[DBitP] Knights of Time and Space

[cavalieredraghi]

The serpents glow for a second as they change forms. They both take on a reptile humanoid though their feathered wings remain. The then bow with a posture that represents them as equals. While in this shape their sex is more clearly identified. Que is most certainly a man while Zoyl is a woman.

"Forgive our rudeness."
"I am Que"
And I am Zoyl"

"We are the children of the God Quetzalcoatl. He is not the god of this planet however."

[Frozen_Feet]

"Interesting. I will see if I have time to discuss more with you later, Lord and Lady." Raijin bows to the serpents, then turns his attention back to Android 23. "Forgive me, but you sound rather confused of this tale. Have you never heard anything like it before?"

[Rater202]

I don't know about her, but the only stories I've ever heard about a father killing his children were either fairy tales where the father was killed and his sons brought back to life or True Crime shows or Police Procedurals that ended with the father being imprisoned or executed by the state for the crime of murder.

[Lord Raziere]

"Interesting. I will see if I have time to discuss more with you later, Lord and Lady." Raijin bows to the serpents, then turns his attention back to Android 23. "Forgive me, but you sound rather confused of this tale. Have you never heard anything like it before?"

"No I haven't,- Pokasuu, shush! don't interrupt me while I'm speaking to the God of the Eastern Skies- um.....just one question to clarify though, and this the important one for answering your question:

What culture do you come from? As in, in what culture were you raised? Just answer me that."

[Frozen_Feet]

Raijin glances at Pokasuu, then at 23. "I was raised by my father. I don't think it apt to say he's of any culture, or rather, he is a culture all by himself. But the tale, in the form it was passed to me originated, as far as I know, among peoples who live west of Ural mountains and around the Baltic sea. The one in the book is a local variant, I'd say. Why is that important to you?"

[Lord Raziere]

"...Just...curiosity. Call us ignorant, but we can't think of many cultures where its considered bad to take care of your parents when they're old. So it kind of confused us.

So um....I know you came looking for your son, but I'm sorry to say that the last we seen of him is him blowing himself up after fighting Ol' Kami. So, I guess I'm asking why are you here? Just letting you know in advance: its been a hectic few days for us, so if you want us for any fighting reason, I'm going to have to decline on the grounds that even warriors like us have our limits and need some rest..."

[Hawkflight]

[Past]
"Don't be. I told you, don't worry about me. I'm solid. Look, I should be the one apologising, we barely know each other and I'm burdening you with my problems."

Starlight shook her head. "It's okay," she said. "I may be new here, but I'm not one to let anypony ... uh, any...triclops? ... face that alone."

So. What's your backstory?

Starlight moved over to her bed, considering the question for a moment.

"Well, to start, my world has three types of ponies. Earth ponies are the ones without wings or a horn, but they have incredible physical abilities, and are capable of using earth pony magic to grow bountiful crops even in the harshest of climates. Unicorns have a horn, and are capable of using a wide variety of magic spells. Finally, pegasi have wings and are, of course, capable of flight. Then there are alicorns, ponies with the traits of all three races. Alicorns are, in theory, ascended ponies, ones who have 'ascended' to alicornhood via some form of powerful magic. Only one known pony has attained this state however - Princess Celestia, our ruler and goddess of the sun, and she controls the rising and setting of the sun and moon (there are rumors of another such pony long ago, but they are mere ponytales). Understand so far?"

[Rater202]

Oxy points to Starlight's wings and horn.

Um, if this Princess Celestia is the only "Alicorn"then why do you have both?

[Hawkflight]

Oxy points to Starlight's wings and horn.

Um, if this Princess Celestia is the only "Alicorn"then why do you have both?

"Well, I did say 'in theory'," Starlight said. "In practice, there are a few natural-born alicorns, though they are exceedingly rare, less than 0.001%. How this happens is not very well-known, but it's thought to be genetic. Anyhoof, I was one of those 'lucky' few." She made air-quotes around the word 'lucky' with her wings, then paused to give Oxy a chance to respond.

