Star Kicker is the newest member of Princess Luna's royal guards, and she has a lot to prove. After all, she has to show once and for all that she's better than her stuck-up skunk of an older sister. Fortunately for her, Luna is eager to give her the chance.
In the desert kingdom of Selerika, the tomb of one of Luna's old friends has been robbed and a priceless artifact stolen. Luna is determined to recover it, and who better to bring along than a unicorn whose special talent lies in finding lost things? It's a dangerous adventure full of mortal peril, but that comes with the territory of being a royal guard.
Chapters (4)
To be fair to Luna, there's nothing saying that she has to be the next alicorn to go mad and try to kill everything. Daybreaker; Decadence; Courier Nova, the Dread Librarian; they're all on the table.
In any case, this looks like it's going to be quite the fun adventure. For Lunar values of "fun." Looking forward to it.
So when exactly does this take place in the winningverse? It’s obviously after Tirek as it’s explicitly mentioned, but I don’t recall hearing about Star getting in the Lunar guard in New Life, though i could be wrong and don’t remember.
Admittedly this is more curiosity than any real complaint as it doesn’t really matter in the context of the story, but it’d be nice to know just for clarity.
And just when I was bummed over New Life ending, we get a new story. This should be fun. Don't think Star's gotten a story from her POV before.
Huh, neat explanation of how all those other cultures eventually joined Equestria. Also very much enjoyed the induction scene. Very Nights Watch (Read:Awesome). I’m excited to see where this goes, especially since we haven’t seen too much of Star in a while, and Luna is always fun! All in all, great chapter, and can’t wait for more!
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This would have taken place during early New Life of a Winning Pony considering the start of that fic takes place during Tirek's invasion.
This looks to be a fun adventure. Seems there's not enough fics that really explore Egyptquestria. Star is a pretty fun POV character, and I look forward to see how she and Luna bond during their adventure. Someone compared the Lunar induction ceremony to the Night's Guard, and although that's very appropriate, I couldn't help but notice it was much more similar to the one Merri (or was it Pippin? I could never remember which one of them was which) swore to the Steward King of Gondor. Having worked a night shift for a couple of years and almost losing my mind because of it, I can't imagine pledging a lifetime of service to a night shift!
Also:
I'm sure that answering with liquor means something, but what? Maybe she should just answer with a grin next time!
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Courier Nova? Seems like an odd choice of name for Twilight. I like 'the Dread Librarian', though.
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A reference to my own work. Though I suppose we could always go for the Benatar approach: Daybreaker, Lovemaker, Friendtaker (Don't you mess around, no no.)
Question can night guards. Get married
This part of any EU? If you you might want to mention it in the description...
Anyways, seems like an interesting adventure. Ill sure be looking forward to more.
The term she's looking for is imposter syndrome: The feeling that you don't really know what you are doing and are just fooling everyone. It's sort of the opposite of Dunning-Kruger and often comes from knowing enough about a subject that you really understand how much you don't know.
Just a heads up, you have a typo in your short description, it says lot instead of lost
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Thanks, fixed
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Yup
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Just a heads up. You have a typo in your reply
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Of course they can, why would anybody stop them? Where would new guards come from, otherwise?
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with the whole oath at the start i wasint sure if they meant give your self to the night guard as in you belong to the night guard only no pony else or not like how priest belong to only god things like that
Ponies adapt to the status quo so worryingly quickly.
Does Storm have skunk-like coloring? I feel like I should have caught onto that far sooner, if so. Maybe it's just been enough time that I forgot.
Geez, how much information does she normally pull from them?
Nice.
I feel like her professional life instead of her personal life would probably be a much better place to use those gems.
Celestia's just here for the cake, isn't she.
Exploring an alicorn's basement is probably more exciting than exploring someone else's.
Random and completely baseless speculation that just struck me, Skunky is the reincarnation of Lance Charger from way back when. Both extra super stuck up, both extra super special, hopefully not both doomed to die an ignoble death.
That's not exactly inaccurate.
Ooooo, necromantic sword quest. Should be fun.
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Eh, it's just fancy wording.
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Storm’s mane is black with a white streak in it, hence Star’s... let’s call it affectionate nickname of “Skunky”. Her coat itself is blue.
Star is a great character to follow. I like that she's very honest with herself. It's refreshing when most characters are seemingly too stubborn to admit things even to themselves.
Liked and tracking. It's been a few years since I read stories in this verse, so I'm happy that I still remember who's who.
Don't suppose there's a compilation of winning verse stories so I don't have to track them all down?
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https://www.fimfiction.net/group/758/the-cloud-kicker-fan-club-and-winningverse-group/thread/356225/winningverse-reading-list
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Much obliged! That'll keep me occupied for a good long time.
Literally JUST realized where the phrase "lesser light" is from. Congratulations on blowing my mind, author. You rock.
You have to admire Hidden Facts' villainy a little bit. For all that his ambitions and machinations came to naught, he continues to hold influence over events a thousand years in the future. Respect. Despicable, but respect.
Soooo... are Sunset, Puzzle and the others going to get involved?
I can’t help but wonder if these two will meet up with Sunset Shimmer or Puzzle Piece once they get to Freeport. And how the Doo’s and the Strikers will react to Star once they realize she is a Kicker.
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Assuming he didn’t turn himself into some undead abomination. Wasn’t there multiple reports of he’s death throughout the years? Wouldn’t surprise me if he showed back up at some point later down the line. After all a lot of ancient evils just seem to creep cropping up in Equestria around this time.
