open Shifted

[Wolfe 71]

Brave maintained his stance. He looked straight ahead where Discord was. Where he used to be. Where Peach currently sits at. .Yet Brave, still maintained his sight. He kept his consciousness. He held his ground. He hoped to god that Artsy was still okay, hoping the energy he transferred wasn't in vain. Silver drops by and apologized to him. Brave made an occasional gasp as he spoke to Silver.

 

I don't blame you..... It's not your fault... I'm just glad... that... Peach and Artsy.... weren't hit...

 

"Wait..." he said. "Better idea... this may be a little cold." Focusing his energy into a new form, he made some water appear and poured it on the burn. "That should make it feel better." Silver said. Silver felt awful for using that fireball attack and causing so much trouble with it.

Brave then started walking just before Silver started healing him.

 

No... Make sure Artsy... is okay... Get her to... the inn... Then check if... anyone else... is hurt and... needs your help....

Stay conscious. I don't need Silver healing me now... I gotta make sure everyone else is fine. I can worry about myself later...

 

Brave walked over to Peach. She was sobbing and could feel her pain of almost getting Discord. He understood too. Discord was in their grasp, but they weren't strong enough. Or they all didn't have it in them. Not yet. He was sure everyone had problems with Discord. Brave fought with himself, but he wouldn't admit to it. Not yet. Brave wondered if he could do more. He wondered if he was strong enough. ...Not yet.

 

Peach... Stay strong...

 

Peach... it's okay... we just need... to get closer... At this point... we weren't there... Not yet...

 

Not yet.

Not yet...

Not yet.....

 

We could have had him, only if... If I did a bit more, maybe...

Only if you brought a bit more, you Brave boy...

I should have put more to attacking you...

Oh, but why? You couldn't hurt a fly! I mean, why would you? You'd defend it! Ha-ha HAAAA!

Oh stop. We'll stop you... That's a promise...

Is that a fact? Although you and your "friends" were close, but did give me a cigar, hehehe..., You all can't do anything. Especially you. Defending? How will that stop me? I'm chaotic! I easily go around your shield. Your grand wall. Your own self.

That's not true...

You're quite funny, Brave! We'll see in due time, young human pony. Oh, and do be careful. Burns can lead to scars! Hahaha!

Scars.....

[Flow 1,629]

Arty struggled to get up and when he did, he wondered what went wrong, "We couldn't do it, why? Ah yes, we need Sifi, but how is he supposed to find out-... no.. wait!" then walking up to Sifi, "We are not giving up! You have to move forward, you can't be afraid, you have to find it, please try, I know you can do it, and if you start now, don't give up!! We we're almost there, till someone didn't try for once, you can't stay behind, you must move on, dismiss the doubts first, then you move forward!" Putting his hooves on Sifi's shoulders, he continued "I...Um-We know you can do it! You just have to believe in yourself! Do it for us, do it for Equestria!"

 

No one has ever seen Arty like this before, most likely because he learned that never giving up is the key to defeating Discord, if it was that, then it was all thanks to his element, and when he saw Silver tending to Brave's wounds, he came up to them and said "Oh, I remember getting hit by your fireballs going haywire, don't worry, I know it isn't your fault, It felt like I was dead after getting hit by some directly, for an odd reason, I can't explain how I got a second chance, and why I'm fully healed afterwards, I just remembered finding myself in a white realm, and this voice told me that I should find the element within me, and when I was thought to never give up, I found my element: Perseverance. I am thankful to be alive, and I will cherish this second chance! Now I will help you tend to Brave's wounds, but first...."

 

He turned the others and spoke "I will not give up, I will fight to the very end, even if it costs my life!!" But then, he started to worry a bit about what their reactions might be, one could be "No Arty! Please don't push yourself too hard!" but he was prepared for it anyways, knowing that sacrifice is an ingredient to success. Perhaps, he might even start to value everyponie's happiness over his life, but is that a foolish thing to believe in? Maybe not. He turned to Silver again to fulfill his small promise of helping him tend to Brave.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Narutardedscum

[Arylett Charnoa 4,919]

Sadly, all of the energy that Brave had to give did nothing to stir the exhausted pony. It was a long day, and Artsy did not notice anything around her. Her body laid limply even as it was caught by Brave, and even as her wounds were treated slightly by Silver. She laid on her back, looking somewhat dead with all of her limbs hovering up in the air, but exhaling very slowly...

 

____

 

In the sea of black before her, she had dreams materialize. Foggy and vague images of chimeras and monsters of all sorts. Voices were disembodied and merging together in this blurred sea. The voices of people of the past, the future, and the present. Ponies and humans sinking into her mind, as it all quieted suddenly. Suddenly, she was walking through this neverending black... but not on four legs. On two. The girl flexed her hands, trying to remember her original name. She did not feel Artsy was an appropriate name for this form.

 

It felt good to have them. So many fingers she could feel... she felt a lot less helpless in this body. Smiling vastly, the nameless girl kept wandering through the dark for what felt like several hours. Her expression faded soon into exhaustion and apprehension. Where was she?

