open Beyond these Walls: An adventure through Equestria. (Applications open!)

[00Pony 286]

Saronyx had found nothing, save where the one that had gotten launched into the forest had once been, and had moved on. He did not tarry long in the forest, knowing that all of the companions that he had seen were on their way back, and the trail her was following from this one was leading back to the expedition's camp anyway. He had arrived only a few minutes after Blizzard had, and rather than engage in any sort of conversation, or much social interaction in general, the Crystal stallion had resolved himself to lying against a rock, and resting his eyes, and body.

In doing this, he was simultaneously meditating on all that he had learned from his encounter with Orion. For one thing, the Litany could speak through him, and it was frighteningly knowledgeable - from what he'd gathered, at least. That, and it could speak through Orion. The fact that the book itself was sentient, to a degree, sent shivers down the Visionary's spine. He was not the biggest fan of such things. Saronyx was aware of the many conversations going on about him, from Willow speaking to a voice he did not recognize - though on his way back in he had noticed at least two new more he did not recognize, so it probably belonged to one of them - and even the medic treating the Pegasus who had been catapulted.

 

But among all of these, none broke Saronyx's focus on his meditations. That was, until he began to hear, and feel, various explosions. And they were getting nearer. He it took him a second to deduce that it was Orion, no doubt searching for his sister. And going with how his companions had likewise fallen fairly silent, they had figured the same thing. Saronyx stood, letting out a heavy sigh, "Now, let us hope that things go a little more... smooth, than last time." He thought to himself.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@,

Blast sighed and facehoofed, causing Eclipse to groan.

"What is it?" Eclipse asked him, waking up.
"Trouble." Blast responded. "An alicorn named Orion. He's after the Litany, too."

"Ugh, another one?? This thing must be pretty important." Eclipse commented.

"Just stand your ground, Eclipse." Blast said. "This guy means serious business." Blast and Eclipse got into a battle stance beside everypony else and got ready for the worst.

Edited October 27, 2013 by StevenEarthPony

[Kulstor 254]

"What?" Rakon said looking in the direction where he thought he heard an explosion or something.  He looked in the direction of where he thought where the explosion had happened.  @Blazing Hoof   "Did you hear that?  I wonder what is going on.  Maybe some of the others know." Rakon said as he looked around to see what the ponies around them were doing, if anything.

[Icy Void 19]

"I'll make sure he gets the proper dose, Silver. Thanks." Midnight said in gratitude before he noticed that the blasts sounded like they were getting closer. It wasn't too hard for Midnight to guess what it was, it had to be Orion coming for his sister, but he really didn't want to go through this when they had only just finished bandaging Blizzard up. "Oh great, trouble is coming. Looks like our alicorn friend is coming, maybe I should thank him for how well  he treated Blizzard. I don't exactly have a lot of friends, so I tend to take it personally when one is nearly killed." Midnight said in a tight voice, his anger clearly audible. Normally he would have gone out of his way to control his emotions before what wold likely be a battle, but Blizzard was closer than most of his family except his little sister. Blizzard had always been a loyal friend and Midnight couldn't help but hold himself accountable for how badly Blizzard was hurt, so letting his anger add to his power Midnight set Blizzard down and began gathering as many sticks that somewhat resembled whole trees as he could and sticking them in the ground. 'I've had plenty of experience doing this with trees, so the spell should be easier to maintain. Even so, I should restrain myself to only four trees at a time, I don't want to exert myself too much.' he thought as he cast the sympathy spell through the sticks into nearby trees, ready to actually contribute to the group for once.

 

"Oh great, now I can watch helplessly as you're all killed." Blizzard said in frustration when Midnight finally set him down. He wasn't used to being on the sidelines during a fight, but knew that with his injuries he'd be worthless in the fight anyway. 'And all this for one mare and a magic book. What has Equestria come to.' Blizzard thought angrily as he sat there waiting for something to happen.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.
 
The ground shuddered one final time: not from the departure but from Orion's very appearance: bolts of lightning crashed down as he materialized dead center of the group. The surprise of appearing exactly where he had been hoping to find lasted only a moment before he reared up and brought his hooves smashing into the ground: the air itself seeming to shake with the force it created.
 
