Originally, the story was going to be about Celestia tracking down Twilight's killers and how far she would go to seek justice. Also, the story would have been adopted by whoever wanted it. Eventually, the author liked the idea so much that he decided to write it himself.
Night Light was going to get his own chapter until it was scrapped.
The third story in The 'Verse titled Ragnarok of Equestria was going to be written in 2017. However, the author thought that the overall setting wasn't fleshed out enough, decides to write a Part 2.5 in the form of two stories whose setting is the growing up of Spike in Erebus Isles and Majesty Blueblood in Unicornia titled Rise Of A Dragon and Rise Of An Empress respectively.
On another note, Ember was originally going to be Killed Off for Real in Ragnarok of Equestria until the author had this idea, deciding to spare her by bringing her into Part 2.5 instead.
In light of the original series' cancellation, the author has postedhisplannedideasand backstories for the overall story in various blog posts for the sake of closure. To sum up:
The Path stories are in a Two Lines, No Waiting narrative. It ends with Majesty, the Empress of Unicornia by that point in the story taking over Erebus Islands while Spike and his friends flee, which begins Ragnarok. This will be the fateful meeting between the two protagonists.
What Path of the Dragon could've been:
Spike being a Knight in Sour Armor as of Path of The Dragon is because in his first mission where he and Aquilina are looking for a lost kid, he seemingly successfully negotiated a mining village's safety and co-existence with a group of Diamond Dog raiders that were attacking them by having the village give their gems as tribute in exchange for sparing them and protecting them from other raiders. It wasn't until months later he learned that the raiders simply killed the miners after he left and looted all the gems for themselves. This plunges him into a Heroic BSoD.
This is broken later on when they successfully negotiate a lasting peace between two rival cities despite being initially hired by one to help topple the other. It is also here where Spike reveals who he really is to Aquilina aka Twilight's adopted son. After learning that the respective heirs of the two warring cites are in love, Spike successfully arranged a marriage between the two Star-Crossed Lovers, bringing the conflict to a much less bloody end. This convinces Spike that while bringing friendship isn't impossible to Erebus, there are some that cannot be reasoned with and he must know when the time comes to stain his hands with blood to achieve that.
Later on, Spike would get a chance to avenge the miners by killing the raiders responsible. He tries to go in alone but his friends eventually help him out. Spike personally kills the leader with a new technique.
There would be a Story Arc focusing on him being the Dragon Lands which results in him meeting and falling in love with Ember. However, Aquilina has developed feelings for him around that time as well, resulting in a Love Triangle that wouldn't be resolved due to the stories' cancellation.
Aquilina's personal story involves her being captured by the Ars Arcanum under the orders of her aunt, who wanted to avenge her dead father. Spike would call in a favour from Agent Rexius for The Legion's aid, resulting in her rescue and the death of her aunt. The story would end on her birthday, with Spike finding a means to remove her slave tattoo. This solidifies her feelings for Spike and causes her to confess her love for him afterward.
Windward doesn't have any special backstory. He is just one of the many street urchins raised in the slums of Erebus.
Azura has her mother die in childbirth and is revealed to be a hermaphrodite. This results in her father seeing her as a freak who couldn't even get pregnant, forcing her to hide her condition with dresses which resulted in her obsession with wearing clothes in public. Only Aquilina knows her secret and even that was by accident. The only family who treated her normally was her brother Penta, the individual alluded to when she was speaking to Spike in The Treasure Hunt Arc. He was part of an underground resistance helping Flutter Ponies escape Unicornia with revolutionary ideas for the country, but was discovered and executed along with his father. Azura faked her death and escaped to Erebus with the help of her brother's friends.
During Ragnarok, Azura's gender would be revealed to Windward. The latter doesn't mind and the two would undergo a Relationship Upgrade near the end of the series.
Marc's past as Ashwing, the son of Torch and brother of Ember would be revealed. He had two friends. Stormlight, the son of another dragon lord and Crest, his childhood friend. The reason he was declared an enemy to all of dragonkind was that he killed Stormlight accidentally by blasting him in the back despite losing in a duel he started because Stormlight was going to have Crest as his mate while Ashwing himself loved Crest. Stormlight was in the process of restoring the dragon's deity and reunifying the dragons, which were all undone by his death. Many dragons asked for Ashwing's death but Torch saved his life only to personally banish him forever. Crest even hated him as a result, turning the whole affair into a tragedy. Ashwing changed his name to Marc after arriving in Erebus Islands and became the head of the Red Lightnings.
The Horn of Centarus from "The Treasure Hunt" Arc would eventually drag Spike's Team into conflict among the two competing warlords, Vander and Swanburn. Vander wants to unite the islands quickly with any means while rebuilding later with the cost of immediate bloodshed while Swanburn prefers diplomacy even if it drags out the overall conflict. Eventually, Spike would decide to give the Horn to Swanburn, unaware that he is actually an agent from Unicornia, and was prolonging the war to weaken the place for Unicornia's conquest.
