private Journey to the Higher Plane

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane had had enough of this. She snorted and charged toward their unholy attacker. She head butted him right in the side with all her power. "Your only make others shrivel in fear because you yourself are a coward!" She shouted at him. "Why don't you show us what you really are?" With that last statement, Hurricane reached for his cloak with her mouth, determined to pull it off.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Clover used her magic to make a shield to protect Nimbus, and Stormwing got up. Despite her injuries, she looked with contempt at the Keeper. "It's you I feel sorry for," she said. "You cannot feel love. You are crippled."

 

She had just managed to turn her body as she was thrown to ensure that she fell away from Lightning and Artemis.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

(OOC Could really use some stallion assistance right now...Where are Everlast? Blaze? Steel? Quickdraw, Raze?)

 

Bliss slid to the ground just dodging Stormwing's body, though she could tell the hippogryph managed some control, only landing a few feet from her, the snow cushioning her fall somewhat. Before long Artemis came darting out of the cave, clinging to her haunches, terrified of losing her again.

 

"I'm ok Artemis..." she patted his head, then galloped to Stormwing's side, just as Hurricane began engaging the Keeper. "Stormwing? Are you still with me???"

 

Stormwing looked up, her neck was violently rubbed from the chain around her neck, but she nodded to show she was alright.

 

"Thank Luna..." she turned back as Hurricane began attempting to pull the cloak off her attacker. She picked up Artemis and walked back slowly towards the cave...

[Jack Baker 698]

The Keeper shook Hurricane off, adjusting his cloak. He levitated her close to his masked face.

"So, you want to see who I am..." he said. He then pulled off his mask, revealing a ghostly, contorted face, green flames coming from his eyes. He then opened his mouth, and souls began to pour out screaming from it and into Hurricane's mind, filling it with all the evil and torment those souls had faced as the Keeper's playthings.

"Let them tell you..." he said, dropping her.

He turned to Clover. "Love is nothing more than a small, flickering light in a world of darkness, providing a sense of false security from the greater forces to those who follow it. I do not need it; only weak, pathetic fools who have nothing left to lose believe in such a ludicrous thing. Oh, if only more people tread down the superior path of evil, think of the things this world will accomplish..."

Suddenly, Quickdraw bursted out from the cave, gun in hand, pointed at the Keeper.

"I got yer love, right here!!" he yelled, firing off an explosive shell. It it the Keeper with a loud bang, which went quiet soon after. A huge cloud of smoke wafted over the place where soul collector stood, and it was unclear whether or not he had been defeated. Then, after a minute of silence, he emerged from the smoke, parts of his cloak still on fire, though it didn't seem to affect him. He began to walk towards the group once more Quickdraw, not knowing what to do, kept firing at him, but to no effect.


 

Edited February 4, 2015 by DJ Rabi Ray Rana

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane struggled when she was in the Keeper's grasp. She could only react with a startled look before the souls from the Keeper's mouth had entered her mind. She hit the ground like a rag doll not even resisting trying to catch herself. Hurricane was overwhelmed. Her vision was blurred, her ears rang and all she heard were tormented screams and cries of fear, utter fear. She looked around her with a terrified and confused look only being aware to what was happening in her head. "No, no! Make it stop!" She screamed her hooves covering her ears. The voices seemed to be screaming indecipherable words all at once like a dysfunctional orchestra of terror. Hurricane wanted nothing more than to fight off these voices, but knew that physical damage to them wouldn't be possible. She lied there on the ground with her hooves still over her ears cringing.

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@,

 

Clover focused her magic with difficulty. "No, what you are saying is a lie!" she replied, stammering. "I will NOT believe you!" Clover saw Hurricane lying nearby on the ground, in obvious agony, and with a great will of effort, extended the shield to cover the pegasus mare, too. Clover poured every single thought of love and friendship into her magic, combining it to create the shield. She thought of all the things that she and her best friend Stargazer had done together, from sneaking out of class to explore the Everfree Forest, to working together along with Lightning and Morning Glory to save Ruby from the curse of Sunny Town. She thought about how loving and caring her parents were and how much they had loved and supported her; how proud they had been when Clover was accepted to the Celestia School Of Gifted Unicorns. She thought about how the Windigoes had attacked Stargazer and how, driven by her great friendship with Stargazer, Clover had defeated them with a surge of powerful magic. All this she mixed with her magic, encouraging Hurricane to think of similar things.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

Once Bliss found a safe place in the cave entrance where Artemis would be secure but still be able to see her, she turned to gaze at the situation.

