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#Post#: 3661--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Foxtrot Date: June 24, 2018, 7:28 pm
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The projectile of magic was going too fast for Foxtrot to avoid
completely. Having only a second upon landing, he shifts his
torso downward. His legs though are left pointing in the air. A
shock of pain shots across the stallion. His rear left ankle has
been hit. Instantly he covers himself in a magical barrier.
Rushing to get up, he winces when he puts pressure on his bad
hoof. [I]'Omega, help me lock this down.'[/i] The entire calf of
his leg dimly glows with magic. A temporary cast, for now.
Dropping his barrier, he's in time to witness the sphere of
magic become larger and more unstable. The hail of flaming orbs
didn't really make things more pleasant either. But it did give
him an idea. Digging in place, Foxtrot stands up on his back
hoofs. Pointing his front left hoof at a ball flying towards
him, his eyes glow as his magic thinly coats the projectile.
Once it reaches him, he twists around. His second free hoof
brightly glows. Adding more magical grip, Fox clings to the ball
enough to spin him around. A fraction of a second later, he lets
go. The fireball flies back in the general direction of the
source. He manages to sidestep and repeat again, but the strain
limits him from doing more. Purple is still his primary target,
so the stallion makes a full charge forward. A magically
assisted leap closed the gap at a good rate. His weapon was
drawn and was prepared for an up close fight.
#Post#: 3662--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Onyx Lotus Date: June 24, 2018, 10:05 pm
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Nyx could feel powerful energy flowing into her. It was working!
Unfortunately, her activities had not gone unnoticed. As the
cage was built around her, she redoubled her efforts to absorb
the portal’s energy. Technically, she could still pull it
through the cell’s wall, but it was a bit like pushing clay
through a window screen- it took exponentially more effort and
went a lot more slowly. After a few moments of this, Nyx
realized there was no way she could siphon all of the portal’s
energy quickly enough, especially with the energy the pink
unicorn had added. She had to change tactics.
Her horn fading, she targeted the pink unicorn and glared.
Giving the cage around her a pronounced look, she yelled in his
direction, “So that’s how you guys want to play it? Fine by me.
Let’s see how you like it!” Several feet above the pink unicorn,
Nyx started building a construct. It was a large, perfectly
shaped cube that looking exactly like the box she was currently
in. With a tiny movement of her head, she released her hold on
it and it started to fall towards the unicorn. Nyx had seen
Mana’s initial efforts to trap the mages- she doubted she could
make an enclosure strong enough to hold any of them for any
length of time. She was playing on the unicorn’s pride, hoping
that he would assume the construct was cage like the one they
had put around her, and wouldn’t bother to avoid it, because he
could blast his way out anyway.
What the unicorn probably didn’t know that the construct was
distinctly solid… and heavy. If the pink unicorn did not act
quickly, it would hit him straight on. Nyx had given it the
weight and feel of solid wood, in hopes of it knocking him
unconscious and giving her and her allies a leg up on the fight.
She could have crafted something more akin to stone, but the
last thing she wanted to do was kill anypony. Between her
earlier taunt about how they played, and the appearance of the
construct, Nyx hoped he wouldn’t realize his mistake until it
was too late.
#Post#: 3663--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Faded Glory Date: June 26, 2018, 10:21 pm
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Glory barely has time to notice the beam cutting off as she
lunges at Green, hoping to throw him off balance and create some
kind of opening to attack. Unfortunately the laser doesn't
distract him as much as she hopes, and he's able to respond
before she reaches him, engulfing himself in magical flames to
ward her off. She collides with him and jumps back, the heat
singing her coat but not being in contact long enough to cause
serious damage. The ground beneath her hooves shifts and gives
way, and she's forced to awkwardly dive and scramble out to
avoid getting caught. This gives Green plenty of time to enact
his defensive bombardment, and Glory is forced back even further
off. She pauses for a moment to catch her breath and take in the
situation. The unicorns magic seems to be running out, but
there's very little opening to get at them with their ring of
fire. A ranged attack, however, might work. She reaches for a
loaded pistol, her eye back on Green again, and takes aim...
#Post#: 3664--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Mana Burn Date: June 26, 2018, 10:24 pm
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The first returned fireball splashed across Green and earned a
grunt of pain. It was his own magic being flung back at him, so
he wasn’t particularly vulnerable to it, but the impact was
still enough to harm him some and stagger his balance. What
wasn’t a problem being the fire part of the ball as it only was
consumed by his still active immolation, fanning his coat of
flames and allowing him to feed on it enough to right himself
and duck his head out of the way of the second ball though the
flames were siphoned away and into his coat as it passed.
