private Shudder

[BlackShardNixium 277]

There’s nothing left but memories.

You hadn’t meant to mess up. You just had to know!

It didn’t matter in the end, anyways. He had distracted you; leading you away with his dark eyes and magic words. You hadn’t meant to go over the limit. How were you to know that your 66 minutes had ran out long before you turned away from the mirror?

You’d spent three hours in that room.

Now here you were: stuck.

There’s nothing left but regret. You just wanted to go home. You ought never to have accepted the invitation. You-

Oh Celestia.

No.

Please. Not yet! Go away go away goawayGOAWAY!

Please. Let me out. I’ll do anything, I swear!

Anything?

Yes, anything!

Well…

You don’t care about the price you might have to pay. You just want out! You just want away from those…those THINGS!

There is a flash of light and suddenly you know you are free. However, something is different. You feel strange. Weightless. There is a sickly, guttural slithering noise somewhere to your right, and suddenly you are staring into the eyes of the Monster.

NO NONO PLEASE NO!

The only way to escape a monster is to become one.

YOU CAN’T DO THIS! STOP! NO! NO!!

Be silent, Translator. I have a job for you.

You don’t feel anything anymore. You are empty, alone….it’s so dark. Who were you again? What was your name? Translator. The Master has called you Translator. Yes…that must be your name then. And he has a job for you? So be it.

Kill them all.

Yes, Master.

 

You are called Translator. And now, there are not even memories left.

 

>>FASTFORWARD>>

                 Four Hours Later

When she finally opens her eyes, there is no difference. It’s so dark; she may as well not opened them at all. Her head is pounding, throbbing, and dear Celestia, it hurts. It makes it so hard to think. Why was she so afraid? She needed to leave this place; to run far away. But why?

What was her name?

It was…Silvia…wasn’t it? Yes, she was Silver Spectrum, otherwise known as Silvia to her colleges. She was…a writer; a reporter! There had been...had been…why was she here again? More importantly, where was here?

She shifted uneasily in the darkness, blinking her eyes and desperately hoping they’d adjust so she could see something. Even if it was just a vague outline, anything was better than this. She can feel a bag at her side.

I’ll go through it once I get a bit of light. She decides.

With that, she slowly stands from her spot and begins to feel around for some sort of hint as to where she was.

[Senor Citizen 516]

Don't wake up.

But-

No, I'm serious. I know you don't usually listen to my advice, which isn't blisteringly smart of you, but this is important.You do not want to wake up right now. If you wake up, things are going to get a whole lot worse.

Well, maybe I do want to wake up! How about that?

I warned you. Don't blame me for this.

Red Alert woke up. His buddy was right. It was dark, and he had a headache.

A big headache.

It was dark.

What was it that had happened? Had he flown off the handle again? His buddy didn't have that exceptionally annoying self-satisfied tone that meant he'd gone on a rampage and killed somebody, so that was out. He probably wasn't going to be paid once he got back from... whatever it was he had been doing when he got here. He definitely wouldn't have gone to such a stupid, twisted, dark place on his own, right?

 

Right??

[Contrast 292]

It was cold. Why was this pony even here? "I am a pony... right? What other race was there?" Shouldn't he have known this? Maybe there really was no other race beside the one in his head, and maybe there was no one else for that matter. All the pony could see was an endless amount of, "Darkness... That word sounds so familiar... and even those words too..." Slowly his mind began to piece together what he was doing. Speaking, and more importantly describing his surroundings. "This is... a corner? The... air is very... cold." Why was he sitting in a corner, and why did he feel so cold? 

 

The pony felt himself slightly jump as an unseen object wrapped around him. It wasn't rough or hostile. The object just felt warm and, "Feathery?" They were attached to him. The pony took a moment to accept this, and then started to stand. The 'feathers' remained wrapped around him as he walked. He wasn't sure why or for what reason he walking, but he decided it would be better than to sit around and wonder why his head felt so empty.

[Flying Ace 142]

Where am I? What...happened? Why can't I remember? The white Pegasus slowly opened his eyes and could see endless darkness. My name...why can't I remember my name? Ace! Flying Ace! That's my name, I'm an actor...I think. With great effort Ace got on shaky hooves he couldn't quite remember what happened and where he was, all he did no was that their were others...weren't there? Ace startled walking though the darkness just hoping he can come across somepony that can help him.

