private The Dream(e)scape

[Neikos 968]

It was already a few hours since he got brought under Vizen's memory spell and it's effects should slowly wear off, the side effects include giving Arcanel doubt about whether he truly ever had a marefriend to begin with. The candles right next to him gave off a sweet soothing scent, it was distinguishable strawberry which might be a surprising scent for a candle. Their thick smoke slowly filling the room and making anybody present uncomfortably warm and heavy.

 

Just outside the room, to the left in the corner you had two ponies, one had the other pinned down. "Do you think you can escape from me just like that?", the female pegasus chuckled, "Oh no, first you become what you deserve." With that she took the Unicorn's tail into her mouth and tucked on it before dragging him slowly into an adjacent room that was just as decorated as the one Arcanel is in. Once he could hear the door shut behind the pegasus mentioned earlier silence reigned again. At least for a moment, as delicate hoofsteps could be heard trough the door. As they drew closer one could hear a soft voice humming a known song troughout the lands. It was about a young pony falling in love with her captivator only to be killed by him later on. It was a sad song, but the melody was pretty.

 

Then, slowly, the door opened. It was Vizen, Arcanel knew her as her supposed marefriend. She was slightly covered: a dark blue coat, with longer pieces of tissue attached to it. It kind of gave the whole thing a ceremonial appearance. "Hello Arcanel", she started to talk first, "I'm really sorry about the... transportation. I hope Jim didn't go too hard on you." She would approach slowly, reluctant on whether Arcanel would jump on her or not. "But know that all this did not happen without reason. You have to help us." She paused for a moment, wanting to find the right words. "Before you speak, let me tell you who I am first. My name is Vizen, Vizen Morealis.", she paused again, "You might have heard of me as the leader of an occult movement in the outer ring, the Pentans. Which is one of the ridiculous name given by the Media to us."

 

 

The Pentans have been in the newspapers quite a few times the past months, mostly being accused of stirring fear in the population, they have been allegedly becoming more violent as well, with higher officials being kidnapped and magic-bombing houses.

[Arcanel 3,041]

As Arcanel waited for somepony to come, he started feeling an scent in the room. "Wait... is that strawberries?... That's... odd... but I definitely don't mind... although it is getting slightly smokey in here, but at least the smell is fairly good." He pointed out. While he was still on alert for anything to happen, he had felt the smell was still a nice thing to have at that moment.

 

Suddenly, he heard a door slam shut, which made Arcanel be on his hooves, ready for anything that came. *Something's going to come... and I don't need to be an oracle to know that...* he thought in waryness. However, his mind was yet again distracted by the sound of a familiar song. "Wait a minute... I know that song... almost everypony around here knows... but... why would it-" as he was talking, Arcanel interrupted himself as the sound of his room's door opening filled in his ears. As it did, he readied himself in his hooves and flared his wings. As the pony started entered, he had taken his guard down, if only slightly. It was the pony who was supposedly his girlfriend. *So... I'll probably know what's going on, it seems...* he thought, his mind still alert for anything that might happen.

 

 

 

"Hello Arcanel", she started to talk first, "I'm really sorry about the... transportation. I hope Jim didn't go too hard on you."

 

And at those words, the white pegasus raised an eyebrow. *Transportation?... Well... that means that if I really had any girlfriend, she isn't it, and that she had something to do with this. And she also knows my name... let's see what else she has to say.* he thought in waryness once more.

 

 

 

"But know that all this did not happen without reason. You have to help us."

 

*No, I'm going to guess it did not happen for no reason, but now they are asking for my help? Well, they better give a good reason on why.* he pondered sarcastically, as if he was mentally reminding the mysterious mare that he was hit on his head and dragged towards an unknown place.

 

 

 

"Before you speak, let me tell you who I am first. My name is Vizen, Vizen Morealis."

 

 

*Vizen Morealis... that name... it's familiar to me... but where did I...?* he wondered, as he tried recalling the name of the mare.

 

 

 

"You might have heard of me as the leader of an occult movement in the outer ring, the Pentans. Which is one of the ridiculous name given by the Media to us."

 

*The Pentans... oh, right... !* he shouted in his mind as he remembered. Normally, Arcanel was slightly oblivious to the news overall, even if he still checked from time to time, however, the Pentans had been a big name on the city, and  even he knew that they had been accused of several suspicious and dangerous crimes. *But... why in the world would they want me?... I guess I'll only have one way to find out... and it's also not that bad of a name...* he decided and thought before subtly shaking his head as he prepared himself to speak to the blue mare and Pentans leader, Vizen.

