Metroid Equis
Chapter 29.5
Sculpting of Radiance
[Canterlot. Six Months after Princess Luna’s Return]
“You realllly need to relax, Star…” a very feminine-sounding voice sounded out through the halls of Canterlot Castle. The light from the early-evening sun was still somewhat plentiful and lighting up the entire corridor for all to see, though two of the occupants using it for transit were not paying much attention to what was held on its walls.
“Filly, I just finished the MAT test… you know, the one that determines my future as a soldier? Totally nothing, right?” the gray-coated unicorn mare complemented with silver eyes and lightly faded navy blue mane/tail, known as Starry Night, replied with some noticeable degree of apprehension. Her friend’s efforts at passive consolation were failing miserably.
“I’m very well aware of that, but you do realize that you don’t need to have a perfect score to get into the Guard, right? You need to slow down, Star,” another unicorn mare, ever so slightly taller in stature, followed up. She was light blue to the coat, though darker than the iconic Cyan coat of Rainbow Dash. A jet-black mane/tail and sapphire eyes ensured, combined with her physique, that she was first noticed of the two friends. She was clad in the golden armor of the Royal Guard with a sword strapped to her hip, though sans helmet, which ensured that her natural color showed through.
I’m Radiance, and yeah as you could tell, I was not really as awesome as Constance. I was lucky enough to land a position in the Guard as a common soldier, but that’s exactly what I wanted to do in the first place.
The two rounded a corner right as Radiance finished her last sentence, in perfect step with each other.
“Implying you weren’t a nervous bucking wreck when you returned from your MAT test. Implying you didn’t almost develop alcoholism and insomnia until you got your results. Implying you believed you didn’t need a perfect score to be a Guard. Implying implications,” Starry threw her rebuttal in Radiance’s face.
In case you couldn’t figure it out, Starry is my best friend. We grew up together, though I wasn’t from Trottingham. I wanna toss her out the window every now and then but I’d take a spear for that mare…
...Not in the face or anything but maybe in the hoof or a glancing blow across the flank.
“Fair points. But I’m only saying that since I’ve been through this personally, advice from one best friend to another, it’s no use stressing out. What’s done is done and please, you’re more studious than me by a longshot. If I could get in the Guard downing a bottle of Apple Gin the night before I’m sure you’ll have little issue,” the blue mare coaxed. Starry huffed as they exited the castle proper and crossed the bridge over the moat.
“Totally. I had my nose buried in military texts since I could read. You had yours buried elsewhere,” Starry added with inflection and implicit innuendo.
“Wow. ONE time some colt you had a crush on likes me instead and suddenly it’s my fault? You’re still on about this shit, oh my Celestia let it go it was five years ago!”
“Implying.”
“Hey, I never asked for this!” Radiance pointed out with friendly frustration. “If I had a bit for every time I was hit on or borderline sexually harassed in the Guard by stallions and mares I’d have already bought a mansion in Zebranica.”
Starry has always had a habit of holding on to things, more of the mental variety rather than the physical. Drives me insane when she compares herself to me in terms of looks, because she sells herself so short. She’s super sexy, and I have no problem saying that, but it’s not my problem if she doesn’t put herself out there and just expects things to happen. As I’ve always said, dating is pure economics. If you have a marketable product, ponies will buy. If you don’t, ponies won’t buy. If you don’t create a market, ponies won’t buy anyway because you won’t let them… I’m getting off topic here, aren’t I?
The two mares continued to walk down Canterlot’s Mane Street, oblivious to the world around them but each other. Furthermore, neither could see the Lunar Princess eyeing the blue mare from her tower as they walked away from the castle proper.
“Ahhh… now there’s a place I’d love to visit. Why don’t we go?” Starry quickly changed the topic to something more exciting.
“Ummm, probably because I’m still waiting for my promotion raise to retroactively kick in and implying you have a thousand bits to drop right this moment because I ain’t spotting your ass for a whole vacation,” Radiance added with a smirk, throwing Starry’s trademark word back at her. The latter turned to her with an annoyed expression.
