Celestia sat upon her throne, the elements of harmony below her. She had spent several hours fixing the damage caused by Tactician after his jaunt through the city. The moment she returned to the castle she was confronted by her student. She gazed over the mares, her eyes lingering on Twilight a bit longer.
“Twilight,” Celestia began, “I can understand why you want to know more, but… please breathe.”
Twilight gasped as her lungs took in fresh air. She hadn’t even realized she had been holding her breath. When she strode up to her mentor and demanded she be told what had happened earlier, she realized her mistake and immediately froze. Now that she got her voice back…
“I-I’m so sorry Princess Celestia! I-I just don’t understand what I saw earlier what with the fire and the magic and the explosions and-” Twilight stuttered before falling into a fit of hyperventilation.
Celestia internally rolled her eyes at her student’s antics. Twilight always meant well, but she could be a bit to stern with herself at times. She smiled at the distraught mare are spoke calmly, “It’s quite alright Twilight. As for your earlier question, you wanted to know why I didn’t portray Tactician in a negative light, correct?”
Twilight nodded, prompting Celestia to continue her explanation. “For starters, Tactician’s real name is Robin. When he arrived to Equestria, I do not know. When I first met him he had already spent three years within the Everfree forest.”
Applejack looked a little suspicious at the mention of the Everfree, not trusting anything that came from the evil forest. “So how did ya’ll first meet him then?” She questioned.
Celestia sighed as she brought up the memory. “Back then me and my sister still lived in the palace of the two sisters. I was exploring the forest when I came upon an abomination. I found a reanimated corpse stalking the forest. I was appalled at what I found and immediately destroyed the creature. I traced its path back to Robin who confirmed that he was responsible for the corpse. When I attempted to restrain him with my magic he broke free, attacked me and ran deeper into the forest. From that day I labeled him an enemy of the state for attacking royalty, disrespecting the dead and practicing dark magic.”
Twilight was disturbed by the walking corpse, but her sharp mind picked out something else from Celestia’s story. “Did you say he broke free of your magic!?”
“Robin seems to be heavily resistant against magic. With only a few seconds of struggle he managed to dispel my spell and counterattack.”
Twilight shifted on her hooves, storing that information in her mind before choosing her next words carefully. “Princess Celestia?”
“Yes, Twilight?”
“W-Well, from what you told us, it sounds like a big misunderstanding. Is he truly evil?”
Celestia sighed, feeling almost guilty about how she had first reacted to Robin. “No Twilight, he is not evil. I’ll admit, I was hot headed when I was younger and I could have handled the situation better, but it wouldn’t change the outcome. When I later tried to apprehend him I brought with me some guards from the garrison. He warned me that should I use violence to subdue him than he would not hesitate to fight back. He… made good on his promise and violently attacked the guards I had brought with me.”
The six mares looked at each other. They have defeated Nightmare Moon and the God of Chaos. They knew what needed to be done to save Equestria. Twilight stepped forward and stared confidently at her mentor. “Princess Celestia… allow me to meet with Robin.”
“WHAT!”
Twilight pressed her ears to the back of her head as Rainbow, Applejack and Rarity screamed at her. Pinkie looked excited while Fluttershy was trying not to cower from the sudden outburst.
Twilight kept her gaze on Celestia, her eyes still beaming with confidence. Celestia on her part met the gaze with trepidation. She knew how powerful Robin was and she alone could only hope to stand up to him. The problem now, however, is that the elements of harmony are no longer tied with her.
Celestia sighed as she came to a decision, one she hoped would not prove to be a mistake. “Very well Twilight. I believe that Robin will not harm you outright should you come into contact. His actions today were rather subdued compared to the past. If you can find him in the Everfree, you have my blessing to speak with him. The only exception is that your friends must be with you so that you may use the Elements of Harmony at a moment’s notice.”
Twilight bowed to Celestia, a huge smile on her face.
"You can count on me princess!"
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“I preserve the home, but I forget to preserve the furniture. God damnit, hindsight!”
I looked around the meager living room of my home, the wooden furniture around me decayed and rotted after a millennia of existence. My home itself is a log cabin, located north east of Zecora’s hut. I was actually surprised her home was only half a mile from my own. I don’t know how long she’s lived here, but it’s safe to assume she knows the cabin exists.
When I first built my home I wondered how large it should be. I was no carpenter, but then again, magic is a wonderful multi-tool. I settled on a small kitchen/living room, two bedrooms, a study and a storage area. I hardly needed two bedrooms, but after living with my parents so long I was used to having company. Somewhere in my head I told myself I’d be having company in the future. Guess how that turned out...
I explored the rest of my home, running my hand against the dusty wood. I had used my magic to preserve the house the moment I built it. Only two things survived the test of time; my home, and my books. The bookshelf looked ready to collapse, but the tomes seated upon the shelves were as good as the day I wrote them.