[BlackShardNixium 277]

Silvia sighed and relaxed slightly when she gently bumped into a solid wall. At least she could know the layout of the room now. Maybe she could even find the door! After a few moments of stumbling around in the dark while sticking close to the wall, she felt something that she prayed was the door.

Bracing herself, she pushed against it experimentally. It budged open just a few centimeters, allowing a single beam of torchlight to stream into the otherwise shadowy room. With a quite cry of relief, she pushed the door open fully, silently rejoicing at the added light. In front of her was a quiet hallway. The light source came from a blazing torch attached to the wall. She quickly shuffled over to stand under it, pulling the bag off her shoulders, ripping it open, and pulling out the contents.

A sketchbook, a ream of blank paper, some pencils and a journal.

She flipped open the journal to its latest entry.

15^th of November.

9:47 PM

I’ve become increasingly worried about Ash. Ever since we found that dusty old tome, he’s barely left his tent! The only time he really does come out to speak to us, it’s just to give us a few paragraphs of his latest translations.

Speaking of the translations, I’ve begun to suspect that they are, in fact, journal entries. The ones he’s managed to give to us are extremely fascinating! To think that these ponies lived hundreds of years ago, and here we are, reading their diary, of all things! Oh, they make absolutely next to no sense, but it’s still quite interesting…

Which brings me to another problem:  I’ve been exceptionally uneasy this entire expedition. No wonder Celestia hasn’t let anyone come into this place till now; an entire Cathedral as big as a CITY is hidden underground, just sitting here, abandoned! There is so much stuff here, so many rooms to explore.

I can already tell the ponies that built this place had secrets to hide. Too many of the rooms are padlocked, and it’s been difficult to get around. It was a stroke of pure luck that we found that diary. It was resting on an ornate pedestal in the center of the library ((yes, this place even has a library as big as the one back home, maybe bigger!)). Though why they would keep their private journal in the library is beyond me…

Oh… it looks like Ash has finally come out of his tent. Apparently we’re “too loud for him”. He’s going off on his own with that silly book.

I…I feel really uneasy. The look on Ash’s face…I think he’s up to something. I think maybe I should tell Moon Crypt and the others. I think this place is starting to get to him.

-Silver Spectrum.

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

Ugh... that was a nasty fall.

 

Moon Crypt shook his head. slowly getting up. He must have fallen... three, four stories? Quite a long fall for one to catch him unprepared. Not that he hadn't fallen further before, but at least he had his wings.

 

My wing...!

 

He turned to his left side, looking at the crumpled membrane that was left of that wing. He must have landed on it. Ouch. Sighing, he stood up slowly, trying to remember the last four hours. A further expedition... something... something... something...

 

Ugh. He couldn't remember. It was a miracle that, after his fall, he could remember anything this soon after returning to consciousness.

 

He shook his head. He was fine, but... where was Soul? He couldn't see her anywhere around...

 

"Soul...? Are you here...?"

 

Silence. He immediately got worried. What if something had happened to her? If anything caught her... she...

 

He immediately stood up and started looking for the others. Whether it be in the next room, or the next several floors. Hopefully he would be able to get their names right when he found them... or their appearance... or their... whatever right.

 

He stopped. He couldn't even remember what they looked like.

 

Oh, no. This was worse than he thought...

 

---

 

@,

 

As the insertion glider flew towards the ground, The current driver meditated on what events had lead up to this. An expedition, they said. A relic that was lost to history was the last answer. Who knows what it might have been for this to have happened? A shard from the Heart of Tartarus itself? She certainly hoped not...

 

She growled and turned a hard right, landing on one of the few aboveground towers that there were. After making sure the glider was secure, she jumped out, taking off her helmet and straightening out her hair. She was soon followed by three others- a bronze-masked mare, a black and white striped stallion, and a very, very large hulking suit of armor. The suit of armor growled. "I don't like this place. It's radiating almost as much energy as Tartarus. I certainly hope you know what you are getting into, White."

 

White Rose "That's why we're here. Hopefully we can get the expedition back together, then we're getting out of here if we can't put a stop to it."

 

The masked mare was silent for a while. "This place... seems... familiar. As if I belong here."

