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Post by Red Charge on Jul 26, 2013 13:52:18 GMT -5
"Simple, you do as I tell you and make sure the other militia ponies do as you tell them." Watermark explained simply, "Anything other than that, I'll brief you properly when it comes, fair enough?" The zebracorn asked.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 14:28:57 GMT -5
Phalanx lazily kicked a nearby chair, while she had gotten most of her frustrations out earlier in the day, it was clear quite a bit more existed. Watermark had taken a knife and plunged it into her back, essentially saying it was 'for her own good' and leaving her to stew in her own metaphorical blood. How did he get off coming across so pretentious? How could he even go about with stuff like, "Oh, pegasi can use magic too! That means we equals!" How dare he? How *dare* he?!
Phalanx's frustrations were interrupted by a presence at the front door. After looking over just to the side, she knew exactly who it was. Her brother, that coward who always ran if she was in a terrible mood, letting her state just continue to eat away at her until there wasn't any fuel left. She snarled, she *had* to find out what poor, miserable excuse he had come up with this time for what he had gotten up to. "Welcome home," she called to him, waiting for a response.
The dopey-looking earth pony turned with a fakey grin, "Hey, Fal, you feeling okay now?"
What a stupid question. Was she feeling okay? She had just been discharged by that miserable excuse of a 'commander', replaced by some Red Mage she couldn't care in the slightest about, and he was asking if she was 'okay'? She rolled her eyes, "Hoplite, you're not *that* stupid and you know it. Of course I'm not feeling okay," she spotted Hoplite opening his mouth to speak up and she dared not let him get a word in now, "And before you ask: no, I would rather *not* talk about it, alright?" She grinned inwardly, she had moved the attention back to him, now was the time to prod, "So where'd you go, huh?" she asked, her tone far from positive or 'sweet'.
"Oh, I went to see Watermark," the colt replied. Phalanx simply couldn't hold all of her frustrations at bay, even the mere mention of his name caused a bit of her anger to leak through, "Watermark tells me you told him about your...opinion of mages..." Oh, ponyfeathers...he knows! Now suddenly it was Phalanx on the defensive, she opened her mouth to speak but was quickly halted by her sibling, "I don't care why you did, but this has gotten pretty bad. Bad enough that Watermark figures you should go and see him tomorrow, no doubt so he can educate you about unicorns and all that."
The pretentiousness continued. Not only did Watermark slap her down, righteously remove her from active duty, proclaim there was no room for prejudice despite the fact that prejudice got into the ranks regardless of input from their latest 'commander', now he was saying that "Oh, she needs to be educated about these things. Clearly nopony has told her how equal we are and thus needs to be taught a lesson~," she could hear Watermark's overly-chipper voice in her head. She snarled, "Oh yeah, sure, he's going to tell me how *awesome* unicorns and their magic are, how much we rely on them, how much we owe to him and the Red Mages *then* pull a complete 180 and tell me how he's no different from us and how we're capable of 'magic' in our own, special little way~," her tone turned sing-songy near the end, "Well he knows where he can shove that drivel, 'cause I'm not going."
Hoplite blinked, likely in dumbfounded confusion, "Uhh, you *do* realize that this is *really* important for you to do if you want to stay in the militia, right?"
"Uhh, did you ever think that maybe there wasn't jack either he nor I could do about that?!" Phalanx was growing ever the more furious by the second, "You and I *both* know that there's no changing this, there's no altering this, and considering he's a talented spellcaster and probably has mind-reading magic there's no hiding it either?!" She knew that this discharge was her death-sentence, there was no getting back into the ranks of the militia so long as that confounded unicorn was in charge. Seemed like everything he touched today leaked into entropy. She idly thought of if Watermark had actually 'touched' Hoplite when he had visited...
"Come on, Fal, it can't be that har-" No, he did not just start that sentence...
