Chapter Negative One, an Introduction and some Notes
Hi! I'm Eleventh, and I like writing! I have some notes on this story here, and you may benefit from reading some of them.
I'll start with, an introduction of sorts that probably won't make sense if you haven't read my Minefic. You should probably skip over it if you haven't read The Herobrine Chronicles on Minecraft Forum. Anywhomever, here it is:
A Writer arrived. In the Plane he had been in previously, he had been known as Nomolos. Now, though, he was in a Realm completely different, and he needed a new Name for this one. He was no longer Nomolos. Here, he was Eleventh.
Eleventh flourished his quill and acquired from the air a roll of parchment. His quill felt different here, and the parchment bore few similarities of that in the Realm of Minefic. He would have to adapt as he created his new world here.
Eleventh glanced at the empty parchment. He had filled several rolls of it in the last Realm, and had had several experiences there. Now, though, here, he had done nothing. He needed to start again. He had quite a lot to do. After exploring this Plane, Eleventh wetted his quill with ink as black as the night and began to write. He gradually adjusted to this Plane as he expanded his world, causing the Assassinations and separating Equestria into Canterda and the Worse Two Thirds. Eleventh rose up ponies in Canterda from nothing, and gave them names and purposes. Eleventh smiled. This was going to be amazing. It had been years, he wrote, since the assassinations of the Four Princesses had occurred.
Now for some actual notes (You can skip all of the odd prime ones. And the others, too, if you want)!
First, I on occasion use portmanteaus and other "words" (which arent really words, but they sound nice anyway) such as "anywhomever," which is obviously a fancified "anywho." I may use others, however I shan't explain them here. They should be obvious enough, though. I also use terms you may see or hear not often save for in early modern English. If you read the Bible, you should be fine. An example of this can be found in note four.
Second, I will not post anything on a regular basis, but I will try - with no promises - to get in a chapter every week or two. I have a somewhat busy schedule and lack a lot of time to write or convert from paper to Google Doc.
Third, I am kind of strange.
Fourth, I don't read fimfictions too often, so I may be somewhat unfamiliar with the lingo and such. I know "clop," "plot," "ship," etcetera, but I know no more. I also am not familiar with the common fimfiction writing styles on here, so I apologize.
Fifth, I like to read fantasy-adventure stories, and often write short (and I mean very short) stories like this, wherefore I should be all right when writing fimfictions. I very probably won't write any sci-fi fimfic, though.
Sixth, this is my first fimfic (but not my first fanfic), so I'd appreciate constructive (or not-so-constructive) criticism and tips, if you can spare a moment to give me them.
Seventh, I haven't seen some of the My Little Pony episodes in quite some time, and still need to catch up on some of them, so my info may be a bit rusty if I can't find anything on the FiM wiki about something.
Eighth, this story takes place a few years after season three or so, but may contain elements from later seasons.
Ninth, I have some footnotes. Now, I have no idea how they work here, and I can't find out how to put them in, so I have coloured all footnotes blue. I will have the notes in the "author's notes" section.
Now, on to the story!
Well, a prologue.
Chapter Zero, an Introduction in Which Characters in Some Ways Important to the Story and Important Past Events are Introduced and Written About
It had been years since the assassinations of the Four Princesses had occurred. These assassinations could have been prevented, however the entirety of the Royal Guard were idiots. Prince Shining Armour, shortly after, had died in a venture to Yakyakistan. He had been about as smart himself as any member of the Guard. Equestria, I implore you to know, had begun to fall into chaos after the assassinations, and the Yaks - as the Griffons were unable to help and the Dragons quite rudely decided not to - were the ponies’ last resort. Unfortunately - or fortunately, as several hundreds would put it - the Prince was ambushed in a snowstorm and killed. Definitely unfortunately, the others on the journey, including the remaining Holders, had the same fate.
As for Ponyville - the only place any evil forces seemed to attack besides major cities and such, though nobody seemed to find this strange - it undefended was immediately corrupted by the Tantabus, which had had the chance shortly prior to Luna’s death to escape her mind, in which it had been hiding since it nearly captured Ponyville, however Doctor Whooves was able to stop its expansion via some very obscure science; he trapped the Tantabus in its own nightmare. Ditzy, suffering from insomnia at the time, was able to leave conscious and left for Apple Loosa, getting lost and eventually wandering Equestria, looking for a familiar place.
