1. Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
    Dismiss Notice
  2. For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
    Dismiss Notice
  3. Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
    Dismiss Notice
  4. If you wish to change your username, please ask via conversation to tehelgee instead of asking via my profile. I'd like to not clutter it up with such requests.
    Dismiss Notice
  5. Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
    Dismiss Notice
  6. A note about the current Ukraine situation: Discussion of it is still prohibited as per Rule 8
    Dismiss Notice
  7. The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.
    Dismiss Notice
  8. The testbed for the QQ XF2 transition is now publicly available. Please see more information here.
    Dismiss Notice

With This Ring (Young Justice SI) (Thread Fourteen)

Discussion in 'Creative Writing' started by Mr Zoat, Jan 27, 2019.

Loading...
  1. WereDragon

    WereDragon Bookwyrm

    Joined:
    Feb 17, 2020
    Messages:
    309
    Likes Received:
    1,503
    The proportion of updates that revolve around the protagonist ranting about the perceived failings of fictional characters has decreased as the story has continued.
    I would very much like to see it decrease further, as bashing remains the least enjoyable narrative.

    He is coming from the same place Paul often comes from: “This thing has harmed what is Mine, therefore it is wrong and I shall correct it.”
    Grayven is just less self-aware about it than Paul.
     
  2. PrinceJonathan

    PrinceJonathan Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    1,602
    Likes Received:
    16,671
    Yes, teach Sunset how to do your job. Her Cutie Mark is literally same as yours, and her name is SUNSET! It's what she was born to do, you stupid cake-eating laser horse!

    ♪Celestia, we love you♪
    ♪But you're such a basic bitch♪
    ♪The picture of regality, it's true♪
    ♪But girl, you're dumber than a sack of dicks♪
    ♪But it's ok, don't feel bitter♪
    ♪You're still the Best Princess♪
    ♪Other than your sister♪
     
  3. nick012000

    nick012000 Gone for Good

    Joined:
    Feb 26, 2013
    Messages:
    4,553
    Likes Received:
    12,680
    Celestia is the Princess of the Sun, who moonlights as the eternal ruler of Equestria. Darkseid is the New God of Tyranny. I think that Darkseid would probably have a conceptual advantage over Celestia, if he wanted to exert his nature over the country to influence the ponies. Besides, Celestia lost every serious fight she ever had in the show, other than the one against her sister, and that was only with the Elements of Harmony. She couldn't even beat the dream version of her herself turned evil without her sister's help.

    Now Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, on the other hand, might stand a chance if she repudiates the idea of Darkseid's tyranny with the help of her friends (and possibly Discord), likely by rejecting her control freak tendencies, and emphasizing that they're their own people with their own desires and lives.
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2020
  4. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    Technically Sunset is a magic expert, not a sun pony.
     
  5. Agent Orange

    Agent Orange Experienced.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    3,608
    Likes Received:
    29,694
    Heretic! Do not question the butt tats!
     
    Cuchulin likes this.
  6. Pez

    Pez Spaceman

    Joined:
    Jul 22, 2020
    Messages:
    2,460
    Likes Received:
    85,986
    Actually, the argument can be made that Darkseid is the God of Evil, not Tyranny. If Highfather represents all that is good, then Darkseid is the flipside (flipseid?) of that coin. This belief makes a lot more sense to me, and explains why Darkseid is so powerful. After all, "Darkseid is."



    Now, I've never watched MLP, so I was basing my bet on some assumptions. I'll amend it to say that the Pony Force (you know, Celestia with her Elements friends, and probably the other ones, too) can take him.
     
    Xmaster3000 likes this.
  7. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2019
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    13,994
    To be fair, I doubt even the Guardians would think they could be good parents.
     
    Xmaster3000 and Cuchulin like this.
  8. theaceoffire

    theaceoffire Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Aug 12, 2017
    Messages:
    1,107
    Likes Received:
    12,591
    Typo, should be 'Neigh'.

