He’d left. Abandoned her. Betrayed her.
After everything they went through together, he threw her away like nothing, and the worst part is, Oleander shouldn’t even have been surprised.
Arizona had voiced her concern and Tianhuo adamantly despised concept of working with him, but Oleander never listened, often staying on his side during arguments that really should have indicated that something was off with him, but that’s probably what he was counting on. Slowly manipulating her and turning her against the others so that they couldn’t stop him when he showed his true colours, and now...
She had nothing to lose.
So why did the others care so much about keeping her around?
Cover Art: https://derpibooru.org/images/2717524
A story about Oleander losing her sole purpose in life, and being forced to find it once more by her fellow Champions.
I really wish there would be more TFH stories and you did a great job at delivering one quality piece.
On the one hand, I feel for Ollie, but on the other hand, I feel like she needs to remove that stick from her butt and learn some humility and what happened in this story would be a perfect way for that to happen.
Very good one shot. Nice work!
Besides dealing with the Predators. I have a good feeling that the six champions will have to deal with Fred/Fhtng sooner or later.
And Oleander will finally get her closure.
Because they are your friends. And friends are there for each other.
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Right? I expected either Tianhuo or Arizona to outright say that!
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That type of statement didn’t even cross my mind here, as Oleander does not consider the other Champions her friends, and the others know that and don’t want to test her further.
After all, if Arizona told Oleander that she should stay just because they were friends, Oleander wouldn’t agree or even properly understand that statement, as she barely even knows what friends truly are.
Maybe I could’ve had Arizona try to impart that type of understanding on her, but the Cow knows she’s very young and kind of stupid compared to the others in the group, so trying to claim that she knows something better that Oleander doesn’t really fit her character or the way I was writing this story.
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I think the stuff I’ve said above also somewhat relates to your other comment, littleman001, as literally her only friend for most of her life was a straight-up demon that’s granted her incredible dark magics. Of course she doesn’t understand proper empathy or sympathy, and of course she’s going to be kind of an asshole to everyone else, and Fred (at least here) is likely making those traits worse for his own gain.
Thank you all for comments though, as not only do they verify that people really enjoy reading these stories, but they also can help clarify some things I weren’t aware were issues when I was writing.
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You are very welcome! I know the value of a comment as my stories are very overlooked. And I definitely get what you're saying about the champions not seeing each other as friends and probably would only work together if they were forced to do so. In a TFH story concept I imagined would force them to join forces to get the Prophet's Key back from Shanty who managed to get it before them as she is the only one who wants the key for selfish reasons not to save Foenum and they would very slowly become sort of fire forged friends.
That sad feeling when this fanfiction has more lore and character development then the entirety of TFH's complete storymode, currently
Very nice story!
I loved how you handled the characters.
Oleander seems destined for a rude awakening, and while I crave some fanmade version of the story we didn't get, just seeing the aftermath of that moment without other distractions is great.
It's also interesting how the story ends with a spark of hope, that Oleander can be saved and learn to appreciate her life and bond with others while becoming a true Champion.
Things would get much worse before they get better, but it still feels like there's a chance for the Champions to save Foenum.
I've always thought that the natural resolution of TFH would have the Champions learning to work together and respect each other, and leading their varying tribes to do the same.
Slowly becoming friends, and more than the sum of their individual capabilities.
In Oleander's case, becoming a loner in her rejection of the Order's uncaring arrogance is the core of what she has to overcome for that.
Alongside Fred encouraging her worst tendencies and feeding her ego with power: making her just as arrogant as the Order she rejected.
But she also genuinely wants to help, and that part of her can be redeemed.
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Oleander lashing out in her pain was well written, alongside Arizona being so good natured that she tries her best to help anyway: despite not knowing what to say and having no experience with that kind of trauma.
Though Oleander possibly thinking she murdered Arizona in the game story, depending on how you interpret it, makes me wonder what kind of road they went down for Arizona to forgive that.
But I can believe that Arizona is forgiving, at least with some time for her stubborness to cool.
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Tianhuo being much more measured in her words and taking a firm rational, approach instead of just trying to comfort her seems completely in character.
It shows her self-control and maturity, and her experience as a leader.
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Tianhuo defeating all five other champions at once seems absurd, especially going off what we know in-game, but she doubtlessly has the most experience.
I think her real edge would be in her resolve and familiarity with danger more than any superior combat prowess.
That and she'd be a natural leader for the champions given her position in Huoshan and confidence, but kindness where it's needed - like the Pom lines.
Though Paprika's "fighting style" may be so bizarre to her that she'd be caught off guard despite all of her experience: they are basically opposites.
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Story dialogue and the Book of Lore implies that Fhtng was on good terms with Divine Oracle Amaryllis, Oleander's great grandmother and a respected unicorn: so it seems like Fhtng was playing a multigenerational game to get a unicorn would who trust him.
If that's the case I'd expect him to be more eager to work with Oleander from the start, but maybe pretending to reject and then befriend her was just part of his manipulation. Being too friendly from the start may have been suspicious.
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Thank you, I greatly appreciate such a thorough liking of my story!
Per the sections of your comment:
I have a lot of thoughts on the way TFH's story could have gone, and this is one possibility there.
I've expanded on the character's mentalities a lot here too, with Fred's demonic tendencies, Oleander knowing so little of normalcy, Arizona being just a nice kid, and Tianhuo a fully competent warrior and leader.
Between the characters, too, is something I wanted to expand on, and I do believe that (within the world itself and not in-game) in a 5v1 fight, Tianhuo could win, as not only is she by far the most competent of the group, and at least tied for the most powerful, the five she'd be fighting wouldn't be very coordinated. It's a minor thing, and I didn't do much with it, mainly just having it as a show of her prowess, so it doesn't really matter a lot in the entirety of the story.
And personally, I think Fred is really just for corrupting others, and the reason Oleander found him so fickle was that he wasn't going along with her 'using darkness to do good' plan, instead using her gullibility and desperation against her for a while.
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I asked for recommendations for good TFH fanfics on the Discord, and this came up alongside Cloaked in Comfort, which I plan to read soon.
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Arizona is normally bold and outspoken, but it fits for her to be unsure of herself here.
Paprika may also be that forgiving.
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The Tianhuo thing was a bit of an off-topic nitpick in the scheme of things.
But I think all of the champions are exceptionally powerful in their own way and could hold their own in a safe duel with anyone.
Tianhuo is far better in tactics, life and death situations, and leadership though: so I think she'd be a natural choice for leader.
From a different fic, I like the idea that Tianhuo would help train Pom and possibly others when they start to work together.
Makes me think of Megaman X with the early dymanic for X and Zero, where the latter starts at their full potential and the former has a lot of growing to do.
But I could see them getting in each other's way when battling against predators, who coordinate well, with Tianhuo trying to drill them to work together afterwards.
There could be an interesting scene in Tianhuo challenging them all at once to prove a point, and mostly dodging attacks as they hit each other more than her.
On Oleander translating runes, it's fun to imagine what role each of them would serve outside of fights.
I imagine Paprika inexplicably gathering decent food in the middle of nowhere and being a competent survivalist when it matters.
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On Fred, I think he hides an intelligent and patient mind behind an impulsive persona, with a plan he's been working on for generations in unicorn years.
But his deception is sophisticated enough that he makes it seem like Oleander is using him instead of the other way around.