open Casual stroll

[Moonlit 593]

@@Blitz Boom, Fah'lina see's a blur as the Siren propels herself up and Ziggy suddenly finds herself floating near the shore with a large Siren wrapped around her. Careful to avoid pinning Ziggy's wings, Serenade has effectively glomped Ziggy, who has a muzzle full of wet Siren mane and a pair of antennae waving in front of her eyes. As soon as both Serenade and her *ahem* prey stop moving, Serenade's bioluminescent scales light up and bath the area in a soft glow. 

[Seamore Sandwich 471]

@@Melke

@@Blitz Boom

@@Mentis Soliloquy

@@Denim&Venom

 

As Seamore and Briar continued to shape the sapling, which was going slowly, Seamore overheard something that sounded familiar. Just like him to overhear part of a conversation he wasn't trying to pay attention to. "Are you talking about The Traveler? As in not just a traveler but The Traveler? Because I've heard some tales of him. It's said that he taught a lumberjack how to harvest Everwood. That was apparently the first time anypony had ever cut down Everwood."

 

 

@@Blitz Boom

@@SugarfootWillie

@@Quinch

@@Lonk Chase

@@GingerLightning

 

"Aaaaargh!" When Quinch touched the creature, it twitched. The Forgotten One gave one final push against Vivid, and Charlie quickly brodcast to Miles, "It's regaining control!" There was definitely a sound of fear in his voice. A fear which carried through to Miles and thus might be sensed by Quinch. "Get back!" Miles said quickly to Quinch. The beast could strike any moment, and if it got Quinch, they would both be gone. What would happen to him if his disembodied soul were taken by this creature? It was an interesting question, but not one he wanted to find the answer to himself. "Tell the unicorn she needs to look for a dream spirit." Sylar noticed the twitch and adjusted his stance slightly to prepare for an attack, but it wasn't time yet. The target was still not going anywhere.

 

As The Traveler began to approach, the ground shook with each step he took. Quill turned toward the sound, wondering what other monstrosity they might have to face. But then, the pheldagriff emerged through the barrier and stopped about halfway through. The wind was no match for his massive size. The air moved around him and a hole formed in the barrier next to him like he was casting a shadow in it. Sissilia quickly jumped through the barrier and tilted her head, signaling for the others to follow. She knew that wherever the Traveler wanted to go, she wanted to go, and she wanted to bring her new friends with her. Quill almost laughed at the appearance of the gigantic creature before him. To think he was afraid of this thing... The Traveler smiled and looked Quill straight in the eye. Quill was then speechless. Somehow the weird looking goat horned, winged hippo could see him.

Edited April 27, 2016 by Seamore Sandwich

[Denim&Venöm 19,047]

 

 

@Melke @Blitz Boom @Mentis Soliloquy

 

"Priestess's ear twitched at that. "We might be. The Ananansi here think he's the one that sicked that chaos spider on the Everfree. What do you know about the so called 'the traveler'? Cause he also may have unleashed an ultra horrific tarturus spawn on the world too."

[Summer Breeze 2,528]

@@Blitz Boom, @@Frosty Frost,

 

summer listened to laryel, she sounded really sad. but what she said was sad so it was logical that she sounded sad. summer walked closer to laryel and gave her a hug. 'Don't worry, laryel, we'll get out of here an you too. if those azati won't let us pass then I'll blow them away! And if it would be necesarie then I would carry you over that mountain myself!' summer said and she suddenly couldn't wait to meet the azati. she just wanted to see them and if they were not nice then summer would teach them a lesson in being nice. or, not exactly, since what summer wanted to do wasn't verry nice either. But summer shrughed her shoulders, she could figure this out once they met them.

[Rapid Wind 47]

@Blitz Boom

 

Rapid Wind noted Stargazer had said things about crime and that made Rapid feel a bit glum, but he knew nowhere was without crime. He also noted Stargazer had offered to help him and started to think about what he might want help with and then realised he didn't really know his way around Ponyville as it was his first time here.

 

 "Well, I suppose you could show me around," Rapid Wind said as he thought about how much easier it would be to find his way around if he had a pony to show him around.

[Lonk Chase 255]

Lonk screamed out in pain.

A great headache spread through his brain, and Lonk keeled over.

Then it stopped.

Just like that.

Lonk looked ahead.

 

He saw a couple ponies fighting... Something. He couldn't really see that well what was happening; it seemed like the ponies were fighting air.

Sissilia was motioning the rest of the party to come. He felt the wind barrier closing.

 

Lonk was suddenly picked up and flung on the back on something. He looked down and realized it was a timberwolf.

 

Clara felt something weird back at the hut and that something needed to be done outside. She rushed out of the hut and ran toward the party.

She felt like she could trust Lonk with what she was about to do, so she needed him through the barrier which she just now realized was there as fast as possible. So, she flung him onto his back.

She did a dive through the hole in the barrier. As she landed, Lonk was almost knocked off of her. She caught him in her paws and flung him back on.

 

"Thanks..." Lonk mumbled to Clara.

 

Clara grunted in rebuttal.

 

It's party time.

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@@Summer Breeze,

@@Frosty Frost,

 

"You sure about that?"

 

A somewhat deep, growling voice were heard nearby and brought Lyriel to pause s she stood and steadily got a smile back on her face from Summer's hug and hope to things. The sound of the fauna moving before as they had moved through the valley had seemingly concealed someone looking them over from the closer tree crowns nearby, and at Summer's taunting words to the Atazi, had finally begun opening his mouth before quickly moving into another of the large tree crowns.

 

"You think that someone small like you can make something like Me move that easy, huh? Perhaps I should teach you a little le-"

 

Further the voice didn't get before a quick motion of a rope being thrown into the crown he had gone into were seen and their stalker were pulled down and revealed to be an unclothed, scaled reptilian figure with large wings, some scars, almost pure deep-red, and would definitely seem large and intimidating- to a small colt, as he wasn't more than a few inches taller than Blitz really.

