private Whisper: The City of Darkness (DEAD)

[BlackShardNixium 277]

Libra stopped talking when she saw the City Hall looming ahead like a tomb. In the dying light, its crypt-like appearance caused her to shiver slightly

“Well….We’re here.” She said cautiously

Slowly, she began to ascend the white marble steps to the ridiculously humongous door. It was made of wood and metal, old and weakend   from years of neglect and termite rot. With a grunt, she pushed the right door open a bit, revealing shadowy darkness.

“Looks like we’ll just have to do without a light to guide us for now…” she said.

((Library people, I'm about to post a buck load of information for you guys to "discoever" in the OOC forum))

[Galvin Starlight 16]

"I was expecting some ominous level or button or something, I could mess with," Pisces said as he approached the dust covered tome. "I suppose you'll have to do," he said with a sigh. 

 

 

Pisces lifted the book in his mouth and brought it back into the main room. The stallion coughed at the heavy granules of soot and ash as he placed the book down. "All" cough "right. Let's see what we got here." Pisces opened up the book to a random page and began to read. The writing was crisp and clear, with incredible penponyship. Whoever had written in the book certainly held

 

 

Another one came in today asking about the same thing. Some weird pony figure stands in the edge of your vision, and oh so conveniently leaves before you can look at him. I don't understand why these ponies keep coming to my library when they should be going to a hospital! I mean honestly, what do they expect to find? Some ancient tome made of dragon skin that'll reveal some dark arts nonsense that'll tell them how to fix all their problems? All those stories a complete nonsense! There's a reason we call it the fantasy section!

 

 

"Well that's what I was hoping to find," Pisces said turning to another page, this one the style seemed to have devolved as if whoever was writing had decided that care wasn't exactly important any more.

 

 

Went to the doctor today. Couldn't help me. Told me to sleep. Sleep. Lie down. Close my eyes. I can't. I think if I stop it'll find me, whatever it is. I closed the library today. I need to search. There has to be something. Something. Something to tell me what's happening. Some medical case that shows similar symptoms. Can't be a coincidence. Too many. I have to find something. Something. Something to fix this.

 

 

"Blah blah blah, fixing things." Pisces turned to another page toward the end of the book. "I'm just gonna see what happens in the end.

 

 

The page was covered in scratches and marks that only resembled what normal ponies called the alphabet. In some of the corners small salt stains could be seen along with some other substance. Across the page was a single phrase had been scrawled out like a mantra to some unknown god or presence. 

 

 

it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me it will find me.

 

Pisces tossed the book over his shoulder. "Bored again," he cried out.

[Prince Midnight 817]

Midnight nodded and trotted out onto the balcony, "this is white rose," he smiled as the young unicorn came up beside him "she has a little more inormation on this place, but not much, just the name of the place and how she got here." he frowned, "any of you figure anything else out?"

[Psych Ward 377]

Arianna shook her head.  "Nothing," she said.  "You?" she asked, turning to Pisces.  She glanced at the book he had been reading. "I'm guessing not."  She sat on a small pile of books and let her mane fall loose from her headband.  Dust blew through the room.  No pony had been here lately.

[rolle 320]

Scorpiok followed libra after hearing that she found the town hall ¨uhhhmmm, whoever you are, its quite simple to get light¨ he quickly took some wooden stick from the ground that was full solid throughout and casted a fire spell ¨think this will do or should i make an orb of light instead?¨ he asked Libra if she thought the stick was good or an orb...

[BlackShardNixium 277]

Libra narrowed her eyes.

"The torch is fine." She replied flippantly, and turned around to continue forward, "and my name is not 'whoever you are'. It's Libra."

As she walked along the hall she inspected the various paintings and tapestries. No windows. The place smelled old and musty, like a cavern.

"We'll find the best information in the Mayor's office, but we'll have to visit the Archives as well. All the important information about the city will have to be there."

[rolle 320]

¨okay, okay no need to be bossy, you know¨ he looked at her ¨anyways lebra or however you say it... I didnt say your name was whoever you are, i said it because i didnt know your name¨ he quietly lifted the torch stick thing with his magic ¨hope your right... Or wrong in this case maybe.¨

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

White Rose caught the book and read it. "This looks like a diary or a journal." She read it all the way through. "Huh... but if this is what this is... who wrote this?" She flipped the book over and studied the front of this. "This could actually be an extremely important clue..."

