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Post by Selenia on Aug 4, 2014 11:47:30 GMT -5
Selenia sprawled out on the grass of the cliff-edge garden where she regularly trained with Red. Her chat with Retort had been short and sweet, but bursting with excited questions from the bouncy mare and more reserved answers from herself. Red had departed with the promise of returning later, which he did so only to tell Selenia to go meet him at the very same garden she was currently at at their regular hour, the break of dawn. Needless to say, Selenia was more than happy to drag herself out of her cot and away from the misery of the hospital tent to stretch her legs. She was much less happy when she got outside and saw the full extent of the damage to Canterlot proper. The place used to be an icon of Equestrian culture and power, their gleaming capitol, now it was a field of charred rubble with scattered tents wherever one looked. Great scars marred the boulevards, craters with the twisted remains of griffon capital ships inside were scattered about, and the palace had lost every single one of its towers, it was a miracle in itself that the superstructure hadn't detached from the cliffside entirely and tumbled into the valley below.
Selenia had just set her eyes and sighed as she wove her way through the tents and crowds. For better or for worse, the ponies seemed to be taking it well enough, everypony seemed to be doing something to help, be it sharing what supplies they had, helping dig through rubble for salvage or belongings, or just providing a shoulder for some of the more affected to cry on. Ponies were as stout and stubborn as any other race, but having their entire city demolished in the blink of an eye would most likely stretch morale as far as possible.
Regardless, everything would even itself out over time. Cities could be rebuilt, ponies generally couldn't. Generally is because Selenia herself seemed to have bent those rules a bit, bucking death in the face when it came knocking, thanks to RedCharge, a nightmare, and the expert medical staff in Canterlot. Though no matter how Red or Retort had theorized about it, it still felt unnatural. Dying is something a pony is supposed to do only once, and she had practically filled her quota already. She rolled over onto her back and stared up at the clouds. The past few days had given her a lot to think about, and she was eager to finally get some time off to do just that. No missions, no magic homework, no risking her life, just a few minutes to catch her breath.
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Post by Red Charge on Aug 5, 2014 8:44:08 GMT -5
A few minutes later she was joined by the red stallion, though Selenia noticed the fatigue on Red Charge's features when he visited her in the dimly lit medical pavilion, it was only out in the sun that she could really see the deep lines etched into his face and the bags under his eyes. He and Luna have not gotten much sleep, none of the war council has. Among Red Charge's duties was also overseeing the return of the Fillydelphia refugees. The ponies there were already anxious for a victory ceremony, but Princess Luna would not have it until such time as the Diamond Dogs were completely driven from Equestria.
Aside from that, Red Charge still had to train his Battle Mages, oversee the reconstruction effort of the Royal Library and the restoration of its many books as well as all other cultural buildings in Canterlot. with all that in hand, the poor stallion had only precious few hours of rest, all of them used for sleep and it showed. Still though, the unicorn managed to retain his regal aura, authoritativeness and grace.
"So Selenia, you want to tell me what happened in that fight with the Nightmare before I arrived? The others have already told me, but I want to hear your version of it, if you would humor me."
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Post by Selenia on Aug 8, 2014 9:58:37 GMT -5
Selenia clammed up a bit at Red's request. For one, she didn't expect Red to ask a question to which he had already been told the answer to, which obviously meant that he was trying to get something specific out of her. A little thought poked her in the back of her mind, 'is... he grilling me like a parent looking for an honest answer? Selenia gulped. She knew he was less than happy about her screw-up during the tower battle, but this meant he must have been much more concerned about it and her overall performance than she initially thought. Then again, Selenia did notice the rather dangerous looking amount of fatigue present on Red's features, a usually stony mask which revealed next to nothing going on inside that vast mind. Either that meant he was really burned out from his various royal duties and simply didn't elect to pay attention when the story was first told, or he did and she was wrong about that too.
Her training had taught her to never make overt assumptions regarding her mentor, so she just decided to tell him the order of events as she experienced them, whatever came after would come after anyways. "The nightmare I-we, Nova, Sunspire and I, were fighting, it was practically untouchable. It was hooded with a skull mask, and it used crossbow with gem bolts, as well as phasing into shadow so spells and attacks would go right though it, standard nightmare fare of shadow jumping too, you probably know the drill." She twirled her hoof as she rattled off the start, "There were others I attacked and evaded in the streets and near the library where I was doing my homework, but they weren't at the tower when I got there. Point is, this particular nightmare was evading everything that took time to reach it, only Nova and Sunspire managed to trip it up with some beam and a wave that it had to physically block. So, I figured an instant blink right up next to it and unloading some bolts into its face might work to catch it on the second or third after it phased through the first, with the help of Sunspire and Nova of course." She crossed her hooves and looked around a bit, "Needless to say, I charged my spells out in the open like an idiot while the nightmare jumped to a different shadow and shot me right in the horn." She tapped the offending extremity for emphasis. "After that, mostly pain, the rest I told to you and Retort in the hospital."
