Chapter 1
On his way to the palace of the Royal Pony sisters, Garlic the earth pony paused to look at the bounty board. The first act of the Royal Pony sisters to redeem themselves was a promise to hunt down and capture the The Malcontent Six, the Erroneous Equines. Applejack had been captured, but the whereabouts about the others was still unknown. Twilight Sparkle, the infamous unicorn witch, had gone off with the once good but now fallen King Sombra to become his dark apprentice, or so the local rumours claimed.
A lot of ponies still did not trust the Royal Pony sisters after the many years of abuse, but the Foreverfree Forest County had become one of the few safe places in Equestria after the redemption of the Royal Pony Sisters by the mirror travelers and their Elements of Harmony. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna had done much to make up for the harm they had done, and a few ponies were willing to give them a chance.
There were the usual warnings about timber wolves, a freshly posted notice about a hydra that had been terrorising the farms on the edge of the county, and a slightly yellowed old notice about giant spiders.
Not much had changed.
Except for one piece of paper that concerned Garlic a great deal when he spotted it down the corner, a small scrap of paper with the words “Missing: our hero, Sir Discord, AKA, Captain Goodguy. Reward offered for knowledge of his whereabouts.”
Sighing, Garlic realised that everything truly was being turned upside down in this world since the Mirror Crisis. The world had nearly ended, or so some said, and now the effects seemed to be traveling outwards like ripples in a pond.
Shaking his head, Garlic departed and continued on his way, hurrying towards the palace gates. Near the gates was a recently constructed water fountain with the Magistrates known as Flim and Flam in statue form, the Virtues of Fairness, the brothers who safeguarded the law and had officially forgiven the Royal Pony Sisters in exchange for their solemn promise to atone. Both statues stood on a giant pair of scales, each brother standing on one, keeping the scales balanced between the two of them.
He turned, entered the gates, and came into the palace courtyard, which was filled with ponies going about their day. Chrysalis was here, the Virtue of Love, and it looked as though she was conducting a marriage ceremony. Garlic snorted as she passed. Marriage was for chumps. The ponies who had lived in Sombra’s once great city of Canterlot practiced marriage, but for the rest of the ponies who had survived in the mostly lawless Equestria, marriage had fallen into ill favour, although it seemed to be making a comeback, and Chrysalis, the Virtue of Love, championed its cause.
Clearing the courtyard and passing the second gate, Garlic began to pass the great library hall when he heard a voice calling out to him, shouting out his name in a loud clear voice, begging him to stop.
“Garlic Van der Grease, please, a moment of your time!”
Halting mid stride, Garlic sighed. He had somewhere to be, he had been summoned, and how, it seemed that he was being delayed. He hoped that Princess Celestia would understand. He slowly turned to look at Derpy, the Virtue of Wisdom.
“You need something?” Garlic inquired, raising one eyebrow to look at the bespectacled grey pegasus mare.
“I was hoping to ask you a favour,” Derpy replied sheepishly, an awkward smile upon her face. “I misplaced my book. I just don’t know what went wrong.”
“And you want me to get it?” Garlic questioned. This was never how an adventure started, being sent off on some meaningless quest to fetch some mundane item like a book. Dealing with the absurd was a trying experience. He was a Preserver now, the lowest rank of the Guardians of Virtue, and as such, he was unable to say no if one of the Virtues requested something from him. He had worked very hard to get to his current position and if he had to fetch a book, then he would fetch a book.
“Yes please,” Derpy responded. “I left it in the Cairn Courtyard near the mirror monument I think.”
“I will do as you ask,” Garlic sighed as he turned and headed for the steps that would allow him to walk along the top of the walls along the crenellations, which was the fastest way to get where he was going.
“Thank you Garlic, you’re so very sweet, I’ll make sure to tell your dear mother, Red Onion Pie, just how sweet her little colt has grown up to be,” Derpy called out as Garlic departed.