 

The one that had thrown the rope around the squirming thing came crushing out of the side of the bush and were more of an intimidating figure than the smaller one had tried to be. She were a pale yellow with dark spots, were about as tall as Lyriel and walked tall on her two legs adorned in some clothing with filled pockets, a sharp spear on her back and down her side in a hook, some sort of magical bauble that were currently pulsating purple.

 

"How often do I have to tell you to stay back and observe like you're supposed to? You're a tracker, not a fighter."

 

"Hey, she were talking trash. I was just trying to-"

 

"I'm not hearing that sort from you. Until my pet rabbit stops beating you up, you're not fit for battle. Get it through your noggin and accept what you have.."

 

The smaller one kept on grumbling after the comment, with something about *feral beast, not a rabbit* escaping his lips, as the larger one of the two moved a step forward and faced the ponies and Lyriel. The later of whom know bowed deeply to the female in front of her.

 

"Honoured Atazi, I humbly welcome your presence."

 

"Wait... That's the Atazi?"

 

Blitz looked with big eyes and disbelief at the two in front of her that she- even if she hadn't seen more than a few of their kin - could tell were just Dragons. Not some kind of mystical creatures that swallowed the skies or had hundred limbs or something, but just dragons, like they knew them in Equestria.

 

Sure, the large one here Were a bit big for them, but she didn't know more than just meeting a few could tell her, like the one that came around to buy some fireworks once but didn't tell anything about who or what he were, so perhaps they were larger some places? Other places perhaps even larger still? Hard to tell, but at least the little guy was akin to what she knew, though a bit short in it. Perhaps a kid?

 

The larger one used her free, clawed hand to grab for the bauble and put it forward instead of answering Lyriel's question, seeing how it turned increasingly scarlet the closer it got to the ponies, even if she were still a few metres from them and their surprising caretaker.

 

"...You can get up dryad, we've got some things to talk about with you and your entourage."

 

Lyriel rose from her bow, seeing the Atazi did not hold her spear in hand, but simply the bauble. If nothing else then, it seemed these were not here to fight them, or did not see a point yet at least. Well, besides the small one, but he might just be a bit of a frisky type of character. hard to tell with the scaled ones really, as they were rather varied and hard to pinpoint that much for her.

 

"Me too, me too!"

 

Blitz were bouncing on the spot, looking like this was one of the happiest times of her life for some reason. Perhaps a certain somepony wasn't fully understand the potential issues they were in here after all.

 

"I mean, where are we? Are this Equestria? Why are you so much bigger than him? What's your names? Why do she call you Atazi? Is your blade steel or iron? Have you seen the rainbow crash? Are you illusions? Are you gonna hurt Lyriel? How tough are your scales? Why- (the list would go on, with mostly mundane things)"

 

The larger ones went from looking at Lyriel to looking at the foal with a face that showed signs of first wondering why this little one didn't seem like she cared about them being here to potentially cause them harm, to raising a claws to her head and rubbing her temple under the constant questions like it were giving her a migraine.

 

"Oh dear gods, can someone just push her mute button already?!"

 

The small dragon didn't seem to get through the barrage either and were squirming in his binds, desperately trying to get loose so he could cover his ears or something.

 

So far, meeting the Atazi didn't seem to be getting off to a good start.

 

(Blitz will stop talking if asked. If you write in asking her, consider it done at that spot so the rest of the post can address other things as well.)

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Rapid Wind,

 

Stargazer nodded and turned towards the city after stretching his neck again. He really needed to get some walking done to get the stiff feeling out of his limbs right now, so showing a tourist around would be beneficial for both of them, though he hoped that the pegasi wasn't going to wonder why he were walking it off right now. Those with wings tended to prefer to travel through the air and frankly he usually wasn't that much different either. Flying gave him perspective, but right now he needed more than that not to feel like he'd been in a cast for a month, so the skies wasn't for him in this moment.

 

"Is there anything in particular you might be looking for first? A tailor? Bakery? Perhaps the market? The town haves a good deal of things to offer all things considered, so if there's something you'd need sooner rather than later, it could be a place to head for and start from."

 

All he needed were some coffee. And perhaps a scone of some sort, depending on if they passed the bakery and the line didn't seem too intense.

 

____________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Denim&Venom,

@@Mentis Soliloquy,

@@Melke,

@@Seamore Sandwich,

 

"*Might have* isn't covering it, he Have done it. The guardian were set where it would eventually be found by other forces, and now the guardian is dead, the crystal cracked, and the ancient one loose, gathering strength somewhere out there. As for you-"

 

Ashta really didn't want to talk with the lower races, but sometimes you had to sink your standards to get a point through, which unfortunately now meant he had to speak to the tree-planting pony.

 

"-Don't be thinking that he did not teach that to your kind for this very situation. His schemes are rumoured to span longer than some races have existed, and I don't trust this not being part of his plans. It's too perfectly lined up to have fighters end where he dumped off the guardian before we could recover it. Too much coincidence."

 

Were the pony and his companions used? More than likely. Heck, likely all of them were. The pony and his followers went to get the wood which were guarded by the spider, then the ward got set off, making the Ananansi head for them to clean up the mess the Traveller left behind whilst the Subteranean forces just so happened to be in the area as their targets.

 

It did not make him want to cut them down any less, but it made him want another hide on a wall much more than theirs right now. Except for the plant that were. The grudge he felt towards the spiteful ilk were personal at this point, and it trumped being used by the old Traveller... Though it were close, as he hated being a puppet for someone other than his queen.

 

"And yet you blindly stumbled out here to do your part and hurt us. Truly, you have this all well figured out."

 

Ashta turned to the plant with narrowed eyes and a hissing tone to his voice.

 

"The only reason you still draw breath, Flower, is because their high priestess have pitied your life. Keep pushing and see if I'll do as well."

 

Briar were close to responding with something along the lines of *Pushing you makes a satisfying crunchy noise.*, but decided against it and instead focused on the other thing that he could whilst still being at work with helping Seamore with the delicate work of fixing the sapling.