Phalanx brought a wing to bear, slapping him widely across the muzzle with it. They had gone over this an uncountable amount of times, and he was clearly just saying this 'cause he had no more options, "Don't you start acting stupid again, Hoppy!" she knew Hoplite never liked that nickname, "The only possible way this unicorn has of changing my opinions would be to jump directly into my brain and write it all differently. And you know what, I'm sure he knows somepony who could do just that! Not that we'd ever forgive him for that, right?" and with that, she had rendered her brother speechless. Now was the time to keep pressing on,"Right?!" she insisted. After a moment of silence, she scoffed, "Of course not! At a time like this, after all you and I have done since foal-hood, you can't even back me up on this! You make me sick, Hoppy!" she snarled, storming up the stairs. That dolt might as well be a Red Mage for how little he helped her...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 14:31:41 GMT -5
Hoplite nodded once. "Yes, sir," he replied before turning about and heading out of the building, making a bee line for home.
* * *
After a bit of a trek, Hoplite finally made it home, the events of the day still settling in. He started heading towards the stairs when he heard a voice coming from the kitchen, "Welcome home..." he heard Phalanx call to him, still sounding quite down from earlier. Hoplite sighed, he'd have to discuss things with her...but how much should he tell her.
He turned to face her with a forced grin, "Hey, Fal, you feeling okay now?"
She rolled her eyes, "Hoplite, you're not *that* stupid and you know it. Of course I'm not feeling okay," Hoplite opened his mouth to speak up, "And before you ask: no, I would rather *not* talk about it, alright?" Sure enough, that was exactly what Hoplite wanted to ask, hoping to move the spotlight away from him. Yet with just one sentence, she had shifted it back to him. She seemed to always know how to put him on the spot. "So where'd you go, huh?" she asked, her tone far from positive or 'sweet'.
"Oh, I went to see Watermark," Hoplite wasn't sure, but did he just see her eye twitch after he said 'Watermark'. Suddenly he was much more conscious about how much he should tell her. After a bit of deliberation, he sighed and continued, "Watermark tells me you told him about your...opinion of mages..." he held up a hoof to stop her from ranting on about why, "I don't care why you did, but this has gotten pretty bad. Bad enough that Watermark figures you should go and see him tomorrow, no doubt so he can educate you about unicorns and all that."
"Oh yeah, sure, he's going to tell me how *awesome* unicorns and their magic are, how much we rely on them, how much we owe to him and the Red Mages *then* pull a complete 180 and tell me how he's no different from us and how we're capable of 'magic' in our own, special little way~," her tone turned sing-songy near the end, "Well he knows where he can shove that drivel, 'cause I'm not going."
Hoplite blinked, "Uhh, you *do* realize that this is *really* important for you to do if you want to stay in the militia, right?"
"Uhh, did you ever think that maybe there wasn't jack either he nor I could do about that?!" Phalanx was growing ever the more furious by the second, "You and I *both* know that there's no changing this, there's no altering this, and considering he's a talented spellcaster and probably has mind-reading magic there's no hiding it either?!"
"Come on, Fal, it can't be that har-"
Phalanx brought a wing to bear, slapping him widely across the muzzle with it, "Don't you start acting stupid again, Hoppy!" Hoplite never liked that nickname, "The only possible way this unicorn has of changing my opinions would be to jump directly into my brain and write it all differently. And you know what, I'm sure he knows somepony who could do just that! Not that we'd ever forgive him for that, right?" Hoplite was speechless, he never did like it when Phalanx got all up-in-arms about things like this, and there wasn't much room for him to debate or budge. He knew Phalanx far to well to consider pitching other ideas at her, and considering this scenario he felt like he could sustain her wrath more if he stayed quiet. "Right?!" Phalanx insisted, trying to provoke a response from the silent earth pony. After a moment of silence, Phalanx scoffed, "Of course not! At a time like this, after all you and I have done since foal-hood, you can't even back me up on this! You make me sick, Hoppy!" she snarled, storming up the stairs. Hoplite, shaken and confused, took a bit of time before heading up the stairs.
