private Ponyville Fell RP

[Guitarguru007 49]

"I am a doctor. Name's Spirit. Spirit Whitemane. Thanks for the help back there." The white unicorn responded to Blue with a smirk.

 

Blue's eyes widened a bit as he watched the tip of the unicorns horn glow green. The gash on his neck began to close itself, until nothing but a red scar could be seen. It was a rushed job, but Blue could imagine that Spirit was weak after what had happened.

 

"Well its nice to meet you Spirit, the names Blue. I would love to be more formal, but we've got bigger problems on our hooves." Blue responded, motioning to the body he was carrying.

 

Spirit looked at the pegasus and a dark expression crossed his face. After a moment he said, "This is as good a place as any, now that those bastards are gone." And began to help lower the pony off of Blue's back very gently. The two managed to get her on her back, while Spirit held her head in one hoof.

 

Suddenly the dark grey earth pony trotted over to where the two of them were talking.

 

"Now might be a good time to go. It might not be agood idea to stick around here much longer, seeing as how we technically made ourselves criminals here." He told them. Blue shook his head, then motioned to the pegasus.

 

"I'm not going to move a single hoof until I know if she's ok. She saved both Spirit's AND my own life with her actions." Blue said.

 

Spirit agreed with him and began to look at the beaten up pegasus. After giving her a once over, he began to rub his hoof over one of her shoulders, saying, "It's been dislocated. I'll have to snap it back into place. It's gonna hurt like hay if she's awake, but I don't want her unconscious any longer. If she did suffer a concussion, and I'm not saying she did, but if she did, that's the last place we want her to be."

 

He lifted up one of her eyelids and began to talk to her, trying to wake her up. After a few moments, she began to stir. Blue sighed in relief and smiled. Thank Celestia she was alright. Well, for the most part, anyway.

 

Blue took another look at Spirit. "Is she going to be ok, Doc? I mean she's moving at least?" He asked, hopeful for some good news.

 

Meanwhile, Blue never noticed the event taking place a few yards away between the dark unicorn and the last remaining guard. He DID however, notice the sudden clearing up of the fog. Ponyville was mist free, but remained as empty as it always was. Blue took a moment to eye the ghost town.

 

"Celestia, did I really expect to find friends coming to a place like this?" He thought, a sad expression on his face. "And to think I used to hear such good things about Ponyville..."

 

He directed his full attention back to Spirit and the mumbiling Pegasus.

Edited March 30, 2012 by GuitarGuru007

[MasterCombine 316]

The mare's eyelids fluttered, and she mumbled incoherently. She was disoriented and in pain, but she was starting to regain consciousness. That's a start, Spirit thought, somewhat relieved. The pegasus lashed out weakly with her one good fore hoof, her dislocated leg hanging limp on the ground.

 

"Woah, woah, easy now," Spirit said, attempting to make his voice as soothing as possible. He placed his free hoof firmly against her flailing leg and brought it slowly back to her side. She mumbled more, but stopped struggling. Spirit watched her ribcage rise and fall. She was breathing slightly faster than normal, her body attempting to recover from the physical trauma.

 

"Is she going to be ok, Doc? I mean she's moving at least?" Spoke the unicorn at Spirit's side, who had identified himself as Blue. Spirit turned his head to face him, a reassuring smile on his face.

 

"She'll be fine, Blue. As soon as I get this joint realigned, at least. There's no need to worry." He looked back to the pegasus and took another few moments to examine her shoulder. The anatomy charts that the Academy had burnt into his mind practically appeared in front of him. He felt the injury site with his hoof again. The force of the impact seperated the humerus from the scapula, he noted. Approaching the situation so objectively helped him to remain focused and organize his thoughts. Up and in, Spirit. Up and in. "Do you know her?" Spirit directed this to Blue without looking at him. The unicorn was obviously very concerned about her safety.

 

Spirit laid the mare's head gently on the ground, and braced both of his hooves against the dislocated leg. "Alright, ma'am, here's what's going to happen. I just want you to focus on my voice, okay?" He applied a light pressure to the limb, pushing it slightly upwards toward the mare's shoulder. The mare squirmed and gritted her teeth, her brow trembling in response to the pain that she no doubt felt. Even if she wasn't entirely there yet this had to be uncomfortable. "Your leg's been dislocated. That's why you can't move it. But I'm going to fix it for you. I'm here to help, remember?" He pushed on the limb just slightly harder, eliciting more uncomfortable squirming from his patient. "I'm not going to lie to you, though. It's going to hurt. A lot. But it'll be brief, and it'll fade before you know it. I just want you to listen...to...my voice."

