private Family Matters (1x1)

[GoldieS 679]

The eldeer merely rolled his eyes, one of the shields rising up to intercept the first arrow as another blocked the second. He merely chuckled, scoffing at her attempts. 

"Oh please, you must take me for a fool. Don't deny who you are love, your an ignorant barbarian, pure and simple." He concluded. 

The three swords had sailed right under her after she had jumped, failing to adjust course mid air while he was busy defending himself against her arrows. He let the ethereal weapons dissolve as they hit part of the rooftop Maple stood atop. 

"You know I envy you. You're stupidity is something to covet... after all, ignorance is bliss." He said with a chuckle. "You know, I wasn't lying when I said you have a delightful coat! I'd love to have you as an attendant in my entry hall. Mmm... maybe if you wore something a bit nicer though..." 

The aura around his horns began to intensify, but the swords and shields surrounding him didn't move.


"Marvelous!" Sally cheered with glee, clasping her claws together as she slithered through the air and into the portal. 

Pest merely smiled. "Ah, excellent. Why in the world would you 'get rid' of your own dimension? It's your very own sanctuary, your home." 

Pest waited for Woody to enter next, then followed behind him, slinking across the ground like his namesake. Sally, meanwhile, was giggling as she swirled and danced in the wide open blank space that was Woody's newest realm. She looked exceptionally happy as she swirled around him once again after he entered. 

"Oh! How wonderful! What a perfectly clean slate dear brother! I just can't wait to put some beauty in here!" She practically shouted. "To create the most wondrous painting!" 

Pest gave her a condescending look. "Now Sally, recall your lessons. We don't create, we merely change. Brother, as you may have noticed, we cannot conjure things from thin air. It may appear as such at times, but in reality, we merely summon them from another time and place. Tartarus is an infinite realm that never ends. Therefore, there are plenty of materials to use and bring here to your own realm." 

"Ugh!" Sally gave a loud audible sigh. "Come now Pest, perhaps you should skip to the point... Little brother, do you know how to conjure objects and items? What have you brought to your presence before?"

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple drew back an arrow and fired it while still flying circles around the deer "Well maybe I would," She said in a mocking tone. "But Someone's too dense to see that I'm trying to keep the citizens here safe. I don't want you enslaving them and I surely don't want to kill them either. I don't support any of those 4... I'm from Equestria so I know little..." Maple stopped speaking abruptly and growled angrily "Why am I telling you all of this! It's such a waste of my time." Maple knocked another arrow drawing it back and watching the one she shot prior trying to look for an opening or pattern in her shields... Anything she could take advantage of was really what she was looking for.

 

Woody smiled "Oh yea! I can do that! It's how I usually retrieve my songbook! Let me just think here... Aha! I like that!" Woody started singing the earthy melody and started to landscape his own realm, it was mostly flat but he started to adjust the terrain adding small hills and dips in the ground making it look natural. He started to add a place to put a river before he said anything "I think I'm liking it so far, But Biomancy will help make it perfect!" He smiled to Slug and continued his work until it was as he saw fit.

[GoldieS 679]

Each time she fired an arrow, two shields came up to block it. Usually, they were the closest together in the consecutive pattern of sword shield, sword shield. 

The deer furrowed his brow. "Equestrian? That's rather interesting... they you probably have no idea what's going on here, do you? I suppose ignorance is bliss, isn't it?"

He chuckled, charging forward to leap onto her roof top. Swords still swirling around him with the shields, he advanced trying to keep her moving for whatever reason. He had a confident yet displeased look on his face after her little reveal. 

"What do you think would happen to these ponies if left in the hooves of the wolf's followers hmm? You think they would merely run off to live another day? Hardly. We were all called here to fight, all four Empires. If Prince Itsu hadn't taken over the battle, your little wolf friends would have murdered every last on of them. At least I'm offering them shelter, beds, and hot food for their work. Like every slave, they have every chance to become a cultist and free themselves, with a little devotion and hard work of course." He explained. "Would you rather them die, or live comfortably among the Serpents? The only one of the four to revel in delightful food and luxury?"



"Oh! How marvelous! You're just a natural!" Sally clapped her paws together, viewing the terrain he had forged with his own magic. 

Pest, however, seemed a little less pleased. "A work of... art..." He said hesitantly. 

"However, if you wish to master biomancy, you must change the way you view the world around you. Sally has the same trouble, as dose... little shadows..." He explained, becoming serious for the first time since Woody had met him. "You are a... facilitator. You merely provide the materials, and allow them to mold the world on their own. To control them, is to admit you have no respect for the forces of chaos. The natural way of things beyond our control, the free will of the universe."