 

Quickdraw's firing had no effect on the Keeper... Hurricane was down on the ground being tortured by evil...and Clover was deseperatly trying to defend her with a magical shield created by her thoughts of love and friendship.

 

@@Pripyat Pony,

"That's it!" She thought to herself and galloped over to Hurricane and stood ontop of her, readying herself and focused. "Love...friendship...must...think of..." Her mind drifted to connect with her most favorite memories...

 

 

She remembered her first night in the cave of her loving husband Nights Hoopla...how his soft paw and tender eagle claw tended to her broken wing when she crashed landed there following him out of her own curiosity... Their eyes connected in a magical turn of destiny... Love at first sight... She could feel that feeling all over again rising in her belly, like butterflies all in a clutter... She then recalled her first magical triumph...when her good friend Polaris, a tribal pony from the North, taught her the basics. She could remember the joy and friendship he expressed to her when she lifted her first cup off the table...and how fast she progressed with even levtating his poor soul off the ground. He did so hated flying involuntairly... She laughed a bit at the memory but continued to focus. She drifted further back to when she was a pegasus...and had just graduated from school...Her mother gave her a ticket to her first Grand Galloping Gala, hoping to follow her dream of finding that perfect love in her life... The sweet memory of her taking off from Appleloosa for the first time...an independent strong young mare, full of life and ambition...and her family loving her all the way. Even further back...she remembered the day she got her cutiemark at age 15yrs of age...A gryphon exchange student was being picked on by her very own school bully Chase Razor... She remembered her courage swell up to defend him, and the school rallying with her... All together in peace and equallity...She never forgot that peace when for even a few minutes...there was peace around her...and her cutiemark appearing in that moment...

 

Suddenly Bliss's horn began to glow...it was a bright white rainbow aura...seeming to connect with Clover's magic...She could read Clover's love and friendship...and in turn the other alicorn could read her own. Bliss glared defieantly back at the Keeper then, pushing the souls with Clover's help, out of Hurricane's mind. Then, with Clover's magical guidance, their shield intensified.

 

@,

"Hurricane!!!" Bliss called to the black mare, "Think of something you love! Think of all your friendships! Tap into it!"

Edited February 3, 2015 by Lightning Bliss

[Jack Baker 698]

The Keeper shook his head at the alicorns' attempts to fight back, and began to intervene. He spun his sickle, which began to rotate faster and faster, until he finally flung it at Clover, the blade piercing her side. The magic chains then pulled him all the way over to her, and once he was close enough, shoved her out of the way with the force from the pull. He then turned to Hurricane, and with slow, powerful swings, began to chip away at the shield with his sickle while humming "Ring Around the Rosie" at the same time and laughing maniacally.

 

"Love will not save you... your friends will not save you... love is a prison, and I am the key to your freedom... cross... over..." he whispered to Hurricane.

 

His work was interrupted, however, by a flash of steel. Raze came up from behind him, and stabbed him in the chest with his twin blades.

 

"Back off. Now." he said to the Keeper, who turned his floating head all the way around to look at his attacker.

Suddenly, Raze felt a sense of dread about him, not knowing why he did what he did. The Keeper blasted him with dark magic from his horn, which sent Raze flying and left a burning, green mark on his forehead. He then focused, and the blades, along with the bullets from Quickdraw's gun, popped out of his body from the wounds which they entered through. He then turned around, and began to resume chipping at the shield.

[Hurricane 159]

With the shield of love and friendship surrounding her, Hurricane could hear the screams start to fade and could hear the voices of Clover and Lightning Bliss encouraging her to think of love and friendship. She began to think of how she loved her parents and how they loved her. She thought of the friendship that the group she was traveling with had extended to her. She meditated on these thoughts to make the shield stronger. However, after a few moments of thinking happy thoughts, the Keeper entered back it. She heard him clear as day. "No, no, no, those are lies!" She yelled as she looked at him and began to stand up. Everything around her was still fuzzy except the Keeper in front of her. "You...you're afraid." She said to him. "You know how strong this love and friendship is and you're afraid of it!" She tried to say forcefully, but was still a little shakey. It took every ounce if Hurricane's will power to resist the doubt and fear the Keeper was trying to place in her. The shield was helping to resist his powers.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @@Pripyat Pony,

 

"GAH! CLOVER!" Bliss lost touch with Clover as the Keeper seemed to knock her away...she could no longer feel her magical guidance...and now her own magic seemed to be confused on what to do and began to deteriorate... But then Hurricane stood up...fighting resisting...it was gaining her magic something to focus on. "Yes! That's it Hurricane...Fight it! Together! We can resist him together!" She threw her wing over the mare and leaned up against her, shaking viciously...the only thing keeping this shield from falling now as Hurricane's own will mixing in with her own... But she did not know how long they could keep it up.