[White Out 36]

Fan...bucking...tastic. There was a new one. Just what they needed.

Sagittarius was, of course, being sarcastic. Strength in numbers, and she seemed like another one of the scarce logical ones. It almost seemed fitting, as if their eleven ponies were simply supposed to be twelve, and her addition was the last piece of the puzzle.

He would introduce himself as well, but she seemed too interested in the newest of Douchebag McFlipOut Schizoid the Third's ammunition to pay him any mind. No matter; Sagittarius had more important things to do as well. Like...read. They were in a library, after all. In his usual silent manner, the ex-student flipped the nearest floor-book open and scanned its immediate contents.

'-three and a half cups of milk to-' 

It seemed like he had found the cookbook again. The very same one. Sagittarius was getting pretty tired of cookbooks by this point, but flipped a few pages ahead to humor himself.

The page was blank. Huh. A misprint? What kind of idiot chef printed a cookbook half-way and left the other half blank? Sagittarius flipped back a couple pages, wondering at exactly what page number the book had decided that being blank was the newest fashion trend.

Two pages back. Three. Four. The pages turned with their usual muted flicking sound. Still blank. Huh. The colt flipped a larger section backwards; twenty pages or so. Still blank. Sagittarius was sure he'd already passed the page he'd read the stupid cake recipe on, but the pages remained clean. This was the slightest bit worrying, if only for the lack of explanation. He flipped to the inside of the front cover, where he'd originally read the title 'Food for Thought'.

It was blank.

Okay. That wasn't creepy in the slightest. No sirree. Sagittarius cautiously flipped over the front cover itself, closing the book with a 'wumph'. The title was missing. Not even an author's name. Sagittarius shook his head, closed his eyes, and reopened them, putting his last hope on some newfound blindness.

No such luck; still blank.

Silently, the colt picked up the terrifying little book, and slid it into his previously empty saddlebag. He wasn't sure why.

[Prince Midnight 817]

midnight frowned, he had the bad feeling that there was something they were all missing.... 

growing to himself he looked across the balcony again, trying to find something he was missing, then noticed that the balcony suddenly cut off, quite violently, then looked up, a stairway, that only a pegasus could reach, smiling he spread his wings and flew up too the hidden stairway.

[BlackShardNixium 277]

Celestia knew what time of the night it was, and Libra found herself rummaging through a dusty old desk in some unknown, and probably dead, pony's office.

"Dammit. Everything so far here is useless!" She grumbled to herself, tossing away yet another file of mundane information. She opened the last compartment in the desk and stopped short.

"Hello.... What's this?" She murmured.

Curiously, she traced an odd emblem carved into the wood of the compartment. She squinted, using the light from Scorpiok's torch to properly look at it.

Her eyes widened.

It was an alchemic circle. A small ring with a pentagram attached to it by its points. In the center of the emblem was the crest of the Royal Sisters.

"What in the..."

There was an inscription that she couldn't quite make out scrawled across the bottom.

She inspected around the compartment. There was another, and infinitely smaller, sideways one adjacent to it. She realized what it was. Quickly she went over to the other side if the desk. Another small compartment, the exact same size and place as the other one.

"Hey Scorpiok, get over here for a second..."

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

White Rose sighed and walked into the next room, confident that if anyone were to strike at her, she would be safe, with a roomful of allies next door. She laid down on a dusty bed and began to read.

 

The senseless writing in the back seems to be what she would do when panicking. Like if her magic went out of control. But then she wouldn't be able to write.

 

Daemons...?

 

A chill seemed to go down her neck. Let's hope that this daemon stuff was just a conjuration of her paranoid mind... But was it?

[Galvin Starlight 16]

Pisces sat in the library rocking his head back and forth. 

 

Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. The stallion thought as his head moved side to side. To say that Pisces was bored was a complete understatement  He was practically made of wood at this point. Sitting in front of a window making sure nothing could get in like it was job. So bored.

 

"Ughhhhh," the stallion groaned as his head pressed itself to the floor on frustration. "Why can't anything interesting happen?"

 

'Are you sure that's what you want?'

