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Post by Red Charge on Jan 27, 2014 15:28:41 GMT -5
Watermark managed a weak grin, "Don't worry about it." As Phalanx left she could hear him sigh. There was much work to be done. The duo were soon called upon by Whitefire, insisting that they be as much part of the doing as possible. They needed from the beginning to radiate authority. They've been put in charge of patrols, construction efforts, meal rationing and had a hoof in anything done in the village. They were to be seen doing as much as they could and so was Watermark. In the following hours he has collected himself (or put on a very deceiving visage) grinning his eternal, disturbing grin and commanding here and there, even taking several patrols of mages out into Everfree.
Ponies had little time to worry with so much doing, but whispers were heard about the giant eagle. Whitefire made sure to announce that it was the Sky Titan, but not explain the significance. Far as the ponies were concerned, the Titan was summoned by their own side and Canterlot was just fine. It was not a lie, just a half truth.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2014 15:57:11 GMT -5
It had been quite some time since the two had received word that Canterlot had fallen to the Sky Titan, likely just a couple of days yet it felt like a week had gone by due to the general mood the two held. Hoplite continued to worry about Long Haul despite the constant distractions of helping out in Hoofington's defense and patrols, while Phalanx was still in thought over losing not only Canterlot, but potentially every form of leadership that was associated with the city. Hoplite was always on the lookout for some sort of letter from their brother, while Phalanx was just waiting to receive word from Watermark about the princess or Red Charge.
In the meantime, they kept themselves busy via the directions Watermark had given them: to patrol and aid in the reconstruction efforts. They had a few concerns on the patrols heading into the Everfree, but kept themselves from answering questions, figuring Watermark would explain their results.
After two days of this, they finally had their hopes up; Watermark had called them to the headquarters during their patrols. Either he had a different task for them, or he had something important to tell them that he couldn't just relay out on the street to them. The two wordlessly made their way towards the militia headquarters, heading over to Watermark's office.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 4, 2014 8:18:06 GMT -5
As they entered, they saw Whitefire already in the room, a puzzled, dreary expression on her face. Apparently Watermark had not told her yet why he had summoned them all there. Once Hoplite closed the door behind them, Whitefire teleported. Okay, so maybe he did tell her why he summoned them.
"Good news everyone!" The zebracorn said jovially, "It seems the vast majority of Canterlot made it out alright!" He said, "The Princess was able to teleport everyone into the caves and to safety." He said with a grin, "If that's not enough, they killed Blackmane and Dreadtalon in the battle and downed his entire fleet. The only air threat remaining in Equestria now are the drakes which means the Air Force is finally going to start mobilizing and we'll be seeing some relief soon, I hope."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 8:26:22 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked at the news, and Hoplite immediately seemed to lighten up. All of Phalanx's plans and ideas of trying to function without the princess or Canterlot as a whole immediately flushed out of her mind, abandoned at the good news, an action that put a smile on her muzzle all the same. She playfully tapped Hoplite on the back, "Told 'ya you were worrying over nothing with Long Haul. Chances are we'll see a letter soon enough," she commented.
Hoplite chuckled, not even paying Phalanx's prod much thought. "This...this is just astounding news, Watermark! Finally it won't be too long before we can start launching more counter-attacks on the Diamond Dogs!"
Phalanx turned to Watermark, "Speaking of, what's the plan for them? Are we waiting on word from the Red Barons on when they can provide support in an offensive strike?" she asked, prying for some sort of information and hopefully finding out if Watermark had found anything on those patrols into the Everfree.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 4, 2014 9:07:53 GMT -5
"Princess' orders are to wait. Just a little longer, she said. They'll let us know when we can go dog-hunting. They agree with the decision to raise a citadel here though, but they can't afford sending us anything because, well, they have a city to rebuild." Watermark grinned, "So basically we're doing great right now, well, not great but better than we thought we were."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 9:12:33 GMT -5
Phalanx nodded a few times in apprehension, taking in what Watermark had said. "More waiting. Well, can't say I'm surprised, though I'm kind of wondering just how we're going to erect a citadel here without supplies from Canterlot..."
