Title: Rickshaw and The Regent in Equestria
Premise: MLP: FIM, Kingdoms of Amalur. The Fateless One, Rickshaw, finds himself in Equestria after a battle with King Gadflow. While he befriends the ponies and convinces them to help him return to his homeland, Gadflow sends his forces to finish him once and for all.
Date Posted: 01/14/13
Personal Comments: I thought maybe if I was willing, I could write a full story for this idea. I don't think it would be too long, only a few chapters, maybe up to 20,000 words, maybe less.
I don't have it here, but I imagine there being a part in which the Tuatha attack, and Rickshaw has a chance to either return home or stay and help fight, and he chooses to stay and help fight the Tuatha and protect his pony friends. Another scene I left out was The Regent of the Mask and his Tuatha troops marching through Canterlot under hoods until the right moment when they reach the right place and go all "search and destroy". The Canterlot guards are not much of a match for the Tuatha.
You know as I was playing Reckoning, it seemed that over half of the male voices in the game were done by Jim Cummings. I checked wikipedia, and wouldn't you know it, he voiced King Gadflow. Didn't say 'additional voices' or anything else though.
I'm a bit surprised that there's no crossovers between MLP and Shrek.
Somewhere here the Regent uses a spell to incapacitate his enemies; a spell that disconnects the brain from the muscles. As a psychology major, we've already briefly gone over that, and shamefully, I feel like I could have written that or described it better.
Another beautiful spring day in Ponyville. Twilight and Rarity were taking a walk together down the street, discussing magic, when suddenly, a large hole opened up in the sky above them. A red glowing hole opened up as though a giant had poked a whole in the air above.
And out from that hole, a large green object shot out from the red, and came tumbling down. It hurled across the sky, every pony's eyes following it, emitting a deep, manly scream.
Twilight and Rarity chased after the falling object, determined to investigate. Many other curious ponies followed.
Finally, the object crashed down into some pony's house. The other ponies gathered around the mess. When the dust cleared, a large man in green armor rose up from the debris. He wore no helmet, revealing a face of white skin, a short brown beard, hazel eyes, and strangest of all, red jagged lines around his eyes. It was a two-legged creature the ponies had never seen before. They all stared in silence and stood back to give the creature space, waiting to see what he would do.
"My house!" Bon Bon cried from the crowd. She glared angrily at the creature. "Look what you've done to my house!"
He barely even seemed to take notice of them. He turned and shifted through some other bricks until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a green sword, lightning radiating from it, and charged through the crowd, everypony stepping aside to make room for him. He seemed to be running back in the direction of the portal he came from.
"Haha!" Echoed a deep, scratchy voice from the portal. "You failed, mortal! Now enjoy your exile!" The portal started to close then.
"You coward!" The creature shouted at the portal. "You cannot stop me with a cheap trick such as this!"
"Oh, but I believe I did! And now I'm off to destroy the rest of your pathetic races."
"Mark my words, Gadflow!" The creature cried, "I WILL return to Amalur! You will NOT escape me!"
And those were the final words before the portal finally shrank and vanished from the sky. And then the creature stopped running, and stopped in his tracks and panted a moment.
"DAMN IT!" He suddenly screamed. "Mitharu damn it all!" He grabbed a rock from the ground and hurled it at the air where the portal had once been.
He then sank to his knees, and started punching the earth. That was when the other ponies had returned and surrounded him from behind, being sure to keep a distance.
Twilight and Rarity were at the front of the crowd, standing beside the Mayor. They glanced at each other, unsure of what to do.
"Oh, great," Pinkie snickered from within the crowd. "It's going to be another 'human in Equestria' story."
Finally, after a few more deep breaths, the creature seemed to be calm. And that was when he turned to face the crowd.
"What are you all staring at?" He demanded, not quite screaming.
Nopony dared make a move at first, until finally, Mayor Mare gathered her wits and stepped forward.
"Pardon us, sir," She began, "Just what exactly was that all about? Who are you? What are you? What in the name of Tartarus is going on here?"
Without standing up, the creature shifted in the dirt to face the mayor. "My name is Rickshaw," he said, "I am a Varani warrior from Amalur. And where is this?"
"Amalur?" The Mayor repeated, giving a confused look. "Well, you sir are in Ponyville, Equestria."
Rickshaw took another deep breath and continued. "I am sorry for the disturbance I caused," He said. "But please, I need to find a way back to my land. I'll take my leave. I won't be anymore trouble." He started to stand up.
