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Messages - Silver Snake

101
Blue continues to toil in his Realm. His courthouse is currently 4/7 of the way complete.

*****

Crimson's every thought and action stopped when Alkaid froze time in the Knowledge Realm. He remained in his recoiling position with confusion, shock and terror blatantly clear on his face. The reason was the page that had fallen open in The Platinum Protectorate.

The Protectorate was a particularly old tome, though it didn't look it. It had been started as a simple guidebook to the region many years before the name "Sombra" had ever been uttered. But the recent influx of information and memories brought to the Knowledge Realm by Crimson's presence in Creation had turned it into a compendium of everything that the deceptively young doctor knew about his principality and all the information that had been shared with him or had been compiled since. Think of it as Crimson re-opening a door to all the cumulative information about the Platinum Protectorate itself.

The page that lay open in the book was the complete military dossier of Crimson Crisis himself, showing and describing in graphic detail him doing acts of unspeakable cruelty and the aftermath of his actions. How such images could have been saved or recorded is unknown, but it's no wonder that Crimson was so shocked. The chapter on Crimson also gives his entire biography up to the moment he disappeared from Equestria. It starts as most of the stories of his comrades start, being taken away from parents and being put in the care of a Guardian who would often raise ten to twenty colts (and the rare filly) at a time in the court of the Prince. These charges were raised to be in the service of the Prince and their heads were filled with his dogmas and propaganda at all times. When each colt reached twelve years of age, they would be put through very thorough, controlled tests to determine a colt's special talent and, if possible, earn them their Cutie Mark.

Of course, in Crimson's case, he was found to have a very high Medical aptitude, so he was sent to the state medical university with other colts who had scored similarly. The rest of the story is just the training and career of Crimson, which isn't of much interest to anypony who was raised outside the Protectorate, as none of the names and regions would be relevant to them.

The rest of the book is very much like this, giving biographies on the outstanding officers in the Prince's service. Some parts are about the princedom's history and others are about it's technology, weapons, and the royal family tree. Though, a small section might have piqued the interest of the Knowledge God. It was called the Exchange. In the few paragraphs that regarded the procedure, it described a ceremony in which one or two willing ponies either relinquish a part of their natural power, whether it be wings or a horn, in return for power that no pony else possesses or the two willing ponies exchange their natural powers with each other. This may explain  further Crimson's desperate attempt to get back to the Mortal plane with the unconscious Teal. But what would the Earth pony have to trade with the pegasus?


((HOLY SCRAP! A WILD EXPOSITION HAS APPEARED!))
102
Blue continued his work for what seemed like hours, though it was probably only a few minutes. Nevertheless, his minutes of work hadn't been completely useless. Now his dream structure stood with half of it's near-infinite pillars done. This was to be a mighty structure, which could represent Law for everypony. The unicorn toyed with the possibility of bringing his courthouse to Zeth when it was completed. If he could even do that. Probably. He would put it next to his pillar, on the coast of the stormy grey sea he had turned to vapor.

He wondered about guards for this place too, as he had thought about for his pillar. Yet, Blue had an aversion to anything Night Shine would create, and if he were to have guards, they should have souls. No... Maybe a force-field that could judge the visitor's respect for the Law. I wonder if I can even pull off that sort of spell. Protection spells never go well for me.


*****

Crimson's eyes had misted over. He was rather tired, but hadn't realized it back on Zeth. Some sleep may be all I need to kick this bug I have. He started to close his eyes for a moment, but Alkaid had launched into an entire dissertation on his past. The Memory God brought up some interesting points, which caused some doubts to appear in Crimson's mind. "Y'know... I have no idea why I suddenly asked that. I just looked at this picture and... Bam. But... it's weird. You were talking about a connection with the Earth that you never felt. It's just... I have never felt it either. Back home, sure I knew the mountains, but I never knew what was going on with the Earth. Sometimes though, when I climbed up a mountain above the cloud level, the clouds have felt... solid to me. I know I'm an Earth pony, but... it is too strange for me to make sense of when I have this amnesia."

The pulling he had felt towards the History section could be ignored no longer. It was like an unnervingly strong magnetism towards something over there. Despite his somnolence, the ex-con picked his head off of his book and placed the book on his back, for some reason, he wanted to take it with him. His half-lidded eyes crawled lazily across the spines of History books, until they came to rest on an empty space. Except, it wasn't empty for long. A strange purple aura gathered in the darkness of the empty space until it solidified into a black-bound book with silver lettering on the spine. "'The Platinum Protectorate'? But that's.... huh." Crimson reached out a hoof to take the book bearing the formal name of his kingdom, but it shot itself out of the bookcase at him, making him duck to avoid decapitation. The vicious volume (lol) bounced harmlessly off the opposite bookcase and fell open to a certain page. One that made Crimson scream.

