A blank, curious being; a nobody that was capable of becoming anybody. Can the Magic of Friendship fill in an empty shell? Can he keep his greatest secret when he can't even know which emotions are his?
If the pair DID fight, particularly as they were right then, I'd say Forest has the better odds thanks to the surprise factors she's hiding. Different circumstances would mean different odds, but at this point in time it would be hard for Forest to get the upper hand against a prepared Shining without having to play a few suspicious cards, if not having to outright blow her cover.
Forest would, definitely, even without doing anything that would blow her cover. She is a Evolved shape-shifter. Her body COULDN'T be in better condition. Then there's super-strength just speeding her up farther (Super-strength would speed you up, more power on the same amount of mass = higher speed). Super-reflexes from a combination of Super-senses (shaper-shifter perk), that Super-strength, and a brain that can handle tons of information (consumption gets a life-time of memories in moments). Plus, she has the combined fighting experience of hundreds of marines and Black-watch operatives.
Plus, she can show a fair bit of stuff without blowing her cover. People pass off weird things all the time. She can hit him hard enough to send him flying across the room, and no one will think anything other than "Wow, she's strong!"
To avoid being in Shining Armor's horseshoes. And it just plain felt weird.
Forests began life as a male, but after Blacklight... Forest stopped caring. Chemical changes, psychological ones, as well as simple philosophical pondering! And the occasional practical application.
'Sides, there are a lot of benefits to being a mare in Ponyville. Not to mention that if Forest ever needs to use the other restroom, it's but a triviality to change.
I'm willing to think that Shining is not going to be as useless as some other fanfics. Plus, I did say a prepared Shining, that means gear that quite possibly has enchantments on it - I mean, being a Captain in a fantasy setting must come with some equipment perks, no?
Naked and flatfooted, though? The only problem would be trying not to kill him.
3946292 Oh, Shining is far from useless. He's just hopelessly outclassed here. Especially if you give Forest any prep time. Unless he has armor all over his body, there's a weak point to hit. And even if there ISN'T, hit him hard enough and he will still feel it. Enchantments have their limits, usually their power-source. And Forest can use ANYTHING as a weapon. Improvised weaponry to the max.
I agree; the issue is not how much Shining is or isn't screwed - it's keeping Forest outside Celestia's hitlist, or even watchlist. Beating Shining like a rented drum even if she's supposed to be trained in combat would look awfully suspicious. There are many justifications for what she can do, but the goal is to avoid having to do them in the first place. At least in front of ponies.
I think I should say this for those wishing to know if there is going to be Blacklight action in the future (not counting disguises)... The griffins will be blaming the demons of Tartarus in the future for their 'misfortunes'.
3946453 If Forest is fighting Shining, and Shining is actually preparing for the fight, she's already on Celestia's hit-list. My point is she can pound him like a drum without showing she's anything more than a changeling.
Be careful how you release the Black-light, so it isn't cheap. For one, it is Black-light, not Red-light. Black-light kills quickly, everyone in Penn Station was dead in a couple of minutes. Its Red-light that makes the zombies. Two, it doesn't have a Greene, heading it, so any zombies that do get around are just mind-less and uncoordinated. I suppose a Runner could come around, but Greene was the mother, and was a lot better at controlling the infection than any runner was. Three, Evolved more than likely sub-consciously kill any bit of them that comes off, for since they're solid Bio-mass, every bit of them is full of the virus. "Mercer's body is a bomb, filled with this weaponized pathogen, waiting to go off."
I do have a question though. Why did he take on the form of a Changling taking on the form of a Pony, rather than just being a pony? His disguise is infinitely better than a Changling's.
Finally, I suggest you add what this is a cross over with in the Description, it isn't too evident till you read it.
Why did he take on the form of a Changling taking on the form of a Pony, rather than just being a pony? His disguise is infinitely better than a Changling's.
The way I see it, if he gets suspected, changelings can take the fall. He could run away, consume pony genes and come back as a different person
3946707 Sounds plausible, but there are better ways to handle it. Especially since being a Changeling weakened his disguise by a fair bit. His shape-shifting is next to flawless, especially if he's aware he's being observed. An changeling on the other hand has a Masque that can be stripped away.