 

White looked at her. "Perhaps you have been here before, with a previous Grand Master. With the amount of negative energy this place is radiating, it might have had demons from it before, Shadow."

 

"No, no... it's not that. It's... never mind. I'll talk to you about it in a bit. Let's secure the top floors, make sure nothing is going to mash our skulls in while we talk..."

 

((First post. Feels awkward for some reason. Don't know why.))

[Armin 168]

((OOC: Sorry that it took so long for me to write a response. ))

As she woke, Rai huddled up against the cold instinctively, before looking around and mentally questioning herself. Where am I? What is this place? These questions didn't worry her as much as the fact that she didn't remember anything. Trying not to panic, she attempted to recover as many memories as she could. I'm... My name's Rai. This place is... No. She wasn't even sure if, even with her memories, she would know where she was. My job... A detective? If I am a detective, why can't I figure out what's going on?! She thought, nervously pacing around on shaky hooves.

[Jack Baker 698]

((Annnnd here I go)).

 

Raze yawned as he looked around and walked. "Well, aside from the massive amount of hated and demonic energy literally spewing out from the place, nothing else seems out of the ordinary... for now, anyway. Still, it's very unsettling. It's almost as if all of the strongest demons and demon lords from Tartarus are crammed into here....."

 

@,  

[BlackShardNixium 277]

She closed the book, sliding it back into the bag along with the ream of paper. So this meant the whole ordeal really had been some sort of expedition; one authorized by Celestia herself. Her journal ((because, according to the signature, it did, in fact, belong to her)) had said they were in some sort of Cathedral underground.

Who would build a cathedral underground? She groused inwardly.

Apparently, said building was also humongous. She groaned quietly, fully taking in how difficult it would be to find her way out. “As big as a city”; that’s what the journal had said. Not to mention that something about this place sent ice water running through her veins. She turned her head and reached out to grab the sketchbook at her side. Flipping it open, she flipped silently through the roughly sketching drawings.

There was a picture of what looked to be a main entrance to the cathedral, with wide, crumbling stone arches accented with dark, rusted black metal. On the biggest, central arch, written in jagged, curving script was the word: Celatum. Was that the name of the cathedral?

 It really was as big as a city. The picture showed the beginnings of a grand foyer just beyond the arched doors, the shadow of a huge fountain and dusty chandeliers hanging from above; and beyond that, more hallways, twisting and turning farther and farther away, leading into the shadows. If she had to guess anything, she was currently in one of those hallways…

She turned through the pages, skimming silently. There was an old book, a ridiculously grand library, a few rooms stocked with a few odd and suspicious items, and finally-

She dropped the book and it was all she could do to keep from screaming.

This picture was messy and hastily drawn. The shading of the pencil was jagged instead of neat. From what she could make out, it was a snake-like creature, only was long, spindly tentacles protruding from its body. Half of it was very much like an insect; coiled up with sharp, scaly spikes standing on end. Its eyes were huge and bulging, and its disgustingly long tongue was lolling out of its mouth as it grinned like a Cheshire cat.

Her head was starting to hurt again; throbbing with awful intensity. She closed the sketchbook and shoved it none too gently back into the bag. Of course, the image and the words written beside it were burned into the back of her mind.

Lucerna.

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

Moon Crypt was now trying to force himself not to panic. Now, now... don't get yourself all worked up. All I need to do is... find the others? Yes, that's it. Find the others... in this giant, underground maze of a cathedral. He didn't know why, but this place felt... inherently... wrong. He felt this wrongness several times before, and he didn't want to admit it, but... he knew exactly what it was. And, therefore, exactly how much danger he and the others were in.

After looking around, he decided that he needed to head at least back to where the others were- which was towards the center and up. Center and up. Well, here it goes.

The first door he opened had a colored floor that, when he looked at it, was a mosaic of a rose. How interesting. An insight to... whatever what here.

Why were we here in the first place, anyways?

He shook his head, trying to clear the buzzing that had built up in his ears. He decided to call for Soul again and did so, his voice echoing throughout the floor. getting no response, he moved to the next door and proceeded to open it...

---

---

---

@

"Thanks for stating the obvious," chimed in a voice mischievously.

"We don't have time for this, Ix. For all we know, we are standing on top of every demon lord in Tartarus. Come on, let's get going."

