One Step Forward…
As she walked down the dirt road, the morning sun shining upon her yellow coat, passing through rows upon rows of apple trees as she calmly trotted towards her destination, Ganondorf couldn’t help but ponder how weird it was for her to live amidst so much greenery.
Forests had always been far more Link’s thing than hers, after all. Barren wastelands, inhospitable mountains, treacherous bogs, those were the places she was used to finding upon re-awakening to a new life. And yet, as far as this new life as Apple Bloom was concerned, apple trees as far as the eye could see were home. It was an odd dichotomy, to say the least.
As the view of the small schoolhouse appeared around a corner of the road, the Wielder of Power couldn’t help but let out an annoyed sigh, her attempts of distracting herself by thinking about her new odd living arrangements fell short of the cruel reality that she had to go to school.
If she could ditch, she would do so in a heartbeat. But, sadly, she was quite certain neither of her new older siblings, or the clan’s ancient matriarch for that matter, would allow it. What a bother.
With a despondent shake of her head, the yellow-coated filly resumed her march towards the school building with all the eagerness of a convict walking towards the gallows. At least Link and Zelda had to suffer this indignity with her.
The moment the thought passed her mind she stopped. Tilting her head slightly to the side, Ganondorf considered the likelihood of the unashamed bookworm that was the little Princess feeling any kind of negative emotion regarding a place of learning, no matter how basic or beneath her vaunted standards, and scoffed as she corrected her earlier thoughts. At least Link would suffer alongside her.
“You are Apple Bloom, aren’t you?” a young confident voice asked from her side, breaking Ganondorf out of her musings as part of her mind acknowledged the name as also her own and caused her to turn her head to see who was speaking.
“Nice to meet you, my name is Diamond Tiara,” a pink-coated filly with a purple and white mane eagerly said as she approached Ganondorf alongside a grey-coated filly with a silver mane wearing glasses. The fact that the gleam in her eyes and the smile the pink filly was wearing were something that the Wielder of Power was far more used to seeing upon the face of her more conniving viziers immediately captured her attention. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but my father Filthy Rich is the owner of Barnyard Bargains, and has a business partnership with your family, and as such, I thought it would be nice for me to introduce myself.”
Ganondorf simply stared at the filly giving her a picture-perfect politician’s smile, before she had a small epiphany about what she was talking about.
“Oh, right, the zap apple jam,” the Wielder of Power said while giving a single firm nod as she acknowledged the very odd and magically charged produce her family made. “And the name is Apple Bloom, a pleasure.”
Truth be told, she only remembered that was a thing because of how odd the whole process to make said jam was. Not to mention that the fact that the matriarch of her new family had actually managed to find how to successfully weave wild chaos magic into apple growing was downright impressive, what with how said magic had the very annoying tendency of doing everything except what you wanted it to do at even the best of times. And the less said about what could happen when things went wrong when using the darned stuff, the better.
There was a reason why it was so rare to see a chaos mage, after all, and it wasn’t due to the fact that they were shy.
“Excellent! Well, there is another thing that I would like to talk about,” the pink-coated filly said in faux-nonchalance while purposefully fixing her mane in order to make it look like the topic was minor and unimportant. “In two days’ time my family will be celebrating my cuteceañera, and it would be a delight if you and the other two fillies you share a cutie mark with could come.”
Fighting back the urge to shiver at the cutesy name the silly ponies had given to their little coming of age ceremony, Ganondorf let out an amused huff as what the little filly was planning became clear. Their little light display a few days ago had drawn a considerable amount of interest, after all.
“Sure, why not, we will make an appearance,” she replied with a tiny smirk. “I will let the other two know.”
“Excellent! I mean, that’s good,” Diamond excitedly exclaimed before remembering herself and adopting a more aloof and controlled tone of voice. “I will expect you there. Have a nice day.”