 

There was a loud laugh echoing through the area, reverberating against the very delicacies of her skull.

 

"That was oh-so-painful, what you did to me! You're good, you know that?"

 

It was that voice of that monster. The one who... she had figured now for a while was Discord. She tried to pay it no mind, and continued wandering down her aimless path.

 

"Where are you going? There's nowhere you could go to escape the chaos... ha ha ha..."

 

Still, she ignored him. It seemed all the others had fallen for his traps by listening to this monster and responding. The girl would simply wait until the creature got bored and left. None of his words would get to her. Just tune all of his tricks out... or else it could be bad. Maybe he might even turn her back into a pony.

 

"Aww... you're no fun, you know that? I think I liked PeachPalette a lot better than you... she was much more fun." She could almost hear the malicious smirk on his face, trying to stir her into negative thoughts. Her pace quickened as she started to walk more briskly to get away from him... she needed to reach her memories. And a memory of something she felt was truly important; her name.

 

"A monologue! I never did like those. Always so long-winded and boring, the part where the villain explains his evil plan. Isn't it, An... I mean Artsy! Oh silly me, I almost dropped your real name." The monster laughed non-nonchalantly as she suddenly stopped walking. There was no way he could know her name... was there?

 

"Got your interest, have I? I'll leave you with a little something, my dear pony. Oh, me and my mistakes! I called you a pony! Look and what I've done now..." His light voice went back into its sneering laugh, and the girl looked down. She had seen that her legs were turning into hooves and a tail was sprouting from her behind. No...

 

"No? You look like a pony to me. Have you ever seen a human with a horn?"

 

She put her hand to her forehead, and sure enough, she could feel a sharp protrusion coming from it. Her mouth gaped out widely. Not again... please... why couldn't she be human?

 

"I see you're interested now in what I'm saying. There is something the Princess neglected to tell you... and this is why I have triumphed even if it took some terrible pain!" He cackled again, appearing to get intense pleasure out of her rising anxiety and curiosity. It seemed that Discord was deliberately saying every word as slowly as possible to drag out the suspense.

 

"Oh, you're just dying to know, aren't you? Maybe I shouldn't tell you... you did kick my puppet in the head. And then almost turned me into stone... by the way, I'm quite impressed with that! Bravo! Bravo!" There was the sound of an entire crowd cheering as transforming human stared ahead humourlessly, gritting her teeth for him to just get on with it already.

 

"You're still no fun. You need to learn not to take things so... seriously. I guess you learned from the Princess... always such a stiff. Even when I was the one trapped in stone... but oh yes, yes... speaking of her... she neglected to tell you... that in discovering your element, you're stuck as a pony forever! There's no going back now to your little human world. Unless you'd rather be treated as a freak."

 

Her eyes widened at this. Was it really true?

 

"The Princess didn't want to tell you, because she knew you wouldn't have sacrificed your humanity like that... oh, how the royals lie... so many lies inside of the crown of that Princess."

 

She felt the transformation accelerate as she dropped onto all fours again, and soon was completely a pony again. Artsy looked down at the ground and saw a mirror appear, staring at her non-human face as tears slowly began to drop down her face. Would... would this be what she'd have to get used to?

 

"Forever... yes... forever. See? I'm not the bad guy! I was just trying to help you... by merging the worlds, everypony would've won. But that Princess... how selfish was she not to tell you! Forever... forever... forever..."

 

His voice echoed agonizingly throughout the area, in all manner of tones and pitch, mocking her as she fell to the ground and held her head with her hooves. Even her reflection had begun to speak to her, giving her a mocking grin.

 

"I'm you now. You're not An... (there was a fizzle of sound as it attempted to say her true name, as though it was censored) anymore... you're Artsy Dreamscapes, the unicorn pony! Heeheheehehehheee!"

 

"...NO!" She screamed out, trying to drown out the insanity and chaos inside of this black realm. Her vehement shout pierced past the realm of dreams, and into reality, for all of the other ponies to hear. Her legs began to flail around in mid-air as she trembled uncontrollably.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Arylett Dawnsborough

[Trixies Apprentice L 493]

Lionheart was pushing doing his best like everyone was but ironicly they failed. Everyone's grip was broken and after laughing and moching their failure Discord run away. (Impressive. He is truly strong.) Lionheart thought to himself. as he stood up after being knocked back when their magic broke.

 

"Well well. It seems we failed." He said loud enough for everyone to hear but surprisingly his tone wasn't sad or anything similar. It seemed interested. "But that is not what truly happened either. We didn't really fail now did we ? I mean we made him flee right ? We made him run away when moment ago we were are fighting each other. We still need to figure out stuff but now we are a group. We are team. We have a lead in contradiction to our clueless state before." He smiled, His tone remaining high enough for everyone to hear as he walked toward them.

