163. The Power of the Sun
“It is finished,” Clover’s echo announced as she returned; the bright glow that surrounded the remains of Salvation (which were held by her magic) had dispersed. “I hath successfully separated the Boulder Duke’s essence from the shield’s shards. The elemental’s spirit hath at last returned to the Undercave, and the shards are finally safe for thou to carry,” she added, levitating the fragments over to Guard, who nodded and placed them safely into his saddlebags.
“Good, the last thing we needed was that elemental popping up again,” Arthas thought, satisfied. Although his paladins had just demonstrated that they could defeat such an opponent, he was worried about time; it was already past noon. They still had some ground to cover before they would reach the memorial, and Arthas was still planning on seeking Commander Hurricane’s echo afterwards. “We should get going if we want to return to our campsite at nightfall. Although I guess this isn’t up to me,” he added in an afterthought, glancing at Storm.
Before the pegasus paladin could as much as begin giving orders, though, Tucker spoke up. “So what you’re saying is,” he said, looking at Clover, “that as soon as the Boulder Duke reforms in that Undercave place, every earth elemental will hear how Storm got his sword stuck?”
Arthas stifled a snort of amusement and turned his gaze upwards, worried that seeing Storm’s expression would cause him to chuckle. Although he had technically been the one to start those quips, it was time to return to seriousness.
“Right,” he heard Storm say, his voice exasperated, “finally being home after two thousand years of being split into four earth elementals that wandered aimlessly around this Light-forsaken island, the first thing Boulder Duke will talk about will certainly be the fact that I got my sword stuck in its neck.”
“Well, I would talk about it if it happened to me,” Tucker countered.
“Yeah, but you’re not-” Storm began, only to stop himself, close his eyes and sigh, then rub them with his wings. “Nevermind. Is everypony capable of continuing?” he asked instead, looking around at the others. “We should get going if we want to reach the memorial, search for Commander Hurricane’s echo and make it back to our camp at a reasonable hour.”
“All good,” Guard replied stoically, quickly followed Serenity nodding.
Storm spared a moment to glance at Tucker then at Clover and Arthas before saying: “Alright then, let’s get moving. Remember to keep watch of our surroundings,” he added as they began moving to the north-east, in the direction of the monument. “We might have dealt with the earth elementals, but there will probably still be echoes in the area.”
Arthas nodded with satisfaction, pleased that he had remembered that. Assured that Storm had things under control, he allowed himself to relax and focus on other matters. He slowed his pace, intending to fall back alongside Clover so that he could ask her about the metal used in the creation of Salvation, but he was surprised to find that Serenity had beaten him to it.
“I’ve been wondering,” the crystal pony had began; Arthas noted that she was still a little overwhelmed when talking with the echo, “that earth elemental, he was almost pony like, and it looked like an earth pony. And that water elemental you had summoned resembled a sea pony a lot. So would an air elemental resemble a pegasus?”
Arthas perked his ears in their direction, intrigued by her question.
“I hath not seen any air elemental, nor were there any records of them being met by anypony,” Clover started to answer. “At least, by my- the real me’s time.”
“I’ve been told that’s still the case in today’s era,” Arthas chimed in, recalling Princess Celestia mentioning this.
“But that seems to be a reasonable assumption,” Clover continued, giving him a nod in acknowledgment. “However, please bear in mind that elementals come in many different shapes; during this war we had fought with various earth elementals. And the Elemental Lords and their direct offspring, well…”
“Offspring?” Guard cut in, taking the opportunity presented when Clover had trailed off. Storm and Tucker - “Of course Tucker,” Arthas thought - also looked back in interest. “You mean those creatures can reproduce?”
“They can,” Arthas replied before Clover could be distracted from her train of thoughts. Forestalling the next question, he added, “As to ‘how’, I defer you to Tucker’s imagination.” Turning to the echo, he asked, “What about the Elemental Lords, Clover?”
“And what are those?” Storm spoke up.
“They are the rulers of the Elemental Kingdoms, the four most powerful elementals of Equestria,” Clover replied. “They and their offspring - or most of them at least - are actually shaped like draconequi.”
“Draconequi?” Storm asked, wide-eyed. “You mean like Discord?”
“Yes, according to how thou describe him. In fact, before ye told me last night about Discord, I theorized that the legends about the draconequi must refer to the Elemental Lords instead of beings of flesh. Although considering the theory proposed by Star Swirl the Bearded after his journey to the minotaurs - that ponies might in fact be descendants of those lesser, pony-shaped elementals - this Discord might be their descendant as well. There haven’t been sightings of any other draconequus beside him?” she asked, looking from Serenity to Arthas.
“None that I’m aware of,” Serenity replied, voicing Arthas’ thoughts, and the others shook their heads. “Did Star Swirl really think we might be descendants of the elementals?”
“Would explain a few things,” Arthas commented in his thoughts. “Especially how pegasi can control the weather.”
“Only theorized,” Clover said, shrugging.
Serenity frowned thoughtfully, then spoke again. “How would fire elementals integrate into this theory? I mean, are there even pony-shaped fire elementals? It’s not like there is a tribe of ponies with fiery magics that could be their descendants.”