    :p
     
  9. Soul Shocker

    Soul Shocker Not too sore, are you?

    Joined:
    Jul 21, 2016
    Messages:
    267
    Likes Received:
    478
    Whelp, I read Red+ Inversion, and went Anti-red
     
    Xmaster3000 likes this.
  10. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2016
    Messages:
    697
    Likes Received:
    2,976
    Oh hey, Jason Blood shows up in the Renegade timeline, however obliquely. I'm kind of interested in the Renegade getting more involved in demonic affairs and Hell, especially since Asmodel and Neron should still be illicitly collaborating.
     
  11. cereal_lurker

    cereal_lurker Getting sticky.

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2017
    Messages:
    59
    Likes Received:
    181
    Wouldn't The First of the Fallen still be ruler of Hell? I'm not sure Renegade (or indeed anyone) can do anything about demonic affairs other than send them back in that timeline.

    EDIT: Though it does raise the question of who might 'win' a throwdown between Darkseid and The First... not that they'd ever have a reason to be in conflict at any point.
     
    Cuchulin, Ardy and DrThoth like this.
  12. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    Renegade could summon the First and kill him with the blade.

    As for who would win between Darkseid and the First, we'll it could go either way.

    Though seeing as Darkseid wants to snuff out free will I'd say the First would be pretty pissed with that, seeing as he also has free will, so he may decide to get rid of Darkseid.
     
    Cuchulin, Ardy and DrThoth like this.
  13. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2015
    Messages:
    5,553
    Likes Received:
    29,972
    A thousand years alone while filled with guilt is not fun.
     
    Darko likes this.
  14. cereal_lurker

    cereal_lurker Getting sticky.

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2017
    Messages:
    59
    Likes Received:
    181
    That's certainly one possible outcome. Though we also saw in the Paragon playthrough that summons are basically like a phone call to which the demon may refuse to answer. It was a pretty special occasion (involving Constantine) that the First showed up at all in the Paragon save. Not sure he would bother answering a call from Renegade even if Renegade weren't planning to shank him immediately.
     
    Cuchulin and Ardy like this.
  15. Tyrantviewer

    Tyrantviewer lord of all I survey

    Joined:
    Aug 11, 2015
    Messages:
    189
    Likes Received:
    864
    The thing is in canon we don't get to see the relationship they had- the progression from loyal student to futitive- plus canon sunset basically lost her magic when she went to the human world, which probably made all of her issues worse.

    But Celestia has mad a number of questionable decisions, which various fics have called her out on- sending Twilight and friends to save the crystal empire and calling it a test instead of having her or luna go to fight the most dangerous non alicorn pony ever, Getting fooled by Chrysalis' bad acting when after Shining armor who was brainwashed and Twilight who was suspicious. Celetia is a person with flaws and the main one is that she is so competant and smart that combined with litterally having more experience than any other pony, she is used to being right and treated as always being correct.

    Basically between her age, talent, and position, noone calls her out on things, even Luna didn't- instead turning into Nightmare Moon and fighting her. Everything that lead to Sunset going rogue was Celestia's fault, its basically the same as Tai Lung and Shifu in kung fu panda, except Shifu wanted Tai lung to be the dragon warrior and messed up his head by pushing him until when Tai Lung was denied he lashed out. In Celestia's case it was more like she was a combo of Shifu and Oogway- training Sunset but keeping some things away with no explaination. Sunset went with it until she couldn't, buying into the whole always perfect image of Celestia, until given the chance for something similar, being told no, and never getting a real explaination, painting every past denial in the same light.

    Sunset wasn't wrong to want what she wanted, and even canon shows that it is possible to become an alicorn, if not easily but in canon Celestia failed to get her worries across to her, and here the disfunctions of the relationship are made clear- Celestia had nothing to do with Sunset's emotional maturation. Though to be fair par of this is my bias because Twilight's own instability and how Celestia often feeds into it doesn't paint a good picture for her ability to guide and help people that way- as does the older case of her sister becoming an insane supervillian right under her nose, or even after they are back and together a late episode shows they still have a bad relationship of constantly misunderstanding and not seeming to appreciate each other.

