private Sojourn Inn

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,@,

 

Curious was, for not the first time that day, placed into a position in which he felt utterly powerless. It was a feeling he absolutely hated. To always have control of any situation, to have everything conform to his whims. "And, ironically, this seems like it would have been the perfect place to cater to my whims. No... no, it's done none of that."

 

He considered his options, they all seemed bleak. Dive in hopelessly after Cerulean? Abandon the situation? No, there was no easy solution. He flew up higher, back to the open door. He wasn't the strongest of flyers, and he was in no state to safely keep himself hovering for very long. He landed back in the hallway, but turned around and peered his head down to the dark pit, "If you can hear me, I am not leaving! I'll..." he felt a lump in his throat, "I'm getting help, just please... don't die." He knew it was probably in vain to call down to Cerulean, but he had hope his message would somehow get across.

 

He galloped full speed through the corridors, taking several turns. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew that didn't really matter. He just knew he had to find somepony.

 

He found his mind slipping into a trance, no sound but his own hoof steps reverberating through the halls. He tried to keep any thought aside from his utter panic from entering his mind. Tears started to form in his eyes, and blurred his vision.

 

When he returned to lucidity, he was no longer in the halls of the inn. It was an open and expansive garden, but not the image of the Royal Gardens. He slowed down his gallop, and he looked around. He saw nothing, and nopony. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He had trouble calming himself, without his trusty scarf wrapped soothingly around his neck, but he knew that he just had to get into a calm state of mind. He took another deep breath, and several more after that.

 

Eventually, his senses started to sharpen. He still had his eyes closed, but the breeze on his face felt so much more vivid, the dirt under his hooves had distinct texture, and the sound... he heard even the faintest of breezes pass through the grass. But, in the distance, he heard something far more important. "Hoof steps." 

 

He kept his eyes closed and trotted in the direction he heard the pony.

[River 59]

@@GaleFenrir, 

 

Cerulean felt so happy right now. "You're so handsome, Curious." She thought for a moment, how was he so forward like this? It's too good to be true. Is she dreaming? "What's happening to me? You're not the real Curious!" She felt bad for saying that, he looked like himself.. But he wasn't acting like himself.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Symphony had lost herself in the motions: it was almost like she had gone back several years to when she went by a different name. Spinning as she dived around another corner, beams of refracted light shin in every direction: a distraction she had learned in her early years in the city.

 

It would have been a glorious sight if she hadn't collided bodily with Curious as she landed.

 

"Aha!" she yelled, snapping back to reality with a start before looking to see who she had hit.

 

"Ahem. Do you mind?"

Edited June 25, 2013 by Cinderscribe

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,

 

Curious felt himself tumble into the ground, and he opened his eyes. He closed them almost immediately, upon seeing the such bright light of the sun, refracted through the crystalline pony, with his back on the ground. He opened them back up slowly, seeing the very much welcomed sight of Symphony.

 

"Symphony! No time for chit chat! Help! Please! Now, go! Yes!" He said hurriedly, growing increasingly nervous about the whole affair. He reached a hoof up to tug at his scarf, but to his dismay, it still wasn't there.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@@GaleFenrir

 

"... What?"

 

She probably would have given him another earful if he wasn't acting so unusual - his scarf was missing and he was tripping over his own words. Not like the pony she had met this morning.

 

"Look, calm down and start making sense. What's wrong?" She pulled him to his hooves. "Is this to do with what happened to you earlier?"

 

'Why do you care? This isn't you! Look out for yourself!'

 

She shut out the voice - nopony told her what to do. Not even herself.

 

"Lead the way, but I want answers."

Edited June 25, 2013 by Cinderscribe

[GaleFenrir 281]

@, 

 

"Lead the way? Lead the way? That's a good one!" Curious said, chuckling, but then he abruptly stopped chuckling, "How the buck am I supposed to lead the way to anywhere in this place? I have only the slightest idea how I got in this garden, how I found you, how am I supposed to lead you? Besides there's the bloody interference of having multiple ponies, gah!" He said hurriedly, trying to get up off the ground, and he looked to Symphony with a twitch in his eye.

 

Curious started trotting, pacing, really, back and forth, breathing heavily, "Dammit, Symphony, slap me already!"

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

She was all too happy to oblige, bringing her hoof around against his face sharply.

 

"Answers, now!" She shouted, frustration growing. "Snap out of it Curious or I'll knock you out cold and figure it out myself, your a liability like this!"