“Don’t ‘imply’ me, filly. I’ll ‘imply’ you through that goddamn shop window,” Starry playfully threatened with a dark tone of voice. The other mare would easily concede, Starry was the better one at pure magic.
“You seem to be forgetting that I have my sword on me,” Radiance smugly pointed out, giving her flank a gentle shake to let her weapon rattle against her armor, as well as let some of her cutie mark, a long-sword wrapped in a flowery wreath, show through. Starry rolled her eyes.
“You win this time, Radiance. Damn your swordsmare-ship, damn it to Tartarus,” she replied dramatically, waving her hoof at Radiance’s face. The latter chuckled.
That’s pretty much where my skill comes in. I was holding a blade of some sort since I could levitate objects with magic. I just got lucky though, because the only one I knew of with any sort of experience in swordplay was my great great grandmother. It skipped everypony in between and I got the skill for some reason. My dad is currently a very talented blacksmith and he always joked that somepony had to get the genes sooner or later.
“I can, however, spot you for drinks if you buy dinner,” Radiance offered. Starry perked up at the idea of food.
“Yeah, I’m cool with that! Let’s go to that restaurant that we like, the one that that sweet Griffin runs.”
“Oh that one! He’s super nice and the food is fantastic. Race you there!” And Radiance took off immediately, leaving Starry startled in the dust.
“Bitch!” and just like that Starry was in hot pursuit.
Okay fine, I’d get my left hoof sliced off for that mare. The left one, mind you, not the right one. If it had to be the right hoof… well I guess she’s shit out of luck and I’ll give the eulogy at her funeral. Still, she keeps me sane. From muscle destroying Guard drills to getting hit on constantly, she keeps me in balance with her spry and exciting personality. When I didn’t get the chance to hang out with her though, I would usually catch free time in the sparring room.
Now, the sparring room is a necessarily large room filled with dummy targets and small ‘arenas’ that are meant to test the Guard’s competency in melee combat. So naturally, spears, swords, maces, morning stars, et cetera. No ranged combat was allowed here. I was so good with a sword that I was often called upon by the instructor to help other swordsponies, especially unicorns. It wasn’t enough for me though. I absolutely love the feeling of holding a sword in my magical grasp… it makes me feel powerful and alert. So, when our shifts were over during the night, I would often sneak into the sparring room and, by light of a couple of candles, practice my forms.
It turned out though, that Princess Luna had taken a keen interest in my performance, both official and unofficial...
Two nights later, and sometime after midnight, Radiance had stealthily worked her way into the sparring room and had begun ‘shadow-practicing.’ Sapphire aura surrounding her trusty sword, the only sounds that could be heard were her grunts of exertion, the cutting of the air, and the gentle clops of her unarmored hooves. She was barely visible even by her candlelight but nevertheless, the flames flickering and casting shadows on her form ensured that the empty room got a powerful show of force.
“Rrrrah!” Radiance growled as she swung her blade in an overhead, diagonal chop to end one of her long-forms before sheathing her blade. She was about to sit down in the middle of the ‘arena’ she was in and catch a break when her senses immediately alerted her.
Someone was watching her, and had been watching her from the shadows, but before she could attempt to locate whoever it was, they appeared from the veil of the shadows.
Into the candlelight, the alicorn of the Night made herself known, stoic look on her face. Radiance dared not say anything as she looked upon Princess Luna with reverence and some fear. She knew that she would not harm her or attempt to, but her entrance, combined with her rather intimidating posture, set her just a bit on edge.
“Let us see how you handle a true opponent…” Princess Luna softly uttered as she cast her teal-blue magical long-sword, holding it at an angle towards Radiance, whose jaw was figuratively on the ground.
I had never seen a magically cast sword before… only the most skilled unicorns have been able to ever cast one. I just had to get it through my head that Princess Luna, who was probably watching me every time I was there, had challenged me to a duel…
Radiance, acting with some excitement but mostly on instinct, cast her aura on the hilt of her sword and drew it, drawing it towards Luna and letting the blades touch each other… the hard magic not damaging the enchanted metal in any way. Luna grinned determinedly and Radiance hardened her gaze. If it was a duel Luna wanted, she was gonna have to deliver.