[Rater202]

So.. Then what? Unicorns are inherently magic, Pegasi can fly... Except anyone who can use ki can learn how to do that, so it's kinda useless as an inherent ability, and "earth" ponies are strong. And then we get ones like you that are all of the above.

What else?

[Hawkflight]

"Yes, but ponies are inherently magical in nature," Starlight said. "We are genetically predisposed to certain kinds of magic, and we are predisposed to magic above ki use. In fact, the average pony doesn't even know what ki is. There are some ponies in the far east who train in the use of ki, but even they are small sects of their homelands. Also, I forgot to mention, pegasi are capable of manipulating the weather, even moving clouds with their hooves. In fact, many pegasi get jobs maintaining Equestria's weather."

[Rater202]

"Yes, but ponies are inherently magical in nature," Starlight said. "We are genetically predisposed to certain kinds of magic, and we are predisposed to magic above ki use. In fact, the average pony doesn't even know what ki is. There are some ponies in the far east who train in the use of ki, but even they are small sects of their homelands. Also, I forgot to mention, pegasi are capable of manipulating the weather, even moving clouds with their hooves. In fact, many pegasi get jobs maintaining Equestria's weather."

And you have all of these abilities yourself?

Would you be willing to donate a blood sample for the purposes of scientific research?

[Hawkflight]

And you have all of these abilities yourself?

Would you be willing to donate a blood sample for the purposes of scientific research?

"Uh, maybe later," Starlight said hesitantly. "Anyhoof, ponies expect alicorns to be these supremely powerful beings, but really our 'power level' as you call it is no greater than anypony else, and we end up not really excelling in any of the three magics. Anyhoof, the point is, I'm a rare breed, and growing up in Canterlot - that's our capital, mostly unicorns, mostly snooty - well, it made it not particularly easy. Add in the fact that my parents weren't around much, and I was bullied a lot through school."

[Rater202]

I wouldn't know much about thatind of thing. I spent my entire life living in a laboratory from the day I emrged from my incubation tank to... Three or four days ago.

[Hawkflight]

I wouldn't know much about thatind of thing. I spent my entire life living in a laboratory from the day I emrged from my incubation tank to... Three or four days ago.

"Oh, sorry," Starlight said sheepishly. "Anyhoof, I earned my cutie mark actually fairly early on ... wait, that needs explaining." She indicated that pawprint tattoo on her flank. "Whenever we ponies come of age and discover our special talent, a mark appears on our flank that represents it. It's not just a visual indicator either - it's actually tied both to a pony's identity and their talent."

[Rater202]

Interesting.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Above Shenron]

The bandages on Raijin's face shuffle as 23 reveals she knows of no culture like that. It's hard to say, but he might be frowning.

"Relax, young lady. I bear you no ill will. I'm mostly just curious myself. I would like to talk a bit more with you about this story and... culture. But how about we set foot on ground first? Do you want a smoke?"

[Lord Raziere]

[Above Shenron]

The bandages on Raijin's face shuffle as 23 reveals she knows of no culture like that. It's hard to say, but he might be frowning.

"Relax, young lady. I bear you no ill will. I'm mostly just curious myself. I would like to talk a bit more with you about this story and... culture. But how about we set foot on ground first? Do you want a smoke?"

"Erm, no thanks."
She lowers herself to the ground.
"Perhaps I should explain myself better....how to say this...I'm from the future. and so is....Pokasuu, Android 22 over there and one other guy in the ship named Oxyribo but lets not focus on him. And basically a lot of cultural and technological changes happen over the centuries. Its probably hard to describe to you, but generally the world becomes more interconnected and with a lot of faster travel and better long-range communication, much bigger cities, things like that.

and well basically while a lot of knowledge is gained....some is lost due to the natural flow of history washing details away, while the amount of information we do have is so staggering, that no one person could learn it all in a mortal life time while an ageless person who tried would be occupied for many lifetimes over to truly understand it all- maybe even only a part of it. We're talking so much information that we built big machines just to process all the information we have coming in every day, like whatever you think is a big library is probably only a small nugget of info compared to what info the future starts getting.

so in ways I guess you can say I understand things in a more general sense, but lack specific knowledge about things that come from being raised in a culture where you didn't have a bunch of things connecting you to all around the world, so your instead experts of your local area. Y'know what I mean?"