“That is true. Regarding the fire elementals themselves, actually…”
Fluttershy flew through the White Tail Woods, easily maneuvering between the trees. She wasn’t nearly as fast or agile as Rainbow Dash, of course, but just as Provato had said, this new spell he had taught her, the Mark of the Wild, allowed her to draw upon Nature to empower her body, increasing her swiftness, agility and strength, among other things. She was now racing back to him, having been asked to test what her body was capable of by flying to the forest’s border and back.
A smile crept on her face; although she still preferred moving (whether by flying or running, with the latter being her preference) at her normal, casual speed, a part of her now could understand why Rainbow Dash liked to race so much. Maybe it was in part because of the wilderness’ magic surging within her, but she found the sensation of racing through the forest quite thrilling.
“I suppose a little thrill from time to time isn’t so bad…” she mused, closing her eyes as she broke into the clearing where Provato had been awaiting her and rolling in the air around her axis… only to stop abruptly upon opening her eyes and realizing that she was about to collide into the timberwolf demigod.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” she began after barely managing to come to the halt. Landing before Provato, she continued, embarrassed, “I, um, I sorta lost myself in the… um…”
She trailed off as the Wild God chuckled warmly. “In the moment? You certainly must have; you seem to have forgotten that you were supposed to fly into me so that you could also see how much stronger and sturdier you body is when drawing upon the power of wilderness.”
“Oh!” Fluttershy exclaimed, having only now remembered that part of her task. Although it hadn’t been something that she wanted to do, she would’ve still obeyed Provato’s command had she not forgotten about it. “Oh, you’re right, I’m sorry…”
“It’s alright,” Provato interrupted her kindly, raising a paw to forestall any further apologies. “I think it’s safe to assume you have seen for yourself what your body can be capable of with nature’s strength within it.” He rose to his paws and slowly began to walk further into the clearing; Fluttershy hastily followed him. “I believe there is a way for you to, let’s say, gain even greater physical strength, but we’ll leave that part of your training for later.”
Fluttershy nodded in acceptance, not without some relief. She hadn’t decided to learn the Druidic ways from Provato because she wanted to make herself stronger, but to be able to help others. While being physically stronger could certainly help with that, if she would ever have to protect somepony from the likes of King Sombra for example, she much more preferred to learn ways to heal rather than fight.
“When would that be?” she asked, a little cautious.
“After we rescue the first Wild God from the Darkness that befell Everfree Forest and I convince her to aid in your training,” Provato replied as he reached the middle of the clearing and sat down to address her. His words surprised her, which the demigod must have noticed as he smirked warmly and continued: “The other Wild Gods have lots of things they can teach you that I can’t. Although in the past they have rarely interacted with ponies, I believe that they will see wisdom with sharing our secrets with your kind; after all, I wouldn’t be here speaking with you if it weren’t for you and your friend, and we wouldn’t be working on freeing the others.”
Fluttershy nodded, smiling happily. She found it hard to believe that there could be something about the nature and wilderness that Provato couldn’t teach her, but of course she trusted his assessment and was looking forward to learning even more. And regardless of that, she would still want to help the other Wild Gods, to free them from this Darkness and heal the entire Everfree Forest from the taint that had overtaken it.
“I’ve managed to locate the lair of a Wild God that I think will be the easiest to free,” Provato continued, making her eyes light up. “Before we try, though, I would like to teach you some more… offensive abilities. I plan to subdue her myself if it comes to a fight,” he quickly added; apparently, some of the worry she had felt must have reflected on her face, “and your role will be primarily to help me heal her, but it would be best if you were capable of fighting back if it came to it.”
“I… I suppose,” Fluttershy said quietly in reply, really hoping it wouldn’t come to it.
Provato seemed amused by her hesitation. He smiled briefly before he resumed speaking. “As you know, everything in nature exists in balance with each other. Some animals eat plants, others eat animals, and in death their bodies provide nutrients for plants to grow.”
A little confused, Fluttershy nodded; of course she knew that, but where was Provato going with this?
“Even the elements that carve form into the universe are fluid forces of nature,” the timberwolf demigod continued, looking up into the sky. Following his gaze Fluttershy realized that he was pointing at the sun. “They provide energy for plants to grow and warm us. The Wild Gods that dwell within this forest had been named Ancient Guardians because we took it upon ourselves to help uphold this balance; unlike all the Wild Gods that live down south and were content with just looking after their own, until they became worshipped by the zebras,” he added, rolling his glowing amber eyes a little before clearing his throat and resuming, “This was when my mother attacked the ponies two thousand years ago when they carved too deep into her forest; we understand the need for ponies and other creatures like you for wood, but taking too much from the forest caused chaos for everything that lives in it. When that happens, we fight, with fangs and claws, by poisonous bites or stings or by urging nature to fight back. But tell me,” Provato added before Fluttershy’s mind could dwell on the thought of fighting anypony (especially ‘with fangs and claws’), “how should one fight against forces that are not of this world, whose very presence on Equestria threatens the balance? Had this Darkness that corrupted us been given form, for instance?”
“Um…” Fluttershy hesitated, perplexed. That was really a question somepony like Arthas or Twilight could answer, but not her. “C-couldn’t we just talk to it, if it was given form? Ask it nicely to leave?”
Provato chuckled warmly. “I don’t think that would work on the Darkness any better than it would have worked on King Sombra or Nightmare Moon. It is a part of nature to fight,” he added, not unkindly, “for survival, to defend your young or pack. You will learn that sooner or later following this path, dear Fluttershy.”