* * *
The sun had barely risen a few hours ago, and Hoplite was already at the militia headquarters. He hadn't been told as to *when* he was supposed to report in, just that it had to be in the morning. With a deep inhale, he knocked on the door to Kuruka's office before stepping in again, hoping the fact that Phalanx wasn't with him was enough of an explanation for Watermark.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 26, 2013 14:44:01 GMT -5
There was no answer, he didn't see Watermark in the bell tower, or anywhere else around town, unless he was sleeping somewhere. Was Hoplite too early? There was no noise from inside the office, so it stood to reason that Watermark was either out or has not yet come in.
Back in Phalanx' house however, loud knocks were heard at the door, "Open up will ya?" A loud female voice called inside. "I'm not planning on waiting here long and you don't want me busting down this door because I will!" It called.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 14:51:02 GMT -5
Phalanx's tired eyes opened, a groan escaping her lips as she slowly rose from her bed, hearing a loud serious of knocks coming from downstairs. Who in Equestria would be trying to barge in at this hour? Did Hoplite forget his keys? She chuckled softly to herself, imagining Hoplite hurriedly trying to get back in to get the keys he left on the table...
Phalanx trudged down the stairs, faintly hearing the voice on the other side of the door. Well, the voice was clearly female, so it wasn't Hoplite...come to think of it, it wasn't Watermark either. Then again, with that pony's mystic magic powers, he could probably just seep in through the air coming from the bottom of the door. "I'm not planning on waiting here long and you don't want me busting down this door because I will!" she chuckled softly to herself, probably a Red Mage coming to brainwash her when she had told Hoplite she wasn't going to that 'tolerance training' spiel Watermark had ready for her. She grabbed a loose chair, propping it up against the door and calling back, "Oh yeah, sure, break in all you want! My brother's in the militia, and he's out there! Break in if you want, but just remember that word of you doing so will go *straight* to Watermark himself!" she figured that if this was some rogue, that would deter them. If they weren't rogue and they had indeed been sent by him, at least this way she would know for certain before they entered.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 26, 2013 14:59:56 GMT -5
"You asked for it." The voice said and a hoof burst through the door, followed by the door flying across the room into the wall. Who stood in the now trashed doorway was not a red mage, or a unicorn for that matter. It was a white pegasus with fire-like curly mane and a large black ankh tatooed on her ankle. Her attire was completely defiant, a black jacket with chains and spikes and a spiked collar on her neck, her eyes were accentuated by heavy amounts of mascara as well as black lipstick.
"You Phalanx?" The pegasus mare asked. "Here I heard you've got a problem with unicorns, so I came on by, see if I can change your mind."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 15:04:56 GMT -5
Phalanx watched, shocked as the door flew off it's hinges into the building, crashing loudly with the staircase and blocking that method of escape. She turned to the intruder...surprised to see who exactly it was. Not only was it a pegasus, but it looked like one of those 'goth ponies' she had heard of from the larger cities. Phalanx giggled, there was just something about wearing a collar, spiked or not, that just seemed completely ridiculous to her. Collars were for pets, and here this pegasus was wearing it like it made her look intimidating.
Phalanx laughed loudly, waving idly to the pegasus in her laughing fit, "Okay, that entrance was admittedly pretty cool. Tell you what, I'll give you, oh, ten more seconds to leave and drop the bits for replacing the door you broke down *and* the chair the door crushed on it's way out on the kitchen table...starting now," she snarled.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 26, 2013 15:08:55 GMT -5
"You don't know who you're dealing with do you? It's okay, most don't." The pegasus said, walking into the house, "Phew, I believe in humble abodes but this place is a dump. Should have made yourself a cloud home." She offered, "Anyway, the name's Firefly Razorwing, that's right, you can close your jaw now." The mare chuckled at Phalanx, "Yeah, who'd have thought I'd be convinced to hop by to this place." She crunched her nose looking around at the interior.
