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

TheEyes · Mar 14, 2020

Redhawk said:
So hold on a sec, if someone starts to sing, other ponies get dragged in for the chorus? Is this a magical effect or is there a law somewhere about how everyone has to participate in songs?

It's the MLP universe, so probably a Harmony effect.

varno · Mar 14, 2020

Redhawk said:
So hold on a sec, if someone starts to sing, other ponies get dragged in for the chorus? Is this a magical effect or is there a law somewhere about how everyone has to participate in songs?

Magical effect

Vaermina · Mar 14, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
"I'm not. You are. My words have caused them to ruminate upon their deficiencies and failures. Now is the time to talk up how much you can improve upon their capabilities. I will take a back seat and remain silent. This is your show." Her spell deactivates as she blinks at me in surprise. I turn around and try to put my membranous right wing over her back in a hug. Unfortunately, she's far too short. "Knock 'em metaphorically dead."

Yea... Almost anyone would refuse what he was selling out of pure spite after that...

I step forwards in a daze. I'm in a musical number. As part of the chorus.

ForeverShogo · Mar 14, 2020

It's a fanon thing where people treat the spontaneous musical numbers as something that actually physically happens, with the magic of Harmony or whatever actually forcing people to participate against their will. Fanfic writers call it a "heartsong".

But even in the show it's actually kind of inconsistent.

Sometimes it actually happens. Sometimes it's imagined or rehearsed in advance. Sometimes it's even something being conveyed through song as, like, a summary instead of what's literally happening.

Mr Zoat · Mar 14, 2020

thebishop8 said:
You have "[/i]" in there.
Either "The soldier grins." or "The soldiers grin."
Missing a full stop.

Thank you, corrected.

Ganurath said:
Needs more threadmark.

It was there when I posted it.

varno said:
Magical effect

Is this a correction or are you just opining?

Ciber said:
Still need to work on that thing where you write everyone who is not the si as being blisteringly incompetent though.

The Royal Guard are canonically incompetent. Sunset here is being shown as very competent.

Also, there isn't much point in the SI going to where people know exactly what they're doing, watching them for a bit and then saying 'yep, you know what you're doing. Well done, carry on', and then leaving.

moralrelativity said:
The 'her' seems like it might be unnecessary.

The 'her' is Twilight and it looks fine to me.

Handlewithcare · Mar 14, 2020

Entrance Sunbutt!

Is Starlight Glimmer already resolved? If not, I would love to see Grayven tear into her philosophy.

Chojin Patriarch · Mar 14, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
Afternoon
Canterlot

"Bawhahahaha!"

The guards have by and large given up on looking offended as I steady myself by leaning against the wall.

Ah, I'm guessing words were said about the quality of Equestrian soldiers...

"Hahahahaha!"

My eyes are staring and Sunset is trying to indicate by her stance that no matter what they may have heard, she's got nothing to do with me. Her eyes flick to me as the laughter stops, only to be rolled and turned away once more as she sees that I'm just trying to recover my breath.

And Sunset is growing tired of Grayven's shit. Expect a talking-to soon...

Plucky Slugger's eyes narrow. "What's so funny?"

"Huh-huh." I take a deep breath as I try to get myself under control. "Huuurrrh. Ugh. Okay." I stand back on my own four hooves and face him, bending down slightly so that our muzzles are level. "What..." I cough. "What you just said."

He turns his head slightly to the right. "I just said that the Royal Guards are Equestria's premier fighting for-."

Dammit, QQ needs a :rofl: smiley... And I can see why Grayven's laughing now.

I hold up my right forehoof. "Stop, stop! You're going to set me off again."

He snorts. He actually snorts! "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

Temper, temper, soldier. Comport yourself like an Officer and a Gentleman... er, Gentle-pony.

I invert my right forehoof -and isn't that weird[/i]- and press it to the underside of his muzzle. "Oh, you precious foal. You actually believe it, don't you? That's so sweet."