    This Sunset got the support and help she wanted, became an alicorn, and has done nothing wrong- outside the questionable activities Gravyen occasionally gets her into- and unlike with celestia she actually made friends because Grayven found people she could be peers with rather than the sort of telling her to get out of the lab and passive agressive prodding Celestia did with her

    The video was long so I skipped around- but my take on it is that darkside and Highfather are the gods/embodiments of particular flavors of good and evil- Tyrany and Fatherly care- basically Good and Evil in positions of authority and leadership. Darkside is the best thing to Pure Evil in DC comics because he is evil that seeks to impose itself on everything- though with his pursuit of anti-life and his empowerment witih the Omega Force I could buy him growing beyond Tyranny into more general evil, but he is the new god of tyrany.

    For the purposes of the original discussion, he probably stomps Celestia unless the nature of equestria nerfs him somehow- not impossible with the tree of harmony and how it may be tied to Equestria. If nothing else the Elements would probably be like holy water to a vampire for him.
     
  16. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    The renegade does know Constantine and has worked with him.
     
    Xmaster3000 and DrThoth like this.
  17. DrThoth

    DrThoth I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2016
    Messages:
    697
    Likes Received:
    2,976
    Constantine is working in Circe's school, after all, and while I concede that the First is likely far more powerful than other foes he's faced, Renegade's managed to take down some pretty tough guys via planning and ambush (three or more Lords of Chaos and Starbreaker, though I'll admit I didn't especially care for how Starbreaker was defeated). I think between them (and the possible assistance of Circe and Zatara/Doctor Fate) they could work out a plan to lure Theo out.
    I may have been incorrect in saying Neron was working with Asmodel, that might only have occurred in the Paragon timeline after the First was deposed, since I'd think that was too big a risk otherwise.

    Ultimately I just really want to see Renegade take on or at least interact with Hell, so I enjoy speculating in that direction (and conquering demons will probably make him nostalgic for the straightforward conquering of the Sheeda).
     
    Cuchulin and Darko like this.
  18. Bramble Thorn

    Bramble Thorn Verified Silhouette

    Joined:
    Dec 9, 2015
    Messages:
    667
    Likes Received:
    4,406
    It is realistic though.

    You can imagine someone in real life being this way. You may even have personal experience with one. Like how Umbridge comes of as even worse than Voldemort even though he has tortured and killed way more people than she ever did. Because of the two, Voldemort isn't the one where meeting a real life expy version is a realistic possibility.
     
    Cuchulin and Darko like this.
  19. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2019
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    13,994
    I do, I was speaking from experience.

    I’m not sure what you mean...? If this is a defence of Celestia, it’s a piss poor one.

    Firstly, she is responsible, if not for her actions if she is so consumed by grief towards Luna, to recognise patterns of behaviour in herself and prevent others from suffering due to that. To do otherwise stinks of victim blaming. Secondly, if she was so affected by grief, why did she think it was wise to take on a student in the first place? And she’s not even aware of how dependent Sunset was on her.*

    Unless I’ve misunderstood you.

    *I am basing this on what has been presented to me in story. I haven’t watched MLP.
     
    Cuchulin and Pez like this.
  20. Pinklestia

    Pinklestia Well worn.

    Joined:
    Sep 23, 2015
    Messages:
    5,553
    Likes Received:
    29,972
    To sum up.

    Celestia is terrible with kids. She can be a okay teacher but not a parent and Sunset saw her as a parent.

    Luna is very good with kids but has trouble dealing with adults.

    This is canon to the show.

    The biggest problem Celestia had with Sunset is that she focused on her objecive of saving Luna without looking at how Sunset was going with her life.

