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Post by Asterian Starfall on Jul 7, 2014 17:28:21 GMT
Asterian smirked a little as he talked with the colt across from him. He did not seem to get it. "Excuse me," he said, brushing past him and outside onto the quad.
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 7, 2014 17:58:26 GMT
Blue looked steadily back at Confetty, then walked quickly. "You might say that. Just follow me, or you'll get lost."
Suddenly, she saw it.
A crowd of elite colts and fillies, watching something...
Two colts... a GUN AND A DAGGER?!
No, it can't be, it's, it's some sort of game, it-
The colt raised the pistol to his opponent's forehead.
What the buck does he think he's doing?!
Another game of Exaclan. Seriously, a dagger against a pistol? Pistol probably challenged. Ah, what did it matter? In the end, it was the fillies who get hurt, not the high-and-mighty colts with their wounded egos.
Wait...
That filly... what in Equestria is she doing?! That, must be new?! Transfer student?!
"Hurry up!" called a colt impatiently.
"Break time is almost over," sighed another.
The pistol owner had challenged Master, and won. The bullet had hurt so bad when it nicked her dagger. Razor didn't use her as a shield, since he still needed her to stay conscious, but he wasn't above using her weapon to block.
Now Razor was kneeling on the floor, clutching the short, useless weapon in his hooves, shaking in frustration and anger.
"You see? There's no way a dagger could beat a gun like mine," grinned the pistol owner.
It's true. She was useless, useless, just trash to be thrown aside... and the pistol filly looked so sad...
"Now hurry up and hand over your weapon," said the colt, reaching out a hoof.
But if she was so powerless, why did he want her...? Oh no. No... she was too pretty... that's why...
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Post by Wavelength on Jul 7, 2014 19:38:02 GMT
Confetty started following Blue Moon, but she stopped to stare in disbelief, trying but failing to comprehend what had just happened... oddly enough, the last fact became clear long before any of the first. One stallion was beckoning for the other to hand over a filly. "What... what's happening here?" she asked Blue with mostly confusion and shock in her voice. "What are they doing to those fillies?" The tone of her latter question was beginning to show that naive knight-like anger she always had when something wrong was happening... the kind that tended to get her in a lot of trouble.
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jul 7, 2014 19:51:12 GMT
Cloudy looks very exhausted. When her dagger is used to block the attack, she clutches her hoof kneeling on the ground. she looks to be in allot of pain. After the battle she is an the ground barely able to stay awake. All she says is, "I am sorry, I have a weapon."
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Post by Asterian Starfall on Jul 7, 2014 19:52:44 GMT
(( Let's see if he'll part with her, shall we? ))
Starfall watched in torment as the duel came to a close, but he saw what the victor had in mind... There's got to b- Wait a minute... That could work. It gets me a filly... "weapon"— the mere thought of the term filled him with disgust —and it could save her...
He walked up to the winner of the match and spoke, putting on his usual diplomatic flair, "Well, well, well, that was rather... unceremonious... Surely, you do not need a dagger in your possession when you've got a pistol, do you?"
He looked at the colt dead in the eyes with a friendly grin, yet with enough intimidation to cut bone. An arms dealer's stare, almost. "Care to trade your new weapon for... power?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 7, 2014 22:17:49 GMT
Pistol-owner smirked. "Well, it's always better to have a backup, eh? And besides, Exaclan isn't the... only way to use a weapon-"
"Yeah yeah, you can both go kiss off," snorted Black Razor. "I never wanted this weak weapon ANYWAY!"
Snap
Pain. Blinding, endless, searing pain flooded Cloudy's mind and body. She was screaming inside, but her mouth wouldn't move.
Blissful... silent...
darkness.
The dagger vanished as the filly collapsed onto the ground, unconscious, mere steps away from Confetty. And nopony else cared.
"Wow, no mercy, huh?"
"That girl won't be up for at least a week!"
"Hey, you!"
Pistol-owner glared at Razor, who was already walking away.
"Why'd you break that? It's supposed to be mine, and now she's useless even for trading!"
"You shut up, idiot," snapped the sore loser. "Bucking useless tool, she was. Hope you enjoy taking care of a bedridden sick girl for a while."
"Argh, fine, she'll be awake come morning anyways, maybe enough to last half a round. Or whatever, it's not my problem. Still want her, gov? Sorry about her state."
There was some murmuring and savage grins from bystanders as the crowd dispersed.
"Ah, break's over."
"That wasn't a very good match."
"I wonder who will play next time."
"How about the two of us?"
...
"Are you satisfied with watching the game?" asked Blue Moon emotionlessly, standing by her side. "If you are, let's go and stop attracting attention."
She put a hoof on Confetty's shoulder before she could do anything she'd regret.
"Don't act rashly without knowing the situation. I'll explain, but first, you need to follow me."
"That idiot Razor," grumbled pistol-owner, jerking his head at his filly. "Pick her up."
"Y-yes, sir."