His eyes widen for a moment, then he knocks my limb aside. "I don't know what you think you're talking about-."

Careful, Grayven, you're bucking for a bucking.

"I've met soldiers. I've fought against soldiers. You're not soldiers. You're.. tour guides at best. Living statues at worst. I mean-" I sit and spread my forehooves in the general direction of our escort. "-come on, be honest. When was the last time you ponies contributed meaningfully to the defence of Equestria? Count off the major incidents from the past few years. One, Nightmare Moon. Celestia's escort got knocked aside like they're not even there and the whole thing gets wrapped up in a few hours by Celestia's disciple. Who had no guard support while doing it." I can see their cheeks start to colour through their fur. I'm going to assume that this isn't the first time they've heard something like this. "Discord? ... Nope."

To be fair, the latter isn't their fault, Discord is, well...

"Discord is a master of chaos magic! What could we do against him?"

"You did have over a thousand years to prepare. I'd have thought that you could have worked something out. Prepared something. Anything. At least arranged for the statue to have some flipping railings around it."

That is an honestly good point.

"We didn't know that's what the statue was!?"

"And the other statues?" His face freezes. "You have asked about those, right?"

Silence.

Oh, that's a loud silence...

"You haven't. Okay." I tense the muscles in my jaw. "Then we had the Changeling Invasion of Canterlot. Not a malevolent deity this time. Changeling drones are generally worse fliers than pegasus ponies, their magic is limited to shapeshifting and basic thaumokinesis and they're not especially strong. Exactly the sort of thing a professional standing army might be expected to fight. And how did you do? You got your haunches handed to you."

Okay, that one's a little harder to explain away as 'caught by surprise'... Especially after two previous super-villain attacks.

"Next up was Sombra. Once more, Princess Celestia sent her disciple. Did she send her a retinue of guards? No. She sent the best young flier, a pony likely to join the Wonderbolts during their next recruitment session. Not sure why she didn't send the actual Wonderbolts, but maybe she couldn't get hold of them at short notice."

"Rainbow Dash is one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

Oh, sure, that's an easy excuse. That's like saying "Oh, we didn't bother with guards on the convoy because Batman is in town..."

"Did they have the Elements with them?"

"Ahh... No?"

<Facehoof> Without the Elements, the Mane Six are basically ordinary ponies with somewhat unusual talents. Except maybe Twilight.

"Then how is that relevant?" I give him a moment to come up with something. Nope. "And in addition to that doughty duo, she sent... A seamstress, a farmer, a baker... And a veterinarian. Instead of? Any. Guards. At. All." I shrug, just about getting some motion out of my wings. "And that wasn't even the worst of it. Did the Grand Galloping Gala really get... Overrun by animals from the palace gardens?" Plucky Slugger's ears fall. "You ponies couldn't even take fluffy little bunnies in a fight!" I walk past him, carrying on in the direction of the training area. "I mean, at least that explains the veterinarian! Celestia must think that Fluttershy is the most deadly pony she has in her service!"

"And that, gentlemen, is when you see his ego shatter into tiny pieces..."

Then the friction disappears from under my hooves and my right ear glows pale turquoise. "Excuse me, gentlecolts." Pony or not, Sunset's grin is quite unsettling. "Grayven and I need a quick... Chat."

She drags me along behind her as she leads the way down the corridor a short distance and around a bend before shoving me against a wall. "What the heck are you doing?"

Ah, the talking-to has arrived. Don't blow your throat out shouting, Sunset...

I'm not sure that it's healthy for her to grind her teeth like that, either. "Talking them down. What did it sound like?"

"I don't want to alienate everypony in the palace! I thought we were going to try and sell them the weapons I developed?"

Well, she's going to be very good at Canterlot Royal Voice, at least.

