#For cosplay wise and to go along with the master sword on my wall

[l0ganberry]

I'm thinking of using this metal pole to make a warlock staff....

Specifically the one from @carnivalcarrion Fantasy au.

I have paints, fabric dyes, cardboard, other art things and two hands to do it!

(I haven't started but I am starting my brainstorming to know what I need to do to actually do this)

[ask-de-writer]

NORE’S CHOICE : Origin of the Rom: MLP Fan Fiction : (Part 2 of 10)

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NORE’S CHOICE

Part ONE of the Origins of the Rom

ORIGIN OF THE ROM SERIES in reading order.  (will be completed as the stories are posted in linked form)

Part One : NORE’S CHOICE, which starts HERE

Part Two : WELCOME TO EQUESTRIA! which starts HERE

Part Three : FAIR AND UN-FAIR, which starts HERE

Part Four : ON THE ROADS OF EQUESTRIA, which starts HERE

Part Five : THE FIRST ROM HEARTHWARMING,  which starts HERE

Part Six : SANDO’S LAKE, which starts HERE

Part Seven : A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ROM, which starts HERE

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

29000 words

© 2015 by Glen Ten-Eyck

Cover art by @wind-the-mama-cat​

Writing begun 08/09/15

All rights reserved.  This document may not be copied or distributed on or to any medium or placed in any mass storage system except by the express written consent of the author.

TUMBLR EXEMPTION

Blog holding members of Tumblr.com may freely reblog this story provided that the title, author and copyright information remain intact, unaltered, and are displayed at the head of the story.

Fan art, stories, music, cosplay and other fan activity is actively encouraged.

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As quietly as they could, the whole band left the farm.  They turned out, away from town, following the road, seeking another empty farm, another abandoned well that might give them some life giving water.  Nore optimistically carried along the digging stick and ropes.

Rom approved, “That is wise, Nore.  We might find another bucket.”

Nore grinned and pointed to the dust of the road.  “Nobody much uses this road!  Besides the Godolphin’s Guard tracks, there are only the old traces of the caravan that old donkey brought across the Anvil.  Look!  You can even see that he came and went twice!”

Rom did look.  As his own hooves raised little plops of dust, he said thoughtfully, “One has to wonder where he came from.  Those loads of the finest hay, grains, dried fruits and nuts did not come out of thin air.”

Maina observed sarcastically, “We know where they went though!  The fat guts of the Godolphin and his noble cronies.”

Malit, with a snicker, said, “While totally true, it is unwise to say things like that!

“Oh!  Look!  There is a gate and lane.  It looks to be empty!”  Pausing a moment, she added more softly, “No wonder.  I see the turnaround at the end of the road too.  This is the very last farm out to the east of town.”

Phapa added, “There is a patrol of the Godolphin’s Guard coming up the road behind us, too.”

They cleared the way, going off the road, as was only proper for Slaveborn, making way for Freeborn.

The Guard halted and the Sargent in charge of this lot snickered at their plight.  “Going to try your luck on Celestia’s Anvil?  Just because that old donkey has managed to get caravans of sweet hay, dried fruit, nuts and water across the Anvil to sell to the Godolphin and his court doesn’t mean that you can cross it too!”

He reared with laughter and added, “Just because you were lucky enough find a little seep of water in a dead well won’t save you out there!  We won’t come for your bones if you are dumb enough to try it!

“Come, fellow troopers!  We have shade and a water ration awaiting us at the patrol’s end!” They passed on, leaving only dust and laughter to mark their passing.

Rom watched them go.  All that he said was, “Rude of them, wasn’t it?  They found the seep that you dug out, Nore.”

They turned up the lane to the abandoned farm, their hooves making the only marks there.

A furtive figure followed them, hiding whenever any of them even glanced back.

They found the farm’s abandoned wells easily enough. Wooden safety covers were fallen in.  At least one looked broken nearly on purpose.  Boards were broken across and some still dangled from their pegs.  Their noses provided the answer to that question.

The stench of rotting flesh floated up from the bottom, where the overhead sun let them see it. The horse had died of broken bones, thirst and starvation.  They were turning away from the morbid sight when Sarel’s keen sighted eyes popped open.  

“He had a bucket!  It is down there with him.  It looks intact!”

Nore shuddered.  Swallowing hard, she volunteered, “If we can keep the carrion flies out of my eyes and nose, I will get us the bucket.”

They all scattered to look for some sort of cloth or other thing that might work.

Sarel came soberly back to the well.  “I don’t think that this family left.”  She gave several dry heaving sobs.  “There are mares in the house.  They have all been dead a long time.”

