Black Magic. Restricted, forbidden, and suppressed so harshly that it’s only known in fables. But sometimes it’s the only way to defend against the monsters that plague Equestria. That's our job. I just hope a Starcloak can have a normal life too
I'm so happy to see this story again. Dude the chapter was epic and action filled. Emeris creating fire swords/hooves, casting falling swords repeatedly, standing up to a giant zebra, and then creating one of the most badass spells I've seen on the site to beat up a walking mountain was awesome. Furthermore, watching him lead his team and standing up to unruly members or supernatural threats show that he's a great leader. Graves also deserves merit for being cool and confident despite all the threats and for that spell that degraded the wolves. Punic, Shadow, Qubanna, and Quiet also kicked wholesale ass when fending off the wolves. On a sidenote, I think Twilight is also developing an interest on Emeris. I hope the next chapter comes soon, as I want to see how Emeris would interact with Shining and Cadence.
It's funny, but just as you were beginning to describe the fire and ice and thunder I found myself thinking "holy shit, he's gonna use a Hellball, isn't he? That's some epic level nonsense!" And then I laughed, because that couldn't be it. But it was.
And it was awesome.
It totally made up for that part that looked like it was swiped from an FSN story. But that's probably just me *shrug*
Well, that was awesome. Not good, but awesome. Suspense, action, tactics, incredible magic, very nice all around. Definitely looking forward to more, especially since it's clear that this is not going to be solved through jousting and funnel cakes.
And, of course, there's the matter of what precisely Grave Danger was trying to do with those beams...
It is quite obvious what manga influenced you, especially the Hellball incantation... It has the same feel as when Aizen summoned the big black box of doom. Ah, well... Good chapter... Hope that Emeris isn't free of his curse just yet.
You have no idea how happy I am to see this story back in action. Though now I have to go reread the whole thing... Not that that's really such a bad thing, but free time is a precious commodity for me.
Anyway, I only spotted one real error:
the fire pouring outwards, lines of pain spreading through my.
The end of that sentence is missing.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what's in store for the group and welcome back, dood.
Only thing I disliked about this chapter is that it is almost 20k words and only covers the transit from the train to the empire, that's very little story progression for the length. The rest was good.
“Shiney!” Emeris grinned as his left eye tried to focus on Shining Armor, “Good to hear you, right, Sir Emeris reporting with the team the princesses sent. I’m turning over command of the group to you as ordered, though I’m a bit useless at the moment.” He tried to look around, but seemed to decide it wasn’t working with his unfocused eyes, “We’re going to need a debrief for everyone, we–” the dark green unicorn started to shift about, but froze, letting out a sound somewhere between a groan and a whimper, “Ah… we… we need to exchange notes.”
Sounds familiar. Now where have I heard that before?
So... uh... screams of the damned. Sounds fun. Is pulling power from Tartarus just something he picked up in his studies of dark magic, or is it a remnant of his former bond with the planet? If so, it would certainly explain his affinity for dark magic. Hope that casting's effects on him aren't too severe (apart from mauling his organs). Letting out his darker emotions can cause problems, especially if he just connected himself to Pony Hell in the process.
That he's accepting and acknowledging his guilt, anger, feelings of helplessness, and similar unpleasant aspects of himself reminds me a great deal of the Magia Erebea from Negima. Where did he learn to draw on the power of the dead, though? I don't remember you mentioning that he knew necromancy or thanaturgy or anything like that.
So Qubanna's a short-sighted fight-lover whose sense of honor is fine with leaving civilians behind for the mission, but doesn't want to run from a hopeless fight. And is suspicious of Emeris's loyalties and doubts his abilities as a leader. I don't see how this could go badly at all.
I wonder how much Emeris has managed to win the new ponies over. He's proven himself to be innovative, loyal, resourceful, to have good team management skills, to be a magical goddamn juggernaut, and to be willing to sacrifice of himself for other ponies (the conductors in this case--either stupid or noble, depending of the POV). Using both Virtue and Vice magic has got to be weird, though. The soldiers that met up with them... I got the sense that they weren't immediately impressed, but hopefully he made up for that (before he pulled out a piece of hell and hit Evil Regice with it).
Twilight Sparkle, like the sparkling of the stars… heh… yeah, I could work with that. The twinkle in her eye when she teased me, that smile on her face when she geeked out about something.
Shipshipshipshipshipshipship Still, this is interesting. Emeris seems to be falling for Twilight, who has something for Punic (who's user). But Applejack has worries about her role in the relationship and just had her competency questioned in favor of Dash, who is being flirted with by Quiet (who seems to admire Emeris). Well damn.
(well, that's more of a beam, but you get the idea. Hellball: Inflicts 20d6 fire, cold, electric, sonic, negative energy, radiant, force, psychic, unholy, untyped, and ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐ damage.
I liked the entire thing. It went from slow and steady where we are clear on what is going on, to a complete clusterfuck of thing happening at the same time, then slow again, then some manga level of ridiculousness and a cliffhanger to top it of.
6070611 Just... a little smaller scale... y'know... just a little... The creature is huge, yeah, but that's... a bit overkill. Also, beyond basically... anything in this interpretation of Equestria. Even Celestia wouldn't be able to create a blast like that.
6070764 Glad it was awesome! I was worried it'd be super cheesy! And what part of the chapter was badly FSN inspired? Because his "Swords Like Stars" attack is inspired by exactly what you're thinking of (both In-Character and Out-of-Character).