The shy pegasus nodded again. She of course knew that, but it was one thing to know and another to actually think about fighting. “Um… then, couldn’t we still fight with, um, fangs and claws? Or, hooves I suppose,” she meekly joked.
“Well, it is my preferred method to be honest,” Provato confessed. “But no, there is a better method to combat the forces from outside our world; by calling on the forces of nature not of this world. Look,” he told confused Fluttershy, raising on his paws again and turning a little.
Quickly glancing in the direction where Provato was now looking, Fluttershy realized that now in front of him, several yards away, was a small boulder. Focusing back on the demigod, she saw him part his jaw, and to her amazement almost immediately golden energy began to form in his open muzzle. It sort of resembled the Holy Light, but not quite, the color was more akin to Provato’s eyes. It was almost like… like…
“Like the sun,” she realized.
Before she could digest this thought, Provato had cast the orb of energy forward, sending it right at the boulder. Upon collision, it blasted it apart with a resounding crack!
“By leveraging the sacred powers of the sun, the moon and the stars,” Provato resumed, turning again to her, “we’re able to channel their power to aid in the fight against imbalance that threatens the natural order of all things.”
“You… you mean you can use the power of the sun and the moon?” Fluttershy repeated, shocked. “Like the Princesses?”
“Not quite,” Provato replied, frowning. “The two of them are bonded with those celestial bodies, they aren’t exactly using their powers but rather are infused with it. What I just did - and plan to teach you now - is far inferior to what they are capable of. I’m not even that proficient with this particular trick,” he added, smiling again, this time a bit sheepishly. “I’ve learned it from the Ursas and their demigod, but was never able to channel as much power as they were able to.”
Fluttershy’s eyes went wide at the name of the mentioned creatures. “Y-you mean the Ursas are capable of blasting things apart just like that?!” she exclaimed, terrified at the thought of such huge creatures wielding such powers to boot.
“Were,” Provato corrected her. “They had lost their ability to call upon the sun and moon when the Darkness corrupted them. Also, they used to be smaller,” he added. “For some reason, the Darkness, instead of making them smaller like myself, had caused them to grow to such ridiculous size… perhaps it is because of their natural affinity to astral magic, maybe the Darkness had to exert greater influence on them. The Ursa demigod, Polaris, the Lady of the Stars, was actually smaller in size than what you today refer to as ‘Ursa Minor’.”
“Oh, I see…” Fluttershy murmured, intrigued. “But wait, didn’t you tell the Princesses that the demigod responsible for moving the sun and moon had disappeared?”
“Polaris wasn’t that demigod. She and her progeny were blessed with their powers by him, though they aren’t bonded to the sun and moon like he was, or how your Princesses are. And they are not nearly as powerful as them, I might add.”
“Oh,” she exclaimed hearing the explanation. “I see…” A question formed in her mind, born out of curiosity, but she hesitated, unsure if she should ask something like that.
However, it was no use trying to hide anything from the timberwolf demigod. To Provato, she might as well be an open book. “Something on your mind, dear Fluttershy?” he asked, a note of amusement in his voice.
His kind and gentle voice gave her the strength to voice her curiosity: “Um… how powerful are the Princesses, exactly?”
Provato hummed to himself before answering. He sat down and looked up in the sky, which was now directly above them; the noon had come.
“It’s difficult to say, especially since I met them so briefly…” he slowly said. “But if I were to make a guess…”
“Hooooly FUCK!” Tucker exclaimed, his voice echoing.
A part of Arthas wanted to frown at the paladin, but every other part was preoccupied with staring at the humongous crater left in the place of where over eight hundred years ago a mountain stood.
“At least now I can be certain that if I were to somehow become the Lich King again Celestia would definitely deal with me,” he thought, simply in awe. “To think I considered that Equestria had no chance against me… I just hope that if it came to this, there wouldn’t be anypony alive within…” he paused in his thoughts as he tried to measure the crater’s length; “a five mile radius of me?”
Clover’s voice pulled him from his musing. “This Princess Celestia is simply amazing,” she said, admiring the crater and looking up, probably recalling the mountain that she had known to be in its place.
“That she is,” Guard agreed. “It’s no wonder why there was nothing left of Bane.”
“I am so never going to hit on her again,” Tucker said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I mean-”
“Wait, what?” Serenity turned to him, frowning. “When did you ‘hit’ on Princess Celestia of all ponies?”
“It was literally the first thing he did after he was released from that crystal,” Arthas replied for the unicorn.
Serenity deadpanned, first at him, then at Tucker. “Of course it was,” she said, her voice seething with annoyance.
“Aww, are you jealous?” Tucker turned to her, smirking. “Don’t worry babe, I-”
“Serenity!” Arthas called her name as he sensed her channeling the Holy Light (and noticed Tucker backing away from her); Storm did too at the same time. Turning to the crystal pony Arthas could see faint glow around her head, most likely meaning that her eyes had glowed with the Light; Storm, who stood on the other side of Tucker from her, didn’t have to rely on his deeper sense to notice what could happen. Satisfied, Arthas let him deal with the issue. “The edge of a huge hole in the ground in the middle of the island haunted by wartime echoes isn’t the place for this sort of thing,” the pegasus added, more calmly but firmly as Serenity took a step away, the holy magic dissipating.
