MLP G5 Pilot: The Harvest

by aceotaku

Chapter 1

For almost 200 years, the Pony Kingdom has flourished. At first a separate grouping of villages and fiefdoms that happened to all be situated within walking distance of each other in what was later called Pony Valley, eventually six nobles approached each other and formed the Union, who convinced every pony to join together as one and form the Kingdom, each separate village now a whole, giant city, with the Union making all the import decisions through vote.

The intellectual and cultural elite are the Unicorns, who have mastered what is now known as magic as well as science. As of right now, the highest ranking wizard is Hocus Pocus, who has been the pillar of the wizarding community for several, several years. Next we have the Pegasi Sentries, who fly high in the skies, watching the borders and the villages for trouble, as well as delivering messages wherever they need to go. Finally, there are the knights, made up of Earth Ponies, they are at top physical condition and are the military strength of the Kingdom, fighting back any monsters and aggressors threatening the city as well as arresting any ponies who break the law.

The general populace are made up of a mix of Pegasus and earth pony citizens, with Unicorns living in the grand castle towers, studying. The largest building is the grand castle, the Union Senate, at the centre of the city, where the Union get together and decide important matters of the Kingdom.

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Horseshoes, a brown earth pony with a dark sandy yellow mane and tail, stood on her hind legs, the fighting stance of the knights of the Pony Kingdom. She spat at the ground, her red eyes gazing steadily at her opponent.

Her opponent was standing just as she was, his hooves held up in front of his face. He had a short black mane and a red coat, he too was staring her down with blue eyes, watching for her next move.

She charged at him, striking fast with her forehoof as she jumped to his side and he caught her foreleg between his and flung her over his head and onto the ground.

She panted heavily as he got back on all fours. "I think that's enough sparring for today, Trainee Horseshoes."

She nodded and got up slowly. "Yes sir." There was an almost disappointed tone to her voice.

"Hey now, just be thankful this was a sparring session. Keep in mind that not all your opponents will be so merciful. If you find an enemy is too overwhelming, retreat and prepare, get back up and weapons if you have to, just don't keep fighting and hope for the best." He trotted past her and she followed behind him, grumbling quietly.

"At this rate I will never be a real knight..." she bemoaned, sighing.

"Hey, we all go through this, hay, I started out as a trainee too as have my predecessors and my superiors."

"I know, I know, it's just...I just wanna get right down to it and be a productive member NOW, you know? I wanna fight monsters, protect the city, fight crime," She hung her head low, "But I can't even beat you in a sparring match, a PRETEND fight! What am I supposed to do in a real fight?"

"Like I said, don't be a hero. We aren't like the fanciful stories you may have read, we aren't fighting for glory and heroism. It's a tough job, a rewarding and very honest job, but a job nonetheless. As long as you remember the Code, remember our rules, and don't screw up, you'll be fine." He turned and agve her stern look. "And don't think you can just win a battle by yourself. The knights are about teamwork, not showing off."

She shook her head violently. "I-I-I-I-I don't want to show off! I just..." she looked down, scrathign the ground with her hoof embarrassedly, "hate losing."

"That's normal, but there is a big difference between 'losing' and 'hurting your ego'. Remember that."

"Yeah yeah..."

They trotted to the barracks and the red stallion nodded to a mare manning a desk and he started filling in forms. "And keep your attitude in check. If you mouthed off at anyone but me, you might face suspension, or worse depending on how annoyed you made someone."

She nodded. "Yes sir, I'll keep that in mind."

He hung up his uniform, a comfortable set of lightweight, simple armour, and continued walking and she followed. "So any plans?"

"I have to speak with the head wizard about some matters and deliver some forms to the Union. After that...enjoy my free time I suppose."

"Yeah I hear ya...Sure I couldn't beat ya...AGAIN...But that spar was a decent workout and really tired me out. I think I'll just head home and rest."

He shook his head. "Not so fast, Horseshoes. You have cleaning duty."

She flung her forelegs wide in exasperation. "AGAIN!? Why do I keep getting cleaning duty so much!"

"You really need me to remind you?"

She sighed and shook her head. "No sir..."

He smiled and ruffled her hair, and she yelped in annoyance and pushed him off. "Oh get off and get some REAL work done."

"Cleaning is a very important duty." He pointed out.

"Sure, sure, but not as important as getting to see the Union! I mean...Noone has seen them outside of the senate!"

He shrugged and trotted off. "You know where the cleaning equipment is. See ya little sis!"

She stomped her hooves angrily. "STOP CALLING ME THAT!" She cried out.

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Razzle Dazzle concentrated hard. She was a gre unicorn with white patches on her muzzle and in a diamond shaped pattern on her forehead beneath her horn, white freckles just under her eye. She was levitating a feather, moving it over a candle. She let out a huge sigh as she finally stopped and let the feather fall unharmed to the ground. She looked up at ehr instructor. "How was I Master?"

Hocus Pocus, head of wizard of the unicorn community and the pony closest to the union other than the captain of the knights, smiled proudly. "You did very well, Dazzle."

She looked down. "I-I had to do five times to get it right..."

She chuckled. "I've taught wizards who had to practice more than that."

