• Member Since 13th Sep, 2015
  • offline last seen Dec 1st, 2023

Belligerent Bindlestiff


Casually serious gamer and speculative writer. Breaking the boundaries through crossovers.

Sequels1

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After the events on the second moon, Kain Highwind secluded himself on Mt. Ordeals to follow in the path of his paladin friend, Cecil Harvey. He cannot face his friends, not after the betrayals he inflicted. His only choice is to separate himself from his dark past and become a paladin.

But the forces at work have different plans for the dragoon.

What will become of him with this change in fate?

This story takes place after the events of the original Final Fantasy IV and Season 3 of FiM

Special thanks to ArceusFan493 for chapter edits and Sedentary Vagabond as my writing consultant.
Comments are welcome. I could always use the feedback.
Featured 5/26/16!

Chapters (25)
Comments ( 158 )

The whole dream spying thing kinda turned me off but besides that great chapter

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Don't worry. She's not completely omniscient to his psyche. Only to what he he shows or to what the reader sees.

The freedom from Zeromus’ influence should have relinquished Kain from the burden of his betrayal, but the dragoon knows that deep in his heart he had allowed his darkest desires to take hold and commit these acts. Once darkness is embellished, does it stay with an individual seeking redemption? Evils committed out of cowardice are different from those of envy and want. Kain knows that redemption was possible for Cecil. He wants to follow the same path that brought the Paladin into the light, but the purpose of finding himself in this world is unclear.

Does the dragoon need the land to mend his soul, or is the land in need of a hero? Fates are now entwined in a land that may hold atonement for a wayward dragoon.

As long as he doesn't go the way of Princess Luna. As we might remember from "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?" Luna constantly tortured herself with the same nightmare every night, so that she never forgave herself for the wrongs she had committed. Redemption didn't even OCCUR to her. She thought that she was beyond it.
On another note, there was a phrase in the book "A Spell for Chameleon" that regards this, a bit. To paraphrase;
"I asked him if i actually had a soul. to this he said, "Would something without a soul wonder about these things?""

Cain, under the mind control, wouldn't CARE if he was redeemable or not. Nightmare Moon wouldn't CARE who her actions hurt.
One can find redemption, if they're willing to look for it. But how can anyone forgive us if we don't forgive ourselves?

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Guilt is a very powerful force, and in this story a not so easy thing to overcome.Its funny, I began this story after the end of season 3, and it takes place before season 4. A lot of things have come to light since I've started writing the story. I already have my plan as to how it will end, but I will attempt to address the revelations in the show and comics that apply. Thanks a million for the input.

“Oh, hi Rarity. Hi Kain.” Twilight said to her company with a bit of blush after having let the two of them see her in a beleaguered state. “Sorry you all had to see that. This problem just has me baffled.”

Um, are you sure you're using that right?

be·lea·guered
beset with difficulties.
"the board is supporting the beleaguered director amid calls for his resignation"
synonyms: hard-pressed, troubled, in difficulties, under pressure, under stress, with one's back to the wall, in a tight corner, in a tight spot, up against it;

perhaps you mean... bedraggled?

be·drag·gled
adjective
dirty and disheveled.
"we got there, tired and bedraggled"
synonyms: disheveled, disordered, untidy, unkempt, tousled, disarranged, in a mess, mussed
"the bedraggled search party"

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You bring up a good point. I always held that beleagured was a synonym for frazzled.

Given the definitions, I could go for aliteration with both words as they both convey Twilight's state. We are talking about a character who gets very engrossed in her responsibilities.

Thanks for your help.

“What? I didn’t exactly tell them to try and dowse for clues.” Twilight said to the disgruntled mares. She turned to Sweetie Belle. “But I did warn you about using magic you weren’t familiar with and to stick to light and levitation.”

“Yeah, the trouble was, that once she used that dowsing stuff and found the magic signal.” Scootaloo began. “She started getting pulled away from us. We all tried to hold her down, but she got us all dragged into the Everfree Forest.”

“That’s strange though, I’ve never heard of a unicorn or anypony for that matter, being pulled away like that.” Twilight stated. “You haven’t swallowed any magnets or copious amounts of iron as of late Sweetie Belle?”

You might ask Rarity.....

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...
Egad, the canon police!:pinkiegasp:

Thanks for that one. I'll be sure to amend that one in the future.

“I like persistent. Stubborn just sounds like some hard to get rid of pony that gets blown up and keeps on going.” Pinkie explained.

She just referred to Cid's near-death suicidal explosion. I'm surprised no one mentioned this.

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A cookie to you sir.:pinkiehappy:

But that's not the only FF shout out our clairvoyant mare has made.

One of the best FFxMLP fics I read so far, on FF.net.

Also, I am not the only one, everytime you see Kain speak, you will hear the voice of Liam O'Brien in your mind as you read. You have ponies talk, and then Liam comes out of nowhere and you realize how out of place it is XD

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Thanks. And yes it is strange to hear Liam's voice amongst the rest of the cast, and perhaps even compared to other male characters.