“I know... sir,” Serenity corrected herself.
“You were totally jealous,” Tucker told her, his smirk returning to his muzzle.
“Stop provoking her,” Storm told him less politely, frowning at the unicorn. Clearing his throat, he raised his voice. “Enough… admiring Princess Celestia’s, um, craftwork. The memorial is right over there, let us go pay our respects,” he said, pointing at the small monument further up the edge of the crater.
As they trotted over to the memorial, Arthas kept glancing at the crater. Celestia’s power just kept exceeding his expectations. “Is her power on par with that of the Dragon Aspects?” he wondered, not knowing of any other beings capable of destruction on such scale.
His mind drifted as memories that were not his own resurfaced, that of an orcish tale of a war with the ogres and an ogre capital who had been annihilated by the fury of the elements; the crater left by Celestia was comparable (albeit it was smaller) to the one in the story (vague memories of some draenei he had raised told Arthas that upon their arrival on Draenor the draenei had picked the location for their capital Shattrath, giving him a more or less good grasp on its size). Ner’zhul had been an elder by the time the Horde was born; for him to know of such event by only a tale must mean that it was indeed an old one. And yet, despite the orcs relying almost solely on oral lore, the story survived, a testament to how horrific such an event must have been. And here on Equestria a similar destruction (fortunately wrought upon a desolate island instead of a city) had been caused by a single pony Princess, not by the elements or however many shamans it must have taken to urge the spirits to such actions.
“If she has so much power, I cannot imagine how she can restrain herself from using it,” he mused, shaking his head as they reached the memorial. “One thing for sure, I am bowing lower to her from now on.”
The monument, placed on Celestia’s orders after the destruction of the original during her battle with Bane, consisted of two huge plates that depicted two armies, ponies on one and griffons on the other, both sides ready for battle. The tablet at the bottom read:
In memory of all the souls, both pony and griffon, who lost their life on this island, in what is known as the bloodiest battle of the only war our world has ever known. May such a tragedy never take place again.
“It’s a little different from the original one,” Serenity commented after everypony read it. “The first one had supposedly started by stating how this was a place of Equestria’s great victory before honoring the fallen.”
“I think I prefer this one, then,” Clover replied, the echo’s gaze on the depictions of two armies. “Tis a memorial to the fallen from both sides of this terrible conflict. It shouldn’t matter which side won here for that. There are other means for recording victory.”
“Well, you can’t really blame ponies from your time for mentioning that they won this battle,” Tucker pointed out, frowning a little at the echo. “Considering that the griffons attacked first and until now all the fighting took place in Equestria. This battle was the turning point, right?” he asked, looking at Serenity, who nodded (albeit reluctantly, clearly still upset at the unicorn). “After that Equestria-”
“This wasn’t the turning point.”
Everypony looked at Clover with confusion as she interrupted Tucker. The echo was still staring at the monument, but her gaze grew distant, as if watching something none of them could see.
When after a few silent seconds Clover hadn’t elaborated, Arthas took it as sign that she didn’t want to talk about this subject further at this moment. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily. “You are both right in my opinion,” he said, opening his eyes to look at Tucker, “but personally I agree with Clover, as I am sure Equestria’s victory had been celebrated and their soldiers honored by your ancestors enough within Equestria. This place honors the fallen,” he continued, pointing at the memorial. “Which is what we came here to do. We’ll take a minute of silence to honor those that gave their lives for their country, because for whatever reason they fought,” Arthas added as his eyes briefly darted to the griffon side of the monument, “especially at the beginning of the war, nopony, or rather no one can deny their bravery and valor they displayed while making the ultimate sacrifice.”
All four paladins immediately nodded in agreement, then turned to the memorial, all falling silent. Arthas briefly wondered what each of them was thinking before deciding that he didn’t need to know that. He knew them well enough to know that they wouldn’t be waiting impatiently for the minute to end; all of them, even Tucker, would contemplate the memorial in their own way. Whether they would do so by praying the souls of the departed found peace or wondering if they would someday have to lay down their life as well, they would all benefit from this moment.
As he himself gazed at the memorial, he found his thoughts drifting away to different soldiers. Soldiers who died on the land distant from their homes, too, all because of him. “Except their fate had been much worse,” Arthas thought, grief and guilt swelling in his heart. “Falric, Marwyn… the entire 1st Legion… all those good men had been damned because of me. Are any of them even remembered for what they went through? At least Thassarian had seemed to find his place among the Alliance… May the Light have mercy on their souls, for so few have on their memory.”
By the time he finished uttering a similar prayer for the ponies and griffons this memorial had been erected for, the minute of silence had passed. Everypony rose to their hooves and looked around, some slightly uncomfortable as if unsure if they were allowed to speak quite yet or what was the proper way to break the silence.
Rising, Arthas caught the eyes of Storm. The pegasus paladin nodded to him, letting him take charge for the moment. Nodding in return in acknowledgement, Arthas turned to Clover.
“Now then, Clover the Clever,” he began, “how about we see if we can aid Commander Hurricane and free his mind from this spell?”
