The Art of Snow-War

[Frain Breeze]

(ITT: Everypony takes snowball fights way too seriously. Have fun being ridiculous with it.)

Lady Lanceguard paid off the group of snow shovelers and sent them on their way, then gazed back over her new battlefield. A river formed the north boundary of the zone, and a small stream branching off from it partly divided the area into east and west sides. A small bridge crossed over this stream, and would serve as an excellent bottleneck for the battle to come. In the northeast and northwest corners of the map stood two impressive snow forts, topped with a blue and red flag, respectively. Two paths were cleared between the forts- A northern path crossed over the bridge, providing quick access but little cover, and a southern path went around the stream and through a series of snow drifts, a safe but slow approach. Ready-made snowballs were placed behind any potential barrier- fallen logs, snowponies, and even the occasional large rock.

Her favorite winter event was about to unfold: For the rest of the day, teams of ponies would go against each other in what she planned to be the most organized snowball fight of the year. Lanceguard approached a tall snowdrift near the center of the battlefield. She laid 5 simple red cloaks on the west side and 5 blue ones on the east. Lanceguard herself wore a sixth blue cloak, one adorned with gold trim, as she climbed to the top of the snow drift to issue her challenge. A red cloak with similar trim was left beside the others, for that team's leader.

"Fillies and gentlecolts! The lines have been drawn and the battlefield set! Who among you are prepared for battle, to duel in the snow? Have you a score to settle? A bet to win? Or do you simply need to prove yourself a champion or a leader? Organize your teams and we may begin!"

Battlefield map:

Current teams: (asterisks are number of hits remaining until the character is out)

Red Team:

***Gilda

***Dynamite (purple earth pony colt)

***Star "Hoss" Skybright (brown pegasus stallion)

***Thunder Storm (yellow-ochre pegasus colt)

Blue Team:

***Lady Lanceguard (brown unicorn mare)

***Powdered Snow (light grey pegasus filly)

***Pine Cone (brown pegasus stallion)

***Whirlwind (pink pegasus filly with missing leg)

***Shanna Skybright (brown pegasus mare)

***Thunderflash (dark gray pegasus stallion)

[RarityDash]

Gilda gave a groan as she flew high above the festival fields. She was a proud griffin; she really didn't care for these lame ponies and their lame pony holidays. Yet she had been in the area and decided to at least scope out the festival. Maybe grab some food, maybe find some time to ruin a few lame ponies days. So far, her day had honestly been a little boring.

This winter festival really kinda paled next to the Harvest festival a few months back. That had been fun, with its emphasis on darkness and terror. She had been able to really get behind it and enjoy herself. This one on the other hand, so far, had just proven bland. The ponies were too cheerful and nice. Even when she tried pushing them around, so far they had just smiled and went along their way without making an event of it. There was just far too much positive energy surrounding these lame winter holidays. It was starting to get really annoying.

Gilda was a little confused about what to do next. Surely something fun had to be happening at this entire big festival? It was as she was thinking about that that she happened to spy something strange going down at a nearby part of the field, right along side a river. There were fort looking things on either side of a bridge over a stream and there were piles of snowballs. Gilda's first reaction was that this was really dumb. Silly ponies and their ridiculous, lame kiddy games. She would have flown past, but then something caught her attention.

Down below, a pony, and adult mare no less, called out loudly to the surrounding areas. Her little speech contained enough fun key words to get the griffin's attention. Battlefield? Battle? Duel? Champion? Yes! This was the right spirit. Thinking about it again, this was her chance to whale on some ponies with balls of snow and prove her superiority. She wasn't going to pass this up, not when it was very likely the only viable source of amusement at this entire festival.

Not missing another beat, Gilda swooped down to the central snowdrift where the mare stood, wearing her blue leader cloak. She laughed and smirked as she stepped forward.