She started pacing a bit in thought, "Well then, what's our schedule? I get that the plan is to wait, but...what? Are we going to be part of the citadel-crew and work on getting that up and running?" she asked idly, wanting to know ahead of time what they would be doing for the next unknown amount of time.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 4, 2014 9:19:49 GMT -5
"Oh no, we're... going to have some fun!" Watermark said, "First, you two get to spread the joy. Go around town and tell everyone that Blackmane and Dreadtalon are gone for good and Canterlot won. Bound to raise morale around here. Then you two and I are going on a special assignment to get a few helping hooves to help us build our keep. I'm sure you'll love it." The pony grinned, looking kind of expectant, for the second time it felt to them like Watermark was very lonely, now with Whitefire gone as well and in need of a hug.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 9:30:36 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked, so their 'job' as it was...was to just spread the word that Canterlot survived and won. Couldn't they just get any other member of the militia, or the Red Mages to do that? Whatever, the task would be simple enough, and it probably wouldn't be any longer than a half hour before they got back to find out about this...'special assignment'.
"Huh...well, alright I guess. We'll get right on that," Phalanx absently muttered, motioning for Hoplite to follow her.
The earth pony stopped for a moment, though, looking to Watermark, "Hey, where'd Whitefire run off to? She heading off to inform the Red Mages?" Hoplite asked Watermark.
"While we're at it, what's this 'special assignment' of yours? Or are you going to keep us in the dark on that so as not to spoil the surprise?" Phalanx added, figuring Hoplite had given her enough of a window to potentially get a straight answer from the zebracorn.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 4, 2014 9:49:28 GMT -5
"Oh that's simple. My Watergolems aren't nearly strong enough or sturdy enough for real construction... so we're going to borrow some REAL golems... from the Golem Maker. I hope he has sugar too, because our stores are running low on that." Watermark said ponderingly, starting to work on writing something, possibly a list of things to borrow from the Golem Maker. "Ooh, he might have some Rust-Phoenix Metal. I can use that as powder for a Glimmer Potion." He mumbled to himself.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2014 9:58:37 GMT -5
Phalanx and Hoplite just stopped, as if time itself had come to a halt at Watermark's notion. Hoplite's jaw went slack, and Phalanx couldn't stop herself from staring blankly forward. "Hang on," Phalanx managed after several uncomfortable seconds of silence, "Just...let me get this straight..."
"To beef up your Watergolems..." Phalanx started.
"We're going to see the Golem Maker..." Hoplite continued, the two obviously on the same wavelength of thought process.
"Not *a* Golem Maker, but *the* Golem Maker..."
"To *borrow* some of his stuff...?"
"And you treat this whole thing..."
"Like it's a trip to a grocery store down the road..." Hoplite finished the train of thought.
Phalanx sighed and rolled her eyes, "Okay, on top of that...how? Why? Where? When? You *do* realize this isn't exactly a 'normal' thing and is probably going to raise a few questions, right?"
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 6, 2014 5:28:56 GMT -5
"No, no, no silly!" Watermark laughed, "I'm not going to borrow his stuff to beef up my golems, I'm going to borrow HIS golems!" Watermark said, "I bet he's got a few strong ones we can take back to help us with the construction... hmm, might even send a couple to Canterlot when we're done. Golems are good at holding down forts, can you imagine? A citadel protected by golems? The Diamond Dogs would have no chance."
"Oh as for the how, why, where and when... How? We'll just go in and ask nicely, why? Because we need all the help we can get. Where? In the Everfree Forest, I happen to know where his layer is, after all in the cult we had a lot of expeditions into the Everfree. When? As soon as you're ready."
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2014 5:46:25 GMT -5
Phalanx blinked a few times, so Watermark just *knew* where the Golem Maker was, never mentioned it, and didn't bother to go speak to him back when things went south earlier? She'd figure being in such close contact with a legend, you'd call in a favour from them earlier before things got worse. She swore on her life she would *never* understand Watermark in any aspect, even now questioning her previous assumption of the zebracorn never giving a straight answer.
