The Alicorn stood her ground, staring at her opposition without fear, but her eyes were filled with sadness and grief. Right before Celestia's eyes, her sister Luna transformed into a nightmarish enemy. They took to the skies around their castle keep, powerful collisions of arcane magic practically lit up the night sky. They battled fiercely, their tactics resembling a mix of Unicorn and Pegasus training. Both equines loped around each other as their magical blasts tore apart the castle around them. It was a duel between Alicorns that would surely be remembered as one of biggest of all time. After a seeming eternity of evenly trading blasts, one of Luna's shots struck true and Celestia's form went crashing back down into the roofless audience chamber of the keep. She was motionless for a moment, but then the floor in front of her opened up and a set of six gemstones floated up into her possession. With a painful flap of her wings, Celestia took to the air once more, the six gemstones following close behind her thanks to her levitation magic.
"You must stop this, Sister! You go too far!"
But her pleas fell on deaf ears, Luna was gone, and in her place was only Nightmare Moon. Nightmare Moon quickly spotted the gemstones and realized Celestia's plan. She fired one last powerful beam of raw arcane magic at Celestia, hoping to blast her out of the sky before she had a chance to cast the spell. But she was too slow, Celestia's horn shined with radiance as the gemstones floated in front of her, beginning to fly in a circle that suddenly blasted an even more powerful beam forth from it. The two beams of arcane energy collided with a crackling and explosive flash. They appeared to push against each other, but only for a fleeting moment before Celestia's beam easily overwhelmed that of Nightmare Moon. The dark mare let out a blood curling scream as the beam covered her and forced her right up into the night sky until the mighty beam hit the very moon itself. It was done, the banishment was complete, and all across the land Ponies of all three Tribes were able to see the aftermath of the final attack: an unsettling image of a pony on the surface of the moon.
Suddenly Celestia also screamed in pain, her tear-streaked face contorting as sparks of energy leapt between her and the six Gemstones, while her scream echoed throughout the area in the form of her booming royal voice. Without warning, they all exploded in a flash of arcane light. Celestia's lifeless, slumbering form crashing back into the keep while the six Gemstones flew off in separate directions across the land.
Ten years have passed. Celestia remains in her deep slumber, showing only the faintest signs of life and none at all of ever waking. The land is divided by the Three Pony Tribes: Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies. Decades ago they once waged bloody war with one another over the lands. It was only the birth and intervention of the two Alicorn Sisters that prevented them from destroying one another, the sisters able to broker an unsteady truce between them. But both are gone now, and with their disappearance, war is inevitable. It's no longer a question of whether someone will strike, but who will be the one to strike first.
All three Tribes are ruled by their noble families: most of whom own entire towns or villages, while others are just simply the strongest or most powerful of their peers. Sometimes, it is a combination of both. But such harsh leadership has been stirring unrest among the common peasants. The divide between rich and poor, noble and low-born, is an incredibly wide one that seems to only be getting wider and wider. From the peasant communities, a flame of rebellion has burned here and there. Battlecries in the name of the Moon and She Who Rules It ring as masked rebels attack anywhere and everywhere. At first the uprisings were small, local and isolated. But in the recent months, they've begun to converge into a much more massive force. At this stage, the nobles and their armies have no choice but to respond, also beginning to mobilize with the intention of quelling the so-called Lunar Legion at any costs.
Concept
The concept of this RP is to tell a tale that is heavily inspired by Fire Emblem, while also set within the universe of My Little Pony. An odd combination, but one I think will work quite nicely as we blend together the fantastic elements of MLP with the war and political intrigue of Fire Emblem. You'll be able to take the role of one of a few playable races and class before setting forth to make your mark on history.
The main thing to know before signing up for this is that I've taken some liberties with the MLP canon. Equestria was not founded at the time of Nightmare Moon's banishment, and the banishment itself took it's toll on Celestia, rendering her in a comatose state that she doesn't seem likely to ever wake from. The plot will then focus on a 100 year period of Ponies with no Alicorns to lead them or guide them, and the conflicts and political power plays that arise from that.
Races
Unicorns are the masters of magic and the arcane. Using their horns they can perform simple powers such as levitating small objects, to more impressive feats such as blasting a foe with a ball of explosive fire. Due to their nature, Unicorns have an absolute monopoly on the magic-wielding classes, whether the more offense-oriented such as Mages or Shamans, or support-oriented like Healers. Magic is also intrinsically tied into Unicorn society and politics. Generally speaking, political power and influence is often determined by who has the most powerful magic at their beckoned call. This often results in the ostracizing or outright disowning of Unicorns who cannot or choose not to train in Magic. The Unicorn noble families are both wealthy and powerful wizards, with the infamous Silvermane family being the largest and best known of them all. The Silvermanes are rather infamous for their cruelty and belief in outright Unicorn Supremacy, believing their kind to be the superior race who should be ruling the land by birthright. Not all Unicorns believe this, but most of the families ally themselves with the Silvermanes out of greed or fear.