I scanned the tomes, noticing all of them were present… save two. I frowned as I failed to find the tome Nosferatu and the translation book for the old language I had written. I needed Nosferatu in order to complete my studies. For only those two books to be missing meant that something came in here, took them, and left everything else. I internally shrugged; I can always make another Nosferatu, and the translation book was only in case I forgot the language. If someone did take the books, chances are they are either long dead. Not much I can do about it.
I grabbed a fresh Archwind off the shelf and replaced it with the near empty tome I had. I needed to check my local safe points to relinquish the books within. The closest one is near the outskirts of the Everfree, close to Ponyville. I had no idea the town would be built in that direction and I risked being spotted. Nevertheless, that particular haven has a good amount of blank journals, something I need if I want to make another Nosferatu. Groaning, I exit my home and step out into the darkening forest. I have only 4 hours before dusk.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Twilight, what the hay are you thinking!”
“Rainbow Dash, we can’t always solve everything with the elements!”
“Sure we can! Let’s just blast this dork and go home!”
Twilight huffed in frustration as she argued with her cyan friend. After they had been dismissed by princess Celestia, they had all agreed to stay the night before taking the train back to Ponyville. The six friends were all bunked in the same room, courtesy of Pinkie Pie and her desire for slumber parties. None of them thought twice to question Pinkie where she hid soda and chips. They were more focused on Twilight’s reasoning behind her earlier action.
“Listen… all I want to do is just talk to Tact- Robin regarding his actions today. All I’ve ever heard about him before were about his skills, power and knowledge in the field of magic. I even have a book about him back at my library!”
Fluttershy had remained quiet most of the day, but needed to voice her biggest concern now. “U-Um, are we really going to have to explore the Everfree for him?”
“I must say, to live in such a barbaric forest doesn’t put Robin in such a good light.” added Rarity.
“Ah’ve said it before and ah’ll say it now; anything that comes out of the Everfree is no good!” exclaimed Applejack.
Rainbow huffed victoriously as she listened to the others support her line of thought. “See Twilight! Some creep who lives in the forest can’t be as cool as you think!”
Twilight sighed and turned to Pinkie, hoping she wouldn’t be against her idea. “Pinkie, what do you think?”
Pinkie placed a hoof to her chin and thought for a moment. “Do you think Robin is part bird?”
Twilight blinked owlishly at Pinkie, as did the rest, not quite understanding her line of thought.
“W-What?”
“It would make perfect sense! His name is the same as a bird and he made that breeze when he moved his forelegs! Maybe they’re actually wings and he can fly and make bird noises and he sleeps in trees and-”
The five mares wisely tuned Pinkie out as she continued her rambling. Twilight looked each of her friends in the eyes, her determination still strong.
“In a few days I plan on heading into the Everfree to look for Robin. Once I prepare for the journey, nothing will get in my way to meet him.”
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy gave each other glances. They would stick by their friend’s side no matter what, but that didn’t mean they had to enjoy the coming adventure. With that done they all receded into their sleeping bags for the night… save one.
“-and I’ll make him a sunflower seed cake that says ‘please be our friend, Bird Man!’”
Lmao. Only Pinkie.
5607147
I have a lot of great ideas for interactions between Robin and Pinkie.
Pinkie... sure, let's go with that.
EDIT: Oh, and Birdman is my favourite superhero from now on, so never never NEVER call him lame again, you understood?
Nice to see another chapter.
5607166
Wait, is Birdman a real superhero!?
5607172
Of course, I ain't done yet! Next chapter will bring a new character into the story.
5607191 Is it Chrom?
5607220
No, I actually don't have any plans in bringing in any other Fire Emblem characters (except maybe one). This is Robin's 'Equestria' and I plan to keep it that way.
5607191 I guess he technically is. The only Birdman I know of it in this context is Birdman from Birdman and the Galaxy Trio back in the late sixties. Was like...Ra [Egyptian god of the sun] gave him powers or some such. He was honestly much better known in the comedy shows Space Ghost Coast to Coast and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
Never really understood the latter since originall his name was Ray Randall but meh. So yeah, sorta-kinda a thing. ;O In all honesty, he was kinda lame imho, but to each their own.
5607262 Ah, okay.
Chrom get's left out again. *snickering*
5607287
Pfft. If someone does a displaced story of Chrom, I'll gladly do a Crossover with them. Simply throwing Chrom into the story though because he's part of Fire Emblem is weak. That, and I honestly think a HiE fic that brings in a large group is kinda lame (when I say large group, I mean like 10+ humans). I like to see the Human struggle and survive in a world where their kind never existed. And Robin did more than just survive, he prospered. And with the next chapter he's about to take his studies to the next level. It'll be funny, cute and open a lot of new possibilities.
th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/318/3/7/zecora_by_felix_kot-d4fxp7f.png
It is sad to see that certain someponies failed to learn their lessons. Or at least that they have very poor memory.
