Props Valroa

@Catpone Cerberus As they proceeded away from the inhabited area, Sombra's mind buzzed with questions and possible situations. He was thinking he would be suddenly attacked and pummeled by Royal Guards, or something like that. He could already see it in his mind, him fighting against rookie guards and putting them in their place. He mentally smirked at the idea of his crystal pony warriors pummeling Equestrian troops into the ground and showing absolute dominance over the enemy. It was something that gave him the thrill, during the brief war between the Crystal Empire and Equestria. This time, things would be different. He would make the Royal Guards bow on their knees to accept their one true lord and master. In order to do that, he would not only need to return to power, he would need to use the alicorn amulet to power the spells for creating their tell tale helmets. After all, he would use his dark magic to corrupt the minds of the guards to serve him. He would most certainly do the same to that of the Equestrian guards. While he corrupted their minds, their free will would remain intact other than having undying loyalty to his and every other word. However, he quickly remembered his goal. He was not going to get carried away with power fantasies. No. This would be different. Now they were towards an alleyway. There were ponies nearby, but they were out of earshot. Sombra looked down the alleyway, and saw a draconic figure standing there. He'd remain silent to observe the figure for a second, before his eyes would be covered with black magic. This would allow him to physically see anything hidden, provided it was out of a similar nature to his own. To his surprise the aura was similar to his own. At least this didn't seem to be someone aligned with the two sisters. His eyes would return to normal as he approached the figure. "You there. Enlighten me as to why you were following us." he spoke, as if it was a command.

@Blitz Boom Spectra could tell that Veil was one to be manipulated into aligning with her. It would be quite interesting for Spectra to have her first willing follower, Veil had already proven to be entirely innocent in all of this, and she would be making a critical mistake by simply letting her go. No. Veil would be someone to manipulate into following the 'greater' good. It was for her own benefit after all. Perhaps Spectra could award Veil a lot in the future, if she proved her worthiness and value to her. Spectra was well aware of how how she projected herself. If she knew what Veil was thinking, she would be more than proud of her ability to get into the mind of someone so easily by simply playing the right role in things. Quite a thought, that would be. When Spectra cut off the skulls of the beast, she instinctively stepped back. She obviously couldn't know what would happen next, but she didn't expect anything great. Surely enough, her expectations reigned true, watching the limbs grow more. She stayed back, observing Operata's sound blasts as she focused on intensifying the growth of the crystals throughout this horrible beast. Like before with the previous ones, her crystals would sharpen and grow in fractal like formations in painful expansions. Her expression was stoic, yet if any of them looked close enough they could see that she were most definitely enjoying this. This were before all of a sudden, Spectra would notice that Veil's attack had the intended effect on the beast. The sounds it made were odd, but it was deceased due to Veil's spikes poking through the central mass. Spectra stayed silent and continued to apply the 'pressure' she was doing, until the ice fractals would rip their way out of the creature's flesh from the opposite point of entry. Then she stopped, satisfied with her work. "It is. Let us not dwindle on premature victories. You fight well, by my side." Spectra grinned to Veil, and would turn around, firing an ice blast at the opposite side of the room at the 'objects' floating within the tanks. If her ice blast managed to go through whatever container it would - what would happen next would depend on what was contained within those tanks. If it was water, or some sort of water based fluid, the whole thing would just freeze solid. If it were some other liquid, it would take more magic from Spectra to do what she wanted. She wanted to destroy Mindstorm's 'work', so to speak. They would witness Spectra's advantage with water, if she had succeeded in freezing those tanks solid, the frozen liquid would expand outward and shatter it's container. Either way, if she had failed or succeeded, she'd soon enough turn away, ready to proceed onward.

We can just do that then.

@Sekel We suggested the idea of doing a time skip to the point where they actually meet. Due to how slow things have been, we should just get right to it.

I don't really care about it. Do what you like as long as you aren't hurting anyone else or doing sexual stuff in public.

