open Shifted

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt slowly nodded, still shivering from the cold as he followed Peach to the inn. As soon as he saw the inn and looked through the windows, he was happy. *Finally... Some warmth...* he thought as he entered the inn along with Peach. Upon entering, he slowly stopped his shivering as he slowly began to warm up again. *Yes...* he thought. *This is SO much better than being out in the snow...* Just then, he turned around to see Serah fall to the ground. "Wha?" was all he could utter out before he approached the knocked-out unicorn.

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal Flame stopped at the edge of the Everfree as he watched the rest of the group go on. He didn't belong there, he thought sadly. Not that it matters, they're all ingrates anyway, he added quickly in a failed attempt to cheer himself up. Standing fast in the cold snow, he sighed. All I ever wanted was acceptance. That, and I hate taking charity. Yep, what a stupid idea. He was going to freeze himself to death just to prove a point if he stayed there any longer. Crystal Flame glanced behind him, where the tracks the other ponies had made were starting to fade under the driving snow. The other pony who had been creating tracks had only really kept the edge fresh. The part in the forest had probably been hidden under the snow already. Well, it will soon, at any rate.

 

His hooves were now up to ankle-deep in the snow. How long had he been standing there? He was starting to lose the feeling in his wings, which probably wasn't a good sign. You know what? Stop complaining and do something good for the world for once. Turning his back on the inn, he trudged determinedly back over the now all-but-faded hoofprints as he tried to renew them before they were covered completely.

[SuperTheAwesome 199]

Speed didn't know if anypony had noticed, but she had followed close behind the group and into the Inn. Many things had happened without her, so it was best for her to keep quiet and not share her opinion on the subject. All she knew was that it was freezing outside, and she was tired. Speed jumped when she heard a loud thump. The other pony (What was her name, Serah?) had fallen to the floor. Because Speed was tired and didn't really want to help, she just assumed that the other pony had fallen asleep.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

It all seemed like it happened in slow motion as she heard the loud thump on the floorboards. She looked behind her, her eyes wide with fear of what she might see. It was confirmed. The unicorn, Serah, had fallen to the floor. She bit her lip as her hooves refused to move to help her. Peach closed her eyes tight. I'm no good to anyone in this state, she thought to herself. If there could be anytime for any of you to show though, please...PLEASE do it! She silently pleaded with the many other versions of herself that now appeared to lay dormant within her mind. Please...

 

Her body stiffened as her eyes shot open again. One of them seemed to twitch before her body untensed. "Cole!" She spouted as she ran to the collapsed Serah. "Help me lay her over Electrobolt's back. Come here Electrobolt!" She ordered, her horn appearing to accumulate that yellow twinkling glow again. It surrounded Serah as a force began to raise her limp body off of the floor. Her eyes closed tightly as she tried to lift her which proved difficult since she, herself was rather tired from the stress of the day. One eye opened, looking to Cole to hold onto her and help pull her up and onto Electrobolt.

 

"Once we...get her...on him then...Argh....then we can...take her...to her room and under some...blankets," she suggested through clinched teeth as she awaited their help.

 

She'd remembered that Discord had thought it funny to soak her with ice water right before bringing winter upon them. She could have hypothermia. The stress of being in a totally different world surely must not have helped. The only thing to do now, was get her into a bed, and make sure she was kept warm. Maybe a visit from Dr. Whooves if he wasn't busy with other ponies that might have fallen ill from the drastic weather change. She would see how it all went in the morning...if Discord allowed the sun to rise at least.

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver turned to look at Lionheart. "Yes, i can see your point Lionheart, but there are so many things that would go terribly wrong if that happened as well. If Discord is the god of Chaos he wouldn't do anything that could benefit anyone except himself. First, 7 billion people would suddenly show up here unexpectedly, and the place would be crowded. Then among those people would always be some that want to make things worse and start destroying the ecosystem and way life is here. Those 2 alone could completely destroy this place. I just don't think thats something we want to happen." Silver explained to Lionheart.

