private Journey to the Higher Plane

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane jumped a little at Lightning's outburst out there. "He's weak, he's not gonna go anywhere, besides, the real Blaze needs some time to fight his mind battle himself." she said obviously getting defensive. She cooled down a bit, "I can bring back some food for us if you want." Hurricane thought she could use this to get a little excitement to start the day.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

"Oh, well in that case may I come with you?" She asked Hurricane eagerly, "it's just I don't think my stomach wants to wait, besides I have money to spare. Come on I'll race you to the ground!"

 

She whinnied and darted over the balcony, throwing down her pink goggles that she never took off, and dived towards the street.

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane smirked accepted Lighting Bliss's challenge. Her plans of stealing the food would have to be altered. She knew Lightning Bliss would never go along with it. As Hurricane was going down, she thought she would spice things up by flying in a couple small circles around Lightning Bliss to throw her off.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

"HEY!" Bliss whinnied as she tried to keep balance in her dive as Hurricane encircled around her, "no fair! Don't play dirty or you'll regret it!" She playfully mocked, then to show she was kidding on her daring dive, folded her wings down to her side and plummeted down towards the earth.

 

The air rippled across her lips, making them blow back in a comical way. It was one of those times she was happy to be wearing her goggles. As she spotted the ground nearing seconds till impact, she made a very super small teleportation that righted her paraell to the ground, sending her diving across the street from the hotel. Once across she landed, skidding to a hault and smirked to Hurricane.

[Hurricane 159]

"No fair! You used magic!" Hurricane complained after reaching the ground. "You alicorns have an unfair advantage." she grumbled. "Unicorns can do anything with magic. They can make anything bend to their will and control just about anything." Hurricane began to rant. She then turned her head and saw the café from the other day and got a devious look on her face. "I bet I can go in there, and come out with a whole loaf of bread with out getting caught." she said challenging Lightning Bliss.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

"*Snorts* You were trying to cheat yourself if I recall, by trying to throw off my air currents!" She stuck her nose in the air and grinned knowing she was right. But when she heard about Hurricane's challenge on stealing bread from the cafe from yesterday before, her smile deteriorated.

 

"That's not an ok challenge in my book...besides the only pony that will lose from that challenge is the owners of that Cafe who did nothing to deserve being robbed from..." she said in a saddening tone, "why would you think that's ok? I got money to spare, we can just go in and buy it. If you really want a challenge..." she levitated the bag of money out and gave it to Hurricane, "go and buy a bag of bread and a dozen sweet cinnimon rolls to go. See if you can get that order right and prove me wrong that stealing is better then buying." She gave her a firm cocky smile, daring Hurricane to do it.

 

A part of her was hoping the black mare would give into the thrill of the challenge, while hoping she'd learning something from this in return.

[Hurricane 159]

"Fine, I'll buy the darn bread..." Hurricane said unamused as she took the money. "It won't be fun though." she said as she walked toward the café. "Should've kept my mouth shut." she said as walked away muttering that and other things under her breath. She walked through the doors and made her way up to the counter. There were a few ponies in front of her. As she was waiting, she was looking at the pastries in the display case and thinking about how she would steal them if she did.

       "Miss" The pony at the counter was trying to grab Hurricane's attention. "Miss" he said louder. Hurricane snapped back.

       "Yes, sorry." she said.

       "What would you like miss?" the pony asked nicely.

       "Um, a bag of bread and...a dozen sweet cinnamon rolls to go." The pony went to the back of the café to get the items Hurricane requested. Hurricane had an opportunity and a choice. As she was debating in her head what to do, the stallion came out with her order.

       "Here you are miss." she smiled.

       "Thanks" Hurricane gave a small smile back. she took the items and started for the door before she was stopped by the stallion again.

       "You gotta pay for that miss." he said. Hurricane turned around and remembered the bag of bits that Lighting Bliss gave her.

