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

[SilverHeart 741]

@@Midnight Scribbler,

@,

@,  

@, 

 

The wonder and awe on her face faded as she turned back to Scribbler. "Hmm? Oh...I was going to ask you what you did after you were..." She paused to cough awkwardly, "...separated...from your parents. If you don't want to talk about that isn't a problem." While she waited for a response Mirror levitated a dark purple cloak out of her saddle bags. After clasping it around her neck she freed the cloak from her grasp and let it drape over her slender frame, revealing a golden trim.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@,@,

 

Blast

Blast couldn't stop thinking about it. The slow steps of whatever was following them began to echo not through the temple, but through his subconscious mind. It was very surreal indeed, as if the Litany was playing around with his mind, even though he was drifting away from it.

"G-guys?" Blast said, his voice shaky. "W-what do you t-think that noise is? In fact, w-what could be this t-thing following us?"

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

@@SilverHeart,

 

"Oh.. well, it was a long time ago. I don't remember being separated, only feeling afraid and alone when I couldn't find them. I was found by an orphanage near Manehatten, and was raised there. I spent my life trying to learn the different arts of magic, mostly trying to learn how to control my innate portal spell. I thought that if I could control it, it might bring me back to them. But it has yet to happen. I have no memory of where they were, or even if they're alive. Even if I could get back to where they were, I'm not sure they'd still be there. It's always been a goal, but never realistic in any sense it seems." He looked down, thinking of his only memory. A vague face, his mother's. "Once I learned to think for myself, I ran from the orphanage, with a good friend of mine. We found a tower in the mountains, and made it our home, where we studied and lived together.." Scribbler trailed off, as though a thought had distracted him. His face took on a more somber expression. He'd reminded himself of something buried in his past, something he hadn't thought of in many years. He chose not to say more about his past, and instead tried to push the thoughts back down. "I've lived there ever since.. It's actually where I was before I ended up in the woods back there. I never had any intention of getting caught up in an adventure. But now I'm here.." He looked back at Mirror, smiling again. "How about you? How did you happen to get mixed up in all this?"

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson looked around at the shadows in suspicion, trotting along slowly as he followed behind Kingfisher. But stopped as he noticed Kingfisher was giving him a distrustful glare, giving her a confused look. "uh...what's with that look, Kingfisher? Did I do something stupid? And why are you acting so scared? What the hell was in that water?" asked Crimson with a huff.

Edited November 14, 2013 by ragestar

[SilverHeart 741]

(OOC: Posting from phone.)

 

"Well as you may know by now I'm a traveling illusionist, I go from town to town performing shows. I mainly of them to practice my magic. It's rather hard to learn if you are entirely by myself. I also use my shows as a means for earning some money. As for joining this I thought I would take the longer route from Hollow Shades to Canterlot. Mainly so I could avoid running into too many travelers and bandits. When you travel with everything you own you tend to be rather careful."

[Mephisto 57]

Blake, being a treasure hunter, was in his element right now. Though he felt extremely tired, he trudged on, dragging his hooves across the earth. He lit up a torch which glowed a brilliant glow of flowing orange around them. "Just to be safe ya know, heh." He noted with an awkward smirk.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Blake Diamante

[Ihei 713]

@,@@SilverHeart, @@Midnight Scribbler, @,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

"I.. guess so. I don't know anypony that well yet. I can't consider them my friends," Willow answered blankly, speedwalking away so she could be alone. "I don't think that's a pony.. that might be the falls. The other group must've been here already.." Willow said, stopping. "Should.. should Orion stay here? I don't want him in any more danger he already put himself in.." Willow said, turning to the group. 

 

Aphrodite

 

"Helloooo?" Aphrodite called out to the temple. "Anypony here?" Aphrodite asked, trotting slower so she wouldn't get lost so quickly.

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

@,

@@SilverHeart,

 

Scribbler looked at Mirror, he'd done his share of traveling before as well. "Ah, I see. Illusion magic, not something I've read as much into, thought it does fascinate me. Perhaps we could learn from one another a little." He admired the gold trim of her cloak for a moment. Willow turned, addressing them. Scribbler replied to her "Do not worry, Willow. I'm sure with mirror and I, there should be no shortage of protection spells. Worse comes to worse, we can throw them off enough to escape unnoticed."