Rom nodded sadly, “I feared as much.  The horse in the well is slaveborn or his headstall lies. What of the mares?”

Steadying herself, Sarel replied, “Two freeborn, three slaveborn.  I did not see the Master.”

Rom nodded to himself as he thought deeply.  “I must see them.  What of cloth to shield Nore’s eyes and nose?”

“It is there.  There is a stall hanging of gauze in pretty good shape.  It has been shielded from the weather and sun.”

Phappa and Malit returned from the tumbledown barn, empty hooved.  Malit was trying unsuccessfully to hold down her gorge.  She vomited a little fluid but nothing else.

Phapa held her head.  She looked up at Rom.  “We found little of any use.  I believe that the Master of the farm died in there.  He has no headstall.”

Rom soberly looked about at the farm with new eyes.  “I must see him too.  Sarel found what seems to be the rest of the family that was here, slave and freeborn alike.”

Big Phapa seemed to shrink.  In a shaking voice she asked, “Do you mean what I fear that you mean?”

Solid, dependable Rom nodded.  “I fear a massacre.  They may have been killed for food, water or both. I pray to the Night Horse that I am wrong.”

He went to the barn first.  He spent only a little time there.  Then to the house.  He returned with the gauze neatly folded.

“We must be most careful.  The Watch Sargent who was so rude did leave a watcher.  I have seen him twice.  He is napping down in the bottom of the old kitchen garden now.”

His shoulders finally slumped. “They were all killed.  The whole family was murdered.  May the Night Horse take them to the Garden of Dreams.”

Young Nore looked puzzled by the last statement but was holding still while Sarel carefully wrapped her head and face in the old hanging.  The mares got busy securing her into the improvised lowering harness fashioned of ropes.

It took them all to get her down safely.  The old windlass was wrecked.  Now that they knew what they were seeing, the signs of vandalism were obvious.  The mares lowered Nore slowly while Rom kept the rope from rubbing and chafing on the stone well coping.

They were just getting her out of the well with the bucket when they heard an all too familiar voice demanding, “Give me that bucket!  I want some water, NOW!”

Nore, with a saccharine smile turned the bucket up, tipping out about a thousand squirming maggots. “We all want water, Sando.  We had it, too.  You took it away from all of us by breaking our bucket.  Now, the Watch has found the seep that WE made.  We can no longer get that water.”

Sando snapped, “If you weren’t getting water, what were you doing down that well?  Why did you bring up those maggots?”

“I wanted away from the murdered horse in the bottom of the well as quickly as I could.  The maggots were already in the bucket.  If we are very lucky, we might find something in one of the other two wells here.  I doubt it, though.

“If there was any water, the murderers from the Godolphin’s Guard would not have thrown the bucket down on top of the corpse.”

Sando sneered, “How do you know anyhorse was murdered by the Godolphin’s Guard?”

Rom nodded approvingly at Nore. Heartened, she stated, “By using my eyes and brain.  Every Guard Patrol has two pike horses for breaking charging attacks, three with short stabbing spears and the leader of the patrol has a sword.  

“Every horse here was murdered by pike or spear.  Even the dead slaveborn down there in the well was stabbed before he was cast down to die of his injuries.  Those pikes and stabbing spears are military weapons.  Only the Guard and Army can have them.”

Rom gently got between Sando and the bucket.  “No, Sando.  You may not have the bucket.  We need it. You cost us both the bucket we had and the water that we had.

“Before you ask, NO, we do not trust you at all.  You do no thing to help us but try to act the Master to us.  You are no Master.”

Sando stamped in anger.  “You aren’t any Master, either!”

Big, solid, blacksmith Phapa shouldered between them.  “The difference is that Rom does not pretend that he is due any special treatment.  He is no bully and he takes responsibility for what he does.”

Sarel entered the fray, pointing out, “The Guard Troop that was on the road out front, a bit ago, found our seep and bragged of it.  They did not enter this farm and its wells.  They knew them for dry.  That means that they were likely the murderers.

“One other thing.  They left a watcher to keep an eye on us.  He is asleep in the shade of a wall in the kitchen garden.  We need to keep our voices down.”

They all turned their backs to him and conferred with Rom about removing the safety covers from the remaining two wells.

Sando watched with resentment as the mares, with Rom directing and helping, shifted the cover from the nearest of the wells.  They looked down and signaled for Nore to look too.  She shook her head.

“Not except as a last resort. I see no trace of a damp spot.  Let us try the other one first.”