His anger fueling his already significant magical power and the guidance of the strangers voice, the Alicorn knew that he could crush anything in his path: and he intended to. They had taken away his sister - the only pony he had left - and he had every intention of making them pay.

"You... you DARE?!" He bellowed as he locked his sight on the aggressive line of ponies facing him and lowered his head, ready to wipe them from the face of Equestria.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@,@,

Eclipse let out a slight 'hmph' as he stood near Crimson.
"And you called ME a little colt." He commented. "At least I control my psychokinesis. This fool looks like he doesn't even know how to control his own powers"

"That's because he doesn't." Blast replied to him. "He's letting out this little soap opera because he thinks we're going to harm his sister over there." He said, pointing over to her.

"Do you want to harm her?" He asked.

"What? No! Of course not! We just think he's going to harm her in some way if he keeps this up."
Eclipse shrugged and readied his psychokinesis in case if the alicorn did something extreme.
 

[Ihei 713]

@,@,@,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

(( OOC: No font now! I'm on my phone; and sorry for the short post! ))

 

"Orion!" Willow called, trotting towards Orion, her hooves good as new, as if the burns never happened. Sure, she stumbled, but she still walked. "Orion, you're here!" Willow said cheerfully.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Shaymin

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

@,

 

"Willow!" Shouted the Alicorn as he cantered to the mare with a look of pure relief on his face. Vengeance could wait a few moments. "Willow... by the Litany I thought that something terrible had happened... I'm so relieved to have found you!" He declared. "Are you okay? Did they harm you?"

 

His distraction wasn't unfounded: while his attention was focused on his sister, the other pony in his mind was watching out of his peripheral vision: ready to move into action should any of the fools attack again: not that it would be needed with it's host in his current, highly emotional state.

[Kulstor 254]

Rakon jumped up in surprise as the pony appeared and the bolts of lightning.  "What is going on, who is he?" he asked looking over at the new arrival.  He wasn't sure what to think or to do, but the new pony did look scary and like he was up to no good.  He looked around at the other ponies in the group to see what they were doing to get an idea of what he should do.

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson growled and shook his head. "You really are a damn stubborn fool! Why in the name of Princess Luna, would we try to hurt your sister?! What makes you hate us so much?! Besides protecting ourselves and saving your sister from your corrupted power, we haven't done ANYTHING to you!!" said Crimson angrily, stomping up to the alicorn bravely, standing there and looking straight at him, unarmed and unprotected, the flames around his body now gone.

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

Pavisa had to skid to a stop - Orion had teleported right into the middle of the group faster than she could run.  She found herself behind the alicorn, cut off from the rest of the party.  Trying to stay quiet she starts to slowly make a wide loop around Orion and Willow, trying to make it to the rest of the group without being noticed.

 

Tactic Wind

 

@,

 

Tactic stayed where he was when Willow ran to her brother, watching quietly and calmly.  He spares a moment to glance at the rest of the party before turning his gaze back to Orion.  The tactician's lips twitch in a small smile as he starts to slowly flex his wings back.  This just might be check-mate.  A short game, if so.  It all depends on what happens next...

[Ihei 713]

@,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

"I'm okay. They didn't harm me.. why would they?" Willow said, cheery since her brother finally found her. "I even made a few friends! Orion, these ponies won't hurt me. You have to try to trust these ponies," Willow said, reassuring him with her eyes.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@,@,

Blast nodded.

"Yeah, man. We don't want to harm your sister. In fact we have similar goals; to keep her safe." He said, walking up to him. "We're not the enemy. Not everypony is the enemy, Orion. Maybe we could spend some time to get to know each other." Blast then extended his hoof. "Truce?"

Eclipse was very worried about Blast's course of action. He just walked up to the stallion that he said tried to kill him and the rest of the group earlier, and now he wants to make peace? 

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

A sound in the distance rings through the trees, and a flash of light can be seen far behind where Orion stands.

Scribbler had been testing his portal spell, but hadn't quite perfected it yet. He found himself stunned by the light, even with his goggles on. Nothing was familiar here, he had no idea what happened when he went through.

"Where am I? What is this place?" He questioned himself, as he picked himself up off the ground.