“Concentrate…” Fluttershy thought, her eyes closed and forehooves before her chest. “Focus…”
She had grown used to drawing on nature’s power, but although Provato had assured her that drawing on the power of the sun wasn’t much different, Fluttershy found herself struggling.
“Stop,” the voice of the timberwolf demigod sounded from somewhere nearby. Fluttershy wondered how he knew she was still trying; there certainly wasn’t an orb of swirling golden energy forming between her forehooves. Regardless, though, she stopped trying to draw on the power of the sun, and let her forelegs fall down to her sides. “Calm your mind,” Provato further instructed her. “Take a deep breath, then exhale. Now, I want you to spread your wings, Fluttershy, as far as you can.”
A little confused, Fluttershy did as he asked. After she had calmed, she spread her wings as far as she was able to.
“Can you feel the warm rays of the sun touching your feathers?” Provato asked. “Can you feel them upon your coat? Focus on that. Like a plant who must absorb those rays to conduct photosynthesis, you must also draw on them with your whole body.”
Fluttershy’s ears perked; she hadn’t thought of it that way. “Alright, focus on the warmth…” she thought. She could feel it upon her feathers and coat, upon her whole body. The sun was basking everything with its energy, including her. All she had to do was channel it. “Concentrate on this feeling, the feeling of the sun’s warmth…” Fluttershy intoned, once again raising her forehooves to her chest, “... and channel it through your forehooves.”
It was indeed like drawing power from the wilderness, but instead of reaching to the nature surrounding her, she focused on the warmth spreading across her body, and through it she imagined herself reaching through the rays all the way to the sun. Fluttershy could feel the rays travelling through her body to her forehooves, and when she opened her eyes, she saw to her amazement a swirling orb of energy between them.
“Now, cast it in front of you,” Provato instructed.
Fluttershy obeyed without much thought, too overwhelmed that she had actually did it. She hadn’t even looked up from her forehooves as she threw the orb, sending it flying… right into Provato. Before she could even gasp, though, the orb hit him square in his leaf covered wooden chest without as much as phasing him.
“Well done, Fluttershy,” the timberwolf demigod said, smiling at her and padding over to her. “Don’t worry, you haven’t hurt me,” he quickly added, no doubt knowing what she would say next. “It would take you a longer practice to manage to wound me this way.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” Fluttershy sighed with relief.
A warm chuckle escaped Provato. “You did very well for your first time, Fluttershy. We’ll practice some more for the next hour so you can get used to using sun’s magic, after that you can rest until nightfall.”
“Nightfall?” Fluttershy asked, confused.
“We will practice then calling upon the power of the moon and the stars,” Provato told her. “It is possible to draw on their powers, as well as the sun’s, all the time, but for somebody who is only learning how to do that it will be easiest during the time you can see them in the sky. You will notice the difference when calling upon the sun’s magic at night, but only at first.”
Though she of course trusted his wisdom, Fluttershy couldn’t help but think how impossible it seem to channel the sun’s power before Provato had told her about concentrating on the feeling of sun’s warmth. How could she do it when there was no sun? “A-are you sure?” Fluttershy asked, stammering a little. “I mean, how can I draw upon the sun’s power if I won’t feel it on my coat?”
Provato smiled down on her. “The sun is always there, little one, whether we see it or not. It basks this world in its rays, providing us with warmth and life. You felt it when you drew upon its power, did you not? And think about how far away the sun is from Equestria; when it’s on the other side of Equestria, the distance is only insignificantly longer. Practice channeling its energies now, Fluttershy, under the noon sky,” he told her, stepping away to give her more space, “and you will be able to find the sun even during midnight.”
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Methinks Nefarian and Onyxia are getting in over their heads if that's what Celestia is capable of and she's been restraining herself.
Ah yes the Kirin, everyone's favorite new pony tribe. I hope we see more of them in season 9.
So would Kirin be fire mages? A Kirin/Nirik wreathed in fire composed of the holy light would be awesome as well, so a new Paladin?
Thank you for the awesome update! I always love seeing this story in my notifications.
Edit: Afterthoughts: So Storm is a retribution paladin, Guard is a protection Paladin, Serenity is a holy paladin.... what is Tucker?
Excellent chapter.
I kind of don't like how you keep making the princesses more and more mary sue.First they were just as strong as heroes in azeroth then they were demigods and now they are dragon aspects. You will have to give them a big limitation or the rest of the story will be ruined by how if they are so strong why do the main characters have to do anything.
You either need to do this or rewrite the story removing mentions of the princesses "godly power that they never use during the story events'"
You should make them like escanor in seven deadly sins. They are only strong under their power source but are normal when not.
9302921
Kirin being fire mages would be a bit befitting considering the name because the of the Dalaran mages: Kirin Tor.
I consider it a shame for hurricane to be a stallion, it should be just as close to Rainbow as Clover is to Twilight.
But then, who knows? Maybe he does indeed look just like the mare does. Tucker hitting on him and suffering for it would be hilarious.
Then again maybe he is actually a she and no one ever believed when he told them otherwise. But this is not that much of a comedy, so I doubt it
9302965
Considering that in Azeroth there were aspects and even then heroes were needed, why? Hell, it's not like they haven't got even stronger foes to fight, that were themselves defeated by heroes in cannon.
Yeah, they're powerful. But if the story is not about threats you need their power to defeat it doesn't quite matter. Or maybe they can get busy with others. Azeroth has no shortage of the later, maybe equestria has enough hidden away.
nice work and keep it upp!