Unicorns are the only race able to become a magic-based class, and this makes them rather unique by default. However, Unicorn Wizards and Healers do not care for weapons and armor, believing their magic to be more than enough to make up the difference. As such, Unicorn characters will often be the most intelligent or cunning, but be rather lacking in physical ability save for but a few exceptions.
Stalwart and tough, the Earth Ponies are shining examples of hard work and stubborn tenacity. While they lack the magical cunning of Unicorns and speed and guile of Pegasi, Earth Ponies more than make up for it with raw strength and stamina. They are known to be the best of the best at ground combat, their armor believed to be the strongest of any race able to deflect sword and arrow alike. Earth Pony society revolves around one's ability to be productive and useful. Whether on farms, trains, or the battlefields, Earth Ponies possess an unshakeable work ethic that truly defines their strength to the rest of the world. They are most known for having built the extensive railroad system that crisscross the land, making long distance travel and deliveries easy and convenient for anyone not born with wings. They also own this system and defend it with an iron hoof. Earth Pony nobility are often nicknamed Railroad Barons, and for good reason. They each own various sections of the railroads and will fight tooth and nail to defend it or even expand it, sometimes against other people and sometimes against each other. Railroad Baron families are notorious for having various alliances and rivalries with another that extends into vicious family feuds. Even so, when push comes to shove, even the most bitter of families will set their feud aside for the sake of defending Earth Pony kind as a whole.
Earth Pony characters will almost always have the distinction of being able to dish out lots of punishment in battle while their armor allows them to take it right back without so much as flinching. However, their heavy armor takes a toll on their speed, and it affords little protection against magic.
The winged masters of the sky, Pegasi have the distinction of being the only tribe with any kind of aerial superiority. They can fly in the sky at wicked fast speeds, the fastest recorded flights were even said to be able to break the sound barrier, though that might just be pure boasting. Pegasi live in floating cities that are constantly on the move, usually well hidden by the clouds. The greatest of these cities is Cloudsdale, which is often considered their Capital City. Pegasi also hold the distinction of being solely responsible for creating and managing the weather. Everything from rain to snow is kept on a tight schedule, the clouds for producing such weather is manufactured in highly industrial factories. In Pegasus society, speed is often the name of the game. The faster and more daring you are as a flier, the more of a reputation you're likely to garner for yourself. The Pegasi are also highly militarized, even known for producing a special light-weight mythril armor that grants them a unique resilience against Unicorn magic. Most of the Pegasi - Cloudsdale in particular - are ruled by martial law, led by a Military Dictator. However, they aren't nearly as strong or durable as Earth Ponies, flying creatures of any kind all share a crippling weakness to projectile weapons such as arrows or ballista.
Pegasus characters have the unique ability to fly and thus get around the battlefield much faster and more easily than other characters. They also tend to be faster and more agile in general, usually preferring to rely on their speed and acrobatic flying to dodge attacks rather than take them directly.
Winged beasts that are hybrids of feline and bird, the Griffons are wicked fighters in the air. Their claws and talons make for excellent natural weapons, and while their larger wingspan does prevent them from moving with as much speed and precision as their Pegasi counterparts, it does allow them to travel for much greater distances without tiring. Little is known about Griffon society, their homeland of Griffonstone is far away, and the Griffons seen in pony lands are all wandering mercenary armies just looking for their next job. Like all fliers, Griffons have a similar weakness against projectile weapons. Unlike the Pegasi, Griffons do not wear much armor, if any. Instead they tend to rely on their feathers and sheer ferocity to carry them through battle.
Griffon characters are fliers like Pegasi, stronger but not as fast. They share the same weakness, though, and a Griffon's talons and claws make for a great weapon in their own right, but also a good backup should their lance or other weapons be taken from them.
Yaks may seem simple-minded, but don't ever tell them that to their faces. Irritable and often short tempered, the Yaks are also probably the only other race that can go blow for blow against Earth Ponies and their armor. Yaks can fight alone or in groups, either by utilizing their individual strength and horns, or by stampeding as a group. Either way, the Yaks are a not a force to be trifled with. Hailing from the distant snowy land of Yakyakistan, the Yaks in the pony lands are those who decided to continue the nomadic traditions of their ancestors, while the Yaks back home are those who chose to settle and form a civilization. The nomadic Yaks are mercenaries by trade, willing to lend their stampeding strength to those who are willing to pay for it.
Yak characters, similar to Earth Ponies, are strong and durable. Yaks tend to be both stronger and more durable than Earth Ponies, but are also slower overall. On the plus side, they never to seem to be quite as fazed by magic, perhaps due to the Yaks' dull intelligence.
Classes
Some classes are exclusive to certain races while others are "neutral" and thus can be used by any race. Such will be noted in the list. Also I'm going to include links for the classes at a later time.