 

Spirit breathed deeply. "I'm going to count to three, okay? Here goes." One swift, forceful movement would be enough. But he had to do it right. "One...Two..." Spirit forced the leg up and in, just as he had noted. There was an audible pop as the joint slipped back into place. He had jumped the gun intentionally. When it came to realigning dislocated limbs, Spirit knew that it was the anticipation that got to most patients. Fixing the issue before they expected it to be fixed usually meant that the whole thing would be over before their brains had time to register the pain. He wasn't entirely certain that the pegasus was aware enough to be feeling any anxiety over the matter, but the technique had worked for him before. "Three." He smiled.

 

Around them, the fog had cleared. The gloominess of Ponyville itself stood in stark contrast to the beauty of the sky above them. The square was silent. Spirit could imagine the residents of the town huddling fearfully in their homes, silently praying that they would be troubled no further by the morning's events. How long has it been this way? He thought. How long has this been happening?

Edited April 1, 2012 by MasterCombine

[Page.Turner 940]

The world had just begun to take shape around her, feeling tangible and there. She could feel her heart beat and every breath of air that passed her lips from her slightly slack jaw. The young Pegasus was coming back to Ponyville but the image from her dream was fresh in her mind and still she thought she was surrounded by guards. The other ponies talking around her were nothing but distant, muffled sounds that she strained and almost longed to hear. She needed something to grab onto to ensure that she wasn’t falling; it still felt as though she was. Though there was no rush of air, any whooshing or spinning, and when she weakly flexed her wings they caught on no gust, there was ever present the sensation.

 

"Woah, woah, easy now," Spirit’s voice was closer. It was the pony’s voice from her dream. She felt a hoof firmly lower her arm and with a heavy sigh she relaxed her limbs.

 

“What… huuuuh? ... hmmmm…” Hazey had a bit of ringing in her ears now but she opened her eyes of her own will. Well, it was more of a squint but she was finding her footing, so to speak. At the moment, she was feeling happy to find reality and the guards from her dream of the epic free-fall were starting to become more recognized as nothing but a dream.

 

Her brief moment of consciousness and clarity, though, fell short when pain shot through her shoulder and leg. She squirmed and clenched her teeth, but the pain was something she could hold onto like a lifeline. A reminder of where she was meant to be.

 

“… I’m here to help, Remember?” Yes. Yes, I remember. "I'm not going to lie to you, though. It's going to hurt. A lot. But it'll be brief, and it'll fade before you know it. I just want you to listen...to...my voice." I will hold like an anchor.

 

“One…” One…

 

“Two…” Tw-

 

With a sudden jolt she gasped and her body tensed. “SWEET CELESTIA!” Hazey shouted and began to pant but her excitement didn’t last all too long as the pain quickly dulled and subsided into nothing but a slight ache. She hardly realized she was even sitting up. “Woah…” for a brief moment she felt dizzy, like sitting up too fast after laying down. Rubbing her neck, she looked to Spirit and then to Blue with a bit of confusion. “What happened?”

[Guest]

Shadow was glad to get a name from the guard, although it seemed painful for Chestnut to remember it was the only concrete thing besides the knife they had to go on. He sat silently as the guard reminisced, and he was shocked to find that Chestnut was dissapearing like the other guards after giving thanks. He felt so strange, having held a pony in his dying hour, or was he already dead before any of this happened... he wasn't so sure what to believe anymore.

 

Regardless, and as strange as it may have been, it seemed that what he had done to help Chestnut let him pass on in peace. He now knew what he had to do, he had to go to Celestia and get to the bottom of what had happened here.

 

He had been ignoring the goings on behind him with the pegasus, doctor, and unicorn, so the sudden "SWEET CELESTIA!" made him jump. He turned around, and saw that the doctor appeared to have fixed her disjointed leg. He walked over to the others, waiting to see what they had to say first before reporting his own discoveries.

[Coal 26]

Coal waited, shifting around nervously in case more guards decided to arive but saw none in the area. He saw, and hear, the pegasus sitting up and said, "The guards attacked us and I think knocked you out for a bit there, but seeing as you're awake again I think we should get going. It's only a matter of time before more of those strange guads show up, if you need I can give you a shoulder to lean on as we walk." As he talks he moves over to where the pegasus and the doctor are.

[Guitarguru007 49]

Blue couldn't help but cringe as he heard the loud pop of the mare's shoulder sliding back into place.

 

"SWEET CELESTIA!" Her eyes shot open and she bolted up into an upright position, rubbing her shoulder. She looked around in amazment at both Blue and Spirit, confusion written all over her face. Blue smiled, she was fine, if not a bit dazed.

 

Before he had time to reply, the dark earth pony walked back over to the group and was speaking.

 

"The guards attacked us and I think knocked you out for a bit there, but seeing as you're awake again I think we should get going. It's only a matter of time before more of those strange guads show up, if you need I can give you a shoulder to lean on as we walk." He said to her. Blue nodded his head and looked from the earth pony, to Spirit, back to the mare.

 

"He pretty much just summed it up, although you me and Spirit here were all together when it happened. You dive bombed the captain after my flute missed his knife. It it weren't thanks to you, Spirit here might not of been around to fix your shoulder." Blue spoke to her.