 

"Hurricane... You're the only one helping me to focus this shield... Clover has been injured... I don't know how long I can..." she felt fear then rising up inside her, "NO! We cannot fail! I won't fail my friends!"

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

@@Lightning Bliss, Clover staggered to her hooves, the blood dripping from the wound and staining her pale grey fur. "No, I will not give up!" she cried out. "My friends need me!" With all her strength, Clover once again focused her magic, utilising her friends' thoughts of love and friendship in it to make it a powerful force that could not be merely pushed aside.

 

"Stormwing! You can help, too!" Clover said to the hippogryth mare, who struggled over to where the others were and thought with all her strength about her love for her foal to help the effort.

 

Ooc: Make this work, cuz otherwise, it's a bit too much if nothing we do works!

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane was oblivious to everything going on around her. Everything was still fuzzy except the Keeper. Her mind was focused on the real battle going on. The battle in her conscience. On the outside, she looked tired. She was standing weakly and her face looked at the Keeper with a blank expression, but the confidence could be seen in her eyes. Her eyes which showed the confidence she felt within her beaten physical body. She looked as if she could collapse at any moment, but in the battle in her mind, she knew that with her friends, they was winning.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@@Pripyat Pony, @,

 

Bliss continued to focus on her friends and memories of what made her happy... It didn't matter if it was her first flight in Cloudsdale, or the time she teleported... It didn't matter if was a memory at the Grand Galloping Galla with her friends, as long as it kept her smile strong.

[purple.teal 50]

Blood on his hooves, Mostly changeling's, but also hers... It was crazy what we had attempted to do. We were insane for trying. How did we expect any other outcome? At the back of his mind, Everlast knew it was just a nightmare, a flashback of the worst kind, but as he was forced to relive the worst moments of his life over and over, each time seeming more real than the last, the voice of reason slowly lost its grasp on his mind. 

 

He was there, in the ditch with her, those from afar might have mistaken them for lovers, but the blades they were brandishing would prove otherwise. He was here, charging at the damned changeling, gouging out the eyes. He was asleep. Tormented, a nightmare within a nightmare. He was studying, reversing all the knowledge of healing he had accumulated. The final experiment. The eye. 

 

The last thread of sanity was snapping when he felt the nightmares retreat. The knowledge of it all being a dream returned. 

 

Love. Love, the joyous memories...

 

Everlast laughed, not knowing whether in his own mind or in the real world. He felt the struggle of the others against the nightmare, and redoubled his efforts. Granted some measure of control, he began to think of his own treasured moments. The first time he saw her, their first 'adventure'. Peace.

 

"The reaper shall not take us today!" he shouted, this time certain it was a real physical cry.

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

(OOC Since no one is posting guess I'll go again)

 

Bliss could feel her strength weakening...even with the thoughts of Everlast adding into the fray... Her magic simply wasn't meant for this kind of abuse... She was the alicorn of peace for crying out loud! Still, she continued to focus...hoping and praying the Keeper would finally just leave them be...that their source of friendship was too strong for them.

[Jack Baker 698]

((OOC: I have been very busy, I'm really sorry for not posting sooner!))

 

The Keeper looked around him. All this effort, put in for one pegasus? The mere thought of it made him sick. He stopped slashing the shield, and quickly teleported himself into the darkness of the cave within, the green light from his lantern being the only thing illuminating him.

 

"I grow weary of this encounter..." he said to them, channeling his magic. "A pity. You would have made beautiful souls to add to my collection... but no matter. I always claim what is mine..." The channeling was complete, and he teleported away.

 

"Till we meet again..." his voiced echoed throughout.

[Hurricane 159]

((I understand. We all get busy sometimes.))

After the Keeper left, Hurricane immediately collapsed to the ground due to all of her drained energy. The screams in her mind had stopped. She felt weak both physically and mentally, but she was glad to know that they had driven away the Keeper. After a few moments of recovery, she sat up and examined her wounds. She looked at her long gash along her side from the Keepers scythe. There was a lot of blood and probably needed medical attention, but Hurricane was too dazed to care. It only hurt a little at the moment, it would feel a lot worse when the adrenaline ran out of her system. "Is everypony alright?" she asked looking around. 