 

"Sure we are a mess right now. Some of us are wounded. Both physically and mentally but thing have changed. We were the prey but now We are the hunters. We almost had him. We made him run away in his own field. Now we need to discover the way to capture him before we become prey once more. I mean we survived this. How can things possible become worse. What can possible can go wrong now." As Lionheart spoke the last lines a faint annxious feeling past from his body. It was faint and only someone with good body language reading skill could notice but it was there.

 

(Actually many things can go wrong. But now that not the time to mention them. We need to regroup first.) He thought as the anxious feeling became more apparent but still hardly noticeable on the outside.

 

"By the way Does anyone here have some chocolate that I could eat ?" The question was kinda stupid and out of place but eating chocolae actually helped him calm down when he was anxious about things. "But anyway we need to regroup, heal the wounded and go on a Discovery trip and I am stating obvious thing hehe."

[Dexterity 3]

The white unicorn gasped as so many things seemed to happen all at once. Discord breaking free, so many ponies injured, and SiFi failing the group. She lowered her head and allowed a single tear of frustration to roll down her downy cheek. She knew that the others needed her now more than ever.

 

Cantering over to Peach she laid down next to her and laid her head gently over her light orange back in a gesture of gentle reasurance.

 

"We tried our best. That's what counts. You're stronger than any of us individually... thank you for your sacrifice." She hoped this would stop the tears. They all needed to heal and regroup and think of a plan. Dex was exhausted, but she would not rest until the others were seen to. She had seen Peach try to get up before and knew that she was too drained to get up on her own. "If I can help you in any way, please tell me..."

[Electrobolt 2,069]

After having heard Artsy shouting out loud, Electrobolt turned his head around to look at the tan unicorn as she was flailing her legs around. This caused him to start worrying about her, so once again he tried his best to get on his hooves. Once again, he was met with failure as he hit the ground a second time. All he could do now was watch her flailing around, unable to do anything to help her out. *Stay strong, Artsy...* he thought, before redirecting his gaze to Peach. "Peach..." he started. "You did the best you could do... We all did... I... I thought we had him..." His eyelids slowly grew heavy as they tried to cover his eyes, but Electrobolt fought back as he was trying to stay awake for as long as he could.

[Legendary Emerald 622]

"He's gone. Discord..."

 

Serah looked around at Ponyville. Except for the heap of ponies that had just being deposited into it, everything was peaceful. The edge of Serah's mouth began to curl up in a menacing sneer. Fire raged behind her eyes, and she shuddered with uncontrollable anger. Seething breaths escaped her clenched teeth. Finally, she could hold herself back no longer.

 

"F*CK! F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK F*CK!"

 

She pounded the ground with each expletive, not caring how ridiculous she must look. She glared at SyFi, choosing him as the outlet for her rage.

 

"You... if you had only done something..."

 

She took a threatening towards him.

Edited March 30, 2012 by Legendary Emerald

[PeachPalette 1,000]

She tried her best to make the tears stop as she become quiet, only sniffling being heard, and only because it was something she could not control at the moment. She was more angry at herself than saddened. She wedged her snout between Dex's chest and the ground, just to keep in the soothing darkness.

 

The words of encouragement only helped her a little. We were so close...so close, she thought to herself over and over again. Her thoughts were cut short, however at the piercing sound of Artsy's scream. Her ears perked as her head shot up into the brightness again. Her eyes squinted trying to find where the rustling of hooves brushing along the dirt road was coming from. Artsy finally came into view. She was...having a nightmare.

 

She tried to get up again but felt Dex there, her calming warmth over her back. She relaxed herself again, staying there, and lay her chin over Dex's leg. She let out a sigh. She wanted to run to her aid so badly, but she was weak, drained, and emotionally conflicted. This group barely knew each other, but it was strong. She felt comfort knowing that Artsy would be taken care of.

 

She closed her eyes. A strong group, she thought to herself before finally speaking. "Thank you, Dex. Your comfort was much needed," she said softly. Her head pulled back just enough to nuzzle into her cheek. With that, she staggered to her hooves, barely able to hold herself up. "Thank you, everypony. We are strong, and as I've said before, we're in this for a reason. To stop him. It pains me to know that our worlds are still in danger, but pleas remember, ponies...we can only do this as a unit." She spoke softly, just enough for her group to hear her. Her yellow eyes looked to SiFi as if to tell him she meant for him to hear that the most.

 

Her gaze turned to Serah, "Placing blame will only break us again. Like Artsy said...he feeds off of negative energy. We need to think positive here."

 

The whispering around them reminded her that the town's ponies had gathered around their out of the ordinary display of laying around bruised and weak in town town square. "Ugh!" Her knees buckled again as she fell in a crumpled heap, and whispered to Dex. "Better to ignore them. They will go off to what they were doing soon. Ponyville cannot know of what they are or what's transpiring here. It would cause a panic."

Edited March 30, 2012 by PeachPalette

[Deshi Bashara 6]

During the final moments of the battle, Cole had been watching in horror as Discord gloated. When the tornado had sucked him in, the last thing he heard was someone screaming. It had taken him a second to realize that the screaming had been his own.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Cole got up from the ground, his body aching all over. He moaned quietly in pain and looked around. His vision was spinning, so it was hard to make anything out. The bright sunlight didn't help matters any. Rather, it magnified his headache from annoying to painful.

