My Equestria Divided Characters

[Midnight Seeker 302]

I just wrote and created these poor ponies. Black Crom was the character speaking in my Everfree video and I guess this is his story. I can't really role play which is why I put them here in the fan fiction area, but I have no problem if a mod has to move it. I did all this in one go, but the ideas were swimming in my head for a while.

Let me know what you all think!
 

Black Crom

 

Crom grew up in an isolated mountain village that had little contact with other ponies. His father (an Earth pony) had died when he was very young leaving him to be raised by his Pegasus mother (Dusty Cloud). He had a happy life and earned his cutie mark for telling stories to other ponies. His two best friends were Odd Bran (a Unicorn) and Fionnuala Bàn (a Pegasus).
Their happy life ended when House Stormwing sent a recruitment force for Crom’s mother who had left her life as a royal guard to raise her child. She argued bitterly with the commanding officer. When he struck her, she fought and defeated him. At this point, Rainbow Dash herself appeared and congratulated the great Dusty Cloud. Rainbow Dash repeated her request that Cloud join her army, only for Cloud to state that she would rather die. Rainbow Dash sadly stated that “was a pity” and then killed Cloud with a spear through her chest and then claiming that the Village was now under the protection of House Stormwing.

Horrified, Crom, his friends and around 35 others fled and became refugees.

 

They made their way south east and ended up in Moon and Star lands. Crom was nearly killed as a joke by a passing noble who was attempting to recruit the Unicorn members. A few joined, but Bran stayed by his friend and cursed the unicorns who joined Moon and Star.

The refugees made slow progress south. They noticed what looked like a circus off in the distance when they neared Hoofington. A few of the younger ponies where desperate to see it, and despite warnings from Crom and Bran that something was wrong with a circus in the middle of nowhere, a couple of adults took the fillies to go and see it. The rest of the refugees made camp by a lake and waited for the fillies and their guardians to return. They came back laughing and singing, and insisting that all the others come and see the show. It was Fionnuala who noticed that other ponies where making their way towards the camp. Although the Cult of Laugher was not a big threat at this point, it spent a lot of it’s time slowly recruiting from refugee groups such as this. Only ten ponies (which included Crom and his friends) refused their invitation to join and fled.

They fled south west through the Whitetail woods. As they were leaving the woods, Fionnuala broke down due to the constant stress and travelling. Crom and Bran stayed with her while the others went ahead. After Fionnuala had calmed, the three friends went to catch up with the others, only to see them two of them dead and the rest in chains. Crom, Fionnuala and Bran hid while armed thugs taunted the refugees and told them that they were now the property of Lady Rarity and House Whitegold.

Crom and his friends hid for a long time. They slowly moved on, heading west now.
They avoided all other ponies now, and aside for an old dying donkey couple they gave food to, did not encounter anypony until they had past New Ponyville. The donkeys had told them of safe refugee camps outside the Everfree forest and that had become their new goal. They felt so close to freedom they started to feel giddy with relief. Their laughter attracted the attention of a passing Earthborn militia.

The solders were in fact quite happy to let the three friends pass as they clearly were harmless refugees. There was just one small matter to address and then all three would be free to walk away. When Crom asked what the small matter was, the solders pounced on Bran and started to brutally hammer off his horn. Crom was forced to hold Fionnuala back as other solders pulled their weapons out. Bran’s screams of agony haunt Crom to this day. Bran died shortly after due to the trauma of his mauling.

After they buried Bran, Crom and Fionnuala made their way to the camps on the edge of the Everfree forest. Despite being haunted by what had happened up to this point, Crom still kept up an optimistic demeanour for the sake of Fionnuala who was clearly fragile and close to a full breakdown. They reached the camps and where welcomed warmly. Crom being well and fit after a proper meal and rest started to help around the camp.
When the raid happened, Crom was barely able to get to Fionnuala in time. She was attacked and wounded by the bandits, but Crom was able to save her from serious harm and protected her from further attack. Just when all hope was lost, Crom heard a scream of pure rage that seemed to be as loud as thunder. Although it was a cry of anger and fury, it seemed almost righteous to Crom. He watched the slaughter of the bandits with amazement and gratitude as he held on to Fionnuala tightly.
When Fluttershy announced the creation of House Everfree, Crom was one of the first to join, with his one request that he be helped in looking after Fionnuala who had been completely broken by the night of the raid and was utterly traumatized. 
Crom serves as an advisor to Lady Fluttershy, Storyteller to the House and a recruiter of the lost and forsaken.
 

Although he is loyal to Fluttershy and House Everfree, his first and last concern is Fionnuala. He blames himself for her suffering and feels nothing but guilt for the other refugees, Bran and his mother. As he has suffered at the hooves of the other houses, he quietly hates them. It doesn’t show very often, but his anger towards them is strong and without mercy. With the exception of Bandits (“Vile parasites!”) he is utterly sympathetic to unaligned, and simply believes that they are all misinformed of his House and its goals. He is certain that they will come around in time. He is a quiet pony, but his storytelling skills are without equal. Many warriors have been moved to tears or rage by his tales. Others take great inspiration or merriment from them.