 

"Which is a boon I owe you greatly for Priestess, and I hope that when this is all over, I can find some way to repay you for that."

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Seamore Sandwich,

@@SugarfootWillie,

@@Quinch,

@@Lonk Chase,

@@GingerLightning,

 

"Grraaaargh!"

 

Vivid felt it like she were being torn apart! The pushing monstrosity were overcoming them too fast. Too severely. She wasn't going to be able to keep holding on like this. Not with this pain. Not with the tearing claws that ripped into every string she clang to the host with, like it were warm knives through butter. There were almost nothing left now, and the time she had left here would be measures no longer in minutes, but mere seconds. Soon, the black smoke would course out of the maw of the Forgotten one and Vivid were going to stand weakened for only seconds before finally caving in and falling unconscious to her knees, drained of every reserve she had.

 

Those outside didn't see that. Not Last at least. All she saw was some kind of... Human? - Like, seriously a Human? - lounge towards the amalgamation in front of them, making it twitch and her preparing herself to having to avoid an attack. An attack that seemingly wasn't coming yet. But why? Why did this Human with strange features of a changeling attack and not get retaliated properly?

 

Questions she didn't know how to answer, but she wasn't there to answer either. She were there to fight, and she were tired of waiting.

 

As she took a step forward, the grip tightened in the hilt of the old blade in her mouth, and she looked at Nemo with a look promising nothing good as his outcome.

 

"I've had enough. Let's strike it down before it starts slamming at us."

 

She hadn't attacked yet, but she were readying herself and would start soon enough unless she got a good reason not to.go for the first blow instead of being relegated to just dodging it's attacks. A reason that should likely have to come soon, and be mentioned to her directly as she didn't care about anything else. including the hippo creature that were starring down Quill, what the Ananansi were doing at this moment, or really, what a big hippo were doing there in the first place. Frankly she hadn't even taken notice beyond the earth rumbling a bit.

 

Who had taken notice though, were Zhu. Yet before he turned to this old figure and those who followed in his wake that had passed through his barrier and allowed some quick ponies to leave, he addressed the question that Adante had asked him. To some extend at least.

 

"Don't believe in faith unless you aim to be disappointed. Nothing is ever guaranteed, and nothing is set in stone without being maintained by others, least of all the elusive light of what is to come. All I can guarantee is that the bauble will be the tool to keep you safe from what is to come, and to shield others that hadn't the choice in ending in this situation. As I said then I say again now: You chose what to do with it, and that choice might very well be more important than you think. Well, except for her. There is nothing you can do for her at this stage."

 

He referenced the decapitated corpse of Vivid Loss that littered the street as he moved forward, thinking the matter settled enough so that he could move on to these strangers, of where one, a small timberwolf pup fro the looks of things, were currently busy covering behind a half-blood changeling, scared about everything that was going on outside of the forest.

 

The golden eyes in the serpentine face under the hood wandered over the ponies and the two timberwolves, seeing briefly what he did when looking on others, but lingering more on Lonk for a few seconds as he saw more branches that should be. As if two trees were intertwined and grew into one another. An oddity he would have to address later, yet for the time being he went onwards and settled on Sisilia for a little as well.

 

It were not often he met others of his own kin. For most of his life before dedicating himself to this cause he barely saw any, and afterwards his interactions had been brief and superficial. They did not play a part in most of the things he had going for him, and it were his mercy upon them that he did his to make sure they were not near the things he set up unless it couldn't be helped. A mercy that he offered very few others, but he felt compelled to do so, if for nothing else then because they were of his own ilk, even if he had yet to see one cursed like he were.

 

"A simple life I see in many a future for you little one. I almost envy you that blessing."

 

There were more, but he hadn't the time to see all the brances just now. The time drew near and the last of the party were one he had to address with the short time he had left, though he would gaze upon his younger kin later if she stayed near. There had been an odd line going through her potential futures that, in the brief moment he could see it, carried a strong weight with it that drew his interest.

 

The last one though, he hadn't a need to watch too many branches with. In fact, there were not a single one that he saw as his eyes fell upon the shape that he had heard spoken in legends. Just the being. The creator of their kin, who he had once hunted but long since found pointless in pursuing.

 

"Powerful magic can make your future unwatchable, yet those energies linger. I see it not with you, just the natural nothingness of a Blank Spot. I see now why I were unable to ever find you."

 

Blank spots were not like forgotten ones. Through others he could still tell that there were Some interaction from others, just not in what capacity, and he could work with that. But blank spots were far more than that. Their futures left trace nowhere, and through others times he would just see any time that they would cross ways as something else haywired over to make it happen. Like if a blank spot were to fight a pony, the pony's lines might instead just show that he had been struck down, potentially by a rock, covering the nothingness with a plausible alternative.

 

"I take it your presence here means you have taken part in making this day happen as well then. Curious, but I suppose it answers a few odd coincidences."

 

Zhu wasn't judgemental of the Traveller, nor really caring that he now knew that he were not the complete mastermind of things as he had once thought. Likely he had been pushed in some way or another towards this by the creature, which should offend him in some way really, but he didn't care. Long as this day ended as it should, he cared not why things had happened or who had used who. It were unimportant, just like questions would now be on this, the eclipse of countless years of work.

 

No, his questions could come after. For now, they had work to do.

 

__________________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Moonlit,

 

Ziggy were still shocked for a few seconds after being rushed from below like this and suddenly finding herself the squishy toy of a Siren, but then the laughter began and she hugged back as much as she could in this state.

 

"Hahahaha! Awh man, that was Awesome! Usually I'm the one pouncing on others like that, not the one getting pounced on. Really fun to try the other side of things like this."