She blushed deeply. "M-Master now is not the time for jokes. I-I can't believe you of all people can be so casual at a time like this. I mean...the festival is in a few weeks...w-what if the other applicants do better than me? What if everyone laughs at me and think I am a poor student? What if I don't become a full fledged wizard."

She simply smiled. "A few weeks is more than enough time to master a few simple spells. And they can't deny you anything, it's not like you're applying for the knights or anything, you are simply showing your skills, what you are best at, so they can determine what sort of wizard you are likely to be."

"But what if a simple spell isn't sufficient!?"

"You're over thinking things, Dazzle. The wizard contest is simply an event to have fun at. It is simply convenient to sue it as a testing ground for promising pupils. They can no sooner deny your wizardship as they can deny my word as head wizard." He pulled her close and trotted out the room with her. "Now, enough worrying and relax. Nothing wrong is going to happen, I assure you. I think it's time you took a break for the time being, go find someone to talk to, I'm sure you must need some companionship outside of this old fossil." He chuckled softly.

Razzle Dazzle smiled. "You...you're right... I'm just nervous...it's my first time performing magic without your guidance, in front of...everyone..." She frowned but shook her head. "I-I'll head to the grounds right now! The fresh air will do me some good!"

She ran off, leaving the old stallion smiling amusedly.

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Horseshoes sighed sleepily, growing bored. She had just finished mopping the floors of the Wizard Community Tower. She still thought it was a bit of a mouthful to say and wish they would shorten it to something simple like WCT or something.

Suddenly she saw a unicorn mare run over and slip and fall on the wet floor, sliding across till she was directly in front of Horseshoes.

"Hey Razzle." The earth pony greeted.

"Horseshoes." She got up slowly. "Would you mind informing me why you haven't set up any signs to warn people of a wet floor?"

Horseshoes blinked and facehoofed. "Crap, I knew I forget something."

"You are lucky I had come by to remind you, or you might get in trouble with your superiors. For the third time, I may add." Razzle brushed herself off with her hooves, a stoic expression on her face.

Horseshoes smiled. "Magic training doing well I trust?"

Razzle's eye twitched and she sighed. "Nothing to be concerned about, trust me."

"Razz, you gotta relax more, I'm your friend aren't I?"

"Sometimes I wonder about that. Why ARE we friends exactly? I mean, it's not that I dislike you or anything, but we have nothing in common, we aren't even the same kind and can't even relate on the most basic levels, not to mention you are...somewhat violent."

Horseshoes shrugged. "Beats me. I don't even remember to be honest. Still, you gotta have friends somewhere, right? Or else you'd go crazy or something."

"What, like obsess over the smallest mishaps and mistakes and become paranoid if i so much as lose a book?" She tittered. "I'm not that obsessed with my studies...correct?"

"Pshaw!" She waved a hoof dismissively. "You may be super serious around me all the time and have no real sense of humour or fun, but I wouldn't saw that you're 'obsessed with your studies'."

Razzle huffed and held her head up high and her eyes closed, a slight frown on her features. "I'll have you know I have a very well developed sense of humour, it's simply more...refined."

Horseshoes chuckled. "Sure, sure. So, you wanna hang out?"

"You have cleaning duty, do you not?" Razzle asked, brow raised slightly.

"its' not like I can't clean and chat at the same time you know." Horseshoes remarked, holding the mop over her shoulder. "Though I doubt they punish me if I just took a break for a few minutes."

"I am sure. Very well, what shall we do?"

"Well, there was this one place I wanted to see but haven't gotten a chance to for whatever reason..."

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At the very edge of the city, the ground rose up into a hill, leading to a craggy mountain road. Something dark and sinister arose at this junction, a large scythe held up in its thing, black fingers.

It gazed down at the city, its body and face heading under a thick black cloak and hood, thorned tendrils of shadow coiled at its feet, rising out from under the bottom of its cloak.

"It is time for The Harvest." It spoke, without emotion.

Author's Note:

Ok everyone! Here's the first chapter of episode one. Hopefully by the time I finish this enough people will want to join in and make it into a full fledged multiple authored verse. Squee, exciting!

I apologise for making this chapter so dull. Not much happening, not much action or comedy, only some character introduction and interaction. Hopefully it will pick up and be more entertaining by part 2.

One problem I've been having is coming up with characters. I have come up with basic plots and some of the villains i wish to bring in, but nothing on the main characters and heroic and good characters. I'm not even sure how many I should have in the grouping of heroes, I'm thinking at least three.

If anyone has any ideas to share, I'd love to hear them.

The idea here is that I'm basically treating it like a new generation of the show, but aimed at more older kids. I'm trying to avoid anything more risqué here and trying to make it as accessible and all ages as I can, hoping for a more PG rating overall. Still, we'll see what happens. I'd come up with a theme song too if I could, but I am not a good musician or lyricist...

And yes, I was heavily influenced by the Lunaverse stared off by RainbowDoubleDash. However, I am not copying him wholesale, I do have my own ideas for the story/series and where I wish to take it that are different.

The part at the beginning is out of place I know, but I felt it was necessary to give first time readers a good general idea of the current setting. It can be part of the episode or just sort of a basic manual for the series depending on how you wanna view it.

(Author's note dated 2013 and my views may be subject to the change and ravages of time)