"I'm not. You are. My words have caused them to ruminate upon their deficiencies and failures. Now is the time to talk up how much you can improve upon their capabilities. I will take a back seat and remain silent. This is your show." Her spell deactivates as she blinks at me in surprise. I turn around and try to put my membranous right wing over her back in a hug. Unfortunately, she's far too short. "Knock 'em metaphorically dead."

You cheeky dick-waffle! Now that's subtlety you don't expect from the Renegade...

"Oh. I just thought you were being a jerk again."

"The Canterlot Royal Guard are low hanging targets. I have standards."

"And it's fun watching you shout."

The cyan glow encompasses my side and gently shoves me away. "Right." She looks me in the eyes, her own eyes narrowing. "I can't work out whether you made that up as an excuse or if that was really why you did it."

"Why can't it be both?"

Both? Both. Both is good.

She sighs. "Just butt out and let me work, alright?" I make an expression of total innocence, eliciting another sigh before she walks back around the corridor to rejoin the party.

She need to learn to lighten up.

Maybe once she's been away from you for a while...

I let her and the guards get ahead a little way before attaching myself to the rear of the party. Plucky Slugger looks around at the sound of my hooves, but he doesn't say anything. His head flops in what I suspect to be a sign of pony-depression and his hooves barely lift off the ground as he walks.

Perfect.

Wow, never seen hope at the sight of a person brought so low... Grayven has weird priorities...

I follow them out into the training field. On one side, unicorn guards charge their horns and fire blasts of coloured magic at a target downfield, Tempest Shadow watching carefully. Where they strike, the targets blacken and smoulder. Pegasus pony guards fly around in formation, spears their weapons of choice, Lightning Dust flying literally circles around them. In another part of the field earth pony guards line up to charge into tackle bags held in place by Buckface, bouncing off as they fail to move him.

And every one of those guards is going to want to learn his skills...

Two grey unicorns -who based on their insignia appear to be senior officers- have walked over to where Sunset stands in front of her escort. Wait, those are the prats who couldn't organise a simple search party when those plunderseed vine things grabbed Celestia and Luna. Oh, sure, a firm pair of hooves there, I don't-.

Where's that music coming from?

Music Meister? Is that you?

"Let me teach you of fighting and fury.
Permit me to tell you how to wage war."

Sunset prances up to a tired-looking Unicorn who managed three small burns in the centre of his target and shoves a mana siphon gun into his forehooves and pointing to the activation knob.

Unsubtle, but I expect proper firearms safety lessons can come after.

"A creature's might,
should exceed its plight,
Or what's a soldier for?"

Lovely lyrics...

He takes aim and fires, the rainbow-coloured beam punching a hole clean through the centre of the target, then the wall behind that and the wall behind that and the wall behind that before breaking out of Canterlot entirely and sailing into the air.

The soldiers grins.

Oh, my. You'll have to take those guns from the soldiers' cold, dead hooves...

"I'll show you the way to take thought for tomorrow,"

Her horn glows and arcane armour appears around an earth pony, who runs through the bag and the wooden structure behind it. The structure collapses onto him and he isn't even phased.

Woah. Magical Power Armor. Nice.

"To rea-lise your dreams and to hunger for more."

Another glow and a target finder helmet appears on a pegasus pony, along with a saddle mounted laser.

Airborne fire-support. What's next, orbital bombardments? No, wait, that's a Harmony Strike.

"A creature's wrath,
should protect its path,"

The pegasus pony swoops into a diving and fires, striking the centre of each of the unicorn targets in sequence. Sunset looks them over briefly, then turns to gaze up at Celestia's tower

She's not home yet, though. Or is she making a quite nasty point?

"Or what's a Princess for?"

I step forwards in a daze. I'm in a musical number. As part of the chorus.

HAhahahahaaa!

…

Mine was first.

Oh, get over it, Grayven. You had your fun, let her enjoy herself.