Crom believes absolutely in his tales, and would never knowingly speak a lie (he may exaggerate for dramatic effect, but he will not lie). Crom is not a warrior, which might be the reason the forest has not claimed him. He feels a small bit of dread around the beasts, but even around changed ponies and allies (like the Minotaurs and zebras) he is completely relaxed. He is in awe of Lady Fluttershy (“The only one who went to war to defend and revenge the weak!”) but will speak up if he feels she is in the wrong (although he does so in a very respectful manner and he doesn’t push a point once it has been shot down). He is quiet, honest and loyal, but still a fanatic who hates others with cold fury.

Here are Crom's two friends. I put them in a separate post purely to make reading this a bit easier.
 
Odd Bran

A rival to Crom all his days, Bran was a very abrasive and arrogant pony and was a bit of a bully. He constantly mocked others, but without any malice (mocking Crom for not having a horn or wings, but never for his dead father). Bran enjoyed arguments and a bit of drama, but he always expected as good as he got as he prefers fair fights. He lost as much as he won to Crom and always took defeat with good grace. He flirted endlessly with Fionnuala but only in jest.
He proved his loyalty to his friends when he saved Crom from a Moon & Star noble and violently refused an invite to join that house. He hated his cousin and friends for leaving the refugees to join Moon & Star. Had he lived, he would not have joined Everfree, but instead leave after trying to convince Crom and Fionnuala to do the same. He would want no part in the war and wish to live in peace.

Instead he died in agony crying for his mother and father.

 

 
Fionnuala Bàn

Despite her small size, Fionnuala was once a brave and formidable personality. She never admitted it, but she greatly admired Dusty Cloud and saw her as a role model. She could be very bossy, but never demanding and always a peacemaker. She always dreamed of going on a great adventure and seeing things no other pony had seen. She was forever exasperated by the feuding between Crom and Bran but always sought them out for her schemes and plans. She liked both equally, Crom for his imagination and quiet passion and Bran for his confidence and strong honour. She knew that both wanted to be more than friends but was torn as to who to pick. She was close to making up her mind when the Stormwing came and killed her mentor.
She was the one who rallied the refugees and kept everyone else sane. Although this would slowly exhaust her mentally, she was the one who kept the refugees organized and focused.
When she broke down in the Whitetail woods, it was due to the constant stress and her deep fear that she had failed and they were only putting off the inevitable death. She was grateful to both Crom and Bran, but the enslavement of the others left her with deep mental scars. Bran’s mutilation and murder left Fionnuala with even greater anguish and the raid broke her completely.   

Fionnuala is now a shadow of her old self and lives in a state of near constant fear. She clings to Crom as the only thing she hasn’t lost and is highly distressed when he leaves their home to serve the House. Although Crom leaves her with trusted carers, Fionnuala does not trust them and makes no attempt to speak to them (although she will attack them in a panic). She is utterly agoraphobic and has not left her house since Crom moved them there. She hasn’t flown in years and suffers constant nightmares. Crom is the only one who can calm her down or even speak to her.

Had she been sound of mind, she would not have joined House Everfree, but would have joined Bran in going in search of somewhere peaceful. Crom would have listened to her and joined them.
 

It is possible that if Crom spent his time helping her, Fionnuala might have recovered. His heart would break if he knew that he could have healed his last friend by simply spending more time with her.

She doesn’t remember it now, but before they were found by the Earthborn militia, she had chosen her special some-pony. She would have told him at the camp and the other would have accepted it and would have been happy for them.

[Friendship_Cannon 1,676]

Hey, Midnight!

Amirable story you created there, I have honestly not seen many like those. I would call it quite touching, it is obvious that you put in a lot of time and effort in creating each of the characters as well as the storyline... much respect for that, I surely wouldn´t be able to do so...

In all seriousness, though this story might fit in the Equestria Divided theme (I don´t know much about, I admit), this story makes me quite sad (well, I guess that´s what it´s supposed to do).

I really am not a big fan of the darker side of fanart (Grimdark, Equestria Divided a.e.) but I´m far from disrespecting or hating on it. So, really, good job, very impressive, and if you can get yourself to roleplay with those characters you will probably have a great time.

 

Greets

 

F_C

Edited March 31, 2013 by Friendship_Cannon

[Midnight Seeker 302]

Friendship_Cannon

Thank you very much!

 

I'm a fan of Equestria Divided, but I am unable to join an RP myself. I knew the character of Black Crom very well, but his story just wasn't there until I started writing.
I want to avoid Gary Stu's more than you can believe, so I wanted to create a character who was living in a war-torn land. So I knew his story had to be a journey and he had to learn things.

It was near the end I knew he would learn the wrong things. I re-wrote parts of it when I realized I was writing a tragedy.