"Yeah I'm here to talk to you about unicorns, don't worry, I got the coin for your precious door and your chair, I got enough coin to buy this bunch of huts you ponies call a town. Now question is, are you going to play nice, or are you going to do me a favor?"
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 15:16:12 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked, recognizing the last name if not the first of this weird goth pegasus. Razorwing... she thought, Well, whatever she's doing in a dump like this, that's still my door she burst through, nevermind the fact that she insulted my home as well as barging into it. Now she's acting like I should be in awe of her? Kiss my flank!
Knowing now to not be a time for violence, and figuring that spiked gear was useful for more than just looking like incredibly weird, she continued, "You've got thirty seconds to give me a *good* reason for me to bother beyond simple stuff like "I'll beat your head in" or "Don't you know who I am?" or even "Don't you know who I'm related to?" and I'll consider it."
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 26, 2013 15:26:34 GMT -5
"Well it's simple darling," The fire maned mare said, "I come from a family of pegasi supremacists, it doesn't work out. I don't figure you as a pony who likes to be in a small town for long. No, I can see the crushed ambition in your eyes. You wanna be someone, you wanna roll with the big boys. But the militia isn't gonna let you do that so long as you think unicorns are weird magicky. Come on girl, we're pegasi, did you not hear about how Blackmane nearly downed an entire Griffon fleet? Did you not see who dropped Eclipse off the face of Equestria? Us pegasi, with help from our friends down on the ground the unicorns and earth ponies. But forget about that." The pegasus shook her head.
"You think it's just stuck there? I was raised on the same concept, unicorns are wonky, earth ponies are losers, pegasi for the win... that's dumb talk. Now I happen to need some hard-flank pegasi mares in my crew, but I can't take a newbie and I'm not going to spend my time training you. So if you want to roll with the big girls, want to be someone. You figure out yourself if being able to create a tornado big enough to destroy a griffon fleet is different than making an ice dome and you come back to me on that. We clear?" She asked.
"Here, for your door and your chair." The mare tossed her a sack of bits, containing far more than she actually needed, "Gimme back the change once you've made up your mind."
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 15:32:52 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked a few times, letting the words sink in. So after all that, breaking down my door and invading my home, she would offer for me to join her 'crew'? Pfft, wow, yeah. 'Roll with the big girls' and abandon my brother to this hole, all in exchange for strictly 'saying' that I don't mind unicorns?! Yeah, sure, not happening. Hoplite would never abandon me if he had the same chance, so there's no way I'm abandoning him, let alone for this wanna-be rich kid. She chuckled softly, "You drive a hard bargain, weirdo, but if you honestly think I'd abandon my brother and my *home* just because some pony that dresses like a diamond dog on the runway said I could be part of her 'crew'. You know where to stuff it, downy wings, you'd sooner drag me to Tartarus than pull me into your cute little 'gang'!" She threw the bag back at her. No matter how much this was going to cost, her precious pride would still be intact, if only for a little while.
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 26, 2013 15:40:02 GMT -5
"Gang? Honey I run the Firefly Mercenary Group in Manehattan. We've been getting more action in this Diamond Dog war than the entire army put together I'm only here because it's on the way to 'evict' some dogs from some private property." Firefly smirked, "As for your brother, he's also headed to some big things, from what I hear, but whatever. When you wanna grow up, just find me. I'll catch you later." At that she left, outside waiting for her was a group of pegasi in military grade armor, a burning firefly emblazoned on it. The group took off after Firefly as she headed towards the outside of the dome.