Green remained focused on his rain while Purple finished his
cage around Onyx with metallic clank. Moving on to see Foxtrot’s
leap closing fast, the corner of Onyx’s cage shattered with a
sliver shooting the distance between it and Purple. It arrived
just in time to protect him from the Foxtrot’s initial efforts,
meeting his weapon and throwing the swing off enough to limit
the damage to a nasty slash across the face. There the sliver
formed itself into the shape of a simple dagger which Purple
used to parry and block to a degree of success even if he did
leave behind more than a few cut strands of him mane.
While Purple and Green were doing their things, Pink was
catching his breath from the exertion of casting the orbs. Onyx
and her shouting earned little response from him and he only
gave the construct forming above him a half glance before
rolling his neck and steadying himself. When the cage was
finished he took a deep breath and pushed himself to his hooves
with no apparent attempt to move aside or hurry out of the way.
Once the cage began its descent he just stared in Onyx’
direction and allowed it to fall where it appeared to collide
with him but not slow down, instead continuing on until it
landed flat onto the stone floor. One of two things must have
happened to allow this. Either Pink was now smushed flat and was
no thicker than a crepe, or he had mustered enough effort to
resume his mist state and escape. The whoosh of particles
jettisoned away from beneath the hefty construct upon its
landing lent strong evidence towards one of these theories.
Green wasn’t moving, his focus too much on his firestorm to
afford more than the duck of his head from earlier so Glory had
a clear shot from across the room at a steady target. It would
have been easy had it not been for the sudden crackling sound
reminiscent of electricity arcing wild that would herald a
sudden pulsating absence of light. The basement already wasn’t
super well lit with most of the light having come from small
windows and the ball of magic itself, but even the natural
sources were dimmed when the ball consumed the orbs helping to
fuel it and crinkled inwards then flattened and stretched into
the expected shape of a portal over the course of only a few
seconds. It was solid at first, like a plate teetering on it’s
edge, but soon a pinprick of light pierced its center where it
then let loose a torrent or noise and heat as the prick twisted
inwards and widened, the rim of the portal still lashing and
flailing in wild manners as it’s stability was left in question.
In a distressing escalation the portal was soon a churning
vortex of arcane power that flooded the room with sounds like
shifting sands until all the light robbed from the area was
returned in a blinding flash.
Green and Purpled had apparently been prepared for this as they
avoided looking directly at the portal in time to retain their
full vision, but those unlucky enough to not have known better
would be seeing spots for hours and would struggle to notice
that the center of the portal had snapped open and reached its
rim entirely. On the other side one could see a small sample of
a gloomy environment composed of gray, black and tinges of
orange and dim reds alighting a stone floor decorated with
frayed rugs and scattered baubles. There was no wall in sight as
the porthole view was too limited to see sideways and the back
of this presumed room stretched too far outwards to be
identified.
While all of this had happened quickly, the unicorns had been
prepared enough so as not to miss a beat. Purple would use
whatever opening may be provided to donate a swift sucker punch
in his opponent’s direction before teleporting away and to the
mouth of the new doorway. Soon after Pink would reappear,
forming back into his normal state just beside Purple then
stumbling over the edge of the portal where he collapsed and lay
motionless, the drain of his magic having been too much for him
to remain active any longer. Green would harness his coat of
fire into one final flash of flames delivered in a cone reaching
outwards from the portal towards the others in the room, his
proximity to the portal allowing a swift flight and immediate
escape where he paused only to hoist the unconscious Pink up and
away from view.
Charybdis, now free from having to dance around a cascade of
fire, dropped before the portal where she then bolted forward
with wing assisted speed to try and catch Purple as he stepped
back and over the threshold, his horn lighting up one final time
to conjure a barrier of magic as his cage around Onyx crumbled
and faded away. The barrier stopped Charybdis short but didn’t
last long, Purple’s now technical distance from it cutting his
influence and killing the magic soon after. Once it dropped,
Charybdis dashed forward again, her intent being to enter in
after them only for her to crash into something on the way and
be propelled back and away from the portal’s entrance.
The reason for why soon made itself known as something large and
pointed and sharp had come out from the other side, blocking
Charybdis as it reached out and curved upwards towards the top
of the portal. It was soon followed by another of its kind that
assisted in gripping the portal in ways that should have been
impossible, two more following suit and only just fitting
through until each worked together to tear the portal wider and
make room for four more.
Charybdis needed only to glance at her claws to realize what she
was looking at. She flew closer to slash at the appendages with
her sword but found it to not be doing enough to actively slow
the progress being made.
“… I think we need to get out of this building,” Mana said, the
portal now stretching wide enough for a large fist to fit
through and slam down onto the floor causing the already damaged
and half rebuilt building to buckle and shake from the impact.
#Post#: 3665--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Gleam Date: June 26, 2018, 10:26 pm
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Meanwhile, back in Canterlot...
