[DBitP Sidequests] Do Equestrian Dragons Have Balls?

[Lord Raziere]

Tigra, by contrast, took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a second as she focused and lifted her blade. Scissors ... a tool made for sheering things in two. Her weapon, it was no mere piece of metal. It was a tool created by the majin, a being some in her village still considered a god. She could feel the weapon quivering in her hand, responding to her will. Her eyes snapped open, full of steely determination.

"If I can't knock you out, or shove you out of the arena ..." she started. Her Buster Scissors shook, then suddenly seemed to grow more blades, doubling, then tripling in length, over and over, until the weapon spanned the length of the arena. "... I'LL JUST HAVE TO SHOVE THE ARENA TOO! THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS TO FIGHT HEAD-ON!" She drew her weapon back as the crowd gazed in awe....

"HAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!"
She unleashes the blue beam in response, the locomotive train of energy rushing towards her ready to run her over into the out of bounds area like a charging bull filling the stadium with light as it exploded forth at Tigra.

[Hawkflight]

Tigra leaped up into the air, brandishing her giant scissor blades. She snapped them together on the beam, cutting it in half as it washed around her. The blades continued snapping together, shearing the very arena in twain, reducing the rubble beneath Masala to rubble.

[Lord Raziere]

Masala
The two beams twirl upwards, missing the people in the stands as Masala suddenly finds herself falling to the ground, the two halves of the arena beside her.
She blinks and says
".......Aaaaaaaaw phooey. Good game, good game."
The Announcer yells
"We have a Winner! I present you.......our Tournament Champion..... TIGRA!!!!"
He says pointing to the the tiger woman.
"As prize you receive 10 million zennie in wealth! Spend it well!"

From This day forth will remember the victory against the seemingly invincible Masala....well all the fighters at least, outside of the martial artist circles, most people are gossiping about the rumors of Lucifer having a baby out of wedlocke, how scandalous! Only increasing his fame more and more. Oh and something about the tournament and some horny guy landing from the sky? Whatever, they are sure its nothing important.

After the tournament, while people load money onto something for Tigra to carry back to her tribe, Masala says to her in private
"Hehehehe.....Thank you Tigra. You were my first defeat. Admittedly, I'm only half here at the moment.....the other me is still on Talsaiga, but.....I think you would've still won if I was all here. That last attack was pretty clever! I have to go now though.....I need to get back together so my memories of both events can be in my mind....I'm jealous that the other Masala got to on a trip with.....other versions of my parents? I hope I will consider them my parents in time, even if I won't forget the originals. So.....what will you do with the money?"

[Hawkflight]

Masala

The two beams twirl upwards, missing the people in the stands as Masala suddenly finds herself falling to the ground, the two halves of the arena beside her.

She blinks and says

".......Aaaaaaaaw phooey. Good game, good game."

The Announcer yells

"We have a Winner! I present you.......our Tournament Champion..... TIGRA!!!!"

He says pointing to the the tiger woman.

"As prize you receive 10 million zennie in wealth! Spend it well!"

From This day forth will remember the victory against the seemingly invincible Masala....well all the fighters at least, outside of the martial artist circles, most people are gossiping about the rumors of Lucifer having a baby out of wedlocke, how scandalous! Only increasing his fame more and more. Oh and something about the tournament and some horny guy landing from the sky? Whatever, they are sure its nothing important.

After the tournament, while people load money onto something for Tigra to carry back to her tribe, Masala says to her in private

"Hehehehe.....Thank you Tigra. You were my first defeat. Admittedly, I'm only half here at the moment.....the other me is still on Talsaiga, but.....I think you would've still won if I was all here. That last attack was pretty clever! I have to go now though.....I need to get back together so my memories of both events can be in my mind....I'm jealous that the other Masala got to on a trip with.....other versions of my parents? I hope I will consider them my parents in time, even if I won't forget the originals. So.....what will you do with the money?"

((Crap, I missed this, sorry!))

Tigra shouldered her weapon. "Well, I never really thought about it," she replied. "I'm thinking I'll use some of it to help make sure my village prospers, and then use the rest to help train new warriors to defend the Earth. That Hailing guy ... I don't like him. My gut tells me he's bad, and my gut's never been wrong before. Heck, if I'm lucky, maybe I'll even get to train under the kami herself someday."

[Speaking of Kami Luxana....]

At some point during the timeskip, Starlight hovered near Luxana's village. She took a deep breath -- she really didn't want to do this. She harbored a great distaste for Luxana after she simply let that Namekian child get kidnapped, without even doing anything to help him. If she had a fist, she'd clench it -- she would certainly make sure she never raised an alien child again. She simply had no understanding of how to raise children of different cultures (or even her own, in Starlight's opinion). Still ... she needed Shanakan's help. It seemed like the Element of Harmony's magic was actually a Fate Art, one based on friendship and bringing friends together. A few of Starswirl the Bearded's books levitated behind her as she looked around for the tiger man. She's told him she needed to meet with him, but was sketchy on the details -- she would explain them to him in person, so that nobody could find a paper trail and this discover whatever secrets might be kept safe.