       "Oh, sorry." she said with a small laugh as she put some of the bits on the counter. The pony counted them and nodded his approval. Hurricane then left the bakery and headed back to where Lightning Bliss was. Hurricane's ears perked up when she heard the jingling of the leftover bits in the bag almost speaking to her. You don't have any money Hurricane. She started a war in her head. But Lightning has been so kind to you. She's a princess. She's rich already. Hurricane couldn't take it any more. She slipped into a dark alley and took some of the bits out of the bag and hid them in between the feathers of her wings making sure they were secure. She then made her way back to Lightning Bliss. "Here you go!" she said showing her the treats.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

"Hey nice!" She levitated both bags to give Hurricane a break since she did buy them for everypony after all. She quickly took a cinnimon roll and hulked it down, icing getting all over her face. "MMMM Holy Luna these are good! You gotta try this!" Then it clicked to her that Hurricane haven't given her the bag of bits back. Though she already had plenty back in her saddle bags at the hotel, she was wondering if the mare would remember to give her back the change...After a moment of smacking down the sweet icing though, she realized she wasn't going to.

 

"Um...hate to be a nusience but...were these really expensive? Or do you have left over change? I'm just curious, whatever was left over I was going to give to you anyway. I remember you not having much on you aside from your dagger. Figured you could use the money more then me anyways. I got plenty back at the hotel and well..." she pawed the ground, "my husband is a draconequus...he can just conjure money at will. Though he hates doing that much as I do...we like to earn our money you know?"

 

Not realizing she drifted off the subject, she grabbed another sweet roll and continued to talk as turned to face the city onward.

 

"I mean I don't live in a castle...my royal duties don't exactly pay money...well they never did!" She giggled, "I don't see a cent of tax dollars from citizens, due to the fact my work goes all over Equestria. I don't have a castle of my own, so there's no taxes being put into maintaining one. I live in a mushroom house me and my husband made together that we keep up ourselves. I suppose if we ever got into trouble money wise however...Princess Twilight, Celestia or Luna would help us...But we don't need it really," she took another bite and went on, "I tend to earn my money through selling artwork and off and on helping Apple Family with some of their cider business when they need the extra hoof. Whilst my husband does some after school teachings to foals about draconequus history."

 

She took another bite and realized she was rammbling then finally.

 

"Gah I'm so sorry I'm being ignorant," she gave Hurricane two sweet rolls, "try some they are amazing! Oh by the way...I guess I never asked you, what you do as a lively hood?"

[Hurricane 159]

"Oh, sorry, I have the money in the bag you gave me." Hurricane said. "Thanks." she smiled. She then listened to Lightning Bliss go on about her and her husband. It surprised Hurricane. She didn't expect a princess to live like that. When Lightning Bliss offered her one of the treats, she reached for one and was about to pop it in her mouth until she heard Lightning's question. She put the treat back in the box and got a saddened look on her face, but tried to play it off as casual. "Oh, I...I don't have a job." she said. "I don't make money...that's....that's why I steal." she said.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

"Oh...I see..." Bliss backed off for a moment, feeling like she poked her nose in where it shouldn't be. "I'm sorry... I guess that wasn't really my business to ask." Feeling awkward and unsure of what she should say next, she levitated the bag of bread and half what was left of the cinnimon rolls up into the air and instructed them to head for their penthouse in the hotel. Once the goodies were out of sight, she gave the rest to Hurricane while taking one more for the road.

 

"And again I'm sorry... I do tend to ramble, I guess its a defense mechanism when I'm trying to get better aquianted with new friends." She took the money pouch, noticing that some of the money was less then she expected, but ignored that factor. Regardless if Hurricane stole from her or not, she couldn't feel the need to be bitter about it. She could only hope at least she's stealing from her and not other innocent ponies. "Anyways... I know the others will want to get some breakfast soon, but I was hoping we could try to scope out maybe where Blaze would hide. Granted Clover's totem will help to shorten our search, but that doesn't mean we can't get a head start right?"

[Hurricane 159]

"Oh, don't worry about it, Princess." Hurricane said. "We should take these treats to the others. They will probably want some." She started to walk back to the hotel. "I think I'll also save one for Blaze. We will get him back." she said with a determined look. Hurricane then stopped and looked back at Lighting Bliss. "Are you coming?" she asked sarcastically without meaning any harm.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

Bliss's large ears perked up at the sarcastic calling and could only nodd in a playfull way, squeed and galloped after Hurricane, eager to get back to the others so they could start their search for Blaze.

