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Post by Red Charge on Mar 31, 2013 5:23:33 GMT -5
"Now comes the hard part." The armored red stallion said, "Homework." Was the lesson over already?
"By this time tomorrow, I would like you to create a simple spell formula and demonstrate it in action. The spell must have a function and must work or you will fail this assignment. You cannot use existing spell formulas. Be imaginative, I'm sure you can think something up." Selenia's mentor gave her quite the task. Invent a spell in one day? Maybe Starswirl the Bearded would find it to be suitable, many spells took years to perfect, not to mention that she must make one that does not use an existing formula. Were the expectations of her this high?
"If you really wish to become a Red Guard, you must also train physically, be sturdy and strong. I would have Iron Shoes train you, however, his training methods would probably kill you as you are now. Later today we will test you physically. I warn you that you are likely to pass out during the training exercises, so prepare yourself accordingly."
"Now let us continue shall we?"
The platform she and Red Charge were standing on now shot away from the cliff side, flying over the valley of Equestria and stopping when the Canterlot mountain was too far for comfort. Selenia noticed that she was on the edge of the platform, and Red was standing very uncomfortably close to her. "The other most important thing for a mage." He said, pushing her over the edge, causing her to begin hundreds of feet of descent in a free fall. There was no escape from this situation, teleporting would preserve her motion energy and would just splatter her wherever she landed. Her own mentor just doomed her.
Or not.
Selenia found herself lying shivering on the platform, still off the edge of Canterlot, close enough for her to hop back to safety. "Willpower, the ability to control spell energy and resist the spells cast by other ponies and creatures. What you've just experienced was a very common illusion. Many mages use these illusions to cause their victims to have heart attacks and brain deaths, reveal information, or cause the pony in question to do things they would otherwise not do. As part of your training I will use the worst of these tactics on you and force you into situations that will for all intents and purposes be considered both illegal and immoral. In short, you will be my plaything, until such time as you are able to resist my power." He explained.
"Yes, this training is very real, it is very hard and it is unrelenting. You cannot be anything if you are not willing to suffer the slings, arrows, and tortures that come with it. You will be subjected to things that in any other circumstances would be considered heinous crimes, to things that might scar your psyche and mar your spirit. But you have a chance to walk away, and if you choose not to, anything done to you from this point onward, any damage, both physical or mental, any liability, even death, you consent to."
The stallion's piercing gaze now never left Selenia's, "But you might say, isn't this excessive? Are you just using me as a cover to practice such activities and get away with it? Can we not train any other way? The answer is no. The Red Guard is not a unit that is sent to wipe out a den of ferals, or clean up an undead outpost. The Red Guard is a unit that takes down ancient dragons, powerful mages and creatures you wouldn't dare read about. Any of these can use you as they see fit if your will is weak. Their power will be immense and overwhelming and unless you are forced to the consequences of failure the same as they are in the field, you will not be able to truly face them. There are no limits to what could be done to you, no avenue of cruelty or evil will be left unexplored if you fail to resist, do you understand?" He asked.
"But in the end," He concluded, "You will be on a level that few ponies in history could ever attain. You will become a legend in your own right and rightly so. No target will be out of your reach, no goal too far. You wanted to improve yourself for the sole sake of improving yourself? There's not much further you can go then what I offer you. The only question is, if you're willing to accept the consequences of your desire." At that the platform closed the gap between it and Canterlot.
"Now you have to make your decision Selenia. I will not respect you any less for any decision you make."
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Post by Selenia on Apr 4, 2013 23:15:28 GMT -5
Selenia mentally groaned when Red uttered the word 'homework', but maintained her soft visage, refusing to betray her displeasure with that accursed noun. She had hated homework in school with a passion. It was always overly tedious and time consuming, eating into the time she allotted for pleasure reading. It was a drag and nothing good really seemed to come of it, but she settled a bit when Red issued the premise: create new magic. She looked at him quizzically, cocking her head to the side a bit. Creating new magic was a monumental task. Selenia knew that only trained professionals worked on creating new spells. Selenia was no PhD, but if it was a necessary first (wow, first) step in Red's apprenticeship, then she would complete it without question, hesitation, or complaint. After all, if she was determined and cunning enough, she could succeed at anything. Plus, she had already contemplated a few useful spells in her free time before meeting Red, simple things that anyone would wish for that were creative or could make life easier, that sort of thing.