 

Fah'lina rose to the surface whilst she were talking and saw the siren, the pony and the strange lights going on, and almost felt like she should just take flight, go back to the lake, and try to forget she had ever met these two. Yet, this was getting too strange for her curious mind not to overshadow her need for simplicity, and she slowly swam over towards the pair, trying to get there without being noticed by the giggling pony hugging Serenade, who looked to be doing well in keeping the pony down, though some more around the wings would be better to pin her down.

 

Still, looked rather predatorial, that were for sure.

 

_______________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Wolves,

 

Awh for the love of... What were with this mare?

 

Usually, when somepony were sick, they were supposed to just admit it and get some help before it had gotten too far. But this one? The way she were swaying and couching about made him think that she had neglected symptoms for a while to get to this stage, and now were a bit far in the process to think about taking precautions.

 

That, or this were just one more disease that worked strangely on ponies. Even if he had been in this dimension for years now he still had no idea how many different ones they had compared to back on Earth, and even the ones he knew could sometimes act out differently here. Like hiccups and unicorns, which were something that should make you run for the hill when you saw it out of instinct. Random spells being tossed about was not a good time to be trapped around.

 

*sigh* But, at least she were moving again now and they were getting closer to what he could see now being a rather large building all things considered, which meant that this place weren't lacking in the medical support unless most of the place were filled with garbage or rats, which he found unlikely, especially since somepony would have just made pets out of the darn rats instead of squashing them if it were anyway.

 

Ponies and their strange problem solving sometimes...

 

"You know, if you want, you can jump up and go on the seat whilst I get us up there? Safer if you're starting to feel worse, and not really a bother for me if it is."

 

It was going to be a pain in his back, but hey, they were going to a hospital anyway, whoop whoop everything was going to be Just fine and all that jazz. Though sarcasm aside, he doubted it were gonna be an issue. Sometimes he had had a couple of hostages in his wagon and he were able to move it around without having after-pains just fine enough, so one weren't gonna be much of an issue. Not like she were one of the mutant-like large ones or something after all.

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@cwhip9,

 

"Actually, we just went through a hole in the wall. Whatever you were doing out there almost got through it as it were, so the captain figured he'd get the first hit in instead of being on the receiving end."

 

Said captain - that being the armed snake - were long gone at this point, slithered down the path and had left them behind, likely thinking that this were a situation that Blockenspiel could handle alone. That or he were just busy. Big enough facility they had going here and only so many guards, all answering to him. Lot of work to get done.

 

"I guess I better explain. The section of the dream world you're in is like a sewer, and sometimes rats begin to wander through them, though we don't know why. So a few curious minds like myself got some guards along and made a base down here, researching what we can and seeing if we can solve where the horrors come from and mend the cracks that you likely fell through."

 

He looked at Crescent the entire time he said this, clearly talking to him and doing what he could to try and ignore the cat that were slowly getting more lucid, though he seemed to get a nervous tick whenever Zinthar made any sudden movements.

 

"Usually dreamers don't fall down here, but it seems a new Everspirit might have dropped you by accident and you beat the odds. I can get show you a way to get to the upper levels again and we can get you back to your dream, just as soon as I know what I'm supposed to do with uhm... That."

 

"My head is hurting, not my ears, and I'll let know that your little insult is getting old. Speak your mind, or at least find something new to say."

 

The everspirit hadn't thought that Zinthar had been listening in right since he seemed out of it still, but apparently that wasn't the case, and now he had called him out on it. A little awkward, but it could be worse. It could have been said by something that mattered, and not something that frankly should have been left out in the hall.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@EQ_Theta,

 

"..."

 

Omen stood still for a while after everything that were said and shown, trying to take in what were happening with the reveal of the clearing, and the dual side of Senlin right.

 

"...One body, two souls? Random soul?"

 

She took a small step forward and paused again, thinking over it. A random spirit wouldn't care about him like this, right? And the name... Senlin had mentioned it before. Usually he hadn't said so by name, but more as just what it meant to him, yet now a few situations where it had been used started to come back to her, lost amongst other minor things she hadn't gotten through during the night.

 

"Not random. Sister. Family. But why does he look then when you are there? You know he is there, shouldn't he know you were too? Or about his name? And why were this place warded?"

 

Usually she took one question at a time, but there was so much confusing about this whole situation. About meeting the one that Senlin had spoken about as being the source of his search, but had been with him all along somehow, and trying to make sense about this. Something that she couldn't do, as she hadn't seen this sort of thing before. Not without it being a possession, but this didn't sound like one. Sounded more like a shared life, however that might happen.

 

"...And I am Omen. Sen found me looking for you."

 

She could set two things straight then at least and see if other things followed. That being the name that Lin had asked her about, as well as closing the open gate that had been behind Sen/Lin. Gave her a few seconds of knowing what to do amidst all the confusion, which were a small bastion she might need depending on if this got more confusing for her. But they'd see.

Edited April 28, 2016 by Blitz Boom

[GingerLightning 258]

@@Blitz Boom,

@@Seamore Sandwich, @@Lonk Chase,

Ginger lightning Jumped through the hole in the barrier made by the hippo not exactly making the best landing... She  got up off the ground...She was distracted by several interesting flowers earlier and didn't follow everypony right away...So she felt like she was late to something...But what exactly is going on? She spread her large Wings and seemed to be ready to fight what ever everypony else was fighting...Although She could jump through that hole...Wait a second, the hole is too small for Pegasus wing large wings like hers to get through now even with them pinned to her sides...

[EQ_Theta 459]

@@Blitz Boom

 

So many questions and unsure where to begin. Maybe with the name, the presence of two souls in one body, or the wards. Lin had to start somewhere.

"Two souls in one body. That is true though it isn't as simple as it sounds. Inhabiting a body allows me to take control of it as if it were my own but I suppress the soul previously in the mortal vessel. Sen is here but unless he fights for dominance, he remains dormant. As for the wards and why it was there? You should know that longma do not have inherent magic. I can use magic, however, because I stumbled upon an orb while on the run and its powers transferred to me. The wards were there to keep anyone from finding me and to isolate myself while I learned to master my newfound abilities."