 

"Alright... you want my help... and I'm always up to help others if I feel they deserved to be helped. But before anything, I need to ask some things." He started as he gave a small pause before continuing. "First things first, I got hit on my head very hard, thank you very much, but I'm guessing that's actually being nice, so I appreciate your "Jim" not roughing me up any further. Second, if you know my name, I'm guessing you know what I do and who I am, so I guess that's out of the way as well." He pointed out before going to ask the questions he needed.

 

"Now... why me? And why would I help you? What do you need from me that would require my help? Or more importantly, I'm guessing I don't have a choice either way, correct? Otherwise, you would not have dragged me from my house and used a ruse to bring me here as well." Arcanel determined as took a small pause to take some breath before continuing. "I'm assuming that if the leader of an alledgedly dangerous group wants my help, it either means that you're not bad, or you want me to do something bad, so which one is it?" He finished, as took on a very serious expression, wanting to know as many details as Vizen was willing to give. "Will you answer my questions? And just for the sake of courtesy, hello to you to." He greeted, putting on a smile before fading to a serious expression again. It could have been odd for him to have been greeting his kidnapper, but he was polite by nature, and he didn't feel any dangerous vibes from the blue mare, this time trusting his instincts.

[Neikos 968]

Vizen sighed in relief, "Thank you for giving us at least a chance to explain ourselves.". She was fully aware that it was probably not genuine interest and more a logical conclusion given his current state but there was no need to explicit that.

"You won't have to do anything", she then continued, taking a few steps back, "We only need you and your status". The mare paused for a moment, her horn starting to glow. A small light flew towards Arcanel. As it's seemingly soft existence touched him it instantly got annihilated. Arcanel would feel a bit warmer before glowing and getting back to normal again. "Okay, now come with me. Don't stop following me. You don't want to get lost." With that she turned around and went trough the door again, waiting outside.

Once Arcanel would be outside as well she would close the door behind him. "Now, you wanted information. You only need to know this much though because what will follow is too dangerous. If you get tortured you shouldn't be able to talk about us." From time to time she would look over to him, making sure he followed. "What we need you to do is simple. Get caught.", she paused, "We already reported you missing. They will take you in and probably question you." She looked towards him and stopped, "But this you must know. The City is not safe anymore. Things are going to get ugly really soon and we are here to stop this. It doesn't need much to save the city. Kill the mayor. But he is unattainable due to the magical gates protecting him.", she poured all of this out in just a few moments. "Basically, the whole city is meant to be used as a powerful magical catalyst to channel everyponies' magic into a single fragment of what is to be believed the soul of Discord, one of the warmongers from centuries ago.", she paused again, catching some breath, "We don't know what their plans are exactly  Do they want to bring him back? Use his powers? But one thing is sure. All this sudden energy dissipation will probably kill most of the residents. We cannot let that happen."

 

Not far away, hidden by magical means two ponies talk in front of what seems to be a special table. "Do you think Vizen will convince him? He seemed to be a smart fella, I don't want the plan to go bad now.", the other pony calmed him down. "Nah, don't worry. She got this. After all he fell to her charms and magics once before." They then took a metallic rod and placed it in the middle of aforementioned table. "Okay, initiate the procedure". The other one nodded and subsequently his horn started to glow before shooting towards the rod. The whole table would then start to glow and a star form with five extremities started to show. The whole spectacle was gone as fast as it arrived and the metal rod would sit there. It seemed that nothing had happened with it. "Okay, starting phase two.", the female then warned and took the rod with her magic slowly transporting it to a box nearby. "I think it holds enough energy right now.", they both nodded. "Starting phase three.", they both started a spell, their horns only faintly glowing. Suddenly the small container jumped,  it looked like a violent explosion happened in it. As they reopened it a metallic liquid came out of it, the rod seemed to have melted.

[Arcanel 3,041]

 

 

"You won't have to do anything"

 

Arcanel had to admit that after Vizen mentioned those words, he felt it was anitclimatic. However, after she said they needed his status, he was surprised not right before he was struck by a small light, which made him feel warm, but quickly passed. *What in the world was that? I don't feel any different... hmm... I'll ask her later. Although she's bold. Throwing an unknown spell on the hostage you want to cooperate doesn't seem like the best way to work, unless it was for a certain reason.* He thought. After he started following the blue mare, he felt the door close behind him, when nopony had closed it. *Hmmm... that's odd...* he pondered, but did not dwell in it further to not lose track of Vizen.

 

 

 

"Now, you wanted information. You only need to know this much though because what will follow is too dangerous. If you get tortured you shouldn't be able to talk about us."

 

*Ouch... I knew that "doing nothing" probably had dangerous implications anyway...* he reflexed.

 

 

 

"What we need you to do is simple. Get caught."