    That's why her next student, Twilight Sparkle, already had a family.

    And even so, look at Twilight Sparkle traumas in the show it takes her a long time to get over them.

    Celestia just shouldn't be teaching kids if even she most successful student becomes a nervous wreck willing to brainwash ponies instead of failing her.

    And yes that's something Twilight Sparkle did.
     
    Eld_Tiger, Vorian, nick012000 and 3 others like this.
  21. Threadmarks: Back Seat (part 1)
    Mr Zoat

    Mr Zoat Dedicated ragequitter

    Joined:
    Dec 1, 2016
    Messages:
    14,696
    Likes Received:
    728,986
    Back Seat

    4th July 2012
    14:01 GMT -2


    "…afraid that with the war kicking off, I'm not going to be available for team missions or training."

    Kaldur nods. "I understand. Are you sure that you can spare the time to tell me in person?"

    I give him a mildly reproachful look. "Ow, Kaldur. Ow."

    He looks away. "That was not what I meant."

    "Clarissi Dox wants me as a mobile reserve, so I can jump in if things start to go pear shaped. And since I can appear and disappear at will on our side of the front line and could get blocked on the Reach side, being on Earth is actually better than being on the Reach side. Besides."

    We both look over to where officials from various Atlantean city states-. And Venturia, are monitoring the counting of the votes in the plebiscite.

    "I really think this sort of thing should be monitored by all of the interested parties so that no one can argue about it later."

    This is actually the first time I've seen Proconsul Ptra, heir presumptive of Venturia. Presumed by Poseidonis, and presumed very incorrectly. King Cyprian greeted her with the exact minimum amount of enthusiasm not to give direct insult, and hasn't said a word to her since. She seems somewhat morose. I suppose she'd rather assumed that returning the wayward city to her stepmother's control was something she'd do just by existing, and here she is being told not merely by her cousin but by… About ninety eight percent of the adult population of her 'home city' that she was dead wrong.

    I'm empathetic, but… Actually, not sympathetic. This situation could easily have been avoided. If they hadn't wanted me to shoot the hawk, they shouldn't have left it there.

    "Lord-. King Cyprian has been scrupulously honest in his dealings."

    "Good show. I assume that there's been discussion on the Atlantean end about how to handle trade, and an official border? Because there's two ways this can go, and not planning for one of them wouldn’t be very clever."

    "There are… Several outlines. For the most part, Atlantean cities do not greatly concern themselves with unclaimed territory outside of the city limits."

    "Right, but they were all Atlantean city states. If the United States built an underwater colony I imagine that exactly where the border was would be rather important."

    "Though they will be a separate country politically, culturally Venturia is still Atlantean. We still have more in common with them than with America, so they do not arouse the same degree of concern."

    "I don't really know Atlantean inter-city politics. How much is this shaking things up?"

    "King Orin has been quite… Vocal, about not wanting to be blindsided like this again. He intends to tour all of the Atlantean city states and confer in person with their leaders."

    I raise my eyebrows-.

    "He made such a tour when he first succeeded to the throne, but usually such things are left to the members of the national senate to bring to his attention if a problem arises. Given what happened here, he believes that he needs to become more directly involved."

    "He's right." Kaldur glances at me. "He wouldn't have let this lie if he'd known about it, would he?"

    "He would not."

    He sighs, and looks around the counting hall once more.

    "How is the war progressing?"

    "The first day went about as well as it could have. On the other hand, we always knew that the Reach response to an attack would be weak to begin with, and that if the Reach Empire was the size of this room, the bit we've taken off them would be about the size of-"

    I reach up and pull a single hair out of my head, then hold it out.

    "-my hair. We've literally shaved a hair's breadth off their territory."

    "It has only been a day."

    "I know. I just want to manage expectations."

