open A Darker Fate: Beyond these Walls Chapter Two.

[EcstaticWind 572]

Aegis Dare

@, 

 

Aegis sighed.  “I’m no different, mate. I might seem cheerful and upbeat, but inside…well, I’m losin’ it. But I can’t let everypony down, y’know? They rely on me being the best I can be, and I’ve gotta put aside my personal problems to make sure they’re ok.”  He leaned back, as his weariness started to show.

 

Noble Persona & Gwyn

@@Tricksters Pride, 

 

“You two,” Noble gestured to the two guards closest to him. “I need you to open negotiations with them. We’ll follow with the cart.” He said, sounding very much like a Guard Captain.

 

“Giving orders already?” Gwyn’s tone was somewhere between amused and questioning.

 

“If we don’t act, we miss this window of opportunity.” He tapped the side of the cart three times in rapid succession as a signal to move out.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@Icy Void,  @Commander Tangent,@Cinderscribe,  @Lhee,

 

White Eclipse

Eclipse simply watched the mares head back into the shack. They said they were just fine, but something about Kingfisher didn't seem... normal. Almost as if she has just gone through a terrifying experience. Though, he was sure Kingfisher could take care of herself. He had a position to uphold.

 

 

@@Windbreaker, @~chaotic sole~, 

 

Blasted Nova

Blast fell asleep for a few hours, but was forced awake. Something about the place was really nerve-racking. I was certainly out of the norm, but as to why, he couldn't put his finger on. He decided to come down from his bunk and check up on everypony. Though, he stopped when he saw a new face.

 

"Hey, Aegis. Who's the new guy?" He asked, eager to know this one.

[~Sole~ 852]

Aegis Dare

@, 

 

Aegis sighed.  “I’m no different, mate. I might seem cheerful and upbeat, but inside…well, I’m losin’ it. But I can’t let everypony down, y’know? They rely on me being the best I can be, and I’ve gotta put aside my personal problems to make sure they’re ok.”  He leaned back, as his weariness started to show.

 

Noble Persona & Gwyn

@@Tricksters Pride, 

 

“You two,” Noble gestured to the two guards closest to him. “I need you to open negotiations with them. We’ll follow with the cart.” He said, sounding very much like a Guard Captain.

 

“Giving orders already?” Gwyn’s tone was somewhere between amused and questioning.

 

“If we don’t act, we miss this window of opportunity.” He tapped the side of the cart three times in rapid succession as a signal to move out.

ronin sighed " you seem tired aegis. It is good that you and your friends watch out for one annother, but it is also a good idea to get some rest once in a while. Even heros need their rest." He said, as he saw a few ponies looking at him uncomfortably as he sat there.

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

@@Midnight Scribbler,

 

"Oh, hehe, yeah..."  Pavisa grins a little, rubbing at the back of her head still.  She hadn't spoken with Clockwork much since he'd joined their adventure - she'd barely spoken with any of the new ponies who'd joined them, it seemed.  "You could say that...  And I'm fine, my head just kind've hurts."  

 

She taps a hoof against her new horn for emphasis.  She may not have liked the addition, but for now she could at least use it as a decent excuse.  "Anyways, I'm fine...  Thanks though...  It's Clockwork, right?"  

 

 

Stahl

 

@,

@@Windbreaker,

@@Tricksters Pride,

 

Stahl opened his mouth as though offended, holding a hoof to his chest.  "Hold off the charm?  I assure you, my lady, I've no idea what you mean."  He chuckles as he puts his hoof back down, standing in a more relaxed stance as he looks over Sol.  "I'll do what I can to help, I'll need to see for myself what you've been doing until now though."

 

He nods slightly, then after a moment of thought, he looks back to Emerald.  "As far as doing anything in return...  Miss Emerald, if you do have sway at the castle, can you put in a request to have me re-assigned to this district?  A request for a single guard should be easier to clear than a full squadron.  I don't know, say you have a private job you need me on or something...  The Guard is bought, it shouldn't be too difficult to get me out of the castle."  

 

He shrugs slightly as he makes the request - it was worth a shot, after all.  Anything to get him back on the streets...  He was going to waste walking around that damn castle.