As she watched the young apprentice manipulator start away towards the school entrance with her little grey-coated underling, immediately starting to talk to a few other young ponies that were in a group, acting confident and self-assured as she slowly increased her political capital with the group and converted the young ones to her camp without them even noticing it was happening, she had to acknowledge her burgeoning skills. Oh, sure, she was still rough around the edges and making the occasional blunder in her approach, not that her young targets were noticing it, but all in all a more than adequate show of skill, especially considering her age.
Diamond Tiara, huh? the Wielder of Power thought as she too continued towards the school, she would have to remember that name for later. After all, good, competent minions actually capable of taking command positions were always so hard to find!
“Why did we think the middle of the huge freaking forest was a good place for the castle back then?” Ganondorf grumbled as she followed Zelda’s tiny white-coated form, Link’s orange-coated form calmly following by her side as they trotted down the barely discernible path deep into the Everfree forest.
“Easily defensible and the area was plentiful with resources,” Link promptly replied while observing the throng of plants and ancient trees surrounding them from all sides with the air of someone taking a stroll through a park. “The fact that the wild magic suffusing the woods interfered with all three tribes’ magic equally was also a factor.”
“Point,” Ganondorf grumbled, as she remembered how precarious the situation had been in those early days of the alicorn sisters’ rule. It had been actually kinda funny, in a headache-inducing sort of way, how the fact that the Everfree’s natural wild magic ebbs and flows actively disrupting pony magic had ended up being a selling point, since it meant that the still distrustful tribes had a guarantee that the other two tribes weren’t using their magic upon the ruling body to control things. “But that doesn’t make the trek any less annoying. Are we there yet?”
“No, Apple Bloom, we are not there yet,” Zelda replied with an aggravated sigh, eyes stubbornly locked forward refusing to look at her fellow Triforce Wielders. “Ten minutes ago I informed you that we were thirty minutes away from the castle’s ruins, meaning we are still twenty minutes away from it.”
“How annoying,” she grunted, kicking a pebble into the underbrush. It was really annoying that any kind of precision teleportation was downright impossible within this forest, meaning they had to walk there.
“Seriously, Apple Bloom, we all agreed that surveying the ruins for more clues about the Elements was a good idea, so no point in complaining about it now!” Zelda sniped back, finally turning her head backwards and looking at the Wielder of Power with a fierce glare.
“You are going there to search for these Element doohickeys. I’m going there to scavenge and see if there is anything worth salvaging in the ruins.” Ganondorf shot back, perking up slightly upon seeing Zelda’s current annoyance. She hadn’t tested her new body in a fight yet, after all! And a nice spar would do wonders to alleviate her boredom!
Though, the scavenging bit was also true. She needed some quality metal to fix Big Mac’s plow, after all. Not to mention making some temporary weapons for both herself and her fellow Triforce Wielders. And the ruins were as good a place as any to try and find some.
“And the Kid… why are you coming again?” the Wielder of Power asked, tilting her head in curiosity upon realizing she had no idea why the no longer green wonder was coming too. Though, knowing Link and her wanderlust, she may have simply come to see the sights.
“The Master Sword,” the young pegasus simply replied, eyes still calmly enjoying the mass of trees all around them, despite the fact they looked much like the trees they had passed by half an hour ago.
Ganondorf blinked once in confusion, before she understood what the Wielder of Courage meant with her very succinct reply.
“Point,” she conceded once more, nodding her head once with finality, actually approving of Link’s reasoning. “Right, inhospitable, hazardous, spooky forest, your little diva of a sword is probably here somewhere.”
“What?” Zelda asked, now confused rather than angry, much to Ganondorf’s disappointment.
“Not sure how you haven’t noticed by now, Princess, but the Kid’s sword most definitely has a theme and isn’t afraid to stick to it!” Ganondorf drawled while giving Zelda an infuriating smirk, hoping that a spar could still be salvaged. “And if there is one thing that blade likes, it is picking forests as its resting place! The more hazardous and inhospitable the better! And if that isn’t an option, then an ancient temple-like structure is a good substitute!”
