Iron Wing

Iron was carefull with her movements as she heared the words of the dragon and the way he held her head. It was somehow calming in a way, but of course the wounds were hurting. She felt a bit better when she noticed how the ponies around her were still kicking and busy with doing things. Right now they seemed to be concerned about her health. She hated to be in such a state, but it was better that she was hurt instead of a friend, like those ponies around her. She wanted to make a good impression on Princess Luna, but it was difficult of course. Iron noticed the healing magic of the princesses horn, and it started to take effect. She had to concentrate not to do anything that would break the concentration of the princess. Now that Ice Storm had removed the bandages of the main wound, it hurt like hell, and she wanted to bite or scream on something. But doing something like that would not help anypony, so she concentrate on the dragon and on Ice Storm. Both seemed to do everything to care for her, and she was thankfull for everything both had done. Finally the princess was done with the healing, and Iron had to take a huge breath. It was draining power from both, Iron and Luna. Iron looked towards the princess and blushed a bit as she said that she was impressed by her abilities. "To help friends... i would have gone to the point of no return. That´s the way i handle things..." she replied. "I think you princess for the healing... one day i shall repay you for this..." she said and tried to move. It was at first a bit difficult, but she was slowly able to get on her hooves again. she checked the wound... it was gone completely. So superb! Magic at the right hooves could be such a wonder! Within an instand she took Colt and Ice into a hug. "Thank you..." were the only words, and she stayed for a longer moment with them, just wanting to hug somepony. After that time, she released both and looked at her armor parts and of course her other wounds. She sat down and took an armor part she could bite on. Sure, this was reckless in some way, but she knew very well many things about the body of a pony. She slowly stretched her left wing. It was banged up a bit and some of the bones were not correctly adjusted like they should be. She bit onto the small armor part, took the main part of her wing and stretched into the opposite direction, pulling her wing mainframe with her. CRACK! "Hnnngh!" A bone made some small cracking noises and it was in correct order again. Of course this was painfull too, but not as painfull like the wound Luna just healed. The other wing luckily was not as banged up as the one she just took care of. She just had to stretch it a bit to release the tenseness of the muscles. Of course they had taken damage and she would not be able to fly for a while, but like that the wings at least did not hurt so bad anymore. "Ptuuh..." she spit out the armor part she held with her mouth. "Can´t do anything about the leg now... this shall be taken care of at a later time. Just happy to be back..." she said and looked towards her friends, breathing a bit faster because of her fixing her wing.

Iron Wing was laying and sleeping there, having several strange and even some magnificent dreams. She feeled how something left her side as it was there protecting her the complete time. Softly she heared voices, and the sunbeams that shined somewhat between the branches of the trees warmed her fur. Slowly she woke up, still having pain on the critical wounds, but they felt different than before. Her friends seemed ot have cared about these and got the bandages for her and now she was all patched up. Slowly she started to move a bit, more and more and she opened her eyes also slowly. There was an urge... an urge to stretch. She could not hold this in any longer and started to stretch her legs and her muscles. As she cutely yawned in the process of waking up, the pain of her wounds stung and made her stop stretching. "... oowwiee...." she just mumbled and looked up, seeing Colt, Alex, Electro, Ice and Luna even coming close to her. The pain was strong enough for her to realize how serious her wounds were, especially the stab-wound from the shadow beast. Some small tears came up onto her eyes but this was not as bad as yesterday. Her wings also were wrapped up with bandages since she had banged them up a bit. Luckily Iron had a good recovery rate for smaller things. But the big wound was important that she got medical attention. "Good morning..." she said with a bit sore voice, looking to everypony. "Glad to be back..." she said and tried to stand up. She wanted to stay strong in front of her Commander, Luna in this case. Or former, since she was not at the Night Watch anymore, but she felt that she somehow still was loyal towards her.

Iron Wing just feeled many smaller aches and some pain was felt by the wounds as Ice and the others started to get the bandages on her. It sting badly, but at the same time she knew that there were friends that took care of her. She had to stay awake, stay strong as long as they needed for the treatment. Funny, she thought that she had packet enough bandages for some ponies in her saddlebag, and now she needed all these things for herself. As a proud knight she could scream about failing that badly, being stabbed, banged up wings and many injuries from the fight against this nasty timberwolf... But at least this was over now and she had to worry about other things. Iron was happy that she was able to endure the fight with a normal mind since she tended to get berserk when a pony was hurt she wanted to guard or if she took too many wounds and injuries herself in a fight. Since this did not happen to her mind, she could rest a bit more at ease as the treatment was finished. She feeled how the drake curled around her, warm and cozy. Her breath slowed down more and more, and the additional energy she received from Luna made her feel safe. Or course she didn´t even realize that Luna did anything since her blurred vision and perception hindered any clear situation analysis. She would sleep now, rest and recover her strength, hoping to see everypony in the morning. The next morning The next morning was silent in the Everfree Forest, and peacefull at the same time. Sun shine was iluminating the temple slowly, from minute to minute more. Finally, the light shined onto the ponies that were laying around sleeping. The bandaged pegasus mare was silent, with an emotionless expression on her face. Her fur felt a bit cold, and there was no movement that could be visible. Was she dead? Were the injuries that bad that she was not able to keep up for the next day? Just some pony who would look more closely would notice that this mare was not dead yet, but in a deep slumber. She already had recovered great, strength was building up inside of her since Iron had a good rate of regeneration, but the wounds of course remained until healed with magic or something else. She probably would sleep for a much longer time if not wakened up, and even if someone would try to waken her up, it would be a difficult task. Her trained body needed much time for a good recovery, since the fight that had started on the other side of the ravine, went through it and on this side into the temple had taken many hours of exhausting and painfull movements. Also the armor was very very heavy. Ice Storm, Electrobolt and Colt had taken of her armor the day before, and probably they could have felt how ultra heavy this pile of metal actually was. Together with all parts assembled, it was nearly impossible to move it just like that. Only trained stallions would be able to lift it, or a powerfull levitation spell. Right now, Iron was sleeping to recover as much strength and power as possible. She only could hope to regain her awareness as soon as possible, so that no pony had to carry her.

