Father. Blur, the little yellow mare he'd found to be so undyingly loyal, had called him her father. Not only that, but she'd apparently viewed him as such for a while now, possibly from the incident in the ritual room. The mare had willingly housed a changeling despite the fears most had of the bug-ponies, and now that he thought about it, she'd almost called him such just as they'd left. In hindsight, there wasn't much else he could imagine she'd almost said besides father. Was he worthy of such a title? Ted didn't think so, but that would not stop him from doing his damn best to fill that role.
A father guides, a father protects, a father comforts, a father provides.
He already did these things, and while he felt that he still fell short of the title, he would do all in his power to rise to the level his ponies needed him to reach. So he picked up the weeping Pegasus, and carried her down to the ocean. He washed the blood from their fur, and hummed a soothing lullaby, one his mother had whispered to him so long ago. The words were lost to him, but in the memory was love, and in the melody was peace. Sure that he'd done all he could, and reasonably certain he'd calmed himself down as well, he set the mare on the ground amid the gathered ponies, before mindlessly looting the bodies.
It disgusted him to turn to such practices, but the ponies were desperate, and anything helped, even the twisted cudgels of the bandits. It didn't take him long to sort through their gear, and there was not much of use, or at least not much that he wished to touch or would let his followers use. A few gems in small pouches, a rusted sword and two cudgels, some strange salve that he didn't know the origin of in a few tubes, and several salvageable metal plates from their armor was distributed amongst the gatherers, adding to whatever else they'd found amongst the wreckage. afterwards he ordered the bodies gathered and burned in a small pit in the sand. This village may have been abandoned by its previous inhabitants, but it could be useful in the future. Close to Home, small, some of the buildings were not too rundown, and if he managed to expand his following enough, he would need a port under his rule. Why clear a new area when the place was already set up? Thus he didn't want the problems that came with several corpses scattered around the town while rotting and spreading disease would bring.
The ponies looked decidedly green as they followed his order. One unfortunate stallion even vomited when the gnoll he tried to pick up turned out to be less attached to it's leg than the pony suspected. Eventually the clean-up was finished, and Ted called the ponies back to him, before picking up the sleeping form of Blur and settling her on his back. Doing one last headcount, he led the way back to the Temple, his mind awash with the details of the fight. It had gone well, ridiculously well, in fact. He'd nearly wiped the bandits out when one had scratched him. What bothered him was the placement of the strike.
The claws had struck the armor, he was sure of it. Even now his flesh throbbed in silent agony of the perceived damage, but not a single drop of blood flowed from any wound. In fact, according to memories of Luna's fights, the alicorn should be able to endure even worse injuries with little to no discomfort. Thinking back to one of her fights, he remembered she was stabbed by a rogue cryomancer's horn, and she had whipped around and crushed the idiot with her armored hooves, not even slowed by the injury. So why did such a glancing blow incite such pain? Why did the pain seem so much worse than it was? The only difference between Luna's fight and his was the armor.
The armor.
The damned armor that the Nightmare had crafted, that left all of his senses and abilities amplified. That had to be it. The bastard had for some unknowable reason left it as an absolute all encompassing amplification effect, including pain. Why though? What good was armor if it left the bearer in agony every time it did its job. It wasn't like the Nightmare could simply shunt the pain elsewhere, right?
Oh...
The more Ted learned of this creature, the more certain he became that if he ever found it in any incarnation, its suffering would be incomprehensible and eternal.
<-(0)->
The walk back to the temple was again quiet, though seeing how he had the scent of blood on him, and not his blood but the blood of several other creatures, it seemed most predators identified him as not worth the trouble. That or his flickering aura of anger and the deepening of the shadows as he passed scared the piss out of even the more fearsome creatures they passed.
Ted's mind was working overtime, imagining new and wondrous things he'd do if he ever found that damnable parasite, and the ponies following him only did so out of fear of being left behind in the jungle and knowing that his anger didn't seem directed at them. They just made certain to stay several paces behind the alicorn as his tail flicked in agitation every so often. No need to kick the hornet's nest, after all.
Drawing closer to the Temple, Ted found himself growing more agitated as time passed by, and several ponies noticed the odd glow of his cutie mark, the light intensifying as time dragged on. The alicorn's senses went on high alert; something was wrong.