While most of the mayors from their earlier meeting had left for
home a short while after their talk, two had stayed to play out
the amount of time it should’ve taken them to finish whatever
errands they’d used as cover stories. Having drawn a clear line
down the center of the castle their plan was to leave each other
be to avoid any bickering, and yet somehow Gleam was left
mulling over the mystery that was how he could be hearing them
arguing from down the mostly empty back hall of Canterlot
Castle. Reserved for servants, guards and their superior, it was
empty enough to bounce an echo, but have it go unnoticed as
traffic was thin and distracted with their own tasks. In fact,
were it not for Gleam, this would have probably been like a tree
falling in the woods. It made a sound, but no one cared.
Already in his usual grumpy cloud, Gleam was not interested in
having to break up whatever he was walking into and had already
decided on a plan to turn one of the mayors into a penny and the
other a petunia before sitting them down for a nice lecture
about the depths of the southern jungles with subtle hints to
reign their crap in before needing to put such information to
good use. Thankfully he would be denied the chance to make good
on his plan as his nearing of the rather stock and bland door
leading to the temporary room of one of the mayors swung wide
upon his approach with the shouting previously bottled up behind
being let loose upon the hall in full force.
“-AVE YOU STRUNG UP FOR TREASON!” Merger finished, his partially
shaved head ducking low for a quick second as if to dodge an
incoming projectile only for nothing to come of it, “Mark it
here and now, you harpy, that this was when the line was
crossed!” he finished with a slamming of the door shut and a
pivot of his hooves that he intended to have lead into a
stomping of his hooves away. He was stopped however by Gleam’s
glare that he found himself faced with and trying not to sizzle
under.
“… Head Instructor…” he acknowledged with a far meeker tone than
that of his earlier declaration, Merger trying to stand tall but
faltering and slowly shrinking under the older stallion’s gaze.
With a nervous nod Merger attempted to wish the pony a good day
but could only mutter a few syllables before scurrying around
him and tip toeing away with far less noise than he was planning
a second ago. Gleam found the response only mildly satisfying
and would have preferred to see the fool weep, but he did also
know that life wasn’t perfect, and one couldn’t hope to get
everything out of it without some disappointment.
Moving on, Gleam opened the door recently slammed with his magic
only to have it be redirected in time to stop a flower vase that
was instantly sent flying in his direction as a result. Catching
it with ease, he was proud of his reflexes still being sharp
enough to avoid the occasional hurled object and set it on a
nearby end table as he faced off against the mare responsible.
“Oh. It’s you,” Diligence snarled, her running a hoof through
her mane to brush it neater after her shouting match with Merger
had tussled it some. She wore a weird half grin mixed with a
touch of wild anger that Gleam thought befit a stray dog
recently fed. He’d always theorized that she enjoyed these kinds
of conflicts and it was clear this instance had satisfied her to
some degree. Probably alleviated the boredom both she and Merger
had been complaining of ever since they’d been shown to their
temporary room. Gleam felt it a disgusting waste of her time and
efforts and was equally critical of Merger’s willingness to
reciprocate her prodding and had considered moving one or the
other several times only to dismiss the idea for fear of them
taking it out on the castle staff instead. So far it had been a
contained disaster and one he could quash if it got too raucous.
“Ever heard of knocking?” Diligence spat while kicking a cushion
in front of a modest vanity set up in the corner to better groom
herself before, “All that money and they can’t teach basic
manners at the Princess’ fancy school? Takes minimal effort, and
you don’t even need magic to pull it off. Just lower yourself to
us normal ponies’ level and smack your hoof against the door a
few times and I won’t need to defend myself out of surprise.”
“If you wanted privacy then you wouldn’t be advertising yourself
loudly enough for me to hear you several hundred feet down the
hall,” Gleam replied in a monotonous scold, “I made it clear
that you get as much privacy as you afford yourself and that you
were to keep your noise to yourself. You’ve forfeited any reason
for me to respect whether or not this door is closed the second
you started damaging the castles decor like a stir-crazy
teenager.”
“Whatever, teach,” she dismissed with a tone that grated on
Gleam’s wizened patience, “build thicker walls, or give me the
green light to leave.”
“These walls are solid stone.”
“Yeah, well, I can’t help that I have a great singing voice.
What do you want?” Diligence demanded to know, her tolerance of
Gleam’s presence waning. Gleam weathered it like the walls
around them did wind back when it moved, but this didn’t stop
him from playing out fantasies in his head of deleting the
malignant pony’s mouth.
“Two things,” He began, Diligence sighing and pretending to be
very focused on what she was seeing in her mirror, “First off, I
need to know what happened in Perticity.”
“Oh, wonderful. What’s a fifth or sixth time, right? Just as
exciting as the first I hear. Monsters showed up, the end. We
good?”