5607191 Ask Bird Man.
Hey, are you a real superhero?
No, I am merely a figment of your imagination that is acting like you would, y'know?
Oh, ok. No, he is not.
Wha... I WAS BEING SARCASTIC! ...
Hello? Anybody listening to me?
5607191 Bird Man is a Hanna & Barbara superhero, like Space Ghost. In case you're wondering, that's tye same company that did Yogi Bear and the like.
Now this is interesting as it seems like Celestia knows she's not in the right here
And Robin, damn man you shortsighted. "Oh, my darkness tome and my time to translate it are gone. No biggie." Dude, it would've been totally panicking!
5607488
I honestly had no idea. I thought I was just being goofy/funny
Celestia isn't as hot headed as she used to be. Tirek tried to steal the world's magic, Discord tortured and ruled over ponies, Sombra enslaved and decimated a nation. Robin raised a few dead, killed guards only in self defense and tried to live in solitude. She knows that Robin isn't really evil. She regrets how she tried to restrain Robin, not the actual action.
You talking about the house? He didn't expect to be encased in stone. Once the princesses were looking for him he had other things on his mind.
Who says he's not? For all the planning Robin does he still likes to prioritize. He can always write more tomes and he has no need of the translation. What he's focused on right now is getting some blank books/journals. Then he needs to replace his furniture, re-gather his research and gather materials. He could do that, or he could go searching after a few books that have been missing for who knows how long in a land he hasn't fully explored. he also has no way of tracking the tomes. To top it off, while Nosferatu is a dangerous tool in the wrong hands, It's not his most powerful Dark tome. There are much, much more dangerous and deadly tomes.
5607561 awh I was hoping that the 'undead' that Robin had 'reanimated' were Risen and a misunderstanding on Sunbutt's side
although, I am expecting Risen at the very least, maybe some form of the Grimleal
5607561 And let me guess: the book Twilight has in her library is precisely the book that's missing on Robin's shelves, isn't it?
Well, this has been interesting so far. Once more chapters come out, I'll be sure to read them.
I only have so many words to express my gratitude for this fix. So, without further a do, here they are. AHEM!
5607262 Time to get the welcome wagon for Anna set up.
Of course, just like every other human
5607744 Well, here's the thing. They aren't quite Risen, but they are more than just animated corpses. Risen follow Grima and Robin want's nothing to do with that (That's all I'm saying for now). Due to the nature of the dark tome, the corpses are strengthened with dark magic and become weapons. Robin has a reason for raising the dead and it's part of his studies. This will be revealed in time.
5607770 Not telling!
5607940 Glad I could pique your interests!
5607983 Yes! I've received the Bison video! I don't know what you mean by 'this fix' though
5608268 As amusing as that would be, I don't think so. I really want it to be only Robin in this story. I have a possible sequel already in mind and it would bring more elements of Fire Emblem into play. Also, that sentence coupled with that emoticon makes me wonder what you're insinuating
5608332 Actually, that's due to Robins nature and his magic. Fire Emblem mages have high resistance to magic at higher levels. If he was a 'normal' human then he wouldn't have much of a chance.
That line...gonna belong to Legend of Robin hood.
5609594 Does it? I honestly just come up with this stuff in my head
5609446 There are many typos to be made when using a mobile device. "Fix this" should be "for this".
5609627 No i mean..that line..seem only fit to Robin hood LOL
5609446 Not really insinuating anything, just looking for a playful icon that means I'm mostly joking but also semi serious. Emoticons are weird! Just figured a quick use of the outrealm gate would be the most likely suspect for any character to even show up here. And since her family is what runs it to get to other worlds (and steal their riches (There should be a Pinkie wearing her fake mustache smiling evilly emoticon )), I figured she would have been the most likely one.
We still need some time to learn about Robin though, so I support the fact you aren't going to just put fire emblem characters in.
5610139 Yea, the outrealm gate did come to mind, but as you said, readers need to know more about Robin. As exciting as it may be to jump into the action as soon as possible, it doesn't add up for a good story. In my opinion, a good story has a build up where the reader learns about the character first before throwing him/her into conflict.
I shall make a more detailed response to this chapter when I get home. For now though... I like the fact that they are not Risen.
Alright lets see...
Alas, we must continue to guess what type of undead it was, but I can make a few guesses.
Keep in mind I am only going of Fire Emblem games here, so if it is a bit original, I am in the wrong. "More than just animated corpses and not Risen" leads to a few possibilities, the least likely are the zombies from Fire Emblem Gaiden (FE2), I say least since I am not sure about you familiarity with FE2, The would have something to do with Doma. (Please note that the person in that video completely over trained.)
