Raven Rawne

Crystal Clear looked intently at her console for any signs of problems during the tests. She noticed the impulse power increase to 70% and it got her worried a bit, but the starboard thruster bank didn't overheat. That was a relief. The whistle startled her for a moment and she blonked several times while looking around. The mare recalled the captain's words and said aloud: "Hmm, seems like we didn't blow up just yet. Good job team." She opened the coms channel to Alpha Team. "Hey guys, since you did such terrific job with those vents, I have a little something for you - starboard thruster bank is overheating and I want it to stop, so grab some suits and stay put till we enter warp. Then we'll slap it back in shape. Crystal out" The mare turned towards her assistant - "Take over from here, I need to hurry for that meeting. I bet I'll be the last through the door..." Since the Engineering was located in the aft, and on low deck too, she had to get through the whole ship en route to the Bridge. Crystal hurried out of the main Engineering and towards the meeting room.

@@Nightmare Season, The mare snickered - "Then I still have a flu ahead of me! Sorry, dark humor, I know..." She drooped her ears slightly at her misbehaviour as Nightmare pondered aloud the possibility of restocking in the forest. The part about healing in the dream world gave her pause, and she tapped her snout in thought. Technically, there was a way... Crystal put her hoof down as she noticed Nightmare was about to turn around and face her. She wouldn't risk messing the alicorn's plan just to heal faster. At least not yet. Crystal welcomed the nuzzle - she's always been a cuddlebug really. "It's easy for you bcause you've done it so many times, but it's my first, so I guess it's normal to worry in my situation. But I'll try too keep my spirits in decent condition. I know I'm in good hooves." She pooled quizically at the stallion who began scribbling something on the cave wall. "Grafitti? I didn't suspect you're the type who scribbles "Nightmare Season was here" in remote locations..." She rubbed her forehead as he explained what he was doing. "Uh huh, that makes sense. Not many ponies wander in these parts, so food would be scarce at best. It also helps when the scenery changes, like with seasons. Smart." She nodded with approval and surpressed a yawn. "Who would've thought that doing nothing for the whole day would be so tiring... Anything to do today, doctor, or can I go to a place where I don't feel like a guard training dummy after spear drill?" She asked with a smile and awaited the reply.

@@Nightmare Season, Crystal Clear decided to trust the stallion's judgement. "Fine, we'll take shelter here then. By which I mean you will, while I look like wolf bait." She couldn't let go of the issue of her immobilisation. She smirked at his reassurance. "yeah, i;m single use. And kinda already used... Okay let's get our stuff in here." The mare tried not to show it for Nightmare's sake, but, as a tradespony by education and temperament, laying idle when somepony else toled for her, and without any gratification too, simply rubbed her the wrong way. All this situation was just one huge nightmare. No pun intended. The sun was settlind down when Nightmare Season put her inside the cave and hoised their supplies up into their sanctuary. The mare lied on the cloud bed, eyes closed and thoroughtly bored. Somehow doing nothing was just as tiring as toiling all day, and she sure knew what the latter meant. Something told her that once she finally puts her hooves on solid ground, she won'r have any strength left in her. At some point, the sounds of stacking crates ceased and she opened her eyes to see what's going on. Nightmare used some of their supplies to stack some kind of a barrier between them and the world outside - clever. It blocked some of the wind, when it blew straight inside, and obscured them from sight from outside. The stallion was dismantling the foul nest and used it for kindling. She allowed herself a small smile - once it was burned entirely, maybe the air inside would be better... Crystal smiled pleasantly at the stallion when he asked her what she wanted to eat. "I don't suppose you have anything that will mend my ribs, no?" She waved a hoof at him. "Just kidding, I'll be fine with anything really, as long as I don't need both hooves to eat. I suggest you make something simple, since you've had more than enough work for today. Although if it's not too much of a trouble, maybe you could show me something more about prepping food to make it taste better. Cause you know, I've got all left hooves in this area." Nightmare opted for a thick stew, and Crystal agreed with his choice - it was rather easy to make, and she could eat it with ease. Besides, she needed more water to heal those nasty bruises faster. They ate in peace, occasionally throwing something into the fire. it started to be actually warm inside, and Crystal dug out from under her covers. She also asked for her glow-crystal and hung it from her neck, just to have a light source at hoof. Once the meal was over, she gave herself a look over. "I always thought my coat looks good with white, but... not really with white bandages. I'll need a dayjustto get my coat in order too... All the more reason for avoiding reckless decisions, I guess." She rolled over on her back and tried to touch her injured side with her good hoof. "Ouch, still hurts when I touch it... But somehow it almost doesn't when I lay still and breathe shallowly. Seems your medicine is working, so that's good, right? Only those ribs bother me, you know. Sounds serious for a pony who never had a broken bone, or even a doslocated joint even. I just hope they heal up fast..." She sighed and winced slightly, then asked the stallion - "How are our medical sticks holding up? We're going to use most of them on me, correct?"