"Hold it!" Bon Bon shouted out angrily. She marched up to Rickshaw. "What about my house?"
"Oh, yes," Rickshaw replied sullenly. "I am sorry for your house." He reached into a satchel around his belt, and pulled out a large fist-full of bits. "Will this cover the costs of repairs?"
Bon Bon smiled at the sight of the money. "Alright. That'll do," She nodded. "I left my satchel bag at home though." She turned back to the crowd. "Lyra, mind giving me a hoof here?" She asked.
"Sure, totes!" Her friend smiled as she stepped up. Lyra levitated the money from Rickshaw's hands as she and Bon Bon headed down the street to the construction office.
Rickshaw turned to leave, but before he could, Twilight stepped up to greet him.
(Don't feel like writing in their dialogue. Long story short, she convinced him to come back to the library with her and Rarity to discuss the matter. She told him that maybe they could create a portal to send him back to Amalur, which of course peaked his interest.)
Meanwhile, back in Gadflow's castle, an exhausted and wounded King Gadflow kneeled down on the floor, barely able to stand. His throne room was an absolute wreck, the walls were cracked and burned, furnature throne and smashed all about.
Outside, he could hear the noise starting to die down. He knew the battle was almost over. Without Rickshaw, they had been driven back. Thousands of the young races have been killed in the skirmish, but Gadflow knew they would be back, and he would need to prepare for them. The fire Rickshaw had lit within them still burned strong, and he would still need to extinguish that flame.
He had won this battle for now. He had defeated Rickshaw the Fateless One. No... he merely exiled him to Equestria. That was not enough. Rickshaw could find his way back.
It was then that a set of footsteps echoed in the room as three figures were coming down the hall. Gadlfow turned, not getting up, to see The Regent of the Mask, accompanied by two Tuatha soldiers, heading towards him.
"Your majesty," The Regent asked, "are you alright? Here, drink this." He held out a small vial of a red potion for Gadflow. Gadflow greedily gulped the small, tangy liquid, and felt his strength start to return.
"Well, your forces have driven back the young races," The Regent observed, "and I see you've managed to obliterate our little foe."
"No," Gadflow replied gruffily. "I merely teleported him to another continent. I have no doubt this pest will find a way to return. I merely bought some time to prepare for that day." He started pacing before he continued. "Now, as far as I am concerned, you have failed to kill Rickshaw before he reached me. Our contract should have been terminated already.
"However, I still have some use for you. I am going to give you leadership of a garrison of 150 of my soldiers, then send you all to this new continent. Do whatever it takes. Make certain that he does not. Come. Back."
"It shall be done, my lord," The Regent replied.
"I will also teach you the portal spell so that you can return whenever you need to."
"Thank you, sir."
"Before you leave, I have one final question to ask you, something I meant to ask you when we first met."
"Yes, sir?"
"Do you know what your fate is?"
The Regent paused, surprised by the question, before answering. "No sir, I do not."
"And why have you not tried to look?"
"I think it better that I do not know, so that I do not feel restricted by it, you see what I mean?"
"Excellent way to think of it," Gadflow smiled. "You are quite clever. Now go, prepare for your departure."
Back in Ponyville, Rickshaw sat down on a couch. He was surrounded by all of the mane six. Each one had introduced themselves. The one called Twilight Sparkle sat before him in a chair, levitating a notebook and quill before her. His pack, sword, shield and bow had been placed down beside him.
"So, Mister Rickshaw," Twilight began, "Tell us about yourself."
"What do you need to know?" Rickshaw asked.
"Anything you think would be useful to us. Where you're from, how you got here, what was going on, who that voice in the portal was?"
"So this is a CROSSOVER?" Pinkie asked. "Oh, I'm so excited." Everypony just shrugged her off.
Rickshaw took a deep breath as he prepared to speak. "Well, I am a varani warrior, truesworn of the Warsworn faction. The Warsworn are a collection of the finest warriors in Amalur."
"So Amalur is your home land?" Twilight asked.
"Yes," Rickshaw nodded.
"Well, just give me a minute then." Twilight got up from her seat."I'll see if we have anything on that place here." She turned to the bookshelf and started levitating books off and flipping through the pages.
"So what's this about a war?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"The Crystal War," Rickshaw replied. "For a long time now, there have been this league of Fae known as The Tuatha, led by the power-hungry King Gadflow."
"Um... what are Fae?" Fluttershy asked timidly.