Sunset appears to be getting into her stride. The three ponies she just upgunned and their moronic commanders gather around her, and for some reason I find myself joining them. Her horn glows brilliantly, and then...

We're in a lecture theatre? I'm standing in the wings while the other five are in the front row.

Ah, the lecture she mentioned? Hope the students are ready to have their minds blown.

"Taste of the fruit of the tree that is knowledge,"

Sunset's horn glows as seven different pieces of chalk dance around her before drawing arcane and mathematical proofs on the blackboard behind her.

Impressive control. I wonder how many of them can even follow that? Very few, I bet.

"Of science and magic and all two worlds' lore."

The regular lecturer whom she just displaced looks at her with irritation. Then looks at what she's writing and sits down, his mouth falling open.

Ah, Equestria, you and your thinly-veiled references.

"A creature's thought,
must exceed what it's taught,
Or what's a scholar for?"

A very good question. But beyond the scope of my reasoning ability...

She takes a selection of books on Atlantean thaumaturgical notation from her subspace pocket and hands it to the lecturer, who immediately opens the first and starts reading. Good job she translated them first.

"So come let me help you become as the gods are."

Oh, my. Talk about spitting in Celestia's face...

She moves over to the second blackboard and start drawing out the shape she showed Luna and I earlier, the one which is supposed to enable her ascension. I recognise the symbols for the three pony tribes and.. some of the other symbols, but the precise mechanics of how it's supposed to work are lost on me.

"For I've got a wonderful secret to tell!"

And following the Laws of Narrative Causality...

The doors at the rear of the lecture theatre open and Celestia herself trots in. No one looks around as Sunset pauses in her song, then hardens her expression and pushes onwards.

"A creature's reach must exceed its grasp!"

Oh, boy. Sunbutt is in for quite a surprise...

Sunset rears up as the audience stomp their forehooves in approval.

"Or what's an alicorn for?"

Woo! <Raises the Horns> Preach it!

And a surprise musical number, for the win. The only bad thing about this chapter... Will be the wait until tomorrow to see what happens next.

Darko · Mar 14, 2020

Ah, dick-waffle.

There is a fic on Ff.net by Satire Swift called Fate Ment: War of the Bridges., it's a story about Mr. Popo absorbing Angra Mainyuu and summoning characters from abridged series to replace the Servants for the 5th war.
It includes such wonderful characters as Alucard, Yami Yugi and of course the single greatest abridged character to ever exist ...NAPPA.

I also think i know what his noble phantasm will be.
It will be making his Master so angry they gain superhuman abilities to kill him

And i can't wait wait to see the relationship between Yami and Kazuki.
I mean... no homo right.

Sadly the fic appears to be dead.

DAT_NOOB · Mar 14, 2020

Vaermina said:
Yea... Almost anyone would refuse what he was selling out of pure spite after that...

Good thing Grayven isn't selling to them.

Darko said:
Ah, dick-waffle.

There is a fic on Ff.net by Satire Swift called Fate Ment: War of the Bridges., it's a story about Mr. Popo absorbing Angra Mainyuu and summoning characters from abridged series to replace the Servants for the 5th war.
It includes such wonderful characters as Alucard, Yami Yugi and of course the single greatest abridged character to ever exist ...NAPPA.

I also think i know what his noble phantasm will be.
It will be making his Master so angry they gain superhuman abilities to kill him

And i can't wait wait to see the relationship between Yami and Kazuki.
I mean... no homo right.

Sadly the fic appears to be dead.

Can I ask what this has to do with Mr Zoat's with this ring? you lost me.

Darko · Mar 14, 2020

Sorry DAT_NOOB when Chojin called renegade a cheeky dick-waffle i remembered abridged Alucard and this one fic i read about him.
Couldn't help myself.

Mquz · Mar 14, 2020

TheEyes said:
It's the MLP universe, so probably a Harmony effect.

Of course! Equestria is a music box for the chaos gods! They are there in the darkness of space, always listening. Celestia is but a servant. She who dims the lights in the room of the true gods of the world.