Picking up his pace, he started weaving through the woods at a light trot, but the knot in his stomach persisted. Faster. The cultists were now running full speed trying to keep up with the dark alicorn. It still wasn't fast enough. Gripping the mare to his back with his wings, he took off at a full gallop through the forest, cushioning her against the impacts of his pace with is wings and magic. Finally, he caught sight of the Temple and his ponies.
Catching sight of them as they were led out of their Home by a large group of gnolls, bound by ropes and chains. Finally his eyes fell across the foals, locked in a small cage on the back of a large gnoll who every now and again poked a pony with its weapon, prodding the stallion along. Treating him like a slave, like an animal. Attempting to break his followers.
His children.
His vision went red, and Ted knew no more.
<-(0)->
Pain was the first thing she noted as she came back to consciousness. It was odd, as it had been a long time since she'd suffered from physical discomfort. Lifting herself from the large bed, she gazed around her. Her armor was set upon a stand, though it's magic seemed off to her senses, and she seemed to be in a temple of some sort, though she had no memory of entering it.
'Strange. Though we do wonder to where our sister hath wandered. We cannot detect her.' Rising from her bed, she felt odd, heavy, too large and bulky from what she remembered. Looking in the mirror, she nearly screamed. A stallion? Why? It made no sense! Why was she-
'It's not right.'
"Reveal thyself, intruder, lest we unleash our wrath upon thee!" She spoke to the voice, shaking the nearby windows.
'I'm not her. She's not me.'
There it was again! Looking around the room, the alicorn could not find the speaker. On the verge of blasting the room with a powerful spell to rid herself of the pest, her eyes fell upon her, no, his flank. An oak tree with a strange circular symbol on it.
'Too far. Went too far, almost drowned.'
It wasn't her mark. The name that came to her mind when she saw it was not hers either. Cimmerian. Darkness. What was going on? Why was she so weak, why were her memories so damaged? She took several deep breathes, closing her eyes, and focusing on her mind. There was a partition. A wall. Focus there, yes, almost.
The next moment, he opened his eyes, and lurched backwards onto his bed. He'd fallen so far he'd nearly not been able to come back, nearly lost himself in her. Shaking, he looked himself over, confirming that he was once again in control of his body. There was no time anymore. Even if it had saved him earlier, the memories had to go. God help him if he fell that far again. There would be nothing left of him to protect his po-
Before the thought had even finished, he'd rushed out of the room, pinging the life detection spell and following it to the greatest concentration of beings in the area. All of them were gathered in the dining hall, and he raced there at full speed, ramming the door off its hinges as he forced his way into the room. He looked around at the gathered ponies, all eyes upon him. He counted as many as he could, noting every face he recognized. Even the griffon and the thestrals were there, though the griffon looked like he'd been through a mulcher. Before he could ask for Shadow, or even a head count, every head lowered in a bow. Some went further, prostrating themselves before him, others muttered praises into the cracked stones of the hall. Finally, his gaze fell upon Shadow Weaver, though the pony seemed to be trying to melt into the floor the second his gaze met Ted's. Slowly, the dark alicorn picked his way through the gathered ponies, taking note of the bandages some bore, the cuts, the black eyes and bruises. Every injury was noted and filed away. Mirage was in a corner, openly weeping but not shoving away the nymphs hysterically clinging to her side. He would need to talk to the changeling after the incident was concluded. She was already weakened by her experiences in Equestria, and would need the support.
"Is everyone accounted for, Shadow?"
The cultist shakily rose, pointing a hoof at Gleam who had a small ratty notebook in her hooves. Turning to her, he took a few steps closer to the mare, the foals around her looking unsure at his approach. The mare took what was supposed to be a steadying breath, before she spoke.
"A-all are accounted for, Father."
"Any injuries worth noting?" He asked flatly.
"No, n-nothing more than cuts and b-bruises. Amald received the worst of the damage, though Tulip's poultices seemed to work." At his inquiring gaze, she explained. "After she lost F-fast, she started studying in the lab. She's a natural herbalist, and became adept at creating a potent healing paste. She said the ones m-made with the larger aloe seemed stronger."
Ted nodded. "And the gnolls? I do not remember much of what happened."
"We haven't seen a trace of them... e-even the, the ones you chased into the Temple." The mare said, just barely suppressing her tears.
