With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

moralrelativity · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Dread to think what's

what's -> what

Mr Zoat · Apr 30, 2020

moralrelativity said:
what's -> what

Thank you, corrected.

Ganurath · Apr 30, 2020

Handlewithcare said:
MAUD IS AN EARTHBENDER!

YUSS!

THIS PLEASES ME!

Would you say that it...

*shades*

...Rocks?

Darko · Apr 30, 2020

'the broken' not just 'broken'

'boulder' not 'bounder'

'to Luna' not 't Luna'

'stomps' not 'stamps'

Chojin Patriarch · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
2nd April 2012
14:08 GMT -6

Luna and I cautiously trot forwards towards broken edge of the… Room, I suppose.

Despite the fact they can both fly, there's still that instinctive fear of falling, isn't there?

"I.. have my issues with Celestia's teaching style, but to the best of your knowledge-?"

"Be assured that Our Sister is not in the habit of hurling her students from buildings."

"Not in the time we have been present, at least... We suspect there may have been times she wished to do so to some..."

We both look down to where Sunset appears to have survived her crash landing and is now sprinting across the courtyard garden for cover as skull-sized rocks get pelted at her.

"You alright, Sunset!"

Well, she isn't dead. I suppose that means she's doing well.

"Yes!"

"Because we're getting slightly worried up here!"

"Short version?!" I just about manage a wing-shrug. "Equestria does have a native earth pony magic tradition!"

"Yes, we kind of knew that. Went and found the ancestral Earth pony homelands myself!"

"Um! Good?!"

"I know! Ah!"

A bounder the size of a car slams into the ground just in front of her, forcing her to throw herself to the side to avoid running into it. She trips, rolls, then climbs back onto her hooves again just ahead of the next rock.

Hey, someone who doesn't ascribe to the Prometheus School of Running Away From Things!

"It's going to save so much time!"

I turn my head t Luna, who appears to be staring at the scene with the same bewilderment I feel.

I suspect if not for her royal dignity, she'd be facehoofing...

"Luna, is this some sort of.. pony thing I don't know about?"

"If it is, then there are two of us who do not know about it. Our Sister's student! Wherefore art thou not using thine unicorn magic?!"

Well done, Mr Zoat! That form of speech is actually used correctly! No, seriously, folks, 'Wherfore Art Thou' is not asking about a location, but a state of being. Juliet was not asking where Romeo is, but why he had to be born a mortal enemy of her family...

"Did you know that benitoite can stop unicorns using magic?!"

"Neigh, we did not!"

I'd be amazed if it were present anywhere in Canterlot. Celestia is probably well acquainted with its effects, if only from experience...

The rain of rock stops and Sunset braces for a novel form of attack.

I smile. Good girl.

You've taught her well. She knows not to assume anything about a foe. Even where they might attack from.

"Well it can and it works really well!"

"Daddy, should I stop them?"

I look further down to where Lynne next to my right foreleg and looking up and me, a faint orange glow around her horn.

Ah, her psionics did get turned into a magic equivalent.

"No, Sunset appears to be enjoying-" I glance down at the garden as a circle around Sunset becomes liquefacted, causing her to drop into the ground and frantically try to 'swim' to the edge. "-herself. Ponies aren't good swimmers, are they?"

Luna looks away from the garden in order to throw me a quizzical glance.

"And apes are?"

We're one of the best land animals in the water... I don't know of any other primate who swims as well as humans do.

I nod. "Hominins are. Humans can swim straight from the womb."

"That must be a strange sight."

"Compared to a pony trying to swim through earth?"

Around Grayven, strange is relative. You and he are both magical winged unicorns, talking to magical ponies in a land of magical ponies.

Sunset reaches the edge and gets her forehooves on solid ground, only for the rest of the soil to become solid as well. Sunsets eyes widen as she's caught halfway.

"Daddy, can babies really swim?"

Heh, Casual dialogue while their friend is basically fighting for her life, more or less. This is why I love this story...

"Yes, but not very well." Sunset wiggles, trying to use her alicorn strength to force the soil to release her. The soil covering the front part of her torso falls free easily enough but she can't set the leverage to pull herself out of the hole. "They tend to float and they hold their breath, but they can't do more than doggy paddle and they're not very strong."

And that can only do so much, regrettably...

The earth on the far side of the courtyard erupts, rock pillars shooting upward to form a series of steps from the roof to the garden as a small grey mare in a dull blue dress calmly jumps from one to the next like a mountain goat funeral director.