 

Suddenly he heard another pony calling. It was the same pony from earlier that had showed up just before he had left. "Okay we're coming!" Silver called back. "Come on everyone, we better get out of this weather." He turned around expecting them to follow and began walking. As he walked he noticed his tracks had been kept very fresh. Like there had been no snow on them at all. However they seemed to be a bit... elongated. They must have kept the tracks fresh by dragging their hoofs through the snow. He made a promise to himself to thank the pony that did it later when he met them.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt looked over to Peach and nodded, getting over to where she wanted him as he lowered his body to the ground. *Please be alright...* he thought in his mind as he waited for the other two to get Serah on his back. He didn't want anyone to go out, not right now... He wanted to help this pony get better.

[Wolfe 71]

Brave nods to the silver unicorn and starts treading the quickly piling snow. He keeps an eye of Artsy in front of him and takes a look toward the back as well, making sure nothing could potentially ambush them. He keeps noticing that the other ponies have marks on their rears. ...What does this mean? He turns toward his rear. Why's mine blank and they have a mark? This doesn't make sense. Both the fact that I'm the only one missing one and that there are marks on their rears to begin with... I'll make sure to ask about that when we get to wherever we're going...

 

The cold was really getting to Brave, but he resisted. The cold he's felt before has at least toughened him up for this weather, and considering he has a fur coat, he doing fine. Artsy on the other hand, err hoof... mentioned she never knew much about snow. Brave paid close attention to signs she might have from the resulting cold.

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal Flame had been treading the tracks for what seemd to him like hours, although without a clock it was rather hard to tell. Is pony time even the same as human time? The cold was piercingly painful, but he gritted his teeth and kept going. At least movement helps, I'd be a solid statue if I just stayed in one spot. Finally he had looped around back to where he had started at the edge of the Everfree, having renewed the tracks at least three times, and dropping various items like broken twigs to supplement-just in case. He glanced behind him again and heaved a sigh-the snow was coming down even more, and the tracks were already starting to fade. It's knee-deep, for crying out loud. Resignedly he turned around for one last loop.

[Nathan Fink 22]

Freezing his tail off, he paused only for a moment to look back and make sure at least one of them was following him to keep some tracks fresh to follow. Seeing that it was indeed the case, he continued his gallop back to the inn. I did enough...i hope. More than anyone else at least. Looking desperately around, he started to panic. Unsure of whether he had taken a wrong turn or simply couldnt see the inn with so much snow in the air. After a few seconds of searching, he found a few building he knew he recognized and approached the door he knew led to the Inn.

 

Opening the door, he walked inside and quickly shut it. Looking forward he shook off all the loose snow that he could. Blinking hard a few times to get adjusted to the light, he saw the scene that was taking place. Seeing the unconscious unicorn being put on anothers back he concluded that it must be exhaustion I hope i wasnt to late... he walked over to see if he could be of any assistance.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Nathan Fink

[PeachPalette 1,000]

The sudden arrival of SiFi caught her off guard again, her magic flickering, almost dropping Serah, but acted fast to regain her hold on her. With Cole's help, she made sure Serah was gently placed along Electrobolt's back. Her eyes remained on SiFi as she spoke to Electrobolt. "Go ahead and find a room for her and get her under some sheets, please. She needs to get warmed up and fast."

 

She finally broke eye contact with SiFi as she watched Electrobolt trot down the hall finding a room for Serah. She turned to Cole to give him a quick "thank you" nod and then addressed the rest of the ponies there. "There are plenty of rooms. Go ahead and find one, everypony. My treat." She glanced back at the smiling pony behind the desk. He only seen these humans as ponies. Much like she did in the beginning. To him, they were no different than the rest in Ponyville. She wondered how long the secret would be kept.

 

She reached behind her suddenly and pulled the bag off of her back and held it out for SiFi to take. "I believe this is yours," she said through clinched teeth, the corner of her mouth curled up in a smirk. "Long time no see."