 

Cole, are you all right?

 

The pegasus rolled his eyes. I was just sucked into a tornado and flung around like a rag doll. I'm pretty sure that's the exact opposite of fine. he responded.

 

Ok, ok. Misery retorted, sounding irritated. Just checking.

 

Cole went over to a tree and sat in the shade. He took a deep breath and sighed. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. I just have a headache, that's all.

 

It's fine. I understand what you mean. the demigod assured him.

 

Cole suddenly remembered something. So, yeah. About that comment earlier. he said. He heard Misery swirling around for a few seconds.

 

Haven't forgotten about that?

 

Nope.

 

A clapping noise was heard. Looks like it's storytime part two, then. Misery began.

 

- - - - - - -

 

So I was flying around for a while, then I arrived on Earth. I immediately spread out and discovered that the only suitable 'host', if you'll pardon the unpleasant term, was you. I hopped into your brain and started analyzing you: Favorite movie, shoe size, birthday, et cetera. I was intrigued at all of these foreign concepts. I'd never been in the body of another being, and it was a new experience for me. You were around 6 years old at this time, and I decided to stick around to see how you would turn out. Not like I had a choice, at any rate.

 

As time went on, a revelation came to me. For the first time in my existence, I was experiencing happiness. Not the twisted kind that I got out of tormenting my previous subjects, but true happiness from an uncorrupted heart. It scared me, and I vowed not to let myself become attatched to you. But fate had a different idea. I found myself doing the exact opposite of what I had planned. This, again, scared me. Were you somehow controlling my actions without my knowledge? Or was I becoming something more then what I originally was?

 

The answer came to me the day of your father's unfortunate accident. Where other human children would have been left a psychological wreck, you perservered. This convinced me that destiny had something out of the ordinary in store for you. There was no way it was a mere coincidence.

 

So when the cracks came, I felt an urge to draw you towards one. You went in, and...well...the rest you know.

 

- - - - - - -

 

So you dragged me here in the first place? Cole asked him, one eyebrow raised.

 

I didn't know the portal's destination. I just knew you had to go through it. Misery finished.

 

Cole cocked his head. That makes sense. Sometimes I get an idea to go someplace, and stuff happens.

 

Yeah, it's a strange feeling. Misery agreed with him. There was some more floating noises, then: I'm going to take a nap for a while. Let me know if you need me.

 

"Sure." the pegasus muttered, getting back up and stretching out his legs and hooves.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Deshi Bashara

[Nathan Fink 22]

He lay there in a miserable, crumpled heap. The shame from what he had done, or rather, failed to do, weighed heavily on his mind. I failed them. I had my chance, my opportunity for glory...and i blew it. I dont desrve to be imortalized after all, im just a book worm with big dreams and nothng to back them up. He went eagle spread, his head flat on the ground. His face very obviously showing the disappointment and shame that he felt.

 

Every ponies words to him felt like another knife in his heart, another brick on his back. Discords final gave towards him told SiFi all that he needed to know. He had been the weak link in the group and Discord knew it. He had used him, wormed his way into his head and made him falter at the critical moment, causing the valiant efforts of the others to count for nothing. I was his tool...i thought i could stop him, but in the end he used me to succeed where he would have otherwise failed... He closed his eyes, supressing the tears. He simply laid there and listened to the others.

Edited March 31, 2012 by Nathan Fink

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt looked over to SiFi, noticing the disappointment that was shown on his face. Upon seeing this, Electrobolt couldn't help but feel bad for him. *SiFi...* he thought. *I... I don't...* He then shook his head, as the words were failing to surface in his mind. *I... I want to help you, but... I can't think of the words... I... I just...* Suddenly, his eyelids finally gave way as they shut over his eyes, his will to stay awake having gone out on him. With a light thud, Electrobolt's head landed on the ground as he was out like a light.

[SuperTheAwesome 199]

With all this action going on, where in Equestria is Speed? I mean, she's obviously the first pony you'd think of when it comes to battling evil monsters with names that start with the letter D, correct? Right? Hello?

 

"What?" Speed said to the voice, getting up off of the ground. She seemed to be in some sort of dark, grey, box. Though, it seemed to go on forever. "You aren't making any sense!"

 

But what fun is there in making sense? You never did when you were younger! You were the craziest kid in school, Speed!

 

A memory flashed through Speed's mind. A small girl with red hair and glasses standing in a playground. A park, possibly? Well, that didn't matter. The girl was running around, all the other kids running away from her. What was that she was doing? Barking? What silliness is this? One thing was for sure though, that girl was fast! Knocking down the other kids, and laughing at them. To any adult, she would have looked so adorable, but to the children, she was a nightmare. This child was insane! This child was... Speed.

 

"That was in the past. I was a child! I've changed!" Speed snapped at the voice, "Now tell me, who are you?"