Selenia hoped she could pick out a little bit of humor with Red's reference to Hightower's super-abs workout plan in 10 easy steps being deadly for such a squishy weak pony such as herself, but she couldn't find any, as well as his advice to condition herself for Red's own physical training later that same day. That alone kind of unnerved her, but she honestly understood his reasoning. He was giving her the little tidbits, however obvious they seemed, that she needed to succeed. She took the advice to heart and hunkered down as Red led their floaty rocks way far out from Canterlot.
Red's tone changed that instant to something much darker, much more sinister and frighteningly honest. Everything before then must have been just playtime, and it made Selenia frown. He pulled up behind her, a little too close for comfort and well within her personal bubble as he divulged an important facet of becoming a battlemage, but right before he dropped the secret, Selenia felt a firm push on her behind, and she stumbled off the edge of the floating platform.
After the initial shock of sudden free-fall washed over her, she twisted around to see the platform, and Red's smiling face disappearing into the sky. She almost torqued her neck turning around again to face the ground, which was coming up rather fast. She would have screamed, but she couldn't form a sound. Her mind had frozen, eyes fixed on the earthy surface rushing up to meet her. The ground seemed so lovely. What a pretty shade of green.
Her vision swam and distorted before she could meet her fate, however. After shaking her head and blinking her yes repeatedly, she found herself back on the floating platform, shivering, cowering like a foal on the ground. She sucked in a few deep, ragged breaths as she blinked involuntary air blasted tears out of her eyes. She slowly keeled back up, wavered a bit, and gave the surface she was on a few solid taps.
She turned to Red slowly and he started to explain. It was an illusion of his own making. A cruel form of a joke played on her to bring her to her knees. It worked. She had never really respected the life she had until it seemed it was seconds from being taken away. She shook her head violently one more time and shivered. The experience tore at her mind and her soul, much as actual death would do, and she shook off the empty feeling left by facing ones own mortality. Her heart was still beating, however. At least her body was still excited, the adrenaline would last longer than normal.
Red continued to detail his rationale, how extreme willpower was key in resisting illusions such as the harrowing experience she just had. The strategic implications were great, clandestinely crack ponies and loosen tongues, even kill them, but Selenia's mind completely dropped when Red explained that a central part of the training would be on willpower. Such hallucinations and much worse would be repeated again and again until she could master it. Every fear, every thought, every dream, secret, wish, carnal desire, anything Red wanted to toy around with would be his to take. Her private mind would become his public playground, and he would use it to torture her. The training would be much more personal, unethical and even possibly illegal, and nothing like any training she had ever undergone before. Finally, he decided to sweeten the pot, enumerating the end result: she would become a legend, plain and simple.
Red's proposition left Selenia stunned in silence for at least 4 minutes as she thought. She just thought, about everything. Who she was, what she believed, what led her to seek out Red Charge as a mentor, all the self-discovery stuff. Selenia thought. She thought and thought and thought. Her decision could mean life or death, leading a happy life or spending her days as a mindless husk in some hospital to be thrown out with the old IV bags. She had to be making her decision for the rigt reasons. Fun, greed, and a lust for power would corrupt her path and lead to failure, she wasn't in it to have stories written about her. As she had said to Red in his office, she was doing this for her friends, her country, and herself. A little noble at face value, but hopefully a pure approach meant less muck to deal with on the journey. She believed in her friends and wanted to protect and support them better. She belonged to her nation- no, her planet- and would not see it fall to chaos and war. And she wanted to improve herself beyond her wildest aspirations. She would be devoted completely to the role. No second guessing, no turning back, go big or go home. She only had one life, better to spend it right then not spend it at all.