Luna began strafing and circling, to which Radiance reciprocated the movement, their swords still gently touching and the aura from both of their magics lighting up the room a bit more. Staring down at the front of a magical sword was a very humbling experience from the start for Radiance.
Luna moved first, giving a tender swing away from Radiance’s blade and low towards her left leg… Radiance swung low and parried easily. Luna was clearly probing her. Luna’s eyes never left Radiance’s as she again struck, pulling her sword back and delivering first a vertical chop, which the unicorn swung upwards (while taking a couple steps backward) to block, but Luna followed up immediately with another low swing, this time towards Radiance's right hoof.
Another easy counter, and the unicorn Guard decided to take the initiative. Flaring her magic, she pushed Luna’s blade back and freed her own sword, swinging at her Princess, to which the latter crossed her weapon in front of her face to block the attack… but it didn’t stop there. Radiance pressed forward and delivered two chops followed by a horizontal sweep to Luna’s two front legs. The Princess parried and blocked the two chops with excellence and caught her opponent’s low sweep with an angled block before parrying the metal blade forward, placing them both into a neutral position, the two weapons resting on each other yet again.
“Impressive finesse, Miss Emeralda…” Luna complimented, both of their breathing rates having slightly increased.
“Thank you, Princess… means a lot coming from you,” Radiance replied genuinely, not conceding at all while they circled each other.
“That means I shan’t have to play novice with you…” and with the end of her sentence, Luna immediately swung down and to the right, following up with a vertical chop and then a power-swing when Radiance deflected both attacks. The powerful hit forced Radiance’s magic to falter slightly when she countered, and also having her lose her footing slightly. Capitalizing on this, Luna reared her weapon back and chopped once more, but instead of blocking the hit, Radiance just glanced it off her sword’s flat and used the momentum to roll to her right and back up onto her hooves.
Radiance followed through and swung at Luna’s backside, who glanced the blow while side-stepping out of the blade’s range. The two continued to parry, attack, power-swing, for several minutes, with Luna upping the ante with nearly every successive minute that passed by.
I had never felt so alive before… I mean, sparring with Princess Luna, a rumored master swordsmare, is like a wet dream in my little world. In the end though, she knew exactly what she was doing. Consistently upping the ante and testing my skills to the very limit, she was trying to guage what I knew… trying to probe my weaknesses. As confident as I was in my abilities, I had no realistic expectation to best her in a sword fight, and it was only a matter of time before something gave.
Radiance was becoming more exhausted after nearly ten minutes of constant fighting. Luna was beginning to use forms, combinations, and techniques that she had no familiarity with… but the only thing that kept her going was the fact that she was having the time of her life. The movements, the swords themselves, the purposeful twirls and just the sheer sound of hard-magic hitting metal was just beautiful to her in its own rite.
Soon enough, after another failed counterattack, Luna performed a counterattack of her own and Radiance put too much force into her block. When the Princess’s sword struck the unicorn’s, she let the force of the blow carry it farther away than she should have. As a result, Luna followed up with a lighting-fast vertical chop onto the hilt of Radiance’s weapon, severing the magical connection to its owner, and finally, in the latter’s surprise, swung the magical blade deliberately into the lowest part of the Guard’s helmet.
“Ahh!”
The blow did not hurt Radiance by any means, but it struck the rib of her helmet with such force that it forced her to the ground on her right side. Luna then stood over her, teal-blue sword pointed straight at her face, to which Radiance’s eyes could not look away. Luna looked down upon her, but not with a look of disappointment, but one of praise, one that, for some reason, made Radiance feel amazing about herself despite her ‘loss.’
“Excellent… Outstanding, Corporal,” Luna began speaking gently, but words were laced with a pleasant and encouraging tone. Radiance could not think of anything to say at the moment, but just decided to keep panting and catching her breath. Even Luna, it seemed, had one or two visible beads of sweat formed on her cheek and brow.