“No,” Gleam growled as the door behind him shut with a moderate
slam, “I know that story. What I want to know is why you kept it
quiet. This gathering of you degenerates to discuss the matter
should have happened weeks ago, yet I first hear of within the
last few days? Curious. Why the delay? Why did it fall to Lion
to get things moving?”
“And what reason did Visionary or that shaved idiot have, hmm?”
Diligence asked back, offense painted over her face, “Did you
invade their rooms to give them an interrogation as well?”
“Bunny rabbits and dogs are one thing - an odd situation that
would warrant a small investigation - but a pack of timber
wolves running rampant across a populated area is a cause for
serious alarm, enough that it would be within reason that you’d
send word back to Canterlot.
“I’m not here to argue with you, Diligence,” Gleam interrupted
her before she could do the same to him. A “counterruption”, if
you will. “Tell me why you kept this all to yourself. Now.”
Diligence eyed the older pony, “Humph!” she grunted as she
turned back to the vanity and went back to tidying an already
tidied mane, “I have a force of City Guards,” she began to
explain, taking long breaths as if the task was so taxing on her
attention to risk falling asleep, “I decided to make use of
them. Its what they’re there for, isn’t it? They found nothing,
and the problem was dealt with as far as I knew so it all turned
up Dilly in the end. As for sending word I saw no reason to. I
didn’t know about the other stuff going on in Tweedle Dee or
Dum’s cities. Why bounce around a letter and admit to a security
slip when it was already over, especially when the possibility
of help is always a coin flip given the turbulence always
surrounding the central region every week or so and I had damage
control to juggle here. If you ask me, we need to start being
more independent anyway. I was taking initiative to solve a
problem without running off to ask for permission first.”
“This ‘independence’ is part of the problem,” Gleam scolded,
“your city is yours to govern, yes, but you need to remember
who’s in charge of this country. This break down in steady
communication is the reason things aren’t already settled.
Updates, reports, a heads up as to what’s happening, these are
all within your responsibilities to keep the Princess and her
sister informed. I expect better from you in the future.”
“So, is this devolving to you rapping a ruler across my hoof and
yelling at me like I’m a child? I also don’t understand why
you’re suddenly the mouthpiece for the Crown, Instructor. An
aging school administrator doesn’t have much weight to throw in
court these days. You haven’t exactly gone running off to let
her know about things either now have you? We’d get nothing done
if we kept crying to them.”
“I already brought this up when we first gathered. I did want to
tell the Sisters and am still of the opinion we should. For the
sake of upholding this shaky alliance between you lot and
keeping the investigation as subtle as possible I’m holding off,
but don’t doubt for a second that they won’t be brought in
should even the slightest hint of serious trouble rear its
head.”
“How dutiful,” Diligence scoffed, “… Hypocrite.” Ignoring the
attempt to anger him, Gleam instead let a moment of silence lay
her efforts to rest, Diligence trying to ignore him but losing
her patience far sooner than he.
“Was that not a good enough?” she demanded to know, “What else
do you want?”
“I already told you I came here for two reasons,” Gleam calmly
replied, annoying her further, “One was asking about Perticity.
The other? To tell you to go home.”
Diligence blinked and cleared her throat, “Excuse me?”
“I pulled some strings and had your requests pushed through as
urgent but without the stamp to prove it. Perticity will get its
silver-”
“Finally!” Diligence cheered and hopped to her hooves to start
packing her things, “I’ve wasted enough time in this closet you
call a room! I can finally get back to my bed!”
“I wasn’t done,” Gleam informed, Diligence appearing to nearly
ignore him as she went about her business, “Perticity will be
getting its silver, yes, but it will also be receiving a
Teleping emitter to be installed in the court of her castle upon
delivery.”
Diligence’s ears swiveled to listen while the rest of her froze.
“Once installed it will be linked to me up until this
investigation is concluded, after which I will pass reception
off to Princess Celestia or a representative of her choosing.
For the duration of the investigation I expect regular reports,
every few days, and once this is over you will provide a weekly
update to the Princess about the goings on of Perticity.
Discrepancies will be harshly punished. Once we have installed a
habit in you of keeping us informed the Teleping will be
disabled. It will remain in the city unless required for another
purpose.”
#Post#: 3666--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Gleam Date: June 26, 2018, 10:26 pm
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“You expect me to just allow this you rotting has-been?”
Diligence spun to face Gleam, face burning with building rage,
“On whose authority do you install this into MY home and give ME
orders? I am not one of your thick-headed students that must
bend over and pretend to respect what some washed up codger
blathers out in their senility! You dare overstep into my
jurisdiction and demand I report to you? YOU!? You’re nothing! A
brittle corpse-to-be waiting to die in a redundant position
granted out of pity when you stopped being us-“
Suddenly, Diligence found herself out of breath. Whatever she
wanted to say next was lost as she needed to stop and gasp.