Once his eyes adjusted, he turned the tint dial down in his lenses so he could see more clearly. He stumbled a bit from the shock of the jump, but regained his balance, and looked around. He could smell the scent of charred wood, and soon noticed he was standing in a crater, where vegetation once grew.

"did I do this?" He pondered, confused by it. His portals had never been destructive like this. He could hear voices in the distance, and so he moved out of the crater, hoping to find a good place to hide out, in case whoever came by saw what he thought he'd just done. Scribbler hid under a toppled tree, thinking to himself. "This has got to be the worst predicament I've found myself in yet."

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.
 
Orion glared at the group. Of course, after threatening and attacking him, after endangering Willow... of course now they wanted to make peace. Of course now they wanted to halt the violence: now that he had somepony on his side - somepony to help him control his mind and guide him. Somepony to help him focus the power of the Litany!
 
"No." He said coldly. "You want to take her away from me. Even if you didn't, you want to take away the book - you'll try to kill me so that you can keep it - use it to further your own means! Thats not what it's for... It told me! It wants peace, just like I do, but not a single one of you know what that truly mean..."
 
Orion stopped abruptly as a fantastical light surrounded him: starting at his horn but soon extending to the ghostly wings and eyes until his entire body was emitting the shimmering light: not the aqua blue it had been before but a silvery sheen similar to his mane. He had intended to punish them, certainly. It had surprised him however when the second pony in his mind took charge of his body without him knowing... and what kind of magic was this supposed to be?

 

---------------

 

Redwave and Kingfisher.

 

Kingfisher stood defiantly in position: not out of any sense of honor or reason but simply because she hadn't been instructed to do anything else: she would act if she had to, or if she was told to.

 

Redwave was stood off to one side: sadly not seeing any other viable solution but to fight until the silver light started. He wasn't a coward, but he was only slightly suicidal and at that point, the extremely angry Alicorn seemed a poor target to take chances against.

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson gave him a saddened look. "You truly are lost to the litany's power...your so far gone that you see nothing but enemies and threats in your wake...and your relying all of your accusations on a voice in your head...clearly you cannot be saved...so if you insist on attacking me, then I will not hold back...RAGESTAR!!" yelled Crimson, his body igniting on golden flames. The cursed pirate then gave Orion an emotionless look as he got into fighting position. "If you want to kill someone...try me on for size you fucking psychotic prick!" said Crimson.

Edited October 28, 2013 by ragestar

[00Pony 286]

Saronyx was unable to keep the muscles of his body from tensing as his adrenal glands began to work, as if they were chased from hell by demons themselves. Not only had Orion appeared from nowhere in the center of their group, with a spectacular show of electronic magic - which thankfully did not strike and harm any of the group, but flayed the surrounding foliage relentlessly - but now the other members of the group were attempting to reason with him. At least none of them were proving hostile. Yet.

 

Orion, obviously, declined, going once more to his idea of what he sought, and his delusion about the Litany allowing that. Had the fact that he had harmed his sister only a short time ago meant nothing to this stallion?! Of course, me probably had forgotten all of that. His mind was obviously not working. But the thought still managed to make the normally docile Crystal stallion's anger seethe beneath his skin. Luckily, it did not burst forth in any form of hostile action. 

 

Rather, it came out in Saronyx's own form of combat: Words. With a hint of a growl to the undertone of his voice, Saronyx spoke, "We may very well be trying to remove Willow from your presence, for the same reasons you wish to keep her there.. You are unable to control these powers that you now possess, and in doing so, you put her at risk just by being near you! Has your mind become so far gone that you have forgotten that it was your very power when we last met that harmed her?"

 

Perhaps now was not the time to speak, but even ponies like Saronyx have their limits when it comes to some moral questions. And it seemed that others, specifically Crimson, had reached their boiling point as well. The cursed pony ignited himself with a verbal spell, and assumed a ready position to fight with the Alicorn. For as just as the reasons were, Saronyx could see no outcome from this but a bad one. 

Edited October 28, 2013 by 00Pony

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@, @,

Eclipsed used his psychokinesis to pull Blast back towards the rest of the group. He nodded at his and took a stand next to Crimson.