@@Orange Sparks The crystal mare unsheathed her own hand and a half saber and gave it a few good looking swings. "Alright then! Let's have some fun!" Truth be told, she wasn't in the mood for jokes, considering the dire circumstances, but reckoned Clarissa could use some distraction from all of this. They began from showing some basis stances and attacks, trying to accommodate the needs of their audience and their varied equipment. Then, the mares had a quick sparring to show how it all looks like in motion. Later on, each took half of the students and trained with them - assigning pairs, showing what they did wrong and generally trying to make the best use of their limited time. They took some short breaks every now and then when the mares just talked, but after around three hours their students were tired and their minds drifted to unattended chores rather than some abstract need to defend their homes. Seeing the tiredness and distraction, Clare had no choice but to end the session and free the ponies back to their duties. The mares sat on a bench by the inn, and Crystal wrapped an arm around her fiance's shoulders. "Good job love, ever thought of becoming an instructor at the Academy?" She rested her head on the pegasi shoulder. "I reckon our gear won't be here in another two hours or so, and we could try to visit the horny mare before nightfall, just to put it behind us. I'm not sure when the reinforcements will arrive though." She nuzzled her marefriend's neck. "Any plans for now?"

The crystal mare was busy fine tuning the power output as the whole ship started munching on the juice. Every minute brought more stations and systems online and she needed to increase the amount of matter in the warp core a few times, even if the increase was measured in single percents. She saw when all phaser banks came online and couldn't help but bite her lip and shift anxiously as they fired on low power. Thankfully, nothing malfunctioned and the heat dissipation was stellar -"this vessel was designed with long firefights in mind, and excess heat sinks and cooling redundancies made it possible without care for overheating. Crystal touched the wine bottle under her console with her boot, and frowned. It shouldn't be here at the best of times, and especially during code red which would be in effect in a few minutes... She picked it up and handed to her assistant. "Stash it in our tool shed, in the locker with the power cells. Just close it afterwards. I'll register it with Security later and we'll have something for celebrations." The Assistant Chief Engineer seemed less than thrilled with this task, but took the bottle and hurried out of the Main Engineering. @@Mentis Soliloquy A buzz in her ear. Crystal listened to the captains request and replied on her favourite professional tone: "Copy that Bridge, shields and phaser banks are operating at full capacity. Impulse engines stable, the starboard bank has cooled down to acceptable level and the other two are working as intended. I'll inform if the starboard bank starts overheating again. Allocating power reserve to battle systems. Engineering out." She smiled when her assistant showed up on camera just as the captain announced red alert. The mare opened the heavy armoured door and let him in. "Just in time! I trust the booze is secured, aye? Good, now we can concentrate on keeping this ship from falling apart." Crystal opened the commlink to Alpha Team. "Hey there hammerheads, how are you doing with those vents? Sensor malfunctions and posters covering the air vents? Boooring! Wrap up this job and get back to the Clubhouse, we're at red alert and I need you on standby in case somepony fries something... Alright alright, I'll give you a beer cap medal if you hurry up in ten, is that enough gratification? Then you're out of luck pal, should've picked an office job! Crystal out." The mare smirked and said to herself. "What a colorful bunch of loonies..."

