private MLP: The Evil Within

[Jack Baker 698]

OOC:http://mlpforums.com/topic/114228-mlp-the-evil-within-1x1-with-polnareff-and-magos-amphrose/#entry3239790

 

Manehattan

Time: 1900 Hours

 

Raze sighed and looked out the window of the carriage they were in. It was dark, and raining quite hard, a bit harder than usual. The streets, for the most part, were empty, with only a few ponies trying to make it back to their homes. They were smart. Who in their right mind would want to stay out in a downpour like the one going on right now? 

 

But that was beside the point. He shifted his thoughts to the matter at hand. It had only been a few minutes since him and White Rose received the emergency call. Agririon and Shevelan had disappeared during a case; something about strange homicides at a mental hospital. Culprit: unknown. It sounded so generic to him, like some cheesy plot for the script of your less-than-average slasher flick. But, a case was a case, and neither he nor White could turn it down. He was just hoping that this wouldn't take too long: he had a pretty rough day already...

 

His thoughts were interrupted when the carriage hit a bump in the road. Suddenly, the radio from inside came to life, with the stallion pulling the carriage talking through the other end.

 

"We're nearing the place now," he said to both of them.

 

Raze picked up the mic. "Copy that." He put it down and looked at White. "You got any thoughts on this? Who do you think could've done something like this to Cannonback and Shev?"

 

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

White was deep in thought as the carriage approached an ancient asylum, a few miles outside the city of Manehattan, trying not to succumb to the rhythmical beat of the rain above, knowing that she was on her way to an important case. Stretching a bit, Shelevan returned to the question at hand.

 

What could have kept them from coming back?

 

The nastiest answers immediately jumped into her head and, pushing down a mild wave of nausea, started considering what could have happened to them. Hopefully they would be able to fix the problem, or at least be able to rescue their friends- or what remained of their friends- although White desperately hoped that they were still alive, chances are, either the problem was worse than they thought and they had to stay in an attempt to do... something, or they were as close to death as they could be.

 

With a start, she sat up as the carriage was jostled along the bumpy road that lead outside of the city to the asylum, only a few minutes away. With a sigh, she sat up as Raze asked her what exactly was on his mind. She sighed.

 

"I... hmm..." She paused for a moment, considering her next words. "I honestly don't know. Logically, I would say something along the lines of a demon lord or an extraplanar entity, but I would doubt that that is the case... there's not enough outside damage for either of those cases... at this point, I just hope that they are alright... or, if nothing else, that we can recover Shell's mask."

 

"Or," added in the chaos spirit residing within her in an obnoxious voice, "they just ditched us for some ice cream or whatever it is you ponies do in your spare time and this is all just a misunderstanding."

 

A small smile slid onto White Rose's face. "I very much doubt that, Ixkom, although that would probably be the best case scenario."

Edited November 9, 2014 by Magos Amphrose

[Jack Baker 698]

"We can only hope," Raze said quietly, as they approached the asylum. It was quite huge, appearing almost mansion-like and older on the outside than the city itself, with a tall iron gate separating them from it. He got out of the carriage and helped White down. He turned to the stallion.

"Alright, watch the carriage. This won't take long."

He nodded as Raze opened the gate and entered the roundabout of the asylum.

@

Edited November 9, 2014 by Polnareff

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

As White stepped down from the carriage, the first thing she noticed was how... dead the place looked. The trees were dead, the bushes. The flowers had shriveled and faded. It looked like a mausoleum. She closed her eyes for a moment, and, focusing, she used her mental energies to examine the place. The place was as dead as it felt- something was obscuring the entire area in darkness.

 

Opening her eyes to the bleak landscape, she put a hoof on one of her swords. "This place feels... wrong. There's something here that shouldn't be..."

[Jack Baker 698]

Raze quietly made his way to the entrance of the asylum. As he opened the door, he smelled something... rotten. He looked at White.

 

"Alright, stay close," he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a small revolver pistol. He pushed the door open, and the first thing he saw were bodies. Dead bodies, piled up everywhere in what appeared to be the main lobby of the building.

 

"What the hell..." he said quietly, observing the area.

 

@

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@, 

 

White took a step back. "Well... there was definitely some sort of homicide here. Although it seems more like a genocide..." She sighed and looked around the room. She entered in, close behind Raze, letting the door creak close behind them. White then took a breath- almost gagging on the stench of rotting flesh- and began counting. "Twenty three, twenty four... how many residents were recorded here again?"