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Post by Red Charge on Aug 12, 2014 2:30:49 GMT -5
Noticing Selenia staring at his face, Red Charge rubbed a hoof across it. "Hmm, I guess I haven't refreshed the spell in a while now." He said, feeling the baggy, drooping skin. Of course, having only seen him shortly during the Final Ritual, Selenia had a hard time realizing his body had physically aged a couple decades with the exertion of trying to combat Eclipse, so she had little understanding of what he was referring to.
"Alright," Red Charge said, making up his mind, "I suppose it's a lesson in its own. Look carefully, Selenia, you're about to see a unique, one of its kind spell. " The Royal Advisor prefaced, then closing his eyes and concentrating. Selenia, having seen her fair share of magic cast and having been taught under Red Charge to always be observant looked carefully, trying to venture a guess at what he was attempting to cast.
As the large unicorn drew in ether, much the same way he had shown his red maned pupil on their first lesson, she caught a glimpse of the spell formula but even from that glimpse she could see it was impossible. The formula was so completely foreign to her, so far beyond everything she has ever seen, that she was sure it would simply explode in Red Charge's face. Trying to trace the etheric shape he was forming also proved pointless, she can't have been correct, because all of her senses were telling her he was using a shape which had more than three dimensions. That was impossible, right?
When he had finished channeling the spell properly, a wave of light washed over him as the rays of dawn slowly lit both unicorns' bodies brightly. Selenia had to close her eyes due to the light of the sun, but when she opened them again, she could not believe what had transpired despite seeing it with her own eyes. Red Charge, who had just a moment before been a late middle aged looking stallion approaching his final quarter, now appeared in his early thirties at most. His skin was now stretched taut over his chiseled Equiterian features, displaying his prominent, high cheekbones and well set jaw. His eyes, formerly a dull sunflower yellow in color were now a bright and fiery sunlight gold in color. His dull coat now shone healthily under the light of the new day's sun and his mane was now more vivid in color, the red turning a deep crimson with the solar-flare-pattern fire tips spreading up his mane. His posture, which even in his older state was elegant and regal, was now statuesque. He turned his head here and there to stretch his newly rejuvenated neck and back muscles, freeing their stiffness with several loud pops before finally standing upright before her again.
"Much better." The now rejuvenated unicorn said finally.
"So tell me, this nightmare you were fighting, what do you think made him so difficult to compete against?" The tall mage asked, an open question, he did not elaborate on what he meant, leaving it open to her interpretation.
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Post by Selenia on Aug 14, 2014 9:11:21 GMT -5
Red must have read either Selenia's mind or her face because he quickly addressed his fatigue and piqued her curiosity at the mention of some lasting spell he had to re-cast. Needless to say, she had no idea what he was talking about or what to expect, but Red told her to pay attention. As Selenia watched, she couldn't help but realize that she really did have absolutely no idea what he was doing. It was... Definitely one heck of a spell alright, but the shape was impossible. She scowled to herself about the shape, whenever she tried to focus on an edge or defining feature to study, it would begin to blur. She knew her fair share of math, but definitely not math like that, a question for a later time, perhaps. So she just watched in awe as he continued, the power of the spell glowing bright enough that she had to shield her eyes.
After a few seconds, the blinding light faded from behind her eyelids, and after she rubbed them a bit and regained focus, her jaw practically hit the floor. Red looked years younger, the fatigue and wear on his body and features completely gone, as if somepony bumped up the saturation filter and pumped him full of life. He was even standing up straighter too, the miniscule lag on his movements gone, everything about him was exceedingly healthy and... full. What was the term that one book had used? Ah yes, an 'apex specimen'. Selenia now realized that he had cast a rejuvenation spell, but one vastly more powerful than the spells commonly used to bring life back into a dying flower or heal up a few cuts. This definitely had some interesting implications, especially the resurgent question in Selenia's mind of just how old RedCharge was. She silently prayed to whatever cosmic forces existed that she may age that well.