Rom nodded and began to direct the replacement of the cover over the dry well.  Sando barged in demanding, “Forget this nonsense!  Get the cover off the other well, NOW!”

Phapa did not even let go of the part she was holding with her jaws.  She double bucked Sando hard enough to blast him off his feet. The band continued to replace the cover safely before going to the last well.

The cover jammed several times before they got it loose and clear.  Rom led Nore over and asked, “What do you think, Nore?  Is this one worth our effort?  We have seen what looks like it is possibly damp but that may be a trick of the light.”

Nore studied the well from several angles, staring intently and sniffing too.  She nodded at last.

“This one is our best bet.” She marked a spot.  “Lower me down from here.  There is something odd about the well side just below this but not at the bottom.”

Rom accepted that and got the mares busy with the preparations to lower Nore where she wanted.

Soon she was on her way down, meter by careful meter.  Near the bottom, they heard her call up, “Hold me here!  I found it!  We will have water in just a little!”

Sando heard it too.  He charged in, nipping the flanks of the mares, causing them to drop Nore the rest of the way.  He shouted, “Water!  Now that little idiot is at the bottom!  Dig there!  WELL!  Got it?  WATER at the BOTTOM!”

Nore’s voice came plaintively up from the well, “The water is up some on the side of the well!  I can’t reach it now!  Why did you drop me?”

Sando yelled down the well, “Dig, you stupid filly!  If I don’t get that water in a few minutes, we will leave you there!”

Spinning about, Sando reared to his impressive height, pawing the air with forehooves.  

“I challenge you for the leadership of this band, Rom!”

Malit and Maina simply nodded to each other.  They each put a hoof in front of one of his hind hooves and high signed Phapa.

The big powerful blacksmith let drive with a double kick that did not stop until nearly 10 cm after a rising impact with Sando’s rear.  The shocked Sando literally flew forward and crashed to the dust a mare’s length away.  Sarel slammed the side of his neck, dazing him.

She hissed in his ear, “You have killed us all, you idiot!  You woke up the Guard watcher and he is on the run to get the rest of the patrol!

“Being a leader is more than just being strong or big.  You need both intelligence and wisdom too. You have no sign of any brains!  This is TWO wells that you have cost us.  You have the same water that we have!  NONE!  And ALL YOUR FAULT!  

“Stay out of our way.  We are saving Nore.  YOU ARE NOT WORTH SAVING!”

She left the shocked and stunned Sando and joined the mares recovering Nore from the well.  She was weeping.

“Why?  We had it there, up on the side.  There was lots of water.  Up close, I could smell it!  It would only have taken a little digging to get it to flow out.”

Sarel pointed insultingly with a hind hoof.  “There is the reason.  Sando.  What else could you expect from that fool?  Wisdom?  Thought for anyhorse but himself?” She brayed a sarcastic laugh.

Laying bruised and sore in the dust, Sando slowly realized that he had not been beaten by Rom.  All of the mares had ganged up to protect Rom by a cooperative attack. He could NEVER lead these mares.  They would not follow.

He saw a commotion at the well coping.  Nore was limping on one hind leg.  It hit him that he had injured her.  He didn’t really want to hurt any horse.  He was so thirsty that he had failed to think straight.

Nore limped over and snapped, “You want water so bad that you will kill is all to get it?  Here have mine!”  She pissed a pitifully small amount.  On his face.

Rom looked on, troubled by all that he had seen.  The mares gathered and asked him trustingly, “What can we do now, Rom?”

He thought carefully and replied, “We must dare the Anvil of Celestia.  The Guard Troop knows us and will kill us to keep the well, so we cannot go back to Tadast’s Wells.

“Sando’s foolish actions have robbed us of water, choices, and likely, life itself.

“If we just follow the donkey’s caravan tracks, the Guards will find us.  We must go wide of them for at least a day.  Then, perhaps we can follow him to safety.  I fear not, though.

“It is the only choice left to us.  I can see the dust of the Watch Patrol coming now.”

They all nodded unhappy understanding and followed Rom from the farm, going across sere dead fields.  They spared not a glance for Sando.  The last that he was aware of them was the sound of hooves breaking dry, brittle stalks of the failed crop.

He struggled to his feet to await the Guards.  It was not long at all.  Proudly, he pointed to the well.  “There is water in that one!”  

Turning, he saw a Guardshorse staring intently down.  “Don’t see anything.  Possibly a dampish spot… Not really water.”

Sando puffed out his chest and replied, “The water is up on the side of the well.  The filly that we were using to lower and dig, said that she could smell it really strongly.”