Iron Wing was barely awake and she had problems in hearing and her awareness. She was tired from the battle and the bloodloss and her body started to feel cold, so she shivered a bit. Her body hurt everywhere, the deeper wounds were burning and the wings hurted like crazy. As she had fallen down the ravine the wings had taken significant damage, and still she had to use them to fight the big timberwolf. She had never imagined to get that outpowered during a fight, but this all was the fault of this vile shadow beast that had attacked them. The journey they took was a difficult one, and she hoped that all the other ponies were ok. She heared voices around her and with a blurred sight she recognized Ice Storm and Electrobolt. They seemed to treat her wounds and she was happy to see them. Down there in the ravine she almost paniced to had lost them. She was not an expert for the Everfree Forest, a place so dark and full of dangers, and no pony really could have told what could happen out here. Some mysteries and stories were all about missing ponies who were swallowed by the darkness of the woods, and slowly Iron believed that all these stories had a certain truth in them. Some times the wounds burned Ice Storm touched and her muscles twitched as she growled silently, biting on her lips to endure the pain. Luckily she was able to endure much and due to her pegasus nature, she normaly recovered very quickly even from bigger injuries. But now she just was tired and exhausted. Also then Colt was noticed by the blue pegasus. She slightly smiled towards him, not able to say or understand anything. Her eyes got heavy and she nearly fell asleep, wanting to rest a bit for just a short time. But was this a good choice? No... she had to stay awake, at least for the time they needed to do something about the wounds.

Blazing Storm had remained silently for the last hour and she had thought about many things what the ponies just had said about the tactical approach, their arguments and also their thoughts about what could happen to everyone. But at a point, the dragon said the truth since they were summoned here because it was a urgent emergency. They just didn´t have the time for long discussions even if it was important for a good strategy. Even her best friend Iron Wing didn´t say anything about it. "Be carefull Mr Dragon and return unharmed." she said as the dragon was about to leave the group to scout the area. She would love to follow him since she was very curious about dragons and she was fascinated by their strength and appearance. But she knew that her knightly friend would have been very angry if she would join Colt right now. But then again, it was important to have a backup plan and that brought her to an idea. "Since we have much power already conenctrated on the attack group, but Terra and Colt are going to scout, who is covering their back?" she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she stepped forward and readied herself. "I will follow them at high altitude and if any problems are appearing, i will be prepared to help either the attack or the scouting group. Also with that i have the overview about everything so i can coordinate and warn you about enemy movements." she said and got ready for flight. She tensed her muscles and with a fair jump she catapulted herself into the air and gaining speed and altitude, her flame-coloured shapeline following. Iron Wing had heared enough already and just waited that a decision was made. The group was difficult to analyze since she didn´t knew all their strengths and flaws, but it was the best not to interrupt their decision since some of them seemed to have problems with taking orders. Iron was trained to adjust and fit into a group of warriors. As she heared the dragon and Terra going onto a scouting mission, she knew already what would happen next. She had years of experience in scouting and military patroling and she could imagine what problems would appear. Luckily Blaze was about to give them a bit backup support. As Moon Crypt then finally said that everyone was ready and that they were about to leave, she stepped towards the group. The heavy steps of her wolframite armor were sounded within the hall and with a determined expression she looked at everypony. "I am ready to head out. I don´t know how much combat experience you all have, but don´t expect that this will be an easy fight." she said and waited for response. Then Blitz said something that was an important topic. "If you want, i can guard this place from any intruder or attack. I don´t have problems with staying behind since serve and protection is what my cutie-mark is all about." she answered and spread her wings. The wingblades folded out and made a scaring noise of blades scratching on metal, like a sword was being readied. These claw-like broad swords were perfect for close combat and since they were mounted on the wing-bones, they could be easily used in midair. "Also i think i have the toughest armor here and i would be suited for long and exhausting battles, even if fighting alone. So what is your decision? Should i guard this place?" she asked, ready for any answer that the group would give her.

*squeee* A baby Nightmare kiss! Wheee!