"Elfish people," Rickshaw replied. "Blue-skinned men and women with pointed ears," he pulled on his own ears for visual aid. "Most Fae are wise beings of peace and nature, and were the first race to settle on the shores of Amalur. But now with the times changing, Gadflow is trying to keep the Fae on top. So he started this war to stay in power."
"And where do you fit into all of this?" Rainbow asked.
"Well," Rickshaw paused before he continued. "I am fighting against the Tuatha. Not only am I a warrior, but I also have these mysterious powers, powers that could change the tide of the war, and give the young races a fighting chance. Before I came along, they were loosing the war."
"Today I fought Gadflow. I almost slew him! We almost won the war!" His voice rose, anger rising within him. After a brief pause, he took another breath and settled down. "But then sneaky Gadflow played one final trump card, tore open a portal, and sent me here, far away from him."
He stared off for a moment, as though he were remembering something horrible. He was remembering all the brave warriors he had lead into Gadflow's territory that day, and all his friends, Agarth, Professor Hughes, Alyn, Gwyn, Delfric, all those other brave soldiers of the Warsworn and Winter Fae.
He clenched his fists as his determination returned. "And that is why I need to return to Amalur as soon as possible, so that I can end Gadflow and finish this war."
"Wow, you sure got a lot of potions in here, Ricky," Pinkie's squeaky voice piped up. Everyone turned to see Pinkie rummaging through Rickshaw's backpack.
"Hey! Get out of there!" Rickshaw snapped. He grabbed for his stuff, taking it out of Pinkie's reach, but she still held in her hooves a little black leather box. She opened it up to reveal a small golden right with an emerald embedded.
"Oh, wow!" She squeaked, "What's this for?" She smiled at Rickshaw, who angrily grabbed it back and snapped the box closed.
Now everypony was curious as to what the ring was for.
He huffed and decided to talk. He looked down at the box as he began. "This is for my girlfriend Gwyn," he said. "I'm going to ask her to marry me after we win this war."
"My, how romantic," Rarity sighed dreamily. "Quite the charmer, aren't you?"
Rickshaw smiled and let out a light chuckle. "Yes. I suppose I am."
"Hey Twi?" Applejack called back to the purple pony. "Any luck yet finding Amalur?"
Twilight already had a large stack of books piled up.
"No. Nothing," She sighed.
"Well, I've never heard of this land either, this Equestria," Rickshaw stated. "The information our two continents have on one another may be limited."
"I'm not even sure I can do the portal spell even if I DID know where Amalur was," Twilight continued, still flipping. "It's a really complicated spell that only the highest-level unicorns could perform."
"If that's the case, why don't we go see Princess Celestia?" Pinkie suggested. "If any pony can help, she can!"
"That's a good idea Pinkie!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Who is she?" Rickshaw asked.
"She's our ruler," Pinkie explained. "The wisest alicorn in the land who watches over us and raises the sun. She's the best with magic, and she's Twilight's teacher."
"If we go now, we can catch the next train to Canterlot," Twilight continued, getting her saddlebag together.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Rickshaw asked excitedly. "Let's go!" He rose from his seat and grabbed his pack and weapons.
"Spike, take a letter!" Twilight called up to her dragon assistant. "Let the Princess know we're coming!"
Some time later, the train pulled into Canterlot. On the ride, the ponies explained to Rickshaw more about Equestria. Apparently, it was not that different from Amalur according to his descriptions.
He also ended up telling him about his friend Agarth, a fateweaver. He told them of the fateweaver's ability to see into one's future and see their fate; what will happen in their life, what they will accomplish, and how they will die. At first, the ponies were enthralled by such abilities to see into the future, but as Rickshaw explained it more, and the ability to know one's death, and how such knowledge can destroy one's spirit, they realized the more disturbing underlying of the power.
And then Rickshaw explained his own ability to defy fate, and how he has saved Agarth from his own fate of being eaten by an Ettin giant, how he himself had no fate and was therefore not bound by its limits; his life was his to decide for himself, and he wanted to use his powers and skills for good, such as ending the crystal war. He told them of his deeds and his heroic acts, and how he inspired others to try and defy their fate and fight for a brighter future, how he restored hope to those who had none, to those the war had taken everything from, and still they were willing to fight and follow Rickshaw.
By then they had finally made it to Canterlot. A few ponies on the streets did stare at Rickshaw as they made their way to the castle.
When they finally made it, Celestia and Luna were in their throne room waiting for them. Luckily, they were both familiar with Amalur, and could prepare a portal to send Rickshaw home.
However, as they were charging up their horns, several of the windows suddenly cracked, and in crashed men in dark armor, about Rickshaw's height, all armed with swords and bows decorated in red crystal. Celestia created a force field, and ordered everyone to get behind her.