"Let me demonstrate my real power, Crimson. We shall work together to defeat this foe." A green aura began circling around the unicorn's horn, ready to fight.

[Ihei 713]

@, @,@,@,@@Midnight Scribbler,@@00Pony, @Anypony Else In The Scene,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

Willow was startled by Crimson's attitude towards Orion. She's only seen the kind side of him, so of course, she was taken aback by it. "Orion doesn't want to kill anypony! Orion, can you please trust these ponies? They didn't do anything to hurt me: why would you harm them..?" Willow asked with pleading eyes. She was confused though, at the aura that surrounded him so suddenly. She took several paces away from him, thinking it is dangerous.

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

At the bright silver aura coming from Orion, Pavisa abandoned all attempts to stay quiet.  She ran towards the rest of the party as fast as she could, wanting to rejoin the group.  

 

@, 

Deciding against running towards the ones near Orion - that would be seen as hostile, which in this scenario was about the same as suicidal - she instead aimed for the space near Redwave and Kingfisher.  As she slid to a stop, she mutters as she tries to catch her breath "Somepony please tell me we have a plan?"  

 

 

Tactic Wind

 

@,

When Willow started to back away, Tactic stepped up to her.  He leans down to quietly say "You will want to retreat to a safe distance...  I believe things are about to get out of hoof."  The tactician looks at her and smiles slightly before backing away, flaring his wings and taking to the air.  

 

From his position in the sky, Tactic flew back so that he was behind the line of ponies facing Orion.  This put him in the alicorn's line of sight, but that wasn't a concern for Tactic.  He was busy trying to get an aerial view of the scene, trying to quickly assess each pony.  Where will the first threat be..?

[Mephisto 56]

Blake was tree walking nearby when he heard Crimson's little statement. "Such language." He said to himself and snickered. He just stepped from the branches and moved to the source of the disturbance. He made no attempt to conceal his presence and he simply watched as though it were a public football game. He was always stuck in the eye of the storm, but that's what the his hooves are for.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.
 
@,
 
"No Willow! See how quickly they move to strike? See how their weapons were raised behind their smiles and false diplomacy? We can not trust them for a single second!" Orion's voice shouted as the silver light grew outwards.
 
The silver light flared up to a blinding level: fueled by anger and distress. everywhere the silver light touched seemed to calm, turning the landscape a uniform shade of gray as it expanded steadily outwards.
 
Redwave.
 
@, 

"A plan? Plans never succeed - better to improvise first and not fail at all!" Redwave half-smirked. For all his bluster and bravado, he knew that this couldn't be good. A spell moving so slowly must contain an extraordinary amount of power to do... something. So he did something which had miraculously never failed in the pas...

 

"Well... you only live twice, aye?" He declared jovially to Pavisa as he hurled the empty bottle of Brandy at the Alicorn-God. It struck squarely against the side of its targets head and shattered. Or rather, half shattered, half... crumbled? As it made contact and shattered, three things occurred to Redwave:
 
One: What should rightfully have floored the Alicorn seemed to have done little more than irritate him.
 
Two: The Alicorn was turning to face him - so at least the plan partially worked.
 
Three: They probably weren't going to get another chance like this.
 
"Run! Get the Litany!" Bellowed the captain as he roughly shoved the guard away and towards the rest of the battle-ready group. Feeling the light start to creep up onto him, the flexibility of his coat seemed to be fade rapidly - leaving it feeling brittle and hard. His movements slowed, not just lards scale ones but blinking and breathing were soon much slower than usual. He drew his scimitar with great difficulty as his muscles refused to obey him - feeling stiff and unresponsive like stone.
 
Stone... 
 
That was here he had seen it before: a similar effect to a cockatrice. Much more powerful, faster acting and over an area rather than a specific target but still... petrification all the same.
 
Giving up on the hope that he would actually be able to do anything useful - save for buying them some time - he instead decided to make his final comment to the group a deep and meaningful one.
 
"Well this is significantly less heroic than I had hoped! Try. not.. to... kill.... each..... other..... idiots......!"

---------------
 
Kingfisher.
 
Kingfisher froze in horror.
 