((My reasoning for the The Platinum Protectorate suddenly appearing in Alkaid's library just now is that it is information that Alkaid just recently... rediscovered, let's say. Why it appeared in front of/tried to eat Crimson, I don't know.))

((New Crimson Crisis! Now with less sadism and murder!))
103
Blue had quickly lost interest in the happenings on Zeth. He couldn't really care less about a few deer coming to the planet. Apparently there were some problems with some sort of Phoenixes somewhere, but Blue would be of no use sorting out food webs and what have you. He let out a loud grunting sigh of boredom, nodded good-bye to Teal, and teleported himself back to the Realm of Law. After having been gone for so long, it was a joy to be back in the velvet dark of his Realm with it's softly glowing, glittering floors. With the idea of continuing work on it, the Law god had made sure he arrived right next to the base of the building he had started. There was already one pillar, but considering it was to be a courthouse, it definitely needed more. With concentration, the unicorn summoned a massive amount of the red Law material and formed it into two Ionian-styled pillars. He put them on either side of the first and observed his work. With despair, he realized he had a lot of work to do, and if he didn't do it now, there was no telling when he would ever finish his project.

*****

Crimson nodded weakly, but found that did nothing to help his nauseousness. "S-Stay away from the books on the top shelves. Got it." The sick Earth pony staggered to a section with a sign that had a Red Cross on it. He wasn't interested in heavy reading right now. Anatomy... anatomy might be nice. There were no authors on the covers for the books to be listed by, so the books were organized by the titles of the books themselves. There were a lot more anatomy books than Crimson had been expecting, everything from dragons to zebras. At last, he found a book that he had actually studied from when he was at the medical institute. Sticking a hoof in the middle of the book, he flipped to a random page. It was the first page of the chapter on pegasus anatomy. Curiously, his own notes were scribbled across the pages, spelling out reminders and clarifications. How strange. How would one of my books end up here? There was an illustration of a pegasus pony in the middle, which brought a prickle of longing to Crimson's mind, though he couldn't remember the reason. The muscles in his shoulders twitched too, which was rather confusing. He hadn't done anything to strain them.

With a far off look in his eyes, Crimson's gaze drifted from the page and across the room to the History section, which he intended to check out later. "Alkaid," he began absent-mindedly, "have you ever wanted to fly?"


((Think nothing of it, Silverweed. I'm fine. I doubt Blue would have been very interested in what was going on anyway.))
104
Quote from: Teal Turken on 2012 Dec 07, 19:54:23
((You know it REALLY isn't that big a deal, you can go ahead and post only for Blue. It's not like the whole time space continuum will break))


((....My morals and habits won't let it happen. I can usually only roleplay one character effectively at a time, two is a stretch for me. I will just randomly leave one character standing randomly in a field somewhere. Keeping the posts consolidated keeps them and my mind focused and neat.))
105
((Since I don't usually want to post anything about Blue without something about Crimson, I'm trying to wait for Alkaid. Him being on the other side of the world from me makes RPing with others harrrd...))
106
Blue continued to feel the tugging in his chest, and he began to get worried. What if something bad was happening to Teal? What if Crimson had gotten clever, and had ripped the gold out of his ear to get at Teal? No, no. That would do him no good. I would still sense him. Celestia, I'm a moron. Still, there was something up, and Blue quickened his pace to get to the heart of it. As usual, with his famed speed, it took him no time at all to reach the spot where he sensed the new God. Or at least... he thought it did. All Blue saw were flocks of soul scouts here and there and a smattering of who-knows-whats in the distance.

It wasn't until he heard the sharp caw above his head that he looked up and saw Teal in the tree above him. He's taking a page from my book, it seems. The tall unicorn placed his hooves on the trunk and stood on his hind legs. Even though the tree was relatively tall, Blue was able to stretch himself a fair distance up it's height. "Teal!" he called. "Are you.... You're the new God?" Blue had mixed feelings about that. He was happy for Teal, sure, but nothing was quite like the feeling of superiority you once had over somepony that was now gone. It was a terrible feeling to have, he knew, but that didn't stop him from feeling it. "Congratulations!"


*****

"Prepa- WAHAGHSHA!" The sensation of every one of his molecules being shot across dimensions was a new one for Crimson. It wasn't like going through a Portal, which was much like a pool of water in the way it felt entering and exiting. This blew teleporting a few miles far out of the water too. The feeling lasted only a few seconds (thankfully) and he was deposited on his face next to Alkaid, who wasn't on his face.