 

Oh, really? You haven't changed? You're not crazy? You think you're in a world full of candy-colored horses that can use magic and fly! Is that not crazy to you, Speed?

 

"That horse stuff is all just a dream. I'm enjoying it, just as any girl would!"

 

If that's a dream, then what is this? Do you think this is real life? Or do you think this is a dream inside of a dream? This isn't Inception, girl! You are still crazy, believe me. The only thing stopping you from showing it in public are those other girls...

 

Another memory rushed through Speeds mind. All of the children were on the floor, and the little girl was laughing. But, there were three girls that Speed had not noticed. The popular girls. They were laughing at her. The bully was being bullied. Speed could not let this happen! Speed dashed towards the girls, who continued to smile. The oldest of the three girls raised her hand, and Speed saw the rock in it. Before Speed could do anything, the rock had collided with her head and she was on the ground, unconscious.

 

Oh, those girls. You never liked them, even when you were a small child. And they could still be with you now. Have you ever noticed that there are three other girls in this group? One, or even all of them could be those girls. How can you trust them?

 

Speed remained silent after this. What if the other ponies were the popular girls? What if they had come to this land, too? Before Speed could finish her thought, she woke up...

 

She was back in that forest, but not lost. The town of Ponyville was right in front of her. What was that the voice was saying about a battle?

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal Flame glanced over the rest of the group. It seemed that almost everyone was either asleep or faking sleep. He sighed, wishing he could drift off as easily as they could. But he still wasn't tired, unlike the others. He impatiently paced around the group, hoping that a few of them would wake up, but finally gave up, disappointed, as they continued napping.

 

Taking off towards the sky again, he practiced a few aerial maneuvers-he still hadn't quite gotten the hang of flying yet-as he soared aimlessly around, while keeping an eye on the group down below. He had always felt the need to help those in danger, but that belief was reinforced even more, now that he knew that it was what he was supposed to do. Element of protection, he thought. That's so bloody vague. What am I supposed to do, babysit them? Scout for dangers? Or just leave them alone unless they're about to die? He really had no idea what was expected of him, and spent a while mulling it over, finally coming to the conclusion that he'd just continue on like he normally did.

 

He caught sight of a pony at the edges of the Everfree forest, staring at Ponyville. Didn't look lke she was lost. But then, why wasn't she going anywhere? He remembered the timber wolves. Pretty sure they don't come this close to the edge...I think. He made sure to keep an eye on her as well, as he circled back towards the group.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

As Electrobolt was out like a light in the real world, his mind returned to the dream he previously had from the inn. The dream continued from the moment it left off, with Electrobolt walking through the door that suddenly appeared...

 

---------

 

As soon as Electrobolt passed through the doors that had appeared in the middle of the platform, he looked around his surroundings. "I'm... Back outside?" he questioned as he looked back at where the castle once stood, now turned into a pile of rubble. "Well, that's one down, six to go..." He looked past the rubble and saw a bridge leading to another new area of this realm.

 

This new area was just as colorful as the previous area, but he had no time to enjoy the scenery as another of the turtles came after him. But instead of a shell, this one was sporting... "A cape...?" he asked himself as he saw the turtle rushing towards him, eventually catching enough air to soar into the sky. "Whoa, it can fly too???" The turtle proceeded to hurl itself at the lime-green pony as it proceeded to do a dive-bomb on Electrobolt. Quickly dodging, he saw the turtle lodge itself into the ground. He then took the opportunity to jump on top of the creature, watching it vanish from sight. But this didn't catch his attention. A feather shot out of the cape as it slowly dwindled onto the pony, as once again he began to glow.

 

As soon as the glowing had subsided, Electrobolt felt something sticking out on both of his sides. Looking over, he noticed he grew a pair of wings! He had to do a double-take when he saw them. "Wings??? I have wings now???" he asked, shocked at the sight. Shaking his head, he thought out loud, "Hmm... If that turtle was able to fly with that cape... Then..." He then looked straight ahead, seeing a straight path. "Let's do it!" Electrobolt then proceeded to begin running straight ahead, and once he felt he was going fast enough, he leaped into the air... Only to fall a split-second later.

 

Slowly getting back on his hooves, Electrobolt wondered why his wings didn't pop open. Just as soon as the thought of his wings opening up entered his mind, they shot out full burst. "Um... Ok then..." he muttered as he imagined his wings being folded up again. Once he imagined that, the wings folded up on his sides. "Hmm... I think I got it now..." he mused as he turned around, looking at the straight path he ran on again. "Let's go for round two!" Once again, Electrobolt began running as fast as he could along the straight path, but this time, he imagined himself opening his wings as he was jumping, and sure enough, his wings flew open and he began to soar through the skies!

 

"WHOO-HOO!!! This is AWESOME!!!" he exclaimed, feeling the rush of adrenaline as he soared through the skies. He then shook his head as he remembered Discord captured Peach. "Don't worry Peach, I'm coming for you!" With that, Electrobolt soared off straight towards his next destination.