The guard by the well looked up and changed position.  “Yes, I see it now.  Pity that there isn’t enough well reward to share it with a turned out slaveborn.”

The change in his voice and his words caused Sando to panic and dodge.  The searing pain of the near miss on his windpipe and heart, as the spear sliced his shoulder, brought many things clear to Sando at once!

First among them was FLEE! Wheeling, he ran through the dry rustling stalks of the dead crop. Where he passed was a trail of ruin, the dry dead stalks shattered under hoof!   Before he had gone far, he realized that he needed to follow the others to conceal his trail!

Crossing a ditch and low wall, he raced out onto the Anvil itself.  The sand pockets among the stones were treacherous.  It was easy to slip in them.

The crushing weight of his bungles was falling in on him as blood rilled from his shoulder.  His guilt ridden thoughts ran, “That was no mere dominance thing.  They meant to actually murder me, like the family back there!  I did them a good turn and they tried to kill me for it!”

His breath laboring, hooves slipping in the slithering sand and gravels, it hit him, “The band did me nothing but good and I may have killed them all!  I will never question Rom again, if they will let me rejoin them.  Perhaps I can help some of them to survive to the other side of the desert.”

That thought actually stopped Sando in his tracks.  “The other side of Celestia’s Anvil?  I’ve never even considered such a thing!  That old donkey has pulled two caravan loads of luxury provisions to the Godolphin’s Court.  There has to be another side!  I never questioned the Anvil as a boundary before!”

While stopped, he actually saw the tracks that he was following.  Nore, as smallest, was easy to see.  With a lump in his throat, he saw that she was limping.  There, on that sloped sand and gravel, she had fallen.  

“My fault!  I was the one who made her fall!”

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[virgo-dragon]

