483 - Fray of Fur and Feathers
Starlight’s reaction to Fruit Crunch’s proclamation was to roll her eyes.
“You forgot to add ‘to the zoo’ at the end of that sentence,” she snickered, glancing over their spirit animals with bemusement.
Only a fool mocks their opponents before taking their measure, pronounced Altaer, the eagle’s mental voice thick with scorn.
Or one who is extremely confident in their own strength, added Lyden, the wolf’s head turning to regard where Aria and that other mare had fallen, then looking over at Sonata. The High Alpha’s mates are not feeble, and yet now one is defeated and the other cowed. No weakling could accomplish such a thing.
“Are you sure I shouldn’t go help them?” whispered Cleansweep, also looking at the unconscious mares. “If I can get them back on their hooves, they could help us beat her!”
Despite looking anxious at the prospect of the imminent battle, Feathercap shook his head. “It’s a bad idea,” he whispered back. “I know how you feel, but you only have so much healing magic, and those two took a serious hit. Even if you got them up, I don’t think it’d be hard for that crazy unicorn to put them down again. Besides, that green lady’s knives are broken anyway.” He canted his head to the side, indicating the lumps of twisted metal lying near where the two grownups had fallen.
Additionally, since our adversary has done us the generous service of underestimating all of us based on our appearance, our most direct route to victory lies in capitalizing on that via attacking her in a concerted effort so as to overcome her quickly with a display of overwhelming force, added Ulespy, his voice as casual as a professor in front of a blackboard as he fluttered down from the sky and landed on Feathercap’s back. Your poison will be invaluable in that regard.
“But they might be really hurt?” murmured Fiddlesticks, dividing her attention between Starlight and the injured adults. “They’re still breathing, but what if they need a doctor right now?”
I agree, added Nemel. Those who attack our home must be driven off, but we must still see to our wounded.
I’ll check on them. Uncoiling herself from around Cleansweep, Venin slithered toward the fallen mares. If their lives look to be in danger, I’ll call for aid.
Meanwhile, Straightlace was working to keep Starlight Glimmer – Feathercap had said that was her name, having heard (via Ulespy) the mare with the knives call it shortly before she was defeated – focused on him and not on what his friends were saying. “You should surrender!” he yelled, his voice as stentorian as he could make it. “Things will be easier for you if you do!” He wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but that was what authority figures usually said when facing a bad guy.
Starlight’s response came with a patronizing smile. “Listen, we’re getting off on the wrong hoof. How about we start over, okay?” She didn’t wait for a response before continuing. “I don’t know if you heard what I was saying before” – she nodded toward the crowd, which had fallen back during her fight, but was still watching from a distance – “but my name’s Starlight Glimmer, and-”
“We know who you are,” answered Straightlace. “And we’re not giving up our cutie marks!”
“You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss it,” insisted Starlight. “In my village, everypony has given up their cutie marks, even the foals, and we’re all much happier now!”
“Did they have a choice?” growled Fruit Crunch. “Or did you beat them up and take them away without asking?!” He held out a hoof toward Aria and that other mare then, but in his mind it was himself he was thinking of, remembering what had happened when he’d tried to stand up to Block Party…or rather, the monster that had been possessing Block Party, according to Lex.
Starlight frowned, unaware of the true source of the colt’s anger. “I didn’t start that fight!”
“No, but now we’re finishing it!” Fruit Crunch had waited long enough. If Starlight wasn’t going to make the first move, then they would! “Night Mare’s Knights, CHARGE!”
With a chorus of howls and shrieks, the assembled foals and their spirit animals rushed at Starlight.
Starlight sighed as the children and their pets ran toward her. “So much for doing this the easy way.”
Bringing her staff around, she fired off a blast of magic at the wolf. Once those kids saw that their most dangerous animal was easily dispensed with, they’d-
Zipping forward, the pegasus colt placed himself directly in the path of her attack, rearing up and kicking out as his hoof connected with the beam of magical energy…and knocked it off course.
The sight was enough to make Starlight’s eyes widen. That’s not possible!
But she had no more time to figure out what had just happened as the rest of that colt’s friends descended upon her.
Before she could raise a shield around herself, the large wolf darted in, surprising her as it went low. A second later, she felt jaws close around her foreleg, causing her to let out a yelp of pain as she threw herself backward, trying to wrench her leg free of the thing. But she’d barely had a chance to shift her weight when the earth colt who’d been right behind the wolf tackled her, knocking her off her hooves and sending her sprawling.
A surge of panic ran through Starlight then, and she swung her staff wildly, trying to dislodge her attackers. But with her balance off-center, and an eagle diving toward her face with its talons extended, the attack went wide, accomplishing nothing except to cause the pegasus filly who’d also been descending on her to veer off-course. Even that small victory was undone almost immediately the earth filly threw herself forward and wrapped her forelegs around the staff, yanking it out of Starlight’s telekinetic grasp with all of her strength.