6070895 Jousting shall definitely be involved! Funnel cakes? ... maybe. And Grave Danger was just doing as Emeris asked, sealing him onto Punic's back. Now, why he had to do several is something else.
6070909 Actually, no! The Hellball is the name of a spell in Epic D&D that I appropriated, the incantation I made up myself. The "Swords Like Stars" spells were inspired by Fate Stay Night's Shirou and Archer
6071152 I wasn't super impressed by that part either, but I couldn't go any faster without leaving out bits of info we need as well as character development or just straight rushing the chapter. We'll go a bit faster in the next chapter though
Sounds familiar. Now where have I heard that before?
I... actually don't know...? Did I copy something unintentionally?
So... uh... screams of the damned. Sounds fun. Is pulling power from Tartarus just something he picked up in his studies of dark magic, or is it a remnant of his former bond with the planet? If so, it would certainly explain his affinity for dark magic. Hope that casting's effects on him aren't too severe (apart from mauling his organs). Letting out his darker emotions can cause problems, especially if he just connected himself to Pony Hell in the process.
There's a reason these magics are forbidden.
That he's accepting and acknowledging his guilt, anger, feelings of helplessness, and similar unpleasant aspects of himself reminds me a great deal of the Magia Erebea from Negima.
That about sums up what Vice Magic is, though the personal enhancement part of Magia Erebea is a rare and dangerous application of Vice Magic.
Where did he learn to draw on the power of the dead, though? I don't remember you mentioning that he knew necromancy or thanaturgy or anything like that.
He studied all the ways that one could enhance and empower themselves. Even if it was just briefly. Also, reasons.
So Qubanna's a short-sighted fight-lover whose sense of honor is fine with leaving civilians behind for the mission, but doesn't want to run from a hopeless fight. And is suspicious of Emeris's loyalties and doubts his abilities as a leader. I don't see how this could go badly at all.
Nahhh, no way at all it could ever go wrong
I wonder how much Emeris has managed to win the new ponies over. He's proven himself to be innovative, loyal, resourceful, to have good team management skills, to be a magical goddamn juggernaut, and to be willing to sacrifice of himself for other ponies (the conductors in this case--either stupid or noble, depending of the POV). Using both Virtue and Vice magic has got to be weird, though.
The fact that he can use both is super weird to those who know how they work, at least to the extent that he can. It's not impossible, just very unusual for someone to have the strength of the emotions to make feasible for both kinds of emotion magic.
The soldiers that met up with them... I got the sense that they weren't immediately impressed, but hopefully he made up for that (before he pulled out a piece of hell and hit Evil Regice with it).
He was decently impressive... until he blew up a small mountain.
Shipshipshipshipshipshipship Still, this is interesting. Emeris seems to be falling for Twilight, who has something for Punic (who's user). But Applejack has worries about her role in the relationship and just had her competency questioned in favor of Dash, who is being flirted with by Quiet (who seems to admire Emeris). Well damn.
WE NEED A FLOWCHART UP IN THIS HIZOUSE.
(well, that's more of a beam, but you get the idea.
.. yeah, that about sums it up, just with more green and screams and lasting boom.
I... actually don't know...? Did I copy something unintentionally?
I was just referring to how he sounded like he's channeling the Twilight in him. Actually calling him Shiny out loud, and his last sentence was extremely Twilight-y (yeah, he has more than his own share of nerdiness, but since familial affection seems to be the piece of emotional baggage left in his head I may have interpreted it as a more personal thing, rather than just... well, sharing notes).
Incidentally, which is more uncomfortable and awkward? Picking up somepony's romantic/sexual affections, or copying someone's familial affections (when the family doesn't know you at all)?
The fact that he can use both is super weird to those who know how they work, at least to the extent that he can. It's not impossible, just very unusual for someone to have the strength of the emotions to make feasible for both kinds of emotion magic.
I'd like to say that using Virtue magic would counteract some of the stigma of using Vice, but considering Emeris's luck they'll probably think he's bipolar or something.
He was decently impressive... until he blew up a small mountain.
What circle would his hellfire/hellice/lightninglife/thunderdeath/dreamnightmare/selfloathing spell qualify as?
Well, that was rather breath taking. Quite a bit of action packed in a single chapter, even if this one was a long one. Things, of course, couldn't go smoothly. Grave continues to be an efficient jackass while Qubanna shows an impressive lack of foresight. Now was not the time to go bloodknight. The fact that he decides to listen 'for now' really makes me wonder.
...And then there's that love affair that might starts around Quiet Mirror... that one amuses me.
6072690 I think I like Grave Danger more than I like Emeris as a character actually
6072736 Oh! That's the part you were focusing on. Then the answer is yes. Probably the latter! But that depends on how they feel about you and how society would view your relationship with the people you suddenly like. So in this case, Emeris get's the far more awkward side of things.
Depends on the person. He's either impossibly focused or worryingly unstable.
Hellball: ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐th Circle FuckAllTheThings Spell (Actually about an upper Eighth or low Ninth Circle Evocation spell. Cast by someone who actually knows what they're doing it's a solid Ninth Circle spell. Spells of that scale are the things that the Princesses and beings in their "tier" use when they have a moment to cast, though most things that can cast at that level of battle magic can do so without nearly killing themselves.)