 

She was a little nervous: he had seemed so sure of himself - what had happened to shake him like this? It wasn't like she hadn't dealt with dangerous and downright strange situations before but...

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,

 

Curious brought his hoof up to massage the sore cheek, but he had a smile on his face, "thanks." He put his hoof back down on the ground.

 

He continued in an evenly paced, but still quick, explanation, "Right, answers. Well... this Inn has crazy magic, shows you things you want to see or don't. But they aren't just illusions! They're manifestations, you see, of your id, or your ego, pretty much whichever is strongest. And that means..." Curious paused, tapped a hoof on his chin, and then shrugged, "well, I have no idea what that means, but dammit, ponies can get hurt! And somepony has! A sweet innocent mare has! And I couldn't do anything by myself, so you were right there. Just, we need to do something and I don't know what!"

Edited June 25, 2013 by GaleFenrir

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

"oh come ON!" She said loudly. A while ago Scribe had told her that 'weird things just seem to happen wherever he went'. She was starting to understand the feeling.

 

"Right, show me where it happened. If your right this time you should be able to find the place by... I don't know, really wanting to find it? Which I'm sure you do."

[GaleFenrir 281]

@, @,

 

"So long as you want to as well, things get kinda clunky when two want different things."

 

He started to trot in a random direction, confident Symphony would follow him. "Let's see... um, well, the outside is kinda funky. I got here with my vision all messed up. I don't know if that's necessary, but I am not going to take that chance!" Curious said loudly, closing his eyes. "Just trot along blindly! But... erm, try to keep focused on my voice."

 

He continued on, and he stopped feeling the wind caress his face, and he opened his eyes. "There just like that!" he, exclaimed, turning around to see if Symphony had followed.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

"Calm down, I'm here." The crystal mare said, seeing the concern on his face. "I should really be running in the other direction but apparently I'm too stupid to save my own hide these days."

 

Shaking her head, Symphony wondered how it was that she always ended up helping others. It went against everything she had learned growing up.

 

"Uh, wait a minute. You said ponies 'wants' manifest themselves? You mean like, become real?" She asked "because we might have another small problem. Maybe. I'll let you know."

Edited June 25, 2013 by Cinderscribe

[Ampharos 1,009]

@,@@GaleFenrir,

 

Dust turned a corner and qutie literally ran into Curious. He could see a somewhat look of panic on his face. "Curious what's wrong? Ya'll look like you're about ta fight a manticore." Dust didn't smile at the joke, because it wasn't a joke. He was genuinely concerned for what was happening.

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,@,  

 

Curious looked at Symphony inquisitively upon her claiming they might have another problem. He shook his head and resolved to deal with that later, "emergency mode right now." He took a few steps forward before turning his head back to look where he was going, and he ended up colliding into somepony very dusty. Curious had to hold back a sneeze from the sudden pollutants in the air.

 

"Right, Dust. Just the kinda Stallion that could help. Well, if we can find some rope, anyway." Curious said, too absorbed in his own worry to bother explaining exactly what he meant by any of that.

Edited June 25, 2013 by GaleFenrir

[Ampharos 1,009]

@@GaleFenrir,

 

"Rope? What? Curious what in Equestria is goin on? What da ya mean just the pony who can help? What happened?" He didn't expect Curious to be one to panic. He wasn't showing it, but Dust knew that he was. He noticed a slightly opened door and was drawn to it. He opened it completely and saw a long piece of rope.  "Well ah found yer rope Curious..."

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,@@GaleFenrir,

 

"Hmm?" Curious hummed, one end of the rope in his mouth, as he was trying to tie it around his barrel. It wasn't easy to do, but after rolling around on the ground a bit he managed to get it firmly wrapped around himself. He finished with a simple but effective knot he learned from a scout master he had met once.

 

Curious spat the rope out of his mouth and stood up on his hooves, "Cerulean is in danger, no time to explain! Just follow me! You too Symphony!" Curious said loudly, breaking into a full gallop down the hall.

[Ampharos 1,009]

@@GaleFenrir,

 

Dust was very fast for his size. So even though Curious had gotten a rather large headstart after the initial shock, Dust easily caught up with him. "She's in trouble? What happened? Should ah run faster?" Dust had millions of questions running through his head. But he answered the last question himself and picked up speed, easily getting several paces in front of Curious.

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,@,

 

"Yes. Magic dark pit of water. You are." Curious said quickly in between breaths as he galloped at a increasing speed, trying to keep up with Dust. The trip was taking longer than Curious had been hoping for, to which he deduced it was because of Dust's utter confusion.