Lin had previously rummaged through her brother's memories, this time finding them clearer and more vivid. Among them was Omen, the encounter that led them to meet each other, and the subsequent search all leading up to the morning of that day. She felt a kind of warmth that reminded her of happier times and saddened that she could've saved her brother from many difficult years. 

"Omen, you say? Your name is familiar. I hear it as I look into Sen's memories and I understand that he has placed his trust on you. For someone outside of our clan to receive such respect and trust is a rare thing indeed. I am happy you're helping him out. Thank you."

[cwhip9 1,078]

@@Blitz Boom, Zinthar, easy"Cresent said now looking at the scratched pup "all right then looks like we should catch up to your boss or something to get some progress and out of here. and Zinthar will come back with me, or at least his home again. I don't need to ask twice on that I think" the bat pony smiled

 

"now then where to next?" cresent asked.

[Moonlit 593]

@@Blitz Boom, Serenade opens her mouth, then quickly shuts it, looking away sheepishly. She releases Ziggy and rolls over so she's floating on the surface. Her eyes are half-closed, and her antennae gently wave back and forth. Serenade lets out a contented sigh. Attempting to pull herself out the lake, Serenade finds herself unable to do so due to her size and the slickness of her forehooves.  

[Quinch 1,120]

@Seamore Sandwich, @Quinch, @SugarfootWillie, @Blitz Boom [Ponyville]

 

"Shush," he said simply to Miles' voice, as he darted back from the flinching shape with surprising agility. The bulk of the suit usually worked in his favor, often making others think it was that much heavier, rather than filled with foam and empty space.

 

Attack, retreat, ignore. He weighed his options, his mind racing.

 

Ignore. Whatever creature was in front of him.... for what it's worth, he hadn't actually seen it attack anyone in the handful of seconds he'd been actually able to see it. But everyone involved seemed to be terrified of it, and by the looks of it, they had perceptions he didn't.

 

Retreat. Always an option, and advised by his erstwhile handler. But if the entity was hostile, and the locals couldn't handle it, his pool of resources for getting home was going to get that much smaller, nevermind the goodwill cost. As always, he needed assistance, there was no way of getting around that.

 

Attack. He hated attack. Unknown foe, unknown threat level, unknown nature, unknown resistances. He flicked his wrists, lines of orange lightning crackling around the giant gloves. Ghosts usually meant negative energy. Unless it was a psychic projection. Or something new entirely. Too many unknowns.... unfortunately, outweighed the consequences of the knowns.

 

He lunged forward, arm extended sideways, swiping at the shape's head, or at least where the HUD told him it was, moving past it in an unbroken trajectory - for only a second before twisting in midair, blue flames blazing out of the pink boots, enveloped in lightning, an arm reaching back for a strike at the creature as he flew toward it like an orange comet.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2016 by Quinch

[Holiday Agnaktor 1,436]

@Blitz Boom

@Summer Breeze

 

Frosty sighed as Summer boasted that she could easily teach the Atazi a lesson.

 

"Summer, you do know that you can't just push around every Ata-"

 

Frosty jumped when there suddenly was growling from thicket.

 

"And here I thought our luck couldn't get any worse..."

 

Growling voices meant something bad was going to happen at least 80% of the time. This didn't seem like an exception.

But it turned out to be one, sort of, as the owner of the voice came falling down from the trees above. Frosty recognized it from the pictures in all the books he had been reading.

His face split in a wide grin as he pointed to the dragon.

 

"YES YES YES YES YES! That's a DRAGON! This makes my day SOOOO much easier! YES YES YES YES YES YES!"

 

If that was a dragon, then it meant that they were in the same dimension, and that they only had to worry about finding Equestria again (which would actually be quite difficult, if they were in the dragons home country, but shh).

 

But Frosty forgot in his celebration that they weren't actually saved yet. Dragons weren't known for liking ponies.

But he celebrated anyway, bouncing around, saying the word 'yes' a lot.

 

"Yes yes yes yes yes yes! Now I don't have to figure out how to do inter-dimensional travel! yes yes yes yes yes yes..."

 

He didn't really notice much that was going on in his happiness, and also didn't notice the dragons getting increasingly annoyed at Blitz.

And even if he did, he was far to excited and happy to care.

[Rapid Wind 47]

@Blitz Boom

 

 "Hmm, the markets would be a good start," said Rapid as he thought about buying something to eat.

 

 "But, I've heard there's a giant castle right here in Ponyville and I would definitely like to check that out," Rapid Wind continued with a little more enthusiasm in his voice.

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@@cwhip9,

 

"You can leave, but..."

 

He stopped and looked at the now pretty lucid cat starring at him whilst the sentence went on with empty eyes that still seemed to radiate his growing annoyance with the Everspirit. Normally this wouldn't be something he'd care about, but after the treatment he had gotten just before he wasn't as inclined to step wrongly here.

 

"...I can't authorise anything, but I can help you get to a clear path out. You can plead his case to the others when they come looking after that. Rest will be up to yourselves."

 

Blockenspiel pointed towards the path on the far left that were covered with roots and shortly after, the thick vines began to move out of the way, making room for the two to get through. An option that Zinthar were not late to take advantage off and sped over there, ignoring his usual graceful jumps for this baser run so he could get out whilst the option were there.

 

On the other side of the vines, he would wait for Crescent and before he could see the pony, mumbled out several curse-words whilst holding his head. The headache were reducing in power, but it still felt like a smith had set up his forge in his brain, and were happily hammering away like there were no tomorrow.

 

_________________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@EQ_Theta,

 

"He said he were my friend. It's all the reason I need to help him when he asked, and keep him safe. Something friends are supposed to do I think? Never had one before, so not sure. It just made sense that way."

 

It might seem like a small thing to have somepony else call you their friend and mean it, but for Omen it were a far more impactful thing than it might seem as she had never had one before. She had Mother, she had her siblings, and eventually she had Master, but none of them were what were considered friends. Their were providers, family and teachers, but little more in the grand scheme of things, even if she thought fondly of most of them.