---

As you reach the lower floors and opened the door, you found what appeared to be a camp. Several pieces of paper were scattered about, blowing around in the drafty room. Shadow Seer frowned, bending over to pick up a piece with a strange symbol on it. "The rune of warning... strange."

 

The Jester lumbered over to a large locker and looked inside. "I'll tell you what's strange. They don't have any decent food- just some apples, some wheat... barley... and they expect to eat this stuff? What happened to all of their bana-"

 

White growled. "Look, we don't have time for this. Look through each of the tents, see if you can find anything."

 

((Pick an OC or two, Twisted, and have fun rummaging through their stuff. ))

[Senor Citizen 516]

(, , not Red's please)

Ignoring the idiot, Red stood up and searched around for his bag. If it was here, he could use the... things... inside it to give himself some light and something to defend himself with. And he was going to have to defend himself. Something was inherently not right here. He could just feel it, and it was setting his teeth on ed-

WHAP!

"Oh, zere's my bag!"

[BlackShardNixium 277]

She stiffened when she heard the voice echoing from the darkness. Whoever this pony was, they were calling for "Soul". She stood quietly, reluctant to leave the relative safety of the torchlight.

"H-Hello?" she called experimentally, peering out into the dark corridor, "Who's there?"

She shivered in the cold darkness. Whoever it was, their voice sounded comfortingly familiar, and she wasn't as afraid as logic said she should be. It was probably someone else from the expedition! Maybe they knew something about what had happened.

"I know you're there...I heard you." she called.

With more confidence than before, she strode down the shadowy hallway and towards the voice.

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

((@, If you really want to maintain your privacy, you could go sleep under a bush or something. Harrumph. Fine. Why, don't want the Demontouched looking at your 'trophies'? ))

 

@,

 

That voice... it's familiar. Or is it?

 

Shaking his head, Moon Crypt opened the door in front of him, revealing a dark corridor. His eyes allowing him slightly better vision, he moved at a snails pace, looking at the stained glass windows, the occasional fireplace, an old suit of pony-

 

"Oomph!"

 

Moon Crypt ran into... something. Or somepony. He looked at the pony that he just crashed into carefully, looking her over. "Wh... what? Who... who are..." he stuttered, wracking his brain for memories. Then, just like a motor started, it came back to mind- slowly, but suddenly this pony matched up with a name.

 

"... Miss Spectrum...?"

[Flying Ace 142]

"Oh my Celestia! I'm LOST!!!" Ace screamed in the darkness, after he started walking off Celestia knows where, he came across the hallway that lead to more and more rooms, some with padlocks. Even worse Ace's memories have not return yet, all he could know was that their were others but he couldn't call out their names, nor did he know what they looked like.

[Armin 168]

After a while of pacing, Rai thought she had heard voices coming from outside. She listened closer and she thought she recognized the voices, but she couldn't place a hoof on their names.
"Hello? Is anypony out there?" She called as she paced around the dark room where she was trapped, looking for a door. After a minute or so she found it and pushed it open, glad that it wasn't locked.

Edited November 30, 2013 by Art

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@,

She froze her, eyes widening in terror. For a moment all she could see was the eerie eyes and sharp fangs of the Changeling that stood in front of her before a seemingly long ago memory was pulled to the forefront of her mind.
Of course!
It was hard to make out, but she could vaguely remember Celestia introducing him when she had briefed them about their expedition. No wonder his voice had seemed so familiar.
"...Inquisitor Moon Crypt?"

Edited November 30, 2013 by BlackShardNixium

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

@,

 

Moon Crypt smiled lightly. "Well, it certainly appears to be me... hopefully I am me and not some demon possessing me. Either way, I can't seem to remember much." He winced and glanced at his wing again, the hard impact against the floor irritating the crumpled membrane further. "Remind yourself, the next time you are about to, to not fall into a three-story pit... to don't. It hurts." He shook his head. "I assume that you have about the same amount of memory of these last few hours as I do?" he asked, gingerly poking his wing. More pain. Bad idea.

[Flying Ace 142]

Ace's ears picked up, he swore he heard voices coming from somewhere but he couldn't make out what they were saying. But just listing to them gave Ace a sense of...nostalgic he feels like he should recognize the voices. "Hello? Is anypony there?" Ace yelled in the darkness.