Selenia took a second to collect herself when she realized Red had asked her a question, casually brushing past the monument of a spell he had cast. She stumbled over her words before her mind shifted from 'impossible formula' back to 'nightmares', "I, uh, it was untouchable. To me, I mean er, my skills. Its method of dodging, that phasing thing, made it practically invulnerable to my repertoire of magical attacks. Pretty much all I have are limited to projectiles with travel times, and no matter how fast I would have fired them, it would have been able to phase through each one in succession. I don't know any continuous beams or waves or anything like what could have caught it, so." She shrugged, "The nightmare was difficult to fight because I wasn't prepared. My skills so far are limited, and it had a counter that made my current abilities next to useless, and it won't be the only one with nasty tricks I'll have to face in the future."
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Post by Red Charge on Aug 16, 2014 17:06:34 GMT -5
"Adaptation, creativity, resource management." Red Charge said, she had noticed his voice lost some of its old grit as well and its volume even increased. "You must always be able to react to the situation." He summoned several force orbs with his horn and gestured at Selenia. "Throw a rock using telekinesis, as hard as you can. I'd like to demonstrate something, if you'll allow me."
"As you know, force orbs are slow moving projectiles, their size and compression does not allow for overly fast movement without overexerting yourself. I bet you still I can make them, without using any extra force to hurl them, catch your rock."
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Post by Selenia on Aug 18, 2014 11:22:14 GMT -5
Selenia looked around for a second and found a rock to her liking as Red continued. It was about the size of an apple, perhaps a bit bigger. With her telekinesis, she could easily whip it quite a distance, hard enough to hurt somepony, even. Good aim and well outpacing her kinetic bolts. For all that tossing items had over her standard magic attacks, her attacks were engineered to be attacks, and they could hit much harder than a simple rock ever could. This conundrum was balancing.
She nodded thoughtfully as Red listed the standard properties of bolt-based attacks, physics exist so you can't exactly break them to get an advantage, or to make magic do something it shouldn't. At least within the bounds of a regular unicorn's magical power, however. Selenia reminded herself that Red was as far from a 'regular unicorn' as one could get, and she didn't entirely know where he was taking this little demonstration, but she had a few ideas. She even allowed herself a small smirk at his challenge as she wound up like the world's best shot-put champions and chucked the stone as hard as her magic would allow, then holding a hoof to her forehead as she watched it sail away. About her smirk, however, she fully expected it to get wiped right off her face when Red succeeded in blowing her mind in a few seconds.
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Post by Red Charge on Aug 22, 2014 8:57:05 GMT -5
Red deliberately let the rock get far, looking at it with lack of interest before finally releasing an orb. All three orbs vanished, as though dispelled. At first Selenia wondered what exactly Red Charge was doing dispelling the orbs, but when the orbs reappeared in three different places, she realized what was going on.
The rock smashed right into the first orb, causing it to explode violently, hurtling it across the sky into the second who did the same and then to the third. Red caught it with his telekinesis as it came zooming past them.
"The Equiterian Magistrates had mastery of a very powerful spell, without being able to perform this spell, no Equiterian, regardless of who they were, could become a magistrate. The spell was a pure example of raw magical power. It was called 'meteor shower' and its effects were pretty self explanatory. The spell works by summoning asteroids from Saturn and raining them down on your enemies. Needless to say, the transportation of asteroids over such a long distance is impossible in a single lifetime. Instant projection is a very powerful tool, one which has served unicorns for generations. The Yellow Flashes are a prime example of this, they are capable of blinking across a battlefield instantly, appearing where the enemy least expects them and striking before blinking out."
"Now then, with that out of the way, I want us to start with the regular routine, drawing power from the celestial body of the sun." He said, turning back, "As I've told you, when the moon and sun are both in the sky," He gestured at the still visible moon and the sun as he talked, "Ether is projected by them and between them, making it an opportune time. This is doubly true under the full moon, of course. Once we've drawn power, I want you to practice projecting your orbs with teleportation."
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Post by Selenia on Aug 24, 2014 8:09:11 GMT -5
Selenia watched with intrigue as Red proceeded to blow her mind, this time by forming standard concussive blasts not unlike her own, but having them reach the target by way of teleportation instead of a ballistic launch. As amazing as this new development and delivery system was, Selenia still frowned as she watched Red play aerial pinball with the rock. Now, why hadn't she thought of that during the fight with the nightmare? She decided to blame a lack of training. It was an easy scapegoat, and spurned her to listen more intently during practice. She calmly sat and provided her attention as Red gave a short connecting history lesson about the Equiterians, and then made reference to one of Equestria's specialist squads. It all revolved around the importance and versatility of teleportation, whether that be of oneself or anything else. She assumed that would be her next focus.