Duran noticed that it had no use to talk to creation. It seemed to still believe that it could had any influence on what the lynx was doing, or that it was comparable with his own power. Of course creation was powerfull, but Duran had his own unique skills and powers that couldn´t be copied. He decided that it would be best to leave everything in the situation it was right now. Things would play into his paws sooner or later, he didn´t doubt this even a second. Stardust was being healed and probably would remember several things about him and what he had said, meaning that he didn´t have to speak to her again until she was approaching him. The demon that was near her was the only one that used similar powers as Duran... the only difference was that the demon as a lord of the void just used the element of nothingness, meanwhile Duran WAS the manifestation of this element. Funny to think about that the demon didn´t notice that until now. He changed back into his normal form, still warped out of reality in his room. "This is so much fun... i am curious what the other side is doing now, also what the others within our team are thinking. But i shall remain until the next day here..." he said, jumping into his sleeping basket Stardust had left him there. Deep within his core, he started to boot all the energy he had gathered over the millenia, but still he hid this powerfull aura from all the others. Stealth was very important so that nobody would realize what he was. If everybody didn´t realize his power, he wouldn´t be a danger in the eyes of his team mates or the other side. Thorn the ebony timberwolf The timberwolf watched how another being started to heal Stardust. It seemed that he didn´t listen to him, like all creatures of the ponyworld didn´t listen to him. He grumbled as he walked outside the mainroom to the lobby again. He hated them so much these demons, ponies and wizards. They never listened and they never would understand the dark power of nature itself, and the day would come where he would show them all what he was capable of. He layed down on the floor again, not caring about the stuff that went on next to Stardust. So he watched the main entry , always ready to shoot a deadly energy beam at every intruder who wanted to enter.

Iron Wing didn´t notice much about what happened around her. She heared voices, somebody or something touched her and she feld warmth, fur and scales. Her mind concentrated not to fade out, and her training reminded her not to fall asleep. Slowly, she reached out for her saddlebag and opened it. With a little movement she let the medical supplies fell out of it so that whoever was there could use them. The guardian was shaking, not because of the cold, but because of the many injured points on her body. She turned her head to see Colt, Ice and Electro and shortly she smiled a bit. She had made it back to the group, and she hoped that everypony was ok. She didn´t want to look bad in front of Luna, her primary commanding pony, but since Iron couldn´t see where she was, she relaxed a bit. Her hind leg hurt so much, also her wings weren´t in the best shape and needed rest. She was unable to fold them in as they had a slight cramp in their muscles. Overall Iron´s main wound was still the one the shadow beast had did to her, the scratches could be patched up easily. She could feel the head of the dragon on her mane, and she was happy that they all seemed to be ok.

Nostalgia was the correct describtion for Duran´s feeling as he heared creation itself talk to him. But even it was creation that was speaking, Duran was not impressed by the explanations or acting of this mighty but very unreal being. "So... you would risc that a creature from the world beyond creation, a mind that won´t die like a mortal and has unlimited time to hinder your plans becomes a serious factor in aborting your plans? I thought that you would be a bit more "creative" ..." the lynx joked, but with real serious intentions behind his sentences. Of course he wouldn´t say something like that without thinking about the consequences. Creation was a mighty being, but still it had to think logical and rationally, meaning that it would probably reconsider the current situation including the factor the lynx was giving. But Duran was way ahead with his thinking. "You don´t know who or what i am, nor do i know you. But even without knowing you, i can tell that you do not want to give up your plans, your Stardust and her destiny are important for you since you have to keep the balance. Without balance, creation will meet destruction, and thats something you want to avoid, avoiding that everything ends just like that. Of course there are many other reasons, but this is not important right now. Fact is that you need your precious alicorn mare to fullfill your plan, and without her you don´t have anything. So if i hinder her, you would have serious problems." he said stopped. He was waiting to give his words more importance to think about. Then he continued, his eyes glowing menacing as his inner core started to get active and his true soul out of the void was showing itself. The core spoke to creation with dead serious intentions. "If you dare to cross our path again in a negative way, we shall destroy your alicorn and wipe out her entire existance from this world, so we would hinder your plans for all eternity... now out of our sight, unworthy one!" it said with a unreal voice, filled with the most destructive intentions anyone could imagine. The core got silent again as the inner gate for the void closed itself. The first layer of Duran was again in control. "You heared him... this discussion is over." he said and cut off the link. Duran knew why his core had said this. With the thought about the chance to loose anything, creation would need time to think about alternative solutions. Of course there was none, so creation could fear that this was it´s last chance to hinder Duran via words from crossing it´s plans. But perhaps it would search communication sooner or later. Duran was able to activate the gate into his dimension, breaking into this reality within no time. The void itself, the nothingness was able to erase an existant being from the timeline, as if it had never existet. No pony would be able to remember him or her, nor would there be hints for the existence itself. Duran filled the room with infinity, so this room was growing within it´s own rules, endless unbound from all rules of existence. Finally, there was something that was coming from the emptiness… but nothing visual… nothing physical… it was the feeling of horror itself! A feeling that had not a physical body, so nothing could be seen within this room… but creation could perhaps sense that it was something that was lurking, creepy and slowly moving like a snake on the ground, like crawling slowly to Stardust. The nothingness within this room had now it´s target, getting near the prey inch by inch, flowing out of the emptiness, manifesting as a presence out of physics and magical laws, but still there within the room of infinity, entering the realm of Equestria at the same time. It would plunge the soul into darkness, filling it with emptiness, just leaving horror behind, eating up the soul and change the body into an anonymous creature… feeding from its preys complete existence until it was erased out of this world forever. If it would finish this goal, every memory would be deleted, even the memory others within this world had about this creature… it would be a complete wipe out from the planar world… and the world wouldn´t remember her, because he would have never existed from the beginning… Of course Duran had no intentions to really do something like that to Stardust, but creation had to feel how serious the lynx was about his words. No mortal, magical law, god or outer world creature or being would be able to command him to stop, exception was if it would want to talk. After nearly reaching stardust, Duran normalized everything within his own room, the presence of the void went back and lynx closed his eyes for a short moment. He sighed and then he went back to his old self as he was waiting for reactions. He would not leave this room until he was clear that Stardust was alright.