"Snow battle, huh? Now doesn't that sound like fun," she said in a smugly satisfied tone. "Hope you and your lame ponies don't mind a griffin showing you how a battle is won."

Gilda then grabbed up the red leader's cloak and draped it over herself proudly. Red was so much cooler than blue... And of course she had to be the leader. Like she'd ever willingly answer to some lame pony.

"Any of you ponies smart enough to actually want to win this thing, follow me!" Gilda shouted out aggressively. Maybe it was a little lame to get this worked up over this dumb game, but that didn't stop her. She had already set her sights on winning.

[McWinniage]

Dynamite's head shot out a snowdrift a little ways away from the battlefield. The colt had been digging an awesome under-snow fort for himself, and had been gathering more of the fresh powder when Lady Lanceguard had issued her challenge. He had watched a gryphon swoop down and answer Lanceguard's challenge rather aggressively.

"Wicked cool." He murmured to himself. Dynamite wriggled his wiry body out of the snow and galloped as fast as his legs could carry him.

He skidded to a halt beside Gilda moments later, hastily tugging on the red cloak. "I hope you're ready to lose!" The colt grinned wickedly at Lady Lanceguard.

[VinylScratch]

Powdered Snow stared with awh at the snow constructed forts. She considered if they were safe to stand on and defend. Well, unicorns can do anything she thought to herself. This was her first Hearth Warming Eve in Canterlot, and from the looks of it she didn't know anyone here. She even lacked an understanding of battle strategy. One of the teams' leader was a griffin for crying out loud. That bird thing would surely win she thought. Then again, she did look like she lacked any sympathy for a small filly like herself. Powdered trotted over to the blue team leader and said, "Hello. I'm Powdered Snow. Can I join your side?"

[Pinecone]

Taking a break from his studies Pine Cone was visiting Canterlot, meeting new pony's, seeing old friends it was a blast! Later while flying well above the battlefield Pine saw two opposing teams getting ready for a snowball war.

"Cool," he thought to himself, "this will be a good way to help me take a break from my studies!" Swooping down he checked out the battle grounds, when suddenly he heard a Griffin yelling angrily at a couple of pony's in blue cloaks.

"Well one things for certain I don't wanna be on her side, she seems kinda mean." He murmured to himself while walking up to the pony in the blue cloak with the gold trim. "Hello, can I please join your team?"

[Ancre]

"Hi ! can I join too ?"

Whirlwind the pegasus filly had spotted the two snow fortresses from above and had landed, curious at first, eager to play too. Snowball fights were lots of fun, and this one looked very promising, with all the preparations the organizer had put in. There already was a little group of players, a Griffon who didn't looked very nice, a black earth pony colt, a light brown pegasus and a dark brown unicorn, and ...

"Hey, Powdered Snow ! D'you remember me ?"

It was her friend from the last Harvest festival ! They had spent some great times together, chasing ghosts in the pumpkin fields during the night. Whirlwind flew toward her and smiled, really looking forward to the snowball game now. It was going to be so much fun ! Her missing leg prevented her from walking, but she could still fly and drown her opponent in snowballs !

[Frain Breeze]

Lanceguard smirked as a griffon arrived to challenge her. "Well, you certainly have ambition. I hope you realize it takes more than that to make a good commander, howev-" She was cut off by a purple colt skidding into the scene. "Ready to lose? My, sir, you should've said that to a mirror" she replied with a grin.

She turned her head back toward the crowds, only to catch a small pegasus filly right at her side, asking to join. "Oh, of course you may, this is open to everypony." She then leaned down to the filly and whispered, "I would watch the griffon, though, she seems rather rough." Another pegasus, a light brown stallion, approached and seemed to mumble an agreement with what Lanceguard just said, then ask to join her side. "The more, the merrier, sir."

