looks very interesting so far, it helps that I am playing Dark Souls right now, and have just beaten Demon's souls a few days ago (found them both at game stop for cheap), I also plan to get Dark Souls 2 latter on when I have the chance.
Anyways my main wonder is what your plan for bosses and areas, do plan to make them all from scratch or will some be familiar faces and places from Dark Souls and maybe Demon's Souls?
What is Dark Souls?
4117571
I'm going to put a video at the beginning of the next chapter to answer that in the best way possible.
4117023
Oh, don't worry. There will be bosses. Probably not anything straight from the games, but definitely a few horrifying ones.
4116961
I'll admit I'm not the most subtle of writers, but I guarantee that there's still plenty of other secrets here. I'm basing the story itself more on the first game, but I prefer the way the second game doles out information, so I'm borrowing more heavily from that for details. Don't worry, I've got plenty of other horrific reveals to show. Part of it, though, is that I've never really seen the Darksign as a bad thing. Memory loss can be terrifying, I won't argue that, but my death count in both games is low enough that I always saw it as a warning to not die, anyway, even though death isn't permanent, instead of an unavoidable fate that no one can stop. So yeah, that's probably coloring my judgment a little and affecting my writing somewhat.
I like this, but I think you stuffed to much exposition into too short a space
4114661 I think that you and i will get along JUST fine, then.
4117579 Ok then
, though part of me did hope to see the Tower of Latria 
, but that's fine 
, if your going by scratch then i'm very interested in seeing what you come up with, and if any will be based on G1, anyways good luck.