private Journey to the Higher Plane

[Jack Baker 698]

Quickdraw soon heard sounds of a struggle from the tunnel in front of him... the voices... they sounded like Lightning's and Clover's. And from the way they were talking, they sounded like they were in trouble.

 

"Tarnation..." he said, then turned to look at Hurricane. "Well, if yer alright now, we gotta move. C'mon!" He ran into the tunnel, trying to find where the voices were coming from.

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane flew up to Quickdraw. "Calm down, I'm right here." She said irritably. Her dagger was drawn and ready for anything. She badly wanted an excuse to attack the hippogryph brute, and wanted to see Clover and Lighting Bliss alright. "If they harmed either Lighting or Clover, they're not gonna have time to regret it." She said with an eager smirk. She was more than ready to fight one of the hippogryphs.

Edited January 13, 2015 by Houndoom

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Clover gave Berack a final kick to the head; it wasn't necessary, given that Steel had dealt with him, but Clover was so angry that she just had to give the kick. She took the spell off herself and shrank down to her normal size. "Phew!" she exclaimed. "That is far more tiring than just using magic against somepony! If we get attacked again before we get out of here, I'll put it on somepony else rather than me again. And we had better get out of here right now before any other gryffs show up."

[OG Blaze 269]

@, @

Blaze looked around for any other cages or places that some pony could be held. There was nothing other than large rocks split into pieces that were scattered among the floor. He kept his ears perked and wandered before something caught his eyes. He trotted over to a cage containing a rather large bird with extensive wings that were rainbow colored. "And who might you be?" Blaze asked the bird who in response, only moved his head a little to the side and stared at him. Blaze smiled and then used his blade to cut the cages bottom so the bird could escape, "You're free now." Before anything else could be said the winged animal flew off from the remnants of the cage and into the sky only to be seen for a few seconds before completely leaving his sight. He then turned his attention back to finding Hurricane, and after a while of searching he deemed that she had probably left and made her escape to the others.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

In the distance Bliss saw Blaze in another cave, just recently freeing magnificant looking bird that seemed to only show gratitude by flying up into the sky where it belonged. Bliss smiled and trotted over to him.

 

"So glad you're here!" She hugged Blaze with the baby trotting underneath her. "And look, it appears I've adopted a...well...a pupil I guess." She smirked. "The others have just dealt with a hippogryph. I think they've all gathered near the center of this laybrith of caves. Come on I'll show you." She turned to lead the way, with the baby loyally following close behind.@@Pripyat Pony, @, @,

[purple.teal 50]

@@Lightning Bliss,@@Pripyat Pony,@

 

Everlast shuddered at the powerful magic Clover used. I must never make a princess mad. Turning away from that scene and back to the task at hand, he pointed back the way he had come. "We should go back that way. It leads straight out of here."

 

He began a head count, including the new hippogryph they seemed to be taking along. Blaze, Hurricane, Quickdraw, Bliss. Didn't Blaze enter with me?

 

"Hold on, We can't leave yet. Hurricane is still in here somewhere. The others seem to have gone after her already." He turned to Clover and the Hippogryph. "If you want out, Follow the lights down that way. It might be safer to get her out of here if she is coming with us."

[OG Blaze 269]

Blaze followed Lightning Bliss to where the others were supposedly at. He hoped they had left their captivity unaffected physically or else even more time would be needed to care for everyone and their injuries. He couldn't help himself from thinking about the bird either, why would any thing ever want to keep such a beautiful creature caged? Maybe the hippogryths just despised beauty and freedom altogether, that seemed somehow likely to him. "Did you see Hurricane at all Lightning?" Blaze asked eagerly and assuming her answer would be yes.

 

@@Lightning Bliss, @

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

"No I haven't..." Bliss answered Blaze as she made their way back to the others. @@purple.teal, @@Pripyat Pony, @,

 

"I'm sure she's alright though if you and the others are here...It feels like most of the male  hippogryphs have completely scattered. I guess they underestimated our little herd!" she squeed. The baby beneth her continued to follow up underneath her legs. There were tiems she thought she was going to trip on him but he always managed to keep up.