As a dangerous, but still nowhere-near-as-resilient-as-a-Blacklight changeling. Forest's reasoning being that if Celestia caught a whiff of how dangerous (and how much of a damage sponge) she truly is, the Godzilla-threshold is going to be crossed and she's going to get a face full of SUN.
It was the particular strain (that Mercer stole and released) what killed the people at Penn; only people with 'special' DNA could survive it, like Heller (and, obviously, Mercer; his problem stemmed from getting shot before he was infected). Mercer modified another strand of the virus to create his Evolved, with the intention to infect everyone else and create a hivemind (you could interpret it as the bomb going off). Greene, according to the wiki, was infected with like... fourteen strains of both (allowing her, a much greater infected being than the others, to control infected, walkers, runners, hunters, etc... each of them being a different strain) - she was infected with Redlight at Hope, and then the virus mutated, Blacklight got unleashed, and things went downhill from there.
In the wiki, it is explained that the Infected Vision works via the hivemind, allowing you to tune into it to see infected, carriers, hostiles, and miscellaneous. I think there is more to it, obviously. I've been thinking a lot about the Viral Sonar, as well...
But no, Forest is not going to infect things. Those thoughts about unleashing the virus are referred to as 'in case of bout of insanity' for a reason.
As for the disguise... it runs deeper. The reasons, I mean. And just like Mercer and Heller's abilities are better (and upgrade-able) than some of the creatures they get it from, so is her disguise. She's posing as a changeling posing as a pony because she was outed as a changeling before she had the chance to consume pony DNA.
3947301 Anything that would reveal her as a Pony, would reveal her as a Changling. Anything short of impossible can be hand-waved (for "An Eldritch abomination technically-a-zombie with an occasional slight sadistic streak", is pretty damned unlikely, and people would accept most other explanations).
Yeah, as I said, it wasn't Black-light that kick-started the infection, it was Red-light. It wasn't till Mercer "Freed" Greene (she obviously could leave whenever) that shit got real. While Forest has a modified sample, its probable that its customized to work for each separate person, not a "One size fits all" sort of thing (makes sense logically too, medicine that effects one person one way, can effect another a completely different way).
She knows the general shape. She knows acceptable hair colors. She has the right collection of various genes to form her own disguise. The Changeling would give base body shape, the Manticore would have fur (if she needed genes for that), and she would have a fair variety of colors to pick from all the humans she consumed.
That's all assuming she even needs the genes to do it, she could have free formed it. Shape-shifting is so versatile, you can be anyone and anything.
Since Blackwatch beings inherently have hyper-dense amounts of biomass, it would take a massive amount of magic to actually affect all of the body. Shining would have been screwed 50 times over.
3947417 Depends on how the spell works. If it runs on mass, yeah. If it messes with Volume, no. Plus, its closer too 20 than 50. It took 20 consumes to go from almost dead to full at the end of P1, and Mercer probably kept most of the power to himself, so thats about where I see his Evolved.
The Author Notes in the technically-second chapter mention it as my source of inspiration, yes.
Forest thought it would be too much of a hassle to make 'Forest' vanish, specially after being told that she should take her time, gather supplies - oh, and being granted a house for services rendered to the crown. Besides, she's going to remain an empath forever, and the exposure to the Elements did do something; better stay where there are handy dandy excus- explanations readily available.
And that is precisely why confrontations are to be avoided. Kinda suspicious to see a mare shrug off a blast capable of cracking stone. Although not all spells can be tanked through sheer value of mass.
3947532 Oh, yeah, NOW she's staying. But I meant before hand, when she was first making her disguise.
And she could always play hurt. Hell, she can play dead almost perfectly. Take off her own head, no heart beat, no breathing, no movement. Dead to anyone who doesn't know better.
3946453 in your headcanon, is Forest as strong as Mercer? Or are the ones Mercer infected slighlty/a lot weaker than him? because Mercer could rip tanks apart and toss them like they were soda cans.