 

He looked around. All the ponies who were involved in the previous incident had begun to surround him, Spirit and the mare. Blue remained silent for a moment. Everything was happening so fast. Blue looked back at Spirit.

 

Blue was sure that everypony was interested to know what was going on, but he also knew that now was still not the time for formalities. It wasn't safe where they were.

 

"I think we should probably move before any other crazy stuff happens. Let's warn the others, before we begin to get all formal." He said to him.

 

He looked back at the mare and quickly said, "The name's Blue but we'll have time to talk about this later. Can you walk, or do you need some help?" He asked her.

Edited April 3, 2012 by Guitarguru007

[MasterCombine 316]

"Sweet Celestia!" The pegasus mare cried as her arm snapped back into place. Spirit watched as she jolted upright, her eyes wide with shock. The look of intense pain on her face quickly faded, though, replaced instead by a look of confusion. The mare sat back heavily, rubbing the realigned joint and turning to stare at him and Blue. "What happened?" She asked.

 

Spirit ignored the question and just smiled. "See? I told you you'd be fine," he said. The earth pony and the grey unicorn had walked over to join him, Blue, and the mare, and were observing the matter with concern. "My name's Spirit," he continued, "Nice to meet you." He clapped a hoof lightly on her back, being careful to avoid the mare's shoulder joint, and rose to his hooves. "I'd tell you to get up, but I'm not going to rush you after what just happened. Whenever you do get up and about, though, try not to put too much strain on that shoulder, alright?" Spirit took another glance at the bruise on her forehead. "And I need you to tell me if you start feeling strange as well. If you experience any nausea or dizziness I need you to speak up, okay?" The possibility of a concussion still had him slightly worried.

 

Now that he had finished his doctor routine, Spirit turned to the others. The earth pony walked forward and spoke. "The guards attacked us, and I think they knocked you out for a bit there, but seeing as you're awake again I think we should get going. It's only a matter of time before more of those strange guards show up. If you need I can give you a shoulder to lean on as we walk."

 

Blue spoke next. "He pretty much just summed it up, although you, me, and Spirit here were all together when it happened. You dive bombed the captain after my flute missed his knife. It it weren't thanks to you, Spirit here might not have been around to fix your shoulder."

 

Spirit laughed. "Not to mention the fact that I'd probably be short a head." His smile faded. "But in all honesty, if you hadn't done what you did, I'd be dead right now. Thank you." He looked the mare in the eyes and nodded in gratitude. The town square was still empty, and the guard captain's knife was lying several feet from the group. Spirit furrowed his brow in curiosity and trotted over to it. Using his magic, he pulled the knife towards him and into the air.

 

Blue spoke again. "I think we should probably move before any other crazy stuff happens. Let's warn the others, before we begin to get all formal." Spirit turned and walked slowly back to the group, holding the knife in front of his face. He twirled it in the air and scanned the blade with his eyes, scrutinizing it, as if trying to glean some dark secret from the many nicks and scratches in the steel. It's former master had obviously put it to good use. Spirit shuddered slightly at the thought, bringing one of his fore hooves to the tender scar across his throat. The knife was his only solid reminder of what had happened that morning, a memento of a near-death experience. He noticed that specks of his own blood were still drying on the edge of the blade, and he shuddered again.

 

When Spirit reached the others, he waggled the weapon lightly in the air and then placed it carefully in his bag. "I think we should eventually talk about what the hay we just experienced, but for now you two are right." He gestured at Blue and the grey earth pony. "Sitting out here in the open is just inviting trouble. There's no guarantee that they'll send more of those guys to look for us, but I'd rather not be here if they do. Anybody have any ideas? I left my stuff back at the inn, but I doubt that's the best place to go right now." Suddenly Spirit squinted. Something was missing.

 

He did a full sweep of the square with his eyes. Somepony was missing. "The guard!" he almost shouted. The one guard that had still been conscious when Spirit had last checked was now nowhere to be seen. "Where is he? What happened to him?" Spirit said, almost frantically. If the guard had managed to sneak off while they were distracted, things could get worse, and quickly. He turned to the earth pony and grey unicorn, expecting answers.

Edited April 4, 2012 by MasterCombine

[Page.Turner 940]

Exhaling one last sigh, Hazey carefully felt the cobblestone beneath her (almost like she still needed to be extra sure it was there) before she picked herself up. Putting weight on her arm didn’t hurt as much as she had expected it to. Hell, she honestly was expecting it to immediately pop back out of place and she’d taste the dirty, cold stones instead. But when that didn’t happen, she smiled a Mona Lisa smile and stared down for just a moment, listening carefully to what the other ponies had to say. Her wings were against her sides with only a couple of feathers on each out of joint and sticking out at funny angles. They had not detached themselves, though they may have seemed that way. A little grooming and she’d be looking right as rain.