The ex-convict picked himself off the ground and held his head in his hooves. "P-Please stop the Realm, I'd like to get off..." he said weakly. By now, he regretted those drinks, though he thought it would be rude to throw up in a God's Realm. He swallowed the bile in his throat and peered around him. "So this is your Realm? It looks.... uh... memorable?" Crimson struggled for words to describe the place he was in. There wasn't a whole lot of things to help him describe. He looked at Alkaid, puzzled, and shrugged.


((Crimson is best ex-con.  :3))
107
Blue plodded along lazily, wishing somepony would come to him for help. He had decided that he would do nothing with the revitalization of Zeth until asked, and he had realized just after that it would mean he would have a very boring day. "If I can't interfere, what use am I?" he asked himself with a chuckle. Suddenly, the world around him was full of elementals. He stopped walking, for fear he'd step on one of the spirits coming out of the ground. The blue unicorn just stared, slack-jawed, at the ocean of elementals coming out of the... everywhere. Suddenly, every one of the elemental's eyes became white with light, and they vanished.

"W-Wow... Are they all...? Gone?" Blue resisted whooping with joy, in case Night Shine was watching. He had been able to sense what had happened with the fire elementals, considering their little trek had burned half of Zeth, but he hadn't done anything. Law and Gathering's words still stung. He was terrible at his job. And dangerous too. All in all, it was better to keep his muzzle out of it unless the Disorder was great enough or the Law had been broken.

Then, Blue felt a jolt in his chest. It was like a new God had appeared, but it seemed closer to home. What in the world...? Blue furrowed his proud brow and wondered if the new God would appear on Zeth soon.


*****

After he had rid his lungs of alcohol, Crimson glowered frustratedly at Alkaid. "Huh, thoughtless. That's a good word for that sort of thing. Yeah, more planning miiiight be a good idea. If I were at the helm now, the denizens would probably be running amok and I would be up in my quarters jamming a letter opener into my temple." The Earth pony straightened his neck from where he had been slouching before. "Call me when you're actually prepared. I might be too." Fat chance. Crimson, your ineptitude knows no bounds, he told himself.

What Alkaid had said about nobility just being a title ate at the ex-convict. There was something in the history of his kingdom he desperately tried to remember, but it was like an insubstantial shadow, and the all the remnant of the memory could do was tease him with it's presence.


The memory Crimson had been searching for was the memory of the Prince's father. The old King was a much more noble pony than his son, despite having formerly been a pauper. The lowest of the low. He hadn't come from nobility, yet he was a great ruler. When one looked at the Prince, the changes were clear. Even just looking at the Prince revealed the cruelty that lurked beneath. Many ponies thought it was his insanity that had brought about the violence and hatred, but it had been there all along, cleverly hidden by an evil mind. And this pony was considered a noble. It was a shame Crimson was unable to remember any of this. It might have given him more certainty in what Alkaid had said.

Crimson wiped the frown from his face and replaced it with an easy smile. He had always liked books. Nonfiction mysteries were his favorites. It was interesting to read about quandaries that puzzled leading minds even today. "Of course. I'd love to go to your Realm." Crimson coughed a little more. "It's a bit smoky here anyway."

((I think it's cute how Crimson is just "the ex-con". New nickname, ahoy!))
108
Welp, I voted. And I will be staying, of course. I need to keep you rapscallions in line. Or just screw things up further. Either way, I'll stay interesting. Maybe.  :/
109
For some reason, while he slept, Blue was able to hear the entire argument between Night Shine and Zeth. After he was knocked out of his tree by the gusty winds, he straightened to his hooves. Boy, I wonder if she's as mad with me as she is with Zeth? Probably more, because I actually destroyed Law and his little rogue band. Now that his sleeping mood was officially broken, Blue decided to take a walk and see if there was anything he could help with.

On his walk, the unicorn saw a lot of burned vegetation. He wondered if he should use his Order power like the giant, magical reset button that it was, and return everything to rights. Then he wondered how Starless would feel about another god robbing him of some of his responsibilities, and therefore usefulness. Ugh. It's hardly my place to make anypony feel that way. Let him come to me for help if he needs it. Everypony else for that matter.


*****

It was just as he had thought. He and his talents were useless here. Curling his lip, Crimson crushed a blue piece of the pineapple under his hoof. "It's not the money, Alkaid. It's about keeping myself occupied and trying to not be a lump. I may not remember much about my home, but I do remember we valued hard work there." Now that his glass was filled, Crimson took a large gulp of the Cognac. He winced as it went down, but relished the burn. He felt his cheeks begin to get warm already, but he knew he could tolerate more if he needed.