6072778 That... is actually a very good way to put it... huh... I mean, the Spirit-bomb can only be used by those with a pure heart and draws on the life energy of living creatures, the Hellball draws from dreams/nightmares, the power of the dead and the realm of the dead, and the burning of life and can only be properly used by those drawing on Vice magic to avoid turning themselves into shredded hamburger by casting the spell. A large part of the vice magic was about reinforcing his body and focusing the spell rather than actually empowering it.
6072850 All the things are going to go to pot, obviously.
Although, when you really look at it's construction and execution and requirements and such, huh. It might actually be closer to Dragon Slave, and a part of me feels that this similarity may have even been intention.
Oh! I remembered the thing that always bothered me about this story while I was going back through it: Whatever happened to his infatuation with Twilight? He spent the whole beginning of the story head over hooves for her, and then somewhere along the line he just sort of stopped and was with AJ and Dash instead, and I apparently completely missed the part where Twilight turned him down.
6075194 Ok, good. I was just making sure, lol. For the first part it seemed like he mentioned how attractive he was at least once a chapter, and then after he finally got away from Gary it just sort of...stopped. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something in there somewhere. I tend to read while massively sleep deprived, so that's always a possibility with me, lol.
But if all of that's still floating around unresolved, there might be complications in the future, depending on how Aj and Dash feel about all that. Dash might be k with it considering how she reacted to Twilight's last attempt to flirt with her, so who knows...
With a raised hoof, I cut him off. My knowledge of cliches was the only thing that kept me from just brushing it off
But now I wonder what Strider wanted to say. There's plenty of important things that aren't immediately important he might bring up. Hopefully it was minor.
... you know, when/if Shining Armor finds out who Emeris was, it might be... unpleasant. I'm not talking about guilt/anger/hate/shame/distrust over all that Gary crap, but about what Emeris's life looks like now. Despite being widely hated, he is somehow in a herd after such a short time after transforming, a herd that's already pulled in a second mare. He's in a herd with two of the most important ponies in Equestria, and is close friends with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight--center member of the Elements of Harmony, student of a Princess and step-sibling to another, and the greatest Equestrian hero of the modern age--looks to be his best friend (and he might be attracted to her).
He just happens to be an extremely powerful dark mage, who just happens to know magic Twilight doesn't, who just happens to be a master of a rare type of magic (in the form of runes) that he uses in ways astonishing to ponies who hear about it, and who just happens to use Virtue AND Vice magic. He's got the powers of two races of pony. He has the trust of two princesses. He's been knighted, and was put in charge of some pretty important ponies for an extremely important mission, despite having no proper military experience or training.
Without the knowledge of what brought him to this point and us having seen all the steps it took to get here, that could look awfully suspicious. Hopefully destroying his inner organs to protect everyone from Hell Mountain: Iced-Over Edition(tm) will earn him some brownie points. Unless it makes large number of ponies there grateful for saving them from the mountain, in which case that might backfire.
6073659 ? He isn't outright praising her all the time, but if you look at how they interact and how he thinks about her, there's (almost) definitely some sort of undercurrent going on there. Subtext, rather than overt attraction (which, considering he's had a bit of difficulty accepting herds in the first place, he wouldn't necessarily act on or try to keep alive). Also, remember that with the Virtue magic, he just focused on his friends and friendship--the only time he specifically focused on his feelings for one pony was Twilight (and this was bolstering a 6th circle spell, mind you). EDIT: since corrected, with thanks to Aziraphael. My mistake.
6077103 There's definitely some subtle attraction there still, but originally it was blatant. He used to frequently comment (at least internally) on how attractive she was to him for one reason or another. I mean, hell, part of the reason she got so close to sexing him while he was Gary is because she was the one pony he didn't want to stop. But then, right around the time he was cured of the whole Gary curse, it just sort of...stopped.
Like you pointed out, the subtext is still there, but I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed some sort of resolution to that whole situation where they had decided to just be friends or whatever. The sudden switch from her to Dash and AJ threw me off.
And actually, the first two ponies he thought of while using virtue magic were AJ and Dash, in that order.
I thought of Applejack, of the pleasant spike of warmth and affection I always felt when I looked at her, I held onto that feeling and poured it into the blade that I fired into one of the shadow wolves
I focused on the sweeping feelings of giddy happiness Dash could bring to me and cleaved one of the wolves in two with the blade
6077155 Hm. I went through reread the chapter looking for that, too... I thought I was better at skimming than that. I was wrong--but, it still sort-of counts in a "let's try to salvage something by coming up with a retroactive reason that sort-of works" way; she's the only other one he thought of alongside his two active love interests. ... And, to counterpoint that, she's also his best friend, in a show about friendship, which would qualify her for that all on it's own. I, uh, need to stop pointing out the flaws in my own arguments.
6076050 6077907 It's not like his first interaction with Twilight Sparkle after a major life shift was dangerous and traumatizing at all. And I mean, something like that would never have any sort of lasting effect on one's thinking, let alone with someone damaged like Emeris.
6077907 Here, I'll help you stop counteracting yourself by joining your side. I want him to get with Twilight. I'll admit to being more than a little disappointed that he got with Aj and Dash instead.
That said, as 6077931 mentioned, Twilight fusing her mind to his probably didn't help things.
But hey, RD has a new admirer to force some of these relationship issues to be dealt with, and she wasn't opposed to Twilight getting more than a little friendly with her, ifyouknowwhatimean. So there's hope, right? ...Right?