"Who are they?" Twilight asked.
"It's the Tuatha!" Rickshaw shouted, "They found me! Gadflow must have sent them to ensure I do not return to Amalur!" He whipped out his sword and dashed out from the force field. "I'll handle this!"
The ponies watched in awe as Rickshaw fought the attackers. Each blow was blocked perfectly with his shield. He was truly mighty with his sword. After three or four strikes, each soldier fell down bleeding. Rickshaw's fists even glowed at one point, and he shot out blue bolts of lightning at his foes. He was magnificent.
But his luck did not last. Finally, a red bolt from an unseen enemy shot out and encompassed Rickshaw. He groaned in pain. The ponies all watched in horror as he fell to his knees.
"That's quite enough," Said an amused voice. The ponies all turned to the noise, a man in a red cloak and a white face. As he stepped into the room, carrying a thin sword drenched in blood, the ponies could see that he was wearing a mask.
"Who are you?" Celestia demanded.
"It doesn't matter who I am," The man replied musingly. "What matters is why I am here." His free hand suddenly glowed red. "Now, let's say I incapacitate all of you, shall we?"
He shot another red bolt at Celestia's force field. In an instant, the red spark decimated and ate away at the shield, exposing the ponies. And then the man waved his hand, and large wave of red energy shot out and hit every pony. Each one of them felt gripped in a strong vice, and noticed the red aura around each other.
"This spell cuts off the nervous system's ability to communicate to your muscles." The Regent explained. "You are unable to move."
Rickshaw started to adjust to the pain, and stopped groaning.
"Hey, Ricky?" Rainbow asked. "Who's this dude with the cloak?"
"They call him the Regent of the Mask," Rickshaw explained. "He's a spell-cloak assassin that Gadflow hired to kill me. We have quite a history of encounters."
"It's true," The Regent replied. "You have made quite an interesting target. Given me quite a run for my money." He turned to the ponies. "And now that I've chased you here, something else has caught my eye. What do we have here? Friends of yours?" He started walking along the ponies looking them down and feeling their immobile heads.
"Such curious creatures," he observed. "Clearly equine in origin, but not only have they mastered the power of speech, they live in an organized society similar to ours, and have even mastered magic."
"You've seen us using magic?" Luna asked worriedly.
"Yes," The Regent replied. "We've already fought many of your royal guards. And interestingly enough, it's only the unicorns that can harness this magic. Now why is that."
He did not even wait for an answer. He first seethed his sword, then reached into his cloak and pulled out a long needle. He walked up to Celestia, and with a swift swipe, he scratched her cheek, drawing blood, a few drops by the end of the needle. With his other hand, he reached into his cloak again and pulled out a vial.
With a tap, he dropped the blood from the needle into the vial. He held the vial close before his face, and swished the little red liquid around. After a moment, he cried out with excitement.
"Your very blood is filled with magical essence! This is miraculous!" He was so excited he flung his arms out, flinging the needle and vial off in all directions. "Ah, yes! I am certain that King Gadflow will pay a fine coin for all of you!" He eyed Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Rarity. "And if not, you'll certainly make interesting subjects for my own studies."
"Studies?" Twilight asked excitedly.
"Trust me my dear, you won't like the studies."
Twilight pouted.
"Let them be, Regent!" Rickshaw barked. "It's me you want, not them."
"Sorry, old chap," The Regent replied. He made his way back to Rickshaw. "Business is business. I simply cannot let such a discovery slide by without taking a hold of it." He kneeled down so the two could see eye to eye. "I should thank you. I could not have made this discovery without you."
Rickshaw glared back at the masked man with red hot hate that could melt steel. He wanted to move so badly so that he could rip this man to pieces.
The Regent stood up and held a fist to his chin, still looking down on Rickshaw. "Hm... now let me see... how shall I kill you?"
Deleted scene:
"So you think the unicorns are so special?" Applejack asked. "What about the rest of us?"
"Nothing special," The Regent shrugged. "You can all burn in Hell!"
He whipped around and shot another red bolt at AJ. She suddenly screamed in agony. Cuts started randomly forming around her body, and started bleeding like crazy. More blood started leaking from her eyes, ears and mouth.
"Applejack!" Her friends all cried in horror!"
"Why do I keep dying in these chapters!" AJ shrieked. And those were her final words. Finally, she fainted and collapsed, her body quickly turning pale, more and more every second as the pool of blood around her just got wider and wider.