@@Nightmare Season, The red mare tried to move her left shoulder, only to discover that nothing changed in it's condition. She sighed and nodded, "Then it's settled..." The thought of the monstrous creature from yesterday made her visibly nervous - if it came back, she was as good as dead! Nightmare's reassurance somehow didn't extinguish her doubts entirely, but chipped off a large portion of them. She didn't like that Nightmare was thinning his supplies for the sake of sustaining some silly cloud, but Crystal knew better than whine openly about it. She just laid her head down and exhaled deeply in resignation. Nightmare picked the cue and pushed the topic, so she waved her good hoof at him. "Okay, okay, you know best what your limits are. I just don't like leeching off other ponies that's all." She hated her current situation, but also was grateful for Nightmare's help. She chuckled at the "doctor's orders", and winced in pain. "Bucking ribs... Alright you win, I can't do a thing on my own and I reckon it's easier to carry me around on that cloud than on some crude stretchers or whatever." They scouted the cliff face for a few hours, and were ready to give up and go back for dinner, when the mare saw something. "Is that...? Huh, check that out, looks like a cave entrance to you?" She pointed at a hole in the cliff face, a bit above the ground level. One would have to climb a bit to reach it, but on the other hoof, no regular predator would reach them there. "Sure, hoist me up. It's safer and faster that way." - She nodded and Nightmare lifted the cloud up to the level of the entrance. "I can't see much... too dark inside, but the entrance is spacious. Could fit our sleigh even, if we unpacked it that is. Toss a firebolt inside, okay? I'll see more with some light." The stallion agreed and shot a spike of flame at the ceiling, and for a moment Crystal could see the inside. "Yep, jackpot by the look of it! It sure is big inside. Wanna climb up and see yor yourself?" Nightmare reached the entrance in just a couple jumps - thankfully the way up was easy for a pony his size. Now that there was a reliable light source - Crystal left her glow-crystal in her jacket - the ponies could take a better look at their find. First thing she noticed were deep claw marks in and around the entrance. The size matched the yeti they fought yesterday, but she was no expert. The mare instinctively curled and hid her head, only to ge a flash of pain and a curious look from her companion. She hissed in pain and said in a low voice. "The c-claw marks, made me think of the beast that wrecked me. You think it's it's home? I can't tell if these are old or new, not from up here anyway... But the size match. W-we go inside?" Nightmare seemed to be willing to investigate, and she had no other way than let herself be carried along. She keenly noticed that there seemed to be just one room in the cavern, so that was good. What wasn't so good was that it was obviously dug out to be bigger. That would explain the slight incline right underneath the entrance. The cavern was empty save for what looked like a nest of sorts, or a bedding. Enormous by pony standards, made of pine branches, twigs and whatever one can find around to insulate from the cold rock. The mare also noticed that it was most ptobably the cource of an umpleasant stench that permeated in this cave. Crystal Clear looke at Nightmare Season expectantly. "So... we claim this place? It's surely better than our small den, but I'm afraid it's occupant still lives."

@@Nightmare Season The mare breathed out in relief. "Thanks for agreeing with me." She observed as he dug out more roots and stuff his bags with them. When he was done, she added a remark of her own. "Don't forget about the ones I collected. And really, don't burden yourself with the smoke cloud, unless we need to be on the move. I'll be fine on a bedroll too." A reassuring smile was the final touch to put her companion at ease. They reached their hideout, and thankfully, nothing took advantage of their absence. When Nightmare asked whether they should look for some better shelter, Crystal Clear thought about it for a bit. "Hmm, tough call. See, it's far from ideal, with our stuff wide in the open, and this den isn't exactly what I would call a good protection... But on the other hoof, there's no telling whether we find anything better before nightfall..." She brushed some loose hair off her snout. Empire for a manedresser... "I propose to stay here, but scout for a better place within a few hour walk radius. It's around... 9 AM? We could have a snack and venture out for a bit." She facehoofed and groaned. "Riiiiight, almost forgot I can't move a step on my own. I hate being bedridden... You don't know any way to make this cloud move beside your magic? Thought so." She rested her hoof on her chin and pouted. "Seems I need to rely on you, again. So how does my plan sound? A compromise at best, but I'm afraid we can't risk much more. Not with me so nicely wrecked." She chuckled humorlessly.