Spike's Team deals with the Masks of Mordum after kill-stealing a target from one of their assassins. Said assassin will be shamed for his failure and will spend the course of the story killing to kill them until a showdown which Spike takes his life. The Masks of Mordum actually offer Spike a place in their ranks to replace the one he just killed but he refuses.
When the Trial of the Dragon Lord begins, Spike would have to team up with Ember to stop Garble from becoming the next Dragon Lord. It ends just like the show version, with Spike winning the title and then giving it up to Ember as he doesn't want to leave his second home and friends but with Garble dead at the duo's claws. Spike and Ember part promising to write to one another.
Luna's knowledge of Twilight's assassination somehow went public. A ballistic Celestia disowns her (though she regrets it later) and Luna steps down before disappearing. This event sets Spike off and was what made him reveal his origins to his friends. Eventually, they will receive a job in where they have to protect an island from a fleet of pirates. Said leader of the island is Luna, who has initially come here on self-imposed exile for her screw-up. After seeing the tragedy that is Erebus, she decides to shape up and help instead. The two blame each other for their problems, Luna with her mishandling and Spike for running away without telling anyone. Eventually, the two would fight with Luna as the victor. After revealing their motivations for doing what they did, the two don't forgive each other, but they are willing to accept that both are sorry for their actions before parting ways.
When Unicornia invades at the end, Swanburn reveals his true nature by effectively turning half of Erebus Islands against the other half, which includes Ars Arcanum and half the Legion. Dealing with a civil war and an invading outside force at the same time, Erebus Islands falls for the first time in known history. Marc/Ashwing is killed saving Spike only for the latter to be captured later on. Spike's friends believe him to be dead while Luna starts a resistance movement in Erebus. However, Spike busts himself out of his prison ship and washes upon Equestria.
What Path of the Tyrant could've been:
The cult is revealed to be called the Nihilions. They are worshippers of Nitharus, who is Centarus due to being trapped in the Void for a long enough period of time. He is the Greater-Scope Villain of the entire story, trying to make Majesty into his herald after seeing her potential. As for the murder case, Majesty proved the existence of Nihilions, clearing her name. However, this also causes her to mark both them and the Chruch as her enemies due to how the latter treated her.
August Blueblood was the one who leaked Luna's knowledge of Twilight's assassination to the public at Nazo's suggestion.
Unicornia takes over the Centaur's homeland, installing Tirek as king. This war sees the invention of their newest weapon, the tank.
Sir Morning Blade and Sansha's child, Joyful Colors, is born and is raised also as a servant/slave.
We would have revealed Gehenna, the camps that Jade and Forest's family run. It would also reveal how Unicornia obtained their advancement, which is Human Resources from said camps. Forest would befriend a Flutter Pony female named X0182 and finding himself attracted to her. Both Jade and Majesty find out and they swear to keep to secrecy.
Queen Stormy's gradual assassination succeeds. This is later falsely labeled a Flutterpony plot and there is a mass purge as punishment. Forest uses his influence to keep X0182 safe, and later helps fake her death to get to live with him in secret as a servant under the name Mira. Fearing for his daughter and lover, Sir Morning Blade manages to safely get them away from Unicornia along with others, but gets exposed and charged with treason. However, due to his services, he's only given jail for life rather then execution, mostly as a request from Prince Silversteel. Sansha and Joyful Colors manage to make it to Equestria, but Sansha dies of illness soon after and Joyful Colors is adopted by a pony family. However, things take an upturn for Uncornia as thanks to the Centaurs help they manage to take over half of the Minotaur islands before allowing a peace treaty to be held.
Nazo finds out about Majesty keeping Forest's secret and tells her there will be a time when she needs to choose her friends or her future as queen. Jade becomes jealous that her brother is spending so much time with Mira and tells Majesty that she's worried that her brother's romance will ruin them. Majesty then finds herself contacted by the Cult of Nihilions who tell her that her entire life has been manipulated by her family and that they will allow her to suffer so she can be their key to ruling Equestria. She doesn't believe them, but her tragedy strikes when Unicornia suffers a retaliation from the Church who believe that the Royal Family has been infiltrated by the Nihilions. This causes rioting and arguments before political shitstorms happen. Prince Silversteel tries to restore peace with Majesty behind him, but he is soon assassinated by an unknown figure. Majesty, in anger, unleashes her alicorn powers on the crowd and kills many ponies.
Majesty and Prince Sterling would work together to squash the rebellion caused by the duo's attempt to destroy the power of the Church. Majesty declares that Unicornia is a land where it's people are greater than the gods that constantly treated them with apathy, making it an Atheist state. King Magnus Platinum The Third soon passes away from a broken heart, having lost the strength to rule with his wife and son dead. Majesty is then married to Prince Sterling and they become the King and Queen of Unicornia.
