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

So what would the mirror turn Spike into since dragons are an actual thing on that Earth?
Making him a dog was a dick move.
People mocked when I wrote that the Justice League were soft on Nabu. And I was proven right.

And then we have Spike.

Spike turned into a dog because if reflects his status in Equestrian law; that of chattle. He does not go to school. He has no adopted parents. He didn't even meet another dragon until the migration episode. No friends he might have had in Canterlot are ever mentioned. Since the Renegade has brought this to Twilight's attention it is getting changed, but at the moment he'd probably still be dogified.
 
Huh... is he actually a dragon? I always assumed he was a fragment of Twilight's imagination brought to life by her need for companionship after her family got turned into potted plants - a familiar in the DnD style with no will of his own until after Twilight becomes an Alicorn. That's when he gets some personality. His lust for Rarity is also Twilight's.... At least that's my personal head canon.
 
Huh... is he actually a dragon? I always assumed he was a fragment of Twilight's imagination brought to life by her need for companionship after her family got turned into potted plants - a familiar in the DnD style with no will of his own until after Twilight becomes an Alicorn. That's when he gets some personality. His lust for Rarity is also Twilight's.... At least that's my personal head canon.
I once read a fanfic where that was true; the 'egg' they put in front of Twilight was a painted stone which Twilight brought to life. Also, Fluttershy was raised by dragons, and found him confusing because he didn't look right as he was Twilight's mental image of a dragon and not how dragon actually were.
 
I once read a fanfic where that was true; the 'egg' they put in front of Twilight was a painted stone which Twilight brought to life. Also, Fluttershy was raised by dragons, and found him confusing because he didn't look right as he was Twilight's mental image of a dragon and not how dragon actually were.
Ooh... sounds cool... link?
 
I wouldn't be at all surprised if Luna digs into the way Star Swirl's Mirror works. It would seem to combine inter-universe transport and shape-shifting in quite an elegant way, maybe a magical intelligence of some sort to figure-out the target shape. Now, if you can unpick this...

Could be rather useful if you want some shape-shifting done, without using your own power...
 
My point exactly, HE IS NO LONGER IN THAT PLACE, HE NOW HAS RESOURCES TO SPARE.

Also, no one has escaped the birdcage. His only concern would be getting the legal system to accept them being imprisoned in the birdcage. He could probably shove them in there himself and they would have no way to get out in any case.
*dryly* that's only because the inmate who has a pet holding a "lobotomize AI into mindless puppet with access to anything network connected"button for the person running it is an idiot with a complexity obsession/ was seceretly a corpse-puppet for his own Shard. the birdcage as of the start of the story is compromised due to the AI running its systems being compromised-
even without the idiot salvage diver's stolen admin credentials, there's the free-will override forcing her to follow "lawful orders"from higher authority....

if Teacher was smarter/was still in control of his own body (timeline is vague) by that point, well....
... you know, i was thinking....
ironically, if the reveal had happened in a less traumatic way, there's a decent chance that there'd have been a Demand for Dragon to hand over control of the 'cage specifically because she COULD be ordered to let people out if higher authority was of malicious intent/subverted,instead out of Frankenstein-complex induced paranoia...
 
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No. Basically, the problem came about because what an individual parahuman's ability is is nothing like the limit of what that shard can do. Tattletale has vastly improved intuative reasoning, but the shard decided that what it was seeing was novel enough that it could justify doing something else. Like when Jack Slash's shard decided on its own initiative to mind control Imp into not killing him despite that not 'officially' being one of his powers. The shard couldn't cope, and the flashback from that knocked Tattletale out.

Point of order: That is entirely within Jack Slash's powerset. Mind you, I'm not debating that Shards aren't willing to play GM as necessary (see WoG about how if Moord Nag had had her monster nom down on a bunch of cloned nonsentient beings, it would let her get away with it for a little bit before balancing how much that's worth), but Jack Slash's "primary power", if his slasher ability is his secondary power, is a combination Master/Thinker power that gives him information about other parahumans and alters the 'conflict drive' that parahumans normally have to instead be thoughts useful to Jack. Thoughts like "this guy is too dangerous", "I should go left", etc etc. Both of those combine together to make him seem much more intelligent than he actually is: he expects you to go left even though that's a bad move, you move left because your gut instinct, as supplied by ShardCo, told you to.
 