Duran the lynx Duran was sensing the presence from the outer world, a being that wasn´t really a being, more nature itself. "Creation..." he guessed as he was still within contact with Stardust. He could imagine that the yelling was meant for him to stop trying to change the purpose of Stardusts existence. It was laughable that creation didn´t had enough faith to trust in it´s own plans, also it showed him that creation feared him... feared that he was able to change everything for real. That gave him even more confidence than ever since creation or death never even tried to change things as they were set in motion. But the presence of this abnormal awareness showed him that creation itself thought that Duran had enough might to actually change history with him manipulating the strings from the background. "You finally show yourself... It has been a long time, measured in this dimension.... You want me to stop, so that you can get your "balance" within this reality..." he spoke to Stardust, as he knew that creation would mediate through her body. It was coincidence that he now was able to talk to it, but it was fitting perfectly into his plans. "I will grant your wish of balance... but in exchange, i want to change several things myself. So if you want me to stop, stop hurting Stardust or listening to her thoughts as she has the right to have her own mind. Even if you created her for your purpose, you have to stick to your OWN rule... that every being has his own thoughts and mind. This rule is in existance and can´t be ignored, else you wouldn´t need another creature to handle your business in this reality." he spoke. "Leave her alone, and i won´t hinder your original plan." he finally said, still sitting within his own reality, unbound from all rules that would exist in the normal world. Duran was pleased with how the things were developing and he was sure that Stardust would want to talk to him later... Thorn the ebony timberwolf Thorn wasn´t able to grin, but if he could do it, he would do that right now. Caras probably didn´t notice, but he was 2.5 times bigger than a normal timberwolf and he had a weight of nearly a ton! Probably because Thorn was laying within a dark corner, but still it was somehow funny to listen to him. For the timberwolf, the pony still had a squeaky voice, but he was somehow to pronounce meaning within these noises. @, @@Pripyat Pony, @, "Take care, little one." he just said while he watched Caras leaving the hideout. It sure wasn´t in Stardusts intention, but he would not hinder him to leave since he did not have the right to do something like this within Stardusts hideout. Thinking about Stardust made him feel how his host was tortured, probably by a force the timberwolf was unable to understand. He stood up and walked into the hall where the things were happening. Stardust was speaking within an abnormal voice, commanding to stop. The only thing Thorn could imagine that the demon or the mysterious cat had something to do with that. But he wasn´t understanding the higher forces of magic. He was just using his inner aura and soul for his own magical abilities. He stepped near Stardust and looked at the other ponies. If someone of these mere walking fastfood ponies were the cause of this mess, he would just eat them with a huge bite. He snarled as he looked with his unholy yellow glowing eyes into the round of ponies that had gathered here, also to the demon that was within the room. Since he was unable to talk to the these creatures it was difficult to communicate to them. But now that he had chosen this hideout as his new territory, he feeled responsible for the security of all inhabitants and guests. He was able to heal Stardust, but only if these changes on her would stop. He send a magical impulse to the others that meant the following words in their minds. "Wolf - will - heal - if - calmed". He wasn´t sure if the others could understand him, but that was the only thing he could do right now. Also he was wondering were the cat was as he sniffed the area.

Thorn the ebony timberwolf Some pony just stumbled over a wooden body part of the wolf. He had watched, listened and thought in silence until now, just communicating via emotions and auras. Of course for the normal pony this wasn´t really a good way to communicate at all, but since most of the ponies spoke in a squeaky little language he wasn´t able to pronounce, he wasn´t able to talk to them. But this one started to talk within the timberwolf language, growling and completely understandable. Thorn looked at him for a long time until he decided to finally answer him. "Who dares to talk to the wilderness of the dark Everfree Forest?" he growled and grumbled. His big head now completely looked at Caras, his unholy yellow eyes fixed the pony and he sniffed it´s scent. "I am not able to talk squeaky pony-language." he answered to the question of Caras. "What is it you desire, little one? What are your true intentions? I am sensing strange and different scents on you... What explanation do you have for something like this?" he asked snarling to Caras. He was still laying on the floor, his head still resting on his paws as he did not thing it was worth it to move much. He wasn´t hungry at all, but a little snack would be fine now. Also Stardust seemed to have some pain as he was able to feel this. But until now he would not be able to help. His healing beam ability was only a good method to heal a resting creature, not one that was being attacked like it seemed in Stardusts situation.

Duran the lynx Duran could imagine at the changes of Stardust and the pain that was invoked within her, that creation itself tried to control Stardust with the method of pain and destruction in order to manipulate her. Of course he didn´t have any clues for this, but he knew that there were some thing he could do to help her. It would be bad manners to let his host die, would it? Also he had already made some plans about Stardust, and it would be a shame if he wasn´t able to bring these plans into action. He sighed as he realized that he had to show at least some of his powers to give the mare enough time to adapt to the changed circumstances. So there was only one thing he could logically do. To penetrate reality and to enhance his magic to create a rift of his dimension. The lynx was within his room, but since he was able to feel Stardust because of the massive pain the mare was feeling, it was easy to scan for her health state. Duran changed his appearance and changed into his ghostly shadow form. Slowly the darkness spread within his room, in the background sounds could be heared like souls were screaming for help, but in the reality, there was just nothing that would emit these sounds. The nothingness and darkness was filling the room, changing reality of this one room, expanding it in dimensions no one would ever imagine. It was the same room, with the same measures, but at the same time, it was all and nothing, gigantic and tiny. A normal creature would loose it´s mind if it would walk careless into Durans room now. The darkness itself had manifested into the realm of the mortals, crippling the rules of being and changing the settings of reality. Perhaps Stardust could feel it, feel something familiar was spreading within the mountain. Duran´s power would not heal her as he didn´t use healing power right now at the moment... but it would comfort her, perhaps forging power within her, and magical streams she didn´t even realize that they existet. In the midst of the nothingness, the endless void there were some green glowing eyes, staring at the exit of the room. Just a small amount of power to create this, but now... it felt like home.