Sally smacked her forehead and groaned. "Brother your lessons have been very... informative... but we don't exactly have eons to help our newest brother put a little pizzazz into his home!" 

She giggled in delight as she held out her arms to conjure something of her own. "I personally like woodland forsts. You know, pine trees? They make such a fantastic backdrop to colorful flowers and thickets!"

Coniferous trees began to sprout in an instant, mixed with the typical clutter of a forest floor, spaced with various clearings of tall grass and rocks. Pest, was not pleased by her manipulation of the natural world so readily. 

"What do you think little brother? Maybe some more... hmm... hinterlands foliage?" She considered. 

Edited February 5, 2018 by GoldieS

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Yea, a likely story... Where's your evidence, You complemented my coat... So let me guess you were going to shave it off of me? Right? Keep in in a dungeon for you to toy with." Maple drew her knife making a plan but not doing anything just yet, Afraid of her plan failing and something really bad happening, but doing something like what she planned well it was hard to predict. "You know... Lying's not a good look on you, But I'm willing to forgive you... If you help me. I'm looking for an assassin. One who's thinking of challenging one of the Chaos gods... Maybe it could go for Serpent... My point is, I was sent here with a mission. I should just leave... YOu're nothing but a waste of time anyways" Secretly Maple was just hoping the deer would lower his guard, Or... well she'd actually not fight him if he was willing to help.

 

"That... Makes a lot of sense..." Woody said, Ignoring his own self-pride and possibly Sally at that. "Like I give What I create the ability and after that, I have no way to manipulate what they do from there. It's really not a matter of perspective... More of letting go and trusting." With a small amount of effort, Woody undid What salacious was doing his realm fell under his manipulation the easiest after all. "I thank you sister, But I think I need to do this one. On my own." Woody moved a good distance from the 2 of his siblings. He closed his eyes picturing something for a long time. He dropped his idea, distracted by something "Hey... Sal... Er actually Pest... could you ask War something... Where's my sister? I knew she was in her realm last... I've just got a bad feeling in my chest..." Woody turned back to the now open dirt field again concentrating.

[GoldieS 679]

"Evidence?" The deer chuckled. "Well, just ask your friends down there..." 

The swords and shields stopped spinning, though he was exceptionally close to Maple, standing only a few yards away. The weapons oriented upward as if to give her but a brief moment to discuss whatever terms she had. At the very least, the Eldeer liked to hear his own voice... 

"Oh, trust me beautiful, I haven't lied to you yet. I don't need to after all." He smirked. "But I suppose I could merely have you as a house servent, I usually let them keep their looks so long as they maintain them. You know, keep the guests visually pleased." 

He merely rose a brow at her claim though, before outright laughing. "You can't be serious! I admire your... devotion for whichever god you serve, but if you think some meager assassin could harm her eternal beauty the Serpent, than you are far more foolish than I expected... however, if that's your goal, then you have no reason to steal my slaves, do you? Besides, the only one who could possibly stand up against the Serpent is the Lone Wonderer, so unless that's your assassin, or one of the other three, you're wasting your time speaking to me. If you're with the Wolf, then clearly you're looking for the Sole Survivor." 



Sally's jaw dropped just slightly, hurt at Woody's sudden complete disregard for her assistance. Though, perhaps she should have expected it considering who he was apparently siding with this entire time. 
 

"Very good little brother. It takes a great deal of patience, but the land will blossom should you allow it the opportunity to." Pest assured Woody. "Very well, I'll speak with-" 

"Oh she's fine!" Sally snapped, looking around at the blank canvas in clear displeasure and disdain. "That brat of a sister you have is busy bullying one of my priests! Maybe you should get her under control before *I* decide to." 

Pest merely frowned, tilting his head. "I was under the impression she was in Valhalla with War and her warriors?" 

"Nope. She's bullying my followers in Tambelon, which is rightfully mine I might add. Oh, and she has a bunch of undead goons trailing behind her." Sally stated as a matter of factly. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"Wrong again..." Maple landed on a roof, trying to prove a point she put her weapons away "Alright, I'll tell you what I know... There's an assassin planning to kill my brother, Who is apparently one of them, While I... am not. I don't know who the assassin is but if not stopped could pose a threat to the other 4 chaos gods in the future. But you know, Your pompous flank won't realize that. If you really care about us not attacking the remainder of your forces, help me as much as you can and I'll call off the others for you." Maple held out a hoof "Deal?" She was cutting a deal with a snake... almost in a literal sense.