While another pegasus filly dropped in, Lanceguard spoke to the group. "Well, since the teams are starting to fill out, I may as well go over the rules now. Firstly, the goal- either take out all members of the opposing team, or conquer their fort. A fort is conquered when it is occupied by members of the opposing team only, and they must hold it for at least ten seconds. Three hits and an opponent is out. Hits to the tail or hooves do not count. To bring a defeated teammate back in, you must stand over them and successfully catch an opponent's snowball." She paused for a moment to let all of that sink in, then resumed "Now, since we have a lot of pegasi here, there has to be a limit to keep things fair for those of us on the ground. No weather control, and no flying above the treetops where nopony can hit you." She eyed the red team leader. "That applies to you as well."

Lanceguard glanced out at the crowd again, then back to the snowball fighting teams. "We'll wait another minute or two for more players, then head to the forts, devise our strategies, and start. Any questions?"

(OOC: if nobody else joins the red team to even things out, just RP a couple nondescript ponies that a late-joiner can take over as needed.)

[RarityDash]

"Sounds like a plan to me," Gilda said as the blue team leader finished speaking. "And don't worry. I won't need to cheat to win this."

The griffon studied her opponents. Four ponies arrived in turn to fill out the teams a little. Though Gilda herself and the blue team leader were adults, most of the others were rather young. Predictably, most of them went for the Blue team. Gilda had to laugh at this choice.

"Look at you dweebs, lining up to get creamed. None of you stand a chance against this griffon," she said with a definite smugness as she stared t the larger blue team.

She looked over to the one pony who seemed to have a brain, a purple-coated colt with a spiked out black and red mane. He looked kind of scrawny, but he had the right spirit as far as Gilda was concerned. "Alright kid, you're my second in command. Let's show all these lame ponies they made the wrong choice when they picked their team."

((OOC: Not surprised Gilda isn't the most popular team leader. Kind of like it that way. The nondescript ponies things sounds like a good solution if we don't have any more takers. Either that, or I could bring one of my other characters into the game, I suppose...))

[McWinniage]

(OOC: Yeah, that sounds like the best bet.)

Dynamite never was the one to pick role models, but this griffon seemed pretty awesome to him. He tried to nod nonchalantly, but had trouble hiding his excitement. "Well duh, I don't see anyone else here capable of my talents." The spunky colt boasted smirking at the opposition. He was pretty good at keeping a poker face, but being appointed a "important" role was something Dynamite never really got the chance to do. Naturally he was having trouble containing himself.

[Boss_Hoss1]

Twin pegasi arrive overhead, each bearing a net load full of snowballs.

The bay stallion, Hoss, nickered as they hovered "All right! One rush order of snowballs from the Weather Factory. Where do you want them?"

His sister, Shanna, snorted as she saw Gilda, and pointed. "I think maybe we should join in brother dear. Remember her?"

he nodded "I do... But, I'll join her side just so I can throw snowballs at you. I dont get to do that since we were foals."

Snanna smirked "And same goes to you, Hoss. I guess I'm on... blue team? Prepare to be splatted, Hoss!"

[ThunderFlash]

Thunderflash was sitting on a cloud, napping lazily. It was a peaceful nap, really...until voices below made him roll over with a groan. He cracked an eye open, looking slightly annoyed that someone was interrupting his break from the usual weather pony business. "Nnnn...What's with all the noise...?" he mumbled. Thunder slowly stood up and stretched, hearing someponies saying something about a snowball fight. This got him excited, and looking over the edge of the cloud he was on. A nice overhead view of several ponies all gathering at two different bases was seen. From the looks of it, there was also a griffon joining in the battle. He himself had never met a griffon before, so that might have proved to be interesting. "Looks like something fun's gonna happen! Like I'd miss this!" he said to himself.

Thunder jumped from his cloud and soared down, heading towards what looked like the blue-team base. He came to a stop, skidding along the snow and making a stop in front of the griffon and another pony. "Yo. Got room for one more. I'm Thunderflash." Wanting to get introductions out of the way, he made it quick. Besides, with an intense snowball fight going down, nopony probably didn't want to hear it. "I'd love to give a snowball fight a go. A weather pony might prove useful for you all." Thunder was admitidly a bit smug, but what pegasus wasn't?