 

"Oh come here you silly," she picked up the infant and placed him on her back. "I seriously need to think of a name for you." She turned to Blaze then, "you should have seen this little guy! He was so brave!" She booped the little beak as she continued, "my wings were getting torn apart...well...they are torn apart," she gestured by opening them up, revealing a mutiliated sight of missing primary feathers, "by that dang Roc character...But by the fire of Celestia this little baby just snapped his beak down on the brute and sent him wheeling over crying for his mama!" She giggled. "What a little hunter!"

[OG Blaze 269]

@@Lightning Bliss

Blaze looked at the little one riding on Lightning Bliss's back. He had previously believed that the baby couldn't deal any damage, but in the right circumstance he believed so. "Well some are born fighting for the only things they have." Blaze said sincerely while looking into the eyes of the baby. He hoped that he would live a joyous life and forget any of the awful things he'd seen today. As he was thinking his ears perked up when he heard Lightning Bliss's answer. "I hope she's alright." He answer back.

@

[Jack Baker 698]

@@Lightning Bliss,

 

Steel, after flicking the blood off of his blade and sheathing his katana, walked over to where Lightning and the rest were. He looked at the baby, all happy and cheerful, and yet, he was saddened by it. In a way, it had reminded him of his own family, his younger brother, to be exact. A hunter and defender of what was right, in his own way, but knew discipline and when someone should be killed, or spared. Unlike himself. He then felt guilt overcome him. He realized he had done it again. He had let himself believe his blade alone could make the difference, and set off with the baby without even thinking of the consequences. Just like when he let the one elder he was supposed to protect, back when he was a warrior in his homeland, be killed during a time of war... his country accused him of it. Why, he never really knew. His life crumbled before him, and kept getting worse. Even his own brother accused him of it and refused to think otherwise... right until the day Steel killed him in a duel when his brother tried to murder him. Then, he felt anger. Anger for letting his ego overcome his sense of discipline, thinking he could play the hero. Getting all the hippogryphs to fight him? What a lousy idea, he thought to himself. Why, why hadn't he learned yet? But the better question to ask was... when was he going to?

 

"Hmph," he said quite loudly, there were no words that could express his emotions. He bowed his head in sorrow.

 

((OOC: Just filling out some backstory for Steel, cuz why not. It may play a bit of an important role later on.))

 

Meanwhile, Raze wandered the caves, without a sense of direction. He had lost Steel along the way, and kept searching for a way out... 

 

Until he bumped into Quickdraw.

 

"Ow!" he exclaimed, looking up. He saw he the gunslinger... and Hurricane was with him.

 

"Hurricane! Quickdraw!" he said in surprise. "Are you alright? Where are the others?"

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane stopped when he saw Raze run into Quickdraw. "We're fine." She said to Raze. "We're looking for the others now. I hope we find them soon. I hope they're safe. We really have to move if we hope to find them before something bad happens." She said with a sense of superiority. "Do you know where they might be?" She asked.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @, @,

 

Bliss was hardly paying attention as she rounded a corner with Blaze trailing behind. The hippogryph on her back was playing with her mane, seeming to be braiding her rainbow highlights into a pretty braid. Now and then she'd tug a little to make his deed more of a challenge and laughed when he squwaked in frustration...when suddenly

 

*BAM*

 

She ran in horn first into Hurricane's rump.

 

"Oops..." Bliss blushed realizing she may had cause a small poke on the black mare.

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane was knocked over at the collision. She let out a small shriek when the point of Bliss' horn jabbed into her. Hurricane quickly sprang up to face her attacker. She relaxed when she noticed it was only Lightning Bliss. "Darn it Bliss, are u trying to give me a heart attack?!" She expressed with some frustration. She was glad to know that Bliss was alright, but still had no idea about Clover. When she looked over to see if she was harmed during Lightning's unintentional attack, she noticed no sign of damage, but it still hurt.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@, @@Lightning Bliss, Clover was behind Lightning, with Stormwing and her foal. Nimbus could not walk as fast, so Stormwing picked her up and put her on her own back. They hurried to catch up with Lightning and the rainbow colt, and did so just as she collided with Hurricane.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @@Pripyat Pony,

 

Bliss fluttered into the air, just missing Clover's collide in with Hurricane and let out a giggle.