@@Nightmare Season "Thanks. I really needed something to drink. My throat's been killing me." She laid the empty cup on her blanket, unsure if it would fall through the cloud or not. The mare nodded and tucked her blanket over her body as the stallion moved her out of the small enclosed space. She expected it would be much colder outside, but it wasn't that bad actually. At least for as long as she had her covers on. Crystal looked at the breakfast and another batch of the healing salve, and her ears drooped in guilt. "Buck, it's not how it was supposed to go... " His reassurance did little to convince her that it's okay, but she accepted her breakfast with a polite smile, and later on, let her friend tend to her injury, despite how painful it was. "Ow ow ow too tiiiight!" - Nightmare was bandaging her barrel, and Crystal felt a flash of pain when he tightened it around her ribs. When he told her that some are surely broken, the mare laid her head in resignation. "Well done Crystal, you're going to be useless for weeks! Urrrgh..." She nodded at Nightmare's inquiry and pointed the way with her good hoof. "You need to go that way, till you see a sheer cliff. Then walk about... hundred steps or so to the left and you'll see a tight entrance. The tree grows on the other side." She was a bit surprised when Nightmare levitated her cloud bed with him, and left their stuff packed and secured but otherwise unattended. But then, it's not like she had much choice on the matter, or could be of any use in guarding the sleigh... "A sapling? But it's not that small..." She scratched her head in confusion and looked as Nightmare searched for the parent tree, if there really was any. The mare gave him a weird look at the unusual proposal. "I'm not going to fall to my death when the cloud gets too far from you, right? That wouldn't be nice... Alright, hoist me up. At least I'll be of any use." She was a bit nervous as the cloud she rested on rose upwards, but nothing bad happened. After some unspecified amount of time that felt rather long, she reached the top. "STOP IT THERE! I CAN SEE THE CLIFF TOP!" Crystal yelled down and the cloud stopped it's ascent. She looked around and saw it in the distance. "Well kick my flank, it's massive... FOUND IT! CAN YOU CLIMB UP?" She saw the stallion approach the wall and look for a way up. When Nightmare Season finally reached the top, Crystal Clear was bored and cold. Her side kept aching despite the salve's soothing properties, but to be frank, it still helped a lot. She chuckled humorlessly at the stallion's remark. "I'd rather climb than lie like a beaten berry with broken ribs, just so you know, for future reference." The stallion's presence helped her warm up as she was taken to the tree. It was the strangest thing she ever saw, and that's counting a nightmare pony, a blind alicorn princess and other oddities. Crystal stared in wonder as Nightmare inspected the tree. She found a tongue in her mouth only when her companion dug up the golden root. "Don't take that one!" She froze, hoof outstretched. "I-I mean, it's different from the others, right? So it has different properties, aye? Not the best time for experiments..." She gauged his reaction. "What? And if it makes you rampage blindly? Or fall asleep for a week? Don't try it until we come back home alright? Curiosity killed the cat, I don't fancy following it's lead."

@@Orange Sparks Crystal Clear giggled behind the princess. "Aww, that was just precious. Ahem, sorry. I mean, look around, there's not even a palisade. We're on Throne Island, the safest there is. It's quite understandable the local lord, who I'd sure like to discuss a few things, didn't invest in security..." She stepped down from the deck into the crowd and looked over what they brought. "Let's see... Axes! Good... They're easy to use, lay around in every village and sure do some damage. Rakes and pitchforks... Well you can use them to impale stuff but it's not the best idea. Same for scythes and sickles, sorry folks!" She continued the inspection. "Knives? Could do in a pinch, yeah. Where did you get that sledgehammer from? Can I have a swing? Well, if you don't mind hitting stuff once every full moon, then sure, why not..." Crystal came back to Clare, and gave her a curious look. "What? Don't expect them to fetch arming swords from underneath their beds, nopony thought they'd be in danger until recently..." She trailed off, knowing what caused the danger in the first place - them. 'Soooo, can we show these ponies what to do with the iron they have right now? We can send them some proper axes later."

@@Nightmare Season The red mare was losing her temper. Not only did she feel awful, with sore limbs and aching bruises, she couldn't move thanks to the blanket, and that coal lump didn't respond to her yelling! All the while their stuff was being lifted right from their noses! "WAKE UP YOU USELESS... PONY!" She couldn't yell any louder. This time, Nightmare did wake up, but it wasn't him, if that made sense. "You... nononononononono not YOU!" She found the strength to wriggle out of the blanket and fell off the cloud, then tried to crawl away from the all too familiar figure. A fire bolt struck hee assailant, then another. He dissolved into smoke uttering some very disturbing curses. Crystal Clear, still pretty much panicked, glanced at the direction from where the rescue came - Nightmare Season has crawled inside the den. "Is it... really you?" She eyed him suspiciously. The reply he have her was sufficient to put her at ease a bit. She sighed and nodded to herself, still curled up in a far end of the den. "A dream, just a bad dream..." It took a while before she came back to her senses and used her imagination to will the injuries away, then, after the stallion's suggestion, switch to some nicer place and get on with the rest of her dream in a way she wanted. The nightmare pony left the dream sometime later, and Crystal enjoyed the rest of her dream in peace. A scent. Something smelled good. Crystal sniffed the air and decided it must've been food. Her stomach agreed with a loud grumble. The mare tried to move her left foreleg - the shoulder was very sore and it hurt when she moved it. Her side ached with every breath and felt like solid carapace. She freed her right foreleg and rubbed her eyes open, then brushed loose hair off her snout. "I must look terrible..." she thought with displeasure. Crystal tried to stretch as usual but she immediately regretted the decision - the pain in her side made her wince and hiss. She looked around the den but Nightmare was nowhere to be seen. "N-Nightmare Season? You there?" Her throat was dry and sore, and she coughed a bit after calling out to her friend. "Eugh... I hate being chained to bed..." Age saw the stallion's head poking inside and gave him a small wave. "I'm alright, just woke up. Feel like pavement after a stampede though..." Another cough. "You have any water? My throat's all needles. And my side feels like stone. Dunno if it's the paste drying up or what?" She looked like she was sorry for being in such a bad shape.