[Tricksters Pride 100]

Pegasus Squad Leader

@@Windbreaker, 

 

 

The two earth ponies closest start forward after a small pause but one of the pegisi stops them and waves them back into position before nodding at his commander (Noble). "Me and Wings 'll go. If we sent the earth ponies out then it'd break our formation and leave you unguarded, me and Wings have allot more range and we can break off faster if things go bad. We'll do our best though Sir!" He then makes a small salute and gestures at the other pegasus and they walk over to the other ponies in a calm and respectful manner, trying to project that they are friendly and open negotiations on a good note.

 

@, @,

 

When the approach the other group the pair stops and bow respectfully before introducing themselves. "Hello Miss Gaze, Mr Harvest... Guardspony. I'm Bolt and my friend here is Wings, you probably don't remember a mere thug like myself but me and a few others used to protect the neighboring district. We recently joined up with a much larger operation and we'd like to open negotiations with you as well in order to better protect the civilians around here. Were willing to offer some extra light armor and weaponry that our new employer provided us as a way to show that we really do want this to work... But i'm just here as a representative, our employer is over there and is most interested in talking with you good ponies."  *'And a guardspony.'*

[Ihei 713]

@,@,

 

Willow Starsinger

 

"Zintiik, you're not causing anypony else any trouble, are you?" Willow sure hoped not. The group needed to cooperate or they'll all be dead before they get to Noble. "Don't tease them. They wouldn't be any fun to tease anyway since your jokes are getting old," Willow smiled, nuzzling Zintiik. "You know what I mean though, right? Don't mess with anypony." Willow hoped Zintiik would listen to her. He has the past few times, but she couldn't help questioning, why? Is it because he treated mares differently? She was the most frail and helpless of the group. She couldn't do anything. Was that why Orion was so intent on protecting her? She, pointed out by Denarius, willed herself to jump into the light to save a tiny Aspect that could help itself.

 

"It'll be worth it if we survive, and we can all go home. You don't want us all to fight." Willow reached the end of the bridge, trying to help her brother with a few sparks of magic flying from her horn.

 

@@Tricksters Pride,

 

Aphrodite

 

"You seem pretty well-known. Seems nice," Aphrodite mumbled the last part, inspecting the facility. It seemed bigger than she expected, with Pegasi flying everywhere frantically and other ponies on the ground training. "Aren't there any mares here? Am I the first?"

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

Clockwork Green

@,

 

Clockwork smiled. She remembered his name, this was not something he'd expected, but was pleased to know that this mare was sharp with her memory for names. "Right, you are. Clockwork Green." He glanced to her horn, having his attention drawn to it once again, this time by Pavisa herself. This was exactly what he'd hoped for. "Ah, yes.. the horn. Perhaps, I can help with the pain. I should still have some healing aura left in my battery. Although.. I'm not so sure it would be a good idea to start throwing magic around so lightly. Er.. I know the doctor carries painkillers, they helped my hang-over on the train ride. Unfortunately the headache was the least of my worries." He chuckled. "That horn.. I am greatly intrigued about the nature of it.. You see, there are those who would wish their talents away to have the opportunity to control magic. I have been working on finding ways to bring that ability to them, hence my magitech battery." He said, patting his pack, which was nestled between his false wings. "It does not seem all that natural, does it? I mean, it doesn't look like any horn I've seen on any unicorn. And for it to just sprout like it did.. I can only imagine the pain that would cause." His eyes narrowed, trying to grasp it in his mind. He had endured a lot of pain himself, the wings were no small procedure. They had been wired directly into his bone structure and nervous system. The difference was that he had been frozen mostly for it. Pavisa hadn't had that luxury.

[Tricksters Pride 100]

Quiet Stallion

@, 

 

The stallion takes on a small and knowing smile. "Heh i'm a bit of a special case, one of two actually." He then drifts off in thought for a moment before shaking his head and leading Aphrodite down a winding stairway that was located to the side of the room, out of sight until he moved close to it. "Believe me though you are definitely not the only mare here. Not only do we not give a dam about gender and have a fairly even ratio but Strings' main pony is one."