[VinylScratch]

(OOC: I think we've run out of cloaks for blue team xD)

"Hey, Whirlwind!" Powdered Snow replied to her friend from Nightmare Night. It had been months since they've talked to eachother. Powdered had planned to write but never got the chance to. "That griffon over there looks pretty mean." She leaned in close to Whirl. "I think that's why there's noone on her team."

[Tornadopelt]

A yellow-ochre pegasus was flying overhead when he saw what looked like a batle-ready area. He thought, "Gilda?" and then swooped down to lanceguard. "Hello, miss Lanceguard. I'm ready to join the snow war!

[Pinecone]

Watching the teams fill up Pine Cone got more and more excited. "This is going to be a good one!" he thought to him self. His hooves tapping in excitement he looked around for things to use as barricades and strategies against the red team. As more and more pony's started to join Pine got more and more excited. But then he started to notice more pony's joining the blue team.

"Maybe its because the griffon had a mean look to her." He thought. But either way he was still super excited. After more pony's should up the blue leader started to go over the rules but Pine was to distracted by the beautiful snowy scenery. The griffon started talking about winning but Pine didn't really care about winning he just wanted to have fun!

"Now would be the perfect time to make new friends" he thought. He walked over to a Dark Grey Pegasus with yellow highlights in its mane and introduced himself hoping to make a new friend!

[Boss_Hoss1]

(might as well see if I can get things moving...)

Hoss neighs as he lands near Gilda "Here I am ready to fight, and I brought a lot of snowballs in this delivery. where do you want me?"

He should certainly remind her of the pegasus mare that she encountered in the "Running of the Leaves" race, if she hadnt' noticed the two of them arrive, that is.

Meanwhile, Shanna neighs as she trots closer to the blue leader to be sure she had been seen when she volenteered earlier "If you want me in this fight, Anywhere opposite the griffon is fine with me."

[ThunderFlash]

Thunder wasn't really sure how all this was going to go down, but he had an idea or two on how to give the other team a run for their money. His thought process was interrupted by another, who had a brownish coat with red tinted mane and tail. Thunder smiled as he approached, happy to meet somepony new. "Hey there! My name's Thunderflash. You as ready for this snow war as I am?" he said with a casual laugh. Thunder could already tell it was going to be a blast! "Anywho, my friends all call me Thunder for short, so you can too. What's your name?" he asked, eager to hear who the new pony was.

[Frain Breeze]

OOC post here. I'll make my RP post right after this one.

1. Ancre has yet to post again. I sent a PM a couple days ago, but haven't received a reply. In the interest of keeping the RP going, I'll post now

2. Just so we have a quick reference, here's a list of the team members, which I'll add to the first post. Asterisks denote how many more hits they can take (irrelevant in this post, but it'll help to keep track later)

Red Team:

***Gilda

***Dynamite (purple earth pony colt)

***Star "Hoss" Skybright (brown pegasus stallion)

***Thunder Storm (yellow-ochre pegasus colt)

Blue Team:

***Lady Lanceguard (brown unicorn mare)

***Powdered Snow (light grey pegasus filly)

***Pine Cone (brown pegasus stallion)

***Whirlwind (pink pegasus filly with missing leg)

***Shanna Skybright (brown pegasus mare)

***Thunderflash (dark gray pegasus stallion)

[Frain Breeze]

Lanceguard smiled as more ponies joined the group, but had to roll her eyes at the griffon's boasting. "Please, miss, save the theatrics for when you actually have some advantage. I've studied history and I know how battles are won." Just then, 3 more pegasi joined the mix. The gray one introduced himself and started to mention weather control, but Lanceguard had to restate the rule for him- "I admire your eagerness, but you have to resort to your hooves for this game. Weather control would be unfair for those on the ground."