6078045 ....Now you're going to make me go back and look this up, aren't you? I remember the general hatred, her being convinced that he raped all her friends, the repeated and more than a little obsessive attempts to break into his house...
Now I gotta go look for whatever it is that messed him up even more than he already was...
EDIT: After looking, the first thing she did to him was try to set him on fire. But since his first thought afterwards was about how that (somehow) made her incredibly attractive, I'm betting that that wasn't it...
It's not like his first interaction with Twilight Sparkle after a major life shift was dangerous and traumatizing at all. And I mean, something like that would never have any sort of lasting effect on one's thinking, let alone with someone damaged like Emeris.
I... I honestly can't tell if this is a positive or negative thing regarding the possibility of future romance. It would explain the suppression of active interest, but they've also become extremely close (about as close as two ponies can be without currently being in the same body, to be precise) and Emeris's hang-ups--and the process of healing from them--could have some interesting effects as they continue to interact in non-blasting-him-out-of-the-blue-oh-god-she's-trying-to-kill-me ways.
That is the most terrifying use of emoticons that I have ever seen.
I was planning on doing one of my big long posts about well, I actually don't have that much this time.
No real surprise in Emeris command abilities. He spent two years doing that after all.
If it had been me, that whirl around at the station probably would have included a strike followed by a very clear lecture on who was in charge.
So we are abanonding pretense and just flat out stating that Qubanna is a villian? That's cool I guess. I was hoping there would more depth there but you can't have everything in life. Maybe he'll still do something dumb like complain to Shining Armor about how Emeris choose to save the conductors and get to the city instead of killing "all" the wolves.
------------------------------- On the Twilight joining the herd, I've been in that mindset for a while. There are various reason, but I big one I haven't seen anyone bring up is the lack of a mental companion for Emeris in his herd currently. Neither AJ or Dash are really that intellectual and neither does magic. This leaves a void as magic and mental stimuli are important to Emeris. (that and no OC's that would fit the role have been introduced.)
’What are the currently accepted laws of magical ethics?’
’The First: Do not end the life of another with magic
’The Second: Do not alter the mind of another
’The Third: Do not permanently alter the form of another
’The Fourth: Do not summon from beyond the veil
’The Fifth: Do not use outside energy to power your spells
’The Sixth: Do not give energy to another’
The Fifth: Do not use outside energy to power your spells
Can he get... I don't know, court-marshaled for this if Shining Armor gets suspicious of him (and acts on it in a relatively not-drastic way)? Or is this just a "please don't do this" sort of thing?
I think it was rather heavily implied that Celestia knows exactly what Emeris is. And since he can't use magic without drawing on his own energy, my guess that's something of a ethics loophole
Of course, quite the difference between a normal TK construct and, say, tentacles of pure Nothing dragging things to their eldritch doom. If Emeris ever goes off the deep end, I'd bet the smack-down would be brutal if mercifully swift.
6078065 (More seriously, look at the freaking list of things you could give for just Twilight. Even with his relatively minimal interaction with her, every time was aggressively bad or in bad circumstances. Classical conditioning is a thing~ Also gotta remember that most people aren't narcissistic enough to be sexually attracted to themselves are they?)
I was planning on doing one of my big long posts about well, I actually don't have that much this time.
Aw! I always like those
No real surprise in Emeris command abilities. He spent two years doing that after all.
Kinda sorta~
If it had been me, that whirl around at the station probably would have included a strike followed by a very clear lecture on who was in charge.
See above~
So we are abanonding pretense and just flat out stating that Qubanna is a villian? That's cool I guess. I was hoping there would more depth there but you can't have everything in life. Maybe he'll still do something dumb like complain to Shining Armor about how Emeris choose to save the conductors and get to the city instead of killing "all" the wolves.
No, he's a darker shade of gray than most characters are in Equestria that's for sure, but he's not exactly a villain. Doesn't mean he won't be a problem, but I wouldn't call him a villain.
On the Twilight joining the herd, I've been in that mindset for a while. There are various reason, but I big one I haven't seen anyone bring up is the lack of a mental companion for Emeris in his herd currently. Neither AJ or Dash are really that intellectual and neither does magic. This leaves a void as magic and mental stimuli are important to Emeris. (that and no OC's that would fit the role have been introduced.)
I'm never big on that sort of reasoning for characters getting into relationships. It is a legit statement though, Emeris is a smart cookie on top of being a weird one, and neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash have his passion for understanding.
6101761 Legally? He could be put on trail for using dangerous magics, a generalized law for edge cases like this. I don't think he can technically be court-martialed since he's a Knight and not within the military chain of command.
Realistically? No, while there isn't a clear legal system for it, the Princess gave him explicit instructions to cut loose. And Starcloaks are already allowed to use Black Magic they are either certified for, even ones "in training".
6104046 The "outside" in the ethical law isn't capitalized for a reason, though there should probably be a sub-rule of "Don't mess with the Outside EVER FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER", so Emeris sorta breaks that by existing. The rule instead refers to... well... what Emeris just did. Tapping into external power to fuel one's spell(s).
And if Emeris went off the deep end in that sense... that'd... that'd be bad Emeris isn't one to seek power. But if he did... well, he could, with some time, experimentation and effort, become the Alicorn of the Terra again. He wouldn't have his Gary-Stu invincibility-clause, but... well... let's just say it's a good thing that he has issues with being an Alicorn. If he started to go psycho-bonkers and Celestia or Luna didn't catch him in time, they'd have a serious problem on their hooves, even a minor power-up in Emeris' hooves would be terrifying. Hell, the only reason he's not terrifying right now because he's a big, snarky teddy-bear with relationship issues.
