This
is what a ronian, sort of, looks like.
is what a ronian, sort of, looks like."So sorry to see such beauty be sacrificed."
— Kapral
Swordstorm is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfiction written by HeavyMetalKnight. You can find book 1 here and the side story Sellsword here.
Story's Summary from FimFiction
The worlds of Equestria and Ronia have been created since the beginning, crafted by omnipotent makers. Thousands of years ago, an alliance was forged by the two princesses, to bring peace to both of their worlds. And they intended to keep that peace for a lifetime.However... newer threats have emerged since then; plotting to break the alliance by whatever means necessary. Such as a cult of heretics who use blasphemous practices to wreak havoc on pony-kind.
Twilight Sparkle and her friends become aware of this issue and plan to put a stop to it. But sometimes, fate doesn't play kindly to heroes. Meanwhile, an unfortunate pony is imprisoned in a world she knows nothing about. A tale riddled with twists and turns around every corner, an inevitable sense of danger, and fear of a possible war. Will there be saviors to prevent an all-out war? Or will each world be hellbent on destroying the other? We shall see.
The Swordstorm series provides examples of:
- 24-Hour Armor: Ronians are almost never seen without armor.
- Action Girl:
- Sunset Shimmer would definitely qualify as one, not only did she escape a sabrathanian base and saved her own life, but also saved the lives of TWELVE other ponies!
- Twilight Sparkle as well. She blasted a character's FOREARM off! Not to mention, slew a bunch of changelings pretending to be Celestia's soldiers
- Void Wing would risk life and limb, to protect her little brother, Lemon Lime. She even helped Sunset Shimmer fight a huge bird!
- Amazon Chaser: Blackblade is one, since he is quite interested in Rainbow Dash of "all" ponies.
- Ancient Conspiracy: The Equestrian Universal Defense, considering the organization started some time after Ronia became "sealed off".
- Animal Motifs: Some Ronian kingdoms have their own sigils, some based off animals.
- For Kaerndal it's a dark blue dragon.
- For Dramor a golden eel.
- Anti-Hero:
- Kapral. His motives are unclear, and he is also rather sarcastic and pragmatic. However, he "seemed" to feel bad about kidnapping Sunset Shimmer, possibly meaning he isn't entirely bad.
- Seris is definitely not perfect either. He tends to be sarcastic, yet is also a bit selfish.
- Lightning Dust from the Sellsword side story, is mostly a Villain Protagonist who plans to seek vengeance on the pony who got her kicked out of the Wonderbolts Academy: Rainbow Dash.
- She ends up making an appearance in chapter 18 in Swordstorm Book I, and will most likely make more appearances.
- Anti-Villain:
- The nezenite people could be considered as such. Especially considering some of their former emperors were terrible. They've committed several considerably horrible acts, yet still do their best to care for their country.
- Jolly Blade, starts to become one since he forced Rainbow Dash and Applejack to become members of Luna's organization. He also somehow knew that Twilight sent the two to spy on them. He's also revealed to be a bit a jerk as well.
- He also used to be a unscrupulous sellsword.
- The Changelings would also count as well.
- Anyone Can Die: a theme that occurs through out the series. Ponies, Ronians, and other creatures can and will die.
- Boyish Short Hair: Void Wing has shorter hair than most other mares.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Ruby, definintely qualifies! She's so possessive of Void Wing, she can hardly tolerate her looking at stallions! And even got jealous of Sunset Shimmer!
- Cool Sword: The orange bladed "Ember", wielded by Sunset Shimmer.
- Dangerous Deserter: Sabrathanians were once criminals. Ronian customs state that criminals were to have their wings chopped off, and be cast out into the desert.
- Lord Erinnen proves to be one. He was cast out by his brother, for attempting to steal three powerful swords. He went crazy, and even killed five wandering ponies. He was slain by Sunset Shimmer.
- Seris also has a knack for speaking his mind.
- Same with Ruby. But it's unclear why.
- Obsidia would also count as one.
- Evil Wears Black: The members of the sabrathanian cult wear dark colored armor, and black cloaks and robes
- Fiery Redhead: Ruby Bloodmane. Although whether or not it's an act or she's just plain mean, is unknown.
- Flying Weapon: Subverted. Blackblade actually levitates his sword, using some kind of telekinesis.
- The Black Bird for example, appears to be one.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The story has heroes on different opposing sides. While sabrathanians, and changelings, may avert the trope, the theme is still present.
- Killed Off for Real: Many characters die, and stay dead. No character has been revived.
- Large Ham:
- Emperor Mendrion was mentioned to be one by Seris.
- Stern Hammer seems to be one.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Moonshadow in some way qualifies, since he's rather feminine looking for a stallion. It also doesn't help the fact he has a long, flowing mane.
- Mind over Matter: Blackblade has a unique ability to levitate any object. He is a bat pony and not a unicorn, so he isn't using unicorn magic. Whether or not it is "considered" magic, is unknown.
- Mysterious Past: Kapral tells Seris a tragic backstory about himself. And then vaguely tells him it was a lie. As for why he lied remains unknown, but it makes his past all the more mysterious.
- Fancy Shine shows shades of being one.
- Off with His Head!: Some characters have died by decapitation.
- Orphan's Ordeal: Happens to 3 characters.
- The first being Babs Seed, who finds out her parents, and sister, were murdered by an unkown killer.
- The second being Paprika, a very young filly. She actually saw her own mother be killed by the exiled Lord Erinnen. However, she has taken a liking to Sunset Shimmer, even going as far as asking her to be her mother
- The last being Scootaloo. Her parents and house were burned by a sabrathanian. Scootaloo was saved by Rainbow Dash, but her parents weren't so lucky.
- Obsidia was revealed to be an orphan, having lost both of her parents.
- Promotion to Parent: Happens to Sunset Shimmer. With her mother dead, the very young Paprika looks to her to be her new mother.
- Redhead In Green: Ruby Bloodmane is described as having a long dark red mane, and has a light green coat color.
- Secret War: What the story may lead up to. Or worse. The Equestrian Universal Defense hopes to vanquish the quote "tyrannical" nezenites, in order to prevent any further conflict. All the while not letting anypony, including Celestia, know about it.
- Kapral. Not as much as Seris though.
- Ruby appears to be very cynical.
- The same goes for Obsidia. Ever since her parents died she had become less of a cheery pony.
- Gadreel. But it is unclear why.
- Throne Made of X: Nezend's Ivory Throne.
- Seris describes Hayliel and Opheil in this way, when they were young.
- Unreliable Narrator: The story changes character perspectives each chapter. The narrative revolves around the minds of these characters, meaning no pony (or ronian) knows the full extent of different situations.
- We Hardly Knew Ye:Five of the thirteen wandering ponies, were killed by rogue exile Lord Erinnen during their journey. The readers hardly knew anything about them, making (some) their deaths seem meaningless. Sunset even mentions that she didn't much about them before they died, but wished she had.