Then Alkaid began talking about all this "species creating" nonsense. Crimson had been too frustrated to really take notice of the long-winded god's plans. Until there was that one part about being a leader. Crimson had accidentally inhaled the entire contents of his cup when he heard that. Maybe I'm drunker than I thought... Between coughs and wheezes, Crimson expressed his surprise and trepidation to the god. "Me? *cough cough* What? Lead? No... I- *hack* I can't possibly be resp- *cough* -onsible for that much! There's a reason why I was a doctor as opposed to a *wheeze* king back home! I... I have nothing in the way of leadership skills! Me? Huh. You're crazy if you're entrusting me, a non-royal pony from an exiled kingdom, with an entire race!"


((There we go, Blue! That's usin' the ol' thinkin' box! And them ol' feelin's!))
110
Blue continues to snooze, but he is plagued by the bad memories that were reawakened the entire time. He occasionally lets out a moaned name. "Ergg... Sunshine Smear.... No, ughuhg... Fast Lane.... S-Sparky..."

*****

Crimson was scrubbing at his face with his hooves as the refreshments were created. "Hm? Oh, yes. Cognac will be just fine. I just need something to help me relax." Still not feeling well? Have I met him before? The Earth pony grabbed hold of the plate of pineapple and the empty glass. Idly, he popped a piece of the sugared fruit into his mouth and let the sweet sourness run over his tongue. It was probably the best sweet he had ever had, and he was big on the sweets. For some reason, he found the red pieces tasted better. It was his probably just his bias towards red, considering it was his favorite color.

As he explained to Crimson how he shouldn't worry about his memory loss or the darkness, something about Alkaid's face just didn't look right. As if he was forcing himself to say all this against his better judgement. Crimson would have pressed the matter, but considering there were probably things he had forgotten that he didn't want to remember, he left it alone. "Okay, Alkaid. I'll believe you. As for being a free pony, I am a little concerned about how I'll occupy myself. Back home, I was a doctor. Here, I don't see any sort of pharmaceuticals or any buildings to be used as a clinic. Am I to construct these myself? I'm not a pharmacologist. Or is this just a waste of time, considering you gods can heal anypony within the blink of an eye?" The thought that his profession might not be needed in this dimension hadn't even occurred to Crimson, and it was like a slap to the face. He let his face slip into a frown as he chewed viciously on more pineapple.


((Soul scouts: silently judging you.))
111
Quote from: Rad Thunder on 2012 Dec 03, 12:23:49
Wow. That was a novel! But a well written one. :]


Gee, thanks!  ^-^

I took FOR-EV-ER.  lol
112
I am just re-doing my OC profiles, considering they were deleted quite a while ago. I have no idea why I started to do this so late. It probably had something to do with boredom levels. Considering I will have relatively lengthy profiles for each of the OCs I plan on RP'ing with, I'll just do it as installments. Of course, favorite OC first. Fillies and gentlecolts, here is

SILVER SNAKE


((I do not dig this picture, it's old, but s'all I have...))

Race: Pegasus
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Coat Color: Dark grey
Mane Color: Shiny silver with a red forelock and red streak; Swept back with the exception being the forelock. Nothing can make that lie flat.
Tail: Shiny silver with several red streaks; Wavy bordering on curly.
Cutie Mark: Silver snake curling around a red, blue and purple star
Eye Color: Holly Green
Special Talent: Metalwork and flying with valor. This one is a bit ambiguous. It really depends on what is happening at the moment. I would say Silver's special talent is metalwork, but that isn't what he earned his cutie mark for. He isn't a flying slump either, he just doesn't have much experience. This will be explained better later.
Wing Power: 8.2
Place of Residence: 1564 Opal Terrace, Manehattan, Equestria
Parents: Tradewind (estranged) and Westerlie (deceased)
Relatives: Peridot Shine and Ruby Heart (adoptive aunt and uncle)
Works At: The Jeweled Bridle jewelry store, also currently in severe weather training

Personality: An easy-enough pony to get along with. Silver doesn't particularly hate anypony, but he does make judgments fairly quickly. A bit of talking might be required to help him lower the barriers erected by these judgments. Silver is extremely sensitive to arguments between other ponies. This might be some sort of complex brought on by violent arguments he witnessed while he was living with his father.