I wish that I could wish for more wishes. But if it was just one wish? That all suffering caused by other humans would cease.

Kissing Drugs Tattoos Most forms of sports Failing classes

@Catpone Cerberus Sombra narrowed his eyes as he heard Una's words. So it was true, something or someone was indeed following them. He didn't have any indications as to what that could be. Whether his expectations for it to be the influence of the two sisters were correct or not, he couldn't really say. Either way, he knew something was up and he didn't like it at all. With a slight growl, he'd huff. "Whatever is following us has a way to hide themselves. Next time this happens, tell me." he said as he turned away. He wasn't' all that pleased with Una, but it's not like he was going to have a major meltdown in the presence of others. He could potentially cast some spells to see if anything was near to them, he wouldn't verbally state that he had the ability to do that - as whatever was following them could prepare accordingly. Instead, he was going to lead them to a less populated area to test if he could reveal anything that was following them. He wasn't exactly angered at Una, more so of the situation itself.

@ExplosionMare Moonlight listened to the reactions of the ponies as their leader told them the truth that they had deserved to hear from the moment it all started. Her expression was stoic, her eyes being full of depth but also looking deep within all of the expressions of these ponies. To her honest mind, these ponies are small and weak. They were easy targets for Starlight to manipulate, which is probably why the population of this town was so small. Not many actually seriously bought into such an insane and easily disprovable ideology, but these ponies did. She didn't know what she hated more - the fact that Starlight believed these things, or the fact that her followers did. Thinking on that more, the actions of the followers made her the most disgusted. Starlight could have all the power in the world, but she needed those without independent minds to coerce and convince that her ideology was the right one. The actions of a leader only become the way they do because there are those to follow. Moonlight was proud that Starlight was able to be the one to admit that she was wrong and go through how she did what she did to these ponies, and explaining the reasoning for why she actually did it to them. One of the ponies did indeed impress her. Double Diamond, although she didn't know his name. If only he had more gumption, than perhaps this whole thing could have never happened. Double Diamond was perhaps the pony Moonlight needed to talk to, first. It was most pleasing to see Starlight's whole narrative that she spent so long to build up, to come falling apart in a mere few seconds of conversation when she revealed the truth, a poetic end to her deception. Moonlight takes a proud step forward, following along towards the cutie mark vault. "All of you have experienced a taste of freedom in your leader's absence. Perhaps if the lot of you had more self worth and confidence in yourselves, you would have never fallen for Starlight's deception. I am sure that you all could deduce exactly why you fell for it - it's because you didn't believe in yourselves, or your standings in life, something along those lines." she said calmly, her words clear and crisp. "It is time for you all to realize that, you will realize that soon. No longer shall you be subject to the whims of others. You will realize your own independence and your own destiny. I imagine you have families that would like to hear from you again. I can't imagine what it would be like to have a son or daughter of mine to leave, only to end up losing their mark of identity and talent to the whims of another." she would narrow her eyes to Starlight slightly. "The times of comforting lies is over. Freedom is something that doesn't shelter, or hide anything from you. It is the unfettered truth, the truths we sometimes don't like to hear - but need to. We all have things we need, but end up shying away from." she smirked slightly to Starlight. She was going to be the one to break the wooden staff in half to symbolize their freedom, when they arrived to the cave.