Garlic almost smiled. At least his father, Gasser Van der Grease, would be happy that Red Onion Pie would have something to be proud about. The Pie family family had fallen on hard times since Pinkamena Pie had soiled the family’s good name with her lawlessness and her cruelty, and Garlic would do anything to restore his mother’s good name of Pie.
Walking along the top of the wall, Garlic watched the hustle and bustle below as he made his way to the Cairns Courtyard where the mirror monument was. There was going to be another Choosing soon, Flim and Flam would announce new Preservers and new Scouts, the lowest ranks of Guardians and Rangers. It took a dedication to do good, selfless acts, and a great deal of hard work to even be considered, and the crowds below were filled with hopefuls and their families, all of whom were trying to garner the favour of the other Magistrates who also had a say in the decision making process.
Garlic had earned his place by capturing Baron Big McIntosh, savagely beating him into submission, then dragging him back to the Foreverfree County Courthouse and leaving the bloodied baron in a messy heap in front of Flim and Flam. Every other attempt to capture the baron had failed, and a fair number of ponies who had tried before Garlic had been killed in their attempt.
Garlic was a big earth pony by any standard. While he wasn’t bulky like Baron Big Mac was, or even heavily muscled, Garlic stood at least a full head taller than Big Mac. Tall, lean, lanky, with long legs, no other pony in the entirety of the Foreverfree County was quite like Garlic. Pale off white in colour, with a mane and tail the colour of autumn and a cutie mark that was a short section of a stone wall, Garlic was a distinctive figure.
He took the stairs leading down to the Cairn Courtyard and saw a familiar figure reading a book. For a moment, he gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. No doubt, this was the book he was sent here to fetch and it was being held by the most annoying pegasus who had ever lived, his personal nemesis, Fogwalker Fetlocks.
“Foggy,” Garlic greeted, trying to be civil.
“Oh… hi there Garlic,” Fogwalker replied, looking up from her book. “Derpy gave me this book to read and said you’d be by to collect it. She told me to ask you to come with you when you went and saw Princess Celestia.”
For a brief moment, Garlic hated his life.
“So what do you say Stinky, mind if I tag along?” Foggy asked, a teasing smile spreading over her lips.
“Scout Fogwalker, I would be honoured if you accompanied me,” Garlic responded in deadpan, his features neutral as he spoke.
“You know, it’s only fun if you react,” Foggy protested, her lower lip protruding in a pout. The pale blue-grey pegasus closed the book and stuffed into her saddlebags. “Come on, let’s go return Derpy’s book and take care of business. If the Virtue of Wisdom says that we should be together for this, we shouldn’t argue.”
“Very well,” Garlic grumbled, his eyebrows lowering downwards as he spoke. “So… do tell, what are you reading?”
Unable to help herself, Fogwalker began to giggle mischieviously at Garlic’s question. “Surefire Ways to Attract a Mate.”
“Oh… like you need to read that!” Garlic grunted as he took the stairs.
“You’re still upset about what I did at your Standing,” Fogwalker said in a now serious voice. “Holding on to this anger isn’t healthy. You need to let go someday.”
“The Standing is sacred and important! You… you made a mockery of it!” Garlic angrily retorted, the volume of his voice rising as he trotted along the top of the battlements. “Garlic Van der Grease, all you have to do is stand here on this spot for twenty four hours with no food, no drink, never moving from this one little spot. This is about stoic endurance. It is important that you do not react to passersby or to laugh when a pony tries to distract you… but they didn’t bloody well count on you showing up, did they?”
“Well, I was distracting,” Fogwalker admitted. “I was worried about you and wanted to make sure you were well tested,” she insisted.
“So you parade yourself around with your tail hiked up making the eyes at me looking back over your shoulder and you made me unsheath in public… you made all those ponies laugh at me!” Garlic snapped in reply, casting an angry glance over his shoulder at the pegasus behind him.
“Some of it was nervous laughter! I don’t think some of those stallions will ever feel adequate after what was seen,” Fogwalker said as she tried to suppress a giggle which kept coming out anyway in the form of randy snorts.
“You humiliated me in front of hundreds of ponies!” Garlic growled, hurrying along the crenellations.