She had to help, had to rescue her captain but... he had ordered her to run. To retrieve the Litany and... She couldn't handle it. Attacking was the only thing she wanted to do: anything that might give her a chance to bring the petrified pony with them, but even now, at a distance, she could feel the light starting to slow her... drain her ability to move. 
 
Stumbling backwards as she regained control of her mind, she shook herself out of her stupor.
 
"You heard the Cap'n! Move!"

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

Pavisa stumbled, watching the scene unfolding with horror.  It seemed to be happening in slow motion, but that was likely just the effect of the alicorn's spell.  No...  No!  Even as it happened, as the captain turned to stone, one thought was dominate in the guard's mind.

 

He had shoved her out of the way.

 

If it hadn't been for Redwave's push, she would have been caught in the spell, and now there was nothing she could do in return...  Nothing except for finishing the mission, anyways.  The Litany...  

 

Now wasn't the time to dwell on it, though.  With one last sad glance at the statue that was the captain, Pavisa turned and made herself run.  Every step of her hooves was painful, but she made herself follow after Kingfisher.  

 

He shoved me out of the way...

 

 

Tactic Wind

 

Tactic watched the scene unfold below him passively.  Rather than focusing on Redwave, he instead turned his gaze towards Orion and Willow.  "Well, I suppose this is check...  But not yet check-mate.  I will have to wait a while longer for that..."  Flying just fast enough to stay out of the range of the spell that had caught the captain, he raises a hoof to wave at Orion and Willow before turning to keep up with the group.  An interesting turn of events.  Perhaps this will all be over sooner than I think.

[Driz 1,552]

[useless catch-up post]

 

Needless to say, Shooting Star was utterly immobilized by fear.

 

What stood in front of the group wasn't a wild animal of the forest. Nor it was another group of hunters opposing the Captain's bunch in order to conquer the lost artifact. It was something way more intimidating. Something that, as weird as it may sound considering how mindful he was being until then, the pegasus colt wasn't, at all, expecting to face. It was an Alicorn.

 

Supposedly one of the most powerful beings in Equestria, the angered foe stared down at the group with - quite literally - fiery eyes. The red-coated mare from before, Willow, seemed to know about him: she called him by the name of Orion. They seemed to form some kind of strong bond between them, like siblings. However, her attempt wasn't very much successful in calming the Alicorn down.

 

Very little knew Star about those ponies. Even though he'd already spent a night with the group, the information he'd received were merely missing pieces. Who was the God-like figure that stood in their way, what were his plans, and why and how was Willow brought into this mess? Slowly, the puzzle could be solved. Yet, the situation they had in hooves - at least for Star - prevented logical reasoning.

 

As some of the ponies began threatening Orion back, he seemed to become more and more disturbed as the fray continued. Star, for his part, had already made his way up a tree at that point, using as a cover the trunk of it and watching the scene from a safer area - he then noticed, he wasn't the only one hiding. He could've ran away - a blessing his pegasus wings were -, but something slightly stronger told him to stay. Specifically, told him to man up.

 

[/useless catch-up post]

 

---

 

Soon after, Captain Redwave launched an empty bottle against the Alicorn and hit his head. It worked, if the Captain's intention was to anger Orion even more. We're doomed! DOOMED!! Shouted Star in his head while he spectated the whole scene in horror. As Redwave charged against the foe, the beige colt covered his eyes as he expected nothing but chaos and extermination.

 

Between the loud noises and the ponies shouting, as soon as Shooting Star opened his eyes, all he could see was the stone statue of their former Captain surrounded by an area of lifeless grey. Once again, from high above the tree he'd climbed, he froze in place, not even noticing the rest of the group was nowhere near to be seen.

 

"Ca... Captain Redwave!" He said, nearly shedding into tears. For a moment there, he had completely forgotten about the Alicorn, as well as his group.

[Ihei 713]

@,@,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

"Orion! What was that!?" Willow frowned at her brother, knowing that he did it purposely. She glared at him probably for the first time in her life and stormed into the forest.

 

"Temporarily freezing somepony isn't just 'protecting' me. It's way past the line; I should get out of this stupid forest and try living a life on my own: Orion never lets me make friends anyway."