 

"I sure hope he's alright...maybe even he has already defeated the Entity himself if we're lucky and he's just too tired to find us?"

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Clover had called downstairs and asked for some coffee to be sent up to the suite. Despite the trouble that they had caused, Clover was amazed that the ponies of the hotel still were happy enough to do favours for the royals and their friends. Of course, Clover still, even after all the time she'd spent as a Princess, had trouble thinking of herself as one. She didn't live in a castle and in fact, she didn't want to. Castles weren't cosy, like her house in Trottingham was, and Clover liked having her friends around her.

[Hurricane 159]

"Only one way to find out." Hurricane said. "We better hurry if we wanna find out. I'll race ya to the pent house!" She said excitedly. "no wings, no magic." Hurricane started to get competitive again. Before Lightning Bliss could respond, Hurricane shouted out "3,2,1, go!" As fast as she could and took off giving her a small advantage.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

Bliss grinned cockily at the challenge even if Hurricane got a few seconds head start. She'll need it...has she ever ran against a pony who was raised in Appleloosa? I've bucked apples with the family for pony sake! Not to mention learned how to run with the buffalo!

 

"1...2...3.." she counted cassually, then suddenly in a burst of dust, took off galloping, easily out running Hurricane as she bolted the first flight of stairs. "One thing you should have known about me that I didn't ramble about!" Bliss whinnied as she made the send flight of stairs with ease, "I was trained to run with the buffalo back at mama's home! In Appleloosa!!!"

 

She kicked off the ramp of the second flight of stairs and easily climbed the third, not so much as a pant giving way. Before long she was already at the top floor of the penthouse, not bothering to look back to see if Hurricane was right behind her, this was a race she'd be embrassed to lose to now. Because in truth...she knew Hurricane won the flight fairly.

 

@@Pripyat Pony,

She bursted through the doors and skidded to a stop right in front of Clover, nearly knocking her cup of coffee over. "WOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAA HORSE!!!!!!" She skidded right into the side of Clover.

[Jack Baker 698]

Quickdraw once again jolted up and grabbed his gun, this time actually firing it in the direction where the noise came from. Fortunately, there was no bullet in the slot, and Quickdraw grumbled in slight annoyance when he saw it was only Lightning Bliss.

 

"If I had a bit for every false alarm..." he said, pumping his gun.

 

Steel finished practicing, and soon separated the clouds that made up the platform. He then flew quietly into the hotel room and landed near the balcony entrance. 

 

"What's going on?" he said, confused.

[Hurricane 159]

After Hurricane saw Lighting Bliss bolt in front of her, she turned to the side and saw an elevator. Hurricane knew that she wouldn't win on hoof with Lighting Bliss so she race in the elevator and pushed  the button to get to the pent house. She kept her hoof down on the dorrs closed button to ensure there wouldn't be any unwanted stops. After the doors opened on the top floor, Hurricane ran through the doors of the pent house right as Lighting Bliss busted in.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@@Lightning Bliss, Clover managed to save her coffee in time with her magic. She gasped as Lightning ran into her, then laughed. "Guess you two had a good time, then," she said. "There's coffee here if you want some; I ordered it up. Despite the damage done, everypony still seems to like us being here! Of course, I've fixed some of it with my magic and I'll make sure it's all sorted before we leave."

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @, @@Pripyat Pony,

 

Bliss panted and looked up to Clover just about ready to apologize when she spotted that Hurricane had in fact beaten her to the room.

 

"But...how did you...I went past you!" Then it clicked as she watched outside the hallway of a single elevator door closing down, as somepony recently got off... "OH...you're good...You evil...evil evil mare!" She snorted and laughed out loud as Quickdraw and Steel came in wondering what was going on.

 

"Nothing to worry about stallions," she giggled and took a sip of coffee Clover offered, "just a friendly race on hoof...but Hurricane didn't mention elevators...You black evil mule!" She grinned at Hurricane's cunning, "you let me gallop all those flights of stairs while you took the easy route! I don't know what I'm annoyed with more...The fact you did that and let me make all that effort! Or the fact I didn't think of that myself HMF!" She smiled and lifted her hoof up, "Hoof bump you win by hoof and brains."