Zelda raised a hoof as if to protest Ganondorf’s words before a look of deep contemplation crossed her features, and then she proceeded to slowly lower it back down. “That is… not inaccurate,” she finally conceded in a wondering tone of voice, clearly pondering how she had missed that little odd quirk of the Kid’s blade.
A loud roar echoed through the shadowed woods, stopping their wonderings about the Master Sword’s little idiosyncrasies.
Turning her head towards the source of the roar, Ganondorf watched with a hint of interest as a manticore burst past the underbrush and into the dilapidated path. The chimeric beast, which out-massed the three fillies put together by several orders of magnitude, roared once more as it towered over them, clearly thinking it had found an easy meal.
“Oh, this is going to be fun!” Ganondorf joyfully proclaimed, cracking her neck to one side and then another as she walked past a deeply unimpressed-looking Zelda and a placidly waiting Link. A look of confusion appeared upon the massive apex-predator’s features as it realized that there was absolutely no fear whatsoever emanating from the three tiny fillies.
Taking a deep breath, Ganondorf dug deep into her magic and pulled it forward, enhancing and empowering her body far past what should’ve been its natural limits, and then pushed it again far past that.
A massive fanged grin upon her features, she kept approaching the now worried-looking beast. The Wielder of Power stomped with one of her forward hooves, the limb cracking the path with a muted thump, giving her a stable launching point so she could better lunge at her new impromptu sparring partner.
Grin growing even larger, Ganondorf felt some of her magical might start to leak out into the air due to her excitement. This was going to be fun!
And then, before her wide disbelieving eyes, the massive manticore turned tail and launched itself back into the underbrush with a panicked yowl, its large bat-like wings frantically beating at its back in order to eke out just a little extra speed as it frantically ran away.
“Good instincts,” Link idly commented with a small nod as Ganondorf watched, mouth agape, as the manticore disappeared.
“Get back here, you overgrown cat!” the tiny filly yelled in rage, jumping away from the trail after the fleeing beast. Zelda simply let out a very tired sigh.
I'm confused... How can this be both a squeal and a non-canon story?
11072256
Just like canon Zelda my story is split into divergent timelines.
This story 'past' took a diferent direction from what happened/ will happen in TPoF.
Thanks for the new chapter it's been so long also in some paragraph ganondorf referred herself as a male like this one
Minion 1
Pros
Decent leader
Comes with sub minion
Has acces to money
Still able to learn
Bonus points for alien geometries that break the brain, which the Everfree is capable of in most headcanons.
i would still laugh and want to see if the Princesses remember auntie Zelda and uncle Link and Ganon
I love how casual the trio is about everything despite how young they are.
Maybe if the three become alicorns, they might not do it all in the same lifetime.
"no meddling gods"
Majora is a meddling god, it didn't create the world, it's intrusive, it has no right. The Golden Goddess DID make the world, it's their creation. And it's always found it interested in Twilight Princess, while Ganondorf smashed the heads of the statues of Nayru and Farore, he didn't touch Din's statue, implying that while he's still a power hungry thief and murderer, he does pay due respect to Din.
I waited so long for this and I was (edit: NOT) disappointed. Imagining a lil Season 1 Applebloom walking towards a Manticore with the intent to murder it good is a hilariously epic image.
It lives!
Woo! This Lives! nice chapter and the big pussy cat fleeing was amusing.
It will be interesting to see how the trio's relationship with Diamond Tiara plays out. I like it when she gets more personality as opposed to just being a spoiled brat
I think you should keep Apple Bloom's gender consistent throughout the chapter. Using 'him' and then 'her' in the next paragraph would cause confusion. Not to mention the flow.
Hold it... was this the reason why it has a spike in its paw later on? Because it blindly fled it stepped on the spike by accident?
11072344
How the hell were you disappointed?
*You
11072265
Timeline theorists, TO YOUR KEYBOARDS!
Even Ganondorf knows not to mess around with Granny Smith!