Silver is fairly trusting and will latch onto anypony who shows him the slightest suggestions of friendship. His disjointed family life makes him very desiring of attachments and friendship. Though not unpopular, Silver is slightly socially awkward, which makes for his very small number of friends. Not to mention the fact that keeping friends is difficult when you have a mouthy, ancient spirit of a warrior trapped in your head, and this particular spirit can take over your body at moments of weakness (will explain later).

Bio:
Early Years:
To understand Silver Snake, one must first understand his parents and early life with his family. First, his parents. His father, Tradewind, was an emergency room surgeon and his mother, Westerlie, was an aerial stunt flier. Both parents had been relatively young when they had gotten married, and when Silver was born, it seemed that only one had acquired the sense of responsibility that was required to raise a foal. Tradewind immediately stepped up and was prepared to be the best father ever. He was so attentive to his son's needs that it is said that Silver cried for a cumulative hour during his entire infancy.

Silver's mother, Westerlie, on the other hoof, could not grow up it seemed. It wasn't like she didn't care for or love her son, but she didn't want to be tied down for long. Westerlie had always gone against the grain. Her parents had wanted her to become a pediatrician, she became a stunt flier. Her parents had wanted her to marry a lawyer, she married the down-and-out doctor, Tradewind. Her husband insisted that she shouldn't put such strain on her body, she disagreed and did it anyway. His concern wasn't for lack of confidence her, it was for her epilepsy. Yes, despite the fact she knew she was epileptic, Westerlie continued performing death-defying stunts until the day that death got tired of being defied.

When Silver was three, Westerlie had a seizure in the middle of a loop-de-loop. Of course, she lost consciousness during the seizure and began to plummet out of the sky. Several pegasus safety officials and even some audience members tried to catch up with the falling stunt-pony, but she was falling too fast and made contact with the ground at terminal velocity, killing her instantly. Though they knew there was no hope for her, the paramedics took her to the hospital where Tradewind worked anyway. Tradewind just happened to be walking down the hospital hallway when Westerlie's gurney was brought in and he saw her rushed into an emergency room. He wasn't allowed in because he wasn't the doctor in charge of her case and he had also just clocked out. After it was again confirmed that she was gone, Tradewind was allowed to see her. It took two guards to remove him from her side. With his wife gone, Tradewind was left alone to care for his toddler son.

In the months following Westerlie's death, Tradewind entered a massive downward slump. He lost his job and the two were kicked out of their house in Cloudsdale, so they had to move to a cheaper apartment in the rougher part of Manehattan. He also took to drinking, and though he never laid a hoof on Silver, his son was able to watch him get into screaming matches with his dead wife's picture and his best friend, Peridot Shine. In the midst of all this, Silver's relationship with his father had always been happy, and Tradewind treated him to special trips or meals when he could. Little did five-year old Silver know, his father was rapidly declining and Tradewind began to fear for his son's safety around him. So, in the middle of a snowy November night, Silver's birthday to be exact, Tradewind made the trip to Peridot's shop/house and asked him to take care of his son because he felt incapable of doing it anymore. Peridot, who had offered to take Silver off of Tradewind's hooves many times previous, started screaming at the distraught father that if is the worst he has been at, Silver should have been brought to them much earlier. Tradewind couldn't argue, he just stood outside holding his life's one last joy and offered him to a better home. More for the benefit of the small colt than his father, Peridot agreed, on the condition that Tradewind never visit Silver. Tradewind grudgingly complied, kissed his son one last time, and flew off into the night, never to see him again over the next twelve years. Tradewind later admitted himself into a mental hospital, was diagnosed with PTSD and was able to be treated for that.


Life With Peridot and Ruby:
It had taken Silver a good month to get accustomed to living with his aunt and uncle rather than his father. At least twice a week, Silver would wander into his aunt and uncle's bedroom and ask when his daddy was coming back. After a few weeks of replies of "He isn't", Silver stopped asking. It seemed the truth had finally sunken in. Or had it? Several times upon passing by his room, Ruby and Peridot heard Silver talking to somepony he called "Screech". The unicorn couple had written it off as a child's imaginary friend, and were not concerned. But Screech wasn't imaginary.

Do you recall the spirit in Silver's head I mentioned earlier? It seemed that this spirit had been with Silver from early childhood. It talked to him, played with him, and comforted him on the nights when Silver cried himself to sleep. This spirit however, wasn't exactly a benevolent one. He was the spirit of an ancient warrior that had somehow been forced into Silver's body. This spirit would later find that he could take control of Silver when he was feeling weak or inadequate. Though he may be dangerous to other ponies, he would never betray or try to harm his host and his charge. Okay, back to Silver!