[SilverHeart 741]

Silver Heart

 

Silver Heart opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred together and dark. Darker than it should be. That wasn't a good sign. Normally this was worthy of panicking. Oddly, she couldn't find the energy to panic...or anything other than stare ahead. After several seconds...or perhaps it had been several minutes, her vision began to clear. What she saw only confused her more. Instead of seeing the moon, clouds, stars, sun or even just the sky, she found herself staring at the wooden ceiling of a house. The architecture and design was very familiar....it was her house. Specifically she was in the upstairs study. The design wasn't anything special but she knew it well. She had spent many Summer nights as a filly staring at it until she fell asleep.

 

This wasn't right. Why was she here? Hadn't she been somewhere else? That's right...she was supposed to be on an...adventure? Was that what it should be called? The word seemed too grand. Maybe it should be called a journey? That seemed both more and less fitting. Whatever it was called, she had been searching for the Litany with a group of ponies. Captain Redwave, Kingfisher, Pavisa, Midnight....and other ponies whose names she couldn't remember. What was the last thing she could remember?

 

Silver strained her memory...it was unusually difficult. Everything seemed to be in a haze. The captain had....disappeared, maybe? The mare that was always with him had given some speech and given everypony the option to leave...only one pony had. She couldn't remember who. They started to cross the rock field. She had fallen behind the others...her leg had hurt. That was it. Nothing else came to mind. Despite several minutes of trying. Even what she could remember seemed dream-like at best. Wait...her leg was hurt? 

 

Silver Heart started to raise her leg, which proved far more difficult than she had expected. It felt stiff and...foreign. As if it wasn't her own. However, it looked and felt fine. For the most part.... In fact, now that she thought about it, her entire body felt stiff, sore, and oddly unfamiliar. She also felt terribly cold. Most of the warmth felt like it had been sapped away. Was she sick? Maybe that was all a dream brought on by a fever. What little warmth she did feel wasn't her own.

 

For the first time she noticed that something was next to her. Turning her head took more effort than it should have. Her muscles ached and her bones popped as she looked at her mother, who was sleeping next to her. Silver Heart blushed slightly. This was a little embarrassing. She hadn't slept next to her mother in years. A part of her wanted to wake her mom up and ask what was going on. But even as she slept she looked so tired.  

 

Deciding to let her mother sleep, Silver would head downstairs instead. Slowly, she inched towards the edge of the cot, doing her best to not wake her mother up. IT would have been easier if she could move normally. However her stiff and sore body made this a difficult task. Her hooves touched the floor, Silver took one last look at her mother, to make sure she was still sleeping. Success! Her mother still slept. After stretching her limbs, Silver slowly crept towards the door.

@@Midnight Scribbler,

 

Mirror Image

 

Mirror nodded and watched as Scribbler ran forward and jumped from platform to platform. Following suit Mirror trotted after him and jumped from one shard of the bridge to the next. Twice she had almost fallen off. Thankfully she was able to correct her balance and continue jumping across until both she and Scribbler had made it across.

Edited January 30, 2014 by SilverHeart

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Kingfisher.

 

Feeling marginally better about herself (or at least, having some of her frustration overwritten with embarrassment), Kingfisher made her way inside again. The nausea she had been feeling faded again - and the feeling of dread strengthened. Did this place have some kind of healing properties? Was it the gemstone? She didn't know - all she knew was that she wasn't fully in control of her thoughts - her mind kept wandering to things that were really irrelevant and...

 

She blinked. She was doing it again.

 

"Well..." She shrugged. "Guess we're waiting for everyone to recover... think I saw some bedrooms upstairs - might be worth seeing how everypony feels after catching up on their sleep?" The navigator mused. "Anypony pick up that map from upstairs? I'd feel better if we had an actual plan..."

 

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

 

Emerald and Sol.

 

@@Tricksters Pride,

@@Windbreaker,

@,

 

Sol stepped forward - doing his best to appear intimidating. It wasn't so much his size or posture that was the problem, but his face - pushed into a role he never wanted, the normally docile stallion wasn't exactly the 'assertive' type.