 

Her light green eyes looked up before her head was raised. The smile was gone, only to be replaced with a look of sheer terror. If she could, she would have gone white as a sheet. “The guards.” She mumbled, tilting her head this way and that, trying to get a good look around her. Unfortunately, she had missed the part when the guards disappeared. For all she knew they had retreated for back-up. Part of her was quite proud.

 

"He pretty much just summed it up, although you me and Spirit here were all together when it happened. You dive bombed the captain after my flute missed his knife. If it weren't thanks to you, Spirit here might not of been around to fix your shoulder." Blue spoke to her.

 

Spirit laughed. "Not to mention the fact that I'd probably be short a head." His smile faded. "But in all honesty, if you hadn't done what you did, I'd be dead right now. Thank you." He looked Hazey in the eyes and nodded in gratitude, it made her a little uncomfortable in the sense that she felt as though she were under a spotlight but there was nothing to be humble about. She offered him a quick smile and a nod as well.

 

“Yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?” the young mare turned to face Blue. She was still pretty horrified but also, she was quite curious about too many things all at once. The pride she felt could only be seen in her eyes as she glanced between the two ponies whose lives she had saved. I saved lives today. Her mind was a bit redundant at times. For now, she watched as Spirit went over to examine the knife.

 

"Sitting out here in the open is just inviting trouble. There's no guarantee that they'll send more of those guys to look for us, but I'd rather not be here if they do. Anybody have any ideas? I left my stuff back at the inn, but I doubt that's the best place to go right now." Spirit spoke again after carefully examining the knife and placing it in his bag. Hazey thought it was possibly just a keepsake, the same way someone might want to keep a piece of a house that almost trapped them in a blazing inferno of death. She would, anyway.

 

“Look…” Hazey could see in the way the other ponies acted that all they wanted to do was flee the scene. Maybe fly the coup. Easy for them, but unfortunately she had something that kept her here, and that was an obligation as well as the simple fact that she had a hard time letting things go. She felt emotionally attached to not only Ponyville but her home. If she left, she would be breaking its heart. The very idea made tears well up in her eyes, despite how mental an idea it was. Houses didn’t have feelings, she knew that, but just the same… “It’s very nice to meet you, Blue. All of you, really. And thank you but I think I should be alright to walk. Like Spirit said, if I keep the strain off it I should be right as rain to make a trek home.” She smiled to Blue and nodded just the same to the Earth pony who kindly offered to help her. “I really should be thanking you, anyway, Spirit. For all I know, you saved my life. I guess that makes us even.” She tried to laugh, but it sounded as fake as Monopoly money looked. Her nerves were still a bit shot.

 

Taking a few steps away from the group, Hazey turned toward a dirt road that led a bit more into the residential side of Ponyville; the road she had taken to get here. “I live in a two storey just down that road. If any guards are going to come after anyone then it might as well be me, I do live here after-“

 

“The guard!” Spirit suddenly shouted which gave the blue Pegasus a start. "Where is he? What happened to him?" blinking, Hazey stared at the doctor as though she wasn’t sure what he was talking about… because she wasn’t. She did, however, try to take the advantage of his ravings to slip off down the road.

 

It’ll be better this way. The young mare sighed softly to herself, treading lightly as to not let her hooves clack on the stone too loudly. Part of her wanted them to stop her, to have at least one of them notice and say something like, “Hay! Where are you going? Aren’t you coming with us?” She hadn’t a friend in the world in Ponyville and now that she had a most unconventional chance she kind of wanted it. Besides, there was still the mystery of the mayor, where the guards had gotten to, etc.

 

Just then, as she was walking away, she stopped. Hazey had an epiphany! Spinning around, she looked back to the group of ponies and shouted, “I have an idea!”

[Tyoeman 27]

As you are all talking amongst yourselves a pony walks up on you. She is a mare Earth Pony, that has a light green coat and lime green eyes. Her mane is colored butterscotch with peach highlights. She is carrying saddlebags full of different kinds of flowers. For those of you who have lived in Ponyville a while you know her as Junebug (yes that one ) those of you who are relatively new or have just arrived don't know who she is or have only seen her in passing. She walks up to Coal, but addresses the group as a whole.

 

"Uh, hey everybody would you like to buy a flower? They are only three bits each." She looks warmly at Coal, but you can see a slight tinge of tiredness in her eyes. As if she has been working hard for almost nothing for a long time.

Edited April 5, 2012 by Tyoeman

[MasterCombine 316]

Spirit went quiet at the sight of the approaching mare. He had stopped mid-sentence, his mouth partially agape in confusion. How somepony could possibly be trotting around so calmly at a time like this, selling flowers nonetheless, was baffling. Considering that he had almost been killed several minutes prior, the mare's serene voice made everything seem just a bit more ridiculous.