@Blitz Boom Spectra would have replied to Mindstorm and Veil's rebuttal to her, if she had not been so busy dealing with falling down into his torture dungeon down below. In her mind, it was clear that he had lost all semblance of sanity. It was for the best interests of the world that someone with that mindset, and power to back it up - would be defeated before he was able to spread his influence and cause a larger war. If that happened, and Spectra was able to come to leadership of Equestria as she had hoped - dealing with a war against unholy mutants created from innocent ponies, would be the last thing she would have wanted, not only that, but dealing with the fallout of Celestia and Luna being taken down was another thing entirely. If she wanted to raise the sun and moon as they did, she would have to either find some sort of artifact of which that could do that - or find a way to steal their abilities for herself. Both of which she didn't know what to do with, or let alone know where to begin how to create such a thing. Then again, Mindstorm could possibly be of help to that, after she pummels him to the ground and forces him to kneel before her authority. Mindstorm clearly had some method to maintain control of his beasts. Perhaps some sort of mind control. "The Evil of this place is paramount. We have came in this far, when no others have, as far as we know. It is time we crush whatever shall come our way, by whatever means necessary." she spoke, as if she was some sort of military commander. Her eyes were cold, devoid of any sympathy. It was the face of a mare who would do whatever it takes to achieve victory. Little did Veil know, said victory wasn't for the most righteous of reasons. As the creature would reveal itself, Spectra's eyes narrowed more. "Both of you, stand back this instant. Operata, attack." she commanded to him as she quickly moved back, while her horn pulsated deep shades of blue. It would be a similar attack to last time, but with a twist. Her horn would flash brightly, and three large icicles would form with jagged edges. The first icicle would shoot directly towards the creature, splintering into many parts as they began to grow in size. Like before, if they managed to hit, they would begin to expand within the creature's flesh. The second icicle would break off , and split in half, forming a large axe shaped formation with a sharp edge. With her magic, she would attempt to cut off the skulls from the larger body as fast as possible, and keeping the third one in backup just in case either of her attacks had failed.

Perhaps this is connected to the anonymous feature itself. Nobody really uses it so I question - do we really need it?

@Blitz Boom@Sekel Seems like we'll just wait for Sekel to come about to decide on this, if that's alright with you?

@Catpone Cerberus Unbeknownst to Una, Sombra's smile was indeed faked. As a matter of fact, his whole act around her was all faked indeed. It was part of the plan to get her to be a loyal follower and perhaps discover offensive or unique abilities that would suit her in the future. All Sombra cared about was power and getting revenge on those who were responsible for his previous defeats, after all. Everything else along the way was merely par for the course. Taking over Equestria was never his original goal, his past self only wanted to rule the Empire and leave everything else alone - but no, the two sisters had to intervene and destroy everything he created and set him back a thousand years. While Sombra was looking away, the thought made him take on a slight scowl, thankfully going un-noticed by others. It made him full of utter rage, that he just wanted to scream. As Sombra was thinking about his revenge, he would have heard Una say something and he turned to see her looking at the ground. He instantly became suspicious of this. Something was off about this, and he felt as if something or someone had to be following them. But what, or who? Hopefully the two sisters hadn't come up with some method to track him down, but if that was the case, why didn't they reveal themselves and attempt to vanquish Sombra where he stood? Nothing about this added up in his mind. "What, what is it? Tell me what it is. I can't do anything about it if you don't tell me." he said in an almost displeased fashion that she didn't tell him right there and then.

@Illiad Easle @Kujamih @Blitz Boom Spiral looked to Ficus in agreement. "For far too long I was focused on preserving my own life for as long as possible. I managed to do just that - and even got a second chance at it, and I'm not about to let that go to waste. I'll help you find this pony and free them." she spoke in a calm manner, and looked back to Light. "It would be in your best interest to not touch anything and just stay silent. That would do us all a favor. When we get back, I am sure Last and Ficus here will like to tell those aboard of what transpired here, along with your reckless disregard for any life other than your own. Maybe in some weird, sick way, you are trying to help - but for your sake, I suggest you just stay silent." Spiral said, with a glare as she looked to Light, then proceeded to follow Ficus along. Looking out over the bodies they found, and the other corpses they encountered later on in the older section of the palace, Spiral would come up with an idea. "They were running from something, clearly. Hopefully something that's still not here. We still have to find out how to get the Project free." she spoke to them. In her mind, she was also going through her mind. She intended to assassinate Apollo and take his spot as leader of the Project. She believes that she has seen enough to attempt to try to get many to follow her, she was going to take the Kitsune and Jester's words to heart. War only brings desolation, and they are surrounded by it.