Stsword · Mar 14, 2020

Chojin Patriarch said:
<Facehoof> Without the Elements, the Mane Six are basically ordinary ponies with no proper super-powers. Except maybe Twilight.

Dash can explode things so thoroughly that a mushroom cloud forms in her wake, Fluttershy can stare dragons and cockatrices alike into submission, and Pinkie Pie is a fourth wall observer who enjoys cartoon physics in apparent defiance of the established rules of thaumatology.

Slayer Anderson · Mar 14, 2020

Darko said:
That whole 'reach must exceed grasp' has me convinced this is going to blow up.

If this were a canon comic/tv timeline, it probably would, but With This Ring is usually pretty good about not hitting characters with plot-based morality about greed and attempting beyond your station.

There will likely be some kind of unknown/unknowable complication (possibly unrelated to the actual ascension itself), but I foresee Sunset actually achieving alicornhood without her turning into a demon or something.

Agent Orange · Mar 14, 2020

Stsword said:
Dash can explode things so thoroughly that a mushroom cloud forms in her wake

Hm? When did this happen? How can a pegasus explode stuff? Did she hit it with a lighting bolt or something?

Chojin Patriarch · Mar 14, 2020

Agent Orange said:
Hm? When did this happen? How can a pegasus explode stuff? Did she hit it with a lighting bolt or something?

Sonic Rainboom. She uses it in an early episode to knock down a barn. And on a side note, Applejack is strong even for an Earth pony. I was joking about the 'proper' superpowers. I doubt most Equestrians would know what the Mane Six can really do...
(Original statement tweaked...)

Mquz · Mar 14, 2020

Slayer Anderson said:
If this were a canon comic/tv timeline, it probably would, but With This Ring is usually pretty good about not hitting characters with plot-based morality about greed and attempting beyond your station.

There will likely be some kind of unknown/unknowable complication (possibly unrelated to the actual ascension itself), but I foresee Sunset actually achieving alicornhood without her turning into a demon or something.

At a guess: since she's absorbing background magic, she does what OL did to his soul, where it constantly absorbs background magic. This has consequences in the DC universe.

That, or everyone watching the lecture becomes an Alicorn. We get Alicorn Nye the Science Guy. There's a lot of Alicorns who can't control their powers.

Agent Orange · Mar 14, 2020

Mquz said:
At a guess: since she's absorbing background magic, she does what OL did to his soul, where it constantly absorbs background magic. This has consequences in the DC universe.

OL had his soul frame/mana collector designed by John Constantine. It was set to 'absorb and convert' and the off switch was not even included in the design. Given how careful and thorough Sunset's been about Sciencing the ascension process I doubt she would miss something like this. Unlike Paul she was not exactly in a rush for it. She had a full year to iron out any kinks.

Darko · Mar 14, 2020

Wonder what the 'Guise' part of the title really means?

Is it renegade pretending to be a Alicorn, or could it be that Sunsets method doesn't make her into a Alicorn but something else, or does she get the magics of the three tribes, but still not become a Alicorn?

In Codex Equus Alicorns are gods that wield Primordial Quintessence, the magic of the gods, and while there have been people in that fic who wield the three pony magics that doesn't necessarily mean they become gods.
The Frankenstein expy, Patchwork, has the magics of all three tribes but no PQ.

Agent Orange · Mar 14, 2020

Darko said:
Wonder what the 'Guise' part of the title really means?

It obviously refers to the fact that they aren't in canon Equestria. This is an alternate timeline where Changeling coup went off without a hitch and every pony was eventually replaced by a Changeling. Mane 6 are in fact Mean 6 and that's why they didn't have any Elements on them.

Senevri · Mar 14, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
He takes aim and fires, the rainbow-coloured beam punching a hole clean through the centre of the target, then the wall behind that and the wall behind that and the wall behind that before breaking out of Canterlot entirely and sailing into the air.