 

"Look, just, no more time for questions! Action!" 

[Ampharos 1,009]

@@GaleFenrir,

 

Dust was hardly breathing heavily. He gained a near endless supply of energy and endurance from working on the coal mines for nearly 20 years. Save Cerulean. Got it.  He turned a corner and nearly fell into the water in Cerulean's room. He turned and stood firm so that when Curious turned the corner they wouldn't both fall in the water.

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,@,

 

Curious bumped back into Dust at the abrupt stop, but thankfully Curious just bounced off of him. "Great, we are here... let's see, I really haven't thought through a proper plan, but for now, you and Symphony stay back up here just in case. Grab hold of the other end of the rope firmly in your mouth, I trust you are strong enough to support my weight." Without waiting for Dust to actually follow his command, Curious went pass him and dived down into the pit.

[Ampharos 1,009]

@@GaleFenrir,

 

Dust quickly fumbled to get the rope in his mouth. Luckily, the rope was long and he had plenty of time to grab it before Curious went under. He held tightly on the rope, for Curious was slightly heavier than he looked. Of course, Dust had pulled carts of coal much heavier than the pegasus, but using just his mouth told hold and entire pony was a little overwhelming. He felt the rope loosen. Either Curious hit the bottom, or the rope came undone. Ah'd rather not think bout that...

Edited June 25, 2013 by Fancy Ram

[GaleFenrir 281]

@,

 

Curious splashed through the water, and it felt... oddly dry. Furthermore, he had no trouble with water filling his lungs. he couldn't see a thing, but he figured out which way was down easily enough. He swam effortlessly through, and he closed his eyes. Not because the water was stinging his eyes, but because he wanted to sharpen his mental focus.

 

Eventually, he felt himself hit solid ground, and light behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes, and looked around, he saw nopony, but he had hope that Cerulean would be with earshot. "Cerulean! Cerulean! Can you hear me? Where are you?" he yelled.

[River 59]

@,

 

Curious splashed through the water, and it felt... oddly dry. Furthermore, he had no trouble with water filling his lungs. he couldn't see a thing, but he figured out which way was down easily enough. He swam effortlessly through, and he closed his eyes. Not because the water was stinging his eyes, but because he wanted to sharpen his mental focus.

 

Eventually, he felt himself hit solid ground, and light behind his eyelids. He opened his eyes, and looked around, he saw nopony, but he had hope that Cerulean would be with earshot. "Cerulean! Cerulean! Can you hear me? Where are you?" he yelled.

 

Cerulean heard Curious. She looked up and saw the fake Curious about to kiss her again. "No!" She said, and pushed him off, he disappeared and she felt to the ground. "Um, Curious! I'm over here." She saw Curious appear and smiled. She wished that the illusion was real.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

"So..." Symphony said, looking about nervously - seemingly bothered about something other than the situation at hand. "I take it you know this filly too?"

 

Cerulean... She must have been one of the mares she had seen but not spoken to. Regardless, if she was in trouble...

 

'Get out of there, look after yourself. When has putting others first ever helped you?' She heard a voice in her mind.

 

"Uh, Dust?" She said. "I've got to do something. It's important. Just..."

 

How could she word this without sounding crazy? It sounded crazy to herself.

 

"If I say anything, don't listen. Ignore me - keep hold of the rope, get them out."

 

And she stepped out of the room and around the corner.

Edited June 25, 2013 by Cinderscribe

[GaleFenrir 281]

@, 

 

Curious heard Cerulean's voice, and he let out a sigh of relief, "she sounds safe..." He started to walk in the direction of her voice when a stray thought entered his mind, "what if it's not really her? What if it's just an illusion, my own wishful thinking?"

 

Curious hurried over to Cerulean and saw her smiling, "Cerulean, thank goodness your safe."

[River 59]

@, 

 

Curious heard Cerulean's voice, and he let out a sigh of relief, "she sounds safe..." He started to walk in the direction of her voice when a stray thought entered his mind, "what if it's not really her? What if it's just an illusion, my own wishful thinking?"

 

Curious hurried over to Cerulean and saw her smiling, "Cerulean, thank goodness your safe."

Cerulean began to sob a little. What she saw before wasn't real. He really didn't love her, nor did he even kiss her. What was wrong with this place? "Oh, I'm okay. I don't know how I got down here. I thought you came with me.. You kissed me even." 

"What's happening to me?"