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

At Lionheart's statements, Artsy scrunched her nose briefly. It sounded... weird, to say the least. But she didn't really want anything to have to do with any complicated politics, and silently disagreed. No need to express opinions when it would've caused trouble. Or when you were holding a stick in your mouth. That had fire on it. Why couldn't she just make that stick hover with magicky stuff? She sighed inwardly as her teeth clattered on the stick.

 

Another voice had called into the distance and she saw yet another pony. These ponies had a variety of appearances, Artsy noticed. This one had facial hair. She didn't even know horses could have facial hair. Then she saw this one retreat to... somewhere. She wanted to move faster, but she wasn't used to this kind of weather. The snow around her feet was making her feel utterly frozen solid. Every movement was an effort to keep up. And she could feel her chest beginning to burn with cold air she had rarely breathed in. She had concluded at this moment that she hated snow, and never really wanted to see it again.

 

Her mood was beginning to dampen significantly as the reality of the situation hit her with this cold. She wanted to go back - back to where there was no snow and her friends were. She may not have been one for family, but she suddenly found herself wondering if she would ever see her mother's face again. Why had she not appreciated her whilst she was with her? Her eyes teared up slightly as she thought these terrible thoughts.

 

Then there were her friends... the friends who had taught her so much. And him. Him... the thought of never seeing him again is something that she felt so soul-crushingly awful that she couldn't help herself. Her tears began to flow much more abundantly, as she cried silently. The overwhelming sadness was something that she couldn't restrain. She just hoped the others weren't paying attention. Already, she was probably pegged as the weakest link for running away. Now she'd be the Crying Girl as well. The unicorn averted her head, hoping her tears wouldn't freeze to her face in this weather.

[Flow 1,624]

As the group threads through the piling snow, Arty saw the iconic buildings of Ponyvile in the distance, "Hey! There's the Town Hall! We're almost there!" Arty is known to be very optimistic at random times, even when he's close to the face of hypothermia most likely due to the fact that he stays up late overnight almost everyday to think of ideas for his running comic in his past life, combating stress and keeping himself healthy in the daytime, but sadly he forgot all that, the only thing he knows about his past life was that he enjoyed the art of drawing, then suddenly, a flashback runs through his mind

 

"Hi Mr. Valdez! I love your comic so much! Can you sign my copy?" Asked a teenage girl, "You can call me Mr.Eric if you like, well sure why not?" A man sitting on the table said, It was actually Arty. Eric Valdez is just his pen name, his real name is a secret. "Thank you so much! I can't wait to read what happens to Eunice!!!" "Have fun reading!" he said, Eunice was the name of the heroine in his comic, and apparently, he was in the San Diego Comic Con, where his publisher was releasing a limited edition of his best selling comic, and he was there for a book signing, sadly the flashback ended,

 

""Huh? Who's Eric Valdez? Eunice? I don't remember drawing a comic, hmm," He muttered, then he saw a welcome sign "Welcome to Ponyville!" and below it "Please trot carefully!" "Heh, this is nice,"

Edited March 23, 2012 by Narutardedscum

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt nodded as he proceeded to go into the nearest vacant room available in the inn. Once he entered the room, he walked up to the bed and pulled the sheets down using his mouth. After that, he slowly guided Serah off of his back and onto the nice, warm bed and fixed her up so it was like she was sleeping normally, and then proceeded to pull the covers over her body. He made sure she was completely covered up and tucked in before leaving the room, shutting the door as quietly as possible. Before completely closing the door, however, he looked back at Serah and whispered, "I hope you get better soon..." He then closed the door and walked back to the lobby, where everyone else was right now.

