Wander is a city colt who works his way up through the ranks. Green Brier is gentry who holds to his ideals.
No two ponies in Equestria are probably more different, yet they both keep inside themselves a powerful secret. Both of them have memories of a time of horrific war fought by baffling creatures on a distant world. Of those creatures two have shown them what it means to be an officer, to be a soldier...and to be a friend.
In this story, the first of The Somewhere Cycle, Wander and Green Brier share with you, the reader, these memories. See if you can figure out who their beloved masters were and what horse they were in our reality before the story ends!
*Resubmitted following revisions.*
Chapters (6)
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Goddamn. That was profound. Take all of these stars.
My my, how very... creative. I must say that was a very enjoyable read, I'm a bit of a history nerd and do appreciate all the little references you drop. Nicely done, 4.5 stars.
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I am very glad you enjoyed it!
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Then from one history nerd to the next I say: Thank you!
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I'm very glad that you liked it!
That was bucking awesome.
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Thank you so much!
Your stories always leave me feeling slightly melancholy
But that's okay because I like it!
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I'm glad that it was able to provide any sort of emotional outlet for you!
It's a damned shame that this has recieved as little traffic as it has. Good show.
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Heh, I smugly said, "I can say that about all of my fics..." under my breath. Do you think anyone heard me?
Thanks Gand, you know I appreciate it.
Blimmin' heck that was good.
I'm not normally one for verbosity, but it's unusual to find a fic that has deep links, well thought out characters, little to no over the top shenanigans and yet lots of great action, and is also complete.
The track "12 o'clock" by Vangelis makes a perfect soundtrack to this, by the way.
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Thank you so much for saying so! I'm very glad that I met all of those criteria you listed with this work. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and comment!
Another thought provoking piece... I like the fact that you never mentioned who got the command. I'll have to do a little re-reading to be sure, but I'm fairly certain that one of the corps in Gold group was the one Joe's brother was in... As always I love the little nods and links between your stories keeping a kind of continuity in the background that weaves in and out of the canon with ease.
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Oh yes... the scene of Beanie's death in A Cup of Joe was taken directly from this work. Nice catch!
In the end I didn't want either pony to be favored, so I left it up in the air about who got the command. My ability to it with cnon is important to me, so I'm glad it stood out!
I do love a good guardpony story
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I'm certainly glad! Thanks for reading and commenting!
Afetr reading this, I honestly found myself wishing that Sam and Bob would somehow get to see what their horses were up to these days. It was a pleasant touching story.
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Perhaps they can, who knows? Thanks for reading and commenting!
Hey Desc, did I ever tell you that this is the best fic in the fandom? Because this is really the best fic.
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You and Nines have mentioned that to me on a few occasions.
I'm very glad tat you enjoy it Present. It never received much attention, but it meant so much to me when I wrote it, and it still does. It has a lot of grammar errors that I should go back and fix, but I'm bad about stuff like that. I have the prewriting for TSS2 here somewhere, and the idea for two more after that... including one that would be very, very controversial. Maybe someday, eh?
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I do hope so. :)
I'd like to have an idea whom they're fighting, what's at stake, what century it is relative to Twilight etc., & whether Green Brier & Wander live in the same era.
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They are contemporaries, and that's made clear as the story progresses. I didn't want this story to be about the fighting, but about the protagonists. I hope I didn't go too far with that. Thanks for reading what you did.
Oh, this story has an interesting format. Juxtaposing two different lives. Brier says “I hope for a day to prove ourselves in battle”, I wondered if this was the beginning of arrogance in him, and although I was wrong, I would say it was the first major indicator of their vastly different ways of leadership. Wander definitely grows a closer attachment to his en than Brier, and it seems his respect is earned on a more personal level, although Brier’s is no lesser for it.
I really started getting enraptured in the story when you mentioned Bobby fighting under a red flag, it was at this point I realized that this was taking place in the earth we ourselves know and that this was during the Civil War, although it took me until the very end when Cincinnati and Traveler meet to realize who they were.
One thing I was uncertain of, during each horse’s death, they are transported to Equestria, at these moments do Brier and Wanderer realize that they are the re-incarnations of these past horses, or is that just for the reader?