Must say, I honestly didn’t see a lot of this coming. I’m really excited to see what Freeport is like now, and possibly how Sunset feels about Luna if they run into each other. The magic suppression trap was quite clever, and those Eternal Wardens sounded awesome! Definitely excited to see what happens next. Something definitely tells me a Kicker is going to have a less than warm reception in Freeport... ;)
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I would be more concerned about keeping Luna's presence in Freeport under warps.
Sure, she is likely to use a magical disguise, but smart individuals like Puzzle and Sunset could figure out the truth nevertheless. Specially if/when she gets caught in a battle.
Hidden Facts...that was someone from The Lunar Rebellion. Was he the one who turned Bright Charger into the Avatar? Could have sworn Shadow, Sunbeam, or Midnight killed him....
Darn you Hidden.
But after with the others that a meeting of clans will be interesting.
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It was mentioned in one of the editor's notes of Lunar Rebellion that Hidden Facts managed to escape his first deaths and I believe was involved in several minor rebellions and possibly the Morning Wars (which we haven't got much detail on). But it was more or less confirmed that he was truly dead after the fifth or sixth.
That said, it's entirely possible he imprinted some measure of his consciousness on a particular artifact or two. His "Black Codex" user-friendly instruction manual on dark magic keeps showing up. One fan theory I saw was that something was writing new ones.
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Hidden Facts was the leader of the warlocks who betrayed the Loyalist army to the pegasi and got them slaughtered. He also turned Bright into the Nightmare Avatar only to be killed by her, then resurrected and killed again by Midnight. See above for more detail.
Daring Do would probably be a better choice for mortal peril then a random baby-faced lieutenant.
Hidden Facts, that figures.
Hey, a trip to Freeport, this has the potential to be really interesting. I wonder what the descendants of the Lunar Rebels are going to think once Luna herself wanders in.
He's not undead... but who says he's not still around? After all, Golems are a thing...
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I don’t think he was actually killed by the Avatar. I think it was stated that he just faked his death in order to make Rightly and some other prominent Rebels a little more comfortable working with the warlocks. His special talent was illusions after all.
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Hidden Fact's first "death" was faked, both to fool his opponents to think he was taken off the board, and to convince Rightly that the Avatar was turning a new leaf by dispensing with Hidden and Swift Blade in exchange for Rightly's more honorable leadership. Some ponies also thought Hidden died when Sunbeam went Rambo on Proud Line, his manor, and everypony inside. Though his body was never identified among the dead of that massacre.
I will say, the Lunar Rebellion probably isn't the last we'll see of Hidden Facts. As this story shows, he was quite the active warlock, and was a slippery and intelligent individual who was a master of illusions.
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Ah. Thank you for clearing that up. It can be kind of difficult to determine what’s true regarding an infamous master of deception. Looking forward to learning more in future chapters!
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Oh, I was talking about Ushabti. I figured Hidden was still hanging around.
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Puzzle probably has the sword.
Wow, this makes me wonder how old Winningverse Celestia actually is.
The difference in magnitude could explain why her portrayal varies so much from author to author. If you write her as 10,000, that's going to be a person with vastly more experience than the same at 1200 years. So much that they wouldn't resemble each other except for the base tenets. I like thinking about this kind of interpretation, so just felt like sharing.
I find Star's narration to be a nice break from Cloud Kicker's, and her dynamic with Luna is enjoyable to read. The traps were pretty inventive and I like how they reset with magic. The disintegration of any evidence to hide the traps from future invaders is also really good. That's just smart.
Well, this should be an interesting venture...
Love the interaction between Star and Luna. They play off of each other very well. Plus, Star now has a princess save to her name. I'm pretty sure that means she gets to paint a crescent moon somewhere on her armor.
This was a fun chapter. I'm a little disappointed we appear to be leaving Egyptquestria this soon, but am curious to see Freeport appear in a non Freeport Venture story
Something is definitely going on. I doubt Sunset would try to fight Luna like this, force a ceasefire by taking a hostage, just to secure a supposedly historical relic. I think the core of it all lies in the reason why those two Warlocks started fighting, and parted ways.
Also, Sunset struck first. Sending a lethal attack against someone they have been deliberately provoking to use the Canterlot Voice. That "Blast" was clearly not an attack, but a side effect of Luna shouting. The amount of dirty tricks they use to keep that sword is insanely suspicious.
And on a sidenote, how didn't Star notice there were other people in the room? It's never addressed that she's surprised that Sunset and Co. were present, despite the fact that she must've used her tracking spell to search the building before they went in.
Damn, that was some great action. I love the name Facon for Kukri from Strumming, it's mean and accurate just like her.
Luna and Sunset not getting along makes sense, they're similar in all the right ways to piss each other off perfectly while not being able to see it.
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Yeah, the two entitled brats thinking they're entitled each other's things.
Every single time Strumming ever shows up in one of your stories, I keep hoping she'll wind up with a shattered spinal column. Sunset is a massively unlikable bitch too.
I mean, i think I'm supposed to consider her the bold anti-hero who forged her own path and is flawed but still ultimately relatable? But I really just want to see her eat an entire Hostess factory worth of humble pies. And choke on them in the process.
... And then for Strumming to wind up with a broken spine, somehow.
Is Sunset using light and darkness spells new? Guess she picked up some tricks between the Venture stories and now.
Okay, so Luna definitely fell victim to PC logic. In general she’s pretty great but yeah, I’m with Sunset in this one. And Luna needs to get better at listening to her guard, while she needs to be more assertive to her Princess when she knows she’s right.
Stolen by cultist of Nightmare Moon, there’s a twist...
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I like Luna, but in this case I’m pretty sure Sunset actually IS entitled to the sword.
Also, explaining ‘I need it to put my friend’s ghost to rest’ would probably have been far more productive than this...whatever this was. I’m thinking fiasco is the word.