[Nathan Fink 22]

Confusion filled his face at her words. So we have met before? She acting different than before...maybe i have met her. She seems to think so anyway. Taking the bag and throwing it over his back, he turned back to her. "Thank you for taking my bag with you, i appreciate it." He nods his head to her and waits for a moment, then turns towards the dinning room and walks to Soup pot. Grabbing the ladle, he scoops a large helping into a bow, and takes it to a nearby table to eat. Looking over at her "Would you like some? Theres plenty and it comes with the room price" Plopping his bag down beside him he takes a seat and begins eating.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

She closed her eyes for a moment, stretching her nose out to the smell wafting from the quaint little dinning room of the inn. She inhaled deeply taking in the scent of the soup. She smelled carrots and potatoes...lemon grass and other various herbs. She smiled as she thought about the warm soup hitting the pit of her belly, warming her the rest of the way through. To this, her stomach growled viciously, it echoing throughout the inn. "Heh," she chuckled nervously, her eyes wandering around wondering if it was as audible as it was to her.

 

She made her way to the dinning room. She hadn't had anything to eat since she found the lost ponies. I should have grabbed something at Sugarcube Corner, she scolded herself silently. The thought of one of their delicious cupcakes sounded good right about now. Another waft of the soup's aroma teased her nose again making the thought of the cupcake seem very far off the closer she got to the warm pot of soup. It made her smile wider, her tail swished in a complete circle as she made her way to the table, eyes still closed, still inhaling deeply.

 

Her horn glowed again as the ladle lifted from the pot, the warm contents dripping some of the soup back into the pot. A bowl lifted from the others and hovered over the pot just as the ladle poured the soup into it. She was hungry. One ladle just would not do. She magically dipped the ladle back into the pot to scoop out more. Her eyes wandered behind her to SiFi who was at the table. "You must stay at the inn often then," she assumed since he already knew the food was included in the room price. Her eyes went back to watching what she was doing. "I've always wondered were you stayed when you were here." She clammed up immediately. Her personality in control being the one that knew no boundaries, she worried that might have been to bold.

 

The bowl of soup floated through the air, following her the the table, it landing gently as she hopped up into the chair. Her horn kept it's glow as the spoon lifted from the steaming bowl and entered her mouth. The soup was good. Warm. Perfect for a night like this. "Mmmm," she cooed. "This is very good." She wondered if it was brought in or if the pony behind the desk made it. Did he have maids here? She didn't know. This was her first time staying at the inn. She had her own house to go to. But, she had a responsibility now...or so she took on anyway. She needed to somehow help these lost ponies...and stop Discord.

 

She glared down at her bowl as she thought about him again. That...tyrant! Her yellow eyes slowly drew up to SiFi. He knew nothing of these lost ponies. He knew nothing of why they were here...who they really were. She bite her lip as the spoon hovered in front of her. Should I...tell him? How should I tell him? Would he even want to know? She glanced at the door, closed, and unmoving. Where are they?

[Wolfe 71]

Hey Artsy, how you holding up with this weather? Brave looked at Artsy from behind, but at that point, he couldn't tell Artsy was crying with all the snow coming down slightly masking everypony's vision, and considering that she was looking away from Brave. We're almost there, Artsy. I hope she's alright... but I've got a weird feeling...

 

As for Brave, he was shivering, but he kept it to himself. He really just woke up and now there's a blizzard? There's no way he was going down after waking up so soon. He trudged along getting closer and closer to buildings in the distance, one of them being Town Hall.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Wolfe

[Aureity 3,055]

Oh, good. Finally, sighed Crystal Flame as he saw a few specks off in the distance. Must be them. He wasn't going to wait to check, though. He was frozen almost completely solid from waiting around so long in the blizzard. I really need to toughen up to these situations...but then again, who expects a freak snowstorm? Sighing, he watched the specks draw closer. Satisfied that it was the other group of ponies, he turned and began treading snow back to town-he wasn't going to wait for them to get here, he'd get hypothermia.

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver let out a sigh of relief. "Theres the village. And that must be the inn." He said outloud to the rest of the group. "Come on, lets get out of this weather." He walked into the village with the other ponies. He noticed there was hardly anyone outside. And the ones that were were looking up nervously at the sky, almost as if expecting something worse to fall.