[Icy Void 19]

Midnight Sky

 

Midnight was startled out of his thoughts when he heard a thud nearby. Looking over he saw that Eclipse had apparently continued trying to get to the Litany, but had collapsed from exhaustion. "Bloody fool, nopony's past is worth wearing yourself down to the point of nothing. This draining magic must have had a larger impact on Eclipse, maybe because he's missing his memories. Aegis, could you help me lift him up?" Midnight said as he walked over and propped Eclipse up with his shoulder. In truth he wasn't doing much better, this magic seemed to drain a pony of their special skills, and since his special skills were magic and knowledge Midnight now had a throbbing headache.

 

"Well, no use just standing around. We may as well keep going and try to reach the Litany. This test matches the Litany perfectly, the Litany brings your talents to their full potential so this trap drains your talents. It seems to mainly focuses on racial talents, but our other talents are also being effected. A perfect balance between the two ends." Midnight said as he began to move forward, not very quickly though with Eclipse as dead weight. What worried Midnight most though, was the effect that this draining magic was having on his sister. He could tell just by looking at her that it was draining something more potent than magic, it was draining her cheerfulness. Even now she stayed at the edge of their group and sulked, something she had never done. Midnight just hoped that her drained emotion would return, even if his magic did not.

[EcstaticWind 572]

"Will do." Aegis said, walking over and helping Eclipse to his hooves. He felt his doubts start growing, a little voice, his voice, in his head saying that he should turn back, they're going to die, and he'll never achieve anything. Aegis tried to shrug it off, but they kept growing, and it was getting harder and harder to take a step.

 

'This temple... Is it amplifying our negative aspects? Why else would I be... no, I should go back. Maybe it's not too late to-'

 

"Dammit! I can't think straight in this accursed temple!"

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.

 

Orion snorted: he knew that his sister was trying to protect him - even with his powers she was trying to keep him out of harms way.

 

He smiled and shook his head.

 

"I'm afraid not: it was well protected before and I don't doubt it will be here as well. Besides, if those deceivers are inside already then I can't let you go without me. Come on, we need to hurry,"

 

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

 

Kingfisher.

 

Kingfisher made to respond: meant to say that she didn't have any more knowledge of using a sword than to try at hit things with the sharp part - or perhaps lie to make them feel safer: tell them that she remembered... something to do with swords.

 

Instead though, she staggered. The pressure, the paranoia, it was all getting worse. She didn't just think that her shadows were acting strangely when she looked away - she knew they were.

 

@@Windbreaker,

 

"Oof!"

 

Stumbling down the hall, she collided with one of the other ponies heavily and fell to the ground: her shadow did likewise - before an inky shape seemed to rise from it...

 

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

 

The apparitions continued. The trial of the Litany of Magic differed between its resting places, but each one was the same in one regard: it's magic was designed to test the resolve of those who would claim it - this one made the fears of those that drew close very, very real.

 

As the shadows around the ponies shifted and warped, powered by Kingfishers paranoia and terror. The nearest pulled away from the walls - an inky shape that barely resembled a pony lunged towards her, sapping the light from the air as it did. The mare swung the sword blindly, shearing clean through it by chance.

 

Unperturbed, the shadow stopped. It looked down at itself, reached for its other half and pulled itself back together before shrieking at the mare and vanishing to regroup - joining the mass of shifting shadows that hid just out of the corners of the groups vision.

Edited November 14, 2013 by Cinderscribe

[Ihei 713]

@,@,@@Midnight Scribbler, @@SilverHeart,  @@Icy Void,@,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

"Alright.. stay together, then. I wouldn't want to get lost," Willow said, hurrying inside before the others: which was a mistake she realized she committed once stone walls appeared around her. "Agh! Orion!? Zintiik?! SCRIBBLER?!" Willow shouted desperately, she soon stopped panicking and decided it wasn't going to help her situation. She trotted very, very slowly so she hoped she could run into somepony for directions.

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

@,

 

Pavisa pressed herself against Kingfisher, watching the moving shadows with wide eyes.  "What...  What are these things?"  They seemed to be all around them...

 

Think, Pavisa...  Think!  It was difficult to come up with anything while worrying about the creatures, though.  Pavisa was afraid - not of the creatures themselves, but of what they meant...  There were so many of them, how could she hope to protect the others against all of these?  She was even skeptical of her own shadow after seeing the monster try to attack Kingfisher.

 

Shadows...  Could that be important?  Staring at the mass of moving shadows, Pavisa calls out to any of the group nearby.  "Can anypony make a light!?  Anything?  We have to do something about these...  Things!"  It wasn't a real plan, but Pavisa was trying to improvise.

