My Little Pony: Equestria Shattered

Chapter 1: Guilds and Registrations

The flash of light from the port spell was always a little disconcerting.  Sometimes he really wished the realism could be tuned down a couple notches.  But, the light always did make the royal square in Canterlot that much more impressive.  Large portions of it were carved out of polished white stones, while the ground in the exact middle had a wondrous design cut from countless different precious stones.  The design, the image of the Elements of Harmony, couldn’t have been any more appropriate at a time like this.

Of course, the magnificence of the square was a little sullied right now.  Scores of ponies  were flocked at every angle of the square.  Countless of them were getting their registration in, while countless more had come to flaunt and sell their gears, materials, potions, or just about anything that they could.  Merchants and competitors alike saw opportunity and they were all in a rush to claim their piece of it.

Shadow Dancer, real names were useless here, wanted his piece of the opportunity too, but not enough to push and shove with the rest of the flocks.  There was still two weeks left for registration, he could wait until the crowds died down a little.  The mottled grey and white pegasus had plenty of time to sit on one of the benches lining the Royal fountain and watch.  All of the gear trying to be sold was at least three times the normal price and it was still being snatched up by the masses who wanted every advantage they could have.  A few times he even caught sight of a pony buying gear they couldn’t use.  “No Refunds,” well it was their fault anyway.

In saddening reality, no amount of epic gear was going to give anypony an advantage in this.  Shadow had been around during the last trials.  Things like intelligence and problem solving had just as much merit as being able beat the piss out of a high levelled dragon.  Some of the trials back then had even been designed to be unwinnable just to test out how the entrants dealt with that sort of thing.

“Did you hear?  The Solar Empire is planning to claim all the titles in this trial,”  They always had to put things like that within earshot of Shadow.  Even if it was just a gossipy unicorn making conversation to a friend, it was probably the truth.

Guilds, guilds were going to make the real difference here.  There was no rule against forming a team to try and work together.  Likewise, there was no rule about receiving help from your guild.  That meant the more powerful the guild, the wider variety of skills you could have helping you.  Of course, lesser organized guilds were bound to have infighting between members all competing for the same title.  That left only two guilds that actually had a shot at claiming all the titles.

The Solar Empire, a long standing guild with probably some of the best organization in the game.  There was little doubt that they were essentially the backbone of the game.  The members were respected, mostly nice, and even helped to keep peace if needed.  Claiming that they wanted to take all the titles wasn’t just for show.  They were likely only entering as many members as there were actual positions to win and would put the entire force into helping those members.

The New Lunar Republic was really the only other guild that could make that kind of a boast.  They weren’t quite as big or respected as the Solars, but they had a good base of powerful members.  Some would say the strongest members actually resided in Lunar, but nopony could actually claim to know.  What ponies did know is that they were vehemently against anything the Solars were for.

There were a few other guilds of note, many only there because they allied themselves with either the Solars or Lunars.  A few, precious few, actually managed to stand out on their own four hooves.  Some might actually be crazy enough to try and prove themselves.

Of course the Lunars and Solars still had the best chances.  After all, they were the only guilds with Generation One Element winners as members.  It was a major selling point for potential members, and they were widely viewed as the strongest out there.  Still, was Shadow going to let that get him down?

Okay, the pegasus didn’t actually have a guild, at all.  He was a solo, a loner, an omega, and whatever else you wanted to call him.  It didn’t bode well to take a trial like this alone and he knew it.  But, every guild would already have members to sign up, many would have more members signed up than was good for them.  Too many would be divided into infighting.  Where was a loner pegasus to find a group in a sea of groups like that?  Well, one question at a time.  It was nearly midday and the crowds were starting to die down.

“Before we process your registration for the trials, do you understand the terms and conditions?”  Sometimes it was remarkably hard to tell whether there was actually a pony behind that visage, or if it was some kind of artificial construct.  The going bet was artificial construct, but it seemed a damn shame to Shadow.  They certainly knew how to design an attractive pony, no matter what it really was.  Golden mane cascaded down over white unicorn body, with that creepily ethereal smile.

“Yes,” The response was dulled from a lifetime of not reading those very terms and conditions.  He just wanted to get straight to it.

“And, do you also accept the indemnity waiver?”

“Yes,” Wait, indemnity waiver?  It was curious, but at the same time Shadow had competed in the last trials, so it seemed simple enough to sign up again.  He would actually read that one later, maybe when he was bored and wanted to put himself to sleep.

“Very well then, the registration of Shadow Dancer, Blitz Knight, has been processed.  You are now signed up for the selection trials of the Elements of Harmony.  You will be notified via in game mail when the trials are to start.”

“Thank you,” Shadow always felt the need to treat the guild attendants as regular ponies, even if it was just as likely they weren’t real at all.

“You’re welcome,” Seemed normal enough, Shadow turned to leave before being cut off by the attendant again, “But, you really don’t have a team?  Not even a guild?”

Had, had an attendant just asked a personal question like that?  Even more so, how did she know that Shadow couldn’t come up with a team?  A guild, fine, he wasn’t registered to one, but surely she couldn’t know that he didn’t have anypony to team up with, “No, I don’t.  Never have, probably never will.”

“You’re going to want to find one again,” Okay, this was getting creepy.  Now the pony seemed to know that Shadow had, once upon a time, had a team.  But, those days were long over.  Cryptic messages don’t change that sort of history, “Things are about to change, it would be much better for you.”

“Who are you to start talking like,” He was cut off, immediately as the attendant’s face went right back to the norm.  Another pony had stepped up and she was perfectly happy to process his registration.  No more cryptic messages or pity looks.  Even worse, she had dredged up some bad old memories.

Sweet buck, he needed to kill something, okay several somethings.  There was a point when repressing like that got troubling.  That point was about seven months ago, he had ignored it.  Now, the repressing was like a plaid carpet.  It sticks out like a sore thumb, but nopony wants to actually bring it up for fear of upsetting the natural balance.  No pony wants to be eaten by a plaid carpet.If there was ever a rule about the world to have written down, that was probably the best one.  The runner up would probably be, never ask Shadow Dancer about his past or, potentially, always heed the warning of the crazy artificial ponies.

A / N:  So, I wrote this little bit during a lull in my current project.  Why I wrote it, I can’t be entirely sure.  If I actually continue this, more up to the readers than anything.  I want to know if I should continue, what ideas you might have for the future, heck if you’ve got a character I should throw into this thing.  Give me a comment or a message if you have anything of the like and definitely tell me if I should continue or not.

Just remember, this is a side project while I wait for the lull in my current one to end.