 

"Yes," Pisces answered as his head shot upwards, "it is. Also, who said that?" Pisces looked around. Midnight had flown upstairs, which had prevented anypony from following him. The new pony was in the other room reading that book Pisces had found earlier. She was wasting her time. The characters weren't really believable and even less memorable, and the execution of the buildup to the climax was executed horribly. They didn't even kiss at the end. Sagittarius was the only pony Pisces could see currently so it certainly wasn't him. 

 

'Something interesting,' the voice continued, 'could be something bad or dangerous.'

 

That voice sounded very familiar to Pisces. It sounded very handsome as well. Probably intelligent, wise, a true scholar in fact. It also sounded very close. Pisces turned to his left. Draped across the bookshelf was a shadow. A pony-shaped shadow. A Pisces-shaped shadow. Pisces found this very interesting as there was no light source anywhere close enough or powerful enough to project such a shadow. "Hello," Pisces said, cocking his head to one side in confusion.

 

'You should really think about things before you say them. The same goes for your actions. You need to be careful,' the shadow said in Pisces' voice.

 

"Interesting thing, HO!" Pisces shouted in glee.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Galvin Starlight

[Prince Midnight 817]

midnight looked around the top room and the balcony, "hmm. what the hell is supposed to be here....." he frowned, looking around, he had a good feeling about this room, like something useful could be up here, but he couldnt figure it out, what was so special?

"Wenn Sie dies lesen können dann Sachen"

 

cocking his ear he frowned, "wenn" what? was he hearing things? 

he turned and walked into the center of the room, looking around at the bed then the desk, the voices got louder, the desk...he approached it, till the voices were almost unbareable, before stopping.

 

"very reassuring." he frowned.

[rolle 320]

Scorpiok had watched this libra pony search for quite some time before she finally stopped looking at some paper then walking around the desk looking more, he heard her call him to get there ¨okay, ill be coming¨ he said walking over to her having the torch by his side levitating it with a weak spell.

[Imagine 284]

The pony really actually didn't know anything about the land. Damnit. Aquarius was hoping to actually find out something about this forbidden place known as Delvia. But there was info about it in books she had finished flipping through. The pony's name is White Rose. Apparently. and she has a power that makes her magic go insane. She felt bad for her, stranded here like them, err....maybe. And not only that, but an insane horn.

[White Out 36]

In the small amount of time since Sagittarius had discovered the magic blank tome of un-knowledge, the stupid black pegasus 'leader' had decided to take a route that only a winged pony was able to take, effectively leaving the rest of the party alone, the new unicorn (was White Flower her name?) had wandered off to another room as well, and Pisces...was talking to a wall.

What about Arannia? Was she still sane? Please let Arianna be sane.

Arianna was sitting on a pile of books, it seemed. Sagittarius supposed that was sane enough. He at least had that anchor to the rational world, though that was like tying a rock to a string in the middle of an ocean and calling it a proper mooring. Sure, it fit the technical definition, but if you were planning on using it to actually dock yourself to anything safe, good luck hahaha!

But seriously, this group was bucking crazy.

Sagittarius decided to stick close to the most logical of the group, and shifted his location to Arianna and the pile of books underneath. Pisces was beyond help in his opinion; when ponies started talking to walls, the hope for recovery had already passed. Maybe Midnight would return with some semblance of hope. Or news about zomponies or something. With his luck, it was probably the latter.

[BlackShardNixium 277]

When he'd finally arrived, she motioned for him to stand in front of the other small compartment. She stood in front of the second one, gripping it tightly.

"This whole desk is a puzzle box," she explained, "and if we pull these two compartments open at the exact same time, it should open another one that was probably hidden away..."

She motioned for him to grab the handle of the compartment in front of him.

"We have to do this at the same time, and not a moment apart, or it won't work." She cautioned.

((Sorry if this has been posted before, but my phone is being ridiculous...))

[rolle 320]

¨well who knows if there is one but we could try... Since it would be a clue in it... Or a trap or a monster or a picture or nothing, so lets say 50/50 that it is working¨ he said putting his hoof ready to draw it out, he noticed that the room had gotten darker than before even the torch were going weaker 'is my magic going... Weak? How could anyone suck it out or am i just tired...' he thought focusing on what is happening.

[Galvin Starlight 16]

Please Pisces," the shadow said, ​"don't draw so much attention to yourself. You should be concerned that you're more than likely hallucinating right now."

