How long can you go without sleep? How much pain can you take? What is the color of your blood?
Of course, you only started answering those questions after you found a place that is far from your home. And you have already decided you will never tell these details to anypony. Not even Silky.
And especially not your mom.
Tartarus, she would flip if you told her what you have been doing.
so apparently she took one of the "body training" actions with her third one? not sure if +5 general or +health.
and yeah, Velvet would likely disapprove
-the world explodes around you. A magical blast of coming out of the tip of your horn, and spilling in every direction like a malformed ball of moonlight.
It feels like you just got hit in the face and chest by a hammer, and for a moment you go entirely deaf before your ears finally start ringing again.
You weren't thrown off your hoofs, thankfully, and your legs are still firmly pressed under you. But still…
"Ach… stars… damnit…!" you say out loud.
You almost had it. Or at least you think you almost had it. But still, you ended up with the same result as before.
Edge realization, moonbeam laser?
Miss Cherilee has certainly been stepping up on her homework assignments, ever since more foals have been moving into the city and joining your classroom… You even think you heard that they will separate you all into grades? Maybe get another teacher?
oh, right, small village schools often have a single class for all grades. I kinda forgot about that.
It felt like the whole word was being twisted, forcibly bent into a straight line as something very large slithered through it.
But it only lasted for a moment.
In fact, for all that the sensation was almost dizzying, now that you think about it you barely noticed it was there. Or rather, you only noticed because you had the means to notice it. You only realized it happened because a part of you, a very small part, already learned about this kind of thing.
You think that, if you didn't know about it, you wouldn't have noticed it at all. You think that if anypony else was here, they wouldn't even have realized something just happened.
Axe summon?
You think you know who it is. Because that thing you just felt, it wasn't magic. It was something else. However, as the newcomer steps out of the tree line and into the moonlight, you can also tell it isn't your mother.
Which only leaves…
"Ae knew ye were a lil' freak… bu' ae had no idea 'ow right ae was."
I wonder just WHAT she knew.
Also,
do all of our Names just want to appear as far away from the summoning circle as possible?!
Baldomare (first, I don't remember the second) and Axe (second) did it, Mareinette did it...
Now that she is glaring daggers at you, wearing a scowl on her face and keeping a distance from you that is clearly cautious?
I wonder just what she
thinks we did to Selene, really.
"Now, are ye just a freak… or are ye also a monster?"
...well, at least she's talking?
Kinda rude though. just as usual, really.
You should fly away, go back home, or maybe just rush to Canterlot to try and find your mother. After all, she told you she had recently summoned the snakemare. So she has to know what is going on, right?
ah, no, I thought this was right after the summon, but apparently she just went to check on Selene while Velvet is away...
The great, double-bladed and antler-topped axe digs deep into the ground, as she rests her hoof on its hilt. And the way she glares at you is almost painful now, as a rousing air starts to blow around her.
for those who don't know, "rousing air" is the name of the tier 2 edge influence. +20 to edge rolls, which obviously includes
combat.
Because you could die here.
You might die here.
You will die here, depending on, according to her own words, how you answer her questions.
I wonder... after all, IF she really killed Selene,
then Velvet would make it her life's purpose to make her as miserable as possible.
Unsummon her. stop anyone from ever reaching the Desert of Keys again. Lead a wolf there, even
but seriously,
Names are holding back when acting for us.
Even with the small fragment of themselves they have in the Wake. I'm seriously starting to expect that as we progress in their "friendship quests" they might unlock more traits (and/or give us more actions)
-and most importantly, having her body destroyed here and now would mean nothing to her, while it would mean death to something like you-
well, it WOULD mean going fully back in her prison...
"Third. If ye really remember tha' time, than ye remember we made a deal. Does. Tha'. Deal. Still. Stands?"
...ok, I'm still seriously annoyed at her threatening Selene, but at least she's doing it out of worry for Silky.
"Fokken obvious, innit?" she says, her tone more annoyed than anything else. "Yer keeping tae yer part o' the deal, so ae'm keeping tae mine."
She says that as she picks one particular key from the heavy keychain, plucking it out from the ring that was holding it and holding it between her teeth.
...is she...
unlocking Selene's full memories?
I wonder what would have happened if Selene didn't remember. If we used Incision, or childhood's end...
you know, with AXE, the Knock 6 Edge 3 Name, just having been summoned (and potentially Biedde too), taking Knock AND Edge training actions was plenty inspired.
"W-wait! I… well, thank you?" you say to the retreating mare.
"Fak off!"
...was she just being a Tsundere? Would she have actually killed Selene if she didn't remember?
I have
so many a few questions!