@@Orange Sparks As Clare started her little speech, Crys went inside the inn and drank the rest if her cup, then went back outside. Her plate was nearly empty anyway. She started warming up her arms and legs a bit before the training, once her hooves were back on the wooden deck before the inn. She took a look on the small crowd and said to her fiance with a smike: "So, a demonstration of a proper technique first? Then they can try their skills in pairs and against us. Poking empty air won't do much good for them anyway..."

@@Nightmare Season "Huh, for realzies?" She gave him an excited look as she smooched her cheek into the soft smoky substance. This was better than any bed she tried! Crystal listened to the stallion's little lecture and sighed. "Well, I'll stick to hard surfaces then. No need to deplete your magic for some silly comforts..." She smiled at the nuzzle and surpressed another yawn. "Thanks, see ya in the morning then. I sure hope I won't be so useless then..." She breathed in deeply and felt that her side hurt more when she moved like that. With some resignation, she glanced at the stallion who also laid down to sleep, and closed her eyes. She drifted off in an instant. Crystal Clear woke up and reluctantly rubbed her eyes open. Her bruised side hurt, and felt really sore. Her attention was captured by a strange noise from outside, however. Something was trying to get to their supplies! She knew it must've been early morning based on the way sunlight slightly peeked inside their shelter. Crystal hissed in a lowered voice at the sleeping stallion. "Nightmare! Nightmare Season! Wake up! They're stealing our supplies!" She was angry and couldn't reach him - the cloud refused to drift towards her friend, despite attempts to rock it. All she got was some more pain from her injury.

@@Nightmare Season Crystal tried not to squirm under Nightmare's gaze as he looked at her with obvious suspicion. Only after he said he believed her did she relax . She purred slightly at the friendly nuzzle. "It's what friends do, after all! I'm just glad I had this weird vision where we were still nearby." She laughed genuinely when he made a disguised face from the roots taste, but it made her side hurt and she clenched her bandages. "A-ouch! No laughing, I get it..." Nightmare asked her about her experience. The mare rubbed her chin and yawned, then replied. "Tired like I've been running all the way from home here. And I'm pretty sure I don't want to repeat the experience... It's that much scarier when it's for real. I also overestimated my abilities to fight with that heavy lump of crystal - it's too unwieldy and slow, but sure hits hard..." Another yawn, coupled with a slight shiver. "Uhh... That cloud is amazing.... Wish I could sleep on it every night."

@@Nightmare Season, Crystal fumbled with an answer for a moment, then decided to lie. She started: "Well... when you left the dream, I tried to restore it back into shape and... I don't know what happenned really, but I saw the dream tree instead of my green forest, and I saw it was in a cavern North from here. I woke up and decided to check it out, and it turns out this strange vision didn't lie. I could lead you there, if I could walk that is..." The mare looked at the stallion expectantly - she tried her best to sound convincing, but she had no idea whether the nightmare pony would buy it. The pain in her side was lessening slowly - seems like warmth and Nightmare's medicine were working. If she wasn't stressed over her deception, she'd probably fall asleep from the adrenaline crash now that she felt marginally better.

@@Orange Sparks, The mare looked up at the sky. "I sure hope they don't have a seagoing ship waiting nearby... Dusty mentioned a boat, so that means they either stayed within the archipelago, or will meet with the larger vessel somewhere... Either way, nothing we can do till the reinforcements arrive and Dusty tells the details." She grabbed her gloves that were tucked by her belt and put them on, then looked at Clare with a humorless expression. "So, we start training these ponies? Should help us kill some time at the very least."