Point of order: That is entirely within Jack Slash's powerset. Mind you, I'm not debating that Shards aren't willing to play GM as necessary (see WoG about how if Moord Nag had had her monster nom down on a bunch of cloned nonsentient beings, it would let her get away with it for a little bit before balancing how much that's worth), but Jack Slash's "primary power", if his slasher ability is his secondary power, is a combination Master/Thinker power that gives him information about other parahumans and alters the 'conflict drive' that parahumans normally have to instead be thoughts useful to Jack. Thoughts like "this guy is too dangerous", "I should go left", etc etc. Both of those combine together to make him seem much more intelligent than he actually is: he expects you to go left even though that's a bad move, you move left because your gut instinct, as supplied by ShardCo, told you to.
My understanding is that his 'official' power is to instintively understand how to persuade parahumans to do things, not to compel them to do things.
 
My understanding is that his 'official' power is to instintively understand how to persuade parahumans to do things, not to compel them to do things.

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/worm-quotes-and-wog-repository.294448/page-11#post-20250752

"A combination of what Jaki said (Imp gets nudged away by her shard, she gets a bad feeling as she prepares to attack, and if and when she does attack her attack is off-target, or she hesitates, creating a window), intuition on Jack's part (suspicion, a hyperawareness of odd details, the movement of air in the room, 'it's too quiet', etc., happening to move to another location just as Imp strikes out), and leverage of the broadcast... Crawler wakes to initial commotion, he uses his full senses with his shard happening to kick into full gear (a la Skitter and her varying range) and/or moves across room, forcing Imp to back up from Jack, Shatterbird lashes out in a blind attack that happens to connect.



On that last point, the Nine can be considered to be an [editing to add 'unconscious'] extension of Jack for all intents and purposes. To Imp, it's just a 'This feels like a bad idea, I'm going to do it anyway! Fuck, missed! Oh shit, ow! Well now I'm bleeding and, it's pretty damn serious. That must be why it felt like such a bad idea!'"

If WoG disagrees with the text I tend to ignore it, but this fits with what we see in Worm.
 
Is there a question here?

From the Lord Protector's point of view, it doesn't really matter if the people around him are being arseholes because of their innately arseholish nature or because someone is manipulating them. The cure to the collapse of the monopoly on legitimate force is the same. Once he has his bearings he would most likely begin investigating underlying causes but it's the symptoms that are killing the patient at the moment.

I don't know enough about the mechanisms of Simurgh's ability to say with confidence.

No. Basically, the problem came about because what an individual parahuman's ability is is nothing like the limit of what that shard can do. Tattletale has vastly improved intuative reasoning, but the shard decided that what it was seeing was novel enough that it could justify doing something else. Like when Jack Slash's shard decided on its own initiative to mind control Imp into not killing him despite that not 'officially' being one of his powers. The shard couldn't cope, and the flashback from that knocked Tattletale out.

Don't forget Mumm-Rana's magic, thundrillium and advanced non-Tinker technology.

Thank you for the swift reply.

Sorry for not being clear on the first part, my feelings at the time were split between the sympathy I built up for the specific struggles of many of Worm's characters and the Lord Protector's decidedly swift and extreme response to a number of those characters (particularly nazi mom since she was trying to be better), with a little bit of back-of-my-mind lingering on why he wasn't dealing with the Slaughterhouse 9 (although tbf I do realize that us seeing his realization about the brain modifications probably means he had only been in-universe for a few minutes).

Looking forward to the next entry in this storyline, whenever that will be.
 
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I have more questions that I just thought of for the "week in the life".

Is Raquel (Rocket) still trying to become a leader on the team? I assume so, but would like to see her develop more.

How is Wallace's Alchemy studies coming along? Is he about to become one of the youngest Billionaires with his breakthroughs? (I assume not, mostly because Boss Smiley has not been beaten yet, speaking of the devil.)

When are we going to hear see Paul confront Boss Smiley? I know Paul was questioning whether or not it actually happened after he escaped pseudo-purgatory.

Mr. Truggs has been quiet as well. Are we going to get to see him study the dialer he stole?

I also really want to see Ganthet and Siad again. I hope that All will be well with them soon.
 
Well. Apparently if you ever feel like using him for any reason, DC has decided to bring back Snowflame.

Ec5q-6eWAAEmwnp
 
A Week in the Life of (supplementary, Renegade Option)
13th April
15:03 GMT -7


Luna manages to keep her nerve as I step forwards to slightly discourage them. Children here aren't afraid of me, but I register as 'adult' and 'authority' and they're not quite as eager to-.

"Mister Grayven?" A small girl points at Princess Luna as her mother catches up with her and gives me a slightly embarrassed smile. "Is that your pony?"

The boy next to her stares at Luna. "Is it an alien pony?"

I nod. "Technically, yes."