You let out a small sigh of relief, glad that you avoided a small crisis. Because sure, Soft cares about you, and you also care for her very much! But one of the ways she expresses that is, well, by taking care of you. And sometimes she can be quite, uhm, zea-… zai… zealot about it?
yeah, I can see that 
BANG
"Ack!"
-and you almost
scream in surprise as your bed
jumps up from the floor for a second.
"Me… me fokken 'ead! Tha's gonna smart fer longer than ae want et to…"
...Axe, you know you're
NOT the monster under the bed, right?!
"It really is you!" you say, not being able to contain your excitement.
"W-wait, hol'on! Lemme first- OOF!"
And you are already hugging her, literally slamming against her chest, on the next moment. Rubbing your face against her cloak and feeling the braids of her mane against your cheek as you do.
"I missed you so much! And I'm so glad you're back! Oh, but you're staying this time, right? Are you going to be in your old room? Oh, and what did you do while you were away? And can you take the crusaders on an adventure again? Please, please please?!"
Truly, at this point the way to Axe's heart is by... well, convincing her we're NOT going to eat Silky, I suppose?
"Ae'd hav' told ye, if ye dinnae kno… et's a fokked up secret tae keep, between sissers…" she says, but her tone is so low you realize she is talking to herself.
That's true...
now that I think about it, there was a mention of her being the last surviving one out of all of her sisters I think?
"Just dinnae forget," she suddenly says. But there is something about her tone of voice that makes you perk up your ears in attention. Because the way she is saying this… she isn't just talking to you, you know. She is also talking to herself. "Dinnae ever forget. Yer sissers. Et's tha two of ye agains that world, aye? No matter wot happens, ye'll always hav' each other. No matter how many times ye shed, always come back to the nest."
...ok, now I'm wondering if there's ANOTHER Daughter of Axe somewhere. a sister trapped somewhere else, and maybe rescuing her is part 2 of Axe's "friendship questline".
"Ah, Axe, I almost forgot!" you say, immediately turning your back to her and going back to your closer.
I was wondering when she would give her back her doll!
"Ye… yer a good hatchlin', ye know that?" she says.
Silky is truly doing miracles here...
"Ah, and et's Pasharka. Passs-harka. Not Patcharka. Ye drag out tha ess," she says, opening the door and making her way outside. "An'… an' thank ye," she finishes, mumbling those last two words in such a low tone that you can barely hear her, right before she closes the door behind herself.
But hear her you did.
And you have a smile on your face as you finish your morning routine, and you make your way downstairs for breakfast.
...I wonder, in the end, how much of Axe's "friendship" if we get there will be due to actually helping her, and how much due to our little (and not so little) fillies...
ok, that's kinda uncalled for!
Selene is on the fast track to advance on her training. Her character file has been updated. (Edge Realization, Knock Realization, +1 Health). However, her newly learned skills will only be available at the beginning of the next turn.
nice, let's see!
[EDGE SKILL]: Selene may use "No holds barred" in combat, which gives her a flat +30 bonus, but causes her to attack all ponies within range (regardless if they are friends or enemies) and to cause severe damage to her surroundings.
useful.
Particularly if we sent her on expeditions with combat all on her own (at max training that's 30+20+30= +80 combat bonus! Actually comparable to Celestia, which I think was +90...
but without rerolls.)
[KNOCK SKILL]: Selene may once again dream-walk with confidence. She may also contact almost any character, even if she does not know her location or if they do not want to be contacted. However, she may not impersonate Velvet Covers, or anypony else, when doing so.
...yep, this confirms it.
Her Realizations are MUCH more powerful than ours!
They're combining with her alicorn powers and further boosting them. Truly, Alicorns were MEANT to learn the lores. With them, they might very well end up the equals of Names... which is convincing me more and more they're supposed to be the Name-equivalent of Harmony-the-Hour.
mh... Ok, how do we want to use this?
Part of me is tempted to have Selene meet Copper, you know?
Or she could contact Cadance and secure her for our side.
how else could we use this though... Could she search for "changelings" and try to deduce their position from their dreams? Maybe she could try to get "noble sponsors" by promising to restore their noble titles after Celestia "calms down"?
eh, all of these idea kinda suck (except maybe Cadence). Maybe I can think of something better later.
She cannot impersonate other ponies in dreams... but could she stay hidden? What about taking "Selene's" form?
And we're still missing Winter's power, of course. Now I'm really curious to see what it will be like, considering just how strong edge and knock are (and moth is pretty good too, hey!)
Silky Stream has succeeded in her "Hold on to this!" action. "A Doll – Pasharka" has been removed from her inventory. Further actions down the Snake Path have become available.
oh oh OH?!
As I said, I think Silky will end up doing MORE than us to secure Axe's cooperation long term!
I wonder if lore lessons are helping her in this, even as she doesn't have actual lore scores.