"Sunset."

Her voice sounds curiously disinterested, as if fights on the palace grounds are something she gets into every day.

To be honest, this is Maud Pie we're talking about. I doubt she shows much enthusiasm towards anything outside of rocks.

"You know you can get out with magic."

"Yeah… But when I said I like hooves-on-" She strains against her earthy prison. "-research, I still meant a training area, not just -uhh- 'throwing down' in the palace."[/size]

Yes. Case in point, that broken balcony that Princess Luna happens to be standing on...

The grey pony reaches ground level and lightly stomps her forehooves, causing the rock pillars to sink back into the ground. Dread to think what's the subsidence is going to be like in a few years…

The grey pony then stops and stamps her back right leg. The ground around Sunset slowly rises up in a wave of earth.

Getting such amazing Avatar vibes here. Though Toph Bei Fong she ain't...

"Um. Um. Um."

Sunset takes a deep and lets the wave collapse on top of her. I don my goggles so that I can make sure that her life isn't in danger, but… I don't want to intervene yet. And not just because she brought this on herself. Given the day she had yesterday, I'd probably give her a bye on that one. No, it's because I can tell the difference between outright panic and a momentary burst of fear. Sunset was worried about the soil, but she didn't genuinely believe that she might die. So that-.

I suppose Maud might pull her punches, though given that earlier rough draft involving her...

Soil explodes in all directions, though I note that anything that hit the grey mare dropped to the ground immediately, rather than sticking to her fur or clothing. Sunset stands unsteadily in the centre of a gardener-horrifying crater. She's still pretty muddy, but-. Oh, that was lacertomancy. She removed the soil with a super strength flex, rather than geomancy. Still a one-in-four improvement on her earth pony magic skills since yesterday, but probably not what she was trying for.

Still, it's a start! Foal steps, Grayven. Got to learn to stand before you can stomp.

"It worked!" She looks up at us. "Did you see that!"

"Yes! Very nice!" I frown. "Luna, have you got any idea who the grey mare is?"

Honestly, Grayven, you should know who she is, shouldn't you? Call yourself a fan? ...Wait, did she appear before the end of season three?

"No, though We think that We may need to make her acquaintance once this bizarre display has been concluded, both to learn from her expertise and to sentence her for vandalism."

"Daddy, can we learn to do that?"

Haha, Lynne is such a treat!

"Pro-bably, but you'd only be able to do it in pony form." I glance down at her. "And if you're interested in magical strength-training, I can show you how to do that."

"Okay."

Not quite so interesting now, is it? Such a child.

Sunset clears the edge of the crater by awkwardly flapping her dirt-encrusted wings and doing a trot-landing on what's left of the grass.

"That wasn't rock magic."

A technicality! You assume things would be the same after a thousand-plus years of separation?

A spear of rock shoots out of the ground and Sunset has to jerk her head to the side to avoid being speared!

"You should try listening to the rocks. They say all kinds of interesting things."

And that is so perfectly Maud. Oh, the next chapters of Grayven will be such fun...

"Ah…" Sunset leans towards the spear. "Hello.. rock..?

Another spear comes at her from her left, and she drops onto her belly to fully evade it!

Bad move, Sunset, now you've got no footing! Can't fight if you can't stand!

"Ah! Bad rock!"

"Hey, Luna." I frown as Sunset keeps trying to 'talk' to the rock and the grey mare keep firing spears at her. "Can you control rocks?"

"We cannot. And… Having seen this tomfoolery, We think that We will wait to learn until Sunset Shimmer can instruct Us in a more decorous fashion."

And preferably in a form that doesn't threaten to collapse the palace, much less the city.

Well, this put a smile on my face.

Looking forwards to more ponies, Mr Zoat.

"You alright, Sunset!"

Question mark, surely?

A bounder the size of a car...

A boulder the size of a car...

I turn my head t Luna...

I turn my head to Luna...

I nod. "Hominins are.

I nod. "Hominids are.

Sunsets eyes widen as she's caught halfway.

Sunset's eyes widen as she's caught halfway.

...but she can't set the leverage...

...but she can't get the leverage...

...the grey mare keep firing spears at her.

...the grey mare keeps firing spears at her.

Handlewithcare · Apr 30, 2020

Ganurath said:
Would you say that it...

*shades*

...Rocks?