"Again, sorry about all that. Some colts are just sore losers. Why don't we just go somewhere more private to talk?"
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Post by Midnight_Aurora on Jul 7, 2014 22:22:28 GMT
Cloudy passes out. She seams to now be unconscious.
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Post by Asterian Starfall on Jul 7, 2014 22:29:58 GMT
Asterian had to stifle his feelings towards seeing that poor filly broken like that, but he knew he had to help her. He had to trade for her. "How private, my friend?"
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Post by Wavelength on Jul 7, 2014 23:05:28 GMT
Walking away made Confetty's eyes water, but by a thread she managed to turn and follow Blue Moon away from the scene. An explanation... yeah, one of those was long overdue. She was feeling a growing urge to scream and attack the duelists, and she'd probably snap if they stayed any longer.
"Where are we going? Who's allowing that cruel magic? What kind of school is this?" she hastily asked as they left the courtyard.
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 8, 2014 17:02:31 GMT
Pistol-owner shrugged. "Somewhere away from these idiots, anyways. There's a shack next to the athletic fields not too far from here, should give us enough privacy to do a bit of discussing. You said something about power earlier, right? Not sure how much this weapon's worth to you, given that it's broken and really short-ranged. Wouldn't do much against even a pistol, much less a flail or something. Unless it's the filly you want, of course."
He motioned for Asterian to follow along.
Blue Moon weaved to avoid a colt who looked like he wanted to claim Confetty, making her way to the currently empty dining hall and retrieving a tea set from her belongings. Property or not, they were, after all, elites at this school.
"Male Domination. This is the Academy's general rule," said the filly calmly, sipping at her tea and casually offering Confetty some.
"Did you know that the head of the Academy is The Company?"
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Post by Asterian Starfall on Jul 8, 2014 17:12:26 GMT
Asterian followed after the colt intently, smiling on both the inside and the outside now as he began to devise a trade.
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Post by Wavelength on Jul 9, 2014 21:41:57 GMT
Confetty didn't have the stomach to accept any tea at the moment, so she shook her head at the offer. "Male domination or female slavery? Does the government know about thi--..." her face went pale. "Did you just say The Company is behind this? ...As in... The Company?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 10, 2014 21:43:44 GMT
Pistol-owner sighed as he entered the little shack and sat down on an overturned crate.
"Now, you mentioned something about power in exchange for the dagger. Out of curiosity, why a useless weapon like this? I'm sure you've got all sorts of powerful weapons, seeing as that you're on the Council and all. Unless you're in it for the filly, and she's pretty enough I suppose, but now that that IDIOT Razor broke her..."
Blue Moon nodded gravely. "The Company's president, Solaris, has been this Academy's board chairman for generations. And he's an ultra male chauvinism ideologist. It may sound stupid, but the result is tragic."
She motioned around at the school.
"To oppress women and show they are inferior, they made this a co-ed school. The Company is powerful, and has influences all over the world. Nopony dares to oppose them. Not surprising, given their leader. The males are all promised a future within the corporation, so they happily do whatever the Company wants."
She pulled out a blank scroll and a quill, and began drawing pictures.
"The game you saw earlier. It's called 'Exaclan'. It's a battle-type virtual reality game where the school grounds is the field, invented by the Company and directed towards male amusement... and for the purpose of female oppression. It was introduced around 3 years ago. The rules are simple. First, the girls in the field can provide all sorts of weapons, but only he who vows to 'own and protect' her is able to use her weapon. The males then use the weapons to duel each other. The winner of the battle gets the loser's weapon. In other words... he takes ownership of the girl."
She continued to sketch and illustrate her points.
"If he continues winning, he obtains more weapons... and girls. It would turn them into a sort of... well, source of amusement for him, to put it delicately. The more weapons he gets, the stronger he becomes."
She looked directly at the shocked and infuriated filly across from her.
"In this world, fillies are objects. In here, they are counted as nothing more than weapons. Because of this game, girls have been demoted from 'pony' to 'object'."
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Post by Wavelength on Jul 15, 2014 5:39:38 GMT
Confetty's shock and anger turned to residual anger and confused concern. "You knew already... why did you get on the bus? Why would you come here?"
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Post by wanderingmagus on Jul 15, 2014 17:03:14 GMT
Blue Moon rested her head on her hooves, looking out a window thoughtfully.
"...perhaps it is because I believe there could be one good thing that comes from Exaclan... I told you about the ownership, right? Other than the owner himself, no one else is allowed to touch the girl. If you take or break someone else's things, that's a crime, right? The same goes with girls. Before that, all boys could oppress one girl. Thanks to this game, the girl only has to endure oppression from her owner alone. In a sense..."
She seemed to be trying to convince herself now, speaking in a barely audible voice.
"In a sense, the colt who 'owns' the filly and protects her from other boys... 'a knight of justice who protects the princess'...? Perhaps it's like that..."
No. Wrong. Time to end this stupid thinking!
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