Light groans were the first action of the commander. As though waking from a sleep that was ended far too early, his eyes lazily opened while he tilted his head from side to side. A few minutes ticked by as his mind preformed the slow task of turning itself back on. Then, the pain hit him like a charging ogre.
The commander grunted sharply as he felt the splitting headache he had. The pain seemed to originate from several different spots in his head, feeling as though someone had tried to crack his skull open like an egg. On reflex, he moved his hands upward to rub the very spots that were causing him such misery. To his surprise, he realized that he his hands were tied up, both arms being pulled behind his back while his wrists were bound together.
As the knowledge that he was bound made it through his senses, his eyes fully adjusted to his surroundings. Though the room he was in was dark, he could make out the wooden wall he was lying against, as well as what looked like a bed, the commander didn't recognize any of it. Of course, it never being a good sign to wake up in a place you've never seen before, especially to wake up with your hands tied together, the commander's mind was put on full alert as he slowly brought himself to his feet.
The action must have caught the attention of someone as the moment he was fully upright, a bright light flashed on out of nowhere, blinding him and causing him to stagger back against the wall.
“Oghren, is that you?” the commander shouted, his mind immediately being drawn toward the dwarf. “I swear, if this is one of your sick jokes, I'm going to-” The commander was stopped as he heard movement within the darkness beyond the light that was aimed at him, following it was a feminine voice that he didn't recognize.
“So you can talk,” the voice said, sounding like she was making an observation. “I wasn't sure if it had just been a parlor trick you had learned, much like parrots I've seen.”
“Who's out there?” the commander snapped, trying look beyond the light and peer through the darkness. “Where am I and why am I bound?”
“It was just in case you were to become hostile upon waking up,” the voice replied. “Now, I need you to calm down before we can go any further.”
The commander would probably laugh if he wasn't so furious. To think, that whoever had him was attempting to reason while he was vulnerable. His eyes darting across the area he could see, he noticed a familiar looking blade jutting out of the wall just beside him. It looked as though it was stabbed into the wood, he didn't have the faintest idea as to why.
Not wasting a moment to think on the reasons for it, the commander jumped toward the sword turned his back to it. Raising his arms up, he brought his wrists to the blade and pressed the space between them against it. After dragging his bound hands across the sharp surface, the ropes were cut and he felt the joy of freedom. Immediately grabbing his sword and prying it from the wall, he held it up in defense as he prepared for whatever kind of fight his captor was going to put up.
Much to the commander's perplexity, no action was taken against his freedom. “I want answers, now!” he yelled, his body tensed as the lack of any real information was getting to him.
But there was nothing, no creature or guard to attack him, no sounds from anyone that was within the veil of darkness, not even the previous woman he had heard said anything, there was just silence. The commander was preparing to simply charge forward and see what came of it, seeing as he could see that whoever captured him failed to remove his armor, or hide his weapon for that matter.
Suddenly, the commander's eyes widened as the sword in his hands was enveloped in a magenta glow. Having never seen anything like it before, he was far too shocked to keep a firm grip on the handle, making it all the easier as the weapon was plucked from his grasp, being yanked away into the darkness. Barely enough time was given to even think on the subject as the commander felt his feet leaving the ground. With a painful thud, he was pushed against the wall behind him, realizing he was unable to move as his body was engulfed in a similar aura.
“W-what... what is this?” the commander asked angrily, never seeing any kind of magic like this. “Who are you? An apostate? A demon? Show yourself!”
A few moments passed before he heard a response, noticing it was the same woman as before. “I need you to calm down,” she said, coming off as reluctantly stern. “Trust me, I mean you no harm.”
“How does one gain trust?” he retorted. “All I have is a captor's word while I remain bound and vulnerable.” There was a long pause, leaving the commander to stay suspended in silence. Then, the sensation of falling struck him as he collapsed onto the floor, whatever magical force that had kept him pinned having left. Following it, to more of his surprise, his sword came sliding across the floor toward him. Retrieving it, he stood up and looked back into the darkness.
“Please, put away your weapon now,” the feminine voice said in a calm and patient tone . Seeing as how he doubted anyone would be foolish enough to arm him if they meant to cause a conflict, the commander figured he could show a little trust to whoever he was conversing with. With a hint of hesitation, he complied with the request, putting his sword into its sheath on his back. Not prepared to be taken as a fool however, he made sure to keep one hand locked firmly around the hilt.
“Now, show yourself,” the commander ordered, keeping his own tone as level as possible. In response, the light the continuously shined at him disappeared, submerging the room in darkness. As he stood in the black abyss around him, listening for any sound to be wary of, he was suddenly blinded once again as the entire room became lit.