She idly chewed her lip after a few minutes, snapping her out of her reverie. She looked up at Red, who was staring at her, patiently and intently. She met his steely gaze with an equally steely glare of her own.
"I'll do it," she said. Her eyes showed no fear or indecision, this choice would change her forever as a pony, and the experience would be even more so. She took a few deep, puffing breaths, exhaling slowly as if a weight had been removed from her chest.
"I'll do it." She repeated, reminding herself just what she had done. There was a long road ahead of her.
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Post by Red Charge on Apr 13, 2013 3:57:50 GMT -5
Red Charge grinned at Selenia, it was a sincere but bittersweet grin. He knew what was in store for Selenia. He had done the same with Watermark when he was half her age and the zebra-unicorn was more than capable of handling it. It was an evil, a terrible evil, but a necessary one. He had trained under Destrier, who was a far more merciful mentor, perhaps in a way it was why none of his Battlemages survived, sans Luna, Celestia and Red Charge himself. But the armored stallion knew the score.
He was in the labyrinth, facing off against the most powerful ponies in the world. As a colt he always assumed that the soldier ponies and the mage ponies of Equestria were the most powerful, he was dead wrong. There were legends out there surpassing the wildest imagination that remained hidden and unheard of. Ponies capable of dominating minds and bodies alike, capable of raining lightning and fire from the sky, capable of shattering diamonds with their hooves.
"You will indulge, then, an old stallion with one more story, would you not?" He asked, proceeding to lie down on his platform as he conjured up his tale, this time an illusion appeared of a single silhouette of a stallion, Equiterian by build.
"You must have heard of Starswirl the Bearded, along with Destrier he was widely acknowledged as one of the greatest wizards in history. You would be surprised to know that they shared a mentor." He indicated the illusion, "Neither ever revealed his name, nor did they ever mention whether or not he was part of the Equiterian Empire or not. I think of him as a pathfinder. He studied the path of magic for so long that he mastered every aspect of it."
The stallion in the illusion began casting all sorts of magic, from transmutation to destruction, from creation to illusion." He had four disciples, training in four different schools. Destrier in the school of combat, Starswirl in the School of Enlightment, The Golem Maker in the school of creation and the Alchemist in the school of transmutation." Four additional silhouettes appeared, easily recognized by their attire. Destrier in his golden magistrate's armor, Starswirl with his beard and wizard's hat, The Alchemist with his long robe and The Golem Maker, with his stone helmet.
"In time, all students competed for the Pathfinder's attention, each trying to prove their worth by using their school to top the other. The Golem Maker fashioned mighty intelligent creatures made of steel and stone and capable of great feats beyond all other such creations, Destrier created mighty spells that could decimate the tallest of mountains or protect against the mightiest disasters, The Alchemist created potions of immense power, capable of killing or healing with a drop and transmutations of draconian levels. But Starswirl remained engrossed in his studies, believing that in order to impress his master he must discover the true nature of the ether." Each time he spoke of one of the students, they began performing their art in turn.
Red's ability to create illusions was beyond any Selenia encountered yet, it was like watching poetry translated into moving art. Every detail was well defined, the alchemists' potions creating puffs of different colored smoke, Destrier's destructive magic rippling throughout the air, The Golem Maker's heavy creations causing small tremors as they lumbered around.
"It was not long before the students realized that their master will not be swayed by the simple perfection of one art, so having perfect their own, Destrier, The Alchemist and the Golem Maker began to master each others'.
The Golem Maker used alchemy to create magical machines of unequaled magical potency, using Destrier's art to weave powerful shields and destructive capabilities into them.
The alchemist created potions that could create a semblance of life in the inanimate, or combust into a raging inferno, turning castles to ashes or bringing nature itself to life.
Destrier was capable of imbuing his own magic with life, spells that had their own consciousness and purpose and spells that recombined the natural elements in what they struck to become unstable and erupt."
As these was shown on Red's infinite canvas, Starswirl was still studying, relentlessly.
"But Starswirl remained engrossed in his studies and did not participate in such displays of power. When the day finally came for the Pathfinder to choose his heir, he asked each of his students what they had learned."