"Oh, well..." Phalanx muttered, still making her way slowly out of the room and once again signalling for Hoplite to follow, "We'll be back soon enough...just gotta...ehm...spread the word that Canterlot won..."
Even Hoplite was giving Watermark a questioning look as his sister was on the verge of grabbing his leg and pulling him out of the office, eventually cluing in and exiting the room.
* * *
The whole task of telling the locals of Canterlot's victory was easy enough. Phalanx arranged for the ponies she had placed on patrol to gather up the townsfolk near city hall. After that was done, she arranged for Lightning Blitz to give the announcement, the unicorn revealing this information in such a way as to make the townsfolk cheer. After Lightning's speech was done, the townsfolk disbanded, heading back to their homes and the militia returning to their patrols and posts.
While Phalanx had orchestrated the event and observed it happening, she and Hoplite both kept to the sidelines. With the event done, they turned and heading up towards Watermark's with nary a word exchanged between them. Why speculate on the sudden and confusion notion of visiting *the* Golem Maker when they were just going to meet him regardless? They knew their stay wouldn't be long at Watermark's, and they figured they didn't need to bring any supplies beyond their armour and weapons since, if they did need anything else, Watermark likely would've said so in advance. So they opened the door and stepped inside, essentially expecting to be right out the door in less than a minute.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 6, 2014 6:24:19 GMT -5
"Alright, we're ready to go?" Watermark passed them as they opened the door, almost as though he was waiting on the other side. "You got all of your weapons and equipment right? We can't tell how much the Golem Maker would like us stealing a few of his golems." The zebracorn said casually, skipping along towards the forest.
They noticed he was wearing saddlebags with all sorts of things, but the most prominent one was a long wand-like device that looked very outlandish and strange. So they were headed towards the Golem Maker's lair, just the three of them, to 'borrow' golems from a legend... and... it might not be happy about it...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2014 6:35:29 GMT -5
Phalanx and Hoplite looked to each other in a worried exchange. So it wasn't calling a favour, nor was it even borrowing the golems...Watermark was looking to *steal* the golems. Suddenly this whole 'special assignment' seemed like a seriously terrible idea.
Phalanx watched Watermark trotting towards the forest and took the opportunity to talk to Hoplite, the two of them following the zebracorn a little ways behind. "Potential suicide mission number three," Phalanx commented, "You'd think he'd tell us we were going to steal the golems, rather than 'borrow'..."
"Then again, when was the last time he ever told us the whole truth of the matter?" Hoplite retorted.
Phalanx snickered, "Well, it's not like we really ask him much."
Hoplite shrugged, "Not like we have to either. He hasn't led us to our deaths yet, he wouldn't make stupid decisions around our lives, he *seems* to know what he's doing, probably has a plan, and our questions will probably be answered before this is all over. Hay, he's probably going to *show* us what that weird wand-thing does by the time the sun goes down."
Phalanx nodded, "Of course. Why would he pack it if he wasn't going to use it? And if he's going to use it, he'll probably use it when we're around and *tell* us what it did...or just never say a word on it."
Hoplite shrugged, "Not like we have much choice in the matter. I mean, do you want to steal golems from the legendary Golem Maker, or just go home and lose the only military job you can hold in all of Equestria?"
Phalanx rolled her eyes, "Yeah yeah, I know...just feels like this is going to be another one of those situations where we might just get eviscerated, and I'm not really much looking forward to that."
"Rather be mauled by dogs than whatever the Golem Maker could do, huh?" Hoplite raised an eyebrow.
Phalanx grumbled, "Actually, yes. At least then I know what the dogs are capable of."
"Fair point," Hoplite finished, the two picking up their pace to catch up to Watermark.
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Post by Red Charge on Feb 6, 2014 6:41:57 GMT -5
"Dogs eat you after they kill you." Fillydelphia said, apparently having walked behind them silently the entire time, with Sapphire Bomber flying high above and lowering down as they approached the Everfree.
"They even do it when you're alive sometimes." She continued, "I would rather a quick death by a golem than being eaten alive by a dog."
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