 

-------

 

Even though his excitement was made known in his dreams, none of his exclamations pierced through into the real world. He did, however, show a slight smile on his face from when he experienced what it was like to fly firsthand, even if it was a dream.

[Legendary Emerald 622]

Her gaze turned to Serah, "Placing blame will only break us again. Like Artsy said...he feeds off of negative energy. We need to think positive here."

 

Peach's words failed to touch Serah's heart, but they did stop her from wringing SiFi's neck. For the moment. That pony had prostrated himself on the ground, and looked about ready to cry.

 

"Pathetic... how can a group work together and 'harmonize' with a weak link like him?"

 

Serah snorted. She silently fought herself for control of her own actions; she so desperately wanted to punish that pony.

 

"This is why I've traveled alone since leaving home. When it comes down to it, you can't rely on anyone but yourself."

 

She turned and began to walk away, hoping she wasn't noticed.

 

"I'll stay with them, but only because it's the only way I'll get my revenge on Discord. But for now... right now, I need to smoke. And I don't think this world is going to be as generous to me as that screwed up void world was."

[PeachPalette 1,000]

Peach let out a sigh. This group was a mess again with no signs of pulling back together. She gave them props though, for it definitely wasn't as bad as it was in the beginning. Was it even SiFi's fault? Would they have been able to finally defeat this chaotic mess of a creature even with SiFi's element? She closed her eyes remembering the sound mingling with Artsy's voice. It was Princess Celestia's. 'Temporarily' was the word that stuck out to her. Did the princess not even know if he could be defeated this time? He was stronger than before after all.

 

If there was one thing for certain, if these ponies didn't clear the middle of town there were going to be questions soon as to why they were all suddenly bruised and beaten and laying in the middle of town. She'd thought most of them would have began to move by now. She inhaled and staggered up to her hooves again, leaning on Dex to keep steady. "We need to find a place to be," she suggested. "And some of us should help the others to shelter since they're unconscious."

 

Her head turned towards the inn. The inn that was once used as one of Discord's traps. She hardly figured they'ed want to stay there again, but thought she's offer it anyway. "The inn is still there, as if it was untouched. Some of you could stay there." Her eyes traveled further to see her cart still there sitting to the side of the building. A smile of relief spread along her face. She snapped back to the group, not meaning to break her train of thought. "Where ever we choose to stay, none of us must stay alone. We should all have a pony with us at all times. It's the safest bet."

 

Peach, hated leaving all of them to their own devices, especially with Discord free again, only gaining more power. "I...am heading home," she told them as she closed her eyes, waiting for a wave of pain to pass. "I have a lot of studying to do to find out ways to finally defeat him not to mention focus on my element. I suggest you all do the same as well. It wouldn't hurt anyway. Let me know if you need bits for anything."

 

She turned and slowly made her way towards the cart in hopes that they would take her advice. These...humans sounded like survivors. You'd have to learn to survive if you were from the world they were from...or the way it was made out to be anyway. She slipped into her reins, thought not nearly as smoothly as normal, and turned to face the group. "Alright...who's taking who with them and who is coming with me?"

Edited April 1, 2012 by PeachPalette

[Marcato 2,143]

Silver heard Peach begin explaining what they should do, and after leaving Brave alone like he had asked, decided she had an excellent point. They couldn't go on their own, and Silver learned that the hard way.

 

Peach mentioned something about studying. Sounded like Silver's kind of interest. "Peach." He said. "I'll go with you. If i'm the element of strategy i will be making a plan against Discord. I want to go with you to study up on things and learn as much as i can about this wolrd an other deals." He explained to Peach. "Would that be alright Peach?" Silver asked.

[Deshi Bashara 6]

"I'll take Electro with me when he wakes up." Cole spoke up, having recovered from his headache. "If it's ok with him, that is."

 

(Sorry for the short post. I'll make a better one tomorrow!)

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Electrobolt continued soaring through the sky as he tried to find his next stop on the way to Discord. However, he noticed he was losing altitude as he saw the ground growing closer and closer. Looking at his wings, he noticed they were slowing down as well. "No wonder I was feeling worn out..." he sighed as he prepared for his descent to the ground. Once he landed, he folded his wings up to his sides as he took in his surroundings.

 

Straight in front of him appeared to be a lake of sorts, while off to the path going westward, there appeared to be an old, worn-down building of sorts. But he saw no enemies around, so he took the time to catch a break. Walking up to the edge of the lake, Electrobolt gazed at the water, looking at the reflection of his face. "So that's what my face looks like, huh?" he pondered to himself. "I gotta say, I... Kinda like my hair... Or mane, rather..." He closed his eyes as he chuckled at himself.

 

Once he opened his eyes, however, another reflection greeted him. It wasn't the same face he saw earlier, but rather it was the face of a human! It had the same green eyes and the same hair style, though instead of his hair being blue, it was a dark shade of brown. The human face shared the same shocked expression as Electrobolt's face, and this caused the lime-green pony to close his eyes and rub them, as if he was getting dirt out of his eyes. As soon as he opened his eyes, however, the pony face returned, staring back at the pony looking down in the lake. "I must be going crazy..." he muttered, still looking at the reflection of his current face.