 

"What!" Woody flinched and looked back at her with a hurt look on his face, Seeming upset that he had taken sides since he realized he did. "How did she even get there? Salacious I'm sorry about her. She's too reckless for her own good." Woody sighed and tried to locate Maple's life energy through Tartarus. "I feel I should go speak with her... But I don't exactly know where Tambelon is... Maybe I could just bring her here?" Woody started pacing on the barren ground "But then I might be interrupting something... If I don't then Salacious will do something..." He looked out at the open field He nodded, making up his mind. "Can one of you show me how to get her here? I could use the help to clear my visions of what to do with this place."

[GoldieS 679]

His weapons disappeared, along with the floating shields as Maple secured her weapons. The deer, at least, was willing to hear her out. However, his cheeks puffed out as he tried to contain his laughter. 

"Bah ah haha! And you call me the liar!?" He burst out laughing. "The sibling of a chaos god... certainly... why not?"

He shook his head incredulously. "Ah, such an ignorant creature. Are all you Equestrian's so simple? Well, I expect nothing less than such a terrible excuse from a follower of the Wolf. You lot aren't exactly known for your... cunning or lies. For a brief moment, I actually believed you had the interests of your God at heart. Clearly you're just part of the rest of this rabble around the city." 

Two shields appeared on either side of him in an instant. At the same time, just to the side of maple as the deer stood mere meters from her, a giant scythe popped into existence. Without any hesitation, the moment it was conjured, the giant scythe swept in front of the deer trying to chop Maple's legs clean off. 

 

 

 

"Well, considering she's harassing my followers, I'll accompany you." Sally said as a matter of factly, slinking through the air like a snake in front of woody. "After all, wouldn't want you to play favorites... you know little brother, I thought you were past this when you gave Tambelon to my little prince." 

She huffed indignantly as she changed forms in a flash of light. Instead of her giant serpentine form, she shrunk into the visage of a small petite and skinny doe. She looked such a fragile creature, with a white and grey coat, mixed with a luscious purple main with pink antlers and hooves. A white, purple, and golden cowl appeared around her neck with the hood drawn down. Dark brown earthy gloves wrapped around her wrists and ankles. Her eyes sparkled a sky blue. 

"Come. And change your appearance. You've already caused quite a stir gallivanting around earlier in your natural form." She stated with her head held up, just as a portal opened up in front of them. 

Pest grumbled under his breath, his form bellowing from his giant belly. In a similar flash, he too changed forms, but into that of a giant grey rat with horns the size of a larger pony. He wore tattered black and green robes, with belts and straps tying pouches around his waist and across his chest. The feral rat like Pest held himself up with a long wooden staff with a green cloudy orb on the top. 

"I shall accompany you two..." He grumbled, his voice still the same even in his rat form. "I haven't finished training you dear brother, therefore it would be inappropriate for me to leave you to your own devices so soon."

He gave Sally a condescending glance. Him going with the two was more to make sure Sally didn't take advantage of Woody more than any 'biomancy training'. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

"I am a terrible follower of Wolf!" Maple roared back to the deer as she flew into the air drawing her bow and knife like before "That's because I'm not one of her followers! If you want to believe that then fine! I'll act like one!" Maple pulled back her bow sting after knocking an arrow she fired it and then flew at the deer right after, If she blocked it with the shields Maple would simply avoid the shields and then attack with the knife driving it preferably into the chest, Outside of when she had to, Maple was still firmly against killing anything but would do it if backed far enough into a corner... or told that the fallen would just get back up in the case of War's arena.

 

Woody awkwardly scratched under his chin thinking of the spell "I've never... changed forms before. S-So... That'll require just a small amount of teaching... Salacious why don't you help me out a bit with that... Please? I mean, you seem to be amazing at that spell, maybe it's since you visit your followers so much? I'd like if that was it" Woody said with a smile to the god, who was currently a doe, trying to maybe less in favoritism "No offense Slug, I just think that She'll offer me a bit more for this one. Like you with Biomancy."

[GoldieS 679]

(sorry, traveling this week >.< Doing posts from phone)

The Eldeer's scoffed at her comment, raising the shield to block her arrows just in the nick of time. As he did, the deer leaped backwards several times to avoid the bat.

As a result, the deer was kept from attacking her, bringing his large cyth up to cause her to rethink getting close to him. 