 

"I have an idea!" came a shout from afar. Spirit recognized the voice of the light blue pegasus mare and turned to find her standing halfway across the square.

 

"Well then what are you doing all the way over there?" Spirit asked incredulously. "Get over here and let's hear it!" He waved her back with one of his hooves, a look of slight irritation on his face. Any bit of sense that this day had been making thus far was rapidly deteriorating. Question upon question buzzed around incessantly in his mind. He looked back at the flower merchant, and scanned her saddlebags with his eyes. They were filled to the brim with a variety of what Spirit assumed to be local flora. One in particular caught his eye: a bright golden rose that outshone the others, its soft, vibrant petals clashing with the gloomy backdrop that Ponyville provided. He fished out three bits from the bottom of his bag and tossed them towards the flower mare. "I'll take that one."

 

He levitated the rose from one of the mare's bags and brought it level to his eye. Spirit knew the symbolism of a golden rose: friendship. He remembered hearing it from his mother at some point in the distant past. The thought almost made him laugh, and he looked back at the others. The notion of finding friendship in a place like this, and at a time like this, seemed like one of the last things that should be on anypony's mind. And yet... right now, these four strangers were the closest he had to friends in Ponyville, despite the relatively short time Spirit had been there. They had all stood their ground in the face of danger, and Blue and the pegasus hadn't hesitated to jump to his rescue when he most needed it. And wasn't that what forged friendships? Being there for one another? At the very least, Spirit couldn't shake the feeling that they were all going to be in each other's company for some time to come.

 

Snapping out of his sudden reflective state, Spirit carefully placed the rose in the blood-stained pocket of his white jacket. His irritated curiosity was returning. He spoke to the flower mare this time. "Are you not aware of what just happened here? Were you not here this morning?"

 

He looked between the pegasus and the flower mare, waiting for the former to divulge her sudden idea and for the latter to answer him. "What is going on in this town?" He asked again, looking exasperated. His patience was running thin. "Will someone please just tell me? I almost died today! That's a first! And I'm pretty sure I just watched my would-be-murderer disintegrate into thin air mere moments after that!" His voice never rose to a shout, but he spoke in a firm and commanding tone. He was vaguely aware that he was now ranting, and was simply hoping that his impatient outburst wouldn't be too off-putting to the others. When no one answered still, he waved his front hooves in the air.

 

"Words. Now. Coming out of your mouths. Somepony speak!"

Edited April 6, 2012 by MasterCombine

[Coal 26]

Coal look smildy surprised when he sees Junebug show up and start talking to them, did she not know what just happened? Feeling that his questions will be awnsered in due time, and having seen the other pony already having said he'd take one he felt obligated. "I would like one as well" He says as he pulls out a few bits and takes a flower, he wasn't very much one for flowers, it was hard to talk with them in his mouth, but he knew Junebug was a nice enough pony and bought it more so because she was selling them.

 

He looks over at the exasperated unicorn and says, "Turthfully I'd like to know the same thing, but I suspect we will find out eventually even if we don't like the awnser." He then waits for the pegasus to make her way over to explain what this idea of hers was.

[Tyoeman 27]

Spirit and Coal hand Junebug the three bits each and listening to what Spirit has to say about this morning Junebug says:

 

"Uh, thank you both, it's been a while since I made a sale." Junebug kind of makes a weird smile at this. "Uh, but I don't know what you are talking about. I got up early this morning like everypony else and went straight to work just like every day." You can see in her eyes that she is telling the truth but something seems odd about how she answers, you can't quite place your hoof on it.

Edited April 7, 2012 by Tyoeman

[Guest]

Shadow had been waiting for a chance to speak about what was going on, but found that more events kept unfolding. He had decided to just start talking when Junebug spoke and he clammed up. How could a pony be so calm after what happened he wondered?

 

He didn't even notice Junebug arriving until he heard her voice, he knew her only a little from his time in Ponyville. He had never bought flowers before, but he had seen her selling her goods from time to time. He had never noticed how tired she looked before, how worn out she was. He thought that was a good way to describe Ponyville now, worn out. He felt bad for not buying any flowers before, so he throws in some bits of his own to buy the same kind that Spirit had.

 

Spirit's sudden outburst and Coal's follow up prompted him to finally speak, he knew the pegasus might want to get words out as well but he felt obligated to say his part before it was too late. Junebugs response caught him offguard, what was going on here? Regardless, he began to speak "So nopony else noticed the last guard dissapear but me, you only noticed he was gone afterwords? When you were all dealing with the dislocated shoulder he had spoken to me. He used to live here, his name was Chestnut Oaktree. He said he joined the guards, but somehow he betrayed his friends, he didn't tell me how. I was supporting his head so he could see the town in his hurt state. It seemed like it was his final wish, I listened to him and all of my previous resentment felt like it melted away. He seemed just like you, or me, or anypony else. He wasn't a monster, but I think something made him one. His very last wish was for me to tell Princess Celestia that he never meant to leave, then he.... well he began dissapearing into thin air." He left out the part about him breaking into tears at the guards words, he figured it would be for the best.