    Looks like the counting is drawing to a close. The last of the ballot slips are being tabulated, three people signing off on each batch to make finding out who was at fault for any irregularities a little easier. That was a bit of a sticking point, actually. Cyprian was fine with a ballot, but had a little trouble with the concept of a secret ballot. He thought it seemed inherently dishonest, and… Having thought about it, I can sort of see where he was coming from. King Orin -coming from America- naturally assumed that ballots would be cast in secret. But in the end, we came up with a registration system which they could both live with.

    Senior functionaries confer briefly, then the fellow from Shayeris whom the competing parties compromised on to oversee the whole thing approaches the two kings. I don't hear what they say, but from the relief on King Cyprian's face and the slight strain on King Orin's I don't think there's been any sort of surprise. But they shake hands, and I suppose that's as much as we can really hope for.

    "Is Cheshire participating in your war?"

    "Jade is, yes. Killed her first Scarab Warrior yesterday."

    "You told us that they were what the Reach used to counter Lanterns during their war with the Green Lantern Corps."

    "Yes, but they didn't do that by letting the Green Lantern Corps ambush them one at a time. In the early stages of the war Green Lanterns who'd been properly briefed took out the Scarabs on bodyguard duty fairly easily. Now that they know we're coming for them I'm sure that the Reach will be redeploying their elite warriors. I imagine we'll see… Clone infiltrators with implanted scarabs on our supply worlds within a few weeks. Ambush packs on worlds we liberate who will only go active if they get an Orange Lantern or L.E.G.I.O.N. officer on their own. They'll learn the most effective weapons to use against us, and… It'll get harder. And we managed this hair by bringing pretty much the entire Corps to bear on a single narrow front."

    "And you cannot replicate that."

    "We can, but that would mean leaving a colossal volume of space without Lantern support." I shake my head. "It wasn't really what I wanted, but we're probably going to have to copy the Green Lantern training system; bring people to Maltus for basic training and then have a field-mentorship with a more experienced Lantern."

    Well. Field mentorships, because sending out a single neophyte with a single veteran is asking for the veteran to get mobbed and the new Lantern to be left panicking and unable to do anything. I suggested squads of five to Dox, one actual veteran, two with some experience and two just out of basic. He responded that a fixed number just told our enemies how many they had to watch out for, and he's not wrong. Reach intelligence on us is as bad as we can make it, but they're really good at keeping track of what's happening in their own territory and sharing that information. Data compilation and utilisation is their greatest strength, which is why my next stop is Mars.

    "Will you speak to our other friends while you are here?"

    "Of course. I'm not going to leave long-term without saying anything. And I need to talk to M'gann about the situation on Mars anyway."

    "Do you believe that there has been a new development?"

    "I hope not, because I want to borrow a lot of Manhunters, in the same sort of way that I'm borrowing Venturia's wizards."

    "They may be reluctant to involve themselves in a war with the Reach."

    "Then I won't involve them in that. There are a lot of uses for networked telepaths, and they do rather owe me."
     
    Last edited: Jan 15, 2021
  22. Idkusername

    Idkusername Versed in the lewd.

    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2019
    Messages:
    1,463
    Likes Received:
    13,994
    Orange Lantern: Superpowered Hustler.
     
  23. Ardy

    Ardy I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2017
    Messages:
    641
    Likes Received:
    3,466
    And the harem continues to grow
     
  24. moralrelativity

    moralrelativity Recovering pendant.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    873
    Likes Received:
    3,602
    That's a bit harsh. He's more a Superpowered Networker. :)
     
  25. Agent Orange

    Agent Orange Experienced.

    Joined:
    Dec 2, 2016
    Messages:
    3,608
    Likes Received:
    29,694
    They do? What do they owe him for?
     
    ironbabyjones likes this.
  26. Ardy

    Ardy I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2017
    Messages:
    641
    Likes Received:
    3,466
    He brought in a planet to help fix their planet. Also ended racism forever
     
  27. Darko

    Darko Connoisseur.