"Alright. Bar the doors tonight, and I'd like those who are least injured to rotate guard shifts tonight. I must retire for the night. I have things I need to sort out." The alicorn said. With that he turned and left the ponies, many not rising from the floor till long after his hoof-falls had faded from their hearing. He'd been there when they needed him. When their hope was lost He'd appeared, wreathed in blazing shadows, terrible and wonderful to behold. He'd scattered their tormenters, driven them off like simple thieves into the night. The Nightmare guarded them, he protected them. As he left, they thanked any deity who would listen for their Father. Some offered their thanks directly to His name.
And the Pegasus, Blur; she spoke. As soon as she found her voice, the yellow mare spoke, a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. She spoke of their wonderful Father, who watched them, who loved them, who would make any sacrifice to keep them safe. The One who would comfort them in their troubles, who found joy in their happiness, who would wipe away their tears and drive away their fears. He who loved them all, regardless of past or race. He who protected all those who willingly called Him their Father.
The mare spoke, and those gathered listened. And none listened more intently, more fervently, more zealously, than Shadow Weaver.
6008647 Go ahead, It's here to stay. My mind is made up.
Oh, and happy birthday. As I said, once I start writing/typing, well...
Won't be too many more in this burst, I don't think.
6008686
You asked for it.
♪ Conan the Ponarian... ♪
6008598
Minuette, not Colgate. If you don't see the connection there, I can't really help you.
The sun is a celestial body.
Maud Pie => Mud pie. It's both a confectionary and a mineral pun.
That...was...INCREDIBLE!
The all father protects his foals...
Ooh, touching...
Hmm, methinks Tuna may find that time approaching sooner than she might think... damn it I'm doing it too now.
Also, the added content boost is jolly wonderful.
I'll admit, I did think that "Dread Father Theódōros" had plenty enough of a dramatic ring all by itself.
Thus it was that pony Jesus saved the day
and it was good
6008686
yea shit i think we noticed
not that we can complain,these chapters being pumped out like this is awesome, cant wait for more but i will if it means you don't burn out
after all all these updates are good but if it means we have to watch as this story hibernates then it may not be worth it
no matter how gloriously awesome these chapters have been
Yes... more...
But seriously, good job with the story. Keep being awesome good chap.
Anyone can be a father, but it takes someone special to be a daddy.
Beautiful. Absolutely wonderful chapter. Except for that damn name.
Sithis the Dread Father(Elder Scrolls)
Nightwing(Batman)
Darkseid(Superman)
Cosmo(Fairy Odd Parents)
Morpheus...
...
King Sombra?
Anything cooler. Please.
... There's Fire.
Loving the story so far. Also love Ted's weakness here - the more he uses his alicorn powers, the more he loses himself in Luna's memories. Yeah, he's got powers - but the consequences are so dire he risks losing himself each time he uses them to their fullest. Nice job.
Excerpt from The Book of the Dark Father, as quoted from Saint Blur.
"And give pity on to our foes, those who would harm or enslave the children of our beloved Dark Father, for they know not the consequences of their actions. They, who learn of true Nightmare, suffer a fate worse than death, for our Dark Father loves all of us with all his heart. So pity our foes, who would strike at our Father's heart."
(It's not the best but I tried... plus it's 2 in the morning.)
And so a new nation is born.
6008853 sir. That was beautiful.
6008853 And Saint Mirage said about the Northern Changeling Bastion:
"Forgive them, Father, for they did not know what they've done."
6008869 along with its religion and Paton god
Ted rebooted into wrong partition after blacking out? :D
6008798
The Dread Lord
The Father of Shadows
Tuna
IDK, seems pretty solid to me.
6008798 ya know. Once upon a time I would have agreed with you. But ya wanna know how you can make a name like Teds go from Flash awful to Twilight vs Tirek epic?
You read stuff like this and make it legendary.
Wow, just wow. this chapter is bad ass. I like the fact that you didn't tell us what happened in detail, leaving us to our own imagination of the horrors that took place.
Bravo!
6008728 I always considered Maud's name as a direct connection to the first episode she appeared in. Maud, in Deutch, means ferocious battler and since she donned the World War One German helmet to save pinkie from the Boulder in spectacular manner, only strengthened her naming choice. I think that maud pie sounding like mud pie is bit more of a coincidence really.
*slow claps* Bravo. Well done, very well done indeed. The end, the feels, powerful stuff, man.
6008853
6008902
Except from The Book of the Dark Father, Saint Blur's Teachings 12:4
Lo and behold, for He shall protect all who dwell in His shadow, for His wings reach the furthest land, and He shall draw all into His embarce, for in Darkness all are equal.