Duran the lynx Stardust send memories of her own past in exchange for the things he had send before. The information was processed in his fast thinking mind, but still this was a huge bundle of data and since he could see from the beginning until the present how the mare of time had developed, some logical things came into his mind. He closed his eyes while thinking about everything, his mind raced among different possible outcomes and happenings, facts and suggestions and he started to rebuild his original plan into a more complex one. After some minutes he opened his eyes again and looked to Stardust. It was logical how Stardust would react and everything was explained in the images he had still in thoughts... still she didn´t calculate his power into the balance. Of course, she didn´t know about his abilities, so he didn´t wonder about it at all. Stardust was familiar somehow, like a presence he had already known from the beginning, where time didn´t have any relevance. Somehow he felt nostalgic as he was a being that was created at the beginning of time, and Stardust was created at the end of all. His mind thought about every magical and logical rule how it would be possible for Stardust to correct time and the balance without sacrificing herself. It was very unlikely for the lynx to protect of save a life, but in this case he had several reasons. Finally, after some minutes of calculating, balancing the risks of several decisions and creating the best possible plan to trick nature itself, he came up with a brilliant plan to save Stardust from a possible death, secure his original plan and to enhance his own power. He smirked evil as he went through this plan again and again to be sure that he didn´t miss any obstacles. Finally, his mind connected to Stardust again to talk. "This is a very interesting future and past at the same time. I don´t want to change your plans at all, but..." he started to tell her, starting the first spark in the beginning of this plan; "... but how would you think about everything... if you had more power, strong enough to change life... and creation itself? A possibility to play beyond the normal rules..." he finished, giving Stardust a thought to think about. With this, he would give her the opportunity to perhaps change her own life. As the mare of time, she had control about time itself... but no control about her own life span or her past. It was a rule of nature, clever if you think about it. Duran knew that Stardust would never give up the mission to balance everything, because this was the reason why she was created. But seeing her past, he could imagine that she would love to get a second chance. Since her soul and the rules of time didn´t permit to kill herself which she perhaps already tried, she was imprisoned by the circle and programming, creation had set up for her. But if another creature with immense power would change something without aborting her mission, creation wouldn´t be able to change anything and she would be able to survive. Of course, this was just a mere thought, and if would need much ressources, research and of course the strength of the mare of time, but he couldn´t tell her about this just like that. He knew that creation would knew everything she was knowing. He didn´t even know if it was possible, but since he knew the "playground" and the "rules" that were set up, he knew what he was able to change. "If you need anything, i am within my room." the dark lynx said and walked more instinctively to the door that lead to his room. He entered it without problems and sat down in to the cat basket he had asked for before. Now he had to wait, wait for the reaction of Stardust.

Duran the lynx Duran observed everything that was going on in this room, and he noticed how Stardust was acting more formal if he got her attention. Also the feeling he got from her was different than he had imagined. As he now was a longer time near the mare, he realized that there was a connection between him and her, something strange was going on and he already had an idea how to check this. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his sleeping core. Silence... darkness... a small green light in the darkness like a heartbeat... than another one. He slowly awakened his core, but not too much since he didn´t wanted that the other creatures around him got a feeling about his power. He started to focus on Stardust and got his soul and magical power in sync with the soul radiation she was emitting. As he opened his eyes with a slightly glowing light in it, he send a pulse to the mare and waited for response. Within this pulse, he send knowledge of his past to Stardust so that she could get a small view of what he was. Beyond the dark gates of Turial, there was a hidden dimension that contained everything within the raw ancient form of powers. The darkness itself, wild magical strings that formed within the void, the nothingness. Everything was there, and at the same time wasn´t. Duran was at home there before he was forcefully removed and dragged into the Equestrian world. Bound to the law of the material world, he manifested into raw magical dense energy. Energy that gained additional awareness because it entered this world. But Duran already had a consciousness, so it happened that the second one build up like a layer, in control of the functions of the core. As the dark magician who had summoned bound him to magical rules and artifical commands, he was placed into a dark dungeon as a guardian. But the spell wasn´t perfect, so it had it´s errors in the forumlar. He perhaps killed his master and searched a way out of the dungeons. The magical form needed a container, and so it happened that a form was chosen and a soul was absorbed and adapted to this singularity. A lynx had been chosen as the container, and a third soul layer was bound to the entity. Duran as he was existing now was created. The pure darkness and raw magic from a place beyond space and time, from a sinister world of concentrated darkness and beyond the normal laws of magic was captured as a power core, dampened by 3 soul layers to garantuee a strong mind, fast processing of thoughts and different emotional stages and logical thinking. He was artificial and yet not from this world. He had learned to live this way and as the 3 souls had synced and harmonized with each other, all were different but at the same time the same creature. He was not really alive, but not dead either, not bound to the laws of this dimension, but restricted in his power, yet a powerfull being and from the fur down to the core.... evil. Since eons he watched the creatures of Equestria, calculating, studying and learning every possible knowledge. He was cold, designing and sinister, laughing within about the pathetic mortals and immortals within this world. He was planning since thousands of years and finally everything seemed to move, the goal within the grasp of his paws. He would stay silent, since he was able to endure the time since he arrived here, and the programming of his former summoner had been adopted into his entire being. But still within this pulse, he was not telling Stardust what he was able to do with his powers. It contained too much risk to reveal everything, so he waited for a response.