 

Silver opened the door with his magic, just so he could improve his use of it. Some snow had piled up and top of him, so he backed out of the door again and shook it off. Then he went inside and took a look around. It was much warmer inside then it was out in the snow. There was a fireplace at one wall, that seemed to be very well made and was lit, to help keep the place warm. He could even faintly see snowflakes and raindrops as they came through the chimney just before they melted or evaporated in the heat of the fire. A delicious sent caught his nose and he turned to see a pot full of soup. He also saw several tables with chairs, one of them occupied by Peach and the other pony Silver had seen earlier. He also noticed they were drinking the soup. He looked around at some of the others. They were just relaxing or going up to their rooms already, but silver did wonder how Serah was doing. After having that tub of freezing water dumped on her he was afraid she might get very sick.

 

Silver decided to have something to eat as well. He walked up to the pot and grabbed a bowl. He hesitated wondering for a moment, but he turned and looked at the others to see some of them were having some too, so he scooped some up for himself. Silver walked over to a free table and sat down to eat. He looked towards Peach. "I was able to find Artsy really easily, and we found our way back no problem thanks to him. If he hadnnt it may have taken a little longer." He said thanking the bearded pony. "Whats your name anyways?" He asked.

[Deshi Bashara 6]

As if on cue, Cole entered the dining room. "Hi, Peach." he greeted her. Then he turned to the other pony. "Hi. What's your name?" he asked.

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Sera woke up with a start. Her eyes darted left and right, ignoring her surroundings but wary of anyone who might be nearby. When no one crossed her line of vision, she sighed in relief.

 

"Well, time to get up."

 

She pushed herself out of her sitting position, her back groaning in protest. She reached back and brushed bits of bark off of her jacket.

 

"I really have to stop falling asleep against trees."

 

She went through her morning regiment of cracking every joint in her body that could be cracked safely, and tried to remember where she was. Not far off in the distance was a small town; she faintly remembered entering it the previous day, but couldn't remember what had happened once she got there. She had a bag of apples with her that she hadn't had before though, so she must not have completely struck out.

 

She brushed her pink hair out of her eyes and looked down at her watch. 8:00 am.

 

"I didn't sleep all that long. No excuse for that messed up dream I had last night."

 

Serah closed her eyes and tried to remember the dream. Pictures of multicolored ponies danced in her head, followed by a torrent of fire, and an enormous yellow eye.

 

She heard a sinister laughed.

 

She opened her eyes, and the eye of Discord was staring down at her.

 

"You didn't really think you could run away from me, did you, silly girl?" the voice chuckled as it spoke. "By running away to the human world, all you've done is strip yourself of your powers! Now you stand even less of a chance against me!"

 

Serah didn't know what to think, or what to do. Had her dream been real? Or was she still dreaming? She tried to summon a burst of fire, but nothing happened. Discord laughed at her failure, and the clouds up above grew dark and foreboding. It began to pour rain and snow at the same time, a downpour of icy sludge that covered the ground in a matter of seconds.

 

She tried to run, but tripped almost immediately. White slush rained down upon her with such force that she couldn't stand back up, and soon she was covered entirely. Serah felt herself freezing to death underneath the oppressive weight of the snow. She clawed at the ice, desperately trying to crawl out of the snowy grave. She could still hear Discord laughing at her.

 

---

 

Serah tossed and turned in her bed at the Ponyville inn. She'd wrapping herself up in the covers until she couldn't be seen in the bundle of blankets. Small whimpers unconsciously escaped her lips as she shivered in fear.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Legendary Emerald

[Nathan Fink 22]

He was starting to feel nervous with so many ponies talking to him all at once, he was very uncomfortable with to much attention. His face showing none of this, he answered them in turn. Its ok Si...just deal with it for now. Its just been a while since youve had to interact with Ponies this much. To Peach, "Yes, this is where ive been staying...i thought ive seen you around town, but was not sure if it was you after all. It appears i was wrong. And yes, the soup is quite good, its the main staple here. Your name is...Peach..Peachpalette?"