There's a small disruption at the back of the huddle as Clare and Sarah are gradually recognised by their peers and their peers' parents as being my children and permitted closer. Lynne and my namesake are hanging back with the others, with Knockout keeping watch over the crowd of parents and children for potential attackers.

"Everyone, this is Princess Luna. Luna, these are the students and parents of Rifle, Colorado."

Luna metaphorically girds her caparisons and steps forward.

"SALUTATIONS, DIMINUTIVE HOMINIDS!"

Her legs are spread and braced against the playground tarmac, her wings are unfurled and on full display and by the Source I think my right ear is ringing.

The front rank of children stagger backwards into their wincing parents' legs. Even Clare and Sarah are cringing, their hands covering their ears.

"WE BRING WARM FELICITATIONS FROM OUR NATION OF EQUESTRIA, AND HOPE THAT WE MAY PROCEED IN THE SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP!"

She pauses for breath, and the crowd are torn between risking uncovering their ears or covering their ears harder.

"Luna…" She turns her head towards me and I raise my eyebrows. "Volume..?"

"WE SPEAK WITH THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE, WHEN…" She sighs. "When.. We.. hath no need to at all." She trots forward and extends her head towards a child with both arms over her head. "Art thou well, small child? Hath Our speech injured thine ears?"

The boy blinks at her and lowers his arms.

"You're a really loud horse."

"We are a pony."

The boy smiles.

"You're a really loud pony."

"Thou are suredly a most astute human."

"You talk weird."

"We speak in the proper manner for an Equestian princess."

The girl next to him perks up.

"You're a princess?"

Luna gives her a mildly puzzled look, then glances upward to check that her crown is still in place. "Doth thou not see the crown 'pon Our head?"

The boy looks thoughtful.

"I put a plastic crown on my dog's head one time. That didn't make him a princess."

"Couldst thine crown'd canine speak?"

"He barks."

"And didst thou understand his meaning?"

"Ah… No? Not really."

"Then We shall continue to consider Ourself to be his superior."

The boy doesn't have a response, just taking a half-step back and shrugging. The small girl is already stepping forward to replace him, right hand nervously extended.

"Can I pet you?"

"We-. Ah…" Her ears twitch and I see her consider looking at me for support. "Are not entirely averse to-"

The girl places her right hand on Luna's muzzle, causing Luna to momentarily go cross-eyed.

"-thine-. Yes, that…"

The girl sort of rubs the fur a little, while Luna… She's trying not to sneeze. I'm not sure whether that's due to the pressure on her nose or the scent of modern perfumed detergent.

"This is not quite-. Yes, that is Our nose. Do not wear it-"

And that's the cue the rest of the ragamob needs. The horde advances once more, lapping around Luna's sides to lay their hands… About as gently as could be expected, on her neck and barrel, with one or two of the braver souls daring to brush her darkly-feathered wings.

"-out."

I… Get ready to perform an emergency pony extraction if she gets distressed, but she.. seems to be handling-.

A different girl finds herself lifted into the air by Luna's thaumokinesis and brought to float in front of her face.

"Grooming Our pelt is acceptable, but pulling 'pon Our mane is not. Doth thou understand the difference?"

The girl nods shamefacedly.

"Very well."

Luna carefully sets her down a little back from the scrum, then notices that the children are now staring at her horn.

"You're a magical pony?!"

"Didst Our wings and horn not providst thou with sufficient evidence?"

"I thought it was stuck on."

"Our horn is most assuredly affixed to Our face, in much the same manner that thine nose is affixed to thine own."

I step around the huddle of curious children and address their bemusedly smiling parents.

"Sell out toy for Christmas twenty twelve?" There's a quiet chuckle. "But seriously, there's a whole country of magical ponies where she's from. How do you feel about interplanar tourists?"

A fellow named Chet -his son Davis is friends with Stephan- waves his right hand at Luna.

"They all her size?"

"About half her size."

An amused hissing-exhalation whistles through his teeth. "Well, I don't think they'll cause much trouble, but… Ah…"

And the children have lapped around to her haunches.

"I don't know if the kids'll be able to keep their hands off them. How'd you two meet?"

"Sunset-" Who is standing well back and letting events unfold. "-wanted to visit home, we bumped into each other in the palace. And now we're dating!"

Chet looks uncertain about that. "You're dating a horse?"

"I'm an alien dating an alien. Not all intelligent creatures are humanoid, you know. Heck, not all Apokoliptians are humanoid."

Sunset reluctantly takes a step forward. "Yeah, in Equestria, most intelligent species have four legs. Not all, but bipeds are pretty unusual. I think it's just yetis and minotaurs."