 

She released a shaky breath. Twenty-seven victims in total. But something else was wrong. As if she was being watched... the darkness around her pressed in, increasing her feeling of unease and feeling as if she had stepped into a realm of shadow and fear.

 

Still, she had seen worse... but a reminder of the flaws of ponykind was still unsettling. If it was even fully a pony. Anymore, at least.

"Any sign of life nearby? I can't get anything, there's like a... paranormal gloom of some sort around the entire place."

[Jack Baker 698]

@,

 As Raze made his way through the lobby, he heard a soft moaning coming from a room to the left of the front desk. He quickly ran inside, and saw a stallion who appeared to be a doctor that worked here. 

 

"Hey! In here!" he called out to White Rose. "We got a survivor." He turned to him. "Are you alright? What happened here?"

 

He didn't respond. His eyes were open, but it was almost as if he was in another world entirely. Suddenly, he began to speak.

 

"No... impossible... he's..." he said as he passed out. 

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

Keeping on her guard, White Rose quickly moved towards Raze's new location. She quickly surveyed his condition.

 

"Physically, he'll live, although his psyche's damaged..." She looked him over, determining that he was almost unharmed physically. "Raze? I don't like where this is going... half of the residents dead in the front hall, a pony who's mind seems to have been shattered... this supernatural gloom... there's something here more than just a homicide..." She sighed and stood up. "... I hope the others are alright."

[Jack Baker 698]

@, 

Raze put a hoof on White's shoulder. "I know how you feel... something's wrong with this place. We just need to focus on finding Agririon and Shell, alright? Now... where to start..."

 

He looked around the room he was in, and found monitors recording security footage.

 

"Over there," he said, walking towards them. "Maybe these will tell us something...." As he walked over towards them, he began to playback the most recent recorded footage.

 

There was a hallway. It was empty at first, but suddenly, three security guards came running in. Pistols raised, they began shooting at something off-camera. Then, as if out of nowhere, a strange, hooded figure zoomed to the nearest guard and slit his throat. He then glided to the other two just as fast, doing the same to them. Looking up at the camera, Raze could clearly see the figure's face. It was a male, with stitches across the right side of his skull. The flesh from his body was almost non existing, with only a layer of skin left. His brain was slightly exposed from the left side of his skull, and his pupils were a yellowish red. He smiled slightly at the camera, then disappeared in a flash of static.

 

"What the..." Raze said. As he turned his head to face White, he noticed the figure right behind him. He raised up two knives, and brought both down on Raze and White. There was a flash of bright light, then... nothing.

 

A few minutes later....

 

Raze slowly opened his eyes, his head buzzing. Somewhere, he could hear a phonograph playing some classical music. His head was facing close towards the ceiling, and blood from some sort of wound began to drip onto it...

 

Wait. That wasn't right. Suddenly, a rat crawled in, tasting the blood, then quickly scampered away.

 

What was this? Had gravity changed during the few minutes he'd been knocked unconscious? He didn't even remember how he got this way... He sat up, and then saw his feet being suspended from a rope. He was upside down this whole time.

 

It was then he began to feel the blood rush to his head. He looked around. It looked like they were in a basement of some sort. Looking to his right, he saw White in the same position, although now awake yet.

Edited November 10, 2014 by Polnareff

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

Oh, pretty princess... wake up, please...

 

...

 

A few minutes passed before the chaos spirit sighed and tried again.

 

Being unconscious won't help your situation any. I must say, you are performing exceptionally poorly for such an exemplar of power that you are. Come on, wake up, already.

 

...?

 

There's some brain activity, at least. Open your eyes, or I'll manifest myself and slap you until you do.

 

Ugh...

 

I'm waiting for a comprehensible response, thank you.

 

Ixkom, go away... ouch...

 

Groaning, White's eyes fluttered open. She found herself suspended between the floor and the ceiling, with uncomfortable pressure on her legs as if the ceiling had some sort of gravitational pull. She felt something hot and sticky matting her coat and dripping own her back, but it seemed to have slowed down.

 

Welcome back to Reality, miss. Might I take your order for tonight?

 

Shut up... ngh... you aren't helping.