As for the Crystal Empire, though King Sombra had been killed, the umbrums had regrouped and overtaken it. Again, the Royal Guard were idiots and were able to be bribed with doughnuts to leave. In their defence, the doughnuts were Doughnut Joe’s finest and unbearably scrumptious. The changelings had formed an alliance with the umbrums and together ruled Canterlot and the Crystal Empire respectively, enslaving the citizens thereof and degrading their will to rebel via Umbrum-caused depression and some cleverly-utilised changeling disguises. I shan’t go into detail on this, though; I’ve a story to tell!
Discord, having still been working on a good friend and altogether member of society, was grieved by the death of Fluttershy to a point at which he returned to performing, in his rage, evil. He liquified Cloudsdale’s clouds and caused its establishments to fall into discord from kilometres above Equestria’s face. Now, to continue with the lore!
The west third of Equestria remained safe for a few years, and was renamed Canterda. The large safe havens Trottawa, Manetreal, and Vanhoover were established, followed by Whinnipeg and Maneitoba. They offered protection (and maple syrup and poutine) to the ponies that had escaped the Crystal Empire and Canterlot.
The ones who had ended the Holders of the Elements (save Twilight) did it poorly; the Elements had become lost, most likely having fallen down the mountain in the blizzard. After much more searching than usual, all that was recovered was a slip of parchment bearing nine words (or eleven, if you count contractions as two each):
He’s got Padhoof at the place where it’s hidden.
Anywhomever, I am getting ahead of myself! Let me explain in more detail the snowstorm in which the remaining Holders were assassinated.
Prince Shining Armor, the previously mentioned Holders, and some professional mountain climbers had been ascending a large mountain between Equestria and Yakyakistan, with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flying ahead to find safe paths. Pinkie Pie had been instructed to alert the rest should her Pinkie sense come into play. As the group approached an icy cave during a blizzard, Fluttershy descended and quietly asked Shining Armor if they should stay there and eat. Pinkie Pie, who had been happily hopping around nearby, squealed with excitement at this almost whispered question. “Yes!” Pinkie shouted. “That cave is fuu-un!” She managed to stretch this last word across two syllables, placing much too much emphasis on the latter one. “Why?” asked Shining worriedly. “Because --” A loud growl interrupted this elaboration. Through the rapidly-falling snow, a large, hairy creature could be seen: it was none other than Snowbutt McTwinkles. Rainbow Dash - too high up now in the blizzard to see its white form properly - heard this extraordinarily audible growl and dropped as swiftly as possible. Before she could reach the steep surface of the mountain, though, she was caught in a magical energy field that prevented her from moving. Rarity, who had been at the back of the herd, found that a bag was finding its way over her head. Applejack felt a hoof come into painful contact with her stomach, and another to her head, knocking the consciousness out of her before she could let out any form of stereotypical farmgirl exclamation. Pinkie Pie caught sight of a rather delicious-looking lollipop and, distracted by it, was very easy indeed to bag. Fluttershy, of course, took next to no effort, and Shining Armor found water being dumped on his horn, rendering it next to useless briefly, and then an immobilization charm. The other climbers were jumped and bagged relatively easily. The large band of changelings (who had been disguised priorly as small, white rabbits to avoid being seen) then brought the unconscious ponies to a stone circle a hundred metres off-course. A large flash of green light accompanied their teleportation. Now, I don’t want to go into more detail than necessary, as I want not this story to be too violent or anything like that, so I’ll skip their rather painful interrogations and sum them up instead: they gave no information before their deaths. There.
It was a quarter past seven in the morning. Though it was mid-October, it was rather warm for this part of Equestria. Above the mist hanging lazily over the lake, the clouds were oddly reddened by the horizon-approaching sun, their edges goldened by the skysphere. Xavier’s breath, a white mist, floated through the air, weaving through it and fading. Xavier watched the clouds drifting slowly across the sky, their red colour gradually shifting to a ginger shade as the sun, a small circle on the line keeping the sky up and the ground down, was lifted by Princess Celestia for the morning. The sky surrounding the sun was still red, as the sun itself had only just peeked over the horizon. If the sun stopped here, it would be splendid. Beautiful, even. And then the sun did stop. It was beautiful, but only momentarily; the sun flashed for a second and then vanished. It was no longer beautiful, but that was of the least concern at the moment. The sky had quickly faded to a dark, solid grey, casting an eerie light on the lake’s mist, and nobody knew why. See, that’s what happens when the Sun Princes dies. Some magic continues to linger in the sky, and it casts enough light to see where you are going, but not enough to read or have a nice day in any way. And, as if that wasn’t enough, it is also a permanent reminder that somepony managed to kill one of the most powerful beings in Equestria. It is not particularly pleasant.