A couple more pegasi entered the mix, both looking to be on the blue team. Lanceguard glanced toward the remaining blue cloaks, then looked back at the new participants. She focused on the last to land, a yellow-ochre colt. "Sorry sir, but the blue team is full. You will need to join the red side, or ask somepony here if they'd like to switch."

With the current group addressed, Lanceguard looked around and gave her last call. "To all still hoping to join the battle, there are two spaces remaining on the red team!" She glanced back to the teams and then pointed her hoof toward each base. "We shall now head to our bases. Once there, commanders have one minute to issue orders, and then we will begin. Onward!" Lanceguard hopped down from the snow drift, nodding her head at the blue team as she galloped toward the base. Once there, she quickly surveyed her surroundings, mentally noting strategic points to hold while waiting for her team.

[Ancre]

(OOC : I'm sorry I made everyone wait ! It won't happen again.)

"Yes, she doesn't seems nice, and that's too bad for her team !" Whirlwind nodded to her friend. "She might be the stronger one around here, but we'll have a stronger team overall !" she grinned. Friendship and numbers were more powerful than individual strengths, the filly thought !

The pink pegasus looked at the newcoming ponies. It looked like everyone wanted to be on their side, and it made her smile ; the unicorn leader even had to turn down one of the pegasus, a yellow pegasus, and ask him to join the other side. This clearly proved the blue team was the best ! They were definitely going to win that game.

Then Lanceguard announced the beginning of the snowball war : everypony was to join their base and had a minute to form a plan. Whirlwind flew toward the snow-fort. With so many pegasus in every team, the air was going to be the primary battleground, so she didn't bothered to take a look at the ground around her.

Whirlwind landed near her team leader, and asked : "So, what's the plan ?" The pink filly had never been part of a snowball fight this big.

[RarityDash]

Gilda smirked as she looked at the two new ponies to come to her side, another colt and a stallion who seemed to only be in to get the better of his sister... who seemed kind of familiar to Gilda. Had she seen her somewhere? It was hard to recall. The lamer of ponies all kind of started to blend together.

She then looked at the Blue team leader. "You know all about battle, huh? Then you should know all about the natural advantages we griffons have when it comes to the subject." Gilda laughed. "Really you should be lucky you're team has those two extra ponies. You'll need them with me leading this group..."

That said, Gilda turned to her team. "Alright, let's show these losers how it's done!" she said. "To the base, let's plan out our attack!"

Without further warning, Gilda flew back to the red team snow fort.

[McWinniage]

Dynamite flashed a rather too cocky smirk, watching the many Pegasi lift into the air. He turned and started up a steady gallop, weaving in and out of small snow drifts.

Dynamite skidded to a halt at the top of the fort a bit after Gilda had arrived. Which, considering his size, was rather impressive. "I have," huff, "an idea." The colt stared up at Gilda as he said this, eyes alight with confidence despite is scrawny frame.

[Boss_Hoss1]

( OOC; who's next?)

Shanna neighed and reared dramatically on a snowy rampart "All right! Time to give Gilda and my brother a thourough covering of snow!"

She turned to Lady Lanceguard "What's the plan, besides throwing or dropping snowballs?"

Meanwhile, Hoss whinnied and waved the team flag, wearing a pirate hat.

He looked back over at Gilda and planted it back where it was with a grin. "Ready to pelt my sister with snowballs, ma'am. Whats the plan?"

[Frain Breeze]

(OOC: ThunderFlash is up next I think. Also, doesn't this event forum close soon? We may have to continue this RP in another thread)

[McWinniage]

(OOC: I believe Thunderflash is up next as well. I think it does close down soon. I personally would like to continue this thread if everyone else is up for it.)

[RarityDash]

((OOC: I'm definitely up to continue in another topic. I mean, we hardly got much done...))