ghibli-esque magical realism au where teenage mark is cursed to transform into this loping beast of a dog after killing a forest spirit at the behest of his father and wanders the wilderness resigned to his fate when..
lo and behold, he meets another spirit (seb) who demands that he show them the world beyond the forest to search for their brother in exchange for finding the cure to his predicament
they embark on the journey together as hesitant partners, mark with a lingering distrust of spirits/magical beings, and seb with the humiliation that they need to shackle themselves to this useless lump of fur if they want to go beyond the boundaries of their home and find their lost sibling
they eventually become friends, with mark letting his walls down, and seb getting humbled by the great big world..
but gasp! it turns out seb never knew how to cure mark and they were just using him, even though they feel really bad about it bc now they have Feelings, and it's doubly troubling because seb needs a tether to mark's soul to survive outside the forest, but mark doesn't feel particularly inclined to help seb after getting betrayed............
uh oh! time is running out on the cure for mark's condition, and everything is going to shit for both of them, and mark leaves it to the very last possible second before he decides not to be a killer again, and he very reluctantly comes back to save seb at the cost of time he could have spent searching for a cure
seb is sooo relieved but when mark confesses why he saved them, the dots connect and seb wants to curse mark forever and ever for what he did
but the au is about breaking cycles of pain, so after an angsty and mostly silent journey home, seb and mark choose forgiveness before parting ways.....
mark goes to sleep at the edge of the forest as a beast and wakes up as a boy again. he can't perceive magic anymore in this form, but he can see seb bc they're still tied by their souls, and seb doesn't look like a weird talking tree shrub anymore, but a ghostly blonde kid who looks to be around mark's age, peering at him from just inside the treeline
when seb tries to step outside the border of the forest, they're stopped--not even their link to mark can make them manifest into something corporeal
but mark can enter the forest, and he can hug seb! he vows to love the forest and magical beings and reject his father's teachings
seb is like, love all magical beings equally?? or
and mark is like, no, well. i think i might like one magical being more than the rest
they share an innocent kiss and live happily ever
(mark eventually becomes a hermit of an old man living in a quaint cottage in the forest and taking care of the wildlife... when he passes away, a she-wolf gives birth to a pup in the very same forest near seb's tree. it opens its hazel-green eyes, and seb knows immediately that they and mark are tied forever <3)
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Cinch had three charges in her care once, Celestia entrusted her with the day-to-day care of Prince Blueblood, the new Princess Cadence and her student Sunset Shimmer - running a kingdom is difficult enough alone without three young ponies to look after - so when Celestia is absent (often) that means Cinch was in charge of these three ponies. And while the matron of the castle was always rigid about rules and wanted her three charges to uphold her reputation and to build their own budding reputations high, she cared about them very much. You'd have to, spending your time with the same three young ponies for so long, guiding and teaching them to be their best...
By the time Ditzy came into the picture, Cinch was down to two charges. She refused to fail them the way she failed...
Well, with one down, there were two left and she cared so much she wouldn't let anyone ruin them, especially not themselves. Surely they would come to realize Cinch was only helping.
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Linktober Day 29, Aquatic/Water
Sometimes I forget about how dark Twilight Princess actually gets. And then I remember their Zoras, where the very pretty queen was murdered to send a political message, all of the people in the domain were turned into one big ice cube, the pretty queen's son passes out from a lack of water miles away from his home, all while the Zora at lake Hylia are stranded downstream panicking over the decreasing water level. Thats some Game of Thrones level of dark drama in a children's game. I love it.
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