 

"Wait a minute," Pisces said raising an eyebrow, "How do you know my name?" ​Pisces glared at the shadow, giving his best interrogation face, which was equivalent to that of a kitten. "Who are you? What makes you think I'm hallucinating? WHAT DID I HAVE FOR BREAKFAST THIS MORNING?!"

 

"Please, there's no reason to shout," the voice said calmly. "To answer your question, I don't know who I am or how I know your name. I think you're hallucinating because you're talking to a shadow that can't possibly exist given the currently level of light in this room. Finally, you didn't have breakfast this morning; you woke up and stared into a mirror for half an hour before heading to school."

 

"Well, that doesn't make any sense at all!" Pisces shouted. "How could not know what you are? Isn't this the part of the story where I gain guidance from a strange and mystical force? You can't give me guidance if you don't know what you are."

 

"Pisces, please keep your voice down," the voice pleaded. "Don't you remember this town was taken over by some dark presence? You need to be quiet. As for the advice, I am here to tell you something."

 

"Oh!" Pisces interjected as he began to bounce up and town, "Is it the location of a lost artifact? No, it's..... that I'm the chosen one foretold by ancient prophecy, or is it-"

 

"You need to stop."

[BlackShardNixium 277]

"Alright, remember, at the same time or it won't work." She said, "I just wanna see what's in here." Seeing that Scorpiok had his hoof on the compartment, ready to draw it out, she grabbed her own.

"Celestia, let this work..." she thought.

She slowly counted down from three to one before pulling on the compartment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sylas Darkwater had been watching the ponies for a while; ever since they had arrived in his city. He wasn't one to welcome intruders into Delvia, but this time was different. He had specially requested that they be brought here.

"The Guardians of Harmony have no jurisdiction here. They cannot help them." he mused to himself, grinning a wide, cheshire-cat grin.

This particular group was very special. He had a few tests in mind for them, of course. If they passed, he would approach them himself.

He turned away from the cloudy orb, which gave him access to his whole city. The ponies had apparently given him an amusing nickname. They'd called him the Presence.

With another laugh he turned towards a chessboard, set up and in play, on the tea table behind him. With a manic smile, he moved another black pawn; another step towards the win.

"Your move Celestia...."

Edited March 30, 2013 by BlackShardNixium

[Prince Midnight 817]

midnight frowned, there was nothing in the desk, except a bunch of markings embedded in the wood, but all of the paper was blank except for one, but it had symbols and was in a language he didnt understand. he stuffed it in his saddlebag anyway, mabey libra could make something of it. 

but for now, he turned as everything in the room suddenly decided they had enough of staying still and threw themselves at each other creating quite a racket, "NIGHTMARES MANE....." he jumped.

[Galvin Starlight 16]

"Stop?" Pisces, asked turning his head to the side, "Why? Are we playing freeze tag? Did I get tagged? Dang it! Somepony unfreeze me!"

 

"No," the shadow said despairingly. "Pisces, you need to stop this!" the shadow gestured to...well...all of Pisces. "You're not helping yourself by doing any of this, Pisces. You're going to have to wake up at some point."

 

"So this all just a dream," Pisces pondered. The pink stallion closed his eyes and scrunched his face in hard concentration.

 

"No, you can't make anything explode by concentrating on it, Pisces."

 

"Be quiet," the stallion said  not bothering to open his eyes, "this is my dream and I can if I think I can."

 

The shadow gave a final sigh. "You can't keep this up forever, Pisces. You need to get in the boat."

 

"What is that supposed to mean?" Pisces asked opening his eyes. The stallion was only met with the sight of a decrepit bookshelf, the shadow nowhere to be seen.

[rolle 320]

Scorpiok watched her silently as she pulled he rapidly with his magic could forsee it and pulled it out... And what happend? It sounded like something opened but he wasnt too sure because his eyes were going dim from using magic too much, he watched her in the dim light of his eyes only seeing her and nothing else. (he cant use normal magic too much derp)

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

White Rose felt a shudder, as if the fabric of the world itself was being torn apart.

 

She hoped that that was yet another conjuration of her mind.

 

She looked out the window to see a horde of the creatures- infected- gliding in the streets to the city hall. She hoped that, if anyone was there, that they would be all right...