 

He looks around at the others, waiting to hear what they have to say.

[Page.Turner 940]

The sudden appearance of Junebug was a pleasant surprise for Hazey. She didn’t know the mare all too well, not even to say she knew her at all but she remembered having a couple of conversations with her during her time in Ponyville and could at least be eased by her sweet demeanor. Hazey spread her wings and began to beat them with a careful rhythm. The Pegasus didn’t lift herself off the ground -as per the law that she couldn’t fly without her licence and even that needed to be renewed- but just enough that trotting over put the least amount of pressure on her legs; specifically the one that moments before had been dislocated and hanging limply like a dead fish.

 

On her way over she had stumbled only slightly, losing her balance for no particular reason, but she made it over safe and sound. Before she could even begin her plan, she turned to face Junebug and say hello to her softly but Spirit’s words disturbed her greatly. “D-disintegrate?” her tone of voice suggested fear and that quite possibly she didn’t know what that word meant. A deep sense of dread overcame her and sent her plan flying right out the window. She had heard something like that before, a rumor, but she always took such stories with a grain of salt and it had been a very long time ago that she had even caught such a whisper.

 

Spirit’s hostility was also a bit disturbing; a completely normal reaction to what happened but she wasn’t one who felt comfortable in conflict. Besides, she wasn’t angry. “Well, I…” her legs were trembling like a filly with the lead role in the school play. Hazey decided to step down when the other ponies began to communicate and she listened to Shadow’s story while trying to casually walk over and stand beside Blue. He seemed like a pony she could find herself trusting.

 

“Junebug… are you saying you weren’t rallied here this morning for the mayor’s speech?”

[Tyoeman 27]

Junebug looked at Hazey. She opened her mouth to speak but something seemed to hold her back and her eyes started to twitch and flutter in weird ways. After a few seconds her face went blank and in a monotone voice said:

"I got up early this morning to get a head start at work, just like everypony else." Her face stayed emotionless and she stared ahead for a second before she looked back at Hazey and smiled. Then she looked at the group with a smile on her face and said:

 

"Uh, hey everybody would you like to buy a flower? They are only three bits each." she pauses for a second, then looks to see that three of you had bought flowers form her already, a look of confusion on her face.

 

"Uh, oh I guess I already sold you flowers. Uh don't hesitate to send anypony my way if they need flowers. Uh, goodbye." Junebug smiled at everyone and then turned and walked away down the street, searching for any more potential customers.

Edited April 11, 2012 by Tyoeman

[MasterCombine 316]

Spirit frowned at Junebug's words. "What do you mean you just went to work? You didn't hear the crier? Every damned pony in this town was called here, to the square." He was trying to process everything at once: all that had taken place that morning, Shadow's revelations about the guard, Junebug's unsettling calmness. The flower mare's unresponsiveness bothered him further.

 

He turned back to Hazy, who had slunk away closer to Blue. She seemed perturbed by his sudden outburst. Spirit sighed. "Yeah, disintegrated. Like, turned to dust, died and vanished into the wind." He mimicked the action with his forehooves as he spoke. "Listen, all of you, I don't mean to lose my patience like this. I just can't make sense of it all." He glanced back at the green mare who had sold him the golden rose and addressed her again. "Junebug, was it? I need you to tell me everything. What do you mean when you say-" he fell silent when he saw her face. The mare's eyes were twitching erratically. Her mouth was quivering, opening and closing as if she was trying to say something, but no words escaped her lips.

 

Finally her face went blank, devoid of all expression. She stared straight ahead, looking at Spirit without really seeing him, and spoke in a flat monotone. "I got up early this morning to get a head start at work, just like everypony else." After a moment of silence the same, calm smile that she initially bore returned to her face, and she gazed at the group almost happily. "Uh, hey everybody would you like to buy a flower? They are only three bits each." Nopony responded. Spirit couldn't find anything to say. His mouth hung partially agape, his mind still trying to make sense of what was happening. "Uh, oh I guess I already sold you flowers. Uh don't hesitate to send anypony my way if they need flowers. Uh, goodbye."Junebug suddenly blurted out, and before Spirit could call after her she was gone, trotting away down the street.

 

Spirit turned slowly to face the others, mouth still open slightly in confusion. "Alright, I'm not the only one who found that strange, am I? I hate to sound like a broken record, but what in the hay is going on here?" He shook his head, attempting to sort out his further-muddled thoughts, and then looked at Hazy. "Whatever we're going to do, we can talk about it later. Go to see the princess, get out of town, even stick around here, Celestia forbid, I don't care. Right now, we need to find someplace safe. What did you have in mind?"