@@Nightmare Season, The mare's gaze darted across the stallion's frame, but once he spoke, she ceased wriggling away from him. She lied on her good side, with her left foreleg pulled up to her barell. "O-okay, you look... different. That scared me." Crystal looked apologetically when Nightmare conjured some strange smoke cloud around her, and lifted her up with it's aid. Her breathing was shallow and uneven, as even the tiniest move of her chest hurt. She didn't speak for the same reason as she floated on the smoky cloud towards their temporary hideout. If not for the pain, she could probably enjoy the experience - she thought that it's how the clouds must feel to pegasi. As they got closer to camp, she keenly noticed that the stallion's appearance went back to normal, as the extra fires disappeared and his mane and tail shortened to their normal length. Crystal felt tired, and only the searing pain kept her awake. She sighed in relief when Nightmare moved the smoky cloud inside the den - it was only marginally warmer inside, but at least she was out of the wind. The mare lifted her head a bit and perked her ears as Nightmare told her to undress. Normally she'd toss something witty, but this time, she just nodded weakly and slowly took off her armor, then clothes. She knew it was necessary, despite the cold. When the stallion came back, she was nearly done, but shivering. Obviously, it only incresed the pain and she had to clench her teeth to manage. On the upside, the soft cloud beneath her caused no extra pressure on the bruise, so it was a huge relief compared to wnat she'd feel laying on the ground. The mare tossed her garments off the cloud, without bothering to fold them as she did the previous nights. She just haven't had the strength for such niceties. Crystal curled up and observed Nightmare as he prepared some kind of healing paste. When he told her she'll be bedridden for some time, she replied humorlesly: "Trust m-me, I'm not... going anywhere. O-ouch!" She winced as the stallion touched her bruise to rub the paste into it, and continued to ve vocal about her discomfort until he finished bandaging. Once the tormenting was done, she laid on the cloud, breathing shallowly and staring in front of her. She felt a bit warmer with the stallion inside the den, and whatever he smeared on her side seemed to ease her pain a little. Crystal didn't move to face her friend, but felt she could risk speaking without serious pain. "Sorry I... messed up back there. Seems no amount of... training... will save in a real... fight." A shiver made her wince in pain. "It's... c-cold in here? Or it just... me?" She nodded at the stallion when he put a blanket on her. "Thanks... I brought you... something. When you were sleeping. In my saddlebags, there." She pointed at the far corner of the den with her left foreleg - her shoulder hurt, but that was just because of the bruising. She didn't feel any other injuries, so that was good news.

@@Nightmare Season Crystal shook her head in a futile attempt to clear her thoughts from the pain. It didn't work however, and she just tried to get on her hooves again. She stood on three legs, keeping the left foreleg in the air when she felt a wave of heat from behind. It started her and the mare hobbled to the side instinctively. She lost her balance as the snow beneath rapidly melted and evaporated all around, crashing on her good side with an audible screech and groan if protest. The mare looked around rapidly, trying to assess the situation and see where the beast was. It seemed that there was some kind of fiery explosion a moment ago, and she was at it's edge. The yeti was charred all over and it seemed dead set to pulverise what was in the centre of the now snow-free circle, where a lone figure stood. "N-Nightmare?" - she couldn't see very well, the intense heat and sheer amount of flames erupting from the stallion made her eyes hurt, but she was determined to see what was going on. Crystal was already out of this fight, that much she could tell... The stallion looked terrifying with all the flames engulfing him in an inferno. The beast tried to bash him into the ground but couldn't reach past the flames. Nightmare replied with a powerful orb if fire what further charred the monster and send it flying out of sight. She was pretty sure it couldn't survive the fall. The stallion's final argument of the fight sent a shockwave which rolled her around. The mare found itself again buried in snow, this time flank up. A loud groan and some muttered curses later, she dug herself out and was laying on her right side, nursing the massive bruise all over her ribs and stomach on the left side. She was in no shape and had no strength to get up. Crystal noticed that the snow started to melt around her and looked up - the terrifying figure was approaching her. Still dazed from all the tossing around, she tried to back away but with little success. Wide eyed and scared, she mumbled: "N-Nightmare? Is that you? It's me! S-say something!" He kept on walking towards her.