 

Helping? What's that?

 

With a sigh, she felt herself rotating slightly until she was able to catch sight of Raze out of the corner of her eye. "Raze...? What... what happened? Did the bastards sneak up on us?" She sucked in her breath as she reacted with pain, but exhaled quickly as that only flared the pain up. "I... I think they got one of my lungs." Releasing a small, shaky breath, she tried to minimize the movement of her lungs, coming out as a quiet wheeze. "I... I'll see if I can heal it in a moment... I need to wake up more... before I attempt anything..."

[Jack Baker 698]

@, 

 

Raze saw that White Rose was awake, then nodded. "Yeah. You do that..." he said as he continued to look around for anything that might help him. Everywhere he looked, he only saw corpses. Some hanging like he was, others... chopped up and mutilated until he couldn't tell what they were anymore. Suddenly, he saw a knife in front of him, stuck on an unmoving corpse.  He looked up at his feet once more to check the rope.

 

When he looked back, he was face to face with a monstrosity.

 

It was soaked in blood, its face covered in a steel mask. It was wearing a butcher's apron, with bits of flesh and blood caking it. It had a demonic aura about it, and as it towered over both Raze and White, it made huge, gasping breaths.

 

It was Agririon.

 

He looked back at both White and Raze the way a predator looks at his helpless prey, then moved on to the body next to them. Raze turned to White, and mouthed the words "stay still" to her. 

 

He didn't want to move his head; he didn't know what would happen if he did. All he could do was hear Agririon take a knife and start chopping up the body next to it.

 

(OOC: So this is where he comes in. Shelevan won't be until later))

Edited November 11, 2014 by Polnareff

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

White froze as the demonic entity that Agririon had begun began chopping up a body next to Raze- but, at the position she was, she could see all of the gory detail.

 

It did not surprise her to see him as a butcher. He often took on the form and appearance of one to scare or bloodily kill someone who had insulted him, but he usually did it in a bubble of energy so that others would be... unsuspecting of what exactly he did. However, the fact that he was actually butchering ponies next to her and she could see that he was doing just that almost caused her to throw up. It was her sense of self preservation at this point that prevented her from doing just that.

 

Hey, if you could throw me some leg meeeeaaaaaa.... never mind.

 

White sighed mentally. I certainly hope you only said that to joke and not to be serious.

 

Well... err... of course! I have no intention of touching that... err... brute's mind. Never have, probably never will. 

[Jack Baker 698]

@

 

A few seconds had passed, and Agririon had bisected the body next to them. He began to drag it all the way back to a table, and resumed chopping it up. With his back turned, Raze wasted no time in trying to get the knife that was right in front of him. He began to swing his body, and tried to grab it from the corpse. A few swings later, he managed to grab it, and, pulling the upper half of his body up, cut the rope that was suspending him, and fell to the ground.

 

"Ow," he said as he landed on his side. He looked at Agririon. Still chopping. Raze then cut down White from her rope. When he was finished, he reached to his side to grab his gun, but it wasn't there.

 

"I knew it," he said. "Our weapons are gone..."

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

She paused for a moment, making sure everything still moved properly. Her legs, her arms. Everything still moved. She still couldn't run for long periods of time until she was able to heal herself, but at least she was able to move.

 

Noting that they had no weapons, she looked around quickly. "Alright..." she whispered. "We have to get out of here before he's finished... somehow."

 

Looking around, she noticed two doors, one to their left and one directly in front of Agririon. With a short nod, she began slowly moving towards the door, making sure to stay close to places she could hide in case something happens, despite those places commonly being with other corpses.

[Jack Baker 698]

@,

Raze slowly moved with White towards the door she was heading, and going ahead of her, quietly pushed it open. The door led to a small flight of stairs, which opened up to a small platform directly above Agririon, who disappeared into another room. Still sneaking, Raze made his way across the platform towards another door. He was just about to reach it....

 

Snap

 

An alarm bell started going off. Raze looked around in shock, and then on his feet. He had activated a tripwire alarm, with the wire so thin it was almost invisible. Suddenly, there was a rattling coming from the staircase as Agririon spotted them, carrying a chainsaw. He began to rev it up, and with a primal scream, charged at both Raze and White.