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@
She nodded glumly.
“I can barely remember anything; and whenever I feel like I’m getting close, my head starts throbbing!”
She sighed, going silent for a moment before realizing she still had the bag strapped to her shoulders.
“Oh!” she gasped, pulling her journal from the dusty pack, “I have this, though. I guess it was my journal. I’ve only read the last entry so far, but maybe there’s more in there that could help us!”

Edited November 30, 2013 by BlackShardNixium

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

@,

 

"That indeed might help us... if you were to read a passage or two from it? I'm sorry, but my wing needs attention." As she opened the journal, he pulled off his pack and pulled out a bandage. Soft, stretchy... it would work. As Silver began to read, he took a deep breath and pulled his wing straight, gasping at the sudden burst of pain, before wrapping it in the cloth. It would take a few days to heal. He shook his head and began paying more attention to Spectrum...

[BlackShardNixium 277]

@

She opened the journal and read aloud:

5^th of November

10:41 PM

My name is Silver Spectrum and this is the first of many entries to come. Just this morning I received word that I was to arrive before Princesses Celestia and Luna at noon sharp. Apparently, they need my assistance with something.

However, I was not the only one to receive summons. I counted a total of at least nine others. According to Celestia, all of us are needed for an important expedition into a rarely explored part of our lands. She told us that, in the vast wilds of Equestria, there lies a hidden cathedral; a temple. The Celatum, as it is called, was built far beneath the surface of our world and has remained there for centuries. I have a feeling the Royal Sisters know more than they’re letting on, but I trust it is for our good that they keep it that way. Celestia and Luna have requested that I write a transcript of our expedition; I have agreed to do so. I have ten days to prepare everything I may need for our departure.

As of this point, that is all I know.

-Silvia.

[Jack Baker 698]

@,

 

"Man I wish you had a physical form so I could hit you," Raze said to Ix. "Anyway, let's see here..." He went into one of the tents and started searching.

 

"Eh, some blank notebooks, a water canteen, writing quills and ink, et cetera et cetera... nothing of importance." He saw that the water canteen had a name on it: "Silver Spectrum".

 

So that's who this tent belongs to, he thought. Must be a writer, judging by all the empty notebooks lying around. I wish there was something in one of those notebooks that I could use.... He sighed and exited the tent.

Edited December 1, 2013 by ~Twisted Genius~

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

@,

 

As the Jester kept rummaging through the public supplies, grumbling about that the ponies didn't know how to pack properly, Shadow Seer took a tent that belonged to "Ash Storm" and White, another that belonged to "Stout Willow".

 

"Other than the fact that these ponies don't know how to pack properly, nothing suspicious over here."

 

"Err... guys? Come look at this..."

 

As you and the Jester go into the tent, you are revealed by what appears to be a bloody ruin of a pony torso. Of what could be determined of the cutie mark, it was a willow tree.

 

The Jester whistled. "That's certainly a way to go, isn't it?"

 

White gave him a look. "From what I could find, he was a scientist, testing soil composition and trying to find out why plants didn't grow here. An examination of the samples revealed that a buildup of magical, demonic energy was the reason, thousands of years old. I'm not sure what it is, but it's ancient."

 

"But... why kill him?" he said. "There's only two good reasons- he was the only one left in the camp, or they were trying to scatter the others..."

 

"But, the real question is," continued White, "is who killed him?"

 

---

 

@,

 

"Yes,  the expedition. I remember Luna asking for me personally for this expedition. Stirred up the Council, that did." He shook his head. "Contin-"

 

@@Flying Ace,

 

"What...? Who's there?" he said, raising his voice. Sounding strangely familiar... and familiarly hotheaded...

Edited December 1, 2013 by Magos Amphrose

[Armin 168]

Rai heard the two vocies talking but despite the situation she was in, she didn't feel intimidated in the least. They sounded very familiar. When she heard a third voice call out, she decided to go out of the room. The hallway was actually lit, and Rai took a moment to take in the adjustment in brightness, before heading towards the two ponies.

[Jack Baker 698]

@

 

"Well, it could've been a demon, seeing as though this place reeks of them," Raze said to White while approaching her and the corpse. "Or maybe... there was a traitor in the group that could've done it. I think we should dig deeper in some of these tents just to make sure."