@@Nightmare Season, "Uhh, whaaa?" - She mumbled as her pillow stirred as she was nearly fully asleep. The mare rubbed her eyes open, cut felt a hoof on her mouth before she managed to say or do anything else. Crystal curled up in the den as Nightmare crawled outside. She didn't know what was going on, but knew better than second guess the stallion's judgement. She saw from their hideout as the stallion looked for something, then took off in seemingly random direction. She couldn't make sense of this till she heard something huge walking by the den, apparently following the stallion. It was enough to make the mare hold her breath in fright. She could hear only the heavy steps and her own pounding heart. When the creature walked away after her companion, she asessed the situation and decided to help. Her hooves were shaking a bit, but she was already fully clothed, including her armor, so she only needed to grab the maul and hurry after... whatever it was. She heard a terrible scream echoing through the trees, but it wasn't Nightmare's. It meant they started the fight without her. Crystal Clear ran towards the battle noises, but it took a while to finally reach the combatants. Nightmare led the beast out into the open and as the mare ran out of the treeline, she saw him fighting a monter. A Yetee, to be precise. The mare took a deep breath to collect her thoughts, then approached the beast from behind, trying not to attract it's attention. She succeeded - Nightmare was still holding on, and immolated huge swaths of the creature's fur, but it seemed really tough... She picked up speed and charged in, using the momentum to increase the torce of her first blow. She was aiming at the creature's spine, but the maul hit off-mark, right where it would probably have it's left kidney. The beast roared in pain and took a swing at the second assailant. Crystal managed to dodge but her armor earned a long scratch along the right side. She managed to keep her balance and aimed the second, downward strike at the creature's knee. A nasty sound of splintering bone and another howl were all the evidence she needed to know she hit it squarely. Just when she thought things were looking up, Crystal Clear lost contact with the ground beneath her hooves - the Yetee punched her in the left side and launched into the air. The mare landed in a pile of snow, her weapon a few metres earlier. She laid there, wheezing and trying to get up, but her side hurt and the blow left her breathless.

Hey, thought I'd pester you a bit with an update on my, well, our, progress! So, apparently all the puppeting I did with the OC for RP purposes accidentally laid some groundwork for the tulpa. Actually, I got random flashes of inspiration about her character ever since I first tried to roleplay with her, although in my case it's nothing new - I tend to get ideas out of nowhere. I've been passive forcing for the most of my waking hours these last few days, with varying degrees of success. Now I imagine she's resting on a document locker near my desk at work, observing the office. She's not talking back, but I got head pressure and emotional reply once, so that's something. I reckon she needs some more time to develop. I paid her a visit in the Wonderland and laid out everything that concerns her (that's when I got the emotional reply), and since then I had some ideas out of nowhere, which I attributed to her. Any questions about confirmation were met with silence so far, so, yeah. Not many options to make sure if it was her. Although she seems at least ambivalent to the fact that I applied a new nickname (Cryssi) and made her a crystal pegasus. There awere also some subtle changes in the way she moves and the like. So, yeah, we're still at it. Not much of autonomy yet, but I have the visual nailed down (even though my focus makes it hard to "see" all of her with enough detail. I either see her general shape and colors or zoom on a body part.) and can feel her texture as is she was actually there. I just made a basic framework of personality and let her decide on the rest of it, in accordance with the "starting kit" mindset. Now all I need to do is keep forcing and at least pretend I'm patiently waiting for the first signs of autonomy...