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6469243 I know...but its just awesome though. Kain is a badass, and he sounds like one too. XD

You have some errors here and there. Somewhere in the mid part of the chapter.

Found your story while scouring fanfiction, since I couldn't access FiMfic where I was. This is very good. Kain did accept that he's in a new world rather readily, but it does make sense for him to do so after all he's seen.
Looking forward to the girls' reaction to his full story. Yes, there was some mind control involved but it was his jealousy of his best friend that let it easily take root, which is something that Rarity can relate to at the least even if she didn't fall to it. She was bitterly jealous of Flutters while Fluttershy was a model, after all.

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I appreciate your input. And don't worry, I just finished writing chapter 14. It should be a while before it goes through my editor.

Apologies to everyone for being a slow-go writer!:twilightsheepish:

“Not to unsettle anypony, but we should probably keep it down. Loud noises can trigger avalanches and I doubt anypony wants to dig out of piles and piles of snow.” The princess said as she looked towards the three ponies outside.
There was a muffled commotion from the inside of the wagon all the while Twilight was giver her warning.
“What’s goin on in there?” Applejack asked.
“Not sure, let me just open the partition and see-“ Twilight turned and looked towards the interior of the wagon.
“And that’s why dragon fire keeps you TOASTY and Waaaaaaarrrrrrm!” Pinkie Pie said as she erupted from the front of the wagon and landed on Rainbow Dash, who unfortunately hadn’t been as high in the air as she’d hoped.
Pinkie continued her verse from atop the aloft pegasus. “So we’ll just stay inside and we’ll-‘
“Pinkie!” Applejack said, a little louder, but it still wasn’t enough to break the party pony’s song.
“Pinkie! Shut up! You’ll cause an avalanche!” Rainbow Dash yelled at her.
Pinkie stopped singing and the echo of her voice, along with the possible remnants of instrumental sounds reverberated throughout the mountain. “Oh…” was all she said.
Fluttershy poked her head through the partition. “See Pinkie, I told you it wasn’t a good idea to start singing.” At that moment an errant flake of snow landed on her muzzle. “Achoo!”
And then the mountain trembled.

Really? Pinkie's singing doesn't do it, her friends yelling at her to stop doesn't do it, but...

THAT does? Just sayin'.

After a few hours of trekking, the group finally stopped for a rest. Pinkie Pie got to setting up for lunch. Kain watched as Applejack moved to speak with Twilight. They exchanged words, and then the princess looked towards the dragoon.

Is Twilight still a Unicorn, or did I miss something? You never mentioned her having wings in the chapter when they met.

Comment posted by Belligerent Bindlestiff deleted Nov 12th, 2015

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She's an alicorn. She just hasn't been one all that long. From the fim timeline, this story takes place only some time after she became an alicorn.
at the Pinkie welcoming party, she stated how the princess thing was still new to her.

She isn't flying around much yet.

Yeah we noticed the names of the songs, though it would be better if you link them to the words. :applejackunsure:

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I'll consider working on that in the future if I can get the hang of putting those videos for said music into the text itself.

Shit, damnit twilight.

Oh they were talking about Cid, even though it was pretty much impossible on how he survived, I was glad that he (and almost everyone else who"died") was still alive.

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Cid's made of stern stuff I suppose. But in regards to many of the characters surviving during the course of the game, it just feels like too good an ending.

Don't get me wrong, I like the story's ending. But if you want a FF game that makes character death meaningful, try FF2 NES

Heheehe, kain is about to meet discord.:pinkiehappy:

“I suppose you can’t be too careful.” Cadence said. “In any event, these two guards ponies are my personal royal escorts, straight from the Crystal Empire. Captain Biggs and Captain Wedge.”

...W...T...F!


And Rosa?! What is she doing here all of a sudden?! :pinkiegasp:

Cadence....what are you doing? This doesn't seem like it will make things better.

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:pinkiegasp:
Oh so many questions! And yet allusions to another Final Fantasy are being made!
:ajsmug:

This better not be some sort of changling mind magic'ing going on with a fake Cadence.

Interesting. Have to say, I'm really liking this story. FF IV was always my favorite out of all of them and reading about Kain here, who is one of the most badass characters ever, is very good! You seem to have kept Kain to how he would act if this happened and the links to the songs are another nice touch. Also, about Biggs and Wedge, I hope you're not gonna do the classic FF tradition of having them killed off later, which would be both funny and tragic. Poor Biggs and Wedge, they can never catch a break in FF :rainbowlaugh:

6465373 Psychic Pinkie is pretty much canon as of Equestria Girls.

Usually there's some sort of interdimensional currency exchange, but this fic doesn't accept Gil. I'll bet that the world where Kain comes from doesn't accept Bits.