 

 

Zintiik

 

@@SilverHeart,@@Midnight Scribbler,  @, @, 

 

Zintiik's wings buzzed quietly as he picked himself up from the bridge again, flying forwards towards the falls.  The changeling could sense emotion, but the falls seemed strange to his senses...  There was something happening there, and it was drawing him in like a moth to a flame.

 

He glances back at the others.  Wait...  Don't leave them behind.  It's dangerous by yourself.  Barely able to contain his excitement about what must be waiting for them, he pipes up "Let's go quick!  The other group is probably there already."

Edited November 14, 2013 by Lhee

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.

Something curious had been happening to Orion recently: not painful or even uncomfortable, but curious. The wings had started to feel less unnatural and more like a part of him: he stretched them out as he finally stepped down from the magical crossing and felt the resistance as he glided down the few meters to the ground, The resistance against them relieved the ache caused by lack of use, and he resolved to try and fly more, if only to keep them limber.
 
"Okay, before we go on..." The Alicorn said, voice darking with seriousness. "This looks different to the one I was at before, but I bet the Litany is well guarded. Apparently theres a huge amount of magic hanging in the air around here..."
 
'Did I just say apparently? Buck - hopefully they wont catch on.' He thought in a panic, wondering if he might have given away the fact that he was receiving advice from another: however obscure.
 
'What of it if they do? We have one purpose: protect your sister. What they think of you means nothing.'
 
"Stick together when we're inside: don't trust anypony in there: they'll either be some kind of trick, or one of the bandits from the forest." The stallion continued after pausing for less than a moment.

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

Kingfisher.

Turning her head back and forth to keep the shifting shadows in her sight, Kingfisher dropped the sword out of her mouth and clutched at it with a hoof - unsure exactly where she had learned to do so or why it seemed like a good idea - hazy memories came back to her in flashes, none useful or strongly enough to hold onto but she mentally grabbed at what she could.

 

"I don't know!" She said uneasily, holding out the sword in the general direction of the nearest shadow. "Are they shadows? Can you hurt your shadow?"

[SilverHeart 741]

@@Midnight Scribbler,@, @,@,

 

Mirror Image pondered on whether or not she should learn any other kind of magic. The thought had honestly never occurred to her. She had only ever wanted to hide herself from others. It just turned out to be useful for many other things. Magic in general had never been as much of an interest to her. But it would be rude to outright refuse. "That sounds...nice." she said as she faked a perfect smile. "I'm not surprised that you never read much about it. It seems to be done differently by each person."

 

The Illusionist rolled her eyes at Willow, she understood wanting to keep her brother safe...but Orion seemed more than powerful enough to deal with the bandits. He had just been merciful so far.She was prepared to tell Willow as much when Orion voiced his own opinion.

 

"So...what do we actually know of these bandits? Zintiik seems to think they are ahead of us."

[EcstaticWind 572]

@,

 

"Agh!"

 

Aegis collapsed to the ground as somepony stumbled into him. His body felt heavy and unwieldy and his legs weren't moving properly, and his mind was flooded with doubts and jumbled thoughts. He heard voices, and he started panicking.

 

“Kingfisher? Are you there? What the hay is going on?” 

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.
 
@@SilverHeart,

"Well they attacked us: twice in one night and then again the morning after. Every time they do the same: act friendly, try to get you to lower your guard and then try to attack from behind..." He shook his head. "I wont fall for it again."
 
He didn't intend to: these ponies were under his protection - and while Willows safety was his priority, he had no intention of letting any of them get hurt.
 
"Zintiik can tell you more about them as a group: his talents were quite useful for finding out a little bit about them."
 

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

Kingfisher.
 
@@Windbreaker,

"I don't know!" Kingfisher repeated, panic rising in her voice as she dropped the sword and reached down to help the writing her his hooves, holding out her own. "Come on, get up, get up! We need to move, get away from here..."
 
It was only speculation: what the characters in her story books would have done. Still, nopony else seemed to be suggesting anything else, and they had been trying to tell her that she was their leader earlier on.

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson cursed as the shadows slithered around them, moving only out of the corner of his eyes. "Shit!! This is bad...I've fought something similar to these before...only these creatures are slightly different somehow..." said Crimson as he brandished Helios and scanned the area for the best escape route.

 

((That's not him being Gary Stue, he really did fight shadowy creatures in one RP.))

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@,@,

 

Blast

Blast looked angry at the shadow creatures. He tried running up to one and punching it, but since it was a shadow and not a real physical being, he couldn't do anything to it that way. But, they sure could do something to him. A group of shadows surrounded him and disappeared before his eyes. They started to appear before him and attack him, one by one. Blast tried to deflect their assault, but it was practically no use. They were coming left and right, overpowering him slowly.