6105025 Hey, I'm just blaming it on the mind-meld thing because up until then he still kept thinking she was super hot. Even after she tried to literally set him on fire he still thought that was pretty sexy and that he liked her enough to take the fall for her. And after that, they really didn't directly interact at all (besides the test) up until the melding thing.
And I wonder how things are going to go for Emeris now that he's in the Crystal Empire. He doesn't deal well with crowds of adoring fans, and he just blew up the mountain that was attacking the city. They're going to adore him whether he wants them to or not... And he just kind of sort of gave away that he's much better with dark magic than he probably should be. So that'll be fun.
happy to see you back to this story
Ey killem~
Sorry I couldn't edit this chapter that much, finals and all that are happening and it's been pretty cray.
This is how imagine what Emeris' attack looked like
I'm so happy to see this story again. Dude the chapter was epic and action filled. Emeris creating fire swords/hooves, casting falling swords repeatedly, standing up to a giant zebra, and then creating one of the most badass spells I've seen on the site to beat up a walking mountain was awesome. Furthermore, watching him lead his team and standing up to unruly members or supernatural threats show that he's a great leader. Graves also deserves merit for being cool and confident despite all the threats and for that spell that degraded the wolves. Punic, Shadow, Qubanna, and Quiet also kicked wholesale ass when fending off the wolves. On a sidenote, I think Twilight is also developing an interest on Emeris. I hope the next chapter comes soon, as I want to see how Emeris would interact with Shining and Cadence.
It's funny, but just as you were beginning to describe the fire and ice and thunder I found myself thinking "holy shit, he's gonna use a Hellball, isn't he? That's some epic level nonsense!" And then I laughed, because that couldn't be it. But it was.
And it was awesome.
It totally made up for that part that looked like it was swiped from an FSN story. But that's probably just me *shrug*
As always, can't wait to read more!
Well, that was awesome. Not good, but awesome. Suspense, action, tactics, incredible magic, very nice all around. Definitely looking forward to more, especially since it's clear that this is not going to be solved through jousting and funnel cakes.
And, of course, there's the matter of what precisely Grave Danger was trying to do with those beams...
It is quite obvious what manga influenced you, especially the Hellball incantation... It has the same feel as when Aizen summoned the big black box of doom. Ah, well... Good chapter... Hope that Emeris isn't free of his curse just yet.
This update is the best thing to happen to me today.
You have no idea how happy I am to see this story back in action. Though now I have to go reread the whole thing... Not that that's really such a bad thing, but free time is a precious commodity for me.
Anyway, I only spotted one real error:
The end of that sentence is missing.
Anyway, I look forward to seeing what's in store for the group and welcome back, dood.
Only thing I disliked about this chapter is that it is almost 20k words and only covers the transit from the train to the empire, that's very little story progression for the length. The rest was good.
Sounds familiar. Now where have I heard that before?
So... uh... screams of the damned. Sounds fun. Is pulling power from Tartarus just something he picked up in his studies of dark magic, or is it a remnant of his former bond with the planet? If so, it would certainly explain his affinity for dark magic. Hope that casting's effects on him aren't too severe (apart from mauling his organs). Letting out his darker emotions can cause problems, especially if he just connected himself to Pony Hell in the process.
That he's accepting and acknowledging his guilt, anger, feelings of helplessness, and similar unpleasant aspects of himself reminds me a great deal of the Magia Erebea from Negima.
Where did he learn to draw on the power of the dead, though? I don't remember you mentioning that he knew necromancy or thanaturgy or anything like that.
So Qubanna's a short-sighted fight-lover whose sense of honor is fine with leaving civilians behind for the mission, but doesn't want to run from a hopeless fight. And is suspicious of Emeris's loyalties and doubts his abilities as a leader. I don't see how this could go badly at all.
I wonder how much Emeris has managed to win the new ponies over. He's proven himself to be innovative, loyal, resourceful, to have good team management skills, to be a magical goddamn juggernaut, and to be willing to sacrifice of himself for other ponies (the conductors in this case--either stupid or noble, depending of the POV). Using both Virtue and Vice magic has got to be weird, though.
The soldiers that met up with them... I got the sense that they weren't immediately impressed, but hopefully he made up for that (before he pulled out a piece of hell and hit Evil Regice with it).
Shipshipshipshipshipshipship
Still, this is interesting. Emeris seems to be falling for Twilight, who has something for Punic (who's user). But Applejack has worries about her role in the relationship and just had her competency questioned in favor of Dash, who is being flirted with by Quiet (who seems to admire Emeris). Well damn.
(well, that's more of a beam, but you get the idea.
Hellball: Inflicts 20d6 fire, cold, electric, sonic, negative energy, radiant, force, psychic, unholy, untyped, and ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐ damage.
5518850
And you delivered. My god, did you deliver.
Logged in today expecting the lack of updates I've had lately to persist, then I saw this. You good sir, yes. Best day of womb-expulsion byfar.
New chapter? Time for a happy dance.
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/23/2b/f1/232bf16ec90f51074bfdba0f09c35869.jpg
This was a rollercoaster of excitement.
I liked the entire thing. It went from slow and steady where we are clear on what is going on, to a complete clusterfuck of thing happening at the same time, then slow again, then some manga level of ridiculousness and a cliffhanger to top it of.