“You seem to have forgotten,” Gleam was speaking, Diligence
could hear him clearly, even over the ringing that was starting
to drown everything else out, “that we live under a diarchy.”
Diligence couldn’t hear the sounds her hooves were supposed to
make when she took a step as she backed away from the vanity,
and she wanted to speak but for some reason wasn’t able to get a
good enough breath to satisfy her bodies thirst for oxygen.
Still gasping, she noticed the room was starting to become
blurry and wash away with light and color becoming increasingly
scarce until everything began to slowly swirl into a gray vortex
that crept away into nothing. At the center stood Gleam, staring
her down with a face bearing stony apathy as he somehow remained
immune to whatever was swallowing the room around them. No
matter how quietly he spoke his voice carried clearly with every
syllable digging into Diligence’s mind and installing their
meaning no matter how muted everything else became or how the
ringing increased in its intensity.
“Under a diarchy we each serve the Crown in our own ways, you
and I more so and often directly and therefore must accept the
Princesses as our ultimate bosses,” Diligence felt her knees
buckling, the room was getting heavy around her as if she was on
a platform being pulled upwards at great speed, “As a veteran of
the court that’s spent decades of his life proudly serving under
our leaders, I find your flippant opinion of them to be
disturbing. Your… hmph… ‘initiative’ was misguided. If it was
even honest or truly acted on. The lack of even the slightest
efforts taken to send word of suspicious activity to your
neighbors or here to Canterlot could very well have cost your
citizens, or others, their safety or livelihoods. Even now more
may be at risk as we come to this late and with limited
information, both being things we could have potentially
improved immensely with enough warning and time to act.
“I am installing the teleping in your home with the hopes it
will teach you to understand the value in communication,”
Diligence could stand no longer, her wings being useless against
the pressure, and was forced to drop to her knees where she
continued to struggle for air and became deaf to everything but
Gleam’s voice and the incessant ringing, “It is a temporary
solution with nothing but positive benefits for everyone
involved. So long as their honest and have nothing to hide, of
course.”
The room was gone now, nothing but black emptiness and Gleam
standing at the center entirely unphased by the gravity pressing
down against Diligence.
“So I’m going to make this very clear,” Gleam leaned his head
closer and stared Diligence square in the eyes as he spoke, “The
teleping will arrive. You will see to its installation
personally. You will then immediately compose and send a message
to alert me that its up and running. From there you will keep me
updated with a report sent every three days until the current
situation is resolved, after which you will repurpose the
teleping to provide the Princess or her people with a weekly
update on the state of your city.
“Do you understand me?” He whispered that final line, yet it was
still clear as day for Diligence, the edges of her vision fading
as she struggled to give a nod of her head.
“Good.”
And then it was all gone. Diligence drew a large breath as her
lungs finally cooperated but found it unnecessary as she was no
longer out of breath. Her Hearing was clear and normal, the room
as vibrant with color as it had been mere minutes ago and the
ease with which she could extend her wings indicated that she
could take to the air at a moment’s notice. It took a second for
Diligence to process that she was fine and start putting the
pieces together as to what had just happened.
“Now go home.” Gleam ordered, turning away from Diligence to
instead look out of her room’s window and appreciate its limited
vista from this part of the castle as his business with her had
concluded.
Diligence twisted her face up in disgust.
“Unicorn bastard…” she muttered, far quieter than her earlier
insults and veiled under her breath as she took her things and
kicked the door open in anger. Stomping out of the room she
found herself passing a yellow earth pony in the hall and, out
of a need to assert herself over someone and salvage some of her
confidence, decided she needed more room than was being afforded
her already. With a shove she growled for the mare to get out of
her way and caused her to stumble and drop the papers she had
been balancing on her back due to apparently not having a bag to
carry them in. Confidence boosted, Diligence decided to expedite
her exit through the use of her wings which beat at the air to
add to the speed of her walk.
Meanwhile, Gleam let out a sigh and used a hoof to rub at the
side of his head to alleviate his headache that was ramping up
in intensity. The effort he’d needed to put into sustaining the
combination of illusions put over on Diligence had taken a ton
of mental effort to make adequately convincing and he was now
paying for it. He’d never been all that fond of illusions and
preferred to deal in reality, but he wasn’t going to dismiss its
efficacy when handling certain personalities. It had certainly
shut her up at least.
Still, his thoughts drifted to the fallout that was sure to come
from this. Celestia wouldn’t be pleased to hear of his harsh
tactics used when convincing Diligence to accept the teleping,
and he was sure to be scolded or reprimanded in some way, but he
was willing to bear it if it meant maybe teaching the mayor a
lesson or two. He didn’t want to admit it, but he could very
well have been stretching his reach beyond what he could get
away with these days. Sure, he still had sway around the castle
and could get things done, but strong arming a mayor into
reporting directly to him could be seen as a little much for a
school administrator to get away with especially when thrown on
top of the fact that he was allowing an off the record and
potentially dangerous investigation to take place.