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @,

 

Relief overwhelmed Lightning Bliss...As Hurricane fell to the ground, she slowly slid all four hooves outward to land next to her on her belly, exhausted and a splitting headach.

 

"I'm...I'm alright...Artemis? ....ARTEMIS?" She whinnied in panick not sure if the infant stayed where she left him. But ther her gratitude, Artemis came bouncing out of his hiding spot and galloped to her side, hugging her neck and nuzzling her cheek. "Thank Luna...." she sighed and held Artemis in her hoof, then turned to Hurricane. She could see the blood seeping into the snow. The cut going down the side of her belly look mean and angry....It more then likely required stitches. Unlike her prick wound on her chest, the blood had already stopped... If she didn't know any better, the Keeper made her wound seem more ugly then it was to add to her fear.

 

"You're hurt Hurricane..." she reached over the the black mare, "what can I do to help?"

[purple.teal 50]

Everlast felt the oppressive air of the keeper dissipate, and slumped. He was free from the nightmare again, so he quickly swiped all his belongings back into their bag and hoped everypony would be to busy tending their own wounds to notice him. He staggered to his hooves, leaning against the cave wall for support. Silently, he counted heads to make sure the keeper didn't take ponies with him. 

 

"I'm alive." He replied to the voice asking if everypony was alright.

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane back down at wound Lightning Bliss had pointed out. "Oh, that's a lot of blood." She said without any alarm. "I'll be fine she replied back to her. Her mind was too weak to contemplate the severity of the situation. She looked back up at Lightning. "I'm sure it'll heal."

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

Clover felt two things when the Keeper departed; relief and fear. Relief that he'd finally gone, but also fear that he would come back. She went to join the others. "I'm not feeling very good about this," she said. "We might have driven him off, but we did not destroy him. We need to find out how we can do that, cuz otherwise he'll just return and keep on wearing us down til he gets what he wants."

[Lightning Bliss 1,674]

@, @@Pripyat Pony, @@purple.teal,

 

Bliss looked from Clover as she spoke, to Everlast and wondered if the brave stallion had the poltential to even heal Hurricane...but her wound was so deep...If he tried he'd be the one crippled...and unlike Hurricane, he'd be harder to carry. She turned back to Hurricane and Clover.

 

"Then we need to get out of here..." she slowly rose to her hooves wobbly with Artemis clinging to her side. "But Hurricane... her wound...I..." suddenly she remembered and weakly walked over to where her bags were dropped and pulled out a blanket...Dragging it in her mouth she threw it over Hurricane's senstive body and proceeded to tie it around her sides where the wound was at its worst. "This might hurt a little..." she said as she began to tighten the blanket firmly to stop the bleeding. "This is to stop the leaking but...Clover...Hurricane, she needs medical attention... How do you suggest we get out of here? I can't even fly!"

[Pripyat Pony 2,608]

"I could maybe heal her up a little, enough for her to be able to travel," Clover said, slowly. "But healing magic isn't my specialty; we'd ideally need to find a unicorn who specialises in healing magic for her to get better faster. I know of a pegacorn with that kind of magic, but she lives in the griffon country and I don't think that we could get there very easily, given that Hurricane is injured and you can't fly... unless perhaps..."

 

Clover turned to Stormwing. "Maybe you could be of assistance?" she asked the hippogryph mare. "Maybe you could help to carry Hurricane while she's injured?

[Hurricane 159]

Hurricane watched as Lightning Bliss bandaged her up and winced a little as it was tightened. She looked around as the other ponies were talking and trying to figure out what to do. She started to feel a slight headache coming on as the adrenaline slowly left her body. Her wound started to hurt more too. After listening to Clover's idea of her being transported by hippogryph, she looked over at Stormwing. "I can fly." she weakly protested. She got in the stance ready to take off, but as she jumped off the ground to fly, she immediately felt the pain in her side and fell back down to the ground. "Ouch." she said as she got back up. Hurricane looked back at the mares. "Maybe not."

[purple.teal 50]

Able to think clearly now, everlast straightened and left the wall. he saw Hurricane attempt to fly.

 

"Guess you are stuck on the ground like the rest of us. and bandaging a cut of that size won't do a thing. It needs to be closed." He sat down again and rubbed his temples with his hooves. "All the same, I don't think walking or flying is going to be useful at this point. Every time we attempt to travel we make a new enemy and come out worse for it. We need to settle down, rest, and heal. Fortify if we can, it will come back."