King Of Wands
King Of Wands
A/N: The Court cards in Tarot generally refer to characters. There are 16 of them. 3/4s of those refer to male characters. You can see the problem. So, court cards wil just be their own little plot arc, disconnected with the meaning of the cards. Sorry about that, folks.
In the depths of the night, when everypony was sleeping quietly and a sea of clouds drifted over the calm face of the mareless moon, Applejack was awoken by the deep, bass echo of something crashing in the farmyard.
Sweet Apple Acres wasn't a place where crashes happened. Few things they owned made crash-worthy noises. Apples didn't make a crash. Trees didn't make a crash. Apple carts didn't make a crash, provided Applebloom could be kept at least ten feet away from them at all times. And as her little sister was currently snoring loud enough for all Equestria, the chances of her upsetting an apple cart were slim to none.
In short, they had a thief.
A cold tingle running the length of her spine, Applejack went to rouse Big Macintosh, only to find him already awake and alert, an uncharacteristically stern expression on his face. His mane was a ridiculous web of gnarls and tangles, as was hers, most likely, but there were other things to worry about. In silence, they looked at each other and agreed: there was a thief on their farm, although not for long if they had anything to say about it.
From the house they crept, and into the cool night air. Big Mac quietly secured the door, the locks slipping soundless into place. There was no way he was letting a thief anywhere near Applebloom, or Applebloom near a thief, for that matter. Applejack followed, her lariat clenched between her teeth, ready for her to use at a moment's notice. She was surprised to find that she was trembling.
In truth, she was more angry than scared. The orchard, with its wide, rolling hills and its palette of myriad reds, greens and browns, was the sanctuary that she and her family and her family's family had helped build. To have it desecrated, invaded by some no-good apple thief, was more than she could stand. But if Big Mac was angry, it didn't show; his features were carefully blank, blunted by the night.
The night itself was a picture of blackness. No stars studded the night sky, and the moon still hid shyly beyond the clouds. The darkness was almost tangible, tar-like and sticky, coating everything in a thick veil. Each sound seemed magnified a hundredfold, mere whispers turning into hurricane hows, and the shuffling of hooves across the dusty farmyard into the roar of the ocean. Big Mac tossed his head next to her, a signal; she was to be ready with her lariat. Then, slowly, cautiously, he began to creep through the yard, inspecting every hay bale, pitchfork and bucket. His progress was agonisingly slow, but there was a certain inevitability about his motions. No matter what was there, he would walk towards it unflinchingly, and never falter a single step.
After a minute, Applejack became aware of something. The sound of Big Mac's steps didn't quite match the motion. It was very, very close, but the noise of hooves persisted just half a second after every step. Her blood froze in her veins. The thief was out there, moving, and knew they were there, too.
Her brother seemed unaware of the development, and if she raised her voice to warn him, the thief would be sure to flee. But what if the thief wasn't sneaking away? What if the thief were sneaking towards them, to eliminate the witnesses? For a moment, she wrestled with the dilemma, but in the end it was hardly a choice. It wasn't worth risking their safety to catch one little thief. She took a deep breath, ready to shout to her brother.
But before she set up the cry, she noticed something- a patch of black that was just a bit blacker than the rest, one that was moving stealthily towards the exit. Almost imperceptible, it was so close to her that it was laughable. Carefully, oh so carefully, she readied her lariat. A second to aim, and then-
With a deft flick, she set the rope soaring, the leather whistling ominously at it shot through the air. Jerking sharply as it fell, she pulled the rope taut, and felt it- glorious tension as the rope bound itself around flesh.
“...!”
Whoever or whatever it was, it began to struggle ferociously against the rope. Of all the moves to have made, this was possibly the most foolish, because the motion attracted the attention of Big Mac. Discarding his glacial speed, he set up a gallop through the blackness, hooves thundering across the dusty yard. The struggles increased as the felon grew frantic, and Applejack dug her hooves into the mud to keep from being pulled off her feet. And then, with a surreal suddeness, the struggles stopped, and a tiny pinprick of white light appeared in the gloom. Quickly it built, becoming a cone of coronal brilliance, illuminating a cloak, a mantle, drawn tightly around a ponylike form, and then there was a soft, gentle whoosh-
And Applejack's lariat closed tightly around empty space.
All but growling in frustration, she threw her hat to the ground with a jerk of her head. Wisely, she refused the urge to stomp on it.
“Dang-nabbit! Looks like our rustler was a unicorn!” she spat bitterly.
“Eyup,” Big Mac replied. “Now, AJ, don't you worry none. You done mighty fine work tonight.”