9302965
Consider that the Champions of Azeroth have canonically killed several of the Aspects, as well as beings who rival or even surpass them in power. Yes, most of those cases required help from other similarly powered beings (looking at you, Deathwing), but it still doesn't change that possessing godlike power means nothing in the face of a band of determined champions.
When playing with K2 power, takes a lot of effort to only pull out a tiny fraction to keep interaction effects localised to a given point on a K1 surface. Something about a pinead of core material having the energy releasable content of Tsar Bomba?
Whatever and however, its claimed it ended there, but the echos linger. Just hope Hurricane hasnt been corrupted.
9303018
9303060
Maybe so but it is still a grossly unnecessary inflation of Celestia's power that whenever people do it (this isn't the only story), it comes off more as a desperate attempt the make up for her losing in canon.
9303014
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That pun is downright painful, but I can't deny it fits.
This whole deal of Celestia being revealed to be stronger and stronger doesn't really hold my attention any more. At this point, it's getting hard to hold any stake in what she could do now compared to what she could do before.
For example, if you are scared that some foe has the power to destroy your entire planet, how much more scared would you be if you later learned that that same foe could destroy the entire universe? Not a whole lot, I bet. You can't exactly hold any stake in that, when power levels become that absurd.
9303275
Thanks
I also wonder what would happen if the koft expansion from hearthstone happened, and what would be arthas's reaction.
Will there be a chance that arthas will encounter the other paladins like Tyrion fordring, tyrosus, liadrin
9303567
I'm waiting for a Death Knight to show up, because we all know it's inevitable.
I completely forgot the druid class has a spell called sunfire or something similar, also one for the moon, until like 6 hours after I finished the chapter.
9302921
(in Tuckers mind) Sexy
Interesting how things are progressing here... Though I do like seeing that theory about Celestia coming to the fore again regarding her power
Celestia and Luna might have to make a visit to the island after alls said and done.....those souls might want to actually pass on finally, and will need outside help I think to do it
Can't wait to see how Arthas' fight with Commander Hurricane will turn out.
Or the others' reactions when Fluttershy reveals her new abilities to them.
9302921
Actually, I cut off there because this is a joke that I had thought of before the Kirin/Nirik episode came out, when I didn't have idea how pony-shaped fire elementals would look like; this joke spared me the need to answer that question. After that episode I of course am going to "model" some fire elementals after Nirik, but the joke seemed too good for me to not use
That being said, though, I am not sure if Nirik will appear in my story; I more or less already had planned what races I would add (most of them was already talked about in that chapter with council meeting... 140 I think) and how their entire "evolution" came about. I have been thinking about adding one more race for some time to the plan, though, so we never know, I might decide to include Kirin too. However, I have.... been planning on doing something with.... something that bears a striking resemblance to Kirin's "model", so if I would add actual Kirins I would probably have to scrap that idea... Also I would have to figure out how they fit into the whole evolutionary tree....
Would have to think about what classes such race could become, but I'd imagine mage would be among them, and fire specialization would be quite common.
If I had to put labels on them, Tucker is also "primarly" Retribution paladin, but he has a few unique tricks, so you could say he's a "prestige" class (like how Anduin can be a priest in full plate armor and use a sword, you know?)
9302943
Thank you^^
9302965
To be fair, I've been making only Celestia stronger, and it's not exactly that I am making her stronger, but rather that Arthas' perception of her strength changes (he said, trying unsuccessfully to fool everybody into thinking that this was the plan from day one).
Celestia has a very big limitation that was already mentioned (or correctly assumed/guessed by Arthas, if you will) in the story a while back; it will become clear when I get to write a fight scene including her.
Also, this is sorte reminescent of how people complained about Celestia in the show isn't doing much, and instead send Twilight and the rest on dangerous missions (the best example of how bad this seemed would be in season 1 when that dragon fell asleep on the mountain and stuff) ;p Admittadly, one shouldn't repeat somebody's else mistakes though. In one of the MLP comics, there was an issue centered around Celestia and Spike, and she revealed that she refrains from acting in many cases so that Twilight and other ponies could grow, which I thought was a neat concept and I wish it would have been better explored in the series.
Also also, I've wrote way stupidier stuff in this story than this and I hadn't rewrote them. Yes, that's not something to brag about, but the point is that I just don't want to change this story, I want for it to come to an end with all its faults and strong points alike (and I am super lazy, that might also be playing a factor here). I did occasionally rewrote some things, but they were small things, like how sea ponies looked or Cadance's origin story. Of course, I might always take a page out of Blizzard's book and just retcon stuff
9302966
Seven Deadly Sins is one of the series that I, sadly, have yet to sit down too. I was thinking about watching their abridged series to save the time, but didn't even find time for that. I only recently finally watched the Terror series, and I've had originally been looking forward to that series for months.
9303014
Oh wow, just noticed that
9303018
I always thought that Hurricane had to be a stalion because in that play in season 2 Private Pansy kept referring to him as "sir", female officers are usually addressed as "ma'am". I think that this isn't an iron-clad rule, but it caused me to think that way. Then that MLP book, the Journal of Royal Sisters (or however it was called, don't remember) came out and it turned out that he was indeed a stallion (yes, I know that some parts of that book might no longer be canon after season 7 finale, but I don't think that necesserily applies to everything).