 

He was about to speak when Emerald saved him the difficulty.

 

"Then your 'employer' can approach us directly! We operate under command of the princess - if you mean to threaten us then you are sorely mistaken!" She made to turn away but stopped, looking back for a moment. "And don't you know that it's rude to stare? By Celestia, common courtesy is so rare these days..."

 

Giving the pair a haughty look, she turned away towards the guard beside her and continued her discussion as if there had been no interruption - feeling a slight pang of guilt... sure Stahl was arrogant, obnoxious and full of himself, but she couldn't help but feel responsible for luring him into this situation... he was a decent sort after all.

 

"Simple enough: I can't see them approving it, but I can see to it that nopony will even notice you've gone."

Edited January 30, 2014 by Cinderscribe

[Umbreon 569]

Zintiik

 

@,

 

Zintiik blinks, pausing where he stood at the sudden lecture.  What the...  Where did this come from?  He quietly follows after Willow, trying to decide what brought about this conversation.  "I don't do that when it's life or death like this...  Why, was somepony complaining about me?  It wasn't the newbie, was it?"  As he spoke Zintiik kept glancing around to the rest of the party, watching to make sure they were all going to make it...  Especially Mirror and Scribbler, considering they had been separated...

 

 

Pavisa

 

@@Midnight Scribbler,

@,  

 

Pavisa shakes her head at the offer of healing or medicine.  The last thing she wanted right now was somepony to cast a spell on her, and as far as painkillers...  Well, she wanted to be able to think clearly.  "If other ponies wanted it, I'd invite them to have it...  I don't want the damn thing."  She mutters quietly before glancing back at Clockwork, frowning slightly when he brings up the pain that was involved.

 

"It felt like my skull was on fire...  I don't know, but have you ever had a broken bone?  Well, it was like my skull was breaking from the inside...  I imagine it's similar to being impaled, but I don't know what that would feel like personally.  Except the impaling was coming from inside my head..."  She sighs and shakes her head, not wanting to continue the talk of the conversation.

 

When Kingfisher asks for the map, Pavisa waves one of her hooves and stands up.  "I've got it over here."  Taking the old map out of her saddlebags she tosses it across the room to Kingfisher.  "If it's as old as it looks though, you sure it'll be much help?"

 

 

Stahl

 

@,

@@Tricksters Pride,

@@Windbreaker,

 

The sudden appearance of the other ponies put Stahl on his guard.  He didn't visibly look any different than he had a moment ago, but he was paying a lot more attention now than he had been.  After all, the two newcomers had admitted to being thugs, which meant they likely didn't think too highly of a Guard.  And with more approaching, that would put numbers on their side as well...  Not an interesting prospect as far as Stahl's potential safety was concerned.

 

He glances back at Emerald and smiles, doing his best to stay looking as though he were completely at ease.  "Thank you, my lady.  It will be much easier to keep an eye on things without anypony wondering where I am..."  He turns his gaze back to the ponies that had approached them, thinking back and trying to remember if he recognized either of them.  He had spent almost all of his time out on the streets before Canterlot went to hell and the council had ordered him to the castle.  There wasn't any chance he could play off being anything other than a Guard either, he was in uniform and a good portion of Canterlot knew his face.  Maybe Pavi was right, maybe I should have worn a helmet now and then...

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

@,

@,

Clockwork thought back, he could not remember breaking anything in his lifetime, though his mind once again drifted to his wings. "The closest pain to breaking a bone that I would know would be when I had these implanted." He said, stretching a wing, then folding it back again. "I was frozen for that procedure, but the pain afterwards was quite intense. It lasted for months afterward, though now they are one with my system. I am certain you will get used to that new horn just as well in time. Provided it is not temporary." He glanced to Kingfisher as she entered, and listened to the two converse. At the mention of sleep, he thought about his current state, realizing he was quite worn out in fact. "Well, I suppose I shall take to one of those beds, if anypony needs anything, don't be afraid to ask. My talents are at your disposal.. We must be on guard. Speaking of which, if somepony on guard wished to trade, I can take second shift, once I gain a couple hours rest." With that, he turned to move toward the stairwell, moving slowly in case anyone had something to say before he left.