[Guest]

Shadow watched as Hazey returned to the group after walking off, then listens intently to what Junebug has to say to Hazey's question. He watched her expressions for any sign that she might be lying, or being forced to say what she is saying. He got more than he bargained for. Her eyes started twitching as she spoke, and her mouth hung open mouthing unheard words before she spoke. He had never seen anypony do that before, it almost reminded him of a horror story he had read once.

 

Then she suddenly snapped into a monotonous expression and voice "I got up early this morning to get a head start at work, just like everypony else."

 

He thought it seemed like she was fighting against something, and that her will was losing. What could possibly be happening to her, were there other ponies around acting like this? He watched her leave and just shook his head, he wondered if this wasn't just some bad dream brought on by severe lack of sleep. He listened to Spirit then asked the others once he thought Junebug was out of earshot "You don't think everypony around here is like that do you, this is getting more and more like a horror story by the second?"

 

He notices that his hat, which had been lost earlier in the fighting is sitting on the ground next to him, he picks it up and dons it. He then waits to hear what Hazey has to say.

[Coal 26]

He had been watching quietly as tunebug had spoken and it disturbed him greatly. There was something out of the ordinary going on here, that much was certain.

 

He turned his head when he heard shadow speak and replied, "Yes, it is. I think this is well past out of our hands, it might be a good idea to go and see if someone with more power than us might be able to do something about this situation. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm just a simple earth pony and I have no idea what to do in a situation like this."

 

He says and waits for the others to respond, Coal wasn't one for running away but he knew when a situation was well beyond his control.

[Page.Turner 940]

Well… if that wasn’t a disturbing sight then Hazey didn’t know what was. She had been unable to witness the ghastly events of the guards disappearing as dust in the wind –and perhaps it was for the best- but she was finding it hard to stomach Junebug’s unnatural twitching. It was almost as though someone bumped into her brain and it skipped on the record, only the only disturbing part of that tangible thought was a record would scratch and grind whereas Junebug… wasn’t even pony anymore in that instance. The young Pegasus could have sworn the light of the sun didn’t even reflect on her eyes.

 

"Uh, oh I guess I already sold you flowers. Uh don't hesitate to send anypony my way if they need flowers. Uh, goodbye."

 

“Junebug?...” she half whispered in concerned but was unable to say anything else as the pony walked away. Hazey swallowed. “No, Spirit, that wasn’t Junebug.” The mare shook her head, “That wasn’t Junebug at all. I know her, she isn’t… she isn’t like that. Look, I’ve lived in Ponyville practically all my life and no pony has ever been like that. Ever.” She looked specifically to Shadow, answering his question in a tone that seemed defensive.

 

After a brief moment of calming down she shook her head with a sigh. “I have a house here, we can bunk there for a while until we sort this out. The longer we stay in the open the shorter it’s going to take some pony to attack us, Celestia forbid. I’m sorry, but staying out here isn’t going to be safe for much longer. If we can get to my house we can close all the curtains and… and think, I don’t know. My head kind of hurts…” it was nothing but a simple headache but it was enough to be irritating.

[Guest]

He responds to Hazey "Hey, I've lived here for a while myself. Perhaps not as long as you or many others, but I've been here long enough to know that is not what they are normally like. I am the teacher after all, haha, teacher of three students..." it always struck him as pitifully funny. "What I meant in saying that is if they all have recently become like this, it almost was as if she were in a trance."

 

He listens to her suggest going to her house "I don't know if that is such a good idea, it may offer us protection momentarily, but it could also leave us trapped if they surround us..." he thinks "We need to be on the move, we can't hunker down too long or whatever is causing all of this could easily discover us. Also, we need to stick together, alone we could be picked off..." His mind goes back to all of those horror stories he has read, and he remembers how the characters who split up usually died first...

 

"I still have a mission to deliever that guards message to Celestia, my students can wait, but I think she is the only one capable of solving our problems. Something horribly unnatural is going on here, it is as though harmony were being disrupted..." he shakes his head to clear his thoughts "So whether you want to follow me is up to you, but I plan on going to Celestia as soon as I can!"

[Coal 26]

Coal nods over at Shadow and says, "I agree with that, I think it'd be best to go to somepony who can do something about all of this."

 

He looks over at Hazey and adds, "After we get things sorted out then we can try and help the ponies here, but right now we have no idea about what is even going on. Let alone trying to do anything about it."

[MasterCombine 316]

Spirit trotted over swiftly to Hazy's side, the clacking of his hoofsteps resounding through the morning silence. "Your head hurts?" He waved a forehoof in front of her eyes. "Look at me. Your vision is still normal, right? You're not feeling nauseous?" Things would get unpleasantly more complicated if the mare collapsed on them.