“Ah guess. I almost had 'em! Now we gots to wait for sun up and figure out what they took,” she said sadly, her head bowed. The weight of failure pressed heavily upon her.
“Eyup. Just because we got us a thief doesn't mean we need to lose out on shuteye. We're sure to have a big day tomorrow,” Big Mac said calmly, beginning to walk back to the house. For a moment, she could feel his warmth through air the colour of india ink. But the moment passed, and she followed him morosely to the house, certain that she'd never get to sleep.
“Gosh darn it! I plumb can't find what they took! What kind of rotten, no-good apple thief comes to a farm and then doesn't steal any apples?” she huffed, scanning the trees.
“Maybe, if he's a rotten, no-good apple thief, he took all the rotten, no-good apples? Ah'll go check the trees on the worst soil,” Applebloom suggested innocently, then took off. In the light of day, the farm looked no different than it normally did; there was no evidence of the events the night before.
“AJ, lookee here,” Bic Mac said, strolling over. “I think I done found what they took.”
“Really? Lessee what the damage comes out to,” she said, and gritted her teeth.
He led her (a little too leisurely, she thought) to their very best stand of trees. The soil was springy and full of life, and the air was some of the freshest for miles around. As she looked through the stand, she couldn't see anything different- the same apples with their subtle blends of greens and reds, the same trunks with their sturdy, rugged wood. And then, she saw it.
“What in tarnation...?” she asked the sky and soil, her jaw hanging open.
One of the trees on the edge of the strand had been stripped. Not just of apples, but of leaves and of branches. All that was left was a naked trunk of gnarled wood, oddly vulnerable to the elements without the flourishing greenery to protect it. It would almost certainly die, if it hadn't already. There was a great loneliness about it, a sadness she couldn't define.
“Bro? Who could've done this?” she asked. He didn't answer. Instead, he took something carefully out of his saddlebag.
“Whoever owns the other half of this,” he said, his voice muffled by the carved wooden mask he held in his teeth. It had a contorted grin, too wide and too thin. She looked at it with cold disgust.
“I don't know who did this, or what they're plannin', but somepony's gonna pay for this!” she snarled.
In a sky dyed cerulean blue, the sun shone down with neither sympathy nor pity. A chill wind blew through the trees as Applejack took the mask from her brother, and walked slowly away.
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This is a pretty cool idea my only disappointment is their may be stories i don't wanna read and i don't really know what I'm getting into each chapter. It would be cool if in your description as you write the stories you could give a quick sentence or two about each chapter so we know what were jumping into. Still amazing idea, creative to.
I don't know much about the cards themselves but I had a follower of Wicca in my culinary arts class she sometimes gave out reading to people.
sorry that was off subject, I haven't read the story yet but after work I will, doing stories based on the cards, that's genius.
558300
That'd be pretty difficult to do, but I might implement it. To give you a very general idea of what to expect, though:
Pairings at random, few darkfics, no clop, and good smatterings of everything else. Chapters in the Swords group will tend to be darker, since in Tarot swords represent strife and battle.
I might look into putting the pairings, if any, after the chapter name, and any other relevant stuff too. If I do decide to do that, I'll implement it over the next couple of days.
However, on the bright side, with such a selection, you're bound to find at least one chapter you like.
Thanks for the suggestions!
558335 I agree. And yea the randomness of it all comes from the concept of using the deck of tarot cards so i figured we'd be jumping all over the board and just any heads up to the next part would be awesome.
558350
I completely get what you mean; for people that already know about tarot cards and what each one means, they'll have a fairly good idea what's coming, but I wouldn't want people who don't know to feel like they're just getting tossed around, so to speak. Now that you've put the thought in my head, I think I will figure out a way to give a head's up.
558312
I can't do readings, although I'd like to be able to; I don't remember the cards well enough to do it without a book in front of me. Still, they're very beautiful things just to have. And yet, if you wanted to get your fortune told by a gypsy, they'd tell it with actual playing cards instead. They generally used tarot only when fleecing outsiders out of a reading, and the more spiritual aspects attatched to the tarot have only been there for 100 years. Before that, they were basically just big ol' playing cards the Italians used.../tangent
558367 Happy to help always did enjoy a quick read from one of my more interesting friends
558385 going off on a tangent is the best way to speak, it is a way to tell fun little facts that make people just a little bit better than they were a few minutes before. The info about gypsy readings was fun and informative thank you for sharing.
In line with some of the above suggestions, perhaps you could give like a sentence or two about each card at the start of a chapter? Would help those who have absolutely no knowledge of Tarot Cards. Otherwise its a very interesting idea and I am quite eager to see what happens.