The first small girl stares at our equine guest. "Princess Luna?! Are you dating Mister Grayven?!"

"We have tentatively accepted him as our consort, though-."

"Oh?" I mug for the crowd. "Sounds like I'm getting promoted this evening."

Luna's ears prick up, followed by the rest of her head as she glares at me.

"Thou art most certainly not 'getting promoted', rapscallion!"

I bow my head in mock shame as my fellow parents laugh.

Demoted to 'thou'.

Darn.
 
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"We have tentatively accepted him as our consort, though-."

"Oh?" I mug for the crowd. "Sounds like I'm getting promoted this evening."

Luna's ears prick up, followed by the rest of her head as she glares at me.

"Thou art most certainly not 'getting promoted', rapscallion!"
Time for another exciting episode of "Rascal Does Not Dream Of Alicorn Sempai".
 
Plus, yeah, they do. Couches tend to fit 3 - 4 people lengthwise.
 
13th April
15:03 GMT -7


Luna manages to keep her nerve as I step forwards to slightly discourage them. Children here aren't afraid of me, but I register as 'adult' and 'authority' and they're not quite as eager to-.
x3 Muhahahahaa... Oh, this is going to be adorable. And hilarious.

"Mister Grayven?" A small girl points at Princess Luna as her mother catches up with her and gives me a slightly embarrassed smile. "Is that your pony?"

The boy next to her stares at Luna. "Is it an alien pony?"
She's technically her own pony, thank you. And bless that boy for asking the important question.

I nod. "Technically, yes."

There's a small disruption at the back of the huddle as Clare and Sarah are gradually recognised by their peers and their peers' parents as being my children and permitted closer. Lynne and my namesake are hanging back with the others, with Knockout keeping watch over the crowd of parents and children for potential attackers.
At least the Brood are giving Luna space. I don't foresee the rest being quite so restrained.

"Everyone, this is Princess Luna. Luna, these are the students and parents of Rifle, Colorado."

Luna metaphorically girds her caparisons and steps forward.

"SALUTATIONS, DIMINUATIVE HOMINIDS!"
Haha, the nerves got to her! She only uses Royal Canterlot Voice when she's nervous!

Her legs are spread and braced against the playground tarmac, her wings are unfurled and on full display and by the Source I think my right ear is ringing.

The front rank of children stagger backwards into their wincing parent's legs. Even Clare and Sarah are cringing, their hands covering their ears.
Not a good first impression, Luna. Not helping Grayven's image either, with the evil queen impression.

"WE BRING WARM FELICITATIONS FROM OUR NATION OF EQUESTRIA, AND HOPE THAT WE MAY PROCEED IN THE SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP!"

She pauses for breath, and the crowd are torn between risking uncovering their ears or covering their ears harder.
"Please make her stop shouting..."

"Luna…" She turns her head towards me and I raise my eyebrows. "Volume..?"

"WE SPEAK WITH THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE, WHEN…" She sighs. "When.. We.. hath no need to at all." She trots forward and extends her head towards a child with both arms over her head. "Art thou well, small child? Hath Our speech injured thine ears?"
At least she understands that she messed up. That's progress.

The boy blinks at her and lowers his arms.

"You're a really loud horse."
Like really loud, yes. But a horse, she is not.

"We are a pony."

The boy smiles.

"You're a really loud pony."
I like this one. He understands the importance of correct nomenclature.

"Thou are suredly a most astute human."

"You talk weird."

"We speak in the proper manner for an Equestian princess."
Oh, Luna... You shouldn't have dropped the Princess bomb.

The girl next to him perks up.

"You're a princess?"
And cue the starry eyed awe.

Luna gives her a mildly puzzled look, then glances upward to check that her crown is still in place. "Doth thou not see the crown 'pon Our head?"

The boy looks thoughtful.

"I put a plastic crown on my dog's head one time. That didn't make him a princess."
...A fair point. But he was a dog. A perfectly normal dog.

"Couldst thine crown'd canine speak?"

"He barks."

"And didst thou understand his meaning?"
To be honest, most dogs in Equestria don't speak Equestrian either. Do they?

"Ah… No? Not really."

"Then We shall continue to consider Ourself to be his superior."
Can't argue with that logic.

The boy doesn't have a response, just taking a half-step back and shrugging. The small girl is already stepping forward to replace him, right hand nervously extended.

"Can I pet you?"
Yeeesss... Touch the pony... Touch the fluffy tail.