 

@@Windbreaker,@@Icy Void,

Eclipse

Eclipse woke up upon being lifted to his hooves. He then looked before Midnight and Aegis before one of them collapsed to the floor. He then began to hear the same voices that Aegis was hearing.

"What the... who's there?? Show yourself!" He yelled, his voice echoing.

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

@,

 @,

 

Pavisa saw Blast charge at the shadows, and the creature's counter attack.  Cursing under her breath, she glances back to see Kingfisher pulling Aegis to his hooves.

 

"Get going, I'll be right behind you!"

 

With that, Pavisa took off towards Blast at a gallop.  There was a dull ringing sound as she intercepted one of the blows with the flared armor around her foreleg, staggering slightly from the blow.  Being weakened by the Litany made it much more difficult to effectively block!

 

Gritting her teeth, she glances at Blast for a second before moving to block another attack.  "Blast!  You...  Okay..?"

 

 

Zintiik

 

@,

 @,

@@SilverHeart,

@@Midnight Scribbler, 

 

Zintiik rolls his eyes, an annoyed buzzing sound that may have been a snort coming from him.  "That lot?  From what I've seen, I don't think any of them know how to read.  So, no worries about them reading the Litany even if they DO somehow get to it first."

 

He stops to laugh, shaking his head before continuing.  "But, seriously, they're pretty thick headed.  They think they're going to 'save Equestria' or something like that.  Even after losing their leader..."  He pauses to spare a glance back at Orion.  "...They still want to try and find the Litany.  Pretty ragtag group though.  I think they just threw together any pony that wanted to go."

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@,

Blast nodded as the shadow creatures started to apprehend, but they continued their assault. The shadow creatures held Blast down as they beat down on him.

"Urgh! There's gotta be some way to apprehend these guys!" Blast shouted, struggling to break from their grasp.

Edited November 15, 2013 by StevenEarthPony

[EcstaticWind 572]

Everything blurred as Aegis tried to find a clear thought in his head. Everything was getting muddled and all he heard was noise. He felt dizzy, lightheaded and lost, though the rest of him felt like he was stuck in quicksand.

 

“Ugh…I feel sick…” He said, resisting the urge to vomit. “Guess my workouts are turning against me.”

[Ihei 713]

Willow Starsinger

 

Willow trotted slowly to avoid any traps that were set in the temple. She's already long since lost the entrance, now she was just lost in a labyrinth of creaking hoofsteps and candles. "Hello?" Willow asked quietly, constantly bumping into walls and thinking it's some kind of monster. "A-anypony there?" Willow wished her brother would be at her side: it's like when she needed him the most, he wasn't there. 

[Icy Void 19]

Midnight Sky

 

As Aegis collapsed and Eclipse regained consciousness, Midnight began hearing voices not very far off. Soon there after he could see that it was Kingfisher and the others, and they seemed to be fighting some form of shadow apparitions. "Hey, Pavisa! Kingfisher! What are those things?" Midnight yelled over to the two mares, hoping the two of them might have an idea. Afterwards though he realized that yelling was not a very good idea as his headache got even more painful, to the point that Midnight had to take a knee. Right now he really wished he could think straight and use his magic, he was pretty sure he might know some way of dealing with these things but with his mind all scrambled he just couldn't concentrate.

 

 

Sunshine Rays

 

Everything was pointless. Sunshine couldn't remember why she had been so hopeful earlier, this group of ponies were no match for this Litany's magic. All it's done is drain their talents, hers being her constant cheerfulness, and send their own shadows to finish them, and the group was already crumbling. All this work for some dusty old scroll, the idea itself was ridiculous. "Are the shadows really so bad? So what if our shadows are attacking us, we might as well run away and go get that scroll you're all so desperate to find. Maybe then you'll all realize that this is all pointless." Sunshine said glumly to the now reunited group of ponies.

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

@@SilverHeart,

@,

@,

 

Scribbler returned Mirror's smile. "I do know one illusion spell. It's a rather simple one, but it does the trick for scaring away anypony who's trying to follow you." He chuckled, and stepped down from the end of the bridge. Willow made her move ahead of the group and vanished from sight ahead of them. Scribbler facehoofed, and wondered how it were possible for Willow to become lost so easily. This mare was surely two bricks short of a wall to go wandering off again. He looked to Orion, and listened to what he had to say about the magical aura, and let Zintiik explain the other party before poking at Orion's shoulder. "Er.. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but..I think your sister just left us again. Why in Equestria does she continue to do that?"