In headcannon, Mercer is more connected to the virus, and the strains he infected the others with, Forest included, are 'weaker' - that is, his has an advantage. Of course, he keeps tabs on everyone to prevent 'drift'. Given time, there might not be much difference between the two, strength-wise, but the point is moot since Forest is now consuming ropens and owlbears and God knows what else, provoking less 'glacial drift' and more 'leaps and bounds'.
... I really should get my hands on a DnD Monster Manual.
Right now, I'd say Forest can toss APCs if she puts her back to it - or rather, his, since he'd need hands and Forest is a man most of the human-time.
3952446 That's all? I generally place Evolved at about the level Alex was at the end of P1, meaning she can still toss APCs fairly easily, but requires both hands where as Alex flipped one lazily with one hand several stories into the air in P2.
Plus, you really need to account for more strength increase. Even if none of the individual monsters she's eating have excessive strength, she is getting A LOT of new genes, meaning plenty of evolution. After a while of sampling what is around (she can always hit the Everfree during the night, and be back before anyone wakes up. Its not like she needs sleep.), she should be on par, if not above Alex. Especially counting all the other abilities she can pick up.
Bear in mind I've never even played either game, so if what I say seems wrong, feel free to correct me.
I was discounting the magic and speaking of raw muscle, but if that seems to weak still - for a Blacklight - then I'll make sure to adjust accordingly.
Not like she will have a hard time tearing into her enemies like overripe produce, anyways. Griffins don't strike me as being tough like... I dunno, a golem or dragon.
I was also discounting magic. The way a Black-light being gets stronger is via evolution. They can get stronger by themselves, as their cells mess around with various DNA combinations, but the process can be greatly expedited by eating new things, and getting new DNA samples.
Almost nothing there will be much a problem, especially since all she needs is a drop of blood to get any perks not based on magical strength (unless the being is naturally strong magically, then she would.) The main thing a Dragon has on her is Fire-breath, but that's easily negated with a handy drop of Dragon blood, giving her enough heat resistance to bath in lava (and probably a bit more, her body improving on the natural). Golems would be a annoyance at best, blunt force is hardly the way to deal with free-form shape-shifters.
Something to consider, even outside of Armor form, Evovled are damn tough, Heller got tough enough to be bullet proof.
What is this a crossover of?
3920082 What makes you say that?
3946059 name something else blue that could do it
..Wait a second...why did he pick a female disguise...IF HE WAS MALE?!?!?! Why...why would you just do that...? I don't understand!
Forest would, definitely, even without doing anything that would blow her cover. She is a Evolved shape-shifter. Her body COULDN'T be in better condition. Then there's super-strength just speeding her up farther (Super-strength would speed you up, more power on the same amount of mass = higher speed). Super-reflexes from a combination of Super-senses (shaper-shifter perk), that Super-strength, and a brain that can handle tons of information (consumption gets a life-time of memories in moments). Plus, she has the combined fighting experience of hundreds of marines and Black-watch operatives.
Plus, she can show a fair bit of stuff without blowing her cover. People pass off weird things all the time. She can hit him hard enough to send him flying across the room, and no one will think anything other than "Wow, she's strong!"
3946058
Prototype.
3946225
To avoid being in Shining Armor's horseshoes. And it just plain felt weird.
Forests began life as a male, but after Blacklight... Forest stopped caring. Chemical changes, psychological ones, as well as simple philosophical pondering! And the occasional practical application.
'Sides, there are a lot of benefits to being a mare in Ponyville. Not to mention that if Forest ever needs to use the other restroom, it's but a triviality to change.
3946268
I'm willing to think that Shining is not going to be as useless as some other fanfics. Plus, I did say a prepared Shining, that means gear that quite possibly has enchantments on it - I mean, being a Captain in a fantasy setting must come with some equipment perks, no?
Naked and flatfooted, though? The only problem would be trying not to kill him.
3946292 Oh, Shining is far from useless. He's just hopelessly outclassed here. Especially if you give Forest any prep time. Unless he has armor all over his body, there's a weak point to hit. And even if there ISN'T, hit him hard enough and he will still feel it. Enchantments have their limits, usually their power-source. And Forest can use ANYTHING as a weapon. Improvised weaponry to the max.