 

Beyond those, she had been seen as a pariah by the ones she had approached, or a thing to use if they felt confident enough. So had been her lot for a long time and she had resigned herself to never having anypony close. Until Sen had called her by the seemingly small word and afterwards shown her that he meant it.

 

He had not run away from her, had taught her things and cared for her own struggle to find somepony as well. They were on equal footing and tried to support the others search as well as they could, and for her, it showed the word being true. That he really Did consider her his friend, and that... Confused her greatly. Yet, it also made her think of this as a piece of a puzzle she hadn't been aware she had missed before. A part of this *Life* that Mother wanted her to find, and one she had felt need to protect. Something that she hadn't done since Master, and with him it were part of her duties for the most part.

 

"He spoke of you too. Many things about missing you, looking hurt when he said you were gone, but happy when talking of better times with the two of you. Sounded like you were close. Not as close as this, but shouldn't happen either?"

 

She tilted her head from side to side slowly and took a step closer, trying to get a sense of what she were going to do now, but drawing many a blank. This were not something she had thought possible to face, and she couldn't find much logic in it right now. A little by little it might come together, but she needed to know more. Find out more on Lin, to know.

 

"You died for this to happen, yes? Why didn't he get shown your body when you were gone, so he didn't search?"

 

__________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Moonlit,

 

Don'tlaughdon'tlaughdon'tlaugh...

 

"Ehehehehe."

 

Ziggy was trying to hold back the excessive giggling, she really were, but seeing the Siren struggle to get up to shore because her front hooves were slippery and began to really look like a cat trying to get out of a bathtub with high sides, she just couldn't keep it back entirely. Not even with her hooves in front of her mouth to try and muzzle the sound.

 

That she were rolling slightly from the laughing wasn't really helping her case either frankly, but she couldn't help it. This just looked so adorable and funny at the same time that her impulse-controlled self were unable to keep back the waves of giggling fun that coursed through her.

 

Fah'lina seemed a little more supportive than that, in that she didn't laugh at the Siren, but when she swam past and jumped up to shore with a last push of her tail, she did turn around to the Siren and look at her with some disbelief. After that, she took a hold in her tail, pointed towards the limb in her hand, and then made pushing motions like an alligator or really, anything aquatic with a big tail should know how to do.

 

She wasn't laughing, that were true, but it would appear that she thought the siren needed to be taught how to swim like she were some sort of mimic infant.

 

_____________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Rapid Wind,

 

"I can show you the castle, but I doubt it's open. The princess is likely busy with her duties and studies, but it doesn't mean that we can't see the castle. Haven't really had to time to give it a good look anyway."

 

It wasn't that you couldn't see the castle from here. Frankly, it were hard to miss it if you looked for it as it were quite a bit bigger than the rest of the buildings in town and the colours made it stand out considerably, but seeing it from afar were not the same as seeing it up close. This only gave the overview after all, not much of the details, and often it were said details that meant the most..

 

So, step by step he'd lead towards the castle then, beginning now and then they'd see how things would fare. Sounded like the market, which were some way away, but on the way back his limbs should feel better and he shouldn't need to walk, so they could fly over there quickly. No big deal really.

 

"So, what brings you to Ponyville?"

Edited April 29, 2016 by Blitz Boom

[Moonlit 593]

@@Blitz Boom, The Siren glares at the Pegasi before turning her attention to the mimic. Using her head and antennae to motion for Fah'lina to look back, Serenade brings her tail up, wiggles her tail fluke a bit then brings it down into the shallow water with a loud THUMP. The Siren moves a few inches forward, but due to her size and the shape of her barrel slides back just as far. Ziggy on the other hand, is on the receiving end of a small tidal wave of water. 
 

Using her forehooves, she motions for both the mimic and Ziggy to cover their ears, and then she waits. 

[Denim&Venöm 19,047]

 

 

@Mentis Soliloquy, @Melke, @Seamore Sandwich,

 

"He's alive because he's in the same boat we all are. Pawns of the traveler. And you're playing his game, right into his hoof, I presume. Like it or not, and not even I like it, we are allies against a common foe. The travel wanted us both dead. You going to stand for it? Honor his wishes?"

 

She turned to Briar.  "Don't worry about it. You're a good dude. It'd be a crime for the world to loose you." 

[EQ_Theta 459]

@@Blitz Boom

 

Lin bowed her head in shame, though how much of this was her fault and how much of it was purely circumstantial still remained to be seen. On one hand, her predicament started from her separation and the rest was from her curiosity. The years haven't been easy and she was on the verge of bursting into anger, but she knew well not to release it especially in the midst of her brother's only friend once he went into exile. 

"I really wish I knew how to explain it better. For starters, I am not dead; I am still able to change my body into a physical one and I really don't need another's body to interact with the world. The reason you are seeing this happen is because my spell went wrong and I want to get myself out of this body. Like I said, I am still learning how to use magic so it will take some time to get this sorted out."

As for the disappearance and everything else that followed after, making Sen go around Equestria searching for any sign that she might live, she would have to answer to Sen for that one day soon. It wouldn't hurt to let someone Sen trusts know how it came to be.

"We were separated on that fateful evening and I returned after many days of hiding in the forest. When I heard my brother had been exiled, I wanted to search for him too but I learned that before he left, my name had been stricken from the histories. I was angry and I wanted to get back at the clan for doing such a thing so I sought one of the old stories my clan had kept, one about a mystical orb that supposedly carried the powers of the ancestral longma. The same one the eldest of my clan who have passed on sealed away because they deemed it too dangerous to keep. And here I am learning to use those powers. It seems some legends hold more truth than what anyone might have expected."

Edited April 30, 2016 by EQ_Theta

[cwhip9 1,078]

@@Blitz Boom, "well then, I think we have our answer, hope the scratch didn't get too deep" cresent patted the dogs head reassuringly as he could then followed Zinthar to the wood growth.

