Carter Johnson: a man lost to the darkness that consumed him. He had grown hatred towards the man he became. He never wanted this life, but somehow it seemed to him like no matter where he went, his dark past would follow. And now he is at his breaking point. His past haunts him every day, making him feel like nothing in this world can help change him to become the man he wants to be. Perhaps he is right. Maybe there isn't anything... in this world.
With one chance left for redemption, Carter is sent to another world unseen by humans and tasked with the goal of finding those who can help him restore his humanity and restore him back to the man he once was: a man who could love and be a friend to others. But amongst this simple task is an evil more powerful than anything anyone could imagine. For a certain princess and her friends in their world, this will prove to be their most difficult task yet. To Carter, it's his life on the line; to everyone else, it's theirs. Everything that would follow would depend on their choices.
Notice: This takes place one year after the events of Season 9, between "The Ending of The End - Part 2" and "The Last Problem," sometime after Twilight's coronation and becoming the new leader of Equestria, along with the Royal Sisters' retirement. None of the "Equestria Girls" events took place, meaning Sunset Shimmer does not exist and that no one from Equestria has seen a human.
This is meant to act as a continuation of sorts following the end of the MLP Series, building upon where the story left off and telling more about what happened after the coronation. However, there is a more adult rating, as the purpose is to convey dark themes with the otherwise light-hearted world of Equestria, bringing the story into a whole new direction never seen before in the actual series.
Warning: This story has parts with moderate gore, profanity, as well as death/suicide. If you are easily turned away from such content, reader's discretion is advised.
Proofread by PhysicistBrony
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This is the retelling of the original UTF. The changes needed to move story where it was originally meant to go and clean up all the plot holes that the original just couldn't fill in required an entire rewrite, meaning there will be lots of additions, removals, and major changes to the story in comparison to the past edition. With that said, this is now the true headcanon of what happened in the first UTF.
It's one thing to be completely distrustful, but to be outright hostile and even cause him injury without feeling one iota bad about it is too much, especially for Pinkie of all ponies. If it was just Rainbow and Applejack and he didn't get injured that much, fine, but this is too much. At least Applejack isn't a magical bull shit lie detector like many fics like to do, which ruins the fun and progression of him learning to trust them more by forcing him to tell them right out of the gate, completely ruining the flow of such a thing. That's one positive at least. She and some of the others think he's lying but can't prove it. Also love how they conveniently ignored he was injured to the point of coughing up blood after Twilight takes him away.
11194077
Damn, you make a couple good points. My original intention was to incorporate Pinkie's... what is it... "Pinkie Sense" to read Carter's lies, giving her an advantage, so to speak. However, now that you mention, it really is wrong for me to portray her as the aggressive type. Yes, I intentionally tried to veer away from the whole lie-detector-Applejack cliché, so hopefully I stood clear of that. Also, yeah, probably should make it seem like AJ and Rainbow Dash actually give a shit in regards to his injuries.
Very good points, indeed. I will be taking them into consideration and editing accordingly. Thank you for the feedback, definitely an eye-opener.
11194151
That's the one cliche that really grinds my gears the most. Even more than the overpowered unbeatable Fluttershy's stare. At least that has some basis in canon even if it's exaggerated. Also nice to hear you are making changes and will check them out later.
Twilight: And if we take action and he's innocent. Not only did we arrest someone that didn't deserve it due to something vague like not telling something that could be personal simply because of convenient timing, but we would stop searching for the one responsible leading to more potential victims unless the incidents are public and revealed. Meaning unless you are absolutely sure he's the one no matter what we do they won't stop. I rather not risk doing this to a potentially innocent being, especially a new one and any potential backlashes.
Rainbow: Yeah, well......
How so? What reasons does she have to not consider it coincidence? Would have been nice for Carter to ask instead of accepting it like it's automatically valid when it's not.
I'm conflicted. On one hand I feel it's too soon and he should have kept it for a bit longer but since it's only Twilight and he kept the very personal thing I guess I can let it slide.
Nice update though Rainbow annoyed me. I get she's emotional but that doesn't make her actions any more tolerable to me. Hoping she gets a wake up call soon.
11201823
Revisions have been made accordingly in response to your comment. Thank you for the notices.
Again how so? This change didn't really answer my question. Could you actually explain their thoughts and reasoning? You don't have to change it in the story simply responding to me in a reply is good enough. There was only one change I spotted while skimming through the issues I brought up and all it is, is simply rephrasing the same thing, him automatically agreeing with the point without asking why, which doesn't answer my question of why they feel that way.
Bro this sounds crazy but. In the future if he ever decides to reveal his berserk state in the future to everyone it's gotta be like this. Heres a link to a movie scene. https://youtu.be/VI3QEnmn0lg
It's gotta be like crazy opponent that sets him off and does what's in the video for the kill.
This too https://youtu.be/Qc91DnOn9dw
11228089
Interesting ideas. Thanks for the inspiration.
When is the next chapters releasing or chapter?
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Finishing up the next one as I'm writing this. Including the review phase, it should be probably no longer than end of the month.
11249139
Lit
We close?
So you have another chapter ready with this? Also most importantly good chapter.
11263916
Not yet ready, but I already have it planned out.
Update?
11290179
Next chapter is starting to come along, finally. Shouldn't be too much longer now, but I don't feel confident enough to list a release date, quite yet.
Yeah, sorry... I've had very little free time until only about last week, so now I have time to work on the story a lot more.
11290189
Ah ok
Don't know how I missed this update.
Don't like how he ended up laughing too not only after a horrible nightmare, fueled by his horrible past of all things mind you and his embarrassment just because she did so. If anything I would have been offended at best and angry and annoyed at worst. Doesn't seem realistic to me, but what do I know?
Don't see how his statement came across as offensive. It just seems like a neutral statement to me. Not like he insulted them or anything. Unless someone not being pure happy to see them is offensive to them which is just plain stupid even in the universe this fic takes place in. You might want to adjust that to make it actually insulting.
Luna: Except for a millennium where I threw a hissy fit and got banished to the moon, but we don't talk about that.
Awesome chapter and finally!. Can't wait for the next.
Update
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Next chapter should be coming out very shortly. My plan is to release it by next week, but editing can take anywhere from a day to a month with my experience. Crossing my fingers the plan works out.
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Take ur time.
Surprised to see an update and in time for the holidays. An interesting one and hopefully we don't have to wait long for the next.
Good chapter man
Can't wait for next
Carter: I mean me not going into specifics caused you and Rainbow to corner me, leading me to get injured, and Rainbow to almost convince Twilight to arrest me, an innocent man, just because she wanted to stop the attacks and had to have the nerve to act like a victim when Twilight understandably refused.
Applejack:..........
Still waiting.