[Frozen_Feet]

Raijin pulls a porcelain pipe from his cloak and lights it. "Hmmm. Interesting. But you might be overlooking the obvious, young lady. People still get born, eat, sleep, work to earn their bread and eventually grow old and die, am I right?"

[Hawkflight]

Interesting.

Starlight nodded. "Right. When a pony earns her cutie mark, it's considered a major event. In school, the next class period is usually cancelled so the pony can show off her cutie mark, and there's usually a party of some sort that evening," she explained. "Anyways, while I earned mine fairly early on, my classmates still bullied me. They just stopped calling me 'blank flank' and moved on to insulting my ... alicornhood...ness. So as you can imagine, I really don't like bullies. That's one of the reasons I took the job I have today. That and the fact that my parents took it, so it's a bit of an inherited position."

[Rater202]

I wouldn't know anything about inheriting anything from a parent, so...

...Says the guy in an heir's outfit who knows everything he knows because of inheritance.

[Hawkflight]

I wouldn't know anything about inheriting anything from a parent, so...

...Says the guy in an heir's outfit who knows everything he knows because of inheritance.

"....Aren't literally all of your abilities and knowledge inherited?" Starlight asked.

[Rater202]

"....Aren't literally all of your abilities and knowledge inherited?" Starlight asked.

I don't have parents. Therefore, I can not be an inheritor.

[Hawkflight]

I don't have parents. Therefore, I can not be an inheritor.

Starlight nodded. "Fair enough. Anyways, this next bit ... I hope you'll understand if I omit some details here, as there are some things I'm not allowed to say. I was recruited partially because of my family connections, and partially because I'm an alicorn. I admit, I was ... a bit hesitant at first. My talent was working with animals, and I didn't like the idea of leaving them behind. In the end, though, I learned that I could meet and help far more interesting little animals (and big ones of course) by travelling and working with the organization. Still, I admit, it's always hard to say goodbye...." Trailing off, Starlight looked ... sad? Wistful, maybe?

[Rater202]

Oxy nods. Understandable.

[Hawkflight]

Oxy nods. Understandable.

Starlight stared up at the ceiling for a moment before responding.

"Anyway, you know the rest," she said. "The Doctor informed us of a temporal disturbance, and I was sent to investigate. Keep an eye on things. I'm sorry I can't really tell you about any of my other missions, but ... oh, that reminds me." She levitated a device out of her briefcase that resembled a Nixie tube clock with eight tubes. It presently read '0.385662'.

[Lord Raziere]

Raijin pulls a porcelain pipe from his cloak and lights it. "Hmmm. Interesting. But you might be overlooking the obvious, young lady. People still get born, eat, sleep, work to earn their bread and eventually grow old and die, am I right?"

"Ah, taking an Owen approach to it eh? Thats cool. Your right. That still happens in my time. Some are hoping to get rid of some of that, but thats mostly theoretical. Well. If you don't count the odd mad scientist kidnapping teenagers and turning them into killing machines for his own revenge, but I'm exception."
She said, knowing he wouldn't get that reference for centuries, if ever at all.

[Rater202]

Starlight stared up at the ceiling for a moment before responding.

"Anyway, you know the rest," she said. "The Doctor informed us of a temporal disturbance, and I was sent to investigate. Keep an eye on things. I'm sorry I can't really tell you about any of my other missions, but ... oh, that reminds me." She levitated a device out of her briefcase that resembled a Nixie tube clock with eight tubes. It presently read '0.385662'.

This is what?

[Hawkflight]

This is what?

Starlight tapped a hoof to her chin as she placed the device on her bedside table. "It's ... complicated," she admitted. "Suffice to say, it measures changes in the timeline caused by magic. Basically, it measures how the timeline is affected, and if the changes will be enough to drastically effect Equestria. I'm ... embarrassed to admit that even I don't entirely know how it functions, but as long as the number remains below 1.000000, we'll be fine."

[Rater202]

Odd. It should be much higher.