    Joined:
    Nov 20, 2019
    Messages:
    22,134
    Likes Received:
    320,293
    Well helped start the process that would see it be removed from Martian society.
     
  28. Ardy

    Ardy I trust you know where the happy button is?

    Joined:
    Dec 30, 2017
    Messages:
    641
    Likes Received:
    3,466
    It was a joke
     
  29. Chojin Patriarch

    Chojin Patriarch Veteran Lurker

    Joined:
    Jan 27, 2019
    Messages:
    2,149
    Likes Received:
    33,434

    That's putting it mildly. And with that, the Team will fade further into the background, outside of a major Event... Or at least, that's how it would usually go. Who knows what will really happen?

    Dude, when you can step across the universe with barely a thought, distance is largely irrelevant in matters like this.

    Makes sense. So he's not going to be in the field too often, I guess. Given that he's basically the Corps' Nuclear option, that's understandable...

    Because that kind of argument often leads to wars. Not right away, of course. Years down the line, when the resentment and hard feelings have had time to simmer into anger...

    Can't get much clearer than that. We can but hope that she accepts that and decides to work at finding her way back into her people's lives the slow way.

    I see it's taking time for the rest of the Atlantean states to get used to that shift in Venturia's leadership, eh.

    Still, they should have a clear idea of where those borders lie. After all, they might not be the only folk in the sea someday... And if other cities get the Secession bug, borders could become very important...

    Doesn't mean there won't still be arguments over patrols along the border straying a little too far across the line...

    Hopefully not looking to intimidate them into staying allied. I know Arthur isn't the most level-headed fellow, but...

    Ah, he's taking their Secession a little personally, huh? Probably sees it as a failure of his weak statecraft skills.

    Still, would you have him be any other way? A cold and distant king? A master statesman who founders in battles? A mad tyrant? Honestly, this is about the best king you could have...

    Ah, changing to a lighter subject, eh? Don't think we can't see what you're doing, Kaldur...

    Two systems out of thousands. Hardly a significant amount indeed. And the Reach's response will come, sooner or later...

    This is not going to be quick. Short of some miraculous conversion amongst the Reach population, they will fight to hold onto every last scrap they've claimed...

    Though a public ballot is closer to the Roman system, isn't it? No point having the right to vote if you haven't the conviction to have your name attached to your vote, no matter how controversial...

    Boy, Kaldur is a little stuck in his ways, isn't he? How long has it been since she bothered to use that name?

    Yup, looks like I was right about her being the one to take the kill-shot on the Scarab. I doubt things will be so easy in a few years, once the Reach start to learn their new tactics and develop countermeasures to their new toys.

    And then NEMO will make countermeasures to detect and defeat the Reach's countermeasures... It's a never-ending cycle.

    Hopefully one who can shut a freaking-out rookie down without hurting them. Though anyone who makes it to the field will probably have shown their general reliability with the Orange Light...

    So you're employing your network of contacts to fight the Reach's networks. It's a never -ending cycle of escalation, isn't it? Let's hope it doesn't go the Lensman route. The last thing we need are warriors throwing planets at each other...

    Given that people like what'shizface... Z'onn Z'orr? That Renegade dealt with months ago have been working freely behind the scenes... I rather expect things are going to be a little tenser there.

    Assuming you can overcome the Guardian conditioning against leaving their world... And that will also weaken the government's ability to deal with rebellious parties...

    Like bringing down the Computer Tyrants of Colu? Because that sounds like a worthy cause to be involved in...

    A slow opening as usual. Nice to see Venturia making a peaceful break from Atlantis. Hopefully it remains peaceful. Now, to wonder what that title refers to...
     
  30. frommerman

    frommerman Getting out there.

    Joined:
    May 29, 2016
    Messages:
    23
    Likes Received:
    173
    Informing them that their entire civilization and history are a lie crafted by the Bobbleheads, then helping to end the inevitable conflict this spawned reasonably peacefully.
     
Loading...