Seeing his surroundings clearly for the first time, he was taken aback by how much it contrasted from what he was expecting. Seeing as the few times he had managed to be knocked unconscious and captured, he always awoke in a dungeon of some sort, to now wake up in what looked like a library was certainly a change.
Only a few moments were spent on gazing at where he was. The commander's eyes soon fell upon who was with him in the room, seeing a short creature that stood on four legs, having a vibrantly colored purple coat and looking at him with a widened gaze. To him, it looked like some kind of mutant horse.
All the commander assumed upon seeing the creature was that it was some kind of a pet, his eyes looked beyond the animal to see where the owner would be, but he saw nothing. A sound of movement coming toward him forced his sights back onto the strange creature, who was now taking a step closer to him.
“I suppose I should ask if you are alright,” the creature said, her voice matching that of the woman he had heard within the darkness.
The commander had little time to piece two and two together however, as the shock of seeing the horse-like creature talking to him, caused him to jump back and collapse onto his rear. His eyes widened in startled surprise as he withdrew his sword and held the tip out at the animal.
“Stay back!” he warned, his commanding voice causing the creature to halt in her advancing step. Somewhat relived by it follow his command, he decided to try his luck and search for an answer. “What are you? What kind of magic allows you speech?”
The horse-like creature stared at him in an elongated pause, tilting her head slightly in a quizzical stance. To the commander, it looked as the she was gauging him, as though she hadn't expected his reaction. “Do you not know?” she asked, sounding slightly confused.
Lowering his sword slightly, the commander matched the stare of confusion that was directed at him. “Know what?”
“What ponies are, of course.” Though the word wasn't one he had never heard before, he was certain that it didn't imply to such a strange creature that was now talking to him.
Horses were a rare sight in Ferelden, being a native creature in Orlais. His own was gift from the Orlesian Warden-Commander. It was of course before the incident that involved the commander's head being separated from his shoulders, adding in to an apparent dragon and maleficarum related plot against the Chantry.
He also knew of what ponies were, though he was only aware that they were different from horses based on size alone, supposedly being much smaller versions of the beasts. The commander had made it a joke toward Oghren that they were basically the dwarves of hooved creatures, being a perfect mount for him. The creature that was now before him however, though sharing a small likeness with the animals, looked like nothing he had ever seen.
Just looking at her made his mind question its own sanity. She obviously wasn't any kind of darkspawn, there wasn't a demon he had ever encountered that looked remotely like her. He could only think of the “pony” as some kind of spirit, though he wasn't sure if they could take such strange shapes.
“Such large eyes,” the commander thought to himself, noticing the abnormal orbs that were staring at him, feeling as though they could peer straight into his soul. With much of his surprise slowly ebbing away from him, curiosity soon became dominate as he leaned forward toward the creature. Beginning to wonder if the “pony” was even real or not, he reached out with his finger extended as he neared the creature.
The “pony” took notice to the action, her eyes following the finger as it came closer, her vision crossing as it got near her face. With only a few hairs away from her, the commander threw caution to the wind and poked her nose. He immediately retracted his hand as he felt the soft fur of a coat and warm touch of flesh, having expected for his hand to simply go through her.
“So... you are real,” he said, unable to stop staring at her.
Twilight frowned as witnessed the creature's reaction to her. The young unicorn had expected for many different outcomes for when he would wake up, but this wasn't one of them. Not even knowing what ponies were, he seemed out of sorts with what was around him. She was beginning to think that there was more to the creature than she had originally thought.
With nothing better to think of, the scholar figured she could start off with the basics. “How about we introduce ourselves?” she suggested, earning a questioning look from the creature. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, I'm the student of Princess Celestia.”
Twilight noticed the creature continue with a puzzled expression, clearly not recognizing either names. There was a small pause that was formed after she had introduced herself, but after a few moments, the creature developed a more relaxed posture as he sat on the floor and cleared his throat.
“Uh... well... I'm Commander Cousland,” he replied, “Warden-Commander of the Ferelden Grey Wardens.”
It was then Twilight's turn to look at the commander strangely. Besides his name that sounded rather strange to her, barely a word of what he said made any sense to her. Commander was something she did recognize at least, it being a title used in pegasi leadership during the separation of the three tribes, but such a title lost its relevance centuries ago. There was also grey, but she had her doubts he was implying the color. Him being a commander of some kind at least explained his armor and weapon.