Good damn, your a good author
That was some top tier reading right there
6070366
S'alright, I understand
6070611
Just... a little smaller scale... y'know... just a little... The creature is huge, yeah, but that's... a bit overkill. Also, beyond basically... anything in this interpretation of Equestria. Even Celestia wouldn't be able to create a blast like that.
6070637
6070764
Glad it was awesome! I was worried it'd be super cheesy! And what part of the chapter was badly FSN inspired? Because his "Swords Like Stars" attack is inspired by exactly what you're thinking of (both In-Character and Out-of-Character).
6070895
Jousting shall definitely be involved! Funnel cakes? ... maybe. And Grave Danger was just doing as Emeris asked, sealing him onto Punic's back. Now, why he had to do several is something else.
6070909
Actually, no! The Hellball is the name of a spell in Epic D&D that I appropriated, the incantation I made up myself. The "Swords Like Stars" spells were inspired by Fate Stay Night's Shirou and Archer
6071152
I wasn't super impressed by that part either, but I couldn't go any faster without leaving out bits of info we need as well as character development or just straight rushing the chapter. We'll go a bit faster in the next chapter though
6071154
I... actually don't know...? Did I copy something unintentionally?
There's a reason these magics are forbidden.
That about sums up what Vice Magic is, though the personal enhancement part of Magia Erebea is a rare and dangerous application of Vice Magic.
He studied all the ways that one could enhance and empower themselves. Even if it was just briefly. Also, reasons.
Nahhh, no way at all it could ever go wrong
The fact that he can use both is super weird to those who know how they work, at least to the extent that he can. It's not impossible, just very unusual for someone to have the strength of the emotions to make feasible for both kinds of emotion magic.
He was decently impressive... until he blew up a small mountain.
WE NEED A FLOWCHART UP IN THIS HIZOUSE.
.. yeah, that about sums it up, just with more green and screams and lasting boom.
... I'm going to use that. So going to use that. Also, can't forget the backlash damage. That part sucks.
6071169
... womb-expulsion...? Do I want to know...?
Wow. Just. Wow.......
[I agree Remmy that was intense]
6071997 Fancy way of saying birthday lol. You made my day. :3
Glad to see you still writing. Took me a bit to remember what was going on, but once I did, I was all for it.
Really looking forward to what comes next.
I'm liking Grave Danger more and more now XD Looking forward to the next one! :D
6071997
I was just referring to how he sounded like he's channeling the Twilight in him. Actually calling him Shiny out loud, and his last sentence was extremely Twilight-y (yeah, he has more than his own share of nerdiness, but since familial affection seems to be the piece of emotional baggage left in his head I may have interpreted it as a more personal thing, rather than just... well, sharing notes).
Incidentally, which is more uncomfortable and awkward? Picking up somepony's romantic/sexual affections, or copying someone's familial affections (when the family doesn't know you at all)?
I'd like to say that using Virtue magic would counteract some of the stigma of using Vice, but considering Emeris's luck they'll probably think he's bipolar or something.
What circle would his hellfire/hellice/lightninglife/thunderdeath/dreamnightmare/selfloathing spell qualify as?
Jesus Christ, did he just throw some kind of Anti-Spirit Bomb?
Well, that was rather breath taking. Quite a bit of action packed in a single chapter, even if this one was a long one. Things, of course, couldn't go smoothly. Grave continues to be an efficient jackass while Qubanna shows an impressive lack of foresight. Now was not the time to go bloodknight. The fact that he decides to listen 'for now' really makes me wonder.
...And then there's that love affair that might starts around Quiet Mirror... that one amuses me.
6072024
That was the plan~
6072041
Ah... Happy birthday then!
6072690
I think I like Grave Danger more than I like Emeris as a character actually
6072736
Oh! That's the part you were focusing on. Then the answer is yes. Probably the latter! But that depends on how they feel about you and how society would view your relationship with the people you suddenly like. So in this case, Emeris get's the far more awkward side of things.
Depends on the person. He's either impossibly focused or worryingly unstable.
Hellball: ┌∩┐(◣_◢)┌∩┐th Circle FuckAllTheThings Spell (Actually about an upper Eighth or low Ninth Circle Evocation spell. Cast by someone who actually knows what they're doing it's a solid Ninth Circle spell. Spells of that scale are the things that the Princesses and beings in their "tier" use when they have a moment to cast, though most things that can cast at that level of battle magic can do so without nearly killing themselves.)
6072778
That... is actually a very good way to put it... huh... I mean, the Spirit-bomb can only be used by those with a pure heart and draws on the life energy of living creatures, the Hellball draws from dreams/nightmares, the power of the dead and the realm of the dead, and the burning of life and can only be properly used by those drawing on Vice magic to avoid turning themselves into shredded hamburger by casting the spell. A large part of the vice magic was about reinforcing his body and focusing the spell rather than actually empowering it.
6072850
All the things are going to go to pot, obviously.
6072955
So, he threw an Anti-Spirit Bomb.
Nope, you can't take it back! It's canon now!
Although, when you really look at it's construction and execution and requirements and such, huh. It might actually be closer to Dragon Slave, and a part of me feels that this similarity may have even been intention.
I'd tip my hat to you, but I haven't got a hat (bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bum).
Like the whole thing right? Cause I liked the whole thing.