 

"Huh?" Arcanel let out, completely confused by his "mission". *I have to get caught? But... why would I...-* his thought was interrupted as Vizen continued.

 

 

 

We already reported you missing. They will take you in and probably question you."

 

*Well, that explains that. Makes sense, since I'm fairly known around the area and my disappearance would be noticed.* The white pegasus determined.

 

 

 

"But this you must know. The City is not safe anymore. Things are going to get ugly really soon and we are here to stop this. It doesn't need much to save the city. Kill the mayor. But he is unattainable due to the magical gates protecting him."

 

*They are going to WHAT?!* he mentally shouted, as the bomb of the Pentans' intentions were to kill the mayor of the city. Howver, before he could ask anything about it,  Vizen continued.

 

 

 

"Basically, the whole city is meant to be used as a powerful magical catalyst to channel everyponies' magic into a single fragment of what is to be believed the soul of Discord, one of the warmongers from centuries ago."

 

*They... I... wha?* he babbled in his mind. He was absolutely flabbergasted by everything Vizen was saying, and his face showed it by opening his eyes as wide as he could.

 

 

 

"We don't know what their plans are exactly  Do they want to bring him back? Use his powers? But one thing is sure. All this sudden energy dissipation will probably kill most of the residents. We cannot let that happen."

 

Arcanel was beginning to feel slightly overwhelmed at the sudden flux of information. *They need to kill the mayor to stop what could be the resurrection of one of the biggest warmongers that has ever touched the city which could cause the death of many inhabitants...?* he asked as if trying to reassure what Vizen had just said, rubbing his head slightly. *Okay... this is not what I had in mind when I asked about information...*he pondered, still slightly overwhelmed. After a few seconds of gathering his mind together, he took a deep breath and went to speak out loud.

 

"Okay... this is not what I had in mind when you were going to tell me about your plans. I'm slightly shocked to be honest. And that might be a underestimation. However, my feelings aside... I'm not sure what to think of all this. However, I am a pony of reason, and I'm not just going to outright say that everything you just told me is a lie. Before I accept, there are some things I'd like to know." He started, his voice now recovering from the slight shock it had initially. "I'm not going to ask "Why should I trust you?". Instead I only ask that you tell me how exactly all of that you said, with as much details as possible, will happen, and you can count on my undevoted help. With this, I don't mean to tell me what the Pentans will do. Just how exactly they may use the energy of Discord and such and what has the mayor to do with all this. Because I also realize, that the more I may know of the plan, the darker it might get, and the less I'd want to participate in it." He declared. "Speaking of undevoted by the way, something you should know about me is that I'm loyal. I would not betray you unless everything you had told me was a lie. If it's not, then I will do everything in my power to not say a single solitary word about this." He assured the Pentans' leader.

 

"You said that they would question me and I agree. Now, I can lie, but I have to make the lie first. What should I say? And also, I do not know much of unicorn spells, but I'm thinking that there might be memory search spells they could use on me against my will, and while your base's location would probably be safe, everything else will not. I may be trustworthy, but with how things may be going around, I might not be able to smooth my way around. And I'd like to be alive thank you very much. Even if I blocked myself against such kind of spells, they would be suspicious and think that I may be working with you, in which case I'm screwed. So, do you suggest anything for me to do?" he asked the blue mare, hoping she'd have an answer. "And by the way, you may not like the name, but I think The Pentans is a cool name." Arcanel finished, letting a small smile in his face come out.

[Neikos 968]

Vizen was smart, a bit too much for her own good it seems as she tends to over think a lot of trivial matters. But this was different. For here the outcome of their discussion was a life or death situation. Not necessarily for her as Arcanel will probably soon discover.

 

As she saw Arcanel's reaction Vizen chuckled softly, she knew this reaction very well. Most of the ponies she now works with had a similar one. She then listened to what he had to say. Nodding along the way when she agreed or just felt that it was appropriate. The remark about the Pentans named made her raise an eyebrow but she did not comment on it.

 

"A pony of reason, hm?", she repeated after Arcanel, citing him. "Only time will tell.", she paused for a brief moment, "So you want to know more... I can give you a bit more. But let's continue to our destination, time is cutting short." She would lead them to door and open it with her magic. Whether that was required or not is not immediately clear. "But let me take away one preconception right away. We do not need trust. You can go about and start shouting what I just told you. Chances are they will imprison you so you won't speak. You could tell them I told you all of this. But they probably already know, and that's why they want to find me." As you pass by a table you could see the newspaper of today on it. Only the frontpage was visible, but on it you could see what seems to be a hole in a house. The source is not clear from the picture, but the title immediately gives it away: "Suicide or Murder? Pony blows up in mysterious case." It then tells to go to page 4 to continue reading. You wouldn't have the time to do so though as Vizen just continues down a hallway. This compound seems to be large...