An assumption that was promptly confirmed when Red pointed out that the day was prime for training, and then told her to give teleporting her concussive orbs a try. She walked over to the edge of the cliff and straightened her chest, taking a deep breath. The orbs were no issue, she had done them hundreds of times in combat and training, so taking advantage of the sun and moon with an easy formula was quick and efficient. She focused on the familiar shape, channeled the energy, and her horn glowed faintly as a single orb pulled the light away from her horn to hover a few feet in front of her. She smiled.
Now came the hard part. With teleportation, Selenia had only ever teleported herself or simple items, not volatile spells set to detonate on jarring disturbances. She bit her lip and hovered the undulating orb a few extra meters away, safely out of the blast and compression zones. She didn't exactly fancy getting injured again right after escaping her hospital bed. So, anyways, back to teleportation. Red had obviously done it successfully, so Selenia knew the feat was possible, probably just harder than she would be used to. Nevertheless, she decided to start out slow and focused on the orb, then visualized the orb about twenty feet farther out from the cliff face. The teleportation formula wasn't something she was as adept at casting as the orbs, but she had enough experience to be comfortable with simple blinks. She took another deep inhale and drew the raw energy from the celestial bodies, forming it into what she needed and filling the spell formula with its required power. taking care to ensure that the teleportation itself was smooth so as not to accidentally trigger the orb. Once the shape was complete, she drew it into her horn to amplify and cast the spell. If all went well, the orb would teleport and totally not blow up inexplicably.
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 7, 2014 14:07:21 GMT -5
To Selenia's surprise it was easier than expected. The orb teleported appropriately and appeared some distance away from them, not too much, but definitely enough to make a difference in a life or death situation.
Red Charge did not applaud or congratulate Selenia, instead he looked at her critically as she drew energy from the ether and cast her spells. There was something uncertain in his eyes, something she couldn't quite figure out.
"I don't think I can have you as my apprentice anymore." He said finally, his yellow eyes piercing her own judgmentally.
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Post by Selenia on Sept 8, 2014 14:20:28 GMT -5
Selenia's concentration shattered as Red pulled those fateful words out of seemingly nowhere, and in such a casual manner. She was expecting some advice on her casting technique or another assignment when he began to speak, but never this. She slowly turned around to face Red, fully, her eyes wide, betraying her mix of emotions. She would have asked why, but the words caught before they even reached her throat. She sat down and looked around before shrugging helplessly and meeting his eyes again. This equated to expulsion from school- no, expulsion from the world's greatest magic academy. It was the single greatest opportunity the gods had granted her, and it had just slipped right through her hooves. She fished her tumultuous mind for an answer, and the only thing she could grasp was that it must be a result of her failure to act accordingly during the nightmare attack, but it didn't make any sense, she had messed up before, and he had seemed so supportive of her survival and recovery...
Red was a legend, eons old and capable of feats of magic that the best mages would even consider pure wizardry. There was no way Selenia could assume his reasons, but either she had done something very very wrong, or things just didn't work out for an apprentice on Red's end. She hid a scowl at that, as she was loath to admit it. In the end, she just wasn't important enough. She didn't have any urge to stomp her hooves or fly off the handle in frustration, no matter how childishly she might have wanted to, no... She respected Red too much for that. After a minute or so, Selenia finally found her lightly trembling voice. "I-" She began, swallowing dryly and standing up straight, "I understand. I appreciate the knowledge and expertise you've taken your time to bestow upon me, Advisor. It's been an honor."
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 9, 2014 9:36:27 GMT -5
"Were not done here." Red said, coldly, forcefully even. The type of voice Selenia has never heard him use before. It was far more intimidating than if he had held a fireball aimed at her.
"You're going to tell me who taught you that spell." He continued, eyes still piercing hers, locking them in his, compelling her to continue looking into his own. After a moment, in which he must have realized more context was needed.
"The spell you showed me when I asked you to create a spell. Who taught you that spell? When did you learn it? Where? How?" He asked, stepping closer to her threateningly, "You will tell me. Now."
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Post by Selenia on Sept 12, 2014 10:48:47 GMT -5
Selenia was rather quickly yanked out of her impending depression and into a state of moderate fear. Red hadn't simply left her to go on with her life like she had suspected. Instead, he had her cornered, his tone like a spear, pinning her to the wall. She froze, as she kept reminding herself, Red was legendarily powerful, and now his voice was laced with brimstone and directed at her. She took a tentative step back from her intimidating former mentor, keenly aware that she was backed up against a cliff and couldn't use either fight or flight in this situation. Red continued to talk, demanding an answer, the answer to how Selenia had gotten that spell, that one spell.