I have family who live in Australia and I am from the US.

@Blitz Boom Spectra would stand there in silent observation of the beast's pleas as it's body was split apart by her ice which had been slicing through it from the inside out. A small, but cruel grin came across her face as she watched this occur. She clearly enjoyed what she was seeing, and enjoyed what she was hearing even more. Hearing something so monstrous begging for it's life? How pathetic, and sad, for something like that to seemingly desire to live another moment. She were the one to deliver these beasts their long-needed rest. Spectra was the one who was the most merciful after all, wasn't she? Besides, finding a way to get them back into regular pony form would take far too long and probably result in needless time being wasted, when she could simply deliver them to death's gate. Then Spectra would sigh calmly, almost as if she was at a spa. Perhaps she was getting bored of these combatants - ones who were no doubt trained to prey on lesser ponies who entered, and not well seasoned magicians like her and Operata. Either way, watching the creature's final moments was a delight to see. Spectra's mind had long lost any sense of innocence, so long, long ago. One could argue that she was always willing to go the extra mile to see what it would take. To go the extra mile, and go further than most were willing to do. That earned the label of being labeled as a monster, from the few who managed to resist, and even rebel against her in the past - she was marked as a monster, for having taken away all those ponies from their living homes to serve as her living batteries in eternal rest. In her eyes? She saw it as merciful. It was a mercy, granted by her. Others would torture, or experiment on others, but she? She was better than that, and she knew it. She didn't care about morality here, after all, it was only to serve her image. Perhaps if she was less inclined about her image, she may be more interested in what Mindstorm was doing here. It struck her as something unsustainable, experimenting on ponies, losing one's mind to their work. Obviously, it wasn't important enough for higher ups like Celestia and Luna, or other beings to intervene, but if he got loose and caused havoc across the land? He would face the full brunt of whoever would see it in themselves to put him down. Which was her, right here, right now. She not only wanted to put him down, but to gild him into something useful to her - and thus, the rest of society. Her image was the most important thing and to get that image was to do something to fundamentally better the lives of others. This wasn't any sappy friendship kind of deal, it was a long term gain sort of thing. If she had found herself in the position to lead Equestria, she would need to find a way to take Celestia and Luna's power for herself. Raise the sun and Moon, and all that kind of deal. She would need some sort of way to legitimatize her rule, after all. Of course, such things were in the far future to what she needed to do. Upon Veil's statement, she would look to her. "Hope is a poison - one must act in order to achieve progress instead of idly waiting around for things to happen." she said to Veil, in a matter of fact tone. As they proceeded inward, Spectra would create a sharp ice spear out of her magic which would harden, into an almost translucent blue - sharpened to a point at the vert end. She would look about the place, remarking about it's features. It looked to be something that was rather nice at one point in time, and now it was in obvious disrepair. Seeing the impaled creatures here, made her think that no ponies had actually maned to make it in this far for a very, very long time. Whatever that harpoon was, it was from some horrible beast that Mindstorm had no doubt created. Upon hearing the mad voice that sounded down from the stairwell. It was definitely not so much a pleasant voice to hear, and was sure enough to prove to her that her suspicions were likely the case. She'd shoot a look to Veil, as if telling her to stand her ground. To the voice, she would speak boldly. "You will learn your place, Mindstorm. I am the one with grand designs and plans - while you are fiddling around with your toys in your tiny little bubble. I've vanquished many of your beasts up to this point, and I shall gladly vanquish more, to get to you, and claim you for myself. Let the game be on - Winner takes all!" Spectra shouted up the staircase in a bold, intimidating fashion. "My sights are this world and beyond, while you've only got a tiny bubble with barely enough air to breathe!" she chuckled darkly at that, for Operata to hear that from her, it would have likely struck him as odd. Spectra would have said more until the floor abruptly fell out from under them. They had clearly been tricked by Mindstorm's illusions. Something to keep in mind in the future. Of course, Spectra wasn't willing to just let them hit the bottom of the place and get injured before anything really dangerous began. Her telekinetic grasp would reach out to both Veil and Operata, and she'd fire a wide beam of magic at the floor which would slow them down enough from hitting the floor too violently. When they landed, it wouldn't have been ideal, but at least they weren't going to go splat against the floor, or worse. Upon landing, Spectra would immediately assume an offensive stance as she looked around the place. The pure evil aura of the place was the first thing she felt. It was something that made her want to get out of here as soon as possible. When she managed to turn the lights on, the evil was seen in Mindstorm's...work, if you could call it that. For such a cold and otherwise emotionally withdrawn mare, she wouldn't lie, her heart rate did rise a bit at seeing some of that stuff. "This place...disgusts me." she spat, and would have wanted to begin 'dealing' with the rather horrid sights that greeted them here, before she had heard the gurgling heading towards them from the only doorway. "One way in, one way out. It's an advantage to us. Prepare for combat." she ordered to Operata and Veil, clearly assuming a combat position and mentality as she began to rapidly charge up a spell.