From an early age, Silver showed an interest in metalwork. At age eight, Peridot caught him in his workshop banging away on a piece of ornamental gold. The older unicorn had admonished him and gave him a time-out for sneaking in, but upon closer inspection, the gold showed the definite lines of a rough relief carving of Ruby Heart's face. It impressed the jewelry-making couple greatly, and Ruby even made it into a pendant that she took great pride in. When Silver was eleven, he graduated from simply being the stock boy/errand runner to a craftspony in his own right. What he really excelled in was making statuettes inlaid with gems, but he could make just about anything you wanted from a lump of metal. It was a huge surprise to everypony then, that he didn't earn his cutie mark in metalwork. After every progressively superior piece, the colt's flank remained blank.

It should be said at this point, that up until this point, Silver had no formal flying experience or training. Ruby would never allow him to go to any flight camp of any kind because she feared for his safety. All he usually did was fly up to reach really high crates of materials or run errands. But they knew then even though Silver didn't show it, all he desired was to be a Wonderbolt and awe everypony with his flying prowess. It was because of this that they purchased special box seats at the Best Young Flier competition. Silver was beside himself with jubilation. He couldn't have possibly known that the day of the competition would change his life forever.


Cutie Mark Acquisition and Later Life:
Two weeks later in Cloudsdale, Silver Snake arrived with his aunt and uncle at the stadium where the competition would be held. The family found their seats and settled in to watch the promising young pegasi. Silver couldn't sit still though, so he flew to a lower row of clouds. Entries 1 through 9 performed their routines without a single problem. It was entry 10 however, that would set the rest of his life in a totally different direction. Entry 10, a small yellow stallion, began well. His speed was very impressive and his cloud slaloms were precise. It was during his second barrel roll that things went downhill. Entry 10 had apparently looked down at the apex of one of his climbs, and passed out from the shock.

Astonished onlookers watched the plummeting colt in horror? Was there nopony who could help him? The onsite paramedics were already helping a mare contestant who was suffering from a panic attack. Nopony rushed to the imperiled contestant's aid. Until Silver did. To this day, neither Silver's aunt and uncle know why their nephew threw himself over the edge of a cloud to help a falling pony when he could hardly fly himself. Silver kept the real reason and cause from them, fearing they might think he was insane. The pony who had forced him over was Screech. Sensing that the stallion was relaxed, Screech took over Silver's body and made him dive to the aid of the falling pony. Silver screamed why, and Screech replied with this: "I'm helping you get your cutie mark, kid. You'll never get it by doing what everypony thinks you should be doing, you're going to get it because you have a heart full of valor. Just prove it to yourself and save that chucklehead!". With these words, Screech released Silver to his own free will. The young stallion was nearly panicking himself, but he tried to focus on what Screech had told him about his "heart of valor". He also noticed that Entry 10's fall speed had stabilized, and made his move. Pumping his wings faster and harder than ever before, Silver began going so fast, he became a silver blur to the onlookers. He hadn't even realized that he had the speed in him. The stallion pushed himself even faster, fearing for the life of the pony he was trying to save. Tears began to flow from his eyes as his speed was pushed even higher. Finally, this last burst was enough, and Silver caught the hooves of the contestant. With a massive amount of effort, Silver pulled himself up into a climb and used the rest of his momentum to get back to the stadium.

The stallion's heart was pounding in his chest, and he was close to blacking out. Every one of his muscles hurt, and he was slicked with sweat. His hearing was muffled too. He could barely hear his uncle loudly congratulating him. He asked why, and his uncle replied, "On getting your cutie mark, of course!" It was true. Silver Snake's flank was now decorated with a silver serpent that nearly glinted in the light and three stars that seemed to radiate light. It was too much for Silver to take at that point, and he passed out. His aunt didn't take this well and started fussing about him.

After the day was done, Peridot was approached by a Wonderbolt, one he didn't know the name of. The Wonderbolt offered Silver a place in their Junior Wonderbolt training camp the next summer. Peridot hastily agreed, for fear his wife would hear what he had agreed to. When they got home, Peridot told Silver about the training camp after he had come to. The young pegasus heartily thanked his uncle and gave him a rare hug.

In the days leading up to the next summer, Silver continued to work in the jewelry store and improve his craft. Screech was irritated that the pegasus wasn't practicing for the camp, but didn't force him to do anything. The spirit was fairly confident that his friend would do just fine. There was even hope that at the end of the camp, it would be Silver who would be chosen to be the rookie of the next season's Wonderbolt team.