3946318
I agree; the issue is not how much Shining is or isn't screwed - it's keeping Forest outside Celestia's hitlist, or even watchlist. Beating Shining like a rented drum even if she's supposed to be trained in combat would look awfully suspicious. There are many justifications for what she can do, but the goal is to avoid having to do them in the first place. At least in front of ponies.
I think I should say this for those wishing to know if there is going to be Blacklight action in the future (not counting disguises)... The griffins will be blaming the demons of Tartarus in the future for their 'misfortunes'.
3946453 If Forest is fighting Shining, and Shining is actually preparing for the fight, she's already on Celestia's hit-list. My point is she can pound him like a drum without showing she's anything more than a changeling.
Be careful how you release the Black-light, so it isn't cheap. For one, it is Black-light, not Red-light. Black-light kills quickly, everyone in Penn Station was dead in a couple of minutes. Its Red-light that makes the zombies. Two, it doesn't have a Greene, heading it, so any zombies that do get around are just mind-less and uncoordinated. I suppose a Runner could come around, but Greene was the mother, and was a lot better at controlling the infection than any runner was. Three, Evolved more than likely sub-consciously kill any bit of them that comes off, for since they're solid Bio-mass, every bit of them is full of the virus. "Mercer's body is a bomb, filled with this weaponized pathogen, waiting to go off."
I do have a question though. Why did he take on the form of a Changling taking on the form of a Pony, rather than just being a pony? His disguise is infinitely better than a Changling's.
Finally, I suggest you add what this is a cross over with in the Description, it isn't too evident till you read it.
3946510
The way I see it, if he gets suspected, changelings can take the fall.
He could run away, consume pony genes and come back as a different person
3946707 Sounds plausible, but there are better ways to handle it. Especially since being a Changeling weakened his disguise by a fair bit. His shape-shifting is next to flawless, especially if he's aware he's being observed. An changeling on the other hand has a Masque that can be stripped away.
3946510
As a dangerous, but still nowhere-near-as-resilient-as-a-Blacklight changeling. Forest's reasoning being that if Celestia caught a whiff of how dangerous (and how much of a damage sponge) she truly is, the Godzilla-threshold is going to be crossed and she's going to get a face full of SUN.
It was the particular strain (that Mercer stole and released) what killed the people at Penn; only people with 'special' DNA could survive it, like Heller (and, obviously, Mercer; his problem stemmed from getting shot before he was infected). Mercer modified another strand of the virus to create his Evolved, with the intention to infect everyone else and create a hivemind (you could interpret it as the bomb going off). Greene, according to the wiki, was infected with like... fourteen strains of both (allowing her, a much greater infected being than the others, to control infected, walkers, runners, hunters, etc... each of them being a different strain) - she was infected with Redlight at Hope, and then the virus mutated, Blacklight got unleashed, and things went downhill from there.
In the wiki, it is explained that the Infected Vision works via the hivemind, allowing you to tune into it to see infected, carriers, hostiles, and miscellaneous. I think there is more to it, obviously. I've been thinking a lot about the Viral Sonar, as well...
But no, Forest is not going to infect things. Those thoughts about unleashing the virus are referred to as 'in case of bout of insanity' for a reason.
As for the disguise... it runs deeper. The reasons, I mean. And just like Mercer and Heller's abilities are better (and upgrade-able) than some of the creatures they get it from, so is her disguise. She's posing as a changeling posing as a pony because she was outed as a changeling before she had the chance to consume pony DNA.
3947301 Anything that would reveal her as a Pony, would reveal her as a Changling. Anything short of impossible can be hand-waved (for "An Eldritch abomination technically-a-zombie with an occasional slight sadistic streak", is pretty damned unlikely, and people would accept most other explanations).
Yeah, as I said, it wasn't Black-light that kick-started the infection, it was Red-light. It wasn't till Mercer "Freed" Greene (she obviously could leave whenever) that shit got real. While Forest has a modified sample, its probable that its customized to work for each separate person, not a "One size fits all" sort of thing (makes sense logically too, medicine that effects one person one way, can effect another a completely different way).