Yes, I'd imagine that they would be quite... eccentric
Isn't that partly because they have a habit of backstabbing people, which doesn't always work out well for them
Well would you look at that... a mount has been located
Indeed
Oh it makes a fair bit of sense alright
But then again I never saw much logic behind DT antagonizing the CMC, since two of them were siblings to national heroes (granted the show never really addressed the positives and negatives that would come with the fame of those achievements).
And one of those two is also a member of Ponyville’s founding family (if I remember correctly) as well as a profitable business partner to DT's own family so antagonizing them would just hurt future business
No I doubt she would
11072288
Minion 1
Cons:
Will most likely try to backstab you at some point.
Sub minions might be more loyal to them than you.
I have this mental image of Zekora in the forest collecting herb and such, only to see a paniced Manticore running past like the hounds of hell were upon it. Only to then see a pissed off filly runing after it yelling at it to "come back and fight her damn it!" I also could see Zekora or even her tribe having legends about the Golden Trio, and seeing three fillies with Three Golden Marks could be quite a surprise for her.
Zekora: "You of the Golden Three, what is it in this forest that you seek?" LOL
Gotta love Fi
Come back here so she can let out some frustration!
Beautiful! I love how they just waltz into the forest like it's normal.
And I like the way you handled diamond here, no antagonism towards them because they got their mark, and even "welcoming them into the fold" as unsubtle as she is about it. Perhaps appledorf can turn the tables on her. Perhaps inspire true loyalty? Not likely for a while, but maybe if the weilders of yellow triangles help her with her mom issues early. . . She could be a valuable asset in the future.
11072344
to be honest i liked this chapter a lot and i have no idea what part of it could be disappointing
Can you imagine the reactions of Rarity, Applejack and Rainbow Dash when they find out that there little sister's are; the greatest villain, the greatest hero and the reincarnation of the goddess?
11072256
Because it's following a thought that may or may not happen in relation to the original story. It's an AU of an AU. There are quite a few shows/manga/comics that tell stories of particular "what if" scenarios. Like the heroes joining a different faction than they did in the original story. Or Peggy becoming Captain America instead of Steve.
Sure, they could be reincarnated as the CMC. But they also could have been the Flower sisters. Or the stunt Ganondorf did to break them from the cycle could mean their current life in the original story will be their last life.
Yay another chapter
11072586
Too short
Need more
11072597
Actually, in this reality, they are three of the greatest heroes of pre founding Equestria.
What happened before their arrival doesn't matter a bit.
it is because they don't last long
Hey nice to see the story again so it looks like Ganondorf got invited from Diamond Tiara and this time she's not mean I think even though he doesn't like the whole cutie thing he accepted the invitation and it looks like Zelda Link and Ganondorf are going to the Castle of the sisters to find any information and Link's Master Sword and it looks like Ganondorf is going to mess with a manticore I wonder how this will work out guess we'll find out next time
11072282
Argh... the problem is that Ganondorf is almost always male, and so as I'm writting if I'm not paying atention and use his name I then almost automatically use a male pronoum afterwards. Will have to go over the chapter and fix that.
11072288
11072291
i.imgflip.com/jfnha.jpg
11072298
Yeah, their reunion will be fun.
11072301
Glad to hear you like it.
11072305
Appledorf: What do you mean I'm now a Princess?!?!
11072337
Yeah, that was a very nice touch added to the game.
11072344
Out of curiosity, could you tell me how the chapter disapointed you?
11072352
Indeed, it does.
11072391
Glad you liked it, I also found that scene amusing.
11072437
Yeah, for how much the show played her as an 'antagonist' for the CMC, you would think they would have given her more development after her 'redemption'.
11072439
What happened is that in most midia Ganondorf is male, and so if I'm not paying close atention my monkey brain tries to default to male pronoums when writting about the Wielder of Power. And so a few mistakes sneaked past me.
11072444
You sure? I'm also asking this sincerely, since english is not my first language. I thought it was right and my beta didn't fix it, so now I don't know.