You are the foremost authority on the Civil War that I know, and I expect this story would have been even more awesome had I been equally knowledgeable of the war. I wonder, is just about every flash-back matched with a real-life moment? I wonder in particular what battles you were referring to during the story.
Finally, looking at their biographies, I expect that the styles that Brier and Wanderer lead with match those of Lee and Grant, Is that that case? I absolutely loved this one Descy, I wish I hadn’t put it off for so long.
Edit: I noticed that this story hasn’t yet breached 1k views. That is a travesty. I think you are one of the hidden gems on this site, and that you really deserve more attention than you have gotten.
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This story is problematic for me in that it has such an unusual format. It becomes harder and harder to keep the character's voices straight, and I think it suffers for that. Chris gave it 3/5 on his review blog though, so it came out "okay" I guess. I know that Present Perfect loves this one.
Yes, I did try to match Wander and Brier's personalities to those of Grant and Lee, though I doubt that any serious historian would commend me on how well I did. The flashbacks were timed to each memory. The battles, if I remember correctly, were The Seven Days, Second Manassas, Gettysburg, The Wilderness, Petersburg, and the Surrender at Appomattox.
I recognized Bobby once you began to describe him. Sam was harder. Traveler was instantaneous for me, but I never did manage to recall Cincinnati's name.
This was a good read, but it does suffer a bit from the back and forth character voice swaps. These two should be more starkly different I think, but sometimes I had a hard time figuring out which character was speaking. Yes, even with the little headers declaring who's line it was. I found them kinda intrusive and glazed over them.
All that said, I was absolutely engrossed reading this. Fantastic work as always.
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This work does have a number of problems, but I'm glad that there was enough here to keep you interested. Thanks for reading!
Can't blame them for trying, even if they're whistling dixie
Captain Obvious would state that this story is unfinished, and I am inclined to agree.
I also feel that the princesses might have noticed something as well, yet they've said nothing thus far. I only wonder what you will do next within this tale.
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Whistlin' Dixie indeed. There was a lot more that I could have done with the piece, but I didn't want to draw it out longer than was necessary to complete the central narrative. I hope that this older work has aged okay.
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I thought it aged gracefully, especially since you left it open-ended for a return if you so chose to. It has that potential to do more if you put the effort into it.
On a unrelated note, Zenith is the last one on the docket at this time, I hope to see what you do with it.
Mm. Stumbling across this many years later. Skimming bit by bit I admit, but the war is clear, and a player or two, if not who the 'main' humans are.
Well, this chapter steadily makes it more and more obvious who they were, given who they were with. I'm at least glad I got it because the name 'Bobby' clicked way near the top of the chapter, before you really make it obvious!
So there's an odd question in mind. Is this implied to only happen for them, or is this a 'Most ponies come from once-other origins?' sort of tale.
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I'm glad that you could enjoy this piece, despite how old it is and how canon has dismantled parts of it. I'm happy to know that you were able to guess the main characters. If I were to guess, I'd say that only a few "living" ponies, perhaps as few as a dozen at a time, are re-incarnations of famous Earth horses. Thanks for giving this a read and for leaving comments!
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You're quite welcome! I had half-hoped on some rambling bit with the Sisters exploring the 'How and what' of it more but I do understand it's not quite at place here.
...Still, it leaves one to wonder just how they might react if told.
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I haven't done as much with this series as I had hoped (I have/had plans for at least three more) but I can tell you this... they are already aware.
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Well, that leaves one of two interpretations there.
I'm going with 'They were always God-Horses' because it's funnier that way. And while Humble Origins For Alicorns is fun, that one seems almost...not sure what. Echoes of 'Somewhere Only We Know' in a way.
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I ain't sayin'!
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I have my waaaaaayyyysssss
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Unless they involve pelting me with small, green portraits of Lincoln, Hamilton, Jackson, Grant, and Franklin, I don't think they'll avail you of much.
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Aha, but you have already revealed too much! They are clearly an unholy amalgamation of Presidential and Founding Spirits! Their howls echo across the multiverse, and the baying of unreality follows!
out of all quotes... why chose one from a Canadian horse racer?