 

She then fianlly turned to Clover, "Oh and sorry about bumping into you there, my enthusiasum to run kinda got the better of me. I actually prefer it more then flying time to time. Thanks for the coffee!" She swigged the entire cup down heartly then poured another cup. "So everypony...are we about ready to find Blaze?"

[OG Blaze 269]

"You know I'm starting to think they've forgotten about you Blaze. I would've thought they'd be out for the both of us by now, such a shame."

'They didn't forget about me, you monster!'

"Oh sure, call me the monster, I'm not the one who captured a hostage who just wanted to visit the theatre."

'And neither was I, when I get out of here, you're going to be sorry...'

"But you're not going to get out Blaze, you belong to me, I own you, and that's not going to change if they find us, now do me a favor and shut up."

The Entity silenced Blaze and got up from where he had been sleeping the night before. He walked to the center of the stage and turned on the center light. It was time to play the waiting game, when they came for him, he would be ready.

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane just gave a sly, proud smile when Lighting Bliss got all worked up. she returned her hoof bump. "Rule number one, always be smarter than your opponent." she said with confidence. "Speaking of opponent, we need to find Blaze." she started to get serious again. "Where would he be? He was weak, so he couldn't have gone too far. He also probably went into hiding where nopony would think to look. Probably someplace old and abandon."

[Jack Baker 698]

Steel nodded quietly as Raze came through the balcony.

 

"Yeah. We need to find him as soon as possible. Who knows what he might do if we don't..." he said, wondering what the entity could do if Blaze wasn't controlled.

 

Quickdraw stood up cleared his throat.

"If I may..." he began as he reached into his ammo pouch. "We should probably think of a last resort in case things do end up spiralin' outta control...." he pulled out a large buckshot bullet; larger than the rest that he carried with him. Etched on the sides of the bullet were the words "END OF THE LINE" in big letters.

 

"Like I said, just in case. I'm fully prepared to blow him to bits in case it does come to that." He put the bullet down on a nearby table. "But I don't think it'll come to that... hopefully."

 

((OOC: No, I'm not actually going to use this... Not yet anyway.))

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

"I will power up my totem so that we can know where Blaze went," Clover said. "We ought to start out straight away. Every minute that we wait is a minute wasted. We need to find Blaze and save him from the Entity, so that we can continue on our quest. I have a spell which can send him to sleep if need be, as I do not wish him any harm."

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @, @@Pripyat Pony, @,

 

"NO!" Bliss levitated the bullet off the table and thrusted it firmly into Quickdraw's pocket, "there will be no more blood shed! We suffered that already!" She stomped her hoof thinking how could he even suggested such a violent last resort. She sighed and calmed herself.

 

"Well then...if we're all ready, then Clover, you should fly with me, Hurricane and Steel Tempest. The totom will probably work better in the air. The others can follow us on hoof, we'll stay in your sights that way if we suspect a certain location, at least you guys can enter first while us flyers scan the surrounding area and join you."

 

She walked over to Clover and placed a friendly hoof on her shoulder.

 

"I know you're nervous about flying, but really it's not going to be too difficult. I'll levitate you up if I have to. It will be easy going flying, no fancy manuevers...But I want us to have the best position when finding Blaze and you're the one with the totom...it will be best for everypony...including yourself. What you say Clover?" She pulled back from the gray alicorn with pink hair and kicked the balcony doors open and hovered up outside, waiting for her and everypony else to agree. "We doing this?"

[purple.teal 50]

OOC: ((Sorry, internet was down, so I was out for the weekend. I didn't miss any action though it seems.))

 

A gunshot woke Everlast from his heavy sleep. He stayed frozen in bed, listening for anything else, but just heard natural conversation. Everlast got up slowly, still half asleep, and walked in as everyone seemed to be in the finishing stages of planning. All he really comprehended was, 'Are we doing this', but he nodded and decided he would just follow the group and figure out the plan as they went along.