 

" oh one more thing, if you see another me with red eyes but looking like me....I cant promise what he will do" the batpony said as he trotted off.

 

Once in the woods he found zinthar, "hows the head, you took a heck of a blow back there you doing all right? " said cresent to his friend

[redaxted 1,765]

@@Blitz Boom "Wow, you sure about that?" Cyan Flare asked Happy. "Okay, thank you!" She took the offer and then hopped onto the seat of the wagon. She had no idea what Happy was thinking about at that moment. She thought his overall intentions innocent and true, just like right now, and was oblivious to his memories of hostages.

"Thanks again," she told him. She smiled and then looked off in the direction of the hospital. She tried to think if there was anything she'd need to do before she went, but nothing sprung to mind.

[Rapid Wind 47]

@Blitz Boom

 

 "I've heard a lot of stories, rumours and gossip about Ponyville and I wanted to get away from my home city of Fillydelphia," Rapid Wind stated calmly as he trotted behind Stargazer and he thought nothing of Stargazer not using his wings as he thought all flying ponies didn't use their wings all the time, but he also didn't want any pony to find out his confidence in his wings and his flying wasn't what it once was.

[Blitz Boom 4,629]

@@Wolves,

 

"Heh, don't mention it. Can't have gotten this far to fail now after all, right?"

 

Whilst outside he seemed cheerful and took up pace to get them to the entrance faster, in his mind Happy were far from that. Not that he were angry and close to burst, no. Rather, he felt sour and demeaned, grumbling through his mind about having to get his seat disinfected, how he just wanted to get there already - hence the increase in speed even if it strained his back some - and how he missed cars or other, easier transportation devices.

 

He knew that it were a good thing all things considered that the equine world were technologically stagnant, as it meant they hadn't ruined the place like they did back home, and he had gotten used to it. Frankly, when you had magic, why did you need the technology most of the time anyway? They had invented things to make it easier for them, whilst this world had magic to fill that spot, and he had frequently used his own to get things done with more ease than at home, so he got why they were *behind* in some ways.

 

Yet, when in disguise he couldn't just make use of the magic. He had settled on an earth pony form in times past as it were easier to blend in like this and it seemed more realistic when he were a wine vendor and that kind usually were more in tune with nature, so those conveniences were gone and he had to rely on physical strength alone. Something that made him miss conveniences like the bus when he couldn't just fly somewhere or float a few things without it drawing suspicion.

 

Sure, he Could change when it were, just like any changeling, but when he were around with his wagon like this he couldn't change, then wander around like somepony else, then shift over and return that easily. It'd make his cart abandoned int he eyes of many, and then the police got in over things, and he had to make up some excused and... *Brr* That was a circus he wanted to avoid again, hence why he only shifted around usually if he were desperate, or could park his cart somewhere safe.

 

Speaking of circus...

 

"*whistles* Dang. Bigger place than I figured. Seems like you're gonna be in good hooves."

 

Okay, *circus* was perhaps not the right word, as it seemed orderly enough, but there were certainly enough space in there to fill a decently sized circus tent up from the looks of things.

 

So, with the idea that this town might have a sub par hospital now completely shut down, as this didn't seem run down in any way, shape or form, the next step was gonna be to see how well it ran then, and if possible, gain a little insight into things for future use. Likely that it wasn't going to play much of a part as his hive were not weaklings that usually got to the point where deep infiltration into sectors like this were needed, but it never hurt to be thorough and prepared for things. Especially not if, as his paranoia kept reminding himself of, Chrysalis turned out to be more of a player in the area than expected and he had to try and gain a small bit of favour from her.

 

Not much, but just enough to get away before she found out what hive he were from. After his queen had made them capture a few of hers and forced them into menial labour he could not imagine that the tensions were small. Not that they were with any hive, as they were not exactly loved by others of their kin, but there were a difference between hostile and made into an example, and he didn't want to be the receiving end of finding out if the relation with Chrysalis were so deep in the hole that she wanted to go for the second option.

 

But, that were thoughts for another time. For now, he had to park and get this off his back so he could make sure that the mare - whom, now that he remembered it, hadn't asked the name of - got in safely and that he could get a minor peek around whilst at it. Hi wagon should be safe enough at the door to a dang Hospital after all, right?

 

________________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@cwhip9,

 

The last Crescent would see of Blockenspiel were a very confused look going over his face at the mention of another like the dreamer, but with red eyes. They had only been informed that there'd be one dreamer after all, not a pair of twins.

 

inside the tunnel, after the entrance had closed up with the vines again, Zinthar looked over at Crescent with the three eyes focused on him, thinking on his next words.

 

"if I had been like I used to, my head would have popped. Considering that, I'm fine. Besides, if it had been bad, it would have been bleeding out of my eye sockets by now, so seems like things processed as it should have, even if I had hoped the transition would have stopped small things like concussions from happening, but many things didn't go as planned then."

 

He didn't elaborate more on what he were speaking about, but it seemed like he had hinted at part of his story in this and had to spend the little time before answering to find a way to phrase it that didn't give too much away. If he had succeeded he wasn't entirely sure, as his head still thumped along and it made some thoughts painful to delve on, but it wasn't important right now either. What were was to get out while the chance were there.

 

With that in mind, Zinthar began to walk up the dark path, as in here the glowing moss didn't glow and the few baubles here and there were scarce and far in between, giving them some moments of pure darkness before dull light, then rinse and repeat. After a bit of walking though, Zinthar - with his head now more in check - turned his head and looked over at Crescent with a question in mind.

 

"Before, why did you care? Even if we agreed to get out of here together, you seemed up in hooves about it when they gave you the option to ditch me and get out with no issue twice. More than it should when ours were just a small deal you could have ignored for your own benefit. Why, you could have left me in the hallway with ease and been over with it, and yet you dragged me inside?"