I kinda like cimerion. A creature that lives near death and in shadows is rather appropriate considering tuna's skill set
hmmm your getting better at this, and the rate your pumping these chapters is impressive. you should try writing a story of your own, not a fanfiction, not a copy of something else. make up an idea in your mind and work with it. it would be interesting to see what comes forth.
6008853 "Dark Father" is THE name to use.
Why do yall need to make scripture its in the story
Foundations 9:17
'look at me Blur' he commanded the dark good. When i did not obey a sudden pull brought me even closer to the large alicorn. He was almost twice my own size, with magic, and a grip on me, there would be no escape. Just before I could start to cry in fear, though, our father spoke to me
"'The darkness can be scary, but it's not the darkness we fear. It's what could be in the darkness. The darkness can also be peaceful, it can be comforting it can be safe. We dont sleep in the sun, we find our rest in the shadows.
From ; The Book of the Dark Father
6008956 ....Darth Theodore?
I can roll with that.
If he wipes away the Nightmare memories, will he even be able to use magic?
6009004 Could work... not all sith lords were evil...
img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131101144820/vampirediaries/images/8/81/Achievement-unlocked.gif
Look at me Ma!
founded a cult (by accident)
img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20131101144820/vampirediaries/images/8/81/Achievement-unlocked.gif
Down the Rabbit Hole (insanity onset)
Well, that is Teds first encounter with blood lust... Poor golly, they didn't know who they angered. Any way, allow me to get a little hammy and flowery prose at you for a bit.
The dark Father comes with the darkening of the world, and for those who would harm his children grant them nothing more than pity, for they have assaulted and angered the Titan of shadows. There is no fleeing the scythe of an angry Father, but to anger the gentle giant who believes himself not worthy of that title is to ask for the Pale Rider to pity you and guide you ahead of schedule to your final resting place.
I'm sorry, but I have to ask for
MOAR!!!!!!!
Cim·me·ri·an
səˈmi(ə)rēən,-ˈmer-/
adjective
1.
relating to or denoting members of an ancient nomadic people who overran Asia Minor in the 7th century BC.
2.
GREEK MYTHOLOGY
relating to or denoting members of a mythical people who lived in perpetual mist and darkness near the land of the dead.
I see what you did there
6008853
6008902
fc00.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/055/1/1/I_Pity_The_Fool_by_SilverFox33562.jpg "I pity the fool." — The Dark Father
From the reaction in the dining hall, I guess Ted went a little overboard with his holy wrath on the gnolls (which apparently look a lot like diamond dogs). Blood for the Blood God, eh? Suppose the "lucky" ones just got disintegrated quickly.
I do find it ironic that while Ted was so adamant in telling the ponies to stop worshiping Nightmare Moon, only now they worship him instead, possibly even more so than they did with NMM originally. Heh! It's a big world so it wouldn't be much of a surprise at all if there were rabid worshipers of Celestia and Luna too.
Oh lordy, one can only imagine what a mess that would be when they get stuck in a room and have a "who's the best pony" argument. (Might take the alicorns themselves showing up to stop the riot)
And on a more curious note, what's stopping Ted from correcting that crippling defect in the armor? If the damage to it is directed at him, could he not turn it towards someone or something else? A nasty idea is to turn the pain back at the one attacking, thus reflecting the damage.
6008922
It certainly doesn't mean anything like that in any variety of German that I'm aware of, and I'm a native speaker. Plus, her other sisters are named "Marble Pie" and "Limestone Pie" - as in marble cake and key lime pie. The naming scheme is pretty consistent.
Fixing that kink in his armor could be a major asset in battle. The memories of Luna even more if it weren't for the effect of having to sort through millenniums worth of memory. Skirting through Luna's memories seem a bit evasive, but are a major asset it be can find a better way to suppress them from taking over his mind.
6009214
From what I can gather, Ted only has fragmented memories of Nightmare Moon and lacks the experience with using actual magic. In fact, it was thanks to those memories that he can even use magic. though, from what I can see in this chapter, that might change as he left stating how the "memories has to go" before he "falls" again.
Let's hope he is selective of his deletion. Oh, and I also hope that he informs his subjects on the matter before he does this. It might be weird to explain how he suddenly lose control of his magic and knowledge he gained from Nightmare Moon without sounding like a spy or something. He could always repeat the back story he made with the gryphons since its technically true in a way, say that he is cleansing himself of "luna's touch" before he "falls" completely the her memories but results of such action being a bit unpredictable.