Oh! I remembered the thing that always bothered me about this story while I was going back through it: Whatever happened to his infatuation with Twilight? He spent the whole beginning of the story head over hooves for her, and then somewhere along the line he just sort of stopped and was with AJ and Dash instead, and I apparently completely missed the part where Twilight turned him down.
OH SHIET! It's back again!
Good to see you working on this story again mate, It's a great one. Looking forward to the next chapter!
~Valvatorez
I don't care if it's an Epic spell, the name is still lame and you should feel ashamed of yourself for not coming up with anything better.
6073013
You say that like I don't want to be canon! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Anti-Spirit-Bomb! SUCK IT GOKU!
And good catch! The incantation was inspired by Dragon Slave!
6073659
Who said that Emeris stopped liking her...? And who said he ever asked her anything?
The fact that you've seen so little of it is because we're in Emeris' head and Emeris is not right in the head.
6074304
Emeris named the spell. Emeris is bad at naming things.
SPECIAL MOVE: LIKE FALLING STARS!
tse4.mm.bing.net/th?id=JN.dRwZVwP1F8qMHPy9d1x0zw&w=293&h=162&c=7&rs=1&qlt=90&o=4&cb=11&pid=1.1
6075194
Ok, good. I was just making sure, lol. For the first part it seemed like he mentioned how attractive he was at least once a chapter, and then after he finally got away from Gary it just sort of...stopped. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something in there somewhere. I tend to read while massively sleep deprived, so that's always a possibility with me, lol.
But if all of that's still floating around unresolved, there might be complications in the future, depending on how Aj and Dash feel about all that. Dash might be k with it considering how she reacted to Twilight's last attempt to flirt with her, so who knows...
6075194
bit.ly/1dvlcbW
I'd certainly call it quite the thrill ride. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I see what you did there.
But now I wonder what Strider wanted to say. There's plenty of important things that aren't immediately important he might bring up. Hopefully it was minor.
... you know, when/if Shining Armor finds out who Emeris was, it might be... unpleasant. I'm not talking about guilt/anger/hate/shame/distrust over all that Gary crap, but about what Emeris's life looks like now. Despite being widely hated, he is somehow in a herd after such a short time after transforming, a herd that's already pulled in a second mare. He's in a herd with two of the most important ponies in Equestria, and is close friends with the rest of the Elements of Harmony. Twilight--center member of the Elements of Harmony, student of a Princess and step-sibling to another, and the greatest Equestrian hero of the modern age--looks to be his best friend (and he might be attracted to her).
He just happens to be an extremely powerful dark mage, who just happens to know magic Twilight doesn't, who just happens to be a master of a rare type of magic (in the form of runes) that he uses in ways astonishing to ponies who hear about it, and who just happens to use Virtue AND Vice magic. He's got the powers of two races of pony. He has the trust of two princesses. He's been knighted, and was put in charge of some pretty important ponies for an extremely important mission, despite having no proper military experience or training.
Without the knowledge of what brought him to this point and us having seen all the steps it took to get here, that could look awfully suspicious. Hopefully destroying his inner organs to protect everyone from Hell Mountain: Iced-Over Edition(tm) will earn him some brownie points. Unless it makes large number of ponies there grateful for saving them from the mountain, in which case that might backfire.
6073013
Complete with exploding mountain.
6073659
?
He isn't outright praising her all the time, but if you look at how they interact and how he thinks about her, there's (almost) definitely some sort of undercurrent going on there. Subtext, rather than overt attraction (which, considering he's had a bit of difficulty accepting herds in the first place, he wouldn't necessarily act on or try to keep alive).
Also, remember that with the Virtue magic, he just focused on his friends and friendship--the only time he specifically focused on his feelings foronepony wasTwilight (and this was bolstering a 6th circle spell, mind you).EDIT: since corrected, with thanks to Aziraphael. My mistake.
6077103
There's definitely some subtle attraction there still, but originally it was blatant. He used to frequently comment (at least internally) on how attractive she was to him for one reason or another. I mean, hell, part of the reason she got so close to sexing him while he was Gary is because she was the one pony he didn't want to stop. But then, right around the time he was cured of the whole Gary curse, it just sort of...stopped.
Like you pointed out, the subtext is still there, but I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed some sort of resolution to that whole situation where they had decided to just be friends or whatever. The sudden switch from her to Dash and AJ threw me off.
And actually, the first two ponies he thought of while using virtue magic were AJ and Dash, in that order.
Hump that frequence.
Have coitus with that wave length.
Reproduce with that reverbera- Okay, I'm done.
6077155 Hm. I went through reread the chapter looking for that, too... I thought I was better at skimming than that. I was wrong--but, it still sort-of counts in a "let's try to salvage something by coming up with a retroactive reason that sort-of works" way; she's the only other one he thought of alongside his two active love interests.
...
And, to counterpoint that, she's also his best friend, in a show about friendship, which would qualify her for that all on it's own.
I, uh, need to stop pointing out the flaws in my own arguments.
6077525
Screw that sound?
6076050
6077907
It's not like his first interaction with Twilight Sparkle after a major life shift was dangerous and traumatizing at all. And I mean, something like that would never have any sort of lasting effect on one's thinking, let alone with someone damaged like Emeris.
6077525
Fornicate with that frequency?
6077103
6077907
Here, I'll help you stop counteracting yourself by joining your side. I want him to get with Twilight. I'll admit to being more than a little disappointed that he got with Aj and Dash instead.