Loz Fanfic Thing

for @du-hjarta-skulblaka and whoever else is interested note: this /did/ have some formatting but ut didnt copy/paste, im on movike, and im lazy Open on Cosplayer Dude at convention in Link Cosplay, having a good time (maybe in vendor's hall?) Bam! Fuckin Ganondorf comes through the wall like the Kool Aid Man going on about “those god damned goddesses fucking putting the triforce in this shit hole” Ganondorf sees our hero and is like “Agh! /YOU/! I thought I took care of you! Oh well, once more never hurt anyone” and Hero immediately shits pants Ganondorf essentially takes our hero prisoner w a planned execution Zelda in hiding as one of his minions frees Hero at last minute, runs off w them Big Epic Chase Scene. Hero runs off something/into something/is nearly caught but saved at last minute which leads to blackout and meeting Main Ally (but not Companion. No Companions) Cue “You’re the hero!” “Im most definitely fucking NOT the Hero! Im only dressed up as him! Im not even guy! MY NAMES NOT EVEN LINK!” (Maybe a “Who’s Link? His name was ’(Our Hero’s Name)’”and then an “Oh jesus fuck” “Ok well if ur gonna be fighting you gotta get a proper sword and shield” “Well I GUESS!” *cue raiding the ruined Vendor’s Hall for a sword and shield (neither look like the things but that get painted like them later) Cue Search for the Stones/Pearls/Pendants and travelling between dimensions via lame old plastic ocarina and the rushed learning of Legendary Hero (comment on cheesiness) Courage: needs hammer Wisdom: Needs boomerang Power: Needs floaty glidey thing (sailcloth-type maybe?) Cue Hurdy Gurdy Get and Main Theme Learn (acts as Zelda’s Lullaby in OoT) Cue Quest for Master Sword (cue quest for Master Sword Sheath) -found in Temple of Time (but what about the sheath tho) Cue Quest for Hylian Shield Cue Return to Ally -learn Clocktown Theme as Home Warp Song Oh no! Ganondorf has found the Triforce of Power! (Of course) Chase after Ganondorf as he tries to get the Triforce of Wisdom -End up protecting Zelda on her way out/sneaky leading her out maybe bc she got there first -maybe Look-Alike plan? Race to the Triforce of Courage -Rejects Hero at first bc idk they dont accept their role as Hero or smth. Maybe they just need to accept the courage in themself? Accept that they value courage and have been denying it bc it’s “cliche”? -but also rejects Ganondorf bc he values Power above all and he’s got that piece Cue Standoff with Ganondorf Cue ToC finally accepting Hero “Oh now i can take you you piece of shit” “to be fair, if youd taken it at first, Ganondorf couldve taken it from you.” “.../why/ did you have to have the Triforce of Wisdom” Cue Return to Ally Zelda stays behind at Ally’s bc she thinks she wont be found and/or shell be able to hold her own and/or she can make it defensible/hideable -this place becomes a dungeon later on -”You won’t listen to me when I tell you I know for a FACT this won’t work, right?” “Well, no. But also i cant fight im gonna fuckin die if i go out there w you.” “Tru” Shakey Shakey its an Earth Quakey Cue Trip to find Wise Guy Sahasrala to find out wtf’s going on “Its bc the worlds have been forced close together. They’re becoming unstable.” “Well how tf do I push them apart?” “Ya gotta get both Zelda and Ganondorf back into Hyrule bc they’re keeping it here” Question of whether or not our Hero needs to go w them or do something else- WAIT -The Goddesses just merged the Spirit of the Hero w out Hero one day bc that Link fuckin DIED and so at the Very End the spirits un-merge and our Hero gets to meet THE Hero YES (note: Decide what Kind of Link this kid is) Parts of Hyrule start appearing in our world and Vice Versa Return to Ally’s Place to find it dungeon-ified, Zelda missing presumably deep in the dungeon, and Ally lying bleeding, dying “Yo Zelda’s in there but you’re gonna need a whole HOST of other items to get through there” *dies* Cue Questing for Other Items (Both Tunics / Environment Devices, Bow, Hookshot, and Bombs) -cue instructions and/or panic about learning to use the items (Water Thingy on breathing, Hookshot on fuckign BONES, and Bombs on ignition and usage) Back to the Ally Dungeon! HOLY SHIT LEARN SONGS FEATURED AND/OR USED IN THEGAMES THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE THING (Zelda’s Lullaby doesn’t do anything here go fuck urself) (here it’s the main theme) Go through JUST in time to see Ganondorf take Zelda (of course) (but she at least puts up a fight this time) Standoff w Ghost/Shadow/Phantom Ganon “Well Shit What do I do Now?” Goes back to convention Cue Reflection on all this fucking shit Cue another Link Cosplayer coming up and being like “Dude holy fuck what the fucking shit” Cue Useful Information on Ganon’s Whereabouts “How’re we gonna get in tho its fucking heavily guarded (bc i figure you could use some help im coming with but i also dont quite recognize you’re /really/ the Hero bc thats not a real thing at least i dont think it is)” “Take this old replica shit I got at the start of this fucking fiasco and come confuse w me, his monsters are rly dumb theyll never know we’re diff heights and maybe even skin colors” They succeed “Yo bro this is getting a bit much for me and you look like you’ve got it good luck and let me know if you need my help again. Heres my number” “god i forgot phones were a /thing/” Cue finding Ganondorf and Final Standoff in Our World Cue Sacred Realm or some bs scene Cue Message from the Goddesses in form of Big Mysterious Voice saying “whoops we fucked up cant push away the worlds until Spirit of Hero is unmerge” (clever hints all along that Spirit of Hero was there and at least part of the time acting) “Looks like you gotta Stab the Thing in the Temple of Time. Also leave all your cool shit there please” -actually maybe not bc most things can be made -maybe its like “look we know there’ll still be residual effects and shit in your world so a) Take these Ghost Versions of shit that work the same and go fight it or b) take the Actual Items and they’ll find their way back to Hyrule later Cue journey to Temple of Time to stab sword in pedestal Cue Meeting w the Spirit of the Hero and subsequent near fan-personing of Our Hero Long talk about everything (and maybe the bringing up of the Link name) -”nah bro my name’s Link idk what that shit was probably the Goddesses doin shit” “So you mean I wasnt actually destined to be the hero?” “No you were, but the name always helps.” -I imagine this Link to have much of the personality and maybe look of Skyward Sword Link which makes sense bc he was the Original Link Cue Return to Our World and Wrapping Up of Shit Cue Epilogue Our Hero Agender, but if asked will say Mayonnaise Needs glasses so has to wear those fuckin sports glasses -I hate those glasses -they have silver/gray ones. The kind that look like weird goggles After Inciting Incident they go and fucking use ALL the bobby-pins to keep their hat on -”Suddenly I kinda maybe rly wanna wear this through the adventure. At least it’s well made and I’ll get several kicks out of keeping it on” Swears at anything and everything in a dungeon -“OH BOY A BOSS ROOM NOT LIKE IM FUCKING SURPRISED” -“god damned FLOOR/WALLMASTERS I WILL SLAUGHTER YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!!! FUCKIN LEAVE ME ALONE” Has played many a Zelda