[RAGESTAR 479]

@

 

The longer Crimson stood there, dwelling on his past, the more he felt...uncomfortable...not because of the bad memories, but because of something in the house. "Is it just me, or has it been getting...colder? My body heat has been continuing to rise since we got here, even though there's a fireplace...it's only supposed to do that if It's extremely cold...but how could it be? We're inside a cozy house, with a roaring fire...so either my powers are going haywire because of the two boxes...or something is VERY wrong..." he thought with a troubled look. "Hey, Kingfisher...I think we should get out of here, and soon...something's not right..." he said seriously.

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

((Cinder, feel free to have something happen to Eclipse and company outside.))

 

@, @@Commander Tangent, @@Icy Void, 

 

White Eclipse

The middle-aged unicorn took a seat outside and stared out into the horizon. Pretty simple and standard job, but to him, it was the perfect duty right now. He was suffering from a splitting headache and had new magic he knew nothing about. Just having to sit down and look out past the snow sounded like the most non-stressful job at the moment.

 

The stallion sat in silence as Icarus and Midnight worked on their own things.

[Icy Void 19]

@Team Brandy

 

Midnight Sky

 

While Eclipse was over keeping an eye out for anything unusual, Midnight walked over to where he believed the hole Eclipse's new magic had seemingly fixed was. This would probably be the most definite experiment he could run without having another hole blasted in the wall. As he got close enough for the light to shine on the wall, Midnight saw the unfortunate results of the test. The wall looked old and rotten and barely even holding together, and right where it should no longer be was a hole that allowed Midnight to see straight into the lodge. It now seemed that the gem was a sort of looking glass which stripped away illusions, and from what he could tell from the look of the magic on the lodge it could break down wards as well. "Well this doesn't look very good. I think this gem may have just saved all our lives today, thank Starlight Eclipse was so impatient to try and open one of the lock boxes, and that we chose to open the one with the eye." Midnight said to himself. And what's worse is that hypothermia wasn't their biggest problem, based on the magic energy that had been revealed to him with the power of the gem Midnight was able to figure out why they had been getting that sense of foreboding from the lodge. It takes energy to be able to maintain an illusion and a ward for a very long period of time, and with nopony there to maintain it the magic began to absorb any energy it could from nearby, so now it sucks the energy out of anything that enters the premise of the lodge. So the whole time they had been inside the lodge they had all been having their life force and magic energy drained out of them, and if they were to stay much longer some pony might die!

 

"Hey Eclipse! Icarus! Whatever you do don't go inside, it's not safe! I'll go and get the others!" Midnight called out to his companions before rushing back inside the lodge. There was no way he would let somepony die such a horrible death, and he needed to act fast, from his research Midnight had come to find that life force can be drained at a faster rate when the subject is unconscious. He had learned that the hard way when he accidentally held one experiment over a rabbit's den, the sleeping rabbit had died quickly while another one which was awake from the next den over remained alive a while longer. "Everypony listen up! You all need to go outside right away! This lodge is a death trap and if we stay any longer we may start to feel it's effects! I can explain everything once we're safe!" Midnight yelled as he barged into the lodge. Hopefully he had been loud enough to wake everypony who had gone to get some sleep. Midnight was quite relieved to see his sister wake up almost immediately, though he was worried to see that she looked far more tired than she should have. Sleeping for just a short while clearly had a devastating effect, probably made worse sense she was still so young compared to everypony else in the group. Thankfully she was awake enough though to understand and she made her way outside, much to Midnight's relief.

[RAGESTAR 479]

Crimson cursed and trotted past the threshold of the door, standing next to Midnight. "I knew something was wrong with this place! For some reason, it was MUCH colder in here then it looked, I'm guessing that probably has something to with this?" he asked, feeling much better after stepping outside for some reason.

[Commander Tangent 861]

@,

 

Icarus simply stood still, letting his senses adjust. The heavy cloak he was wearing would protect him from the cold as long as it was not to extreme. He gave a glance behind himself, and walked over to Eclipse, positioning himself a few meters away from fim as he stared out into the distance, searching for trouble. 