Biggs and Wedge are pretty much a constant in Final Fantasy, and I'm pretty sure Rosa is with Cecil. Now that I think about it... Kain DOES have some feelings for Rosa.

This is a very interesting story so far and I am looking forward to see more of this story in the future.

I'm really not surprised that ponies are gullible.

.“What’s that? More phenomomenons?! Please!” Pinkie Pie said drowsily.
Rainbow Dash and Kain continued their opposing lateral attacks on Chrysalis. Meanwhile Rarity made her way over to the disturbingly static Pinkie. The pink mare continued rambling on about the selection of sweets she wanted to eat. “Now Pinkie Pie, you they’re not good for your figure.” Rarity said.
Pinkie pie just continued making sounds as if she were eating mountains of the treats.
During another pass at Chrysalis, the changeling managed to grab the pegasus and cast her hypnotic spell on Rainbow Dash. Kain didn’t notice until he had turned around to make another attack at Chrysalis when he saw Rainbow Dash being placed down by the changeling queen. Now he had to engage directly with Chrysalis.
“Pinkie Pie you know I wouldn’t prefer to be so aggressive with my friends, but we need you right now so…” rarity said as she reluctantly raised a hoof and smacked Pinkie upside the head.
“What what!? Awww, there weren’t any phenomnomenons?” Pinkie Pie asked disappointedly.
“Priorities Pinkie.” Rarirty said, as she sped off to help Rainbow Dash. The unicorn weaved around Chrysalis and Kain’s duel, through much of the destroyed bedroom.
“Rainbow Dash?” Pinkie asked her pegasus friend.
“Mushrooms do sound good…” Rainbow Dash groggily said. “No! Can’t let it tempt me, I’m Rainbow Dash, pegasus and –“ the cyan mare woke up. “The fastest flyer in Equestria!” She then charged at Chrysalis, slamming into her back.
The changeling queen somehow still overpowered her assailants and made a move towards Rarity. She then locked horns with the unicorn and put her under the same entrancing spell the others were previously placed into.
Kain ran over to Rarity, who was still in a daze. “I don’t need you all as friends.” She said weakly. “When I’m done, the nightmare will give me all the joy I need.”
The dragoon wondered if this was what it was like on the other side, to see those you cared about being taken by the darkness. Kain didn’t hesitate; he didn’t need to see any more of what it was like from the outside. He’d lived it.
“Rarity, wake up!” This isn’t who you are!” the dragoon said, shaking the unicorn. “You told me you wanted to help others Rarity.”
Rarity blinked, looked around, and noticed she was being held by Kain. “Yes, I do remember all of that.” She said. “Thank you, Kain.”

I'm not the only one who thought of the undertale pacifist final boss when they were saving everyone right?

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Glad you're enjoying it. Though it pains me to say, we're in the stretch to the end.

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Sometimes...

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Funny thing. I have yet to play undertale. I based her ramblings on when she was overtaken by the nightmare forces.

7007629 oh I knew that was raritys, but I meant the whole situation of getting all of your friends out of some evil trance with people they know.

Found this awhile back and it's been languishing iin my read later list.
Must say, quality of the writing is fathoms beyond what I expected. I suspect I shall power read this then beg for more.

FFII (or IV officially) is one of my favorite games.

On another note, there was a phrase in the book "A Spell for Chameleon" that regards this, a bit. To paraphrase;
"I asked him if i actually had a soul. to this he said, "Would something without a soul wonder about these things?""

I approve of your taste in literature.

The one issue I'm having with this story, though it is no fault of the author, is that the device on which I read cannot operate two applications at once. I must close the story in order to follow the links to the accompaniment. Thus, my experience is sadly, without music.

Though a bit late, I am still enjoying this story quite a bit. I'm also seeing some character development with Kain and its interesting. Also noticed you said its starting to near the end, but don't overwork yourself to it! Keep going at this same pace and it'll turn out great! Anyway, keep up the good work with this story and I'll be waiting till the next chapter :scootangel:

That was great! Though it does, i suppose put Rarity in the position of the F.R.I. (Forced Romantic Interest)

It 's great to see that the guy finally stop thinking of the other girl and start exploring the possibility of a relationship with Rarity. Maybe he will start to forgive himself for his sins and start thinking of making a new life for himself in Equestria and maybe even be the fonder of the Equestrian Dragoons... Fat chance at that, there has to be at least one major obstacle before he can contemplate anything and probably going to have at least one tragic loss to give whatever bitter taste to the victory or a drastic plot twist that will shake his very core belief, I just hope that he will be able to salvage something meaningful for himself out of all this.

Forced romance was forced.
I know that was probably your plan from the beginning, but it doesn't seem right this far in. The effectiveness chrysalis's attack had on him, it's clear he's not over Rosa despite what he says. I feel like he's rebounding with Rairity and this will end with her hurt and him broken.

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