That said, as 6077931 mentioned, Twilight fusing her mind to his probably didn't help things.
But hey, RD has a new admirer to force some of these relationship issues to be dealt with, and she wasn't opposed to Twilight getting more than a little friendly with her, ifyouknowwhatimean. So there's hope, right? ...Right?
6078033
Who's referring to that? What was the first thing Twilight did to him when they interacted after his curse was broken?
6078045
....Now you're going to make me go back and look this up, aren't you? I remember the general hatred, her being convinced that he raped all her friends, the repeated and more than a little obsessive attempts to break into his house...
Now I gotta go look for whatever it is that messed him up even more than he already was...
EDIT: After looking, the first thing she did to him was try to set him on fire. But since his first thought afterwards was about how that (somehow) made her incredibly attractive, I'm betting that that wasn't it...
6077931
I... I honestly can't tell if this is a positive or negative thing regarding the possibility of future romance. It would explain the suppression of active interest, but they've also become extremely close (about as close as two ponies can be without currently being in the same body, to be precise) and Emeris's hang-ups--and the process of healing from them--could have some interesting effects as they continue to interact in non-blasting-him-out-of-the-blue-oh-god-she's-trying-to-kill-me ways.
That is the most terrifying use of emoticons that I have ever seen.
I was planning on doing one of my big long posts about well, I actually don't have that much this time.
No real surprise in Emeris command abilities. He spent two years doing that after all.
If it had been me, that whirl around at the station probably would have included a strike followed by a very clear lecture on who was in charge.
So we are abanonding pretense and just flat out stating that Qubanna is a villian? That's cool I guess. I was hoping there would more depth there but you can't have everything in life. Maybe he'll still do something dumb like complain to Shining Armor about how Emeris choose to save the conductors and get to the city instead of killing "all" the wolves.
-------------------------------
On the Twilight joining the herd, I've been in that mindset for a while. There are various reason, but I big one I haven't seen anyone bring up is the lack of a mental companion for Emeris in his herd currently. Neither AJ or Dash are really that intellectual and neither does magic. This leaves a void as magic and mental stimuli are important to Emeris. (that and no OC's that would fit the role have been introduced.)
Can he get... I don't know, court-marshaled for this if Shining Armor gets suspicious of him (and acts on it in a relatively not-drastic way)? Or is this just a "please don't do this" sort of thing?
6101761
I think it was rather heavily implied that Celestia knows exactly what Emeris is. And since he can't use magic without drawing on his own energy, my guess that's something of a ethics loophole
Of course, quite the difference between a normal TK construct and, say, tentacles of pure Nothing dragging things to their eldritch doom. If Emeris ever goes off the deep end, I'd bet the smack-down would be brutal if mercifully swift.
6078065
(More seriously, look at the freaking list of things you could give for just Twilight. Even with his relatively minimal interaction with her, every time was aggressively bad or in bad circumstances. Classical conditioning is a thing~ Also gotta remember that most people aren't narcissistic enough to be sexually attracted to themselves are they?)
6083308
Aw! I always like those
Kinda sorta~
See above~
No, he's a darker shade of gray than most characters are in Equestria that's for sure, but he's not exactly a villain. Doesn't mean he won't be a problem, but I wouldn't call him a villain.
I'm never big on that sort of reasoning for characters getting into relationships. It is a legit statement though, Emeris is a smart cookie on top of being a weird one, and neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash have his passion for understanding.
6101761
Legally? He could be put on trail for using dangerous magics, a generalized law for edge cases like this. I don't think he can technically be court-martialed since he's a Knight and not within the military chain of command.
Realistically? No, while there isn't a clear legal system for it, the Princess gave him explicit instructions to cut loose. And Starcloaks are already allowed to use Black Magic they are either certified for, even ones "in training".
6104046
The "outside" in the ethical law isn't capitalized for a reason, though there should probably be a sub-rule of "Don't mess with the Outside EVER FOR ANY REASON WHATSOEVER", so Emeris sorta breaks that by existing. The rule instead refers to... well... what Emeris just did. Tapping into external power to fuel one's spell(s).
And if Emeris went off the deep end in that sense... that'd... that'd be bad Emeris isn't one to seek power. But if he did... well, he could, with some time, experimentation and effort, become the Alicorn of the Terra again. He wouldn't have his Gary-Stu invincibility-clause, but... well... let's just say it's a good thing that he has issues with being an Alicorn. If he started to go psycho-bonkers and Celestia or Luna didn't catch him in time, they'd have a serious problem on their hooves, even a minor power-up in Emeris' hooves would be terrifying. Hell, the only reason he's not terrifying right now because he's a big, snarky teddy-bear with relationship issues.
6105025
Hey, I'm just blaming it on the mind-meld thing because up until then he still kept thinking she was super hot. Even after she tried to literally set him on fire he still thought that was pretty sexy and that he liked her enough to take the fall for her. And after that, they really didn't directly interact at all (besides the test) up until the melding thing.
And I wonder how things are going to go for Emeris now that he's in the Crystal Empire. He doesn't deal well with crowds of adoring fans, and he just blew up the mountain that was attacking the city. They're going to adore him whether he wants them to or not... And he just kind of sort of gave away that he's much better with dark magic than he probably should be. So that'll be fun.
Dude, I have only recently read this series of yours, and let me tell you, if you keep up a similar update pattern to the one you've been keeping...
...you'll be almost as bad as me!
For srs, tho, this is great, wunt moar.