 

------

 

Meanwhile, back in reality, the smile that was once on Electrobolt's face had vanished. Instead, his face showed a slight expression of shock, as if he just witnessed something that surprised him.

[Wolfe 71]

Brave turned around and walked back to where Artsy, Peach, and Silver were. He seems to have recovered from being winded, as seen from his now returned regular breathing. Another thing was that the blue glow in his eyes seems to have disappeared. Peach said she was going back to study up more on the situation and her element. Silver was going with her as well to try and come up with a plan. It sounded like a good plan. Brave noticed Artsy still in her stasis of sorts. And from her screaming before, he could assume Discord was doing something awful to her psyche, memory, beliefs, or whatever Discord planned to screw up. Although, he declined the heal from Silver earlier, he decided to carry Artsy on his back.

 

The inn seems like a bad place, but it's the only place that's familiar to me so far, and I don't think Discord will do anything to the inn again. I'll take Artsy and she can rest there. If she wakes up and for whatever reason doesn't like the place, we'll head out. As for me, don't worry. I'll manage with the pain. You both need all the time to plan for the future of things to come. I'll watch over Artsy in the meantime. Good luck you two. If I can somehow send a message to you if we're split, please read it. I'll send something a bit later that might help all of us. Until then, good luck...

 

Brave nodded at the two and set off for the inn. Although it was quite close, it seemed like forever getting to the door. Fatigue was setting in. Pain was overtaking his body. The sense of passing out was lingering over him. But as he passed through the doorway of the inn, he knew it was his will that was pushing him all this way. In retrospect, I don't even know why I chose the Element of Will. I just said it. I never gave it a second thought...Why?... It's strange as if I knew it...I'm not getting this... But no matter. Artsy's gotta go back to her room.

 

Upon entering, the manager of the inn noticed him and Artsy. Brave only asked for what Artsy's room was and he pointed it out. Brave thanked him and told him he needed no help taking her to her room. After the struggle of just getting to her room, he managed to open the door and plop her on the bed. He looked at her briefly.If she's having a battle with Discord. I dunno if I can do anything with my current state. "...weak..." I sure hope she's okay in there... "...helpless..." If I can't do anything now, I'll wait until she's conscious and I'll see if I can do anything then... "...hesitant..."

 

At that point, a huge wave of shock entered his being. His vision was blurry. His legs were staring to fail him. He was shutting his eyes. Stay awake... stay awake... stay... Brave dropped to the floor, with his bloody, burned right side up.

 

 

"...Failure..."

 

 

Brave woke up and saw... hands... He was human again... He tried getting up, but his legs wouldn't cooperate. He saw the blood. There was a huge gash of blood just above his right hip, right where the burn mark was if comparing human and pony bodies, Brave assumed. He just decided to crawl. Crawl to a light that had appeared in the distance. He crawled for his life. A faint blood trail followed his path. It seemed like ages until he reached the light. As he reached over to touch it, the light moved. Farther and farther away... I missed...

 

"...Failure..."

 

Why...

 

"...Weak..."

 

No...

 

"...Hopeless..."

 

Back outside his unconscious state, Brave shed tears of sorrow. Of weakness. Of failure.

Edited April 2, 2012 by Wolfe

[Nathan Fink 22]

Everyword spoken to him stabbed him deeper with shame. Serahs Scornful look made him avert his gaze, filling him with shame, and surprisingly, anger. Wait a minute, what do i even have to be ashamed of? I didn't ask to be a part of this! All i did was help some fool human pony things get out of the woods before they froze to death! Its not my fault that i didn't live up to their expectations! These new thoughts began to ease his pain and started replacing the shame with anger and excuses.

 

Hearing the new 'plan' that he was somehow automatically group into, he remembered his things. His plans, the new books he had just gotten from the library. Then his thoughts turned back to the library that Discord had created for him to keep him busy, and he longed for it painfully. I know it was just a trick...but the words were real enough for me. Oh to just be back there... He slowly got to his hooves, his depression at letting them down now replaced by a different kind. Though he was sure none had noticed that there were a change.

 

He started slowly walking off in the direction he could only hope would be the inn. "Ill be at the inn, in my room... Probably sleeping if anypony needs me..." His words were soft, but he hadn't really cared if any pony had heard him, his mind was too full of his own thoughts to be bothered by others.

[Electrobolt 2,069]

Backing away from the lake for now, Electrobolt looked around his surroundings once more. Just then, he caught a glimpse of something peculiar from the corner of his eye. Redirecting his attention to the item, he noticed they were a pair of swimming goggles. "Um... Where did these come from?" he questioned, looking at the goggles confused. Shrugging, he walked over to the goggles and took a closer look. "I don't know where these came from, but..." He then looked over to the lake, then back to the goggles. "I guess a swim wouldn't hurt... And maybe if I get to the other side of this lake, I can find the next castle..." He then grabbed the goggles and put them over his eyes, as he turned around to the lake.