In the meantime, White Fire had joined Hoplite at the Militia Headquarters. "I saw your sister didn't come with you. I asked a friend of mine to talk to her, she's a bit bull-headed, kind of like me sometimes. I hope she'll be able to reach her." The mare said, yawning slightly. "Teleportation fatigue, you never get used to it." She explained.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 21:59:05 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked for a moment as Firefly left the room and flew off towards the outside of the dome with a few pegasi, apparently mercenaries if her story was straight, thinking over what that pretentious rich kid had said. Wait...what has she heard about my brother? Better yet, what did she mean by "headed to some big things"? her mind raced, trying to figure out some form of explanation for herself as to what her brother might've been up to behind her back. No doubt Watermark would be involved if that downy-wing was telling the truth...
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Post by Deleted on Jul 26, 2013 22:07:02 GMT -5
Hoplite jumped a bit, his surprise escaping his muzzle as a little "Agh!" left his lips. He blinked a few times, looking about confusedly to try and find the source of the speech. Sure enough, the mare from the other night had approached him, explaining that somepony was apparently going to talk to Phalanx one to one. He didn't envy that pony if they did indeed start talking to Fal face-to-face...
"Teleportation fatigue, you never get used to it..." Hoplite shrugged, "I wouldn't know, but I'll just take your word for it," he replied. After a brief delay, he assumed a more attentive stance before continuing, "Well, what's on today's schedule, ma'am?"
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Post by Red Charge on Jul 27, 2013 9:07:20 GMT -5
"No idea really." White Fire said, "Watermark said to come by in the morning, I guess we're both early. Where is he anyway? He doesn't sleep in the tents and far as I know he's not sleeping in Kuruka's house." She looked around, "Not like him to be this late."
One of the Red Mages joined the conversation, it was a tall unicorn with a grass coat and brown mane, "Actually he's out, he left Frostbite to maintain the shield though so he can't be far." He said, adjusting his red cloak, "There's been some noise going on there last night so he wanted to check it out. "Speaking of which, we've started checking up the gear in the armory, it's in pretty lousy condition, I'd think they'd assign better to a town at the edge of Everfree, so Watermark called in a smith from Canterlot, Tongs her name is I think, she's setting up shop in the rear courtyard."
"Good, I think it'd be wise if Tranquility went over and helped out with a few enchantments for the equipment. Did she bring anything from Canterlot?"
"They couldn't spare anything." The unicorn answered, "But I'll go tell Tranquility to join her back there." The pony excused himself and ran out back.
"Guess we'll have to make due with what we have, this means that the militia gear will not be available for a while." White Fire frowned, "Guess so much for weapons drilling."
"Not to worry," Watermark's cheery voice dripped into the room as he trotted inside the Militia Headquarters, "I've made ice replicas for the sake of drilling. Don't worry, it won't be cold." He quickly dismissed a complaint he thought Hoplite might say, "Not colder than steel anyway."
"So White Fire, I need to talk to you about something." He said, beckoning her towards him, standing a bit away from Hoplite the two conversed.
"Firefly Razorwing was in town apparently, apparently she busted into his sister's house. Mind telling me what the hay that's all about? She can't just come in here and do what she pleases, I don't care if she's a Razorwing, if Percheron gets word of this."
"Oh come on Watermark, she just wanted to help, she's even going to offer her a position in her..."
"Look, White Fire, I appreciate the help okay? But I can't have ponies intimidated by ruffians. Yeah I like Firefly, heck she got Percheron back on the horse so to speak, but if the mare doesn't like Unicorns getting bullied into it is unacceptable."
"Oh come on, she can't have been bullying her, it's Firefly, you know how she is." The silver maned mare retorted, shaking her head, "And she's not a ruffian! She's Percheron's sister for crying out loud."
"Things are too touchy for this sort of behavior, ugh." Watermark hoof-faced, "I hate this stupid administrative position. Things were far easier in the Cult. At least there everypony cooperated."
"Come on, you'll be fine, just get yourself together."
Of course, Hoplite could hear the entire thing, the acoustics in the Militia Headquarters were pretty lousy. The two trotted back to him after a few moments.
"Okay, I uh, should go over and apologize to someone, you two go help out in the back setting up that smith." Watermark said, trotting away.
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