Bulk Biceps: YEAAAAAHHHH!

Vaermina · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
"Short version?!" I just about manage a wing-shrug. "Equestria does have a native earth pony magic tradition!"

Holy retcons Batman!

ForeverShogo · Apr 30, 2020

Yeah. Uh. Maud does some crazy things sometimes.

Mr Zoat · Apr 30, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
"Yes, we kind of knew that. Went and found the ancestral Earth pony homelands myself!"

That wasn't in the nation of Equestria.

We're one of the best land animals in the water... I don't know of any other primate who swims as well as humans do.

I'm always dubious of the phrase 'one of the best'.

Yes. Case in point, that broken balcony that Princess Luna happens to be standing on...

Oh, no, the balcony is gone. They're standing in the bit of the room that was next to the balcony.

Question mark, surely?
A boulder the size of a car...
I turn my head to Luna...
I nod. "Hominids are.
Sunset's eyes widen as she's caught halfway.
...but she can't get the leverage...
...the grey mare keeps firing spears at her.

Thank you, corrected.

Ngamer11 · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I really don't remember.

I don't remember what chapter it is, but when Paul offered to completely heal her old injury, Thana said that would be a bad idea, as the Silver City really doesn't like it when other pantheon mess with them (while at the same time they think it is okay for them to mess with other pantheons). Paul would remember that and suggest it to Hades, who then requests that Thana's burn be healed.

Mr Zoat · Apr 30, 2020

Ngamer11 said:
I don't remember what chapter it is, but when Paul offered to completely heal her old injury, Thana said that would be a bad idea, as the Silver City really doesn't like it when other pantheon mess with them (while at the same time they think it is okay for them to mess with other pantheons). Paul would remember that and suggest it to Hades, who then requests that Thana's burn be healed.

In that case, probably.

TheMidnightRook · Apr 30, 2020

Vaermina said:
Holy retcons Batman!

Not neccessarily. Zoat has mentioned a liking of the Triptych Continuum in the past...

Mr Zoat said:
"You should try listening to the rocks. They say all kinds of interesting things."

...and unless this is just Maud being Maud, it suggests that earth pony magic works by Triptych rules, presumably with a similar tradition of secrecy.

Ace Dreamer · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I look further down to where Lynne next to my right foreleg and looking up and me

Missing word, but I'm unsure what it is.
Also, 'second 'and' should be 'at'.

All the bad 'rock music' jokes... You can have 'Space Rock', so, can you have 'Ground Rock', too?

Nice to see Maud in the actual story... She really doesn't do subtle, does she?

Mr Zoat · Apr 30, 2020

Ace Dreamer said:
Missing word, but I'm unsure what it is.
Also, 'second 'and' should be 'at'.

Thank you, corrected.

Darko · Apr 30, 2020

Ace Dreamer said:
Nice to see Maud in the actual story... She really doesn't do subtle, does she?

Maud is as subtle as a boulder to the face and we love her for it

Ciber · Apr 30, 2020

Man. Maud is really putting that Rocktorate to work.

Torriz · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Sunset takes a deep and lets the wave collapse on top of her.

This sentence looks like it's missing "breath"

SotF · Apr 30, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
Despite the fact they can both fly, there's still that instinctive fear of falling, isn't there?

I'd assume more of a desire to not end up involved in whatever is going on if it doesn't concern him...it also seems to imply that this kind of thing is relatively common for Sunset to end up involved in for training purposes

Siskulous · Apr 30, 2020

Never mind. I just saw Torriz beat me to it.

Mr Zoat · Apr 30, 2020

Torriz said:
This sentence looks like it's missing "breath"

Thank you, corrected.

Someguy Somewhere · Apr 30, 2020

Thank you for the link on that one.

I kept reading 'Benitoite' as 'Bentonite', and was kinda curious how the mysterious magical pony power was halted by what is effectively industrial strength kitty litter.

EDIT: I do have to wonder at times why crystals get all the good PR some times when it comes to all the magical mumbo jumbo, when geology has so many other interesting substances.

Jirachi · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
"Daddy, can we learn to do that?"

"Pro-bably, but you'd only be able to do it in pony form." I glance down at her. "And if you're interested in magical strength-training, I can show you how to do that."

"Okay."

I mean, I assume that the two of them could do it in the same way that a normal human magic user can in human form with a bit of adaptational work, albiet at signifigantly reduced effect.