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Kingfisher.

 

"Well... It's better than nothing, right? Besides, how many mountains have you seen wandering around?" Kingfisher chuckled. "I doubt much has changed out here in a while - can't exactly see it as a popular place for..."

 

She was about to go on - try and figure out a plan: see if between them they could figure the safest way towards the Kingdom without tempting fate by going near... whatever had attacked the train - when Midnight came crashing through the door with the subtlety of a brick coming through a window.

 

"Oh what now?" Grumbled the mare - rolling up the map and wandering over towards the door with an annoyed look, where she stopped and raised a brow at the sudden commotion. "Whats up? Something coming this way?"

[Icy Void 19]

Midnight Sky

 

"You're right Crimson, that is part of it. As for your question Fisher, nothing is coming this way, it's more that this lodge is going to kill us if we stay inside it too long. I'll explain more once we're outside where it's safe." Midnight said quickly. He knew these were valid questions and that the others may be hesitant to leave so quickly with so little explanation, but there just wasn't time to tell them everything. If they lost too much of their life force then they might not be able to survive until they find some shelter that doesn't have a draining effect. And that's not even including if they get attacked again on the way.

[Umbreon 569]

Pavisa

 

@@Icy Void,

@, 

 

Pavisa groans quietly as Midnight starts telling them to get out of the cabin, but gets up to follow through none the less.  She knew better than to start questioning things like this now, and it was better to be safe than sorry.  "We can't catch a bloody break, can we?"  She thought back to what she'd said to Kingfisher and quietly curses karma, seemed he was being a stingy bastard.  

[Midnight Scribbler 1,705]

Clockwork Green

@,

@@Commander Tangent,

@,

@,

@,

 

Clockwork halted just as he placed his hoof upon the first step, looking back to see Midnight had busted back in and was ordering everypony to leave with urgency in his voice. Clockwork grunted, he felt a wave of loathing for the situation. Of course getting a good night's sleep was far too good to be true out here. He glanced around to see if anypony else had dosed off. He couldn't remember if any of them had made their way upstairs ahead of him. "I'll go up and check to make sure nopony is left up there. Go ahead without me for now, I will be out in a moment." He said as he began to ascend the stairwell. Stepping into the hallway at the top, he glanced around. The hallway was foreboding, suddenly. As though he'd suddenly been thrown back into his foalhood fears of dark places and ghosts. The hall seemed to expand outward, extending in length. Was it his mind playing tricks? Or some strange illusion? He wasn't certain, all he knew was that he needed to be quick about this. "Hello? Anypony up here? We need to get going now, everypony up if you're up here!" He yelled. Trotting down the hallway, glancing into the rooms.

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

 

Midnight Scribbler

@@SilverHeart,

@,

 

Scribbler turned back, gasping as Mirror nearly slipped, but having caught herself, he sighed relief. As they reached the far end of the chasm where Orion and the others were, he felt relief wash over him that they had managed to regroup finally. "My apologies, Orion. I had to go back for Mirror. We're all here now, let's keep moving." With that, he began helping Orion pull the pathway ahead together. "You cross, I'll teleport to you once you're all on the other side. We can make this! But I'm gonna need one helluva nap after we're through today." He chuckled. He could already feel his mind giving way to the exhaustion he was enduring. Having collapsed already, he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. His strength wasn't nearly what it had been before on their previous journey, although, given. He had come from his home, and was well rested and fed last time he popped into an adventure unexpectedly. This time, he wasn't off to the best start.

[EcstaticWind 572]

Aegis Dare

@, @,

 

“It’s true. I’ve been running on fumes for a while. But sometimes, you just have to vent, even if it’s just a little. Before the stress kills ya.”  Aegis’ normally quick thinking and snappy movements were getting slower and sluggish. He was barely even aware of the others bustling around him.  “Hey, Blast. What’s with…all the-”  Aegis stopped mid-sentence as he passed out, his slow breathing being the only indicator that he was alive.

 

((OOC: I'll have a post done for Noble and Gwyn soon.))