To be fair, the Aspects, until everything everywhere started going to shit (so basically since the start of WoW), had kept to themselves most of the time. They lived in seclusion within their flights, only interfering with mortals on few occasions, barring cases such as Krasus. We hadn't even seen and Aspect before Wrath, even though we were in the home of one in BC. They only act and work together with mortals if dealing with foe actually dangerous enough to be a problem even for them. Celestia and Luna though are a different case, they lead a kingdom which had been directly stated in this story to be the the most powerful in their world (I would imagine that in the show that's the same case though, as we learn starting from season 5 the other kingdoms are pretty shitty). A kingdom that in the show canonically had their fair share of foes that beings such as "Aspects" would have little problems dealign with. Fortunately, it can still be logically explained why they hadn't dealt with those that are canon to this story (Nightmare Moon, Celestia initally lost because she was taken by surprise in this story, second time she banished her because she couldn't heal her and didn't want to kill her, Discord's power escapes WoW's logic so won't even bother explaining this one, Chrysalis could only beat her because of Shining's love for Cadance, and with Sombra they've beaten him once, then the second time they wanted Twilight to prove herself - admittedly, pretty weird - that she's ready to become a princess). Still though, if there would be others coming (not giving any names ;p) they should do something .
I mean, look at Tyrande and Malfurion. They are almost certainly the most powerful of all faction leaders (Malfurion especially). How would it look like if they wouldn't do anything? You know, like up until now
Okay, that's a bit too harsh, they were occasions when they did something (and I don't mean just the novels, where they kick ass, I mean like stuff with Eranikus in Vanilla or helping out with Ragnaros or Cenarius), but you get the idea, right? Damn I hope they do them justice in 8.1... the patch trailer looks so awesome^^
Seriously, made me once again make my night elf druid my main^^
9303041
Thanks^^
9303060
Same what I wrote to Neece above, mostly. Still, good point. Though I would stress on the fact that we did get some help or there were some special circumstances, like how Murozond was/will be Nozdormu from future, so without most of his power, Ysera was without her power and we had Tyrande helping us, and with every boss in Legion we had a very powerful artifact. The only one that escapes this logic is Malygos; I still don't get it how we were able to defeat an Aspect with all his power practically without any help, especially when the Lich King later one-shoted us. Powerscaling is pretty difficult at times when it comes to Warcraft, but I don't think that the Lich King was stronger than a Dragon Aspect.
Then again, we had Lei Shen in MoP, whom Blizzard themselves had said would win in a one-on-one fight with the Lich King, and we've beaten him without anybody's help. I guess we do grow in power if in just two expansions we surpassed the guy who one-shoted us^^
9303173
I... admit that I don't really follow the first part, but it sounds good?
Hurricane is coming to the story in January 2019 (probably), stay tuned^^
9303228
To be fair, Celestia lost only once at the part of the canon that is canon to this story. Anyway, when I was at one MLP convention I attended a writer's club meeting, guy who was leading the meeting actually talked for a bit how to "write a poweful Celestia" good. Because as you've said, this isn't the only fic where this happens. And he actually talked about the same limitation that I am going with in this story as an example (would give you a title but it's been 1,5 year ago, I think there was something about going to the moon by a rocket? I deflinetly remember that we were talking about a Lunar Shuttle...).
Also, I felt that the "inflation of her power" is actually necessery in a crossover story with Warcraft. She and Luna move the sun and moon, I have to try and somehow make this fit with Warcraft's logic (trying to do that with a Discord will be a nightmare...)
9303275
Yep
9303320
Don't worry, this was the last time, at least until I will write a fight scene for her and you all will actually get to see how strong or weak she is
9303567
And not revealing any future events, either. Though I will say that the idea of somebody dying and being brought back as a "fallen champion" is interesting, to say the least 😈
I am not revealing anything regarding any Warcraft's characters appearing or not appearing in the future
9303774
Every class with definetly appear in the story, and I think I am going to have every class find their representatives in Equestria eventually - and no, I don't plan to have THEM end up as champions of (every) order(s) in Legion - soo... wait and see? 😈
9304024
Yeah, it also has Solar Wrath and Lunar Strike. Ugh, explaining how this makes sense was a bit of pain, fortunately when Legion was about to come out Blizzard made those short description of each spec, it helped to make it more smooth as you've seen Provato explain, I burrowed a lot from those spec descriptions (before them, my best bet was that those powers from Elune, similar to how nature spells come from Cenarius and Aesina, bear specs comes from Ursoc, and so on; however, that would be of little help when it comes to druid learning on another world).
9304308
Probably
9304311
Those are just echoes, not souls. The actual souls of ponies and griffons had passed long time ago.
9304342
Again, coming January 2019 (probably) ;p
Will be fun, especially if there was a situation that would require her to use her powers to save them. Hm... ;p
9304348
As a warrior main, Dash should learn how to channel our endless fury!
Few things more badass than a full plated Pegasus charging with a Sonic Rainboom!
*sigh* Why don’t they allow us to hit the like button more?
Well done, Borsuq. This was, once again, an enjoyable chapter to read.
I like how you keep showing growth and perspective with the other characters, without cramming it all in or making it seem too easy and forced.