As king and queen, King Sterling and Queen Majesty would start wars of expansion with the other countries, cumulating in a an alliance of Unicornia, Tirek and his Centaurs, and the Rebel Changelings, just like back when Discord is set free but on an international scale. Their endgame is the conquest of Equestria. This causes her to grow distant from her friends due to her duties.
Sterling's sister and mother are angry at him for not giving him the perks that would have came with being direct relations to the king. This is because Sterling refuses to play their game of Gold Digger and Social Climber. The Nihilions would try to recruit Majesty. The attempts fails but they earn her trust by informing her about the truth behind Queen Stormy's death and how she is going to suffer the same fate unless something is done.
When confronted, Sterling confesses but pleads innocence of Siversteel's death. He admits that he is in love with Majesty and says that he will accept any punishment she gives him. Majesty spares him as she still has uses for him. She orders him to kill Princess Dahlia and Princess Eden Joy as proof of loyalty. After arranging a car accident that kills them, Majesty pretends to forgive him, only keeping him alive for the sake of having a child before killing him afterwards.
Mira is secretly working with a Flutterpony revolution and tries to tell Forest, but he doesn't believe her. When asking Majesty to kill Mira, she decides have the Nihilions kill both Forest and Mira, promising the cult positions of power in exchange. However, when the murders happened, Jade saw her brother's death and was subsequently hunted down to be silenced, but she fakes her death jumping into a river. Majesty is struck by grief at the apparent deaths of her childhood friends. She eventually has the Nihilions reveal to her who killed Silversteel. They reveal that it was her own family that is responsible, using the potion from the Season 4 premiere that allows an alicorn to look back in time as proof.
It turns out that Nazo told August Blueblood to have Silversteel assassinated because Sterling would be a better choice for a husband. All to ensure the eventual takeover of Equestria. August would not have gone through with it but was obligated into doing so as Amadeus ordered in his will that the Bluebloods will listen and follow through Nazo's advice. The revelation of betrayal breaks Majesty entirely, ending in her killing all of the Bluebloods by consuming their magic and souls, having learnt so from Tirek. She desecrates her father's grave afterwards.
When confronting Nazo, it revealed due to his constant traumatic visions of future death and destruction, Nitharus's vision of nothing was such a relief he swore to serve him and break Majesty to bring the end of existence, Majesty then kills Nazo but spares Copper Penny who's trying to steer her away from this.
What Ragnarok could've been:
The title comes from the fact there is war in both the living and the afterlife. Nitharus (aka Centarus after he became part of the void) would have been another Big Bad who sought to bring an end to everything. The world, the afterlife, all was to be turned into the void as there are two wars being fought.
Spike and a group of ponies become the new Elements of Harmony (the originals would be rendered unusable due to Twilight's death). They are Spike (Element of Magic), Mystic Sparkle (Element of Honesty), Shale Pie (Element of Loyalty), Joyful Colors (Element of Laughter), Scáth (the son of Sombra from a concubine and Element of Kindness), and Flurry Heart (Element of Generosity).
Mystic Sparkle spent her later life as working her skill in magic and reputation. She goes by Mirage to spite Twilight as she is blamed for ruining her own life. While initially reluctant about the war, she would eventually make peace with herself and her parents.
Shale Pie meets Mystic and, after an event, runs with her and travels with her. He learns about his lineage and undergoes an arc to comes to terms with himself as a pony. He would fall in love with Mystic later on.
Joyful Colors was raised in Equestria and lived a happy and good life but is constantly in fear of her past catching up to her. When Unicornia invades Equestria, she finally takes up the way of the sword, in where she turns out to be very good at. She keeps herself under control with a Thou Shall Not Kill path like Rurouni Kenshin. She saves her fellow prisoners from Unicornia while blowing the lid on their treatment, bringing others against them.
Scáth is Sombra's son from a concubine he had when he was still ruler. Born after the empire's return, his mother is the only kind figure in her life while being treated like dirt by the others because of his father. His first friend was Flurry Heart who didn't see him as a monster, and they became best friends. Flurry's parents oppose this due to his parenthood like the others. Both Flurry Heart and Scáth run away so they can be together as they fell in love.
The group eventually meet each other and try to help Equestria. They consult the Deer for their aid. Through the power of the Deer, they are able to face their fears and conflicts in a vision. They all succeed and they gain their Elements.
Rarity, Rainbow Dash and a few secondary characters die in the war while Discord is captured. He married Fluttershy.
The invasion has four armies: Unicornia, the Traditionalists, Tirek, and "Queen Cicada". They succeeded in taking over half of Equestria, including Canterlot, and capture Princess Celestia after taking her magic with their combined efforts. This causes Luna to return and lead what's left of Equestria against the invaders.
It was to be set two years after Twilight's coronated Princess of Equestria in the Series Finale, and would have included the Student Six, Ember, Thorax, Tempest Shadow, and Starlight Glimmer, and more.
in the form of two stories whose setting is the growing up of Spike in Erebus Isles and Majesty Blueblood in Unicornia titled Rise Of A Dragon and Rise Of An Empress respectively.