Flapping her wings, she descended towards the village, looking around for Shanakan.

[Lord Raziere]

Shanakan
First of all its Luxana City, not a village. Second of all, she is probably pulling triple duty of having to rule this place, be Earth's Kami AND be a mother. Just to keep the facts straight.

He is meditating but turns around to look at you right on cue. If he knows at all your opinion on raising children, he doesn't show it. His tiger face betrays little if any emotion. He has fore saw the need of this anyways, and thus will teach regardless of personal feelings.
"I know why your here. You wish to learn of the Fate Arts."
He focuses on you, and somehow the world darkens around you, the village gone, replaced by millions of stars with the constellations showing at glowing lines and strange purple thread weaving in between them. Your not sure where you are, but it is probably metaphorical or figurative or something. Fate Arts are strange like that.
"I shall start simply: Your peoples fate are different. The Fate of Humanity and mortals is that of freedom. They control their own destiny, and as long as they try hard enough, as long they persist, they can accomplish anything, for fate most of the time is like say....a dealer at a casino. They deal you your hand, and you simply have to make the most of it from the cards you get at birth."
He holds up a hand suddenly fans out a hand of tarot cards seemingly out of nowhere.
"For people like humans, they start with the seemingly most basic and ordinary of hands yet can draw any card, their hand can grow and become something far greater as they play. Your people, ponies on the other hand get a card that humans do not: The Cutie Mark. This....is the connection of destiny that binds one to your talent in a way humans do not get. Sure you still have freedom like any other being, but you can't lose that card, not through ordinary means. It is simply YOU for all eternity. In this metaphor, you have a card that you cannot discard, that you can always play when needed for good or for ill. It is anchored, and makes your fate harder to change in some ways. Because of the great talent the mark represents, it reduces the probability of failing at the talent drastically. Whether this is all good or bad depends on the person- I can imagine some people would hate not being able to change such things, and would prefer their fate more fluid, much likes humanities.

but this metaphor is tired now. It only covers one aspect of fate. The other aspect is how fate binds all the world. Think of the world as one great spiders web or sweater: Its all woven together. The fate of a rock for example-
The cards were gone, replaced by a rock in his hand.
"-is not like humans at all. It is certain. If dropped, it falls. If thrown, it arcs. if left alone, it sits. Its fate no matter what happens to it, is set in stone by the all-binding laws of physics across all of time and space. While we have choice, we are similarly bound to all the world around us and all the little probabilities and interconnections surrounding us. We are all connected. The Ponies, are a little more tightly interwoven, simply because your own beliefs and culture make it true. you succeed and fail together through your own self-fulfilling prophecy about yourselves, the mystical magical connections are there to, but your choices, what you choose to believe and perceive about others- these also have an effect, and might be whats more important.

The result of your differences is in many ways, your fates are....tighter, harder to change, a similar effect occurs with conservative societies, or people who hold to tradition or codes. you put effort into not changing something about yourself, and you lower the probability of it ever changing at all. but when you do change- it can send cascade effects throughout your society, the few times when change does happen, it happens bigger, more dramatic and greater to make up for it. Much like an erupting volcano. And thus, cascade effects through fate. Discord is perhaps the personification of this effect, or at least the closest approximation.

Am I accurate enough so far? I am establishing context for which this specific destiny magic of Friendship is working within."

[Hawkflight]

Starlight nodded, following so far.

"There are numerous theories on how cutie marks function, but due to their nature, it is considered both illegal and highly immoral to perform any experiments in order to confirm or deny any of them," she replied. "What's fascinating is that, while our society is so interwoven that change causes a massive ripple effect, like you said, our connection to emotion-based magic centered around friendship seems to keep certain things stable." She levitated one of the Starswirl books and opened it to a specific page. "Starswirl the Bearded was an expert in all forms of magic, but of particular note is that he is the only pony to have harnessed temporal magic, travelling through time and even across timelines. His notes on these excursions are highly restricted, but of particular note is that certain groups of friends seem to come together across lifetimes or even timelines, barring outside interference. Evidence seems to indicate that this particular brand of fate is not even restricted to ponies, although detailed observations on non-pony societies are much more lacking. Starswirl the Bearded put very little research into the magic of friendship, sadly."