During the camp, however, it was clear that Silver was outclassed in almost everything he tried. The lack of any real experience really did a number on Silver's prospects during the two-week camp. At the end, Silver was actually in the top three to be chosen for Wonderbolt rookieship. Unfortunately he was beaten out by a yellow stallion named Friendly Skies. Oddly enough, this was the very same stallion that had helped Silver land a spot at this camp. This was the first time they had met, and Skies expressed in no small amount of words how grateful he was to Silver for saving him, and actually was able to arrange a spot for Silver at the camp every year.

After this failure, Silver resolved to become a better flier and master weather control. He passed a basic flying and weather course, and has since moved onto trick flying and severe weather training. Time will tell if he is Wonderbolts material this go-round.
113
Blue woke with a start when the Tracking spell alerted him that Crimson had teleported. He mentally scrabbled for a visual, but it turned out that Crimson was just with Alkaid and Voidwalker. "False alarm," an irritated Blue mumbled. "Looks my days for sleep are numbered." The unicorn rolled over and silently begged Alkaid to not do that to Crimson anymore.

*****

"F-Food? I, uh... mayb- WHOA!" The teleportation had happened too fast for Crimson to be prepared, and when he and Alkaid were deposited in front of a purple stallion, Crimson looked rather green. "I, oh, my stomach." Crimson staggered behind a tree and performed some oral gastro-intestinal liberation, though it was only bile that came up. "P-Please, warn me next time you intend to do that. I can't be held responsible for what would happen." Crimson's eyes were dull and tired and his cheeks were looking very grey. "If could put in a food request, I would like some brandy and a plate of candied pineapple. Uh, please." Being in the presence of the two kind gods made Crimson feel very ashamed for having such a low opinion of gods in general. All he could do was try to stay upright and shuffle his hooves.

Finally, he spoke up. "I'm really not dead, Alkaid? Then do you know where I might have gotten those memories? You don;t get those emotions from just being locked inside a closet..."

((Okay, good. I was worried you'd disagree. Also, Alkaid is starting to like Crimson because Crimson is just that cute and charming.))
114
Something about his pillar just wasn't... ostentatious enough. He was Blue Blur, for Sun's sake! A god among ponies and possibly among gods too. His pillar needed to scream 'I AM BLUE BLUR, AND I DESERVE YOUR WORSHIP'. The material maybe.... It just wasn't him. Nor did it represent Law and Order enough. The unicorn was at a loss as to what to do about the change of material. He could try manipulating the Laws of the pillar's atoms and having them receive more or less electrons to turn them to whatever he desired, though that sounded very time consuming. He wanted his pillar to be a mixture of ruby and sapphire, but he had no idea of how many atoms each molecule of either had. And he wasn't sure that Zeth could or would help him make his pillar better than everypony else's. Then he wondered if he could combine his first idea with his powers of Order and Law to make his plan come to fruition. Somewhat.

First, Blue adjusted the Laws of the pillar's atoms so that each of them had six electrons, the same as carbon, which he knew with heat and pressure, could become diamond. The heat would be easy. He could generate a massive amount of heat by making the air particles vibrate faster with a little bit of Law making. He was a bit nervous about the raising the atmospheric pressure, but if he kept it localized to his pillar only and applied enough heat, he figured he could turn the pillar into diamond and eradicate his adjustments to the Laws quick enough so that there wouldn't be any noticeable differences. Blue set the second part of his plan in motion, changing the Laws of the air around his pillar to make the particles vibrate faster and create more pressure. The changes only extended an inch from the pillar. To move the process along, Blue used some of his godly smiting fire to raise the temperature even more. The heat was such that the pillar was turned to diamond in three minutes. Blue quickly set every Law back to where it had been at the start and hoped that it hadn't caused anypony any problems. The unicorn took a step back and admired his new pillar. "Any jeweler would kill for my powers," he pridefully mused to himself.

The last part would be the simplest. All he would have to do is imbue the pillar with enough of the red Law and blue Order to make the clear gem change color. He started with Order first, letting the azure material spiral down the stone in a tight curl. It was a pale cyan at first, but got progressively darker until it turned the deep blue of sapphire. The same happened with Law, starting pink and then intensifying to a blood red. When the Law god was finished, the coastal pillar cut an intense figure against the grey of the sea, with it's red and blue material and Blue's cutie mark shining on the front face like molten steel. "Well. That's done. Hm. I wonder what Crimson is doing now?" Blue extended his consciousness to Crimson and his Tracking spell. Rather boringly, the mortal was shown to be still talking with Alkaid. Well, more like freaking out while Alkaid was explaining his situation. "Heh, poor guy, Alkaid getting saddled with Crimson like that. Almost makes me want to go back. Almost." With a light chuckle at the schadenfreude, Blue teleported to the wood where Teal's house was. Using precise Destruction spells, Blue cut down several medium-sized trees that would be perfect for use in home construction. "I am such a nice guy," he remarked after he had leapt up into the branches of an "ancient" alder for a nap.


