Forward: The Paths are set
Long ago, there was a great warrior named Khan who was from Przewalskia, the land of the Przewaslki's Horses, enemies of pretty much everybody. He conquered entire villages and ravaged numerous mares, and left his mark across the world. However, this story is not about him, because like all conquerers, he died a violent death of simultaneous suffacation and castration, and bits of his body and skin were worn by mares for display, and thus the first fashion show in Equestria was born, and the "funeral" for him became the first Grand Galloping Galla, which was by far more fun than that which the Mane Six went to, especially due to featuring a dunking booth with a jester dressed as Khan. This, as explained eariler, is not Khan's story, but the story about the descendant of the brother of this conquerer, named Sukh.
Sukh, unlike his violent brother Khan who inadvertently created a boring ball meant to celebrate his assassination, would rather play with butterflies and sniff flowers than play with swords and sniff blood. Sukh would rather ravage a great big breakfast than ravage a virgin mare. Sukh was a nice guy, and contrary to popular belief, nice guys seldom ever finish last; he managed to reproduce and spread his easy-going personality around the planet, partly because his gentle personality attracted some mares for serious relationships, but mostly because unlike his brother he lived to a ripe old age and didn't get killed by angry mobs: Untimely death induced by unnatural causes is most inconvenient if your goal is to spread your genes, especially if your corpse is chopped up and then used as clothing to amuse those formerly conquered. So Sukh achieved through kindness what Khan could not through cruelty, and so he had many children, and they had many children who also had many children, and this story is about one of his direct descendants, named Sukhbataar. Though this introduction seems unconventional at best, it is from it that we can learn a most important lesson: That it is kindness, honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, diligence, chastity, temperance, forgiveness humility, love, and hope that can truly bring happiness and insure a long-lasting legacy.
Unintentionally through all of these actions, several random, seemingly unrelated paths are now ready to be placed on the ultimate collision course.
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Centuries after the invasion of Kahn...
My name, is Sukhbataar. I have been in a lonely bunker on this military base for months now, only emerging when needed, for my job, which I love, but not without guilt. Technically, I am an Equinological consultant for Equestria's military, which means I use my knowledge to help the army I serve use cultural weaknesses on the enemy. I know it might be necessary, but it feels like a debasement to proper Equinological Science: It is meant to help, not to harm. Most of my social life is with the Pony Resources Director, a Minotaur named Tough Cookie, and through the letters I recieve from my two beautiful daughters. They miss me dearly already, and want me to come home. But I don't know if I should, especially after what I did to their mother. Tough Cookie tells me that what I did was without choice, but I'm not really sure about that. Whatever the case, I can't face them after what I did. But it's not just my daughters that want my return: Their aunt also wants me back. In fact, she is demanding it; She is saying the same thing that the Pony Resources Director has been telling me for a long time: running away won't solve my problems, it will only worsen them. I don't know if that is true, but perhaps next chance I can take to leave, I will accept it, just to see if they're right, and just to see how much my little girls have grown, though no doubt the experience will be painful. I can only hope that I won't hurt my children, and that I they won't be in any more pain on my account upon my arrival.
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Since unlike most Fimfiction entries, it is done more like a TV show than a movie, we might as well have a theme song, shall we?
Youtube Video
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"Applebloom! Sweetie Belle!"
A voice pierced the fresh morning air, shrieking with sheer, unrestrained emotion.
Needless to say, it was very loud and rudely woke up those who believed that it was perfectly acceptable to be asleep at 5:30 in the morning, which included Applejack and Big McIntosh (Granny Smith, in sharp contrast, could sleep through a global thermonuclear war).
This loud, Apple-awakening voice in particular, sounded as though it either belonged to Scootaloo or Rainbow Dash after inhaling a ton of Helium. It was presumably the former. "Sweetie Beeeellllllllle!!!!! Appleblooooooommmmmm!!!" They too, agreed with Scootaloo that if the sun is up, so should everyone else, even if it is 5:32. Naturally, this gave them the opportunity to wreak havoc on the nearby community with their hair-brained schemes, though they meant not to be delinquents. However, in spite of their best intentions, the entire community was surprised they didn't get their Cutie Marks in Delinquency. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, were starting a replica of the "Pony Lisa" in order to get their art Cutie Marks, not at all aware that it is illegal to use graffiti on a wall near a public highway. But they stopped all their work when they heard their names being called in the rather loud voice. They rushed to the source of the voice, they saw that it was, in fact, Scootaloo, and not Rainbow Dash after crashing getting intoxicated and crashing some unfortunate soul's birthday party. Upon observing this, they rushed further to her and promptly greeted her: "Howdy Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle and Ah were gettin' our Cutie Marks in paintin'!" "Yeah!" a much squeakier voice chimed in, "Angel Bunny gave us these cool spray-painting cans! There is not a square inch in Ponyville awaiting to be our canvas!" "Well," Applebloom added, "After we git a little better at this." Indeed, their attempt at the Pony Lisa more closely resembled "The Scream" than anything else. Scootaloo tried to respond, but running and shouting rendered her completely out of breath, and therefore all she could say was "Daddy....home....'morrow...." before finally passing out.
Later, Scootaloo awoke with a sharp, implacable pain...or at least it was implacable, until she heard the following:
"See Applebloom, I told you electroshock therapy would work!"
"Whah, so it does Sweetie Belle, so it does!"
"Cutie Mark Crusaders Electroshock Therapists!" the two shouted together (Applejack's patience was running thin after first being rudely awakened and then having to explain the recent graffiti on the nearby road wall to the police; that loud shout made her really tempted to use her shotgun).
"Oww..." was all Scootaloo could say in response to all of this. "It's...alive!" squeaked Sweetie Belle. Applebloom wasted no time to interrogate: "So Scootaloo, tell us whatcha think! Do we have our cutie marks for paintin'?" "-or electricshock therapy??!" added Sweetie Belle (as it was her idea, she was especially proud of that one). Scootaloo could see paint stains and bruises from all of them injuries from stunts (and also from occasional beatings). but no Cutie Marks. "No," groaned Scootaloo, "I don't see anything...ow..." "Aw, I really wanted an electroshock therapy Cutie Mark" moped Sweetie Belle. "Say Scootaloo, what was all that shoutin' about earlier?" inquired Applebloom. "Well, my dad is coming home tomorrow, Ms. Cherrilee told me so last night!" "Wait, yer dad?" asked Applebloom. As a rule, nobody really talked about Scootaloo's family life, since she herself generally didn't like to talk about it. Naturally, Sweetie Belle was surprised to here this news: "waitwaitwaitwaitwait, did you say the 'D'-word?!" "That's right Sweetie Belle," Scootaloo said with joyful tears in her eyes "he's coming home."
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