 

He Turned to the Silver one and responded "It was no problem really...just a little courtesy..." looking between the newcomer and the silver one "My name is Sigfried Filya...but please, call me SiFi. Everyone does, or at least...everyone who has a need to" he did a quick head count of all he had seen so far and put on a face he knew conveyed concern "Weren't there more of your little group?"

[PeachPalette 1,000]

She looked back at Cole and winked. "Hey, Cole!" She greeted him. Her spirits were lifted when she started to see the others pile into the inn one by one. Good, she thought. Once they're all here and rested we can talk about what all's happening and try to come up with a solution. The thought arose again if they'd even want to go back to their world if they could. She silently admitted to herself that she'd certainly miss a few of them. She sent a smile towards Silver as he entered the dinning room. She was happy to see him back.

 

Her ears flicked as SiFi told her, her name. She gasped a little. He knows my name! She looked away hiding her cheeks. They stung as the extreme heat hit their still chilly surface. She swallowed hard and looked back again. "Yes," she coughed a little clearing her throat. "It's PeachPalette. But, you can call me Peach." She listened a little more, hearing his full name. "Huh, I never knew your whole name." She stopped to sip some soup from the floating spoon. Of course she wouldn't have known his whole name. They've never even spoken until now. She just knew him by SiFi as that's what a couple of other ponies called him around Ponyville. "I like SiFi better." Like nothing, she regained her composure and went back to sipping her soup. Only looking up for a moment to send SiFi a little wink.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Upon returning to the lobby, he noticed Peach wasn't there. *Where did she---* he started thinking before smelling something good in the area. He decided to follow his nose for now, as he went in the direction of where the aroma came from, eventually coming across the dining area. There, he saw Peach sitting at a table, eating some soup, with Silver, Cole, and the one pony they had come across earlier. As he began to approach, he heard Peach call the other pony SiFi. *SiFi? Is that his name...?* Electrobolt pondered, before he returned his attention to Peach.

 

"Hey Peach," Electrobolt spoke out, approaching the group. He sat down in an open spot nearby the group as he said, "She's in bed now, but... I'm still worried..." He remembered when Discord splashed the water on her before the snow came down. *Will she be alright by herself...?* he thought. *Should I have stayed with her and watched over her instead...?*

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

They had finally reached their destination. Or so she presumed. As the others were going inside of it. Eager to get out of this horrendous weather she never wanted to experience the likes of again, Artsy rushed into this building... and saw it looked like a... hotel of sorts? She supposed that made sense.

 

The unicorn stood awkwardly in a corner with her stick on fire, watching as nobody noticed her tears. They were all too distracted in their own things. Things that at the moment, just seemed like distant noise to her. It was all right. She didn't know them, so she didn't expect them to really care.

 

Though she was reluctant, she decided to go outside for a moment to put out the fire stick. She slowly and carefully dunked it in the snow, watching all of it melt around the flames as her tears flowed freely. Eventually, the water of the melted ice put out the fire. Then she discarded it outside, not liking to litter, but not knowing what else to do. Artsy was momentarily also glad to have a distraction and be away from the noise of the others. But... it was too cold to remain out there, and it had been pleasantly warm inside. So she went back to her corner.

Edited March 23, 2012 by Arylett Dawnsborough

[Wolfe 71]

Following behind Artsy, Brave entered the inn, but not before spitting out the stick. The stick flung into a pile of snow and immediately put out the fire. Once inside, he looked around the homely feel of the inn. He saw the fireplace on the other side of the room, and thought Artsy might feel better in front of it. He saw her move to one corner of the room. I bet she's just trying to get warm, but I'll ask later if anything's up.

 

Brave decides to walk toward the pony that led him and the others back to this inn. Once again, he notices their rears. Those marks... what's with em... Brave first decides to introduce himself, as he promised back in the forest.

 

Hello ...uh... ponies... Thanks for helping me out there. I'm sure Artsy is grateful as well. My name's Brave.

He extends his hoof, but realizes again, no fingers. Right. Things might get awkward in the future...​ He lowers his hoof in embarrassment.