Thursday, May 10, 2012

Story: All Paths Lead Home (Update Part Complete!)


[Grimdark] [Adventure]

Author: Mystic
Description: Through fire and fear, and darkness and shadow, when the end of the world came, it came swiftly to the peaceful land of Equestria. Now, almost ten years after this cataclysm, a lone mare and her daughter embark on an epic journey of survival across the wasted Equestrian landscape to find hope and meaning in a world where harmony is nothing but a memory.

Inspired by Cormac McCarthy’s ‘The Road’.
All Links after the break! 



All Paths Lead Home Part 1
All Paths Lead Home Part 2
All Paths Lead Home Part 3
All Paths Lead Home Part 4
All Paths Lead Home Part 5
All Paths Lead Home Part 6
All Paths Lead Home Part 7
All Paths Lead Home Part 8
All Paths Lead Home Part 9
All Paths Lead Home Part 10 (New!)

All Paths Lead Home (All Links)

Additional Tags: Post-apocalyptic, hope, family, death, survival

54 comments:

Brony Swag said...

I sure do love me some grimdark!

Lucious said...

Inspired by The Road? Okay, count me in.

Julien91180 said...

"Trough fire and fear " " Trough the fire and flame " hummm .

Mad Brochacho said...

Cormac McCarthy + ponies? Fuck, this better be good.

Mad Brochacho said...

Please please please tell me the pre readers didn't make you add quotation marks.

If not, why do I see quotation marks

Rex2099 said...

This sorry feel sad make me cry. "World where harmony is nothing but a memory". NO!

Avi said...

No! The original was too sad!

ponydoraprancypants said...

Well well, I shall most certainly have to read this when I have the chance! I do love Mr. McCarthy's fiction. Has anyone written "No Country for Old Mares" yet?

Vargras said...

Very first thing I said upon seeing the cover and synopsis was "This looks like The Road". Then I saw it was inspired by it!

Might have to give this a read later.

Computer Nerd said...

Hey Applejack!Should i read this?

AJ:hmmm.......Nah.

I dont read these kinds of fics.I read comedies!

MasterLuigi452 said...

OC Ponies in Post-apocalyptic settings?
Sorry. I will pass this time.
I perfer read End of Ponies.

Mad Brochacho said...

Thank you for telling us that you are not going to read something for no good reason. This information is very helpful and we are truly honored to be granted the privilege of knowing what you will not be reading.

Sessalisk said...

Woohoo! Good job finally getting this on here!

I knew you could do it! :)

DPV111 said...

The road was great, but sad... so very sad. It was hard enough to cope with portraying humans, I don't think I could handle it with ponies.

ombutescentdin said...

A fan fic like The Road....How much like it. Some...Things I don't want to see happen to ponies happened in that book.

Sessalisk said...

@ombutescentdin

There's no cannibalism, and by extent, no baby eating if that's what you're concerned about.

I was actually a little disappointed at that. I love me a good baby-eating story!

Sotha said...

Ooooh. The Road. Count me in.

Twifight Sparkill said...

Yum. I have an unhealthy affection for grimdark tales, devouring anything with either premise or promise to make my emotions stir. Fear and pain are good teachers; best to be reminded what bad feels like so we can enjoy the good, I figure.

I'm not very normal. Who is? Eh.

GWGV said...

The Road is one of the only more contemporary novels I would legitimately call a classic. It's a dark, haunting masterpiece that will be very, VERY difficult to measure up to.

From the first chapter, I have no doubt that this will be an enjoyable read. It's just a shame that it will constantly be in the unenviable position of being compared to one of the best novels of the 21st century.

Mactoplac said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stoferin said...

Reading of prologue compiling....

Will post shortly.

Stoferin said...

Reading of prologue complete.

http://soundcloud.com/stoferin/all-paths-lead-home-prologue

Feedback = awesome.

Mystic said...

@GWGV

Tell me about it!

I have to say, that was one of the most difficult things about writing this. I knew that I could never live up to McCarthy's quality of writing and so I fought long and hard with myself over many stylistic choices and plot points as a result. In the end, I tried to stay close to the original, yet as far away as I could. Why? Because it can never be as good as the original, haha. (Even though I do try my best!)

The end result is something a little more character driven with a tad more "adventure", to keep it mine, while still trying to maintain that 'feel' of The Road.

In either regard, I really hope you enjoy!

Mystic said...

@Stoferin

That is so unbelievably cool! Like... wow!

Mystic said...

@ombutescentdin

Hahah, yeah! There isn't anything too excessive in this...

Cannibalism was something that I didn't want (to the disappointment of Sessalisk! Haha). Even though it's been done in fics like FO:E, to me it just didn't fit considering they are vegetarians. (Regardless of any hot dog eating contests!)