[Lord Raziere]

Shanakan thinks upon this.
"Hm. well to be specific, its not exclusive yes. But it does take different forms. A bond between those who fight beside each other in battle is different from a friendship gained in peace. A friendship between the ageless is not one of those among mortals. And one like Starswirl..... it is my experience that intelligence can bring isolation. To contemplate the mysteries of the world is something one often does alone, often making one wonder why things are not better, and thus making the world that is, seem lesser compared to one the one that could be. Such conditions are a recipe for cynicism, and thus declining to interact with others.

As for people coming together across timelines, across lifetimes? Hm. A strange pattern indeed. As for the Marks....well, the most similar thing I could say to those would be the Signs of the Zodiac. All beings upon Earth are born in a year, a month and we give them a sign like Gemini or Taurus and say that is their sign, even if we do not bear them on our skin. The thing is, these signs are not the fate. The fate is the fate. The sign is just a symbol. A doorway for an abstract metaphysical concept to connect to us through something in this world. Through the sign we are connected to that concept. As above, so below. The Marks you bear, are similarly that- symbols. They remind us of what they stand for, and thus allow us to access them easier in our thoughts. Through what counts a symbol can be flexible. Even something as simple as a color can represent something more, and thus a way to change destiny. When people see red they think bloodshed and rage. When people see blue they ocean, sky and calmness. and so on. People really like it when one color turns into another to signify change. Very obvious and easy to prove that something is different like that. Very symbolically significant, and therefore significant to fate.

Hm. does this pattern of reincarnating friends form any overarching symbol of some kind? Perhaps these friends together represent something together that they cannot represent alone."

[Hawkflight]

"As for people coming together across timelines, across lifetimes? Hm. A strange pattern indeed. As for the Marks....well, the most similar thing I could say to those would be the Signs of the Zodiac. All beings upon Earth are born in a year, a month and we give them a sign like Gemini or Taurus and say that is their sign, even if we do not bear them on our skin. The thing is, these signs are not the fate. The fate is the fate. The sign is just a symbol. A doorway for an abstract metaphysical concept to connect to us through something in this world. Through the sign we are connected to that concept. As above, so below. The Marks you bear, are similarly that- symbols. They remind us of what they stand for, and thus allow us to access them easier in our thoughts."

"Not quite," Starlight corrected the cat. "The major difference is, there are documented cases of ponies gaining additional cutie marks, typically though the disease known as the Cutie Pox. There are also rumors of ponies losing or swapping cutie marks, though these rumors are unsubstantiated. Altering these tethers to our very fates can cause --- drastic changes to a pony," she added, looking somewhat downcast.

"Through what counts a symbol can be flexible. Even something as simple as a color can represent something more, and thus a way to change destiny. When people see red they think bloodshed and rage. When people see blue they ocean, sky and calmness. and so on. People really like it when one color turns into another to signify change. Very obvious and easy to prove that something is different like that. Very symbolically significant, and therefore significant to fate."

"And even this can change across species and cultures. For example, a species with blue blood, on a planet with red skies, would likely experience the opposite feelings."

"Hm. does this pattern of reincarnating friends form any overarching symbol of some kind? Perhaps these friends together represent something together that they cannot represent alone."

"Typically they're groups of friends who have a particularly strong impact. For example, the Pillars of Harmony. This particular group of ponies always seem to meet again across lifetimes and timelines, whereas less significant ponies, 'background ponies' if you will, tend to vary a lot more in their friendships. For example, according to my research on the future bearers of the Elements of Harmony, these individuals report certain events that almost seemed to pull them together, despite any form of logic dictating it. They also seem to be a group of friends that tend to come together quite often across space and time."

[Lord Raziere]

Shanakan
"Hm. There is a concept I have heard of among humanity, known as The Red String of Fate. The idea that two lovers are destined to be together because the gods bound a red string of fate to them, so that the world conspires them to weave them together eventually, and thus their fated loved ones will always eventually meet even across reincarnations. Perhaps something similar is occurring with these friendships you speaking of? An odd choice from my perspective. Friendship while strong, is not usually seen as strong enough to make such a thing happen, as the tales of red strings are often of epic loves, loves that shakes the world itself with their passion. Perhaps the Pillars are a more platonic form of love?"
Shanakan says, tilting his head as he continues to sit cross-legged.

[Hawkflight]

"You forget, friendship is the basis of the most powerful magic in Equestria," Starlight reminded him. "It's the core of the Elements of Harmony, the very magic that banished Discord, a Majin Buu-level being of chaos. Traits and emotions hold sway over the very fabric of reality. The power of friendship isn't just some metaphor for working together, it's a very real and very powerful form of magic. Perhaps in becoming closer to each other, we somehow become closer to the very concept of fate itself -- which, as we both know, is a very powerful force. And the closer you get to it, the bigger and stronger it becomes."

If this was set in modern times, she would have made the analogue of multiple waveforms synchronizing and boosting each other more and more as they became more in sync. Alas, it was not, so she did not.