Another option is the zombies from Fire Emblem The Sacred Stones (FE8), but the seamed to be pretty mindless, except for maybe the few near the endgame that was with Fomortiis, and that is a large maybe.
Another option would be the Phantoms, also from FE8. It is never really said what the Phantoms are, but I believe it can be assumed that they are some form of sapient undead, as both Summoners and Necromancers can summon them, plus they are also commandable. (FE2 also had Phantoms, they were summonable by the healers. They could summon Demon Fighters, Soldiers, or Pegasus Knights, depending on who used the spell.)
Hindsight is 20/20.
I want to say this is his translation book, I really do. She said, "about" however, so that can't be the case. Based on what little we know about Robin's past so far, my guess is it was written by Starswirl.
After Bird Man retired from the superhero business, he became, "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law."
5612160
Honestly, I was going for something along the lines of the Phantoms from FE8. The dark magic strengthens the corpses and they have some minor intelligence. I will of course go into detail at a later date. I'm leaving everyone in the dark and only supplying some details as the story progresses. I can promise two things though, the corpses are ponies (no human bodies to use), and they certainly don't pop out of the ground wielding axes!
I hate how these "human turns into fictional character" stories always make Celestia a complete asshole, and incredibly fucking stupid. It always happens. There's never any good reason for them hating the main character, just so the main character can be the good guy and never do anything morally questionable, while also having all of the other good characters against them.
Anyway, I like this story.
5614075 Umm... I'm getting conflicting messages here. Do you not like the story, or do you?
I know it's very cliche, but in truth, it works in this case. Hell, it seems to work in almost every case. Robin raised the dead, attacked Celestia and caused some trouble. Celestia does not like him.
5614374 I like the story, I'm just getting tired of the cliche that Celestia has to be an idiot in these and brought it up when I saw it was used here. But I do like the story.
I always believed that the important thing is not to avoid the clichés, but rather how to use them and justify to the plot
for example
the typical cliche celestia turns to stone any foe, independently from the crime and intends leave like this forever
something quite contradictory to that seen in the series
being realistic I think, depending on the crime would be sealed until satisfy the judgment and being reassessed when they are released, as happened with discord
the protagonist killed several guards can see that given a couple hundred year sentence
about Celestia, she had to go matured over the centuries, it seems realistic to commit errors in judgment when I was younger, the important thing is to demonstrate how it has changed to the present
5615613 Celestia just turns her foes into stone and leaves them to rot in the gardens. That IS cannon in my opinion.
I always think of Celestia as being immature when she was younger. kinda like Luna is presently, but more hot-headed.
5616240 I think many, think the same, but I doubt this applies to criminals
or minor villains, and still would give them a chance in the future as it did with discord
sealing or eternal imprisonment, is something to villains such as Tirek or shadow that showed zero capacity to redemption and no remorse
but I suppose that killing in this version of equestria must be very bad to be over 1000 years
by the way this birdman
5616426 You're forgetting one thing, if Discord hadn't broken free, Celestia would have been more than happy to leave him rotting in the gardens.
5616466
it is true, but when had the opportunity to rehabilitate him try, and considering that discord was delayed more than a thousand years free, even with disconnected elements celestia and luna, was not an immediate threat
Celestia has just sealed or banished great great power threats
a demon, a spirit of chaos, a dark wizard, a corrupt alicorn and all those opportunities was against the wall
although I admit that there are gaps in the plot to try to understand the reasoning or behavior celestia, that writers can take advantage
by the way how often you plan to publish?
5616564 I abuse those gaps in the plot like it's nobody's business.
I plan on publishing... when I can. I'm a full time college student and I work part time as well. Between that and family life, I don't have a terrible amount of time. I have the next chapter mostly written out, already have about 1300 words done. I try to aim, at a minimum, at least 1500 words each chapter. I will try to get the next chapter out tomorrow, as I have all day off. Not promising anything though.
Or an Oscar nominated film
5622838 Yea, sure, just like 'Birdemic' should be given an Oscar
a more or less weak reason, but Celestia is usually stupid in the displaced storys
she probably would do the same with her breakfast if she don´t like it.
5697912
Honestly, I think Celestia isn't all that bright to begin with. She sent six young adults to fight a dragon instead of going herself or sending the guard. As a character, I don't like Celestia all that much.
lol, probably.
You mean like Robin? (no offence to batman of course)
5701232 Damn, that was the perfect chance to make fun of Batman's sidekick and I screwed it up. Ah well, at least mine is original
“Ah’ve said it before and ah’ll say it now; anything that comes out of the Everfree is no good!” -Applejack. Uh Don't You think thats being a bit judgemental?
I have to agree. Bird Man?! Really?
isn't there already a hero named Birdman? Who was kinda cool a long time ago?
Celestia is stupid. She labeled him an enemy for defending himself when she tried to subdue him.
Names are written big.
They are still written big.
Still.