“T-Thank you, Princess…”
“Rise, Radiance,” the Princess gently commanded, dispersing her sword and letting the Guard get back to her hooves.
“If I may speak… freely Princess,” Radiance began through her breaths. “That’s the most fun I’ve had in a long while.”
“I too thoroughly enjoyed myself. However, my appearance was not only due to me wanting to have fun,” she replied, turning much more business-like and serious. The shadows cast by the remaining candles danced upon her face. “I have watched you, Radiance… for the past month. Your skills with a blade are truly remarkable, beyond what I have seen in the current Guard roster and many others. I have something to ask of you, noble Guard.”
“Anything, Your Highness.”
“Actually, it is not so much of a question as it is a job offer…” Luna corrected herself.
“A j-job?”
“Indeed. Bluntly, you are overqualified for the Guard. I personally could use somepony such as yourself with a certain skill set such as yours. Your ability with standard magic, of course, surpasses a grand majority of your peers… but the way you use it, in melee combat, is where you truly shine. I can place you in a force where those skills will be needed. Not only will they be needed, but they, under my personal tutelage, will be tested, honed, perfected, and sculpted to create one of the greatest swordsmares that Equestria has ever seen…” Luna preached, perfectly accentuating all her words.
Holy crap… it was like she was trying to sell me a key to my dream life. One of Equestria’s greatests swordsmares, trained by one of said greatest swordsmares?!
Radiance, on the other hand, had no words, so Luna took this as a sign to continue:
“Take your rightful place in the Magickakorps, help defend Equestria where the Elements of Harmony cannot, and set your potential free next to peers just like yourself…”
Obviously I said yes… a million times yes. And you know what? She was right. I had never felt more powerful in my life once I received that armor… and the know-how on how to cast a blade of my own. I could not wait to know what the future held for me.
Backstory is fun. Also swordfights. Just this whole chapter, really. Good times.
Awesome back story
5118800 You are technically correct. The best kind of correct.
I do admit I was a little disappointment... I wanted to see Samus kick some changeling butt! I do like the back story, it just wasn't what I was expecting when I clicked on the link.
And the backstory keeps on coming. Can't wait for more, ether past or present. One thing though, isn't the past tense of cast just cast, not casted?
5120515 YES it is! And I know very well that it is and I keep screwing that up. Thank you for pointing that out and I'm gonna fix that right now!
5120652 oh Flammen, you are the best. Keep up the good work and don't let the grammar issues get you down.
5120799 oi59.tinypic.com/an28g9.jpg
5120987
You try all the time....in this institution. :C
And you do a damn fine job of delivering. Thoroughly enjoyed.
5120024 Finally, someone answers to my age old comment. Still, I must say that your answer is well... great. How you describe the anatomical functions of the Changeling seems like a great and surprisingly convincing fact about them.
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5122706 .... Okay I'll bite what did I mess up!
Love the story keep it up.
5124191 5120425 5120725
Yeah guys, OBVIOUSLY. This dude saw right through it!
5125635 Lol you're completely ahead of the game, aren't you!
5122706 Oh my. Flammen's in trouble. D:
5123386
The first rule of swordplay is to never, ever, use the edge for anything other than harming your target. You can parry with the flat of the blade, or even block as a last resort, but the edge is reserved solely for attacks. Edge-on-edge contact will ruin the blade forever.
Sources:
1:
gifs.gifbin.com/022011/1298572610_katana-vs-sword.gif
(The katana is obviously ruined, but notice the chip in the the bastard sword's blade; due to how swords are tempered, that little chip means that it could shatter like glass with next to no provocation.)
2: I'm a martial arts instructor, trained in the use of a variety of close-quarters weapons, including swords.
5127360
There's no trouble, so long as he fixes it. I probably overreacted; this is just one of those things that really irks me.
5129450 Perfect sense has been made, as has the change.
5129450 and god, that poor katana.
5129899
Thanks, you da real MVP.
And about that katana, oh yes. I almost cried the first time I saw that gif. What's really bad is that they were trying to show the "superiority" of the European sword over the katana, but they weren't even trying to be impartial. If the roles had been switched and the katana was supported on the table with the bastard sword being swung, that bastard sword would have shattered into half a dozen pieces.