Pinklestia · Apr 30, 2020

darlene'sdarling said:
I did not know who Maud Pie was before today, and now my life is a little bit more complete.

The fandom basically turned her into an Earthbender from Avatar the last air bender.

Someguy Somewhere said:
: I do have to wonder at times why crystals get all the good PR some times when it comes to all the magical mumbo jumbo, when geology has so many other interesting substances.

Silver can kill werewolves and sometimes vampires.

Gold is the only thing that can completely seal demons, witches and souls away.

Bronze is an alloy and may not be magical but if you had bronze in the coast while your enemies had easily to rust iron swords, you won.

theaceoffire · Apr 30, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
I think I want to open them.

Brown chicken, brown cow!

Stsword · Apr 30, 2020

Jirachi said:
I mean, I assume that the two of them could do it in the same way that a normal human magic user can in human form with a bit of adaptational work, albiet at signifigantly reduced effect.

I'd say it would be more emulation than anything else.

Magic as is usually practiced in this work is a skill that anyone can be trained to do. Which is how it is in DC comics, except that magic also has an energy requirement, and if you have the energy you can just brute force it without the skill.

That's not how it is in MLP.

In MLP, magic is innate. Pegasi innately have weather control magic. Unicorns innately have telekinesis. Changelings are innately empathic shapeshifters.

Yes, there is an academic scholarly tradition in MLP, but that would be "Training the Gift of Magic" as tvtropes would coin it. It's not something that can just be taught to everyone anymore than in Charmed or Harry Potter or The Familiar of Zero or the Merlin tv show or the Fate series.

As demonstrated in Equestria Girls. Neither Twilight nor Sunset had magic abilities after being humanized. It couldn't just be a lack of background magic, because even when they did get magic later on in the series Sunset had to re-learn magic from scratch. In fact it was a point that Sunset despaired because she thought Twilight would have figured it out already.

So could Zatanna emulate the feats with her logomancy? Sure, but it would have shit all to do with how Earth ponies do it, just like she could emulate Shirou from Fate by saying "Summon all the swords" backwards.

Edit: Actually DC does have magical metahumans, like Black Alice's ability to steal magical powers, Misfit's teleportation, Nightshade's umbrakinesis, originally Raven's empathy, but those so gifted may or may not bother to learn magic.

Albert Scoot · May 1, 2020

Ciber said:
Man. Maud is really putting that Rocktorate to work.

I can just imagine her as one of those women who put themselves through college using her special skills, her skills being smashing heads open with rocks in the pit.

Gantradies · May 1, 2020

Pinklestia said:
The fandom basically turned her into an Earthbender from Avatar the last air bender.

Silver can kill werewolves and sometimes vampires.

Gold is the only thing that can completely seal demons, witches and souls away.

Bronze is an alloy and may not be magical but if you had bronze in the coast while your enemies had easily to rust iron swords, you won.

And don't forget forged/magnetised iron against creatures of the Fae!

or humble, unalloyed, soft copper- relatively cheap, easily worked- and for those who trade/fight at sea, incredibly effective at keeping ones ship, be it a pinnace,clipper or liner, from slowing from fouling!

Ardy · May 1, 2020

Albert Scoot said:
I can just imagine her as one of those women who put themselves through college using her special skills, her skills being smashing heads open with rocks in the pit.

A pony version of The Black Queen, if you will

Vaermina · May 1, 2020

TheMidnightRook said:
Not neccessarily. Zoat has mentioned a liking of the Triptych Continuum in the past...

You missed the bit where people posted a bunch of stuff showing Earth pony's with superpowers to convince Zoat they actually had them.

rkyeun · May 1, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Dread to think what the subsidence is going to be like in a few years…

Like whatever they want it to be.

With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Recovering pendant.

Dedicated ragequitter

Apologizes For Nothing

Connoisseur.

Veteran Lurker

Versed in the lewd.

Well worn.

Not too sore, are you?

Dedicated ragequitter

Experienced.

Dedicated ragequitter

Well worn.

Questioning The Nature of our Realities

Dedicated ragequitter

Connoisseur.

Know what you're doing yet?

Your first time is always over so quickly, isn't it?

And Away We Go!

Know what you're doing yet?

Dedicated ragequitter

The Critical Fumbler

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Well worn.

Versed in the lewd.

Versed in the lewd.

Not too sore, are you?

Not too sore, are you?

I trust you know where the happy button is?

Well worn.

Cabbitus Maximus

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