@Blitz Boom Spectra only really has morality to focus on her own aims. Experimenting on ponies, like Duke Mindstorm does, is not conductive to her goals, thus she doesn't do it. She is after the ponies themselves, so for her purposes, it is needed for the ponies to be 'intact', if you will, however as time goes on, she may gain other ideas, of how to gain magic. The main thing about her, is that she doesn't want to be detected by higher levels of beings who could certainly destroy her if they really wanted to, she's surely not the most powerful being in the world. Unlike my original motivation for her, she doesn't really want to 'solve' her condition as much as I thought, since she has a lot of power currently, she just wants more, and to take down the authorities of Equestria for some sort of power trip, she may not actually want to rule, but set in a new era of Equestria under different leadership. And even if she did rule, she wouldn't oppress her populace, she is smart enough to know that enslaving ponies on massive scales like that would not earn her any favors. She'd have to find a way to fundamentally better the lives of ponies to make them like her, and that gives her more of an interesting angle, having done rather horrific things in the pursuit of power, yet turning around, and making lives better for everyone, at least that is her goal. Not so much for other's lives, but for her own image.

@Catpone Cerberus Replies to this RP will be slower than usual due to new obligations and other things popping up IRL and elsewhere. I like this RP, but I may have to end up putting it on hold or have slower reply schedules occasionally, with long pauses here and there. I can't make any promises on replying in reasonable timeframes, for extended periods, going forward.

@Blitz Boom You keep calling me 'heebiejeebies' in the IC thread, heh. Yeah I am definitely excited for this stuff. I personally don't mind or care about large amounts of Gore in RPs but as per the forum rules I can see why you would want to restrict it. What you have seen so far from Spectra, is basic levels of her power, primarily ice magic, she has not used her full power yet in RPs. You can go wild with me here, really, Spectra really isn't a nice pony by any stretch of the imagination. Anything she does is only self centered, and to support her aims, which includes seemingly innocent acts. As we go, I may come up with more ideas for her, and who she actually is, as there is large amount of wiggle room in her backstory to allow for new ideas. And this will definitely be something, to where I will display Spectra's ruthlessness.

@Illiad Easle @Blitz Boom @Kujamih Spiral would turn and walk up to the door and use her magic to carve out a portion of the door into an extremely sharp dagger that could easily be hidden. Her shadow magic was on clear display. After she was finished with the creation of her weapon, she quickly hid it away to prevent anyone else from seeing it, then looking to Ficus who had apparently been revived. "It appears you are revived from Light's pointless attacks against you. The Kitsune here and the Jester are not our enemy. Let's finish what we need to do here, okay?" Spiral asked calmly, looking over everyone.