I will continue to watch and wait for your further chapters to come. To me this is a “book” worth reading.
On a somewhat related note: How have I not followed you yet?
I will remedy that.
9304349 Oh, if only there was an upcoming episode where Fluttershy's friends (save for Dash) were thrown out of their balloon's basket by a twister.
But seriously, take however long you need with this. It may be a while, but the quality and anticipation is always worth it in the end.
9304348
Shhhh shhhh, do not think to rob those left behind of their hopes
9304348
I believe Blizz's reason for how we were able to defeat Lei Shen is that we interrupted the resurrection process or some such. Basically, he wasn't at full power, which gave us a chance. Considering that at his full strength it took a localised pulse from the Forge of Reorigination to take him down, we should be thankful for that.
This is one of those stories that, when updated with a new chapter, I download full in .txt format and spend next 2-3 nights re-reading it at work thanks to a Text to Speech device on my phone.
Its a pleasure every time.
Dziękuje i pokornie proszę o więcej.
9304348
Ooh a fallen champion being an idea, will you consider the Knights of the Frozen Throne Death Knight Hero Cards as an example to base it upon or them being the fallen champs them selves?
Brings up another idea, Is it possible for Arthas to teach them the ways of the hearthstone allowing them to tap into powers of Hearthstone cards say for example Fluttershy tapping into power of Hagatha allows witch shaman spell to cast on her behalf.
9325573
Fair enough. Still I bet she'd remember every word
this was an awesome chapter tho it's far behind the games but not by much i think the dreanor expansion can be skipped cause aurthus wouldn't need to know bout it the legion and battle of Azeroth one he would want to know cause his friend varien dies and how his son takes the throne
9228213
Heartfire,will the main character get his lich king form back,just for a little bit?
9373877
I understand your position, and I am happy to hear that you have improved on the matter!
Out of curiosity- How do you personally feel about the situation in the subplot, morally?
Have those morals changed in time?
Reading this, assuming you were writing for yourself, it comes across as written by somebody who is indecisive about whether FWB are okay, and trying effectively portraying an internal argument about whether FWB are morally acceptable or not- I’m curious as to whether that was true or not.
That’s a bit personal, though, so feel free to not answer if you’d rather not ;P
In any case, I look forward to reading more!
9375006
I'm actually okay with people being FWB (wish somebody would offer that to me but whatever...), the reason why this is portrayed so weird in those old chapters is purely bad writing
9375933
Thank you for clarifying! :P
When will he tell litergy that she is not a paladin but more of a priest.
Sooo...alicorns are beings of very powerful magic. Let's say that Arthas reverts to being the Lich King because, oh, someone is a genius and decides to kill Twilight. Wouldn't he be WAY more powerful than he ever was as a human death knight. And not to mention, he doesn't even have the entirety of his own soul. So, with the body of an alicorn, his soul complete, and the Lich King's regalia, would he still not be an equal to the Princesses? I get they are celestial bodies incarnate, but Arthas would be a demi-god of darkness, cold, and death. Would he not become a demi-god of the opposite of the Light, namely, the Void?
9414158
Well, to be fair, he hadn't seen how well she fares with combat training and stuff, and even if it would turn out that she's bad at it, so was Serenity when she first joined the Order.
9448985
It's difficult to say what would happen in such scenario. For starters, the Lich King is currently imprisoned on top of the Frozen Throne, and the Helm of Domination to which the Lich King's spirit is bounded isn't exactly wearable for ponies, then there is the issue of being an alicorn. But let's assume that such scenario would come to pass. I... still doubt that he would be "equal" to the Princesses, but in a fight he maybe could beat them. Yes, Celestia has quite a lot of raw power, and Luna has her own strenghts that will be showed off sometime soon, but Arthas has far more combat experience that both of them, and can get pretty creative with his powers. In a "fair fight" he would probably lose, maybe he could win against just Luna. But if he had time, and would be able to recreate Scourge, I think he could win.
Also, he wouldn't be a demigod of the Void, Void and undeath aren't really related. Death is somewhere between disorder and void... I dunno, the whole thing wasn't very well explained.
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What I can gather is that necromancers draw their powers from the element of Decay, which is the opposite of Spirit, and use "mage like" spells to wave it into their spells... sorta?
9450347
Huh...makes sense. Any chance Arthas would implode like a Naaru and become a Void Lord? Just skip past LK and go full one-winged angel?
9451891
*facepalm*
My brain actually hurts seeing your comment....
Think about who is the main character and you should have it....
9450347
9448985
There is another fanfic called the Crystal Vizer in which Shining Armor becomes the Lich King and makes the Crystal Empire into his own little Northerend. He also becomes a Alicorn, and it is made abundantly clear he is a lot more powerful than Arthas as a result of this
Pro be like:
carwad.net/sites/default/files/photosynthesis-gif-112580-7869513.gif
Fluttershy be like:
derpicdn.net/img/2018/4/7/1702007/full.gif
Not going to lie. Tucker Out pisses me off. He is funny for the occasional off hand joke (like his source material in rvb) but here, comes of as heavy handed and a constant nuisance. Either he changes suddenly or he has a chance off ruining the story for me. Apart from that, from someone who has never played an mmo besides pseudo-mmos like warframe and destiny, I like the story.