Which, as it turned out, was a great deal of strength indeed.
Starlight gave a cry as her staff went flying, hearing it echoed in the voices of the ponies she’d brought with her. Far closer was the sound of the remaining foal – the unicorn colt – yelling, his voice raised in excitement. “I’ve got it! I’ve got it!”
“Great!” yelled the pegasus colt, flying over to join his friends in dogpiling Starlight. “Now hurry up and figure out how to use it!”
But the words had barely left his mouth when Double Diamond’s voice was heard. “Starlight!” he yelled as he charged forward. “Hang on! Hang-, GAH!” His voice rising in a cry of alarm, Double Diamond’s rush to the rescue ended immediately as the large owl from before swooped in front of his face, claws flexing menacingly.
But Starlight was less concerned for him than she was for herself at the moment. The wolf’s teeth were still clenched tightly around her foreleg, defying her efforts to shake it off. That might have been because those efforts were being significantly hammered by the earth colt who had thrown himself across her chest. Despite being smaller than her, he was heavy, and his position gave him leverage enough that even with her telekinesis she was struggling to lift him. Not that she could concentrate on that, since she needed to keep jerking her head back and forth to keep that eagle’s claws away from her eyes and her horn, particularly since her other foreleg was busy trying to knock away the badger that was attempting to gnaw on it. Worse her were hindlegs, both of which were firmly pinned down by that same filly who had ripped her staff away from her so easily. Nor were those the full extent of her problems, as Starlight could just barely make out the pegasus filly from before circling back around, hooves outstretched as though she was planning on doing something besides just throwing herself into the tangle of limbs and fur.
But Starlight had no intention of finding out whether that child had special powers of her own or not.
Gritting her teeth, her lips pulled back in a snarl, Starlight concentrated fiercely, and a split-second later vanished from the press of ponies and animals. Instantly, she reappeared next to the unicorn colt, who let out a yelp of surprise as she telekinetically snatched her staff away from him. The sound made his owl wheel away, hooting in alarm as the two of them fell back.
Panting, Starlight gingerly examined her foreleg. It was by far the worst of the injuries that she’d received just now, but there were a collection of new wounds all over her. But at least her horn hadn’t been damaged, so-
“Starlight?”
Grimacing, Starlight turned her attention back toward where the foals and their animals were untangling themselves, not bothering with the stallion slowly approaching her from behind. “Not now, Double Diamond!”
“But…but you teleported! Without the Staff of Sameness! How-”
“I said not now!” Snarling, she swung the forked end of her staff toward those kids, keeping up the ruse by force of habit even as she furiously tried to think up a new spell before her enemies regrouped. I can’t use a direct attack, or that kid will just deflect it again. So something different. A containment spell. Like my shield but focused on keeping things in rather than out. Okay, this isn’t hard…
Ever since Starlight had discovered that her special talent was magic, she’d found that spellcasting wasn’t the only thing that came easily to her; inventing new spells was also a piece of cake. That was something she was particularly proud of, as most “professional” wizards never created anything new, and those few that did needed months or years to do it! Admittedly, she couldn’t come up with completely original spells out of thin air, but mixing and matching parts from the ones she’d already learned to make something new was simplicity itself, taking minutes or even seconds to pull off…even if she sometimes needed to spend a little extra time ironing out the kinks later on.
But it was one thing, Starlight realized a moment later, to create a new spell over the course of a few minutes while in a relaxed state, the way she had when she’d invented her reaction speed-boosting spell before fighting Aria and Garden Gate at once. Now, when she was still shaken and hurting, trying to come up with a new spell in a matter of seconds, before those foals and their animals collected themselves, was simply too much. She’d barely gotten half of it worked out when they’d reformed their ranks, warily turning to regard her as they tried to figure out what had happened.
Knowing that Double Diamond and the other equalized ponies were wondering the same thing, Starlight sighed, abandoning her half-finished spell in favor of what she could fix. “The, um…residual energies from the Staff of Sameness allowed me to teleport out,” she explained, coming up with the deception off the top of her head. “Its power moves through its wielder's body, meaning that a little bit is left over right after you put it down.”
“Wow!” Double Diamond’s eyes widened. “What an incredible magic item!”
“It certainly is.” Starlight couldn’t help but smirk, but the expression dropped from her face a half-second later, knowing that she couldn’t afford to let her focus wander. Those kids had come closer to defeating her than Aria and Garden Gate had, which meant that she needed to treat them with the same intensity as she had those two mares. “Now get back, Double Diamond.”
Pointing her staff at them, Starlight narrowed her eyes as she regarded the group across from her.
“If those kids want to play rough, then I’ll give them rough!”
The scratch of quill-tip on paper filled the dining hall, the soft sound magnified in the silence.
Lex barely noticed, not bothering to look at the writing implements even as he telekinetically moved the quill over the page, drawing up the loan papers that the Las Pegasus ponies would soon be signing. After all, he’d already worked out the verbiage of the contract in his head quite some time ago, and a mere thirty-eight pages wasn’t something he needed to devote more than a fraction of his attention to in order to write down. Especially not when it was in his native Ponish.