"Each boasted of their great accomplishments, but the Pathfinder laughed as it performed their best works with ease, humbling them. When he finally reached Starswirl the Bearded, he asked what he had learned. Starswirl looked up from his book and answered thusly – 'I have learned that the nature of the Ether is infinite, that it is just a master of us as we are of it and therefore there is no true master of any school, we are all disciples and that no matter how much we study or practice, there is an infinite amount more left to be studied.'"
"And so the Pathfinder picked Starswirl as his successor, his answer being the exact lesson he was hoping to pass on to his students and he departed for the ether. With lesson in heart, each of the students went their own way, seeking to continue their studies on their own."
At that the illusion ended, "A story more fit for a child," Red Charge commented, "But its lesson rings true. There is no end to learning, no mastery that cannot be surpassed. Believing so would only halt your progress."
It was already late morning by the time the stallion finished his story so he sent Selenia to her home, to study and work on her spell, calling her to meet again with him in the afternoon.
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Post by Selenia on Apr 13, 2013 9:12:25 GMT -5
Red managed to meet Selenia's answer with a smile. She could detect some strain on his features, so the smile was most probably forced. Perhaps Red had in fact intended to sway her away from this specific path, and this knowing, pitiable smile was the only sorrowful consolation she would get before being subjected to consensual mind-rending torture? Lovely thought, but it wasn't the case. Selenia wasn't tough as nails, but she made her decision with careful thought. She would be doing what she wanted to do, and if she wanted to do it, she could do it. Thankfully, Red's face lightened a bit and he offered another story to her. Selenia let out a breathless sigh. She loved stories, and Red no doubt had hundreds of tales to spin that she'd never heard before. She sat down comfortably in front of him and brought her ears to attention.
Selenia watched silently as Red brought the story to the table, all magical history, and the origins of the greatest mages known to the world. He told of the exploits and lessons of The Alchemist, The Golem Maker, The Destrier, Starswirl the Bearded, and their unnamed mentor, The Pathfinder. Selenia could tell from the start that this story had a moral, while she watched in awe as each student practiced and perfected perfected each study of magic, performing feats of sheer magical beauty and horror as they went, Starswirl did nothing but study. She put a mental note to keep an eye on Starswirl as the story went on. Red continued, and Selenia stifled a smile as each student, sans Starswirl, believed that to impress The Pathfinder, they had to show strength of maigic, whereas Starswirl believed the key was strength of mind. Yep, this story definitely had a moral. As the students continued, mastering the others' arts and performing even more impressive feats than the last, Starswirl kept reading. Selenia had to give credit where it was due, in the face of incredible talent in magic, creating life out of thin air, leveling mountains with a simple swipe of the horn, or creating potions that could do anything you could imagine, Starswirl kept his nose buried in books, undoubtedly filling his mind with eons of wisdom and information, but no experience.
At the climax of the story, each student demonstrated their achievements. Decades of work, mastery, and perfection, and each had their parade promptly rained on as The Pathfinder duplicated their efforts with minimal effort. Finally, she watched intently as he came to Starswirl, and dropped the big moral lesson behind the story: 'learning is a lifelong occupation, there will always be more to know, nopony can ever become the best at anything, and if you set your mind to it, you can surpass any challenge'. Selenia half expected there to be a childish add-on like 'nopony can be the best at anything other than being themselves', but alas, perhaps all stories are not so poignant.
Selenia stood up as Red finished, she stretched and her joints popped from sitting still for so long. "I thought it was nice," she offered in return to his quip about it being juvenile, and nodded softly at his reply. After a few minutes of conversation, Selenia said her farewells and thanked him for the opportunity again before Red sent her home. When she reached her apartment she pushed through the door without magic and shut it behind her, leaning back on to it in mental exhaustion. It had been a big day, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. She sat down on her bed and pieced together a stack of books from the ones she had taken out of the Canterlot archives the night before, all on magical theory, and began leafing through their pages, she had a lot of work to do before meeting Red again.
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