She remembered back to the day, Red had tasked her with the assignment of creating a new spell from scratch. her idea was one to mask the outward life force of the caster, hiding them from magical detection. Needless to say, it was almost impossible, even when she tried experimenting with formulas. Until somepony came along, a hooded stallion covered in bandages, and gave her the exact formula she needed. Her brow creased as she stood her ground across from Red, recalling further. The pony had also made her an offer, to join an underground race full of criminals and recover a powerful artifact important to the war effort, but not to tell anypony about it, not even Red. She had kept that promise so far, and had neither heard nor seen anything of the bandaged pony since. It was remarkably suspicious, but she had taken his orders with only minor questions, and in doing so had probably plunged herself into an immensely dangerous position in the long run.
And then there was red, demanding information on the pony. Selenia had a choice, break her pact with the mysterious pony, or lie. She quickly realized that she couldn't lie to Red, not by a longshot, but she also wanted to keep some of the aggreement with the hooded pony alive, so she decided that the best choice was to tell Red what he wanted to hear. Once she got deep enough to realize just what the situation was, then she would call for some help on the matter, it was like being an undercover cop in books. The hooded pony had even mentioned and shared Selenia's devotion to Equestria, so he must have realized that if the agreement went bad, she would have to tell somepony.
Selenia took a few seconds to regain her composure after Red's threatening advance. She would need to say everything perfectly. "A cloaked and injured pony came by when I was testing the formulas for your assignment. He offered a chat, and I needed a break anyways. I expressed my frustration with the assignment, which he told me was rigged to make me fail, and then he graciously pointed my brainstorming in the right direction. He knew a lot about formulas, and I just assumed he was a magical theorist out for a stroll with what he brought to the conversation, I don't know. The whole 'recluse scientist' part made sense because he said he sunburned easily, hence the cloak. When his short instruction and encouragement led me to working out the formula I needed, he was gone. Then you showed up." She finished by pointing at Red, hopefully that would be enough to sate his demands. "Speaking of that, actually, you avoided talking about the spell, and you couldn't get that scowl off your face... Do you know that pony or something?"
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Post by Red Charge on Sept 12, 2014 11:53:31 GMT -5
"Lies!" Red Charge accused harshly, stomping his front hoof hard against the ground. "You're lying to me. Where did you learn this spell? No one could have taught this spell to you. This spell doesn't exist anywhere." He said, "I know that because *I* created it." He began to pace around her, his nostrils flared so widely it almost seemed like they would start blowing smoke soon. "You cannot even grasp the concept of spell combination, yet you came to me with this spell, trying to fool me?" He wasn't yelling still, nor was he having any anger ticks, he was perfectly in control, but as close to the edge as Selenia's ever seen him. Rumors did strike her that he almost murdered a captive in the palace... General Dreadtalon, a hard thing to believe, but seeing Red Charge now, it was hard to say, was he feeling the same anger and resentment towards Selenia?
"I demand the real explanation. Don't give me that bandaged pony Horseapples, there's no pony who could have taught you the spell. Absolutely no one. There's only been two other ponies besides me who knew this spell." Red's sun-yellow eyes continued to pierce Selenia's, never leaving them.
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Post by Selenia on Sept 13, 2014 14:22:08 GMT -5
Selenia jumped as Red yelled at her, his tone and presence even more threatening than before, and she was once again reminded of the cliff behind her. She stood her ground rather exceptionally, only folding her ears back in fear as Red continued to yell accusations, not daring to respond until he had finished. One statement in particular piqued her interest instead of making her cower further, it was the fact that Red had created the spell, had never written it down in any book anywhere, and was only one of three ponies that ever knew how to recreate it, which meant the hooded pony from before must have been one of those other two. When he finished, Selenia took her opportunity.
"You created that spell?" She opened, as calmly as she could manage, "Why didn't you question my source on the day of the assignment instead of waiting until Canterlot had been destroyed?" She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You know what, nevermind. But about my source, I am not lying, Red. I would not do that to you. What I told you about that pony is the truth. It was a hooded stallion, covered in bandages, who came up to me and talked about magic. He said the bandages were for burns and that the cloak was to keep them out of the sun. As for the talk, he talked about me, about you, and about me being your apprentice, and I already told you he said that your assignment was meant for me to fail, which in hindsight I probably should have done anyways. I got that he knew you on some personal level, at least by how he talked about your training." She shrugged to Red, not breaking his gaze, and hoping that her exhaustive explanation and reiteration that she was not lying about this pony would cool him off. Chances are it wouldn't, but it was more important that Red get the facts. "If you don't believe my story about the cloaked stallion, then how about you tell me how I could have possibly gotten this unattainable formula, I'm not lying here."
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