Actually, to be more precise, they were trying to disprove the myth that a katana could cut European swords in half. However, that myth was bullshit to begin with. The katana is a slicing weapon, making it superb against flesh and bone (and armors based on those materials), but pretty much useless against wooden, stone, or metal armor.
5133064 Ah I see. Again, makes sense!
On that note though, Imma PM you, need your input on a similar matter.
5146305 Other M was a revolutionary Idea: essentially taking the mechanics of both Prime and the sidescrollers but integrating them both into the sense-move system or whatever you call it on the Wii. They really hyped it up and it looked AMAZING.
But that's when the disappointment started. Firstly, I got what they were trying to do with Adam "allowing" Samus to use her shit, in place of her randomly finding powerups. I completely understand, it was for realism purposes and quite frankly, they were trying something new. It didn't work out though. I feel they got her appearance perfectly the way I imagined it, but she was very monotone... and overly sensitive. Completely out of character in my opinion. That fed into the fact that she was pretty much Adams bitch, when canon wise, the two have mutually fed off of each other's dipshittery, leading to a beneficial arrangement.
I could forego the dialogue to some extent, but the plotholes killed it for me. They never patched up the 'Deleter' plothole, nor the 'unfreezable' metroids when Adam clearly froze the metroid. Nor did he explain why he had to taze the poor girl.
The gameplay was too linear. The greatness that came from the Prime Games was that you could progress through an area, get a new ability, and use that ability to explore other areas from which you came from at your own will, and you could progress further into the game whenever was necessary. Not here. As irritating as the sense-move implementation was (I don't like the Wii controller, so playing Prime 3 was a challenge), the linearity killed it for me and it didn't feel 'worth it,' playing on an irritatingly sensitive gaming system.
What had me drop the controller and walk away for a few hours though, was the famed encounter with Ridley. I'm not even gonna tell you my thoughts there, but I'm sure you can figure it out. When I write Equis II: Remnant, I'm going to be featuring many scenes from Prime III, Other M, and Fusion, and I'll be 'rewriting' these events so to speak, in ways that would be much more in tune to Sam's character.
TL;DR, Other M could have been so so so SO much more, but the implementation was just so shoddy at best.
Also, what was with the heels? They served no purpose, unlike in SSB for the WiiU. Then again, Team Ninja.
5148270 Yeah that was always a problem, especially with format preservation when uploading from googledocs. So now, I've just taken to writing in the basic html code for itallics, bolds, and what not. Imports FLAWLESSLY.
Holy crap, a Metroid Prime crossover!
You sir, get an insta fave/follow. I'll read tomorrow, as I have a nasty headache coming on.
5150400 I'll try to remember that
And the tabbing?
5146327
The jiggle physics squad?
5183613 The official timeline places the Prime Trilogy in between Metroid 1/Zero Mission and Metroid II: Return of Samus
5193636 I'm glad you feel that way!
And I know you're all getting antsy. Chapter 30 will drop soon.
5179633 Enjoy the long ride through! :D
This baby is due for an update real soon.
5205410
Oh yeah, I am enjoying it! Though, I'm kinda stopped right now. This is probably the only time I've been able to get on the computer since Monday.
Dear Flammenwerfer,
Please, please tell me before i start reading this thing. Will. You. Finish it? For the last year or so I've started stories that just go to hiatus. So, please, will you commit to this story and make an ending?
Sincerely,
A guy on the interwebs.
5216767
Good stories going into hiatus are one thing. Good stories being cancelled or abandoned are another...
5216767 For some reason it did not tell me there was a comment.
This will get finished. No ifs ands or buts. We're so close to the end, so it wouldn't make sense to stop right now. Updates take a little while though, but don't worry, it's not on hiatus. Chapter 30 is taking longer than expected unfortunately but it's gonna be a pretty big chapter and the most difficult to write. After that things should speed up.
5227269
Well then, God speed man. Oh, and take your time as you need to, I don't want you rushing on my account. mmmm dat quality.