Duran the lynx Duran listened very carefully to the words coming from the portal. So the music from Cleo irritated or disturbed the inner peace of Stardust. That was very important and usefull information for the lynx. Now he thought about it and rated her anew, giving her a much higher importance than others he already had priorized. Now he was very interested in the music that Cleo was able to generate with her guitar. He watched her and decided that he would sooner or later talk to her. Duran looked as the portal opened, voices were heared adn a demon manifested within the room. It was interesting, but did not even slightly change his plans, so this wasn´t as interesting than other creatures he already met. A demon was just a misguided creature of the borders beyond chaos, well aware of itself but not always in control of emotions or magical power. They were not better or worse than ponies, since they also had different types among them and several circles of power. Duran, who had watched the spectacel from a corner of the room analyzed the situation. Yet another member of this party had arrived, so he guessed. Finally the Demon started to talk and asked for introduction. Since Duran did not want to build up a mind link to a demon, he stayed silent instead. He calculated every risk that could come from this creature and what he would do to counter every possible ability. Since the demon hadn´t introduce himself but the name was introduced by the portal, Duran didn´t feel like it was important for the demon to know their names. Slowly he walked away from his corner and sat down next to Cleo. This evening would probably be very interesting...

Iron and Blaze listened to everything that was said. "Yes it´s true, we can´t wait too long, but also we need to use every tactical advantage. Every member that is able to be invisible, make ilusions or can sense other creatures would be perfect for a job like that. We could determine how many enemy demons are in there, could snake in or even close the entrance and then strike from their midst. With that we would have a surprise element, we can go all out and we block the only entrance." Iron Wing explained. "And if anyone tries to escape, i am a pursuit specialist. I can hunt every demon down with high velocity." the red pegasus added. Iron and Blaze didn´t know which abilities or specialties the other members had, but perhaps some of them had the right abilities to solve a problem like this. And they had to make a fast decision.

(OOC: The lynx has talked to all ponies , not just Stardust.) Duran the lnyx The lynx grinned playfull as he heared that Stardust even had a basket for him. Of course he would not need one, but it was nice to know that somepony made the work to prepare that good for a meeting like this. He thought about to teleport onto Stardusts back, but that would mean that he showed the other ponies something about his skills. So he decided not to teleport and walked instead to Stardusts side, sitting down next to her. "I will follow you." he said and looked around. Caras had been very silent for the time being and he could feel that he watched Duran. But this pony would not find out anything of his evil plans, not even a single clue of what Duran was up to. "As you wish, i will not leave my room in this state..." he answered and prepared to follow Stardust. He was pure evil and dark, a being from the dark ages, but there was something he did respect. Rules. Stardust had invited him to come here for a visit, to a meeting of great importance. Since now he was not disappointed, so he would act to the rules that were set by the host. Also, there were some dangerous ponies here and he had to think about several options. He would use the night for some calculations and for some investigation on normal circumstances. Now he just waited for the next move of Stardust.

Duran the lynx It was very interesting for the lynx and it meant that he didn´t had to worry about many things that could have happened. Since his appearance thousands of years ago, he was able to hide himself from every kind of creature, and if he wanted to explore the world, he was able to hide all of his magical power, soul emitting waves or auras. Meaning that Stardust had found him and written a letter to him meant that this just would cause that others would know about him, like this little group already did. But since they all didn´t know WHAT he was, it was an acceptable exception for him since he calculated many losses within this upcoming fights. Distraction was the best weapon he could use within these circumstances and he would proudly pull the strings to make this happen. "I would be ready for a brake, considering that some of us had a longer way to travel than others. Resting would be fine to regenerate our strength and to calm our minds. If you have a chamber... or simple a cat basket for me, it would be acceptable." the lynx said and stretched a bit. He just looked so normal that other ponies never could think about an evil creature while seeing him. Also he hadn´t shown his other forms yet, but staying within this little form conserved energy and provided the best stealth. With great patience he was waiting for the conference to end, and that Stardust would have enough time to talk to him if needed. He had analysed her a bit, and it seemed that devoted more attention to him than to the others. Thorn the ebony Timberwolf Thorn listened to Stardust as she send the meaning of her words through her emotions and the aura she had. It was easy to read the meaning of this and so nodded to the things he had understood. Slowly the giant timberwolf stood up and looked into the round of ponies. For him, this discussion had reached the end, and there was nothing of importance to say anymore. Enough reason to leave this dusty room. He used his weight as carefull as possible to not damage any furniture, the ground or the walls, and elegant but also silent, which was a surprise for a timberwolf with a ton weight, he went to the exit of this room. He left it and entered the lobby, spotting a good place where he could watch the entrance of this hideout. With a single move, he sat down onto the ground, being a big building made our of wood within the room. His dangerous looking eyes fixed onto the entrance and he prepared for anything that would try to enter. Now this was his terretory, and he would guard it like the one he had in the Everfree Forest...

