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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 14:36:56 GMT -5
"Sounds to me like someone is used to being the lead and can't stand it when her own brother gets ahead, it also sounds like to me, that someone can't take responsibility for her own big mouth." Whitefire said venomously after Phalanx has finished, Watermark watched alertly, he couldn't deny that he thought the same, but to just bluntly say it out loud. He wanted to change the topic on one hand, but on the other, he wanted to see how Phalanx would react to such frank accusations.
Sapphire looked from Whitefire to Phalanx, though she instinctively took Phalanx's side, there was a lot of truth in what the unicorn was saying. Phalanx tended to blame anyone but herself for her misfortunes despite the fact that her own big mouth was what usually caused it. Such was the case with the 'dove' in the Everfree Forest anyway and she had to pay dearly for that one.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 14:41:27 GMT -5
Phalanx was a bit taken aback by White Fire's accusations. She sure was blunt enough in saying exactly what was on her mind - and likely what was on Watermark's mind all the same - which didn't exactly sit well with her. Thinking the exchange over a bit briefly, White Fire did have the upper hoof and would undoubtedly win any argument against her point. Only thing she could do with is changing the subject before the venom started flying again.
"Hey, woah, chill out Miss Fire. I get that you don't like me and are perfectly intent on making that publicly known, but we're here to have fun aren't we? It's game night, not 'scream and shout until your lungs stop working' night," Phalanx retorted.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 14:59:08 GMT -5
"Anyway," Watermark said, after a moment of awkward silence. "Like I was about to tell, back when I was a foal, right before entering my teen years, I was travelling with Professor Rainlock in the Zebra Lands, of course, Professor Rainlock was Red Charge and I was being trained to become a Battle Mage during the time, so long treks through the jungle and Savannah were the least of my concerns back then. We came upon an ancient sunken temple of some sort, it was a dragon worshiping temple, back in those days Dragons were considered idols as they had power over the dead with their blood magic, which for Zebras, who practice ancestor worship, is sort of a big deal." Watermark accentuated his story with a room wide illusion, showing himself, Professor Rainlock (a dust coated pegasus) and a bunch of other ponies and several zebra guides approaching the edge of the temple.
"Oh I wasn't there that time, I was still in the digs at those catacombs with Gale." Whitefire said, Watermark nodded.
"Well unfortunately for us, which we've only found out after we entered, the dragon inside was still kicking and so were his undead cronies." At that point the illusion switched to the dark inside of the tomb where Watermark was blasting away at undead Zebra warriors with his ice magic while Professor Rainlock was calmly surveying wall engravings, ancient pottery and tribal symbols. Behind him was the rest of the expedition, all armed to the teeth in case the undead broke through Watermark's magic.
"When we reached the worship hall of the temple, we came face to face with the Dragon and his hoard, the ancients called him 'Aido-Hwedo' which as you've guessed, means Rainbow-Serpent. A prismatic dragon, at least, he was a prismatic dragon until several Zebra tribes who opposed this violation of their ancestors decided to bring the fight to him and nearly slayed him, forcing him to lose his breath powers and leaving him alone with what was left of his undead cronies. When we encountered him, he was not keen on fighting us, especially after we defeated him. He revealed to us that he wasn't the real Aido-Hwedo, he wasn't even a prismatic dragon. He had offered the temple and his hoard to us in exchange for his life and fled. As for the real Aido-Hwedo? We never found him or her, but he's appeared many times since in Zebra legend. If he is alive he would be as ancient as the Matriarch would be, were she alive today."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 15:08:16 GMT -5
Phalanx watched the illusion play out idly, only really taking most of the story in at a surface level. Hoplite, on the other hoof, seemed to be paying attention to the entire ordeal, leaning forward in his seat. Of course he would, the guy was a sucker for a good heroic story.