Slavers are roaming the land.
Time to have a boot sale.
Be a slaver, get a boot free.
If you type Cimmerian into Thesaurus.com, you get darkness, and not just darkness, but absolute lack of light. So no, I don't think the name is as bad as you make it out to be. I also think it sounds cool, and despite the coincidence of being already in use by a fictional king, I'm not budging on this one.
It's my story and I'll write what I want to, write what I want to, wriiite, what I want to.
6008853
6008902
6008978
I'm giggling like an idiot, reading things like this said about something I've written.
6008939 Thanks, I try not to fall to errors that get pointed out to me, and I've been catching myself quite a bit on small mistakes that I've made in earlier chapters. I'm also getting a chance to, there's no way to say this without sounding weird, pour my soul into the story. That's what I was going for at the end, and honestly most of it just flowed for me. I added a few more lines or details here and there, but for the most part, that section in the dining hall was a straight shot. I'm very visual, and while sometimes I forget to give details of things I'm looking at, I 'see' everything I type.
Don't think we'll ever be finding traces of those bodies any time soon.
6009309
firstly, i don't tend to look at wikipedia without a pinch of salt:
"Maud (approximately pronounced "mawd" in English), is an Old German feminine given name meaning "powerful battler". It is a variant of the given name Matilda but is uncommon as a surname."
From:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maud_%28given_name%29
Secondly, it was a German/Deutsch name, it just derives from the old Teutonic German language (if their are any people out there that did history and know I'm wrong, please tell me in detail).
(or at least I'm pretty sure it is, from the quick info search i did.) The definition "strong in war", "ferocious battler", "strong battle maiden" etc is the meaning of the name Maud http://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/maud.
Also,
img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140317184648/mlp/images/6/6d/Maud_reducing_boulder_to_pieces_S4E18.png
Maud's helmet is roughly reminiscent of the WW1 "Pickelhaube" used by the German forces.
Lastly, i cant find how Pinkie pie (or her full name: Pinkamena Diane Pie) fits into the rock/pie naming scheme, perhaps the story writers didn't think about it until the show came into its later season, heck i bet they would never had thought it would last this long if it wasn't for the fan-base. So perhaps they added on the marble and limestone as an afterthought to give pinkie's two younger sisters "official" names. Who knows, and the Cimmerian name? totally fits the story after i looked up its definition.
It's rare I come across a fic with this quality.
I look forward to more.
6009540
Indignation and overly long explanations aside, given the fact that like three out of every four names in the setting are based in some kind of pun or wordplay - ones that children from the target demographic could understand, at that - and not in obscure historical references, I'm going to go with Occam's there and stick with my explanation instead. It's much less nonsensical.
6009540 I'd say that the entire point of Pinkie's name is that, sad as this may be, she doesn't fit in at the rock farm. Her cutie mark is about planning and throwing parties, there isn't much room for that at a place of business.
6009579 so agree to disagree, i can live with that.
6009581 Overall, you are correct. though it doesn't hurt to cut lose from time to time., but i see where you are coming from.
6009504
There are two things I "dislike" about the name, as it were: There's the obvious Conan connection, which is just too funny not to riff on at every opportunity. That's just me being me, though, so don't take it as a genuine criticism or anything. (Expect a lot of ponified Robert E. Howard quotes in the near future, by the way.)
The other is that it's a conjugated adjective and a proper noun. Cimmerian is like calling him "Tunisian" or "Congolese." You just don't use that as a name. It's bad style and it just doesn't sound right. That is a criticism I stand to, because I couldn't help feeling that way even if I had never heard of Conan before.
Not expecting you to change it because of any of that, but I don't want to look like I'm just being petty here or anything.
WOOOT !*APPLAUSE*!
keep up the good work awesome chapter
loving this story (so much so that I can't help but reread it every now and then) and I hope it has a regular update schedule until its completion.
6009214 yes I concur add to the armors enchantment on pain so instead of going to Ted have the pain be reflected back at attackers.
6008686
Did you know that Theodore means "He who loves God"? If that was intentional, kudos to you, sir!
Let's see, "Dread Father Theodore Cimmerian, Dark King of Nightmares" has a nice ring to it. Let's go with that. It sounds like a Final Fantasy boss name, so you know it'll strike fear and awe into depths of his enemies.