Oh well… He was in it now, no point in worrying.
Deciding he was tired of this room, Gleam stepped out into the
hall where he found the yellow mare still gathering her papers.
With a flick of his horn and a brief flare up in his headache,
Gleam helped her clean up by neatly stacking the remaining pages
and floating the over to her. She thanked him and he grumbled
some generic response with intent to be on his way but was
stopped when she kept talking.
“Head Instructor?” she said again, Gleam now letting the words
be recognized by his brain and half turning to see what she
wanted, his trouble with Diligence having already wounded his
patience, “A moment of your time please? I’ve been looking all
over for you!”
“And you’ve found me when I’m very busy. What do you want?”
“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean to… Uh, anyway, I have news from Mayor
Heart,” she shuffled through her papers until she found the page
she wanted and then brushed a few strands of her mane out of her
eyes to better read it, “An update on the internal
investigation.”
“The what?”
“Internal investigation?” She blinked in confusion when he shook
his head at the second mention, “For the mayors? He said it was
urgent you be given a heads up on the progress they’ve made in
Perticity.”
“I see,” Gleam had no idea what she was talking about. No plans
to investigate the previously hit cities or any internal affairs
was mentioned to him either at the meeting or after, and he
found it strange that he had to learn of it from some messenger.
“Go on.”
“Well, the latest reports from the team in Perticity say they
haven’t been able to turn up any details on the traces of latent
magic found under the courtyard but they’re confident that a few
more days of study will at least let them figure out the... uh…
‘flavor’ of the spell? Their words not mine, I sort of assumed
you’d understand what they meant. Anyway, Mayor Heart wanted to
make it a point to alert you to how the artifacts he’d seen
during his visit got moved to the lower level of the castle’s
vault and so they couldn’t get a better look at them, though he
personally believes their removal from view to be a concern.”
“What artifacts?” Gleam asked, “And when was his last visit?”
“The same one’s he’d browsed during their trade. I don’t have
the list on me, sorry, but off the top of my head I think it was
a spear, a collection of tomes, some box with swirls on it and a
crystal? There was more but I don’t remember the rest. And I
believe it was just about a week before the city had their
animal problems?
“Anyway, Mayor Heart says that they’ll be starting on Noble soon
but will be sure to keep you informed on Perticity.”
“That’s going backwards,” Gleam pointed out, “Where’s the report
on Corona? You can’t tell me he’s so quick to dismiss the
possibility that he’d need to check on his own.”
“Head Instructor… I don’t understand. Are you asking for another
copy?” the mare asked, “I’m afraid I don’t have one. Did the
previous pony never mention? Mayor Heart wished to ensure that
it be difficult to keep track of all of his agents, so he has
been dividing the responsibility of delivering these reports to
you between a few of us. I was sent to tell you about Perticity,
and someone else will come for Noble, another Greenswill,
etcetera. I can request that they deliver another copy if you’d
like?”
Odd. Gleam was very curious as to the efficiency of Lion Heart’s
people if he was supposed to already be well informed as to
what’s going on. Way he saw it, either there was no report,
which would raise a question as to why he’d be getting one now,
or it had been intercepted or somehow lost. Either way, it had
piqued his interest and roused in him a desire to learn more.
“That won’t be necessary,” he told the mare, “thank you for the
update. I appreciate being kept in the loop, but If there’s
nothing more than I really need to be going, I’m late for a
meeting.”
“Of course,” the mare nodded, “I apologize if this was a bad
time. But, if you don’t mind, Mayor Heart has been focusing so
much on this and his operations in Berylsburg that he’s been
worried about Weaver. He wanted me to ask if you’ve heard
anything?”
“Nothing yet,” Gleam spoke as he turned to leave, his mind now
occupied by the idea of taking a trip away from the city,
“They’re probably fine.”
#Post#: 3667--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Mana Burn Date: June 26, 2018, 10:28 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Back in Weaver...
The town hall of Weaver, only halfway refinished, was
shuddering. One of it’s highest windows boarded over with cheap
wood was bashed through as Charybdis shoulder checked her way
outside and resumed her ascent while Mana opted instead to use
the unlocked front door. Through a mixture of magic, boosts and
helping hooves the group had escaped the basement in time to be
able tor each an exit and outside would be treated to the sight
of the entire building bulging from the lower level upwards.
Charybdis let out a whistle loud and piercing enough to reach
across the entire town, a few of the festival’s attendees
wincing and turning a grumpy glare on her in response. These
would be some of the ponies to witness the town hall erupting in
an explosion of shattered glass, paint cans and wooden planks as
huge muscular arms ripped and battered their way to freedom,
demolishing the town hall and revealing the on responsible.