"We-. Ah…" Her ears twitch and I see her consider looking at me for support. "Are not entirely averse to-"

The girl places her right hand on Luna's muzzle, causing Luna to momentarily go cross-eyed.
Adorable! I do hope Grayven is recording this. Discreetly, so he can show it off later.

"-thine-. Yes, that…"

The girl sort of rubs the fur a little, while Luna… She's trying not to sneeze. I'm not sure whether that's due to the pressure on her nose or the scent of modern perfumed detergent.
Either one would be cause to sneeze, yes. Probably best to try and hold back though. Don't want to ruin her first meeting with regular humans by covering someone in alicorn snot. :D

"This is not quite-. Yes, that is Our nose. Do not wear it-"

And that's the cue the rest of the ragamob needs. The horde advances once more, lapping around Luna's sides to lay their hands… About as gently as could be expected, on her neck and barrel, with one or two of the braver souls daring to brush her darkly-feathered wings.

"-out."
Daaaaw. Just watch for the grabby ones.

I… Get ready to perform an emergency pony extraction if she gets distressed, but she.. seems to be handling-.

A different girl finds herself lifted into the air by Luna's thaumokinesis and brought to float in front of her face.
See? Betcha she tugged on something she shouldn't have.

"Grooming Our pelt is acceptable, but pulling 'pon Our mane is not. Doth thou understand the difference?"

The girls nods shamefacedly.

"Very well."
Betcha she won't ever pull someone's hair again.

Luna carefully sets her down a little back from the scrum, then notices that the children are now staring at her horn.

"You're a magical pony?!"
She talks. That's not magical enough for you? Did they not notice the swirly, floating mane and tail?

"Didst Our wings and horn not providst thou with sufficient evidence?"

"I thought it was stuck on."

"Our horn assuredly affixed to Our face, in much the same manner that thine nose is affixed to thine own."
In other words, don't go tugging on it, it will not come off.

I step around the huddle of curious children and address their bemusedly smiling parents.

"Sell out toy for Christmas twenty twelve?" There's a quiet chuckle. "But seriously, there's a whole country of magical ponies where she's from. How do you feel about interplanar tourists?"
Heheh. Rifle is gonna become first stop on the Pony tourist trail.

A fellow named Chet -his son Davis is friends with Stephan- waves his right hand at Luna.

"They all her size?"

"About half her size."
Adorably and inoffensively compact.

An amused hissing-exhalation whistles through his teeth. "Well, I don't think they'll cause much trouble, but… Ah…"

And the children have lapped around to her haunches.
At least she can control her reflex to kick someone touching her from behind. You wouldn't do that with a regular horse.

"I don't know if the kids 'll be able to keep their hands off them. How'd you two meet?"

"Sunset-" Who is standing well back and letting events unfold. "-wanted to visit home, we bumped into each other in the palace. And now we're dating!"
Wow, he just drops the bomb so casually. And it's not so much 'bumped' as 'she attacked me assuming I was someone else'.

Chet looks uncertain about that. "You're dating a horse?"

"I'm an alien dating an alien. Not all intelligent creatures are humanoid, you know. Heck, not all Apokoliptians are humanoid."
So it's not zoophilia, it's xenophilia. Probably a distinction most people won't get...

Sunset reluctantly takes a step forward. "Yeah, in Equestria, most intelligent species have four legs. Not all, but bipeds are pretty unusual. I think it's just yetis and minotaurs."

The first small girl stares at our equine guest. "Princess Luna?! Are you dating Mister Grayven?!"
Well, he is a prince, after all...

"We have tentatively accepted him as our consort, though-."

"Oh?" I mug for the crowd. "Sounds like I'm getting promoted this evening."
oooh, wrong thing to say. Especially in front of Luna.

Luna's ears prick up, followed by the rest of her head as she glares at me.

"Thou art most certainly not 'getting promoted', rapscallion!"
Yeah, if they were living together, that'd earn him a night on the couch. Or two.

I bow my head in mock shame as my fellow parents laugh.

Demoted to 'thou'.

Darn.
Oh, don't worry, let her get petted by the kids for a while, she'll calm down.

Oh, this was great. And she managed to not make too many mistakes. But the idea of Equestrian Tourism on Earth? Hilarious. Can you imagine a group visiting New York? "Wow, it reminds me of Manehatten!"

"SALUTATIONS, DIMINUATIVE HOMINIDS!"
Spellcheck's picking this up as an error. Perhaps 'DIMINUTIVE'?
"Our horn assuredly affixed to Our face...
"Our horn is assuredly affixed to Our face...
"I don't know if the kids 'll be able to keep their hands off them.
Extraneous space.
 

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