Twilight gave her head a slight shake, clearing her mind of the confusing thoughts until she was finished conversing with the commander. “If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?”
“I'm... a human,” Commander Cousland answered, appearing somewhat hesitant as he found it strange to be conversing with the four legged animal.
Again Twilight was faced with a word she didn't know. The well read scholar couldn't ever remember a time she had ever found the word human in her studies. Then again, she figured an unknown name would fit for an equally unknown creature.
“And what are you... exactly?” the commander asked.
“Well... as I said, I'm a pony,” Twilight replied. “A unicorn to be more specific, we are the magically gifted of the ponies.”
“Magically... gifted...” the commander repeated, his head bending down to stare at the floor as he began mumbling to himself. “That magic... can't be from the Circle... no no... This isn't right... where can I... I don't think I'm in Thedas anymore... No! This could all be a trick of demons... they could be trying to fool me to... No... this isn't the Fade, feels too real, not at all like before...”
Twilight stepped closer to the human, seeing obvious signs of distress written on his face. “Are you alright?”
The scholar jumped back as his head shot upward, looking at her with a need to speak. “Please, can you tell me... where I am?”
Twilight paused as she thought on the question. Again, his confusion to what was around him, despite having somehow appeared within her home, pointed to there being more to what was going on than what was clear. “You're in my home, a library within the town of Ponyville, that's in the nation of Equestria.”
Commander Cousland collapsed backward as the information was presented to him, pressing himself against the wall as he stared blankly downward. “Equestria...” he said, continuing to show his confusion. “No... this place... it can't be real. Where am I...? How could I have gotten here?” He stayed silent for a moment, his gaze turning into a look of deep thought. “I remember... the cave, we went after Avernus and he caught us... There was so much pain... that dark blood, the Eluvian, something went wrong and then the bright light where we – ah!” His face scrunched in pain as his hand reached up to clutch at his head. “My head, feels like it's going to split open.”
Seeing that the human was in need of help, Twilight approached him, not a single motion of hesitation in her step. “Follow me,” she said warmly, grabbing his hand with her magic and giving him a slight tug, “I might have something to help calm your nerves.” With no other option he could see, Commander Cousland slowly stood up, allowing himself to be led by the unicorn.
One would think the Commander of the Grey would have taken the Templar training to combat magic. For some reason people always make Twilight being able to easily handle guys that have killed gods and demons, that always rubs me the wrong way.
Yeah yeah, I know, the whole Ursa thing, still...
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I agree
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Remember, Twilight's tango'd with mad Goddesses and Gods before and come out the victor.
I do like how the Warden-Commander isn't instantly going, 'Groovy, let's settle down and have some hay-fries'. His disbelief and scepticism is nice. Although, I thought Fereldan had horses. You'd think that they'd have more than a few, especially among the nobility, of which Cousland is the son of a Tyrn (Tern? Tyern? I'll have to check the spelling...). I always figured that horses weren't in the game because of coding, gameplay, and time issues. There just wasn't a need to render horse models when there was no horseback riding.
1556748 Ehhh not really. It's more like the MLP villains are incompetent. NMM let them get to the elements and use cheap tricks instead of just killing them. Discord never took the seriously and let them get the elements instead or outright eliminating the only thing that could stop him. Chrysalis would have won if she had disposed of Cadance instead of keeping her alive, actually acted like her and not being a bitch to everyone.
And Twilight needed the elements to accomplish her victories.
The Warden Commander has killed demons, gods, armies or darkspawn and soldiers, fought abomination and blood mages. And yet a librarian pony beats him? One would think he be more prepared to counter magic since he was hunting a blood mage.
Ferelden doesn't have horses because those reminds them of the Chevaliers from Orlais.
She strained to keep the Ursa bound and lifted a water tower. She is strong, sure, but then again that's the problem with crossovers, the power levels. Marvel and DC had the same problem when they did their crossover fights, since DC has much more powerful characters. MLP is a kids show so they don't bother much with that, and when you crossover with a serious work the power difference becomes obvious. SA keeping an entire city shielded? Np, and yet the Susan Storm struggles with that thanks to years of development.
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While I agree on the killing gods bit, presuming this Warden has taken on either the Mother or the possessed dragon, he may well not be anti-magic spec. If he's actually a Warrior he could have been a Templar, but he could also have been a number of other things, such as Champion, Reaver, Berserker, Guardian or Spirit Warrior. Of course he may have been a combat oriented Rogue, meaning a completely different set of specialisations.