 

He stayed at her side, waiting for her to respond, and then stared off pensively towards the town hall, only yards away in the center of the square. "Shadow's right. We're going to have to stick together. As if that even really needs saying." He could scarcely take his eyes off the mayor's place of office. The old building loomed over the rest of the town like a dark titan, an oppressive watcher that saw everything, heard everything. Even with the lack of other ponies in the square, Spirit couldn't shake the feeling that the building itself was observing them, waiting for them to make their next move. Visually there was nothing wrong with it. In fact, it was almost completely free of decay, unlike the rest of the town. But the pristine, vibrantly-painted wooden panels and ornate windows felt like a facade, as if there was something more sinister bubbling just underneath the surface, something dark and hungry that wanted out, that wanted them.

 

Spirit suddenly realized that he had fallen completely silent, his gaze fixed solely on the hall. The others were staring at him expectantly. He tried to push the building out of his thoughts, but without much success. "But in order to do that, we're going to have to agree," he continued. "The way I see it, we've got two options, and we need to make a choice fast. We can stay here, try to lay low at Hazy's place for as long as we need to, or we can get the hay out and run to Canterlot." He pointed a hoof at the castle that dominated a distant mountaintop. "I'm more inclined to agree with the latter. The princess needs to know about this." Then again, Spirit thought, just how easy is it going to be to get an audience with her, let alone get out of this damned town?

 

He looked over the others once more, and then turned his gaze to Hazy, fixing her with his emerald green eyes. "Unless you're particularly opposed to leaving, we need to find the fastest way to Canterlot from here. And we need to do it now."

[Page.Turner 940]

Hazey hung her head with a heavy sigh; she wanted more than anything to tell Celestia as well about what was happening in Ponyville but it was going to be very hard without some form of re-grouping or recouping. Rubbing her face with a dirty hoof that left a smudge on her cheek, she raised her head to look at the other ponies with a frown. “Have you-“

 

Spirit trotted over swiftly to Hazy's side, the clacking of his hoofsteps resounding through the morning silence. "Your head hurts?" He waved a forehoof in front of her eyes. "Look at me. Your vision is still normal, right? You're not feeling nauseous?"

 

“No, not nauseous. I just have a headache, I guess, sorry.” The blue Pegasus flinched naturally when Spirit waved his hoof in her face but she let him, understanding his position. “My vision is just fine, thank you.” She smiled to assure him but it was very brief. There were more dangerous concerns to face in that moment than her headache. “Anyway… have any of you thought that maybe Celestia just doesn’t give a buck about Ponyville anymore?” her tone of voice turned very bitter. She had been holding a lot of resentment to the princess for a few years now and even though she would love nothing more than to tell the princess of the horrors that went on here, she still felt that maybe it just wasn’t worth it.

 

Turning to walk back in the direction of her home, she flexed her wings and carefully tread on her damaged leg. “I don’t know if you all are going right now or later, but I’m going home. A trip to Canterlot, even for a Pegasus, is not an easy one and I am not leaving without a few essentials… perhaps I’ll meet up with you later but if not then I’m going alone.” Her mood and attitude went a total one-eighty, flipping over to reveal an agitated and snarky mare.

[Coal 26]

Coal looks at Hazey begins to walk off and turns to the rest of the group and says, "I'll look after her, she is still hurt and all the things going on can't be helping her. The rest of you I suggest you try and make your way to Canterlot, try and find somepony to help.

 

With that he begins going after Hazey and calls out to her saying, "Hey wait up! I'll be staying too." he comes up along side her and says, "Well now, where exactly is your home then?"

[MasterCombine 316]

Spirit grimaced and cursed under his breath. This was exactly what he had been hoping to avoid. Shadow's plan had made perfect sense, but the mare was more stubborn about the matter than he had thought. He shook his head and took a few adamant steps forward, calling out after Hazy and Coal as they walked away.

 

"Yeah, a kid and an injured pegasus. I'm sure you two would send the guards running for the hills if they caught up to you." He turned back to Shadow, hoping the grey unicorn would back him up. Seeing as how Shadow had suggested leaving in the first place, Spirit didn't know how likely that was. "If we split up, we're bucked. Simple as that." He gestured back to Shadow and Blue and then back to the two departing ponies. "What if you two do get surrounded? Just how many of them do you think you could handle?" Spirit sighed. It was the truth. Even if traveling to Canterlot was the most logical option, five ponies would certainly fare better than three. And he wasn't about to let Coal and Hazy run off to their deaths.

 

"Come on, Shadow. If these two are so intent on staying right now, then we're all staying." He didn't wait for the unicorn to argue, instead trotting off once more to join Coal and Hazy. "I'm coming, too, dammit. Where's your house?"

 

As he walked up alongside Hazy, Spirit looked at her, almost irritated. "And how could you say something like that? The Princess wouldn't give up on her subjects. She's protected Equestria for millennia. A ruler like that doesn't just abandon her people!" He took one last glance back at the town hall, ever-present in the center of the square. "Something is terribly wrong here, and like Shadow said, the Princess will help. She has to."