Only two issues I see so far, one you need to space out each paragraph a little better. Secondly in the first chapter you call Sugarcube Corner, Cupcake Corner.
Very interesting. I recently began a project that involved Tarot, so I've been bucking up on my Tarot symbology. I just love how there are 78 cards, each with a different, more-or-less unique meaning to them. It's very poetic, in a sense. Reading this is really entertaining for me. Temperance and the Eight of Swords are two of my favorite cards, because the imagery is so powerful. King of Wands, not so much, but that's cause I'm more of a Cups/Swords person myself.
) Best of luck to you, and favoriting.
Can't wait to see what you do with this in the future. What cards could be coming up? The Nine of Swords? The Seven of Cups? The Lightning-Struck Tower? The Hanged Man? (or should it be the Hanged Stallion?
558667
Yeah, I'm going to edit it in a couple minutes, once I find a nice template to tell people what they're in for.
As for paragraphs, yeah, that needs to change. I'm still figuring out the formatting on this site, and they were formatted for a different sit before. I'll space them out a bit when I'm going through editing.
As for the Sugar Cube corner thing- oops! I am a noob.
558672
Weird, since I am so much a Swords guy. Just every time I draw from the deck, swords all over the place. It is ridiculous.
As for what's coming up...Let's just say that my shuffling was a little cack-handed, so expect a whole bunch of nines all at once. (The nine of swords is actually the next chapter I have to write, but beyond that even I don't know what's coming up.)
Thanks to both of you for the suggestions, comments and catches!
558705
Nine of Swords is a cool card, in my opinion. IIRC, it symbolizes "A sudden revelation, as of waking from a nightmare." Can't wait to see what you do with that!
Dang! I'm a master guesser.
Oh, and I briefly considered doing something like what you're doing. Sounds like a neat idea. Then I decided I shouldn't butt into your idea, so I'll let you be the genius.
Another small error of note, there is no K in Big Macintosh's name.
558743
Do as you wish, sir- it's not like I've got the copyright on Tarot cards or anything. You'll probably make a better stab at things than me, anyhow. As for the Nine of Swords, according to my little purple book, it's:
Keyword: Cruelty
Meaning: Anxiety and sleepless nights, spite and slander which undermine confidence. Suffering that is for eventual good such as putting up with treatment in order to get better. Female health problems and, possibly, self-punishment and guilt.
Reversed: A refusal to accept health or even feel that improvements are possible. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Keeping in mind that I explicitly don't want to do too many darkfics or tragedies, I'm a little bit stuck on that one.
558748
Done and done, sir. Another fine catch! If I might impose on your watchful eye a little more, could I ask you to take a gander through the chapters again and see if the new formatting/card meanings are a little easier on the eye? I'm used to other sites, so I can't really tell.
558806
Much better overall, and I like how I have a much better idea how the story is tied with the cards. Th paragraph spacing is also much better, though there are still a few errors. The first two paragraphs in the first two chapters are still oddly done. In the first chapter you have a sentence than go to the next paragraph with no space between them. In the second chapter the last two sentences are a paragraph unto themselves with no space between them and the paragraph that came before. Not sure if you intended to have those sentences separate or not and it looks more like an error than anything else.
558806
Ooh, I like arguing this stuff. It's so subjective and flighty. (No sarcasm.) Maybe that's just the way I see it. Wikipedia, that font of knowledge, more or less corroborates you. "[...]deception, premonitions and bad dreams, suffering and depression, cruelty, disappointment, violence, loss and scandal."
As a poet/artist type guy, the picture on Wikipedia's page is what I find fascinating. It shows someone waking up, holding their head in pain. The swords float beside them, a symbol of fear and pain. So I took that "waking up" part as important, but you (read: most people) get something else entirely. :shrug:
Hmm, maybe I should do my own version. After all, we each see the symbols as something different. Then we can compare them! Won't that be fun!
558836
I've got no real appreciation for visual images (I'm not actually very creative) so I'm just going with the meanings. The deck I'm using, by the way, is very close to the one on wikipedia; it's actually the same pictures, reinterpreted by some painter called Roberto De Angelis. I wanted a Cat People deck, which I just think is the best thing ever, but they're rare and expensive...
Thanks a bunch. I edited them around again in keeping with the advice. You're a lifesaver.
558871
Well, I'm just going with the stuff in my book.
558932
I mean, who could come up with an entire 1800 word story from the word "Temperance" and not be creative? I mean really.
Don't be so modest! I think you're very creative!
And don't worry about what deck you're using. I made my own deck out of index cards, and it's just fine. The pictures leave something to be desired, though...
558961
I'm really not. A word like Temperance sparks an idea, but that's just reactive. I work very well when given prompts, but when it comes to my own ideas, I come up a little short.