1557014 He seems to be wearing heavy armor, so doesn't sound like a rogue. Dunno what he would pick for his commanders, but if he is sword and shield would go with templar, spirit warrior and guardian, cause everything else sounds more towards 2 handed, but it's been a while since I played origins so eh.
1556374 First off If his armor didn't protect him from the 'blood mage' then what makes you think it would protect him from simple telekinesis. also magical if he cant fast cast like twilight then theirs know way he can defend himself from her without first killing her out right.
1556825 yes mlp villains are incompetent to the point of idiocy but then again so are villains from most games and shows. a smart villain would have gone after the most dangerous targets IE} Causland, the bard, any of the final fantasy games, skyrim, infamous 2, god of war, fallout 3 and fallout new vegas, lord of the rings they couldn't even keep their eyes on one frigging pare of hobbits, Etc. need i go on?{ himself rather than waiting on them to arrive at his metaphorical door step strong enough to kill multiple gods due to killing the majority of his/her minions. it's like the bad guy's are training their usurpers on purpose. we'd probably get the same thing if twilight was forced to abandon the elements and had to face the nightmare/discord/chrysalis on her own.
And the few games where the main villain is smart are the games where you either are the villain or the villain is weak as all hell. not to mention in most instances the heroes are stupid as well and rather than killing the villain while they are 'monologue-ING' they sit their till the villain finished speaking. cant we ever get a battle where the hero pulls a Celtic charge and just beats the enemy before they can drop the heroes IQ with their stupid lame excuses for being idiotic and cruel numbskulls that just happen to be evil?
tear this apart and tell me what you think.
cheers
1557355 I didn't say anything about his armor protecting him from magic, but if you bring that up there are a lot of items in the game that along with templar training are more than enough to grant 100% spell immunity. Sure, a lot of those are templar equipment, but I would guess he could get and warden set with the same protection.
Eh, ok.
Dragon Age. Loghain DID try to kill the player a lot of times, and so did the mother and archdemon, but Loghain couldn't focus on a single party in middle of a civil war, in an usurped throne. He used mercenaries and bounty hunters to try to kill you. Hell, if you go to the dwarves very early you won't beat the mercenaries there so it means the player need to be stronger to enter.
Skyrim. Alduin did try to kill the Dragonborn which backfired and ended up setting the player in the path to kill him. A lot of people sent assassins after you, but then again you are a dragon god made flesh so...
Fallout 3 if you give the enclave what they want they just kill you, unless you play and get Eden in your side. New Vegas they did kill you, but the robot saved you, and the factions send assassins after you. Again, you have god tier tech on your side and the legion uses hockey pads.
inFamous 2, the beast needed him alive, and a bunch of rednecks can't kill a superhuman.
Kekfa did win halfway through the game, he destroyed the world, the other are to numerous to analyze.
In Mass Effect 2 you CAN kill a krogan villian in middle of his monologue.
Most of this can be attributed to simple narrative necessity, since one could ask why didn't Rita just sniped the power rangers if she knew where they lived, or just attacked another city.
1557481 in Skyrim Alduin saved the dragon born only for the bastard to metaphorically turn around and gut him in turn. if Alduin had just stayed in hiding for a year or two gathering his forces he would not have had to worry about the dragon born anymore.
in fallout new vegas benny wasn't the main villain and was an ideot for not making sure the courier he shot in the head was dead. then the legion or what ever faction your against sends assasins once you become a noticeable nail in their backside to die and give you free gear, money and experience. in fallout 3 yes the enclave capture you and can kill you on the spot but they should have made a better ai and kept their morals straight. they might have been a stronger force to be reckoned with if they had.
kefka was a lethal jester all things considered and loved killing and hating the world, when it finally came time to kill the heroes he just gloated about his victory and threw them off the tower and assumed the ensuing cataclysm killed the heroes off, rather than searching the world for theim and making sure they were either subjected to his control, confirmed dead, and if not then slain outright. when you have a dangerous enemy on the loose you don't just sit around assuming when they finally come after you that you can slaughter them just as easily.
and i praised every minute of that scene in mass effect two. even though i chose the paragon path i sometimes made that choice just for the lulz.
I love story's that have competent villains. also Twilight is strong enough to release a raw unconcentrated magical burst strong enough to destroy a house whereas most of our heroes are well trained killers their magic strong enough to bust down doors and cause heavy damage upon their enemy's. as for the armor on the armor i think its designed to fight off demon and human magic it doesn't say anything about pony magic. nor could he have been prepared to face twilight ahead of time since she was a surprise.
most villains are ridiculously stupid don't you think?
cheers
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You're right, the problem does lay in the narrative medium and demographic. MLP is, at it's core, a Family show. Dragon Age, on the other hand, is for adults and has a Mature tag to go with it. If MLP was targetting adults, it can be assumed that the trials Twilight and the other girls faced would have been more severe and brutal. The themes going along with it being likewise more mature. But at the end, Twilight would have still won. Would she have been unscathed? Unknown. There can be arguments made either way. But no matter what, the law of Narrative Causality and her being the protagonist would mean she'd 'win' in the end.