5249430 ... you just gave me a fucking hilarious idea for one of the future bonus scenes.
5280068 25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9en10uqX41qit8aco3_500.gif
5291242
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5310695 Hello new reader! Welcome and hopefully you enjoy this loooooong ride. I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts as you continue on! Thank you for the kind words
And as for the Halo crossover, I honestly hadn't given it any consideration considering their very existences overlap to the point that they can't coexist. The Galactic Federation includes the human home world of Earth, while the United Earth Government from Halo has Earth as the homeworld as well. The only option would be that even farther into the future, the UEG and UNSC become the GF, but that would completely go beyond Chief's lifetime.
It's an interesting thought though. It can be done in my opinion, and there would be many ways to do it. However, there is merely a conflict of canon and to make it all work out, certain things would have to be taken into account that would make things very convoluted. With respect to realism, Master Chief and Samus could never conceivably meet.
5310703 You make a valid point, however the only thing youd need from Halo are some references (and maybe history of the Human Covenant war further explained to teach tactics to budding GF Marines and Officers. Samus might also be able to find remnant Forerunner, Precursor, or Covenant tech along the way (Though UNSC and Covenant tech of old would be far obsolete compared to the tech of the Galactic Federation of Samus' day.) Not to mention utilization of what would by then be an age old tactic: High risk, High speed, orbital drops. (ODST's gotta evolve too) GF Military technology would have easily merged with Spartan Armor and Augmentation tech by now, giving GF soldiers the characteristics of Spartans, which they would need to have an inkling of a chance against Ridley and the Space Pirates (not to mention other threats like Metroids, Flood, and Phazon).
Samus already easily outperforms Spartans in mobility, endurance, tactical prowess, and strength (not even Chief could crack Phazite plating with his fists or tech much less survive a single shot from Ridley's concentrated plasma beam, that dragon's tech easily out does Covenant gear and he could rip apart a CCS Cruiser.) She is infused with Chozo DNA AND was a member of the GFMC for a time, no doubt giving her access to other upgrading augments to her body and armor. (a variety of which would have cropped up over the centuries since the birth of the Spartan Program).
On top of this, you could create OC DECENDANTS of great figures in Halo including Sangheili of the Vadam Household/Bloodline and Humans descending from bloodlines such as that of Captain Thomas Lasky, Commander Sarah Palmer, MAYBE EVEN A RED VS BLUE FREELANCER (it is a loose spinoff from the Halo franchise so why not? Course this freelancer descendant would be way more serious.... unless you want at least some of the generic Red vs Blue humor).
Point is it's a more flexible idea than you might think. Just gotta connect the dots and fill in the tech era gaps with your own fan canon material to build it into something that would work. This material could even be used in your sequel of Metroid Equis (should you chose to make one), easily creating further character variety and depth, building more on the history of the GFMC and associated civilizations, and allowing access to new enemies (Ex: Flood, Rampant Forerunner/Precursor AIs), twists and, spins. It would even let you be so bold as to incorporate a bit of your own technological ideas (Ex: Battlemechs, Mass Drivers, EXTREMELY HIGH YIELD NUKES (though unrealistic if you want Equis to survive), and further variation/tech upgrades for Samus' armor, weapons, abilities, and gunship. Could even put a history of Forerunner/Precursor influence on Equis that even predates the Chozo/Visitors' involvement in your fanfiction.
5320848 Indeed, but usually when one thinks 'Halo,' it's reasonable to expect the Master Chief, or in some instances, Fireteam Crimson or even the Arbiter or Covenant. Nevertheless, while descendants of key individuals would fly, I personally don't believe it would fly as well.
5321603 I suppose that makes sense. In general it's entirely up to you since it's the sequel to your story xD so whatever your opinion is goes LMFAO
5323405 Yeah the sequel's gonna stick to only the Metroid/MLP crossover lol
5323451 It'll still be freaking cool I know that much LMFAO
5120515 Will make it all the more hard hitting when the Changling rip Starry, Constant, Wildfire, and Radiance limb from bloody limb is gloriest gore!
Yup, best friend material right now