Phalanx couldn't help but wonder *why* Watermark decided to share this story. Was there a point behind it? Was he giving them a warning about this dragon, knowing it was still alive? Nothing was ever straight-forward with the zebracorn, and this couldn't have been an exception...could it? As Watermark soon finished, Phalanx decided to pipe up. "Think he's still alive somewhere out there?" she idly asked, figuring it would probably keep the story going and keep her brother amused.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 15:13:19 GMT -5
"Which one, the one making the undead, or Aido-Hwedo?" Watermark asked. "Prismatic Dragons are said to be the most magical creatures on the planet save perhaps the Alicorns. There is no reason to believe Aido-Hwedo perished, unless someone actively found then and slayed them." Watermark told.
Sapphire was on the edge of her seat, "You were training to be a battlemage when you were THAT young?" She asked in wonder, "You were a little foal in a place I'd dread to go as a trained soldier!"
"The Destrier school of Battle Mages believes in training by doing. You cannot truly become a Battle Mage until you've truly faced the dangers a Battle Mage faces. Which means I went with Professor Rainlock into the most dangerous of places and most of the time, was offered no help by him whatsoever."
"He adopted you?" Fillydelphia asked and Watermark nodded. "I can't imagine ever putting one of my children in a life endangering situation like that."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 15:19:47 GMT -5
Phalanx shrugged, either of the dragons would've been at least mildly interesting to know if it was still indeed alive, but of course she wouldn't get a straight answer. Ah well, it was worth a shot.
Sure enough, Watermark's tale caught the attention of the two militia ponies. Must've been the first they'd heard of this. "Well, look at how he turned out after all that. One of the most powerful mages in all of Equestria, and all without scholarly training. Sure I'd never wish that upon anypony, but even still," Phalanx added her own comment.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 15:25:16 GMT -5
"Mage apprenticeship is a far better way to increase one's skill and power. But in today's age it's barely needed anymore. Before this invasion, how often did we need to actually fight? Why would anyone even wish for power in such peaceful times? The thirst was for knowledge and not outright power and endurance. I hear ponies saying that the old legends are far more powerful than any pony today, such as Iron Shoes and Destrier... but ponies today do not seek to become as powerful, there's no need to. In fact, wanting such power is even discouraged. Looking back, I don't know if we were right or wrong." Whitefire said, "I suppose we bear a certain privilege that we were grown by a unicorn of the old generation."
"I think it's hogwash, had we trained all of our mages this way, we may have been able to stop the Diamond Dog invasion before it even started. Had we been able to stop them at Fillydelphia, we would have been able to use the Fillydelphia outpost to prevent them from ever arriving in Equestria." Fillydelphia said angrily, "What arrogant fools we were."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 15:31:35 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked, looking over to Fillydelphia in both confusion and disgust. Didn't she *just* explain that she wouldn't dare subject her foals to what Watermark went through, then just suddenly turn around and say that every unicorn should've been trained that way.
"Woah...uhh...yeah sure, if every unicorn in Fillydelphia at the time were as powerful as Watermark you might've driven the Diamond Dogs back...but you have to take into account that balance between power and happiness. Would you honestly want to lose your foalhood to a life of constant violence, no support, constant travel and life-threatening situations being thrown at you every few days?" Phalanx asked, "Okay, probably a dumb question. In that case, would you really want to subject *everypony* to that kind of life? Your friends, family, and foals? I sure wouldn't."
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 15:36:47 GMT -5
"Not everyone, no." Fillydelphia said, "But some must. Some have to take the burden for all of us. How many foals were orphaned in Fillydelphia? How many mother's left childless? How many houses wrecked and families torn apart? How many memories, how much art? Some of us need to take the burden to defend Equestria even at the cost of their happiness. I would if I could. But it doesn't matter much now, does it?"
Sapphire was careful with her words now, she didn't want to upset either Fillydelphia or Phalanx, "I agree that someone needs to pick up that burden, but not as foals... surely one who started such training in adulthood could still become powerful enough."
"Every pony has that potential." Whitefire said, "From foal to adult, it's never too late to start, but isn't a father leaving his foals and wife alone while he goes on for weeks on end on dangerous missions any better? A wife constantly scanning obituaries just in case, foals growing up with an absent father... Or perhaps even worse, a pony never having the chance to meet a mare or start a family due to this. Are these not equally horrible?"