 

"Shit!" Raze yelled, kicking the door open. He and White ran across a long hallway and into another door which Raze barged through. They were in a somewhat wide open room, with barely any light. Agririon had quickly caught up to both of them, and took a wild swing with his chainsaw while they were running. He had missed White, but managed to cut Raze in the leg. He screamed out in pain and fell to the floor.

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

All bets are off!

 

A stream of red energy projected itself from White as Ixkom's spirit solidified into something resembling a draconequus, albeit it seemed to be missing some vital part of it. It put it a paw and a claw in a fighting stance, exerting an influence that, while felt by the other ponies, would be irresistible to Agririon. Ixkom then proceeded to seal the deal by landing a hook punch into the back of the specter's head. Invariably, this drew Agririon's attention around at him. Uh oh.

 

With their attention turned away, White dragged Raze a short distance away and quickly looked over the wound. It was in the upper part of the leg, and it appeared to be just a flesh wound- it wasn't spurting blood. "Can you walk?" she asked him.

Edited November 15, 2014 by Magos Amphrose

[Jack Baker 698]

@

Raze got up, but with a bit of difficulty. Though the wound wasn't bleeding, it hurt pretty bad. The blades on the chainsaw were extra sharp.

 

"I think I'll be fine," he said, but when he tried to walk, a sharp pain came from his leg. He had partially split it open, and a bit of blood began to leak from it.

 

"Dammit, this hurts...."

 

Agririon grabbed Ixkom and threw him at White and Raze, and then turned to a small machine with a pedal. He pushed down on it, and iron bars came down from the ceiling, separating them and him. The lights came on in the room, revealing gigantic blades that began to spin and move slowly towards the group.

 

Raze took White by the hoof and began to quickly limp towards a door on the other side, and quickly made his way through, closing it.

 

He went towards a wall, and slowly sank down to the floor, propping the upper part of his body against the wall.

 

"I need to take a breather... Gotta let this sink in for a minute," he said, shaking his head.

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@, 

 

White Rose, upon quickly checking that the way was, in fact, clear, started channeling a spell to begin to heal their injuries. As she worked the magic, the skin and muscle of Raze's leg and back began to weave back together with a sensation alike to an intense itch. Trying not to think about the fact that Agririon was here and actively working for whatever darkness was present, she began to keep focusing as energy poured out of her slowly but surely.

 

As she finished, she let the magic fade, taking a breath before beginning to work on her own injuries. "I... never thought he would turn on us..." She said. "But... he acted like a mindless beast. And he didn't have his scythe... but did Shelevan suffer the same fate? Did she have her wits stolen and she is now working for whatever lurks here?" She shook her head before she submerged herself in magic again, beginning to work on her own wounds now that Raze's were, if not completely healed, then at least healed enough where he would be able to move at the speed that some of his melee weapons required to use properly.

[Jack Baker 698]

@, 

 

Raze sighed in relief as his leg wound healed. "Thanks," he said, getting up. He waited for White to finish working on her wounds, but then, there was a loud bang on the door in front of them, followed by more screaming. 

 

"Crap, he's here..." Raze said quietly, as he looked around. He saw a locker that looked big enough to fit the both of them inside.

 

"In here," he said to White, slowly taking her hoof and putting her and himself inside. He held White tightly in his hooves, looking out thorough the slits in the locker.

 

A few more bangs, and Agririon busted down the door, and charged inside. He looked around, and when noticing they weren't in the room, began to swing his chainsaw wildly, breaking bottles and other objects.

 

"Keep your breathing to a minimum..." he said to White quietly.

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

White painfully breathed shallowly, having been interrupted in her casting of her spell suddenly and, although her chest was starting to hurt like Tartarus, she complied, trying to keep the rasping of her breathing down to a minimum as she struggled to remain silent.

 

Wow... that hurt. I'm surprised that hurt as much as it did. But it had been a while since I stretched anyhow. So, how is everyone-

 

Stop talking. Please.

[Jack Baker 698]

@, 

 

After a minute, Agririon left the room, breaking down another door with his chainsaw. When the coast was clear, Raze opened the locker door, and gently helped White out as well. He looked at where Agririon left. Seeing no other way he could go, Raze snuck forward. There was another entryway to his left in front of him. He poked his head out a bit. Agririon was there now, his back turned. He was in a room filled with hospital beds and wooden crates, some of them already broken by Agririon in a fury. He kept grunting, looking for the two of them. Raze looked at White. 