 

Vizen then stopped in front of what seems to be a whiteboard. "Okay, let me explain you how Pentagons work. We don't have much time so it's a bit watered down." Using her marker she would start to draw a perfect circle, then inside, a pentagon. A regular one. "I am pretty sure you know what this is. For the most basic things a regular pentagon suffices. Then you write the five elements next to each corner." The marker would fly to the board and write down "Fire", "Earth", "Air", "Water", "Power". 

"Using magic or powered objects you can create or transform other objects. It sounds a bit like alchemy but it's all a bit different. Mostly because an Unicorn is needed somewhere in the chain.", she paused, "Which is also why most of the generals so long ago were Unicorns." Letting all this sinking in. "The most interesting bit is that you can go from Element to another with no cost. So most of the Generals used this to transform some of their Water into Power ten-folding their Magical Power. Of course nobody told this ever to anyone outside of a small circle of confidants so this got all forgotten and at most is a myth." Vizen would now look towards Arcanel. "This here is the most powerful invention known to Ponykind, and thus the most dangerous one. But it is not done yet. You can do so much more than what they did centuries ago. Unicorns aren't the only ones capable of using it. Magic is still required though, but there are many sources." She seemed to be completely enthusiastic about all this, she probably discovered this property. 

"The details are not important for you right now. Let's get ready.", with that said she would erase the figure she drew and turn towards another hallway. "I want you to keep calm. Experiments are being run and interrupting one can have... devastating results." She then disappeared inside it.

[Dave247 568]

Daylight waited as the guard took his map temporally, and seemed to be doing something with it. his horn started to glow, and at the same time he felt his badge begin to slightly vibrate which alarmed him at first, and give off a wisp of energy which traveled to and met up with the map. Satisfied with whatever it was that just took place the gave him his map back which he folded up and put in one his pockets, as well as explicitly adding that it was an offense if he were to stray from his given path.

“That’s... rather strict. Still, I’d better adhere to it. I’m not entirely sure what it what he just did with my map but... I have a feeling it’s tied to the badge somehow.” He thought as he watched the guard step aside and and thin a small area of the shield big enough that he could clearly see, as well as walk through. “Thank you.” he said to guard and nodded, before proceeding to walk through the barrier. “I’m sure the vibrating was important too... I must make sure I stay aware if it happens again.” He thought as he walked though.

As soon as he did so, he looked back at the barrier to see that it had solidified again, meaning that he was stuck in the inner city, for now at least. The first thing he did was have a good look around at his surroundings. Everything was extremely well kept that there was not a speck of dirt to be seen. He frowned. “If anything... it’s too well kept. How on earth do they keep it so spotless?” He wondered as he noticed a pony armed with a broom walking nearby. “It can’t just be all the work of one street sweeper...”.

Day then suddenly remember why he was there, and that he still had a deadline to adhere to. Pushing the questions out of his mind for the moment, he took out and unfolded the map to have a close look at it.

“Hmm... it doesn't seem to be that far away but... I wonder why it’s marked for me to take these small alleys... granted it may be a bit more direct but... possibly more dangerous too...”

He looked back to where his current position was. he noticed the Information's building marked on it and looked up to see as it had been said to him, there it was to his right.

“There are a good many things I could ask them about but... that would most likely end up making me late for my appointment if I went in there. I best leave visiting there till later if I still have the chance.” he thought. And with that he folded the map back up, he started off down the main path.

Not too far down he came to an intersection with a small alleyway branching off to the left. Day stopped took the map back out again and sure, his path was marked to go down there. He took a good look both ways and then back down at his map.

“The alleyway doesn't look very inviting and I should be able join up to the path if I keep going a little further before turning...”.

Regardless that Daylight still very clearly remembered what had been said to him by the guard and he wasn't to break rules, he wanted to if anything would happen if he strayed from his path. Taking breath, he took a few steps in the wrong direction before stopping suddenly, alarmed. His badge had begun to vibrate again, but only very slightly.

“Hmm...” He pondered, before taking a few steps back to where he had just been standing previously. As he had expected, the badge stopped vibrating.

“I knew that was going to be somehow significant... and I don’t want to test it unnecessarily as I have no idea what the consequence could be.” he thought, before starting off down the small alleyway. “Luckily I only have to walk though a few of these so It shouldn't be that bad.” as he looked around at his surroundings.

Daylight kept walking stopping at each intersection to make sure he was still on his path before continuing at a leisurely trot. He still had a fair bit of time and he estimated he should get to his destination in a short while.