Gray in color but covered in large patches of black fur, the
creature responsible was massive as it stood several stories
high and appeared built of pure muscle. Its front arms ended in
dexterous claw tipped fingers while its hind legs were cloven
and smaller but evidently capable of supporting it in a standing
position. Its head bore horns thick and heavy at the base before
tapering off and curling inwards at the tip, and its face was
host to a maw of fangs and teeth where a deafening roar was
loosed into the air. Those not yet aware of the danger were
quickly alerted by the noise and looked in time to see it’s
single large eye affix itself on the rest of the town as it was
easily able to look over the rest of the buildings surrounding
it.
The festival goers panicked as most ponies are wont to do.
Mana in the meantime tried to prevent the cyclops from charging
off by erecting a large magical wall that reached to about it’s
knee. It didn’t work quite as he’d hoped as it’s leg crashed
through with only minor trouble, so he tried instead to blast it
with magic if only to draw its attention for the sake of the
civilians. The attacks earned its ire but achieved little as the
cyclops decided the small thing trying to slow it down was
annoying. Despite its size it was fast, and Mana soon found
himself the target of a fist rocketing downwards towards him,
Mana only having a split second to form a bubble around himself
for protection before being slammed into the dirt and buried
several meters deep.
“Well, he’s probably dead,” Charybdis murmured, not being able
to see if Mana was alive from her angle and being too busy to
worry about it. There was a distant whistle that she had
apparently been waiting for as she acted quickly upon hearing
it. Swooping down, Charybdis began testing the large problem
they now had by using whatever airborne tricks she could muster
to avoid the cyclops’ grasp while cutting and slashing at any
open spots she could find. The lack of blood being drawn was
concerning.
Some distance away, Thunder and the B team would be able to
easily spot the trouble from wherever they were. Thunder hummed
and nodded as if pointing out an obvious problem for someone
diagnosing a broken cart.
“That right there,” he said, pointing his hoof and sighing,
“That’s super not fine.”
Realizing he may have been slightly off with his predications,
Thunder took off towards the commotion to try and help.
#Post#: 3668--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Onyx Lotus Date: June 27, 2018, 10:41 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Nyx sprinted for the stairs when it was clear that they were not
going to be able to stop this portal from opening. Once outside,
she formed a hasty energy shield in front of herself, and anyone
who happened to be near her, to have some protection against the
flying glass.
Her jaw dropped as the enormous creature rose up over the
rooftops. Her mind raced. What in Equestria could they do
against such a huge monster? Watching Mana and Charybdis
fighting, Nyx couldn’t help but feel that they were going to
have to do something major to have any effect. Perhaps she could
work on siphoning energy from the creature. She was pretty sure
she could, but it was another matter entirely if she could do it
quickly enough to slow the beast before it flattened Weaver. She
looked around, trying to find a good out-of-the-way spot she
could settle in while siphoning. But even as she looked, she
knew in her gut that she needed a better plan than that. She had
tried to stay out of the fray and work backup by gathering
energy during the fight in the town hall- and look how that had
turned out.
She gritted her teeth. There was no way around it- she was going
to have to get her hooves dirty. She surveyed the creature. The
obvious obstacle to bringing it down was its size. Their weapons
weren’t going to do the job, at least not quickly. Nyx couldn’t
see any way to make the creature smaller, so that left one
option… to make their weapons bigger.
Her mind flitted through her knowledge of early pony history and
warfare. She smiled slightly as she had an idea. Taking a deep
breath, she shut her eyes as her horn glowed and energy flowed
from it. It wasn’t really the size of the weapon that was going
to make it difficult, but the moving parts. That took major
concentration and visualization skills. The energy came from her
horn gradually, the construct being built significantly more
slowly and carefully than the other constructs had been. She had
to get this right, one mistake and it would be completely
useless.
A triangular frame, sturdy enough to carry a great deal of
weight… The pivot, built to withstand constant movement… The
counterweight, a simple release point, a sling… More details
were added as the construct grew upward, until it was around
three stories high. It was actually quite beautiful, made of a
rainbow of auras, as Nyx had to dip significantly into her
backup energy store to complete it. She shortened the main beam
a little on one side, and then it was done.
In front of Nyx stood a 30-foot tall trebuchet. She was panting,
legs shaking slightly, but she wasn’t done yet. She formed a
heavy sphere of energy and loaded it into the sling. She kept
the counterweight near weightless until she was ready. With an
enormous exhale, Nyx gave counterweight the weight necessary. It
plunged downward and the sling whipped around. Working on
instinct, as now was not exactly the time to sit down with a
notebook and several equations, Nyx squinted and levitated the
ring off the finger, releasing one side of the sling. The
payload was launched a moment later, hurtling towards the
cyclops.