 

"Ok, now's the time for you to get healed up," he said to her. "Once that's done, we need to sneak around him. if anything happens, just run for it. Got it?"

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

 

She sat down and began murmuring under her breath a meditation as she quickly delved into the stream of magic inside of her, feeling the familiar itch that came with a healing spell. It was almost unbearable, especially since she could feel in inside her lungs, but she managed to pull through. By the time the spell had ended, the damage was fixed enough for her to breathe easy, at least for the moment.

 

"Alright... that sounds like a plan." she said, coming up behind him in a crouch, ready to slink forward past Agririon quietly.

 

Don't mess up. I would hate to have ground pony sent to a taxidermist just to be able to bury you properly.

 

Let's not think about that for the moment.

[Jack Baker 698]

Raze quietly snuck behind one of the boxes. Agririon still had his back turned, and appeared to be blocking the only exit out of the room. He had to get past him. Looking down, he found an empty bottle, and an idea formulated in his head. He picked up the bottle, and aiming carefully, threw it at a wall. Agririon turned his head, and in a rage, ran towards the noise. That gave Raze enough time to quickly move towards the room that was blocked before, hiding behind a small counter. He found another bottle, and repeated what he did before. However, Agririon had just happened to walk into Raze's line of fire, and the bottle hit him instead. He quickly looked, and spotted Raze.

 

"Shit... RUN!!" he said to White, sprinting out of the room and into another door. It led into a long hallway cluttered with wheelchairs and stretchers, but at the end of it, there was a working elevator with old iron gate doors.

 

 

Raze quickly sprinted, nearly tripping over a random box in front of him, with Agririon quickly behind him, who kicked a wheelchair towards him. It hit Raze in the head, who fell on the ground, but quickly got up as the elevator doors opened up. Dazed, he ran in, pushing White inside before Agriron could swing his chainsaw at her, then threw himself into it as well. The doors quickly closed as if on cue, and Raze could see Agririon trying to cut the gates open with his saw before the elevator went up. The last thing he could hear was a loud bloodcurdling scream from below.

 

Raze sighed in relief, having escaped his former ally by the skin of his teeth. He looked at White, and held her lovingly in his arms, as the elevator took them to who-knows-where...

[That One Techpriest You Used To Know 2,286]

@,

After spending a moment calming down in her friends arms, White took a breath and straightened up, embracing her friend in return, trying to hide a few of her more tumultuous thoughts. How was the biggest question on her mind at the moment. A how could give her all the answers she needed to figure out the rest of the puzzle. After a moment, however, she felt something enter her mind, and, with a chuckle, Ixkom said, Well, that was fun. At least for the short moment. But why is it that every time I leave you, you end up melting in this stallion's arms? With a bit of a harrumph, he cast a short poke at Raze's head. I wish he'd leave you alone sometimes.

 

With a sigh, White let Raze go as the elevator finished its ascent and came up in some sort of lobby, meaning that they had been underground. Looking at him carefully, she slowly crept out of the elevator. There seemed to be no one immediately present. She took a breath. "Let's see how this could get any weirder..."

 

You know what happens when you say that.

 

Yeah, I do. Thanks for the help and all, Ix, but could you leave me alone for the time being? I'm trying to focus...

[Jack Baker 698]

@,

 

Raze made his way through the lobby, and into another door, which led to a long hallway. Suddenly, he recognized it. It was the same hallway from the security camera feed! 

 

"Wait a minute..." Raze said as he walked around. Suddenly, a huge but short earthquake rose up, shaking the building and the lights above them. After it had subsided, Raze began to run out of the hallway, for fear of what he was thinking was actually true. He ran through a set of double doors, and he was back at the lobby of the mental asylum. 

 

Another tremor started, then soon ceased. Raze ran through the front door, and when he opened it, he was shocked at what he found.

 

City buildings, collapsing on each other. A skyscraper tilted a bit, then slowly fell down to the earth below. The whole city was falling apart.

 

Raze just stood there, in shock, when the stallion that was waiting outside came up to them, carriage ready.

 

"Boss! Get in!" he said to Raze, who quickly took White by the hoof and quickly helped her and himself inside. The stallion wasted no time in leaving, speeding out of the roundabout as fast as he could.