Of course, it's still a grim world out there...

Mystic said...

@ponydoraprancypants

Well Hiya there, Ponydora! I hope you enjoy if you read! (However, let the next chapter of The Flight of the Alicorn be your priority! Haha)

As for No Country for Old Mares... give it time... Haha I'm sure someone might try to write it yet.

mycutiemarkisagun said...

The Road?

Ponyfied?

SHIT JUST GOT REAL.

90986af2-5e79-11e1-ba81-000bcdca4d7a said...

http://deliciousoj.blogspot.com/2012/02/desperate-plea.html

Arcane4565 said...

Really enjoyed this. I have always been a fan of survival stories, and now I have a pony version of it. Can't wait to read the next chapter.

Alondro said...

@Mystic Yes, cannibalism or predation for that matter wouldn't make any sense given equine physiology, which we see more or less maintained in the cartoon. While any creature will eat what it can find when starving, pure herbivores (especially ungulates) cannot tolerate meat products very well at all. They become very ill, as they lack the digestive enzymes to properly break down many animal proteins and deal with the long-chain fatty acids present in animal tissue. I'm not sure how they'd manage with muscle glycogen... hmmm.. I need to study that.

Sessalisk said...

Not to mention all the prion diseases. But then again, prion diseases often take years or even decades to manifest, and these ponies probably don't have a very long life expectancy.

Carlopez3 said...

OMG I loved the road, now theres a pony version!!!!

thedudewithnoface said...

Wow that first chapter, to me this is like a realistic version of Fallout, no mutant monsters or laser guns. Can't wait for the next chapter :)

mycutiemarkisagun said...

@Alondro

Ha. As if that's EVER stopped anypony in a Grimdark fic before. :D

I mean come on, cannibalism practically is to Grimdark what kissing is to Shipfics....

Sigurd Mjøllnersson said...

Haha, I was waiting for Road crossover for ages! Count on me :D

EvanW said...

Great story, not extremely dark despite being apocalyptic

enamis said...

ooooooooooooooh this is soooo good and i just CANT wait for part 3 :O

mycutiemarkisagun said...

Considering the source material, I found the quotation marks a little jarring. Fucking pre-readers lol

Mystic said...

@mycutiemarkisagun
That's pretty funny you mention that, actually. Who would have thought that the presence of quotation marks would have made something jarring! Haha. But yeah, with them in there I had to try and rely on sentence structure to keep the tone of the dialogue intact. Even then, it's still not completely the same!

EvanW said...

yeeh yeeh yeeh yeeh!

cyborcats said...

Actually hadn't heard of The Road before reading this page (tho I glanced over the Wikipedia article and it sounds interesting--may have to at least watch the movie based on it at some point), so there's at least one person out there who won't be comparing this story to that =P

Anyway, I'm usually not too interested in Grimdark, but this is an amazing story. I find myself letting out a sigh of relief whenever they find food or something, so that's always a good sign XD

I keep wondering how this'll end--I'm guessing a happy ending isn't possible, but I hope it at least won't end on TOO much of a downer =P

Will we ever find out what happened to Celestia and Luna, or is it one of those things that will just be left open to interpretation?

Mystic said...

@cyborcats Thanks so much for the comment; I really appreciate it!

To begin with, I will say that I cannot recommend 'The Road' enough. It's one of my favourite pieces of fiction of all time. If you like APLH, then read the original because my story pales in comparison! Haha.

As for the happy ending, all I'll say is keep reading, and I hope I don't disappoint!

About Celestia and Luna... well, imagination is a powerful thing. :P Hints and red herrings are everywhere!

Thanks so much for the comment, and I am really glad you are enjoying the story!

i love horeses said...

hope this is about derpy and dinky

i love horeses said...

on part 3 when the story almost ended i seen some spelling errors and part 4 i seen some spelling errors too around the middle of the story

Mystic said...

@i love horeses I'm not quite sure what parts exactly, sorry! Would you mind pointing out a few specific examples? Thanks! :)

ponynet lurkbot said...

MOAR! FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA MOAR!!

Applejack sure is the best. said...

Old comment system.. we meet again.

Starfall said...

This looks like something lots would like. I might read it if I have the time. (I feel like I have barely enough free time to even check the site!)

iisaw said...

Just loved the final chapter. I'd go into all the things that impressed me so much but I don't want to reveal any spoilers. Bravo!

Prince Aeon said...

Can somebody gather up the chapters and post them as a epub?

Mystic said...

@Prince Aeon Already done! http://jlryan.deviantart.com/#/d4ygli1

I hope you enjoy it! Let me know how you find it! :)

dacaz5 said...

@Prince Aeon

epub link:
http://www.fimfiction.net/download_epub.php?story=15020

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