Iron Wing looked at the pony who had talked to her. "Greetings to you, Terra Lionmane.... i am Commander Iron Wing Celes Grayhoove from the Grayhoove Clan." she introduced herself. "And i am Blazing Storm van Hoofenheim! Nice to meet ya! Yumm!" Blaze jumped into the talk and stuffed a sandwich into her mouth. She was still standing on Iron Wings back who didn´t even care about that. "I think we should join the others to ensure that everything is ok. I don´t like splitup groups, and i would prefer to fight the demons at the side of the complete group." Iron Wing stated. "Lets go!" she added and took the point to join up with the dragon and the other members. Both, Iron and Blazing looked at the 3D model of the city and tried to memorize as much as possible. Orientation was very important for advanced tactics and to know the terrain. Iron saw how the town was build up and she analyzed everything to have later on the battlefield the upper hoof. Blazing shoved her sandwich down her throat just like a snake and gulped down the complete thing. She loved eating and the more she ate, the more hyped she would get. Iron Wing remembered that it wasn´t a good idea to give her anything that included sugar. "If needed, i shall destroy that wall." Iron Wing said, knowing that she was very powerfull by herself if it depended on raw strength. "But Iron, what about tactics?" the red mare asked. "Hmpf... It´s just... i don´t trust magic. And to be teleported is... ughh..." the mare shivered while thinking about it.

Iron Wing had a wild and confusing dream as a pain called her back into reality. She woke up and looked around, noticing that she still was within the cavern somewhere. A great pain stung on her side as she saw that the wound had opened again and was bleeding. She tried to fix this the patching, but this wouldn´t hold forever. The sound of grumbling reached her. She stood still for a second, looking alerted with flicked ears. Was that the timberwolf? She had to get to the others somehow, and there was only one way up, so she continued with walking. She was tired and exhausted, wounded and with not the best mood a pony would have. Slowly she went up, the walls of the cavern changed the higher she got. At a point, she realized that the walls were build from pony hooves. Was this… a castle or a fortress? Whatever it was, it meant that it would not far from the surface anymore! She rushed a bit forward into the dark corridors in front of her as… a grumbling came from exactly that direction. From a curve, the timberwolf came into sight, snarling at her. Did it knew that she would come this way and used her disappearance to scout forward? Whatever the reason was, now it was in her way between her and the surface. A bit shaky, she spread her wings and showed the blades again, going into a fighting position. The beast just stared at her, like waiting for a move, or something like that. Was it really that wild? Iron Wing thought about it for a second. It was a strange behavior from a creature like that, and she knew that this one was not normal at all. But this was not important right now since the creature build up in front of her, showing that she would not pass him. The knight started her first attack with great force, and the hard claws and the steel clashed against each other. Again the battle between those two was unleashed and this time they did not give away any chances to defeat the enemy. The sound of battle filled the halls of the cavern and parts of the old castle. The Pegasus was able to push back the giant creature made out of hard wood, passing it. But she could not make a run for the surface as the timberwolf continued with fierce attacks. Luckily Iron Wing was able to go backwards while fighting and so the wolf had to follow her more and more into the old building. At a point, it understood what Iron Wing tried to do… to reach the surface. But this beast was not dumb at all. With a charge of massive power, it takled Iron and pushed her into a wall. The wall broke, since it wasn´t really that thick, but they appeared just one floor below the group of ponies who had found shelter within the old ruins of the castle. Shouting and grumbling the two continued to fight, Iron Wing not in a good condition. Also the wolf had taken some serious wounds already and it got more and more angry not to find a way to give the Pegasus the final blow. Again it run towards Iron, hoping to push her into the next wall, but the knight already had made a hoove step onto the stairs. The head of the creature made it´s impact on Irons front armor plate and she was taken with this train of wood and legs. The wolf run upstairs, Iron Wing tried to slash her blades onto him, but it was no use. The beast run into an entry along a corridor. It pushed Iron against the next wall, breaking into the room where the group found shelter. On the impact with the wall, both enemies lost control of their movements and stumbled a bit. Iron was the first who found her balance again and made some slashes with her blades into the wooden creature, which continued to attack. Both traded some attacks, wood was broken and splinters flew into the air, also sparks from the metal of Iron Wings blades could be seen as they impacted on very dense material. Then they paused as both realized where they were. The timberwolf analyzed the situation, and even with the surprise that was written in their faces, he would not have a chance against that many fighters. Some of them were wounded, but the only interest he had actually were the guard and the dark blue alicorn which emitted a great source of power. He sniffed the air to get Lunas scent, grumbling and snarling and then… he walked away, making an exit out of this delicate situation. He would come back sooner or later to deal with the alicorn and the guard. This combat was too much fun, and he learned that ponies were a challenge. Better than some creatures within the Everfree. Iron meanwhile fell onto the ground, panting hard as she tried to get some air. Her sight blurred and the pain was big and it didn´t take long for her to fall down and rest a bit. She was still awake but not able to speak much. With her open and also new wounds she had from the fight, she would need to be patched up. Luckily she had medical supplies within her saddlebag.