[Geek0zoid 1,468]

@@Windbreaker, @~chaotic sole~

 

Blasted Nova

Blast was feeling a bit sluggish as well. He was slower because of his current injuries, but now, for some odd reason, it's more obvious than ever. But, there wasn't much time to think about it, as the next thing he knew, Aegis was collapsed on the floor.

"Looks like it's time for me to return the favor. C'mon, new guy, we need to leave, quick!" Blast managed to pick Aegis up off the floor, but the speed he could move was anything but fast. Curse these injuries! He just had to have them in these desperate times.

But, he couldn't give up. He had to rescue his friend.

 

@Everypony else

 

White Eclipse

A little bit late to hearing this, Eclipse got up and stood a good distance between himself and the door. Luckily, he could still use his normal psychic magic, despite the annoying new type. When everypony escaped, he planned to seal the entrance with something. What would that something be? He didn't know. He couldn't make solid matter out of just his magic alone.

[The Elusive Cinder 1,328]

Orion Starsinger.

 

@,

@,

@@Nomadic,

@@Midnight Scribbler,

@@SilverHeart,

 

"Yes, lets keep moving. We're close now... can you feel it?" The unicorn looked upwards slightly - clouds all seemingly moving not just in one direction but towards a single point ahead of them. The chilling wind likewise seemed to be drawing them onwards to the same location... even the cracks in the ground appeared to be skewed towards it. Something powerful was ahead - subtly becoming the world around it for some unknown reason. "It knows we're here."

 

Orion nodded onwards - the ground in somewhat more.... sizeable... pieces ahead (mostly thanks to the assistance of a unicorn who didn't rely on slamming them together to form a path), but was still far from what could be called safe. Stepping forwards seemingly without even acknowledging the threat, he strode onwards - stepping over the chasms with little more than a look of concern and annoyance: his thoughts filled instead with visions of vengeance and... something else. The emptiness in his mind was gone: the light seemed to be...

 

They had spent too long here - they had to keep moving.

 

"Willow, stay close to me." He said shortly, soaring a glance behind him. His companions could look after themselves - even if they couldn't, there was more at stake than just their lives.

 

Wincing as he focused everything that he had remaining into swatting aside a particularly troublesome shard of Equestria, he hopped forward over the resulting chasm and found solid ground beneath him - the cracks still stretched out into the distance, but at least he wasn't suspended in the air now.

 

He stopped finally, impatiently turning to watch the others as they picked their way across the hazardous landscape - eager to move on as quickly as possible.

 

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

 

Kricket.

 

"Aa-ara-ak! The aspect crackled uneasily as it watched the lights below - felt the magic in the air and the call forward. He flittered into the air and peered downwards for a moment before letting out a joyous screech and darting onwards, following the pull if the magic in the air. This place was thick with it - even the ponies and the Zintiik creature would follow it, he was sure.

 

It wasn't just here though: there was a pulse of magic in the distance - something different to anything he had witnessed before - different to what the ponies could make, or the Litany. It wasn't bear where he was going though - which was good, because that would have been frightening.

 

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

So, was it such a great idea to put an ancient and mysterious magic artifact on without researching it first?

 

~???~

 

@@Icy Void,

 

'Wow, you're slow aren't you? Couldn't you see it? It's was a pretty flimsy illusion...' A voice - feminine, bright and clear but distorted and just plain wrong sounding echoed inside the head of the unicorn - like an intrusive thought, sounding as if it wasn't actually speaking the words but some other, strange language that the unicorn made sense of without needing to understand.

 

'Your world is really grim too... and your words sound weird: you should talk different. Oh! Can you even hear us? I didn't see any of you talking like we do but I figured... Aha, yes, you can hear me can't you? Okay! Good!'

 

'Now, listen, that thing around your neck? That's mine. Something's going to come and try to take it from you and you don't want to find out what... I can help you, but I need your help first... '

Edited January 31, 2014 by Cinderscribe

[~Sole~ 852]

Ronin cursed as aegis collapsed, but blast got to him first and picked him up. As he suddenly told everyone to leave the cabin ronin paused "why in the world do you want to do that? This is our only source of warmth and shelter, why would you have us leave to go out into the cold?" He asked, more curious then upset.