Instead, he eyed the dining hall critically, making sure that the servants hadn’t missed a spot when he’d ordered them to clear it of the rainclouds that had been stored there. While he normally couldn’t have cared less about the aesthetics of his surroundings, the last thing he needed was for the proceedings to be disrupted because somepony had slipped on a patch of half-melted snow that some errant cloud had left before the pegasi on staff had moved it. It wouldn’t have been a problem if they’d simply used one of the unoccupied rooms, of course, but with River informing him that her party consisted of nearly two dozen ponies, this was the only venue large enough to accommodate all of them.
Still, the contract and the room’s cleanliness were simple enough tasks that Lex felt comfortable turning the bulk of his attention to several other projects that he’d devoted portions of his thoughts to. First among them were the various projects that he’d need to allocate the loan money toward in order to speed up Vanhoover’s reclamation. Another was working out possible combat strategies that he could viably use in his current state, subcategorized by salient factors regarding the potential opposition, battlefield conditions, required preparatory measures, and more. Still another was working out a new lesson plan for the Night Mare’s Knights, one with a more practical focus. There was also-
“Lex!”
The quill, wrapped in his roiling purple aura, didn’t stop moving as Lex looked sharply at the door, which had just burst open to admit Thermal Draft. Panting, she hurried over as soon as she spotted him. “There you are! Thank goodness I found you!”
The statement earned a frown from Lex, noting her apparent agitation. “Has something happened?” Had the Las Pegasus delegation arrived? If so, it made little sense that Thermal Draft would be the one coming to inform him, rather than the servants. Then again, she had only been brought back to life a few hours ago, so it was entirely possible that she’d come across some discontinuity between now and before she’d died that was upsetting her. Though if it was the delegation, then he’d need to hurry and finish writing the contract down-
But then Thermal Draft's answer came, and her words brought the scratch of writing to an immediate halt.
“We’re under attack!”
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That excuse is full of-
Also a missing apostrophe in 'wielders'
Putting that aside, the NMK did put up a good fight, especially with the lessons Lex taught them being implemented with them trying to subdue her instead of going for the throat like they had done with the Royal Guards though with the metaphorical kid gloves coming off now, I wonder how they'll fare against Starlight now.
Hopefully, they'll at the very least stall her long enough for Lex to arrive to put an end to Starlight's intrusion. Sure the 'delegation' is on its way but that pales in comparison to the safety of his little ponies so the delegates can either wait for his return or follow him, where they can see him disciplining someone who hurt others for getting in her way, including 'helpless' foals though with Blueblood as head of said delegation...I somehow doubt the latter.
Starlight, the new Minotaur Prime Minister?
Trouble is, is just how many Blink Teleports does Starlight have at any moment? At least she doesnt have Magic Missile. Great for low level to use, but a pain when higher level character can Smash From The Sky?
Still think the Venin might be best option, as long as its either instant, preventing casting Cure, or slow acting enough she doesnt beleive the attack succeeeded until her helths been compromised too far that pretty much all other options are sealed?
10272413 Nuts, the missing apostrophe is there now.
But yeah, the Knights did a great job there, and came very close to winning. Unfortunately for them, Starlight's deception about her staff being the source of her power saved her, allowing her to teleport away even after she'd lost it, much to everypony's surprise. That makes Altaer's condemnation of judging someone's strength without knowing their capabilities rather ironic, doesn't it?
That said, I'm glad you caught that the Knights were going for non-lethal tactics this time! That was one of those things that I wasn't sure how explicit I needed to make it, since too subtle can be just as bad as too obvious (in much the same vein, I wasn't sure if I needed to point out how the kids had plenty of time to work on a strategy on their trip from River's manor to the battlefield). So I feel a little better about that one, now.
Of course, now that Lex is on the way, the Knights will hopefully have have some backup soon, because Starlight isn't going to make the mistake of pulling her punches again...
10272750 Starlight is using Equestrian magic, which is physical in nature. So her limit is based on her stamina. That's actually rather hard to represent in game terms, however, because "physical stamina" isn't something that's really a factor in the d20 System rules. In fact, those rules (at least in their base implementation) don't even have penalties for eschewing sleep! "Fatigued" and "exhausted" are conditions that can only be imposed artificially outside of very particular circumstances, such as forced marching. In terms of a fight, there's nothing to stop someone from operating at full effectiveness in perpetuity.
Thankfully, Eclipse: The Codex Persona rules make it possible to build an alternative magic system that more closely matches what we see in the show (including why Starlight is more powerful than other unicorns). Which is why I'll post her character sheet here later on.
10272776
Thats why I prefer teh Hit Point, Stamina Point, Magic Point method, at least basically, in comptuer based RPGs. You can be in full physical health, have full access to spells, and be totally incapable of doing anything becuase youre unconcious?