 

"Nice timing there Clover, but sorry for the poke there Hurricane." She fluttered down once it was safe. "Now that we're all together though, I say it's high time we hoofed it out of here!"

 

"SQUWAK!" Cried the baby on her back, feeling just as eager to leave these dreaded caves.

[Jack Baker 698]

@@Lightning Bliss, 

 

Raze nodded silently, pulling out Starswirl's journal and map.

 

"This little detour took us a bit off course," he said silently, scanning the journal. "Let's see where we really need to go..." His eyes landed on the most recent entry Starswirl had made when he was still here.

 

Venturing this far north, I had already come face to face with death, quite literally. For this is the land of where a dark, twisted being only known as the Keeper of Souls lies. Much like the Olden Pony and the Headless Horse, what is known about the Keeper lies in campfire stories and tales made to scare little children on holidays like Nightmare Night. That he is a unicorn spirit who is shrouded in black garments, who wields a lantern and a sickle, both of which are attached together by chains, and that the lantern of his light is from the many souls he has taken from his helpless victims that he torments endlessly. Both of these things mentioned are in fact true, as I have seen it with my own eyes. However, there is much more about this... spirit, than those tales let on. From what I've observed with my encounter, he is surrounded by an unholy aura that strikes fear into the hearts of those who dare gaze at him, as I have. The feeling is excruciating, enough to drive any normal pony insane. He prefers to use the tongue, rather than the blade, to bend his victims to his will. His wit is as sharp as the blade he wields, and his diction, fierce. He is especially attracted to two things: places where death runs rampant, and ironically, from what I know and have also heard, children. A child's soul is highly valued by him, as he enjoys torturing innocent souls more than most of those he collects. The fact that I managed to avoid becoming another soul trapped in his lantern is a miracle. However, his presence does not fully mean ill tidings; the very few writings on the Higher Plane, as I have begun to so fondly call it, suggest that any mythical creatures originate from said Plane, and that sighting them means I am close... oh, so very close....

 

The light is fading, and the blizzard yet rages on. I must rest, if I am to keep venturing forward....

 

The entry ended there. Raze didn't know what to make of it. If mythical creatures were one of the things he and the rest of his company were going to face... what else would await them?

 

((OOC: Yes, this is a new mini-villain I'm putting out there... I might add more things, like Windigoes and such.))

Edited January 20, 2015 by DJ Rabi Ray Rana

[purple.teal 50]

Everlast saw Raze open his book and couldn't help but peer over his shoulder to read. When he had finished the passage, he backed off. Well, I had I read that before, I would think that there wouldn't be a problem, we could try to avoid the thing. However things changed. He turned to Lightning Bliss and her adopted Hippogryph, and then to Clover's friend and her child. 

 

We're dragging two beacons right to it. 

 

He held up his hoof, realizing he still had clover's charm. He put it into his saddlebag and began formulating a plan. While in thought, Royal Flush came to mind, one more problem they would have to deal with again. Chased by a mercenary, possibly a flock of angry Hippogryphs, and running into the arms of a grim reaper. 

 

Personally, the last one seemed the least frightening to him, but he pretty sure the other's weren't going to feel the same way.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

While Raze and Everlast were seeming to formulate a plan, Bliss took the time to sit down with her new adoptee and snuggle him a bit. The child seemed to notice that her wings were still shredded to nothing but bare useless feathers and stems and cooed for her. She smiled seeing he truely did have the eye of a hunter, never missing a beat.

 

"What should I name you little one... Hunter maybe?"

 

The child looked at her and tilted it's head at the name, but it didn't seem amused by it.

 

"I'll take that as a no hehe," she put a golden hoof to her chin and pondred. The fact this child did so well to protect her, was so brave, and even now showed unmatched intelligence... "Oh how about Cannon?"

 

"SQUAWK!" The infant shrieked with disagreement.

