It has been nearly a thousand years since Twilight Sparkle died. Celestia and Luna are gone. The Holy Equestrian Diarchy, ruled by a bigoted and brutal theocracy, has driven ponies apart and divided them along tribal lines. Unicorns are driven from society, feared and hated.
The lessons of friendship, painstakingly written down in the journal of friendship by Princess Twilight and her friends, have been warped and twisted to fit the Diarchy's hateful ideology. But to the average pony, this is the truth and reality of the world they live in, beset on all sides by enemies monstrous and magical.
Emberglow, a young pegasus mare, aspires to join the elite Knights, magically enhanced warriors dedicated to the holy Saints worshiped by the state religion. Can she uncover the lies and deceptions that have led the world to this bitter place?
Rekindled Embers
is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic written by applezombi.
This fanfic contains examples of the following tropes:
- Darker and Edgier: With a lot more blood, gore, and death this fanfic is far darker than the series it's based on. There is also explicit talk of sex in this fanfic along with a sex scene.
- Fantastic Racism:
- Unicorns are the primary targets of this. The Diarchy claims that their magic makes them inherently dangerous and has their horns cut off which kills them. The bodies are buried in unmarked mass graves and the horns are processed into the potion used to enhance Knights. It's then claimed that the unicorns are sent to relocation colonies to live their lives.
- Non-ponies are also heavily discriminated against in the Diarchy which considers them to be heretics that can't be trusted, marginalizes the ones who live within its borders, and wages war on the non-pony nations. Also, a pony having sex with a non-pony is a crime punishable by death in the Diarchy.
- The Diarchy also has a mild pegasus superiority complex, with being born as a pegasus considered to be a gift although earth ponies can be successful in society.
- La Résistance: The Knights Discordant fight against the Diarchy's hateful and oppressive regime.
- The Order: There are six Orders of Knights at the beginning of the story, with three more being founded/reformed as the story goes on., each wears the cutie mark and color of the character(s) they follownote .
- Knights Mystic: Twilight Sparkle. Loyal to the Diarchy, they gather knowledge while also controlling the use of magic and the knowledge that others posses, and hunting for heresy within the Diarchy itself.
- Knights Adamant: Rainbow Dash. Loyal to the Diarchy, they serve as the Diarchy's military along with the marines, protecting the Diarchy's borders from, and waging wars on, the Diarchy's enemies.
- Knights Vigilant: Applejack. Loyal to the Diarchy, they essentially work as police and judges, hunting and judging criminals within the Diarchy and enforcing the Diarchy's laws.
- Knights Jubilant: Pinkamenanote . Loyal to the Diarchy, they function as religious leaders, interpreting the words of the Book of Saints, giving guidance, and keeping ponies faithful to the Diarchy's religion.
- Knights Radiant: Rarity. Formerly with the Diarchy, now neutral, they specialize in healing and also act as a rarely successful voice of mercy towards criminals. Since going neutral they also act as a voice of peace.
- Knights Discordant: Fluttershy. Formerly the Diarchy's Knights Angelic, who acted as spies and explorers, they went rogue when Heartwing a.k.a. Discord infiltrated the Order, and are now La Résistance that's dedicated to ending the Diarchy's hateful and oppressive regime.
- Knights of the Mother: Zecora. Zebrica's Order of Knights, dedicated to driving the Diarchy's forces out of Zebrica and protecting Zebrica from harm, they are also allies of the Knights Discordant.
- Knights Angelic: Fluttershy/Rarity. Reformed as a neutral Order late in the fanfic, their mission is to protect both the Knights Radiant and the innocent from those who would do them harm.
- Knights Resplendent: Sunset Shimmer. The Crystal Empire's Order of Knights, they are dedicated to protecting the Crystal Empire and its royalty, particularly Sunset, from harm, also allies of the Knights Discordant.
- Path of Inspiration: The Diarchy's religion masquerades as something good with the messages of honesty, generosity, kindness, loyalty, joy, and magic from the Diarchsnote and the "Saints"note . But those messages were purposely corrupted in the service of hatred and bigotry as a way to control the masses long ago. Many of the Diarchy's religious and political leaders (there's not much difference) are just as ignorant of the lies that the religion preaches as those beneath them, and even most of those who are aware of the lies still believe that their religion is good.
- Super-Soldier: Knights have enhanced strength and speed which they get from a potion that can be made several different ways.