It's up to the author of a cross-over that is blending two IPs from different genres which way to lean with the characters and events. So far he seems to be leaning to parity between Twilight and Cousland. Remember, Cousland was already knocked out when Twilight arrived. He is beat up, has a concussion (at least), and in an unfamiliar location with magic that may not even work the same way as magic in Fereldan.
As for Skyrim and Alduin: That dragon was a moron. He had plenty of oppertunities to off the dragonborn before the player gets the Dragonrend Shout. But again, the law of narrative causality (not to mention save/reload) means he doesn't just stomp you.
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All good point, but I think there is one more thing to consider interactive vs non interactive medium. A game is limited by gameplay and the player himself. It wouldn't be much fun to just stay hiding, planning and get killed by a nuclear stroke in the first five pages by a competent villain. Meanwhile in books or shows you can make more engaging scenes not limited to gameplay.
Warning: TVTropes.
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Ahhhhh!!!!! It's TV Tropes! No, keep it away! Keeeep it Awayyyyyyyy!!! ... ... Oh, who am I kidding? Time to get my walking stick and hiking boots, it's Wiki-Walking Time!
Heh, goodness so much discussion.
1556374 The main thing for anyone to see is how Dragon Age magic would transfer from a game to a literarry viewpoint. Since without the magic of a healthbar (insert hero here) couldn't take a hundred sword swipes before falling.
The thing about templars is also a bit of a grey area. Personally, I don't think it would make much sense for him to have their abilities. (though I think in a realistic sense they would only have a small amount of extra resistance to it as well as a limited interuption) Alistair really shouldn't be able to teach you how to be a templar. He admits to only learning a small amount of templar combat, while most of his time was spent in study. It's why he doesn't have the lyrium addiction. That also means he really shouldn't be able to teach it to someone. Plus, now correct me if I'm wrong, I don't think the cleanse aura ability works on yourself.
And in terms of Twilight "beating" the Warden, she really didn't beat him, she simply kept him restrained with her magic. Keeping him pinned to the wall would be a more powerful form of her telekinesis. Which is also an ability that the Warden wouldn't be prepared for as most Dragon Age magic is offensive. It can also go into the fact that he is still weak from what has happened to him, making him easy to restrain for someone who is as magically adept as Twilight.
1557664 one game where the hero I can say is brilliantly thought out and the villains are also just as well thought out is halflife and halflife 2 with the mute psycho theoretical physicist Gordon freeman who using only his intelligence, help from both the rebels and the black mesa science team/security teams, and a hazardous environmental suite MKIV. manages to defeat the alien invasion force and survive against near insurmountable odds against an army of soldiers, special forces, and aliens that are already either there or popping in from random portals created from the resonance cascade. the only character i hate is the Gman.
1557481 KEFKA FOR THE WIN!
1557602 I know am way far to comtribute anythign relitive but... most villens have to look and go "Hind sight is a bitch isnt it."
Also Kefka is kinda cocky arogent bastard and once he got the "god mode" and Judgement spell I think he was going "WHO GONNA FU#$ NOW! BWAHAHAHA. (or whatever his awesome clown laugh was) He laos had a nack for being able otbasicly back stab everyone ...also let me point out it wouldnt be much of a game if you couldnt win...
Then again one last call the first Bioshock itself while he didnt seem like much of a villen our hero's (or anti-hero's) may enemy though the whole story (till the real idiot showwed himself) (no spoilers here) did techicly win...moraly Andrew Ryan made his point and won with it ...and gave you his murder weapon and made you kill him... and DIDNT give you the choice which his entire point beat you. You were aslave till after that point.
Would you kindly forgive me for saying this
Faced with a strange new creature, you do the only thing you can: boop it on the nose!
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On the other hand, he just lost quarts of blood, got yanked arse-first through a portal through time and space, cracked his head on a doorframe, and then had someone liberally apply a giant dictionary to his skull multiple times-- so maybe, just maybe, he's not quite at 100% of his badass, god-killing capacity.
2408883 On the plus side, Twilight just found a new study method.
*scoffs* is it another book to the head?