 

"Ok ok! Not Cannon!" She rubbed his head as he snuggled into her arms. She thought long and hard about a name that could still match the theme of a hunter...but nothing that sounded too corny. It almost seemed unlikely to find one though that wouldn't be. After awhile of thinking, she recalled a name from a book back when she was a child, called "Artemis Fowl". The book was a fantasy about an intelligent young colt, who was very wealthy, but bored with his regular life, and sought to find wishes by ponynapping breezies and use their magic to grant him those wishes. To which the colt did succeed in capturing the breezies but he learned a vaulable lesson that hunting something so pure and innocent, never goes unpunished. She did so love that story, a tale of a true hunter who learns the value of freedom and life.... She finally had her name...

 

"How about...Artemis?" She asked him then.

 

The baby looked up, his eyes flickered in a dreamy state. He didn't make a peep of annoyance or disagreement.

 

"Artemis...." she nuzzled him, "Artemis Bliss Hoopla Hippogryph," she said hers and her husband's last names, to tie in with his species out of respect. "Welcome to my little family."

 

"Mama!" Artemis nuzzled her cheek.

 

"Eh...no, not mama," Bliss bit her lip...feeling that wasn't true at all...She would tell Artemis the truth when he was old enough, about his real mother...and where he came from...To replace her she felt, would be an insult to his mother's name. "Lightning Bliss, Bliss, call me Blissy... my little pupil."

 

"Bl-Bl...issy..." Artemis peeped, though the colt seemed a bit sadden on calling her the new name.

[Jack Baker 698]

Meanwhile, a long distance away...

A lone figure, clad in black, strode through the snowstorm, unaffected by the cold. He carried a lantern in one hoof, well, not really carrying it; it floated just below it, emitting a sickly green light. A sickle was dangling by his waist, connected to the lantern by glowing chains. His face was covered with a mask,with thin slits for eye and a hole in the head for a unicorn's horn, floating just above the rest of his body.

 

He was the Keeper of Souls.

 

For so long, he had wandered throughout Equestria, finding new souls to capture and torment. The presence of a new Princess and the return of the

Elements of Harmony had lessened his grip on society, which angered him greatly. Now, he was reduced to capturing any straglers that dared to leave the protective embrace of the so-called Princess of Friendship. One day, he will capture all six of the Element wielders, and make sure they suffer a fate far worse than death itself....

 

Suddenly, his lantern began to glow. It was bright, and the faint sound of laughter could be heard from inside it.

 

"A child... No... Two..." he remarked softly his voice echoing with each word, then smiled from underneath his mask. He let the lantern float in front of him.

 

"Show me..." It then began to move on its own, leading the Keeper to wherever the souls were.

Edited January 23, 2015 by DJ Rabi Ray Rana

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane got up after again being run into again, but this time by Clover. "Would anypony else like a turn?" She said in an irritated tone. "Seems like a favorite activity." She then noticed that everypony else seemed to be taking a short break after the crazy run with the hippogryphs. Hurricane used this time to sit down and preen her feathers. "Can't have any feathers interrupting my flying." She said.

After she finished, she spread her powerful wings and gave them one last look before taking off into the skies. She did multiple spins and tricks. Hurricane was glad she finally had time to enjoy herself instead if trudging through snow or fighting off angry gryphons.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@,

 

Bliss giggled at Hurricane's frustration for a bit, but when the black mare took off into the skies her giggling quickly was silenced...

 

"My wings..." she looked at them again, still merely strings of feathers that were none primary, and the stems of where they used to be. Artemis nibbled a bit on one of her longer wing's stems and cooed softly...he could see the pain she was in.

 

@@purple.teal,

She looked then to Everlast, wondering if it were possible for him to heal her the same way again, but feared this was entirely different. She wasn't in real pain, it's not like her wings were broken, the feathers were just gone...and would be weeks maybe months before they grew back. Still...