She knows the general shape. She knows acceptable hair colors. She has the right collection of various genes to form her own disguise. The Changeling would give base body shape, the Manticore would have fur (if she needed genes for that), and she would have a fair variety of colors to pick from all the humans she consumed.
That's all assuming she even needs the genes to do it, she could have free formed it. Shape-shifting is so versatile, you can be anyone and anything.
I'ma push you a story, which your story is reminding me of.
Since Blackwatch beings inherently have hyper-dense amounts of biomass, it would take a massive amount of magic to actually affect all of the body. Shining would have been screwed 50 times over.
3947417 Depends on how the spell works. If it runs on mass, yeah. If it messes with Volume, no.
Plus, its closer too 20 than 50. It took 20 consumes to go from almost dead to full at the end of P1, and Mercer probably kept most of the power to himself, so thats about where I see his Evolved.
3947387
The Author Notes in the technically-second chapter mention it as my source of inspiration, yes.
Forest thought it would be too much of a hassle to make 'Forest' vanish, specially after being told that she should take her time, gather supplies - oh, and being granted a house for services rendered to the crown. Besides, she's going to remain an empath forever, and the exposure to the Elements did do something; better stay where there are handy dandy excus- explanations readily available.
3947417
And that is precisely why confrontations are to be avoided. Kinda suspicious to see a mare shrug off a blast capable of cracking stone. Although not all spells can be tanked through sheer value of mass.
3947532 Oh, yeah, NOW she's staying. But I meant before hand, when she was first making her disguise.
And she could always play hurt. Hell, she can play dead almost perfectly. Take off her own head, no heart beat, no breathing, no movement. Dead to anyone who doesn't know better.
3946453
in your headcanon, is Forest as strong as Mercer?
Or are the ones Mercer infected slighlty/a lot weaker than him? because Mercer could rip tanks apart and toss them like they were soda cans.
3951797
In headcannon, Mercer is more connected to the virus, and the strains he infected the others with, Forest included, are 'weaker' - that is, his has an advantage. Of course, he keeps tabs on everyone to prevent 'drift'. Given time, there might not be much difference between the two, strength-wise, but the point is moot since Forest is now consuming ropens and owlbears and God knows what else, provoking less 'glacial drift' and more 'leaps and bounds'.
... I really should get my hands on a DnD Monster Manual.
Right now, I'd say Forest can toss APCs if she puts her back to it - or rather, his, since he'd need hands and Forest is a man most of the human-time.
3952446 That's all? I generally place Evolved at about the level Alex was at the end of P1, meaning she can still toss APCs fairly easily, but requires both hands where as Alex flipped one lazily with one hand several stories into the air in P2.
Plus, you really need to account for more strength increase. Even if none of the individual monsters she's eating have excessive strength, she is getting A LOT of new genes, meaning plenty of evolution. After a while of sampling what is around (she can always hit the Everfree during the night, and be back before anyone wakes up. Its not like she needs sleep.), she should be on par, if not above Alex. Especially counting all the other abilities she can pick up.
3960332
Bear in mind I've never even played either game, so if what I say seems wrong, feel free to correct me.
I was discounting the magic and speaking of raw muscle, but if that seems to weak still - for a Blacklight - then I'll make sure to adjust accordingly.
Not like she will have a hard time tearing into her enemies like overripe produce, anyways. Griffins don't strike me as being tough like... I dunno, a golem or dragon.
3961789
Oh, I will.
I was also discounting magic. The way a Black-light being gets stronger is via evolution. They can get stronger by themselves, as their cells mess around with various DNA combinations, but the process can be greatly expedited by eating new things, and getting new DNA samples.
Almost nothing there will be much a problem, especially since all she needs is a drop of blood to get any perks not based on magical strength (unless the being is naturally strong magically, then she would.) The main thing a Dragon has on her is Fire-breath, but that's easily negated with a handy drop of Dragon blood, giving her enough heat resistance to bath in lava (and probably a bit more, her body improving on the natural). Golems would be a annoyance at best, blunt force is hardly the way to deal with free-form shape-shifters.
Something to consider, even outside of Armor form, Evovled are damn tough, Heller got tough enough to be bullet proof.
What did shining armor DO?
7291962 it says a few times you really didn't see it