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 15:43:18 GMT -5
Phalanx watched the exchange between the other mares carefully. This was obviously a highly conflict-driven argument with too many differences in opinion for anything to be accomplished. As far as she was concerned, this wasn't holding much point as everypony seemed perfectly comfortable in their own opinion and didn't show any sign of changing said opinion. This was getting out of hoof already.
"Hey, can we change the subject already? Not really in the mood to go discussing this sort of thing this late at night," Phalanx piped up after a bit of a delay.
"Yeah, I'm with Fal there. This isn't exactly the most cheerful thing to be discussing," she heard Hoplite add.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 15:47:47 GMT -5
"Well tell us another story then." Sapphire said, "One that doesn't involve your crush on Watermark here." She pointed at Watermark.
"Please do, we've all told something. It's only fair." Fillydelphia agreed.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 15:54:32 GMT -5
Phalanx rolled her eyes, "Wow, already went over two and you want me to go over yet another one. Gonna just warn you now that it's probably just incredibly boring to you lot," she started.
"When we were still growing up, Hoplite, Long Haul and I all played 'Soldier'. Y'know, like a lot of foals did growing up. We'd go on grand quests around Hoofington, imagining that we were honoured warriors and commanders in Celestia's army. We ended up embarrassing ourselves when we ended up asking the townsfolk if they knew of any dragons that needed slaying. Thinking back on it, I'm actually kind of happy some of the townsfolk played along with it. We had fun with it, but Long Haul never really got into the game whenever he played. Never really struck me as the 'soldier' type anyway, back then *and* now," Phalanx paused to mull over what had happened back then."
"As we grew older we obviously stopped playing. Hoplite and I joined the militia here and Long Haul went on his merry way, off to travel Equestria with his cart. Haven't seen him in ages, actually. Hope he's doing alright despite the whole 'invasion' problem," Phalanx finally finished.
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 16:02:07 GMT -5
"We said an interesting story Phalanx..." Sapphire rolled her eyes, "Anyway, what other games do you want us to play?" She looked at Watermark and Whitefire.
Watermark looked at Whitefire and shrugged, Whitefire shrugged back, "We don't really have anything other than charades. But how about we switch it up, we'll guess and you guys draw." watermark conjured up some drawing boards from his den and set them down with erasable markers for the teams to take place. He also cast a spell on both of them. "So we can't see each other's boards."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2013 16:05:38 GMT -5
Phalanx rolled her eyes, "Never said my life was interesting there, Sapphire," she retorted.
And sure enough, the night was already looking like it was going to get worse. More charades, at this time the two siblings who obviously weren't any good at the game were going to have to try and get Watermark to guess what they meant. If they lost again...
Phalanx shook her head, "Honestly, I think I've had enough charades for one night. Besides, we already know you two are going to win over there. Last thing I want is a repeat of what happened earlier."
"I'm kinda with her there," Hoplite piped up, "Since knowing my luck it'd be my turn in the line of fire when we lose. Didn't you say something about Monopoly earlier, Watermark?"
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Post by Red Charge on Dec 11, 2013 16:14:43 GMT -5
"We could play monopoly, but that would just be product placement..." Watermark mused, "Oh whatever, same publishers anyway." He said conjuring up a monopoly game. The six began to play, Sapphire, Fillydelphia and Phalanx quickly joining up against Hoplite, Watermark and Whitefire. But true to his word, Watermark got Canterlot very early in the Game, as well as Manehattan. Watermark's strategy was to block as much of Phalanx's cities as possible, completely refusing to negotiate any streets he owned. Fillydelphia was cleverly able to score some hotels on the earlier streets, but in the end, Canterlot and Manehattan exhausted everyone's gold and Watermark emerged the winner in the game, he collected all of his bits happily.
"You can't mess with Canterlot!" He grinned.
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