 

"Everlast?" She got up and slowly walked over to him with Artemis closely behind, "I don't suppose...there's a way you could help me with...a small problem..." she flexed her bare wings slightly.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Stormwing looked a bit nervous; she nudged Clover. "We ought to get away from this place," she said. "Not only for obvious reasons, such as the hippogryph males, those who haven't already been dealt with, but the foals will need food. If somegryth could look after Nimbus for me, I could go out and hunt for food for her and Artemis. They eat meat, fruit, and some vegetables, but they must have meat of some kind to ensure that their bodies grow strong. I know that you ponies are vegetarian so I don't think that any of you would want to hunt in that way."

[purple.teal 50]

@@Lightning Bliss

 

Everlast heard his name being called and looked up from his scrawls. in front of him was a grotesque mess of feathers. He cringed, wondering how painful the experience must have been. Torture from the hippogryphs I'd bet. A way to keep the mares from flying away.

 

"What happened?" He stood up, closed his own book, and began gently feeling around the wing. "doesn't feel like anything is broken. They just ripped the feathers, didn't hurt anything?" He paused, and realized what he had said. "I mean, not that it didn't hurt, I'd expect something like this to be very painful..." He fell silent and focused on the wing, not wanting to dig himself into a hole. 

 

After a few seconds more he fell back. "Alright, this is a bit tricky, normally when I tend to clients, I'd just take the damage onto myself, instantly fixing the problem for the client. However, this time, I don't have wings, so with out my own pair of wings to damage, I can't do it that way." He cleared his throat and continued.

 

"There are three ways of doing this. The first being that I could create surrogate feathers until your real ones grow back, the problem with doing it that way is that the new feathers may not be as strong, being as they weren't naturally strengthened, meaning that after they are fully grown, they won't be as effective at catching wind. The second, Is that If I had someone else willing to loose a few feathers so that you both could fly, albeit temporarily less effective, I could quickly split it between you two. The third, is to use some medicine to help the feathers strengthen and grow back faster, but I don't have any of the proper ingredients at the moment to create such a salve. I could see what I could find to make the best I can, but... I can't make promises on that account."

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@@purple.teal,

 

Bliss at down and thought about his suggestions for a moment...though it seemed quite obvious either solution had a downside.

 

"It didn't hurt," she said while she was thinking, "more like emotionally hurt... He just plucked the feathers out quickly, kinda like stripping leaves from a branch...If there was any pain at all I didn't feel it out of the sheer horror of what he was doing... I was a pegasus first before becoming an alicorn...so for him to take away that very thing that makes me who I am...was horrible to experience."

 

She sighed and looked up to the unicorn then.

 

"I don't suppose that medicine is a better chance? I can't imagine asking others to lose some of their feathers... Clover needs hers if she's ever going to learn to fly right. Hurricane is a pegasus, forget about it, that's her blood...Blaze too...he depends on his wings just as much... Medicine would be better... I don't want to chance serrogant feathers...What if I get the need to take off and they snap away? It'd be more trouble then it's worth... It's ok with the medicine if able... I'll just be grounded for a bit is all..."

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@@Lightning Bliss, Clover spoke up, nervously. "I could perhaps perform a healing spell," she suggested. "Don't get the wrong idea; it won't heal your wings instantly. It's never a good idea to do an instaheal with an injury of this kind; it could impede the natural process and mean that you would have to take a long time to get used to the way your wings feel afterwards. The spell I was thinking of is one that accelerates the healing process, but at a reasonable rate. You'll see a small difference, day by day, and it'll take about a week or ten days before your wings are back to normal, but by then you'd be used to how they feel. You could also eat some starberry fruits and leaves to help keep the condition of your feathers as they grow back."

 

Clover blushed a little. "I have some in my saddlebags, actually," she said. "Luckily, the alpha hippogryph didn't search thru my bags or anything; I don't think he even saw any value in them. All he did was throw them in a corner of the cave he put me in and the contents are still there. My friend Lightning gave me some starberry fruits and leaves at my coronation; he said that now I was going to be flying, that I ought to take some to keep my wings perfect. The Wonderbolts regularly eat the fruits and leaves to help keep their feathers healthy."

 

She took out a small bag filled with dried fruits which looked a lot like raisins, but were a pinkish blue colour instead of brown, and handed it to Lightning.