“I didn’t have a choice in the matter,” Fogwalker said, hurrying her pace to keep up with Garlic.
“Yeah right,” Garlic responded in a voice that dripped with acid. “Just like when you pushed my face into my cake at my birthday party when I was younger.”
“No… really, I was under orders,” Fogwalker tried to explain, her ears pinned back against her skull and her tail swishing nervously.
“And just who would give you orders to try and seduce a pony while they were taking their Standing? The same pony you’ve been trying your whole life to to make like you… and failing I might add,” Garlic said icily in reply.
A look of pain passed over Fogwalker’s face that went unseen by Garlic and for a moment her steps faltered. She recovered and hurried after the long legged earth pony that easily outpaced her, just like he outpaced everypony else. “Trixie gave me the order… I could not refuse an order from the Virtue of Humility. She… she gave me an order to do what I did to teach you humility… I actually didn’t want to do it and I even told her so, but I told her that I would do it because she requested it… she just sort of gave me that smile that Trixie has and said it would be a good lesson in humility for both of us… so now you hate me and I ruined your Standing-ooof!”
Garlic stopped suddenly mid stride, causing Fogwalker to bump into his backside. She was much shorter than the tall stallion and her cheek bumped into his stone wall cutie mark. A furious blush overtook her pale blue-grey cheeks and she lowered her head, causing her faded violet mane to fall over her eyes.
“She did what?” Garlic inquired, turning to look at Fogwalker. His eyes blinking slowly, he turned to have himself a look at Fogwalker Fetlocks.
“Trixie, the Virtue of Humility, told me to do what I did to you. I dunno about you, but I felt humiliated and it ruined what little bit of a relationship we had,” Fogwalker muttered, staring down at the stone she was standing on and kicking one front hoof with the other. “When the alicorn that is the Virtue of Humility tells you what to do, you can’t say no. She knows what is best for you.”
“I’m sorry,” Garlic apologised.
“So am I,” Fogwalker said, still unable to meet the tall stallion’s gaze. “I can’t lie, I still want you, but what I did made me feel dirty and ashamed… only thing is, now you hate me and I’ve been left humbled. Ponies talk about me and call me a shameless hussy.”
“I don’t know what to say,” Garlic grumbled.
Moving forward, Fogwalker trotted along the top of the wall, unable to look back at Garlic. “We have a job to do. We’ve taken too much personal time. Let’s just get this over with so we can go our separate ways.”
“Look, I didn’t know,” Garlic blurted out as he followed after Fogwalker, his long loping stride allowing him to easily catch up to her.
“I don’t know why you feel humbled, you have so much to be proud of,” Fogwalker said as she trotted, once again turning to humour to deal with the situation but her tone was bitter.
Biting back an angry retort, Garlic easily pulled up alongside Fogwalker and looked down at her. “You… you’ve teased me my whole life… and I thought you were teasing me still,” Garlic said as she walked beside Fogwalker.
“I might have teased you, but my desire for you is genuine,” Fogwalker admitted with a snort. “I don’t care what other ponies think. A pegasus and an earth pony can be happy together. I don’t care what ponies say about tribes mixing together.”
Taking the stairs down to the smaller courtyard in front of the library, the pair fell silent, walking together but saying nothing as they continued about their task. It wasn’t long until both of them saw a smiling figure, and Garlic began to realise that he had been set up by the Virtue of Wisdom to run a fool’s errand.
The grey mare’s expression was serene, placid, and her large round glasses had slid a ways down her nasal bridge. She gave the pair of ponies who approached an owlish expression of delight as they drew near. “I trust a lesson was learned?”
“Yes, a lesson was learned,” Garlic acknowledged, looking down at his own hooves.
“Ah, but are you wiser?” Derpy mused, looking at the pair who had a keen fascination with studying the ground.
“Only time will tell,” Garlic responded, looking up to glance at Derpy briefly.
“A very wise answer,” Derpy agreed. “And you Miss Fetlocks? Any thoughts?”