@@Nightmare Season, The mare laughed as he tried to make her slip off his back. "Haha fat chance! I just found myself with these flappers, I didn't make them on my own." She extended her wings for balance, and managed to stay on top of Nightmare. When the stallion began talking about feeding off her dream, Crystal frowned and jumped off his back, then walked in front of him and placed a hoof on his chest. Her wings were folded. "Hey, don't beat yourself with it over and over. How many times do I have to say that I don't mind for you to understand? It's just a dream - nothing important. So stallion up and feed, because if I see you hungry, I'll buck your flank, got it?" She patted his chest for emphasis and made what she considered a bossy expression. Truth be told, she looked just silly. Crystal Clear pouted slightly when she was reminded to get rid of the wings. She extended them forward and ran a hoof through the soft feathers. "What a loss..." She closed her eyes and thought about them disappearing. When she opened her eyes, they weren't there. A brush of her side with a foreleg confirmed that her wings were gone. "Ehh, back to business..." Crystal closed her eyes and imagined the scary settlement again, then willed her clothes, armour, and maul to appear. Thus equipped, she nodded at Nightmare. "Ready when you are." The fight was tough, but the mare was slowly getting the hang of it. Her armour made a huge difference both for her confidence, and in actual pritection - it shrugged off several spear strikes already. Crystal often found herself looking for Nightmare in the crowd, see if he's okay. It made her nearly lose a couple of times, but by the virtue of pure dumb luck, she came on top every time. She was a bit disturbed with how the dream was behaving - the secenery was losing proportions, the snow became grey, and the corrupted guards seemed bigger and nastier, among other things. Even the ground beneath her seemed to be reacting to the Nightmare feeding off the dream - there were chasms and cracks every now and then, and even potholes like those she saw on the streets of Manehattan. It was like the dream itself was dissolving, falling apart. She never really knew what Nightmare meant when he was going on about "dreams getting warped" - now she did. At some point, her hoof fell inside a chasm that wasn't there a second ago. Crystal lost her balance and fell flat on the ground, a dark shape looming above her. She tried to free her hindleg but to no avail. An orange light and a savage howl were all the confirmation she needed that Nightmare took care of this one. The red mare managed to break free and rolled on her back. Seeing how spent her comapnion was, she nodded and willed the enemies away. Now they were safe and alone in the nightmarish scenery. The mare offered him a smile from her prone position. "Alright, I'll clean up this place and have some fun by myself. Oh and Nightmare... don't beat yourself with this" - she gestured at the hellish landscape. "I don't mind." The stallion dissappeared in a cloud of smoke. Crystal closed her eyes and slowly imagined a more pleasant place. She couldn't concentrate enough to recreate the forest, so she just thought of the rolling plains around the Empire. Then, she thought about her equipment dissappearing, and having wings again. When she closed her eyes, everything was as she imagined. She had some fun with her new wings, but she wanted to wake up the entire time. There was something important to be done tonight! At some point - she couldn't tell when and how, she woke up. The mare couldn't open her eyes - something was on her face. She turned her head away and rubbed her eyes open with a hoof. That;s when she noticed that she must've been snuggling to her larger companion. Thankfully, he was sleeping. She slowly crawled out of the den, and took her glow-crystal from beneath her jacket - cold, white light shone on the surrounding forest. The red mare approached the sleigh and took her saddlebags, along with a knife. She opted against lugging the heavy maul and took off in the direction where the mysterious Alicorn pointed her. It was still dark and she could see the Northern Star between the pines. It took... twenty minutes, maybe, to reach the cliff face. Crystal walked alongside it till she saw a small entrance, and walked in. Somehow she had a notion that it was safe inside. Why, she couldn't tell really, but this peculiar hunch proved right and she saw the strange dream tree. The mare approached this weird plant and unclasped her saddlebags, then laid them on the ground nearby. She dug into the soil with a hoof and immediately saw thin, shimmering roots underneath. Crystal didn't know how much she could take without harming the tree, so she dug numerous small holes around it and cut the roots with her knife, until she loaded her saddlebags. Then she buried the holes and patted the soil to mask her deeds. She ran back to the den and took haer saddlebags into the cramped space - the contents were too precious to leave them by the sleigh. Crystal laid next to Nightmare, with her saddlebags on her other side. The mare decided her companion wouldn't mind too much if she snuggled a bit for warmth, and did just that. Soon after, she fell asleep.

@@Orange Sparks, The mare scratched her head and combed her mane with her fingers - all that running made it a bit messy. "That's not a bad idea, actually... If Dusty wasn't so badly beaten, I'd try to ask him more about the ponynap and at least try to recreate what happened." She stretched her back a bit and continued. "But I'm no detective, so all I can do now is walk aimlessly and try to trip on some clue... Worst part is that we don't know why or where she's been taken. This bothers me the most." Crystal looked down on her saber. "It's just not fair, taking her without a fight, you know..."

@@Orange Sparks The crystal mare nodded solemny. "So be it. Let's just hope that a single cohort will be enough to keep Pale Moonlight occupied enough to leave us alone... They'll be useless against the Eldeer anyway. I've heard some stories of the past attempts to conquer their Forest and know better than try open confrontation. But we need to guard you from any further raids, and a dozen knights will do nicely..." She noticed the villagers gathering with whatever they thought could be used in combat. "Your militia is gathering... The ponynappers must be still within the inner ring of islands, if they really took off right back to their homeland, rather than holed up somewhere. So what was your plan for the immediate future?" Crystal gestured at the small crowd.

@@Orange Sparks, The red mare paced up and down the deck to gather her thoughts. "Alright... two battleships on the prowl for Celeste... They'll take the small ship with guards with them - some places are too narrow for an oceangoing vessel. Or mayhap we take the small ship? We need to guard the borders, so taking a capital ship off the roster doesn't sound too good... But then we won't be able to accomodate the infantry..." She smacked her head with frustration. "It wasn't so hard back in the Academy!" Crystal stopped in front of Clarissa, hands clasped in a pyramid shape, biting her lower lip as usual when she concentrated. "How about we take the small ship and a single knight cohort, dump the guards here and order to keep an eye on the Cove, relocate the rest of the knights on one battleship and send them on the Archipelago's western flank to guard against a Minotaur invasion, and then let it rejoin the search for Celeste with two other vessels?" She looked at Clare expectantly. "We're at war, you said so yourself. If not for yesterday, there would be no royalty alive, and the Isles would be ripe for the taking. I wouldn't be all that surprised if we saw sails soon, and lots of them..." She was less than thrilled to see that unicorn maniac again, but sometimes you have to make compromises.