*****

"A-Alkaid?" Crimson repeated. The careful observer might have noticed at this point that Crimson's voice no longer carried it's undercurrent of malice and hate. Just confusion and a bit of suspicion. "You... you're a god? I... I don't believe in gods. At least, I don't believe in them actively taking part in the health of a world. Caring, if you will. But... you are? I think..." Crimson's hoof shot up to massage his aching head. He felt as if something had been ripped away from his brain and heart, though he couldn't place what it was or why he cared. Maybe it was just the sense of loss. "I think I need a drink. I feel awful. Brandy would help. Do you have any?" Crimson asked, but it didn't look like the pale grey stallion was burdened with anything at all.

Disappointed, the mortal turned away from the god, his ears flattened a bit. "And you say I have a choice to stay here or go back home? Are you sure, Alkaid?" He turned his head so that he could see the god's face. The red Earth pony's scarlet eyes were shining with tears. "Are you sure I'm not dead? I have these terrible memories of a blackness. It was so cold and hopeless. These memories are so out of place, and my memories of before this point end so abruptly, I..." Crimson's words died in his mouth. I thought that maybe this was the afterlife I never believed in.


((Sorry, Silverweed, I know Crimson forgot everything that had happened to him in Creation, but I felt like it would be pretty poor sport to have him just forget his punishment. It left a pretty big mark on him, and without it, he has no reason to fear death and causing harm to anypony.))
115
The Retirement Home / Re: true or false?
2012 Dec 02, 01:38:29
Very true. I missed their old married couple-ness.

The pony below is pretty cold right now.
116
The Retirement Home / Re: true or false?
2012 Dec 02, 00:16:07
Very true. Everypony should have that experience.

The pony below me has played Pokemon Conquest and wasn't exactly thrilled to do so....
117
You, sir, have a wicked sweet evil laugh.
118
The Retirement Home / Re: true or false?
2012 Dec 02, 00:12:56
Pony please. I can go all night.

The pony below me has also played Pokemon Black 2 and is also very close to getting the Nature Sanctuary.
119
Aperture Science: We do what we must, because we can.

They've been able to get drunk for a long time, actually. Energon is potent stuff.
120
"You sound like he's a puppy or something. I was going to let him go wherever. I don't want him around me, even though he's 'reformed'. I'll still watch out for him, as part of the probation punishment. Just let me..." Blue trailed off as he bent his head down towards Crimson's ear. He would need something to help him be aware of Crimson's whereabouts when he wasn't consciously doing it himself (i.e. when he's napping). He tapped the wide band of gold that was clamped over mortal's ear with his horn. It was a simple Tracking spell with a bit more grunt behind it, so that it would be present even during the god's sleep, as if there was a window looking upon Crimson at all times.

The regal pony straightened and nodded at Alkaid. "Be seeing you." Looking down at the now nonplussed Crimson, the god offered him a small smile. "I'll be watching you too, Crimson. Be on your best behavior." With a crack and a flash of scarlet light, Blue teleported to where his pillar was. Placing a hoof on the diorite pillar, the Law god shuddered when he felt the imprint of Law's intentions on it. He wondered if he should place a protective field around it, but just decided that it was better not to try. The success of the Tracking spell earlier was a miracle in and of itself. Maybe a guardian... But I don't want another Law... Blue considered going to Night Shine, but decided he preferred to keep his affairs to himself.


*****

For Crimson, it was an addling experience. At first, here he was, in Creation and hating everypony in it, then he was standing in the middle of an unfamiliar place, with ponies he didn't know. He expressed his surprise in the most eloquent way possible. "AAAAUGH! What in the... where am I? A-And who are you? Why aren't I home?" He tried to remember where he had last been, and even that was a misty remembrance of his quarters back home in the North. It didn't explain how he ended up in a well-lit field surrounded by strange ponies. After the taller blue unicorn put his horn on his earring and teleported away, Crimson began to get suspicious. "Does somepony want to tell me what's happening and why I'm here? Because I seem to have really lost the plot at this point. Is somepony playing a practical joke on me? It's one of the unicorns, isn't it?" Crimson looked all over, trying to find somepony who wasn't there. "Okay, Mjolnir, you've had your fun. Get rid of this illusion and come out!" When no good-natured unicorn face revealed itself with a chuckle, Crimson felt the ground fall out from under him. "Where am I?" he asked quieter.

((*shrugs* I like diorite and specificity.))