“What I have learned I wish to keep private. There has been enough of me on public display,” Fogwalker answered, looking off at the library doors but not at Derpy.
“Very well then, I do believe Princess Celestia is ready to see you now. You may enter the library, she is in there. Might I have my book back now?” Derpy said, her ears splaying out sideways as she spoke and her glasses falling down on her nasal bridge slightly.
Saying nothing, Fogwalker pulled the book out of her saddlebag, held it for a moment in her teeth by the spine, and then she dutifully set it down upon the ground before Derpy. She then backed away, her posture submissive.
“Go on, you have a Princess to see. You’ve completed the first task in what is sure to be an epic quest for the both of you, fetching a book is always a good way to start an adventure. Thankfully, there were no giant rats. At least not yet. Hopefully, both of you have learned the important lesson and will stick together during what lies ahead,” Derpy said in a warm voice.
“What lies ahead?” Garlic asked. “What do you know?”
“I cannot tell you,” Derpy responded, shaking her head. “Your answers are on the other side of that door.”
Gulping, and having ominous thoughts about giant rats, Garlic slowly made his way up the steps and towards the massive double doors of the library hall, Fogwalker walking along right behind him.
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I'll read this after I read that comic arc.
Well, this is certainly an intriguing beginning. Interesting bits of worldbuilding sprinkled throughout, a complex dynamic between our protagonists, and a cunning mentor figure in Derpy. Definitely looking forward to more.
Also, assuming you want the usual watch for tpyos:
Were. Warnings are plural.
Missing "it."
Interesting! I've been working with the Mirrorverse, too. There aren't nearly enough things on it, I think.
Interesting... I like how you immersed us in drama almost immediately. Excellent work! Let the adventure begin!
I have learned that I should not "read later" your stories, so I'm going to read it now. Well, the "now" I'm reading it is right after the new Chase chapter, but that's understandable.
Edit: I like it already.
hmm, think i need to refresh myself on the comic first.
............ i always had this rather twisted thought though. that the sombra of this world was a dictator, if a rare 'good' one. pious and devoted to his subjects, he was unrelenting in his sought for justice. the 'evil' mane six were a bunch or ponies with minor crimes running for their lives else they be sent to sombra's own private tartarus. the the evil celestia was able to control herself for over a thousand years and harbored and protected them, until that dimension shtuff fed into her darkness till she lost her mind.
his actions made equestria and enemy to many other parts of the world though. that is why discord and chrysalis protected the north and south. because sombra had pissed off the rest of the world so badly they could not leave even for a moment. and that is also why the likes of alicorn trixie were not present.
I think the funniest part of this story having an AU tag is that it's based on an official AU.
Now that I've read the arc, I have to ask, will the Fringe ponies have cameos?
After some thinking, if this was an alternate Chaseverse, it'd be fascinating if this world's Bucky was the son of King Sombra and Princess Celestia.
After Sunset Shimmer left for the EG world, Celestia broke down and went to Sombra's Equestria. A night of passion between the two caused Bucky to be conceived. After he was born, Celestia, not wanting it to become public knowledge of the affair, decides to leave Bucky with Sombra.
I know that scenario wouldn't happen, but it was an interesting thought.
5312479
I dunno, I hadn't planned on it.
5312919
Chase Celestia is sterile.
5313017
Well yeah, that's why I said alternate.
5313021
I wrote this to get out of the Chase verse.
Needed a new verse, new way of thinking, new rules, new world building.
5313026
That's cool.
5313026 What does that say for the future of The Catch?
Didn't read the comic...but I get the gist of it.
Kudzu, before I start reading this, should I read the comics? Where would I read them anyways? Am I worrying about this too much?
This is really nice, guess even as the Virtue of WIsdom, she's a bit absent minded sometimes.
Also, I keep hearing all this stuff about a Chaseverse, wazzat?
thankfully there were no giant rats.... at least not yet.
you....
you.....
you didn't?
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you did......
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5475168 The next best thing sliced bread. Go look in Kudz's story and loon for The Chade. You're in for one Hell of a ride. Sometime litteraly.