Seems very safe.
... The potential problem with giving a bunch of jumped up tour guides actual weaponry and military training is that they may want to use it. Whether or not there's a need is irrelevant.

Bramble Thorn · Mar 14, 2020

Caught back up, apparently right at a cliffhanger.

Handlewithcare said:
Muahaha, I will mildly inconvenience and amuse him! I'm so deliciously evil!

In this scene, we have secretly switched Grayvens normal Yellow Ring Narrator Sinestro with Hedonism Bot from Futurama.
Lets see it anyone notices.

Stsword · Mar 14, 2020

Agent Orange said:
Hm? When did this happen? How can a pegasus explode stuff? Did she hit it with a lighting bolt or something?

The episode Sonic Rainboom.

Which is named after the maneuver, the sonic rainboom. Here's a result of her flying into a barn.

Mquz · Mar 14, 2020

Stsword said:
The episode Sonic Rainboom.

Which is named after the maneuver, the sonic rainboom. Here's a result of her flying into a barn.

Have to wonder how she's still alive after that. Have to say that one Double Rainboom YouTube video was preety great too.

Agent Orange · Mar 14, 2020

Stsword said:
Which is named after the maneuver, the sonic rainboom. Here's a result of her flying into a barn.

By Sunbutt! Is nuking barns her special talent? Or is it something any pegasus can do? If so why did Grayven even bother looking for a discount version of Dash?

Mr Zoat · Mar 14, 2020

Agent Orange said:
By Sunbutt! Is nuking barns her special talent? Or is it something any pegasus can do? If so why did Grayven even bother looking for a discount version of Dash?

Rainbow Dash has a full time job and a part time job already.

Mquz · Mar 14, 2020

Rainbow Dash's talent is going really fast. The Rainboom is basically a magical sonic boom, and most of the time she controls Ponyville's weather. The one Grayven found has pulled off similar feats, but no Rainboom. It blew up a barn because Dash flew too close. The Rainboom is basically Dash breaking the speed of magic. She's clearly not breaking light speed, and breaking the sound barrier doesn't leave a rainbow.
On a related note, there needs to be a Megumin unicorn. You know, one whose entire magic talent is explosions, but is useless for a good deal of time afterwards.

Pinklestia · Mar 14, 2020

Wow, talk about arriving late to the party.

What were you doing Celestia, bucking with a Saddle Arabia stallion or something?

Ace Dreamer · Mar 14, 2020

If the singing upset Grayven, he'd better hope he never ends up in the Gilbert&Sullivan-verse... Improbable? Other world hoppers have been there...

(Of possible interest is that 'The Incomplete Enchanter' is sufficiently old that you can find legal copies online to read...)

WereDragon · Mar 14, 2020

Mr Zoat said:
"You did have over a thousand years to prepare. I'd have thought that you could have worked something out.

Out of interest how long have Darkseid and High Father been failing to 'work something out' for dealing with each other?

Indeed how long has every spacefaring polity in the universe had to 'work something out' for dealing with Apokolips in general? Or the Green Lanterns, who quite a few polities would probably like to be rid of.

"The Canterlot Royal Guard are low hanging targets. I have standards."

This is either a blatant lie or an amazing vote of confidence in the competency of both the Forever People and the Amazons.

He takes aim and fires, the rainbow-coloured beam punching a hole clean through the centre of the target, then the wall behind that and the wall behind that and the wall behind that before breaking out of Canterlot entirely and sailing into the air.

… so was there anything but sheer luck keeping Sunset and that guard from becoming murderers?

Darko · Mar 14, 2020

Remember Dragon this was a prelude to a song, even if they hit someone all it would have done was vaporize their hair

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

Well worn.

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I trust you know where the happy button is?

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Orthodox Heretic

Experienced.

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Not too sore, are you?

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Questioning The Nature of our Realities

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