Element of Hope (Working Title)

[windfalcon]

Here's the general layout...

The future is in shambles. A great and terrible creature known only as 'Erebus' has somehow caused the entire world to fall to never-ending war. The Princesses, bringers of Day and Night, have long been captured, leaving the world in an eternal twilight. With a horde of corrupted Changelings as his minions, Erebus has caused all the various sentient nations of the land to war against each other, all while he simply sat back and watched, taking shadows from the field of battle to empower himself and slowly weaken those who would oppose him.

While all seems lost, small pockets of resistance have cropped up, banning together in the name of Harmony to try and restore the world to its former glory. Even Discord, the Avatar of Chaos, has decided to throw his lot in with the resistance, which is lead by a certain purple and green Dragon that does his best to uphold the memory of his fallen friends. Sadly, even for Discord, Erebus is far too powerful... but he was not always.

Devising a system empowered by what was left of the Elements of Harmony, Spike gifts the curious magitech suit to his greatest student, one who has embraced the lessons Spike taught of Friendship despite the harsh world they lived in. With it, Spike gave him a task... to travel to the past and prevent Erebus from coming into power... A one way trip to save a future he would never see again.

Donning the RIDER System, Spike's Student swore to do everything in his power to save the world before Spike and Discord pooled their magical talents to send him away.

This is a story of the first Rider to appear in Equestrian History.

A story of how a Changeling, raised by a Dragon, could save this world of Ponies and be a shining beacon of hope for the entire world.

This is the story of Kamen Rider Equus.

Yeah, I know, a rough intro at best, more of a brief exposition that doesn;t really explain anything, but I'll digress, promise.

Basically, the main character (Name unknown as of yet) is a Changeling raised by Spike, mostly because Erebus did something to Chrysalis and thus took over the entire Hive after coming into power. This as of yet nameless Changeling escaped from the Hive after Chrysalis was dealt with, some special part of him allowing him to be independent from the hive as Erebus took over adn corrupted the rest of his people. Found by an older Spike, he was taken in as the two came to some kind of understanding. The reason why I chose a changeling is part of the usual theme of 'Rider is somehow tied to the enemy' angle most Rider series traditionally go with.

The main goal is to have this 'stranger from the future' try and disruopt Erebus' plans, which involve freeing Discord as a distraction to draw out the Elements of Harmony, and while the ponies are distracted, steal the shadows of the Main 6, weakening the wielders of the Elements by taking away a piece of what makes them.. well.. them. So empowered, and not having to worry about the Elements, Erebus would move on to taking shadows willy nilly until the Princesses get involved, taking their Shadows as well and causing the world to fall into a perpetual twilight, capturing the Daughters of the Cycle to continually drain them.

Of course, many mnor events lead to this chain of events, starting with Erebus gaining access to Canterlot in the first place via a few Changelings he found scattered and corrupted to do his bidding.

Looking for feedback on the general idea as well as ideas on how to build on this. Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[windfalcon]

Rider System and Forms:

Equus Driver: Forged from the Elements of Harmony, the Driver takes advantage of the wielder's natural Changeling abilities, empowering his form by making him bigger, stronger, as well as 'locking' the Changeling's form into a static 'mask', both to protect his identity as well as allowing the wielder to stay in said form no matter what damage is taken until either the Belt is powered down or the wielder takes far too much damage for even the Elements to withstand. Of course, each form only utilizes a fraction of the Elements' power, both to keep from overloading the wielder in one shot as well as to help the wielder build up a familiarity with the forms and energies utilized. Key forms have been enchanted into the Driver, allowing the wielder to shift between them through use of the Rider Change spell. The Driver is voice activated, and the initial transformation into Base Form is done through the keyphrase 'Driver On' followed by 'Henshin!' (A phrase suggested by Discord for reasons all his own) The use of Neighponese in the System's voice activation makes accidental activation almost impossible.

Base Form simply enhances the wielder to beyond normal pony capabilities, making the wielder faster, stronger, and more agile than your average pony. No weapons are available in this form, save for the 'Scan Eye' which reveals distinct magical signatures and 'Shade Skin', which allows the wielder to fade into the background for purposes of stealth. The form itself is mostly black with green eyes and accents and, oddly enough, a red muffler that's only purpose is to stand out against his form.

In Base Form, the verbal command of 'Change Form' followed by the desired template name will allow a variety of abilities to become available to the wielder.

'Change Form - Horn' not only alters the coloration of the wielder to a white with purple accents, but causes a large unicorn horn to sprout from the center of the forehead. In this form, the wielder is able to perform powerful acts of telekinesis, which is usually focused on the 'Twilight Gunner', a rapid fire energy gun that can also be used for a powerful charge blast if needed. Horn Form also allows the ability to teleport short distances.

(More to come)

 

[nick012000]

So the Equus Driver powers up the changeling's natural transformation powers?

Also, I assume that Erebus is either a form of Shocker Leader, who is basically a cosmic being of pure evil, or a pony who has turned to evil and been empowered somehow? I'll point out that the premier of Season 3 is going to feature an evil alicorn, and Shocker Leader usually prefers to work through evil humans to do his bidding on Earth (as evidenced by the villains of every Kamen Rider series ever).

 

[windfalcon]

So the Equus Driver powers up the changeling's natural transformation powers?

Exactly ^^ The Equus Driver will offer three base transformation forms based off the three types of Pony, giving various abilities per form along with boosted capabilities

Also, I assume that Erebus is either a form of Shocker Leader, who is basically a cosmic being of pure evil, or a pony who has turned to evil and been empowered somehow? I'll point out that the premier of Season 3 is going to feature an evil alicorn, and Shocker Leader usually prefers to work through evil humans to do his bidding on Earth (as evidenced by the villains of every Kamen Rider series ever).

Erebus was a G1 villain who absorbed the shadows of his victims to gain power. He was a humanoid shaped dark cloud, though he won't look like that when I'm through with him. It'll likely be that Chrysalis or some other puppet Changeling Ruler will be his slave, leaving him as a more or less power behind the throne until shit hits the fan.