It wasn’t an enormous sphere- about three feet in diameter, but
it was launched at incredible speed. As for anyone in the air,
Nyx was pretty sure they would be dexterous to avoid the
payload. It would stay constructed until velocity could send it
no further, and then would vanish. Meaning it would hopefully go
through structural obstacles until it hit the cyclops and
hopefully did some damage. The vanishing part was added both to
reserve Nyx’s energy, and protect those nearby from falling
energy rubble. She would have liked to make it shatter on final
impact to maximize possible damage to the cyclops, but that was
too risky with her winged allies around. As for any building
that got in the way... Celestia help it. Nyx was going to try to
minimize damage, but it was bucking trebuchet. Nyx could only do
so much.
She took only a few seconds to rest before she started working
on another sphere, breathing hard.
#Post#: 3670--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Foxtrot Date: June 30, 2018, 4:52 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
He was close, his attacks were having some effect, but then
there was the light. The blinding instance stalls the stallion
for a brief moment. That's really all it took. One punch later
and he finds himself on the ground. Shaking his head, a blurred
vision is witness to the beginning of a new nightmare. Getting
up, he knew the next move was to get out. It wouldn't be long
before they were outside. That creature, a titan of epic
proportions, was dead center in Weaver. It's roar shook the
ground they stood on. Once Mana was hit at his attempt to stop
the beast, Fox sprinted over to the crater, "Mana!" How are they
going to stop this thing!? Reaching the edge, he looks over into
the darkness. Right after, the unicorn slides down. His hoof
glows to help find him... if he can. "Mana!"
Nivalia was just finishing her... well, third funnel cake when
she was alerted to the scene of the action. It looks like the
wrongdoers weren't in the food market after all. She swipes off
any powdered sugar from her dark coat before shaking out her
wings. Despite the crowd around her, the changeling's disguise
drops. Gasps, screams, and actually a couple of flirty whistles
erupt from the crowd. It's only for a moment; the fear of this
giant cyclops destroying their town was more motivation to
leave. With a leap she takes into the air! Her flowing, deep
blue mane flapped in the wind as she rushes across the sky in
breakneck speeds. Magic tightens her saddle bags to her body to
keep them in place. This monster is huge! It'll take quite a bit
of force to take that down. Nearing the site, she finds somepony
with the same idea. A trebucet launching magic projectiles is
effective. One mare doing all the work? Now that's not fair.
Nivalia banks left and descends. Landing a couple of meters
away, she calls out to her. "Onyx! It's me, Niv!" Slowly but
steadily she approaches. "Looks like you need help with this
thing. If you need a recharge..." Nivalia offers her hoof, "I
can give you a boost. Plus I can load the projectiles, you just
point and shoot." If Onyx were to grab the changeling's hoof,
she would be met with a staggering wave of energy. A
changeling's magic is powered by love, and Niv grew up well
loved by her friends and family her whole life.
#Post#: 3671--------------------------------------------------
Re: Weaver
By: Equilibrium Date: July 1, 2018, 11:37 am
---------------------------------------------------------
A lone unicorn pony travelled down the road leading to the town
of weaver. She had set on her quest to find some old artifact,
which's whereabout were rumored to be somewhere around the town.
Sadly her leads ended there for now, but she was hopeful that
the townsfolk could shed some light on the rumours. If only the
teleportation spell she was sent away with had carried her all
the way to her destination, she would have been there much
sooner, but alas, the head of the research group the unicorn
worked for was getting old, and their spells seemed to be more
and more missfires than anything else.
This didn't drop her overall mood though. As she walked, slight
dance in her step, she was writing on pages of a big, gem
encrusted book, mumbling to herself as she did. The pen raced
along the pages, notes and drawings filling the pages of the
book. She then giggled ot herself, stopping to think, before
turning a new page, and beginning to write.
"A road well travelled... Nope. A great relic hunt? Boring.
Hmmm..." She was seemingly speaking to herself. "The artifact of
absolute doom!" She proclaimed, hopping on a rock on the side of
the road, writing down her title for the story, before she
sulked and erased it with her magic "That's the worst of them
all" She muttered as she stepped down from the rock, and
continued to walk. The town came into her view, as she kept
mulling over a title for something she was about to write. "How
about..." She was interrupted by something, Big. She felt the
earth tremble, before she then saw a huge beast rise from the
town of weaver. "... Big tartarus spawn..." She slowly said,
closing the book and tossing it on a strap bag mean for it,
before she sprinted to the town.
After getting close enough to the creature, while still keeping
her distance, she saw some ponies try to fight the thing, what
ever it was. The red coated unicorn pulled out the book once
more, and began to furiously write, and draw the monsters
details into it
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