 

Getting some distance away from the lake at first, he counted, "Three... Two... One... HERE WE GOOOOOO!!!!!!" With that, he began to charge towards the lake, ready to jump in at a moment's notice. As soon as he jumped in, he curled up into a ball of sorts as he caused a huge splash to emerge from the lake. A few seconds later, Electrobolt emerged to the surface of the lake, taking a deep breath of air. "That was one of the biggest cannonballs I've done since... Well, I don't know, but I DO know it was awesome!!!" he exclaimed as he floated in place for a few moments, before realizing he was missing something... "Wait... Where did the goggles go?" He looked around but couldn't see where they disappeared to.

 

Diving back underwater to try and locate where the goggles could have disappeared to, he felt something strange again... Looking back to his sides, he noticed that instead of wings, he had fins! This caught Electrobolt by surprise as he began to gasp, only for him to... Not choke on water...? "But... But how?" he questioned, confused at everything that was going on. Putting his hooves on the side of his neck, he felt something rigid... "I... I have gills???" Shaking his head, he said, "Now isn't the time to gawk... I must rescue Peach!" He then proceeded to swim off straight ahead, as he evaded multiple fish of varying colors.

 

------

 

Unlike the other times when he was dreaming, Electrobolt did not show any action of any sort this time.

[SuperTheAwesome 199]

Looking up, Speed noticed another pony from the group. A pegasus. He was... flying. Had all the other pegasi learned how to fly, but her? Speed was not going to let this happen. She was determined to fly. She was going to fly better than the other ponies!

 

Speed closed her eyes. She needed to concentrate. She flapped her wings a bit before charging towards the town. She leaped into the air, opening her wings. She started flapping them while in the air, and was almost as high in the air as the other pony. . Speed was counting the seconds that she was in the air. One... Two... Three... Four... Five...

 

Five seconds was as long as she could stay up there. After that, she started falling towards the ground. The air was rushing into her face and she closed her eyes. She was sure that a bug had flied into her mouth. Soon her face had landed in the ground and she was unconscious again.

 

--

Back so soon, Speed? That's good, I missed you.

 

Speed was in the same dream again, with the same voice talking to her. She was annoyed by it. "You never did tell me who you were..." Speed said, wondering who or what the voice was. Speed looked down, and noticed something. She had hands again. Hands and feet. She was human.

 

Speed, I'll think I'll leave it to you to figure out who I am. If you haven't found out by the time you know your real name, I'll tell you myself. It's more fun that way.

 

Speed was even more annoyed and frustrated. She closed her eyes, and sat down. She was just going to wait there until she woke up again...

[Aureity 3,055]

Crystal Flame watched as the group split up, each pony that was still conscious divvying up those who weren't. I can be of use, he thought eagerly, folding his wings in preparation to dive towards them. He would have done it, too, if something out of the corner of his eye hadn't caught him by surprise. The other pegasi he had seen from the Everfree forest was flying towards Ponyville. He watched her progress-he was certain something was wrong. Pegasi weren't supposed to fly like that. Or flap their wings so rapidly. Or fall to the-oh crap. He watched in horror as she plummeted sharply towards the ground.

 

Quick, get a move on. Reversing his direction, he shot towards the falling pegasi as quickly as he could, but she was too far away. Only fifty feet away from her, he heard the sickening sound of an impact with the ground, and winced. That had to be painful. You idiot, you should have been faster...He carefully walked up to the pegasi and nudged her. "Erm...you all right?" When she made no response, he knew she was knocked out.

 

Now what do I do? There really wasn't much he COULD do. He couldn't just leave her, she was still far away from Ponyville. Who knew when she would be found? If she doesn't wake up by nightfall, I'll go back and get help. Wait, no. That's stupid. Bad enough leaving her now, but leaving her at night would be suicidal. Especially with Discord and timber wolves and all that other nasty stuff. He was paralyzed with indescision, and finally decided to simply sit and hope she'd wake up soon.

[PeachPalette 1,000]

She smiled softly as Silver offered to go with her. "Of course you can," she said. "Besides, we might be able to find something that could help us in my collection." She remembered that her mother and father used to bring back books from their travels. Her father was an avid reader. One in particular stuck out to her, but if she remembered correctly it was in a different language. She'd have to translate it somehow.

 

Peach watched on as SiFi turned to head back to the inn. She bit her lip. She couldn't let him be alone, and that is exactly what he would make sure of if she left him be. The group needed him whether they or he knew it or not. Fate set him in this path, and now he was a part of this. "SiFi, wait!" Peach yelled out as she turned the cart only slightly so that she could face him properly. "I...I would be honored if you joined me at my home."

 

She smiled at him, perhaps an awkward one, but a smile none-the-less. "I...have some books you might like to read," she said trying to peek his interest. "Some...from all over the world."