Duran the lynx Duran listened carefully to what the alicorn had to explain, and this was surely a surprise. He knew that Stardust was a bit different, but he didn´t expect her to be from the ending of time, an event he would enjoy to see. “So this is all done for balance, right? And you are existing to ensure the condition of total balance because this state is not given in the future? So in the end of the fight when the balancing is done, you are going to die. I just want to get things straight.” The lynx spoke and looked at the alicorn. The lynx would recognize the feeling it got from Stardust to identify paradoxes in future to prevent them or to use them for his plans. This meeting had already paid off for him and he would enjoy to see the outcome of the plan. Also he was wondering which forces the good side would unleash to fight for their side. The time Stardust needed to form an answer, Duran continued to analyze the rest of the group. Bloodlust was a very interesting pony who would be easy to manipulate. Since he had told about himself how he would react on the battlefield, the outcome could be calculated. Of course Duran didn´t know how Bloodlust was able to make the difference between ally and enemy, and how smart he was if he was in the other state, but as long his anger didn´t focus on the lynx there shouldn´t be any problem at all. Than there was Diego, a pony with special talents and a favour for alcoholics. Since the lynx didn´t know all abilities about this one he was a bit more careful, but he didn´t have the feeling that this one would unleash much destructive force. He was more a manipulator and this was fine with the cat. The others were now very silent so Duran kept his thoughts in mind and waited for Stardust to answer. Thorn the ebony Timberwolf It was true that Thorn wasn´t able to participate on a discussion like that, but as long as he could get the meaning of everyone, it was surprisingly interesting and annoying at the same time. The ponies kept talking and talking with less information and more babbling. In his dark forest the animals and especially the timber wolves just needed to growl a bit to express their intentions and to communicate. The rest of the day was mostly filled with silence and the sounds of the wilderness, and now these squeaky little voices were everywhere! He had already the feeling that most of the ponies didn´t take him seriously as a member of this gathering, more as a normal timberwolf that was somehow listening. Of course they were wrong, he was much smarter, bigger and stronger than the rest of his kind, but since he wasn´t a creature that fought battles without reason it didn´t bother him more than 5 minutes. He accepted this, since ponies always underestimated the dark forces of the Everfree Forest ever since. He would just play the wild mindless dog made out of wood, just like that. Of course, he was too big for a normal room, so he already thought about to sleep in the lobby of this hideout. Who else was better in guarding an entrance than a watchdog, especially when it was that big as him. He snorted and looked around, and it seemed that the other ponies wanted to end this discussion. Once more, he payed attention until the end.

Iron Wing and Blazing looked at each other as Terra tried to introduce himself and at the same time something was going on some fuss. "It seems that we may introduce ourself at a later time, so we will follow you to see what this is all about..." Iron Wing said and followed the pony. Blazing just jumped on Irons back and waited until Iron and Terra reached the source of all this. They knew that something had to be done and that they should head out to stop the demons as soon as possible. But it would be the best if the group would head out together so it was useless to stay alone.

Duran the lynx The lynx listened to the ponies and their conversations, their problems and their evil characters. It was a very delightful and amusing talk between the ponies and the lynx chuckled a bit while listening to them. But as they talked, the lynx still knew why he was here. There was a plan that Stardust wanted to realize, and of course his own evil plans to get what he desired. The lynx was a dark creature from the time of creation and destruction, the void that became a being, powerfull ancient raw magic that formed a consciousness. He had been living in the dimension of darkness and nothingness until someone had summoned him and imprisoned him into a vessel the summoner called magical "sphere". But as he had been materialized within this world, he had gained an awareness within this sphere, and the spell that held him there was broken by the raw power of the other world. Thousands of years he had lived within the land of Equestria already, and no one knew about his existence, his power, his abilities, his knowledge and his evil doings... until now. Somehow he was here, because a magical letter had reached him, a letter that should have never existet. But it came, and now he wanted to know everything about it. His fast mind had already calculated over 1131 possibilities to kill everyone within the room but.... the fail rate was too high. Some of these creatures were powerfull by themself, and he just could only find 98 possible outcomes where he could kill them fast and quietly. It was too risky now to try something like this, after all he wanted to stay hidden. He closed his eyes and thought about alternatives. The lynx had 3 personalities, one for each form. Everytime the lynx chose a form, the other two "souls" went sleeping within, but the main core always was at a ready status. As the lynx thought about alternative plans, the main core awakened. Within the lynx, the soul of the void opened it´s green eyes and fixed the main source of the happenings that occurred lately: Stardust. The core was well aware about this creature, and it remained watching her. Duran opened his slightly green glowing eyes and looked again into the round until his gaze fixed on Stardust. He had calculated a new plan, a plan that would work perfectly as he had foreseen over 768 possible ways. All would lead to victory and he would take this chance. "I agree with the core plan. We shall send out infiltrators to gain allies and to confuse and mislead the silly mortal ponies while another group will make some attacks, spread on the land with no direct target. This will drive the princesses mad, and in panic they try to send out heroes into different direction. We will take this chance to strike important targets, bind more followers to our plan and then we will reach our final goal, which i hope Stardust will explain a bit more. But since we had spend enough time together i suggest that everyone will take a break from this meeting." he spoke and watched everypony. Thorn the timberwolf The timberwolf didn´t have much to say about the plans since the only important parts were mere words he needed to form the understanding within his mind. He was a wild beast and a brutal force within physical combat, a hunter that would take down any prey. But since the ponies were doing all the mind work, he wouldn´t need to bring himself in. Also the lynx was able to speak to the minds, so communication was easy with this one. He just awaited the outcome of this discussion.