I hear (from the almighty google) that there is a gentleman putting together a pack of MLP tarot cards. Might be worth checking out.
559298
) 
9, then. II, III, IV, VII, IX, XIII, XVI, XX, and XXI. What d'you think?
...Take the dang praise, you bashful bonzo. (What does that even mean?
As to a MLP Tarot deck, I think I've seen that. However, with only a handful of mane characters, it seems it would be tough to fit the 22 Major Arcana, let alone the Court.
...
Hey, Vulp. Let's see how many we can do.
Celestia and Luna are the Sun and Moon, obviously. Let's make Twilight the Star then. That way Trixie is the Magician. Cheerilee can be the Hierophant. Now, what about the rest of the mane 6? How about... Applejack for Strength, Fluttershy for... Temperance? Pinkie for... how about the Wheel of Fate. Rarity for...Justice? IDK. RD can be... darn, she's kinda tough. The Hanged Man. Sure, why not? Discord would be the Devil, obviously. Put Cadance and Shining Armor as the Lovers, naturally. That only leaves... 10 more.
Oh, and Derpy is the Fool, of course.
559338
Hmm...I'll give this one some thought, actually. What about The Chariot for RD? Zecora for the for the Hermit, maybe.
I, personally, would put Big Mac as Strength, and have Applejack as the Empress- that card is associated with fertility and harvest (farmer) and is also associated with mothers, and AJ strikes me as one of the most motherly of the cast. Not sure who The Emperor or the Heirophant would be...I think Death and the Judgement cards will probably be pretty tough too...
559377
I like Cheerilee as the Heirophant. It's the High Priestess I wasn't sure about. Death could be Mort or Pale Hoof. Have you read those fics? Judgment and The World are tough.
I absolutely agree with your call on Big Mac-the Strength card is kind of like Death in that its meaning is not quite so evident. Big Mac definitely espouses that quiet control that Strength symbolizes. I also like your choice for RD, although that does open up the Hanged Pony. (Not that that's bad; she didn't really fit it anyway.) AJ's new card is a good one, as is Zecora. There are just too few male characters in MLP!
Wait... Spike! Where can we put Spike? Hint hint... Upside down. :P
Ooh! Ooh! I realized something else too! Could we use the Founders? Put, say, Clover the Clever as the High Priestess. IDK, this is all up in the air.
Tee-hee, Chrysalis for Death.
One last idea. CMC for something. Thoughts?
559443
I'm not really very up on the characters (fandom noob, here!) but those suggestions seem good.
Realistically, though, I think the CMC fit the visual imagery of The Sun (child on horseback, innocent and with tons of potential) a lot better than Celestia herself actually fits the role. That frees Celestia up for something a bit grander- maybe The World. ("The end of one cycle and the start of another", as it says in my book- her and Luna handing off the Elements of Harmony to Twilight and friends?) Philomena, of all things, fits the death and rebirth theme of Judgement. Never thought I'd be talking about Celestia's troll phoenix in a tarot discussion...
559482
Come to think about it, Discord isn't that great a Devil. Could he be the Tower? If Celestia isn't the Sun, is Luna the Moon? This is so hard! 
It helps that you've got your book in front of you. I'm just using my spotty memory.
So, what do we have left? The High Priestess... How about the Mayor? I'd forgotten about her. I've got a list of MLP characters up if you want it. http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/Characters
But yeah, still no male characters for the Emperor. Do you think Rarity'd look fine blindfolded and in a toga? Yeah, she totally would.
558932
Glad I could at least be of some assistance. I will admit I was rushing a bit with that last little review, as I wrote it shortly before going to work. Going back through I noticed another spacing issue, second chapter about 12 paragraph's down. Two paragraphs are not spaced apart like the others. Other than that it looks like you got everything. If you ever need someone to read through your chapters before you post them to catch stuff like this feel free to send me a note, would be happy to help. Especially since I have no knowledge whatsoever about Tarot cards but I do know my ponies. Perhaps a little too much to be honest.
561234
Whilst I'd love to take you up on your offer, I'm sworn off beta readers. Truth be told, I'm pretty lazy, and if I ever got a beta reader I'd probably be just lazy enough to hand them a bunch of rubbish without looking over it even a little by myself.
I've fixed the stuff you mentioned. I'll probably put up the next few chapters later today...once I've edited and paragraphed them properly. The devil's work is never done, I suppose. Thanks for helping me out so much.
561282
Heh, its no problem. Though expect me to keep pointing out little errors here and there as I read through this. Can't wait to see how this all turns out.
561306
I'd be quite grateful if you did. I'm...a little sloppy.