11072478
ih1.redbubble.net/image.2065010164.4784/poster,504x498,f8f8f8-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg
Onwards!
11072497
She is one tough Apple, after all.
11072533
Glad to hear you liked the chapter.
11072536
Indeed. Somehow I think Zecora's interactions with Link would be awesome.
I did indeed enjoy the chapter again, yes; thank you for writing! :D
(And aye, I think Diamond Tiara's different actions in this different context make sense, at least for some interpretations of the character -- and it looks like you're using one of those, so, yeah, no problem.)
11072563
That manticore was wise beyond its years.
11072566
11072583
Thanks!
It made sense to me that she would take a diferent approach due to the changed circunstances.
11072597
11072605
Indeed, that pretty much hits the nail on the head. And the Zelda series has the added benefit that unlike most stories divergent timelines are Canon there.
11072640
That it is.
11072649
It was a little in the short side, but I felt that the manticore scene was a good cut off point. More will come.
11072672
A little bit of both. Its not relevant to most ponies, but it also matters quite a bit for the Trio.
11072723
Indeed. When trying to cast a minor cantrip can turn you into pizza, it is any wonder most aspiring chaos mages never reach mastery?
11072724
Indeed.
Well, Zelda will be in heaven when she gets to the Castle.
The Library is intact and likely has knowledge that Celestia couldn't bear to Destroy when she culled all knowledge of her sister from Equestria.
Likely along with other things that she thought best forgotten by the outside but left accessible at need like information on the Crystal Empire for example.
11072771
The Manticore has a theme song
11072769
11072788
Oh, yes. That, and rant a little about all those books and tomes left there collecting dust with no one to take proper care of them.
11072839
More along the lines:
25.media.tumblr.com/e883129a75747d9e6dcec4916102021f/tumblr_meuc5kKbve1qihztbo1_500.gif
Eyyyyy nice to see this updating again, it's been a while.
11072864
Sorry for the wait.
11072859
:)
Also, I happened to notice this:
11072763
"You sure? I'm also asking this sincerely, since english is not my first language. I thought it was right and my beta didn't fix it, so now I don't know."
Yes, it should be "you overgrown cat". I'm guessing your beta just missed it; speaking as someone who's done a lot of editing myself, typos and the like can be quite sneaky at times.
Congratulations on your skill with English, by the way! I'm curious what construction in your native language, or other cause, led you to think "your" was correct there*, but even with that and maybe other occasional errors, it's good enough I don't recall ever suspecting you weren't a native speaker.
*(Just to be clear, I literally mean I'm curious about that; this isn't some sarcastic "Wow, why did you think that was right?" situation.)
11072913
My native language is Portuguese. And it basically has nothing in commom with English, what with it being a Latin derived language.
Will fix that little mistake.
So anyone want to place a bet on the Master Sword being in the cave of the Tree of Harmony? To add on to Ganondorf's list of MS locations, "large important tree behind it" has occurred at least once.
Gotta love seeing a new chapter on any of your stories.
The fact that manticores seem to be semi-sapient may lead Appledorf to try to train a couple. Smart bruisers aren't common. She's going to give this one a phobia of the color yellow, first, though.
As far as DT...if not for the toxic example of her mother, she'd be a much better character. She has a natural talent for manipulation and leadership, both of which could be valuable. I look forward to seeing Appledorf mold her.
11072535
Minions like that deserve the investment of time and respect to earn their loyalty. Most villains try to just keep them in line through fear, which just exacerbates the likelihood of betrayal.
11072757
I meant to type NOT disappointed. This was awesome.
11073150
Very true.
11073202
Now I'm imagining Appledorf in front of a score of frightened manticores while Mulan's "be a man" is playing on the background.
And yeah, DT has potential under the right 'guidance'.
11073215
Lol talk about a typo.
An excellent way to start December.
11073369
11072763
Ummm. Pretty sure?
New Chapter 11072536 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nRnKaepDmU
That poor poor cat.