 

It didn't make much sense to him, as it would have been so easy to just ditch him, who had done little really beyond teasing him and try to guide him down what were a pretty straight road in the tunnel towards the exit. And yet, Crescent had still cared enough to make sure he got along. Were it his sense of pride over deals having to be kept? High morals? Fear of guilt over leaving him behind? Or was it something else entirely?

 

_______________________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@Moonlit,

 

The wave flushing over the already wet half-blood didn't stop her laughing, but it did cool her down a bit so to speak and reel it in somewhat so she wasn't as obviously laughing at the funny sight in front of her. Some might have gone into the deep end after being doused like a garden fire, but she were okay with it considering that it were kinda fun, and it wasn't uncalled for really.

 

Fah'lina on the other hand, just stood and looked at Serenade with a very expressive face that carried the classic signs of being unimpressed. Whatever fear and caution she had to the siren had been lost it he lake when the later had gone close only to bop her nose, and it were starting to show how little threatened she really felt.

 

Still, she, like Ziggy, listened when they were shown to put their hooves and webbed paws to their ears, though to be fair, it weren't likely going to do much of a difference with Fah'lina as her ears were that large and evolved to help the vibrations of sound travel down into her inner ear, in water or on land. Might be that she had a protective membrane in her ear to stop water from pouring into her brain and stuff such as that, but it really didn't do much for sound. But hey, they'd see what'd happen, and Ziggy for one had dutifully put her hooves closely to her ears and couldn't hear a thing. Well, except for the vibrations of her own, continued chuckling.

 

Really, they were about as ready as you could expect.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

@@EQ_Theta,

 

"Sometimes, me or a sibling of mine finds magical thing to take back and show the rest, but Mother then comes and takes it away, telling us that some things are not meant to toy with. Yet iin time we still find more and it happens again. We too are warned, but in time forget to listen."

 

Omen wasn't judging Lin for what she did. SHe wanted to make them regret things, so she had taken a weapon of sorts that they had abandoned like her, and wanted to use it against them. Seemed like it were a fitting thing to happen, though as it were magic, things had then gone bad. Not just because of that, but from what she could understand of things, a good potion of it were a result of that magic at least.

 

"I guess though, the warnings of your clan means little when they ignore you. I don't know it all, but what Sen told me of removing one from history sound harsh. Can make you do strange things in respond like taking old magic. Makes sense enough to me."

 

Would she really be any different in Lin's position? If her family ignored her and turned her back on her, leaving her alone and considering her to have never existed, would she do something drastic too? Something told her that she would, and it would have ended badly too, so she couldn't really judge Lin. Not without being a hypocrite, and Master had taught her better than that.

 

"But... What do I tell him? Do I tell him he is Sen, not Senlin, and that you are one for now? Say what you told me happened back then? Nothing perhaps? Something tells me that I should tell him, but this is a family thing. Should be his family that decides what to do."

 

It wasn't to put all the responsibility over on Lin, but frankly, Omen needed a guiding hoof to tell her what to do right now so she didn't end up hurting her friend, and Lin should know best what that were. As his sister, she should know how to make it right, even if it meant being quiet to let him have some peace of mind when he were awake, or whatever other reason silence might have.

[Moonlit 593]

@@Blitz Boom, Serenade nods and brings to softly

. As she does, her scales become brighter and she uses a small amount of magic to float over to her bag, grab the gem and attach it around her neck. She morphs back to her Pegasi form, and looks back and quickly trots over to Ziggy.  

[Seamore Sandwich 471]

@@Melke

@@Blitz Boom

@@Mentis Soliloquy

@@Denim&Venom

 

"If you're not dead, I doubt that's what he wanted. From what I've heard, this Traveler created a new species on a whim. The Doctor's friend was one of them. I'm no unicorn, but I know enough about magic to know that it's easier to take life than it is to give life. Any plans he has for you are likely not over yet." Seamore continued working while he talked, and the sapling seemed to be straightening out nicely. "I wouldn't worry too much about the Doctor by the way. Everwood blasts only tend to make the victim sleep. At worst, he could be having an out of body experience, but he'll wake up by the end of the day."

 

@@Blitz Boom

@@SugarfootWillie

@@Quinch

@@Lonk Chase

@@GingerLightning

 

The Traveler looked Zhu in the eye, "No, the true reason you could never find me is that I was too far ahead for you to see, and yet I was behind you all along. How else would the necessary baubles and trinkets find their way to you? How else would your path lead you here if it were never paved? The Balance between order and chaos must be restored. I am here to see to it that this happens as it should. Even young Sisilia here will do her part, but she cannot do it alone. Together, your venoms can bring mortality to the immortal. Others will come, if all has gone as planned." The winds had adjusted to narrow the gap to a point where Ginger could no longer fit through, so he rose one of his wings to extend the hole so it were large enough to fit a whole parade through.

 

Meanwhile, The Forgotten One was now free of Vivid's influence and was struck by the armored human. The electricity didn't have much effect, only doing about 20% of what it would to something on the same plane ((I rolled a d20 for this and it landed on 4)). Basically, it was only enough to piss the creature off. The beast flung it's arm toward Quinch just as Penny sent a blast in the general direction she assumed Quinch's target were in. The blast severed the arm at the shoulder, causing the severed limb to become a large projectile instead, still headed toward the colorful crusader. At the same time, Sylar began running toward his target, which was clearly distracted by its other attacker... But no! It saw him coming and swatted him aside like an insect with its extra limb. Sylar would not let the creature catch him off guard like that again.

Edited May 1, 2016 by Seamore Sandwich

[Denim&Venöm 19,047]

 

 

@Melke @Blitz Boom @Mentis Soliloquy

 

"So now that brings about another question? Why release the demon? Why bring the spider here? Was our encounter intentional? We need to know. Acting on incomplete or misinformation is worse than not knowing or doing nothing at all.  So tell me soldiers of the Ananasi, was the guardian protecting anything else?" 

 

"Wait. The doctor? You mean Xeno? Did something happen to him?" Queen Allure asked as she buzzed back into the clearing, flanked by her guard.