Meanwhile... Maple's companions had flown up on to the adjacent roofs, cheering her on. They'd dealt with the cultists down below and cut the captives loose. 

 

 

Pest gave a polite tilt of understanding with his old greying rat head. 

"Oh, well, I suppose I could... teach you a thing or two." Sally smiled, pleased at his suggestion.

"Now, first and foremost, you MUST visualize your creation... that's you in this case... Every tiny little detail. Every hair, every vein, all of it. Else you might find yourself somewhat... Uncomfortable. Difficult for some mortal to achieve of course... but, well, God's such as ourselves are superior intellectuals." She explained. "Then, it's as simple as channeling your power into your thoughts."

The portal remained before them. On the other side, they could see Maple attacking Sally's cultist. Despite seeing this, she was more interested in teaching Woody.

"Now, obviously you need to consider the elements, chemical compositions, component and system interactions and all that nonsense, but I'm sure you know biology." She added off handedly. 

Pest looked up, scratching his head and looking a little lost. Clearly their two methods we're slightly different.

 

Edited February 13, 2018 by GoldieS

[Maple Bat 3,568]

Maple did have second thought about getting close but realized she could avoid the scythe's blade if she was closer to the deer, She could put the blade behind her and pull it close to himself... but that's about the only thing Maple could really see going wrong with that move and now that she knew it could happen she'd be ready to avoid it too. So she dropped her bow before closing in holding the knife at the ready she was planning on catching the snath of the weapon with the knife then making an offensive move advancing quickly a, but she'd need to watch the Scythe blade carefully to avoid it

 

Woody nodded "I think I could do that. Seems kinda rough... and it'll take me a while. But I can do it." Woody began to concentrate deeply. Thinking that he would just turn himself into a simple earth pony... it would be rather easy since it was... simple enough "Ok... I think I've got it..." Woody sung a melody, bright and moving. He had a similar flash of light to the others and there he stood a brown, Black maned stallion. He was actually kinda upset that he lost the gray streak in his mane but decided it wasn't worth the effort to put there "How's this for now?"

[GoldieS 679]

The deer was caught off guard by her brazen attack, considering it was a dramatic shift in her strategy, from his eyes of course. He didn't expect a brute like her to be so adaptive, but that wasn't enough to scare him outright. He dropped the magic scythe as she tried to use it to her own advantage, not at all interested in being responsible for his own death. But, that was his mistake, he didn't have much time to erect a proper magic shield.

He channeled his magic just barely throwing up a simple ethereal kite shield, one that wasn't exactly enough to cover himself by much as Maple rapidly pressed her advantage. She would be able to see it in his eyes, the realization he had made a grave error in his tactical decisions. 


"Oh how marvelous little brother! Simple, but cute no less!" Sally beamed in delight, giving Woody a good once over as she took a look. "Well... you could use a few... trinkets to complete the look. An appropriate ensemble if you will."

She conjured a long earthy brown cape with soft fuzzy faded grey and black fabric like fur on the underside and around the hem of the hood. She clasped the ties together around his neck, tapping her cloven hoof to her snout in thought as she considered Woody's 'look'. 

"Oh! I almost forgot!" She snapped quickly. "Those ponies are such fools about their cutie marks..." 

Sally, without consulting Woody of course, plinked an mark onto Woody's flank. It was the image of a small yellow bird singing on a twig.

"Perfect! Now, let's get going, shall we?" She said as she turned towards the open portal. From where they were, they could clearly see the fight between Maple and the Priest on the other side. It was fairly clear Maple did indeed have the upper hand... and things were going to turn rather sour in a mere moment. Though, why some blue robed skeleton creature was riding on her back, was anyone's guess. Woody could clearly see the strange creature, just like Maple herself. 

[Maple Bat 3,568]

When Maple saw the shield and its size she smirked. When the Knife hit the shield she spun around it and stabbed the deer in the side, she didn't really want to kill the deer so she removed the knife quickly. Maple's eyes were locked on her opponent she was dead set on winning the fight but killing? She wasn't going to do that she was still kinda scared of doing it. She'd back off as she thought to herself keeping her weapon between her and the deer. 

 

Woody smiled, his normal reaction fo being called cute "Thanks, Sis! It looks nice." Woody did enjoy the design. He assumed it was due to the 'Songbird' name he was given. Woody noticed the creature through the portal but was more focused on the fighting and he knew he needed to put a stop to that "Salacious I'm sorry about her again... She's brazen when she doesn't understand what's happening around her."